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DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE

COMPKISING ITS

ANTIQUITIES, BIOGEAPHY, GEOGRAPHY,
AND NATURAL HISTORY.

EDITED BY
Sir WILLIAM SMITH, D.C.L., LL.D.
AND
Eev. J. M. FULLEK, M.A.

gttatits VSVition.
IN THREE VOLUMES.— Vol. I., Part I.
AARON— ELYMAS.

LONDON:
JOHN MUEEAY, ALBEMAELE STEEET.
1893.
The right of Translation is reserved.

LONDON :
PKINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, Limited,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS.

LIST OF WRITERS OF NEW ARTICLES IN THE
SECOND EDITION.

INITIALS. NAMES.
C. J. B. Rev. Charles James Ball, M.A.,
Chaplain of Lincoln's Inn.
E. R. B. Rev. Edward Russell Bernard, M.A.,
Canon of Salisbury; formerly Fellow of Magdalen College,
Oxford.
A. T. C. Rev. Arthur Thomas Chapman, M.A.,
Fellow, Assistant Tutor, and Hebrew Lecturer of Emma
nuel College, Cambridge.
C. R. C. Major Claude Regnier Conder, R.E. ; D.C.L., LL.D.
H. D. Rev. Henry Deane, B.D.,
Prebendary of Winchester.
S. R. D. Rev. Samuel Rolles Driver, D.D.,
Regius Professor of Hebrew, and Canon of Christ Church,
Oxford; Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Southwell ;
formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford.
Gr. E. Professor Dr. Georg Ebers.
W. E. Rev. William Elwin, M.A.,
Vicar of St. Andrew's, Worthing.
F. Rev. John Mee Fuller, M.A.,
Professor of Ecclesiastical History, King's College, London ;
Examining Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury ;
Vicar of Bexley, R.D. ; formerly Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge.
E. C. S. G. Rev. Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson, M.A.,
Principal of Wells Theological College.
C. H. Rev. Charles Hole, M.A.,
Lecturer on Ecclesiastical History, King's College, London.
A. F. K. Rev. Alexander Francis Kjrkpatrick, D.D.,
Regius Professor of Hebrew, Cambridge; Canon of Ely;
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Examining
Chaplain to the Bishop of Rochester.
J. B. L. The late Right Rev. Joseph Barber Lightfoot, D.D.,
Bishop of Durham.
J. R. L. Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, D.D.,
Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity, Cambridge ; Ex
amining Chaplain to the Archbishop of York. al

IV

LIST OF WRITERS IN SECOND EDITION.

INITIALS. NAMES.
D. S. M. D. S. Margoliouth, M.A., _
Laudian Professor of Arabic in the University of Oxford.
E. N. Edouard Naville.
J. W. N. Rev. John William Nutt, M.A.,
Rector of Harpsden; formerly Fellow of All bouls
College, Oxford.
T. G. P. Theophilus Goldrige Pinches, M.R.A.S.,
Of the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities,
British Museum.
A. P. Rev. Alfred Plummer, D.D.,
Master of University College, Durham. .
A. R. Rev. Archibald Robertson, M.A.,
Principal of Hatfield Hall, Durham.
R., or Rev. Herbert Edward Ryle, B.D.,
H. E. R. Hulsean Professor of Divinity, Cambridge ; Examining
Chaplain to the Bishop of Ripon.
G. S. Rev. George Salmon, D.D.,
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
W. S — y. Rev. William Sanday, D.D., LL.D.,
Dean Ireland's Professor of Exegesis, Oxford.
J. E. S. John Edwin Sandys, Litt. D.,
Fellow and Tutor of St. John's College, and Public Orator
in the University of Cambridge.
A. H. S. Rev. Archibald Henry Sayce, LL.D.,
Professor of Assyriology, Oxford ; Fellow of Queen's College,
Oxford.
V. H. S. Rev. Vincent Henry Stanton, M.A.,
Ely Professor of Divinity, Cambridge ; Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge; Examining Chaplain to the
Bishop of Ely.
A. W. S. Rev. Arthur William Streane, M.A.,
Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
S. S.-Sy. The late Dr. S. Schiller-Szinessy,
of the University Library, Cambridge.
C. T. Rev. Charles Taylor, D.D.,
Master of St. John's College, Cambridge.
H. F. T. Rev. Henry Fanshawe Tozer, M.A.,
Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College, Oxford.
H. B. T. Rev. Henry Baker Tristram, D.D., F.L.S.,
Canon of Durham.
H. W. W. Ven. Henry William Watkins, D.D.,
Archdeacon and Canon of Durham ; Examining Chaplain
to the Bishop of Durham.
B. F. W. Right Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D.,
Bishop of Durham.
W. Major-General Sir Charles William Wilson, R.E. KCB
K.O.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., Director-General of the
Ordnance Survey.
C. H.H.W. Rev. Charles Henry Hamilton Wright, D.D., Ph.D.,
Vicar of St. John's, Liverpool.

PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

Thk Dictionary of the Bible was commenced on a more restricted
scale than was afterwards found to be consistent with the completion
of the undertaking in a scholarlike and satisfactory manner. Ac
cordingly, as the Work proceeded, it expanded into three volumes
instead of two, as was originally intended, and an Appendix was added
to supply the omissions and deficiencies of the earlier letters. The
primary object of this new Edition was to insert these supplementary
articles in their proper places in the first volume ; but as this could
only be done by re-setting the type, the opportunity was taken to
revise the whole volume, and to re- write many of the more important
articles. So large have been the additions that the new first volume
exceeds the old, with the addition of the Appendix, by more than
550 pages • and it has therefore been found necessary to issue
it in two parts. The second and third volumes, having been
composed on a more extended and comprehensive scale than
the earlier portion of the Dictionary, do not call for similar
revision; and there is therefore no present intention of bringing
out a new edition of them. Fortunately a large proportion of
those articles on which recent research and criticism have thrown
the strongest light, and concerning which the opinions of the best
Biblical scholars have undergone the most noted change since the
Dictionary was published, are contained in the first volume. We
need only mention such subjects as Jerusalem, Assyria, Babylonia,
Egypt, and the Hittites ; the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles ;
the Books of Genesis and Deuteronomy ; the Epistle to the Hebrews,
and the Gospel of St. John.
It remains only to explain briefly the alterations and improve
ments which have been made in the present edition. First, the
articles on the Books of the Bible have been for the most part re
written, on a much more extensive scale than before. For example,
the article on the " Acts of the Apostles," re-written by the late
Bishop Lightfoot, occupies eighteen pages, compared with a page and
a half in the former edition ; that on the " Gospel of St. John,"
re-written by Archdeacon Watkins, fills twenty-five pages, com
pared with three in the former edition; that on the "Epistle to

vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
the Galatians," re-written by Dr. Salmon, Provost of Trinity College,
Dublin, comprises fourteen pages, compared with a page and a half
in the former edition ; the " Epistle to the Hebrews," re-written by
Dr. Westcott, the present Bishop of Durham, fills fourteen pages,
compared with five in the former edition ; the article on " Deuter
onomy," re-written by Professor Driver, occupies twenty-two pages,
compared with five in the former edition ; the article on the
" Apocrypha," re-written by Professor Ryle of Cambridge, fills thirty-
seven pages, compared with four in the former edition ; to the article
on the " Gospels " by the late Archbishop Thomson, a supplement
by Professor Sanday, containing twenty-six pages, has been added.
This list might easily be enlarged, but the instances named above will
serve to show the pains and labour bestowed upon the new articles
relating to the Books of the Bible.
Secondly, the revision of other articles has been entrusted to
writers recognized as specialists in their respective departments.
Thus, for example, the articles on Assyria and Babylonia have been
re- written by Mr. Pinches, of the department of Assyrian Antiquities
in the British Museum ; those on Egypt by the eminent Egyptologist,
M. Naville ; and those on Natural History by Canon Tristram. The
geographical articles by Sir George Grove, which were justly con
sidered one of the most valuable portions of the original edition, have
been revised, at his request, by Sir Charles Wilson and, in a few
instances, by Major Conder. Sir Charles Wilson has also re-written
the article on the topography of Jerusalem, and has added separate
maps of the Tribes and of other countries, with fresh illustrations
of the sites of places.
It would be impossible within the limits of a Preface to specify
more particularly the assistance obtained in other departments. As
each writer is alone responsible for his own contributions, differences
of opinion must naturally occur, and the Editors could not take the
liberty of altering materially articles thus signed, nor would it have
been desirable, if it had been possible to do so. In the present state
of Biblical criticism, it is better that different schools should be
represented in the Dictionary than that strict uniformity should be
secured. In the case of articles which have been revised by other
writers, the initials of the original authors have been appended with
those of the revisers, but the latter are alone responsible for the
articles in their present form.
Few articles of any importance have been reprinted without
material alteration. The chief exceptions are, for obvious reasons,
those by the late Dean Stanley, and the present Bishop of Durham •
though some of the articles by the latter writer have, at his request'
been revised by Professor Ryle of Cambridge.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. vii
The meanings of the names of persons and places have been
mostly given in accordance with the best authorities, but often with
a real sense of the precariousness of the explanation. In some
cases words of the Authorized Version now obsolete have been
explained, and the readings of the Revised Version appended.
The Editors wish to acknowledge cordially the generous help
given them from various quarters. To Professor Driver and the
Rev. C. J. Ball they owe a careful revision of the Hebrew and other
Semitic words in a large number of the articles. They are also
indebted to the courtesy of Dr. Swete for sending them the early
sheets of his smaller edition of the Septuagint, from which the
readings are given in the present Work ; and to the Palestine
Exploration Fund for permission to use the surveys and drawings
from which Six Charles Wilson has constructed many of the maps
and illustrations.
London, March, 3893.

LIST OF WRITERS IN THE FIRST EDITION.

H. A. The late Very Rev. Henry Alford, D.D.,
Dean of Canterbury.
H. B. Rev. Henry Bailed, D.D.,
Hon. Canon of Canterbury; formerly Fellow of St. John's
College, Cambridge.
H. B. The late Rev. Horatius Bonar, D.D.
[The geographical articles, signed H. B., are written by Dr. Bonar: those on other subjects,
signed H. B., are written by Mr. Bailey.]
A. B. Right Rev. Alfred Barry, B.D.,
Canon of Windsor ; late Bishop of Sydney and Metropolitan
of Australia.
W. L. B. Rev. William Latham Bevan, M.A.,
Canon of St. David's ; Examining Chaplain to the Bishop
of St. David's ; Vicar of Hay, Brecknockshire.
J. W. B. The late Very Rev. Joseph William Blakesley, B.D.,
Dean of Lincoln.
T. E. B. The late Rev. Thomas Edward Brown, M.A.,
Vice-Principal of King William's College, Isle of Man;
formerly Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
R. W. B. Ven. Robert William Browne, M.A.,
Archdeacon of Bath; Canon of Wells ; Rector of Weston-
super-Mare.
E. H. B. The late Right Rev. Edward Harold Browne, D.D.,
Bishop of Winchester.
W. T. B. The late Rev. William Thomas Bullock, M.A.,
Assistant Secretary of the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
S. C. The late Rev. Samuel Clark, M.A.,
Vicar of Bredwardine with Brobury, Hertfordshire.
F. C. C The late Rev. F. C. Cook, M.A.,
Canon of Exeter.
G. E. L. C. The late Right Rev. George Edward Lynch Cotton, D.D.
Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India. '
J. LI. D. Rev. John Llewelyn Davies, M.A.,
Vicar of Kirkby Lonsdale; formerly Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge.

LIST OF WRITERS IN FIRST EDITION.

G. E. D. Rev. G. E. Day, D.D.,
Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio.
E. D. The late Emanuel Deutsch, M.R.A.S.
W. D. Rev. William Drake, M.A.,
Chaplain to the Queen ; Hon. Canon of Worcester ; formerly
Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.
E. P. E. Rev. Edward Paroissien Eddrup, M.A.,
Prebendary of Salisbury ; Vicar of Bremhill.
C. J. E. Right Rev. Charles James Ellicott, D.D.,
Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol.
F. W. F. Ven. Frederick William Farrar, D.D., F.R.S.,
Archdeacon and Canon of Westminster ; formerly Fellow
of Trinity College, Cambridge.
J. F. The late James Fergusson, F.R.S., F.R.A.S.
E. S. Ff. Rev. Edmund Salusbury Ffoulkes, B.D.,
Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin, Oxford.
W. F. Right Rev. William Fitzgerald, D.D.,
Bishop of Killaloe.
F. G. The late Rev. Francis Garden, M.A.,
Subdean of Her Majesty's Chapels Royal.
F. W. G. Rev. Frederick William Gotch, LL.D.,
President of the Baptist College, Bristol.
G. Sir George Grove, D.C.L.,
Director of the Royal College of Music.
H. B. H. Rev. H. B. Hackett, D.D.,
Professor of Biblical Literature, Newton, Massachusetts.
E. H — s. The late Rev. Ernest Hawkins, B.D.,
Prebendary of St. Paul's ; Secretary of the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts.
H. H. Rev. Henry Hayman, D.D.,
Hon. Canon of Carlisle ; Rector of Aldingham.
A. C. H. Right Rev. Lord Arthur Charles Hervey, D.D.,
Bishop of Bath and Wells.
J. A. H. The late Ven. James Augustus Hessey, D.C.L.,
Archdeacon of Middlesex.
J. D. H. Sir Joseph D. Hooker, K.C.B., F.R.S.
J. J. H. The late Rev. James John Hornby, M.A.,
Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford ; Principal of Bishop
Cosin's Hall ; Tutor in the University of Durham.
W. H. Rev. William Houghton, M.A., F.L.S.,
Rector of Preston on the Weald Moors, Salop.
J. S. H. The late Very Rev. John Saul Howson, D.D.,
Dean of Chester.
E. H. Rev. Edgar Huxtable, M.A.,
Prebendary of Wells.

x LIST OF WRITERS IN FIRST EDITION.
INITIALS. NAMES.
W. B. J. Right Rev. William Basil Jones, D.D.,
Bishop of St. David's.
A. H. L. Right Hon. Austen Henry Layard, G.C.B., D.C.L.
S. L. Rev. Stanley Leathes, D.D.,
Professor of Hebrew, King's College, London ; Prebendary
of St. Paul's ; Rector of Much Haddam.
J. B. L. The late Right Rev. Joseph Barber Lightfoot, D.D.,
Bishop of Durham.
I). W. M. Rev. D. W. Marks,
Professor of Hebrew in University College, London.
F. M. Rev. Frederick Meyrick, M.A.,
Prebendary of Lincoln ; Rector of Blickling ; formerly
Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford.
Oppert. Professor Oppert, of Paris.
E. R. 0. Rev. Edward Redman Orger, M.A.,
Vicar of Hougham.
T. J. O. The late Ven. Thomas Johnson Ormerod, M.A.,
Archdeacon of Suffolk; formerly Fellow of Brasenose
College, Oxford.
J. J. S. P. Right Rev. John James Stewart Perowne, D.D.,
Bishop of Worcester.
T. T. P. Ven. Thomas Thomason Perowne, B.D.,
Archdeacon of Norwich ; Examining Chaplain to the Bishop
of Norwich ; Rector of Redenhall.
H. W. P. Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M.A.,
Canon of Hereford.
E. H. P. The late Very Rev. Edward Hayes Plumptre, M.A.,
Dean of Wells.
E. S. P. The late Edward Stanley Poole, M.R.A.S.
R. S. P. Reginald Stuart Poole, LL.D.,
Keeper of Coins, British Museum ; Professor of Archaeology
in University College, London ; Corresponding Member
of the Institute of France.
J. L. P. The late Rev. J. L. Porter, M.A.
C. P. Rev. Charles Pritchard, M.A., F.R.S.,
Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Oxford; Fellow of New
College, Oxford; formerly Fellow of St. John's College,
Cambridge.
C. R. Rev. George Rawlinson, M.A.,
Canon of Canterbury ; Rector of All Hallows, London.
H. J. R. The late Rev. Henry John Rose, B.D.,
Rector of Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire: formerly
Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge.
W. S. The late Rev. William Selwyn, D.D.,
^^ofEl1^16* Pr°feSSOr of Divinity. Cambridge; Canon

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LIST OF WRITERS IN FIRST EDITION. xi
NAMES.
Sir William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.,
Formerly Classical Examiner in the University of London.
The late Very Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D.,
Dean of Westminster.
Rev. Calvin E. Stowe, D.D.,
Professor of Sacred Literature, Andover, Massachusetts.
Rev. J. P. Thompson, D.D.,
New York.
The late Most Eev. William Thomson, D.D.,
Archbishop of York.
The late Rev. Joseph Francis Thrupp, M.A.,
Vicar of Barrington ; formerly Fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge.
The late S. P. Tregelles, LL.D.
Rev. Henry Baker Tristram, D.D., F.L.S.,
Canon of Durham.
The late Hon. Edward T. B. Twisleton, M.A.
Rev. Edmund Venables, M.A.,
Canon of Lincoln Cathedral.
Right Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott, D.D.,
Bishop of Durham.
The late Right Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D.D.,
Bishop of Lincoln.
William Aldis Wright, M.A.,
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

PKEFACE TO THE FIKST EDITION.

The present Work is designed to render the same service in the
study of the Bible as the Dictionaries of Greek and Roman Anti
quities, Biography, and Geography have done in the study of the
classical writers of antiquity. Within the last few years Biblical
studies have received a fresh impulse ; and the researches of modern
scholars, as well as the discoveries of modern travellers, have thrown
new and unexpected light upon the history and geography of the
East. It has, therefore, been thought that a new Dictionary of the
Bible, founded on a fresh examination of the original documents, and
embodying the results of the most recent researches and discoveries,
would prove a valuable addition to the literature of the country. It
has been the aim of the Editor and Contributors to present the infor
mation in such a form as to meet the wants not only of theological
students, but also of that larger class of persons who, without pursuing
theology as a profession, are anxious to study the Bible with the aid
of the latest investigations of the best scholars. Accordingly, while
the requirements of the learned have always been kept in view,
quotations from the ancient languages have been sparingly intro
duced, and generally in parentheses, so as not to interrupt the
continuous perusal of the Work. It is confidently believed that
the articles will be found both intelligible and interesting even to
those who have no knowledge of the learned languages ; and that
such persons will experience no difficulty in reading the book
through from beginning to end.
The scope and object of the Work may be briefly defined. It is a
Dictionary of the Bible and not of Theology. It is intended to eluci
date the antiquities, biography, geography, and natural history of the
Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha ; but not to explain
systems of theology, or discuss points of controversial divinity. It
has seemed, however, necessary in a " Dictionary of the Bible " to give
a full account of the Book, both as a whole and in its separate parts.
Accordingly, articles are inserted not only upon the general subject,
such as " Bible," " Old Testament," " New Testament," •'Apocrypha,"'
and " Canon," and upon the ancient Versions, as " Septuagint " and
" Vulgate ; " but also upon each of the separate books. These articles
are naturally some of the most important in the Work, and occupy

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

xm

considerable space, as will be seen by referring to " Genesis," " Isaiah,"
"Job," "Nehemiah," "Pentateuch," "Proverbs," and the Books of
" Samuel." The Editor believes that the Work will be found, upon examina
tion, to be far more complete in the subjects which it professes to treat
than any of its predecessors. No other Dictionary has yet attempted
to give a complete list of the proper names occurring in the Old and
New Testaments, to say nothing of those in the Apocrypha. The
present Work is intended to contain every name, and, in the case of
minor names, references to every passage in the Bible in which each
occurs. It is true that many of the names are those of com
paratively obscure persons and places ; but this is no reason for their
omission. On the contrary, it is precisely for such articles that a
Dictionary is most needed. An account of the more important
persons and places occupies a prominent position in historical and
geographical works ; but of the less conspicuous names no inform
ation can be obtained in ordinary books of reference. Accordingly
many names, which have been either entirely omitted or cursorily
treated in other Dictionaries, have had considerable space devoted
to them ; the result being that much curious and sometimes impor
tant knowledge has been elicited respecting subjects, of which little
or nothing was previously known. Instances may be seen by re
ferring to the articles "Ishmael, son of Nethaniah," "Jareb,"
" Jedidiah," " Jehosheba."
In the alphabetical arrangement the orthography of the Authorized
Version has been invariably followed. Indeed the Work might be
described as a Dictionary of the Bible, according to the Authorized
Version. But at the commencement of each article devoted to a
proper name, the corresponding forms in the Hebrew, Greek, and
Vulgate are given, together with the variations in the two great
manuscripts of the Septuagint, which are often curious and well
worthy of notice. All inaccuracies in the Authorized Version are
likewise carefully noted.
In the composition and distribution of the articles three points
have been especially kept in view — the insertion of copious references
to the ancient writers and to the best modern authorities, as much
brevity as was consistent with the proper elucidation of the subjects,
and facility of reference. To attain the latter object an explanation
is given, even at the risk of some repetition, under every word to
which a reader is likely to refer, since it is one of the great drawbacks
in the use of a Dictionary to be referred constantly from one heading
to another, and frequently not to find at last the information that
is wanted. Many names in the Bible occur also in the classical writers, and

xiv PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.
are therefore included in the Classical Dictionaries already published.
But they have in all cases been written anew for this work, and from
a Biblical point of view. No one would expect in a Dictionary of the
Bible a complete history of Alexandria or a detailed life of Alexander
the Great, simply because they are mentioned in a few passages of
the Sacred Writers. Such subjects properly belong to Dictionaries
of Classical Geography and Biography, and are only introduced here
so far as they throw light upon Jewish history, and the Jewish cha
racter and faith. The same remark applies to aU similar articles,
which, far from being a repetition of those contained in the preceding
Dictionaries, are supplementary to them, affording the Biblical inform
ation which they did not profess to give. In like manner it would
obviously be out of place to present such an account of the plants
and animals mentioned in the Scriptures, as would be appropriate in
systematic treatises on Botany or Zoology. All that can be reason
ably required, or indeed is of any real service, is to identify the plants
and animals with known species or varieties, to discuss the difficulties
which occur in each subject, and to explain all allusions to it by the
aid of modern science.
In a Work written by various persons, each responsible for his
own contributions, differences of opinion must naturally occur. Such
differences, however, are both fewer and of less importance than
might have been expected from the nature of the subject ; and in
some difficult questions — such, for instance, as that of the " Brethren
of our Lord" — the Editor, instead of endeavouring to obtain uni
formity, has considered it an advantage to the reader to have the
arguments stated from different points of view.
An attempt has been made to ensure, as far as practicable,
uniformity of reference to the most important books. In the case
of two works of constant occurrence in the geographical articles, it
may be convenient to mention that all references to Dr. Robinson's
Biblieal "Researches and to Professor Stanley's Sinai and Pales
tine have been uniformly made to the second edition of the former
work (London, 1856, 3 vols.), and to the fourth edition of the latter
(London, 1857).
The Editor cannot conclude this brief explanation without
•expressing his obligations to the Writers of the various articles.
Their names are a sufficient guarantee for the value of their
contributions ; but the warm interest they have taken in the book,
and the unwearied pains they have bestowed upon their separate
departments, demand from the Editor his grateful thanks. There
is, however, one Writer to whom he owes a more special acknow
ledgment. Mr. George Grove of Sydenham, besides contributing
the articles to which his initial is attached, has rendered the Editor

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. xv
important assistance in writing the majority of the articles on the
more obscure names in the First Volume, in the correction of the
proofs, and in the revision of the whole book. The Editor has also
to express his obligations to Mr. William Aldis Wright, Librarian of
Trinity College, Cambridge, and to the Rev. Charles P. Phinn of
Chichester, for their valuable assistance in the correction of the
proofs, as well as to Mr. E. Stanley Poole for the revision of the
Arabic words. Mr. Aldis Wright has likewise written in the Second
and Third Volumes the more obscure names to which no initials are
attached. In consequence of the great importance of many of the subjects
contained in the latter half of the alphabet, — of which " Miracles,"
"Noah," "Palestine," "Pentateuch," "Prophecy," "Versions," and
"Vulgate" may be mentioned as specimens, — it has been found
necessary to extend the work to three volumes, instead of comprising
it in two, as originally intended. The usefulness of many Encyclo
paedias and Dictionaries has been sacrificed by compressing into
narrow limits the later letters ; and it is believed that the extension
of the present work will add greatly to its value. It has also enabled
the Editor to give, at the end of the Third Volume, an Appendix to
Volume I., containing many important articles on Natural History
as well as some subjects omitted in the First Volume, such as
"Antichrist," "Baptism," and "Church."
It is intended to publish shortly an Atlas of Biblical Geography,
which, it is hoped, will form a valuable supplement to the
Dictionary.
WILLIAM SMITH.
London, November, 1863.

SOME ABBREVIATIONS.

A. V. = Authorized Version ; R. V. = Revised Version.
LXX. = Greek Version of the Old Testament.
A. = Codex Alexandrinus.
B. = Codex Vaticanus.
X. = Codex Sinaiticus. /
T.7 = 7th edition of Tischendorfs LXX.
PF., or PJEF. Mem. or Qy. Stat. = Palestine Exploration Fund, Memoir, or
Quarterly Statement.
KAT.2 = 2nd edition of Schrader'e Die Keilinschriften u. das Alte Testament.
OS.2 = 2nd edition of Lagarde's Onomastica Sacra.
BE. = Real-Encyclopadie.
KL. = Kirchen-Lexicon.
D. B. = Dictionary of the Bible.
MV.10 or MV.11 = 10th or 11th edition of Gesenius, Hebraisches u. Aramai&ches
Handworterbuch iiber das Alte Testament, edited by Miihlau
and Volck. The 11th edition has H. D. Miiller's
additions. The new edition now in course of publica
tion at the Clarendon Press has come too late for use
except in the last article of the volume.
BEJ. = Revue des ^Etudes Juives (Paris).
PSBA. or TSBA. = Proceedings or Transactions of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology (London).
HWB. = Handworterbuch.
ZDM O . = Zeitschrift d. Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig).
QPB.2 = 2nd edition of the Variorum edition of the Authorized edition
of the Bible published by the Queen's printers (Eyre &
Spottiswoode).
ZATW. = Zeitschrift fiir die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (Giessen).
ZA. = Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie (Berlin).
ZKF. = Zeitschrift fiir Keilinschriftliche Forschung.
LOT. = Driver's Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament.
This book was not available earlier than the letter E.
N. S. = New Series.
HI. = History of Israel.
A number attached to a name or book, e.g. Delitzsch4, indicates the
edition of the work referred to.

DICTIONARY

BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY,
AND NATURAL HISTORY.

A and Q. [ALPHA.]
A'ALAE. [Addas.]
AAKO.N" (jilflK; 'Aapiir ; Aaron [derivation
unknown ; connected fancifully by Rabbinic ety
mology with "Tin, his mother having been preg
nant with him at the time of Pharaoh's edict
(Ex. i. 16) ; by Gesenius thought perhaps to
mean mountaineer, as though connected with in ;
by Sayce connected with the Assyrian aharu,
to send]). He was the son of Amram (Ex. vi.
20 [Amram]), the son of Kohath and Jochebed
((Kohath's sister) ; he was three years older than
Moses (Ex. vii. 7), but younger than his sister
Uiriam (Num. xxvi. 59). He was a Levite, and
as the first-born would naturally be the priest of
the household, even before any special appoint
ment by God. Of his early history we know
nothing, although, by the way in which he is first
mentioned in Ex. iv. 14, as "Aaron the Levite,"
it would seem as if he had been already to some
extent a leader in his tribe. All that is definitely
recorded of him at this time is. that in the same
passage he is described as one " who could speak
well." Judging from the acts of his life, we
should suppose him to have been, like maDy
eloquent meD, a man of impulsive and com
paratively unstable character, leaning almost
wholly on his brother ; incapable of that endur
ance of loneliness and temptation which is an
element of real greatness ; but at the same time
earnest in his devotion to God and man, and
therefore capable of sacrifice and of discipline
by trial.
His first office was to be the " Prophet," i.e.
(according to the proper meaning of the word)
-the Interpreter and "Mouth" (Ex. iv. 16) of
his brother, who was " slow of speech ; " and
accordingly he was not only the organ of com
munication with the Israelites and with Pharaoh
(Ex. iv. 30, vii. 2), but also the actual instru
ment of working most of the miracles of the
Exodus (see Ex. vii. 19, &c). Thus also on
the way to Mount Sinai, during the battle with
Amalek, Aaron is mentioned with Hur, as staying
up the weary hands of Moses, when they were
lifted up for the victory of Israel (not in prayer,
as is sometimes explained, but) to bear the rod
BIBLE BICT. — VOL. I.

AAEON
of God (see Ex. xvii. 9). Through all this period
he is only mentioned as dependent upon his
brother, and deriving all his authority from
him. The contrast between them is even more
strongly marked on the arrival at Sinai. Moses
at once acts as the mediator (Gal. iii. 19) for the
people, to come near to God for them, and to
speak His words to them. Aaron only approaches,
with Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders
of Israel, by special command, near enough to
see God's glory, but not so as to enter His im
mediate presence. Left then, on Moses' departure,
to guide tho people, he is tried for a moment on
his own responsibility, and he fails not from any
direct unbelief on his own part, but from a weak
inability to withstand the demand of the people
for visible " gods to go before them." Possibly
it seemed to him prudent to make an image of
Jehovah, in the well-known form of Egyptian
idolatry (Apis or Mnevis), rather than to risk
the total alienation of the people to false gods ;
and his weakness was rewarded by seeing a
" feast of the Lord " (Ex. xxxii. 5) degraded to
the lowest form of heathenish sensuality, and
knowing, from Moses' words and deeds, that the
covenant with the Lord was utterly broken.
There can hardly be a stronger contrast with
this weakness, and the self-convicted shame of
his excuse, than the burning indignation of
Moses, and his stern decisive measures of ven
geance; although beneath these there lay an
ardent affection, which went almost to the verge
of presumption in prayer for the people (Ex.
xxxii. 19-34), and gained forgiveness for Aaron
himself (Deut. ix. 20).
It is not a little remarkable, that immediately
after this great sin, and almost as though it had
not occurred, God's fore-ordained purposes were
carried out in Aaron's consecration to the new
office of the high-priesthood. Probably the fall
and the repentance from it may have made him
one " who could have compassion on the ignorant
and them who are out of the way, as being him
self also compassed with infirmity." The order
of God for the consecration is found in Ex. xxix.,
and the record of its execution in Lev. viii. ; and
the delegated character of the Aaronic priest
hood is clearly seen by the fact that, in this
its inauguration, the priestly office is borne
B

2 AAEON
by Moses, as God's truer representative (see
Heb. vii.).
The form of consecration resembled other
sacrificial ceremonies in containing, first, a sin-
offering, the form of cleansing from sin and
reconciliation [Sin-offering] ; a burnt-offering,
the symbol of entire devotion to God of the
nature so purified [Burnt-offering] ; and a
meat-offering, the thankful acknowledgment
and sanctifying of God's natural blessings
[Meat-offering]. It had, however, besides
these, the solemn assumption of the sacred robes
(the garb of righteousness), the anointing (the
symbol of God's grace), and the offering of the
ram of consecration, the blood of which was
sprinkled on Aaron and his sons, as upon the
altar and vessels of the ministry, in order to
sanctify them for the service of God. The former
ceremonies represented the blessings and duties
of the man ; the latter the special consecration
of the priest."
The solemnity of the office, and its entire
dependence for sanctity on the ordinance of
God, were vindicated by the death of Nadab and
Abihu, for " offering strange fire " on the altar,
and apparently (see Lev. x. 9, 10) for doing so
in drunken recklessness. The checking of his
sorrow by Aaron, so as at least to refrain from
all outward signs of it, would be a severe trial
to an impulsive and weak character, and a proof
of his being lifted above himself by the office
which he held.
From this time the history of Aaron is almost
entirely that of the priesthood, and its chief
feature is the great rebellion of Korah and the
Le.vites against his sacerdotal dignity, united
with that of Dathan and Abiram and the
Reubenites against the temporal authority of
Moses [Korah]. The true \'indication of the
reality of Aaron's priesthood was, not so much
the death of Korah by the fire of the Lord, as
the efficacy of his offering of incense to stay the
plague, by which he was seen to be accepted as
an Intercessor for the people. The blooming of
his rod which followed was a miraculous sign,
visible to all and capable of preservation, of
God's choice of him and his house.
The only occasion on which his individual cha
racter is seen, is one of presumption, prompted
as before chiefly by another ; and, as before,
speedily repented of. The murmuring of Aaron
and Miriam against Moses, if partly directed
against the marriage of Moses with an Ethiopian,
clearly proceeded from their trust, the one in his
own priesthood, the other in her prophetic inspira
tion, as equal commissions from God (Num. xii. 2).
It seems to have vanished at once before the de
claration of Moses' exaltation above all prophecy
and priesthood, except that of One Who was to
come ; and, if we may judge from the direction
of the punishment, to have originated mainly
with Miriam. On all other occasions Aaron is
spoken of as acting with Moses in the guidance
of the people. Leaning, as he seems to have
done, wholly on him, it is not strange that he
should have shared his sin at Meribah, and its
punishment [Moses] (Num. xx. 10-12). As
? It is noticeable that the ceremonies of the restoration
of the leper to his place, as one of God's people, bear a
strong resemblance to those of consecration. See Lev.
xiv. 10-32.

ABADDON
that punishment seems to have purged out from
Moses the tendency to self-confidence which
tainted his character, so in Aaron it may have
destroyed that idolatry of a stronger mind, into
which a weaker one, once conquered, is apt to
fall. Aaron's death seems to have followed very
speedily. It took place on Mount Hor, after the
transference of his robes and office to Eleazar,
who alone with Moses was present at his death,
and performed his burial (Num. xx. 28). This
mount is still called the " Mountain of Aaron."
[Hor.] The wife of Aaron was Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23).
She bare him four sons. Nadab and Abihu
predeceased him (see above). Two survived
him, Eleazar and Ithrjnar. The high-priesthood
descended to the foimer and to his descendants
until the time of Eli, who, although of the house
of Ithamar, received the high-priesthood (see
Joseph. Ant. v. 11, viii. 1, § o), and transmitted
it to his children ; with them it continued till
the accession of Solomon, who took it from Abi
athar, and restored it to Zadok (of the house of
Eleazar), so fulfilling the prophecy of 1 Sam.
ii. 30. [A. B.j
The Rabbinic view of Aaron is highly eulo
gistic. It will be found summed up in Ham
burger, Seal-Encyclop'ddie f. Bibel u. Talmud,1
s. n. Rabbinic teaching finds depicted in Mai.
ii. 6, the work and character of one who died
" by the kiss of God." [F.]
AAEONITES, THE Qintt ¦ B. o [A. of]
'Aapdv; stirps Aaron, Aaronitae). Descendants
of Aaron, and therefore priests, who, to the
number of 3700 fighting men, with Jehoiada the
father of Benaiah at their head, joined David at
Hebron (1 Ch. xii. 27). Later on in the history
(1 Ch. xxvii. 17) we find their chief was Zadok,
who in the earlier narrative is distinguished as
" a young man mighty of valour." They must
have been an important family in the reign of
David to be reckoned among the tribes of
Israel. r_W. A, w_-j
AB (3S, father), an element in the composi
tion of many proper names, sometimes a title of
God, sometimes not (see Nestle, Die Israelit.
Eigennamen, p. 173, &c. Cp. Abia.) Abba is
the Chaldaic form, the syllable affixed giving
the emphatic force of the'definite article. The
conception of God as Ab forms one of the prin
cipal doctrines common to Judaism and Chris
tianity. [Abba.] rei
AB. [Months.]
AB'ACUC, 2 Esd. i. 40. [Habakkuk.]
ABAD'DON (|ii:iK, destruction) in the
Hagiographa of the O. f .' the poetical name for
the place of the dead (in Job xxvi. 6 and in
Prov. xv. 11 it is parallel with Sheol: in
Ps. lxxxviii. 12 with the grave ; in Job xxviii.
ii with death), and personified in Job xxviii. 22
(cp. a similar personification of a place in the
personification of the " heavens " in Dan. iv. 23)
In Rev. ix. 11 it is the name of "the ano-el of
the abyss " (R. V.), and the Greek equivalent
A*™\ W (APOLLYON) is given in explanation
of this king of the locusts upon the earth "
^••i**' 3_U)- The Eabbis Sa™ the name
Abaddon to the lowest chamber of hell (see
Schottgen, Hor. Hebr. in Rev. I. a), and the

ABADIAS
Talmud personified " the angel of the abyss "
under the title Dumah (Buxtorf, Lex. C/tald. et
Talm. ; Hamburgor, RE.- s. v.). [1?.]
ABADI'AS (B. 'Aj3aSfos ; Abdias [t>. 38]).
Obadiah, the son of Jehiel (1 Esd. viii. 35>.
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ABAG'THA (Kn?3N; Abgatha), one ofthe
seven eunuchs in the Persian court of Ahasuerus
(Esth. i. 10). In the LXX. the names of these
eunuchs are different. The word contains the
same root which we find in the Persian names
Bigtha (Esth. i. 10), Bigtkan (Esth. ii. 21),
Bigthana (Esth. vi. 2), and Bagoas. The ety
mology of all these names is quite uncertain
(Keil, and Oettli in Strack u. Zbckler's Egf.
Komm. in loco). Bohlen explains it by bagaddta,
" given by fortune," from baga, fortune, the sun ;
Ryssel-Bertheau (Egf. Exeq. Hdb. z. A. T.,
' Ester ' p. 389)= god's gift. * [\V. A. W.] [F.]
ABA'NA ("13 3K"; 'A/Soxei; B». 'Apfavd
[superscr. Bb ?, 'Avafiavd, Ba?mg] ; A. Naejtoa ;
Abana; R. V. Abanah; R. V. marg. Amunah),
one of the '• rivers (J"l1*irO) of Damascus " (2 K.
v. 12). Gesenins (Thes. 116) supposes Abana
to be a commutation for Amana by an inter
change of the labials 3 and D : it may be a
dialectic or a provincial difference. See also
Keil's Bb. der KSnige, p. 368. Amana might
mean " constant " (comp. {DNJ, as said of water
in Is. xxxiii. 16 and Jer. xv. 18). The rivers of
Damascus are its one great abiding charm, and
every Damascene loves them passionately. Some
distance above Damascus the Barada (Xpv-
(roppoas of the Greeks) is split up into several
streams, which flow through the city under
different names, and which are supposed to be
of various degrees of excellence. The stream
whose water is most prized is the Nahr Abanias
(cp. the Amanoh of Schwarz, p. 54), and this is
doubtless the Abana of the text (Dr. Wright,
in Leisure Hour, 1874, p. 284). In the Arabic
Version of the passage — the date of which has
been fixed by Rodiger as the 11th cent. — Abana
is rendered by Barda, iCiij), and one of the
streams flowing through the city is now called
Nahr Barada. Another of the seven principal
streams is the Nahr Taura, a name which is
found in the Arabic Version of the Bible instead
of Pharpar. Benjamin of Tudela (E. T. 90)
apparently identifies Pharpar with the same
stream. Naaman's interrogation in 2 K. v. 12 :
" Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damas
cus, better than all the waters of Israel ? " is
something more than pride of country ; for the
waters of the Abana (Nahr Abanias) are clear
and sparkling, whilst those of the Jordan and
Kishon are tepid and turbid.
The Barada rises in the Antilibanus near Zeb-
ddny, at about 23 miles from the city, and
1149 feet above it. In its course it passes the
site ofthe ancient Abila, and receives the waters
of 'Ain Fijeh, one of the largest springs in Syria.
This was long believed to be the real source of
the Barada, according to the popular usage of
the country, which regards the most copious
* The Keri, with the Targum Jonathan and the Syriac
Version, has Amunah.

A13ARIM 3
fountain, not the most distant head, as the
origin of a river. We meet with other instances
of the same mistake in the case of the Jordan
and the Orontes [Ain]; it is to Dr. Robinson
that we are indebted for its discovery in the
present case (Rob. iii. 477). After flowing
through Damascus the Barada runs across the
plain, leaving the remarkable Assyrian or
perhaps Hittite ruin Tell es-Saluhlyeh on its left
bank, till it loses itself in the lake or marsh
Bahret el-Kihliyeh. Mr. Porter calculates that
14 villages and 150,000 souls are dependent on
this important river. For the course of the
Barada see Porter, vol. i. ch. v. ; Journ. of S.
Lit, X. S. viii. ; Rob. iii. 446-7. Lightfoot
(Cent. Chor. iv.) and Gesenius (T/ies. 116) quote
the name *^D*lp as applied in the Lexicon
Arich to the Amana; it is also found in the
Baba Bathra, 74 c ; Schwarz, p. 54. [G.] [W.]
ABA'RIM (Milton accents Ab'arim), the
" mount," or " mountains of " (always with
the definite article, D,"0*,n IH, or TH nn, to
Spos to 'Aflapip., &c, or iv t$ trtpav toO
'lopddvov, = the mountains of the further parts,
or possibly, of the fords), a mountain or range
of highlands on the east of the Jordan, in the
land of Moab (Deut. xxxii. 49), facing Jericho,
and forming the eastern wall of the Jordan
valley at that part. Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, § 48)
has iirl Tip Spei-rip 'A/3op6?: Euseb. (OS.* p. 237,
4) 'A/8apefju. Its most elevated spot was " the
Mount Nebo, ' head ' of ' the ' Pisgah," from
which Moses viewed the Promised Land before
his death. There is nothing to prove that the
Abarini were a range or tract of any length,
but the mention of Ije-Abarim (" heaps of A.")
in Num. xxxiii. 44, on the south frontier of Moab,
seems to indicate that the name was applied to
the whole range of hills on the eastern side of
the Dead Sea ; it must, too, be remembered that
a word derived from the same root as Abarim,
viz. "131*. is the term commonly applied to the
whole of the country on the east of Jordan.
These mountains are mentioned in Num. xxvii.
12, xxxiii. 47, 48, and Deut. xxxii. 49 ; also
probably in Jer. xxii. 20, where the word is
rendered in the A. V. " passages," in R. V.
" Abarim." The mountains of Abarim have recently been
surveyed, and it is now possible to identify with
considerable accuracy the places mentioned in
connexion with them. Moses probably took
his view of the Promised Land from some point
on the ridge of Jebel Neba, which runs out west
from the Moabite plateau, sinking gradually, —
at first a broad brown field of arable land, then
a flat top crowned by a ruined cairn, then a
narrower ridge ending in the summit called
Sidghah, whence the slopes fall steeply on all
sides. The name Neba (Nebo) applies to the
flat top with the cairn, which has an altitude
of 2644 feet ; and Tal'at es-Sufa, which may
contain a reminiscence of the " field of Zophim "
(Num. xxiii. 14), to the ascent leading up to the
ridge from the north ; the word Sidghah," too,
is possibly the modern form of "Seath," the
burial-place of Moses, which is substituted for
Nebo in the Targum of Onkelos (Num. xxxii. 3).
a Merrill, however (East of Jordan, p. 245), does not
believe in the existence of the name Sidghah.
B 2

4

ABBA

Ashdoth-pisgah is probably 'Ayun Musa, " the
springs of Moses " [Ashdoth-Pisgah], and the
camp of the Israelites "in the mountains of
Abarim, before Nebo " (Num. xxxiii. 47) ; the
top of Pisgah in Num. xxi. 20 may be placed
close to Jebel Neba on the plain between Medeba
and Heshbon. Capt. Conder (Ileth and Moab,
pp. 142-4) has identified " the top of Peor "
(Num. xxiii. 28) with a narrow spur which runs
out toMinyeh, north ofthe Zerha M'ain, and " the
high places of Baal " (Num. xxii. 41) with the
ridge of Masluhiyeh (p. 141). A good account
of this interesting district is given by Capt. Con
der (Heth and Moab, pp. 128-145), who found
some interesting groups of rude stone monu
ments, which he supposes to have been connected
with the sacrifices of Balaam and the idolatrous
worship of Moab. See also Merrill, East of
the Jordan, 240-252 ; Tristram, Land of Moab,
325-330; Paine, American Pa'.. Exp. Soe., 3rd
Stat., January 1875. [G.] [W.]
AB'BA (K3K, stat. emph. ; 'A0/3<£ : see Ab).
The West-Aramaic equivalent of the Greek d
irariip (Mk. xiv. 36; Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6) ;
perhaps a liturgical formula originating among
the Jews of Palestine after they had become ac
quainted with the Greek language, and expressing
emphasis by repetition of the same idea. If
so, it illustrates that fusion of Jew and Greek
which prepared the way for the preaching of the
Gospel to the heathen (Bp. Lightfoot ou Gal.
1. c.). [F.]
AB'DA (K^Di*, servant; or, as in Phoenician,
servant of Him : see Renan, Des Noms theophores
apocope's, in ' Revue d. Etudes Juives,' v. p. 165.
1. Father of Adoniram (1 K. iv. 6 ; B. 'Etppd,
A. 'Afiad ; Abda). 2. Son of Shammua (Neh. xi.
17 ; B. 'Iu$-f)& ; N.3 'AjSSas), called Obadiah in
1 Ch. ix. 16 (B. 'Apdeia, A. 'Opdla; Obdia).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AB-DEE'L (^13** ; Abdeel), father of She-
lemiah (Jer. xxxvi. 26 ; LXX. omits). [W. A. W.]
ABDI' ('"131*, my servant; or, servant of
liim, Renan [Abda]. Olshausen [Lehrb. p. 613]
prefers = iT*"OB). 1. A Merarite of the time
of David and ancestor of Ethan the singer (1
Ch. vi. 44; B. 'AfiSei, A. -i ; Abdi). 2. The
father of Kish. A Merarite of the time of
Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxix. 12). From a com
parison of 2 with 1, it would seem that the
Levitical families repeated ancestral names, or
that such names became the names of families
aud not of individuals. 3. One of the Bene-
Elam in the time of Ezra, who had married
a " strange " (i.e. foreign) wife (Ezra x. 26 ;
BK. 'AflSeici, A. -m). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABDIAS. The prophet Obadiah (2 Esd.
i. 39). [W. A. W.]
ABDI-EL (^Xn31?, servant of God; A.
'ApS^\,_B.'A0Se-l,\-~Abdiel), son of Guni (1
Ch. v. 15). The name corresponds to the Arabic
Abdallah. Milton (Paradise Lost, v. 805, 896)
applies it to " the Seraph faithful found among
the faithless, faithful only he." [W. A. W.] [F.]
AB'DON (JW*!*;, servile ; B. 'APStLv, A. Aa&-
idp.; Abdon). 1. The eleventh out of the
twelve judges (Judg. xii. 13, 15). He judged
Israel eight years, and had forty sons and thirty

ABEL
sons' sons, who rode, in token of their rank, ¦
upon asses. He is not to be confounded with
Bedan, in 1 Sam. xii. 11. 2. Son of Shashak
(1 Ch. viii. 23; B. 'A^aUv, A. 'APScbv). 3.
First-born son of Jeiel, father of Gibeon (1 Ch.
viii. 30, B. 'Afra\<&v ; ix. 36, BS*. SaPaSiiv, A.
S,a0S<!iv), i.e. the head of the house of Gibeon.
4. Son of Micah, a contemporary of Josiah
(2 Ch. xxxiv. 20 ; A. 'A$S<bv, B. ' A0SoSiii), called
Achbor, son of Micaiah, in 2 K. xxii. 12.
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AB'DON (l'H3I* ; A. 'A0ot&i>, B. AaP0&>r in
Josh. 1. <,-., 'Afrapav in 1 Ch. '. c. ; Abdon), i.e.
servile, a city in the tribe of Asher, given to
the Gershonites (Josh. xxi. 30 ; 1 Ch. vi. 74).
No place of this name appears in the list of the
towns of Asher. (Josh. xix. 24-31); but instead
we find (v. 28) p3T, " Hebron," * which is the
same word, with the change frequent in Hebrew
of "1 for "1. Indeed many MSS. have Abdon in
Josh. xix. 28 (Ges. p. 9S0 ; Winer, s. v.) ; but, on
the other hand, all the ancient Versions retain
the r (e.g. Vulg. Abran) except B., which has
'EKfitiv (A. 'Axpdp; 17 MSS. have "Efrptiv).
Identified by Guijrin (Galilee, ii. 35, 36) with
'Abdeh, small ruins east of ez-Zib (Achzib), on
a low hill overlooking the plain of Acre (P. F.
Mem. i. 170). There are also ruins called
'Abdun, close to Dor. The name occurs in
Arabia Petraea, and is written in the older
itineraries 'E/3iS5a. [G.] [W.]
ABED-NEGO (ijj-n*?**, or [once in Dan. iii.
29] fc*'l"0 'V ; 'A&Sevayti ; Abdenago), i.e. servant
of Nego, a copyist's mistake for Nebo, the Baby
lonian name of the planet Mercury, worshipped
as the scribe and interpreter of the gods (Gesen.
Thes. ; Duncker-Abbott, Hist, of Antiq. i. 268 ;
Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 115). A statue
of the god, found at Nimrud, is in the British
Museum (see Hommel, Geschichte Babyloniens-
Assyriens, p. 629). Abed-nebo occurs (B.C. 683)
in a "registry" tablet from the record office of
the Assyrian kings, as the name of a witness to a
deed of sale (see Speaker's Commentary on Daniel
[1881], p. 243.) Compounds with Abed are not
infrequent in Babylonian names (see Schrader,
LCAT.2, p. 430). Abednego (or -nebo) was the
Babylonian name given to Azariah (Dan. i. 7),
one of the three friends of Daniel, miraculously
saved from the burning fiery furnace (Dan. iii.).
[Azariah, No. 10.] [F.]
A'BEL (P3&"; = meadow, according to Ge-
senius," who derives it from a root signifying
moisture like that of grass), the name of several
places in Palestiue : —
1. A'bel-betii-ma'aohah (noVD JV3 'N.
see below and Maaoiiah ; 2 Sam. xx. 15, A.
'A06A 4y Brj0/«ixa, B. 'Aj3eA tV Baifyaxa ;
Abela et Bethmaacha: 1 K. xv. 20, A. 'A/3eA
ovkov [sic] Maaxd, B. ' ASuA/idd ; Abel domum-
Maacha: 2 K. xv. 29, B. rfy 'AfcK Ka\ tJ)v
Bafxaaxd, A. T. Ka06\ k. t. BepjmaxcS ; Abel
domum-Maacha : R. V. Abel-beth-Maacah), a town

« The Ain is here rendered by H. The H in the well-
known Hebron represents Ch. Usually Ain is not
expressed in the Authorized Version.
' The Chaldee Targum frequently renders Abel by
Mishor, a. levi-1 spot or plain generally. Cp Lagarde,
Ueliersicht iib. d. imAram., Arab., u. Bebr. iibl. Bildung
d,. Nomina , pp 45, 75.

ABEL
of some importance (ir6\is (tal u-nTp6iro\is, " a
city and a mother in Israel," 2 Sam. xx. 19), in the
extreme N. of Palestine ; twice named with other
places in the order from north to south ; once Ijon,
Dan, Abel, and all Cinneroth ; and again Ijon,
Abel, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor ; and as such falling
an early prey to the invading kings of Syria (1 K.
xv. 20) and Assyria (2 K. xv. 29). Inthe parallel
passage, 2 Ch. xvi. 4, the name is changed
to Abel Maim, DVD 'N = "Abel on the waters."
Here Sheba was overtaken and besieged by
Joab (2 Sam. xx. 14, 15) ; and the city was
saved by the exercise on the part of one ot
its inhabitants of that sagacity for which it
was proverbial (v. 18). In re. 14 and 18 it is
simply Abel, and in v. 14 is apparently distin
guished from Beth-maacha : the full name may
possibly have been Abel near Beth-maacha. lt
was possibly a colony of, and derived its name
from, the small Aramean kingdom of Maacha.
Josephus (_l)if. vii. 12, § 5) gives the form 'AiSeA-
\dvrj, and apparently places it near the northern
boundarv of Israel. It is probably the modern
Abl, or Abil el-Eamh, a small Christian village on
the left bank of the Nahr Bareigit, which flows
from the Merj cAyun. The village is situated
on an isolated oval hill that rises above a plain
of rich basaltic soil which produces fine wheat,
whence the name el-Kamh ; there are traces of
old foundations and a spring (P. F. Mem. i. 85,
107). It possibly derives its name Abel Maim
from the stream that rushes past the western
slope of the mound, or from the neighbouring
Merj tAyun, which is rich in .springs. Stanley
(S. and P. p. 390, note) places it to the south
in the marshy region of Lake Huleh ; Eusebius
and Jerome between Paneas and Damascus.
2. A'bel-ma'di (D)D ^>3N ; A. 'A0e\paiv,
B. -p.dv ; Abelmaim). 2 Ch. xvi. 4. [Abel, 1.]
3. A'bel-miz'batm (Miizraim), Dp¥t? 'X.
according to the etymology of the text, the
mourning of Egypt, irevdos Aiyiwrov, Planctus
Aegypti (this meaning, however, requires a
different pointing, 738* for ?3fc*) : the name
given by the Canaanites to the floor of Atad, at
which Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians
made their mourning for Jacob (Gen. 1. 11). It
was "13**, " beyond " Jordan, an expression used
for either east or west of the river, according to
the position of the speaker. Jerome identifies
it with Beth-Hogla (now 'Ain. Hajla), near the
river, on its icest bank. No authority is given
for this identification, which necessitates the
carriage of Jacob's body by a long circuitous
route through Moab and round the north end of
the Dead Sea to Hebron. A more natural
position would be some station on the direct
caravan road from Egypt to Hebron, possibly
near the territory of the Canaanite king Arad.
[Atad.] 4. .A'bel-shit'tim (with the article 'N
D,I3B*n, " the meadow of the acacias " [the Sam.
Cod. omits the article]; B. BeAo-5, A. BeA-
0-a.Trlfi, F. -efy; Abelsatim); in the "plains"
(r)3""l*=the deserts) of Moab by Jordan-Jericho,
or in that portion of the Jordan valley which
was opposite Jericho and belonged to Moab.
Here — their last resting-place before crossing
the Jordan — Israel " pitched from Beth-jesimoth

ABEL 5
unto Abel-shittim " (Num. xxxiii. 49). The place
is most frequently mentioned by its shorter
name of Shittim. [Shittim.] In the days of
Josephus it was still known as Abila, — the town
embosomed in palms0 (87rou vvv ir6\is iarXv
'A)8(A77, <poiviK6<pvTov 5' ^0"t1 to xwp'lolf7 Ant.
iv. 8, § 1), 60 stadia from the river (v. 1, § 1).
It was taken by Placidus, with Julias Besimoth
and other villages near the Dead Sea (B. J. iv.
7, § 6). Jerome, in his commentary on the third
chapter of Joel, places it six Roman miles from
Livias. The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds
give twelve miles as the distance between Abel-
shittim and Beth-jeshimoth. Now probably
Kefrcin, on a rocky slope east of Jordan, near
the northern margin of the fertile plain called
Seisebdn. There is abundant water at Kefrein
and some shapeless ruins, including those of a
citadel on a small isolated rock. Near the
western edge of the plain there are still many
acacia trees, " shittim " (Tristram, Land of
Israel, 523-525).
5. A'bel-meho'lah (Mec/iolah, rpinD 'N.
" meadow of the dance." a In Judg. vii. 22
[Vulg. v. 23], B. 'A0afieov\d, A. Ba<re\fj.eov\d ;
in 1 K. iv. 12, B. 'EjSeA/tawAtS, A. 'Aj9e\-
fiaov\d ; in 1 K. xix. 16, B. 'E^oAfiaouAa, A.
'A$e\fiaoA\ ; Abel-Meula, Abelmehula), named
with Bethshean (Scythopolis) and Jokneam (1 K.
iv. 12), and therefore in the N. part of the Jordan
valley (Euseb. iv t$ Av\S>vi,0S.2 p. 243, 36). To
" the border (the ' lip ' or ' brink ') of Abel-
meholah," and to Beth-shittah (the " house of the
acacia"), both places being evidently down in the
Jordan valley, the routed Bedouin host fled from
Gideon (Judg. vii. 22). Here Elisha was found at
his plough by Elijah returning up the valley from
Horeb (1 K. xix. 16-19). In Jerome's time the
name had dwindled to 'AjBefyie'a. Probably at
'Ain el-Helweh, " sweet spring," at the southern
end of the Bethshean plain, where the western
hills approach the Jordan, and close to an ancient
road. There are ruins near the spring, and
the position agrees with that indicated by
Eusebius and Jerome (cp. P. F. Mem. ii. 231).
6. A'bel-cera'mim (D*P"I3 'K ; B. 'e/3eA-
Xap/xeifji, A. 'A£eA afnrehwvtov ', Abel quse est
vineis consita), in the A. V. rendered " the plain
(marg. ' Abel ') of the vineyards ; " R. V. Abel-
cheramim; R. V. marg. the meadow of vine
yards : a place eastw ard of Jordan, beyond
Aroer ; named as the point to which Jephthah's
pursuit of the Bene-Ammon extended (Judg.
xi. 33). A kw^t] a[iire\o<p6pos *Aj8eA is men
tioned by Eusebius as 6 (Jerome, 7) miles
beyond Philadelphia (Rabbah) ; and another,
olvo<p6pos KaXov/iffn, more to the N. 12 miles E.
from Gadara, below the Hieromax. The site
of the former has not yet been identified ; fhe
latter, the modern Abil, is still found in the
same position (Ritter, Syria, p. 1058). There is
another Kefr Abil on the Roman road from Pella
to Gerasa, between the former place and W&dy
Yabis. The passage (Judg. xi. 33) possibly
means that Jephthah drove the Ammonites out of
Gilead (comp. vv. 13, 22), in which case Aroer
c It was amongst these palms, according to Jo
sephus, that Deuteronomy was delivered by Moses.
See tbe passage above cited,
d If Mecholah always implies a religious dance, Abei-
Mecholah was probably a sanctuary.

rj ABEL
on the Arnon and Abel-ceramim (Abil) on the
Hieromax would be the limits of the district
freed. The position of Abel-ceramim depends
upon that of Minnith, which is still unknown ;
it is placed by Jerome (OS.1 p. 171,4) four miles
from Heshbon on the road to Philadelphia. Oli-
phant (Land of Gilead, p. 420) identifies it with
Mineh, a station on the Raj road north of Eal'at
Zerka. There is also a Minieh south of Mount
Nebo. There were at least three places with the
name of Aroer on the further side of the Jordan.
[Aroer.] 7. n*?"nan-^3N. " The great 'Abel ' (marg.
' stone ; ' Abel Magnum) in the field of Joshua
the Bethshemite " (1 Sam. vi. 18). By com
parison with vv. 14 and 15, it would seem that
for ?3X should be read J3X = stone. So the
LXX., Targum, R. V., and most modern scholars.
The translators of A. V., by the insertion of
" stone of," seem to have taken a middle course.
The view that Abel was the name subsequently
given to the spot in reference to the " mourn
ing " (-1 73NJV) there (v. 19) has now no sup
porters. In the Jewish traditions it was an altar
erected by Abraham. M. C. Ganneau (P. F.
Qy. Stat, 1877, pp. 154-6), reading Eben for
Abel, connects the spot with Eben-ezer (1 Sam.
iv. 1), where the Israelites encamped before the
disastrous battle in which the ark was lost.
This place he identifies with Deir 'Abdn, two
miles east of 'Ain S/iems, " Bethshemesh," and
close to the Roman road to Jerusalem. Eusebius
and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 132, 20; 243, 15) place
Abenezer ('A£Seve£ep) near Bethsames on the road
from M\ia to Ascalon, a position which answers
well to that of Deir 'Abdn. [G.] [W.]
A'BEL (73H; "A0eA; Abel; i.e. breath,
vapour, transitoriness), a name expressive gene
rally (a) of the transitoriness of man considered
by himself apart from God and God's promises ;
or (6) of the mother's recognition of the brevity
and frailty of human life after the fall; in
the latter case the child would have been so
named at his birth. Others consider Abel to
have been so called from the shortness of his
life (cp. Ps. xxxix. 6 ; Job vii. 16). He was the
second son of Adam, and was murdered by his
brother Cain (Gen. iv. 1-16). Jehovah showed
respect for Abel's offering, but not for that of
Cain ; because, according to Hebrews xi. 4, Abel
" by faith offered a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain." The expression " sin " (taken in the sense
of a sin-offering) " lieth at the door " (Gen. iv. 7),
seems to imply that the need of sacrifices of
blood to obtain forgiveness was already revealed.
Others, questioning as anachronistic the inter
pretation "sin-offering," take the sentence to
refer to the danger to which Cain was exposing
himself by his wrath. Sin, like a crouchin?
beast, was preparing to spring upon him
(see mt. al Delitzsch [1887], Harold Browne
[Speaker s Commentary'], Payne Smith [Ellicott's
Commentary-], on Gen. iv. 7). On account of
Abel s faith, St. Augustine makes Abel the type
of the new regenerate man ; Cain that of the
natural man (de Civ. Dei, xv. 1). St. Chrysos
tom observes that Abel offered the best of his
flock— Cain that which was most readily pro
cured (Hem. in Gen. xviii. 5 : cp. the Midrash

Rabbah, Par. xxii. in Hamburger, BE. s. u.
Hebel, or in Wiinsche's Sammlung Alter Midra-
schim, 4te Lieferung, pp. 98, &c). Jesus Christ
spoke of him as the first " martyr " (Matt, xxiii.
35) ; so did the early Church subsequently. For
Christian traditions, see Iren. v. 67 ; Chrysost.
Horn, in Gen. xix. ; Cedren. Hist. 8 ; Wetzer u.
Welte's KL.° s. n. : for those of the Rabbins and
Mahommedans, see Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Jud.
i. 462, 832 ; Hamburger, op. cit. ; Hottinger,
Hist. Or. 24 ; Ersch and Gruber, Encyklop. s. v. ;
and the Kur-dn, ch. v . The place of his murder
and his grave are pointed out near Damascus
(Pococke, b. ii. 168) ; and the neighbouring
peasants tell a curious tradition respecting his
burial (Stanley, S. and P. p. 413).
In modern times the interpretation of Abel
has been traced to the Assyrian habal =son, a,
word not infrequent in proper names (e.g. Asur-
nasir-habal ; Nabu-habal-usur), and imported
from the Sumerian-Accadian (Schrader, EAT.'',
p. 44) ; but such an interpretation, if suitable to
the first-born son of the first man, does not
seem appropriate to the younger brother (cp.
Delitzsch). The fondness for the pastoral life,
in which — as distinguished from the agricul
tural life — the Israelites delighted in the earlier
days of their existence, has been traced with
some probability to their attachment to the
memory and calling of Abel. To Christians,
Abel the shepherd became a type of Christ, " the
just One," the " good Shepherd," " brought
like a lamb to the slaughter," and offering the
" blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than
that of Abel " (Heb. xii. 24, R. V.). For the sect
of the Abelonii (or Abelitse) see s. v. in Dictionary
of Christian Biography. [R. W. B.] [F.]
A'BEZ (]>3N, in pause "'3N ; B. 'PejSer, A.
'Aefj.e ; Abes ; R. V. Ebez), a town in the posses
sion of Issachar, named between Kishion and
Remeth, in Josh. xix. 20, only. Gesenius (Thes.)
mentions as a possible derivation of the name,
that the Chaldee for tin is NV3X. Some
derive it and the name Ibzan from an unused
root (= to shine, hence to be high) applied to
high places and positions. Others connect it
with an Arabic root, to be white. Possibly,
however, if the boundary of Issachar may be
carried so far to the south, the word is a cor
ruption of **3J-|, Thebez, now Tubas, a town,
9 miles S.E. of Engannim, which otherwise has
escaped mention in the list in Joshua. Conder
(Hdbk. to Bible, 401) identifies it with Kh.
cl-Beidha, on the plain of Esdraelon, between
Tell Eeimun (Jokneam) and Beit Lahm (Beth
lehem), but this place must have been included
within the border of Zebulun. [G.] [W.]
ABI' 03K, /aito-=progenitor; 'A/Sou ; Abi),
wife of Ahaz, and mother of king Hezekiah
(2 K. xviii. 2). The name is written Abijah
(ho. 6, n»3N) in 2 Ch. xxix. 1. Her father's
name was Zechariah. He was perhaps the
Zechariah mentioned by Isaiah (viii. 2)
[R. W. B.] ' [F.]
ABIA, ABIAH, or ABI'JAH (HS3K=
•in»3***, my father [or a father] is Jah; 'A/sio;
Abia). Many proper names are compounded of
i? S-faUcr' or ™y father). The sense in
which this is to be understood is uncertain:

ABI-ALBON
perhaps in some cases it may be n title of
God (cp. Ewald, Lehrb. p. 615 ; Nestle, Israelii.
Eigennamen, p. 182 sq. ; Fr. Delitzsch, Prolegg.
z. Heb.-Aram. Worterb. p. 200 sq.). 1. Son of
Becher, the son of Benjamin (1 Ch. vii. 8,
B. 'AjSiouS, A. 'AjSiou). 2. Wife of Hezron
(1 Ch. ii. 24). 3. Second son of Samuel, whom
together with his eldest son Joel he made judges
in Beersheba (1 Sam. viii. 2 ; 1 Ch. vi. 28). The
corruptness of their administration was the
reason alleged by the Israelites for their de
manding a king. 4. Mother of king Hezekiah
[Abi]. 5. Or Abijam, the son of Rehoboam
(1 Ch. iii. 10, B. 'A£efa; Matt. i. 7). 6. De
scendant of Eleazar, and chief of the eighth of
the twenty-four courses of priests (Luke i. 5).
Cp. Abijah (No. 4). For other persons of this
name, see Abijah. [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABI-AL'BON. [Abiel.]
ABI-A'SAPH, otherwise written EBI
ASAPH (*ipS'3S, Ex. vi. 24, B. 'APimrap,
F. 'Aflido-ao^and "1p'3N in 1 Ch. vi. S [LXX.
and Vulg. v. 23], B* ''A$iaBdp, A. 'Afrtao-djp ;
in 1 Ch. vi. 22 [LXX. and Vulg. v. 37],
B. 'Afiiao-dp, A. 'A&iao-dtp; in 1 Ch. ix. 19,
B. 'Aj8ia<rdn; Abiasaph: according to Simonis
(but improbably), " cujus patrem abstulit Deus,"
with reference to the death of Korah, as related
in Num. xvi. ; but according to MV.10 my father
Jiath gathered; compare f]DS, Asaph, 1 Ch. vi.
39). He was the head of one of the families
of the Korhites (a house of the Kohathites),
but his precise genealogy is somewhat uncer
tain. In Ex. vi. 24, he appears at first sight
to be represented as one of the sons of Korah,
and as the brother of Assir and Elkanah. But
in 1 Ch. vi. he appears as the son of El
kanah, the son of Assir, the son of Korah.
The natural inference from this would be that
in Ex. vi. 24 the expression " the sons of Korah "
merely means the families into which the house
of the Korhites was subdivided. But if so, the
verse in Exodus must be a later insertion than
the time of Moses, as in Moses' lifetime the
gTeat-grandson of Korah could not have been
the head of a family. And it is remarkable
that the verse is quite out of its place, and
appears improperly to separate ver. 25 and
ver. 23, which both relate to the house of Aaron.
If, however, this inference is not correct, then
the Ebiasaph of 1 Ch. vi. is a different person
from the Abiasaph of Ex. vi., viz. his great-
nephew. But this does not seem probable. It
appears from 1 Ch. ix. 19, that that branch of
the descendants of Abiasaph of which Shallum
was chief were porters, " keepers of the gates of
the tabernacle ; " and from ver. 31 that Matti-
thiah, " the first-born of Shallum the Korahite,
had the set office over the things that were
made in the pans," apparently in the time of
David. From Neh. xii. 25 we learn that
Abiasaph's family was not extinct in the days of
Nehemiah ; for the family of Meshullam (which
is the same as Shallum), with Talmon and
Akkub, still filled the office of porters, " keeping
the ward at the threshold of the gate." Other
remarkable descendants of Abiasaph, according
to the text of 1 Ch. vi. 33-37, were Samuel the
prophet and Elkanah his father (1 Sam. i. 1),
and Heman the singer ; but Ebiasaph seems to

ABIATHAE 7
be improperly inserted in v. 37." The posses
sions of those Kohathites who were not descended
from Aaron, consisting of ten cities, lay in the
tribe of Ephraim, the half-tribe of Manasseh, and
the tribe of Dan (Josh. xxi. 20-26 ; 1 Ch. vi. 61).
The family of Elkanah the Kohathitc resided in
Mount Ephraim (1 Sam. i. 1). [A. C. H.]
ABI-A'THAE (•*U*>'3N ; 'AfraBdp; Abiathar;
but the version of Santes Pagninus has Ebiathar,
according to the Hebrew points. In Mark ii. 26,
it is 'AfiidBap. According to Gesenius = father of
excellence, or abundance ; according to Olshausen
[Lehrb. p. 620] = my father excels. The exact
meaning is uncertain). Abiathar was that one of
all the sons of Ahimelech the high-priest who
escaped the slaughter inflicted upon his father's
house by Saul, at the instigation of Doeg the Edo-
mite (see title to Ps. Iii. and the Psalm itself), in
revenge for his having inquired of the Lord for
David, and given him the shewbread to eat and
the sword of Goliath the Philistine, as is related
in 1 Sam. xxii. We are there told that when
Doeg slew in Nob on that day fourscore and five
persons that did wear a linen ephod, " one of the
sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abia
thar, escaped and fled after David ; " and it is
added in 1 Sam. xxiii. 6, that when he did so " he
came down with an ephod in his hand," and was
thus enabled to inquire of the Lord for David (1
Sam. xxiii. 9, xxx. 7 ; 2 Sam. ii. 1, v. 19, &c).
The fact of David having been the unwilling cause
of the death of all Abiathar's kindred, coupled
with his gratitude to his father Ahimelech for
his kindness to him, made him a firm and sted-
fast friend to Abiathar all his life. Abiathar on
his part was firmly attached to David. He
adhered to him in his wanderings while pursued
by Saul ; he was with him while he reigned in
Hebron (2 Sam. ii. 1-3), the city of the house
of Aaron (Josh. xxi. 10-13) ; he carried the ark
before him when David brought it up to Jeru
salem (1, Ch. xv. 11 ; IK. ii. 26); he continued
faithful to him in Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam.
xv. 24, 29, 35, 36, xvii. 15-17, xix. 11) ; and
" was afflicted in all wherein David was
afflicted." He was also one of David's chief
counsellors (1 Ch. xxvii. 34). When, however,
Adonijah set himself up for David's successor on
the throne in opposition to Solomon, Abiathar,
either persuaded by Joab, or in rivalry to Zadok,
or under some influence which cannot now be
discovered, sided with him, and was one of his
chief partisans, while Zadok was on Solomon's
side. For this Abiathar was banished to his
native village, Anathoth, in the tribe of Ben
jamin (Josh. xxi. 18), and narrowly escaped
with his life, which was spared by Solomon only
on the score of his long and faithful service
to David his father. He was no longer per
mitted to perform the functions, or enjoy the
prerogatives, of the high-priesthood. For we
are distinctly told that "Solomon thrust out
Abiathar from being priest to the Lord ; " and
that " Zadok the priest did the king put in the
room of Abiathar " (1 K. ii. 27, 35). So that
we must understand the assertion in 1 K. iv. 4,
that in Solomon's reign " Zadok and Abiathar
were the priests," as simply stating the his
torical fact that they were the priests at the

a See The Genealogies of our Lord, and Saviour Jesus
Christ, by Lord Arthur Hervey, p. 210, and p. 214, note.

8 ABIATHAE
beginning of Solomon's reign. Ver. 2, which
tells us that " Azariah the son of Zadok " was
" the priest," — a declaration confirmed by
1 Ch. vi. 10, — refers to the eleventh year of his
reign when the Temple was finished. It is pro
bable that Abiathar did not long survive David.
He is not mentioned again, and he must have
been far advanced in years at Solomon's accession
to the throne.
There are one or two other difficulties con
nected with Abiathar, to which a brief reference
must be made before we conclude this article. (1.)
In 2 Sam. viii. 17*, and in the duplicate passage
1 Ch. xviii. 16 (K* 'A/lieaBep), and in 1 Ch. xxiv.
3, 6, 31, we have Ahimelech substituted for
Abiatlmr, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar
instead oi Abiathar the son of Ahimeleah. Whereas
in 2 Sam. xx. 25, and in every other passage in
the 0. T., we are uniformly told that it was
Abiathar who was priest with Zadok in David's
reign, and that he was the son of Ahimelech,
and that Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub.
The difficulty is increased by finding Abiathar
spoken of as the high-priest in whose time David
ate the shewbread (see Mark ii. 26, and Alford
in loo.). However, the evidence in favour of
David's friend being Abiathar the son of Ahime
lech preponderates so strongly, and the impossi
bility of any rational reconciliation is so clear,
that one can only suppose, with Procopius of
Gaza, an error here (cp. Wellhausen, d. Text d.
BB. Sam. p. 177). The mention of Abiathar by
our Lord, in Mark ii. 26, might perhaps be
accounted for, if Abiathar was the person
who persuaded his father to allow David to
have the bread, and if, as is probable, the
loaves were Abiathar's (Lev. xxiv. 9), and
given by him with his own hand to David.
"The expression o apxiepeiis is the equivalent of
}i}3n, "the priest," applied to Ahimelech
throughout 1 Sam. xxi. and xxii., and equally
applicable to Abiathar if he was the chief
officiating priest under his father.
(2.) Another difficulty concerning Abiathar is
to determine his position relatively to Zadok,
and to account for the double high-priesthood,
and for the advancement of tho line of Ithamar
over that of Eleazar. A theory has been in
vented that Abiathar was David's, and Zadok
Saul's high-priest, but it seems to rest on no
solid ground. The facts of the case are these : 
Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, the son of
Phinehas, the son of Eli, was high-priest in the
reign of Saul. On his death his sou Abinthar
became high-priest. The first mention of Zadok
is in 1 Ch. xii. 28, where he is described as " a
young man mighty of valour," and is said to
have joined David while he reigned in Hebron
in company with Jehoiada, " the leader of the
Aaronites." From this time we read, both in
the books of Samuel and Chronicles, of " Zadok
and Abiathar the priests," Zadok being always
¦ Klostermann (Kurigef. Kommentar zu A. u V T
odd. Strack u. ZJickler 18»») supposes in loco that such
words as In^ VJE& (cp. 1 Sam. iii. 1, ii. 18) have
fallen out if the text after £3^3. Hackett <D. B
Amered.) mentions tbe opinion that Ahimelech and
Abia harwere hereditary names in the family, and hence
that the father and son could have borne these names
respectively, and this view is accepted by most
moderns. ' "

ABIEL
named first. And yet we are told that Solomon
on his accession put Zadok in the room of
Abiathar. Perhaps the true state of the case
was, that Abiathar was the first and Zadok the
second priest ; but that from the superior
strength of the house of Eleazar (of which Zadok
was head), which enabled it to furnish sixteen out
of the twenty-four courses (1 Ch. xxiv.), Zadok
acquired considerable influence with David ; and
that this, added to his being the heir of the elder
line, and perhaps also to some of the passages
being written after the line of Zadok was esta
blished in the high-priesthood, led to the pre
cedence given him over Abiathar. We have^
already suggested the possibility of jealousy of
Zadok being one of the motives which inclined
Abiathar to join Adonijah's faction. It is most
remarkable how, first, Saul's cruel slaughter of
the priests at Nob, and then the political error
of the wise Abiathar, led to the fulfilment of
God's denunciation against the house of Eli, as
the writer of 1 K. ii. 27 leads us to observe
when he says that " Solomon thrust out Abiathar
from being priest unto the Lord, that he might
fulfil the word of the Lord which He spake con
cerning the house of Eli in Shiloh." See also.
Joseph. Ant. viii. 1, §§ 3, 4. [A. C. H]
A'BIB. [Months.]
ABI-DAH and ABI-DA (1"T3K, apparently
= my father knoweth; B. 'AfietSd, A. -1- [in 1 Ch.
'. c] ; AD. 'Afapd [in Gen. 1. c] ; AbiSa), a son
of Midian and grandson of Abraham by Keturah
(Gen. xxv. 4 ; 1 Ch. i. 33). [E. S. P.]
ABI-DAN (|T3K, my father is judge; A.
'A0tddv, B. -ei-; Abidan), chief of the tribe
of Benjamin at the time of the Exodus (Num i
11, ii. 22, vii. 60, 65, x. 24). [W. A. W.] [F.] "
ABI-EL (V3N, my father [or, a father]
is God [or Er\ ¦ A. 'AyS.VJA, B. -„. ; Abiel).
1. The father of Kish, and consequently grand
father of Saul (1 Sam. ix. 1), as well as of
Abner^ Saul s commander-in-chief (1 Sam. xiv.
51, B. 'Afleep). In the genealogy in 1 Ch. viii.
33, ix. 39, Ner is made the father of Kish, and
the name of Abiel is omitted, but the correct
genealogy according to Samuel is :—
Abiel I

Kish
Saul

I

Abner

2. 'Afli^x.. One of David's thirty "mishtv
«S (1 C- So;?2)- Th« ^ew that Abi-AIboi
(2 Sam. xxm. 31) is an alternative for Abiel is
very improbable (Driver). The reading Abiel in
2 Sam. is supported by B. (at end of ch. xxiii., ed'.
Swete,p.666),ro8oj8iU!«os = |:^>j?V]N f^Wi.
and the Luc. Recension roA<ra8ifa. Holmes and
Parsons give twelve MSS. with 'A$^\, an*
eleven with W\. Klostermann's suggestion,
here (note m loco in Strack u. Zockler's Kqf.
Aomm.) is to some not unreasonable. [13 nv
|13?1* ('Albon) may be a corruption of JV3, and,
he would read *n*ni,n IT*) ^3N (instead
of ion f0b0*lKJ, Abiel of Betharaba (cP.
Josh. xv. 6, 61), called Arabah in Josh, xviii
18' [R.W.B.] [F.]

ABIEZEB
ABI-E'ZER ("l*!* *3X, father of help ; in
Josh. I. c. A. 'Axie'fep, B. 'Ie'f" > 'n Num. '. c.
[LXX. v. 34], 'Axie'Cep; Abiezer). 1. Eldest
son of Gilead, and descendant of Machir and
Manasseh, and apparently at one time the leading
family of the tribe (Josh. xvii. 2 ; Num. xxvi.
30, where the name is given in the contracted
form of "ltl?,**5, Jezer). In the genealogies of
Chronicles, Abiezer is, in the present state of
the text, said to have sprung from the sister of
Gilead (1 Ch. vii. 18). Originally, therefore,
the family was with the rest of the house of
Gilead on the east of Jordan ; but when tirst
met with in the history, some part at least of
it had crossed the Jordan and established itself
at Ophrah, now probably Ferdta, a village five
miles W.S.W. of Shechem, and not far from the
borders of Ephraim, the old name of which was
Ophrah (Sam. Chron.). See P. F. Mem. ii. 162.
Here, when the fortunes of his family were at
the lowest — •' my ' thousand ' is ' the poor one '
in Manasseh " (Judg. vi. 15) — was born the great
judge Gideon, destined to raise his own house
to almost royal dignity (Stanley, p. 229), and to
achieve for his country one of the most signal
deliverances recorded in their whole history.
[Gideon; Ophrah.]
2. One of David's " mighty men " (2 Sam.
xxiii. 27, B. 'Afcte&p, AB". 'A0U£ep ; 1 Ch. xi.
28, xxvii. 12, B. 'A/Bi^ep). [G.] [W.]
ABI-EZ'EITE C1Tl*n '3X : B. irarphs toS
'Eo-Bpe! in Judg. vi. ll'[A. it. 'A0ie$>fj, 24 [A.
it. t. 'IeCpf] ; B. 'AjSietrSpel in Judg. viii. 32,
A. irpT 'AiSiejjpef : pater familiae Ezri [vi. 11],
familia Ezri [vi. 24, viii. 32]). The designation
is given to Joash the father of Gideon, and is
descriptive of a descendant of Abiezer, or Jeezer,
the son of Gilead (Judg. vi. 11, 24; viii. 32),
and thence also called Jeezerite (Num. xxvi.
30 ; see Abiezer, No. 1). In Judg. vi. 24,
viii. 32, the A. V. and R. V. both use the plural
'¦ Abiezrites " for the collective Hebrew singular.
The Peshito and Targum both regard the first part
ofthe word " Abi " as an appellative, " father of,"
as also the LXX. and Vulgate. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABI-GA'IL (^VriN, or b'3*-* [Kethib,
'•13K], MV.10 = father of joy, Olshaus'en [Lehrb.
p. 616] = my father is joy ; 'ABiyaia, B. -ei-;
Abigail). 1. The beautiful wife of Nabal, a wealthy
owner of goats and sheep iu Carmel. When David's
messengers were slighted by Nabal, Abigail took
the blame upon herself, supplied David and his
followers with provisions, and succeeded in ap
peasing his anger. Ten days after this Nabal
died, and David sent for Abigail and made her
his wife (1 Sam. xxv. 14 seq.). By her he
had a son, called Chileab in 2 Sam. iii. 3, but
Daniel (B. &ap.vil)\ ; Daniel) in 1 Ch. iii. 1.
He may well have borne both names (Keil).
2. A sister of David, married to Jether the
lshmaelite, and mother, by him, of Amasa ( 1
Ch. ii. 17). In 2 Sam. xvii. 25 she (Abigal) is
described as the daughter of Nahash, sister to
Zeruiab, Joab's mother, and as marrying Ithra
(another form of Jether) an Israelite. A. has
here 'Icraa-nXelrns ( B. 'Io"p-), a reading ac
cepted by Thenius, Keil, and Wellhausen. There
could, it is thought, be no reason for re
cording a marriage with an Israelite ; but the
circumstance of David's sister marrying a

ABIJAH

9

heathen lshmaelite deserved mention (Thenius,
Exeg. Handb. Sam. I. c). Lucian has the readino-
6 'IefpaijAfrTis (= VXIPiT), but there is no
place called bniV. [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABIHA'IL (l?!n',3N, Ges. = father of might.
1. A. 'A/3ixo(A, B. -6i'-, F. 'AfiiXaia ; Abihaiel.
Father of Zuriel, chief of the Levitical family of
Merari, a contemporary of Moses (Num. iii. 35).
2. Wife of Abishur (1 Ch. ii. 29).
3. A. 'AiSixafa, B. -ei- ; Abihail. Son of
Huri, of the tribe of Gad (1 Ch. v. 14).
4. Wife of Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 18 ; Abihail).
She is called the daughter, i.e. a descendant of
Eliab, the elder brother of David.
5. 'AfiiraSd/3 ; Abihail. Father of Esther and
uncle of Mordecai (Esth. ii. 15, ix. 29).
The uames of Nos. 2 aud 4 are written in soma-
MSS. ^.iT3N (B. 'ABeixm'a, A. 'Afayaia in 1 Ch..
ii. 29; B. Balav, B.<*vM 'APalav, A. 'AfiuuuK
in 2 Ch. xi. 18), which may be conjectured to
be a mistake for or variation of 7)1*1 *3X.
[R.W.B.] [F.]
ABI'HL1 (fc*'*V3N, myFatheris He" ;' Afrioib ;.
Abiu), the second son (Num. iii. 2) of Aaron by
Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23), who, with his father and his
elder brother Nadab and seventy elders of Israel,
accompanied Moses to the summit of Sinai (Ex.
xxiv. 1). Being together with Nadab guilty of
offering strange fire (Lev. x. 1) to the Lord, i.e.
not the holy fire which burnt continually upon
the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. vi. 9, 12), they
were both consumed by fire from heaven, and
Aaron and his surviving sons were forbidden to
mourn for them. The name also occurs in Exod.
xxiv. 9, xxviii. 1 ; Num. iii. 4, xxvi. 60, 61 ;

I Ch. vi. 3, xxiv. 1, 2.

[R. W. B.] [F.]

ABI'HXJD 0-liT3N, father of majesty, oi-
my father is majesty ; 'AfiiovS ; Abiud), son of
Bela and grandson of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii. 3).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ABI'JAH or ABI'JAM. 1. ¦in*3N. n*3K.
my father (or, a father) is Jah. D!3N according
to Ges. = father of the sea, i.e. a maritime man ;.
according to Nestle (Die Isr. Eigcnn. p. 173 n.)
= DUOS, father of the people ; 'A$ias, Joseph. ;.
Abiam, Abia, the son and successor of Rehoboam
on the throne of Judah (1 K. xiv. 31 ; 2 Ch.
xii. 16). He is called Abijah in Chronicles
(ns3X ; 'A£ia ; Abia), Abijam in Kings ('A0iov ;
Abiam) ; the latter name being probably an error
in the MSS., since the LXX.-form, 'Afitoi, seems
taken from Abijahu, which occurs 2 Ch. xiii. 20,
21 ('AjSia; Abia). Indeed Gesenius says that
some MSS. read Abijah in 1 K. xiv. 31. The
supposition, therefore, of Lightfoot (Harm. 0. T.,
p. 209, Pitman's edition), that the writer in
Kings, who takes a much worse view of Abijah's
character than we find in Chronicles, altered
the last syllable to avoid introducing the holy
Jah into the name of a bad man, is unneces
sary. But it is not fanciful or absru'd, for
changes of the kind were not unusual: for

» Cf. X-invK. SM!"I> Be, appears to have been used
to denote God. Cp. Olshausen, Lehrb., p. 615 ; Renan.
Des Norns theophorcs, in ItEJ. v. 164. [F.]

10

ABIJAH

example, after the Samaritan schism the Jews
altered the name of Shechem into Sychar
(drunken), as we have it in John iv. 5 ; and
Hosea (iv. 15) changes Beth-el, house of God,
into Beth-aven, house of naught (see Stanley,
S. <$• P- p. 222).
From the First Book of Kings we learn that
Abijah endeavoured to recover the kingdom of
the Ten Tribes, and made war on Jeroboam. No
details are given, but we are also informed that
he walked in all the sins of Rehoboam (idolatry
and its attendant immoralities, 1 K. xiv. 23, 24),
and that his heart " was not perfect before God,
as the heart of David his father." In the Second
Book of Chronicles his war against Jeroboam is
more minutely described, and he makes a speech
to the men of Israel, reproaching them for break
ing their allegiance to the house of David, for
worshipping the golden calves, and substituting
unauthorized priests for the sons of Aaron and
the Levites. He was successful in battle against
Jeroboam, and took the citiesof Bethel, Jeshanah,
and Ephrain, with their dependent villages. It
is also said (2 Ch. xiii. 3, 17) that his army
consisted of 400,000 men, and Jeroboam's of
800,000, of whom 500,000 fell in the action :
numbers which, if in themselves almost in
credibly high and possibly incorrect, are yet in
keeping with the systematic use of high figures
on the part of the Chronicler (see 1 Ch. xxi. 5 ;
cp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 9 : Rawlinson in the Speaker's
Commentary on Ch. '. c). Nothing is said by the
writer in Chronicles of the sins of Abijah, but we
are told that after his victory he " waxed mighty,
and married fourteen wives," whence we may
well infer that he was elated with prosperity,
and, like his grandfather Solomon, fell during
the last two years of his life into wickedness, as
described in Kings. Both records inform us that
he reigned but three years ; and the Talmud
accounts his early death a punishment for his
non-fulfilment of the duties to which his own
speech had summoned the children of Israel
(2 Chron. xiii. 4-12). His mother was called
Maachah. In some places (1 K. xv. 2 ; 2 Ch. xi.
20) she is said to be the daughter of Absalom
or Abishalom (the same name) ; in one (2 Ch.
xiii. 2 ; Heb. reads -liTD'O, but the LXX. and
Syr. read l"DJ)D, which is certainly right, and
is accepted by Bertheau and Keil) of Uriel of
Gibeah. It is, however, so common for the word
]"13, daughter, to be used in the sense of grand
daughter or descendant, that we need not hesitate
to assume that Uriel married Tamar, Absalom's
daughter, and that thus Maachah was daughter
of Uriel and granddaughter of Absalom. Abijah
therefore was descended from David, both on his
father's and mother's side. According to the old
chronology, the date of Abijah's accession was
variously placed between B.C. 933 (Seyffarth)
and B.C. 968 (Ewald) ; but, since the discovery
of the Assyrian Eponymous Canon, between B.C.
912 (Brandes) and B.C. 921 (Riehm). See Rosch's
useful table in Herzog, BE:2 xvii. p. 477, B. u.
Zeitrechnung. The 18th year of Jeroboam co
incides with the 1st and 2nd of Abijah.
2. The second son of Samuel, called Abiah in
A. V.(> Abijah in R. V. [See Abia, No. 3.]
3. 'A&id; Abia. The son of Jeroboam I. king
of Israel, in whom alone, of all the house of
Jeroboam, was found " some good thing toward

ABILENE
the Lord God of Israel," and who was therefore
the only one of his family who was suffered to go
down to the grave in peace. He died in his
childhood, just after Jeroboam's wife had been
sent in disguise to seek help for him in his
sickness from the prophet Ahijah, who gave her
the above answer. (1 K. xiv.)
4. 'AjSia ; Abia. A descendant of Eleazar, who
gave his name to the eighth of the twenty-four
courses into which the priests were divided by
David (1 Ch. xxiv. 10 ; 2 Ch. viii. 14). Only
four of the courses returned from the Captivity,
and that of Abijah was not one (Ezra ii. 36-39 ;
Neh. vii. 39-42, xii. 1). But the four were
divided into the original number of twenty-four,
with the original names ; and hence it happened
that to the course of Abijah or Abia belonged
Zacharias the father of John the Baptist (Luke
i. 5). 5. 'Afiid ; Abia. A contemporary of Nehe
miah (Neh. x. 7).
6. The daughter of Zechariah (2 Ch. xxix. 1,
B. 'A^o, A. 'A0$a0i8, Abia), also called Abi
(B. 'APoi, Abi, in 2 K. xviii. 2), wife of Ahaz, and
mother of Hezekiah. [Abl] [G.E.I.C] [F.]
ABI'JAM. [Abijah, No. 1.]
A'BILA. [Abilene.]
ABILE'NE CAfa\-nvh, Luke iii. 1), a te-
trarchy of which Abila was the capital. This
Abila must not be confounded with Abila in
Peraea, and other Syrian cities of the same
name, but was situated on the eastern slope of
Antilibanus, in a district fertilised by the river
Barada. It is distinctly associated with Lebanon
by Josephus (Ant. xviii. 6, § 10, xix. 5, § 1,
xx. 7, § 1 ; B. J. ii. 11, § 5). Its name probably
arose from the green luxuriance of its situation,
" Abel " perhaps denoting " a grassy meadow "
[see s. v.]. The name, thus derived, is quite
sufficient to account for the traditions of the
death of Abel, which are associated with the
spot, and which are localised by the tomb called
Neby Habil, on a height above the ruins of the
city. The position of the city is very clearly
designated by the Itineraries as 18 miles from
Damascus, and 38 (or 32) miles from Heliopolis
or Baalbec (Bin. Ant. and Tab. Peut).
It is impossible to fix the limits of the Abilene
which is mentioned by St. Luke as the tetrarchy
of Lysanias. [Lvsanias.] Like other districts
of the East, it doubtless underwent many changes
both of masters and of extent, before it was
finally absorbed in the province of Syria. Jose
phus associates this neighbourhood with the
name of Lysanias both before and after the time
referred to by the Evangelist. For the later
notices see the passages just cited. We there
find " Abila of Lysanias," and " the tetrarchy of
Lysanias," distinctly mentioned in the reigns of
Claudius and Caligula. We find also the phrase
'A0lXa Avo-aviov in Ptolemy (v. 15, § 22). The
natural conclusion appears to be that this was
the Lysanias of St. Luke. It is true that a
chieftain bearing the same name is mentioned
by Josephus in the time of Antony and Cleopatra,
as ruling in the same neighbourhood (Ant. xiv.
3, § 3, xv. 4, § 1 ; B. J. i. 13, § 1 ; also Dio
Cass. xlix. 32): and from the close connexion
of this man's father with Lebanon and Damascus
(Ant xiii. 16, (j 3, xiv. 7, § 4; B. J. i. 9, § 2)
it is probable that Abilene was part bf his terri-

ABIMAEL
tory, and that the Lysanias of St. Luke was tho
son or grandson of the former. Even if we
assume (as many writers too readily assume)
that the tetrarch mentioned in the time of
Claudius and Caligula is to be identified, not
with the Lysanias of St. Luke, but with the
earlier Lysanias (never called tetrarch and
never positively connected with Abila) in the
times of Antony and Cleopatra, there is no
difficulty in believing that a prince bearing this
name ruled over ". tetrarchy having Abila for
its capital, in the 15th year of Tiberius (see
Wieseler, Chronologische Synopse der vier Evan-
gelicn, pp. 174—183).
The site of the chief city of Abilene has been
undoubtedly identified where the Itineraries
place it ; and its remains have been described of
late years by many travellers. It stood in a
remarkable gorge called the Suk Wddy Barada,
where the river breaks down through the moun
tain towards the plain of Damascus. Among
the remains the inscriptions are most to our
purpose. One containing the words Avcraviou
Terpdpxov is cited by Pococke, but has not been
seen by any subsequent traveller. Two Latin
inscriptions on the face of a rock above a frag
ment of Roman road (first noticed in the
Quarterly Review for 1822, No. 52) were first
published by Letronne (Journal des Savants,
1827), and afterwards by Qrelli (Inscr. Lat.
4997, 4998). One relates to some repairs of the
road at the expense of the Abileni: the other
associates the 16th Legion with the place. See
Hogg, Trans, of the Boy. Geog. Soe. for 1851 ;
Porter, Journ. of Sac. Lit. for July 1853, and esp.
his Damascus, i. 261-273 ; Robinson, Later Bib.
Bes. 478-484 ; Diet G. andB. Geogr., art. " Abi
lene ; " and Schumacher, " Abila of the Deca-
polis "(P-EF., July 1889). [J. S. H] [W.]
ABI-MA'EL (Vn»'3X ; A. 'Afauefa, E.
'A/JijueAe^A ; Abimael), named as a descendant of
Joktan (Gen. x. 28 ; 1 Ch. i. 22), and thus as
the progenitor of an Arab tribe. Bochart
(Phaleg, ii. 24) conjectures that his name is
preserved in that of MaAi [Ma/uaAi], a place in
Arabia Aromatifera, mentioned by Theophrastus
(Hist. Plant, ix. 4), and thinks (with scant
probability) that the Malitae are the same as
Ptolemy's Mavfrat (vi. 7, § 23), and that they
were a people of the Minaeans (for whom see
Arabia). D. H. Miiller (in MV.10 s. ».) com
pares the name with the South- Arabian proper
name ~innrD3N, Abmi 'Athtar = a father is
Athtar (the Hebrew Ashtoreth, but in S. Arabia
a male divinity. See Baethgen, Beitriige z.
Semit Beligionsgesch., p. 117 sq.). [E. S. P.] [F.]
ABI-MEXECH 0|!?P''3N ; if compounded of
the Phoenician deity Milk [or Moloch = king ;
see Baethgen, op. cit., p. 37 n.] = my father is
[the god] Milk; 'AjSiytie'Acx ! Abirnelech), the
name of several Philistine kings. It is supposed
by many to have been a common title of their
kings, like that of Pharaoh among the Egyptians,
and that of Caesar and Augustus among the
Romans. The name Father of the King, or
Father King, corresponds to Padishah (Father
King), the title of the Persian kings, and Atalih
(Father, pr. paternity), the title of the Khans of
Bucharia (Gesen. Thes.).
1. A Philistine, king of Gerar (Gen. xx., xxi.),

ABIMELEOH

11

who, exercising the right claimed by Eastern
princes of collecting all the beautiful women of
their dominions into their harem (Gen. xii. 15 ;
Esth. ii. 3), sent for and took Sarah. The
account given of Abraham's conduct on this
occasion is similar to that of his behaviour
towards Pharaoh [Abraham], A few years
later, Abirnelech and Phicol, " the chief captain
of his host," made an alliance of peace and
friendship with Abraham ; and the covenant was
established by a present to the king of seven
ewe lambs, made at " the well of the oath "
[Beersheba], which Abimelech's servants had
"' violently taken away," but which was then
restored. 2. Another king of Gerar in the time of Isaac,
of whom a similar narrative is recorded in rela
tion to Rebekah (Gen. xxvi. 1 seq.). Once more
there was a dispute about wells ; and once more
were these disputes allayed by peaceful alliances
between the king and the patriarch.
3. B. ' AjSei/ie'Aex- Son of tne judge Gideon by
his Shechemite concubine (Judg. viii. 31). Here
the derivation of the name is not Phoenician.
The latter part of the name is not to be con
nected with a heathen deity, but is another
name for Jehovah, = (The) King (Jehovah) ix
(my) father, or father of him who bears the
name (see Baethgen, p. 146 sq.). After his
father's death he "hired vain and light fellows,"
and murdered all his brethren, seventy in
number, with the exception of Jotham the
voungest, who concealed himself ; and he then
persuaded the Shechemites, through the influence
of his mother's brethren, to elect him king. It is
evident from this narrative that Shechem then
became an independent state, and threw off the
yoke of the conquering Israelites (Ewald, Gesch.
ii. 444). When Jotham heard that Abirnelech
was made king, he addressed to the Shechemites
his fable of the trees choosing a king (Judg. ix.
1 seq. : cf. Joseph. Ant. v. 7, § 2), which may be
compared with the well-known fable of Menenius
Agrippa (Liv. ii. 32). After he had reigned three
years, the citizens of Shechem rebelled under
Gaal, son of Ebed. He was absent at the time, but
he returned and quelled the insurrection. Gaal
was expelled by Zebul, the governor friendh' to
Abirnelech, and the city was taken by stratagem,
utterly destroyed, and the ground strewn with
salt. Those who had escaped for safety to " the
hold of the house of El-Berith " were destroyed
by the setting of the hold on fire. Shortly after
he stormed and took Thebez, but was struck on
the head by a woman with the fragment of a
mill-stone (comp. 2 Sam. xi. 21); and lest it
should be said to his disgrace that he had died by
the hand of a woman (cp. Soph. Track. 1064 ;
Sen. Here. Oct. 1176), he bade his armour-bearer
slay him. Thus the murder of his brethren was
avenged, and the curse of Jotham fulfilled.
4. Son of Abiathar, the high-priest in the
time of David (1 Ch. xviii. 16); but this is
evidently an error for the person called Ahi
melech (*|701nX; 'Axi/MAex, B. 'Ax^H-^X \
Achimeleeh) in 2 Sam. viii. 17 [Ahimelech], The
reading Ahimelech is also adopted in 1 Ch. xviii.
16 by the LXX., Vulg., Syr., Targ., Arab., and by
twelve Heb. MSS. (De Rossi, Var. Led. iv. 182).
5. Ps. xxxiv., title. [Ahimelech, 2.]
[R. W. B.] [I'\]

12

ABINADAB

ABI-NADAB (3*1V3K, Ges. = noble father,
MV.10 = my father is noble; A. 'AfuvaSd$, B.
'Afieiv- ; Abinadab). 1. A native of Kirjath-
jearim, in whose house " on a hill " the ark re
mained 20 years (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2 ; 2 Sam. vi.
3, 4 ; 1 Ch. xiii. 7, X. 'Afitv-). 2. Second son of
Jesse, who followed Saul to his war against the
Philistines (1 Sam. xvi. 8, xvii. 13 ; 1 Ch. ii.
13). 3. A son of Saul, who was slain with his
brothers at the fatal battle on Mount Gilboa
(1 Sam. xxxi. 2, B. 'lavafidp ; 1 Ch. viii. 33,
ix. 39, x. 2, HA. 'AuivaSdp, B.bvid 'Apip-).
4. Father of one of the twelve chief officers
of Solomon (1 K. iv. 11, A. 'A$imSd0, B.
omits). [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABI-NER CW3{<. Ges. = father of a lamp,
MV.10 = my father is a lamp ; B. 'A$evvi\p, A.
'A0wlip ; Abner). Marginal form of the name
Abner (1 Sam. xiv. 50). Cp. Lagarde, Uebersicht
iib. d. i. Aram., Arab., u. Hebr. Bildunq d.
Nomina, p. 75 n. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABI-NO'AM (DW*3X, Ges. = father of
pleasantness, Olshausen and MV.10 = my father is
pleasantness ; B. 'AfSewiefi, A. 'Afiiv- ; Abinoem),
father of Barak (Judg. iv. 6, 12, A. 'lafSivien ;
i . 1, 12). [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABI-BAM (DT3K. Ges. = father of loftiness,
MVy = my father is lofty ; B. 'Apeipdv [A. once
'Afiaptiv], F. 'A$i- ; Abiron). 1. A Reubenite,
son of Eliab, who with Dathan and On, men of
the same tribe, and Korah a Levite, organized a
conspiracy against Moses and Aaron (Num. xvi.).
[For details, see Korah.]
2. B. 'A/3apthi> ; Abiram. Eldest son of Hiel,
the Bethelite, who died when his father laid
the foundations of Jericho (1 K. xvi. 34), and
thus accomplished the first part of the curse of
Joshua (Josh. vi. 26). [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABI-BON (APetpdv ; Abiron). Abtram
(Ecclus. xiv. 18; Vulg. v. 22). [W. A. W.]
ABI-SE'I (Abisei). Abishua, the son of
Phinehas (2 Esd. i. 2). [W. A. W.]
ABI-SHAG (JB"3v-y Ges. = fatlier [i.e.
author] of error, and so used of man or woman.
Olshausen, Lehrb. d. Hebr. Sprache, p. 620, notes
that the real meaning is very obscure. B.
'A(3e«ra, A. 'Afiitrdy ; Abisag), a beautiful
Shunammite, taken into David's harem to
comfort him in his extreme old age (1 K. i.
1-4). After David's ' death Adonijah induced
Bathsheba, the queen-mother, to ask Solomon
to give him Abishag in marriage ; but this
imprudent petition cost Adonijah his life (1 lv.
ii. 13 seq.). [ADONIJAH.] [R. W. B.] [F.]
ABI-SHAI 0E»3K; in 2 Sam. x. 10, W,
Ges. = father of a gift, M V.10 my father is a gift :
Abisai). The eldest son of Zeruiah, David's
sister, and the brother of Joab and Asahel (1 Ch.
ii. 16, B. 'Aflewd [and usually], A. 'AfSurad).
A man of daring and devoted loyalty, he, more
than his brothers, had won the confidence of
David. He went with him to the sleeping camp
of Saul (1 Sam. xxvi. 6, &c, A. 'A/Sio-'af [and
usually]), and would have smitten the king
with his spear, had not David's loyal respect
for "the Lord's anointed" prevented him.
They took the king's spear and the cruse of

ABISHUA
water which was at Saul's head ; and David,
presently denouncing the incompetency of the
guard kept over their master by Abner and his
soldiers, pointed to the king's preservation as an
illustration of his own good will towards his
person. A like indignation against the enemies
of his uncle animated Abishai when he eagerly
craved permission to slay Shimei, who cursed
David while fleeing before Absalom (2 Sam.
xvi. 9-14). In the successful battle which
quelled the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 2,
A. 'Aj8io-aeQ, Abishai was in command of one
of the three divisions of the royal army, and
in the absence of Amasa he headed the troops
commanded to pursue the rebel Sheba (2 Sam.
xx. 6, A. 'AjSio-aef). Abishai could forgive no
wrong and brook no rival. Hence his name
is inseparably connected with two deeds of blood
wrought by, or in conjunction with, his brother
Joab : the second was the slaughter of Amasn,
whom David had appointed captain of his host
in the place of Joab after the murdei of Absalom
(2 Sam. xix. 13, xx. 10, A. 'Afriaaei) ; the first
was the treacherous murder of Abner, who,
when fleeing after the fight of "the pool of
Gibeon," had slain Asahel (2 Sam. ii. 19, &c,
iii. 30, B. 'A$e<r<rd, A. 'Acrai). His bravery and
generalship were undisputed. In the war of
retaliation against the Ammonites and Syrians^
in consequence of Hanun's outrageous treatment
of David's messengers, Joab assigned to Abishai
the command against the former, and together
they utterly discomfited the hosts united
against them (2 Sam. x. 1, &c, B. 'AtSeurd, A.
'AjSitraf; 1 Ch. xix. 1, &c, B. v. 11, A. v. 15,
'A/360-<ra). Abishai took also his share in the
memorable victories won over the Edomites in
" the valley of salt " by David and Joab (2 Sam.
viii. 13 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 12, B. 'A&zaad, A. 'Afro-d;
Ps. Ix., title). As acts of personal prowess,
it is recorded of him that in a war with the
Philistines he rescued his master David from
his peril at the hands of Ishbi-benob the giant
and slew him (2 Sam. xxi. 17, B. 'A/8e<r<ra, A.
'A^ia-ail) ; and in a single-handed contest with
three hundred men, his valour secured him the-
title of Rosh ha-sheloshah (ilOTB'n £>K"1> al.
D WB>n "I), " chief among the three " (al. " of
the thirty"), or, as some prefer, "chief or
captain of the warrior (or Shalish) class" (2 Sam.
xxiii. 18 ; 1 Ch. xi. 20, A. 'Aj8e<r<ra), the second
grade in the famous catalogue of David's mighty
men. There is much probability in the con
jecture that these personal acts are to be referred
to the period of David's wandering among the
Philistines. There is no record of the end of
Abishai's life. n?i
ABI-SHA'LOM (D'^B«3N ; •AjB«r<raA.<SA. ;
Abessalom, " father of peace "),?ather of Maachah,
who was the wife of Rehoboam, and mother of
Abijah (1 K. xv. 2, 10). He is called Absalom
(D"^B»**.K) in 2 Ch. xi. 20, 21. This person
must be David's son (see B. [A. flmnAeT], 2 Sam.
27). The daughter of Absalom was doubt

less called Maachah
(2 Sam. iii. 3).

after her

grandmother [W. A. W.]
ABI-SHUA (1W'3X, Ges. = father of wel
fare, Olshausen and MV.1'0 = my father is welfare;

ABISHUIl

ABNER

13

Abisue). 1. Son of Bcla, of the tribe of Ben
jamin (1 Ch. viii. 4, B. 'Afieio-dpas, A. 'Afiio-ove,
IV 'A&eao-ovi). 2. Son of Phinehas, the son of
Eleazar, and father of Bukki, in the genealogy of
the high-priests (1 Ch. vi. 4, 5, 50, B. 'Afieio-oi,
A. -i- ; Ezra vii. 5, T.T 'AjSiffouc). According
to Josephus (Ant viii. 1, § 3) he executed the
office of high-priest after his father Phinehas.
and was succeeded by Eli ; his descendants, till
Zadok, falling into the rank of private persons
(i5ia)Teiio-afTes). His name is corrupted in
Josephus into 'IwoTpros. Nothing is known of
him. [A. C. 11.]
ABI-SHUR (-|*B«3N. The meaning is un
certain ; Ges. = father of a wall, MV.10 = my father
is a wall ; B. 'Afieio-oip, A. -v- ; Abisur), sou of
Shammai (1 Ch. ii. 28). [W. A. W.j [P.]
ABI-SUM (B. 'Aj3ei(T0U6, A. -!-; Abisue).
Abishua, the son of Phinehas (1 Esd. viii. 2
[LXX. and Vulg. vii. 5]), called also Abisei ; one
of the ancestors of Ezra. [\V. A. W.] [F.]
ABI-TAL (^D,3&*, Ges.= fatha- of dew, Ols
hausen and MV.10 = My father is the dew ; B.
'A/3it<£A6i, A. -i ; Abital), one of David's wives
(2 Sam. iii. 4 ; 1 Ch. iii. 3, B. 2a£eiTaA).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ABI-TUB (3-1*3*36*, Ges. = father of goodness,
MV."= My father is goodness ; BA. 'Aj8t™0, T.r
'Afin&X ; Abitob), son of Shaharaim bv Hushim
(1 Ch. viii. 11). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABI'TJD ('APioi/S ; Abiud). Descendant of
Zorobabel, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ
(Matt. i. 13). Lord A. Hervey identifies him
with Hodaiah (1 Ch. iii. 24) and Juda (Luke
iii. 26), and supposes him to have been the grand
son of Zerubbabel through his only daughter
mentioned, Shelomith (1 Ch. iii. 19). Nosgen,
with less probabilitv, considers him to have been
the husband of Shelomith. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABLUTION. [Purification.]
AB'NEK (133X, once "0',3J*, where see the
etymologies; B.'Afcvvlip, A.'A0ei/7jp or'A0tuWjp:
Aimer). 1. Son of Ner, who was the brother of
Kish (1 Ch. ix. 36), the father of Saul. Abner.
therefore, was Saul's first cousin, and was made
by him commander-in-chief of his army (1 Sam.
xiv. 50). He was the person who conducted
David into Saul's presence after the death of
Goliath (xvii. 57) ; and afterwards accompanied
his master when he sought David's life at
Hachilah (xxvi. 3-14). From this time we
hear no more of him till after the death of
Saul, when he rose into importance as the
mainstay of his family. It would seem that,
immediately after the disastrous battle of Mount
Gilboa, David was proclaimed king of Judah in
Hebron, the old capital of that tribe, but that
the rest of the country was altogether in the
hands of the Philistines, and that five years
passed before any native prince ventured to
oppose his claims to their supremacy. During
that time the Israelites were gradually recovering
their territory, and at length Abner proclaimed
the weak and unfortunate Ishbosheth, Saul's
son, as king of Israel in Mahanaim, beyond
Jordan — at first no doubt as a place of security
against the Philistines, though all serious appre

hension of danger from them must have soon
passed away — and Ishbosheth was generally re
cognised except by Judah. This view of the
order of events is necessary to reconcile 2 San1.,
ii. 10, whore Ishbosheth is said to have reigned
over Israel fur two years, with v. 11, in which
we read that David was king of Judah for
seven ; '' and it is confirmed by vv. 5, 6, 7, in
which David's message of thanks to the men of
Jabesh-gilead for burying Saul and his sons
implies that no prince of Saul's house had as yet
claimed the throne, but that David hoped that
his title would be soon acknowledged by all
Israel ; while the exhortation " to be valiant "
probably refers to the struggle with the
Philistines, who placed tho only apparent im
pediment in the way of his recognition. War
soon broke out between the two rival kings, and
a " very sore battle " was fought at Gibeon
between the men of Israel under Abner, aud the
men of Judah under Joab, sou of Zeruiah,
David's sister (1 Ch. ii. 16). When the army
of Ishbosheth was defeated, Joab's youngest
brother Asahel, who is said to have been " as
light of foot as a wild roe," pursued Abner, and
in spite of warning refused to leave him, so that
Abner in self-defence was forced to kill hiin.
After this the war continued, success inclining
more and more to the side of David, till at last
the imprudence of Ishbosheth deprived him of
the counsels and generalship of the hero, who
was in truth the only support of his tottering
throne. Abner had married Rizpah, Saul's
concubine, and this, according to the views of
Oriental courts, might be interpreted to imply a
design upon the throne. Thus we read of a cer
tain Armais, who, while left viceroy of Egypt in
the absence of the king his brother, " used
violence to the queen and concubines, and put ou
the diadem, and set up to oppose his brother "
(Manetho, quoted by Joseph, c. Apion. i. 15.
Cp. also 2 Sam. xvi. 21, xx. 3, 1 K. ii. 13-25, and
the case of the Pseudo-Smerdis, Herod, iii. 68).
[Absalom; Adonijah.] Rightly or wrongly,
Ishbosheth so understood it, though Abner
might seem to have given sufficient proof of his
loyalty, and he ventured to reproach him with
it. Abner, incensed at his ingratitude, after an
indignant reply, opened negotiations with David,
who received him most favourably at Hebron,
and promised him the chief command of the
armies of the united kingdom. Abner then
undertook to procure his recognition throughout
Israel ; but after leaving his court for the
purpose "as enticed back by Joab, and trea
cherously murdered by him and his brother
Abishai at the gate of the city, partly no doubt,
:is Joab showed afterwards in the case of Amasa,
from fear lest so distinguished a convert to their
cause should gain too high a place in David's
favour (Joseph. Ant. vii. 1, § 5), but ostensibly
in retaliation for the death of Asahel. For this
there was indeed some pretext, inasmuch as it
was thought dishonourable even in battle to kill
a mere stripling like Asahel, and Joab and
Abishai were in this case the revengers of blood
* In tho opinion of many, the numbers have been
tampered with. Ishbosheth was more probably 24 or 14
years old than 40, and his reign lasted possibly six
year*. See Speaker's Comm. and Klostermann (Kgf.
Komm. --. A. u. If. T., edd. Strack u. Zockl?r) in loco.

14

ABOMINATION

(Num. xxxv. 10), but it is also plain that Abner
only killed the youth to save his own life. ^ This
murder caused the greatest sorrow and indig
nation (cp. 1 Kings ii. 5) to David ; and as the
assassins were too powerful to be punished, he
contented himself with showing every public
token of respect to Abner's memory, by follow
ing the bier and pouring forth a simple dirge
over the slain, which is thus translated by
the R. V. :—
Should Abner die as a fool dieth ?
Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into
fetters :
As a man faileth before the children of iniquity, so
didst thou fall.
i.e. "Thou didst not fall as a prisoner taken
in battle, with hands and feet fettered, but by
secret assassination, such as one wicked man
meets at the hands of other wicked men " (2 Sam.
iii. 33, 34). What specially excited the indig
nation of David was the mode in which Abner
had met his death. See also Lowth, Lectures^ on
Hebrew Poetry, xxii. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
2. Father of Jaasiel, chief of the Benjamites
in David's reign (1 Ch. xxvii. 21) ; probably
the same as Abner No. 1. [W. A. W.]
ABOMINATION (n3**'in). The considera
tion of this term may be confined to two passages
(see Speaker's Commentary and Delitzsch, Genesis
[1887], notes in loco), (a) Gen. xliii. 32, "The
Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews,
for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians."
The Egyptians would not eat with foreigners.
National pride and superstition had combined in
establishing such usage (Herod, ii. 41 ; Diod.
Sic. i. 67). They treated the Hebrew, the
Greek, and all outside themselves as foreigners.
A primary reason for this exclusiveness may
have consisted in the fact that the sacrifice of
the cow, so common among Hebrew, Greek, and
other nations, was forbidden among the Egyp
tians, the cow being their sacred animal ; but,
generally speaking, the land of the " foreigners "
and its inhabitants belonged to Set (Typhon),
"the almighty destroyer and blighter." The
Jews themselves, at a later period of their ex
istence, adopted the same habits of exclusiveness
(cp. John iv. 9 ; Acts x. 28, xi. 3). (6) Gen.
¦ xlvi. 34 : " Every shepherd is an abomina
tion unto the Egyptians." Joseph describes his
brothers to Pharaoh as " shepherds, keepers
of cattle " ; and bids them describe themselves
as " keepers of cattle from our youth even until
now, both we and our fathers." Such description
will, he intimates, secure their dwelling in the
land of Goshen rather than in the heart of
Egypt, because — he adds — " every shepherd,"
&c. If the advent of Joseph to Egypt be placed
(with Ebers and Lepsius) at the end ofthe Hyksos
period [Egypt], the memory of the shepherd (i.e.
nomad) dynasty and its oppressiveness would be
still acute. " Foreigner " shepherds would all
be termed by an indiscriminating hatred,
" abomination." Otherwise the shepherd was
not, as was the swineherd (Herod, ii. 47),
especially abominable to the Egyptians, a people
who were great breeders and rearers of cattle of
all sorts (cp. Gen. xlvii. 6). They would only
have stamped with an offensive epithet men of
foreign nationality and religion (cp. Anamim;

ABOMINATION OF DESUL,athjjn
Dillmann, Genesis,5 in loco; Duncker-Abbott,
Hist, of Antiquity, i. p. 199). [*¦]
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION (to
BSi\vyp.a ttjs ipnu&aws, Matt. xxiv. 15), men
tioned by our Saviour as a sign ofthe approach-
ine destruction of Jerusalem, and with reference
to Dan. ix. 27, xi. 31, xii. 11. The Hebrew
words in these passages are respectively, (a)
DDE>D D»VW *l» to, © DW<? f^-
and (c) DDE' ppB': the LXX. translate the
first word uniformly BSeKvyaa, and the second
ipVu<b<T€a>v (ix. 27) and ipw&oeus (xi. 31, xii.
11) : BA. however have Infyavuxahov in xi. 31,
and AB.23 awb iupavio-pov in ix. 27. The mean
ing of the first of these words is clear : f[fp
often expresses religious abominations, and in
the singular (1 K. xi. 5, 7)— and especially in the
plural — number, idols (2 K. xxiii. 24). Suidas
defines B$e\vyp.a as used by the Jews to express
Trap etda\ov Kai tsav iKTinrupia avBpamov. It is
important to observe that the expression is not
used of idolatry in the abstract, but of idolatry
adopted by the Jews themselves (2 K. xxi. 2-7,
xxiii. 13). Hence we must look for the fulfil
ment of the prophecy in some act of apostasy on
their part; and so the Jews themselves appear
to have understood it, according to the traditional
feeling referred to by Josephus (B. J. iv. 6, § 3),
that the Temple would be destroyed iav x«P«
oikeioi irponidvioo-i to Tepevos. With regard to
the words DDE*P and DDE', the former is trans
lated in ix. 27 by the A. V. " he shall make it
desolate," and by the R. V. "shall come one
that maketh desolate ; " in xi. 31 and xii. 11 by
both A. V. and R. V., " that maketh desolate."
The Saviour probably referred to the latter of
these passages. What was the object referred
to is a matter of doubt (see a summary of
opinions in the Speaker's Commentary, Daniel,2
pp. 364-5); it should be observed, however,
that in the passages in Daniel the setting up of
the abomination was to be consequent upon the
cessation of the sacrifice. The Jews considered
the prophecy to be fulfilled in the profanation
of the Temple under Antiochus Epiphanes, when
the Israelites themselves erected an idolatrous
altar (Bafi6s, Joseph. Ant. xii. 5, § 4) upon the
sacred Altar, and offered sacrifice thereon : this
altar is described as jSBeAuy^ia ttjs ipy]p.&Q-£tas
(1 Mace. i. 54, vi. 7). The prophecy, however,
referred ultimately (as Josephus himself per
ceived, Ant. x. 11, § 7) to the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans, and consequently the
B$z\vyp.a must describe some occurrence con
nected with that event. But it is not easy to
find one which meets all the requirements of the
case : the introduction of the Roman standards
into the Temple would not be a BUeXvypa,
properly speaking, unless it could be shown
that the Jews themselves participated in the
worship undoubtedly paid to them by the
Roman soldiers (Joseph. Bell. Jud. vi. 6, § 1 ;
Tertullian, Apol. xvi.) ; moreover, this event, as
well as several others which have been proposed,
such as the erection of the statue of Hadrian
(Nicephorus Callist. iii. 24), fails in regard to
the time of their occurrence, being subsequent
to the destruction of the city. It appears very
probable that the profanities of the Zealots con-

ABRAHAM
stituted the abomination, which was the sign of
impending ruin (Joseph. B. J. iv. 3, § 7. Cp.
Mansel in Speaker's Commentary, Matt. xxiv.
15, note, and Nosgen on the same passage in
Strack u. Zockler's Egf. Komm. z. d. A'. 21).
If so, St. Luke's paraphrase, explanatory for the
Gentiles (xxi. 20), " when ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies," dwells only upon the
latter part of the sign, the desolation, the near
ness of which would be intimated by the Roman
armies encircling Jerusalem. [W. L. B.] [F.]
AB-RAHAM (Dn*13i*. The significance of
this name to the Hebrew is given in Gen. xvii. 5,
D'l". ]iDn-3K, R. V. "the father of a multitude
of nations," but its etymology is still a matter
of conjecture." Dillmann and Delitzsch in loco
take Dn"l as an older and dialectic form of D*l,
the final syllable Di"l reflecting the first syllable
of [lDH [see MV.10, s. n.] ; 'ABpaap. ; Abraham :
originally ABRAM, D"l3fc";, the father is lofty
or lofty father, 'ABpdpL ; Abram ; which name is
similar in meaning to Abiram [1 K. xvi. 34], the
Aburamu of the Assyrian inscriptions [Schrader,
KAT.2 i. 1.]), the son of Terah, and brother of
Nahor and Haran ; and the progenitor, not only
of the Hebrew nation, but of several cognate
tribes. His history is recorded to us with much
detail in Scripture, as the very type of a true
patriarchal life ; a life, that is, in which all
authority is paternal, derived ultimately from
God the Father of all, and religion, imperfect as
yet in revelation and ritual, is based entirely
on that same Fatherly relation of God to man.
The natural tendency of such a religion is to the
worship of tutelary gods of the family or of the
tribe, traces of such a tendency on the part of
the patriarchs being found in the Scriptural
History itself; and the declaration of God to
Moses (in Ex. vi. 3) plainly teaches that the full
sense of the Unity and Eternity of Jehovah was
not yet unfolded to them. But yet the revela
tion of the Lord as the '• Almighty God " (Gen.
xvii. 1, xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11) and "the Judge of
all the earth " (Gen. xviii. 25), the knowledge
of His intercourse with kings of other tribes
(Gen. xx. 3-7), and His judgment on Sodom and
Gomorrah (to say nothing of the promise which
extended to "all nations ") must have raised the
patriarchal religion far above this narrow idea
of God, and given it the germs, at least, of
future exaltation. The character of Abraham is
that which is formed by such a religion and by
the influence of a nuinad pastoral life; free,
simple, and manly ; full of hospitality and
family affection; truthful towards all such as
were bound to him by ties, though not untainted
with Eastern craft towards those considered as
aliens ; ready for war, but not a. professed warrior
or one who lived by plunder ; free and childlike
in religion, and gradually educated by God to a
continually deepening sense of its all-absorbing
claims. His character stands remarkably con
trasted with those of Isaac and Jacob.
The scriptural history of Abraham is mainly
limited, as usual, to the evolution of the Great
Covenant in his life ; it is the history of the
man himself rather than of the external events
of his life ; and, except in a few instances

ABRAHAM

15

a Cp. also Lagarde, Vebersicht iib. d. i. Aram., Arab,,
b. Hebr. Bildung d. Nomina, p. 92, &c.

(Gen. xii. 10-20, xiv., xx., xxi. 22-34), it does
not refer to his relation with the rest of the
world. To them he may only have appeared a
chief of the hardier Chaldaean race, disdainino-
the settled life of the more luxurious Canaanites',
and fit to bo hired by plunder as a protector
against the invaders of the North (see Gen. xiv.
21-23). Nor is it unlikely, though we have no
historical evidence of it, that his passage into
Canaan may have been a sign or a cause of a
greater migration from Haran, and that he may
have been looked upon (e.g. by Abirnelech, Gen.
xxi. 22-32) as one who, from his position as
well as his high character, would be able to
guide such a migration for evil or for good.
The traditions which Josephus adds to the
scriptural narrative, are merely such as, after
his manner and in accordance with the aim of
his writings, exalt the knowledge and wisdom
of Abraham, making him the teacher of mono
theism to the Chaldaeans, and of astronomy and
mathematics to the Egyptians. He quotes,
however, Nicolaus of Damascus,b as ascribing to
him the conquest and government of Damascus
on his way to Canaan, and stating that the
tradition of his habitation was still preserved
there (Joseph. Ant. i. c. 7, § 2 ; see Gen. xv. 2).
The Arab traditions are partly ante-Moham
medan, relating mainly to the Kaabah (or sacred
house) of Mecca, which Abraham and his son
" Ismail " are said to have rebuilt for the fourth
time over the sacred black stone. But, in great
measure, they are taken from the Koran (see
Sale's Koran, index ». n. ; Hughes, Diet, of
Islam, s. n.), which has itself borrowed from the
0. T. and from the Rabbinical traditions. Of
the latter the most remarkable is the story of
his having destroyed the idols (see Jud. v. 6-8)
which Terah not only worshipped (as declared in
Josh. xxiv. 2) but also manufactured, and of his
having been cast by Nimrod into a fiery furnace
(cp. Vulg, of Neh. [2 Esd.] ix. 7), which turned
into a pleasant meadow. The legend is generally
traced to the word Ur ("I-1K), Abraham's birth
place, which has also the sense of " light " or
" fire." The name of Abraham appears to be
commonly remembered in tradition through
a very large portion of Asia, and the title " el-
Khalil," "' the Friend " (of God) (see 2 Ch. xx.
7 ; Is. xii. 8 ; Jas. ii. 23), is that by which he is
usually spoken of by the Arabs.
The scriptural history of Abraham, derived
mainly from three sources (Kbhler and Delitzsch,
Genesis [1887], p. 241 sq. = J, E, Q), is divided
into various periods by the various and pro
gressive revelations of God which he received : —
I. Gen. xii. -xiv. With his father Terah, his
wife Sarai, and nephew Lot, Abram left Ur (i.e.
El-Mugheir, on the W. side of the Euphrates).
Thence he migrated to Haran (Charran), in the
N. part of Mesopotamia, on the high road from
Babylonia and Assyria to Syria and Palestine.
Both cities were famous for the cult of the
Moon-god. This step was in obedience to a call
of God (cp. Acts vii. 2—4). Haran, apparently
the eldest brother — since Nahor married his
daughter, and Abram's position as first of the
three brothers is that of merit and fame rather
than of priority of birth— was dead already ;
b Nicolaus was a contemporary and favourite of Herod
the Great and Augustus. His Universal History is said
to have contained 144 books.

16

ABRAHAM

.and Nahor remained behind (Gen. xi. 31). In
Haran Terah died : and Abram, now the head
of the family, received a second call, and with it
the promise.0 The promise was twofold, con
taining both a temporal and spiritual blessing,
the one of which was the type and earnest of
the other. The temporal promise was, that he
.should become a great and prosperous " nation " ;
the spiritual was, that in him " should all
families of the earth be blessed " (Gen. xii. 2).
Abram appears to have entered Canaan, as
Jacob afterwards did, along the valley of the
Jubbok ; for he crossed at once into the rich
plain of Moreh, near Sichem, and under Ebal
and Gerizim. There, in one of the most fertile
.spots of the land, he received the first distinct
promise of his future inheritance (Gen. xii. 7),
and built his first altar to God. " The
Canaanite " (it is noticed) " was then in the
land," and probably would view the strangers
¦of the warlike north with no friendly eyes.
Accordingly Abram made his second resting-
place in the strong mountain country, the key
of the various passes, between Bethel and Ai.
There he would dwell securely, till famine
drove him into the richer and more cultivated
land of Egypt. It is still a matter of dispute in
what dynasty this took place. Cook (Speaker's
Commentary, i. p. 446) and Rawlinson place
Abram's entry into Egypt in the earlier part
-of the 12th dynasty ; Ebers and Sayce place it
in the later or Hyksos period.
That his history is no ideal, mythical, or
heroic legend,3 is very clearly shown, not merely
by the record of his deceit as to Sarai, practised
in Egypt and repeated afterwards, but much
more by the clear description of its utter
failure, and the humiliating position in which it
placed him in comparison with Pharaoh, and
still more with Abirnelech. That he should
have felt afraid of such a civilized and imposing
power as Egypt even at that time evidently
was, is. consistent enough with the Arab nature
as it is now: that he should have sought to
guard himself by deceit, especially of that kind,
which is true in word and false in effect, is
unfortunately not at all incompatible with <i
generally religious character ; but that such a
story^ should have been framed in an ideal
description of a saint or hero is inconceivable.
The period of his stay in Egypt is not re
corded, but it is from this time that his wealth
and power appear to have begun (Gen. xiii. 2).
On his return, the very fact of this growing
wealth and importance caused the separation of
Lot and his portion of the tribe from Abram.

0 It is expressly stated In the Acts (vii. 4) that
Abram quitted Haran after bis father's death. This is
supposed to be inconsistent with the statements that
Terah web 70 years old at the birth of Abram (Gen.
xi. 26) ; that he died at the age of 205 (Gen. xl. 32 ¦ in
Samar. text, 145) ; and that Abram was 75 years old when
he left Haran: from which it would seem to follow that
Abram migrated from Haran in his father's lifetime.
Various explanations have been given of this difflcultv •
one being that the statement in Gen. xi. 26, that Terah
was JO years old when he begat his three children,
applies only to the eldest, Haran, and that the births of
ins two younger children belonged to a subsequent
period [Chronoiogx]. Many adopt the Samar. number
See some of these views from Goldziher to Stnde
stated in Delitzsch, Genesis, pp. 2JJ, 248 (188JV Dill-
mann, Genesis,6 p. 22J, &c.

ABRAHAM
Lot's departuie to the rich country of Sodom
implied a wish to quit the nomadic life, and
settle at once ; Abram, on the contrary, was
content still to " dwell in tents " and wait for
the promised time (Heb. xi. 9). Probably till
now he had looked on Lot as his heir, and his
separation from him was a providential pre
paration for the future. From this time lie
took up his third resting-place at Mamre, or
Hebron, the future capital of Judah, situated in
the direct line of communication with Egypt,
and opening down to the wilderness and pasture
land of Beersheba. This very position, so different
from the mountain-fastness of Ai, marks the
change in the numbers and powers of his tribe.
The history of his attack on Chedorlaomer
(see s. n. ; on the genuineness of the historv, cp.
Delitzsch, pp. 262-3) which follows, gives" us a
specimen ofthe view which would be taken of him
by the external world. By the way in which it
speaks of him as "Abram the Hebrew " (Gen. xiv.
13)," it would seem to be an older document, a
fragment of Canaanitish history (as Ewald calls
it), preserved and sanctioned by Moses. The in
vasion was clearly another northern immigration
or foray, for the chiefs or kings were of Shinar
(.' South Babylonia), Ellasar (Larsa), Elam
(Persia), &c. That it was not the first, is
evident from the vassalage of the kings of the
cities of the plain; and it extended (see Gen.
xiv. 5-7) far to the south over a wide tract of
country. Abram appears here as the head of a
small confederacy of chiefs, powerful enough to
venture on a long pursuit to the head of the
valley of the Jordan, to attack with success a
large force, and not only to rescue Lot, but to
roll back for a time the stream of northern in
vasion. His high position is seen in the
gratitude of the people, and the dignity with
which he refuses the character of a hireling.
That it did not elate him above measure, i<
evident from his reverence to Melchizedek, in
whom he recognised one whose call was equal,
and consecrated rank superior, to his own [Mel
chizedek]. II. Gen. xv., xvi. The second period of
Abram's life is marked by the fresh revelation
which, without further unfolding the spiritual
promise, completes the temporal one, already in
course of fulfilment. It first announced to him
that a child of his own should inherit the
promise, and that his seed should be as the
" stars of heaven." This promise, unlike the
other, appeared at his age contrary to nature,
and therefore it is on this occasion that his faith
is specially noted, as accepted and " counted for
righteousness." Accordingly, he now passed
into a new position, for not only is a fuller
revelation given as to the captivity of his seed
in Egypt, the time of their deliverance, and
their conquest of the land, " when the iniquitv
of the Amorites was full," but after his solemn
burnt-offering the visible appearance of God in
fire is vouchsafed to him as a sign, and he enters
mto covenant with the Lord (Gen. xv. 18) This

0 O mspMTjs, LXX. ; one who had come from the
other side of the Euphrates. If this sense of the word
be taken, it strengthens the supposition noticed. In
any case the name is that applied to the Israelites bv
foreigners, or used by them of themselves only in
speaking of foreigners : see Hebrew.

ABRAHAM
covenant, like the earlier one with Noah (Gen.
ix. 9-17), is one of free promise from God, faith
only in that promise being required from man.
The immediate consequence was the taking of
Hagar, Sarai's maid, to be a concubine of Abram
(as a means for the fulfilment of the promise of
seed), and the conception of Ishmael.
III. Gen. xvii.-xxi. For fourteen years no
more is recorded of Abram, who seems during
all that period to have dwelt at Mamre. After
that time, in Abram's 99th year, the last step
in the revelation of the promise is made, by the
declaration that it should be given to a son of
Sarai, and at the same time the temporal and
spiritual elements are distinguished ; Ishmael
can share only the one, Isaac is to enjoy the
other. The covenant, which before was only
for temporal inheritance (Gen. xv. 18), is now
made " everlasting," and sealed by circumcision.
This new state is marked by the change of
Abram's name to "Abraham," and Sarai's to
" Sarah, "f and it was one of far greater acquaint
ance and intercourse with God. For, imme
diately after, we read (xviii. 1) of the Lord's
appearance to Abraham in human form, attended
by two Angels, the ministers of His wrath
against Sodom, of His announcement ofthe coming
judgment to Abraham, and His acceptance
of his intercession for the condemned cities.8
The whole record stands alone in Scripture for
the simple and familiar intercourse of God with
him, contrasting strongly with the vaguer and
more awful descriptions of previous appearances
(see e.g. xv. 12), and of those of later times
(Gen. xxviii. 17, xxxii. 30 ; Ex. iii. 6, &c).
And, corresponding with this, there is a perfect
absence of all fear on Abraham's part, and a
cordial and reverent joy, which, more than any"
thing else, .recalls the time past when " the voice
of the Lord God was heard, walking in the
garden in the cool of the day."
Strangely unworthy of this exalted position
as the " friend " and intercessor with God, is the
repetition of the falsehood as to Sarah in the
land of the Philis'tines (Gen. xx.). It was the
first time Abraham had come in contact with that
tribe or collection of tribes which stretched along

ABRAHAM

17

f The original name * '*)"'' is uncertain in derivation
and meaning. See the Lexicons of Gesenius, of MV.10,
and Dillmann on Gen. xvii. 15. Gesenius renders it
" nobility," from the same root as " Sarah ; " Ewald and
Delitzsch by "quarrelsome" (from the root 7\"&, in
sense of "to fight"). The name Sarah, n*lE*' is cer_
TT
taiuly " princeSB."
e Tradition still points out the supposed site of this
appearance of the Lord to Abraham. About a mile
from Hebron is a beautiful and massive oak, which still
bears Abraham's name. The residence of the patriarch
was called " the oaks of Mamre " (R. V.), erroneously
translated in A. V. " the plain " of Mamre (Gen. xiii.
18, xviii. 1) ; but it is doubtful whether this is the
exact spot, since the tradition in the time of Josephus
(ff. J. iv. 9, $ 7) was attached to * terebinth (1J7K
JOEft is rendered "terebinths of M." in R. V. marg.).
This tree no longer remains ; but there is no doubt that
it stood within tbe ancient enclosure, which is still
called "Abraham's House." A fair was held beneath
it in the time of Constantine ; and it remained to the
time of Theodosius. (Robinson, ii. 81, ed. 1856 ; Stanley,
S. it P. p. 143.)
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

the coast almost to tho borders of Egypt ; a race
apparently of lords ruling over a conquered
population, and another example of that series
of immigrations which appear to have taken
place at this time. It seems, from Abraham's
excuse for his deceit on this occasion, as if there
had been the idea in his mind, that all arms
might be used against unbelievers, who, it is
assumed, have no " fear of God," or sense of
right. If so, the rebuke of Abirnelech, by its
dignity and its clear recognition of a God of
justice, must have put him to manifest shame,
and taught him that others also were servants
of the Lord.
This period again, like that of the sojourn in
Egypt, was one of growth in power and wealth,
as the respect of Abirnelech and his alarm for
the future, so natural in the chief of a race of
conquering invaders, very clearly shows. Abra
ham's settlement at Beersheba, on the borders
of the desert, near the Amalekite plunderers,
shows both that he needed room and was able-
to protect himself and his flocks.
The birth of Isaac crowned his happiness, and
fulfilled the first great promise of God : and the-
expulsion of Ishmael, painful as it was to him,.
and vindictive as it seems to have been on
Sarah's part, was yet a step in the education
which was to teach him to give up all for the
one great object. The symbolical meaning of
the act (drawn out in Gal. iv. 21-31) could not
have been wholly unfelt by the patriarch him
self, so far as it involved the sense of the
spiritual nature of the promise, and carried out
the fore-ordained will of God.
IV. Gen. xxii. -xxv. 11. Again for a long period
(twenty-five years, Joseph. Ant. i. 13, § 2) the
history is silent : then comes the final trial and
perfection of the faith of Abraham in the command
to offer up the child of his affections and of God's
promise. The trial lay, first in the preciousness
of the sacrifice, and the perplexity in which the
command involved the fulfilment of the promise ;
secondly, in the strangeness of the command to
violate the human life, of which the sacredness
had been enforced by God's special command
(Gen. ix. 5, 6), as well as by the feelings of a
father. To these trials he rose superior by faith,
that "God was able to raise Isaac even from the
dead " (Heb. xi. 19), probably through the same
faith to which our Lord refers, that God had
promised to be the " God of Isaac " (Gen. xvii.
19), and that He was not " a God of the dead,
but ofthe living."11
It is remarkable that, in the blessing given
now to Abraham, the original spiritual promise
is repeated for the first time since his earliest

11 The scene ofthe sacrifice is, according to our present
text, and to Josephus, the land of " Moriah," or n!l*V*0> T '
the meaning of which is unknown ; in Gen. xxii. there
seems to be a play upon it : comp. the name " Jehovah-
Jireh," xxii. 14. The Samaritan Pentateuch has
"Moreh," ""HID > fcbe LXX. renders the word here
V
by Trjv vtyi)k-riv, the phrase used for what is undoubtedly
"Moreh" in xii. 6, whereas in 2Ch. iii. 1 "Moriah"
is rendered by B. 'Afiopeia, A. -i- : they therefore pro
bably read " Moreh " also. The distance — three days'
journey from Beersheba — suits Moreh better (see
Stanley's S. t£ /*. p. 251) ; but other considerations
seem in favour of Moriah, the place where the Temple
was afterwards built. [Mokiaii.] C

18

ABRAHAM'S BOSOM

call, and in the same words then used. But the
promise that " in his seed all nations should be
blessed " would also be now understood very
differently, and felt to be far above the temporal
promise, in which, perhaps, at first it seemed to
be absorbed. It can hardly be wrong to refer
pre-eminently to this epoch the declaration that
Abraham " saw the day of Christ and was glad "
(John viii. 5.6).
The history of Abraham is now all but over,
though his life was prolonged for nearly fifty
years. The only other incidents are the death
and burial of Sarah, the marriage of Isaac with
Eebekah, and that of Abraham with Keturah.
The death of Sarah took place at Kirjath-
arba, i.e. Hebron, so that Abraham must have
returned from Beersheba to his old and more
peaceful home. In the history of her burial,
the most notable points are the respect paid to
the power and character of Abraham, as a mighty
prince, and the exceeding modesty and courtesy
of his demeanour. It is sufficiently striking that
the only inheritance of his family in the land of
promise should be a tomb. The sepulchral cave
of Machpelah is now said to be concealed under
the Mosque of Hebron (see Stanley, S. fy P.
p. 101).
The marriage of Isaac, so far as Abraham is
concerned, marks his utter refusal to ally his son
with the polluted and condemned blood of the
Canaanites. The marriage with Keturah is the strangest
and most unexpected event recorded in his life,
Abraham having long ago been spoken of as an
¦ old man ; but his youth having been restored
before the birth of Isaac may have remained to
him ; and Isaac's marriage, having taken his son
comparatively away, may have induced him to
seek a wife to be the support of his old age.
Keturah held a lower rank than Sarah, and her
children were sent away, lest they should dis
pute the inheritance of Isaac, Abraham having
learnt to do voluntarily in their case what had
been forced upon him in the case of Ishmael.
Abraham died at the age of 175 years, and his
sons, the heir Isaac, and the outcast Ishmael,
united to lay him in the cave of Machpelah by
the side of Sarah.
His descendants were (1) the Israelites ; (2) a
branch of the Arab tribes through Ishmael ;
(3) the " children of the East," of whom the Mi-
dianites were the chief; (4) perhaps (as cognate
tribes) the nations of Ammon and Moab (see
these names) ; and through their various
branches his name is known all over Asia.
To English readers Stanley's Lectures on the
Jewish Church, Lectures i. and ii. (1883) ; Mil-
man's History of the Jews, i. ch. 1 ; H. G. Tomkins'
Abraham and his Times ; W. J. Deane's Abraham,
his Life and Times, will give much interesting
information. See also Vigouroux, La Bible et
les Decourertes Modernes,4 i. pp. 379-497. The
Jewish legends concerning Abraham will be
found in Beer, Leben Abrahams n. Auffassung d.
judischen Sage, 1859 ; and summarized in Ham
burger, BE. fiir Bibel u. Talmud,' s. n. Cp.
•Gaster, The Apocalypse of Abraham, from the
Roumanian (Trans, of Soe. of Bibl. Arch ix
p. 195 sq.). [A. B ] rpj '
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM. Cp. Luke xvi. 23.
During the Roman occupation of Judaea at ieast

ABRONAH
the practice of reclining on couches at meals
was customary among the Jews. As each guest
leaned upon his left arm, his neighbour next
below him would naturally be described as lying
in his bosom ; and such a position with respect
to the master of the house was one of especial
honour, and only occupied by his nearest friends
(John i. 18, xiii. 23). To lie in Abraham's
bosom, then, was a metaphor in use among the
Jews (cp. 4 Mace. xiii. 16 and Grimm's note in
Fritzsche's Kgf. Handbuch zu d. Apokryphen d.
A. T. ivte. Lief. p. 347) to denote a condition
after death of perfect happiness and rest, and a
position of friendship and nearness to the great
founder of their race, when they should lie down
on his right hand at the banquet of Paradise,
"with Abraham, aud Isaac, and Jacob, in the
kingdom of heaven" (Matt. viii. 11). That the
expression was in use among the Jews is shown
by Lightfoot (Hor. Hebr. in Luc. xvi. 22), who
quotes n passage from the Talmud (Kiddushin,
fol. 72), which, according to his interpretation,
represents Levi as saying in reference to the
death of Rabbi Judah, " to-day he dwelleth in
Abraham's bosom." The future blessedness of
the just was represented under the figure of a
banquet, " the banquet of the garden of Eden or
Paradise." See Schoettgen, Hor. Hebr. in Matt.
viii. 11; Hamburger, BE. f. B. u. T. s. n.
" Abraham's Schooss." [W. A. W.] [F.]
ABRAM. [Abraham.]
ABRECH. Gen. xii. 43 (A. V. and B. V.):
" They cried before him (Joseph), Bow the knee ,
(=l!?^)-" Ofthe many conjectural explanations 5
of this word, that which considers it Egyptian "
is the most usual and natural. The LXX. and
Vulg. give no direct translation of it ; the
Targum and Midrash make il a composite word
= " tender father " (1*1, **.N) or " father of the
king " (1*1 = rex ! cp. Gen. xiv. 8). Fried.
Delitzsch, adopting the last-named signification,
identifies it with the Babylonian-Assyrian abar-
akku, the title of the principal minister (cp.
Heb. Language viewed in the Light of Assyrian
Besearch, 1883, pp. 25-7).* An Assyrian word
in the mouth of the Egyptian was not, however,
so likely as an Egyptian. Canon Cook's explana
tion " Rejoice thou " (Speaker's Commentary, i.
note to Gen. xii. 43, and p. 482), if the most
perfect as regards sound and grammatical form,
hardly gives the real sense of the word Ab.
Moreover, the transcription db-rck does not
accurately represent the Egyptian pronunciation
of the original word, which would have been
abu-re-k. If, however, T*Qfc* may be admitted
as standing for abu-re-k, the word may be taken
to signify " thy commandment is the object of
our desire," i.e. " we are at thy service'" (see
Renouf, PSBA. xi. p. 5, &c). [p.]
ABRO'NAH (nj"*1*ai*= passage, from "UI*, to
cross over), one of the halting-places of 'the
Israelites in the desert, immediately preceding
Ezion-geber; and therefore, looking to the root,

The intercourse between Egypt and Babylonia was
so great that this identification cannot be called impos
sible ; and the word may thus have been one which, with
many other words of Semitic origin, found admission
into the ancient Egyptian speech.

ABRONAS
the name may possibly retain the trace of a
ford across the head of the Elanitic Gulf. In
the A. V. it is given as Ebronah (R. V. Abronah ;
AF. 'EBpavd; B. ZeBpan-d; Hebronah; Num.
xxxiii. 34, 35). [Ebronah.] If the wilderness of
the wanderings was in Arabia proper, Abronah
was possibly at Hakl, between which place and
'Akabah the mountains approach the sea so
closely that only one camel can pass at a
time. [G.] [\V.]
ABRO'NAS CABpava; N. XeBpdv; Mambre),
a torrent [xel/xapp'os] apparently near Cilicia
(Judith ii. 24, compared with 25) ; if so, it may
possibly be the Nahr Abraim, or Ibrahim, the
ancient Adonis, which rises in the Lebanon at
Afka, and falls into the sea at Jebeil (Byblos).
It has, however, been conjectured (Movers,
Bonner Zeits. xiii. 38) that the word is a
corruption of "injil *13"* = beyond the river
(Euphrates), which has just before been men
tioned; a corruption not more inconceivable than
many which actually exist in the LXX. The
A. V. has Akbonai (Judith ii. 24. See Speaker's
Commentary, note in loco). [G.] ¦ [W.]
AB'SALOM (nfe'IlX, father of peace;
' ABzo-o-a\<M>fi ; Absalom), third son of David by
Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, a
Syrian district adjoining the N.E. frontier of the
Holy Land near the Lake of Merom. He is
scarcely mentioned till after David had com
mitted the great crime which by its conse
quences embittered his old age ; and then appears
as the instrument by whom was fulfilled God's
threat against the sinful king, that " evil should
be raised up against him out of his own house,
and that his neighbour should lie with his wives
in the sight of the sun " (2 Sam. xii. 11). In
the latter part of David's reign, polygamy bore
its ordinary fruits. Xot only is his sin in
the case of Bathsheba traceable to it, since it
naturally suggests the unlimited indulgence of
the passions, but it also brought about the pun
ishment of that sin, by raising up jealousies and
conflicting claims between the sons of different
mothers, each apparently living with a separate
house and establishment (2 Sam. xiii. 8, xiv.
24 ; cf. 1 K. vii. 8, &c). Absalom had a sister
Tamar, who was violated by her half-brother
Amnon, David's eldest son by Ahinoam, the
Jezreelitess. The king, though indignant at so
great a crime, would not punish Amnon because
he was his first born (cp. the LXX. of 2 Sam.
xiii. 21. The words are wanting in the Hebrew).
The natural avenger of such an outrage would
be Tamar's full brother Absalom, just as the
sons of Jacob took bloody vengeance for their
sister Dinah (Gen. xxxiv.). He brooded over
the wrong for two years, and then invited
all the princes to a sheep-shearing feast at his
«state in Baal-hazor, possibly an old Canaani-
tish sanctuary, on the borders of Ephraim and
Benjamin. Here he ordered his servants to
murder Amnon, aud then fied for safety to his
father-in-law's court at Geshur, where he re
mained for three years. David was overwhelmed
by this accumulation of family sorrows, thus
completed by separation from his favourite son,
whom he thought it impossible to pardon or
recall. But he was brought back by an artifice
of Joab, who sent a woman of Tekoah (after-

ABSALOM

19

wards known as the birthplace of the Prophet
Amos) to entreat the king's interference in a
supposititious case similar to Absalom's. Having
persuaded David to prevent the avenger of blood
from pursuing a young man who, she said, had
slain his brother, she adroitly applied his assent
to the recall of Absalom, and urged him, as
he had thus yielded the general principle, to
" fetch home his banished." David did so, but
would not see Absalom for two more years,
though he allowed him to live in Jerusalem.
At last, the impetuous young man — wearied
with delay, perceiving that his triumph was
only half complete and that his exclusion from
court interfered with the ambitious schemes
which he was forming, and fancying that suffi
cient exertions were not made in his favour —
sent his servants to burn a field of corn near
his own, belonging to Joab, thus doing as
S:\mson had done (Judg. xv. 4, 5). Thereupon
Joab, probably dreading some further outrage
from his violence, brought him to his father,
from whom he received the kiss of recon
ciliation. Absalom now began at once to pre
pare for rebellion, urged to it partly by his
own restless wickedness, partly perhaps by the
fear lest Bathsheba's child should supplant him
in the succession, to which he would feel himself
entitled as of royal birth on his mother's side
as well as his father's, and as being now David's
eldest surviving son, since we may infer that
the second son Chileab was dead, from no men
tion being made of him after 2 Sam. iii. 3. It is
hard to account for Absalom's temporary success,
and the imminent danger which befel so power
ful a government as his father's. The sin with
Bathsheba had probably weakened David's moral
and religious hold upon the people : and as he
grew older he may have become less attentive
to individual complaints aud to that personal
administration of justice which was one of an
Eastern king's chief duties. For Absalom tried
to supplant his father by courting popularity,
standing in the "gate" (or place of justice),
conversing with every suitor, lamenting the
difficulty which he would find in getting a
hearing, "putting forth his hand and kissing
any man who came nigh to do him obeisance "
(2 Sam. xv. 5). He also maintained a splendid
retinue (2 Sam. xv. 1), and was admired for
his personal beauty and the luxuriant growth
of his hair, on grounds similar to those which
had made Saul acceptable (1 Sam. x. 23). It
is also probable that the great tribe of Judah
had taken some offence at David's government,
perhaps from finding themselves completely
merged in one united Israel ; and that they
hoped secretly for pre-eminence under the less
wise and liberal rule of his son. Thus Absalom
selected Hebron, the old capital of Judah (then
supplanted by Jerusalem), as the scene of
the outbreak ; Amasa, his chief captain, and
Ahitophel of Giloh, his principal counsellor,
were both of Judah, and after the rebellion was
crushed we see signs of ill-feeling between Judah
and the other tribes (2 Sam. xix. 41). But
whatever the causes may have been, Absalom
raised the standard of revolt at Hebron after
forty years, as we read in 2 Sam. xv. 7, but
which it seems better to consider a false
reading (cp. Hervey, Speaker's Com., in loco ;
Kleinert in Riehm's HWB. s. u. " Absalom ")
C 2

20

ABSALOM

for four (the number actually given by
Josephus, Lucian's Recension, and accepted by
nearly all modern critics — Ewald, Keil, Kirk-
patrick, Wellhausen), than to interpret of the
fortieth year of David's reign. The revolt was
at first completely successful : David fled from
his capital over the Jordan to Mahanaim in
Gilead, where Jacob had seen the '" two Hosts "
of the Angelic vision, and where Abner had
rallied the Israelites round Saul's dynasty in
the person of the unfortunate Ishbosheth. Ab
salom occupied Jerusalem, and by the advice
of Ahitophel, who saw that for such an un
natural rebellion war to the knife was the best
security, took possession of David's harem, in
which had been left ten concubines. This %vas
considered to imply a formal assumption of all
his father's royal rights (cp. the conduct of
Adonijah, 1 K. ii. 13 ff., and of Smerdis the
Magian, Herod, iii. 68), and was also a fulfil
ment of Nathan's prophecy (2 Sam. xii. 11).
But David had left friends who watched over
his interests. The vigorous counsels of Ahito
phel were afterwards rejected through the
crafty advice of Hushai, who insinuated himself
into Absalom's confidence to work his ruin ; and
Ahitophel himself, seeing his ambitious hopes
frustrated, and another preferred by the man
for whose sake he had turned traitor, went
home to Giloh and committed suicide. At last
Absalom, after being solemnly anointed king at
Jerusalem (xix. 10), and lingering there far
longer than was expedient, crossed the Jordan to
attack his father, who by this time had rallied
round him a considerable force ; whereas, had
Ahitophel's advice been followed, he would pro
bably have been crushed at once. A decisive
battle was fought ill Gilead, in the wood of
Ephraim (Lucian's Recension is unsupported
in its reading, " of Mahanaim : " Ephraim) ;
so called, according to Gerlach (Comm. in loco),
from the great defeat of the Ephraimites (Judg.
xii. 4), or perhaps from the connexion of Ephraim
with the trans-Jordanic half-tribe of Manasseh
(Stanley, S. and P., p. 323). Here Absalom's
forces were totally defeated ; aud as he himself
was escaping, his long hair was entangled in the
branches of a terebinth, where he was left hanging
while the mule on which he was riding ran away
from under him. Here he was despatched by Joab
in spite of the prohibition of David, who, loving
him to the last, had desired that his life might
be spared ; and who, when he heard of his death,
lamented over him in the pathetic words, 0 my
son Absalom! would God I had died for thee!
0 Absalom, my son, my son ! (2 Sam. xviii. 33).
He was buried in a great pit in the forest, and
the conquerors threw stones over his grave, in
proof of bitter hostility (cp. Josh. vii. 26. The
practice is still continded ; see Thomson's The
Land and the Book, ii. 234). The sacred his
torian contrasts this dishonoured burial with the
tomb which Absalom had raised in the King's
dale (cp. Gen. xiv. 17) for the three sons whom
he had lost (cp. 2 Sam. xviii. 18 with xiv. 27),
and where he probably had intended that his
own remains should be laid. Josephus (Ant.
vii. 10, § 3) mentions the pillar of Absalom as
situate 2 stadia from Jerusalem. An existing
monument in the valley of Jehoshaphat just
outside Jerusalem bears the name of the Tomb
of Absalom ; but the Ionic pillars which sur-

ACCAD
round its base show that, if a tomb at all, it be
longs to a much later period. [G. E. L. C] [F.]

The BO-called Tomb of Absalom.
AB'SALOM (T.7 ' ABeo-o-d\afios, A. 'AifmAa- "
nos [and K ini Mace. xiii. 11]; Absalom), the
father of Mattathias (1 Mace. xi. 70 ; B. lfoA/iu-
5)is) and Jonathan (1 Mace. xiii. 11). [B. F. W.]
AB'SALON CABeo-o-a\tbpL-, Abesalom), an
ambassador with John from the Jews to Lysias,
chief governor of Coele-Syria and Phoenicia.:
(2 Mace. xi. 17). [W. A. W.]
ABU'BUS CAPovfas; Abobus), father of
Ptolemaeus, the captain of the plain of Jericho,
and son-in-law to Simon Maccabaeus (1 Mace.
xvi. 11, 15). [W. A. W.]
ABYSS. The word is absent from theA.V.r
but is of frequent occurrence in the R. V. as a
translation of i) uBva-o-os : and the use of this
Greek word, as a substantive, in the sense of the
unfathomable depth (a., Bo66s), is confined to
Biblical and Ecclesiastical Greek. The LXX.
use &Bvo-o-os (see Trommius, Concord, s. n.) to
denote three Hebrew words : (a) Dini") in the
Pentateuch, poetical, and historical Books ; (!>)
i*6'i*p in Job xii. 23 (A. V. and R. V. ". 32,
" the deep "), and r6'S iu Is. xii v. 27 (A. V-
and E. V. " the deep ") ; (c) 3*1*1 in Job xxxvi.
16 (A. V. and R. V. " a broad place "). In the
N. T. the word is contrasted with heaven, as a
synonym with Hades, the abode of the dead
(Rom. x. 7), and with special application to the
place of woe and of the devils (e.g. Luke viii.
31 ; Rev. xvii. 8, xx. 3). Cremer points out
that the application of the term to Hades be
comes less frequent in Ecclesiastical Greek (Bibl-
theol. Worterb. d. NTiichen Grdcitat, s. n.). [F.]
ACATAN ('AKardv; Eccetan). See Hak-
katan (1 Esd. viii. 38). [VV. A. W.]
AC'CAD (13X ; 'ApxdS; Archad; Babylonian.1
•-^"1 HfcfC *T^' al M-kad> "the city of
Akkad"), one of the chief cities of the land of

ACCARON
Shinar, mentioned (Gen. .\. 10) with Babel.
Erech, and Calneh, as being the beginning of
Nimrod's kingdom. This city, which is supposed
to be the same as the Agade (an earlier form) of
¦the inscriptions, lay near Sepharvaim (Sippara,
now Abu-habbah), 16 miles west of Baghdad,
and was probably the capital of the land of
Akkad ( *£* ^Vm ^^J, mat Alikadi), nearly
always mentioned with Sumer or Shinar. These
two important nations, the pioneers of early civi
lisation, supposed to be of Turanian race, peopled
a great part of Mesopotamia before the Semitic
Babylonian and Assyrian supremacy. They
spoke an agglutinative language, which seems
to have died ont about 1200 B.C., giving place
to Semitic Babylonian, though Akkadian and
Sumerian were used as sacred or literary tongues
to a very late date. The boundaries of the
country are unknown, but it probably lay be
tween lat. 32" and 35", and long. 44" and" 46".
The native name of the country was Uri,
and the Assyrian and Babylonian kings gene
rally called themselves " king of Sumer and
Akkad " (Assyr. or Bab., sar Sumeri u Akkadi;
Akkadian, Lugal Kingi-U>-i(ki).) The group
A ^^mf ^lEj|T was a'so used to designate
the land of Armenia (Assyr. or Bab., Vrti or
Urartu (Ararat) ; Akkad., Tilla). The 'close
connexion between the Semitic and Akkadian
inhabitants of Mesopotamia is shown by the fact,
that even in the earliest times the kings bore
both an Akkadian and a Semitic name, the one
feeing a translation of the other. The Akkadians
probablv merged into the Babvlonians about
1500 B.C. [Babylonia.] [T. G. P.]
ACCARON. [Ekeon.] Accaron is the
form used by Saewulf for Acre (E. T. 48). [W.]
AC'CHO (131*, Ges. derives the name from
the Arabic, hot sand, a sense not contradicted by
subsequent climatal or topographical changes ;
"Akx&, "Aktj, Strabo ; Accho ; R. V. Acco ; the
Ptolemais of the Maccabees and N. T.), now
¦called 'Akka, or more usually by Europeans, Saint
Jean a" Acre, an important seaport town on the
Syrian coast, about 30 miles S. of Tyre. 'Akka
is situated at the northern extremity of the Bay
¦of Acre, which terminates southwards in the bold
bluff of Carmel, and is the only inlet of import
ance on the Syrian coast south of St. George's
Bay near Beirut. Inland the hills, which from
Tyre southwards press closely upon the seashore,
gradually recede, leaving in the immediate
neighbourhood of 'Akka a fertile plain, watered
by the small river Nahr N'amein (Belus), which
discharges itself into the sea a short distance
south of the town. Its military importance,
which has led to its being called " the key of
Palestine," is due to its position, which enables
the Power that holds it to close the coast road
from Syria to Egypt, and to operate, from a con
venient base, against any hostile force attempt
ing to cross the plain of Esdraelon ; it also has
near at hand, at Haifa, a safe anchorage for
shipping, and its own harbour was sufficient to
afford protection to the galleys and vessels used
in the Middle Ages. The town itself is trian
gular in form, the base facing the north and the
apex the south ; it is surrounded on the land

ACCHO

21

side by double ramparts, flanked by towers and
bastions; and there are remains of an outer and
inner port. Few traces of the old town are to
be found ; the original name has alone survived
all the changes to which tho place has been

In the division of Canaan among the tribes
Accho was assigned to Asher, but it was never
conquered by the Israelites (Judg. i. 31). No
further mention is made of it in O. T. history,
and it is always reckoned among the cities of
Phoenicia (Strab. xvi. 2, § 25 ; Plin. v. 17 ;
Ptol. v. 15). It is described by Josephus as a
maritime city of Galilee, situated in the great
plain (B. J. ii. 10, § 2). When Shalmaneser IV.
advanced against Tyre, which had revolted
against him, Accho, with Sidon, Palaetyrus, and
other cities joined the Assyrians and assisted
them with vessels and men (Ant. ix. 14, § 2).
It afterwards revolted, but was recaptured by
Sennacherib, and a little later was ceded by
Esarhaddon to the king of Tyre, in return for
services which that monarch had rendered to
the Assyrians. It passed into the hands of the
Babylonians, and afterwards into those of the
Persians, who used it as a place of assembly for
their troops during their expeditions against
Egypt (Strab. xvi. 2, § 25). According to the
first distribution of Alexander's kingdom, it was
assigned, with Phoenicia and Syria, to Ptolemy
Soter, from whom it probably derived its name
Ptolemais. During the wars between Syria and
Egypt it several times changed hands ; and its
importance, as commanding the road down the
Syrian coast, probably dates from this period.
In 218 B.C. it was surrendered to Antiochus the
Great by the treachery of Philopator's lieu
tenant, but was recovered by the Egyptians in
the following year, and remained in their hands
until it was finally incorporated in the kingdom
of Antiochus. In the reign of Antiochus Epi-
phanes, Simon Maccabaeus defeated a confedera
tion ofthe people of Ptolemais, Tyre, and Sidon,
and drove his enemies back within the walls of
Ptolemais, but did not take the city (1 Mace.
v. 22 ; Ant. xii. 8, § 2). It was taken by
Alexander Balas (Ant. xiii. 2, § 1), who was
married within its walls to Cleopatra, daughter
of Ptolemy Philometor (Ant. xiii. 4, §§ 1, 2). It
afterwards came into the possession of Demetrius
Xicator, who gave it, with its lands, to Jonathan
for the expenses of the Temple at Jerusalem (1
Mace. x. 39) ; when, however, Jonathan went,
at the invitation of Tryphon, to take possession
of the city, he was treacherously seized and his
escort put to death (Ant. xiii. 6, § 2). Ptolemais
was besieged by Alexander Jannaeus, but the
siege was raised on the approach of Ptolemy
Lathyrus, who had landed from Cyprus with a
large force to assist the besieged. The people
having refused to admit Ptolemy, he, on his
arrival, took the place by force (Ant. xiii. 12,
§§ 2-6) ; but it was afterwards captured by Cleo
patra, whom Alexander Jannaeus had summoned
to his assistance (Ant. xiii. 13, §§ 1, 2). It was
transferred by Cleopatra with her daughter
Cleopatra (Selene) to the Syrian monarchy, and
it was under her rule when attacked and taken
by Tigranes during his expedition against Syria
(Ant xiii. 16, § 4; B. J. i. 5, § 3). It opened
its gates to the Parthians under Pacorus, who
was advancing along the coast to the assistance

22

ACCOS

Coin of Accho.

of Antigonus (Ant. xiv. 13, § 3 ; B. J. i. 13, § 1),
and ultimately passed into the hands of the
Romans, who raised it to the rank of a colony
under the title of Colonia Claudii Caesaris
Ptolemais (Plin. v. 19, § 19). The only notice
of it in the N. T. is in connexion with St. Paul's
passage from Tyre to Caesarea (Acts xxi. 7).
Herod built a gymnasium there (B. J. i. 21,
§ 11), but of this no trace has been found.
The post-biblical history of Accho will be found
in P. F. Mem. i. 160-167, and Guerin, Galile'e,
i. 510-525. Accho is perhaps alluded to in
Ocina (Jud. ii. 28) ; its mediaeval names were
Accaron and Aeon; and the last name survives,
where one would little expect it, in. Lombard-
street, where the church of St. Nicholas Aeons
is the successor of the
church of St. Thomas of
Aeon, or Acres Hospital, '
founded by a member of
the order of Augustine
monks after the capture
of Acre; under the pa
tronage of St. Thomas
of Canterbury. Coins of
Acre exist in which the
city is represented as a
figure on a rock sur
rounded by the sea. In the right hand she bears
three ears of corn; at her feet is the image of
a river with open hands. [W.]
ACCOS ('AkkJis ; A. 'AKX&S ; Jacob), father
of John and grandfather of Eupolemus, the
ambassador from Judas Maccabaeus to Rome
(1 Mace. viii. 17). [W. A. W.]
ACCOZ. [Koz.]
ACEL'DAMA ('AxeASa/jji ; Lachmann and
Teschendorf [KB.], ' AKekSa/j-dx ; Haceldama;
R. V. Akeldama ; xaPiOV a't/xaros, " the field of
blood ;" Chald. SD*! ?pn), the name given by
the Jews of Jerusalem to a "field" (xoiplov) near
Jerusalem purchased by Judas with the money
which he received for the betrayal of Christ, and
so called from his violent death therein (Acts i. 19).
This is, apparently, at variance with the account
of St. Matthew (xxvii. 8), according to which
the " field of blood " (aypbs a'lparos) was pur
chased by the priests with the thirty pieces of
silver after they had been cast down by Judas.
as a burial-place for strangers, the locality
being well known at the time as " the field of
the potter " "¦ (rbv hypbv too Kepafjiias). See
Alford's notes to Acts i. 19. And accordingly
ecclesiastical tradition appears, from 600 A.D.,
to have pointed out two distinct (though not
unvarying) spots as referred to in the two
accounts. Bp. Jacobson (Speaker's Comm., note on Acts
i. 19) has pointed out that the variance is ima
ginary. The money received by Judas as the
"reward of iniquity " was invested by others. A
similar use of language is to be noted when the
Jews (and not the Romans) are said to have

* The prophecy referred to by St. Matthew, Zechariah
(not Jeremiah) xi. 12, 13, doeB not in the present state
of the Hebrew text agree with the quotation of the
Evangelist. The Syriac Version omits the name Alto
gether. See Speaker's Comm. on Matt, xxvii. 9, addi
tional note.

ACELDAMA
crucified Jesus Christ (Acts v. 30), Joseph of
Arimathaea to have hewn out the new tomb,
and Saul to have offered sacrifice (1 Sam. xiii. 9).
Aceldama, now called Ilakh ed-Dumm, is
shown at the east end of a broad terrace on the
southern slope of the modern valley of Hinnom,
not far from the pool of Siloam ; and the name
is more particularly applied to a large vaulted
chamber built against the thick bed (malaki) of
limestone in which most of the large tombs on
the right bank of the ravine have been exca
vated. The chamber is deep, and its floor is
covered by a thick bed of bones and soil ; in the
face of the rock, within the building, there are
two sepulchral chambers, with "loculi," and
traces of the steps which led down to them are
still visible. Against the face of the rock are
buttresses of masonry which formed part of an
earlier building than the existing one (see O. S.
planof Jerusalem, notes, and photo.). The cham
ber is probably the same as that described by
Maundrell as "a square fabric twelve yards
high, built for a charnel-house ; " the corpses
were let down into it from the top, and appa
rently left uncovered.
The tradition which fixes Aceldama upon this
spot reaches back to the time of Jerome, who
describes it as being " ad australem b plagam
montis Sion;" and it is mentioned by Anto
ninus Martyr, Arculfus, Saewulf, and almost
every traveller to the present day. Arculfus
distinguishes between Aceldama, then a small
field covered with a heap of stones, and the
spot, apparently, as at present, on the Hill of
Evil Counsel, where Judas hanged himself on a
fig-tree.0 The latter site was afterwards trans
ferred to the vicinity of Absalom's pillar in the
Kedron valley, where Sir J. Maundeville found
the " elder tree " of Judas, and Maundrell was
shown " another Aceldama." In La Citez de
Iherusalcm (p. 16) a stone arch, which gave its
name to a street within the city, is identified
with the place of the suicide of Judas. At a
later period the site was re-transferred to the
Hill of Evil Counsel, where, according to tradi
tion, stood the country-house of Caiaphas in
which Judas made his bargain. In the 12th and
also in the 14th centuries, Aceldama belonged
to the Latins, and there was a small church
there; but in the 17th century it was in the
hands of the Armenians, who sold the right of
interment at « high price. "Aceldama" was
the name popularly given to the estate pur
chased by the infamous Judge Jeffries with the
money extorted by him during the "bloody
assize " (Macaulay).
It was believed in the Middle Ages that the
soil of this place had the power of very rapidly
consuming bodies buried in it (Sandys, p. 187),
aud, in consequence either of this or of the
sanctity ofthe spot, great quantities of the earth
were taken away ; amongst others bv the Pisan
Crusaders in a.d. 1218 for their Campo Santo
at 1 isa, and by the Empress Helena for that at

i "Eusebius, from whom Jerome translated, has here
Zf °P"MJ" ThiS may be a clerical err°r, or it may
add another to the many instances existing of the
change of a traditional site to meet circumstances
« Antoninus Martyr however says, "De Gethsemane
ascendravus nd portam Hierosolymae per gradus multos.
In dextera parte portae est olivetum et flculnea, in qua
Judas laqueo se suspendit " (/(ire. xvii.).

ACHAIA
Rome (Rob. i. 355 ; Eaumer, p. 270). Besides the
charnel-house above mentioned, there are several
large hollows in the ground in this immediate
neighbourhood which may have been caused by
such excavations. Krafft states (Top. Jer. 193)
that he saw people digging clay at Aceldama.
Schultz (Jer. 39) aud Porter (Giant Cities, 147)
speak of a bed of clay at that place. Clay is
still obtained from the hill above the valley of
Hiunom. [G.] [W.]
ACHA'IA CAxata) signifies in the X. T. a
Roman province, which included the whole of
the Peloponnesus and the greater part of Hellas
proper with the adjacent islands. This province
with that of Macedonia comprehended the whole
of Greece : hence Achaia and Macedonia are fre
quently mentioned together in the X. T. to
indicate all Greece (Acts xviii. 12, xix. 21 ;
Rom. xv. 26, xvi. 5 [where Asia is the correct
reading]; 1 Cor. xvi. 15; 2 Cor. ii. 1, ix.
2, xi. 10 ; 1 Thess. i. 7, 8). A narrow slip of
country upon the northern coast of Pelopon
nesus was originally called Achaia, the cities of
which were confederated in an ancient League,
which was renewed in B.C. 280 for the purpose
of resisting the Macedonians. This League sub
sequently included several of the other Grecian
states, and became the most powerful political
body in Greece ; and hence it was natural for
the Romans to apply the name of Achaia to the
Peloponnesus and the south of Greece, when
thev took Corinth and destroyed the League in
B.C. 146. (KaAoSo-i 5e ovk 'EAAoSos aAA'
'Axaias Tjye/jdva oi 'Fafxatot, Stort ix£ipd>o-avTo
"EAA7)yas Si' 'Ax<uaiv t6t€ tov 'EWtivikov
Trpoeo-rnKttTCnv, Paus. vii. 16, § 10.) Whether the
Roman province of Achaia was established im
mediately after the conquest of the League, or
not till a later period, need not be discussed
here (see Diet, of Geogr. i. p. 17). In the
division of the provinces by Augustus between
the emperor and the senate in B.C. 27, Achaia
was one of the provinces assigned to the senate,
and was governed by a proconsul (Strab. xvii.
p. 840; Dio Cass. liii. 12). Tiberius in the
second year of his reign (a.d. 16) took it away
from the senate, and made it an imperial pro
vince " governed by a procurator (Tac. Ann. i.
76) ; but Claudius restored it to the senate
(Suet. Claud. 25). This was its condition
when Paul was brought before Gallio, who
is therefore (Acts xviii. 12) correctly called
(R. V.) the " proconsul " (avBvTraTOs) of
Achaia, which is translated in the A. V. "de
puty " of Achaia. [J. S. H.] [W.]
ACHA'ICUS ('Axoiko'f ; Achaicus), name of
a member of the Christian household of Stepha
nas (1 Cor. xvi. 17). [G.]
A'CHAN (J3J*, written "131* [Achar] in
1 Ch. ii. 7 ; B. 'Axdp, A. 'Axov in Josh. ; Achan ;
&A. 'Axdp in Chron. ; Achar), the son of Carmi,
an Israelite of the tribe of Judah, who, when
Jericho and all that it contained were accursed
and devoted to destruction (Josh. vi. 17-19),
secreted a portion of the spoil in his tent (Josh.
vii. 1-21). For this sin Jehovah punished
Israel by their defeat in their attack upon Ai.
When Achan confessed his guilt, and the booty
was discovered, he was stoned to death with his
whole family by the people in a valley situated

ACHIACHARUS

23

between Ai and Jericho, and tlieir remains,
together with his property, were burnt (Josh.
vii. 24, 25). From this event the valley received
the name of Achor (i.e. trouble) [Achor]. From
the similarity of the name Achan to Achar,
Joshua said to Achan, " Why hast thou troubled
us (Mn-JDl*)? the Lord shall trouble thee (**"131>,0
this day " (Josh. vii. 25). In order to account for
the terrible punishment executed upon the family
of Achan, it is quite unnecessary to resort to the
hypothesis that they were his accomplices in an
act of military insubordination. The sangui
nary severity of Oriental nations, from which
the Jewish people were by no means free, has in
all ages involved the children in the punishment
of the father ; but, independently of such con
siderations, according to the Jewish apprehen
sion of the second commandment, the sins of the
father were visited upon the children by a dis
tinctly judicial medium. Achan was guilty of a
distinct breach of the covenant made by God
with His people, and his family were treated as
guilty of the father's sin (Josh. vii. 15 ; xxii. 20)
They were punished upon the ground of being
implicated in his sin (cp. Mozley's Lectures on
the Old Testament, pp. 115, 116). This is also
the view taken by the Talmud, which is prompt
to recognise that Achan's confession of his sin
(Josh. vii. 20) was accepted : ' He was punished
in this life (" The Lord shall trouble thee this
day," Josh. vii. 25) ; but he has part in the life
to come ' (Midr. Wajikra Babba, § 9 [on Lev. vii.
11]. Hamburger, BE.'' s. n. "Achan ; " Wiinsche,
Bibl. Babb. Lief. 22, p. 54). [R. W. B.] [F.]
ACHAR (see Achan), a variation of the
name Achan, which seems to have arisen from
the play upon it in 1 Ch. ii. 7 : " Achar, the
troubler (""Oil") of Israel, who committed a tres
pass in the devoted thing " (R. V.). [W. A. W.]
A'CHAZ CAX«f ! Achaz). Aiiaz, king of
Judah (Matt. i. 9). [W. A. W.]
ACH'BOR ("11331*, a mouse; BA. [usually].
'AxoPi&p ; Achobor). 1. Father of Baal-hanan,
king of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 38, D. XoBd-p ; 1 Ch.
i. 49). 2. Son of Micaiah, n contemporary of
Josiah (2 K. xxii. 12, 14; Jer. xxvi. 22 [LXX.=
xxxiii. omits], xxxvi. 12), called ABDON [No. 4]
in 2 Ch. xxxiv. 20. [A. C. H.] [F.]
ACHIACHARUS (Heb. and Chald. [ed.
Neubauer] Ip'1!?'** ! 'Ax'dx"P°s> "• 'AX^X<V°s,
H,' 'Ax^XaP0S ' itala' -^ohicharus. On the fanci
ful reproduction of this name as =P"1[IK '"IN,
see Speaker's Comm. on Tobit, add. note to i. 21-
The supposition that the name = JlinX TIN =
Postremus is not less fanciful), the chief minister,
" cupbearer, and keeper of the signet, and
steward, and overseer of the accounts " at the
court of Sarchedonus or Esarhaddon, king of
Nineveh, in the Apocryphal story of Tobit (Tob.
i. 21, 22; ii. 10; xiv. 10). He was nephew to
Tobit, being the son of his brother Anael, and
supported him in his blindness till he left Nine
veh. From the occurrence of the name of Aman
in xiv. 10, it has been conjectured that Achia-
charus is but the Jewish name for Mordecai,
whose history suggested some points which the
author of the Book of Tobit worked up into his

24

ACHIAS

narrative ; but there is no reason to have re
course to such a supposition, as the discrepant
cies are much more strongly marked than the
resemblances (see Speaker's Comm. note on Tob.
xiv. 10). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ACHIAS (Achias), son of Phinees ; high-
priest and progenitor of Esdras (2 Esd. i. 2),
but omitted both in the genealogies of Ezra and
1 Esdras : perhaps confounded with Ahijah, the
son of Ahitub and grandson of Eli. [W. A. W.]
A'CHIM CAx^ ; Achim, Matt. i. 14), son
of Sadoc, and father of Eliud, in our Lord's
genealogy ; the fifth in succession before Joseph
the husband of Mary. The Hebrew form of the
name would be J'1""'1, Jachin (Gen. xlvi. 10, A.
'lax^i/J., A.*vM 'Axeij", D. 'laxeiv, Jachin ;
1 Ch. xxiv. 17, A. 'lax*'v, B. Ta/iovX, Jachin).
It is a short form of Jehoiachin, the Lord will
establish. The name, perhaps, indicates him as
successor to Jehoiachin's throne, and expresses
his parents' faith that God would, in due time,
establish the kingdom of David, according to
the promise in Is. ix. 7 (v. 6 Heb.) and else
where. [A. C. H.] [F.]
ACHI'OR ('Ax»fy, i-e. "IINTIK, the brother of
light [comp. Tin T1K, Num. xxxiv. 27]; Achior;
confounded with 'Axtdxapos, Tob. xi. 17, Gk.),
a general of the Ammonites in the army of
Holofernes, who is afterwards represented as
becoming a proselyte to Judaism (Judith v. vii.
xiii. xiv.). [B. F. W.j
A'CHISH (ti»3K ; 'AyXo6s ; Achis), a Philis
tine king at Gath, son of Maoch (1 Sam. xxvii. 2),
called in the 34th Psalm (title) Abimelech
[No. 1], possibly the dynastic name of the
Philistine kings (cp. Gen. xx. 2), Achish being
his personal name. David twice found a refuge
with him when he fled from Saul. On the first
occasion, being recognised by the servants of
Achish as one celebrated for his victories over
the Philistines, he was alarmed for his safety,
and feigned madness (1 Sam. xxi. 10-13).
[David.] From Achish he fled to the cave of
Adullam. 2ndly, David fled to Achish with 600
men (1 Sam. xxvii. 2), aud remained at Gath a
year and four months.
Whether the Achish, to whom Shimei went
in disobedience to the commands of Solomon
(1 K. ii. 39, 40), be the same person is uncer
tain. Riehm (HWB. s. n.) thinks that he
was. [R. W. B.] [F.]
ACHI'TOB ('AxiTdJ/3, B. 'Axei- ; Achitob).
Ahitub, the high-priest in the genealogy of
Esdras (1 Esd. viii. [ Vulg. vii.] 2 ; 2 Esd. i. 1).
[W. A. W.]
ACH'METHA. [Ecbatana.]
A'CHOR, VALLEY OF (*l'a** p»l*;
(pdpayt 'Axdp ; 'Ep.eKax<l>p; Hos. koiAos ^'Axcbp ;
vallis Achor) = " valley of trouble," according
to the etymology of the text ; the spot at which
Achan, " the troubler of Israel," was stoned
(Josh. vii. 24, 26). On the N. boundary of
Judah (xv. 7 ; also Isa. lxv. 10 ; Hos. ii. 15,
who alludes to the meaning of the name rather
than to the place). Jerome (OS.' pp. 125, 31
1 51. 1 4) describes it as north of Jericho ; but this'

ACHZIB
is at variance with the course of the boundary
in Joshua (Keil's Joshua, 131). It is now the
Wddy Kelt, which runs into the Jordan valley
to the south of Old Jericho and north of Roman
Jericho. [G.] [W.]
ACH'SA (nD**!*; B. 'Aa-Xd, A. 'Axo-a;
Achsa), daughter ' of Caleb, or Chelubai, the
son of Hezron (1 Ch. ii. 49). [Caleb.] In the
R. V. the name is more correctly given as
Achsah. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ACH'SAH (HD3r, Ges. anklet ; 'Affxd;
Axa), daughter of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,
the Kenezite. Her father promised her in mar
riage to whoever should take Debir, the ancient
name of which (according to the analogy of
Kirjatii-Arba, the ancient name of Hebron)
was Kirjath-Sepher (or, as in Josh. xv. 49,
Kir j ath -Sanna), the city of the book. Othniel,
her father's younger brother, took the city, and
accordingly received the hand of Achsah as his
reward. Caleb, at his daughter's request, added
to her dowry the upper and lower springs, which
she had pleaded for as peculiarly suitable to her
inheritance in a south country (Josh. xv. 15—19.
See Stanley's S. and P. p. 161). [Gulloth.]
The story is given in Judg. i. 11-15. Achsah
is mentioned again, as being the daughter of
Caleb, in 1 Ch. ii. 49, which in the A. V. is in
correctly given as Achsa. [Achsa.] But there
is much confusion in the genealogy of Caleb
there given. [Caleb.] [A. C. H]
ACH'SHAPH (*\&2tS, Ges. enchantment;
Achsaph [Josh. xi. xii.], Axaph [Josh, xix.]),
a city within the territory of Asher, named
between Beten and Alammclech (Josh. xix. 25) ;
originally the seat of a Canaanite king (Josh.
xi. 1, xii. 20 [B., in both places, 'AfefoJ, but
in xix. 25 Kedcp ; A. in xi. 1 'Ax«/> (F. 'Ax<s''ff),
in xii. 20 'Axvdcp]). It is not yet identified.
The modern Kefr Yasif, a small village, with
an ancient well, north-east of Acre (P. F. Mem.
i. 146, 153), does not suit (Dillmann on Josh. xi.
1). Others have suggested Haifa, a town which,
from its situation, must always have been too
important to have escaped mention in the history,
as it otherwise would have done. The identi
fication with either l'dsif or Haifa is, however,
philologically most questionable. [G.] [W.]
ACHZIB CV\3K= falsehood; in Josh. I. v.
B. Ke&lB ; A. omits ; Achzib). 1. A city of Judah,
in the Shefelah, named with Keilah and Mare-
shah (Josh. xv. 44; Mic. i. 14). The latter
passage contains a play on the name: "the
houses of Achzib (3**3*<) shall be a lie " (3T3N ;
LXX. els Kcvbv iytvovro ; Vulg. domus mendacii
m deceptionem). It is probably the same with
Chezib and Chozeba, which see. The name
may perhaps be retained in 'Am Kezbeh, at
Beit Aetlif, 2J miles from 'Aid el-Md (Adullam).
>.?', InAJ°sn' "' <"¦' B- 'Ex»C^; A. 'Ax(el<p [A*
Afety, A.' superscr. x] ; Achziba: in Judg. I. c.
B Ao-xa&f ; A. 'AaXwM ; Achazib. A town
belonging to Asher (Josh. xix. 29), from which
the Canaamtes were not expelled (Judo-, i 31) •
afterwards Ecdippa (Jos. B. J. i. 13, §4, 'EkSI*-
*w). Josephus also (Ant. v. 1, § 22) gives the
name as ApKV . . . i, Kal 'Aktitovs. In /tin.
Hierosolym. Ecdippa is placed 8 Roman miles from

ACIPHA
Ptolemais, on the road to Tyre ; by Jerome ( OS.1
p. 130, 12) 9 Roman miles. Here was the Casale
Huberti of the Crusaders (Schulz ; Ritter, Pal.
p. 782) ; and it is now ez-Zib, on the sea-shore at
the mouth of Wddy el-Kiirn ; a small village on
an artificial mound, with unimportant ruins (P.
F. Mem. i. 148, 155, 193; and cp. Maundrell,
p. 427). Achzib is mentioned in the Assyrian
inscriptions, under the form Akzibi, as one of
the towns dependent on Sidon, which were
captured by Sennacherib during his third cam
paign (Schrader, KAT? p. 170). After the return
from Babylon it was considered by the Jews as
the' northernmost limit of the Holy Land ; it
possessed a synagogue and was fortified. See
the quotations from the Gemara in Reland
(p. 544). [G.] [W.]
ACI'PHA (B. 'AxeiBd ; A. 'Ax"pa ; Agista).
Hakupha (1 Esd. v. 31). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ACITHO ([T.r omits] A. 'AmBtiv, probably
an error for 'Ax'TiiB, the reading of N ; Achitob,
i.e. 3-1t3l|nX, brother of goodwss), one of the
ancestors of Judith (Judith viii. 1 ; see Speaker's
Comm.). [B. F. W.]
ACRABATTINE. [Araeattine ; Ak-
RABBIM.] ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. 1. The Title.
— The title of this Book, as given in the oldest
authorities, is either " Acts " or " Acts of Apos
tles." The former (irpafeu) appears at the com
mencement and in the headings of the pages in X ;
the latter (irpdfeis Sltoo-t6\iiv) in B D (but with
the itacism irpo|is in D), and in the subscrip
tion of X. Accordingly the Book is quoted
indifferentlv by the early Fathers as " Acts,"
"The Acts'" (Orig. Op. i. p. 434, iv. pp. 6, 25 ;
comp. Euseb. H. E. vi. 25 ; Tertull. c. Marc. v.
3, de Praescr. 22, and elsewhere), or " Acts of
Apostles," " The Acts of the Apostles " (Iren.
iii. 13. 3; Clem. Alex. Strom, v. 12, p. 696:
Tertull. o. Marc. v. 1, 2, and elsewhere ; Orig.
Op. i. p. 22, ii. p. 538, &c). Longer titles,
such as " Acts of the Holy Apostles " (wpd^eis
ruv ayiwv anroffTo'Xuiv), found in the subscription
of E G H, may be dismissed at once from our
consideration. The author of the Muratorian
Canon (c. a.d. 180 ?) refers to the Book as con
taining " acta omnium apostolorum " (p. 18,
ed. Tregelles) ; but he does not give this defi
nitely as a title, and by inserting " omnium,"
which however is not a correct description, he
obviously desires to distinguish it from apocry
phal histories of individual Apostles, such as the
" Acta Petri," &c. Whether we should con
sider the larger title a later expansion of the
shorter, or whether on the other hand " Acts "
is an abridgement of " Acts of Apostles " for
convenience, may be a matter of question. On
the whole, perhaps the latter view is the more
probable ; since the long and short forms are
found in the same writers, and moreover, when
ever the title of the Book is distinctly recorded
as such — for instance by Eusebius (H. E. iii. 25),
by Athanasius (Op. ii. p. 767), by Chrysostom
(Op. iii. p. 54), by Euthalius, and by Photius
(Amph.il. Qu. 123) — the word cnroo-T6\wv is
never wanting. We gather also from the evi
dence, that in the original form the definite
articles were absent. Thus, for instance, Chry
sostom (in the passage just referred to), having

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 25
distinctly given the title without the articles
(toiWiji/ i-x6' tV iiriypcKpyv, npet|eis &7roo-Td'-
\av), nevertheless in the same context writes,
airb twv Trpd^ewv ruv o.ttoo-t6Kwv. This example
shows that no stress can be laid on the fact
that elsewhere the Book is quoted in early
writers as " The Acts of the Apostles." In
Wicliffe's Version, which was translated from
the Vulgate, it is headed " Deeds of Apostles " ;
but in the Authorised (1611) the heading is
'¦ The Actes of the Apostles," as also in the
previous English Versions of the 16th century
generally, which were made from the Greek.
But, though it seems clear that the earlier
title was " Acts of Apostles " (irpd^eis coto-
ordAeiJc) without the definite article, the value
of the fact in its bearing on the contents is
diminished by the consideration that in titles
and headings the omission of the article was
common in ancient times, as it is with ourselves.
Thus in Matt. i. 1 the words are "Book of
generation (or genealogy) of Jesus Christ "
(BlBXos ycveo-euis k. t. A.). Moreover, we have
no ground for assuming that this title, whether
irpd£eis a.Tro<TT6\uv or irpd^Ls simply, was given
to the Book by the writer himself. In other
cases in the N. T. we find indications that the
earliest existing headings are somewhat later
than the writings themselves (Lightfoot, Colos-
sians, p. 16). The later word -irpa^airio-ToKos
is not a title of this individual Book ; but, being-
compounded of irpdfceis and cwtoVtoAos, desig
nates lectionaries which contained lessons from
the Acts and Apostolic Epistles (Scrivener's
Introduction, pp. 71, 279, 301).
2. Tlie Scope and Contents. — The Acts, of the
Apostles, like the Third Gospel, is addressed to
one Theophilus. Was he an actual person, a
disciple or friend of the writer ? or have we
here a fictitious name, a representative of the
Christian reader generally ? The former is the
view commonly taken by modern writers. Ho
has been made a native of Antioch, of Alex
andria, of Rome, &c. by different critics, all
without any shadow of authority which deserves
consideration. If he were a real person, we
might with greater probability place him at
Philippi, for the writer of the Acts apparently
had close relations with this place. Yet the other
opinion is not to be hastily rejected ; for it is
at least consonant with the literary character of
St. Luke's two treatises, and more especially of
the prefaces. This view is thrown out as a
suggestion by Epiphanius {Haer. Ii. 7, hItovv
tivX @to(pi\ip tot€ ypdtpuv . . . ^ iravrl avBptlmui
®ebv dyaTr&VTi). It seems also to be present to
the mind of Origen, though he does not express
himself very clearly (Horn, in Luc. 1, Op. iii.
p. 933, Delarue). So also St. Ambrose, " Scrip
tum est evangelium ad Theophilum, hoc est ad
eum quem Deus diligit " (Exp. Evang. Luc.
i. 12, Op. i. p. 1270, ed. Bened.). In modern
times it has found some rather lukewarm sup
porters (e.g. Renan, L'Eglise Chretienne, p. 256).
As the Greek equivalent to the Hebrew Jedidiah,
Theophilus is not uncommon as a Jewish name.
Thus it is borne by the Jewish high-priest (a.d.
37-41) the son of Annas (Jos. Ant xviii. 5, § 3,
xix. 6,§ 2), who has been identified — an extremely
improbable identification — with the person here
addressed by St. Luke. Again, we find two per
sons so called in an inscription in a Jewish

26 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
cemetery at Rome (Schiirer, Gemeindeverf. der
Juden in Bom, p. 39). It was a frequent
heathen name likewise (Pape, Worterb. Griech.
Eigennamen, s. v. ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vii.
p. 106 sq., ed. Harles ; comp. Tac. Ann. ii. 55).
Naturally also it was common among the Chris
tians, e.g. the apologist Theophilus, Bishop of
Antioch (c. A.D. 180). A reminiscence of this
later Theophilus, combined with the tradition
that St. Luke himself was an Antiochene, may
have given rise to the Clementine statement
that Theophilus was a person of importance in
Antioch (Recogn. x. 71, "Theophilus qui erat
cunctis potentibus in civitate sublimior "),
who consecrated his house as a basilica, where
the chair of St. Peter was established. ,In
Apost Const, vii. 46, a Theophilus is repre
sented as the third Bishop of Caesarea of Pales
tine, and appointed to the see by the Apostles
themselves, his predecessors being Zacchaeus
and Cornelius. Probably our Theophilus is
meant, as it is the practice of this writer to
find an episcopal see for every worthy whose
name is mentioned in the N. T. In the Armenian
Epistle of tlie Corinthians to St. Paul (Aucher,
Armen. Gramm. p. 177) one Theophilus is repre
sented as a joint writer of the letter.
The adoption of the name Theophilus or
Philotheus, as a representative godly Christian,
has parallels in both ancient and modern times.
Thus the treatise of Hippolytus, de Antichristo
(pp. 1, 36, Lagarde), is addressed to his " beloved
brother Theophilus," evidently a fictitious name ;
and in the Symposium of Methodius (ii. 1, p. 14,
Jahn) one of the divine maidens bears the name
Theophila. So likewise Law's Atonement is a
Dialogue between Eusebius and Tlieophilus, and
Wordsworth's treatise on the Church is desig
nated Theophilus Anglicanus ; while in Ken's
Manual of Prayer for the Winchester scholars he
addresses his reader as Philotheus.
If this view be correct, this second treatise
is drawn up, like the first, for the instruc
tion of the godly reader who seeks in
formation respecting the foundation of the
Church (here addressed under the imaginary
name Theophilus). It is no objection that he
is designated Kpdrio-ros (Luke i. 3), a title
given to those in high position (Acts xxiii. 26,
xxiv. 3, xxvi. 25) ; for there is no reason why
the writer should not have wished to commend
the faith of Christ to persons of this class.
Its aim, purport, and contents are set forth in
the preface (i. 1-8). The first treatise is there
described as an account of "all things which
Jesus began both to do and to teach (tfp£aro 6
'\y\o-ovs iroieiv -re /cal SiSdaKeiv), until the day
on which, having given commandment through
the Holy Ghost to the Apostles whom He had
chosen, He was taken up (into heaven)." This
language suggests (1) that, if the writer had
given any title to the work, he might well have
styled it "Second Treatise" (Seirepos \6yos);
and (2) that he regards it as strictly a con
tinuation of the first, for this is implied in
?lpt-aTo, "began." But here a question arises.
Is the " doer and teacher " the same person in
the second part as in the first ? In other words,
is Jesus Himself nere regarded as continuing
in the history of the Church the work which
He began in His personal ministry? This is
Baumgarten's view, and it has been followed by

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
some later critics. In its favour are the facts,
(a) that the form of the sentence suggests the
same agent, and (B) that our Lord is again and
again represented as interposing in person in the
course of the narrative. If so, the title -irpdfcis
a,Troo-T6xt»p is misleading, and obscures the
author's main conception. But this view is
not altogether free from the charge of artiT
ficiality. At all events we might expect that,
if this had been the writer's leading idea, he
would have emphasised it more plainly. It
seems on the whole therefore more probable that
the Apostles are represented as continuing the
work which Jesus inaugurated in person. If so,
the common title of the Book is fairly adequate,
and Photius (Amphil. 123, p. 716, Migne) is
right when he speaks of the Gospel as "com
prising the Acts of the Lord " (rds Seo-iroriKas
¦n-epiexovaa irpd£eis). Similarly Irenaeus (iii.
15. 1) describes the second treatise as "sequens
testificatio ejus (Lucae), quam habet de
actibus et doctrina apostolorum," with an
obvious reference to the " doing and teaching "
of our Lord as contained in the first. In this
case the ^p|oto may be answered by SxP' fc
rgxipas n. t. A., i.e. " the whole history of the
doings and teachings of Jesus from the beginning
till the final day of the Ascension"; as it is
taken by Chrysostom (Op. ix. p. 5, by apx^s
fj.expi TtXovs). This view also accords with
the fact that special stress is laid on the
selection of and charge to the Apostles, that
their names are given again (though previously .
mentioned in the Gospel), and that the com
pletion of their number is recorded. Bengel,
following Chrysostom, describes the relation of
the two treatises somewhat differently, " non
tam Apostolorum quam Spiritus Sancti de-
scribens, sicut prior liber Acta Jesu Christi
habet " ; but this is not the antithesis present
to the mind of the writer himself.
Thus the two treatises are regarded respec
tively as the ministry of Jesus and the ministry
of the Apostles, or (if we take the other view)
the ministry of Jesus in His own person and the
ministry of Jesus through the Apostles. The
first has been given in full by St. Luke (irepi .
irdvTwv k. -i . A.) ; the second, not being yet
concluded, could not be so given. The contents
of the first have been directly described. This
description is expressed in such language (rbv
/xev irpaiTov k. t. A.) as to lead the reader to
expect an antithetical clause (iv 8e Tip Seurepa
Scnyi)o-ofiai) describing the contents of the
second. But this antithetical clause never
appears, and in place of it the sentence runs off
into a narrative of facts. In this narrative
of facts therefore we look for the explanation ;
and we are not disappointed. The Lord is
represented as conversing with the disciples
after the Resurrection and preparing them for
their mission. His words are prophetic of the
future, and thus implicitly involve a table of
contents :
" Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Ghost," &c.
(ii. 1-13).
" And ye shall be witnesses unto Me,
(i.) Both in Jerusalem (ii. 14-viii. 1),
(ii.) And in all Judaea and Samaria (viii. 2-
xi. 18),
(iii.) And to the uttermost parts of the earth "
(xi. 19-xxviii. 31).

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
The first two sections are complete ; the
fulfilment of the third is given not actually,
but potentially. Such an earnest of it is afforded
as to leave no doubt of its ultimate accomplish
ment. St. Paul travels to the far West; he
preaches the faith in Kome without hindrance ;
and thus Christianity has obtained a firm foot
ing in the metropolis of the human race, the
stronghold of heathendom.
After this anticipatory abstract of the history
of the Christian Church, our thoughts are led
forward to the great and terrible day, the
consummation of all things, when this history
shall be wound up. But again this is effected,
not by his own words, but by the narrative of
the savings and doings of others (i. 8-11). The
departure of Jesus by the Ascension is thus
linked with His return in the second Advent.
The narrative of the Acts spans over this interval
potentially. These considerations will explain the close
of the Book. Whatever apparent abruptness
there may be in the ending, the writer was
clearly not interrupted so as to leave his work
unfinished. He closes with the event which
his aim required. The occupation of Rome, the
capital of the world, was the one eventful crisis
which closed an epoch. Xor did he contemplate
a " third treatise." as some have imagined.
There is indeed no conceivable plea for any
third treatise, if our view of his main design be
correct. Nor again can any chronological
argument be drawn from his stopping at this
particular point ; as for instance that he was
unacquainted with St. Paul's visit to Spain or
with the martyrdom of the two Apostles. He
was not writing the biography of either Apostle.
It will be observed also that the close of the
second treatise is strictly analogous to the close
of the first :
Fulfilment of | Luke xxiv. 44—49. I Acts xxviii. 23-29.
prophecies. | |
Joyful termi- Luke xxiv. 50-53. Acts xxviii. 30, 31.
nation. |
The following then is the table of contents : —
INTR OD VCTOR T.
(i.) Connexion with the previous
narrative . . . . i. 1, 2.
(ii.) Christ's final commands and pro
phecies respecting the King
dom of God . . i. 3-8.
(iii.) The resurrection, and announce
ment of the Second Advent . i. 9-11.
(iv.) The. names and attitude of the
Apostles . . . . i. 12-14.
(v.) The vacmt place in the aposto-
late filled . . i. 15-26.
THE MAIN NARRATIVE.
A. The Hebraic Period (ii.-v.).
(i.) Consecration ofthe Apostles and
first disciple-} by the out
pouring of the Holy Ghost . ii. 1-13.
(ii.) The ingathering of the first-
fruits oa the day of Pentecost ii. 14-41.
(iii.) The inner life and the extension
of the infant Church . . ii. 42-47.
(iv.) The first miracle (of mercy and
restoration). The address of
Peter and the conflict with the
rulers consequent thereupon iii. 1— iv. 31.
(v.) The unity and communion of
goods of the early Church . iv. 32-37.

vi. 1-7.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
(vi.) The sin of Ananias and Sap
phira. The second miracle
(of retribution and judg
ment) .... v.*l-
(vii.) The miraculous working ofthe
Apostles. Their imprison
ment, their appearance before
the priests and rulers, and
their dismissal . . , v. 12
This period closes with a notice
of their energetic and inces
sant preaching of Jesus as
the Christ . . . „ v. 42

B. The Transitional Period (vi.-xii.).
fi.) Appointment of a diaconate
(chiefly or wholly Hellenist)
to meet complaints of Hellen
ists as to the distribution of
alms .....
(ii.) The labours, apprehension,
speech, and martyrdom of
Stephen ....
(iii.) The consequences of the mar
tyrdom :
(a) Scattering of the dis
ciples iu Judaea and
Samaria ;
(0) Antagonism of Saul .
(iv.) Samaria evangelized through
Philip, whose work is con
firmed by the Apostles Peter
and John. First conflict with
a false form of religion (out
side Judaism) in the person
of Simon Magus .
(v.) Conversion of the Ethiopian
eunuch, a proselyte
(vi.) Conversion of Saul and vision
of Ananias. Saul is healed
and disputes with the Hel
lenists at Jerusalem
(vii.) Peace in the churches " through
out the whole of Judaea and
Galilee and Samaria" .
(viii.) Peter's miracles at Lydda
(Aeneas) and at Joppa (Dor
cas) 
(ix.) Visions of Cornelius and of
Peter. Peter visits, converts,
and baptizes Cornelius and
his companions. Their Bap
tism is anticipated by an out
pouring of the Holy Ghost .
(x ) Peter reports the case to the
Church at Jerusalem and ob
tains its approval
(xi.) Disciples scattered at the per
secution of Stephen preach in
Phoenicia, at Cyprus, and at
Antioch, to the Greeks (v. 1.
Hellenists). Their action
confirmed by the Apostles
through Barnabas
(xii.) Saul preaches at Antioch, where
the disciples are first called
Christians ....
(xiii.) The Christians of Jerusalem j
relieved by the Gentile I
churches . . . .1
(xiv.) Herod's persecution of tlie
Church. Martyrdom of James
and imprisonment of Peter.
Release of Peter, who goes
elsewhere, and punishment of
H*rod ....
At the close is a notice of the
triumphant progress of the
Word of God

viii. 5-25.
viii. 26-40.

ix. 32-43.

xi

19

-24.

xi.

25,

26.

xi.

27-

30.

xii

. 25

28 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
C. Tlie Gentile Period (xiii.-xxviii.).
I. Consecration of Barnabas and Saul to
the apostolate .... xiii. i-3.
II. First missionary journey of Paul
(accompanied by Barnabas) :
(i.) Preaching in Cyprus and con
version of Sergius Paulus . xiii. 4-12.
(ii.) Journey through Pamphylia
(desertion of John Mark) . xiii. 13.
(iii.) Paul in the synagogue at An
tioch of Pisidia. Rejection
by the Jews and acceptance
by the Gentiles . . . xiii. 14-52.
<iv.) Preaching at Iconium (stoning
of Paul) .... xiv. 1.-1.
(v.) Healing of the impotent man
at Lystra . . . xiv. 8-18.
(vi.) Subsequent preaching and re
turn to Antioch . . . xiv. 19-28.
(vii.) Apostolic Council at Jerusalem
(liberation of the Gentile
Christians from the obliga
tions of tbe Law) . . . xv. 1-35.
JII. Second missionary journey of Paui
(accompanied by Silas) :
(i.) Separation of Paul and Barnabas xv. 36-39.
(ii.) Paul confirms the churches xv. 40-
already founded on the pre- xvi. 5.
vious journey, and, after visit
ing the district of Phrygia
and Galatia, is summoned by
a vision into Macedonia . xvi. 6-11.
(iii.) Preaching at Philippi. Im
prisonment and release . xvi. 12-40.
(iv.') Preaching and persecution at
Thessalonica and Beroea . xvii. 1-15.
(v.) Paul at Athens preaches on the
Areopagus .... xvii. 16-34.
(vi.) His long residence at Corinth
and appearance before Gallio xviii. i-17.
(vii.) He returns to Antioch, calling
at Ephesus and visiting Jeru
salem on the way . . xviii. 18-23.
(viii.) Apollos at Ephesus and Corinth, xviii. 24-28.
IV. Third missionary journey of Paul:
(i.) Three years' residence at Ephe
sus, ending with the tumult xix. 1-41.
(ii.) Visit to Macedonia and to
Greece, whence he returns to
Palestine by way of Mace
donia .... xx. 1-16.
(iii.) Address to the Ephesian elders
, at Miletus . . . xx. 17-38.
(iv.) Subsequent voyage, sojourn at
Caesarea, and arrival at Je
rusalem

xxi. 1-16.

V. Two years' sojourn in Palestine :
(i.) Tumult in the Temple and de- •
fence of Paul
(ii.) Address to the Sanhedrin . ¦
(iii.) Journey to Caesarea
(iv.) Accusation of Tertullus and
defence of Paul before Felix.
Subsequent conduct of Felix.
(v.) Treatment of the prisoner by
Festus. Speech of Paul be
fore Festus and Agrippa
VI. Journey to and sojourn in Rome :
(i.) Voyage and shipwreck .
(ii.) Sojourn at Melita .
(iii.) Subsequent journey and arrival
¦ at Rome ....
(iv.) Conference with the chief Jews.
ends unsatisfactorily, and he
turns to the Gentiles . . xxviii. 17-29.
(v.) Success of his preaching . xxviii. 30, 31.

xxi. 17-
xxii. 29.
xxii. 30-
xxiii. 10.
xxiii. 11-35.

xxiv. 1-27.
xxv. I-
xxvi. 32.

xxvii. 1-44.
xxviii. l-io.

xxvui. 11-16.

ACTS OP THE APOSTLES
The Book had begun with the discourses of
Christ relating to the career of "the Kingdom
of God " (Kiywv Th nepi rrjs Ba<ri\sias tou
@eov). These discourses elicit the question
from the disciples, "Dost thou at this time
restore the Kingdom (tV Baaiheiav) to Israel?"
We are now told at the close that the chief
Apostle of the Gentiles " proclaims the Kingdom
of God " (urnpiaaav ttiv Ba<nXtiav tov 0eoS) in
the chief city of the Gentiles. Here is the
indirect answer to the Apostles' question, so far
as any answer could be given. The subject of
the Book then is the history of the Kingdom
of God, with more special reference to the
relaxation of the terms of admission, the in
gathering of the Gentiles, and the transference
of the centre of gravity of Christendom from
Jerusalem elsewhere.
This history comprises three periods. Of these
the second, the epoch of transition, is the most
instructive; and indeed the narrative of the
Acts hinges on it. This period itself may be
divided into two parts : First (i.— vii.), that
which deals with Hellenists, Samaritans, anil
proselytes of the gate, persons of mixed nation
or religion, neither wholly Hebraic nor wholly
Gentile ; and secondly (viii.-xiv.), that which
treats of the extension of the Church among
Gentiles proper. At the end of each of these
two divisions, as if he had arrived at a fresh
landing-place, the author after his manner
inserts an encouraging notice of the progress of
the Gospel. Obviously he has paid special
attention to the transitional period, gathering
together every notice which seemed to illustrate
either the principles, the agents, or the recipients,
in this gradual enlargement of the bounds of
Christendom. 3. External Testimony. — The external autho
rity in favour of this Book is full and unanimous.
Only at a comparatively late date do we find
any exception to the testimonies which assign it
to St. Luke, and even then its canonical authority
is not questioned. If we place ourselves in the
later decades of the 2nd century, we are con
fronted with witnesses from all parts of the
Church, and the evidence leaves nothing to be
desired. (1) Irenaeus, who represents three
Churches — Asia Minor, Kome, and Gaul —
quotes or refers to it between fifty and sixty
times. The quotations range over nearly the
whole Book. He gives St. Peter's speech at
Pentecost (ii. 22-36), St. Peter's speech at the
Beautiful Gate (iii. 12-26), St. Paul's speech on
the Areopagus (xvii. 24-31), and the speeches of
St. Peter and St. James at the apostolic council,
together with the apostolic letter (xv. 7-11,
13-21, 23-29) in full or nearly so (iii. 12. 3, 9,
14). As this third book was published during
the Roman episcopate of Eleutherus (A.D. 175-
189), we know the latest possible date of the
testimony. He several times distinctly ascribes
it to St. Luke, and argues from this fact (i. 23.
1, iii. 13. 3, iii. 14. 1 sq., iv. 15. 1). He
attributes scriptural authority to it (e.g. iii.
12. 5, 9). He not only argues from its Lucan
authorship himself, but assumes this as com
mon ground with his adversaries. In fact he
quotes it just as any strictly orthodox divine
would do in the present day. It is difficult there
fore to understand the statement that "it is
undeniable that no distinct and unequivocal

ACTS OP THE APO'STLES
reference to the Acts of the Apostles, and to
Luke as their author, occurs in the writings of
the Fathers before one by Irenaeus about tlie
end ofthe 2nd century" (Supernatural Beligion,
iii. p. 2). (2) Clement of Alexandria (e. a.d.
190-200) represents more especially the Church
whose name he bears ; but he mentions ob
ligations to six different teachers — in Greece,
m Egypt, in Palestine, Assyria, and the East —
who had received the " tradition handed down
direct from father to son from the holy Apostles
Peter and James, John and Paul" (Strom, i. 1,
p. 322). He quotes the Acts repeatedly, and in
one passage (Strom, v. 12, p. 696) gives the
name of the writer Luke. (3) The Muratorian
Canim probably represents Rome, and is gene
rally placed about A.D. 170-1S0 (since the
author speaks of the episcopate of Pius, c. A.D.
140-155, as '¦ nuperrime temporibus nostris "),
but may be a few years later. This writer (ed.
Tregelles, p. IS), in a passage which is some
what corrupt, but of which the general tenor
seems clear, after the four Gospels mentions
'' Acta omnium apostolorum " as written by
Luke and addressed to Theophilus, adding that
he wrote down the events of which he had per
sonal knowledge (" corprindit quia [1. quae]
sub praesentia ejus singula gerebantnr "), and
that evidently he was not an eye-witness of the
martyrdom of Peter and the journey of Paul to
Spain. (4) Tertullian is the chief representa
tive of the African Church. His literary acti
vity covers the last years of the 2nd and the
early years of the 3rd centuries. He quotes
the Acts many times. About 150 references or
quotations are given by Ronsch (Das Neue
Testament Tertullians, p. 291 sq.), but a certain
percentage of these may be doubtful. He
quotes it generally as Acta or Acta Apostolorum
and ascribes it to St. Luke (de Jejun. 10). He
cites it too as Scripture (see e. g. Praescr. Haer.
22), and designates it Apostolicum Instrumentum
(Pudic. 12) or Scriptura Apostolicorum (Marc.
v. 2). (5) Polycrates of Ephesus (a.d. 189-
198) represents Asia Minor at the close of this
century. He lays great stress on the primitive
tradition, which he had inherited through
several relatives who were Bishops (Euseb. II. E.
v. 24). He quotes Acts v. 29 verbatim, though
not by name, in the words " They that are
greater than I have said, It is right to serve God
rather than men" (-ireiBapxslv 5e? 0e£ uaWov
fl avSpanrois), a saying ascribed in the Acts to
" Peter and the Apostles."
We find then that in the last decades of the
2nd century the Book is quoted profusely and
without any sign of misgiving as authoritative
Scripture and as the work of St. Luke. The
testimony comes from all quarters of the
Church ; and the witnesses are persons who
were mixed up in various religious controversies
and had alliances far aud wide, striking (in some
instances) deep into the past. There can be no
doubt therefore about the universal verdict of
the Church at this time. Thus at the earliest
moment when we have sufficient materials for a
judgment, the evidence in favour of the Book is
overwhelming. The earlier testimony is of the same kind as
for most of those Canonical Books of which tho
authenticity has never been questioned. The
apostolic Fathers do not directly quote Romans

ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 29
or 2 Corinthians or Galatians, nor are these
Epistles named by any Church writer before
Irenaeus. Of Acts xx. 35, " To remember
(p.vnp.oveieiv) the words of the Lord Jesus, how
He said, lt is blessed rather to give than to
receive (/ia\Kov $i$6vai f) KapBdveiv)," we have
reminiscences in Clement of Rome, § 13, " espe
cially remembering (uenvnp.tvoi) the words of
the Lord Jesus which He spake " (comp. § 46),
and § 2, " more gladly giving than receiving "
(VlSiov SiS6vTfS fl \a/i.8dvovTes), for in the
context of this latter passage the Corinthians.
are praised for " giving heed to the words " of
Christ. Again in § 18, " What shall we say of
David, to whom witness is borne (rip /j.e/i.a.pTv-
pripiivip), unto whom God said, I have found a
man after My heart, David the son of Jesse,
with oil," Sic., Clement is compounding the ori
ginal passage in the Psalms, Ixxxviii. (lxxxix.)
20, with the quotation in Acts xiii. 22, " To
whom also He said, bearing witness (fiaprv-
pjo-as), I have found David the son of Jesse a
man after my heart, who will do," &c, where
the features borrowed from the Acts are (1)
the mention of the " witness " ; (2) the ad
dition of " a man after my heart " (comp.
1 Sam. xiii. 14); and (3) the further addition
of "the son of Jesse" — none of these being
found in the original passage of the Psalms.
This threefold coincidence is not easily explained
away. The coincidences in Ignatius are
somewhat less close, but not insignificant.
Magn. 5, "to go (xapeiv) to his own place,"
recals Acts i. 25, " to go (iropevBTJvai) to his own
place." In Philad. 11 we have the phrase aviip
ae/j.apTvprip.ivos, which occurs also in Acts vi. 3.
In Smyrn. 3, "After His Resurrection He ate
and drank with them (avvitpaysv avTois Kai
o-uceViey)," there is an allusion to Acts x. 41,
ffvveipayofxev Kai cuvenlop.ev aurtp /teres to
ava.o-TTJvai k. t. a. In Polycarp the coinci
dences are of the same kind, but stronger.
§ 1, " Whom God raised (tfyetpev), loosing the
pangs of Hades (\iaas tos uSivas tov SSov),"
closely follows Acts ii. 24, " whom God raised up
(kvidT-go-iv), having loosed the pangs of death
(Kvcas rets w&ivas tou BavdTov)," where there is
a v. 1. adov, which is shown from the authori
ties (D, e, Vulg., Memph., Iren.) to have been.
current at least as early as the 2nd century.
Though the individual expressions (e.g. w5?i/es
oSSou) may be found elsewhere, there is nothing
approaching to the parallelism throughout the
sentence, so that it cannot be regarded as acci
dental. Again, in § 2 we Kave the expression
"judge of quick and dead," as in Acts x. 42.
There are also other coincidences (§ 2 to xx. 35,
§ 6 to vii. 52, § 12 to viii. 21), on which how
ever no stress can be laid. Of Papias (Euseb.
ff. E. iii. 39) we can only say that his anecdotes-
deal with personages mentioned in the Acts,,
Judas Barsabbas and the daughters of Philip (if
he be the same Philip), and that his story oi
Judas the traitor is used by ApoUinaris of
Laodicea in the 4th century to reconcile the-
accounts of his death in St. Matthew and in the
Acts, and may have had some such reference as.
told by himself. In Hep.mas, who gives not a
single quotation (strictly speaking) either from
the Old or from the New Testament, we stumble
on coincidences with the Acts, which however
would have no great value in themselves. Thus

30

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

Hermas (Mand. iv. 3) uses the word itapbioyvw-
oT-ns, " heart-knower," of God, which occurs
twice in the Acts (i. 24, xv. 8), but is found
nowhere else in the LXX. or N. T. Again, he
speaks of being thought " worthy of bearing the
Name," and of being " healed " or " saved by
the Name" (Vis. iv. 2, Sim. ix. 28), expressions
which are close parallels to Acts iv. 12, v. 41.
In the Apologists there are similar coinci
dences. Thus in Justin Martyr we have in
two several passages (Dial. 36, 76) a reference
to prophecy as announcing iradnThs [o] XpiaTOs,
"the Messiah would be passible," as in Acts
xxvi. 23. Here the coincidence consists not in
the idea, but in the manner of expressing it, the
word iraflijTos not occurring elsewhere in the
LXX. or N. T. So again the summary of events
after the Crucifixion in Apol. i. 50 seems to
be taken from Acts i. 8 sq. (comp. ii. 33), the
expression " to receive power " (hafiBdveiv
dvvafiiv) being common to both, besides other
coincidences. Again, Dial. 68, " How saith
the Word unto David that God would take a
son for Himself from his loins (curb ttjs d<r<pvos
avToii) . . . and would seat (KaBiaei) him on the
throne of His glory," is best explained as a
reminiscence of Acts ii. 30, "God sware unto
him by an oath that he would set (KaBiffaC) of
the fruit of his loins (ttjs bo-<pios alrrov) upon
his throne ;" for in both passages " loins "
(ba<pvos) is substituted for " body " (koiA(os),
and " set " (/caOifeic) for " place " (rlBecrBai) of
the LXX. of Psalm cxxxi. (cxxxii.) 11, though in
neither case does the Hebrew suggest such a
substitution. Again in Dial. 16 we read, " Ye
slew the Just One and before Him the prophets,"
which has a close parallel in Acts vii. 52 (comp.
Is. lvii. 1). Again, the connexion of " common
or unclean things " with " refraining to eat " is
matched by Acts x. 14, 28, xi. 8 ; and there are
other coincidences likewise. It seems difficult,
with these facts before us, to resist the inference
that Justin was acquainted with the Acts. The
coincidences in the other Apologists are much
slighter. Thus Tatian (Orat. ad Graec. 6)
writes, " Though you consider us . . . babblers
(o-ireppioAbyovs)," the word used of St. Paul by
the Athenians in Acts xvii. 18. In Theophilus
again (ad Autol. ii. 1) there is the same play on
yivdio-Keiv, avayiv&o-Kziv, which appears in Acts
viii. 30.
Of other writers in the 2nd century Dio
nysius of Corinth is reported by Eusebius
(ff. E. iv. 23) as recording (SijAo?) that " Diony
sius the Areopagite, when turned (vpOTparrels)
to the faith by the Apostle Paul in accordance
with the records (rb SeBijAoyie'ca) in the Acts,
was the first to be entrusted with the bishopric
of the diocese (irapomias) of Athens." From
this passage indeed it does not necessarily
follow that Dionysius actually mentioned the
Acts ; but, if the language of Eusebius may
be interpreted strictly, Dionysius of Corinth
must have said that his early namesake was
converted by St. Paul (not o irpoTpairels,
but irporpairds), as therein stated. In the
Epistle of Vienne and Lyons (Euseb. ff. E.
v. 1) the last prayer of " Stephen the perfect
martyr" is given from Acts vii. 60, just as
elsewhere in this same document the language
used of Zacharias (the father of the Baptist)ls
taken from Luke i. 6. These obligations to the

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
two treatises of St. Luke can only be evaded by
postulating doubles of both writings (see Super
natural Beligion, iii. p. 25), but this is an alter
native which need not be seriously discussed.
It should be added also that in all the Ver-
j sions of the 2nd century (the Syriac, Latin, and
Egyptian), so far as our information goes, this
Book formed a part.
Moreover the early Apocryphal Acts and
other historical romances show an acquaintance
with this work, to which they are frequently
indebted for their personal and geographical
notices, where they cross the historical path of
the canonical Acts. Such are the Acts of
Peter and Paul, and those of Paul and Thecla.
So too Cornelius (Horn. xx. 13) and others are
mentioned in the Clementine Homilies, while '
Theophilus also appears in the Recognitions.
The Homilies moreover contain several expres
sions found in the Acts, such as " heart-knower,"
Horn. x. 13, -xpbs KapSioyvao-rr^v ©eoV (comp.
Acts i. 24, xv. 8) ; " What purporteth this
to be ? " Horn. xiii. 6, xiv. 9, ti fleAei tovto
elvai (comp. Acts ii. 12, xvii. 20) ; " What hin-
dereth me to be baptized ?" Horn. xiii. 5 (see also
xiii. 11 ; comp. Acts viii. 36). Similar resem
blances also appear in the Recognitions.
It was indeed rejected by several Heretics
of the 2nd century, not however in a single
instance (so far as we can discover) because
they questioned its authorship, but in many
cases obviously on this very account. Those who,
like the Ebionites, denied the apostleship of St.
Paul, were forced to repudiate the authority of
his disciple. Those on the other hand who,
like the Marcionites, maintained a direct anta
gonism between St. Paul and the Apostles of
the circumcision, could not do otherwise than
reject a work which represented them as meeting
each other on friendly terms. For the Ebionites
see Iren. iii. 15. 1. Again, as regards the Mar
cionites, Irenaeus argues with them throughout
on the hypothesis of its Lucan authorship, as if
this were common ground (iii. 12. 12, iii. 14.
1 sq.). When dealing with the Valentinians
and other Gnostics, he distinctly states that
they accept the Book as authoritative, but try
to get round it by false interpretations, or by a
distinction between an esoteric and exoteric doc
trine (iii. 12. 12, iii. 14. 4, iii. 15. 1, 2). Thus
these Valentinians are valuable witnesses — all
the more valuable because the acceptance of the
Book involved them in great difficulty.
It should be added also that, as' the Third
Gospel and the Acts were evidently the work of
one man — and the admission of this fact may
now be regarded as practically universal — all
the evidence whi6h testifies to the authorship
of the former is available also for the latter, and
conversely. But the testimony in favour of St.
Luke as the author of the Third Gospel is abso
lutely unbroken, and no shadow of suspicion
overclouds it for nearly eighteen centuries.
The unanimity and directness of testimony
which we have observed at the close of the 2nd
century continue in the succeeding ages. At
the close of the 4th century however, we find
Chrysostom saying that he is induced to explain
the Book, because many are ignorant of its
existence and its authorship (Comm. in Act.
Apost. i. 1, Op. ix. p. 1). As it is freely
quoted without any suspicion cast on its author-

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
ship by all the great fathers of his own genera
tion, as well as before and after, this can only
mean that it was more or less neglected by the
general reader. This neglect may be accounted
for by the fact that it would uot be read regu
larly in churches like the Gospels or the
Apostolic Epistles, and copies would not be
multiplied to the same extent as in the case of
these other Scriptures. As it did not bear its
author's name in the title (in this respect
differing from the other Books of the N. T.),
ignorance on this point becomes the more ex
plicable. Still more perplexing, and still less recon
cilable with the facts, is a notice in Photius
(Ampltil. Qu. 123) at the close of the 9th cen
tury : " Some say that the author of the Acts
was Clement of Rome, others Barnabas, and
others again Luke the Evangelist ; but Luke
himself settles the question (iviKptvei)," &c. As
there is not the faintest trace of any difference
of opinion in all the preceding eight centuries,
I am disposed to think that Photius is here
guilty of a confusion with the Epistle to the
Hebrews, these three persons being named by
ancient Fathers as claimants for the authorship
of this letter (Orig. in Euseb. ff. E. vi. 25 ;
Tertull. de Pudic. 20; Euseb. ff. E. iii. 38;
Hieron. Vir. HI. 5).
4. The Authorship. — We have seen that the
universal tradition of the first eight centuries
ascribes the Book with no faltering voice to St.
Luke ; and that this evidence is further fortified
by a still greater mass of testimony — equally
unanimous — which independently ascribes the
Third Gospel to this same person. How far is
this assumption supported by internal evidence ?
The first person plural " we " is used in cer
tain parts of the narrative, where the writer is
describing the journeys of St. Paul. He there
fore professes to be a companion of St. Paul.
This first person appears in the ordinary text
for the first time at Troas (xvi. 10), during the
second missionary journey (c. a.d. 51 or 52),
and continues to Philippi, where it is dropped
(xvi. 17) as suddenly as it had appeared. It is
taken up again after several years (a.d. 58)
during the third missionary journey at this
same place Philippi (xx. 5), and continues till
St. Paul arrives at Jerusalem and confers with
James and the elders (xx. 18). When again he
sets sail for Italy (xxvii. 1), it accompanies him
and remains in his company during the voyage
and shipwreck and until his arrival in Rome
(xxviii. 15, 16, for in ver. 16 the best supported
reading is tHrtjAfla/iey). But besides these occur
rences in the ordinary text, it is found likewise
in D at a much earlier point (xi. 28), where the
prophecy of Agabus is mentioned, at Antioch.
Though the variations in D seem in many pas
sages to give contemporary traditions, yet the
capriciousness of this MS. elsewhere forbids us
to regarcTthis as the original reading.
Who then is this writer who uses the first
person ? The obvious answer is that which
identifies him with the traditional author of the
work, St. Luke. This person was certainly a
trusty companion of the apostle (Col. iv. 14 ;
Philem. 24; 2 Tim. iv. 11); and though the
notices in St. Paul's Epistles refer to a some
what later date, he might very well have been
with the apostle at this time. Not a single

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 31
Epistle of St. Paul was written during the precise
periods covered by " we " in the Acts, and there
fore the absence of Luke's name in tlie Epistles
prior to the Roman captivity is not even a prima
facie objection. Moreover, Luke is described as
" the beloved physician " (Col. iv. 14), aud a
tendency to the use of medical terms hns been
observed both in the Third Gospel and the Acts.
If many of the examples adduced must be set
aside as proving nothing, the residuum is quite
sufficient to establish the main point (see esp.
Hobart's Medical Language of St. Luke, Dublin,
1882). But though the natural inference from the
use of the first person plural seems plain
enough, it has given rise to various opinions.
These may be divided into four classes : —
(i.) That which regards it as a mere literary
fiction to give an air of credibility to the narra
tive. This view has been held by two or three
critics, of whom Schrader (Der Apostel Paulus,
1836) may be taken as the type. As no one
now upholds this view, I need not take the
trouble to refute it.
(ii.) That which identifies it with St. Luke,
who is regarded as also the ultimate author of
the work. This is the vastly preponderating
opinion even in the present day, and until quite
recent times it was the sole possessor of the
field. Its consistency and verisimilitude have
been already shown.
(iii.) That which identifies it with St. Luke
as the original authority for this portion of
the narrative, but maintains that the Book, as
a whole, was compiled by some later person.
This is the view of Baur and Zeller, with
several subsequent critics, of whom the latest
is Holtzmann (Zeitsch. f. Wiss. Theol. 1881,
p. 408 sq. ; Einl. p. 385, 1885).
(iv.) That which identifies it with some one
else besides St. Luke. The persons selected for
this distinction are : (o) Timotheus. This is
the view of Sehleiermacher, De Wette, and
others, notably Bleek (see esp. Introd. to New
Test. i. p. 355 sq., Engl, transl.). It appears to
have been first suggested by Kbnigsmann, De
Fontibus Comm. Sacr. qui Lucae nomen prae-
ferunt, &c, 1798. (0) Silas. This hypothesis
is vigorously maintained by Schwanbeck ( Ueber
die Quellen der Schriften des Lukas, i. p. 168 sq.,
265 sq.), though he was not the first to suggest
it. It is sometimes connected with the identifica
tion of Silvanus (Silas) with Lucanus (Lucas),
as e.g. by Hennell (Untersuchung iiber den
Ursprung des Christenthum, 1840). This identifi
cation is put. forward by Van Vloten (Zeitschr.
f. Wiss. Theol. 1867, p. 223 sq. ; comp. ib.
1871, p. 431 sq.), as if he were the originator
of the theory. He is answered by Cropp (ii.
1868, p. 353 sq.). (y) TiTUS. This view
seems to have been suggested first by Horst
(Sur les Sources de la deuxieme partie des Actes,
&c, 1849 ; see Holtzmann, Einl. p. 385), and
has been adopted by Krenkel, Jacobsen, and
others, notably by flooykaas (Bible for Young
People, v. 33 ; see Salmon, Introd. p. 312 sq.).
In connexion with this theory should be men
tioned the identification of Titus with Silvanus
(or Silas), maintained by Zimmer (Zeitschr. f.
kirchl. Wiss. u. hirchl. Leben, 1881, 4, p. 169
sq.; Jahrb. f. Protest. Theol. 1881, p. 721 sq.),
who supposes Silas the prophet of Antioch to be

32 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

a different person from Titus Silas the companion
of St. Paul. His theory is discussed by Julicher
(Jahrb.f. Protest. Theol. 1882, p. 538 sq.).
The two solutions (B), (y), may be quickly
dismissed. The identification of Silvanus with
Lucanus on the ground that silva and lucus are
synonymes is about as reasonable as would be
the identification of persons bearing the names
Wood and Forest and Grove, or Lea and Field
and Meadows, or Mountain and Hill, or Rock
and Cliffe and Stone. The objection to the other
identification is of a different kind. Everything
points to the separation of Titus and Silvanus.
Thus the two are mentioned by their respective
names in one and the same Epistle by St. Paul
(2 Cor. i. 19, ii. 13, vii. 6, &c). Moreover,
Titus was a Gentile (Gal. ii. 3), while Silas
(Silvanus) was plainly a Jew (Acts xv. 22) ; for
it is altogether arbitrary to distinguish the
Silas of xv. 22, 27, 32 [34], from the Silas of
xv. 40, &c.
Having thus cleared the way, we may deal
generally with the hypotheses which belong to
the third aud fourth classes.
Of the third we may remark: (1) That the
" we " sections are absolutely identical in style
with the rest of the Acts, and indeed with the
Third Gospel also, so that they can only have
been written by the ultimate compiler of both
narratives. (2) That accordingly these "we"
sections contain numerous cross references to
other parts of the narrative. (3) That the
ultimate compiler (whoever he was) shows not
only literary ability, but literary care. This
point is strongly insisted upon (among others)
by Renan, who speaks of the Third Gospel and
Acts as forming one work excellently put toge
ther (tres bien redige), composed with reflection
and even with art, &c. (Les Apotres, p. xi.).
But it is incredible that an author evincing this
literary capacity and aim should commit the
school-boy blunder of inserting paragraphs
written by another without even taking the
trouble to alter the personal pronouns. It is
not sufficient to point to such carelessness in
mediaeval chroniclers as Schwanbeck does. The
examples are not parallel. We have in the
Acts "not one of those low organisations wliich
do not resent being pulled asunder," but "a
highly organised structure, showing evident
marks that the whole proceeded from a single
author" (Salmon, Introd. p. 316). (4) Lastly :
the hypotheses belonging to this class have not
a shadow of evidence in their favour. On what
grounds then should they claim to displace the
traditional view? Is the strongest historical
attestation to count for nothing?
It will be seen at once that some of these
objections apply equally to the fourth class.
But the individual hypotheses again, which
belong to this class, present additional difficulties
of tlieir own. (a) The assignment to Timotheus
is irreconcilable with Acts xx. 5, 6, where the
writer, having mentioned him among others
who accompanied St. Paul, adds, "But these
(outoi Se) had gone before and were waiting for
us (TrpoeABdvTts Zaivav vp.as) in Troas ; " where
outoi naturally refers to all those previously
mentioned, and the restriction to the two last
lychicus and Trophimus, is not justified by
the form of the sentence. (B) The attribution
to Silas has nothing to recommend it. Silas

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
or Silvanus is a prominent figure during the
Apostle's second missionary journey in the Acts ;
and this prominence is borne out by the notices
in St. Paul's Epistles relating to this period
(1 Thess. i. 1 ; 2 Thess. i. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 19). On
the contrary, he nowhere appears during the'
third missionary journey, either in the history;
or in the letters, whereas the " we " occurs
frequently during this period, (y) The only
ground for suggesting Titus is the negative fact
that he is not mentioned by name in the
narrative,11 though he is known to have been
with St. Paul during part of this period
(2 Cor. ii. 13, vii. 6 sq., xii. 18), and is a
prominent person among the Apostle's com
panions. But what is the value of this negative
fact? What advantage has the Titus guess
over the Luke tradition? Unless indeed it be
" thought a disadvantage to an hypothesis that
it should have some amount of historical
testimony " (Salmon, p. 313). Moreover, of
these attributions generally we may remark
that the propriety in the change from the first
to the third person, and conversely, as pointed
out above (p. 31), ceases, and the use of the
pronouns, from being orderly and consistent,
becomes a chaos.
Nor is it easy to understand how St. Luke's
name should have thus been persistently assigned
to the work, if he had had nothing to do with it.
As Salmon has pointed out (p. 372), it is not
attached to this second treatise in any uncial
MS. But the Third Gospel had the name of
St. Luke prefixed, and the Acts bore evidence
on the face of it that it was written by the same
author. Hence the attribution. Indeed the
sequence of facts is a most powerful argument
in favour of the genuineness of the work. These
are as follows : (1) The Gospel bears the name
of Luke ; but Luke was a companion of St. Paul.
(2) When we examine the Gospel, we find not
only that it brings out into special prominence
certain points in Christ's teaching which illus
trate the cardinal doctrines of St. Paul, the
universality and the freedom of the Gospel,
justification not by works of law but by faith,
and the like; but also that, where St. Paul
refers to incidents in our Lord's life, as for
instance to the Last Supper (1 Cor. xi. 23 sq.;
comp. Luke xxii. 19 sq.) or to the appearances
atter_ the Resurrection (e.g. 1 Cor. xv. 5, &<pBr,
Krrjpa: comp. Luke xxiv. 34, &<pBr, Xiuwvi), his
references present striking resemblances to this
Gospel rather than to the others. Yet there is
not a word nor a hint of any connexion with or

In Acts xviii. 7 the reading is most probably Tu-iw
loiw™, though some read TCrov 'lowrov, some T.Vo„
simp y, a„d some 'i„„Vtov simply (the received readin*).
At all events the alternative lies between the first and
the last, as the variation must have arisen from the
TA^°A^\^Am of the same "curring letters
&,^yATIT'TI°YIOYCTOY). But ever, if
„„tus wf e ^ad here, he could hardly be the same
person , for he is mentioned here as a Jewish proselyte,
S,"1" Jl,stus toP'ies that he was an observer
Wh. ' Whereas the APOStle's companion Titus
ana LrT^fn0 Christi»"y before this (Gal. ii. 1)
mLZ t Gentile" without any qualification
Moreov r tins Justus was a resident in Corinth, whereas
nLt- ' -r-? g '° the c°ri»thians (2 Cor. U. ccX
dtion that , "8 ln SUCb " ™y as t0 Preclude «» suppd
sition that he was one of themselves.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
any knowledge of the Apostle. (3) The Acts
professes to be written by the same person as
the Third Gospel, of which it is a later
continuation ; and this profession is fully borne
¦out by its style and character. (4) We read
over more than half this second treatise without
any indication that the writer was a companion
of St. Paul. (5) Then at length the token of
companionship occurs. Yet even now it is not
distinctly stated, but the fact is inferred from
the incidental occurrence of the first person
plural, which makes its first appearance quite
unsuspiciously. And not only so, but in its
subsequent disappearance and re-appearance
it shows a congruity wliich cannot fail to
strike the mind. Who will be bold enough
to explain these harmonies as a fortuitous
concourse of pseudo-historical atoms? Yet it
would require greater hardihood still to ascribe
them to a sustained and elaborate artifice.
Apart from the hypotheses which we have
hitherto considered, stands the view propounded
in H. H. Evans, St. Paul the Author of the Acts
of the Apostles and of the Third Gospel (London,
1884). The Pauline authorship is maintained
by this writer on the ground of certain
resemblances of diction. He does not attempt
to deal with the first person plural or to
grapple with the difficulties which beset his
theory on all sides.
5. Authenticity and Genuineness. — In discuss
ing the authenticity of anv work, two main
-divisions of the subject present themselves: (1)
The internal characteristics, as indications of
verisimilitude or the contrary ; (2) The external
tests, as evidences of veracity or the contrary.
(1.) In treating ofthe internal characteristics,
I must satisfy myself with pointing out a few
heads, giving here and there an example, but
without any attempt to do more than indicate
lines of investigation which the reader may
•carry out for himself.
(i.) There is first of all the change of moral
and spiritual atmosphere. As we pass from the
beginning to the end of the Book, we find that
. the religious climate, so to speak, is quite
-changed, and we are breathing a different air.
In short we have passed from the Hebraic to the
Hellenic. This change manifests itself through
out, in the speeches and in the actions, in the
modes of feeling and in the local customs and
institutions. Yet the transition is not sudden.
It is a gradual growth, as the Church emanci
pates itself, both locally and morally, from the
tutelage of its Hebrew infancy. Between
the two extremes the intermediate Hellenistic
territory is duly traversed. In short, the work,
regarded from this point of view, betokens a
writer who either had witnessed the progressive
career himself, or made use of successive contem
porary documents ; but such a narrative would
be quite impossible from one who some genera
tions later attempted to furnish a story of the
apostolic doings, trusting mainly or solely to
his own faculty of invention.
(ii.) Not unconnected with this feature is the
sequence and connexion of events. We may
take as an example the incidents which pre
pared the way for the extension of the Church
to the Gentiles. What could be more natural,
and yet what more unlike the work of a forger
than these fragmentary disconnected notices,
BTBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

ACTS OF THE ATOSTLES 33
which, as we see after the fact, must inevitably
have led to the result, but which no one coufd
have foreseen or devised, and which require
careful piecing together before wo can trace
their bearing and direction. These are : (1) The
murmuring of the Hellenist widows, vi. 1 ; (2)
the creation of the diaconate, vi. 2 sq. ; (3) the
composition of this diaconate, comprising espe
cially Stephen and Philip, vi. 5 sq. ; (4) Ste
phen's disputations, speech, and martyrdom,
vi. 8-vii. 60 ; (5) Saul's appearance on tho scene,
vii. 58, viii. 1 ; (6) the scattering abroad of the
disciples as the consequence of this persecution,
viii. 1 ; (7) the preaching of Philip in Samaria
and elsewhere, as the result of this scattering,
viii. 5-40 ; (8) the wider dissemination of the
word and the first preaching to the Gentiles
through the outlying members of this scattered
band (xi. 19, 20). A little reflection will show
that all this is inconceivable, except as an
account of facts which actually occurred.
(iii.) Another point is the disproportion and
inequality of the narrative. This argument is
strongly insisted upon by Renan (p. xv.) among
others : " Ce qui distingue Phistoire composee
d'apres des documents de Phistoire e'crite en
tout ou en partie d'original, c'est justement la
disproportion." A narrator who allows himself
carte blanche to invent will take care that the
different parts of his narrative bear some
proportion to each other. On the other hand,
a recorder of facts is limited by the historical
knowledge at his disposal. At some points he
has very ample information ; at others it entirely
fails him. Now nothing is more striking than
the want of proportion in the Acts. In some
parts the history of a few months occupies
several chapters ; in others the history of many
years is disposed of in two or three verses.
Sometimes we have a diary of a journey or
voyage ; elsewhere a bald statement of the main
fact is given. But nowhere is this disproportion
more striking than in some of the speeches,
notably in that of St. Stephen. This is by far
the longest record of a, speech in the Book,
extending over 52 verses. Having all this
space at his disposal, a forger would have made
it both pertinent and complete. He would have
provided a well-reasoned defence against the two
fold crime with which Stephen is charged. But
here we have nothing of the kind. There is a
long and at first sight irrelevant account of the
early history of the Jewish people, which
occupies 49 verses, and the last three are taken
up in a denunciation of his accusers. Direct
answer to the charges there is none. Only
when we examine it more carefully, we discover
two things : first, that the incidents in the
long historical narrative illustrate the transitory
character of the present dispensation and of the
local sanctuary ; and secondly, that the latter
part of the speech (vii. 48-53) is interrupted
and hurried. Thus the whole speech, as we
have it, is a preamble, and the argumentative
application which should have formed the main
part of his defence does not appear at all, or at
least is confined to two or three short sentences,
doubtless because the clamours of the bystanders
bring the speaker prematurely to a close. But
until we discover the key to its meaning, this
rambling discourse is quite unintelligible under
the circumstances, and such as no forger would
D

34 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
or could have invented. It is only conceivable
as a substantially true record of what was
actually said.1 Another instance of similar
disproportion is the speech on the Areopagus
(xvii. 22-31), where there is no distinctive
Christian teaching till the last verse, and here
only one point is touched upon. In this case
however the probable explanation is that it
was not so much the speech itself, as the report
of the speech accessible to the historian, which
was fuller at the commencement and hurried at
the end. But the bearing on the point at issue
— the truthfulness of the narrator — is the same.
(iv.) We have also another indication of
genuineness in the minor discrepancies and
errors, or what appear to be such in the
account. Thus we have three separate accounts
of St. Paul's conversion (ix. 3 sq., xxii. 6 sq.,
xxvi. 12 sq.). The divergences may not be irre
concilable, but they do not reconcile them
selves. The reasonable explanation is not that
the writer himself invented the three accounts,
but that he obtained them from different sources,
and reproduced them as he found them. Again
the inaccuracies in the references to Old Testa
ment history in St. Stephen's speech are probably
due to the strict reproduction of a report taken
under necessarily unfavourable circumstances.
In some cases at all events (e.g. vii. 43, the
substitution of " Babylon " for " Damascus "),
we seem to see that they are due to hurried
condensation. (v.) The naturalness of the language, as indi
cating direct knowledge of the facts, should also
be noticed. The incidental appearance and dis
appearance of the " we," to which attention has
been directed already, is a good illustration.
Another example appears in the order of the
names Barnabas and Paul (or Saul). Barnabas
is the earlier disciple (iv. 36), and the mediator
between Saul and the elder Apostles (ix. 27,
xi. 22-26). Accordingly, in the earlier part of
the history the order is always " Barnabas and
Saul " (xi. 30, xiii. 2). But when their missionary
journeys commence, and they stand on Gentile
ground, St. Paul's supremacy of character asserts
itself, and the order is tacitly changed to " Paul
and Barnabas " (xiii. 43, 46, 50 ; xv. 2, 22, 35).
There are indeed exceptions in this latter part,
but they only " prove the rule." At the apo
stolic council and in the apostolic letter, the
old sequence " Barnabas and Paul " is again
resumed (xv. 12, 25); and so too at Lystra,
where Barnabas is identified with Zeus and
Paul with Hermes, the former naturally takes
the precedence for the moment (xiv. 14). As
instances of naturalness in the language repre
sented to have been used by the speakers, we
may allege the distortion of facts by Claudius
Lysias (xxiii. 27) to save his own credit, or the
exaggerated compliments paid to Felix by Ter
tullus (xxiv. 2 sq.), which are explained but not
justified by his career as governor.
Altogether, it may be affirmed that if there
had been no miraculous element in the narrative,
and if it had had no bearing on religious con
troversy, the form and contents of this work
would have placed it beyond all suspicion, as
regards genuineness and authenticity.
(2.) From the consideration of the internal
characteristics we turn to the external tests, as
an evidence of truthfulness.

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
(i.) In the earlier part of the narrative we
have rarely an opportunity of testing the inci
dents by reference to other Christian documents ;
but the latter portion, giving the history of
St. Paul, may be compared with and checked by
the Apostle's own letters. This work has been
done admirably by Paley in his Horae Paulinae ;
and the main result is conclusive. He has
elicited a mass of " undesigned coincidences/'
which renders the hypothesis of a fictitious
history impossible. The comparison of the four
greater Epistles, more especially (Romans, '1
Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians), belonging
to the years 57, 58, elicits striking examples.
Any reader, for instance, who will take the pains
to go carefully over Paley's discussion of the
passages relating to the contributions for the
Christian poor at Jerusalem, observing how they
dovetail into one another, may satisfy himself of
the validity of the argument. Yet it is plain
that the writer of the Acts was unacquainted
with these Epistles, or at all events that, if he
had ever seen them, he made no use of them
in compiling his history. Otherwise, we are
wholly unable to explain the omission of any
reference to the incidents and persons mentioned :
for example, in Rom. xv. 19, 28, xvi. 1 sq., 23 ;
1 Cor. i. 11 sq., xvi. 15 sq. ; 2 Cor. ii. 12, vii. 5,
xi. 24, xii. 3 sq. ; Gal. i. 17, ii. 11 sq. ; to
say nothing of the absence of any allusion to
Titus in connexion with Corinth or of the
different aspects which the third visit to Jeru
salem bears in the Acts (xv. 1 sq.) and in St.
Paul's Epistle (Gal. ii. 1 sq.).
(ii.) Another point of comparison with ex
ternal documents relates to the language ascribed
to the different Apostles in the Acts. St. James,
St. Peter, and St. Paul, all have speech's
assigned to them. Is their language such as
might be expected from the writers of the
Epistles bearing their several names ? The very
few sentences ascribed to James do not afford
much scope for comparison. Yet the sentiments
attributed to him are what might have been
expected from one who was the recognised head
of the Church of Jerusalem, as well as from the
writer of the Epistle which bears his name. It
has been observed also that of the canonical
writers James alone uses the common formula
Xaipeiv as the heading of his Epistle (James i. 1),
which appears likewise at the beginning of the
apostolic letter, evidently represented in the
Acts as dictated by him. The speeches and
sayings of St. Peter afford considerably more
material for comparison. In the diction, and
still more in the ideas, they exhibit such paral
lels with the Epistles bearing the name of this
Apostle, as to suggest identity of authorship,
notwithstanding the alterations in form which
they have necessarily undergone by trans
mission. On this subject see Weiss, Der
Petrinische Lehrbegriff, p. 6 sq. and passim;
Kiihler, Die Beden des Petrus in der Apostel-
geschichte, Stud. u. Krit, 1873, p. 492 sq.;
Salmon, Introd. p. 335 sq., ed. 2, as well as the
commentaries on this Book, esp. Nssgen, p. 47 sq.
J SJ" Paul the material is much more ample,
and the result correspondingly more conclusive.
The speech at Miletus (Acts xx. 18 sq.) more
especially has been carefully analysed, and
exhibits throughout both Pauline matter and
Pauline diction. Moreover, it is not fanciful to

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
trace more special correspondences with the
letters belonging to the several " periods at
which the speeches are represented as being
delivered. Thus the one Christian doctrine
which is mentioned in the speech on the Areo
pagus (xvii. 31) — the second Advent and the
Judgments — is the one prominent topic of the
Epistles to the Thessalonians, written at this
time. Again, the speech at Miletus, already
mentioned, exhibits resemblances to the Epistles
of the third missionary journey which preceded
this epoch, and with the Epistles to the Philip
pians and Ephesians which succeeded it.
(iii.) The geographical and historical tests
which the subject-matter of the Acts invites us
to apply, are exceptionally wide and various.
If, for instance, we confine ourselves to geography,
we accompany the Apostle by land and by sea ;
we follow him about in Jerusalem, in Palestine
and Syria, in Asia Minor, in Greece, in Italy.
The topographical details are scattered over this
wide expanse of continent, island, and ocean ;
and they are both minute and incidental. Yet
the writer is never betrayed into an error. The
account of the Apostle's journey to Rome (for
example) is so accurate and consistent, that n
modern writer has been enabled almost to repro
duce a log-book of the voyage (James Smith's
Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul). The amount
of geographical and topographical illustration
which the narrative of the Acts admits may be
seen from such books as Conybeareand Howson's
Life and Epistles of St. Paul and Lewin's Life
and Epistles of St. Paul ; and these works will
afford a measure of the strength of the argument
to be derived from such considerations.
When we turn from geography to history, the
tests are still more numerous, and lead to still
more decisive results. The laws, the institu
tions, the manners, the religious rites, the
magisterial records, of Syria and Palestine, of
Asia Minor, of Macedonia and Greece, all live in
the pages of this narrative. It will suffice to
mention one or two of the more striking facts.
When St. Paul first visits Europe, he sojourns
at two important Macedonian cities in succession,
Philippi and Thessalonica. In neither case does
the political constitution follow the normal type
of a Greek city ; yet in both the local govern
ment is correctly and significantly indicated.
Philippi was a Roman colony (xvi. 12). Accord
ingly here we find all the apparatus and colour
ing of a colony, which was a miniature repro
duction of Rome herself (see Philippians, p. 51
sq.). There are the local magistrates, the
duumvirs, who, after the wont of such colonial
magnates, arrogate to themselves the title of
praetors (aTpaT-nyoi, xvi. 20, 22, 35, 36). There
are the attendant lictors (paBBovxoi, xvi. 35).
The majesty of Rome is appealed to again and
again (xvi. 21, 37, 38). But when we turn from
Philippi to Thessalonica, all is changed. Thes
salonica was a free city, with a magistracy of
its own. A collision occurs here, as at Philippi,
and the alleged offenders are again brought before
the magistrates. These magistrates are men
tioned, though quite incidentally, as politarchs
(TroKvrdpxas, x%'ii. 6, 8). It so happens that
this word (iroXiTdpxns) has not hitherto been
found anywhere in extant Greek literature,
though TroKirapxos appears, in a general sense,
in an obscure passage of Aeneas Tacticus, c. 26

ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 35
(p. 81, Schweigh.). From inscriptions however,
found at Thessalonica itself (Boeckh, C. I, G.,
No. 1967 ; see Greek Inscriptions in the British
Museum, II. clxxi. p. 32, with the notes), we
learn that this was the local name of the chief
magistrates of Thessalonica, who were seven in
number. It should be added also that at Thes
salonica mention is made (xvii. 5) of a popular
assembly (Sij/ios), which is likewise in keeping.
Again, at Corinth, the notice of the chief
magistrate is in strict accordance with history,
though the chances of error were very great.
The province of Achaia at this epoch was bandied
about between the senate and the emperor, being
transferred and retransferred from one to tho
other, and was governed by a proconsul (dvBi-
iraTos) or propraetor (avriVT partly os) accord
ingly. At this moment (a.d. 52 or 53) it was
in the hands of the senate, and the designation
of the chief magistrate as bvBmaTtitov in the
Acts (xviii. 12) is therefore correct. But it had
only been retransferred to the senate a few
years earlier (a.d. 44) by Claudius (Suet. Claud.
25 ; Dio Cass. Ix. 24), after being in the em
peror's hands for some thirty years (since a.d.
15) ; and somewhat later under Nero (A.D. 67)
it ceased to be a Roman province (Plin. N. ff.
iv. 6 ; Suet. Nero, 24, &c. : see Clinton, Fast.
Bom. i. p. 50), and remained autonomous till
Vespasian again restored the provincial govern
ment. Moreover, the person represented as
holding the proconsulate at this time, Gallio, is
mentioned by his brother Seneca (Epist 104,
§ 1) as residing in Achaia, though his office is
not named. In this passage however Seneca
mentions an illness and consequent sea-voyage ot
Gallio during his residence in Achaia, and Pliny
(N. ff. xxxi. 33) refers to this same incident in
Gallio's life as taking place post consulatum, but
without any mention of Achaia. Thus the notice
in the Acts links together the statements of the
two profane writers, for the proconsulship of
Achaia would be a natural sequel to the consul
ship. Moreover, the time harmonises ; for as
Seneca was not restored to favour till A.D. 49,
after eight years' banishment, his brother's
promotion to office would naturally take place
after that year, and probably not long after.
Gallio's character also, as here given, accords
with the description of him by his brother
Seneca (Quaest. Nat. iv. Praef.), and his friend
Statius (Silv. ii. 7. 30 sq.), who both use the
same epithet " dulcis." The easy-going magis
trate was the amiable, sweet-tempered com
panion. Similarly, the description of Sergius
Paulus, as proconsul of Crete, is confirmed by
notices and inscriptions, though here again any
one but a contemporary would be very liable to
error, owing to the transference and retransference
of the province (see Contemporary Beview, May
1878, p. 290). Not only do the inscriptions
show that at this time it was governed by
proconsuls, but one discovered a few years ago
by Cesnola (Cyprus, p. 425) mentions " the
proconsulship of Paulus" (6111 riAYAOY
[AN0]YnATOY). On the probability that
this is the Sergius Paulus mentioned by Pliny,
see Contemp. Rev. 1. c.
Among other Greek cities which St. Paul is
represented as visiting, eomparatively full ac
counts are given of his sojourns at two especi
ally, Athens and Ephesus. It is instructive to
D 2

36 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
study the narratives of his residence at these
two places, in themselves and in comparison
one with another. Athens is the most Hellenic
of all cities, the heart and citadel of Greece ;
whereas at Ephesus there is a very strong inter
mingling of the Oriental spirit and institutions
with the main stream of Hellenism. The di
verse tone of these two typical cities of heathen
dom appears to the life in the Apostle's conflicts
with his audiences on either occasion. The
one is inquisitive, philosophical, courteous, and
refined ; the other fanatical, superstitious, and
impulsive. Nor does the truthfulness of the
narrative manifest itself only in the moral and
religious atmosphere of the two places. It
descends even to the details. At Athens (Acts
xvii. 16 sq.) we are confronted with some of
the main topographical features of the city — the
Areopagus and the agora. There are the repre
sentatives of the two dominant philosophical
schools, the Stoics and Epicureans. There is the
predominant attitude of inquiry in this metro
polis of newsmongers, and here even the charac
teristic Athenian term of abuse (o-inpp-oKiyos)
finds its proper place. There is the large number of
foreign residents, which was always a distinguish
ing feature of Athens. There is the reference
to the numerous images and temples which
thronged the city ; to the boastful pride of the
citizens in their religious devotion to the gods,
consistent as it was with no small amount of
theological scepticism ; to their jealousy of the
introduction of strange deities, as manifested in
the case of Socrates and at various points in
their history ; to their practice of propitiating
the offended powers after any plague or other
infection, by erecting an altar to " an unknown
god " or " unknown gods " ; to their custom of
deifying attributes of character, frames of mind,
and conditions of body, so that " Resurrection "
(Anastasis)b would seem to them to be only
another addition to their pantheon, which al
ready included "Pity," "Modesty," "Rumour,"
" Persuasion," " Impulse," &c. (Pausan. i. 17).
Lastly, there is an appropriate allusion to Tb
B*iov, an expression which would commend
itself to his philosophical' audience, but which
occurs nowhere else in the New Testament; and
an equally appropriate appeal to the sentiments
of the Stoic poets Aratus and Cleanthes (twit
KaB' u/ias ttoiwtSiv), who had proclaimed the uni
versal fatherhood of Zeus. The amount of
illustration which has been gathered together
from classical sources by such writers as Wet-
stein, Conybeare and Howson, and Renan (not to
mention the numerous commentators on the
Acts), is sufficient evidence how true to local
colouring is this description of St. Paul's visit
to Athens, even in the finest touches. When
we turn from Athens to Ephesus (xix. 1 sq.),
the indication of the truthfulness of the narra
tive is equally complete. Here however the
verification is found more in ancient inscriptions

* Compare the account of the Russian revolt in 1S26
(Alison's Bistory of Europe, ii. p. 239) : " Meanwhile the
leaders of the revolt, deeming their victory secure, began
to hoist their real colours. Cries of • Constantine and
the Constitution' broke from their ranks. 'What is
that ? ' said the men to each other. ' Do yon not know ? '
6aid one ; ' it is the Empress (Constitoutzia).' ' Not at
all,' replied a third ; ' it is the carriage in which tbe
emperor is to drive at his coronation.' "

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
than in extant literature. The recent excava
tions at Ephesus more especially have added
largely to our stores of illustrations. On this
subject see a paper by the writer of this article
in the Contemporary Bevieu; May 1878, p. 292
sq. We have mention, in St. Luke's account,
of the magical books, of which wc read else
where under the name 'E<peo-ta ypdppaTa: of
the chief buildings of the city, not only the
Temple of Artemis but the Great Theatre, with
which the recent excavations have made us
familiar ; of the great officials of the city and
province — the proconsul as the chief imperial
magistrate, the town-clerk as the chief muni
cipal authority, and the Asiarchs as the princi
pal religious functionaries; ofthe court days,
by implication divided into two, the regular and
the special, as we know to have been the case;
above all, of the prevailing cultus of the place.
"Artemis of the Ephesians" dominates every
where. The characteristic religious phraseology
of her worshippers is reproduced — the city is
the " temple-sweeper," the verger, of the " great
goddess ;" the silver models of her shrine which
were carried away as keepsakes by pilgrims to
Ephesus, appear in the narrative ; the image
which " fell down from Zeus " has its place
there ; everything is strictly in keeping.
These instances of geographical and historical
propriety are taken from Greece and Asia
Minor, and the illustrations are drawn from
classical writers and inscriptions. But the
pictures relating to Jerusalem and Palestine are
found to be drawn with equal fidelity, where
we can test them. Of topographical accuracy
an example will be given presently in the
vivid description of a scene which takes place in
the Temple area (p. 38). The historical fidelity
of the narrative may be illustrated by the part
assigned to the Sadducees. It is not among
the high-priests and leaders of the hierarchy that
we should have expected to find a Sadducean pre
dominance. Yet the author of the Acts boldly
represents the high-priestly circle as members of
this sect (iv. 1, v. 17) ; and this representation
is confirmed by the direct testimony of Josephus
(Ant. xx. 9. 1). Moreover it has been more
than once observed that, whereas the Pharisees
are the chief opponents of Christ and His
disciples in the Gospels, the Sadducees take the
lead in the Acts, and that this change is ex
plained from the fact of the Apostles making
the Resurrection the foundation of their preaeh-
iug, and thus striking at the root of Sadducean
doctrine. From this point of view, it is notice
able that in the Fourth Gospel, though the sect
of the Sadducees is not mentioned by name by
St. John, the most virulent opposition of the
high-priestly party led by Caiaphas begins first
at the point where we should expect it to begin,
after the miracle of the raising of Lazarus
(John xi. 47 sq.), and that it was a main object
with them to put Lazarus to death (John xii. 9-
11) and thus get rid of this evidence for a resur
rection. Accordingly the course of events as
related on a subsequent occasion, when St. Paul
pleads before the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem
(Acts xxiii. 1 sq.), is perfectly consistent and evi
dently historical. The Apostle had offended the
Sadducean high - priest Ananias, who presided;
and he recovered his position with his audience
by declaring that he and his forefathers were

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
Pharisees, and that the main subject of his con
tention was the doctrine of the Resurrection,
which the Pharisees held iu common with him,
thus dividing the assembly and securing (as it
would appear) the support of the majority.
Whether this declaration was strictly defensible
(as it was certainly true), I need not stop to
inquire ; but it is what a sagacious man would
naturally do under the circumstance*, and the
fact that it is frankly recorded is a token of the
narrator's veracity.
The evidence then in favour ofthe authenticity
of the narrative is far fuller and more varied
than we had any right to expect. But certain
objections have been taken, which it is necessary
to remove.
(i.) Thus it is asserted that the diction is
the same throughout, and that therefore the
speeches ascribed to tlie principal characters
are unhistorical. It is not Stephen or Peter
or Paul who speaks, but Luke or pseudo-Luke
himself. Long lists of words and modes of
expression have been drawn up, which are
regarded as characteristic of the writer's style.
These extend over the whole of the Gospel
as well as the Acts. There is frequently very
great exaggeration in these lists (e.g. Super
natural Religion, iii. pp. 72 sq., 146 sq., &c).
Irrelevant expressions are included : Septuagint
quotations are treated as if they were the
narrator's own language ; words used in wholly
different senses (e.g. Bii.ua. •' footstep," and Brj/j.a,
"tribunal") are treated as parallels; terms
which are necessitated by the subject-matter are
regarded as characteristic of the author ; the
commonest words in the language are invested
with a special value. Thus an entirely false
impression is conveyed. But, after all these
spurious examples are set aside, there is a.
certain residuum of resemblance in the diction
(see e.g. Lekebusch, p. 35 so.). Characteristic
words and phrases of the author appear iu the
speeches, as well as in the narrative portion.
But this was inevitable. It was impossible that
the speeches could be reported word for word.
Sometimes they must have been spoken in
Aramaic; in other cases only shorthand and
fragmentary reports were in the author's
hands; in others again he may have heard
them by word of mouth; in all probably
they were much abridged. A certain infusion
of his own phraseology was a natural con
sequence, and it does not affect their substantial
accuracy. It appears even in the example
which I have already given of an evidently
Pauline utterance — the speech to the Ephesian
elders at Miletus. The measure of the extent
to which it would affect the language is seen
by the example of the Third Gospel. Here we
are able to compare St. Luke's account with
the parallel narratives of the two other
Synoptists ; and the historical character remains,
notwithstanding the literary editing of the third
Evangelist. There is no reason to suppose that
he dealt more freely with his materials in the
Acts, where we have no such means of testing
them. Indeed, as he was nearer to the events
and more familiar with the persons, we should
expect, if anything, a closer adherence to the
form in which he received the reports.
(ii.) A second objection, or rather a second
class of objections, is based on the representation

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 37
here given of the principal agents in the plant
ing of the Church, more especially of tlie
relations between St. Peter and St. Paul and
their respective followers. These objections
start from the assumption that there was an
irreconcilable opposition between the Apostles
of the Circumcision and the Apostle of the
Gentiles ; that their views of Christianity were
diametrically opposed; and that the former
never emancipated themselves from a strictly
Judaic and national conception of Christ's
Kingdom, whereas the idea of the latter was
cosmopolitan and universal. The author of the
Acts, it is assumed, living at a later date, was
desirous of finding a meeting point for conflicting
parties, and thus invented positions, words, and
actions for the chief Apostles, so as to bring
them into accord. His aim was conciliation, and
he twisted or forged history accordingly. This
is too wide a question for discussion here. The
objection indicated involves a petitio principii.
Our chief authority for the relations existing
between the leading Apostles is this very Book
itself. We can only say that to ourselves such
passages as 1 Cor. i. 12 sq., 23 ; Gal. i. 18, ii.
6 sq., 14 sq., seem to indicate a substantial
harmony in principle between the two supposed
antagonists ; c that they are placed on the same
level by the two earliest of the apostolic
Fathers (Clem. Rom. 5 ; Ignat. Rom. 4), and are
quoted as of equal authority by the third
(Polyc. Phil. 2, 5, 6, &c.) ; that the main stream
of Christian history betrays no evidence of this
fundamental antagonism as the substratum of
the Catholic Church ; and that the first distinct
mention of it occurs in an obviously fictitious
narrative, which cannot date before the second
half of the second century, though doubtless
even from the apostolic times there were some
extreme men who used the names of the two
Apostles as party watchwords.
According to this conception of early Chris
tianity, it would be impossible that St. Peter
should have seen the vision obliterating the
distinction of meats clean and unclean, which
led to the conversion of Cornelius, or that St.
Paul should have taken part in the Nazarite
vows, and so have been guilty of complicity
with Jewish customs, on his last visit to
Jerusalem. Above all, the representation of
the attitudes of the respective leaders at the
so-called apostolic council is called in question,
both as impossible in itself and as irreconcilable
with the notices of what is apparently the same
occasion in Gal. ii. 1-10.
As regards the apostolic council, I may
perhaps be allowed to refer to a full consideration
of the question in my Galatians, p. 123 sq. The
subject is too long for discussion here. It has
been treated from various points of view, not
only in Introductions, Apostolic Histories, and
Commentaries, but also in separate articles
and monographs. Among the latter are Grimm,
itud. u. Krit. 1880, Hft. 3 ; Hilgenfeld, Zeitschr.

c So far as regards St. Peter's attitude towards the
Pauline doctrine of faith and grace, we can only say that
the Acts represents him as adopting it (xv. 9, 11), just as
the Epistle bearing his name (1 Peter i. 5, 9, 13, &c.)
adopts it, though not giving it the same special promi
nence, and as indeed it is distinctly implied that he
adopted it in St. Paul's argument Gal. ii. 14.

38 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
/. Wiss. Theol. 1858, p. 74 sq., p. 317 sq. ;
Holsten, Zum Evangelium des Paulus u. des
Petrus, 1868 ; Holtzmann, Zeitschr. f. Wiss.
Theol. 1882, p. 436 sq., 1883, p. 129 sq. ; Keim,
Aus dem Urchristenthum, p. 64 sq. ; Lipsius in
Schenkel's Bibellexikon, i. p. 194 sq. ; Pfleiderer,
Jahrb.f. Protest Theol. 1883, p. 78 sq., p. 241 sq. ;
Reuss, Revue de Theologie, 1858, 1859 ; K. Schmidt
in Herzog-Plitt, Real Encykl. i. p. 575, 1877 ;
Schneckenburger, Stud. u. Krit. 1855, p. 554 sq. ;
Volkmar, Theol. Zeitschr. aus d. Schweiz, 1885,
p. 33 sq. ; Weizsacker, Jahrb. f. Deutsch. Theol.
1873, p. 191 sq. ; Wittichen, Jahrb. f. Protest.
Theol. 1877, p. 653 sq. See also other references
iu Holtzmann, I. c. p. 436 sq. The opinions of
Baur, Lechler, Neander, Ritschl, Schwegler,
Zeller, and others, will be found iu their several
works mentioned at the end of this article ; and
the question is discussed at length in some of
the Commentaries (e.g. Overbeck and Nosgen).
But it so happens that at the very two points
in the narrative where St. Paul is represented as
making the largest concessions to the Judaic
Christians, and where therefore the author is
supposed to diverge most widely from historical
truth in order to gratify this assumed motive,
we find in the character of the context indica
tions which, in any other case, wotild be
regarded as striking evidences of veracity in
an ancient narrator. These are the account of
the third visit to Jerusalem, including this
apostolic council in the 15th chapter, and the
conduct of the Apostle on his last visit to this
same place in the 21st chapter.
(1.) The account of the apostolic council is
preceded by one avowal of weakness in the fac
tions and quarrels in the Church (xv. 1, 2 sq.),
and succeeded by another in the contention and
separation of Paul and Barnabas (xv. 36 sq.).
These frank confessions at all events afford a
strong presumption of truthfulness. The whole
narrative is essentially simple, straightforward,
and natural, as a record of events. The princi
pal speakers, Peter and James, express opinions
and use language, as we have seen, which at all
events present resemblances to the Epistles
extant in their names. The " apostolic decree "
bears such manifest traces of genuineness, and
would have been so impossible at a late date,
that few even of those who impugn the repre
sentation of St. Paul's action have ventured to
question it. The relative positions of Peter and
James harmonise with the circumstances, the
official superiority of James at Jerusalem being
recognised. The relative positions of Paul and
Barnabas show still more subtle traces of
authenticity, as I have already pointed out.
Where the author is narrating in his own per
son, the order "Paul and Barnabas," which
would be natural to him, is adopted (xv. 2, 22,
35); but where the Church of Jerusalem is
interested, as in the order of hearing accorded
to the two (xv. 12), and again in the apostolic
letter itself (xv. 25), the order is reversed —
Barnabas being the older disciple, and better
known to the Christians in Jerusalem. As a
minor indication of truthfulness ae;ain, we may
mention that Peter here, and here only in the
Acts (in the speech of James), is called by his
Hebraic name in its Hebraic form "Symeon"
(comp. 2 Pet. i. 1). Indeed, the whole narra
tive is such that no one would have hesitated to

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
accept it as a genuine record, if this preposses
sion as to the mutual relations of the Apostles
at this crisis had not stood in the way.
(2.) The same is true of the later incident,
the concession of the Apostle to the Jewish
Christians in the matter of the Nazarite vows,
on the occasion of his last visit to Jerusalem.
The account is preceded by a diary of the
voyage to Caesarea (xxi. 1-8) and the sojourn
in Caesarea (xxi. 9-14), which is singularly
plain, straightforward, and lifelike, which satis
fies every test of truthfulness, and which in the
purposelessness of the incidental touches is only
explicable as a narrative of an eye-witness. This
is especially true likewise of the verse imme
diately preceding the visit (xxi. 16), which re
cords the journey from Caesarea to Jerusalem,
"taking with us one Mnason of Cyprus, a primi
tive disciple, with whom we were to lodge."
There is no reason for this mention of Mnason,
of whom we never hear again, except that the
fact struck the narrator. The whole account
again belongs to the " we " sections, and mani
fests the life-like character which pervades
these sections. Moreover, it is allusive. It
omits to explain certain points to the reader,
because they were obvious to the writer. Such,
for instance, is the reference to " tlie seven
days " (xxi. 27), which has puzzled the com
mentators. Again, the narrative of the tumult
in the Temple, which follows, is not only full of
life, but (what is more important) instinct with
local colouring. The alarm that the Apostle
had introduced the Gentile Trophimus, the
Ephesian, into the Temple, is illustrated by M.
Ganneau's discovery (Palestine Exploration Fund,
1871, pp. 132 sq., 172 sq.) of the inscription on
the stone barrier (JiplxpaxTos) which divided off
the Court of the Israelites, forbidding any
foreigner to pass it on pain of death, as cor
rectly recorded by Josephus (Ant. xv. 11.5;
comp. Bell. Jud. v. 5. 2, vi. 2. 4) ; and hence
doubtless St. Paul drew his illustration of the
middle wall of partition (Tb p.eer6T0ixm t""
<ppay/iov) separating Jew and Gentile in
Ephes. ii. 14, not without a remembrance (we
may well suppose) of this incident of Trophimus
the Ephesian, which was the beginning of his
captivity. Again, in the tumult which follows,
the same characteristics are still more promi
nent. The "tribune," the "cohort," the
"descent" (v. 12), the "steps," the "fortress"
— what is the meaning of all this ? A minute
topographical knowledge underlies the narra
tive. The tower of Antonia, dominating the
Temple area and ascended thence by a long flight
of stairs, with the armed cohort stationed there
to keep order during the Festivals (Joseph. B. J.
ii. 12. 1, tijj 'Pai/ioiKijs irmlpas uirep ttiv toS lepoS
aroav i<peo-Tiio-ris, evoTfhoi Sc iel t&s coprbs
irapa<pv\dTTOvo-i k.t.A.), are the facts familiar
to the writer which explain and vivify the inci
dents. But they are assumed, not stated. Upon
this follows immediately the reference to the
Egyptian pretender, who, as we learn from
Josephus (Ant. xx. 8. 6; B. J. ii. 13. 5), some
three years before this time had threatened
Jerusalem. He had disappeared, and nothing
more was heard of him. What more likely
than that the Roman captain should suppose
that he had started up again to disturb the
peace ? The manner in which he is mentioned

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
here is altogether natural and unstudied. On
the other hand, is it at all probable that a writer
in the 2nd century would be capable of the very
subtle and ingenious artifice which would be
involved in this reference, if the narrative were
not genuine ? In fact the whole of this passage
before and after the account of the Nazarite
vows hangs together ; aud it is marked through
out with many and various tokens of authenticity.
Not unconnected with the objection based on
the conciliatory tendency of the Book, is the
supposed parallelism between the careers of the
two Apostles in the former and latter parts of
the narrative respectively. Paul is miraculously
released from prison at Philippi (xvi. 26 sq.),
as Peter was at Jerusalem (xii. 6 sq.). Paul
strikes the sorcerer Elymas blind (xiii. 6 sq.),
as Peter struck the liars Ananias and Sapphira
dead (v. 1 sq.). Sick persons are healed by
handkerchiefs and aprons brought from the body
of Paul (xix. 11 sq.), as they are healed by the
shadow of Peter falling upon them (v. 15). And
so forth. When the incidents are extracted
from their contexts and marshalled in pairs,
they produce a great impression, and it is not
surprising that many able critics of different
schools have laid stress on this parallelism. On
nearer examination, however, it is difficult to
find any indication that this design was present
to the mind of the writer, though he could
hardly have concealed the fact, if he had enter
tained it. Nor, except in the miraculous
release from prison, is there any close corre
spondence ; and in this case the effect of the
parallelism, as an indication of any such pur
pose, is destroyed by the fact that a third mira
culous release from prison, earlier than either,
is recorded (v. 19), in which " the Apostles "
generally are involved. But in fact parallelisms
far more close are common in history.
(iii.) But a wholly different objection has
been urged to the genuineness of the Book.
Several persons and incidents mentioned in the
Acts have a place likewise in Josephus. As the
two writers were treating of the history of the
same country during the same period, we should
hardly have expected it to be otherwise.
But it is urged that the writer of the Acts
borrowed from Josephus, and therefore cannot
have been St. Luke. This objection was started
by Holtzmann (Zeitschr. f. Wiss. Theol. xvi.
[1873], p. 85 sq.), and followed up by Krenkel
(ib. p. 441 sq.), by the author of Supernatural
Religion (Fortnightly Review, 1877, p. 502 sq.),
and by Keim ( Urchristenthum, p. 1 sq., 1878).
Holtzmann was answered by Schiirer (Zeitschr.
f. Wiss. Theol. xix. [1876], p. 574 sq.), to whom
he made a counter-reply (i'6. xx. [1877], p. 535
sq.). As regards the narrative of facts, the
divergences between the two are a sufficient
answer to the charge of plagiarism. Indeed,
the genuineness of the narrative in the Acts has
been assailed on two wholly different and irre
concilable grounds. On the one hand, its
coincidences with Josephus are taken to prove
that it is the work of a late pretender ; on the
other hand, its divergences from this same his
torian are regarded as evidence that the narra
tive is inauthentic. The attempt to reconcile
these two contradictory grounds of attack by
the supposition that when the author followed
Josephus, he trusted his memory and was

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 39
betrayed by it, will hardly carry conviction to
any one. Wo may remark in passing that it is
an unproved assumption that, wherever there
are divergences between the two, Josephus is
right and St. Luke is wrong. Probabilities are
often the other way. When, for instance,
Josephus (B. J. ii. 13. 5) gives the number of
the sicarii who followed the Egyptian as 30,000,
and the author of the Acts as 4000, we can
have no hesitation in preferring the smaller
number to the larger. Moreover, Josephus is
not always consistent with himself in his dif
ferent works, and is full of inaccuracies when
dealing with O. T. history (Diet, of Christ.
Biogr. s. v. Josephus, iii. pp. 445, 455). As
regards resemblances of diction, no coincidences
have been alleged which make out even a prima
facie case of plagiarism. Thus, when Holtz
mann compares Ant. xx. 5. 1 (4>d8ou ttjs
'lovSaias inrnpoirsvovTos) with Luke iii. 1
(iiyefiovevovTos Uovtiov TLiKdrov tt)s 'IouSaias),
or when Krenkel sets side by side Josephus'
account of his own boyhood (Vit. 2) with St.
Luke's account of Christ's childhood (ii. 42 sq.),
laying stress on the occurrence of such words
as " intelligence " (triveais) and " progress "
(i?POk6ttt*iv), and on the fact that the one was
fourteen years old (iraTs &v irepl Teo-ffapeo-Kai-
SsKarov stos) and the other twelve (ore iyiveTo
iTuiv SutoeKa . . . inrep.€ivev 'Ino-ovs o irals), or
when the author of Supernatural Beligion calls
attention to the dedication of Josephus' treatise
Against Apion to Epaphroditus, whom he desig
nates KpdTiare avSpav, as Theophilus is desig
nated Kpdrio-Te by St. Luke, and then ransacks
the preface of Josephus, which extends over
several pages, to find words such as irapaKoKov-
Beiv, auTdiTTris, aKpiB&s, imxetpeiv, we are able
to measure the value of this objection. To take
the last case. The epithet KpariffTos is very
common as applied to persons in high position ;
it occurs many times, for instance, in the
inscriptions in Wood's Ephesus. In one single
inscription (Great Theatre, No. 17) it is found,
twice within six lines, applied to two different
persons (M<(5eo"ros 6 Epdriaros, Kopvn\i(p
TlpelffKtp t$ KpaTiffTtp avBvirdrcp) ; and in
another (City and Suburbs, No. 5), twice within
four lines, applied to four different persons,
three of them being women (IleiBidSos tt)s
KpaTiffTTis virariKris, ApdKOVTos 2wo*«roTpas
®eutvlSos tuv Kpario-Twv). Again, in every
case the words used by both these writers in
common are the obvious words to express the
things signified, as any lexicon will show ; and
where two authors are dwelling on similar
topics (e.g. the authorities for contemporary or.
nearly contemporary history), they cannot fail
to employ similar language; nor is it easy to
explain how any one who could write the Third
Gospel and the Acts should be driven to
Josephus to replenish his vocabulary with such
ordinary words as "attempt," "accurately,"
" eye-witness," " observe," and the like.
(iv.) Another objection to the genuineness
and authenticity of the narrative is the alleged
fact that it contains certain unhistorical state
ments. For the most part however the errors
adduced do not affect the veracity of the his
torian himself. Thus, for instance, it is af
firmed that St. Stephen's speech, as tested by
the Old Testament, contains several inac-

40 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
curacies. These would doubtless require con
sideration, if we were discussing the nature and
limits of inspiration ; but for the question ofthe
veracity of the author they have no value at
all. We have no ground for supposing that he
was in any degree responsible for them. Nearly
all the alleged historical errors are of this
kind. The speakers are to blame, not the
author who records their speeches. One or two
examples, however, do not belong to this class.
The chief and most formidable of such historical
difficultiesis connected withTheudas, thereligious
insurgent or pretender, whose name is mentioned
in the speech of Gamaliel (Acts v. 36) as having
been put to death " aforetime " (trpb toutuv twv
rgx^puv), and his followers, about four hundred
in number, dispersed. A person of this name
appears likewise in Josephus (Ant. xx. 5. 1),
where he is described as a wizard (7077s), who
pretended that he was a prophet ; undertook to
divide the waters of the Jordan, so that it might
be traversed dryshod ; and was followed by the
great mass of the common people (rhv T\eTo-Tov
ox^ov). The procurator Fadus promptly sent
a detachment of cavalry after him. The leader
himself was beheaded, and of his followers some
were slain and others captured alive. It is
assumed that the Theudas of Josephus is the
same with the Theudas of St. Luke ; and if so,
there is an insuperable chronological discrepancy.
The procurator Fadus entered upon his office
A.D. 44, but the Theudas of St. Luke must be
placed long before this time : for (1) the speech
of Gamaliel itself is supposed to be spoken some
years earlier, and (2) Gamaliel describes the
insurrection of Judas the Galilean, as subse
quent to that of Theudas (ver. 37, /ueTa toutov),
and the insurrection of Judas certainly took
place " in the days of the taxing," i.e. soon after
the birth of Christ (see Joseph. Ant. xviii. 1. 1,
xx. 5. 2 ; B. J. ii. 17. 8). Though the narrative
of Josephus is disfigured by demonstrable errors
and inaccuracies, yet it is hardly possible that
he can have been mistaken here. We must
therefore suppose the Theudas of Gamaliel to be
a different person, as Origen does (c. Cels. i. 57,
0eu5Ss irpb ttjs yevioeas 'IijiroG yeyovi ris Trapa
'lovSalois). Beyond the name there is no close
resemblance ; and Theudas contracted from
Theodorus, Theodotus, Theodosius (frequently
written Theudorus, Theudotus, Theudosius),
as the Greek equivalent to several Hebrew
names — Jonathan, Mattaniah, Matthias, Na
thanael, &c. — would be commonly affected by
the Jews (on these names, Theodorus, &c.
Kmong the Jews, see Zunz, Gesamm. Schnften, ii.
pp. 6, 7, 10, 22). Josephus himself mentions
four pretenders named Simon, and three named
Judas— these last all within ten years (see
Gloag, i. p. 197). The Theudas of Gamaliel,
therefore, will probably have been one of the
many pretenders of whom Josephus speaks as
troubling the peace of the nation about this
time (Joseph. Ant xvii. 10. 8 ; B. J. ii. 4. l)
without however giving their names. There
is something to be said for the solution of
Wieseler (Synopsis, p. 90 sq., Eng. trans.), who,
on the ground of the name, would identify him
with Matthias the son of Margalothus, an
insurgent in the time of Herod ; for this person
has a prominent place in Josephus (Ant xvii.
6. 2 sq.). In connexion with this charge of

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
falsification the language respecting Judas of
Galilee, attributed to Gamaliel in the context, ,,
deserves notice. He speaks of Judas' rebellion
as coming to nothing. This was natural enough
on the lips of Gamaliel before the sequel had
revealed itself, but would be out of place at it
later date ; for two sons of this rebel leader, '.'
James and Simon, broke out in rebellion under
Claudius, and were crucified by the procurator
Tiberius Alexander (Ant. xx. 5. 2); while a third
son, Menahem, headed a formidable rebellion
shortly before the commencement of the Jewish
war, and he too was put to death (B. J. ii, 17.
8 sq. See Nosgen, p. 146 sq.).
6. The Time and Place of Writing. — What
was the date of the Acts ? To this we can give-
no certain answer. It has been shown that the
conclusion of the history is intentional, that
there is no abruptness in it, and that therefore-
we cannot draw any inference from it, as though
the book were written at the point of time
where the narrative closes (p. 27). This in
dication of date having failed us, no clue remains.
The fancy of Hug and others that aih-n io-Tlir
epTi/jos (" this is desert ") in viii. 26 refers to
the destruction of Gaza immediately before the
fall of Jerusalem (Joseph. B. J. ii. 18. 1), and
therefore points to a date not earlier than about
a.d. 80, is based on a misconception. The words
are perhaps not the author's own, but the
Angel's, and they certainly refer not to the city,
but to the road. They would thus be an in
struction to Philip to take this route, because it
passed through an uninhabited and unfrequented
country, where he would be unmolested in his
interview with the Ethiopian. The Book itself
contains no reference to any event later than
the close of the narrative itself. It must how
ever have been written later than the Gospel.
and we are thus led to investigate the date of
this " former treatise." Here it is confidentlv
assumed that the turn given to our Lord's- i
predictions of the coming troubles (Luke xxi.
20-24), as compared with the parallel passages
in the other Evangelists, shows that this Gospel
was written after the destruction of Jerusalem.
I am unable to see the force of this argument.
The destruction of Jerusalem seems clearly to
be indicated in Christ's prophecies in the other
Evangelists likewise, and the difference of lan
guage does not seriously affect the case. Yet,
though the reason given may not be valid, the
date so assigned is perhaps not far wrong. It
would at all events be a probable date for a
writer who was a younger disciple and a personal
follower of St. Paul. Not a few of those who
recognise St. Luke as the author of the work-
have accepted this date as approximately correct.
The place of writing is altogether indeter
minable. Something may be said in favour of
Philippi. At all events the writer seems to.
have spent some time there (see above, p. 35),
and the use of the first person at this point,
without any explanation, may suggest some
corresponding local knowledge on the part of
the recipient. Again Antioch is far from im
probable, since St. Luke according to an old
tradition was born at Antioch, and some details
connected with this city are given with ex
ceptional particularity (vi. 5, xi. 26, xiii. 1 sq.,
xv. 22 sq.) Again Rome has a certain claim
to be considered, since the writer accompanied*'

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
St. Paul on the visit with which the narrative
closes. Other places which have been suggested,
such as Alexandria or Ephesus, have nothing to
recommend them.
7. Sources of Information. — The authorities
of which the writer made use must remain a
matter of speculation. It has been inferred
from the preface to the Gospel, that St. Luke
discarded all written sources of information,
such as any memoirs of Christ's life and teaching
which others before him may have published,
and depended entirely on oral tradition, as
received directly from eye-witnesses. It does
not seem to me that his language suggests this
strict limitation. The " tradition " of which he
there speaks might be written as well as oral.
Nor again, even supposing that he had confined
himself to the oral communications of eye-wit
nesses in the first treatise, are we justified in
assuming him to have acted in precisely the
same way in composing the second. As a
question of probability, the life and words of
Christ, being the subject-matter of Christian
teaching, would form a more or less definite
body of oral tradition ; but the doings of the
Apostles had no such importance that they
should assume this form. The question as
regards the Acts resolves itself into one of
internal evidence and probability. So regarding
it, we are forced to the conclusion that, for some
parts at least (the speech of Stephen will serve
as an example), he must have used written notes
taken down at the time ; for this speech is in
conceivable as a fiction, and almost equally so
as an oral tradi tion. When we take into account
the common use of shorthand among the ancients,
there is no improbability in this supposition ;
since the gravity and interest of the defence on
such a critical occasion must have impressed itself
on all, more especially on the disciples.
Tlie materials then would be partly oral,
partly written. The written materials would be
here and there a document, such as the letter of
the apostolic council (xv. 23 sq.) ; here and there
notes of speeches taken down at the time or
immediately afterwards; and occasionally also
diaries or memoranda of facts. Besides these,
he would receive a large amount of oral in
formation ; and for some portions of his narra
tive he was himself an eye-witness. His chief
authority would naturally be St. Paul, with
whom at different epochs he spent large
portions of time. But he likewise lodged a
considerable time (yfiepas irKeiovs') with Philip
the Evangelist (xxi. 10), and from him he may
have received written or oral information re
specting the earliest history of the Church,
more especially the doings of the deacons, in
which Philip himself "pars magna fuit" (viii.
5-40). From this source also he might have
derived his information respecting the conversion
of Cornelius, for Caesarea seems to have been
Philip's permanent home before as well as after
this event (viii. 40, xxi. 8). For portions of
this earlier history also he may have been
indebted to John Mark, in whose company we
find him at a later date (Col. iv. 10, 14 ; Philem.
24; comp. 2 Tim. iv. 11). For all that related
to Barnabas (Col. iv. 10) and to St. Peter (1 Pet.
v. 13), Mark would be a competent authority.
His intercourse with men like Timothy and
Tychicus also must have been considerable; and j

ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 41
they may have supplied information for the
latter part of his narrative, where St. Paul
failed him. How close may have been St. Luke's
intimacy with any of the Twelve, we eannot
say. To auy such intimacy we find no reference
within tho compass of his own narrative ; but
au acquaintance with St. Peter afterwards, at
Rome, is consistent with the notices.
8. The Motive and Design of the Work. — The
motive and design of the work have been con
sidered already, when its contents were under
discussion. Addressing one Theophilus, either
an actual person or an imaginary representative
of the Christian student, St. Luke merely pur
poses to give for the edification of his readers a
history ofthe Christian Church from its founda
tion to its establishment in the metropolis of
the world. If there were sufficient grounds for
postulating * theological principle as the basis
of the narrative, it would be the continued
working and presence of Jesus, no longer in the
fiesh, but in the Church.
But a large number of recent critics have
seen in this work a motive of a wholly different
kind. They have regarded it as written with
an apologetic or conciliatory purpose. In the
present case these two epithets come to the
same thing. For, if apologetic, it was intended
either to defend St. Paul from the charge of
hostility to the Jews, or St. Peter from the
charge of opposition to the free admission of the
Gentiles ; if conciliatory, its motive was to bring
together and amalgamate two parties in the
Christian Church — the Judaic, which clung to-
the name of St. Peter, and the Gentile, whose
watchword was the liberalism of St. Paul.
It will be seen at once, that such a view of
the purpose is consistent with a frank recogni
tion of the genuineness of the work and of the
truthfulness of the narrative. Its aim would'
then be the correction of prevailing misunder
standings. Such was the position of Schneck-
enburger(1841), who was the first to emphasise
the real or supposed parallelism between St.
Peter and St. Paul, as showing the apologetic-
design of the author ;d but he himself herewith
maintains the substantial credibility of the acr
count. This same idea however was adopted by
the critics of the Tubingen school, who occupied
another platform, and to whom it was a con
venient weapon for their destructive warfare.
Baur (Paulus, p. 1 sq., 1845), Schwegler (Das
Nachapostolische Zeitalter, ii. p. 73 sq., 1846),
and Zeller (Die Apostelgeschichte, p. 316 sq.,
1854), all took this parallelism as the basis of
their theories, and regarded the Book as the
work of a Pauline Christian in the 2nd
century, whose object was to reconcile parties,
and who freely invented his story accordingly.
Not very different is the position of Hilgenfeld'
(Einleitung, p. 576 sq.), who takes it to repre
sent " Unionist Paulinism " not earlier than the-
close of the 1st century. Several other critics
also, without going to these extremes, have re
garded the narrative as coloured by this " con
ciliatory " motive. Thus Renan (Les Apotres,
pp. xiii. sq., xxviii. sq.), though confidently
ascribing the work to a companion of St. Paul,

d Baur had previously suggested the idea of this " ten
dency" in the Tubing. Zeitschr. f. Theol. iii. p. 38 s?.,
1836.

42 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
and therefore presumably to St. Luke, and em
ploying its statements as generally credible, yet
holds that the representations of the chief
Apostles are highly coloured, so as to produce
an impression of harmony which was not justi
fied by the facts. In answer to such allegations
it is sufficient to say that St. Paul's own prac
tical maxim of "becoming all things to all
men," and therefore of " becoming a Jew to the
Jews," covers all the actions ascribed to him in
St. Luke's narrative ; that the very context, in
which these particular actions are related,
manifests, as I have already shown (p. 38), un-
mistakeable tokens of authenticity; that St.
Paul's language and conduct in dealing with
•Gentile converts like the Galatians is no stan
dard at all for measuring his intercourse with
the Church of Jerusalem ; and that generally
the tone and character of the narrative ought to
place it above the suspicion of any conscious
distortion of facts. For the rest, if any false
impressions were abroad about the relations of
the two chief Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, it
is not unnatural that the writer should wish to
correct them.
9. The Chronology. — There are two fixed
points in the chronology of the Acts, as deter
mined by contact with secular history. The
first of these is St. Paul's second visit to Jeru
salem (xi. 30, xii. 25), which is obviously syn
chronous, or nearly so, with the death of Herod
Agrippa (xii. 23) ; but this latter event is
known to have happened A.D. 44 (Joseph. Ant.
xix. 8. 2). The second is St. Paul's appearance
before Festus and consequent voyage to Rome
(xxvi. 32, xxvii. 1). This occurred immediately
after Festus had arrived in the province. But
from various considerations it appears that the
-deposition of Felix and the accession of Festus
most probably happened in A.D. 60, and must
certainly have happened close upon that year ;
see Wieseler, Chronol. p. 66 sq.
Besides these two fixed dates, there are other
references to events in secular history of which
the date indeed is not definitely determined,
but which serve as rough verifications. Such
are the great famine (xi. 28), the banishment of
the Jews from Rome (xviii. 2), the reign of
Aretas at Damascus (ix. 25, 2 Cor. xi. 323, *he
proconsulship of Gallio in Achaia (xviii. 12).
Of the two fixed dates, the first — the death of
Herod Agrippa — is isolated, and renders no
assistance in the general scheme of chronology.
But the second is of the highest value. The
notices of the intervals of time in the Acts are
fairly continuous from the apostolic council
(c. xv) to the end of the Book. Thus by work
ing backwards from the accession of Festus and
the journey to Rome (a.d. 60), we are able to
frame a skeleton of the chronology for the latter
half of the Book, and we arrive at about a.d. 51
for the apostolic council. From this point,
still working backwards, the chronological
notices in Gal. i. 18, ii. 1, enable us to fix some
of the early dates. The whole system is worked
out most thoroughly by Wieseler. The results
will be found in any of the common books relat
ing to the apostolic history 'or the life of St.
Paul. The special books on the chronology of
St. Paul and of the Acts are Anger, De tern-
porum in Act. Apost. ratione (Lipsiae, 1833), and
Wieseler, Chronologic des apostolischen Zeitalters

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
(Gottingen, 1848). Lewin's Fasti Sacri (London^
1865) is a useful work, and is not as well known
as it deserves to be.
10. The Text — Accounts will be found of the
authorities for the text of the Acts in their
proper place in the well-known Introductions and
Prolegomena of Tregelles (1856), Scrivener (ed.
3, 1883), Tischendorf (ed. Gregory, 1884), and
Westcott and Hort. Special works relating to
this particular book are J. D. Michaelis, Curae .
in Versionem Syriacam Actuunv.Apostoliaorum.
(Goettingae, 1755); Belsheim, Die Apostelge-
schichte u. die Offenbarung Johannis in einer alten
lateinischen Uebersetzung (Christiania, 1879);
and F. A. Bornemann, Acta Apostolorum ad Cod.
Cantabrigiensis fidem recensuit (Grossenhainae,
1848). In the last, as its title suggests, the
MS. D is taken as the standard of the text
— a conclusion which is not adopted by any
sound textual critic. But the text of D and of
a few other authorities which coincide with it
in greater or less degrees, presents a difficult
problem. The variations from the normal text
are greater than are found in any other portion
of the New Testament. They are of two kinds
— partly paraphrases and amplifications, and
partly insertions of additional incidents or par
ticulars. As examples of this latter class may
be mentioned such passages as xii. 10, where
the number of steps is given in the account of
St. Peter's release from prison, or xxviii. 16,
where the delivering of Paul and his fellow-
prisoners to the prefect of the praetorium is men
tioned. In this latter passage, however, D is
wanting. Such additions belong to the same
class of which the pericope relating to the
women taken in adultery (John viii. 3 sq.) is
the most prominent example. The editor or
transcriber seems to have had access to some
very early and genuine tradition ; and the fact
that the incident in the pericope in St. John
was related likewise by Papias (Euseb. H. E. iii.
39) suggests that the source of these traditions
is to be sought ultimately in the disciples who
gathered about St. John and his successors in
Asia Minor.
11. The Literature. — The literature which has
accumulated about the Acts is so vast that an
exhaustive catalogue is quite impracticable. In
the following list all works which are directly
homiletic or are intended for school purposes
are omitted ; nor have I for the most part
included monographs and articles which treat of
special points. Many of these have been noticed
already in their respective places. After these
deductions, the following books may be men
tioned : —
A. General Commentaries, including the whole
or a great part of the New Testament. Of the
older commentaries those of Calvin, Grotius, and
Bengel deserve to be specially named. Among
recent works Alford, Wordsworth, the Speaker's
Commentary (Cook and Jacobson), Ellicott's
New Testament Commentary for English Readers
(Plumptre), in England ; and Olshausen (ed.
4, 1862, re-edited by Ebrard), De Wette (ed. 4,
1870, re-edited by Overbeck), Meyer (ed. 5,
1880, re-edited by Wendt), Lechler (in Lange's
Bibelwerk, ed. 4, 1881), in Germany, may be
mentioned. B. General Introductions to the New Testament.
— Bleek (Eng. trans.), 1869 ; Davidson, vol. ii.,

ACUA
1842; Guericke, 1868 (ed. 3); Hilgenfeld,
1875; Holtzmann, 1885; Hug (Eng. trans.),
1827; Marsh's Michaelis, 1802 (ed. 2); Reuss,
1860; Salmon, 1886 (ed. 2); Weiss, 1886.
C. Special Commentaries on tlie Acts. — - The
Homilies of St. Chrysostom are the only patristic
commentary of real importance on this Book.
Passing to recent times, we have Baumgarten,
Braunschweig, 1852, 1854 (Eng. trans.) ; Gloag,
Edinburgh, 1870 ; Hackett, Boston, 1S63 (uew
ed.); Humphry, London, 1854 (ed. 2) ; Nosgen,
Leipzig, 1882. A complete list of commentaries,
special and general, up to the date (1S59), will
be found in Darling's Cycl. Bibl. p. 1167 sq.
D. Special Works on the Acts. — Biscoe, Hist.
of the Acts, 4'C. confirmed from other Authors,
&c. 1742, reprinted, 1840 ; Klostermann*, Vindi-
ciae Lucanae sive de Itinerarii in libro Acto-
rum asservati auctore, 1866 ; Klostermann, Prob-
leme im Aposteltexte, 1883 ; Konig, Die Echtheit
der Apostelgeschichtc, 1867 ; Lekebusch, Compo
sition u. Enstehung der A.-G., 1854 ; Lightfoot,
Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations on the Acts
of the Apostles ; Oertel, Paulus in der A.-G.,
1868 ; Paley, Home Paulinae (edited by J. Tate,
1840; by Birks, 1850); Schmidt, K., Die Apos
telgeschichtc, Band i., 1882 ; Schneckenburger,
Ueber den Zwech der A.-G., 1841; Schwanbeck,
Ueber die Quellen der A.-G., 1847 ; Supernatural
Beligion, vol. iii., 1877; Stier, Die Reden der
Apostel (ed. 2), 1861 ; S. P. C. K., The Heathen
World and St. Paul (no date), Rawlinson,
Plumptre, Davies, Merivale ; Zeller, Die Apos-
telgeschichte. 1854.
E. Apostolic Histories, Lives of St. Paul, fyc.
— Baur, Paulus, 1845 ; Conybeare and Howson,
Life and Epistles of St. Paul, 1856 (2nd ed.) ;
Ewald, Geschichte des apostolisclien Zeitalter,
1858 (2nd ed.), being vol. vi. of Geschichte des
Volkes Israel; Farrar, Early Days of Christi
anity, 1882 (1st ed.) ; Farrar, Life and Work of
St. Paul, 1879 (1st ed.) ; Lechler, Das Apostol-
ische a. das Nachapostolische Zeitalter (1st ed.,
1857 ; 2nd ed., 1885) ; Lewin, Life and Epistles
of St. Paul, 1872 ; Neander, Pflanzung und
Leitung, 1862 (5th ed.) ; Pfleiderer, Urchristen-
thum, 1887 ; Renan, Les Apotres, 1866 (1st ed.) ;
Saint Paul, 1869 (1st ed.) ; Ritschl, Die Entste-
hung der altkatholischen Kirehe, 1857 (1st ed.) ;
Schaff, Hist, of the Christian Church — Apostolic
Christianity, 1882 ; Schwegler, Das Nachapos
tolische Zeitalter, 1846 ; Thiersch, Die Kirehe im
apostolischen Zeitalter, 1879 (3rd ed.); Weiz-
sacker, Das apostolische Zeitalter, 1886.
This list might be considerably increased, if
there were any object in increasing it. [J. B. L.]
ACTJ'A CAkovS ; Accub) or Akkub (1 Esd.
v. 30 ; cp. Ezra ii. 45), who with
A'CUB (B. 'AKoitp, A. 'AKoip. ; Accusu) or
Ba'KBUK (1 Esd. v. 31 ; cp. Ezra ii. 51), servants of
the Temple, returned to Jerusalem. [W. A. W.]
ADA'DAH (nny*"*', according to Ges. from
the Syr., festival; A. AoaSd, B. 'Apov4)\; Adada),
one of the cities in the extreme south of Judah
named with Dimonah and Kedesh (Josh. xv. 22).
Wellhausen and Dillmann2 think that the reading
was probably mini* (Arara), and that the place
is the same as "linU (1 Sam. xxx. 28). Kuins
bearing the name of 'Ar'ara are found S.E. of
Beersheba (Rob. iii. 14, 180 sq.). [S. R. D.]

ADAM

43

A'D AH (nil*, ornament, beauty. See Baethgen,
Beitrtige z. Sem. Beligionsgesoh., p. 149. Cp.
Dillmann [Gen.'' 1. c] for other derivations ; 'A5ti ;
Ada). 1. The first ofthe two wives of Lamech, fifth
in descent from Cain, by whom were born to
him Jabal and Jubal (Gen. iv. 19-23).
2. A Hittitess, daughter of Elon, one (pro
bably the first) of the three wives of Esau,
mother of his first-born son Eliphaz, and so the
ancestress of six (or seven) of the tribes of the
Edomites (Gen. xxxvi. 2, 4, 10 ff. 15 ff). In Gen.
xxvi. 34 she is called Bashemath. [F. W. G.]
AD ATAH (iT**!**, Ges. = Jah hath adorned ;
B. 'IeSeirf, A. 'Ie5iBc£ ; Hadaia). 1. The maternal
grandfather of king Josiah, and native of Boscath
in the lowlands of Judah (2 K. xxii. 1).
2. B. 'A£eia ; Adaia. A Levite, of the Ger-
shonite branch, and ancestor of Asaph (1 Ch.
vi. 41). In v. 21 he is oalled Iddo.
3. B. 'ABid, A. 'AActia; Adaia. A Benjamite,
son of Shimhi (1 Ch. viii. 21), who is apparently
the same as Shema in v. 13.
4. B. 'A5ai<£, A. Sabias ini Ch. I. c; Adaias,
Adaia. A priest, son of Jeroham (1 Ch. ix. 12 ;
Neh. xi. 12, BK1. omits), who returned with 242
of his brethren from Babylon.
5. 'ASalas; Adaia. One of the descendants
of Bani, who had married a foreign wife after
the return from Babylon (Ezra x. 29). He is
called Jedeus in 1 Esd. ix. 30.
6. 'A5a/a ; A. 'Abaias ; H. 'Abeidfi ; Adaias.
The descendant of another Bani, who had also
taken a foreign wife (Ezra x. 39).
7. A. 'Axaia ; BN. AaAtri ; Adaia. A man of
Judah of the line of Pharez (Neh. xi. 5).
8. -lnHl*: A. 'ASa'ta; B. 'A&id, Bab. 'ASeid;
Adaias. Ancestor of Maaseiah, one of the captains
who supported Jehoiada (2 Ch. xxiii. 1).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ADAL'IA (K^IN. The name in the Greek
texts corresponding to this is K. Baped, B. Bapad,
A. BapeX ; Adalia), one of the sons of Haman,
massacred by the Jews at Shushan (Esth. ix.
7-10). Gesenius and Cassel (d. B. Esther, p. 228)
consider the name Persian, but are not agreed
as to its etymology. [F.]
ADAM (DIN ; 'Aodfi ; Adam), the name
which is given in Scripture to the first man.
The term apparently has reference to the ground
from which he was formed, which is called
Adamah (*"ID"1X, Gen. ii. 7). The idea of red
ness of colour seems to be inherent in either
word (cf. D*]K, Lam. iv. 7 ; DIN, red, D'lS.
Edom, Gen. xxv. 30 ; D"".**5, a ruby : Arab. »(j)i
colore fusco praeditus fuit, rubrum tinxit, &c).
The conjecture of Fried. Delitzsch which asso
ciates the term with the Assyr. admu and ren
ders it " geschaffener " (Prolegg. eines neuen
Heb.-Aram. WSrterb. z. A. T. pp. 103-4) is not
universally accepted (see Franz Delitzsch, Genesis
[1887], p. 77) ; equally conjectural is the identi
fication of Adam with the Egyptian Atum (see
Transactions of tlie Soe. of Biblical Arcjiatology,
ix. 176). The generic term Adam, man, be
comes, in the case of the first man, a denomi
native. Supposing the Hebrew language to

44

ADAM

represent accurately the primary ideas con
nected with the formation of man, it would
seem that the appellation bestowed by God was
given to keep alive in Adam the memory of his
earthly and mortal nature ; whereas the name
by which he preferred to designate himself was
Ish (B^K, a man of substance or worth, Gen. ii.
23) The creation of man was the work of the
sixth day. His formation was the ultimate
object of the Creator. It was with reference to
him that all things were designed. He was to
be the " roof and crown" of the whole fabric of
the world. In the first nine chapters of Genesis
there appear to be three distinct histories re
lating more or less to the life of Adam. The
first extends from Gen. i. 1 to ii. 3, the second
from ii. 4 to iv. 26, the third from v. 1 to the
end of ix. (see Riehm, HWB. s. n.). The word at
the commencement of the two latter narratives,
which is rendered there and elsewhere genera
tions, may also be rendered history. The style
of the second of these records differs very con
siderably from that of the first. In the first
the Deity is designated by the word Elohim ;
in the second He is generally spoken of as
Jehovah Elohim. The object of the first of these
narratives is to record the creation ; that of the
second to give an account of Paradise, the
original sin of man, and the immediate posterity
of Adam ; the third contains mainly the history
of Noah, referring it would seem to Adam and
his descendants, principally in relation to that
patriarch. We should, however, not fail to observe that the
interdependence of these sections is complete, not
withstanding their marked individuality. For
example, ii. 4 presupposes the previous section,
because it is a summary of what has gone before
and not of what follows, inasmuch as there is
no mention in that of the creation of the heavens
and the earth. " These are the generations "
can, therefore, refer only to Gen. i. 1 — ii. 3. In
like manner v. 1 implies i. 27, and v. 29 implies
iii. 17; whereas on the other hand it is impos
sible to conceive any consecutive narrative which
can have run on continuously from ii. 3 to v. 1
or elsewhere, without the intermediate record.
The essential unity of the composition involves
the unity of the narrative. The work of the
compiler is conspicuous from whatever source
he may have gathered his materials, and these
materials can never have formed an independent
whole. We can only treat the narrative as one,
however composite it may be.
The Mosaic accounts furnish us with verv
few materials from which to form any adequate
conception of the first man. He is said to have
been created in the image and likeness of God,
and this is commonly interpreted to mean some
superexcellent and divine condition which was
lost at the Fall : apparently however without
sufficient reason, as the continuance of this con
dition is implied in the time of Noah, subsequent
to the Flood (Gen. ix. 6), and is asserted as
a fact by St. James (iii. 9) and by St. Paul
(1 Cor. xi. 7). It more probably points to the
Divine pattern and archetype after which man's
intelligent nature was fashioned ; reason, under
standing, imagination, volition, &c. being attri
butes of God ; and man alone of the animals of
the earth being possessed of a spiritual nature
which resembled God's nature. Man in short

ADAM
was a spirit, created to reflect God's righteous
ness and truth and love, and capable of holding
direct intercourse and communion with Him.
As long as his will moved in harmony with
God's will, he fulfilled the purpose of his Creator.
When he refused submission to God, he broke
the law of his existence and fell, introducing
confusion and disorder into the economy of his
nature. As much as this we may learn from
what St. Paul says of "the new man being
renewed in knowledge after the image of Him
that created him " (Col. iii. 10), the restoration
to such a condition being the very work of the-
Holy Spirit of God. The name Adam was not
confined to the father of the human race, but
like homo was applicable to woman as well as
man, so* that we find it said in Gen. v. 1, 2,
" This is the book of the ' history ' [A. V. and
R. V. ' generations '] of Adam. In the day that
God created ' Adam,' in the likeness of God made
He him ; male and female created He them, and
called their name Adam in the day when thev
were created."
The man Adam was placed in a garden which
the Lord God had planted " eastward in Eden "
(Gen. ii. 8), for the purpose of dressing it and
keeping it. It is perhaps hopeless to attempt to
identify the situation of Eden with that of any
district familiar to modern geography. There
seems good ground for supposing it to have been
an actual locality, and modern investigations
have tended to show that this locality was not
improbably between the Mediterranean and
the Caspian seas. Two of the rivers which are
described as watering the Garden of Eden
can still be identified unmistakably with the
Euphrates and the Tigris. Thus the LXX. call
the Hiddekel, both iu Gen. ii. 14 and in Dau. x. 4,
the Tigris. [Hiddekel.] The Pison and the
Gihon may likewise be traced in existing riversof
Mesopotamia, though it is difficult to understand
how they should have been united unless indeed
the historian contemplates them as flowing
together like the Tigris and Euphrates as they
approach the sea, and then traces them back
wards towards their source when they became
four distinct head streams.
Adam was permitted to eat of the fruit of
every tree in the garden but one, which was
called the " tree of the knowledge of good and
evil." What this was, it is also impossible to
say [see Speaker's Comm. and Delitzsch (1887)
in loco]. Its name would seem to indicate that
it had the power of bestowing the consciousness
of the difference between good and evil ; in the
ignorance of which man's innocence and happi
ness consisted. The prohibition to taste the
fruit of this tree was enforced by the menace of
death. There was also another tree which was
called " the tree of life." Some have supposed
it to have acted as a kind of medicine, and that
by the continual use of it our first parents, not
created immortal, were preserved from death.
(Abp. Whately.) While Adam was in the
garden of Eden the beasts of the field and the
fowls of the air were brought to him to be
named, and whatsoever he called every livinr
creature that was the name thereof. Thus the
power of fitly designating objects of sense was
possessed by the first man, a faculty which is
generally considered as indicating mature and
extensive intellectual resources. Upon the

ADAM

ADAMANT

45

failure of a companion suitable for Adam among
the creatures thus brought to him to be named,
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon
him, and took one of his ribs from him, which
He fashioned into a woman and brought her to
the man. Prof. S. Lee supposed the narrative
of the creation of Eve to have been revealed to
Adam in his deep sleep (Lee's Job, Introd., p. 16).
This is agreeable with the analogy of similar
passages, as Acts x. 10, xi. 5, xxii. 17. At this
time they are both described as being naked
without the consciousness of shame.
Such is the Scripture account of Adam prior
to the Fall : there is no narrative of any con
dition superhuman, or contrary to the ordinary
Jaws of humanity. The first man is a true man,
with the powers of a man and the innocence of a
child. He is moreover spoken of by St. Paul as
being " the figure (tuttos) of Him Who was to
¦ome," the second Adam, Christ Jesus (Rom. v.
14). His human excellence therefore cannot
have been superior to that of the Son of Jlary,
who was Himself the Pattern and Perfect Man.
By the subtlety of the serpent, the woman who
was given to be with Adam was beguiled into a
violation of the one command which had been
imposed upon them. She took of the fruit of
the forbidden tree and gave it to her husband.
The propriety of its name was immediately
shown in the results which followed : self-con-
, sciousness was the first-fruits of sin ; their eyes
were opened and they knew that they were
naked. The subsequent conduct of Adam would
seem to militate against the notion that he was
in himself the perfection of moral excellence.
His cowardly attempt to clear himself by the
inculpation of his helpless wife bears no marks
oi a high moral nature, even though fallen; it
was conduct unworthy of his sons, and such as
many of them would have scorned to adopt.
Though the curse of Adam's rebellion of necessity
fell upon him, yet the very prohibition to eat of
the tree of life after his trangression was pro
bably a manifestation of Divine mercy, because
the greatest malediction of all would have been
to have the gift of indestructible life superadded
to a state of wretchedness and sin. When
moreover we find in Prov. iii. 18, that wisdom is
declared to be a tree of life to them that lay
hold upon her, and in Rev. ii. 7, xxii. 2, 14, that
the same expression is applied to the grace of
Christ, we are led to conclude that this was
merely a temporary prohibition imposed till the
Gospel dispensation should be brought in. Upon
this supposition the condition of Christians now
is as favourable as that of Adam before the Fall,
and their spiritual state the same, with the
single exception of the consciousness of sin and
the knowledge of good and evil.
Till a recent period it has been generally
believed that the Scriptural narrative supposes
the whole human race to have sprung from
one pair. It is maintained that the 0. T.
assumes it in the reason assigned for the name
which Adam gave his wife after the Fall, viz.
Eve, or Chavvah, i.e. a living woman, " because
she was the mother of all living ; " and that St.
Paul assumes it in his sermon at Athens when
he declares that God hath made of one blood all
nations of men ; and in the Epistle to the
Romans and First Epistle to the Corinthians,
¦when he opposes Christ as the representative of

redeemed humanity to Adam as tho represen
tative of natural, fallen, and sinful humanity.
But the full consideration of this important
subject will come more appropriately under
the article Man.
In the Middle Ages discussions were raised as
to the period which Adam remained in Paradise
in a sinless state. Danto (Paradiso, xxvi. 139-
142) did not suppose him to have been more than
seven hours in the earthly Paradise.
Adam is stated to have lived 930 years : so it
would seem that the death which resulted from
his sin was the spiritual death of alienation from
God. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou
shalt surely die " (Gen. ii. 17) : and accordingly
i we find that this spiritual death began to work
immediately. The sons of Adam mentioned in
Scripture are Cain, Abel, and Seth : it is implied
however that he had others." [S. L.]
ADAM (DIN ; Adorn), a city on the Jordan
" beside (*JVD) Zarthan," in the time of Joshua
(Josh. iii. 16. See Dillmann2 in loco). It is not
elsewhere mentioned, nor is there any reference
to it in Josephus. The name is thought by some
to be preserved in the bridge and ford of ed-
Ddmieh, directly east of Kurn Surtabeh ; but the
identification of Surtabeh and Zarthan involves
an improbable change of letters (Dillmann2).
The A. V. in Josh. I. c. follows the Keri, which.
in the place of DTN3 = " by Adam," the reading in
the Hebrew text or Chethib, has D1ND = " from
Adam," an alteration which is a questionable
improvement (Keil, *'. I.). The R. V. has " at
Adam." A more accurate rendering of the text
is "rose up upon a heap, very far off, by Adam,
the city that is beside Zarthan" (Stanley,
S. $ P. 304, note). The LXX. (B.) rendering,
ff(p6Spa acpobpeos eois p.4pous KaBiatpeiv, arose
from the Keri with a different signification and
omission of part of the text ; e.g. "IXO *1N2") 1XD
JITIX (cp. Hollenberg, p. 17). [G.] [W.]
ADATVIAH (HD-JN ; B. 'ApptalB, A. 'Abaui ;
Edema), one of the " fenced cities " of Naphtali,
named between Chinnereth and ha-Ramah (Josh-
xix. 36). It is now probably the village ed-
Ddmieh, west of the Sea of Galilee (P. F. Mem.
i.384). [G.] [W.]
ADAMANT (T'P"2>, shdmir"; aSap-avrivos;
adamas). The word shdmir occurs as a common
noun eleven times in the 0. T. In eight of
these passages, all of them in Isaiah, it
stands for a thorny tree, and is rendered
" briers " in A. V. In some instances it is
coupled vvith JVK', "thorns," and in one with
f)\), also "thorns" in A. V. and R. V. Its
Arabic equivalent .yoLu, samur, is applied
to this day by the Arabs of the district t..
the Paliurus aeuleatus, or " Christ's thorn,"
a The comparison of the Biblical narrative relative to
Adam with parallel traditions (Assyrian, Egyptian, &c. )
will be found in Lenormant, Les Origines de VHistoire-
(ed. 1880), X. 31 sq., and Vigouroux, La Bible et les De-
couvertes Afodernes,* i. p. 191 sq.

b Arab, .yt^ui and ly***-
NTW-

Cp. the Chaldee

4G

ADAMANT

which grows in the Jordan valley and the
warmer parts of Palestine. In Galilee it
is given to Rhamnus palaestina, the Palestine
buckthorn ; and in Arabia to various species of
Zizyphus or Sidra. In the three remaining
passages (Jer. xvii. 1 ; Ezek. iii. 9 ; Zech. vii.
12), it is the representative of some stone of
excessive hardness, and is used in each of these
last instances metaphorically. In Jer. xvii. 1,
shdmir = " diamond " in A. V. and R. V. " The
sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron
and with the point of a diamond," i.e. the
people's idolatry is indelibly fixed in their
affections, engraved as it were on the tablets of
their hearts. In Ezek. iii. 9, shdmir = "ada
mant" (A. V. and R. V.): "As an adamant
harder than flint have I made thy forehead : fear
them not." Here the word is intended to signify
that firmness of purpose with which the prophet
should resist the sin of the rebellious house of
Israel. In Zech. vii. 12, the Hebrew word =
" adamant-stone " (A. V. and R. V.) : " Yea,
they made their hearts as an adamant-stone,
lest they should hear the law," and is used to
express the hardness of the hearts of the Jews
in resisting truth.
The LXX. affords us but little clue whereby
to identify the mineral here spoken of, for in
Ezek. iii. 9 and in Zech. vii. 12 they have not
rendered the Hebrew word at all, while the
whole passage in Jer. xvii. 1-5 is altogether
omitted in the Vatican MS. ; the Alexandrine
MS., however, has the passage, and reads, with
the Versions of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symma
chus, " with a nail of adamant." b "Adamant "
occurs in the Apocrypha, in Ecclus. xvi. 16 (a
verse omitted in most Greek copies, but found
in the Syriac and Arabic).
Our English " adamant " is derived from the
Greek,0 and signifies "the unconquerable," in
allusion perhaps to the hard nature of the
substance, or, according to Pliny (xxxvii. 15),
because it was supposed to be indestructible
by fire.a The Greek writers • generally apply
the word to some very hard metal, perhaps
steel, though they do also use it for a mineral.
Pliny, iu the chapter referred to above, enume
rates six varieties of Aclamas. Dana (Syst.
Mineral, art. Diamond) says that the word
" Adamas was applied by the ancients to several
minerals, differing much in their physical pro
perties. A few of these are quartz, specular
iron ore, emery, and other substances of rather
high degrees of hardness, which cannot now be
identified." Nor does the English language
attach any one definite meaning to adamant;
sometimes indeed we understand the diamond'
by it, but it is often used vaguely to express
any substance of impenetrable hardness. Chau
cer, Bacon, Shakspeare, use it in some instances

ADAMANT
for the lode stone f In modern -mineralogy 'the
simple term adamant has no technical signifi
cation, but adamantine spar is a mineral well
known, and is closely allied to that which we
have good reason for identifying with the
shdmir or adamant of the Bible.
That some hard cutting stone is intended can
be shown from the passage in Jeremiah quoted
above. In Arabic and Aramaic there is a word
corresponding to the Hebrew shdmir,*' but in
all three languages the derivation is not ap
parent. A sense of sharpness is implied by the
application of the original word to a brier or
thorn. Now since, in the opinion of those who
have given much attention to the subject, the
Hebrews appear to have been unacquainted with
the true diamond,' it is very probable, from
the expression in Ezek. iii. 9, of "adamant
harder than flint," k that by slidmir is intended
some variety of corundum, a mineral inferior
only to the diamond in hardness. Of this
mineral there are two principal groups : one is
crystalline, the other granular;' to the crys
talline varieties belong the indigo-blue sapphire,
the red oriental ruby, the yellow oriental topaz,
the green oriental emerald, the violet oriental
amethyst, the brown adamantine spar. But it
is to the granular or massive variety that the
shdmir may with most probability be assigned.
This is the modern emery, extensively used in
the arts for polishing and cutting gems and
other hard substances; it is found in Saxony,
Italy, Asia Minor, the East Indies, &c, and
" occurs in boulders or nodules in mica slate,
in talcose rock, or in granular limestone, asso
ciated with oxide of iron ; the colour is smoke-
grey or bluish grey ; fracture imperfect. The
best kinds are those which have a blue tint ;
but many substances now sold under the name
of emery contain no corundum." ' The Greek
name for the emery is smyris or smiris,m and

» iv oi-ux' iSa^avTivif, LXX. A. ; "in ungue adaman-
tmo," Vulg.
' a, iVt/muj.
4 It is incorrect to suppose that even the diamond,
which is only pure carbon crystallized, is " invincible"
by fire. It will burn; and at a temperature of 14°
Wedgwood will be wholly consumed, producing car
bonic acid gas.
' Comp. also Senec. Sercul. Fur. 807: "Adamante
texto vincire."
' Our English diamond is merely a corruption of
adamant. Comp. the French diamant.

s Chaucer, Romaunt of the Rose. 1182; Shakspeare,
Mid Night Br. Act ii. sc. 2, and Troil. and Cress.
Act m. sc. 2 ; Bacon's Essay on Travel.
" Roediger in Gesenius, Thes. sub. voc. -\Q&, i. q.
"1DD. -iDt**. horruit, riguit. Ges. (Lex.) connects it
with -|E0, the root (unused in Bibl. Heb.) of inrin,
a nail, whence a pvint, but the change of sibilant
is^ opposed to both these views. [S. R. D.] In Arab.
samur, is "an Egyptian thorn " (see ForskSl,

M. ^Eg. Ar. cxxiii. U6), and
Freytag, Lex. Arab, s

•xLu>' adamas- S^

Dana says that the method of polishing diamonds
was first discovered in 1456 by Louis Bergnen, a citizen
of Bruges, previous to which time the diamond was only
known in its native uncut state. It is quite clear that
shdmir cannot mean diamond, for if it did the word
would be mentioned with precious stones; but this is
not the case.
" "&9 PJH- That -|X. though it may sometimes
be applied to "rock " generally, yet sometimes = flint,
or some other variety of quartz, seems clear from Ex.
'J',- nt, .h=n ZiPP°rah t0°k a sharp stone " (-|V,
TsOr). That Hurt knives were in common use amongS
Eastern nations is well known. Compare that very
interesting verse of the LXX., Josh. xxiv. 31 .
' Ansted's Mineralogy, $ 394.
rZZ^P^' or,°>l'P'*. <-mv« est SfLim, ,Wn
(Hesychius); ^Cpi, A»os *rri (Dioscor. v. 165).

ADAMI
the Hebrew lexicographers derive this word
from the Hebrew shdmir. There seems to be
no doubt whatever that the two words are
identical, and that by adamant we are to
understand the artery-stone," or the uncrystal-
line variety of the corundum.
The word Shamir occurs in the 0. T. three
times as a proper name — once as the name of a
man° (1 Ch. xxiv. 24), and twice as the name
of a town. The name of the town may have
reference to the rocky nature of the situa
tion, or to briers and thorns abundant in the
neighbourhood.!- [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ADA'MI OP*-X ; B. 'Apu4 , A. 'Apual ;
Adami), a place on the border of Naphtali,
named after Allen bezaanannim (Josh. xix. 33).
By some it is taken in connexion with the next
name, han-Nekeb (cp. R. V. Adami-nekeb), but
see Reland, p. 545. In the post-biblical times
Adami bore the name of Damin, probably Kh.
Admah, south-west of the Sea of Galilee, and
immediately north of W. el-Bireh; so named
from the purple basaltic soil (Heb. DIX, " red ").
(P. F. Mem. ii. 89, 121.) [G.] [W.]
A'DAR (accurately, as in R. V., Addar,
TIK ; B. 2opa8a, A. 'ASSapd ; Addar), a place
on the south boundary of Palestine and of Judah
(Josh. xv. 3), which in the parallel list is called
Hazar-addar. Probably some place in Jebel
Magrdh, which forms the natural boundary of
the Negeb or south country. [G.] [W.]
A'DAR. [Months.]
AD7 ASA ('ASaad, LXX. ; to 'ASaad, Jos. ;
Adarsa, Adazer), a place in Judaea, a day's
journey from Gazera, and 30 stadia from Beth-
horon (Jos. Ant. xii. 10, § 5). Here Judas
Maccabaeus encamped before the battle in which
Nicanor was killed, Nicanor having pitched at
Beth-horon (1 Mace. vii. 40,45). Eusebius (OS.2
p. 240, 6) mentions it as near Guphna, and it is
now possibly Kh. 'Adaseh, 6*t miles from Upper
Beth-horon on the road to Jerusalem (P. F. Mem.
iii. 30, 105). The site is still connected with a
tradition of some great slaughter ; for the ruin
stands above a valley called Wady ed-Dumm,
" the vallev of blood " (Conder, Handbook to
Bible, p. 294). [G.] [W.]
AD'BEEL (^XZnN ; A. No0M*, D. -at- ;
Adbeel ; 'ABS4rfi\os, Joseph. Ant. i. 12, § 4 ; " per
is c%
haps 'miracle of God,' from i jAi. miracle,''
Ges. Thes. s. v.), named as the third of the
Both statements are correct ; the one refers to the
powder, the other to the stone. The German Smirgel,
or Schmergel, is evidently allied to the Hebrew and
Greek words. Bohlen considers the Hebrew word to be
of Indian origin, comparing asmira, a stone which eats
away iron. Doubtless all these words have a common
origin. n This is probably the same stone which Herodotus
(vii. 69) says the Aethiopians in the army of Xerxes
used instead of iron to point their arrows with, and by
means of which they engraved seals.
• In the Keri. The Chethib has "I-IJOE*/, shamur.
p It will be enough merely to allude to the Rabbinical
fable about Solomon, the Hoopoe (al. the moorcock or
the eagle), and the worm Shamir. See Bochart's Hiero-
zoimn, vol. iii. p. 842, ed. Rosenmttller, and Buxtorf,
Lex. Talmud, col. 2455.

ADDEK

47

twelve sons of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13 • 1 Ch.
i. 29), and thus presumably as the progenitor of
an Arab tribe. No satisfactory identification of
this name with that of any peoplo or place
mentioned by the Greek geographers, or by the
Arabs themselves, has yet been discovered. The
latter have lost most of the names of Ishmael's
reputed descendants between that patriarch and
'Adnin (said to be of the twenty-first genera
tion before Mohammad), and this could scarcely
have been the case if tribes, or places named
after them, existed in the times of Arabian
historians or relaters of traditions : it is there
fore unlikely that these names are to be recovered
from native authors. But some they have taken,
and apparently corrupted, from the Bible ; and
among these is Adbeel, written (in the Mir-dt ez-
Zemdn) Jjjl [E- S- P0
Cuneiform inscriptions mention an Arab tribe,
Idiba'il, Idibi'dl, as located S.W. of the Dead
Sea towards the borders of Egypt (Delitzsch,
Wo lag das Paradies, p. 301 ; Schrader, KA T.2,
p. 148); and D. H. Miiller has pointed out the
name ?3"I'"S in an inscription from Medai'n Salih
(MV.10 s. n.). [F.]'
AD'DAN (fit* ; 'Hodv; Adon), one of the
places from which some of the Captivity who
could not show their pedigree as Israelites re
turned with Zerubbabel to Judaea (Ezra ii. 59).
In the parallel list of Nehemiah (vii. 61) the
name is Addon. In 1 Esd. v. 36 the names
Cherub, Addan, and Immer appear as " Chara-
athalar leading them, and Aalar." [G.] [W.]
AD'DAE (*T*1K; B. 'A\el, A. 'Ap4S; Addar),
son of Bela (1 Ch. viii. 3), called Ard in Num.
xxvi. 40. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADDEE. This word in the text of the A. V.
is the representative of four distinct Hebrew
names, and in R. V. of three, mentioned below.
It occurs in Gen. xlix. 17 (margin, A. V. arrow-
snake, R. V. horned snake) ; Ps. lviii. 4 (margin,
A. V. asp), xci. 13 (margin, A. V. asp) ; Prov.
xxiii. 32 (margin, A.V. cockatrice, R.V. basilisk) ;
and in Is. xi. 8, xiv. 29, lix. 5, the A. V. has
cockatrice, the R. V. basilisk, and the margin of
both has adder. Our English word adder is used
for any poisonous snake, and is applied in this
general sense by the translators of the A. V.
and R. V.* They use in a similar way the synony
mous term asp.
l.'Acshub (31tJ*3I*; ao-irls; aspis) is found
only in Ps. cxl. 3, "They have sharpened their
tongues like a serpent ; adders' poison is under
their lips." The latter half of this verse is
quoted by St. Paul from the LXX. in Rom. iii.
13. The poison of venomous serpents is often
employed by the sacred writers in a figurative
sense, to express the evil tempers of ungodly
men; that malignity which, as Bishop Home
says, is "the venom and poison of the intel
lectual world " (comp. Deut. xxxii. 33 ; Job xx.
14, 16).
It is not possible to say with any degree of
certainty what particular species of serpent is
intended by the Hebrew word ; the ancient

a Adder, in systematic zoology, is generally applied
to those genera which form the family Viperidae—Asp,
to the Vipera Aspis of the Alps.

48

ADDER

Versions do not help us at all, although nearly
all agree in some kind of serpent, with the
exception of the Chaldee paraphrase, which
understands a spider by 'acshub, interpreting
this Hebrew word by one of somewhat similar
form." The etymology of the term is not
ascertained with sufficient precision to enable
us to refer the animal to any determinate
species, and no Arabic equivalent of the word
has been found. Gesenius derives it from two
Hebrew roots," the combined meaning of which
is " rolled in a spire, and lying in ambush ; a
description which would apply to almost any
kind of serpent.

Vlpsra euphratioa. (British Museum.)
Thirty-three species of Ophidia, the Serpent
tribe, are known from Palestine, but only six
of these, belonging to five genera, are poisonous:
Naja liaje, two vipers, Daboia xanthina, Cerastes
Hasselquisti, and Echis arenicola. Seven Hebrew
words are employed to designate serpents, but
one of them, E>nj (nachash), is undoubtedly
generic. While it is unlikely that the two
vipers, which occur in different parts of the
countrv, were discriminated by the Jews, we
may reasonably presume that the Jews dis
tinguished five species, which are very different
in appearance and habits. The prejudice against
all the serpent tribe was probably as strong
.among the Jews as among the Arabs at the
present day, who kill all snakes when they have
the opportunity, and believe many of the harm
less species to be poisonous, especially if they
happen not to be brightly coloured. But for
none of the harmless snakes have the Arabs
any distinctive name, nor do we find any in
the Hebrew. As there seems to be some reason
for assigning pethen, shephiphon, and tsiphoni to
other species, we may fairly presume that the
common poisonous snake of the country, in the
plains Vipera euphratioa, in the higher grounds
Vipcra ammodytes, is intended by 'acshub. The
former species, a native of Mesopotamia, Persia,
Armenia, and the Caucasus, is very common
both in the Jordan valley and in the plains and
lower hills. The latter species is chiefly con-

ADDEK
fined to Lebanon. Both of them are plainly
coloured, very dark brown, with broad flat
heads and prominent jaws, and with suddenly
contracting tails.
2. Pethen QnB). [Asp.]
3 Tsepha' or Tsiph'Sni (1*S*-*. WSV ! ^Twa
bo-irlSw, Ktpdo-T-ns; regulus) occurs five times
in the Hebrew Bible. In Prov. xxiu. 32 it is
translated adder in A. V. and R. V. ; and in the
three passages of Isaiah quoted above, as^ well
as in Jer viii. 17, it is rendered cockatrice in
A. V and basilisk iu R. V. The derivation
ofthe word from a root which means " to luss"
does not help us at all to identify the animal.
From Jeremiah we learn that it was of a hostile
nature, and from the parallelism of Is. xi. 8 it
appears that the tsiph'oni was considered even
more dreadful than the pethen. Bochart, in his
Hierozoicon (iii. 182, ed. Rosenmuller), has
endeavoured to prove that the tsiph'oni is the
basilisk of the Greeks (whence Jerome in Vulg.
reads regulus), which was then supposed to
destroy life, burn up grass, and break stones by
the pernicious influence of its breath (comp.
Plin. H. N. viii. c. 33), but this is explaining an
" io-notum per ignotius."
The whole story of the basilisk is involved m
fable, and it is vain to attempt to discover the
animal to which the ancients attributed such
terrible power. It is curious to observe, how
ever, that Forskal (Descr. Animal, p. 15) speaks
of a kind of serpent (Coluber Hollei'i is the name
he gives it) which, he says, produces irritation
on the spot touched by its breath : he is quoting
no doubt the opinion of the Arabs. Is this a
relic of the basiliskan fable ? This creature was
so called from a mark on its head, supposed to
resemble a kingly crown. Several serpents,
however, have peculiar markings on the head—
the varieties of the Spectacle-Cobras of India,
for example — so that identification is impossible.
As the LXX. make use of the word basilisk
(Ps. xc. 13 = xci. 13, A. V.) it was thought
desirable to sav this much on the subject.4
The tsiph'oni may probably be the great yellow
viper, Daboia xanthina, a very beautifully marked
serpent, and the largest poisonous species found
in the Holy Land, as well as one of the most
dangerous, on account not only of its size, but
of its nocturnal habits, in which it differs from
the Cobra and the Cerastes. I once killed a
Daboia having in its stomach a leveret which
it had swallowed whole. On another occasion I
saw one spring on a quail which was feeding;
it missed its prey, the bird fluttered on a few
yards, and then fell in the agonies of death.
On taking it up, I found the viper had made
the slightest possible puncture in the tip of
one wing as it snapped at it. The Daboia is re
markable as belonging to an exclusively Indian
family of serpents, and which has no representa
tives in Africa, to which region or to Europe
all the other poisonous snakes of Palestine
belong. Dr, Harris, in his Natural History of
the Bible, erroneously supposes the tsiph'Uni to
be identical with the Rajah zephen of Forsk&l,

* K"331*> 'acedbish.
e Thes. sub voc. :— 1**3**, retrorsum se flexit, and
ripl*. insidiatus est; but in Lex. it is taken aB formed
apparently from an Arab, root, to bend backward, by
the addition of "}. Cp. Delitzsch on Ps. cxl. 4.

a The basilisk of naturalists is a most forbidding-
looking yet harmless lizard of the family Iguanidae,
order Sauria. In using the term, therefore, care must
bs taken not to confound the mythical serpent with the
veritable Saurian.

ADDEK

ADDEE

49

which, however, is a fish (Trigon zephcn, Cuv.),
and not a serpent.

£chia areuicola.
4. Shephiphon (jb'Bt**; iyKaB-qpitvos ; cerastes)
occurs only in Gen. xlix. 17, where it is used to
characterise the tribe of Dan: "Dan shall be a
serpent in the way, an adder (marg. or, horned
snake) in the path, that biteth the horse's heels,
so that his rider faileth backward " (R. V.).
Various are the readings of the old Versions in
the passage : the Samaritan interprets shephiphon
by " lying in wait ; " the Targums of Onkelos, of
Jerusalem, and of Ps.-Jonathan, with the Syriac,
"a basilisk."0 Saadias and the Arabic edited
by Erpenius have "the horned snake ;"f and so
the Vulg. Cerastes. The LXX., like the Sama
ritan, must have connected the Hebrew term
with a word which expresses the idea of " sit
ting in ambush." The original word, according
to Gesenius and Rodiger, comes from a root
preserved in Syriac, and signifying " to glide." g
The Hebrew word shephiphon is no doubt
identical with the Arabic siff-un. If the
translation of this Arabic word by Golius be
compared with the description of the Cerastes,
there will appear good reason for identifying
the shephiphon of Genesis with the Cerastes of
naturalists. " Siffun, serpentis genus leve,
punctis maculisque distinetum" — -"a small
kind of serpent marked with dots and spots"
(Golius, Arab. Lex. s. v.). The Cerastes (Cerastes
Hasselquisti), the well-known Horned Snake, is
a small serpent of a sandy colour, varying from
reddish to whitish buff, according to the character
of the soil where it is found, with pale brown or
sometimes blackish irregular spots, very roughly

8 JDTin (Surman), derived by the Rabbis from
D""in» "ban," metaph. "destruction." Rasbi on Gen.
xlix. 17 explains 'n as species serpentis, ad cujus
morsum nulla est mtdicina . . . Omnia quae morsu sua
laedit, prodat et excindat (Buxtorf. Lex. Chald. s. n.
Tl)* li^D Ijti "in this sense is common (see Payne
Smith, Thes. Syr. col. 1375).

sL3ji> i

SJk*>-.

g _cT\m The word is derived by Schultens from an
Arabic root to which he assigns the questionable mean
ing of "to prick " or " bite."
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

scaled, with broad flattened jaws and suddenly
tapering tail, seldom exceeding a foot, or at
most eighteen inches in length, well known in
the sandy and rocky deserts of Egypt, Abyssinia,
the Sahara, Arabia, and Syria. It extends
through Southern Judaea and Philistia. It can
be recognised at a glance by the peculiar horn
like appendages just above the eyes, covered
with small scales, which are always developed in
the male, and sometimes, though to a less extent,
in the female.h
Another peculiarity of the Cerastes assists us
in identifying it with the shephiphon, viz. its
lying in ambush in the path, and biting the
horses' heels. Its habit is usually to coil itself
on the sand, where it basks in the impress of a
camel's footprint, and thence suddenly to dart out
on any passing animal. So great is the terror
which its sight inspires in horses, that I have
known mine suddenly start and rear, trembling
and perspiring in every limb, and no persuasion
could induce him to proceed. I was quite
unable to account for his terror, till I noticed a
Cerastes coiled up in a depression two or three
paces in front of us, with its basilisk eyes
steadily fixed on us, and no doubt preparing for
a spring as the horse should pass. This species
is said to have been the Asp with which
Cleopatra killed herself. It is extremely venom
ous, causing the certain death of a man in
half an hour, and is considered more vicious
even than the Cobra, as it will attack when
unprovoked. Its ordinary food consists of
jerboas and desert marmots. By comparing the
tribe of Dan to this wily serpent, the Patriarch
intimated that by stratagem, more than by open
bravery, they should avenge themselves of their
enemies and extend their conquests. This was
illustrated by the wily manner in which Samson,
a Danite, destroyed his Philistian foes. Bruce,
in his Travels in Abyssinia, has given a very
accurate and detailed account of these animals.
He observes that he found them in greatest
numbers in those parts which were frequented
by the jerboa, and that in the stomach of a
Cerastes he discovered the remains of a jerboa.
He kept two of these snakes in a glass vessel
for two years without any food. Anothei
circumstance mentioned by Bruce throws some
light on the assertions of ancient authors as to
the movement of this snake. Aelian,1 Isidorus,
Aetius, have all recorded of the Cerastes that,
whereas other serpents creep along in a straight
direction, this one and the Haemorrhousk (no
h Hasselquist (Jtiner. pp. 241, 365) has thus described
them : — " Tentacula duo, utrinque unum ad latera
verticis, in margine superiori orbitae oculi, erecta, parte
aversa parum arcuata, eademque parte parum canali-
culata, sub-dura, membrana tenaci vestita, basi squamis
minimis, una serie erectis, cincta, brevia, orbitae ocu-
lorum dimidia longitudine."
"With this description that of Geoffroy St. Hilaire may
be compared : — " Au-dessus des yeux nait de chaque
cute une petite eminence, ou comme on a couturue de
la dire une petite come, longue de deux ou trois lignes,
presentant dans le sens de sa longueur des sillons et
dirigee en haut et un peu en arriere, d'ou le nom de
Ceraste. La nature des cornes du Cera6te est tres peu
connue, et leurs usages, si toutefois elles peuvent etre de
quelque utilite pour l'animal, sont entlerement ignores."
i Aoifrv fie oTjlloi/ wpoeio-iv (Aelian, de Anim. xv. 13).
k Aox/Ja 8' tTTurKatjav o\lyov Se'/xa;, ola K£pa<mjs
(Nicander, Theriac. 294). E

50

ADDI

doubt the same animal under another name)
move sideways, stumbling as it were on either
side (and comp. Bochart). Let this be compared
with what Bruce says: "The Cerastes moves
with great rapidity and in all directions, for-

The Homed Ceiastes. (British Museum.)
wards, backwards, sideways; when he inclines
to surprise any one who is too far from him, he
creeps with his side towards the person," &c. &c.
The words of Ibn Sina, or Avicenna, are to the
same effect. I have noticed it move, when not
alarmed, with a peculiar sidelong wriggle. So
soon as it perceived itself observed, it glided
along in a straight line. But this sidelong
movement is not peculiar to the Cerastes. It
belongs to the family Viperidae, order Opkidia.'
[Serpent.] From the root Sliaphaph are possibly derived
the proper names of Shupham, whence the
family of the Shuphamites, Shephuphan, and
Shuppim.™ [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
AD'DI CAbSt, 'ASSfl [Westcott and Hort],
Luke iii. 28), son of Cosam, and father of
Melchi, in our Lord's genealogy; the third
above Salathiel. The etymology and Hebrew
form of the name are doubtful, as it does not
occur in the LXX., but it probably represents
the Hebrew 'HI', an ornament, and is a short
form of Adiel, or Adaiah. The latter name in
1 Ch. vi. 41 (26 in Heb. Bib.) is rendered in the
LXX. A. 'ASaid [B. 'A^eict ; Adaia], which is
very close to Addi. [A. C. H.]
AD'DO (A. 'ASSii, B. 'ESSele ; Addiri), Iddo,
the grandfather of the prophet Zechariah (1 Esd.
vi. 1). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AD'DON (Neh. vii. 61; 'Hp&v; Addon), a
variation in the orthography of Addan ([HX
and JW or flN). [F.]~
AD'DTJS ('ASSous; Addus). 1. The sons of
Addus are enumerated among the children of
Solomon's servants who returned with Zorobabel
(1 Esd. v. 34) ; but the name does not occur in
the parallel lists of Ezra or Nehemiah.
2. A. 'IoBSoos, B. 'IaSSoos ; Addin. A priest,
whose- descendants were unable to establish their
genealogy in the time of Ezra, and were removed
from their priesthood (1 Esd. v. 38). He is said
to have married Augia, the daughter of Berzelus
1 The celebrated John Ellis seems to have been the
first Englishman who gave an accurate description of
the Cerastes (see Philosoph. Transact. 1760).
m Bochart (Hieroz. iii. 209, Rosenm.) says that the
Rabbins derive JB1BK' from P|BC*>, claudicare, wherefore
IIB**" is claudus. See, however, Levy, Chald. Wor-
terb. s. v.

ADINO
or Barzillai. In Ezra ii. 61 and Nehemiah vii. 63
he is called by his adopted name Barzillai : it is
not clear whether Addus represents his original
name or is a corruption. [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'DEE (flV ; in pause "Htt, a flock; B."n5ijS;
A. "aSep ; Heder ; R. V. Eder), a Benjamite, son
of Beriah, chief of the inhabitants of Aijalon
(lCh.viii.15). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AD'ID A ('Abih-d, X -ei- ; Joseph."ABSiSa; Ad
dus [1 Mace, xiii.], Adiada [1 Mace, xii.]), a town
on an eminence (Ant. xiii. 6, § 4) overlooking
the low country of Judah ('A. iv tjj 2e<f>^A.<f),
fortified by Simon Maccabaeus in his wars with
Tryphon (1 Mace. xii. 38, xiii. 13). Alexander
was here defeated by Aretas (Ant. xiii. 15, § 2);
and Vespasian used it as one of his outposts in
the siege of Jerusalem (B. J. iv. 9, § 1). In
the OS.2 (p. 128, 1) it is called Aditha, and
placed east of Diospolis (Lydda). Now Haditheh,
a village with the remains of a considerable
town near the foot of the hills eastward of
Lydda (P. F. Mem. ii. 297, 322). Probably
identical with Hadid. [G.] [W.]
ADI'EL (ta'Hl', Fiirst = El is ornament,
MV.10 = ornament of God: A. 'ESi^A; B. has
a different reading : Adiel). 1. A prince of the
tribe of Simeon, descended from the prosperous
family of Shimei (1 Ch. iv. 36). He took part
in the murderous raid made by his tribe upon
the peaceable Hamite shepherds in the valley of
Gedor, in the reign of Hezekiah. 2. 'ASi^a;
Adiel. A priest, ancestor of Maasai (1 Ch. ix.
12, R. V.). 3. BA. 'nSrijA ; Adiel. Ancestor
of Azmaveth, David's treasurer (L Ch. xxvii.
25). [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'DIN (JH1*, luxurious or delicate ; B. 'A5-
dv, A. -Iv [in 'Ezra viii. 6 (LXX. v. 32), B.
'ASlv, A. 'ASSiv in Ezra ii. 15] ; 'HSiv [in Neh.] j
Adin in Ezra ii. 15, Adan in Ezra viii. 6).
Ancestor of a family who returned with Zerub-
babel to the number of 454 (Ezra ii. 15, 1 Esd.
v. 14 [B. 'ASeiAfos, A. 'ASiv6s])t or 655, accord
ing to the parallel list in Neh. vii. 20. Fifty-
one more (or 251, according to A. V. of 1 Esd.
viii. 32) accompanied Ezra in the second caravan
from Babylon (Ezra viii. 6). They joined with
Nehemiah in a covenant to separate themselves
from the heathen (Neh. x. 16). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADI'NA (W»*ll*, luxurious, soft; 'ASivi,
B. -ei- ; Adina). The son of Shiza, one of
David's captains beyond the Jordan, and chief
of the Reubenites (1 Ch. xi. 42). The A. V.,
R. V., and the Syriac read respecting him, " and
thirty with him." The expression is obscure
(Keil)." [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADI'NO (iJHl*; B. 'Ateiv&v, A.'ASelx; Vulg.
paraphrases), the Eznite (2 Sam. xxiii. 8). See
Jashobeam. The clause in Samuel (I. c.) is
corrupt (see R. V. marg.). The true reading is
preserved in the parallel passage (1 Ch. xi. 11),
from which it is apparent that 13HU is a cor
ruption of -nil*. [W. A. W.] [S. R. D.]

" It does not necessarily mean that he was in com
mand of these thirty, Reubenite chiefs or not; nor does
the interpretation given to the LXX. (ed. Swete), n!
en-' avTtS rpiaKovra, " and over him were thirty," i.s.
superiors (those enumerated in vv. 26-41), appear jus
tified. Cp. the LXX-tal usage in xii. 4, xxvii. 6.

ADINUS
AD'INTJS (A. 'Ia$iv6s, B. -ei-; Jaddimus).
Jamin the Levite (1 Esd. ix. 48 ; cp. Neh. viii. 7 ;
Jamin). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADITHA'IM (D^n**!**, Ges. = double booty ;
A. 'AStaBaelp. ; Adithaim), a town belonging to
Judah, lying in the low country (Shefelah), and
named, between Sharaim and hag-Gederah, in
Josh. xv. 36 only. It is entirely omitted by the
Vat. MS. of the LXX., and the site has not yet
been identified (see Dillmann, I. c.\ For the dual
termination, comp. the two names occurring in
the same verse; also Eglaim, Horonaim, &c.
[Adida.] [G.] [W.]
ADJTJEATION. [Exorcist.]
AD'LAI ob****=n'S*l**, Ges. = the right
eousness of Jehovah ; BA. 'A5o( ; Adli). An
cestor of Shaphat, the overseer of David's herds
which fed in the broad valleys (1 Ch. xxvii.
29). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AD'MAH (HDTX ; 'ASaud ; Adama), one of
" the cities of the plain," always coupled with
Zeboiim (R. V.), and destroyed with Sodom and
Gomorrah (Gen. x. 19, xiv. 2, 8 ; Deut. xxix.
23 ; Hos. xi. 8). It had a king of its own. [G.]
ADMA'THA (KITO"***, MV.10 = untamed;
LXX. omits ; Admatha), one of the seven princes
of Persia (Esth. i. 14). Rawlinson (Speaker's
Comm., add. u. in loco), by manipulation of the
letters, makes the name=Artabanus, the uncle
of Xerxes; and Cassel (Das Buck Esther, p. 33)
identifies him with Aspathines. The etymology is
quite uncertain (see Bertheau-Ryssel, /. c). [F.]
AD'NA (Mil}, pleasure or softness; B. AlSaive
P$"> EJ8-], ti.T'ESev4x ; Edna). 1. One of the
family of Pahath-Moab who returned with Ezra,
and married a foreign wife (Ezra x. 30).
2. T.' Maw, gcamginf "ASovdx ; B8*A.
omit. A priest, descendant of Harim, in the
days of Joiakim, son of Jeshna (Neh. xii. 15).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AD'NAH (rU-li* ; 'ESvd ; Ednas). 1 . A Manas-
site, who deserted from Saul and joined the for
tunes of David on his road to Ziklag from the camp
of the Philistines (1 Ch. xii. 20 [Heb. 21]).
2. 1*13*1**, pleasure or softness; BA. 'ESvdas;
Ednas. The commander-in-chief of 300,000
men of Judah, who were in Jehoshaphat's army
<2 Ch. xvii. 14). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADONI-BE'ZEK (pt|-'5'lK, lord of Bezek ;
''ASaviBe(4K ; Adonibezec), king of Bezek, a city
of the Canaanites. [Bezek.] This chieftain
was vanquished by the tribe of Judah (Judg. i.
3-7), who cut off his thumbs and great toes, and
brought him prisoner to Jerusalem, where he
died. He confessed that he had inflicted the
same cruelty upon 70 petty kings whom he had
oonquered. Dr. Hackett (D. B., Amer. ed.),
quoting Cassel in his note on Judg. (I. c),
remarks that this form of mutilation was not
uncommon in ancient times, and was chosen in
order to unfit men for warlike service (such as
the use of the bow) and for active and rapid
movements. It is told of the Athenians that
they cut off the thumbs of the Aeginetans whom
they conquered (B.C. 456), in order to pre-

ADONIJAH

51

vent their handling the spear. Adoni-bezek not
only mutilated but humbled his captives ; they
" gathered their meat under his table." A
somewhat similar treatment of prisoners is re
corded of the Parthian kings (Athen. Dcipn. iv.
p.l52d). ,[R. W. B.] [F.]
ADONI'CAM, ADONI'OAN. [Adonikam.]
ADONI'JAH (rVJHN. -liTrtN, my Lord is
Jehovah; 'AStovias, B. -ei- ; Adonias). 1. The
fourth son of David by Haggith, born at Hebron,
while his father was king of Judah (2 Sam.
iii. i. The Greek text here, and the Lucianic Re
cension in 1 K. i. ii., reading "*| as 1, have B.
'Opvelh, A. 'Opvtas, Luc. -ia). After the death
of his three brothers, — Amnon, Chileab, and
Absalom, — he became eldest son ; and when his
father's strength was visibly declining, put
forward his pretensions to the crown, by
equipping himself in royal state, with chariots
and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him,
in imitation of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 1), whom
he also resembled in personal beauty, and ap
parently also in character, as indeed Josephus
says (Ant. vii. 14, § 4). For this reason he was
plainly unfit to be king, and David promised
Bathsheba that her son Solomon should inherit
the crown (1 K. i. 30), for there was no absolute
claim of primogeniture in these Eastern mon
archies. Solomon's cause was espoused by the
best of David's counsellors : the illustrious
prophet Nathan ; Zadok, the descendant of
Eleazar, and representative of the elder line of
the priesthood ; Benaiah, the captain of the king's
body-guard ; together with Shimei and Rei,
whom Ewald (Geschichte, iii. 266) conjectures
to be David's two surviving brothers, comparing
1 Ch. ii. 13, and identifying i]'DB> with nUDE*
(Shimma in A. V., Shimea in R. V.), and 'l?*! with
H*1 (A. V. Raddai)." From 1 K. ii. 8, it is unlikely
that the Shimei of 2 Sam. xvi. 5 could have
actively espoused Solomon's cause. On the side
of Adonijah, who — when he made his attempt
on the kingdom — was about 35 years old (2 Sam.
v. 5), were Abiathar, the representative of Eli's
(i.e. the junior) line of the priesthood (descended
from Ithamar, Aaron's fourth son), and Joab, the
famous commander of David's army ; the latter
of whom, always audacious and self-willed, pro
bably expected to find more congenial elements
in Adonijah's court than in Solomon's. Adonijah's
name and influence secured a large number of
followers among the captains of the royal army
belonging to the tribe of Judah (cp. 1 K. i. 9,
25); and these, together with all the princes
except Solomon, were entertained by Adonijah
at a great sacrificial feast held " by the stone
Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel." The meaning
of the stone Zoheleth is very doubtful, being
translated rock of the watch tower in the Chaldee ;
great rock, Syr. and Arab. ; and explained (but
improbably) rock of tlie stream of water by
R..Kimchi, and by Ges. = the stone of the serpent
[cp. Deut. xxxii. 24 Heb.], Le. the rock with its
image of the serpent. The rock upon which the
village of Silwdn [Siloam] is built bears the name
Zahweile (see Ganneau in MV.10 s. n. JlbriT). En-
a This seems preferable to the unsupported con
jectures that the reading of 1 K. i. 8 was 1J03i*I 'UDE'
or i*mi ribfe*-
E 2

52

ADONIJAH

rogel is mentioned in Josh. xv. 7, as a spring on
the border of Judah and Benjamin, S. of Jerusalem,
and may be the same as that afterwards called the
Well of Job or Joab ('Ain Ayub. Conder identi
fies it with the spring now called 'Ain Umm ed-
Deraj, and known to Christians as the Virgin's
Well). It is explained spring of the fuller by
the Chaldee Paraphrast, perhaps because he
trod the clothes with his feet (?3*1, see Gesen.
s. v.) ; but cp. Deut. xi. 10, where " watering
with the feet " refers to machines trodden with
the foot, and such as were possibly fed by the
spring of Rogel. [En-ro&el.] A meeting for a
religious purpose would be held near a spring,
just as in later times sites for irpoaeuxal were
chosen by the waterside (Acts xvi. 13).
Nathan and Bathsheba, now thoroughly
alarmed, apprised David of these proceedings,
who immediately gave orders that Solomon
should be conducted on the royal mule in solemn
procession to Gihon, a spring on the W. of
Jerusalem (2 Ch. xxxii. 30). [Gihon.] Here
he was anointed and proclaimed king by Zadok,
and joyfully recognised by the people. This
decisive measure struck terror into the opposite
party, and Adonijah fled to the sanctuary. He
was pardoned by Solomon on condition that he
should " shew himself a worthy man," and with
the threat that " if wickedness were found in
him he should die " (1 Kings i. 52).
The death of David quickly followed these
events ; and Adonijah begged Bathsheba, who as
"king's mother" would now have special dignity
and influence [Asa], to procure Solomon's con
sent to his marriage with Abishag, who had
been the wife of David in his old age (1 K. i. 3).
This was regarded as equivalent to a fresh at
tempt on the throne [Absalom ; Abner] ; and
therefore Solomon ordered him to be put to
death by Benaiah, in accordance with the terms
of his previous pardon. Far from looking upon
this as " the most flagrant act of despotism since
Doeg massacred the priests at Saul's command "
(Newman, Hebrew Monarchy, ch. iv.), we must
consider that the clemency of Solomon in
sparing Adonijah, till he thus again revealed a
treasonable purpose, stands in remarkable con
trast with the almost universal practice of
Eastern sovereigns. Any one of these, situated
like Solomon, would probably have secured his
throne by putting all his brothers to death,
whereas we have no reason to think that any of
David's sons suffered except the open pretender
Adonijah, though all seem to have opposed
Solomon's claims ; and if his execution be
thought an act of severity, we must remember
that we cannot expect to find the principles of
the Gospel acted upon a thousand years before
Christ came, and that it is hard for us, in this
nineteenth century, altogether to realize the
position of an Oriental king in that remote age.
The Midrash Rabba (§ 20 on Gen. iii. 15) applied
to Adonijah (and to others, e.g. Cain, Korah,
Balaam, Absalom, and Haman) the proverb,
" He that seeks what is not his, loses that which
is " (cp. Hamburger, RE.2 s. n.).
2. B. 'ASavias. A Levite in the reign of
Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xvii. 8).
3. 'Abavia, A. 'Aavda, i*. 'ESavta; Adonia.
One of the Jewish chiefs in the time of Nehemiah
(x. 16). He is called Adonikam (Dp^i'lN.

ADOPTION
'ASavmdp, B. -Kav; Adonicam) -in Ezra ii. 13.
Cp. Ezra viii. 13 ; Neh. vii. 18. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
ADONI'KAM (DiTOnK, MV.10 = my Lord
uplifts himself [cp. Olshausen, Lehrb. p. 620];
BA. 'ASaviKdp. [in 1 Esd. v, 14], B. -Kav [m
Ezra ii. 13] ; Adonicam). The sons of Adonikam,
666 in number, were among those who re
turned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii.
13; Neh. vii. 18 [B. 'AbetKau, ti. 'AStviKa/i];
1 Esd. v. 14, Cham). In the last two passages
the number is 667. The remainder of the family
returned with Ezra (Ezra viii. 13 [B. 'ABapsi-
Kdu]; 1 Esd. viii. 39 [B. 'AouviaKap.]). The
name is given as Adonijah in Neh. x. 16.
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ADONTBAM (DTriK, MV." = my Lord
is exalted, 1 K. iv. 6, v. 14; by an unusual con
traction, Adoram, DTfK, 2 Sam. xx. 24 [Adu-
ram], and 1 IC. xii. 18 [B. 'Apdpi; Aduram];
also Hadoram, ?*nn, 2 Ch. x. 18, A. 'ASupau,
Aduram ; usually 'ASoivipd/x, B. -vei- ; Adoni-
ram). Chief receiver of the tribute during the
reigns of David (2 Sam. xx. 24), Solomon (1 K.
iv. 6), and Rehoboam (1 K. xii. 18). This last
monarch sent him to collect the tribute from
the rebellious Israelites, by whom he was stoned
to death. [R. W. B.] [F.]
ADONI-ZE'DEO < pn>*-»nK, Ges. and
MV.10 = lord of righteousness; 'ASaviBifex;
Adonisedec), by some thought to be the official
title of the Jebusite king of Jerusalem who
organized a league with four other Amorite
princes against Joshua. The confederate kings
having laid siege to Gibeon, Joshua marched to
the relief of his new allies and put the besiegers
to flight. The five kings took refuge in a cave
at Makkedah, whence they were taken and slain,
their bodies hung on trees, and then buried in
the place of their concealment (Josh. x. 1-27).
[Joshua.] [r. w. B.] [F.]
ADOPTION (uio9e<rfa), an expression meta
phorically used by St. Paul in reference to the
present and prospective privileges of Christians
(Rom. viii. 15, 23 ; Gal. iv, 5 ; Eph. i. 5). He
probably alludes to the Roman custom of adop
tion, by which a person, not having children of
his own, might adopt as his son one born of other
parents. It was a formal act, effected either by
the process named adrogatio, when the person.
to be adopted was independent of his parent, or
by adoptio, specifically so called, when in the
power of his parent. (See Diet of Gr. and
Rom. Ant, art. Adoptio.) The effect of it was
that the adopted child was entitled to the name
and sacra privata of his new father, and ranked
as his heir-at-law : while the father on his part
was entitled to the property of the son, and ex
ercised towards him all the rights and privileges
of a father. In short the relationship was to
all intents and purposes the same as existed
between a natural father and son. The selection
of a person to be adopted implied a decided pre
ference and love on the part ofthe adopter: and
bt. laul aptly transfers the well-known feelings
and customs connected with the act to illustrate
the position of the Christianized Jew or Gentile.
Ihe Jews themselves were unacquainted with
the process of adoption : indeed it would have

ADOEA
been inconsistent with the regulations of the
Mosaic law affecting the inheritance of property :
the instances occasionally adduced as referring
to the custom (Gen. xv. 3, xvi. 2, xxx. 5-9) are
evideatly not cases of adoption proper. Our
u adoption as sons through Jesus Christ " is the
key-note of St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians (see
Speaker's Comm., Introd. to the Ep. to the Ephes.
§ 5 ; and on the whole subject Giffard's note on
Rom. viii. 15 in the same work). [W. L. B.] [F.]
ADO'EA or ADOE. [Adoraisl]
ADOEA'IM (DnilN; B. 'ASupat; A.
'ASaipalp. ; Aduram), a fortified city built by
Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 9), in Judah (Jos." Ant.
viii. 10, § l), apparently in or near the Shefelah,
since, although omitted from the lists in Josh.
xv., it is by Josephus (Ant. xiii. 9, § 1, 15, § 4 ;
B. J. i. 2, § 6, i. 8, § 4) almost uniformly
coupled with Mareshah, which was certainly
situated there. For the dual termination com
pare Adithaim, Gederothaim, &c. By Josephus
it is given as "ASapa, 'ASi&pcos ; and in Ant. xiii.
6, § 5, he calls it a " city of Idumaea," under
which name was included, in the later times of
Jewish history, the southern part of Judaea
itself (Reland, 48 ; Robinson, ii. 69). Adoraim
is probably the same place as ABotpa (1 Mace.
xiii. 20, Ador), unless that be Dor, on the sea-
coast below Carmel. It is generally identified
with Dura, a large village on the flat slope of a
hill, west of Hebron. Near it is the celebrated
tomb of Neby Nuh (Noah). The village occu
pies an important position guarding an ancient
main line of communication with Philistia,
which runs through it (P. F. Mem. iii. 304,
328 ; see Robinson, ii. 215). [G.] [W.]
ADO'EAJI. [Adoniba3i.]
ADOEATION. The acts and postures by
which the Hebrews expressed adoration, bear a

ADEAMMELECH

53

Adoration. Ancient Egyptian. (Wilkinson.)
great similarity to those still in use among
Oriental nations. To rise up and suddenly
prostrate the body, was the most simple method ;
but, generally speaking, the prostration was
conducted in a more formal manner, the person
* Even without this statement of Josephus, it is plain
tbat " Judah and Benjamin," in 2 Ch. xi. 10, is a form
of expression for the new kingdom, and that none ofthe
towns named are necessarily in the limits of Benjamin
proper.

falling upon the knee and then gradually
inclining the body, until the forehead touched
the ground. The various expressions in Hebrew-
referring to this custom appear to have their
specific meaning: thus 723 (irt-n-Ta, LXX.)
describes the sudden fall ; 1**13 (KapitTca, LXX.)
bending the kuee ; Tip (kvittu, LXX.) the
inclination of the head and body ; and lastly
nnc (lrpoo-KWiiv, LXX.) complete prostration.
ThVterm *1_JD (Is. xliv. 15,17, 19; xlvi. 6) was
introduced at a late period as appropriate to the
worship paid to idols by the Babylonians and
other Eastern nations (Dan. iii. 5, 6). Such

Adoration. Modern Egyptian. (Lane.)
prostration was usual in the worship of Jehovah
(Gen. xvii. 3 ; Ps. xcv. 6) ; but it was by no
means exclusively used for that purpose ; it was
the formal mode of receiving visitors (Gen.
xviii. 2), of doing obeisance to one of superior
station (2 Sam. xiv. 4), and of showing respect
to equals (1 K. ii. 19). Occasionally it was
repeated three times (1 Sam. xx. 41), and even
seven times (Gen. xxxiii. 3). It was accom
panied by such acts as a kiss (Ex. xviii. 7),
laying hold of the knees or feet of the person to
whom the adoration was paid (Matt, xxviii. 9),
and kissing the ground on which he stood
(Ps. Ixxii. 9 ; Mic. vii. 17). Similar adoration
was paid to idols (1 K.' xix. 18) ; sometimes
however prostration was omitted, and the act
consisted simply in kissing the hand to the
object of reverence (Job xxxi. 27) in the manner
practised by the Romans (Plin. xxviii. 5 : see Diet.
of Gr. and Bom. Ant., art. Adoratio), in kissing
the statue itself (Hos. xiii. 2). The same customs
prevailed at the time of our Saviour's ministry,
as appears not only from the numerous occa
sions on which they were put in practice
towards Himself, but also from the parable of
the unmerciful servant (Matt, xviii. 26), and
from the reverence of Cornelius to St. Peter
(Acts x. 25), in which case the Apostle objected
to it, as implying a higher degree of superiority
than he was entitled to, especially as coming
from a Roman, to whom prostration was not
usual. [W. L. B.]
ADEAMME'LECH C*£g>*nN; B. •ABpo^e'-
AeX> A. "CKi Adramelech). 1. A deity (2 K.
xvii. 31) worshipped by the colonists brought
into Samaria by Shalmaneser II., king of Assyria,
from Sepharvaim (Sipar or Sippara, now Abu-
habbah). Both Adrammelech and Anammelech
were worshipped with rites similar to those of
Moloch, children being sacrificed to them. This

54

ADBAMYTTIUM

name, according to Schrader, is equivalent to the
Assyrian Adarmalik, " Adar (or Ninip) is prince."
The reading of " Adar " for " Ninip " is, how
ever, very doubtful ; and as the word Adara is
found as a by-name of Hea, god of the sea and
of wisdom, it is very likely that the Assyrian
form of the name is Adaramilk, " Adar (lord
of) counsel." [Anammelech.]
2. One of the sons of Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, who, with his brother Shareser, killed
their father whilst he was worshipping in the
temple of Nisroch (2 K. xix. 37, B. -ck, A. -ex ;
Is. xxxvii. 38, K. ' AvSpap.e\4x). According to
the Babylonian chronicle, this happened in
the eighth year of the reign of Sennacherib
in Babylon (B.C. 688). This text differs from
the account in the Bible, in that it states that
Sennacherib was killed by only one son, and
that it happened in a revolt. This is probably
to be understood in this way : that both sons
took part in the revolt, but that only one
actually committed the crime, entering the
temple where the king his father was wor
shipping, whilst his brother, in command of the
rebel troops, surrounded the building to pre
vent the escape of the king. Adrammelech may
probably be identified with the Assur-munik of
the Assyrians. He seems to have been the eldest
son of Sennacherib, who built a small palace
for him at Nineveh. [T. G. P.]
ADEAMYTTIUM (occasionally Atramyt-
TIUM. Some cursive MSS. have ATpa/iVTTivip,
instead of ' Abpap.vT^ivtp in Acts xxvii. 2), a
seaport in the province of Asia [Asia], situated
in the district anciently called Aeolis, and also
Mysia (see Acts xvi. 7). Adramyttium gave
and still gives its name to a deep gulf on this
coast, opposite to the opening of which is the
island of Lesbos [Mitylene]. St. Paul was
never at Adramyttium, except perhaps during
his second missionary journey, on his way from
Galatia to Troas (Acts xvi.), and it has no bibli
cal interest, except as illustrating his voyage
from Caesarea in a ship belonging to this place
(Acts xxvii. 2). The reason is given in what
follows, viz. that the centurion and his prisoners
would thus be brought to the coasts of Asia,
and therefore some distance on their way to
wards Rome, to places where some other ship
bound for the west would probably be found.
Ships of Adramyttium must have been frequent
on this coast, for it was a place of considerable
traffic. It lay on the great Roman road between
Assos, Troas, and the Hellespont on one side,
and Pergamus, Ephesus, and Miletus on the
other, and was connected by similar roads with
the interior of the country. According to
tradition, Adramyttium was a settlement of the
Lydians in the time of Croesus ; it was after
wards an Athenian colony : under the kingdom
of Pergamus it became a seaport of some con
sequence; and in the time of St. Paul Pliny
mentions it as a Roman assize-town. The
modern Edremid or Adramyti is a poor village,
but there is still some trade, more especially in
timber. It is described in the travels of Pococke,
Turner, and Fellows. See Diet. Gr. and Rom.
Geog., art. "Adramyttium." [J. S. H.] [W.]
A'DEIA, more properlyA'DEIAS (6 'ASptas ;
Adria). It is important to fix the meaning of
this word as used in Acts xxvii. 27. The word

ADULLAM
seems to have been derived from tire town ol
Adria, near the Po ; and at first it denoted that
part of the Gulf of Venice which is in that
neighbourhood. Afterwards the signification of
the name was extended, so as to embrace the
whole of that gulf. Subsequently it obtained
a much wider extension, and in the apostolic
age denoted that natural division of the Medi
terranean which Humboldt names the Syrtic
basin (see Acts xxvii. 17), and which had the
coasts of Sicily, Italy, Greece, and Africa for its
boundaries. This definition is explicitly given
by almost a contemporary of St. Paul, the geo
grapher Ptolemy, who also says that Crete is
bounded on the west by Adrias. Later writers
state that Malta divides the Adriatic sea from
the Tyrrhenian sea ; and the isthmus of Corinth,
the Aegean from the Adriatic. Thus the ship
in which Josephus started for Italy about the
time of St. Paul's voyage foundered in Adrias
(Life, 3), and there he was picked up by a ship
from Cyrene and taken to Puteoli (see Acts
xxviii. 13). It is through ignorance of these
facts, or through the want of attending to them,
that writers have drawn an argument from this
geographical term in favour of the false view
which places the Apostle's shipwreck in the
Gulf of Venice. [Melita.] Cp. Smith's Voy.
and Shipwreck of St Paul : Diss, on the Island
Melita. See Diet. Gr. and Rom. Geog., art.
" Adriaticum Mare." [J. S. H.] [W.]
ADEI'EL (tani!*, Ges. = flock of God;
'ASpi^A ; Hadriel), a son of Barzillai the Meho-
lathite, to whom Saul gave his daughter Mcrab,
although he had previously promised her to
David (1 Sam. xviii. 19 ; vv. 17-19 are wanting
in B, and the name in A. is Ii)\, the usual
abbreviation for 'la-pafa). His five sons were
amongst the seven descendants of Saul whom
David surrendered to the Gibeonites (2 Sam.
xxi. 8 ; where in B. the name appears as 2epfi,
in A. as 'EoSpl) in satisfaction for the en
deavours of Saul to extirpate them, although
the Israelites had originally made a league with
them (Josh. ix. 15). In 2 Sam. xxi. 8 they are
called the sons of Michal ; but as Michal had no
children (2 Sam. vi. 23), the A. V., in order
to surmount the difficulty, translates flT"*
" brought up " instead of " bare," in accordance
with the opinion of the Targum and Jewish
authorities. The margin also gives " the sister
of Michal " for " Michal." The R. V. trans
lates "i "bare," and against the name Michal
attaches a marginal note : " In 1 Sam. xviii. 19
Merab," the reading here of LXX.-Luc, the
Peshito, and certain codd. of Vulg. ; and a read
ing also adopted by most modern scholars.
[R.W.B.] [F.]
ADU'EL CASou^A, i.e. PN^l*, MV.10 = tlie
ornament of God, Fiirst = El is ornament, 1 Ch.
iv. 36 ; 'USiii\ (abs. from B., A. 'ESi-ijA) ; ix. 12
('ASiijA). A Naphtalite, ancestor of Tobit
(Tob. i. 1 ; N. reads NoDrj). [B. F. W.] [F.]
ADUL'LAM (chlV. The meaning is un
certain. Lagarde [Ueb'ersicht iib. die im Aram.,
Arab., u. Hebr. ubliche Bildung der Nomina, p. 54,
1889] explains it plausibly as a retreat, from
the Arab. J^ [>dula], "to turn aside;"
'OSoWd/j. ; Odollam, Odullam, Adullam), a city of.

AD DLL AMITE
Judah in the lowland of the Shefelah, Josh. xv.
35 (cp. Gen. xxxviii. 1, "Judah u-ent down,"
and Micah i. 15, where it is named with Mare-
shah and Achzib) ; the seat of a Canaanite king
(Josh. xii. 15), and evidently a place of great
antiquity (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12, 20). It was
fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 7), was one
of the towns re-occupied by the Jews after
their return from Babylon (Neh. xi. 30), and
was still a city CO. -rrdAts) in the times of
the Maccabees (2 Mace. xii. 38). Josephus (Ant.
vi. 12, § 3) gives the forms irdAis 'AbouWdpn
and 'OSoWdp. (Ant. viii. 10, § 1 ), where it is
named between Socho and Ipan. In Josh. xv.
35 it forms with Jarmuth, Socoh, aud Azekah
a group apart amongst the fourteen cities
placed in the Shefelah, and the narratives
of Samuel and Chronicles imply that it was a
place of strategic importance. David took
refuge in the cave of Adullam when no longer
able to rest at Gath, and his father and brethren
went down to him there from Bethlehem (1 Sam.
xxii. 1) ; thence too three of the bravest of the
Gibborim passed through the lines of the Philis
tines and brought to David from Bethlehem the
water for which he longed (2 Sam. xxiii. 13 ;
1 Ch. xi. 15). Judas Maccabaeus and his army
kept the Sabbath at Adullam after the defeat of
Gorgias (2 Mace. xii. 38). In the OS." (p. 128,
29) Jerome describes it as a vicus non pai-vus ten
miles E. of Eleutheropolis ; in another passage
Eusebius and Jerome, following apparently the
reading of the LXX. in Josh, x., confound
Adullam with Eglon : see that name. It has
been identified by M. Clermont-Ganneau with
the ruins of 'Aid el-Miyeh, " feast of one hun
dred," or 'Aid el-Ma, "feast of water." This
place, where there are two ancient wells and
several caves, is seven miles north-east of Beit
Jibrin, and not far from Shuweikeh (Socoh) and
Kh. el-Yarmuk (Jarmuth). . A very clear state
ment of the arguments in favour of the above
site is given in PFQy. Stat 1875, pp. 160-177 ;
see also P. F. Mem. iii. pp. 311, 347, 361-7 ;
Geikie, The Land and the Bible, p. 108. Van
de Velde and Stanley place it, doubtfully, at
Deir Dubban, 5 or 6 miles from Eleutheropolis.
Monastic tradition places the cave at Khureitun,
at the south end of the Wddy Urtds, between
Bethlehem and the Dead Sea (Robinson, i. 481).
William of Tyre speaks of the inhabitants of
Tekua flying for refuge to the cave of Odolla in
A.D. 1138. [G.] [W.] ,
ADUL'LAMITE CP^l? : A. [usually]
'OBoAAaiuet-njs, E. [in v. 12] 'OBoWaiilr-ns, [in
v. 20] 'OooKKau-tirns ; Odollamites). A native
of Adullam : applied to Hirah, the friend (or
"shepherd" as the Vulgate has it, reading
•inin for *ni**l) of Judah (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12,
20). See Adullam. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ADULTEEY (D^-lSKJ. D'DXJ, LXX.
pioiXeta). The parties to this crime were a
married woman and a man who was not her
husband ; the toleration of polygamy render
ing it nearly impossible to make criminal a
similar offence committed by a married man
with a woman not his wife. In the patriarchal
period the sanctity of marriage is noticeable
from the history of Abraham, who fears, not
that his wife will be seduced from him, but that

ADULTEEY

55

he may be killed for her sake, and especially
from the scruples ascribed to Pharaoh and
Abirnelech (Gen. xii. xx.). The woman's pun
ishment was, as commonly amongst Eastern
nations, no doubt capital, and probably, as in
the case of Tamar's unchastity, death by fire
(xxxviii. 24). The Mosaic penalty was that
both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it
applied as well to the betrothed as to the married
woman, provided she were free (Deut. xxii.
22-24). A bondwoman so offending was to be
scourged, and the man was to make a trespass
offering (Lev. xix. 20-22).
The system of inheritances, on which the
polity of Moses was based, was threatened with
confusion by the doubtful offspring caused by
this crime, and this secured popular sympathy
on the side of morality until a far advanced
stage of corruption was reached. Yet from
stoning being made the penalty we may suppose
that the exclusion of private revenge was in
tended. It is probable that, when that terri
torial basis of polity passed away — as it did
after the Captivity — and when, owing to Gentile
example, the marriage tie became a looser bond
of union, public feeling in regard to adultery
changed, and the penalty of death was seldom
or never inflicted. Thus in the case of the
woman brought under our Lord's notice (John
viii.), it is likely that no one then thought of
stoning her in fact, but there remained the
written law ready for the purpose of the caviller.
It is likely also that a divorce in which the
adulteress lost her dower and rights of main
tenance, &c. (Gemara Cliethuboth, cap. vii. 6),
was the usual remedy suggested by a wish to
avoid scandal and the excitement of commisera
tion for crime. The word -jrapabetyfjiaTio-ai
(Matt. i. 19) probably means to bring the case
before the local Sanhedrin, which was the usual
course, but which Joseph did not propose to
take, preferring repudiation (Buxtorf, de Spons.
et Divort. iii. 1—4), because that could be man
aged privately (\dBpa).
Concerning the famous trial by the water
of jealousy (Num. v. 11-29), it has been ques
tioned whether a husband was in certain cases
bound to adopt it. The more likely view is,
that it was meant as a relief to the vehemence
of implacable jealousy to which Orientals appear
prone. The ancient strictness of that tie gave
room for a more intense feeling than was consis
tent with the laxity which had set in, to a great
extent under Gentile influences, in the period of
the N. T. In that intensity probably arose this
strange custom, which no doubt Moses found
prevailing and deeply seated ; and which is said
to be paralleled by a form of ordeal called the
" red water " in Western Africa (Kitto, Cyclop.
s. v.). The forms of Hebrew justice all tended
to limit the application of this test. 1. By
prescribing certain facts presumptive of guilt,
to be established on oath by two witnesses, or a
preponderating but not conclusive testimony to
the fact of the woman's adultery. 2. By tech
nical rules of evidence which made proof of
those presumptive facts difficult (Sotah, vi. 2-5).
3. By exempting certain large classes of women
(all indeed except a pure Israelitess married to
a pure Israelite, and some even of them) from
the liability. 4. By providing that the trial
could only be before the great Sanhedrin (Sotah,

56

ADULTERY

i. 4). 5. By investing it with a ceremonial at
once humiliating and intimidating, yet which
still harmonised with the spirit of the whole
ordeal as recorded in Num. v. But it was
above all discouraged by the conventional and
even mercenary light in which the nuptial con
tract was latterly regarded.
When adultery ceased to be capital, as no
doubt it did, and divorce became a matter of
mere convenience, it would be absurd to suppose
that this trial was continued. And when adul
tery became common, as the Jews themselves
confess, it would have been impious to expect
the miracle which the trial implied. If ever
the Sanhedrin were driven by force of circum
stances to adopt this trial, no doubt every effort
was used, nay was prescribed (Sotah, i. 5, 6), to
overawe the culprit and induce confession. Even
if she submitted to the trial and was really
guilty, some Rabbis held that the effect on her
might be suspended for years through the merit
of some good deed (Sotah, iii. 4-6). Besides,
however, the intimidation of the woman, the
husband was likely to feel the public exposure
of his suspicions odious and repulsive. Divorce
was a ready and quiet remedy ; and the only
question was, whether the divorce should carry
the dowry, and the property which she had
brought ; which was decided by the slight or
grave character of the suspicions against her
(Sotah, vi. 1 ; Gemara Chethuboth, vii. 6 ; Ugol.
Uxor Heb. c. vii.). If the husband were inca
pable through derangement, imprisonment, &c,
of acting on his own behalf in the matter, the
Sanhedrin proceeded in his name as concerned
the dowry, but not as concerned the trial by the
water of jealousy (Sotah, iv. 6).
As regards the N. T. teaching on the subject
of adultery, the chief passages are those which
contemplate it in reference to divorce or separa
tion, viz. Matt. v. 31, 32 ; xix. 6 foil. ; Mark x.
11, 12 ; Luke xvi. 18 ; Rom. vii. 2, 3 ; 1 Cor.
vii. 10, 11, 39, 40. These open some grave
questions, on which great divines have differed
(see Dean Alford's note and Speaker's Comment.
on the first of them), and even Augustine saw
reason in his Betractationes to doubt whether
he had satisfactorily solved them. The principal
one is, what is intended by \6yos wopvelas in
Matt. v. 32, corresponding apparently to iwl
¦jropvcla in xix. 9? Most authorities seem to
take it of unchastity after marriage on the
part of the wife, i.e. adultery. Hereupon
various difficult questions open to which the
context gives no solution. The first (i.) is,
Must we in Matt. v. 32 carry on the exception,
" saving for the cause of fornication " (i.e. of
adultery), to the latter clause, and make the
sense, " whoever shall marry a woman divorced
for any other cause than adultery, committeth
adultery." The next is (ii.), What would
be the case of him who marries a woman
divorced for adultery ? If this be judged an
adulterous union, the reading the condition
aforesaid into the clause is nugatory ; if a law
ful union, a further question arises (iii.), Does
this then sanction the union of the paramours ?
If yes, this seems to open a wide door to collu
sive, as well as other, infidelity. If no, we
arrive at a privilegium excluding one person
only, and leaving the woman open to the same
temptation still which led her astray before.

ADUMMIM
Then comes (iv.), May the injured husband, rid
of the adulteress wife, marry anew? If he
may, then the adultery of the wife has the
same effect on their union as her natural death;
and a bar is placed in the way of forgiveness
and reconciliation on repentance. These con
clusions seem opposed to the words of St. Paul
in Rom. vii. 2, 3, and 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11, 39, 40.
An interpretation which gives rise to such
questions may suggest doubts of its own sound
ness, besides another question as grave as any of
the former, how to reconcile it with the general
principle that God has made man and wife " one
flesh," and that " whom He has joined together"
man, i.e. human law, is not to " put asunder."
Besides, if adultery had been, in such a context
as Matt. v. 32, xix. 9, intended, we cannot
doubt that poixela, the special word, and not
¦iropveia, the general one, would have been used.
Assume, on the contrary, that the Koyos iropveias
and i-irl iropveiq. refer to unchastity before mar
riage, and that marriage once made is, save for
that cause, indissoluble, and we harmonize the
statements of all the passages above referred to.
Such unchastity implies, besides incontinence, a
fraud to which Oriental races are specially sen
sitive, and which may be held to vitiate that
consent on the part of the man which is of the
essence of the marriage contract. Thus the true
view would be, that such a marriage, being
defective in this vital point, never existed from
the first, but was an union founded on fraud,
which the innocent party is entitled to disclaim.
This is illustrated by the suspicions of Joseph
in Matt. i. 19. The weight of authority seems
against retaining poixeia, as heading St. Paul's
catalogue of the " works of the flesh " in Gal.
v. 19. [H. H.]
ADUM'MIM, " the going up to " or
"OF" (D*S-|X rbm; B. ^afiaait 'ASofi-
pe'iv, A. irpoo-avdBuo-is 'ASoppi; ascensio or
ascensus Adommim) = the " pass of the red ; "
one of the landmarks of the boundary of
Benjamin, a rising ground or pass " over against
Gilgal," and "on the south side of the
'torrent ' " (Josh. xv. 7 ; xviii. 17), which is the
position still occupied by the road leading up from
Jericho and the Jordan valley to Jerusalem
(Rob. i. p. 558*), on the south face of the gorge
of the Wady Kelt. Jerome (OS.2 p. 127, 9, s. n.
Adommin) ascribes the name to the blood
shed there by the robbers who infested the
pass in his day, as they still (Stanley, pp. 314,
424 ; Martineau, p. 481 ; Stewart) continue to
infest it, as they did in the Middle Ages when
the order of Knights Templars arose out of an
association for the guarding of this road, and as
they did in the days of our Lord, of whose
parable of the Good Samaritan this is the scene.
But the name is possibly of a date and signifi
cance far more remote, and is perhaps derived
from some tribe of " red men " of the earliest
inhabitants of the country (Stanley, p. 424, note).
It is most probably Tal' at ed-Dumm, " the ascent
of blood," a mediaeval fortress, surrounded by a
rock-hewn ditch, which stands above Khan

' Robinson's words, •• On the south side  above,"
are the more remarkable, because the identity of the
place with the Maaleh-Adummim does not seem to have
occurred to him.

ADVENT
Hathrurah, and commands the road from Jericho
to Jerusalem. There is a steady ascent from
Jericho to this point, but the road onwards to
Jerusalem passes over undulating ground ;
hence the " going up to Adummim " would be
that part of the road which lies between the
Ghor and Tal'at ed-Dumm, a name applied more
particularly to the hill on which the fortress
was built. The limestone and marl are here
of a ruddy colour, like burnt brick : hence the
name. The fortress is probably the Castellum
Militum mentioned in the Onomasticon as being
on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and the
Tour Rouge built by the Templars to protect
pilgrims going down to Jericho and the Jordan
(P. F. Mem. iii. 172, 207-9). [G.] [W.]
ADVENT. [Coming.]
ADVOCATE. The rendering (A. V. and
R. V.) in 1 John ii. 4 of irapdK\vTOS. In other
passages of the writings of St. John (e.g. Gospel,
xiv. 16, 26, xv. 26, xvi. 7) irapaKKnTOS is trans
lated '• Comforter " (R. V. inserting in the marg.
Advocate or Helper). This double rendering
of one and the same Greek word dates from
Wiclif, and is due to the influence of the Vulgate,
which has advocatus in the Epistle and paracletus
in the Gospel. Dr. Westcott has pointed out
that the word " can properly mean only ' one
called to the side of another,' and that with the
secondary notion of counselling, supporting, or
aiding him." In 1 John ii. 1 this sense of the
word is alone applicable. The argument is that
" Jesus Christ the righteous " as Advocate pleads
the cause of the Christian who has sought His
help against the accuser. See Westcott's notes
in Speaker's Commentary on Gospel according to
St. John (11. c.) and on 1 John ii. 1. [F.]
AEDI'AS (B. 'ATjSei'as [A. -51-]; Helias),
I Esd. ix. 27. Perh. a corraption of Eliah. [G.]
AE'GYPT. [Egypt.]
AE'NEAS (Alveas ; Aeneas), a Greek or
Hellenistic Jew of Lydda, healed of his palsy
by St. Peter (Acts ix. 33, 34). [G.]
AE'NON (Alvd'v; Aennon), a place "near
to Salim." John baptized " in Aenon (the
springs) near to Salim, because there were many
waters (SSaTa jtoAAo) there " (John iii. 23). This
is indicated by the name, which is merely a
Greek version of the Chaldee y\yv =" springs."
It was evidently west of the Jordan (cp. John
iii. 22 with 26, and with i. 28), and apparently
one day's journey from Nazareth and two from
Bethany (Stanley, S. $ P. p. 311). Three different
sites have been proposed for Aenon: 1. Eusebius
and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 134, 25 ; 245, 91) place
it 8 miles south of Scythopolis, " juxta Salim et
Jordanem," and the latter states that the ruins
of Melchizedek's palace existed, in his day, at
Salem. These statements are so positive that
they cannot lightly be set aside. In the Jordan
valley, about 7| miles from Beisan (Scythopolis),
there is a remarkable group of seven springs,
all lying within a radius of a quarter of a mile,
which answers well to the description " many
waters." Close to the springs are the consider
able ruins of Umm el-'Amddn, and about three-
quarters of a mile to the north is Tell Ridhghah,
an artificial mound, on the top of which is the
tomb of Sheikh Salim. This is almost certainly

AGABUS

57

the spot indicated by Eusebius and Jerome, and
there is nothing remarkable in the disappearance
of the ruins when it is considered that such
important towns as Jericho and Antipatris have
entirely disappeared. 2. Major Conder (Tent
Work in Pal. i. 91-3) identifies Aenon with tho
springs in Wddy Fdr'ah, which lie between
Salim and 'Ainun : but these two places are
7 miles apart, and the springs themselves are
situated in a deep valley 4 miles from Salim,
and separated from that village by the hills of
Neby Behhi, 2,500 feet high. Such a place
could not possibly be described as being " near
to Salim," and the springs are in fact quite as
near to Nablus (Shechem), with which they are
connected by the Roman road to Scythopolis.
There are no important springs at Salim or
'Ainun. 3. Dr. Barclay (City of the Great King,
pp. 558-570) and Mr. Hepworth Dixon place
Aenon at the springs in Wddy Far'ah, one of the
heads of Wddy Kelt, some miles from Jerusalem,
but the only ground for this identification is
the presence of copious springs and pools. See
the curious speculations of Lightfoot (Cent.
Chorog. 1-4). [G.] [W.]
AERA. [CnRONOLOGY.]
AETHIO'PIA. [Ethiopia.]
AETHIOPIC VERSION. [Versions.]
AFFINITY. [Marriage.]
AG' ABA (AKKa$d, A. TaBd ; Aggab), 1 Esd.
v. 30. [Hagab.] [G.]
AG'ABUS (^AyaBos or "AyaBos; Agabus.
331*1, " a locust ; " cp. Hagab, Ezra ii. 46. But
the Syriac favours the derivation from "".Jl*,
" to love "). A Christian prophet mentioned in
Acts xi. 28 (notice the remarkable addition to
the text made by D.) and xxi. 10, 11. In
the first passage he is described as having
come from Jerusalem to Antioch ; in the
second, from Judaea to Caesarea. His predic
tion of a great famine over all the world was
delivered at Antioch, probably A.D. 44, during
the twelve months which St. Paul then spent
there. No universal famine is recorded in the
reign of Claudius, but frequently recurring
local famines [Claudius] justify the terms of
the prophecy. The accuracy of his prediction
respecting St. Paul (Acts xxi. 10) is also open to
criticism if pedantically examined. The " whole
world " cannot mean Judaea only, but the speedy
fulfilment of the prediction there was what con
cerned the Christians most. This famine is that
mentioned by Josephus (Ant. xx. 2 § 6, and 5 § 2),
in which Helena of Adiabene gave generous
assistance. It is dated by Josephus in the time
of the Roman procurators Cuspius Fadus and
Tiberius Alexander, i.e. after the death of Herod
Agrippa I. An incidental notice of the same
famine (Ant. iii. 15, § 3) shows that it prevailed
in severity at the time of the Passover. That
there was no famine before Agrippa's death is
proved by the dependence of Tyre and Sidon at
that time for food supplies on the king's country
(Acts xii. 20). Wieseler on these grounds fixes
the famine in A.D. 45, with the conjecture that
it may have gone on for some time afterwards
(see Wieseler, Chron. Ap. Zeit, pp. 156 ff.). The
other mention of Agabus (Acts xxi. 10, 11)
belongs to the last journey of St. Paul to Jeru-

58

AGAG

salem (probably A.D. 58). He prophesies St.
Paul's arrest and deliverance into the hands of
the Gentiles, therein repeating more circum
stantially an inspired warning already given by
some of the brethren at Tyre (xxi. 4). The
points to notice in Agabus are that in his case
the gift of Christian prophecy was not limited
to its usual function, the exposition of divine
truth [Prophet, Prophets or the N. T.], but
extended to foreknowledge of events ; and,
secondly, that being a Jewish prophet he not
unnaturally used the symbolic method of de
livery habitual to Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others
(cp. Jer. xiii. 1-13). [E. R. B.]
A'GAG (Uti, meaning quite uncertain ; ac
cording to Ges., from an Arabic root " to burn ; "
'A707 [in Sam. '. c] and Ttiy [in Num.] ; Agag),
possibly the title of the kings of Amalek, like
Pharaoh of Egypt. The view of Michaelis (see
Ges. Thes. s. n. Hit) that the name Ogyges was
identical with this name has been accepted by
Fiirst, but is rejected by the best modern authori
ties. One king of this name is mentioned in
Num. xxiv. 7, and another in 1 Sam. xv. 8, 9, 20,
32. The latter was the king of the Amaleki tes,
whom Saul spared together with the best of the
spoil, although it was the well-known will of
Jehovah that the Amalekites should be extir
pated (Ex. xvii. 14; Deut. xxv. 17). For this
act of disobedience Samuel was commissioned to
declare to Saul his rejection, and he himself
sent for Agag and cut him in pieces. [Samuel.]
Haman is called the Agagite in Esther (Bov-
yaios, iii. 1, 10, viii. 3, 5). The Jews consider
Haman a descendant of Agag, the Amalekite, and
hence account for the hatred with which he pur
sued their race (Jos. Ant xi. 6, § 5. See Speaker's
Comm. on the Apocrypha, notes on " Additions to
Esther " xii. 6, xiii. 12). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AGAGI'TE. [Agag.]
AG' APE. [Lord's Supper.]
A'GAR. [Hagar.]
AGARE'NES (viol "Ayap ; filii Agar), Bar.
iii. 23. [Hagar.]
AGATE (UE>, shebo; *13*"3, cadcod; aXd-
Tns ; achates) is mentioned four times in the
text of the A. V. : viz. in Ex. xxviii. 19, xxxix.
12 (similarly rendered in R. V.) ; Is. liv. 12 ;
Ezek. xxvii. 16. In the two former passages,
where it is represented by the Hebrew word
shebo, it is spoken of as forming the second
stone in the third row of the high-priest's
breast-plate ; in each of the two latter places the
original word is cadcdd, by which no doubt is in
tended a different stone ("rubies," R.V.). [Ruby.]
In Ezek. xxvii. 16, where the text has agate, the
margin has chrysoprase, whereas in the very
next chapter, Ezek. xxviii. 13, chrysoprase occurs
in the margin instead of emerald, which is in the
text, as the translation of an entirely different
Hebrew word, nophec (**>23) : this will show how
much our translators were perplexed as to the
meanings of the minerals and precious stones
mentioned in the sacred volume ; ¦ and this
uncertainty which belongs to the mineralogy of
» See "Translators' Preface to the Reader," which, if
found in Eyre and Spottiswoode's " Variorum " Bible
is not printed in all editions of the English" Bible— a
fact much to be regretted.

AGATE
the Bible, and indeed in numerous instances to
its botany and zoology, is by no means a matter
of surprise when we consider how often there is
no collateral evidence o'f any kind that might
possibly help us, and that the derivations of the
Hebrew words have generally and necessarily a
very extensive signification ; identification there
fore in many cases becomes a difficult and un
certain matter.
Various definitions of the Hebrew word shebd
have been given by the learned, but nothing
definite can be deduced from any one of them.
Gesenius places the word under the root
shdbdh,h "to take prisoner," but allows that
nothing at all can be learned from such an
etymology." Fried. Delitzsch (Prolegg. eines
neuen Hebr.-Aram. Wbrterbuch z. A. T. p. 85)
identifies it with the Assyrian precious stone
called subu. The subu appears to have been the
precious stone (par excellence), and the ornament
of Istar, and evidently of singular brilliancy;
probably, therefore, the diamond.
Again, we find curiously enough an interpre
tation which derives it from another Arabic
root, which has precisely the opposite meaning,
viz. "to be dull and obscure.'"1 Another
derivation traces the word to the proper name
Sheba, whence precious stones were exported for
the Tyrian merchants. Of these derivations it
is difficult to see any meaning at all in the first,"
while a oontrary one to what we should expect
is given to the third, for a dull-looking stone
is surely out of place amongst the glittering
gems which adorned the sacerdotal breastplate.
The derivation adopted by Fried. Delitzsch is
perhaps the most plausible, even if his identifi
cation of it with the diamond be held in reserve.
That shebo, however, does stand for some variety
of agate seems generally agreed upon by com
mentators, for, as Rosenmiiller has observed
(Schol. in Exod. xxviii. 19), there is a wonderful
agreement amongst interpreters,1, who all under
stand an agate by the term.
Our English agate, or achat, derives its name
from the Achates, the modern Dirillo, in the Val
di Noto, in Sicily, on the banks of which, ac
cording to Theophrastus and Pliny, it was first
found ;s but as agates are met with in almost
every country, this stone was doubtless from the
earliest times known to the Orientals. It is a
silicious stone of the quartz family, and is met
with generally in rounded nodules, or in veins
in trap-rocks ; specimens are often found on the
sea-shore, and in the beds of streams, the rocks
in which they had been imbedded having been
b H""."^, captivum fecit, Gesen. Thesaur. o. v.

! Comp. Golius, Arab. Lex.

, exarsit.

iii\ (viii.

I*"**" ; cf. Freytag, Arab. Lex.

conj. of sjj^), obscura, ambiguafu.it res alicui.
" " Sed haec nihil faciunt ad detegendam ejus naturam."
— Braun. de Test. Sacerd. Bebraeor. II. c. xv. y i.
I**."**, " esse achatem, satis probabile est, quum

mirus in hoc lapide interpretum sit consensus." Vid.
Braun. V. S. II. c. xv. } iii.
s Ka\&5 81 AMos Kai 6 'Axinjs ° airb tou 'Axi™
irOTO.p.ov tou iv S«eAi> xai TruXelra. rifuot.— Theoph.
Er. ii. 31, ed. Schneider, and Plln. xxxvii. 64; Litho
graphic Sicilienne, Naples, 1111, p. le

AGE, OLD
decomposed by the elements, when the agates '
have dropped out. Some of the principal
varieties are called chalcedony, from Chalcedon
in Asia Minor, where it is found ; carnelian,
chrysoprase, an apple-green variety coloured by-
oxide of nickel ; Moclia-stones, or moss agate,
which owe their dendritic or tree-like markings
to the imperfect crystallization of the colouring
salts of manganese or iron, onyx-stones, blood
stones, &c. Specimens of the art of engraving
on chalcedony are found in the tombs of Egypt,
Assyria, Etruria, &c.h [W. H.] [H. W. T.]
AGE, OLD. In early stages of civilization,
when experience is the only source of practical
knowledge, old age has its special value, and
consequently its special honours. The Spartans,
the Athenians, and the Romans were particular
in showing respect to the aged, and the Egyp
tians had a regulation which has its exact
parallel in the Bible (Herod, ii. 80 ; Lev. xix. 32).
Under a patriarchal form of government such a
feeling was still more deeply implanted. A
further motive was superadded in the case of
the Jew, who was taught to consider old age as
a reward for piety, and a signal token of God's
favour (Gen. xv. 15). For these reasons the
aged occupied a prominent place in the social
and political system of the Jews. In private
life they were looked up to as the depositaries
of knowledge (Job xv. 10) : by the law of
Moses the young were ordered to rise up in
their presence (Lev. xix. 32 ; cp. Is. iii. 5) :
they allowed them to give their opinion first
(Job xxxii. 4) : they were taught to regard
grey hairs as a " crown of glory " and as the
" beauty of old men " (Prov. xvi. 31, xx. 29).
The wise old man was the representativo on
earth of " the ancient of days " (Dan. vii. 9,
22) ; his company and counsel were to be
sought and his example followed (Prov. xvi. 31,
xxiii. 20; Deut. xxxii. 7 ; 1 K. xii. 13-19;
Ecclus. ii. 10, iii. 15, vi. 33). The attainment
of old age was regarded as a special blessing
(Job v. 26), not only on account of the pro
longed enjoyment of life to the individual, but
also because it indicated peaceful and prosperous
times (Zech. viii. 4 ; 1 Mac. xiv. 9 ; Is. Ixv. 20).
In public affairs age carried weight with it,
especially in the infancy of the state : it formed
under Moses the main qualification of those
who acted as the representatives of the people in
all matters of difficulty and deliberation. The
old men or Elders thus became a class, and the
title gradually ceased to convey the notion of
age, and was used in an . official sense, like
Patres, Senatores, and other similar terms.
[Elders.] Still it would be but natural that
such an office was generally held by men of
advanced age (1 K. xii. 8). ' [W. L. B.]
In the American edition of this work, some
stress is laid upon the distinction between irpeo"-
Bvrns and irpeafiiTepos. The former is always
applied to age (cp., in the case of Zecharias, Luke
i. 18), the latter generally to rank or office, if
also office usually dependent upon age (Cremer,
Bibl.-Theol. Worterb. s. v.). But the distinction
can hardly be pressed into the question of deter-
>» Compare with this Ex. xxxviii. 23: "And with
him was Aboliab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan,
an engraver and a cunning workman ; " and ch. xxxix. 8,
"And he made the breastplate of cunning work."

AGRICULTURE

59

mining the age of St. Paul (Philemon, v.
9 = irpeo-Birns) so long as able critics (e.g. Bp.
Lightfoot) translate " ambassador " instead of
" the aged " (A. V. and R. V. text). In the
O. T. the Patriarch Jacob's reflections upon life
as he looked back upon it in his old age (Gen.
xlvii. 9), and in the N. T. the Saviour's descrip
tion of what should mark the old age of St. Peter
(John xxi. 18), have always been recognised as
passages truthful and pathetic. The honour
paid by Pharaoh to Jacob is illustrated by the
Agadistic saying, "He who receives a greyhaired
man and seeks out the aged, has at the same time
sought out and received God " (Hamburger, RE.2
s. v. " Alter," who gives many Talmudical expan
sions of the Biblical texts referred to above) ;
while the refusal of this honour intimated in
the words of Christ is deepened in pathos by
that saying which affirms that one of the marks
of the last days would be found in the despising
the authority of the elders, in the mockery of
the greyhaired by children, and in the standing
up of the aged before the young (see Riehm,
HWB., B. n. " Alter "). [F.]
A'GEE (XJX, Ges. from the Arabic, fugitive.
Fiirst compares the name $vye\os [2 Tim. i. 15] :
B. 'Aad ; A. 'Ayod : Age). A Hararite, father of
Shammah, one of David's three mightiest heroes
(2 Sam. xxiii. 11). In the Peshito he is called
" Ago of the king's mountain," the epithet being
given as explaining '"liii, mountaineer. Cp.
Targ. " of the mountain." [W. A. W.] [F.]
AGGAE'US ('Ayyalos ; Aggaeus), 1 Esd. vi.
1, vii. 3 ; 2 Esd. i. 40. [Haggai.] [F.]
AGRICULTURE. This, though prominent
in the scriptural narrative concerning Adam,
Cain, and Noah, was little cared for by the
Patriarchs ; more so, however, by Isaac and
Jacob than by Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 12 ; xxxvii.
7), in whose time, probably, if we except the
lower Jordan valley (xiii. 10), there was little
regular culture in Canaan. Thus Gerar and
Shechem seem to have been cities where pastoral
wealth predominated. The herdmen strove with
Isaac about his wells ; about his crop there was no
contention (xxvi. 14—22 ; cf. xxi. 25). In Joshua's
time, as shown by the story of the "Eshcol"
(Num. xiii. 23-4), Canaan was found in a much
more advanced agricultural state than Jacob had
left it (Deut. viii. 8), resulting probably from
the severe experience of famines, and the exam
ple of Egypt, to which its people were thus led.
The pastoral life was the means of keeping the
sacred race, whilst yet a family, distinct from
mixture and locally unattached, especially whilst
in Egypt. When, grown into a nation, they
conquered their future seats, agriculture sup
plied a similar check on the foreign intercourse
and speedy demoralization, especially as regards
idolatry, which commerce would have caused.
Thus agriculture became the basis of the Mosaic
commonwealth (Michaelis, xxxvii.-xli.). It
tended to check also the freebooting and nomad
life, and made a numerous offspring profitable,
as it was already honourable by natural senti
ment and by law. Thus, too, it indirectly dis
couraged slavery, or, where it existed, made the
slave somewhat like a son, though it made the
son also somewhat of «, slave. Taken in con
nexion with the inalienable character of inherit
ances, it gave each man and each family a

60

AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

stake in the soil and nurtured a hardy patriotism.
" The land is Mine " (Lev. xxv. 23) was a dictum
which made agriculture likewise the basis of
the theocratic relation ; so that it becomes a
charge against the apostate people, " Ye defiled
My land " (Jer. ii. 7). Thus every family felt
its own life with intense keenness, and had its
divine tenure which it was to guard from aliena
tion. The prohibition of culture in the sabba
tical year formed, under this aspect, a kind of
rent reserved by the Divine owner ; or rather
perhaps the soil reverted then to Him and to
the poor as His representatives. Landmarks
were deemed sacred (Deut. xix. 14), and the
inalienability of the heritage was ensured by its
reversion to the owner in the year of jubilee ;
so that only so many years of occupancy could
be sold (Lev. xxv. 8-16, 23-35). The prophet
Isaiah (v. 8) denounces the contempt of such
restrictions by wealthy grandees who sought to
" add field to field," erasing families and depopu
lating districts.
A change in the climate of Palestine, caused
by increase of population and the clearance of
trees, must have taken place before the period
of the N. T. A further change caused by the
decrease of skilled agricultural labour, e.g. in
irrigation and terrace-making, has since ensued.
Not only this, but the great variety of elevation
and local character in so small a compass of
country necessitates » partial and guarded ap
plication of general remarks (Robinson, i. 507,
553, 554, iii. 595; Stanley, S. 4 P. 119, 124-6).
Yet wherever industry is secure, the soil still
asserts its old fertility. The Haurdn (Peraea)
is as fertile as Damascus, and its bread enjoys
the highest reputation. The black and fat, but
Jight, soil about Gaza is said to hold so much
moisture as to be very fertile with little rain.
Here, as in the neighbourhood of Beyrut, is a
vast olive-ground, and the very sand of the shore
is said to be fertile if watered. Thus the " land
of corn and wine, of bread and vineyards," is its
description (Is. xxxvi. 17). The Israelites pro
bably found in Canaan a fair proportion of
woodland, which their necessities, owing to the
discouragement of commerce, must have led
them to reduce (Josh. xvii. 18). But even in
early times timber seems to have been far less
used for building material than among Western
nations ; such parts as beams, rafters, doors, &c.
were, however, indispensably of timber (Cant. i.
17 ; viii. 9). In Solomon's time the Israelites
were not skilful hewers, and imported both the
timber and the workmen (1 K. v. 6, 8). No
store of wood-fuel seems to have been kept ;
ovens were heated with such things as duno- and
hay (Ezek. iv. 12, 15; Mai. iv. 1, 3) [Dung];
thorns and stubble fully dry are often spoken of
as fuel, unless, as is possible, the allusion may
sometimes be to burning them to ashes to use as
manure (Is. xxxiii. 11; Joel ii. 5; Obad. 18;
Nah. i. 10) ; and in anv case of sacrifice on an
emergency, some, as we should think, unusual
source of supply is constantly mentioned for the
wood (1 Sara. vi. 14; 2 Sam. xxiv. 22 ; 1 K. xix
21 ; comp. Gen. xxii. 3, 6, 7). All this indicates
a non-abundance of timber. Against this may
be set the poetical pictures derived from nature
in which magnificent timber-trees supply the
imagery, as to Ezekiel (xxxi. 14), for nations
flourishing in their pride. Such are called

"trees by the waters." Such a cedar is the
Assyrian with " rivers running round about his
plants," meaning perhaps mountain torrents of
the Lebanon (ib. 4) ; an elevated sylvan region
which, with Carmel, &c, furnished prophetic
types alike of national glory and of its decline
(Is. xxxv. 2 ; xxxiii. 9). Again, " the trees of
the wood moved by the wind " is the image
used to describe unanimous popular feeling (Is,
vii. 2). The felling of timber, especially of the
choicer kinds, finds a leading place amidst hos
tile ravages (Is. vii. 24, xiv. 8, xxxvii. 24-
Jer. xxii. 7) ; while the culture of such trees,
assisted by special irrigation, is represented as a
pursuit of the royal voluptuary in Eccles. ii. 6.
So " the forest and every tree " is called on for
acclamations of joy (Is. xliv. 23 ; lv. 12).
Forests on fire, perhaps by lightning or spon
taneous combustion in excessive droucht, are
also spoken of (Is. ix. 18 ; Jer. xxi. 14 ; Ezek.
xix. 14, xx. 47 ; Joel i. 18-20). More especiallv
the olive-groves were liable to such accidents
(Jer. xi. 16 ; cf. the well-known passage, Virg.
Georg. ii. 303 foil.). It seems likely also that
the prevalence of idolatry may have given en
couragement to the planting and cherishinf of
timber, especially the nobler sorts, both as a
material for the idol, when felled, and a canocf.
for the altar while standing (Is. xliv. 14, pv
xl. 20; Jer. x. 3). Yet on the whole the allu
sions suggest that trees were scarce and deemed
a valuable property, and even catalogued as
such : see Is. x. 19, and compare the mention of
the "trees " in Abraham's purchase (Gen. xxiii.
17). The spontaneous outburst of the choicest
vegetation in the desert, and the displacement of
its rude and stunted growths by that means, is
a vivid image of spiritual revival (Is. xii. 19;
lv. 13). The contrary process, viz. the land
once tilled left to " briers and thorns " (Is. vii.
23-25), or reverting to pasturage of cattle (21,
22), marks the result of hostile ravages. To
such a thorny state the soil speedily "relapsed
when neglected (Jer. iv. 3 ; Hos. x. 4) or left
fallow. Thus " thorns " imply by their presence
slovenly husbandry, or total failure of hopeful
produce (Jer. xii. 13). The word which mostly
occurs in such contrasts is D*"fp. . The thorn
used for fences is D*3? or fia-IDD (Job v. 5;
Prov. xv. 19; Mic. vii. 4); and' this, or the
occasional arming of a rude harrow, seems
(besides fuel, Eccles. vii. 6) the only use for
them [Thorns and Thistles]. The three
grades of Is. xxxii. 15, the wilderness, the fruit
ful field, and the forest, rising from sparse to
thick vegetation, are noteworthy, also the
gradual return to culture after desolation by
the enemy in xxxvii. 30. The image of exube
rant fertility from barrenness (Is. xxxv. 1), "the
desert. . .shall blossom as the rose," is certainlv
a mistranslation, though what plant the word
n>V3n (like its Assyrian equivalent hab(a)sil-

latu [cp. Fried. Delitzsch, Proleqq.
Hell,. _ I,..,.,. TT7A-..1- , , .2*

ernes neuen

-Aram. Worterbuchs z. A. ¥., p. 81, &c.])

1,

Heb.
actually represents seems IVpresent'unc'ertaii!
Cp. K. V. marg. in Is. xxxv. 1 ; Cant.
autumn crocus.
Productiveness seems nearly measured by
abundance of moisture, the exuberance of which
as streams in the desert is a lively image of
prophecy, whereas that of destructive floods is

AGRICULTURE
comparatively rare. The prccariousness of the
surface brooks from mountain snow is noticed
(Job vi. 15-18). Marshes and swamps were
however known in the land of Uz, drier probably
than Palestine (Job viii. 11: cf. Is. xxxv. 7;
Ezek. xlvii. 11). "Sowing by the brooks " occurs
both as characteristic of Egypt (Is. xix. 7) and
generally, and is perhaps alluded to in the figura
tive exhortation, " Cast thy bread upon the
waters " (Eccles. xi. 1 ). Its plenty of water from
natural sources made Canaan a contrast to rain
less Egypt (Deut. viii. 7 ; xi. 10-12). Nor was
the peculiar Egyptian method alluded to in
Deut. xi. 10 unknown, though less prevalent in
Palestine. That peculiarity seems to have con
sisted in making in the fields square shallow beds,
like our salt-pans, surrounded by a raised border
of earth to keep in the water, which was then
turned from one square to another by pushing
aside the mud to open one and close the next
with the foot. A very similar method is appa
rently described by Robinson as used, especially
for garden vegetables, in Palestine. Trees,
especially fruit trees, planted by the water-side,
but also willows (grown perhaps to protect the
stream itself by their shade, as well as for other
uses), are a common image. Irrigation (in
cluding under the term all appliances for making
the water available) was as essential as drainage
in this land ; and for this the large extent of
rocky surface, easily excavated for cisterns and
ducts, was most useful. The spring-water
supply varies greatly in different districts. In
some it abounds. Thus the Beisan (Bashan)
plain has over thirty good springs, and the
region of Nablous (Samaria) about seventy. The
Negeb extends round Beersheba, and both in its
extent and in the meaning of the term (" dry
land") is nearly equivalent to the district of
Daroma. Its " upper and nether springs "
(Judg. i. 15) arise from the hard limestone for
mation in the N.W. corner of the region ;
throughout the rest of the Negeb area the water
is from cisterns. The number of these in the
drier regions of Palestine shows the dependence
then as now to have been on storing the rainfall,
while the geological structure forbids the sup
position that springs once existing are now dried
up (Survey of Western Palestine, Special Papers,
p. 198). Even the plain of Jericho is watered,
not by canals from the Jordan, since the river
lies below the land, but by rills converging from
the mountains. In these features of the country
lay its expansive resources to meet the wants
of a multiplying population. The lightness of
agricultural labour in the plains set free an
abundance of hands for the task of terracing and
watering; and the result gave the highest
stimulus to industry. The ruins of the great
tank at Ziza still remain to illustrate the whole
system of irrigation (cp. Tristram, Land of
Moab, p. 185). Dew is also to be set to the
amount of water-supply [Dew]. It is some
times a figure for bright young foliage, e.g.
" Thy dew is as the dew of herbs " (Is. xxvi. 19).
The cereal crops of constant mention are
wheat and barley, and more rarely spelt and
millet. "Rye" appears to be an error of the
A. V. [Rye and Fitches]. Of wheat and barley
mention is made in the Book of Job, together
with the vine, olive, and fig, the use of irrigation,
the plough and the harrow (xv. 33 ; xxiv. 6 ;

AGRICULTURE 01
xxix. 6 ; xxxi. 40 ; xxxix. 10). The " fitches " of
Is. xxviii. 25, 27, appears to be the black poppy ;
that of Ezek. iv. 9 to be spelt. This poppy, with
cummin and such podded plants as beans and
lentiles, may be named among the staple pro
duce. To these, later writers add a great variety
of garden plants, e.g. kidney-beans, peas, lettuce,
endive, leek, garlic, onion, melon, cucumber,
cabbage, &c. (Mishna, Celaim. 1, 2). The term
"garden of herbs," lit. of verdure (Deut. xi.
10, &c, and so " dinner of herbs," Prov. xv.
17), probably means a kitchen garden [Garden].
The word for herbs regularly domesticated for
man's use is 2C'V (Ps. civ. 14). Wild esculents
analogous to them are rather n**'*f* (2 K. iv. 39 ;
Is. xxvi. 19). But the former stands for "herbs
of the mountains " in Prov. xxvii. 25. For the-
" bitter herbs " eaten with the Paschal Lamb, see-
Passover, ii. 3 (c). All such growths depended
on a ready and copious water-supply (Deut. xL
10; Is. lviii. 11). The produce which formed
Jacob's present was of such kinds as would keep,.
and had kept during the famine (Gen. xliii. 11).
The Jewish calendar, as fixed by the three
great festivals, turned on the seasons of green,.
ripe, and fully-gathered produce. Thus we see
traces of a natural calendar in Is. xviii. 5,
" Afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect and
the sour grape is ripening in the flower ; " the
processes of growth marking the seasons which
develop them. Hence, if the season was back
ward, or, owing to the imperfections of a non-
astronomical reckoning, seemed to be so, a month
was intercalated. This rude system was fondly
retained long after mental progress and foreign
intercourse placed a correct calendar within their
power ; so that notice of a Ve-adar, i.e. second
or intercalated Adar, on account of the lambs
being not yet of paschal size, and the barley not
forward enough for the Abib (green sheaf), was
sent to the Jews of Babylon and Egypt (Ugol'.
de Re Rust. v. 22) early in the season [Year].
The year, ordinarily consisting of twelve
months, was divided into six agricultural periods.
as follows (Tosaphta Taanith, ch. 1): —
I. Sowing Tisie.
(beginning about\
Tisri, latter half ' autumnal I
I equinox >Early rain due.
Marchesvan  I
Kaslcu, former half  /
II. Ukeipe Time.
Kasleu, latter half.
Tebeth.
Shebath, former half. III. Cold Season.
Shebath, latter half 
^ar",  ^Latter rain due-
[Ve-adar] 
Nisan, former half 
IV. Harvest Time. [Beginning about
Nisan, latter half  \ vernal equinox.
j Barley green-
\ Passover.
Ijar.Sivan, former half  f Wheat ripe.
•.Pentecost.
V. Summer.
Sivan, latter half.
Tamuz. Ah, former half.

fi2

AGRICULTURE

VI. Sdltkv Seasok.
Ab, latter half.
Elul. Tisri, former half  Ingathering of fruits.
Thus the six months from mid Tisri to mid
Nisan were mainly occupied with the process of
cultivation, and the rest with the gathering of
the fruits. Rain was commonly expected soon
after the autumnal equinox or mid Tisri ; and if
by the first of Kasleu none had fallen, a fast
was proclaimed (Mishna, Taanith, ch. 1). The
common scriptural expressions of the " early
and the "latter rain" (Deut. xi. 14 ; Jer. v. 24;
Hos. vi. 3 ; Zech. x. 1 ; James v. 7) are scarcely
confirmed by modern experience, the season of
rains beino- unbroken (Robinson, i. 41, 429 ;
iii. 96), nor did the Jews probably regard these
as separate rainy seasons. From the Mishna
(ubi sup.) the seasons at the date of its being
compiled (about 200 a.d.) seem to have not per
ceptibly differed from their course at the pre
sent time; when "rain, in an ordinarily good
year, falls first at the autumnal equinox,
during November frequent th understorms occur,
and about Christmas the weather is generally
stormy. In January the heaviest rains fall, and
in February sometimes none at all, but the
weather is never settled until after the vernal
equinox, and the early April showers are past.
From May to September no rain falls except
generally one heavy shower in June or July "
<Survey of Western Palestine, Special Papers,
p. 196). "As a rule the seasons occur in a
cycle, becoming yearly wetter and wetter for a
certain period, then growing drier and drier till
a year of drought arrives" (ib. p. 197). The
average rainfall may now be put at " about
25 in. a year " (ib.). The consternation caused
by the failure of the former rain is depicted
in Joel i. ii. ; and that Prophet seems to
promise that and the latter rain together " in
the first month," i.e. Nisan (ii. 23). Thus the
failure of rain "when there were yet three
months to the harvest " (Amos iv. 7) would be
equivalent to destroying the hopes of the crop.
The same Prophet, echoing Lev. xxvi. 5, says
(ix. 13), "The plowman shall overtake the
reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth
seed." The last clause suggests that extremes
shall meet, but the LXX. has the first clause
otherwise," yet not so as to reconcile it with the
second. Exuberant produce leaving a balance
over on the year is probably intended ; cp. " Ye
shall eat old store and bring forth the old
because of the new" (Lev. xxvi. 10). The
ancient Hebrews had little notion of green ob
root-crops grown for fodder, nor was the long
summer drought suitable for them. Barley
supplied food both to man and beast, although
less esteemed for the former [Barley] ; and the
plant, called in Ezek. iv. 9 "millet," ]Vr\, Holcus
dochna, Linn. (Gesenius), but by some identified
with the Sorghum vulgare, modern dourrha
[Millet], was grazed while green, and its ripe
grain made into bread. In the later period of
a KaTa\7ji//eT(H 6 a/x>]Tbs tov Tpv-yljToV, Kai irepKacrci
n a-ra(f»uA7) ec ™ o-n-opw, is the LXX. (T.7) here. " The
cluster shall turn purple iu the sowing-time" is the
strict sense of the last clause; which approximately
accords with the above, but yet suggests a variation in
the Hebrew from which it came.

AGRICULTURE
more advanced irrigation the \n?T\, "Fenu
greek," occurs, also the ring', a clover, appa
rently, given cut (Peak, v. 5). Mowing (13,
Amos vii. 1 ; Ps- lxxii. 6) and gathering hay
[Hay] were familiar processes, but the latter
had no express word, unless WD (" chaff" in
A. V.) be such ; I^C1, rendered " hay " in A. V.
(e.g. Is. xv. 6), being properly grass (R. V).
The absence of any haymaking process is a
token of a hot climate, where the grass may
become hay as it stands.
The produce of the land, besides fruit from
trees, was technically distinguished as flKUn,
including apparently all cereal plants, HVJDp
(quicquid in siliquis nascitur, Buxt. Lex.), nearly
equivalent to the Latin legumen, and D'OllTl* or
nJ'J 'J lint, semina hortensia (since the former
word alone was used also generically for all
seed, including all else which was liable to tithe,
for which purpose the distinction seems to
have existed). The plough was probably like
the Egyptian (see fig. 2), and the process of
ploughing mostly very light, like that called
scarijicatio by the Romans (" Syria tenui sulco
arat," Plin. xviii. 47), one yoke of oxen mostly
sufficing to draw it. Such is still used in Asia
Minor, and its parts are shown in the accom
panying drawing : a is the pole to which the

Fig. 1.— Plough, &c, as stiU used in Asia Minor. (From Fellowa's
Asia Minor.-)
cross beam with yokes (6) is attached ; c, the
share ; d, the handle ; e represents three modes
of arming the share, and / is a goad with a
scraper at the other end, probably for cleansing
the share. The following terms denote the tools
of Hebrew husbandry :— Plough-share, *"|X; the
verb to plough is EH*"!," but there is no word for
the entire plough ; yoke, ti'lO. HtDlD and 7j)
[Yoke]; mattock," *Y*jl*e, nanno nEhnDs
the last two akin to the above verb, and one,
perhaps, meaning " plough-share," or more pro
bably the metallic beak which armed it, of
which three forms are given (fig. l,e) above: —
sickle, tJ'D'in in Deut., and 730 in Jer. and
11 Also "J2», but rare, found only in its participle
D'DJ'IS ploughmen (2 K. xxv. 12 ; Jer. Iii. 16).
0 In 2 Chron. xxxiv. 6, Josiah is said to have destroyed
aU false altars, &c, in various places, " with their mat
tocks round about." The Hebrew text is doubtful.
The Keri is tafWmrU. which may possibly denote
some sharp instruments akin to 3*"i*"i> sword, or, if
otherwise pointed (Bertheau, Keil, E. V.), " in their
ruins ; " but the LXX. has ev rot? tottois nvriiiV KuicAai,
following possibly a different original from our Hebrew,
but also possibly rendering the same loosely.

AGBICULTURE
Joel; goad, '""."V**. ; a three-pronged fork, £>fe
pEy"?1 ; axe, D VI*". ; threshing sledge, "HID, as
above; also |>-'|*in (Is. xii. 15), which is properly
an epithet of "HID (Gesen.), and appears as
ynn (2 Sam. xii. 31 ; 1 Ch. xx. 3 ; " harrow,"
A. V., Amos i. 3) as a cruel instrument of
execution. To harrow' is *!;*£.", but no cor
responding noun occurs ; for vine-dressers the
pruning hook, mptO ; for the shovel and fan,
see fig. 15 and paragraph above it. Mountains
and steep places were worked with the mattock
(Is. vii. 25 ; Maimon. ad Mishn. vi. 2 ; Robinson,
iii. 595, 602-3). The breaking up of new land
was performed, as with the Romans, vere novo.
Such new ground and fallows, the use of which
latter was familiar to the Jews (Jer. iv. 3 ;

AGRICULTURE

63

Hos. x. 12), were cleared of stones and of thorns
(Is. v. 2 ; Gemara Hierosol. ad loc.) early in the
year, sowing or gathering from "among thorns"
being a proverb for slovenly husbandry (Job v.
5 ; Prov. xxiv. 30, 31 ; Robinson, ii. 127).
Virgin land was ploughed a second time. The
proper words are "Vit ni*)B, apcrire, proscindere,
and T*IC', offringere, i.e. iterare ut frangantur
glebae (by cross ploughing, used also of harrow
ing), Varr. de R. R. i. 32 ; both the latter are
distinctively used Is. xxviii. 24. We find in
1 K. xix. 19, twelve ploughs, apparently going
on the same ground, some of which may have
repeated the process of others and reduced the
ground to a finer tilth, a result especially needed
where the agency of frost in pulverizing the
soil cannot, by reason of climate, be relied upon.
The importance of the operation, on which all

r.-i-SSiS.-S-,--.-

Fig. 2.— Egyptian ploughing and sowing. (Wilkinson, Tombs of tlie Kings — Thebes.-)

subsequent ones depend, called for the presence
of the master. Thus Elisha is actually present
" with the twelfth " plough, and so Saul comes
from the field after the plough-cattle (1 Sam.

xi. 5). Land already tilled was ploughed before
the rains, that the moisture might the better
penetrate (Maimon. ap. Ugol. de Re Bust. v. 11).
Rain, however, or irrigation (Is. xxxii. 20), prc-

"Fig. 3.— Goats treading- in the grain, when sown in the field, after the water has subsided. (Wilkinson, Tombs, near the Pyramids.)
The hieroglyphic word above, sh or skai, signifies "tillage," and is foUowed by the demonstrative sign, a plough.
often took place without previous ploughing, the
seed, as in the parable of the sower, being
scattered broadcast, and ploughed in afterwards,
the roots of the late crop being so far decayed
as to serve for manure (Fellows, Asia Minor,
p. 72). The regulation declaring " any sowing
seed which is to be sown" clean, although a
carcase came in contact with it, refers to the
dryness of seed kept for that purpose; as is
plain from the context, declaring seed which has
been wetted to be, under the same circumstances,
" unclean " (Lev. xi. 37, 38). There may be a
reference here to the fact that wheat was sown
in wetted furrows (Jahn, Archaeol. i. p. 361 ;
cf. Ps. lxv. 10). The soil was then brushed
over with a light harrow, often of thorn bushes.
In highly irrigated spots the seed was trampled
in by cattle (Is. xxxii. 20), as in Egypt by
goats (see fig. 3). Sometimes, however, th«

pared the soil for the sowing (Ps. lxv. 10, 11),
as may be inferred from the prohibition to
irrigate till the gleaning was over, lest the poor
should suffer (Peak, v. 3) ; and such sowing
d Also *70?D» Judges iii. 31, the weapon of Shamgar.
We may conjecture this to have been longer as having
a further function in guiding (*"|D?) the cattle (cf. "Wisd.
-r
xxxviii. 25), and therefore analogous to a spear. But
12Y1 i8 the more common word (1 Sam. xiii. 21 ; Eccles.
xii. 11 plur. ; cp. Acts ix. 5, xxvi. 14).
e The text here is suspicious.
f In Hos. x. 11 is a figurative passage, " I will put
Ephraim in the wain, Judah shall plough, Jacob shall
harrow for himself," where A. V. has wrongly, " I will
make Ephraim to ride " [R. V. " I will set a rider on
Ephraim "]. The reference is clearly to a beast fastened
to the plough.

64

AGRICULTURE

sowing was by patches only in well-manured
spots, a field so treated being called "IB3D, der.
1133, pardus, from its spotted appearance, as
shown in the accompanying drawing by Suren-

Fig. 4.— Corn-growing in patches. (Surenhusius.)
husius to illustrate the Mishna. Where the soil
was heavier, the ploughing was best done dry
(" dum sicca tellure licet," Virg. Georg. i. 214) ;
and there, though not generally, the sarritio
("11*11*, der. Til*, to cleanse), and even the
liratio of Roman husbandry, performed with
tabulae affixed to the sides of the share, might
be useful. But the more formal routine of
heavy Western soils must not be made the
standard of such a naturally fine tilth as that of
Palestine generally. "Sunt enim regionum
propria munera, sicut Aegypti et Africae, in
quibus agricola post sementein ante messem
segetem non attingit ... in iis autem locis ubi
desideratur sarritio," &c. (Columella, ii. 2.) The
phrases " furrows of her plantation . . . furrows
where it grew " (Ezek. xvii. 7, 10) are mislead
ing. ni."i"l*', rendered here by A. V. " furrows,"
means either " raised beds," or, more probably
(Gesen. s. v.), "espaliers." During the rains,
if not too heavy, .or between their showers,
would be the best time for these operations ;
thus seventy days before the Passover was the
time prescribed for sowing for the "wave-sheaf,"
and probably, therefore, for that of barley gene
rally. The oxen were urged on by a goad like a
spear (see above, fig. 1 /, and note d). The
custom of watching ripening crops and thresh
ing-floors against theft or damage (Robinson, i.
490; ii. 18, 83, 99) is certainly ancient (Job
xxvii. 18 ; Is., i. 8) [Cucumbeks]. Thus the
besieging host are compared to the " keepers of
a field ... round about" the city to watch it
(Jer. iv. 17). The " cottage," the " removal " of
which is a type of rapid effacement in Is. xxiv.
20, is probably a field-bed or hammock for such
a keeper (Delitzsch, in loco). Thus Boaz slept
in the floor " at the end of the heap of corn,"
np*"-"*, made by depositing thereon the sheaves
or shocks from the harvest field (Ruth iii. 4, 7).
Barley ripened a week or two before wheat, and
as fine harvest weather was certain (Prov.
xxvi. 1 ; 1 Sam. xii. 17 ; Amos iv. 7), the crop
chiefly varied with the quantity of timely rain.
The period of harvest must always have differed
according to elevation, aspect, &c. (Robinson, i.
430, 551). The proportion of harvest gathered
to seed sown was often vast : a hundred-fold is
mentioned, but in such a way as to signify that
it was a limit rarely attained (Gen. xxvi. 12;
Matt. xiii. 8). These natural tendencies were
counteracted by seasons of drought which utterly
prostrated for a while the energies of the people
[Famine]. These, with their results, are often
described in pathetic passages by the prophets
(Jer. xiv. 2-6, et al). A withering effect is also
ascribed to the wind from the desert, or east

AGRICULTURE
wind (Gen. xii. 6; Is. xxi. 1; Ezek. xix. 12;
Hos. xiii. 15). A variety of insect plagues,
some threatened in Deut. xxviii. 38, 39, and
fully realised in the descriptions of subsequent
prophets, caused at times such fearful ravages
as to paralyse agriculture for a time [Cater
pillar; Locust; Palmerworm]. Amos iv. 9
briefly touches this, but the locus elassicus is
Joel i. ii. The fig-tree white and bare of bark,
the field wasted, the land mourning, the beasts
groaning, the thick cloud of insect swarms
darkening the sky, are some of his details.
Besides these, some more occult agency rots the
seed in the barns, withers the corn, and sears
the pastures with flame, thus completing the
picture of destruction from the Almighty, and
of human misery in consequence.
The rotation of crops, familiar to the Egyptians,
can hardly have been unknown to the Hebrews,
Sowing a field with divers seeds was forbidden
(Deut. xxii. 9), and minute directions are given
by the Rabbis for arranging a seeded surface with

Fig. 7.— Sowing. (Surenhnaius.)

great variety, yet avoiding juxtaposition of
heterogenea. Such arrangements are shown in
the annexed drawings. Three furrows' interval
was the prescribed margin (Celaim, ii. 6). The
blank spaces in fig. 5, a and 6, represent such
margins, tapering to save ground. In a vine-

AGRICULTURE
yard wide spaces were often left between the
vines, for whose roots a radius of four cubits
was allowed, and the rest of the space cropped :
so herb-gardens stood in the midst of vineyards

8.— Sowing. (Surenhusius.)

(Peak, v. 5). Fig. 9 shows a corn-field with olives
about and amidst it. Such an arrangement was
probably that of the Philistine field, into which
Samson sent his " foxes," which " burnt up both

Fig. 9. — Corn-field with Olives. (Surenhusius.)
the shocks and also the standing corn with the
vineyards and olives " (Judg. xv. 5).s
The wheat, &c, was reaped by the sickle,
or the ears merely were gathered by hand (so

Fig. 10.— Reaping wheat. (Wilkinson, Tombsof the Kings— Theles.)
" reapeth the ears with his arm," Is. xvii. 5)
in the " Picenian " method (Job xxiv. 24 ; Varr.
de Re Rust. i. 50) ; or the stalk was cut in our

rr ---rg j'h,""iii in rr — riiiimirri — -tin -hi m nwi.
Fig. 11. — Pulling up the doora by theroots. (Wilkinson, utsupra.)

e The expression "as a torch of fire in a sheaf" (Zech.
xii. 6) is perhaps an allusion to this, as an image of
wholesale havoc; see Exod. xxii. 6, where damages
against such mischief are decreed.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

AGRICULTURE 65
method, or the plant was pulled from the roots
(Peak, v. 10). Unless the first method was
followed, it was bound in sheaves — a process
prominent in Scripture, and described by
peculiar words, D^.X and *1£1*, the sheaf itself
being n»7>N (Ps. cxxvi. 6) or IDS' (Lev. xxiii.
10), and a shock or pile of such ^H| (Job v. 26),

Fig. 12.— Reaping. (Surenhuaius.)
whereas the standing corn is nB*3 (Ex. xxii. 5)
—or heaped, Jlimip?, in the form of a helmet,
or m*<DD137 of a turban (of which, how
ever, see another explanation, Bust. Lex. s. v.
rilDDl**), or iTnrt of a cake. Thus the
" heap " of " harvest " is a familiar image
(Is. xvii. 11). But the "heaps in the furrows
of the field " to which " altars " are compared
(Hos. xii. 11) are wholly different, being heaps
of stones, and the point of the comparison their
frequency — they stand as thick about the
country as the stone-heaps, when stones are
gathered from the furrows. The sheaves or
heaps were carted (Amos ii. 13) to the floor — a

Fig. 13. — Threshing-floor. The oxen driven round the heap
contrary to the usual custom. (Wilkinson, Thebes.)
circular spot of hard ground, probably, as now,
from 50 to 80 or 100 feet in diameter. Such
floors were probably permanent, and became
well-known spots (Gen. 1. 10, 11; 2 Sam. xxiv.
16, 18). On these the oxen, &c, forbidden to
be muzzled (Deut. xxv. 4), trampled out the
grain, as we find represented in the Egyptian
monuments. Lighter grains were threshed h
with a flail or switch (Is. xxviii. 27), and so
Gideon treated his wheat, being unable to resort
to the floor as usual for fear of hostile violence
(Judg. vi. 11); and so Ruth treated her barley
(Ruth ii. 17). At a later time, perhaps in the
agricultural progress under king Uzziah, who
loved husbandry (2 Ch. xxvi. 10), the Jews used
a threshing sledge called Morag (Is. xii. 15 ;
2 Sam. xxiv. 22 ; 1 Ch. xxi. 23), probably re-

h The same word, D**.*"l> Is used for knocking fruit
off a tree (Deut. xxiv. 20 ; Is. xxvii. 12). F

66

AGRICULTURE

sembling the noreg, still employed in Egypt
(Wilkinson, i. 408, ii. 421, 423)— a stage with

Fig. 14.— Threshing Instrument. (From Follows's Asia Minor.)
three rollers ridged with iron, which, aided^ by
the driver's weight, crushed out, often injuring,

Fig. IC— The Noreg, a machine used hy the modern Egyptians
for threshing Corn.
the grain, as well as cut or tore the straw,
which thus became fit for fodder. It appears to
have been similar to the Roman tribulum and the

AGRICULTURE
plostellum Poenicum (Varr. de B. R. i. 52). The
passage Is. xxviii. 24 sq. is worth noting. The
Prophet's parable is couched in imagery so precise
as to instruct us in the facts. Intelligence work-
ing with a purpose, following a method andavoid-
ing excess, is the lesson taught, and ascribed to
a divine source. Thus sowing is the end of
ploughing, which opens the soil aud breaks its
clods" The surface is levelled, and each seed
comes in order, the finer first, the heavier after,
wheat in rows, barley in the appointed spot,
spelt in the border. ' In threshing a like dis
cretion prevails. The heavy-armed sledge and
waggon wheel k and horses would crush the
lighter grains, and, if applied too long, would be
fatal to corn also. This is the only instance of
the scriptural mention of "horses" ("horse
men," A. V. ; " horses," R. V.) in a purely agri
cultural process. The wheeled carriage as used
for threshing supplies an image in Prov. xx. 26,
" He bringeth the wheel over them." Barley was
sometimes soaked and then parched before tread
ing out, which got rid of the pellicle of the grain
(see further the Antiquitntes Triturae, Ugolini,
vol. 29). The culture of flax for linen garments,
&c, was already familiar to the Israelites 'in
Egypt before the Exodus, and was a staple"of
Palestine at the time of their invading it. The
working the yarn, &c, was a point of house
wifery (Ex. ix." 31 ; Jos. ii. 6 ; Prov. xxxi. 13).
The use of animal manure is proved frequent
by such recurring expressions as " dung on the
face of the earth, field," Sec. (Ps. lxxxiii. 10;
2 IC. ix. 37; Jer. viii. 2, &c). [Dusa-.] A
rabbi limits the quantity to three heaps of ten
hall-cors, or about 380 gallons to each i*lvD
of grain (= >s of ephah, Gesen.), and wishes the
quantity in each heap, rather than their num-

Fig. 16.— TieaJiug out the grain by oxen, and winnowing. I. Ealing up the ears to the centre. 2. The driver. 3. Winnowing
with wooden shovels. (Wilkinson, TJtebcs.)

ber, to be increased if the field be large
(Scherioth, cap. iii. 2). We learn also from
Is. xxv. 10, 11, the existence of a midden with
a tank for liquid manure. >ior was the great
usefulness of sheep to the soil unrecognised
(Sdir.r. iii. 4), though, owing to the general dis
tinctness of the pastoral life, there was less
scope for it. Vegetable ashes, burnt stubble, &c.
were also used; and the regulation for com
pensation in case of fire destroying a neighbour's
produce (Ex. xxii. 6) probably has in view the
firing a surface, to burn thorns and similar
refuse.

The " shovel " and " fan " (iin"! and PRO,
Is. xxx. 24. the dillerenci- between which is pre-
1 For the obscure words ni'lE*'- here applied to wheat,
and jODJ tu barley, see 0k>sen. s. to. The latter cannot
grammatically be an epithet. Some have taken it io"
"runlet"; but it is perhaps best taken in adverbial
apposition, " as appointed," with reference to the space
allotted. See Cheyne, I. c.
k The proper word for a chariot wheel, as in Exod. xi'-
25, is used here in v. 27 ; in v. 28 the more general
word, used also for water-wheels, &c.

AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE

67

<sei'ved to the present day) indicate the process of
winnowing — a conspicuous part of ancient hus
bandry (Ps. xxxv. 5; Job xxi. 18; Is. xvii. 13),
and important owing to the slovenly threshing.
Evening was the favourite time (Ruth iii. 2)
when there was mostly a breeze. The "wind
from the wilderness," i.e. ih-v, was favourable
to the same purpose ' (Jer. iv. 11). The i*ntp
(rnt, to scatter) = irrvov (Matt. iii. 12 ; Horn.
Iliad, xviii. 588), was the midra or fork with
six prongs; while the Jin"! (akin to nil?) was
the shovel which threw the grain up against the
wind (see Wetzstein in Delitzsch, Jcsaia,2 p. 707 ff.
Cp. however on ""11*1*1 Delitzsch, Jcs.* p. 337, note).
The heap of produce rendered in rent was some
times customarily so large as to cover the niTl
(Bam Mctzia, ix. 2). So the tttvov was a
corn-measure in Cyprus, and the SItttvov = ^
a piSipvos (Liddell and Scott, Lex. s. v.
tttvov). The last process was the shaking in a
sieve, mnS, cribnim, to separate dirt and
refuse (Is. xxx. 28 ; Amos ix. 9 ; cf. Luke
xxii. 31).
The words rendered "barn," "storehouse,"
" garner " in A. V., sometimes denote structures
raised on the surface (Luke xii. 18), but very
often subterranean repositories excavated in the
rock, &c. This gives great profundity to the
image of Ps. xxxiii. 7, " He layeth up the depth
in storehouses." Such is probably the expla
nation of Jer. xii. 8, where Ishmael's prisoners
were, " We have treasures in the field, of wheat,
&c." The same word occurs in Job iii. 21,
" who dig for it more than for hid treasures."
They were so hidden ¦ that without guidance
no stranger could find them ; in short, a cache
is intended. Hence the prisoners virtually offer
to show them, and thus to ransom themselves.
In the Speaker's Commentary, "0 ray moun
tain in the field " is supposed to refer to
Jerusalem. Thus it is said of Babylon, " Open
her storehouses, cast her up as heaps," the
" heaps" of corn (Hag. ii. 16) flung forth
6f such receptacles supplying the image (Jer. 1.
26). Such were made in abundance by Hezekiah
(2 Gh. xxxii. 28). Seed corn was so stored ;
cp. " Is the seed yet in the barn ? " (Hag. ii.
19), i.e. unsown. In Joel i. 17, "The barns
are broken down," probably in the husband
man's despair at the complete havoc described.
Fields and floors were not commonly enclosed ;
vineyards mostly were, with a tower and other
buildings (Num. xxii. 24; Ps. lxxx. 12; Is. v. 5;
Matt. xxi. 33; comp. Judg. vi. 11). Banks of
mud from ditches were also used.
Fruit gardens, fruit trees, and orchards are
often mentioned, but few kinds of fruits
are named. Besides the fig, olive, and vine,
there occur apple-trees (so called, but see
Apples), pomegranates, palms (i.e. date palms ;
cf. Bethany, " House of dates "), mulberries
(2 Sam. v. 23, 24 ; 1 Mac. vi. 34), pistachio-
nut, walnut (Gen. xliii. 11; Cant. vi. 11), and
almond ; also melons in Egypt (Num. xi. 5),
and 'various kinds of spices (Cant. iv. 13, 14).
"Gardens and orchards " are mentioned specially

1 Thus the residuum of empty husks and chaff be
comes an image of vacant desolation; and "fanners
which shall fan " are threatened against Babylon (Jer.
Ii. 2.)

among royal delights (Eccles. ii. X We have
also summer fruits spoken of (Is. xvi. 9 ;
Amos viii. 2; J lie. vii. 1); but the precise
kinds intended by this general term are un
certain [Garden], In Is. xvii. 10 "plantations
of delights" (A. V. "pleasant plants;" It. Vr.
marg. " plantings of Adonis ") seem to corre
spond to old English " plcasaunces," aud pro
pagation by slips seems intended by the con
text. There is no mention of grafting in1 the
0. T., aud the reference to it in Kom. xi. 17 sq.
is perhaps due to later influences.
With regard to occupancy, a tenant might pay
a fixed moneyed rent (Cant. viii. 11), in which
case he was called "D*1^, and was compellable to
keep the ground in good order ; or a stipulated
share of the fruits (2 Sam. ix. 10 ; Matt. xxi. 34),
often a half or a third: Joseph in Egypt ap
pointed a fifth (Gen. xlvii. 24, 26) : but local cus
tom was the only rule : in this case he was called
7>3pD, and was more protected, the owner
sharing the loss of a short or spoilt crop ; so, in
case of locusts, blight, &c, the year's rent was
to be abated ; or he might receive such share
as a salary — an inferior position — when the
term which described him was "131"1. It was
forbidden to sow flax during a short' occupancy
(hence leases for terms of years would seem to
have been common), lest the soil should be un
duly exhausted (comp. Virg. Georg. i. 77). A
passer-by might eat any quantity of corn or
grapes, but not reap or carry off fruit (Deut.
xxiii. 24, 25 ; Matt. xii. 1). The " burdens of
wheat," taken from the poor (Amos v. 11),
should be rendered " the tax of wheat." Tyre
was a large customer of Judah for wheat (Ezek.
xxvii. 17 ; Acts xii. 20) [Minnitii]. There was
a corn market of course in Jerusalem, and most
important cities, &c. (Amos viii. 5), and its
tradesmen's misdeeds are denounced ; see also
Neh. xiii. 15.
The rights of- the corner to be left, and of
gleaning [Corner; Gleaning], formed the
poor man's claim on the soil for support. For
his benefit, too, a sheaf forgotten in carrying to
the floor was to be left-; so also- with regard
to the vineyard and the olive-grove (Lev.
xix. 9, 10; Deut. xxiv. 19). Besides, there
seems a probability that every third year a
second tithe, besides the priests', was paid for
the poor (Deut. xiv. 28, xxvi. 12; Amos iv. 4;
Tob. i. 7 ; Joseph. Ant. iv. 8). On this doubtful
point of the poor man's tithe COI* "lOTD) see a
learned note by Surenhusius, ad Peah, viii. 2.
These rights, in case two poor men were
partners in occupancy, might be conveyed by
each to the other for half the field, and thus be
retained between them (Maimon. ad Peah, v. 5).
Sometimes a charitable owner declared his
ground common, when its fruits, as those of
the sabbatical year, went to the poor [Sabbath].
For three years the fruit of newly-planted trees
was deemed uncircumcised and forbidden ; in
the fourth it was holy, as first-fruits ; in the
fifth it might be ordinarily eaten (Mishna, Arlah,
passim). Probably three years would mostly be
needed for the maturation of the tree to the
fruit-bearing point. The planter of a vineyard
would thus, according to Deut. xx. 6, be for four
years exempt from military service [Vine
yard]. For the various classical analogies,
see Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antiq. s. v. [H. H.]
F 2

68

AGRIPPA

AGRIPPA. [Herod.]
A'GUR ("MS, MY y = collector; LXX. om. ;
Congregans). The son of Jakeh, an unknown
Hebrew sage, who uttered or collected the
sayings of wisdom recorded in Prov. xxx. Ewald
attributes to him the authorship of Prov. xxx.
1-xxxi. 9, in consequence of the similarity of
style exhibited in the three sections therein con
tained ; and assigns as his date a period not
earlier than the end of the 7th or beginning ofthe
6th cent. B.C. Delitzsch assigns Prov. xxx., xxxi.
to the same person who made the great Hezekian
collection. The Babbis, according to Eashi, and
Jerome after them, interpreted the name sym
bolically of Solomon, who " collected understand
ing" (from *1*iX, agar, he gathered), and is else
where called " Koheleth." Others render Prov.
xxx. 1 as follows : — " The words of Agur, the son
¦of Jakeh, of (the country of) Massa " (Delitzsch
= Mesha, see Gen. x. 30). Hence Bunsen (Bibel-
v:erk, i. p. clxxviii.) contended that Agur was
an inhabitant of Massa, and probably a descend
ant of one of the 500 Simeonites, who, in the
reign of Hezekiah, drove out the Amalekites
from Mount Seir. Hitzig goes further, and
makes him the son of the queen of Massa (which
he places in N. Arabia, Miihlau in the Hauran)
and brother of Lemuel (Die Spriiche Sal. p. 311,
ed. 1858). The names Agur and Jakeh do not
occur elsewhere, and some have thought them
pseudonyms. In Castellus's Lex. Heptag. we find
.the Syriac word ] JQ . j, dguro, defined as
signifying " one who applies himself to the
studies of wisdom," which may be better ren
dered " the hireling of wisdom " (Payne Smith,
Thes. Syr. col. 25), from the Syriac sense of
J«i |, " a reward." Hence may have been de
rived a traditional interpretation of the proper
name Agur. Much discussion on the questions
connected with this verse and section of the
Proverbs will be found in Miihlau, De prow.
Aguri et Lem. origine (1869); Delitzsch, art.
"Spriiche Salomos," in Herzog, RE.2, and Cheyne,
Job and Solomon, pp. 149, 170. [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'HAB (2Xm, MV." = father's brother,
comparison being made with a similar juxta
position in Syriac names, e.g. GlQolj \**\
which Bar-Hebr. explains as due to great like
ness to his father ; cp. Nestle, Die Israelitischen
Eigennamen, p. 187, n. 1 : 'AXadB ; Achab), son
of Omn, seventh king of the separate kingdom
of Israel, and second of his dynasty. The great
lesson which we learn from his life is the depth of
wickedness into which a weak man may fall, even
though not devoid of good feelings and amiable
impulses, when he abandons himself to the
guidance of another person, resolute, unscru
pulous, and depraved. The cause of his ruin
was h,s marriage with Jezebel, daughter of
Ethbaal, or Ithobaal, king of Tyre, who had
been priest of Astarte, but had usurped the
throne of his brother Phalles (compare Joseph.
Ant. viu. 13, 2, with c. Apion. i. 18) If she
resembles the Lady Macbeth of our great
dramatist, Ahab has hardly Macbeth's energy
and determination, though he was probably bv
nature a better man. We have a comparatively

AHAB
full account of Ahab's reign, because it was dis
tinguished by the ministry of the great prophet
Elijah, who "was brought into direct collision
with Jezebel, when she ventured to introduce
into Israel the impure worship of Baal and her
father's goddess Astarte. In obedience to hei
wishes, Ahab caused temples to be built to Baal
and "the Asherah" in Samaria itself (1 K. xvi.
32, 33, R. V.J. With a fixed determination
to extirpate the true religion, Jezebel hunted
down and put to death God's prophets, some
of whom were concealed in caves by Obadiah,
the governor of Ahab's house ; while the Phoe
nician rites were carried on with such splendour,
that we read of 450 prophets of Baal and 400 ol
Asherah (see 1 K. xviii. 19, where the A. V,
follows the LXX. in erroneously substituting
" the groves " for the proper name " the Ashe
rah " [R. V.], as again in 2 K. xxi. 7, xxiii. 6 ;
where R. V. has in both places Asherah).
[Asherah.] How the worship of God was
restored, and the idolatrous priests slain, in
consequence of " a sore famine in Samaria," will
be more properly related under the article
Elijah. But heathenism and persecution were
not the only crimes into which Jezebel led hei
yielding husband. One of his chief tastes was
for splendid architecture, which he showed bv
building an ivory house and several cities, and
also by ordering the restoration and fortification
of Jericho, which seems to have belonged to
Israel, and not to Judah, as it is said to have
been rebuilt in the days of Ahab, rather than in
those of the contemporary king of Judah,
Jehoshaphat (1 K. xvi. 34). But the place in
which he chiefly indulged this passion was the
beautiful city of Jezreel (now Zerin), in the
plain of Esdraelon, which he adorned with a
palace and park for his own residence, though
Samaria remained the capital of his kingdom,
Jezreel standing in the same relation to it as the
Versailles of the old French monarchy to Paris
(Stanley, S. $ P. p. 244). Desiring to add to his
pleasure-grounds there the vineyard of his
neighbour Naboth, he proposed to buy it or give
land in exchange for it; and when this was
refused by Naboth, in accordance with the
Mosaic law, on the ground that the vineyard
was " the inheritance of his fathers " (Lev. xxv.
23), a false accusation of blasphemy was brought
against him, and not only was he himself stoned
to death, but his sons also, as we learn from
2 K. ix. 26. Elijah, already the great vindicator
of religion, now appeared as the assertor ot
morality, and declared that the entire extirpa
tion of Ahab's house was the penalty appointed
for his long course of wickedness, now crowned
by this atrocious crime. The execution, however,
of this sentence was delayed in consequence of
Ahab's deep repentance. The remaining part of
the First Book of Kings is occupied by an account
of the Syrian wars, which some think was origin
ally contained in the last two chapters. It is
thought more natural to place the 20th chapter
after the 21st, and so bring the whole history of
these wars together, than to interrupt the narra
tive by interposing the story of Naboth between
the 20th and 22nd, especially as the beginning of
the 22nd seems to follow naturally from the end
of the 20th. And this arrangement is found in
the LXX. [B. ; A. follows the order of the Heb.]
and is confirmed by the narrative of Josephus.

AHAB
We read of three campaigns which Ahab un
dertook against Benhadad II. , king of Damascus,
two defensive and one offensive. In the first,
Benhadad laid siege to Samaria, and Ahab,
encouraged by the patriotic counsels of God's
prophets, who, next to the true religion, valued
most deeply the independence of His chosen
people, made a sudden attack on him whilst
in the plenitude of arrogant confidence he was
banqueting in his tent with his thirty-two
vassal kings. The Syrians were totally routed,
and fled to Damascus. Next year Benhadad,
believing that his failure was owing to some
peculiar power which the God of Israel exer
cised over the hills, invaded Israel by way of
Aphek, on the E. of Jordan (Stanley, S. § P.
App. § 6. See Aphek, 5). Ahab's fresh victory
was so complete that Benhadad himself fell into
his hands ; but was released (contrary to the
will of God as announced by a prophet) on
condition of restoring all the cities of Israel
which he held, and making " streets " for Ahab
in Damascus (confirmed by the inscriptions ; see
Schrader, KAT.2 p. 199) ; that is, admitting into
his capital permanent Hebrew commissioners, in
an independent position, with special dwellings
for themselves and their retinues, to watch over
the commercial and political interests of Ahab
and his subjects. This was apparently in retalia
tion for a similar privilege exacted by Benhadad's
predecessor from Omri in respect to Samaria
(1 K. xx. 34). After this great success Ahab
enjoyed peace for three years, and it is difficult
to account exactly for the third outbreak of
hostilities, which in Kings is briefly attributed
to an attack made by Ahab on Ramoth in Gilead
on the east of Jordan, in conjunction with Jeho
shaphat king of Judah, which town he claimed
as belonging to Israel. But if Ramoth was
one of the cities which Benhadad agreed to
restore, why did Ahab wait for three years to
enforce the fulfilment of the treaty? From
this difficulty, and the extreme bitterness shown
by Benhadad against Ahab personally (1 K.
xxii. 31), it seems probable that this was not
the case (or at all events that the Syrians did
not so understand the treaty), but that Ahab,
now strengthened by Jehoshaphat, who must
have felt keenly the paramount importance of
crippling the power of Syria, originated the war
by assaulting Ramoth without any immediate
provocation. In any case, God's blessing did
not rest on the expedition, and Ahab was told
by the prophet Micaiah that it would fail, and
that the prophets who advised it were hurrying
him to his ruin. For giving this warning
Micaiah was imprisoned ; but Ahab was so far
roused by it as to take the precaution of dis
guising himself, so as not to offer a conspicuous
mark to the archers of Benhadad. But he was
slain by a "certain man who drew a bow at a
venture ; " and, though stayed up in his chariot
for a time, he died towards evening, and his
army dispersed. When he was brought to be
buried in Samaria, the dogs licked up his blood
as a servant was washing his chariot (1 K. xxii.
37, 38 : see R. V.) ; a partial fulfilment of Elijah's
prediction (1 K. xxi. 19), which was more
literally accomplished in the case of his son
(2 K. ix. 26). Josephus, however, substitutes
Jezreel for Samaria in the former passage (Ant.
viii. 15, 6). The date of Ahab's accession is,

AHARHEL

69

according to the old chronology, 919 u.c. • of
his death, B.C. 897. Schrader, "Wellhauscnj 'and
others, correcting the dates by the Assyrian
monuments, place his reign between B.C. 874-854.
These monuments supplement the Biblical nar
rative by recording one very important event,.
From au inscription engraved by Shalmaneser
(II.) on the rocks of Armenia, it would seem that
in the campaign of the sixth year (B.C. 854) of
this Assyrian monarch, a battle was fought at
Karkar against twelve (? eleven) allied kings.
Amongst the allies were Ahab of Israel aud
Hadadezer (Benhadad) of Damascus. Such an
alliance was a natural result of the covenant
between Syria and Israel, followed by the three
years' peace (1 K. xx. 34, xxii. 1). The inscription
records a complete defeat of the allies ; and, if the
numbers can be trusted, Benhadad's loss in men
and material was greater than Ahab's. Perhaps
this may not have been without its influence in
inducing Ahab to put an end to the alliance
and " entice " (2 Ch. xviii. 2 ; R. V. " move ">
Jehoshaphat to join forces with him and make
an united attack on Ramoth-gilead. See Schrader,
KAT.2 pp. 193-200 ; Zeitschr. f. Keilschriften, ii.
365-384 ; Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient
Monuments, p. 101, &c. ; Becords of the Pastr
iii. 99; Tiele, Bab.-Assyr. Geschichte, p. 200;
Hommel, Gesch. Bab.-Assyr. p. 608 ; Hebraica,
iii. 2014. Klostermann (in Strack u. Zockler's
Kgf. Komm.— ' Chronologie d. Konigsbucher,"
p. 496) appears to be alone in denying that the
'Ahabbu mentioned in the Inscriptions as de
feated at Karkar is the Ahab of Israel, and
places his reign in B.C. 910-889.
Some critics allow but little merit to some of
the Biblical records of Ahab's life, and by no
means accept the usual estimate of his character
or of Elijah's work (cp. Bleek-Wellhausen,
Einleitung* in d. A. T. pp. 245, &c. ; Wellhausen,
Geschichte Israels, i. pp. 302-6 ; Stade, Gesch..
d. Volkes Israel, i. p. 522, &c). Thus, the
sections dealing with Elijah and Naboth (chaps.
xvii.-xix. xxi.) are considered to be largely
affected by legends circulating about the prophet,
to be marked by strong partisanship against Ahab,
and to be reputed unhistorical on account of the
miracles which they record. Further, the sections
dealing with Ahab and Benhadad (ch. xx.), and
with Ahab's death (ch. xxii.), are said to be
marked by interpolations ; though these are not
of a character to discredit the general trust
worthiness of the narrative. Many of these
criticisms are met by Edersheim, History of
Judah and Israel, v, 176, vi. 1-58.
The Rabbinical conceptions of Ahab, often
very curious, will be found summed up in Ham
burger, RE.2 s. n.
2. 'X and "JPIK ; 'AxidB ; Achab. The son of
Kolaiah, and a lying prophet, who deceived the
Israelites in Babylon, and was burnt to death by
Nebuchadnezzar(Jer. xxix. 21). [G.E.L. C] [F.]
AH'ARAH ("Tint', Ges. suggests nNIIIN.
post fratrem ; MV.'° an abbreviation of Ahar-
hel; etym. is uncertain: A. 'Aapd, B. '\a<$>aii\:
Ahara). The third son of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii.
1). See Aher, Ahiram. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHAR'HEL (^rnnK, Ges. = behind a for-
tress-wall[cip. Olshausen, Lehrb. p. 164]; &5eA<pbs
'VriX&B ; Aharehel). A name occurring in an

70

AHASAI

obscure fragment of the genealogies of Judah
(1 Ch. iv. 8). ff The families of Aharhel " ap
parently traced their descent through Coz to
Ashur, the posthumous son of Hezron. The
Targum of R. Joseph on Chronicles (I. c.) identi
fies him with "Hur the firstborn of Miriam."
The LXX. (aSeKipov 'PnxbB) appear to have read
3H1 'I*1K, "brother of Rechab." [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHASA'I (»TI*1K, MV." an abbreviation for
iTtriX ; om. in LXX., H.3 'Afaxiis ; Ahazi). A
priest, ancestor of Amashai (Neh. xi. 13), called
Jahzeraii in 1 Ch. ix. 12. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHAS'BAI 03pnN, of uncertain etym.;
MV.10 = contr. from" 3*3 HDnK, I will take
refuge in Jah : B. o 'Air/3eiTrjr, A. 6 Ahove :
Aasbai), the father of Eliphelet, one of David's
thirty-seven captains (2 Sam. xxiii. 34). The
name is suspicious, perhaps corrupt ; cp. Driver,
Notes on Samuel in loco ; and cp. the very different
names in 1 Ch. xi. 35. The LXX. regarded the
name Ahasbai as denoting not the father but
the family of Eliphelet. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHASHVE'ROSH, mentioned in the margin
•of Ezra iv. 6 (A.. V. and R. V.) as the Hebrew-
form of Ahasuerus. [F.]
AHASUE'RUS (B'il'.'f'nX ; 'Ao-o-oinpos,
LXX., but 'Aavripos, Tob. xiv. 15, A. V. ; As-
suerus, Vulg.), the name of one Median and two
Persian kings mentioned in the Old Testament.
It may be desirable to prefix to this article a
chronological table of the Medo-Persian kings
from Cyaxares to Artaxerxes Longimanus,
according to their ordinary classical names.
The Scriptural names conjectured to correspond
to them and Artaxerxes are in some cases
added in italics.
1. Cyaxares, king of Media, son of Phraortes,
grandson of Deioces and conqueror of Nineveh,
began to reign B.C. 634. Ahasuerus.
2. Astyages his son, last king of Media,
B.C. 594.
3. Cyrus, son of his daughter Mandane and
•Cambyses, a Persian noble, first king of Persia,
559. Cyrus.
4. Cambyses his son, 529. Ahasuerus.
5. A Magian usurper, who personates Smer-
¦dis, the youngerson of Cyrus, 521. Artaxerxes.
6. Darius Hystaspis, raised to the throne on
the overthrow of the Magi, 521. Darius.
7. Xerxes, his son, 485. Ahasuerus.
8. Artaxerxes Longimanus (Macrocheir), his
son, 465^195. . Artaxerxes. ,
The name Ahasuerus or Achashverosh is, ac
cording to Schrader (KAT.2 p. 375), written on
the Persian inscriptions Khsajdrsd, — a name,
according to MV.", compounded from kshaja =
kingdom and arsfiei=eye (Burnouf). Schrader
and MV." take A. to be the Hebrew form of
the name Xerxes. It is written in Aramaic
CnN*t5TI (without X prosthetic, Schrader,
EAT.2 p. 615), on the beautiful stele of Sak-
karah from Egypt, in his 4th year (see Fac
similes of MSS. and Inscriptions, PI. lxiii. Palaio-
graphical Soe, Oriental Series). Herod. ( vi.
98) explains Xerxes to mean bpijios, a significa
tion sufficiently near that of king.
1. In Dan. ix. 1, Ahasuerus is said to be the
father of Darius the Mede. With many Cyax
ares is a form of Ahasuerus, grecised into

AHASUERUS
Axares with the prefix Cy- or Kai-, common to
the Kaianian dynasty of kings (Malcolm's
Persia, ch. iii.), with which may be compared,
Kai Khosroo, the Persian name of Cyrus. The
son of this Cyaxares was Astyages, and it hasi
been conjectured that Darius the Mede. was
Astyages, set over Babylon as viceroy by his
grandson Cyrus, and allowed to live there.dn
royal state (see Eawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i.
Essay iii. § 11). [Darius.] On this supposi
tion Ahasuerus is Cyaxares, the conqueror of
Nineveh. And in accordance with this view;
wo read in Tobit, xiv. 15, that Nineveh was
taken by Nabuchodonosor (i.e. as crown-prince'
see Speaker's Commentary on Tob. xiv. 4) and
Assuerus, i.e. Cyaxares. This identification of
Ahasuerus is not, however, universally admitted
either in the passage of Dan. or of Tobit (see
Schrader in Riehm's HWB. and Schultz in
Herzog's RE.2 s. n.), and in the opinion of many
it is wisest to wait for further discovery or
information. 2. In Ezra iv. 6, the enemies of the Jews,
after the death of Cyrus, desirous to frustrate
the building of Jerusalem, send accusations.
against them to Ahasuerus, king of Persia.*
Ewald thought that this king was Cambyses,
arguing from v. 5 that the opposition to the
Jews continued from the time of Cyrus to that
of Darius, and that the Ahasuerus and Arta
xerxes mentioned in vr. 6, 7 were names of
Cambyses and the Pseudo-Smerdis, who reigned1
between them. This identification is also gene
rally surrendered. Further, it is not necessary
to consider the section Ezra iv. 6-23 episodicaLi
or to preserve historical continuity by reading
v. 24 immediately after v. 5 (see Sayce, Intro
duction to Ezra, &c, p. 22). The existing
arrangement may very well stand, if vo. 6-23
be considered a summary statement of the prin
cipal relations between the enemies of the Jews
and the Persian kings during the period extend
ing beyond the days of Darius Hystaspis (cp..
Bertheau-Ryssel,1 Esr.i, Nchemia. u. Ester, p.
62 ; Oettli in Strack u. Zflckler's Kgf. Komm. on
Esra, p. 161). Ahasuerus is then identified with
Xerxes (No. 7. Cp. Schrader and Schultz, II. c.),
and with the Ahasuerus next to be considered."-
3. The third is the Ahasuerus of the Book of
Esther. It is needless to give more than the
heads of the well-known story. Having divorced
his queen Vashti for refusing to appear in public
at a banquet, he married four years afterwards
the Jewess Esther, cousin and ward of Mordecai.
Five years after this, Haman, one of his coun
sellors, having been slighted by Mordecai, pre
vailed upon the king to order the destruction of
all the Jews in the empire. But before the day-
appointed for the massacre, Esther and Mordecai
overthrew the influence which Haman had exer
cised, and so completely changed the king's feel
ings in the matter, that they induced him to put
Haman to death, and to give the Jews the right
of self-defence. This they used so vigorously.
that they killed several thousands of their oppo- '
nents. Now from the extent assigned to the
Persian empire (Esth. i. 1), " from India even
unto Ethiopia," it is proved that Darius Hystas
pis is the earliest possible king to whom this
history can apply, and it is hardly worth while
to consider the claims of any after Artaxerxes'
Longimanus. But Ahasuerus cannot be identical

AHAVA
with Darius, whose wives were the daughters
of Cyrus and Otanes, and who alike in name
and character differs from that foolish tyrant.
Neither can he be Artaxerxes Longimanus,
although, as Artaxerxes is a compound of Xerxes,
there is less difficulty here as to the name. But
in the first place the character of Artaxerxes,
as given by Plutarch and by Diodorus (xi. 71),
is also very unlike that of Ahasuerus. Besides
this, in Ezra vii. 1-7, 11-26, Artaxerxes, in the
seventh year of his reign, issues a decree very
favourable to the Jews, and it is therefore
unlikely that in the twelfth (Esth. iii. 7) Haman
could speak to him of them as if he knew
nothing about them, and persuade him to sen
tence them to an indiscriminate massacre. We
are therefore led to the belief, now generally
accepted, that Ahasuerus is Xerxes (the names
being, as we have seen, identical) : and this
conclusion is fortified by the resemblance of
character (cp. Herod, vii. 35, 37, ix. 107 ; Justin,
ii. 12 ; Spiegel, Eranische Alterthumskunde, ii.
377, &c), and by certain chronological indica
tions. As Xerxes scourged the sea, and put to
death the engineers of his bridge, because their
work was injured bv a storm, so Ahasuerus
repudiated his queen Vashti because she would
not violate the decorum of her sex, and ordered
the massacre of the whole Jewish people to
gratify the malice of Haman. In the third year
of the reign of Xerxes was held an assembly to
arrange the Grecian war (Herod, vii. 7 ff.) ; in
the third year of Ahasuerus was held a great
feast and assembly in Shushan the palace (Esth.
i. 3). In the seventh year of his reign Xerxes
returned defeated from Greece, and consoled
himself by the pleasures of the harem (Herod.
ix. 108) ; in the seventh year of his reign " fair
young virgins were sought" for Ahasuerus,
and he replaced Vashti by marrying Esther.
The tribute he " laid upon the land and upon
the isles of the sea " (Esth. x. 1) may well have
been the result of the expenditure and ruin of
the Grecian expedition. Throughout the Book
of Esther in the LXX. 'ApTa|ep{7)s is written for
Ahasuerus, but on this no argument of weight
¦can be founded. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
AHAVA (S1HN : in Ezra [2 Esd.] viii. 15, B.
EJeljii,. A. Euei ; in Ezra viii. 21, A. 'Aov4, B. 0oue;
in Ezra viii. 31, B. 'Aoiw, AB.*,ld ®ov4 : Ahava), a
place (Ezra viii. 15), or a river ("li"IJ, viii. 25), on
the banks of which Ezra collected the second ex
pedition which returned with him from Babylon to
Jerusalem. Various have been the conjectures as
to its locality : e.g. Adiaba (Leclerc and Manncrt) ;
Abeh or Aveh (Havernick, see Winer) ; the
Great Zab (Rosenmuller, Bib. Geogr.). But the
latest researches are in favour of its being the
modern Hit, on the Euphrates, due east of
Damascus, the name of which is known to have
been in the post-biblical times Ihi, or Ihi da-
kira (Talm. NTpl K',T), "the spring of bitu
men." See Rawlinson's Herodotus, i. 316, note.
In the apocryphal Esdras (1 Esd. viii. 41, 61)
the name is given ®cpds [B. omits in v. 41] ;
Thia. Josephus (Ant. xi. 5, § 2) merely says
tils Tb iripav tov Evcppdrov. [G.] [W.]
A'HAZ (Hia, possessor ; perhaps an abridge
ment or alteration of Jehoahaz, the Jauhazi ofthe
Inscriptions [Schrader, KA I'.2 p. 263] : B. 'AxbC
and'Axds, A. 'Ax&C ana 'A-Xa^C I Joseph. 'Axd(ns :

AHAZ

71

Acluiz), eleventh king of Judah and son of Jo
tham, ascended the throne in the twentieth vear
of his age, according to 2 K. xvi. 2. But this
must be a transcriber's error for the twenty-fifth
which number is found in one Hebrew MS., the
LXX. [Lucian ; BA. have 20], the Peshito, and
Arabic Version of 2 Ch. xxviii. 1 ; for otherwise
his son Hezekiah was born when he was eleven
years old (so Clinton, Fasti Hell., vol. i. p. 318).
At the time of his accession, Rezin, king of
Damascus, and Pekah, king of Israel, had recently
formed a league against Judah, and they pro
ceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem, intending to
place on the throne Ben Tabeal, who was not a
prince of the royal family of Judah, but probably
a Syrian soldier of low origin (Gesenius). Upon
this the great prophet Isaiah, full of zeal for
God and patriotic loyalty to the house of David,
hastened to give advice and encouragement to
Ahaz, and it was probably owing to the spirit of
energy and religious devotion which he poured
into his counsels that the allies failed in their
attack on Jerusalem. Thus much, together with
anticipations of danger from the Assyrians, and
a general picture of weakness and unfaithfulness
both in the king and the people, we find in the
famous prophecies of the 7th, 8th, and 9th
chapters of Isaiah, in which he seeks to animate .
and support them by the promise of the Messiah.
From 2 Ch. xxviii. we learn that the allies took
a vast number of captives, who, however, were
restored in virtue of the remonstrances of the
prophet Oded ; and from 2 K. xvi. that they
also inflicted a most severe injury on Judah by
the capture of Elath, a flourishing port on the
Red Sea, in which, after expelling the Jews, they
re-established the Edomitcs (according to Keri
of 2 K. xvi. 6, DWN ['loovpaloi and Vulg.].
Further Ewald, Thenius, Stade, Edersheim, &c,,
conjecture D*Ij!*7 for DlfcO), who attacked and
wasted the east part of Judah, while the
Philistines invaded the west and south. The
weak-minded and helpless Ahaz sought deliver
ance from these numerous troubles by appealing
to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, who freed
him from his most formidable enemies by in
vading Syria, taking Damascus, killing Rezin,
and depriving Israel of its Northern and Trans-
jordanic districts. But Ahaz had to pur
chase this help at a costly price : he became
tributary to Tiglath-pileser (so the Inscriptions,
in which Ahaz = Jahuhazi ; see Schrader, KA T.2
p. 263), sent him all the treasures of the Temple
and of his own palace, and even appeared before
him in Damascus as a vassal. He also ventured
to seek for safety in heathen ceremonies (2 K,
xvi. 3, 4 ) ; making his son pass through the
fire to Moloch, consulting wizards and necro
mancers (Is. viii. 19), sacrificing to the Syrian
gods, introducing a foreign altar from Damascus,
and probably the worship of the heavenly bodies
from Assyria and Babylon, as he would seem to
have set. up the horses of the sun mentioned in
2 K. xxiii. 11 (cf. Tac. Ann. xii. 13) ; and "the
altars on the top (or roof) of the upper chamber
of Ahaz " (2 K. xxiii. 12) were connected with
the Assyrian adoration of the stars. We see
another and blameless result of this intercourse
with an astronomical people in the "sundial of
Ahaz," Is. xxxviii. 8. He died after <i reign of
sixteen years, lasting according to some B.C,

72

AHAZIAH

735-715, according to others B.C. 735 or 4-728.
See Chronolosy ; Driver, Isaiah, his Life and
Times, pp. 13, 14 ; Herzog, RE.2 Zeitrechnung,
p. 477. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
2. A son of Micah, the grandson of Jonathan
through Meribbaal or Mephibosheth (1 Ch. viii.
35, 36 [B. ZdK, A. XadQ, ix. 42 [B. 'AXaf,
A.XadQ). [W.A.W.] [F.]
AHAZI'AH (H'triK. -innnS, whom Jeho
vah sustains; B. 'Oy.o&'m, A- -<- i Ochozias).
1. Son of Ahab and Jezebel, and eighth king of
Israel. After the battle of Ramoth in Gilead
[Ahab] the Syrians had the command of the
country along the east of Jordan, and they cut
off all communication between the Israelites and
Moabites, so that Mesha, the vassal king of
Moab, refused his yearly tribute of 100,000
lambs and 100,000 rams with their wool (2 K.
iii. 4, 5 ; cp. Is. xvi. 1), and " rebelled against
the king of Israel." [On the war between Israel
and Moab, and the supplement to the Biblical
account furnished by " the Moabite stone," see
Sayce, Fresh Light from the Ancient Monuments,
p. 76, &c] Before Ahaziah could take measures
for enforcing his claim, he was seriously injured
by a fall through a lattice in his palace at
Samaria. In his health he had worshipped his
mother's gods, and now he sent to inquire of the
oracle of Baalzebub in the Philistine city of
Ekron whether he should recover his health.
But Elijah, who now for the last time exercised
the prophetic ofiice, rebuked him for this im
piety, and announced to him his approaching
death. He reigned two years ; the date being
dependent upon that adopted for the death of
Ahab. The only other recorded transaction of
his reign, his endeavour to join the king of
Judah in trading to Ophir, is more fitly related
under Jehoshaphat (1 K. xxii. 50 ff. ; 2 K. i. ;
2 Ch. xx. 35 ff.).
2. Fifth king of Judah, son of Jehoram and
Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, and therefore
nephew of the preceding Ahaziah. He is called
Azariah (2 Ch. xxii. 6), probably by a copyist's
error, and Jehoahaz (2 Ch. xxi. 17), which is the
same name as Ahaziah, the two words of which
they are compounded being reversed. Ewald
(Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iii. p. 525) thinks
that his name was changed to Ahaziah on his
accession, but the LXX. read 'Oxo$as for Je
hoahaz, and with this agree the Peshito, Chald.,
and Arabic. So, too, while in 2 K. viii. 26 we
read that he was 22 years old at his accession,
we find in 2 Ch. xxii. 2 that his age at that
time was 42. The former number is certainly
right, as in 2 Ch. xxi. 5, 20, we see that his
father Jehoram was 40 when he died, which
would make him younger than his own son. The
LXX. of 2 Ch. xxii. 2 reads 20. Ahaziah was an
idolater, " walking in all the ways ofthe house of
Ahab," and he allied himself with his uncle Jeho
ram, king of Israel, brother and successor of
the preceding Ahaziah, against Hazael, the new
king of Syria. The two kings were successful at
Ramoth (cp. 2 K. ix. 14), though Jehoram was so
severely wounded that he retired to his mother's
palace at Jezreel to be healed. The union be
tween the uncle and nephew was so close that
there was great danger lest heathenism should
entirely overspread both the Hebrew kingdoms,
but this was prevented by the great revolution

AHIAjM
carried out in Israel by Jehu under the guidance-
of Elisha, which involved the house of David in
calamities only less severe than those which
exterminated the house of Omri. It broke out
while Ahaziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel.
As Jehu approached the town, Jehoram and
Ahaziah went out to meet him, either from not
suspecting his designs, or to prevent them.
Jehu's arrow pierced the heart of the former.
Ahaziah was pursued as far as the pass of Gur,
near the city of Ibleam, and there mortally
wounded. He died when he reached Megiddo.
But in 2 Ch. xxii. 9 it is said that he was found
hidden in Samaria after the death of Jehoram,
brought to Jehu, and killed by his orders. At
tempts to reconcile these accounts may be found
in Pole's Synopsis ; in Lightfoot 's Harm, of Old
Test, (in loc.) ; in Davidson's Text of the Old
Test, part ii. book ii. ch. xiv. ; in Edersheim,
Hist, of Judah and Israel, vi. 201, and in the
American edition of this work, where Dr. Hackett
considers the two accounts to be at once frag
mentary and supplementary. Ahaziah reigned
one year, B.C. 884 (Klostermann, 875 ; Hommel,
842), called the 12th of Jehoram, king of Israel,
2 K. viii. 25 ; the 11th, 2 K. ix. 29. His father,
therefore, must have died before the 11th year
of Jehoram was concluded (Clinton, Fasti HeB.t
i. p. 324). [G. E. L. C] [F.]
AH'BAN (|3nX, meaning uncertain [Nestle,.
Israelii. Eigennamen, p. 187, n. 1], Ges.=brother.
of the prudent ; B. 'AxaBdp, A. '0(d; Ahobban).
Son of Abishur, by his wife Abihail (1 Ch. ii. 29).
He was of the tribe of Judah. [W. A. W.] [F.J
A'HER. ("inN, another; B. 'Ae'p, A. 'Ao>;
Aher). Ancestor of Hushim, or rather "the
Hushim," as the plural form seems to indicate a
family rather than an individual. The name
occurs in an obscure passage in the genealogy
of Benjamin (1 Ch. vii. 12). Some translators-
consider it as not a proper name at all, and
render it literally " another," because, as Rashi
says, Ezra, who compiled the genealogy, was
uncertain whether the families belonged to the
tribe of Benjamin or not. It is not improbable
that Ahcr and Ahiram (Num. xxvi. 38) are the
same ; unless the former belonged to the tribe
of Dan, whose genealogy is omitted in 1 Ch. vii. r
Hushim being a Dauite as well as a Benjamite
name. [\V. A. W.] [F.]
AHI' CIIX, brother; Ges. and Olshausen
[Lehrb. p. 615] contracted from iTHN [cp. Ke
nan, Des Noms theophores apocope's in 'Revue des
Etudes Juives,' v, 169]). 1. A Gadite, chief
of a family who lived in Gilead in Bashan (1 Ch.
v. 15), in the days of Jotham, king of Judah.
Some texts of the Greek Version and the Vulgate
did not consider the word a proper name. Hence
the reading aBeA.cf>ou, TV, fratres. A. takes the
last name of v. 14 (t-13) and the first name of
r. 15 ('PIN) of the Heb. text, and makes the
name 'Axii$ou£ by reversing the Heb. order. The
reading of B. ZaiSovxfy* is not s0 readily ex
plained. 2. B. 'Axioui<£, A. 'Axiovpd ; Ahi. A
descendant of Shamer, of the tribe of Asher (1 Ok-
vii. 34). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'AH. [Ahijah.]
AHI'AM (DN'riX, meaning obscure, 01s-

AHIAN
hausen, Lehrb. p. 620 ; Gesenius (Thes.) takes it
in 2 Sam. as a wrong reading for "3{J,n**5, father's
brother : 'Apvbv in 2 Sam. ; B. 'Ax*tp> A. 'Ax'bp.
in 1 Ch. : Ahiam), son of Sharar the Hararite (or
of Sacar, 1 Ch. xi. 35), one of David's thirtv
mighty men (2 Sam. xxiii. 33). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'AN (fnX, Ges. = brotherly, comparing
Syr. |< . ».| ; B. 'Iaoei/t, A. 'Aetv ; Ahin), a
Manassite of the family of Shemida (1 Ch.
vii. 19). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'EZER (*lT**',nN, brother of help, or my
brother is help ; 'Ax'4£*p ; Ahiezer). 1. Son of
Ammishaddai, hereditary chieftain of the tribe
of Dan under the administration of Moses (N'ura.
i. 12 ; ii. 25 ; vii. 66, 71 ; x. 25). 2. The Ben-
jamite chief of a body of archers at the time of
David (1 Ch. xii. 3). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'HUD ("l*rvn*<=&rot/ier of majesty, or
my brother is majesty ; B. 'Axiup, A. 'Ax"&B ;
Ahihud). 1. The son of Shelomi, and prince
of the tribe of Asher, selected to assist Joshua
and Eleazar in the division of the Promised Land
(Num. xxxiv. 27). 2. "IPTIX, probably an
error for "M"VnK, cp. Olshausen, Lehrb. p. 615,
MV.10 s. n. ; B. 'Iaxe<X^A> -^- 'IaX'X<*8; Ahiud),
a chief of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii.
7). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'JAH, or AHI'AH (H'nX and -in*nK,
brother of Jah [Ges.] or my brother is Jah [Ols
hausen, MV."]. Cp. the Phoenician parallels in
Nestle, Israel. Eigennamen, p. 186 ; Schroeder,
Phoenic. Gram. p. 87 : 'Ax'd ; Achias). 1. Son
of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phi
nehas, the son of Eli (1 Sam. xiv. 3, 18). He
was the Lord's priest in Shiloh : the ark of God
was under his care, and he inquired of the Lord
by means of it and the ephod (cp. 1 Ch. xiii. 3).
There is, however, great difficulty in reconciling
the statement (1 Sam. xiv. 18) that the ark was
used for inquiring by Ahijah at Saul's bidding,
and the statement that men inquired not at the
ark in the days of Saul, if the latter expression be
taken strictly. This difficulty is removed by the
reading of LXX. B. Tb i<poiS, in 1 Sam. xiv. 18,
instead of " the ark " ; and most modern critics
(cp. Speaker's Comm. 1. c.) accept this reading in
preference to that of the Hebrew. Josephus also
notes that Saul bade the priest take (not the ark
but) " the garments of his priesthood " and pro
phesy (Antiq. vi. 6, § 3). Others, however, still
prefer to meet the difficulty by applying the
expression " the days of Saul " only to all the
latter years of the reign of Saul, when the
priestly establishment was at Nob, and not at
Kirjath-jearim or Baale of Judah, where the ark
was. On this supposition the narrative in 1 Sam.
xiv. may be taken as favourable to the men
tion of the ark. For it appears that Saul
was at the time in Gibeah of Benjamin, and
Gibeah of Benjamin seems to have been the
place where the house of Abinadab was situated
(2 Sam. vi. 3), being probably the Benjamite
quarter of Kirjath-jearim, which lay on the
very borders of Judah and Benjamin (see
Josh, xviii. 14, 28). Whether it was the en
croachments of the Philistines, or an incipient
schism between the tribes of Benjamin and
Judah, or any other cause, which led to the dis-

AHIJAH

73

use of the ark during the later years of Saul's
reign, is difficult to say. But probably the last
time that Ahijah inquired of the Lord before
the ark was on the occasion related 1 Sam. xiv.
36, when Saul marred his victory over the
Philistines by his rash oath, which nearly cost
Jonathan his life. For we there read that when
Saul proposed a night-pursuit of the Philistines,
the priest, Ahijah, said, " Let us draw near
hither unto God ; " for the purpose, namely, of
asking counsel of God. But God returned no
answer, in consequence, as it seems, of Saul's
rash curse. If, as is commonly thought, and as
seems most likely, Ahijah is the same person as
Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, this failure to
obtain an answer from the priest, followed as it
was by a rising of the people to save Jonathan
out of Saul's hands, may have led to an
estrangement between the king and the high-
priest, and predisposed him to suspect Ahime-
lech's loyalty, and to take that terrible revenge
upon him for his favour to David. Such changes
of name as Ahi-melech and Ahi-jah are not un
common (see Genealogies, &c, pp. 115-118); or
it is not impossible that, as Gesenius supposes,
Ahimelech may have been brother to Ahijah.
2. B. 'Ax*la, A. 'Ax'ia ; Achia. Son of Bela
(1 Ch. viii. 7) ; thought to be the same as
Ahoah (1 Ch. viii. 4, B. 'Ax'd, A. omits).
3. Son of Jerahmeel (1 Ch. ii. 25; LXX.
a8e\(pbs ai/Tov ; Achia).
4. Ahia. One of David's mighty men, a
Pelonite (1 Ch. xi. 36).
5. LXX. bSe\(po\ aiiTuv ; Ahias. A Levite in
David's reign who was over the treasures of the
house of God, and over the treasures of the
dedicated things (1 Ch. xxvi. 20).
6. Ahia. One of Solomon's princes, brother
of Elihoreph, and son of Shisha (1 K. iv. 3).
7. Ahias. A Prophet of Shiloh (1 K. xiv. 2),.
hence called the Shilonite (xi. 29), in the days
of Solomon and of Jeroboam king of Israel, of
whom we have two remarkable prophecies
extant : the one in 1 K. xi. 31-39, addressed to
Jeroboam, announcing the rending of the ten
tribes from Solomon, in punishment of his
idolatries, and the transfer of the kingdom to
Jeroboam : a prophecy which, though delivered
privately, became known to Solomon, and ex
cited his wrath against Jeroboam, who fled for
his life into Egypt, to Shishak, and remained
there till Solomon's death. The other prophecy,
in 1 K. xiv. 6-16, was delivered in the Prophet's
extreme old age to Jeroboam's wife, in which he
foretold the death of Abijah, the king's son,
who was sick, and to inquire concerning whom
the queen had come in disguise. He then went
on to denounce the destruction of Jeroboam's
house on account of the images which he had
set up, and to foretell the Captivity of Israel
" beyond the river" Euphrates. These prophe
cies give us a high idea of the faithfulness and
boldness of Ahijah, and of the eminent rank
which he attained as a Prophet. Jeroboam's
speech concerning him (1 K. xiv. 2, 3) shows
the estimation iu which he held him for his
truthfulness and prophetic powers. In 2 Ch.
ix. 29 reference is made to a record of the events
of Solomon's reign contained in the " prophecy
of Ahijah the Shilonite." If there were a larger
work of Ahijah's, the passage in 1 K. xi. may
be based upon it.

74

AHIKAM

8. Ahias. Father of Baasha, king of Israel,
the conterhporary of Asa, king of Judah. He
was of the tribe of Issachar (1 K. xv. 27, 33,
xxi. 22 ; 2 K. ix. 9). [A. C. H."j
9. NA. 'Ala, B. 'Apa ; Echaia. One of the
heads of the people who sealed the covenant with
Nehemiah (Neh. x. 26). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'KAM (D*3*riX, MV." = my brother up
lifts himself, or rises up ; cp. Olshausen, Lehrb. p.
620 : 'Ax'Kap., B. -et- ; Ahicam), a son of Shaphan
the scribe, an influential officer at the court of
Josiah (2 K. xxii. 12) and of Jehoiakim his son
(Jer. xxvi. 24). When Shaphan brought the book
of the Law to Josiah, which Hilkiah the high-
priest had found in the Temple, Ahikam was sent
by the king, together with four other delegates,
to consult Huldah the prophetess on the subject.
In the reign of Jehoiakim, when the priests and
prophets arraigned Jeremiah before the princes
of Judah on account of his bold denunciations
of the national sins. Ahikam successfully used
his influence to protect the Prophet. His son
Gedadiah was made governor of Judah by Nebu
chadnezzar, the Chaldean king, and to his charge
Jeremiah was entrusted when released from
prison (Jer. xxxix. 14, xl. 5). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'LUD O'^nN, meaning doubtful ; ac
cording to Gesen. [Thes.] = brother of the born.
The readings of the Greek texts are very varied.
In 2 Sam. viii. 16, B. 'Axmd, A. 'Axip4hex\ in
2 Sam. xx. 24, 'Axi[B -u-]\oiiB ; in 1 K. iv. 3,
B. 'AxeiMdS, A. 'Axipd ; in 1 Ch. xviii. 15,
B. 'Axeid, A. 'Axi^oiS : Ahilud). 1. Father of
Jehoshaphat, the recorder or chronicler of the
kingdom in the reigns of David and Solomon.
2. B. 'Axeiudx, A. 'E\oiS. The father of
Baana, one of Solomon's twelve commissariat
officers (1 IC. iv. 12). It is uncertain whether
he is the same as No. 1. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'MAAZ (•'¦•p'nN, Ges., from the Arabic,
^brother of anger; A. 'Axipdas, B. 'Axeivdas ;
Achimaas). 1. Father of Saul's wife, Ahinoam
(1 Sam. xiv. 50).
2. B. 'Axeipalas, A. 'Axipdas ; Achimaas.
Son of Zadok, the priest in David's reio-n.
When David fled from Jerusalem on account
of Absalom's rebellion, Zadok aud Abiathar,
accompanied by their sons, Ahimaaz and Jona
than, and the Levites, carried the ark of God
forth, intending to accompany the king. But
at his bidding they returned to the city° as did
likewise Hushai the Archite (2 Sam. xv. 24, &c).
It was then arranged that Hushai should feio-n
himself to be a friend of Absalom, and should
tell Zadok and Abiathar whatever intelligence
he could obtain in the palace. They, on "their
parts, were to forward the intelligence through
Ahimaaz and Jonathan. Accordingly Jonathan
and Ahimaaz stayed outside the walls of the
city at En-rogel, on the road towards the plain
(i bam. xvn. 17). A message soon came to them
irom Zadok and Abiathar through the maid
servant, to say that Ahithophel had counselled
an immediate attack against David and his
followers, and that, consequently, the king
must cross the Jordan without the least delay
They started at once on their, errand, but not
without being suspected, for a lad seeino- the
maid speak to them, and seeing them immedi
ately run off quickly— and Ahimaaz, we know

AHIMAAZ
was a practised runner — went and told Absalom,
who ordered a hot pursuit. In the meantime,
however, they had got as far as Bahurim, the
very place where Shimei cursed David (2 Sam.
xvi. 5), to the house of a steadfast partisan of
David. Here the woman of the house effec
tually hid them in a well in the courtyard, and
covered the well's mouth with ground or
bruised corn. Absalom's servants coming up
searched for them in vain ; and as soon as they
had gone and returned on the road to Jeru
salem, Ahimaaz and Jonathan hasted on to
David, and told him Ahithophel's counsel, and
David with his whole company crossed the Jor
dan that very night. Ahithophel was so morti
fied at seeing the failure of his scheme, through'
the unwise delay in executing it, that he went
home and hanged himself. This signal service
rendered to David, at, the hazard of his life,- by
Ahimaaz, must have tended to ingratiate, him
with the king. We have a proof how highly
he was esteemed by him, as well as an honour
able testimony to his character, in the saying of
David recorded in 2 Sam. xviii. 27. For whei-'
the watchman announced the approach of a
messenger, and added, that his running was like
the running of Ahimaaz, the son of Zadok, the
king said, " He is a good man, and cometh with
good tidings."
The same transaction gives us a very curioust
specimen of the manners of" the times, and a
singular instance of Oriental or Jewish craft in
Ahimaaz. For we learn, first, that Ahimaaz
was a professed runner — and a very swift one
too — which one would hardly have expected in
the son of the high-priest. It belongs, how
ever, to a simple state of society that bodily'
powers of any kind should be highly valued,'
and exercised by the possessor of them in the
most natural way. Ahimaaz was probably
naturally swift, and so became famous for his
running (2 Sam. xviii. 27). So we are told of
Asahel, Joab's brother, that " he was as light of
foot as a wild roe " (2 Sam. ii. 18). And that
quick running was not deemed inconsistent with
the utmost dignity and gravity of character
appears from what we read of Elijah the Tish-
bite, that " he girded up his loins and ran before
Ahab (who was in his chariot) to the entrance
of Jezreel" (1 K. xviii. 46). The kings of
Israel had running footmen to precede them
when they went in their chariots (2 Sam. xv. 1;
1 K. i. 5), and their guards were called 2»S"}.
" runners." It appears by 2 Ch. xxx. 6, 10, tha't
m Hezekiah s reign there was an establishment
of running messengers, who were also called
D ">¦"!. The same name is given to the Persian
posts in Esth. iii. 13, 15; viii. 14: though it
appears from the latter passage that in the time
of Xerxes the service was performed with mules
and camels. The Greek name, borrowed from
the 1 ersiau, was dyyapoi. As regards Ahimaaz's
craftiness we read that, when Absalom was'
Killed by Joab and his armour-bearers, Ahimaaz
was very urgent with Joab to be employed as
the messenger to run and carrv the tidings to
David The politic Joab, well knowing the
king s fond partiality for Absalom, and that-the
news of his death would be anything but good
news to h,m, and apparently having a friendly'
feeling towards Ahimaaz, would not allow him

AHIMAN
to be the bearer of such tidings, but employed
Cushi instead. But after Cushi had started,
Ahimaaz was so urgent with Joab to be allowed
to run too that at length he extorted his con
sent. Taking a shorter or an easier way by the
plain, he managed to outrunCushi before he got
in sight of the watch-tower, and, arriving first,
he reported to the king the good uews of the
victory, suppressing his knowledge of Absalom's
death, and leaving to Cushi the task of an
nouncing it. He had thus the merit of bring
ing good tidings without the alloy of the disa--ter
of the death of the king's son. This is the last
we hear of Ahimaaz, for the Ahimaaz of 1 K.
iv. 15, who was Solomon's captain in Naphtali,
was certainly a different person (3). There is no
evidence, beyond the assertion of Josephus, that
Ahimaaz ever filled the office of high-priest ;
and 'Josephus may have concluded that he did,
merely because, in the genealogy of the high-
priests (1 Ch. vi. 8, 9), he intervenes between
Zadok and Azariah. Judging only from 1 K.
iv. 2, compared with 1 Ch. vi. 10, we should
conclude that Ahimaaz died before his father
Zadok, and that Zadok was succeeded by his
grandson Azariah. Josephus's statement that
Zadok was the first high-priest of Solomon's
Temple, seeing the Temple was not finished till
the eleventh year of his reign, is a highly im
probable one in itself. The statement of the
Seder Olam, which makes Ahimaaz high-priest
in Rehoboam's. reign, is still more so. It is
safer, therefore, to follow the indications of the
Scripture narrative, though somewhat obscured
by tbe apparently corrupted passages, 1 K. iv.
4 and 1 Ch. vi. 9, 10, and conclude that Ahi
maaz died before he attained the high-priesthood,
leaving as his heir his son Azariah.
3. B. "Axei(A. -i-)/idas. Solomon'* officer in
Naphtali, charged with providing victuals for
the king and his household for one month in the
year. Probably of the tribe of Naphtali, he
was the king's son-in-law, having married his
daughter Basmath (1 K. iv. 7, 15). [A. C. H]
AHI'MAN (JD'nX, of doubtful meaning;
perhaps [if Man be the name of a divinity] =
brother of Man : in Num. F. 'Axipav, B. 'Ax« '-
pdv, A. 'Ax'Kau ; in Judg. B. 'Axtvadv, ~B""'K
'Ax^ipdv, A. 'Ax'pad/JL-. Achiman). 1. One of
the three giant Anakim who inhabited Mount
Hebron (Num. xiii. 22, 23), seen by Caleb and
the spies. The whole race were cut off by
Joshua (Josh. xi. 21), and the three brothers
were slain by the tribe of Judah (Judg. i. 10).
[R. W. B.] [F.]
2. B. Aipdp, A. Alpdv ; Ahimam. One of the
porters or gate-keepers, who had charge of the
king's gate for the " camps " of the sons of Levi
(ICh.ix. 17). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'MELECH C*]k>'n*<, brother of the
king; A. 'Axtp4\eK, K'Afieip4k€x ; Achimelecli).
1. Son of Ahitub (1 Sam. xxii. 12), and high-
priest at Nob in the days of Saul. He gave
David the shewbread and the sword of Goliath ;
and for so doing was, upon the accusation of Doeg
the Edomite, put to death with his whole house
by Saul's order. Eighty-five priests wearing
an ephod were thus cruelly slaughtered ; Abia
thar alone escaped [Abiathar], The LXX.
reads three hundred and five men, thus affording
another instance of the frequent clerical errors

AHIO

75

in transcribing numbers of which Ezra ii. com
pared with Neh. vii. is a remarkable example.
The interchange of D'JbB', or rob"', with
?''tJv"^ and L"X"', is very common. For the
question of Ahimelech's identity with Ahijah,
see Ahijah. For the confusion between Ahime
lech and Abiathar inthe First Book of Chronicles
(xxiv. 3, 6, 31), see Abiathar.
2. One of David's companions while he was
persecuted by Saul, a Hittite ; called in the
B. of 1 Sam. xxvi. 6, 'ABnp4\ex> ana A. 'ABi-
(but B"-. 'Ax^'-) ; which is perhaps the right
reading, after the analogy of Abirnelech, king of
Gerar. In the title of Ps. xxxiv. T]?P,*".s< seems
to be an error for £"3N, due possibly to a lapse
of memory. [S. R. D.]. TSee 1 Sam. xxi. 13 (v. 12
in A. V. ; and Abimelech). [A. C. H.]
AHI'MOTH (rf!D'n«, brother of death;
B. 'AAtnp.66, A. 'Oxv"6(J ; Achimoth), a Levite
of the house of the Korhites, of the family of
the Kohathites, apparently in the time of David
(1 Ch. vi. 25 [LXX. v. 10]). In ver. 35, for
Ahimoth we find Mahath (n*1D), B. MU0, A.
Madd (as in Luke iii. 26). For a correction of
these genealogies, see Genealogies of our Lord,
p. 214, note. [A. C. H.]
AHI'NADAB (ITTnN, Ges. = noblc brother,
MV." = my brother is noble ; B. 'Ax*'vadB,
A. Klvo.ia.fi ; Ahinadab), son of Iddo, one of
Solomon's twelve commissaries who supplied
provisions for the royal household. The district
entrusted to Ahinadab was that of Mahanaim,
situated on the east of the Jordan (1 K. iv-
14). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'NOAM (DW'Tlsj', Ges.=brother of grace,
MV." = my brother is grace; B. 'Axwoop, A.
'Axeivoip ; Achinoam). 1. Daughter of Ahi
maaz and wife of Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 50).
2. B. 'Ax^ivdav (1 Sam. xxv. 43), -ap (1 Sam.
xxvii. 3 ; 1 Ch. iii. 1), -voop (1 Sam. xxx. 5 ;
2 Sam. iii. 2), 'Axivoop (2 Sam. ii. 2) ; A. usually
'Axivdap (in 2 Sam. ii. 2, same as B.) : Achi
noam. A woman of Jezreel. If the masculine
sense given to the name (see Ges. above) be re
tained, ». similar use is found in Abigail, father
of joy. Ahinoam was married to David during
his wandering life (1 Sam. xxv. 43), lived with
him and his other wife Abigail at the court of
Achish (xxvii. 3), was taken prisoner with her
by the Amalekites when they plundered Ziklag
(xxx. 5), but was rescued by David (18). She
is again mentioned as living with him when
king of Judah in Hebron (2 Sam. ii. 2), and
as the mother of his eldest son Amnon (iii. 2 ;
1 Ch. iii. 1). [G. E. L. C] [F.]
AHI'O (VnX ; ol b8e\<pol abrov : Ahio,
2 Sam. vi. 3, 4; f rater ejus, 1 Ch. xiii. 7). 1.
One of the two sons of Abinadab who accom
panied the ark when it was brought out of their
father's house at Gibeah.
2. V*"l&*; B. aHeAcpbs avrov, A. ol abe\<po\
avTOv ; Ahio. A Benjamite, one of the sons of
Beriah, who drove out the inhabitants of Gath
(1 Ch. viii. 14).
3. A Benjamite, son of Jehiel, father or
founder of Gibeon (1 Ch. viii. 31, ix. 37). In

76

AHIRA

both places B. has a$cK<p6s, and A. (supported in
the second by N) a,Se\<poi. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'RA Qiy>m, Ges. ^brother of evil, MV."
= my brother is evil ; AF. [usually] 'Ax'p4,
B. -ei- ; Ahira), chief of the tribe of Naphtali
when Moses took the census in the year after
the Exodus (Num. i. 15 ; ii. 29 ; vii. 78, 83 ;
x. 27). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'RAM (D*VTO? ; MV." = my brother is
exalted [cp. Olshausen, Lehrb. p. 620] ; B.
'lax^ipdv, A. -i-, F. 'Ax'ar; Ahirain), son of
Benjamin (Num. xxvi. 38 [LXX. v. 42]), called
Ehi in Gen. xlvi. 21, Abarah in 1 Ch. viiL 1,
perhaps the same as Aher. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'RAMITES, THE ODTnKn ; B.
'laxeipavd, F. 'Axiavel, A. 'Ax'pal; Ahira-
mitae). One of the branches of the tribe of
Benjamin, descendants of Ahiram (Num. xxvi.
38, LXX. v. 42). [W. A.W.] [F.]
AHI'SAMACH C"|pD'l*lN, MV." = mj/ bro
ther supports ; 'Ax'Capdx ; Achisamech). A
Danite, father of Aholiab, one of the architects
of the tabernacle (Ex. xxxi. 6 ; xxxv. 34 [AF. -ox,
B. -ok]; xxxviii. 23 [LXX. xxxvii. 21, AF. -ox,
B. -ok]). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'SHAHAR ("inE'"'inK, Ges. = brother of
the dawn, MV." and Olshausen = my brother is
the dawn ; B. 'AxaadSap, A. 'Axiadap ; Ahisa-
her). One of the sons of Bilhan, the grandson
of Benjamin (1 Ch. vn. 10). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHI'TOPHEL ("?ah*nN, of uncertain mean
ing, apparently = brother of folly [Ges.] ; A.
'AxiT6<peA, B. -€(-, Joseph. 'Ax'rScpeAos ; Achit-
ophel), a native of Giloh, in the hill-country of
Judah (Josh. xv. 51), and privy councillor of
David, whose wisdom was so highly esteemed
that his advice had the authority of a divine
oracle, though his name (according to Gesenius)
had an exactly opposite signification (2 Sam.
xvi. 23). He was the grandfather of Bath
sheba (comp. 2 Sam. xi. 3 with xxiii. 34), and
it was her fall which influenced him to join
in the rebellion of Absalom. She is called
daughter of Ammiel in 1 Ch. iii. 5 ; but ?K''t3''
is probably only the anagram of Dl/vK (see
Klostermann, Kgf. Komm. in 2 Sam. xi. 3).
Absalom as soon as he had revolted sent for him,
and, when David heard that Ahitophel had joined
the conspiracy, he prayed Jehovah to turn his
counsel to foolishness (xv. 31), alluding possibly
to the signification of his name. David's grief
at the treachery of his confidential friend found
expression in the Messianic prophecies (Ps. xii.
2 ; lv. 12-14).
In order to show to the people that the breach
between Absalom and his father was irreparable,
Ahitophel persuaded him to take possession of
the royal harem (2 Sam. xvi. 21). David, iu
order to counteract his counsel, sent Hushai to
Absalom. Ahitophel had recommended an imme
diate pursuit of David ; but Hushai advised
delay, his object being to send intelligence to
David, and to give him time to collect his forces
for a decisive engagement. When Ahitophel
saw that Hushai's advice prevailed, he despaired
of success, and returning to his own home " put
his household in order and hung himself" (xvii.

AHLAB
1-23). This is the only case of suicide men
tioned in the Old Testament (except in war), as
that of Judas is the only case in the New Testa
ment. The Talmud ranks him and Balaam
together as instances of men whose " wisdom "
not being "the gift of heaven" led them to
destruction. (Hamburger, RE., s. n. ; Joseph.
Ant. vii. 9, § 8; Niemeyer, Charait. iv. 454;
Ewald, Geschich. ii. 652.) [R. W. B.] [F.]
AHI'TUB (**.'D,nN, brother of goodness ; B.
'Ax^iTiiiB, A. -i- ; Achitob). 1. Father of Ahi
melech, or Ahijah, son of Phinehas, and elder
brother of Ichabod (1 Sam. xiv. 3; xxii. 9, 11), and
therefore of the house of Eli and the family of
Ithamar. There is no record of his high-priest
hood, which, if he ever was high-priest, must
have coincided with the early days of Samuel's
judgeship. •
2. B. 'Ax^iTiiB, A. -i-. Son of Amariah, and
father of Zadok the high-priest (1 Ch. vi. 7, 8 ;
2 Sam. viii. 17), ofthe house of Eleazar. From
1 Ch. ix. 11, where the genealogy of Azariah,
the head of one of the priestly families that
returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, is
traced, through Zadok, to "Ahitub, the ruler
of the house of God," it appears tolerably certain
that Ahitub was high-priest. And so the LXX.
Version (B.) unequivocally renders it vlov 'Ax«-
TtiiB rjyoiipevov oXkov tov ®eov. The expression
D*r6xiTrV3 "VJ3 is applied to Azariah the
high-priest in Hezekiah's reign, in 2 Ch. xxxi.
13. The passage is repeated in Neh. xi. 11
[where the name has in the Greek texts several
variant forms : — T.' AlroiB, BX. 'AiruBAx,
A. AitojB], but the LXX. have spoilt the sense
by rendering *1J*I a-n4vavri, as if it were "IJ*-
If the line is correctly given in these two
passages, Ahitub was not the father, but the
grandfather of Zadok, his father being Meraioth.
But in 1 Ch. vi. 8, and in Ezra vii. 2, Ahitub
is represented as Zadok's father. This uncer
tainty makes it difficult to determine the
exact time of Ahitub's high-priesthood. If he
was father to Zadok, he must have been high-
priest with Ahimelech. But if he was grand
father, his age would have coincided exactly
with the other Ahitub, the son of Phinehas,
Certainly a singular coincidence.
3. The genealogy of the high-priests in 1 Ch.
vi. 11, 12, introduces another Ahitub, son of
another Amariah, and father of another Zadok.
At p. 287 of the Genealogies, &c, will be found
reasons for believing that the second Ahitub and
Zadok are spurious. [A. C. H.]
AHLAB ("IPriX = fat, fertile place; Aa\a<p;
Achalab), a city of Asher from which the Canaan-
ites were not driven out (Judg. i. 31). Its
omission from the list of the towns of Asher,
in Josh, xix., has led to the suggestion (Ber-
theau on Judg.) that the name is but a cor
ruption of Achshaph ; but this appears extrava
gant. It is more probable that Ahlab re
appears in later history as Gush Chaleb, CI J
371*1, or Giscala (Reland, 813, 817), a place
lately identified by Robinson under the abbre
viated name of el-Jish,* near Safed, in the hilly

» El-Jish, however, lies within the territory assigned
to Naphtali,

AHLAI
country to the N.W. of the Sea of Galilee (Rob.
ii. 446 ; iii. 73). Gush Chaleb was in Rabbini
cal times famous for its oil (see the citations in
Reland, 817), and the old olive-trees still remain
in the neighbourhood (Rob. iii. 72). From it
came the famous John, son of Levi, the leader in
the siege of Jerusalem (Jos. Vit. § 10 ; B. J. ii.
21, § 1), and it had a legendary celebrity as the
birthplace of the parents of no less a person
than the apostle Paul (Jerome, quoted by
Reland, 813). [G.] [W.]
AH'LAI (vHN, of uncertain meaning ; Ges.
and Olshausen, Lehrb. p. 610, preserve for it
the sense utinam! it has in Ps. cxix. 5: B.
'Axai, A. 'AaSai ; Oholai), daughter of Sheshan,
whom he gave in marriage to his Egyptian
slave Jarha (1 Ch. ii. 31, 35). In consequence
of the failure to Sheshan of male issue, Ahlai
became the foundress of an important branch of
the family of the Jerahmeelites, and from her
were descended Zabad, one of David's mighty
men (1 Ch. xi. 41, B. 'Axaid, A. 'OAf, N 'Axed ;
Oholi), and Azariah, one of the captains of hun
dreds in the reign of Joash (2 Ch. xxiii. 1 ; cp.
1 Ch. ii. 38). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHO'AH (ninK, in 1 Ch. viii. 7 the name
is read ITnK, Ahijah ; 'Ax'd [A. omits] ; Ahoe),
son of Bela, the son of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii. 4).
The patronymic Ahohite CnflN, Ahohites) is
found in 2 Sam. xxiii. 9 [T.7 Trarpa.ti\<pov], 28 [B.
'Aaehns, A. 'EAaeiTns] ; 1 Ch. xi. 12 [B. 'Apxw-
vti, S 'Ax°>v€i, A. 'AXaxQ, 29 [Nl B. 'Axuvel,
t** 'Avaxwel,' A. 'Ax&p] ; xxvii. 4 [T.7 B. e/c-
x<&x, A. •AaBQ. [Ehi.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHO'HITE. [Ahoah.]
A'HOLAH (rbrtK, tent; T." 'Oo\d, B.
x t t: T
'OoAAo, A. 'OAAd; Oolla; R. V. Oholah), a
harlot, used by Ezekiel as the symbol of Samaria
(Ezek. xxiii. 4, 5, 36, 44). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHOLl'AB QK^riN, MV." = tent or family
of the Father; 'EAidB; Ooliab ; R. V. Oholiab),
a Danite of great skill as a weaver and em
broiderer, whom Mose3 appointed with Bezaleel
to erect the tabernacle (Ex. xxxi. 6, xxxv. 30-
35, xxxvi. 1, 2, xxxviii. 22, 23). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AHOLI'BAH (m^nK, WO" -she in whom
is My tent, for i*Q"; Fiirst compares rC'SSl"".
Hephzibah: T.7 'OoKiBd, A. 'OAiBd; B. some
times 'OA-, sometimes 'OoA- : Ooliba ; R. V. Oho-
libah), a harlot, used by Ezekiel as the symbol
of Jerusalem (Ezek. xxiii. 4, 11, 22, 36, 44>
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AHOLI-BA'MAH (HOl^nN, MV." = tent
X T T ' T: T
of the high place ; Oolibama ; R. V. Oholibama),
one (probably the second) of the three wives
of Esau. She was the daughter of Anah, a
descendant of Seir the Horite ( Gen. xxxvi. 2,
A. 'OAiBepd, E. 'OAtBaipdv; v. 25, E. 'OAijSct).
It is doubtless through this connexion of
Esau with the original inhabitants of Mount
Seir that we are to trace the subsequent occu
pation of that territory by him and his de
scendants, and it is remarkable that each of
his three sons by this wife is himself the head of
a tribe, whilst all the tribes of the Edomites
sprung from his other two wives are founded by

AHUZZATH

77

his grandsons (Gen. xxxvi. 15-19 [v. 18, A.
'OAiPipas and 'EAi-, D. 'OAiBippas and 'EAi-
Bdpas, E. [second time] 'OAtB4pa]). In the earlier
narrative (Gen. xxvi. 34) Aholibamah is called
Judith, daughter of Beeri, the Hittite. Tho
explanation of the change in the name of the
•vomau seems to be that her proper personal
-ame was Judith, and that Aholibamah was the
name which she received as the wife of Esau
and foundress of three tribes of his descendants ;
she is therefore in the narrative called by the
first name, whilst in the genealogical table of the
Edomites she appears under the second (see
Delitzsch, Genesis, p. 429 [1887]). This ex
planation is confirmed by the recurrence of the
name Aholibamah in the concluding list of the
genealogical table (Gen. xxxvi. 40—43 [v. 41,
A. 'EKiBepds, Z>'ld 'E\ei,80|Uas]), which, with
Hengstenberg (Die Authentic d. Pent. ii. 279 ;
Eng. trans, ii. 228), Tuch (Komm. iib. d. Gen.
493), Knobel (Genes, p. 258), Dillmann and
Delitzsch, we must regard as a list of names of
places and not of persons, as indeed is expressly
said at the close of it : " These are the chiefs
(heads of tribes) of Esau, according to their
settlements in the land of their possession."
The district which received the name of Esau's
wife, or perhaps rather from which she received
her married name, was no doubt (as the name
itself indicates) situated in the heights of the
mountains of Edom, probably therefore in the
neighbourhood of Mount Hor and Petra, though
Knobel places it south of Petra, having been
misled by Burckhardt's name Hesma, which
however, according to Robinson (ii. 155), is " a
sandy tract with mountains around it . . . but
not itself a mountain, as reported by Burck-
hardt." It seems not unlikely that the three
tribes descended from Aholibamah, or at least
two of them, possessed this district, since there
are enumerated only eleven districts, whereas
the number of tribes is thirteen, exclusive of
that of Korah, whose name occurs twice, and
which we may further conjecture emigrated (in
part at least) from the district of Aholibamah,
and became associated with the tribes descended
from Eliphaz, Esau's first-born son.
It is to be observed that each of the wives of
Esau is mentioned by a name in the genealogical
table different from that which occurs in the
history. See Bashemath. With respect to the
name and race of the father of Aholibamah, see
Anah and Beeri. [F. W. G.] [F.]
AHU'MAI 0D?nN ; B. 'Ax«<«'. A. 'Ax^ ;
Ahumai), son of Jahath, a descendant of Judah,
and head of one of the families of Zorathites
(1 Ch. iv. 2). [W. A. W.]
AHUZ'ZATH (n-triN, possession, but (?) a
Philistine name ; A. 'OxoCdB, D. -fox [in Gen.
xxvi. 26] ; Ochozath), one of the friends of the
Philistine king Abirnelech who accompanied
him at his interview with Isaac (Gen. xxvi.
26). In the LXX. the epithet inm» (R. V.
" his friend ") is rendered o vvpipayaybs aurov
=pronubus, or bridesman (cp. Jud. xiv. 20, LXX.
A.), and his name is inserted in xxi. 22, 32.
St. Jerome (Quaest. in Gen.) and the Targum
render 'D 'H by " a company of friends," a sense
which 'K does not possess. For the termination
" -ath " to Philistine masc, names, cp. Goliath

78 AI
-ath (the old fem.) is common in Canaanitish,
Aramaic, and Arabic names, even of men: cp.
Genubath (1 K. xi. 20. See Driver, Hebr. Tenses?
p. 261 ; Euting, Nabat Inschriften, pp. 73, 90-
92 ; e.g. nmi*I = Aretas). [R. W. B.] [F.]
A'l QV = heap of ruins, Ges.). 1. (always
with the def. article, ,**n [see Gen. xii. 8, in
A. V.]; 'Ayyal [Gen. and Is. x. 28], Tal [in
Josh.], 'Ala [in Ezra], T.7 'Al, KB. 'AAefo [Neh.
vii. 32], N3 'Ala, [Neh. xi. 31] ; Jos. Ant. v. 1, 2,
"AiVo [Dind. 'Avva] : Hai), a royal city (cp.
Josh. viii. 23, 29 ; x. 1 ; xii. 9) of Canaan, already
existing in the time of Abraham (Gen. xii. 8)
[Hai]. It was east of and " beside " Bethel
(Gen. xii. 8 ; Josh. vii. 2, xii. 9) ; on the south
side of a valley (Josh. viii. 11) ; " beside " Bethaven
(Josh. vii. 2) ; a valley or place where 5,000 men
could be concealed lay between it and Bethel
(Josh. viii. 9, 12), and it was apparently more
closely connected with Bethel than with Mich
mash (Ezra ii. 28 ; Neh. vii. 32.) It was the
second city taken by Israel after their passage
of the Jordan, and was "utterly destroyed"
(Josh. vii. 3-5; viii. 1-3, 10-12, 14, 16-
18, 20, 21, 23-26, 28, 29; ix. 3; x. 1, 2;
xii. 9 : see Stanley, S. $ P. p. 202). However,
if Aiath be Ai — and from its mention with
Migron and Michmash, it is at least probable
that it was so — the name was still attached to
the locality at the time of Sennacherib's march
on Jerusalem (Is. x. 28). [AlATH.] At any
rate, the " men of Bethel and Ai," to the number
of two hundred and twenty-three, returned from
the Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 28 ;
Neh. vii. 32, " one hundred and twenty-three "
only)'; and when the Benjamites again took
possession of their towns, " Michmash, Aija,
and Bethel, with their ' daughters,' " are among
the places named (Neh. xi. 31). [Aija.]
Eusebius remarks (OS.2 p. 233, 59, 'Ayyai)
that though Bethel remained, Ai was a TOirbs
eprifios, avrb p.6vov BeiicvvTai : but even that can
not now be said, and no attempt has yet succeeded
¦ in definitely fixing the site of the city whioh
Joshua doomed to be a "heap and a desolation for
ever." It is now probably et-Tell, a conspicuous
, mound, covered with heaps of stones and ruins,
ljj miles E.S.E. of Bethel, on the south side of
W. Muheisin, " the valley of the fortifications."
Compare Josh. viii. ' 28, where the Hebrew has
?""l, " Tell," for heap, an unusual word which
only occurs in four other passages of the Bible.
Between Beitin (Bethel) and et-Tell the ruins
of a church on the brow of a hill, whence there
is a commanding view of the Jordan valley
north of the Dead Sea, possibly mark the site
of the altar built by Abram (Gen. xii. 8. See
PFQy. Stat 1869, pp. 123-6, and 1874, pp. 62-4).
M. Ganneau and Major Conder identify Ai with
Kh. Haii/an, near Deir Diwdn, 1\ miles S.E. of
Bethel, but the position and topographical
features are not so closely in accordance with
the Bible narrative as those of et-Tell; see,
however, Major Conder in Tent Work in Pales
tine, ii. 108-9. Ai has also been identified by
Krafft and Capt. Kitchener with Kh. el-Haiyeh,
"ruin of the snake," south-east of MUkhmds
(Michmash), but this position is too remote from
Bethel ; and the same remark applies to Kh. Ddr
Haiyeh to the south of W. Suweinit. An Ai

AIJALON
occurs in the Geographical Lists of the Temple
of Karnak in Upper Egypt, but this would appeal
to have been in Northern Palestine. It is the
opinion of some that the words Avim (D'1!"') in
Josh, xviii. 23, and Gaza (nil") in 1 Ch. vii. 28,
are corruptions of Ai. [Avim ; Azzah.]
2. *** ; T.r ra(, NA. Kai, B. omits ; Hai. A
city of the Ammonites, apparently attached to
Heshbon (Jer. xlix. 3, LXX. xxx. 3). [G.] [W.]
AI'AH (iVH, vulture; B. 'AtB, A. AW;
Ala). 1. Son of Zibeon, a descendant of Seir,
and ancestor of one of the wives of Esau
(1 Ch. i. 40), called in Gen. xxxvi. 24 Ajah
[A. 'Ale, E. Naif]. He probably died before his
father, as the succession fell to his brother Anah.
2. Father of Rizpah, the concubine of Saul
(2 Sam. iii. 7 ; xxi. 8, 10, 11). In 2 Sam. iii. 7
B. gives the name as 'IoA (B*. 'Ioa), A. as 'U\;
in 2 Sam. xxi. 8, B. reads 'Aio. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AI'ATH (n**/, fem. of »]*, Ai; els tV *6Kiv
'At7o^ ; Aiath), a place named by Isaiah (x. 28)
with Migron and Michmash. Probably the same
as Ai. [Ai ; Aija.] [G.] [W.]
AIM A (N*** ; om. NA., N3 'Aim ; Hai), like
Aiath, probably a variation of the name Ai.
The name is mentioned with Michmash and
Bethel (Neh. xi. 31). [Ai.] [G.] [W.j
AI'JALON (fl^N, " place of deer ¦ or
gazelles," MV." S. n., Stanley, p. 208, note;
Ajalon). 1. A city of the Kohathites (Josh.
xxi. 24, B. AiAiiv, A. 'laAciv; 1 Ch. vi. 69,
B. 'EyAdu, A. 'HAtiv: Helon), originally allotted
to the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 42, B. 'Auubc,
A. 'laaAoiv ; A. V. " Ajalon "), which tribe, how
ever, was unable to dispossess the Amorites ot
the place (Judg. i. 35 [LXX. paraphrases]).
Aijalon was one of the towns fortified by Reho
boam (2 Ch. xi. 10, B. 'AA5dii>, A. AlaAiv)
during his conflicts with the new kingdom ot
Ephraim (1 K. xiv. 30), and the last "We hear
of it is as being in the hands of the Philistines
(2 Ch. xxviii. 18, B. AlAii, A. AlAuv, A. V.
" Ajalon ").
Being on the very frontier of the two king
doms, we can understand how Aijalon should be
spoken of sometimes (1 Ch. vi. 69, comp. with
v. 66) as iu Ephraim," and sometimes (2 Ch. xi.
10 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 31 [LXX. omits]) as in Judah
and Benjamin.
The name is most familiar to us from its
mention in the celebrated speech of Joshua
during his pursuit of the Canaanites (Josh.
-v. 12," AlAciv, "valley (pD**) of Aijalon;" see
Stanley, p. 210). There is no doubt that the
towu has been discovered by Dr. Robinson in
the modern Ydlo," a little to the N. of the
Jaffa road, about 14 miles out of Jerusalem.
It stands on the side of a long hill which forms
fl The part of the country in which Aijalon was situ
ated—the western slopes of the main central tableland
leading down to the plain of Sharon— must, if the de
rivation of the names of its towns is to be trusted, have
abounded in animals. BeBides Aijalon (deer), here lay
Shaalbim (foxes or jackals), and not far off the valley of
Zeboim (hyaenas). See Stanley, p. 162, note.
11 Perhaps this may suggeBt an explanation , of the
allusion to the "house of Joseph" in the difficult
passage, Judg. i. 34, 35.
0 'IoAu, in EpiphanluB ; see Reland, p. 553.

AIJELETH SHAHAR
the southern boundary of a fine valley of corn
fields, which valley now bears the name of the
Merj Ibn 'Amir, but which there seems no
reason for doubting was the valley of Aijalon
which witnessed the defeat of the Canaanites
(Rob. ii. 253, iii. 145).
2. AiAi&p; A. AlAelp. A place in Zebulun,
mentioned as the burial-place of Elon ()Y?,N),'i
one of the Judges (Judg. xii. 12). It may also
¦ have been his birthplace and originally called
after him. [Elom, 3.] It may possibly be Kh.
Jallun, E. of Acre. [G.] [W.]
AIJELETH SHAHAK, or rather Ayyeleth
Ilasshachar (Aurora0), stands in the Hebrew
text as part of the first, i.e. introductory, verse
of Ps. xxii. These two words being nowhere
else found together in the Bible, are somewhat
difficult to explain, both as regards their mean
ing and their application. Whilst some of the
translators are agreed as to the literal meaning
of these words, scarcely two commentators
agree as to their literary application. Rashi"
leaves us the choice between Ayyeleth Has
shachar being either the name of a musical
instrument, or the allegorical name of the
Congregation of Israel." This latter application
is taken from the Midrash,d and is accepted by
Qimchi." Ibn 'Ezra,f while justly rejecting this
meaning, takes Ayyeleth Hasshachar as the com
mencement of -i poem, which, together with its
tune (though now lost), was so well known
(before and during the existence of the Temple),
that these mere two words were a sufficient
indication to the leader of the music-band how
to execute the whole Psalm. It is but just to
say that to this explanation Ibn 'Ezra adheres
almost consistently throughout the whole
Psalter, whenever the superscriptions thereof
are concerned [GrrriTH]. This view of Ibn
'Ezra has been received with great favour by
most of the modern translators and commenta
tors. It would, indeed, be very acceptable
were it not lacking in one point — truth. More
over, it is not only not true, but cannot be true,
as it rests on a gross anachronism. That such
is the case can be proved both negatively and
positively. In the first place, there is not the
d It will he observed that the two words p7sX and
ji^N differ only in their vowel-points.
a Shocher Tob (i.e. Midrash Tehillim, or T-illim), xxii. ;
ilidrash Chazitha (on Cant. vi. 10); Talmud Yeru-
shalmi Berakhoth, i. 1 ; 1'aumo, iii. 2.
b This greatest of mediaeval Rabbis flourished at
Troyes, Champagne, from 1040 to 1105. See Schiller-
Szinessy, art. " Rashi," Encyclopaedia Britannica,
vol. xx.
c Rashi's statement that the Rabbis applied this Psalm
to Esther is given by him without aDy further remark.
It is evident by his silence that he does not quite see the
cogency of this application.
d Shocher Tob, in loco.
e This prince of commentators was born after 1155,
and died about 1235 at Narbonne. See Sehiller-Szinessy,
art. " Kimhi," Encyclopaedia Britannica,, vol. xiv.
f Abraham Ibn 'Ezra was born at Toledo after 1090,
and died at Rome (?) after 1165. He was versed in all
branches of literature and science known in his time.
He wrote most learnedly on philosophy and theology,
and it may safelybe said of him, Nihil tetigit quod non
ornavit; but he believed, alas! also in astrology, on
which we have several books byhim.

AIJELETH SHAHAR

70

slightest evidence that such a custom or givino-
the first word or two for a whole poem and its
melody ever obtained in early Christian, not to
say in pro-Christian, times.6 We know, mure-
over, for a fact where this custom originated,
and approximately when. Singularly enough,
the man who has furnished us with this piece of
information is Ibn 'Ezra himself. On Ps. vii. 1
(superscription) he tells us: "Set to Dibere
Khush. As the writers of Sepharad (the Iberian
peninsula) at the top of the poems note down a
poem, the melody of which is (well) known"
can::* pDvan *nsD unia paniaty id**
dvs p. Din:] dbd tai*Dn iiq rbnr\2 rbmh
IDT1)- Now, Ibn 'Ezra does not tell us whether
he means by " the writers of Sepharad "
simply Jewish poets, or Jewish liturgical
authors, or Christian or Mohammedan poets,
or, finally, mere copyists. We will give him,
however, the benefit of the doubt, and assume
that he meant either Jewish poets who had
learnt versification from the Arabs of Spain,
or those Arabs themselves. The former sup
position is the more probable one. l,bn 'Ezra
lived into the second half of the 12th cen
tury ; and although born in Arabic-speaking
Spain, had travelled much abroad, and seen
" the lands of many lords " (Italy, France,
Provence, England, &c), where Christians, lay
men as well as ecclesiastics, were in the habit
of writing poetry " set to " popular tunes. Had
he not meant, therefore, by " the writers of
Sepliarad," either the Jews who had learnt from
the Arabs, or those Arabs themselves, he would
scarcely have used that peculiar expression.
Now, the earliest Arabs of Spain who wrote
metrically lived at the very least full a
thousand years later than the time when the
latest Psalm received its superscription. Again,
when we look into the practice obtaining among'
later Jews of having a poem "set to" a well-
known melody, we find that neither the
Sepharadim nor the Ashkenazim employ for
that practice the word 'Al (7V). The former
use the terms Leno'am (DUCT) or Lechcn (JIT?),
whilst the latter employ the word Beniggun
(|1*0*".). Ibn 'Ezra's theory, that 'Al Ayyeleth
Hasshachar signified " Set to the tune of a poem
beginning Ayyeleth Hasshachar," must there
fore be absolutely rejected as an anachronism.
But how came so keen-witted a scholar as
Ibn 'Ezra unquestionably was, to fall into such
a gross mistake ? This may be easily explained.
It has been clearly shown by Ewald,11 and by

s It is true that some writers (Gesenius, FUrst, &c.)
have even gone so far as to maintain that a somewhat
similar instance is to be found in the Bible itself, and
that the word qasheth (FlK'p) in 2 Sam. i. 18 refers
to tbe word qesheth (JlEJ'p), which is to be found
in v. 22. With the same reason, and a much better
one, as the word qesjieth (*"]*£*p) there stands at the
beginning of a verse, we might say that it refers to
1 Sam. ii. 4. But this, surely, would be a groES
absurdity. As regards the "proof" which Gesenius
brings from the QOran, we can only say that it is worse
than a mere anachronism.
h Die poetischen Bucher des Alten Bundes (Gottingen,
1839, 8VO, i. p. 1}5).

80

AIJELETH SHAHAR

others both before ' and after k him, though not
with sufficient consistency, that no word or
words signifying an instrument or instruments
can be preceded by 'Al, as the Hebrews did not
speak of playing " upon " ('Al), but " with " or
" by means of" (=Be or = Bi). Ewald and his
predecessor, however, were by no means the first
to find out this fact: it must have been well
known to Ibn 'Ezra, who no doubt rejected, on
account of that fact, the "instrument-of-music "
theory, though he only did so silently. The
theory, that a word or words succeeding 'Al
in superscriptions signified a " music-band,"
applied practically by Rab Se'adyah Gaon to
Ps. viii. 1, was not only not rejected by Ibn 'Ezra,
but even received with some favour. He, no
doubt, would have consistently adhered to this
rational theory, had not the superscriptions of
Pss. liii. 1, lxi. 1, and lxxxviii. 1 presented, as
it appeared to him, an insuperable difficulty. He
gives us an insight into his thoughts concerning
this matter in his commentary on Pss. lxi. 1 and
lxxxviii. 1 (and silently also on Ps. liii. 1). He
tells us that the Pattach under the last
syllable, of Neginath (n3,33) and Machalath
(*"l?r*D) (being common nouns, as he believed)
pointed to a construct state (status constructus) ;
but since the genitive of this construction was
missing, this omission, in its turn, could only
point to one thing, viz. that this was the first
word of a poem, the tune of which was well
known at the time while the Temple stood.
Now, in reality, Ibn 'Ezra argues here in a circle
(circulus vitiosus), as Machalath need not be a
common, but may be a proper, noun ; in the
latter case it is found with a Pattach, without a
genitive following (cf. Gen. xxviii. 9 ; 2 Ch. xi.
18). If we may appeal to analogy, such is also
the case with Neginath, when a proper noun.
To resume : (1) The " instrument-of-music "
theory must be abandoned. That part of it
which identifies Ayyeleth Hasshachar with a
¦" morning-flute " is so gross an absurditv that
it needs no further refutation. (2) The " com-
mencement-of-a-poem " theory must also be
rejected, as resting not merely on an anachron
ism, but also as originating in an argument
which moves in a circle.
What, then, is the meaning of Ayyeleth Has
shachar? It is the name of a music-band, as the
learned Calmet,1 in his commentary on this
Psalm (which with him, as with the Septuagint,
is Ps. xxi.), already suggests, although he was
not aware of all the reasons why it was so called.
Now, there can be little doubt that this band
had its seat in Ayyalon (Aijalon or Ajalon), and
that it was its duty Levitically to assist in the
morning sacrifice and service. Hence Ayyeleth
Hasshachar. This theory fits in well with the
Targumic phrase "the perpetual morning
sacrifice" (NFiynpl NT*"J"I pTlp), which
expresses in part an old tradition. [S.-S.]

' The late I. H. Kohn, Hebrew Master at the Imperial
Royal Normal School of Old Buda, whose pupil the
writer of thia article was in 1830-32.
k H. P. Ree, Forschungen iiber die Ceberschriften der
Psalmen (Leipzig, 1846, sm. 8vo, p. 2, n. 2 ,seqq.).
This little book, if used with caution, will prove valu
able in many respects.
i Calmet was a French Benedictine of great distinction.
He flourished from 1672 to 175?.

AIN
AIN Cfif), an eye, and also, in the simple but
vivid imagery of the East, a spring or natural
burst of living water, always distinguished
from the well or tank of artificial formation,
which is designated by the words Bger (*li**l)
and Bor (1N3 and 113). Ain still retains its
ancient and double meaning in Arabic, ^yiP-.
Such living springs abound in Palestine, even
more than in other mountainous districts, and,
apart from their natural value in a hot climate,
form one of the most remarkable features
of the country. Stanley (S. and P. 147, 509)
has called attention to the accurate and per
sistent use of the word in the original text of
the Bible, and has well expressed the incon
venience arising from the confusion in the A.V.
of words and things so radically distinct as Ain
and Beer. "The importance of distinguishing
between the two is illustrated by Ex. xv. 27, in
which the word 'Ainoth (A. V. ' wells,' R. V.
' springs ') is used for the springs of fresh
water at Elim, although the rocky soil of that
place excludes the supposition of dug wells."
[Fountain.] Ain oftenest occurs in combination with other
words, forming the names of definite localities:
these will be found under En, as En-gedi, En-
gannim, &c. It occurs alone in two cases : —
1. With the def. article, jy*i*i. One of the
landmarks on the eastern boundary of Palestine
as described by Moses (Num. xxxiv. 11), and ap
parently mentioned, if the rendering of the A. V.
and R. V. be accurate, to define the position of
Riblah, viz. "on the east side of 'the spring'"
(LXX. 67rl miyds). By Jerome, in the Vulgate,
it is rendered contra fontem Daphnim, meaning
the spring which rose in the celebrated grove of
Daphne, dedicated to Apollo and Diana at An
tioch." But Riblah having been lately, with
much probability, identified (Rob. iii. 542-6 ;
Porter, ii. 335) with a place of the same name on
the east bank of the Orontes between Ba'albek
and Horns, " the spring " of the text must in
the present state of our knowledge be taken to
be 'Ain el-'Asy, the main source of the Orontes;
a spring remarkable, even among the springs of
Palestine, for its force and magnitude. The ob
jections to this identification are the distance
from Ribleh — about 9 miles ; and the direction
— nearer N.E. than E. (see Rob. iii. 534 ; Porter,
ii. 335-6, 35S). Not far from 'Ain el-'Asy is
the remarkable monument of Kam&'a el-Hermil,
perhaps the most conspicuous landmark in Syria,
and some distance to the south is the modern
village of el-'Ain. [Riblah ; Hamath.]
2. One of the southernmost cities of JudaU
(Josh. xv. 32, Aen), afterwards allotted to Simeon
(Josh. xix. 7, Ain; 1 Ch. iv. 32,* B. omits, A.
* That this, and not the spring identified at DifneK,
near the source of the Jordan at Tell el-Kady (Rob. iii.
393; Ritter, Jordan, 215), is the Daphne referred to in
the Vulgate, Is clear from the quotations from Jerome
given in Reland (Pal., cap. xxv. p. 120). In the Tar-
gums of Jerusalem and Ps. -Jonathan Riblah is rendered
by Daphne, and Ain by 'Jnvatha (X"TI13S"')- Schwarz
(29) would place Ain at " Ein-al-Malcha " : to be con
sistent with which, he is driven to assume that the
Daphne near Panias had also the name of Riblah.
' After enumerating the " cilies " (DH1?) of Simeon,
the text proceeds, " and'thelr villages (Orpl^l*!) were

AIR
He, Aen) and given to the priests (Josh. xxi.
16, B. "Arra, A. 'Atv; Ain). In the list of
priests' cities in 1 Ch. vi. 59 ([Heb. v. 44], B.
'Ao-dv, A. 'Array ; Asan) Ashan (|tj*l*) takes the
place of Ain ; they were, however, different
places, as they are mentioned together in Josh.
xix. 7 and 1 Ch. iv. 32. [Ashan.] The name
may possibly be retained in the W. el-' Ain, which
rises in the heart of Jebel Magnih at the southern
extremity of Palestine.
In Neh. xi. 29 (T.7 and Vulg. omit, X.3 iv
Veppuv) Ain is joined to the name which in
the other passages usually follows it, and ap
pears as En-rimmon. So the LXX. B. in Josh.
xv. 32 gives the name as 'EpaipdB (A. Peppav ;
Aen), and in Josh. xix. 7 as 'Epeppoiv (A. 'Aiv
koi P. ; Ain). [Ex-Rimmon.] (See Rob. ii.
204.) [G.] [W.]
AIR (drip). In Eph. ii. 2 Satan is called
" the prince of the power of the air," " the
spirit that worketh in the sons of disobedience "
(R. V.). Whether or not '• air " be taken, with
some critics, as equivalent to darkness, the sen
tence expresses the popular belief of Jew and
Gentile that the air was peopled with spiritual
beings, and the lower strata especially or those
nearest to earth with spirits of evil. It was
tbe teaching of Pythagoras, of Plutarch, and of
Xenocrates that the air beneath the ether and
the heaven was full of gods and demons ; it was
a similar belief which made the Jews " all their
lifetime through fear of death subject to
bondage" (Heb. ii. 15). Jewish theology (to
refer only to that) massed together these noxious
spirits under the head of Massikin ([l,ps*D).
Their leader was and is Satan, — restless, cruel,
and independent. As the " spirit of delusion "
he first tempts and deceives man ; next as
" accuser " he brings charges against him, and
then as the " angel of death " he seeks to slay
him. In this conception, probably that current
in the time of St. Paul, there is an advance
upon the more reserved statements of the
Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament. The
prologue to Job and Zechariah (ch. iii.) represents
the Satan as able to work ill only by God's
perjnission ; and if the later writer of 1 Ch.
xxi. 1 represents this prince-spirit as acting in
a more independent fashion, his conception falls
yet very far short of the &pxav ttjs i^ovffias
tov dipos. See DEMOXOLOGY, and consult on the
whole subject Hamburger, RE. s. n. " Geister,"
and Speaker's Comm. on Tobit, pp. 176, &c. [E.]
AI'RUS Qlalpos; An). One of the "ser
vants of the Temple," or Nethinim, whose de
scendants returned with Zorobabel (1 Esd. v. 31).
Perhaps the same as Reaiah. [W. A. W.]
A'JAH(i1»X; A. 'Ai4, E. Naie'; Ala; R. V.
Aiali). Son of Zibeon (Gen. xxxvi. 24 ; called
in 1 Ch. i. 40 Aiah [B. 'AiB, A. 'Ala ; Aia]).
[Aiah; Anah.] [F.]
A'JALON" (R. V. Aijalon, Josh. x. 12, xix.
42 ; 2 Ch. xxviii. 18). The same place as Aijalon

AKRABBIM

81

Etam, Ain  five cities" (Q*"|i;). Keil and
Bertheau join DrTHVITl to v. 31. The difference be
tween the numbers five and four (Josh. xix. 6, 1, to
which the passage in 1 Ch. refers) is sufficiently ex
plained by Dillmann on Josh. 1. c. [S. R. D.]
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

(1), which see. The Hebrew being the same in
both, there is no reason for the inconsistency in
tho spelling of the name in the A. V. [G.] [W.]
AKA'jST (|pl> ; A. 'lauKap, D. 'Uoiuudp. ; Acan),
a descendant of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 27), called
Jakan in 1 Ch. i. 42 (B. omits, A. 'loiaKav;
Jacan). [Bene-Jaakan.] [\V. A. \V.] [F.]
AKEL'DAjMA. [Aceldama.]
AKKU'B (¦"¦¦Ipl", Ges. = cunning, cp. **.pl£ ;
A. 'AkkovB, B. 'laKoiv ; Aceub). 1. A descend
ant of Zerubbabel, and one of the seven sons of
Elioenai (1 Ch. iii. 24).
2. Avcitlj. One ot the porters or doorkeepers
at the east gate of the Temple. His descend
ants succeeded to his office, and appear among
those who returned from Babylon (1 Ch. ix. 17
[B. 'AKoiip ; A. 'AkovB] ; Ezra ii. 42 [AB.
'AKoip] ; Neh. vii. 45 [i*AB(?). 'Axoip], xi.
19 [T.7 'AkovB], xii. 25 [T.7 omits, N.3 'AkovB]).
Also called Daoobi (1 Esd. v. 28).
3. B. 'AkuBojB, A. 'Ako-iiB. One of the
Nethinim, whose family returned with Zerub
babel (Ezra ii. 45). The name is omitted in
Neh. vii., but occurs in the form Actjb
(B. 'AKoixp, A. 'Axoup.) in 1 Esd. v. 31 ; though
some prefer to consider Acub as answering tn
Bakbuk in Ezra ii. 51 (BaKBouK, B. BaKKovK),
and find in Acua in 1 Esd. v. 30 CAkovS) the
name of this member of the Nethinim.
4. Omitted in LXX. A Levite who assisted
Ezra in expounding the Law (Neh. viii. 7).
Called Jacubus in 1 Esd. ix. 48 (A. 'laKovBos,
B. 'luaoiBoos ; Accubus). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AKRAB'BIM, " the ascent op," and " the
going up to ; " also " Maaleh-acrabbim "
(D*3**lj*>l' i*Pl*D = "the ascent of scorpions;"
BA. usually, avdBaais 'AKpaBeiv, A. ? in Josh.
'AKpaBBeip ; Ascensus scorpionum). A pass
between the south end of the Dead Sea and
Zin, forming one of the landmarks on the south
boundary at once of Judah (Josh. xv. 3) and
of the Holy Land (Num. xxxiv. 4). Also the
north (?) boundary of the Amorites (Judg.
i. 36). Judas Maccabaeus gained here a great victory
over the Edomites (1 Mace. v. 3" [AK.1 'Akoo-
BaTTrivf), ii.2 -aTTavi] ; Acrabathane], " Arabat-
tine," which see ; Jos. Ant. xii. 8, § 1).
De Saulcy (i. 77) would identify it with the
long and steep pass of the Wady es-Zuweirah.
Scorpions he certainly found there in plenty,
but this wady is too much to the north to have
been Akrabbim, as the boundary went from
thence to Zin and Kadesh-Barnea, which wher
ever situated were certainly many miles further
south. Robinson's conjecture is, that it is the
line of cliffs which cross the Ghor at right angles,
11 miles south of the Dead Sea, and form the
ascent of separation between the Ghor and the
Arabah (ii. 120). Akrabbim is possibly the
» The Alex. MS. in this place reads 'lovSaia for
'loovp.aia, and Ewald (Gesch. iv. 91, 358) endeavours to
show therefrom that the Acrabattine there mentioned
was that between Samaria and Judaea, in support of his
opinion that a large part of Southern ralestiDe was then
in possession of the Edomites. But this reading does
not agree with the context, and it is at least certain that
Josephus had the text as it now stands. See Speaker's
Commentary, note on 1 Mace. v. 3. G

82 ALABASTER
steep pass cs-Sufah, by which the final step is
made from the desert to the level of the actual
land of Palestine, or perhaps the ascent leading
up to Nagb Ibn Mar, a position more in accord
ance with that usually assigned to Zin, the next
point mentioned on the boundary. As to the
name, scorpions abound in the whole of this
district. This place must not be confounded with
Akrabatene, 'AKpaBarnvi), or Akrabatta, 'Axpa-
BaTrd, one of the eleven Toparchies into which
Judaea was divided, and named next to Gophna.
This place lay between Neapolis and Jericho,
and its name survives in the modern village
'Akrabeh. [AilBATTIS.] [G.] [W.]
ALABASTER (aAdBao-rpos ; alabastrum)
occurs in the N. T. only, in the notice of the
alabaster-box of ointment which a woman brought
to our Lord when He sat at meat in the house
of Simon the leper at Bethany, the contents of
which she poured on the head of the Saviour.
(See Matt. xxvi. 7 ; Mark xiv. 3 ; Luke vii. 37.)
By the English word alabaster is to be understood
both that kind which is also known by the name
of gypsum, and the Oriental alabaster which is so
much valued on account of its translucency,
and for its variety of coloured streakings, red,
yellow, gray, &c, which it owes for the most
part to the admixture of oxides of iron. The
latter is a fibrous carbonate of lime, of which
there are man}' varieties, satin spar being one of
the most common. The former is a hydrous
.sulphate of lime, and forms when calcmed and
ground the well-known substance called plaster
of Paris. Both these kinds of alabaster, but
•especially the latter, are and have been long
used for, various ornamental purposes, such as
the fabrication of vases, boxes, &c. The ancients
considered alabaster (carbonate of lime) to be
the best material in which to preserve their
ointments (Pliny, II. N. xiii. 3). Herodotus
(iii. 20) mentions an alabaster vessel of oint
ment which Cambyses sent, amongst other things,
as a present to the Aethiopians. Hammond
(Annotat. ad Matt. xxvi. 7) quotes Plutarch,
Julius Pollux, and Athenaeus, to show that ala
baster was the material in which ointments
were wont to be kept.
In 2 K. xxi. 13, " I will wipe Jerusalem as a
man wipeth a dish " (T"in?V)> the Vat. and Alex.
versions of the LXX. use alabastron in the
rendering of the Hebrew words." The reading
of the LXX. in this passage is thus literally
translated by Harmer (Observations, iv. 473):
" I will unanoint Jerusalem as au. alabaster un-
anointed box is unanointed, and is turned down
on its face." Pliny" tells us that the usual form
of these alabaster vessels was long and slender
at the top, and round and full at the bottom.
He likens them to the long pearls, called elenchi,
which the Roman ladies suspended from their

_ * B. a-irahefyn t)|x "Iepouo-oA^, icafliis airaAei^tTai 6
iMpatrrpos [A. to o\Kipa.(npov\ ajroAeujid^ei/os, leal
Karcunptyerai [A. -rt] iri jrpocraTrop atirov. The Com-
plutensian Version and the VulSate Idelebo Jerusalem
sicut delen solent tabulae (Lucian's recension, mif im>) ;
et delens vestam, et ducam crebrius stylum super faciem
ejus) understand the passage in a very different way.
b " Et procerioribus sua gratia est : elenchos appel
lant fastigata longitudlne, alabastrorum flgura in
pleniorem orbem desiuentes " (ff. N. ix. 66).

ALABASTER
fiugers or dangled from their ears. He compares
also the green pointed cone of a rose-bud to the
form of an alabaster ointment-vessel (H. S.
xxi. 4). The onyx — (cp. Hor. Od. iv. 12, 17,
" Nardi parvus onyx ") — which Pliny says is
another name for alabastrites, must not be con
founded with the precious stone of that name,
which is a sub-species of the quartz family of
minerals, being a variety of agate. Perhaps the
name of onyx was given to the pink-coloured;
variety of the calcareous alabaster, in allusion
to its resembling the finger-nail (onyx) in
colour, or else because the calcareous alabaster*
bears some resemblance to the agate-onyx in the
characteristic lunar-shaped mark of the last-
named stone, which mark reminded the ancients,
of the whitish semicircular spot at the base ot
the finger-nail.
The term alabastro, however, was by no means
exclusively applied to vessels made from this
material. Theocritus0 speaks of golden alabas--
ters. That the passage in Theocritus implies.
that the alabasters wTere made of gold, and nat-
simply gilt, as some have understood it, seems

Alabaster Vessels. (Prom the British Museum.) The inscription
on the centre vessel denotes the quantity it holds.
clear from the words of Plutarch (in Alcxandm,
p. 676), cited by Kypke on Mark xiv. 3. where
he speaks of alabasters "all skilfully wrought-of
gold " (xpvaov rio-K-npiva irepiTTtos). Alabasters,
then, may have been made of any material
suitable for keeping ointment in, — glass, silver,
gold, &c. Precisely similar is the use of the
English word box ; "and perhaps the Greek irvjos
and the Latin buxus are additional illustra
tions. Box is doubtless derived from the name
of the shrub, the wood of which is so well
adapted for turning boxes and such like objects.
The term, which originally was limited to boxes
made of the box-wood, eventually extended to
boxes generally ; as we say, an iron box, a gala
box, &c.
In Mark xiv. 3, the woman -who brought "the
alabaster-box of ointment of spikenard " is said
to break the box before pouring out the oint
ment. Some have supposed that breaking the
box implied merely breaking the seal which kept

^ • _vpiu Si piJpu xpv'o-ei' iAdpaorpa (Id. XV. 114).
" u,upoi> xpiia-eia. aAa/Wrpa non sunt vasa unguentarla
ex alabastrito lapide eaque auro omata, sed simpliciter:
vasa unguentaria ex auro facta. Cf. Schleusn. Lex. M-
T. s. v. iAdpao-Tpov " (Kiessling, «o! Tlieocr. 1. c.)

ALAMETH
the essence of the perfume from evaporating ;
others take it more literally: the box was
broken as haviug no value apart from its use as
holding the oiutment.
The town of Alabastron in Middle Egypt
received its name from the alabaster quarries of
the adjacent hill, the modern Mount St. Anthony.
In this town was a manufactory of vases and
vessels for holding perfumes, &c. [W. H]
ALA'METH (npbl*, Ges. = covering, Fiirst
= youthful ness ; B. TepeeB, A. 'EAptBip; Al-
math) ; better Alemeth. One of the sons of
Beefier, the son of Benjamin (1 Ch. vii. 8).
[W. A. W.I [F.]
ALAMME'LECH O&E&fc*, perhaps king's
oak ; B. 'EAeipeAex i Elmelech), a place within the
limits of Asher, named between Achshaph and
Amad (Josh. xix. 26, only). It has not yet been
identified, but Schwarz (p. 191) suggests a con
nexion with the IV el-Melek, which falls into the
Kishon near Haifa, and has a large forest of oaks
on its south side. [G.] [W.]
ALA'MOTH (mrhirbv) occurs only twice
in the Bible (Ps. xlvi.' 1 and 1 Ch. xv. 20).
The translators and commentators are much
divided as regards the meaning of this phrase.
The Targumist, taking advantage of the Sons of
Qorach occurring in the first, or introductory,
verse of the said Psalm, interprets 'AI-'Alamoth
Midrashically by, " When their father had been
removed from their sight " ('MilKI ]DT3
JinjD JinUS); comp. Num. xvi. 33 ; xxvi. 11.
This explanation, if we may call it one, deserves,
of course, no further notice. Rashi gives 'Alamoth
as an instrument of music. This explanation,
from the construction of the word with 'Al
OL'). cannot be correct [AIJELETH Shahab].
Ibn 'Ezra gives it as the commencement of a
poem. This is an anachronism (see ut supra).
Qimchi's explanation, being the same as Rashi's,
must Le rejected on the same grounds. The
same is the case as regards the translation of it
by " The Virginal." Calmet's " La bandc des
filles musiciennes " (on Ps. ix. 1) is historically
incorrect, since women3 were not allowed, at
public worship, to sing together with men.
The explanation of 'Alamoth by the German
" Jungfrauenweise" is a worse anachronism
still than Ibn 'Ezra's. We are, then, at once
led to the only possible interpretation, which
is strongly supported by the peculiar wording
of 1 Ch. xv. 16. -There only three instru
ments are named (Nebalim, Kinnoroth, and
Metziltayim .- see Haep and Cymbals) ; and
ibidem r. 21 the last word (l"l*£37) must refer
also to the last word of v. 20 (niD^**). Thus
we see that three men, Heman, Asaph, and
Ethan (v. 19), handled the cymbals to give
general notice (JTDtSTP), while the eight men
° When one finds the expression " and singing-women "
(niTIB'DI) twice in the Bible (Ezra ii. 65 and Neh.
vii. 67), it must be explained, as the commentators on
these passages maintain, that these singers bad nothing
to do with religious songs in the Temple or any other
public place of worship. Compare Ps. cxlviii. 12, and
mark the difference there between the expression QJ1
(" aud also ") and DJ* (" with "). [Dance.]

ALCIMUS

83

(v. 20) played on psalteries in order to direct
the music-corps called 'Alumot/t, and the six
other men (v. 21) played on harps to direct the
music-corps called Hasshnuinith.1'
There would, then, remain only one more
point that requires an explanation, viz. why
this music-corps was called 'Alamoth. This
will be, however, easily understood when the
following two facts are taken into consideration.
(1) According to the Mosaic economy (Num.
xviii. 2-6) there subsisted a very close con
nexion between the priests and the Levites.
The latter were the companions ( 117*1 ), if
not the servants (~]in~lti*,l), of the former.
(2) 'Allemeth and 'Almon (Bachurim) were not
identical but contiguous localities, and the
dwelling-places of some of the priests ; and
hence we may derive the use of this word
'Alamoth. This theory would likewise account
for the plural number. As regards the feminine
gender of 'Alamoth, we need only refer to
1 Ch. xxiii. 6, where the Levites are said to
have been divided into bands (Machleqoth,
nip?nt3 ; which is fem. plur.). The names
of the bauds, therefore, with rare exceptions,
are given in that gender.0 [S.-S.]
AL'CIMUS ("AA/ci/tor, valiant, a Greek
name, assumed, according to the prevailing
fashion, as representing Eliakim, D*"* vNt, 'EAia-
Keip, God setteth up) ; called also Jaoeimus or
Jaeim (6 «al 'ldKeip.os alit. 'laidKtiuos, Joseph.
Ant. xii. 9, § 5, i.e. Q,"*\ cf. Jud. iv. Syarr. lectt ;
'IdKipos, Joseph. Ant. xx. 1 0, 3), a Jewish priest
(1 Mace. vii. 14), who was attached to the Hel-
lenizing party (2 Mace. xiv. 3).* On the death
of Menelaus (162 B.C.), Alcimus seems to have
obtained from Antiochus Eupator, through the
influence of Lysias, the succession to the high-
priesthood, thereby excluding Onias, the nephew
and heir of Menelaus (Joseph. Ant. xii. 9, § 7 ;
2 Mace. xiv. 3). Though of the stock of Aaron
(1 Mace. vii. 14), he was probably not of the
high-priestly family (Joseph. '. c. ; xx. 10, § 3) ;
and, if not for that reason, yet at any rate for
his well-known Hellenizing views, his designa
tion to office seems not to have been recognised
by his people. In the interval which elapsed
before the downfall of Antiochus and Lysias,
Judas in all probability exercised the functions
of high-priest (cp. Joseph, xii. 11, § 2, tt/v apxi-
epoiaiv-nv 4rbs rpirov Karaax^v), Alcimus being
driven from the country. Of this first period
of the high-priesthood of Alcimus we are told
nothing in the First Book of Maccabees. It
is, however, directly asserted by Josephus (Ant.
xii. 9, § 7), and again implied by him when
he states that Jakim (i.e. Alcimus) had at the
time of his death held the office for three years
(6 Si 'laKipos, irn rp'ia rr)v apx^pwo-ivnv Ka-ra-

D It was, no doubt, called so from having been the
eighth music-corps when only eight such bands existed.
Later on there were twenty-four such bands. See Ar-
Taschith. ' This explanation we owe to Kohn [Aijeleth Sha
hab, note ']. A somewhat similar one is given by Ree
[Aijeleth Shahae, note k].
a According to a Jewish tradition (Bereshith R. 65),
he was " sister's son of Jose ben Joeser," chief of the
Sanhedrin (Eaphall, Hist, of Jews, i. 215,303).
G 2

84

ALCIMUS

ffxb)V iTeAevT7]o-ev, Ant. xx. 10, 3), or, as he
says in another place, for four years (apxtepa-
Tevo-as ir-n Tiaaapa, Ant xii. 10, 6). When
Demetrius Soter obtained the kingdom of Syria,
Alcimus paid court to that monarch, aud
represented the dangerous character of Judas
aud his followers (1 Mace. vii. 6). Demetrius
therefore confirmed him in his ofiice, and
through his general Bacchides [Bacchides]
established him at Jerusalem. At first, a con
siderable section of the nationalist party were
ready to put faith in Alcimus, because he was of
the stock of Aaron. But their confidence was
cruelly requited. By the order of Bacchides,
apparently with the consent of Alcimus, as
many as sixty were treacherously murdered ;
among them, according to Jewish tradition, the
uncle of Alcimus — Jose ben Joeser, the illustrious
pupil of Antigonus of Socho. The cruelty of
the new high-priest, of which this deed may be
taken as an example, quickly undeceived those
who had hitherto remained doubtful. Iu spite
of the force left in his command, he was unable
to withstand the opposition which he provoked.
The influence of Judas and the nationalist
party (see Assideans) frustrated all his schemes
of policy or revenge (1 Mace. vii. 9, 25) ; and
he was once more compelled to flee to Demetrius
at Antioch, who immediately took measures for
his restoration. The first expedition under
Nicanor proved unsuccessful. According to one
account, it terminated in an amicable arrano-e-
ment between Judas and Nicanor. This so
little suited the purpose of Alcimus, that he
applied agaiu to Demetrius and charged Nicanor
with friendship towards the king's worst foe.
Nicanor received a stern order from Demetrius
to bring Judas in chains to Antioch (2 Mace.
xiv. 26, 27). A second campaign ended iu
Judas's great victory of Adarsa, near Bethhoron,
where Nicanor was killed and his forces utterly
routed (loth Adar = March, 161). Upon this
Bacchides marched against Jerusalem with a
large army, routed Judas, who fell in the
battle of Eleasa (Nisan = April, 160 or 161 B.C.),
and reinstated Alcimus. After his restoration,
Alcimus seems to have attempted to modify the
ancient worship, and was engaged in pullino-
down " the wall of the inner court of the sanc
tuary" (i.e. which separated the court of the
Gentiles from it ; yet see Grimm, 1 Mace. ix. 54)
when he was " plagued " (by paralysis), aud
" died at that time," — " in the second mouth,"
Ijar=May, 159 or 160 B.C. This "wall" was
in all probability the barrier or fence of trellis-
work (cf. the name iOniD, " soriga "), from
three to four feet in height, which stood between
the inner and outer walls of the Temple. No
Gentile nor any person rendered unclean by con
tact with a corpse might pass beyond it. [See
a facsimile of the inscription placed on the wall
in Stade, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, ii. p. 268.] The
great "outer court" was limited on its inner
side by this breastwork, which is described by
Josephus as it appeared in the Herodian Temple
(SpvQaKTos AlBivos Tpfirijxus pXv ityos, rrdvv bi
XapiivTas Sieipyaapivos, Bell. Jud. v. 5, 2).
By the Jews it was regarded with peculiar
reverence as the work of the prophets (ep-ya
tuv rrpo^nTuv, 1 Mace. ix. 54 ; to tc ?xos tov
ayi6v, tv ivaAaibv Ka\ KaTao-Ksvao-pivov b-irb t&v
aylav irpoipvTwv, Joseph. Ant. xii. 10, 6). Ac-

ALEMETH
cordingly the attempt of Alcimus was regarded
with special horror by pious Jews ; for it implied
both the destruction of a sacred portion of their
sanctuary, and the intention of granting a free
access to the Temple even to the Gentiles and the
unclean. The undertaking was stopped by the
sudden seizure and death of Alcimus, which to
the Jews appeared as a heaven-sent punishment
for his impiety (n-A-nyr) tis al<pvtSios e'/c toi>
Beou, Joseph. I. c). The 23rd of Marcheswau, i.e.
the second month of the civil year, = November,
was observed by the people as the day on which
Alcimus had begun the unholy work, which the
hand of God had prevented him from carryino-
into effect. (Cf. Mishna Middoth, 2, 3. See
Griitz, Gesch. d. Jud.3 iii. pp. 12, 603.)
The character of Alcimus seems to have been
thoroughly contemptible. Greed and love of
power prompted him to sue for the office of
high-priest. During the short period of his
residence in Jerusalem he showed himself to be
both treacherous and cruel. The last act of
his life was prompted by his wish to curry
favour with the Hellenizers and the court of
Antioch, rather than by any ambition of making
his religion universal.
His death is noticeable for another reason.
The court at Antioch nominated no successor to
his office, and there ensued an interregnum of
seven years in the list of the high-priests,
during which the high-priestly functions were
performed by a Sagun, the representative or
vice high-priest (cp. Buxtorf, sub voce |'D).
Cp. Joseph. Ant. xii. 9, § 5, xii. 10 ; 1 Mace. vii.
ix. cf. 2 Mace. xiv. xv. ; Ewald, Hist, of Israel,
v. 319 seq. (Eng trans.); Graetz, Gesch. der
Jud.3 iii. pp. 11, 12, and his Excursus on the
Megillath Taanith, p. 597, [R.]
AL'EIIA (iv 'AAipais, A. iv 'AAdpots; in
Alimis), a large and strong city in Gilead in the
time of the Maccabees (1 Mace. v. 26). Its name
does not occur again, nor have we yet any means
of identifying it with certainty ; It may, how
ever, be Kefr el-Ma on the right bank of Nahr
er-Rukkdd in Jauldn (Schumacher, Across the
Jordan, 79-S3). Grimm (in loc.) suggests that
it may represent Beer-Elim (Is. xv. 8 ; comp.
Num. xxi. 16). [Q.] [W.]
ALE'METH ("l£?r [meaning uncertain:
see under ALAMETii],FiiTrst = youthfxdness ; Ala-
math). A Benjamite, son of Jehoadan, or Jarah,
and descended from Jonathan the son of Saul
(1 Ch. viii. 36 [B. ZaAaiudB, A. TaAepdB], ix.
42 [B. rapeAtB, A. raAepiB]). The form ofthe
name in Hebrew is different from that of the
town Alejieth, with which it has been com-
Parea- [W. A.W.] [F.]
ALE'METH (R. V. more accurately, Alle-
meth, D^S; B, IWWe9, A. TaA-hui-B ; Al-
math), the form under which Almon, the name
™'acitJ of the priests in Benjamin, appears iu
1 Ch vi. 60 [45]. Under the very similar form
ot Almit, it has been identified iu the present
day at about a mile N.E. of 'Andta, the site oi
Anathoth ; first by Schwarz (p. 128) and then by
Mr. Finn (Rob. iii. 287). Among the genealogies
of Benjamin the name occurs in connexion with
Azmaveth, also the name of a town of that
tribe (1 Ch. viii. 36, ix. 42 ; compared with

ALEXANDER III.
Ezra ii. 24). [Almox.] In the Targum of
Jonathan on 2 Sam. xvi. 5, Bahurim is rendered
Alemath. [G.] [W.]
ALEXAN'DER HI., king of Macedon, sur
named the Great ('AA^IavSpos, the helper of
men ; Alexander ; Arab, the two-horned, Golii Lex.
Arab. p. 1806), "the son of Philip " (1 Mace.
vi. 2) and Olympias, was born at Pella B.C. 356.
On his mother's side he claimed descent from
Achilles; and the Homeric legends were not
without influence upon his life. At an early
age he was placed under the care of Aristotle ;
and while still a youth he turned the fortune of
the day at Chaeroneia (B.C. 338). On the mur
der of Philip (B.C. 336) Alexander put down
with resolute energy the disaffection and hos
tility by which his throne was menaced ; and in
two years he crossed the Hellespont (B.C. 334)
to carry out the plans of his father, and execute
the mission of Greece to the civilised world.
The battle of the Granicus was followed by the
subjugation of Western Asia ; and in the follow
ing year the fate of the East was decided at
Issus (B.C. 333). Tyre and Gaza were the only
•cities in Western Syria which offered Alexander
any resistance, and these were reduced and
treated with unusual severity (B.C. 332). Egypt
next submitted to him ; and iu B.C. 331 he
founded Alexandria, which remains to the pre
sent day the most characteristic monument of
his life and work. In the same year he finally
defeated Darius at Gaugamela ; and in B.C. 330
his unhappy rival was murdered by Bessus,
satrap of Bactria. The next two years were
occupied by Alexander in the consolidation of
his Persian conquests, and in the reduction of
Bactria. In B.C. 327 he crossed the Indus, pene
trated to the Hydaspes, and was there forced by
the discontent of his army to turn westward.
He reached Susa B.C. 325, and proceeded to
Babylon B.C. 324, which he chose as the capital
of his empirei In the next year he died there
{B.C. 323) in the midst of his gigantic plans ;
and those who inherited his conquests left his
designs unachieved and unattempted (cp. Dan.
vii. 6, viii. 5, xi. 3).
The famous tradition of the visit of Alexander
to Jerusalem during his Phoenician campaign
{Joseph. Ant. xi. 8, § 1 sq.) has been <i fruitful
source of controversy. The Jews, it is said, had
provoked his anger by refusing to transfer their
allegiance to him when summoned to do so
during the siege of Tyre, and after the reduc
tion of Tyre and Gaza (Joseph. I. c.) he turned
towards Jerusalem. Jaddua (Jaddus) the high-
priest (Neh. xii. 11, 22), who had been warned
in a dream how to avert the king's anger,
calmly awaited his approach; and when he drew
near went out to Sapha (more generally known
as Scopus : cp. Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. 2, 3), within
-sitrht of the city and Temple, clad in his robes
of hyacinth and gold, and accompanied by a
train of priests and citizens arrayed in white.
Alexander was so moved by the solemn spectacle
that he did reverence to the holy name inscribed
npon the tiara of the high-priest ; and when
Parmenio expressed surprise, he replied that " he
had seen the God Whom Jaddua represented
in a dream at Dium, encouraging him to cross
over into Asia, and promising him success."
After this it is said that he visited Jerusalem,

ALEXANDER III. 85
offered sacrifice tliere, heard the prophecies of
Daniel which foretold his victory, and conferred
important privileges upon the Jews, not only in
Judaea but in Babylonia and Media, which they
enjoyed during the supremacy of his successors.
The narrative is repeated in the Talmud (Joma,
p. 69 ; cp. Wiinsche, Der Babyl. Talmud, i. 374 ;
the high-priest is there said to have been Simon
the Just, and the scene to have taken place near
Antipatris), in later Jewish writers ( Vajikra li.
Par. 13 ; Joseph ben Gorion, ap. Ste. Croix,
p. 553), and in the chronicles of Abulfeda (Ste.
Croix, p. 555), The event was adapted by the
Samaritans to suit their own history with a
corresponding change of places aud persons and
various embellishments (Abulfeda, quoted by
Ste. Croix, pp. 209-212) ; and in due time Alex
ander was enrolled among the proselytes of
Judaism. On the other hand, no mention of the
event occurs in Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus, or
Curtius ; and the connexion in which it is'
placed by Josephus is alike inconsistent with
Jewish history (Ewald, Hist. Isr. vol. v. p. 214,
Eng. tr. ; Gratz, Gesch. d. Jud. Bd. ii. pt. 2,
p. 221) and with the narrative of Arrian (iii. 1,
iBS6py Tjpipq. arrb ttjs Td^Tjs iAa&vcov rjicev is
TlnAouo-iov). But admitting the incorrectness of the details
of the tradition as given by Josephus, there are
several points which confirm the truth of the.
main fact. Justin says that "many kings of
the East came to meet Alexander wearing
fillets" (lib. xi. 10); and after the capture of
Tyre, " Alexander himself visited some of the
cities which still refused to submit to him "
(Curt. iv. 5, 13). Even at a later time, accord
ing to Curtius, he executed vengeance person
ally on the Samaritans for the murder of his
governor Andromachus (Curt. iv. 8, 10). Be
sides this, Jewish soldiers were enlisted in his
army (Hecat. op. Joseph, u. Apion. i. 22) , and
Jews formed an important element in the popu
lation of the city, which he founded shortly
after the supposed visit. Above all, the privi
leges which he is said to have conferred upon
the Jews, including the remission cf tribute
every sabbatical year, existed in later times,
and imply some such relation between the Jews
and the great conqueror as Josephus describes.
Internal evidence is decidedly in favour of the
story even in its picturesque fulness. From
policy or conviction Alexander delighted to
represent himself as chosen by destiny for the
great act which he achieved. The siege of Tyre
arose professedly from a religious motive. The
battle of Issus was preceded by the visit to
Gordium ; the invasion of Persia by the pil
grimage to the temple of Ammon. And if
it be impossible to determine the exact cir
cumstances of the meeting of Alexander and
the Jewish envoys, the silence of the classical
historians, who notoriously disregarded (e.g.
the Maccabees) and misrepresented (Tac. Hist,
v. 8) the fortunes of the Jews, cannot be
held to be conclusive against the occurrence
of an event which must have appeared to
them trivial or unintelligible (Jahn, Archaeol.
iii. 300 ff. ; Ste. Croix, Examen critique, &c,
Paris, 1810; Thirlwall, Hist, of Greece, vi.
206 f. ; and on the other side Ant. van Dale,
Dissert super Aristed, Amstel. 1705, pp. 69 sq.).
The tradition, whether true or false, present*

86 ALEXANDER III.
an aspect of Alexander's character which has
been frequently lost sight of by his recent bio
graphers. He was not simply a Greek, nor
must he be judged by a Greek standard. The
Orientalism, which was a scandal to his fol
lowers, was a necessary deduction from his
principles, and not the result of caprice or
vanity (comp. Arr. vii. 29). He approached the
idea of a universal monarchy from the side of
Greece, but his final object was to establish
something higher than the paramount supremacy
of one people. His purpose was to combine and
equalize, not to annihilate : to wed the East
and West in a just union — not to enslave Asia
to Greece (Plut. cfe Alex. Or. 1, § 6). The
time, indeed, was not yet come when this was
possible ; but if he could not accomplish the
great issue, he prepared the way for its accom
plishment. The first and most direct consequence of the
policy of Alexander was the weakening of na
tionalities, the first condition necessary for the
dissolution of the old religions. The swift
course of his victories, the constant incorpora
tion of foreign elements in his armies, the fierce
wars and changing fortunes of his successors,
! broke down the barriers by which kingdom had
been separated from kingdom, and opened the
road for larger conceptions of life and faith than
had hitherto been possible (cp. Polyb. iii. 59).
The contact of the East and West brought out
into practical forms, thoughts and feelings which
had been confined to the schools. Paganism was
deprived of life as soon as it was transplanted
beyond the narrow limits in which it took its
shape. The spread of commerce followed the
progress of arms ; and the Greek language and
literature vindicated their claim to be considered
the most perfect expression of human thought
by becoming practically universal.
The Jews were at ouce most exposed to the
powerful influences thus brought to bear upon
the East, and most able to support them. In
the arrangement of the Greek conquests, which
followed the battle of Ipsus B.C. 301, Judaea
was made the frontier land of the rival empires
of Syria and Egypt ; and though it was neces
sarily subjected to the constant vicissitudes of
war, it was able to make advantageous terms
with the state to which it owed allegiance from
the important advantages which it offered for
attack or defence [Antiochds, II.-VII.]. Inter
nally also the people were prepared to withstand
the effects of the revolution which the Greek
dominion effected. The constitution of Ezra
had obtained its full development. A powerful
hierarchy had succeeded in substituting the
idea of a Church for that of a state ; and the
Jew was now able to wander over the world and
yet remain faithful to the God of his fathers
[The Dispersion]. The same constitutional
change had strengthened the intellectual and
religious position of the people. A rigid
"fence" of ritualism protected the course of
common life from the licence of Greek manners :
and the great doctrine of the unity of God, which
was now seen to be the divine centre of their
system, counteracted the attractions of a philo
sophic pantheism [Simon the Just], Through
a long course of discipline, in which they had
been left unguided by prophetic teaching, the
Jews had realised the nature of their mission to

ALEXANDER III.
the world, and were waiting for the means of
fulfilling it. The conquest of Alexander fur
nished them with the occasion and the power.
But at the same time the example of Greece
fostered personal as well as popular indepen
dence. Judaism was speedily divided into sects,
analogous to the typical forms of Greek philo
sophy. But even the rude analysis of the old
faith was productive of good. The freedom of
Greece was no less instrumental in forming the
Jews for their final work than the contempla
tive spirit of Persia, or the civil organization
of Rome : for if the career of Alexander was
rapid, its effects were lasting. The city which
he chose to bear his name perpetuated in after
ages the office which he providentially dis
charged for Judaism and mankind ; and the
historian of Christianity must confirm the judg
ment of Arrian, that Alexander, " who was like
no other man, could not have been given to the
world without the special design of Providence"
(e|ti> tou Biiov, Arr. vii. 30). And Alexander
himself appreciated this design better even than
his great teacher ; for it is said (Plut. de Alex.
Or. 1, § 6) that when Aristotle urged him to
treat the Greeks as freemen and the Orientals as
slaves, he found the true answer to this counsel
in the recognition of his " divine mission to
unite and reconcile the world (Kotvbs $)/reii>
BedBev b\ppoo-T7)s Kai biaAAaKTt)s t&v oAuv
vop[£av)."

Tetradrachm (ittio talent) of Lysimachus, king of Thrace.
Obv. Head of Alexander the Great, as a young j„piter Ammon, lo
right r.ev. BA2IAEQ5 AY2IMAXOY. In field, mono
gram and 2, Pallas seated to left, holding a Victory.
In the prophetic visions of Daniel the in
fluence of Alexander is necessarily combined
with that of his successors.5 They "represented
with partial exaggeration the several phases of
his character ; and to the Jews nationally the
policy of the Syrian kings was of greater im
portance than the original conquest of Asia.
But some traits of "the first mighty king"
(Dan. vni. 21, xi. 3) are given with vigorous
distinctness. The emblem bv which he is typi
fied (TSV, a he-goat, fr. "1SV, he leapt, Ges.
Thes. s. v.) suggests the notions of strength and
speed ; » and the universal extent (Dau. viii. 5,
. . . from the west on the face of the whole
earth) and marvellous rapidity- of his conquests
(Dan. 1. c. he touched not the qi-ound) are brought
forward as the characteristics of his power,
which was directed by the strongest personal
"The attempt of Bertholdt to apply the description
ot the third monarchy to that of Alexander has little to
recommend it [Dahiki.].
» There may be also some allusion in the word to
the legend of Caranns, the founder of the Argive dynasty
in Macedonia, who was guided to victory by " a flock of
goats (Justin, i. 1).

ALEXANDER BALAS
impetuosity (Dan. viii. 6, in the fury of his
power). He ruled with great dominion, aud did
according to his will (xi. 3) ; " and there was
none that could deliver . . . out of his hand "
(viii. 7). [B. F. W.j [R.]
ALEXAN'DER BALAS (Joseph. Ant. xiii.
4, § 8, 'AA4£avSpos o BdAas A<sy6pevos ; Strab.
xiv. p. 751, Tbv BdAav 'AA4%avbpov ; Just. xxxv.
1, "Subornant pro eo Balam quendam . . . et. . .
nomen ei Alexandri inditur." Balas possibly
represents the Aram. N?I"3, lord. He was, ac
cording to some, a (natural) son of Antiochus
IV. Epiphanes (Liv. Ep. 50 ; Strab. xiii. ; Joseph.
Ant. xiii. 2, 1), but he was more generally
regarded as an impostor who falsely assumed
the connexion (App. Syr. 67 ; Justin, /. c. ; cp.
Polyb. xxxiii. 16). In any case he seems to have
assumed the title of his reputed father (cp.
'AA4£av5pos, 6 tov 'Avtioxov 6 'Eirnpavhs, 1
Mace. x. 1, where there is no need to read tou
'E-KKfyavovs, as Grotius and Michaelis propose).
He claimed the throne of Syria in B.C. 152 in
opposition to Demetrius Soter, who had pro
voked the hostility of the neighbouring kings
and alienated the affections of his subjects
(Joseph. '. a). His pretensions were put for
ward by Heraclides, formerly treasurer of Anti
ochus Epiphanes, who obtained the recognition
of his title at Rome bv scandalous intrigues
(Polyb. xxxiii. 14, 16). After landing at Ptole
mais (1 Mace. x. 1) Alexander gained the warm
support of Jonathan, who was now the leader of
the Jews (1 Mace. ix. 73); and though his first
efforts were unsuccessful (Just. xxxv. 1, 10), in
B.C. 150 he completely routed the forces of
Demetrius, who himself fell in the retreat
(1 Mace. x. 48-50 ; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 2, 4 ; Strab.
xvi. p. 751). After this Alexander married
Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemaeus YI.
Philometor ; and in the arrangement of his
kingdom appointed Jonathan governor (uepiS-
dpxns, 1 Mace. a. 6o) of a province (Judea : cp.
1 Mace. xi. 57). But his triumph was of short
duration. After obtaining power he gave him
self up to a life of indulgence (Liv. Ep. 50 ; cp.
Athen. v. 211) ; and when Demetrius Nicator,
the son of Demetrius Soter, landed in Syria in
B.C. 147, the new pretender found powerful
support (l Mace. -v. 67 ff.). At first Jonathan
defeated and slew Apollonius the governor of
Coele-Syria, who had joined the party of Deme
trius, for which exploit he received fresh
favours from Alexander (1 Mace. x. 69-89) ; but
shortly afterwards (B.C. 146) Ptolemy entered
Syria with a large force, and after he had placed
•garrisons in the chief cities on the coast, which
received him according to the commands -of
Alexander, suddenly pronounced himself in
favour of Demetrius (1 Mace. xi. 1-11 ; Joseph.
Ant. xiii. §4, 5 sq.), alleging, probably with truth,
the existence of a conspiracy against his life
(Joseph. I. (,. cf. Diod. ap. Miiller, Fragm. ii. 16).
Alexander, who had been forced to leave Antioch
(Joseph. I. c), was in Cilicia when he heard of
Ptolemy's defection (1 Mace. xi. 14). He has
tened to meet him, but was defeated (1 Mace. xi.
15 ; Just. xxxv. 2), and fled to Abae in Arabia
(Diod. '. c), where he was murdered B.C. 146
(Diod. /. c. and 1 Mace. xi. 17 differ as to the
manner ; and Euseb. Chron. Arm. i. 349 represents
him to have been slain in the battle). The

ALEXANDER

87

narrative in 1 Mace, and Josephus shows clearly
the partiality which the Jews entertained for
Alexander "as the first that entreated ef true
peace with them " (1 Mace. a. 47) ; and the same

Tetiadrachm (Ptolemaic talent) of Alexander Balas.
Obv. Bust of King to right. Eev. BASIAEOS AAEHAN-
APOY- Eagle, upon rudder, to left, aud palm-branch. Infield
the monogram and symbol of Tyre; dale TSP C163 Aer. Seleu-
cid.), &c.
feeling was exhibited afterwards in the zeal with
which they supported the claims of his son
Antiochus. [Antiochus, VI.] [B. F. W.] [R.]
ALEXAN'DER CAAifrvbpos ; Alexander).
Several persons of this name are mentioned in
the N. T. The name was so common that
attempts at identification are most precarious.
In the following list 3 and 5 may be identical,
but 4 and 5 are probably different persons.
1. Son of Simon of Cyrene, who bore our
Lord's Cross (Mark xv. 21). On the probable
reason for mentioning Simon's sons, see Rufus.
2. One of the high-priestly family, and im
portant enough to be mentioned by name in the
account given (Acts iv. 6) of the meeting of the
Sanhedrin to examine Peter and John. It has
been conjectured that he may possibly be the
Alabarch Alexander Lysimachus of Alexandria,
brother of Philo, and father of Tiberius Alex
ander, procurator of Judaea (Jos. Ant. xviii. 8,
§ 1; xix. 5, § 1). He was the first man of his
time among the Jews of Alexandria (Ant. xx. 5,
§ 2). But this identification has no confirmatory
evidence. 3. A Jew of Ephesus, whom his countrymen
put forward during the tumult raised by Deme
trius the silversmith (Acts xix. 33). Their
object was to dissociate themselves from the
Christians, and to avoid any further increase of
the habitual enmity of their Gentile fellow-citi
zens. This was the subject of Alexander's
attempted defence. The verb used, which signi
fies " instructed " (crvveBlBao-av, so best authori
ties), negatives the explanation that he was a
Christian whom the Jews put forward as a
victim. 4. A Christian who with Hymenaeus had
made shipwreck concerning the faith, and had
been delivered to Satan by St. Paul (1 Tim. i.
19, 20). For the nature of the discipline in
flicted, see Hymenaeus.
5. A " coppersmith " (xaAKevs), but see
Stephanus, ed. Hase, s. v., who proves the word
to mean simply a " smith." He is mentioned by
St. Paul (2 Tim. iv. 14, 15) as " having done
him much evil," and " having greatly withstood
his words." The latter expression is not to
be connected with v. 16 and referred to oppo
sition to St. Paul in his defence (airoAoyia)
at Rome (as Lewin, vol. ii.), but is to be under
stood of former opposition to the Apostle's
teaching (cp. Acts xiii. 8, where the same

88 ALEXANDRIA
verb is used, bvBiffTapai). Against a forensic
and technical sense of " shewed " (ivebell-aTo),
see Alford's note ad loc. If the epistle (2 Tim.)
was addressed to Timothy at Ephesus, Alexander
was probably concerned in the persecutions to
which St. Paul was there exposed. [E. R. B.]
ALEXAN'DRIA (r) 'AA^dvopma, 3 Mace.
iii. 1; Mod., El-Iskendereeyeh ; Ethn., 'AAe|ay-
Spzis, 3 Mace. ii. 30, iii. 21 ; Acts vi. 9, xviii. 24),
the Hellenic, Roman, and Christian capital of
Egypt, was founded by Alexander the Great B.C.
332, who himself traced the ground-plan of the
city which he designed to make the metropolis
of his western empire (Plut. Alex. 26). The
work thus begun was continued after the death
of Alexander by the Ptolemies ; and the beauty
(Athen. i. p. 3) of Alexandria became proverbial.
Every natural advantage contributed to its
prosperity. The climate and site were singu
larly healthy (Strab. p. 793). The harbours,
formed by the island of Pharos and the head
land Lochias, were safe and commodious, alike
for commerce and for war ; and the Lake Mareo
tis was an inland haven for the merchandise of
Egypt and India (Strab. p. 798). Under the
despotism of the later Ptolemies the trade of
Alexandria declined, but its population (300,000
freemen, Diod. xvii. 52 ; the free population of
Attica was about 130,000) and wealth (Strab.
p. 798) were enormous. After the victory of
Augustus it suffered for its attachment to the
cause of Antony (Strab. p. 792); but its im
portance as one of the chief corn-ports of Rome *
secured for it the general favour of the first em
perors. In later times the seditious tumults
for which the Alexandrians had always been
notorious desolated the city (a.C. 260 ff. : Gibbon,
Decline and Fall, c. x.), and religious feuds
aggravated the popular distress (Dionys. Alex.
Ep. iii., xii. ; Euseb. H. E. vi. 41 ff., vii. 22).
Yet even thus, though Alexandria suffered
greatly from constant dissensions and the weak
ness of the Byzantine court, the splendour of
" the great city of the West " amazed Amrou,
its Arab conqueror (a.d. 640; Gibbon, c. Ii.);
and after centuries of Muslim misrule it pro
mises once again to justify the wisdom of its
founder (Strab. xvii. 791-9 ; Frag. an. Joseph.
Ant. xiv. 7, 2; Plut. Alex. 26; Arr. iii. 1 ;
Joseph. B. J. iv. 5. Alexander the Great).
The population of Alexandria was mixed from
the first (comp. Curt. iv. 8, 5); and this fact
formed the groundwork of the Alexandrine
character. The three regions into which the
city was divided (Regie Judaeorum, Brucheium,
Rhacotis) corresponded to the three chief classes
of its inhabitants, — Jews, Greeks, Egyptians ;b

a The Alexandrine corn-vessels (Acts xxvii. 6,
xxviii. 11) Were large (Acts xxvii. 37) and haudsome
(Luc. Navig. p. 608, ed. Bined.) ; and even Vespasian
mads a voyage in one (Joseph. B. J. vii. 2). They
generally sailed direct to Puteoli (.Dicaearchia, Strab.
p. 793 ; Senec. Ep. 11, 1 ; cp. Suet. Aug. 98, Acts
xxviii. 13) : but, from stress of weather, often sailed
under the ABiatic coast (Acts xxvii. ; cp. Luc. '. e.
p. 870 sq. ; Smith, Voyage of St. Paul, pp. 70 sq.).
¦> Polybius (xxxiv. u ; av. Strab. p. 797) speaks
of the population as consisting of " three races (rpt'i
yiyrj), the native Egyptian . . ., the mercenary, . . . and
the Alexandrine ... of Greek descent." The Jews
might receive the title of "mercenaries," from the
service which they originally rendered to Alexander

ALEXANDRIA
but in addition to these principal races, repre
sentatives of almost every nation were found
there (Dio Chrys. Orat. xxxii.). According to
Josephus, Alexander himself assigned to the
Jews a place in his new city ; " and they ob
tained," he adds, "equal privileges with the
Macedonians " (c. Ap. ii. 4), in consideration " of
their services against the Egyptians " (B. J. ii,
18, 7). Ptolemy I. imitated the policy of Alex
ander, and, after the capture of Jerusalem, he
removed a considerable number of its citizens to
Alexandria. Many others followed of their own
accord ; and all received the full Macedonian
franchise (Joseph. Ant. xii. 1 ; cf. c. Ap. i. 22),
as men of known and tried fidelity (Joseph.
c. Ap. ii. 4). Already on a former occasion the
Jews had sought a home in the land of their
bondao-e. More than two centuries and a half
before the foundation of Alexandria a large body
of them had taken refuge in Egypt, after the
murder of Gedaliah : but these, after a general
apostasy, were carried captive to Babylon by
Nebuchadnezzar (2 K. xxv. 26 ; Jer. xliv. ;
Joseph. Ant. x. 9, 7).
The fate of the later colony was far different.
The numbers and importance of the Egyptian
Jews were rapidly increased under the Ptole
mies by fresh immigrations and untiring in
dustry. Philo estimates them in his time at
little less than 1,000,000 (in Flacc. §6, p. 971);
and adds, that two of the five districts of Alex
andria were called " Jewish districts ;" and that
many Jews lived scattered in the remaining
three (id. § 8, p. 973). From a chance remark
of Josephus we should infer that "the Delta"
— by which name the fourth district in Alex
andria was known — was more especially the
Jewish quarter (to KaAovpevov AiAra- cuvy-
kioto ybp e/ce? rb 'Iovba'iK6v, Joseph. Bell. Jail.
ii. 18, 8). Julius Caesar (Joseph. Ant. xiv.
10, § 1) and Augustus confirmed to them
the privileges which they had enjoyed before,
and they retained them with various inter
ruptions, of which the most important, A.D.
39, is described by Philo (I. c), during the
tumults and persecutions of later reigns (Joseph.
c. Ap. ii. 4 ; B. J. xii. 3, 2). They w-ere repre
sented, at least for some time (from the time of
Cleopatra to the reign of Claudius ; Jost, Gesch,
d. Judenth. 353) by their own officer (iBvdpxnh
Strab. ap. Joseph. Ant. xiv. 7, 2 : aAaBdpxys,
Joseph. Ant. xviii. 7, 3 , 9, 1 ; xix. 5, 1 ; cp.
Rup. ad Juv. Sat. i. 130: yevdpxys, Philo, m
Flacc. § 10, p. 975), and Augustus appointed a
council (yepoucrla, i.e. Sanhedrin : Philo, '- c.)
" to superintend the affairs of the Jews," ac
cording to their own laws. The establishment
ol- Christianity altered the civil position of the
Jews, but they maintained their relative pros
perity; and when Alexandria was taken by
Amrou, 40,000 tributary Jews were reckoned
among the marvels of the city (Gibbon, c. Ii.).
For some time the Jewish Church in Alex
andria was in close dependence on that of Jeru
salem. Both were subject to the civil power of
the first Ptolemies, and both acknowledged the
high-priest as their religious head. The perse
cution of Ptolemy Philopator (B.C. 217) occa
sioned the first political separation between the
(Joseph. B. J. ii. is, 7) and the first Ptolemies (Joseph.
c. Ap. ii. 4).

ALEXANDRIA
two bodies. From that time the Jews of Pales
tine attached themselves to the fortunes of
Syria [Antiochus the Great] ; and the same
policy which alienated the Palestinian party
gave unity and decision to the Jews of Alex
andria. The Septuagint translation, which
strengthened the barrier of language between
Palestine and Egypt, and the temple at Leonto-
polis (B.C. 161), which subjected the Egyptian
Jews to the charge of schism, widened the
breach which was thus opened. But the divi
sion though marked was not complete. At the
beginning of the Christian era the Egyptian
Jews still paid the contributions to the Temple-
service (Raphall, Hist, of Jews, ii. 72). Jeru
salem, though its name was fashioned to a
Greek shape, was still the Holy City, the metro
polis not of a country but of a people ('IepoVoAis,
Philo, in Flacc. § 7 ; Leg. ad Cai. § 36), and the
Alexandrians had a synagogue there (Acts vi. 9).
The internal administration of the Alexandrine
Church was independent of the Sanhedrin at
Jerusalem ; but respect survived submission.
There were, however, other causes which
tended to produce at Alexandria a distinct form
of the Jewish character and faith. The religion
and philosophy of that restless city produced an
effect upon the people more powerful than the
influence oi" politics or commerce. Alexander
himself symbolised the spirit with which he
wished to animate his new capital by founding
a temple of Isis side by side with the temples of
the Grecian gods (Arr. iii. 1). The creeds of
the East and West were to coexist in friendly
union ; and in after-times the mixed worship of
Serapis (comp. Gibbon, c. xxviii. ; Diet, of Geogr.
i. p. 98) was characteristic of the Greek king
dom of Egypt (August, de Civ. Dei, xviii. 5 ;
S. maximus Aegyptiorum dens). This catholicity
of worship was further combined with the
spread of universal learning. The same mon
archs who favoured the worship of Serapis
(Clem. Al. Protr. iv. § 48) founded and embel
lished the Museum and Library ; and part of the
Library was deposited in the Serapeum. The
new faith and the new literature led to a common
issue ; and the Egyptian Jews necessarily im
bibed the spirit which prevailed around them.
The Jews were, indeed, peculiarly susceptible
of the influences to which they were exposed.
They presented from the first a capacity for
Eastern or Western development. To the faith
and conservatism of the Oriental they united
the activity and energy of the Greek. The
mere presence of Hellenic culture could not fail
to call into play their powers of speculation,
which were hardly repressed by the traditional
legalism of Palestine (comp. Jost, Gesch. d.
Judenth. pp. 293 ft") ; and the unchanging
element of divine revelation which they always
retained, enabled them to harmonize new
thought with old belief. But while the inter
course of the Jew and Greek would have pro
duced the same general consequences in any
case, Alexandria was peculiarly adapted to
ensure their full effect. The result of the con
tact of Judaism with the many creeds which
were current there must have been speedy and
powerful. The earliest Greek fragment of
Jewish writing which has been preserved (about
B.C. 160) [Aristobulus] contains large Orphic
quotations, which had been already moulded

ALEXANDRIA

89

into a Jewish form (comp. Jost, Gesch. d.
Jiulcnt/i. 370) ; and the attempt thus made to
connect the most ancient Hellenic traditions
with the Law was often repeated afterwards.
Nor was this done in the spirit of bold forgery.
Orpheus, Musaeus, and the Sibyls appeared to
stand in some remote period anterior to the
corruptions of polytheism, as the witnesses of a
primeval revelation and of the teaching of
nature, and thus it seemed excusable to attribute
to them a knowledge of the Mosaic doctrines.
The third book of the Sibyllines (c. B.C. 150) is
the most valuable relic of this pseudo-Hellenic
literature, and shows how far the conception of
Judaism was enlarged to meet the wider views
of the religious condition of heathendom which
was opened by a more intimate knowledge of
Greek thought ; though the later Apocalypse of
Ezra [Esdras. IV.] exhibits a marked reaction
towards the extreme exclusiveness of former
times. But the indirect influence of Greek literature
and philosophy produced still greater effects
upon the Alexandrine Jews than the open con
flict and combination oi religious dogmas. The
literary school of Alexandria was essentially
critical and not creative. For the first time
men laboured to collect, revise, and classify all
the records of the past. Poets trusted to their
learning rather than to their imagination.
Language became a study ; and the legends of
early mythology were transformed into philo
sophic mysteries. The Jews took a vigorous
share in these new studies. The caution
against writing, which became a settled law in
Palestine, found no favour in 'Egypt. Nume
rous authors adapted the history of the Patri
archs, of Moses, and of the Kings to classical
models (Euseb. Praep. Ev. ix. 17-39. Eupo-
lemus, Artapanus (?), Demetrius, Aristaeus,
Cleodemus or Malchas, " a prophet "). A poem
which bears the name of Phocylides gives iu
verse various precepts of Leviticus (Daniel sec.
LXX., Apolog. p. 512 f. ; Romae, 1772); and
several large fragments of a " tragedy " in
which Ezekiel (c. B.C. 110) dramatized the
Exodus, have been preserved by Eusebius (I. c),
who also quotes numerous passages in heroic
verse from the elder Philo and Theodotus.
This classicalism of style was a symptom and a
cause of classicalism of thought. The same
Aristobulus who gave currency to the Judaeo-
Orphic verses endeavoured to show that the
Pentateuch was the real source of Greek philo
sophy (Euseb. Praep. Ev. xiii. 12 ; Clem. Al.
Strom, vi. 98).
The proposition thus enunciated was tho
roughly congenial to the Alexandrine character ;
and henceforth it was the chief object of Jewish
speculation to trace out the subtle analogies
which were supposed to exist between the
writings of Moses and the teaching of the
schools. The circumstances under which philo
sophical studies first gained a footing at Alex
andria favoured the attempt. For some time
the practical sciences reigned supreme ; and the
issue of these was scepticism (Matter, Hist, de
I'Ecole oVAlex. iii. 162 ff.). Then at length the
clear analysis and practical morality of the
Peripatetics found ready followers ; and in the
strength of the reaction men eagerly trusted to
those splendid ventures with which Plato taught

90

ALEXANDRIA

ALEXANDRIA

them to be content till they could gain a surer
knowledge (Phaed. p. 85). To the Jew this
surer knowledge seemed to be already given ;
and the belief in the existence of a spiritual
meaning underlying the letter of Scripture was
the great principle on which all his investiga
tions rested. The facts were supposed to be
essentially symbolic : the language the veil (or
sometimes the mask) which partly disguised
from common sight the truths which it en
wrapped. In this way a twofold object was
gained. It became possible to withdraw the
Supreme Being (to bv, 6 &v) from immediate
contact with the material world ; and to apply
the narratives of the Bible to the phenomena of
the soul. It is impossible to determine the
process by which these results were embodied ;
hut, as in parallel cases, they seem to have been
shaped gradually in the minds of the mass, and
not fashioned at once by one great teacher.
Even in the LXN. there are traces of an
endeavour to interpret the anthropomorphic
imagery of the Hebrew text [Septuagint] ;
aud there can be no doubt that the Commen
taries of Aristobulus gave some form and con
sistency to the allegoric system. In the time of
Philo (B.C. 20 — A.D. 50) the theologioal and
interpretative systems were evidently fixed even
in many of their details, and he appears in both
cases only to have collected and expressed the
popular opinions of his countrymen.
In each of these great forms of speculation —
the theological and the exegetical — Alex-
andrianism has an important bearing upon the
Apostolic writings. But the doctrines which
are characteristic of the Alexandrine school
were by no means peculiar to it. The same
causes which led to the formation of wider
views of Judaism in Egypt, acting under greater
restraint, produced corresponding results in
Palestine. A doctrine of the Word (Memra)
and a system of mystical interpretation grew
up within the Rabbinic schools, which bear a
closer analogy to the language of St. John and
to the " allegories " of St. Paul than the specu
lations of Philo.
But while the importance of this Rabbinic
element in connexion with the expression of
Apostolic truth is often overlooked, there can
be no doubt that the Alexandrine teaching was
more powerful in furthering its reception. Yet
even when the function of Alexandrianism with
regard to Christianity is thus limited, it is need
ful to avoid exaggeration. The preparation
which it made was indirect and not immediate.
Philo's doctrine of the Word (Logos) led men to
accept the teaching of St. John, but not to
anticipate it; just as his method of allegorizino-
fitted them to enter into the arguments of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, though they could not
have foreseen their application.
The first thing, indeed, which must strike
the reader of Philo in relation to St. John is the
similarity of phrase without a similarity of idea.
His treatment of the Logos is vague and incon
sistent. He argues about the term and not
about the reality, and seems to delight in the
ambiguity which it involves. At one time he
represents the Logos as the reason of God in
which the archetypal ideas of things exist (Aoyos
ivbidBeTos), at another time as the Word of
God by which He makes himself known to the

outward world (Aoyos TrpofpopiKds) ; but he
nowhere realizes the notion of One Who is at
once Revealer and the Revelation, which is the
essence of St. John's teaching. The idea of the
active Logos is suggested to him by the necessity
of withdrawing the Infinite from the finite, God
from man, and not by the desire to bring God
to man. Not only is it impossible to conceive
that Philo could have written as St. John
writes, but even to suppose that he could have
admitted the possibility of the Incarnation of
the Logos, or of the personal unity of the Logos
and the Messiah. But w-hile it is right to state
in its full breadth the opposition between the
teaching of Philo and St. John,0 it is impossible
not to feel the important office which the
mystic theosophy, of which Philo is the repre
sentative, fulfilled in preparing for the appre
hension of the highest Christian truth. Without
any distinct conception of the personality of the
Logos, the tendency of Philo's writings was to
lead men to regard the Logos, at least in some
of the senses of the term, as a person ; and
while he maintained with devout earnestness
the indivisibility of the Divine nature, he de
scribed the Logos as Divine. In this manner,
however unconsciously, he prepared the way for
the recognition of a twofold personality in the
Godhead, and performed a work without which
it may well appear that the language oi
Christianity would have been unintelligible
(comp. Dorner, Die Lehre von der Person Christi;
i. pp. 23 sq.).
The allegoric method stands in the same
relation to the spiritual interpretation of
Scripture as the mystic doctrine of the Word to
the teaching of St. John. It was a preparation
and not an anticipation of it. Unless men had
been familiarized in some such way with the
existence of au inner meaning in the Law and
the Prophets, it is difficult to understand how
an Apollos "mighty in the Scriptures" (Acts
xviii. 24-28) could have convinced many, or
how the infant Church could have seen almost
unmoved the ritual of the Old Covenant swept
away, strong in the conscious possession of its
spiritual antitypes. But that which is found in
Philo in isolated fragments combines in the
N. T. to form one great whole. In the former
the truth is affirmed in casual details, in the
latter it is laid down in its broad principles
which admit of infinite application ; and a com
parison of patristic interpretations with those of
Philo will show how powerful an apostolic
example exercised iu curbing the imagination of
later writers. Nor is this all. While Philo
regarded that which was positive in Judaism as
the mere symbol of abstract truths, in the
Epistle to the Hebrews it appears as the shadow
of blessings realized (Heb. ix. 11, yevop4vuv) in
the presence of a personal Saviour. History
in the one case is the enunciation of a riddle ;
m the other it is the record of a life.
The speculative doctrines which thus worked
for the general reception of Christian doctrine
were also embodied in a form of society which
was afterwards transferred to the Christian
Church. Numerous bodies of ascetics (Thera-

The closest analogy to the teaching of Philo on the
Logos occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Compare
Heb. iv. 12 with Philo, Quis rer. div. Irneres., } 26.

ALEXANDRE*.
peutae), especially on the borders of Lake
Mareotis, devoted themselves to a life of cease
less discipline and study. Unlike the Essenes,
who present the corresponding phase in Pales
tinian life, they abjured society and labour, and
often forgot, as it is said, the simplest wants of
nature in the contemplation of the hidden
wisdom of the Scriptures (Philo, de Vit. Con-
tempi, throughout). The description which
Philo gives of their occupation and character
seemed to Eusebius to present so clear an image
of Christian virtues that he claimed them as
Christians; and there can be no doubt that
some of the forms of monasticism were shaped
upon the model of the Therapeutae (Euseb.
//. E. ii. 16).
According to the common legend (Euseb. I. c.)
St. Mark first " preached the Gospel in Egypt,
and founded the first Church in Alexandria."
At the beginning of the second century the
number of Christians at Alexandria must have
been very large, and the great leaders of
Gnosticism who arose there (Basilides, Valen
tinus) exhibit an exaggeration of the tendency
of the Church. But the later forms of Alex
andrine speculation, the strange varieties of
Gnosticism, the progress of the catechetical
school, the development of Neo-Platonism, the
various phases of the Arian controversy, belong
to the history of the Church and to the history
of philosophy. To the last Alexandria fulfilled
its mission; and we still owe much to the
.spirit of its great teachers, which in later ages
struggled, not without success, against the
sterner systems of the West.
[In the face of the general acceptance of
Alexandrine syncretism, a somewhat opposite
view is taken by Renonf (Hibbert Lectures, 1879,
pp. 246-248), who denies that Alexandria was
of any importance " as a medium of interchange
of ideas between the Eastern and Western
worlds." Alexandrine thought, he maintains,
was free from Oriental influence ; Alexandrine
philosophers were either ignorant or con
temptuous of Oriental ideas, and of the
Egyptian language and literature. He quotes
M. Ampere, " Alexandre fut tres grecque, assez
juive et presque point egyptienne" (Revue des
Deux Mondes, Sept. 1846, p. 735), and sup
ports his view by pointing out that down to
the Roman times there had been no commercial
communication between Alexandria and the
distant East, the Indian traffic passing through
the Gulf of Akaba, and being conveyed to the
Mediterranean either by Palmyra and Antioch
or by Petra and Gaza (quoting Renaud, "Sur
le royaume de la Mesene et de la Kharasene,"
in the Mem. de I' Acad, des Inscr. t. xxiv. pt. 2,
p. 215 ; and Lumbrox, Recherches sur V economic
politique de I'Egypte sous les Lagides, chap. vi.
on Commerce). — R.]
The following works embody what is valuable
in the earlier literature on the subject, with
copious references to it: Matter, Histoire de
PEcole d'Alexandrie, 2nd edit., Paris, 1840 ;
A. F. Dahne, Geschichtliche Darstellung der
Jiidisch-Alexandrinischen Religions-Philosophic,
Halle, 1834 ; A. F. GfrBrer, Philo und die
Judisch-Alexandrinische Theosophie, Stuttgart,
1835. To these may be added H. Ewald, History
of Israel, vol. v. 223 sq.; J. M. Jost, Gesch. des
judenthums, Leipzig, 1857, i. 344 sq., 388 sq. ;

ALGUM

91

1 A. Neander, History of Christian Church, vol. i,
66 sq., Eng. tr., 1847'; Prof. Jowett, Philo and
St. Paul, St. Paul's Epistles to the T/n-ssalonians
&c, Loudon, 1S55, i. 363 ff. And for the later
Christian history: II. F. Guericke, De Schola
Alcxandrind Catcchcticd, Halis, 1825 ; Hasel-
bach. Do Schuld, quae Alex, floruit, Catcchcticd,
part i., Stettin, 1826 ; cf. Matter, II. do I'lScole
d'Alcx. 182t>. For Alexandrian Gnosticism and
allegory, cf. Baur's Church History, vol. i. pt. iii.
chap, i., Eng. tr. (Williams and Norgate).
In recent literature the general subject has
been very fully discussed. Special mention may
here be made of Herzfeld's Gesch. des Volkcs
Israel, Bd. iii. ; Gratz, Gesch. der Juden, Bd.
iii. 3 ; Hausrath, Neutestatnentliche Zeitgsrhtc.
Bd. ii. 91-145, Stanley's Jewish Church, Lect.
xlvii. ; Schiirer's Gesch. d. Jud. Bd. ii. 493 sq.
(1886). For Alexandrine religious thought, see also
Zeller, Die Philosophic der Gricchen, &c, iii.
2, 338-418 (1881); Lipsius, Alexandr. Reli-
gionphilos., in Schenkel's Bibel Lexicon : and
specially for Philo's treatment of the Logos,
Heinze, Die Lehre vom Logos in der griech.
Philos., 1872; Soulier, La doctrine du Logos
chez Philon d'Alexandrie, 1876 ; Lightfoot, St.
Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, note on i. 15 ;
Westcott, Gospel according to St. John, Introd.
xv.-xviii., and Introduction to the Study of the
Gospels, chap. iii. ; Bigg, The Christian Pla-
tonists of Alexandria, p. 14, &c. ; Drummond's
Philo-Judaeus." [B. F. W.] [R.]
ALEXAN'DRIANS, THE(oi 'AAefrvSpc?!).
1. The Greek inhabitants of Alexandria (3 Mace.
ii. 30, iii. 21). 2. Alexandrini. The Jewish
colonists of that city, who were admitted to
the privileges of citizenship, and had a syna
gogue at Jerusalem (Acts vi. 9;. [Alexan
dria.] [W A. W.]
ALGUM or ALMUG TREES (D'B-l^N,
ulgummim; D^OpX, almuggim; £uAAoireAi-
K7JTO, A. J. TreAeKnTa, B. in 1 K. x. 11, 12; |.
TrtvKiva; ligna thy ina, ligna pined). There can
be no question that these words are identical,
although, according to Celsius (Hierob. i. 173),
some doubted it. The same author enumerates
no fewer than fifteen different trees, each one of
which has been supposed to have a claim to
represent the ahjum or almug tree of Scripture.
Mention of the almug is made in 1 K. s. 11, 12
(algum in 2 Ch. ix. 10, 11) as having been brought
in great plenty from Ophir, together with gold
and precious stones, by the fleet of Hiram, for
Solomon's Temple aud house, and for the con
struction of musical instruments. "The king
made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of
the Lord, and for the king's house, harps also and
psalteries for singers ; there came no such
almug-trees, nor were seen unto this day " (1 K.
;. c). In 2 Ch. ii. 8 (though not in 1 K. v. 6),
Solomon — by an intelligible mistake on the
part of the Chronicler — is represented as
desiring Hiram to send him " cedar-trees, fir-
trees, and algum-trees out of Lebanon " (cp.
Speaker's Comm., note I. a). From the passage

d Alexandria occurs in the Vulgate by an error for
No-Ammon [No-Ammox], Jer. xlvi. 25 ; Ezek. xxx. 14,
15, 16 ; Nali. iii. 8.

92

ALGUM

in Kings, it seems clear that almug-trees came
from Ophir. No information can be deduced
from the readings of the LXX., which explains
the Hebrew word by " hewn wood " (1 K.
x. 11, B.), " unhewn wood " (ibid. A.), and
" pine-wood " (2 Ch. ii. 8, and ix. 10, 11). The
Vulg. in the passages of Kings and 2 Ch. ix.
read ligna thyina; but in 2 Ch. ii. 8 follows
the LXX., and has ligna pinea.
Interpreters are greatly perplexed as to what
kind of tree is denoted by the words algummim
and almuggim. The Chaldee and the Arabic
interpretations, with Munster, A. Montanus,
Deodatus, Noldius, Tigurinus, retain the original
word, as do the A. V. and R. V. in all the three
passages. We may notice the conjectures of the
chief modern writers on the subject. Against
the first four given below, objections have been
raised. (1.) Some maintain that the thyina*
wood (Thuya articulata) is signified by algum.
This wood, as is well known, was highly prized
by the Romans, who used it for the doors of
temples, tables, and a variety of purposes ; for
the citron-wood of the ancients appears to be
identical with the thuya. (The word occurs in
Rev. xviii. 12.) Its value to the Romans ac
counts for the reading of the Vulgate in the
passages quoted above. But the Thuya articulata
is indigenous to the north of Africa, and is
not found in Asia ; and few geographers will
be found to identify the ancient Ophir with
any port on the N. African coast. [Ophir.]
(2.) Not more happy is the opinion of Dr. Kitto,
that the deodar is the tree probably designated
by the term almug (Pict. Bibl., note on 2 Ch.).
On this subject Sir J. Hooker, in a letter to the
writer, says, " The deodar is out of the question.
It is no better than cedar, and never could have
been exported from Himalaya." (3.) The late
Dr. Royle, with more reason, is inclined to
decide on the white sandal-wood (Santalum
album ; see Cycl. Bib. Lit., art. " Algum "). This
tree is a native of India and the mountainous
parts of the coast of Malabar, and deliciously
fragrant in the parts near to the root. It is
much used in the manufacture of work-boxes,
cabinets, and other ornaments. (4.) The Rabbis b
understand a wood commonly call brasil, in
Arabic albaccam, of a deep red colour, used in
dyeing.0 This appears to be the bukkum (Caes-
alpina sappan), a tree allied to the Brazil-wood
of modern commerce, and found in India ; and
many of the Jewish doctors understand coral
{i.e. coral-wood) by the word almug, the name
no doubt having reference to the colour of the

B Thuja appears to be a corruption of Thya, from
tfiico, " I sacrifice," the wood having been used in
sacrifices. Thuja occidentalis is the well-known ever
green, "arbor vitae."
b E. Salomon Ben Melek, 1 K. x. 11, aud E. Dav.
Kimchi, 2 Ch. ii. 8. "Algummim est quod almyggim,
arbor ruhris coloris dicta Arahum lingua albaccam,
vulgo brasilia." See Celsius, who wonders that the
term " Brazil-wood " (Lignum brasiliense) should be
named by one who Uvea 300 years before the discovery
of America; hut the word brasil also = red colour.
Cf. Eosenm. Bot. of Bibl. p. 243, Morreu's note.
JU> lignum arboris magnae, foliis amygdalinis,
cujus decocto tingitur color Tubicundus seu pseudo-
purpureus— lignum hresillum — etiam, color ejus tinc-
turam referens (Golius, Arab. Lex. s. v. balclcam).

ALLEGORY
wood. (5.) But little reliance can be placed
on these rabbinical interpretations, and the
most probable of all the attempts to identify
the almug is that first proposed by Celsius
(Hierob. i. 172), viz. that the red sandal-wood
(Pterocarpus santalinus) may be the kind denoted
by the Hebrew word. So also Rawdinson in
Speaker's Comm. on 1 K. x. 11. Oettli (in
Strack u. Zockler, Kgf. Komm. on 2 Ch. ii. 7)
indicates sandal-wood simply, without specifica
tion of colour.
This tree, which belongs to the natural order
Leguminosae, and sub-order Papilionaceae, is a
native of India and Ceylon. The wood is very
heavy, hard, and fine-grained, and of a beautiful
garnet colour, as any one may see who has
observed the medicinal preparation, the com
pound tincture of lavender, which is coloured
by the wood of the red sandal-tree. Dr. Lee
(Lex. Heb. =. v. " Algummim "), identifying
Ophir with some seaport of Ceylon, following
Bochart (Chanaan, i. 46) herein, thinks that
there can be no doubt that the wood in question
must be either the Kalanji ud of Ceylon or the
sandal- wood (Pterocarpus santalinus) of India.
The Kalanji ud, which apparently is some species
of Pterocarpus, was particularly esteemed and
sought after for the manufacture of lyres and
musical instruments, as Dr. Lee has proved by
quotations from Arabic and Persian works. In
fact he says that the Eastern lyre is termed the
ud, perhaps because made of this sort of wood.
As to the derivation of the word, Hiller's
(Hierophyt.y.\.-p. 106) derivation from two words
supposed to mean "drops of gum " is untenable.
Other etymologies that have been suggested
may be seen in Celsius, Hierob. i. 172 sq. ;
Salmasius, Hyl. latr. p. 120, b ; Castell. Lex,
Hept. s. v. D1J7X. The word is evidently
foreign. Gesenius connects it with the Sanskrit
mic'ata (the Arab. art. prefixed), sandal-wood,
but the Sanskrit word is of doubtful existence;
and uncertainty rests also, according to Both-
lingk, upon another Sanskrit word, valgu, ml-
guka, with which Lassen compared it, giving
to it the meaning of sandal-wood (see MY."
s. v. D,->D?X). Josephus, though not naming
the almug-tree (Ant. viii. 7, § 1), makes special
mention of u tree not unlike pine, which was
imported by Solomon, but which he is careful
to warn us not to confuse with the pine-trees
known to the merchants of his time. "Those
we are speaking of," he says, " were in appear
ance like the wood of the fig-tree, but were
whiter and more shining." This description is
too vague to allow us even to conjecture what
he means. On the whole, the arguments are
in favour of the red sandal-wood being the
algum of the O. T. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ALLAH. [Alvah.]
ALI'AN. [Alvan.]
ALIEN. [Stranger.]
ALLEGORY, a figure of speech, which has
been defined by Bishop Marsh, in accordance
with its etymology, as " a representation of one
thing which is intended to excite the repre
sentation of another thing ; " the first represen
tation being consistent with itself, but requiring,
or being capable of admitting, a moral and

ALLELUIA
spiritual interpretation over and above its
literal sense. An allegory has been incorrectly
considered by some as a lengthened or sustained
metaphor, or a continuation of metaphors, as by
Cicero, thus standing in the same relation to
metaphor as parable to simile. But the two
figures are quite distinct ; no sustained meta
phor, or succession of metaphors, can constitute
an allegory, and the interpretation of allegory
differs from that of metaphor, in having to do
not with words but things. In every allegory
there is a twofold sense ; the immediate or his
toric, which is understood from the words, aud
the ultimate, which is concerned with the
things signified by the words. The allegorical
interpretation is not of the words, but of the
things signified by them (cp. Luke viii. 11, &c. ;
2 Sam. xii. 1-14) ; and not only may, but
actually does, coexist with the literal interpre
tation in every allegory, whether the narrative
in wThich it is conveyed be of things possible or
real. An illustration of this may be seen m
Gal. iv. 24, where the Apostle gives an allegori
cal interpretation to the historical narrative of
Hagar and Sarah; not treating that narrative
as an allegory in itself, as our A. V. would lead
us to suppose, but drawing from it a deeper
sense than is conveyed by the immediate repre
sentation, as " containing an allegory " (R. V.).
In pure allegory no direct reference is made
to the principal object. Of this kind the parable
of the prodigal son is an example (Luke xv.
11-32). In mixed allegory the allegorical nar
rative either contains some hint of its applica
tion, as Ps. Ira., or the allegory and its inter
pretation are combined, as in John xv, 1-8 ;
but this last passage is, strictly speaking, an
example of a metaphor
The distinction between the parable and the
allegory is laid down by Dean Trench (On the
Parables, chap, i.) as one of form rather than of
essence. " In the allegory," he says, " there is
an interpretation of the thing signifying and
the thing signified, the qualities and properties
of the first being attributed to the last, and the
two thus blended together, instead of being kept
quite distinct and placed side by side, as is the
case in the parable." According to this, there
is no such thing as pure allegory as above
defined. [W. A. W.]
Allegory (&AAo ayopeieiv) has its position
and history in Biblical Hermeneutics. This is
traced, and may be followed with much profit,
in Hamburger, RE.2 Abth. ii. s. n. Allegorie ; in
Herzog, RE.2; and Wetzer u. Welte's K. Lex.
s. n. Hermeneutik, Biblische. Cp. also Farrar's
Hist, of Interpretation, Index, s. n. "Alle
gory." [F.]
ALLELU'IA CAAAriAoul'a ; Alleluia), so
written in Rev. xix. 7 foil., or more properly
Hallelujah (IT -l?Pn), "praise ye Jehovah,"
as it is found in the margin of Ps. civ. 35, cv.
45, cvi., cxi. 1, cxii. 1, cxiii. 1 (cp. Ps. cxiii.
9, cxv. 18, cxvi. 19, cxvii. 2). The Psalms from
cxiii. to cxviii. were usually called by the Jews
the Hallel, though some have applied the name
by preference to Psalms cxxxiv.-vii. These
Psalms were sung on the first of the month, at
the feast of Dedication and the feast of Taber
nacles, the feast of Weeks and the feast of the

ALLIANCES 93
Passover. [IIosanna.] In later times, New
Year's day and the day of Atonement were ex
cluded from their seasons in deference to the
grave character of these days as "days of judg
ment"; and the same exclusion applied to the
feast of Purim. At the Passover Pss. cxiii. and
cxiv., according to the school of Hillel (the
former only according to the school of Sham-
mai), were sung before the feast, aud the re
mainder at its termination, after drinking the
last cup. The hymn (Matt. xxvi. 30) sung by
Christ and His disciples after the last supper is
supposed to have been the great Hallel, which
seems to have varied according to the feast* (cp.
Hamburger, BE. fib- Bibel u. Talmud, Abth. ii.
s. v. " Hallel "). The literal meaning of " Halle
lujah " sufficiently indicates the character of
the Psalms in which it occurs, as hymns of
praise and thanksgiving. They are all found in
the last book of the collection, and bear marks
of being intended for use in the Temple-service ;
the words " praise ye Jehovah " being taken up
by the full chorus of Levites. In the great
hymn of triumph in heaven over the destruc
tion of Babylon, the Apostle in vision heard the
multitude in chorus like the voice of mighty
thunderings burst forth, " Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth," responding to the
voice which came out of the throne, saying,
"Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye
that fear Him, both small and great" (Rev. xix.
1-6). In this, as in the offering of incense
(Rev. viii.), there is allusion to the service of the
Temple, as the Apostle had often witnessed it iu
its fading grandeur. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ALLIANCES. In the time of Abraham
alliances with foreigners were not forbidden.
At Mamre he had his " confederates " among
the chiefs of Canaan (Gen. xiv. 13) ; and his
alliance with Abirnelech, king of Gerar (Gen.
xxi. 22), renewed by Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 26), is a
model of primitive simplicity and trustfulness.
Presently this permission was withdrawn, and
on the first establishment of the Israelites in
Palestine connexions between them and the
surrounding nations were forbidden (Lev. xviii.
3, 4; xx. 22, 23). The geographical position of
their country, the peculiarity of their institu
tions, and the prohibitions against intercourse
with the idolatrous Canaanites and other heathen
nations, alike tended to promote an exclusive
and isolated state. But with the extension of
their power under the kings, the Jews were
brought more into contact with foreigners, and
alliances became essential to the security of
their commerce. Solomon concluded two im
portant treaties chiefly for commercial pur
poses : the first was with Hiram, king of Tyre ;
and, if principally with the view of obtaining

a Historically the introduction of the Hallel into the-
synagogal service is traced, according to the Eabbinic
teachers of the 3rd and 4th cent, a.d,, to the men of
the days of Mordecai and Esther, who instituted its use
in commemoration of great deliverances from great
sufferings and sorrows. It was easy to go further and
base the idea upon the "Hallel" of a Moses aud Israel
after their passage through the Bed Sea, of a Joshua
and Israel after their battles witb the kings of Canaan,
of a Deborah and Barak after the victory over Sisera,
of an Ananias, Misael, and Azarias after their deliver
ance from the king of Babylon,

94

ALLIANCES

materials and workmen for the erection of the
Temple, and afterwards for the supply of ship
builders and sailors (1 K. v. 2-12, ix. 27), it
was also a general league of amity (cp. the
rebuke to Tvre in Amos i. 9) : the second was
with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and was cemented
by his marriage with a princess of the royal
family (1 K. iii. 1); by this he secured a
monopoly of the trade in horses and other pro
ducts of that country (1 IC. x. 28, 29). After
the division of the kingdom, political alliances
(as distinguished from the lamentable matri
monial alliances, e.g. 1 K. xi. 1-8, xvi. 31)
were of an offensive and defensive nature : they
had their origin partly in the internal disputes
of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and partly
in the position which these countries held rela
tively to Egypt on the one side, and the great
Eastern monarchies of Assyria and Babylonia on
the other. The fresh light from the ancient
monuments cast upon the Jewish scant historical
records enables us to account for, and sometimes
correct, views upon the alliances and counter-
alliances formed between these peoples. Thus
the invasion of Shishak in Rehoboam's reign —
directed as it was against the northern as well
as the southern kingdom — can no longer be
claimed as an alliance made with Jeroboam, who
had previously found an asylum in Egypt (1 K.
xi. 40, xii. 2, "xiv. 25). Each, however, of these
monarchs sought a connexion with the neigh
bouring kingdom of Syria, on which side Israel
was particularly assailable (1 IC. xv. 19) : but Asa
ultimately succeeded iu securing the active co
operation of Benhadad against Baasha (1 IC. xv.
16-20). Another policy, induced probably by
the encroaching spirit of Syria, led to the forma
tion of an alliance between the two kingdoms
under Ahab and Jehoshaphat, which was main
tained until the end of Ahab's dynasty : it
occasionally extended to commercial operations
(2 Ch. xx. 36). The alliance ceased in Jehu's
reign : war broke out shortly after between
Amaziah and Jeroboam II. : each nation looked
for foreign aid, and a coalition was formed
between Rezin king of Syria and Pekah on the
one side, and Ahaz and Tiglath-pileser king of
Assyria on the other (2 IC. xvi. 5-9). By this
means an opening was afforded to the advances
of the Assyrian power ; and the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah, as they were successively
attacked, sought the alliance of the Egyptians,
who were strongly interested in maintaining
the independence of the Jews as a barrier against
the encroachments of the Assyrian power. Thus
Hoshea made a treaty with So (Sevechus, the
Shabak of the 25th Dynasty ), and rebelled
against Shalmaneser (2 K. xvii. 4): Hezekiah
adopted the same policy in opposition to Sen
nacherib (Is. xxx. 2). In neither case was the
alliance productive of much good : the Israelites
were abandoned by So : in Hezekiah's case, the
Egyptian troops were defeated at Altaku in the
earlier stages ofthe campaign of B.C. 701, Judah
was overrun by the Assyrian soldiery, and heavy
tribute exacted. Later on, when a fresh move
ment on the part of the Egyptians and a possible
junction of his own forces with those of Tir-
hakah might have tempted Hezekiah to a fresh
alliance, he was taught by Isaiah to ally himself
to God as the only defence against the Assyrian
(cp. Driver, Isaiah, ch. vii.). The weak condition

ALLIANCES
of Kgypt at the beginning of the 26th Dynasty,
left Judah entirely at the mercy of the Assyrians,
who under Esarhaddon subdued the country,
and by a conciliatory policy secured the adhesion
of Manasseh and his successors to his side against
Eo-ypt (2 Ch. xxxiii. 11-13). It was apparently
afan ally ofthe Babylonians that Josiah, ninety
years later, resisted the advance of Necho (2.Ch.
xxxv. 20). His defeat, however, and the check
to the Babylonian troops, made the Jews the
subjects of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar's first, ex-,
pedition against Jerusalem was contemporaneous'
with, and probably in consequence of, the ex
pedition of Necho against the Babylonians (2 K.
xxiv. 1 ; Jer. xlvi. 2) : and lastly Zedekiah's
rebellion was accompanied with a renewal of
the alliance with Egypt (Ezek. xvii. 15). A
temporary relief appears to have been afforded
by the advance of Hophrah (Jer. xxxvii. 11),
but it was of no avail to prevent the extinction
of Jewish independence.
On the restoration of independence Judas
Maccabaeus sought an alliance with the Romans,
who were then gaining an ascendency in the
East, as a counterpoise to the neighbouring state
of Syria (1 Mace, viii.; Joseph. Ant xii.l0,§6),
this' alliance — the terms of which were graven
on brass and deposited in the Capitol at Rome-
was renewed by Jonathan (1 Mace. xii. 1 ; Ant.
xiii. 5, §8) and by Simon (1 Mace, xv 17;
Ant. xiii. 7, § 3) : on the latter occasion the in
dependence of the Jews was recognised and for
mally notified to theneighbouringnations B.C. 140
(1 Mace. xv. 22, 23). Treaties of a friendly
nature were at the same period concluded with
the Lacedaemonians under an impression that
they came of a common stock (1 Mace. xii. '2,
xiv. 20; Ant. xii. 4, §10, xiii. 5. §8). The
Roman alliance was again renewed by Hyrcanns,
B.C. 128 (Ant. xiii. 9, § 2), after his defeat by
Antiochus Sidetes, and the losses he had sus
tained were repaired. This alliance, however,
ultimately proved fatal to the independence of
the Jews : the rival claims of Hyrcanus and
Aristobulus having been referred to Pompey,
B.C. 63, he availed himself of the opportunity of
placing the country under tribute (Ant. xiv. 4,
§4). Finally, Herod was raised to the sove
reignty by the Roman Senate, acting under the
advice of M. Antony (Ant. xiv. 14, § 5).
The formation of an alliance was attended
with various religious rites : a victim was slain
and divided into two parts, between which the
contracting parties passed, invoking imprecation's
of a similar destruction upon him who should
break the terms of the alliance (Gen. xv. 10;
cf. Liv. i. 24); hence the expression JT1*)"! fl*"*"
(= SpKia Tijxvuv, foedus iccrc), to make (lit. to
cut) a treaty; hence also the use of the term
fPX (lit. imprecation) for a covenant. That
this custom was maintained to a late period
appears from Jer. xxxiv. 18-20. Generally
speaking, the oath alone is mentioned in the
contracting of alliances, either between nations
(Josh. ix. 15) or individuals (Gen. xxvi. 28,
xxxi. 53; 2 K. xi. 4; 1 Mace. xv. 17). The
event was celebrated bv a feast (Gen. 1. c. ;
Ex. xxiv. 11 ; 2 Sam. iii. 12, 20). Salt, as
symbolical of fidelity, was used on these oc
casions ; it was applied to the sacrifices (Lev. ii.
13), and probably used, as among the Arabs, at

ALLOM
hospitable entertainments ; hence the expression
"covenant of salt" (Num. xviii. 19; 2 Ch,
xiii. 5). Occasionally a pillar or a heap of
stones was set up as a memorial of the alliance
(Gen. xxxi. 52), a custom prevalent among the
Assyrians also. Presents were also sent by the
party soliciting the alliance (1 IC. xv. 18 ; Is.
xxx. 6, 1 Mace, xv 18). The fidelity of the
Jews to their engagements was conspicuous at
all periods of their history (Josh. ix. 18), and
any breach of covenant was visited with very
severe punishment (2 Sam. xxi. 1 ; Ezek. xvii.
16). [W. L. B.] [F.j
AL'LOIH (B. 'AAAcui/. A. 'A5\<uk , Maimon),
1 Esd. v 34. The same as Ami or Amos.
Cp. Ezra ii. 57 ; Neh. vii. 59. [W. A. W.] [F.j
AL'LON (P?N or fwii). a large strong tree
of some description, probablv an oak (see Ges.
Thes. 51, 103, Stanley, App'. § 70). The word
is found in two names in the topography of
Palestine. 1. Allon, more accurately Elos, )'*?X°
(D,;)3'',>'3; B. MaAb Kai Beaepieiv, A. M-nAiiv
k. Beo-tvavlp ; Eton), a place named among the
cities of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 33). Probably the
more correct construction is to take it with
the following word, i.e. either (R. V.) " the oak
in Zaananniic," or — treating the 3 as part of
the word (R. V. marg.) — the oak (or terebinth) of
Bezaanannim. In the former case, the place
might possibly derive its name Zaanannim from
some nomad tribe or wanderers (see the verb in
Is. xxxiii. 20). Such a tribe were the Kenites,
and in connexion with them the place is again
named in Judg. iv. 11,'' with the additional
definition of "by Kedesh " (of Naphtali). The
latter view (see Dillmann on Josh. xix. 33) is,
however, favoured by the absence of the article be
fore |1?X. In this case it would be better to read,
as in Judg. iv. 11 (Cethib), D*3"*V3, Biz'annim.
The A. V., following the Vulgate, renders here
" the plain of Zaanaim." [R. Y. as above ; B. ecus
Spvbs (A. irpbs bpuv) irAeoveKTOvvTwv (thinking
of 1*X3. to be covetous).] [Elon.] (See Stanley,
p. 340* note.) [G.] [S. R. D.]
2. Allon-ba'chuth (n-133 ffpK"; R. V.
Ailon-Bacuth = " oak of weeping ; " and so
BdAavos irivBovs ; Quercus flctus), the tree under
which Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, was buried
" beneath Bethel " (Gen. xxxv. 8). Ewald (Gesch.
iii. 29) believes the " oak of Tabor " (1 Sam. x. 3,
A. V. " plain of T.") to be the same as, or the
successor of, this tree ; " Tabor " being possibly
* fl?K> Alton, is tbe reading of V. d. Hooght, and
of Walton's Polyglott ; but the best authorities have as
above (De Rossi, Tar. Lectt. Supplem. p. 35).
0 The Targum of Jonathan renders this passage by
" the plain (")*£»D) of the pools " (tfi} J J*), connecting
Bezaanannim with a late Heb. word DI,"'V3 (.Eez'aim)
meaning tanks or pools (see Kimchi i. I. ; Levy, Chald.
WB. e. v. XJJX, NIIWB. s. v. D»*"V3). upon which
speculations respecting the character of the locality
have been based (Ewald, JBW. ii. 52). "Plain" is
in accordance with the usual rendering of 'tf in the
Targum (cp. " the plains of Moreh "). fS. E. D.]
0 The Sam. Version, according to its customary
rendering of Allon, has here n)V33 I'lE'D' "the
plain of Bakith." See this subject more fully examined
under Elon.

ALMON-DD3LATHAIM !ly
a merely dialectical change from "Deborah:"
he would further identify it with the " palm-tree
of Deborah " (Judg. iv. 5). See also Stanley,
pp. 143, 220. [G.] [W.]
AL'LON (fl^X ; B. 'Aptiv, A. 'AAAiiv;
Allon). A Simeonite, ancestor of Zirza, a prince
of that tribe in the reign of Hezekiah (1 Ch. iv.
37). [W, A. W.] [F.]
ALMO'DAD (YIID^X; 'EApuUS ; Elmo-
dad), named first, iu order, among the descen
dants of Joktan (Gen. x. 26 ; 1 Ch. i. 20 [B.
omits]), and thus as the progenitor of an Arab
tribe. His settlements must be looked for, in
common with those of the other descendants
of Joktan, in the Arabian peninsula ; aud his
name appears to be preserved in that of Mudad
(or El-Mudad, the word being one of those
proper names that admit of the article being
prefixed), a famous personage in Arabian his
tory, the reputed father of Ishmael's Arab wife,
and the chief of the Joktanite tribe Jurhum
(not to be confounded with the older, or first,
Jurhum), which, coming from the Yemen,
settled in the neighbourhood of Mekka, and
intermarried with the Ishmaelites. The name
of Mudad was peculiar to Jurhum, and borne
by several of its chiefs (Caussin de Perceval,
Essai sur I'Hist des Arabes, i. 33 seq., 168,
and 195 seq.). Gesenius (Lex., ed. Tregelles,
in loc.) says, " If there were an ancient error
in reading (for TIIDPN), we might compare
Morad, liLo or liLo jj, the name of a
tribe living in a mountainous region of Arabia
Felix, near Zabid." Dillmann (Gen. 1. c), D. H.
Miiller, and Halevy take ?fc* to be the name of
God (as often in Sabaean names), and, deriving
*7*1D from IT', render God is One to be loved or God
loves (see MV.10 s. n.). Others have suggested
wiaso, but, apart from philological objections,
the well-known tribes of this stock are of
lshmaelite descent. Bochart (Phaleg, ii. 16)
thinks that Almodad may be traced in the name
of the ' AAovpeoiTai of Ptolemy (vi. 7, § 24), a
people of the interior of Arabia Felix, near the
sources of the river Lar [Arabia] ; but see
against this view ZDMG. xxii. 658. [E. S. P.]
ALTMON ('iD^** ; B. TdpaAa ,a A. 'AA^y ;
Almon), a city within the tribe of Benjamin,
with " suburbs " given to the priests (Josh. xxi.
18). Its name does not occur in the list of the
towns of Benjamin in Josh, xviii. In the parallel
list in 1 Ch. (vi. 60) it is found as Alemeth
[B. TaAepeB, A. -n- ; Ahnath] — probably a later
form, and that by which it would appear to
have descended to us. [Alemeth.] [G.] [W.]
AL'MON-DIBLATHA'IM (accurately Dib-
lathaimah, nO?n^3T)ib?l' ; feApivv AeBAaBdip;
Helmon-diblathaim), one of the latest stations of
the Israelites, between Dibon-gad and the moun
tains of Abarim (Num. xxxiii. 46, 47 [A. in
v. 47 AaiBAaBdiv]). Dibon-gad is doubtless the
" This suggests that the Hebrew name of the Gamala
so famous in the Roman war in Galilee may have been
Almon.

96

ALMOND

ALMOND

present Dhibdn, just to the north of the Arnon ;
and there is thus every probability that Almon-
diblathaim was identical with Beth-diblathaim,
a Moabite city mentioned by Jeremiah (xlviii.
22) in company with both Dibon and Nebo, and
that its traces will be discovered on further
exploration. The name Beth-diblathaim occurs
on the Moabite stoue, and it has been identified,
doubtfully, by Major Conder with the ruins of
Deleiydt, south of the Zerka M'ain. [Beth-
diblathaim.] [G.] [W.]
ALMOND (I**''', shdked [vb, luz]; buiy-
SaAov, Kapvov, Kapuivos, KapuuTa; amygdalus,
amygdala, in nucis modum, instar nucis, virga
vigilans). This word is found in Gen. xliii. 11 ;
Ex. xxv. 33, 34, xxxvii. 19, 20; Numb. xvii. 8,
Eccles. xii. 5 ; Jer. i. 11, in the text of the A. V.
It is invariably represented by the same Hebrew
word (shdked), which sometimes stands for the
whole tree, sometimes for the fruit or nut • for
instance, in Gen. xliii. 11, Jacob commands his
sons to take as a present to Joseph " a little
honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds j "
where the fruit is clearly meant. In the passao-es
out ofthe Book of Exodus the "bowls made like
unto almonds," * which were to adorn the golden
candlestick, seem to allude to the nut also.b
Aaron's rod, that so miraculously budded,
yielded almond nuts. In the two passages from
Ecclesiastes and Jeremiah, shdked is translated
almond tree, which from the context it certainly
represents. It is clearly then a mistake to
suppose, with some writers, that shdked stands
exclusively for " almond-nuts," and that luz
signifies the " tree." ° It appears more probable
that this tree, conspicuous as it was for its early
flowering and useful fruit, was known by these
two different names. The etymology of the
Hebrew luz is uncertain ; and although the
word occurs only in Gen. xxx. 37, where it is
translated hazel in the text of the A. V., vet
there can be little or no doubt that it' is
another word for the almond [so R. V. in loco],
for in the Arabic this identical word, • -}>
luz, denotes the almond. [Hazel.] The early
appearance of the blossoms on the almond-tree
(Amygdalus communis) was no doubt regarded
by the Jews of old as a welcome harbinger
of spring, reminding them that the winter
was passing away — that the flowers would soon
appear on the earth — and that the time of
the singing of birds and the voice of the turtle
would soon be heard in the land ( Song of
Sol. ii. 11, 12). Shdked is derived from a root

* DHjPK'p, Pual part, pi., trom denom. verb -|pj»f,
always used in Heb. text iu reference to the golden
candlestick ; LXX. eKTeTuTrtopeuot Kapvto-icovs, al. na-
pino-KOis ;_ Aquila, efi)ntiy8aA<u^t!i/7jr.
b "IJT3K*, "est amygdalus et amygdalum, arbor et
fructus ; hie autem fructus potius quam arboris forma
designarividetur" (Eosenmull. Schol. in Exod. xxv.
33). That shaleM = tree and fruit, see also Fflrst,
Concord. IfJB', "amygdala et amygdalum, de arbore
et fructu ; " and Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. -JJBJ, "significat
arborem et fructum." Mlchaells (Suppl. s. v. tfvjj)
understands the almond-shaped bowls to refer to the
blossom, i.e. the calyx and the corolla.
' Harris, Diet. Nat. E. Bibl. art. " Almond," and
Dr. Eoyle in Kitto, art. "Shaked."

which signifies " to be wakeful," " to hasten,"
for the almond-tree blossoms very early in the
season, the flowers appearing before the leaves.
The word shdked, therefore, or the tree which
hastened to put forth its blossoms, was a very
beautiful and fitting synonym for the luz, or
almond-tree, in the language of a people so fond
of imagery and poetry as were the Jews. We
have m our own language instances of plants bein?
named from the season of the year when they
are flowering — May for Hawthorn; Pasque Flower
for Anemone ; Lent Lily for Daffodil ; Winter
Cress for Hedge Mustard. But perhaps the best
and most exact illustration of the Hebrew shdked
is to be found in the English word Apricot, or
Apricock, as it was formerly and more correctly
called, which is derived from the Latin praecoqua,
praecocia ; this tree was so called by the Romans,
who considered it a kind of peach which ripened
earlier than the common one ; hence its name,
the precocious tree (comp. Plin. xv. 11 ; Martial
xiii. 46).
The almond-tree flowers early in January,
and continues to show a mantle of white bloom
suffused with a delicate blush, until February,
when the fruit begins to set. The knowledge of
this interesting fact will explain that otherwise
unintelligible passage in Jeremiah (i. 11, 12),
" The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah, what seest thou ? And I said, I see
the rod of an almond-tree (shdked). Then said
the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will
hasten (shdked; R. V. " I watch over ") My word
to perform it."
In that well-known poetical representation of
old age in Eccles. xii. 5 it is said, " the almond-
tree shall flourish." This expression is generally ,
understood as emblematic of the hoary locks of '
old age thinly scattered on the bald head, just
as the white blossoms appear on the yet leafless
boughs of this tree. Gesenius, however, does
not allow such an interpretation, for he says
with some truth • that the almond flowers are
pink or rose-coloured, not white. This passage,
therefore, is rendered by him—" the almond is
rejected." f Though a delicious fruit, yet the
old man, having no teeth, would be obliged to
refuse lt.e If, however, the reading of the A. V.

" 1***^ (1) decubuit, (2) vigaavit=Axth. ^jjli,
&&*> insornnis. The Chaldee is JHJ{J*, I'lBB",
"nB'; fcHJC'; 1 and p being interchanged. The
Syriac word is similar.
8 The general colour of the almond blossom is pink,
but the flowers do vary from deep pink to nearly white.
' *1"3K" |*N3\ Gesenius makes the verb VXV to he
Hiphil future, from yty, to deride, to despise;^)*
would then be after the Syriac form, instead of ¥$}>¦
But all the old Versions agree with the translation of
the A. V. [R. V. "blossom"], the verb being formed
regularly from the root, y>[i, florere. [See Wright.
Ecclesiastes, p. 258 n., who prefers VM3S "will be
despised."] ' T '
s " When the grinders cease because they are few"
(Eccles. xii. 3). For some other curious interpretations
of this passage, see that of E. Salomon, quoted by Sant.es
Pagmnus in his Thesaurus, sub voce MJ, and Vatablus,
Annotata a<2 Ecclesiasten, xii. 5 (Ch-it. Sac. iii. 236).

ALMOND
is retained, then the allusion to the almond-tree
is intended to refer to the hastening of old age in
the case of him who remembereth not " his
Creator in the days of his youth." As the
almond-tree ushers in spring, so do the signs
mentioned in the context foretell the approach
of old age and death. It has always been re
garded by the Jews with reverence, and even to
this day the English Jews on their great feast-
days carry a bough of flowering almond to the
synagogue, just as in old time they used to
present palm-branches in the Temple, to remind
them perhaps, as Lady Callcott has observed
(Script, Herb. p. 10), that in the great famine in
the time of Joseph the almond did not fail them,
and that, as it " failed not to their patriarchs in
the days of dearth, it cometh to their hand in
this day of worse and more bitter privation, as
a token that God fbrgetteth not His people in
their distress, nor the children of Israel, though
scattered in a foreign land, though their home
is the prey of the spoiler, and their Temple is
become an high place for the heathen."
The almond-tree, the scientific name of which
is Amygdalus communis, belongs to the natural
order Rosaceae and sub-order Amygdaleae. This
order is a large and important one, for it con
tains more than 1000 species, many of which
produce excellent fruit. Apricots, peaches,
nectarines, plums, cherries, apples, pears,
strawberries, &c, are all included under this
order. It should be remembered, however, that
the seeds, flowers, bark, and leaves of many
plants in the order Rosaceae contain a deadly
poison ; namely, prussic or hydrocyanic acid.
The almond-tree is a native of Western Asia
and North Africa, but it is cultivated in the
milder parts of Europe. It does not appear to
have been cultivated in Egypt, since almonds
were among the presents taken down thither by
Jacob's sons. In Palestine it is indigenous.
There are many wild almond-trees on Mount
Carmel, and they abound in the lonely forests of
Gilead, and are among the few trees which
relieve the barrenness of the wilds of Moab.
On Jebel Attarus and Jebel Shihan are many

ALMS

97

Almond-tree and blossom.
wild almond-trees. I found them covered with
bloom 3000 feet above the sea in the beginning
of February, and in Southern Gilead I have
often, in my rides, gathered wild almond nuts
well filled in March. Though the blossom of
the almond is not white, yet when, as in the
bible dict. — VOL. I.

orchards about Nablous (Shechem), the peach-
and almond-trees are intermingled, the latter
look white by contrast. In early spring they
form a beautiful picture in the landscape there,
as the lower slopes of Gerizim, as well as the
valley, are studded with peaches and almonds
(the descendants, doubtless, of those which sup
plied Jacob's sons with their gifts), in striking
contrast with the deep green foliage, of the
orange-trees, and rivalling an apple orchard in
splendour of colour. Though not so thickly
massed, they are a not less beautiful feature in
the forest scenery of Gilead. In England the
almond is grown simply on account of its beau
tiful vernal flowers, for the fruit scarcely ever
comes to maturity. The height of the tree is
about 12 or 14 feet ; the flowers are arranged
for the most part in pairs ; the leaves are long,
ovate, with a serrated margin, and an acute
point. The covering of the fruit is downy and
succulent, enclosing the hard shell which con
tains the kernel. The bitter almond is the un-
grafted wild tree. Four species of Amygdalus
are indigenous in Palestine. The English almond,
Spanish almendra, the Provencal amandola, the
French amande, are all apparently derived from
the Greek apvySdAn ; Latin amygdala. It
is curious to observe, in connexion with the
almond-bowls of the golden candlestick, that
pieces of rock-crystal used in adorning branch-
candlesticks are still termed by the lapidaries
"Almonds." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ALMS (Chald. !"lp*l*£), beneficence towards
the poor, from Anglo-Sax. almesse, probably, as
well as from the Germ, almosen, from iAeripo-
avvn ; eleemosyna, Yulg. (but see Bosworth, A.-S.
Diet.). The word " alms " is not found in' the
A. V. of the canonical Books of the O. T., but it
occurs repeatedly in the N. T., and in the apo
cryphal books of Tobit and Ecclesiasticus. The
Heb. npIV, righteousness, is rendered by the
LXX. in Deut. xxiv. 13, Dan. iv. 27, and else
where, iAenpooivri, instead of which the modern
Revised text reads in Matt. vi. 1, biKatoffvvr}.
The duty of almsgiving, especially in kind,
consisting chiefly in portions to be left de
signedly from produce of the field, the vineyard,
and the oliveyard (Lev. xix. 9, 10, xxiii. 22 ;
Deut. xv. 11, 14, xxiv. 19, 21, xxvi. 2-13;
Ruth ii. 2), is strictly enjoined by the Law.
After his entrance into the land of promise, the
Israelite was ordered to present yearly the first-
fruits of the land before the Lord, in a manner
significant of his own previously destitute con
dition. Every third year also (Deut. xiv. 28)
each proprietor was directed to share the tithes
of his produce with "the Levite, the stranger,
the fatherless, and the widow." The theological
estimate of almsgiving among the Jews is indi
cated by the following passages : — Job xxxi. 17 ;
Prov. x. 2, xi. 4; Esth. ix. 22; Ps. cxii. 9;
Dan. iv. 27 ; Acts ix. 36, the case of Dorcas ;
x. 2, of Cornelius : to which may be added,
Tob. iv. 10, 11, xiv. 10, 11 ; and Ecclus. iii. 30,
xl. 24. And the Talmudists went so far as to
interpret righteousness by almsgiving in such
passages as Gen. xviii. 19 ; Ps. xvii. 15 ; Is.
liv. 14.
In the women's court of the Temple there
were thirteen receptacles for voluntary offerings
(cp. Mark xii. 41), one of which was devoted to

98

ALMUG-TREE

ALOES

alms for education of poor children of good
family. Before the Captivity there is no trace
of permission of mendicancy, but it was evidently
allowed in later times (Matt. xx. 30 ; Mark x.
46 ; Acts iii. 2).
After the Captivity, -.but at what time can
not be known certainly, a definite system of
almsgiving was introduced, and even enforced
under penalties. Besides the tithes mentioned
above, and the portions of produce set apart for
the poor in fields and vineyards, there were in
every city three collectors. The collections were
of two kinds : 1, of money for the poor of the
city only, made by two collectors, received in a
chest or box (HQlp) in the synagogue 'on the
Sabbath, and distributed by the three in the
evening ; 2, for the poor in general, of food and
money, collected every day from house to house,
received in a dish ClflDD) by the three collec
tors, and distributed by them. The two col
lections obtained the names respectively of " alms
of the chest " and " alms of the dish." Special
collections and distributions were also made on
fast-days. The Pharisees were zealous in almsgiving,
but too ostentatious in their mode of perform
ance (Matt. vi. 2). But there is no ground for
supposing that the expression pi) traATrlo-gs is
more than a mode of denouncing their display,
by a figure drawn from the frequent and well-
known use of trumpets in religious and other
celebrations, Jewish as well as heathen (Winer,
s. v. ; Otho, Lex Rabb. pp. 163-167 ; Carpzov.
Eleem. Jud. § 32, p. 745 ; Vitringa, de Syn.
Vet. iii. 1, 13 ; Maimonides, de Jure Pauperis,
a treatise devoted to the subject (Prideaux) ;
Lightfoot, Horae Hebr., on Matt. vi. 2, and Descr.
Templi, 19 ; Diet, of Antiq. s. v. " Tuba.") [See
Offerings ; Poor ; Tithes ; .Temple.]
The duty of relieving the poor was not
neglected by the Christians (Matt. vi. 1-4;
Luke xiv. 13 ; Acts xx. 35 ; Gal. ii. 10). Every
Christian was exhorted to lay by on the Sunday
in each week some portion of his profits, to be
applied to the wants of the needy (Acts xi. 30 ;
Rom. xv. 25-27 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4). It was also
considered a duty specially incumbent on widows
to devote themselves to such ministrations
(1 Tim. v. 10). [H. W. P.j
ALMUG-TREE. [Algum.]
AL'NATHAN (A. 'EAvaBdv, B. 'Evvardv;
Enaathan). Elnathan No. 2 (1 Esd. viii. 44
[LXX. v. 43] ; cp. Ezra viii. 16, B. -p).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ALOES, LIGN ALOES (D^HK, Ahdlim,
ni*"r*N, Ahdldth; o-icrivai [in Num. xxiv. 6];
rrroKTi) [in Ps. xiv. 8] ; T.» bAdB, N. aAo-h ;
Sym. Bvpiapa, [in Cant. iv. 14] : tabcrnacula,
gutta, aloe: in N. T. aA6v, aloe), the name
of some costly and sweet-smelling perfume
prepared from a tree mentioned in Ps. xiv.
8, "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and
aloes, and cassia ; " in Prov. vii. 17, " I have
perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cin
namon." In Cant. iv. 14, Solomon speaks of
" myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices."
The word occurs once in the N. T. (John xix.
39), where mention is made of Nicodemus bring
ing " a mixture of mvrrh and aloes, about an
hundred pound weight," for tho purpose of

anointing the body of our Lord. The tree itself
is spoken of in Numb. xxiv. 6, where Balaam
compares the camps of Israel to " trees of lign
aloes which the Lord hath' planted." Writers
generally, following Celsius (Hierob. i. 135),
who devotes thirty-five pages to this subject,
suppose that the Aquilaria agallochum is the

Aquilaria agallochnm.
tree in question. The trees which belong to
the natural order Aquilariaceae, apetalous dico
tyledonous flowering plants, are for the most
part natives of tropical Asia. The species Aq.
agallochum, which supplies the aloes-wood of
commerce, is much valued in India on account
of its aromatic qualities for fumigations and
incense. It was well known to the Arabic
physicians. Ibn Sina • (Avicenna), in the Latin
translation, speaks of this wood under the names
of Agallochum, Xylaloe, or Lignum-Aloes. In
the Arabic original a description is given of it
under the names of Aghlagoon, Aglialookhi, Cod*
(Dr. Royle, in Cyc. Bib. s. v. " Ahalim "). Dr.
Royle (Illust of Himalayan Botany, p. 171)
mentions three varieties of this wood as being
obtained in the bazaars of Northern India.
The Aquilaria secundaria of China has the
character of being the most highly scented. But
it is a singular fact that this fragrancy does not
exist in any of this family of trees when in a

" Abdallah ibn Sina, a celebrated Arabian physician
and natural philosopher, born a.d. 9S0. The Jews
abbreviated tbe name into Abensina, whence the Chris
tians called it Avicenna.
fy^ y l£- t> byaWoxov, Aquilaria ovata, Spren-
gel, Bis*. Rei Eerb. i. p. 261 so. ; Avicenna, Iii. p. 132.
^^yS-jJls-V id. (Freytag, Lex. ». v.). £.£., Lignum
Aloes, Kam. Dj. Avic. Can., Iii. p. 231 ; cfs. Sprengel,
Eist. Rei Eerb. t. i. p. 271 (Freytag, Lex. *, v.).

ALOES
healthy and growing condition ; it is only when
the tree is diseased that it has this aromatic
property. On this account the timber is often
buried for a short time in the ground, which
accelerates the decay, when the utter, or fragrant
oil, is secreted. The best aloe-wood is called
calambac, and is the produce of Aquilaria agal
lochum, a native of Silhet, in Northern India.
This is a magnificent tree, and grows to the
height of 120 feet, being 12 feet in girth : "The
bark of the trunk is smooth and ash-coloured ;
that of the branches grey and lightly striped
with brown. The wood is white, and very light
and soft. It is totally without smell ; and the
leaves, bark, and flowers are equally inodorous "
(Script Herb. 238). The Excaecaria agallochum,
with which some writers have confused the Aq.
agall., is an entirely different plant, being a
small crooked tree, containing an acrid milky
poison, in common with the rest of the Euphor-
biaceae. Persons have lost their sight from this
juice getting into their eyes, whence the plant's
generic name, Excaecaria. It is difficult to
account for the specific name of this plant, for
the agallochum is certainly not the produce of it.
There would be no difficulty in the identifi
cation of Ahalim with the Oriental A. agallochum,
as the three passages in which the perfume is
mentioned would imply that it was a foreign
product, were it not for the expression in Balaam's
parable; for he speaks, as the passage would
imply, of a tree familiar to himself or his
hearers. But no species of Aquilaria is found
in Mesopotamia, and we can scarcely assume
that Balaam would take his illustration from a
tree absolutely unknown. It seems much more
probable that in this case the name was applied
to some other but familiar tree, such as the
graceful Populus euphratica, which in many
parts is a conspicuous adornment of the banks
of the Euphrates, and is pre-eminently the river
side tree of Western Asia. The difficulty seems
to have been recognised by the LXX., who
translate o-Krjvai, as though the original had been
DVili*, 'ohalim, and in this they are followed by
the Vulg., Syriac, Arabic, and other Versions.
But this reading destroys all the force and
parallelism of the context.
The passage in Ps. xiv. 8 has been sometimes
translated thus : " The myrrh, aloes, and cassia,
perfuming all thy garments, brought from the
ivory palaces of the Minni, shall make thee
glad." The Minni, or Minaei, were inhabitants
of spicy Arabia, and carried on a great trade in
the exportation of spices and perfumes (Plin.
xii. 14, 16 ; Bochart, Phaleg, ii. 22, 135). As
the myrrh and cassia are mentioned as coming
from the Minni, and were doubtless natural
productions of their country, so it has been
inferred that aloes, being named with them, was
was also a production ofthe same country. But
the translation is impossible." The aloe of
Scripture has nothing to do with the modern
aloe of medicine, procured from a species of

ALPHABET

9 9

e See Kosenmtiller's note on this passage (Schol. in
V. T. ad Ps. xiv. 9), and Lee's Eeb. Lex. (s. v. '3D).
R. V. translates, " Out of ivory palaces stringed instru
ments have made thee glad." See Speaker's Comm. in
loco and the commentaries of Perowne, Delitzsch, Cheyne,
W. Schultz, &c, in loco.

American aloe, Aloe rcra, which has becomo
naturalised in Palestine. [W. H.] [H. B. T.J
A'LOTH (ribv; B. iv if MaaAd, A. iv
MaaAiir, Luc. recension iv tjj TaAadS ; Baloth ;
R. V. Bealoth), a place or district, forming with
Asher the jurisdiction of the ninth of Solomon's
commissariat officers (1 K. iv. 16). T.7 and later
scholars read iv BaaAdB, " (in) Bealoth," though
the A. V. (" in Aloth ") treats the 3 as a
prefix. In the former case see Bealoth.
Josephus has tt)v wepl 'ApKTjV TrapaAiav, 'Apxi)
being the name which he elsewhere gives to
Ecdippa (Achzib) on the sea-coast in Asher.
Conder (Hdbk. to Bible, 402) identifies Aloth
with Kh. 'Alia near Malia ; but Gu&in (Galile'c,
ii. 62), with more probability, believes Kh. 'Alia
to be Hali (Josh. xix. 25). " [G.] [W.]
AL'PHA, the first letter of the Greek alpha
bet, as Omega is the last. Its significance is
plainly indicated in the context, " I am tbe
Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end " (Rev. xxii. 13, R. V.;
a passage explanatory of i. 8, xxi. 6 : cp. R. V.
in each case), which may be compared with Is.
xii. 4, xliv. 6, " I am the first and I am the last,
and beside Me there is no God." So Prudentius
(Cathemer. hymn. ix. 11, quoted by Bp. Words
worth in loco) explains it :
" Corde natus ex Parentis, ante mundi exordium
Alpha et 0 cognominatus, Ipse fons et clausula
Omnium quae sunt, fuertmt, quaeque post futura
sunt."
In Rev. xxii. 13, the speaker is our Lord ; in i. 8,
xxi. 6, He is, according to most commentators,
God the Father. The appellation, taken in its
most general sense, is equivalent to " the Eternal
One," from Whom all things proceed and to Whom
they tend ; and, in the special sense of the Apo
calypse, it is used of One Who will carry on to
its consummation the work which He has begun ;
"the kingdom of the world is become the king
dom of our Lord and of His Christ " (Rev. xi.
15, R. V.). Illustrations of the expression " the
Alpha and the Omega " are adduced by Abbot
(D. B., Amer. ed.) from Josephus, c. Apion. ii.
22 ; Ant. viii. 11, § 2 ; Plato, * Legg. iv.
7, p. 715 e ; Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 5. The
expression " I am Alpha and Omega " is further
illustrated by the usage in Rabbinical writers of
Aleph and Tau, the first and last letters of the
Hebrew alphabet. Schoettgen (Hor. Hebr. i.
1086) quotes from Jalkut Bubeni, fol. 17, 4,
" Adam transgressed the whole law from N to
D," that is, from the beginning to the end. It
is not necessary to inquire whether in the latter
usage the meaning is so full as in the Revelation :
that must be determined by separate considera
tions. As an illustration merely, the reference
is valuable. Both Greeks and Hebrews em
ployed the letters of the alphabet as numerals.
In the early times of the Christian Church the
letters A and fl were combined with the cross or
with the monogram of Christ (Maitland, Church in
the Catacombs,^. 166-8). Oneoftheoldestmonu-
ments on which this occurs is a marble tablet found
in the catacombs at Melos, which belongs, if
not to the first century, to the first half of the
second (see Diet of Christ Antiq. "A and fl,"
« Cross," i. pp. 495-7). [W. A. W.] [F.j
ALPHABET. [Writing.]
H 2

100

ALPHAEUS

ALPHAEUS ('AAQalos or 'AAtpalos ; Al-
phaeus ; Aramaic, 'S^n).
1. Father of Levi the publican (Mark ii. 14).
Notice the Western reading 'laKuBov (James) for
Aeveiv (Levi), suggested by Tbv tov 'AAtpalov
(the son of Alphaeus).
2. Father of James the Apostle, always
mentioned to distinguish his son from James
the son of Zebedee (Matt. x. 3 ; Mark iii. 18 ;
Luke vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13). The identification of
this Alphaeus with Clopas (John xix. 25), and
perhaps with Cleopas (Luke xxiv. 18), is the
only point necessary to consider. The question
of the identity of the persons will be taken
first, and afterwards the independent question
of the identity of the names. The identity of
Alphaeus and Clopas depends on the supposition
that James the son of Alphaeus is the same as
James " the Little " (R. V. marg., S pmp6s, Mark
xv. 40 ; R. V. in text as A. V., " the less." There
is no scriptural or early sanction for the title
James the Great being applied to James the son of
Zebedee). The mother of James the Little was
Mary, and, by a comparison of the accounts of the
Crucifixion, this Mary appears to be the same as
Mary of Clopas, i.e. probably the wife of Clopas
(John xix. 25). Clopas, according to Hegesippus
(Euseb. H. E. iii. 11), was brother of Joseph, the
husband of the Blessed Virgin. Some have
supposed that Mary the wife of Clopas was the
Virgin's sister, on the ground of John xix. 25
(but see Westcott's note in Speaker's Commen
tary). Clopas being Joseph's brother, his son
Simeon was regarded (though of course not
accurately) as our Lord's cousin ; and Simeon
was on this account chosen to succeed James as
Bishop of Jerusalem (Euseb. H. E. iv. 22). If
Clopas and Alphaeus are the same, then James
the son of Alphaeus is no more really related
to our Lord according to the flesh than Simeon
the son of Clopas, who is described as our
Lord's cousin (bvttyi6s). For the bearing of
this point on the controversy about James the
Lord's brother, see James. It will be evident
from what has been said that all inferences from
the passages quoted are precarious.
Admitting that Alphaeus and Clopas may be
two names for the same man, can it be admitted
that the names themselves are two Greek forms
of one Aramaic name, wfl (Chalphai)? Clopas
cannot be connected with Alphaeus through
l'fi?n, for an initial T\ is seldom if ever repre
sented by k ; the omission of o before A in
KAtlmas and the insertion of w after it are
unaccountable ; and the representation of Q by
•n- is unlikely. Delitzsch * holds with great pro
bability that KAdwas is a contraction of
KAeoVas, and KAerfirar an abbreviation of
KAerJ7raTpos (the masculine counterpart of
KAtoirdTpa), a name which actually occurs
(Plutarch, Vit. Ar. 40). The identity of the
man Alphaeus with the man Clopas may still be
admitted, as Jews often bore Greek in addition
to Aramaic names, and sometimes a man chose
a Greek name which sounded like his Aramaic
name, though not etymologically connected

* In his Heb. N. T. (1S85), Delitzsch renders Al
phaeus by If^n, Clopas by DQ^p> Cleopas by DDi^p-

ALTAR
with it. If Delitzsch's view is correct, Clopas
and Cleopas are the same name, and the Cleopas
of Luke xxiv. 18 may possibly be the same as
the Clopas of John xix. 25.
On the whole question, see Herzog, Real Ency.
art. Alphaus; Expositor, Jan. 1885, and
authorities there quoted ; Bishop Lightfoot's,
Galatians,3 The Brethren of the Lord, p. 253 sq.,
especially p. 260, note 3. [E. R. B.]
ALTANE'US. Same as Mattenai (Ezra x.
33, NB. MaBavia ; Mathania), one of the sons of
Hashum (1 Esd. ix. 33, B. yiaATawdios, A.
' AAt- ; Carianeus). [W. A. W.] [F.J,
ALTAR (nSTD ; 8vaiao-T-i\piov, Bup6s; aU
tare). A. The first altar of which we have
any account is that built by Noah when he left
the ark (Gen. viii. 20). The Targumists indeed
assert that Adam built an altar after he was
driven out of the garden of Eden, and that on
this Cain and Abel, and afterwards Noah and
Abraham, offered sacrifice (Pseudo-Jonath. Gen.
viii. 20 ; xxii. 9). According to the tradition,
the First Man was made upon an altar which
God Himself had prepared for the purpose, and
on the site of this altar were reared both those
of the Patriarchs and that in the Temple of
Solomon. This tradition, if in no other way
valuable, at least shows the great importance
which the Jews attached to the altar as the-
central point of their religious worship (Bahrv
Symbol, ii. 350).
In the early times altars were usually built
in certain spots hallowed by religious associa
tions, e.g. where God appeared (Gen. xii. 7;
xiii. 18 ; xxvi. 25 ; xxxv. 1). Generally of
course they were erected for the offering of
sacrifice ; but in some instances they appear to
haye been only memorial. Such was the altar
built by Moses and called Jehovah Nissi, as a
sign that the Lord would have war with Amalek
from generation to generation (Ex. xvii. 15, 16).
Such too was the altar which was built by the-
Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh,
"in the borders of Jordan," and which was
erected " not for burnt-offering nor for sacrifice,"
but that it might be " a witness " between
them and the rest of the tribes (Josh. xxii.
10-29). Altars were most probably originally
made of earth. This was the commonest form
of altar in antiquity. Such were the altars of
the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians. Ter
tullian (Apol. 25) speaks of altars of turf (de
cespite altaria) as the earliest among the-
Romans. The Law of Moses allowed them to be
made either of earth or of unhewn stones (Ex.
xx. 26) : any iron tool would have profaned the
altar. But this law was subsequently modified.
In later times altars were frequently built on
high places, especially in idolatrous worship
(Deut. xii. 2 ; for the pagan notions on this sub
ject, see Tac. Ann. xiii. 57). The altars so erected
were themselves sometimes called " high places "
CniD3, 2 K. xxiii. 8 ; 2 Ch. xiv. 3, &c). Both
in the Levitical and Deuteronomic codes all
altars were forbidden except those first in the
Tabernacle and afterwards in the Temple (Lev.
xvn. 8, 9 ; Deut. xii. 13, &c). This prohibition,
however, was not strictly observed, at least till
after the building of the Temple, even by pious
Israelites. Thus Gideon built two altars (Judg.

ALTAR
vi. 24, 26). The first of these, which he called
Jehovah-shalom in memory of the Divine mani
festation to him, may have been only a monu
mental altar, as it does not appear that he
offered sacrifices upon it. The second was
erected by the command of God. So likewise
did Samuel (1 Sam. vii. 9, 10), David (2 Sam.
xxiv. 25), and Solomon (1 K. iii. 4). Elijah also
repaired the altar of Jehovah on Mount Carmel,
and himself offered sacrifice thereon (1 K. xviii.
30-32). The sanctity attaching to the altar led
to its being regarded as a refuge or asylum
.(Ex. xxi. 14; 1 K. i. 50). On the subject of this
article generally, cp. W. R. Smith, The Religion
of the Semites, i., index s. v. " altar."
B. The earliest provision for the erection of
an altar is found in Ex. xx. 24, immediately after
the promulgation of the Decalogue. It is as
follows : " An altar of earth shalt thou make
unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-
offerings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and
thine oxen ; in every place where I record My
name I will come unto thee and will bless
thee. And if thou make Me an altar of stone,
thou shalt not build it of hewn stones : for if
thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted
it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto
Mine altar ; that thy nakedness be not dis
covered thereon " (R. V.). This no doubt is
the original and simplest form of the Altar of
Burnt-offering. As regards material, it might
he of earth, or of unhewn stone. It must not
be so elevated as to require an ascent to it, lest
the person of the sacrificer should be exposed.
The offering of victims is not confined to the
priests. An altar of this kind might be erected
wherever a Divine manifestation wras made.
Subsequently more definite directions were
given for two altars for the service of the
Tabernacle : I. the Altar of Burnt-offering ; and
IL the Altar of Incense. .
I. The Altar of Burnt-offering (<w\Vn 1*13*)?).
«aUed in Ex. xxvii. 1 emphatically " the altar "
(nSTHH), sometimes " the brazen altar "
(nETian ratO) ; in Mai. i. 7, 12, "the table of
the Lord." Throughout the Bible, wherever
" the altar " is spoken of, the Altar of Burnt-
offerino- is always meant, and where no confusion
can arise the shorter expression is common.
Where, however, it is necessary to distinguish
between this and the Altar of Incense, the full
phrase, Altar of Burnt-offering or Brazen Altar,
is employed. This differed in construction at
¦different "times. (1.) In the Tabernacle (Ex.
xxvii. 1 sq.; xxxviii. 1 sq.) it was comparatively
small and portable. In shape it was square.
It was five cubits in length, the same in
breadth, and three cubits high. It was made of
planks of shittim (or acacia) wood overlaid
with brass (Josephus says gold instead of brass,
Ant. iii. 6, § 8). The interior was hollow
(T\rb.. 3-13J, Ex. xxvii. 8). But as nothing is
said about a covering to the altar on which the
victims might be placed, Rashi supposes that
whenever the Tabernacle for a time became
stationary, the hollow case of the altar was
filled up with earth. In support of this view
he refers to Ex. xx. 24, where the command is
given, " make me an altar of earth," &c, aud
observes : " The altar of earth is the Brazen
Altar itself, the hollow of which was filled up

ALTAR

101

with earth, whenever the camp was pitched."
This may have been done, but it is obvious as
has been remarked, that there was a modifica
tion of the earlier enactment.
At the four corners were four projections
called horns, made, like the altar itself, of
shittim-wood overlaid with brass. It is not
quite certain how the words in Ex. xxvii. 2
Viyi"\i> IV.nn -131?P, should bo explained. Ac-
T V *
cording to Mendelssohn, they mean that these
horns were of one piece with the altar. So also
Knobel-Dillmann (Comm. in loc). And this is
probably right. By others they are understood
to describe only the projection of the horns from
the altar. These probably projected upwards ;
and some have supposed, referring to Ps. cxviii.
27, that to them the victim was bound when
about to be sacrificed. But the proper rendering
of that passage is " even unto the horns of the
altar " (R. V.), and Ainsworth's explanation is
probably correct : " Unto the horns, that is all
the court over, until you come even to the
horns of the altar." There is no evidence that
the victims were ever bound to the horns of the
altar. On the occasion of the consecration of
the priests (Ex. xxix. 12) and the offering of the
sin-offering (Lev. iv. 7 ff.) the blood of the
victim was sprinkled on the horns of the altar
(see the symbolism explained by Baumgarten,
Commentar zum Pentateuch, ii. 63; Jukes, The
Law of tlie Offerings, p. 153, &c). Round the
altar midway between the top and bottom (oi,
as others suppose, at the top) ran a projecting
ledge (3^**^, A. V. " compass," R. V. " ledge
round ; " Targ. X331D ; Gr. Ven. KvxAapa, ire-
pioxv), on which perhaps the priests stood when
they officiated. No other probable use has been
suggested; and it is clear that in the case of
an altar three cubits high the priests could not
have discharged their duties except by standing
upon some part of the altar. To the outer edge
of this, again, a grating or network of brass
(Wra nen nbm naap) was affixed, and
reached to the bottom of the altar, which thus
presented the appearance of being larger below
than above." Others have supposed this grating
to adhere closely to the boards of which the
altar was composed, or even to have been sub
stituted for them half-way up from the bottom.
At any rate there can be little doubt that the
grating was perpendicular, not horizontal, as
Jonathan supposes (Targum on Ex. xxvii. 5).
According to him, it was intended to catch
portions of the sacrifice or coals which fell from
the altar, and which might thus be easily
replaced. But it seems improbable that a net
work or grating should have been constructed
for such a purpose (cp. Joseph. Ant. iii. 6, § 8).
At the four corners of the network were four
brazen rings into which were inserted the staves
by which the altar was carried. These staves
were of the same materials as the altar itself.
As the Law forbad any ascent to the altar by
steps (Ex. xx. 26), it has been conjectured that
an approach was provided by means of a slope

a Knobel's opinion that the object of the network was
to protect the altar from being injured by the feet and
knees of the officiating priests, aud that the 33")3 was
merely an ornament by way of finish, is not accepted
by Dillmann (in loco).

102

ALTAR

of earth which led gradually up to the 33*13'
or ledge round the altar already described.
This must have been either on the north or
south side ; for on the east was " the place of
the ashes " (Lev. i. 16), and on the west at no
great distance stood the laver of brass. Accord
ing to the Jewish tradition, it was on the south
side. The place of the altar was at " the door
of the tabernacle of the tent of the congrega
tion " (Ex. xl. 29). The various utensils for the
service of the altar (Ex. xxvii. 3) were : (1)
n'lTD, pans wherewith to clear away the fat
(fa EH?) and ashes: elsewhere the word is used
of the" "pots in which the flesh of the sacrifices was
put to seethe (cp. Zech. xiv. 20, 21, and 2 Ch. xxxv.
13, with 1 Sam. ii. 14). (2.) D****., shovels,
Vulg. forcipes, Gesen. palae cineri removendo.
(3.) nipltp, basons; LXX. cpiaAat, vessels in
which the blood of the victims was received, and
from which it was sprinkled (r. pit). (4.)
niSip, flesh-hooks, LXX. upedypai, by means of
which the flesh was removed from the caldron
or pot (see 1 Sam. ii. 13, 14, where they are
described as having three prongs). (5.) *"lJ")np>
fire-pans, or perhaps censers. These might
either be used for taking coals from the fire on
the altar (Lev. xvi. 12) ; or for burning incense
(Num. xvi. 6, 7). In Ex. xxv. 38 the English
Bible (A. V. and R. V.), following the Vulgate,
translates it " snuff-dishes " (cp. Dillmann in
loco). All these utensils were of brass.
(2.) In Solomon's Temple the altar was con
siderably larger in its dimensions, as might
have been expected from the much greater size
of the building in which it was placed. Like
the former, it was square : but the length and
breadth were now twenty cubits, and the height
ten (2 Ch. iv. 1). It differed, too, in the
material of which it was made, being entirely of
brass (1 K. viii. 64; 2 Ch. vii. 7). It had no
grating : and instead of a single gradual slope,
the ascent to it was probably made by three
successive platforms, to each of which it has

Altar of Burnt Offering. (From Surenhuslua' Mishna.)
been supposed that steps led (Surenhus. Mishna,
vol. ii. p. 261, as in the figure annexed).
Against this may be urged the fact that the
Law of Moses, as we have seen, positively for
bad the use of steps (Ex. xx. 26), and the
assertion of Josephus that in Herod's Temple the
ascent was by an inclined plane. On the other

ALTAR
hand, steps are introduced in the ideal, or sym
bolical, Temple of Ezekiel (xliii. 17), and the pro
hibition in Ex. xx. has been interpreted as applying
to a continuous flight of stairs and not to a broken
ascent. But it is very doubtful whether the
word iybilfi can be confined to "steps:" it
would seem rather to cover any kind of ascent.
If so, the prohibition was not understood to be
of universal application. It must have been
restricted to the case of worshippers who were
not priests, the object of the prohibition being
to guard against exposure of the person to the
altar. In the case of the Levitical priests this
danger was provided against in another way, by
the use of linen breeches (Ex. xxviii. 42).
When it is said (Lev. ix. 22) that Aaron came
down after offering the sin-offering, &c, it is
implied that there was some elevated structure
upon which he had been standing. In the case
of Ezekiel's altar, as has been said, steps are ex
pressly mentioned (xliii. 17). The only way of
reconciling these apparent contradictions is by
supposing that the Law in Ex. xx. contemplates
the case of laymen approaching in their ordinary
dress, whereas the Brazen Altar was "approached
by priests protected against exposure by their
special costume." " In fact, with a large altar,
the priest could not put the blood of a victim on
the four horns without standing and walking on
the altar (Mishna, Zebachim, v.), which is clearly
against the spirit of Ex. xx., except on the
understanding that that law does not apply to
priests appropriately clad for the office " (The
Old Test in the Jewish Church, by Prof. Robert
son Smith, Lect. xii. note 1). The prohibition
in Ex. xx. is general, " Thou shalt not go up,"
not " the priests shall not go up." There is no
evidence that by the first legislation priests only
were allowed to approach the altar. Asa, we
read, renewed (EH""P1) Solomon's altar (2 Ch.
xv. 8). This may either mean that he repaired
it, or more probably perhaps that he reconse
crated it after it had been polluted by idol wor
ship (bveKaivio-ev, LXX.). Subsequently Ahaz
had it removed from its place to the north side
of the new altar which Urijah the priest had
made in accordance with his direction (2 K. xvi.
14). It was " cleansed " by command of
Hezekiah (-13"inp, 2 Ch. xxix. 18), and Manasseh,
after renouncing his idolatry, either repaired
(Kethibh, pi*) or rebuilt it (Keri, p'"). It may
finally have been broken up and the brass
carried to Babylon, but this is not mentioned
(Jer. Iii. 17 sq.). According to the Rabbinical
tradition, this altar stood on the very spot ou
which man was originally created.
(3.) The Altar of Burnt-offering in the second
(Zerubbabel's) Temple. Of this no description is
given in the Bible. We are only told (Ezra iii.
2) that it was built before the foundations of the
Temple were laid. According to Josephus (Ant.
xi. 4, § 1), it was placed on the same spot on
which that of Solomon had originally stood. It
was constructed, as we may infer from 1 Mace.
iv. 47, of unhewn stones (AlBovs dAoKAfyovs).
Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it (cpKoB6pT](ro.v
BSeAuypa ipTifiuio-eas M Tb Bvo-iaCT-hpiov, 1
Mace. i. 54) ; and, according to Josephus (Ant.
xii. 5, § 4), removed it altogether. In the
restoration by Judas Maccabaeus a new altar

ALTAR
was built of unhewn stone in conformity with
the Law (1 Mace. iv. 47).
(4.) The altar erected by Herod, which is thus
described by Josephus (B. J. v. 5, § 6) : — " In
front of the Temple stood the altar, 15 cubits
in height, and in breadth and length of equal
dimensions, viz. 50 cubits: it was built four
square, with horn-like corners projecting from
it ; and on the south side a gentle acclivity led
np to it. Moreover it was made without any
iron tool, neither did iron ever touch it at any
time." Rutin, has 40 cubits square instead of 50.
The dimensions given in the Mishna are different.
It is there said (Middoth, 3, 1) that the altar
was at the base 32 cubits square ; at the height
of a cubit from the ground 30 cubits square ; at
5 cubits higher (where was the circuit, X331D)
it was reduced to 28 cubits square, and at the
horns still further to 26. A space of a cubit
each way was here allowed for the officiating
priests to walk, so that 24 cubits square were
left for the fire on the altar (rD**l*pri). This
description is not very clear. But the Rab
binical and other interpreters consider the altar
from the S331D upwards to have been 28 cubits
square, allowing at the top, however, a cubit
each way for the horns, and another cubit for
the passage of the priests. Others, however
(as L'Empereur in loc), suppose the ledge on
which the priests walked to have been 2 cubits
lower than the surface of the altar on which the
lire was placed.
The Mishna further states, in accordance with
Josephus (see above), and with reference to the
Law already mentioned (Ex. xx. 25), that the
stones of which the altar was made were un
hewn ; and that twice in the year, viz. at the
Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Taber
nacles, they were whitewashed afresh. The
way up (B*33) was on the south side, 32 cubits
long and 16 broad, constructed also of unhewn
stones. In connexion with the horn on the
south-west was a pipe intended to receive the
blood of the victims which was sprinkled on the
left side of the altar : the blood was afterwards
carried by means of a subterranean passage into
the brook Kidron. Under the altar was a cavity
into which the drink-offerings passed. It was
covered over with a slab of marble, and emptied
from time to time. On the north side of the
altar were a number of brasen rings, to secure
the animals which were brought for sacrifice.
Lastly, round the middle of the altar ran a
scarlet thread (XIS'S 7U tO-in)to mark where
the blood was to be sprinkled, whether above or
below it.
According to Lev. vi. 12, 13, a perpetual fire
was to be kept burning on the altar. This, as
Bahr (Symbol, ii. 350) remarks, was the symbol
and token of the perpetual worship of Jehovah.
For inasmuch as tne whole religion of Israel was
concentrated in the sacrifices which were offered,
the extinguishing of the fire would have looked
like the extinguishing of the religion itself. It
was therefore, as he observes, essentially different
from the perpetual fire of the Persians (Curt. iii.
3 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6 ; Hyde, Rel. Vet. Pers.
viii. p. 148), or the fire of Vesta to which it has
been compared. These were not sacrificial fires
at all, but were symbols of the Deity, or were

ALTAR

103

connected with the belief which regarded fire as
one of the primal elements of the world. This
fire, according to the Jews, was the same as
that which came down from heaven (7rDp ovpavo-
ireTEj), " and consumed upon the altar the burnt-
offering and the fat " (Lev. ix. 24). It couched
upon the altar, they say, like a lion; it was
bright as the sun ; the flame thereof was solid
and pure ; it consumed things wet and dry
alike ; and, finally, it emitted no smoke. This
was one of the five things existing in the first
Temple which tradition declares to have been
wanting in the second (Tract. Joma, c. i. fol.
21 b ; cp. Wiinsche, d. Babyl. Talm. i. 353).
The fire which consumed the sacrifices was
kindled from this : and besides these there was
the fire from which the coals were taken to burn
incense with (see Carpzov. Apparat Hist. Crit.
Annot p. 286).
II. The Altar of Incense (ITlb|?ri "ISTD and
n**'D** ippp 'a, Ex. xxx. 1 ; Buo-iaorT-hptov Bvpid-
paTos, LXX.), called also the golden altar (""BID
3nj0, Ex. xxxix. 38 ; Num. iv. 11 ; Boa.
Xpvaovv, LXX.) to distinguish it from the Altar
of Burnt-offering, which was called the Brazen
Altar (Ex. xxxviii. 30).b Like the Altar of
Burnt-offering, it was called " holy of holies "
or " most holy " unto Jehovah (Ex. xxx. 10).
Probably this is meant by the " altar of wood "
spoken of Ezek. xii. 22, which is further described
as the " table that is before the Lord," precisely
the expression used of the Altar of Incense
(see Delitzsch, Brief an die Hebr. p. 678). The
name D3tp, "altar," was not strictly appro
priate, as no sacrifices were offered upon it.
This, indeed, was expressly forbidden : " Ye shall

supposed form of tbe Altar of incense.
offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt
sacrifice, nor meal-offering ; and ye shall pour no
drink-offering thereon " (Ex. xxx. 9, R. V.). But
once in the year, on the great Day of Atonement,

b "Wellhausen points out that the Altar of Incense
does not appear among the furniture of the inner
sanctuary in Ex. xxv.-xxix., but only as an appendix
at the beginning of chap, xxx., and very arbitrarily
infers that the author of chaps, xxv.-xxviii. knew
nothing of it. There may have been a good reason
for its appearing where it does, though we may not
now be able to account for it.

104

ALTAR

ALTAR

the high-priest sprinkled upon the horns of it
" the blood of the sin-offering of atonement "
(Ex. xxx. 10).
(a.) That in the Tabernacle was made of
acacia-wood, overlaid with pure gold. In shape
it was square, being a cubit in length and
breadth, and 2 cubits in height. Like the Altar
of Burnt-offering, it had horns at the four corners,
which were of one piece with the rest of the
altar. So Rabb. Levi ben Gersom : — ¦" Discimus
mde quod non conveniat facere cornuaseparatim,
et altari deinde apponere, sed quod cornua
debeant esse ex corpore altaris" (Comment, in
Leg. fol. 109, col. 4).
It had also a top or roof (3* ; iaxapd, LXX.),
a flat surface like the roof of an Eastern house
(the Hebrew word is the same), on which the
incense was laid and lighted. Many, following
the interpretation of the Vulgate craticulam
ejus, have supposed a kind of grating to be
meant ; but for this there is no authoritv.
Round the altar was a border or wreath (*l; ;
o-Tpewrriv (TTe(pdvTjv xPV(r^v> LXX.). Josephus
says : irrrjv ivxapb xputrea v-nip avsffTwo-a,
exovaa Kovrb yavlav iKdo-T-qv ffTeipavov (Ant. iii.
7). "Erat itaque cinctorium, ex solido con-
ilatum auro, quod tecto ita adhaerebat, ut in
extreinitate illud cingeret, et prohiberet, ne
quid facile ab altari in terrain devolveretur "
(Carpzov. Appar. Hist. Crit. Annot p. 273).
Below this were two golden rings which were
to be " for places for staves to bear it withal."
The staves were of acacia-wood overlaid with
gold. Its appearance may be illustrated by the
figure on the preceding page.
This Altar stood in the Holy Place, " oetore
the veil that is by the ark of the testimony,
before the mercy-seat " (Ex. xxx. 6 ; xl. 5).
Philo too speaks of it as eau tov irpoT4pov Kovra-
mTdo-paTos, and as standing between the candle
stick and the table of shewbread. In apparent
contradiction to this, the author of the Epistle
to the Hebrews (ix. 4) enumerates it among the
objects which were within the second vail (peril
Tb SevTepov KUTaTr4Tatrpa), i.e. in the Holy of
Holies. It is true that by Bupiar-lipiov in this
passage may be meant " a censer," in accordance
with the usage of the LXX., but it is better
understood of the Altar of Incense, which by
Philo and other Hellenists is called Bvpiar-lipiov.
It is to be observed also that in 1 IC. vi. 22, this
same Altar is said to belong to "the oracle"
Op'-lS -|S5\\; n3Tr->n, « the altar that belonged
to the oracle," R. V.) or most Holy Place.
This may perhaps be accounted for by the great
typical and symbolical importance attached to
this Altar, so that it might be considered to
belong to the Sevr4pa aK-qvi). On the great Day
of Atonement it, as well as the mercy-seat, was
sprinkled with the blood of the sin-offering
(Lev. xvi. 18); and incense itself was supposed
to have an atoning efficacy (T. B. Joma, f. 44 a ;
Nun, xvi. 47). But further, the writer ofthe
Epistle has the Day of Atonement in his mind ;
and on that day, when the high-priest lifted
the inner veil to go into the Most Holy Place,
the separation between the Holv Place and the
Most Holy Place seemed for the moment to
cease, and they might be regarded as one
sanctuary (see Prof. Milligan, Bible Educator,
in. 230). In like manner, in the vision of i

Isaiah (vi. 1-8), the altar from which the seraph
takes the "live coal," or rather "hot stone,"
wherewith he touches the Prophet's lips, and
which clearly corresponds to the Altar of Incense
in the earthly Temple, is before the Lord, seated
upon His throne. And similarly in the Apo
calypse (viii. 1-5) the Angel whom St. John
sees with a golden censer has much incense
given to him, that he may offer it upou tlie
golden altar which is before the throne (see
Bleek on Heb. ix. 4, and Delitzsch in loc).
Wellhausen has pointed out, that " the rite of
the most solemn atoning sacrifice takes place in
Lev. iv. on the golden altar, but in Ex. xxix.
Lev. viii. ix., without its use " ; and that " a still
more striking circumstance is, that in passages
where the holiest incense-offering is itself
spoken of, no trace can be discovered of the
corresponding altar. This is particularly the
case in Lev. xvi. To burn incense in the
sanctuary, Aaron takes a censer, fills it with
coals from the altar of burnt-offering (ot. 12,
18-20), and lays the incense upon them in the
adytum. Similarly in Lev. x., Num. xvi. xvii.,
incense is offered on censers of which each priest
possesses one. The coals are taken from the Altar
of Burnt-offering (Num. xvii. 11 ; A. V. xvi. 46),
which is plated with the censers of the Korahite
Levites (xvii. 3, 4 ; A. V. xvi. 38, 39) ; whoever
takes fire from any other source incurs the
penalty of death " (Hist, of Israel, Eng. transl.
p. 66). _
(b.) The Altar in Solomon's Temple was
similar (1 K. vii. 48 ; 1 Ch. xxviii. 18), but was
made of cedar overlaid with gold. The Altar
mentioned in Is. vi. 6 is clearly the Altar of
Incense, not the Altar of Burnt-offering; and
although, as has been said, it is the heavenly
Altar, not the earthly, that the Prophet sees'.
still no doubt the one was the pattern of the
other ; and if so, it may be inferred from this
passage that heated stones (i*l"*i"»*"l) were laid
upon the Altar, by means of which the incense
was kindled.
(c.) The Altar of Incense is mentioned as
having been removed from the Temple of Zerub-
babel by Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Mace. i. 21).
Judas Maccabaeus restored it, together with the
holy vessels, &c. (1 Mace. iv. 49). On the arch
of Titus no Altar of Incense appears. But
that it existed in the last Temple, and was
richly overlaid, we learn from the Mishna
(Hagiga 3, 8). Ezekiel in his ideal Temple
mentions au altar of wood before the sanctuary,
of which he says that it was three cubits in
height, two cubits in length and breadth, and it
had projecting corners, and the frame (R. V.
text, " length ") and the walls thereof were oi
wood: "this is the table that is before the
w VL' (xli• 2t' " ; CP- xliv" 16>- According to
Wellhausen and Smeud, Ezekiel makes no dis
tinction between the table of shewbread and the
Altar of Incense. But " altar " and " table " are
here convertible terms, just as they are in Mai. i.
'. 12, where they are applied indifferently to
the Altar of Burnt-offsring.
From the circumstance that the sweet incense
was burnt upon it every day, morning and
evening (Ex. xxx. 7, 8), as well as that the
wood of atonement was sprinkled upon it
(v. 10) this Altar had a special importance
attached to it. It is the only- Altar which

ALTAR
appears in the heavenly Temple (Is. vi. 6 ;
Rev. viii. 3, 4).
C. Other altars. (1.) Altars of brick, for
bidden by the Law (Ex. xx. 24, 25). Some
commentators have seen an allusion to such
in Is. lxv. 3. The words are ^1? DntSpD
D''33i'n, "offering incense on the bricks,"
which has been explained as referring to altars
made of this material, and situated perhaps
in the " gardens" mentioned just before. Rosen-
miiller suggests, however, that the allusion is
to some Babylonish custom of burning incense
on bricks covered over with magic formulae or
cuneiform inscriptions. This is also the view of
Gesenius and Maurer. Dr. Cheyue under
stands by the "bricks," the tilings of the
houses (2 K. xxiii. 12 ; Zeph. i. 5 ; Jer. xix. 13),
and thinks this view, as implying that Palestine
is the locality, and not Babylonia or Egypt, to be
more in harmony with the context. Delitzsch,
on the other hand, observes that the expression
"transports us to Babylon, the country of
cocti lateres (laterculi). The Torah mentions
D**l3? only with reference to Babylonian and
Egyptian buildings, it knows and allows only of
altars of earth, unhewn stones, and wooden
planks with brazen covering."
(2.) An altar with the inscription 'AyvtiaTip
0e<ji, Acts xvii. 22. St. Paul in his speech on
the Areopagus mentions having seen such an
altar in Athens. The inscription, however, is
capable of two renderings, either (a) " to an
unknown god " (Rev. Vers.), or (6) " to the
unknown god " (A. V.) ; for in inscriptions of
this kind Greek usage did not always require the
insertion of the article, (a) If we understand
the inscription in the former sense, the altar
was one erected in gratitude for some benefit
Teceived, though the receiver did not know to
which of the many deities of heathenism the
oenefit was due. This interpretation falls in

AL-TASCHITH

lOo

Various Altars.

1,2.

Egyptian, from bas-reliefs. (Bossellini. I
Assyrian, fonnt* at Khoisabad. (Layard.)
4. Babylonian, Bibliotheque Rationale. (Layard.)
6. Assyrian, from Kborsabad. (Layard.)
very well with what St. Paul had said as to
the " somewhat superstitious " character of the
Athenians. It would be evidence of a scrupulous
anxiety lest any deity, even though unknown,
should not receive his meed of honour and grati
tude. Altars of this kind, Pausanias tells us,
he had seen in the harbour and streets of Athens.

He says (i. § 4), ivTavBa Kai Bo.po\ Beuv T€
ovopa(op4vav byvtiarav ko! r)pt&av Kai iralSoii,
tuv Qfoews Kai &aAr)pov. And Philostratus
( I it. Apollon. vi. 3), trutppoveo-Tepov Tb jrepi
travTuv BtSiv ei Aiynv, Kai TaCTa ABi\vnaiv, ou
Kai byvuc-Tuv baipivuv BupoX 'IdpvvTai. This.
as Winer observes, need not be interpreted as if
the several altars were dedicated to a number
of ii/yi'cuo-Toi Beoi, but rather that each altar had
the inscription 'Ayvuo-Ttp 0eo7. It is not at all
probable that such inscription referred to the
God of the Jews, as One Whose Name it was
unlawful to utter (as Wolf and others have sup
posed). Neander quotes Diog. Laertius, who, in
his Life of Epimenides, says that in the time of
a plague, when they knew not what god to
propitiate in order to avert it, he caused black
and white sheep to be let loose from the Areo
pagus, and, wherever they lay down, to be offered
to the god to whom of right the victim be
longed (tqI ¦n-poo-ljKOVTi Betp). bBev, adds Dio
genes, en Kai vuv itrnv euptiv KaTa tous-
S-qpovs tuv 'AB. Bupovs bvuvvpovs. On which
Neander remarks that on this or similar occa
sions altars might be dedicated to an unknown
god, since they knew not what god was offended
and required to be propitiated. But it is to
be observed that, according to Diogenes, the
altars were left without auy inscription. Nor
can we attach much importance to Eichhorn's
suggestion that these altars (Bupol bvtivvpoi)
might have been built before the art of writing
was known, and subsequently have been in
scribed byviio-Ttp Beep. A passage in the
Philopatris ascribed to Lucian, in which one
of the speakers swears " by the unknown god,"
has sometimes been quoted as confirming St.
Paul's statement ; but as the Dialogue is of the
3rd century after Christ, it may be intended
only as a sneer at the Apostle's words. Jerome,
indeed (on Tit. i. 12), affirms that the inscription
ran : " To the gods of Asia and Europe and
Africa, to unknown and strange gods." But
though Jerome may have seen such an inscrip
tion, it is plainly not that to which St. Paul
refers. His statement is clear and definite.
(p.) If we adopt the rendering "to the un
known god," then we must take the verbal
adjective in its extended signification, as
meaning not only the unknown, but the un
knowable. The inscription, as Dr. Plumptre
observes, does not affirm Atheism, but simply
recognises the existence of a Power concerning
which man knows and can know nothing. He
finds a parallel to this inscription in that
which Plutarch (de Isid. et Osir.) records as
found on the veil of Isis : "1 am all that has
been, and all that is, and all that shall be ; and
no mortal hath lifted my veil;" and a still
more striking parallel in the inscription on a
Mithraic altar found at Ostia, and now in the
Vatican, " signum Indeprehensibilis Dei."
"This," he remarks, "is the nearest equivalent
that Latin can supply for ' the Unknown and
Unknowable God ' " (Bible Commentary for Eng
lish Beaders, in loco). [J. J. S. P.]
AL-TASCHITH (nDBW^N, more cor
rectly, Al-Tashcheth) forms part of the first, or
introductory, verses of Psalms lvii., lviii., lix.,
lxxv. The Aramaic paraphrast and Rashi, both
of whom literally translate this phrase by

10(5

AL-TASCHITH

•' Destroy not ! " are, though consistent, greatly
mistaken, because these Psalms do not merely
stand on the defensive " Destroy not ! " but
take the offensive " Destroy my enemies ! " So
is also Ibn 'Ezra with his stereotyped phrase,
" Commencement of a well-known poem to the
tune of which these Psalms were to be sung."
[Aijeleth Shahar ; Alamoth.] But Ibn 'Ezra
also, apart from the anachronism on which
his theory rests, must be wrong, since it is im
possible that all these four Psalms could have
been sung satisfactorily to one and the same
tune, seeing that they greatly differ not only in
sentiment but also in length of diction. Qimchi
(on lvii.) actually believes that he has found
the very 'source from which the AI-Tashcheth
comes, viz. the Al-Tashchithehu used by David
when Abishai wished to kill Saul (1 Sam.
xxvi. 9). On such grounds one need not be
astonished to find a modern writer proposing
seriously that the source of this title was the
Al- Tashchithehu of Isaiah (lxv. 8) ! Although
the explanations of the Targumist and Rashi
cannot be true for the reasons given above, they
have both at least some ground to stand upon,
inasmuch as the phrase Al-Tashcheth literally
occurs in the Pentateuch (Deut. ix. 26), where
it is used by Moses in a prayer for Israel. But
what shall we say to the following explanation
propounded in all earnest by a German scholar,
that Al-Tashcheth meant " Spoil not !" and that
these words were addressed to a music-director
whose band had some time before spoiled a
Psalm by singing it or playing it out of tune.
If Ibn 'Ezra's theory were true, the band would
be certain to spoil the execution of one or the
other of these Psalms, and the reminder " Spoil
not!" might find an application.- Since, how
ever, the Scripture gives us no indication of
this, what warrant is there that Al-Tashcheth
could have such a meaning? The fact is,
Al-Tashcheth is itself the name of a music-
corps, as the 'Al (?V) virtually standing before
it clearly testifies. The 'Al is only left out
on account of the Al following, as Al (?•<)
after 'Al (?!)) would be somewhat difficult
to pronounce." (Such was evidently the
view taken by the R. V., which inserts in
italics the words, Set to.) Let nobody object
that we have 'Al- Alamoth (Alamoth) ; for in
that case the second 1? cannot be pronounced by
itself at all, and absolutely depends upon the
7 following it (niD7**). It might, however, be
legitimately asked: Why should a music-corps
be called by the apparently singular name
Al-Tashcheth 1 To this legitimate question a
legitimate answer may be given, which will
throw light on the names of the other music-
bands also. When there were only eight music-
bands (Talmud Babli Ta'anith, 27"), and these
had no history worth speaking of, they were
simply numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The proof
of this is the term Hassheminith = the Eighth.
When they were increased to twenty-four and

» The somewhat similar pronunciation of f* and i) is
no anachronism. It is not merely testified to in Tal-
mudic times (Yerushalmi Beralchoth, ii. i- Babli
Megillah, 246), but is pre-supposed in the Bible itself
U Sam. i. io ; Amos vi. 8, and very many other places).

AMALEK
began to have a history of their own, or one
partially relating to them, they received several
kinds of names. Some were named from their
dwelling-places and functions, as Ayyeleth Has
shachar (Aijeleth Shahah), 'Alamoth (Ala
moth), Haggittith (Gittith), &c. ; some from
their director, as Teduthun ; some from the
nature, character, and position of the instru
ments on which they excelled, as Tonath
Elem Rechoqim (Jonath Elem Rechoklm)-
some from historical occurrences, as Muth-
Labben (see 1 Ch. xv. 2 and Qimchi on Ps. ix. 1).
Of this last kind is, no doubt, this Al-Tashclieth
which was probably given to one of the bands
when Uzzah was struck down dead (2 Sam. vi.
8). David commemorated that event, it is
true, by calling the place where the catastrophe
had occurred Perez-Uzzah ; but as he could
not give one of the music-bands such an ill-
omened name, he called it by the historically-
auspicious title Al-Tashcheth! [S.-S.]
A'LTJSH (E'-vN, of uncertain etymology;.
Sam. t^N ; AF. AiAois ; B. AlAelp; Alus), one
of the stations of the Israelites on their journey
to Sinai, the last before Rephidim (Num. xxxiii.
13, 14). No trace of it has yet been found (see
conjectures in Dillmann on Exod. xvii. 1). In
the Seder Olam (Kitto, Cyc s. v.) it is stated
to have been 8 miles from Rephidim. Perhaps
in W. Feirdn, near the mouth of W. er Rum-
mdneh. [(}.] pwj
AL'VAH (i1)bv. The real meaning of the
Edomite and pre-Edomite names is still unknown;
TaAd; Alva), a duke (=dux, Vulg.) of. Edom
(Gen. xxxvi. 40), written Aliah (**'?*') in
1 Ch. i. 51.
2. Alvah is the name of a place as well as of
a chief. Dillmann (Gen. I. c.) and Delitzsch,
Genesis, I. c. [1887], identify the name with
Alvan. [W. A. W.] [F.j
AL'VAN (|J^J*, see Alvah ; A. TaAiiv, -DE.
-p ; Alvan), a 'Horite, son of Shobal (Gen.
xxxvi. 23), written Alian Q^S) in 1 Ch. i. 40
(B. ZuAdp, A. 'luAdp ; Allan)' [W. A. W.] [F.]
AM'AD (*1*)p** ; 'Apit)A ; A. 'ApidS ; Amaad),
an unknown place in Asher between Alammelech
and Misheal (Josh. xix. 26 only). It is placed
by Major Conder (Handbook to Bible, p. 402) at
Eh. el 'Annul, close to ez-Zib, but this identifica
tion seems doubtful. r\\r.]
AMADA'THUS (Esth. xii. 6). [Harmed--
ATHA.] L
A'MAL p»l* ; B. 'Apad ; Amal), a descend-.
ant of Asher, the son of Jacob (1 Ch. vii. 35).
AM'ALEK (pbni) ; 'AMaA4}K ; Amalcch), son
of Eliphaz by his concubine Timnah, grandson of
Esau, and one of the chieftains ("dukes," A. V.
and R. V.) of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 12, 16). His
mother came ofthe Horite race, whose territory
the descendants of Esau had seized : and, although
Amalek himself is represented as of equal rank
with the other sons of Eliphaz, yet his posterity
appear to have shared the fate of the Horite

AMALEKITES
population, a " remnant " only being mentioned
as existing in Edom in the time of' Hezekiah,
¦when they were dispersed by a band of the
tribe of Simeon (1 Ch. iv. 43). [W. L. B.]
AMAL'EKITES (ptal*. »ptal? or *pfol*i*I =
m •• t-: -¦' t-: -" t-: t
the abnormal p?Dt*n, 2 Sam. i. 1, is no doubt a
textual error : see Wellh. or Driver t. '. ; 'ApaAti-
icirai ; Amalecitae), a nomadic tribe which, pro-
bably about the time of Moses, first occupied the
peninsula of Sinai and the wilderness intervening
between the southern hill-ranges of Palestine
and the border of Egypt (Num. xiii. 29 ; 1 Sam.
xv. 7, xxvii. 8). Arabian historians (to be read
with reserve : see Nbldeke, Die Amalekiter, 1864)
represent them as originally dwelling on the
shores of the Persian Gulf. Thence they were
pressed westwards by the growth of the Assyrian
empire, and spread over a portion of Arabia at
a period antecedent to its occupation by the
descendants of Joktan. This account of their
origin harmonizes with Gen. xiv. 7, where the
¦' country " (" princes " according to the reading
adopted by the LXX.) of the Amalekites is
mentioned several generations before the birth
of the Edomite Amalek (Gen. xxxvi. 12 ; cp.
Num. xxiv. 20) : it throws light on the traces
of a permanent occupation of Central Palestine
in their passage westward, as indicated by the

AMARIAH

107

AT erich.6; |"£-;
P^^§^^V;£^:/V;,;/' Jerusalem? /&>?
f ' .y - <G'^S^<^r% V>^-

*¦ *- Sin " ' *-> |-uccwucw
x ft / )A _v,d°s

-f : rfoSela
/-

tap? / M
Il . P Eziongreber ' '' /¦
SoElath

Map of the Country of the Amalekites.

names Amalek and Mount of the Amalekites
(Judg. v. 14, xii. 15) : and it accounts for the
silence of Scripture as to any relationship be
tween the Amalekites on the one hand, and the
Edomites or the Israelites on the other. That
a mixture of the two former races occurred at
a later period, would in this case be the only
inference from Gen. xxxvi. 16, though many
writers have considered that passage to refer to
the origin of the whole nation, explaining
Gen. xiv. 7 as a case of prolepsis (see, however,
Schultz, «. n. in Herzog, RE.2). The physical
character of the district occupied by the Ama
lekites [Arabia] necessitated a nomadic life,
which they adopted to its fullest extent, taking
•their families with them even on their military
expeditions (Judg. vi. 5). Their wealth con

sisted in flocks and herds. JMention is made of
a "town" (1 Sam. xv. 5), aud Josephus gives
an exaggerated account ofthe capture of several
towns by Saul (Ant. vi. 7, § 2) ; but tho towns
could have been little more than stations, or
nomadic enclosures. The kings or chieftains
were perhaps distinguished by the hereditary
title Agag (Num. xxiv. 7 ; 1 Sam. xv. 8). Two
important routes led through the Amalekite
district, viz. from Palestine to Egypt by the
Isthmus of Suez, and to Southern Asia and
Africa by the Aelanitic arm of the Red Sea. It
has been conjectured that the expedition of the
four kings (Gen. xiv.) had for its object the
opening of the latter route ; and it is in con
nexion with the former that the Amalekites
first came in contact with the Israelites, whose
progress they attempted to stop, adopting a
guerilla style of warfare (Deut. xxv. 18), but
were signally defeated at Rephidim (Ex. xvii. 8,
&c). The conduct of Amalek in this cruel attack
on a people " faint and weary " was never forgiven.
"The Lord will have war with Amalek from
generation to generation ; " " Thou shalt blot
out the remembrance of Amalek from under
heaven " (Ex. xvii. 16; Deut. xxv. 17-19). In
union with the Canaanites they were, however,
permitted to attack the disobedient Israelites on
the borders of Palestine, and to defeat them
near Hormah (Num. xiv. 45). Thenceforward
we hear of them only as a secondary power, at
one time in league with the Moabites (Judg. iii.
13), when they were defeated by Ehud near
Jerieho ; at another time in league with the
Midianites (Judg. vi. 3), when they penetrated
into the plain of Esdraelon, and were defeated by
Gideon. Saul undertook an expedition against
them, overrunning their whole district " from
Havilah to Shur," and inflicting an immense
loss upon them (1 Sam. xv.). Their power was
thenceforward broken, and they degenerated into
a horde of banditti, whose style of warfare is
well expressed in the Hebrew term "1-1*1* (Gesen.
Lex.), frequently applied to them in the de
scription of their contests with David in the
neighbourhood of Ziklag, when their destruction
was completed (1 Sam. xxvii., xxx. ; cp. Num.
xxiv. 20). [W. L. B.] [F.]
AMA'M (DDK B. St)" ; A. 'Audp ; Amam),
a city in the south of Judah, named with Shema
and Moladah (el-Milh) in Josh. xv. 26 only.
Nothing is known of it. [G.] [W.]
A'MAN (B. 'ASdp; Itala Nadab; Syr. Ahab).
Tob. xiv. 10. [Haman.] [F.]
AMA'NTA (ilJDK, i.e. constant), apparently
a mountain near Lebanon, and possibly a part
of Anti-Lebanon which overlooks the plain of
Damascus, — " from the head of Amana " (Cant.
iv. 8). It is commonly assumed that this is the
mountain in which the river Abana (2 K. v. 12 ;
Keri, Targum- Jonathan, and margin of A. V. and
R. V. " Amana ") has its source, and it may have
derived its name from that river. The LXX.
(BA.) translate era-' bpxris -iricTeus. [G.] [W.]
AMARI'AH (i*inpK and •liT'ipX, Amarias
usually ; whom God promised, Gesen., i. q. 0ed-
tppao-Tos). 1. Father of Ahitub, according
to 1 Ch. vi. 7 [LXX. v. 33, B. 'Apaptid, A.
'Apapias], v. 52 [LXX. vi. 37, B. 'AAtapeid, A.

108

AMARIAS

'A^apia], and son of Meraioth, in the line of
the high-priests. In Josephus's Hist. (Ant. viii.
1, § 3) he is transformed into 'Apotpaios.
2. 'Apapids. The high-priest in the reign of
Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xix. 11). He was the son of
Azariah, and the fifth high-priest who succeeded
Zadok (1 Ch. vi. 11). Nothing is known of
him beyond his name, but from the way in
which Jehoshaphat mentions him he seems to
have seconded that pious king in his endeavours
to work a reformation in Israel and Judah (see
2 Ch. xvii. xix.). Josephus, who calls him
'Apaaiav Tbv hpia, " Amaziah the priest," un
accountably says of him (as the text now
stands) that he, as well as Zebadiah, was of the
tribe of Judah. But if eKar4povs is struck out,
this absurd statement will disappear (Ant. ix. 1,
§ 1). It is not easy to recognise him in the
wonderfully corrupt list of high-priests given
in the Ant. x. 8, § 6. But he seems to be con
cealed under the strange form AHIflPAMOS,
Axnoramus. The syllable AS is corrupted from
A2, the termination of the preceding name,
Azarias, which has accidentally adhered to the
^beginning of Amariah, as the final 2 has to the
very same name in the text of Nicephorus (ap.
Seld. de Success, p. 103), producing the form
^apapias. The remaining '\upapos is not far
removed from 'Apaplas. The successor of Ama-
xiah in the high-priesthood must have been
Jehoiada. In Josephus *i8eaj, which is a cor
ruption of 'luS4as, follows Axioramus. There
is not the slightest support in the sacred history
for the names Ahitub and Zadok, who are made to
follow Amariah in the genealogy, 1 Ch. vi. 11, 1 2.
3. The head of a Levitical house of the Ko
hathites in the time of David (1 Ch. xxiii. 19
[A. 'Apapid, B. 'ApaSid] ; xxiv. 23 [B. 'ApaSid,
A. 'Apaplas]).
4. The head of one of the twenty-four
courses of priests, which was named after him,
in the time of David, of Hezekiah, and of Nehe
miah (1 Ch. xxiv. 14 [BA. 'Epipty, Emmer,
but in A. Heb. Vulg. the head of the 16th
course, in B. the head of the 15th course] ; 2 Ch.
xxxi. 15 [B. Maplas] ; Neh. x. 3 ['Apapid], xii.
2 [B. Mapia, N. Mapei'a, {*=•" 'Apaptla, A. -id],
13 [B. yiaped, tt* 'Apapid, &¦* A. 'Apapid']).
In the first passage the name is written ItDK,
Immer, but it seems to be the same name-
Another form of the name is 1"1DX, Imi-i
(1 Ch. ix. 4 [B. 'App4, A. -I; Amr\% -., man
of Judah, of the sons of Bani. Of the same
family we find,
5. Amariah in the time of Ezra (Ezra a. 42,
NB. Mania, A. 'Apapids), one of those who had
married a " strange " wife.
6. An ancestor of Zephaniah the prophet
(Zeph. i. 1, T.' 'Apoptos, A. -et-, N. very cor-
^P4)- [A.C. H.] [F.]
7. B. Zapapmd, A. -io, N. 'Aptapid. A de
scendant of Pharez, son of Judah (Neh. xi. 4).
Probably the same as Imri (above No. 4).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AMARI'AS (Anurias). An ancestor of Ezra
(1 Esd viii. 2, B. 'ApiapBelos, A. 'Apapids ; 2 Esd.
l. 2 [Gk. vn. 3, Zapapeta]). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AMA'SA (»'W, Ges. = a burden, Fiirst =
DiDl/, a bearer; D. H. Miiller [in MV.10] con
nects it with an Arabic word and prefers the

AMAZIAH
i meaning of weak-sighted, having weeping eyes :
Amasa). 1. Son of Ithra or Jether, by Abi
gail, David's sister (2 Sam. xvii. 25, B. 'Apev-
o-el, A. -aei). He joined Absalom in his re
bellion, and was by him appointed commander-
in-chief in the place of Joab, by whom he
was totally defeated in the forest of Ephraim
(2 Sam. xviii. 6). When Joab incurred the
displeasure of David for killing Absalom, David
forgave the treason of Amasa, recognised him as
his nephew, and appointed him Joab's successor
(xix. 13, B. 'Apetrtrael [and in xx. 10], A.
'A,uier<rai). Joab afterwards, when they were
both in pursuit of the rebel Sheba, pretended to
salute Amasa, and stabbed him with his sword
(xx. 10, A. 'ABiaael), which he held concealed
in his left hand. Amasa is probably identical
with 'E^Dl* (Amasai No. 2), who is mentioned
among David's commanders (1 Ch. xii. 18, B.
'Apaaa'i, fr*. -<re. Ewald, Gesch. Israel, ii. 544).
2. A prince of Ephraim. son of Hadlai, in the
reign of Ahaz (2 Ch. xxviii. 12, B. 'Ajuao-fias,
A. -c). [R. W. B.] [F.]
AMA'SAI Cbpi*, Ges.=burdensome, Fiirst
= DID!" [see Amasa] ; Amasai). 1. A Kohathite,
father of Mahath and ancestor of Shemuel and
Heman the singer (1 Ch. vi. 25 [LXX. vi. 10,
B. 'Apeatrel, A. "AputrC], 35 [LXX. v. 20, B.
'ApaBtlos, A. 'Apds]).
2. See Amasa No. 1. Chief of the captains
(Heb., LXX., and R. V. "thirty"), leader ofthe
men of Judah and Benjamin, who came to David
while an outlaw at Ziklag (1 Ch. xii. 18). He
w-as probably the same as Amasa, David's uephew.
3. B. 'Apaaal, N. 'Apace. One of the priests
who blew trumpets before the Ark, when David
brought it from the house of Obed-edom (1 Ch.
xv. 24).
4. B. Mad: cp. No. 1. Another Kohathite.
father of another Mahath, in the reign of
Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxix. 12), unless the name is
that of a family. [W. A. W.] [r\]
AMASH'AI OpB'pi*, according to Ges. an
incorrect reading sprung out ofthe forms '"¦'Di'
and *DD**; according to Olshausen [Lehrb. p.
625] an error for »E"D1*; 'Apaata, A. 'Ap&rat;
Amassai), properly " Amashsai." Son of Aza-
reel, a priest in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. xi.
13) ; apparently the same as Maasai (1 Ch. ix.
12)- [W.A.W.] [F.]
AMASI'AH (Pi'DCl*, Jah is bearer, cp. the
Phoen. DOOm^H,T kshmun beareth, MV.10; B.
Mao-aias, A. Marrafas- ; Amasias). Son of Zichri,
and captain of 200,000 warriors of Judah, in the
reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xvii. 16).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
A'MATH. [Hamath.]
AM'ATHEIS (B. 'EaaBBis, A. 'EpaBels;
Emeus). 1 Esd. ix. 29. [Athlai ]
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AM'ATHIS (in some copies A math as), " the
land of" (t) 'ApaBirts xfy*); a district to
the north of Palestine, in which Jonathan
Maceabaeus met the forces of Demetrius (1 Mace.
xii. 25). From the context it is evidently
Hamath. [g-] [WiJ
AMAZI'AH (rPVDN or -I.TyDK, Jehovah is
strong; B. 'Apetrtreias '[usually]", A. 'Apatrltts

AMAZIAH
[usually]; Amasias), son of Joash, and eighth
king of Judah, succeeded to the throne at the
age of 25 on the murder of his father, and
punished the murderers (2 K. xii. 21, xiv. 2, 5);
sparing, however, their children, in accordance
with Deut. xxiv. 16, as the Second Book of Kings
(xiv. 6) expressly informs us, thereby implying
that the precept had not been generally observed.
In order to restore his kingdom to the greatness
of Jehoshaphat's days, he made war on the
Edomites, defeated them in the valley of Salt,
south of the Dead Sea (the scene of a great
victory in David's time, 2 Sam. viii. 13 ; 1 Ch.
xviii. 12 ; Ps. Ix. title), and took their capital,
Selah or Petra, to which he gave the name of
Joktheel, which was also borne by one of his
own Jewish cities (Josh. xv. 38). We read iu
2 Ch. xxv. 12-14, that the victorious Jews
threw 10,000 Edomites from the cliffs, and that
Amaziah performed religious ceremonies in
honour of the gods of the country ; an exception
to the general character of his reign (cf. 2 K.
xiv. 3 with 2 Ch. xxv. 2). In consequence of
this he was overtaken by misfortune. Having
already offended the Hebrews of the northern
kingdom by sending back, in obedience to a
prophet's direction, some mercenary troops whom
he had hired from it, he had the foolish arrogance
to challenge Joash, king of Israel, to battle,
despising probably a sovereign whose strength
had been exhausted by Syrian wars, and who
had not yet made himself respected by the great
successes recorded in 2 K. xiii. 25. But Judah
was completely defeated, and Amaziah himself
was taken prisoner, and conveyed by Joash to
Jerusalem, which, according to Josephus (Ant.
ix. 9, § 3), opened its gates to the conqueror
under a threat that otherwise he would put
Amaziah to death. We do not know the his
torian's authority for this statement, but it
explains the fact that the city was taken ap
parently without resistance (2 K. xiv. 13). A
portion of the wall of Jerusalem on the side
towards the Israelitish frontier was broken
down, and treasures and hostages were carried
off to Samaria. Amaziah lived fifteen years after
the death of Joash; and in the 29th»year of his
reign was murdered by conspirators at Lachish,
whither he had retired for safety from Jeru
salem. The chronicler seems to regard this as a
punishment for his idolatry in Edom, though
his language is not very clear on the point (2 Ch.
xxv. 27) ; and doubtless it is very probable that
the conspiracy was a consequence of the low state
to which Judah must have been reduced in the
latter part of his reign, after the Edomitish war
and humiliation inflicted by Joash, king of
Israel. The chronology of this king's reign is
much disputed. Clinton (Fasti Hellenici, i.
p. 325) gives the dates B.C. 837-809 ; and, pre
vious to the comparison with Assyrian dates,
the beginning of the regnal years has been
variously placed between the limits B.C. 840
(Bengel) and B.C. 809 (Seyfarth. See the table
in Herzog, RE.2 xvii. p. 477, s. n. Zeitrechnung).
Since the employment of Assyrian synchronistic
dates, the beginning of Amaziah's reign is placed
between B.C. 798 and B.C. 796, and a joint reign
with his son Amariah (or Uzziah) is supposed to
have begun in B.C. 786. (See Chronology.)
2. 'Apacrias. Priest of the golden calf at
Bethel, who endeavoured to drive the prophet ,

AMBASSADOR

109

Amos from Israel into Judah, and complained of
him to king Jeroboam II. (Amos vii. 10).
3. A descendant of Simeon (1 Ch. iv. 34
B. 'Apaatid, BbA. -ia).
4. A Levite (1 Ch. vi. 45, B. 'Apetro-eid : A.
has a longer reading, Maeo-o-Ia vlov XeAxlou viou
'Apao-al). [G. E. L. O] [F.]
AMBASSADOR. Sometimes *!>¥ and some
times *f]XpP is thus rendered ; and the occur
rence of both terms in the parallel clauses of
Prov. xiii. 17 seems to show that they approxi
mate to synonyms. The word " messengers '*
is probably equivalent to ambassadors in the
A. V. of Deut. ii. 26 ; Judg. xi. 12-19 ; 2 Sam.
v. 11; 1 Ch. xiv. 1, xix. 2; Is. xiv. 32, xviii. 2,
xxxiii. 7, lvii. 9 ; Jer. xxvii. 3 ; Ezek. xxx. 9 ;
Nah. ii. 13, as well as in many of the passages
cited below. The office, like its designation,
was not definite nor permanent, but pro re natd
merely. The precept given in Deut. xx. 10 seems
to imply some such agency ; rather, however,
that of a mere nuncio, often bearing a, lettei-
(2 K. v. 5, xix. 14), than of a legate empowered
to treat. The inviolability of such an officer's
person may perhaps be inferred from the only
recorded infraction of it being followed with
unusual severities towards the vanquished,
probably designed as a condign chastisement
of that offence (2 Sam. x. 2-5 ; cf. xii. 26-31).
The earliest examples of ambassadors employed
occur in the cases of Edom, Moab, and the
Amorites (Num. xx. 14, xxi. 21 ; Judg. xi.
17-19), afterwards in that of the fraudulent
Gibeonites (Josh. ix. 4, &c), of the king of
Ammon, and in the instances of civil strife-
mentioned Judg. xi. 12 and xx. 12 (see Cunaeus,
de Rep. Hebr. ii. 20, with notes by J. Nicholaus ;
Ugol. iii. 771-4). They are mentioned more'
frequently during and after the contact of the
great adjacent monarchies of Syria, Babylon,
&c. (e.g. xvii. 14), with those of Judah and
Israel, e.g. in the invasion of Sennacherib.
They were usually men of high rank ; just
as in that case the chief captain, the chief
cupbearer, and chief of the eunuchs were
deputed, and were met by delegates of similar
dignity from Hezekiah (2 K. xviii. 17, 18 ; see
also Is. xxx. 4). Ambassadors are found to
have been employed, not only on occasions of
hostile challenge or insolent menace (2 K. xiv. 8 ;
1 K. xx. 2, 6), but of friendly compliment, of
request for alliance or other aid, of submissive
deprecation, and of curious inquiry (2 K. xvi. 7r
xviii. 14; 2 Ch. xxxii. 31). The dispatch of
ambassadors with urgent haste is introduced as.
a token of national grandeur in the obscure
prophecy Is. xviii. 2. The political complica
tions of the Jewish State in the Maccabean
period and subsequently, when they were
Drought into contact with the Western republics,
as well as with the Eastern and Egyptian
monarchies, gave a wider range and greater
precision to the ambassadorial function. These
treaties with Rome and Sparta were negotiated
by Simon the Maccabee (1 Mac. xiv. 21 foil.).
The A. V. is rather arbitrary in its selection of
terms to designate the office. Thus "the-
ambassador " of 1 Mac. xii. 8 is Tbv dvbpa rbv
hireaTaAp4vov ; ib. 23, " ambassador " is under
stood from the verb airayytiAuo-iv. Thus

110

AMBER

both irp4tr0Eis and -irpio-Bevjal are in A. A'.
"messengers" (1 Mac. xiii. 14, 21), whereas
" ambassadors " stands for the same words in
ix. 70, xi. 9, xiv. 21, 40, xv. 17; 2 Mac.
xi. 34. On the other hand "ambassadors"
stands for dyyiAovs in Jud. iii. 1 ; and in 1 Mac.
i. 44, where the same word is rendered " messen
gers," the ambassadorial function seems clearly
intended. In 2 Mac. iv. 19, Beupovs, "special
messengers " in A. V., is used for the envoys
sent by Jason, the Hellenizing high-priest, to
the festival of Herakles. In the N. T. the only
mention of the office is in parables or metaphor
(Luke xiv. 22 ; 2 Cor. v. 20). [H. H.]
AMBER (bv&n, chashmal; iT?D,">n, chash-
maldh ; rJAeKTpov ; electrum ; R. V. margin,
" electrum ") occurs only in Ezek. i. 4, 27, viii. 2.
In the first passage the Prophet compares it with
the brightness in which he beheld the heavenly
apparition who gave him the Divine commands.
In the third, "the glory ofthe God of Israel" is
represented as having, "from the appearance of
his loins even downward, fire ; and from his loins
even upward as the appearance of brightness, as
the colour of amber " [rDOKTin J,l'**, words
which Orelli (Kgf. Komm. ed. Strack u. Zockler)
retains, but which Cornill (Z>cis Buck des Pro-
plieten Ezechiel, note in loco) would strike out as
a gloss]. It is by no means a matter of cer
tainty, notwithstanding Bochart's dissertation
and the conclusion he comes to (Hieroz. iii. 876,
ed. Rosenmiill.), that the Hebrew word chashmal
denotes a metal, and not the fossil resin called
amber, although perhaps the probabilities are
more in favour of the metal. Dr. Harris
(Nat. Hist. Bib., art. "Amber ") asserts that the
translators of the A. V. could not mean amber,
"for that, being a bituminous substance, be
comes dim as soon as it feels the fire, and soon
dissolves and consumes." But this is founded
on a misconstruction ofthe words of the Prophet,
who does not say that what he saw was amber,
but of the colour of amber (Pict. Bib. note on
Ezek. viii. 2). The context of the passages
referred to above is clearly as much in favour
of amber as of metal. Neither do the LXX.
and Vulg. afford any certain clue to identifica
tion, for the word electron was used by the
Greeks to express both amber and a certain
metal, composed of gold and silver, and held in
very high estimation by the ancients (Pliny,
H. N. xxxiii. 4). It is a curious fact, that in
the context of all the passages where mention of
electron is made in the works of Greek authors
(Horn, see below ; Hes. Sc. Hero. 142 ; Soph.
Antig. 1038 ; Aristoph. Eq. 532, &c), no evi
dence is afforded to help us to determine what
the electron was. In the Odyssey (iv. 73) it is
mentioned as enriching Menelaus's palace, to
gether with copper, gold, silver, and ivory. In
Od. xv. 460, xviii. 296, a necklace of gold is
said to be fitted with electron. Pliuy, in the
chapter quoted above, understands the electron
in Menelaus's palace to be the metal. But with
respect to the golden necklace, it is worthy of
note that amber necklaces have long been used,
as they were deemed an amulet agamst throat
diseases. They are still frequently worn in
England by persons liable to asthma, and are
believed to be efficacious for the purpose. Beads

AMEN
of amber are frequently found in British barrows
with entire necklaces (Fosbroke, Antiq. i. 289).
Theophrastus (ix. 18, § 2 ; and Fr. ii. 29, ed.
Schneider), it is certain, uses the term electron
to denote amber, for he speaks of its attracting
properties. On the other hand, that electron
was understood by the Greeks to denote a metal
composed of one part of silver to every four of
gold, we have the testimony of Pliny to show ;
but whether the early Greeks intended the
metal or the amber, or sometimes one and some
times the other, it is impossible to determine
with certainty. Passow believes that the metal
was always denoted by electron in the writings
of Homer and Hesiod, and that amber was not
known till its introduction by the Phoenicians :
to which circumstance, as he thinks, Herodotus
(iii. 115, who seems to speak of the resin, and
not of the metal) refers. Others again, with
Buttmann (Mythol. ii. p. 337), maintain that
the electron denoted amber, and they very
reasonably refer to the ancient myth of the
origin of amber. Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. 2) ridi
cules the Greek writers for their credulity
in the fabulous origin of this substance ; and
especially finds fault with Sophocles, who, in
some lost play, appears to have believed in it.
From these considerations it will be seen that
it is not possible to identify the chashmal by the
help of the LXX., or to say whether we are to
understand the metal or the fossil resin by the
word. The derivation of the word is entirely .
unknown, nor is there any plausible explana
tion of it. Bochart (Hieroz. iii. 885) con
jectures that cliashmal is compounded of two
Chaldee" words meaning copper — gold-ore, to
which he refers the aurichalcum. But auri-
chalcum is in all probability only the Latin form
of the Greek orichalcon (mountain copper. See
Smith's Lat-Engl. Diet, a. v. " Orichalcum ").
Isidorus, however (Orig. xvi. 19), sanctions the
etymology which Bochart adopts. But the
electron, according to Pliny, Pausanias (v. 12,
§ 6), and the numerous authorities quoted by
Bochart, was composed of gold and silver, not
of gold and copper. The Hebrew word may
denote either the metal electron or amber ; but it
must be left as a question which of the two sub
stances is really intended. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
A'MEN (|PK), literally "firm, true; "and
used as a substantive, " that which is true,"
" truth " (Is. lxv. 16) ; a word used in strong
asseverations, fixing as it were the stamp of
truth upon the assertion which it accompanied,
and making it binding as an oath (cp. Num.
V' 2iP* i.u the LXX- of 1 Ch- *¦"• 36, Neh.
v. 13, viii. 6, the word appears in the form
'Ap-liv, which is used throughout the N. T.b In
other passages the Heb. is rendered by yivono,
except in Is. lxv. 16. The Vulgate adopts the
Hebrew word in all cases except in the Psalms,
where it is translated fiat. In Deut. xxvii. 15-26,

» Fried. Delitzsch (Pref. to Baer's ed. of Ezekiel,
p. xii.) compares with it an Assyrian word, (smart,
which he conjectures, from the context of the passage
m which it occurs, may have meant some white metal.
b The 'Kv.r,v of the Kec. text at tbe end of most ofthe
Books of the N. T. is thought to be genuine only in
Eomans, Galatians, Hebrews (?), and Jude (see West-
cott and Hort's ed. of the N. T. in Greek).

AMETHYST
the people were to say "Amen," as the Levites
pronounced each of the curses upon Mount Ebal,
signifying by this their assent to the conditions
under which the curses would be inflicted. In
accordance with this usage we find that among
the Rabbis "Amen" involves the ideas of swear
ing, acceptance, and truthfulness. The first two
senses are illustrated by the passages already
quoted ; the last by 1 K. i. 36 ; John iii. 3, 5, 11
(A. V. " verily "), in which the assertions are
made with the solemnity of an oath, and then
strengthened by the repetition of " Amen."
" Amen " was the proper response of the person
to whom an oath was administered (Neh. i . 13,
viii. 6 ; 1 Ch. xvi. 36 ; Jer. xi. 5, marg.) ; and
the Deity, to Whom appeal is made on such oc
casions, is called "the God of iiwn" (Is. lxv. 16),
as being a witness to the sincerity of the implied
compact. With a similar significance Christ is
called " the Amen, the faithful and true witness "
(Rev. iii. 14 ; comp. John i. 14, xiv. 6 ; 2 Cor.
i. 20). It is matter of tradition that in the
Temple the " Amen " was not uttered by the
people, but that instead, at the conclusion of the
priest's prayers, they responded, " Blessed be the
name of the glory of His kingdom for ever and
ever." Of this a trace is supposed to remain in
the concluding sentence of the Lord's Prayer
( cp. Rom. xi. 36 ). But in the synagogues
and private houses it was customary for the
people or members of the family who were
.present to say " Amen " to the prayers which
were offered by the minister or the master of
the house, and the custom remained in the early
Christian Church (Matt. vi. 13 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 16).
And not only public prayers, but those offered
in private, and doxologies, were appropriately
concluded with " Amen " (Rom. ix. 5, xi. 36, xv.
33, xvi. 27 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14, &c). [W. A. W.]
AMETHYST (HD1?*!'"!, achldmdh, deriva
tion unknown. Ges. [Lex-] connects it with
071*1, from the idea that it caused dreams to
those that wore it ; according to Fried. Delitzsch
from Ahlamu, an Armenian district in which he
conjectures that the stone may have been found
[Heb. Lang. p. 36] ; ap48vo-ros ; amethystus).
Mention is made of this precious stone, which
formed the third in the third row of the high-
priest's breastplate, in Ex. xxviii. 19, xxxix. 12,
'• And the third row a ligure, an agate, and
an amethyst." It occurs also in the N. T.
(Rev. xxi. 20) as the twelfth stone which
garnished the foundations of the wall of the
heavenly Jerusalem. Commentators generally
are agreed that the amethyst is the stone
indicated by the Hebrew word, an opinion
which is abundantly supported by the ancient
Versions. The Targum of Jerusalem indeed
reads smaragdin (smaragdus) ; those of Onkelos
and Ps.-Jonathan have two words which signify
" calf 's-eye " (oculus vituli), which Braunius (de
Vestit. Sacerd. Heb. ;i. 711) conjectures may be
identical with the Beli oculus of the Assyrians
(Pliny, H. N. xxxvii. 55), the Caf s-eye Chalce
dony, according to Ajasson and Desfontaines ;
but, as Braunius has observed, the word ach
ldmdh according to the best and most ancient
authorities signifies amethyst.
Modern mineralogists usually understand by
the term amethyst the amethystine variety of
quartz, which is crystalline and highly trans-

AMMI

111

parent : it is sometimes called Rose quartz, and
contains alumina and oxide of manganese. There
is, however, another mineral to which the name
of Oriental amethyst is usually applied, and
which is far more valuable than the quartz
kind. This is a crystalline variety of Corundum.
being found more especially in the E. and W.
Indies. It is extremely hard and bright, and
generally of a purple colour, which, however, it
may readily be made to lose by subjecting it to
fire. In all probability the common Amethystine
quartz is the mineral denoted by achldmdh ; for
Pliny speaks of the amethyst being easily cut
(scalpturis facilis, H. N. xxxvii. 40), whereas the
Oriental amethyst is inferior only to the diamond
in hardness, and is moreover a comparatively
rare gem.
The Greek word amethustos, the origin of the
English amethyst, is usually derived from d,
" not," and peBvu, " to be intoxicated," this stone
having been believed to have the power of dis
pelling drunkenness in those who wore it
(Dionys. Perieg. 1122 ; Anthol. Palat. 9, 752 ;
Martini, Excurs. 158). Pliny, however (//. N.
xxxvii. 9), traces the name of these stones " to
their peculiar tint, which, after approximating
to the colour of wine, shades off into a violet."
Theophrastus also alludes to its wine -like
colour." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
A'MI ODtf ; 'H/xei ; Ami), name of one of
" Solomon's servants " (Ezra ii. 57) ; called
Amon (|1!2*«?) in the parallel passage Neh. vii.
59 ('Hpcip ; Amon), of which, according to Ges.,
it is a corruption. The transcriptional varia
tions between the parallel lists are tabulated by
Smend, Die Listen d. BB. Esra u. Nehemia
(Basel, 1881). [W. A. W,] [F.]
AMIN'ADAB CApivaSdB ; Aminadab). Am
minadab No. 1 (Matt. i. 4 ; Luke iii. 33).
[W. A. W.]
AMIT'TAI OITOK = true, faithful; B. 'ApaBd,
A. -i ; Amathi), father of the prophet Jonah (2 K.
xiv. 25 ; Jon. i. 1). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AM'MAH, the hill of ("IBS rUO|; 6 Bovv6s,
B. 'App-dv, A. 'Appd ; collis Aquaeductus ), a
hill " facing " Giah by the way of the wilder
ness of Gibeon, named as the point to which
Joab's pursuit of Abner after the death of
Asahel extended (2 Sam. ii. 24). Josephus (Ant.
vii. ch. i. § 3), t6ttos tis, tv 'AppaTav KaAouci
(comp. Targ. Jon. NFIDX). Both Symmachus
(vdtrn = gully) and Theodotion (b8payay6sJ'), who
is followed by the Vulgate, find an allusion to
a watercourse here, possibly some place near
W. Kelt, on the road by which Abner fled to the
Jordan valley. Can this point to the " excavated
fountain," " under the high rock," described as
near Gibeon (El-Jib) hy Robinson (i. 455) ?
[G.] [W.I
AM'MI CfoV ; Ka6s fiov ; populus mens),
i.e. as explained in the margin of the A. V. and

tt Tb &' a/xedytrov olvoiirbv 177 XP-^f* C^* ^- 31, ed.
Schneid.) & la post-Biblical Hebrew as in Aramaic JlDN ac
quired tbe meaning of aqued/uct. Had tbis sense, bow-
ever, been intended here, the word would naturally have
been provided with tbe article. [S. R. D.J

112

AMMIDOI

R. V., " My people ; " a figurative name applied
to the kingdom of Israel in token of God's
reconciliation with them, and their position as
" sons of the living God," in contrast with the
equally significant name Lo-ammi, given by the
prophet Hosea to his second son by Gomer, the
daughter of Diblaim (Hos. ii. 1). In the same
manner Ruhamah contrasts with Lo-Ruhamah. [W. A. W.]
AM'MIDOI, in the Geneva Version AMMI-
DIOI (B. 'AppiStot. A. 'AppiSatot; Vulg. has
different names), people who, together with the
men of Chadias, came up from Babylon with Ze-
rubbabel (1 Esd. v. 20). If Chadias be identified
with Kedesh (Josh. xv. 23), the Ammidioi may
be (Fritzsche) the men of Humtah (i"lt3t3n, Josh.
xv. 54). If so, the LXX. A. xappaTd (B. Eupd)
furnishes the connecting link with Ammidioi
ur (replacing the guttural) Chammidioi (see
Lupton, Speaker's Commentary, note on 1 Esd.
v. 20). [F.]
AMMrEL^WB*;, MVy= people of God.
Many Heb. names are compounded of DI*, but
the sense in which it is to be understood is un
certain. See Nestle, Die Israel. Eigennamen, p.
187, n. a ; Fried. Delitzsch, Prolegg. p. 201, n. 3 ;
B. 'ApetiiA, AF. 'A/iiiJA ; Ammiel). 1. The spy
selected by Moses from the tribe of Dan (Num.
xiii. 12).
2. The father of Machir of Lodebar (2 Sam.
ix. 4 [B. 'Apa-i\p, A. 'AprhA], v. 5 [B. 'Apeif)A,
A. -[-], xvii. 27 [B. 'Apeir)A, A. 'ApiT)p] ; Ammi-
hel). 3. The father of Bathshua, or Bathsheba,
the wife of David (1 Ch. iii. 5), called Eliaji
(D**7K) in 2 Sam. xi. 3 ; the Hebrew letters,
which are the same in the two names, beinf
transposed. He was the son of Ahithophef,
David's prime minister.
4. B. 'Apeir)A, A. -i-. The sixth son of
Obed-edom (1 Ch. xxvi. 5), and one of the door
keepers of the Temple. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AMMI'HUD O-IH'Sl*, MV.'° = mi/ people
is majesty ; 'EpiovS in Num., 'ApiovS in 1 Ch. ;
Ammiud). 1. An Ephraimite, father of Eli-
shama, the chief of the tribe at the time of the
Exodus (Num. i. 10, ii. 18, vii. 48 [F. SeptovS,
and in x. 22], 53, x. 22), and through him
ancestor of Joshua (1 Ch. vii. 26 [B. 'Auiovelb
A. -ouS] ).
2. B. ZeptouS ;&*%¥. 'EpiovS. A Simeonite,
father of Shemuel, chief of the tribe at the time
of the division of Canaan (Num. xxxiv. 20).
3. AF. 'AptoiS, B. BeviapeioiS, B\-pt.. The
father of Pedahel, chief of the tribe of Naphtali
at the same time (Num. xxxiv. 28)
4. WIS]), Keri Tirm*; 'EpioiS. Ammi-
hud, or "Ammichur," as the written text has
it, was the father of Talmai, king of Geshur
(2 Sam. xiii. 37).
5. A. 'ApiobS, B. Sapptoi. A descendant of
Pharez, son of Judah (1 Ch. ix. 4).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AMMI'NADAB (3*15^1*, MVy = mypeo-
pie is noble : the passage" Judg. v. 2, Ps. ex 3
marg., seem however rather to suggest the sense
my people is willing [see v. 4] ; B. 'ApetvaSd0,

AMMISHADDAI
AF. -iv- [usually ; in Ex. vi. 23, A. and in Num.
i. 7, K. 'ApivaSap] ; Aminadab). 1. Son of Earn
or Aram, and father of Nahshon, or Naasson (as
it is written, Matt. i. 4 ; Luke iii. 32 ; R. V.
Nahson in both places), who was the prince of
the tribe of Judah, at the first numbering of
Israel in the second year of the Exodus (Num i
7, ii. 3 ; Ruth iv. 19, 20 ; 1 Ch. ii. 10). We
gather hence that Amminadab died in Egypt
before the Exodus, which accords with the
mention of him in Ex. vi. 23, where we read
that "Aaron took him Elisheba daughter of
Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, to wife, and she
bare him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Itha
mar." This also indicates that Amminadab
must have lived in the time of the most grievous
oppression of the Israelites in Egypt. He is
the fourth generation after Judah, the patriarch
of his tribe, and one of the ancestors of Jesus
Christ. Nothing more is recorded of him ; but
the marriage of his daughter to Aaron may be
marked as the earliest instance of alliance
between the royal line of Judah and the priestly
line of Aaron. And the name of his grandson
Nadab may be noted as probably given in honour
of Ammi-nadab his grandfather.
2. KA. 'ApivaSdB, B. -etv-. The chief ofthe
112 sons of Uzziel, a junior Levitical house of
the family of the Kohathites (Ex. vi. 18), in the
days of David, whom that king sent for, to
gether with Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, and
Eliel, other chief fathers of Levitical houses,
and Zadok and Abiathar the priests, to bring
the ark of God to Jerusalem (1 Ch. xv. 10-12),
to the tent which he had pitched for it. The
passage last quoted is instructive as to the mode
of naming the houses ; for besides the sons of
Kohath, 120 in v. 5, we have the sons of Eliza-
phan, 200 in v. 8, of Hebron, 80 in v. 9, and of
Uzziel, 112 in v. 10, all of them Kohathites
(Num. iii. 27, 30).
3. At 1 Ch. vi. 22 (r. 7, Heb.) Izhar, the
son of Kohath, and father of Korah, is called
Amminadab, and the LXX. has the same read
ing (B. 'ApttvaSdB, A. 'Io-o-aap). But it is
probably only a clerical error.
4. In Cant. vi. 12 it is uncertain whether we
ought to read 3nj»BJJ, Amminadib, with the
A. V, or a***3 i®yt my billing people, as in the
margin [R. V. "my princely people"] and most
moderns (Delitzsch, Oettli, &c). If Ammi
nadib is a proper name, it is thought to be
either the name of some one famous for his swift
chariots, 1TU3 *1D, or that there is an allusion
to Abinadab, and to the new cart on which they
made to ride (•1*1''3*V<) the ark of God (2 Sam.
vi. 3). But this last, though perhaps intended
by the LXX. version of Cant., which has 'Auiv
abaB, is very improbable. In vii. 2 (v 1, A. V)
the LXX. (T.*) also renders 3Hrri3, "0
prince's daughter," by B&yarep NaSdB ; A
reads Biyarep 'ApivaSdB; Vulg. ftlia prin-
ciP's- [A. C. H.] [F.]
AMMI'NADIB (Cant. vi. 12). [Ammiiu-
DAB No. 4.]
AMMI'SHADDAI C*l^*!3**, MV.10 = people
of the Almighty ; B. 'AMel(ra5aI,"AF. -itr- [except
in Num. ii. 25, where A. reads 2apa<raSal, and in
x. 25, Mio-aSaf] ; Amisaddai, Ammisaddai). The

AMMIZABAD
father of Abiezer, chief of the tribe of Dan at
the time of the Exodus (Num. i. 12, ii. 25, vii.
-66, 71, x. 25). His name is one of the few
which Ave find at this period compounded with
the ancient name of God, Shaddai ; Zuri-shaddai,
and possibly Shedeur, are the only other in
stances : both belong to this early time.
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AMMI'ZABAD (t3t',Si;, MY." = .W; peo
ple hath granted (it) ; for the verb *"I31 (a?r. Ae-y.)
see Gen. xxx. 20. 13* is common in proper
names in the Palmyrene Inscriptions [op. Euting,
Scchs Phiin. Inschriften, p. 15] ; B. AaiBa-
£d8, A. 'Apipa£d8 ; . Ami:abad). The son of
Benaiah, who apparently acted as his father's
lieutenant, and commanded the third division
«f David's army, on duty for the third month
(1 Ch. xxvii. 6). [W. A. W.] [S. R. D.]
AM'MON, AM'MONITES, CHILDREN
of AMMON ¦ (J1BB, 'i'lBl*. D^'lB** ; f\t3V \33 i
'Appdv [B. sometimes 'Appojv], 'Appavtrai,
LXX. in Pent. ; elsewhere 'Appuv, viol 'Appuv ;
Joseph. 'AppaviTat ; Amnion, , Ammonitae), a
people descended from Ben-Ammi, the son of
Lot by his vounger . daughter (Gen. xix. 38 ;
ep. Ps. lxxxiii. 7, 8), as Moab was by the elder ;
and dating from the destruction of Sodom.
The near relation between the two peoples
indicated in the story of their origin continued
throughout their existence : from their earliest
mention (Deut. ii.) to thsir disappearance from
the biblical history (Jud. v. 2) the brother-
tribes are named together (cp. Judg. ¦ x. 10;
2 Ch. xx. 1 ; Zeph. ii. 8, &c). Indeed, so close
was their union, and so near their identity, that
-each would appear to be occasionally spoken of
under the name of the other. Thus the " land
of the children of Ammon " is said to have been
given to the " children of Lot," i. e. to both
Ammon and Moab (Deut. ii. 19). They are
both said to have hired Balaam to curse Israel
{Deut. xxiii. 4),. whereas the detailed narrative
of that event omits all mention of Ammon
(Num. xxii., xxiii.). In the answer of Jephthah
to the king of Ammon. the allusions are con
tinually to Moab (Judg. xi. 15, 18, 25), while
Chemosh, the peculiar deity of Moab (Num. xxi.
29), is called- "thy god" (Judg. xi. 24). The
land from Arnon to Jabbok, which the king of
Ammon calls "my land" (Judg. xi. 13), is else
where distinctly stated to have once belonged to
u. " king of Moab " (Num. xxi. 26). Possibly on
,i later occasion also the name represents both
parts of the nation of Lot (2 Ch. xxvi. 8).
[Moab.] Unlike Moab, the precise position of the terri
tory of the Ammonites is not clearly ascertain
able. In the earliest mention of them (Deut. ii.
20) they are said to have destroyed those
Rephaim, or non-Semitic people, whom they
called the Zamzummim, and to have occupied
their country which lay north of Moab, between

» The expression most commonly employed for this
nation is " Bene-Ammon ; " next in frequency comes
" Ammoni " or " Ammonim " (usually in late writers) ;
and least often "Ammon." The translators of the
Auth. Version have neglected these minute differences,
aDd have employed the three terms — children of Ammon,
Ammonites, Ammon — indiscriminately,
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

AMMON

113

the Arnon and the Jabbok.* Shortly, however
before the advent of the Israelites in Palestine
the Amorites had dispossessed the Ammonites of
a portion of tlieir territory and established a
kingdom under Sihon, whose seat was at Ilesh-
bon (Num. xxi. 26). It was on this prior pos
session that the Ammonite king appears to
have grounded his claim in the time of Jephthah
(Judg. xi. 13); a claim perhaps admitted in
Josh. xiii. 25. The kingdom of Sihon was
divided between Gad and Reuben, but the
Israelites were not permitted to occupy that
portion of the Ammonite territory which the
Amorites had failed to subdue. This indepen
dent kingdom lay between the Arnon and the
Jabbok, and its western boundary was conter
minous with the limits of the tribe of Gad (see
Reland, 105, on Josh. xiii. 25), which included
the town of Aroer near Rabbah ; it consisted of
the eastern portion of the district now called
Belka, and its capital was Rabbah, or Rabbath,
the modern Amman [Rabbah]. " Land " or
'• country " is, however, but rarely ascribed to
the Ammonites, nor is there any reference to
those habits and circumstances of civilisation —
the " plentiful fields," the " hay," the " sum
mer-fruits," the "vineyards," the "presses,"
and the " songs of the grape-treaders " — which
so constantly recur in the allusions to Moab (Is.
xv., xvi. ; Jer. xlviii.) ; but, on the contrary,
we find everywhere traces of the fierce habits of
marauders in their incursions — thrusting out
the right eyes of whole cities (1 Sam. xi. 2),
ripping up the women with child (Amos i. 13),
and displaying a very high degree of crafty
cruelty (Jer. xii. 6, 7 ; Judg. vii. 11, 12) to
their enemies, as well as a suspicious discourtesy
to their allies, which on one occasion (2 Sam. x.
1-5) brought all but extermination on the tribe
(xii. 31). Nor is the. contrast less observable
between the one city of Ammon,- the fortified
hold of Rabbah (2 Sam. xi. 1 ; Ezek. xxv. 5 ; Amos
i. 13), and the " streets," the " house-tops," and
the "high-places" of the numerous and busy
towns of the rich plains of Moab (Jer. xlviii. ;
Is. xv., xvi.). Taking the above into account,
it is hard to avoid the conclusion that, while
Moab was the settled and civilised half of the
nation of Lot, the Bene-Ammon formed its pre
datory and Bedouin section. The confirmation
of this opinion, once deduced (cp. 1st ed. of the
B. D.) from the Succot'h of " Amos v. 26 (cp.
LXX. ; Acts vii. 43), that, the special deity of
the tribe was worshipped, in a booth or tent
designated by that word Succah which most
keenly expressed, to the Israelites the, contrast
between a nomadic and' a settled life, is, now
given up. , Cp. the R. V. of Amos, I. c. ;
On the west of Jordan they never obtained a
footing. Among the confusions of the times of
the Judges we find them twice passing over ;
once with Moab and Amalek seizing Jericho,
the "city of palm-trees " (Judg. iii. 13), -and a
second time "to fight against Judah apd Benja
min, and the house of Ephraim "(Judg. x. 9);
but they quickly returned to the freer pastures
of Gilead, leaving but one trace of their pre
sence in the name of . Chephar ha-Ammonai,
"the hamlet of the Ammonites ". (Josh, xviii.

b Josephus states (Ant.' i. 11, 0 5) that the Moabites
and AmmoniteB lived in Coele-Syria. I

IH

AMMON

24), situated in the portion of Benjamin some
where at the head of the passes which lead up
from the Jordan valley, and form the natural
access to the table-land of the west country.
The hatred in which the Ammonites were
held by Israel, and which possibly was con
nected with the story of their incestuous origin,
is stated to have arisen partly from their oppo
sition, or, rather, their want of assistance (Deut.
xxiii. 4), to the Israelites on their approach to
Canaan. But it evidently sprang mainly from
their share in the affair of Balaam (Deut. xxiii.
4 ; Neh. xiii. 1). At the period of Israel's first
approach to the south of Palestine the feeling
towards Ammon is one of regard. The com
mand is then, " distress not the Moabites . . .
distress not the children of Ammon, nor meddle
with them" (Deut. ii. 9, 19 ; and cp. v. 37),
and it is only from the subsequent transaction
that we can account for the fact that Edom,
who had also refused passage through his land
but had taken no part with Balaam, is punished
with the ban of exclusion from the congrega
tion for three generations, while Moab and
Ammon are to be kept out for ten generations
(Deut. xxiii. 2), a sentence which acquires
peculiar significance from its being the same
pronounced on "bastards" in the preceding
verse, from its collocation amongst those pro
nounced in reference to the most loathsome
physical deformities, and also from the emphatic
recapitulation (ver. 6), " Thou shalt not seek
their peace or their prosperity all thy days for
ever." But whatever its origin it is certain that the
animosity continued in force to the latest date.
Subdued by Jephthah (Judg. xi. 33), and scat
tered with great slaughter by Saul (1 Sam. xi.
11) — and that not once only, for he " vexed "
them " whithersoever he turned " (xiv. 47) —
they enjoyed under his successor a short respite,
probably the result of the connexion of Moab
with David (1 Sam. xxii. 3) and David's town,
Bethlehem — where the memory of Ruth must
have been still fresh. But this was soon brouo-ht
to a close by the shameful treatment to which
their king subjected the friendly messengers
of David (2 Sam. x. I ; 1 Ch. xix. 1), and for
which David destroyed their city and inflicted on
them the severest blows (2 Sam. xii. ; 1 Ch. xx.).
[Rabbah.] In the days of Jehoshaphat they made an in
cursion into Judah with the Moabites and the
Maonites,0 but were signally repulsed, and so
many killed that three days were occupied in
spoiling the bodies (2 Ch. xx. 1-25). In Uz-
ziah*s reign they made incursions and com
mitted atrocities in Gilead (Amos i. 13) ; but
afterwards were his tributaries (2 Ch. xxvi. 8),
where perhaps the name represents both the
children of Lot (comp. Jos. Ant. ix. 10, § 3).
Jotham had wars with them, and exacted from
them a heavy tribute of "silver (comp. "jew
els," 2 Ch. xx. 25), wheat, and barley " (2 Ch.
xxvn. 5). In the time of Jeremiah we find them
in possession of the cities of Gad from which the
Jews had been removed bv Tiglath-pileser (Jer.

_ ¦ There can he no doubt that instead of "Ammon
ites in 2 Ch. xx. 1 we should read, with the LXX
"Maonites" or "Mehunim." The reasons for this
will be given under Mehunim.

AMMON
xlix. 1-6) ; and other incursions are elsewhere
alluded to (Zeph. ii. 8, 9). At the time of the
Captivity many Jews took refuge ¦ among the
Ammonites from the Assyrians (Jer. xl. 11), but,
no better feeling appears to have arisen ; and on
the return from Babylon, Tobiah the Ammonite
and Sanballat a Moabite (of Choronaim, Jer.
xlix.) were foremost among the opponents of
Nehemiah's restoration.
Among the wives of Solomon's harem are in
cluded Ammonite women (1 K. xi. 1), one of
whom, Naamah,11 was the mother of Rehoboam
(1 K. xiv. 31 ; 2 Ch. xii. 13), and henceforward
traces of the presence of Ammonite women in
Judah are not wanting (2 Ch. xxiv. 26 ; Neh.
xiii. 23 ; Ezra ix. 1 ; see Geiger, Urschrift, &c.
pp. 47, 49, 299). These may have been either
bestowed during the intervals of actual warfare
or taken prisoners.
The last appearances of the Ammonites in the
biblical narrative are in the books of Judith (v.
vi. vii.) and of the Maccabees (1 Mace. v. 6, 30-
43), where they are found (v. 39) in alliance with
the Arabs ; and where, as it has been already
remarked, their chief characteristics — close alli
ance with Moab, hatred of Israel, and cunning
cruelty — are maintained to the end. By Justin
Martyr (Dial. Tryph.) they are spoken of as
still numerous (vvv iroAv irAr)8os) ; but notwith
standing this, they do not appear again, and
Origen, about a century afterwards, says (in
Jobum, lib. i.) that the term Ammonites had
become merged in that of Araba.
The tribe was governed by a king (Judg. xi.
12, &c. ; 1 Sam. xii. 12 ; 2 Sam. x. 1 ; Jer. xl.
14) and by " princes," nE* (2 Sam. x. 3 ; 1 Ch.
xix. 3). It has been conjectured that Nahash
(1 Sam. xi. 1 ; 2 Sam. x. 2) was the official title
of the king as Pharaoh was of the Egyptian
monarchs ; but this is without any clear
foundation. The divinity of the tribe was Milcom— " the
abomination of the children of Ammon" (1 K.
xi. 5), a name only dialectically different from
the Phoenician Milk (Molech ; Baethgen, Bei-
triige z. Sem. Religionsgeschichte, p. 15). In
more than one passage under the word rendered
" their king " in the A. V. an allusion is in
tended to this idol. [Molech.]
The Ammonite names preserved in the sacred
text are as follow. It is open to inquiry
whether these words have reached us in their
original form (certainly those in Greek have
not), or whether they have been altered in
transference to the Hebrew records.
Achior, 'AxiciJp, quasi "TIN >r\K,brotherofligM,
Jud. v. 5, &c.
Baalis, D,?*'*l (see s. n.), Jer. xl. 14.
Hanun, J-Un, treated graciously, 2 Sam. x. 1.
Molech, T^B, king.
Naamah, flOW, pleasant, 1 K. xiv. 21, &c.
Nahash, Vni, serpent, 1 Sam. xi. 1, &c;
Nada-is (Jos. Ant. vi. 5, 2).
Shobi, i$y (the Nabatean UC, if the name

a According to the LXX. [B. not A.] additions to 1 K.
xii. [«. 24 a, ed. Swete], she was the daughter of Hanun
Bon ot Nahash.

AMMONITESS

AMON

llo

be the same, is probably to be vocalized Shabbai ;
Euting, Nab. Inschr. pp. 57, 74), 2 Sam. xvii. 27.
Timotheus, TipABtos, 1 Mace. v. 6, &c.
Tobiah, !"ls3it3, goodness of Jah, Neh. ii. 10, &c.
Zelek, p?*i, in post-biblical Heb. = a scar,"
2 Sam. xxiii! 37.
Ammon appears in the cuneiform inscriptions
as Bit Ammana, Beth Ammon (comp. Beth
Humri, " house of Omri," for Samaria). A
king Puduilu, Puduel (cp. Pedahel, Num. xxxiv.
28), is mentioned in the records of Sennacherib
and Esarhaddon ; Sanibu (Fried. Delitzsch =.
Shinab, Gen. xiv. 2) in those of Tiglath-pileser ;
and Ba-'-sa (cp. Baasha, 1 K. xv. 33) son of
Ruchub, in those of Shalmaneser II. ( Schrader,
KAT2 pp. 141, 613).
The name Zamzummim, applied by the Am
monites to the Rephaim, a non-Semitic (possibly
Turanian) people whom they dispossessed,
should not be omitted. [G.] [W.]
AMMONTTESS (n^Brn : B. 'AppavetTis,
sometimes with and sometimes without the
article i) ; A. usually r) 'Apavlris, sometimes
'App- : Ammanitis). A woman of Ammonite
race. Such were Naamah, the mother of Re
hoboam, one of Solomon's foreign wives (1 K.
xiv. 21, 31 ; 2 Ch. xii. 13), and Shimeath, whose
son Zabad or Jozachar was one of the mur
derers of king Joash (2 Ch. xxiv. 26). For
allusions to these mixed marriages see 1 K. xi. 1
and Neh. xiii. 25. Where in the Hebrew the
word has the definite article, it should be
rendered "the Ammonitess." [W. A. W.] [F.]
AM'NON (|'UP*<, Ges.=faithful, once f'VBK.
either a diminutive formation used contemptu
ously [Wright, Arab. Gr. i. § 269] or an error
[Wellhausen, i. I] ; 'Apvtiv ; Amnon). 1. Eldest
son of David by Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, born
in Hebron while his father's royalty was only
acknowledged in Judah (2 Sam. iii. 2). He dis
honoured his half-sister Tamar, and was in con
sequence murdered bv her brother (2 Sam. xiii.
1-39 ; 1 Ch. iii. 1). '[Absalom.] [S. R. D.]
2. Son of Shimon (1 Ch. iv. 20). [G. E. L. C]
A'MOK (pfer, deep; Amoc). A priest,
whose family returned with Zerubbabel, and
were represented by Eber in the days of
Joiakim (Neh. xii. 7 [A. H'* »« ir" 'ApoliK],
20 [Vt.'-' me ™* 'ApovaB4S. B. omits almost the
whole of vv. 3-7, 14-21 ; AN* omit vv. 14-21]).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
AMO'MTJM. In the descriptive list of the
merchandise of Babylon (Rev. xviii. 13) the
text should read /tal Ktvvdpupov Kai dpupov.
A. V. omits the latter words ; R. V. translates
them " and spice." Lee (Speaker's Commentary
in loco) describes it as " a zingiberaceous plant,
with aromatic seeds, much employed under the
name of cardamoms, grains of Paradise, &c,
and found only in the hot parts of India and
Africa." From the amomum the Romans pre
pared an oil or balsam for funeral rites (Pers. iii.
104; Ovid. Pont. i. 9, 51), and unguents for the
hair (Ovid. Her. xxi. 166; Mart. viii. 28;
Lucan,. x. 164 ff.). Abbot (D. B. Amer. ed.)
affirms that modern botanists have found it

e Compare the soubriquet of " Le Balafre."

dilficult to identify the plant with any known
species. [F.]
A'MON (flDN; 'Appav), the name of an
Egyptian god, the chief object of worship at
Thebes. It occurs as the second element in the
name of Thebes, in Heb. No-Amon (flBN K3,
Nab. iii. 8); iu hieroglyphics, Nu-Amon, "tin-
city of Anion;" also called No, N3, "the city,''
hierog. Nu and Nu-aii, " the great city." If
with Brugsch (Diet. Gt'ogr. s. v.) we read Ni,
the equivalent to No may be the distinctive
name Ni-aii. The Assyrian form is Ni. Nu,
however, seems the preferable transliteration of
the Egyptian.
Amon is probably mentioned in Jer. xlvi. 25,
where we should rather render N3B |1BX,
" Amon of No," as in the LXX. and the Coptic
Version, than " the multitude of No " (Vulg.
tumultum Alexandriae) : note the parallelism
of " Amon " with " their gods," and " Pharaoh "
with " their kings." In the parallel passage in
Ezek. xxx. 15, "the multitude of No," pOD, the
equivalent of |)BN as a Heb. word, is used
(Vulg. multitudinem Alexandriae). It does not
appear venturesome to read the Egyptian name
as Hamon here also. Comp. also vv. 4, 10,
for the use of the latter word with reference to
Egypt. The destruction of the false gods of
Noph (Memphis, not Napata ; Noph) in v. 13
seems to support this parallel in the case of the
other great city. Thus the two forms Amon
and Hamon are no more unlikely than the Latin
Ammon and Hammon. If this explanation be
rejected, there is certainly a play on the name
Amon. [R. S. P.]
Amon in Egyptian means " hidden," as in
Ament, " the hidden land," Hades. The worship
of Amon was not of very ancient origin in
Egypt. His name does not occur in the Book
of the Dead, and Maspero has but once found it,
as part of a proper name, in the inscriptions of
the first six dynasties (Hist. ane. des Peuples de
V Orient,3 p. 97).
Amon was at first the local god of Thebes,
and his worship appears with the 11th and 12th
dynasties, which
founded the great
temple of Amon.
Afterwards, in the
New Empire, when
Thebes became the
capital of Egypt, it
spread over other
parts of the land,
and the god him
self took a rank
in the Egyptian
Pantheon which he
had never before
held. If we con
sider all his attri
butes, we find that
they are very much
the same as those
of the other gods,
and that some of
the hymns which
are dedicated to
him sum up all the characters which constitute
the Egyptian deity. The distinctive features of
I 2

The god Amon. (Wilkinson.)

116

AMON

the Egyptian gods, their rank in the Pantheon,
their pedigree, their history are generally not
well marked, and have been very much exag
gerated by the fact of their names being trans
lated in Greek, and reasoned on by the late Neo-
Platonists, who laboured hard to philosophise
Egyptian mythology.; It would convey » very
wrong idea of the nature of Amon to consider
him as the equivalent of the Greek Zeus.
In the time of the 18th, 19th, and 20th
dynasties, when the imperial power of Thebes
had raised the worship of Amon to its highest
importance, we generally find him called Amon
Ra, " Amon the sun," showing his identi
fication with the solar god ; and having the
attribute of suten neteru, king of the gods, out
of which' the Greeks have made the word 'Apov-
patruvB-fip. His special character, as far as it is
possible to determine it, is indicated by this
sentence,' Amow Ra 'Ka mut-f, "Amon Ra, the
bull or the husband of his mother ; " the never-
ceasing generative power, the hidden action of
nature which manifests ¦ itself through its two
principal agents, the siin and the1 water. - This
idea may probably be traced in most ofthe texts
relating - to Amon. It has been developed in
a rich and poetical style in a hymn contained in
a papyrus of the Boolak Museum of Theban origin,
which has been translated by Grebaut (Hymne a
Ammon Ra, Paris, 1874), aud in the inscrip
tions which cover the temple of the Great
Oasis, and which belong to the time of Dariiis I.
(Brugsch, Reise nach der Case von El Khargeh).
These two remarkable compositions, which
both bear ^ marked pantheistic character, are
not to be considered as giving the distinctive
features of Amon. They are interesting as
showing how an Egyptian priest conceived his
god, how he pictured his god to himself. Here
his god was Amon ; but if we take the hymn
to Osiris translated by Chabas, or even Enna's
hymn to the Nile, or any of the numerous prayers
which are addressed to Pia Harmachis, we find in
them most of the same attributes, which must
be considered ' as belonging to the deity in
general, but not to any particular god.
The history of the worship of Amon is in
timately connected with that of the Theban
power. As the god of their capital, he was to
the conquering kings of Thebes, and particularly
to Ramses II. , what Assur was to the Assyrians.
An interesting episode, where Amon assumes a
more personal character, is related by the poem
of Pentaur ; it is the intervention of the god in
the battle against the Chetas '(Hittites), when
Ramses, surrounded by their charip'tsj calls on
him for help. Amon hears and .comes to his
rescue; the king hears his voice behind him,
which promises him victory ' ,! .
The dignity of high-priest of Amon must have
¦been very high. We know the names of a
great number of those officials who seem to have
ranked next to the king. At' the time of the
20th dynasty they were the great constructors
who enlarged the temple of Amon, now called
Karnak. They encroached more and more on
the power of the Ramesside kings ; and at last
put' them aside and founded the 21st dynasty
(Naville, Inscr. de Pinotem III.). They were
superseded and expelled to 'Ethiopia by the
Bubastite house of Shishak, who, though very
likely of Libyan origin, still adhered to the

AMON
worship of Amon at Thebes, and enlarged the
sanctuary of the god. When the exiles founded a
kingdom at Napata (Gebel Barkal), this city was
the seat of the Theban worship. When, n little
before the fall of Samaria, the Ethiopian king
Pianchi reconquered Egypt, an intensely Theban
worship was the result ; and the succeeding
Ethiopians, who fill so large a space 'in the view
of the Prophets, maintained their devotion to
Amon. His position was not lost in the final
decline of Thebes. His worship had alreadv
spread to the Oases, to find its way gradually to
the Cyrenaica and to Greece. His rank in
E"gypt led the Greeks to identify him with Zeus:
thus he is called Zeus Ammon, the Latin Jupiter
Ammon. The Theban triad was composed of Amon, Mut,
and Khonsu, this last one being decidedlv a
I unar god ; while here Mut may be considered
as being a representative of the sky. Mut and
Khonsu had both their special temples at Thebes
in'the vicinity ofthe sanctuarv of Amon.
¦ Amon is generally represented in human
form, standing or sitting, painted blue, and wear
ing a cap surmounted by tall plumes. We also
see him in the shape of Khem, the generative
power ; or ram-headed, as he was in the Oasis of
Ammon, or even under the form of a ram wear
ing a solar disk. This explains why several
temples of Amon, at Thebes and -in JN" ubia, are
preceded by ' long avenues lined on each side by '
criosphinxes, of which at Karnak there must
have been hundreds.
To the Hebrew Prophets, Amon seemed em
phatically the national god of Egyptian and
Ethiopian alike. Hence probably the fact that
he alone is mentioned by name in their writings,
except perhaps the bull Apis (Jer. xlvi. 15,'
LXX.; Lagarde). [Haph.] [E. N]
A'MON (|'1DK : B. 'Apus, A. 'Appbv in Kings;
T.7 'Apt&v, B. 'Apvdv, B^A1 ? or a ? - 'Apas in
1 Ch.; BA. 'Apus in 2 Ch. and Jer.; AB.Jvl°
'Apois, it. 'Appuv in Zeph. ; 'Apus in' Matt. ;
Joseph. "Apuaos : Amon). 1. King of Judah,
son and successor of Manasseh. . The', name.
would naturally mean architect, but perhaps it
is Egyptian, and connected with the Theban
god; possibly it may have been given by Man
asseh to his son in an idolatrous spirit: Follow
ing his father's example, Amon devoted himself
whollyto the service of false gods, but. was
killed in a conspiracy after a reign of two
years. Probably by insolence or tyranny he
had alienated his own servants, and fell a victim
to their hostility, for the people avenged him
by putting all the conspirators to death, and
secured the succession to his son Josiah.. To
Amon's reign we must refer the terrible picture
which the prophet Zephaniah gives of the moral
and religious state of Jerusalem : idolatry sup
ported by priests and prophets (i. 4, iii. 4), the
poor ruthlessly oppressed (iii. 3), and shameless
indifference to evil. (iii. , 11). According to
Usher, the date of his accession is B.C. 643, and
of his death, B.o. 641 (2 K. xxi. 19 ; 2 Ch. xxxiii.
20) ; according to Kamphausen, 640 and 638.
The name occurs in 2 K. xxi. 18-25 ; 1 Ch. iii.
14; 2 Ch. xxxiii. 20-25; Jer. i. 2, xxv. 3;
Zeph. l. 1 ; Matt. i. 10.
2. (IbN, f\m-,B.*ptp [Kings], 'E^p[Ch.],
A. 'Appuv [Kings], -Ztppitp [Ch.]; Aman.)

AMORITE
Prince or governor of Samaria in the reiiru of
Ahab (1 K. xxii. 26; 2 Ch. xviii. 25). What
was the precise nature of his ofiice is not known.
Perhaps the prophet Micaiah was entrusted to
his care as captain of the citadel. The LXX.
P>. has ' Tbv BairXa (A. dpxovTo) ttjs irdAeojs
in 1 K., but BA. &pxovra in 2 Ch. Josephus
(Ant. viii. 15, §4) calls him 'Axapuv.
3. See Ami. ' [G. E. L. C] [F.]
AM'ORITE, THE AM'ORITES HbS'
'"IDXn [always in the singular], accurately
" the Emorite " — the dwellers on the summits
— mountaineers ; ^Apop^aioi ; Amoi-rluiei), one
of the chief nations who possessed the laud of
Canaan before its conquest by the Israelites.
In the genealogical table of Gen. x. " the
Amorite " is given as the fourth son of Canaan,
with " Zidon, Heth [Hittite], the Jebusite," &c.
The interpretation of the name as " mountain
eers "' or " highlanders " — due to Simonis (see
his Onomasticon), though commonly ascribed to
Ewald — is quite in accordance with the notices
of the text, which, except in a few instances,
speak of the Amorites as dwelling on the ele
vated portions of the country.' In this respect
they are contrasted - with the Canaanites, who
were the dwellers in the lowlands ; and the two
thus formed the main broad divisions of the
Holy Land. " The Hittite, and the Jebusite,
and the Amorite dwell in the mountain [of
Judah and Ephraim], and the Canaanite dwells
by the sea [the lowlands of Philistia and Sharon]
and by the ' side ' of Jordan " [in the valley of
the Arabah], — was the report of the first Israel
ites who entered the country (Num. xiii. 29 ;
and see Josh. vJ 1, x. 6, xi. 3; Deut. i. 6, 20:
" Mountain ofthe A." 44). This we shall find
borne out by other notices. In the very earliest
times (Gen. xiv. 7) they are occupying the
barren heights west of the Dead Sea, at the
place which afterwards bore the name of En-
gedi ; hills in whose fastnesses, the " rocks of
the wild goats," David afterwards took refuge
from the pursuit of Saul (1 Sam. xxiii. 29,
xxiv. 2). [Hazezox-Tajiap..] From this point
they stretched west to Hebron, where Abram
was then dwelling under the " oak-grove " of
the three brothers, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre
(Gen. xiv. 13 ; comp. xiii. 18). At this period
they would appear to have formed part of the
great Hittite kingdom, or confederation ; it is
from a Hittite that Abraham buys the cave of
Machpelah (Gen. xxiii. 8, 9), and the obsequious
ness shown by the Patriarch to the " children of
Heth " indicates that they and not the Amorites
were the ruling people. This may perhaps also
be inferred from the lists of the early inha
bitants in which the Amorites are usually
mentioned as secondary in importance to the
Hittites. The campaigns of Sethi I. and Ra-
ineses II. against the Hittites, which occurred
during the interval between the settlement of
Jacob in Egypt and the Exodus, would seem,
however, to have weakened their power and to
have been favourable to the growth of inde
pendent kingdoms in Southern Palestine. At
this later period the dominant people appear
to have been the Amorites, who had established
kingdoms in the Jebusite town of Jerusalem,
and at Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon ;
they had also crossed the valley of the Jordan,

AMORITE

117

tempted by the high table-lands on the east
and founded the larger- kingdoms over which
Sihon and Og then ruled. Sihon had taken
the rich pasture-laud south of the Jabbok, and
had driven the Moabites, its former possessors,
across the wide chasm of the Arnon (Num. xxi.
13, 26), wliich thenceforward formed the bound
ary between the two hostile peoples (Num. xxi.
13). [Sihon,] The Israelites apparently ap
proached from the south-east, keeping " on the
other side " (that is on the east) of the upper part
of the Arnon, which there bends southwards, so
as to form the eastern boundary of the country
of Moab. Their request to pass through his land
to the fords of Jordan was refused by Sihon
(Num. xxi. 21 ; Deut. ii. 26) ; he " went out "
against them (xxi. 23 ; ii. 32), was killed with his
sons and his people (ii. 33), and his land, cattle,
and cities were taken possession of by Israel
(xxi. 24, 25, 31 ; ii. 34, 35). Josephus (Ant. iv,
5, § 2) adds some singular details to the Bible
narrative of this event, and sums up the charac
ter of the Amorites as "neither wise in council
nor sagacious in war." This rich tract, bounded
by the Jabbok on the north, the Arnon on the
south, Jordan on . the west, and " the wilder
ness " on the east (Judg. xi. 21, 22) — iu the
words of Josephus " a land lying between three
rivers after the manner of an island " (Ant. iv.
5. § 2) — was perhaps, in the most special sense,
the " land of the Amorites " (Num. xxi. 31 ;
Josh. xii. 2, 3, xiii. 9 ; Judg. xi. 21, 22) ; but
their possessions are • distinctly stated to have
extended to the very feet of Hermon (Deut. iii.
8, iv. 48), embracing "all Gilead and all
Bashan " (iii. 10),' with the Jordan valley on
the east of the .river (iv. 49), and forming to
gether the land of the " two kings of the Amor
ites," Sihon and Og (Deut. xxxi. 4 ; Josh. ii. 10,
ix. 10, xxiv. 12"). Iu the reign of- Sethi' I. the
Amorites appear to have had. settlements north
of Hermon, for Kadesh on the Orontes is said to
have formed part, of the land of the Amorites
although it was under the jurisdiction of the
Khita (Hittites). Later, in the reign of Rameses
III., the Egyptians defeated a combined force of
European maritime people, in the land of Taha,
a part of . Palestine, apparently the south, in
which was comprised Amaur or the Amorites
(Birch, Egypt from the Earliest Times, 116, 141).
After the passage of the Jordan we again meet
with Amorites disputing with Joshua the con
quest of the west country. But although the
name generally denotes -the mountain-tribes of
the centre of the country, yet this definition is
not always strictly maintained,, varying probably
with the, author of the particular part of the
history, and the time at which it was written.
Nor ought we to expect that the Israelites could
have possessed very accurate knowledge of a set
of small tribes whom they were called upon to
exterminate — with- whom they were forbidden
to . hold any intercourse — and, moreover, of
whose general similarity to each other we have
one proof in the confusion in question.
Some of these differences are as follows: —
Hebron is "Amorite" in Gen. xiii. 18 (cp. xiv.
13), though "Hittite" in xxiii. and "Canaanite"

• But here the LXX. reads SoiSeica, not Su'o; and the
context Bhows that West Palestine is probably referred
to (see Dillmann, and QPB? in loco). [S. R. D.]

118

AMORITE

in Judg. i. 10. The "Hivites" of Gen. xxxiv. 2
are " Amorites '' in xlviii. 22 ; and so also in

- LDib5n' tL JL
¦yny -

Map of the Country of the Eastern Amorites.
Josh. ix. 7, xi. 19, as compared with 2 Sam. xxi.
2. Jerusalem is " Amorite " in Josh. a. 5,b 6;
but in xv. 63, xviii. 28, Judg. i. 21, xix. 11,
2 Sam. v. 6, &c, it is "Jebusite." The
" Canaanites " of Num. xiv. 45 (comp. Judg. i.
17) are "Amorites" in Deut. i. 44. Jarmuth,
Lachish, and Eglon were in the low country of
the Shefelah (Josh. xv. 35, 39), but in Josh. x. 5,
6, they are " Amorites that dwell in the moun
tains ; " and it would appear as if the " Amor
ites" who forced the Danites into the moun
tain (Judg. i. 34, 35) must have themselves
remained on the plain.c
It appears plain that " Amorite '' was a
descriptive title, and not the name of a dis
tinct tribe. This is confirmed by the follow
ing facts : — (1) The wide area over which the
name was spread. (2) The want of connexion
between those on the east and those on the west
of Jordan — which is only once hinted at (Josh.
ii. 10). (3) The existence of kings like Sihon
and Og, whose territories were separate and
independent, who are yet called " the two kings
of the Amorites," a state of things quite at

D The LXX. has here riv 'IejSovo-cuW.
0 The clue to most, if not all, of these differences is,
that in particular writers (esp. the Hexateuchal source E,
Deut., Amos ii. 9, 1 0, 2 Sam. xxi. 2) Amorite is the
general name of the primitive population of Canaan
(cp. Wellhausen, Comp. d. Eexat. p. 341 sq. [1880];
Dillmann on Gen. x. 16, Deut. i. 7, and p. 617 sq.;
Delitzsch on Gen. xlviii. 22). [S, R. D.]

AMOS
variance with the habits of Semitic tribes. (4)
Beyond the three confederates of Abram, and
these two kings, no individual Amorites appear
in the history (unless Araunah or Oman the
Jebusite be one). (5) There are no traces of
any peculiar government, worship, or customs,
different from those of the other "nations oi
Canaan." One word of the " Amorite " language has
survived — the name Senir (R. V., not "Shenir"
A. V.) for Mount Hermon (Deut. iii. 9) ; but
may not this be the Canaanite name as opposed
to the Phoenician (Sirion) on the one side, and
the Hebrew on the other ?
All mountaineers are warlike ; and, from the
three confederate brothers who at a moment's
notice accompanied " Abram the Hebrew " in his
pursuit of the five kings, down to those who,
not depressed by the slaughter inflicted by
Joshua and the terror of the name of Israel,
persisted in driving the children of Dan into the
mountain, the Amorites fully maintained this
character. After the conquest of Canaan nothing is heard
in the Bible of the Amorites, except the occa
sional mention of their name in the usual for
mula for designating the early inhabitants of the
country. [G.] [W.]
AMOS (DilDl*, i.e. apparently the bearer of a
burden [Bao-rdfav, Jerome, Pref. to Joel];
'Apus ; Amos), a Prophet whose short but impor
tant Book stands third in the collection known
by us as the " Minor Prophets," but by the Jews
called " the Twelve " (cp. Ecclus. xlix. 10).
I. Circumstances of the life and age of Amos.
— From the title to his Book (i. 1), we learn that
he was " among the herdmen from Tekoa," i.e., as
it would seem, one of a settlement of herdmen who
had their home at Tekoa (cf. Jer. i. 1), and who,
as the word used implies, reared a special breed
of sheep, of small and stunted growth, but prized
on account of their wool. From vii. 14 we
learn further that he had under his charge herds
of larger cattle as well; and that he was
employed besides in the cultivation of sycamore
trees. The attention which the cultivation ot
this tree demanded, and the artificial means by
which its fruit was rendered edible, are explained
under the article Sycamore. The Tekoa men
tioned has been commonly supposed to be the
well-known place of that name about nine miles
south of Jerusalem ; and Amos has been regarded
accordingly as a Judaean, who received a special
commission to deliver his prophetic message to
the northern kingdom. Kimchi, however, conjec
tured Tekoa to be a town in the tribe of Asher;
and recently internal grounds have been alleged
to show that the northern kingdom must have
been his home, and that the Tekoa in question is
at least not the Tekoa in Judah (Glitz, Gesch. der
Jnden, ii. 1, 82; Oort, in the Theol. Tijdschrift,
1880, pp. 123-7). Much weight will not indeed
be attached to the argument drawn from his
familiarity with the life and scenery of Israel
(which he might have acquired from personal
observation or by report, without being actually
a native) ; but that derived from his occupation
as sycamore-cultivator deserves greater atten
tion. Sycamores, travellers are agreed (e.g.
Tristram, Kat. Hist, of Bible, p. 398), are highly
susceptible of cold ; and in Palestine " grow

AMOS
only in the mild climate of the maritime plain
and the hot Jordan valley." Is it probable,
therefore, it is asked, that they could have been
cultivated on the bare and elevated plateau on
which Tekoa stands ? Jerome, who must have
known the district, describes it as wild aud
barren, and expressly mentions that no sycamores
were to be found there ; conjecturing indeed on
this account that the word used by the prophet
denoted rather "brambles" (Pref. to Amos, and on
vii. 15). The difficulty is a real one ; for as the
temperature here is due to elevation [Palestine,
Climate], a change of climate can hardly he
assumed to have taken place since the days of
Amos. On the whole, inasmuch as only one
Tekoa is known, it seems safest, pending further
investigation, to suppose that Amos, being u
native of it, carried on the cultivation of syca
mores at some spot in the neighbourhood suited
to their growth — or even in the lower part of
the Jordan valley itself. But, however this may
be, we must think of Amos as busied with his
rural tasks when he became conscious of the
higher vocation reserved for him : " And Jehovah
took me from following the sheep, and said unto
me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel " (vii. 15).
In connexion with the nature of prophecy, it is
important to notice that Amos disclaims (v. 14)
being a Prophet by profession or education : he
is no member of a prophetic guild ; his inspira
tion is independent of any artificial training.
The date cannot be fixed with precision : for
'• the earthquake in the days of king Uzziah,"
though a sufficient clue at the time when the
title was affixed, and though it lived for long in
the memory of the people (Zech. xiv. 5), is not
mentioned in the Historical Books, and cannot
be assigned to any particular year of [Jzziah's
reign. Internal evidence, however (vii. 10 f.),
agrees fully with the general limits specified in
the title, pointing pretty conclusively to the
latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II. ; i.e.
according to the chronology as corrected by
Assyrian data, c. 760-50 B.C. The reign of
Jeroboam II. , though passed by briefly in the
Historical Books (2 K. xiv. 23-29), was the cul
minating point in the history of the northern
kingdom. A long series of successes abroad
secured prosperity at home, and the Book of
Amos shows us the nation reposing in opulence
and Case (e.g. vi. 1-5) : the ritual of the calf-
worship at Beth-el, Gilgal and elsewhere (cp.,
a little later, Hos. iv. 15 ; x. 1, 5) was splendidly
and punctiliously maintained (Amos iv. 4 f. ;
v. 21-23 ; vii. 13 ; viii. 14) : general satisfaction
reigned : the proud citizen of* Ephraim could
say, "Have we not taken to us horns by our
¦own strength ? " (vi. 13.) Such was the condi
tion and temper of the people, when Amos was
summoned to appear as a stranger amid the
throng assembled at the great national sanctuary
of Beth-el (vii. 10-17), and to interrupt the
rejoicings with his unwelcome words.
II. Contents and character of the Book of
Amos. — The Book falls naturally into three
parts, each dominated by the same fundamental
thoughts, and the whole pervaded by a unity of
plan which leaves no reasonable doubt that the
arrangement is the author's own. We may sup
pose that, having first delivered his discourses
•orally, after his ejection from Beth-el he arranged
them at leisure in a literary form. Theirs* part,

AMOS

119

ch. i. ii., is introductory. After tho fine exor
dium (i. 2), so graphically descriptive of
Jehovah's power, he proceeds to take a survey
ofthe principal nations bordering on Israel, with
the object of showing that as none of those will
escape retribution for having broken the common
and universally recognised dictates of morality,
so Israel, for similar or greater sins (ii. 0-9),
aggravated indeed in its case by ingratitude
(ov. 9-12), will not be exempt from the same
law of righteous government : a disaster, darkly
hinted at (vv. 13-16), will undo all the conquests
achieved by Jeroboam II. ! The enumeration of
countries is evidently meant to lead up to Israel :
the mention of Judah may seem unneeded, but
the Israelite would listen with some satisfaction
to the prospect of Judah's humiliation (cp. what
had happened under Jeroboam's father, 2 K. xiv.
8-14) ; and by the " law of Jehovah," the
Prophet doubtless means primarily those moral
precepts the neglect of which, not unconnected
with superstition or idolatry (" lies "), so deeply
stirred Hosea (iv. 1 f. ; vi. 6, compared with viii.
1, 12). The second part (iii,-vi.) consists of
three discourses, each introduced by the emphatic
Hear ye this tvord (iii. 1 ; iv. 1 ; v. 1). Here the
indictment and sentence of ii. 6-16 are further
justified and expanded. Amos starts by disillu
sioning the Israelites. The latter argued that
the fact of Jehovah's having chosen the nation
was a guarantee of its safety ; he replies : You
mistake the conditions of His choice ; for that
very reason He will punish you for your iniqui
ties (iii. 2). Nor, he continues, does the Prophet
say this without a real power constraining him ;
for does any effect in nature take place without
its due and adequate cause (vv. 3-8) ? Call the
heathen themselves to witness whether justice
rules in Samaria ! (v. 9 f.) The toils will, ere
long, have closed around the land (vv. 11-15).
Ch. iv. begins by denouncing the cruelty and
frivolity of the women (vv. 1-3) ; the Prophet
next asks the Israelites ironically whether their
punctiliously performed ritual will save them
(v. 4 f.) : the fivefold warning has passed unheeded
(vv. 6-11) ; prepare thyself, then, for judgment !
(v. 12.) Ch. v.-vi. is a longer discourse, with two
clearly marked subdivisions at v. 18 and vi. 1,
each beginning Woe. Here the grounds of the
judgment are repeated with greater emphasis : the
infatuation of the people is exposed in desiring
the "Day of Jehovah," as though that could i>e
anything but an interposition in their favour;
a ritual unaccompanied by any sense of moral
obligation is indignantly rejected (v. 21-24);
the nature of the coming disaster is described
more distinctly (exile, v. 27), and the enemy
indicated, though not named (the Assyrians,
spoken of more familiarly in Hosea, and destined
soon to exercise an important influence on the
fortunes of both Israel and Judah), who should
" afflict " Israel over the entire limits of that
territory, which Jeroboam had not long before
recovered (vi. 14 ; see 2 K. xiv. 25). The third
part (vii.-ix.) consists of a series of visions, with
an historical interlude (vii. 10-17) and an epi
logue (ix. 7-15). The visions, which are simple
and unartificial in structure, reinforce, under an
effective symbolism, the lesson which Amos
found so hard to impress (ix. 10): in the first
two (vii. 1-6), the threatened judgment is
interrupted at the Prophet's intercession ; the

120

AMOS

third, which spoke without auy concealment or
ambiguity (vii. 7-9), aroused the alarm and
opposition of Amaziah, the priest of the golden
calf' at Beth-el, and is the occasion of the
historical notice, vii. 10-17. The fourth vision
is the text of a fresh and more detailed denun
ciation of judgment (ch. viii.) : the fifth depicts
the desolation falling upon the people as they
are assembled for worship in their own Temple,
and emphasizes the hopelessness of every effort
to escape (ix. 1-6). With ix. 7 the transition
to a brighter prospect begins : Israel, indeed, if
it sins, will be dealt with as any other nation ;
but it is only the sinners who will be thus
treated (vv. 7-10) ; and so the Prophet concludes
with a promise that the house of David (which
had probably not yet fully recovered from the
blow inflicted on it by Jehoash, 2 K. xiv. 13 f.)
will be restored to its former splendour and
power (v. 12 ; see 2 Sam. viii. 14 ; Ps. xviii. 43),
and the blessings of unity and prosperity shared
by the entire nation (13-15). From this analy
sis, the unity of plan before spoken of will be
manifest : the main theme, gradually introduced
in the opening section of the Book, is developed
with increasing distinctness in the portions
which follow, till it gives place to the Messianic
outlook at tho close. Amos, by his allusions to
contemporary life, gives us many a glimpse into
the social condition and religious life of the
northern kingdom under Jeroboam II. : the pic
ture drawn by him is not indeed so dark as that
which presented itself to Hosea (ch. iv.-xiv.) a
few years later, when the dynasty of Jehu had
fallen, and the spirit of anarchy aud discord
reigned uncontrolled ; nevertheless the amend
ment, which was still viewed by him (v. 14 f.)
as a possibility, never came ; and a generation
had hardly passed away, when his forebodings of
invasion, disaster, and exile (ii. 13-16 ; iii. 11-15 ;
iv. 12 ; v. 2 f., 16 f. ; v. 27 ; vi. 14 ; vii. 9, 17 ;
viii. 2 f. ; ix. 1-4), were amply realised by
Tiglath-pileser, Shalmaneser, and Sargon (2 K.
xv. 29 ; xvii. 3 ff.). Judah is alluded to but
incidentally (ii. 4 f. ; iii. 1, " the whole family ;"
vi. 1, and ix. 11).
The place of Amos in Hebrew literature can
only be properly estimated by an independent
study of his Book, and comparison of it with
other parts of the 0. T. We confine ourselves
to a few particulars, referring for a fuller treat
ment to the works quoted below. > 1. As the
earliest of the Prophets whose writings are
extant and of undisputed date, it is worth
noticing that his Book implies the existence of a
recognised phraseology, and of familiar ideas to
which he could appeal. • The prophetic style,
which in his hands appears already fully matured,
had doubtless been formed gradually: among the
Prophets to whom he alludes (ii. 11 ;- iii. 7)
may well have been some who were- his literary
predecessors. - Whether his language presup
poses an acquaintance with the Pentateuch,
and, if so, to which of its component parts, is
disputed. The allusions which are most dis
tinct appear to be to the injunctions contained
in the code Ex.. xxi.-xxiii. (cp. ii. 8, v. 12,
with Ex. xxii. 26 f., xxiii. 6) : other phrases that
have been cited are met with elsewhere,' so that
their occurrence in Amos is not a demonstration
that he borrowed them from the Pentateuch.
Passages such as ii. 9, 10; iii. 2; iv. 11;

AMOS
ix. 15; and iv. 44, 5a; v. 120, 21, 22; viii. 5-,
show that he was familiar with events and
usages, related, or codified, in the Pentateuch :
it may be doubted whether, taken by themselves,
the v are a sufficient proof that he was acquainted
with the written Pentateuch, as we know it.
Too much must not, however, be built upon
this admission : for the whole prophecy implies
the existence of a body of established ideas and
institutions, to the true meaning and import of
which he recalls the people. Amos both recog
nises an authoritative Divine teaching (ii. 4;
iii. 7), and appeals to a tradition reaching back
to a remote - past (cp. Smend's article, cited
below). 2. As regards the influence of Amos.
upon his successors, his younger contemporary
Hosea borrows from him (e.g. iv. 15 from
Amos v. 5 [Heb.]; viii. 146 from ii. 5; i. i,
x. 8, cp. Amos vii. 9). Isaiah, in tone and style,
often recalls Amos (e.g. xxix. 21, cp. Amos v. 10 :
xxx. 10, cp. ii. 12 ; xxxi. 2, cp. vii. 9; xxxii. 11,
cp. iv. 1, vi. 1) ; and his most characteristic
doctrine may be considered as foreshadowed
in Amos v. 15 : cp. also Is. i. 25-28 with
Amos ix. 8-10 (the purification of the nation
by elimination of its guilty members). The
example set by Amos (ch. i.) of noticing the
fortunes and deserts of the nations bordering
upon Palestine, especially in their bearing upon
Israel, was also afterwards followed by Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Whether in his use of the
term " Day of Jehovah " (v. 18, 20) Amos had
been preceded by Joel (ii. 2 ff.), or not, must
depend upon the date to which that Prophet is
assigned ; but in any case, he totally reversed
the popular application of the idea, and showed
what it really implied (see W. R. Smith, Prophets
of Israel, pp. 131, 397). 3. The special charac
teristics of Amos appear most distinctly when
he is compared with Hosea. While both Prophets
naturally share the same fundamental beliefs,
their temper and attitude of mind are very
different. Hosea is the man of deep and sus
ceptible religious emotion: Amos burns with
zeal on behalf of the moral law. The standard
by which he primarily judges Israel is thus the ,
common morality recognised as binding alike by
it and other nations. Jehovah, it has been;
remarked, is never termed by him the " God ofi
Israel ; " he is God of the whole earth, of other
nations not less than of Israel (ch. i. ; ix. 7),
and will only be Israel's God in so far as that
same morality is practised in their midst.
Jehovah had been pleased to enter into a per
sonal relation with Israel : this fact, to which
the common pdople pointed as their security
(v. 14 end), in the eyes of Amos only aggravates
their guilt (iii. 2). " Wrong is wrong every
where, even against Israel's bitterest foe " (ii. 1);
it is tbe first charge which he brings against
Israel itself (ii. 6-8) ; and his indignation against
it, in whatever form, is vehemently expressed
(cp. e.g. the outburst in viii. . 4-8, against
deceit in commercial dealings ; notice also, the
oath r. 7, iv. 2, vi. 8). The observances ¦ of re
ligion are no substitute for honesty, and will not
be accepted by Jehovah in lieu of righteousness
of heart (v. 21-24).
In vi. 66 ; ix. 10, we see the first traces of that
opposition to popular opinion, especially when
strengthened and directed by the leaders of the
nation, which in Isaiah and Jeremiah assumed

AMOS
a real political importance. Amos only alludes
to the Assyrians darkly ; but it is plain that he
realised the crisis which their activity would
occasion, long before his countrymen saw that
there was any cause for alarm ; and that by the
attitude which he assumed in face of them, he
prepared the way for Isaiah, who saw yet more
distinctly, in the advance of the Assyrians, a
manifestation of Jehovah's justice.
III. The style of ..Amos. — " Imperitus sermone,
sed non scientia," wrote Jerome (Pref. to Amos),
arguing a priori (as the context suggests) from
the Prophet's antecedents ; and hence it has
been sometimes the custom to speak of the
unadorned " rusticity " of his style, and to
search for examples of homely imagery drawn
by him from the objects of country life. Recent
critics have protested with justice against such
conclusions ; and, indeed, a much sounder judg
ment was expressed long ago by Bishop Lowth
(Lect. xxi.),.whQ rightly contended that the style
of Amos possesses, great literary .merit, apd
only errs when he describes it in terms which,
taken strictly, would place it on an equality
with that of Isaiah. - His language — with three
or four exceptions, possibly due ~ to copyists-
is pure, his syntax idiomatic, his ¦ sentences
smoothly constructed and clear. His literary
power is shown in the regularity of structure
which often characterises his periods, as i. 3— ii. 6,
iv. 6-11 (the fivefold refrain), and the visions
(vii. 1, 4, 7, viii. 1) ; in the fine climax, iii. 3-8 ;
in the balanced clauses, the well-chosen images,
the effective contrasts, in such passages as iii. 15,
v. 2, v. 21-24, vi. 11, viii. 10, ix. 2-4; as well
as in the ease with which he evidently writes,
and the skill with which his theme (as shown
above) is unfolded and developed. If in Amos,
as compared with other Prophets, images de
rived from rural life somewhat preponderate,
they are always applied by him worthily (e.g.
i. 2 ; iii. 4, 8 ; v. 8 [a shepherd's observation],
16, 17, 19 ; ix. 9), and never strike the reader
as occurring too frequently or as out of place.
At other times his language is particularly fine
(v. 24, viii. 8, ix. 5f.). It is plain that Amos was
no uncultured iSturns. His intelligence, of
course, was of the Eastern type. He was a man
natuTally shrewd and observant : alike in his
survey of foreign nations (comp. also vi. 2, viii. 8,
ix. 7), and in his allusions to Israelitish life and
manners, he leveals a width of knowledge and
precision of detail which are remarkable (comp.
Smith, p. 127 f.).
The Massoretic text of Amos appears, with
but few exceptions, to be free from corruption.
The best edition of it is that in S. Baer's Liber
Duodecim Proplietarum (Lipsiae, 1878),; compare,
however, the criticism of Baer's methods by
Strack in Schiirer's Theol. Litzeitg. 1879, No. «.
IV. Authenticity of the Booh of Amos. — This
has ' never been disputed." Only particular
passages have been thought by some to be later
insertions. ' Thus Duhm (see below), p. 119,
rejects ii.- 4' f., iv. 13, v. 8 f., ix. 5 f., partly
as interrupting the connexion and partly as
containing ideas not so distinctly expressed till

AMOS

121

» Such exceptions as those of E. Havet, Le Christia-
nisme et ses origines, iii. (1878), pp, 178 f., 195 f., 233 f.,
and of M. Vernes, La composition et I'origine du Beutero-
nome (1887), p. 49, are hardly worthy of mention.

later ; and he is followed by Wellhausen, Gesch.
i. 59, 349. note (omitted, Prolegomena, p. 322),
Oort, p. 116 ff., who discusses them at length,
and Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 1887,
i. p. 571. As explained above, however, the
mention of Judah is relieved of suspicion ; and
all the passages are defended by Smith, p. 398 f.,
and shown to be in harmony with Amos' thought.
Oort is inclined further to doubt v. 13-15, vi. 14,
viii. 11 f. ; but his arguments to show that they
are out of place or break the connexion, are far
from convincing.
V. Literature. — The commentary of Jerome
(with much matter of interest); those of Rashi,
Ibn Ezra, and David Kimchi (printed in the
Rabbinical Bibles, and indispensable, as always,
for a complete acquaintance with the exegesis) ;
Le Mercier (Jo. Merceri Commentarii locupletis-
simi'in Propheias quinque priores inter eos qui
minores vocantur ; no date, published post
humously towards the end of the 16th century :
learned) ; 'Ewald, - in Die Propheten des Alton
i?!irccfes (translated, London, 1875: i. p. 143 ff.) ;
Hitzig (in Die Kleinen Propheten, 3rd ed., 1863.-
the 4th ed., by Steiner, 1881, contains but little
additional matter) ; ' Gustav Baur, Der Proph.
Amos erklart, 1847 (the fullest monograph in
modern times ; introduction specially useful) ;
E. B. Pusey (in the Minor Prophets; learned and1
valuable) ; C. F. Keil (in his ZwBlf Kl. . Proph.
3rd ed. 1888); Otto Schmoller (in Lange's
Bibelwerk, "translated, Edinburgh, T. & T. Clark) ;
Oort, u. s. pp. 114-158 (often arbitrary) ; G.
Hoffmann, in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1883, pp. 87—
126 (chiefly lexical : to be followed with
caution) ; see also ib. p. 278 f. ; J. H. Gunning,
De Godspraken van Amos vertaald en vcrklaard,.
1885 ; Orelli in Strack u. Zbckler's Kgf. Komm.
On older commentators further information may
be found in Baur, pp. 151-162.
On the ancient versions of Amos, in addition
to the particulars given by Baur, p. 131 ff., the
article of K. Vollers ou the LXX. in Stade's-
Zeitschr. 1883, pp. 260-72, J. Z. Schuurmans
Stekhoven, De Alexandnjnsche Vertaling van
het Dodekapropheton (Leiden, 1887), and M.
Sebijk, Die Syrisclie Uebersetzung der zublf KL
Proph. (Breslau, 1887), should be consulted.
On tlie position of Amos in the history of theo
logy, see Duhm, Theologie der Propheten, 1875,
pp. 109-26, with the criticisms of Bud. Smend,
in the Studien v. Kriiiken, 1876, p. 599 ff. ;
Wellhausen, in the Encycl. Brit. (9th ed.), xiii.
p. 410 f. ( = Hist, of Israel, pp. 470-474) ; W. R.
Smith, Prophets of Israel, 1882, Lecture III.,
with the notes, also pp. 163-5; Kuenen, Hib
bert Lectures, 1882, pp. 178 ff., 317 (with the
references), &c. ; Castelli, La Profezia nella
Bibbia, 1882, pp. 126-146; C. von Orelli, Alt-
testamentliche Weissagung, 1882 [translated
under the title Old Testament Prophecy], § 20 ;
W. H. Green, Moses- and the Prophets, 1883,
passim (see' Index); C. A. Briggs, Messianic
Prophecy, 1886, pp. 160-3 ; A. B. Davidson, in
the Expositor, 1887, vol. v. pp. 161-179, vi.
161-173. The passage v. 21-26 is dealt with most
thoroughly by Ehgelhardt in the Zeitsch. fiir
Luth. Theol. 1874, pp. 409-22, and Rud: Smend,
in Moses apud Prophetas, 1875, pp. 23-36 (comp.
also the article mentioned above, p. 659 f.).
See, besides, K. H. Graf in Merx's Archiv, ii.

122

AMOS

1871, pp. 93-6 (comp. i. p. 486); Oort, u. s.
p. 144 f. ; Smith, u. s. p. 399, with the refer
ences; Bredenkamp, Gesetz und Propheten, 1881,
pp. 83-90 ; F. E. Konig, Hauptprobleme der altisr.
Rel.-Gesch. 1884, p. 9 f. ; Baethgen, Beitrage
zur Semitischen Rel.-Gesch. (1888), pp. 180-83.
To the present writer it appears that the refer
ence in v. 26 is to the future. Amos says
nothing in palliation of the idolatrous service
rendered to Jehovah at Beth-el and the other
sanctuaries : but it is clear that what he feels
most strongly is the indifference shown by
the people to Jehovah's moral demands (see
esp. ii. 6-8, viii. 4-8). The passage is addressed
then to those who observe ostentatiously an
external ceremonial, but are heedless of moral
duties ; and the argument is that of Isa. i.
11-15. Sacrifice, os such, the Prophet says,
is not demanded by God (vv. 21, 22): it is de
manded only as the expression of a righteous
heart (v. 23 f.). So far is it from being of
the essence of religion, that in the wilderness,
where circumstances were unfavourable to its
regular* observance, it was dispensed with (r.
25). Yet you treat sacrifice as paramount ; you
neglect the moral demands of God, and trust .to
that to indemnify you. The end of your neglect
will be exile (vv. 26, 27). An allusion in v. 25
to idolatry practised in the wilderness would be
out of place in the argument : sacrifices, not to

AMRAM
Me, has in the Hebrew the emphatic position
(cp. e.g. Isa. xxviii. 24) ; nor is there any
thing in the verse to suggest an antithesis be
tween Jehovah and other gods. There is a real
ambiguity in DTINK'JI ; but treated as expressing
a future, it stands evidently upon the same footing
syntactically as 'n^iTl in v. 27. The allusions
in v. 26 are still obscure: cp. Kuenen, Religion1
of Israel, i. 265 f. ; Schrader, in his Cuneifor^;
Inscriptions and the 0. T. ad loc, and more
fully in the Stud. u. Krit. 1874, p. 324 fl;
(where plausible grounds are adduced, from
Assyrian sources, for identifying Siccuth [R. Y.]
and Chiun with Adar and Saturn, respectively)-
Smith, p. 400 f. [S. R. D.]
2. 'Aptlss ; Amos. Son of Naum, in the genea
logy of Jesus Christ (Luke iii. 25). [W. A. W.]
A'MOZ ()*iBX ; 'Apus ; Amos), father of the
Prophet Isaiah (2 K. xix. 2, 20, xx. 1 ; 2 Ch.
xxvi. 22, xxxii. 20, 32 ; Is. i. 1, ii. 1, xiii. 1,
xx. 2, xxxvii. 2, 21, xxxviii. 1). [G.]
AMPHIP'OLIS C AptpliroAis), a city ol
Macedonia, through which Paul and Silas passed
on their way from Philippi to Thessalonica
(Acts xvii. 1). It was distant 33 Roman miles
from Philippi (Itin. Anton, p. 320). It was
called Amphi-polis, because the river Strymon
flowed almost round the town (Thuc. iv. 102).

Amphipolis.

It stood upon an eminence on the left or eastern
bank of this river, just below its egress from
the lake Cercinitis, and at the distance of about
three miles from the sea. It was a colony of
the Athenians, and was memorable in the Pelo-
ponnesian war for the battle fought under its
walls, in which both Brasidas and Cleon were
killed (Thuc. v. 6-11). At the spot where
St. Paul crossed the Strymon on his missionary
journey, there had Xerxes in his invasion of
Greece offered a sacrifice of white horses to the
river, and buried alive nine youths and maidens
(Herod, vii. 114). In Amphipolis, Paulus
Aemihus, after the battle of Pydna, publicly

proclaimed the Macedonians free ; and here
another Paul came to proclaim another liberty,
the service of perfect freedom. Its site is now
occupied by a village called Xcokhorio, in Turk
ish Jeni-Keni, or " New-Town." See Conybeare
and Howson, Life and Epp. of St. Paul, i. ch. ix.
(ed. 4to), and Diet of Geography, s. n. [F.]
AM'PLIAS ('ApirAtas [Westcott and Hort,
'ApirAidTos] ; Ampliatus), a Christian at Rome,
saluted by St. Paul as his " beloved in the Lord "
(Rom. xvi. 8). no
AM'RAM. 1. (D1B1*, MV.'° = the people
is exalted or exalted people; Noldeke [ZDMG.

AMRAMITES
xl. 185] would derive it, like nt?**, from "IDl* ;
B. usually 'ApBpdp [in Ex. vi. 20, i Ch. vi. 3, -v,
and in Num. ' Appdp], AF. in Ex. ' ' Appdp, in
Num. 'ApBpdp, and A. elsewhere usually 'Appdp ;
Amram). A Levite, father of Moses, Aaron,
and Miriam (Ex. vi. 18, 20 ; Num. iii. 19, xxvi.
58, 59 ; 1 Ch. vi. 2, 3, 18, xxiii. 12, 13, xxiv.
20). [R. W. B.] [F.]
2. pp*!; B. 'Epepuv, A. 'ApaSd ; Hamrani.
Properly Hamran or Chamran ; son of Dishon
and descendant of Levi (1 Ch. i. 41) ; in Gen.
xxxvi. 26 called Hemdan, and this is the read
ing in 1 Ch. of many of Kennicott's MSS. and
preferred by Ges. MV., though not by Dillmann.
3. D"IO*J ; 'Appdp, H. 'ApBpdp, B. Mapef ;
Ami-am. One of the sons of Bani, in the time
of Ezra, who had married a foreign wife (Ezra x.
34) ; called Omaerus in 1 Esd. ix. 34 (B.Mdnpos,
A. 'lapd-npos ; Abramus). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AM'RAMITES, THE (n?*101* ; Amramitae).
A branch of the great Kohathite family of the
tribe of Levi (Num. iii. 27, B. 'Appapzis, A.
'ApBpabp els, F. 'ApBpbp els ; 1 Ch. xxvi. 23,
B. 'ApBpdp, A. 'Appapi) ; descended from Am
ram, the father of Moses. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AMRATHEL (^""nDX ; 'ApaptpdA; Amat--
phal), the name of a king of Shinar or
Southern Ba-bylonia, who aided Chedorlaomer
against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities of the plain (Gen. xiv.). The name of
this king has not yet been found in the cunei
form inscriptions. It seems, however, to be
Semitic, and is, perhaps, to be rendered in
Babylonian Amar-apla (Amar-pal), " I see a son,"
or Amra-apla (Amra-pal), "See, a son ! " Future
excavations in Babylonia will probably shed
more light on the early history of Babylonia,
and the events of the period to which this ruler
belongs. [T. G. P.]
AMULETS (tpvAaKT-npia) were ornaments,
gems, scrolls, &c, worn as preservatives against
the power of enchantments, and generally in
scribed with mystic forms or characters. As
such they would come under the general de
nunciation of heathen " abominations " specified
in Deut. xviii. 10-12 (cp. Num. xxiii. 23). The
" earrings " in Gen. xxxv. 4 (D'BTJ ; ivuria ;
inaures, but more properly nose-rings or fore
head rings, Theod. Symm. itvippivia, Gen. xxiv.
47 ; Ezek. xvi. 12) were obviously connected
with idolatrous worship, and may have been
amulets taken from the bodies of the slain
Shechemites. Nose-rings are subsequently men
tioned among the spoils of Midian (Judg. viii.
24), and perhaps their objectionable character
was one reason why Gideon asked for them.
The golden calf in the wilderness (Ex. xxxii. 3),
as well as Gideon's " ephod," was made of these
D'BT"- Again, in Hos. ii. 13, "decking herself
with earrings " is mentioned as one of the signs
of the " days of Baalim." Hence in Chaldee an
earring is called KK'pp. An amulet worn in
the ear was supposed to avert the danger of
curses, &c. Such earrings are denounced by St.
Augustine, Ep. 75.
But amulets were more often worn round the
neck, like the golden bulla or leather lorum of
the Roman boys (Juv. Sat. v. 153: cp. Plut.
Sympos. v. 7 ; Varro, de Ling. Lat. vi. 5). Some-

AMULETS

123

times they were precious stones, supposed to be
endowed with peculiar virtues. In the Mirror
of Stoius tho strangest properties are attri
buted to the amethyst, Kinocetus, Alektoria,
Keraunium, &c. ; and Pliny, talking of sueci-
num, t-ays, " Infantibus alligare amuleti rationc
prodest " (xxvii. § 50). He also speaks of
cyclamen (xxv. § 115), wild vine (xxiii. § 20),
jasper (xxxvii. § 118), saliva (xxxviii. §§35-39),
and bats (xxix. § 83) being used for the purpose
of amulets. Amulets were generally suspended
as the centre-piece of a necklace, and among
the Egyptians (Maspero, L'Arche'vlogie Egyp-
tiennc, p. 235) often consisted of the emblems
of various deities, or the symbol of truth
and justice (" Thmei "). A gem of this kind,
formed of sapphires, was worn by the chief
judge of Egypt (Diod. i. 48, 75), and a similar
one is represented as worn by the youthful
deity Harpocrates (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt iii.
130, ed. 1878). The Arabs hang round their
children's necks the figure of an open hand ; a
custom which, according to Shaw, arises from
the unlucldness of the number 5. This principle
is often found in the use of amulets. Thus the
basilisk is constantly engraved on the talismanic
scarabaei of Egypt, and the phallus was among
the sacred emblems of the Vestals (Diet, of Gk.
and Rom. Ant, art. Fascinum). According to
Jahn (Arch. Bibl. § 131, Engl, tr.), the D'*?!*"1?
of Is. iii. 20 (A. V. " earrings," R. V. " amulets "')
were " figures of serpents carried in the hand "
(more probably worn in the ears) " by Hebrew
women." Schroder (de Vestitu, pp. 168, 170)
says that Arab women wore golden serpents
between the breasts ; a practice forbidden by
Mohammed, because the serpent is an emblem
of the devil (see Gesenius, s. v. KTT?). The word
is derived from Vn?, sibilavit, and means both
" enchantments " (cp. Is. iii. 3 ; A. V. " eloquent
orator," R. V. " skilful enchanter ; " Aqu.
auveTbs tyiBvpto-pip ; Theodot. avverbs iTtuSij.
In Is. xxvi. 16 it is rendered " a prayer : " marg.
" secret speech ") and the magical gems anil
formularies used to avert them (Gesen. s. v.).
Amulets were used by the Phoenicians. Those
that are found are Egyptian in type (see Perrot et
Chipiez, Hist, de I' Art dans V Antiquite*, iii. 237).
The commonest amulets were sacred words
(the tetragrammaton, &c.) or sentences, written
in a peculiar manner, or inscribed in some
cabbalistic figure like the shield of David, and
Solomon's Seal (Bartolocci, Bibl. Rabbin, i. 576).
Another form of this figure is the pentangle (or
pentacle), which " consists of three triangles
intersected, and made of five lines, which may
be so set forth with the body of man as to
touch and point out the places where our
Saviour was wounded" (Sir T. Browne's Vulg.
Errors, i. 10). Under the head of amulets fall
the 'Etpitrta ypdppara (Acts xix. 19), and in later
times the Abraxic gems of the Basilidians, and
the use of the word " Abracadabra," recom
mended by the physician Serenus Samonicus as
a cure for the hemitritaeus. The same phy
sician prescribes for quartan ague :
" Maeoniae Iliados quartum suppone timenti."
Charms " consisting of words written on
folds of papyrus tightly rolled up and sewed

124

AMULETS

in linen," have been found at Thebes (Wil
kinson), and our English translators possibly
intended something of the kind when they
rendered- the curious phrase (in Is. iii. 20)
t^BSn *PB (R. V. " perfume boxes ") by
"tablets."' But though many scholars have
understood the phrase to mean amulets (Targ.
ptiHp, "earrings"), Schroder has proved that
it means "scent-boxes" (de Vest.-*.). It was
the danger of idolatrous practices arising
from the abuse of amulets . that ' probably
induced the sanction of the use of phylacteries
(Deut. vi. 8 ; xi. 18, niBEHD). The modern
Arabs use scraps of the Koran (which they call
" telesmes " or " alakakirs ") iu the same way.
Amulets are frequently alluded to in the
Talmud under the name nil'Bp. Horses had
a fox's tail or a crimson ornament -placed
between their eyes ; and cows and goats were
similarly protected (Shabbath,- f. 53, 1). An
approved amulet is one which has effected three
cures ; and whether it consistedof written charac
ters or of roots (see Jos. Ant. viii. 2, § 5), it was
considered. so important that it might be worn
even on the Sabbath, provided it were attached
to a chain or ¦'ring,' so as to look as if it were
meant for an- ornament and not for a remedy
(Shabbath, f. 61, 1, 2). The disease cardiacus
could be cured .by an amulet on which was
written the name of the demon which caused
the disease (Gittin. f. 67, 2). See Hamburger,
Talm. Worterb. s. v. Kamea.
A very Targe class of amulets depended for
their value on their being constructed under
certain astronomical conditions. Their most
general use was to avert ill-luck, &c, especially
to nullify the effect of the btpBaApbs (SdtTKavos,
, a belief in which is found among all nations.
(Mark vii. 22 ; Gal. iii. 1. See Divination,
§ 7.) The Jews were particularly addicted to
them, and -the only restriction placed by the
Rabbis on their use was, that none but approved
¦ amulets were' to be worn on the Sabbath
(Lightfoot's Hor. Hebr. in Matt. xxiv. 4). It
was thought that they kept off the evil spirits
who caused' disease. Some animal substances
were considered to possess a power of averting
demons, as we see from Tobit.- Pliny (xxviii.
47) mentions a fox's tongue worn on au amulet
as a charm against blear eyes, and says (xxx. 15),
" Scarabaeorum cornua alligata amuleti naturam
obtinent ;" perhaps an Egyptian fancy. In the
same way one' of the Roman emperors wore a
seal-skin as a charm against thunder. Among
plants, the white bryony and the Hypericon, or
Fuga Daemonum,' are mentioned as useful (Sir
T. Browne, Vulg.' Errors, i. 10. He attributes
the whole doctrine of amulets to the devil, but
still throws out a hint that they may work by
" imponderous and invisible emissions ").
Since the use of amulets was- thus common
among the Jews aud the heathen, it is not
unnatural that - it should have lingered on
among some Christiahs. Chrysostom (Horn.
Ixxii. in Matt., ed. Field, ii. p. 347) speaks of
many women who used the Gospels as amulets
(evayy4Aia tuv Tpax'hAuv i£apTu<rai). Comp.
Isidor. Pelus. ii. Ep. cl., who also alludes to
these evayy4Aia pmpd. Jerome (in Matt. iv. 24)
confesses that he once. used the Gospels in this
superstitious way. The Fathers denounce all

ANAH
amulets, aud the use of them was forbidden by
the Council of Laodicea.
Amulets are still - common. ' On the Mod.
Egyptian " Hegab," see Lane, Mod. Egypt: c. It ;
and on the African "pieces of' -medicine;" a
belief in-which constitutes half the religion of
the Africans, see Livingstone's Travels, p. 285
et passim. [Tekaphim ; Talisman.]

oooco oooo
Amulet (" Hegab"). (From Lane's Modern 3jyptiu,i4.)
The word " amulet " is derived from the
Arabic hamdlet, " a thing suspended." The
Greek equivalent, tpvAaKfripiov, does' not occur
in the LXX. (but see Rosenmiiller's scholia oa
Ezek. xiii. 18), and in the N. T." only in Matt.
xxiii. 5. On" Roman, Greek, and Christian use
of amulets, see the Dictt. of. Greek-and Roman2
and Christian Antiquities, s. v. ; [Frontlets;
Phylacteries.] [K. W. F.]
AM'ZI CVBN, strong or valiant; possibly an
abbreviation of fPXDN, Jah is strong ; B. 'Apetr-
o-eia, A. Maeo-o-fa; Amasai). 1. A Levite ofthe
family of Merari, and ancestor of Ethan the
minstrel (1 Ch. vi. 46).
2. B. 'Apatrel, A. 'Apaorl, X. 'Apsa-aei ; Ainsi.
A priest, whose descendant Adaiah with his
brethren served the Temple in the time of
Nehemiah (Neh. xi. 12). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANA'B ("*}1*, perhaps, place of gropes, Ges.;
Anab), a town in the mountains of Judah (Josh.
xv. 50, B. 'Avtiv, A. 'AvtoB), named, with Debir
and Hebron, as once belonging to the Ana-
kim (Josh. xi. 21,. AF. 'Avt&B, B. 'AvaBtiB). Tt
has retained -its -ancient ¦ name, and lies-arnon£
the hills to the west of cdh-Dhdheriych, Debir,
close to Shoco and Eshtemoa (Rob. i. 494 ; see
also P. F. Mem. iii. 393). - The conjecture of
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 128. 12. 240. 14)
is evidently inadmissible. ' [G.] . [W.]
ANA'EL ('AxuiJA; Chald. ^NOri; Heb.
?N33n [ed. Neubauer]; Vulg. omits). The
brother of Tobit (Tob. i. 21). [G.] [R]
ANA'H (njl", meaning uncertain; 'Avd;
Ana). 1. The fourth sou of Seir the Horite
and a " duke " (Gen. xxxvi. 20, 29) in the land
of Seir. He was the father of Aholibamah, the
wife of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 2, 14).
2. AE. 'nvds, D.. 'Avd. The grandson of Seir,
ic. son of the " duke ',', Zibeou the Horite, the
third son of Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 24). Of him
it is told (A. V.)' that he "found' the mules
(D'D'rmN, R.V. "the hot springs ;" Vulg.
aquas calidas ; LXX. 'lape(v) in the wilderness."
Modern scholars generally accept the render
ing of the Vulgate, though the derivation is
uncertain, and identify the spot with the sul
phur-springs of Calirrhoe (Lasha, Gen. x. 19)
on the east side of the Deal Sea (Delitzsch,

ANAHARATH

ANAMIM

125

Genesis, p. 431 [1887]). Anah's discovery of
these springs •• as he fed. the asses of Zibeon his
father " was probably brought about by the
wandering habits of his herd, and is compared
by Riehm, Delitzsch, and others with the dis
covery of the waters of Carlsbad through the
howling of the hound which, pursuing the stag,
had fallen into some boiling springs.
Such interpretations as—(a) that of the Sam.
and Targ. of Onkelos, which identifies D'B* with
D'DN (Deut. ii. 10, 11), the Emim or Rephaim,
the giant aborigines of the Moabite border, and
whom Anah is here supposed to have met and
conquered (NSD, as in Ps. xxi. 9), or (6) the
Rabbinic translation of the word by mules (as in
A. V.), whom Anah is supposed to have procured
(" found ") by the conjunction of horse and ass —
may be said to find no support to-day.
Nos. 1 and 2 are sometimes taken to be the
same person. Aholibamah is described as " the
daughter of (*"|3) Anah, the daughter of (**|3)
Zibeon the Hivite '' » (Gen. xxxvi. 2, 14). The
LXX., Samar., and Peshito Versions read " son
C"f3) of Zibeon;" others read "(grand-)
daughter of Zibeon ; " but in either case identifv
the Anah of v. 2 with the Anah of v. 24.
Others, however, take the expression " daughter
of Zibeon " to be equivalent to " niece of Zibeon,"
and keep the Anah of it. 20, 25 distinct .from
the Anah of v. 24. Robertson Smith (Journ. of
Philology, " Animal Worship and Animal Tribes,"
ix. p. 90) alleges the variations connected with
Anah as indications of no true genealogy, but of
a systematization of tribal facts. Adopting the
reading " daughter of Zibeon," he deduces kin
ship through females among the Horites ; and
from the existence of a sub-clan, Anah, among
the Zibeonites as well as among the Seirites, he
concludes that there was " exogamy " or that
law which forbad the members of the Horite
<dan .to intermarry. This is admitted to be
probable only so far as the Edomites are concerned
(Jacobs, Archa-olog. Review, iii. p.' 153).
On the identification of Anah the Horite with
Beeri the Hittite, see Beeei. [F.]
ANA'HARATH (JTirttN; B. 'AvaXap48 ;
A. 'AppaviB ; Anaharath), a- place within the
border of Issachar, named with Shih'on and Rab-
bith (Josh. xix. 19). It is now probably the
village en-Naurah, N.E. of Jezreel (P. F. Mem.
ii. 85). [G.]- [W.]
ANATAH (iT}**, Jah answers; ' Avavias, B.
-a ; Ania). 1. Probably a priest ; one of those
who stood on Ezra's right hand as he read the
Law torthe people (Neh. viii. 4). He is called
Ananias in:i' Esd. ix. 43.
2. B. 'Avavaid, H*A. ' Avdv- 'Avaia, K°" ' Avdv •
'Avavia; Anaia. One ofthe "heads" ofthe
people, who signed the covenant with Nehemiah
(Neh. x. 22). ¦ [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANAK. [Anakim.]
ANA'KIM (CpJ**; A. 'EvaKip, B. -etp ; Ena-
kim), a race of giants or Rephaim (Deut. ii.
10), and probably so called from their sta
ture (longicollis), descendants of Arba (Josh.
a Delitzsch (Genesis, p. 428 [1887]), with most moderns,
takes Eivite O-inH) to be a mistake for Eorite (Pni"0-

xv. 13, xxi. 11), dwelling after tlie time of
Abraham in the southern part of Canaan, aud
particularly at Hebron, which from their pro
genitor received the namo of D3"]X JVIp, city
of Arba. Besides the general designation Ana
kim, they are variously called piV "OB, sons of
Anak (Num. xiii. 33, LXX. toi/.v yiyavTas),
p31*n Px, descendants of Anak (Num. xiii. 22),
and^D'pa*/ \32. sons of Anakim" (Deut. i. 28,
LXX. ulovs yiydvTuv). These designations serve
to show that we must regard Anak- as the name
of the race rather than that of an individual,
and this is confirmed by what is said of Arba,
their progenitor, that he " was a great man
among the Anakim " (Josh. xiv. 15). The race
appears to have been divided into three tribes or
families, bearing the names Sheshai, Ahiman,
and Talmai.- Though the warlike appearance
of the Anakim had struck the Israelites with
terror in the time of Moses (Num. xiii. 28 ;
Deut. ix. 2), they were nevertheless dispossessed
bv Joshua, and ' utterly driven from the land,
except a small remnant that found refuge in the
Philistine cities, Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Josh.
xi. 21). Their chief city Hebron became the
possession of Caleb, who is said to have driven
out from it the three sons of Anak mentioned
above ; that is, the three families or tribes of the
Anakim (Josh. xv. 14 ; Judg. i. 20). After this
time they vanish from history. [F. W. G.] [F.]
ANTA'MIM (D*Bi** ; A. 'Eveperidv, B. AiVe-
perieip ; Anamim), a Mizraite people or tribe
mentioned only in the Noachian list (Geu. x. 13 ;
1 Ch. i. 11 [A. 'Avapteip, B. omits]). Its
settlement is to be sought within the Mizraite
territory, Egypt, Libya, South-west Palestine,
and possibly the neighbouring islands of the
Mediterranean. [Mizraim.]
Several identifications have been proposed in
the Egyptian - inscriptions. De Rouge (Etudes
sur les six premieres Dynasties de Manethon, p. 6)
compares this name to the Anu, a population.
which spread over a great part of the valley of
the Nile, which gave its name to Heliopolis and
Hermonthis, and which is found at last in Nubia,
between the Nile and the Red Sea.. The difficulty
in this identification is that the sign with which
the name of the Anu begins is nearly always
transcribed by N. Ebers (Aegypten und die
Biicher Moses, p. 98) translates " the wandering
Amu" (Shepherds),, and considers, them as. the
inhabitants of the eastern part of the Delta,
around what is now Lake Menzaleh. The chief
objection is that the Amu of the sculptures are
decidedly a Semitic nation, with a Semitic type.
The most satisfactory identification has been
pointed out by Brugsch (Beise nach den grossen
Oase, p. 68), who, relying, on the fact that the
hieroglyphical k or gh- is sometimes transcribed

by V

t

considers the Anamim as the in

habitants of Kenem or Ghenem, the Great Oasis
of El Khargeh, in the Libyan desert. It is to
be observedthat the Coptic Version has a variant
midiim, which has not been explained. Both
Josephus and St. Jerome confess their ignorance

a The A. V. "Anakims," which adds s to a plural
termination (cp. also Emims, cherubims), is corrected in
E. V. to Anakim.

12G

ANAMMELECH

of the meaning of the name of Anamim, which
was forgotten in their time. [E. N.]
ANAMME'LECH C^SO*" ; B. 'AvnpeA4x,
A. 'Apn- ; Anamelech), a divinity worshipped by
the colonists brought into Samaria by Shalmane-
ser II., king of Assyria, from Sepharvaim (Sipar
or Sippara). This deity is named (2 K. xvii.
31) as the companion-god to Adrammelech.
Both of these deities were worshipped with rites
similar to those of Moloch, children being sacri
ficed to them. According to Rawlinson, the first
part of the name is the same as Anunitn, the
goddess Venus as the morning and evening star,
worshipped at Sippara of Anunitu. Schrader
connects the first part of the name with Anu,
and restores it as Anu-malik (" Anu is king ").
The principal gods, however, besides Anunitu,
worshipped at Sepharvaim, were Samas ; Aa,
the moon-goddess, his consort ; and Bunene,
and it is likely that Anammelech is only a by
name of one of these. A very probable expla
nation is that it is a name of the sun-god
Samas, who was called also Amna (or Awna) ;
and if so, the Babylonian form would be Am-
.namalik. Another and perhaps better expla
nation is, that we have in Anammelech one of
the names of the goddess Anunitu or Venus,
worshipped at the less important of the two
Sipparas. This goddess also bore the name
>4- ^ ^Ej Vjpff , which may,
according to the syllabaries and bilingual lists,
be read Nin-malga or Ennin-malga in Sumerian,
and Nin-milku or Ennin-milku in Semitic Baby
lonian — forms which answer almost exactly to
the biblical Anammelech, especially in its Greek
form. Adopting this explanation, the probable
meaning is " Lady of counsel." [T. G. P.]
A'NAN (fj»; B. 'Hvdp, A. 'Hvdv, H. 'Hvd;
Anan). 1. One of the " heads " of the people
who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh.
a. 26).
2. 'Avdv; A. 'Avvdv; Anani. Hanan 4 (1
Esd. v. 30 ; cp. Ezra ii. 46). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANA'NI CiiV, probably abbreviated for
n*?^ ! A- 'Avavl, B. Mavel ; Anani), the 7th son
of Elioenai, descended through Zerubbabel from
the royal line of Judah (1 Ch. iii. 24).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ANANI' AH (iTMI*; the meaning is un
certain; perhaps from" the Arab., Jah meets;
'Avuvia ; Ananias). Probably a priest, the an
cestor of Azariah, who assisted in rebuilding the
city wall after the return from Babylon (Neh.
»'• 23)- [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANANI' AH (n^-Ji* ; Anania), a place named
between Nob and Hazor, in which the Benjamites
lived after their return from captivitv (Neh xi
32). The MSS. of the LXX. BN. omit ' ali
mention of this and the accompanying names ;
but A. has 'Avavia. It is now the village Beit
Hanina, near Neby Samwil (P. F. Mem. iii. 8)
[G.] [W.]
ANANI'AS QAvavlas ; Ananias ; same name
as n^_n = Hanauiah, which signifies " Jehovah
is gracious").

ANANIAS
1. High-priest when Paul was brought before
the Sanhedrin (Acts xxiii. 2 ff. ; xxiv. 1). His
father's name was Nedebaeus, and he was
nominated high-priest by Herod, king of Chalcis,
in place of Joseph, son of Camithus, about
a.d. 47 (Jos. Ant. xx. 5, § 2). A slaughter by
the Samaritans of Galileans on their way to a
feast (cp. Luke ix. 53) had received no redress
from Cumanus the procurator, and had therefore
been fiercely avenged by a band of Jews and
Galileans. Samaritan complaints brought in
TJmmidius Quadratus, Legate of Syria, who sent
his subordinate Cumanus to Rome for judgment
and with him Ananias the high-priest and other
Jews (Jos. Ant. xx. 6, §§ 1-3). The Jewish cause
triumphed : Cumanus was exiled, and we are
left to infer that Ananias returned to enjoy his
office, until he was superseded by Isinael, son of
Phabi, shortly before Felix left Judaea,* pro
bably a.d. 60 (Jos. Ant. xx. 8, § 8). Ananias
would thus be high-priest at the time of Paul's
arrest, which took place two years before the
date above mentioned. Ananias continued, like
other deposed high-priests [Annas], to retain
and even increase his power. He was guilty of
much violence, for which he obtained impunity
by bribes (Jos. Ant. xx. 9, § 2). At the outbreak
of the last revolt, a.d. 66, he was murdered by
the rebels as a leader of the Roman and pacific
party ; a terrible fulfilment of the prophecy of
St. Paul, TimTeiv tre peAAei 6 ®e6s, Acts xxiii. 3
(Joseph. B. J. ii. 17, 9). In the Talmud Ananias
has the closely allied name of Johanan, and is
charged with the most extravagant gluttony
(Derenbourg, Essai sur Hist, et G€og., xv., notes
1 and 2). On Ananias generally, see Wieseler,
Chron. Ap. Zeit. p. 76, note 1. [E. R. B.]
2. Ananias, husband of Sapphira. The
second and fuller account of the common fund
of the Christians at Jerusalem (Acts iv. 32) is
followed by two instances of contributions made
to it : the one in good faith, by Barnabas, who is
thus introduced to the reader (Acts iv. 36, 37) ;
and the other, fraudulently made, by Ananias,
with the connivance of his wife. He kept back
part of the price of a possession and offered the
other part to the Apostles, as though it had
been the whole. St. Peter, being enabled by the
power of the Spirit to see through the fraud,
denounced him as having deliberately attempted
to deceive the Holy Ghost resident in the
Apostles. On hearing St. Peter's words, Ananias
fell down and died. Baur (Apostel Paul, Pt. i.
c i.) is perfectly justified in insisting that the
deaths of both Ananias and Sapphira are repre
sented as miraculously inflicted, against Neander
and Olshausen, who to a certain extent introduce
naturalistic explanations. This punitive miracle,
administered through St. Peter, finds no parallel
in the miracles of Christ (Trench, Miracles, Prel.
Essay, iv.), but is to be compared on the one side
with Elisha's infliction of leprosv on Gehazi, and
on tho other with the case of Elymas. There is

» Josephus (Ant. iii. 15, $ 3) makes an Ismael high-
priest in the reign of Claudius, i.e. hefore A.D. 54. This
can hardly be Ismael, son of Phabi, successor of Ananias.
Wieseler (Chron. A. Z. p. 159) guesses this Ismael to be
identical with Elionaeus, an earlier high-priest. The
matter is further complicated by the mention of another
Ismael, son of Phabi, successor of Annas (Jos. Ant.
xyiii. 2, } 2), whose date would be 15-16 a.d., long before
Claudius.

ANANIAS

ANATHEMA

127

no question as to the discretion of St. Peter;
the Apostle is but the organ and announcer of
the Divine justice (Niemeyer, Characteristik der
Bibel, i. p. 574). It has been supposed that the
severity of the judgment was necessary to
prevent persons from attempting to defraud the
common fund by establishing a claim to draw
upon it, while they still retained private pro
perty. But this view presumes a strieter
community of goods than actually existed, and
does not harmonise with St. Peter's words.
Reverence for the Holy Spirit as God (v. 3, 4)
was the principle in danger, and its stern vindi
cation was necessary at a time when the presence
and work of the Spirit were so near and mani
fest. Cp. our Lord's teaching on sin against the
Holy Ghost, Matt, xii. 31, and St. Peter's own
words to Simon Magus, Acts viii. 22. [E. R. B.]
3. A Christian Jew of Damascus (Acts ix. 10-
19). As in the case of Cornelius and Peter, so
here two visions prepared Saul and Ananias for
their interview. The natural fear of Ananias
was overcome by a revelation of the work for
which Saul was chosen by the counsel of God.
He went as directed, and the laying on of his
hands was followed by Saul's recovery of sigjht
and by his Baptism. We cannot safely infer
from the text that the power of conferring the
gift of the Holy Ghost lay in Ananias, and there
fore was not confined to the Apostles. The gift
is indeed said to have been one of the objects of
his mission, but may have been given without
his instrumentality. Two other accounts of
St. Paul's conversion, with some further particu
lars, are given by the Apostle himself (Acts xxii.
6-16, and xxvi. 12-18). In the former he
naturally conciliates his Jewish audience by
mentioning that Ananias was " a devout man
according to the Law, well reported of by all
the Jews that dwelt there." God Who sent
Ananias was the " God of our fathers," and Jesus
"the Righteous One." The second account
before Festus and Agrippa abbreviates the story,
Ananias disappears altogether, and a part of the
message sent through him to Saul is directly
attributed to the Lord Himself. Tradition
represents Ananias as at this time already Bishop
of Damascus by the appointment of St. Peter and
St. Andrew, as martyred under Lucian the
governor, and buried at Damascus (Menol. Grace.
Basil, pp. 79, 80). [E. R. B.]
4. B. 'Avveis, A. 'Avvlas ; Ananias. The sons
of Ananias to the number of 101 (Vulg. 130) are
enumerated as having returned with Zorobabel
(1 Esd. v. 16). No such name exists in the
parallel lists of Ezra and Nehemiah.
5. 'Avavias; Vulg. omits. Hanani No. 3
(1 Esd. ix. 21 ; cp. Ezra x. 20).
6. 'Avavias; Amanias. Hananiah No. 9
(1 Esd. ix. 29 ; cp. Ezra x. 28).
7. 'Avavias ; Ananias. Anaiaii No. 1 (1 Esd.
ix. 43 ; cp. Neh. viii. 4).
8. A. 'Avavias, B. 'Was ; Ananias. Hanan
No. 5 (1 Esd. ix. 48 ; cp. Neh. viii. 7).
9. " The great," father of Azarias, whose
name was assumed by the Angel, Raphael (Tob.
v. 12, 13. In Chald. and Heb. [ed. Neubauer]
Hananel takes the place of Ananias ; in Itala,
Annanias). Ananias is accepted by Tobit as one
of his " brethren."
10. HA. 'Avavias, B. and T.7 omit ; in the
Vulg. the name corresponding to it in point of

order is Jamnor, Judith viii. 1. One of the
ancestors of Judith. [W. A. W.] [F.]
11. 'Avavias; Ananias. The Hebrew name
of Shadrach (Hananiau No. 7). Dan. iii. 88
(Theod., Vulg. ; v. 65, LXX.). [W. A. W.]
ANAN'IEL ('"'tOin [ed. Neubauer], El is
gracious ; 'Avavii)A ; Itala, Ananihcl), forefather
of Tobias (Tob. i. 1). [F.]
ANA'TH (1*1*11*, connected with the name of
the Phoenician and Canaanite goddess 'Anat
[CIG. 95] whose worship passed also into Egypt
[Baethgen, Beitragc z. Sem. Religionsgesch.,
pp. 52, 141] ; Anath), father of Shamgar (Judg.
iii. 31 [B. Aeivdx, A. 'AvdB], v. 6 [B. 'AvdB,
A. KevdB]). [F.]
ANATH'EMA (avdBepa, in LXX., the equi
valent for D""in, a thing or person devoted: in
N. T. generally translated accursed). The more
usual form is avdBnpa (avaTlB-npi), with the
sense of an offering suspended in a temple (Luke
xxi. 5; 2 Mace. ix. 16): the Alexandrine writers
preferred the short penultimate in this and
other kindred words (e.g. iTtiBepa, trvvBepa) :
but occasionally both forms occur in the
MSS., as in Jud. xvi. 19; 2 Mace. xiii. 15;
Luke xxi. 5 : no distinction therefore existed
originally in the meanings of the words, as
has been supposed by many early writers. The
Hebrew D""l*"l is derived from a verb signifying
primarily to shut up, and hence to (1) devote
(R. V. text or marg.), and (2) exterminate.
Any object so devoted to the Lord was irredeem
able : if an inanimate object, it was to be given
to the priests (Num. xviii. 14) ; if a living
creature or even a man, it was to be slain (Lev.
xxvii. 28, 29) ; hence the idea of extermination
as connected with devoting. Generally speaking,
a vow of this description was taken only with
respect to the idolatrous nations who were
marked out for destruction by the special decree
of Jehovah, as in Num. xxi. 2 ; Josh. vi. 17.
Jehovah (Is. xxxiv. 2) was said to shut up, i.e.
place under a ban, which necessitated the de
struction of the nation in order to prevent all
contact. The extermination being the result of
a positive command (Ex. xxii. 20), the idea of a
vow is excluded, although the instances referred
to show how a vow was occasionally superadded
to the command. Any breach with respect to
the "devoted" thing was punished with death
(Josh. vii. 25). It may be further noticed that
the degree to which the work of destruction was
carried out, varied (cp. Dillmann on Lev. xxvii.
28, 29). Thus it applied to the destruction of
(1) human life alone (Deut. ii. 34) ; (2) all,
virgins excepted (Num. xxxi. 17 ; Judg. xxi.
11); (3) all living creatures (Deut. xx. 16;
1 Sam. xv. 3) ; the spoil in the former cases
was reserved for the use of the army (Deut. ii.
35, xx. 14 ; Josh. xxii. 8), instead of being
given over to the priesthood, as was the case
in the recorded vow of Joshua (Josh. vi. 19).
Occasionally the town itself was also utterly de
stroyed, the site rendered desolate (Josh. vi.
2«), and the name Hormah ('AvdBepa, LXX.)
applied to it (Num. xxi. 3 ; cp. Judg. i. 17).
The herem was also resorted to by the Moabites
(cp. the Mesha-Inscription, 1. 17 ; cp. also 2 Ch.
xx. 23), and the same term is used to express

128

ANATHOTH

the action of the Assyrians (2 K. xix. 11 ;
Is. xxxvii. 11 ; 2 Ch. xxxii. 14). Cp. Riehm,
HWB. "Bann"; Ewald, Antiquities, p. 75 sqq.
We pass on to the Rabbinical sense of DIP! as
referring to excommunication, premising that an
approximation to that sense is found in Ezra x.
8, where forfeiture of goods is coupled with
separation from the congregation (cp. Buxtorf.
Lex. Chald. on the words specified ; Weber, Sys
tem d. Altsynag. Palast. Theologie, p. 138 ;
Schiirer, Gesch. d. Jiidischen Volkes am Zeitalter
Jesu Christi,2 II. Theil. pp. 362-3). Three kinds
of excommunication are enumerated (Levy, Chald.
Worterb. ». n. Din No. ii.) :— (1) '-TO, involving
various restrictions in civil and ecclesiastical
matters for the space of thirty days: to this it
is supposed that the terms btpopi^etv (Luke yi. 22)
and diroo-vvdyuyos (John ix. 22) refer, (2) A
repetition of the excommunication for another
thirty days (or even longer), with increased
penalties. (3) Din, a more public and formal
sentence, accompanied with curses, and involving
severer restrictions for an indefinite period. The
term NHIS*** is common to these three kinds.
Some expositors refer the terms oveifil£eiv Kai
iKBiAAeiv. (Luke vi. 22) to the second species,
but a comparison of John ix. 22 w-ithr. 34 shows
that iKBdAAeiv is synonymous with aTroevvd-
yuyov TToieiv, and there appears no reason for
supposing the latter to be of a severe character.
The phrase irapa5tS6vai t<£ Caravel (1 Cur. v. 5 ;
1 Tim. i. 20) has been sometimes thought a re
flexion of Jewish excommunication natural to the
Jew St. Paul ; but St. Paul's formula limiting
his sentence to " the destruction of the flesh " is
full of a " severe mercy of Divine discipline "
(Aug.) unknown to'the Rabbis (see the notes in
the Speaker's Commentary, 1. c).
The word avdBepa frequently occurs in St.
Paul's writing, and many expositors have re
garded his use of it as a technical term for
judicial excommunication. That the word was
so used in the. early Church, there can be no
doubt (Bingham, Antiq. xvi. 2, § 16) : but an
examination of the passages, [in each consult the
admirable notes of the Speaker's Commentary]
in which it occurs shows that, like the cognate
word avaBepaTiQu (Matt. xxvi. 74; Mark xiv. 71 ;
Acts xxiii. 12, 21), it had acquired a more
general sense as expressive either of strong
feeling (Rom. ix. 3 ; cp. Ex. xxxii. 32), or of
dislike and condemnation (1 Cor. xii. 3, xvi. 22 ;
Gal. i. 9). [W. L. B.] [¥.]
ANA'THOTH ("11*13*', most probably the pi.
•of the goddess-name 'Anat [Baethgen, p. 53 ;
see Anath] ; 'AvaBtiB ; Anathoth). 1. The
eighth son (in textual order) of Becher, the third
sun of Benjamin (1 Ch. vii. 8), perhaps con
nected with the place of the same name.
2. N. QavaBuB, B. NaBuB (Neh. x. 19. See
Swete's ed. of LXX., from which it will be seen
how such variations arose). One ofthe heads
of the people who signed the covenant in the
time of Nehemiah : unless the name stands
lor the " men of Anathoth " mentioned in
Neh. vii. 27. [W. A. W.] [F.]

ANA'THOTH (nil*01*. Jin}**," probably plur.
• In A.V. there are irregularities in the orthography
of the gentile name " Anathothite," due to the trans-

ANOREW, ST.
of DM? [Anath], by which name the place is
called 'in the Talmud Jama, 10; 'AvaB&B; Ana
thoth), a city of Benjamin, omitted from the
list in Josh, xviii., but a priests' city; with
" suburbs " (Josh. xxi. 18 ; 1 Ch. vi. 60). Hither,
to his " fields," Abiathar was banished by Solo
mon after the failure of his attempt to put
Adonijah on the throne (1 K. ii. 26). This was
the native place of Abiezer, one of David's thirty
captains (2 Sam. xxiii. 27 ; ,1 Ch. xi. 28, xxvii.
12), and, of Jehu, another , of the mighty men
(1 Ch. xii. 3) ; and here,- " of the priests that
were in Anathoth," Jeremiah was born (Jer. i.
1 ; xi. 21, 23 ; xxix. 27 ; xxxii. 7-9).
The " men " CC'JX, not *J3, as in most of tbe
other cases ; compare, however, Netophah, Mich
mash, &c.) of A. returned from the Captivitv
with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 23 ; Neh. vii it'-
1 Esd. v. 18).
Anathoth lay on or near the great road from
the north to Jerusalem (Is. x. 30) ; by Josephus
(Ant. x. 7, § 3) it is placed at twenty stadia from
the city, by Eusebius at three miles (Onom.), and
by Jerome (turn's Anathoth) at the same dis
tance contra septentrionem Jerusalem (ad Jerem.
cap. i.). The traditional site at Kuryet el-'Enab
does not fulfil these conditions, being ten miles
distant from the city, and nearer W. than N.
But the real position has no doubt been dis
covered by Robinson at ' Andta, on a broad ridge
2} miles N.N.E. from Jerusalem. The cultiva
tion of the priests survives in tilled fields of
grain, with figs and olives. There are the
remains of walls and strong foundations, and
the quarries still supply Jerusalem with build
ing stone (Rob. i. 437, 438 ; P. F. Mem. iii. 7,
82). [G.] [W]
ANCHOR. [Ship.]
ANDREW, ST. ('AvSpias ; Andreas). The
name is Greek, and occurs first in Hdt. vi.126.
It is borne by the physician of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus, quoted by Athenaeus (iii. p. 115),. and
elsewhere. A Jew of Cyrene named Andrew is
mentioned by Dio Cassius (lxviii., 32) as livin?
in the . time of Trajan. St. Andrew was of
Bethsaida (John i.'44), defined as Bethsaida
of Galilee (John xii. 21). He was brother to
Simon Peter (John i. 40), and dwelt in the
same house with him (Mark i. 29) at Caper
naum (Mark i. 21)., He was a disciple of St.
John the Baptist, and, accompanied bv an un
named disciple, was the first to follow Jesus
(John i. 35-40). Again, when the same fol
lowers were called to a. closer allegiance, he
with Peter received the first summons (Matt.
iv. 18 ; Mark i. 16). , Hence arose his title of
-irpuT6KATjTos, not infrequent in Greek ecclesias
tical writers (Stephanus, ed. Hase, s. t-.). He is
a link between the first and second of the three
sets of four in which the twelve Apostles are
presented [Afostle]. ' On the one hand, he is
included in the firet four.. In all the lists his
name follows St. Peter's, or is onlv separated

lators having reproduced certain modifications of form
peculiar to the Hebrew, viz. Anethothite, 2 Sam. xxiii.
27; Anetothite, 1 Ch. xxvii. 12; Antothite, 1 Ch. xi. 2s,
xii. 3 ; E.V. in each case " Anathothite." " Jeremiah
of A." (Jer. xxix. 2?7 should be, as in E. V., "J. tho
Anathothite."

ANDREW, ST.
from it by those of St. James and St. John.
The solemn and private question as to the time
of the end, which in each of the Synoptists
leads to the great eschatological discourses, is
according to St. Mark the question of the fore
most Apostles only, — SS. Peter, James, John,
and Andrew. On the other hand, St. Andrew
is closely connected with the second quater
nion of disciples through St. Philip, who is
always placed at its head, and therefore in two
lists (Mark iii. 18 ; Acts i. 13) immediately
follows St. Andrew. There is the local connexion
ofthe sameoriginal home, Bethsaida, although St.
Andrew had latterly lived at Capernaum. There
is the slight coincidence that both have Greek
names. There is the evidence of two incidents,
the feeding of the 5,000 (John vi. 7, 8) and the
introduction of the Greeks to Jesus (John xii.
22), in both of which St. Andrew and St. Philip are
associated. In the latter instance Philip seems
to be unwilling to approach the Lord with an
unprecedented request without the support of
one of the first four. Yet our theories of ac
knowledged rank and priority in the college
must be modified by the reflection that Jesus
Himself gave no countenance to the assumption
of them (Mark ix. 34).
In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Andrew, like
the majority of his colleagues, falls into the back
ground, and is never mentioned after the list in
Acts i. The evidence as to his later histoiy is
¦conflicting, Origen (quoted by Euseb. iii. 1)
assigning Scythia as the scene of his labours,
whence Russia claims him as her patron saint.
This tradition seems to be followed in the
-apocryphal account of his sojourn among the
Anthropophagi (Acta Andreae et Matthiae:
Tischendorf, Acta Apocrypha). On the other
hand, there is the evidence of Jerome (ad Mar-
¦cellam, lix. ed. Migne) and Theodoret (ad Psalm.
cxvi.) in favour of Achaia. At any rate, all
traditions agree in assigning Patrae in Achaia as
the place of his martyrdom. Of his martyrdom
-there are two accounts deserving of notice, and
¦differing widely in character. (1.) The third
book of the Hisloria Apostolica of Abdias
(Fabricius, Cod. Apocr. N. T.) contains the Acts
-of St. Andrew. This history is said to have been
written in Hebrew by Abdias, Bishop of Babylon,
a contemporary of the Apostles, and translated
into Latin by Julius Africanus. It is, however,
a forgery of the 6th or 7th century (see Her-
zog, RE.2 s. n. Abdias.) Its interest lies in the fact
that it represents those earlier Acta Andreae
which Epiphanius (Haeres. xlvii. 1 ; lxi. 1 ; lxiii.
2) mentions as especially valued by the Encra-
-titae, Apos^olici, and Origeniani (cp. also Euseb.
H. E. iii. 25). It is probably a Catholic adap
tation in Latin from heretical Greek documents,
suppressing the evident heresy, but retaining in
a. modified form much of the teaching which had
been valued by the heretics, and now fell in
with the ascetic tendencies of the age. The
legends related constantly turn upon sins of the
¦flesh, and the relations of married persons.
Reference to the passages cited from Epiphanius
•will show the connexion between the topics
treated and the sects which are mentioned by
him. A crucial instance is afforded by the
martyrdom of St. Andrew, which is said in the
Historia Apostolica to have been in part oc
casioned by his supposed interference between
bible dict. — VOL. I.

ANDRONICUS

129

Aegeas, the Roman governor of Patrae, and his
wife Maximilla. (2.) But in the document
which we have next to consider (Acta Andreae :
Tischendorf, Acta Apocrypha) the condemnation
of the Saint follows on his preaching the Cross •
the doctrine of reserve to unbelievers comes
forward as a cause of the special anger of Aegeas
or Aegeates, and a reminiscence of St. Andrew's
first sight of his Master comes back touchingly
in his repeated mention of the " Lamb without
blemish " (cp. John i. 36). These Acta Andreae
purport to be a letter from the Presbyters and
Deacons of the Churches of Achaia. It is
throughout of a totally different character from
the work of the pseudo-Abdias ; it bears no
traces of heretical origin, and probably has some
historical value ( see Tisch. Prolegg. in Acta
Apocr. xl.-xlii.). A legend related in the Mura-
torian Fragment makes St. Andrew the recipient
of a revelation about the composition of St. John's
Gospel (see Tregelles' edit, note ad loc). The
"crux decussata" (X-shaped cross) assigned to
St. Andrew has no early authority (Andrew,
Festival of, Dict. Chr. Antiq.) ; but all accounts
agree that he was bound, not nailed to the cross,
in order to prolong his sufferings. The date of
his martyrdom given in the Letter (Nov. 30)
has been observed in the day assigned to him
in the Calendar of the Church." Consult Lipsius,
Die Apohryphen Apostelgeschichten u. Apostel-
legenden, i. p. 543 sq. [E. R. B.]
ANDRONICUS ('AvSpiviKos; Andronicus).
1. A Christian at Rome saluted by St. Paul
(Rom. xvi. 7), together with Junias. The two
are called his kinsmen (avyyeveis). The same
term is applied in vv. 11 and 21 to four other
persons, two of whom, Jason and Sosipater, may
probably be identified with Jason of Thessa
lonica and Sopater of Berea. It is improbable
that these persons belonging to other provinces
were all blood relations of St. Paul, and it is
better to understand " kinsmen " as simply
marking them out as Jews among the Gentiles
saluted with them. For this use of avyyeveis
cp. Rom. ix. 3, and Josephus, B. J. ii. 18, 4.
Also see Godet, note ad loc. Secondly, they are
called " my fellow-prisoners." Lightfoot (Phil.
Introd. p. 11, and Col. iv. 10, note) suggests that
the word (trvvaiXP^Auros, not trvvSetrpos) may
imply a spiritual captivity,— fellow-prisoners,
as together taken captive by Christ. If a meta
phorical interpretation be adopted at all, the
foregoing explanation would be better than the
regarding the captivity as the previous bondage
of Judaism in which they had been shut up. A
literal interpretation would imply a reference
to an unrecorded imprisonment (etnaKis Setrpb
tpopeo-as, Clem, ad 1 Cor. v.). Thirdly, Andro
nicus and Junias are " of note among the
Apostles " (see Apostle). Lastly, they were
believers before St. Paul's own conversion.
There is no tradition of any value respecting
them. Acta Sanctorum, May 17, gives scarcely
any additional circumstances. [E. R. B.]
2. An officer left as viceroy (SiaSex6pevos,
2 Mace. iv. 31) in Antioch by Antiochus
Epiphanes during his absence (B.C. 171). Mene
laus availed himself of the opportunity to secure
his good offices by offering him some golden
vessels which he had taken from the Temple.
When Onias (Onias III.) was certainly assured
K

130

ANEM

ANGELS

that the sacrilege had been committed, he sharply
reproved Menelaus for the crime, having pre
viously taken refuge in the sanctuary of Apollo
and Artemis at Daphne. At the instigation of
Menelaus, Andronicus induced Onias to leave
the sanctuary, and immediately put him to
death in prison (? irapeKAeto-ev, 2 Mace. iv. 34).
This murder excited general indignation ; and
on the return of Antiochus, Andronicus was
publicly degraded and executed (2 Mace. iv.
30-38). Josephus places the death of Onias
before the high-priesthood of Jason (Ant. xii.
5, § 1), and omits all mention of Andronicus ;
but there is not sufficient reason to doubt the
truthfulness of the narrative, as Wernsdorf has
done (De fide libr. Mace pp. 90 f.). [B. F. W.]
3. Another officer of Antiochus Epiphanes
who was left by him on Garizim (iv Tap.
2 Mace. v. 23), probably in occupation of the
temple there. As the name was common, it
seems unreasonable to identify this general
with 2, and so to introduce a contradiction into
the history (Wernsdorf, I. c. ; Ewald, Gesch. d.
Volkes Isr. iv. 335 n. ; en. Grimm and Speaker's
Comm. on 2 Mace. iv. 38). [B. F. W.]
A'NEM (tail* ; A. 'Avdp, B. omits ; Anem),
a city of Issachar, with " suburbs," belonging
to the Gershonites, 1 Ch. vi. 73 (Heb. v. 58).
It is omitted in the lists in Josh. xix. 21 and
xxi. 29, and instead of it we find En-gannim.
Robinson (Pal. iii. 385) identifies it with Genin.
Major Conder (P. F. Mem. ii. 44, 51) proposes
to identify it with 'Anin, a village 8J miles from
Jenin, in the hills near Umm el-Fahm. [G.] [W.]
A'NER CliV; B. 'Apdp, A. 'Evhp; Aner),
a city of Manasseh, west of Jordan, with " sub
urbs " given to the Kohathites (1 Ch. vi. 70).
Some comparing the passage with Josh. xxi. 25
consider the name a corrupt reading of Taanach
("01* for "*pi*n). Major Conder, however, sug
gests its identity with 'Elldr, a small village in
the hills S.W. of Esdraelon (P. F. Mem. ii.
154). [G.] [W.]
A'NER ("I5**; AD. Abvdv; Aner), one of
three Hebronite chiefs who, as " confederates,"
aided Abraham in the pursuit after the four
invading kings (Gen. xiv. 13, 24).
[R. W. B.] [F.]
ANETHO'THITE, THE (*]*)h*'''n ; the Gk.
text has the name twice, (a) B. o '\vuBelT-tis,
A. ' AvaSaBelT-ns ; (6) B. tov 'AvuBcItou, A. tou
'AtruBelTov ; de Anathoth). An appellative of
Abiezer, an inhabitant of Anathoth of the tribe
of Benjamin (2 Sam. xxiii. 27). Called also
Anetothite and Antothite. [W. A, W.] [F.]
ANETO'THITE, THE ('11'*™*!, same as
Anethothite, 1 Ch. xxvii. 12 ; B." i£ 'AvaBtiB,
A. a 'A. ; Anathothites). Called also Antothite.
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ANGELS (D^D; ol&yy.Aoi; often with
the addition of njiT, or D'I*6k. In some Books
[ioh T' \' £f;.-^xix- 6> 8; v™- ir- 13>™i- is]
the word D^-ip, ol dyiot, is used as an equi
valent term). By the word "Angels" (i.e.
messengers" of God) we ordinarily understand
a race of spiritual beings, of a nature exalted far

above that of man, although infinitely removed
from that of God, whose office is "to do Him
service in heaven, and by His appointment to
succour and defend men on earth." The object
of the present article is threefold : 1st, to refer
to any other Scriptural uses of this and similar
words ; 2ndly, to notice the revelations of the
nature of these spiritual beings given in
Scripture ; and 3rdly, to derive from the same
source, a brief description of their office towards
man. It is to be noticed that its scope is purely
Biblical, and that, in consequence, it does not
enter into any extra-scriptural speculations on
this mysterious subject.
I. In the first place, there are many passages
in which the expression the "Angel of God"
" the Angel of Jehovah," is certainly used for a
manifestation of God Himself. This is especially
the case in the earlier Books of the Old Testa
ment, and may be seen at once, by a comparison
of Gen. xxii. 11 with r. 12, and of Ex. iii. 2 with
vv. 6, 14; where He, Who is called the "Angel
of God " in one verse, is called " God " and even
" Jehovah " in those which follow, and accepts
the worship due to God alone. Contrast Rev.
xix. 10, xxi. 9. See also Gen. xvi. 7, 13, xxxi.
11, 13, xlviii. 15, 16 ; Num. xxii. 22, 32, 35,
and comp. Is. lxiii. 9 with Ex. xxxiii. 14, &c.
The same mode of expression is used by St. Paul
(see Acts xxvii. 23 as compared with xxiii. 11).
It is to be observed also, that, side by side
with these expressions, we read of God being
manifested in the form of man ; as to Abraham
at Mamre (Gen. xviii. 2, 22 ; cp. xix. 1), to
Jacob at Pennel (Gen. xxxii. 24, 30), to Joshua
at Gilgal (Josh. v. 13, 15), &c. It is hardly to
be doubted, that both sets of passages refer
to the same kind of manifestation of the Divine
Presence. This being the case, since we know that " no
man hath seen God" (the Father) "at any
time," and that " the only-begotten Son, Which
is in^the bosom of the Father, hath revealed
Him " (John i. 18), the inevitable inference is
that by the "Angel of the Lord" in such
passages is meant He Who is from the beginning
the " Word," i.e. the Manifester or Revealer of
God. These manifestations are evidently "fore-
shadowings of the Incarnation." By these (that
is) God the Son manifested Himself from time to
time in that human nature, which He united
to the Godhead for ever in the Virgin's womb.
This conclusion is corroborated by the fact,
that the phrases used as equivalent to the word
"Angels" in Scripture, viz. the "sons of God"
[DWN!*pja, Job ii. 1, xxxviii. 7 ; Dan. iii. 25],
or even in poetry, the " gods " (Elohim), the
" holy ones," &c, are names which in their full
and proper sense are applicable only to the
Lord Jesus Christ. As He is " the Son of God,"
so also is He the "Angel," or "messenger" of
the Lord. Accordingly it is to His Incarnation
that all angelic ministration is distinctly re
ferred, as to a central truth, by which alone its
nature and meaning can be understood. See
John l. 51, comparing it with Gen. xxviii. 11-17,
and especially with v. 13.
Besides this, which is the highest application
of the word " Angel," we find the phrase used
ot any messengers of God, such as the Prophets
(Is. xln. 19 ; Hag. i. 13; Mai. iii. 1), the priests

ANGELS
(Mai. ii. 7), and the rulers of the Christian
Churches (Rev. i. 20) ; much as, even more
remarkably, the word " Elohim " is applied, in
Ps. lxxxii. 6, to those who judge iu God's
Name. These usages of the word are not only
interesting in themselves, but will serve to
throw light on the nature and the method
of the ministration of those whom we more
especially term " the Angels."
II. In passing on to consider what is revealed
in Scripture as to the angelic nature, we are led
at once to notice, that the Bible deals with this
and with kindred subjects exclusively in their
practical hearings, only so far (that is) as they
conduce to our knowledge of God and of our
selves, and more particularly as they are
connected with the one great subject of all
Scripture, the Incarnation of the Son of God.
Little therefore is said of the nature of Angels
as distinct from their office.
They are termed " spirits " (as e.g. in Heb. i.
14), although this word is applied more com
monly, not so much to themselves, as to their
power dwelling in man (e.g. 1 Sam. xviii. 10 ; Matt.
viii. 16, &c). The word is the same as that
used of the soul of man, when separate from the
body (e.g. Matt. xiv. 26 ; Luke xxiv. 37, 39 ;
1 Pet. iii. 19) ; but, since it properly expresses
only that supersensuous and rational element of
man's nature, which is in him the image of God
(see John iv. 24), and by which he has com
munion with God (Rom. viii. 16); and since also
we are told that there is a " spiritual body " as
weU as a " natural (\jnix,K^r) body " (1 Cor. xv.
44), it does not assert that the angelic nature is
incorporeal. The contrary seems expressly im
plied by the words in which our Lord declares
that, after the Resurrection, men shall be " like
the Angels " (ladyyeAoi, Luke xx. 36) ; be
cause (as is elsewhere said, Phil. iii. 21) their
bodies, as well as their spirits, shall have been
made entirely like His. It may also be noticed
that the glorious appearance ascribed to the
Angels in Scripture (as in Dan. x. 6) is the
same as that which shone out in our Lord's
Transfiguration, and in which St. John saw Him
clothed in heaven (Rev. i. 14—16) ; and more
over, that, whenever Angels have been made
manifest to man, it has always been in human
form (as e.g. in Gen. xviii., xix. ; Luke xxiv. 4 ;
Acts i. 10, &c). The very fact that the titles
" sons of God " (Job i. 6, xxxviii. 7 ; Dan. iii. 25
compared with v. 28") and " gods " (Ps. viii. 5 ;
xcvii. 7), applied to them, are also given to men
(see Luke iii. 38 ; Ps. lxxxii. 6, and cp. our
Lord's application of this last passage in John x.
34-37), points in the same way to a difference
only of degree, and an identity of kind, between
the human and the angelic nature.
The Angels are therefore revealed to us as
beings, such as man might be and will be when
the power of sin and death is removed, partak
ing in their measure of the attributes of God,
Truth, Purity, and Love, because always
beholding His face (Matt, xviii. 10), and there
fore being " made like Him " (1 John iii. 2).
This, of course, implies finiteness, and therefore

ANGELS

131

a Gen. vi. 2 is omitted here and below, as being a
controverted passage ; although many MSS. of the LXX.
have ot ayyeAot instead of ot viol here.

(in' the strict sense) " imperfection " of nature
and constant progress, both moral and intel
lectual, through all eternity. Such imperfec
tion, contrasted with the infinity of God, is ex
pressly ascribed to them in Job iv. 18 ; Matt
xxiv. 36 ; 1 Pet. i. 12 : and it is this which
emphatically points them out to us as creatures,
fellow-servants of man, and therefore incapable
of usurping the place of gods.
This finiteness of nature implies capacity of
temptation (see Butler's Anal. Part i. c. 5) ;
and accordingly we hear of "fallen angels."
Of the nature of their temptation and the cir
cumstances of their fall, we know absolutely
nothing. All that is certain is, that they "left
their first estate " (rr)v eavruv bpxr)v) : and that
they are now " angels of the devil " (Matt. xxv.
41 ; Rev. xii. 7, 9), partaking therefore of the
falsehood, uncleanness, and hatred, which are
his peculiar characteristics (John viii. 44). All
that can be conjectured must be based on the
analogy of man's own temptation and fall.
On the other hand, the title especially as
signed to the Angels of God, that of the " holy
ones" (see e.g. Dan. iv. 13, 23, viii. 13; Matt.
xxv. 31), is precisely that which is given to
those men who are renewed in Christ's image,
but which belongs to them in actuality and in
perfection only hereafter (cp. Heb. ii. 10, v. 9,
xii. 23). Its use evidently implies that the
angelic probation is over, and their crown of
glory won.
Thus much then is revealed of the angelic
nature, as may make it to us an ideal of human
goodness (Matt. vi. 10), or a beacon of warning as
to the tendency of sin. It is obvious to remark
that in such revelation is found a partial satis
faction of that craving for the knowledge of
creatures, higher than ourselves and yet fellow-
servants with us of God, which in its diseased
form becomes Polytheism.b Its full satisfaction
is to be sought in the Incarnation alone ; and it
is to be noticed, that after the Revelation of
God in the flesh, the angelic ministrations re
corded are indeed fewer, but the references to the
Angels are far more frequent — as though the
danger of Polytheistic idolatry had, compara
tively speaking, passed away.
III. The most important subject, and that
on which we have the fullest revelation, is the
office of the Angels.
Of their office in heaven, we have, of course,
only vague prophetic glimpses (as in 1 K. xxii.
19; Is. vi. 1-3; Dan. vii. 9, 10; Rev. vi. 11,
&c), which show us nothing but a never-
ceasing adoration, proceeding from the vision of
God, through the " perfect love which casteth
out fear."
Their office towards man is far more fully
described to us. They are represented as being,
in the widest sense, agents of God's Providence,
natural and supernatural, to the body and to
the* soul. Thus the operations of nature are
spoken of, as under angelic guidance fulfilling
•> The inordinate subjectivity of German philosophy
on this subject (see, e.g., Winer's Bealw.), of course,
hastens to the conclusion that the belief in Angels is a
mere consequence of this craving, never (it would seem)
so entering into the analogy of God's Providence as to
suppose it possible that this inward craving should cor-
respond to some outward reality. K 2

132

ANGELS

the Will of God. Not only is this the case in
poetical passages, such as Ps. civ. 4 (com
mented upon in Heb. i. 7), where the powers of
air and fire are referred to them, but in the
simplest prose history, as where the pestilences
which slew the firstborn (Ex. xii. 23 ; Heb. xi.
28), the disobedient people in the wilderness
(1 Cor. x. 10), the Israelites in the days of
David (2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; 1 Ch. xxi. 16), and
the army of Sennacherib (2 K. xix. 35), as also
the plague which cut off Herod (Acts xii. 23),
are plainly spoken of as the work of the " Angel
of the Lord." Nor can the mysterious declara
tions of the Apocalypse, by far the most nume
rous of all, be resolved by honest interpretation
into mere poetical imagery (see especially Rev.
viii. and ix.). It is evident that angelic agency,
like that of man, does not exclude the action
of secondary, or (what are called) "natural"
causes, or interfere with the directness and uni
versality of the Providence of God. The per
sonifications of poetry and legends of mytho
logy are obscure witnesses of its truth, which,
however, can rest only on the revelations of
Scripture itself.
More particularly, however, Angels are
spoken of as ministers of what is commonly
called the "supernatural," or perhaps, more
correctly, the " spiritual " Providence of God ;
as agents in the great scheme of the spiritual
redemption and sanctification of man, of which
the Bible is the record. The representations of
them are different in different Books of Scrip
ture, in the Old Testament and in the New ; but
the reasons of the differences are to be found
in the differences of scope attributable to the
Books themselves. As different parts of God's
Providence are brought out, so also arise dif
ferent views of His angelic ministers.
In the Book of Job, which deals with " Na
tural Religion," they are spoken of but vaguely,
as surrounding God's throne above, and rejoicing
in the completion of His creative work (Job i. 6 ;
ii. 1 ; xxxviii. 7). No direct and visible appear
ance to man is even hinted at.
In the Book of Genesis, there is no notice of
angelic appearance till after the call of Abraham.
Then, as the Book is the history of the chosen
family, so the Angels mingle with and watch
over its family life, entertained by Abraham
and by Lot (Gen. xviii., xix.), guiding Abra
ham's servant to Padan-aram (xxiv. 7, 40), seen
by the fugitive Jacob at Bethel (xxviii. 12), and
welcoming his return at Mahanaim (xxxii. 1).
Their ministry hallows domestic life, in its trials
and its blessings alike, and is closer, more fami
liar, and less awful than in after-times (contrast
Gen. xviii. with Judg. vi. 21, 22 ; xiii. 16, 22).
In the subsequent history, that of a chosen
nation, the Angels are represented more as
ministers of wrath and mercy, messengers of a
King, rather than common children of the One
Father. It is, moreover, to be. observed, that
the records of their appearance belong especially
to two periods, that of the Judges and that of
the Captivity, which were transition periods in
Israelitish history, the former one destitute of
direct revelation or prophetic guidance, the
latter one of special trial and unusual contact
with heathenism. During the lives of Moses
and Joshua there is no record of the appearance
of created Angels, and only obscure reference to

ANGELS
Angels at all. In the Book of Judges Angels
appear at once to rebuke idolatry (ii. 1-1), to
call Gideon (vi. 11, &c), and consecrate Samson
(xiii. 3, &c.) to the work of deliverance.
The prophetic office begins with Samuel, and
immediately angelic guidance is withheld, except
when needed by the prophets themselves (1 K.
xix. 5 ; 2 K. vi. 17). During the prophetic and
kingly period, Angels are spoken of only (as
noticed above) as ministers of God in the opera
tions of nature. But in the Captivity, when the
Jews were in the presence of foreign nations,
each claiming its tutelary deity, then to the
Prophets Daniel and Zechariah, Angels are re
vealed in a fresh light, as watching, not only
over Jerusalem, but also over heathen king
doms, under the Providence, and to work out
the designs, of the Lord (see Zech. passim,
and Dan. iv. 13, 23 ; x. 10, 13, 20, 21, &c). In
the whole period, they, as truly as the Prophets
and kings themselves, are seen as God's minis
ters, watching over the national life of the sub
jects of the Great King.
The Incarnation marks a new epoch of angelic
ministration. " The Angel of Jehovah," the
Lord of all created Angels, having now descended
from heaven to earth, it was natural that His
servants should continue to do Him service
there. Whether to predict and glorify His birth
itself (Matt. i. 20 ; Luke i. ii.), to minister to
Him after His temptation and agony (Matt.
iv. 11 ; Luke xxii. 43), or to declare His Resur
rection and triumphant Ascension (Matt, xxviii. 2;
John xx. 12 ; Acts i. 10, 11) — they seem now to
be indeed " ascending and descending on the Son
of Man," almost as though transferring to earth
the ministrations of heaven. It is clearly seen,
that whatever was done by them for men in
earlier days, was but typical of and flowing from
their service to Him (see Ps. xci. 11 ; cp. Matt.
iv. 6).
The New Testament is the history of the
Church of Christ, every member of which is
united to Him. Accordingly, the Angels arc
revealed now, as "ministering spirits "to each
individual member of Christ for his spiritual.
guidance and aid (Heb. i. 14). The records of
their visible appearance are but infrequent
(Acts v. 19; viii. 26; x. 3; xii. 7; xxvii. 23);
but their presence and their aid are referred to
familiarly, almost as things of course, ever after
the Incarnation. They are spoken of as watch
ing over Christ's little ones c (Matt, xviii. 10),
as rejoicing over a penitent sinner (Luke xv. 10),
as present in the worship of Christians (1 Cor.
xi. 10)" and (perhaps) bringing their prayers
before God (Rev. viii. 3, 4), and as bearing the
souls of the redeemed into Paradise (Luke xvi.
22). In one word they are Christ's ministers of
grace now, as they shall be of judgment here
after (Matt. xiii. 39, 41, 49 ; xvi. 27 ; xxiv. 31,
&c). By what method they act we cannot
know of ourselves, nor are we told, perhaps lest

c The notion of special guardian Angels, watching
over individuals, is consistent with this passage, but not
necessarily deduced from it. The belief of it among tbe
early Christians is shown by Acts xii. 15.
d The difficulty of the passage has lod to its being
questioned, but the wording of the origmal and the
usage of the N. T. seem almost decisive on the point.
See Speaker's Comm. in loco.

ANGLING
we should worship them, instead of Him, Whose
servants they are (see Col. ii. 18 ; P>ev. xxii. 9) ;
but of course their agency, like that of human
ministers, depends for its efficacy on the aid of
the Holy Spirit.
Such is the action of God's Angels on earth, as
disclosed to us in the various stages of Revela
tion; that of the evil angels may be better
spoken of elsewhere [Satan] : here it is enough
to say that it is the direct opposite of their true
original office, but permitted under God's over
ruling Providence to go on until the judgment
day. That there are degrees of the angelic nature,
fallen and unfallen, and special titles and agencies
belonging to each, is clearly declared by St. Paul
(Eph. i. 21; Rom. viii. 38); but what their
general nature is, it is needless for us to know,
and therefore useless to speculate. For what
little is known of this special nature see Cheru
bim, Seraphim, Michael, Gabriel. [A. B.]
On the subject generally consult Oehler,
Theology of the Old Testament (index, s. n.) ;
Schultz, A. T. Theologie 4 (index, s. n.) ; Cremer,
Bibl. theol. Worterbuch d. N. T. Griicitat,1 s. v.
&77eAos (N. T. usage); Everling, Die Paulin-
ische Angclologie u. Ddmonologie ; article "Angel "
in Dict. of Christian Antiqq., Diet of Cliristian
Biography, and in Kitto's Cyclopedia 3; " Engel "
in Riehm's HWB. (Delitzsch), Herzog, RE.2
(Kiibel), Hamburger, RE., Weber, System der
altsynagogalen Palastinischen Theologie (index,
5. n. The last two writers give also the Rabbinic
opinions) ; Wetzer u. Welte's Kirch. Lex. (which
gives the R. C. teaching) ; Martensen, Christian
Dogmatics, §§ 68-71 ( Clark's For. Theol. Lib.) ;
and the Excursus on Angeloiogy in the Speaker's
Commentary on Tobit, p. 171, &c. (which brings
together the development of this subject in the
0. T., the Apocrypha, pseud-epigraphic writings,
later Jewish writings, and Assyrian documents).
Consult also the list of works in D. B., Amer.
edit. [F.]
ANGLING. [Fishing.]
ANI'AM (DlPiX, Ges. = lamentation of the
people ; A. 'Avidp, B. 'AAiaAtip ; Aniam), name
of a Manassite, and son of Shemidah (1 Ch. vii.
19). [F.]
A'NIM (D'J**, perhaps springs or fountains
= D'Vl**; -*¦• 'Aveip, B. Altrdp; Anim), a city
in the mountains of Judah, named with Eshte-
moh (es-Semu'a) and Goshen (Josh. xv. 50).
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 129. 18, 240.19,
'Aveip, Anim) mention a place of this name in
Daroma, nine miles south of Hebron (cp. also
Anea, s. v. Anab). It is now possibly Ghuwein,
about eleven miles south of Hebron and not far
from es-Semu'a (Knobel ; P. F. Mem. iii. 403 ;
Wilson, Lands of the Bible, i. 354). [G.] [W.]
ANISE [3 syll.] (dvnBov; anethum). This
word occurs only in Matt, xxiii. 23, " Woe unto
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites ! for ye pay
tithe of mint and anise and cummin." "Av-nBov
should probably be translated " dill " (Anethum
graveolens) ; so R. V. margin — a common garden
herb of the order Umbelliferae, which is found
both wild and cultivated in Palestine. Another
a Though this would normally be fil}***.

ANISE

133

claimant is the Anise (Pimpinella anisum), be
longing to the same order, and also found in the
country wild, though not so generally cultivated.
They are inconspicuous plants, resemblinc the
caraway, and are much alike in external character ;
the seeds of both, moreover, are and have been
long employed in medicine and cookery, as con
diments and carminatives. Celsius (Hierob. i.
494 sq.) quotes several passages from ancient
writers to show that the dill was commonly so
used, Pliny uses the term anisum to express
the Pimpinella anisum, and anethum to represent
the common dill ; he enumerates as many as
sixty-one diseases that the anisum is able to

Pimpinella anisum.
cure, and says that on this account it is some
times called anicetum.b The best anise, he adds,
comes from Crete ; and next to it that of Egypt
is preferred (Plin. H. N. xx. 17). Forskal
(Descript. Plant. 154) includes the anise
(Janisun, Arabic0) in the Materia Medica ot
Egypt. Dr. Royle is decidedly in favour of the
dill" being the proper translation, and -says that
the anethum" is more especially a genus of
Eastern cultivation than the other plant. The
strongest argument in favour of the dill is the
fact that the Talmud (Tract Massroth, c. iv.

b From i, not, and vt«aw, to conquer. It should be
noted that Dioscorides uses kvUtyTav, for dill, and not
anise. ,...,XX anisum, v. Gol. Arab. Lex. s. v.
a Dill, so called from the old Norse word, the nurse's
lullaby, to dill = to soothe. Hence the name of the car
minative plant, the dilling or soothing herb (see Wedgw.
Dict. Engl. Etymol.).
e a.v*6ov : according to an absurd etymology, Trapa to
avio Beiv, £ta ttjp ev rax" aiJ^orp (Etym. Mag. ed.
Gaisford).

134

ANKLET

S 5) uses the word shdbdth to express the dill,
" The seeds, the leaves, and the stem of dill
are, according to Rabbi Eliezer, subject to
tithe ;" and in connexion with this it should be

Common Dill (Anetlium oraveolens).
stated, that Forskal several times alludes to the
Anethum graveolens as growing both in a culti
vated and a wild state in Egypt, and he uses the
Arabic name for this plant, which is identical
with the Hebrew word, viz. Sjoebet, or Schibt
(Descr. Plant. 65, 109).
Celsius remarks upon the difference of opinion
amongst the old authors who have noticed this
plant, some maintaining that it has an agreeable
taste and odour, others quite the opposite ; the
solution of the difficulty is clearly that the
matter is simply one of opinion.
There is another plant very dissimilar in ex
ternal character to the two named above, the
leaves and capsules of which are powerfully car
minative. This is the aniseed-tree (Illicium ani-
setum), which belongs to the natural order
Magnoliaceae. In China this is frequently used
for seasoning dishes, &c. ; but the species of this
genus are not natives of the Bible lands, and
must not be confused with the Umbelliferous
plants noticed in this article. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ANKLET (rtepio-KeAiSes, TriSat ¦n-epto'q>vpioi,
Clem. Alex.). This word only occurs in Is. iii.
18, D'pD*;, A. V. " tinkling ornaments," R. V.
" anklets " (and as a proper name, Josh. xiii.
16) ; unless such ornaments are included in
nil'V**', Num. xxxi. 50, which word etymo-
logically would mean rather an anklet than a
bracelet. Indeed, the same word is used in
Is. iii. 20 (without the Aleph prosthetic) for
the " stepping-chains worn by Oriental women,
fastened to the ankle-band of each leg, so that
they were forced to walk elegantly with short
steps " (Gesen. s. v.). They were as common as
bracelets and armlets, and made of much the
same materials ; the pleasant jingling and
tinkling which they made as they knocked
against each other, was no doubt one of the

ANNA
reasons why they were admired .(Is. iii. 16, 18,
"the bravery of their tinkling ornaments").
To increase this pleasant sound pebbles were
sometimes enclosed in them (Calmet, s. v. Peris-
celis and Bells). The Arabic name " khul-
khal " seems to be onomatopoean, and
Lane (Mod. Egypt. App. A) quotes from
a song in allusion to the pleasure caused
by their sound, " the ringing of thine
anklets has deprived me of reason."
Hence Mohammed forbade them in pub
lic : " Let them not make a noise with
their feet, that their ornaments which
they hide may [thereby] be discovered "
(Koran, xxiv. 31, quoted by Lane). Xo
doubt Tertullian discountenances them
for similar reasons : " Nescio an crus de
periscelio in nervum se patiatur arctari.
. . Pedes domi figite et plus quam in
auro placebunt" (de cult, femin. ii. 13).
Clemens Alexandrinus further objects to
anklets because amatory inscriptions, &c.
were sometimes engraved on them (Pacd.
ii. 11).
They were sometimes of great value.
Lane speaks of them (although they are
getting uncommon) as " made of solid
gold or silver " (Mod. Egypt. 1. c.) ; but
he says that the poorer village children
wear them of iron. For their use among
the ancient Egyptians, see Wilkinson, ii.
339 (187 8) ; and among the ancient Greeks
and Romans, Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 12, Dict. of 6k.
and Rom. Ant. art. Periscelis. They do not, we
believe, occur in the Nineveh sculptures.

Modem Egyptian anklets — one-fourth of the real size.
(Lane, JlfW. Egypt.)
Livingstone writes of the favourite wife of an
African chief, " She wore a profusion of iron
rings on her ankles, to which were attached
little pieces of sheet iron to enable her to make
a tinkling as she walked in her mincing African
style " (p. 273). On the weight and incon
venience of the copper rings worn by the chiefs
themselves, and the odd walk it causes them to
adopt, see id. p. 276.
Consult Ges. Tliesaur. B. v. D31* : Schroder, de
Vest. p. 127 ; Rosenmiiller, Das alte u. h. 2Iorgenl.
iv. 212 ; id. Scliolia in Icsaiam, iii. 16 ; Bynaeus,
de Calceis Hebracorum, i. c. viii. [F. W. F.]
AN'NA (113*1, grace; "Avva; Anna). The
name occurs in Punic as the sister of Dido.
1. The mother of Samuel (1 K. i. 2 sq.). [Han
nah.] 2. The wife of Tobit (Tob. i. 9 sq.).
3. The wife of Raguel (Tob. vii. 2 sq. ; HDIB,
Heb. and Chald. [ed. Neubauer] ; 'ESvd ; Itala,
Anna). 4. A " prophetess " in Jerusalem at the
time of our Lord's birth (Luke ii. 36). [B. F. W.]

ANNAAS
AN'NAAS (A. S,avdas, B. 2apd; Anaas),
1 Esd. v. 23. [Sektaah.]
AN'NAS. 1. 'Avvas or "Avvas, shortened
form ofthe fuller "Avavos employed by Josephus ;
Heb. pn, merciful, same name as Hanan.
He was the son of Seth, and was appointed
high-priest by Quirinius (Cyeenius), a.d. 6
(Joseph. Ant. xviii. 2, 1). He was displaced by
Valerius Gratus at the beginning of the reign
of Tiberius, about a.d. 15, and Ismael, son of
Phabi, was appointed in his stead (Joseph. Ant.
xviii. 2, 1). During this period the Romans ap
pointed and removed the high-priests, either
directly as was done by Quirinius and Gratus, or
by delegation of their power to a native prince.
Annas was considered " very fortunate " in that
he had five sons, all * of whom filled the
high-priestly ofiice (Joseph. Ant xx. 9, 1). They
were (1) Eleazar, a.d. 16-17 ; (2) Jonathan,
a.d. 36-37 ; (3) Theophilus, A.D. 37 ; (4)
Matthias, three or four years later ; and lastly,
(5) Ananus, a.d. 62, who only retained office for
three months. The office was also held by his
son-in-law, Joseph Caiaphas, a.d. 18-36 (John
xviii. 13). The notices of Annas in the New
Testament by (1) St. Luke, (2) St. John, present
some difficulty. (1) St. Luke (Luke iii. 2, and
Acts iv. 6) gives him the title of high-priest
(apxtepebs) at periods both of which fall after his
removal from office ; and in the earlier passage
the year is dated as that of his high-priesthood
in conjunction with Caiaphas, though the
illogical form of expression («rl bpxiepius ' ' Avva.
Kai Kaidtpa) is such as to give the notion that
there were two conflicting ideas in the writer's
mind ; namely, one actual officiating high- priest,
and two men exercising conjointly the influence
ofthe office. (2) St. John, though not quite
certainly describing Annas as high-priest (John
xviii. 15, 19), yet assigns to him the first exa
mination of Christ after His arrest (John xviii.
13. On the place and division of the examina
tions, see Westcott's Commentary, ad loc. ; and
for another view, Edersheim's Life and Times of
tlie Messiah, Bk. V. xiii.). The part assigned by
St. John to Annas is held by objectors (Keim,
Jesus of Hazard) to be inconsistent with the
historical fact ofthe high-priesthood of Caiaphas,
and with the narratives of the Synoptists which
omit Annas entirely. The difficulties arising
from St. Luke (the title of high-priest) and from
St. John (the part taken by Annas) will be best
treated separately. (1) The title dpxiepevs —
only once (Lev. iv. 3) in LXX., excluding the
Apocrypha — is ambiguous in Josephus. It may
mean the acting high-priest, or it may mean
one of that body collectively called " the chief
priests " (ol apxiepeis) both in Josephus and
the N. T. passim (but see especially Mark xiv.
53, where sing, and plur. occur in the same
verse). It was a large body (iroAAois t&v
apxiepeuv, Joseph. Vit. 38), and rank was pro
bably taken in it by age (B. J. iv. 4, 3). Thus
Josephus mentions together as " high-priests,"

a The frequent changes may have been partly due to
the fact that the office involved the practice of austerities
which rich and aristocratic persons did not care to un
dertake for more than a year (see Derenbourg, Essai
sur VEistoire et la Geographie de la Palestine, xiii.
p. 215, note).

ANOINT

135

or rather " chief priests," one who had filled the
office (Jonathan), and was then an influential
member of " the chief priests," and Ananias, the
high-priest actually in office at the time (tous
bpxiepeis 'luvdBnv Kai 'Avavlav, B. J. ii. 12, 6).
He assigns the first place not to the actual high-
priest, but to the (probably) elder man. We
have here an exact parallel to "Annas and
Caiaphas" (Luke iii. 2). Another probable
instance occurs (Joseph. Vit. 38). Annas is cal led
chief priest (apxtepebs) as one of the chief priests
(bpxtepels), and not simply as a past high-priest,
though that alone would be sufficient explana
tion. The qualifications for being reckoned one
of the apxiepels cannot be discussed here, but
see Schurer, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte, pp. 420-3 ;
id. Gesch. d. Jiidischen Volkes,2 ii. pp. 166-174.
(2) The part taken by Annas (John xviii.) in the
trial of Christ was due to his dominant influence
in the aristocratic (Jos. Ant xx. 10) Jewish
constitution. This influence was not given him
by the advancement of his sons as described
above, but was the cause of their advancement.
Schurer instances three other past high-priests
who continued after their removal to exercise an
influence like that of Annas ; namely, Jonathan,
Ananias, and Ananus (see his reff. to Josephus).
Hence there is no occasion with Wieseler
(Herzog, RE.2 s. v. Annas) to contend for a
president of the Sanhedrin other than the high-
priest, to assign this office to Annas, and to base
on this his claim to the title of apxiepeis, and
to the first examination of Christ.
On the booths of the sons of Annas, their
situation, and their identification with the
Temple Market, see Edersheim, Life and Times
of the Messiah, Bk. III. v. On the general
question, see Schurer, Neutest. Zeitgeschichte,
§ 23, whose view has on the whole been adopted
above, and comp. art. Caiaphas. See for Wiese-
ler's view art. Annas in Herzog, RE.2 [E. R. B.]
2. B. ' Avvdv, A. ' Avvds ; Nuas. In the parallel
lists called Hakim (1 Esd. ix. 32 ; cp. Ezra x. 31).
ANNTJ'TJS (B. [v. 47] omits, A. "Avvovvos ;
Amin [v. 49], 1 Esd. viii. 48). Probably a mis
reading of iFlK (A.V. " with him ") in Ezra
viii. 19. The translator may have read 13X-
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ANOINT (H^D, or TJ-ID ; xp'"°, &*-ei<pu;
ungo). Of the two Hebrew words the former is
used chiefly, though not exclusively (e.g. Amos
vi. 6), of religious or official anointings, whereas
the latter appears to be confined to the ordinary
anointing of the body. The LXX. use xp'm an^
aAeitpw as the rendering of both Hebrew words,
though they more frequently render flti'lO by
Xpiu and '"'¦ID by bAettpu. In the N. T. x?'ia
and its derivatives (xpitrpa, xPlaTOS') are used
exclusively in a metaphorical or spiritual sense,
aAeicpu being reserved for material unction.
Once (Mark xiv. 8) pvpifa is used. In Ps. xxiii.
5, "Thou anointest my head with oil," the
Hebrew is F\W^, " Thou hast made fat ;" LXX.,
iA'nravas ; Vulg., impinguasti. In Ps. xcii. 10
(Heb. v. 11) it is 'Jf?**,, lit. "I am drenched"
(Kay : R. V. " anointed ") ; the word being
elsewhere rendered " mingled " (Lev. ii. 4, 5 ;
Num. vii. 13, 19).
The word " anoint " is used in Holy Scripture,

136

ANOINT

I. Of a personal and social custom ; II. Of a re
ligious or inaugural rite; and III. In a meta
phorical or spiritual sense.
I. A personal and social custom. — Amongst
the Jews, as amongst other ancient nations, the
practice of anointing the body by rubbing in oil
or other unguents prevailed commonly (Deut.
xxviii. 40; Ruth iii. 3; Mic. vi. 15). Such
anointing appears to have been regarded, not
only as contributing to health and comfort, and
invigorating the body (comp. the use of oil in
the gymnasium by the Greeks, Thucyd. i. 6 ;
and the names o aAei-jrnjs, the trainer, ol
aAeitpipevoi, the gymnasts), but as conducing to
personal comeliness : " to make the face to shine
with oil " (Ps. civ. 15. Cp. Prov. xxvii. 9).
1. Festal. — Hence the practice came to have
a festal character, and to take its place among
the rites of hospitality. With the Egyptians,
though " it is probable that like the Greeks they
anointed themselves before they left home, yet
still it was customary for a servant to attend
every guest, as he seated himself, and to anoint
his head; and this was one of the principal
tokens of welcome " (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyp
tians, i. 77, 78 [1878], who adds that the
ointment was " sweet-scented," and " was con
tained sometimes in an alabaster, sometimes in
an elegant porcelain vase "). In like manner
with the Jews, anointing the head with oil or
ointment was a mark of respect and welcome
paid by a host to his guests (Ps. xxiii. 5 ;
Matt. xxvi. 7 ; John xi. 2, xii. 3). The de
signed omission of this customary attention by
the Pharisee, whose guest He was, is noticed by
our Lord (Luke vii. 46). From this festal and
luxurious usage, to be anointed with oil came to
signify metaphorically to be in the enjoyment
of success or prosperity (Ps. xcii. 10 [Heb. v. 11].
Cp. Eccles. ix. 8 ; Wisd. ii. 7). On the other hand,
the festal character of anointing is shown by
the discontinuance of it being looked upon as
a sign of mourning (2 Sam. xii. 20, xiv. 2 ;
Dan. x. 3 ; Matt. vi. 17).
2. Funereal. — The use of anointing as a mark
of honour and respect, together with the desire
to preserve the body from corruption, led to the
practice of anointing a corpse with ointment, as
well as to Strewing with spices the folds of linen
in which the limbs were wound. Both these
processes are spoken of as "anointing" in con
nexion with the burial of our Lord. When the
woman poured the precious ointment upon His
head, He said, " In that she poured this oint
ment upon My body, she did it to prepare Me
for burial " (Matt. xxvi. 12, R.V.). Of the holy
women who came to the sepulchre we read
that they " prepared spices and ointments "
(Luke xxiii. 56), and that they " bought spices
that they might come and anoint Him " (Mark
xvi. 1).
3. Medicinal. — The beneficial effect of anoint
ing with oil or ointment was not restricted to
the body in health. Oil was universally be
lieved to have curative properties in disease or
sickness [Oil]. And the Jews did not differ
from other nations in this particular. Thus
Isaiah speaks of wounds and sores which have
not been " mollified with oil " (i. 6), and the
Good Samaritan pours " oil and wine " (the
approved remedies of both Greek and Roman
physicians) into the wounds of him who had

ANOINT
fallen among robbers (Luke x. 34). There was
consequently a certain appropriateness, thoughi
we cannot suppose that there was any virtue,
inasmuch as the cure was entirely supernatural,
in the symbol chosen by our Lord and His
Apostles, when they anointed the blind with
clay (John ix. 6, 11), or the sick with oil (Mark
vi. 13), and by St. James in his well-known
direction to the elders of the Church (v. 14).
4. Anointing the shield. — Before going into
battle it was customary to rub oil or grease into-
the leather or hide which was stretched over
the framework of the shield, in order lomake it
supple, and that the strokes which fell upon it,
might the more readily glide off. If the shield
were of metal, it was anointed to cleanse and
furbish it. Cp. Virg. Aen. vii. 626, 627 :
" Pars leves clypeos et spicula lucida tergunt
Arvina pingui."
To this custom Isaiah refers, in describing the
sudden call to arms, in the midst of feasting,
when Babylon was taken : " Rise up, ye princesr
anoint the shield " (xxi. 5 ; LXX. eTOipduart
Bupeovs ; Vulg., arripite clypeum). Another
allusion to it is to be found in 2 Sam. i. 21,
where the words " not anointed with oil " are
taken by modern commentators to refer not to.
Saul but to his shield, which was " cast away,
not anointed with oil " [so R. V.], i.e. left stained
and polluted with the blood of its owner (cp.
Speaker's Comm. or Keil), no longer polished
and ready to be worn, but lying neglected upon
the mountains.
II. Religious or inaugural. — The earliest ex
ample in the Bible of consecration by anointing
is when Jacob, awaking from his dream at
Bethel, " took the stone that he had put for his-
pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured
oil upon the top of it " (Gen. xxviii. 18. Cp-
xxxv. 14). "In all ages of primitive history,
such monuments are, if we may so call them,
the earliest ecclesiastical edifices. In Greece-
there were rude stones at Delphi, still visible in
the second century, anterior to any temple, and,
like the rock of Bethel, anointed (Paus. vii. 22 ;
x. 24) with oil by the pilgrims who came
thither. In Northern Africa, Arnobius, after
his conversion, describes the kind of fascination
which had drawn bim towards one of those aged
stones, streaming and shining with the sacred oil
which had been poured upon it " (Arnobius adv.
Gent. i. 39. Cp. Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 60).
At the introduction of the Mosaic economy, the
Tabernacle and all its furniture were dedicated
to the service of Almighty God by being
anointed with an " oil of holy ointment," for
the composition of which special directions were
given (Exod. xxx. 22-29), and the employment
of which for any secular purpose was to be
visited with the penalty of death (vv. 31-33).
No mention is made of any such anointing in
the case either of the first or second Temple r
but as the " anointing oil " was reckoned a part
of the standing furniture of the Tabernacle
(Exod. xxxix. 38), and was given perpetually in
charge to the high-priest ; and as moreover it.
was in the Tabernacle in the time of Solomon
(1 K. i. 39), and was " made " by " some of the
sons of the priests " (1 Ch. ix. 30) after the
Captivity, it would seem probable that the cere
mony was not omitted. It is, however, in the
official consecration of persons that the act of.

ANOINT
anointing attains its highest significance in the
0. T. Anointing with oil was a rite of inaugu
ration into each of the three typical offices of
the Jewish Commonwealth. As anointed, the
tenants of those offices were types of the
Anointed One (rPK'D, xp'Tos)-
1. Priests. — The holy oil, which was specially
compounded and used for the dedication of the
Tabernacle and its furniture, was also employed
in the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the
priesthood (Exod. xxx. 30). At the first insti
tution of the office, all the priests were in some
sense anointed (Exod. xxviii. 41, xl. 15; Num.
iii. 3), though, according to the best Hebrew
authorities, the high-priest alone had the oil
poured on his head (see Lev. iv. 3) ; and his sons
were only anointed with the oil applied by the
finger on the forehead (see Reland, Antiq. ii.
1, 5 ; Selden, de Success. Pontif. ii. 2 ; Keil,
p. 56 ; Wordsworth on Lev. viii. 13). This dis
tinction between the original anointing of Aaron
and of his sons appears to be borne out by the
narrative in Lev. viii., where the oil is said to
have been poured upon the head of Aaron only
[v. 12), whereas in the second and different
action of sprinkling it upon the person and the
garments (v. 30) his sons are included. That
each succeeding high-priest was anointed to his
office is undoubted (Lev. xvi. 32), but it has
been questioned whether, after the first inaugu
ration, the ceremony was repeated in the case of
ordinary priests. The title " the priest that is
anointed " (fTE'S**! jnbn ; LXX., d apxiepeis,
6 Kexpiapivos), by which the high-priest is dis
tinguished (Lev. iv. 3, 5, 16 ; vi. 22 [Heb. v. 15]),
may belong to him either as the sole anointed
priest, or (as seems more probable from its
being used at a time when we know that the
common priests were anointed) in consequence
of the additional anointing which we have seen
that he received.
2. Kings. — We learn from Jotham's parable
that the Jews were familiar with the idea of
making a king by anointing, before the estab
lishment of their own monarchy (Judg. ix. 8,
15 ; cp. 1 Sam. ii. 10). Their sojourn in
Egypt would have taught them, that in that
country, "one of the principal ceremonies con
nected with the coronation was the anointing of
the king, and his receiving the emblems of
majesty from the gods." The sculptures repre
sent the gods themselves as anointing the king,
but it was no doubt done by the high-priest,
clad in his official robe, a leopard skin, who thus
conferred upon the king the title of " The
anointed of the gods " (cp. " The anointed
of Jehovah," 1 Sam. xxiv. 6. Wilkinson, Ane.
Egypt i. 275 [1878]). The first king of Israel
was anointed to his office by the express com
mand of God (1 Sam. ix. 16; x. 1). On
David, his immediate successor, the ceremony
was thrice performed : first, privately by

ANOINT

137

a Another point of contact with the Jewish ordinance
which Wilkinson points out is, that " as the Jewish law
giver mentions the ceremony of pouring oil upon the
head of the high-priest, after he had put on his entire
dress, with the mitre and crown (Exod. xxix. 5, 1), so
the Egyptians represent the anointing of their priests
and kings after they were attired in their full robes,
with the cap and crown upon their head " (cp. 2 Kings
ix. 3).

Samuel, before the death of Saul, by way
of conferring on him a right to the throne-
(1 Sam. xvi. 1, 13) ; again, as king over Judah
at Hebron (2 Sam. ii. 4) ; and finally, as kino-
over the whole nation (2 Sam. v. 3). Whethui-
anointing was practised on the accession of each
new king has been doubted. Besides Saul aud
David, Solomon, Jehu, and Joash (1 K. i. 39 ;
2 K. ix. 6, xi. 12) are distinctly said to have
been anointed. But in these cases it is con
tended that disputed title to the throne, or
change of dynasty, may account for the fact
(Jahn, Archaeol. Bibl. 223). Even, however, if
we admit, in accordance with Jewish tradition,
that after the separation into two kingdoms
the kings of Israel were not ordinarily anointed,
for lack of the sacred oil which was kept in the
Temple at Jerusalem, it seems much more pro
bable that the custom still obtained with the
kings of Judah. The designation of the king
as " The Lord's anointed," which began with the
institution of the monarchy (1 Sam. xii. 3, 5,
xvi. 6, xxiv. 6, 10 ; 2 Sam. i. 14, xix. 21), was
maintained, as it scarcely would have been if
the practice of anointing had been discontinued*
even to the time of the Babylonian Captivitv
(Ps. Ixxxix. 38, 51 ; Lam. iv. 20). Besides
Jewish kings, Hazael was to be anointed king
over Syria (1 K. xix. 15), i.e. not necessarily by
performance of the outward rite, but by the-
declared will of Jehovah (2 K. viii. 13). Simi
larly, Cyrus is called the Lord's " anointed," as
having been raised by God to the throne for the
special purpose of delivering the Jews out of
Captivity (Is. xiv. 1).
3. Prophets. — -To the remaining typical order
among the Jews, that of Prophets, admission by
anointing is not so clearly defined. Only one
instance, that of Elisha, occurs in which it is
distinctly spoken of (1 K. xix. 16) ; and even
there the expression may perhaps be used meta
phorically. Casting his mantle upon him
(v. 19) is the only action which Elijah is stated
to have performed, in appointing Elisha to be
his successor. Elsewhere the phrase, "Mine
anointed," is found in the parallelism of Hebrew-
poetry, as the equivalent of " My Prophets '*
(Ps. cv. 15 ; 1 Ch. xvi. 22. Cp. Gen. xx. 7).
III. Metaphorical or spiritual sense. — A fit
emblem in itself of spiritual influences, both by
its invigorating and exhilarating effects, and by
its gentle and penetrating action, anointing with
oil became intimately associated with such
influences, through its constant and divinely
appointed use, as the symbol of consecration ana)
equipment for the service of God. Thus the
N. T. writers found the term ready to their-
hand when they came to speak of the bestowal
of the Holy Spirit, either (1) upon Christ, or
(2) upon Christians.
1. As regards our Lord Himself, He was both
foretold (Dan. ix. 25, 26) and recognised (John
i. 41) as the Messiah, or Christ, or Anointed.
In many cases the 0. T. prophecy which so
describes Him is quoted and applied to Him by
the writers of the N. T. (cp. Ps. ii. 2 with Acts
iv. 26, 27 ; Ps. xiv. 7 [Heb. v. 8] with Heb. i.
9 ; Is. lxi. 1 with Luke iv. 18). The historical
fact that the Holy Ghost came upon Him is
asserted (Matt. iii. 16. Cp. John iii. 34), and is
interpreted to mean that God " anointed " Him
"with the Holy Ghost and with power" (Acts

138

ANOS

x. 38). To prove that Jesus is Christ was a
chief aim of the first preachers of Christianity
when they dealt with Jews (Acts ix. 22 ; xvii.
2, 3 ; xviii. 5, 28). By His official name of
Christ or Anointed our Lord claimed for and
gathered up into Himself, as their rightful owner
and true exponent, all those typical offices of
the earlier dispensation to which their occupants
had been admitted by the ceremony of anointing.
2. To Christians the same spiritual anointing
descends from and is imparted by Him, the
Head. The Psalmist already anticipates the
truth, when he likens the spirit of unity among
brethren to " the precious oil upon the head,
that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's
beard ; that came down upon the skirt of his gar
ments " (Ps. cxxxiii. 2, R. V.). The followers of
Christ are said to be " anointed " by God (2 Cor.
i. 21), and to " have an unction," or " anointing,"
" from the Holy One " (xpiapa, 1 John ii. 20,
27). With a reference to the medicinal proper
ties of oil or ointment, those who lack spiritual
perception are exhorted to " anoint their eyes
with eye-salve " (KoAAoipiov iyxplaat robs
otpBaApois, Rev. iii. 18). The actual use of
anointing with oil as a material symbol of
spiritual gifts, by the Christian Church at Bap
tism, or confirmation, or in " extreme unction,"
does not fall within the scope of this article.
The reader is referred to the several articles in
the Dict. of Christ. Antiq. and to Bingham's
Origines Ecclesiast. [T. T. P.]
A'NOS ("Avoir ; Jonas). One of the sons of
M'aani, who had taken " strange wives," and put
them away (1 Esd. ix. 34). [Vaniah.] [F.]
ANT (*1?13{1, nemaldh ; puppy!- ; formica "¦).
The ant is twice mentioned in the Book of
Proverbs. In one passage it is held forth as a
pattern of industry, in the other as a model of
wisdom. As a pattern of industry, " Go to the
ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be
wise : which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
provideth her meat in the summer, and
gathereth her food in the harvest " (Prov. vi.
6-8). As a model of wisdom : " There be four
things which are little upon the earth, but they
are exceeding wise : the ants are a people not
strong, yet they prepare their meat in the
summer " (xxx. 24, 25). The natural interpre-

¦ From PD3. abscissus (Simon. Lex, Eeb. ed. Winer).
The derivationof the word is uncertain. Gesenius (Thes.)
is inclined to derive it from the Arabic V \," conscendit,
pec. proreptando arborem reptandi vim habuisse vide-
tur, unde obtrectandi potestas profecta eet." Vid. Gol.
Arab. Lex. s. v. V. conj. " moti inter sese permistique
stout formicarum reptantium more." Cf. Michaelis,
Sup. Lex. Eeb. ii. 1644, and Eosenmtlll. not. ad Bochart,
iii. 480. Is it not probable that the name nemdldli (from
?D3> " to cut ") was given to the ant from Us extreme
tenuity at the junction of the thorax and abdomen ? If
the term insect is applicable to any one living creature
more than to another, it certainly is to the ant. Ifemd-
lah is the exact equivalent to insect. Parkhurst— s. v.
?D (iv.)— gives a similar derivation. Another may be
seen in Delitzsch on Prov. vi. 6. The English word ant
appears to be an abbreviation of the form emmet (Sax.
aemmet).

ANT
tation of both these passages is that the ant
proves her industry and wisdom by storing up
in summer a supply for winter use. It is well
known that not only the Jews, but the ancient
Greeks and Romans, were acquainted with the
habit of certain ants of storing up food, which it
collected in the summer, for the winter's con
sumption. The earliest classical writers speak of the
storing habits of the ants. Thus Hesiod (Days,
1. 14) writes, ore r" iSpis oSipov apinai, " when
the provident collects its heap." Horace alludes
to its foresight (Sat. l. 1, 33-35)." So Aesop, in
his familiar fable ofthe Ant and the Grasshopper,
Plautus (Trin. ii. 4) speaks of money vanishing
in a twinkling, like poppy-seeds thrown to the
ants. Virgil, in a familiar passage (Aen. iv.
402-407), compares the Trojans hurrying their
departure to the busy trains of harvesting ants.
In fact, "As provident as an ant" was as
familiar a proverb as with us "As busy as a
bee." Aelian, a writer on natural history in the
time of Hadrian, gives a very full and detailed
account of the habits of the ant (de Nat. Anim.
ii. 25, and vi. 43), describing, among other par
ticulars, two very curious examples of provident
instinct, which have been verified by recent
observation, viz. the biting off the radicle of
the root of the seed when it begins to germi
nate ; and also the fact of some of the ants,
when harvesting, climbing up the stalks and
nibbling off the seed capsules, which fall among
the workers below, who then detach the husk
or chaff, before carrying off the grain and
storing it in their subterranean granaries.
But to the Bible student the most interesting
evidence of the observed habits of ants among
ancient writers is to be found in the Mishna,
compiled by Hillel, the Jewish Rabbi, about
the time of our Saviour, and which is valuable
as a record of a multitude of very ancient
customs and observances, which, but for it,
would probably have been long ago forgotten.
The first section, called Zeraim, is occupied
about seeds and crops. In the chapter " de
Angulo" in the Latin Version, which treats of
the corner of the fields bearing crops, which
should be set aside for the poor, and of the
rights of the gleaners, we are told that the
granaries of ants (formicarum cavernulae) which
may be found in the midst of a growing crop of
corn, shall belong to the owner of the crop;
but if these granaries are found after the
reapers have passed, the upper part of each
heap shall go to the poor, and the lower part to
the owner. It is added that Rabbi Meir was of
opinion that the whole should go to the poor,
because whenever any doubt arose about a
question of gleaning, the decision should be in
favour of the gleaner. The reason for this
quaint piece of legislation seems to have been
this : If the stores were found among the stand
ing corn or while the reapers were at work, the
owner might undoubtedly claim them ; but if
they were discovered after the reapers had

t> " Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris
Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo
Quern struit, baud ignara ac non incauta futuri."
Hor. Sat. i. 1, 33.
Cp. also Ovid, Met. vii. 624 ; Virg. Georg. i. 186, Aen. v.
402; Plin. xi. 30 ; Aelian, E.A.U. 25, vi. 43, ke.

ANT
passed, it was presumable that the ants, who
had never ceased their labours, might have
collected some grains of fallen corn, which
would pertain of right to the gleaners. These
grains would be the last gathered, and there
fore would lie on the top of the store. The
regulation is not only interesting as an illustra
tion of the microscopic habit of mind of those
who "tithed mint and anise and cummin," but
as proving that the harvesting ants of Syria had
earned a place among these laws by amassing
stores of sufficient size and so deposited as to
make them worth collecting.
But why has there been any difficulty on the
subject ? The language of the wise man is in
accordance not only with the universal belief of
his time, but with the accurately ascertained
facts of natural history. Much is due to the
late Mr. J. T. Moggridge, who studied and
elucidated the habits of the harvesting ants in
his interesting volumes Harvesting Ants and
Trapdoor Spiders, London, 1873-4. Kirby and
Spence stated accurately enough that none of
the northern European ants made any hoard or
magazine of grain for winter use. All the
English, French, and German naturalists have
repeated the statement without question, of all
European ants. Latreille, Huber, and others
added the weight of their authority, drawn only
from northern experiences ; and subsequent
compilers like Blanchard, and commonplace
objectors to the accuracy of Holy Writ, have
caught it up and generalized upon it. The
result of further investigation has shown with
what care the generalizations of even the ablest
observers are to be received, and how often they
dogmatize from insufficient data, while, as has
often happened in other cases, the accuracy of
Scripture and of ancient authorities has been in
the end triumphantly vindicated. It is true
that of the 104 species known to inhabit Europe,
only three — Atta barbara, Atta structor, and
Pheidole megacephala—axe known to lay up
stores for winter. How then, it may be asked,
does it come that the ancients were familiar
with the storing habits of the ant, while the
moderns remained in ignorance of them ? Simply
because these species are commonest on the
Mediterranean shores, and have not been noticed
in the north of Europe. The long trains of
harvesters remain conspicuous in the fields in
the south for hours together, while Atta structor
is in the habit of frequenting the neighbourhood
and even the interior of towns, and is a familiar
object to everyone on the Mediterranean coasts.
Contrary to their habits in colder climates, the
ants are not there dormant in winter, and among
the tamarisk trees by the Dead Sea they may be
seen in January actively engaged in collecting
aphides and saccharine exudations, in long file
passing and repassing up and down the branches.
But it is said the ants are not graminivorous,
but animal feeders. True of the great family
Formica, with the species of which we are
familiar here, but the most common species of
the Holy Land, Atta barbara and Atta structor,
are strictly seed-feeders, and in summer lay up
large stores of grain for winter use. Even
recently M. G. de St. Pierre (Ants and Spiders,
p. 29) mentions the depredations made among
the corn crops at Hyeres by these ants. Col.
Sykes (Trans. Ent. Soe. Lond. ii. 103) records

ANT

139

the harvesting habits of an Indian species, Atta
providens, and gives a detailed account of his
observations, being, as he states, the more care
ful in his notes, from the denial of this habit by
European naturalists. Dr. Jerdon, too, describes
(Madras Jour. Lit. and Sci. 1851) similar storing
habits in Atta rufa aud Occodoma diffusa. Mr.
C. Home (Science Gossip, 1872, p. 109) gives
similar details of another Indian species, and Dr.
Buchanan White' corroborates Mr. Moggridge's
account of the Italian ants (Trans. Ent. Soe.
Lond. 1872, p. 5). The writer has been re
peatedly an eye-witness of this habit in Syria.
Beyond the providence of the ant, modern
research has proved its wisdom and instinct to
be far in advance of that of any other known
insect, not even excepting the bee. Its skill in
architecture is wonderful and varied. Some
species build their labyrinths of pellets of
kneaded clay, arched and fitted like the most
skilful masonry; others employ rafters and
beams for their roofs, others cut leaves into neat
circular tiles and thatch their roofs with this
shingling (Bates, Amazon, 1-3), others excavate
the trunks of trees. They fortify their passages
against rain and enemies, closing them every
night and opening them in the morning. Like
the bees and wasps, their communities are com
posed of males, females, and neuters, the latter
being both the workers and the rulers. These
receive the eggs, watch over them with un
ceasing care, bring the larvae to enjoy the sun's
warmth, and in the evening carry them back to
their chambers. They gather food for them,
and supply them incessantly ; they tear the
cases away from the cocoons when the imago is
ready to emerge ; they spread and dry the
wings, which the males and females alone
possess ; they afterwards tend the females, feed
them, wash them, and keep continual guard.
They rear myriads of aphides or small plant
parasites from the egg to supply food for the
young, and keep them like cows. Some species,
as the Amazon ants, organise regular marauding
expeditions, attack the colonies of other ants,
and carry off the larvae to be their slaves. In fact,
had not the habits of the ants been verified by
the observations of the most careful and truth
ful naturalists, they would have been incredible.
Truly, indeed, did Agur pronounce them to be
" exceeding wise."
Modern observers have recorded the extra
ordinary habit of the harvesting ants, of
occasionally bringing their stores to the surface,
and then burying them again. Many ancient
writers have noticed this habit, Aelian, Plutarch,
Epiphanius, and others, as well as Arabic
authorities, quoted at length by Bochart
(Hieroz. iii. 596). Whether this be to check
germination, or merely to dry and preserve the
seeds, is not yet ascertained. But it has been
proved that the seeds do not germinate in an
ant's granary ; although if the place be deserted
by the insects they will immediately begin to
sprout. The ants have been often noticed to
bite off the radicle of a sprouting seed. The
observations of Mr. Moggridge led him to con
clude that the ants, by this treatment, and by
the exposure of the grain, actually malt it
before eating it ; waiting till the sprouting seed
is ready to grow and has developed the saccha
rine matter so grateful to the tribe ; not merely

140

ANTICHRIST

keeping it till the seed has become soft and more
accessible to their mandibles.
A small cricket, Gryllus myrmecophilus, in
habits the nests of harvesting ants, who carry
it about with them in their migrations (Savi,
Bibliot Ital. torn. xv. p. 217).
Ants are hymenopterous insects of the family
Formicariac, of which there are two great divi
sions, Formica, stingless, and Myrmica, armed
with a sting. Of each sub-family there are many
genera. Most of the European species belong to
Formica. Formica rufa affords the formic acid,
a peculiar secretion from the glands of the
abdomen. Atta and Pheidole, to which genera
most of the harvesting ants belong, come under
the sub-family Myrmica.
The Arabians held the wisdom of the ant in
such estimation, that they used to place one of
these insects in the hands of a newly-born infant,
repeating these words, " May the boy turn out
clever and skilful." Hence in Arabic, with the
noun nemleh, " an ant," is connected the adjec
tive nemil, " quick," " clever " (Bochart, Hieroz.
iii. 494). In Rajputana to this day, the Hindoos
scatter ceremonially dry rice and sugar for the
ants. The Talmudists, too, attributed great
wisdom to this insect. It was, they say, from
beholding the wonderful ways of the ant that
the following expression originated : " Thy jus
tice, 0 God, reaches to the heavens " (Clvulin, 63.
See a collection of Jewish sayings on the ant in
PSBA. iii. 68, &c). [H. B. T.]
ANTELOPE, in R. V. (Deut. xiv. 5; Is.
Ii. 20) ; in A. V. " wild ox " (Deut.) and " wild
bull " (Is.). [See Bull, Wild.]
ANTICHRIST (o bvTiXpitrTos). The word
Antichrist is used by St. John in his first and
second Epistles, and by him alone. Elsewhere
it does not occur in Scripture. Nevertheless,
by general consent, the term has been applied to
the Man of Sin of whom St. Paul speaks iu the
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, to the Little
Horn and to the fierce-countenanced King of
whom Daniel prophesies, and to the two Beasts
of the Apocalypse, as well as to the false Christs
whose appearance our Lord predicts in His pro
phetic discourse on the Mount of Olives. Before
we can arrive at any clear and intelligent view
of what Scripture teaches us on the subject of
Antichrist, we must decide whether this exten
sion of the term is properly made ; whether
the characteristics of the Antichrist are those
alone with which St. John makes us acquainted
in his Epistles, or whether it is his portrait
which is drawn, darker, fuller, and larger, in
some or all of the other passages to which we
have referred.
(A.) The following are the passages in Scrip
ture which ought to be carefully compared for
the elucidation of our subject : — I. Matt. xxiv.
3-31. II. 1 John ii. 18-23, iv. 1-3; 2 John
5, 7. III. 2 Thess. ii. 1-12; 1 Tim. iv. 1-3;
2 Tim. iii. 1-13. IV. Dan. viii. 8-25; xi
36-39. V. Dan. vii. 7-27. VI. Rev. xiii. 1-8 ;
xvn. 1-18. VII. Eev. xiii. 11-18; xix. 11-21.
The first of these passages contains the account
of the false Christs and false prophets predicted
by our Lord ; the second, of the Antichrist as
depicted by St. John ; the third, of the Adver
sary of God as portrayed by St, Paul ; the
fourth and fifth, of the fierce-countenanced

ANTICHRIST
King and of the Little Horn foretold by Daniel;
the sixth and seventh, of the Beast and the
False Prophet of the Revelation.
I. Tlie False Christs and False Prophets of
Matt. xxiv. — The purpose of our Lord in His
prophetic discourse on the Mount of Olives was
at once to predict to His disciples the events
which would take place before the capture of
Jerusalem, and those which would precede the
final destruction of the world, of which the fall
of Jerusalem was the type and symbol. Accor
dingly, His teaching on the point before us
amounts to this, that (1) in the latter days of
Jerusalem there should be sore distress, and
that in the midst of it there should arise im
postors who would claim to be the promised
Messiah, aud would lead away many of their
countrymen after them ; and that (2) in the last
days of the world there should be a great
tribulation and persecution of the saints, and
that there should arise at the same time false
Christs and false prophets, with an unparalleled
power of leading astray. In type, therefore, our
Lord predicted the rise of the several impostors
who excited the fanaticism of the Jews before
their fall. In antitype He predicted the future
rise of impostors in the last days, who should
beguile all but the elect into the belief of their
being God's prophets, or even His Christs. We
find no direct reference here to the Antichrist.
Our Lord is not speaking of any one individual
(or polity), but rather of those forerunners of
the Antichrist who are his servants and actuated
by his spirit. They are )pev56xpto-Toi, and can
deceive almost the elect, but they are not
6 bvTixpiCTOs ; they are il/euSorrpotpTJTat, and can
show great signs and wonders, but they are not
6 tyevSoirpotp'iiTris (Rev. xvi. 14). However
valuable, therefore, the prophecy on Mount
Olivet is, as helping us to picture to ourselves
the events of the last days, it does not elucidate
for us the characteristics of the Antichrist, and
must not be allowed to mislead us, as though it
gave information which it does not profess to
give. II. Tlie Antichrist of St. John's Epistles.—
The first teaching with regard to the Antichrist
and to the antagonist of God (whether these are
the same or different we leave as yet uncertain)
was oral. " Ye heard that the Antichrist
cometh," says St. John (1 Ep. ii. 18, R. V.) ; and
again, " This is the spirit of the Antichrist whereof
ye liave heard that it should come " (1 Ep. iv.
3, R. V.). Similarly St. Paul, " Remember ye not,
that when I was yet with you i" told you these
things ? " (2 Thess. ii. 5, R. V.). We must not
therefore look for a full statement of the " doc
trine ofthe Antichrist " in the Apostolic Epistles,
but rather for allusions to something already
known. The whole of the teaching of St. John's
Epistle with regard to the Antichrist himself
seems to be confined to the words " Ye heard,"
or " Ye have heard that the Antichrist cometh."
The verb epxerat here employed has a special
reference, as used in Scripture", to the first and
second Advents of our Lord. Those whom St.
John was addressing had been taught that, as
Christ was to come (epxerai), so the Antichrist
was to come likewise. The rest of the passage
in St. John appears to be rather a practical
application of the doctrine of the Antichrist
than a formal statement of it. He warns his

ANTICHRIST

ANTICHRIST

141

readers that the spirit of the Antichrist could
exist even then, though the coming of the Anti
christ himself was future, and that all who
denied the Messiahship and Sonship of Jesus
were Antichrists, as being types of the final
Antichrist who was to come. The teaching of
St. John's Epistles therefore amounts to this,
that in type, Cerinthus, Basilides, Simon Magus,
and those Gnostics who denied Christ's Sonship,
and all subsequent heretics who should deny it,
were Antichrists, as being wanting in that
divine principle of love which he has declared to
be the essence of Christianity ; and he points on
to the final appearance of the Antichrist that
was " to come " in the last times, according as
they had been orally taught, who would be the
antitype of these his forerunners and servants.
III. The Adversary of God of St. Paitfs
Epistles. — St. Paul does not employ the term
Antichrist, but there can be no hesitation in iden
tifying the Adversary (6 avriKeipevos, 2 Thess. ii.
4) of God with the Antichrist who was " to come."
Like St. John, he refers to his oral teaching on
the subject ; but as the Thessalonians appeared
to have forgotten it and to have been misled by
some passages in his previous Epistle to them,
he recapitulates what he had taught them.
Like St. John, he tells them that the spirit of
Antichrist or Antichristianism, called by him
" the mystery of iniquity," was already work
ing ; but Antichrist himself he characterizes as
¦"the Man of Sin," "the Son of Perdition,"
" the Adversary to all that is called God," " the
one who lifts himself above all objects of wor
ship ; " and assures them that he should not be
revealed in person until some present obstacle to
his appearance should have been taken away,
and until there should have occurred an
aTroaTaaia. From St. John and St. Paul together we learn
(1) that the Antichrist should come : (2) that
he should not come until a certain obstacle to
his coming was removed : (3) nor till after the
occurrence of the b-KOffTaa'ia'. (4) that his
characteristics would be (a) open opposition to
God and religion ; (B) a claim to the incommu
nicable attributes of God ; (7) iniquity, sin, and
lawlessness ; (0) a power of working lying
miracles ; (e) marvellous capacity of beguiling
souls : (5) that he would be actuated by Satan :
(6) that his spirit was already at work manifest
ing itself partially, incompletely, and typically,
in the teachers of infidelity and immorality
already abounding in the Church.
IV. The fierce-countenanced King of Daniel. —
This passage is universally acknowledged to be
primarily applicable to Antiochus Epiphanes.
Antiochus Epiphanes is recognised as the chief
prototype of the Antichrist. The prophecy may
therefore be regarded as descriptive of the
Antichrist. The point is fairly argued by St.
Jerome : — -" Down to this point (Dan. xi. 21)
the historical order is preserved, and there is no
difference between Porphyry and our own inter
preters. But all that follows down to the end
of the book he applies personally to Antiochus
Epiphanes, brother of Seleucus, and' son of
Antiochus the Great ; for, after Seleucus, he
reigned eleven years in Syria, and possessed
Judaea ; and in his reign there occurred the
persecution about the Law of God, and the wars
of the Maccabees. But our people consider all

these things to bo spoken of Antichrist, who is
to come in the last time. ... It is the custom ol
Holy Scripture to anticipate in types the realitv
of things to come. For in the same way our
Lord and Saviour is spoken of in the 72nd Psalm,
which is entitled a Psalm of Solomon, and yet
all that is there said cannot be applied to Solo
mon. But in part, and as in a shadow and
image of the truth, these things are foretold of
Solomon, to be more perfectly fulfilled in our
Lord and Saviour. As, then, iu Solomon and
other saints tho Saviour has types of His coming,
so Antichrist is rightly believed to have for his
type that wicked king Antiochus, who perse
cuted the saints and defiled the Temple " (S.
Hieron. Op. torn. i. p. 523, Col. Agr. 1616 ;
torn. iii. p. 1127, Paris, 1704).
V. The Little Horn of Daniel. — Hitherto we
have been dealing with a person, not a kingdom
or a polity. This is evident from St, John's
words, and still more evident from the Epistle
to the Thessalonians. The words used by St.
Paul could not well have been more emphatic,
had he studiously made use of them in order to
exclude the idea of a polity. "The Man of
Sin," " the Son of Perdition," " the one who
opposeth himself to God," " the one who exalteth
himself above (R. V. ' against ') God," the one
" setting himself forth as God " (R. V.), " the
lawless one . . . whose coming is according to tht-
working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders " (R. V.) : if words have a mean
ing, these words designate an individual. But
when we come to Daniel's prophecy of the Little
Horn this is all changed. We there read of four
beasts, which are explained as four kings, by
which expression is meant four kingdoms or
empires. These kingdoms, represented by the
four beasts, are [according to the traditional
opinion] the Assyrian empire, the Persian empire,
the Grecian empire, and the Roman empire.
The Roman empire is described as breaking
up into ten kingdoms, amongst which there
grows up another kingdom which gets the
mastery over nearly a third of them (three out
of ten). This kingdom, or polity, is the little
horn of the fourth beast, before which three of
the first ten horns are plucked up.- If the four
" kings " (vii. 17) represented by the four beasts
are really empires, if the ten " kings " (vii. 24)
are monarchies or nationalities, then the other
" king " wrho rises after thern is, in like manner,
not an individual but a polity. It follows that
the " Little Horn " of Daniel cannot be identified
with the Antichrist of St. John and St. Paul.
The former is a polity, the latter is an indi
vidual. VI. The Apocalyptic Beast of St. John. — A
further consequence follows. For the first Beast
of the Apocalypse is clearly identical with the
Little Horn of Daniel. The Beast whose power
is absorbed into the Little Horn has ten horns
(Dan. vii. 7) and rises from the sea (Dan. vii. 3) :
the Apocalyptic Beast has ten horns (Rev. xiii.
1) and rises from the sea (ibid.). The Little
Horn has a mouth speaking great things (Dan.
vii. 8, 11, 20): the Apocalyptic Beast has a
mouth speaking great things (Rev. xiii. 5). The
Little Horn makes war with the saints, and
prevails (Dan. vii. 21): the Apocalyptic Beast
makes war with the saints, and overcomes them
(Rev. xiii. 7). The Little Horn speaks great

142

ANTICHRIST

words against the Most High (Dan. vii. 25) : the
Apocalyptic Beast opens his mouth in blasphemy
against God (Rev. xiii. 6). The Little Horn
wears out the saints of the Most High (Dan. vii.
25) : the woman who rides on, i.e. directs, the
Apocalyptic Beast, is drunken with the blood of
saints (Rev. xvii. 6). The persecution of the
Little Horn is to last a time and times and a
dividing of times, i.e. three and a half times or
years (Dan. vii. 25): power is given to the
Apocalyptic Beast for forty-two months, i.e.
three and a half times or years (Rev. xiii. 5).
These and other parallelisms cannot be acci
dental. Whatever was meant by Daniel's Little
Horn must also be meant by St. John's Beast.
Therefore St. John's First Beast is not the Anti
christ. It is not an individual like the Anti
christ of St. John's and St. Paul's Epistles, but
a polity like the Little Horn of Daniel.
But, though not identical, it is quite evident,
and it has been always recognised, that the
Antichrist of the Epistles and the Beast of the
Apocalypse have some relation to each other.
What is this relation ? and in what relation to
both does the second Apocalyptic Beast, called the
False Prophet, stand ? To answer this question
we must examine the imagery of the Apocalypse.
Shortly stated, it is, so far as concerns our
present purpose, as follows. The Church is
represented (Rev. xii. 5) as a woman bringing
forth " a son, a man-child," who is " caught up
unto God and unto His throne " from the dragon
that had desired to devour him. Repelled by
Christ's angelic guards (vv. 7-10), the dragon
persecutes the woman, so that she is compelled
to fly from him into the wilderness, where she
remains for 1260 days, or three and a half times
(vv. 13, 14). Foiled in his attempt to destroy
the woman, as he had been foiled in his at
tempt against Christ, the dragon sets himself
to make war with " the rest of her seed,"
that is, the brethren of Christ, " which
keep the commandments of God and hold the
testimony of Jesus" (v. 17, R. V.). At this
time the Beast arises from the sea, and Satan
gives to him his power, and his seat, and great
authority. The length of time during which
the Beast prevails is three and a half times, the
same period as that during which the sufferings
and trials of the woman last. During a certain
part of this three and a half times the Beast
takes upon its back, as its guide and ruler, a
woman named " Mystery, Babylon the great,
the mother of the harlots and of the abomi
nations of the earth," by whom, as it is ex
plained, is figured "that great city which
reigneth over the kings of the earth " (xvii. 18,
R. V.) from her seven hills (xvii. 9). After
a time Babylon the great falls (ch. xviii.), but
the Beast on whom she had ridden still survives,
joins with the kings of the earth in a final
desperate conflict with Christ, and, being taken,
is cast into the lake of fire (xix. 19-21).
Can we harmonize this picture with the pre
diction of St. Paul, always recollecting that his
Man of Sin is an individual, and that the Apoca
lyptic Beast is a polity ?
As we have here reached that which consti
tutes the great difficulty in mastering the con
ception of the Antichrist as revealed by the
inspired writers, we shall now turn from the
text of Scripture to the comments of annotators

ANTICHRIST
and essayists to see what assistance we can
derive from them. We shall then resume the
consideration of the scriptural passages at the
point at which we now leave them. We shall
classify the opinions which have been held on
the Antichrist according as he is regarded as an
individual, or as a polity, or as a principle. The
individualists, again, must be subdivided, accord
ing as they represent him as one to come or as
one already come. We have, therefore, four
classes of writers on the Antichrist : — (1) those
who regard him as an individual yet future;
(2) those who regard him as a polity now
present ; (3) those who regard him as an indi
vidual already passed away ; (4) those who con
sider that nothing is meant beyond antichristian
and lawless principle, not embodied either in an
individual or in a special polity.
1. The first opinion held in the Church was
that the Antichrist was a real person who
would appear in the world when the time of his
appearance was come. The only point on which
any question arose was, whether he should be a
man armed with Satanic powers or Satan him
self. That he would be a man armed with
Satanic powers was the opinion of Justin Martyr,
A.D. 108 (Dial. 371, 20, 21 ; Thirlbii, 1722) ; of
Irenaeus, A.D. 140 (Op. v. 25, 437; Grabii,
1702) ; of Tertullian, A.D. 150 (De Res. Cam.
e. 24 ; Apol. c. 32) ; of Origen, A.D. 184 (Op. i.
667 ; Delarue, 1733) ; of his contemporary,
Hippolytus (if the treatise De Antichristo be his ;
Hamburgi, 1716) ; of Cyprian, a.d. 250 (Ep. 58;
Op. 120, Oxon. 1682) ; of Victorinus, a.d. 270
(Bibl. Patr. Magna, iii. p. 136 ; Col. Agrip.
1618); of Lactantius, a.d. 300 (Div. Inst. vii.
17) ; of Cyril of Jerusalem, a.d. 315 (Cateeh.
xv. 4) ; of Jerome, a.d. 330 (Op. iv. pars i. 209 ;
Parisiis, 1693) ; of Chrysostom, A.D. 347 (Comm.
in 2 Thess.) ; of Hilary of Poitiers, A.D. 350
(Comm. in Matt.) ; of Augustine, a.d. 354 (De
Civit. Dei, xx. 19) ; of Ambrose, A.D. 380
(Comm. in Luc). The authors of the Sibylline
Oracles, a.d. 150, and of the Apostolical Consti
tutions, Celsus (see Orig. u. Cels. lib. vi.),
Ephrem Syrus, A.D. 370, Theodoret, A.D. 430,
and a few other writers seem to have regarded
the Antichrist as Satan himself rather than as
his minister or an emanation from him. But
they may, perhaps, nave meant no more than to
express the identity of his character and his
power with that of Satan. Each of the writers
to whom we have referred gives his own judg
ment with respect to some particulars which
may be expected in the Antichrist, whilst they all
agree in representing him as a person about to
come shortly before the glorious appearance of
Christ, and to be destroyed by His Presence.
Justin Martyr speaks of him as the man of the
apostasy, and dwells chiefly on the persecutions
which he would cause. Irenaeus describes him
as summing up the apostasy in himself; as
having his seat at Jerusalem ; as identical with
the Apocalyptic Beast (c. 28) ; as foreshadowed
by the unjust judge ; as being the man who
" should come in his own name ; " and as belong
ing to the tribe of Dan (c. 30). Tertullian
identifies him with the Beast, and supposes him
to be about to arise on the fall of the Roman
Empire (De Res. Cam. c. 25). Origen describes
him in Eastern phrase as the child of the Devil
and the counterpart of Christ. Hippolytus

ANTICHRIST

ANTICHRIST

143

understands the Roman empire to be represented
by the Apocalyptic Beast, and the Antichrist by
the False Prophet who would restore the
wounded Beast by his craft and by the wisdom
of his laws. Cyprian sees him typified in
Antiochus Epiphanes (Exhort, ad Mart. c. 11).
Victorinus, with several others— misunderstand
ing St. Paul's expression that the mystery of
iniquity was in his dav working — supposes that
the Antichrist will be a revivified Nero — an
idea taken np and enlarged upon in modern
times ; Lactantius, that he will be a king of
Syria, born of an evil spirit ; Cyril, that he will
be a magician, who by his arts will get the
mastery of the Roman empire. Jerome describes
him as the son of the Devil sitting in the
Church as though he were the Son of God ;
Chrysostom, as avrlBeSs tis sitting in the
Temple of God, that is, in all the Churches, not
merely in the Temple at Jerusalem ; St. Au
gustine, as the adversary holding power for
three and a half years — the Beast, perhaps, re
presenting Satan's empire. The primitive belief
may be summed up in the words of St. Jerome.
In his Commentary on Daniel he writes : " Let
us say that which all ecclesiastical writers have
handed down, viz. that at the end of the world,
when the Roman empire is to be destroyed,
there will be ten kings who will divide the
Roman world amongst them; and there will
arise an eleventh little king, who will subdue
three of the ten kings, that is, the king of
Egypt, of Africa, and of Ethiopia, as we shall
hereafter show. And on these having been
slain, the seven other kings will also submit.
' And behold,' he says, ' in the ram were the
eyes of a man.' This is that we may not sup
pose him to be a devil or a demon, as some have
thought, but a man in whom Satan will dwell
utterly and bodily. ' And a mouth speaking
great things,' for he is ' the man of sin, the son
of perdition, who sitteth in the Temple of God,
making himself as God'" (Op. vol. iv. p. 511 ;
Col. Agrip. 1616). In his Comment, on Dan.
xi., and in his reply to Algasia's eleventh ques
tion, he works out the same view in greater
detail. The same line of interpretation con
tinued. Andreas of Caesarea, A.D. 550, explains
him to be a king actuated by Satan, who will
reunite the old Roman empire and reign at
Jerusalem (in Apoc. c. xiii.) ; Arethas, a.d. 650,
as a king of the Romans who will reign over
the Saraceus in Bagdad (in Apoc. c. xiii.) ; John
•Damascene, a.d. 800, repeats the primitive
belief (Orth. Fid. 1. iv. c. 26); Adso, a.d. 950,
says that a Frank king will reunite the Roman
empire, and that he will abdicate on Mount
Olivet, and that, on the dissolution of his king
dom, the Antichrist will be revealed. The same
writer supposes that he will be born in Babylon,
that he will be educated at Bethsaida and
Chorazin, and that he will proclaim himself the
Son of God at Jerusalem (Tract, in Antichr.
apud August. Opera, torn. ix. p. 454 ; Paris,
1637). Theophylact, A.D. 1070, speaks of him
as a man who will carry Satan about with him.
Albert the Great, Cardinal Hugo, and Alexander
de Hales repeat the received tradition in the
13th century. So also Thomas Aquinas, a.d.
1260, who recurs to the tradition with regard
to the birth of Antichrist at Babylon, saying
that he will be instructed in the Magian philo

sophy, and that his doctrine and miracles will
be a parody on those of the Lamb. The re
ceived opinion of the 12th century is brought
before us in a striking and dramatic manner at
the interview between King Richard I. and the
Abbot Joachim at Messina, as the king was on
his way to the Holy Land. " I thought," said
the king, " that Antichrist would be born in
Antioch or in Babylon, and of the tribe of Dan ;
and would reign in the Temple of the Lord in
Jerusalem ; and would walk in that land in
which Christ walked ; and would reign in it for
three years and a half; and would dispute
against Elijah and Euoch, and would kill them ;
aud would afterwards die ; and that after his
death God would give sixty days of repentance,
in which those might repent which should
have erred from the way of truth, and have
been seduced by the preaching of Antichrist and
his false prophets." This seems to have been
the view defended by the archbishops of Rouen
and Auxerre and by the bishop of Bayonne,
who were present at the interview : but it was
not Joachim's opinion. He maintained the
seven heads of the Beast to be Herod, Nero,
Constantius, Mahomet, Melsemut, who were
past ; Saladin, who was then living ; and Anti
christ, who was shortly to come, being already
born in the city of Rome, and about to be
elevated to the Apostolic See (Roger de Hove-
den in Richard I., anno 1190).* In his own
work on the Apocalypse Joachim speaks of the
second Apocalyptic beast as being governed by
"some great prelate who will be like Simon
Magus, and as it were universal pontiff through
out the world, and be that very Antichrist of
whom St. Paul speaks." These are very notice
able words. Gregory I. had long since (A.D.
590) declared that any man who held the
power which the popes of Rome soon after
his time began to arrogate to themselves as
Universal Bishops of the Church, would be the
precursor of Antichrist. Arnulphus, bishop of
Orleans (or perhaps Gerbert), in an invective
against John XV. at the Council of Rheims, a.d.
991, had declared that if the Roman pontiff was
destitute of charity and puffed up with know
ledge, he was Antichrist — if destitute both of
charity and of knowledge, he was a lifeless
stone (Mansi, torn. ix. p. 132 ; Ven. 1774) ; but
Joachim is the first to suggest, not that such
and such a pontiff was Antichrist, but that the
Antichrist would be a Universalis Pontifex, and
that he would occupy the Apostolic See. Still,
however, we have no hint of an order or succes
sion of men being the Antichrist. It is an
actual living individual man that Joachim con
templates. The master had said that a Pope would be
the Antichrist ; his followers began to whisper
that it was the Pope. Amalric, professor of
logic and theology at Paris at the end of the
12th century, appears to have been the first to
have put forth the idea. It was taken up by
three different classes : by the moralists, who
were scandalized at the laxity of the Papal
Court ; by the Imperialists, in their temporal

a The Bollandists regard the story of this interview
as an invention. " But this," says Bishop Stubbs, " is
extremely improbable." See Chronicle of Roger de
Hoveden, vol. iii. p. 76, ed. Master of the Rolls.

144

ANTICHRIST

ANTICHRIST

struggle with the Papacy ; and, perhaps inde
pendently, by the Waldenses and their followers
in their spiritual struggle. Of the first class
we may find examples in the Franciscan enthu
siasts Peter John of Olivi, Telesphorus, liber
tinus, and John of Paris, who saw a mystic
Antichrist at Rome, and looked forward to a
real Antichrist in the future ; and again in such
men as Grossetete, whom we find asking, as in
despair, whether the name of Antichrist has not
been earned by the Pope (Matt. Par. in An.
1253, p. 871, 1640). Of the second class we
may take Eberhard, archbishop of Salzburg, as
a specimen, who denounces Hildebrand as
" having, in the name of religion, laid the
foundation of the kingdom of Antichrist 170
years ago." He can even name the ten horns.
They are the "Turks, Greeks, Egyptians, Afri
cans, Spaniards, French, English, Germans,
Sicilians, and Italians, who now occupy the
provinces of Rome ; and a little horn has grown
up with eyes and mouth, speaking great things,
which is reducing three of these kingdoms —
i.e. Sicily, Italy, and Germany — to subserviency,
is persecuting the people of Christ and the saints
of God with intolerable opposition, is confound
ing things human and divine, and is attempt
ing things unutterable, execrable " (Aventinus,
Annal. Boiorum, p. 651 ; Lips. 1710). The Wal
denses eagerly grasped at the same notion, and
from that time it has never been lost sight of.
Thus we slide from the individualist view,
which was held unanimously in the Church for
upwards of a thousand years, to the notion of a
polity, or a succession of rulers of a polity, that
polity being the Church of Rome. The hitherto
received opinion now vanishes, and does not
appear again until the excesses and extrava
gances of the new opinion produced a reaction
¦against itself.
_ 2. The Waldenses did not deny that an indi
vidual and personal Antichrist was to be expected
in the future, but they recognised many Anti
christs, and by the end of the 14th century they
had learnt to identify Antichrist, Babylon, the
'Fourth Beast, the Harlot, and the Man of Sin,
with the system of Popery." In 1383 Wickliffe
wrote his treatise On Christ and His Adversary
Antichrist (De Christo et suo adversaria Anti
christo), in which he identifies the Pope with
Antichrist for twelve reasons, most of which are
applicable not only to the individual Pope with
whom he was at strife, but to the Pope as
such. They are as follows :— 1. Christ is the
Truth, the Pope is the principle of Falsehood ;
¦2. Christ was poor, the Pope is rolling

J> "E esser mot avisa, cant venre 1' Antexrist,
Que nos non crean, ni a son fait, ni a son dit :
Car, segont 1' escriptura, son ara fait moti Antexrist ;
Car Antexrist son tuft aquilh que contrastan a Xrist."
— La Nobla Leyczon, 1. 466. It was long thought that this
treatise was ofthe 12th century, owing to its containiug
two hues which seemed to run as follows :—
" Ben ha mil e cent an compli entlerament
Que fo scripta lora, Car son al derier temp."
" A thousand and a hundred years are already quite run
Since these words were written, ' It is the last time.' "
Mr. Bradshaw, late Librarian of the Cambridge Uni-
7w 'Hf iT 7' I!8"™*1 by MP °f » maguifying-glass
that the right reading was" a thousand aud four hundred

wealth ; 3. Christ was meek, the Pope is proud ¦
4. Christ forbade adding to His Law, the Pope
adds cruel laws ; 5. Christ commanded to go
about and preach, the Pope sits in his palace •
6. Christ despised secular power, the Pope seeks
it; 7. Christ submitted to Caesar, the Pope
has stolen away half the Roman Empire
8. Christ had twelve simple disciples, the Pope
has more than twelve ambitious cardinals ¦
9. Christ forbade to strike with the sword, the
Pope gets up wars ; 10. Christ confined Himself
to Judaea, the Pope intrudes wherever gain
calls him ; 11. Christ was humble, the Pope is
full of pomp; 12. Christ sought not fame or
gold, the Pope seeks both. Huss (De Antichristo
et membrorum ejus anatomid, and Sermones de
Antichristo) held similar language. Lord Cobham
declared at his trial that the Pope was Anti
christ's head. Walter Brute, brought before the
Bishop's Court at Hereford at the end of the
14th century, pronounced the Antichrist to be
"the high Bishop of Rome calling himself God's
servant and Christ's chief vicar in this world "
(Foxe, iii. p. 131 ; Lond. 1844). Thus we reach
the Reformation. Walter Brute (a.d. 1393),
Bullinger (1504), Chytraeus (1571), Aretius
(1573), Foxe (1586), Napier (1593), Mede (1632),
Jurieu (1685), Bp. Newton (1750), Cunninghame
(1813), Faber (1814), Woodhouse (1828), Haber-
shon (1843), identify the False Prophet, or Second
Apocalyptic Beast, with Antichrist and with
the Papacy ; Marlorat (a.d. 1574), King James 1.
(1603), Daubuz (1720), Galloway (1802), the
First Apocalyptic Beast ; Brightman (a.d. 1600),
Pareus (1615), Vitringa (1705), Gill (1776),
Bachmair (1778), Fraser (1795), Croly (1828),
Fysh (1837), Elliott (1844), both the Beasts.
That the Pope and his system are Antichrist,
was taught by Luther, Calvin, Zwingle, Melanc-
thon, Bucer, Beza, Calixtus, Bengel, Michaelis,
and by almost all Protestant writers on the
Continent. Nor was there any hesitation on the
part of English theologians to seize the same
weapon of offence. Bp. Bale (a.d. 1491), like
Luther, Bucer, and Melancthon, pronounces the
Pope in Europe and Mahomet in Africa to be
Antichrist. The Pope is Antichrist, say Cranmer
(Works, vol. ii. p. 46; Camb. 1844), Latimer
(Works, vol. i. p. 149; Camb. 1844), Ridlev
(Works, p. 53; Camb. 1841), Hooper (lib)*,
vol. ii. p. 44; Camb. 1852), Hutchinson (Works,
p. 304; Camb. 1842), Tyndale (Works, vol. i.
p. 147; Camb. 1848), Sandys (Works, p. 11:
Camb. 1841), Philpot (Works, p. 152; Camb!
1842), Jewell (Works, vol. i. p. 109; Camb.
1845), Rogers (Works, p. 182; Camb. 1854),
Fulke (Works, vol. ii. p. 269; Camb. 1848),
Bradford ( Works, p. 435 ; Camb. 1848). Nor is
the opinion confined to these 16th century
divines, who may be supposed to have been
specially incensed against Poperv. King James
held it (Apol. pro Juram. Fidel.; Lond. 1609) as
strongly as Queen Elizabeth (see Jewell, Letter
to Bulling. May 22, 1559, Zurich Letters, First
Series, p. 33, Camb. 1842); and the theologians
of the 17th century did not repudiate it, though
they less and less dwelt upon it as their struggle
came to be with Puritanism in place of Popery.
Bp. Andrewes maintains it as a probable con
clusion from the Epistle to the Thessalonians
(Rcsp. ad Bellarm. p. 304; Oxon. 1851); but he
carefully explains that King James, whom he

ANTICHRIST
was defending, had expressed his private
opinion, not the belief of the Church, on the
subject (ib. p. 23). Bramhall introduces limita
tions and distinctions ( Works, iii. p. 520 ; Oxf.
1845) ; significantly suggests that there are
marks of Antichrist which apply to the General
Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland as much as to
the Pope or to the Turk (»'&. iii. 2S7); and
declines to make the Church of England respon
sible for what individual preachers or writers
had said on the subject in moments of exaspera
tion (ib. ii. 582). From this time forward the
Papal-Antichrist theory is seldom found in
theologians of name in the English Church, nor
indeed in the 16th century does it seem to have
taken root in England. Hard names were
bandied about; and the hardest of all being
Antichrist, it was not neglected. But the idea
of the Pope being Antichrist was not the main
idea of the English Reformation, nor was it
ever applied to the Pope in his Patriarchal or
Archiepiscopal, but solely in his distinctively
Papal, character. But though the sober and
learned divines of the 17th century for the most
part gave up this application of the term, it was
insisted upon by a string of writers who added
nothing to the interpretation of prophecy, but
found each the creation of his own brain in the
sacred Book of the Revelation, grouping history
in any arbitrary manner that they chose around
the central figure of the Papal Antichrist.
3. A reaction followed. Some returned to
the ancient idea of a future individual Anti
christ, as Ribera (a.d. 1592), Lacunza or
Benezra (A.D. 1810), De Burgh, Samuel Mait
land, Newman (Tracts for the Times, No. 83),
and Charles Maitland (Prophetic Interpretation).
Others preferred looking upon him as long past,
and fixed upon one or another persecutor or
heresiarch as the man in whom the predictions
as to Antichrist found their fulfilment. There
seems to be no trace of this idea for more than
1600 years in the Church. But it has been
taken up by two opposite classes of expounders,
— bv those who were anxious to avert the
application of the Apocalyptic prophecies from
the Papacy, by showing that they were fulfilled
before the Papal power had come into being ;
and by others, who were disposed, not
indeed to deny the prophetic import of the
Apocalypse, but to confine the seer's ken within
the closest and narrowest limits that were
possible. Alcasar, a Spanish Jesuit, taking a,
hint from Victorinus, seems to have been the
first (a.d. 1634) to have suggested that the
Apocalyptic prophecies did not extend further
than to the overthrow of Paganism by Constan
tine. This view, with variations by Grotius, is
taken up and expounded by Bossuet, Calmet, De
Sacy, Eichhorn, Hug, Herder, Ewald, De Wette,
Bleek, Moses Stuart, Davidson, Renan, Reuss, &c.
The general view of the school is that the Apo
calypse describes the triumph of Christianity
over Judaism in the first, and over Heathenism
in the third and fourth centuries. Mariana sees
Antichrist in Nero ; Bossuet in Diocletian and
in Julian ; Grotius in Caligula ; Wetstein in
Titus ; Hammond in Simon Magus ( Works, vol. iii.
p. 620 ; Lond. 1631) ; Whitby in the Jews (Comm.
vol. ii. p. 431; Lond. 1760); Le Clerc in Simon,
son of Giora, a leader of the rebel Jews ; Schott-
gen in the Pharisees ; Niissett and Krause in
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

ANTICHRIST

145

the Jewish zealots ; Hardouin in the High Priest
Ananias; F. D. Maurice in Vitellius (On the
Apocalypse, Camb. 1860), Renan and Reuss
(adopting the Nero fable) in Nero.
4. The same spirit that refuses to regard
Satan as an individual, naturally looks upon
the Antichrist as an evil principle not embodied
either in a person or in a polity. Thus Koppe,
Storr, Nitzsch, and Pelt (see Alford, Gk. Test.
iii. 69). Westcott also considers that " the
term expresses the embodiment of a principle,
and is not to be confined to one person" (The
Epistles of S. John, ii. 22) ; " the personification
of the principle shown in different Antichrists "
(ibid. ii. 13).
We do not gain much by a review of the
opinions of the commentators. In the case of
prophecy, partially at least unfulfilled, little is
to be expected. Of the four opinions which we
have exhibited, the last is in accordance neither
with St. Paul nor St. John, for St. Paul dis
tinctly describes the Adversary as being a man ;
St. John speaks of the coming of Antichrist in
terms similar to those used for the coming of
Christ, and describes Antichristianism as to tov
avTixpicTov, thereby showing that Antichris
tianism is Antichristianism because it is the
spirit of the concrete Antichrist. The third
opinion is plainly refuted by the fact that the
persons fixed upon as the Antichrist have seve
rally passed away, but Christ's glorious Presence,
which is immediately to succeed the fall of
Antichrist, has not yet been vouchsafed. The
majority of those who maintain the second
opinion are shown to be in the wrong because
they represent as a polity what St. Paul dis
tinctly describes as a man. The majority of
those who hold the first opinion are in like
manner shown to be in the wrong, because they
represent as an individual what the Apocalypse
demonstrably pictures as a polity. We are
unable to follow any one interpreter or any one
school of interpreters. The opinions of the last
two of the four schools we regard as erroneous :
the first two appear to contain the truth be
tween them, but so divided as to be untrue in
the mouth of almost any individual expositor who
has entered into details. We return to Scripture.
St. Paul says (2 Thess. ii. 3) that there are
two things which are to precede the Day of
Christ, the airoOTao-ia and the revelation of
the Adversary ; he does not say that these
two things are contemporary : but, on the
contrary, seems to imply that there was to
be a succession of events. First, it appears
that an unnamed and to us unknown obstacle
has to be removed : then was to follow the
" Apostasy ; " after this, the Adversary was to
arise, and then was to come his destruction.
We need hardly say that the word " apostasy,"
as ordinarily used, does not give the exact mean
ing of t) biroo-Tatria. The A. V. has most cor
rectly rendered the original by " falling away,"
having only failed of entire exactness by
omitting to give the value of the article,
which is supplied in the R. V. — " the falling
away."c An open and unblushing denial
and rejection of all belief, which is implied
in our "apostasy," is not implied in rtiro-

c For the force of the article, see Bp. Middleton ad loc.
(Glc. Art. p. 382; Camb. 1833). L

146

ANTICHRIST

arao-'ia. It means one of two things : (1)
Political defection (Gen. xiv. 4 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 6 ;
Acts v. 37) ; (2) Religious defection (Acts xxi.
21 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1 ; Heb. iii. 12). The first is the
common classical use of the word. The second
is more usual in the N. T. Cyril of Jerusalem
seems to understand the word rightly when he
says in reference to this passage : NDy Se iaTlv
r) biroOTao-ia - aireo-TTjo-av yap ol dvBpwjroi ttjs
bpBijs irlcTews . . . aTTeffT-naav yap ol dvBpu-KOi
birb ttjs aAnBeias . . . AHiT-q Toivvv itrrlv r)
biroo-Tatrla- Kai peAAet irpotrSoKatrBai b %xQpos
(Cyril. Catech. xv. 9, Op. p. 228; Paris,
1720). And St. Ambrose, "A vera religione
plerique lapsi errore desciscent " (Comm. in Luc.
xx. 20). This " falling away " implies persons
who fall away ; the airoo-Taala consists of air6-
(TTaTai. Supposing the existence of an organized
religious body, some of whom should fall away
from the true faith, the persons so falling away
would be cwroVTaTai, though still formally un-
severed from the religious body to which they
belonged ; and the religious body itself, while
from one side and in respect to its faithful mem
bers it would retain its character and name as a
religious body, might yet from another side and
in respect to its other members be designated
an airoo-Tao*ia. It is such a corrupted religious
body as this that St. Paul seems to mean by the
cwroo-Tao-ia which he foretells in the Epistle to
the Thessalonians.4 In the Epistles to Timothy
he describes this religious defection by some of
its peculiar characteristics. "In the latter
times some shall depart from the faith (twro-
o-T-htrovrai Tives ttjs Trlareus), giving heed to
seducing spirits and doctrines of devils ; speaking
lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared
with a hot iron ; forbidding to marry, and com
manding to abstain from meats " (1 Tim. iv. 1-3,
A. V.). "In the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own
selves, . . having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof. . . Evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived " (2 Tim. iii. 1-13, A. V.).°
It has been usual, as we have seen, to identify
the First Beast of the Apocalypse with St.
Paul's Man of Sin. It is impossible, as we
have said, to do so. But it is possible, and
more than possible, to identify the Beast and
the airoo-Toiria. Can we find anything which

<¦ "It is an ' apostasy ' indeed, but the same Greek
word is used in Heb. iii. 12 and in 1 Tim. iv. 1, in
neither of which cases wiU it suit the context to under
stand the word of an outward leaving of the Christian
Church. The persons must at any rate have been
Christians, or they could not be apostates. And the
apostasy is all the more terrible if, while the form of
the Church is kept to, there is a departure from the
inward spirit. And in this case several points seem to
indicate an apostasy within the Church "' (Mason, Ex
cursus on 2 Thess. ii. 3-12, in Ellicott's ,V. T. Comm.).
0 The E. V. of these extracts is as follows :—
1 Tim. iv. 1, &c.
"In later times some

shall fall away from the
faith, giving heed to seduc
ing spirits and doctrines of
devils, through the hypo
crisy of men that speak
lies, branded in their own
conscience as with » hot
iron," &c.

2 Tim. iii. 1, &c.
" In the last days griev
ous times shall come. For
men shall he lovers of self,
. . . holding a form of god
liness, but having denied
the power thereof. . . . Evil
men and impostors," &c.

ANTICHRIST
will serve as the antitype of both ? In order
to be the antitype of St. John's Beast it must
be a polity, arising, not immediately, but
shortly, after the dissolution of the Roman
Empire, gaining great influence in the world,
and getting the mastery over a certain number
of those nationalities wliich like itself grew out
of that empire (Dan. vii. 24). It must last
three and a half times ; i.e. nearly twice as long
as the empire of Assyria, of Persia, or Grecia,
to which only two times seem to be allotted
(Dan. vii. 12). It must blaspheme against God ;
i.e. it must arrogate to itself or claim for
creatures the honour due to God alone/ It
must be an object of wonder and worship to the
world (Rev. xiii. 6). It must put forward un
blushing claims on behalf of itself, and be full of
its own perfections (Rev. xiii. 5). At a certain
period in its history it must put itself under
the guidance of Rome (Rev. xviii. 3), and remain
ruled by her until the destruction of the latter
(Rev. xviii. 2) ; its own existence being still
prolonged until the coming of Christ in glory
(Rev. xix. 20). To satisfy the requirements of
St. Paul's description, its essential features
must be a falling away from the true faith
(2 Thess. ii. 3 ; 1 Tim. iv. 1), and it must be
further characterized by the specific qualities
already transcribed from the Epistles to
Timothy. The antitype may be found, it has been held,
in the corrupted Church of Christ, in so far as
it was corrupted. According to this view the
same body, in so far as it maintained the faith
and love, was the bride and the spouse, and, in
so far as it " fell away " from God, was the
airoo-Taaia, just as Jerusalem of old was at once
Sion the beloved city, and Sodom the bloody
city — the Church of God and the Synagogue of
Satan. On this theory the three and a half
times of the Beast's continuance (Rev. xiii. 5),
and of the Bride's suffering in the wilderness
(Rev. xii. 6), would necessarily be contermiuous,
for the persecuted and the persecutors would be
the faithful and the unfaithful members of the
same body. These times would have commenced
when the Church lapsed from her purity and
from her first love into unfaithfulness to God,
exhibited especially in idolatry and creature-
worship. It is of the nature of a religious
defection to grow up by degrees ; we should
not therefore be able to lay the finger on any
special moment at which it commenced. Cyril of
Jerusalem considered that it was already exist
ing in his time. Having quoted 2 Thess. ii.
10, he continues: "Thus wrote Paul, and
is the ' falling away ' (oiroo-Toirlo), for
fell away (aTreaT-naav) from the right
. . . This then is the d-irooT-ao-fa, and the
Enemy has soon to be looked for ; already he

3
nowmen
faith.

' The word " blasphemy " has come to bear a second
ary meaning, which it does not bear in Scripture.
Schleusner (in voc.) rightly explains it, Dicere etfaxere
quibus majestas Dei violatur. The Jews accused our
Lord of blasphemy because He claimed divine power and
the divine attributes (Matt. ix. 2, xxvi. 64 ; John x.
33). There was nothing in our Lord's words which the
most bitter malignity could have called blasphemous in
the later sense which the word has come to bear. It is
of course in the scriptural, not in the modern, sense that
bt. John attributes blasphemy to the Beast (see Words
worth, On the Apocalypse, p. 528).

ANTICHRIST

ANTICHRIST

147

has begun to send his forerunners, that the
2irey may be ready for him at his coming." s
As time went on in the centuries succeeding
Cyril, the cWoo*Ta<ria manifested itself still
more clearly, until at length the number of
the airdaTaTat who had fallen away surpassed
the number of those who were faithful to the
primitive faith. When this had occurred, St.
Paul's " falling away " had come, and St. John's
First Beast had emerged from the sea. On
the same principle of interpretation the after
acquiescence of the Church in the Hildebran-
dine theory of the Roman Supremacy is typi
fied by the Beast taking the woman, Babylon,
who represents the seven-hilled city, on its
back as its guide and director. From the 12th
to the 16th century, and partially to the
present day, this Hildebrandine idea has reigned
over and has been the governing spirit of the
corrupted Church. The fall of Babylon, rich
with its spiritual wares, is according to this
view in part past, in part future. After that
fall has been fully accomplished, the corrupted
Church will still subsist down to the day of the
coming of Christ, when the three and a half
times — the period of the suffering of the faithful
Church — will come to an end with and by the
destruction of the apostate Church."
VII. The Apocalyptic False Prophet. — There
is a second Apocalyptic Beast : the Beast from
the Earth (Rev. xiii. 11), or the False Prophet
(Rev. xix. 20). Can we identify this Beast
cither with the individual Adversary predicted
by St. Paul, or with a corrupt polity such as has
been described ? We were compelled to regard
the First Beast as a polity by its being identical
with that which clearly is a polity, the Little
Horn of Daniel. There is no such necessity here,
and there is no reason for regarding the Second
Beast as a polity, beyond the fact of its being
described under a similar figure to that by which
a polity had been just previously described.
This presumption is more than counterbalanced
by the individualizing title of the False Prophet
which he bears (Rev. xvi. 13 ; xix. 20). His
characteristics are — (1) " doing great wonders
[R. V. "signs"], so that he maketh fire to
«ome down from heaven on the earth in the
sight of men " (Rev. xiii. 13). This power of
miracle-working, we should note, is not attri
buted by St. John to the First Beast ; but it is
one of the chief signs of St. Paul's Adversary,
" whose coming is with all power and signs and
lying wonders " (2 Thess. ii. 9). (2) " He de-
ceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the
means of those miracles which he had power to
do [R. V. " by reason of the signs which it was
given him to do "] in the sight of the Beast "
(Rev. xiii. 14). " He wrought miracles [R. V.
e Cateeh. xv. 9. This lecture of Cyril's contains a
very clear statement of the Patristic view of the Anti
christ. h The only other interpretation of the First Beast and
Babylon that deserves notice here is that which is main
tained with considerable learning by the late Archdeacon
Lee, who considers the First Beast to represent the
World-power, the constant adversary of the Church, and
Babylon to represent the World-city, whether that be
Babylon or Eome, or any other city which concentrates
in itself the power of the world at any particular period
of history (Speaker's Commentary : New Test., vol. iv„
p. 6U sq.).

" the signs "] with which he deceived them that
had received the mark of the Beast and them
that worshipped his image " (Rev. xix. 20). In
like manner, no special power of beguiling is
attributed to the First Beast ; but the Adver
sary described by St. Paul is possessed of " all
deceivableness [R. V. " deceit "] of unrighteous
ness in them that perish [R. V. " for them
that are perishing "], because they received
not the love of the truth that they might
be saved " (2 Thess. ii. 10). (3) He has horns
like a lamb, i.e. he bears an outward resem
blance to the Messiah (Rev. xiii. 11) ; and the
Adversary sits in the Temple of God show
ing himself that he is God (2 Thess. ii. 4).
(4) His title is The False Prophet, & •VevSo-irpo-
tp-tiT-ns (Rev. xvi. 13 ;1 xix. 20); and our Lord,
Whom Antichrist counterfeits, is emphatically
6 ripoq>i)Ti)s. The "PeuSoTrpo^f/Tai of Matt. xxiv.
24 are the forerunners of 6 -VevSotrpotpiirns, as
John the Baptist of the True Prophet. On the
whole, it would seem that if the Antichrist
appears at all in the Book of the Revelation it
is by this Second Beast or the False Prophet
that he is represented. If this be so, it follows
that he is an individual person who will at
some future time arise, who will ally himself
with the corrupted Church, represent himself
as her minister and vindicator (Rev. xiii. 12),
compel men by violence to pay reverence to her
(xiii. 14), breathe a new life into her decaying
frame by his use of the secular arm in her
behalf (xiii. 15), forbidding civil rights to those
who renounce her authority and reject her
symbols (xiii. 17), and putting them to death
by the sword (xiii. 15), while personally he is
an atheistical blasphemer (1 John ii. 22), and
sums up in himself the evil spirit of unbelief
which has been working in the world from St.
Paul's days to his (2 Thess. ii. 7). That it is
possible for a professed unbeliever and atheist to
make himself the champion of a corrupt system
of religion, and to become on political grounds
as violent a persecutor in its behalf as the most
fanatical bigot could be, has been proved by
events which have already occurred, and which
might again occur on a more gigantic and
terrible scale. The Antichrist would thus com
bine the forces, generally and happily antago
nistic, of Infidelity and Superstition. In this
would consist the special horror of the reign of
the Antichrist. Hence also the special suffer
ings of the faithful believers until Christ Him
self once again appeared to vindicate the cause
of Truth and Liberty and Religion.1
The sum of Scripture-teaching with regard to
the Antichrist, then, appears to be as follows.
Already in the times of the Apostles there was
the mystery of iniquity, the spirit of Antichrist,
at work. It embodied itself in various shapes —
in the Gnostic heretics of St. John's days, in

1 Archdeacon Lee, in accordance with his system of
interpretation, understands the unsanctified intellect of
the world to be symbolized by the Second Beast. " The
First Beast is a material political world-power; the
Second Beast is a spiritual world-power — the power of
learning and knowledge, of ideas, of intellectual cultiva
tion. Both are from below, both are beasts, and there
fore they are in close alliance. The worldly antichristian
wisdom stands in the service of the worldly antichristian
power" (Speaker's Commentary: New Test., vol. iv.,
p. 679). L 2

148

ANTICHRIST

ANTICHRIST

the Jewish impostors who preceded the fall of
Jerusalem, in all heresiarchs and unbelievers,
especially those whose heresies had a tendency
to deny the Incarnation of Christ, and in the
great persecutors who from time to time afflicted
the Church. But this Antichristian Spirit was
then, and is still, diffused. It had not, and it
has not yet, gathered itself into the one person
in whom it will be one day completely and fully
manifested. There was something which pre
vented the open manifestation of the Antichrist
in the Apostles' days which they spoke of by
word of mouth, but were unwilling to name in
letters. What this obstacle was, or is, we can
not now know for certain. The general state
ment of the early writers and fathers is that it
was the power of secular law existing in the
Roman Empire. The Roman Empire fell, and
upon its fall, and in consequence of its fall,
there arose a secularization and corruption of
the Church, which would not have been so
secularized and corrupted had it been kept in
check by the jealousy of the imperial power.
The secularization and corruption increasing,
the Church, which from one point of view and
in respect to some of its members was considered
as the Church of Christ, from another point of
view and in respect to others of its members
came to be regarded as no better than an airo-
o-Tatria. Time passing on, the corrupt element,
getting still more the mastery, gave itself
up to be directed from the city of the seven
hills, indicated by the mystical Babylon. So
far of ,the past. It would appear further
that there is to be evolved from the corrupt
Church an individual Antichrist, who, being
himself a scoffer and contemner of all religion,
will yet act as the Patron and Defender
of the corrupt Church, and compel men to
submit to her sway by the force of the secular
arm and by means of bloody persecutions. He
will unite the old foes Superstition and Unbelief
in a combined attack on Liberty and Religion.
He will have, finally, a power of performing
lying miracles and beguiling souls, being the
embodiment of Satanic as distinct from brutal
wickedness. How long his power will last we
are wholly ignorant, as the three and a half
times do not refer to his reign (as is usually
imagined), but to the continuance of the otto-
o-Tao-ta. We only know that his continuance
will be short. At last he will be destroyed
together with the corrupt Church, in so far as
it is corrupt, at the glorious appearance of
Christ, which will usher in themillennial triumph
of the faithful and hitherto persecuted members
of the Church.
(B.) There are points which require further
elucidation : —

1. The meaning of the name Antichrist. Mr.
Greswell argues at some length that the only
correct reading of the word is Counterfeit-Christ
or Pro-Christo, and denies that the idea of
Adversary to Christ is involved in the word.
Mr. Greswell's authority is great ; but he has
been in this case too hasty in drawing his con
clusion from the instances which he has cited.
It is true that • bvrl is not synonomous with
Kara," but it '/impossible to resist the evidence
which ^ any /reek Lexicon supplies, that the
word am'. Doth in composition and by itself,
and still more in composition than alone, will

bear the sense of " opponent to." It is
probable that the word Antichrist combines
both senses, like the word Antipope, which is
very exact in its resemblance, but the primary
notion which it conveys would seem rather to
be that of antagonism than rivalry (see Gres
well, Exposition of the Parables, vol. i. p. 372
sq. ; Wordsworth, On the Apocalypse, p. 512V
"It describes one who assuming the guise of
Christ opposes Christ " (Westcott, On the First
Epistle of S. John, ii. 12).
2. The meaning of Tb Karexov. What is that
thing which withholdeth (2 Thess. ii. 6, R. V.
" restraineth ") ? and why is it apparently de
scribed in the following verse as a person (4
KaTexuv, A. V. " he who now letteth," R. V.
" there is one that restraineth now ") ? There
is a remarkable unanimity among the early
Christian writers on this point. They explain
the obstacle, known to the Thessalonians but
unknown to us, to be the Roman Empire. Thus
Tertullian, De Resur. Cam. c. 24, and Apol. c. 32 •
St. Chrysostom and Theophylact on 2 Thess. ii. ;
Hippolytus, De Antichristo, c. 49 ; St. Jerome
on Dan. vii. ; St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xx. 19 ;
Cyril of Jerusalem, Cateck. xv. 6 (see Dr. H.
More's Works, bk. ii. c. 19, p. 690 ; Mede, bk!
iii. c. xiii. p. 656; Alford, Gk. Test iii. 57;
Wordsworth, On the Apocalypse, p. 520). Theo
doret and Theodore of Mopsuestia hold it to be
the determination of God. Theodoret's view is
embraced by Pelt ; the Patristic interpretation,
is accepted by Wordsworth. Ellicott and Alford
so far modify the Patristic interpretation as to
explain the obstacle to be the restraining power
of human law (to Karexov) wielded by the
Empire of Rome (6 Kccrexuv) in the time of the
Apostles, but now by the several governments
of the civilized world. The explanation of
Theodoret is untenable on account of St. Paul's
further words, " until he be taken out of the
way," which are applied by him to the obstacle-
There is much to be said for the Patristic inter
pretation in its plainest acceptation. How
should the idea of the Roman Empire being the
obstacle to the revelation of Antichrist have
originated? There was nothing to lead the
early Christian writers to such a belief. They
regarded the Roman Empire as idolatrous and
abominable, and would have been more disposed
to consider it as the precursor of than as the ob
stacle to the Wicked One. Whatever the obstacle,
was, St. Paul says that he told the Thessalonians
what it was. Those to whom he had preached
¦-'¦•¦¦ and every time that his Epistle was.

knew;

publicly read (1 Thess. v. 27), questions would
have been asked by those who did not know,
and thus the recollection must have been kept
up. It is very difficult to see whence the-.
tradition could have arisen except from St.
Paul's own teaching. It may be asked, Why
then did he not express it in writing as well as
by word of mouth? St. Jerome's answer is
sufficient: "If he had openly and unreservedly
said, 'Antichrist will not come unless the
Koman Empire be first destroyed,' the infant
Church would have been exposed in consequence
oPAe„rSe?,Uti011 " (Ad Al,Jas- Qu- *'• ™l. iT-
p. 209 ; Pans, 1706). Remigius gives the same
reason> "He spoke obscurel v for fear a Roman.
should perhaps read the Epistle, and raise a per
secution against him and the other Christians,

ANTICHRIST
for they held that they were to rule for ever in
the world " (Bib. Patr. Max. viii. 1018 ; see
Wordsworth, On the Apocalypse, p. 343). It
would appear then that the obstacle was pro
bably the Roman Empire, whose very existence
served as an obstruction to the development of
the aTrotTTao-ia : and on its being taken out of
the way, that is, when the Byzantine Empire
«ould no longer exercise a dominant sway in the
West, its place being taken by the novel
creation of Charlemagne, which, owing to the
vice of its origin, had not the restraining and
withholding force of the old Empire, there did
-occur the " falling away ; " Zion the beloved
city became Sodom the bloody city — still Zion
though Sodom, still Sodom though Zion.
According to the view given above, this would
be the description of the Church in her present
estate, and this will continue to be her estate
_ until the time, times, and half time, during
which the evil element is allowed to remain
within her, shall have come to their end.k
3. What is the Apocalyptic Babylon ? There
is not a doubt that by Babylon is figured Rome.
The " seven mountains on which the woman
sitteth " (Rev. xvii. 9), and the plain declara
tion, " the woman wliich thou sawest is that
great city which reigneth " (i.e. in St. John's
¦days) " over the kings of the earth " (Rev. xvii.
18), are too strong evidence to be gainsaid.
There is no commentator of note, ancient or
modern, Romanist or Protestant, who does not
acknowledge so much. But what Rome is it
that is thus figured? There are four chief
opinions : — (1) Rome Pagan ; (2) Rome Papal ;
{3) Rome having hereafter become infide] ;
(4) Rome as a type of the world. That it is old
Pagan Rome is the view ably contended for by
Bossuet and held in general by the praeterist
school of interpreters. That it is Rome Papal
was held by the Protestants of the 16th century,
and by those who preceded and have followed
them in their line of interpretation. That it is

ANTICHRIST

149

k The latest view on this mysterious subject is one
put forth with great ability by Bishop Harold Browne.
Considering Antichristianism to he an approaching out
burst of the " volcanic fire of communistic anarchy,
joined in close affinity with agnosticism and atheism,
lying hidden, or scarcely hidden, beneath all govern
ment, and waiting to subvert and submerge all," he
¦accepts the Patristic exposition of the to Karexov : for
" the system of law which had its origin in the Koman
Republic, which developed in the Roman Empire, and
which was finally stamped, sealed, and codified in the
Christian Empire, may well have been esteemed a power
able to restrain lawlessness of life and even atheism in
religion;" but he regards the Roman Empire as not,
«ven formally, dissolved till 1806, and lasting in its law-
abiding effects to the present time, whereas " it would
"be no great prodigy if those who witness the birth of the
twentieth century after Christ were to see us bereft of
that power of social order and of iron law tempered hy
Christian faith, which has come down to us through
-nineteen centuries fromf Augustus, in whose reign the
Christ was born, through Constantine and Justinian and
Charles the Great, and of which even .Napoleon coveted
the inheritance : ' that which letteth ' is apparently in
the process of being ' taken out of the way,' and a spirit
is growing up, silently gaining strength and ascendency,
which has well-nigh every characteristic of St. Paul's
Man of Sin and of St. John's Antichrist " (The Anti
christ — a Sermon preached at fhe Beading Church
Congress, Oct. 2, 1383).

Rome having lapsed into infidelity is the view of
some of the futurists. That it is Rome as the
type of the world is suggested or maintained by
Tichonius, Primasius, Albert the Great, and in
our own days by Dr. Arnold (On the Interpreta
tion of Prophecy) and Dr. Newman (Tracts for
the Times, No. 83). That it must be an un
faithful Church is argued by Bishop Words
worth, from the uniform use of the word trdpvrj
(e.g. " How is the faithful city become a
harlot !" Is. i. 21) in Scripture (On the Apo
calypse, p. 376), and it is no less decisively
maintained by Isaac Williams (The Apocalypse,
p. 335). A close consideration of the language
and import of St. John's prophecy appears, says
Mr. Williams, to leave no room for doubt on
this point. It this be so, the conclusion seems
almost necessarily to follow that the Babylon of
the Apocalypse is Papal Rome which gradually
raised and enthroned herself on the corrupted
Church represented by the First Beast. A very
noticeable conclusion follows from hence, which
has been little marked by many who have been
most anxious to identify Babylon and Rome,
viz., that it is impossible that the Pope can be
the Antichrist, for Babylon the great, who is
seated on the Beast, and the Antichrist are
wholly distinct. After Babylon is fallen and
destroyed (Rev. xviii.) the Antichrist is still
found (Rev. xix.). Indeed there are but few
features in the Papal system which recall the
portrait of Antichrist as drawn by St. John,
however close may be its resemblance to the
Apocalyptic Babylon.
4. What are we to understand by the two Wit
nesses ? The usual interpretation given in the
early Church is that they are Enoch and Elijah,
who are to appear in the days of Antichrist,
and by him to be killed. St. Hilary of Poitiers
substitutes Moses for Enoch ; Victorinus, Jere
miah. Joachim would suggest Moses and Elijah
taken figuratively for some persons, or, perhaps,
orders, actuated by their spirit. Bullinger, Bale,
Chytraeus, Pareus, Mede, Vitringa, and New
ton understand by them the line of Antipapal
remonstrants. Foxe takes them to be Huss and
Jerome of Prague ; Bossuet, the early Christian
martyrs ; Herder and Eiehhorn, the chief priests
Ananus and Jesus slain by the Zealots ; Maurice.
the priest Jeshua and the judge Zerubbabel as
representing Law and Sacrifice ; Tichonius aud
Bede among the more ancient writers, Bishops
Andrewes and Wordsworth among the more
modern, understand the two Testaments ; others
the two Sacraments. Archdeacon Lee suggests
that one of the witnesses symbolises the Church's
outward organization and polity, the other her
spiritual and evangelical teaching. Ziillig (Die
Offenbarung Johannis, 1834), Stern (Commentar
uber die Offenbarung, 1854), Bleek ( Vorlesungen
iiber die Apocalypse, 1862), Reuss (V Apocalypse,
1878), and Professor Sanday (Authorship of the
Fourth, Gospel) return to the idea of Moses
and Elijah. Bishop Carpenter (New Testament
Commentary) regards them as "typical repre
sentatives of those who in the strength of God
have through the long ages borne witness for
Christ against all wrong and falsehood, against
a world in arms, or a Church in arms, or against
a nominal Christianity in danger of becoming as
corrupt and as cruel as heathenism." All that
we are able to say is this. The time of their

150

[ANTICHRIST

witnessing is 1260 days, or a time, times, and
half a time. This is the same period as that
during which the a-irooracria and the power
of the Beast continue. They would seem there
fore to represent all those who in the midst of
the faithless are found faithful throughout that
time. Their being described as " candlesticks "
would lead us to regard them perhaps as
Churches. The place of their temporary death,
" the great city, which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified," would appear to be Jerusalem, as
typifying the corrupted Church. The Beast
that kills them is not Antichrist, but the faith
less Church.
5. The Number of the Beast. Nothing what
ever is known about it. No conjecture that has
been made is worth mentioning on the ground
of its being likely even to approximate to the
truth. The usual method of seeking the solution
of the difficulty is to select the name of an
individual and to count the numerical values of
its constituent letters. The extravagant con
clusions which have been made to result from
this system have naturally brought it into
disrepute, but it is certain that it was much
more usual, at the time that St. John wrote, to
make calculations in this manner than most
persons are now aware. On this principle
Mercury or Ilnuth was invoked under the name
of 1218, Jupiter under that of 717, the Sun
of 608 or XH ; and our Lord's name, Jesus, in
Greek letters forms 888. Mr. Elliott quotes an
enigma from the Sibylline verses in some way
expressing the Name of God, strikingly illustra
tive of the challenge put forth by St. John, and
perhaps formed in part on its model :
'Eyee'a ypa.p.pa.T' e^co ' TeTpatruAAa/3ds etju.t * voei jue.
Al Tpet? al irpwrat Svo ypdjup-aT* 6^ov<rtl' eKaunj.
'H Aot7nj 5t- Ta koura, ' Kai eio-li/ afpoivo. To, •nivrt.
Too ttovtos S' apiOpov eKaroi/TaSes eio-i Sis btcrib
Kat Tpcis TpurSeKaSes, °~ov "i enra * yvoiis Se tis eip.1,
Ovk ajuojjTOS sort] flet'ijs irap' ejuoi 7c cro<piijs.
Sibyll. Orac.p. Ill; Paris, 1599.
supposed by Mr. Clarke to be ®ebs truTT)p. The
conjecture made on this principle with respect
to the number of the Beast, most worthy of
mention, is one which dates as early as the time
of Irenaeus, and has held its ground down to the
time of Dean Alford and Bishop Wordsworth.
Irenaeus suggests, though he does not adopt,
the word A a t e 1 v 0 s. Bishop Wordsworth
(1860) thinks it possible, and Dean Alford
(1861) has " the strongest persuasion that no
other can be found approaching so near to a
complete solution." Of other names the chief
favourities have been T e 1 t a v (Irenaeus),
'Apvovpe (Hippolytus), AaprreT is, 'AvTe-
pos (Tichonius), r even ptKo s (Rupertus),
Kuk os 'OS-nyos, 'A An By s BAafS epos,
n aAai B aff Kav os, 'A pv 0 s ab 1 K 0 s
(Arethas), OvAtt to s (Grotius), MaojieTis,
'AirorTTaTTis, t) AaT iv-q Baa lAe 1 a
(Clarke), Diooles Augustus (Bossuet): Ewald
constructs " the Roman Caesar " in Hebrew ;
Benary,^ Hitzig, Reuss, Renan, "the Caesar
Nero " in the same language. Any one who
wishes to know the many attempts that have
been made to solve the difficulty — attempts
seldom even relieved by ingenuity — may consult
Wolfius, Calmet, Clarke, Wrangham, and Thorn.

ANTICHRIST
Men have looked for Antichrist among their
foes, and have tortured the name of the person
fixed upon into being of the value of 666 in
Greek, Hebrew, or Latin. Hence Latinus under
the Roman Emperors, Mahomet at the time of
the Saracenic successes, Luther at the Reforma
tion, Napoleon at the French Revolution. The
name to be found is not that of Antichrist, but
the name of the Beast, which, as we have
argued, is not the same as Antichrist — a
point in favour of Aareivos. A different method
of interpretation is adopted by Mr. Isaac
Williams, Bishop Wordsworth, Mr. Maurice,
Lange (in Herzog's Real-Encyklopddie), and
Bishop Carpenter (N. T. Commentary). There
is clearly a symbolical meaning in the numbers
used in the Apocalypse ; and they would ex
plain the three sixes as a threefold declension
from the holiness and perfection symbolised by
the number seven. ' Similarly Dean Vaughan.
hazards a conjecture that the threefold reitera
tion of half twelve may be " the symbol of the
world, as the full and perfect Twelve is of the
Church " (The Revelation of St John). We will
add an ingenious suggestion by an anonymous
writer, and will leave the subject in the same
darkness in which it is probably destined to
remain: "At his first appearance," says this
writer, " he will be hailed with acclamations and
hosannahs as the Redeemer of Israel, another
Judas Maccabaeus : and either from the initials
of his name, or from the initial letter of some
scriptural motto adopted by him, an artificial
name will be formed, a cipher of his real name.
And that abbreviated name or cipher will be
ostentatiously displayed as their badge, their
watchword, their shibboleth, their ' Maccabi,'
by all his adherents. This artificial name, this
mark or symbol of the real name, will be equal
by Gematria to 666 " (Jewish Missionary, p. 52,
1848). (C.) Jewish and Mohammedan traditions re
specting Antichrist. The name given by the
Jews to Antichrist is D-l^pnN (Armillus =).
There are several Rabbinical books in which a
circumstantial account is given of him, such as
the "Book of Zerubbabel," and others printed
at Constantinople. Buxtorf gives an abridg
ment of their contents in his Lexicon, under the
head " Armillus," and in the fiftieth chapter of
his Synagoga Judaica (p. 717 ; cp. also reff. in
Levy, Chald. Wiirterbuch, and Jastrow's Talmvdic
Dict. s. n.). The name is derived from the
Targum of Isaiah xi. 4, which gives " By the
word of his mouth the wicked Armillus shall
die," for " with the breath of his lips shall he
slay the wicked." Tliere will, say the Jews,
be ten signs connected with the coming of the
Messiah : — 1. The appearance of three apostate
kings who have fallen away from the faith, but
in the sight of men appear to be worshippers of
the true God. 2. A terrible heat of the sun.
3. A dew of blood (Joel ii. 30). 4. A healing

1 Au argument for this explanation of the three sixes
may be drawn from the fact already mentioned, that the
name 'Ii)<n>5? forms 888 (nj = 18, a = 200, o = 10,
v = 400, s = 200), which is at the same distance above
111 that 666 is below it.
™ Explained as equivalent to Romulus or Ahriman,
or in other ways (see Dalman, Der leidende u. d. ster-
bende Messias, [1,888,] p. u.

ANTICHRIST
dew for the pious. 5. A darkness will be cast
upon the sun (Joel ii. 31) for thirty days
(Is. xxiv. 22). 6. God will give universal power
to the Romans for nine months, during which
time the Roman chieftain will afflict the
Israelites ; at the end of the nine months God
will raise up the Messiah Ben-Joseph, that is,
the Messiah of the tribe of Joseph, named
Nehemiah, who will defeat the Roman chieftain
and slay him. 7. Then there will arise Armillus,
whom the Gentiles or Christians call Antichrist.
He will be born of a marble statue in one of the
churches in Rome. He will go to the Romans
and will profess himself to be their Messiah and
their God. At once the Romans will believe in
him and accept him for their king, and will
love him and cling to him. Having made the
whole world subject to him, he will say to the
Idumaeans (i.e. Christians), " Bring me the law
which I have given you." They will bring
it with their book of prayers ; and he will accept
it as his own, and will exhort them to persevere
in their belief of him. Then he will send to
Nehemiah, and command the Jewish Law to be
brought him, and proof to be given from it that
he is God. Nehemiah will go before him,
guarded by 30,000 warriors of the tribe of
Ephraim, and will read, " I am the Lord thy
God : thou shalt have none other gods but Me."
Armillus will say that there are no such words
in the Law, and will command the Jews to con
fess him to be God as the other nations had con
fessed him. But Nehemiah will give orders to
his followers to seize and bind him. Then
Armillus in rage and fury will gather all his
people in a deep valley to fight with Israel, and
in that battle the Messiah Ben-Joseph will fall,
and the Angels will bear away his body and
carry him to the resting-place of the Patriarchs.
Then the Jews will be cast out by all nations,
and suffer afflictions such as have not been from
the beginning of the world, and the residue of
them will fly into the desert, and will remain
there forty and five days, during which time all
the Israelites who are not worthy to see the
Redemption shall die. 8. Then the great Angel
Michael will rise and blow three mighty blasts
of a trumpet. At the first blast there shall
appear the true Messiah Ben-David and the
prophet Elijah, and they will manifest them
selves to the Jews in the desert, and all the
Jews throughout the world shall hear the sound
of the trump, and those that have been carried
captive into Assyria shall be gathered together ;
and with great gladness they shall come to
Jerusalem. Then Armillus will raise a great
army of Christians and lead them to Jerusalem
to conquer the new king. But God shaU say to
Messiah, " Sit thou on My right hand," and to
the Israelites, " Stand still and see what God
will work for you to-day." Then God will pour
down sulphur and fire from heaven (Ezek.
xxxviii. 22), and the impious Armillus shall die,
and the impious Idumaeans (i.e. Christians),
who have destroyed the house of our God and
have led us away into captivity, shall perish in
misery, and the Jews shall avenge themselves
upon them, as it is written: "The house of
Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a
flame, and the house of Esau (i.e. the Christians)
for stubble, and they shall kindle in them and
devour them : there shall not be any remaining

ANTICHRIST

151

of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken
it " (Obad. 18). 9. On the second blast of the
trumpet the tombs shall be opened, and Messiah
Ben-David shall raise Messiah Ben-Joseph from
the dead. 10. The ten tribes shall be led to
Paradise, and shall celebrate the wedding-feast
of the Messiah. And the Messiah shall choose a
bride amongst the fairest of the daughters of
Israel, and children and children's children shall
be born to him, and then he shall die like other
men, and his sons shall reign over Israel after
him, as it is written, "He shall prolong his
days " (Is. liii. 10), which Rambam explains to
mean, " He shall live long, but he too shall die
in great glory, and his son shall reign in his
stead, and his sons' sons in succession " (Buxtorf,
Synagoga Judaica, p. 717 ; Basil. 1661).
The Mohammedan traditions are an adap
tation of Christian prophecy and Jewish legend
without any originality or any beauty of their
own. They, too, have their signs which are to
precede the final consummation. They are
divided into the greater and lesser signs. Of
the greater signs the first is the rising of the
sun from the West (cf. Matt. xxiv. 29). The
next is the appearance of a Beast from the
earth, sixty cubits high, bearing the staff of
Moses and the seal of Solomon, with which he
will inscribe the word " Believer " on the face
of the faithful, and " Unbeliever " on all who
have not accepted Islam (comp. Rev. xiii.). The
third sign is the capture of Constantinople ;
while the spoil of which is being divided, news
will come of the appearance of Antichrist (Al
Dajjal), and every man will return to his own
home. Antichrist will be blind of one eye and
deaf of one ear, and will have the name of
Unbeliever written on his forehead (Rev. xiii.).
It is he that the Jews call Messiah Ben-David,
and say that he will come in the last times and
reign over sea and land, and restore to them
the kingdom. He will continue forty days, one
of these days being equal to a year, another to
a month, another to a week, the rest being days
of ordinary length. He will devastate all other
places, but will not be allowed to enter Mecca
and Medina, which will be guarded by Angels.
Lastly, he will be killed by Jesus at the gate of
Lud. For when news is received of the appear
ance of Antichrist, Jesus will come down to
earth, alighting on the white tower at the east
of Damascus, and will slay him : Jesus will
then embrace the Mahometan religion, marry a
wife, and leave children after him, having
reigned in perfect peace and security, after the
death of Antichrist, for forty years (see
Pococke, Porta Mosis, p. 258, Oxon. 1655 ; and
Sale, Koran, Preliminary Discourse).
Literature. — On the subject of the Antichrist
and of the Apocalyptic visions the following
is a condensed list of the writers most deserving
of attention : — Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. xv.
p. 220 ; Paris, 1720 : S. Jerome, Explan. in
Daniel, v. 617 ; Veron. 1734. These two writess
are expounders of the Patristic view. Andreas,
Comm. in Apoc, Bibl . Patr. Max. v. 590 ;
Arethas, Comm. in Apoc, Bibl. Patr. Max. ix.
741 ; Abbas Joachim (founder of the Antipapal
school), Exp. Apoc, Venet. 1519 ; Wickliffe,
De Christo et sua adversario Antichristo, Works,
vol. ii. Lond. 1883; Ribera (founder of the
later school of Futurists), Comm. in Apoc,

152

ANTILIBANUS

Salam. 1591 ; Alcasar (founder of the Prae-
terist school), Vestigatio Arcani Sensus in
Apoc, Antv. 1614 ; Pareus, Comm. in Apoc,
Heidelb. 1618; Cornelius a Lapide, Comm. in
Apoc. Antv. 1627 ; Mede, Clavis Apocalypt.,
Cantab. 1632 ; Bossuet, L' Apocalypse, avec
une Explication, (Euvres, vol. iii. Paris, 1819 ;
Vitringa, Anacrisis Apocalyps., Amst. 1719;
Daubuz, Comm. on Rev., Lond. 1720; Hug,
Einleitung in die Schriften des Neuen Test.,
Stuttg. 1821 ; Bengel, Erkldrte Offenbarung
Johannis, Stuttg. 1834 ; Herder, Johannis Offen
barung, Werke, xii. Stuttg. 1827 ; Eichhorn,
Comm. in Apoc, Gotting. 1791 ; Ewald, Comm.
in Apoc, Lips. 1828 ; Liicke, Vollstandige Ein
leitung in die Offenbarung und die Apocalypt.
Literatur, Comm., iv., Bonn. 1834 ; Tracts for
the Times, v. No. 83, Lond. 1839; Greswell,
Exposition of the Parables, vol. i. Oxf. 1834;
Moses Stuart, Comm. on the Apoc, Edinb. 1847 ;
Wordsworth, On the Apocalypse, Lond. 1849,
and Gk. Test, Lond. 1860; Elliott, Horae
Apocalypticae, Lond. 1862 ; Clissold, Apoca
lyptical Interpretation (Swedenborgian), Lond.
1845 ; C. Maitland, Prophetic Interpretation,
Lond. 1849 ; Williams, Tlie Apocalypse, Lond.
1852 ; S. R. Maitland, Attempt to elucidate the
Prophecies concerning Antichrist, Lond. 1853 ;
Alford, Greek Test. (Proleg. in Thess. et in
Apoc), Lond. 1866 ; Ellicott, Comm. in Thess.,
Lond. 1862 ; Diisterdieck, Handbuch iiber die
Offenbarung Johannis, 1859 ; Renan, L' Anti
christ, Paris, 1873 ; Gebhardt, Tlie Doctrine of
the Apocalypse (Eng. tr., Edinb.), 1873 ; Reuss,
L 'Apocalypse, 1878 ; Mason, Notes and Ex
cursus on the Interpretation of the Prophecy
2 Thess. ii. 3-12, in Ellicott's New Testament
Commentary, Lond. (without date) ; Carpenter,
Notes and Excursus B. on the Revelation, in the
same ; Alexander, Note on the Man of Sin,
2 Thess. ii. 3, in the Speaker's Commentary,
Lond. 1881 ; Lee, The Revelation of St. John
the Divine, in the same ; Harold Browne, The
Antichrist, Lond. 1883. See also article on
Thessalonians, Second Epistle to the, in
this Dictionary, and Antichrist in the Dic
tionary of Christian Biography. [F. M.]
ANTILIB'ANUS ('AvnAlBavos ; Antili-
banus). Only occurs in Judith i. 7. The eastern
most of the two parallel ranges which enclose
Coele-Syria ; elsewhere (Josh. xiii. 5) described
as "all Lebanon, toward the sunrising."
[Lebanon.] r\yj
AN'TIOCH CAvTioxe(a). 1. In Syria. The
capital of the Greek kings of Syria, and after
wards the residence of the Roman governors of
the province which bore the same name. This
metropolis was situated where the chain of
Lebanon, running northwards, and the chain cf
Amanus, running southwards from the Taurus,
are brought to an abrupt meeting. Here the
Orontes breaks througli the mountains; and
Antioch was placed at a bend of the river,
partly on an island, partly on the level which
forms the left bank, and partly on the steep
and craggy ascent of Mount Silpius, which rose
abruptly on the south. In the immediate
neighbourhood was Daphne, the celebrated
sanctuary of Apollo (2 Mace. iv. 33) ; whence
the city was sometimes called Antioch by

ANTIOCH
Daphne, to distinguish it from other cities of
the same name.
No city, after Jerusalem, is so intimately con
nected with the history of the Apostolic Church.
Certain points of close association between these
two cities, as regards the progress of Christi
anity, may be noticed in the first place. One of
the seven deacons, or almoners appointed at
Jerusalem, was Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch
(Acts vi. 5). The Christians, who were dis
persed from Jerusalem at the death of Stephen
preached the Gospel at Antioch (ib. xi. 19). It
was from Jerusalem that Agabus and the other
prophets, who foretold the famine, came to
Antioch (ib. xi. 27, 28) ; and Barnabas and
Saul were consequently sent on a mission of
charity from the latter city to the former (ib.
xi. 30, xii. 25). It was from Jerusalem again
that the Judaizers came, who disturbed the
church at Antioch (ib. xv. 1) ; and it was at
Antioch that St. Paul rebuked St. Peter for
conduct into which he had been betrayed
through the influence of emissaries from
Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 11, 12).
The chief interest of Antioch, however, is con
nected with the progress of Christianity among
the heathen. Here the first Gentile Church
was founded (Acts xi. 20, 21) -, here the dis
ciples of Jesus Christ were first called Chris
tians (xi. 26) ; here St. Paul exercised (so far
as is distinctly recorded) his first systematic
ministerial work (xi. 22-26; see xiv. 26-28;
also xv. 35, xviii. 23) ; hence he started at
the beginning of his first missionary journey
(xiii. 1-3), and hither he returned (xiv. 26).
So again after the Apostolic Council (the decrees
of which were specially addressed to the Gentile
converts at Antioch, xv. 23), he began and ended
his second missionary journey at this place (xv.
36, xviii. 22). This too was the starting-point
of the third missionary journey (xviii. 23),
which was brought to a termination by the im
prisonment at Jerusalem and Caesarea. Though
St. Paul was never again, so far as we know,
at Antioch, it did not cease to be an important
centre for Christian progress ; but it does not
belong to this place to trace its history as a
patriarchate, and its connexion with Ignatius,
Chrysostom (see Dict. of Christian Biography,
s. nn.), and other eminent names.
^ Antioch was founded in the year 300 B.C. by
Seleucus Nicator, with circumstances of con
siderable display, wliich were afterwards em
bellished by fable. The situation was well
chosen, both for military and commercial pur
poses. Jews were settled there from the first
in large numbers, were governed by their own
ethnarch, and allowed to have the same political
privileges as the Greeks (Joseph. Ant. xii. 3,
§ 1 ; c. Ap. ii. 4). Antioch grew under the
successive Seleucid kings, till it became a city
of great extent and of remarkable beauty. Some
of the most magnificent buildings were on the
island. One feature, which seems to have been
characteristic of the great Syrian cities,— a vast
street with colonnades, intersecting the whole
from end to end,— was added by Antiochus
Epiphanes. Some lively notices of the Antioch ,
of this period, and of its relation to Jewish
history, are supplied by the Books of Maccabees
(see especially 1 Mace. iii. 37, ri. 13 ; 2 Mace.
"'. 7-9, v. 21, xi. 36).

ANTIOCH
It is the Antioch of the Roman period with
which we are concerned in the N. T. By
Pompey it had been made a free city, and such
it continued till the time of Antoninus Pius.
The early emperors raised there some large and
important structures, such as aqueducts, amphi
theatres, and baths. Herod the Great contri
buted a road and a colonnade (Joseph. Ant xvi.

ANTIOCH

153

5, § 3 ; B. J. i. 21, § 11). Here should be
mentioned that the citizens of Antioch under
the Empire were noted for scurrilous wit and
the invention of nicknames. This perhaps was
the origin of the name by which the disciples of
Jesus Christ were designated, and which was
probably given by Romans to the despised sect,
and not by Christians to themselves.

Antioch on the Orontes.

The great authority for all that is known of
ancient Antioch is C. 0. Miiller's Antiquitates
Antiochenae (Gott. 1839). Modern Antakia is
a shrunken and miserable place. Some of the

Gate of St. Paul, Anlioch on the Orontes.
walls, shattered by earthquakes, have a striking
appearance on the crags of Mount Silpius. They
are described in Chesney's account of the
Euphrates Expedition, where also is given a

view of a gateway which still bears the name of
St. Paul. One error, however, should be pointed
out, which has found its way into the above-
named volumes from Calmet : namely, Jerome's
erroneous identification of Antioch with the
Riblah of the Old Testament (see Dict. G. and
R. Geog., art. " Antiocheia ").
2. Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 14, xiv. 19,
21; 2 Tim. iii. 11). The position of this town
is clearly pointed out by Strabo in the following
words (xii. p. 577) : — " In the district of
Phrygia called Paroreia, there is a certain
mountain-ridge, stretching from E. to .W. On
each side there is a large plain below this ridge ;
and it has two cities in its neighbourhood :
Philomelium on the north, and on the other
side Antioch, called Antioch near Pisidia. The
former lies entirely in the plain; the latter
(which has a Roman colony) is on a height."
The relations of distance also between Antioch
and other towns are known by the Peutingerian
table. Its site was discovered by Mr. Arundell,
the British chaplain at Smyrna, who undertook
a journey in 1833 for the express purpose of
identifying the Pisidian Antioch (Arundell's Asia
Minor, chs. xii. xiii. xiv.). The ruins are very con
siderable, and include those of a temple, theatre,
church, and fine aqueduct. This discovery was
fully confirmed by Mr. Hamilton (Res. in Asia
Minor, vol. i. ch. 27 ; Vaux, Gk. Cities and
Islands of Asia Min.-p. 111). Antioch corresponds
to Yalovatch, which is distant from Ak-shehr
(Philomelium) six hours over the mountains.

154

ANTIOCHIA

This city, like the Syrian Antioch, was
founded by Seleucus Nicator. Under the
Romans it became a colonia, and was also called
Caesarea, as we learn from Pliny (v. 24). The
former fact is confirmed by the Latin inscrip
tions and other features of the coins of the
place ; the latter by inscriptions discovered on
the spot by Mr. Hamilton.
The occasion on which St. Paul visited the
city for the first time (Acts xiii. 14) was very
interesting and important. His preaching in
the synagogue led to the reception of the
Gospel by a great number of the Gentiles : and
this resulted in a violent persecution on the
part of the Jews, who first, using the influence
of some of the wealthy female residents, drove
him from Antioch to Iconium (vv. 50, 51), and
subsequently followed him even to Lystra (Acts
xiv. 19). St. Paul, on his return from Lystra,
revisited Antioch for the purpose of strengthen
ing the minds of the disciples (v. 21). These
events happened when he was on his first mission
ary journey, in company with St. Barnabas.
He probably visited Antioch again at the
beginning of his second journey, when Silas was
his associate, and Timotheus, who was a native
of this neighbourhood, had just been added to
the party. The allusion in 2 Tim. iii. 11 shows
that Timotheus was well acquainted with the
sufferings which the Apostle had undergone
during his first visit to the Pisidian Antioch.
See Dict. G. and R. Geog., art. " Antiocheia,"
7. [Phrygia ; Pisidia.] [J. S. H.] [W.]
ANTIO'CHIA (KA. [usually] 'AvTtoXla,
B. [1 Mace. iv. 35] 'AvTtwxia; Antiochia).
Antioch 1 (1 Mace. iv. 35, vi. 63 ; 2 Mace. iv.
33, v. 21). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANTIO'CHIANS ('AvTioxels ; Antiocheni).
Partisans of Antiochus Epiphanes, including
Jason and the Hellenizing faction (2 Mace. iv.
9, 19). In the latter passage the Vulgate has
¦viros peocatores. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANTI'OCHIS CAvtIoxis; Antiochis). The
concubine of Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mace. iv.
30). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ANTI'OCHUS ('AvtIoxos; A. 'AvTipaXos
in 1 Mace. xii. 16 ; Antiochus). Father of Nume-
nius, one of the ambassadors from Jonathan to
the Romans (1 Mace. xii. 16, xiv. 22).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ANTI'OCHUS II. ('AvtIoXos, the with-
stander), king of Syria, surnamed the god
(&ebs) "in the first instance by the Milesians,
because he overthrew their tyrant Timarchus "
(App.^ Syr. 65), succeeded his father Antiochus
(2a>T-f(p, the Saviour) in B.C. 261. During the
earlier part of his reign he was engaged in a
fierce war with Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, king
of Egypt (foil's viribus dimicavit, Hieron. ad Dan.
xi. 6), in the course of which Parthia and
Bactria revolted and became independent king
doms. At length (B.c. 250) peace was made,
and the two monarchs "joined themselves
together (Dan. xi. 6), and Ptolemy (" the king
of the south") gave his daughter Berenice in
marriage to Antiochus ("the king of the
north ), who set aside his former wife, Laodice,
to receive her. After some time, on the death
of Ptolemy (B.C. 247), Antiochus recalled Lao-

ANTIOCHU8 IH.
dice and her children Seleucus and Antiochus to
court. Thus Berenice was " not able to retain
her power ;" and Laodice, in jealous fear lest
she might a second time lose her ascendency
poisoned Antiochus (him "that supported her"
i.e. Berenice), and caused Berenice and her infant
son to be put to death, B.C. 246 (Dan. xi. 6-
Hieron. ad Dan. 1. c. ; App. Syr. 65).
After the death of Antiochus, Ptolemaens
Euergetes, the brother of Berenice (" out of a
branch of her root "), who succeeded his father
Ptol. Philadelphus, exacted vengeance for his
sister's death by an invasion of Syria, in which
Laodice was killed, her son Seleucus Callinicus
driven for a time from the throne, and the
whole country plundered (Dan. xi. 7-9 ; Hieron.
I. c. ; hence his surname "the benefactor"). The
hostilities thus renewed continued for many
years ; and on the death of ^Seleucus B.C. 226
after his " return into his own land " (Dan. xi.
9), his sons Alexander (Seleucus), Keraunos, and
Antiochus " assembled a great multitude of
forces " against Ptol. Philopator, the son of
Euergetes, and "one of them" (Antiochus)
threatened to overthrow the power of Egypt
(Dan. xi. 9, 10 ; Hieron. I. a). [B. F. W.] [K,]
ANTI'OCHUS HI., surnamed the Great
(peyas), succeeded his brother Seleucus Kerau
nos, who was assassinated after a short reign in
B.C. 223. He prosecuted the war against Ptol.
Philopator with vigour, and at first with success.
In B.C. 218 he drove the Egyptian forces to Sidon,
conquered Samaria and Gilead, and wintered at
Ptolemais, but was defeated next year at Raphia,
near Gaza (B.C. 217), with immense loss, and
in consequence made * peace with Ptolemy, in
which he ceded to him the disputed provinces
of Coele-Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine (Dan.
xi. 11, 12 ; Polyb. v. 40 ff., 53 ff.). During the
next thirteen years Antiochus was engaged in
strengthening his position in Asia Minor and
on the frontiers of Parthia, and by his successes
gained his surname of the Great. At the end
of this time, B.C. 205, Ptolemaeus Philopator
died, and left his kingdom to his son Ptol. Epi
phanes, who was only five years old. Antio
chus availed himself of the opportunity which
was offered by the weakness of a minority
and the unpopularity of the regent, to unite
with Philip III. of Macedon for the purpose of
conquering and dividing the Egyptian dominions.
The Jews, who had been exasperated by the
conduct of Ptol. Philopator both in Palestine
and Egypt, openly espoused his cause, under the
influence of a short-sighted policy ("the fac
tions among thy people shall rise," ic. against
Ptolemy; Dan. xi. 14). Antiochus succeeded
in occupying the three disputed provinces, but
was recalled to Asia by a war which broke out
with Attalus, king of Pergamus ; and his ally
Philip was himself embroiled with the Romans.
In consequence of this diversion Ptolemy, by the
aid of Scopas, again made himself master of
Jerusalem (Joseph. Ant xii. 3, 3) and recovered
the territory which he had lost (Hieron. ad Dan.
*'• !*)¦ !" B.C. 198 Antiochus reappeared in
the field and gained a decisive victory " near
the sources of the Jordan " (Joseph. Ant. xii. 3,
3 ; Hieron. I.e." ubi Paneas nunc condita est "),
and afterwards captured Scopas and the rem
nant of his forces which had taken refuge in Sidon

ANTIOCHUS. III.
(Dan. xi. 15). The Jews, who had suffered
severely during the struggle (Joseph. I. c), wel
comed Antiochus as their deliverer, and " he
stood in the glorious land which by his hand
was to be consumed " (Dan. xi. 16). His further
designs against Egypt were frustrated by the
intervention of the Romans : and his daughter
Cleopatra (Polyb. xxviii. 17), whom he gave in
marriage to Ptol. Epiphanes, with the Phoeni
cian provinces for her dower (Joseph. Ant. xii.
4, § 1), favoured the interests of her husband
rather than those of her father (Dan. xi. 17 ;
Hieron. I. c). From Egypt Antiochus turned
again to Asia Minor, and after various successes
in the Aegean crossed over to Greece, and by
the advice of Hannibal entered on a war with
Rome. His victorious course was checked at
Thermopylae (B.C. 191), and after subsequent
reverses he was finally defeated at Magnesia in
Lydia, B.C. 190.a By the peace which was con
cluded shortly afterwards (b.c 18S) he was
forced to cede all his possessions " on the Roman
side of M. Taurus," and to pay in successive in
stalments an enormous sum of money to defray
the expenses of the war (15,000 Euboic talents :
App. Syr. 38). This last condition led to his
ignominious death. In B.C. 1S7 he attacked a

ANTIOCHUS IV.

155

Tetradxachm (Attic talent) of Antiochus III.
Obv. : Head of King to right. Rev. : BA2IAEH2 ANTIoXoY.
Geld, two monograms. Apollo, naked, seated on Cortina, to left.
rich temple of Belus in Elymais, and was slain
by the people who rose in its defence (Strab. xvi.
744 ; Just, xxxii. 2). Thus " he stumbled and
fell, and was not found " (Dan. xi. 19).
The policy of Antiochus towards the Jews was
liberal and conciliatory. He not only assured
to them perfect freedom and protection in the
exercise of their worship, but according to
Josephus (Ant. xii. 3, § 3), in consideration of
their great sufferings and services in his behalf,
he made splendid contributions towards the sup
port of the Temple ritual, and gave various
immunities to the priests and other inhabitants
of Jerusalem. At the same time imitating
the example of Alexander and Seleucus, and
appreciating the influence of their fidelity and
unity, he transported two thousand families
of Jews from Mesopotamia to Lydia and Phry
gia, to repress the tendency to revolt which
was manifested in those provinces (Joseph. Ant
1. c). Two sons of Antiochus occupied the throne
after him, — Seleucus Philopator, his immediate
successor, and Antiochus IV., who gained the
kingdom upon the assassination of his brother.
[B. F. W.] [R.j
a The statement in 1 Mace. viii. 6, that Antiochus
was taken prisoner by the Romans, is not supported by
any other testimony.

ANTI'OCHUS IV. EPIPHANES ('Etti-
tpaviis, the Illustrious, also called @e6s, and in
mockery iwipavTis, the frantic: Athen. x. 4:i8-
Polyb. xxvi. io) was the youngest son of Anti
ochus the Groat. He was given as a hostage to
the Romans (B.C. 188) after his father's defeat
at Magnesia. In B.C. 175 he was released by
the intervention of his brother Seleucus, who
substituted his own son Demetrius in his place.
Antiochus was at Athens when Seleucus was
assassinated by Heliodorus. He took advantao-e
of his position, and, by the assistance of Eu-
menes and Attalus, easily expelled Heliodorus,
who had usurped the crown, and himself
" obtained the kingdom by flatteries " (Dan. xi.
21 ; cp. Liv. xii. 20), to the exclusion of his
nephew Demetrius (Dan. viii. 7).
The accession of Antiochus was immediately
followed by desperate efforts of the Hellenizing
party at Jerusalem to assert their supremacy.
Jason (Jesus : Jos. Ant xii. 5, § 1, see Jason),
the brother of Onias III., the high-priest, per
suaded the king to transfer the high-priesthood
to him, and at the same time bought permission
(2 Mace. iv. 9) to carry out his design of habitu
ating the Jews to Greek customs (2 Mace. iv. 7,
20). Three years afterwards Menelaus, of the
tribe of Benjamin [Simon], who was com
missioned by Jason to carry to Antiochus
the price of his office, supplanted Jason by
offering the king a larger bribe, and was
himself appointed high-priest, while Jason
was obliged to take refuge among the Am
monites (2 Mace. iv. 23-26). From these
circumstances and from the marked honour
with which Antiochus was received at Je
rusalem very early in his reign (c. B.C.
173 ; 2 Mace. iv. 22), it appears that he
found no difficulty in regaining the border
provinces which had been given as the
dower of his sister Cleopatra to Ptol. Epi
phanes. But his ambition led him still
further, and he undertook four campaigns
against Egypt, B.C. 171, 170, 169, 168, with
greater success than had attended his prede
cessor, and the complete conquest of the coun
try was prevented only by the interference of
the Romans (Dan. xi. 24 ; 1 Mace. i. 16 ff. ;
2 Mace. v. 11 sq. : cp. the story of Popilius
Laenas, Liv. xiv. 11, 12; Polyb. xxix. 11).
The course of Antiochus was everywhere
marked by the same wild prodigality as had
signalised his occupation of the throne (Dan.
I. c). The consequent exhaustion of his treasury,
and the armed conflicts of the rival high-priests
whom he had appointed, furnished the occasion
for an assault upon Jerusalem on his return
from his second Egyptian campaign (B.C. 170),
which he had probably planned in conjunction
with Ptol. Philometor, who was at that time in
his power (Dan. xi. 26). The Temple was plun
dered, a terrible massacre took place, and a
Phrygian governor was left with Menelaus in
charge of the city (2 Mace. v. 1-22 ; 1 Mace. i.
20-28). Two years afterwards, at the close of
the fourth Egyptian expedition (Polyb. xxix. 1,
11 ; App. Syr. 66 ; cp. Dan. xi. 29, 30), Anti
ochus detached a, force under Apollonius to
occupy Jerusalem and fortify it, and at this
time he availed himself of the assistance of the
ancestral enemies of the Jews (1 Mace. iv. 61,
v. 3 sq. ; Dan. xi. 41). The decrees then fol-

156

ANTIOCHUS IV.

lowed which have rendered his name infamous.
The Temple was desecrated, and the observance
of the Law was forbidden. " On the fifteenth
day of Cisleu [the Syrians] set up the abomina
tion of desolation (i.e. an idol altar : 1 Mace. v. 59)
on the altar." * Ten days afterwards an offering
was made upon it to Jupiter Olympius. At
Jerusalem all opposition appears to have ceased ;
but Mattathias and his sons organised a resist
ance (" holpen with a little help," Dan. xi. 34),
which preserved inviolate the name and faith of
Israel. Meanwhile Antiochus turned his arms
to the East, towards Parthia (Tac. Hist. v. 8)
and Armenia (App. Syr. 45 ; Diod. ap. Miiller,
Fragm. ii. p. 10 ; Dan. xi. 40). Hearing not
long afterwards of the riches of a temple of
Nanaea (" the desire of women," Dan. xi. 37) in
Elymais, hung with the gifts of Alexander, he
resolved to plunder it. The attempt was de
feated ; and though he did not fall like his
father in the act of sacrilege, the event hastened
his death. He retired to Babylon, aud thence to
Tabae in Persia, where he died B.C. 164, the vic
tim of superstition, terror, and remorse (Polyb.
xxxi. 2 ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 8, § 1), having first
heard of the successes of the Maccabees in
restoring the Temple - worship at Jerusalem
< 1 Mace. vi. 1-16 ; cp. 2 Mace. i. 7-17 ? ).
" He came to his end, and there was none
to help him " (Dan. xi. 45. Cf. App. Si/r.
45 ; Liv. xii. 24-5, xiii. 6, xliv. 19, xiv. 11-
13 ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 5, 8).
The reign of Antiochus, thus shortly traced,
was the last great crisis in the history of
the Jews before the coming of our Lord. The
prominence which is given to it in the Book
of Daniel fitly accords with its typical and
representative character (Dan. vii. 8, 25, viii.
11 sq.). The conquest' of Alexander had in
troduced the forces of Greek thought and life
into the Jewish nation, which was already
prepared for their operation [Alexander].
For more thana century and a half these forces
had acted powerfully both upon the faith and
upon the habits of the people ; and the time was
come when an outward struggle alone could de
cide whether Judaism was to be merged in a ra
tionalised Paganism, or to rise not only victorious
from the conflict, but more vigorous and more
pure. There were many symptoms which be
tokened the approaching struggle. The position
which Judaea occupied on the borders of the
conflicting empires of Syria and Egypt, exposed
equally to the open miseries of war and the
treacherous favours of rival sovereigns, rendered
its national condition precarious from the first,
though these very circumstances were favourable
to the growth of freedom. The terrible crimes by
which the wars of " the North and South " were

ANTIOCHUS IV.
stained, must have alienated the mind of every
faithful Jew from his Grecian lords, even if per-
secution had not been superadded from Egypt
first and then from Syria. Politically nothing
was left for the people in the reign of Antiochus
but independence, or the abandonment of every
prophetic hope. Nor was their social position
less perilous. The influence of Greek literature,
of foreign travel, of extended commerce, had
made itself felt in daily life. At Jerusalem the
mass of the inhabitants seem to have desired to
imitate the exercises of the Greeks ; and ,i
Jewish embassy attended the games of Hercules
at Tyre (2 Mace. iv. 9-20). Even their religious
feelings were yielding ; and before the rising of
the Maccabees no opposition was offered to the
execution of the king's decrees. Upon the first
attempt of Jason the " priests had no courage
to serve at the altar " (2 Mace. iv. 14 ; cp. 1
Mace. i. 43) ; and this not so much from wilful
apostasy, as from a disregard of the vital prin
ciples involved iu the conflict. Thus it was
necessary that the final issues of a false Hellen
ism should be openly seen that it might be dis
carded for ever by those who cherished the
ancient, faith of Israel.
The conduct of Antiochus was in every way
suited to accomplish this end ; and yet it seems

• This altar is generally identified with the abomina
tion of desolation (Qp& ppj^i) spoken of in Dan. ix.
27, xi. 31, xii. 11 (Cp. Matt. xxiv. IB), where the
LX\. rendering pSAvyjia epripiio-etot, is the same as that
which in 1 Mace. i. 54 is applied to the altar of Zeus
erected by Antiochus Epiphanes. The enormity of
this insult was intensified by the fact, that Antiochus
had accepted N«T,cpopos as his own title, appropriating
to himself the attributes of the Olympian Zeus (cp. Dan.
xi. 36, 39), whose altar he erected (Joseph. Ant. xii. $ 5).
At Gerizim, the Samaritan sanctuary, he instituted the
worship of Zeus Xenios. [Abojiixation or Desolation.]

Tetradrachm (Attic talent) of Antiochus IV. Epiphanes.
bv. : Head of King, to right Eev.: BA2IAEQ5 ANTI0X0Y
0EoY Em*ANoY2 NIKMoPoY. Jupiter, Beated to len,
holding a Victory. In field, monogram.
to have been the result of passionate impulse
rather than of any deep-laid scheme to extirpate
a strange creed. At first he imitated the liberal
policy of his predecessors ; and the occasion for
his attacks was furnished by the Jews them
selves. Even the motives by which he was
finally actuated were personal, or at most only
political. Able, energetic (Polyb. xxvii. 17), ana
liberal to profusion, Antiochus was reckless
and unscrupulous in the execution of his plans.
He had learnt at Rome to court power and to
dread it. He gained an empire, and he re
membered that he had been a hostage. Regard
less himself of the gods of his fathers (Dan.
xi. 37), he was incapable of appreciating the
power of religion in others ; and, like Nero in
later times, he became a type of the enemy of
God [comp. LXX. Version of Dan. xi. 36 with
2 Thess. ii. 4], not as the Roman emperor by the
perpetration of unnatural crimes, but bv the
disregard of every higher feeling. " He magni
fied himself above all." The real deity whom
he recognised was the Roman war-god, and
fortresses were his most sacred temples (Dan.
xi. 38 ff. ; Ewald, Gesch. des Volkes Isr. iv. 340).'

b By the Jews he was regarded as the typical Anti
christ, the union of power with the defiance of every-

ANTIOCHUS V.
Confronted with such a persecutor, the Jew
realized the spiritual power of his faith. The
evils of heathendom were seen concentrated in a
personal shape. The outward forms of worship
became invested with something of a sacra
mental dignity. Common life was purified and
ennobled by heroic devotion. An independent
nation asserted the integrity of its hopes in the
face of Egypt, Syria, and Rome. Cp. Schurer,
Gesch. d. Jiidischen Volkes,' i. 147. &c.
[B. F. W.] [R.]
ANTI'OCHUS V. EU'PATOR (Eimdrup,
of noble descent) succeeded his father Antiochus
IV. B.C. 164, while still a child, under the
guardianship of Lysias (App. Syr. 46 ; 1 Mace.
iii. 32 f., vi. 17), though Antiochus had assigned
this office to Philip, his own foster-brother, on
his death-bed (1 Mace. vi. 14 f., 55 ; 2 Mace.
ix. 29). Shortly after his accession he marched
against Jerusalem with a large army, accom
panied by Lysias, to relieve the Syrian garrison,
which was hard-pressed by Judas Maccabaeus
(1 Mace. vi. 19 ff). He repulsed Judas at
Bethzacharia, and took Bethsura (Bethzur)
after a vigorous resistance (1 Mace. vi. 31-50).
But when the Jewish force in the Temple was
on the point of yielding, Lysias persuaded the
king to conclude a hasty peace that he might
advance to meet Philip, who had returned from
Persia and made himself master of Antioch (1
Mace. vi. 51 sq. ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 9, § 5). Philip
was speedily overpowered (Joseph. I. c) ; but
in the next year (B.C. 162) Antiochus and Lysias
fell into the hands of Demetrius Soter, the son
of Seleucus Philopator, who caused them to
be put to death in revenge for the wrongs
which he had suffered from Antiochus Epiphanes
(1 Mace. vii. 2-i ; 2 Mace. xiv. 1, 2 ; Joseph. Ant.
xii. 10, § 1 ; Polyb. xxxi. 19). [B. F. W.] [R.]
ANTI'OCHUS VI. ('AAifcvSpos 'AAe&vSpov
tov v68ov, App. Syr. 68 ; surnamed @e6s,

ANTIOCHUS VII.

157

Tetradrachm (Attic talent) of Antiochos VI.
Ob».: Head of King, radiate, to right. Eev. : BA2IAE02 ANTIoXoY
En[I*ANo]Y2 AIoNYSoY. In field, TPY4> (Trjphon), and date
©3P 0(39 Mi. Selencid).
Joseph. Ant xiii. 7, § 1 ; and iTritpavris At6vu<ros
on coins) was the son of Alexander Balas and

thing that was divine. It has been observed that the
period of three and a half years, during which the Anti
christ of St. John's Apocalypse (xiii. 5) is permitted to
work evil, agrees with the interval of time which,
according to some Jewish traditions, elapsed between
the pollution of the Temple and the death of the perse
cutor, or, according to others, between the pollution of
the Temple and its dedication.

Cleopatra (App. Syr. 1. c). After his father's
death (146 B.C.) ho remained in Arabia ; but
though still a child (iraiStov, App. 1. c. ; irai-
Sdptov veurepov, 1 Mace. xi. 54), he was soon
afterwards brought forward (c. 45 B.C.) as a
claimant to the throne of Syria against De
metrius Nicator by Tryphon or Diodotus (1
Mace. xi. 39 ; App. Syr. 68 ; Strab. xiv. p. 608,
xvi. p. 752), who had been an officer of his
father. Tryphon succeeded in gaining Antioch
(I Mace. xi. 56); and afterwards the greater
part of Syria submitted to the young Antio
chus. Jonathan, who was confirmed by him
in the high-priesthood (1 Mace. xi. 57) and in
vested with the government of Judaea, contri
buted greatly to his success [Alexander
Balas], occupying Ascalon and Gaza, and re
ducing the country as far as Damascus (1 Mace.
xi. 60-2). He afterwards defeated the troops of
Demetrius at Hazor (1 Mace. xi. 67 ; cp. Speaker's
Comm. 1. c.) near Cadesh (v. 73) ; and repulsed a
second attempt which he made to regain Palestine
(1 Mace. xii. 24 sq.). Tryphon having now gained
the supreme power in the name of Antiochus, no
longer concealed his design of usurping the crown.
As a first step he took Jonathan by treachery
aud put him to death, B.C. 143 (1 Mace. xii.
40 sq.) ; then he murdered the young king, and
ascended the throne (1 Mace. xiii. 31 ; Joseph.
Ant xiii. 5, § 6 ; App. Syr. 68. Livy [Epit. 55]
says incorrectly decern annos admodum habens
. ..; Diod. ap. Muller, Fragm. ii. 19; Just.
xxxvi. 1). [B. F. W.] [R.]
ANTI'OCHUS VII. SIDETES (SiSt)tVs,
of Side, in Pamphylia: not from TV, a hunter:
Plut. Apophth. p. 34; called also EvtreB-fis, the
pious, Joseph. Ant. xiii. 8, § 2 ; Euseb. Chron.
Arm. i. 349), king of Syria, was the second son
of Demetrius I. When his brother, Demetrius
Nicator, was taken prisoner (c. 141 B.C.) by
Mithridates I. (Arsaces VI., 1 Maec. xiv. 2)
king of Parthia, he married Cleopatra
(App. Syr. 68 ; Just, xxxvi. 1) and ob
tained possession of the throne (137
B.C.), having expelled the usurper Try
phon (1 Mace. xv. 1 sq. ; Strab. xiv-
p. 688). At first he made a very advan
tageous treaty with Simon, who was
now "high priest and prince of the
Jews ; " but when he grew independent
of his help, he withdrew the concessions.
which he had made and demanded the
surrender of the fortresses which the
Jews held, or an equivalent in money
(1 Mace. xv. 26 sq. ; Joseph. Ant. xiii. 7,
§ 3). As Simon was unwilling to yield to
his demands, he sent a force under Cen-
debaeus against him, who occupied a forti
fied position at Cedron (?) (1 Mace. xv. 39),
near Azotus, and harassed the surround
ing country. After the defeat of Cendebaeus
by the sons of Simon and the destruction of his
works (1 Mace. xvi. 1-10), Antiochus, who had
returned from the pursuit of Tryphon, under
took an expedition against Judaea in person.
He laid siege to Jerusalem, but according to
Josephus granted honourable terms to John
Hyrcanus (B.C. 133), who had made a vigorous
resistance (Joseph. Ant xiii. 8; yet comp.
Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Chron. Arm. i. 349, muros
urbis demolitur atque electissimos eorum trucidat}.

158

ANTIPAS

Antiochus next turned his arms against the
Parthians, and Hyrcanus accompanied him in
the campaign. But after some successes, he
was entirely defeated by Phraortes II. (Arsaces
VII.), and fell in the battle c. B.C. 127-6
(Joseph. 1. c ; Just, xxxvi., xxxviii. 10 ; App.
Syr. 68, eKTeivev eavriv. For the year of his
death, cp. Niebuhr, Kl. Schrift i. 251 sq. ;
Clinton, F. H. ii. 332 sq.). [B. F. W.] [R.]
AN'TIl AS ('AvT'nras ; Antipas). A martyr
at Pergamos, and, accordmg to tradition, Bishop
of that place (Rev. ii. 13. See note in Speaker's
Commentary). He is said to have been martyred
under Domitian by being cast into a burning
brazen bull (Menol. Gr. iii. 51). His day in the
Greek calendar is April 11. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AN'TIPAS. [Herod.]
ANTI'PATER ( 'AmhraTpos ; Antipater),
son of Jason, ambassador from the Jews to the
Lacedaemonians (1 Mace. xii. 16, xiv. 22). [G.]
ANTI'PATRIS ('AvTliraTpis), a town on the
military road from Jerusalem to Caesarea, to
which St. Paul was "brought by night" (Acts
xxiii. 31), when Claudius Lysias sent him, under
escort, from Jerusalem to the governor of Caesarea.
The escort, a mixed force of horse and foot,
paraded at the third hour of the night, and,
marching throughout the night, reached Anti-
patris next morning ; the footmen then returned
to Jerusalem, whilst the horsemen escorted St.
Paul across the plain to Caesarea.
According to Josephus (Ant. xvi. 5, § 2),
Antipatris was built by Herod "in the plain
called Capharsaba " (KatpapffaBa or XaBapGaBd
in xiii. 15, § 1), and named after his father,
Antipater. Though situated in the plain, it was
near the mountains ; it was abundantly supplied
with water, " rivers in abundance ;" the soil
was fertile ; and it was a point in the line of
defence taken up by Alexander Jannaeus across
the Maritime Plain to prevent the march of
Antiochus southwards (Ant. xiii. 15, § 1 ; xvi.
5, § 2 ;— B. J. i. 4, § 7 ; i. 21, § 9). At a later
period he mentions the place again in connexion
with the march of Cestius to Jerusalem and his
disastrous retreat (B. J. ii. 19, § 1 ; 19, § 9) ;
and also with the military movement of Ves
pasian from Caesarea towards Jerusalem (B. J.
iv. 8, § 1). Josephus states (Ant. xiii. 15, § 1)
that Alexander's line of defence commenced at
Capharsaba, " which is now called Antipatris,"
and this has led some authors to identify the
place, erroneously, with Kefr Sdba, a small
village in the open plain, badly supplied with
water, and between seven and eight miles from
the point at which the Roman road, from Jeru
salem to Caesarea, leaves the mountains.
Capharsaba and Antipatris are both mentioned
in the Talmud, and Neubauer infers (Geog. d.
Talmud. 86-89), from the manner in which
they are mentioned, that they were two
separate and distinct places ; and this view is
supported by a comparison of Ant. xiii. 15, § 1,
with xvi. 5, § 2.
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 159. 25, 254.
32) place Antipatris six miles south of Galgula,
Kalkilieh ; and in the Jerusalem Itinerary its
distance from Lydda is given as ten miles.
These indications are sufficient to identify Anti-

APES
patris with a mound, crowned with the ruins of
a mediaeval castle, which rises above the great
springs of Rds el 'Ain (see PFQS. 1874, 192-6 ;
and P. F. Mem. ii. 258-62).
Jerome (Per. S. Paulae, v.) calls Antipatris
semirutum oppidulum; but in the 8th century
a large number of Christians resided there, whose
massacre by the Arabs in 744 a.d. is alluded to
by Theophanes. During the period of the
Crusades Arsuf was supposed to be Antipatris.
Like so many other foreign names of towns in
Palestine, the name is now lost. [W.]
ANTO'NIA, a fortress built by Herod on
the site of the more ancient Baris, on the N.W.
of the Temple, and so named by him after his
friend Antonius. [Jerusalem.] The word
nowhere occurs in the Bible, but the fortress is
referred to in Acts xxi. 31, &c. [G.]
ANTOTBLT JAH ( Ges. Thes. = n*nh*D,
prayers accepted of Jehovah; B. 'AvaBalB, A<
'AvaBaBla ; Anathothid). A Benjamite, one of
the sons of Shashak (1 Ch. viii. 24).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ANTOTHITE, THE QT)'mm ; B. b 'Am-
BuBet, A. -Bi ; Anathothites). A native of Ana
thoth (1 Ch. xi. 28, xii. 3). [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'NUB (*1M», Ges. Thes. = delicate, tender,
MV.10, from a root preserved in Aramaic =
bound together ; B. 'Evv&v, A. 'EyvtiB ; Anob).
Son of Coz, and descendant of Judah, througli
Ashur, father of Tekoa (1 Ch. iv. 8).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
A'NUS (Banaeus), a Levite (1 Esd. ix. 48=
Neh. viii. 7). [Bani.]
AP'AME QArrdpr) ; Apeme), daughter of.
Bartacus and concubine of Darius (1 Esd. iv.
29). ra]
APE'LLES OATreAAijs ; Apelles), a Christian
greeted by St. Paul in Rom. xvi. 10, and hon
oured by the designation "the approved in
Christ" (6 SdKipos iv Xpiarol). Horace takes
Apella (the usual Latin form) as a representative
Jewish name. He is ridiculing a supposed
miracle, and says it is only fit for a Jewish
Apella to believe (Hor. Sat. I. v. 100). Apelles
is one of the names occurring in Rom. xvi., which
Bp. Lightfoot proves by inscriptions to have
been borne at different times by members of the
imperial household. See his detached note on
" Caesar's household," Philip, iv. 22. [E. R. B.]
APES (ti^S'lp, idphim ; ttIBi\koi ; simiae)
occurs in 1 K. a. 22, " once in three years came
the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver,
ivory, and apes, and peacocks," and in the parallel
passage of 2 Ch. ix. 21. B., the Vat. Version of
the LXX., in the first-mentioned passage omits
the words " ivory, and apes, and peacocks,"
while A., the Alexand. Version, has them; but
both these Versions have the words in the pas
sage of the Book of Chronicles.
It would be vain to attempt to identify the
Hebrew Kophim with any particular species of
ape or monkey. No animal of the class Simla
is found either in Western Asia or in Egypt ;
though — since they were frequently brought into

APES

APES

159

the latter country, as may be seen by monu
ments (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt i. p. 382, ed.
1878), and are very numerous in the regions

Monkeys assisting in gathering fruit. (Beni-Hassan, Wilkinson.)

immediately south of Egypt and throughout
Eastern Africa — they must have been well known
to the Jews. The text, however, appears to point
to Indian and not African apes. The word kophim

is of foreign, not Hebrew origin, and is the re
presentative of the Sanskrit Itupi (ape), which
is also identical with the modern Tamil word.
As tho words used in the same passage for
" ivory " and " peacocks " are also modern Tamil,
we have a very clear indication of the country
whence Solomon obtained these curiosities, and
that it must have been either Southern India or
Ceylon. The only difficulty is that the ships
which brought them are called ships of Tarshish,
and Tarshish is generally identified with Tar-
tessus near the mouth of the Guadalquivir in
South-Western Spain, which was a Phoenician
colony. It is true that the Barbary ape, Inuus
sylvanus, might have been procured from the
neighbourhood of the Pillars of Hercules, but
certainly neither ivory nor peacocks. Nor can
we place this Tarshish in East Africa, for no
peacock exists in Africa, and the Tamil name
forbids us to suggest any other bird. But ships
for long voyages may have been spoken of as
ships of Tarshish, just as the term East India-
men was often applied to ships of that class
with other destinations. Sir E. Tennent has
argued, with much probability, in favour of Point
de Galle, in Ceylon, as the rendezvous of Solo
mon's eastern navy.

Elephant and Ape, from Assyrian Monuments. (Obelisk, Nimrud.)

The most common monkeys of South India
and Ceylon belong to the genus Presbytis, of
which five species are recognised from that
region. There are also three species of baboon
— Inuus, which is not uncommon, one Macacus,

and two Lemuridae—m which the tail is absent
or rudimentary only.
For some attempts to identify the various
kinds of Quadrumana which were known to
the ancients, see A. A. H. Lichtenstein's work,

-^i^P

^&A /g^np^r^

isjOsm* |

TffJ

1
¦ter '\

2^

S)J|\
LSJ

WM
yp
a ( y

Baboon and Ape, from Assyrian Monnments. (Obelisk, Nimrud.)
entitled Commentatio philologica de Simiarum
quotquot veteribus innotuerunt formis (Hamb.
1791) ; and Ed. Tyson's Homo sylvestris, or the
Anatomy of a Pigmie (Lond. 1699), to which he
has added a Philosophical Essay concerning the
Cynocephali, the Satyrs, and Sphinxes of the
ancients. Aristotle (de Anim. Hist. ii. 5, ed.
Schneider) appears to divide the Quadrumana
order of Mammalia into three tribes, which
he characterises by the names vIBtikoi, kt)Boi,
and KvvoKetpaAot. The last-named family are
no doubt identical with the animals that
160

APES

form the African genus Cynocephalus of modern
zoologists. The K~nBoi Aristotle distinguishes
from the irfflijicoi, by the fact of the former pos
sessing a tail." This name, perhaps, may stand
for the whole tribe of tailed monkeys, excluding
the Cynocephali and the Lemuridae, which latter,
since they belong principally to the island of
Madagascar, were probably wholly unknown to
the ancients.
The ttiBriKOt, therefore, would stand as the re
presentative of the tailless apes, such as the
Chimpanzee, &c. Although, however, Aristotle
perhaps used these terms respectively in a definite
sense, it by no means follows that they are so
employed by other writers. The name tcIBtikoi,
for instance, seems to have been sometimes used
to denote some species of Cynocephalus (see a
Fragment of Simonides in Schneider's Annot. ad
Arist Hist. Anim. iii. 76). The LXX. in all
probability used the word in an extended sense
as the representative of the Hebrew word
Koph, to denote any species of Quadrumanous
Mammalia. In the engraving which represents the Litho-
strotum Praenestinum (that curious mosaic
pavement found at Praeneste), in Shaw's Travels
(ii. 294, 8vo ed.), is to be seen the figure of
some animal in a tree, with the word KHinEN
over it. Of this animal Dr. Shaw says (p. 312),

KHIOEN

Monkey, from the Praenesune Mosaic.
" It is a beautiful little creature, with a shaggy
neck like the Callithrix, and shaped exactly like
those monkeys that are commonly called Mar
mosets. The KHIIIEN, therefore, may be the
Ethiopian monkey, called by the Hebrews Kouph,
and by the Greeks KHIIOS, KH$OS, or KEIII02,
from whence the Latin name Cephus." This
description will be found to apply better to the
figure in the 4to ed. of Dr. Shaw's Travels than
to that in the 8vo ed. Perhaps, as Col. Hamilton
Smith has suggested, the Keipen of the Praenes-
tine mosaic may be the Cercopitliecus griseo-
viridis, Desmar., which is a native of Nubia, the
country represented in that part of the mosaic
where the figure of the keipen occurs.
It is very probable that some species of baboons
is signified by the term Satyrs, which occurs
in the A. V. in the prophet Isaiah [Satyr].
Bishop Coverdale, or the author of the first
English translation of the Bible, seems to have
been a better naturalist than the company of
the A. V.; for in the 1st edition, A.D. 1537, as
well as in all subsequent editions, he reads (Is.
xiii. 21) — where the A. V. has, "satyrs [R. V.
marg. he-goats] shall dance there " — " apes shall
daunce there." The ancients were no doubt
acquainted with many kinds of Quadrumana,
ft " Si mihi cauda foret cercopithecus ero."

APHEK
both of the tailed and tailless kinds (see Plin.
viii. c. 19, xi. 44 ; Aelian. Nat. An. xvii. 25, 39 ;
Strab. xvii. 827 ; Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 398 ; cf.
Mart. Epig. iv. 12). [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
APHAR'SATHCHITES, APHAR'SITES,
APHAR'S ACITE S (N^D-ja**. m*«,
N'OD-IBX ; in Ezra iv. 9, B. QapetrBaxaht . .'.
' Aolpao-ai'oi, A. ' AtpapaaBaxaioi . . . 'Atpaptraioi ;
Apharsathachoei . . . Apharsoei ; in v. 6, B.
'AtpapaaKKdioi, A. -%<"°i ; Arphasachoei), the
names of certain tribes, colonies from which had
settled in Samaria under the Assyrian leader
Asnapper (Ezra iv. 9, v. 6). The first and
last are regarded as the same. Whence these
tribes came is entirely a matter of conjecture
(see Riehm, HWB. s. n.). The initial K is
regarded as p-osthetic ; and the remaining portion
of the first two names has been considered to
bear some resemblance (a very distant one) to
Paraetacae, or Paraetaceni (Herod, i. 101), a
tribe living on the borders of Media and Persia.
Fried. Delitzsch (Baer's ed. of Ezra, p. ix.) finds
the original form of the names in K*£**i*]Qt'>
Partakka or Partukka, two Median cities men
tioned by Sennacherib. The second name has been.
referred to the Parrhasii in Eastern Media, and
by Gesenius to the Persae. The presence of
the proper name of the Persians (D*13) in Ezra
i. 1, iv. 3, must throw some doubt upon the con
jecture of Gesenius, independently of the fact
that Assyrian kings never penetrated into Persia
(Schrader, KAT.2 p. 376). The conjecture of
Fried. Delitzsch that the name recalls a Median
tribe referred to in the Annals of Sennacherib-
and inhabitants of the }and of Parsua, is at least
plausible. [W. L. B.] [F.]
A'PHEK (pSN, from a root signifying to
hold together or strengthen, Ges.), the name of
several places in Palestine.
1. B. 'OtpeK, A. 'A(p€K ; Aphec. A royal city
of the Canaanites, the king of which was killed
by Joshua (Josh. xii. 18). As this is named with
Tappuah and other places in the mountains of
Judah, it is very probably the same as the
Aphekah of Josh. xv. 53. A trace of the name
may perhaps exist in Wad Fukin, a small village
in the hills west of Bethlehem.1*
2. In Josh, xiii., B. TatpeK, A. 'AtpeKd; Apheca.
A city, apparently in the extreme north of
Asher (Josh. xix. 30 ; 'AtpfK, Aphec), from
which the Canaanites were not ejected (Judg.
i. 31 ; though here it is Aphik, p*3X ; A. 'Atpeit,
B. omits or has a different reading [see Aphik] ;
Aphec). This is probably the same place as the
Aphek (Josh. xiii. 4) on the extreme north
" border of the Amorites," and apparently beyond
Sidon, and which is identified by Gesenius (Thes.
140 a) with the Aphaca of classical times,
famous for its temple of Venus and now Afka
(Rob. iii. 606 ; Porter, ii. 295-6). Afka, how
ever, lies beyond the ridge of Lebanon, on the
north-western slopes of the mountain, and con
sequently much further up than the other towns
of Asher which have been identified. On the
other hand, it is hardly more to the north of the
a The LXX. reading (B.) is /3ao-iAe'a 'Otjiix ti)s 'Apion
(A. om. t. A.). 'ApuiK is taken to be a corruption of
2apu)K (cp. the Heb. text), and the place, here is consi-
I dered the same as No. 4 (cp. Dillmann, and QPB.* i. 1.).

APHEK
known limits of the tribe, than Kadesh and other
places named as in Judah were to the south ; and
Aphek may, like many other sanctuaries, have
had a reputation at a very early date, sufficient
in the days of Joshua to cause its mention in
company with the other northern sanctuary of
Baal-gad. The northerly position is supported by
the opinion that in the reign of Sethi I., Kadesh
on the Orontes was an Amorite town under the
jurisdiction of the Hittites.
3. A place at which the Philistines en
camped, while the Israelites pitched in Eben
ezer, before the fatal battle in which the sons
of Eli were killed and the ark taken (1 Sam.
iv. 1 ; 'AtpeK, Aphec). M. CI. Ganneau (PFQy.
Stat. 1877, 154-6) proposes to identify Eben
ezer with Deir 'Abdn near Bethshemesh, sup
posing that the ark would be carried back to
the place where it was captured. There is
much in favour of this view ; but the distance,
though not so great as to be impossible, is rather
too remote from Shiloh and Mizpeh. Major
Conder has suggested, doubtfully, Merj Fikiek,
near Bab el- Wad, and Deir el-'Azar near Kuryet
el-'Enab for the Aphek and Ebenezer of 1 Sam.
iv. 1. Josephus (B. J. ii. 19, 1) mentions a
Ilvpyos 'AtpeKod near Antipatris.
4. The scene of another encampment of the
Philistines, before an encounter not less disastrous
than that just named, — the defeat and death of
Saul (1 Sam. xxix. 1 ; 'AtpeK, Aphec). By com
parison with ver. 11, it seems as if this Aphek
were not necessarily near Shunem, though on
the road thither from the Philistine district. It
is possible that it may be the same place as the
preceding ; and if so, the Philistines were march
ing to Jezreel by the present road along the
"backbone" of the country. Fukud, on the
southern slope of Mount Giiboa, has been sug
gested (PF. Mem. ii. 84) as a possible site for
this Aphek ; but from this place the Philistines
could not have "gone up " to Jezreel ( 1 Sam.
xxix. 11). Josephus (Ant. vi. 14, 1) has 'Peyya
for Aphek.
5. In 1 K. xxi. (LXX.) B. 'AoW, A. -av;
Aphec A city on the military road from Syria
to Israel (1 K*. xx. 26). It was walled (v. 30),
and was apparently a common spot for engage
ments with Syria (2 K. xiii. 17 ; 'AtpeK, Aphec).
The use of the word lit^'Kin (A. V. "the
plain") in 1 K. xx. 25 fixes the situation of
this Aphek in the level down-country east of
the Jordan [Mishor]; and there, accordingly, it
is now found in Fik, at the head of the Wddy
Fik, six miles east of the Sea of Galilee, the
great road between Damascus, Nabulus, and
Jerusalem, still passing (Kiepert's map, 1857),
with all the permanence of the East, through
the village, which is remarkable for the number
of inns that it contains (Burckh. 280). By
Josephus (viii. 14, § 4) the name is given as
'AtpeKd. Eusebius (Onom. 'AcpeKd) says that
in his time there was, beyond Jordan, a Kapv
peydAri (Jer. castellum grande) called Apheca,
near (nepi) Hippes (Jer. Hippus) ; but he appa
rently confounds it with (1). Hippos was one
of, the towns which formed the Decapolis.
Fik, or Feik, has been visited by Burckhardt,
Seetzen, and others (Ritter, Pal. 348-353), and
is the only one of the places bearing this name
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

APOCRYPHA

101

that has been identified with certainty. The
name appears as Apku in an inscription of Esar-
haddon (Schrader, KAT.- p. 204). [G.] [W.]
APHE'KAH (HiJElX ; B. *aKovd, A. 'AcJmKd';
Apheca), a city of Judah in the mountains (Josh.
xv. 53), probably the same as Aphek (1).
[G.] [W.]
APHE'REMA (T.7 'Atpalpepa, A. 'Atpepepa;
'Atpepeipd,}os.), one of the three "governments"-
(vopovs, and once Toirapxiat) added to Judaea
from Samaria and Galilee by Demetrius Nicator,
and confirmed by Nicanor (1 Mace. xi. 34 : see
Jos. Ant. xiii. 4, § 9, and Reland, 178). The
word, omitted in the Vulgate, is probably the
same as Ephraim (Ophrah, Taiyibeh). [G.] [W.]
APHER'RA CAtptpeppd ; Eura), one of the
sons ofthe "servants of Solomon " who returned
with Zerubbabel (1 Esd. v. 34) His name does
not occur in the parallel lists of Ezra and
Nehemiah. [G.] [W.]
APHI'AH (ITEM ; B. 'AtpeK, A*. 'A<bdx, A.1?
'Atpix ! Aphid), one of the forefathers of Saul
(1 Sam. ix. 1). [W. A. W.] [F.]
APHI'K (p*SN ; A. 'AtpeK, B. Noel ; Aphec),
a city of Asher from which the Canaanites were
not driven out (Judg. i. 31). Probably the
same place as Aphek (2). [W. A. W.] [F.]
APH'RAH, the house of (TTS& rV3; R.V.
Beth-le-Aphrah, marg. "a house of dust," so
MV.10), a place mentioned in Mic. i. 10, and
supposed by some (Winer, p. 172) to be identical
with Ophrah. But this can hardly be, inasmuch
as all the towns named in the context are in
the low country to the west of Judah, while
Ophrah would appear to lie E. of Bethel
[Ophrah]. LXX. «"£ oIkov Kara "ye'AwTa ; Vulg.
in domo pulveris. [G.] [W.]
APH'SES (l>*j*Bn, Ges. = dispersion; B.
Atpear), A. 'le£eip; Aphses ; R. V. " Happizzez "),
chief of the 18th of the 24 courses in the service
of the Temple (1 Ch. xxiv. 15). [W. A. W.] [F.]
APOCALYPSE. [Revelation.]
APOCRYPHA. This article deals with the
collection of books to which the term " Apocry
pha" is familiarly applied in England at the
present day. In other words, it treats of the
fragments of Jewish literature not included in
the Hebrew Canon of Scripture, which have
nevertheless been preserved in the Greek and
Latin Versions of the Old Testament.
Although the terms " Deutero-Canonical " and
" Ecclesiastical," which are sometimes by pre
ference given to these writings, are, as we shall
see, more strictly accurate, they are never likely
to supplant the less correct and now generally
accepted name. But it will sometimes be ne
cessary to make use of them, in order to avoid
needless ambiguity.
The titles of the Books of the Apocrypha,
according to the order in which they are placed
in the English Version, are : —
I. 1 Esdras.
II. 2 Esdras.
III. Tobit.
IV. Judith. M

162 APOCRYPHA
V. The rest of the chapters in the Book of Esther,
which are found neither in the Hebrew nor in
the Chaldee.
VI. The Wisdom of Solomon.
VII. The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or
Ecclesiastlcus.
VIII. Baruch.
IX. The Song of the Three Holy Children.
X. The History of Susauna.
XI. The History of the Destruction of Bel and the
Dragon.
XII. The Prayer of Manasses king of Judah.
XIII. 1 Maccabees.
XIV. 2 Maccabees.
To these may here be added 3 and 4 Maccabees,
both of which appear in the LXX. of the Codex
Alexandrinus, the 3rd being given also in the
Codex Vaticanus, the 4th in the Codex Sinai-
ticus." In this list No. VIII., The Book of Baruch,
contains as its sixth chapter "The Epistle of
Jeremy:" Nos. IX., X., Xl. constitute the so-
called " Additions to Daniel :" " The Prayer of
Azariah " is included in " The Song of the Three
Holy Children." The separate books of the
Apocrypha are treated of under their respective
titles. In the course of the present article the
references are made from 0. F. Fritzsche's Libri
Apoeryphi Veteris Testamenti, Lips. 1871.
It has been impossible to include within the
limits of this article the important pseudepi-
graphic Apocrypha represented by such writings
as the Psalms of Solomon, the Book of Enoch, the
Book of Jubilees, the Assumption of Moses, &c.
The following gives in brief outline the
contents of this article : —
I. The History of the word " Apocrypha "
and of its special application.
II. The Relation of the Apocrypha to the
History of the Canon in —
(1) the Jewish Church, p. 166.
(2) the Christian Church.
(a) to 600 A.D., p. 169.
(6) to the close of the 16th cen
tury, p. 173.
(c) to the present time, p. 175.
Ill, Classification and Description ofthe books
of the Apocrypha, p. 179.
IV. The Apocrypha, in relation to
(1) Jewish Literature, p. 182.
(2) Jewish Theology, p. 186.
V. The Text of the Apocrypha, p. 195.
VI. The Literature upon the Apocrypha, p.
197.
I. The History of the word " Apocrypha " and
of its special application. — The word a-n-6Kpvtpos,
in classical writers, though not common, is
found with (a) the simple meaning of " hidden,"
" concealed " (e.g. Eurip. Here. Fur. 1070) ; (b)
the secondary meaning of "recondite," "ob
scure," "hid from knowledge" (e.g. Xen. Mem.
in. 5, 14, t! bv trotouvTes avaAdBotev ttiv apxaiav
apeWjx ; . . . ko! S ^uKpdTVs, Ou5«/ car6Kpvtpov
SoKei pot ehai: cf. Callimachi Fragmata, 242,
ypdppaTa biv6Kputpa).
In the LXX. it appears (a) rarely, as a strict
adjective = " hidden," "concealed" (e.g. Isa.
xiv. 3 ; 1 Mace, i, 23; Ecclus. xxiii. 19, xiii. 9):
» For other additions to the canonical Books of the 0.
T. to be found in tho LXX. see in that Version, Ts. cli„
Job ii. 9, xiii. 17 ; Prov. vi. 6, ix. 12, xxiv. 22.

APOCRYPHA
(b) generally with iv, as an adjectival substan
tive, meaning " a place of concealment " (e.g.
Ps. ix. 29, xvi. 12, Ixiii. 5; Ecclus. xvi. 19-
Isa. iv. 6 ; Deut. xxvii. 15 ; Job xxxix. 28).
(c) The neuter plural awdKpvtpa is used as a
substantive for "hidden resources," sometimes
of material wealth (e.g. Dan. xi. 43 [Theod.],
Kvpieuaet iv rots airoKpvtpots tov xpvtrov, where
it translates D'ODDD). In this form it is
especially applied to materials of knowledge,
hidden from the human understanding (e.g.
Dan. ii. 22 [Theod.], aiiTbs 07roicoAiWei Ba6ia
Kai diroKputpa (Krn*"lDD)> yivtiaKuv rb iv t£
o-KoWet, koX Tb tpus per' avrov iari : Ecclus. xiv.
21 ; xxxix. 3, 7 ; xiii. 19 ; xlviii. 25 ; cf. xliii,
32). In these passages the prevailing idea of
the word may be illustrated by the " depths "
(BdB-n : cf. 1 Cor. ii. 10, Rev. ii. 24), afterwards
used by Gnostics to express the mysteries of
knowledge. In the New Testament the word occurs only
three times : Mark iv. 22 ; Luke viii. 17 ; Col.
ii. 3, iv § eialv Ttdvres oi Bntraupoi ttjs tropins
Kai yvtiaeus awdKpvtpot. St. Paul, in this last
passage, speaking of the " treasures " of wis
dom and knowledge "hidden away in Christ,"
perhaps contrasts them with the esoteric doc
trines on which the leaders of the Colossian
heresy prided themselves (see Lightfoot's Colas-
sians in loco). There is, however, no evidence to
show that the word had as yet been applied in
any technical sense to writings.
In Patristic Literature the word bir6xpv^os is
technically applied to writings, Jewish, Christian
and heretical. But its history is hard to trace,
owing to the variety of meanings under which
it appears in different authors, and even in the
writings of the same author.
At the close of the 2nd century A.D., we find
that books could be termed " Apocryphal " be
cause they treated of " esoteric doctrines " or
" knowledge hidden from the uninitiated." An
example of this occurs in the writings of Clemens
Alexandrinus (circ. 200 a.d.), who mentions that
the followers of Prodicus boasted of possessing
" Apocryphal books " (i.e. books containing the
esoteric teaching) of Zoroaster (BiBAovs iiro-
Kpbtpous TavSpbs -roOSe ol t^v TlpoSUov perlovres
a'lpeaiv abxovo-i KeKTTJtrBai, Clem. Alex. Strom.
i. 15, p. 357, ed. Potter). This distinction
between the sacred books of a religious com
munity, according as they were intended for
the use of the uninitiated manv or of the initi
ated few, was not uncommon during the early
centuries of the Christian era. A well-known
illustration is afforded by a passage in, the
Jewish pseudepigraphic work, 2 Esdras (xiv.
44-47), "In the course of forty days were
written four and ninety " (undoubtedly the
correct reading) " books. And it came, to
pass, when the forty davs were fulfilled, that
the Most High spake, saying, The first which
thou hast written publish openly ; and let the
worthy and the unworthy read. But thou
shalt keep the seventy last, that thou mayest
deliver them to such as be wise among thy
people ; for in them is the vein of understand
ing, and the fount of wisdom, and the stream
of knowledge." By the twenty-four Books here
mentioned are meant the Books of the Hebrew
Canon. The remaining " seventy " probably re-

APOCRYPHA
presented, under a symbolical number, the class
of mystical and Apocalyptic writings of which
the Second Book of Esdras, the Book of Enoch, &c,
are specimens. Whether this "seventy " included
any of the books of our Apocrypha need not here
be discussed. It is sufficient to observe that
they were BlBAoi an6Kputpoi, " apocryphal books
of esoteric teaching," which only the " wise " of a
religious community were permitted to read or
deemed capable of understanding. When Gregory
of Nyssa and Epiphanius, in the 4th century,
speak of the Apocalypse as an "apocryphal"
writing (Greg. Nyss. Or. de Ordin. ii. 44 ; Epiphan.
Haer. 51), they are using the word in this ori
ginally technical sense, and only desire to imply
that the book contained mysteries unintelligible
to the masses.
The Christian Church afforded no scope for
esoteric writings. The fullest revelation of God
had been made in the writings of the Apostles
and Prophets, which were read publicly in the
churches. Books purporting to contain more
transcendental truths,' which were unintelligible
to the masses and appealed only to the wise
and learned, aroused suspicion. The general
use, not the secrecy of a book, stamped it with
the approbation of the Church (cf. Luke viii.
17). Origen, who frequently refers to " apocry
phal " writings, contrasts them in a tone of
depreciation with the Books of acknowledged
worth or public circulation (e.g. Origen, Comm.
in Matth. torn. x. c. 18 ; Epist. ad African, c. 9 ;
Comm. in Matth. [Lat.] § 28 libri secretiores,
§ 117 secreta Scripture)."
Many of the writers of the apocryphal books,
alluded to by Origen and his contemporaries,
seem to have been Gnostics or visionaries, who
hoped by literary forgeries to disseminate their
views, without openly betraying their conflict
with Scriptural doctrine. This circumstance
alone was sufficient to compromise the whole
class of pseudepigraphic literature. Its name
became a byword of odium : Christian Fathers
included the whole range of apocryphal lite
rature in their denunciation of certain heretical
writers and views (e.g. Hegesippus ap. Euseb.
H. E. iv. 22. 8 : Kai -irepl tuv Aeyopevtav Se
brroKpitpuv SiaAapBdvuv, hrl Ttbv avrov xp^rwv
Ttp6s tivuv alperiKuv dvatieirAdo-Bai Tiva toIituv
iffTopet. Tertull. de Animd, cap. ii. : " Quid
autem, si philosophi etiam ilia incursaverunt,
quae penes nos apocryphorum confessione dam-
nantur ").

APOCRYPHA

163

° The suggestion that the early Christian use of the
word airoKpvipos has been influenced by the Eabbinical
word fj J, Syr. gnas, " to hide," Is not without evidence
in its favour. The Hebrew word was technically used
for the declaration that a book was uncanonical (Levy,
Neuhebr. u. Chald. Worterbuch, Bd. i. 1876). In this
sense it was used hy the Kabbins of writings excluded
from public use upon moral or doctrinal grounds. It
may be questioned whether any official condemnation is
conveyed by Origen's use ofthe word "apocryphal."
The connexion between t)H and aTTOKpvq^os rests chiefly
on the similarity of their primary meanings, and on the
fact that both words, technically applied to writings,
convey a disparaging sense. Jewish g'nuzim were
writings authoritatively removed from the use of the
community, Origen's ajroKpvtpa. were books not read
publicly in the churches, being either esoteric in teach
ing or private in circulation. See Zahn, Ntl. Eanon,
pp. 125, 126 (1888).

Partly from the unsound character of tho
books, partly too from the Church's condem
nation of their writers, the adjective "apo
cryphal " ( &irdKpu<pos ) is found at the close
of the 2nd century with the meaning of " false "
or "supposititious:" e.g. Iren. Haer. i. 20,
itAt)Bos artoKpiitpuv Kai v6Btav ypatpuv ; Tertull.
do P-udicit. cap. x., " (Scriptura Pastoris) si non
ab omni concilio ecclesiarum vestrarum etiam
inter apocrypha et falsa judicaretur ; " Clem.
Strom, iii. 4 (p. 524, ed. Potter), ip'p'vn Si aindis
to S6ypa eK tivos biroKpvtpov • Kai bri irapaBi)-
tropai Trjv Ae£iv Tf)v re toutuv btreAyelas
pi\Tepa; Orig. Prol. in Cant, sub fin. "(Scrip-
turae) quae appellantur apocryphae pro eo quod
multa in iis corrupta et contra fidem veram in-
veniuntur a majoribus tradita."
The special application of the term aTtuKputpa.
to spurious and heretical works is common in
the Nicene age. Athanasius, in his threefold
division of ecclesiastical writings into books
" canonical," books " read in the churches," and
books " apocryphal " (BiBAta Kavovt(6peva, BiB-
Ala bvayivutTKdpeva, and cwnj/cputpa), charac
terizes the last class as the arbitrary inventions
of heretics, who falsified dates in order to givft
their writings an appearance of antiquity
(Athan. Epist. ad Amun. Mon., Opp. i. 768 D ;
ed. Migne, torn. ii. p. 1179).
Athanasius's use of " apocryphal " corresponds
with Eusebius's application of "spurious" (v68a)
to the lowest grade of ecclesiastical books.
The majority of these compositions were pseude
pigraphic. Their authors were not known, but,
according to the general belief in the Church,
their object had been to introduce erroneous
doctrines under the authority of revered names.
Cp. Apostol. Constit vi. 16.
In process of time, perhaps as the danger of
heretical books becoming incorporated with
the Canon of Holy Scriptures was no longer
felt, the term " apocryphal " began to be asso
ciated with pseudepigraphic rather than with
heretical writings. This was especially the case
in the Western Church, where the term " apo
cryphal " was generally explained as denoting
obscurity of origin or uncertainty of authorship :
e.g. Augustine, de Civ. Dei, xv. 23, "Apocryphae
nnncupantur eo quod earum occulta origo non
claruit patribus ; " c. Faust, xi. 2, " Apocryphi
non quod habendi sunt in aliqua' auctoritate
secreta, sed quia nulla testificationis luce decla-
rati, de nescio quo secreto nescio quorum prae-
sumtione prolati sunt ; " Jerome, Ep. 107, ad
Laetam, " (Laeta) sciat non eorum esse (Apocry
pha) quorum titulis praenotentur."
The application of "apocryphal" to books
excluded from the Canon is the next stage to be
recorded. This was an easy transition. The
word had lost its original meaning. It denoted
sometimes obscurity of origin, sometimes doubt
ful authenticity, sometimes heretical doctrine.
Now obscurity of origin was a characteristic of
the second or " ecclesiastical " (avayivao-Kipevd)
as well as of the third or "spurious" division
(bndKpvtpa) of books according to the Athanasian
classification. When therefore it was found
convenient, if not necessary, to define by a single
phrase the non-canonical writings of the Church,
it was natural to make use of a term like " Apo
cryphal " which could embrace both of these
divisions. The use of "Apocrypha," in the
M 2

164

APOCRYPHA

sense of "non-canonical writings read in the
Churches," may be illustrated by a passage
from Basil, where he enjoins that the monk
should read the Canonical Books, and by no
manner of means meddle with " Apocrypha : "
rb ivSidBeTa BiBAia bvayivtiaKeiv, anoKpitpois
oAus pri ivTvyxdveiv (Serm. irepl atTKT)treus, torn.
ii. 247). But, as a general rule, the fathers of
the Eastern Church, influenced by the opinion of
Athanasius, took care to discriminate between
the writings of his second and third divisions,
restricting arrdxputpa to the latter.
In the Western Church, however, the word
" Apocrypha" began to be technically used of
the non-canonical ecclesiastical writings. As
there was a conflict of opinion with regard to
the limits of the Canon itself (see below), there
arose a parallel confusion with regard to the
application of the word " Apocrypha."
Jerome and the divines who adhered to the
Hebrew Canon of the Old Testament, used the
word " Apocrypha " not only of supposititious
works, but also of the ecclesiastical books, " libri
ecclesiastici " as they were called by Ruffinus,
which were included in the LXX. Version and
its Latin derivatives. The words of Jerome
which exercised the most powerful influence
over subsequent writers upon the subject, occur
in his prologue to the Books of Samuel, the
Prologus Galeatus. He there asserts that any
book not included in the four-and-twenty He
brew Books of the 0. T. must be classed as
apocryphal, " ut scire valeamus, quidquid extra
hos est, inter aw&ttpvtpa esse ponendum." Cp.
Jerome, Praef. ad Judith, "Apud Hebraeos
liber Judith inter Apocrypha (v. I. Hagio-
grapha) legitur." Augustine, on the other
hand, and his followers, who regard the " libri
ecclesiastici " as Canonical Books, never refer to
them as " apocryphal." They restrict the term
to spurious and pseudepigraphic writings." And
thus it happened that both Jerome and Auo-us-
tine — the one accepting the shorter Pales
tinian, the other the longer Alexandrine Canon
of the Old Testament — assigned to airoKputpa
the same meaning of " non-canonical writings."
Unfortunately their difference of starting-point
contributed to great confusion of thought among
Western divines, who were accustomed to base
opinion and phraseology upon the utterances
of the two great doctors. The perplexity of
mind which sought to reconcile the rival views
gave rise to still more vague and inaccurate
definitions. Isidore of Seville (600) introduces
the previous explanations of " secret," " uncer
tain of origin," "untruthful," "pseudonymous,"
in his own definition (Etymol. vi. 2, §§ 51, 52) :
"Apocrypha autem dicta id est secreta, quia
in dubium veniunt. Est enim occulta origo nee
patet patribus, ex quibus usque ad nos auctoritas
veracium scripturarum certissima successione
pervenit. In iis apocryphis etsi invenitur aliqua
Veritas, tamen propter multa falsa nulla est in
iis canonica auctoritas, quae recti a prudentibus

» A good illustration is supplied hy a passage from
Leo (450), Ep. XT. } 15 : "Apocryphae autem Scripturae
quae sub nominibuB Apostolorum multarum habent
seminarium falsitatum non solum interdicendae snnt
sed etiam penltus auferendae sunt, atque ignibus con-
cremandae," where the context shows that the heretical
writings of Priscillianists are referred to.

APOCRYPHA
judicantur non esse eorum credenda quibus ad-
scribuntur. Nam multa sub nominibus pro-
phetarum et recentiorum sub nominibus aposto
lorum ab haereticis proferuntur, quae omnia
sub nomine apocryphorum auctoritate canonica
diligenti examinatione remota sunt." His own
preference for the meaning " of doubtful author
ship " is shown by his description of Judith,
Tobit, and Maccabees, " quibus auctoribus scripti
sint minime constat " (Etymol. vi. 2, § 33).
The variety of uses to which the word was put
in the Middle Ages may be exemplified by the
following quotations (see Hody, De Bibliorum
Textibus, &c, 1705) :— Alcuin (800): "Quem
librum (Jesum f. Sirach) B. Hieronymus atque
Isidorus inter Apocryphas id est dubias Scrip-
turas deputatum esse absque dubitatione tes-
tatur " (adv. Elepantum, Tolet. i. 1). Petrns
Comestor (1170) : " Job, David, 3 libri Salomonis,
Daniel, Paralipomena, Esdras, Hester, Sapientia,
Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobias, Pastor, Macha-
baeorum, Apocrypha sunt, quod auctor ignoratur
eorum " (Praef. in Jos.). " Recole supra in prin-
cipio Josue dictum quod Apocryphum dicitur, vel
cujus auctor incertus, vel cujus materia incerta"
(Praef. in Tob.). Hugo de Santo Caro (1240):
"Apocryphorum triplex est diversitas, scilicet
cujus auctor ignoratur sed patet Veritas ut Judith,
et tales recipit Ecclesia. Vel cujus Veritas igno
ratur ; et tales non recipit Ecclesia. Vel utroque
modo, et neque tales recipit Ecclesia " (Prooem.
in Jud.). Gul-Brito (1325) : "Libri, qui a qui-
busdam secundus Esdrae, ab aliis tertius inscri-
bitur, cum non sit in Canone, utpote Apocry-
phus." MS. Bodl. Hatton, 64, manu vet. (?):
" Volumina, quae non sunt de Ebraica Bibliotheca,
et ideo dicuntur Apocrypha, quia a synagoga
non confirmantur ut quorum autores ignorantur."
Alph. Tostatus (1450) : " Dicuntur Apocrypha,
quia sunt istae Scripturae secretae id est Veritas
eorum secreta est, quia nescitur an verae an
falsae sint. Sciendum tamen, quod Scriptura
vocatur Apocrypha vel non est in Canone S.
Scripturae propter duo, scilicet vel quia dubi-
tatur de veritate ejus, vel quia dubitatur de
auctore." d
In the Middle Ages we find no trace of any
deliberate intention to limit the term "Apocry
pha " to the " Ecclesiastical " books, to the ex
clusion of books which would seem to have
a better title to the name (such as the Book
of^ Enoch, the Testaments of the Twelve Pa
triarchs, the Apocryphal Gospels and Apo
calypses). But these last-named books were
little known and little used. Moreover, with
rare exceptions, they were not included in copies
of the Bible. It was therefore inevitable that a
tendency to narrow the application of " Apo
crypha " to the Ecclesiastical books should
arise. The way was thus prepared for the special use
of the word, which, having been adopted by

a A characteristic definition is given by Hugo de St.
Victore (f 1141) : " Apocryphus, id est dubius et ob-
sconditus, liber duobus modis dicitur; vel quia auctor
ejus incertus, vel quia communi as6ensu fidelis syna-
gogae vel ecclesiae non est receptus et confirmatus, etsi
nihil in eo [pavi] reperlatus. Unde et liber Job Apo
cryphus est, quia dubii auctorls ; in canone tamen con
firmatus est auctoritate fidelis synagogae " (De Scrip-
tur. et Scriptor. Sac, cap. xii.).

APOCRYPHA
the leading Reformers, has ever since obtained
familiar acceptance in England and America,
and in the Reformed Churches on the Continent.
The Reformers used the term " Apocrypha "
to represent the books which they found
in their Bibles, but which they excluded from
their Canon of Holy Scripture. In this usage
they were influenced partly, no doubt, by the
fact that they were here supported, in their con
troversy with Rome, by an authority of so much
weight and eminence as Jerome. The earliest
and best known definition proceeding from
this quarter, that of Bodenstein of Carlstadt in
his De Canonicis Scripturis libellus, Wittenberg,
1520, expresses dissatisfaction with Augustine's
explanation of the word (cited above), and
adopting Jerome's position pronounces that ex
clusion from the Hebrew Canon constitutes the
true test of an apocryphal work : " Constat
incertitudinem autoris non facere apocrypha
scripta, nee certum autorem reddere canonicas
Scripturas, sed quod solus canon libros quos
respuit Apocryphos facit sive habeant autores et
nomina sive non."
Luther's complete edition of the German
Bible (1534) contained the books Judith,
Wisdom, Tobias, Ecclesiasticus, 1 & 2 Maccabees,
Additions to Esther and Daniel, and the Prayer
of Manasseh, grouped together as a distinct
collection under the general title of " Apocry
pha; i.e. Books which are not of like worth
with Holy Scripture, yet are good and useful
to be read." From that time the special appli
cation of the word came into general use among
the Reformers.
The decision of the Council of Trent in 1546
(see below) led to several counter dogmatic
definitions from the Reformed Churches, in
which the " Apocryphal " are identified with
the " Ecclesiastical " or " Deutero-Canonical "
books of the Latin Bible, e.g. Belgic Confession,
Art. vi. (1561) : " We distinguish these sacred
books from the Apocryphal, viz. the third and
fourth Book of Esdras, the Books of Tobias,
Judith, Wisdom, Jesus Syrach, Baruch, the
Appendix to the Book of Esther, the Song of
the Three Children in the Furnace, the History
of Susanna, of Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer
of Manasses, and the two Books of Maccabees."
Cp. Second Helvetic Confession (1566), cap. i. 9 :
" Interim nihil dissimulamus, quosdam Veteris
Testamenti libros a veteribus nuncupatos esse
apocryphos, ab aliis ecclesiasticos." Irish
Articles, Art. iii. (1615) : " The other books (cp.
Art. vi. in the XXXIX. of the Church of Eng
land and Confess. Gal. iv. ' alii libri '), commonly
called 'Apocryphal,' such are these following:
' The Third Book of Esdras, the Fourth Book of
Esdras, the Book of Tobias, the Book of Judith,
Additions to the Book of Esther, the Book of
Wisdom, the Book of Jesus the Son of Sirach
called Ecclesiasticus, Baruch with the Epistle of
Jeremiah, the Song of the Three Children, Su
sanna, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Ma
nasses, the First Book of Maccabaeus, the Second
Book of Maccabaeus.' "
At the close of the 16th century the title of
"Apocrypha" had in England and in the Re
formed Churches on the Continent become so
firmly attached to the " Ecclesiastical " or
" Deutero-Canonical " books, that no doubts ex
pressed as to its fitness on the score of either

APOCRYPHA

165

past history or original signification could have
availed to alter its application. Theologians
found themselves compelled to acquiesce in a
popular usage, which they knew to be in
accurate, as may be shown by the well-known
passage in Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, bk.
v. xx. 7 (ed. Keble), the importance of which
will justify its quotation in this place: "Now,
besides the Scripture, the books, which they
called Ecclesiastical, were thought not unworthy
sometimes to be brought into public audience,
and with that name they entitled the books, which
we call Apocryphal. Under the selfsame name
they also comprised certain no otherwise an
nexed unto the New than the former unto the
Old Testament, as a Book of Hermas, Epistles of
Clement, and the like. According, therefore, to
the phrase of antiquity, these we may term the
New and the other the Old Ecclesiastical books
or writings. For we, being directed by a sen
tence (I suppose) of St. Jerome, who saith ' that
all writings not canonical are apocryphal '
(Hieron. Prolog. Galeat.), use not now the title
' apocryphal ' as the rest of the Fathers ordi
narily have done, whose custom is so to name
for the most part only such as might not pub
licly be read or divulged."
In the Eastern Church, during the Middle
Ages, the title of "Apocrypha" continued to be
reserved for Athanasius's third division of eccle
siastical writings, such as the Book of Enoch
and the Apocryphal Gospels. But early in the
17th century the influence of Western contro
versies began to make itself felt in the Greek
Church. The Confession of Cyril Lucar (Latin,
1629; Greek, 1633), Patriarch of Constanti
nople, who was well known for his Western
predilections, defines " Apocrypha " as " books
not having the ratification from the all-holy
Spirit in the manner of the genuinely and in
disputably Canonical Books." This description
did not, however, continue long in favour, and
in 1672 it was condemned by the Council of
Jerusalem. From that date onward the Greek
Church returned to the Athanasian use, apply
ing the title of " Apocrypha " to a class distinct
from and inferior to the Deutero-Canonical
books (hvayivuGKopevd).
By the Church of Rome also the word
" Apocrypha," though not occurring in the
Decrees of the Council of Trent, is used without
fear of ambiguity, in reference to books not
included in the Tridentine Canon. Dens' Theo-
logia (de Virtute Fid. No. 61, de Divis. Script.
Socr.) gives the following definition of Apocry
phal books : " To the Canonical Books are op
posed the apocryphal books, which are so called
because the Church has failed to find a sufficiently
sure foundation for the tradition respecting them,
although some Fathers have at times hesitated
as to their divine origin. Such are the 3rd
and 4th Books of Esdras, 3rd and 4th of Macca
bees, the Prayer of King Manasses the captive,
&c. Among apocryphal books some are positively
apocryphal or condemned (reprobati), such as
those which Pope Gelasius condemns, Can.
Sancta Bom. dist. 15; others are negatively
apocryphal, that is, by the Church neither
approved nor condemned in their claim to be of
divine origin (tanquam divini)." It is further
asserted that a positively apocryphal book is
always apocryphal ; but a negatively apocry-

166

APOCRYPHA

phal book may be apocryphal only through
the ignorance of the Church, and is capable of
becoming canonical at a subsequent time, as had
been the case with Esther and Judith. •
It will be seen then that (1) the title " Apo
crypha," in its technical application by the Re
formed Churches to the Ecclesiastical or Deutero-
Canonical books, differs from the usage of both
Greek and Roman Churches, and is inaccurate,"
if judged by the standard of historical criticism;
(2) in its wider application to " uncanonical "
books it is used by the Reformed and Roman
Churches alike, with so much difference only
as is caused by the difference in their Canons
of Scripture ; (3) lastly, it is used by Reformed,
Greek, and Roman Churches, as by Athanasius
of old, with reference to the forgeries and the
supposititious writings that at an early time
flooded the Church.
To sum up the foregoing sketch, it appears
that the word "Apocrypha" has at different
times in the history of the Church been applied
to writings in the sense of (1) " secret," " mys
terious," " not to be read by the profane public ; "
(2) "false," "sham," "supposititious;" (3)
" obscure," " doubtful," " pseudonymous," " of
unknown origin ; " (4) " uncanonical," i.e. (a)
ecclesiastical writings not included in the LXX.
and Vulgate Canon (so Augustine and Roman
Church) ; (6) ecclesiastical writings not included
in the Hebrew Canon (so Jerome and his fol
lowers) ; (5) " Deutero - Canonical," i.e. the
books of the Greek and Latin Bibles which
were not included in the Hebrew Canon (so
Reformed Churches). Under this last and his
torically least accurate meaning, the word " Apo
crypha " is most familiar to English readers.
It is a matter of regret that the word, applied
in the 16th century to the " Ecclesiastical " or
" Deutero-Canonical " collection of books, should
have possessed so depreciatory a meaning. The
adjective " apocryphal " imparted its sense of
" sham," " fictitious," to the name "Apocrypha,"
and helped to hinder the impartial treatment of
the books at the hands of the Reformers, while
the controversy with Rome respecting their
canonicity added to their unpopularity.
To this day the title has had the effect of
repelling, where there has rather been the need
of inviting, the study of books, which, as the
next section will show, the Church of Rome
reckons as canonical, and which the Greek and
the Reformed Churches have recommended to be
read for edification and instruction.
II. The Belation of the Apocrypha to tlie His
tory of the Canon of the Old Testament. — This
branch of the subject will come more fully under
consideration in the article Canon. But the
present description of " the Apocrypha " would
be incomplete without some notice of its history
in relation to (1) the Canon of the Jewish
Church, (2) the Canon of the Christian Church.
1. The Apocrypha and the Jewish Canon. —

« It is worthy of remark that in the Old Catholic
Agreement, 1814, signed at Bonn by Old Catholics,
Greeks, English and American Episcopalians, the words
of the first Article, " the Apocryphal or Deutero-Canoni
cal books of the Old Testament," explain the P.eformers"
usage by a more accurate alternative title which would
•commend itself both to the Greek Church and to the
reforming party of the Roman Church.

APOCRYPHA
Under this head has to be considered (a) whether
any of the books of the Apocrypha were ever
admitted into the Hebrew or Palestinian Canon,
(b) the cause of their exclusion, (c) their treat
ment by Alexandrian Jews.
(a.) The theory that books of the Apocrypha
were at any time reckoned as Canonical by the
Palestinian Jews seems to be contradicted by the
statement of Josephus, who (contr. Apion., i. 8)
speaks of the books "justly believed divine"
as twenty-two in number, probably classing
Ruth with Judges and Lamentations with Jere
miah. His testimony tallies with the lists, of
the Old Testament Scriptures given . by Melito
(who, however, omits Esther), Origen (ap. Ens.
H. E. iv. 26 ; vi. 25), and Jerome (Prolog.
Galeat.) — men who professed to derive their
information from contemporary Jews. It is
supported by the list of the Hebrew Scrip
tures contained in the Baha Bathra, 14 b,
15 a, and by the common Talmudic title " The
Twenty-four " (D*"l*J>r i"U?31K0. applied to the
complete Jewish Scriptures of Law, Prophets,
and Writings. The testimony of Josephus is the
more important, inasmuch as there is no doubt
that he was well acquainted with some of the
books of our Apocrypha. He quotes them
and makes use of them in his history (e.g.
1 Mace, 1 Esdras, Additions to Esther), but
shows no sign of including them in the Jewish
Canon. Such evidence as there is, corroborates
the view favoured by the words of Josephus,
Even if, as is very possible, the Jewish Canon
was not finally determined until the Synod of
Jamnia, a.d. 90 (?), there still remains no satis
factory proof that the Jewish Canon in its
incomplete stage ever contained books in excess
of or different from those which have been
handed down to us as canonical. We take the
evidence supplied by the writings of the New
Testament, by 2 Esdras, and by Jewish tradition.
(a) The Books of the New Testament in all
probability contain no direct citations from the
Apocrypha, although, as will be seen below, the
books of Ecclus., Wisd., and 1 Mace, . may have
been familiar to some of the apostolic writers.
Taken by itself, this absence of citation would
no more be an argument for excluding books of
the Apocrypha from the Jewish Canon than it
would be for excluding Judges, the Song .of
Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Ezra, and Nehe
miah, which also are not quoted in the New
Testament. But the fact acquires fresh signi
ficance when viewed in conjunction with other
considerations, i.e. (1) the testimony of Josephus
already referred to ; (2) the numerous citations
made by Christian writers from Ecclus., Wisd.,
1 Mace, Bar., and Tob. as soon as the Alexan
drine Version of the 0. T. began to receive re
cognition ; (3) the strong presumption,, based on
the writings of the New Testament, that the
Canon of the Jews was complete, even if not
authoritatively defined, in our Lord's time. This
last point deserves especial attention. It is the
impression produced as much by the terms in
which the authority of the Jewish Scriptures
as a whole is invoked, as by the testimony
afforded by individual passages. On the one
hand, it is natural to see in " the Scriptures,"
which are so frequently and reverently cited, a
final collection of writings, whose pre-emiuent
authority was universally acknowledged, and

APOCRYPHA
the limits of whose contents were also popularly
known and generally recognised (cf. Matt. xxii.
29 ; Mark xiv. 49 ; Luke xxiv. 27, 32, 45 ; John
v. 39 ; Acts xvii. 2, 11, xviii. 24, 28). There is
no hint of their incompleteness. ' The appeal to
them is final. Their unique position in the
estimation of the people placed them out of
reach of rivalry, and precluded the possibility
of change either by addition or removal. On
the other hand, although the reference in Luke
xxiv. 44 to " the Law of Moses and the Prophets
and the Psalms " does not necessarily imply that
the collection of the Hagiographa was complete,
the citation from Daniel (Matt. xxiv. 15, cp.
Dan. ix. 27, xii. 11) and the allusion to the Book
of Chronicles (Matt, xxiii. 35 ; 2 Ch. xxiv. 21)
favour the presumption that this was the case.
(B) The passage in the Second Book of Esdras
xiv. 44-47, quoted above (p. 162, col. 2), supplies,
according to the true reading (94 not 104),
clear testimony that the Jewish writer, who
lived probably at the close of the 1st century
A.D., knew of no more than four-and-twenty
books included in the Jewish Canon.
(7) Jewish tradition, taken as a whole, dis
appoints us with the meagre character of its
evidence. The contents of the Canon were
•evidently frequently discussed, though on most
uncritical principles, by the Jewish Rabbis.
Fragmentary notices of these discussions have
recorded the doubts that were felt by some as to
the authenticity of certain Books of the 0. T.
(e.g. Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, see
article Canon) ; but, in the scanty allusions to
the books of the Apocrypha, their existence is
as a rule only mentioned for the purpose of
rejecting their authority. The one book about
which a doubt seems at any time to have been
seriously entertained is Ecclesiasticus, and the
earnestness of the protest made against its
•canonicity leads us to suspect how favourably
it must have been regarded in some quarters ;
perhaps it indicates an actual dispute whether
or no it should be numbered among the sacred
Books : " Neither the books of Sira (Ecclesiasti-
•cus) nor any of the books which were written
from that time onward defile the hands " (i.e.
are canonical: see art. Caxox. Yadaim, iii.
fol. 141 a). With this dictum may be compared
the harsh saying of Rabbi Akiba (circ. 130 a.d.),
recorded by the Jerusalem Talmud, that the man
who read the "extraneous" (i.e. the apocryphal)
books has no part in the world to come.
The fact that no early Targum or Chaldee
paraphrase of an apocryphal book (save possibly
-that of the Book Tobit) has been preserved,
is strongly confirmatory of the general tenor
of Jewish- tradition, that neither the Book of
Ecclesiasticus (though for some time its claims
may have been seriously canvassed), nor any
other book of our Apocrypha, found a footing
in the Palestinian Canon.f
f It may be mentioned that Jul. Ffirst is of opinion
that the Additions to Esther and Daniel originally be
longed to the Jewish Canon ; that having been removed
thence on the occasion of a strict revision by the Jeru
salem Sanhedrin, they have only been preserved to us
by the Alexandrian Version, in consequence of the
laxer notions prevalent among the Egyptian Jews
(Kan. A. T. p. 142, y 102). A comparison of the
Additions to Esther, in which tbe title of "God"
Co Behi) occurs twenty-one times, "the Lord" (6 Kvpios)

APOCRYPHA

167

(b.) In the case of the majority of the
apocryphal books, no difficulty is raised by
their exclusion from the Canon. Their cha
racter and contents sufficiently account for the
position which they held in the estimation of the
Jews. But with regard to the most impor
tant writings of the collection — Ecclesiasticus,
Wisdom, and 1 Maccabees — the case is different.
The question may well be asked, how these
books were excluded from the Jewish Canon,
when the books of Esther, Song of Solomon, and
Ecclesiastes were admitted.
Two explanations, which have popularly been
given at different times, have proved to be in
sufficient for their purpose, (u) The first of
these explanations, based upon the Jewish legend,
that the Canon of the Old Testament was con
cluded by the labours of Ezra, Nehemiah, and
"the men of the Great Synagogue," supposed
that all books written at a later date than the
Book of Malachi were necessarily excluded.
This legend, however, is now generally aban
doned [see art. Canoh], as devoid of historical
worth ; and along with it, the explanation
referred to falls to the ground. On its own
merits it was inadequate ; for it assumed an
early date of composition for such disputed
Books as' Daniel, Esther, Ecclesiastes, Chronicles;
it left unexplained the order of Books in the
Jewish Bible ; it ignored the evidence for a later
revision of the Canon supplied by e.g. the Psalter
and the Book of Nehemiah. (6) The second ex
planation, based on the very probable supposition
that only Hebrew books were admitted into the
Jewish Canon, assumed that the apocryphal
books were excluded on the ground either of their
having been originally written in Greek, or of
their Hebrew originals having dropped out of
sight at an early date. It might be conceded
that the Jewish Canon would probably only
contain books written in the sacred language of
the nation, and that therefore the Book of
Wisdom, which was written in Greek, could
never take rank among the canonical Scriptures.
But there is undoubted proof that both the
Book of Ecclesiasticus and the First Book of
Maccabees were composed in Hebrew, while
there is no sufficient evidence for the assertion
that their originals must have been lost at an
early date. The very opposite might be inferred
from the Rabbinical quotations respecting the
Book of Ecclesiasticus, and from the positive
statements of Origen and Jerome respecting
either a Hebrew original or an Aramaic Version
of 1 Maccabees.
An explanation for the exclusion Of these
books is to be sought for on other grounds. In
all probability it is to be found in the internal
condition of the Jewish nation at and after the
time of their composition ; and, as a consequence,
in the relation of the books themselves to the
religious thought of the people.

four times, "Lord" (Kvpios) eleven times, "Lord
God" (Kiipios debs) once, "Lord the God" (Kupios o
9ebs) once, with the Canonical Book, where the name of
the Deity does not occur, does not favour Furst's view
in the one case. In the other case, there is no sort of
proof that the Additions to Daniel were ever ranked by
the Jews along with the Canonical Book. The style
is very different. External evidence to support the.
theory is wholly wanting.

168

APOCRYPHA

If it be granted that Ecclesiasticus was
written about 180 B.C., 1 Maccabees between
110 B.C. and 60 B.C., Wisdom between 100 B.C.
and 50 B.C., it will be seen that this. period
produced the development of Judaism, which
culminated in the division of the people into
the opposing factions of Pharisees and Saddu
cees. The persecution of Autiochus Epiphanes,
followed by the heroic Maccabaean revolt, revived
in the heart of the people a jealous watchfulness
over the national Scriptures. The power of the
scribes who belonged to either faction, was in the
ascendant. The schools of the Rabbins multiplied
rapidly. Veneration for the letter was exagge
rated into idolatrous superstition. At a time of
faction and controversy, all parties would appeal
to the national Scriptures. A new book issuing
with the favour of one party would be greeted
with the keenest criticism from the other. Its
inclusion within the Canon, except under favour
ing circumstances of an altogether exceptional
character, amounted to an impossibility. The
books of the Hagiographa, which had been the
last to be admitted into the Jewish Canon, had
all eujoyed some exceptional cause of recom
mendation. In each case some distinctive re
ligious element, connected with either the faith,
the worship, the patriotism, or the antiquities
of the people, prepared the way for their public
recognition, and facilitated their admission into
the Canon. On the other hand, the three apo
cryphal books made no fresh addition to the
religious conceptions of the people. The Books
of Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom were regarded as
having been written upon similar lines of thought
to the Books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes.
The First Book of Maccabees was a patriotic
chronicle of recent events ; it lacked the warrant
of antiquity, it conveyed no fresh revelation of
the Divine economy towards the chosen race.
Not .only, however, did they fail to introduce
any distinctive religious conception, but two out
of the three failed to satisfy the doctrinal test
of the most powerful faction. Thus the Book of
Ecclesiasticus, which, as perhaps earliest in date
and most Jewish in tone of all the apocryphal
books, stood the best chance of admission into
the Canon, possibly owed its exclusion not merely
to its evidently recent composition but also to
the antipathy of the Pharisees, on the ground
that it nowhere mentions the doctrine of the
resurrection from the dead, and even seems
to dispute the doctrine of man's immortality
(e.g. xvii. 30). The First Book of the Macca
bees, which glorifies the deeds of the patriotic
brothers, and whose silence on the subject of the
resurrection stands in such marked contrast
to the tone of the Second Book of the Maccabees,
was even less likely to become regarded as cano
nical, so long as the Pharisaic faction, bitterly
incensed against the Asmonaean house, continued
to maintain their ascendency over the people.
The Book of Wisdom, written originally in Greek,
at a late date, for the benefit of Alexandrian
Jews, tinged also with the influence of Greek
philosophical schools, would from the first be
viewed with suspicion by the stricter Jews on
account of its foreign origin, and, whatever its
intrinsic merits, had never any prospect of
being received among the sacred Books of the
Palestinian Canon.
Such, then, were some of the causes which

APOCRYPHA
tended to exclude the most eminent of the
apocryphal books from the limits of the Jewish
Canon. It would be unnecessary to pursue the
inquiry into the claims of the other books,
for the most part signally inferior both in actual
power and in public estimation.
(c.) In Alexandria, the relation of the apocry
phal books to the writings of the O. T. was
very different. Little or no direct evidence is
forthcoming in pre-Christian times. But at the
first emergence of the Christian Church, its
Greek Old Testament Scriptures, which it had
received from Alexandrian Jews, already con
tained the apocryphal additions to the Palestinian
Canon. Some have conjectured that the Jews
of Alexandria acknowledged a different Canon
from that of the Jews of Palestine ; and the con
jecture is so far rendered plausible by the fact,
that the LXX. Version from the earliest time, at
which we have accurate knowledge of its col
lective existence, not only contains apocryphal
writings added to and interspersed among
those of the Jewish Canon, but also presents us
with the Books of the Jewish Canon subjected
to a re-arrangement of order. The order of
the Books, however, in the MSS. of the LXX.
Version varies so greatly, that it would be
unsafe to rest any theory of a separate Canon
upon such uncertain evidence. Moreover, the
writings of Philo lend no countenance to the con
jecture. Philo's quotations are chiefly drawn
from the Pentateuch, but he refers also with
special deference to at least twelve other Books
of the Old Testament. Although he was ac
quainted with some of the apocryphal books, he
treats them with no special veneration (cf. Hor-
nemann, Observat ad illustrat doctr. de Con.
Vet. Test, ex Philone, 1775 ; Siegfried's Philo,
Jena, 1875).
But while there is no sufficient ground for
supposing the existence of an independent Jewish
Canon at Alexandria, there is no doubt that
the national Scriptures were handled in a more
lax spirit by the Jews in Egypt than by the
Jews in Palestine, and that the Books of the
Apocrypha certainly obtained a recognition in
the colony, which in the mother - country
would have been impossible. A view of inspi
ration — an offshoot of Greek philosophy —
which took root among the Alexandrine Jews,.
not only countenanced the admission of the
apocryphal books to higher consideration, but
practically set no limits of time to the possible
extension of the Canon. This thought, first
hinted at in the Book of Wisdom (vii. 27),
appears as an important element of Philo's
teaching (cp. Quis rcr. dir. Haer. § 52 ; de
Cherub. § 9 ; de Praem. et Poen. § 16). Accor
ding to Philo, Moses was the true Arch-Prophet
(bpxnrpo<piiT-ns) of God : David, Solomon, and
all other holy men of ancient or recent time,
were his disciples and followers (eraipoi, tpoirnTai
JHuvtreus). The Pentateuch was the one true
authoritative canon. Around it as a nucleus
might be collected the writings of Prophets
and holy men of every age, inspired by the
ever-present wisdom of God to form a wider
and more comprehensive canon, which would
receive Alexandrine as well as Palestinian
writings, and would welcome Apocrypha as
freely as Hagiographa.
Greek language, no less than Greek thought,

APOCRYPHA
favoured the cause of the apocryphal books at
Alexandria. The influence of the Septuagint
Version broke down one of the chief safeguards
of the Palestinian Canon. As the original lan
guage of the Hebrew Scriptures became lost
to view, there disappeared simultaneously a
principal feature of distinction between the
more ancient and the more recent writings in
corporated in the Alexandrine Version. The
Hebrew arrangement of the Books was partially
abandoned ; the traditional order of the Books
in the second and third divisions (the N'biim
and C'thubim) was broken up. Popular Graeco-
Judaic books were intermingled with the Books
of the Palestinian Canon (cp. Codd. N, A, and
B). No indication seems to have been given
that the more recent books were considered to
occupy a lower footing than the older books of
the collection. The result seems to have been
precisely what might have been expected. The
Greek-speaking Jews of the Dispersion of the 1st
century A.D., who were dependent upon the Sep
tuagint for their acquaintance with their national
Scriptures, having learned to recognise the whole
contents of the Alexandrian Version as equally
inspired and authoritative, transmitted them as
such into the hands of the infant Church of
Christ. 2. The Apocrypha and the 0. T. Canon in the
Christian Church. — (a.) To 600 a.d. The
majority of the Fathers in the early Christian
Church seem to have known the Old Testament
in the LXX. Version only, and practically to
have drawn no distinction between the Books
of the Palestinian Canon and the apocryphal
writings. Thus in the earliest age Clement of Rome
(circ. 95 A.D.) quotes Judith (1 Ep. ad Cor. lv.,
'lovSIB i) pcucapla) as an example of patriotic
courage, mentioning her before Esther, and
combines a citation from Job with another from
the Book of Wisdom (xxvii. 5 ; cp. Job xi. 12
and Wisd. xi. 22). The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles (iv. 5, circ. 100 a.d. ?) and the Epistle of
Barnabas (xix. 9, circ. 80-120 A.D. ?), drawing
probably from the same intermediate source, use
the same words, pi) yivov irpbs pev to Aafielv
eKreivuv Tax xe*Pas Tpbs Se Tb Sovvat avtnruv,
while they cite (? a proverbial saying recorded
in) the Book of Ecclesiasticus (iv. 31). Poly-
carp's " Quia eleemosyna de morte liberat " (Ep.
ad Phil. c. x.) is clearly taken from Tobit xii. 9,
which he quotes in the same way as a passage
from 1 Peter in the succeeding sentence.
In such passages the absence of any formula
of citation agrees with the prevailing habit
of the age. It cannot at any rate be adduced as
a proof that the apocryphal books were not
regarded as of equal authority with the Books of
the Hebrew Canon. This is confirmed by the
writers of the following age, who show con
clusively that they regarded some apocryphal
books as inspired, and employ in their quotations
from them the regular formulae of citation from
Holy Scripture. The following instances ex
emplify their practice.
Irenaeus (circ. 180) refers to the Additions to
Daniel and the Book of Baruch as he does to the
authoritative writings of Daniel and Jeremiah :
cp. adv. Haer. iv. 5, " Daniel propheta signifi-
cavit," quoting LXX. Dan. xiv. 4, 5 ; adv. Haer.
v. 35, " significavit Jeremias propheta," quoting

APOCRYPHA

169

Baruch iv. v. Wisdom (vi. 19) is quoted adv.
Haer. iv. 38.
Clement of Alexandria (circ. 200) uses tho
words " the divine wisdom saith " when he is
quoting the Book of Wisdom (iii. 2-4), quotes
Ecclus. as Solomon, and speaks of "the divine
scripture " when he is quoting from Baruch iii.
(cp. Strom, iv. p. 609, and Pacdetg. ii. 3, p. 189,
ed. Potter). Clemeut also cites Tobit as " Scrip
ture " (Strom, ii. 23, vi. 12), and quotes as
Daniel's the Song of the Three Children (ex-
Script. Prop. Ecgl. cap. i.).
Tertullian (ii. 5, p. 441, circ. 160-240) pre
faces a quotation from Ecclesiasticus with the
words " sicut scriptum est," and appeals to
Wisdom as the writing of Solomon, " ut docet
sophia non quidem Valentini sed Salomonis"
(Exhort, ad Cast. c. 29 ; adv. Valent. c. 2). He
quotes Baruch as Jeremiah (Scorp. viii.), and
refers to the Song of the Three Children as
Daniel (adv. Hermog. xliv.).
It is noteworthy that such quotations can
generally be explained by the incorporation of
Baruch with Jeremiah, and by the pseudonym
ous authorship of the Additions to Daniel,
Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus. But in the works
of Cyprian ( f 254) we seem to advance further.
We find, as might be expected, many such
expressions as " per Hieremiam quoque haec
eadem spiritus sanctus suggerit et docet dicens "
(de Orat Dominit), and " apud Ieremiam "
(Test. ii. 6), where the reference is to the Book
of Baruch, "per Salomonem spiritus sanctus
ostendit " (Exhort, ad Mart. xii. de Mortal.
sub fin.), " secundum fidem sanctae scripturae "
(Ep. ad Demetr. xxiv.), where the reference is
to the Book of Wisdom. Ecclesiasticus, too, is
quoted as Scripture, " cum scriptum sit " (Ep.
v. 2), "scriptura divina" (de Mortal, ix.).
" Susanna " (Ep. xl. 4) and the Song of the
Three Children (de Unit. Eccl. xii.) are also
cited as Scripture. But Cyprian goes further,
when he uses the words " scriptura divina "
of 1 Maccabees (Ep. lix.) and " scriptura divina
instruit " (de Orat. Dom. xxxii.) of the Book of
Tobit ; and his use of the Apocrypha shows
that he drew no line of distinction between the
canonicity of the various books of the Alex
andrine Version.
Of the Ante-Nicene Fathers only one or two
seem to have known of the shorter Hebrew
Canon, and to have resisted the unquestioning
and uncritical recognition of all the books con
tained in the Alexandrine Version.
And here the testimony of Justin Martyr
(fcirc. 145), though negative, is of the greatest
importance, on account both of his residence in
Palestine and of his acquaintance with Jewish
thought. He makes no reference to any apocry
phal books of the Old Testament, and, if from
his silence we are to understand that he did not
rank them with Holy Scripture, his evidence
derives peculiar importance from his well-known
reverence for the Septuagint Version.
Melito, bishop of Sardis (circ. 170), adopted,
as the result of his personal investigations in
the East, the Hebrew Canon of the 0. T. (with
the possible omission of the Book of Esther), and
in his list makes no allusion to the Apocrypha
(ap. Eus. H. E. iv. 26).
Origen's list of Old Testament Books given by
Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. vi. 25) agrees with the

170

APOCRYPHA

Hebrew Canon. His own writings, however, give
no sign of his having excluded the Apocrypha
from the rank of Holy Scripture. Thus he
appeals to the Books of Maccabees as if they
were Scripture (de Principiis, ii. 1 ; Opp. i. 79 :
" ut ex Scripturarum auctoritate hoc ita se
habere credamus, audi quoque in Maccabaeorum
libris"). The Books of Wisdom and Eccle
siasticus he calls " the divine word " (6 BeTos
A6yos,contr. Cels. iii. 72, viii. 50) ; " scripture
(" scriptura," Cant. Cant. iii. p. 49 ; Hom. m
Ezech. ix. 2 ; in Jud. iii. 1 ; Ep. ad Bom. lib.
iii. 2 and 7 : ypatpr), Horn, in Jer. xvi. 6). The
Book of Tobit is called "scripture" (Comm. in
Rom. viii. 11 ; de Orat. xi.). He quotes Baruch
(in Ier. xxxi.). The History of Susanna is
cited as the writing of Daniel, t) tov AaviT)A
ypatp-h (Ep. ad African.). In his Epistle to
Africanus, Origen defends the Septuagint Canon
generally, and the retention of the History ot
Susanna in particular. He suggests that it
had been struck, out of the Canon by the
Jewish doctors as being likely to depreciate
the authority of elders in the eyes of the
people. The inconsistency of these expressions
with his adhesion to the Hebrew Canon (quoted
by Eusebius) cannot entirely be attributed to
unguarded writing. It implies rather that
though personally, as a scholar and a theo
logian, he preferred the shorter Hebrew Canon
of the 0. T., he yet accepted as Scripture the
Septuagintal additions in deference to general
ecclesiastical usage. This principle he seems to
avow in another part ofthe same letter. " Touch
ing which matter, it were expedient for us to
know that the Hebrews make no use of Tobit
nor even of Judith, for they do not even include
them, among apocryphal writings in the Hebrew
tongue ; and this we know by actual inquiry
from them. But inasmuch as the Churches make
¦use of Tobit, we must know," &c.
The testimony, therefore, of Qrigen (186-253)
shows that the apocryphal books were gene
rally, though loosely, accepted by the Church,
and that, although his own scientific judgment
was adverse to their full recognition, he prac
tically acquiesced in the custom of referring
to all the contents of the LXX. as inspired
Scripture. In the 4th century, under the influence of
Athanasius, more definite efforts were made to
determine the limits of the Canon of Holy
Scripture. If the number of apocryphal and
heretical Gospels, Acts, Epistles, &c, had made
this necessary in the case of the N. T., it was not
less necessary in the case of the 0. T. Even
supposing that the majority of divines accepted
the scriptural authority of the Books of Eccle
siasticus and Wisdom, of Tobit and of Baruch,
could these books be separated from e.g. 1 Esdras,
and the Additions to Daniel ? And further, what
position should be assigned to works such as
the Book of Enoch, and the Psalms of Solomon ?
To such questions an answer had sooner or later
to be given either by the tacit usage of Churches
or by the direct utterance of theologians. The
investigations of Melito and Origen, as reported
by Eusebius in his History, appear to have drawn
attention to the difference that existed between
the Hebrew and the Septuagintal Canon. The
scholarly judgment of Origen carried immense
weight in this as in all Biblical questions. From

APOCRYPHA
the point of view also of practical expediency,
the Hebrew Canon, with its fixed number of
Books, as enumerated by Origen, compared
favourably with the Septuagintal list, which
admitted of an indefinite enlargement. But, as
a rule, the fact of inclusion within the Greek
Scriptures was a presumption in favour of the
disputed Books outweighing every other consi
deration. In the Eastern Churches, the lists of the 0. T.
Canonical Books drawn up during the 4th century
are found sometimes to exclude the books of the
Apocrypha (e.g. Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of
Nazianzum, and Amphilochius), sometimes to
enumerate them as a subordinate class. This
latter method was adopted by Athanasius, and
was afterwards generally received in the East,
and in the West by the supporters ofthe Hebrew
Canon (cp. RufBnus and Jerome). Athanasius
divided the ecclesiastical writings of his day into
three classes : (1) Canonical Books, (2) books read
in the Churches, (3) apocryphal books. The
books of the Apocrypha he relegated to the
second class with the title of avayivuffKipeva,
distinct from the KavoviKa on the one side, and
from the av6Kpvtpa on the other. In his 39th
Festal Letter (Migne's ed., torn. ii. p. 1177) he
specifies under this second class " the Wisdom of
Solomon and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther
and Judith and Tobias, and the Teaching of the
Apostles and the Shepherd " (Le. of Hermas).
It is clear, however, from the writings of the
Greek Fathers themselves, that they did not
consider themselves bound by their more scho
larly utterances upon the subject of the apocry
phal books. Cyril of Jerusalem (f386) (Catech.
iv. 35) lays down the precept, " Read the two-
and-twenty books, but meddle not with the apo
cryphal writings," with which his own practice
is far from being consistent. Both Cyril and
Athanasius practically accepted the LXX. Ver
sion as their 0. T., and treated all the books
of this Version as divinely inspired Scripture.
They quoted from apocryphal books, and based '
arguments upon apocryphal quotations, just as
if they drew no distinction between them and
the books of the Hebrew Canon.
The 59th Canon of the Council of Laodicea,
about 360, gives (in a list of doubtful authen
ticity, though probably of the same century)
the Hebrew Canon of the 0. T., with the addi
tion of the Book of Baruch. This, addition
makes it probable that the Greek Additions
to Daniel, Esther, and Ezra, were also included
in the list. The Apostolical Canons (Canon
LXXXVI.) include the Book of Judith and three
Books of the Maccabees in the 0. T. Canon of
Scripture, and recommend Ecclesiasticus for the
education of the young.
Epiphanius (f403), who sometimes follows the
Hebrew Canon (cp. de Mens, e' Pond., § 23), else
where (according to Dindorf s text), reckons Tobit
and Judith with Esther as the last or 27th book,
and includes under Jeremiah, Baruch and " the
Epistle " (Haer. 8, i. 6) ; and although he speaks
of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus as iv bptpiheKTtp
Xuph aAAuv tivuv BiBAtuv ivaitoKputpiuv (Haer.
8, i. 6), in another place he calls them " Divine
Scriptures," classing them strangely enough as
an appendage to the N. T. (compare the position
of Wisdom in the Muratorian Fragment. Haer.
76, i. 941).

APOCRYPHA
The views of the Antiochene school may
perhaps be represented by the Synopsis Sacr.
Scriptur. (Chrys. Opp. torn. vi. pp. 313-386).
But the text of that document is so corrupt in
its present state, that we can only for certain
gather that it included Ecclesiasticus, and that
in all probability the Book of Daniel included
Bel and the Dragon.6
Chrysostom (f 407) himself speaks of Wisdom
as the writing of Solomon, and constantly quotes
the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus as
" Scripture." He quotes Baruch as the writing
of Jeremiah (Hom. in Isa. cap. i. torn. vi. p. 17).
He refers to the Song of the Three Children and
the Story of Bel and the Dragon as the works
of Daniel (e.g. Hom. in 1 Cor. xv. 4 ; Hom.
38. 4).
The Peshitto (Syriac) Version of the O.T.
was originally a translation from the Hebrew
books only. The apocryphal books were pro
bably not added until the 4th century, when
most of them were rendered from the LXX. into
Syriac (Ecclus. being from the Heb.). The
Ambrosian MS. (probably of the 6th century)
contains various apocryphal books, i.e. Wisdom,
Ep. of Jeremiah, 1 and 2 Epp. df Baruch, Ad
ditions to Daniel, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, Apoca
lypse of Baruch, 2 Esdras, I. II. III. IV. V.
Maccabees. It appears, therefore, that the Eastern Church
followed no very definite principle with respect
to the apocryphal books. Being generally
ignorant of Hebrew, the Greek Fathers made
almost exclusive use of the Greek Version, and
their use of the BlBAta avaytvuffK6peva shows
a preference for those books which either were
associated with an honoured name (e.g. Wisdom
of Solomon, Letter of Jeremiah, Barnch, Addi
tions to Daniel), or inculcated special virtues
(e.g. almsgiving in Tobit), or contributed to the
knowledge bf God's dealings with the Jewish
people (e.g. Additions to Esther and Books of
Maccabees). In the West, a few of the most learned
theologians upheld the Hebrew Canon, and
in so doing opposed the general usage. The
0. T. was popularly read in the Vetus Itala or
some similar translation into Latin, of which the
LXX. Version had been the original. No dis
tinction was preserved in these Versions between
the books of the Apocrypha and those of the
Hebrew Canon. Jerome, Hilary, and Ruffinus are
the ehief representatives of those who preferred
the shorter list of Scripture ; but even in them
we find inconsistencies of expression, which betray
how generally" the LXX. Version had accus
tomed the Church to receive the apocryphal
books. Jerome (f420), as we have seen above, ex
pressed his view, destined to be so often repeated
as to be almost authoritative, in his Prologus
Galeatus in libr. Reg., that the Books of the 0. T.
were the Hebrew twenty-four, which he specified ;
e There is good reason to suppose that the portions of
this document relating to Wisdom, Tobit, and Judith are
interpolations. There is no allusion made to these three
books in the " Protheoria." And while the "Pro-
theoria" is wanting in the Cod. Lugdunensis,the other
text Cod. Coisliniauus, which contains the "Protheoria,"
lacks several of the Synopses, e.g-. on Chron., Esd., Esth.,
Tob., Jud., Job, Wisd., Prov. (see Introd. in Migne's
Ed.).

APOCRYPHA

171

that all others were "Apocrypha;" and there
fore that Wisdom, Ecclus., Judith, Tobit, Shep
herd (i.e. of Hermas), and Maccabees were not
canonical: "Hie prologus scripturarum quasi
galeatum principium omnibus libris quos do
Hebraeo vertimus in Latinum convenire potest,
ut scire valeamus, quicquid extra hos est inter
apocrypha seponendum. Igitur Sapientia, quae
vulgo Solomonis inscribitur et Hiesu filii Sirach
liber et Judith et Tobias et Pastor non sunt in
Canone. Macchabaeorum primum librum He-
braicum reperi, secundus Graecus est, quod ex
ipsa quoque phrasi probari potest," &c. In
other important passages he affirms his prefer
ence for the Hebrew as distinguished from tho
Septuagint Canon. Praefat. in Ezram (Div.
Biblioth.): "Let no one be enamoured of the
dreamings of the apocryphal third and fourth
books (of Esdras) ; . . . and all that does not
belong to the four-and-twenty elders is to be
absolutely rejected (procul abjicienda." Cp. ii.
420, " apoci'yphorum deliramenta " ; vii. 660,
" apocryphorum ineptiae "). Ep. cvii. ad- Lac
tam: "Let her (Laeta) beware of all apocry
phal writings; and if at any time she should
wish to read them, for the confirmation not
so much of her faith as of her reverence for-
the men of old time,11 let her know that th'ey
are not the writings of those by whose names
they are designated, and that much that is harm
ful is mixed with them, and that " it requires
great skill to seek for ' gold in the dirt.' "
On the other hand, he often refers to Eccle
siasticus (e.g. twice in Ep. cxlviii. ; cp. Ixvi.) as
" Scriptura." The Books of Judith and Wisdom
are frequently referred to and quoted, but the
scriptural authority of both is qualified by the
phrase, " if however you please to accept the
book " (si cui tamen placet librum recipere :
cp. Comment, in Zech. lib. iii. cap. xii. § 902).
In his Preface to the Book of Tobit, he
points out that it was excluded from the Canon
by the Jews, and that not being written in
Hebrew it did not strictly fall within the scope
of his translation (" librum Tobiae quem He-
braei de catalogo divinarum Scripturarum
secantes, his quae apocrypha [v. 1. hagiographa]
memorant manciparunt "). In his Preface
to the Book of Judith he first states the fact
that it was placed by the Jews among the Apo
crypha, and then accounts for his acceding to
a pressing demand for its translation, though
the book was extant in Chaldee only and not
in Hebrew, on the ground that the Council of
Nicaea was said to have reckoned it among
the Books of Holy Scripture (" sed quia hunc
librum Synodus Nicaena in numero sanctarum
Scripturarum legitur computasse "), a statement
which appears to be devoid of foundation. ¦
Hilary (f 368), whose devotion to Origen per
haps accounts for the fact, also upheld the
Hebrew Canon, reckoning " the Epistle " With
Jeremiah ; but he testifies to the desire on the
part of some to augment it with the Books of
Tobit and Judith to make the number up to 24
(Proleg. in Ps. § 15).
Ruffinus (t-410) designates Wisdom, Ecclesi
asticus, Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees as a class
distinct from- the Canonical Books by the title of

'¦ Beading '" seniorum.'
untranslatable.

' Signorum " of the text is

172

APOCRYPHA

" libri ecclesiastici " (Comm. in Symh.). But he
must have received the 3ooks of the Hebrew
Canon in the form derived from the LXX.
Version, as we find him delivering an assault
upon Jerome for having cancelled the History of
Susanna from the list of canonical writings (cp.
Jerome's Apologia adv. Ruff.).
The reverence for the traditional Canon of the
LXX. Version remained too firmly seated in
men's minds to be upset by the judgment of the
few, who either knew a little Hebrew or were
acquainted at second hand with the existence of
the Hebrew Canon. The prevalent opinion finds
expression in the writings of Augustine, and was
first authoritatively confirmed by the councils
of Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), which were
held under the shadow of his commanding
influence. Augustine, in his de Doctrind Christ, ii. 8,
discusses the " whole Canon of Scripture." He
divides the Books of the Old Testament into
historical, miscellaneous, and prophetical classes.
In the miscellaneous class he places Job, Tobit,
Esther, two Books of the Maccabees and two of
Esdras ; the prophetical class he begins with the
Book of Psalms, three Books of Solomon, and
the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus.
The Council of Hippo, 393 (see Hefele, Con-

APOCRYPHA
cilien), giving a list of canonical Scriptures
speaks of five Books of Solomon, and includes
also Tobit, Judith, and two Books of Maccabees.
This Canon was ratified by the Council of Car
thage (397), and appears in a letter " Ad Exsu-
perium," attributed to Pope Innocent I. (f416).
and in the problematical " Decretum Gelasii."
Leo (450) constantly quotes Wisdom and Ec
clesiasticus as " scripture." Referring to Ecclus.
xviii. 30, he says it is declared " by the Holy
Spirit " (Sermo lxxxi. 2). In another passage
he calls it the writing of "sapientissimus Salo
mon " (Sermo xxxix. 3, quoting Ecclus. ii. 4).
It is most reasonable to suppose that this
Canon of the 0. T., being virtually that of the
LXX. Scriptures, reckoned the Book of Baruch
with the prophecy of Jeremiah, and included
the apocryphal Additions in the Books of Daniel
and Esther. This ascription of canonicity to
the apocryphal books was most generally ac
cepted at the close of the 4th century, and
receives confirmation from the earliest extant
MSS. of the 0. T. (see below), which present us
with the apocryphal books intermingled with
and undistinguished from the other books of the
0. T. But a degree of uncertainty is betrayed
by the want of uniformity in the arrangement
and order of the books.

Cone. Hippon. 393.
Genesis. Chronicles 1, 2.
Job.Psalms.Solomon, 5 Books of.
12 Minor Prophets.
Isaiah.Jeremiah.Daniel.Ezekiel.Tobias.
Judith.Esther (? with Additions).
Esdras, 2 Books of.
Maccabees, 2 Books of.

Cod. Vat. (4th cent.).
Genesis. Chronicles 1, 2.
1 Esdras Graecus.
2 Esdras (Ezra-Nehemiah).
Psalms (151).
Proverbs.Ecclesiastes.Canticles.
Job.Wisdom of Solomon.
Wisdom of Sirach.
Esther with Additions.
Judith, Tobit.
12 Minor Prophets.
Isaiah.
Jeremiah. Baruch. Lamentations.
Ep. of Jeremiah (=vi. of Bar.)
Ezekiel. Daniel (with Additions).
Maccabees 1, 2, 3.

" Decretum Gelasii "
(age uncertain).
GeneBis. ChronicleB 1, 2.
Psalms.Proverbs. Ecclesiastes. Canticles.{.Wisdom.)
[.Ecclesiasticus.)Isaiah.
Jeremiah, with Lamentations
[and Baruch],
Ezekiel.
Daniel (? with Additions).

Cod. Ephraemi (5th cent.).
* * *
Job. Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes. Canticles. Wisdom qf Solomon.
Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach.

Cod. Clarom. (7th cent.,
but from a much earlier source).
Genesis.Psalms.Proverbs.

Cod. Alex. (5th cent.).
Genesis.Chronicles 1, 2.
12 Minor Prophets.
Isaiah.Jeremiah (with Baruch, Lamen-
. tations, and Epistle).
Ezekiel.Daniel (with Additions).
Esther (with Additions).
Tobit.
Judith.Esdras the priest (1 Esdras).
2 Esdras (Ezra and Nehemiah).
Maccabees 1, 2, 3, 4.
Psalms (151) with Songs.
Job. Proverbs. Ecclesiastes.
Canticles.
Wisdom of Solomon.
Wisdom of Jesus, Son of Sirach.
After the 1ST. T.
Psalms qf Solomon.
Latin List of a.d. 359.
(Mommsen, Sermes, 1886, pp. 144 sq.>
Genesis.
Chronicles 1, 2.
Maccabees 1, 2.
Job. Tobit.
Esther (? with Additions).
Judith. Psalms (151).
Solomon's [Books] (not distin
guished: but the number of
lines shows Wisdom and Eccle
siasticus to be included).

APOCRYPHA

' Decretum Gelasii " — continued.
12 Minor Prophets.
Job. Tobit.

Cod. Clarom. — continued.
Ecclesiastes.Canticles.
Wisdom qf Solomon.
Wisdom of Jesus.

Esdras, one [pr two) Books of. 16 Prophets.
Esther (? with Additions). 3 Books qf Maccabees (I, 2, 4).
Judith. Judith. Ezra and Nehemiah.
Maccabees, one [or two) Esther (? with Additions).
Soots of. Job. Ibott.

Cod. Sinait. (4th cent.).

1 Chronicles (frag.).
* * *
2 Esdras (frog.).
Esther (with Additions).
Tobit.
Judith. 1 Maccabees.
4 Maccabees.
Isaiah. Jeremiah.Lamentations. * * * (? Baruch).
12 Minor Prophets.
Psalms (151).
Proverbs.Ecclesiastes.Canticles. Wisdom of Solomon.
Wisdom of Jesus, Son of
Sirach.
Job.

MS. of Syriac Bible.
(Univ. Lib. Comb. : dote doubtful.)
Pentateuch. Job.
Jos.Jud.
Samuel 1, 2.
Psalms.Kings 1, 2.
Chronicles 1, 2.
Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes.Canticles.
Wisdom of Solomon.
Isaiah.
Jeremiah. Lamentations. 1st Epistle of Baruch.
2nd Epistle of Baruch.
Epistle of Jeremiah.
Ezekiel. 12 Minor Prophets.
Daniel (with Bel and the Dragon).
Euth.
Susanna. Esther.
Judith. Ezra-Neh.
Ecclesiasticus.Maccabees 1, 2, 3, 4.
1 Esdr.
Tobit.

APOCRYPHA 173
Latin List of a.d. 359— continued.
Isaiah.Jeremiah (? with Baruch).
Daniel (? with Additions).
Ezekiel. (The omission of Esdras may be
only a slip In the carelessly-
written tenth-century MS. The
end is not defective, but followed
by a sentence on the number of
books, and then by tho N.T. list.)
Cod. Amiatlnus (about 700).
Genesis. Chronicles 1, 2.
Psalms. Proverbs.
Ecclesiastes. Canticles. Wisdom.
Ecclesiasticus.
Isaiah.
Jeremiah, Lamentations.
Ezekiel.
Daniel (with Additions).
12 Minor Prophets.
Job. Tobit.
Judith.
Esther (with Additions).
Ezra, Nehemiah.
Maccabees 1, 2.

(J.) To the Age of the Reformation. — In the
interval between the 6th century and the age
of the Reformation, little or no change is to be
observed in the relation of the apocryphal books
to the Canon of Old Testament Scripture.
In the East the opinion of Athanasius acquired
increasing influence, and seems to have been
regarded as little less than authoritative.
Junilius (6th century ?), who by freely trans
lating Paul of Nisibis practically represents
Theodore of Mopsuestia, furnishes testimony of
peculiar interest. After enumerating the books
containing the " Divina historia " (Gen.-Kings),
he says, "Adjungunt plures Paralipomena II.,
Job I. [Tobiae I.], Hesdrae primum (or I.),
Judith I., Hesther I., Macchabeorum II." In
the " proverbialis species" he includes only
Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus. Some, he says,
add Wisdom and Canticles. Ecclesiastes he
places in the Canon among books which simply
teach. (De part. div. leg. lib. i. § 2.)
Leontius of Byzantium (about 590) maintained
the Hebrew Canon, omitting the Book of Esther
(De Sectis Act. ii.).
Anastasius Sinaita (?) divided ecclesiastical
books into three classes — Biblical, Extra Biblical,
and Apocryphal — and reckoned in his second
class Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, four Books of
Maccabees, Esther, Judith, and Tobit,

John of Damascus (f750), paraphrasing Epi
phanius, calls the apocryphal books Wisdom-
Ecclus. " excellent and beautiful, but they are
not numbered (in the Canon), nor were they
laid up in the ark " (ivdperoi ko.1 KaAol «U'
ovk ivapiBpovvrai ovbe iKeiVTO iv T7? KiBoWu.
De Fid. Orth. lib. iv. § 17).
Nicephorus (f828), who maintains the num
ber of twenty-two Canonical Books, admits
Baruch, 1 Esdras (? and Additions to Daniel), and
excludes Esther. He gives the title of " Anti-
legomena " to 3 Books of Maccabees, Wisdom,
Ecclesiasticus, Psalms of Solomon, Esther,
Judith, along with certain Apocalypses of Peter
and John, the Epistle of Barnabas, and Gospel
according to the Hebrews.
Zonaras (1150), commenting on the 85th
Apostolic Canon, mentions that "some " allow to
be read " the Wisdom of Solomon and Judith
and Tobias and the Apocalypse of the @eoA6yos."
Alexius Aristenus (about 1160), dealing with
the subject of the same Canon, includes in his
O. T. three books of Maccabees, and adds, " More
over, besides these (QuBev Se Toirtnv), also the
Wisdoms of the learned Sirach."
In the West, theologians were divided in
opinion. They were perplexed by the opposition
between Augustine and Jerome, the two most
influential . Fathers of the Church. They were

174

APOCRYPHA

unwilling to run counter to the dicta -of
either the one or the other. The claims of
the Hebrew Canon were always well represented
by scholars and divines, who relied on the
learning of Jerome. But the influence of the
Latin Version (in which, in spite of Jerome's well-
known views, ecclesiastical usage had caused
the insertion of the apocryphal books), the
popularity of Augustine's works, and the general
ignorance of Hebrew, combined to procure the
more general assent to the use of the LXX.
Canon, and to the recognition of the apocryphal
books. The following are some of the scholars whose
testimony may be cited in favour of the Hebrew
Canon, to the exclusion of the Apocrypha.1
Gregory the Great (t604), speaking of the
Books of the Maccabees, uses the words " from
books which, although not canonical, were never
theless composed for the edification of the
Church " (" ex libris licet non canonicis sed
tamen ad ecclesiae aedificationem editis," Moral.
in Job xxx., chap. xxix.). With respect to the
Books of Tobit, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, he
quotes them at times as " Scripture " and of
Solomonic authorship ; at other times as the
writings of " wise men."
Notker, of St. Gall (f912), speaks of " (the
Book of) Wisdom as wholly rejected by the
Hebrews and held uncertain among us ; still
because our forefathers were accustomed to read
it for the usefulness of its teaching, while the
Jews have it not, it is called an ecclesiastical
book also among us. It is right, too, that you
should hold the same opinion about the Book of
Jesus the Son of Sirach, except that that is read
and quoted by the Hebrews " (quoted in West-
cott's Bible in the Church, p. 207). He classes
Judith along with Esther and Chronicles as
books whose text had no authority save as a
record to keep alive the reverent recollection of
the past ; and he hints that the Books of the
Ma'ccabees fell under a similar suspicion : "quum
etiam in eis littera non pro auctoritate sed tari-
tum pro memoria et admiratione habeatur . . .
idem de libris Machabaeorum suspicari poteris "
(De Vir. illuStr.).
Hugo de St. Victore (tH41) says: "There
are besides (i.e. not in the Canon) certain other
books — such as the Wisdom of Solomon, the Book
of Jesus the Son of Sirach, and the Book of
Judith and Tobias, and the Books of the Macca
bees — which are indeed read, but are not written
in the Canon ; " i.e. read in the Churches, but are
not strictly Canonical Scripture ("qui leguntur
quidem sed non scribuntur in Canone," De Scrip-
turis et Scriptoribus sacris, c. 6). Cp. u. 12,
"leguntur tamen et ad Vetus Testamentum
pertinent, sed non sunt confirmati in Canone."
Peter of Clugny (fll46) says: "After thesd
authentic Books there remain six Books (Wisdom,
Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Job, 1 and 2 Maccabees)
which must not be- passed over in silence ; for
although they could not attain the lofty dignity
of those mentioned above, they have neverthe
less deservedly been received by the Church on
account of their admirable and most indispens-
1 For a full list of passages from representative
Scholars of the Middle Ages, the reader should refer to
Hody's great work, De Textibus. &c, and Westcott's
Bible in the Church.

APOCRYPHA
' able teaching " (Ep. contr. Petrol, ed. Migne'
p. 751).
John of Salisbury (tll72), after recording
the Hebrew Canon of twenty-two Books, adds :
"Now the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus,
Judjth, Tobias, and ' the Shepherd ' (Hermas) are
not reckoned in the Canon ; nor again is the
Book of the Maccabees, which is divided into
two volumes " (Ep. 172).
Hugo de Santo Caro (fl260), after detailing
the three divisions of Law, Prophets, and Hagio
grapha, adds : " Still there remain the Apo
crypha — Jesus, Wisdom, and Shepherd, the Books
of Maccabees, and Judith, and also Tobias. These.
because they are doubtful, are nqt to be held of
the Canon ; but because their song is true, the
Church receives them " (" hi quia sunt dubii sub
Canone non numerantnr, sed quia vera canunt
Ecclesia suscipit illos," Prol. Jos.).
Thomas Aquinas (f 1274) speaks rather hesi
tatingly of the Book of Wisdom : " from which
it is clear that the Book of Wisdom is not yet
reckoned among the canonical Scriptures." He
also raises the question as to the Book of
Ecclesiasticus, "because it is not reckoned by
the Jews among canonical Scriptures " (In
Dionys. de div. Nom. c. 4, lect. 9).
Nicolaus de Lyra (tl340) condemns the canon-
icity of Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch,
and the Additions to Daniel and Esther (Praef.
in Tob.).
John Wycliffe's (fl384) Preface to his Trans
lation says, " Whatever book in ye elde Testa
ment ys out of yes xxv. byfore sayd, shall be sette
among apocrifa, that ys withoute autorite bf by-
leue ; " mentioning Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit
and Judith and Maccabees, along with Jerome's
words in his Prologus Galealus.
Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence (fl459), in
one passage uses the words : " They (the Jews)
make twenty-two authentic Books. The fourth
part they call Apocrypha, to wit, the Book of Wis
dom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, and 1 and 2 Maccab&s.
The Holy Church, however, also receives them as
true . . . aud reveres them as useful and moral-
works, although for controversy upon the things1
which belong to the faith not conclusive in'
proof" (Chron. Pont. 1, tit. 3, cap. 9, § 12). In
another passage, after quoting Jerome upon the
subject, he adds, " And the same thing is said
also by Thomas (ii. 2) and by Nicolaus de Lyra
concerning Tobias ; namely, that they are not of
such authority that an effectual argument could
be drawn from them in the matters which
concern the faith, as could be drawn from the
other Books of Holy Scripture. Hence they
have perhaps the like authority to the sayings.
of the holy doctors approved by the Church:"
On the other hand, the great mass of testi
mony is found to support the LXX. Canon,
which had been upheld by Augustine and con
firmed by the Council of Carthage (393).'
Throughout the whole of this long period, the
ignorance of the real question can hardly -be
overstated. Even men with the highest claims
to learning contributed little but the reitera
tion of former views. Attempts at combining
the Hieronymian and Augustinian positions were'
constantly, made. At one time, though the ca-
nonicity of -the Apocrypha is denied, its Books
are declared to be received by the Church-: at
another, though the Apocrypha is regarded as

APOCRYPHA
Canonical Scripture, it occupies a lower level
of canonicity than tho Books of the Hebrew
Canon. It was recognised by the few supporters
of the Hebrew Canon that the apocryphal
Books were useful for edification, although
without authority for purposes of controversy.
On the other side, an interpolation of "Agio-
grapha" for " Apocrypha" in Jerome's Prefaces
to Judith and Tobit (still to be found in the
margin of the text) helped to modify Jerome's
unfavourable estimate of the Apocrypha. The
question was really removed from the sphere of
argument by the influence of the Latin Vulgate,
in which it was customary to include the apo
cryphal Books. According to the MSS. there
seems to have been little uniformity in their
order of arrangement. In some copies they
appear as an appendix to the 0. T. Scripture.
In others they are interspersed amongst the
other Books. When Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus
were, as was very generally the case, placed
after the Book of Ecclesiastes, Tobit and Judith
next to Esther or Job, the Book of Baruch
after the prophet Jeremiah, the two Books of
the Maccabees after the Minor Prophets, only
the learned few could distinguish between the
acknowledged and the disputed books of the
0. T. Canon ; and even when the Apocrypha
was added as an appendix to the 0. T., there
was usually no indication given of any distinc
tion in value or authority.
(c.) The Reformation.— The age ofthe Renais
sance, with the revival of Greek and Hebrew
learning, introduced a healthier phase of biblical
study. The position of the Apocrypha with
respect to the Canon of Scripture was very early
brought under discussion.
Roman Catholic divines and men of the New
Learning alike treated the subject with courage
and independence. Cardinal Ximenes (1517) in
his edition of the Complutensian Polyglott keeps
the Apocrypha separate from the other Books,
and speaks of them as Books outside the Canon
of Scripture, received by the Church for edifi
cation, not for authority in matters of doctrine
(Prolog: iii. 6). Cardinal Cajetan (Thomas del
Vi6, 1532), defending his exclusion of the Apo
crypha from his Commentary on the Scriptures,
uses the remarkable words : " Nor be ye disturbed
by the strangeness of the thing, if ye find any
where those Books (i.e. Judith, Tobit, Maccabees,
Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus) reckoned among
the canonical writings either in the holy coun
cils or in the works of holy doctors. For the
words of councils and doctors alike must be
brought back to Jerome's file," i.e. criticised
upon Jerome's principles (ad fin. Comm. in Esther).
Again in another place (Comm. in Ep. ad Hebr.
cap. 1) he says, "In order not to err in our
discrimination of Canonical Books, we follow
the rule of St. Jerome. What he handed down
as canonical we accept as canonical ; wThat he
separated from the canonical we hold outside
the Church" (quoted by Salmon, Gen. Introd.
to Apoc, Speaker's Comm.).
Erasmus censures the prevalent ecclesiastical
usage with respect to the apocryphal books. In
the year 1516 we find him saying in his Scholia
in Hieron. Prol. in Esdram : " Strange, when
Jerome reckons the 3rd and 4th Books of
Esdras among the Apocrypha, and terms what
is written in them dreams, how it should have

APOCRYPHA

175

come to pass that the same Books are now read
by us and no question asked " (" citra discrinien
ullum," Schol. ad Prol. in Tob.). " Although
this Book (Susanna) has no place among the
Jews, aud on the authority of Jerome is reckoned
among the Agiographa (sic), it has nevertheless
been received by us among the principal Books "
(Schol. in Prol. in Dan. de Hist. Susanne).
" Strange that what Jerome transfixes with his
' spit ' (i.e. ' obelisk,' as uncanonical) is now
generally read and sung in theChurches us fact
of the first importance. . . . Verily we read
without exercising discrimination (' nullo delectu
legimus ') Bel and the Dragon, which Jerome did
not shrink from pronouncing a fable," In 1525
he says : " It is not yet agreed in what spirit the
Church now holds in public use Books which
the ancients with great consent reckoned among
the Apocrypha. Whatever the authority of the
Church has approved I embrace simply as a
Christian man ought to do ... . Yet it is of
great moment to know in what spirit the
Church approves anything. For allowing that
it assigns equal authority to the Hebrew Canon
and the Four Gospels, it assuredly does not wish
Judith, Tobit, and Wisdom to have the same
weight as the Pentateuch " (cited in Westcott's
Bible in the Church, p. 252). He speaks more
cautiously at a later date (1533) in his Explan.
Symbol. Cat. 4: "But now there have been
admitted into ecclesiastical usage both the Book
of Wisdom and the Book of Ecclesiasticus ; there
have been admitted also the Books of Tobias and
of Judith and of Esther, and the two Books of
the Maccabees. There have been admitted also
the two histories which are attached to the
Book of Daniel, the one concerning Susanna, the
other concerning Bel and the Dragon. But
whether the Church has received these Books
upon the same authority as she has the others,
the spirit of the Church knoweth."
The Reformed Churches. — The leading Re
formers shared the opinions of Erasmus, ahd
excluded the Apocrypha from the Canon of
the Old Testament. Their fundamental posi
tion was the rejection of human authority, and
the assertion that the authority of Scripture
was derived from God alone. They rejected
the Apocrypha from their Canon of Scripture on
the ground that it was not included in the
Hebrew Canon, and that the contents of the
Hebrew Canon alone had been divinely ratified
by our Lord and the inspired Apostles. Proof
of this last assertion was forthcoming from the
quotations of the New Testament. The mis
take has sometimes been made of supposing.
that the Reformers' position was rendered logic
ally untenable by the analogous absence of
reference in the New Testament to certain books
included in the Hebrew Canon. But the question
turned upon the Apostolic appeal, not to indi
vidual books, but to groups of books. The fact^
too, that no " Apocryphal " book is directly
cited in the New Testament is unanswerable.
Luther assigned to the Apocrypha the posi
tion of an appendix to the Old Testament of
his translation (1534). In his free criticisms
upon Scripture, he expressed high approbation
of the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus ; he
considered the Prayer of Manasses as useful for.
purposes of penitential devotion ; he severely
censured the Books of Baruch and 2 Maccabees,

176

APOCRYPHA

and omitted altogether 1 and 2 Esdras in his
translation, on the ground that they contained
" nothing that could not be better found in
Esop, or yet more trivial books." He said also
that 2 Esdras consisted of " mere dreams."
The general view of the earlier Reformers
was expressed in the inscription of the old
Zurich Bibles (1529)— " These are the Books
which with the men of old time were not counted
among biblical writings, and moreover are not
found among the Hebrews."
The early Genevan Bibles asserted that " the
books called the Apocrypha were at all times
distinguished from those which without diffi
culty were regarded as Scripture," and com
pared the former to " escritures privies et non
pas authentiques comme sont les instrumentz
publiques." The authoritative edition of 1588
defines the position of the Apocrypha thus : —
"These books are not divinely inspired like the
rest of the Holy Scripture, and being of private
composition, they ought not to be received nor
produced publicly in the Church, so as to serve,
as a rule, for the articles of our faith. At the
same time we may use them privately to draw
instruction from them, as much because of several
fine examples set forth in them, as because of
notable passages which they contain."
In England the translations of the Bible will
best illustrate the position assigned to the
Apocrypha. Tyndale did not live to com
plete his translation of the Old Testament ;
but his rendering of certain apocryphal lessons
was executed with as much care and skill
as that of the Canonical Books (see West-
cott's Hist, of Eng. Bible). Coverdale's Bible
(printed at Zurich, 1535) appeals in the titlepage
of the Apocrypha, which forms a separate collec
tion at the close of the 0. T., to the authority of
the Fathers and ofthe Hebrew Canon : "Apocrifa.
The bokes and treatises, which amonge the
Fathers of olde are not rekened to be of like autho-
rite with the other bokes of the Byble, neither
are the foude in the Canon of the Hebrew."
The Prefaces to Coverdale's Bible, Matthew's
Bible (1537), and the Great' Bible (1539),
reproduce the opinions of the chief Reformers
with moderation and clearness.
It is important to remember that, although
the Reformed position showed a diminished
reverence for the Apocrypha, there was no
departure from ecclesiastical usage. The Re
formers strongly expressed their sense of the
inferiority of the books of the Apocrypha as
compared with the Canonical Books of the Old
¦and New Testaments. But they included the
Apocrypha in the Bibles which they placed in
the hands of the people. The Apocrypha stood
between the Old and New Testaments. It was
printed in the same type. Its value was thus
admitted and its historical position recognised,
although its canouicity was rejected.
In the Revision in 1553 ofthe Articles of Reli-

The third edition of the Great Bible (Tunstall and
Heath s, Nov. 1540) omits the Preface to the Apocrypha,
and there is no hint given that it is inferior in autho
rity to the books of the Hebrew Canon. The later
editions of the Great Bible generally have the word
Hagiographa ' in the place of "Apocrypha." Taver-
lor'a tronnln+;„„  _•_ . < . — ._ ' c >. — i %-»

At the Synod of Dort (1618) a determined effort
was made by Gomarus and certain others to procure
the removal from the Bible of Esdras, Tobit, Judith,
¦  ,¦<-,  , •->  ,  - T;n„r. Sco^?ulbeR«Tn«(Se^l0n X°- T1,e eff°rt ™™"
ner's translation, revised bv Becke f T ri«v i «i? I*L !x Ut the S^oA ^pressed itself to the effect
fnr «,. (w «'«._ -Jr,, y. e??f lJ\Day' 1651». adds that a very careful di«Hn,.M™ .i,™m ».  *. <- .i,„

APOCRYPHA
gion of the Church of England, Article VI,
(formerly V.), which contained a definition of
Holy Scripture, adds : " As for. the other
bookes (as Jerome saith) the Church doth reade
them for example, and for good instruction of
lyvyng, but yet doth it not apply them to es
tablish any doctrine. Such are these following.
3 and 4 of Esdras. Judith. The booke of
Wisdome. Tobias. Jesus the sonne of Syrach.
Machabies 2 " (English edition of 1563 = Latin
MS. 1562). The revision of the same clause in
1571 added certain other books, and runs as
follows : — " And the other bookes (as hierom
saith) the Chjrch doth read for example of Lief
and instruction of manners ; But yet doth it
not apply them to establyshe any doctrine.
Such are these folowyng. The third book of
Esdras. The booke of Wisdome. Of Bel and the
Dragon. The forth book of Esdras, Jesus the
Sonn of Sirack. The Praier of Manasses. The
book of Tobias. Baruch, " the Prophet " added.
Jewel, 1571. The first book of Machabies.
The book of Judith. The song of the 3 Children.
The second book of Machabies. The rest of the
book of Hesf. The Storie of Susanna." (MS.
of Convocation, 1571).
The decision of Article VI. was final as regards
the Canon of the 0. T. in the English Church.
In the Authorized Version of 1611 it was un
necessary to append any further explanatory
note as to the collection of apocryphal Books.
Selections from the Apocrypha were admitted
into the Book of Common Prayer, e.g. the
Benedicite or the Song of the Three Children,
two verses from Tobit iv. in the offertory sen
tences, the Daily Lessons from September 27
(morning) to November 23 (evening), when the
Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus,
Baruch, History of Susanna, and Bel and the
Dragon were ordained to be read in church ; to
which were added selections from the Apocrypha
as Proper Lessons for the following Saints' Days :
Innocents' Day, the Purification of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, St. Matthias, Annunciation of
our Lady, St. Barnabas, St. Peter, St. James, St.
Bartholomew, St. Matthew, St. Luke, and All
Saints' Day. The reference to the story of Tobit
in the Benediction of the Marriage Service
appeared in the Prayer Book of 1549, but not
in later editions.
The defence of the treatment of the Apocrypha
by the Reformed English Church is to be found
in Book v. chap. 20 of Hooker's Ecclesiastical
Pohty. Hooker there vindicates the usage- of
the English Church against the great Eliza
bethan Puritan, Thomas Cartwright, who took
exception to the reading in church of either
Homilies or the Apocryphal Books. On three
subsequent occasions— 'i.e. the Hampton Court
Conference, 1603, the Savoy Conference, 1661,
and in 1688 — the Puritan objections were re
newed (see Cardwell's Conferences: Hampton
Court, chap. iv. pp. 193, 194 . gavoy Conf. vii.
pp. 274, 307; Reply, p. 341 [1688]; x.p.430).1

for the first time the 3rd Book of Maccabees.'

very careful distinction should be made in the
printed Bibles between Canonical and apocryphal Books,

APOCRYPHA
The substance of these objections is incorporated
in the measured language of the Westminster
Confession (1647), c. 1, § 3 : " The Books com
monly called Apocrypha, not being of Divine
inspiration, are no part of the Canon of the
Scripture ; and therefore are of no authority in
the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise
approved or made use of than other human
writings." The attempts in the 17th cent, to
change the attitude of the English Church in
respect of the public use of the Apocrypha
failed. These attempts were clearly prompted
and justified by a sincere regard for the highest
edification of the people in Divine worship. It
was honestly felt that the reading of chapters
from what was not Holy Scripture tended to
confuse human and Divine authority in the
minds of the congregations. Unhappily the
objections were not always very wisely or tem
perately stated, nor always listened to in a con
ciliatory spirit. By the Church it was held that
so long as passages from the Apocrypha could
honestly be read for example of life and instruc
tion in manners, their retention in the kalendar
was in accordance with the spirit of the Articles.
It should, however, be remarked that Laud's
Scottish Prayer Book (1637) so far recognised
the existence of a legitimate grievance as to reduce
the public use of the Apocrypha to six lessons for
Saints' days, taken from Wisdom and Ecclesias
ticus (see Procter, History of the Book of Common
Prayer, p. 220 n.). The present century has seen
the removal of the chief cause of offence. Recent
concessions have been prompted by considerations
of taste and public expediency. The compilers
of the Revised Lectionary of 1867 recognised
the manifest unsuitableness of many of the old
apocryphal lessons for public reading. They
retained only selected passages from the Books
of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, and Baruch, for the
Daily Lessons which are read from October 27
(evening) to November 17 (evening), and the
old Proper Lessons for the festivals above
mentioned. The American Church has restricted the
lessons from the Apocrypha to a few Holy
Days ; the Irish Church has struck out all
apocryphal lessons from her Lectionary.
The Roman Church. — The attitude of the
Reformed Churches towards the Apocrypha in
the 16th and 17th centuries was in a great
measure due to the action of the Roman Church.
The 4th Session of the Council of Trent (held
April 8, 1546), when only fifty-three members
were present, declared by a small majority that
all the Books contained in the Latin Vulgate
were canonical Scripture. In the enumeration
of the Books of the Old Testament, Nehemiah is
followed by Tobit and Judith; Canticles by
Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus ; Jeremiah by Baruch ;
Malachi by 1 and 2 Maccabees. Hei e it should
be noted (1) that the Books of the Vulgate in
clude under Daniel and Esther the apocryphal
additions to those two Books ; (2) that no sort of

APOCR YrHA

177

by means of intermediate spaces, by explanatory titles,
and by smaller type ; and that notes of warning and
explanation should be appended, wherever the Apo
crypha contained errors of fact or doctrine. The Belgian
section of the Synod decreed that the Apocrypha should
be relegated to the last pages of the Bible, i.e. at the
close of the New Testament.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

distinction is drawn between the Apocrypha and
the other writings of the Vulgate; (3) that
1 and 2 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasses, and
3 Maccabees are not included in the Tridentine
Canon. In accordance with the Tridentine decree, the
official edition of the Vulgate (1592) contains,
after Nehemiah, the Books of Tobit and Judith ;
after Esther, the apocryphal additions ; after-
Canticles, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus ; after-
Jeremiah and Lamentations, the Book of Baruch
and the Epistle of Jeremy ; after Daniel, the
apocryphal additions ; after the Minor Prophets,
1 and 2 Maccabees ; and, as an appendix to the
whole Bible, after the New Testament, the
Prayer of Manasses and 1 and 2 Esdras, with
an explanatory note to tho effect that they
were placed there apart (in order to prevent
their total loss) inasmuch as they were fre
quently found in MSS. and in printed copies of
the Bible.
The controversy arising from the Tridentine
decree, between Rome and the Reformed
Churches, was maintained by Cardinal Bellar-
mine on the one side, by Rainolds aud by Whit
aker on the other. The Reformed Churches
denied the right of the Church of Rome to add
new Articles of faith or to authoritatively de
clare books canonical whose canonicity had
always been opposed by learned Fathers of the
Church, and had never been acknowledged by
any of the Six Oecumenical Councils.
The Church of Rome claimed (1) that the-
Council was within its right when it declared
the Apocrypha canonical ; (2) that the gradual
development of the N. T. Canon was a sufficient
justification for the tardy recognition of the
canonicity of the apocryphal Books ; (3) that
the indiscreet language of the Reformers made
it necessary to affirm more stringently the gene
ral tradition ofthe Church.
The term " Deutero-Canonical," having been
applied to the apocryphal books, proved to be
convenient, on account of its ambiguity ; for
it implied canonicity of either later date or
of less authority than the Books of the Hebrew
Canon. No hint is given in the Tridentine
decree or in recent authoritative utterances
that the Deutero-Canonical Books are of inferior
authority. This has, nevertheless, been asserted
by some lloman Catholic divines, e.g. Bern.
Lamy, Apparat. bibl. ii. c. 5, p. 333, ed. Lugdun.,
1723 : " Accordingly the Books which are in the
second Canon, although united with the others
of the first Canon, are nevertheless not of the
same authority." Cp. Bellarmin. de Verb. Dei, i.
4, 10, 11; Jahn, Einleit i. 119, 132, 140-143.
It is more generally maintained by Roman
Catholic theologians that the Deutero-Canonical
Books, which once were unequal, have become,
since the Council of Trent, equal in authority
to the Proto-Canonical Books. This is shown by
the words of Anton, a Matre Dei, Praelud. isag.
Mogunt. 1670 (p. 55): "Although these books
(i.e. the proto-canonical and deutero-canonical)
are now equally to be believed, yet their autho
rity was not always the same." Dens' 'Tlieo-
logia (Mechlin, 1809, vol. ii. de Virtute Fid. ;
No. 61, de Divis. Script. Sacr.), after mention
ing that the Canon of the O. T. was twofold,
Jewish and Christian, goes on to say that " the
sacred Books, received as such by the Churcli,
N

178 APOCRYPHA
are, some of them, called Proto-Canonical, others
Deutero-Canonical, The latter are those Books
which have recently been admitted into the
Canon of sacred books, but about which it was
disputed in old time, whether or no they were
Holy Scripture." This class consisted of the
O. T. Apocrypha and the N. T. Antilegomena.
The writer does not admit that the deutero-
canonical books are subordinate in authority to
the proto-canonical.
The decision of the Council of Trent is de
fended by Vincenzi (Sessio Quarta Cone Trid.
Vindicata, Rom. 1842) as the opportune and
necessary development of the Church's teaching
(see Wordsworth " On Inspiration," Appendix) :
" For the Church in the earliest ages deferred
the solution of this problem, and did not con
sider it opportune ; . . . although the Church
was fully persuaded thereon and held firmly the
truth and divinity of the Deutero-Canonical
Scriptures. . . . But when she ' perceived her
opportunity for maintaining their divine in
spiration and for confronting Luther and Calvin
and their comrades, who openly denied that
the Divine breath was in them '(and at the
present day they use every effort to oppose the
idea), the Church gave her judgment against
these same men ; and resting upon a continuous
and constant tradition, she declared in a public
and general decree the authority of the Deutero-
Canonical Scriptures (Deuterarum Scriptu
rarum), and that their authors wrote by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
The Vatican Council, 1870, recognised no
distinction between Proto-Canonical and Deutero-
Canonical writings, and merely re-affirmed the
Tridentine decree and the authority of the
Vulgate : " And these Books of the Old and
New Testament are to be received as sacred and
canonical, in their integrity, with all their parts
as they are enumerated in the decree of the
said Council, and are contained in the ancient
Latin edition of the Vulgate " (cap. ii.).
Kaulen (Einleitung in d. heil. Schrift. 1884)
explains the "Deutero-Canonical" to be the Books
which belonged to a different Canon from the
Jewish, the contents of the Jewish being only
called " Proto-Canonical " from a misunderstand
ing (p. 21). "The Church therefore has only
expressed the invariable tradition when in her
official utterances she makes no difference be
tween Deutero-Canonical and Proto-Canonical
Books, and in her teaching upon the Canon ex
pressly reckons the former in the number of the
inspired writings " (p. 24).
The Eastern Church. — In the Eastern Church
the question of the 0. T. Canon and the true
position of the apocryphal books was revived in
the 17th century. At first, under the iufluence
probably of persons favourable to the Reforma
tion movement of Western Europe, it was de
clared that the apocryphal books, though not
rejected from use, were not to be accounted
canonical. Thus Metrophanes Critopulus : "But
the remaining books, which some desire to in
clude in Holy Scripture, as the Book of Tobit,
of Judith, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom
of Jesus the son of Siri, Baruch, and the Books
of the Maccabees, we do not indeed consider to
be rejected, but as canonical the Church of
Christ never received them (biroBA-nTovs pev
ovx vyoipeBa . . . us KavoviKas be... oJSeW

APOCRYPHA
aweSe^aro t) tov XokttoS iKKA-ntria). Cyril
Lucar, Patriarch successively of Alexandria and
Constantinople, published his "Orientalium Pro-
fessio" (in Latin in 1629, in Greek in 1633),
which illustrates the well-known sympathy of
the writer with the Western Reformers. Ofthe'
apocryphal books he says : " But the writings
which we call ' apocryphal ' have not the ratifi
cation from the all-holy Spirit in the manner of
the genuinely and indubitably Canonical Books."
This " Profession," however, was too Reforming
in tone. It was opposed by Synods at Con
stantinople (1638) and at Jaffa (1642); and
was reversed by the Council at Jerusalem (1672)
held under the presidency of Dositheus. Dosi
theus' own Confession went to the opposite ex
treme. It was directed against the Reformers;
it adopted the teaching of the Tridentine decree,
and declared the apocryphal Books to be canoni
cal. In answer to question iii., " Which Books
do you call by the name of Holy Scripture?"
Dositheus' Confession begins, "Following the
rule of the Catholic Church, we call by the name
of Holy Scripture all those writings which Cyril
(Lucar) borrowing from the Council of Laodicea
enumerates, and in addition to them the books
which he in stupidity and ignorance, or even in
intentional malice, designated ' apocryphal ; ' to
wit, the Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, Tobit, the
Story of the Dragon, the Story of Susanna, the
Maccabees, and the Wisdom of Sirach. For we
judge these to be genuine parts of Scripture
along with the other genuine Books of Scripture.
. . . But if they do not all of them seem to be-
universally reckoned (among the Books of Scrip
ture), they are, however, none the less reckoned
and classed with the whole body of Scripture by
Synods aud many theologians, and they the most
ancient and approved theologians of the Catholic
Church ; all of which Books we ourselves judge
to be Canonical, and we confess them to be the
Holy Scripture." Dositheus' appeal to "Synods"
and "the most ancient and approved divines"
was indefinite enough. But so great was his
influence that his " Confession " was regarded as
authoritative in the Greek Church until the
beginning of the present century. Philaret's
Longer Catechism of the Orthodox Catholic
Eastern Church, published at Moscow, 1839, is
reputed the chief standard of doctrine in the
Russian Church, and represents by the two
following questions and answers a complete
change of opinion from the Confession of Dosi
theus : Q. " Why is there no notice taken in
this enumeration (j'.e. by Cyril and Athanasius)
of the (22) Books of the 0. T., of the Book of the
Wisdom of the Son of Sirach, and of certain
others ? " — Ans. " Because they do not exist in
the Hebrew." Q. "How are we to regard these-
last-named Books ? " — Ans. " Athanasius the
Great says that they have been appointed of the
Fathers to be read by proselytes, who are pre
paring for admission into the Church " (i.e.
2 Mace. xii. 43, in support of prayers for the
dead), although quotations from the Fathers
are comparatively numerous. From the Cate
chism of Philaret it would appear that the
Greek Church regards the Apocrypha in the
same light as does the English Church. It ex
cludes the Apocrypha from the Canon on the
ground that it formed no part of the Hebrew
Canon, and appeals in support of this view to the

APOCRYPHA
authority of Athanasius, in the same way as the
English Church makes her appeal to the autho
rity of Jerome.
The Bible of the Greek Church of Russia (St,
Petersburg, 1876) contains, besides the Books
of the Hebrew Canon, the Prayer of Manasses
at the close of 2 Chronicles, the LXX. 1 Esdras
at the close of Nehemiah, followed by Tobit and
Judith ; after Canticles, the Books of Wisdom
and Ecclesiasticus ; after Lamentations, the
Epistle of Jeremy and Baruch ; after Malachi,
three Books of the Maccabees and 4 Esdras.
The Old Catholic Union at Bonn in 1874
showed the degree of agreement existing at the
present time between Old Catholics, Greeks, and
Anglo-Catholics upon the subject of the Apo
crypha. The first of the fourteen Theses agreed
upon at the Conference contains the following
statement : — " We agree that the apocryphal or
Deutero-Canonical books of the Old Testament
are not of the same canonicity as the Books
contained in the Hebrew Canon."
The preceding sketch of the history of the
apocryphal books, in their relation to the O. T.
Canon, reveals the unsatisfactory character of
the patristic and mediaeval testimony; In their
references to apocryphal books, the Fathers and
mediaeval divines make use of important words
(e.g. " Scripture," " Canon ") in a vague, loose,
and often inconsistent manner. They had little
appreciation of the issue, and made no attempt
at careful definition. They had no principles of
historical criticism to guide them. No amount
of inferiority in style or subject-matter could,
from their point of view, outweigh ecclesiastical
usage and precedent. Criticism was powerless
when the allegorical system of interpretation
could exalt the Additions to Daniel to an
equal degree of spiritual significance with the
Psalter or the Pentateuch. The minds of all
were prejudiced by the universal use of the
LXX. and Vulgate Versions or by a belief in
the fiction of Aristeas. Even the few who, like
Melito, Origen, and Jerome, followed the Hebrew
Canon and originated the tradition in its favour,
were in no sense of the word Hebrew scholars ;
they derived their information at second hand.
They imagined that the appeal to the Hebrew
Canon closed the door to further investigation.
In reality it was but pushed a step farther back.
The vital question remained to be asked,
whether the Christian Church received the Old
Testament Scriptures (1) on the ground of their
definite citation by our Lord and His Apostles,
or (2) on the ground of their recognition by
the Fathers of the early Church, or (3) on the
ground that the Hebrew Scriptures were accepted
en bloc by the Christian Church because they
were the recognised Canon of the Jewish
Church ?
According to (1), the books of the Hagiographa
not quoted in the N. T. would have less claim to
canonical recognition than the other Books of the
0. T. ; their place would belong more strictly
to the collection of deutero-canonical Books.
According to (2), the books of the Apocrypha
cited by the Fathers of the first three cen
turies (especially Wisd., Ecclus., Bar., 1 Mace.)
would have a stronger claim to canonical recog
nition than many of the books of the Hagio-

APOCRYPHA

179

grapha. Again, according to (1), a smaller
0. T. would be selected from the Hebrew Cauon.
According to (2), the Hebrew Canon would be
amplified by books whose position in the 0. T.
justified by no authority but Alexandrian usage
would be derived from the quite inadequate cause
of temporary popularity among the members
of a l«cal Christian community.
According to (3) alone are we enabled to
take a consistent position with regard to both
the 0. T. and the Apocrypha. The Hebrew
Canon is the authoritative Scripture of the
Judaism which prepared the way for the New
Covenant, the record of the continuous Revela
tion made through the chosen people, the Canon
of the Jewish Church acknowledged by our
Lord and His Apostles. The apocryphal books
illustrate, they do not add to its message. They
testify to the close of the Old and to the need
of the New Dispensation.
In the present day, the relation of the Apo
crypha to the 0. T. Canon is popularly judged,
not by appeal to authority but by the character
of the writings themselves. It is the same
standard as was used by the Jews of old. The
Jewish legend, that the tongue of prophecy was
dumb after the days of Malachi, and that
thenceforward Divine Revelation was no longer
vouchsafed to the people of Israel (cf. 1 Mace.
iv. 46 ; ix. 27 ; xiv. 41), poetically represents
the result of comparison between the Books of
the Hebrew Canon and the books of the Apo
crypha. Nor could stronger confirmation be
required for the Hebrew Canon, for the Athana
sian view in the Eastern Church, for the
Hieronymian view in the Western Church, for
the decision of the Reformed Churches, than is
afforded by an investigation of the books them
selves, of their character and style, and of
their place in the literature of the Jewish
nation. " They prove by contrast that the Books
of the Hebrew Canon, as a whole, are generically
distinct from the ordinary religious literature
of the Jews, and establish more clearly than
anything the absolute originality of the Gospel."
(Westcott, Bible in the Church, p. 291.)
III. Classification and Description of the
apocryphal books. — The books of the Apocrypha
have been preserved to us mainly on account of
their incorporation with the Septuagint Version,
as together making up the Greek Old Testament.
Their history is for the most part buried in ob
scurity. With one exception (Ecclesiasticus) the
names of the writers are unknown. The con
tents of the books and the style of the writing
afford generally the only clue to the determina
tion of their date, of their country, and of the
circumstances under which they were com
posed. It is however clear, both from this
internal evidence and from the quotations made
from them in Jewish and early Christian litera
ture, that they belong, roughly speaking, to
the interval of three hundred and fifty years
between 200 B.C. and 150 a.d. It is customary
to describe the literary activity of the Jews, of
which these apocryphal writings are the chief
surviving specimens, as partly Palestinian, but
mainly Egyptian, in character. In both types
the influence of Greek life and thought makes
itself very distinctly felt, though most promi
nently in the Egyptian. The Palestinian books
reflect the Jewish reverence for the past and the
N 2

180

APOCRYPHA

revived hope of national independence. In the
Egyptian books, the desire to assimilate Mosaism
with Greek Philosophy appears side by side with
the assertion of Jewish Monotheism.
So vague and indefinite, however, is our infor
mation, so much room is left for speculation
and conjecture, that no classification of the
books according to date or place of composition
can be safely relied upon. A chronological classi
fication is unsatisfactory, since accurate data
are forthcoming only in the case of Eccle
siasticus ; and, if we may approximately de
termine the age of 1 Maccabees, Wisdom, and
2 Esdras, we are wholly dependent upon con
jecture in the case of the other books. A
geographical classification is hardly less un
satisfactory. The Babylonian origin of Baruch
and the Persian origin of Tobit have at different
times been maintained, but on insufficient
grounds ; and, although in some cases the
Palestinian origin of a book (e.g. 1 Maccabees),
and in others the Egyptian (e.g. of Wisdom), is
indisputable, it frequently seems impossible to
distinguish under what local or national in
fluences other writings were composed, e.g.
Additions to Daniel and Esther, Baruch (pt. ii.),
2 Esdras. (For the place and date of their
composition, see the Articles upon the separate
Books.) The subject-matter of the books furnishes, on
the whole, the most convenient means of classi
fying the Apocrypha. The only objection that
can be raised against this method has arisen
from the uncertainty which has been felt as
to the true character of certain books, e.g.
Judith, Tobit, and Susanna. At the present
day, however, their unhistorical character is
generally recognised by scholars. It is only
in the quarter where their inspiration and
canonicity are maintained, that the attempt is
also made to insist upon their literal veracity
(see the position of the Roman Church mode
rately and ably represented in Kauleu's Ein-
leitung). According to the classification by
subject-matter, the books may be divided into,
(a) historical, (b) prophetical, (c) didactic
writings. (a) The historical books comprise : (1) the
genuine history of 1 Maccabees ; (2) the semi-
legendary history of 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, and
the Additions to Esther ; (3) the fabulous narra
tives contained in the Additions to Daniel and
3 Maccabees. (b) Under the head of prophetical books may
be classed the writings which seek to reproduce
varieties of ancient Israelite literature : i.e.
(1) prophetical, the Book of Baruch (parts i.
and ii.), the Epistle of Jeremy; (2) poetical,
the Prayer of Manasses, the Song of the Three
Children, and the 151st Psalm ; (3) Apoca
lyptic, 2 Esdras.
(c) The didactic books fall into two minor
groups, of which one consists of the strictly
sapiential or gnomic books, Ecclesiasticus, Wis
dom, and 4 Maccabees ; the other of the two
didactic romances, Judith and Tobit.
According to this classification, it will be seen
that the First Book of Maccabees alone supplies
us with exceptionally trustworthy information.
It is singularly free from attempts to exaggerate
facts or to obtrude the marvellous. The par
tisanship of the author for the Asmonean house

APOCRYPHA
is undisguised (e.g. v. 62 ; x. 17, 20 ; xi. 39, 47 •.
xii.; xiv. 16-20 ; xv. 15-24). This will account
for exaggerations in the number of the slain in
certain passages ; and very possibly we must
attribute either to this cause or to the licence
permitted by custom to ancient historians, the
so-called treaties with Rome (ch. viii.) and with
Sparta (ch. xii.), and such letters as those of
kings Alexander and Demetrius (ch. x.), Arius
(ch. xii.), and Antiochus (ch. xv.). But the
fabrication of some of these documents may
reasonably be supposed to rest upon a sub
stratum of fact. And the same may be
said of the suspicious account of Antiochus
Epiphanes' repentance recorded in ch. vi. la
the main, however, facts and dates are found to
be corroborated by other testimony ; and Jose
phus, who knows no other source of information
for this period, appears to have been fully justi
fied in the confidence which he reposed in the
-Book. Its excellence in chronology deserves
particular mention. Its constant reference of
facts to a particular foreign era (the Seleucid,
i.e. 312 B.C.) adds greatly to the historical
importance of the record, and marks a distinct
advance upon the custom of earlier Jewish
writers (e.g. i. 10, 54 ; ii. 70 ; iv. 52 ; vi. 16, 20;
vii. 1 ; ix. 3 ; a. 1 ; xi. 19 ; xiii. 42 ; xiv. 1, 27 ;
xv. 10 ; xvi. 14). It is clear from xiii. 42,
that in the Maccabean era the nation was still
accustomed to reckon chronology by the high-
priesthood ; while xiv. 27 indicates how the
new secular era was beginning to emerge.
The Second Book of Maccabees is quite
independent of the First Book, and is much
inferior to it in historical merit. It is most
improbable that the two letters prefixed to the
Book (i.-ii. 18) are genuine. The rest of the
work professes to be an epitome of five books
written by one Jason of Cyrene, which sketches
the chief events in Jewish history between
175 B.C. and 161 B.C. It is * valuable contri
bution to the history of this short period ; but
its credibility is marred by a large infusion
of the legendary element (iii. 2; x. 29, 30;
xi. 6, 8 ; xiv. 45, 46 ; xv. 11-16) ; by the
wildest exaggerations of numbers (y. 14 ; viii.
24, 30; a. 17, 20, 31 ; xi. 4 ; xii. 23, 26, 28;
xv. 27). The historical character of the work
is further compromised by such rhetorical pas
sages as the description of the martyrdoms
in ch. vi., vii., the death and repentance of
Antiochus Epiphanes in ch. ix., and the suicide
of Razis in ch. xiv., partly too by the ferocity
of the language directed against the foes of the
Jews (cp. iv. 19 ; v. 8, 9 ; viii. 34, 36 ; ix. 8, 15 ;
xiii. 8). Nevertheless, the Second Book of
Maccabees, though inferior to the First Book,
is of a stamp considerably superior to the other
so-called historical books" of the Apocrypha.
The First Book of Esdras is merely a loose
revision of the canonical Book of Ezra, to which
has been prefixed the legend of tht Three Pages.
The legend implies the influence of the sapiential
literature of the period, and illustrates the
tendency of Jewish writers to invest the events
of their national history with a glamour of
imaginary magnificence.
The Additions to Esther represent a revision
of the canonical work, with numerous amplifica
tions. The Third Book of Maccabees represents pic-

APOCRYPHA
torially the temper and feelings of the Alexan
drian Jews at some unknown crisis ; but other
wise it has little claim to be regarded as a work
-of history. The description of tho persecution
and the deliverance of the Jews in the days of
Ptolemy IV. Philopator may possibly have been
based upon events in the early imperial age, of
which no other tradition has been preserved.
The Additions to the Book of Daniel are
¦devoid of any historical value. Bel and the
Dragon represents a class of Jewish fable, pro
bably written with the intention of making
idolatry ridiculous. The Story of Susanna was
a favourite national legend, perhaps originally
composed with no higher purpose than to illus
trate the meaning of the name Daniel, by an
event in the early life of the national hero.
(On the theory of its being an •' Anti-Sadducean
Tendenz-Schrift," see Speaker's Comm., Apo
crypha, ii. 325-330.)
In the prophetical section of the classification
given above, the Baruch literature, i.e. Parts 1
and 2 of Baruch and " The Epistle of Jeremy "
•( = Baruch vi.), is composed in imitation of the
writings of Jeremiah and Daniel. The Book of
Baruch itself is * vigorous reproduction of the
thought, and frequently also of the phraseo
logy, of the canonical Scriptures. The Epistle
-of Jeremiah is a monotonous rhetorical declama
tion against idolatry.
Of the poetical writings, the Prayer of Azarias
and the Song of the Three Children are found
among the Additions to Daniel, but they clearly
have no connexion with either Bel and the
Dragon, or the Story of Susanna. They are
both lacking in originality, and are only a cento
of scriptural phrases. The Song itself however
{the " Benedicite "), by its recognition of the
divine mission of the forces of nature, embodies
•an idea worthy of the highest flights of Hebrew
poetry. The Prayer of Manasses is a powerful psalm of
repentance, which tradition has connected with
the account given of Manasses the king in 2 Ch.
xxxiii. 11-13, 18, 19. There is nothing in the
Prayer to countenance the tradition of its origin
beyond its penitential character and the allusion
in ver. 10 to " the iron chain," while other ex
pressions occur (e.g. ver. 8) which render such
antiquity an impossibility. It was composed
upon the model of the Penitential Psalms; but
whether it originally belonged to some legendary
history of Manasses' repentance, is a question
which we have no means of deciding.
Psalm cli., preserved in the LXX. Version of
the Psalms, purports to be David's song of
triumph after his victory over Goliath. It does
not exist in the Hebrew, and was' composed in
imitation ofthe canonical Psalms. Its preserva
tion is due, not to any intrinsic merit, but to
the popularity of the event which it celebrates.
The apocalyptic writings, which play so im
portant a part in Jewish literature during the
century succeeding the destruction of Jerusalem
by the Romans, are represented in the Apocrypha
hy the so-called Second Book of Esdras. In this
book, as in the lately discovered Apocalypse of
Baruch, the more recent disasters of the nation
are referred to under the image of the former
overthrow by the Chaldaeans. By a series of
.seven visions, which recall the visions of Daniel
¦and the Apocalypse of St. John, the mysteries

APOCRYPHA

181

of the last days are revealed to Ezra. It is
acknowledged that the children of Israel have
justly been punished for their sins. But a day
of retribution is at hand. The coming and tho
reign of the Messiah upon earth is shortly to
take place. The foes of Israel are to bo con
sumed in terrible punishment. But the Twelve
Tribes are to be restored to their country, and
" the daughter of Sion " is to be reinstated in
Jerusalem. The close similarity of the Book to
the Apocalypse of Baruch deserves remark ; it
would seem not unlikely that the last-named
work was known to the writer of the Second
Book of Esdras.
It should be observed that the two intro
ductory and the two concluding chapters in the
Latin Version do not strictly belong to the
Apocalypse of Esdras. Fritzsche places them
together as the Fifth Book of Esdras. They
represent a late accretion. The date of these
interpolations cannot be earlier than the 3rd
century a.d.
In the didactic group stand the two Books of
Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, which are, with the
possible exception of 1 Maccabees, the most im
portant works of the whole apocryphal collec
tion. They mark the process of transition from
the sapiential thought (the " Chokhmah " of
the Jews) of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, to
the Graeco-Jewish philosophy of Philo. Eccle
siasticus represents purely Palestinian thought ;
Wisdom is almost as distinctly Alexandrian.
In the latter, we find the strong influence of
Greek philosophy beginning to make itself felt.
Both books are rich in gnomic sayings of
worldly prudence, based upon the Mosaic law.
Both have many passages which are of great
poetical beauty (e.g. Ecclus. xxiv. xliii. 1. ; Wisd.
v. vii. ix.). Tlieir impersonation of Divine
Wisdom, as will be noticed below, almost antici
pates in language, though not in thought, the
Christian treatment of the Logos.
The so-called Fourth Book of Maccabees must
be classed with the didactic books. It is of
the nature of an oration in support of the
" thesis " that " the religious faculty " (o evaeB^s
Aoytapbs) is completely master of the passions.
This is accordingly made the subject of a moral
discourse in the earlier portion of the Book
(i.-iii. 18), and is illustrated throughout the
remaining portion by protracted descriptions of
the martyrdoms of the Jews. The Book was
for a long time believed to have been written
by Josephus, but this theory has been proved to
be quite baseless.
The Books Tobit and Judith it is best to
place in a separate group representing romance
written with a didactic purpose. Their his
torical accuracy (that of Judith more especially)
has often been defended, but it is impossible to
find either dates or facts which will correspond
with either of the two narratives. It is of
course possible, though not probable, that a
nucleus of fact underlies each story. But the
literary treatment belongs to the region of
romance. Their power and interest lie in the
vivid and natural description of the scenes ;
their value in their teaching. The Book of
Tobit was, we may imagine, partly written for
the sake of inculcating the duties of prayer and
almsgiving. The Book of Judith, of which the
story is morally indefensible, incites to a higher

182

APOCEYPHA

standard of patriotism based on a simple trust
in the power of Jehovah.
The Apocrypha may also be conjecturally
divided into Jewish and Graeco-Jewish writings.
The distribution may roughly be made as follows.
Of the historical books, the First Book of
Maccabees and the First Book of Esdras are
Jewish m origin, the Second and Third Books of
Maccabees are Graeco-Jewish. Of the propheti
cal books, Part 1 of Baruch and 2 Esdras are
almost certainly Jewish in origin; Part 2 of
Baruch, the Epistle of Jeremy, the Additions to
Daniel and Esther, the Song of the Three
Children, the Prayer of Manasses, and the 151st
Psalm are probably Graeco-Jewish. Of the
didactic books, Ecclesiasticus, Judith, and pro
bably Tobit, are Jewish ; Wisdom and the Fourth
Book of Maccabees are Graeco-Jewish.
In hazarding this general distinction between
the books we are partly guided by their character
and subject-matter, but chiefly by the indications
given of the language in which they were
originally written. Thus, although, with the
exception of the Second Book of Esdras, the
Apocrypha was preserved to the Church in the
Greek language, in numerous instances it can
be shown that the Greek Version is merely a
translation from a Hebrew or Aramaic original.
The prologue to the Book of Ecclesiasticus
expressly asserts, what is patent in other ways,
that it is a translation from the Hebrew. The
First Book of Maccabees, according to the pro
bable testimony of Origen (ap. Euseb. H. E.
vi. 25) and the direct statement of Jerome
(Prol. Gal. ad Lib. Reg.), was extant in their
day in Hebrew; and though it is possible, as
some have asserted, that Origen and Jerome
were acquainted with Chaldee Versions only,
the theory of a Hebrew original is the most
natural explanation of the style, both in its
simplicity and in its difficulties. The Book of
Judith was extant in Chaldee in Jerome's days ;
and, although there is no sufficient ground
for supposing that the Chaldee Version, with
which he was acquainted, was anything but a
mere translation, the Hebraisms and manifest
errors in rendering, apparent in the Greek, make
its Hebrew origin almost incontestable. The
Book of Tobit, likewise, was extant in Chaldee
in Jerome's days. The undoubtedly Hebraistic
character of the Greek makes it clear that we
have in it only a translation. The Chaldee text
which has recently been edited by Neubauer, is
claimed by some to be the original. At any
rate, the existence of a rival text in Chaldee
by the side of a Hebrew text will go far to
account for the great variations of reading in
both Greek and Latin Versions.
The First Book of Esdras and the earlier
portion of Baruch are also, in all probability,
translations from the Hebrew.
On the other hand, 2, 3, 4 Maccabees, Wisdom,
the Additions to Daniel and Esther, and the
latter portion of Baruch, were all probably
composed in Greek.
The translation of the Pentateuch into Greek
supplied the Jews of Alexandria with the
strongest, if not with the first, stimulus to turn
the universal language to the advantage of their
own religion.

APOCRYPHA
The characteristic features of the LXX. Ver
sion left deep their impress upon all subsequent
Graeco-Jewish literature. It was followed by a
copious stream of Jewish writings, in which
history and romance, polemics and apologetics,
religion, morals, and philosophy, were severally
represented, and often fantastically blended.
Specimens of this phase of literature are pre
served to us by several of the apocryphal Books
and by such varied writings as the so-called
Epistle of Aristeas, the verses ascribed to Phocy-
lides, the fragments of Aristobulus, no less than
by the works of Philo and Josephus.
Whatever be the distinctive character of a
Graeco-Jewish writing, its essentially Jewish
form is never obscured by the Greek colouring.
Sometimes it asserts itself in intellectual sym
pathy with Greek philosophy (e.g. with Plato
in the Book of Wisdom, with the Stoics in the
Fourth Book of the Maccabees) ; sometimes
in religious polemic it champions the national
Monotheism against pagan idolatry (e.g. in the
latter portion of the Book of Wisdom, in the
Epistle of Jeremy, and in the Additions to
Daniel) ; sometimes in the form of an appeal to
the sufferings and persecutions which the people
had undergone in past times, the endeavour is
made to keep alive the ardour of patriotism and
to quicken the trust in Jehovah (e.g. in the
Book of Baruch, the Second and Third Books of
Maccabees). IV. (1) Hie Apocrypha in relation to Jewish
Literature. — The books of the Apocrypha help
to depict for us the fusion of Jewish and Greek
thought. They help to unfold the process of pre
paration, by which Graeco-Jewish thought and
language grew to be the chief instrument, in
the writings of the Apostles and in the preach
ing of the early Christians, for the spread and
development of a new and a universal religion.
They illustrate the condition of the Jewish
people, their habits of thought, their literary
taste and skill, their mental training, their
historical judgment at or about the Christian
era. Herein consists the real value of the Apo
crypha. The intrinsic merits of the books bear
no proportion to their value as a literary record
of their time. The most cursory comparison
with the writings of either the Old or the New
Testament is sufficient to impress the reader
with a sense ofthe feebleness which characterizes
the greater part of the apocryphal collection.
The Apocrypha belongs to that class of Jewish
literature which the Jewish teachers called
Haggada in distinction from that which they
called Halacha. While both terms express a
position relative to the Canonical Scriptures,
Haggada stands opposed to Halacha as " com
ment " to "definition," and as "illustration"
to " formal rule." Under Haggadic literature
are to be included writings so varied as comment,
dogma, ethics, history, mysticism, allegory. The
books of the Apocrypha present us with at least
three prominent types of Haggada,— the his
torical, the ethical, and the allegorical,— all of
which were employed to illustrate the text of
scripture and the multiple expansion of the law
embodied in the Halacha. But the defects of
the Haggadic literature are only too conspi
cuous in the apocryphal writings. They are
lacking in spontaneity, simplicity, and moral
earnestness.

APOCRYPHA
Compared with the writings of the 0. T. or
the N. T., their style is for the most part arti
ficial. When they reproduce the language or
thought of the older Books, they rarely repro
duce their spirit. The writers seem to be con
scious of their own weakness, and acknow
ledge it (cp. 1 Mace. iv. 46, ix. 27, xiv. 41 ;
Ecclus. xxxvi. 15). The want of creative, power
is indicated by imitations of the ancient litera
ture, and by a rhetorical tone very different
from the simplicity and robustness of the ca
nonical Scriptures.
A serious moral blot, characteristic, however,
of the writing of the age, is the apparent manu
facture of false letters and false documents
(e.g. the letters and treaties in 1 Esdras and
(?) 1 Maccabees), and the embellishment of his
tory by incidents, &c, calculated to magnify the
importance of the nation and its rulers (e.g.
1 Esdras and 2 and 3 Maccabees). Under this
head must be classed such distortions of fact
and exaggerated descriptions as those connected
with the Plagues of Egypt and the Wonders in
the Desert, contained in the Book of Wisdom ;
and the details of the Additions to the Books of
Esther and Daniel.
Another point which will strike the reader
of the Apocrypha is the inferiority of the
imaginative writings. The shallowness and
moral feebleness of the fables preserved in Bel
and the Dragon, and of the legend of Susanna,
place them in the lowest level of literature.
The absence of all higher moral feeling in the
Book of Judith, and the admixture of the magical
element in the Book of Tobit, detract from tho
merits attaching to the one as a vivid tale of
patriotism, and to the other as » touching and
in places humorous story of domestic life. In
legend and in romance, we may possibly distin
guish a reaction from the literature of mere
legalism. Exaggeration and invention formed
by contrast the natural extreme to the pedantic
literalism of the Scribes.
No unprejudiced reader would attempt to
maintain the moral or intellectual equality of
the Apocrypha with the Canonical writings. The
Canonical Books of the 0. T. and N. T. spring
from periods of creative power and life. The
apocryphal books belong to the artificial and
imitative period which intervenes. But while
it is not hard to lay a finger upon defects in
the apocryphal works, it is matter for congratu
lation that they have preserved to us Jewish
historical records so valuable as those contained
in the two Books of the Maccabees, Jewish
poetry so noble and sentiments so lofty as are
contained in the Books of Wisdom and Ecclesi
asticus, Jewish imaginative writing so natural
and vivid as is found in the Books of Tobit
and Judith.
There remain to be noticed very briefly three
points of interest: (a) the influence of the
Apocrypha upon the writings of the New Testa
ment ; (b) traces of its position in Jewish litera
ture, (c) special instances of its estimation in
Christian literature.
(a). Cp. Speaker's Comm. i. pp. xl.— xiii. It is
a remarkable fact that the writers of the Greek
Testament, although they constantly make cita
tions from the LXX., never directly quote from
any of the apocryphal books. The instances
which have been adduced to prove the contrary

APOCRYPHA

183

(e.g. Luke xi. 49 with Wisdom ii. 12-20; Matt.
xiii. 42-50 with Judith xvi. 17 ; Jas. i. 19
with Ecclus. v. 11), are very far from being
convincing. They are chiefly resemblances in
thought and expression, some of which might
be due to a training in the same 0. T. Scriptures
and in the same schools of thought, others
which might be paralleled in non-Jewish writ
ings. Numerous expressions, especially in the
Books of Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, and Judith, will
call to mind passages from the New Testament,
and illustrate their meaning (e.g. Ecclus. vii.
14 with Matt. vi. 7; vii. 34 with Rom. xii. 15 ;
xiv. 1 with Jas. iii. 2 ; Jud. ix. 12 with Acts
iv. 24 ; Wisdom vi. 18 with John xiv. 21-24 ;
Tobit iv. 15 with Luke vi. 31). This is only
what we should expect from nearly contempo
rary writings of the same nation. On the
other hand, it is certainly true, that (1) the
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. xi.
35) might with as much probability have
derived his facts from 2 Mace. vi. and vii. as.
from other narratives or traditions, and have
also perhaps been acquainted with the Book
of Wisdom (vii. 26, cf. Heb. i. 3); (2) the
Epistle of St. -James contains coincidences of
language with Ecclesiasticus, as also possibly with
Wisdom ; (3) the Epistles of St. Paul contain
language so similar to that which is found in the
Book of Wisdom, that it is not unnatural to sup
pose his familiarity with its contents (e.g. Wisd.
v. 17, 18, cp. Eph. vi. 13 ; Wisd. ix. 15, cp. 2 Cor.
v. 1^1 ; Wisd. xiii. 1, cp. Rom. i. 19, 20 ; Wisd. xv.
7, cp. Rom. ix. 21). The quotations in the
so-called 5 Esdras (=2 Esd. i., ii., xv., xvi.)
are due to the late and Christian origin of the
interpolated passages (e.g. 2 Esd. i. 30, cp.
Matt, xxiii. 37; 2 Esd. xvi. 18, cp. Matt. xxiv.
8 ; 2 Esd. xvi. 44, cp. 1 Cor. vii. 29).
(6). Some doubt exists whether the apocry
phal books were reckoned by the Jews among
the "S'pharim g'nuzim, libri absconditi" (DHSD
D^TUJ), books withdrawn from public reading,
or among the " S'pharim chitzonim, libri ex-
terni"(D,*l")'n D*1SD), "extraneous or foreign
books," sometimes entitled " Siphre Minin, libri
hsereticorum" (p»D **"BD), "books of the
heretics," composed by Greeks, Jewish Chris
tians, or Gnostic heretics.
In the former class seem to have been placed,
at different times, the Song of Songs, Esther and
Ecclesiastes, and such other books as from time
to time gave rise to doubts among the Rabbinic
doctors, on the ground that they contradicted
the Law of Moses ; they were then either tem
porarily (as in the case of Canonical Books above
mentioned) or permanently withdrawn from
public use. In the latter class seem to have
been placed the poems of Homer, the books of
certain Greek writers, of the Sadducees and of
the Christians. On the one hand, on account
of the similarity of the name, it would be
natural to range the Apocrypha among the
" g'nuzim " of which some were finally re
cognised as Canonical. On the other hand, it
may be shown that the writings of the Son of
Sirach (K*VD p) were classed among the
" external books," and that to this group
belong also other late Jewish writings, such
as the " Megillath Taanith " or " Book of Fast
ing," the Sadducee " Megillath Asmon," &c. See
Fiirst's Der Kanon d. A. T.

184:

APOCRYPHA

During the first two centuries of the Christian
era, many of the apocryphal books seem to have
been known and read by the Jews. Thus, Jose
phus makes use of 1 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, and
the Additions to Esther. The Book of Ecclesi
asticus, or, at any rate, a different recension
of the Hebrew original, was frequently quoted
by the early Rabbins. The stories of Judith,
Tobit, and the Additions to Daniel were accepted
by Jewish writers ; Judith and Tobit were known
in Hebrew and Aramaic Versions ; Hebrew MSS.
preserve portions of the Additions to Esther,
e.g. the Prayer of Mordecai, the Prayer of Esther,
the Dream of Mordecai ; the Song of the Three
Children was received into the Jewish Liturgy.
Not until the 2nd century A.D. were prohibitions
uttered by the Palestinian Rabbis against the
reading of the Apocrypha. Such sentences as
"He who readeth a verse that is not of the
twenty-four Books of Holy Scripture, his sin is
as if he had read in the extraneous or foreign
writings," and "He that bringeth into his house
more than the twenty-four Books of the Bible,
bringeth confusion into his house," testify to the
determination of the Rabbis to exclude from use
whatever literature was foreign in character to
the strangely exaggerated Mosaism which they
tried to guard in purity. In Babylon, where
Judaism was stronger, there was not the same
need for such stringent regulations ; and in the
4th century, we hear of the words of the Son of
Sira being read, e.g. " The good doctrines in the
Book of Sirach we may moreover employ in our
addresses " (Sank. 100).
(c). In the Christian Church, the Apocrypha
was generally received along with the other
Books of the LXX. Version as equally inspired
of God. The position of the Apocrypha in rela
tion to the Canon of Scripture has been already
discussed. Especial reverence was paid to the Books of
Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom, not only on account
of their intrinsic interest and importance, but
.also on account of the Solomonic authorship
traditionally ascribed to them, and on account
of their treatment of the subject of Divine
wisdom, in which the Fathers discerned a
Messianic reference (see below). Certain pas
sages in the Book of Baruch ( iii. 36, 37 ; v. 1-3)
and 1 Esdras (iv. 36) are constantly referred
to for the same reason. The Second Book of
Maccabees acquired a specially high repute in
the 4th century, when the subject of honours
paid to martyrdom began to attract attention.
In later times prayers for the dead were
defended by an appeal to 2 Mace. xii. 44, 45.
The prominence given to the subject of alms
giving and fasting in the Books of Ecclesiasticus
and Tobit caused particular passages to be fre
quently quoted by Christian writers. The
151st Psalm and the Song of the Three Chil
dren were included in the Appendix- to the
Ancient Latin Psalter. The 151st Psalm, the
Prayer of Manasses, the Prayer of Azarias,
and the Song of the Three Children appear in
the Appendix to tho Ancient Greek Psalter (see
Churton, Uncanonical and Apocryphal Scriptures,
pp. 364, 365).
Criticism upon the style and language of the
apocryphal writings belongs more properly to
a survey of the whole LXX. Version, or to a

APOCRYPHA
detailed examination of the separate Books. We
will content ourselves therefore at this point
with brief general observations.
1. As to Style. — The Books of the Apocrypha,
as preserved to us, are, with the exception of
2 Esdras, written in the current popular form of
Greek, representing generally the intermediate
stage of dialect between the LXX. Version of
the O.'T. and the writings of the New Testament.
The books that have been translated from the
Hebrew are naturally more Hebraic in colouring
than the writings of the N. T. ; on the other
hand, the purely Alexandrian books are written
in a style of Greek less Hebraic, more free, and
often more debased, than those of the N. T.
The books translated from the Hebrew (e.g.
I Mace, Ecclus., Judith) are as a rule charac
terized by a greater simplicity in vocabulary
and idiom than the books originally composed in
Greek, such as Wisdom and 2 Maccabees. This
simplicity of style is well illustrated by the Book
of Judith, in which the absence of the ordinary
particles and the connexion of sentences by
the copula ko.1 are particularly noticeable. In a
less marked degree it may be observed in the
Book of Tobit. In both Books the language
is admirably adapted to the purposes of popular
narrative. The Book of Ecclesiasticus adheres
to the parallelism of the Hebrew gnomic writing,
and as a rule sacrifices smoothness to faithful
ness in translation. The First Book of Maccabees
presents a most favourable specimen of rendering
from the Hebrew ; it combines purity of diction
with vigour and ease of expression. The Hebraic
colouring is unmistakable ; but the style, always
temperate and well-restrained, is rarely bald or
clumsy : in some passages it becomes almost
poetical (iii. 3-9 ; vii. 38, 39).
Errors of translation may be detected in the
translated books. Well-attested instances are
to be found in Bar. l. 10 ; Judith i. 8, iii. 9 ;
Ecclus. xxiv. 27, xxv. 15, xlvi. 18, xlvii. 17;
1 Mace. ii. 8, iii. 3, iv. 19, 24.
The Graeco-Jewish books are smoother and
more ornate in style than the books of Pales
tinian origin, but, in common with much of the
Alexandrine writing of the age, lose in force by •
the tendency to be florid and rhetorical. This
defect appears to an exaggerated degree in the
bombastic royal rescripts of the Additions to
Esther (e.g. ii. 1-7 ; vi. 2, &c), and is conspicuous
in the inflated writing of the Third Book of
the Maccabees. Better Greek is found in the
Books of Wisdom, 2 and 4 Maccabees. But even
iu the Book of Wisdom, which as a rule excels
in poetical feeling and elegance of language, the
style is frequently marred by far-fetched and
fanciful expressions (especially from ch. xi. to
end). The Second Book of Maccabees is some
times disfigured (e.g. xiii. 9-26, xiv. 25) by
condensed and confused writing, which is due
probably to carelessness on the part of the epito-
mizer of Jason's five volumes. The philosophical
style which prevails in the earlier part of the
Fourth Book of Maccabees lapses into " fine
writing " in the description of the martyrdoms,
of which a striking example is to be found in
ch. vii. 1-5.
2. As to Language. — The Hebrew and Alex
andrine elements in the Hellenistic dialect are
conspicuous for peculiarities, the one in idiom,
the other in vocabulary.

APOCRYPHA
Under the class of Hebraic idiom are to be
classed such expressions as iv xiiP^ &'" X6'P^J>
aitb tou irpoo-iiirov, i-irl Ttp6truTtov, iv o-r6paTi
poptpaias, airb piKpov eus peydAov, iK tovtuv /cat
iK tovtuv ; idiomatic expressions such as etvai
or ylyvetrBai els, apetTKeiv ivuirtov, AapBdvetv
Ttp6au-Kov, StS6vai els oAe&pov, us j) r)pepa afrn ;
the otiose demonstrative following the relative
(e.g. Ecclus. xiv 2 ; Judith v. 19, vii. 10 ; Bar,
ii. 13, 17; 1 Esd. iii. 5, 9); the participle or
cognate substantive added to the finite verb for
emphasis, representing the Hebrew Infin. Absol.
(e.g. Judith ii. 13, vi. 4 ; Ecclus. v 3 ; 1 Mace.
ii. 67, 68, 70, iii. 13, v. 40) ; the common use of
tov with the infin. ; the r) following the positive
as the sign of the comparative (e.g. Tob. iii. 6 ;
sii. 8) ; the infinitive of the main verb following
the finite tense of the verb defining or limiting
the action, e.g. with irpotrrlBeaBat (1 Mace. iii. 15,
ix. 1 ; Tob.- xiv. 2), avvTeAelv (1 Esd. i. 53) ;
avaKdpirTav (1 Esd. viii. 86), utropeveiv (1 Esd. ii.
18) ; the genitive of quality in the place of ad
jective, e.g. bvT)p jSouAtjs (1 Mace. ii. 65), tvopa
aytao-pov (Ecclus. xvii. 8) ; the negative before
irds (e.g. 1 Esd. iii. 19).
The vocabulary of the apocryphal Books, and
particularly that of 2, 3, 4 Maccabees, Wisdom,
¦and Ecclesiasticus, abounds in strange com
pounds, many of them more suited for poetry
than prose. The following are characteristic in
stances : — aSpavrjs (Wisd.), aipoBipos (4 Mace),
aKaptaios (2 Mace), atcnAlSuros (Wisd.), aKpu-
rnpid(u (2 Mace), bicipavTos (Add. Esth.),
aAdtTTup (2 Mace, 4 Mace), aAAotpvAto-p6s
(2 Mace), bpBpotrios (Wisd.), appuSns (Ecclus.),
aptpiAatpiis (Wisd.), bvaBpdQu (Wisd.), iKBpdfa,
avpBpdy (2 Mace), avapox^eiu (4 Mace),
avopfipeu (Ecclus.), avrotpBaApeu (Ecclus.),
avTpuSt)s (2 Mace), dirAeros (3 Mace), atro-
jcotrpeu (2 Mace), a-xoo-KvBlfa (4 Mace), airo-
irpaTi£opat (Tob.), apSaAou (Ecclus.), apBptp-
BoAos (4 Mace), atrivl)s (3 Mace), ao-vp-fis (4
Mace), bxaviis (Ecclus.), BapBap6u (2 Mace)
fiapv7ixr)s (3 Mace), fiu8oTpeipT]S (3 Mace),
yaAoKTOTtoreu (4 Mace), yevetrtdpxys, -ovpy6s
(Wisd.), ynyevfis (Tob.), yAwo-o-uS-ns (Ecclus.),
Sa<piAT)s (Wisd., 1 Mace), SeiAavSpeu (2 Mace),
SeKOTTAatrtdCu (Bar.), SevrepoAoyiu (2 Mace),
d-npoTeAf)s (3 Mace), Stapaadopat (Ecclus.),
SiKtuoKpiT-ns (2 Mace), SopvdAuros (2 Mace,
3 Mace), SvacdaKTos (3 Mace), SupoKorreu
(Ecclus., 3 Mace), iBoAoKutpea (Ecclus.), eBvo-
ttAtiktos (4 Mace), elSuA68uros (4 Mace), eiAi-
Kplvns (Wisd.), exBoAos (Judith), iKSetpaTdu
(Ecclus.), iKpvo-lis (Wisd.), iKToirlfa (2 Mace),
ivdperos (4 Mace), evrpexhs (Ecclus.), ivurl^o-
pai (Wisd., Ecclus.), £|aAAos (Wisd., 3 Mace),
io-xaT'lCa (1 Mace), itrxarSyripus (Ecclus.),
eviAarevw (Judith), r)BoAoyeu (4 Mace), Bavar-n-
<p6pos (4 Mace), Beopaxeu (2 Mace), iepoirpetrr)s
(4 Mace), io&6Aos (Wisd.), laoirdAts (4 Mace),
IcrSireSos (2 Mace), KaTafidtrios (Wisd.), KaTavu-
T't&pai (Judith), KpvtrTaAAoetST)s (Wisd.), Aat-
papyia (4 Mace), Aaoypatpla (3 Mace), paKpo-
fiiuais (Bar.), paKpoTjpepeiiu, -tris (Ecclus.), peya-
Aoffi-npoveu (Judith), petroiropeu (Ecclus.), pera-
yeveo~Tepos (1 Esd.), perampvdu (Wisd.), peraA-
Aeiu (Wisd.), piupotpayia (3 Mace), pmpoAdyos
(Ecclus.), plovfipis (3 Mace), vTytrioKTovos (Wisd.),
^evoAoyeu (1 Mace), £evoTpotpea> (2 Mace),
oio-Tpn Adaia (4 Mace), oluvdBpuros (2 Mace,
3 Mace), bAoo-tpvpiyros (Ecclus.), dAoo'xep&s

APOCRYPHA

185

(1 Esd.), SpoiotraB-lis (Wisd.), btrAoSoTea (1
Mace), SirAoAoyeu (2 Mace), ovpayeu (Ecclus.),
6tpt6SriKTOs (Wisd.), 7ravT«rio-it07roj (Wisd.),
irnSaAiovxeu (4 Mace), iroAeporpotpeu (2 Mace),
¦noAvirpaypoveu (2 Mace), TvpoaAr)s (Ecclus.),
irvpttpAeylis (4 Mace), mipirj'ooj (4 Mace), irpo-
Ka.TafTKifl(>6u (4 Mace), TrpuTSirAaVTOs (Wisd.),
bo8o<p6pos (3 Mace), traBBarlCu (1 Esd., 2
Mace), trapKotpayla (4 Mace), o-etpr)vios (4
Mace), o-tSrtp6Secrpos (3 Mace), cmAayxvotpdyos
(Wisd.), truyKepauv6u (Wisd.), trvpBoAoKOTreu
(Ecclus.), avppiaoTcovnpiu (2 Mace), o-^eSiti^a)
(Bar.), Tepareuopai (2 Mace), Terpdo-Tixos
(Wisd.), TpuraAwiipios (2 Mace, Add. Esth.),
iaKlvBivos (Ecclus.), tpavratnoaKOTriu (Ecclus.),
XapatireTt)s (1 Esd.), tjrntpoAoyew (Tob.), ij/uxouA-
Keu (3 Mace).
To this list we subjoin another, consisting of
unusual substantives, which will help to illus
trate the language of the apocryphal Books : —
o,8po (Judith, Add. Esth.), aK-nSia (Bar., Ecclus.),
aKivaK-hs (Judith), aAoyttnla (Judith, 2 Mace,
3 Mace), api£ia (2 Mace), avaBiutris (2 Mace),
bvdtTTepa (Judith), hvTl-jtTupa (Ecclus.), arraii-
yaapa (Ecclus.), auBevrta (3 Mace), atpatpepa
(1 Mace), atpepa (1 Mace), btpdpoios (Prol.
Ecclus.), axel (Ecclus.), bupla (1 Esd.), BeA6-
o-Taa-is (1 Mace), BiBAioBtikti (2 Mace), B6p-
Btio-is (Bar.), Bpdpos (Wisd.), fluAos (Ecclus.),
yauplapa (Judith, Wisd., Ecclus.), Sidyvutris
(Wisd.), SoKipatrta (Ecclus.), iyKaivitrp6s(l Mace,
2 Mace), eibexBeia (Wisd.), elSnais (Ecclus.),
elptiveta (2 Mace), ipBlucris (Ecclus., 3 Mace),
hSeAexicpis (Ecclus.), i^eupeais (Bar.), iira-
yuyr) (Ecclus.), ipyoAdBeia (Ecclus.), eToipatria
(Wisd.), CiBivn (Judith), (uypias (2 Mace),
BeidTns (Wisd.), 6eA-nTT)s (1 Mace), Beats (Wisd.,
3 Mace), B-gpuvla (Ecclus., 1 Mace), IbiSrvs
(Wisd., 3 Mace), XvSaApa (Wisd.), lAr) (2 Mace),
iovSaiapSs (2 Mace), KaBapidrris (Ecclus.),
Kapipdicns (Judith), Kav86s (Tob.), KaTao-Tatris
(Ecclus.), KvtiSaAov (Wisd.), Kuvuirelov (Judith),
Airavela (2 Mace, 3 Mace), papavtreiov (Ecclus.),
vop6s (1 Mace, 3 Mace), SpaAitrpSs (Bar.),
¦napdo-Tatris (Ecclus.), irepiinraap6s (2 Mace),
¦nepitfrnpa (Tob.), ireTatros (2 Mace), irpopaxuv
(Tob.), j>epBaap6s (Wisd.), aaviSupa (3 Mace),
treBatrpa (Wisd.), o-irAayxvio-pds (2 Mace),
inrepatnrio-p6s (Ecclus.), - vit6o-Taais (Ecclus.),
tppiKatrp6s (3 Mace), ipuxayuyla (2 Mace).
It may be interesting to illustrate by a few
selected references the use, in the apocryphal
Books, of some of the chief words which acquired
a new significance in Christian writings : —
awoKaAvipis (Ecclus. xi. 25;; xxii. 20 ; xii. 23).
a7roaToA>J (l Esd. ix. 54 ; Bar. ii. 25 ; 1 Mace ii. 18,
2 Mocc. iii. 2).
a<peo-is (1 Esd. iv. 62 ; Judith xi. 14 ; 1 Mace x. 34,
xiii. 34).
paTTTifc (Ecclus. xxxiv. 25 ; Judith xii. 1).
patriAeta. tou $eoii (Wisd. x. 10 ; Song of the Three Holy
Children, v. 31).
Sanpoviov (Bar. iv. 7, 35 ; Tob. iii. 8, 17 ; vi. 7, 14, 15 ;
viii. 3).
SioKovia. (1 Mace. xi. 58).
SiKaioto (Tob. xii. 4 ; Ecclus. i. 19, xviii. 2, 21).
Sioutijo-is (Tob. i. 21).
eKKKntria. (Judith vi. 16 ; 1 Mocc. ii. 56 ; Ecclus. xxiv. 2,
xxvi. 5, 1. 13).
'kAcktoi' (Ecclus. xlix. 6 ; Wisd. iii. 9).
emo-Ktnros (1 Mace i. 51).
imtp&veia. (2 Mace. ii. 21, iii. 24, v. 4, xii. 22 ; 3 Mace
.ii. 9 ; Add. Esth. v. 6).

186

APOCRYPHA

eiiXapio-Tta. (2 Mace. ii. 27).
iAtio-pos (2 Mace. iii. 33).
iAaiTnipioi' (4 Mace xvii. 22).
Karwr (Judith xiii. 6 ; 4 Mace vii. 21).
itWjpos (Add. Esth. vii. 7, 8 ; Wisd. il. 9 ; Ecclus. xiv.
15).
Aeiroupym (Wisd. xviii. 21 ; Ecclus. 1. 19 ; 2 Mace iu. 3,
iv. 14).
jrapoua-ia (Judith x. 18 ; 2 Mace. viii. 12, xv. 21).
tCo-tk (Ecclus. xv. 15, xxii. 21 ; Wisd. iii. 14 ; 4 Mace
xv. 21).
o-uttjp (Wisd. xvi. 7; Ecclus. Ii. 1; 1 Mace iv. 30;
3 Mace vii. 16). a-umjpi'a (Wisd. xvi. 6 ; 2 Mace
iii. 29, 32 ; vii. 25).
X<£p« (Ecclus. iii. 18, 29, xx. 12, xxix. 15, xxx. 6;
Wisd. viii. 21 ; 4 Mace xi. 12).
Xpwrds (2 Mace. i. 10).
(2.) The Apocrypha in relation to Jewish
Theology. — In the light which they throw upon
Jewish theology, the apocryphal books contain
information of peculiar interest. We take in
order the subjects of (i.) the Deity, (ii.) the
doctrine of Angels, (iii.) the Messianic idea,
(iv.) the Creation and the origin of evil, (v.)
personal and national religion, (vi.) eschatology,
as illustrated in the books of the Apocrypha.
(The limits of space compel us to employ the
utmost condensation in the treatment of a most
extensive subject.)
(i.) The teaching of the Apocrypha upon the
subject of the Deity. The unity of God is often
and very distinctly affirmed (e.g. Ecclus. xxxiii.
5 = xxxvi. 5, A. V.m ; Bar. iii. 35 ; Pr. Azar. v. 22 ;
2 Mace vii. 37 ; 3 Mace ii. 2). From the idea of
unity is derived that of perfect all- sufficiency
(e.g. 2 Mace xiv. 35 ; 3 Mace ii. 9). The attri
butes of majesty and power are alluded to with
specia distinctness, in contrast to the weak
and depressed condition of the Jewish people.
The God of the nation was the all-powerful
God of the world ; " the Lord of all " (o
•ndvruv SeVTttn-ns, Ecclus. xxxiii. 1 = xxxv. 1,
A. V.); "the Creator" (Judith ix. 12; Ecclus.
xxiv. 8 ; 2 Mace i. 24, vii. 23 ; cp. 1 Esd. vi.
13) ; " Highest " or " the Highest " (fi-i/taTos
or 6 iltyio-Tos, especially in Ecclus. some forty
times ; 2 Esd., " altissimus " some sixty-six
times); "Almighty" (rtavTOKpaTup, esp. in
2 Mace ; Bebs traBauB TravroKpaTup, 1 Esd.
ix. 46) ; " Supreme " (peyaAoKpdrup, 3 Mace
vi. 2) ; " King of kings " (2 Mace xiii. 4) ;
" Lord of all might " (irdtrvs i^ovaias Svvdo-T-ns,
2 Mace iii. 24) ; " the Great Sovereign of the
world " (o peyas tov Kutrpov Swdo-Tris, 2 Mace
xii. 15).
Great stress is laid upon the attributes of
omnipresence and omniscience. The former is
expressed in the remarkable words of Wisdom
xii. 1 (to yap &tp8apr6v ffov Trveupa io-Tiv
iv -irdcri ; cp. i. 7), and may be illustrated by
a magnificent passage in Ecclesiasticus (xiii.
15 — xliii. 33). The expressions made use of in
these two Books sometimes border on pantheism
(though Ecclus. xliii. 27 be excluded), and
were destined to be still further developed in
that direction by later Alexandrine Judaism (see
Philo, de Confus. Linguar. i. 325). The more
general statements of omnipresence (Ecclus. xvii.
13, 15 = 15, 19, A.V. ; xxiii. 19) belong equally
to the attribute of omniscience. That God both

¦» Ecclus. xviii. 2, xxiv. 24, are later Insertions.

APOCRYPHA
sees and knows all is a favourite thought (cp.
Bar. iii. 32 ; Susann. v. 42 ; 2 Mace ix. 5, xii. 22,
xv 2 ; Judith ix. 5, 6 ; Ecclus. xiii. 18-21 ; Add.
Esth. v 2).
Another attribute of the Deity is expressed
by the title which describes the eternal exist
ence, "the Eternal" (6 aiuvws). This title
appears with special frequency in the Book of
Baruch (iv, 8, 10, 14, 20, 22, 24, 35 ; v 2), but
occurs also repeatedly elsewhere (e.g. Hist, of
Sus. v. 42 ; Wisd. xvii. 2 ; 2 Mace i. 25 ; 3 Mace.
vi. 12, vii. 16 ; Ecclus. xviii. 1, xxxvi. 22 = 17
A. V.). The essential Being of the Deity is
spoken of as 6 uv in Wisd. xiii. 1.
The title of "the Holy One" occurs fre
quently (e.g. Baruch iv. 22, 37, v. 5 ; Ecclus.
iv. 14, xliii. 10, xlvii. 8, xlviii. 20 ; Tobit xii. 12,
15; 2 Mace xiv. 36; 3 Mace ii. 2, vi. 1).
But the attribute of holiness is not asserted so
prominently as that of power, although it is
everywhere presupposed. In His relation to
mankind, the Deity receives the attribute of
Fatherhood, as the Author of all being and the
God of the chosen race of Israel (e.g. Wisd. xiv.
3 ; Ecclus. xxiii. 1, 4, li. 10 ; Tob. xiii. 4 ; 3
Mace vi. 3, 8). But in Wisd. ii. 16, where He
is spoken of as the Father of the just, there is a
hint of that wider conception which the New
Covenant revealed.
The title of Saviour (cuttip) is frequently
used of God, generally carrying with it the
idea of a material and strictly national deliver
ance (e.g. Baruch iv. 22; Jud. ix. 11; Addi
tions to Esth. v. 2 ; 1 Mace iv. 30 ; 3 Mace.
vii. 16). In one passage (Ecclus. li. 1) God is
addressed under this title as a personal Saviour;
in another passage (Wisd. xvi. 7) as " the uni
versal Saviour," S irdvTuv truriip (cp. 1 Tim.
iv. 10) ; but in both instances the epithet seems
to imply the preservation of life and health
rather than spiritual deliverance.
The goodness, mercy, and compassion of God
are constantly spoken of, perhaps most fre
quently in the Book of Ecclesiasticus (cp. ii. 18,
v. 6, xvi. 12, xviii. 13, xxxi. = xxxiv. A. V. 16,
xxxix. 22, xlvii. 22, xlviii. 20 ; cp. also Tob. vi.
17, vii. 12 ; 2 Mace. xi. 9 ; Wisd. xv. 1). There
is, however, no advance here upon the, language
of the O. T. Scriptures ; and although the Divine
mercy is compared in Ecclus. xxxii. = xxxv. A.V.
20 to " clouds of rain in a season of drought "
(us vetpeAat veTov iv Katpoj aBpoxlas), remind
ing us of our Lord's words in Matt. v. 45, the
stress of the metaphor is laid upon the reinvigo-
rating, not upon the impartial, character of the
gift. In another place, Ecclus. xxviii. 1-7, where
the mercy of God is made dependent upon the
merciful spirit of man, the forgiveness of heaven
upon the forgiveness of earth, there is a re
semblance to our Lord's words in Matt. vi.
14, 15, xviii. 35, but the context shows that
the resemblance is in the letter and not in the
spirit of the passage. In contrast to the mercy
and compassion (eAeos) of God stands, as in the
Old and New Testaments, the wrath (r) bpyi)) of
God. By this phrase is expressed most fre
quently the strictly national view of God's
attitude towards the foes of Israel, at other
times the wider conception of His attitude
towards sin generally, whether in the nation or
in the individual. "The wrath" implied on the
one hand the punishment of the heathen (cp.

APOCRYPHA
Ecclus. xxxix. 23 ; Judith ix. 9 ; Wisd. v. 20) ;
on the other hand, the punishment of sin and
impurity (cp. Wisd. xviii. 23, 25 ; Ecclus. v. 6, 7,
vii. 16, xliv. 17 ; Pray. Manas, vv. 5, 10, 13). The
disasters of Israel were regarded as God's just
punishment for national sin (cp. 1 Esd. viii. 80 ;
Tob. iii. 3, 6, xiii. 5 ; Judith xi. 10 ; 2 Mace
vi. 12, vii. 18, 32, x. 4) and the expression of
the Divine retribution (l Mace i. 64 ; 2 Mace
viii. 5; Bar. i. 13, ii. 13). The perfect justice
in the dispensation of reward and punishment,
the equipoise of Almighty love and power,
is expressed by the quality of equity or for
bearance, iirteiKfia (cp. Wisd. xii. 18 ; 2 Mace
ii. 22, x. 4 ; Bar. ii. 27 ; Song of the Three
Children, v. 18). Divine justice is a frequent
subject of thankful praise (cp. Ecclus. xxxii.
= xxxv. A.V. 12-20, xxxv. 15 = xxxii. A.V.
16; Wisd. v. 18, xii. 21, 22; Tob. iii. 2;
2 Mace vii. 36, xii. 6 ; 2 Esd. vii. 19), by
comparison with the failure of earthly justice
and the oppression of the innocent by the
powerful and wealthy (e.g. Wisd. vi. 4, 5 ;
Ecclus. viii. 14, xi. 9, xx. 3=4 A.V. ; 1 Mace
ii. 29-38 ; 2 Mace iv. 47 ; Sus. r. 53).
The anthropomorphic expressions of the Ca
nonical writings which describe the being and
operation of the Almighty, were necessarily
reproduced in the books of the Apocrypha.
" The hand of God " describes the power of His
operation (e.g. Ecclus. ii. 18, x. 4, xxxiii. =
xxxvi. A. V. 6, xxxvi. = xxxiii. A. V. 13, xliii.
12; Wisd. iii. 1, v. 16, vii. 16, x. 20, xiv. 6,
xix. 8; Bar. ii. 11; 3 Mace ii. 8): "the eye
of God," His Almighty providence and wisdom
(Ecclus. xi. 12, xv. 19, xvii. 15, xxiii. 19, xxxi.
=xxxiv. A. V. 16 ; Bar. ii. 17 ; 2 Mace iii. 39):
" the voice or word of God," the declaration of
His will (Ecclus. xliii. 26, xlvi. 17 ; Bar. i. 18,
ii. 22, iii. 4). The use of " the word or ' Logos '
(A6yos) of God " as the instrument of the
Divine command (cp. Wisd. ix. 1, xii. 9 ; Ecclus.
xxxix. 17, xiii. 15, xliii. 5, 10, 26 ; cf. xlviii. 3, 5)
deserves especial notice, inasmuch as its more
natural signification of the uttered Word gradu
ally lost favour, and in later times, as the
writings of Philo testify, became blended with
that of the abstract personification of Divine
Reason (see Wisd. xvi. 12, xviii. 15).
The tendency to avoid anthropomorphisms,
to keep the Creator and the created more dis
tinctly asunder, belongs to tbe whole period
during which the books of the Apocrypha were
written, and we can trace its influence (a)
sometimes in the avoidance of the Sacred
Name, (6) sometimes in the substitution of an
abstract expression denoting quality, principle
or force, (c) sometimes in the personification of
a Divine attribute.
(a) The Divine Name nowhere, according to
the best text, occurs in the First Book of Macca
bees. In ch. iii. 18 the Name of God is omitted
in three of the best MSS., and the following
verse, where " heaven " and not " God " is the
source of strength, makes the correctness of
the omission highly probable. In xvi. 3 the
rendering of the A. V., " by God's mercy," has
introduced the Divine Name, which does not
appear in the original (iv t$ iAeet). The Name
ai"Lord," which is read by A.V. in vii. 37 and 41,
is also omitted by four or five of the best MSS.,
and is in all probability due to the interpolation

APOCRYPHA

187

of a scribe. With these possible exceptions tho
First Book of Maccabees, like the canonical
Book of Esther, has presumably, in a spirit of
reverence, abstained from all use of the sacred
Name. The Name of " God," which appears in
the English Version of 1 Mace. ii. 21, iii. 53, 60,
iv. 55, ix. 10, has no place iu the original.
(b) In the place of the Sacred Name some
indefinite expression was often introduced.
Thus, in 1 Mace iii. 19 the omission is supplied
by " heaven" (oupavbs) or " the heaven " (b oupa-
vis), as the personified recipient of prayer (cp.
1 Mace iii. 50 ; iv. 10, 55 ; xii. 15. Cp. Landau,
Synonyma fiir Gott, p. 14). Sometimes Justice
(t) Slur)) seems to be so used (Wisd. i. 8 ; 2 Mace
viii. 13 ; and esp. 4 Mace iv. 13, 21 ; viii. 13, 20 ;
ix. 9, 15 ; xi. 3 ; xii. 12 ; xviii. 22). More fre
quently repetition of the Sacred Name is avoided
by the usage of epithets : the most familiar are
"the Most High" (esp. Ecclus. forty-three
times ; and 2 Esd. sixty-six times) ; " the Al
mighty " (6 TtavTOKpaTup), " the Master " (6
SecnrdT-nS; esp. 2 Mace), " the Eternal " (6
altivios, esp. Baruch), " the Holy One," " the
Creator" (6 dytos, Tob. xii. 12, 15; Ecclus. iv.
14, xliii. 10, xlvii. 8, xlviii. 20 ; Bar. iv. 22, 37,
v. 5). In later times the expression " the
Name " (DtJTJl) became with the Jews a com
mon synonym for the sacred title of " Jehovah,"
which they shrank from uttering ; and the
frequent use of to bvopa as the sum total of
the Divine attributes, familiar to us in the
N. T., foreshadowed the later usage. Indica
tions of this may frequently be noticed in
the O. T., and there are many examples of its
occurrence in the apocryphal books: e.g. Wisd.
x. 20 ; 3 Mace ii. 9 ; Tob. xi. 14 ; Bar. ii. 11, iii.
5 (cp. Pr. Azar. v. 29 ; Pray. Manas, v. 3 ; Judith
ix. 8, xvi. 2 ; 2 Mace viii. 15 ; Ecclus. xvii. 8
= 10 A. V., xxxix. 35, xlvii. 10, 18, li. 1). " The
Name " (to bvopa) was employed to convey the
idea of Divine Majesty, and to obviate the
necessity of using either the title of God or the
repeated personal pronoun, e.g. 1 Mace iv. 33.
(c) Anthropomorphism was also avoided by
the personification of the Divine attributes.
The prominence given to abstract agencies,
coupled with the philosophical depreciation of
matter, doubtless prepared ' the way for later
Alexandrine theosophies, for Gnostic theories of
aeons and emanations. In the apocryphal books
this tendency, the germs of which may first be
noticed in the language of Proverbs and Job,
has just begun to emerge more distinctly. We
may detect it in the references to " the Spirit
of God," " the truth," " Wisdom," and " the
Word." Thus " the Spirit of God," without attri
butes of personality, is, in its usage familiar
to us from the canonical O. T. Scriptui'es, men
tioned frequently in the Apocrypha (cp. Wisd.
i. 7; Ecclus. xlviii. 12 (?); Judith, xvi. 14).
But here it begins to receive a new character ;
" the spirit of holiness " is a principle or power
distinct, yet emanating, from and sent forth
by the Almighty (see Wisd. i. 5, vii. 22, ix.
17). Yet more striking is the identification
of the attribute or quality of " Wisdom "
with the operation of the Divine Will. Thus
" Wisdom " is the first of creatures (Ecclus. i.
4, 7) : she is a loving spirit (Wisd. i. 6) : she
came forth from the mouth of the Almighty
(Ecclus. xxiv. 3) ; she is the instrument of

188

APOCRYPHA

creation (Ecclus. xxiv.). She dwells with
Israel, she is identified with the Spirit of
the Law (Bar. iii. 36, 37), she is the effulgence
of Divine glory (Wisd. vii.-viii. 3). To be
allied unto her is immortality (Wisd. viii. 17).
In other passages she appears as "the truth"
(1 Esd. iv. 33-40 ; cp. Ecclus. iv. 25, xxvii. 9) ;
aud again, in another remarkable passage, the
same Divine agency of might and glory is
described as "the all-supreme word" (iravTO-
Svvapos A6yos, Wisd. xviii. 15), where we may
see an anticipation of Philo's use of A6yes irpo-
(popmbs (de Vita Mos. iii. 672).
The personification of Divine attributes stands
in close relation to the two points which come
next under discussion, having been on the one
hand somewhat rashly identified by Christian
writers with the doctrine of the Messiah, with
which it possesses remarkable though delusive
points of resemblance ; on the other hand, being
a subject immediately allied to that of inter
mediate beings and the doctrine of Angels.
(ii.) Allusions to the Messianic idea in the
Apocrypha are so few and meagre, that some
have even denied their existence at all. But it
will be seen that these allusions do exist ; and
that to a certain degree the very scantiness of
reference to the doctrine is in accordance with
the true position of the Apocrypha in the history
•of Jewish Theology.
In the Book of Ecclus. (c. 180 B.C. ; al. 235)
we find allusions to the promise made unto
Abraham, xliv. 21 ("therefore He assured' him
by an oath that nations should be blessed in
his seed ") ; to the Lord's covenant with David,
xlvii. 11 (" He gave him [David] a covenant
of kings and a throne of glory in Israel ") ;
to the future coming of Elias, xlviii. 10, who
was written of in reproofs for specified
times, to pacify wrath before its outbreak,
"to turn the heart of the father to the son,
.and to restore the tribes of Jacob" (cp. Mai.
iv. 5, 6). We have in these passages reference
to the Messianic economy generally ; but not
to the belief in a personal Messiah. It is also
worthy of remark that in the commemorative
list of famous men (xliv.-l.) there is no allusion
made to One who might be looked for as the
future Leader and Saviour of the nation. One
passage (li. 10), " I called upon the Lord, the
Father of my Lord" — the original text of
which, as recovered from the Syriac (see
Speaker's Comm. in loco), signified " I called
unto the Lord, my father, 0 Lord " — is to be
noted as a striking exception to the absence of
personal allusion. The phrase is so exceptional
in pre-Christian literature, that many have sup
posed it a mistranslation of the original, or a
textual error ; but it is best explained as a
jeminiscence of the language occurring in the
Messianic Psalm ex. 1.
The Book of Wisdom presents no trace of any
expectation of a personal Messiah. The expres
sions in ch. iii. and v. respecting the judgment
are too vague in character to support such ;i
view; and the most definite of the passages
which have been adduced for the purpose (iii. 8),
'¦ And their Lord shall reign for ever," cannot,
with any regard for the context, be connected
with the Messiah of Jewish prophecy. The
Christian Fathers delighted to regard the de
scription (Wisd. ii. 12-21) of the sufferings of

APOCRYPHA
" the just man " (d SiKaios) at the hands of. the
wicked as an inspired prediction of the Saviour's
Passion. The words " he calleth himself a child
of the Lord " (v. 13) were seized on as a fore
cast of the Gospel narrative. For this view
there is no warrant, except so far as the whole
passage may be an imitation of the liii. chapter
of Isaiah; or is to be considered as a sketch of
an ideal Just One. In the latter case it may
well be paralleled with Plato's immortal picture
of the Just Man in the Republic, which was
most probably well known to the author of
Wisdom, although it may not necessarily have
influenced his treatment of the passage in ques
tion. Again, Christian theologians have seen a
personal Messianic reference in the noble per
sonifications of " Wisdom " (e.g. Wisd. vii. 7-
11 ; Ecclus. i. 1-9, 14-20, vii. 18-31, xiv. 20-
xv. 8, xxiv. 1-34 ; 1 Esd. iv. 34-41 ; Bar. iii.
37, iv. 1) and in the mention of "the Logos"
(Wisd. xviii. 15, & iravToSvvapos trou A6yos air'
oupavuv eK Bpovuv BaatAeiuv). But the zeal of
apologetics appears to have led them astray.
Nowhere in these passages is the conception
of a personal revelation hinted at. The im
portance of these and similar passages to the
understanding of the Messianic doctrine does not
consist in prognostication, but in the develop.
ment of thought, which, having shaped the
religion and enriched the speculation of Philo,
became a life-giving message in the historical
testimony of St. John's Gospel (o A6yos trbp£
iyeveTo). The " Wisdom " and " Logos " of the
Apocrypha are not prediction. They mark a
climax in the preparation of thought and phrase
for the description of the final Revelation in the
Incarnate Word.
The First Book of Maccabees, pervaded
though it is by the spirit of patriotism, contains
no direct allusion to the Messianic hope. The
passages iv. 46, " until there should come a
prophet to give answer concerning them "
(pexpl tov irapayevri&TJvat ¦Kpotp^T'nv tov bvoKpi-
Brjvai irepl avTUv), and xiv. 41, "until there
arise a trustworthy prophet " (ius toO araffTTJ-
vai TtpotpTiT-nv mo-Tiv), have at different times
received a directly Messianic interpretation; and
this reference to the " prophet " has been com
pared with the expectation of the coming of
" the prophet " (S Trpotpf)Tvs) in John i. 21 and
vi. 14, who was looked for as the forerunner of
the Messiah. But this view is most certainly
incorrect. Even if it were not out of harmony
with the whole spirit and character of the Book,
the Greek in the above passages cannot admit of
such an interpretation. In both cases the word
"prophet" is used indefinitely (ttpotpirrris— not
6 irpotpt)TTis, as in the quotation from St. John's
Gospel), and the most natural explanation is the
most probable, according to which the cessa
tion of the gift of prophecy is (cp. also ix. 27)
alone remarked upon, and the yearning of the
nation expressed for a new revelation. Any
Messianic reference, therefore, is only obtainable
indirectly, by iniplication (cf. also 1 Esd. v. 40 ;
Pray, of Azarias, v. 14). One passage (ii. 57),
" David through his mercy possessed the throne
of an everlasting kingdom " (AaviS iv T<jS iAea
avTov eKAtipov6pntre Bpivov BatriAelas els aiSiva
aiuvos), may fairly be regarded as a half-
unconscious echo of the general belief that the
Messiah should be a king of David's seed, but the

APOCRYPHA
vagueness of the words implies how little prac
tical significance they were intended to convey.
Otherwise, no other passage, not even the dying
speech of Mattathias (ii. 49-69) nor the patriotic
utterances of his sons (eg. iii. 18-22 ; iv. 30-33 ;
vii. 41, 42) — where, if anywhere, some Messianic
allusion would be looked for — contains auy refer
ence to the doctrine. Strange as this appears at
first sight, it admits of a natural explanation.
The Messianic hope was bound up with the
thought of deliverance from tyranny and' oppres
sion, with the idea of a material and national
salvation. It was in the times of almost political
annihilation, in the days of their most deep
despair, that the Jewish prophets had foretold
most clearly the coming of the Deliverer. Again,
it was afterwards in the days of Herodian and
Roman oppression that the apocalyptic litera
ture of the nation pointed most clearly to the
advent of a Messiah. But in the days of the
Maccabean struggle for independence, the
hopes of the people were personified in her
living heroes. The doctrine of deliverance was
being practically realized on the narrow
platform of the combat with the powers of
Syria. To the Maccabean chronicler the idea
of national salvation was being fulfilled before
his eyes by the successes of the Asmonean
house both in diplomacy and in war. The Mes
sianic hope of the Palestinian Jews was
throughout this period centred in the efforts of
living champions ; their range of view was
limited to the brief struggle, which typified the
eternal truth.
In the Book of Baruch iv. 21, &e, there is
a description of the people of Israel restored
to their country and of the city of Sion rebuilt
and beautified ; in Tobit xiii. 8-18, xiv. 5, 7 ;
Ecclus. xxxiii. 1—11 and xxxvi. 16-22 = xxxvi.
1-17, a picture of the conversion of the heathen.
But none of these passages present us with any
expectation of a personal Messiah ; they re
produce in general terms the utterances of the
old Prophets concerning the final glories of the
chosen race ; and if they can be said to refer to
a Messianic future, it is only by an indefinite
and indirect allusion.
With the exception of the Second Book of
Esdras, no other Book of the Apocrypha throws
light upon the teaching of a personal Messiah.
The subject-matter and character of the Books
in a large measure account for the omission.
If in the writings of Palestinian origin the
subject was overshadowed by the predominant
hope of a political deliverance, in the writings
of Graeco- Judaic origin the infusion of Hellenic
philosophy tended to merge the Messianic idea
in abstract speculation, recognising it, if at all,
only in the attributes of self-manifestation in
herent in the Divinity.
In the apocalyptic writings, the literature of
the saddest century in the Jewish annals, it is
quite otherwise. The coming of a personal
Messiah to reinstate Israel and take vengeance
on her foes is the one prevailing idea which
runs through the Second Book of Esdras, and
forms a prominent feature in the Books of
Enoch, of Jubilees, the Apocalypse of Baruch,
and the Sibylline Oracles. The Second Book of
Esdras is the one most pervaded by a spirit of
gloom and bitterness. The coming of the Mes
siah is to be preceded by untold misery, calamity

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180

and crime — the woes of the Messiah. In the
third vision the reign of the Messiah is described
as lasting for 400 years, at the end of which
period the Messiah himself should die (vii. 28,
29). In the fifth vision the Messiah, the
Anointed, is depicted as the lion (xi. 37) with a
man's voice, who should rebuke unrighteousness
and restore his people (vv. 31-34). In the sixth
vision he is described as a man arising out of
the sea and flying with the clouds of heaven,
who hewed for himself a mountain (i.e. Sion)
and overthrew the multitudes that came against
him, and defended his people that remained!
(cf. ch. xiii.). The statement that the Messiah
should die " along with all the men that have
breath " (vii. 29) is most startling, and more
especially surprising in a Jewish writing. It is
perhaps best explained as a crowning expression of
the despair which characterizes this Apocalypse.
Except in certain well-recognised passages of
2 Esdras, the Apocrypha has no trace of
Christian interpolation in support of the Mes
sianic character of Jesus. The passage in Wis
dom xiv. 7, " For blessed is the wood whereby
cometh righteousness " (euASynrai ybp £iAov
Si' ou yiverai SiKaiotrivii), has indeed been
claimed on the one side as predictive of the Cross
of Christ, and has been in consequence assailed
on the other side as a Christian gloss. We
may, however (cp. Speaker's Comm. 1. e),
as seems more natural, see in " the wood "
an allusion to " the ark," and in " righteous
ness " a reference to Noah, who is elsewhere
described (Wisd. x. 4; Ecclus. xliv. 17) as the
"righteous," and in Heb. xi. 7 as "becoming
the heir of the righteousness that is by faith "
(tt)s Kara ttio-tiv SiKaioo-vv-ns iyevero KAtjpo-
vSpos). The words of Baruch iii. 37, " After
wards did it show itself upon the earth and
held converse with men " (peTb tovto i-irl T7/s
yijs utpBr) Kai iv to'is avBpdmots o-vvaveoTpdtp-n),
have a striking resemblance to Christian teach
ing, and many scholars have suspected it of
being a Judaeo-Christian interpolation. The
verse does not refer to " the Messiah," but to
" Wisdom," who, after being given by God tc-
Israel, became thenceforward manifested among
men in the chosen race (see Speaker's Comm. in
loco). (iii.) The Jewish doctrine of Angels, which in
later times was destined to take so prominent a
part in Rabbinic teaching, received a powerful
impulse at the period of the Captivity. This
may be recognised in the writings of Ezekiel,.
the post-exilic Zechariah, and in the Book of
Daniel. The Apocrypha, although two Pales
tinian books (1 Maccabees and Judith) show
no trace of it, presents us with a more fully-
developed stage of this belief than any which
may be found in the canonical writings. To
a certain degree the angelology of the Apo
crypha is due to the tendency which has already
been noticed ; the ministration of angelic beings
formed a useful safeguard against anthropo
morphism. Thus the Angel of the Lord is
frequently mentioned (as in the 0. T.) as
the instrument of Divine justice or the agent of
Divine protection (cp. Ecclus. xlviii. 21 ; Song
of the Three Children, v. 26 ; Susan, vv. 55, 59 ;
Bel, vv. 34, 36, 39 ; Bar. vi. 7 ; 1 Esd. i. 48 ; Ad
ditions to Esth. v. 12 ; Pray, of Azar. vv. 25, 35).
The Second Book of Maccabees refers to angelic

190

APOCRYPHA

manifestations as " the manifest signs that came j
down from heaven unto those that made it their
pride to deal manfully for Judaism " (ii. 21) ;
and the history of this Book is plentifully
embellished with legendary deliverances effected
by angelic interposition (cf. iii.; v. 2; x. 29,
30; xi. 6, 8; xiv. 15; xv. 11-16). An ex
aggerated instance of this use of angelology
is to be found in 4 Mace iv. 10, where the
sudden apparition of the forces of heaven,
mounted and clad in glittering armour, seems
to be a materialistic reminiscence of the passage
in 2 K. vi. 17. The title which is given
to the Almighty in 2 Mace iii. 24, by some
MSS., "the Lord of Spirits," is probably
another illustration of the prevalent belief (cp.
Heb. xii. 9). The word -irveipaTa in Ecclus.
xxxix. 28 is by some translated, " There are
winds which have been created for vengeance,"
&e, rather than as the A. V. " There be spirits,"
&e (cp. Pray, of Azar. vv. 42, 63) ; but the A. V.
rendering is supported by the list of such spirits
in vv, 29, 30. Certain natural phenomena and the
like are personified (cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco).
The Jewish belief of the post-Captivity
period that each nation had its guardian Angel,
which finds so distinct expression in the Book of
Daniel, ch. x., and forms the point of the re
markable reading of the LXX. Version in Deut.
xxxii. 8, 9, is perhaps alluded to in the Apo
crypha, e.g. in Ecclus. xvii. 14 (= 17 A. V.),
" He appointed a ruler for every nation, and
Israel is the Lord's portion " (eKaffTu eBvei
KaTeo-T-naev Tiyovpevov, k.t.A.), where by the
" ruler " some understand the guardian Angel ;
others, however, refer the expression to secular
princes (cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco). With
greater probability, the same idea is found in
Baruch vi. 7, " for my Angel is with you and
himself (not as A. V. 'I myself) caring for
(iK&iTuv) your souls," where the people of
Jehovah are reminded ofthe continual presence of
their guardian Angel, " the Angel of the Lord."
The foregoing references are not different in
kind from 0. T. narratives of angelic appear
ances. But the angelology of the Book of
Tobit may bear traces of a new and possibly
Persian influence. At any rate its most marked
feature is the prominence which it gives to the
current belief in opposing spiritual powers of
good and evil. The idea underlying the story
of the Book is that the care of individuals as
well as of nations is committed to the charge of
angelic beings. The description of Raphael,
who was one of " the seven Angels who stand in
the presence of the glory of the Lord " (xii. 15),
and who is sent upon earth to act as the guar
dian and protector of Tobias and to restore the
eyesight of Tobit, will , illustrate the words
which our Lord Himself uses in Matt, xviii. 11,
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these
little ones ; for I say unto you that [in heaven]
their Angels do always behold the face of My
Father Which is in heaven." The name of
Raphael is clearly connected with his healing
power (cp. ii. 17, latrdo-Bai), and the formation
of the word must be compared with the names
of Uriel (2 Esd. iv. 1), Jeremiel (2 Esd. iv. 36),
" Ramiel," who is over the visions of truth
(Apoc. Bar. lv.), and Michael the Archangel
(Jude v. 9). The opposition between the spirits
of good and the spirits of evil is brought out in

APOCRYPHA
the course of the same book ; thus, while in v. 21
we have the mention of a " good Angel "
(dyyeAos aya66s ; cp. also 2 Mace xi. 6, xv. 23),
in other passages we find also mention of " the
evil daemon " (rb Saipoviov Tb ¦Kov-npiv, iii. 8, 17 ;
vi. 7) or " the daemon " (to Saipiviov, vi. 15,
17; viii. 3). The name of this "evil spirit "is
given, i.e. Asmodeus, and is supposed to be
derived either from the Hebrew IDE', in which
case its meaning would be "the Destroyer"
( = Apollyon), or from some doubtful Persian
root. The description of this daemon in ch. iii.
agrees with the New Testament term of "un
clean spirit ; " and the fanciful account of his
baleful influence over Sara (Tobit vi. 13, 14) may
have arisen from the Jewish legends concerning
the " loves of the angels," based upon Gen. vi. 2.
The power of the evil spirit is subdued by
a charm revealed by the good Angel Raphael.
The evil spirit flies to the upper parts of Egypt
and is there bound by the Angel (viii. 3)
Desolate places were tenanted according- to
Jewish views of demonology by evil spirits (cp.
Matt. xii. 43). The punishment of banish
ment from the country should be compared with
the words of St. Mark v. 10, " they besought
Him much that He would not send them away
out of the country ; " and that of " binding "
with the words of Rev. xx. 2, " he laid hold on
the dragon, that old serpent, and bound him -a
thousand years."
The personal spirit of evil is rarely alluded to
in the apocryphal books. The name of " Satan "
occurs in Ecclus. xxi. 27 (iv Ttf KarapacrOtu
ao-eBr) Tbv traTavav, avTbs KaTapaTai tT)v kainov
ipuxyv), but the context is thought by some to
leave it uncertain whether " the spirit of evil "
or a man's individual adversary (cf. Additions
to Esther, 6 SidBoAos, vii. 4) is intended. The
former view (cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco)
seems preferable for the following reasons.
(1) The fact that the word o-aravas appears
nowhere else in the apocryphal writings favours
the view that it occurs here as a proper name.
(2) In the LXX. Version of the O. T. the
word aaTavas does not occur, but the word ourix
is found three times in one chapter (1 K. xi. 14,
23, 25) for a human adversary, but without
the article. In the New Testament the word
occurs some thirty-five times (twenty-seven
times with the article) in the sense of a
spiritual adversary. (3) It was the natural
transliteration of |OtJTl, as soon as the idea of a
personal Spirit of Evil had become established.
We are therefore inclined to translate the
word in this its usual sense, and to compare
the whole passage, which is somewhat obscure,
with our Lord's words recorded in John viii. 44.
Another passage (Wisd. ii. 24) repeats the
Rabbinical belief that death entered into the
world through the envy of the devil (tpB6ptf
SiaBSAov). Again, in 4 Mace xviii. 8, the Evil
One is spoken of as "the pestilent serpent of
deceit " (AujieoV airdTris Stpts ; cp. Apoc. xx. 2).
In conclusion, it may be remarked that the
general tone of the allusions to angelic beings
in 2 and 3 Maccabees, Tobit, and the Additions
to Daniel, seems to presuppose that they were
of bodily shape and of material substance.
(iv.) Creation and man's nature. The work of
Creation, according to the Palestinian books of
the Apocrypha, is a creation of the whole uni-

APOCRYPHA
verse out of nothing by the absolute power of
God. The Genesis account is distinctly affirmed
in the Book of Ecclesiasticus xvi. 24-27, xvii. 1,
xviii. 1 (the words of which, cktio-g to) TroWa
koivti, do not support the theory of simul
taneity in the work of Creation ; cp. Speaker's
Comm. in loco) ; in Wisdom ii. 23 ; and in 2 Esd.
iii. 4-6, vi. 38.
In the Alexandrine books two passages bear
ing upon this subject have received more
especial attention. In 2 Mace vii. 28 where we
read, " God made them (i.e. heaven and earth)
of things that were not " (i£ ovk ovtuv i-noi-nffev
aura & 8e6s), we should probably adopt the
variant reading supported by good authorities
(ovk e£ ftvTtov, MSS.), and compare for the trans
position of the negative the well-known passage
in Heb. xi. 3. It is a mistake to see in these
words an allusion to the Platonic terminology,
which spoke of " the things that are not " (to)
jut; bvTa) as the matter out of which the universe
was formed.
The case is different with the Book of Wis
dom, the writer of which was deeply imbued
with Hellenic thought. In xi. 17 (t) iravTo-
Svvap6s cov X€V • • • Krltraoa rbv K6trpov e|
dpoptpov vAtjs) the world is stated to have
been formed out of "formless matter;" and
although this expression may require some
modification in the light of other passages in
the same Book (ix. 1 ; xii. 9), it is best under
stood as a fusion of the description contained in
Genesis (i. 2) with the Platonic belief in the
eternity of matter expressed in technical lan
guage (cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco).
So far as the subject of the origin of evil is
touched upon, the views expressed in the apo
cryphal writings seem to follow the Genesis
account of the Tall. Thus in Ecclus. xxv. 24
we find the words, " Of the woman came the
beginning of sin, and through her we all die ; "
and in Wisd. ii. 24, " through envy of the devil
came death into the world." The writer of the
latter book seems to accept the theory of the
pre-existent state of souls (viii. 19), and regards
the soul alone as the real man to whose true
development the body acts as a clog and a
hindrance (i. 4, viii. 20, ix. 15 ; cp. the Essenes,
Joseph. Bell. jud. ii. 8, § 11), but he nowhere,
like Philo, speaks of matter as inherently evil.
The primeval condition of man before the fall
— "the image of God's being" — is described in
noble and striking words (ii. 23), which imply
that the result of the fall is the loss of the
image of God. God did not create death ; He
created all things that they might exist (i. 13).
Man's freedom of will is stated in most un
qualified terms in Ecclus. xv. 11-20 (see espe
cially v. 14), " He Himself made man from the
beginning and left him to his free choice (atpnKev
avTbv iv xelpl SiaBouAiou avrov); if thou wilt,
thou shalt keep the commandments ; and to act
with fidelity is matter of liking. He set before
thee fire and water. Thou shalt stretch forth
thy hand, wherever thou wilt (ou iav BeAns).
Before men is the life and the death, and
whichever he liketh shall be given him (/cal o
iav euSoKr)trr}, SoB-fitrerai avTqT).'* The possession
of free-will (StaBovAlov) is described among
God's gifts to mankind (xvii. 6) ; virtue and
happiness are dependent on the exercise of the
powers of will or choice. This testimony de-

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191

mands the more careful attention, when reviewed
by the side of passages in the same Book in
which good and evil are, as it were, set over
against each other by the rigid predetermination
of God: e.g. xxxvi. = xxxiii. A.V. 13-15; xiii.
24. Another passage, which appears in the
A. V. as xi. 16 (TtAavn Kai ck6tos apapruAols
o-vveKTio-Tat), " error and darkness have been
created together with sinners," is omitted in
the best text and is probably a gloss.
According to the Book of Wisdom, man enters
upon life free from disposition to sin, with his
moral nature a " tabula rasa." The writer
describes his own soul as being good and his
body undefiled Qpvxh byaBi), trupa apiavTov),
but he admits that wisdom — the fountain of
Divine life — came not to him naturally ; she
could be procured only through prayer, " with
his whole heart " (viii. 20, 21). A doctrine of
predestination of Israel's foes to sin and evil
finds support in Wisd. xii. 11.
The doctrine of " original sin " is nowhere
definitely stated except in 2 Esd. iii. 21, 22, 26 ;
iv. 30; vii. 46-53; though it may be held that
the expression in Wisd. i. 4 (trupa apapTias
KaTaxpeu) embodies the same idea.
We do not find any very exalted moral
standard in the Apocrypha. There is little
conception of sin beyond the infringement of
an actual law, and little conception of virtue
be3rond the outward rectitude of legalism.
Virtues and vices are classified according as the
former are more profitable, the latter more
harmful to society (Ecclus. xviii. 20 ; Wisd.
viii. 7). Account is taken of actions, not of
motives. A material view of life runs through
all the Books ; virtue will bring its own reward,
vice its own punishment on earth ; the individual
lives and dies to himself. As a rule, too, the
recompense spoken of is a material one to be
meted out on earth ; earthly prudence is made
the basis of morality. In some exceptional
passages (e.g. Tob. xiii. 14; Wisd. i. 15, iii. 1,
vi. 18; Ecclus. iii. 18; Baruch v. 2), the
reward is that which is granted in the spiritual
life ; and a higher demand is made upon the
exercise of faith. But we find, on the whole,
few traces of thought in which approach is made
to the loftiest standards of human morality,
such as is presented in the description of " the
just man " (Wisd. ii.).
The judgment to be passed upon men is a
judgment according to works (Ecclus. xvi. 12,
14). A man's own deeds can justify him before
God : his sins are forgiven for the honour which
he pays to his parents (Ecclus. iii. 3, 14) ; for
his almsdeeds (Ecclus. iii. 30, xxix. 12; Tob. iv.
10, xii. 9, xiv.). The martyr's sufferings on
earth will receive their recompense in the world
to come (2 Mace vii. 2, 11, 14). By the meri-
toriousness of good works a man not only lays
up treasure for himself (Ecclus. iii. 4), but may
even benefit the future condition of the departed
(2 Mace xii. 44).
The less attractive aspect of Judaism fre
quently obtrudes itself. Even the most Hel
lenic book in the Apocrypha, the Book of
Wisdom, speaks of the Jews as " the sons
of God," "undefiled seed," "holy people and
blameless seed," &c. (e.g. Wisd. ix. 4-7 ; x. 15 ;
xii. 19 ; xv. 2 ; xviii. 1). The Second Book of
Maccabees breathes a spirit of vehemently

192

APOCRYPHA

patriotic hatred against the foes' of Israel (cp.
iv. 1-19; v. 9; viii. 34-36; ix. 8-13; xii. 35;
xiii. 4 ; xiv. 27 ; xv. 37). The morality of the
Book of Judith could only be defended by a
parallel with the deed of Jael ; her very deceit
is described as piety (ix. 13; xi. 5-8). An
austerity destined to be dispelled by the New
Covenant appears even in the best apocryphal
writings. Thus charity should not be shown to
the sinner (Ecclus. xii. 3-7 ; Tob. iv. 17) ; the
harshest treatment is recommended as the best
training for children (Ecclus. xxx. 9-12); the
curse pronounced upon the wicked is extended
to the wives and children (Ecclus. xl. 15 ; Wisd.
iii. 12, 13) ; the ferocity of the patriarch Simeon
is applauded (Judith ix. 2).
(v.) In their representation of personal and
national religion the books of the Apocrypha
reflect the spirit of the age in which the Jewish
religion was impersonated by the scribe more
truly than by the priest. The daily actions of
the layman no less than the functions of the
priest were regulated by rule. Legalism had
invaded every relation of life.
The Book of Tobit, which presents so attrac
tive a picture of family relations, makes men
tion of the three elements of the devout life —
prayer, fasting, alms (xii. 8), destined to re
ceive our Lord's exposition in the Sermon on
the Mount (Matt. vi. 1-18).
Prayer occupies a most prominent part in
the religious duties of the people. In every
Book of the Apocrypha its necessity and efficacy
are illustrated (e.g. 1 Esd. viii. 53, 75-90 ;
2 Esd. vii. 36-41 ; Additions to Esth. iv. 16 ;
Tob. xii. 8, 15, xiii. ; Judith ix., xvi. 1-17 ;
Wisd. ix., xviii. 21 ; Ecclus. xxxii. = xxxv. A. V.
13-17 ; The Prayer of Azarias ; The Song of
the Three Children ; The Prayer of Manasses ;
1 Mace vii. 37, xi. 71; 2 Mace x. 16, 25;
3 Mace vi. 1-15 ; Bar. ii. 14, iii. 1-8). In
times of tyranny and oppression it was the only
weapon in the hand of the poor and defenceless
(Ecclus. iv. 6 ; xxi. 5 ; xxxii. 13-17).
In two passages we have an allusion to the
" places of prayer " (t6ttos -irpotrevxys), or
"prayer" (irpoo-evxr), proseucha), where the
Jews used to assemble for their devotions.
In 1 Mace iii. 46, Mizpah is mentioned as
having been in old time a place of resort for
purposes of prayer ; in 3 Mace vii. 20, the
thankful Jews are said to have built a "pro
seucha" by the side of a monument erected
on the banks of the Nile to commemorate their
preservation. " Hallelujah " (aAA-nAouia) is the
cry of public thanksgiving (Tob. xiii. 18; 3
Mace vii. 13). The response of the people in
public prayer, " Amen," is noticed in 'fob. viii.
8 ; 1 Esd." ix. 47 ; 3 Mace vii. 23 ; 4 Mace
xviii. 23: cp. Judith xiii. 20, xv. 10.
Great importance is attached to fasting. The
Apocrypha shows how prevalent and important an
element of religious life this custom had become.
The Book of Tobit ranks fasting with prayer (xii.
8). Of Judith we are told, " She fasted all the
days of her widowhood, save on eves of sabbaths
and sabbaths, and eves of new moons and new
moons, and feasts and festival days of the house
of Israel " (Jud. viii. 6). Fasting is often men
tioned as accompanying special supplication
(1 Esd. viii. 50, ix. 2 ; 2 "Mace xiii. 12 ; Ecclus.
xxxiv. 26; 2 Esd. vi. 31, 35; Baruch i. 5;

APOCRYPHA
Judith iv. 13). The view that fasting was
something meritorious in itself is asserted in
the passage Tob. xii. 8. The writer of Ecclesi
asticus however protests that the act of fasting
without moral change and moral abstinence
was a hollow unreality (Ecclus. xxxi.=xxxiv.
A. V. 26), and by his protest implies the pre
valence of an abuse for which our Lord a few
generations later rebuked the Pharisees (Matt.
vi. 1, 2, 16).
Almsgiving seems to have held a position very
similar to that of fasting, and to have been
exposed to the same peril of perversion. The
Book of Tobit, which abounds with allusions to
it (e.g. i. 3, 16 ; iv. 7, 8), makes use of the most
exaggerated expressions in its commendation.
It " saves from death ; " " it purges away every
sin ; " " they who practise it shall be filled with
life " (xii. 8, 9 ; xiv. 10). The same view of
the meritoriousness of almsgiving appears in
the Book of Ecclesiasticus, e.g. "almsgiving
maketh atonement for sins " (iii. 30). " Shut
up alms in thy storehouse, and it shall deliver
thee from all affliction " (xxix. 12). " Brethren
and help are against time of trouble, but alms
deliver more than both," xl. 24 (cp. vii. 9, 10,
32, 33; xii. 3-5; xvi. 14; xvii. 17; xxix. 8;
xxxiv. = xxxi. A. V. 11; xl. 17). So highly
was this virtue prized that the Hebrew word
for " righteousness " (PIpIV) became narrowed
down in its application so as to mean " alms
giving" only. An early hint of this use of
" righteousness " (SiKaioo-vvn) in the sense of
" mercy," " charity," may be seen in Tob. ii. 14;
Ecclus. xliv. 10; see also Daniel iv. 27. The
suggestion, however, that " righteousness " oc
curs irr the sense of " almsgiving," in Wisdom
viii. 7, is quite untenable.
The importance of such religious duties grew
in the estimation of the people, as it became
evident that the strict observance of the Temple
ceremonial was impossible for the multitudes of
Jews who formed the Diaspora (2 Mace i. 27 ;
Judith v. 19) and lived at great distances from
Palestine, " the dispersed among the Gentiles."
The Book of Tobit describes how a Naphtalite
received the reward of a religious life of prayer
and almsgiving. The Book of Judith shows
how God manifested His power not to priests
and elders and men of renown, but to a
Simeonite woman, on account of her unwavering
faith and her life of fasting and prayer and
purity. But, although the moral is exalted
above the ceremonial (Jud. xvi. 16 ; Ecclus. xxxi.
18-26), the Law of Moses is in no way depre
ciated. Tobit is described as going often to
Jerusalem at the feasts, bearing the necessary
offerings and tenths, as ordained by the Law of
Moses (i. 6, 7); he abstains from eating the
bread of the Gentiles for fear of pollution (i. 12).
Judith too is most scrupulous lest she should
contract ceremonial defilement by eating any
thing unclean, at the very time when she seems
to set every moral restraint at defiance in order
to compass her daring purpose (Judith xii. 2).
The dread of this particular source of ceremonial
defilement is the sign of the pious Jew ; death
or starvation is preferred to it (see Jud. xi. 12,
xii. 2 ; 1 Mace i. 63 ; 2 Mace v. 27 : owAayx-
vio-p6s, 2 Mace vi. 7, 8, 21, vii. 41 ; and piapo-
tpayia, 4 Mace v. 26, vi. 19, &c. : cp. Daniel i.).
The same spirit of legalism animated the most

APOCRYPHA
ardent and religious minded of the race, who
were termed Assideans or " Puritans " [see art.
Assideaxs]. One thousand of these forerunners
of the Pharisaic party preferred to suffer death
rather than to raise a hand in self-defence upon
the Sabbath, and so pollute the sacred day
(1 Mace ii. 34-38). The regard for the Sabbath
day appears in 2 Mace vi. 6 ; viii. 26 ; xii. 38 ;
xv. 2. The rite of circumcision was strictly
continued by pious Jews iu face of fierce oppo
sition (1 Mace. i. 60, 61). Proselytes were sub
jected to it (Jud. xiv. 10). The Maccabean
patriots zealously purified the Temple and re
stored its sacrificial system (1 Mace iv. 36-56).
The two didactic books, as might be ex
pected, emphasize the moral aspect of religion.
The Book of Wisdom practically omits all refer
ence to Levitical worship (except xviii. 21-24) ;
the Book of Ecclesiasticus, which from its eulogy
of Aaron (xiv. 6-22) and of Simon the Just (1. 1-
22) is by some supposed to have been written
by one of the priestly caste, only once or twice
elsewhere touches upon the subjects of tbe
priesthood (xxxvi. 22 = 17 A. V.), of cere
monial worship (vii. 29-31 ; xiv. 11 ; xxxi.
= xxxiv. A. V. 18; xxxii. = xxxv. A. V. 8), of
Jerusalem, and the Temple services (xxiv. 10, 1 1).
The true sacrifice is the keeping of the Law and
righteousness of life (Ecclus. xxxii. = xxxv. A. V.
1-12 ; Wisd. iii. 6). The glory of the scribe
(Ecclus. x. 5 ; xxxviii. 24 ; xxxix. 1-11 ; xliv. 4 :
cf. 2 Mace vi. 18) has begun to eclipse the glory
of the priest. True " wisdom " in both Books is
identical with " the fear of God," and " the fear
of God" (referred to at least forty-four times in
Ecclesiasticus) with the teaching of the Law
(Ecclus. xxiii. 27). The knowledge of it is the
possession of the wise man. It is bound up in
proverbs (Ecclus. viii. 8 ; xviii. 27, 28 ; xxxix.
2, 3 ; xlvii. 17) ; it belongs to the " mysteries of
God " (Wisd. ii. 22 : cf. vi. 22) ; it is hidden in
parables which the sagacious man will ponder
well (Ecclus. iii. 27 = 29 A. V), and of which
the discovery is laborious (xiii. 25 = 26 A. V.).
At the foundation of all life, public and domestic,
lie the Law and the Commandments of God (e.g.
Ecclus. ii. 16 ; xxiv. 22—27 ; xxxv. = xxxii.
A. V. 23 ; xxxvi. = xxxiii. A. V. 2, 3 ; xxxii. =
xxxv. A. V. 1 ; xxxix. 1, 8 ; xiii. 2 ; xliv. 20 ;
xiv. 5 ; xlix. 4 ; li. 19). The Law of Moses was
still the standard of Jewish national life (1 Mace
i. 52 ; ii. 27 ; xiv. 14).
Other books record for us the general vene
ration for the service of the national sanctuary.
The safety of Jerusalem and the Temple is
uppermost in Jewish thought (Jud. iv. 2).
Jerusalem is " the holy city " (2 Mace ix. 14 ;
Ecclus. xxxiii. 18 = xxxvi. 13 A. V.). The war
of independence was waged for " the people and
the sanctuary " (1 Mace iii. 58, 59). Jerusalem
is spoken of as the place where all the tribes
assemble for sacrifice at the Feasts (cp. Tobit
i. 4, v. 13 ; Judith xvi. 18 ; Bar. i. 10). The
restitution of full honour to Jerusalem is the
prayer of the Jew in captivity (Bar. v. and
Tobit xiii.). The First Book of Esdras is wholly
devoted to the subject of the restoration of the
Temple. The First and Second Books of the
Maccabees abound in allusions to the national
importance of the sanctuary at Jerusalem, the
maintenance of the Levitical worship, the dis
tinction between clean and unclean, the obser-
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

APOCRYPHA

193

vance of the Sabbath, &e (e.g. 1 Mace i. 44—47,
62, 63; iv. 37-60; vii. 33, 36, 49; x. 34;
xii. 11, &e). On the other hand the memorable
principle that God chose the place for the people,
not the people for the place, is stated in 2 Mace.
v. 19 (bAA' ou Sia Tbv t6ttov to eBvos bAAb Sib
Tb l-Bvos Tbv t6ttov o KVpios i£eAe£aro). The
conduct of the apostate high-priests Jason and
Alcimus and the Hellenizing faction created a
powerful reaction in favour of the old Mosaic
worship and the old religious customs. The
men who were ready to renounce their country's
God and worship, abolish the ancient rite of
circumcision (1 Mace i. 11-15), and introduce
the shame of the gymnasium within the pre
cincts of Jerusalem, were denounced as apostates
(1 Mace ii. 15 ; 2 Mace v. 8). In the First
Book of Maccabees, the epithets " transgressors "
(wapdvopot, 1 Mace i. 11,34; x. 61; xi. 21),
" lawless " (dvopoi, ii. 44 ; iii. 5, 6 ; vii. 5 ;
ix. 23, 58, 69 ; xi. 25), " impious " (btreBets,
iii. 15 ; vi. 21 ; vii. 5 ; ix. 25, 73) are regularly
applied to the Hellenizing faction and their
supporters. We catch glimpses ofthe pre-eminent authority
of the high-priests (Ecclus. 1., Simon the Just ;
2 Mace xv. 12, Onias), as well as of the harm
they could do their country by a betrayal of
their trust (e.g. Jason and Alcimus, 1 and 2
Mace). They were assisted by a Senate, " the
Sanhedrin" (yepovtria, Judith iv. 8, xi. 14, xv.
8 ; 1 Mace xii. 6 ; 2 Mace i. 10, iv. 44, xi. 27 ;
3 Mace i. 8 : cp. TrpetrBurepot, 2 Mace xiii.
13). The establishment of synagogues, presided
over by elders, secured the municipal adminis
tration (cp. Judith vi. 16, and the Story of
Susanna). The danger of idolatry in its old form was no
longer the besetting temptation of the Jews of
Palestine. " The apostates " in the Maccabean
age desired the favour of the Greeks, not the
privilege of their worship. The secret of their
apostasy lay in commercial, social, and political,
not in religious, motives. The apocryphal
writings directed against idolatry to bring it
into contempt and ridicule (i.e. Bel and the
Dragon, the so-called Epistle of Jeremy = Baruch
vi.) seem by their very feebleness to indicate that
they could never have been written to meet any
urgent religious crisis. The former contains
humorous legends ; the latter is a monotonous
diatribe. The probability that in Alexandria
more enticing forms of idolatrous worship were
presented to the Jewish populace, may account
for the indignant outburst against paganism
which distinguishes the latter portion of the
Book of Wisdom (see more especially chaps.
xii. to xv.). " For the worshipping of idols is
the beginning, the cause, and the end of all
evil," is the epitome of the indictment (xiv. 27).
One more point under this head deserves at
tention, i.e. the veneration of the Jews for their
sacred Books. The orders of Antiochus Epiphanes
to destroy and burn all " the Books of the Law "
(to BiBAla tov vipou) or any "Book of the
Covenant" (BiBAiov SiaB-fiKTis) that might be
found among the Jews (see 1 Mace i. 56, 57),
coupled with the unpatriotic conduct of the
Hellenizers, only served to heighten the national
devotion to the Scriptures. The public unrolling
of the Book of the Law was looked on as a
religious ceremony in a time of distress (1 Mace
O

194

APOCRYPHA

iii. 48). The possession of " the holy Books "
' (to ay la BiBAia), "the Law and the Prophets,"
was regarded as a source of strengthening and
comfort in the hour of danger (1 Mace xii. 9 ;
2 Mace xv. 9). Another passage (2 Mace viii.
23) relates that Eleazar, a brother of Judas
the Maccabee, was appointed " to read the
holy Book " (to 07101* BtBAiov) for the Jewish
forces, and that the appointment to this office
was esteemed so highly as to be recorded side
by side with the appointment of captains to the
three divisions of the army (cp. the title of Ezra,
bvayvutrT-ns vSpou Kuplou, 1 Esd. viii. 8, 19 ; ix.
39, 42, 48, 49).
We find in the Apocrypha, too, the first
certain intimations of the final stage in the for
mation of the 0. T. Canon. The Prologue to
the Book of Ecclesiasticus refers to a triple
division of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Law,
the Prophets, and the Writings (e.g. Sta tov
v6pou Kttl TUV TTpotpTITUV Kai tuv /cot' aiiTobs
t)koAovBt]k6tUV, TOV v6p0V K0.1 TUV TTpotpTITUV
Kai tuv aAAuv irarplwv BiBAiuv, 6 v6pos Kai ai
TTpopvTe7at Kai to Aonrb tuv BiBAiuv). The
Second Book of Maccabees (ii. 13) is supposed
by some to contain a genuine tradition as to the
formation of the Canon by Nehemiah. It
describes how Nehemiah, " founding a library,
gathered together the acts of the kings and the
prophets and the writings of David, and the
epistles of the Kings concerning the holy gifts,"
alluding probably to the work of collecting
the sacred writings, which tradition with good
reason assigned to the age of Nehemiah. The
same epistle (2 Mace ii. 14) records that Judas
Maccabaeus made a similar effort to collect the
sacred writings which had been lost or scattered
during the war with Syria. The legend that,
after the destruction of the Temple and the
burning of the sacred Books by the Chaldeans,
Ezra was endowed with Divine power to restore
the twenty-four Canonical Books of Scripture,
besides seventy books of esoteric learning, is
based upon 2 Esd. xiv.
The writers of the apocryphal books fre
quently cite from the Old Testament and from
the LXX. Version, and thus supply important
indirect evidence as to the date both of the
completion of the Canon and of the Alexandrine
Version. Among the more important; of these
quotations and allusions in the earlier Books
of the Apocrypha are Wisd. iv. 10 = Gen. v. 24
(LXX.) ; Ecclus. ii. 18 = 2 Sam. xxiv. 14 ;
Ecclus. xvii. 17 = Deut. xxxii. 8, 9 (LXX.) ;
Ecclus. xliv. 16 = Gen. v. 24 (LXX.) ; 1 Mace
vii. 17 = Ps. lxxix. 2, 3 (LXX.); 2 Mace
vii. 6 = Deut. xxxii. 36 (LXX.) ; 3 Mace
vi. 8 = Jonah ii. 1 (LXX.) ; 1 Mace i. 54
cp. Dan. ix. 27, xi. 31 (LXX.). The story
of Daniel is referred to in 1 Mace ii. 59, 60 ;
of Esther, in 2 Mace xv. 36. The words of
Amos (viii. 10) are directly cited (? from LXX.)
in Tob. ii. 6. Ecclus. xxvii. 26 appears to quote
the LXX. of Eccles. *. 8, though it is possible
that both passages may accidentally present the
same proverbial expression (cp. Prov. xxvi. 27)
in the same words.
An acquaintance with the earlier books of the
Apocrypha may perhaps be traced in the books
outer composition. The formation of 3 and
4 Maccabees presupposes an acquaintance with
one or both of the earlier volumes ; a remark-

APOCRYPHA
able correspondence of ideas may be seen in
2 Mace ii. 2 with the Epistle of Jeremiah ; the
words of 3 Mace vi. 6 recall the Greek of The
Song of the Three Children v. 27.
(vi.) The subject of eschatology acquired in
creasing importance as the political indepen
dence of the people declined. More definitely
referred to in the Apocrypha than in the
Canonical Books of the 0. T., it engrosses the
main portion of the apocalyptic literature com
posed at the time of, or shortly after, the
nation's overthrow by Titus.
Before " the last things " the " full measure
of time " is to be fulfilled, Tob. xiv. 5 (eus toD
Xpdvov oS av irA-npuBg 6 XP0V0S ruv Katpw).
But the knowledge of it is hidden from the sons
of men (2 Esd. vi. 10 ; xiii. 52). The woes—
the sign of the Messiah's coming — are described
(2 Esd. ii. 27 ; xv. 5, 24). Elijah was to be the
forerunner (Ecclus. xlviii. 10}. The glorious
renovation of Israel is pictured in Judith xvi. 15-
17 ; Ecclus. 1. 23, 24; and the restoration ofthe
scattered tribes to the land of their fathers is a
frequent theme of patriotic prayer (Tob. xiii.
10, xiv. 5 ; Baruch ii. 34, iv. 37, v. 5 ; 2 Mace,
ii. 18; Ecclus. xxxiii. 11 = xxxvi. A.V. 11;
xxxvi. 16-22 = 11-17 A. V).
How material a conception this national hope
must have been, is indicated by the fact that the
possibility of a future state is nowhere realized
in the books of Palestinian origin. " Hades " in
these books is merely a vague region of death
(Ecclus. ix. 12 ; xiv. 12, 16 ; xvii. 22 ; xxi. 10;
xxviii. 21; xii. 4 ; xlviii. 5 ; li. 5; — Bar. ii. 17;
iii. 11, 19). There is no thought of a future
life in the Books of Baruch and Judith, unless
the title of " Eternal " applied to the Almighty
be deemed an exception (Baruch). In the First
Book of Maccabees there is no allusion to the
condition after death ; and the reference to it
which some have found in " an eternal name "
(bvopa aiti>viov, ii. 51; vi. 44; xiii. 29), "an
eternal priesthood " (jeputxvvn aiuvia, ii. 54)—
phrases based on 0. T. language — is not strictly
relevant. In the Book of Ecclesiasticus we have
an allusion to " eternal joy " (ebtppoo-ivv altovos,
ii. 9), but, in the face of such passages as xvii.
22-26, xii. 4, it is scarcely probable that the
writer was acquainted with a positive doctrine
of immortality. The passage in xlviii. 11 which
appears in the A. V., "Blessed are they that
saw Thee and slept in love " (iv byarr\aei ke-
Kotpripevoi), is due to a corruption in the text.
The right reading gives us "and are adorned
with love " (iv ayairiiaei Kexotrpripevot), which
seems to have been altered in later times in
support of the doctrine of the Resurrection.
The circumstances of death are the test of life
(Ecclus. xi. 23-26) ; "the last things " (tax*™)
of a man are his departure from earth (ii. 3 ;
iii. 24 ; vi. 27 ; vii. 36 ; xiv. 7 ; xxi. 10 ;
xxviii. 6 ; xxx. 1 ; xxxviii. 20 ; xlviii. 24).
In Alexandria the doctrine of the immortality
of the soul naturally accompanied the view
which regarded death as the soul's release from
the prison-house of the flesh. The Book of
Wisdom asserts the immortality of man (ii.
23 ; iii. 4 ; y. 15 ; vi. 20 ; viii. 13, 17); and
although it is stated that " to know the power
of God is the root of immortality " (xv. 3), the
Book does not deny, as some have maintained,
the future existence of the wicked. The denial

APOCRYPHA
of immortality is part of the presumptuous
utterance of the ungodly (ii. 1-5). The future
life of the righteous is pictured in several
passages (iii. 7, 14; iv. 2, &e; v. 15, &e).
But the doctrine of the immortality of the
soul does not, in the Book of Wisdom, include
the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.
The Second Book of Maccabees shows, however,
how strongly the thought of the resurrection
had fastened itself into the minds of some among
the Jews (vii. 9) ; " the King of the world will
raise us up, who have died for His laws, unto an
eternal renewal of life " (eis aiiiwoj' avaBiatnv
(ur)s, cp. vii. 11, 14, 36; xiv. 46). It even
gave rise to prayers and offerings for the dead
that their sins might be forgiven. The famous
passage illustrating this application of the
doctrine relates how Judas Maccabeus sent 2000
drachms "to Jerusalem to offer a sin-offering,
doing therein very well and honestly, in that he
was mindful of the resurrection. For if he had
not hoped that they that were slain should
have risen again, it had been superfluous and
vain to pray for the dead . . . Whereupon he
made a reconciliation for the dead, that they
might be delivered from sin " (xii. 43-45). At
first the application of the doctrine of the
resurrection seems to have been limited only to
the Jewish race, and is directly denied in the
case of Antiochus Epiphanes, the persecutor of
the nation (vii. 36, 37). The Fourth Book of
Maccabees constantly refers in very concrete
terms to the doctrine of eternal happiness and
of eternal punishment.
The Final Judgment appears as an earthly
visitation in the Book of Judith, and the ven
geance exacted upon the wicked is described under
the imagery of " the fire and the worm " (Judith
xvi. 17 ; cp. Ecclus. vii. 17). In the Book
of Wisdom the day of judgment is probably
implied in the expressions iv Kaipip &runBnrijs
avTUV (iii. 7), iv Tipept} Stayvutreus (iii. 18),
iv o-vAAoyio-pip apaprrtpaTuv avrav (iv. 20).
The future condition of the wicked is described
as hopeless (iii. 18 ; v. 14), " full of suffering "
(iv. 19), " enveloped in darkness " (xvii. 20 :
cp. Bar. vi. 71 ; Tob. iv. 10). The eternal
punishment of the lost is reiterated with terrible
vehemence in the Fourth Book of Maccabees
(ix. 9 ; x. 11, 15 ; xii. 12 ; xiii. 14 ; xviii. 5, 22).
The Second Book of Esdras foretells that, after
the Messiah had reigned for 400 years, both he
and all living flesh should die ; that then the
Most High should be revealed upon the throne
of judgment; that the lake of torment should
appear and over against it the place of rest — the
Gehenna and the Paradise of delight, into which
the Hades of departed spirits should be divided
(vii. 29-42).
V. The Text of the Apocrypha. — The books of
the Apocrypha have been preserved to us mainly
through the preservation of the Alexandrine
Version of the Old Testament. The MSS. of the
Apocrypha are, therefore, generally MSS. of
the LXX., and are very considerable in number.
Unfortunately nearly all these MSS. are cursives.
Only nine uncial MSS. are known to contain the
Apocrypha or portions of it.
(1) Of these uncial MSS. by far the most im
portant is the Codex Vaticanus (=11. in Holmes
and Parsons, and Fritzsche) of the 4th century,
which originally contained the whole of the Old

APOCRYPHA

195

and New Testaments. It has preserved to us
the text of 1 Esdras, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus,
Additions to Esther, Judith, Tobit, Baruch with
the Epistle of Jeremiah, tho Additions to
Daniel. Tho Books of Maccabees are wauting.
(2) The Codex Sinaiticus (cent, iv.) at St.
Petersburg aud (Cod. Frederico-Augustanus) at
Leipzig ( = X. in Fritzsche), which also originally
contained the whole of the Old and New Testa
ments, has the Additions to Esther, Tobit, Judith,
1 and 4 Maccabees, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus.
(3) The Codex Alexandrinus (cent, v.) at the
British Museum (= III. in Holmes and Parsons,
and Fritzsche), which originally contained the
whole of the Old and New Testaments, has pre
served to us the entire Apocrypha, i.e. Baruch
with Epistle of Jeremiah, Additions to Daniel,
Additions to Esther, Tobit, Judith, 1 Esdras,
1, 2, 3, 4 Maccabees, the Prayer of Manasses,
Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus.
(4) The Codex Ephraemi (cent, v.) at Paris
(=C in Fritzsche), a palimpsest, in the Old
Testament contains only fragments of the
poetical books, including about half of Wisdom
and the greater part of Ecclesiasticus.
(5) The Codex Venetus (cent, ix.), an uncial
MS. in the library of St. Mark's, Venice (=23
in Holmes and Parsons, and Fritzsche ; V. in
Lagarde), has Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch
with the Epistle of Jeremiah, Additions to
Daniel, Tobit, Judith, 1, 2, and 3 Maccabees.
(6) The Codex Basiliano-Vaticanus, 2106
(cent, ix.) at the Vatican (=XI. in Holmes and
Parsons, and Fritzsche), has 1 Esdras (except
viii. 1-5 and ix. 2-55), and the Additions to
Esther. (7) The Codex Marchalianus (Vaticanus, 2125 ;
cent. vii. = XII. in Holmes and Parsons, and
Fritzsche) has Baruch with Epistle of Jeremiah,
and Additions to Daniel.
(8) The Codex Cryptoferratensis (cent, viii.), a
palimpsest, edited by Jos. Cozza at Rome, 1867,
has fragments of Baruch with Epistle of Jere
miah and the Additions to Daniel.
(9) Another uncial MS. (cent. vii. ?) at St.
Petersburg, discovered by Tischendorf, not yet
collated, contains fragments of Wisdom and
Ecclesiasticus. The extant cursive MSS. have preserved to us
great varieties of text, the discussion of which
belongs rather to the articles upon the separate
books of the Apocrypha and to the article Sep
tuagint. One point of interest which has been estab
lished by recent researches deserves to be
noticed here. Field (Prolegg. in Hexapla Ori-
ginis, pp. lxxxvii., lxxxviii., 1875) has pointed
out that certain cursives and the texts used by
Chrysostom and Theodoret represent the revision
of the LXX. Version by Lucian of Antioch. It
has not yet been ascertained how far traces of
such a revision can be found in the Apocrypha.
But it may be useful to note that of the MSS.
which Field has thus identified, the following
contain portions of the apocryphal Books : —
19 = Cod. Bibl. Chig. Eome (cent, x.) contains 1 Esdras
ii. 16-ix. 36, the Additions to Esther, Judith, 1,
2, 3 Maccabees.
22 = Brit. Mus. (cent, xi.) contains Baruch.
36 = Cod. Vat. No. 347 (cent, xiii.), 48 = Cod. Vat. No.
1794 (cent, xi.), 51 = Cod. Medic. Lib. (cent. xi.).
90 = Cod. Bibl. Laurent, (cent, ix.), 147=Cod. Bodi.
O 2

196

APOCRYPHA

Oxf. (cent, xiii.), 233 = Cod. Vat. No. 2067 (cent.
xii.) contain Baruch with Ep. of Jeremiah und
1 Additions to Daniel.
62 = Cod. Oxf. (cent, xiii.) contains Baruch with Ep.
of Jeremiah, Additions to Daniel, 1, 2, 3 Maccabees.
93 = Cod. Arundel, Brit. Mus., contains Esdras, Addi
tions to Esther, 1, 2, 3 MaccaDees.
108 = Cod. Vat. No. 330 (cent, xv.) contains Esdras,
Additions to Esther, Judith, Tobit.
308 = Cod. Vindob. contains Ecclesiasticus.
Versions. — For more detailed information upon
these versions, consult the articles Versions
(Ancient) and Vulgate.
Under the head of the Latin translators, the
work of Jerome must be carefully distinguished
from the Old Latin Version. It is well known
that Jerome's celebrated revision of the Old
Testament was based upon the Hebrew original,
and that he did not consider himself concerned
with books which were not extant in Hebrew.
He consented, however, at the urgent entreaty
of two bishops, Chromatius and Heliodorus, to
undertake the revision of two apocryphal books,
Tobit and Judith (see Hieron. Praefat in vers.
libri Tob., in vers, libri Judith), on the ground
that they were extant in Chaldee. The work
was executed hastily and carelessly. Upon his
version of Judith he spent one night (huic
unam lucubratiunculam dedi), and treated Tobit
in the same perfunctory way (uiiiiis diei laborem
arripui). The text shows strange and arbitrary
variations, for which the Chaldee can hardly
be held accountable. He did not attempt to
translate literally (non ex verbo verbum trans-
ferens), and the general result is that of an
unsatisfactory paraphrase.
Besides the Books of Judith and Tobit, he
introduced into his version a rendering of the
Greek Additions to Esther and Daniel, which he
took care to distinguish from the translation of
the Hebrew text by the mark of an obelisk
(" obelo -r- id est veru praenotavimus "). The
Additions to Esther he did little more than
paraphrase ; but, in his rendering of the Addi
tions to Daniel, he followed Theodotion's Version,
and was more literal.
The Vulgate Version therefore contains four
books of the Apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, Addi
tions to Esther, Additions to Daniel), which re
present Jerome's work. It has been a disputed
point whether his revision is to be traced in
any other books. Jerome himself says in his
Preface to the Books of Solomon, " In the case
of the Book which by many is entitled the
Wisdom of Solomon, and in the case of Ecclesi
asticus, which all know is the work of, Jesus,
the son of Sirach, I have withheld my pen,
wishing to revise for you the canonical Scrip
tures only," which seems to put it beyond all
doubt that Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus were left
untouched by him; and if these two Books
were excluded from his project, it is not likely
that he would have paid attention to the other
apocryphal writings. It is best, therefore, to
explain the presence of a double Latin text in
m °f l EsdraB> Baruch, and 1 and 2
Maccabees, not by Hieronymian revision, but' by
the existence of various (e.g. African, Italian,
Galilean) recensions of the Old Latin, or by
renderings of variant editions of the LXX. text
(e.g. Hexaplar and Lucian).
The remaining apocryphal books of the Latin

APOCRYPHA
Vulgate Bible belong in like manner to a
recension of the Old Latin Version, while in
most cases a second recension earlier or later of
the Old Latin Version has also come down to
us. Thus 1 Esdras is preserved not only by the
Vulgate, but also, in a later revision, by the
Codex Colbertinus, 3703 ; Baruch has two
recensions of the Old Latin, one preserved in the
Vulgate, another a later revision edited by
Sabatier. The Vulgate has a later and more
polished recension of the earlier Old Latin
Version of 1 Mace, which is found in Codex
Sangermanensis 15. An earlier recension of
2 Mace than the Vulgate is given in Codex
Ambrosianus E. 76.
The Book of Tobit has come down to us in
two recensions of the Old Latin ; a rougher and
older one preserved in Codex Ambrosianus E. 76,
the other a more polished revision of it in
Vaticanus 7. The Book of Judith is preserved
in the old Version in five MSS. given by Sabatier.
The Additions to Esther appear in Codex Cor-
beiensis, and show a marked resemblance to
the Lucianic revision of the LXX. given by
Codd. 19, 93", 108*. The Additions to Daniel
are only fragmentally preserved in quotations
as collected by Sabatier ; like Jerome's render
ing, they are based upon Theodotion's Version.
Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus are preserved in
the Vulgate recension of the Old Latin.
The Third and Fourth Books of Maccabees do
not appear in the Vulgate Bible, and are not
extant in any ancient Latin Version. The
Second Book of Esdras (not extant in the
Greek) is preserved in an early recension of the
Old Latin. The lacuna in the text of Codd,
Sangermanensis, Turicensis, and Dresdensis was
happily supplied by Bensly's discovery of the
missing fragment in the Amiens Codex. Two
other MSS. have since confirmed the restoration
of the text. On the history of this discovery,
see R. L. Bensly's " Missing Fragment."
The Syriac translation of the Apocrypha is
also extant in two forms, (1) the Peshitto or
Syriac Vulgate, (2) the Hexaplar.
(1) The Peshitto Syriac (given in Walton's
Polyglott, and Lagarde's Libr. Vet. Test. Apoc.
Syriace) contains Wisdom, the Epistle of Jeremy,
Baruch, Additions to Daniel, Judith, Eccle
siasticus, Apocalypse of Baruch, 2 Esdras, I, 2,
3, 4, 5 Mace (4 Mace being the history of
Eleazar and Samona, 5 Mace the so-called 6th
Book of Josephus' De Bell. Jud.).
(2) The Hexaplar Syriac, or Origen's Hexa
plar Version of the LXX. translated into
Syriac, is of the highest value for the determina
tion of the text. The greater portion is pre
served in the Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosi
anus (C. 313 inf. ; cent, viii.) at Milan, which
contains Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, the
Epistle of Jeremy, and the Additions to Daniel.
There is good reason to suppose that the
Version included also 1 Esdras, Tobit, Judith,
Additions to Esther, 1, 2, 3 Mace, and the
Prayer of Manasses.
There exist also Arabic, Ethiopic, and Coptic
Versions based upon the LXX. of which the full
value has not yet been ascertained. [See art.
Version.] Two Hebrew Versions of the Book of Tobit
were edited in comparatively recent times :
that of Paul Fagius, Constantinople, 1517 ; and

APOCRYPHA
that of Sebastian Munster, Basle, 1542. The old
Chaldee Version of Tobit, edited by Neubauer
(Book of Tobit, Oxf. 1878), has been a discovery
of great interest and importance.
A good critical edition of the text of the
books of the Apocrypha is still much needed.
Special difficulties are presented by the number
of interpolations (particularly in Ecclesiasticus)
which have found their way into the text, and
by the rival texts, of which we have extant
specimens in Tobit, Judith, and the Additions
to Esther.
The English Version. — The choice of books
admitted into the Apocrypha of the English
Version was apparently determined by the
contents of the ordinary MSS. of the Vulgate.
Hence 2 Esdras was included, although it was
not extant in the Greek ; and on the other
hand 3 Maccabees was excluded. The Prayer
of Manasses, omitted by Coverdale, was inserted
in Matthew's Bible, and, though again omitted
in the Genevan Bible, has retained its place in
all the authoritative revisions. The plan of
translating the Apocrypha from the Greek
Version, where possible, instead of from the
Vulgate, was first adopted in the Genevan
Bible (1560), and was followed in the subse
quent English translations. The translators
of the Authorized Version of 1611 depended
for their text upon the Complutensian Poly
glot (1517), the Aldine edition of the LXX.
(1518), and Junius' Latin translation (which he
made for his father-in-law Tremellius, 1589).
No systematic investigation of the text was
made, but changes of reading were sporadically
introduced. Many purely Latin readings were
permitted to remain.
A fresh revision of the Apocrypha is in
course of preparation, as part of the Revised
Version of the Bible.
VI. Literature. — For editions of the text, see
under art. Septuagint. The most useful
separate edition of the books of the Apocrypha
is that of 0. F. Fritzsche, Libri Apocryphi Vetcris
Testamenti Graece (Lipsiae, 1871), whose text is
followed in this article ; but unfortunately the
collation of the Vatican MS. is not complete,
and the readings copied from Holmes and Parsons
cannot always be relied upon for accuracy, while
the evidence of Versions and quotations is com
paratively speaking neglected. The separate
edition of Apel (Lips. 1837) deserves notice as
having been the most serviceable until that of
Fritzsche appeared.
The best modern commentary upon the books
of the Apocrypha is Grimm and Fritzsche's
Handbuch (3 vols., Leipzig, 1851-1860), con
taining a minute and searching investigation
into almost every verse, and careful prolegomena
to each Book. In English, Bissell's Apocrypha
of the Old Testament, in Lange's Commentaries
(T. T. Clark &Son, Edinburgh), which is largely
indebted to the German work, is a helpful con
tribution to the exegesis ofthe books. A popular
commentary has been brought out by the S. P. C. K.
Older Commentaries are by Cornelius a Lapide,
Antwerp, 1664; Grotius, Paris, 1644; Arnald,
London, 1744. An edition for English readers,
containing all " the additional matter found in
the Vulgate and other ancient Versions," is
supplied by Churton's Uncanonical and Apo-

APOLLONIUS

197

cryphal Scriptures (Whitaker : London, 1884),
which also contains a useful, concise introduc
tion to the whole collection, and to the several
books. Wahl's Ctavis is a valuable lexicon to
the Apocrypha, though far from accurato or
complete ; Schleusner's Lexicon is a storehouse
of good materials for the language ; Trommius's
Concordance is indispensable, but sadly defective.
Winer's Grammar of N. T. Greek (Moulton's
edition) is also of great service.
The substance of this article was written
some time before the appearance of the
Speaker's Commentary on " The Apocrypha,"
2 vols. (Murray, London, 1888). Although the
treatment of the various books is somewhat
unequal, this work must be welcomed as by
far the most important, investigation of the
Apocrypha that has ever appeared in the English
language. It opens with a masterly " General
Introduction " from the pen of Dr. Salmon.
Schiirer's Geschichte des Jiidischen Volkes in
Zeitalter Jesu Christi (Leipzig, 1886) contains
most valuable assistance for the study of Jewish
apocryphal literature.
Of other books which have been c .nsulted for
the purposes of this article, the following require
more especial notice : —
Herzog-Vlitt's Real- Encyklopadie; Hamburger's
Real-Encyklopad. fiir Bibel u. Talmud; Smith's
Bible Dict. (ed. 1); Einleitungen, by Eichhorn,
Bertholdt, De Wette-Schrader (1871), Bleek(ed.
Wellhausen, 1886), Kaulen; Zoeckler's Hand
buch; Histories of Israel, by Ewald, Gratz, Herz-
feld, Reuss ; Hody, De Textibus ; Westcott's Hist.
of the Canon, History of the English Bible, Intro
duction to the Study of the Gospels ; Charteris,
Canonicity ; Reuss, History of the Canon ; Words
worth, On Inspiration ; Cosin, On the Canon; Pri-
deaux's Connexion; Fiirst, Kanon d. A. T., 1868 ;
Bloch, Studien zur Geschichte der Sammlung der
Althebr. Lit. 1876 ; Noldeke, Jiidische Literatur,
1878 ; Hausrath, N. T. Zeitgeschichte ; Drum
mond, Jewish Messiah ; Edersheim, Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah ; Taylor, Sayings
of the Jewish Fathers. [H. E. K.]
APOLLO'NIA (' A-iroAAapia), a city of Mace
donia, through which Paul and Silas passed on
their way from Philippi and Amphipolis to
Thessalonica (Acts xvii. 1). It was in the
district of Mygdonia (Plin. iv. 10, s. 17), and
according to the Antonine Itinerary was distant
30 Roman miles from Amphipolis and 37 Roman
miles from Thessalonica (Conybeare and Howson,
The Life and Epistles of St. Paul, i. p. 340,
4th ed.). In other authorities (e.g. the Peutinger
Table and the Jerusalem Itinerary) there is a
slight difference. The city is to be placed
somewhere on the Via Egnatia, where that road
crosses from the gulf of the Strymon to that of
Thessalonica, but its exact site has not been ascer
tained. A little village, Pollona, south of Lake
Bechik (the Bolbe of Aesch. Pers. 490), possibly
perpetuates the ancient name. Others prefer
Klisali, a post station seven hours from Saloniki.
This city must not be confounded with the more
celebrated Apollonia in Illyria. See Dict. of
Ane Geography and Murray's Ildbk. of Greece,
s. n. [F.]
APOLLO'NIUS CAiroAAuvios). 1. The son of
Thrasaeus, governor of Coele-Syria and Phoeuice,
under Seleucus IV. Philopator, b.c. 187 sq.,

198

APOLLOPHANES

a bitter enemy of the Jews (2 Mace iv. 4), who
urged the king, at the instigation of Simon the
commander (aTpaT-nyis)o{ the Temple, to plunder
the Temple at Jerusalem (2 Mace iii. 5 ff).
The writer of the Declamation on the Maccabees,
printed among the works of Josephus, relates
of Apollonius the circumstances which are com
monly referred to his emissary Heliodorus (De
Mace. 4 ; cp. 2 Mace iii. 7 sq.).
2. An officer of Antiochus Epiphanes, governor
of Samaria (Joseph. Ant xii. 5, § 5 ; 7, § 1), who
led out a large force against Judas Maccabaeus,
but was defeated and slain B.C. 166 (1 Mace iii.
10-12 ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 7, § 1). He is probably
the same person who was chief commissioner
of the revenue of Judaea (dpxuv tpopoAoyias,
1 Mace i. 29 ; cp. 2 Mace v. 24), who spoiled
Jerusalem, taking advantage of the Sabbath
(2 Mace v. 24-26), and occupied a fortified
position there (B.C. 168 ; 1 Mace i. 30 sq.).
3. The son of Menestheus (possibly identical
with the former), an envoy commissioned (B.C.
173) by Antiochus Epiphanes to congratulate
Ptolemaeus Philometor on his being enthroned
(2 Mace iv. 21). An ambassador of the same
name was at the head of the embassy which
Antiochus sent to Rome (Liv. xiii. 6).
4. The son of Gennaeus (b tou Tevvaiou : it
seems impossible that this can be des edlen Apoll.
Sohn, Luth.), a Syrian general under Antiochus
V. Eupator, c. B.C. 163 (2 Mace xii. 2).
5. The Daian (Alios, Joseph. Ant. xiii. 4,
§ 3, i.e. one of the Dahae or Dai, a people of
Sogdiana), a governor of Coele-Syria (Tbv bvTO.
itrl k. 2., 1 Mace x. 69) under Alexander Balas,
who embraced the cause of his rival Demetrius
Nicator, and was appointed by him to a chief
command (1 Mace /. c. KUTeo-T-nae, Vulg. con-
stituit ducem). If he were the same as the
Apollonius whom Polybius mentions as foster-
brother and confidant of Demetrius I. (probably
a son of 3, Suolv uTrapxovrolv bSeAtpolv, WleAe-
dypov ko.1 MevetrBeus, Polyb. xxxi. 21, §2),
his conduct is easily intelligible. Apollonius
raised a large force and attacked Jonathan, the
ally of Alexander, but was entirely defeated by
him (B.C. 147) near Azotus (1 Mace x. 70 sq.).
Josephus (Ant xiii. 4, § 3 sq.) represents Apol
lonius as the general of Alexander at the time
of his defeat ; but this statement, though it has
found advocates (Wernsdorf, de fide libr. Mace ¦
p. 135, yet doubtfully), appears to be untenable
on internal grounds. Cp. Grimm and Speaker's
Commentary on 1 Mace x. 69. [B. F. W.I
APOLLOPH'ANES ('AiroAAoipdvris ; Apol-
lophanes), a Syrian, killed by Judas Maccabaeus
(2 Mace x. 37). [G.]
APOLLOS (' ArroAAt&s, shortened form of
'AttoAAuvios, which is the reading of Cod. D,
Acts xviii. 24 ; Apollos).
Setting aside as an open question the conjecture
that Apollos wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews
[Hebrews, Epistle to the], we have two prin
cipal sources of information concerning him •
(1) Acts xviii. 24-28, and (2) scattered notices
in 1 Cor From the former we learn that he
was an Alexandrian Jew, who came to Ephesus
between St. Paul's first and second visits. (For
the probable influence of his native city upon
his studies and faith, see Alexandria.) He is
described as bvr,p Adyws. There is no doubt

APOLLOS
that in later Greek (e.g. Plutarch, Pompeius, 51)
this word meant " eloquent," but the earlier and
more frequent sense of " learned " is fully as
suitable in this instance. He had already been
instructed in the way of the Lord, and began al
once to teach the things concerning Jesus (so E. V. •
'\rjtrov, not Kvpiov, is undoubtedly the true read
ing), so that it cannot be alleged that his teaching
was only concerned with Messianic hopes which
he did not know to be fulfilled. But he knew only
the baptism of John. The essential differences
between the baptism of John and Christian
Baptism appear to be that the former was not
(like the latter, Acts ii. 38) a baptism in the
name of Jesus, nor was it accompanied by the
gift of the Holy Spirit. Apollos' ignorance of
this higher Baptism implies not merely that he
had not personally received it, but that he had
not learnt the kind of faith in Jesus which such
Baptism implies. Probably, while accepting
Him as the Messiah, he had very inadequate con
ceptions of His person and work (Acts xviii. 26).
Further he was probably not aware of the gift
of the Holy Spirit bestowed on the baptized.
The case of the twelve Ephesian disciples which
follows immediately (Acts xix. 1-7) must be
taken in close connexion with the account of
Apollos. Either they were disciples of Apollos,
or they were at any rate in much the same
position. That their Baptism is mentioned, and
not that of Apollos, seems to be due to the fact
that they only were at Ephesus when St. Paul
came back, and therefore they only at that time
received the gift of the Spirit after their Bap
tism, which is the point of the narrative. We
are not to conclude with Ewald (Geschichte des
V. I. vi. 474) that there could be no question of
baptizing again such a man as Apollos. " Fer
vent in spirit " (cp. Rom. xii. 11) does not imply
the possession of the distinct and, at that time,
unmistakeable gifts of the Holy Spirit. His
addresses in the synagogue attracted the notice
of Priscilla and Aquila [Aquila]. When more
fully instructed, he desired a new field of work,
and would naturally be directed by his instruc
tors to their old home, Corinth, the capital of
Achaia. Thither he went with commendatory
letters. It is instructive to compare the depar
ture of Apollos, not an Apostle, to his work,
with the mission of the Apostles Barnabas and
Saul (Acts xiii. 1-3). Here we have Apollos
setting out by his own wish (BovA&pevos), and
the brethren are merely described as encouraging
him (rrpoTpe-S/dpevot). His success at Corinth
was great, especially in controversy with the
Jews. His activity was not confined to the
synagogue or private houses, but, like St. Paul,
he spoke in public (STipoo-la ; cp. Acts xx. 20).
We now take up the second but earlier source
of information (1 Cor.), written after Apollos
had returned to Ephesus. Here we find that a
party had formed at Corinth which took the
name of Apollos (1 Cor. i. 12); that Apollos had
watered what St. Paul had planted (1 Cor. iii.
6) ; that St. Paul had wished Apollos to go to
Corinth, but had been refused (1 Cor. xvi. 12).
These are the facts stated, but further inferences
can be drawn from the first four chapters. Ex
aggerated statements with regard to the Co
rinthian parties (for a good summary of views
see Schenkel, Bibel-Lex. art. Korintherbriefe)
must not drive us into the other extreme of

APOLLYON
denying the existence of real divisions under
definite names. The fact of an Apollos party
does not inculpate Apollos iu its formation. In
chapters i.-iv. St. Paul is mainly dealing with
just such a form of opposition as might have been
expected to develop itself from an exaggeration
of the views and methods of « learned Alexan
drian Christian. Without adopting the absurd
suggestion of a paronomasia in i. 19, it seems
difficult to deny that the presumable methods
of Apollos, exactly a contemporary and a fellow-
citizen of Philo, would encourage the Corinthians
to desire that aotpia Acfyou which St. Paul so
emphatically disclaims, contrasting it with his
own preaching of an objective Christ. " Christ
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the Gospel :
not in wisdom of words, lest the Cross of Christ
should be made void " (1 Cor. i. 17). Some
have gone further, and have seen in the verse a
rebuke of such a disproportionate view of the
place of Baptism in evangelistic work as would
be natural in a mere disciple of the Baptist.
Whatever occasion Apollos may have involun
tarily given to error and party-spirit in the
Church, which he had " helped much through
grace," we know distinctly that he stood aloof
from those who claimed his name, and was
entirely trusted by St. Paul. St. Paul "be
sought" Apollos "much" to join the mission
which was to go to Corinth for the good of the
Church. The request was worthy of St. Paul's
generous and discriminating wisdom, but it was
refused by Apollos with self-denying prudence ;
" It was not at all his will to come now " (1 Cor.
xvi. 12). It is easy to guess that he feared that
his presence might stimulate party-feeling
instead of allaying it. Once again his name
meets us in Tit. iii. 13. He is in Crete with
Titus, and the latter is charged to send him on
his way with necessary provision.
On the whole we may conclude that the ap
pearance of Apollos formed a crisis in the
history of the Church, which was mercifully
brought to a good issue. First the spread of a
rudimentary faith and an imperfect baptism is
prevented by the agency of Priscilla and Aquila,
and secondly the growth of an unsubstantial
allegorising Christianity is checked by St. Paul
himself, without losing the loyalty of the bril
liant teacher who had occasioned it. Nothing
is known of the later history of Apollos. Tra
dition makes him bishop of Caesarea (Menol.
Graec. Basil, ii. 17).
See Neander, Planting and Training, Bk. III.
e vii. ; Conybeare and Howson, vol. ii. c. xiv. ;
Apollos in Schenkel's Bibel-Lex. [E. R. B.]
APOLLYON CAttoAAvuv ; Apollyon), or, as
it is literally in tbe margin of the A. V. and
R. V. of Rev. ix. 11, " a destroyer," is the
rendering of the Hebrew word Abaddon, "the
angel of the bottomless pit." The Vulgate adds,
" Latine habens nomen Exterminans." The
Hebrew term is really abstract, and signifies
" destruction," in which sense it occurs in Job
xxvi. 6, xxviii. 22 ; Prov. xv. 11, and other
passages. The angel Apollyon is further de
scribed as the king of the locusts which rose
from the smoke of the bottomless pit at the
sounding of the fifth trumpet. From the oc
currence of the word in Ps. lxxxviii. 11, the
Rabbis have made Abaddon the nethermost of

APOSTLE

199

the two regions into which they divided the
under world. But that in Rev. ix. 11 (see
Speaker's Commentary, note) Abaddon is an
angel, and not an abyss, is perfectly evident in
the Greek. There is no authority for connect
ing it with the destroyer alluded to in 1 Cor. x.
10 ; and the explanation, quoted by Bengel,
that the name is given in Hebrew and Greek,
to show that the locusts would be destructive
alike to Jew and Gentile, is farfetched and un
necessary. The Semitic etymology of Asmodeus,
the king of the demons in Jewish mythology,
seems to point to a connexion with Apollyon,
in his character as " the destroyer," or the
destroying angel. See also Wisd. xviii. 22, 25.
[Asmodeus.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
APOSTLE (&tt6o-toAos, apostolus). It will
be convenient to divide this article into (I. ) a
discussion of the term and its usage ; (II.) a
brief account of the apostolic college.
I. (1) Usage outside the N. T. — The Greek
word from which the Latin and English forms
come is an adjective derived from biroffTeAAu,
and meatis " sent," but " sent with a commis
sion to act," delegated. As btroo-TeAAu means
more than Trepiru (Westcott, Gospel of St. John,
xx. add. note), so airdffToAos is more than
btyyeAos. In classical Greek arrdo-ToAos acciden
tally became limited to a special meaning, " a
naval expedition," and so gives no help for the
sense of " Apostle " in the N. T. But passages
quoted by Bp. Lightfoot (Galatians i. detached
note) show that the word 07r<i<rToAos was in use
among the Jews to designate persons " despatched
from Jerusalem by the rulers of the race on any
foreign mission, especially such as were charged
with collecting the tribute paid to the Temple
service." (2) Usage in the N. T. — The sense in which
the word is used in the N. T. has, with one ex
ception to be mentioned below (c), no connexion
with either of the special usages above men
tioned, and is drawn simply from the etymology
of the word, whether nw or hirdaToAos. It
will be evident that the use of airotTTeAAu, as
well as that of birdtrToAos, must be kept in view
throughout the inquiry. Three uses may be
distinguished by having regard to the Person or
Persons by whom the "Apostle " is commissioned.
(a) Sent by the Father. In this view Christ Him
self is an Apostle (Heb. iii. 1 ; cp. Luke iv. 43,
John xvii. 18). And in Luke xi. 49 the term is
apparently applied to God's human messengers
sent before the Incarnation, (b) Sent by Christ,
either directly or through the agency of the
Spirit. This is the application which we have
to discuss. (c) Sent by men, as were the
brethren mentioned in 2 Cor. viii. 23, and there
described as airdo-ToAot iKKA-nai&v, " apostles or
delegates ofthe Churches." Again, Epaphroditus
is called vpuv airdo-ToAov, "your delegate" (Phil.
ii. 25), as being the bearer of the contributions
of the Philippians. Probably Andronicus and
Junias, who are described (Rom. xvi. 7 ; R. V.) as
being i-trio-npoi iv tois biroo-TSAois, " of note
among the apostles," were also apostles in this
sense, i.e. delegates of a Christian Church, though
other explanations are admissible. On the whole
it would appear that this sense of the word may
have been borrowed from the Jewish usage

200

APOSTLE

mentioned above, as both the Jewish and Christian
delegates were occupied with the care of contri
butions. The account given by Philo (de
Monarchia, ii. 3) of the selection by merit of
the most approved persons to carry the con
tributions of the Dispersion to Jerusalem, shows
that this system was before St. Paul's mind in
his institution of messengers [aTrbtXToAoi) of the
Churches to take charge of the alms (see 2 Cor.
viii. 18-23).
We may now dismiss (a) and (c), and confine
our attention to (6) Apostles sent by Christ.
The usage of the title with regard to these
persons is not uniform in N. T. authors. With
St. Luke it is in frequent use, in the Acts almost
exclusively, and in his Gospel concurrently with
ol paB-nTal (the disciples) and oi StiSeKa (the
twelve). As might be expected, the usage of St.
Paul's Epistles agrees with that of St. Luke.
On the other hand, St. John never employs oi
otoVtoAoi (the Apostles) as the title of the
Twelve, but describes them as " the disciples."
Between these two extremes stand the Gospels
of St. Matthew and St. Mark. Each of these
uses the term " the Apostles " once only : St.
Matthew at the moment of their first mission,
and St. Mark at its close. In both cases it is
plain that the pse of the substantive ottoVtoAos
is in close connexion with the use of the verb
b-jrotTTeAAu, and with the fact of the mission.
The divergence of usage noticed above may
perhaps be explained as follows. The name of
"Apostles" was conferred on the twelve disciples
by Jesus Himself (Luke vi. 13), with immediate
reference to their first mission, and also with a
view to their ultimate work. It did not come
into prominence until, after the Ascension, their
calling as disciples gave way to their work as
missionaries. St. ¦ Luke's use of the name
" Apostles " in his Gospel is due to the usage of the
time in which he wrote, and is not rigidly accu
rate. But in the period covered by the Acts
this name had become the recognised title of the
Twelve. It was thus that the Church avoided
the inconvenience of a merely numerical desig
nation, which was liable at any time to become
incorrect by the death of members of the college.
The title " the disciples " had of course become
too general to be sufficiently definite, although
St. John, writing much later, adheres to it for
the sake of historical exactness. But it was not
long before circumstances showed that the title
thus substituted for " the Twelve " was not
equivalent, but had a wider range. The Twelve
were the antitypes of the twelve patriarchs, and
the spiritual progenitors of the new Israel (see
Matt. xix. 28 ; Luke xxii. 30 ; Rev. xxi. 12, cp.
v. 14). But the Gentile world was included in the
Gospel, and also needed its Apostles. Notwith
standing their commission to " all the nations "
(Matt, xxviii. 19), the Twelve act as if only
conscious of an apostleship to the Jews, though
of course this appearance may be due to our
lack of information. It was therefore absolutely
necessary that other apostles should be ap
pointed who were not of the Twelve. Two of
the prophets and teachers of Antioch, Barnabas
and Saul, were separated and sent forth by
express direction of the Holy Spirit (Acts xiii.
1-3). Henceforth thev are both called Apostles
(Acts xiv. 4, 14 ; 1 Co'r. ix. 5, 6). More doubt
fully, but probably, Silvanus or Silas is also

APOSTLE
included by St. Paul among "the Apostles of
Christ " (1 Thess. ii. 6 ; and perhaps 1 Cor. iv.
9). A distinct apostolate of or to the Gentiles,
of which St. Paul is a member, is affirmed by him
in Rom. xi. 13 and (by implication) in Gal. ii. 9.
We have then two opposite tendencies at work,
one tending to appropriate and limit the wider
name "Apostles" to the Twelve, against which
St. Paul vigorously protests by his constant
claim of the title. On the other hand, out of
this protest of St. Paul, and out of the increasing
importance of the Gentile Church, arises a second
tendency, just discernible in the N. T., to include
in the apostolate all duly authorised missionary
teachers. The evidence for this wider signifi
cance lies in 2 Cor. xi. 13 and Rev. ii. 2, which
prove that the limits of the apostolate were not
so definite as to prevent interlopers claiming to
belong to it. The question who these interlopers
were, and what is the meaning of "the very
chiefest Apostles " (2 Cor. xi. 5 ; xii. 11), belongs
to the exegesis of 2 Cor. and requires fuller
discussion than can be given here (see Speakers
Commentary in locis). It is probable, as Seuffert
(Ursprung des Apostolates) maintains, that the
strife whether St. Paul was an Apostle or not,
to which 2 Cor. testifies, may have tended to
define and enhance the office of the apostolate
in the eyes of the Church. Seuffert's view,
however, goes a great way beyond this. Ac
cording to him, the apostolate as a corporate
institution is not to be explained as an appoint
ment of Christ Himself, but simply as a de
fensive reaction in Jerusalem against St. Paul's
free work among the heathen. And on the
other hand it was St. Paul who, by defending
his right to belong to the apostolate, exalted and
stereotyped the later and narrower conception
of the office which had originated with his
opponents. (3) Usage in later authors. — The Teaching
of the Twelve Apostles (see Dict. of Christian
Biog. s. n. " Teaching " &e), dating probably
from the beginning of the 2nd century, shows
the tendency to extend the term "Apostle " much
more fully developed (Teaching,xi. 3-6). Harnack
goes so far as to say that its language puts an end
to the fable which has until now prevailed with
respect to the signification ofthe word "Apostle"
in the earliest times (Lehre der ZwSlf App.,
Harnack, p. 115). It is at any rate clear from
the passage referred to (xi. 3-6) that early in
the 2nd century there were travelling teachers
known as " apostles," and ranking as such above
" prophets," who were entirely distinct from the
administrative officers of the Church, such as
Bishops and Deacons. But it must be noted
that the very document which gives us this
evidence, witnesses by its title to the special
character attributed in the Church to the aposto
late of the Twelve, growing in significance, and
co-existing with the laxer use of the name
"apostle." The patristic usage does not come
within the scope of this article, but the follow
ing summary of the evidence given by Bishop
Lightfoot, Gal.,3 pp. 99, 100, may be added as
confirmatory of the views stated above : — " At
an early date we find the title applied to the
Seventy, without however placing them on the
same level with the Twelve. This application
occurs even in Irenaeus (ii. 21, 1) and Tertul
lian (adv. Marc. iv. 24). About the same time

APOSTLE

APOSTLE

£01

Clem. Alex, not only calls Barnabas 'an apostle,'
but confers the title on Clement of Rome also.
Origen (in Joann. torn. iv. p. 430, ed. Delarue)
discusses the term as capable of a very wide
application ; and Eusebius, //. E. i, 12, account
ing for St. Paul's expression (1 Cor. xv. 7),
speaks of numberless apostles besides the
Twelve." II. Having thus attempted to deal with the
usage and connotation of the name, we must
give a brief account of the collective history of
the Apostles, including the apostolic commission
and privileges, and the work of the apostolate
in the development of the Church. The history
of the men themselves must be sought under
their several names. Our concern will be with the
college as a whole, its training and its activity.
(1) Training.- — The call of the individuals,
their selection as a body, and their mission to
preach and heal, must be regarded as separate
events. The call of the individuals will be
omitted here, as belonging to their personal his
tories. The choice of the Twelve as a body,
according to the narrative'of St. Luke (vi. 12 sq.),
was made by Jesus Himself after a night of
prayer, and was followed by the Sermon on the
Mount. The mission did not take place imme
diately (Luke ix. 1 sq. ; Mark vi. 7 sq.). For the
mission was not the only or immediate object of
the choice, as we learn clearly from St. Mark,
who places the " being with Jesus " as His first
aim in choosing them, and their mission to
preach as the second. St. Matthew does not
record the choice, but only their summons to
receive a charge before going forth. The very
words used seem to imply that the Twelve had
been previously set apart (Matt. x. 1). A main
object of their mission was to "preach the king
dom of God " (Luke ix. 2), and for this they
had been prepared by our Lord's parables of the
kingdom, delivered for the most part to the
multitude, but privately interpreted to the
Apostles, They had received an esoteric teach
ing, which was nevertheless not properly esoteric,
for it was only hidden that it might afterwards
be made known, and those to whom it was
addressed were not selected as intellectually
capable of advanced teaching, but, so far as
mental gifts went, were samples of the average
intelligence of the nation. They were armed
for their mission with supernatural gifts and
protection, and to emphasise these were for
bidden to make the commonest provision for
the journey. No details are given of the events
of their mission. It cannot be doubted that its
object was much more the preparation of the
Apostles for their subsequent employment (cp.
Luke xxii. 35, 36) than any immediate result.
The next point of importance is the confession
of St. Peter at Caesarea Philippi (Matt. xvi. 13,
and parall.). Their recognition of their Master
as the Messiah was followed by the announce
ment of His coming sufferings, and by the seal
of His Messiahship afforded by the Transfigura
tion. Taken together, these events imply a
great advance in the training, though even till
the last days (Luke xviii. 31-34) the reality oi
the Passion was very imperfectly apprehended
by them. The next step is marked by the Last
Discourses recorded by St. John only (John xiii.—
xvi.), which have well been called the Self-
revelation of Jesus to His disciples. The Resur

rection and the conversations of the great forty
days form another stage. Then follows the day
of Pentecost, which crowns their slowly acquired
faith and knowledge with new and instantaneous
gifts. And the last stop is reached when St.
Peter's account of his mission to Cornelius
silenced Judaic objectors, and they " glorified
God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also hath God
granted repentance unto life" (Acts xi. 18).
(2) The active work of the college dates of
course from their first mission, aud runs parallel
with their training. Neither the gift of the
Spirit bestowed by the risen Lord (John xx. 22),
nor that given by the ascended Lord (Acts ii.),
are to be understood as confined to the Apostles.
But the narrative of the Acts shows them as
taking the lead in the most decisive way. It is
they who preach (Acts ii. 14), who work
miracles (v. 12), who withstand opposition
(v. 29), who receive the contributions of
believers (iv. 35), who establish a new ministry
and consecrate those who are to fulfil it (vi. 2 sq.).
They remain in Jerusalem when the rest of the
Church is scattered after the death of St. Stephen
(viii. i). They, with the brethren, receive St.
Peter's report of the conversion of Cornelius
(Acts xi. 1), and as a natural consequence dis
patch Barnabas on his mission to Antioch
(xi. 22). Now comes a new epoch. The lost
history of Apollonius, quoted by Euseb. H. E.
v. 18, preserves the tradition that " the Saviour
had commanded His Apostles not to depart from
Jerusalem for twelve years." This period would
be complete about the time of the martyrdom of
James the brother of John, and the persecution
which, accompanied it. A withdrawal of the
remaining Apostles from Jerusalem at this time
would fall in with indications in the narrative,
especially with the prominence into which the
elders (oi TrpeoBirepoi) advance, who have not
hitherto been heard of in the Church. To the
elders are brought the alms from Antioch
(xi. 30). The Apostles and elders receive Paul
and Barnabas (xv. 2, 4), and " are gathered
together to consider of this matter " (xv. 6).
In xxi. 18, we have reached a further stage.
The elders are no longer merely associated with
the Apostles as the governing body of the Church
of Jerusalem, but altogether take their place
under the presidency of James. On the impor
tant question of the relation of James to the
apostolic college, and his position at Jerusalem,
we must refer to another article [JAMES THE SON
op Alphaeus],
Apostolic commission and privileges. — The
original commission of the Twelve has already
been noticed, but we have also two instances of
supplementary appointments, (a) The choice
of Matthias to fill the place of Judas (Acts i.
15-26) is regarded as made by the Lord Him
self, the lot being only His instrument (v. 24).
The office of the Twelve is here (v. 25) definitely
described as airoo-ToA-li (mission or apostleship),
and not only as SiaKovta (ministry). A qualifi
cation is required : namely, membership of the
band who had followed Jesus in His ministry
from the very beginning (i>. 21). And a new
feature is added to the work, that of witnessing
to the Resurrection of the Lord (v. 22). (b) The
appointment of Barnabas and Saul (Acts xiii.
1-3) has fresh features. The initiative is given
by the direct prompting of the Holy Spirit.

202

APOSTLE

There is no mention of a vacancy to be filled up,
but the commission is given with a view to the
work to be done. It is accompanied with fast
ing, prayer, and imposition of hands. The event
is not distinctly described as an admission to
the apostolate, but the two have not gone far
on their journey before they are spoken of as
Apostles (xiv. 4). It is instructive to compare
with this narrative the mission of Apollos to
Corinth (xviii. 27). Here is no apostleship. He
went " when he was minded," and the brethren
merely " encouraged " him. Contrast with
this " they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost "
(xiii. 4). This mission by the Holy Ghost is the
fulfilment of the Lord's promise to Paul, " I
will send thee forth (i^aTTOtrTeAu) far hence
unto the Gentiles " (Acts xxii. 21).
The essential mark of an Apostle was the
commission from Jesus Himself, or from the
express direction of His Spirit. But St. Paul
appears to imply (1 Cor. ix. 1) that having seen
the Lord was also requisite. This must mean
the Risen Lord, and, so understood, accords
exactly with St. Peter's definition, " a witness
with us of His Resurrection " (Acts i. 22). The
prominence given to the subject by St. Paul in
his preaching shows that he regarded this as a.
main part of his apostolic duty. Other marks
of an Apostle were the power to communicate
the gift ofthe Spirit (Acts viii. 17; xix. 6); to
perform miracles (Matt. x. 1 ; 2 Cor. xii. 12);
and to win converts (1 Cor. ix. 1). The first
of these seems to have been an exclusive charac
teristic. When given mediately by human
agents, the Apostles were the agents. De Wette
(Apostelgeschichte,* p. 123) forcibly insists on
this point, but of course with his usual object
of discrediting the narrative. In one case it is
distinctly stated that the appointment of elders
was made by Apostles, namely by Paul and
Barnabas, Acts xiv. 23 ; but in Tit. i. 5 the
same function is delegated to Titus. A marked
privilege of an Apostle, though extended in the
Pastoral Epistles to elders, was sustentation by
the Church. This privilege was no doubt based
on the terms of the original commission, Matt.
x. 10. It is fully stated by St. Paul in 1 Cor.
ix., but only that he may renounce the use of it.
We gather that his self-denial was represented
by his opponents as a flaw in his claim to the
apostolate. Work of the apostolate in the development of
the Church. — Both St. John and St. Paul take
up the symbolic language of our Lord to St.
Peter (Matt. xvi. 18), and use it to set forth
the relation of the Church to the collective
apostolate (Rev. xxi. 14; Eph. ii. 20). The
Church was built on the testimony of the
Apostles, and its organisation was determined by
them. But beyond this, two points may be
noticed to which St. Luke specially calls atten
tion. It depended on the Apostles for its unity
in doctrine and in fellowship. "They con
tinued stedfastly in the Apostles' teaching and
fellowship " (Acts ii. 42). There was a " teach
ing" of the Apostles. During their long stay
at Jerusalem, and in the course of their work
there, it is probable that that common oral
Gospel took shape which preceded the written
narrative of the Synoptists (Westcott, Introd.
Study of Gospels, iii.). The collective action of
the Apostles prevented inaccurate and divergent

APOTHECARIES
views of our Lord's life and work from obtaining
currency in the Church. (On the essential unity
of apostolic teaching, see Neander, Pflanzung
und Leitnng.) There was also a "fellowship"
of the Apostles. They formed a personal centre
to which all Christians and all congregations of
Christians attached themselves. The Church
was apostolic first and catholic afterwards. Not
only the college but the individual Apostles
secured this unity by their action. A common
relation to St. Paul was the outward link of
unity between the Churches which acknow
ledged him as their founder. And the impor
tant body of apostolic delegates, such as Timothy
and Titus (Rothe, Anfdnge Chr. Kirehe, § 36),
were subordinate links of unity.
In conclusion, it should be observed that a
fundamental difficulty besets the question of the
nature of the apostolate. Our knowledge of its
authority and activity is derived in great
measure from one instance 'only, that of St.
Paul. Certain things were done by St. Paul, and
in virtue, as he constantly asserts, of his apo
stolic office ; but this scarcely enables us to
generalise with regard to the other Apostles.
The office was of Divine appointment and carried
recognised rights, but its signification depended
on the man who exercised it and the special
gifts imparted to him. We cannot suppose that
the unrecorded lives of apostles barely known
by name would show an activity like that of
the Apostle of the Gentiles, though such a
belief probably contributed to the composition
of the fictions known as Acta Apostolorum,
Apocrypha (ed. Tischendorf; cp. R. A. Lipsius,
Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten u. Apostel-
legenden). St. Paul's own words aTe no empty
boast, " I laboured more abundantly than they
all : yet not I, but the grace of God which was
with me " (1 Cor. xv. 10).
On the name and office of an apostle see
Bishop Lightfoot, Galatians, detached note,
which has been freely used in this article ; also
Harnack, Lehre der Zublf App., pp. 111-118.
For the history of the Apostles and their work,
see especially Neander, Pflanzung und Lcitung
(Planting of the Christian Church, Bohn's
transl.), passim. Dr. A. B. Bruce, Training of
tlie Twelve, is lengthy but useful. Rothe,
Anfdnge Chr. Kirehe, § 36, should be referred to.
Seuffert's Der Ursprung und die Bedeutung des
Apostolates is worth reading, but its extravagant
paradoxes are based on the assumption that the
evidence of the Gospels and Acts on the subject
deserves no confidence : Harnack's criticism
(Theol. Literaturzeitung, 1887, No. 20) should be
read with the book. Weisz'acker, Das Aposto-
lische Zeitalter, pp. 606-613, is more cautious.
The literature of the subject is scanty. [E. R. B.]
APOTHECARIES. In Neh. iii. 8, Hananiah,
one of the repairers of the wall of Jerusalem, is
described as "the son of one of the apothe
caries" (D^n**-"*rrt"l, R. V. marg. " perfumers " ;
cp. the fem/ in 1 Sam. viii. 13. The " son
of" indicates membership in a guild; cp.
CNUan \33). The LXX., arguing from the
analog)' of the other names, took the word for
a proper name, and reads A. PuKeip, BN.
'luuKtlp ; Vulg. filius pigmentarii. The marg.
rendering of R. V. is that adopted by .all
moderns. [S. R. D.]

APPAIM
APP ATM (D'BX, the nostrils; A. 'Atptpdip,
B. 'Etppdip ; Apphaim), son of Nadab, and
descended from jerahmeel, the founder of an
important family of the tribe of Judah (1 Ch. ii.
30, 31). The succession fell to him, as his elder
brother died without issue. [W. A. W.] [F.]
APPEAL. In the patriarchal times, appetl
would lie to the head of a family, and (if
necessary) to the yet higher authority of the
patriarch or head of the tribe, from whose
decision there would be no appeal. This was
the practice of a nomadic people. It is illus
trated in the case of Tamar. Appeal was made
to Judah as the head of the family, and he gave
his decision (Gen. xxxviii. 24). Had Tamar
failed in her appeal to his sense of justice
(vv. 14, 26), the matter would in all probability
have been tried before Jacob, as the head of the
tribe. During the period of the bondage in
Egypt " the elders of Israel " (Ex. iii. 16, IS,
iv. 29, xii. 21) were the recognised authorities,
and it remained only for Moses to elaborate —
under the guidance of Jehovah — a scheme
ancestral and acceptable (Num. xi. 16, 24; cp.
Ex. xviii. 13-26). In this scheme the principle
of appeal will be seen to have a recognised
place. A central court was established under
the presidency of the judge or ruler for the
time being, before which all cases too difficult
for the local courts were to be tried (Deut. xvii.
8, 9 ; xix. 16). Winer, indeed, infers from
Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, § 14, bva-Kep-Keruaav, sc.
oi SiKatTTal) that this was not a proper court of
appeal, the local judges and not the litigants
being, according to the above language, the
appellants : but these words, taken in connexion
with a former passage in the same chapter (el
tis . . . Tivb oitIov irpotpepoi), may be regarded
simply in the light of a general direction. Ac
cording to the above regulation, the appeal lay
in the time of the Judges to the judge (Judg.
iv. 5 ; cp. 1 Sam. viii. 4, 5), and under the
monarchy to the king, who appears to have
deputed certain persons to inquire into the
facts of the case, and record his decision thereon
(2 Sam. xv. 3). Jehoshaphat delegated his
judicial authority to a court permanently es
tablished for the purpose, and presided over by
the high-priest for all matters spiritual, and by
" the ruler of the house of Judah " for matters
temporal (2 Ch. xix. 8-11). During the Exile,
" the elders" once more represented the principal
judicial authority (cp. Jer. xxix. 1 ; Ezek. xiv.
1, xx. 1) ; but after the return similar courts to
those of Jehoshaphat were re-established by
Ezra (Ezra vii. 25). After the institution of
the Sanhedrin the final appeal lay to them,
and the various stages through which a case
might pass are thus described by the Talmudists
— from the local consistory before which the
cause was first tried, to the consistory that sat
in the neighbouring town : thence to the courts
at Jerusalem, commencing in the court of the
23 that sat in the gate of Shushan, proceeding
to the court that sat in the gate of Nicanor,
and concluding with the great council of the
Sanhedrin that sat in the room Gazith (Carpzov.
Appar. p. 571).
A Roman citizen under the republic had the
right of appealing in criminal cases from the
decision of a magistrate to the people ; and as

AIT' II FORUM

203

the emperor succeeded to the power of the
people, there was an appeal to him in the last
resort. Cp. Pliny, Ep. x. 97. See Dict. of Ant.
art. Appellatio; Pauly, Ii. E. s. v. 'Appcl-
latio. St. Paul, as a Roman citizen, exercised the
right of appeal from the jurisdiction of the
local court at Jerusalem to the emperor (Acts
xxv. 11). But as no decision had been given,
there could be no appeal, properly speaking, in
his case : the language used (Acts xxv. 9) implies
the right on the part of the accused of electing
either to be tried by the provincial magistrate,
or by the emperor. Since the procedure in the
Jewish courts at that period was of a mixed
and undefined character, the Roman and the
Jewish authorities co-existing and carrying on
the course of justice between them, Paul availed
himself of his undoubted privilege to be tried
by the pure Roman law. The history of appeal
as it affected the Israelites may be studied in
Schnell, Das Israelit. Recht in seinen Grend-
ziigers dargestellt ; Salvador, Institutions de
Mdise ; Pastoret, Legislation des Hebreux ; Cas-
telli, La legge del popolo Ebreo. See also the
authorities in Zockler, Hdb. d. theolog. Wissen-
schaften, i. pp. 283, 295-6. [W. L. B.] [F.]
APPHIA ('Aircpio; Appia). A Christian
woman whose name occurs between the names
of Philemon and Archippus in the address of the
Epistle to Philemon (Philem. v. 2). From the
position of her name it is probable that she was
wife of Philemon and mother of Archippus. At
any rate she was a member of Philemon's family,
as the letter is of a private character. Bp.
Lightfoot (Coloss. and Philem., Introduction to
Philem.) has overthrown the view that Apphia
is only a Greek form of the Latin name Appia.
By references to Boeckh (Corp. Inscr.) and other
sources he has abundantly proved that Apphia
is a native Phrygian name, the root of which
(with its kindred forms) is probably some Phry
gian term of endearment or relationship. We
thus gain a fresh testimony to the genuineness
ofthe Epistle, since Colossae, the home of Apphia,
was a Phrygian city. [E. R. B.]
AP'PHTJS (T.7 'Arrtpovs, A. ^.atptpovs, B.
-Zatrtpovs ; Apphus), surname of Jonathan Mac
cabaeus (1 Mace ii. 5). [G.] [F.]
AP'PII FOR'TJM ('Atttt'iov tpipov, Acts xxviii.
15) was a very well-known station (as we learn
from Hor. Sat. i. 5, and Cie ad Att. ii. 10) on
the Appian Way, the great road which led
from Rome to the neighbourhood of the Bay
of Naples. St. Paul, having landed at Puteoli
(v. 13) on his arrival from Malta, proceeded
under the charge of the centurion along the
Appian Way towards Rome, and found at Appii
Forum a group of Christians, who had come to
meet him. The position of this place is fixed by
the ancient Itineraries at forty-three miles from
Rome (Itin. Ant. p. 107 ; Itin. Hier. p. 611).
The Jerusalem Itinerary calls it a mutatio.
Horace describes it as full of taverns and boat
men. This arose from the circumstance that it
was at the northern end of a canal which ran
parallel with the road, through a considerable
part of the Pomptine Marshes. There is no
difficulty in identifying the site with some ruins
near Treponti; and in fact the forty-third mile-

204

APPLE-TREE

stone is preserved there. The name is probably
due to Appius Claudius, who first constructed
this part of the road : and from a passage in
Suetonius, it would appear that it was connected
in some way with his family, even in the time
of St. Paul. [Three Taverns.] [J. S. H.] [W.]
APPLE-TREE, APPLE (D-ISPI," tappuach;
P-tjAov ; pnAea, Sym. in Cant. viii. 5 ; malum,
malus). Mention of the apple-tree occurs in the
A. V. and R. V. in the following passages. Cant.
ii. 3 : "As the apple-tree among the trees ofthe
wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat
down under his shadow with great delight, and
his fruit was sweet to my taste." Cant. viii. 5 :
" I raised thee up under the apple-tree : there
thy mother brought thee forth" [cp. K. V.].
Joel i. 12, where the apple-tree is named with
the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the
palm-trees, as withering under the desolating
effects of the locust, palmer-worm, &e The
fruit of this tree is alluded to in Prov. xxv. 11 :
"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in
pictures [R. V. baskets ; marg. or, filigree work]
of silver." In Cant. ii. 5 : " Comfort me with
apples, for I am sick of love:" vii. 8, " The smell
of thy nose [K. V. breath] shall be like apples."
It is a difficult matter to say with any degree
of certainty what is the specific tree denoted by
the Hebrew word tappuach. The LXX. and
Vulg. afford no clue, as the terms priAov, malum,
have a wide signification, being used by the
Greeks and Romans to represent almost any
kind of tree-fruit ; at any rate, the use of the
word is certainly generic. From the passages
in which the word occurs we gather (1) that
it supplied a grateful shade ; (2) that it had a.
peculiar fragrance or perfume ; (3) that it was
sweet and agreeable to the taste; (4) that it
had a beautiful appearance, its fruit contrasting
with the foliage— "apples of gold in pictures
of silver." What fruit-tree growing in Syria
will meet all these conditions? Critics and
commentators have roamed through the orchards
of Europe and Asia to identify the fruit indi
cated, but none of their guesses meet the require
ments of the case. The quince, the citron, the
orange, the apple, have all had their advocates.
We may examine the claims of each, and first
the apple. Our apple is not a native of Syria,
and it can scarcely exist in so warm a climate.
The German colonists at Jaffa have attempted to
introduce it, and it barely exists there, repre
sented by a few sickly cankered trees with small
woody fruit. Dr. Thomson, who, unfortunately,
is generally incorrect in any statement on natu
ral history, writes (Land and Book, p. 544) that
Askelon is celebrated for its apples, which would
not disgrace an American orchard. Unfortu
nately, as I can vouch from personal examina
tion, there is not an apple-tree near Askelon.
The learned doctor mistook quinces for apples.
The pear is wild in Galilee, Gilead, and Lebanon
ou very high elevations, but neither it nor the
apple can possibly be cultivated with success in
Palestine or elsewhere. As for the orange,
though it now thrives on the coast plains, and
the oranges of Jaffa are among tho finest in the

* From nSJ, spiravit, in allusion to the perfume of
the fruit. Houghton (PSBA. xii. 42, &c.) still prefers
the quince.

APPLE-TREE
world, we have not the slightest ground for
believing that it had been introduced into Pales
tine till many centuries later than the time of
Solomon. Its congener, the citron, may have
been known, since it is a native of Media,
as its name Citrus medica, Mr/Aov to M-nbiKov
(Theophr. Hist. Plant, iv. 4) implies ; but, as
Theophrastus in the same passage remarks,
though valued, like its leaf, for its perfume, it is
not eaten, and only used in decoctions (tpdppaKov).
It is the handsomest and largest of tho orange
tribe in hot climates, and has a dense shade,
but it never could be said of it, "his fruit was
sweet to my taste." The Jews value this citron
and carry the fruit on its stalk at the Feast of
Tabernacles, a custom which is alluded to by
Josephus, who states (Ant. xiii. 13, § 5) that
citron boughs were ordered to be carried on this
occasion. There remains the quince, which
Celsius and most subsequent writers following
him have assigned to the tappuach ; but though
it is fragrant, and " its scent," says Abu'l Fadli,
" cheers my soul, renews my strength, and re
stores my breath," though it was sacred among
the ancients to the goddess of Love, who is often
represented as holding it in her hand,* no one
would sit down under a quince-tree, and pro
nounce the fruit sweet to the taste. Nor does
the quince-tree afford so good a shade as most
other fruit-trees. It has often struck us that
most of the difficulties of expositors on the point
have arisen from their ignorance of the country
itself. There is one fruit, however, which is not
otherwise mentioned in Scripture, which is most
abundant in the Holy Land, which meets all
the requirements of the context, aud the only
one which will do so — the Apricot. It is true
there are no wild apricots in Palestine, but
neither is the apple, quince, or citron wild there ;
and the apricot is known to be a native of the
neighbouring country of Armenia, and therefore
probably introduced as early as the vine, which
was brought originally from the same regions,
and is certainly not a native of Palestine. The
apricot is, with the exception of the fig, perhaps
the most abundant fruit of the whole country,
and the cakes of sun-dried apricots, called " Mish
mash," are to be found in every bazaar in great
quantities. In highlands and lowlands alike, in
the nooks of Judaea, in the recesses of Galilee,
and the orchard forests of Damascus, the apricot
flourishes and yields a crop of prodigious abun
dance. Many times have we pitched our tents
under its shade, and spread our carpets secure
from the rays of the sun. There can scarcely
be a more deliciously perfumed fruit than the
apricot, and what can better fit the imagery of
Solomon, " apples of gold in pictures of silver,"
than this golden fruit, as its branches bend under
the weight of their crop in its setting of bright
yet pale foliage ? The fruit has given its name
to two villages, Tappuah, one in Judah and the
other in Ephraim (Josh. xv. 34 ; xvi. 8 [cp. xii.
17]). As to the Apples of Sodom, see Vine
op Sodom.
The expression " apple of the eye " occurs in

D Hence the act expressed by the term pykofioAnv
(Schol. ad Arlstoph. Nub. p. 180; Theocr. Id. iii. 10,
v. 88, &e ; Virg. Eel. iii. 64) was a token of love For
numerous testimonies, see Celsius, Hierob. i. 265.

AQUILA
Deut. xxxii. 10 ; Ps. xvii. 8 ; Prov. vii. 2 ; Lam,
ii. 18 ; Zech. ii. 8. The word is the representa
tive of an entirely different name from that con
sidered above : the Hebrew word being 'ishdn,"
" little man " — the exact equivalent to the
English pupil, the Latin pupilla, the Greek Kipn.
It is curious to observe how common the image
(" pupil of the eye ") is in the languages of differ
ent nations. Gesenius (Thes. p. 86) quotes from
the Arabic, the Syriac, the Ethiopic, the Coptic,
the Persian, in all of which tongues an expres
sion similar to the English " pupil of the eye "
is found. It is a pity that the same figure is not
preserved in the A. V. and R. V., which invariably
use the expression " apple of the eye " (in al
lusion to its shape), instead of giving the literal
translation from the Hebrew. [H. B. T.]
AQUILA CAkvAos ; Aquila). 'AxiiAos is
merely the Graecised form of the common Latin
name Aquila, with which the purely Latin name
of his wife Prisca or Priscilla agrees. The form
Prisca instead of Priscilla has MS. support in
three passages. So in Latin authors, Livia and
Livilla, &e, occur indiscriminately of the same
person. The name of the wife is placed before
that of the husband in Acts xviii. 18 and 26,
Rom. xvi. 3, and 2 Tim. iv. 19. It may perhaps
be inferred that she was the first and more
earnest convert. Aquila is described as TIovti-
Kbv Tip yevei. On the one hand, tbe occurrence
of the cognomen Aquila in the Gens Pontia has
led critics rashly to assert that the N. T. Aquila
was a freedman who had taken the name of
Pontius Aquila, and that St. Luke had by
mistake explained his name from the name of
the province [Pontus]. But, on the other hand,
there is quite as remarkable a coincidence in
the fact that we know of another Aquila from
Pontus, the author of the earliest Greek Version
of the 0. T. after the Christian era [Versions,
Ancient (Greek, Aquila) ; (Targum, Onkelos)].
As in the cases of Barnabas and Apollos, " by
race " (t$ yevei) indicates only the place of
ancestral settlement, and not nationality, for
Aquila was a Jew. As a Jew, he with Priscilla
had left Rome under the edict of Claudius (prob.
A.D. 52), referred to by Suet. Claud. 25 : " Ju-
daeos impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes
Roma expulit." [Claudius.] St. Paul found
them at Corinth on his first visit, and worked
with them at their common trade of tent-making,
the material employed being probably goat's-hair
cloth, " cilicium," the product of St. Paul's
native province (Smith's Dict. Class. Antiq. s. v.
Cilicium). There is no evidence that Aquila
and his wife were baptized when St. Paul joined
them, but they must at any rate have been
Christians when, on St. Paul's departure from
Corinth, they accompanied him to Ephesus, and
were " left " by him there. It is however
possible that Aquila was in part attracted to
Ephesus as a centre of his own trade, though
both the passages quoted by Lewin only refer to
one event, the present of a tent to Alcibiades by
the Ephesians. The vow performed at Cenchreae
before sailing may be referred to Aquila instead
of St. Paul, so far as grammatical construction
c " IIE^'N. homunculus, [i**n [iK^t*:, bomunculus
oculi, i.e. pupilla, in qua tanquam in speculo hominis
imagunculam conspicimus " (Ges. Thes. s. v.). ,

AU

205

is concerned, but it is most improbablo that so
small a detail should have been thought worth
relating, unless it had concerned the main
character in the narrative At Ephesus Priscilla
and Aquila soon found important work in teach
ing Apollos, who had already been " instructed
in the way of the Lord," but needed to have it
"more accurately set forth" to him. They
were still in Ephesus when St. Paul, having
returned thither, wrote 1 Corinthians towards
the end of his three years' stay in the spring of
A.D. 57. It had already become customary for
Christians to assemble for worship in their
house at Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi. 19), as afterwards
in their house at Rome (Rom. xvi. 5. For
ttiv kot' oIkov auruv iKKA-naiav, see Lightfoot,
Colossians, iv. 15, note). But at the date of the
Epistle to the Romans, probably early in A.D. 58,
they are in Rome, and are given a marked pre
eminence among the Christians dwelling there
(Rom. xvi. 3-5). They are the Apostle's " fellow
workers " by a double title, that of manual aud
that of spiritual labour. They are also de
scribed by St. Paul in this salutation as having
" laid down their own neck for his life." It is
probable that this refers to some courageous act
during those outbreaks of hostility at Ephesus
of which one scene only is given us in Acts xix.
23 sq. It is evident from Acts xx. 19 and 1 Cor.
xv. 32 that St. Paul's life at Ephesus was one of
suffering and danger. It is also noticeable that
the next name in the salutation is that of
Epaenetus, who had probably followed Prisca
and Aquila from Ephesus to Rome (Asia, not
Achaia, is the true reading in Rom. xvi. 5. So
R. V.). The last notice of them is a salutation
in 2 Tim. iv. 19, which points to their being
at that time with Timothy, and probably again
at Ephesus. The tradition that they were be
headed seems to be illogically derived from the
suggestion of Rom. xvi. 4. The Greek and Roman
calendar both commemorate them as martyrs,
the former on Feb. 13, the latte" on July 8.
[E. R. B.]
AR CIS) and AR OP MOAB (3Nto "ll*.*
Sam. Vers. HtJ'IK ; Num. xxi. 15, "Up; Deut. il.
9, 18, AF. 'Apo-hp, B. -2,-neip; v. 29, B. 'Apo-hp,
A. 'Apor)A ; Ar), one of the chief places of Moab
(Is. xv. 1 ; Num. xxi. 28).b From the Onomas-
ticon (OS.2 p. 121, 6), and from Jerome's Com
on Is. xv. 1, it appears that in his day the place
was known as Areopolis c and Rabbath-Moab,
" id est, grandis Moab " (Reland, p. 577 ; Rob. ii.
166, note).11 The site is still called Rabba ; it

* According to Gesenius (Jesaia, 515), an old, probably
Moabite, form ofthe word yi]}, "a city."
0 Samaritan Codex and Version, "as far as Moab,"
reading •"•) for *"|1* ; and so also LXX. ews M.
• "We have Jerome's testimony (0S.2p. 133, 18) that
Areopolis was believed to be so called dn-b tou "Apeots,
i.e. from Mars. This is a good Instance of the tendency
which is noticed by Trench (English Past and Present;
218, 220) as existing in language to tamper with the
derivations of words. He gives another example of it
in " Hierosolyma," quasi 'iepos, " holy."
a Bitter (Syrien, pp. 1212-13) tries hard to make out
that Areopolis and Ar-Moab were not identical, and that
the latter was the "city in the midst of the wady"'
[Ahoer] ; but he fails to establish his point. The argu
ment for supposing Ar to have been on the Arnon is
well stated in Zeller's Bibl. Wortb. p, 95.

206

ARA

lies about half-way between Kerek and the Wady
Mdjib, ten or eleven miles from each, the Roman
road passing through it. The remains are not
so important as might be imagined (Irby, p. 140 ;
Burckh. p. 377 ; De Saulcy, ii. 44-46, and Map
8) ; but they bear all the marks of a city of the
late Roman period, with abundant traces of an
earlier epoch (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 111).
In the books of Moses Ar appears to be used
as a representative name for the whole nation
of Moab : see Deut. ii. 9, 18, 29 ; and also Num.
xxi. 15, where it is coupled with a word rarely
if ever used in the same manner, j*!"*."^, " the
dwelling of Ar." In Num. xxii. 36 the almost
identical words 'D fll are rendered " a city of
Moab," following the Sam. Vers., the LXX., and
Vulgate. [G.] [W.]
ARA' (NIX, Ges. perhaps = ,W1N, a lion;
'Apd; Ara), one of the sons of Jether, the
head of a family of Asherites (1 Ch. vii. 38).
[W. A. W.] [F.]»
ARA'B (3")X, Ges. = ambush ; A. 'EpeB,
B. Alpep ; Arab), a city of Judah in the moun
tainous district, probably in the neighbourhood
of Hebron. It is mentioned only in Josh. xv. 52,
and is now probably Kh. er Rabiyeh, south of
Hebron and near ed Domeh (Dumah. P. F.
Mem. iii. 311, 360). [Arbite.] [G.] [W.]
ARA'BAH (nD***" ; B. BatBdpaBa ; campes-
tria), Josh, xviii. 18 ; possibly in this verse a
town (cp. LXX. and xv. 6, 61). Although this
word appears in the A. V. in its original shape
only in the verse above quoted, yet in the Hebrew
text it is of frequent occurrence; and has,
except in cases 1 and 3, been retained in the R. V.
1. If the derivation of Gesenius (Thes. p. 1066)
is to be accepted, the fundamental meaning of
the term is "burnt up " or "waste," and thence
" sterile," and in accordance with this idea it is
employed iu various poetical parts of Scripture
to designate generally a barren, uninhabitable
district, — " a desolation, a dry land, and a desert,
a laud wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth
any son of man pass thereby " (Jer. li. 43 :
see a striking remark in Martineau, p. 395 ; and
amongst other passages, Job xxiv. 5, xxxix. 6 ;
Is. xxxiii. 9, xxxv. 1).
2. But within this general signification it is
plain, from even a casual examination of the
topographical records in the earlier Books of the
Bible, that the word has also a more special and
local force. In these cases it is found with the
definite article (n*,*l*'n, ha-'Arabah), "the Ara-
bah " (R. V.), and is also so mentioned as clearly
to refer to some spot or district familiar to the
then inhabitants of Palestine. This district—
although nowhere expressly so defined in the
Bible, and although the peculiar force ofthe word
'Arabah appears to have been disregarded by
even the earliest commentators and interpreters
of the Sacred Books "—has within our own times

» The early commentators and translators seem to
have overlooked or neglected the fact, tbat the Jordan
valley and its continuation south of the Dead Sea had a
special name attached to them, and to them only. By
Josephus the Jordan valley is always called the uevl
ireSiw; but he applies the same name to the plain
of Esdraelon. Jerome (as* p. 123, 10) gives to this

ARABAH
been identified with the deep sunken valley or
trench which forms the most striking among
the many striking natural features of Palestine
and which extends with great uniformity of
formation from the slopes of Hermon to the
Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea : the most remark
able depression known to exist on the surface of
the globe (Humboldt, Cosmos, i. 150, ed. Bohn ¦
see also p. 301). Through the northern portion
of this extraordinary fissure the Jordan rushes
through the lakes of Huleh and Gennesareth
down its tortuous course to the deep chasm
of the Dead Sea. This portion, about 150 miles
in length, is known amongst the Arabs by the
name of el-Ghor ( .yi\ J, an appellation, which
it has borne certainly since the days of Abulfeda.b
The southern boundary of the Ghor has been
fixed by Robinson to be the wall of cliffs formed
by the ancient deposits of the Dead Sea, which
closes in the marshy plain of the Sdbkah, about
nine miles south of the Lake. Down to the foot
of these cliffs the Ghor extends ; from their
summits, southward to the Gulf of 'Akabah, the
valley changes its name, or, it would be more
accurate to say, retains its old name of Wady
el-'Arabah ('£> j>A\ L?<%).
Looking to the indications of the Sacred Text,
there can be no doubt that in the times of the
conquest and the monarchy the name 'Arabah
was applied to the valley in the entire length of
both its southern and northern portions. Thus
in- Deut. i. 1, probably, and in Deut. ii. 8,
certainly (A.V. "plain" in both cases), the

district the name Aulon, vallis grandis atque cam-
pestris; but he preserves no such name in the Vulgate,
and renders Arabah by planities, solitude, campestria,
desertum, by one or all of which he translates indis
criminately Mishor, Bik'oh, Midbar, Shefelo, Jeshi-
mon, equally unmindful of the special force attaching
to several of these words. Even the accurate Aquila
has failed in this, and uses his favourite ij bpaAri indis
criminately. The Talmud, if we may trust the single
reference given by Eeland (p. 365), mentions the Jordan
valley under the name Bekaab, a word at that time of no
special import. The Samaritan Version [and the Tar-
gums apparently confound all words for valley, plain or
low country, under the one term Mishor, which was
originally confined strictly to the high smooth downs
east of Jordan on the upper level [Mishoe].
In tho LXX. we frequently find the words "ApajSa
and 'ApajSiifl; but it is difficult to say whether this has
been done intelligently, or whether it is an instance of
the favourite habit of these translators of transferring
a Hebrew word literally into Greek when they were
unable to comprehend its force. (See some curious
examples of this— to take one Book only— in 2 K. ii. 14,
i^ii ; iii. 4, „o)xr)8 ; iv. 39, apuiB ; v. 19 [cp. Gen.
xxxv. 16], o-t.ppa.6i ; vi. 8, iKpwi ; ix. 13, yttpip, &c. &c.)
In the latter case it is evidence of an equal ignorance to
that which has rendered the word by Svapai, koS' ecnre-
ptw, and 'ApafiCa. In Gen. xxxv. 21 it is possible that
the LXX. have treated the very distinct 1Q-|K (Arba)
"s if nn*U*, and have explained it mi m-Si'ov [Arbah].
b By Abulfeda and Ibn Haukal the word O-Ghor
is used to denote tbe valley from the Lake of Gen
nesareth to the Dead Sea (Ritter, Sinai, pp. 1059, 1060).
Thus each word was originally applied to the whole
extent, and each has been since restricted to a portion
only (see Stanley, App. 487). The word Ghor is inter
preted by Freytag to mean "locus depressior inter
monte3."

ARABAH
allusion is to the southern portion, while the
other passages in which the name occurs point
with certainty — now that the identification has
been suggested — to the northern portion. In
Deut. iii. 17, iv. 49 ; Josh. iii. 16, xi. 2, xii. 3 ;
and 2 K. xiv. 25, both the Dead Sea and the Sea
of Cinneroth (Gennesareth) are named in close
connexion with the Arabah. The allusions in
Deut. xi. 30 ; Josh. viii. 14, xii. 1, xviii. 18 ;
2 Sam. ii. 29, iv. 7 ; 2 K. xxv. 4 ; Jer. xxxix. 4,
Iii. 7, become at once intelligible when the
meaning of the 'Arabah is known, however
puzzling they may have been to former com
mentators. " In Josh. xi. 16 and xii. 8 the
'Arabah takes its place with "the mountain,"
" the lowland " plains of Philistia and Esdraelon,
" the south " and " the plain " of Coele-Syria,
as one of the great natural divisions of the con
quered country.
3. But further the word is found in the plural
followed by a genitive (m2"l!', Arboth), always
in connexion with either Jericho or Moab, and
therefore doubtless denoting the portion of the
'Arabah near Jericho : in the former case on the
west, and in the latter on the east side of the
Jordan; the Arboth-Moab being always dis
tinguished from the Sede-Moab — the bare and
burnt-up soil of the sunken valley, from the
cultivated pasture or corn-fields of the downs on
the upper level — with all the precision which
would naturally follow from the essential differ
ence of the two spots. See Num. xxii. 1, xxvi.
3, 63, xxxi. 12, xxxiii. 48, 49, 50, xxxv. 1,
xxxvi. 13 ; Deut. xxxiv. 1, 8 ; Josh. iv. 13,
v. 10, xiii. 32 ; 2 Sam. xv. 28, xvii. 16 ; 2 K.
xxv. 5 ; Jer. xxxix. 5, Iii. 8.
The word 'Arabah does not appear in the
Bible until the Book of Numbers. In the
allusions to the valley of the Jordan in Gen. xiii.
10, &c, the curious term Ciccar is employed.
This word and the other words used in reference
to the Jordan valley, as well as the peculiarities
and topography of that region — in fact of the
whole of the Ghor — will be more appropriately
considered under the word Jokdan. At present
our attention may be confined to the southern
division, to that portion of this singular valley
which has from the most remote date borne, as it
Still continues to bear, the name of 'Arabah.
A deep interest will always attach to this re
markable district, from the fact that it must
have been the scene of a portion of the wander
ings of the children of Israel after their repulse
from the south of the Promised Land. Wher
ever Kadesh and Hormah may hereafter be
found to lie, we know with certainty, even in
our present state of ignorance, that they must
have been to the west of the 'Arabah ; and that
" the way of the Red Sea," by which they
journeyed "from Mount Hor to compass the
land of Edom," after the refusal of the king of
Edom to allow them a passage through his
country, must have been southwards, down the
'Arabah towards the head of the Gulf, till, as is
nearly certain, they turned up one of the Wadys
on the left, and so made their way by the back

ARABAH

207

c See the mistakes of Michaelis, Marius, and others
who identified the 'Arabah with the Bik'ah (i.e. the
plain of Coele-Syria, the modern el-BUkda), or witb
the Mishor, the level down country on the east of
Jordan (Keil, pp. 205, 226).

of the mountain of Seir to the land of Moab on
the east of the Dead Sea.
More accurate information will no doubt be
obtained before long of the whole of this in
teresting country, but in the meantime as short
a summary as possible of what can be collected
from the reports of the principal travellers
who have visited it is due.
The direction of the Ghor is nearly due north
and south. The 'Arabah, however, slightly
changes its direction to about N.N.E. by S.S.W.
(Rob. i. 162, 3). But it preserves the straight-
ness of its course, and the general character of
the region is not dissimilar from that of the
Ghor (Sitter, Sinai, p. 1132 ; Irby, p. 134) except
that the soil is more sandy, and that, from the
absence of the central river and the absolutely
desert character of the highland on its western
side (owing to which the Wadys bring down no
fertilising streams in summer, and nothing but
raging torrents in winter), there are very few
of those lines and " circles " of verdure which
form so great a relief to the torrid climate of
the Ghor.
The 'Arabah forms part of the remarkable
natural feature which, under the form of a
fissure, probably coincident with a fracture of
the earth's crust, commences with the Gulf of
'Akabah, and thence stretches northwards along
the line of the 'Arabah itself, and of the valleys
of the Jordan, Litany, and Orontes to the foot of
the Taurus mountains. The 'Arabah proper
extends from the head of the Gulf of 'Akabah to
the cliffs of marl and gravel, nine miles south
of the Dead Sea, a distance of 103 miles. In
breadth it varies ; at the Gulf the opening to
the sea is about five miles ; but north of Petra,
fifty miles inland, it widens to fourteen miles
(Map of P. E. Fund). Forty-five miles from the
Gulf of 'Akabah a ridge, or saddle, known to the
Bedawin as el-Sateh, " the roof," divides the
'Arabah into two sections, the W. el-'Akabah
and the W. el-' Arabah, draining respectively to
the Gulf and to the Dead Sea. This ridge,
which connects the cretaceo-nummulitic rocks
of the Tih plateau with the mountains of
Idumaea, consists of a compact, grey limestone,
almost marble, underlying a bed of gravel from
twenty to thirty feet thick ; the lowest point is
about 660 feet above the sea-level (Lartet,
Geologic de la Palestine, 17, 190 ; Hull, P. E. F.
Qy. Stat 1884 ; and P. F. Mem. " Geology ").
The surface of the W. el-'Akabah is variously
covered by loam, gravel, and blown sands, which
are often piled up in great dunes covering large
areas ; and at the foot of the eastern hills there
is an accumulation of boulders and debris
brought down by the winter torrents. There is
no perennial stream, but the water from some
brackish springs and from the valleys on either
side percolates beneath the sand, and forms a
salt marsh about twenty miles north of 'Akabah.
There is a striking contrast between the two
sides of the W. el-'Akabah; the eastern is the
grander of the two, except close to the Gulf,
where both sides are formed of granite and
porphyry, rising into bold and rugged ridges.
On the western side these rocks soon pass below
beds of sandstone, and afterwards limestone,
which break off in steep escarpments with grand
headlands and bastions. There is a slight dip
northwards, which ultimately brings the lime-

208

ARABAH

stone down into the plain opposite 'Ain Ghurun-
del, and at this spot there is an easy approach to
the Tih plateau. The escarpments, which have
an altitude of from 1900 to 2,400 feet, are
broken at distant intervals, by winding valleys
of which the Wadys Hendis, Nimreh, Ghudydn,
Sha'ib, and Beyaneh are the most important.
" On the eastern side the mountains ot granite
and porphyry behind 'Akabah, intensely red in
colour, so as to give rise to the name Jebel
en-Nur, mountain of fire, gradually decline in
elevation northwards, and several outliers of
the desert sandstone are seen capping the higher
elevations of the older rocks towards the head
of W. Turban. Soon afterwards the sandstone
formation descends to lower levels, breaking off
in abrupt walls and precipices, and forming the
escarpment of Jebel Harun, Mount Hor, which
towers conspicuously above all the other heights"
(Hull, Mount Seir, p. 81). The valleys which at
once drain and give access to the interior of
these mountains are in strong contrast to those
on the west. In almost all cases they contain
streams which, although in the heat of summer
small, aud losing themselves in their own beds,
or in the sand of the 'Arabah, " in a few
paces," after they forsake the shadow of their
native ravines (Laborde, p. 141), are yet sufficient
to keep alive a certain amount of vegetation
— rushes, tamarisks, palms, and even oleanders,
lilies, and anemones, while they form the resort
of the numerous tribes of the children of
Esau, who still " dwell (Stanley, p. 87, and MS.
Journal ; Laborde, p. 141 ; Mart. p. 396) in Mount
Seir, which is Edom" (Gen. xxxvi. 8). The
most important of these valleys are W. Ithm,
W. el-Muhtedy, W. Durba, W. Turban, W.
Khaimeh, and W. Ghurundel. The first enters
the mountains close to 'Akabah and leads, by the
back of the range, to Petra, and thence by
Sliobek and Tufileh to the country east of the
Dead Sea. Traces of a Roman road exist along
this route (Laborde, 203 ; Rob. ii. 161) ; by it
Laborde returned from Petra, and there can be
little doubt that it is the one by which the
Israelites took their leave of the 'Arabah when
they went to " compass the land of Edom "
(Num. xxi. 4). The last has at its entrance
some ruins, possibly the remains of a fort which
guarded the road up its bed to Petra. The
springs of the W. el-'Akabah are those of W.
el-Hendis and W. Ghudydn on the west ; and
'Ain Ghurundel and 'Ain Tabd on the east.
North of the dividing ridge is the great plain
of the W. el-' Arabah, formed of sand and gravel
composed of great varieties of stones, such as
granite, porphyry, felstone, quartz, sandstone
and limestone. Along its western side lime
stone cliffs rise in terraces to the desert of the
Tih and the hills of the Negeb; whilst on the
eastern side red sandstone cliffs, sometimes
resting on a foundation of older crystalline rocks,
attain an altitude of 2,000 feet above the Dead
Sea. Then succeed beds of variegated colours
surmounted by the limestone of the table-land,
which stretches away eastward into the' Syrian
desert. The plain is traversed by the Wddi/ el-
?VV^.ch' risins near the soutne™ extremity
of the Tih plateau, enters the 'Arabah north of
the dividing ridge; and then, after receiving
the drainage of the hills to the east and west
discharges its waters into the Dead Sea. On

ARABAH
the west its most important affluent is the
W. el-Jerdfeh, which gives access to the Negeb ¦
on the east it receives the drainage of W. Abu.
Kusheibeh and W. el-Abyadh, which rise at the
foot of Mount Hor and of the Wadys el- Wcibeh
Fedan, Salamdn, Dhalal, he. The streams
which descend these valleys after rain have cut
deep channels in the plain, and exposed to view
beds of breccia conglomerate, coarse gravel
sand, and gypseous marls, which have been
recognised by Lartet as ancient deposits of the
Dead Sea ; according to the most recent ex
plorer, Prof. Hull, these deposits show that the
waters of the Dead Sea stood, at one period, at a
higher level than those of the Mediterranean
(P. F. Mem. " Geology "). The springs of W.
el-' Arabah are 'Ain el-Weibeh, 'Ain Ghamr
'Ain Melihy, and 'Ain el-Buueirdeh : these with
the exception of 'Ain Melihy give sweet water
and the first, from its copious supply, is sup
posed by Robinson to be the site of Kadesh-
Barnea. The country west of the 'Arabah is, in every
respect, a contrast to that on the east. On the
one hand the sterile, desolate plateau of the Tih
and the arid mountains of the Negeb ; on the
other the mountains of Edom, here covered with
vegetation, there cultivated and yielding good
crops, abounding in " the fatness of the earth "
and the " plenty of corn and wine " which were
promised to the forefather of the Arab race as a
compensation for the loss of his birthright (Rob.
ii. 154 ; Laborde, pp. 203, 263). In these moun
tains there is a ^plateau of great elevation from
which again rise the mountains, or rather the
downs (Stanley, p. 87), of Sherdh. Though the
district is now deserted, yet the ruins of towns
and villages with which it abounds show that at
one time it must have been densely inhabited
(Burckh. pp. 435, 436).
The surface of the 'Arabah presents, in places,
a dreary and desolate aspect. " A more fright
ful desert," says Dr. Robinson (ii. 121), " it had
hardly been our lot to behold . . . loose gravel
and stones everywhere furrowed with the beds
of torrents . . . blocks of porphyry brought down
by the torrents among which the camels picked
their way with great difficulty ... a lone shrub
of the ghudah, the almost only trace of vegeta
tion." This was at the ascent of the Wddy el-
Jeib to the floor of the great valley itself.
Further south, near 'Ain el- Weibeh, it is a rolling
gravelly desert with round naked hills of consi
derable elevation (ii. 173). At Wady Ghurundel
it is " an expanse of shifting sands, broken by
innumerable undulations and low hills " (Burckh.
p. 442), and " countersected by a hundred water
courses " (Stanley, p. 87). Nor is the heat less
terrible than the desolation, and all travellers,
almost without exception, bear testimony to the
difficulties of journeying in a region where the
sirocco appears to blow almost without inter
mission (Schub. p. 1016 ; Burckh. p. 444 ; Mart.
p. 394; Rob. ii. 123). *
However, in spite of this heat and desolation,
there is a certain amount of vegetation, even in

a Tbe wind in the Elanitio arm of the Red Sea is
very violent, constantly blowing down the 'Arabah from
the north. The navigation of these waters is on that
account almost proverbially dangerous and difficult
(see the notice of this in the Edin. Rev. vol. ciii. 248).

ARABAH

ARABIA

209

the open 'Arabah, in the driest parts of the year.
Schubert in March found the Arta (Calligonum
¦com.), the Anthia variegata, and the Coloquinta
(Ritter, p. 1014), also tamarisk-bushes (tarfa)
lying thick in a torrent-bed * (p. 1016) ; and ou
Stanley's road " the shrubs at times had almost
the appearance of a jungle," though it is true
that they were so thin as to disappear when the
" waste of sand " was overlooked from an eleva
tion (p. 85; see Rob. i. 163, 175).
It is not surprising that after the discovery
hy Burckhardt in 1812, f of the prolongation of
the Jordan valley in the 'Arabah, it should have
been assumed that this had in former times
formed the outlet for the Jordan to the Red
Sea ; e or that various theories, such as intense
volcanic activity at the time of the destruction
of the Cities of the Plain, should have been
advanced to account for the interruption of the
communication. Recent exploration has, how-
¦ever, disproved these theories, and shown (1)
that the Sea of Galilee is 682 feet and the Dead
Sea 1292 feet below the sea-level, and that con
sequently the Jordan could never, in historical
times, have discharged its waters into the Gulf
<if 'Akabah ; (2) that the ridge dividing the two
seas is formed of cretaceous rocks (limestone
with baculites), which are covered with their
¦own debris, and not by any more recent marine
deposit ; (3) that the more recent deposits north
-of the ridge, towards the Dead Sea, are ancient
alluvions brought down from the south ; (4)
that these deposits show no trace of having been
elevated ; (5) that the volcanic rocks are por
phyries of an earlier date than the cretaceous
rocks ; and (6) that the Dead Sea basin is shut
in and isolated from other basins by cretaceous
rocks, and that there is an entire absence in the
*Arabah of all marine deposits later than these
rocks (Hull, P. F. Mem. " Geology," and Mount
Seir). Considerable interest attaches to the course
of the roads, or trade routes, which traversed
the 'Arabah when, during the reign of Solomon,
and also at a later period, Elath was a com
mercial port ; and when, still later, Petra be
came one of the principal dep6ts for the trade
between India and the West. These roads, as
far as they can at present be ascertained, were
(1) the road from Haila (Elath) to Clysma,
wliich ascended to the Tih plateau by the pass
en-Nagb, and followed the line of the present
Haj route by Nakhl, to the vicinity of Suez ;
(2) the road from Haila to Jerusalem by Diana
('Ain el-Ghudydn), Rasa, Cypsoria ( W. Ghubey),
Lysa (Kh. Lussdn), Oboda CAbdeli), and Elusa
(Khulasah), whence a branch road led to Gaza ;
{3) the road from Haila to Petra and Jerusalem,
which appears to have run up the 'Arabah and

« The bees whose hum so charmed bim (p. 1017) must
from his description have been in a side Wady, not in the
'Arabah itself.
f See Burckhardt, pp. 441, 442. The sagacity of Bitter
had led him earlier than this to infer its existence from
the remarks of the ancient Mahometan historians (Rob.
ii. 187).
e This theory appears to have been first announced
by Col. Leake in the preface to Burckhardt's Travels
(see p. vi.). It was afterwards espoused and dilated on,
amongst others, by Lord Lindsay (ii. 23), Dean Milman
(Hist, of Jews, Allen, 241), and Stephens (Incidents of
Trav. ii. 41).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

W. Ghurundel by Diana ('Ain cl-Gltudydn),
Presidio, Haurana, and Zadogatha ( Ain Dala-
gheh) to Petra, and thence by 'Ain cl-Wcibeh and
the pass es-Sufdh to Hebron, where it seems tn
have joined (2) ; (4) the road from Haila to
Damascus, which ran at the back of the moun
tains by Petra, Rabbath Moab, Kerak, and Rab-
bath Ammon ; (5) the road from Petra to
Rhinocolura (el- Arish), which passed along the
foot of Jebel Magrdh; (6) the road from Petra
to Gaza by Eboda ('Abdch) and Elusa (Khulasah),
which was partly followed by the late Prof.
Palmer ; and (7) the direct road from Petra to
the Egyptian frontier, near Ismailiyeh, which
was followed by the late Rev. F. W. Holland,
and is possibly " the way to Shur " (Gen. xvi.
7). Of these roads (2) and (3) appear to have
been those by which the produce of the East
was carried to Jerusalem during the reign of
Solomon ; and (4) to have been that by which
the Israelites approached the Promised Land
after their wanderings in the desert ; and at
a later period, Rezin, king of Syria, advanced
upon Elath (2 K. xvi. 6). [G.] [W.]
ARABAT'TINE ^ (t) ' AKpaBaTTlv-n ; AH.1
'AKpaBaTTT)vT), X.2 -dvn ; Acrabattane), in Idu-
maea (1 Mace. v. 3). [Akrabbim. See the
note to that article.] [G.] [W.]
ARA'BIA ('ApaBta, Gal. i. 17 ; iv. 25), a
country known in the 0. T. under two designa
tions : — 1. D""l*" f)K, the east country (Gen.
xxv. 6) ; or perhaps D*!**; (Gen. x. 30 ; Num.
xxiii. 7; Is. ii. 6); and' b*J"3 'J3 ***1K (Gen.
xxix. 1) ; gent. n. £3*1*3 *J3, sons of the East
(Judg. vi. 3 sq. ; 1 K.' iv. 30 [v. 10 Heb.] ; Job
i. 3 ; Is. xi. 14 ; Jer. xlix. 28 ; Ezek. xxv. 4). If
usually translated by the LXX. (e.g. bvaToAal)
and in Vulg., it is sometimes transcribed KeSep by
the former. From these passages it appears that
Q"T,j?. P""K and Dlj") ,|J*C1 indicate, primarily, the
country east of Palestine, and the tribes descended
from Ishmael and from Keturah ; and that this
original signification may have become gradually
extended to Arabia and its inhabitants generally,
though without any strict limitation. The
third and fourth passages above referred to, as
Gesenius remarks (Lex., ed. Tregelles, in doc),
relate to Mesopotamia and Babylonia (comp.
avaToAr), t) avaToAr), Matt. ii. 1 sq.). Winer
considers Kedem, &c, to signify Arabia and the
Arabians generally (Realuorterbuch, in voc.) ;
but a comparison of the passages on which his
opinion is founded has led us to consider it
doubtful. [Bene-Kedem.] 2. 311; (2 Ch.
ix. 14) and 3"1** (Is. xxi. 13; Jer/ 'xxv. 24;
Ezek. xxvii. 21) ; gent. u. ,|3")'' (Is. xiii. 20 ; Jer.
iii. 2); and *3**** (Neh. Yi. 19); pi. D'rn**
(2 Ch. xxi. 16 ; xxii. 1), and D'K***"** (2 Ch.
xvii. 11 ; xxvi. 7). LXX. 'ApaBia, &c. ; Vulg.
Arabia, &c. These seem to have the same
geographical reference as the former names to
the country and tribes east of the Jordan, and
chiefly north of the Arabian peninsula. In the
N. T. 'Apafiia cannot be held to have a more
extended signification than the Hebrew equiva
lents in the O. T. 3*11* (Ex. xii. 38 ; Neh. xiii.
3) and 3*1.** (1 K. x. 15 ; Jer. xxv. 20, 1. 37 ;
Ezek. xxx. 5), rendered in the A. V. " a mixed
P

210

ARABIA

multitude " (Ex. xii. 38, here followed by 3*1),
" the mixed multitude," kings of " Arabia " (so
Vulg. in 1 K. x. 15, and in Heb. in correspond
ing passage in 2 Ch. ix. 14), and (in the last
two instances) " the mingled people," have been
thought to signify the Arabs. The people thus
named dwelt in the deserts of Petra.^ By the
Arabs the country is called L-Jj»l <^>^
(Bilad El-'Arab), " the country of the Arabs,"
and Lr>J-*3\ 'ij>..j>r (Jeziret El-'Arab), "tlie
peninsula of the Arabs," and the people L-^fr
(Arab) ; " Bedawy " in modern Arabic, and
?c,j
" A'rab " (<^)\S-\) in the old language, being
applied to people of the desert, as distinguished
from townspeople. They give no satisfactory
derivation of the name Arab, that from Yaarub
being puerile. The Hebrew designation, 'Ereb,
has been thought to be from 'Arabah, " a
desert," which, with the article, is the name of
an extensive district in Arabia Petraea.
Geographical Divisions. — Arabia was divided
by the Greeks into Arabia Felix (t) ebSalpuv
'ApaBla), Arabia Deserta (t) ep-npos 'ApaBla,
Strab. xvi. 767 ; Plin. vi. 28, § 32 ; Diod. Sic.
ii. 48 sq. ), and Arabia Petraea ( t) Uerpala
'ApaBla, Ptol. v. 17, § 1). The first two divi
sions were those of the earlier writers; the
third being introduced by Ptolemy. According
to this geographer's arrangement, they included,
within doubtful limits, 1, the whole peninsula ;
2, the Arabian desert north of the former ; and
3, the desert of Petra, and the peninsula of
Sinai. It will be convenient in this article to
divide the country, agreeably to these natural
divisions and the native nomenclature, into
Arabia Proper, or Jeziret El-'Arab, containing
the whole peninsula as far as the limits of the
northern deserts ; Northern Arabia, or El-
Badiyeh, bounded by the peninsula, the
Euphrates, Syria, and the desert of Petra, con
stituting properly Arabia Deserta, or the great
desert of Arabia, the so-called " Syrian desert,"
reaching to about 35° N. ; and Western Arabia,
the desert of Petra and the peninsula of Sinai, or
the country that has been called Arabia Petraea,
bounded by Egypt, Palestine, Northern Arabia,
and the Red Sea.
Arabia Proper, or the Arabian peninsula, con
sists of high table-land, some 3,000 feet above
the sea-level, declining towards the north; its
most elevated portions are in the chain of
mountains that runs nearly parallel to the Red
Sea, and attains the height of 8,500 feet, and in
the territory east of the southern part of this
chain. Its greatest length, from Suez to Ras-
el-Hadd, is about 1800 miles ; and the mean
breadth between the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf, about 600 miles. The total area may be
placed at a million square miles, and the popu
lation at about five millions. The high land is
encircled from the 'Akabah to the head of the
Persian Gulf by a belt of low littoral country
with few islands or inlets ; on the west and
south-west the mountains fall abruptly to this
low region ; on the opposite side of the peninsula
the fall is generally gradual. So far as the

ARABIA
interior has been explored, it consists of desert
tracts, crossed by mountain ridges, and relieved
by large districts under cultivation, well
peopled, watered by wells and streams, and
enjoying periodical rains. It is estimated that
these numerous cultivated districts amount to
about two-thirds of the whole area, leaving not
more than one-third of absolutely desert wastes,
chiefly in the south (Keane, Asia, p. 113). The
watershed, as the conformation of the country
indicates, stretches from the high land of the
Yemen to the Persian Gulf. From this descend
the torrents that irrigate the western provinces,
while several considerable streams — there are
no navigable rivers — reach the sea in the
opposite direction : two of these traverse 'Oman ;
and another, the principal river of the peninsula,
enters the Persian Gulf on the coast of El-
Bahreyn, and is known to traverse the inland
province called Yemameh. The geological for
mation is in part volcanic, and the mountains
are basalt, schist, granite, as well as limestone,
&c. ; the volcanic action being especially obser
vable about Medina on the north-west, and
in the districts bordering the Indian Ocean.
The most fertile tracts are those on the south
west and south. The modern Yemen is espe
cially productive, and at the same time, from
its mountainous character, picturesque. The
settled regions of the interior also are more
fertile than is generally supposed ; and after the
rains the deserts afford a fair pasturage. The
principal products of the soil are date-palms,
tamarind-trees, vines, fig-trees, tamarisks,
acacias, the banana, &c, and a great variety of
thorny shrubs, which, with others, supply
pasture for the camels ; the chief kinds of pulse
and cereals (except oats), coffee, spices, drugs,
gums and resins, cotton and sugar. Among
the metallic and mineral products are lead, iron,
silver (in small quantities), sulphur, the emerald,
onyx, &c. The products mentioned in the Bible
as coming from Arabia will be found described
under their respective heads. They seem to
refer, in many instances, to merchandise of
Ethiopia and India, carried to Palestine by Arab
and other traders. Gold, however, was perhaps
found in small quantities in the beds of torrents
(comp. Diod. Sic. ii. 50 ; iii. 45, 47) ; and the
spices, incense, and precious stones, brought
from Arabia (1 K. x. 2, 10, 15; [2 Ch. ix. 1, 9,
14;] Is. Ix. 6; Jer. vi. 20; Ezek. xxvii. 22),
were probably the products of the southern
provinces, still celebrated for spices, frankin
cense, ambergris, &c, as well as for the onyx
and other precious stones. Among the more
remarkable of the wild animals of Arabia
(besides the usual domestic kinds, and of course
the camel and the horse, for both of which it is
famous) are the wild ass, the musk-deer, wild
goat, wild sheep, several varieties of the ante
lope, the hare, monkeys (in the south, and espe
cially in the Yemen) ; the boar, leopard, wolf,
jackal, hyaena, fox; the eagle, vulture, several
kinds of hawk, the pheasant, red-legged part
ridge (in the peninsula of Sinai), sand-grouse
(throughout the country), the ostrich (abun
dantly in Central Arabia, where it is hunted by
Arab tribes) ; the tortoise, serpents, locusts, &c.
Lions were formerly numerous, as the names
of places testify. The sperm-whale is found off
the coasts bordering the Indian Ocean. Greek

ARABIA
and Roman writers (Herod., Agatharch. ap.
Muller, Strab., Diod. Sic, Q. Curt., Dion. Perieg.,
Heliod. Aethiop., and Plin.) mention most of the
Bibli6al and modern products, and the animals
above enumerated, with some others ( see the
Dictionary of Geography).
Arabia Proper may be subdivided into five
principal provinces : the Yemen ; the districts
of Hadramaut, Mahreh, and 'Oman, on the
Indian Ocean and the entrance of the Persian
Gulf; El-Bahreyn, towards the head of the
Gulf; the great central country of Nejd and
Yemameh ; and the Hijaz and Tihitmeh on the
Red Sea. The Arabs also have five divisions,
according to the opinion most worthy of credit :
Tihameh, the Hijaz, Nejd, El-Arud (the pro
vinces lying towards the head of the Persian
Gulf, including Yemameh), and the Yemen
(including 'Omstn and the intervening tracts).
They have, however, never agreed either as to
the limits or the number of the divisions. It
will be necessary to state in some detail the
positions of these provinces, in order to the
right understanding of the identifications of
Biblical with Arab names of places and tribes.
The Yemen embraced originally the most
fertile districts of Arabia, and the frankincense
and spice country. Its name, signifying " the
right hand " (and therefore " south ;" comp.
Matt. xii. 42), is supposed to have given rise to
the appellation euSaipuv (Felix), which the
Greeks applied to a much more extensive region.
At present, it is bounded by the Hijaz on the
north, and Hadramaut on the east, with the
sea-board of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean ;
but formerly it appears to have extended at
least so as to include Hadramaut and Mahreh
(Ibn-El-Wardy MS. ; Yakut's Mushtarak and
Mo' jam, and Mardsid, passim ; from which au
thorities and Fresnel's Lettres the geographical
data of this article are mainly derived). In
this wider acceptation, it embraced the region
of the first settlements of the Joktanites. Its
modern limits include, on the north, the district
of Khawlan (not, as Niebuhr supposes, two dis
tinct districts), named after Khawlan the
Joktanite (Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur VHist,
des Arabes avant I'Islamisme, i. 113) ; and that
of Nejran, with the city of that name founded
by Nejran the Joktanite (Caussin, i. 60, and
113 sq.), which is, according to the soundest
opinion, the Negra of^Aelius Gallus (Strab. xvi.
782 ; see Jomard, Etudes g€ogr. et hist, sur
V Arable, appended to Mengin, Hist, de VEgypte,
&c, iii. 385-6).
Hadramaut, on the coast east of the Yemen,
is a cultivated tract contiguous to the sandy
deserts called El-Ahkaf, which are said to be
the original seats of the tribe of 'Ad. It was
celebrated for its frankincense, which it still
exports, and formerly it carried on a considerable
trade, its principal port being Dhafir, between
Mirbat and Ras Sajir, which is now composed
of « series of villages. To the east of Hadra
maut are the districts of Shihr, which exported
ambergris, and Mahreh (so called after a tribe
of Kudjtah, and therefore Joktanite), extending
from Seyhfit to Karwan. 'Oman forms the
easternmost corner of the south coast, lying at
the entrance of the Persian Gulf. It presents
the same natural characteristics as the preced
ing districts, being partly desert with large

ARABIA

211

fertile tracts. It also contains some considerable
lead mines.
The highest province on the Persian Gulf is
El-Bahreyn, between 'Omiin and the head of the
Gulf, of which the chief town is Hejer (accord
ing to some, the name of the province also). It
contains the towns (and districts) of Katif and
El-Ahsa, the latter not being a province as has
been erroneously supposed. The inhabitants of
El-Bahreyn dwelling on the coast are principally
fishermen and pearl-divers. The district of El-
Ahsa abounds in wells and possesses excellent
pastures, which are frequented by tribes of
other parts.
The great central province of Nejd and that
of Yemameh, which bounds it on the south, are
little known from the accounts of travellers.
Nejd signifies " high land," and hence its limits
are very doubtfully laid down by the Arabs
themselves. It consists of cultivated table-land,
with numerous wells, and is celebrated for its
pastures ; but it is intersected by extensive
deserts. Yemameh appears to be generally very
similar to Nejd. On the south lies the great
desert called Er-Ruba el-Khaly, uninhabitable
in the summer, but yielding pasturage in the
winter after the rains. The camels of the tribes
inhabiting Nejd are highly esteemed in Arabia,
and the breed of horses was formerly the most
famous in the world ; but according to Mr.
W. S. Blunt, the explorer, they are now rare
in Nejd and of an inferior breed. In this pro
vince are said to be remains of very ancient
structures, similar to those east of the Jordan.
The Hijaz and Tihameh (or El-Ghor, the
"low land") are bounded by Nejd, the Yemen,
the Red Sea, and the desert of Petra, the
northern limit of the Hijaz being Eyleh. The
Hijaz is the holy land of Arabia, its chief cities
being Mekka and Medina ; and it is traditionally
the first seat of the Ishmaelites in the peninsula.
The northern portion is in general sterile and
rocky ; towards the south it gradually merges
into the Yemen, or the district called El-'Asir,
which is but little noticed by either eastern or
western geographers. The province of Tihameh
extends between the mountain-chain of the
Hijaz and the shore of the Red Sea ; and is
sometimes divided into Tihameh of the Hijaz
and Tihameh of the Yemen. It is a parched,
sandy tract, with less rain and fewer pastures
and cultivated portions than the mountainous
country. Northern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert
s *¦
(wiiUkii)) is divided by the Arabs (who do
not consider it as strictly belonging to their
country) into B&diyet Esh-Sham, "the Desert
of Syria," Badiyet El-Jezireh, "the Desert of
Mesopotamia " (not " of Arabia," as Winer sup
poses), and Badiyet El-'Iritk, "the Desert of
El-'Irak." It is, so far as it is known to us, a.
high, undulating, parched plain, of which the
Euphrates forms the natural boundary from
the Persian Gulf to the frontier of Syria, whence
it is bounded by the latter country and the
desert of Petra on the north-west and west, the
peninsula of Arabia forming its southern limit.
It has few oases, the water of the wells is gene
rally either brackish or undrinkable, and it is
visited by the sand-wind called Samum, of which
P 2

212

ARABIA

however the terrors have been much exaggerated.
The Arabs find pasture for their flocks and herds
after the rains, and in the more depressed plains ;
and the desert generally produces prickly shrubs,
&c, on which the camels feed. The inhabitants
were known to the ancients as tTK-nviTai, " dwellers
in tents," or perhaps so called from their town
al S.KTiva{ (Strab. xvi. 747, 767 ; Amm. Marc.
xxiii. 6 ; comp. Is. xiii. 20 ; Jer. xlix. 31 ;
Ezek. xxxviii. 11); and they extended from
Babylonia on the east (comp. Num. xxiii. 7 ;
2 Ch. xxi. 16 ; Is. ii. 6, xiii. 20), to the borders
of Egypt on the west (Strab. xvi. 748; Plin.
v. 12 ; Amm. Marc. xiv. 4, xxii. 15). These
tribes, principally claiming descent from Ishmael

ARABIA
and from Keturah, have always led a wandering
and pastoral life. Their predatory habits are
several times mentioned in the 0. T. (2 Ch. xxi.
16, 17 ; xxvi. 7 ; Job i. 15; Jer. iii. 2). They
also conducted a considerable trade of merchandise
of Arabia and India from the shores of the
Persian Gulf (Ezek. xxvii. 20-24), whence a
chain of oases still forms caravan-stations
(Burckhardt, Arabia, Appendix vi.) ; and they
likewise traded from the western portions of
the peninsula. The latter traffic appears to he
frequently mentioned in connexion with Ish-
maelites, Keturahites, and other Arabian peoples
(Gen. xxxvii. 25, 28 ; IK. x. 15 ; [2 Ch. ix. 14;]
Is. Ix. 6 ; Jer. vi. 20), and probably consisted of

Map of Arabia,

the products of Southern Arabia and of the
opposite shores of Ethiopia : it seems, however,
to have been chiefly in the hands of the inha
bitants of Idumaea ; but it is difficult to dis
tinguish between the references to the latter
people and to the tribes of Northern Arabia
in the passages relating to this traffic. That
certain of these tribes brought tribute to
Jehoshaphat is stated in 2 Ch. xvii. 11; and
elsewhere there are indications of such tribute
(cp. passages referred to above).
Western Arabia includes the peninsula of
Sinai [Sinai], and the desert of Petra, corre
sponding generally with the limits of Arabia
Petraea. The latter name is probably derived
from that of its chief city, not from its stony

character. It was in the earliest times inhabited
by a people whose genealogy is not mentioned
in the Bible, the Horites or Horim (Gen. xiv. 6,
xxxvi. 20-22; Deut. ii. 12, 22). [Horites.] Its
later inhabitants were in part the same as those
of the preceding division of Arabia, as indeed
the boundary of the two countries is arbitrary
and unsettled ; but it was mostly peopled by
descendants of Esau, and was generally known
as the land of Edom, or Idumaea [Edom], as
well as by its older appellation, the desert of
Seir, or Mount Seir [Seir]. The common origin
of the Idumaeans from Esau and Ishmael is
traced to the marriage of the former with a
daughter of the latter (Gen. xxviii. 9, xxxvi. 3).
The Nabathaeans succeeded to the Idumaeans,

ARABIA
and Idumaea is mentioned only as a geographical
designation after the time of Josephus. The
Nabathaeans had always been identified with
Nebaioth, son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13 ; Is. Ix.
7), until Quatremere (Me'moire sur les Naba-
te~ens) advanced the by-no-means accepted theory
that they were of another race, and a people of
Mesopotamia. [Nebaioth.] Petra was in the
great route of the western caravan-traffic of
Arabia, and of the merchandise brought up the
Elanitic Gulf. See preceding section, and
Edom, Elath, Eziongeber, &c.
Inhabitants.' — The Arabs, like every other
ancient nation of any celebrity, have traditions
representing their country as originally inhabited
by races which became extinct at a very remote
period. These were the tribes of 'Ad, ThamUd,
Umeiyim, 'Abil, Tasm, Jedis, 'Emlik (Amalek),
Jurhum (the first of this name), and Webari :
some omit the fourth and the last two, but add
Jasim. The majority of their historians derive
these tribes from Shem ; but some, from Ham,
though not through Cush.b Their earliest
traditions that have any obvious relation to the
Bible refer the origin of the existing nation in
the first instance to Kahtdn, whom they and
most European scholars identify with Joktan ;
and secondly to Ishmael, whom they assert to
have married a descendant of Kahtan, though
they only carry up their genealogies to 'Adnan
(said to be of the twenty-first generation before
Mohammad). They are silent respecting Cushite
settlements in Arabia ; but modern research,
we think, proves that Cushites were among its
early inhabitants. Although Cush in the Bible
usually corresponds to Ethiopia, certain passages
seem to indicate Cushite peoples in Arabia ; and
the series of the sons of Cush should, according
to recent discoveries, be sought for in order
along the southern coast, exclusive of Seba
(Meroe), at one extreme of their settlements,
and Nimrod at the other. The great ruins of
Ma-rib or Seba, and of other places in the
Yemen and Hadramaut, are not those of a
Semitic people; and further to the east, the
existing language of Mahreh (the remnant of
the language of the inscriptions found on the
ancient remains just mentioned) is in so great a
degree apparently African, as to be called by
some scholars Cushite ; while the settlements of
Raamah and those of his (tribal) sons Sheba and
Dedan are probably to be looked for towards the
head of the Persian Gulf, bordered on the north

ARABIA

213

a In this section is included the history. The Arab
materials for the latter are meagre, and almost purely
traditional. The chronology is founded on genealogies,
and is too intricate and unsettled for discussion in this
article -, but it is necessary to observe that " son " should
often be read "descendant," or "tribe descended from,"
and tbat the Arabs ascribe great length of life to the
ancient people. The early sites of the Arab tribes and
their identity with the names mentioned by Ptolemy
have been exhaustively discussed by Sprenger, Bie alte
Geographic Arabiens, Bern, 1875, to which the student
must refer for the details and theories necessarily
excluded from the present article.
b This enumeration is from a comparison of Arab
authors. Caussin de Perceval has entered into some
detail on the subject (Essai, i. 11-35), but without
satisfactorily reconciling contradictory opinions; and
his identifications of these with other tribes are purely
hypothetical.

by the descendants of Keturah, bearing the same
names as the two latter. In Babylonia also
independent proofs of this immigration of
Cushites from Ethiopia have, it is thought, been
lately obtained. The ancient cities and buildings
of Southern Arabia, in their architecture, the
inscriptions they contain, and the native tra
ditions respecting them, are ofthe utmost value
in aiding a student of this portion of primeval
history. Indeed they are the only important
archaic monuments of the country ; and they
illustrate both its earliest people and its
greatest kingdoms. Ma-rib, or Seba * (the
Mariaba of the Greek geographers), is one of
the most interesting of these sites ( see
Michaelis' Questions, No. 94, &c. in Niebuhr's
Arabia). It was founded, according to the
general agreement of tradition, by 'Abd-esh-
Shems Seba, grandson of Yaarub the Kahtanite ;
and the Dyke of El-'Arim, which was situate
near the city, and the rupture of which (a.d.
150-170, according to De Sacy ; 120, according
to Caussin de Perceval) formed an era in
Arabian history, is generally ascribed to LukmSn
the Greater, the 'Adite, who founded the dynasty
of the 2nd 'Ad. 'Aditcs (in conjunction with
Cushites) are supposed to have been the founders
of this and similar structures, and were suc
ceeded by a predominantly Joktanite people,
the Biblical Sheba, whose name is preserved in
the Arabian Sebi, and in the Sabaei of the
Greeks. But it should be remarked that El-
Beladhory states that the 'Adites dwelt between
Syria and the Yemen, and there is really no
authority for assigning to them a southern
habitat ( Sprenger, Alte Geographic Arabiens,
p. 199). It has been argued (Caussin, Essai, i.
42 sq. ; Renan, Langues Semitiques, i. 300) that
the 'Adites were the Cushite Seba; but this
hypothesis, which involves the question of the
settlements of the eldest son of Cush, and that
of the descent of the 'Adites, rests solely on the
existence of Cushite settlements in Southern
Arabia, and of the name of Seba (\ i.ff 1 in the
Yemen (by these writers inferentially identified
with N3D ; by the Arabs, unanimously, with
Sebi the Kahtanite, or SOB* ; the Hebrew shin
t : '
being, in by far the greater number of instances,
represented by sin in Arabic); and it necessi
tates the existence of the two Biblical kingdoms
of Seba and Sheba in a circumscribed province
of Southern Arabia, a result which we think is
irreconcilable with a careful comparison of the
passages in the Bible bearing on this subject.
[Cush ; Seba ; Sheba.] Neither is there evidence
to indicate the identity of 'Ad and the other
extinct tribes with any Semitic or Hamitic
people : they must, in the present state of know
ledge, be classed with the Rephaim and other
peoples whose genealogies are not known to us.
The several nations that have inhabited the
country are divided, by the Arabs, into extinct
and existing tribes ; and these are again dis
tinguished as 1. El-'Arab el-'Aribeh (or El-'Arab
el-'Arba, or El-'Arab el-'Aribeh), the Pure or
Genuine Arabs ; 2. El-'Arab el-Muta'arribeh ;
and 3. El-'Arab el-Musta'ribeh, the Instititious,
c Seba was the city of Mo-rib, or the country in the
Yemen of which the city was Ma-rib. See also Sheha

214

ARABIA

or Naturalised, Arabs. Of many conflicting
opinions respecting these races, two only are
worthy of note. According to the first of these,
El-'Arab el-'Aribeh denotes the extinct tribes,
with whom some conjoin Kahtan ; while the
other two, as synonymous appellations, belong
to the descendants of Ishmael.a According to
the second, El-'Arab el-'Aribeh denotes the
extinct tribes; El-'Arab el-Muta'arribeh, the
unmixed descendants of Kahtan; and El-'Arab
el-Musta'ribeh, the descendants of Ishmael, by
the daughter of Mudad the Joktanite. That
the descendants of Joktan occupied the principal
portions of the south and south-west of the
peninsula, with colonies in the interior, is
attested by the Arabs and supported by histo
rical and philological researches. If. is also
asserted that they have been gradually absorbed
into the lshmaelite immigrants, though not
without leaving strong traces of their former
existence. Fresnel, however (1° Lettre, p. 24),
says that they were quite distinct, at least in
Mohammad's time, and it is not unlikely that
the lshmaelite element has been exaggerated by
Mohammadan influence.
Respecting the Joktanite settlers, we have
some Biblical evidence. In Genesis (x. 30) it is
said, " and their dwelling was from Mesha, as
thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east
[Kedem]." The position of Mesha is very un
certain ; it is most reasonably supposed to be
the western limit of the first settlers [Mesha] :
Sephar is undoubtedly Dhafari, or Zafari, of the
Arabs (probably pronounced, in ancient times,
without the final vowel, as it is at the present
day), a name not uncommon in the peninsula,
but especially that of two celebrated towns —
one being the seaport on the south coast, near
Mirbat; the other, now in ruins, near San'a,
and said to be the ancient residence of the
Himyarite kings (Es-Saghanee, MS., &c). Fresnel
(4° Lettre, p. 516 sq.) prefers the seaport, as
the Himyarite capital, and is followed by
Jomard (Etudes, p. 367), whence we learn that
the inhabitants call this town "Isfdr." Con
sidering the position of the Joktanite races, this
is probably Sephar ; it is situate near a thuri-
ferous mountain (Mardsid, in voc), and exports
the best frankincense (Niebuhr, p. 148) : Zafari,
in the Yemen, however, is also among mountains
[Sephar], In the district indicated above are
distinct and undoubted traces of the names of
the sons of Joktan mentioned in Genesis, such
as Hadramaut for Hazarmaveth, Azal for Uzal,
Seba, for Sheba, &c. Their remains are found in
the existing inhabitants of (at least) its eastern
portion, and their records in the numerous
Himyarite ruins and inscriptions.
The principal Joktanite kingdom, and the
chief state of ancient Arabia, was that of the
Yemen, founded (according to the Arabs) by
Yaarub, the son (or descendant) of Kahtan
(Joktan). Its most ancient capital was probably
San'a, formerly called Azal (J\ ' \, or A\ ' ,\
in the Mardsid, in voc. San'a), after Az&l, son of
Joktan (Yakoot). [Uzal.] The other capitals

d El-'Arab el-'Aribeh is conventionally applied by
the lexicographors to all who spoke pure Arabic before
its corruption began.

AEABIA
were Ma-rib, or Seba, and Zafari. This was the
Biblical kingdom of Sheba. Its rulers, and
most of its people, wea-e descendants of Seba
(= Sheba), whence the classical Sabaei (Diod.
Sic. iii. 38, 46). Among its rulers was probably
the Queen of Sheba who came to hear the wis
dom of Solomon (2 K. x. 1-4). The Arabs call
her Bilkis, a queen ofthe later Himyarites; but
their traditions respecting her are not worthy
of credit. [Sheba.] The dominant family was
apparently that of Himyar, son (or descendant)
of Seba. A member of this family founded the
more modern kingdom of the Himyarites. The
testimony of the Bible, and of the classical
writers, as well as native tradition, seems to
prove that the latter appellation superseded the
former only shortly before the Christian era:
i.e. after the foundation of the later kingdom,
" Himyarite," however, is now very vaguely
used. — Himyar, it may be observed, is perhaps
"red" (jJi^s-, from 'ij*s*, or jts-\),

and several places in Arabia whose soil is red-
dish derive their names from A'far ( £&])'
" reddish." This may identify Himyar (the red
man ?) with Ophir, respecting whose settlements,
and the position of the country called Ophir,
the opinion of the learned is widely divided
[Ophir]. The similarity of signification with
tpotvi£ and ipuBpbs lends weight to the tradition
that the Phoenicians came from the Erythraean
Sea (Herod, vii. 89). The maritime nations of
the Mediterranean who had an affinity with
the Egyptians appear to have been an offshoot
of an early immigration from Southern Arabia,
which moved northwards, partly through
Egypt. It is noticeable that the Shepherd
invaders of Egypt are said to have been Phoe
nicians ; but Manetho, who seems to have held
this opinion, also tells us that some said they
were Arabs (Manetho, ap. Cory, Ane Frag
ments, 2nd ed., p. 171), and the hieroglyphic
name has been supposed to correspond to the
common appellation of the border Arabs. In
the opposite direction, an early Arab domination
of Chaldaea is mentioned by Berosus (Cory,
p. 60), as preceding the Assyrian dynasty. All
these indications, slight as they are, must be
borne in mind in attempting a reconstruction of
the history of Southern Arabia. — The early
kings of the Yemen were at continual feud with
the descendants of Kahlan (brother of Himyar),
until the fifteenth in descent (according to the
majority of native historians) from Himyar
united the kingdom. This king was the first
Tubba', a title also distinctive of his successors,
whose dynasty represents the proper kingdom of
Himyar, whence the Homeritae (Ptol. vi. 7;
Plin. vi. 28). Their rule probably extended
over the modern Yemen, Hadramaut, and Mah
reh. The fifth Tubba', Dhu-1-Adhar, or Zu-1-
Azftr, is supposed (Caussin, i. 73) to be the Ila-
sarus of Aelius Gallus (B.C. 24). The kingdom
of Himyar lasted until a.d. 525, when it fell
before an Abyssinian invasion. Already, about
the middle of the 4th century, the kings of
Axum appear to have become masters of part of
the Yemen (Caussin, Essai, i. 114 ; Zeitschrift
d. Deutsch. Morgcnlcind. Gesellschaft, vii. 17 sq. ;

ARABIA
xi. 338 sq.), adding to their titles the names
of places in Arabia belonging to Himyar. After
four reigns they were succeeded by Himyarite
princes, vassals of Persia, the last of whom sub
mitted to Mohammad. Kings of Hadramaut
(the people of Hadramaut are the classical
Chatramotitae, Plin. vi. 28 ; comp. Adramitae)
are also enumerated by the Arabs (Ibn-Khaldun,
ap. Caussin, i. 135 sq.) and distinguished from
the descendants of Yaarub ; an indication, as is
remarked by Caussin (I. c), of their separate
descent from Hazarmaveth [Hazarhaveth].
The Greek geographers mention a fourth people
in conjunction with the Sabaei, Homeritae, and
Chatramotitae, — the Minaei or Minnaei (Strab.
xvi. 768, 776 ; Ptol. vi. 7, § 23 ; Plin. vi. 32 ;
Diod. Sic. iii. 42), who have not been identified
with any Biblical or modern name, though
Sprenger compares them with the Kindites. Some
place them as high as Mekka, and derive their
name from Mina. (the sacred valley N.E. of that
city), or from the goddess Menah, worshipped
in the district between Mekka and Medina.
Fresnel, however, places them in the Wadee
Do'an in Hadramaut, arguing that the Yemen
anciently included this tract, that the Minaei
were probablv the same as the Rhabanitae or
Rhamanitae (Ptol. vi. 7, § 24 ; Strabo, xvi. 782),
and that 'Pappavlruv was a copyist's error for
'lepmvlruv. The other chief Joktanite kingdom was that
of the Hijaz, founded by Jurhum, the brother
of Yaarub, who left the Yemen and settled in
the neighbourhood of Mekkeh. The Arab lists
of its kings are inextricably confused ; but the
name of their leader and that of two of his
successors was Mudad (or El-Mudad), who pro
bably represents Almodad [Almodad]. Ishmael,
according to the Arabs, married a daughter of
the first Mudad, whence sprang 'Adnan the an
cestor of Mohammad. This kingdom, situate in
a less fertile district than the Yemen, and en
gaged in conflict with aboriginal tribes, never
attained the importance of that of the south.
It merged, by intermarriage and conquest, into
the tribes of Ishmael (Kutb-ed-Din, ed. Wiisten-
feld, pp. 35 and 39 sq. ; cp. authorities quoted
by Caussin). Fresnel cites an Arab author who
identifies Jurhum with Hadoram [Hadoram].
Although these were the principal Joktanite
kingdoms, others were founded beyond the limits
of the peninsula. The most celebrated of these
were that of El-Hireh in El-'Irak, and that of
Ghassan on the confines of Syria ; both origi
nated by emigrants after the Flood of El-'Arim.
El-Hireh soon became Ishmaelitic ; Ghassan
long maintained its original stock. Among its
rulers were many named El-Harith. Respect
ing the presumed identity of some of these with
kings called by the Greeks and Roman Aretas,
and with the Aretas mentioned by St. Paul
(2 Cor. xi. 32), see Aretas.
The Ishmaelites appear to have entered the
peninsula from the north-west. That they have
spread over the whole of it (with the exception
of one or two districts on the south coast which
are said to be still inhabited by unmixed Jok
tanite peoples), and that the modern nation is
predominantly lshmaelite, is asserted by the
Arabs. They do not, however, carry up their
genealogies' higher than 'Adnan (as we have
already said), and they have lost the names of |

ARABIA

215

most of Ishmael's immediate and near descend
ants. Such as have been identified with exist
ing names will be found under the several
articles bearing tbeir names. [See also Haga-
RENES.] They extended northwards from the
Hijaz into the Arabian desert, where they mixed
with Keturahites and other Abrahamic peoples ;
and westwards to Idumaea, where they mixed
with Edomites, &c. The tribes claiming descent
from Ishmael have always been governed by
petty chiefs or heads of families (sheykhs and
emirs) ; they have generally followed a patri
archal life, and have not originated kingdoms,
though they have in some instances succeeded
to those of Joktanites, the principal one of
these being that of El-Htreh. With reference
to the Ishmaelites generally, we may observe
that although their first settlements in the
Hijaz, and their spreading over a great part of
the northern portions of the peninsula, are suffi
ciently evident, there is doubt as to the wide
extension given to them by Arab tradition.
Mohammad derived from the Jews whatever
tradition he pleased, and silenced any contrary
by the Koran or his own dicta. This religious
element, which does not directly affect the tribes
of Joktan (whose settlements are independently
identified), has a great influence over those of
Ishmael. They therefore cannot be certainly
proved to have spread over the peninsula ; but
from the concurrent testimony of the Arabs
and other considerations it is probable that they
now form the predominant element of the Arab
nation. Of the descendants of Keturah the Arabs say
little. They appear to have settled chiefly
north of the peninsula in Desert-Arabia, from
Palestine to the Persian Gulf; and the passages
in the Bible in which mention is made of Dedan
(except those relating to the Cushite Dedan,
Gen. x. 7) refer apparently to the tribe sprung
from this race (Is. xxi. 13 ; Jer. xxv. 23 ; Ezek.
xxvii. 20), perhaps with an admixture of the
Cushite Dedan, who seems to have passed up the
western shores of the Persian Gulf. Some
traces of Keturahites, indeed, are asserted to
exist in the south of the peninsula, where a
king of Himyar is said to have been a Midianite
(El-Mes'udy, ap. Schultens, pp. 158-9); and
where one dialect is said to be of Midian,
and another of Jokshan son of Keturah ; but
these traditions must be ascribed to the Rab
binical influence in Arab history. Native
writers are almost wholly silent on this sub
ject ; and the dialects mentioned above are not,
so far as they are known to us, of the tribes of
Keturah. [Keturah, &c]
In Northern and Western Arabia are other
peoples which, from their geographical position
and mode of life, are sometimes classed with the
Arabs. Of these are Amalek, the descendants
of Esau, &c.
Religion.- — The most ancient idolatry of the
Arabs we must conclude to have been little
advanced beyond mere fetishism, of which there
are striking proofs in the sacred trees and stones
of historical times, and in the worship of the
heavenly bodies, or Sabaeism. With the latter
were perhaps connected the temples (or palace-
temples) of which there are either remains or
traditions in the Himyarife kingdom; such as
Beyt Ghumdan in San'a, and those of Reydan,

216

ARABIA

Beynuneh, Ru'eyn, 'Eyneyn, and Riam. The
names of the objects of the earlier fetishism,
the stone- worship, tree-worship, ,&c, of various
tribes, are too numerous to mention. One, that
of Manot, the goddess worshipped between
Mekka and Medina, has been compared with
Meni (Is. lxv. 11, R. V. "Destiny." Cp. for
a summary, Baethgen, Beitr. z. Sem. Religions-
gesch. pp. 109, &c, 115, &c, and especially
Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, iii. [Reste
Arabischen Heidentumes], 1887). Magism, an
importation from Chaldaea and Persia, must be
reckoned among the religions of the Pagan Arabs ;
but it never had many followers. Christianity
was introduced into Southern Arabia towards the
close ofthe 2nd century, and about acenturylater
it had made great progress. It flourished chiefly
in the Yemen, where many churches were built
(see Philostorg. Hist. Eccles. iii. ; Sozomen, vi. ;
Evagr. vi.). It also rapidly advanced in other
portions of Arabia, through the kingdom of
Hireh and the contiguous countries, Ghassan,
and other parts. The persecutions of the Chris
tians, and more particularly of those of Nejran
by the Tubba' Zu-n-Nuwas, brought about the
fall of the Himyarite dynasty by the invasion
of the Christian ruler of Abyssinia. Judaism
was propagated in Arabia, principally by Ka
raites, at the Captivity, but it was introduced
before that time : it became very prevalent in
the Yemen, and in the Hijaz, especially at
Kheybar and Medina, where there are said to be
still tribes of Jewish extraction. In the period
immediately preceding the birth of Mohammad
another class (the Hanifs) had sprung up, who,
disbelieving the idolatry of the greater number
of their countrymen, and with leanings towards
Judaism, looked to a revival of what they called
the " religion of Abraham " (see Sprenger's
Leben und Lehre Moliammeds, 2nd ed. i. 13-
134). The promulgation of the Mohammadan
religion overthrew paganism, and almost wholly
superseded the religions of the Bible in Arabia.
Language. — Arabic, the language of Arabia,
is the most developed and the richest of the
Semitic languages, and the only one of which we
have an extensive literature : it is, therefore, of
great importance to the study of Hebrew. Of
its early phases we know nothing. We have,
indeed, archaic monuments of the Himyaritic
(the ancient language of Southern Arabia),
though we cannot usually fix their precise ages.
Of the existence of Hebrew and Chaldee (or
Aramaic) in the time of Jacob there is evidence
in Gen. xxxi. 47 ; and presumably Jacob and
Laban understood each other, the one speaking
Hebrew and the other Chaldee. It seems also
from the notice in Judg. vii. 9-15, that Gideon
overheard the conversation of the " Midianites,
and the Amalekites, and all the children of the
east " (D**jj*) ':3), that in the 14th or 13th cent.
B.C. the Semitic languages differed much less
than in after-times. But it appears from 2 K.
xviii. 26, that in the 8th century B.C. only the
educated classes among the Jews understood
Aramaic. With these evidences before us, and
making a due distinction between the archaic
and the known phases of the Aramaic and the
Arabic, we believe that the Himyaritic is to be
regarded as a sister of the Hebrew, and the
Arabic (commonly so called) as a sister of the
Hebrew and the Aramaic, or, in its classical

ARABIA
phase, as a descendant of a sister of these twoi
The division of the lshmaelite language into
many dialects is to be attributed chiefly to the
separation of tribes by uninhabitable tracts of
desert, and the subsequent amalgamation of
those dialects, to the pilgrimage and the annual1
meetings of 'Okaz and other fairs where literarr
contests took place, and where it was of the
first importance that the contending poets should
deliver themselves in a language perfectly intel
ligible to the mass of the people congregated.
Many of the meanest of the Arabs, utterly
ignorant of reading and writing, were quite
capable of judging of the merits of these coin-
positions, and often formed the best authorities
consulted by the lexicologists when the corrup
tion of the language had commenced, i.e. when
the Arabs, as Mohammadans, had begun to spread
among foreigners.
Respecting the Himyaritic,0 until lately little
was known ; but monuments bearing inscrip
tions in this language have been discovered in
the southern parts of the peninsula, principally
in Hadramaut and the Yemen, and some of the
inscriptions have been published by Fresnel,
Arnaud, Wellsted, Cruttenden, and Midler;
while Fresnel found a dialect still spoken in the
district of Mahreh and westwards as far as
Kishim, that of the neighbourhood of Zafari and
Mirbat being the purest, and called "Ekhili;"
and this is supposed with reason to be the
modern phase of the old Himyaritie (4s Lettre^
Fresnel's alphabet has been accepted by the
learned. The dates found in the inscriptions
range from a.d. 30 (on the dyke of Ma-rib) to
604 at Hisn Ghorab, but what era these represent
is uncertain. Ewald (Ueber die Himyarische
Sprache in Hoefer's Zeitschrift, i. 295 seqq.J
thinks that they are years of the Rupture of
the Dyke, while acknowledging their apparent
high antiquity ; but the difficulty of supposing
such inscriptions on a ruined dyke, and the fact
that some of them would thus be brought later
than the time of Mohammad, make it probable
that they belong rather to an earlier era, per
haps that of the Himyarite empire, though what
point marks its commencement is not deter
mined. The Himyaritic in its earlier phase
probably represents the first Semitic language
spoken in Arabia.
, The manners and customs of the Arabs r are of
great value in illustrating the Bible; but sup
posed parallels between the patriarchal life of
the Scriptures and the state of the modern
Arabs must not be hastily drawn. It should be
remembered that this people are in a degraded
condition ; that they have been influenced by
Jewish contact, especially by the adoption, by
Mohammad, of parts of the ceremonial law, and
of rabbinical observances ; and that they are-
not of the race of Israel. They must be re
garded, 1st, as Bedawis, or people ofthe desert;
and 2ndly, as settled tribes or townspeople.
The Bedawis acknowledge that their ancient
e I.e. the ancient language of Southern Arabia gene
rally, not that of the Himyarites only. [Supplement
from Stade, Lehrb. d. Heb. Gr. 1. 4 ; the authorities in
MV.i'.p. xxviii. ; and Corp. Inscr. Sem. iv. 1.— S. E. D.]
f The Arabs have impressed their national charac
teristics on every people whom they have conquered,
except the Tartar races. The modern Egyptians are
essentially an Arab people.

ARABIA
excellence has greatly declined since the time of
Mohammad, and there cannot be a doubt that
this decline began much earlier. Though each
tribe boasts of its unadulterated blood and pure
language, their learned men candidly admit the
depreciation of national character. Scriptural
customs still found among them must therefore
be generally regai-ded rather as indications of
former practices, than as being identical with
them. The Bible always draws a strong con
trast between the character of the Israelites and
that of the descendants of Ishmael, whom the
Bedawis mostly represent. Yet they are, by
comparison with other nations, an essentially
conservative people, retaining a primitive, pas
toral life, and many customs strikingly illus
trating the Bible. They are not so much
affected by their religion as might be supposed :
many tribes disregard religious observances, and
even retain some pagan rites. The Wahhabis,
or modern Arab puritans, found great difficulty
in suppressing by persuasion, and even by force
of arms, such rites ; and where they succeeded,
the suppressson was, in most cases, only tem
porary. Incest, sacrifices to sacred objects, &c,
were among these relics of paganism. The less
changed a tribe, however, the more difficulty is
there in obtaining information respecting it :
such a one is very jealous of intercourse with
strangers even of its own nation. In Southern
Arabia, for instance, is a tribe which will not
allow a guest to stay within its encampments
beyond the three days demanded by the laws of
hospitality. This exclusion undoubtedly tends
to preserve the language from corruption, and
the people from foreign influence ; but it pro
bably does not improve the national character.
To the settled Arabs these remarks apply
with the difference that the primitive mode of
life is in a great degree lost, and Jewish prac
tices are much more observable; while inter
mixture with foreigners, especially with Abys
sinian and Negro concubines in the Yemen and
the Hijaz, has tended to destroy the purity of
blood. A Bedawy will scarcely marry out of
his tribe, and is not addicted to concubinage ; he
considers himself, and is, quite distinct from a
townsman, in habits, in mode of thought, and in
national feeling. Again, a distinction should be
made between the people of Northern and those
of Southern Arabia ; the former being chiefly of
lshmaelite, the latter of Joktanite descent, and,
in other respects than settlement and inter
marriage with foreigners, further removed from
the patriarchal character.
Regarded in the limits we have indicated,
Arab manners and customs, whether those of the
Bedawis or of the townspeople, afford valuable
help to the student of the Bible, and testify
to the truth and vigour of the Scriptural narra
tive. No one can mix with this people without
being constantly and forcibly reminded either of
the early patriarchs or of the settled Israelites.
We may instance their pastoral life, their hos
pitality (most remarkable of desert virtues
[Hospitality]), their universal respect for age
(comp. Lev. xix. 32), their familiar deference
(comp. 2 K. v. 13), their superstitious regard
for the beard. On the signet-ring, which is
worn on the little finger of the right hand, is
usually inscribed a sentence expressive of sub
mission to God, or of His perfection, &c, ex-

ARABIA

21',

plaining Ex. xxxix. 30, " the engravings of a
signet, Holy to the Lord " (R. V.), and the saying
of Christ (John iii. 33), "He . . . hath set hi.-.
seal to Mi-', that God is true" (11. V.). As a
mark of trust, this ring is given to another
person (as in Gen. xii. 42). The inkhorn worn
in the girdle is also very ancient (Ezek. ix. 2,
3, 11), as well as the veil. (For many illus
trations, see Lane's Modern Egyptians.) A man
has a right to claim his cousin in marriage, anil
he relinquishes this right by taking off his shoe,
as the kinsman of Ruth did to Boaz (Ruth iv.
7, 8 ; see Burckhardt's Notes on the Bedouins and
Wahabys, p. 65).
References in the Bible to the Arabs them
selves are still more clearly illustrated by the-
manners of the modern people, in their preda
tory expeditions, their mode of warfare, their
caravan journeys, and the like. To the inter
pretation of the Book of Job, an intimate know
ledge of this people and their language and)
literature is essential.
The commerce of Arabia especially connected
with the Bible has been referred to in thiu
sections on Western and Northern Arabia, and
incidentally in mentioning the products of the-
peninsula. Direct mention of the commerce of
the south does not appear to be made in the
Bible : it seems to have passed to Palestine
principally through the northern tribes. Pas
sages relating to the fleets of Solomon and to
the maritime trade, however, bear on this sub
ject, which is a curious study for the historical
inquirer. The Joktanite people of Southern
Arabia have always been, in contradistinction to
the lshmaelite tribes, addicted to a seafaring
life. The latter were caravan merchants ; the
former, the chief traders of the Red Sea, carry
ing their commerce to the shores of India, as-
well as to the nearer coasts of Africa. Their
own writers describe these voyages ; since the
Christian era especially, as we might expect
from the modern character of their literature.
The classical writers also make frequent men
tion of the commerce of Southern Arabia. It
was evidently carried to Palestine by the two-
great caravan routes from the head of the Red
Sea and from that of the Persian Gulf: the
former taking with it chiefly African produce -r
the latter, Indian. It should be observed that
the wandering propensities of the Arabs, of
whatever descent, do not date from the pro
mulgation of Islam. All testimony goes to show
that from the earliest ages the peoples of*
Arabia formed colonies in distant lands, and
have not been actuated only by either the desire
of conquest or by religious impulse in their
foreign expeditions, but rather by restlessness
and commercial activity.
The principal European authorities for the
history of Arabia are, Schultens, Hist. Imp.
Vetus. Joctanidarum, Hard. Gel. 1786, contain
ing extracts from various Arab authors, and
his Monumenta Vetustiora Arabiae, Lug. Bat..
1740 ; Eichhorn, Monumenta Antiquiss. Hist..
Arabum, chiefly extracted from Ibn-Kuteybeh,
with his notes, Goth. 1775 ; Fresnel, Lettres sur
I' Hist, des Arabes avant I'Islamisme, published in
the Journal Asiatique, 1838-53 ; Quatremere,
Me~moire sur les Nabate'ens, 1835 ; Caussin, Essai
sur I'Hist des Arabes avant I'Islamisme, Paris,
1847-48 : for the geography, Niebuhr, Description.

218

ARABIAN

de V Arabic, Amst. 1774 ; Burckhardt, Travels in
Arabia, Lond. 1839; Wellsted, Narrative of a
Journey to the Ruins of Nakeb-al-Hajar, in Journ.
of R. G. S., vii. 20 ; his copy of Inscription, in
Journ. of Asiat. Soe. of Bengal, iii. 1834; and
his Journal, Lond. 1838; — Cruttenden, Narra
tive of a Journey from Mokhd to San'a ; Jomard,
Etudes ge'ogr. et hist, appended to Mengin, Hist.
de VEgypte, vol. iii. Paris, 1839 ; Sprenger, Das
Leben und die Lehre Mohammed's, 1869, and Die
alte Geographie Arabiens, 1875 ; Miiller, Him-
yaritische Sage ; Prideaux, Lay of the Himyarites ;
Robinson, Biblical Researches ; Stanley, Sinai and
Palestine ; Tuch, Essay on the Sinaitic Inscrip
tions, in the Journal of the German Oriental Soe.
xiv. 129 sq. ; Palmer, The Desert of the Exo
dus ; Palgrave, Journey to Arabia ; Blunt (W.
S.), Visit to Nejd; Doughty, Travels in Arabia
Deserta. See also the list of works in Herzog,
RE.2, s. v. Arabien. Strabo, Ptolemy, Diodorus
Siculus, Pliny, and the minor geographers,
should also be consulted : — for the manners and
customs of the Arabs, Burckhardt, Notes on
the Bedouins and Wahabys, 8vo, 1831 ; and for
Arab life in its widest sense, Lane, Notes on
the Thousand and One Nights, now collected
under the title of Arabian Society in tlie Middle
Ages, ed. by S. Lane-Poole (1883) ; and his
Modern Egyptians, ed. 1860.
Some of the most important native works are
still untranslated, and but few of them are
edited. Abu-1-FidS, Hist. Anteislamica, has been
edited and translated by Fleischer, Lips. 1831 ;
and El-Idrisi, Geographie, translated by Jaubert,
and published in the Recueil de Voyages et de
Me~moires, by the Geogr. Soe. of Paris, 1836.
Of those which have been edited are Yakut's
Homonymous Geographical Dictionary, entitled
El-Mushtarak Wad'an wa-l-Muftarak Sak'an,
ed. Wiistenfeld, Gott. 1845 ; the same geogra
pher's Mo' jam el-Bulddn, ed. Wiistenfeld, 4 vols.
Leipz. 1866-9; the Mardsid el-Ittild', probably
an abridgment by an unknown hand of the
Mo'jam, ed. Juynboll, Lug. Bat. 1852^,; the
Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, ed. and transl.
Wiistenfeld, 1857-8 ; El-Bekry's Geogr. WSrter-
buch, ed. Wiistenfeld, 1876 ; the Biblioth. geogr.
arab. ed. De Goeje, 1876-87 ; Ibn-Khaldun's Pro
legomena, ed. Quatremere, Paris, 1858 ; and
El-Mes'udy's Prairies d'Or, 9 vols. 1861-77. [E. S. P.]
ARA'BIAN, THE ClfVn, Neh. ii. 19, vi.
1 ; b 'ApaBl, N -ei, Arabs : ' »3**i**, Is. xiii. 20 ;
Jer. iii. 2 [LXX. Koptbvr)] : "ApaBes; Arabes);
Arabians, The (D'8<»3*l*;n, 2 Ch. xvii. 11 ;
n*3"li;n, 2 Ch. xxi. 16, xxii 1, xxvi. 7 (Keri);
Neh. iv. 1 [LXX. and A. V. v. 7] : oi "ApaBes ;
Arabes). The nomadic tribes inhabiting the
country to the east and south of Palestine, who
in the early times of Hebrew history were known
as Ishmaelites and descendants of Keturah.
Their roving pastoral life in the desert is alluded
to in Is. xiii. 20, Jer. iii. 2, 2 Mace. xii. 11 ;
tb-el* country is associated with the country of
the Dedanim, the travelling merchants (Is. xxi.
13), with Dedan, Tema, and Buz (Jer. xxv. 24),
and with Dedan and Kedar (Ezek. xxvii. 21),
all of which are supposed to have occupied the
northern part of the peninsula later known as
Arabia. During the prosperous reign of Jehosha-

ABADUS
phat, the Arabians, in conjunction with the
Philistines, were tributary to Judah (2 Ch. xvii.
11), but in the reign of his successor they
revolted, ravaged the country, plundered the
royal palace, slew all the king's sons with the
exception of the youngest, and carried off the
royal harem (2 Ch. xxi. 16, xxii. 1). The
Arabians of Gur-baal were again subdued by
Uzziah (2 Ch. xxvi. 7). During the Captivity
they appear to have spread over the country ot
Palestine, for on the return from Babylon they
were among the foremost in hindering Nehe
miah in his work of restoration, and plotted
with the Ammonites and others for that end
(Neh. iv. 7, A. V.). Geshem, or Gashmu, one
of the leaders of the opposition, was of this
race (Neh. ii. 19, vi. l). In later times the
Arabians served under Timotheus the Ammonite
in his struggle with Judas Maccabaeus, but
were defeated (1 Mace. v. 39 ; 2 Mace. xii. 10).
The Zabadaeans [in Josephus, the Nabatheans,
as in 1 Mace. v. 25], an Arab tribe, were routed
by Jonathan, the brother and successor of Judas
(1 Mace. xii. 31). The chieftain or king of the
Arabians bore the name of Aretas as far back as
the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and Jason the
high-priest (2 Mace. v. 8 ; cp. 2 Cor. xi. 32).
Zabdiel, the assassin of Alexander Balas (1 Mace.
xi. 17), and Simalcue [in Josephus, Malchus ;
Vulg. EmalchueT], who brought up Antiochus,
the young son of Alexander (1 Mace. xi. 39),
afterwards Antiochus VI., were both Arabians.
In the time of the N. T. the term appears to
have been used in the same manner (Acts ii. 11).
[Arabia.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
ARABIC LANGUAGE. See Arabia,
p. 216, and Shemitic Languages.
ARABIC VERSION. [Versions, An
cient.] ARA'D ("IT"* ; A. 'AptiS, B. 'nPt)p ; Arod). A
Benjamite, son of Beriah, who drove out the in
habitants of Gath (1 Ch. viii. 15). [W. A. W.]
ARAD (Til"; 'ApdS; Arad: exc. in Josh.,
where we find A. fiatriAea 'ASep, B. BatrtAea
AlpdB, BatriAea 'ApdB ; Heeler), a royal city of
the Canaanites, named with Hormah and Libnah
(Josh. xii. 14). The Jerus. Targum on Gen. xx. 2
has Arad for the Gerar of the Heb. text. The
wilderness of Judah was to " the south of Arad"
(Judg. i. 16). It is also undoubtedly named in
Num. xxi. 1 (cp. Hormah in v. 3) and xxxiii. 40,
" the Canaanite, the king of Arad," R. V., instead
of the reading of the A. V., " king Arad the
Canaanite " (see the translations of Zunz, De
Wette, &c). Jerome and Eusebius mention it
(OS.2 s. nn. Arath [p. 123, 22] and 'Apapd
[p. 236, 55]), as a city of the Amorites, near the
desert of Kaddes, 4 miles from Malatha (Moladah),
and 20 from Hebron. This agrees with the
conjecture of Robinson (ii. 101, 201, 202), who
identifies it with a hill, Tell 'Arad, 7J miles
from Milh (Moladah), and 16 miles from Hebron
(P. F. Mem. iii. 403, 415). [G.] [W.]
AR'ADTJS Q'ApaSos; Arados), included in
the list of places to which the decree of Lucius
the consul, protecting the Jews under Simon the
high-priest, was addressed (1 Mace. xv. 23). The
same place as Arvad. [G.] [W.]

ARAH
A'RAH (n*1S, traveller; 'Ope'x; Am*).
1. An Asherite, of the sous of Ulla (1 Ch.
vii. 38, LXX. v. 39. In v. 38 LXX. and Vulg.
have 'Apex, Ara, as renderings of N""**!, one of
the sons of Jether).
2. B. 'Hpd, A. 'Apes ; Area. The sons of
Arah returned with Zerubbabel, in number 775,
according to Ezra ii. 5, but 652 according to
Neh. vii. 10. One of his descendants, She-
chaniah, was the father-in-law of Tobiah the
Ammonite (Neh. vi. 18). The name is written
Ares in 1 Esd. v. 10. [W. A. \V.] [F.]
AEA'M (DIX, a name of uncertain meaning
[see Noldeke, s. n. in Schenkel's Bib.-Lex.], the
derivation " height " hardly applying to a
people found chiefly in lowlands). 1. The name
by which the Hebrews designated, generally,
the parts of Syria lying to the north-east
of Palestine, and the greater part of Meso
potamia." It included the whole elevated region
which, rising with sudden abruptness from
the Jordan and the very margin of the lake
of Gennesareth, stretches to the banks of the
Euphrates itself, contrasting strongly with the
low land bordering on to the Mediterranean,
the " land of Canaan," or the low country (Gen.
xxxi. 18 ; xxxiii. 18, &c). Throughout the
A. V. the word is, with only a very few excep
tions (Num. xxiii. 7 ; 1 Ch. ii. 23 ; Ps. Ix. title),
rendered as in the Vulgate and LXX. — :Syria,
or Syrians, a name which, it must be remem
bered, does not convey the same meaning to our
ears that Aram did to the Jews. [Syria.]
Its earliest occurrence in the Book of Genesis
is in the form of Aram-naharaim, i.e. the " high
land of or between the two rivers " (Gen. xxiv.
10, A. V. " Mesopotamia "), but in other parts
of the Pentateuch the word is used without
anv addition, sometimes for Aram-naharaim (cp.
Num. xxiii. 7 with Deut. xxiii. 4; and Judg. iii.
v. 10 with v. 8), and sometimes to designate a
dweller in Aram-naharaim — Laban or Bethuel — ¦
"the Aramean" (see Gen. xxv. 20, xxviii. 5,
xxxi. 20, 24; Deut. xxvi. 5). Aram-naharaim
was the country between the Euphrates and the
Tigris ; and Padan- or accurately Paddan-Aram
CN [IB. On the meaning of '3 see the com
mentaries of Dillmann and Delitzsch [1887] on
Gen. xxv. 20) was either another designation for
this district, or more probably the name of a
limited extent of flat country round Haran
(see Gen. xxv. 20 ; xxviii. 2, 5-7 ; xxxi. 18 ;
xxxiii. 18 ; xxxv. 9, 26 ; xlviii. 7). In Hos.
xii. 12, 'K mb, the "field " or " plain of Aram"
(A. V. the country of Syria), has been supposed to
be a translation or paraphrase of Paddan-Aram.
[Aram-naharaim ; Padan-aram ; Sadeh.]
Later in the history we meet with a number
of small nations or kingdoms forming parts of
the general land of Aram : — 1. Aram-zobah
(Ps. Ix. title ; 2 Sam. x. 6, 8), or simply Zobah,
*13iX (1 Sam. xiv. 47 ; 2 Sam. viii. 3 ; 1 Ch.
xviii. xix.). [Aram-zobah ; Zobah.] 2. Aram

ARAH

219

R The name Aram probably appears also in the
Homeric names 'Aptpoi (II. ii. 783) and 'EpepfioC (Od.
iv. 84). Cp. Strab. xvi. 785 ; Grote, Hist, of Greece, iii.
387. On the name in the cuneiform inscriptions, see
Schrader, KAT? on Gen. x. 22, and Fried. Delitzsch,
Parodies, p. 257 sq.

Beth-rehob (2 Sam. x. 6), or Rehob, 3im (x. 8).
In 1 Ch. xix. 6, Aram-naharaim takes the place
of Beth-rehob and Ishtob. [Beth-rehob ; Re-
HOB.] 3. Aram-maachah (1 Ch. xix. 6), or
Maachah only, rD*"Q (2 Sam. x. 6). [Aham-
maaciiaii ; Maachah.] 4. Geshur, " in Aram"
(2 Sam. xv. 8), usually named in connexion
with Maachah (Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xiii. 11, Hi,
&c). [Geshur.] 5. Ishtob, properly " the
men of Tob," and so in R. V. (2 Sam. x. (i, 8
Judg. xi. 3, 5). [Ishtob; Tob.] 6. Aram-
Dammesek (Damascus ; 2 Sam. viii. 5, 6 ; 1 Ch.
xviii. 5, 6). The whole of these petty states
are spoken of collectively under the name of
" Aram " (2 Sam. x. 13), but as Damascus in
creased in importance it gradually absorbed the
smaller powers (1 K. xx. 1), and the name of
Aram was at last applied to it alone (Is. vii. 8 ;
also 1 K. xi. 25, xv. 18, &c).
The exact position and limits of these small
states cannot be defined. Aram-zobah appears
to have been situated eastward of Coele-Syria,
and to have extended N.E. and E. to the Eu
phrates ; it probably included the eastern slopes
of Anti-Lebanon, the highlands about Aleppo,b
and the northern part of the Syrian desert. To
the S. of Zobah were Maachah and Beth-rehob,
the latter bordering on the Euphrates, the former
lying more to the W. and adjoining Geshur.
Maachah and Geshur were closely connected
(Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xii. 5, xiii. 11, 13), and
formed part of the territory allotted to Manasseh,
but they were never completely conquered by
that tribe. Dammasek was the rich country
round Damascus, and Tob probably lay eastward
of Jebel Hauran.
In the Assyrian inscriptions the term Aramu
or Arimu is applied to Mesopotamia, and to the
people living on the W. bank of the Euphrates,
S. of the river Sajur, and never to the western
Aramean states. Aram-naharaim appears under
the form Naharaina on the Egyptian monuments
of the 18th and 19th dynasties ; and in the
reigns of Thothmes I. and III., it offered a stub
born resistance to the advance of the Egyptians
in Asia. One of its kings, Chushan-rishathaim,
extended his conquests to Palestine, not long
after the occupation of that country by the
Israelites, and held it for eight years (Judg. iii.
8, 10). At a later period the small principali
ties of Aram-naharaim, the Nahiri or Nairi of
the Assyrian monuments, were engaged in con
stant wars with the Assyrian monarchs and
became tributary to them. In the 11th cent.
B.C., a period which synchronises with a tem
porary decline in the Assyrian power, Zobah
was split up into several small states (1 Sam.
xiv. 47) ; but these were consolidated into a
powerful kingdom under Hadadezer, who opposed
David, and was conquered by him in the war
which resulted in an extension of the Jewish
empire to the Euphrates (2 Sam. viii.). David
also defeated the Arameans of Damascus, who
had advanced to the assistance of Hadadezer,
and occupied Damascus (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6) ; but
after his death the city was wrested from
Solomon by Rezon, and never retaken (1 K. xi.
23-25). Under the successors of Rezon the
power of Damascus rapidly increased, and even-
i> Benjamin of Tudela (E. Trav. 93) identifies Aram-
zobah with Aleppo.

220

ARAM

tually the name Aram was applied to it alone.
[Damascus.] The Arameans were an important factor in
the Assyrian state, and many of them were
employed in the government service. In the
reign of Sennacherib they formed part of the
population of several Babylonian towns, and at
a later period " bands of Syrians " were sent
by Nebuchadnezzar against Jehoiakim (2 K.
xxiv. 2 ; cp. Jer. xxxv. 11). The worship ofthe
Aramean gods is first mentioned in connexion
with Gilead, and it appears to have been intro
duced amongst the Jews, after the death of Jair,
through the trans-Jordanic tribes which were in
more immediate contact with the Aramean
states (Judg. x. 6). The Aramean form of wor
ship was adopted and introduced into Judaea by
Ahaz, who sacrificed to the " gods of the kings
of Syria" (2 Ch. xxviii. 23), and had an altar
made after the pattern of one that he had seen
at Damascus (2 K. xvi. 10-16). "In the later
days of the Assyrian empire, Aramaic, the lan
guage of Aram, became the common language of
trade and diplomacy, which every merchant
and politician was supposed to learn, and in still
later times succeeded in supplanting Assyrian in
Assyria and Babylonia, as well as Hebrew in
Palestine, until in its turn it was supplanted by
Arabic." (Sayce, Fresh Light from the A. Monts.
44.) It was in this language that Rabshakeh
was requested to speak (2 K. xviii. 26), and
that the officers of the Persian government in
Samaria wrote to king Ahasuerus (Ezra iv. 7).
The Hebrew terms " to divine " (kasam ; which
is also Arabic), "to practise magic" (Deut.
xviii. 10), and " idolatrous priests " (chemarin,
2 K. xxiii. 5), and other similar words are of
Aramean origin.
According to the genealogical table in Gen. x.
Aram was the son of Shem, and his brethren
were Eiam, or the mountainous region E. of
Babylonia; Asshur, or Assyria; Arphaxad, or
Chaldaea ; and Lud. The children of Aram, or,
according to 1 Ch. i. 17, his brothers, were Uz,
and Hul, and Gether, and Mash or Meshech.
The last has been identified with the mountain
country, Mons Masius, N. of Nisibis ; and Hul
with Hulija, mentioned on the Assyrian monu
ments, as being situated in the same district.
In 2 K. xvi. 6, the Syrians are said to have
come to Elath (on the Red Sea). The word
rendered Syrians (R. V.) is D^DIIX, Aromim,
which in the Keri is read Adomim, Edomites.
In 2 Ch. xxii. 5, the name is presented in a
shortened form as Ram, D'S")!"!; comp. Job
xxxii. 2. "T
2. Sipot ; Syri. Another Aram is named in
Gen. xxii. 21 as a son of Kemuel, and descendant
of Nahor. From the mention of the name with
Uz and Buz it is probably identical with the
tribe of Ram, to the "kindred " of which belonged
" Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite," who
was visiting Job in the land of Uz (Job xxxii. 2).
It is also worthy of notice that among the other
descendants of Nahor are named Tebach (comp.
Tibhath, 1 Ch. xix. 18) and Maacah ; so that
the tribe was possibly one of the smaller divi
sions of Aram described above.
3. A. 'Apdp, B. 'AKapdv ; Aram. An Asherite,
one of the sons of Shemer (1 Ch. vii. 34).
4. The son of Esrom, or Hezron ; elsewhere
called Ram (Matt. i. 3, 4; Luke iii. 33). In

ARARAT
Luke, Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, with
NBZXr, read (instead of 'Apdp) 'ASpetv, tou
'Apvei. The R. V. has Ram (marg. Aram) in
Matt. ; and Arni (marg. Aram) in Luke. [G.] [W.]
ARAMI'TESS (n*B*lX; Sipa; Syra); ,'.<¦.
a female inhabitant of Aram (1 Ch. vii. 14). In
other passages of the A. V. the ethnic of Aram is
rendered Syrian. [W. A. W.]
ARA'M-MA'ACHAH. R. V. in 1 Ch. xix.
6. A. V. has Syria-maachah. [Aram (1);
Maachah.] [W. A. W.]
ARA'M-NAHARA'IM (D*TU D*1K, Aram
of the two rivers ; r) Meo-ortOTapla %vpias ; Meso
potamia Syriae). Ps. Ix. title. Elsewhc-? in
A. V. Mesopotamia (Gen. xxiv. 10 ; Deut. xxiii.
4 ; Judg. iii. 8 ; 1 Ch. xix. 6). The northern
portion of the country between the Euphrates
and Tigris. In Deut. xxiii. 4 Pethor is said to
be in Aram-naharaim ; it was on the W. bank
of the Euphrates, near the mouth ofthe R. Sajir,
and rather in Aram-zobah. [Aram (1) ; Meso
potamia.] [W.]
ARA'M-ZO'BAH (n3)*V DTK; r) Svpla
SoBdA ; Sobal). Ps. Ix. title. In 2 Sam. x. 6, 8,
A. V. has "Syrians of Zoba." An Aramean
state situated eastward of Coele-Syria, and ex
tending N.E. and E. to the Euphrates ; it Is
elsewhere called simply Zobah (1 Sam. xiv. 47 ;
2 Sam. viii. 3, 5, 12, xxiii. 36; 1 K. xi. 23;
1 Ch. xviii. 3, 5, 9 ; xix. 6). [Aram (1).] [W.]
ARA'N (flS, wild goat, Sam. pS ; D. 'Apiv,
A. 'Apdp, in 1 Ch. ' Appdp ; Aran, Aram), name
of a Horite (Gen. xxxvi. 28 ; 1 Ch. i. 42).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
ARARAH, or more correctly ARARATH
(T.' 'ApapdB ; KA. 'Apapdr). A form only in Tob.
i. 21 for Ararat; cp. 2 K. xix. 37. [W.]
ARARAT (tSTIS; 'Apapdr; Ararat), a
mountainous district of Asia mentioned in the
Bible in connexion with the following events :—
(1) As the resting-place of the ark after the
Deluge (Gen. viii. 4, "upon the mountains of
Ararat," A. V. ; super monies Armeniae, Vulg.) :
(2) as the asylum of the sons of Sennacherib
(2 K. xix. 37 ; Is. xxxvii. 38 ; the LXX. have
eis 'Appevlav in the latter, and the Vulg. in
terrain Armeniorum in the former passage ; in
both A. V. has " the land of Armenia," and R. V.
"the land of Ararat"): (3) as the ally, and
probably the neighbour, of Minni and Ashchenaz
(Jer. li. 27). [Armenia.] The expression used
in Gen. xi. 2, that after the Flood mankind
journeyed " from the East," is explained by the
cuneiform inscriptions in which the peak of
Rowandiz, whereon the ark of the Chaldean
Noah rested, is identified with Kliarsak Kurra,
"the mountain of the East " (p. 221, n. a).
The name Ararat was unknown to the geo
graphers of Greece and Rome (except, as Sir H.
Rawlinson has shown, under the form of Alaro-
dians, Hdt. iii. 94), as it still is to the Armenians
of the present day ; but that it was an indigenous
and an ancient name for a portion of Armenia,
appears from the statement of Moses of Chorene,
who gives Araratia as the designation of the

ARARAT

ARARAT

221

central province, and connects the name with an
historical event reputed to have occurred B.C.
1750 (Histor. Armen. Whiston, p. 361). Jerome
identified it with the great plain of the Araxes ;
but this view is not in accordance with the
Assyrian inscriptions, in which Urardhu or
Urartu (Ararat) is the country S. and E. of
Lake Van, which is called Bianias on the native
monuments ; it would, however, be more correct
to consider the name in its Biblical sense as
descriptive generally ofthe Armenian highlands
— the lofty plateau which overlooks the plain of
the Araxes on the N., and of Mesopotamia on
the S. ^Ye shall presently notice the charac
teristics of this remarkable region, which adapted
it to become the cradle of the human race, and
the central spot whence, after the Deluge, the
nations were to radiate to different quarters of
the world. It is, however, first necessary to
notice briefly the opinions put forth as to the
spot where the ark rested, as described in Gen.
viii. 4, although all such speculations, from the

indefiniteuess of the account, cannot lead to any
certain result. Berosus, the Chaldaean, con
temporary with Alexander tho Great, fixes the
spot in the Gordyaean * mountains (trpbs Tip bpet
tuv KopSvaluv, Joseph. Aut. i. 3, § 6), which
appear to have been iu Armenia, or in the modern
Kurdistan, to the E. or N.E. of Assyria, and to
have formed the boundary between the two
countries. Berosus seems to have obtained hU
information from the Chaldaean records, which
state that the ark of Xisuthrus or Sisuthrus
rested on the mountain of Nizir, which lay east
of Assyria between 35° and 36° N. lat. (Trans.
Soe. Bib. Arch. ii. 231. See also Delitzsch, H*»
lag das Parodies, p. 105, &c.) His opinion is fol
lowed by the Syriac and Chaldee Versions, which
give -llip as the equivalent for Ararat in Gen.
viii. 4, and in a later age by the Koran. Tradi
tion still points to the Jebel Judi as the scene of
the event, and maintains the belief, as stated by
Berosus, that fragments of the ark exist on its
summit. The selection of this range was natural

to an inhabitant of the Mesopotamian plain ; for
it presents an apparently insurmountable barrier
on that side, hemming in the valley of the Tigris
with abrupt declivities so closely that only dur
ing the summer months is any passage afforded
between the mountain and river (Ainsworth's
Travels in the track of tke Ten Thousand, p. 154).
Josephus also quotes Nicolaus Damascenus to
the effect that a mountain named Baris, beyond
Minyas, was the spot. This has been identified
with Varaz, a mountain mentioned by St. Martin
(Mern. sur V Armtnie, i. 265) as rising to the
north of Lake Van, and which appears to be the
same as the modern Sipan Dagh. Baris, how
ever, appears in the Book of Jubilees (ch. 5)
under the fuller form of Lubar, which Epiphanius
(adv. Haer. i. 5) makes the boundary between
Armenia and the Kurds ; and the Minyas of
Nicolaus Damascenus is the kingdom ofthe Minni
(called Mana in the Vannic inscriptions), which
adjoined Ararat or Bianias (whence the modern
Van) on the south-east. That the scene of
an event so deeply interesting to mankind had

even at that early age been transferred, as was
natural, to the loftiest and most imposing moun
tain in the district, appears from the statement
of Josephus (Ant. i. 3, § 5) that the spot where
Noah left the ark had received 'from the Arme
nians a name descriptive of that event, which he
renders 'AiroBaT-fipiov, and which may possibly
be identical with Nachitjevan, on the banks of the
Araxes. To this neighbourhood all the associa
tions connected with Noah are now assigned by
the native Armenians, and their opinion has
been so far endorsed by Europeans that thev
have given the name Ararat exclusively to the
mountain which is called Massis by the Arme
nians ; Aghri-Dagh, i.e. Painful Mountain, by the

a The name Gordyene appears in the Karduchi of
Xenophon and Strabo, and in the modern Kurds and
Kurdistan. Kurdistan is represented by the Accadian
Gutium, within the limits of which " the mountain of
Nizir" or Rowandiz was situated, and the Assyrian
Kutu. Urardhu or Ararat seems to be connected with the
Assyrian Urdhu, which an old geographical list ( W. A.
I. ii. 48, 13) interprets by tilla, "highlands."

222 ARARAT
Turks ; and Koh-i-Nuh, i.e. Noah's Mountain, by
the Persians. It rises immediately out of the
plain of the Araxes, and terminates iu two
conical peaks, named the Great and Little
Ararat, about seven miles distant from each
other, the former of which attains an elevation
of 17,000 feet above the level of the sea, and
about 14,000 above the plain of the Araxes, while
the latter is lower by 4,000 feet. The summit
of the higher is covered with eternal snow for
about 3,000 feet of perpendicular height. That
it is of volcanic origin, is evidenced by the im
mense masses of lava, cinders, and porphyry
with which the middle region is covered ; a deep
cleft on its northern side has been regarded as
the site of its crater, and this cleft was the
scene of a terrible catastrophe which occurred
July 2, 1840, when the village of Arghuri and
the Monastery of St. James were buried beneath
the debris brought down from the upper heights
by a violent earthquake. The summit of Ararat
was long deemed inaccessible, and the Armenians
still cling to this belief. It was first ascended
in 1829 by Parrot, who approached it from the
N.W. ; he describes a secondary summit about
400 yards distant from the highest point, and
on the gentle depression which connects the two
eminences he surmises that the ark rested
{Journey to Ararat, p. 179. See also Bryce,
Transcaucasia and Ararat, p. 278). The region
immediately below the limits of perpetual snow
is barren, and unvisited by beast or bird.
Wagner (Reise, p. 185) describes the silence and
solitude that reigned there as quite overpower
ing. Arghuri, the only village known to have
been built on its slopes, was the spot where,
according to tradition, Noah planted his vine
yard. Lower down, in the plain of Araxes, is
Nachitjevan, where the patriarch is reputed to
have been buried.
Returning to the broader signification we
have assigned to the term "the mountains of
Ararat," as co-extensive with the Armenian
plateau from the base of Ararat in the N. to
the range of Kurdistan in the S., we notice the
following characteristics of that region as
illustrating the 'Bible narrative: — (1) Its ele
vation. It rises as a rocky island out of a sea
of plain to a height of from 6,000 to 7,000
feet above the level of the sea, presenting a
surface of extensive plains, whence, as from
a fresh base, spring important and lofty moun
tain-ranges, having a generally parallel direction
from E. to W., and connected with each other by
transverse ridges of moderate height. (2) Its
geographical position. The Armenian plateau
stands equidistant from the Euxine and the
Caspian seas on the N., and between the Persian
Gulf and the Mediterranean on the S. With
the first it is connected by the Acampsis, with
the second by the Araxes, with the third by the
Tigris and Euphrates, the latter of which also
serves as an outlet towards the countries on the
Mediterranean coast. These seas were the high
roads of primitive colonization, and the plains
watered by these rivers were the seats of the
most powerful nations of antiquity, the Chal-
daeans, the Assyrians, the Medes, and the
Colchians. Viewed with reference to the dis
persion of the nations, Armenia is the true
AptpuAbs of the world: and it is a significant
fact that at the present day Little Ararat is the

ARARAT
great boundary-stone between the empires of
Russia, Turkey, and Persia. (3) Its physical
formation. The Armenian plateau is the result
of volcanic ageucies : the plains as well as the
mountains supply evidence of this. Armenia,
however, differs materially from other regions
of similar geological formation, as, for instance,
the neighbouring range of Caucasus, iuasmuch
as it does not rise to a sharp, well-defined
central crest, but expands into plains or steppes,
separated by a graduated series of subordinate
ranges. Wagner (Reise, p. 263) attributes this
peculiarity to the longer period during which
the volcanic powers were at work, and the
room afforded for the expansion of the molten
masses into the surrounding districts. The
result of this expansion is that Armenia is far
more accessible, both from without and within
its own limits, than other districts of similar
elevation : the passes, though high, are com
paratively easy, and there is no district which
is shut out from communication with its neigh
bours. The fall of the ground in the centre of
the plateau is not decided in any direction, as is
demonstrated by the early courses of the rivers
— the Araxes, which flows into the Caspian,
rising westward of either branch ofthe Euphrates,
and taking at first a northerly direction — the
Euphrates, which flows to the S., rising north
ward of the Araxes, and taking a westerly
direction. (4) The climate is severe. Winter
lasts from October to May, and is succeeded by
a brief spring and a summer of intense heat.
The contrast between the plateau and the
adjacent countries is striking : in April, when
the Mesopotamian plains are scorched with heat,
and on the Euxine shore the azalea and rhodo
dendron are in bloom, the Armenian plains are
still covered with snow ; and in the early part
of September it freezes keenly at night.
(5) The vegetation is more varied and pro
ductive than the climate would lead us to
expect. Trees are not found on the plateau
itself, but grass grows luxuriantly, and furnishes
abundant pasture during the summer months to
the flocks of the nomad Kurds. Wheat and
barley ripen at far higher altitudes than on the
Alps and the Pyrenees : the volcanic nature of
the soil, the abundance of water, and the
extreme heat of the short summer bring the
harvest to maturity with wonderful speed. At
Erzrum, about 5,750 feet above the sea, the
crops appear above ground in the middle of
June, and are ready for the sickle before the
end of August (Wagner, p. 255). The vine
ripens at about 5,000 feet, while in Europe
its limit, even south of the Alps, is about
2,650 feet.
The general result of these observations as
bearing upon the Biblical narrative would be to
show that, while the elevation of the Armenian
plateau constituted it the natural resting-place
of the ark after the Deluge, its geographical
position and its physical character secured an
impartial distribution of the families of mankind
to the various quarters of the world. The
climate furnished a powerful inducement to seek
the more tempting regions on all sides of it ;
and the character of the vegetation was remark
ably adapted to the nomad state in which we
may conceive the early generations of Noah's
descendants to have lived. [W. L. B.] [W.]

ARAUNAH
ARAU'NAH (rm*TK ; Ges., comparing the
Syriac, suggests =vitulus ; 'Opvd ; Joseph. 'Opov-
vds ; Areuna), a Jebusite who sold his threshing-
floor on Mount Moriah to David as a site for
an altar to Jehovah, together with his oxen,
for 50 shekels of silver (2 Sam. xxiv. 18-24),
or (according to 1 Ch. xxi. 25) for 600 shekels
of gold by weight. The inference from the
A. V. of 2 Sam. xxiv. 23, " these things did
Araunah, the king, give unto the king," that
he was one of the royal race of the Jebusites,
is not supported by the R. V. " All this, 0 king,
doth A. give," &c. His name is variously
written: nrniKn (2 Sam. xxiv. 16); rmK
(xxiv. 18);Tp-rX (1 Ch. xxi.; 2 Ch. iii.' 1).
[Ornan.] T'T [R.W.B.] [F.]
AK'BA (!73*1K, Ges. perhaps = 7tomo quad
ratus ; Cariath-Arbe), the progenitor of the sons
of Anak, and described as " the greatest (i.e. the
most celebrated) man among the Anakim ; " after
him their chief city Hebron received its name
of Kirjath-arba (Josh. xiv. 15 [B. 'ApydB, A.
'ApBS], xv. 13 [B. 'ApjSd/c, A. -eK], xxi. 11
[B. KapaBapBiK, A. KapiaB-]). [F. W. G.] [F.]
AH'BA, the city of (V31N JV"1j*>; A. KaptaB-
apBdK, B. KapaJBapBoK; Cariatharbe), Josh. xv.
13, xxi. 11. In both cases the A. V. marg. has
" Kirjath-arba," and the R. V. " Kiriath-arba "
in text ; but R. V. has " the city of Arba " in
marg. of xv. 13. In Josh. xxi. 11 the A. V.,
ed. 1611, reads " the citie of Arbah," marg.
" Kiriath-arbah." [Kirjath-arba.] [W.]
ABBA'H, the city of (J*3**S< nnp ; tt6ais
tov treSlov ; civitas Arbee ; R. V. " Kiriath-
arba "). Gen. xxxv. 27. The place elsewhere
called in the A. V. Kirjath-arba. The H has
been made to represent the Ain of the Hebrew
(comp. Jehoshuah; Belah, J*?3). The render
ing of the LXX. shows that they perhaps read
n3*Tl*, which they took to denote "the 'Ara
bah!" tne Plain of Jordan (xxxvii. 14). [W.]
ARBA'THITE, THE Cn3*)*'n ; in 1 Ch.
B. o TapaBaiBBi, A. SapaBeBBel, ^TapaBiB; in
2 Sam. A. 6 'ApuBuBelas, B. vibs toC 'Apa-
BuBaiov [see Abiel] ; Arbathites), probably a
native of the town 'Arabah. Abialbon the A.
was one of David's thirty mighty men (2 Sam.
xxiii. 31 ; 1 Ch. xi. 32). [W. A W.] [S. R. D.]
AEBAT'TIS (T.* iv 'ApBdrTois, K1. 'Ap-
Bdvois, AN2. 'ApBdKTOts ; Arbatis), * district of
Palestine named in 1 Mace. v. 23 only. Ewald
conjectured (Geschichte, iv. 359, note), resting
on the reading of the Peshito Syriac («^Q}j|f
Ard Bat), that the district N. of the Sea of
Galilee, part of which is still called Ard ei-
Batihah, was here intended. But it seems at
least equally probable that the word is merely
a corruption of ' AKpafiaTivn, the province or
toparehy which lay between Neapolis and
Jericho (Reland, 192 ; Joseph. B. J. iii. 3, §§ 4,
5, &c). [Akrabbim.] [G.] [W.]
ARBE'LA (iv 'ApBfaois ; in Arbellis), men
tioned in the Bible only in 1 Mace. ix. 2, and
there only as defining the situation of Masaloth,
a place besieged and taken by Bacchides and
Alcimus at the opening of the campaign in |

ARCHELAUS

223

which Judas Maccabaeus was killed. According
to Josephus (Ant. xii. 11, § 1), this was at
Arbela of Galilee, iv 'ApfSrJAois 7r<iAet Tfjy
TaAiAaias, a place which he elsewhere states to
be near Sepphoris, on the lake of Gennesareth,
and remarkable for certain impregnable caves,
the resort of robbers and insurgents, and the
scene of more than one desperate encounter
(comp. Ant. xiv. 15, §§ 4, 5 ; B. J. i. 16,
§§ 2, 3 ; ii. 20, § 6 ; Vita, § 37). These topo
graphical requirements are fully met by the
existing Irbid," a site with a few ruins, including
those of a synagogue, west of Mejdel, on the
south-east side of the Wddy Hamdm, at the
eastern extremity of a small plain at the foot of
the hill of Kurun Hattin, and overlooking tho
ravine. The caverns are in both faces of the
ravine, and bear the name of Kul'at Ibn Ma'an
(Rob. ii. 398 ; Burckh. p. 331 ; Irby, p. 91).
There seems no reason to doubt the sound
ness of this identification." The army of Bac
chides was on its road from Antioch to the land
of Judaea (yrjv 'loiSa), which they were
approaching "by the way that leadeth td
Galgala " (Gilgal); ° that is, by the valley of the
Jordan in the direct line to which Irbid lies.1*
Ewald, however (Geschichte, iv. 370, note),
insists, in opposition to Josephus, that the
engagements of this campaign were confined to
Judaea proper, a theory which drives him
to consider "Galgala" as the Jiljilia north of
Gophna. [GiLGAL.] But he admits that no
trace of an Arbela in that direction has yet
come to light.
Arbela may be the Beth-arbel of Hos. x. 14,
but there is nothing to ensure it. [G.] [W.]
ARBI'TE, THE C3*lXn ; de Arbi). Paarai
the Arbite was one of David's guard (2 Sam.
xxiii. 35). The word, .according to Ges. and
Fiirst, probably signifies a native of Arab. In
the parallel list of Chronicles it is given as
(Ben-)Ezbai, by a change in letters not unfre
quently occurring. [Ezbai.] The LXX. is
very corrupt : A. Qapael 6 'Apaxeieis, B. toC
Ovpaioepxel (as if 'SIKn. See Kennicott, Dis
sert, on 2 Sam. xxiii. p. 210). [G.] [W.]
ABBO'NAI, Judith ii. 24. [See Abronas.]
ARCHELA'US ('ApxeAaos ; Archelaus), son
of Herod the Great by Malthake, a Samaritan,
who was also the mother of Herod Antipas.
They were brought up at Rome (Jos. Ant. xvii.
1, § 3). Archelaus was the elder of the two (Jos.
a The Arbela of Alexander the Great is called Irbil
by the Arabic historians (Rob. ii. 399). The change
of I to d is not unfrequent. Moreover, the present
Irbid is undoubtedly mentioned in the Talmud as
Arbel (see Schwarz, p. 189 ; Reland, p. 358 ; Rob. ill. 343,
note). b First suggested in the Munich Gel. Anzeigen, Nov.
1836, and eagerly laid hold of by Robinson.
<= Some MSS. and tbe important version of the Syriac
Peshito read " Gilead ; " in which case the Arbela be
yond Jordan must be thought of. But lt is hardly likely
that Josephus would be inaccurate in his topography, in
a part of the country which he knew so thoroughly.
a The importance of the Wddy Hamdm in a military
point of view, as commanding the great north road, the
Sea of Galilee, and the important springs in the plain of
Gennesareth, is not lost sight of by Wilson (Lands of
the Bible, in Ritter, Jordan, p. 328).

224

ARCHELAUS

B. J. i. 32, 7, and 33, 7). In an earlier will
Antipas had been named king, but a later dis
position, only a few days before Herod's death,
took away the succession from Antipas, left him
the tetrarchy of Galilee and Peraea, and trans
ferred the richer districts of Judaea and Samaria
to Archelaus, with the title of king. But the
inheritance was dependent on the ratification of
Augustus, and the first step was to go to Rome
aud obtain it. Before Archelaus could do this
his government was tarnished at the outset by
bloodshed. The cruelties of Herod's reign began
to bear fruit, and especially vengeance was
demanded on the counsellors responsible for the
death of the Zealots who had destroyed the eagle
above the Temple gate (Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, § 3).
The demantLgrew to a tumult ; a cohort sent to
quell it was stoned, and order was restored only by
the slaughter in the Temple of about 3000 Jews.
And then Archelaus was free to depart. At
Rome, although opposed by his brother Antipas,
he found favour with Augustus, who declared
him the most worthy competitor (b^iojTaTov tt)s
BatrtAelas, Jos. Ant. xvii. 9, § 7), but postponed
the final decision. Now came the news from
Judaea of worse disorders. Another struggle
had taken place again at a feast and again in
the Temple. Sabinus, the Roman procurator
during the interregnum, had burned the Temple
courts, plundered the treasure, and was now
himself besieged. Judas, the robber captain,
was master of Galilee ; and Simon, Athronges,
and Herod's dismissed soldiers, all contributed
to the disorder. Peace was restored by Varus,
legate of Syria, at the head of a powerful
army, and 2000 of the rebels were crucified.
It was time that the question of the succession
should be settled. Archelaus, Antipas, and
Philip were all present to plead their cause ; but
besides these, an embassy of fifty Jews, backed
by 8000 of their countrymen iu Rome, came to
pray to be delivered from such rulers as Herod
and Archelaus, and to be placed under the direct
government of Rome, as an appendage (TrpotrBiiKTi)
to the province of Syria. The message (irpeo--
0ela) sent after Archelaus, " We will not have
this man to reign over us," puts it beyond
a doubt that his journey to receive a king
dom suggested a feature in the parable of Luke
xix. 12 sq. The sacred use made of the
history of a bad man finds a parallel in the case
of the " unjust judge " in the preceding chapter
(Luke xviii. 3). Augustus now decided the
matter by confirming the division appointed by
Herod's final will. Archelaus retained Judaea,
Idumaea, and Samaria, with a revenue three
times as large as that of Antipas. But his
title was to be ethnarch, and that of king was
only promised conditionally on his showing he
deserved it (Jos. Ant. xvii. 11, § 4). So Asander
had been ethnarch of the Bosporus, and was
promoted by Augustus to be " kinc " of the
same district (Lucian, Macrob. 17, quoted by
Anger). At this point Matt. ii. 22 may be
noticed, though the exact period of Archelaus'
government at which Joseph returned from
Egypt is not ascertained. At any rate it took
place after sufficient evidence had been given
<it Archelaus' cruel disposition, either bv his
massacres (Passover, B.C. 4), or in other ways.
But the difficulty of the text lies in the word
reigns (BaoiAebei). Archelaus was never

ARCHIPPUS
king as Herod intended him to be. Augustus
made him ethnarch, and as ethnarch he is
described on his coins. It may here be added
that on these coins he bears the family name of
Herod (see Madden, Coins of the Jews, p. 117).
However, inasmuch as his assumption of the
dignity of king was a principal ground of
Antipater's attack upon him (iirtKaXuv irpoKi-
Bitriv etrl Bp6vov BaatAeiov, Kai Sikuv SiaAvtreis
iis urrb BaaiAeus yevopevas, Jos. Ant. xvii. 9, § 5)
he may well have been popularly known as
Bao-tAevs, and indeed Josephus himself (Ant.
xviii. 4, 3) speaks of him under that title.
Herod Antipas the tetrarch is also called "the
king " (S BaaiAeus, Matt. xiv. 9 ; Mark vi. 14).
The rule of Archelaus lasted ten years, B.C. 4 to
A.D. 6. Like all the Herods, he was a great
builder, but beyond this we know little of his
public acts. In his private life he gave cause of
offence to his subjects by divorcing his wife
Mariamme to marry Glaphyra, who had been
the wife, first of his brother Alexander, and
then of Juba, king of Mauretania. The fact
that there was issue of her marriage with
Alexander prevented her marriage with Arche
laus being admissible under the law of Levirate.
Finally, A.D. 6, another deputation both from
Judaea and Samaria went to Rome, and their
complaints of his cruelty led Augustus .to send
at once for Archelaus. He confronted him with
his accusers, condemned him, and sentenced him
to banishment at Vienne (Jos. Ant. xvii. 13, § 2),
where he died (Strabo, xvi. 2, 46). His tomb
however was shown near Bethlehem (Jerome, OS.2
p. 135, 12, s. v. Bethleem). On his coins he is
called " Herod, Ethnarch " (Madden, Coins of the
Jews, p. 115), and Dio Cassius (lv. 27) calls him
" Herod the Palestinian." See Schurer, N. T.
Zeitgeschichte, § 17. [E. R. B.]
ARCHERY. [Arms.]
AR'CHEVITES (N.'1*?**K [Ken]'; B. 'Ap-
Xovoi, A. 'Axuaiot ; Erchuaci), the inhabitants
of Erech or Warka, one of the Babylonian cities
mentioned in Gen. x. 10 (Schrader, KAT?
p. 94, &c.) ; some of whom had been placed as
colonists in Samaria (Ezra iv. 9. Cp. Bertheau-
Ryssel in loco). [W. L. B.] [F.]
AR'CHI 03-lKn ; B. XarapuBet, A. 'AW'-
araptiB ; Archi), Josh. xvi. 2. [ArOHITE.] [W. A. W.]
ARCHIP'PUS ("ApxiTriros ; Archippus), a
Christian entrusted with office (Sioxovia) in
the Church to the discharge of which he is bid
to take heed (Col. iv. 17). In respect of his
ministry he is a fellow-soldier (o-uvo-TpaTitirtis)
of St. Paul and Timothy, and is thus greeted by
them (Philem. 2). In the verse quoted his
name follows those of Philemon and Apphia, and
he must therefore from the private character of
the letter have been closely connected with
Philemon, perhaps his son. The return of
Onesimus to Colossae (Col. iv. 9) has been held
to prove that Philemon, and therefore also
Archippus, lived there. But as this proof is
not conclusive respecting Philemon, so it is still
less so respecting Archippus. He may have
been greeted in a letter to Philemon, even
though not habitually resident in his house.
Laodicea is " within a walk " from Colossae.

ARCHITE
The message in Col. iv. 17 is apparently the last
clause of a message to Laodicea, which is to be
conveyed by the Colossians, " Greet them, cause
them to read your letter, and say to Archippus."
We may follow Wieseler in this view of the
passage, and conclude with him that Archippus'
ministry was exercised at Laodicea, without
going on to Wieseler's further conclusion that
Philemon therefore also lived at Laodicea, and
that "the Epistle from Laodicea" was the
Epistle to Philemon, a wholly untenable sugges
tion. It is impossible to fix the nature of the
SiaKovta exercised by Archippus. Bp. Lightfoot
suggests that he was either a presbyter or an
evangelist, not a deacon. He also calls attention
to the coincidence between this warning to the
pastor of Laodicea and the warnings to the same
church, Rev. iii. 14-19 (see Bp. Lightfoot, Epp.
Col. and Philem., Philem. Introduction, whose
view has been followed throughout ; also
Wieseler, Chron. Ap. Zeitalt. p. 452). Tradition
makes Archippus bishop of Laodicea, e.g. Apost.
Const, vii. 46. There is a story of his martyrdom
at Chonae near Laodicea. He was buried (xuv-
vvTai) up to his middle in a pit, pricked by the
boys with their pencils (ypatpela), and finally
stoned (Menol. Graec Basil, i. 206). [E. R. B.]
ARCHTTE, THE 03'"iKn, as if from a
place named Erech, *q"TN ; 2 Sam. xv., xvi., B.
b apxieratpos (A. dpxeieraipos, for 6 'Apx't,
iTaiposy, 2 Sam. xvii., A. i 'Apaxi, B. -xei ;
1 Ch. 6 Tcpuros tplAos; Arachites), the usual
designation of David's friend Hushai (2 Sam. xv.
32, xvi. 16, xvii. 5, 14 ; 1 Ch. xxvii. 33).
The word also appears (somewhat disguised,
it is true,' in the A. V.) in Josh. xvi. 2, where
" the borders of Archi " (i.e. " the Archite,"
R. V. "the Archites")" are named as on the
boundary of the " children of Joseph," and in
the neighbourhood of Bethel. The name appears
to be preserved in 'Ain Arik, a small village
5 miles W.S.W. of Bethel, which is marked
on the map of Marino Sanuto, 1321 a.d., as
Arecha (P. F. Mem. iii. 7). No town of the
name of """IK appears in Palestine. Is it pos
sible that, as in the case of the Gerizi, the
Zemarites and the Jebusites, we have here the
last faint trace of one of the original tribes of
the country ? [G.] [W.]
ARCHITECTURE. The Book of Genesis
appears to divide mankind into two great
characteristic sections, viz. the "dwellers in
tents " and the " dwellers in cities ; " it tells us
further, that Cain was the founder of a city,
and that among his descendants one, Jubal, was
the " father " of the tent-dwellers, while Tubal-
cain was the " instructor of every artificer in
brass and iron " (Gen. iv. 17-22). These last
were probably for the most part dwellers in
towns ; and thus the arts of architecture and
metallurgy became from the earliest times
characteristic of the city-dwelling, as distin
guished from the nomadic, tendency among the
races of mankind.
To the race of Ham, and especially to Nimrod,
is attributed, in Gen. a. 10, 11, the founda-

ARCHITECTURE

225

* Compare Josh, xviii. 16, where " Jebusi " should be
translated " the Jebusite " (R. V.), as it has been in xv. 8.
See also Gerizim ; Zebtakaim.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

tion of the cities of Babylon, Erech, Accad, and
Calneh, in the plain of Shinar ; while to that
of Shem, especially to Asshur, is assigned tbe
foundation of Nineveh, Calnh, Resen, and Reho
both. Whether by this last name a separate
city be meant, or only the suburbs of one of
tho other places named, is not important to con
sider here (see Schrader, KAT.2 pp. 100, 101).
Of Resen (possibly the Risin of the Assyrian
Monuments, Schrader, I. c.) the writer says
that it was a " great city," viz. at the time at
which he wrote, i.e. probably as early as the
13th century B.C., if not still earlier. From the
same Book we obtain an account of the earliest
recorded building, and of the materials employed
in its construction, the so-called Tower of Babel,
with which the structure called Birs-Nimroud
was long believed to be identical. For descrip
tions of the several towns mentioned above the
reader is referred to the separate articles under
their names ; but of the ruined Birs-Nimroud,
which beyond all doubt represents both in site
and in plan a previous structure of a much
earlier date, the remark may be made which
applies to most other remains of ancient build
ings in Southern Chaldaea 'and Mesopotamia,
that it was mainly constructed of brick. The
greater part of the structure of the Birs-Nim
roud has been reduced by fire to an almost
shapeless mass of ruin, though vast numbers of
bricks have been drawn out of it inscribed with
the name of Nebuchadnezzar, its rebuilder. In
other structures masses of walling still remain
composed of bricks, many of them dried in the
sun, but many carefully burnt in the kiln,
highly glazed and coloured, and bearing inscrip
tions ; and in some cases laid with reeds between
the courses, and firmly cemented with bitumen,
the " slime " with which the valley of the
Euphrates so remarkably abounds, and which
gives its name to the ruined city of Mugheir
("city of bitumen." Cp. Gen. iv. 17, 20, 22,
x. 8-12, xi. 2, 3-11; Bohn, Early Travellers,
p. 100 ; Vaux, Nin. and Persep. pp. 173, 178 ;
Pietro della Valle, Viaggi, vol. ii. 844, 862;
Loftus, Chald. p. 198 ; Perrot et Chipiez, Hist.
de CArt dans I'antiquite, passim ; Layard, Nine
veh, ii. 221, 249, 278 ; Nin. and Bab. p. 531 ;
Rawlinson, Ane. Mon. ii. 534 ; Babelon, Man.
d'Archeologie Orientale, passim).
Whether the Cushite race by which lower
Chaldaea was colonised and Babel built was
imported into that country from Africa is not a
question to be discussed here, but we see plainly
that both they and the dominant race of the
Egyptian people were alike descended from
Ham, while that of Asshur, the inhabitants of
the upper region in which Nineveh, though
perhaps not built by them, was situate, was
derived from Shem (Gen. x. 6, 10, 11, 22).
Certain it is that strong resemblances exist
between the Assyrian architecture of Nineveh
and that of Egypt (Layard, ii. 206 sq.), and
thus the oldest known architecture in the world
is beyond all doubt connected in style also with
that which appears to come next to it in the
order of historical record. We may say then
that, so far as is known at present, the race of
Ham were the earliest builders among the
human race, as in some respects their buildings
surpass in grandeur and impressive solemnity,
as some of them surpass greatly in size, any now
Q

226

ARCHITECTURE

remaining that have come after them. We may
add that from the same original stock came
the races denoted by the names Canaan and
Sidon, of whose architectural works in some
form or other remains may perhaps still be
traced in Syria, and whose towns, many of them
fortified, were planted over the country long
before the occupation of it by the Israelites.
Of towns in one part or other of that region
two at least may claim a very remote but well
authenticated antiquity : Damascus, whose ori
gin, probably Semitic, is earlier in date than
the time of Abraham ; and Hebron, of Hittite
(i.e. Canaanite) origin, which is said to have been
built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. If the
identification of Zoan or Tanis with Avaris, the
city founded by the shepherd kings, be accepted,
this date would carry back the origin of Kirjath-
arba or Hebron to a period not later than
2,000 B.C. (Gen. xiii. 18, xiv. 13 ; Num. xiii. 22 ;
Josh. xiv. 15 ; 1 K. iv. 13 ; Manetho, apud
Joseph, u. Ap. i. 14 ; Fergusson, Hist, of Arch.
i. 112). The Israelites were by occupation
shepherds, and by habit dwellers in tents (Gen.
xlvi. 32 ; xlvii. 3), and the " house " built by
Jacob at Succoth is probably no exception to
this statement (Ges. p. 192), but during their
slavery in Egypt they were compelled, together
with other Egyptian captives, to labour at the
buildings of their Egyptian masters, for whom
it is said that they built the cities of Pithom
and Raamses (Ex. i. 11 ; P. Smith, Hist, of
World, i. 147 ; Wilkinson, Ane Egypt, ii. 195
[1878]). When they entered Palestine, we know
that in many cases they occupied the cities
which they found there, but in some of the low
lands they perhaps built for themselves abodes
of sun-dried bricks, whose ruins may still per
haps be found in the " tells " or heaps of rubbish
in the plain of Esdraelon, and in the Jordan
valley (Deut. vi. 10 ; Josh. xxiv. 13 ; Survey of
Western Pal. vol. ii. p. 129 ; Conder, Tent Life,
ii. 46). The native limestone which abounds
in Palestine would supply a ready material for
building (Deut. xxii. 8), but, from some reason
or other, the Israelites do not appear to have
undertaken any great architectural work until
the time of David. Even the ark of God dwelt
" within curtains " (2 Sam. vii. 2) ; but David
made large collections of materials, and prepared
careful plans for a sumptuous building to con
tain it, which however it was reserved for
Solomon to complete, in great measure, with
imported materials and foreign workmen (1 K.
v.-x. ; 1 Ch. xxviii. xxix.). Besides the Temple
and his other great works of various kinds in
and near Jerusalem, Solomon built fortresses
and cities in various places, among which the
names and sites of Baalath and Tadmor are in
all probability represented by the modern super
structures of Baalbek and Palmyra (1 K. ix. 15,
24). Among the succeeding kings of Israel and
of Judah more than one is recorded as a builder :
Asa (1 K. xv. 23), Baasha (xvi. 17), Omri (xvi.
24), Ahab (xvi. 34, xxii. 39), Hezekiah (2 K.
xx. 20 ; 2 Ch. xxxii. 27, 30), Jehoash and Josiah
(2 K. xii. II, 12 ; xxii. 6) ; and, lastly, Jehoia
kim, of whose winter palace, or apartments,
mention is made (Jer. xxii. 14 ; xxxvi. 22. See
also Hos. viii. 14; Amos iii. 15).
On the return from the Captivity the chief
care of the Jewish rulers was to rebuild the

ARCHITECTURE
Temple and the walls of Jerusalem in a sub
stantial manner with stone aud timber from
Lebanon (Ezra iii. 7-10, v. 8 ; Neh. ii. 8, iii.
7-10), and no doubt both in public and in
domestic architecture about this time the Jews
borrowed much from the people among whom
they had lived (Ezek. viii. 10, xxiii. 14, 15;
Hagg. i. 4; Layard, Nineveh, ii. 307, 308).
During the government of the Maccabees the
fortress (Baris), called afterwards by Herod
Antonia, was erected for the defence of the
Temple and of the city (1 Mace. iv. 60 ; Joseph.
Ant xiii. 11, § 2 ; xv. 11, §4) ; but the reigns of
Herod and his successors were especially remark
able for display in architecture. The Temple
was restored with great magnificence, and Jeru
salem was strengthened with fortifications and
embellished with public buildings. Besides
these great works, Caesarea was built on the
site of Strato's tower, aqueducts for the town
and a harbour constructed, Samaria enlarged
and the name Sebaste given to it, and the town
of Agrippium built ; and Herod the Great carried
his love of architecture, combined with a desire
to gratify his Roman patrons, so far as even to
adorn with buildings cities not within his own
dominions (Joseph. Ant. xv. 9, §§ 5, 6 ; 11, §4;
xvi. 5, § 3 ;— B. J. i. 21, §§ 1, 2, 10, 11). His son
Philip, the tetrarch, enlarged the old Greek
colony of Paneas, and called it in honour of
Tiberius, Caesarea, to which his own name was
added, while his brother Antipas founded the
city of Tiberias, and adorned the towns of
Sepphoris in Galilee and Betharamphta beyond
Jordan, giving to the latter the name Julias, or
Livias, in honour of the mother of Tiberius
(Joseph. Ant. xviii. 2, 1 ; Hieron. de Sit. et Nom.
vol. iii. 173, 174 ; Reland, Geog. p. 497).
Of these buildings, including aqueducts, which
perhaps may be regarded rather as engineering
than as architectural works, remains exist in a
more or less imperfect condition in various
places, especially Jerusalem, Sebastieh (Samaria),
Jebel Fureidis (Herodium), Sebbeh (Masada),
Hebron, and others, besides the outlying but
much more perfect and magnificent remains of
Roman construction at Baalbek and Palmyra.
The huge stones employed in the Assyrian,
Egyptian, and Persepolitan buildings find their
parallel in the substructions of Baalbek, more
ancient than the superstructure, and also in
those of the Temple at Jerusalem, relics of the
building either of Herod or even perhaps of
Solomon (Layard, Nin. ii. 317, 318 ; Robinson,
i. 286, iii. 511). But though Palestine is a land
of ruins, not many connected relics of public
buildings of a more remote antiquity than the
time of Herod can be traced ; nevertheless, in
tombs excavated from the rock, in cisterns and
reservoirs, in towers built in vineyards, and in
rock-cut wine - presses, but especially in the
watercourse beneath the Temple lately explored,
the remains of construction of a more ancient
date must be acknowledged. Perhaps also some
traces of Phoenician or Canaanite work iu the
neighbourhood of Tyre may be believed to exist
(Survey of Western Pal. i. 63, 80, 81, 184 ; ii.
211, 350; iii. 85, 90, 335, 441; Thomson, Land
and Book, xiii. 178-194, 468). But after the
Roman conquest, during the 2nd and 3rd cen
turies a.d., while Galilee was inhabited by Jews,
they built many synagogues, of which the re-

AROTURUS

AREOPAGUS

227

mains exist, some of them of considerable im
portance, and in a tolerable state of preservation.
In these Greek and Roman styles of architecture
are combined with features which are especially
Jewish ; and although they probably belong to
dates later than that of any Book in the sacred
Volume, they doubtless reproduce some of the
national characteristics of the earlier period,
and are thus of great service in illustrating the
history of its architecture (Suney of Pal. i.
232 and iii. ; Notes on Architecture, p. 441 sq.).
The extent to which the architecture of Pales
tine was indebted to foreign models as well as
foreign workmen has already been noticed. We
may add that the Books of Nehemiah and Esther
make mention of the palace at Susa, in which
the Persian kings resided during the spring
months, and where Artaxerxes Longimanus was
residing when he gave Nehemiah permission to
undertake his work (Neh. i. 1), while the Book of
Esther describes some of its arrangements (Esth.
i. 2, 6). The books of Judith and Tobit also
mention, and to some extent describe, the city
of Ecbatana, the royal city of the Median mon
archs (Jud. i. 1-4 ; Tob. iii. 7, xiv. 14 ; Herod.
i. 98 ; Fergusson, Hist of Architecture, i. 200,
201 ; Loftus, Chaldaea, pp. 339-380 ; St. Clair,
Buried City of Jerusalem, p. 25). See Cities,
Fenced Cities, House, Pools, Synagogues,
Babylon, Jerusalem, &c. [H. W. P.]
AECTU'RUS. The Hebrew words VV,
'Ash, and \l)\l}, 'Aish, rendered " Arcturus " in
the A. V. of Job ix. 9, xxxviii. 32, in conformity
with the Vulg. of the former passage [in
xxxviii. 32, the Vulg. has a different rendering,
vesperum super fiilios terrae], are now generally
believed to be identical, and to represent the
constellation Ursa Major, known commonly as
the Great Bear, or Charles's Wain (R. V. " the
Bear " in both passages. See Ges. s. n., and
Delitzsch on Job ix. 9). Niebuhr (Desc. de
VArab. p. 101) relates that he met with a
Jew at Sana, who identified the Hebrew 'Ash
with the constellation known to the Arabs by
the name Om en-na'sh, or Na'sh simply, as the
Jew of Bagdad informed him. The four stars
in the body of the Bear are named En-na'sh
in the tables of Ulugh Beigh, those in the tail
being called el Bendt, " the daughters " (cp.
Job xxxviii. 32, n*33, A. V. " his sons," R. V.
" her train "). The ancient Versions differ
greatly in their renderings. In the LXX. of
Job ix. 9 the word corresponding in order to
'Ash is TlAeidSa, the " Pleiades " CAptcrovpov
corresponding to HCa ; in the A. V. and R. V.
"Pleiades"), and intte LXX. of Job xxxviii. 32
the word corresponding to 'Aish is "Eo-irepov,
" Hesperus," the evening star. In the former
they are followed or supported by the Chaldee,
in the latter by the Vulgate. R. David Kimchi
and the Talmudists understood by 'Ash the tail
of the Ram or the head of the Bull, by which
they are supposed to indicate the bright star
Aldebaran in the Bull's eye. But the greatest
difficulty is found in the rendering of the Syriac
translators, who give as the equivalent of both
'Ash and 'Aish the word |AO * S, 'lyutho,
which is interpreted to signify the bright star
Capella in the constellation Auriga (see Ges.),

and is so rendered in the Arabic translation of
Job. On this point, however, great difference
of opinion is found. Bar Ali conjectured that
'lyutho was either Capella or the constellation
Orion ; while Bar Bahlul hesitated between
Capella, Aldebaran, and a cluster of three stars
in the face of Orion. Following the rendering
of the Arabic, Hyde considered 'Ash and 'Ais/i
distinct ; the former being the Great Bear, and
the latter the bright star Capella, or a of the
constellation Auriga. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AED (Vii* ; 'ApdS ; Ared). 1. The youngest
son of Benjamin (Gen. xlvi. 21), according
to the Heb. and Vulg. texts ; but according
to the LXX. son of Gera, grandson of Bela,
and great-grandson of Benjamin. Cp. 1 Ch. vii.
6, viii. 1-3. 2. Son of Bela, and grandson of
Benjamin (Num. xxvi. 40 ; LXX. o. 44, B.
'ABop, AF. 'ASep ; Hered), written Addar in
1 Ch. viii. 3 (T1X ; A. 'Ape'8, B. 'AAel ; Addar).
His descendants are called THE Ardites (^"IKn).
Num. xxvi. 40. [W. A. W.] ' [K]
AR'DATH — "the field which is called
Ardath " — 2 Esdras ix. 26. In the Syriac and
Aethiopic Versions it is called Arphad (cp.
Is. x. 9 ; Jer. xlix. 23). Volkmar (Einl. in d.
Apokr. ii. 131) and others take the name to be
a corruption for Arbath, " desert," and to be
expressive of the then condition of the land
(cp. 2 Esd. x. 21, 22). [F.]
ABDITES, THE. [Ard.]
AK'DON (fPTlK; BA. 'Opvd, TJ 'ApStiv;
Ardon), the son of Caleb, the son of Hezron, by
his wife Azubah (1 Ch. ii. 18). [W. A. W.]
ARE'LI ('pSjpN, perhaps son of a hero;
Sam. *7l*l>* ; AreK), a son of Gad (Gen. xlvi. 16,
A. 'ApoTjAeis, D. 'AptTjAls ; Num. xxvi. 17,
LXX. v. 26, B. 'Apt-nA, A. omits). His de
scendants are called THE Arelites (Num. xxvi.
17, LXX. v. 26, B. 6 'ApenAei, A. omits).
[W. A. W.] [F.] i
ARE0PA6ITE ('ApeoTrayiTTis ; Areopagita).
A member of the court of Areopagus (Acts
xvii. 34). [See Dionysius.] [W. A. W.] '.
AREOPAGUS or MARS' HILL (o "Apetos
rrdyos, i.e. the hill of Ares or Mars ; Areopagus,
Vulg.) was a rocky height in Athens, opposite
the western end of the Acropolis, from which it
is separated only by an elevated valley. It rises
gradually from the northern end, and terminates
abruptly on the south, over against the Acropolis,
at which point it is about fifty or sixty feet above
the valley already mentioned. Of the site of the
Areopagus, there can be no doubt, both from
the description of Pausanias and from the nar
rative of Herodotus, who relates that it was a
height over against the Acropolis, from which
the Persians assailed the latter rock (Paus. i. 28,
§ 5 ; Herod, viii. 52). According to tradition it
was called the hill of Mars (Ares), because this
god was brought to trial here before the as
sembled gods by Neptune (Poseidon), on account
of his murdering Halirrhothius, the son of the
latter. The spot is memorable as the place of
meeting of the Council of Areopagus (t) ev 'Apelu
-irdytp BovAt)), frequently called the Upper
Q2

228

AREOPAGUS

Council (fj &vu BouAri) to distinguish it from
* the Council of Five Hundred, which held its
sittings in the valley below the hill. It existed
as a criminal tribunal before the time of Solon,
and was the most ancient and venerable of all
the Athenian courts. It consisted of all persons
who had held the office of Archon, and who were
members of it for life, unless expelled for mis
conduct. It enjoyed a high reputation, not only
in Athens, but throughout Greece. Before the
time of Solon the court tried only cases of wilful
murder, wounding, poison, and arson ; but he
gave it extensive powers of a censorial and
political nature. The Council is mentioned by
Cicero (ad Fam. xiii. 1 ; ad Att. i. 14, v. 11),
and continued to exist even under the Roman

ARETAS
emperors. Its meetings were held on the south
eastern summit of the rock. There are till
sixteen stone steps cut, in the rock, leading up to
the hill from the valley of the Agora below ;
and immediately above the steps is a bench of
stones excavated in the rock, forming three sides
of a quadrangle, and facing the south. Here
the Areopagites sat as judges in the open air
(uiraiBpioi iStKa&VTO, Pollux, viii. 118). Oa the
eastern and western side is a raised block.
The blocks are probably the two rude stones
which Pausanias saw there, and which are de
scribed by Euripides as assigned, the one to the
accuser, the other to the criminal, in the causes
which were tried in the court (Iph.- T. 961),
The Areopagus possesses peculiar interest to tha

Areopagus or Mars' Hill at Athens, showing the steps that led from the Agora to the top ofthe hill.

Christian, as the spot from which St. Paul
delivered his memorable address to the men of
Athens (Acts xvii. 22-31). It has been sup
posed by some commentators that St. Paul was
brought before the Council of Areopagus ; but
there is no trace in the narrative of any judicial
proceedings. St. Paul " disputed daily " in the
"market" or Agora (xvii. 17). [See Athens.]
Attracting more and more attention, " certain phi
losophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoicks "
brought him up from the market-place, pro
bably by the stone steps already mentioned, to
the Areopagus above, that they might listen
to him more conveniently. Here the philo
sophers probably took their seats on the stone
benches usually occupied by the members of
the Council, while the multitude stood upon
the steps and in the valley below. For details,

see Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant art. Areiopagus;
Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Geogr. i. p. 281. [W. S.]
A'RES CApes ; Ares). Arah No. 2 (1 Esd.
v. 10). [W. A. W.]
AR'ETAS CAperas; }n jnscriptions Jin"!**,
with distinctive title IDI* Dm, " friend of his
people " [Doughty, quoted below] ), a common
appellation of several Nabathean kings. (For
Nabathean, see Nebaioth.) Their capital was
Petra [Sela].
1. The contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes
(B.C. 170) and of Jason (2 Mace. v. 8).[B. F. W.]
2. " Aretas the king " (2 Cor. xi. 32). The
ethnarch of this Aretas endeavoured to arrest
St. Paul in Damascus, but he was let down the
wall in a basket and escaped his enemies. We

ARETAS
must now endeavour to identify this Aretas,
and fix his date. Josephus (Ant. xvi. 9, § 4)
mentions the accession of Aeneas, who thereupon
changed his name to Aretas. This happened
B.C. 7. Herod Antipas married the daughter of
an Aretas, and had lived with her "a long
time" (Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, §l),when he determined
to divorce her to make room for Herodias (prob.
A.D. 29, Wieseler). If Aretas Aeneas and Aretas
the father-in-law of Antipas are the same man,
his reign must have lasted from 40 to 50 years,
as the revenge of the latter took place a.d. 36.
This has received confirmation from the recent
discoveries of Doughty (Documents epigraphiques
rccueillis dans le Nord de VArabie, Paris, 1884).
Inscription 3 is dated in the 4Sth year of this
Aretas, i.e. a.d. 40. In a.d. 41 he was suc
ceeded by Malku (Inscr. 1). The difficulty
is how it came about that, at the date of St.
Paul's escape, Damascus was again a part of
the Nabathean kingdom, as is implied by the
rule there of the ethnarch of Aretas. [For
Ethnarch, see Governor.] It had been part of
that kingdom under an earlier Aretas (Jos.
Ant. xiii. 15, § 2), B.C. 85. Since that date it
had changed masters five times (Anger, de
Temp. p. 175), reverting after Cleopatra's rule
to the Romans. The difficulty to be dealt with
arises from conflicting hypotheses as to the way
in which Damascus passed to Aretas.
1. The first hypothesis is that it was taken
by force. In support of this view the coinci
dence is alleged that in a.d. 36, shortly before
the probable time of St. Paul's escape, Aretas,
father-in-law of Antipas, irritated by the insult
to his daughter and by boundary disputes, had
sent an army into the territories of the latter and
had won a great victory (Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, § 1).
This campaign of Aretas has a special interest,
as Josephus tells us (Ant. xviii. 5, § 2) that it was
believed by the populace to be a Divine punish
ment for Antipas' murder of John the Baptist ;
while Hausrath (Zeit der Apostel, i. p. 207) sees
in it the explanation of the subsidence of all the
popular excitement produced by the Messianic-
expectations aroused by John the Baptist and
Jesus Himself. Vitellius, legate of Syria, was
then commanded by Tiberius to help Antipas,
and to bring Aretas dead or alive. Vitellius
advanced, but hearing at Jerusalem, March,
A.D. 37, that Tiberius was dead, he returned to
Antioch. It is suggested that either at the
time of the Nabathean invasion, or after the
retirement of Vitellius, an officer of Aretas may
have occupied and retained Damascus. The
objection to this view lies in the fact that the
Legate of Syria would scarcely have permitted
part of a Roman province to be seized and held
by the Nabatheans (R. Anger, (fe Temp.r>. 179).
2. The second hypothesis is that it was
granted to Aretas by the Roman emperor. In
support of this view it is alleged that the
Emperor Caligula, a.d. 38, did make several
changes in the East, including a grant to Soemus
of Ituraea, a district not very remote from
Damascus (Dio Cassius, lix. 12). He may, it is
said, have granted Damascus to Aretas at the
same time ; and this grant is the more probable,
because on the fall and exile of Antipas, a.d. 37,
Aretas, who had been his bitter enemy, might
naturally be received into favour, and receive
a substantial token of Roman friendship.

ARGOB

229

It is evident that both these explanations,
however probable, are pure hypotheses. We can
only say that there is nothing unlikely in the
fact that a city which had at one time belonged
to the Nabathean kingdom, which lay not very
far from its northern border, and which bad
frequently changed hands, should again for a
time, either by conquest or grant, have becume
subject to the king of Petra. The history of
Herod the Great shows the Arabs ever on the
watch for opportunities of encroachment along
the whole eastern border of Palestine from north
to south.
No explanation is tenable which represents
the ethnarch in any other light than that of a
governor holding the city for Aretas. The fact
that in Acts ix. 24 the watching of the gates is
attributed to the Jews and not to the ethnarch,
does not prove him to have been a Jewish
officer. The union between the Nabathean civil
government and the Jews to oppose Christianity
iu Damascus presents an exact parallel with the
union between Romans and Jews in Jerusalem
for the same purpose.
One fact must be added which tends to show
that Damascus was not in Roman hands at this
time. We have Damascene coins of Augustus
and Tiberius, and again of Nero and his suc
cessors, but none of Caius and Claudius. This
is a negative confirmation of St. Paul's state
ment. For the hypothesis of conquest, see Winer,
R WB. art. Aretas ; for that of gift, see
Wieseler, Chronologie des Apost. Zeitalters,
pp. 167-175. Wieseler's view is adopted by
Conybeare and Howson, Life of St. Paul, vol. i.
chap. iii. For the coinage of the several kings
bearing the name of Aretas, see Langlois,
Numismatique des Arabes, p. 20, who disposes of
Wieseler's account of a dated coin of Aretas
synchronising with the occupation in St. Paul's
time. See also Conybeare and Howson, I. c, note
at end of chapter iii. [E. R. B.]
ARE'US, a king of the Lacedaemonians,
whose letter to the high-priest Onias is given
in 1 Mace. xii. 20 sq. He is called Areus in
the E. V. in v. 20 and in the margin of v. 7 ;
but in the Greek text he is named 'Ovidpns in
v. 20, and AapeTos in v. 1 : there can be little
doubt, however, that these are corruptions of
"Apeus. Thus 'Ovidpns, which appears in B. in
the form 'Oviadp-ns, indicates the two names
Onias and Areus (see Speaker's Commentary,
note in loco). In Josephus (Ant. xii. 4, § 10;
5, § 8) the name is written 'Apeios, and in the
Vulgate Arius. There were two Spartan kings
of the name of Areus, of whom the first reigned
B.C. 309-265, and the second, the grandson of
the former, died when a child of eight years old
in B.C. 257. There were three high-priests of
the name of Onias, of whom the first held the
office B.C. 323-300. This is the one who must
have written the letter to Areus I., probably in
some interval between B.C. 309 and 300 (see
Grimm, zu Mace. p. 185 ; Speaker's Commentary
on 1 Mace. xii. 7). [Onias.] [F.]
AR'GOB (3J*1K, once with the def. article
3iHXn = "the stony," from 33*1, Ges. Thes.
p. 1260 ; 'Apy60 ; Argob), a tract of country on
the east of the Jordan, in Bashan, in the kingdom

230

ARGOB

of Og, containing1 sixty "great" and fortified
"cities" (DH1"). Argob was in the portion
allotted to tluThalf-tribe of Manasseh, and was
taken possession of by Jair, a chief man in that
tribe. [Jair; Bashan ; Havoth-Jair.] It
afterwards formed one of Solomon's commissariat
districts, under the charge of an officer whose
residence was at Ramoth-Gilead (Deut. iii. 4,
13, 14: 1 K. iv. 13). In later times Argob was
called Trachonitis, apparently a mere transla
tion of the older name. [Trachonitis.] In
the Samaritan Version it is rendered "1X313H
(Rigobaah)*; but in the Targums of Onkelos
and Jonathan it is W)3*lt3b (i.e. Trachonitis).
Later on we trace it in the Arabic Version of
Saadiah as (_^u»- «/« (Mujeb, with the same mean
ing); and it is now apparently identified with
the Lejah, 'i\&r , a very remarkable district
south of Damascus, and east of the Sea of Galilee,
which has been visited and described by Burck
hardt (pp. 111-119), Seetzen, Porter (vol. ii.
specially pp. 240-245), Wetzstein, Merrill, and
others. This extraordinary region — a great lava
bed some 350 square miles in^xtent— is elevated
about 20 feet above the surrounding plain. The
surface is described by a recent traveller as
being black, and as having the " appearance of
the sea when it is m motion beneath a dark,
cloudy sky, and when the waves are of good size
but without any white crests of foam. But the
sea is motionless, and its great waves are petri
fied " (Merrill, East of Jordan, p. 11). The lava
bed has been formed by the junction of two
streams of lava from the Jebel Hauran : one
proceeding from the craters of Abu Tunus,
Garara, Gemel, and Shihdn ; the other from El-
Kleb (Wetzstein, Reisebericht). The whole of
the Lejah is a vast labyrinth of clefts and
crevasses, formed whilst the lava was cooling,
in which soil of surprising fertility is found ; it
is full of caves which have been occupied as
dwellings, and in which robber bands lurk at
the present day, and, at many points, there are
copious living fountains in which the water is
not only abundant but cool and sweet (Merrill,
p. 14; see also Wright in Leisure Hour, 1874,
p. 380). The rock is filled with little pits and
air-bubbles ; it is as hard as flint, and emits a
sharp metallic sound when struck (Porter, ii.
241). The edge of the lava bed is like some
rugged shore, with occasional black promontories
of rock jutting out into the plain ; there are few
openings to the interior, which is so difficult of
access that roads have had to be excavated to the
towns situated within it. Wetzstein mentions
fifty-one of these towns, and there were others
which he did not visit. A Roman road runs
through the district from S. to N., probably
between Bosra and Damascus. On the outer
boundary of the Lejah are situated, amongst
others, the towns known in Biblical history as
Kenath aud Edrei. In the absence of more con
clusive evidence on the point, a strong presump-

• This name probably appears in the "Pa.yo.p5. of
Josephus (Ant. xiii. 15, } 5), where Alexander died.
Eusebius states (OS.2 p. 237, 9V) that in his day there
was a village called 'Epya, 15' miles W. of Gerasa.
b Jonath. KMJItD ! Jerus. &**"D*ltDK.

ARIAEATHES
tion in favour of the identification of the Lejah
with Argob arises from the peculiar Hebrew
word constantly attached to Argob, and in this
definite sense apparently to Argob only. This
word is ^311 (Chebel), literally " a rope " (trXoi-
vitrpa, ireplperpov, funiculus), and it designates
with charming accuracy the remarkably defined
boundary-line of the district of the Lejah, which
is spoken of as "a rocky shore;" "sweeping
round in a circle clearly defined as a rocky
shore line ;" " resembling a Cyclopean wall in
ruins " (Porter, ii. 19, 219, 239, &c.) ; " rope-like
lip " (Wright, 1. a). The extraordinary features
of this region are rendered still more extra
ordinary by the contrast which it presents to
the surrounding plain of the Hauran, a high
plateau of waving downs of the richest agri
cultural soil stretching from the Sea of Galilee
to the Lejah, and beyond that to the desert,
almost literally " without a stone ;" and it is
not to be wondered at — if the identification pro
posed above be correct — that this contrast
should have struck the Israelites, and that their
language, so scrupulous of minute topographical
distinctions, should have perpetuated in the
words Mishor, Argob, and Chebel, at once the
level downs of Bashan [Mishor], the stony
labyrinth which so suddenly intrudes itself on
the soil (Argob), and the definite fence or boun
dary which encloses it [Chebel]. [G.] [W.]
AR'GOB (2 K. xv- 25), perhaps a Gileadite
officer. According to one interpretation of this
passage, Argob and Arieh were accomplices of
Pekah in the murder of Pekahiah ; but accord
ing to others (Thenius, Keil), Argob and Arieh
were more probably two princes of Pekahiah,
whose influence Pekah feared, and whom he
therefore slew with the king. The LXX. agrees
with the latter view, while the Vulg. juxta
Argob et juxta Arie takes the names as locali
ties. Klostermann (Kgf. Komm. in loco, edd.
Strack u. Zockler) collects various solutions of
a passage difficult and suspicious, and of which
no very plausible emendation has yet been pro
posed. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ARIARA'THES (properly Mithridates.Diod.
xxxi., X., p. 25, ed. Bip.) VI., Philopatob (T.T
'AptapdBris, A. 'ApdB-ns ; Ariarathes, probably
signifying " great " or " honourable master," from
the roots existing in aryas [Sanscrit], " honour
able," and rata [head], " master ; " Smith, Diet.
Biogr. s.v.),king of Cappadocia, B.C. 163-130. He
was educated at Rome (Liv. xiii. 19) ; and his
whole policy was directed in accordance with the
wishes of the Romans. This subservience cost
him his kingdom, B.C. 158 ; but he was shortly
afterwards restored by the Romans to a share in
the government (App. Syr, 47; cp. Polyb. xxii. 20,
23 ; Polyb. iii. 5) ; and on the capture of his
rival Olophernes by Demetrius Soter, he regained
the supreme power (Just. xxxv. 1). He fell in
B.C. 130, in the war of the Romans against
Aristouicus, who claimed the kingdom of Per
gamus on the death of Attalus III. (Just, xxxvii.
1, 2). Letters were addressed to him from
Rome in favour of the Jews (1 Mace. xv. 22 :
see Speaker's Commentary in loco), who, in
aftertimes, seem to have been numerous in his
kingdom (Acts ii. 9 ; cp. 1 Pet. i. 1). [B. F. W.]

ARIDAI
ARI'DAI OTIS ; T.7 'Apo-euos, A. 'Aptreos ;
Aridai), ninth son of Haman (Esth. ix. 9). The
origin of the name is uncertain, but probably
Persian (Ges., Oppert) = Ariyadaya = desire of
Hari (Vishnu). Cp. Bertheau-Eyssel and Oettli
in loco ; 'ApiSouos. See Ari-datha. [F.]
AEI-DA'THA (SnT"lN; 2apj8c«d; Ari-
datha), sixth son of Haman (Esth. ix. 8). Ges.
= given of Hari (Vishnu). Cp. Bertheau-Ryssel,
Oettli (in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm.), and
Cassel (Das Buch Esther, p. 288). The curious
Rabbinical reflections connected with the death
(by hanging) of the sons of Haman are collected
in the Speaker's Comm. on the Apocrypha, "Addi
tions to Esther," xvi. 18, add. note (d). [F.]
ARTEH (*THS*n, lion = hero ; B. 'Apeid, A.
'Apie ; Arie). Probably called " The Lion " from
his daring as a warrior : either one of the
accomplices of Pekah in his conspiracy against
Pekahiah, king of Israel, or, as is more probable,
one of the princes of Pekahiah, who was put to
death with him (2 K. xv. 25). Rashi explains
it literally of a golden lion which stood in the
castle. See Argob. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AKIEL (^NHN, lion of God = great hero,
or hearth of God ; 'ApiTiA ; Ariel).
1. As the proper name of a man (where the
meaning no doubt is the first of those given
above) the word occurs in Ezra viii. 16. This
Ariel was one of the " chief men " who under
Ezra directed the caravan which he led back
from Babylon to Jerusalem.
The word occurs also in reference to two
Moabites slain by Benaiah, one of David's chief
captains (2 Sam. xxiii. 20 ; 1 Ch. xi. 22). Gese
nius and many others agree with our A. V. in
regarding the word as an epithet, "two lion
like men of Moab ; " but Thenius, Winer, Keil,
R. V. and others regard it as a proper name,
and translate " two [sons] of Ariel," supplying
the word *33 with B. (iirdTa£ev Tobs Svo vlobs
'Apir)A. A. omits the words in 2 Sam.). See
another suggestion in W. R. Smith, The Religion
of the Semites, i. 469.
A similar word occurs in Num. xxvi. 17,
Areli (vJOK), as the name of a Gadite, and
head of one of the families of that tribe. Both
the LXX. and the Vulg. give Ariel for this
word, and Winer without remark treats it as
the same name.
2. A designation given by Isaiah to the city
of Jerusalem (Is. xxix. 1 bis, 2 bis, 7) as a
symbol of hope. Its meaning is obscure. We
must understand by it either " Lion of God "
(i.e. a hero) — so Gesenius, Ewald, Havernick,
Cheyne, and others— or, with Targ., Umbreit,
Knobel, Delitzsch, Bredenkampf, and most of
the ancient Jewish expositors, " Hearth of God,"
tracing the first component of the word to the
as
Arabic 5), a fire-place or hearth (Gesen. Thes.).
On the Mesha-stone (1. 12 ; Neubauer in Records
of the Past, N. S. ii. 201, n. 8. See Driver,
Notes on Samuel, pp. Ixxxvi., xci.) PiOK signifies
probably "altar-hearth" (cp. Baethgen, Beitr.
z. Sem. Beligionsgesch. p. 14, n. 1). This latter I

ARISTAECHUS

231

meaning is suggested by the use of the word in
Ezek. xliii. 15, 16, as tho name of a part of the
altar of burnt offering (R. V. "altar-hearth,"
which should also probably be read in v. 15" ; see
Smend or Cornill in loco). Some think it most
probable that the words used by tho two Prophets
are different in derivation and meaning, and that
as a name given to Jerusalem Ariel means " Lion
of God," whilst as used by Ezekiel it means
" Hearth of God." [F. W. G.j [F.j
ARIMATHAE'A ('ApipaBala, Matt, xxvii.
57.; Luke xxiii. 51 ; John xix. 38), the birth
place, or at least the residence, of Joseph, who
obtained leave from Pilate to bury our Lord in
his " new tomb " at Jerusalem. St. Luke calls
this place " a city of Judaea ;" but this presents
no objection to its identification with the
prophet Samuel's birth-place, the Ramah of
1 Sam. i. 1, 19, which is named in the Septua
gint Armathaim QAppaBatp), and by Josephus,
Armatha ('AppaBd, Joseph. Ant. v. 10, § 2).
The Ramathem of the Apocrypha ("PapaBep,
1 Mace. xi. 34) is probably the same place.
[Ramah.] Eusebius (OS.2 p. 281, 10) identi
fies Arimathaea with 'Apia, then called "Pep-
tbls, near Diospolis, Lydda ; Jerome (OS.2 p. 178,
25) gives the form Remftis ; it is now Runtieh
on the plain N. of Lydda. [G.] [W.]
AK'IOCH Ol'inN, the firi-aku [probably
Akkadian, and equivalent to the Assyrian Arad-
sin = servant ofthe Moon-god] ofthe Inscriptions
[Schrader, MV.11, Friedr. Delitzsch] ; 'Apiwxf)s,
LXX. in Dan. only ; 'Apiux, Theodot. ; Arioch,
Vulg.). 1. King of Ellasar (Gen. xiv. 1, 9.
See Delitzsch [1887] on v. 1).
2. " The captain of the guard " of Nebuchad
nezzar (Dan. ii. 14 ff. See Speaker's Commentari/
on " Daniel2," add. u. to ch. i.). [B. F. W.] [F.j
3. BA. 'Aptt&x i Erioch ; called in Judith
i. 6 "king of the Elymeans," probably equi
valent to Elam (so Syr.), i.e. Susiana. The
" Elymeans " were the people of Elymais, a
Persian district (see Speaker's Commentary in
loco). Junius and Tremellius identify him with
Deioces, king of part of Media. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ARI'SAI Cp'")^ ; "Povtpdtos ; Arisai), eighth
son of Haman (Esth. ix. 9). See Aridatha. [F.]
AKISTARCHUS ('Aplo-TapXos ; Aristar-
chus), a Jew (cp. Col. iv. 10 with v. 11) of
Thessalonica (Acts xx. 4, xxvii. 2), and a devoted
follower of St. Paul. He is first mentioned at
Ephesus (together with Gaius the Macedonian)
as a companion of the Apostle's travels (trvveK-
5-npos) and as being dragged into the theatre by
the rioters (Acts xix. 29). We next hear of
him as accompanying St. Paul on his departure
from Macedonia for Jerusalem at the close of
the third missionary journey (Acts xx. 4).
Apparently he remained in Judaea during St.
Paul's imprisonment, and may have been one of
those who were suffered to minister to him
(Acts xxiv. 23). We find him embarking with
the Apostle on his voyage to Rome (Acts xxvii.
2). Bp. Lightfoot thinks he may have left St.
Paul at Myra, and returned to Thessalonica for
a time (Lightfoot, Philippians, Introduction, i.
p. 34, note 2). However this may be, he is

232

ARISTOBULUS

with him at the date of the Epistles to the
Colossiaus and to Philemon, aud sends greetings
in both (Col. iv. 10 ; Philem. v. 24). On the term
" fellow-prisoner " applied to him (Col. iv. 10), see
Andronicus. The presence of Aristarchus with
St. Paul at Caesarea and Rome makes against
the figurative interpretation. The warm per
sona) affection expressed in 1 Thess. for that
church falls in with the place taken by Aristar
chus and other Thessalonians among St. Paul's
companions. [E. R. B.]
ARISTOBULUS ('Apio-rdBouAos ; Aristo
bulus). St. Paul greets " them which are of the
household of Aristobulus " (toiis iK tuv 'Apt-
o-toBouAou, Rom. xvi. 10). The household of
Aristobulus (cp. t£>v NapKitro-ov, v. 11, and tuv
Xa6tis, 1 Cor. i. 11) were probably the slaves of
.1 man of that name. " Them " is not defined
in this instance, but by comparison of v. 11 it
clearly means " them which are in the Lord,"
the Christians among the slaves of Aristobulus.
Their master may probably have been Aristo
bulus the younger, brother of Herod Agrippa I.
(Acts xii. 1). He lived and probably died at
Rome in a private station (Jos. B. J. ii. 11, 6).
As the household of this Aristobulus would
naturally be composed in a large measure of
Jews, the Gospel would the more easily be intro
duced to their notice. Aristobulus was still
living A.u. 45 (Jos. Ant. xx. 1, § 2) ; but the date
of his death is unknown. Even after his death
his slaves would, according to Roman usage,
be designated by his name, Aristobuliani, of
which oi 'ApitrToBovAov appears to be a transla
tion. Bp. Lightfoot conjectures that they may
have passed (by legacy or otherwise) into the
imperial household, as Aristobulus lived on
terms of close intimacy with Claudius (Jos. Ant.
1. a). In this case they would be members of
" Caesar's household " (Phil. iv. 22). See also
Herodion. The foregoing remarks are entirely
taken from Bishop Lightfoot's Philippians, de
tached note on Caesar's Household. [E. R. B.]
ARK, NOAH'S. [Noah.]
ARK OP THE COVENANT, or "OF
THE TESTIMONY" (fllN). This, taken
generally together with the mercy-seat, was
the one piece of the Tabernacle's furniture
especially invested with sacredness and mystery,
and is therefore the first for which precise
directions were delivered (Ex. xxv.). The word
signifies a mere chest or box, and is (as well as
the word i*l3*"l, " ark " of Noah) rendered by
the LXX. and N. T. writers by kiBut6s. We
may remark : I. its material dimensions and
fittings ; II. its design and object, under which
will be included its contents; and III. its
history. I. It appears from Ex. xxv. to have been an
oblong chest of shittim (acacia) wood, 2\ cubits
long by 11 broad and deep. Within and with
out gold was overlaid on the wood ; and on the
upper side or lid, which was edged round about
with gold, was placed the mercy-seat, support
ing the Cherubim one at each end, and re
garded as the symbolical throne of the Divine
Presence [Cherubim and Mercy-Seat]. Over
this, when the ark was in situ, a luminous
cloud, to be distinguished from that raised by

ARK
the incense (Lev. xvi. 13), was from time to time
visible [Shechinah]. The ark was fitted
with rings, one at each of the four lower
corners, and therefore two on each side, and
through these were passed staves of the same
wood similarly overlaid. By these staves, which
always remained in the rings, the Levites of the
house of Kohath, to whose office the care of it
and all the sacred furniture especially apper
tained, bore it in its progress (Num. iii. 31).
Probably, however, its removal from its proper
position within the veil, in the most Holy place,
was managed by the hands of the priests (Num.
iv. 5, 19, 20 ; vii. 9 ; x. 21; 1 K. viii. 3, 6);
at any rate from Num. iv. 17-20 it is clear
that the " holy things," before their transport
by the Levites, were covered over by the priests.
The ends of the staves were visible without
the veil in the Holy place of the Temple of
Solomon, the staves being drawn to the ends,
apparently, but not out of the rings. The ark,
when transported, was enveloped in the " veil "
of the dismantled Tabernacle, in the curtain
of badgers' skins (" sealskins," R. V.), and in
a blue cloth over all, and was therefore not
seen. The expression ascribed to Josiah in 2 Ch.
xxxv. 3, " Put the holy ark in the house . . . . ;
there shall no more be a burden upon your

Egyptian Ark. CRossellini, p. 99.)
shoulders " (R. V.), seems to mean that there
were only two places where the ark could
properly rest, the one being the shrine proper
to it, the other the shoulders of the Levites.
II. Its purpose or object was to contain
inviolate the Divine autograph of the two
tables, that " Covenant " from which it derived
its title, the idea of which was inseparable from
it, and which may be regarded as the deposition
of the Jewish dispensation. The perpetual safe
custody of the material tables no doubt sug
gested the moral observance of the precepts
inscribed. It was also probably a reliquary for
the pot of manna and the rod of Aaron. We
read in 1 K. viii. 9, that " there was nothing
in the ark save the two tables of stone which
Moses put there at Horeb." Yet the author
of Heb. ix. 4 asserts that, beside the two
tables of stone, the " pot of manna " and
" Aaron's rod that budded " were inside the ark,
which were directed to be " laid up " and " kept
before tlie testimony," i.e. before the Tables of
the Law (Ex. xl. 20) ; and probably, since there
is no mention of any other receptacle for them,
though another view of Heb. ix. is adopted by
others, the statement of 1 K. viii. 9 may imply
that by Solomon's time these relics had disap-

AKK
peared. The expression fl"lK "l-VP in the direc
tion for the custody of the Book of the Law in
Deut. xxxi. 26, obscurely rendered " in tbe side
vif the ark " (A. V.), merely means " beside " it
(R. V. " by the side "). The sword of Goliath,
" wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod " (1
Sam. xxi. 9), is another trace of the use of the
sanctuary or some of its sacred appurtenances
as a reliquary ; and similarly the " brazen ser
pent " may have been preserved until destroyed
by Hezekiah (2 K. xviii. 4). The words of
the A. V. in 1 Ch. xiii. 3 seem to imply the
use of the ark for the purpose of an oracle ;
hut this is probably erroneous, and " we sought
not unto it " (R. V.) is the meaning ; so the LXX.
renders it : see Gesenius, Lex. s. v. (C*"1*1). Joshua
¦certainly appears prostrating himself before it
in contrite supplication, with all the elders of
Israel, " until the eventide," and then obtaining
a response, as though by a voice direct from the
shrine (Josh. vii. 6-15) ; even as Moses had
" heard the voice of one speaking unto him from
off the mercy-seat " (Num. vii. 89), where that
Presence [Shechinah] was to be looked for
(Ex. xxv. 22 ; Num. vii. 89), which the high-
priest might not approach " at all times," but
-only in solemn rite after sin-offering duly paid
(Lev. xvi. 2 sq.).
Occupying the most holy spot of the whole
sanctuary, it tended to exclude any idol from
the qentre of worship. And Jeremiah (iii. 16,
the .only distinct mention of it in any Prophet)
looks forward to the time when even the ark
should be " no more remembered," as the climax
of spiritualized religion apparently in Messianic
times. It was also the support of the mercy-
seat, materially symbolizing, perhaps, the " co
venant " as that on which " mercy " rested. It
also furnished a legitimate vent to that longing
after a material object of reverential feeling
which is common to all religions. It was, how
ever, never seen, save by the high-priest, and
resembled in this respect the Deity Whom it
symbolized, Whose face none might look upon
and live (Winer, ad loc note). That this
reverential feeling may have been impaired
during its absence among the Philistines, seems
probable from the example of Uzzah. For its
local separation for a while from the Tabernacle
and the double worship thence arising, see
Tabernacle II. (5).
III. The chief facts in the earlier history of
the ark (see Josh. iii. iv. and vi.) need not be
recited. We may notice, however, a fiction of
the Rabbis that there were two arks, one which
remained in the shrine, and another which pre
ceded the camp on its march, and that this
latter contained the broken tables of the Law,
as the former the whole ones. In the early days
of the conquest by Joshua the ark must neces
sarily have been within the headquarters of the
camp, whether close beside Jericho, or, as later,
at Gilgal (Josh. vi. 11 ; vii. 2, 6 ; x. 15, 43).
After its share in the capture of Jericho, it
appears at the solemnity on Ebal (viii. 30-33),
but with a hint that a permanent place was to
be provided (ix. 27). That place is fixed (xviii.
1) at Shiloh, which is therefore dignified by
Jeremiah (vii. 12) as " the place where I caused
My Name to dwell at the first." The expression
" the Sanctuary of the Lord," where the " great

ARK

233

stone" was set up under an oak by Joshua in
the last scene of his life, being at Shechem (xxiv.
26), does not imply the presence of the ark
there, but only a local sanctity attaching to tlie
spot from earlier traditions [Shechem]. A
similar term" is applied to other places tra
ditionally holy. The confusion of the period of
the Judges affected the abode of the ark at that
epoch. In the closing episode of the Benjamite
civil war our A. V. seems to imply that it was
at Mizpeh. But the A. V. " the House of God "
should be corrected as in R. V. by the proper
name " Bethel" (Judg. xx. 18, 26, 31 ; xxi. 2).»
The question mainly depends on the force of
the expression " went up and came to " (xx. 26).
But whether Mizpeh, the unquestionable centre
to which the nation rallied [Mizpah], or Bethel,
was the actual abode of the ark, intended by the
words " the ark of the Covenant of God was
there in those days," the distance between them
is slight, as is that of both from Shiloh ; in
which last spot the site of " the camp " is
fixed, and where there was a yearly feast.
Thus the sojourn may have been only temporary,
and due to the demands of a civil war then
raging in the very neighbourhood, and thus
Shiloh may be taken as the normal abode
(1 Sam. iv. 3, 4). In the decline of religion
during this period a superstitious security
was attached to its presence in battle. Yet,
though this was rebuked by its permitted
capture, when captured its sanctity was vindi
cated by miracles, as seen in its avenging pro
gress through the Philistine cities ; the facts of
which, including the mutilation of Dagon, are
too well known to need recital (1 Sam. iv.-vi.).
But the separate " coffer " for the jewels, as a
tribute to the ark's sanctity, is noteworthy (vi.
11). It returned first to Bethshemesh, a city of
the priests in eastern Judah [Bethshemesh].
There " on a great stone " (vi. 14, R. V. Abel)
it was set down and honoured with sacrifice.
But, priestly though the city was, the pro
fane curiosity of the inhabitants brought a
plague upon them (1 Sam. vi. 11-20). Here
by invitation, founded perhaps on local super
stition, it was transported to Kirjath-jearim
[Kirjath-jearim], and placed under the
guardianship of Eleazar, probably a Levite, if
not «, priest, " where it abode twenty years "
(vii. 1, 2). A difficulty here occurs. Samuel
was apparently still young when the ark was
thus returned. He grows old, and anoints Saul,
who reigns forty years. David succeeds him
and reigns seven years in Hebron, and then
fetches the ark from Kirjath-jearim. The whole
interval should thus be nearer a century than
" twenty years " (which is also the number in
the LXX. and the Vulg.). Whether or not the
ark had other places of sojourn not mentioned,
is open to conjecture. To Kirjath-jearim " all
the house of Israel " resorted (not as A. V. and
R. V. text " lamented "c) to seek Jehovah ; and

» Thus ^SOb" ,B''"!">p. AmoB vii- 9> "nd C^pD
7pp-> "• 13- The first word in each phrase is the same
as that referred to above.
b The stone of Bethel is made by Jewish tradition tbe
pedestal of the ark in the later Temple [Bethel].
c R. V. in marg. reads, was drawn together. The
LXX has £7r^3Aei/fe 7Tas ol/cos 'ltrparjA.

234

ARK

Josephus (Ant. vi. 2, 1) speaks of their pil
grimages thither. And thus in the early part
of Saul's reign Ahiah was " the Lord's priest
in Shiloh " (1 Sam. xiv. 3) ; and the ark, which
he was bidden to "bring hither" (v. 18),a as if
for the purpose of divination, is expressly said to
- have been " at that time with the children of
Israel " (1 Sam. xiv. 18 ; cp. vv. 36, 37) [Ahijah].
The episode of Ahimelech and massacre at Nob
(xxi. 6, 9 ; xxii.) may possibly suggest that the
sanctuary and therefore the ark at that time were
there. What became of it in this catastrophe
we know not, nor how far the reverses of Saul's
later reign and the renewed successes of the
Philistines affected it. The statement of David
(1 Ch. xiii. 3), " We sought not unto it in the
days of Saul," is quite consistent with 1 Sam.
vii. 2, cited above, which may easily refer to
the time of Samuel's rule. The next notice of
it is in 2 Sam. vi. 2-17, being its removal by
David, now king, from " the house of Abinadab
that was in the hill " (R. V.) at Baale of Judah
(i.e. Kirjath-jearim ; cp. 1 Sam. vii. 1). The doom
of Uzzah, there recorded, delayed the completion
of David's purpose for three months, during
which the ark sojourned with Obed-Edom (cp.
1 Ch. xiii. xv.) ; and when it came to Jerusalem
it did not take its place in the Tabernacle, but
dwelt in curtains, i.e. in a separate tent pitched
for it in Jerusalem by David (2 Sam. vii. 2 ;
1 Ch. xvi. 1). Its bringing up by David thither
was a national festival, and its presence there
seems to have suggested to his piety the erection
of a house to receive it. Subsequently that
house, when completed, received, in the installa
tion of the ark in its shrine, the signal of its
inauguration by the effulgence of Divine glory
instantly manifested (1 K. viii. 1-11, 21 ; 2Ch. v.
2-14). Several of the Psalms contain allusions
to these events (e.g. xxiv., xlvii., cxxxii. 8 ; cp.
2 Ch. vi. 41, 42), and the first fifteen verses of
Ps. cv. appear in 1 Ch. xvi. 8-22 as sung on
the occasion of the first of them. This period,
" when the ark had rest " after its previous
removals, marks an epoch in the history of the
worship (l Ch. vi. 31) ; and all the places of its
sojourn became from that fact " holy," even if
not, as some of them were, esteemed local
sanctuaries before (2 Ch. viii. 11). In David's
flight from Absalom the ark was prepared to
accompany him, but he bade Zadok " carry it
back into the city," staking the favour of God
on the hope of seeing it again. It accordingly
was taken back. This incident was remembered
by Solomon in Abiathar's favour afterwards,
when the latter was implicated in the rebellion
of Adonijah (2 Sam. xv. 24 ff. ; 1 K. ii. 26).
When idolatry became more shameless in the
kingdom of Judah, Manasseh placed a " carved
image" in the "House of God," and probably
removed the ark to make way for it. His
evil example was also followed by Amon,
his son. This may account for the subsequent
statement that the ark was reinstated by Josiah
(2 Ch. xxxiii. 7; xxxv. 3). It was probably
taken captive or destroyed by the Chaldeans (2 K.

a But here the LXX. reads "ephod" for "ark of
God ; ' and this reading is adopted by Thenius, Keil,
Wellhausen, Klostermann, &c, and is placed by the
E. V. in the marc;. The ark probably remained at
Kirjath-jearim (see Speaker's Comm. in loco).

ARK
xxv. 9. Cp. 2 Esd. x. 22). Prideaux's argu
ment that there must have been an ark in the
second Temple is of no weight against express
testimony, such as that of Josephus (B. J,
v. 5, § 5) and Tacitus (Hist. v. 9, inani'a,
arcana), confirmed also by the Rabbins, who
state that a sacred stone, called by them pf*
TVTW, "stone of drinking," stood in its stead;
as well as by the marked silence of those apo
cryphal books which enumerate the rest of the
principal furniture of the sanctuary as present,
and by the positive statement of 2 Esdras
above quoted.
To the Prophet Jeremiah was ascribed by
later tradition (2 Mace. ii. 4 foil.) the conceal
ment, under Divine command, of the ark in
some cavern of Mount Pisgah, before the Chal
deans finally spoiled the first Temple. But it
was added that the priests, by whom the con
cealment was witnessed, could not afterwards
find the exact spot. Some have contrariwise
supposed that the ark was included among " the
goodly vessels of the House of the Lord " (2 Ch.
xxxvi. 10) captured by Nebuchadnezzar and
restored (Ezra i. 7) by " Cyrus the king." But
these, as enumerated in the latter passage, are
purely metallic " chargers, basons," &c.
The last mention of the ark in Scripture is in
Rev. xi. 19. There, when the time has at last
come for the final vindication of the law of God
in His judgment upon man and His recompense
to His saints, the Seer beholds "the Temple
(vabs) of God opened in heaven,'' and he adds,
" There was seen in His Temple the ark of His
Covenant." That ark which had all along been
a secret from every eye save the high-priest's is
visible at last, and the shrine which had been
guarded from all access is thrown open. The
Law and the testimony thus stand ready to be
applied to those who are to be " judged accord
ing to their works."
The ritual of the Etruscans, Greeks, Romans,
and other ancient nations, included the use of
what Clemens Alexandrinus calls Kltrrai pvcri-
Kai (Protrept p. 12); but especially that of
the Egyptians, in whose religious processions, as
represented on monuments, such an ark, sur
mounted by a pair of winged figures like the
cherubim, constantly appears (Wilkinson, Am.

Egyptian Ark. (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt-)
Egypt, i. pp. 267, 268). The same Clemens
(Strom, v. 578) also makes an allusion of a
proverbial character to the ark and its rites,
which seems to show that they were popularly
known, where he says that " only the master
(StSdoKaAos) may uncover the ark " (kiBut6s).
In Latin also, the word arcanum, connected with
area and arceo, is the recognised term for »

ARKITE
sacred mystery. Illustrations of the same
subject occur also in Plut. de Is. et Osi. c. 39 ;
Ov. Ars Am. ii. 609, &c. ; Euseb. Praep. Evang.
ii. 3 ; Catull. lxiv. 260-1 ; Apul. Met. xi.
262. [H. H.]
AR'KITE, THE Cp'TI'n, Sam. Cod. »pn*J;
'ApovKaios ; Aracaeus), one of the families of
the Canaanites (Gen. x. 17 ; 1 Ch. i. 15), and
from the context evidently located in the north
of Phoenicia. Josephus (Ant. i. 6, § 2) gives
the name as 'ApovKalios, and as possessing
"ApK-nv tt)v iv t$ AtBdvu. He also again men
tions the place QApKaia, B. J. vii. 5, § 1) in
defining the position of the Sabbatical river.
The name is found in the Assyrian inscriptions,
Arid (Schrader, KAT.2 p. 104), in Pliny (v.
16), and Ptolemy (v. 15) ; and Aelius Lam-
pridius (Alex. Sev.) states that the Urbs Arcena
contained a temple to Alexander the Great. It
was the birthplace of Alexander Severus, and was
thence called Caesarea Libani. Area was well
known to the Crusaders, who under Raimond of
Toulouse besieged it for two months in 1099 in
vain ; it was, however, afterwards taken by
William of Sartanges. In 1202 it was totally
destroyed by an earthquake. The site which
now bears the name of 'Arka llj il lies on
the coast, 2 to 2J hours from the shore, about
12 miles north of Tripoli, and 5 south of the
Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus). The great coast
road passes halfway between it and the sea. The
site is marked by a rocky tell rising to the
height of 100 feet close above the Nahr 'Arka.
On the top of the tell is an area of about two
acres, and on this and on a platean to the north
the ruins of the former town are scattered.
Among them are some columns of granite and
syenite (Rob. iii. 579-81 ; Ges. p. 1073 ; Winer,
s. v. ; Reland, p. 575 ; Burckhardt, p. 162 ; Dict.
of Gr. and Rom. Geogr., art. Area). [G.] [F.]
ARMAGED'DON or HAE-MAGEDON
f Ap Maye&Sv [Westcott and Hort], Rev. xvi. 16).°
It would be foreign to the purpose of this work
to enter into any of the theological controversies
connected with this (see Speaker's Commentary
in loco). Whatever its full symbolical import
may be, the image rests on a geographical basis :
and the locality implied in the Hebrew term
here employed (rbv tSttov Tbv KaAoipevov
'EBpaitTTl AAp MayeSuv) is the great battle
field of the Old Testament, where the chief .con
flicts took place between the Israelites and the
enemies of God's people. The passage is best
illustrated by comparing a similar one in the
Book of Joel (iii. 2, 12), where the scene of the
Divine judgments is spoken of in the prophetic
imagery as the " valley of Jehoshaphat," the
fact underlying the image being Jehoshaphat's
great victory (2 Ch. xx. 26 ; see Zech. xiv. 2,
4). So here the scene of the struggle of -good
and evil is suggested by that battle-field, the
plain of Esdraelon, which was famous for two
a The difference in the aspirate makes a difference in
the meaning. Armageddon = [IIJO *11*> "'he city
of Megiddo ; " Har-Magedon = |)13D IH. "the moun
tain of Megiddo ; " and this difference is not without
its bearing upon the interpretations connected with the
word.

ARMENIA

235

great victories, of Barak over the Canaanites
(Judg. iv., v.), and Gideon over the Midianitcs
(Judg. vii.); and for two great disasters, the
death of Saul, in the invasion of the Philistines
(1 Sam. xxxi. 8), and the death of Josiah in the
invasion of the Egyptians (2 K. xxiii. 29, 30 ;
2 Ch. xxxv. 22). With the first and fourth of
these events, Megiddo (MeyeSSu in the LXX.
[BA.] of Judg. v. 19, and MoyeSSii [or -eSuv]
in the LXX. of 2 K. and 2 Ch. and in Josephus)
is especially connected. Hence 'Ap-payeStiv,
"the hill of Megiddo." (See Biihr's Excursus
on Herod, ii. 159.) The same figurative lan
guage is used by one of the Jewish Prophets
(Zech. xii. 11). As regards the Apocalypse, it
is remarked by Stanley (Sinai and Palestine,
p. 330) that this imagery would be peculiarly
natural to a Galilaean, to whom the scene of
these battles was familiar. [Megiddo.] [J.S.H.] [F.]
AEME'NIA (fAppevla) is the classical equi
valent of the Hebrew Ararat. Ararat is the
Urardhu of the Babylonians and Assyrians, and
was the name given by the latter to the country
which stretched away from the shores of Lake
Van, and roughly corresponded with the Armenia
of classical geography. It did not, however,
extend northward beyond Mount Ararat and
the Araxes, or southward beyond the mountains
of Kurdistan, while it was bounded on the west
by the 59th degree of longitude. On the east
it bordered on the kingdom of Mana, called
Mannd. in the Assyrian inscriptions and Minni
030) in the Old Testament (Jer. li. 27), which
occupied the district on the north-western side
of Lake Urumiyeh, and was separated from
Ararat by the Kotur range. Minni was the
Minyas of Nicolaus Damascenus (ap. Joseph. Ant.
i. 3 ; Euseb. Praep. Ev. 9), who says that the
ark had rested there on Mount Baris (now pro
bably Rowandiz). Baris is called Lubar in the
Book of Jubilees (ch. v.), and Lubar is made by
Epiphanius (adv. Haer, i. 5) the boundary be
tween Armenia and Kurdistan.
The native name of the kingdom of Ararat
was Biainas, the original cf the modern Van
(Buaya in Ptolemy, v. 13). The capital, which
occupied the site of Van, was called Dhuspas,
whence the Quairia of Ptolemy (v. 13, 19) and
the Tosp of Moses of Khorene, which is now the
name of the whole province. The cuneiform
system of writing was introduced into Biainas
in the time of king Sar-duris I. (B.C. 835), ahd
both he and his successors have left many written
memorials of their buildings and campaigns on
rocks and stones. His grandson, Menuas, erected
a palace near the modern Erzerum, and carried
his arms far to the east, setting up a monument
in the pass of Keli-shin, under Rowandiz, 12,000
feet above the level of the sea. Ararat and
Assyria were engaged in almost constant war,
which was, however, checked for a short time
by the devastation of the country about Van by
Tiglath-pileser III. in B.C. 735. Esar-haddon
was engaged in a campaign against Eri-menas of
Biainas when his father Sennacherib was mur
dered ; and it was to Eri-menas, accordingly, that
the murderers, Nergal-sharezer and Adar-melech,
fled. The people of Biainas spoke a language
which, though inflectional, had no connexion
with either the Aryan or the Semitic family of

236

ARMLET

speech, and seems to have been the ancestor of
the modern Georgian. This language was still
spoken in the country as late as B.C. 640, so
that the arrival of the Aryan immigrants, the
forefathers of the modern Armenians, could not
have taken place until after this date. The
name Armenia (Armaniya) first occurs in the
Persian inscriptions of Darius Hystaspis, but the
origin of it is quite unknown. See Sayce, The
Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van, deciphered and
translated, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society, xiv. 3, 4, 1882.
Togarmah ("IDIJiPl ; Boyappd and Qopyopd ;
•Gen. x. 3 ; Ezek. "xxvii. 14, xxxviii. 6) has no
connexion with Armenia, as was sometimes
supposed before the decipherment of the cunei
form inscriptions, but is probably to be sought
in Eastern Asia Minor, in the neighbourhood of
Meshech and Tubal, with whom (as persons)
Togarmah is associated by Ezekiel. Lagarde
compares the name of the Teukrians. Friedrich
Delitzsch suggests that of Til-garimmu, a. town
in Melitene. Togarmah is a son of Gomer or
the Cimmerians in Gen. x. 3, and Gomer is
mentioned along with " the house of Togar
mah of the extremities of the north " in Ezek.
xxxviii. 6. [A. H. S.]
AKMLET (i-raVX; ipeAAiov; Num. xxxi.
50, xAtScii'a or xAiS^y ; 2 Sam. i. 10, Bpax'&Aiov ;
Aquila, brachiale armilla ; — properly a fetter,
from ID)?, a step ; comp. Is. iii. 20, and Anklet),
an ornament universal in the East, especially
among women ; used by princes as one of the
insignia of royalty, and by distinguished persons
in general. The word is not used in the A. V.
or in the R. V., as even in 2 Sam. i. 10 they
render it by " the bracelet on his arm." Some
times only one was worn, on the right arm
(Ecclus. xxi. 21). From Cant. viii. 6, it appears
that the signet sometimes consisted of a jewel
on the armlet.

Assyrian Armlet. (From Nineveh Marbles, British Museum.)
These ornaments were worn by princes in
ancient times. They are frequent on the sculp
tures of Persepolis and Nineveh, and were set in
rich and fantastic shapes resembling the heads
of animals (Layard, Nineveh, ii. 298). The kings
of Persia wore them, and Astyages presented a
pair among other ornaments to Cyrus (Xen.
Cyr. i. 3). The Aethiopians, to whom some
were sent by Cambyses, scornfully characterised
them as weak fetters (Herod, ii. 23). Nor were
they confined to the kings, since Herodotus
(viii. 113) calls the Persians generally lpeAio-
tpdpoi. In the Egyptian monuments " kings are
often represented with armlets and bracelets,
and in the Leyden Museum is one bearing the
name of the third Thothmes." (A gold armlet
figured below. Cp. Wilkinson's Ane. Egypt.
ii. 336 [1878].) They were even used
by the old British chiefs (Turner, Angl. Sax.

ARMS
i. 383). The story of Tarpeia shows that they
were common among the ancient Sabines, but

Egyptian Armlet. (From the Leyden Museum.)
the Romans considered the use of them effemi
nate, although they were sometimes given as
military rewards (Liv. x. 44). Finally, they
are still worn among the most splendid regalia
of modern Oriental sovereigns, and it is even
said that those of the king of Persia are worth
a million sterling (Kitto, Pict. Hist, of Pal.
i. 499). They form the chief wealth of modern
Hindoo ladies, and are rarely taken off. They
are made of every sort of material from the
finest gold, jewels, ivory, coral, and pearl, down
to the common glass rings and varnished earthen
ware bangles of the women of the Decean. Now,
as in ancient times, they are sometimes plain,
sometimes enchased ; sometimes with the ends
not joined, and sometimes a complete circle.
The arms are sometimes quite covered with
them ; and if the wearer be poor, it matters not
how mean they are, provided only that they
glitter. It is thought essential to beauty that
they should fit. close, and hence Harmer calls
them "rather manacles than bracelets," and
Buchanan says " that the poor girls rarely get
them on without drawing blood, and rubbing
part of the skin from the hand ; and as they
wear great numbers, which often break, they
suffer much from their love of admiration."
Their enormous weight may be conjectured from
Gen. xxiv. 24. [F. W. F.]
ARMO'NI ('i:b"lX= Palace-born, Palatinus;
B. 'Eppuvoel, A. -tei ; Armani), son of Saul by
Rizpah, one of those delivered by David to the
Gibeonites (2 Sam. xxi. 8). [F.]
ARMOURY. The " tower of David " (Song
of Songs iv. 4) was used for this purpose
(cp. Neh. iii. 19). The " thousand bucklers, all
shields of mighty men," hung there. It appears
to have been not far from the Water-gate (cp.
Sayce, Introd. to tlie Books of Ezra, Nehemiah,
and Esther, p. 87 ; Bertheau-Ryssel in Neh.
I. c). Gesenius thought it the same building
as "the house of the forest of Lebanon" in
which Solomon placed his targets and shields
(1 K. x. 17). [F.]
ARMS, ARMOUR. In the records of a
people like the Children of Israel, so large a
part of whose history was passed in warfare, we
naturally look for much information, direct or
indirect, on the arms and modes of fighting of
the nation itself and of those with whom it
came into contact.
Unfortunately, however, the notices that we

ARMS

ARMS

237

find in the Bible on these points are extremely
few and meagre, while even those few, owing to
the uncertainty which rests on the true meaning
and force of the terms, do not convey to us
nearly all the information which they might.
This is the more to be regretted because the
notices of the history, scanty as they are, are
literally everything we have to depend on, inas
much as they are not yet supplemented and
illustrated either by remains of the arms them
selves, or by those commentaries which the
sculptures, vases, bronzes, mosaics, and paint
ings of other nations furnish to the notices
of manners and customs contained in their
literature. In remarkable contrast to Greece, Rome,
Egypt, and Assyria, Palestine has yielded but few
vestiges of the implements or utensils of life or
warfare of its ancient inhabitants ; nor, with the
exception of a few fragments found during the
excavations at Jerusalem, has a single sculp
ture, piece of pottery, coin, or jewel, been
discovered of that people with whose life,
as depicted in their literature, we are more
familiar than with that of our own an
cestors. Even the relations which existed
between the customs of Israel and those
of Egypt on the one hand, and Assyria on
the other, have still to be investigated, so
that w-e are prevented from applying to
the history of the Jews the immense amount
of information which we possess on the
warlike customs of these two nations, the
former especially. Perhaps the time will
arrive for investigations in Palestine of
the same nature as those which have
given us so much insight into Assyrian
manners ; but in the meantime all that
can be done here is to examine the various
terms by which instruments of war appear
to be designated in the Bible, in the light
' of such help as can be got from the com
parison of parallel passages, from the deri
vation of the words, and from the render
ings of the ancient Versions.
The subject naturally divides itself into —
I. Offensive weapons : Arms. II. Defensive
weapons : Armour.
I. Offensive Weapons. — 1. Apparently the
earliest known, and most widely used, was the
Chereb (3"in), " SWORD," from a root signifying
" to lay waste."
Its first mention in the history is in the nar
rative of the massacre at Shechem, when
" Simeon and Levi took each man his sword, and
came upon the city boldly and slew all the
males " (Gen. xxxiv. 25). But there is an allu
sion to it shortly before in a passage undoubtedly
of the earliest date (Ewald, i. 446, note) : the
expostulation of Laban with Jacob (Gen. xxxi.
26). After this, during the account of the
conquest and of the monarchy, the mention of
the sword is frequent, but very little can be
gathered from the casual notices of the text as
to its shape, size, material, or mode of use.
Perhaps if anything is to be inferred it is that
the Chereb was not either a heavy or a long
weapon. That of Ehud (Judg. iii. 21) was
only a cubit, i.e. 18 inches long, so as to
have been concealed under his garment, and
nothing is said to lead to the inference that
it was shorter than usual, for the " dagger "

of the A. V. (R. V. "sword") is without any
ground, unless it be a rendering of the pdxaipa
of the LXX. But even assuming that Ehud's
sword was shorter than usual, yet a considera
tion of the narratives in 2 Sam. ii. 16 and xx.
8-10, and also of the ease with which David
used the sword of a man so much larger than
himself as Goliath (1 Sam. xvii. 51 ; xxi. 9, 10),
goes to show that the Chereb was both a lighter
and a shorter weapon than the modern sword.
What frightful wounds one blow of the sword
of the Hebrews could inflict, if given even with
the left hand of a practised swordsman, may be
gathered from a comparison of 2 Sam. xx. 8-12
with 1 K. ii. 5. A ghastly picture is there
given us of the murdered man and his murderer :
the unfortunate Amasa actually disembowelled
by a single stroke, and " wallowing " in hia
blood in the middle of the road — the treache
rous Joab standing over him bespattered from

Egyptian stabbing an enemy with a sword or dagger.
(Thebea; Wilkinson.)
his " girdle " to his " shoes " with the blood
which had spouted from his victim !
The Chereb was carried in a sheath ("11*1*1,
1 Sam. xvii. 51 ; 2 Sam. xx. 8, only : )*13, 1 Ch.
xxi. 27, only), slung by a girdle (1 Sam. xxv. 13),
and resting upon the thigh (Ps. xiv. 3 ; Judg.
iii. 16) or upon the hips (2 Sam. xx. 8)."
" Girding on the sword " was a symbolical ex
pression for commencing war, the more forcible
because in times of peace even the king in state
did not wear a sword (1 K. iii. 24) ; and a simi
lar expression occurs to denote those able to
serve (Judg. viii. 10 ; 1 Ch. xxi. 5). Other
phrases, derived from the Chereb, are, " to
smite with the edge (literally ' mouth,' o-rSpa,.
and cp. ' devour,' Is. i. 20) of the sword " —
" slain with the sword " — " men that drew
sword," &c.
Swords with two edges are occasionally re
ferred to (Judg. iii. 16 ; Ps. cxlix. 6), and
allusions are found to "whetting" the sword
(Deut. xxxii. 41 ; Ps. lxiv. 3 ; Ezek. xxi. 9).
There is no reference to the material of which it

» The Circassians carry their Kama, which is not un
like the Chereb, in the same way slung by a girdle and
resting on the hip.

238

ARMS

was composed (unless it be Is. ii. 4 ; Joel iii. 10) ;
doubtless it was of metal, from the allusions to
its brightness and " glittering " (see the two

Assyrian sheathed Bword.
(Konyunjik ; Layard.)

Egyptian unsheathed dagger.
(Thebes; Wilkinson.)

passages quoted above, and others) and the
ordinary word for blade, viz. 31*17, "a flame."
From the expression in Josh. v. 2, 3, " swords of

Assyrian foot spearman. (Time of Bargon.)

rock," A. V. " sharp knives," we may perhaps
infer that in early times the material was flint
(so R. V.).

ARMS
2. Next to the sword was the Speak : and of
this weapon we meet with at least three distinct
kinds. a. Tbe Chanith (IVJn), " a spear," and that
of the largest kind, as appears from various
circumstances attending its mention. It was
the weapon of Goliath — its staff like a weaver's
beam, the iron head alone weighing 600 shekels,

Assyrian foot spearmen. (Time of Sennacherib.)

about 25 lbs. (1 Sam. xvii. 7, 45 ; 2 Sam. xxi.
19 ; 1 Ch. xx. 5), and also of other giants
(2 Sam. xxiii. 21 ; 1 Ch. xi. 23) and mighty
warriors (2 Sam. ii. 23, xxiii. 18 ; 1 Ch. xi. 11,
20). The Chanith was the habitual companion
of king Saul — a fit weapon for one of his
gigantic stature — planted at the head of his
sleeping-place when on an expedition (1 Sam,

Egyptian spearmen. (Thebes ; Wilkinson.)
xxvi. 7, 8, 11, 12, 16, 22), or held in his hand
when mustering his forces (xxii. 6) ; and on it
the dying king is leaning when we catch our
last glimpse of his stately figure on the field
of Gilboa (2 Sam. i. 6). His fits of anger or
madness become even more terrible to us, when
we find that it was this heavy weapon (R. V.

AEMS
"spear ") and not the lighter "javelin" (A. V.)
that he cast at David (1 Sam. xviii. 10, 11 ;
xix. 9, 10) and at Jonathan (xx. 33). A striking
idea of the weight and force of this ponderous
arm may be gained from the
fact that a mere back thrust
from the hand of Abner was
enough to drive its butt end
through the body of Asahel
(2 Sam. ii. 23). The Chanith
is mentioned also in 1 Sam.
xiii. 19, 22, xxi. 8 ; 2 K. xi.
10 ; 2 Ch. xxiii. 9, and in
numerous passages of poetry.
b. Apparently lighter than
the preceding, and in more
than one passage distinguished
from it, was the Cidcm (JIT'S),
or "javelin" (Ewald, Wurf-
spiess). It would be the
appropriate weapon for the
manoeuvring described in Josh.
viii. 14-27, and could with
ease be held outstretched for
a considerable time (vv. 18,
26; A. V. "spear," R. V.
" javelin "). When not in
action the Cidon was carried
on the back of the warrior
— between the shoulders (1
Sam. xvii. 6, A. V. " target,"
marg. " gorget," R. V. " jave
lin"). Both in this passage and in v. 45 the
Cidon (R. V. "javelin") is distinguished from
the Chanith. In Job xxxix. 23 (R. V. " javelin ")
the allusion seems to be to the quivering of a
javelin when poised before hurling it.
c. Another kind of spear was the Romach
(nO"1) ; Arabic Eum},. In the Historical Books
it occurs in Num. xxv. 7 (A. V. "javelin," R. V.
" spear "); Jud. ,. 8 ; IK. xviii. 28 (" lancets,"
R. V. " lances "). Also frequently in the later
books, especially in the often recurring formula
for arms, " shield and spear : " 1 Ch. xii. 8, 24 ;
2 Ch. xi. 12, xiv. 8, xxv. 5 ; Neh. iv. 13, 16-21 ;
and Ezek. xxxix. 9, &c.
d. A lighter missile or " dart " was probably
the Shelach (PIPE1). Its root signifies to project
or send out, but unfortunately there is nothing
beyond the derivation to guide us to any
knowledge of its nature. See 2 Ch. xxiii. 10
{" weapon "), xxxii. 5 (A. V. " darts," R. V.
" weapons ") ; Neh. iv. 17 (R. V. " weapon ") ;
Job xxxiii. 18 (" sword "), xxxvi. 12 (" sword ") ;
Joel ii. 8 (R. V. " weapons ").
e. Shebet (D3g>), a rod or staff, with the
derived force of a baton or sceptre, is used once
only as an arm, for the " darts " with which
Joab dispatched Absalom (2 Sam. xviii. 14).
3. Of missile weapons of offence the chief was
undoubtedly the Bow, Kesheth (HE'**) ; it is met
with in the earliest stages of the history, in use
both for the chase (Gen. xxi. 20 ; xxvii. 3) and
war (xlviii. 22). In later times archers accom
panied the armies of the Philistines (1 Sam.
xxxi. 3 ; 1 Ch. a. 3) and of the Syrians (1 K.
xxii. 34). Among the Jews its use was not
confined to the common soldiers, but captains
high in rank, as Jehu (2 K. ix. 24), and even
kings' sons (1 Sam. xviii. 4) carried the bow,

ARMS

239

and were expert and sure in its use (2 Sam. i.
22). The tribe of Benjamin seems to have been
especially addicted to archery (1 Ch. viii. 40,
xii. 2 ; 2 Ch. xiv. 8, xvii. 7) ; but there were

Assyrian archers on horseback, one drawing the bow and the other
holding the reins. (Nimrad ; Layard.)
also bowmen among Reuben, Gad, Manasseh
(1 Ch. v. 18), and Ephraim (Ps. lxxviii. 9).
The bow was in like manner extensively used
by the Assyrians and Egyptians. On the Assy
rian monuments archers are represented not
only on foot and in chariots, but also on horse-

Egyptian archers. (Thebes; Wilkinson.)

back. [Chariot.] On the Egyptian monuments
archers appear on foot and in chariots, but not
on horseback.
Of the form or structure of the bow we can
gather almost nothing. It seems to have been
bent with the aid of the foot, as now, for the
word commonly used for it is 7[*1*1, " to tread "
(1 Ch. v. 18, viii. 40; 2 Ch. xiv.¥; Is. v. 18;

240

ARMS

Ps. vii. 12, &c). Bows of steel (R. V. brass,
i"l55';]n*i) are mentioned as if specially strong
(2 Sam. xxii. 35 ; Ps. xviii. 34). The string
is occasionally named *WV or "lIVD. It was
probably at first some bindweed or natural cord,
since the same word is used in Judg. xvi. 7-9
for "green withs " (R. V. marg. new bow-strings).
In the allusion to bows in 1 Ch. xii. 2, it will
be observed that the sentence in the original
stands, " could use both the right hand and the
left in stones and arrows from the bow " (R. V.),

Assyrian archer. (Time of Sennacherib.)
the words "slinging" and "shooting" being
added to give sense. It is possible that a
kind of bow for shooting bullets or stones (cp.
Job xii. 20) is here alluded to, like the pellet-
bow of India, or the " stone-bow " in use in the
Middle Ages — to which allusion is made by
Shakespere (Twelfth Night, ii. 5), and which
in Wisd. v. 22 is employed as the translation of
TrerpoBbAos. This latter word occurs in the
LXX. of 1 Sam. xiv. 14 [T.7 but absent from

ARMS
BA. The Heb. (see R. V.) is very different],
probably as a gloss on KOXAa^i (Wellhausen) —
iv BoAlai, Kai iv TrerpoBiAois, Kai ev k6xAo£i
tov treSlov : " with arrows, and with stone-bows,
and with flints (?) of the field." If this be
accepted as the true reading, we have here by
comparison with xiv. 27, 43, an interesting con
firmation of the degree to which the Philistines
had deprived the people of arms (xiii. 19-22);
leaving to the king and Jonathan the spear and
the sword (xiii. 22), and to Jonathan a staff
(xiv. 27, A.V. "rod").
The Arrows, Chitzim (D^-Vn), were carried in
a quiver, Theli (vJ"l, Gen. xxvii. 3, only), or
Ashpah (nS"J*tj! : Is. xxii. 6, xlix. 2 ; Ps. cxxvii.
5). [QnrVER.] From an allusion in Job vi.
4, they would seem to have been sometimes
poisoned ; but the passage in Ps. cxx. 4 hardly
justifies the deduction that there was a practice
of using arrows with some burning material
attached to them. .
4. The Sling, Kela' (V7\>), is first men
tioned in Judg. xx. 16, where we hear of
the 300 Benjamites who with their left hand
could "sling stones at an hairbreadth, and
not miss." The simple weapon with which
David killed the Philistine giant was a usual
accompaniment of a shepherd, whose duty it was
to keep at a distance and drive off anything at
tempting to molest his flocks. The sling would
be familiar to all shepherds and keepers of sheep,
and therefore the bold metaphor of Abigail has
a natural propriety in the mouth of the wife of
a man whose possessions in flocks were so great
as those of Nabal : " As for the souls of thine

Assyrian archer. (Kouynnjik.)

Egyptians stringing the bow.
(Thebos and Beni-Hassan.)

An Assyrian slinger. (Kon vunjik ;
Layard.)

enemies, them shall God sling out from the
hollow of a sling " (1 Sam. xxv. 29, R. V.).
Later in the monarchy, slingers formed part
of the regular army (2 K. iii. 25), though it
would seem that the slings there mentioned
must have been more ponderous than in earlier
times, and that those which could break down
the fortifications of so strong a place as Kir-
haraseth must have been more like the engines
which king Uzziah contrived to "shoot great
stones " (2 Ch. xxvi. 15). In v. 14 of the same
chapter we find an allusion (now made clear

in the R. V.) to stones specially adapted for
slings — " Uzziah prepared . . . for all the host
shields and spears, . . . bows and stones for
slinging." Slings are still used in Palestine by those
who watch the flocks, and in Egypt by the men
who keep the birds from the fields. [Sling.]
. II. Passing from weapons to armour^from
offensive to defensive arms — we find several
references to what was apparently armour for
the body.
1. The Sltiryon (|i,"l*J' ; or in its modified

ARMS
form pX", and once ITX'); according to the
LXX. flcipo|, Vulg. lorica, — a Breastplate.
This occurs in the description of the arms of
Goliath— D^pt*1** )inB\ a "coat of mail,"
literally a " breastplate of scales " (1 Sam. xvii.
5), and further (c. 38), where Shiryon alone is
rendered " coat of mail." It may be noticed in
passing that this passage contains the most com
plete inventory of the furniture of a warrior to

ARMS

241

"Egyptian corslet with metal scales. (Tomb of Barneses III.,
Thebes; Wilkinson.)
be found in the whole of the sacred history.
Goliath was a Philistine, and the minuteness of
the description of his equipment may be due
either to the fact that the Philistines were
usually better armed than the Hebrews, or to
the impression produced by the contrast on this
particular occasion between this fully -armed
champion, and the wretchedly appointed soldiers

Sleeve of Assyrian coat of maiL (Nimrud.)
¦of the Israelite host, stripped as they had been
very shortly before both of arms, and of the
•means of supplying them, so completely, that
no smith could be found in the country, nor any
-weapons seen among the people, and that even
the ordinary implements of husbandry had to
be repaired and sharpened at the forges of the
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

conquerors (1 Sam. xiv. 19-22). Shiryon also
occurs in 1 K. xxii. 34 = 2 Ch. xviii. 33. The
last cited passage is very obscure; the A.V.
and R. V. text follow the Syriac "between the
joints of the harness," but the real meaning is
probably that of R. Y. manj. " lower armour and
the breastplate " (cp. LXX. and Vulgate, "be
tween the lungs and the breastbone "). The word
is further found in 2 Ch. xxvi. 14 and Neh. iv. Ill
("habergeons," 11. V. "coats of mail"), also in
Job xii. 26 and Is. lix. 17, but with no con
sistency of translation. This word (spelt ,taIC*)
was the Sidonian name of Mount. Hermon
(Deut. iii. 9 ; Ps. xxix. 6 ; Stanley, 403), a
parallel to which is found in the name 0tiipa|
given to Mount Sipylus in Lydia. It occurs
in the Inscriptions as Sirara (Schrader, KAT.2
p. 159).

Assyrian helmets. (Layard.)

Egyptian helmets. (Wilkinson.)
2. Another piece of defensive armour was the
Tachra (NinR), which is mentioned but twice
(Ex. xxviii. 32, xxxix. 23) — namely, in reference
to the Meil or gown of the priest, which is said
to have had a hole in the middle for the head,
with a hem or binding round the hole, "as it
were the ' mouth ' of an habergeon " (R. V. " coat
of mail ") to prevent the stuff from tearing.
The English " habergeon " was the diminutive
of the " hauberk," and was a quilted shirt or
doublet put on over the head.
3. The Helmet is but seldom mentioned.
The word for it is Coba' (J?313, or twice 5?3ip),
possibly from «. root signifying to be high and
round. Reference is made to it in 1 Sam.
xvii. 5 ; 2 Ch. xxvi. 14 ; Ezek. xxvii. 10, &c.
4. Greaves, or defences for the front of the
" legs " (as in the A. V. and R. V.) — nnyi?.
Mitzchah, made of brass, DtfTlJ — are named
in 1 Sam. xvii. 6 only.
Of the defensive arms borne by the warrior
the notices are hardly less scanty than those
just examined.
5. Two kinds of Shield are distinguishable.
a. The Tzinnah (H3V; from a root |*lX, "to
protect"). This was the large shield, encom
passing (Ps. v. 12) and forming a protection for
the whole person. When not in actual conflict,
the Tzinnah was carried before the warrior
R

242

ARMY

(1 Sam. xvii. 7, 41). The definite article in the
passage of 1 Sam. ("the" shield, R. V. v. 41)
denotes the importance of the weapon. The word
is used with Romach (1 Ch. xii. 8, 14 ; 2 Ch. xi.
12, &c.) and Chanith (1 Ch. xii. 34) as a for
mula for weapons generally.
b. Of smaller dimensions was the Magen ("JD>
from p3, to cover), a buckler or target, proba
bly for use in hand-to-hand fights. The differ
ence in size between this and the Tzinnah is
evident from 1 K. x. 16, 17 ; 2 Ch. ix. 15, 16,
where a much larger quantity of gold is named
as being used for the latter than for the former.
The portability of the magen may be inferred
from the notice in 2 Ch. xii. 9, 10 ; and perhaps
also from 2 Sam. i. 21. The word is a favourite
one with the poets of the Bible (see Job xv. 26 ;
Ps. iii. 3, xviii. 2, &c). Like Tzinnah, it occurs
in the formulistic expressions for weapons of
war, but usually coupled with light weapons —
such as the bow (2 Ch. xiv. 8, xvii. 17) and darts,
rbli) (2 Ch. xxxii. 5). [Shield.]

Assyrian convex shield.
(Konyonjik.)

Egyptian convex shield.
(Thebe3.)

6. Authorities are not agreed as to what kind
of arm the Slielct (tD?K') was ( see RBdiger's
comments in Ges. Thes. s. n.). The word is
found in the plural only. By some translators
it is rendered " quivers," by some " weapons,"
but by most "shields " (A. V. and E. V.). It is
clear that the word had a very individual sense
at the time : it denoted certain special weapons
taken by David from Hadadezer king of Zobah
(2 Sam. viii. 7 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 7), and dedicated
in the Temple, where they did service on the
memorable occasion of the proclamation of Joash
(2 K. xi. 10 ; 2 Ch. xxiii. 9), and where their
remembrance long lingered (Cant. iv. 4). From
the fact that these arms were of gold, it would
seem that they cannot have been for offence.
In the two other passages of its occurrence
(Jer. li. 11, here only R. V. marg. " suits of
armour;" Ezek. xxvii. 11) the word has the
force of a foreign arm. [G.] [W.]
ARMY. I. Jewish Army. — The military
organisation of the Jews commenced with their
departure from the land of Egypt, and was

ARMY
adapted to the nature of the expedition on
which they then entered. Their wars, as
directed against the heathen, were religious
wars, " wars of the Lord " (Num. xxi. 14 ; 1
Sam. xviii. 17) ; " the Lord of hosts, the God
of the armies of Israel " (1 Sam. xvii. 45), " the
Lord mighty in battle " (Ps. xxiv. 8), was their
Captain. He went with them, He saved them,
and He delivered their enemies into their hand
(Num. x. 35 ; Deut. xx. 4 ; 2 Sam. v. 24 ; Ps.
Ix. 12).
Every man above 20 years of age was a
soldier " (Num. i. 3 ; according to Josephus
[Antiq. iii. 12, § 4], from 20 to 50 years of age).
The priests and Levites were exempted (Num.
ii. 33). Each tribe formed a regiment, with its
own banner and its own leader (Num. ii. 2,
x. 14) : their positions in the camp or on the
march were accurately fixed (Num. ii.): the
whole army started and stopped at a given
signal (Num. x. 5, 6) : and thus they came up
out of Egypt ready for the fight (Ex. xiii. 18).
That the" Israelites preserved the same exact
order throughout their march, may be inferred
from Balaam's language (Num. xxiv. 6). On
the approach of an enemy, a, conscription was
made from the general body under the direction
of a muster-master (originally named "IDt^
Deut. xx. 5, " officer," afterwards "ISID, 2 K.
xxv. 19, " the scribe, the captain of the host,"
R. V. [Lucian's Recension of the LXX. and the
Vulg. advocate here a proper name, 2a<pdv,
Sophcr], both terms occurring, however, together
in 2 Ch. xxvi. 11, the meaning of each being
primarily a writer or scribe), by whom also the
officers were appointed (Deut. xx. 9). From
the number so selected, some might be excused
service on certain specified grounds (Deut. xx.
5-8 ; 1 Mac. iii. 56). The army was then
divided into thousands and hundreds and fifties
under their respective captains (D^SPXH IB*
niXBH tb, Num. xxxi. 14 ; D'TO** *1B>.
1 Sam. viii. 12 ; 2 K. i. 9. In 1 Mac. iii. 55,
" captains over tens " are mentioned), and still
further into families (Num. ii. 34 ; 2 Ch. xxv.
5, xxvi. 12) — the family being regarded as the
unit in the Jewish polity. From the time the
Israelites entered the land of Canaan until the
establishment of the kingdom, little progress
was made in military affairs : their wars re
sembled border forays, and the tactics turned
upon stratagem rather than upon the discipline
and disposition of the forces. Skilfully availing
themselves of the opportunities which the
country offered, they gained the victory some
times by an ambush (Josh. viii. 4) ; sometimes
by surprising the enemy (Josh. x. 9, xi. 7 ;
Judg. vii. 21) ; and sometimes by a judicious
attack at the time of fording a river (Judg. iii.
28, iv. 7, vii. 24, xii. 5). No general muster
was made at this period, such a number only
being selected as was deemed sufficient for the
purpose (Num. xxxi. 1-8 ; Josh. vii. 3 ; Judg.
vii. 1-8) ; but, when necessary, combatants could
be summoned on the spur of the moment by
trumpet-call (Judg. iii. 27), by messengers
(Judg. vi. 35), by some significant token (1 Sam.
xi. 7), or, as in later times, by the erection of
a standard (D3, Is. xviii. 3 ; Jer. iv. 21, li. 27),
or by a beacon fire on an eminence (Jer. vi. 1).

ARMY
Refusal to obey the summons was sometimes
punished by extermination (Judg. xxi. 8-15).
With the kings began the practice of maintain
ing a body-guard, which formed the nucleus of
a standing army (1 Sam. viii. 11, 12), mainly
for defensive purposes. Thus Saul had a band
of 3000 select warriors (1 Sam. xiii. 2, xiv. 52,
xxiv. 2). David himself, before his accession to
the throne, had a band of 600 (1 Sam. xxiii. 13,
xxv. 13). This band — perhaps the D,"133, the
" mighty men " of 2 Sam. xx. 7 (Keil) — he re
tained after he became king, and added the
Cherethites and Pelethites (2 Sam. xv. 18,
xx. 7) together with another class, whose name
Shalishim (Ex. xiv. 7, D'ti'v!'' ; TpiardTat,
LXX. ; A. V. and R. V. " captains ") has been
variously interpreted to mean (1) a corps of
veteran guards = Roman triarii (Winer, s. v.
Kriegsherr) ; (2) chariot- warriors, as being three
in each chariot (Gesen. Thes. p. 1429) ; (3) offi
cers of the guard, thirty in number (Ewald,
Gesch. ii. 601). The fact that the Egyptian
war-chariot, with which the Jews were first
acquainted, usually contained but two warriors
(three being the exception ; see Monuments de
VEgypte, i. pi. 26, 31, iv. pi. 328), forms an
objection to the second of these opinions (Wilkin
son, Ane. Egypt, i. 335), and the frequent use
of the term in the singular number (2 K. vii. 2,
ix. 25, xv. 25) [Chariot] is opposed to the third.
Whatever be the meaning of the name," it is
evident that it grew to indicate officers of high
rank, the chief of whom (ENJCS'n, A. V. " a
lord," R. V. " the captain," 2 K. vii. 2, or t?K"l
D'E^W, "chief of the captains," 1 Ch. xii. 18,
Keri [Heb. u. 19], R. V, text "chief of the
thirty ") was immediately about the king's
person, as adjutant or secretary-at-war. David
further organised a national militia, divided
into twelve regiments, each of which was
called out for one month m the year under
their respective officers (1 Ch. xxvii. 1) ; at the
head of the army when in active service he
appointed a commander-in-chief (K3*i""lE'>
" captain of the host," 1 Sam. xiv. 50 ; Jer. Iii.
25, R. V.).
Hitherto the army had consisted entirely of
infantry (vJ"l, 1 Sam. iv. 10, xv 4; cp. Num.
xi. 21), the use of horses having been restrained
by Divine command (Deut. xvii. 16), and the
leaders being mounted on asses or mules (Judg.
v. 10, x. 4; 2 Sam. xiii. 29, xviii. 9). The
Jews had, however, experienced the great
advantage to be obtained by chariots, both in
their encounters with the Canaanites (Josh. xvii.
16 ; Judg. i. 19), and at a later period with the
Syrians (2 Sam. viii. 4, a. 18). The interior of
Palestine was indeed generally unsuited to the
use of chariots : the Canaanites had employed
them only in the plains and valleys, such as
Jezreel (Josh. xvii. 16), the plain of Philistia

ARMY

243

a Eiehm (HWB. s. n. Krieg), comparing 2 K. ix. 25
and tbe frequent representations of three in a chariot
on the Assyrian monuments, inclines to the view tbat the
Shalish was originally the third (perhaps the shield-
bearer) in the chariot, and that, from that restricted
sense, the title gradually passed into the general mean
ing of a chief officer.

(Judg. i. 19 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 5), and the upper
valley of the Jordan (Josh. xi. 9 ; Judg. iv. 2).
But the border, both on the side of Egypt and
Syria, was admirably adapted to their use ;
and accordingly wo find that as the foreign rela
tions of the kingdoms extended, much import
ance was attached to them. David reserved a
hundred chariots from tho spoil of the Syrians
(2 Sam. viii. 4) : these, if not the same as those
used by Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 1) or Adonijah
(1 K. i. 5), probably served as the foundation of
the force which Solomon afterwards enlarged
through his alliance with Egypt (1 K. x. 28,
29), and applied to the protection of his border,
stations or barracks being erected for them in.
different localities (1 K. ix. 19). The force
amounted to 1400 chariots, 4000 horses, at the
rate (in round numbers) of three horses for each
chariot, the third being kept as a reserve, and
12,000 horsemen (1 K. x. 26 ; 2 Ch. i. 14).
For further particulars on the use of chariots
and cavalry, see Chariot, Horse, Horseman.
At this period the organisation of the army
was complete ; and we have, in 1 K. ix. 22,
apparently a list of the various gradations of
rank in the service, as follow : — (1) ,B'3X
nDnpBPI, " men of war " = privates ; (2)
DH31*, " servants," the lowest rank of officers
= lieutenants; (3) C'lCJ*, " princes " =captains ; ;
(4) D^EJ'yU', " captains," already noticed, per
haps = staff-officers ; (5) 3"*"*n '"IE* and n"B>
D^tyisn, "rulers of his chariots and of his
horsemen " = cavalry officers.
It does not appear that the system established
by David was maintained by the kings of
Judah ; but in Israel the proximity of the
hostile kingdom of Syria necessitated the main
tenance of a standing army. The militia (DI*
|*"1Xn, 2 K. xxv. 19) was occasionally called
out in times of peace, as by Asa (2 Ch. xiv. 8),
by Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xvii. 14), by Amaziah
(2 Ch. xxv, 5), and lastly by Uzziah (2 Ch.
xxvi. 11) : but these notices prove that such
cases were exceptional. On the other hand, the
incidental notices of the body-guard lead to the
conclusion that it was regularly kept up (1 K.
xiv. 28 -f 2 K. xi. 4, 11). Occasional reference
is made to war-chariots (2 K. viii. 21), and it
would appear that this branch of the service was
maintained, until the wars with the Syrians
weakened the resources of the kingdom (2 K.
xiii. 7) : it was restored by Jotham (Is. ii. 7),
but in Hezekiah's reign no force of the kind
could be maintained, and the Jews were obliged
to seek the aid of Egypt for horses and chariots
(2 K. xviii. 23, 24). This was an evident breach
of the injunction in Deut. xvii. 16, and met
with strong reprobation on the part of the
prophet Isaiah (xxxi. 1).
The army usually took the field in the spring
(2 Sam. xi. 1), and never without asking
counsel of God. In the older time this was
done by the high-priest by means of the Urim
and Thummim (Judg. i. 1, xx. 18 ; 1 Sam. xiv.
37, xxiii. 2 ; 2 Sam. v. 19), in later times by
a prophet (1 K. xxii. 5, &c. ; 2 K. xix. 2, &c).
In the earlier wars the ark accompanied the
army (Num. x. 35 ; Josh. vi. 6 ; 1 Sam. iv.
4, &c), but this probably ceased after the
R 2

244

ARMY

building of the Temple. With the ark went
the priests, and their attendance was continued
after the practice of bringing the ark was dis
pensed with. It was their duty to blow the
silver trumpets (Num. a. 8, 9, xxxi. 6 ; 2 Ch.
xiii. 12, 14) in summons of God's help, to make
the offering before the battle (1 Sam. vii. 9, &c. ;
xiii. 9, &c), and encourage by stirring words

Assyrian warriors forming a phalanx. (Layard.)

the armies of the Lord (Deut. xx. 2-4; cp.
2 Ch. xx. 21, 22).
With regard to the arrangement and ma
noeuvring of the army in the field, we know but
little. A division into three bodies is frequently
mentioned (Judg. vii. 16, ix. 43 ; 1 Sam. xi. 11 ;
2 Sam. xviii. 2), but sometimes the division was
into two (1 K. xx. 27), sometimes into four
bodies (2 Mace. viii. 22). The triple division
served various purposes : in action there would
be a centre and two wings ; in
camp, relays for the three night-
watches (Judg. vii. 19) ; and by
the combination of two of the
divisions, there would be a main
body and a reserve, or a strong
advanced guard (1 Sam. xiii. 2,
xxv. 13). In Jehoshaphat's time
the army was numbered, " ac
cording to their fathers' houses,"
in five bodies, corresponding, ac
cording to Ewald (Geschichte, iii.
192), to the geographical divisions
of the kingdom at that time :
yet even here the threefold prin
ciple of division may be noticed,
the heavy-armed troops of Judah
being considered as the proper
army, and the two divisions of
light-armed of the tribe of Ben
jamin as an appendage (2 Ch.
xvii. 14-18).
In battle-array, the troops
stood and moved at first in
something like regimental order
(2 Ch. xxvi. 11, Heb.) ; and possibly the
Egyptian phalanx of eight rows of ten men [see
cut under Egypt], or the Assyrian of two rows
of spearmen (the first kneeling, the second half-
kneeling) and archers protected by shield-
bearers, may have had their parallels among
the Israelites. The signal for attack, halting,

ARMY
and retreat was given by the trumpet (Josh.
vi. 4, 5, 16 ; Judg. vii. 18, &c. ; 2 Sam. ii. 28,
xviii. 16, xx. 22 ; 1 Mace. xvi. 8). The attack
was made with loud shouts (Josh. vi. 16 ; Amos
i. 14. Cp. Is. v. 29 ; Jer. xlix. 2, 1. 42 ; Ezek.
xxi. 22), and sometimes with a definite watch
word (e.g. "The sword of the Lord and of
Gideon," Judg. vii. 18, 20). In actual battle,
the troops did not
always preserve their
serried form ; and
hand - to - hand en
counters testing the
strength, skill, equip
ment, and valour of in
dividual warriors were
very frequent ; tho
general engagement
being sometimes pre
ceded by single com
bats, such as that of
David and Goliath
(1 Sam. xvii. ; cp
2 Sam. xxi. 18, &c),
or that of the twelve
of Benjamin and the
twelve of the servants
of David (2 Sam. ii.
12, &c). The coun
try, or camp, or place
to be attacked was usually well reconnoitred
(Josh. ii. ; Judg. vii. 11, &c. ; 1 Sam. xxvi. 4);
ambushes were frequent, led up to by simu
lated flight (Josh. viii. ; Judg. xx. 29, &c. ;
1 Sam. xv. 5 ; 2 Ch. xiii. 13) ; the assault
was often made simultaneously in front and
in the rear (2 Ch. xiii. 13, &c), and night-
attacks were common (Gen. xiv. 15; Josh. x. 9,
xi. 7; Judg. vii. 16, &c. ; 2 Sam. xvii. 1, ic).
Deeds of valour were rewarded by promotion

Assyrian scribes writing down tho number of the slain. (Layanl.)

(1 Ch. xi. 6), freedom (1 Sam. xvii. 25; cp,
1 Sam. viii. 11, &c), gifts of land (Josh. xv.
13) and of money (1 Sam. xvii. 25 ; 2 Sam.
xviii. 11), and even by the hand of a princess
(Josh. xv. 16 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 25, xviii. 25). From
and after David's time the spoil was fairly
divided between those who fought and those

ARMY
who watched the camp (1 Sam. xxx. 24, 25).
" No quarter " was the rule in the wars of
extermination (e.g. 1 Sam. xv. 3) ; in the inter
national and even other wars the slaughter, if
great (2 Sam. xviii. 7 ; 1 K. xx. 21, 29), was not
so ruthless (1 K. xx. 31 ; cp. 2 Ch. xxv. 22).
The head of the opponent chief was sometimes
brought in as a trophy (1 Sam. xvii. 51, 54,
xxxi. 9 ; 2 Sam. xx. 22 ; cp. Judith xiii. 9, &c),
and we also find on one occasion the Assyrian
practice of collecting the heads and so numbering
the slain (cp. 2 K. x. 7, 8) ; but this practice,
and the Egyptian custom of attaining the same
end by cutting off the hands, were not iu vogue
among the Israelites, if traces are to be found
among them of a not less ghastly form of muti
lation (1 Sam. xviii. 25, 27).
It was counted a sacred duty to bury any
Israelitish soldier who fell in battle (1 K. xi. 15 ;
2 Mace. xii. 39), and the chiefs were followed to
their graves with tears and lamentations (2 Sam.
iii. 31), their "weapons of war" being buried
with them (Ezek. xxxii. 27). Burial was also
accorded to the dead soldiers of an enemy (Ezek.
xxxix. 11, &c), unless Is. xxx. 33 be a hint that
cremation was sometimes adopted (see Cheyne
and Orelli in loco). Prisoners of war were
variously treated. The ferocity characteristic
of foreign foes (e.g. 2 K. viii. 12) was not

ARMY

245

without its parallel iu Israel (2 K. xv. 16) ;
blinding- was common (Judg. xvi. 21 ; 1 Sam.
xi. 2 ; 2 K. xxv. 7). As a rule death was
the lot of leader and soldier ; often, in the case
of the former, preceded by the humiliation
so common in Egypt and Assyria, which bade
the conqueror set his foot on the neck of the

Enemies at the footstool of a king. (Thebes.)

conquered (Josh. a. 24 ; cp. Ps. ex. 1), and even
by mutilation similar to that previously in
flicted on his foes by the vanquished (Judg. i.
6, 7). Instances are on record of conquered

Assyrians flaying their prisoners alive and carrying away heads of the slain. (Layard.)

populations subjected to terrible tortures (2 Sam.
xii. 31), and flung down precipices (2 Ch. xxv.
12) ; but instances are also furnished of re
markable mercifulness and generosity (1 K.
xx. 31, &c. ; 2 K. vi. 22, 23). Captives were
bound in fetters (Ps. cxlix. 8 ; 2 K. xxv. 7), as
we see in Egyptian and Assyrian monuments.
" In a bas-relief discovered at Khorsabad were
represented captives led before the king by rings
of iron passed through their noses and lips, to
which a cord was attached, thus illustrating
the passage (2 K. xix. 28 ; cp. Is. xxxvii. 29),
' I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridle
in thy lips ' " ( Layard ). Slavery was the
alternative of death. Men, women, and chil
dren, bareheaded and bereft of their outer gar
ments, sometimes chained and bound, were either
sold or enslaved ; mercy tempering the condi
tion of the latter (Deut. xxi. 10, &c). The
warriors of Israel, if victorious, were greeted
on their return with music, songs, and dances
(Judg. xi. 34; 1 Sam. xviii. 6, &c; 2 Ch. xx. 26,

28 ; 1 Mace. iv. 24), as in Assyria. Portions
of the spoil were offered to God (2 Sam. viii.
11, &c.) ; trophies were deposited in the
sanctuary (1 Sam. xxi. 9 ; 2 K. xi. 10), and
memorials of victory were erected to the glory
of God (1 Sam. vii. 12) and to the honour of
the conquerors (1 Sam. xv. 12).
The maintenance and equipment ofthe soldiers
at the public expense dates from the establish
ment of a standing army : before which time each
soldier armed himself and obtained his food from
his home (1 Sam. xvii. 17, 18), or by voluntary
offerings (2 Sam. xvii. 28, 29), or by forced
exactions (l Sam. xxv. 13), or by the natural
resources of the country (1 Sam. xiv. 27). On
one occasion only do we hear of any systematic
arrangement for provisioning the host (Judg.
xx. 10). It is doubtful whether the soldier,
if rewarded by his share of any booty taken,
ever received pay even under the kings (the
only instance of pay mentioned applies to
mercenaries, who were dismissed at the admoni-

246

ARMY

tion of the prophet, 2 Ch.' xxv. 6) : but that he
was maintained while on active service, and
provided with arms, appears from 1 K. iv. 27,
x. 16, 17 ; 2 Ch. xxvi. 14 : notices occurring of an
arsenal or armoury, in which the weapons were
stored (1 K. xiv. 28 ; Neh. iii. 19 ; Cant. iv. 4).
Foreigners (e.g. Philistines) were admitted into
the national army, and some— Zelek the Am-

Captives secured by handcuffs. (Wilkinson.)
monite, Uriah the Hittite (2 Sam. xxiii. 37, 39)
— rose to 'positions of distinction.
The numerical strength of the Jewish army
cannot be ascertained with any degree of
accuracy : the numbers as given in the text are
manifestly very high, and the discrepancies in
the various statements difficult of reconciliation.
At the Exodus the number of the warriors was
600,000 (Ex. xii. 37), or 603,350 (Ex. xxxviii.
26 ; Num. i. 46) ; at the entrance into Canaan,
601,730 (Num. xxvi. 51). In David's time the

ARMY
army amounted, according to one statement
(2 Sam. xxiv. 9), to 1,300,000, viz. 800,000 for
Israel and 500,000 for Judah ; but according to
another statement (1 Ch. xxi. 5, 6) to 1,470,000,
viz. 1,000,000 for Israel and 470,000 for Judah.
The militia at the same period amounted to
24,000 X 12 = 288,000 (1 Ch. xxvii. 1 ff).
At a later period the army of Judah under
Abijah is stated at 400,000, and that of Israel
under Jeroboam at 300,000 (2 Ch. xiii. 3). Still
| later, Asa's army, derived from the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin alone, is put at
530,000 (2 Ch. xiv. 8), and Jehoshaphat's
at 1,160,000 (2 Ch. xvii. 14 sq.).
Little need be said on the army with
regard to the period that succeeded the
return from the Babylonian Captivity
until the organisation of military affairs
in Judaea under the Romans. Jews were
to be found serving as mercenaries in
the armies of Alexander the Great,
Seleucus Nicator, Ptolemy Soter, Ptolemy
Philadelphus (Josephus, Ant. xi. 8, § 5 ;
xii. 2, § 5, 3, § 1), and Alexander Balas
(1 Mace. x. 26). The system adopted
by Judas Maccabaeus was m strict con-
formity with the Mosaic law (1 Mace.
iii. 55) : and though he maintained a
standing army, varying from 3000 to
6000 men (1 Mace. iv. 6 ; 2 Mace. viii.
1 6), yet the custom of paying the soldiers
appears to have been still unknown, and
to have originated with Simon (1 Mace.
xiv. 32). The introduction of meroe-
naries (probably Arabian) commenced with
John Hyrcanus, who, according to Josephus
(Ant. xiii. 8, § 4), rifled the tombs of the kings
in order to pay them : the intestine commo
tions that prevailed in the reign of Alexander
Jannaeus obliged him to increase the number to
6,200 men (Joseph. Ant xiii. 13, § 5, 14, § 1) :
and the same policy was followed by Queen
Alexandra (Ant. xiii. 16, § 2) and by Herod
the Great, who had in his pay Thracian, German,
and Gallic troops (Ant xvii. 8, § 3). The

Assyrian musicians coming out to meet the conquerors. (Layard.)

discipline and arrangement of the army was
gradually assimilated to that of the Romans,
and the titles of the officers borrowed from it
(Joseph. B. J. ii. 20, § 7).
II. Roman Army. — The Roman army was
divided into legions, the number of which varied
considerably, each under six tribuni (xiAlapxos,
" chief captain," i.e. the tribune in command of
the cohort, about 1000 foot and 150 horsemen,

being one-sixth of a legion, Acts xxi. 31), who
commanded by turns. The legion was sub
divided into ten cohorts (oTOpa, "band," Acts
a. 1), the cohort into three maniples, and the
maniple into two centuries, containing originally
100 men, as the name implies, but subsequently
from 50 to 100 men, according to the strength
of the legion. There were thus 60 centuries in
a legion, each under the command of a centurion

ARNA
(eKHT0VTdpxT)S, Acts x. ^1, 22 ; eKaTbvTapxos,
Matt. viii. 5, xxvii. 54). In addition to the
legionary cohorts, independent cohorts of 500
volunteers, divided into 6 centuries, served
under the Roman standards ; and Biscoe (History
of Acts, p. 220) supposes that all the Roman
forces stationed in Judaea were of this class.
Josephus speaks of five cohorts as stationed at
Caesarea at the time of Herod Agrippa's death
(Ant. xix. 9, § 2), and frequently mentions that
the inhabitants of Caesarea and Sebaste served
in the ranks (Ant. xx. 8, § 7). One of these
cohorts was named the Italian (Acts a. 1), not
as being a portion of the Italica legio (for this
was not embodied until Nero's reign), but as
consisting of volunteers from Italy ("Cohors
militum voluntaria, quae est in Syria," Gruter,
Inscr. i. 434). This cohort probably acted as
the body-guard of the procurator. The cohort
named after " Augustus " (tTTreipa SeBao-T-n,
Acts xxvii. 1) may have consisted of the volun
teers from Sebaste (li. J. ii. 12, § 5; Biscoe,
p. 223 ; Speaker's Commentary in loco ; or may
have acquired that name as an appellation, as
other cohorts were named Victrix, Pia, Fidelis
QSchurer in Riehm, HWB. s. v. Romer]).
Winer, however, thinks that it was a cohors
Augusta, similar to the legio Augusta (RWB.
s. v. Bonier). The head-quarters of the Roman
forces in Judaea were at Caesarea. A single
cohort was probably stationed at Jerusalem in
the Tower of Antonia as the ordinary guard.
At the time of the great Feasts, however, and
on other public occasions, a larger force was
sent up, for the sake of preserving order (B. J.
ii. 12, § 1 ; 15, § 3). Frequent disturbances
arose in reference to the images and other
emblems carried by the Roman troops among
their military ensigns, which the Jews regarded
as idolatrous: deference was paid to their
prejudices by a removal of these objects from
Jerusalem ( Ant. xviii. 3, § 1 ; 5, § 3). The
ordinary guard consisted of four soldiers (re-
Tpdbtov, "quaternion"), of which there were
four, corresponding to the four watches of
the night, who relieved each other every three
hours (Acts xii. 4 ; cp. John xix. 23 ; Polyb. vi.
33, § 7). When in charge of a prisoner, two
watched outside the door of the cell, while the
other two were inside (Acts xii. 6). The Se£i6-
XaBoi (lancearii, Vulg. ; " spearmen/' A. V.
and R. V.), noticed in Acts xxiii. 23, appear
to have been light-armed, irregular troops : the
origin of the name is, however, quite uncertain
{see Alford's Com. and Speaker's Com. in loco).
Consult Winer, R WB.2 ; Herzog, RE2 ; Riehm,
HWB. s.v. Krieg. [W. L. B.j [F.]
AR'NA (Ama), one of the forefathers of
Ezra (2 Esd. i. 2), occupying the place of
.Zerahiah (Ezra vii. 4) or Zaraias (1 Esd. viii.
2) in his genealogy. [W. A. W.]
AR'NAN (JJIN; 'Opvd; Arnan). In the
received Hebrew text " the sons of Arnan " are
mentioned in the genealogy of Zerubbabel (1
Ch. iii. 21). But according to the reading of
the Greek, Vulgate, and Syriac Versions, which
Houbigant adopts, Arnan was the son of Re-
phaiah (B. 'PatpdA). The text is much disputed
{see Comm., Keil, Bertheau, Speaker's, and Oettli
in loco). [W. A. W.] [F.]

ARNON

247

AR'NON (li*nX ; derivable, according to
Gesenius, Thes. 153 [MV.11 and Fiirst], from
roots signifying " swift " or " noisy," eithor
suiting the character of the stream ; 'Apvuv ;
Anion), the river (7*13, accurately " torrent,"
but rendered " valley " in R. V.) which formed
the boundary between Moab and the Amorites,
on the north of Moab (Num. xxi. 13, 14, 24,
26 ; Judg. xi. 22), and afterwards between
Moab and Israel (in the territory of Reuben :
Deut. ii. 24, 36, iii. 8, 12, 16, iv. 48; Josh,
xii. 1, 2, xiii. 9, 16 ; Judg. xi. 13, 26). From
Judg. xi. 18, it would seem to have been
also the east border of Moab." See also 2 K.
x. 33 j Jer. xlviii. 20. In many of the above
passages it occurs in the formula for the site
of Aroer, " which is by the brink of the river
Anion." In Numbers it is simply " Arnon,"
but in Deut., Joshua, Judges, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
and Kings " the river A." (A. V. sometimes
"river of A."). Isaiah (xvi. 2) mentions its
fords ; and in Judg. xi. 26 a word of rare
occurrence (T1, hand, comp. Num. xiii. 29) is
used for the sides of the stream. The " high
places of A." (7)103, a word which generally
refers to worship). Cp. Baethgen, Beitrage z.
Semit. Religionsgeschichte, p. 213) are mentioned
in Num. xxi. 28. In the inscription on the
" Moabite stone," king Mesha states that he
made the " highway in " Arnon and built Aroer
(Records of the Past, N. S., ii. 202). By Josephus
(Ant iv. 5, § 1) it is described as rising in the
mountains of Arabia and flowing through all the
wilderness (ipr/pos) till it falls into the Dead Sea.
In the time of Jerome it was still known as Arnon ;
but in the Samarito- Arabic Version of the Penta
teuch by Abu Said (10th to 12th cent.) it is
given as el-Mojib. There can be no doubt that the
Wddy el-Mojib of the present day is the Arnon.
It has been visited and described by Burckhardt
(pp. 372-375) ; Irby (p. 142) ; and Seetzen (Seise,
1854, ii. 347 ; see also Ritter, Syria, p. 1195).
The ravine through which it flows is still the
" locum vallis in praerupta demersae satis horri-
bilem et periculosum " which it was in the days
of Jerome (OS.2 p. 121, 7). The Roman road from
Rabba to Dhibdn crosses it at about two hours'
distance from the former. On the south edge
ofthe ravine are some ruins called Mehatet el
Haj, and on the north edge, directly opposite,
are those still bearing the name of 'Ard'ir
[Aroer]. The level plain comes close to the
abrupt descent which breaks away in limestone
precipices to a great depth, so that no idea of
the ravine can be formed until the very edge is
reached. The width across, from crest to crest,
is about three miles (Burckhardt says about
two miles). The descent on the south side,
which is 200 ft. higher than the north, is
2150 ft. ; it is " extremely steep " (Jer., " per
abrupta descendens "), and in places almost im
passable "with rocks and stones." On each face
ofthe ravine traces ofthe paved Roman road are
still found, with milestones ; and the piers of
the Roman bridge still stand in the stream.

a This appears to have been tbe branch called the
Seil es-Sa'ideh, which flows N.W. from Eul'at el-
Kutrdneh, joining the Wtidy Mojib, two or three miles
east from 'Ard'ir-.

248

AROD

The river runs through rich tropical vegetation ;
water never fails ; and the pools are full of fish
(Tristram, Land of Moab, pp. 125-129). Above
the bridge is a small cave with figures in red
paint and a half-obliterated Nabathaean inscrip
tion (PEFQy. Stat. 1871, p. 69). A section ofthe
ravine is given by Lartet (Gtfologie de la Palestine,
p. 159).
Where it bursts into the Dead Sea this stream
is 82 ft. wide and 4 ft. deep," flowing through
a chasm with perpendicular sides of red, brown,
and yellow sandstone, 97 ft. wide (romantische
Felsenthor : Seetzen). It then runs through the
delta in a S.W. course, narrowing as it goes, and
is 10 ft. deep where its waters meet those of the
Dead Sea (Lynch, Report, May 3, 1847, p. 20).
According to the information given to Burck
hardt, its principal source is near Kutrdneh on
the Haj route. Hence, under the name of Seil
es-Sa'ideh, it flows N.W. to its junction with the
W. Enkeileh one hour E. of 'Ard'ir, and then, as
W. Mojib, more directly W. to the Dead Sea.
The W. Mojib receives on the North the streams
of the Seil Heidan, and on the South those of
W. el-Weil and. W. Saliheh.
At its junction with the Enkeileh is a piece of
pasture ground, in the midst of which stands a
hill with ruins on it (Burckh. p. 374). May not
these ruins be the site of the mysterious " city
that is in the midst of the river " (Josh. xiii. 9,
16 ; Deut. ii. 36), so often coupled with Aroer ?
From the above description of the ravine, it is
plain that that city cannot have been situated
immediately below Aroer, as has been conjec
tured. Tristram (Land of Moab, p. 128) identifies
this city with " some faint remains of early
buildings " above the ruins of the Roman
bridge. [G.] [W.]
ARO'D ("li *"*•:, Ges. perhaps =11 11*, wild ass;
B. 'ApoSel ; B»> $W 'ApoaSel ; AF. -Si; Arod), a
son of Gad (Num. xxvi. 17 ; LXX. v. 26), called
Arodi 0"*i"IX) in Gen. xlvi. 16, and his family
the Arodites (Num. xxvi. 17). [G.] [F.]
ARO'DI (n'*lK; A. 'AponSls, D. Abapis;
Arodi) = Arod (Gen. xlvi. 16).
ARO'DITBS, THE (HilKH ; B. i 'ApoSel
[see var". s. n. Arod] ; Aroditae). Descendants
of Arod the son of Gad (Num. xxvi. 17 [LXX.
f. 26]). [W. A. W.j [F.]
ARO'ER OSPJ?, occasionally "1171*11?, = ruins,
places of which the foundations are laid bare,
Gesenius *; 'Apor)p ; Aroer), the name of several
towns of Eastern and Western Palestine.
1. In Josh. xii. 2, AF. 'Apot)p, B. 'Apvtiv ; in
Jer. xlviii. (LXX. xxxi.) 19, BNA. 'Apof)p. A
city "by the brink," or "on the bank of" (both
the same expression — " on the lip "), or " by " the
torrent Arnon, the southern point of the territory

° Seetzsn found the stream 10 ft. wide and 3 ft. deep
in January (ii. 36(5).
¦ May it not with equal probability be derived from
"Uni*! juniper [so Lagarde with Targ., Vulg. myrica
(Jer. xlviii. 6)], the modern Arabic •Ar'ar (see Hob. ii.
124, note) f Comp. Luz, Rimmon, Tappuach, and other
places deriving their names from trees.

AROERITE
of Sihon king of the Amorites,b and afterwards of
the tribe of Reuben (Deut. ii. 36, iii. 12, iv. 48 ;
Josh. xii. 2, xiii. 9, 16; Judg. xi. 26"; 2 K. x.
33; 1 Ch. v. 8), but later again in possession
of Moab (Jer. xlviii. 19). It was built or re
built by king Mesha (Records of tlie Past, N. S,f
ii. 202). It is described (OS.2 p. 122, 25) as
" usque hodie in vertice montis," " super ripam
(xetAos) torrentis Arnon," an account agreeing
exactly with that of the ruins of 'Ard'ir on the-
old Roman road, upon the very edge of the
precipitous north bank of the Wddy Mojib.
[Arnon.] The ruins are featureless, but con
tain several wells and cisterns (Tristram, Land
of Moab, pp. 130, 131). Aroer is often mentioned
in connexion with the city that is " in," or " in
the midst of, the river." The nature of the
cleft through which the Arnon flows is such
that it is impossible there can have been any
town in such a position immediately near Aroen;
but a suggestion has been made above [Arnon],
which on investigation of the spot may clear up.
this point.
2. In Josh. xiii. 25, A. 'Apur)p, B. 'Apa&i.
Aroer "that is 'facing' CJS^J;) Rabbah"
(Rabbah of Ammon), a town " built " by and
belonging to Gad (Num. xxxii. 34 ; Josh. xiii. 25;
2 Sam. xxiv. 5). This is possibly the plac»
mentioned in Judg. xi. 33, which was shown in
Jerome's time (OS.2 p. 131, 5) " in monte,
vigesimo ab Aelia lapide ad septentrionem."
Ritter (Syria, p. 1130) suggests an identification
with Ayra, found by Burckhardt 2£ hours S.W.
of es-Salt. There is considerable difference how
ever in the radical letters of the two words, the
second Ain not being present.
3. Aroer, in Is. xvii. 2, if a place at all,a must.
be still further north than either of the two
already named, and dependent on Damascus.
Gesenius (Jcsaia, p. 556), however, takes it tobe
Aroer of Gad, and the " forsaken " state of its
cities to be the result of the deportation of
Galilee and Gilead by Tiglath - pileser (2 lv.
4. A town in Judah, named only in 1 Sam. xxx.
28. Robinson (ii. 199) has identified it with the
water pits and ruins of 'Ar'drah in the valley of
the same name on the road from Petra to Gaza,
about 11 miles E.S.E. of Bir es-Seba, a position
which agrees very fairly with the slight indica
tions of the text. Palmer (Desert of the Exodus,
p. 404) speaks of " a few wells." [G.] [W.]
ARO'ERITE Ol*/*"**; A. 'Apapl; B. -pel,
Bb. 'Ape* ; Arorites). Hothan the Aroerite was
the father of two of David's chief captains
(1 Ch. xi. 44). [W. A. W.]

11 From the omission of the name in the remarkable
fragment, Num. xxi. 27-30, where the principal places
taken by the Amorites from Moab are named, Aroer
would appeal- not to be one of the very oldest cities.
Possibly it was built by tbe Amorites after their con
quest, to guard tbe important boundary of the Arnon.
0 In this place tbe letters of the name are transposecr,
mini*. The LXX. have KaraAeAetppeirr} el? tov atwva,
apparently reading -|]; i^j; for Tin}- i-\y. The Vul
gate (Aroer) agrees with the Hebrew text, which is
followed by Delitzsch, Cheyne, Speaker's Comm-, and aU
modern critics.

AROM
A'ROM ('Ap6p ; Asonus). The"sonsofArom," 1
to the number of 32, are enumerated in 1 Esd. v.
16 among those who returned with Zorobabel.
Unless it be a mistake for Asom, and represents
Hashum in Ezra ii. 19, it has no parallel in the
lists of Ezra and Nehemiah. [W. A. W.]
ARTAD (1S""X. Ges. connects it with
ISI, and takes it as "belonging to a couch,"
hence a " support " = a strong city ; 'AptpdS,
'AptpdB, A. 'ApcpaT, &c. ; Arphad), a city or
district in Syria, invariably named with Hamath
(now Hamah, on the Orontes. Jer. xlix. 23 ;
2 K. xviii. 34, xix. 13 ; Is. x. 9, xxxvi. 19,
xxxvii. 13 : in the last two passages it is ren
dered in the A. V. Arphad). Arpad is several
times mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions
under the form Ar-pad-da, and it was taken,
B.C. 740, by Tiglath-pileser II. , after a siege
of three years, previous to his campaign against
Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah ; it has been
identified with Tell Erfdd about thirteen miles
north of Aleppo (Schrader, KAT.2 pp. 223, 324,
328, 487). [G.] [W.]
AR'PHAD. [Arpad.]
AERHAX'AD (X'PS'iN; 'Aptpa^dS ; Jos.
'Aptpa£dSris ; Arphaxad), the third son of Shem
and the ancestor of Eber (Gen. a. 22, 24, xi. 10),
aud said to be of the Chaldaeans (Joseph. Ant. i.
6, § 4). Bochart (Phaleg, ii. 4) supposed that the
name was preserved in that of the province
Arrapachitis C ApfrairaxlTis, Ptol. vi. 1, § 2) in
Northern Assyria (cp. Ewald, Gesch. d. Volkes
Isr., i. 378) ; and this opinion, indicating the
not infrequent practice of a geographical be
coming in the course of time a personal name,
has been accepted by Lagarde, Noldeke, Delitzsch
(Genesis, p. 222 [1887]), Kautzsch (Riehm,
HWB. s. n.), and Spiegel (Herzog, RE.2
s. n.). Other interpretations of the name have
been given. Schrader (KAT.2 pp. 112, 612),
Ges., &c, suppose it to mean the border of the
Chaldees (**"**< [cp. Arab, ej \~\ and IBO) or
Babylonica (see against this Spiegel, I. c).
Fried. Delitzsch ( Wo lag das Paradies, pp. 225-
6) connects it with arba-Kisddi, and renders it
the " Viergotterstadt."
2. Arphaxad, a king " who reigned over the
Medes in Ecbatana, and strengthened the city by
vast fortifications " (Judith i. 1-4). In a war
with " Nabuchodonosor, king of Assyria," he was
entirely defeated "in the great plain in the
borders of Ragau " (? Rages, Raga, Tobit i. 14,
&c), and afterwards taken prisoner and put to
death (Judith i. 13-15). From the passage in
Judith (i. 2, tpKoSdpTiffev i-ir 'Y.K0aTdvuv) he has
been frequently identified with Deioces (Artaeus,
Ctes.), the founder of Ecbatana (Herod, i. 98);
but as Deioces died peaceably (Herod, i. 102), it
seems better to look for the original of Arphaxad
in his son Phraortes (Artynes, Ctes.), who greatly
extended the Median empire, and at last fell in
a battle with the Assyrians, 633 B.C. (Herod, i.
102, avrds Te SietpBdpn . . . Kai 6 arpdros auToD
6 iroAAds). Niebuhr (Gesch. Assur's, p. 32) en
deavours to identify the name with Astyages =
Ashdahak, the common title of the Median
dynasty, and refers the events to a war in the
twelfth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Baby-

ARTAXERXES

249

lon, B.C. 592 (Ibid. pp. 212, 285). Schrader
(Riehm, HWB. s. n.) considers the name (like
Arioch in i. 6) a poetical creation of the writei-
of the book, and recalled into existence from
Gen. x. 22. Others (e.g. Volkmar) identify Ar
phaxad with Artavasdes (Dio Cass. xl. 49, &c.)
the Parthian, or' with Arbaces, the first king of
the Medes and the conqueror of Sardanapalus-
Lupton is disposed to compare the name with
that of Arsaces (i.e. Mithridates ; see Speaker's
Comm. on Judith i. 1). [B. F. W.] [F.]
ARROWS. [Arms.]
ARSA'CES VI., a king of Parthia, who
assumed the royal title Arsaces ('AptrdKns,
Armen. Arschag, probably containing the roots
both of Arya and Sacae) in addition to his
proper name, Mithridates I. (Phraates, App.
Syr. 67, from confusion with his successor),
according to universal custom (Strab. xv.
p. 702), in honour of the founder of the Par
thian monarchy (Justin, xii. 5, 5). He made-
great additions to the empire by successful wars ;
and when Demetrius Nicator entered his do
minions to collect forces or otherwise strengthen
his position against the usurper Tryphon, he
despatched an officer against him who defeated
the great army after a campaign of varied
success (Justin, xxxvi. 1), and took the king
prisoner, B.C. 138 (1 Mace. xiv. 1-3; Joseph.
Ant. xiii. 5, § 11 ; Justin, xxxvi. 1, xxxviii. 9).
Mithridates treated his prisoner with respect,
and gave him his daughter iu marriage (App.
Syr. 67, 68), but kept him in confinement till
his own death, c. B.C. 130 (App. Syr. 68 ; Diod.
ap. Miiller, Fragm. Hist ii. 19). [B. F. W.]

Cuiu of Arsaces. (British Museum.)
AR'SARETH, a region beyond Euphrates,
apparently of great extent (2 Esd. xiii. 45,
only). The word is a version of JTini* f*lN,
"another land," Deut. xxix. 28(Schiller-Szinessy.
See Speaker's Comm. on 2 Esd. '. a). Volkmar
(Hb. d. Einl. in die Apokr. ii. 193) supposes
the word to represent JTIX J**1N, "Land of Arat,"
or " Ararat." [G.] [W.]
ARTAXER'XES (KI*Wni*nN, Artahsasta
[Ezra iv. 7 a], or XF\W&- [Ezra iv. 7 b], or
XTflpK'- [Ezra iv. 8, vii. 1, and onwards ; Neh.
ii. 6 : see Baer's text in locis], Artaliiast. The
LXX. has such variations as the following : — A.
' ApBaaaaBd [usually] ; B. 'AtrapSaBd [Ezra iv-
7 a], 'AaapBd [Ezra iv. 8], 'AptraBepBa [Neh. ii.
!] . x* <=¦ *Ww) 'AptrapaaBd, !('¦' 'ApTa|ep|ij
[Neh. ii. 1]; Artaxerxes), the name probably of
two different kings of Persia mentioned in the
Old Testament. The word, according to Herod.
vi. 98, means 6 peyas b\pr)ios, the great warrior
[so Ges. and Lassen, Zeitschr. z. Kunde d. Morgenl.
vi. p. 161, &c.]. The name arose from the old

250

ARTAXERXES

Pers. Artakhschathra [Spiegel, Eran. Alter-
thumskunde, ii. 410], and is compounded of arta
[as in Artabanus, Artaphanes], great or honoured
(cp. 'Apraloi, Herod, vii. 61, the old national
name of the Persians, also Arii, and the Sanscrit
Arya, which is applied to the followers of the
Brahminical law), and khschathra, a kingdom.
The later Persians derived from it Ardeshir, the
Armenians Artase*s, the Greeks Artaxerxes [see
reff. to Burnouf and Lagarde in MV.10]. On the
Babylonian monuments it is written Artaksatsu,
Artaksitsu, and Artaksassu (Fr. Delitzsch,. Pref.
p. ix. to Baer's edit, of Daniel, Esra, und Nehemia).
1. The first Artaxerxes is mentioned in
Ezra iv. 7, as induced by " the adversaries of
Judah and Benjamin " to obstruct the rebuild
ing of the Temple, and appears identical with
Smerdis, the Magian impostor, and pretended
brother of Cambyses. This identification is de
pendent upon the presumption that the Aha
suerus of Ezra iv. 6 is Cambyses, and that the
Darius of iv. 24 is Darius Hystaspis, so that the
intermediate King must be the pseudo-Smerdis
who usurped the throne B.C. 522, and reigned
eight months (Herod, iii. 61, 67 sq. So Ewald,
Hitzig, and Speaker's Comm.). We need not
wonder at this variation in his name. Ar
taxerxes may have been adopted or conferred
on him as a title, aud we find the true Smerdis
called Tanyoxares ( the younger Oxares ) by
Xenophon (Gyrop. viii. 7) and Ctesias (Pers.
fr. 8-13), and Oropastes by Justin (Hist. i. 9).
Oxares appears to be the same name as Xerxes,
of which Artaxerxes is a compound.
2. In Neh. ii. 1 we have another Artaxerxes,
who permits Nehemiah to spend twelve years at
Jerusalem, in order to settle the affairs of the
colony there, which had fallen into great con
fusion. We may safely identify him with
Artaxerxes Macrocheir or Longimanus, the sou
of Xerxes, who reigned B.C. 464—425. And" we
believe that this is the same king who had
previously allowed Ezra to go to Jerusalem for
a similar purpose (Ezra vii. 1). There are
indeed some who maintain that as Darius Hys
taspis is the king in the sixth chapter of Ezra,
the king mentioned next after him, at the begin
ning of the seventh, must be Xerxes, and thus
they distinguish three Persian kings called
Artaxerxes in the Old Testament : (1) Smerdis in
Ezra iv., (2) Xerxes in Ezra vii., and (3) Arta
xerxes Macrocheir in Nehemiah. But it is
almost demonstrable that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus
of the Book of Esther [Ahasuerus], and it is
hard to suppose that in addition to his ordinary
name he would have been called both Ahasuerus
and Artaxerxes in the 0. T. It seems also very
probable that the policy of Neh. ii. was a con
tinuation and renewal of that of Ezra vii., and
that the same king was the author of both.
Now it is not possible for Xerxes to be the
Artaxerxes of Nehemiah, as Josephus asserts
(Ant. xi. 5, § 6), for Xerxes only reigned 21
years, whereas Nehemiah (v. 14) speaks of the
32nd year of Artaxerxes. Nor is it necessary to
believe that the Artaxerxes of Ezra vii. is
necessarily the immediate successor of the Darius
ot Ezra vi. The Book of Ezra is not a con
tinuous history. It is evident from the first
words of ch. vii. that there is a pause at the end
of ch. vi. Indeed, as ch. vi. concludes in the
bth year of Darius, and ch. vii. begins with the

ARVAD
7th year of Artaxerxes, we cannot even believe
the latter king to be Xerxes, without assuming
an interval of 36 years (B.C. 515-479) between
the chapters, and it is not more difficult to
imagine one of 58, which will carry us to
B.C. 457, the 7th year of Artaxerxes Macrocheir.
We conclude therefore that this is the king of
Persia under whom both Ezra and Nehemiah
carried on their work ; that in B.C. 457 he sent
Ezra to Jerusalem ; that after 13 years it became
evident that a civil as well as an ecclesiastical
head was required for the new settlement, and
therefore that in 444 he allowed Nehemiah to
go up in the latter capacity. From the testi
mony of profane historians this king appears
remarkable among Persian monarchs for wisdom
and right feeling, and with this character his
conduct to the Jews coincides (Diod. xi. 71).
Hengstenberg (Chrfstologie, iii. p. 143, &c.)
Schrader (Riehm's HWB. s. n.), Sayce (Ezra,
Nehemiah, and Esther, p. 22 [see index]), and
Oettli (Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm.) do not
accept the views expressed above. They con
sider the Artaxerxes mentioned in the Bible to
be the name of but one and the same person, viz.
Artaxerxes Longimanus. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
AR'TEMAS ('Aprepds, i.e. 'ApreplSupos), a
companion of St. Paul (Tit. iii. 12). According
to tradition, he became bishop of Lystra. The
name, = " the gift of Artemis," is said to have
been a common one among the Greeks. [G.]
ARTJ'BOTH (The Arubboth, as in R. V.,
n)3"lXn ; A. 'ApaBtiB [B. altogether different];
Aruboth), the third of Solomon's commissariat
districts (1 K. iv. 10). It included Sochoh in
the rich corn-growing country of the Shefelah
and the land of Hepher, probably near Hebron.
Josephus calls the district the toparchy of
Bethlehem (Ant. viii. 2, § 3), and it appears to
have been co-extensive with the territory
assigned to Judah. The significance of the word
is entirely lost at present. [G.] [W.]
ARU'MAH (!*1D*-|N; B. 'Apnpd, A. 'Apipi;
in Ruma), a place apparently in the neighbour
hood of Shechem, at which Abirnelech resided
(Judg. ix. 41). It is conjectured that the word
in verse 31, nD"l"*l3, rendered " privily," and in
the margin "at'Tormah," should be read "at
Arumah " by changing the J*) to an N, but for
this there is no support beyond the apparent
probability of the change. Arumah is possibly
the same place as Ruma, under which name it
is given by Eusebius and Jerome in OS.2 (pp. 178,
24; 281, 10). According to them, it was called
Arimathaea [Arimathaea]. But this is not con
sonant with its apparent position in the story.
Tristram (Bible Places, p. 192) identifies it with
Tell el-'Ormeh (comp. Van de Velde, Mem. p. 288)
to the S.E. of the plain of Shechem (P. F. Mem.
ii. 387, 402). [G.] [W.]
AR'VAD (tnx [ed. Baer] ; Egypt. Aruttu;
Assyrian, Aruddu and Arvadu ; Greek, 'OpButrta),
a city in Phoenicia, the men of which are named
in close connexion with those of Zidon as the
navigators and defenders of the ships of Tyre in
Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11. In agreement with this is
the mention of " the Arvadite " Cpl^) in
Gen. x. 18, and 1 Ch. i. 16, as a son of Canaan,

ARVADITE
with Zidon, Hamath, and other northern lo
calities. The LXX. (A.) has in each of the above
passages 'ApdStos, and in Josephus (Ant. i. 6,
§ 2) we find 'ApovSalos "ApaSov tV vrftrov
etrxev. There is thus no doubt that Arvad is
the island of Rudd ( ii\ <¦ ), which lies off Tortosa
(Tortus), two or three miles from the Phoenician
coast, (not at, but) some distance above the
mouth of the river Eleutherns, now the Nahr
el-Kebir (Maund. p. 403 ; Burckh. p. 161), and at
the northern extremity of the great bay which
stretches above Tripoli (Kiepert's Map, 1856).
The island is high and rocky, but very small,
hardly a mile in circumference (see Maund.
p. 399 ; " 800 yards in extreme length," Allen, ii.
178). According to Strabo (xvi. 2, § 13) Arvad
was founded by fugitives from Sidon, and he
testifies to its prosperity, its likeness to Tyre, and
especially to the well-known nautical skill of the
inhabitants a (see the notices by Strabo, Pliny,
and others in Gesenius, p. 1269, Winer, and
Riehm, Arvaditen). Opposite Arvad, on the main
land, was the city Antaradus (Partus), by which
name the Targum Jerus. renders the name Arvad
in Gen. x. 18. [ARADUS.] Numerous antiquities
of the Phoenician period have been discovered
at Ruitd and Tartus, as well as at Amrit, the
ancient Marathus, over which town, together
with Karne, Arvad held rule. Some of these
contain the names of early Arvadite kings
written in Egyptian hieroglyphics. Arvad was
conquered by Thothmes III. of the 18th dynasty,
and appears as an ally of the Hittites in their
wars against Ramses II. and Ramses III. of the
19th and 20th dynasties. Matan-baal of Arvad,
like Ahab of Israel, assisted Rimmon-idri (Ben
hadad II.) of Damascus in the battle of Karkar,
in which he was defeated by the Assyrians B.C.
854. Other Arvadite princes submitted to Tig
lath-pileser IH. (B.C. 732) and Sennacherib (B.C.
701); and Assur-bani-pal, about B.C. 665, married
the daughter of the king of Arvad, and on the
death of the latter selected his successor from
among his ten sons [see the names in Schrader,
KAT.2 p. 105]. A plan of the island will be
found in Allen's Dead Sea, end of vol. ii. ; also
in the Admiralty Charts, 2050, "Island of
Ruad ; " and a description of the island in PEFQy.
Stat. 1875, pp. 218-221. [A. H. S.]
' AKVA'DITE, THE (HnKH; i 'ApdStos;
Aradius). One of the families of Canaan (Gen.
x. 18 ; 1 Ch. i. 16), and probably inhabitants ofthe
island Aradus, or Ruad. [ARVAD.] [W. A. W.]
AE'ZA (KV"!N ; B. '{lad, A. 'Apad ; Arsa).
Prefect of the palace at Tirzah to Elah king of
Israel, who was assassinated at a banquet in
his house by Zimri (1 K. xvi. 9). In the Tar
gum of Jonathan the word is taken as the
name of an idol, and in the Arabic version in
the London Polyglot the rendering of the
last clause is, " which belongs to the idol of
Beth-Arza." [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'SA (SDK, meaning uncertain : perhaps
[from the Aram.] physician ; 'Aad ; Jos. "Ao-a-

ASA

251

a These nautical propensities remain in full force
(see Allen's Bead Sea, ii. 183).

vos; Asa), son of Abijah, and third king of
Judah after the separation of the kingdom oi'
Israel, was conspicuous for his earnestness in
supporting tho worship of God, and rooting out
idolatry with its attendant immoralities (1 lv. xv.
9-24; 2 Ch. xv. 1-19); and for the vigour
and wisdom with which he provided for the
prosperity of his kingdom (2 Ch. xiv. 1-7).
In his zeal against heathenism he did not spare
his grandmother Maachah, who occupied the
special dignity of " King's Mother," to which
great importance was attached in the Jewish
court, as in Egypt, Babylonia (cp. Dan. v. 10),
and Persia, and to which parallels have been
found in modern Eastern countries, as in the
position of the Sultana Valide in Turkey (see
1 K. ii. 19 ; 2 K. xxiv. 12 ; Jer. xxix. 2 ; also
Calmet, Fragm. xvi. ; and Bruce's Travels, vol. ii.
537, and iv. 244). She had set up some
impure worship in a grove (the word translated
idol, 1 K. xv. 13, is in Hebrew horror [n*f7Q)2>
R. V. " an abominable image ; " Schultz and
others = a Phallus-statue. Klostermann's altera
tion of the text is unnecessary] ; LXX. truvoSov :
the Vulgate reads, ne esset [Maacha] princeps
in sacris Priapi) ; but Asa burnt the symbol
of her religion, and threw its ashes into the
brook Kidron, as Moses had done to the golden
calf (Ex. xxxii. 20), and then deposed Maachah
from her dignity. He also placed in the Temple
certain gifts which his father had dedicated,
probably in the earlier and better period of his
reign [Abijah], and which the heathen priests
must have used for their own worship, and
renewed the great Altar which they apparently
had desecrated (2 Ch. xv. 8). Besides this,
he fortified cities on his frontiers, and raised
an army, amounting, according to 2 Ch. xiv. 8,
to 580,000 men. Thus Asa's reign marks the
return of Judah to a consciousness of the
high destiny to which God had called her,
and to the belief that the Divine Power was
truly at work within her. The good effects
of this were visible in the enthusiastic resist
ance offered by the people to Zerah, an invader,
who is called a Cushite or Ethiopian, and whom
Ewald (Gesch. des V. I. iii. p. 470), Kleinert
(in Riehm's HWB. s. n.), and Ebers (Riehm,
HWB. s. n. Serach) identify with Osorkon I.,
the second king of the 22nd dynasty of Egypt,
inheritor therefore of the quarrel of his father
Shishak, to whom Asa'had probably refused to
pay tribute. [Zerah. Lenormant, Schrader,
and Lauth prefer to identify Zerah with
Azerch-Amen. See "Aethiopien" in Riehm's
HWB.] At the head of au enormous host (a
million of men, we read in 2 Ch. xiv. 9) he-
attacked Mareshah or Marissa in the S.W. of
the country, near the later Eleutheropolis
(Robinson, B. R., ii. 67), a town afterwards
taken by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. v. 65), and
finally destroyed by the Parthians in their war
against Herod (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 13, § 9). There
he was utterly defeated, and driven back with
immense loss to Gerar. As Asa returned laden
with spoil, he was commended and encouraged
by the prophet Azariah, son of Oded (2 Ch.
xv. 1), and on his arrival at Jerusalem convoked
an assembly of his own people and of many who
had come to him from Israel, and with solemn
sacrifices and ceremonies renewed the covenant

252

ASA

by which the nation was dedicated to God. The
peace which followed this victory, and this
reformation-movement which centralized wor
ship again at Jerusalem, were interrupted by
the attempt of Baasha of Israel to fortify Ramah
as a kind of Deceleia, " that he might not suffer
any to go out or to come in unto Asa king of
Judah ""(2 Ch. xvi. 1 ; cp. xv. 9). To stop this
he purchased the help of Benhadad I. king of
Damascus, by a large payment of treasure left
in the Temple and palace from the Egyptian
tribute in Rehoboam's time. This alliance with
those whose forefathers David had .smitten
(2 Sam. x. 15, &c), and who were so sore an
adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon
(1 K. xi. 25), was the subversion of all recognised
rule ; but by it Asa forced Baasha to abandon
his purpose. Asa destroyed the works which
Baasha had begun at Ramah, using the materials
to fortify two towns in Benjamin, Geba (the hill)
and Mizpeh (the watch-tower), as checks to any
future invasion. The wells which he sunk at
Mizpeh were famous in Jeremiah's time (xii. 9).
The means by which he obtained this success —
reliance on the king of Syria, and not on the
Lord God (2 Ch. xvi. 7) — were censured by
Hanani the seer, who seems even to have excited
some discontent in Jerusalem, in consequence of
which he was imprisoned and some other
punishments inflicted (2 Ch. xvi. 9). The
prophet threatened Asa with war, which appears
to have been fulfilled by the continuance for
some time of that with Baasha, as we infer from
an allusion in 2 Ch. xvii. 2 to the cities of
Ephraim which he took, and which can hardly
refer to any events prior to the destruction of
Ramah. In his old age Asa suffered from the gout, and
it is mentioned that " he sought not to the Lord
but to the physicians." He acted, i.e., without
seeking God's blessing on their remedies (Ecclus.
xxxviii. 1-8). He died greatly loved and honoured
in the 41st year of his reign ; and that reign was
therefore contemporaneous with the reigns of
Jeroboam I., Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri,
and Ahab, kings of Israel. There are diffi
culties connected with its chronology, arising
principally from differences in the text of
Kings and Chronicles. For instance, in 2 Ch.
xvi. 1, we read that Baasha fortified Ramah in
the 36th year of Asa's reign. In 1 K. xv. 33,
Baasha is said to have died in the 26th [20th,
A. V. ed. 1611, after LXX. A. (var. 28th);
B. and Luc. Rec. omit the number]. The
explanation given in the margin of the A. V.
(2 Ch.), but absent from the R. V., that the
Chronicler is referring to the years not of Asa's
reign, but of the separate kingdom of Judah,
is now generally given up as wrong and im
possible (Keil and Oettli), and the date of Kings
preferred. According to Usher, the date of
Asa's accession was B.C. 955. In his fifteenth
year (b.c. 941) was the great festival after the
defeat of Zerah. In B.C. 940 was the league
with Benhadad, and in B.C. 914 Asa died.
Kamphausen, correcting the old chronology by
the Assyrian inscriptions, dates Asa's reign from
B.C. 917 to B.C. 876. [G. E. L. C] [F.j
2. B. 'Oo-o-oi; A. 'Atrd. Ancestor of Berechiah,
a Levite who resided in one of the villages of
the Netophathites after the return from Baby
lon (1 Ch. ix. 16). [W A W ]

AS AIAH
ASADI'AS (rvipn, Jah loveth or is gracious.
Cp. his brother's name "Ipn 2W, Jushab-
hesed ; B. 'AaaSid, A. 'AtraStd; Hasadias). 1.
1 Ch. iii. 20, where in A. V. and R. V. it is
written Hasadiah. One of the descendants of
Jeconiah. [B. F. W.] [F.]
2. T.r 'Aaablas, A. ~2abaias ; Sedeus. Son of
Chelcias, or Hilkiab, and one of the ancestors of
Baruch (Bar. i. 1). The name is probablv the
same as that elsewhere represented by Hasadiah
(1 Ch. iii. 20). [W. A. W.j
ASA'EL 6>WV, ed. Neub., Chald. omits;
T.7 'Aait)A ; Vulg. omits ; Itala, AsilieT), of the
tribe of Naphtali, and forefather of Tobit (Tob.
i. 1). [P.]
ASA'HEL (7Nnb'*', God hath made; 'Atrur\A;
Asael). 1. Nephew of David, being the youngest
son of his sister Zeruiah. He was celebrated
for his swiftness of foot, a gift much valued in
ancient times, as we see by the instances of
Achilles, Antilochus (Hom. II. xv. 570), Papirius
Cursor (Liv. ix. 16), and others. He was one
of the thirty heroes of David (2 Sam. xxiii. 24)
and captain of the fourth division (each division
numbering 24,000) of David's army (1 Ch.
xxvii. 7). When fighting under the com
mand of his brother Joab against Ishbosheth's
army at Gibeon, he pursued Abner, who, after
vainly warning him to desist, was obliged in
self-defence to kill him, though with reluctance,
probablv on account of his youth (2 Sam.
ii. 18 sq'.). [G. E. L. C] . [F.]
2. B. 'Iarrei^A, A. 'latrchA ; Asael. One of
the Levites in the reign of Jehoshaphat, who
went throughout the cities of Judah to instruct
the people in the knowledge of the Law, at the
time of the revival of the true worship (2 Ch.
xvii. 8).
3. 'Ao-a^A ; Asael. A Levite in the reign of
Hezekiah, who had charge of the tithes and
dedicated things in the Temple under Cononiah
and Shimei (2 Ch. xxxi. 13).
4. B. 'Atrr)A, K* 2ai)A, N?A. 'Atrar)A ; Azaltel.
A priest, father of Jonathan in the time of
Ezra (Ezra x. 15), called Azael in 1 Esd. ix. 14
(B. 'ACdriAos ; Ezelus). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASAHI'AH, or ASAI'AH (<VbV, Jah hath
made; B. 'Atraias, A. [2 K. xxii. 12] 'latrat;
Asaia). A servant of king Josiah, sent by him,
together with others, to seek information of
Jehovah respecting the Book of the Law which
Hilkiah found in the Temple (2 K. xxii. 12, 14 ;
also called Asaiah, 2 Ch. xxxiv. 20, B. 'Iiralas,
A. 'Atraias). [R. W. B.] [F.]
ASAI'AH (•TO*; [see Asahiah] ; B. 'Atrii ;
Asaia). 1. A prince of a Simeonite family, who
in the reign of Hezekiah drove out the Hamite
shepherds from Gedor (1 Ch. iv. 36).
2. Asaia. A Levite in the reign of David,
chief of the family of Merari (1 Ch. vi. 30, A.
'Ao-aici, B. 'Ao-uBd). With 120 of his brethren
he took part in the solemn service of bringing
the ark from the house of Obed-edom to the
city of David (1 Ch. xv. 6 [A. 'Atraias, B. 'Ao-afJ,
11 [A. 'Ao-aias, B. -d]).
3. B. 'Atraid, A. 'Atrd; Asaia. The firstborn
of "the Shilonite," according to 1 Ch. ix. 5,
who with his family dwelt in Jerusalem after

ASANA
the return from Babylon. In Neh. xi. 5 he is
called Maaseiah [seevar. readings of Gk. MSS.
in Swete], and his descent is there traced from
Shiloni, which is explained by the Targum of
R. Joseph on 1 Ch. as a patronymic from Shelah
the son of Judah, by others as " the native or
inhabitant of Shiloh."
4. Asaas. 2 Ch. xxxiv. 20. [Asaiiiah.]
[W. A. W.] [F.]
A'SANA (B. 'Atraavd, A. 'A<ra-; Asana).
One of the Nethinim or servants of the Temple
who returned from the Captivity (1 Esd. v. 31).
[Ashnah.] [F.]
A'SAPH (**,DX, collector; 'Atrdtp; Asaph).
1. A Levite, the son of Berechiah, and lineally
descended from Gershom, the second son of Levi
(1 Ch. vi. 39, &c). David set him " over the
service of song after that the ark had rest ....
iu the midst of the teut that David had pitched
for it " in Zion (1 Ch. vi. 31, xvi. 1). There
he and his brethren " ministered continually, as
every day's w~ork required " (1 Ch. xvi. 37) ;
his colleagues Heman and Jeduthun (or Ethan)
doing the like office in the high place at Gibeon
(1 Ch. xv. 17, xvi. 39-41). But Asaph was
something more than "the chief " (tW)i"l) of
singers (1 Ch. xvi. 5) and a musician (1 Ch. xvi.
5; cp. 1 Ch. xv. 16, 17); like Samuel, Gad,
and Heman, he was " the seer " (iTnn, 2 Ch.
xxix. 30) ; and the title not inaptly defines
the prophetic tone (cp. Riehm, HWB. s. n. ;
Schultz u. Strack, Die Psalmcn, p. 12 in Strack
u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm.) of the twelve Psalms
which the superscriptions assign to him (Pss. 1.,
lxxiii.— lxxxiii.). These Asaph-Psalms form the
bulk of what is generally called the third Book
of the Psalms. They are marked by special
peculiarities [Psalms, Book of], and — in com
mon with those of Bk. ii. generally — by a
preference of the name Elohim for God (cp.
e.g. Delitzsch, Herzog's RE.2 s. n. Psalmen,
p. 317); but many, if not all, are considered
the compositions of Asaph's descendants or
school rather than of the master himself. This
school had a great reputation in the days of the
kings Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. It was
in the days of king Jehoshaphat that Jahaziel,
" a Levite of the sons of Asaph," speaking under
the influence of " the Spirit of God," proclaimed
the deliverance of Judah through the self-destruc
tion of the invading hosts of Moab and Ammon
(2 Ch. xx. 1-30). The very first year of Hezekiah's
reign was signalised by the purification of the
House of God, and in this work " Zechariah and
Mattaniah of the sons of Asaph " took part, as
well as joined in the king's command to the
Levites " to sing praise unto the Lord with the
words of David and of Asaph the seer" (2 Ch.
xxix. 13, 30). In fact, in the days of these two
kings, Psalmody seems to have revived under
the influences of ecclesiastical reform and in
commemoration of deliverances granted to the
former in the case already named and to Hezekiah
from the armies of Sennacherib. Again, in the
record of the great Passover held at Jerusalem
by Josiah in the 18th year of his reign (2 K.
xxiii. 21-23), "the singers, the sons of Asaph,"
were in their place in that memorable as
semblage (2 Ch. xxxv. 15). After the Captivity,
128 (Ezra ii. 41 ; or, according to Neh. vii. 44,

ASENATH

253

148) singers, "the children of Asaph," returned
with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. It was a time of
revival of Temple Psalmody and music, and ou
the festal day when the foundation of the new
Temple was laid " the Levites, the sons of
Asaph," were present " with cymbals to praise
the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of
Israel " (Ezra iii. 10). About a hundred years
later, " sons of Asaph " were " singers over the
business of the House of God " (Neh. xi. 22),
and in the solemnities connected with the
dedication of the walls "priests' sons with
trumpets " are included, who trace their descent
lineally from Asaph (Neh. xii. 35). It is
difficult, if not impossible, to assign the Asaph-
Psalms to specific periods of the existence of the
school (see Psalms). [F.]
2. Asaph. The father or ancestor of Joah,
who was recorder or chronicler to the kingdom
of Judah in the reign of Hezekiah (2 K. xviii. 18
[BA. 'lutratpdr], 37 [B. ^atpdv, A. 'Atrdtp] ; Is.
xxxvi. 3, 22 [T.7 'Aadtp]). It is not improbable
that this Asaph is the same as the preceding,
and that Joah was one of his numerous descend
ants known as the Bene- Asaph.
3. 'Aadtp ; Asaph. The keeper of the royal
forest or " paradise " of Artaxerxes (Neh. ii. 8).
His name would seem to indicate that he was a
Jew, who, like Nehemiah, was in high office at
the court of Persia.
4. 'Atrdtp ; Asaph. Ancestor of Mattaniah,
the conductor of the Temple-choir after the
return from Babylon (1 Ch. ix. 15; Neh. xi. 17
[BX*A. cm.]). Most probably the same as 1
and 2. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASAR'AEL. [Azarael.]
ASAR'EEL (^"lb'X; B. 'Uepai^A, A.
EtrepaiiA ; Asruel). A son of Jehaleleel, a
name abruptly introduced into the genealogies
of Judah (1 Ch. iv. 16). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASARE'LAH (nb**"*b'K [ed. Baer]; B.
'Epat)A, A. 'leaef/A ; Asarela). One of the sons
of Asaph, set apart by David to " prophesy with
harps and with psalteries and with cymbals "
(1 Ch. xxv. 2 ; in v. 14 Jesharelah). [W.A. W.] [F.]
ASBAZ'ARETH. 'LSo A. V., ed. 1611, fur
Azbazareth. AS'CALON. [Ashkelon.]
ASE'AS ('Airai'as ; Aseas), name of a man
who put away his " strange wife " (1 Esd. ix. 32).

ASEBE'BIA CAo-eBriBia ; Sebebias), a Levite
who went up with Ezra from the Captivity
(1 Esd. viii. 47). [Sherebiah.]
ASE'BIA ('Atresia; Asbia), a Levite who
returned with Ezra (1 Esd. viii. 48).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
A'SENATH (WlpS ; 'AoevveB [usually; E.
'AtreveB in Gen. xii. 45] ; Aseneth), daughter of
Potipherah, priest of On [Potipherah], wife of
Joseph (Gen. xii. 45, 50, xlvi. 20), and mother
of Manasseh and Ephraim (xii. 50, xlvi. 20), The
name of Potipherah, signifying " the gift of the
sun," is specially appropriate to a priest of the
City of the Sun [On], and Joseph's consideration

254

ASER

for the priesthood would make his marriage with
a priest's daughter easy, there being in Egyptian
manners nothing to forbid the alliance. It is
therefore unlikely that the ancient alternative
rendering of \TQ, " prince," is here worth taking
into account.
It is possible that there was a political reason
for the marriage of Joseph with the daughter of
the high-priest of On. The college of priests of
Heliopolis was the most ancient and one of the
most powerful of the country ; and judging from
the name of Potipherah, it seems that it had
remained in the hands of the Egyptians of pure
origin even during the reign of the Hyksos,
who belonged to a foreign race. It may be that
the Pharaoh of Joseph wished to put in that
venerated college a man he could rely upon, and
thus to create a link between his government
and the priests of Ra.
The name of Asenath has been generally
thought to be Egyptian. It is very likely the
common name Sent or Senat, which means " a
sister," and which occurs as early as the 13th
dynasty. It has been slightly altered so as to
give it a Semitic form. Asnah, ""OpK, occurs
as the proper name of a man (Ezra ii. 50. It
is explained to mean a " storehouse " or " thorn-
bush"). [Asnah.] Asenath, if Hebrew, could
be a feminine form. [E. N.]
A'SER (X. 'Ao-a-np; Naasson). A town of
Galilee (Tob. i. 2), probably «. corruption of
Hazor. [Hazor; Thisbe.] [W.]
A'SEBEB (tepdp; Saree), name of a man
whose sons went up with Zerubbabel from the
Captivity as servants of the Temple (1 Esd. v.
32). [Sisera.] [F.]
ASH (ll'X, 'oren ; ttItus ; pinus) occurs only
in Is. xliv. 14, as one of the trees out of the wood
of which idols were carved: "He heweth him
down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the
oak, which he strengtheneth for^himself among
the trees of the forest; he planteth an ash (R. V.
"fir-tree"), and the rain doth nourish it." It
cannot be our ash-tree Ornus Europaeus, which
is not a native of Palestine, though perhaps the
A. V. adopted the translation from the similarity
of the Hebrew 'oren to the Latin ornus. It is im
possible to determine what is the tree denoted
by the Hebrew word 'oren ; the LXX. and the
Vulg. understand some species of pine-tree, and
this rendering is supported by many learned com
mentators, amongst whommay be namedMunster,
Calvin, Bochart, and Ges. The etymology is
not known, that suggested by Ges. being ad
mitted by himself to be hypothetical. MV.10
(following Schrader, KAT.2 in loc.) compare the
word with Assyr. irinu, and think that it denotes
a kind of cedar or pine. Some of the Jewish
Rabbis, according to Celsius (Hierob. i. 191),
Jjelieve that the 'oren is identical with the
Arabic sanauber, a kind of pine," and assert that
the aran is often coupled with the arez and

* ,— ) »yjO- pinus, aliis ejus nuces (Gol. L. Arab.).
Dr. Wilson (Lands of the Bible, ii. 392) identifies the
common "fir" (Pinus sylvestris) with the berosh of
Scripture, mistaking for this tree, which does not exist
there, the Pinus halepensis, which is tho fir of Palestine.

' ASHBEA
berosch,* as though all the three trees belonged
to the same family. Luther understands the
cedar by 'oren." Rosenmiiller thinks that the
stone-pine (Pinus pinea, Linn.) is the tree de
noted, but this tree scarcely comes into the
region and has probably been introduced. Cel
sius is inclined to think that the 'oren is identical
with =i tree of Arabia Petraea, of which Abu'l
Fadli makes mention, called aran. Ofthe same
opinion are Michaelis (Supp. ad Lex. Heb. 129),
Dr. Royle (Encyc. Bib. Lit, art. Oren), and Dr.
Lee (Lex. Heb. s. v.). This tree is described as
growing chiefly in valleys and low districts ; it
is a thorny tree, bearing grape-like clusters of
berries, which are noxious and bitter when
green, but become rather sweet when they ripen
and turn black.
Until future investigation acquaints ns with
the nature of the tree denoted by the aran of
AbuT Fadli, it will be far better to adopt the in
terpretation of the LXX., and understand some
kind of pine to be the 'oren of Scripture. Pinus
halepensis may be intended. Celsius (Hierob. i.
193) objects to any pine representing the 'oren,
because he says pines are difficult to transplant,
and therefore that the pine would ill suit the
words of the prophet, " he planteth an 'oren."
This, however, is not a valid objection; the
larch, for instance, is readily transplanted, and
grows with great rapidity, but it is not a native
of Syria. Pinus halepensis is extensively planted
on the coast, to resist the encroachment of the
sand drifts. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
A'SHAN (i**>**, smoke ; Asan), a city in the
low country of Judah named with Libnah and
Ether in Josh. xv. 42 (Heb. text. The Greek
text is corrupt : B. 'Avtix, A. 'Atrevvd). In Josh.
xix. 7 (B. 'Atrdv, A. 'Ac-dp), and 1 Ch. iv.
32 ( B. Aitrdp, A. Altrdv ), it is mentioned as
belonging to Simeon, but in the Hebrew text
(not Greek) in company with Ain and Rimmon,
which (see Josh. xv. 33) appear to have been
much more to the south. In 1 Ch. vi. 59
(LXX. t>. 44, 'Atxdv) it is given as a priests' city,
occupying the same place as the somewhat
similar word Ain (J**)) does in the list of Josh.
xxi. 16. [Ain, 2.]
In 1 Sam. xxx. 30, CHOR-AsnAN is named with
Hormah and other cities of " the South."
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 128, 8; 240, 9)
mention a village named Bethasan as 15 miles
west of Jerusalem ; but this, though agreeing suf
ficiently with the position of the place in Josh.
xv. 42, is not far enough south for the indica
tions of the other passages ; and indeed Euseb.
and Jer. discriminate Bethasan from " Asan of
the tribe of Simeon." It is possibly Deir el-'Asl
on the road from Hebron to Gaza. [G.] [W.]
ASHBE'A (I'SB'S* ; 'EtroBd ; [in domo] Jura-
menti). A proper name, but whether of a man
or place is uncertain (1 Ch. iv. 21). Houbigant
would understand it of the latter, and would
render " the house of Ashbea " (A. V. and R. V.)
by Beth-Ashbea. The whole clause is obscure.

b TIN and **>)")3, cedar and cypress.
e Beading px instead of px, " quia p{* nun finali
minusculo, in multis codicis Ebraei editionibus scribatur,
quod ra Sain simlllimum est " (Hierob. i. 191).

ASHBEL
The Targum of R. Joseph (ed. Wilkins) para
phrases it, " and the family of the house of
manufacture of the fine linen for the garments
of the kings and priests, which was handed down
to the house of Eshba." [W. A. \\\] [F.]
ASH'BEL (^3^N ; Asbel), a son of Benjamin
(Gen. xlvi. 21 [;Ao-b't)A] ; Num. xxvi. 38 [LXX.
r. 42, 'Ao-vfrhp] ; 1 Ch. viii. 1 [B. XaBd, A.
'AaBr)A]). Respecting the sons of Benjamin,
see Becher. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASHBE'LITES (£3E>>*r* ; B. o 'AauBrtpet,
A. -pi ; Aslibclitae). The descendants of Ashbel
the son of Benjamin. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASH'CHENAZ (T33*.';N ; B. 'AtrXavdC, A.
-XeveC; Asccnez), 1 Ch.' i. 6 ; Jer. li. 27 (LXX.
[xxviii. 27], BNA. to7s ' Aaxava(eois [A. -fai-]).
See Ashkenaz. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASH'DOD, or AZO'TUS (lilC'S ; perhaps
stronghold; "Afarros, LXX. and N. T.), one of
the five confederate cities of the Philistines,

ASHDODITES

25:

situated about 30 miles from the southern
frontier of Palestine, '.'< from tho Mediterranean
Sea, and nearly midway between Gaza aud
Joppa. It stood on an elevation overlooking
the plain, and the natural advantages of its
position were improved by fortifications of great
strength. For this reason it was probably
selected as one of the seats of the national
worship of Dagon (1 Sam. v. 5). It was assigned
to the tribe of Judah (Josh. xv. 47), but was
never subdued by the Israelites : it appears on
the contrary to have been the point for con
ducting offensive operations against them, so
much so, that after Uzziah had succeeded in
breaking down the wall of the town, he secured
himself against future attacks by establishing
forts on the adjacent hills (2 Ch. xxvi. 6) ;
even down to Nehemiah's age it preserved its
distinctiveness of race and language (Neh. xiii.
23). But its chief importance arose from its
position on the high-road from Palestine to
Egypt, commanding the entrance to or from the
latter country : it was on this account taken by

Tiglath-pileser II. and again by the Tartan, or
general, of the Assyrian king, Sargon, about B.C.
711, apparently to frustrate the league formed
between Hezekiah and Egypt (Is. xx. 1). Sargon
deposed the king, Azuri, and set up one of his
brothers, Akhimiti, in his place ; but the people
revolted and made Vavan, or Jaman, king, who,
however, fled on the approach of the Assyrians
to Ethiopia. In the annals of Sennacherib and
Esavhaddon mention is made of two kings of
Ashdod, Mitinti and Ahimilki (Schrader, KAT.2
pp. 162, 163). Its importance as well as strength
is testified by the protracted siege which it after
wards sustained under Psammetichus, about B.C.
630 (Herod, ii. 157), the effects of which are
incidentally referred to by Jeremiah (xxv. 20).
That it recovered from this blow appears from
its being mentioned as an independent power in

alliance with the Arabians and others against
Jerusalem (Neh. iv. 7). It was destroyed by
the Maccabees (1 Mace. v. 68, x. 84), and was
separated from Judaea by Ptolemy, who added
it to the province of Syria (Joseph. B. J. i. 7,
§ 87) ; it lay, however, in ruins until it was re
stored by Gabinius, B.C. 55 (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 5,
§ 3 ; B. J. i. 8, § 4), and was one of the towns
assigned to Salome after Herod's death (Joseph.
Ant. xvii. 8, § 1). The only notice of Azotus
in the N. T. is in connexion with Philip's return
from Gaza (Acts viii. 40). It is now an insig
nificant village, with no memorials of its ancient
importance, but is still called Esdud (see
P. F. Mem. ii. 409, 421). [G.] [W.]
ASHDO'DITES, THE (DnnEWn ;
yearns inf. 0i > A(tir ioi ; Azotii), inhabitants of

25C

ASHDOTH PISGAH

Ashdod (Neh. iv. 7 [Heb. r. 1]), called Ash-
dothites in Josh. xiii. 3. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASH'DOTH PIS'GAH (njDSn nilK'K.
from I^K, in Aram. " to pour forth ;" 'AanSuB
<pao-yd, once t)jv tpaayd ; radices montis Phasga,
Asedoth Phasga), a curious and (since it occurs in
none of the later Books) probably a very ancient
term, found only in Deut. iii. 17, iv. 49 ; Josh. xii.
3, xiii. 20 ; A. V. (Deut.), " springs of Pisgah ; "
(Josh.) Ashdoth-P." In the two passages from
Deuteronomy the words form part of a formula,
by which apparently the mountains which enclose
the Dead Sea on the east side are defined. Thus
in iii. 17 we may translate, "the 'Arabah' also
(i.e. the Jordan valley) . . . and the 'border,'
from Cinnei-eth (Sea of Galilee) unto the sea of
the ' Arabah,' the Salt Sea, under Ashdoth hap-
l'isgah eastward : " and so also in iv. 49, though
here our translators have varied the formula.
The same intention is evident in the passages
quoted from Joshua; and in a. 40 and xii. 8
of the same Book, Ashdoth is used alone — " the
springs," to denote one of the main natural divi
sions of the country. The only other instance
of the use of the word [IK'S] is in the highly
poetical passage, Num. xxi. 15, which may be
Tendered, " the 'pouriny forth' of the ' torrents,'
which extendeth to Shebeth-Ar " [R. V. " the
slope of the valleys, that inclineth toward the
dwelling of Ar"]. This undoubtedly refers also
to the east of the Dead Sea. Ashdoth Pisgah
appears to be the 'Ayun Musa, " springs of
Moses," which burst forth from the limestone
rock in a ravine to the north-west of Jebel Neba
{Nebo). The springs are numerous and differ
in level as much as 100 ft. : the highest has an
altitude of 1690 ft., that of Neba being 2770 ft. ;
tmd the water runs down in a succession of
cascades 20 ft. to 30 ft. high. The valley, in
which the springs rise, forms the northern
boundary of J. Neba; it is a marked natural
feature, visible from Neby Musa in the hills
west of Jordan, and it reaches the plain east of
the river immediately to the north of the Dead
Sea. All this agrees well with the position
indicated for Ashdoth Pisgah in the Bible. The
ravine is extremely picturesque, and the vege
tation and abundant water are in striking con
trast to the arid bluffs around (Tristram, Land
cf Moab, pp. 335-337 ; Warren, Letter 35 in
PEFQy. Stat. 1869 ; De Saulcy, Voyage en Terre
Sainte, p. 289 ; American Qy. Stat. No. III.
pp. 48, 49). [G.] [W.]
ASHDOTHITES, THE (nil^XH; B. d
'A(tireios, A. -ms ; Azotii [plur.]) ; inhabitant
(or, collectively, inhabitants) of Ashdod (Josh.
xiii. 3). [W. A. W.] [F.]
A'SHER, Apocr. and N. T. A'SER pS5>N ;
'Ao-fip, T.7 'Atrtrrip in Ezek. xlviii. 2, 3 [BA.
'Ao-hp] ; Aser), the 8th son of Jacob, by Zilpah,
Leah's handmaid (Gen. xxx. 13). The name is
interpreted as meaning " happy," in this passage
full of the paronomastic turns which distinguish
these very ancient records : " And Leah said, ' In

" The E. V. translates in every case, " the slopes of
Pisgah " (sometimes in marg. the springs of P.) ; these
slopes would be the western face of J. Neba, overlook
ing the Jordan.

ASHER
mv happiness am I (^t^KS), for the daughters
will call me happy ' CJ-llg'X), and she called his
name Asher " ("IB'**?), i.e. " happy " (cp. Baeth
gen, Beitrdge z. Semit. Religionsgesch. p. 161). A
similar play occurs in the blessing of Moses (Deut.
xxxiii. 24). Gad was Zilpah's other and elder
son, but the fortunes of the brothers were not
at all connected. Of the tribe descended from
Asher no action is recorded during the whole
course of the sacred history. The name is found
in the various lists of the tribes whicn occur
throughout the earlier Books, as Gen. xxxv.,
xlvi., Ex. i., Num. i., ii., xiii., &c, and like the
rest Asher sent its chief as one of the spies from
Kadesh-Barnea (Num. xiii.). During the marcli
through the desert Asher's place was between
Dan and Naphtali on the north side of the
Tabernacle (Num. ii. 27) ; and after the con
quest he took up his allotted position without
any special mention.
The limits of the territory assigned to Asher
are, like those of all the tribes, and especially of
the northern tribes, extremely difficult to trace.
This is partly owing to our ignorance of the
principle on which these ancient boundaries
were drawn and recorded, and partly from the
absence of identification of the majority of the
places named. The general position of the tribe
was on the sea-shore from Carmel northwards,
with Manasseh on the south, Zebulun and
Issachar on the south-east, and Naphtali on the
north-east (Joseph. Ant. v. 1, § 22). The bound
aries and towns are given in Josh. xix. 24-31,
xvii. 10, 11, and Judg. i. 31, 32. From a com
parison of these passages it seems plain that Dor
(Tantura) must have been within the limits of
the tribe, in which case the southern boundary
was probably the Nahr ez-Zerka, Crocodilon,
which is specified by Pliny the Elder as being the
southern boundary of Phoenicia, and which is
possibly the " fines Syriae et Palestinae " of the
Jerusalem Itinerary. From the Nahr ez-Zerka
the boundary passed over the ridge of Carmel,
and crossed the Kishon at the gorge west of Tell
Keimun, Jokneam, so as to include the lower
Kishon valley and the Plain of Acre, which
seem to be the localities alluded to by Josephus
(Ant. v. 1, § 22). Thence it passed west of Beit-
Lahm, Bethlehem, and east of Kabul, Cabul,
and running northwards reached Zidon by Kanah
(a name still attached to a site six miles inland
from Saidd), whence it turned and came down
by Tyre to Achzib (Ecdippa, now ez-Zib"). The
alternative view'of the south boundary of Asher
is that it was the Nahr Namein (Belus), immedi
ately south of Acre, which has been identified
by some authorities with SniHORb Libnath,
one of the points on the boundary, the next
being Beth Dagon, which is placed at Kh. D'auk,
south-east of Acre. It may perhaps be inferred,
from the intimate connexion of Asher with
Phoenicia, and the apparent absorption of the
tribe by the Phoenicians, that the boundaries
' Bethlehem (Beit-Lahm) is ten miles inland from
the shore of the bay of Haifa (Eob. p. 113) ; and os it
was in Zebulun, it fixes the distance of Asher's boundary
as less than that from the sea.
b Shihor, one of the names of the Nile, the home of
the crocodile, may perhaps have been applied to the Nahr
ez-Zerka.

ASHER
were conterminous, and that the territory as
signed to Asher extended to the Nahr el-Kebtr
(Eleutherus), the northern limit of the Promised
Land in its widest sense.

ASHERAH

257

Map of the Tribe of Asher.
This territorv contained some of the richest
soil in all Palestine (Stanley, p. 265 ; Kenrick,
Phoen. p. 35), and in its productiveness it well
fulfilled the promise involved in the name
"Asher," and in the blessings which had been
pronounced on him by Jacob and by Moses.
Here was the oil in which he was to " dip his
foot," the " bread" which was to be " fat," and
the " royal dainties " in which he was to in
dulge ;c and here inthe metallic manufactures of
the Phoenicians (Kenrick, p. 38) were the " iron
and brass " for his " shoes." The Phoenician
settlements were even at that early period in
full vigour ;d and it is not surprising that Asher
was soon contented to partake of their luxuries
and to " dwell among them," without attempt
ing the conquest and extermination enjoined in
regard to all the Canaanites (Judg. i. 31, 32).
Accordingly he did not drive out the inhabitants
of Accho, nor Dor,e nor Zidon, nor Ahlab, nor
Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob
(Judg. i. 31), and the natural consequence of

• For the crops, see Eob. iii. 102 : for the oil, Ken
rick, p. 31 ; Eeland, p. 817.
d Zidon was then distinguished by the name Kab
bah = " the Great," Josh. xix. 28.
« Added by the LXX. Cp. Josh. xvii. 11.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

this inert acquiescence is immediately visible.
While Zebulun and Naphtali "jeoparded their
lives unto the death " in the struggle against
Sisera, Asher was content to forget the peril of
his fellows and stay in the creeks and harbours
of his new allies (Judg. v. 17, 18). At the
numbering of Israel at Sinai, Asher was more
numerous than either Ephraim, Manasseh, or
Benjamin (Num. i. 32-41) ; but iu the reign
of David, so insignificant had the tribe become,
that its name is altogether omitted from the
list of the chief rulers (1 Ch. xxvii. 16-22);
and it is with a kind of astonishment that it
is related that " divers of Asher and Manasseh
and Zebulun " came to Jerusalem to the Pass
over of Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxx. 11). With the
exception of Simeon, Asher is the only tribe
west of the Jordan which furnished no hero or
judge to the nation/ '¦ One name alone shines
out of the general obscurity — the aged widow,
' Anna the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of
Aser,' who in the very close of the history
departed not from the Temple, but 'served God
with fastings and prayers night and day ' "
(Stanley, 265). [G.] [W.]
ASHER p5">*< ; Vat. AtiAavdB, A. dtrb 'Atr>hp
MaxBtiB ; Aser). A town named, only in Josh.
xvii. 7, as a point on the boundary of Manas
seh. If, as there seems reason to suppose, the
boundary described here be that between Manas
seh and Ephraim, then Asher must have been
situate between Michmethah, not far from
Shechem, and Taanath Shiloh ; cp. Josh. xvii.
7 with xvi. 6-8. Eeland takes it, in connexion
with the following word, to be a double name,
Asher ham Michmethah (Pal. p. 596), and this is
the view taken by Schwarz (p. 147) [Mich
methah]. Eusebius and Jerome place it on the
road from Neapolis to Scythopolis, 15 miles
from the former, a position which agrees with
that of the Aser of the Jerusalem Itinerary and
of the modern Teidsir, but this is too far north
for a common point on the boundary of Ephraim
and Manasseh. [G.] [W.]
ASHE'RAH (rngte). In the 0. T. espe
cially, if not exclusively, the term expresses a
symbol which was venerated. The A. V., fol
lowing the LXX. (&Aaos) and Vulgate (lucus),
renders the word " grove," perhaps from a
mistaken apprehension of Deut. xvi. 21. The
R. V. has rectified this. Asherah had her
" houses " (2 K. xxiii. 7, D'FO ; A. V. and
R. V. "hangings"), her image (1 K. xv. 13;
2 K. xxi. 7 ; 2 Ch. xv. 16), her vessels for service
(2 K. xxiii. 4), and her " prophets " (1 K. xviii.
19). She was the goddess of fertility (Sayce),
the happy and happy-making one (MV.11, who
connects it with the Assyrian aiirat, and Bau-
dissin ; a sense not accepted "by Schlottmann).
Asherah as a symbol or image is of frequent
occurrence both in the singular and plural (e.g.
Ex. xxxiv. 13; Deut. vii. 5; Judg. vi. 25; IK.
xiv. 15, 23 ; 2 K. xiii. 6 ; Is. xvii. 8 ; Jer. xvii. 2 ;
Mic. v. 13) ; it is coupled with J*l)3"f tj and
D^JSn ; it is set up, pulled down, and burnt.
f This would be well compensated for if the ancient
legend could be proved to have any foundation, that
the parents of St. Paul resided at Giscala, or Gush
Chaleb, i.e. tbe Ahlab of Asher (Judg. i. 31). See
Eeland, p. 813. S

258

ASHES

The image was usually made of wood (Deut. xvi.
21 ; Judg. vi. 25-30 ; 2 K. xxiii. 6), and was
probably connected with the sacred symbolical
tree, the representation of which occurs fre
quently in Assyrian sculptures (see Babylonian
Record, ii. 138 sq., iii. 7 sq., iv. 64 sq.).
The worship ofthe Asherah attracted rebellious
Israel from the times of the conquest of Canaan
(Judg. iii. 5, vi. 25, &e.) ; it was advocated in
Judah by Maacah, mother of. Abijam the grand
son of Solomon (1 K. xv. 13). It was the reli
gion of the court probably during the reigns
of Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Ahaz, and certainly
during that of Manasseh (2 K. xxi. 3, 7). In
the kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam introduced
her worship (1 K. xiv. 15), and it especially
flourished under Jezebel and Ahab (1 K. xvi. 33,
xviii. 19 ; 2 K. xxi. 3). If occasionally put down,
it appears never to have been permanently or
effectually abolished in that kingdom (2 K. xvii.
16). The cultus was held on high hills and
under green trees (2 K. xvii. 10; Jer. xvii. 2);
and, if resembling that of other Phoenician and
Syrian goddesses, must have been lustful and
licentious ; but on this point positive information
is wanting. Baudissin and Sayce unite in dis
tinguishing the Asherah from Astarte. Schlott-
mann and MV.11 take the two words to be but
variant forms used to describe one and the
same Canaanitish goddess. See Baudissin in Her
zog, RE.2 "Astarte u. Aschera ; " Schlottmann in
R,iehm,HWB. do.; Sayce, s. v. Ashtoreth. [F.]
[It is held by some that the Asherah was not
the name of a divinity but only a pole, which
symbolized the sacred tree. See Wellhausen,
Hist. p. 235; Stade, Gesch. d. V. I. pp. 184,
460 sq. ; W. R. Smith, The Rel. of tlie Semites, i.
171 sq.: on the other hand, see Cheyne, Isaiah,3
ii. 303; Schrader, ZA. iii. 363 sq. The terms in
which the Asherah is alluded to in the 0. T. lend
support to the former view. The identification
of Asherah with Ashtoreth rests upon insufficient
grounds. It is possible that the Asherah may
have been regarded as a symbol of Ashtoreth ; but
there is no evidence that the emblems referred to
by Renan, Hist du peuple d 'Israel, i. 230, notes
1 and 2, were connected with either one or
the other. The term niK'K has been found
(hitherto) twice in Phoenician, though with
uncertain signification : see ZDMG. 1881, p. 424
sq. (Citium); Ganneau, Rev. cTArcheol. pp. 81,
83 (Ma'sab, near Tyre).— S. R. D.]
ASHES. The ashes on the altar of burnt-
offerings were gathered into a cavity in its
surface on a heap called the apple (man), from
its round shape (Cramer, de Ara exteriori), said
to have sometimes amounted to 300 cors ; but
this Maimonides and others say is spoken hyper-
bolice. On the days of the three solemn Festivals
the ashes were not removed ; but the accumula
tion was taken away afterwards in the morning,
the priests casting lots for the office (Mishna
Temid. i. 2, and ii. 2). [To the north of Jeru
salem are several mounds of ashes. These have
been thought to represent the accumulated
matter, but it seems more probable that they
are the ashes of the soap manufactories formerly
m Jerusalem.— D. B. Amer. ed.] The ashes of
a red heifer burnt entire, according to regula
tions prescribed in Num. xix., had the ceremonial
efficacy of purifying the unclean (Heb. ix 13),

ASHKELON
but of polluting the clean [Sacrifice]. Ashes
about the persons, especially on the head, were
used as a sign of sorrow [Mourning] ; and the
sitting upon ashes (Job ii. 8) also expressed
grief. The use made of " ashes of the furnace "
by Moses in the sixth plague (Ex. ix. 8 sq.) is
remarkable, whether merely symbolical, or as
a material means ; especially as the word for
" ashes " here is ITS, wholly different from the
usual "1BK, and unice ledum here. Although
referred by Gesen. to Heb. 11-13, "to blow," it
may yet possibly be wholly distinct and Egyp
tian, and the act itself be borrowed from
Egyptian ritual. The various figurative associa
tions of the word are exemplified in Gen. xviii.
27 ; Job xxx. 19; Is. xliv. 20; Mai. iv. 3. The
pouring away the ashes in 1 K. xiii. 3 appears
to express the desecration of the altar : and
here note that the word used, as also in Lev. i.
16, vi. 10 (Heb.), is not the usual "I3K, but )£H
(rendered tti6ttis by LXX.), which seems to-
express specially the ashes of animals offered
upon the. altar of burnt-offering, and has a
kindred verb, |E5H, " to remove ashes," Ex.
xxvii. 3 ; Num. iv. 13." [H. H.]
ASHI'MA (KWWX ; 'AtripdB ; Asima), a god
worshipped by the people of Hamath. The
worship was introduced into Samaria by the
Hamathite colonists whom Sargon settled in the
land (2 K. xvii. 30). The name occurs only in
this single instance. According to the Tal
mudists, the deity was represented by the
figure of a hairless goat ; but this statement is
founded on a false etymology. Hamath was
once occupied by the Hittites, and it is therefore
possible that Ashima is of Hittite origin. Melito,
in his Apology (Spicileg. Solesmense, ii. p. xliv.),
states that Simi, the daughter of the supreme
god Adad or Hadad at Hierapolis, put an end
to the attacks of a demon by filling the pit in
which he lived with water. ' [A. H. S.]
ASH'KELON, AS'KELON, Apocr. AS'-
CALON (fr?"*^; once "the Eshkalonite,"
^'Pp'i'Nn ; 'Ao-KdAav ; Saad. ^^JoLp [note
the change from Aleph to Ain] ; Ascalon), one of
the five cities of the lords of the Philistines
(Josh. xiii. 3 ; 1 Sam. vi. 17), but less often
mentioned, and, apparently, less known to the
Jews than the other four. This, doubtless,
arose from its remote situation, alone of all the
Philistine towns, on the extreme edge of the
shore of the Mediterranean (Jer. xlvii. 7), and
also well down to the south. Gaza, indeed,
was still further south, but then it was on the
main road from Egypt to the centre and north
of Palestine, while Ashkelon lay considerably to
the left. The site, which retains its ancient
name, fully bears out the above inference: but
some indications of the fact may be traced, even
in the scanty notices of Ashkelon which occur
in the Bible. Thus, the name is omitted from
the list in Josh. xv. of the Philistine towns
falling to the lot of Judah (but comp. Jos. Ant
'In 1 K. xx. 38, 41, the word "iaK. " headband or
turban," is in A. V. wrongly rendered "ashes," by
connision with -|2f«. The error is rectified in E. V.

ASHKELON
v. 1, § 22, where it is specified), although
Ekron, Ashdod, and Gaza are all named. Samson
went down from Timnath to Ashkelon, when he
slew the thirty men and took their spoil, as if to
a remote place whence his exploit was not likely
to be heard of; and the only other mention of it in
the historical books is in the formnlistic passages,
Josh. xiii. 3 and 1 Sam. vi. 17, and in the casual
notices of Jud. ii. 28, 1 Mace. x. 86, xi. 60, xii. 33.
The other Philistine cities are each distinguished
by some special occurrence or fact connected
with it ; but except the one exploit of Samson,
Ashkelon is to us no more than a name. In
the poetical books it occurs 2 Sam. i. 20 ; Jer.
xxv. 20, xlvii. 5, 7 ; Amos i. 8 ; Zeph. ii. 4, 7 ;
Zech. ix. 5.
Iskaluna, Ascalon, is mentioned in the Assyrian
inscriptions, and the names of four of its kings,
Sidka, Sarludari, Rukibti, and Mitinti, appear
in the annals of Sennacherib and Esarhaddon
(Schrader, KAT.2 pp. 165, 166). It twice sub
mitted to Jonathan (1 Mace. x. 86, xi. 60), and
was adorned with baths, fountains, and public
buildings by Herod (Jos. B. J. i. 21, § ll), who
is said to have been born there (Win. R. L. 481,
Anm. 5). Augustus presented the royal palace
at Ashkelon to Salome (B. J. ii. 6, § 3), but the
town was afterwards burned by the Jews (B. J.
ii. 18, § 1). At the commencement of the war
Ashkelon was twice attacked by the Jews, who
on each occasion were signally defeated by the
Roman garrison (B. J. iii. 2, § 1).
In the post-biblical times Ashkelon rose to
considerable importance. Near the town —
though all traces of them have now vanished —
were the temple and sacred lake" of Derceto,
the Syrian Venus ; and it shared with Gaza an
infamous reputation for the steadfastness of its
heathenism and for the cruelties there practised
on Christians by Julian (Reland, pp. 588, 590).
" The soil around the town was remarkable for
its fertility ; the wine of Ascalon was cele
brated, and the Al-henna plant flourished better
than in any other place except Canopus " (Ken
rick, p. 28). It was also celebrated for its cy
presses, for figs, olives, apples, and pomegran
ates, and for its bees, which gave their name to
a valley in the neighbourhood (Kenrick, p. 28 ;
Edrisi and Ibn Batnta in Ritter, Pal'dst. p. 88),
Its name is familiar to us in the " Eschalot " or
" Shallot," a kind of onion, first grown there,
and for which this place was widely known
(cp. Strabo, xvi. 2, 29, Kpoppouv t* ciyaBbs
itrrlv t) x®Pa tuv ' AffKaAuvrav). " The sacred
doves of Venus still fill with their cooings the
luxuriant gardens which grow in the sandy hol
low within the ruined walls " (Stanley, p. 257).
Ascalon played a memorable part in the
struggles of the Crusades. "In it was en
trenched the hero of the last gleam of history
which has thrown its light over the plains of
Philistia, and within the walls and towers now
standing Richard held his court " (Stanley, «7j.).
By the Mahomedan geographers it was called
" the bride of Syria " (Schultens, Index Geogr.).
In it, according to Ibn Batuta, was at one time
deposited the head of the celebrated Hussein,
son of Ali.

ASHPENAZ

259

a Possibly the name"El-Jurah, "the hollow," applied
to the village outside Ashkelon, may preserve a tradition
of this lake.

The town, now called 'Aslntldn, is situated on
the sea-coast, and surrounded by walls, now in
ruins, and partially covered by drifting sand ; it
is semicircular in form, and the diameter or
sea-front, is § mile long ; tho total circumfer
ence is lj miles. There is no harbour, but on
the coast are rocky precipices from 20 to 70
feet high. To the south is a jetty, constructed
with the shafts of granite columns, whence steps
lead up the side of the precipice to the sea-gate
(P. F. Mem. iii. 237-247 ; see also Gucrin, Judec,
ii. 135-171, and Thomson, L. and B. ii. 328).
There would appear to have once been a
harbour or Maiumas of Ashkelon distinct from
the city itself, as a synodical letter, signed by the
bishop of each place, is inserted in the acts of the
Council of Constantinople, and a Majuma Asca-
lonis is mentioned by Ant. Mart. (Itin. 33). Ben.
of Tudela (Early Trav. pp. 87, 88) specifies two
Ashkelons, but in one case he probably refers to
Kh. 'Askaldn between 'Ain Shems, Bethshemesh,
and Beit Jibrin, Eleutheropolis. The position of
the Maiumas is unknown ; if it were situated
near the town, it must have been destroyed or
covered by drifting sand.
In the time of Origen some wells of remark
able shape were shown near the town, which
were believed to be those dug by Isaac, or, at
any rate, to be of the time of the Patriarchs.
Comp. the "puteus pacis in modum theatri
factus" of Ant. Mart. (Itin. 33); the Bir Ibra
him al-Khahil of Ben. of Tudela (Early Trav.
p. 88) and the Bir Ibrahim el-Haurdni of Gue'rin
(Judie, ii. 145). In connexion with this tradi
tion may be mentioned the fact that in the
Samaritan Version of Gen. xx. 1, 2, and xxvi. 1,
Askelon (flPpDJ') is put for the "Gerar" of
the Hebrew text. [G.] [W.]
ASH'KENAZ (H3tS>K ; 'Aax^vdC ; Ascenez),
one of the three sons of Gomer, son of Japhet
(Gen. x. 3) ; that is, one of the peoples or tribes
belonging to the great Japhetic division of the
human race, and' springing immediately from
that part of it which bears the name of Gomer or
Cimmerians. Jeremiah (li. 27) makes Ashkenaz
follow, in geographical order, Ararat and Minni,
from which we may infer that the district lay
to the south of Lake Urumiyeh, between the
Minni and the Medes. This is precisely the
position assigned by Sargon in his inscriptions
to the kingdom of Asguza, which seems merely
another form of Ashkenaz. In rabbinical
phraseology the Jews of Germany are termed
Ashkenazim. [A. H. S.]
ASH'NAH CHim, Ges. the strong, firm),
the name of two cities of Judah, both in the She
felah or lowland : (1) named in the same group
with Eshtaol and Zoreah ; now probably Kh.
Hasan N.N.W. of Surah, Zorah, and the Bethasan
ofthe Onomasticon (OS.2 p. 128, 9 ; Josh. xv. 33;
B. 'Afftxd; A. 'Affvd; Asena); and (2) in the same
group with Jiphthah and Nezib (Josh. xv. 43 ; B.
'lavd ; A. 'Aaevvd ; Esna). The name has not
been recovered, but it was probably near Beit
Nuzib, Nezib, 5J miles east of Beit Jibrin.
Eusebius names another place, 'Affvd, but with
no indication of position. [G.] [W.]
ASHPENAZ (US^X, of uncertain origin;
perhaps akin in form to the Ashkenaz of Gen.
S 2

260

ASHRIEL

x. 3, the primary form of which has been dis
covered in the monuments [see Ashkenaz] ;
LXX. 'ABieoSpl; 'Ao-tpave(, Theodot. ; Asphaz,
Abiezer, Syr.), the master ofthe eunuchs of Nebu
chadnezzar (Dan. i. 3). Some connect the first
part of the word with the Sanscrit acpa, a horse,
and identify the name with the Persian official
Aspacaua; ' Ao-TraBivns being the Greek equivalent
(Herod, iii. 70). A Babylonian etymology is more
probable ; and in default of a better, Lenormant's
conjecture deserves mention (La Divination,
p 182). The LXX. 'ABieoSpl, if possibly a cor
ruption of Aba(i)-Istar, the astronomer of the
goddess Istar, indicated to Lenormaut by the
final p that Ashpenaz is a shortened form of
Ashpenazar. If so, it would be a transcript of
the Babylonian name, Assa-ibni-zir. [F.]
ASHRI'EL (^KnbX; B. 'AtrepeiiiA, A.
'Etrpit)A ; Esriel). Properly Asriel, the son of
Manasseh (1 Ch. vii. 14). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASHTAROTH, and (once) AS'TAROTH
(flilROT ; ' AarapuB ; Astaroth : in Josh. xiii.
31, A. :AtrBapup; in 1 Ch. vi. 71 [LXX. v. 56],
'Aa-npuB ; A*. "PapuB), a city on the E. of Jor
dan, in Bashan, in the kingdom of Og, probably
a seat of the worship of the goddess Ashtoreth.
[In Judg. x. 6 al. Ashtaroth is the plural form
of Ashtoreth.] It is generally mentioned as
a description or definition of Og, — who " dwelt
in Astaroth in Edrei " (Deut. i. 4), " at Ashtaroth
and at Edrei " (Josh. xii. 4, xiii. 12), or " who
was at Ashtaroth " (ix. 10). It fell into pos
session of the half tribe of Manasseh (Josh. xiii.
31), and was given with its suburbs or sur
rounding pasture-lands (BHJD) to the Ger-
shonites (1 Ch. vi. 71 [56]), the other Levitical
city in this tribe being Golan. In the list in
Josh. xxi. 27, the name is given as Beeshterah
.(quasi 'V IV? = " house of Astarte : " Reland,
p. 621 ; Ges. Thes. pp. 175 a, 196 uu, 1083, and
MV.11). Nothing more is heard of Ashta
roth. It is not named in any of the lists, such
as those in Chronicles, or of Jeremiah, in which
so many of the trans-Jordanic places are enume
rated. Eusebius (OS.2 p. 235, 35) places it 6 miles
from Adraa, a place 15 miles from Bostra ; Je
rome (OS.2 p. 122, 31), 6 miles from Adar, which
was 25 from Bostra. Eusebius and Jerome further
(OS.2 pp. 120, 5 ; 209, 61) speak of two Kupal,
¦or castel la, which lay 9 miles apart, " inter Ad-
aram et Abilam civitates." These two sites
have been recovered in Tell 'Ashterah and Tell
'Asherah, 7 miles apart, to the east of the Sea
of Galilee. The former, which appears to be Ash
taroth, is described by Capt. Newbold (R. G. S.
Journal, 1846) as a large mound partly natural,
partly artificial, standing in the middle of the
plain about 7J miles S.S.W. of Nawa. The
mound is from 50 to 100 feet high, and at its
base are ancient foundations of massive stones
and copious springs of water. See also Merrill
(East of Jordan, p. 329). Uzzia the Ashtera-
thite is named in 1 Ch. xi. 44. [G.] [W.]
ASHTE'RATHITE 0*1**nt*>l*n ; B. o 'Ao--
rapuBel [A. -9(], tf. QetTrapuVel';' Astarothites).
A native or inhabitant of Ashtaroth (1 Ch. xi.
44) beyond Jordan. Uzzia the Ashterathite
was one of David's guard. [W. A. W.] [F.]

ASHTEROTH-KARNAIM
ASH'TEROTH - KARNA'IM (rfwefo
D'3 "lp = " Ashtaroth ofthe two horns or peaks'- "
Sam. Vers. 'p-*Waj* ; Saad. yjtjuajl ;
A. ' AarapuB Kapvdiv, E. /cat Niif [? Kuivdw] ;
Astaroth Carnaim), a place of very great an
tiquity, the abode of the Rephaim at the time
of the incursion of Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 5),
while the cities of the plain were still standing
in their oasis. The name reappears but once, and
that in the later history of the Jews as Carnaim,
or Carnion (1 Mace. v. 26, 43, 44 ; 2 Mace. xii.
21, 26; Jos. Ant. xii. 8, §4), "a strong and
great city," " hard to besiege," with " a temple
(to repevos) of Atargatis " (to 'ATap-yaTetoj/),
but with no indication of its locality, beyond its
being in " the land of Galaad," and not far from
a stream. It has been usually assumed to be the same
place as the preceding [Ashtaroth], but the few
facts that can be ascertained are all against such
an identification. 1. The affix '"Karnaim," which
certainly indicates some distinction," and which
in the times of the Maccabees, as quoted above,
appears to have superseded the other name.
2. The fact that Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2
pp. 142, 17 ; 269, 97), though not very clear on
the point, yet certainly make a distinction be
tween Ashtaroth and A.-Carnaim, describing the
latter as a Kupri peyitrTTi ttjs 'ApaBlas, viens
grandis in angulo Batanaeae. 3. Some weight
is due to the renderings of the Samaritan
Version and of the Arabic Version of Saadiah,
which give Ashtaroth as in the text, but
A.-Karnaim by entirely different names (see
above). The first of these, Aphinith, is identified
by Porter (Hdbk. p. 501) with 'Aphinek on the
S.W. declivity of Jebel Hauran, about eight
miles from Bostra ; the second, es-Sunamein, can
hardly be other than the still important place
which continues to bear precisely the same
name, on the Haj route, about twenty-five miles
south of Damascus, and to the N.W. of the Lejah
(Burckh. p. 55 ; Ritter, Syria, p. 812). Perhaps it
is some confirmation of this view that while the
name Karnaim refers to some double character
in the deity there worshipped, es-Sunamein is also
dual, meaning " the two idols." A.-Karnaim
has been identified by Oliphant (Land of Gilead,
pp. 87-95) with 'Asherah, a village crowning a
Tell about seventy feet high on the south side of
the main branch of the Yarmnk. There are here
remains of an ancient city, so strongly fortified
in the rear by three walls as to be almost im
pregnable (see also Schumacher, Across the
Jordan, p. 203). This agrees with the indications
in 1 Mace, v., where Judas, after taking Bosor,
is said to have " encamped against Raphon
beyond the brook " (v. 37), and to have recrossed
(vv. 42, 43) the " brook," which was probably
the main branch of the Yarmuk, to attack Kar
naim. Compare Josephus (Ant. xii. 8, § *)•
Leake (Pref. to Burckh. p. 12) identifies it with
el-Mezareib, not far from Tell 'Aslierah ; Robinson

* This was held by the Jews at the date of the Tal
mud to refer to its situation between two high-peaked
hills (see Sukkah, fol. 2), though it more probably
alludes to the worihip of the horned goddess, the
"mooned Ashtaroth," or perhaps to the two hig'-i
mounds on which the Aehtaroths were built.

ASHTORETH

ASHTORETH

261

(Arabic Lists, 2) with el-Kurnein in the Belka,
east of es-Salt. [G.] [W.]
ASHTO'RETH (n"Wl*; 'Ao-Tdpfti; As
tarte) was the principal female divinity of the
Canaanites or Phoenicians, as Baal was thei
principal male divinity. She was, in fact, the
double or reflection of the Sun-god Baal : just
as the wife exists by the side of the husband or
the woman by the side of the man, Ashtoreth
existed by the side of Baal. Hence, as there
were Baalim, there were also Ashtaroth or
" Ashtoreths," representing the various forms
under which the goddess was worshipped in
different localities (Judg. x. 6 ; 1 Sam. vii. 4,
xii. 10, &c). At Carthage she had the special
name of "the face of Baal," according to the
most probable interpretation.
In Ashtoreth, accordingly, we have to see the
personification of the female principle of pro
ductiveness in nature. But as the male princi
ple of productiveness had its" visible seat in the
sun, so the female principle was identified with
the moon. Ashtoreth, or " Astarte with the

Ashtoreth or the Yoon Goddesa. (Assyrian Cylinder :
Layard.)
crescent horns," was therefore the goddess of
the moon — the pale reflection of the sun — quite
as much as she was the goddess of productive
power. So we find Lucian (de Syr. Dea, 4) say
ing: ' AtTTdpTTiv S' eyu SoKeu SeATjvalTjv eppeval,
and Herodian (v. 6, 10) asserts that Ovpaviav
QolvtKes 'Act podpxvr bvopd£ovai, aeAT\vnv elvai
BeAovres. As the moon-goddess, Ashtoreth was
symbolised by the cow, since the lunar crescent
in a southern country lies on its back, and thus
resembles the horns of a cow (cp. the name
Ashteroth-Karnaim [A.V. and R.V.], "Ashtoreth
of the two horns," Gen. xiv. 5).
The name and conception of Ashtoreth were
borrowed by the northern branch of the Semites
from the old Accadian population of Chaldaea, and
she appears in Assyrian under the form of Istar.
The Accadian language possessed no genders ;
and Istar accordingly, though denoting a female
deity, has no feminine suffix in Assyrian. This
was added by the Canaanites, among whom Istar
became Ashtor-eth. On the Moabite Stone,
however, Ashtar is used and identified with the
male divinity Chemosh, women and maidens
being said to have been " devoted to Ashtar-
Chemosh." In the Himyaritic inscriptions of
Southern Arabia, also, we find 'Attar ; and an
Assyrian tablet states that Istar was andro
gynous. Among the Accadians and Assyrians, Istar
was the virgin goddess of love and war, and in
the astro-theological system was identified with

the planet Venus. The female divinity, how
ever, occupied a very subordinate place in
Canaanitish theology, and in Canaan accordingly
Ashtoreth lost her individual character and
became the mere reflection of the Sun-god.

•JSP
Assyrian Ashtoreth. (Layard.)
The result of this was her identification with
the moon, which was a male deity among the
Assyrians. It was only in certain districts that
she preserved her attributes as goddess of love
and war. Thus she seems to have presided over
war among the Philistines (1 Sam. xxxi. 10), and
she was still regarded as the goddess of love at
Ashkelon, where she was called DerketS or
Semiramis, and at Paphos, where she was adored
under the form of a conical meteoric stone.
Hommel has shown that not only the person,
but also the name of the Greek Aphrodite was
derived from the Phoenician Ashtoreth, who
was known in later times among the Greeks as
" the Heavenly " (Ovpavia).
In Phoenicia the worship of Ashtoreth was
necessarily as wide-spread as that of Baal, and
she was addressed by various epithets, such as
Naamah, " the delightful one " (Greek 'Ao-tpo-
v6n, the mother of Eshmun and the Kabeiri).
She was at once the mother and bride of Tammuz
(q. v.) or Adonis, and
prostitution was prac
tised in her honour
by unmarried girls in
Babylonia, Assyria,
Cyprus, and Canaan
(see Deut. xxiii. 18,
and cp. Num. xxv.
1-5). Doves were
sacred to her.
Ashtoreth must be
carefully distinguished
from Asherah (q. v.),
a word which is mis
translated " grove "
in the A. V. Asherah
was the goddess of
fertility among the
southern Canaanites,
and was worshipped
under the form of a
conical stone or a
trunk stripped of its
branches. There were Asherim just as there
were Ashtaroth, and the name frequently denotes
both the goddess herself and the symbol that

Assyrian Istar. (Layard.)

262

ASHUR

represented her. Asherah was unknown in Phoe
nicia proper.
In Syria Ashtoreth was generally known as
Atarqatis (q. v.). [A. H. S.]
ASHUR ("IWK ; B. 'A<rx<S, A- 'AaStbS in
1 Ch. ii. 24 ; B. Sapd, A. 'A<rxoCP in * ch- iv" 5 >
Ashur, Assur), the " Father of Tekoa," which
mav mean that he was the founder of that
village. [W.A.W.] [F.]
ASHU'RITES, the 0"Vl'2iKn: B. rbv Qatretpi;
A. Satrovp ; Gessuri). This name occurs only in
the enumeration of those over whom Ishbosheth
was made king (2 Sam. ii. 9). By some of the
old interpreters— Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate
Versions — who are followed in modern times by
Ewald (Gesch. iii. 145), Thenius, and Wellhausen,
the word is read as Geshurites, the members
of a small kingdom to the S. or S.E. of Damascus,
one ofthe petty states which were included under
the general title of Aram. [Aram ; Geshur.]
The difficulty in accepting this substitution is
that Geshur had a king of its own, Talmai, whose
daughter moreover was married to David some
where about this very time (1 Ch. iii. 2, com
pared with v. 4), a circumstance not consistent
with his being the ally of Ishbosheth, or with
the latter being made king over the people
of Geshur. Talmai was still king many years
after this occurrence (2 Sam. xiii. 37). In
addition, Geshur was surely too remote from
Mahanaim and from the rest of Ishbosheth's
territory to be intended here.
[Kohler, Kirkpatrick, and Klostermann prefer
to follow the Targum of Jonathan, which has
"those ofthe house of Asher," and to punctuate
i*1E't*n. " The Asherites " will then denote
the whole of the country west of the Jordan
above Jezreel (the district of the plain of
Esdraelon), and the enumeration will proceed
regularly from north to south, Asher to Ben
jamin. The form " Asherite " occurs in Judg.
i. 32. The reading of the LXX. points to 1*1 for
X, but affords no basis for a plausible restoration
of the text.— S. R. D.]
There is clearly no reference here to the
Asshurim of Gen. xxv. 3. [G.] [W.]
ASH'VATH (JiVPV ; BA. 'AtrelB ; Asoth).
One of the sons of Japhlet, of the tribe of Asher
(1 Ch. vii. 33). [W. A. W.]
ASIA (r) 'Atria ; Asia). The passages in the
N. T. where this word occurs are the following :
Acts ii. 9, vi. 9, xvi. 6, xix. 10, 22, 26, 27, xx. 4,
16, 18, xxi. 27, xxvii. 2 ; Rom. xvi. 5 (where the
true reading is 'Adas) ; 1 Cor. xvi. 19 ; 2 Cor.
i. 8 ; 2 Tim. i. 15 ; 1 Pet. i. 1 ; Rev. i. 4, 11.
[Chief oe Asia ; see Asiarchae.] In all these
passages it may be confidently stated that the
word is used, not for " the continent of Asia,"
nor for what we commonly understand by " Asia
Minor," but for a Roman province which em
braced the western part of the peninsula of
Asia Minor, and of which Ephesus was the
capital [Speaker's Comm. on Acts ii. 4]. This
m-ovince originated in the bequest of Attalus,
king of Pergamum, or king of Asia, who left
by will to the Roman Republic his hereditary
dominions in the west of the peninsula (B.C. 133).
Some rectifications of the frontier were made,
and " Asia " was constituted a province. Under

ASIARCHAE
the early Emperors it was rich and flourishing,
though it had been severely plundered under
the Republic. In the division of senatorial and
made by Augustus imperial provinces, it was
placed in the former class, and was governed
by a proconsul (hence avBbrraTOi, Acts xix. 38,
and on coins). It contained many important
cities, among which were the seven Churches
of the Apocalypse, and it was divided into
assize districts for judicial business (hence ayo-
paioi, i.e. vpepat, Acts, ibid.). It is not pos
sible absolutely to define the inland boundary
of this province during the life of St. Paul:
indeed the limits of the provinces were fre
quently undergoing change; but generally it
may be said that it included the territory
anciently subdivided into Aeolis, Ionia, and
Doris, and afterwards into Mysia, Lydia, and
Caria. [Mysia, Lycia, Bithynia, Phrygia,
Galatia.] The view of Meyer and De Wette on Acts
xxvii. 2 (and of the former on Acts xix. 10),
viz. that the peninsula of Asia Minor is in
tended, involves a bad geographical mistake:
for this term " Asia Minor " does not seem to
have been so applied till some centuries after
the Christian era. Moreover the mistake in
troduces confusion into both narratives. It is
also erroneous to speak of Asia in the N. T. as A.
proconsularis ; for this phrase also was of later
date and denoted one of Constantine's subdivi
sions of the province of which we are speaking.
In the books of Maccabees, where reference is
made to the pre-provincial period of this district
(B.C. 200-150), we frequently encounter the
word Asia in its earlier and more extended
sense ; and it is thus used in 2 Esd. xv. 46,
xvi. 1. The title " King of Asia " was used by
the Seleucid monarchs of Antioch, and was
claimed by them even after it more properly
belonged to the immediate predecessors of Attalus
(see 1 Mace. viii. 6, xi. 13, xii. 39, xiii. 32 ;
2 Mace. iii. 3, x. 24 ; Conybeare and Howson's
Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ch. xiv.; Mar-
quardt's Rom. Alterthumcr, iii. pp. 130-146;
Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geoq., art. Asia).
[J.S.H.] [W.]
ASIAR'CHAE ('Ao-iapx'" ; principes Mae,
Vulg. ; chief of Asia, A. V. ; chief officers of
Asia, R. V. ; Acts xix. 31), officers chosen
annually by the cities of that part of the pro
vince of Asia, of which Ephesus was, under
Roman government, the metropolis. They had
charge of the public games and religious
theatrical spectacles, the expenses of which they
bore, as was done by the holders of AeiToup^iai
at Athens, and the aediles at Rome (Niebuhr, iii.
35; Cicero, De Offic. ii. 16; Liv. xxiv. 33). Their
office was thus, in great measure at least, reli
gious, and they are in consequence sometimes
called apxiepels, and their office lepwo-ivn (Mart.
S. Polycarp. in Patr. Ap. c. 21). That the
office existed as early as B.C. 50 is certain, for
Pythodorus of Tralfes, a friend of Pompey, is
described by Strabo as an Asiarch (xiv. p. 649).
But in all probability it began much earlier,
and obtained its name at the time when the
kingdom of Attalus, having become a Roman
province, began to be called Asia, i.e. proconsular
Asia, about B.C. 130 (Strabo, xiii. p. 624).
Officers called AvKidpxai are mentioned by

ASIBIAS
Strabo (xiv. p. 665), who exercised judicial and
civil functions, subject to the Roman govern
ment ; but there is no evidence to show that the
Asiarchs exercised any but the religious func
tions above mentioned ; and Modestinus, c. a.d.
230, mentions 'Acriapxia as well as BiBvvapxla
and KainraSoKapxia as religions offices conferring
certain legal exemptions on the holders of them.
(Dig. xxvii. tit. 1, 6, § 14.) It continued to
exist as late as the time of the Emperor Hono
rius, a.d. 409 (Cod. Theodos. xv. tit. 9).
The office of Asiarch was annual, and subject
to the approval of the proconsul, but might be
renewed; and the title appears to have been
continued to those who had at any time held
the office. From its costliness, it was often (ctel)
conferred on a citizen of the wealthy city of
Tralles (Strabo, xiv. p. 649). Philip, the Asiarch
at the time of S. Polycarp's martyrdom, was a

ASMODEUS

263

Trallian. Coins or inscriptions bearing the
names of persons who had served the office of
Asiarch, once or more times, are known as
belonging to the following cities : — Abydus,
Acmonia, Adramyttium, Aphrodisias? Cyzicus,
Ephesus, Hypaepa, Laodicea, Miletus, Otrus,
Pergamus, Philadelphia, Saittae, Sardis, Smyrna,
Stectorium, Synaus, Thyatira, Tichiussa. (Aristid.
Or. xxvi. p. 51S, ed. Dind. ; Eckhel, ii. 507, iv,
207 ; Biickh, Inscr. vol. ii. ; Van Dale, Dissert.
p. 274 sq.; Krause, Civitates Neocorae, p. 71;
Wetstein, On Acts xix. ; Akerman, Numismatic
Hlustr. p. 51 ; Herod, v. 38 ; Hammond, On
N. T. ; and a monograph on the subject by Pro
fessor Churchill Babington, London, 1866, to
which the writer of this art. is much indebted.
Cp. Lightfoot's Excursus on the Asiarchate in
"Apostolic Fathers," Pt. ii. St. Ignatius, St.
Polycarp, ii. § ii. p. 987 sq.) [H. W. P.]

Greek imperial Copper Coin ("medallion") of Laodicea of Phrygia; Commodus; with name of Asiarch.
Obv.: AYTKAIMAYP. ANTQNeiNOCC6. Bnst of Emperor to right. Rev.: eniAIAHirP HTOCACIAP .
AAOAIK60N N€QKOP12N. Eigniein triumphal qnadriga of lions, to left.

ASIBI'AS (B. 'Ao-eBeias, A. 'AoiBias ; Jam-
inebias). One of the sons of Phorus, or Parosh,
¦in 1 Esd. ix. 26, whose name occupies the place
-of Malchijah in Ezra x. 25. [W. A. W.]
ASI'EL (We*!* = created of God; 'AcrrfiA ;
Asiel). 1. A Simeonite whose descendant Jehu
lived in the reign of Hezekiah (1 Ch. iv. 35).
2. One of the five writers whom Esdras was
commanded to take to write the Law and the his
tory of the world (2 Esd. xiv. 24). [W. A.W.]
ASI'PHA (A. 'Aaeitpd, B. Taaeitpd ; Gaspha),
1 Esd. v. 29. [Hasupha.]
AS'KELON, Judg. i. 18 ; 1 Sam. vi. 17 ;
2 Sam. i. 20. [Ashkelon.]
ASMA'VETH. [Azmaveth.]
ASMODETJS (H«?E>K; 'AapoSdlos, Tob.
iii. 8). The name also occurs in the forms
P"IDE'&* (Midrash Rabba on Lev. 5) and Sham-
don (id. i. 37). He is called "Lord of the
Spirits," " King of the demons " (Gittin, 68 ;
Pesachim, 110; Targum on Koheleth, i. 13).
The Jews regard him as one of the Sliedim, or
malignant spirits. Some consider him to be
identical with t'n3K, which in Job xxxi. 12, &c,
means " destruction," and ' AiroAAiuv, Rev. ix-
11, where he is called " a king, the angel of the
bottomless pit," and d 'OAoBpeiuv, Wisd. xviii.
25, where he is represented as the " Evil angel "

(Ps. Ixxviii. 49) of the plague (Schleusner's
Thesaur. s. v.) From the fact that the Talmud
I calls him 'TEH XD?D, rex daemonum (cp,
| Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. et Talm. in Luke xi. 15),
I some assume him to be identical with Beelze-
j bub, and others with Azrael. All these identi
fications are very precarious. The name is de
rived either from ""DE", " to destroy," or, accord
ing to Reland (Winer, s. v.), from a Persian
word = " to tempt " (comp. Matt. iv. 1) or
(according to Windischmann) from Persian
words meaning " leader of the Devs." [See
Speaker's Comm. on Tob. iii. 8.] In the Book
of Tobit this evil spirit is represented as
loving Sara, the daughter of Raguel, and
causing the death of seven husbands, who mar
ried her in succession, on the bridal night ;
gaining the power to do so (as is hinted) through
their incontinence. Tobias, instructed by Ra
phael, burns on " the ashes of perfume " the
heart and liver of the fish which he caught in
the Tigris ; " the which smell when the evil
spirit had smelled, he fled into the utmost parts
of Egypt, and the Angel bound him" (Tob,
viii. 3).
It is obviously a vain endeavour to attempt
to rationalise this story of
"... Asmodeus with the fishy fume
That drove him, though enamoured, from the spouso
Of Tobit's son, aud with a vengeance sent
From Media post to Egypt, there fast bound,"

264

ASNAH

since it is throughout founded on Jewish de-
monology and " the loves of the angels," a
strange fancy derived from Gen. vi. 2. Those
however who attempt this task make Asmodeus
the demon of impurity, and suppose merely
that the fumes deadened the passions of Tobias
and his 'wife. The Rabbis (among other odd
fables) make this demon the offspring of the
incest of Tubalcain with his sister Noema, and
say (in allusion to Solomon's many wives) that
Asmodeus once drove him from his kingdom,
but being dispossessed was forced to serve in
building the Temple, which he did noiselessly,
by means of a mysterious stone Shamir (Calmet,
s. v. and Fragments, p. 271, where there is a great
deal of fanciful and groundless speculation).
See the story at full length in the Babylonian
Talmud (Gittin, f. 68, 1, 2). It is not found in
the Jerusalem Talmud. The Rabbis of the first
three centuries in Palestine, in the careful endea
vour to exclude from J udaism all elements
which they regarded as being of Christian or
Gnostic origin, were also anxious to avoid all
legends or notions which came from a Persian or
foreign source. Rav and R. Samuel are the first
who refer to Ashmedai aud tell the famous
legend about his dealings writh Solomon. From
them it found its way into many Talmudic
writings, where other stories are told respecting
him. Cp. Tosephoth Menachoth, 37, 1 ; Targum
on Koheleth, i. 13 ; Midrash Rabba on Numbers,
§ 11 ; Pesachim, 110, &c. See Rappoport,
Erech. Millin. ; Hamburger, Talm. Worterb.
s. vv. Aschmedai, Schedim, &c. ; Eisenmenger,
Ent. Judenth. ii. 440, &c. ; Speaker's Comm. on
Tobit, Excursus on Demonology, i. p. 176.
[F. W. F.]
AS'NAH (fU OH, ihornbush ; 'Aaevd ; Asena).
The children of Asnah were among the Nethinim
who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 50).
The name is omitted from the list in Neh. vii. 52,
and in 1 Esd. v. 31 it is written Asana [B. 'Atr-
avvd, A. 'Aaava]. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASNAP'PER ("la^DS, i.e. Osnappar [R.V.],
or [Baer i. L] "lgJDX, Asenappar ; Syr.
Espir ; B. ' Atraevatpdp, A. Ncupdp ; Asena-
pher), a ruler mentioned in Ezra iv. 10 as
the " great and noble " (K"Vj?^ N3")) personage
who had brought " the Dinaites, the Aphar-
sathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the
Archevites, the Babylonians, the Susanchltes
(Susanians), the Dehavites, and the Elamites,"
and had settled them in the cities of Samaria.
He has been variously identified with Shal-
maneser, Sennacherib, and Esarhaddon. Gelzer
(Zeitschr. fiir ayyptische Sprache, xiii. [1875]
p. 81) conjectures that Asnapper is the AsSur-
bani-apli or Assurbanipal of the cuneiform in
scriptions, and this has been accepted both by
A. von Gutschmid (Die Assijriologie in Deutsch-
land,n. 145) and Prof. Fried. Delitzsch, who is
of opinion that the " one and only king, who was
able to remove the Susanians to a distance, was
Assurbanipal, the conqueror of Susa," and he
joins with Gutschmid and Gelzer in regarding
Asnapper as a mutilation of the (Persian pro
nounced) name Assurbanipal. Supposing this
to be correct (as is most likely), there has been
a. change from r to n (Asn for Asr = Assur) ;

ASOM
bani (or ban) has disappeared altogether, leaving
only a trace of its existence in the vowel a •
and the I of the last compound has become r
(par for pal) — all being changes for which ana
logies can be found.
Assur-bani-apli or Assurbanipal ("Assur has
created a son "), king of Assyria, was the eldest
son of Esarhaddon, and ascended the Assyrian
throne in April 667 or 668 B.C., shortly before the
death of his father, being at the time probably
about twenty-five years old. Of his three
younger brothers, one, Samas-sum-ukin (Saosdu-
chinos), was installed as king of Babylon under
his brother the king of Assyria. Assurbanipal
was one of the most renowned of all the kings of
Assyria, and, though he probably never per
sonally conducted any warlike expeditions, he
nevertheless made himself master, through his
generals, of considerable tracts on all sides. He
made two expeditions to Egypt, with varying
success. In the first his forces succeeded iu
replacing the governors whom Esarhaddon had
appointed, and in overthrowing Tirhakah. These
governors, however, themselves revolted against
Assyrian rule, but the plot was discovered, and
they were captured and sent to Nineveh. As
surbanipal now appointed Necho as king in Sais,
and Nabu-sezibani (Neboshazban), his son, as
king in Athribes. Urdamane, however, nephew
of Tirhakah, now arose against the Assyrian
overlordship, necessitating the second expedition
to Egypt, which resulted in the expulsion of
Urdamane. Assurbanipal besieged Tyre, and
brought that city, together with the petty states
around, to submission. Gyges, king of Lydia,
also gave tribute, but afterwards sent secretly
to aid Tusamilki, king of Egypt, thus bringing
down upon him the curse of the Assyrian king.
Gyges died a violent death at the hands of the
Cimmerians. His son, who succeeded him, was
submissive to the Assyrian overlordship. Assur
banipal subdued also the JIannaa (=Wannaa)oi-
Armenians, and the tribes lying in the neigh
bourhood of that district: he repulsed the
invasion of Urtag or Urtak, king of Elam, and
afterwards carried the conflict into the enemy's
country, defeating Te-umman, who had succeeded
Urtak as king, and proclaiming Umman-igas, an
Elamite prince, as king of Elam, in Shushan
and Madaktu. Later, he defeated the combined
forces of the Babylonians, Elamites, and Ara
bians, and annexed Babylonia to Assyria ; again
invading (partly, probably, in revenge for the
part which the Elamites had taken against him)
Elam twice, and Arabia once. After his Arabian
successes, Assurbanipal again turned his atten
tion to Elam, and captured Ummanaldas, who
was then king of that countrv, bringing him to
Nineveh, and compelling him to drag, in company
with other captive princes, his royal chariot to
K-masmas, the temple of Beltis and Assur in
that city. From the above outline of his con
quests it will be seen that, of all the kings of
Babylonia and Assyria, Assurbanipal had best
right to the epithets " great and glorious," and
that he was also best able to transplant the
Babylonians, Susanians, Elamites, and other-
nations or tribes, to Samaria, as is recorded in
the 4th chapter of Ezra. [T. G. P.]
A'SOM ('Aa6p ; Asom), 1 Esd. ix. 33. [Ha-
SHUM.]

ASP
ASP (jriS, pethen; atrrrts, SpdKuv, Baai-
A'io-kos; aspis, basiliscus). The Hebrew word
occurs in the six following passages : — Deut.
xxxii. 33 ; Ps. lviii. 5, xci. 13 ; Job xx. 14, 16;
Is. xi. 8. It is expressed in the passages from
the Psalms by adder in the text of the A. V. and
R. V., and by asp in the margin : elsewhere the
text of both Versions has asp * as the represen
tative of the original word pethen.
That some kind of poisonous serpent is de
noted by the Hebrew word is clear from the
passages quoted above. We further learn from
Ps. lviii. 5, that the pethen was a snake upon
which the serpent-charmers practised their art.
In this passage the wicked are compared to
" the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, which
will not hearken to the voice of charmers,
charming never so wisely ; '' and from Is. xi. 8,
" the sucking child shall play on the hole of the
asp," it would appear that the pethen was a
dweller in holes of walls, &c. Bochart con
tributes nothing in aid to a solution of identity
when he attempts to prove that the pethen is the
asp (Hieroz. iii. 156), for this species of serpent,
if a species be signified by the term, has been so
vaguely described by authors, that it is not pos
sible to say what known kind is represented by
it. The term asp in modern zoology is generally
restricted to the Vipera aspis of Latreille, "but it
is most probable that the name, amongst the
ancients, stood for different kinds of venomous
serpents. Solinus (c. xxvii.) says, "plures di-
versaeque sunt aspidum species ;" and Aelian
(N. Anim. x. 31) asserts that the Egyptians enu
merate sixteen kinds of asp. Bruce thought
that the asp of the ancients should be referred
to the cerastes, while Cuvier considered it to be

AS1'

205

Egyptian Cobra (Atya ]uJE).

the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje). Be this, how
ever, as it may, there can be little doubt that
the Hebrew name pethen is specific, as it is men
tioned as distinct from 'acshub, shephiphon,
tsiphoni, &c, names of other members of the
Ophidia. Many pages of conjecture have been written
as to the species intended by pethen, but one im-

a Asp (the Greek atnris, the Latin aspis) has by some
been derived from the Heb. C]DN> "t0 gather up," in
allusion to the coiling habits of the snake when at rest ;
but this etymology is very improbable. The shield
(dorrls) may be derived from the form ofthe animal at
rest.

portant question has been generally omitted by
the champions of rival claimants, viz. Docs the
species exist in Bible lauds? With our pre
sent knowledge of the herpetology of Syria, we
can have little hesitation in assigning the pethen
of Scripture to the hooded cobra of Egypt, Naja
hajc. It does not occur in the cultivated dis
tricts of Palestine, but it is well known iu the
plains, and the downs south of Beersheba. I
have met with it near Gaza. It is an African
species, extending from Arabia Petraea througli
Egypt, Nubia, the Soudan, and the Sahara. In
India it is represented by an allied species, Naja
tripudians. It is needless here to discuss the
conjectures of many writers on the Arabian
Coluber baetan of Forskal or the C. lebetinus of
Linnaeus, since no one has yet been able to
identify Forskal's species; and C. lebetinus is
most probably a synonym of Vipera Euphratioa
[Adder], which would not meet the conditions
of the Biblical allusions, as it neither lives in
holes, nor is it a species on which the snake-
charmers practise.
The hooded cobra, or asp (Naja haje), lives in
holes in rocks or old walls, and has the power of
dilating its neck by raising the anterior ribs so as
to expand the front of the breast into the shape
of a flat dish. When alarmed or disturbed, it
raises Itself into an upright posture, supported
on the lower vertebrae of the tail, and bounds
forward with great force. In this position it is.
often portrayed on Egyptian monuments, and
is used to symbolise immortality. It was also
employed as the emblem of the protecting
Divinity of the world, and we find sculptured
over the portals of their temples a cobra on each
side of a winged globe (Horapollo, i. 1 ; Kalisch,
Hist, and Crit Comm. Gen. iii. 1). Sometimes
the Egyptian paintings represent a monster with
the head of an asp or some other serpent (Wil
kinson, Ane Egypt iii. p. 310, ed. 1878).
The art of ser-
pent-charming re- 1 fl
ferred to in Ps. St '
lviii. 4, Jas. iii. 7,
is of immense anti
quity, and is prac
tised in India on
the Naja tripudi
ans as in Africa on
the Naja haje. The
resources of the
charmers appear to
be very simple —
the shrill notes of
a flute, which are the only kind of tones
which the serpent, with its very imperfect sense
of sound, is capable of distinctly following,
and, above all, coolness and courage, combined
with gentleness in handling the animal, so as
not to irritate it. The charmers are not im
postors, for though they may sometimes remove
the fangs, it is a well-attested fact that they
generally allow them to remain, and they will
operate on the reptiles when just caught as will
ingly as on those which have been long in their
possession ; but they are very reluctant to make
experiments on any other species than the cobra.
When a cobra has been discovered in a hole, the
charmer plays at the mouth till the serpent,
attracted by the sound, comes out, when it is
suddenly seized by the tail, and held at arm's

Asp-headed monster. (Wilkinson.)

266

ASPALATHUS

length. Thus suspended, it is unable to turn
itself so as to bite ; and when it has become ex
hausted by its vain efforts, it is put into a
basket, the lid of which is raised while tbe
music is playing, but at each attempt of the
captive to dart out, the lid is shut down upon
it, until it learns to stand quietly on its tail,
swaying to and fro to the music, and ceases to
attempt an escape. If it shows more than ordi
nary restlessness, the fangs are extracted as a
precaution. Instances are not uncommon, in
which, with all their care, the jugglers' lives are
sacrificed in the exhibition.
The expression in Ps. lviii. 4, " the deaf adder
that stoppeth her ears," seems simply to allude
to the fact that there are some species of ser
pents not amenable to the charmer's art, or that
there are individuals of the ordinary cobra
which defy all his attempts to soothe them.
These are called deaf. The force of the com
parison with wicked men made by the Psalmist
lies in the fact that they, like the adder, can
hear the charmer's song, but obstinately refuse
to do so. If reference had been made, as some
have supposed, to a species of serpents which
had not the power of hearing, the whole force of
the illustration would be lost. There is there
fore no occasion to search for some species which
is literally deaf, or to consider the groundless
stories of Bythner, Thomson (Land and the Book,
p. 155), and others of serpents stopping their
ears with their tails or with dust, in order not
to hear the charmer, inasmuch as no serpent
possesses any external openings to the ear.
There is doubtless a popular impression that the
serpent is deaf, grounded perhaps on the absence
of external ears, or perhaps ou a mistaken, in
terpretation ofthe passage in the Psalms.
Serpents, though comparatively speaking deaf
to ordinary sounds, are no doubts^apable of
hearing the sharp, shrill sounpVs which the
charmer produces either by his' voice or by an
instrument ; and this comparative deafness is,
it appears to us, the very reason why such
sounds as the charmexmal.es produce the de
sired effect on the shbject under treatment.
[Serpent-charming/J' It has been stated that
the jugglers, by pressing the nape of the cobra's
neck with the fingers, know how to throw it
into a mesmericlstate, which renders it stiff and
immovable, thus seeming to change it into a
rod or stick. This may throw light on the con
test of the magicians with Moses before Pharaoh.
I cannot vouch for this from personal observa
tion. [H. B. T.]
ASPAL'ATHUS (dtrirdAaBos dpupdruv ;
Compl. rrdAaBos ; balsamum), the name of some
sweet perfume mentioned in Ecclus. xxiv. 15, to
which Wisdom compares herself: — "I gave a
sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus."
The question as to what kind of plant represents
the aspalathus of the ancients has long been a
puzzling one. From Theocritus (Id. iv. 57) we
learn that the aspalathus was of a thorny nature,
and (from Id. xxiv. 87) that the dry wood was
used for burning. Pliny (H. N. xii. 24) says
that the aspalathus grows in Cyprus ; that it
js a white thorny shrub, the size of a mode
rate tree ; that another name for this plant was
erysceptrum or sccptrum, "sceptre," or "red
sceptre," a name perhaps which it owed to the

ASPALATHUS
fact of the flowers clustering along the length
of the branches : but in another place (xxiv. 13)
he speaks of aspalathus as distinct from the ery
sceptrum, as growing in Spain, and commonly 1
employed there as an ingredient in perfumes
and ointments. He states that it was employed
also in the washing of wool. Theophrastus
(Hist. Plant, ix. 7, § 3, ed. Schneider) enume
rates aspalathus with cinnamon, cassia, and many
other articles which were used for ointments,
and appears to speak of it as an Eastern pro
duction. In Fr. iv. 33 he says it is sweet-
scented and an astringent. He also states that
it has large fleshy roots (peydAat Kai aapKuSeis).
Dioscorides (i. 19) says that the aspalathus was
used for the purpose of thickening ointment.
It appears that there were at least two kinds
or varieties of plants known by the name of
aspalathus; for all the authorities cited above
clearly make mention of two : one was white,
inodorous, and inferior ; the other had red wood
under the bark, and was highly aromatic. The
plant was of so thorny a nature that Plato
(Repub. 616 A, ed. Bekker) says cruel tyrants
were punished with it in the lower world.
Gerarde (Herbal, p. 1625) mentions two kinds
of aspalathus : aspal. albicans torulo citreo, and
aspal. 7-ubcns. "The latter," he says, "is the
better of the two ; its smell is like that of the
rose, whence the name Lignum Rhodium, rather
than from Rhodes, the place where it is said to
grow." The Lignum Rhodianum is by some
supposed to be the substance indicated by the
aspalathus; the plant which yields it is the
Convolvulus scoparius of Linnaeus." Dr. Royle
(Encycl. Bib. Lit s. v.) is inclined to believe
that the bark of a tree of the Himalayan
mountains, the Myrica sapida of Dr. Wallich, is
the article indicated, because in India the term
Darshishan, which by Avicenna and Serapion
are used as the Arabic synonyms of aspalathus,
is applied to the bark of this tree. If the
aspalathus of the Apocrypha be identical with
the aspalathus of the Greeks, it is clear that the
locality for the plant must be sought nearer
home, for Theocritus evidently mentions the
aspalathus as if it were familiar to the Greek
colonists of Sicily or the south of Italy in its
growing state. For other attempts to identify
the aspalathus, see Salmasius, Hyl. lat cap.
* On this subject Sir W. Hooker in a letter writes :
" We must not go to Convol. scoparius, albeit that may
possess the two needful qualifications : it is peculiar to
the Canary Islands. Many plants with fragrant roots
are calted rose-roots. Such is the Lignum aloes, the lign
aloes of Scripture ; and there is the poSiapiCa of Dios
corides, which came from Macedonia. A late learned
friend of mine writes, * This was certainly Linnaeua's
Rhodiola rosea, figured as such by Parkinson in his
Tlieatrum Botanicum, after Lobel. Soon after the dis
covery of the Canary Islands this name was transferred
to Convol. scoparius, and afterwards to several American
plants. It is called in tbe Canary Islands Lena Noel, a
corruption of Lignum aloes, and, :though now in little
request, large quantities of it were formerly exported,
and the plant nearly extirpated. The apothecaries sold
it both as Lignum Rhodium and as the aspalathus of
Dioscorides ; it soon, however, took the latter name,
which was banded over to a wood brought from India,
though the original plant was a thorny shrub growing
on the shores of the Mediterranean, probably Spartium,
villosum, according to Sibthorpe (Flor, Graec. vol. vii.
p. 69).' "

ASPATHA
Ixxxiv. ; Dr. Royle, in passage referred to above ;
Sprengel, Hist. Herb. i. pp. 45, 183 : but in all
probability the term has been applied to various
plants. Comparing the accounts of Theophrastus
with the commentaries of Gerarde aud others,
it seems to me that there are two plants of the
family Leguminosac which may answer to the
description, — Spartiitm junceum, L. Sp. 995, and
Calycotome villosa, Vahl. Symb.' ii. p. 80, more
probably the latter. Both these shrubs are
found in Syria, the Levant, and Southern Italy.
They may possibly be the two species' spoken of
by Gerarde. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ASPA'THA (N)"iapN, of uncertain deriva
tion, but probably Persian [Bertheau-Ryssel and
Oettli in loco] ; if so, contracted from the Pers.
aspadatha, given by the horse, i.e. by the god
Behram in the form of a horse ; T.7 iatryd, N".
$iayd; Esphatha), one ofthe ten sons of Haman
slain by the Jews (Esth. ix. 7). [F.]
ASTPHAR, THE POOL (AaKKOs 'Atrtpdp; A.
A. 'AatpdA ; lacus Asphar), in the " wilderness of
Thecoe." By this " pool " Jonathan and Simon
Maccabaeus encamped at the beginning of their
struggle with Bacchides (1 Mace. ix. 33 ;
Joseph. Ant. xiii. 1, § 2). It was apparently
one of the small reservoirs for collecting rain
water still used by the Bedawin ; it has, how
ever, been suggested that tbe name may possibly
be a corruption of AaKKOs 'AtrtpaATtTTis ? Xeno
phon (Anab. iv. 2, § 22) uses the word Aukkos
for the excavations underground in which he
stored his wine. [G.] [W.]
ASPHA'RASUS ('Atxtpapda-os ; Machpsa-
tochor), one of those who returned from the
Captivity with Zerobabel (1 Esd. v. 8). [Mis-
pereth.] [F.]
ASRI'EL (^*nE*X; B. 'EtrpitJA, AF. -At
[Num.], B. 'Ie£etfjA, A. -"EpcljA [Josh.]; Asriel,
Esriel). The son of Gilead, and great-grandson
of Manasseh (Num. xxvi. 31 [LXX. v. 35];
Josh. xvii. 2). He was the founder of the
family of the Asrielites. The name is spelt
Ashriel in the A. V. of 1 Ch. vii. 14, but
Asriel in R. V. ; and the LXX. makes Asriel [B.
'Ao-epei^A, A. 'Eapit)A] the son of Manasseh by
his Syrian concubine. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASRIE'LITES, THE O^P.E'Kn ; B. o
'Eo-pMjAei, A. -i; Asrielitae). Num. xxvi. 31.
[Asriel.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASS. The five following Hebrew names of
the genus Asinus occur in the 0. T. : — Chamdr,
'Athdn, 'Air, Pere, and . 'Arod. The last two
apply to species of the wild ass.
1. Chamdr ("llDn » ; Svos, viro(iytov, yopbp
in 1 Sam. xvi. 20 ; asinus, " ass," " he-ass ")
denotes the male domestic ass, though the word
was no doubt used in a general sense to express
any ass, whether male or female. The ass is
* "l'lDn. from root *)On> " to be red," from the red
dish colour of the animal in southern countries. MV.11
compare the Spanish burro, burrico. In 2 Sam. xix. 27,
the word is used as a feminine. The Arabic 1 -— ¦
himdr, is identical.

ASS

267

frequently mentioned in the Bible ; it was used
(i.) for carrying burdens (1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; Gen.
xiii. 26, xiv. 23 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 1 ; 1 Ch. xii. 40 ;
Neh. xiii. 15; 1 Sam. xvi. 20) — (ii.) for riding
(Gen. xxii. 3 ; Ex. iv. 20 ; Num. xxii. 21 ; 1 K.
xiii. 23 ; Josh. xv. 18 ; Judg. i. 14, v. 10, x. 4,
xii. 14; 1 Sam. xxv. 20; 2 Sam. xvii. 23, xix.
26; Zech. ix. 9; Matt. xxi. 7)— (iii.) for
ploughing (Is. xxx. 24, xxxii. 20 ; Deut. xxii.
10), and perhaps for treading out corn, though
there is no clear scriptural allusion to the fact.
In Egypt asses were so employed (Wilkinson's
Ane. Egypt, i. 231 [1878]), aud by the Jews,
according to Josephus (contr. Apion. ii. § 7) —
(iv.) for grinding at the mill (Matt, xviii. 6,
R. V. marg. Gr. a millstone turned by an ass) —
(v.) for carrying baggage in wars (2 K. vii.
7, 10) — (vi.) for the procreation of mules (Gen.
xxxvi. 24; 1 K. iv. 28; Esth. viii. 10, &c).
The origin of the domestic ass (Asinus vulgaris,
or A. asinus) is from the wild ass of N. E.
Africa, South Arabia, and Socotra, the true
Onager, which Pallas has unfortunately con
founded with the wild ass or Ghorkhur of Cen
tral Asia and Beluchistan. It is to Egypt we
must look for the reclamation of the ass, the
region where the particular species is still found
wild, and where also the finest and least altered
of the domestic races prevail. The date of its
domestication is lost in antiquity. It is re
peatedly mentioned in the Pentateuch before
the horse is noticed — as in the sacrifice of Abra
ham ; in his visit to Egypt, where he received
presents from Abirnelech ; and in the spoils of
Shechem, where, along with other cattle, the ass
occurs, but the horse is not mentioned. The
horse is supposed to have been introduced into
Egypt by the Hyksos. In Assyria it had been
reclaimed at the period of the oldest known
monuments. It is remarkable that, notwith
standing the length of time that has elapsed
since the domestication of the ass, and entirely
changed, as it is, in its habits and disposition, it
has altered less from its pristine form and
colour, and is less liable to variation in these re
spects, than any other domestic animal. It still
in all climates and under all circumstances
retains the general tone of colour which belongs
to the wild race, and from which it derives its
name, as well as the black line down the back,
and the transverse black stripe on the shoulders ;
and the diversities of colour are, for the most
part, merely different shades of the same primi
tive hue.
It is almost needless to observe that the ass
in Eastern countries is a very different animal
from what he is in Western Europe ; there the
greatest care is taken of the animal, and much
attention is paid to cultivate the breed by cross
ing the finest specimens ; the riding on the ass
therefore conveys a very different notion from
the one which attaches to such a mode of con
veyance in our own country ; the most noble
and honourable amongst the Jews were wont to
be mounted on asses ; and in this manner our
Lord Himself made His triumphant entry into
Jerusalem (Matt. xxi. 5, 7). He came indeed
"meek and lowly," but it is a mistake to
suppose, as many do, that the fact of His riding
on the ass had, according to our English ideas,
aught to do with His meekness ; although there
by, doubtless, He meant to show the peaceable

268

ASS

ASS

nature of His kingdom, as horses were used
only for war purposes.
In illustration of the passage in Judg. v. 10,
" Speak, ye that ride on white asses," it may be
mentioned that Buckingham (Trav. p. 389) tells
us that one of the peculiarities of Bagdad is its
race of white asses, which are saddled and
bridled for the conveyance of passengers ; that
they are large and spirited, and have an easy
and steady pace. Bokhara is also celebrated
for its breed of white asses, which are some
times more than thirteen hands high ; they
are imported into Peshawar, and fetch from 80
to 100 rupees each.
In' Syria, white asses, which I have seen of the
height of 13 hands, are highly prized, and choice
he-asses will fetch ordinarily £40 sterling, both
for riding and for mule-breeding. The Pasha of
Jerusalem always rides a white ass within the
city, on account of its surefootedness on the
steep and slippery streets, and only appears on
horseback when going outside the walls. It is
curious to see the Pasha on his ass, attended by
his body-guard comprising officers on horse
back. There are two distinct races of domestic asses
represented in ancient Egyptian paintings, and
the two may be seen side by side in any Syrian
town to-day — one very large, with remarkably
long ears, the. other small and rather inferior to
ours in England ; bearing the same relation to
the other as a pony does to a horse. The
smaller race only has been domesticated in
Northern Europe ; or if the larger, it has degene
rated, the ass being less capable of resisting cold
than the horse. The ass of the large breed in
the East possesses vivacity and humour, as well
as ingenuity, and can exhibit personal likes and
dislikes to members of the caravan. It can
accomplish with ease as long a day's journey
as a horse, and longer than a camel.
In Deut. xxii. 10, " plowing with an ox and
an ass together " was forbidden by the law of
Moses. Michaelis (Comment, on the Laics of
Moses, transl. vol. ii. 392) believes that this
prohibition is to be traced to the economic im
portance of the ox in the estimation of the
Jews ; that the coupling together therefore so
valued an animal as the ox with the inferior ass
was a dishonour to the former animal : others,
Le Clerc for instance, think that this law had
merely a symbolical meaning, and that by it
we are to understand improper alliances in civil
and religious life to be forbidden ; he compares
2 Cor. vi. 14, " Be ye not unequally yoked with
unbelievers." It is not at all improbable that
such a lesson was intended to be conveyed ; but
we think that the main reason in the prohibi
tion is a physical one, viz., that the ox and the
ass could not pull pleasantly together on ac
count of the difference in size and strength
(see Speaker's Comm. in loco) ; perhaps also this
prohibition may have some reference to the law
given in Lev. xix. 19.
The expression used in Is. xxx. 24, "The
young asses that ear tbe ground," would be
more intelligible to modern understandings were
it translated the asses that till [so R. V.] the
ground ; the word ear from aro, " I till " " I
?oU#h^ »e'?g now obsolete (°P- 1 sam. viii.
12, R. V. " plough ").
Although the flesh ofthe wild ass was deemed

a luxury amongst the Persians and Tartars, yet
it does not appear that any of the nations of
Canaan used the ass for food. The Mosaic law
considered it unclean, as " not dividing the hoof
nor chewing the cud." In extreme cases, how
ever, as in the great famine of Samaria, when
" an ass's head was sold for eighty pieces of
silver " (2 K. vi. 25), the flesh of the ass was
eaten. Some commentators on this passage,
following the LXX., have understood a measure
(a chomer of bread) by the Hebrew word.
Dr. Harris.says, " No kind of extremity could
compel the Jews to eat any part of this animal
for food ; " but it must be remembered that in
cases of extreme need parents ate their own
offspring (2 K. vi. 29 ; Ezek. v. 10). This
argument therefore falls to the ground ; nor is
there sufficient reason for abandoning the common
acceptation of these passages (1 Sam. xvi. 20 ;
xxv. 18), and for understanding a measure and
not the animal. For an example to illustrate
2 K. /. c. comp. Plutarch, Artax. i. 1023, "An
ass's head could hardly be bought for sixty
drachms." »
The Jews were accused of worshipping the
head of an ass. Josephus (contr. Apion. ii. § 7)
very indignantly blames Apion for having the
impudence to pretend that the Jews placed an
ass's head of gold in their holy place, which the
grammarian asserted Antiochus Epiphanes dis
covered when he spoiled the Temple. Plutarch
(Sympos. iv. ch. 5) and Tacitus (Hist. v. §§ 3
and 4) seemed to have believed in this slander
(see Bochart, Hieroz. iii. 199 seq.). The same
charge was brought against Christians (see Ter
tullian, Apolog. xv. xvi. ; and Dict. of Christ.
Antiq. s. n. " Asinarii ").
2. 'Athon ('iriX ° ; r) Svos, Svos, ovos BnAela,
r)piovos, bvos BriAeia vopds ; asina, asinus, " ass,"
" she-ass "). There cau be no doubt that this
name represents the common domestic she-ass,
nor do we think there are any grounds for
believing that the 'athon indicates some parti
cular valuable breed which judges and great
men only possessed, as Dr. Kitto (Phys. Hist.
Pal. p. 383) and Dr. Harris (Nat. Hist, of Bible,
art. Ass) have supposed. 'Athon in Gen. xii. 16,
xiv. 23 is clearly contrasted with Chamdr.
Balaam rode on a she-ass ('athdn). The asses of
Kish which Saul sought were she-asses. The
Shunammite (2 K. iv. 22, 24) rode on one when
she went to seek Elisha. They were sbe-asses
which formed the especial care of one of David's
officers (1 Ch. xxvii. 30). While, on the other
hand, Abraham (Gen. xxii. 3, &c), Achsah
(Josh. xv. 18), Abigail (1 Sam. xxv. 20), the
disobedient prophet (1 K. xiii. 23) rode on a
chamdr. 3. 'Air (yrg ; iruAos, truAos veos, Svos, j3oSr
[in Is. xxx. 24] ; pullus asinae, pullus onagri,
jumentum, pullus asini, " foal," " ass colt,"
" young ass," " colt "), the name of a young ass,
which occurs Gen. xlix. 11, xxxii. 15 ; Judg. x. 4,
xii. 14 ; Job xi. 12; Is. xxx. 6, 24; Zech. ix. 9.
In the passages of the Books of Judges and
* The Talmudists say that the flesh of the ass causes
avarice in those who cat it ; but it cures the avaricious
of the complaint (Zqql. des Talm. v 165).
c A word of uncertain derivation, derived by Ges.
from a root used In Arabic, "to be slow," "to walk
with short Bteps."

ASS, WILD
Zechariah the 'air -is spoken of' as being old
«nough for riding upon ; in Is. xxx. 6, for car
rying burdens, and in v. 24 for tilling the
ground: perhaps the word 'air is intended to
denote an ass rather older than the age we now
understand by the term foal or c: 't
Our Lord entered Jerusalem " riding upon an
ass, even " (as it might be translated) " upon a
colt," as did the sons of Jair. The colt never
having before been ridden, was also symbolical :
a new time, a new prince, a new animal to ride
upon, which had not been under the yoke. The
mother is led with it, to quiet it for the service.
The saddle of the ass, so often mentioned in
Scripture, is a very elaborate structure, wholly
different from that of the horse. Under it are
spread several folds of thick woollen stuff. The
saddle itself is of great thickness, made of straw
stitched under carpet, very flat above, with a
high rounded pommel. Over it is spread a
saddle-cloth of Persian carpet or velvet, of the
brightest colours, ornamented with a fringe
hanging over the ass's tail. The stirrups are
small and narrow. The bridle is ornamented
with tassels, embroidery, and cowries, and some
times little bells are attached to the reins.
[W. H.] [H. B. T.]
ASS, WILD. Two words are used to represent
wild asses. 1. Pere (SOS ; Svos ciyptos, Svos iv
aypqi, Svaypos, Svos iprjplTTis, IxypoiKos bivBpu-
ttos ; ferus homo, Vulg. ; onager, " wild ass ").
The name of a species of wild ass mentioned
in Gen. xvi. 12 ; Ps. civ. 11 ; Job vi. 5, xi. 12,
xxxix. 5, xxiv. 5 ; Hos. viii. 9 ; Jer. ii. 24 ;
Is. xxxii. 14. In Gen. xvi. 12, Pere Adam, a
" wild-ass man," is applied to Ishmael and his
descendants, a character that is well suited to
the Arabs at this day. Hosea (viii. 9) compares
Israel to a wild ass of the desert, and Job (xxxix.
5) gives an animated description of this animal,
and one which is amply confirmed by both
ancient and modern writers.
2. 'Ardd pill', * omitted by the LXX. and
Vulg., which Versions probably supposed 'arod
and pere to be synonymous ; " wild ass "). The
Hebrew word occurs only in Job xxxix. 5,
" Who hath sent out the pere free, or who hath
loosed the bands of the 'arod ? " The Chaldee
plural 'arddayah (N'TUV) occurs in Dan. v. 21 :
Nebuchadnezzar's " dwelling was with the wild
asses." Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 218), Rosenmiiller
(Sch. in V. T. 1. c), Lee (Comment, on Job, I. c),
and Gesenius (Thes. and MV.11 s. v.) suppose
'arod and pere to be identical in meaning ; the
last-named writer says that pere is the Hebrew,
and 'arod the Aramaean; but it seems more
probable that the two names stand for different
animals, two species of wild ass being found in
Bible lands.
It is only recently that the wild ass or
A. onager of Central Asia has been discriminated
from the wild ass of N.E. Africa, Asinus vulgaris
or asinus. The Russian naturalist, Pallas, the
first modern writer on the subject, identified the
two ; and though both were most probably
known to the Jews, they did not distinguish

* .*11"l**> from root "PI", " to flee," " to be untamed.'
Bochart thinks the word is onomatopoetic.

ASS, WILD

269

them. But they did distinguish the wild ass ot
Syria and North Arabia, known by naturalists
as Asinus hemippus. This was probably pere,
the species most frequently mentioned ; while
'ardd, the species of Babylonia, is naturally
mentioned as the animal with the herds of
which Nebuchadnezzar was driven out to con
sort (see Speaker's Comm. on Dan. v. 21).
The late Mr. E. Blyth enumerates seven
species of the division Asinus. In all pro
bability the species known to the ancient Jews
are Asinus hemippus, which inhabits the deserts

Syrian Wild Ass {Asinus hemippus).
Specimen in Zoological Gardens of London.
of Syria, Mesopotamia, and the northern parts
of Arabia ; and Asinus vulgaris of N.E. Africa,
South Arabia, and Socotra, the true onager or
aboriginal wild ass, whence the domesticated
breed is sprung ; probably also the Asinus
onager, the Koulan or Ghorkhur, which is found
in Western Asia from 48° -N. latitude southward
to Persia, Beluchistan, and Western India, was
not unknown to the ancient Hebrews, though in
all probability they confounded these species.
The Asinus hemionus, or Dziggetai, which was

Dziggetal or Kyang (Asinus liemionue).
Specimen in Zoological Gardens of London.
separated from Asinus hemippus (with which it
had long been confounded) by Is. St. Hilaire,
could hardly have been known to the Jews,
as this animal, which is perhaps only a variety
of Asinus onager, inhabits Tibet, Mongolia, and
Southern Siberia, countries with which the Jews

270

ASSABIAS

were not familiar. We may therefore safely
conclude that the 'athon and pere of the sacred

Ghorkhur or Konlan (Minus onager).
Specimen in British Museum.
writings stand for the different species now dis
criminated under the names of Asinus hemippus,
the Assyrian wild ass, Asinus vulgaris, the true
onager — and perhaps Asinus onager, the Koulan
or Ghorkhur of Persia and Western India.

ASSAEEMOTH
The following quotation from Mr. Blyth's
valuable paper is given as illustrative of the
scriptural allusions to wild asses: — "To the
west of the range of the Ghor-khur lies that of
Asinus hemippus, or true Hemionus of ancient
writers — the particular species apostrophised in
the Book of Job, and again that noticed by
Xenophon. There is a recent account of it by
Mr. Layard in Nineveh and its Remains (p. 324).
Returning from the Sinher, he was riding
through the desert to Tel Afer, and there he
mistook a troop of them for a body of horse
with the Bedouin riders concealed ! " " The
reader will remember," he adds, " that Xenophon
mentions these beautiful animals, which he must
have seen during his march over these very
plains . . . ' The country,' he says, ' was a plain
throughout, as even as the sea, and full of
wormwood ; if any other kind of shrubs or reeds
grew there, they had all an aromatic smell, but
no trees appeared . . . The asses, when they were
pursued, having gained ground on the horses,
stood still (for they exceeded them much in
speed); and when these came up with them,
they did the same thing again . . . The flesh oi

Wild Ass pursued by dogs. (Layard.)

those that were taken was like that of a red
deer, but more tender ' (Anab. i. § 5). ' In
fleetness,' continues Mr. Layard, ' they equal the
gazelle, and to overtake them is a feat which
only one or two of the most celebrated mares
have been known to accomplish.' " (Annals
and Mag. of Nat. Hist. vol. vi. No. 34, p. 243.)

We find on the bas-reliefs of Assyrian monuments
frequent representations ofthe chase ofthe wild
ass. He is pursued by the king on horseback,
armed with bow and arrows. In one bas-relief
the animal is represented as having been caught
by a kind of lasso, with which the huntsmen
lead it away (Layard). [W. H.] [H. B. T.]

Wild Ass taken with a rope. (Layaxd.)

ASSA'BIAS (2a0las; Hasabias), 1 Esd. i.
9. [Hashabiah.]
ASSAL'IMOTH<B. ZaAetptiB, A. 'AtrtraTU-
puB ; Salimoth [Vulg. v. 39]), 1 Esd. viii. 36.
[Shelomith.] One of those who went up from
Babylon. [W. A. W.]

ASSA'NIAS (B. 'Ao-traplas, A. 'Aera-; As-
sannas), 1 Esd. viii. 54. [Hashabiah.] One of
those entrusted with the holy vessels, &c, on
the return to Jerusalem. [W. A. W]
ASSARE'MOTH. Cp. D. B. Amer. ed. In
1 Mace. iv. 15, the E. V. places this word in the

ASSHUR
marg. as the Greek equivalent of the Gazera in
the text. According to Grimm (Kgf. exeg.
Hdbuch. zu den Apokryphen d. A. T., note on I. c)
' Afftrap-npuB is the reading of the Complut. and
Aldine texts, supported by five minor codices ;
the reading of the Alexandrine text is Tatr-qpuv
(T.7 racrnpoj) [Gazera], The form ' Ao-trapripaB
(N°, T.7 'Atro-, K" Sap-) also occurs in Jer.
xxxviii. 40 (LXX. ; Heb. xxxi. 40) as the repro
duction of ri)D"lB>n (Kethib), the A. V. and
R. V. adopting with many commentators the
Keri, n'lD*".CS>n (" the fields "), from the similar
passage (2 K. xxiii. 4 ; B. SaAripuB, A. SaS-npuB).
In the Speaker's Comm. (note on Jer. xxxi. 40)
the more difficult reading is preferred, and Graf's
rendering, " the quarries," advocated. [F.]
ASSHUR. [Assyria.]
ASSH'URIM (0"****>X ; A. 'Atrovptp, D. 'Atr-
trovpieip, E. -pit)A ; Assurim). A tribe descended
from Dedan, the grandson of Abraham (Gen.
xxv. 3), which has not been identified (Delitzsch,
Genesis in loco [1887]). Knobel's view that
they were the Asshur of Ezek. xxvii. 23 is now
given up. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASSIDE'ANS CAaiSalot; Assidaei ; i.e.
? ''"Vpn, the pious, " puritans ; " oi euaeBels, oi
Strioi), the name assumed by a section of the
orthodox Jews (1 Mace. ii. 42 ; Cod. A, trvvayuy-h
'Ao-tSaiuv, Vulg. "Synagoga Asideorum," alii
'lovSaiuv probably by correction ; 1 Mace. vii.
13 ; 2 Mace. xiv. 6), as distinguished from " the
impious " (ol aaeBels, 1 Mace. iii. 8 ; vi. 21 ;
vii. 5, &c), " the lawless " (oi dvopoi. 1 Mace. iii.
6 ; ix. 23, &c), " the transgressors " (ol -napd-
vopoi, 1 Mace. i. 11, &c), that is, the Hellenizing
faction. [Their rise as a party may be assigned to the
days of Simon the Just (circ. 200 B.C.), when
the Jewish nation had begun to realise the
corruptions as well as the fascinations of Greek
culture. Jewish tradition ascribed their origin
to a voluntarily exaggerated exercise of the
Nazarite vow (Tosephta Nedarim, CTDPI
nnim D'rrono vn D»3it**N*in), in which
case it is probable that the first Assideans com
bined merely to protest against the intemperate
lives of the Greeks and their imitators (Gratz,
Gesch. d. Jud. ii. 6, 240). They became re
cognised as the sternest upholders of Judaism,
and the most uncompromising opposers of the
Hellenizing faction. The party is a true fore
runner of the Pharisees, who emerge from the
Maccabean epoch in which the Assideans become
lost to view. (Cp. Schurer, Gesch. d. Jiid,
Volkes, i. 157, n. 41.)— H. E. R.]
They were probably bound by some peculiar
vow to the external observance of the Law
(1 Mace. ii. 42, eKovtrid(ea8ai t$ vdptp). They
were among the first to join Mattathias, and
it was probably a. body of the Assideans whose
fanatical reverence for the Sabbath led to such
disastrous results (1 Mace. ii. 32-38 ; 1 Mace.
/. c.) ; and seem afterwards to have been merged
in the general body of the faithful (2 Mace. xiv.
6, ol Aeydpevoi tuv 'lovSaiuv 'AatSaloi, &v
dtpTiyevrai 'lovSas S MaKKaBdios . . .). When
Bacchides came against Jerusalem, they used
their influence (1 Mace. vii. 13, irpuroi oi 'AtrtS.
T)aav iv viols 'XtxpaiiA) to conclude a peace, be-

ASSOS

271

cause " a priest of the seed of Aaron " (Alcimus)
was with him, and sixty of them fell by his
treachery [Alcimus], The name Chasidim occurs
frequently in the Psalms (e.g. Ps. lxxix. 2 =
1 Mace. vii. 17 ; exxxii. 9, &c), and the words
"His praise in the congregation of saints,"
Ps. cxlix. 1 (D**VDn bnp2 ln'pnn), has been
supposed by some to be a reference to the
Assidean party ; and it has been adopted in
recent times by a sect of Polish Jews, who take
as the basis of their mystical system the doc
trines of the Cabbalistic book Zohar (Beer ins
Ersch und Gruber, Encykl. s. v. Chassidder). [B. F. W.]
AS'SIR (T'DX). 1. Son of Korah (Ex. vi. 24,
B. 'Arrefp, A. 'Affile-, Aser; 1 Ch. vi. 22, Heb.
i'. 7, B. 'Apetret, A. 'Atrelp, Asir). 2. Son of
Ebiasaph, and a forefather of Samuel (1 Ch. vi.
23, Heb. v. 8, B. 'Atrepel, A. 'Atrelp ; v. 37, Heb.
v. 22, 'Atrelp, Asir). 3. Son of Jeconiah (l Ch.
iii. 17, 'Atrip, Asir), unless "IDt* i*P33* (ed.
Baer) be translated " Jeconiah the captive "
(Bertheau, and Oettli in Strack u. Zbckler's Kgf.
Komm. in loco). The accents and the best
codices (see Baer in loco) favour the view that
Jeconiah-Assir is the name of but one man,
and the Midi-ash and Talmud explain the cog
nomen as given to Jeconiah because a son was
born to him in exile ; but the absence of the
art. before "1DK is an objection to this inter
pretation, and Keil (in loco) may be right in
treating Assir as the name of Jeconiah 's son.
[G.] [F.]
AS'SOS or AS'SUS ("Affffos [called also
Apollonia, Plin. v. 32]), a town and seaport
of the Roman province of Asia, in the district
anciently called Mysia. It was situated on
the northern shore of the gulf of Adramyt
tium, and was only about seven miles from the
opposite coast of Lesbos, near Methymna (Strab.
xiii. p. 618). A good Roman road, connecting
the towns of the central parts of the province
with Alexandria Troas [Troas], passed through
Assos, the distance between the two latter
places being about twenty miles (Ttin. Anton.).
These geographical points illustrate St. Paul's
rapid passage through the town, as mentioned
in Acts xx. 13, 14. The ship in which he was
to accomplish his voyage from Troas to Caesarea
went round Cape Lectum, while he took the
much shorter journey by land. Thus he was
able to join the ship without difficulty, and in
sufficient time for her to anchor off Mitylene at
the close of the day on which Troas had been left.
The chief .characteristic of Assos was that it
was singularly Greek. Fellows found there "no
trace of the Romans." Leake says that "the
whole gives perhaps the most perfect idea of
a Greek city that anywhere exists." The re
mains are numerous and remarkably well pre
served, partly because many of the buildings
were of granite. The citadel, above the theatre,
commands a glorious view, and must itself have
been a noble object from the sea. The Street of
Tombs, leading to the Great Gate, is one of the
most remarkable features of Assos. Illustra
tions of the ancient city will be found in Texier,
Clarac, Fellows, and Choiseul-Gouffier. It is
now utterly desolate. On tlie site of the town

272

ASSUERUS

stands now a small village called Bairam Kalessi.
Two monographs on the subject are mentioned
by Winer: Quandt, De Asson. Regiom. 1710;
Amnell, De 'Ae-au, Upsal. 1758. See Dict. of G.
and R. Geog. art. Assus ; Conybeare and Howson's
Life and Epistles of St. Paul, ii. 215 [4th ed.] ;
J. F. Clarke, Report of Excavations at Assos (36
plates), Boston, U.S., 1882 ; J. R. S. Sterrett,
Inscriptions of Assos, in vol. i. pp. 1-90, of
Papers of American School of Classical Studies
at Athens.
It is now a matter of curiosity to refer to the
interpretation which used to be given to the

ASSYRIA
words dao-ov irapeAeyovro, in Acts xxvii. 13.
In the Vulgate they were rendered "cum
sustulissent de Asson," and they were supposed
by Erasmus, Luther, and the English Versions
(except the Genevan) up to 1611, to point to a
city of this name in Crete. Such a place is
actually inserted by Padre Georgi, in the map
which accompanies his Paulus Naufragus (Venet.
1730, p. 181); but the Asus (so spelt) of Crete
was a long way inland (see Speaker's Comm. and
ZSckler's 'Kgf. Komm. on Acts xxvii. 13). The
true sense of the passage was first given bv
Beza. [J- S. H.] [F.J

Assos. The Acropolis,

ASSUE'RUS (B. 'AtrvTipos, A. Atrnpos),
Tob. xiv. 15. [Ahasuerus.] The name given
in the Gk. and E. Versions to the colleague of
Nebuchadnezzar in the conquest of Nineveh.
The Itala and K (for the variations in the MS.
see Swete's ed. of LXX.) have " Achicharus
king of the Medes." This may be a variant
form of Cyaxares, by which name Nebuchad
nezzar's ally is better known. Assuerus, in its
turn, may be a corruption of Ahasuerus, a name
identical with Cyaxares, or it may be an error
of the scribe (see Speaker's Comm. in loco). [F.]
AS'SUR ("I'tJ-K ; 'Atxtroip ; Assur). 1. (Ezra
iv. 2 ; Ps. lxxxiii. 8 ; 2 Esd. ii. 8 ; Jud. ii. 14,
v. 1, vi. 1, 17, vii. 20, 24, xiii. 15, xiv. 3, xv. 6,
xvi. 4.) [Asshur; Assyria.] 2. (B. 'Atroip ;
Aziu), 1 Esd. v. 31. [Harhur.] [W. A. W.]
ASSY'RIA, ASSH'UR ("VIEW; 'Atraovp,
Jos. 'Atrtrvpla ; Assyrian : Ausar, Astir, Assur),
a great and powerful country to the north of
Babylonia, whose capital was, in later times,
Nineveh ; but during the early period, ASsur
(Kileh-Shergat), a city about 50 miles south
of Mosul. It is probably from this city that
the country took its name ; and as the Assyrians
often call their land "the land of the god

Assur," it is likely that this name comes from
that of Assur, the deified son of Shem (Gen. x.
22 ; 1 Ch. i. 17), the chief seat of whose worship
the city Assur probably was. The now received
rendering of the earliest form Ausar, which was
borrowed from Akkadian, is " waterland," or
" meadow," and it is probable therefore that the
name of the god and that of the country were at
first quite distinct, but were afterwards assimi
lated on account of their likeness in sound.
The city Assur is never mentioned in the Old
Testament. 1. Country. — Assyria was a rather narrow
strip of country immediately to the north of
Babylonia, which country formed its southern
boundary, beginning between 34 and 35 degrees
of north latitude, and stretching upwards in a
north-westerly direction to between 37 and 38
degrees ; following, roughly speaking, the courses
of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, which latter
probably formed its western boundary. The
north of Assyria was mountainous, but the
greater part was flat, being an extension of the
Babylonian plains. It was bounded on the
north by Armenia ( Urtu or Urartu = Ararat),
on the south by Babylonia (Akkad, Bdb-ili,
Kar- Dun'tai), and on the east by Media (mat
Madda). The western boundary was probably the

ASSYRIA
Euphrates, but the Assyrian sway probably ex
tended as far as the kingdom of which Til-
Barsip (Bir or Birajik) was the capital, and
which seems to have been regarded as a part
of the district called Hatti (identified with
Hit). Assyria is first mentioned in the Bible (Gen. ii.
14) as the country towards the east (Revised
Version), in front of which the Hiddekel
(Tigris) flows, and farther on as the land into
which Nimrod went forth (so the marginal
reading of Gen. _\. 11 and the Revised Version
— the alternative reading being, " out of tnat
land [Shinar] went forth Assur "). The phrase
" as thou goest towards Assyria," which occurs
in Gen. xxv. 18, apparently refers to the path
way between Egypt and that country. Assyria
is mentioned also in 2Js.. xv. 19, 20, where "Pul
the king of Assyria " is spoken of as having been
bought off by Menahem ; and in v. 29, where
the invasion of "Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria"
is recorded. Afterwards Ahaz sought the al
liance of the Assyrian king (2 K. xvi. 7-18),
who, complying with his request, came and cap
tured Damascus ; and the next chapter records
how Hoshea became the servant of Shalmaneser
king of Assyria, and afterwards conspired against

ASSYRIA

273

him, with the result that Shalmaneser invaded
the country, took Samaria, and carried Israel
away captive (vv. 3-6 ; see also vv. 23, 24, aud
ch. xviii. 9-12). The next reference to Assyria
is in connexion with the famous siege of Jeru
salem by Sennacherib (2 K. xviii. 13-27, xix.
1-37 ; 2 Ch. xxxii. 1-22 ; Is. xxxvi. 1-xxxvii.
38). See the historical section below. In
Is. vii. 18, "the bee that is in the land of
Assyria" is mentioned, and in v. 20 the king
of Assyria is compared to a " hired razor "
in the hands of the Lord (these passages pro
bably refer to the stinging and cutting [chas
tising] disposition of these scourges ofthe ancient
Eastern world; see Is. xxx. 31); in xi. 11-16,
the delivery of a remnant of Israel from As
syria is spoken of; again, in xix. 23-25, a
holy covenant between Egypt, Israel, and Assyria
is mentioned; in xxvii. 13, the coming forth
of " those which were ready to perish in As
syria " is referred to ; and the destruction of
Assyria is foretold in xxx. 31 and xxxi. 8. In
Jer. ii. 18, the prophet asks, " What hast thou
to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters
i of the river ? " probably referring to joining in
the ceremonies, in some of which drinking the-
j water of a river formed a part. Compare v. 36,

Aainr-nasir-apli or AsSur-naf'r-pal bunting Liona. From Nimrond. (Layard.)

" Why gaddest thou about so much ? . . . Thou
shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed
of Assyria." The reception of Assyrian poly
theism by Samaria ( = Israel) and Judah is
denounced by Ezekiel (ch. xxiii., R. V.) under the
simile of the whoredoms of Oholah and Oholi-
bah. Assyria is likened to a cedar in Lebanon
(Ezek. xxxi. 3-17), and his pride and fall are
also spoken of. The going (of Ephraim) to
Assyria is mentioned in Hos. vii. 11, viii. 9, and
the Israelites are to eat unclean things there
(ix. 3). As an empty vine, Israel is to be carried
to Assyria as a present to king Jareb, x. 6 (see
p. 286, n. 1.) ; she was to tremble as a dove out
of Assyria, xi. 11 (Assyria was probably cele
brated for its doves, which are i.ften men
tioned on the tablets). " The wasting of the
land of Assyria" is spoken of by Micah, v. 6
(the " land of Nimrod," mentioned immediately
after, is Babylonia). The destruction of Assyria
is again referred to in Zeph. ii. 13 ; in Zech. x.
10 the gathering of the chosen people from
Assyria is foretold ; and the country is again
mentioned in Mic. vii. 12 and Zech. x. 11.
The principal rivers were the Tigris (Akka
dian, Idigna; Assyrian, Idiglal; Heb., Hidde
kel, "that is eastward of Assyria," Gen. ii. 14),
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

and the Euphrates (Akkadian, Puranunu ; As
syrian, Purattu ; Heb., P'rath, Gen. ii. 14),
with their tributaries, of which may be men
tioned the Upper and Lower Zab, and the Choser,
which, coming from the Gebel-el-Maklub, flowed
through Nineveh into the Tigris.
2. Climate, c,c — The climate is that of a high-
lying land, being cool ; and consequently, having
a plentiful supply of water for irrigation, a
thriving vegetation flourished. All kinds of
grain, hemp, and cotton grew there, as well as
mulberry-trees, melons, apples, walnut- and
almond-trees, pomegranates, figs, olives, and
dates. There were excellent pasture-lands, and
honey was very plentiful. The mention of wine,
called by the Akkadians "the drink of life,"
testifies to the cultivation of the vine.
The animals which abounded in ancient times
were stags, roebucks, wild goats, wild asses, and
large-horned wild oxen. Lions (the short-maned
variety) were also very plentiful, and often
afforded sport for the Assyrian kings. The
preceding cut of a lion hunt by the king is
described by Layard as one of the finest speci
mens hitherto discovered of Assyrian sculpture.
The Assyrians possessed also excellent breeds of
horses, brought probably from Cappadocia. T

274

ASSYRIA

3. Chief Cities. — Assyria, on account of its
fruitfulness, its temperate climate, and the ener
getic nature of the people, soon became a
very powerful and prosperous country. Cities,
towns, and villages sprang up everywhere. The
chief city in later times was the renowned
Nineveh, now represented by the mound of
Kouyunjik, beside the Tigris. Close to Nineveh
lay the city Calah (Kalhu), nowNimroud, where
many early kings held' court. About 50 miles
south lay Assur, now represented by the mound
Kileh-Shergat. Sargon of Assyria built a
splendid palace at a town seemingly founded by
himself, which he called Dur-Sargina, " Sargon's
town," now Khorsabad. Among the other chief
cities of Assyria may _be mentioned Arba'-il or
Irba'-il (Arbela), Ekallate (" the city of
palaces "), Imgur-Bel (Balawat), and Kalzu,
where Sennacherib had a palace.
4. People. — Judging from the records which
have come down to us, we may infer that Assyria
was originally a Babylonian colony, whose first
settlement was probably the city of Assur, which
afterwards became the capital of the country.
The Assyrians therefore, speaking, as they did,
the same language as the Babylonians, must
have been of
the same race,
being the re
sult of inter
marriage be
tween Semitic
Babyloniansand non-Semi
tic Akkadians
and other
tribes dwell
ing in Meso
potamia. The
Assyrians, like
the Babylo
nians, were a
powerfully-built race,
thick-set, and
muscular. Their faces
were rather
round, the eyes
full, with the
eyebrows meeting over the nose. The mouth
was rather small, the nose short, curved down
wards at the tip, and provided with large
nostrils. The hair and beard were very dark.
The preceding cut shows well the type of face.
In disposition, judging from the general type of

Assyrian groom, time of Sargon.
From Khorsabad. (Layard.)

Impression from a cylinder-seal. Deltv and winged bolls
This shows tho Assyrian type of faco with great exactness.)

ASSYRIA
the people, from the royal portraits, and from
the correspondence between the king and his
subjects which has been found, they were mild
and good-humoured, but cruel and relentless in
war. They were very fond of pomp and show, but
seem to have far surpassed the peoples around
them in intelligence and energy. They were in
every respect as learned as the Babylonians from
whom they had sprung, and also quite as super
stitious. 5. Religion. — The religion ofthe Assyrians was
the same as that of their Babylonian ancestors.
The chief divinities were Assur (probably the
deified founder of the nation, cp. Gen. x. 22), the'

Emblem of Assur. (After Layard.)

national god, who was probably another form
of Bel (see above upon the name of the city and
country of Assur or Assyria) ; Beltu or Ileitis,
wife of Assur or Bel ; Merodach (see Jer. 1. 2),
the god who went about doing good to man
kind, and Zir-panitum his consort ; Ea " (Hea)
or Oannes, god of the sea, rivers, &c, and
of deep wisdom, and Dam-kina or Dauke his
consort ; Nabu or Nebo (see Is. xlvi. 1), the god
of learning and literature, and Tasme'tu his con
sort ; Nergal, god of war, and his consort Laz ;
Anu, god of the heavens, and his consort Anatu,
also called Lahmu and Lahamu (compared, by
change of A into A, with the Dakhe1 and Dakhos
of Damascius) ; Samas, the sun-god, and his con
sort, the moon-goddess Aa ; Sin, the moon-god,
also called Nannaru (Nanaros), the "lightgiver;"
Istar of Arbela, goddess of war, and Istar of
Nineveh, goddess of love ; Rammanu or Addu
(Rimmon or Hadad, see 2 K. v. 18), "the
Thunderer," god of the atmosphere, the winds,
storms, &c. ; Gula, " the great one," goddess
of healing ; Ninip, " lord of arms," also called
Uras ; Zagaga, " lord of the sanctuary ; " En-
nu-gi, "lord of brook and watercourse ;" Bilgi
or Gibil, the fire-god ; Dumu-zi, Tammuz or
Adonis, consort of Istar, worshipped by the
Assyrians and Babylonians, and also by the
Hebrew women, with lamentations (Ezek. viii.
15) ; besides many others, whose names and by
names are too numerous to mention.
The religious system of the Assyrians, which,
like the Babylonian, was of Akkadian origin,
was essentially astral, the determinative prefix
for divinity being an eight-rayed star f^jf;
(corrupted to y)2f- in late Assyrian and Baby
lonian texts). As this character was, after a
time, always used to indicate a divinity, the
group which stood for constellation (three stars
clustered together) came to be used to designate
the heavenly bodies. These were distinguished by
the following names : — Aku (compare Ari-aku=
Arioch, Gen. xiv. l) = Sin, the moon-god ; Bisebi
= Samas (Heb. Shemesh), the sun-god; Dapim

* Better, perhaps, Ae, as many texts give.

ASSYRIA

=Dun-sig-ea, identified with Mercury ; Sib or
Sib-zaga = Dilbat, Delephat or Istar (Venus) ;
Lulim= Lubat-sag-us, the planet Saturn ; Bibbu

Nebo. (From a statue in the British Museum)

= Lubat-guda or Musziz-bulim (also Mustarilu,
Arab. Mustari), Jupiter ; and Simutu = Musta-
barru-mutanu, " the foreboder of deaths," pro-

Emblems of the principal GodB. (Layard.)

bably the planet Mars (Nergal ; see 2 K. xvii.
30). The beginnings of the gods, according to
Babylonian cosmogony, are poetically told in the
first tablet of the Creation story :

ASSYRIA 275
When on high the heavens proclaimed not.
Beneath the earth recorded not a name,
The prirnawal al>y-<R begot them,
Mummu-Tiamat was she who bare them ;
Their waters at once burst lorth, and
Harvest was not gathered, tbe plain was unsought ;
"When none of the gods shone forth,
A name was not recorded, a symbol was not [raised ?],
The [great] gods were made :
Lahuiu and Laliamu shone forth [alone ?],
Until [the gods] grew up.
Sar and Kisar were made 
The days grew long 
Anu 
Sar and [Kisar] 
Lahmu and Lahamu (= Anu and his consort
Anatu) were therefore the first of the gods, and
it is probably for this reason that he was desig
nated by the number 1." In like manner some of
the other gods were distinguished by numbers,
Ninip's number being 50 ; the goddess Istar's,
15 ; Nergal's, 10 ; Nebo's, 10. Merodach's num
ber is unknown ; but that of the god Sin seems
to have been 30, from the thirty days of the
month, and that of the Sun-god 20. It is note
worthy that in the above list of gods identified
with the planets, the order is the same as that
of the days of the week, except that the Moon-
god Sin precedes the Sun-god Samas.
There was also a number of minor deities,
among which may be mentioned the fourteen
sons of Mah, " the supreme one ; " the four porters
of Mah ; the two porters of E-sagila (the temple
of Bel at Babylon) ; Ukkumu, Akkulu, Ikluda,
and Iltebu, the four dogs of Merodach ; Dumuzi-
abzu (" Tammuz of the Abyss "), Kigula, Nira,
Bara, Baragula, and Bur-nun-ta-sii, the six sons
of Ea or Ae (Oannes) ; together with others,
by-names or manifestations of the other deities.
Thus other names of Ninip are Sukkut (Siccuth,
if we may take the marginal reading of Amos v.
26) and Kdawanu (Chiun, Amos v. 26).
Besides these divinities, to whom the Assyrians
mostly attributed -a, beneficent power, they be
lieved in a large number of evil spirits, who were
only mentioned — and then not by name — to

Mythological representation, probably typifying protection from
an evil spirit. (Layard.)
Time of Assur-bani-apli or Afisar-bani-pal.
be exorcised. Thus we read of the evil utukku,
the evil dlu, the evil edimmu, tbe evil demon

>> The single wedge, standing for 1, is also read " 60,'
being the " sexagesimal unit."
T 2

276

ASSYRIA

ASSYRIA

(galla), the evil god, the evil incubus, the hag,
the labasu, the seizer, the lilu and the lilitu (evil
spirits of the abyss, of which the 'feminine, lilitu,
occurs in Hebrew under the form of lilith, which
is translated " screech-owl " in the Authorized
Version, and "night-monster" in theRevised. See
Is. xxxiv. 14). According to the Rabbins, the
lilith was a spectre in the form of a beautiful
woman, which lay in wait for children by
night. Besides these there were the servants
of the lilu and a whole row of spirits of evil,
who were believed to bring on sickness, mis
fortune, and all the ills that flesh is heir to.
Against these, incantations of various kinds were
used, the favourite formulae being those in which
Merodach, the god who went about doing good
to mankind, was invoked. Merodach was sup
posed to inquire of his father Ea or A6 (Oannes),
the " lord of deep wisdom," dwelling in the
abyss, who seems never to have failed to inform
his son how the suppliant might be cured or
relieved. The religious duties of the Assyrians consisted
of sacrifices, libations, prayers, and psalms. The
ceremonies were of varying forms. In some,
a kind of visitation was made to the shrine of

Winged figure with offerings. (Laya.d.)
Time cf AsSur-nasir-apll.
each god, and a verse was said or chanted before
the image of each, with bowings and other tokens
of adoration. Each day of the month was the
festival of, or sacred to, one or more deities : the
first day, for example, was sacred to Anu and
Bel, the second to Istar, the third to Merodach
and Zlr-panitum, the fourth to Nebo (and Me
rodach), the fifth to "the lord of the temple
and the lady of the temple," &c. Every seventh
day of each month, together with the nineteenth

day, was a kind of Sabbath, on which " the
prince of the great nations " was not to eat flesh
cooked by fire, was not to change his dress, was
not to put on white, was not to make sacrifice ¦
the king was not to ride in his chariot, and was
not to talk " victoriously ; " the seer was not to
try to find out secret places, the physician was
not to attend to the sick, and the day was not a
suitable one to make an incantation. In the
night, however, the king was to make offer
ings to Merodach and Istar, or Ninip or Gula
&c, as the case might be, to sacrifice a victim
and to raise his hands to the god in prayer.
Sometimes, it would seem, the image, or the
shrine of the god, was sprinkled with the water
of the river (Tigris or Euphrates), which was
probably consecrated for this purpose. Each
day had its religious duties.
A very favourite deity seems to have been
Istar of Arbela, goddess of war, whose oracle in
that city was in great repute. It is probable
that other deities had oracles as well, but few
or none of their enunciations have come down
to us.
6. Writing. — The wedge - writing in nse
amongst the Assyrians was inherited by them
from their Babylonian forefathers, and had
already, at the earliest period of real Assyrian
history, taken the form of groups of wedges,
several of which form a single character. The
early writing is rather complex, and differs
only slightly from the Babylonian of the same
period. Gradually, however, it became much
simpler, aud about the time of Tiglath-pileser I.
(1120 B.C.) reached (with but few exceptions)
the simple form which it retained to the last.
Assyrian handwriting is remarkable for its
clearness and the care which has evidently been
bestowed upon it by the Assyrian scribes. A
great advantage, also, to the modern student,
lies in the fact that the tablets bearing the
records are always kiln-burnt, and not, as
in Babylonia, merely sun-dried. During the
time of Sargon, the Assyrian conquests in
Babylonia — always a land of romance to the
learned Assyrian — caused the introduction of
certain Babylonian forms into the Assyrian
sign-list, but these were kept mostly for the
lapidary style. Like the Babylonians, the
Assyrians sometimes used the archaic style of
writing in late times, just as we sometimes use
the old black letter.
The characters were originally hieroglyphs :
>£[> for ^1 (the fingers of the hand), stand
ing for "hand" (kdtu); jj, for O (the sun's
disc, the intermediate form of which was O),
for " sun " (samsu), " day " («»i«), " to be
bright" (elelu), &c. ; j^-, for -^ (a star),
standing for "god" (Hit), "heaven" (same),
&c; feiY, for P^ (= 21, a foot), for "to
go " (dlaku), " to fix " (i.e. •' to set down the
foot," kdnu), &c, with many others of which
the hieroglyphic form can be traced. As re
marked above, the latest inscriptions show
the simplest forms, the examples here given
being written ^f, jft, ȣ, and J^.
Besides the pronunciation of these characters
given above (the ideographic value or meaning),

ASSYRIA
«ach character had one or more syllabic value*,
borrowed from Akkadian or Assyrian, as the
•case might be. Thus Ejl was pronounced i:t
(Akkadian), and kat (Assyrian) ; ^| was
pronounced ut, tu, tarn, par, pir, lah, aud hi}
(apparently all from Akkadian) ; »Y" was pro
nounced an (Akkadian), and il (Assyrian), and
JjSf was pronounced du, gin, and giib (Ak
kadian values). These values go to form new
words in Assyrian ; and despite their polyphony,
there is seldom any doubt upon that score as
to how " word is to be read. The system
of writing in Assyrian was threefold — it might
be wholly ideographic, as ^T »f- 4il fe^Tj
kat iii Samas ukda. "the hand of the sun-
god will establish," where each character
stands for a word ; partly ideographic, as
£¥ »f- jfc| £j~[ >>f-. hat ili-ia uka-an
(for ukdn, the final an being the " phonetic com
plement "), '• the hand of his god will establish,"
where the first, second, and fourth characters are
ideographic and the others syllabic ; c or wholly
syllabic, as |f ^f<£fcY4 W >TC4,
a-na mukhi lu-mut (ana muhhi lumut), "may
I die for (it)." d As a rule, the omens, medical
texts, and a few others, are written ideographi-
cally, or mostly so ; whilst the historical texts,
letters, interlinear translations, legends, &c,
are almost entirelv syllabicallv written. The
Assyrians nsed the Babylonian character as
well as the Assyrian, and of this the last
phrase given above is an example. The As
syrian forms of the same characters would be
Y¥>4T<*WAieBr>rc4.
The study of the Assyrian language and
syllabary is much lightened by the many
bilingual lists and svllabaries, the latter class of
tablets being, in fact, the fundamental texts for
the study of the language.0 These syllabaries
are of three classes : the first giving the syllabic
values of the characters (these are mostly
Akkadian words), the characters themselves,
and their names ; the second the syllabic values,
the characters, and their meanings ; and the
third the syllabic values, the characters, their
names, and their meanings. In the bilingual
lists the Akkadian words are often accompanied
by glosses indicating the pronunciation, but the
names of the characters are but rarely given.
As their name indicates, they give merely the
Akkadian word, group, or phrase, with the
Assyrian equivalent, and are written, as a rule,

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277

0 These two examples are not taken from any text; —
they are phrases made up by means of tbe four characters
given in illustration ofthe writing, to show how diversely
the same characters may be used.
d From the tablet K. 1249 (S. A. Smith's Keil-
schrifttexte Alsurbanipals, iii.), line 26.
« Even these, however, would have been of but little
use had it not been for the trilingual inscriptions of
Persia, which were worked out by Grotefend, Sir H. C
Rawlinson, and others. The Behistun inscription, the
text of which was obtained at great personal risk, and
was studied by Sir H. C. Ptawlinson, is the most impor
tant of the documents of this class.

in double columns. The syllabaries, however,
are written in threefold or fourfold columns,
as indicated above.
7. Literature and Learning.— The literature of
the Assyrians was the same as that of the Baby
lonians, and derived from the same Akkadian and
Sumerian sources. This inheritance from their
non-Semitic ancestors consisted of tablets on
language, Akkadian and Sumerian and Assyrian
word-lists and syllabaries or sign-lists wilh ex
planations, tablets of phrases and bilingual hymns,
prayers, and incantations. They had also the
legends of the Creation and the Flood, the farmer
seemingly of Sumerian origin. A large number
of oinen-tablets testifies to their superstition in
respect to the affairs of every-day life. Among
native Assyrian literary productions may be
mentioned the historical inscriptions, which are
often well and vigorously written, and a large
number of letters and despatches referring to all
kinds of civil and military matters. The Assy
rians wrote (and consequently spoke) a purer
dialect than the Babylonians, though the literary
ability of the two nations was probably equal.
Like the learned Babylonian, the Assyrian in
the same station of life had to be well instructed.
He was expected to know the old languages of
Sumer and Akkad as well as Aramaic and Phoe
nician. That the Assyrians knew Aramaic, and
also Hebrew, is proved by the passage in 2 K.
xviii. 17-35, in which the Rab-shakeh (rab-
saki) having harangued the people in Hebrew, is
requested to speak " in the Syrian language "
(Aramean), but refuses, and continues his rather
boastful and impudent speech in very good
Hebrew, in order that " the people on the wall "
might understand. The dragoman (targumanu
or turgumanu) was a recognised institution in
the principal cities. The Assyrian physician
(asw) knew the use of medicine, and surgical
operations were sometimes performed.
8. Trade. — The Assyrians were hardly such
keen traders as the Babylonians, but it is probable
that, if the Assyrian empire had not been over
thrown, they would have become the rivals of
the sister kingdom. The contracts which have
been found at Nineveh extend from the time of
Shalmaneser II. (859 E.C.) until the downfall of
the empire at the end of the 7th century B.C.
These contracts refer to field-produce of various
kinds, cattle, tracts of land, slaves, &c. &c;
They often bear Aramaic (Phoenician) dockets,
and were sometimes written in duplicate (like
the ancient Babylonian contracts), consisting of a
small inner tablet and an envelope inscribed with
the same transaction. There seems to have been a
brisk trade in horses carried on with Cappadocia,
and the existence of small objects of art of
Egyptian and Phoenician workmanship testifies
to a certain amount of commercial relationship
between Assyria and those countries. The dating
of all trade and official documents was by means
of the so-called eponymies (public officials whose
term of office lasted a year, and was taken in
rotation by those who were eligible), of whom
lists were made, from the remains of which
modern scholars have been able to reconstruct
the greater part of the Assyrian chronology.
[Babylon (the country), Time-reckoning, Dating
Records, Trade, Slavery.]
9. Art, Architecture, J-c. — Of the art of the
ancient Assyrians we have many specimens, con-

278

ASSYRIA

sisting of a splendid series of bas-reliefs and a
few statues, small clay figures of very fair
execution, and some ivory carvings. From these
objects it is easy to
see that the style of
their art was essenti
ally vigorous, the
muscles of both human
and animal forms being
very prominently and
carefully marked. They
were also skilful en
gravers and workers
in bronze and gold.
From the embroidered
robes of the kings re
presented on the sculp
tures, it is certain that
their textile fabrics
were not by any means
inferior to those of the
Babylonians. In all
branches of art, it is
in the reproduction of
animal forms that they
were most successful.
Especially noteworthy
are the splendid hunt
ing scenes at the time
of Assur-bani-apli, B.C.
668-626.
^The royal palaces, built upon mounds, were
adorned with sculptures and mural paintings,
and the entrances were generally ornamented

Assyrian ornament. (Layard.)

ASSYRIA
with figures of colossal bulls, the stone of which
was brought from a distance, roughly shaped up
dragged by means of ropes pulled by multitudes
of captives, and with the help of enormous
levers, upon the palace-mound, and, once in
position, there finished off. Captives were also
employed to form these enormous mounds.
From an architectural point of view it is
probable that the city and palace of Dflr-Sargina
(Khorsabad), excavated by Botta and Place are
the most interesting. As the name indicates, the
city was founded by Sargon of Assyria, about
the year 720. The city was four-square, with
the angles pointing to the four cardinal points.
On each side were two gates, eight in all/ some
of them of simple form and little ornamentation
others more highly decorated, and flanked with
the well-known winged-bulls, together with
human figures. The walls were provided with
turrets at regular intervals, and both walls and
turrets had battlements like steps. On the
north-west side of the city was the royal palace,
built partly outside the rectangle of the city.
The palace consisted of a series of buildings
erected on a rectangular platform, the portion
outside the city being surrounded by towers
with the usual step-battlements. Access was
gained to the platform by flights of steps, and
by inclines leading up to the walls, which seem
to have been level with the platform. The
palace itself consisted of series of chambers, with
the necessary communications, built round court
yards of various dimensions. To the left were
the chambers regarded as belonging to the

White

Observatory or Temple Tower at Khorsabad. (From Ha.Se, Nintert TAu^Lt

harem, beyond which the observatory- or temple-
tower (zikkurat) could be seen. This was a
tower similar to that at the Birs-Nimroud.
[See Babel, Tower of.] It was built in stao-es,
formed by an inclined rampart, which ran round
the structure seven times, and enabled the
Visitor to reach the top. The four lower
storeys are still perfect; each of them is

panelled and coloured : the three upper storeys
are gone, but may be easily restored from those
below, as shown in the annexed cut. The
remainder of the royal palace consisted of re-
r Named the gates of Samas, Rimmon, Bel, Beltis,
Anu, Istar, £a, and the " Lady of the Gods," respec
tively.

ASSYRIA

ASSYRIA

279

ception-rooms, dwelling-rooms, and store-rooms, I total of the rooms, great and small, numbered
the last occupying the eastern portion. The | about 209. Many of them were decorated with

City Gateway at Khoisabad. (From Place.)

mural paintings, bas-reliets, esc, like those in ] victories, and hunting-exploits of the king. The
the British Museum, representing the conquests, | architectural decorations of the walls were-

Temple-Tower (.zikkurat). From a bas-relief at Kouyunjik. (Layard,)

simple, being merely, in most cases, a series of
flutings forming long rows of recesses. The
effect of the whole, however, was good. The

south-eastern gateway (that looking towards
the town) was adorned by winged bulls and
figures of the hero Giltubar, holding in one

280

ASSYRIA

arm a struggling lion. The gateways were
arched ; and flanked by towers, adorned by the
recess-ornaments above mentioned. The whole
must have been grand in its simplicity. This
palace at Khorsabad may be regarded as a typical
specimen of the best kind of Assyrian architecture.
The other palaces differed from it iu the arrange
ment and number of the rooms, &c, but they
were all built upon the same general principle.

ASSYRIA
One of the most distinctive features of
Assyrian as of Babylonian architecture is the
zikkurat or temple-tower, such as the Tower of
Babel must have been. Besides the form with
an inclined rampart running round, as described
above, others were to be seen, of a less pretend
ing but, at the same time, more picturesque
and symmetrical nature. These were provided
with steps leading up to an upper platform and

a central door, from which walks branched off
on each side, so that, instead of entering the first
chamber, the visitor might make his way to an
incline leading to an upper stage, and so, by the
same means, in some, to a third, on the top of
which it is supposed a shrine was built, for the
statue of the god there worshipped. Such a
tower is seen in a bas-relief found at Kouyunjik
(see cut), containing four stages, of which the

topmost is imperfect, owing to the destruction
of the upper portion of the tablet.
A similar tower is found in the remains of
the ancient temple at Mukeyyer.
The houses of the common people were mostly
very simple in design, and were probably, for the
most part, built of unburnt brick. Of their exact
form, however, there is some doubt, as the sculp
tures do not, as a rule, show Assyrian houses.

ASSYRIA
They were probably similar to those still found
in the country (see Rawlinson's Ane. Monarchies,
vol. i. pp. 403, 404).

ASSYRIA

281

Br

inn™

Tower of Temple restored.
The Assyrians, as builders, were clever and
systematic. They knew the use of the arch, but
were timid in its employment. In their lighter
style of architecture they used columns of various
shapes, some of them resembling the Corinthian,
Ionic, and Doric columns of Greek architecture.
These columns sometimes rest on bases similar
to the capitals, sometimes on the backs of animals.
As an additional ornament, an ibex is sometimes
placed on the summit. The walls of their palaces
were not only lined with sculptured slabs, they
were decorated also with mural paintings of scenes
in the battle-field, &c, elegant patterns, and other
devices. In some, if not most cases, the ceil
ings were decorated, and furnished with a central
knob, pierced for the suspension of a lamp.
The Assyrians were skilful agriculturists,
having inherited a knowledge of this science
from the Babylonians. Like them, too, they had
an extensive svstem of canals, watercourses, &c,
for the irrigation of their fields. One of the
sculptures has a small but well-executed repre
sentation of the use of the shadouf for raising
water for irrigation. They were also extensive
breeders of cattle, horses, asses, mules, camels,
hunting-dogs, &c. It is probable that " the bee
that is in the land of Assyria " (Isa. vii. 18)
refers as much to the industry of the people as
to their warlike (stinging and chastising)
nature. 10. War. — It is clear, from the sculptures and
inscriptions, that the Assyrians possessed disci
plined and organized troops, well-drilled, hardy,
experienced in war, and well exercised in the
use of the sword, spear, dagger, bow, and sling.
They must have known something of military
tactics : the movement of troops to the attack,
the retreat, and the various other movements
necessary, were apparently executed in military
order. The king led in person, accompanied by
his turtanu or tartanu (Tartari), li commander-
in-chief; " sud-saMf " major-generals ; " rab-mki
^Rab-shakeh), "generals ;" mki, "captains," and
other officers. The army was attended by a
large following; and the king, and probably his
officers also, had every luxury which could at
such a time and under such conditions be sup
plied to them. M usicians accompanied the
troops. In besieging a city, banks were cast up against
it, battering-rams were used to overthrow the
walls and to make breaches in them, sappers
s The sud-saki was sometimes a eunuch.

and miners were set to work, large missiles were
thrown by means of catapults and similar engines.
Forts were built around the city (cp. Jer. iv. 2
and Iii. 4), and from these, as well as from tho

ASSor-nasir-apli in his War Costume. (Nimroud.)

tops of the battering-rams and from the ground,
the Assyrian sharpshooters picked off' the de
fenders who were on the wall. Slingers also
went to work with their missiles. A very good

Assyrian Battering-rams.
but short account of a siege is given by Sen
nacherib when speaking of his attack on Jeru
salem. He says that he besieged and captured
the cities around " with smiting (?) of battering
rams (?) and shooting (?) with the catapult (?),

282

ASSYRIA

breaking away the wall (?) at the foot, breach
ing, cutting, and earthworks." h After the
capture of a city, the king, when present, sat
in state to receive the prisoners and spoils.
Those of the inhabitants who had incited to
resistance were often executed and impaled.
After the capture the cities were often destroyed
by fire, and the inhabitants carried away into
captivity. [Army.]
The arms of the Assyrians were the sword,
dagger, spear, bow, and sling. The defensive
armour of the soldiers varied considerably. Some
seem to be quite naked as to the upper part of
the body, whilst others wore cuirasses, chain mail,
or scale armour. They wore also helmets of
bronze and iron. They had shields of varying
sizes and shapes, made of metal (bronze), hide, or
wicker-work, the smaller being of the former
and the larger of the latter material. The large

ASSYRIA
shields or pavois were often of a sufficient size
to shelter two or three men completely. From
these portable walls they attacked their foes,
and it is probably to the excellence of their defen
sive armour that their successes were often due.
For drawings of the Assyrian arms, see Arms.
Of all the Eastern nations of old time,
probably none surpassed the Assyrians in love
of deeds of arms. The extent of their conquests
alone is a sufficient proof of their energy in
this respect. War was with them a study, and
none of the surrounding nations had better
arms, both offensive and defensive, than they.
They were also no mean military engineers
for their time. Rivers were crossed by means
of pontoon bridges ; every camping -place was
carefully fortified. In besieging a town, towers,
from which the soldiers might attack it by
shooting and otherwise killing the defenders,

Capture of a City. Time of Tiglath-pileser III. (Lftyavd.)

were raised close to the walls; breaches
were made in the walls by means of battering-
rams, so constructed that from their tops also
the Assyrian archers might annoy the defenders ;
and sometimes also the walls were undermined,
and an entrance thus made. As rulers over
couquered nations they were harsh, and as con
querors usually ruthlessly cruel.
11. Government. — In Assyria the king was su
preme, though it is probable that he often asked
the counsel of the chief men of the country. Next
to the king was the turtanu or tartanu ("tartan,"
Is. xx. 1 ; 2. K. xviii. 17), the chief of the army,
and under him the rab-sake (" Rabshakeh," Is.
xxxvi. 2, &c.), the chief of the captains, who,

h These last three expressions are, iu Assyrian : pils'e,
niksi, d labbanati, from palalu, "to make a hole,"
nakasu, " to cut," and labanu, " to lay bricks."

when the king did not himself go on an expe
dition, took the command. The country was
divided into several districts, administered by a
salat, or "ruler," who seems to have sent in
periodically reports to the king as to the admin
istration of affairs in his district ; and, if that
district were an outlying one, he gave accounts
also of the movements of the people, and espe
cially of the army, on the other side of the
boundary. The government in Assyria itself
seems to have been mild, and rebellions against
the authority of the " great king " were com
paratively rare. Those unjustly treated, or
against whom any complaint had been lodged,
seem to have had the right of appeal, or of
justification, before the king himself.
12. History. — Assyria seems to have been a
colony of Babylonia, but the period at which
the colonisation took place is quite unknown,

In

ASSYRIA
the earliest times the country was governed by
viceroys or underkings (in Akkadian patcsi, and
in Assyrian isiakku), subject, probably, to the
principal Babylonian kingdom. On a brick
from the site of Assur are found the names of
Irisu and his father Hallu, who seem to have
restored the temple of Assur in that city.
Later, probably, came Ismi-Dagan and his son
Samsi-Rammanu I., who reigned about 18-0 B.C.
The latter built a temple in the city of Assur to
the gods Anu and Rammanu. There is no real
history, however, until the time of Assur-zakir-
esir, who was engaged in some disputes with
Babylonia (probably about 1600 B.C.), the result
of which seems to have been that war broke out
in the time of his successor, Ninip-tukul-Assuri.
About the year 1+50 15.0. Assur-bel-nisi-su
ruled in Assyria, and discussions took place
between him and Kara-indas, king of Kardunias,
about the boundaries of Assyria and Babylonia,
pledges being given and received on both sides.
The discussion, however, was continued during
the reign of the next king, Buzur-Assur, who
came to an agreement about the boundaries with
Burna-burias, who had, in the meanwhile, come
to the Babylonian throne.
About the year 1400 B.C., Assur-uballit came
to the throne of Assyria, and the two nations
were upon such good terms that Assur-uballit
gave his daughter Muballitat-Serua in marriage
to the king of Babylonia. Kara-Murdas, the
fruit of this marriage, duly became king of
Babylon. Some discontented Kassites, however,
arose, and killed Kara-Murdas, setting Nazi-
bugas on the Babylonian throne instead. The
Assyrian king marched into Babylonia and
avenged the death of his grandson, by deposing
and killing Nazi-bugas, and setting Kuri-galzu
on the Babylonian throne. Assur-uballit was
renowned as a conqueror, and also restored
several temples of his country. He was suc
ceeded by his son Bel-nirari, who — evidently
thinking that Kuri-galzu, who was forming an
alliance with Gur-ba-tila, king of Elam, was
getting too powerful — marched into Babylonia
and defeated them at Sugaga. A new rectifica
tion of the boundary now took place.
The next two kings, Budu-ilu and Rammanu-
nirari I., extended considerably the limits of the
empire. He defeated Nazi-JIurudas at the battle
of Kar-Istar-Akarsalu, and the boundary of the
two countries was afterwards again rectified,
probably to the great advantage of the Assyrians.
Shalmaneser I. succeeded his father Rammanu-
nirari about 1300 B.C., and continued his con
quests. He removed the royal seat of govern
ment from Assur, the old capital, to Nineveh,
and built there a temple to the goddess Ishtar.
The Assyrian empire continued to increase under
Tukulti-Ninip, who conquered Babylonia, and
ruled over the whole country from the Armenian
mountains to the Persian Gulf. The next king
of Assyria, Bel-kudurri-usur, was attacked and
killed by the Babylonian king, who during his
reign had declared himself independent, riinip-
apil-ekur, who came to the throne about 1220
B.C., had to be continually on the alert to defend
himself against the various hostile tribes around
Assyria. Assur-djln,1 son of Ninip-apil-Skur, made in-

ASSYRIA

283

1 This name may also be read ASSur-danan.

roads into Babylonia. His reign was, on the
whole, very prosperous, l'or it is said of him
that he " was the bearer of a glorious sceptre,
the ruler of the people of Bel, the work of
whose hands and the giving of whose offering
pleased the great gods, so that he attained to a
y;uod old age." He pulled down the great temple
of Anu and Rimmon at Assur, intending to
restore it, but died before the rebuilding was
begun. Of Mutakkil-Nusku, his son, nothing is
known except that he rebuilt the palace at
Nineveh. He seems not to have been a very
energetic ruler, but his son, Assur-res-ist, who
mounted the throne about 1150 B.C., carried his
arms far and wide. He made expeditions in
both Armenia and Babylonia, and " overthrew
all the mighty ones."

Figure of Tiglath-pileser I. (From a rock tahlet near Koikhar.)
Most glorious, however, was the reign of
Tiglath-pileser I., who succeeded his father,
Assur-rSs-isi, about 1120 B.C. He claims to
have fought with sixty kings, and the countries
mentioned in his annals include the Muskaia or
people of Mesech; the land Hatte, supposed to
be Hit ; the land Nai'ri or Armenia, then
governed by no less than twenty-three kings,
with many other districts. He is said also to
have captured Babylon and ravaged the whole
of Upper Babylonia. At the death of Tiglath-
pileser I. Assyria was the foremost power in the
world. It is probable, however, that this empire
decayed greatly under his son and successor,
Assur-bSl-kala. This ruler made a treaty with
Marduk-sapik-kullat, king of Kardunias or Baby
lonia, and afterwards married the daughter of
his successor.
A gap of about 130 years now occurs in the
history of Assyria, for it is not until about the
year 950 B.C. that the kingdom again emerges
from obscurity. The first ruler after the gap
was Tiglath-pileser II., of whom nothing is
known. AsSur-dan or Assur-danan II. rebuilt
the cities and temples of Assyria. Rammanu-
nirari II. made many expeditions, and again
extended the limits of the kingdom. In the
year 892 B.C. Tukulti-Ninip II. came to the
throne, and during a short reign of seven years
greatly extended his dominions, especially on

284

ASSYRIA

the north-east of Assyria. This king ruled also
over Babylonia, but how he came to the throne
of that country is unknown. This prince's end
was, on the whole, a sad one. A revolt took
place in Akkad, which proved successful, and
Tukulti-Ninip was obliged to flee. After his

ASSYRIA
The new king was most warlike, and exceed
ingly successful in his expeditions. He carried
the arms of Assyria to the coast of the Mediter
ranean on the west, and to Suhi (supposed to
be the land of Bildad the Shuhite, Job ii. 11) on
the east. He claims to have conquered the

arrival at the city called, after him, Kar-
Tukulti-Ninip, a revolt took place in Assyria
itself, led by the king's own son, Assur-nasir-
apli, the result being the death of the king,
and the accession of As"sur-nasir-apli to the
throne of Assyria about the year 885 B.C.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser U.
whole of the land of Nai'ri (Armenia), and to
hive reconquered the district of Babylonia called
Birati. He was a most able ruler, and raised

"The tribute of Jehu, son of Omrl." Black Obelisk. (Layard.)

his country to a great pitch of prosperity. He
was succeeded, about the year 860 B.C., by his
son Salmanu-asarid or Shalmaneser II.
Shalmaneser 11. was in every way as warlike
as his father. His first expeditions were to the

countries north and west of Assyria, Van and
Ararat, and the kingdoms of which Til-Barsip
and Carchemish were the capitals. Til-Barsip
he annexed to Assyria, changing its name to
Kar Salmanu-asarid (" Shalmanesersburgh ").

ASSYRIA
The next important struggle, in which the
Assyrians were engaged was that with the
Syrian league, in which the leading state was
Damascus, then ruled by Addu-'idri (Ben
hadad). The united forces of the twelve states
engaged amounted to between 80,000 and 90,000
men, and to this vast army Ahab of Israel con
tributed 10,000 footmen and 2,000 chariots.
The Assyrians gained the victory, but probably
at heavy cost.
The next war in which the Assyrian arms
were engaged was in Babylonia, whither Shal
maneser led his forces to help Marduk-sum-iskun,
king of Babylonia, against Marduk-bel-usate,
who had rebelled. The Assyrian king seems to
have succeeded in restoring order.
In the following years, Shalmaneser tried
again twice to put down the Syrian league, but
it was not until the year 842 B.C. that he finally
crushed it. On this occasion Hazael (Haza'ilu),
who was then king of Samaria, was defeated at
Saniru, a mountain near Lebanon. 16,000 of
his troops are said to have been slain, and his
camp captured. Hazael was afterwards besieged
by the Assyrian army in his capital Damascus.
Shalmaneser next went to Ba'ilira'isi, near the
seacoast, and whilst there received tribute from
the Tyrians, the Sidonians, and from Jehu, "son
of Omri."
During the last four years of his reign Shal
maneser had to contend with a wide-spread dis
affection in Assyria, in which a revolt took
place, headed by Assur-dan-apli, the king's own
eldest son. Samsi-Rammauu, a younger son,
put down the revolt, and, Shalmaneser having
died whilst the struggle was going on, succeeded
him about the year 825 B.C.
The new king followed in his father's foot
steps, and raised again the influence of Assyria.
He reconquered Nairi, and conquered several
other nations north and east of Assyria. He
invaded Babylonia several times, and annexed
some parts of it.
Rammanu-nirari, his son, was also a great
conqueror. He attacked the Hatte, the Tyrians
and Sidonians, and the " land of Omri." On the
north he invaded Van, and on the south and east
Babylonia and Media. The wife of this king
was named Sammuramat or Semiramis.
Rammanu-nirari was succeeded by Shal
maneser III. 783 B.C. He attacked the region of
Itu' in Babylonia, Armenia, Van, Syria, Harhar,
Media, &c. He died in 773 B.C., and was suc
ceeded by Assur-dan III., a king of whom very
little is known. At the beginning of his reign
he attacked Damascus and Hadrach, and after
wards made an expedition to the mountainous
district of Gannanati, near the modern Hulwan.
In the year 763 a revolt took place at the old
capital Assur, and lasted for six years, during
which no foreign expeditions took place.
Assur-nirari II. succeeded Assur-dan III. in
the year 735 B.C. This ruler does not seem to
have been so active as to his foreign policy
as his predecessor, the only expedition made
being to Hadrach, Arpad, and Namri. This
inactivity probably caused discontent, for
Tiglath-pileser III., the successor of Assur-
nirari II., came to the throne about 745 B.C.
The reign of this king is one of the most impor
tant in the history of Assyria. He was called
Pulu by the Babylonians, and must therefore be

ASSYRIA

285

the same as the Pul of 2 K. xv. 19, and 1 Ch. v.
26.j In tho first years of his reign he made an
expedition against Babylonia, at that time split
up into a great many small states, and conquered
the whole of the southern part of the country.
Other conquests of this king were the people
of Namri, the Medes, the Armenians, and the
people of Kurnmuha. On the west the Syrians,
including Rezon of Samaria, Hiram of Tyre,
and Pisiris of Carchemish, were obliged to give
tribute. The next year, however, Arpad, one of
the principal cities of Syria, was fortified to
resist the Assyrian inroads ; and Tiglath-pileser,
finding that his former vassals had thrown off
their allegiance, again marched against them.
It was apparently whilst he was known to the
Israelites as Pul that Menahem of Israel gave
him a thousand talents of silver to withhold
from attacking that country (2 K. xv. 19). This
probably took place whilst he was on one of
these western expeditions.
For two years the Assyrian army besieged
Arpad, but the city was at the end of that time
captured, and the whole of Northern Syria sub
mitted. After this Tiglath-pileser went against
the allied forces' of Judah (then ruled by
Azariah) and Hamath. The forces of these two
nations were defeated, and the Assyrian king
divided the conquered countries amongst his
generals. He afterwards received tribute from
all the kings of Syria, amongst whom were
Rezon of Syria, Hiram of Tyre, &c, together
with Zabibe, queen of Arabia. According to
2 K. xv. 29. Ijon, Abel-beth-maachah, Janoah,
Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, in Naphtali,
were all taken, and the people carried into
captivity by Tiglath-pileser. This apparently
took place on one of these expeditions.
Tiglath-pileser, after again making expeditions
against Media and Armenia, marched, at the
request of Ahaz, king of Judah, against Syria,
with which Judah was then at war (see 2 K.
xvi. 7-9, &c). The army of Rezon, king of
Syria, was totally defeated, and Rezon himself
took refuge in his capital, Damascus, which the
Assyrian king besieged, and, leaving there part
of his army, overran with the other part the
kingdom of Israel, whose king, Pekah, whilst
the Assyrian army was ravaging the country,
took refuge in Samaria. .The Ammonites,
Moabites, and Philistines were alike compelled
to submit to the Assyrian king.
Damascus was at last captured by the
Assyrians in 732. Rezon was taken and slain,
and the inhabitants carried into captivity. At
a great court held by Tiglath-pileser at Damas
cus, Ahaz of Judah appeared among the vassals
of Assyria who came to do homage to the
Assyrian king. Tiglath-pileser made conquests

J There Is considerable difference of opinion concern
ing these two kings, Pul and Tiglath-pileser, some
scholars believing them to be the same, others regarding
them as different rulers. In the passages here quoted,
it reads as if Pul and Tiglatbipileser were two different
rulers, but the silence of the Assyrian and Babylonian
records concerning any conflict makes it almost certain
that they were one and the same. It was not unusual
for kings of Assyria to assume the names of the re
nowned hero-kings of former times (Sargon of Assyria
is supposed to have done so), and for an ambitious ruler
to assume the glorious name of Tiglath-pileser I. was
only to be expected.

286

ASSYRIA

also in Syria and Babylonia, and ruled over the
latter country for two years. He died about
the year 727 B.C., and was succeeded by Shal
maneser IV.
Shalmaneser IV.,k who was king of Babylon
as well as of Assyria, invaded Palestine, and
attacked Hoshea, king of Israel, who " became
his servant, and gave him presents " (2 K. xvii.
3), in order to buy off the Assyrian king. Shal
maneser finding, however, that his vassal was
transferring his allegiance to So, king of Egypt
(v. 4), marched against him, threw him into
prison, and besieged Samaria, his capital. The
city was taken after a three years' siege (ot. 5, 6),
and the Israelites were carried captive to
Assyria, and placed in Gozan and the cities of
the Medes. He died in the year 722 B.C.
Sargon, founder of a new dynasty, succeeded
Shalmaneser IV. as king of Assyria ; and four
months after the death of Shalmaneser, Mero
dach-baladan took advantage of the state of
affairs in Assyria to mount the Babylonian
throne. Sargon was a most vigorous ruler, and his
conquests were very extensive. He fought with
the Babylonians under Merodach-baladan, the
Elamites under Humbanigas, the Hamathites,
and the people of Van. He directed also an
expedition against Yavan, king of Ashdod, under
the command of the Tartan, or commander-in-
chief of the army, who took that city (Is. xx.
1). Bit-Humria (Beth-Omri) was also attacked.
Each foe was in turn conquered, and in the end
Merodach-baladan, who had resisted well, was
captured and deposed, Sargon himself mounting
the Babylonian throne and ruling the country
for five years. This ruler built the city Dur-

Sennacherib in bis chariot returning from battle. From Konyunjik. (Layard.)

Savgina (" Sargonsburgh "), now called Khorsa
bad, about ten miles from Nineveh.1
Sennacherib, son of Sargon, succeeded him
in the year 705 B.C. He soon found himself
engaged in a war with Babylon, Merodach-
baladan having profited by the death of Sargon
k This king ib apparently the same as Ululao, the
Elulaeus ot the Canou of Ptolemy.
1 The king Jareb mentioned in Hosea v. 13 is
regarded by Prof. Sayce as being the some as Sargon.

ASSYRIA
to get an army together. The Babylonian
forces were defeated by Sennacherib at the
battle of Kes, near Babylon. Merodach-baladan
fled, and escaped by hiding himself in the
marshes of Guzummu. Sennacherib set a young
man named Bel-ibni upon the throne of Babylon.
The next important expedition of Sennacherib
was against Hezekiah, king of Judah. He began
by attacking the nations lying on the coast of
the Mediterranean, and brought to submission
Great Sidon, Little Sidon, Achzib, Accho, &c.
Menahem of Samaria, Abdi-li'ti of Arvad,
Mitinti of Ashdod, together with the chiefs or
kings of many other well-known nations, gave
tribute. Sidka (Zedekiah) of Askelon, however,
being unsubmissive, was deposed, and Sarru-
ludiri was made king in his stead. Beth-
Dagon, Joppa, Beneberak, and Azuru, cities
dependent on Askelon, were next captured.
Padi, king of Ekron, had been more obedient
to the Assyrian king than his subjects liked; and
they, loading their royal master with chains,
had delivered him up to Hezekiah, and they had
also made alliance with the kings of Egypt and
the king of Ethiopia. These princes came with
their armies to help the people of Ekron, and
made ready for battle within sight of Eltekeh.
The Assyrians, however, were victorious over
this large force, and Eltekeh and Timnah ¦
naturally fell. The people who had dethroned
Padi were executed, and Sennacherib caused him
to be brought out of Jerusalem and seated him
again on his throne. Sennacherib now says that
he took twenty-six strong cities of Judah, with
innumerable smaller towns around them, and
then besieged Hezekiah within Jerusalem,
making him, as the Assyrian account says, " like
si caged bird." Tbe
cities captured by Sen
nacherib were separa
ted from his country,
and distributed among
the kings of Ashdod,
Ekron, and Gaza.
Hezekiah himself sent,
as tribute, 30 talents
of gold, 800 talents of
silver, many kinds of
precious stones and
woods, &c, to Nineveh,
and made obeisance by
nis ambassador to the
Assyrian king.
Thestoryoi' the Assy
rian king, however, is
a lame account, and it
is clear, from what the
Assyrians themselves
say, that the expedi
tion was not by any
means successful, and
that the account given in 2 Kings xviii., Is.
xxxvi.-xxxvii., and 2 Chron. xxxii. is the right
one. The taking of " all the fenced cities of
Judah " refers evidently to the twenty-six strong
cities, with the numberless small towns around,
mentioned by Sennacherib. Then, according to
2 K. xviii. 14, followed the giving of tribute,
300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold—
the amount of gold given agreeing in both
accounts. This tribute was, according to the
Assyrian account, sent to Nineveh. Notwith-

ASSYRIA
standing this, the siege of Lachish was con
tinued, and thence the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and
the Rabshakeh were sent to Jerusalem to demand
full submission and to enforce their demand by
laying siege to the city. In the meantime,
Sennacherib had left Lachish, and gone against
Libnah. [Lachish.] Then it was that the
Assyrian king heard of the advance of Tirhakah,
king of Egypt, and, marching to meet him, de
feated him at the battle of Eltekeh. Then
followed the disaster to the Assyrian army
around Jerusalem — -probably they were smitten
with some kind of plague — and the abandon
ment of the expedition.
Sennacherib next went against Babylon, and
defeated, at Bit-tutu, the forces of the pretender
Suzub. Sennacherib set on the throne of Baby
lon his own eldest son, Assur-nadin-sum. The
Assyrian king then attacked various tribes of
Asia Minor, and chastised the Chaldean settlers
on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Suzub
now came forth again ; raised, with the help of
the king of Elam, an army, and proclaimed him
self king of Babylon, but was again defeated,
and sent in chains to Nineveh. Sennacherib's
next expeditjon was against Elam.
Another Suzub, the Musezib-Marduk of the
Babylonian Chronicle, now arose. He made
alliance with Elam and with the son of Merodach-
Baladan. The enormous forces of the allied
armies were defeated at the battle of Halule.
Suzub, who was afterwards delivered by the
Elamite king into the hands of the Assyrians,
seems to have succeeded iu getting free once
more, but was killed, in Northern Babylonia, by
a fall from his horse.
Sennacherib was killed, in 681 B.C., by his
sons, Adrammelech (see Adrammelech 2) and
Sbarezer, who revolted against their father.
Civil war now ensued for a space of nearly three
months, at the end of which time Esarhaddon
mounted the Assyrian throne (B.C. 681). Com
pare 2 K. xix. 37 : Is. xxxvii. 38 ; 2 Ch. xxxii.
21. The new ruler was mild, but vigorous. He
rebuilt Babylon, conquered the son of Merodach-
Baladan, defeated the Phoenicians, and made
all the kings of the district, including Manasseh
of Judah, tributary to him. He made also the
kings of Cyprus tributary, checked the inroads
of the Cimmerians, fought against the Medes,
Vanites, and Arabians, and conquered Tirhakah,
king of Egypt, taking possession of that country,
and dividing it into twelve states, appointing a
native ruler to each. Besides this, he carried
many of the Israelites captive (Ezra iv. 2), and
brought Manasseh, king of Judah, in chains to
Babylon, where he held his court (2 Ch. xxxiii.
11). He died in the year 668 B.C., whilst on
his way to Egypt, to quell a revolt there.
Assur-bani-apli, his eldest son, succeeded Esar
haddon in Assyria.
The first expedition of this king is seemingly
that in which his father had died. Tirhakah,
the leader of the revolt in Egypt, was defeated,
and compelled to flee to Ethiopia. On the
withdrawal of the Assyrians from Egypt, another
revolt took place, Tirhakah having allied him
self with the native governors set up by Esar
haddon. The allied forces were defeated, and
Tirhakah fled to Ethiopia, where he soon after
wards died. Rud-ammon, however, nephew of

ASSYRIA

287

Tirhakah, had more success, and put an end, for
a time, to the Assyrian dominion in Egypt,
but the Assyrians afterwards reconquered the
country. Assur-bant-apli's next expedition was against
Tyre, which state he compelled to submit,
together with several small kingdoms on tho
sea-coast. Later, Gyges of Lydia sent an em
bassy with rich presents to Assyria, but at the
same time made alliance with Tusamilki, king
of Egypt, against Assur-bani-apli, the result
being the overthrow of the Assyrian power in
Egypt. About the year 660 B.C. the Assyrian king
made an expedition to try to check the inroads
which were being made on the eastern, border of
Assyria, and then directed his forces against
Ahseri, king of Van, whom he defeated. Biriz-
hadri, chief of the land Aa, and two chiefs of
the Sahi, sons of Gagi (or Gog), were next
attacked and captured. Later on, affairs in
Elam attracted the attention of the Assyrian
king, who was obliged to send an army against
Urtak, king of Elam. On being defeated,
Urtak, in his mortification, committed suicide.
He was succeeded by Te-Umman, who tried to
kill all the relatives of the late king ; and these,
to escape his fury, took refuge in Assyria. On
the Assyrian king refusing to give them up,' war
was declared. Te-Umman fell in the battle of
Shushan, and the whole of Elam was at the
mercy of the conqueror, who raised one of the
fugitives, named Umman-igas, to the throne.
For a while Assyria was at peace, but this
was at last broken by Saosduchinos, brother of
Assur-bani-apli, who tried to free Babylonia
from the Assyrian yoke. The Assyrians, how
ever, were again victorious ; Babylon was taken,
and Saosduchinos, fearing to fall into the hands
of his brother, set fire to his palace and perished
in the flames (648 B.C.).
The Assyrian king next had a dispute with
Umman-aldas, who had succeeded Umman-igas
as king of Elam. An expedition was set on
foot, and Elam was again conquered, and another
king, named Tammaritu, was placed on the
Elamite throne. The new king, however, began
at once to plot against the power which had
raised him, the result being that he was deposed
and thrown into prison, and Umman-aldas' came
back and resumed the government. Assur-bani-
apli was nevertheless determined to try to
completely crush the Elamites, and to this end
set another expedition on foot, the pretext being
the detention by the Elamites of an image of the
goddess Nana, carried away by an Elamite king
from Erech in Babylonia 1535 years before. In
every encounter the Elamites were defeated, the
image of Nana was restored to its long-forsaken
home, and Elam was completely wasted. The
next and last recorded war of Assur-bani-apli
was against Uate', king of Arabia, who, with
some other Arabian princes, was taken prisoner.
The Assyrian king afterwards held a thanks
giving-festival at Nineveh, in which Uate',
Tammaritu, Pa'e, and Umman-aldas' took an
unenviable part, being obliged to draw the
Assyrian king, in his chariot, to the temple
called Bit-masmasu, where the religious cere
mony took place.
The history of the last years of this king is
unknown, but it is supposed that he made,

288

ASSYRIA

during this Deriod, an expedition against Tyre,
whose king was deposed and an Assyrian governor
appointed in his place. If he be, as is supposed,
the Asnapper of the Book of Ezra iv. 10, it is
probable that it was on this occasion that the
nations mentioned in v. 9 were settled in the
cities of Samaria. [Asnapper.] Assurbanipal
seldom or never conducted his expeditions in
person ; he was, in fact, no warrior. He boasts,
however, of his exploits in the hunting-field ;
and the sculptures representing his adventures
with lions, &c, are among the best which
Assyrian art has produced.
Assur-bani-apli is supposed to have been
succeeded, about 626 B.C., by Assur-etel-ilani-
kSn, of whom nothing is known except that he
reigned at least four years. The next king
seems to have been Sin-sarra-iskun, who was
apparently au Assyrian, though his records are
written after the Babylonian model. Unfortu
nately, none of the inscriptions which he has
left are historical. All that can be said is that
the principal document bearing his name is
dated in the eponymy of Daddi, the Tukulu,

ASSYRIA
an officer whose turn generally fell in the fifth,
but sometimes also in the seventh year of a
king's reign, implying that Sin-sarra-iskun had
occupied the throne of Assyria for at least five
years. Nineveh was, in his time, still in exist
ence, and he calls the people over whom he
ruled "a vast people," and says that the gods
had caused his enemies to be slain. Assyria
certainly existed in his time as a nation, and
apparently as an independent power.
This king was evidently the Saracus of
Syncellus,™ and under him the overthrow of
Nineveh took place. The history of the end
is well known. Saracus, having heard that a
great band of barbarians had come up from the
sea to attack him, sent his general Busalossor
(Nabopolassar) to Babylon. Having arrived
there, he plotted against Saracus, and made
alliance with the Medes, cementing it by ar
ranging the betrothal of Nebuchadnezzar, his
son, with Amuhia, a daughter of Asdahages, a
Median prince. Busalossor then hastened to
attack Nineveh ; and when the Assyrian ruler
heard of his march, he set fire to his royal palace

Assur-bani-apU or Assurbanipal hunting the lion. (Layard.)

and was burned to death. Nabopolassar (Busa
lossor), father of Nebuchadnezzar, received the
government of the Chaldeans and of Babylon.
Until we get more certain ioformation, it is
impossible to say how the fall of Assyria really
happened, but it is most likely that the above,
which is that given by Eusebius from Abydenus,
is correct. If, however, Nabopolassar were
under the king of Assyria, it was as vassal-king
of Babylon and not as a general of the Assyrian
army. B.C. 606, the received date of the fall of
Nineveh, was the 19th year of Nabopolassar as
king of Babylon, and agrees therefore fairly
with the indications furnished by the wedge-
inscriptions, both of Assyria and Babylonia.
After the fall of Nineveh, Assyria was divided
between Media and Babylonia, the latter power
taking as her share only that part which lay
along aud to the west of the Euphrates. The
share, therefore, fell to the Medes, and

lion's

this accounts at once for her silence in history
and progress ; for if the whole of Assyria had
become annexed to Babylonia, a nation of the
same tongue, religion, manners, and customs

as herself, her art and her literature would
naturally have continued to flourish, and the
whole history of the East in later times would
probably have been different. The ravages of
war must have greatly reduced the population,
and the Median dominion, likely enough, caused
all who could do so to flee into Babylonia
(several clearly Assyrian names are to be found
on the Babylonian contract-tablets), with the
inhabitants of which they naturally assimilated,
and thus became lost. After the conquest of
Babylon by Darius Hystaspis, the country was
reckoned as a part of the satrapy of Babylon,
and an annual tribute of a thousand talents of
silver was paid by them to their suzerain.
On the whole, the Assyrians were a remark-
» Saracus has been identified with a second Esarhad
don, who is supposed to have reigned after Sin-t-arra-
iSkun. The identification ot Saracus with Sln-Sarra-
iskun is however much better — sarra, the second ele
ment, would agree excellently, and the whole would
present an abbreviation similarto that of the Babylonian
king Nndios, the full form of whose name was Nabil-
nadin-zeri.

ASSYRIA
able race. From a small nation — practically a
colony, or a series of colonies, from Babylonia —
they "had risen by slow degrees to be one of the
greatest, if not the greatest, of the powers of
the ancient Eastern world. As the monuments
and records depict them, they were brave, in
telligent, and industrious ; and their success
and prosperity made them also proud, boastful,
and cruel (see Is. a. 5-15). When they put
their battle in array, and their mailed warriors
marched over the lauds which they invaded,
great must have been the terror which they
spread. The people flee before them ; the cities
fall into their hands as they march. The storm,
the capture, the sack, the pillage, the roaring
flames, the piles of human heads, the impaled
captives — all these rise before us as we con
template their remains and read their records ;
and if we wish for anything more realistic, we
have only to turn to the fine description of the
prophet Isaiah, who, in vivid words, describes
the march of the Assyrian army : "He is come
to Aiath, he is passed through Migron ; at
Michmash he layeth up his baggage : they are
gone over the pass ; they have taken up their
lodging at Geba : Ramah trembleth ; Gibeah of
Saul is fled. Cry aloud with thy voice, 0
daughter of Gallim ! Hearken, 0 Laishah ! 0
thou poor Anathoth ! Madmenah is a fugitive ;
the inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to
flee. This very day shall he halt at Nob : he
shaketh his hand at the mount of the daughter of
Zion, the hill of Jerusalem " (Is. x. 28-32, R. V.).
Such was the Assyrian at the height of his
power, but this was not to last. In the very
chapter in which Isaiah gives the above vivid
word-picture, he foretells also the downfall of
that nation so holden with pride. The Lord of
Hosts, he prophesies, will stir up against them
a scourge (x. 26), punishing the fruit of the
stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory
of his high looks (x. 12).
Nahum, who is supposed to have written
about 645 B.C., devotes his whole prophecy to
the Assyrians — the burden of Nineveh, their
capital city. He describes the state of the
" bloody city " (ch. iii.), which was vile, full of
lies and rapine. Nineveh was to be laid waste
(iii. 7) ; the shepherds of the king of Assyria
were slumbering — there was none to gather in
the people. There was to be no assuaging of
Assyria's hurt (iii. 18, 19). The Lord would
stretch forth His hand against the north, and
destroy Assyria, and make Nineveh a desolation
and dry like the wilderness (Zeph. ii. 13).
Dreadful indeed was the retribution which fell
upon the devoted country. She had been so
hard, so severe, so merciless towards the lands
which she had conquered, that she, in her turn,
could expect but little mercy from those who,
when the time came, found her at their mercy.
The " cedar in Lebanon," with his fair branches
(Ezek. xxxi. 3), in whose boughs all the fowls
of heaven made their nests, and under whose
shadow dwelt all great nations (v. 6), was cut
off by strangers (the Medes and Babylonians) ;
all the people of the earth went down from his
shadow and left him, all the fowls of the heaven
dwell upon his ruin (vv. 12, 13). His wide empire
is departed. The nations whom he sheltered,
and whom he kept in submission by the terror
of his power, gladly forsook him when his glory
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

ASTYAGES

289

had departed ; and those wild birds of passage,
the fanatical Arabs, whose forefathers the
Assyrian so often overcame, now dwell in his
land ; and their vigorous yet guttural language
has taken the place of the soft, regular, and
beautiful Assyrian tongue. There was no heal
ing of Assyria's bruise (Nah. iii. 19). During
the troubles which followed the accession of
Darius Hystaspis, they attempted, in conjunction
with Armenia and Media, to revolt. The result
was utter failure. When the talent which had
got together that mighty empire, and had kept
it up, failed, the courage which had served them
so well in former days gave place to despair.
The mighty empire had had its day, and it sank,
wounded even to death.
See Layard's Nineveh and its Remains ; Raw-
linson's Ancient Monarchies; George Smith's
Assyrian Discoveries, Chaldean Genesis, Histories
of Sennacherib, Assurbanipal, and Assyria; Sir
fl. C. Rawlinson's most valuable contributions
to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society,
Athenaeum, &c. ; Sayce's, Lenormant's, Oppert's,
and Pinches' contributions to the Transactions
of the Society of Biblical Archaeology ; Pinches'
Introduction to the Guide to the Kouyunjik
Gallery and the Guide to the Nimroud Central
Saloon of the British Museum (printed by order
of the Trustees) ; Schrader's Cuneiform Inscrip
tions and the Old Testament ; Sayce's Religion
of the Ancient Babylonians (Hibbert Lectures) ;
the translations in the Records of the Past, 1st
and 2nd series (by preference the latter) ;
Delitzsch's Wo lag das Parodies ? Compare
Nineveh. [T. G. P.]
ASSYRIANS OWN; 'Aatripiot, 'Aatroip,
viol 'Atraovp ; Assur, Assyrii, filii Assyriorum).
The inhabitants of Assyria. The name in Hebrew
is simply Asshur, the same as that of the country,
and there appears to be no reason in most cases
for translating it as a gentilic one (Is. x. 5, 24,
xiv. 25, xxxi. 8 ; Lam. v. 6 ; Ezek. xvi. 28 ; Jud.
xii. 13, &c). [W. A. W.]
ASTA'ROTH (JVWr; 'AtrraptiB; Asta
roth), Deut. i. 4. [Ashtaroth.]
ASTAR'TE. [Ashtoreth.]
AS'TATH ('Ao-TdB ; Ezead [Vulg. v. 41]),.
1 Esd. viii. 38, one of the chiefs who went up
with Ezra the scribe from Babylon in the reign
of Artaxerxes. [Azgad.] [W. A. W.]
ASTROLOGER. [Divination; Star.]
ASTRONOMY. [Magi; Star.]
ASTY'AGES ('Ao-Tudyris; Herod, i. 107,
'Atrrviyas, Ctes. 'Ao-naSas), the last king of the
Medes, B.C. 595-560, or B.C. 592-558, who was
conquered by his grandson Cyrus (Bel and
Dragon, v. 1 ; see Speaker's Comm. in loco). The
name is identified by Rawlinson and Niebuhr
(Gesch. Assur's, p. 32) with Deioces = Adjiahak
(Arm.), Aji-dahak (Pers.), "the biting snake,"
the emblem of the Median power (see Speaker's
Comm.2 Excursus on Dan. v. p. 311). The pas
sage in Bel and the Dragon states that Cyrus
" received the kingdom " of Astyages on the
death of the latter; Herodotus (i. 129) that
Cyrus deprived him of it in battle. Cuneiform
records support Herodotus. From the cylinder
U

290

ASUPPIM

of Nabonidus (TSBA. vii. pp. 146, 155, 156) it
would seem that the army of Astyages (Istu-
vecu) revolted against him and delivered him
to Cyrus (cp. Schrader, Keilinschr. Bibl. iii.
129). [B.F. W.] [F.]
ASUP'PIM, and HOUSE OF (D^BDNn.
and D'apKn IT'S ; 1 Ch. xxvi. 15, B. o?kos
itretpelv, A." atratpelv ; 1 Ch. xxvi. 17, B. rb
itretpelv, A. daa-; domus seniorum concilium
[v. 15], concilium [v. 17]; R. V. "the store
house," lit. " house of the gatherings "). Nothing
is known of it except that it was the name
given to certain store-chambers in the outer
court of the Temple near the southern gate
(Bertheau or Keil, I. c). The Vulg. seems to
have understood it of the council-chambers in
the outer court of the Temple in which the
elders held their deliberations. The same word
in A. V. of Neh. xii. 25 (LXX. omits) is rendered
" thresholds ; " but rightly in R. V. " store
houses." [W. A. W.] [F.]
ASYN'CRITUS (' AtriyKpnos ; Asyncritus),
a Christian at Rome, saluted by St. Paul (Rom.
xvi. 14 ; see Speaker's Comm. in loco). [G.]
A'TAD, the threshing-floor of ODNfJ ]~}S =
" the floor [or trodden space] of the thorn ; "
Sam. Vers. mDJJ liON ; Saad. Mi^\ ;
aAus 'ArdS, area Atad), a spot " beyond Jordan,"
at which Joseph and his brethren, on their way
from Egypt to Hebron, made their seven days'
" great and very sore mourning " over the body
of Jacob ; in consequence of which we are told
it acquired from the Canaanites the new name
of Abel-Mizraim (Gen. 1. 10, 11). According to
Jerome (OS.2 p. 121, 15, s. v. Area Atath), it was
" trans Jordanem," and in his day called Beth-
agla or Bethacla (Beth-Hoglah), a name which
he connects with the gyratory dances or races
of the funeral ceremony : " locus gyri ; eo quod
ibi more plangentium circumierint." But Beth-
Hoglah was situated between the Jordan and
Jericho, and therefore on the west side of Jordan
[Beth-Hoglah] ; and this identification is not
compatible with v. 11. Dillmann,5 Keil,3 and
Delitzsch [1887] unite in placing Atad on the
east side of the Jordan ; and count the place
otherwise unknown. [G.] [W.]
ATA'RAH (IT1D1? = a garland or crown ;
B. 'Arapd, A. 'Et- ; Attra), wife of Jerahmeel,
and mother of Onam (1 Ch. ii. 26). [W. A. W.]
ATAR'GATIS CATapydTis, Strab. xvi. p.
785, where the native pronunciation is said to
be Athara), or according to another form of the
word Derceto (AepKeTu, Strab. I. c. ; Luc. de
Syria Dea, p. 884, ed. Bened. ; Plin. H. N. v. 19,
prodigiosa Atargatis Graecis Derceto ; Ov. Met.
iv. 45, Dercetis), a Syrian goddess, represented
generally with the body of a woman and the
tail of a fish (Luc. 1. c ; Ovid, I. v., comp. Da-
gon). Her most famous temples were at Hiera
polis (Mabug or Membij, called Bambyke by
classical writers) and Ascalon. Herodotus
identified her with Aphrodite Urania (i. 105,
compared with Diod. Sic. ii. 4). Lucian com
pared her with Here, though he allowed that
she combined traits of other deities (Aphrodite,
l^nea, belenc, &c. ; see Ashtoreth). Plutarch

ATAROTH
(Crass. 17) says that some regarded her as
" Aphrodite, others as Here, others as the cause
and natural power which provides the principles
and seeds for all things from moisture" (ttiv
dpxds Kai ffTreppaTa Trdaiv il; uypuv irapatrxovo-av
alriav Kai tpiioiv). This last view is probably an
accurate description of the attributes of the
goddess, and explains her fish-like form and
popular identification with Aphrodite. Lucian
also mentions a ceremony in her worship at
Hierapolis which appears to be connected with
the same belief. Twice a year water was
brought from distant places and poured into a
chasm in the temple ; because, he adds, accord
ing to tradition, the waters of the Deluge were
drained away through that opening (de Syria
Dea, p. 883). Compare Burm. ad Ovid, Met. iv.
45, where most of the references are given at
length ; Movers, Phoeniz. i. 584 sq.
There was a temple of Atargatis CATapya-
Teiov, A. 'Arepy — 2 Mace. xii. 26) at Karnion
(Karnaim, 1 Mace. v. 43 ; i.e. Ashtaroth-Karnaim)
which was destroyed by Judas Maccabaeus (1
Mace. v. 44).
An interesting coin representing Atargatis is
engraved and described in the Philosophical
Transactions, vol. lxi. pp. 346 sq.
On the coins of Hierapolis-Membij the name
and figure of nninJII?, 'Atar-gatis, occurs, as
well as the simple T\V- The latter is the Greek
rdrts, made a deified queen by Antipater of
Tarsus (ap. Athen. viii. p. 346). According to
the Apology of Melito, 'Ati was the goddess of
Adiabene, and T\V and itTW both appear as the
name of a divinity in the inscriptions of Pal
myra, while a deity nniTJW or Yakun-'Athah
(cp. Jeconiah) is found on the coins of Membij.
Atargatis or 'Athah was in fact the supreme
goddess whose attributes the Hittites had bor
rowed from Babylonia, where her proper name
was Nana. But she was also identified with Istar,
the Ashtoreth of the Canaanites, who became
the male deity 'Attar of the Himyaritic inscrip
tions, like the Ashtar-Chemosh of the Moabite
Stone (where the compound name is similar to
that of Atar-gatis). In Assyria Istar, as the
planet Venus, was androgynous. The cult of
the goddess spread from the Hittite capital Car-
chemish through Asia Minor, where she was
known under the various names of Kybebe,
Kybele, Omphale, and the Ephesian Artemis. At
Carchemish she seems also to have been called
Semi-ramis, an Assyrian title of Istar, which
reminds us of the Syrian goddess Simi, the
daughter of Hadad, who, according to Melito,
put an end to the attacks of a demon by filling
the pit in which he lived with water. When
the new Hierapolis at Membij succeeded to the
older Hierapolis at Carchemish (Jerablus), the
temple and cult of Atargatis were transferred
to the new city. [A. H. S.]
ATA'ROTH (n'nt3_I>, and once D'lDlJ =
crowns ; t) 'ATaptiB ; Ataroth), the name' of
several places in Palestine both on the E. and W.
of Jordan.
1. A. 'Araptiv, in Num. xxxii. 3. One of
the towns in the " land of Jazer and land of
Gilead " (Num. xxxii. 3), " built " by the tribe
of Gad (xxxii. 34). See the interesting notice
in king Mesha's inscription , on the "Moabite
stone," lines 10-13. It is mentioned with

ATER
Dibon, and is probably Kh. 'Attarus, about six
miles N.W. of Dhibdil (Dibon). About a mile
from the ruins, which are insignificant, is
the mountain of Jebel 'Attarus ({*»»• •££¦ )>
crowned with the ruins of an ancient fortress
(h-istiam,Landof Moab, pp. 271-3). A difficulty
arises from the position of /. 'Attarus, which
lies considerably to the S. of Heshbon (Hesbdn),
a town assigned to Reuben, and named ap
parently as the southernmost limit of Gad
(Josh. xiii. 26). The same difficulty,^ however,
occurs with' regard to Dibon, which was built
by Gad (Num. xxxii. 34), but assigned to
Reuben (Josh. xiii. 17). Atroth-Shophan was
probably in the neighbourhood of Ataroth,
perhaps on J. -Attarus, the Shophan serving
as a distinction ; but for this see Atroth.
2. A place on the boundary of Ephraim and
Manasseh (Josh. xvi. 7, B. 'AarapuB). lt is
mentioned between Janohah and Naarath, and
as being at a lower altitude, " went down,"
than the former- Janohah is probably Tanun:
the latter is placed in OS.2 (pp. 165, 20 ; 268,
59) five Roman miles north of Jericho, a position
which agrees with el-Aujeh (compare Josephus,
Ant xvii. 13, § 1). These indications place
Ataroth in the Jordan Valley to the north of Kh.
Fusail, but the name has not been recovered.
3. A place on the south boundary of the
children of Joseph (Josh. xvi. 2) mentioned next
after Archi, now 'Ain 'Arik. The Versions
differ here. A. V. reads " unto the borders of
Archi to Ataroth," R. V. "unto the border of
the Archites to A. ; " and these two names are
fused in the Greek, B. XarapuBei, A. 'Apxiara-
puB. This Ataroth is probably tbe same as,
4. Ataroth-adar, or -addar ("flK"^ ; in
Josh. xvi. 5, A. 'ArapliB [B. 'AarapuB] Kai
'ASdp [B. 'Epifa] ; in Josh, xviii. 13, B. MaaTa-
puBopex, A. curb 'ArapuB 'Abbdp ; Ataroth Addar) ;
on the west border of Benjamin, " near the
' mountain ' that is on the south side of the
nether Beth-horon " (Josh, xviii. 13). In xvi. 5
it is accurately rendered Ataroth-addar. It is
now Kh. Darieh, about a mile W.S.W. of Beit
'Dr et-Tahta, the nether Beth-horon (P. F.
Mem. iii. 35).
In OS.2 (p. 129, 25) mention is made of an
Ataroth in Ephraim, in the mountains, four
miles N. of Sebaste : as well as of two places of
the name " not far from " Jerusalem (OS.2
p. 129, 36). The former cannot be that seen
by Robinson (ii. 265), now 'Atdra. Robinson
discovered another about six miles S. of Bethel
(i. 575). In the Arabic chronicle of Abulfetad,
of the return of the Samaritans, mention is
made of 'Atdrah Tarafain as one of the places
re-occupied (Ewald, iv. 108).
5. "Ataroth," the house op Joab" (i.e.
Ataroth [R. V. Airott]-beth-Joab), a place (?)
occurring in the list of the descendants of Judah
(1 Ch. ii. 54 ; 'ArapuB oXkov 'ladB [A. 'luBdB] ;
Coronae domus Joab). [G.] [W.]
A'TER ("IDN, Ges.= bound or closed [cp.
Judg. iii. 15, Heb.]; B. 'ATt)p, A. 'A-rrijp in
Ezra; Ater). 1. The children of Ater were
ft The marginal note to this name in the Bibles ofthe
present day, viz. Asarites, he, is a corruption of
Atarites in the edition of 1611.

ATIIALIAH

291

among the porters or gate-keepers of the Temple
who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 42-
Neh. vii. 45, B. uiol 'Arhp, uiou 'Arlip, A. omits
the last two words). They are called in 1 Esd.
v. 28 [A. 'Arap', B. omits], " the sons of Jatal."
2. The children of Ater of Hezekiah, to tho
number of ninety-eight, returned with Zerub
babel (Ezra ii. 16 ; Neh. vii. 21), and were
among the heads of the people who signed the
covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 17, A. 'Att)p,
B. 'ASr)p). The name appears in 1 Esd. v. 15
as Aterezias. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ATEREZI'AS (marg. Ater Hezekiah; B.
[uiol] 'A£hp, 'Efeiciou [uiof], A. 'Att)p ; Adercctis
[flii]). A corruption of " Ater of Hezekiah "
(1 Esd. v. 15 ; cp. Ezra ii. 15). The addition of
the title (son of) Hezekiah was probably given
to distinguish this Ater from Ater the door
keeper of Ezra ii. 42 (see Speaker's fiomm. note
on 1 Esd. v. 15). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ATHA'CH Oim>; B. Noo ; A. 'ABdy ;
Athach). The Syriac and Arabic Versions read,
evidently in error, Taanach. It is mentioned
only in 1 Sam. xxx. 30 as one of the towns to
which David sent a portion of the Amalekite
spoil. From its position in the list it would
appear to have been to the south of, and not
far from, Hebron ; the site has not yet been
recovered. It is not impossible that it is
identical with Ether, Josh. xv. 42 (B. 'IBdht),
xix. 7 (B. 'ledep) ; but whether the ch or the r
is correct cannot be determined (cp. Wellhausen,
Der Text d. BB. Samuelis, in loco). [W.]
ATHAI'AH (HW; B. 'ABed, X. 'ABee,
A. 'ABeai ; Athaias). A descendant of Pharez,
the son of Judah, who dwelt at Jerusalem after
the return from Babylon (Neh. xi. 4), called
Uthai in 1 Ch. ix. 4. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ATHALI'AH. 1. (nf?T)y ; meaning doubt
ful ; Ges., from the Arabic, = Jah hath treated
violently ; ToBoAla ; Athalia), daughter of Ahab
and Jezebel. She married Jehoram the son of
Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and introduced
into the S. kingdom the worship of Baal, which
had already defiled and overspread the N. After
the great revolution by which Jehu seated
himself on the throne of Samaria, she killed
all the members of the royal family of Judah
who had escaped his sword (2 K. x. 14), avail
ing herself probably of her position as King's
Mother [Asa], to perpetrate the crime. Most
likely she exercised the regal functions during
Ahaziah's absence at Jezreel (2 K. ix.), and
resolved to retain her power, especially after
seeing the danger to which she was exposed
by the overthrow of the house of Omri and
of Baal-worship in Samaria. It was not un
usual in those days [and later, cp. Speaker's
Comm? on Dan. v. 10] for women in the East
to attain a prominent position, their present
degradation being the result of Mahometanism.
Miriam, Deborah, and Abigail are instances
from the Bible, and Dido was not far removed
from Athaliah, either in birthplace or date,
if Carthage was founded B.C. 861 (Joseph, c.
Apion. i. 18). From the slaughter of the royal
house, one infant named Joash, the youngest
son of Ahaziah, was rescued by his aunt Je-
U 2

292

ATHALIAH

hosheba, daughter of Jehoram (probably by
another wife than Athaliah : cp. Joseph. Ant. ix.
7, § 1), who had married Jehoiada (2 Ch. xxii. 11)
the high-priest (2 Ch. xxiv. 6). The child was
brought up under Jehoiada's care, and concealed
in the " house of the Lord " [R. V.] for six
years, during which period Athaliah reigned
over Judah. At length Jehoiada thought it
time to produce the lawful king to the people,
trusting to their zeal for the worship of God,
and loyalty to the house of David, which had
been so strenuously called out by Asa and
Jehoshaphat. After communicating his design
to five "captains of hundreds," whose names
are -given in 2 Ch. xxiii. 1, and securing the
co-operation of the Levites and chief men in the
country-towns in case of necessity, he brought
the young Joash into the " house of the Lord "
to receive the allegiance of the soldiers of the
guard. It was customary on the Sabbath for a
third part of them to do duty at the palace,
while two-thirds restrained the crowd of visitors
and worshippers who thronged the Temple on
that day, by occupying the gate of Sur ("flD,
1 K. xi. 6, called "of the foundation," IID'..
2 Ch. xxiii. 5. See Sor), and the gate "be
hind the guard" (porta quae est post hdbita-
culum scutariorum, Vulg.), which seem to have
been the N. and S. entrances into the "house
of the Lord," according to Ewald's description
of it (Geschichte, iii. pp. 306, 307). On the
day fixed for the outbreak there was to be
no change in the arrangement at the palace,
lest Athaliah, who did not worship in the
"house of the Lord," should form any sus
picions from missing her usual guard, but
the other two-thirds were " to be a barrier "
(2 K. xi. 6, R. V.) to protect the king's person
by forming a long and closely-serried line across
the " house of the Lord," and killing any one
who should approach within " the ranks "
(R. V.). They were also furnished with David's
spears and shields, that the work of restoring
his descendant might be associated with his own
sacred weapons. When the guard had taken
up their position, the young prince was anointed,
crowned, and presented with the Testimony or
Law, and Athaliah was first roused to a sense
of her danger by the shouts and music which
accompanied the inauguration of her grandson.
She hurried into the " house of the Lord," but
found Joash already standing " by a pillar," or
more properly on it, i.e. on the tribunal or
throne, apparently raised on a massive column
or cluster of columns, which the king occupied
when he attended the service on solemn occa
sions (cp. 2 K. xxiii. 3, and Ezek. xlvi. 2).
She arrived however too late, and was imme
diately put to death by Jehoiada's commands,
without the " house of the Lord." The only
other recorded victim of this almost bloodless
revolution was Mattan, the priest of Baal
(Ewald, Geschichte, iii. p. 574 sq.). Usher's
date for Athaliah's usurpation is B.C. 884-878.
Kamphausen corrects this (after the Assyrian
Inscriptions) to B.C. 842-836. [On the text of
2 K. xi., which in parts is difficult and probably
in disorder, cp. Wellh.-Bleek's Einl* (1878),
p. 258 (=Wellh. Compos, des Hex. u.s.w. 1889,
p. 361); Stade, ZATW. 1885, pp. 280-88.—
S. R. D.] In modern times the history of
Athaliah has been illustrated bv the music of

ATHENS
Handel and of Mendelssohn and the stately
declamation of Racine. [G. E. L. C] [i\]
2. B. 'OyoBoAid, A. ToBoAlas; Otholia. A
Benjamite, one of the sons of Jeroham who-
dwelt at Jerusalem (1 Ch. viii. 26).
3. B.'ABeAei, A.'ABA'ta; Athalia. One ofthe
Bene-Elam, whose son Jeshaiah with seventy
males returned with Ezra in the second caravan
from Babylon (Ezra viii. 7). [W. A. W.] [F.)
ATHARI'AS CATBapias; et Astharas), a
corruption of KnEHnn, the Tirshatha (1 Esd.
v. 40 ; see Speaker's Comm. in loco). [W. A. W.}
ATHENIANS QABtivcUot; Athenienses), the-
people of Athens (Acts xvii. 21 ; in v. 22, "men
of Athens"). [W. A. W.]
ATHENO'BIUS (' AB-nvdBios), an envoy sent
by Antiochus VII. Sidetes to Simon, the Jewish
high-priest (1 Mace. xv. 28-36). He is not
mentioned elsewhere. [B. F. W.]
ATHENS CABrivai ; Athenae), the capital of
Attica, and the chief seat of Grecian learning
and civilisation during the golden period of the
history of Greece. This city is fully described
elsewhere (Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Geogr. s. n.) ;
and an account of it would be out of place in.
the present work. St. Paul visited it in his
journey from Macedonia, and appears to have
remained there some time (Acts xvii. 14, 15
sq. ; cp. 1 Thess. iii. 1). At the time of St.
Paul's visit, Athens was a free city of the Roman
province of Achaia. " Athens was never placed
under the fasces of the Roman governor, and
never paid tribute to Rome; it always had a
sworn alliance with Rome, and granted aid to
the Romans only in an extraordinary and (at
least as to form) voluntary fashion " (T. Momni-
sen's Provinces of the Roman Empire, i. 258).
During St. Paul's residence there he delivered his
memorable discourse on the Areopagus to the
" men of Athens " (Acts xvii. 22-31) [AREOPA
GUS]. In order to understand the localities men
tioned in the sacred narrative, it may be observed
that four hills of moderate height rise within the.
walls of the city. Of these one to the north
east is the celebrated Acropolis, or citadel, being,
an oblong craggy rock rising about 200 feet above
the city, 350 feet above the Attic plain, and 470-
feet above the level of the sea. Immediately to
the west of the Acropolis, little more than half
its height above the city and only 28 feet higher
than the rising ground that intervenes, is a
second hill of irregular form, called the Areo
pagus. To the south-west of the Areopagus and
at a slightly lower elevation rises a third hill,
the Pnyx, on which the assemblies of the citizens
are generally supposed to have been held ; whilft
to the south of the Areopagus is a fourth hill,
known as the Museum, whose summit is only
fourteen feet lower than that of the Acropolis.
According to the view maintained in Forch-
hammer's Topographie von Athen, published at
Kiel in 1841, the Agora or "market" (where
St. Paul disputed daily) was situated in the
valley between the Acropolis, the Areopagus, the
Pnyx, and the Museum, being bounded by the
Acropolis on the N.E. and E., by the Areopagus
on the N., by the Pnyx on the N.W. and W., and
by the Museum on the S. According to this
view there was only one Agora at Athens, and the

ATHENS
¦position which it probably occupied iu primi
tive times remained unchanged (see Dict. of
Geogr. i. p. 293 sq.). But it is now generally
•believed that the primitive market-place towards
the S. or S.W. of the Acropolis was superseded,
possiblv as early as the time of the Peisistratidae,
-by a market-place situated in the inner Cera
micus, and lying to the N. of the Areopagus,
between the Acropolis and the temple of Theseus
>(E. Curtius, Altisclie Studien, ii. 1865, and Erldu-
ternder Text der sieben Karten z ur Topographic
von Athen, 1868, p. 50 and map opposite p. 55,
and Dyer's Athens, pp. 197-206). The Agora of
the time of St. Paul in 54 a.d. cannot have been
¦different in position from the Agora described by
Pausanias, who flourished 120 years later ; and
recent investigations make it more than probable
that Pausanias began his tour of the monuments
at the Dipylum, the principal gate of Athens, in
the N.W., where the road from Eleusis and one
of the roads from the Peiraeus entered the pre
cincts of the city (B. Schmidt, Die Thorfrage
in der Topographic Athens, 1879, quoted by
Lolling in I. Miiller's Handhuch der klassischen
Jdterthumswissenschaft, iii. 310, 1889 ; see also

ATHENS

293

Milchhofer's article on Athens in Baumeister's
Denkmiilrr, i. 160). Hence it is inferred that the
Agora of Pausanias, and of St. Paul, lay not to
the S. but to the N. of the Areopagus.
In the " Plan of Athens " in Smith's Classical
Atlas the 'vctus agora' indicates that which
Forchhammer regarded as the market-place
from the earliest times to those of Pausanias.
The ' Agora ' (in the S. W. of the Ceramicus
interior) shows its position from the latter part
of the sixth century B.C., according to the view
now prevalent. Of the buildings round this
later Agora, part ofthe Stoa Attali alone is now
standing. The exact position of the other
buildings is uncertain, as it depends to some
extent on the question whether Pausanias
approached the Agora from the Dipylum (as
held by 0. Miiller and E. Curtius) or from the
Portae Piraeicae (as held by Leake, Bursian,
Wachsmuth, and the author of the plan). The
plan necessarily includes several structures of a
later date than the visit of St. Paul, e.g. the
porta Hadriani, the Odeum of Regilla, the monu
ment of Philopappus, and the sepulchre of
Herodes Atticus.

The Acropolis restored.

The remark of the sacred historian respecting
'the inquisitive character of the Athenians (Acts
xvii. 21) is attested by the unanimous voice of
antiquity. The great Athenian orator rebukes
his countrymen for their love of constantly going
.about in the market, and asking one another,
What news? (BoiAeaB', e'nre pot, irepiiovres
<unuv TTuvBdveaBat [koto, ttiv dyopdv], Aeyerai
ti Kaivbv ; Dem. Philipp. i. § 10, p. 43, Reiske.
Compare Plato's Euthyphro, ad init., and Theo-
jihrastus irepl Aoyorroiias). Their natural liveli
ness was partly owing to the purity and clear
ness of the atmosphere of Attica, which also
-allowed them to pass much of their time in the
open air (Eurip. Medea, 829, and Cicero, de Fato,
iv. § 7, "Athenis tenue caelum, ex quo etiam
acutiores putantur Attici." Cp. Aristides, Pan-
athenaicus, i. 305 Dindorf).
The remark of St. Paul upon the " somewhat
superstitious " character of the Athenians (xvii.
22, R.V. ; in marg. Or, religious) is in like manner
confirmed by the ancient writers. Thus Pau
sanias says that the Athenians surpassed all
-other states in the attention which they paid to
the .worship of the gods ('ABjivalois trepiao-tyiepiv

ti r) Tots &AAois is Ta Beld iffTt txirovSris,
Paus. i. 24, § 3); and hence the city was crowded
in every direction with temples, altars, and
other sacred buildings. The altar " To the
Unknown God " (Acts xvii. 23. R. V. in text,
"To an Unknown God"), which St. Paul men
tions in his address, has been spoken of under
Altar. On St. Paul's visit in general, see
Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of
St. Paul, chap. a.
In Athens was a synagogue in which St. Paul
disputed with the Jews (Acts xvii. 17). Among
the Attic inscriptions (Inscr. Att. Aetatis Rom.
404) is one engraved' upon a stone and contain
ing the Greek Version of Ps. cxviii. 18 (aiiT-q
r) ttvAti tou Kvpiov, k.t.A.). It is possible, but
not certain, that this may have formed part of
the gate to the synagogue. Another Jewish
inscription found at Athens is surmounted by a
representation of the seven-branched candle
stick (Inscr. Alt. 3546. Cp. Marshall, "The
Account of St. Paul at Athens," in PSBA. a.
p. 282).
Of the Christian Church founded by St. Paul
at Athens, we have no particulars in the N. T. ;

294

ATHLAI

but, according to ecclesiastical tradition (Euseb.
H. E. iii. 4), Dionysius the Areopagite, who was
converted by the preaching of the Apostle, was
the first bishop of the Church. [Dionysios.]
Near the N.E. extremity of the Areopagus is
the site of the ancient church named after
Dionysius, mentioned as follows by the Jesuit
Pere Babin in 1672 : " L'Archeveque a son logis
sur les anciens fondemens de la maison de S.
Denys Areopagite, joignant les ruines d'une
petite Eglise fort ancienne, dont les mazures et
murailles paroissent encore toutes embellies de
diverses peintures, et proche de laquelle est un
puits, oil l'on assure que S. Paul demeura cachd
24 heures, dans une persecution .que ses ennemis
exciterent contre luj, apres la conversion de ce
Senateur de l'Areopage." Cp. Laborde, Athenes,
i. 192 ; Wheler's Travels, p. 384 ; Stuart's
Athens, ii. p. 17 ; Leake's Athens, p. 165 ; A.
Mommsen, Athenae Christianae, pp. 42, 43 ;
Gregorovius, Stadt Athen im Mittelalter, i. 69.
[W. S.] [J. E. S.]
ATH'LAI Q^nV [[Ges. = abbreviated from
11701;, Athaliah] ; B. eaAl, X. 0aAelp, A.
'OBaAi ; Athalai). One of the sons of Bebai,
who put away his foreign wife at the bidding
of Ezra (Ezra [LXX. 2 Esd.l x. 28); called
Amatheis in 1 Esd. ix. 29. [W. A. W.] [F.]
ATTPHA CATetpd; Agisti), 1 Esd. (Vulg.
3 Esd.) v. 32 [Hatipha]. One of the heads of
the " servants of the Temple " who returned
with Zerubbabel. [W. A. W.] [F,]
ATONEMENT, THE DAY OP (DV
CHSSri; i)pepa i^iAaapou ; dies expiationum
and dies propitiationis ; in the Talmud, HHOV,
i.e. the day, or X31_ KOIS, i.e. the great fast,
to distinguish it from fasts appointed after the
Captivity ; in Philo, ti vno-Teias eopTr), Lib. de
Sept. vol. v. p. 47, edit. Tauchn. ; in Acts xxvii.
9, r) vvo-reia), the great day of national humilia
tion, and the only one commanded in the Mosaic
Law. [Fasts.] This day gathered up and con
summated the various injunctions of purification
previously described (Lev. xi.-xv.). The mode of
its observance, partly indicated in Ex. xxx. 10
is described in Lev. xvi., where it should be
noticed that in vv. 3 to 10 an outline of the
whole ceremonial is given, while in the rest of
the chapter certain points are mentioned with
more details. The victims which were offered
in addition to those strictly belonging to the
special service of the day, and to those of the
usual daily sacrifice, are enumerated in Num.
xxix. 7-11 ; and the conduct of the people is
emphatically enjoined in Lev. xxiii. 26-32;
Deut. xxix. 7-11.
II. It was kept on the tenth day of Tisri
(the seventh month); that is, from the even
ing of the ninth to the evening of the tenth
of that month, five days before the joyous
Feast of Tabernacles, for which festival, as
for the Jubilee year (Lev. xxv. 9), it formed a
most fitting preparation. [Festivals.] Some
have inferred from Lev. xvi. 1, that the day
was instituted on account of the sin and punish
ment of Nadab and Abihu. Maimonides (More
Nevochim. xviii.) regards it as a commemoration
ot the day on which Moses came down from the

ATONEMENT
mount with the second tables of the Law, and
proclaimed to the people the forgiveness oftheir
great sin in worshipping the golden calf. In
any case Lev. xvi. 29, &c, gives the general
object of the institution.
III. The observances of the day, as described
in the Law, were as follows. It was kept by
the people as a solemn sabbath (odBBuTti truB-
Bdruv, LXX.). They were commanded to set
aside all work and " to afflict their souls," or
fast, under pain of being " cut off from among
the people." It was on this occasion only that
the high-priest was permitted to enter into the
Holy of Holies. Having bathed his person and
dressed himself entirely in the holy white linen
garments, he brought forward a young bullock
for a sin-offering and a ram for a burnt-offering
purchased at his own cost, on account of himself
and his family, and two young goats for a sin-
offering with a ram for a burnt-offering, which
were paid for out of the public treasury, on
account of the people. He then presented the
two goats before the Lord at the door of the
Tabernacle (R. V. " tent of meeting "), and cast
lots upon them. On one lot niilv (i.e. for
Jehovah) was inscribed, and on the other jtNtJJ?
(i.e. for Azazel. See § VI.). He next sacrificed
the young bullock as a sin-offering for himself
and his family. Taking with him some of the
blood of the bullock, he filled a censer with
burning coals from the brazen altar, took a
handful of incense, and entered into the most
holy place. He then threw the incense upon
the coals and enveloped the mercy-seat in a
cloud of smoke. Then, dipping his finger into
the blood, he sprinkled it seven times before the
mercy-seat, eastward.*
The goat upon which the lot "for Jehovah"
had fallen was then slain, and the high-priest
sprinkled its blood before the mercy-seat in the
same manner as he had done that of the bullock.
Going out from the Holy of Holies, he purified
the holy place, sprinkling some of the blood of
both the victims on the altar of incense.b At

¦ See Lev. xvi. 14. The English Version (A. V. and
R. V.), " upon the mercy-seat," if opposed to every
Jewish authority, is supported by modern criticism (see
Speaker's Comm. in loco). The Vulgate omits the
clause ; the LXX. follows the ambiguity of the Hebrew.
The word eastward must mean either the direction in
which the drops were thrown by the priest, or else oft
the east (R. V.) of the ark, i.e. the side towards the veil.
The last clause of the verse may be taken as a repetition
ofthe command, for the sake of emphasis on the number
of sprinklings: "seven times shall he sprinkle the blood
with his finger before the mercy-seat."
b That the altar of incense was thus purified on the
Day of Atonement we learn expressly from*Ex. xxx. 10.
Most critics consider that this is what is spoken of in
Lev. xvi. 18, 20. But some suppose that it is the altar
of burnt-offerings which is referred to in those verses,
the purification of the altar of incense being implied in
that of the holy place mentioned in v. 16 (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco. The arguments pro and con are briefly
stated in Riehm's HWB. and Hei-zog's BE.2 s. n. Ver-
sohnungstag). That the expression, " the altar before
the Lord," does not necessarily mean the alter within the
Tabernacle, Is evident from Ex. xxix. 11. If the golden
altar is here referred to, it seems remarkable that no-
mention is made in the ritual of the cleansing of the
brazen altar. But perhaps the practice spoken of by
Josephus and in the Mishna of pouring what remained!

ATONEMENT
this time no one besides the high-priest was
suffered to be present in the holy place.
The purification of the Holy of Holies, and
of the holy place, being thus completed, the
high-priest laid his hands upon the head of the
goat on which the lot '•for Azazcl" had fallen,
and confessed over it all the sins of the people.
The goat was then led, by a man chosen for the
purpose, into the wilderness, into " a land not
inhabited," and was there let loose.
The high-priest after this returned into the
holy place, bathed himself again, put on his
usual garments of office, and offered the two
rams as burnt-offerings, one for himself and one
for the people. He also burnt upon the altar
the fat of the two sin-offerings, while their
flesh was carried away and burned outside the
camp. They who took away the flesh and the
man who had led away the goat had to bathe
their persons and wash their clothes as soon as
their service was performed.
The accessory burnt-offerings mentioned in
Num. xxix. 7—11, were a young bullock, a ram,
seven lambs, and a young goat. It would seem
that (at least in the time of the second Temple)
these were offered by the high-priest along with
the evening sacrifice (see below, § V. 7).
It will be seen that in the special rites of the
Day of Atonement there was a natural grada
tion. In the first place the high-priest and his
family were cleansed; then atonement was made
by the purified priest for the sanctuary and all
contained in it ; then for the brazen altar in the
court ; and lastly, reconciliation was made for
the people.
IV. In the short account of the ritual of the
day which is given by Josephus (Ant. iii. 10,
§ 3) there are a few particulars which are
worthy of notice. His words of course apply
to the practice in the second Temple, when the
ark of the covenant had disappeared. He states
that the high-priest sprinkled the blood with
his finger seven times on the ceiling and seven
times on the floor of the most holy place, and
seven times towards it (as it would appear,
outside the veil), and round the golden altar.
Then going into the court he either sprinkled
or poured the blood round the great altar. He
also informs us that the kidneys, the top of the
liver, and the extremities (al ityxal) of the
victims were burned with the fat.
V. The treatise of the Mishna, entitled Yoma,"
professes to give » full account of the obser
vances of the day according to the usage in the
second Temple. The following details appear
either to be interesting in themselves or to
illustrate the language of the Pentateuch.
1. The high-priest, dressed in his coloured
official garments, used himself, on the Day of
Atonement, to perform all the duties of the
ordinary daily service, such as lighting the
lamps, presenting the daily sacrifices, and offer
ing the incense. After this he bathed himself,
put on the white garments, and commenced the
special rites of the day. There is nothing in the
Old Testament to render it improbable that this
was the original practice.

of the mixed blood at the foot of the large altar, was an
ancient one, and was regarded as its purification.
c Published in a handy and separate form by Slrack,
Berlin, 188S.

ATONEMENT

295

2. The high-priest went into the Holy of
Holies four times in the course of the day : first
with the censer and incense, while a priest con
tinued to agitate the blood of the bullock lest
it should coagulate : secondly, with the blood
of the bullock: thirdly, with the blood of the
goat : fourthly, after having offered the evening
sacrifice, to fetch out the censer and the plate
which had contained the incense. These four
entrances, forming, as they do, parts of the one
great annual rite, are not opposed to a reason
able view of the statement in Heb. ix. 7 and of
that in Josephus, Bell. Jud. v. 5, §7. Three of
the entrances seem to be very distinctly implied
in Lev. xvi. 12, 14, and 15.
3. It is said that the blood of the bullock
and that of the goat were each sprinkled eight
times, once towards the ceiling and seven times
on the floor. This' does not agree with the
words of Josephus (see above, IV.).
4. After he had gone into the most holy place
the third time, and had returned into the holy
place, the high-priest sprinkled; the blood of tho
bullock eight times towards the veil, and did
the same with the blood of the goat. Having
then mingled the blood of the two victims
together and sprinkled the altar of incense with
the mixture, he came into the court and poured
out what remained at the foot of the altar of
burnt-offering. 5. Most careful directions are given for the
preparation of the high-priest for the services
of the day. For seven days previously he kept
away from his own house and dwelt in a
chamber appointed for his use. This was to
avoid the accidental causes of pollution which
he might meet with in his domestic life. But
to provide for the possibility of his incurring
some uncleanness in spite of this precaution, a
deputy was chosen who might act for him when
the day came. In the treatise of the Mishna
entitled Pirke Avoth, it is stated that no
such mischance ever befel the high-priest. But
Josephus (Ant. xvii. 6, § 4) relates an instance
of the high-priest Matthias, in the time of
Herod the Great, when his relation Joseph took
his place in the sacred office. During the whole
of the seven days the high-priest had to perform
the ordinary sacerdotal duties of the daily ser
vice himself, as well as on the Day of Atone
ment. On the third day and on the seventh he
was sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer
in order to cleanse him in the event of his
having touched a dead body without knowing it.
On the seventh day he was also required to take
a solemn oath before the elders that he would
alter nothing whatever in the accustomed rites
of the Day of Atonement.d
6. Several curious particulars are stated re
garding the scapegoat. The two goats of the
sin-offering were to be of similar appearance,
size, and value. The lots were, originally, of
boxwood, but in later times they were of gold.
They were put into a little box or urn, into
which the high-priest put both his hands and
took out a lot in each, while the two goats stood

a This, according to the Jerusalem (Jemara ou Toma
(quoted by Lightfoot), was instituted iu consequence of
an innovation of the Sadducean party, who had directed
the high-priest to throw the incense upon the censer
outside the veil, and to carry it, smoking, into the Holy
of Holies.

296

ATONEMENT

before him, one at the right side and the other
on the left. The lot in each hand belonged to
the goat in the corresponding position, and when
the lot "for Azazel" happened to be in the
right hand, it was regarded as a good omen.
The high-priest then tied a piece of scarlet
cloth on the scapegoat's head, called " the
scarlet tongue," from the shape in which it
was cut. Maimonides says that this was only
to distinguish him, in order that he might be
known when the time came for him to be sent
away. But in the Gemara it is asserted that
the red cloth ought to turn white, as a token of
God's acceptance of the atonement of the day,
referring to Is. i. 18. A particular instance of
such a change, when also the lot " to Azazel "
was in the priest's right hand, is related as
having occurred in the time of Simon the Just.
It is further stated that ho such change took
place for forty years before the destruction of
Jerusalem. The prayer which the high-priest
uttered over the head of the goat was as fol
lows : — " 0 Lord, the house of Israel, Thy people,
have trespassed, rebelled, and sinned before
Thee. I beseech Thee, 0 Lord, forgive now
their trespasses, rebellions, and sins which Thy
people have committed, as it is written in the
law of Moses, Thy servant, saying that in that
day there shall be ' an atonement for you to
cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your
sins before the Lord ' " (Gemara on Voma, quoted
by Krischmuth). The goat was then goadeil
and rudely treated by the people till it was led
away by the man appointed. As soon as it
reached a certain spot, which seems to have
been regarded as the commencement of the
wilderness, a signal was made, by some sort of
telegraphic contrivance, to the high-priest, who
waited for it. The man who led the goat is said
to have taken him to the top of a high precipice
and thrown him down backwards, so as to dash
him to pieces. If this was not a mistake of the
writer of Yoma, it must have been, as Spencer
argues, a modern innovation. It cannot be
doubted that the goat was, originally, set free.
Even if there be any uncertainty in the words
of the Hebrew, the rendering of the LXX. must
be better authority than the Talmud — Kai 6
i^airotrTeAAuv rbv x'PaP°r Tbv SieffTaApevov els
dtpeaiv k. t. A. (Lev. xvi. 26).
7. The high-priest,. as soon as he had received
the signal that the goat had reached the wilder
ness, read some lessons from the Law, and
offered up some prayers. He then bathed him
self, resumed his coloured garments, and offered
either the whole, or a great part, of the accessory
offering (mentioned in Num. xxxix. 7-11) with the
regular evening sacrifice. After this, he washed
again, put on the white garments, and entered
the most holy place for the fourth time, to
fetch out the censer and the incense-plate. This
terminated the special rites of the day.
8. The Mishna gives very strict rules for the
fasting of the people. In the Law itself no
express mention is made of abstinence from food.
But it is most likely implied in the command
that the people were "to afflict their souls."
According to Yoma, every Jew (except invalids
and children under 13 years of age) is forbidden
to eat anything so large as a date, to drink, or
to wash from sunset to sunset.
VI. There has been much discussion recardino'

ATONEMENT
the meaning of the word Azazel. The opinions
which seem most worthy of notice are the
following : —
1. It has been regarded as a designation of
the goat itself. This view has been most
favoured by the old interpreters. They in
general supposed it to mean the goat sent away,
or let loose (as though = ?fN 1]}, the going goat).
In accordance with this Symmachus renders it,
6 Tpdyos direpxopevos ; Aquila, 6 Tpdyos diro-
AeAupevos ; the Vulgate, caper emissarius ;
Luther, der ledige Bock ; the English trans
lators, the scapegoat, &c. The LXX. uses the
term 6 dTroiropTrdlos, applied to the goat itself.
Theodoret and Cyril of Alexandria consider the
meaning of the Hebrew to be the goat sent
away, and regard that as the sense of the word
used in the LXX. If they were right, dwoTrop-
Tralos is, of course, not employed in its ordinary
meaning (Averruncus : see Suicer, s. v.). It
should also be observed that in the latter, clause
of Lev. xvi. 10 the LXX. renders the Hebrew
term as if it was an abstract noun, translating
PTXTlp by eis T-hv dTTOiropTriiv (F. a7ro7re/A7rTaIai).
But the application of ??XW to the goat itself
involves the Hebrew text in insuperable diffi
culties. It can hardly be supposed that the
prefix which is common to the designation of
the two lots should be used in two different
meanings. If one expression is to be rendered
for Jehovah, it would seem that the other must
be foi- Azazel, with the preposition in the same
sense. If this is admitted, it does not seem
possible to make sense out of Lev. xvi. 10, 26,
if Azazel be taken for the goat itself. In these
verses the Versions are driven to strange shifts.
We have already referred to the inconsistency
of the LXX. In the Vulgate and our own
Version the first clause of v. 10 stands " cujus
(sc. hirci sors) autem in caprum emissarium "—
" but the goat on which the lot fell to be the
scapegoat " (R. V. " for Azazel "). In v. 26
our Version reads, " And he that let go the goat
for the scapegoat " (R. V. " for Azazel "), while
the Vulgate cuts the knot to escape from the
awkward tautology — " ille vero, qui dimiserit
caprum emissarium."
2. Some have taken Azazel for the name of
the place to which the goat was sent, (a) Aben-
ezra quotes the words of an anonymous writer
referring it to a hill near Mount Sinai. Vatablus
adopts this opinion (Critici Sacri, in Lev. xvi.).
(6) Some of tlie Jewish writers, with Le Clerc,
consider that it denotes the cliff to which the
goat was taken to be thrown down, according
to Yoma. (c) Bochart regarded the word as a
pluralis fractus signifying distant places, and
understood it as a general name for any fit
place to which the goat might be sent. But
Gesenius remarks that the pluralis fractus,
which exists in Arabic, is not found in Hebrew,
and he objects also to the tautology.
3. Most modern critics take Azazel for a
personal being to whom the goat was sent.
(a) Gesenius gave to 71XT1? the same meaning
as the LXX. has assigned to it, if dirOTTopTra'ios
is to be taken in its usual sense ; but the being
so designated he supposed to be some false deity
who was to be appeased by such a sacrifice as

ATONEMENT
that of the goat. He derived the word from a
root unused in Hebrew, but found in Arabic,
7'V, to remove or take away (Heb. Lex. s. v.).
Ewald, Oehler, H. Schultz, Riehm, Delitzsch, and
Dillmann adopt a similar view, supposing Azazel
to be the name of an evil spirit popularly sup
posed to have its dwelling in the desert (cp.
Lev. xvii. 7, R. V. marg. ; Is. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14).
(b) Others have regarded it as denoting the devil
himself. In the Book of Enoch (vi. 7, viii. 14,
xiii. 14, lxix. 2) the name Azalzel is given to
one of the fallen angels ; aud assuming, with
Spencer, that this is a corruption of Azazel, if
the book were written, as is generally supposed,
by a Jew, c. B.C. 160 (see Speaker-' s Comm. on
Apocrypha, i. p. 173, n. 7), it represents an old
Jewish opinion on the subject. Origen, adopting
the word of the LXX., identifies him with the
devil : en T6 iv toj AeviTiKol dTTOTropiraios ov r)
'EBpaiKg ypatpT) uvdpaaev 'AfaQftA, ovbels eTepos
¦liv (sc t) 6 StdBoAos ; c. Cels. vi. p. 305, ed.
Spenc), and Spencer and Hengstenberg have
most elaborately defended the same opinion.
Spencer supposes that the goat was given up
to the devil, and committed to his disposal.
Hengstenberg affirms with great confidence that
Azazel cannot possibly be anything but another
name for Satan. He repudiates the conclusion
that the goat was in any sense a sacrifice to
Satan, and does not doubt that it was sent
away laden with the sins of God's people, now
forgiven, in order to mock their spiritual enemy
in the desert, his proper abode, and to symbolize
by its free gambols their exulting triumph.
He considers that the origin of the rite was
Egyptian, and that the Jews substituted Satan
for Typhon, whose dwelling was the desert.
The obvious objection to Spencer's view is that
the goat formed part of a sin-offering to the
Lord, and that it, with its fellow, had been
formally presented before the Lord at the
door of the Tabernacle. Few, perhaps, will be
satisfied with Hengstenberg's mode of meeting
this difficulty.
4. To obviate the objections which have been
felt in supposing the goat to have been sent to
an evil spirit or demon, it has been proposed
to treat 7ffcSU7? as an appellative, and to render
" for dismissal " (R. V. marg.). Thus under
stood, the word would come from 7LV (the
root adopted by Gesenius), being the Pealal
form, which indicates intensity. This view is
held by Tholuck (quoted and approved by
Thompson), by Bahr, and by Winer. The
objection to it is (1) that the antithesis "to
Jehovah " suggests strongly that 7TStl?7 is a
designation of a personal being ; (2) that the
Pealal form indicates intensity of a very peculiar
kind (Ges.-Kautzsch, § 55, 3; Stade, Lehrb.
§ 156), such as would not be probable in such a
connexion as the present.
On the whole the opinion that Azazel is a
personal name is the most probable, though the
precise derivation must remain uncertain, as
Azazel seems not to be a genuinely Hebrew
word. With Dillmann (note on Lev. xvi. 10)
and. Driver (Expositor, 1885, p. 214 sq.) it is
sufficient to recognise here the survival of an
older stage of religious belief, probably Egyptian,

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297

engrafted upon or accommodated to the sacri
ficial system of the Hebrews.
VII. The Talmudist view of the Day of
Atonement in Yoma (cap. viii.) is sound and
edifying: "The Day of Atonement and death
work atonement where there is penitence.
Penitence itself makes atonement lor slight
transgressions, and in the case of grosser sins
it obtains a respite until the Day of Atonement
comes and works reconciliation. If a man say,
' I will continue to sin, and repent on the Day
of Atonement,' no opportunity shall be given
him of completing his repentance. Or if he
say, ' I will sin and the Day of Atonement will
make it right,' that Day will bring him no
atonement." Authorities quoted by Frischmuth
(p. 917) seem to indicate that the peculiar
atoning virtue of the day was supposed to rest
in the scapegoat.
Philo (Lib. de Septenario) regarded the day in
a very noble light. He spoke of it as an
occasion for the discipline of self-restraint in
regard to bodily indulgence, and for bringing
home to our minds the truth that man does not
live by bread alone, but by whatever God is
pleased to appoint. The prayers proper for the
day, he says, are those for forgiveness of sins
past and for amendment of life in future, to be
offered in dependence, not on our own merits,
but on the goodness of God.
lt cannot be doubted that what especially dis
tinguished the symbolical expiation of this day
from that of the other services of the Law, was
its broad and national character, with perhaps
a deeper reference to the sin which belongs to
the nature of man. Ewald instructively remarks
that though the least uncleanness of an indi
vidual might be atoned by the rites of the Law
which could be observed at other times, there
was a consciousness of secret and indefinite sin
pervading the congregation, which was aptly
met by this great annual fast. Hence, in its
national character, he sees an antithesis between
it and the Passover, the great festival of social
life ; and, in its atoning significance, he regards
it as a fit preparation for the rejoicing at the
ingathering of the fruits of the earth in the
Feast of Tabernacles. Philo looked upon its
position in the Jewish calendar in the same light.
In considtring the meaning of the particular
rites of the day, three points appear to be of a
very distinctive character. 1. The white gar
ments of the high-priest. 2. His entrance into
the Holy of Holies. 3. The scapegoat. The
writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews (ix. 7-25)
teaches us to apply the first two particulars.
The high-priest, with his person cleansed and
dressed in white garments, was himself the best
outward type which a living man could present
in his own person of that pure and Holy One
Who was to purify His people and to cleanse
them from their sins.
But respecting the meaning of the scapegoat,
we have no such light to guide us, and (as has
been already implied in what has been stated
regarding the word Azazel) the subject is one
of great doubt and difficulty.
Of those who take Azazel for the Evil Spirit,
some have supposed that the goat was a sort of
bribe, or retaining fee, for the accuser of men.
Spencer, in supposing that it was given up with
its load of sin, to the enemy to be tormented

298

ATONEMENT

made it a symbol of the punishment of the
wicked ; while, according to the strange notion
of Hengstenberg, that it was sent to mock the
devil, it was significant of the freedom of those
who had become reconciled to God.
Some few of those who have held a different
opinion on the word Azazel, have supposed that
the goat was taken into the wilderness to suffer
there vicariously for the sins of the people. But
it has been generally considered that it was
dismissed to signify the carrying away of their
sins, as it were, out of the sight of Jehovah."
If we keep in view that the two goats are
spoken of as parts of one and the same sin-
offering, and that every circumstance connected
with them appears to have been carefully ar
ranged to bring them under the same conditions
up to the time of the casting of the lots, we
shall not have much difficulty in seeing that
they form together but one symbolical expres
sion. Why there were two individuals instead of
one may be simply this — that a single material
object could not, in its nature, symbolically
embrace the whole of the truth which was to
be expressed. This is implied in the reasoning
of the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews on
the office and sacrifice of Christ (Heb. ix.).
Hence some, regarding each goat as a type of
Christ, supposed that the one which was slain
represented His death, and that the goat set
free signified His resurrection (Cyril, Bochart,
and others, quoted by Spencer). But we shall
take a simpler and perhaps a truer view, if we
look upon the slain goat as setting forth the
act of sacrifice, in giving up its own life for
others " to Jehovah," in accordance with the
requirements of the Divine law ; and the goat
which carried off its load of sin "for complete
removal " (§ vi. 4), as signifying the cleansing
influence of faith in that sacrifice. Thus in his
degree the devout Israelite might have felt the
truth of the Psalmist's words, " As far as the
east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us" (Ps. ciii. 12). But
for us the whole spiritual truth has been revealed
in historical fact, in the life, death, and resur
rection of Him Who was made sin for us, Who
died for us, and Who rose again for our justifica
tion. This Mediator, it was necessary, should,
" in some unspeakable manner, unite death and
life" (Maurice on Sacrifice, p. 85).
Spencer, de legibu-s Hebraeorum Ritualibus, lib.
iii. Dissertatio viii. ; Lightfoot's Temple Service,
c. xv. ; Yoma, with the notes in Surenhusius' ed.
of the Mishna, vol. ii., and Strack's edition
already named ; Frischmuth, Dissertatio de
Hirco Emissario, in the Thesaurus Theologico-
Philologicus ; Ewald, Die Alterthiimer des Volkes
Israel, p. 370 sq, ; Hengstenberg, Egypt and tlie
Books of Moses, on Lev. xvi. (English Transla
tion), and Christologie, Protevangelium ; Thomson
(Archbp. of York), Bampton Lectures, Lect. iii.
and notes. Cp. also Wiinsche, Der Babylon. Tal
mud in seinen haggadischen Bestandtheilen, i.
§ viii. Tractat Joma; Oehler, Theol. of the Old
Test. § 140, 12, 13 ; Schultz,4 A. T. Theol. pp.
« In the similar part of the rite for the purification of
the leper (Lev. xiv. 6, 7), in which a live bird was set
free, it must be evident that the bird signified the carry
ing away of the uncleanness of the sufferer in precisely
the same manner.

ATTAI
368, 650 ; Riehm, Alttest. Theol. § 37. for the
modes in which the Modern Jews have regarded
and observed the Day of Atonement, seeBuxtorf,
Synagoga Judaica, cap. xx. ; Picart, Ceremonies
Religieuses, vol. i. ; Mills, Tlie British Jews,
pp. 167-174. [On critical questions arising
in connexion with Lev. xvi., see D. Hoffmann
Mag. fiir Wiss. d. Jud. 1876, p. 1 sq. ; Delitzsch
ZKWL. 1880, p. 173 sq. ; Dillmann, EL. pp. 523-
526; NDJ. p. 673; Wellh. Hist. pp. 110-112-
Adler, ZATW. 1883, p. 178 sq.; Kuenen, Hex
§§ 6. 23, 15. 32 ; Theol. Tijdschr. 1883, pp. 207-
212 ; Stade, Gesch. ii. pp. 182, 258-260 ; Ben-
zinger, ZATW. 1889, p. 65 sq.— S. R. D.] [S. C]
Lev. xvi., the chief passage dealing with the
ritual and meaning of the Day of Atonement,
forms part of what is now usually called the
Priests' Code (see Bible, p. 427). This Code
dates, according to the Book of Leviticus itself,
from the time of Moses ; according to Dillmann,
from the 9th cent. B.C. ; according to Well
hausen, from after the time of the Exile. The
subject generally is discussed elsewhere [Fasts,
Feasts] ; a few words only are introduced here
with reference to this special holy day. One
of the arguments urged in favour of a late date
and late composition is the argumentum e
silentio. No allusion to the fast is said to be
found, outside of the Pentateuch, till the days
of Simon the High Priest (Ecclus. 1. 1-5 ; i.e.
in the 3rd cent, if Simon I. be intended, or in
the 2nd cent, if Simon II. See Speaker's Comm.
on Apocrypha, Introd. to Ecclus. § ii.), and all
mention of it is absent from certain passages
in the historical and prophetical Books, where
it is thought mention should have been made.
The argumentum e silentio is always precarious,
and a careful examination of the context and
bearings of the passages in question (e.g. 1 K.
viii. 2, 65 ; Ezra iii. 1-6 ; Neh. viii. ; Ezek.
xiv. 18-20; Zech. vii. 8) does not by any
means support the view that allusion to the
great day was requisite. [F.]
AT'ROTH (rnpi? = crowns of), a city of Gad,
named with Aroer "and Jaazer (Num. xxxii. 35).
No doubt the name should be taken with that
following it, Shophan ; the addition serving to
distinguish this place from the Ataroth in the
same neighbourhood, and mentioned in v. 34.
The Vulgate has Etroth et Soplian; A. V.
" Atroth, Shophan ; " R. V. more correctly,
Atroth-shophan. In the LXX. reminiscences of
Shophan alone remain (B. Sotpdp, A. yrjv S,a>tpip,
F. Sutpdv). It was perhaps on Jebel 'Attarus,
N.W. of Dhibdn, Dibon [Ataroth]. [G.] [W.]
AT'TAI (W; B. 'EBBel, A. 'leBBi; Etliei).
1. Grandson of Sheshan the Jerahmeelite
through his daughter Ahlai, whom he gave in
marriage to Jarha, his Egyptian slave (1 Ch. ii.
35, 36). His grandson Zabad was one of David's
mighty men (1 Ch. xi. 41).
2. B. 'EBol, A. 'EBBel; Ethi. One of the
lion-faced warriors of Gad, captains of the host,
who forded the Jordan at the time of its
overflow, and joined David in the wilderness
(1 Ch. xii. 11).
3. B. 'UBBel, A. -t; Ethai. Second son of
king Rehoboam by Maachah the daughter of
Absalom (2 Ch. xi. 20). [W. A. W.] [F.]

ATTALIA
ATTALI'A ('ATJ-aAeia; Attalia), a coast-
town of Pamphyiia, mentioned only very casually
in the New Testament (Acts xiv. 25), as the
place from which Paul and Barnabas sailed on
their return to Antioch from their missionary
journey into the inland parts of Asia Minor. It
does not appear that they made any stay, or
attempted to preach the Gospel in Attalia. This
city, however, though comparatively modern at
that time, was a place of considerable import
ance in the 1st century, and has continued to
exist till now. Its name in the 12th century
was Satalia, a corruption, of which the crusading
chronicler, William of Tyre, gives a curious ex
planation. It is now called Adalia, and some
times Antalia.
Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamum,
ruled over the western part of the peninsula
from the N. to the S., and was in want of a port
which should be useful for the trade of Egypt
and Syria, as Troas was for that of the Aegean.
Thus Attalia was built and named after the
monarch. It occupies a fine site, and probably
soon became, as it is now, the chief port on the
south coast of Asia Minor. It appears to have
had close relations with Perga. There are many
inscriptions and ruins of the Roman period.
There has been considerable doubt concern
ing the exact position of Attalia. There is a
discrepancy even between Strabo and Ptolemy,
the former placing it to the W. of the river
Catarrhactes, the latter to the E. This may
probably be accounted for by the peculiar
character of this river, the calcareous waters of
which are continually making changes in the
channels. Beaufort thought that the modern
Adalia is the ancient Olbia, and that Laara i
the true Attalia. Forbiger, after Mannert, is
inclined to identify the two places. But Spratt
and Forbes found the true Olbia further to the
west, and have confirmed Leake's opinion, that
Attalia is where the modern name would lead us
to expect to find it (Beaufort's Karamania ;
Spratt and Forbes' Lycia ; Dict. of G. and R.
Geog., art. Attaleia). [J. S. H.] [W.]
AT'TALUS (AttgcAos, a Macedonian name
of uncertain origin), the name of three kings of
Pergamus who reigned respectively B.C. 241-
197, 159-138 (Philadelphus), 138-133 (Philo-
metor). They were all faithful allies of the
Romans (Liv. xiv. 13) ; and the last-named ap
pointed the Romans his heirs. It is uncertain
whether the letters sent from Rome m favour
of the Jews (1 Mace. xv. 22) were addressed
to Attalus II. (Polyb. xxv. 6, xxxi. 9, xxxii.
3, 5, 8, &c, 25 f. ; Strab. xiii. 4 ; Just. xxxv. 1,
xxxvi. 4, 5 ; App. Mith. 62) or Attalus III.,
as their date falls in B.C. 139-8 [Lucius],
about the time when the lat-ter succeeded his
uncle. Josephus quotes a Pergamene decree
in favour of the Jews (Ant. xiv. 10, § 22) in
the time of Hyrcanus (c. B.C. 112) ; cp. Rev. ii
12-17. [B. F. W.j '
ATTHARA'TES CAT6dpaTVs ; Atharathes),
1 Esd. ix. 49 (see Speaker's Comm. in loco) ; a
corruption of the title " the Tirshatha " (cp.
Neh. viii. 9) ; cp. Atharias. [W. A. W.]
AU'GIA (Aiyla ; om. in Vulg.). The daugh
ter of Berzelus, or Barzillai, according to 1 Esd.
v. 38 (the names in the LXX. are different).

AUGUSTUS

299

Her descendants by Addus were among the
priests whose genealogy could not be substan
tiated after the return from Babylon. The
name does not occur in the lists of Ezra or
Nehemiah. [W. A. W.]
AUGUSTUS (AvyoutTTOS, Luke ii. 1; 2e-
iSao-Tcis, Acts xxv. 21 and 25 ; Augustus). In
Luke ii. 1 the name designates Octaviau, who
first bore the title, and is generally known in
history as Augustus. In the two references in
Acts ¦' Augustus " is simply equivalent to
" emperor," and is so rendered in R. V. to avoid
the confusion which might arise from the A. V.
" Augustus." The emperor there intended is
Nero. Augustus (Octavian) is mentioned by
St. Luke as the author of the decree which was
the occasion of Joseph's journey to Bethlehem.
For the decree and questions connected with it,
see Cyrenius. Only a very short sketch of
Octavian's life can be given here. He was born
B.C. 63. His father was Caius Octavius, and
his mother Atia, daughter of Julia, sister to
C. Julius Caesar, the dictator. Having lost his
father while young, he came under the charge
of his great uncle Julius. After the murder
of his uncle, the young C. Octavius succeeded to
a great part of his wealth, and, being adopted
into the Gens Julia, was thenceforth known as
C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, and no longer as
C. Octavius. He fought for the Republic against
Antony at Mutina; but soon we find him
marching upon Rome, and extorting his election
to the consulship, B.C. 43. Sent to defend the
Republic against Antony and Lepidus, he met
them in friendly conference near Bononia, and
formed with them a triumvirate for the govern
ment of the empire. They divided among them
selves the provinces and the legions. After the
deposition of Lepidus the West was entirely in
the hands of Octavian. His final struggle with
Antony for the supreme power could not long-
be delayed. It was decided by his naval victory
at Actium, B.C. 31, and the suicide of Antony.
On Octavian's return to Rome, B.C. 29, instead
of surrendering his military command (imperium)
he retained with the name of Imperator the
permanent control of all the military forces of
the empire. By virtue of this control, together
with the principate of the senate, the consulate,
the tribunician power, &c, he was in fact,
though not in name, the absolute master of the
state. The offices and forms of the Republic
were retained to give a popular colour to the
government of an irresponsible ruler. For a
detailed account of this system, see Merivale
Hist. Emp. xxxi. No single title expressed the
aggregate of powers combined in Octavian's
person ; but the honorific epithet Augustus con
ferred on him, B.C. 27, marked his unique posi
tion, and was inherited by his successors, e.g.
Nero, as in the passages quoted (Acts xxv. 21,
25). The title — for such it became — was closely
connected with the growing opinion of the
sacredness of the prince's person, which culmi
nated in emperor-worship, Dion says that
Augustus took the title as "being (himself)
something more than human." This aspect of
the title is emphasised in the alternative Greek
form SeBatrrds (cp. Dion Cass. liii. 16 and 18
quoted by Westcott, Epp. St. John, The Churcli
and the World, where see whole passage, pp. 255-

300

AUGUSTUS' BAND

Medal of Augustus. (British
Museum.)

269). Merivale says, " The adjunct, though never
given to a man, had been applied to things most
noble, most venerable, most divine. The rites
of the gods were called august, the temples were
august." The principal point of contact between Augus
tus and Jewish history lies in the support and
favour which he gave to Herod the Great. Im
mediately after the defeat at Actium of his
early patron Antony, Herod contrived to in
gratiate himself with Augustus, and before long
received back Jericho, which Antony had taken
away, with considerable additions of territory,
B.C. 30 (Jos. Ant. xv. 6, § 5 sq., and 7, § 3). Other
marks of favour followed, and Josephus, writing
of a later period, said that, next to Agrippa,
Augustus preferred no one to Herod. In com
pliance with the custom of emperor-worship
-mentioned above, Herod built temples in his
patron's honour at Panium (Caesarea Philippi)
imd at Caesarea Sebaste. Augustus was well
disposed towards the
nation, as well as its
ruler. With his wife
he presented wine-
flagons to the Temple
at Jerusalem (Jos.
B. J. v. 13, § 6) ; and
Josephus gives an
edict of his, granting
the fullest security
and religious liberty
to the Jews in Asia
and Libya (Ant. xvi.
6, § 2). For the par
tition by Augustus of Herod's dominions, see
Archelaus. He died at Nola in Campania,
a.d. 14, in his seventy-sixth year, and was
¦succeeded by Tiberius. For a fuller account, see
Augustus, Dict. Biogr. and Mythol. [E. R. B.]
AUGUSTUS' BAND (Acts xxvii. 1).
i[Armv, p. 247 a.] [G.]
AU'RANUS (tis Avpdvos), leader of a riot
at Jerusalem (2 Mace. iv. 40). In the LXX.
B. and iu the Vulgate the name is rendered
tis Tvpdvvos, quidam tyrannies. [W. A. W.]
AUTE'AS (T.; AuTaias; Vulg. omits), name
of a Levite who taught tlie Law under Ezra
<1 Esd. ix. 48). [Hodijail] [W. A. W.]
A'VA (X-lU=Avva; 'Aio; Avail), a place at
r»resent unknown in the empire of Assyria, from
which colonies were brought to re-people the
cities of Samaria after the deportation of the
Jews (2 K. xvii. 24). From the names in con
nexion with which it is introduced, some think
it the same place as Ivah. [Ivah.] Schrader
(KAT.2 p. 281) notes that the name has not
yet been found in the inscriptions. [F.]
AV'ARAN (Avapdv ; Abaron), surname of
Eleazar, brother of Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace.
ii. 5). [Eleazar, 8.] [W.]
A'VEN (|JN = nothingness ; TrV ; idolum).
1. The " plain of Aven," marg. " Bikath-aven " ;
R. V. "Valley of A." ('NVmp}) is mentioned
by Amos (i. 5), in his 'denunciation of Aram
(Syria) and the country to the N. of Palestine.
lt has not been identified with certainty. Mi-

AVTM
chaelis (notes on Amos) heard from a native of
Damascus of a valley near that city, called Un,
and he quotes a Damascene proverb referring
to it; but the information was at best sus
picious, and has not been confirmed, although
the neighbourhood of Damascus has been
tolerably well explored by Burckhardt (App.
iv.) and by Porter. The Prophet, however,
would seem to be alluding to some principal
district of the country, of equal importance
with Damascus itself; and so the LXX. have
understood it, taking the letters as pointed j'lK,
and expressing it in their version as treS'iov 'fli/.
By this they doubtless intended the great plain
of Lebanon, Coelesyria, in which the renowned
idol temple of Baalbek or Heliopolis was situated,
and which still retains the very same name by
which Amos and Joshua designated ii,el Buka'a.
This name is also applied to a " fine large
valley " six hours south of Jerash (Van de Velde,
Map; and Lindsay, p. 278). The application of
Aven as a term of reproach or contempt to a
flourishing idol sanctuary, and the play or
paronomasia therein contained, is quite in keep
ing with the manner of Amos and of Hosea.
The latter frequently aj:>plies the very same
word to Bethel. [Bethaven.]
2. In Hos. x. 8, " the high places of Aven "
CN niD3 ; BupolTnv; excclsa idoli), the word
is clearly a contraction of Beth-aven ; that k,
Bethel (cp. iv. 15, &c. See Speaker's Comm. i. 1.).
3. In Ezek. xxx. 17, A. V. and R. V. "Aven"
(A. V. marg. Heliopolis) ; JX (Cornill). In this
manner are pointed the letters of the name
which is elsewhere given as Ou, ]1N, the sacred
city of Heliopolis or On, in Egypt. [Ox.] The
LXX. and Vulgate both render it accordingly,
HAiouttoAis, Heliopolis. The intention of the
prophet is doubtless to play upon the name
in the same manner as Amos and Hosea. See
above (1). [G.] [W.]
A'VIM, A'VIMS, or ATITES* (DWi1 =
the Avvim, as in R. V. ; ot Ebaiot, the word
elsewhere used by the LXX. for Hivites; He-
vaei). 1. An early, but perhaps not an abo
riginal b people among the inhabitants of
Palestine, whom we meet with in the S.W.
corner of the sea-coast, whither they may have
made their way northwards from the Desert
(Stanley, Sinai 'and Pal. App. § 83). The only
notice of them which has come down to us
is contained in a remarkable fragment of
primeval history preserved in Deut. ii. 23.
Here we see them "dwelling in ' the ' villages"
(or nomad encampments — Chatzerim) in the S.
part of the Shefela, or great western lowland,
" as far as Gaza." In these rich possessions
they were attacked by the invading Philis
tines, "the Caphtorim which came forth out
of Caphtor," and who " destroyed " them, and
" dwelt in their stead." The remains of them
are spoken of in Josh. xiii. 3, 4, " the Avvim on

" It is characteristic of the looseness of the A. V. that
this name is given differently each time it occurs, and
that they are all inaccurate.
b According to Ewald (Geschichte, i. 310) and
Bertheau, the Avvim were an Urvolk of Palestine
proper. They may have been so, but there is nothing
to prove it, while the mode of their dwellings points
rather to the desert as their origin.

AVITH
the south " (so R. V., with LXX., Pesh., Vulg.,
Dillm., Keil) as dwelling south of the Philistines.
Nothing more is told us of this ancient people.
Possibly a trace of their existence is to be
found in the town " Avim " (accurately, as
in the other cases, " the Avvim ") which occurs
among the cities of Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 23),
and which may have preserved the memory of
some family of the extinct people driven up out
oftheir fertile plains to take refuge in the wild
hills of Bethel ; just as in the " Zemaraim " of
the preceding verse we have probably a remi
niscence of the otherwise forgotten Zemarites.
[Zemaraim.] But, on the other hand, it is
possible that the word in this place is but a
variation or corruption of the name of Ai. [So
Dillmann. Keil remarks that the site of Avvim
is unknown. — S. R. D.] [Ai.]
2. The people of Avva, among the colonists
who were sent by the king of Assyria to rein-
habit the depopulated cities of Israel (2 K. xvii.
31). [AvA.] They were idolaters, worshipping
gods called Nibhaz and Tartak. [G.] [W.]
AVI'TH (JVW; A. TeBBdip, in Gen.; in
1 Ch. B. TeBBdip; A. TeB8dp; Avith), the city
of Hadad ben-Bedad, one of the kings of Edom
before there were kings in Israel (Gen. xxxvi.
35 ; 1 Ch. i. 46 ; in the latter passage the text
[Chetib] has nVJ/, which in the Keri is corrected
to agree with the reading in Genesis). The
name may be compared with el - Ghoweitheh
(&Jl) «-«2 1 ; a "chain of low hills, " mentioned
by Burckhardt (p. 375) as lying to the E. of the
district of Kerek in Moab (Dillmann,5 Genesis,
La). [G.J [W.]
AWL (TX")D ; otttitiov ; subuld), a tool of
which we do not know the ancient form. The
only notice of it is in connexion with the custom
of boring the ear of the slave (Ex. xxi. 6 ;
Deut. xv. 17). [W. L. B.]
AXE. Seven Hebrew words are thus ren
dered in the A. V.
1. |T*]3, Garze-A, from a root signifying " to
cut or sever," as " hatchet," from " hack," cor
responds to the Lat. securis. It consisted of a
head of iron (cp. Is. x. 34), fastened, with
thongs or otherwise, upon a handle of wood,
and so liable to slip off (Deut. xix. 5 ; 2 K. vi. 5).
It was used for felling trees (Deut. xx. 19), and
also for shaping the wood when felled, or rather
perhaps for hewing stone, as on the Siloam
Inscription^ K. vi. 7).
2. 3in, Chereb, which is usually translated
" sword," is used of other cutting instruments,
as a "knife" (Josh. v. 2) or razor (Ezek. v. 1),
or a tool for hewing or dressing stones (Ex. xx.
25), and is once rendered " axe " (Ezek. xxvi. 9 ;
R. V. marg., Heb. swords), evidently denoting a
weapon for destroying buildings, a pickaxe.
3. 7,B'3, Casshil, occurs but once (Ps. lxxiv.
6), and is evidently a later word, denoting a
large axe. It is also found in the Targum of
Jer. xlvi. 22.
4. mn», Magzerdh (2 Sam. xii. 31), and
5. nijb, Megerdh (1 Ch. xx. 3), are found
in the description of the punishments inflicted
by David upon the Ammonites of Rabbah. The

AZAEL

C01

wcrd mjp is found twice in this verse ; once
in the singular, where it is translated by A. V.
and R. V. " saws," and once in tho plural", where
it is translated by A. V. and R. V. " axes."
Some have thought 5 an error of the transcriber
for 4.

Egyptian Axes or Hatchets. (Thelies and in the Brit. Museum. >
6. HV1?D, Ma'atsdd, rendered "axe" in the-
text of R. V. and in the margin of the A. V. of
Is. xliv. 12, and in Jer. x. 3 (A. V. and R. V.).
This was an instrument employed both by the
ironsmith and the carpenter, and is supposed
to be a curved knife or bill, smaller than
7. D'Pp, Karddm, a large axe used for fell
ing trees (Judg. ix. 48 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 20, 21 ;
Ps. lxxiv. 5 ; Jer. xlvi. 22).
The words 1 and 5 have an etymological
affinity with each other, the idea of cutting
being that which is expressed by their roots.
The "battle-ax," J>SD, moppets (Jer. li. 20),
was probably, as its root indicates, a heavy
mace or maul (R. V. marg.), like that which
gave a surname to a " Maccabee " or to Charles,
Martel. [W. A. W,]

Assyrian Axe.

AZ'AEL CAQdriAos ; Ezelus), father of the-
Jonathan who with Ezechias undertook the
rectification of the matter of the strange mar-

302

AZAELUS

riages (1 Esd. ix. 14. On the difficulty con
nected with the passage, see note in Speakers
Comm.). [Asahel.] " [W. A. W.] [F.J
AZAE'LUS (B. 'A(driAos, A. 'A^A; Dielus),
an Israelite in the time of Esdras ; the name is
thought to be a repetition of that preceding it,
Ezril (1 Esd. ix. 34. See note there in Speaker's
Comm.). [W. A. W.J [F.]
A'ZAL (Atzel, ^>VK, in pause ^XK, R. V.
Azel ; -T.7 'Iao-dS, A. 'AtraT)A ; usque ad proxi-
mum), a name only occurring in Zech. xiv. 5.
It is mentioned as the limit to which the
"ravine" or cleft (S'3) of the Mount of Olives
will extend when " Jehovah shall go forth to
fight." Nothing more is known about it ; but it
is thought by many to be identical with Beth-
ezel (Mic. i. 11). Against the view that it is
an appellative, see Keil, i. 1. [G.] [S. R. D.]
AZALI'AH (-ln^VN, Ges. = Jah hath set
apart or reserved; B. 'EAlas, A. 'EtrtreAtas in
K., BA. SeAii in 2 Ch. ; Aslia, Eselias). The
father of Shaphan the scribe under Josiah (2 K.
xxii, 3 ; 2 Ch. xxxiv. 8), [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZANI'AH (ST3TK = Jah heareth ; B. 'Afo-
vela, A. -via, K, -vit)A ; Azanias). The father
or near ancestor of Jeshua the Levite in the
time of Nehemiah, one who sealed the covenant
(Neh. x. 9). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZA'PHION (B. 'Ao-aatpeiuB, A. 'AaatptpiuB ;
Sephegus), 1 Esd. v. 33. Possibly a corruption
of Sophbreth (E. V. I. v. marg.). One of the
descendants " of the servants of Solomon " who
went up from the Captivity, [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZ'ARA ('Ao-ap<£ ; Attre), one of the " ser
vants of the Temple " (1 Esd. v. 31). No corre
sponding name can be traced in the parallel list
in Ezra. [W. A. W.]
AZAR'AEL (the same name as the succeed
ing one; ?K1_tl?; B. 'Ofetfa., N°-» 'OQpeirJA
[p supersc] ; Azareel), a Levite musician among
those who " went on the right hand upon the
wall " in the solemn dedication of the walls
(Neh. xii. 36). [W. A. W.j [F.]
AZAR'EEL (^JOTl? = El hath helped; B.
'Ofreit)A, A. 'EAi^A ; ''Azareel). 1. A Korhite
who joined David in his retreat at Ziklag (1 Ch.
xii. 6).
2. B. 'Afapid, A. 'E(pvfiA. A Levite musician
of the family of Heman in the time of David,
1 Ch. xxv. 18 ; called Uzziel in xxv. 4.
3. B. 'A{apaiiA, A. 'E(pti)A ; Ezrihel. Son of
Jeroham, and prince of the tribe of Dan when
David numbered the people (1 Ch. xxvii. 22).
4. B. 'E(epi)A, A. 'E(pchA, X 'Ea-pir)A ; Ezrel.
One of the sons of Bani, who put away his
foreign wife on the remonstrance of Ezra (Ezra
x. 41) ; apparently the same as Esril (1 Esd.
ix. 34).
5. B. 'Eo-SorfJA, A. 'E(piiiA (X has here some
additions. See Swete's text in Neh. I. c);
Azreel. Father, or ancestor, of Maasiai, or
Amashai, a priest who dwelt in Jerusalem after
the return from Babylon (Neh. xi. 13 ; cp. 1 Ch.
lx-12)- [W. A. W.] [F.]

AZARIAH
AZARI'AH (HnW and tlTHM; 'Afofo;
Azarias; = whom Jah hath helped). It js a
common name in Hebrew, and especially in
the families of the priests of the line of Ele
azar, whose name has a similar meaning to
Azariah. It is nearly identical, and is often
confounded with Ezra as well as with Zerahiah
and Seraiah. The principal persons who bore
this name were : —
1. B. Zapetd, A. 'Afrpia. Son of Ethan, of
the sons of Zerah, where, perhaps, Zerahiah is
the more probable reading (1 Ch. ii. 8).
2. Son of Ahimaaz (1 Ch. vi. 9). He appears
from 1 K. iv. 2 to have succeeded Zadok, his
grandfather, in the high-priesthood, in the
reign of Solomon, Ahimaaz having died before
Zadok. [Ahimaaz.] To him, it can scarcely
be doubted, instead of to his grandson, Azariah
the son of Johanan, belongs the notice in
1 [Ch. vi. 10, "He it is that executed the
priest's office in the Temple that Solomon built
at Jerusalem," meaning that he officiated at
the consecration of the Temple, and was the
first high-priest that ministered in it. The
other interpretation which has been put upon
these words, as alluding to the Azariah who was
high-priest in Uzziah's reign, and who resisted
the king when he attempted to offer incense,
is quite unsuited to the words they are meant
to explain, and utterly at variance with the
chronology. For this Azariah of 1 Ch. vi. 10
precedes Amariah, the high-priest in Jehosha-
phat's reign, whereas Uzziah was king five
reigns after Jehoshaphat. Josephus merely
mentions Azarias as the son and successor of
Ahimaaz. 3. The son of Johanan (1 Ch. vi. 10, 11). He
must have been high-priest in the reigns of
Abijah and Asa, as we know his son Amariah
was in the days of Jehoshaphat, the son of Asa.
It does not appear what part he took in Asa's
zealous reformation (2 Ch. xv.), nor whether
he approved the stripping of the House of God
of its treasures to induce Benhadad to break
his league with Baasha king of Israel, as re
lated in 2 Ch. xvi., for his name and his office
are never alluded to in the history of Asa's
reign, either in the Books of Kings or Chronicles.
The active persons in the religious movement
of the times were the king himself and the
two prophets, — Azariah the son of Oded, and
Hanani. The silence concerning Azariah, the
high-priest, is, perhaps, rather unfavourable
than otherwise to his religious character. His
name is almost lost in Josephus's list of the
high-priests. Having lost, as we saw in the
article Amariah, its termination A2, which
adhered to the following name, it got by some
process transformed into 'Irros.
4.' The high-priest in the reign of Uzziah,
tenth king of Judah (2 K. xiv. 21 ; xv. 1, 6,
7, 8, 17, 23, 27; 1 Ch. iii. 12). The most
memorable event of his life is that which
is recorded in 2 Ch. xxvi. 17-20. When king
Uzziah, elated by his great prosperity and
power, "transgressed against the Lord his
God, and went into the Temple of the Lord
to burn incense upon the altar of incense,"
Azariah the priest, accompanied by eighty of
his ^brethren, went in boldly after him, and
withstood him. With unflinching faithfulness,
aud a high sense of his own responsibility as

AZARIAH
ruler of the House of God, he addressed the
king with the well-merited reproof — "It apper
tained not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense
unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of
Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense :
go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast tres
passed : neither shall it be for thine honour from
the Lord God." Aud it is added that when
" Azariah the chief priest and all the priests
looked upon him, behold he was leprous in
his forehead, and they thrust him out from
thence ; yea himself hasted to go out, because
the Lord had smitten him." Uzziah was a
leper unto the day of his death, and, as such,
was never able again to go to the Lord's House,
which he had so presumptuously invaded.
Azariah was contemporary with Isaiah the
Prophet, and with Amos and Joel, and doubt
less witnessed the great earthquake in Uzziah's
reign (Amos i. 1 ; Zech. xiv. 5). He is not
mentioned in the list of Josephus. 'IoujjAos
occurs instead ; possibly the name of the prophet
inadvertently substituted for that of the high-
priest. Neither is he in the priestly genealogy
of 1 Ch. vi.
5. The high-priest in the days of Hezekiah
(2 Ch. xxxi. 10-13). He appears to have
co-operated zealously with the king in that
thorough purification of the Temple and re
storation of the Temple-services which was so
conspicuous a feature in Hezekiah 's reign. He
especially interested himself in providing cham
bers in the House of the Lord in which to
stow the tithes and offerings and consecrated
things for the use of the priests and Levites,
and in appointing overseers to have the charge of
them. For the attendance of priests and Levites,
and the maintenance of the Temple-services,
depended entirely upon the supply of such
offerings, and whenever the people neglected
them the priests and Levites were forced to
disperse themselves to their villages, and so
the House of God was deserted (cp. Neh. x.
35-39; xii. 27-30, 44-4:7). His name seems
to be corrupted into Ntjoios in Josephus. He
succeeded Urijah, who was high-priest in the
reign of Ahaz. Who his successor was is
uncertain. He is not, any more than the pre
ceding, included in the genealogy of 1 Ch. vi.
6. Another Azariah is inserted between
Hilkiah, in Josiah's reign, and Seraiah, who was
put to death by Nebuchadnezzar (1 Ch. vi.
13). But Josephus does not acknowledge him,
making Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, and there
seems to be scarcely room for him. It seems
likely that he may have been inserted to as
similate the genealogy to that of Ezra vii. 1,
where, however, the Seraiah and Azariah are
probably neither of them the high-priests of
those names.
7. Several other priests and Levites of this
name occur, as (a) Son of Zephaniah and an
cestor of Elkanah, taken by some to be the
father of Samuel the prophet (1 Ch. vi. 36).
(6) Son of Hilkiah in the genealogy of Ezra
(Ezra vii. 1 ; 1 Ch. ix. 11, called Seraiah in
Neh. xi. 11). (c) One of the leaders of the
children of the province who went up with
Zerubbabel from Babylon (Neh. vii. 7); else
where called Seraiah (Ezra ii. 2) and Zacharias
(1 Esd. v. 8). (d) Son of Maaseiah, one of the
priests, " the men of the plain," who repaired a

AZARIAH

303

portion of the wall (Neh. iii. 23, 24). (e) A
Levite who assisted Ezra in instructing people
in the knowledge of the Law (Neh. viii. 7),
called Azarias in 1 Esd. ix. 43. (/) One of the
priests who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah
(Neh. x. 2), and probably the same as the
Azariah who assisted in the dedication of the
city wall (Neh. xii. 33). (g) Two other
Levites (2 Ch. xxix. 12) in the days of Hezekiah ;
one the father of Joel the Kohathite, the other
the son of Jehalelel the Merarite.
8. B. 'Opveid, Bb. -io, A. 'A(aptas. A chief
officer of Solomon, the son of Nathan, perhaps
David's grandson (1 K. iv. 5).
9. n,')W. Son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah
(2 Ch. xxi. 2); not to be confounded with his
brother, also called Azariah (•WTO. B. omits ;
A. inserts it once, after Zacharias).
10. The original name of Abed-nego (Dan. i.
6, 7, 11, 19). He appears to have been of the
seed-royal of Judah, and for this reason selected,
with Daniel and his other two companions, for
Nebuchadnezzar's especial service. The " three
children," as they were called, were remark
able for their beauty, wisdom, knowledge, and
intelligence. They were not less remarkable for
their piety, their strict adherence to the Law
of Moses, the steadfastness of their faith even
unto death, and for their wonderful deliverance.
11. Azariah, the son of Oded (2 Ch. xv. 1 ;
in v. 8 there is some error in the text), was a
remarkable prophet in the days of king Asa, and
a contemporary of Azariah the son of Johanan
the high-priest, and of Hanani the seer. He
powerfully stirred up the spirit of Asa, and of
the people of Judah and Benjamin, in a brief
but pithy exhortation, which has been preserved,
to put away all idolatrous worship, and to
restore the altar of the one true God before
the porch of the Temple. Great numbers of
Israelites from Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, and
all Israel, joined in the national reformation, to
the great strengthening of the kingdom ; and
a season of rest and great prosperity ensued.
Oded, the prophet in the days of Ahaz, may
probably have been a descendant of Azariah.
12. At 2 Ch. xxii. 6, Azariah is a clerical
error for Ahaziah (A. V. and R. V. marg. ;
B. 'Oxo£eias ; Ochozias).
13. Several other persons of this name are
mentioned as belonging to different tribes, as
e.g. (a) The son of Jehu of the family of the
Jerahmeelites, and descended from Jarha the
Egyptian slave of Sheshan (1 Ch. ii. 34, 38). He
was probably one of the captains of hundreds in
the time of Athaliah mentioned in 2 Ch. xxiii. 1,
and there called the son of Obed. His name is
very important, as marking clearly the time
when the genealogy in 1 Ch. ii. 36—41 was made
out, viz. in Hezekiah's reign ; for Azariah would
be about one generation older than Joash. Now
there are six generations after Azariah in that
genealogy, ending with Elishama, and, counting
Joash, there are from Joash to Hezekiah also
six generations, viz. Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah,
Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah. Elishama, therefore,
was contemporary with Hezekiah. Zabad, in
1 Ch. ii. 36, 37, we know too from xi. 41, to
have been a contemporary of David. (6) In
the same passage (2 Ch. xxiii. 1) is another
Azariah, the son of Jeroham, and also one of
the captains of Judah in the time of Athaliah.

304

AZARIAS

(c) A. 'Afapias, B. OvSeid, son of Johanan, one
of the captains of Ephraim in the reign of Ahaz,
who sent back the captives and spoil that were
taken in the invasion of Judah by Pekah (2 Ch.
xxviii. 12). (d) A son of Hoshaiah, Jer. xliii. 2;
cp. Neh. xii. 32, 33 ; called Jezastiah in Jer.
xiii. 1. [A. C. H.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZARI'AS ('A(apta! ; Azarias). 1. 1 Esd.
ix. 21, elsewhere called Uzziah (Ezra x. 1).
2. 1 Esd. ix. 43 = Urijah (Neh. viii. 4).
3. 1 Esd. ix. 48, elsewhere called Azariah
(Neh. viii. 7). 4. Azareus, priest in the line
of Esdras (2 Esd. i. 1), elsewhere Azariah and
Ezerias. 5. Name assumed by the Angel
Raphael (Tob. v. 12; vi. 6, 13; vii. 8; ix. 2).
6. A captain in the army of Judas Maccabaeus
(1 Mace. v. 18, 56, 60). [W. A. W.]
A'ZAZ (fW = strong ; 'Ofri!£; Azaz), a
Reubenite, BelV's father (1 Ch. v. 8). [W. A. W.]
AZAZEL, the marginal rendering in A. V.
of the " scape-goat " of the text (Lev. xvi. 8).
The R. V. puts Azazel in the text, and inserts
"Or, dismissal" in the margin. See Atonement,
Day op, § VI. [F.]
AZ AZI'AH (-1 PI W = whom Jah hath strength
ened; BK. 'Ofeios, A. -ios ; Ozaziu). 1. A
Levite musician in the reign of David, appointed
to play the harp in the service when the ark
was brought up from the house of Obed-Edom
(1 Ch. xv. 21). 2. The father of Hosea, prince
of the tribe of Ephraim when David numbered
the people (1 Ch. xxvii. 20). 3. A. 'Ofofas;
Azarias. One of the Levites in the reign of
Hezekiah who had charge of the tithes and
dedicated things in the Temple under Cononiah
and Shimei (2 Ch. xxxi. 13). [W. A. W.]
AZBAZ'ARETH (A. 'Ao&atrapeB, B.'AtrBaK-
atpdB ; Asbazareth), king of the Assyrians (1 Esd.
v. 69 ; LXX. v. 66). In Ezra iv. 2 the name is
Esar-haddon (A. 'AaapaSStiv, B. 'AtrapeaBtiv),
of which Azbazareth may be (?) a corruption
(see Speaker's Comm. on 1 Esd. v. 69). The
A. V. of 1611 spells the name more correctly
Asbazareth. [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZBU'K (p-13Tl> ; B. 'AfrBoix, K. 'AfoSou,
A. 'A0oi>x i Azboc). Father or ancestor of
Nehemiah the prince of part of Bethzur (Neh.
iii. 16). [W. A. W.]
AZE'KAH (HpU?, from a root signifying to
dig or till the ground,* see Gesen. s. v. ; 'Africa,
usually ; Azeca), a town of Judah, with de
pendent villages (" daughters ") lying in the
Shefelah or rich lowland, a situation quite in
accordance with the derivation of the name given
above. It is named (Josh. xv. 35, B. 'IofrjKa)
in the same group with Jarmuth, Adullam, and
Socoh ; places which have been identified with
Kh. el- Yarmuk, Kh. 'Aid el-Ma and Kh. Shuweikeh.
In 2 Ch. xi. 9, 10, Azekah, Zorah, and Aijalon
are named in succession, the two last being now
Surah and Yalo; and it may be inferred from
1 Sam. xvii. 1, that it was not far from Shocoh
(Shuweikeh), and that a valley separated the two
places. [Shochoh.] Joshua's pursuit of the

» The verb occurs only in Is. v. 2, where it is ren
dered in the A. V. "fenced;" but by Gesenius, in bis
Jesaia, " grub ihn um ; " R. V. "made a trench about
it"

AZIA
Canaanites after the battle of Beth-heron
extended to Azekah (Josh. a. 10, 11). Between
Azekah and Shochoh, an easy step out of their
own territory, the Philistines encamped before
the battle in which Goliath was killed (1 Sam.
xvii. 1). It was among the cities fortified by
Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 9), was still standing at
the time of the invasion of the kings of Babylon
(Jer. xxxiv. 7), and is mentioned as one of the
places re-occupied by the Jews after their return
from Captivity (Neh. xi. 30).
The indications contained in the above
passages seem necessarily to place Azekah at
Tell Zakariya, or Zakariya, S.S.E. of 'AinSkems
an identification already proposed by Schwarz
(p. 102) and Van de Velde. This agrees
with the statements of Eusebius and Jerome
(OS.2 pp. 125, 22; 238, 16) that the place lay
between (ova; peaov) Eleutheropolis and Jeru
salem, i.e. on the Roman road from the former
place which passed through Zakariya, 'Ain
Shems, and Bethlehem to Jerusalem (PEF.
Map). For Tell Zakariya and Zakariya, see
PEF. Mem. ii. 441 and iii. 27. [G.] [W.]
A'ZEL (^¥N> in pause ^>¥K; 'Eo-hA, usually;
Asel), a descendant of Saul (1 Ch. viii. 37, 38,
ix. 43 [B. 'Eira^A], 44 [K. 'Etro^A, bis]). [W.]
A'ZEM(DVy, in pause DSB, a bone; B.
'Atrdp, 'Iao-oV; A. 'Atrep, 'Atrdp; Esem, Asm;
R. V. Ezem, bis), a city in the extreme south of
Judah (Josh. xv. 29), afterwards allotted to
Simeon (xix. 3). [Ezem.] [G.] [W.]
AZEPHU'RITH (B. 'AptrettpovpelB, A. 'Ap-
trttpp- ; Vulg. omits), 1 Esd. v. 16 : the head of
a family whose sons returned to Jerusalem after
the Captivity. The name answering to this in
the list of Ezra (ii. 18) is Jorah, and in Nehe
miah (vii. 24) is Hariph; and it has been con
jectured that Azephurith arose from a tran
scriber's mistaken combination of the two
names. The uncial 2 of the second syllable
was in that case confounded with E. [W. A. W.]
AZE'TAS ('Alto's ; Zelas), the name of the
head of a family which returned with Zernb-
babel (1 Esd. v. 16). The name is absent from
the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah. [W. A. VP.]
AZ'GAD CliVO; Ges. Thes. = powerful is
Gad, i.e. the god Fortune ; cp. Noldeke,
ZDMG., 1888, p. 479 : Azgad). The children
of Azgad, 1222 in number (Ezra ii. 12 [B.
'Ao-7<£8, A. 'APydS]; 2322 in Neh. vii. 17
[B. 'AtrydS, N. 'AtrrdS, A. 'AyerdS]), were
among "the men of the people of Israel"
who returned with Zerubbabel. A second
detachment of 110, with Johanan at their
head, accompanied Ezra in the second caravan
(Ezra viii. 12, B. 'AoraS, A. 'A(ydS). With
the other heads of the people they joined
in the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 15,
B. 'AtrydS, A. 'A(ydS). The name appears as
Sadas in 1 Esd. v. 13 (B. 'Apyal, A. 'AfTtd),
and the number of the family is there given as
3222. In 1 Esd. viii. 38 it is written AsTATH
('Ao-TdB). [W. A. W.] [F-]

AZI'A (B. 'O£elos, A. -i- ; Ozuus). a
servant (1 Esd. v. 31), who returned with Zerub
babel, called Uzza in Ezra ii. 49. [W. A. W.]

AZIEI
AZI'EI (Asiel). 1. One of the ancestors of
Esdras (2 Esd. i. 2), elsewhere called Aza
riah (Ezra vii. 3) and Ezias (1 Esd. viii. 2).
2. h^lV ; B. 'OCecnA, A. -t- ; Oziel. A Levite
skilled iii the use of the psaltery (1 Ch. xv. 20).
The name is a shortened form of Jaaziel
6x\!l£, 1 Ch. xv. 18). [W. A. W.] [P.]
AZI'ZA (Ntnr ; B. 'Ofeici, A. '0(iCa ; Aziza).
A layman of the family of Zattu, who had
married a foreign wife after the return from
Babylon (Ezra x. 27) : called Sardeus in 1 Esd.
ix. 28 (A. ZapSaias, B. ZepaAlas). [W. A. W.]
AZMA'VETH (lYlOtr, Ges. Thes. perhaps
= strong is Death ; B. 'AaBuB, W>. 'AtrpuB, A.
MtiB [2 Sam.]; B. 'A&tiv, A. 'A(pti8 [1 Ch.];
Azmaveth, Azrnoth). 1. One of David's mighty
men, a native of Bahurira (2 Sam. xxiii. 31 ;
1 Ch. xi. 33), and therefore probably a Ben
jamite. 2. Azrnoth. A descendant of Mephibosheth,
or Merib-baal (1 Ch. viii. 36 [B. SaApti, A.
'ACptiB], ix. 42 [B. TaCatiB, A. 'A(ptiBJ).
3. B. 'Ao-pt&B, A. 'A(ptiB. The father of
Jeziel and Pelet, two of the skilled Benjamite
slingers and archers who joined David at Ziklag
(1 Ch. xii. 3), perhaps identical with 1. It has
been suggested that in this passage " sons of
Azmaveth " may denote natives of the place of
that name.
4. B. 'Ao-u-uB, A. 'ACptiB. Overseer of the
royal treasures in the reign of David (1 Ch.
xxvii. 25). [W. A. W.J [F.]
AZMA'VETH (fliDU?; A. 'ACptiB, B. 'Acr-
^tu0 [Ezra]; Azmaveth), a place to all appearance
in Benjamin, being named with Anathoth, Kir
jath-jearim, and other towns belonging to that
tribe. Forty-two of the Bene-Azmaveth returned
from the Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 24).
The " sons of the singers " seem to have settled
round it (Neh. xii. 29, Nc"« 'ACptiB, B. omits).
The name elsewhere occurs as Beth-Azmaveth
and Beth-Samos. Azmaveth does not make its
appearance in the lists in Joshua, but the name
was borne by several Benjamites of the kindred
of Saul (1 Ch. viii. 36, ix. 42, xii. 3 ; in the
last passage Bene-A. may merely denote natives
of the place, especially as natives of Anathoth,
Oibeah, &c. are mentioned in the same verse).
In Neh. xii. 29 it is mentioned in close con
nexion with Geba, and it is now probably Hizmeh,
a village between 'Andta. Anathoth, and Jeb'a,
Geba (PEF. Mem. iii. 9). ' [G.] [W.]
AZ'MON (jiOJB or |bW; B. 'Aoeptlva, AF.
'AaeApuva [Num. v. 4] ; B. SeApuva, A. 'Atre-
poiva [Josh.] ; Asemona), a place named as being
on the S. boundary of the Holy Land, apparently
near the torrent of Egypt (Wddy el-'Arisli)
<Num. xxxiv. 4, 5 [A. SeApuva, F. 'Ao-eApoiva] ;
Josh. xv. 4). It has not yet been identified ; but
was possibly at, or near, Kh. Lussdn at the
S.W. corner of the Negeb. It is mentioned by
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 123, 25; 236,
58), but evidently was not actually known to
them. Knobel (Ex. Hbh. xiii. 414) compares
the name with that of the 'Azazimeh, an Arab
tribe at the S. end of the Negeb. In the Targum
Jon. it is rendered by DDp, Kessam, which
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

AZUBAH

305

Schwarz (p. 23) would identify with W.
Knsaimeh, S. of Birein. [G.] [W.]
AZ'NOTH-TA'BOR piaPrn'UJN; A.'Afr-
vuB QaBtbp, B. 'Ei'afl 0. ; Azanottlmhor) = " the
ears (i.e. possibly the summits) of Tabor," one
of the landmarks of the boundary of Naphtali
(Josh. six. 34). The town, if town it be, or the
reason for the expression contained in the name,
has hitherto escaped recognition. By Eusebius
(OS.2 p. 242, 88, s. v. 'A£ava8) it is mentioned
as lying in the plain on the confines of Dio-
caesarea. For the use of the word |l'X = ear, cp. Uzzen-
SlIERAH ; and for the metaphor involved in the
name, comp. Chisloth-Tabor. [G.] [W.]
A'ZOR ('Afiip ; Azor), son of Eliakim, in the
line of our Lord (Matt. i. 13, 14). [G.]
AZO'TUS. [Ashdod.]
AZO'TUS, MOUNT ('ACutou Spos or"Af«-
tos Spos ; Mons Azoti). The mountain on
which Judas Maccabaeus was killed (1 Mace.
ix. 15-18). Josephus (Ant. xii. 11, § 2) gives
the name of the mountain as 'A£d. Bacchides,
advancing from Jerusalem, pitched (1 Mace. ix. 4)
at Berea, probably Bireh [Berea (3)] ; whilst
Judas encamped at Eleasa, Il'asa, near Beth-
horon. In the fight that ensufd Judas broke
the right wing of the army of Bacchides and
pursued it to Mount Azotus, which Major
Conder, following Ewald, proposes (PEF. Mem.
ii. 294) to identify with the hill of the modern
village Bir ez-Zeit, near Jufna, Gophna. [W.]
AZRI'EL ("?xntU = the help of God. Cp.
the Punic Hasdrubal = bv2 11W = help of
Baal; B. 'EtrSper)A, A. 'leCptliA; Ezriel). 1. Th'e
head of a house of the half-tribe of Manasseh
beyond Jordan, a man of renown (1 Ch. v. 24).
2. B. 'EapeiT)A, A. '0(it)A ; Ozriel. A Naph-
talite, ancestor of Jerimoth the head of the
tribe at the time of David's census (1 Ch. xxvii.
19) ; called Uzziel in two Heb. MSS., and
apparently in the LXX. (A.).
3. 'EtrpcriA, A. 'EoCpetiA ; Ezriel. The father
of Seraiah, an officer of Jehoiakim' (Jer. xxxvi.
26). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZRI'KAM (D^IW, MV." = my help hath
uplifted itself ; B. 'ECpeiKav, A. 'EtrptKap; Ezri-
cam). 1. A descendant of Zerubbabel, and son of
Neariah of the royal line of Judah (1 Ch. iii. 23).
2. Eldest son of Azel, and descendant of Saul
(1 Ch. viii. 38 [B. 'ECpetKal (B"" -Ke), A. -Kap],
ix. 44 [B. 'EtrSpemdv, H* 'Efy-, A. -Kap]).
3. Azaricam. A Levite, ancestor of Shemaiah
who lived in the time of Nehemiah (1 Ch. ix. 14
[B. 'EapetKdv, A. -Kap] ; Neh. xi. 15 [B. 'E(epet,
x*vta >-E.eXpei, N°-» 'ECpiKav, A. 'Ecrfpfj).
4. B. 'E(eKpet, A. -pi. Governor of the house,
or prefect of the palace to king Ahaz, who was
slain by Zichri, an Ephraimite, in the successful
invasion of the southern kingdom by Pekah, king
of Israel (2 Ch. xxviii. 7). [W. A. W.] [F.]
AZU'BAH (rn-1W, forsaken; B. TaCovBd,
A. 'A(ovBd ; Azuba). 1. Wife of Caleb, son of
Hezron (1 Ch. ii. 18, 19). 2. 'AQovBd, B. [1 IC]
'AQaeBd. Mother of king Jehoshaphat (1 K.
xxii. 42 ; 2 Ch. xx. 31). [W. A. W.]
X

306

AZUR

AZ'UR, properly AZ'ZUR p-TO, helper;
'ACtip ; Azur). 1. A Benjamite of Gibeon, and
father of Hananiah the false prophet (Jer. xxviii.
1). He may have been a priest, as Gibeon was
one of the priestly cities (see Speaker's Comm.
I.e.). 2. TO; T.'"ECep,A. 'IdCep. Father of
Jaazaniah, one of the princes of the. people
against whom Ezekiel was commanded to
prophesy (Ezek. xi. 1). [W. A. W.]
AZU'RAN (B. 'ACapds, A. 'ACovpds; Azoroc).
The sons of Azuran are enumerated in 1 Esd.
v. 15 among those who returned from Babylon
with Zorobabel, but there is no corresponding
name in the catalogues of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Azuran may perhaps be identical with Azzur
in Neh. x. 17. [W. A. W.]
AZ'ZAH (TO = strong; TdCa; Gaza; R. V.
Gaza). This is the more accurate rendering of
the name of the well-known Philistine city,
Gaza (Deut. ii. 23; IK. iv. 24; Jer. xxv. 20).
[Gaza.] There is apparently nothing to explain
why an exception should have been made in
these three places from the usual (but less
correct) version of the name. The name is
accurately rendered by Milton, a Hebraist, in
' Samson Agon.,' line 147. In 1 Ch. vii. 28
R. V. reads Azzah (marg. Ayyah) where A. V.
has Gaza (marg. Adasa). [G.] [W.]
AZ'Z AN (|-TJ?, perhaps strong ; 'Ofd" ; Ozan).
The father of Paltiel, a prince who represented
his tribe of Issachar in the division of the
promised land (Num. xxxiv. 26). [W. A. W.]
AZ'ZUR p-W, helper; HA. 'ACoip, B.
'ASoiip ; Azur). One of the heads of the- people
who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh.
x. 17). The name is probably that of a family,
and in Hebrew is the same as is elsewhere
represented by Azur. [W. A. W.]

B
BA'AL (7^3 ; BdaA ; Baal), the supreme
male [on Baal with the feminine article, see be
low] divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish
nations, as Ashtoreth was their supreme female
divinity. Both names have the peculiarity of
being used in the plural, and it seems certain
that these plurals designate not (as Gesenius,
Thes. s. vv., maintained) statues of the divini
ties, but different modifications of the divinities
themselves. That there were many such modifi
cations of Baal is certain from the fact that his
name occurs with numerous adjuncts, both in
the 0. T. and elsewhere, as we shall have
occasion to notice hereafter. The plural Baalim
is found frequently alone (e.g. Judg. ii. 11,
x. 10 ; 1 K. xviii. 18 ; Jer. ix. 14 ; Hos. ii. 17),
as well as in connexion with Ashtoreth (Judg.
x. 6 ; 1 Sam. vii. 4) and with Asherah, mis-
rendered " groves " by A. V., but correctly
rendered by R, V. " Asheroth " (Judg. iii. 7 ;
2 Ch. xxxiii. 3). There is no difficulty in deter
mining the meaning of the name since the word
is in Hebrew a common noun of frequent occur
rence, having the meaning Lord, not so much,

BAAL
however, in the sense of Ruler as of .
Owner, Possessor. The name of the god, whe
ther singular or plural, is always distinguished
from the common noun by the presence of the
article (Dvl?3n> ?V2i]), except when it stands
in connexion with some other word which
designates a peculiar modification of Baal. The
Assyrian form of the word is Bilu, the Greek
BijAos, more commonly known to us as Bel.
Bel was properly the deity of the earth and
air, answering to Mul-lil, the second god of the
Accadian trinity, but in later times the name
was almost en
tirely confined to
"the younger
Bel," Bel Mero
dach, "the lord
Merodach." Mero
dach was' a form
of the Sun-god,
and was the tu
telary deity of
Babylon, as Nebo
was of its suburb
Borsippa ; and
when Babylon be
came the capital
of Babylonia, its
chief divinity also
became the su
preme god of the
whole country.
[Layard conjec
tures (Nineveh and
its Remains, p. 287
smaller edit.) that
Baal is the figure in the above cut, from a bas-
relief found at Nimrud, representing » pro
cession of warriors
carrying away the
idols of a conquered
nation. Diodorus Si-
culus (ii. 9) says that
the god was repre
sented in the act of
walking ; and in the
epistle supposed to
have been written
by the Prophet Jere
miah to the captive
Jews we are told,
" Now shall ye see
in Babylon gods of
silver, and of gold,
and of wood, borne
upon shoulders, . . .
he hath also in his
right hand a dagger
and an axe " (Bar.
vi. 4, 15), as in the
above cut.]
Baal was the most
usual title of the
Sun-god in his
various manifesta
tions among the Ca
naanites, and conse
quently there were
as many Baalim or
forms of Baal as there were aspects under which
the Sun-god could be worshipped. [Hence he

Baal or Bel carried In procession .
(Layard.)

Baal oa a 8un-god. (Renan.)

BAAL

BAAL

307

is represented with his head encircled with
rays.] These forms may be divided into two
classes, — those which represent the beneficent
and generative side of solar action, and those
which reflect its destructive side. It was as the
fierce deity who scorches in anger the beings he
has himself created that Baal was appeased with
human victims burnt in the fire. He was then
addressed as Baal-Hammam or Ammon, " the
lord of heat." He was also known at Tyre as
Baal-Tsur, " lord of Tyre," and Baal-Melkarth
(Melech-kirjath, " king of the city," the Greek
HeraklSs). [Baal-Ammon is sometimes repre
sented in the form somewhat like the Egyptian
Ammon, as in the annexed cut. (Rawlinson,

Banl-Hammon. (Perrot et Chipiez.)
Phoenicia, pp. 325, 326.)] More usually, how
ever, the destructive Baal was called Moloch,
" the king," a word which took the form of Mil-
corn or Malcham among the Ammonites. Each
state and city had its own special form of Baal :
thus Baal-Tsur was the Baal of Tyre ; Baal-
Zebub of Ekron; Baal-Gad, "the lord of good
luck," of Baal-Gad or Baalbek (Josh. xi. 17).
The Baalim were also named from the mountains
ou which tbeh^high-places stood, and the streams
at whose sources their temples were erected, as
Baal-Hermon, "the Baal of Hermon" or "the
sanctuary " (Judg. iii. 3). Baal-Zephon, " Baal
of the North" [see, however, Baal-Zephon],
was especially dreaded by sailors, as he governed
the north wind and was worshipped on the dan
gerous headlands of Mount Kasios in Syria and
in Egyut (Ex. xiv. 2, 9). By the side of Baal
stood his female double or reflexion, called Pene-
Baal, " the face of Baal," jn Carthaginian in
scriptions, but more usually known as Ashtoreth.
The name of Baal might be combined with
other titles of the Sun-god — such as El, " god ; "
Adonai, " lord ; " Elyon, " the most high ; " Sydyk
(Zedek), " righteousness " — or might be replaced
by them. The title of Adonai or Adonis, how
ever, was specially reserved for the Sun-god
when regarded as the young and beautiful deity
prematurely slain by the boar's tusk of Winter,
and he was then addressed by the old Accadian

name of Tammuz, though Hadad and Rimmon
were also used. Among the Moabites the
supreme Baal was called Chemosh. In all cases,
howover, Baal, or more fully Baal-shemaim,
" the lord of heaven," was considered a single
deity who manifested himself under an almost
endless variety of forms, some one of which was
specially honoured by the worshipper at a given
time and in a given place. The worship, there
fore, of the Baalim of the Canaanites (Judg. ii.
11-13, vi. 26, viii. 33, x. 10; 1 Sam. vii. 4) or
of the Phoenicians (l IC xvi. 31-33 ; xviii.
19, 21) meant apostasy from the national God
of Israel and amalgamation with the native
population of Canaan (cp. Ruth i. 15, 16 ; 1 Sam.
xxvi. 19). The God of Israel Himself, however,
had once been addressed as Baal, " Lord." Both
Jonathan and David had sons called Merib-baal
(1 Ch. viii. 34) and Becl-iada (1 Ch. xiv. 7) ; and
it was not until the associations connected with
the title had made it abhorrent to the pious
Israelite that Hosea declared that the God of
Israel should no longer be termed Baali, " my
Baal" (Hos. ii. 16). Henceforward Baal became
synonymous with the name of a heathen deity.
Consequently the shrine of the Phoenician sun-
god which had been erected in the vicinity of
the Lord's house at Jerusalem, probably by
Ahaziah, is called " the house of Baal " in 2 K.
xi. 1 8, and Manasseh is said to have " reared up
altars for Baal " in 2 K. xxi. 3 (see also 2 Ch.
xxviii. 2).
Like the Assyrian Bilu or Bel, Baal entered
largely into the composition of proper names,
such as Baal-hanan (Gen. xxxvi. 38) or Hanni
bal, " Baal is gracious ; " Beal-yah, " Jehovah is
Baal " (1 Ch. xii. 5) ; Esh-baal, " man of Baal "
(1 Ch. viii. 33 ; ix. 39), or Jerub-baal (Judg. vi.
32 ; viii. 29). Sometimes the worshipper called
himself simply by the name of the god ; thus
there were two Baals, kings of Tyre (B.C. 675
and 575), and a Baal was king of Gebal in the
time of Xerxes, while a Reubenite named Baal
is mentioned in 1 Ch. v. 5, and an uncle of Saul
was also called Baal (1 Ch. viii. 30 ; ix. 36).
The worship of Baal amongst the Jews appears
to have been appointed with much pomp and
ceremonial. Temples were erected to him (1 K.
xvi. 32 ; 2 K. xi. 18) ; his images were set up (2 K.
x. 26); his altars were very numerous (Jer. xi.
13), and were erected particularly on lofty emi
nences (1 K. xviii. 20) and on the roofs of houses
(Jer. xxxii. 29) ; there were priests in great
numbers (1 K. xviii. 19) and of various classes
(2 K. x. 19) ; the worshippers appear to have been
arrayed in appropriate robes (2 K. x. 22) ; the
worship was performed by burning incense (Jer.
vii. 9) and offering burnt-sacrifices, which
occasionally consisted of human victims (Jer.
xix. 5). The officiating priests danced with
frantic shouts around the altar, and cut them
selves with knives to excite the attention and
compassion of the god (1 K. xviii. 26-28 ; cp.
Lucian, de Dea Syra, 50 ; Tert. Apol. 9 ; Lucan,
i. 565 ; Tibull. i. 6, 47).
The particular forms of Baal alluded to in
the O. T. are the following : —
1. Ba'al-eeri'th (rin3 bvZ ; BaaABepiB ;
Baalberit). This form of Baal was worshipped
at Shechem by the Israelites after the death of
Gideon (Judg. viii. 33; ix. 4). The name
X 2

308

BAAL

signifies the Covenant-Baal, and has been com
pared with the Greek Zeis opKios or the Latin
Deus ftdius. The meaning, however, does not
seem to be the god who presides over covenants,
but the god who comes into covenant with the
worshippers. In Judg. ix. 46 he is called
JV13 7K. We know nothing of the particular
form of worship paid to this god.
2. Ba'al-zebu'b (3-13? ^3 ; BaaA pvia ;
Beelzebub), the form of Baal worshipped at
Ekron (2 K. i. 2, 3, 16). The meaning of the
name is Baal of the fly, the Sun-god being asso
ciated with the flies which swarm during the
summer in hot climates. It has been supposed
that the god was represented under the form of
a monstrous fly, but possibly the epithet was
derived from the office he was asked to under
take of driving away the plague of insects from
his worshippers. Similarly the Greeks gave the
epithet dirdpuios to Zeus (Pausan. v. 14, § 2 ;
Clem. Alex. Protrept. ii. 38), and Pliny (N H.
x. 40) speaks of a fly-god Myiagros at Elis (see
also Soliu. i.). As an oracle was established in
the temple of Baal-zebub, the priests may have
determined the future by watching the move
ments of flies. The name occurs in the N. T. in
the well-known form Beelzebub.
3. Ba'al-PEO'r (TltfS 702 ; BeeAtpeytip ;
Beelphegor), the god of the mountains of Moab,
and a form of the national deity Chemosh. The
narrative (Num. xxv.) seems clearly to show
that this form of Baal-worship was connected
.with licentious rites. We can lay no stress on
the Rabbinical derivation of the word *)il?S>
hiatus, i.e. " aperire hymenem virgineum," since
the god clearly derived his title from the name
of the mountain of Peor (Num. xxiii. 28), still
known as Fa'ur. Baal-Peor was identified by
the Rabbins and early Fathers with Priapus (see
the authorities quoted by Selden, de Diis Syris,
i. 4, 302 sq.). Selden himself dissents from
this view, and in this he is followed by many
critics (cp. Baudissin in Herzog, RE.2 s. n. ;
Dillmann2 on Num. xxv. 3). More detailed in
formation on some points will be found in
Creuzer's Symbolik and Movers' Phiinizier.
4. Ba'al-Gad p| hi>2, " Baal of good for
tune " ; BaAa7<t8 ; Baal-gad), the form of the
sun-god worshipped at Baal-Gad, a town called
after his name, and probably to be identified
with Baalbek. Gad, the god of good luck,' is
mentioned in Is. lxv. 11, along witn Meni, the
Assyrian Manu, where the proper names, mis-
rendered " troop " and " number " in the A. V.,
are rendered " Fortune " and " Destiny " by
E- V. [A. H. S.]
BA'AL, with the feminine article ; a title
used contemptuously. The LXX. constantly
(esp. Jeremiah, e.g. ii. 23, vii. 9 ; cp. Hos. ii. 10,
xiii. 1. In Rom. xi. 4, t9\ BdaA takes the place
of -rip BrjoA of 1 K. xix. 18) prefixes the feminine
article to the name of the male god. Alexin)
(lltJO) or shame is frequently a substitution for
Baal (e.g. Jer. iii. 24; cp. QPB.% and Dillmann
has ingeniously shown that the feminine article
t), when prefixed to Baal, indicated that aurxiro
was intended to be read (see Driver, Notes on
ihe Heb. Text of the BB. of Samuel, p. 195, n. 2).

BAAL
Baudissin (Herzog, RE.2 "Astarte," p. 723)
thinks that the androgynous character of Baal
may be represented by the fem. article, but
Driver points out that no traces of an androgy
nous Baal have been found in the Phoenician
inscriptions. [F.]
BA'AL (7^3), geographical. This word
occurs as the prefix or suffix to the names of
several places in Palestine. Many of these (see
the list in Ges. Thes. i. 225) have reference to
the worship of the god Baal, as inhabitant or
owner of a particular spot, or contain original
forms of his name (cp. Baudissin in Herzog,
RE.2 s.n. " Baal " ; Baethgen, Beitrdge z.Semit.
Beligionsgesch. p. 19 sq. ; W. R. Smith, Religion
of the Semites, i. 93 sq. ; Driver, Notes on the
Hebrew Text of the BB. of Samuel, p. 50).
1. Ba'al (A. BctoA, B. BoAot; Baal), a
town of Simeon, named only in 1 Ch. iv. 33,
and which from the parallel -list in Josh. xix.
seems to have been identical with Baalath-
beer. ,
2. Ba'alah (H7I13 ; in Josh. xv. 9, B. 'le$daA,
A. els BdaA ; Baala).
(a.) Another name for Kirjath-Jearim, or
Kirjath-Baal. It is mentioned in Josh. xv.
9, 10 ; 1 Ch. xiii. 6 (eh ttSAiv AaviS ; ad collem
Cariathiarim). In Josh. xv. 60 and xviii. 14, it
is called Kirjath-Baal. From the expression
" Baalah, which is Kirjath-jearim " (cp. " Jebusi,
which is Jerusalem," xviii. 28), it would seem as
if Baalah were the earlier or Canaanite appella
tion of the place. In 2 Sam. vi. 2 for " Baale
Judah " [R. V.] (rn-lIT "hs^O, otto tuv dpxdv-
tuv 'loiSa, de viris Judd) should be read '' Pl?3 :
cp. 1 Ch. xiii. 6.
(b.) B. BaAd, A. BaaAd. A town in the
south of Judah (josh. xv. 29), which in xix. 3 is
called Balah [B. BoiAo], and in the parallel list
(1 Ch. iv. 29) BlLHAH [B. 'ABeAAd, A. BoAoo].
A proposal has been made (PEF. Mem. iii. 261)
to identify it with Kh. Umm Baghleh, twelve
miles south of Beit Jibrin, but the identification
is doubtful. (c.) Mount (in) Baalah (B. iwl AlBa, A*.
BaAd ; Baala). A point on the boundary of
Judah, mentioned between Shicron and Jabneel,
Yebnah, Josh. xv. 11. The site has not yet been
discovered.
: 3. Ba'alath POT3; Balaath, 1 K. Baal-
ath), a town of Dan named in the same group
with Eltekeh and Gibbethon (Josh. xix. 44;
B. omits, A. BaaAuv). It is possible that the
same town is referred to in 1 K. ix. 18 (B. omits,
A. BaAdB) and 2 Ch. viii. 6 (B. BoAoo, A. -as).
Josephus, Ant. viii. 6, § 1 (BaAeB), states that it
and Beth-horon were not far from Gezer. The
site appears to have been recovered at Befain,
about 2\ miles N. of Beth-horon the nether
PEF. Mem. ii. 296).
4. Ba'alath-beer (1X3 n?l?3, Baalah ofthe
well; B. BapeK, A. BaaABe'pTipptippuB; Baalath-
Beer), a town among those in the south part
of Judah, given to Simeon ; and which also bore
the name of Ramath-Negeb, or "the heights
of the South " (Josh. xix. 8). In another list
it appears in the contracted form of Baal.
[See 1.] Other sacred wells in this parched
region were the Beer-lahai-roi, the " well of

BAAL
the vision of God ;" and Becr-sheba, the " well
of the oath." .
5. Ba'al-gad (li 7V2 ; BA. TaAy&S in
Josh. xiii. 5 ; B. BaXa-yoSd, A. BaA7<xB, F. BaaA-
7o5 in xii. 7 ; Baaljad), a place evidently well
known' at the time of the conquest of Palestine,
and as such used to denote the most northern
(Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7), or perhaps north-western
(xiii. 5, Hamath being to the extreme north
east) point to which Joshua's victories ex
tended. It was in all probability a Phoenician
or Canaanite sanctuary of Baal, under the aspect
of Gad, or Fortune (see Baal [god] No. 4). No
trace of its site has yet been discovered. The
words " the plain (njjp3) of Lebanon " would
lead to the supposition that it lay in the great
plain between the two ranges of Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon, which is still known by the same
Hebrew word el-Biikd'a ; and it has accordingly
been identified by Iken and others with Baalbek
(Rob. iii. 519). But against this are the too
great distance of Baalbek to the north, and the
precise expression of the text — '¦ under Mount
Hermon" (Jerome, ad radices montis Hermon).
The conjecture of Schwarz (p. 60), supported
by Robinson with his usual care, is, that the
modern representative of Baalgad is Bdnlas, ii
place which long maintained a great reputation
as the sanctuary of Pan. [Caesarea Philippi.]
6. Ba'al-Ha'mon (flDn '3 ; Baal of multi
tude ; T.7 BeeAapuv, H. BeeAAaptiv, B. BeeBAa-
puv; ea q'jtae habet populos), a place at which
Solomon had a vineyard, evidently of great
extent (Cant. viii. 11). The only possible clue
to its situation is the mention in Judith viii. 3
of a Belamon or Balamon (BNA. BaAaptiv ,
Bethulia ; E. V. Balamo) near Dothaim ; and
therefore in the mountains of Ephraim, not far
north of Samaria.
7. Ba'al-ha'zor plisn '3 ; B. BaiAaatip, A.
BeAAaatip; Baalhasor ; Josephus, Ant. vii. 8,
§ 2, gives the form BeAcretptiv), a place " 'by'
Ephraim" ('N"Dy), where Absalom appears to
have had a sheep-farm, and where Amnon was
murdered (2 Sam. xiii. 23. The text is disputed ;
see Driver I. c). It appears to have been the
next property to Joab's (2 Sam. xiv. 31), and is
now probably Tell ' Asur, 2\ miles N.W. of et-
Taiyibeh, Ephraim (P. F. Mem. ii. 298, 371-2).
8. Motjnt Ba'al-her'mon (flDnn ?V2. "in ;
B. to Spos tov 'Aepptiv, A. t. S. t. BaAaeppu ;
Mons Baal-Hermon, Judg. iii. 3), and simply
Baal-hermon (A. BaaA 'Epptiv, B. BatAeip,
B"> BaaAeip; Baal-Hermon, 1 Ch. v. 23).
This is usually considered as a distinct place
from Mount Hermon ; but the only apparent
ground for so doing is the statement in the
latter of the above passages, " unto Baal-her
mon, and Senir, and * Mount Hermon ;" hut it
is quite possible that the conjunction rendered
" and " may be used here, as often elsewhere, as
an expletive, — " unto Baal-hermon, even Senir,
even Mount Hermon." Perhaps this derives
some colour from the fact, which we know, that
this mountain had at least three names (Deut.
iii. 9). May not Baal-hermon have been a
fourth, in use among the Phoenician worshippers
» Tbe " unto " in the A. V. is interpolated, and is
omitted in the R. V.

BAAL

309

of Baal, one of whose sanctuaries, Baal-gad,
was at the foot of this very mountain ? Cp.
Speaker's Comm. note on I Ch. v. 23 ; W. R.
Smith, Religion of the Semites, i. 93, n. 3.
9. Ba'al-meo'n (flVD '3 ; in Num. B. BeeA-
petiv, A. Bapti, F. NaBti ; in 1 Ch. B. Beel^pair-
otiv, A. BeeApativ; in Ezek., most Gk. MSS.
om. ; liaalmovii, Beelmeon), one of the towns
which were " built " by the Reubenites (Num.
xxxii. 38), and to which they " gave other
names." The " Beth," which is added to the
name elsewhere, probably preserves the fact that
it was once the house or sanctuary of the Baal
of Meon. [ Bethbaal-meon ; Beth-meon.] It
is also named in 1 Ch. v. 8, and on each occasion
with Nebo. In the time of Ezekiel it was Moab
ite, and under that prosperous dominion had
evidently become a place of distinction, being
noticed as one of the cities which are the " glory
of the country " (Ezek. xxv. 9). It is mentioned
in the inscription on the " Moabite stone " as
having been built by King Mesha (Records of the
Past, N. S., ii. 201 ; Driver, Notes on the Heb. Text
of the BB. of Samuel, p. lxxxvii.). In the days of
Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 136, 5; 246, 45)
it was still a " vicus grandis " called Beel-
maus, 9 miles distant from Heshbon ('EtreBovs.
Esbus), near the " mountain of the hot springs,"
and reputed to be the native place of Elisha. It
is now Ma'in, on the banks of the Zerka Ma'in ;
the ruins are of " vast extent," occupying " the
crests and slopes of four adjacent hills" (Tris
tram, Land of Moab, pp. 303-4 ; PEFQy. Stat.
1871, p. 71).
10. Ba'al - pera'zim (D^V^S '3, Baal of
breaches ; Baal-pharasim), the scene of a victory
of David over the Philistines, and of a great
destruction of their images, and so named by him
in a characteristic passage of exulting poetry —
R. V. " The Lord hath broken Q""IS ; see another
rendering in marg.) mine enemies before me,
like the breach QP.S) of waters. Therefore he
called the name of that place ' Baal-perazim,' "
i.e. the place of breakings forth (R. V. marg :
2 Sam. v. 20; 1 Ch. xiv. 11). The place and
the circumstance appear to be again alluded
to in Is. xxviii. 21, where it is called Mount P.
Perhaps this may point to the previous exist
ence of a high place or sanctuary of Baal at this
spot, which would lend more point to David's
exclamation (see Gesenius, Jes. p. 844). Driver
thinks (Notes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of
Samuel, 1. c.) that Baal, as applied here, does not
denote the Phoenician god, but is a title of
Jehovah (cp. iv. 4, note). The LXX. twice
render the name in 2 Sam. v. 20 iirdvu Sia-
kottuv, and in 1 Ch. xiv. il, at the beginning
of the verse, B. QaaAtpaBiffeip, H. #aAaoo'
tpaBettrei, A. BaaA' tpapatreiv ; and, at the end of
the verse, B. Aia/£07nj Qapielv, N. A. 4>apieiV, A.
A. Qapaae'iv. It was near the Valley of Re
phaim, and not far from Jerusalem.
11. Ba'al-shali'sha (JWft) '3 ; BaiBaapiad,
B. Bai0ape2b-a, A.*'w- (ras o"o A?) BaBaapica;
Baalsalisa), a place named only in 2 K. iv. 42 ;
apparently not far from Gilgal, possibly Jiljilio,
in the mountains N. of Bethel (cp. v. 38). It
was possibly situated in the district, or " land "
of the same name. [Shalisha.] It is probably
the same as the Bethsalisa or BoiOtrapiirdfl (OS.2

310

BAAL-ZEPHON

pp. 141, 11 ; 250, 92), which is placed 15 miles
N of Diospolis in the Thamnitic toparchy and
is now Kh. Sirisia. In the Targum it is rendered
by Daroma, and in PEF. Mem. (ii. 285) it is
identified with Kh. Kefr Thilth.
12. Baal-tamar ("IOH'3, Baal of the
palm; BaaA 0apdp; Baalthamar), a place
named only in Judg. xx. 33, as near Gibeah
of Benjamin. The palm-tree ("lOPI) of Deborah
(iv. 5) was situated somewhere in the
locality, and is possibly alluded to (Stanley,
pp. 145-6). In the days of Eusebius it was still
known under the altered name of Br)B8apap
(OS.2 p. 250, 77); but no traces of it have
been found by modern travellers. In the Tar
gum it is given as " the plains of Jericho,"
probably a conjecture, and not a happy one,
as Jericho was too far distant from Gibeah.
Conder (Hdbk. to Bible, p. 404) states that Jewish
tradition identifies it with the large ruin 'Attdra,
near Gibeah. r«-J [w-3
BA'AL-ZETHON (|1SV "?»3; BeeAtxeTT-
tptov, BeeAoetptiv; Beelsephon), a place near
which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea (Ex.
xiv. 2, 9 ; Num. xxxiii. 7). The name is clearly
Semitic, and is usually supposed lo mean a
shrine of Baal of the quarter flSS, "the North."
The position of Baal-Zephon must have been
in the territory which the Egyptians called
"the East." [Pithom.] We should therefore
rather have expected the name Baal of the
East than of the North, like " Supt of the
East," the divinity of Kesem, the city of Goshen,
and of "the East" generally. [Goshex.]
Although the rendering ot |iSX is on Hebrew
authority only, and the Semitic names in Egypt
are not proved to be of Hebrew origin, there is
no ground in the different orientations of the
ancient East for the conjecture that the word
can here mean " east " instead of " north."
It is quite true that in later Hebrew the term
D\ "the west," as the direction of the sea,
sometimes naturally serves for "the south
(Ps. cvii. 3 ; Is. xlix. 12), the sea being south
ward of the land of exile, whereas it was
westward of the land of promise, but ]1DX
remains "the north." If it mean the "dark"
quarter, it could never stand for the direction of
the sun-rising. Another and more probable
etymology for Baal-Zephon may be suggested.
We could derive the namo from ilDV rather
than Joy, and render Baal-Zephon, "Baal of
the watch-tower." M. Naville's geographical
indications support this view. Migdol and
Baal-Zephon, on opposite sides of the sea, would
be two corresponding watch-towers, and Pi-Ha-
hiroth with its temple of Osiris would again
stand in the like relative position to Baal-
Zephon, the temple of Baal or Set, the antagonist
of Osiris ; the last shrine of the protector of
cultivation facing the outpost of the personifica
tion of the desert. [R. S. P.]
From the recent identification of the site of
the city of Pithom-Succoth and the region of
Succoth [Pithom, Succoth], it appears that the
Israelites crossed the Red Sea near the ancient
head of the HeroBpolite Gulf (the Gulf of Suez),
upwards of thirty miles north of the present
head [Red Sea, Passage op], and Baal-Zephon

BAALI
would therefore have stood near the head of the
gulf. Its foreign name, made of two Semitic
words seems to indicate that it was not situated
in Egypt, like Pi-Hahiroth, but on the Asiatic
side of the sea (Ex. xiv. 2, 9, B. e| ivavrias
BeeAo-etripuv, AF. e| i. BeeAaetpdiv). The name
of Baal Zapuna has been found in a papyrus of
the British Museum (Sallier, iv.), without any
reference to its position. It is not likely that it
was a city, but was probably only a hill or a
mound used as a place of worship, and perhaps
connected with a watch-tower.
Briigsch, who advocated the theory of the
Exodus along the Mediterranean, considered Baal-
Zephon as the sanctuary of Mons Casius, at the
extreme limit of Egypt on the coast (The
Exodus and the Egyptian Monuments, p. 278).
Ebers, who adheres to the old view of the cross
ing near Suez, places Baal Zephon on the summit
of Gebel Attaka, above Suez (Durch Gosen zum
Sinai, p. 524). The opinion which is derived
from the excavations is that Baal-Zephon must
be looked for south of Lake Timsah on a hill like
Sheykh Ennedek. [E, N.]
BA'AL (^1?3; B. 'laf/A, A. BiaA; Baal).
1. A Reubenite, whose son or descendant Beerah
was carried off by the invading army of Assyria
under Tiglath-pileser (1 Ch. v. 5).
2. B. BaaAaKatp, A. BaaA' Kai Nijp. The son
of Jehiel, father or founder of Gibeon, by his wife
Maachah ; brother of Kish, and grandfather of
Saul (1 Ch. viii. 30, ix. 36). [W. A. W.]
BA'AL AH. [Baal, 2.]
BA'ALATH. [Baal, 3, 4.]
BA'ALE of Judah. [Baal, 2 a.]
BA'AL-HA'NAN (Jjn !?1?3, Baal is gra
cious: in Gen. A. BaAaevvuv, D. -evtiv, E. Ba-
Aevvtip ; in 1 Ch. i. B. BaAaevvup, A. -to ; Bala-
nan; cp. pn'liV, 'luivv-ns, Jehovah is gracious).
1. The name of one of the early kings of
Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 38, 39; 1 Ch. i. 49, 50).
2. The name of one of David's officers, who
had the superintendence of his olive and syca
more plantations (1 Ch. xxvii. 28 ; B. BoAai/Ss,
A. -va; Balanan). He was of the town of
Gederah (Josh. xv. 36) or Beth-Gader (1 Ch.
ii. 51), and from his name probably of Canaan
itish, not Jewish origin [A. H. S.]
B A' ALI ( bvZ ; BaoAebi ; Baali). The word
occurs as a name in Hos. ii. 16 (Heb. v. 18) :
" At that day thou shalt call Me Ishi (my hus
band); and shalt call me no more Baali (my
Baal or my master) ; " and the change announced
is evidently the change from a name connected
with idolatry and unfaithfulness to a name sig
nificant of loyal and faithful attachment. _ The
passage is histor cally important as testifying to
the use of the word Baal not as a proper name
but as an appellation of the God of Israel. A
similar use of Baal is to be traced when the
word forms part of the name of Saul's son Esh-
baal, or of David's son Beeliada. And this may
be readily admitted without the further as
sumption that Israel had identified God with
the god of the Canaanites. Cp. Speaker's Comm.
and Orelli, Kgf. Komm. (edd. Strack u. Zbckler)
in loco ; Kbnig, Die Hauptproblcme d. altisrael.

BAALIM
Religionsgeschichte, pp. 35-38 ; Baethgen, Bei-
trage z. Semit. Beligionsgesch. p. 144. [F.]
BAALIM. [Baal.]
BA'ALIS (D^l?3. Cp. MV.11 Perhaps =
D*7lT]3 or 'V 7173, son or lord of exultation ;
Baethgen (p. 16) conjectures, lord or husband of
Isis; I5N3 BeAeiad, A. -i- ; Baalis), king of
the Bene-Ammon (BaaiAebs vlbs 'Appuv) at
the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by Ne
buchadnezzar (Jer. xl. [LXX. xlvii.] 14). '[F.]
BA'ANA (N31?3, meaning uncertain, pos
sibly MV.11 = son of Anu [cp. Anammelech]).
1. A. Baavd vlbs 'EAoiiS, B. BaKxd vibs 'Axei-
pdx ; Bona, the son of Ahilud, Solomon's commis
sariat officer in Jezreel and the north of the
Jordan valley (1 K. iv. 12). 2. Boai'd; Baana.
The father of Zadok, one of those who repaired
the wall of Jerusalem after the return from
the Captivity (Neh. iii. 4). 3. 1 Esd. -v. S.
[Baajjah, 4.]
BA'ANAH (H3SJ3 = X31Q [above] ; A. Baavd
always ; B. in vv. 5, 9, Baau, in v. 6 Bappd ;
Baana). 1. Son of Rimmon, a Benjamite, who
with his brother Rechab murdered Ish-bosheth.
For this they were kiUed by David, and their
mutilated bodies hung up over the pool at
Hebron (2 Sam. iv. 2, 5, 6, 9).
2. A Netophathite, father of Heleb or Heled,
one of David's mighty men (2 Sam. xxiii. 29,
A. Boavaai, B. omits ; 1 Ch. xi. 30, A. Baavd,
B. NooCa)-
3. Accurately Baana, X3U3 ; B. Baavd, A. -as ;
Baana), son of Hushai, Solomon's commissariat
officer in Asher (1 K. iv. 16).
4 A man who accompanied Zerubbabel on
his return from the Captivity (Ezra ii. 2, A.
Baavd, B. BaAAe-id ; Neh. vii. 7). Possibly the
same person is intended in Neh. x. 27. [Baana,
3.] ' [W.A.W.] [F.]
BAANI'AS (BA. BoiWos ; Bannas). Be-
NAIAH, of the sons of Pharosh (1 Esd. ix. 26 ;
cp. Ezra a. 25). [W. A. W.]
BA'ARA (K"ll?3, meaning uncertain, Ges.
= foolish, MV.11 = a burning ; A. Baapd, B.
'I|8oa5d; Bard), one of the wives of Shaharaim, a
descendant of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii. 8). [F.]
BAASEI'AH (FWIQ, probably an error
for ITtiWD. the work of Jah. The same error
occurs in some texts [not N] of LXX. in Jer.
xxi. 1. Cp. here B. Mooiroi, A. Baaaid; Ba-
mia), a Gershonite Levite, one of the forefathers
•of Asaph the singer (1 Ch. vi. 40 [25]). [F.]
BA'ASHA (KK>1>3 or NBW3 ; Baaad ; Joseph.
~BatrdvTis ; Baasa), third sovereign of the separate
kingdom of Israel, and the founder of its second
dynasty. He was the son of Ahijah of the tribe
of Issachar. He conspired against king Nadab,
son of Jeroboam, when he was besieging the
Philistine town of Gibbethon, and killed him
with his whole family (1 K. xv. 27-29). He
appears to have been of humble origin, as the
prophet Jehu speaks of him as having been
" exalted out of the dust " (1 K. xvi. 2). In
matters of religion his reign was no improve-

BABEL, BABYLON

311

ment on that of Jeroboam ; he equally forgot
his position as king of the nation of God's elec
tion, and upon him and his house there equally
fell the destruction which had befallen the house
of Jeroboam (1 IC xvi. '.'<, 12). Further, his
reign was chiefly remarkable for his persevering
hostility to Judah (1 IC xv. 32). It was pro
bably iu the 13th year of his reign that he made
war on its king Asa, and began to fortify Ramah
as an iiriTelxitrpa against it. Ho was defeated by
the unexpected alliance of Asa with Benhadad I.
of Damascus, who had previously been friendly
to Baasha. Benhadad took several towns in the
N. of Israel, and conquered lands belonging to it
near the sources of Jordan. Baasha died in the
24th year of his reign, and was honourably
buried in the beautiful city of Tirzah (Cant. vi.
4), which he had made his capital. The dates
of his accession and death according to Usher
are B.C. 953 and B.C. 930, according to Kamp-
hausen and as corrected by the Assyrian Chro
nology B.C. 914 and B.C. 891 (see Herzog, RE.2
' Zeitrechnung,' p. 477). Cp. 1 IC xv. 27, xvi.
7 ; 2 Ch. xvi. 1-6. [G. E. L. C] [F.]
BA'BEL, BAB'YLON ("?33 ; BaBvAtiv),
the capital of the country Babylon or Babylonia,
called, in Gen. a. 10, Shinar OWE'), and in
the later books Chaldaea (an'E>3,' [the land
of the] Chaldeans, also D'Ycd pX in full).
The name Babel is connected, in Gen. xi. 9,
with the Hebrew root 773, " to confound,"
referring to the confusion of tongues which took
place at the building of the Tower of Babel.
The native name, however, was Bdb-ili (also
Bdbilu and Bdbilam), " gate of God," and Bslb-
ilani, " gate ofthe gods." The ancient Akkadian
(non-Semitic) names are Ka-dingira, " gate of
God " (a translation of Bdbili) ; Tin-tir, " life-
seat " (in Semitic Babylonian iubat balati, " seat
of life ") ; E or E-ki, " house " or " hollow,"
and Su-anna, the city with " the high defence "
(a reference to the great walls of Babylon).*
Babylon was probably at first only the principal
town of the district in which it was situated,
and afterwards rose, by the power of its kings,
to be the capital of the whole district known
later as Babylonia.
The Biblical account of the foundation of the
city (Gen. xi. 2-9) states that as they (the
descendants of Cush and followers of Nimrod)
journeyed from the east, they found a plain in
Shinar, and dwelt there. This statement ap
parently refers to one of the migrations of the
people of Kingi-Ura, as they called themselves
— the Sumero-Akkadians, as scholars now name
them — a race which seems to have come from
the east, or rather north-east, of Mesopotamia.
Their first act, after settling down, was to
build " a city and a tower " with burnt brick
and "slime " (bitumen). Such was the begin
ning of the mighty city of Babylon, and in the
same way, likely enough, the other cities of
Mesopotamia had their origin — a number of

¦ The form Bdb-ili and its Akkadian translation, Ka-
dingira, are probably the results of a folk-etymology.
The original form of the name seems to have been
Babalam— a form differing but slightly from that of
Bdbilam above. The final m in both cases is the
mimmation.

312

BABEL, BABYLON

simple dwellings scattered around a temple-
tower (Assyro-Babylonian, zikkuratu). Any dis
continuance of the building of the city must
have been comparatively short, for, as is well
known, it grew to be the largest city of the
ancient world.
The date of the foundation of the city is
uncertain, but it seems not unlikely that, as it
is mentioned before Erech, Akkad, and Calneh
(Gen. x. 10), it was at least as old as those
cities. It first came into prominence about the
year 2232 B.C., a date which corresponds very
closely with that of 2230 B.C., which the Greeks
derived from the Babylonians in Alexander's age.
The city itself, however, must have been much
older. The various names of tfie city existed
at a much earlier date, and it is not unlikely
that it owed its origin to the existence of re
nowned temples and sacred places, visited by
the primitive inhabitants ; the principal being,
probably, the great temple-tower of Babel itself.
It is likely that the many names which the
city bears in the inscriptions come from the
fact that originally several distinct towns or
villages occupied the site and, growing, became
one single city, just as, in later times, TO,
Tema, Alu-essu, and other towns were incor
porated and formed part of it.
Patron deities. — The principal god of the city
was Merodach, whose seat it was (Bdbilu mahdz
Marduli, " Babylon, the stronghold of Mero
dach "), and the principal goddess was his
consort, Zir-panitum or Zer-banitum. Splendid
shrines for the worship of these deities existed
in the city from the earliest times. Innana,
Nana, or Istar was also regarded as one of the
patron deities of the city.
History. — From the accounts left by the Baby
lonians themselves we get no detailed history of
the rise of the city. Hammurabi (or Hammu-
ragas, in Babylonian Kimta-rapastum), king of
Babylon about 2120 B.C., who belonged to what
was known as " the dynasty of Babylon," seems
to have fixed his court there. He greatly added
to the temple of Merodach, and restored the
temple of the god Zagaga, called Mite-ursag, in
the city of Kes, to the east of Babylon. Samsu-
iluna, son of Hammurabi, dedicated images
overlaid with gojd to the god Merodach, whose
shrine was in E-sagila. Another early king,
Agu-kak-rime, known to us from a long inscrip
tion from the library of Assur-bani-apli or
Assurbanipal at Nineveh, gives a long account
of the restoration of the shrines of Merodach
and his consort Zir-panitum in E-sagila at
Babylon ; and how he clothed their images
(brought back from captivity in the land of
Hani) with splendid vestments, and adorned the
shrines with gold, silver, and many kinds of
rare and costly stones. This king also restored
at the same time the whole of the temple E-
sagila. After this period, however, hardly anything
is known as to the progress made in the city
of Babylon. It continued doubtless to grow
in size and in splendour, but the kings by
whom the work was accomplished seem to have
left little or no record of the part they took
in adorning the city. The constant invasions
of the Assyrian kings also not only retarded
but quite checked the growth of the city, and
Sennacherib, in his last invasion of Babylonia,

BABEL, BABYLON
completely razed it to the ground. Esarhaddon,
his son, a king of milder disposition, came to
Babylon soon after his accession to the thrones of
Assyria and Babylonia. He completely restored
the city, rebuilt the great temples and towers,
and brought back the images of the gods. The
temples E-sagila in Babylon and E-zida in
Borsippa were afterwards restored with great
splendour by Samas-sum-ukin (Saosduchinos or
Sammughes), and his brother Assur-bani-apli or
Assurbanipal, king of Assyria. To Nabopolassar
and his son Nebuchadnezzar, however, it was
that Babylon, in later times, owed most of her
splendour. Nebuchadnezzar was especially
energetic in the work, and the number of
edifices rebuilt or restored by him gives great
justification to the question " Is not this great
Babylon that I have built ? " (Dan. iv. 30,) which
is attributed to him. All the Babylonian kings-
claim, however, more or less, to have rebuilt
or restored the temples of Babylon and Bor
sippa, especially those called E-sagila and E-
zida. Antiochus Soter, whose record is inscribed
on the cylinder found at the Birs-Nimroud by
Mr. Rassam, was probably the last king to do-
any work of this kind. Herodotus (i. 183) states
that Xerxes plundered the temple of Belus of
the golden statue that Darius had not dared to
remove, and Arrian says (iii. 26) that he destroyed
the temple itself on his return from Greece ; and
that, it being in ruins when Alexander was at
Babylon, that king formed the design of re
building it, and restoring it to its former gran
deur. The work, however, was not done on
account of the magnitude of the task, as it
would have taken 10,000 men to clear away the
ruins. Babylon decayed rapidly after Alexan
der's death ; and, after the building of Seleucia
by Seleucus Nicator, became a desert. There
are, however, no native records which would
shed light on the history of the city at this;
time. There is a small tablet, dated " 219th
year, Arsaces, king of kings " A(= 93 B.C.),
recording that two priests of E-sa-bad, the
temple of the goddess Gula, which had been
restored by Nebuchadnezzar (see below), had
borrowed 18 shekels of silver from the treasury
of the temple of Bel. This would seem to
indicate that the sacred places of the great city
were still in existence and that the worship was
carried on as late as the reign of Mithridates IL,
the ninth of the Arsacidae.
Greek accounts. — According to Herodotus (i.
178-186), who himself saw the glories of the-
great city of Babylon, it formed a vast square,.
120 stades or 13 miles 1385 yards on each side,
so that its circumference was 480 stades (55J
miles). The city was surrounded by two walls,
the inner one narrower, but not much weaker,
than the outer one. Here and there, on each bank
of the river, were certain fortified places, on one
side the palace of the king and on the other the
temple of Belus (the temple called E-sagila),
which consisted of a massive tower within a
square enclosure measuring two stades (400
yards) each way, and provided with brazen
gates. The tower within, which was a kind of
pyramid in eight stages (counting also the
lowest), had a winding ascent to allow visitors
to reach the top. On the highest stage of this
tower or pyramid was a sanctuary, containing
no statue, but regarded by the Babylonians as

BABEL, BABYLON
the abode of the god. Lower down was another
sanctuary, containing a great statue of Zeus
(BSl-Merodach) sitting, and before it a large
table. Both statue and table were of sold, as
also the throne and its steps. Outside the
sanctuary were two altars, one small and made
of gold, on which only unweaned lambs were
sacrificed, and the other larger, for other victims.
The city itself, so Herodotus says, was filled
with houses of three and four stories high, laid
out in streets crossing each other at right angles,
those leading to the Euphrates being closed at
the river-ends by brazen gates, which guarded
the passages leading from the quays which lined
the banks of the Euphrates the whole extent
of its course through the city.
Two of the greatest works in Babylon were
the changing of the course of the Euphrates and
the building of a bridge, so as to form a com
munication between the two quarters of the city.
These works are attributed to two queens, Semi-
ramis and Nitocris. The first-named is said to
have made some very remarkable embankments
to prevent the waters of the Euphrates from
deluging the country around. Nitocris, who
reigned five generations later, formed the plan
of changing the course of the Euphrates, so that
it flowed no longer in a straight line before
entering the city, but made three considerable
windings, and the traveller by water approached
the city Ardericca three times in three days.
This queen made also embankments and a large
reservoir, the vast outline of which, 420 stades,
navigators of the stream were obliged to follow
at the end of their journey. The object in
delaying the approach to the city by water was
to lessen the chances of its being captured by an
enemy. Whilst the water was drained off,
Nitocris made use of the opportunity thus
afforded to connect the two divisions of the city
by a bridge. A series of stone piers, built with
iron and lead, were constructed ; and were,
during the daytime, connected by means of
drawbridges, thus enabling the inhabitants of
each division of the city to communicate with
greater ease.
Ctesias (ap. Diod. Siculus, ii. 7 et seqq.) makes
the circuit of the city much less than Herodotus
— 360 stades (41 miles 600 yards) instead of
480 stades. The city lay, he says, on both sides
of the Euphrates, and the two parts were con
nected by a bridge (built where the river was
narrowest) five stades (3,032 feet) long and 30
feet broad, of the kind described by Herodotus.
At each end of the bridge was a royal palace,
that in the eastern division of the city being the
more magnificent. The part called the twofold
royal city by Diodorus had three walls, the
outmost being 60 stades, or 7 miles, round ;
the second, which was circular, 40 stades, or
H miles ; and the third 20 stades, or 2\ miles.
The height of the middle wall was 300 feet, and
its towers 420 feet, but the height of the inmost
wall was even greater. The walls of both the
second and third enclosures were made of
coloured bricks, ornamented with figures of
different kinds, among which were to be seen
Semiramis and Ninus slaying the leopard and
the lion. Diodorus mentions a square lake,
300 stades long and 35 feet deep ; and speaks
also of the temple of Belus, with its statues of
Zeus, Hera, and Rhea (Bel-Merodach, Zir-pani-

BABEL, BABYLON

313

turn his consort, and probably the goddess
Damkina). The statue of Zeus was, he says,
40 feet high, and weighed 1000 Babylonian
talents. The two palaces were not only joined
by a bridge, but also by a tunnel under tho
river. Diodorus gives a description (still,
apparently, quoting Ctesias) of the famous
hanging gardens of Nebuchadnezzar. These, it
appears, were of square form, 400 feet each way,
and rose in terraces. Earth of sufficient depth
was placed on this structure to allow the growth
of trees of great size.
All the ancient writers agree in giving to
Babylon an immense size. As mentioned above,
Herodotus makes the wall surrounding the city
480 stades, and Ctesias 360 stades, this last
number being evidently allegorical and giving
the numbers of the days in the year (12 months
of 30 days = 360 days) : for this reason, as ac
knowledged by Diodorus, it was corrected into
365 by Clitarchus. These numbers were more or
less accurately copied by the later writers, Strabo
(xvi. 1, § 5) giving 385, Plinv (H. N. vi. § 121)
480, Q. Curtius (v. 1, § 26) 368. The estimate-
of Herodotus seems to be the most trustworthy
one ; for, if the builder of this wall had followed
any symbolism for its length, it would be in
Babylonian and not Greek measures. The Greek
historian is the only writer who speaks of the
inner wall, but without giving any measurement
(i. 81). Both walls were protected by large
ditches filled with water. Dr. Oppert believes
that he has found traces of the two walls, but
the state ofthe ruins does not permit auy restora
tion. The disappearance of the walls is easily
accounted for, either by the constant quarrying
or by the subsidence of the bulwark into the
moat from which it was raised. This immense
enclosed area was not entirely covered with
houses. Diodorus states that two plethra of
ground unbuilt on were preserved near the walls,
and Q. Curtius says that Babylon contained
large gardens and fields ; it was in fact not a
town, but a fortified district.
For the height of the outer wall Herodotus
gives 200 cubits or 337J feet, and Ctesias
50 fathoms or 300 feet. The later writers
merely copied these numbers, changing the-
cubits into feet, and the fathoms into cubits-
This enormous height, being nearly that of the
dome of St. Paul's, seems almost incredible, not
withstanding that modern explorations indicate
that the Babylonian and Assyrian city-walls
were, so to say, real artificial mountains (see-
Nebuchadnezzar's account, below). The thick
ness of the outer wall is given by Herodotus as
5) cubits or 85 feet. This measure is also
softened down by later writers, who have again*
changed the cubits into feet.
According to Ctesias, the wall was strength
ened by 250 towers, irregularly arranged, to
guard the weakest parts ; and according to
Herodotus this wall was pierced by a hundred
gates, which were made of brass, and had brazen
lintels and side-posts. It is not unlikely, how
ever, that " a hundred " means simply " a large
number." The gates and walls are both men
tioned in Scripture (Jer. li. 58; cp. 1. 15 and
li. 53).
Herodotus and Ctesias both say also that the
course of the Euphrates was regulated by an
embankment built of baked brick, and describe a

314

BABEL, BABYLON

bridge said to be made of stone piles with a
movable wooden floor. Modern explorers believe
that they have found traces of both these
structures. The remains of a quay or embank
ment on the eastern side of the stream (E ; see
Plan, p. 315, col. 2) still exist, the bricks of which
bear the name of Nabonidus, the last native
king of Babylon.
Turning now to tho native records, we find a
certain amount of likeness in the descriptions,
but considerable divergence as to the origin of
the many wonders of this great city of the
ancient Eastern world.
Nebuchadnezzar's account. — According to
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, it was Nabo
polassar, his father, who built the walls of
Babylon. These were called Imgur-Bel ("Bel
has been merciful ") and Nemitti-Bel (" founda
tion of Bel ") respectively, the former being the
outer, and the latter the inner wall of the city.
He had dug the ditch, had raised two strong
walls on its banks, and had built the wall or
dam of the Arahtu or Araxes. ' He had also
lined the banks of the Euphrates with embank
ments (probably the quays to which Herodotus
refers) of brick, but he had not finished the
whole of the work which he had undertaken.
Within the city itself Nabopolassar had con
structed a road reaching from Du-azag, the
place where the oracles were declared, to
Aa-ibur-sabu, the street of Babylon, close to the
gate of Beltis, for the great yearly procession of
the god Marduk or Merodach.

Brick stamped with inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, recording the
restoration of the temples fi-sagUa at Babylon and fi-zida at
Borsippa.
Nebuchadnezzar completed Imgur-Bel and
Nemitti-Bel, bricked their ditches, and added to
the thickness of the two walls which Nabo
polassar his father had built. He built a wall
on the west side of Babylon, and raised the level
of the great street Aa-ibur-sabu, from the
•' glorious gate " to the gate of Nana. This
raising of the pathway of the street necessitated
also the raising of the gateways through which
it went. The gates themselves, Nebuchadnezzar
says, were made of cedar covered with copper,
probably after the style of the great gates of
Balawat in Assyria. Probably no gate in
Babylon was of solid metal, though no mention
of their being constructed of wood occurs in
Herodotus. The thresholds of these gates were

BABEL, BABYLON
of bronze, and they were guarded by images of
bulls and serpents of the same metal. Nebuchad
nezzar constructed also a wall on the east side
of the city, 4,000 cubits distant, high like a
mountain, so that no enemy could come near.
In this wall were also gates of cedar covered
with copper. As an additional protection, he
constructed also au enormous lake, " like unto
the broad sea to cross." This great sheet of
water was kept in by means of dams and embank
ments. He thus made Babylon, as he says,
quite " a fortress.''
Nebuchadnezzar speaks also of the royal
palace in Babylon — the palace which Nabo
polassar had built and wherein he had lived.
This palace, which reached from Imgur-Bel to
Libil-hegala, the eastern canal, and from the
banks of the Euphrates to the sacred street
Aa-ibur-sabu, had somewhat fallen into decay,
the foundation having become ruinous through
the floods when the river was high; and the
doorways were now too low in consequence of
the raising of the roadway of Aa-ibur-sabu.
Nebuchadnezzar completely restored this edifice,
rebuilding its foundations with bitumen and
brick, and raising the whole, as he says, " moun
tain-like." The roof of this building was of
cedar, and the doors were of cedar covered with
bronze or copper. The thresholds were, as
usual, of bronze, and the palace was also other
wise adorned with gold, silver, precious stones,
and every kind of costly thing.
Imgur-Bel, the principal wall of Babylon,
was situated, so Nebuchadnezzar says, 490
cubits from Nemitti-Bel ; and iu order that no
hostile attack should reach the former, he built,
as a protection, two strong walls and an outer
wall, " like a mountain," with a great building
between them which should serve as » castle
and a royal residence. This building was in
connexion with the old palace of Nabopolassar
above named. According to the Babylonian
king's account, this work took only fifteen days !
The decoration, in the same style as the other
palace, followed, and the battlements were
strengthened by blocks of alabaster and other
stones. Other defences also surrounded this
stronghold. As may well be supposed, there was a large
number of other temples, besides that of Belus,
at Babylon, as well as smaller erections which
adorned the city. These Nebuchadnezzar claims
to have rebuilt or restored. Among those
which he mentions may be cited E-iua, the
shrine of Merodach in the temple E-sagila ; and
a sanctuary called Du-azag, or the " place of
fate," where yearly, at the new-year's festival
on the 8th and 9th (of Nisan), " the king of the
gods of heaven and earth " was placed, and the
future of the king asked ,and declared. Nebu
chadnezzar also restored E-temen-ana-ki, called
by - the Babylonians " the tower of Babylon "
(zikurat Bdbili) within that city. For the god
dess Nin-mag he rebuilt or restored E-mag ; for
Nebo, E-nig-gad-kalama-suma ; for Sin, the
moon-god, " the white limestone temple ; " for
the sun-god, E-ditar-kalama ; for the goddess
Gula, E-sa-bad and £l-£arsag-ella, &c. The
above will give an idea of a small portion of the
work which Nebuchadnezzar claims to have done
in Babylon, his favourite city. Notwithstanding
that (unlike the other kings before him, who

BABEL, BABYLON
had taken different cities as their favourites)
Nebuchadnezzar looked upon Babylon only with
the eye of affection, he nevertheless duly restored
the temples of the other great cities of Baby
lonia, as his predecessors had also done. Nebu
chadnezzar's claim, that Nabopolassar his father
had built the great walls and other defences of
Babylon, cannot be taken literally — he probably
only began their restoration, for these great
works which he claimed as his father's are men
tioned in documents which were not only writ
ten long before the time of either, but which are
themselves copies of still older texts. It is very
probable, however, that these two great rulers
did mora to render them really effective than
anv other king before them.

BABEL, BABYLON

315

west or right bank the remains are very slight
and scanty. There are mounds which give the
appearance of an enclosure, traces of a structure
of moderate size within it (D). Besides these,
there is a number of remarkable mounds,
usually standing single, scattered over the'
country on both sides of the Euphrates. Of

I'lan of the city of Babylon, showing the district called Tnma and
the Great Gate of the Snn-god, from a tablet from Babylon,
now in the British Mnsenm-b
Present state of the ruins. — About five miles
above Hillah, on the eastern bank of the Eu
phrates, are " three great masses of building —
the high pile of unbaked brickwork called by
Rich ' Miijellibe,' but which is known to the
Arabs as ' Babel ' (A) ; the building denomi
nated the ' Kasr,' or palace (B) ; and a lofty
mound (C), upon which stands the modern tomb
of Amrlm-ibn-'Ali " (Loftus's Chaldea, p. 17).
These are mostly " enclosed within an irregular
triangle formed by two lines of ramparts (GG)
and the river, the area being about eight miles."
Besides these are two parallel lines of rampart
(F F) bounding the chief ruins on the east, some
similar but inferior remains on the north and
west (H and II), an embankment along the river
side (E), and a noteworthy isolated heap (K) in
the middle of a long valley regarded by some as
possibly the ancient bed of the stream. On the

r> Tbe other side of the fragment bears an inscription
referring apparently to the topography of Babylon, the
name of which, as well as that of the great temple
£-sagila, occurs in the first column of the obverse, which
ia very mutilated. The second column contains re
ferences to the three watches of the day, the closing of
the gates, and mentions the upper and lower east and
west strongholds. The text seems to have contained
principally instructions for guarding the city.

Present State of the Ruins of Babylon.

these, by far the most striking is the vast ruin,
crowned apparently by the remains of a tower
rising to the height of 153J- feet above the
plain, and having a circumference of somewhat
more than 2000 feet, called the Birs-i-Nimrud
(the E-zida of the inscriptions). This mass of
brickwork is generally regarded as the remains
of the Tower of Babel. This tower, however,
being situated within the city of Borsippa,
does not properly fall within the limits of the
city of Babylon, though one of the names by
which Borsippa was known was that of "the
second Babylon." [See Babel, Towee of.]
The great difficulty which meets us on at
tempting to identify these sites is the fact, that
the remains are situated almost exclusively on
the left bank of the river. It is probable, how
ever, that the edifices existing on the western
bank have been almost entirely swept away by
the waters of the Euphrates, which have a
tendency to run off in that direction. It has
been also supposed that the ancient authors may
have confounded one of the great canals, which

316

BABEL, BABYLON

existed in ancient times, with the main stream.
This (which is not altogether unlikely) would
do away with many difficulties, and reconcile
the conflicting evidence. The ruin known as
Babil (A) has been identified with the temple of
Belus. Tiele (Zeitschr. fiir JLssyriologie, vol. ii.
p. 190) is of opinion that E-sagila (which has

BABEL, BABYLON
been identified with the temple of Belus) lay,
if not in the old royal palace itself, at least in
its immediate neighbourhood, on account of its
having been found impossible by Nebuchadnez
zar to enlarge the palace without desecrating
the holy place. This mound of Babel is an
oblonc mass, chiefly of unbaked brick, about

View of Babil, from the West. Ruins of Babylon.

140 feet high, 200 feet long, and about 140
yards broad. It is flattish at the top. Ori
ginally it was coated with fine burnt brick laid

in excellent mortar (Layard, Nin. and Bab.
pp. 503-5), and was no doubt built in stages,
most of which have crumbled down. All the

View ofthe Kasr.

inscribed bricks found in it bear the name of
Nebuchadnezzar. The Kasr (B) is regarded as
marking the site of the great palace of Nebu

chadnezzar. It is an irregular square of about
700 yards each way, and probably consists of
the old palace-platform with certain portions of

BABEL, BABYLON
the ancient royal residence. The walls are built
of burnt brick of a pale yellow colour and ex
cellent quality, laid in fine lime-cement, and
stamped with the name and titles of Nebuchad
nezzar. They " contain traces of architectural
ornament — piers, buttresses, pilasters, &c."
(Layard, p. 506) ; and slabs inscribed with the
name of Nebuchadnezzar, and giving an account
of the building of the edifice, have been found
in the rubbish at their base ; together with
sculptured fragments and pieces of enamelled
brick of brilliant hues. These last-named,
which show sculptured figures of animals and

BABEL, BABYLON

317

fabulous monsters, recall the statements of
Ctesias (ap. Diod. Sic.) as to the walls of the
palace being coloured and having representations
of hunting-scenes. No plan of the palace, how
ever, is to be made out. The mound of Amrdm
(C) is thought by Professor Oppert to represent
the site of tho " hanging gardens " of Nebu
chadnezzar, but this is hardly likely. The
materials are much poorer than those of tho
other edifices of that prince ; and the whole
being, according to Rich, 1100 yards long by
800 yards broad,0 gives an area much too great
for the site of the hanging gardens, which are

Chart of the conntry round Babylon, with limits of the ancient city, according to Oppert.

said to have been only 400 feet each way. It
most likely represents the ancient palace of
Babylon, it being the only mound from which
cricks have been obtained bearing the names of
kings older than Nebuchadnezzar. The identifi
cations of the other ruins or remains are still
more doubtful, but it is not unlikely that the
parallel lines of embankment (I I and F F) mark
the outlines of the ancient reservoirs mentioned
by Nebuchadnezzar and the Greek historians,
though they may mark the positions of ancient
enclosures or defences of the palace. The posi
tion of the " festival-street " (Aa-ibur-sabu)
mentioned by Nebuchadnezzar is unknown. The

embankment (E) is undoubtedly a portion of the
work which Berosus ascribes to the last king of
Babylon — Labynetus, Nabonidus, or Nabu-na'id.
Babylon in the time of its glory compared
with its present condition probably presents
the greatest contrast which it is possible to
imagine. Poor though the materials were, the
inhabitants and rulers had nevertheless erected
edifices which, for genius and grandeur of con
ception, provoked comparison with the pyramids
of Egypt, and even in their decay excite the

« Ker Porter regards the shape as that of a triangle,
the sides of which are respectively U00, lloo, and 850 ft.

318

BABEL, BABYLON

admiration and astonishment of the traveller.
In default of stone, the early inhabitants built
houses and palaces of baked or unbaked brick,
wood, or even of reeds. Most of the houses
were probably very simple structures, with flat
roofs, such as are still to be seen in the East.
Ancient Babylon must, however, have been a
beautiful city, for many of the houses were
situated in the midst of gardens and orchards,
and here and there might be seen large fields of
waving corn of various kinds, and everywhere
date-palms and other Eastern trees raised their
lofty heads. A vast trade was, from the 6th
century to the time of Darius, carried on in
the city, which became filled with rich mer
chants and slaveholders, and the taxes and
tithes paid by the inhabitants must have
brought in a large revenue to the exchequer
and the temple-treasuries. Here, during the
period above named, were representatives of all
the principal nations of the then known world —
Jews and Assyrians mourning over their captivity
and the desolation of their respective fatherlands ;
Median, Persian, Phoenician, and Syrian mer
chants ; Chaldean and Aramean soldiers and mer
cenaries ; slaves and serfs from all the countries
around. Here the son of Neriglissar lent money
upon security, the judges of Nabonidus dealt
out justice, and Belshazzar's servant engao-ed in
trade, seemingly on his master's account. This
most important and well-populated city, the
abode of princes and the great ones of the earth,
where so many historical events have taken
place, and so much affecting the surrounding
nations passed, the capital of one of the greatest
nations of ancient times, is now represented
merely by a few mounds and ruins, and a few
thousand clay tablets from which scholars are
slowly gleaning her eventful and chequered
record. Babylon is often mentioned in the Old Testa
ment, and we get from it not only the record
of its foundation, but also of the greatness
which it ultimately attained, and the prophecies
of its fall and utter desolation. The inhabitants
of Babylon, by whose rivers the captive Is
raelites sat down and wept, hanging up their
harps upon the willows which were in the
midst of it (Ps. cxxxvii.), can no longer mock
ingly ask for a song from those whom they
have carried away captive. She who was to be
destroyed (v. 8) has long since been razed to the
ground. Often and often, probably, during the
numerous sieges to which she has been subjected,
were her little ones taken and dashed against
the rocks (v. 9). The " burden" which, at the
hands of the Medes, was to fall upon the
devoted city, is detailed at length by the pro
phet Isaiah (ch. xiii.). " Babylon, the glory of
kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride,"
was to become "as when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah" (v. 19). Besides the great
ruins, which are to be seen there, "other
shapeless heaps of rubbish cover for many an
acre the face of the land. The lofty banks of
ancient canals fret the country like natural
ridges of hills. Some have long been choked
with sand ; others still carry the waters of the
river to distant villages and palm-groves. On
all sides, fragments of glass, marble, pottery,
and inscribed brick are mingled with that
peculiar nitrous and blanched soil, which, bred

BABEL, TOWER OE
from the remains of ancient habitations, checks
or destroys vegetation, and renders the site of
Babylon a naked and hideous waste. Owls start
from the scanty thickets, and the foul jackal
skulks through the furrows." (Layard, Nineveh
and Babylon, p. 484.) From time to time a few
black tents and flocks of sheep and camels are
seen scattered over the yellow plain, but no
permanent dwelling is erected there, and the
sheep of the Arabs probably find but little food
among Babylon's barren ruins. "But wild
beasts of the desert shall dwell there, and their
houses shall be full of doleful creatures ; and
ostriches shall dwell there, and he-goats shall
dance there. And wolves shall cry in their
castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces : and
her time is near to come, and her days shall not
be prolonged " (Is. xiii. 21, 22). Compare also
Jer. 1. 39. It is now a long time since the
sword fell upon the inhabitants of Babylon
(Jer. I. 34), and since the battle was set in array
against the daughter of Babylon (v. 42). The
trembling of the earth at "the noise of her
capture " has long since passed away, and the
echoes of the cry which then went up are
making their last resound. [T. G. P.]
.BA'BEL, TOWER OP. The "tower"
OIJD) of Babel is only mentioned once in
Scripture (Gen. xi. 4, 5), aud then only in con
nexion with the city (Babel) which certain
immigrants, probably Akkadians (see the article
Babel) began to build in the plain of Shinar,
but left incomplete in consequence of the con
fusion of tongues. No reference to it appears
in the prophetic denunciations of the punish
ments which . were to fall on Babylon for her
pride. It is therefore quite uncertain whether
the building ever advanced beyond its founda
tions. As, however, the classical writers uni
versally in their descriptions of Babylon gave a
prominent place to a certain tower-like building,
which they called the temple (Herod., Diod.
Sic, Arrian, Pliny, &c), or the tomb (Strabo)
of Belus (see pp. 312, 313), it has generally been
supposed that the tower, the building of which,
it may be conjectured, was abandoned when
"they left off to build the city," was in
course of time finished, and became the principal
temple of the Chaldaean metropolis. Certainly
this may have been the case ; but, while there
is some evidence against, there is none in favour
of it. A Jewish tradition, recorded by Bochart
(Phaleg, i. 9), declared that fire fell from heaven,
and split the tower through to its foundation ;
while Alexander Polyhistor (Fr. 10) and the
other profane writers who noticed the tower
(as Abydenus, Frs. 5 and 6). said that it had
been blown down by the winds. Such authori
ties therefore as we possess, represent the build
ing as destroyed soon after its erection. When
the Jews, however, were carried captive into
Babylonia, struck with the vast magnitude and
peculiar character of certain of the Babylonian
temples, they imagined that they saw in them,
not merely buildings similar in type and mode
of construction to the " tower " of their Scrip
tures, but in this or that temple they thought
they recognised the very tower itself. The pre
dominant opinion was in favour of the great
temple of Nebo at Borsippa, the modern Birs-
Nimrud, although the distance of that place

BABEL, TOWER OF
from Babylon is an insuperable difficulty in the
way of the identification. Similarly when
Christian travellers first began to visit the
Mesopotamian ruins, they generally attached
the name of " the tower of Babel " to whatever
mass, among those beheld by them, was the
loftiest and most imposing. Rawulf in the
16th century found the " tower of Babel " at
Felugiah, Pietro della Valle in the 18th identified
it with the ruin Babil near Hillah, while early
in the present century Rich and Ker Porter
revived the Jewish notion, and argued for its
identity with the Birs. There are, in fact, no
real grounds for identifying the tower with
the Temple of Belus, even supposing that any
remains of it long survived the check which
the builders received, when they were "scat
tered abroad upon the face of the earth," and
"left off to build the city " (Gen. xl. 8).
The Birs-Nimrud, though it cannot be the
tower of Babel itself, which was at Babylon
(Gen. xi. 9), may, perhaps, as the most perfect
representative of an ancient Babylonian temple-
tower, be regarded as showing, better than

BABEL, TOWER Ol'

319

any other ruin, the probable shape and cha
racter of the edifice. This building appears,
from the careful examinations that have been
made of it, to have been a sort of pyramid
built in seven stages. " Upon a platform of
crude brick, raised a few feet above the level of
the alluvial plain, was built of burnt brick tho
first or basement stage — an exact square, 272 feet
each way, and 26 feet in perpendicular height.
Upon this stage was erected a second, 230 feet
each way, and likewise 26 feet high ; which, how
ever, was not placed exactly in the middle of the
first, but considerably nearer to the south-western
end, which constituted the back of the building.
The other stages were arranged similarly — the
third being 188 feet, and again 26 feet high ,
the fourth 146 feet square, and 15 feet high ,
the fifth 104 feet square, and the same height
as the fourth ; the sixth 62 feet square, and
again the same height ; and the seventh 20 feet
square, and once more the same height. On the
seventh stage there was probably placed the
ark or tabernacle, which seems to have been
again 15 feet high, and must have nearly, if not

^^fl^ffi^ll'TlM^KIllffi

n

Elevation of Birs-Nimrnd. (Bestored by Fergusson.)

entirely, covered the top of the seventh story.
The entire original height, allowing three feet
for the platform, would thus have been 156 feet,
or, without the platform, 153 feet. The whole
formed a sort of oblique pyramid, the gentler
slope facing the N.E., and the steeper inclining
to the S.W." On the N.E. side was the grand
entrance, and here stood the vestibule, a separate
building, the debris from which, having joined
those from the temple itself, fill up the inter
mediate space, and very remarkably prolong the
mound in this direction " (Rawlinson's Herodotus,
vol- ii. pp. 582, 583). The Birs temple, which
was called the " Temple of the Seven Spheres
of Heaven and Earth," was ornamented with
the planetary colours, the basement being black,
the second story orange, the third red, the
fourth yellow, the fifth green, the sixth blue,
and the seventh white, while on the top was a

» Messrs. Perrot and Chipiez, in tbeir Bistort/ qf Art
in Chaldea and Assyria, vol. i. chap. iv. (English
edit.), are more correct in making each successive stage
to have been placed exactly in the centre of that below lt

shrine or chapel. The above cut shows its con
jectural restoration by Fergusson. The other
chief features of it seem to have been common to
most, if not all, of the Babylonian temple-towers.
The feature of stages is found in the temples at
Warka and Mukeyyer (Erech and Ur ; Loftus's
Chaldaea, pp. 129 and 168), which belong to
very primitive times (about 2500 B.C.) ; that
of the emplacement, so that the four angles
face the four cardinal points, is likewise common
to those ancient structures; while the square
form is universal. A similar tower was found
at Khorsabad. [See Assyria, p. 278.] On the
other hand, it may be doubted whether so large
a number of stages was common. The Mukeyyer
and Warka temples have no more than two,
and probably never had more than three, or at
most four, stages. The great temple of Belus
at Babylon (Babil) shows only one stage, though,
according to the best authorities, that too was a
sort of pyramid (Herod., Strab.). The height of
the Birs is 153J feet, that of Babil 140 (?), that
¦ of the Warka temple 100, that of the temple at
Mukeyyer 50 feet. Strabo's statement that the

320

BABEL, TOWER OE

tomb of Belus was a stade (606 feet) in height
would thus seem to be a gross exaggeration.
Probably no Babylonian tower ever equalled the
Great Pyramid, the original height of which
was 480 feet.
With regard to the materials used in the
tower, and the manner of its construction, more
light is to be obtained from the Warka and
Mukeyyer buildings than from the Birs. The
Birs was rebuilt from top to bottom by Nebu
chadnezzar, and shows the mode of construction
prevalent in Babylon at the best period; the
temples at Warka and Mukeyyer remain to ».
certain extent in their primitive condition, the
upper stories alone having been renovated. The
Warka temple is composed entirely of sun-dried
bricks which are of various shapes and sizes;

BABEL, TOWER OP
the cement used is mud ; and reeds are largely
employed in the construction. It is a building
of the most primitive type, and exhibits a ruder
style of art than that which we perceive from
Scripture to have obtained at the date of the
tower. Burnt bricks were employed in the
composition of the tower (Gen. xi. 3) ; and
the Arab. (~- implies that the hemar (IDIll
used for mortar was bibumen, which abounds in
Babylonia. Now the lower basement of the
Mukeyyer temple exhibits this combination in
n decidedly primitive form. The burnt bricks
are of small size and of an inferior quality;
they are laid in bitumen" ; and they face a mass
of sun-dried brick, forming a solid wall outside

Temple of Birs-Nimrnd at Borsippa.

it, ten feet in thickness. No reeds are used in
the building. Writing appears on it, but of an
antique cast. The supposed date is B.C. 2500 —
rather earlier than the time commonly assigned
to the building of the tower. Probably the
«rection of the two buildings was not separated
by a very long interval, though it is reasonable
to suppose that of the two the tower was the
earlier. The date assigned by the Babylonians
to Sargon of Agadii is 3800 B.C., and the
¦erection of the Tower of Babel may be set down
roughly at about this period.
There is little or nothing to be said as to the
probable position of the Tower of Babel. That
it ought to be found within the city of Babylon
is implied by its name, and by the scriptural
account of its erection. The improbability of

its having been the Birs-Nimioud (the E-zida
of the Babylonian inscriptions) has been referred
to above ; and there is no indication, in the
ancient records, that it was the great and
renowned temple called t-sagila (" the House of
the High Head ") at Babylon, though it must
be confessed that the name would support such
a view. There was, however, at Babylon another
temple or temple-tower, apparently held by the
Babylonians next in veneration, and called by
them £-temen-ana-ki("the House of the Founda
tion of Heaven and Earth "). Further it was
also generally spoken of as " the Tower of Baby
lon " (zikkurat Babili or zikurat Babilam). This

b Mukeyyer means literally " coated with bitumen.'1

BABYLON
tower seems to have been mentioned, on a geo
graphical tablet, at the head of the list, before
that of Borsippa (E-zida, or the Temple of the
Seven Spheres). Nebuchadnezzar, too, in many
of his inscriptions, speaks of having restored it.
He says, " E-temen-ana-ki, the Tower of Baby
lon, I made, I completed, and with brick and
bright marble I raised its top." It must be
left to future research to determine whether
E-sagila, E-temen-ana-ki, or E-zida be the Tower
of Babel, but the choice may be regarded as
lying rather between the first two.
It is not necessary to suppose that any real
idea of " scaling heaven " was present, to the
minds of those who raised either the Tower of
Babel, or any other of the Babylonian temple-
towers. The expression used in Genesis (xi. 4)
is a mere hyperbole for great height (cp. Deut.
i. 28 ; Dan. iv 11, &c), and should not be taken
literally. Military defence may have been the
primary object of such edifices in early times :
but the probability is that it was intended to be
used as an observatory, and for the offering of
sacrifices and performance of religious cere
monies. Most, if not all of the principal cities
of Babylonia and Assyria had a tower, and some
of them probably more than one.0 These towers
were called zikkurati, a word which comes from
the root "IDT, and which probably means, there
fore, " memorial-peak," or something of that
kind. Um-napistim, the Chaldean Noah, in the
story of the Flood, says that, after coming forth
from the ark, he " built an altar on the peak
(zikkurat) of the mountain," and offered sacrifice
-there. It is therefore probable that the custom
of having zikkurati arose from this act on the
part of the Patriarch. Diodorus states that the
great tower of the temple of Belus was used by
the Chaldeans as an observatory (ii. 9); and the
caTeful emplacement of the Babylonian temples
with the angles facing the. four cardinal points,
would be a natural consequence, and may be re
garded as a strong confirmation of the reality
of this application. M. Fresnel has conjectured
that they were also used as sleeping-places for
the chief priests in the summer-time (Journ.
Asiatique, June 1853, pp. 529-31). The upper
air is cooler, and is free from the insects, espe
cially mosquitoes, which abound below ; and
the description which Herodotus gives of the
chamber at the top of the Belus tower (i- 181)
goes far to confirm this ingenious view.
[G. R.] [T. G. P.]
BABYLON [BABEL], ^33, BaBvAuv, the
country of Babylon or Babylonia (BaBvAuvta),
so called from Babel (Bab. Bdb-ili), the name of
its capital city [see Babel, Babylon], Though
the Babylonians themselves often called their
country Bab-ili or Babylon, this was not its
ancient name. The general designation of the
whole tract was (according to Fried. Delitzsch)
Edin. This name, however, was very rarely
used, if used at all, by the Babylonians them
selves. The country is generally designated, by
both Babylonians and Assyrians, Kar-dunias,"
but this name probably indicated only the

BABYLON

321

country around the city Babylon itself. A
more usual expression was, in Akkadian, Kingi-
Uri, rendered by mat Sumcri u Akkadi, "the
land of Sumer and Akkad," Sumer being iden
tified with "IMC', Shinar, and Akkad derived
from tho name of the capital city Akkad or
Agade, and meaning the south and north (or
south-east and north-west) of Babylonia respec
tively. Other names for these two districts, or
parts of them, were Mnkan (southern) and
Meluhha* (northern). There were a great many
tribes in ancient Babylonia, who gave their
names to the districts where they dwelt. The
principal of these were Bit-Amukkan, and
Bit-Yaktn and Tamtim, on the shores of the
Persian Gulf, tribes from which sprang several
Babylonian kings.
Geography. — Babylonia proper extended from
the Persian Gulf (then reaching farther inland
than now) to between thirty-four and thirty-
five degrees of north latitude. The boundaries
probably varied much at different periods, but
the tract of country known as Babylonia must
have been a narrow strip, following the course
of the two great rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates, and extending therefore in a north
westerly direction. It is a low-lying plain,
marshy during the overflowing in the south,
but during the dry season is a mere desert
covered with a crust of salt, the sky-line being
only broken by the hills and mounds marking
the sites of the ruins of the cities of this once
prosperous and fertile land. The country of
Babylonia was bounded on the north by Assyria,
on the south by the Persian Gulf, on the east by
the mountainous country of Persia and Elam,
and on the west by the Syrian desert. The
chief cities were Babylon and Borsippa, Kes
(Hymer) and Harsagkalama, Cuthah (Tell-
Ibrahim), Lagal (Tell-Lo), Ur (Mukeyyer),
Sepharvaim (Abu Habbah), Akkad, Isin or Kar-
rag, Nippuru (Niffer), Eridu, Kullab, Erech
(Warka), and many others.
Babylonia was in ancient times an extremely
fruitful country, for not only was it watered
by' the two great rivers, the Tigris and the
Euphrates, but also by a whole network of
canals, which were excavated by the various
kings, and which contributed greatly to the
fruitfulness of the land. The summers are hot
and sultry, the great plains being then scorched
and without verdure, but the winters are mild.
Petroleum and bitumen springs are found in the
Euphrates valley, and bitumen (the " slime " of
Gen. xi. 3) was largely used by the Babylonians
in building, as it formed an excellent cement.
The soil is clayey, and for this reason most of
the edifices were of brick, both kiln-burnt and
sun-dried, and clay was largely used instead of
papyrus or other material for hooks, records,
and documents of all kinds, from a very early
date. Government. — The king was an absolute
monarch, and had the power of life and death
over his subjects. It is probable that with the
Babylonians, as with the Assyrians, people who
considered that they had suffered injustice at the

c The city of Niffer seems to have had three.
a Apparently a Kassite or Cos6aean name, meaning
"the garden of Duniag."
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

» From Eme-luhha, " (the land of) the pure tongue,"
or " of the tongue of the servant." It is supposed that
the Sumerians were the dominant race, Y

322

BABYLON

hands of the judges of the land could appeal to
him. The Babylonian kings, however, seem not
to have been so accessible to their people as the
Assyrian kings, and they were therefore not so
popular : hence, perhaps, the many revolutions in
Babylonia. The king was, as a rule, the patron
of learning, and some of the Babylonian kings
had a taste for archaeology, the result being
that very many of the ancient monuments
which would otherwise, perhaps, have perished,
were preserved.
The administration of the various provinces
was placed in the hands of different officials,
who were responsible to those over them or to
the king. The courts of justice were presided
over by several judges, who were called the
king's judges, and who acted as the judge and
jury of modern days. Justice was therefore
very fairly administered. Bribes were not al
lowed, and were probably very seldom offered.
Arms. — The Babylonians were brave, but not
warlike, being much more traders than soldiers.
Their arms were the sword, dagger, bow and
arrow, spear, mace, and sling and stone. Their
sports were falconry, and probably also hunting
and a kind of boxing or fencing.
, Learning. — They preferred learning to fight
ing, and in this respect differed greatly from
the Assyrians. Like most of their kings, the
more educated had a taste for archaeology. A
knowledge of Phoenician, and probably of
Aramaic also, was required in business trans
actions ; whilst the true literary class were
expected to kuow, besides these things, the
ancient and dead languages of the country,
Akkadian and Sumerian.
Writing. — The wedge-writing of the Baby
lonians and Assyrians, called also cuneiform, is a
development of the earlier line-writing, which

Inscription of Ur-Bau, an early Chaldean king.
was, in its turn, derived from the original hiero
glyphics. The wedge-writing proper arose out of
the desire of the users of the system to impress
the lines of the hieroglyphs, rather than draw
them, on the soft clay which they used. The
early writing is rather complex, and there is an
attempt, in some cases, to keep to the line-forms.
Later, this attempt was abandoned, and, as the
people wrote more, the characters were much
less carefully, because more quickly, formed.
The character an (syllabic value) = Akkadian
dingir = Semitic Babylonian ilu, " god " : —
Archaic *££-, late form

'¦*'

¦+-•

BABYLON
The character su (syllabic value) = Akkadian
iu = Semitic Babylonian kdtu, " hand " : —

Archaic

[ , late form feJ.

The character ud (syllabic value) = Akkadian
u = Semitic Babylonian umu, " day " : —
Archaic < \, late form ^ Y .
About the year 900 B.C. the writing becomes
both simpler and clearer, the characters being
very symmetrically formed. From the time of
Nabonidus to that of the Arsacidae the writino-
becomes again less clear. The scribes of Saosdu
chinos, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus, and even of
Antiochus, were very fond, however, of imi
tating the ancient and more complicated styles
of writing in documents of the better class.
[Assyria, Writing.]
Literature. — Besides the records mentioned
below, the Babylonians had an extensive litera
ture, consisting of records of the creation of the
world, of the Flood, legends of the gods and
heroes, fantastic tales accounting for eclipses
and the movement of the heavenly bodies,,
hymns, penitential psalms, and poems; some
alliterative proverbs and fables have also been
found. Of more serious subjects we have gram
matical lists, Akkadian or Sumerian and Baby
lonian ; vocabularies of these languages ; tablets
on agriculture, geography, natural history,
astronomy, and mathematics. There are also
tablets of legal precepts, exhibiting an excellent
knowledge of the technicalities of law. Special
bilingual-lists were drawn up for the use of
those likely to be engaged in trade ; and a great
many fragments of tablets, containing the Baby
lonian students' practice in reading and writing,
have come down to us.
Time reckoning. — The year with the Baby*
lonians, as also with the Assyrians, began with
the month Nisan (March) ; the new moon next
before the equinox marking, according to Mr.
Geo. Smith, the beginning of the new year. The
year was divided into twelve months, each of
thirty days," so that the reckoning of time was
not entirely lunar. The following are the most
usual names of the months in Babylonian : —

1.

Nisannu

Nisan

March.

2.

Aaru

Iyyar

April.

3.

Simannu

Sivan

May.

4.

Diizu,

Tammuz

June.

6.

Abu

Ab

July.

6.

Ululu

Elul

August.

1.

Tisritu

Tisri

September.

8.

Arah-samnud

Marcheswan

October.

9.

Kisilimu

Kisleu

November.

10.

Zfcb&u

Tebet

December.

11.

Sabatu

Sebat

January.

12.

Adaru

Adar

February.

Arliu makru sa Adari, Arhu mahru sa Adari,
Arhu dtaru sa Adari = the intercalary Ve-Adar.
Besides Ve-Adar, there was also an inter
calary Elul as well as an intercalary Nisan.
Calendars were drawn up, giving all the
lucky and unlucky days, and the learned men
were often consulted as to the suitability of any
0 The ideograph for "month" is the sign for "day"
with tho numeral 30 within.
4 " The eighth month."

BABYLON
day for some particular work. Besides these-
calendars, there were also tablets giving the
religious festivals for each day of every month,
as well as rules as to one's life on these days,
and the list of the Sabbaths, which were the
7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th of each month. The
Babylonian sabbaths, however, were not by any
means so strict as those of the Jews. There was
also an intercalary day inserted after the
21st ofthe month.
Each dav had twelve hours, which were equal
to two hours of our own time-reokoning. The
night was divided into three watches. In
travelling, the length of a journey w.is reckoned
by hours, about seven English miles being the
distance got over in a Babylonian hour.
Dating. — In the earliest times in Babylonia
the dating of trade documents was by means of
events, such as the building of a temple, the
digging of a caual, or the
inarch of a warlike expedi
tion. Later on, the people
seem to have regarded this
as rather clumsy and incon
venient, and the system vt'
dating by the regnal years of
the kings came into use. The
Assyrians held the middle
course of dating by eponyms,
which may have been also
an early Babylonian custom
[see Asstkia]. In every case the month and
day were inserted.
Records. — Defective as was the Babylonian
system of dating, they were yet most careful as
to keeping records of events, and they have
left excellent lists of all their kings from
at least as early as the year 2300 B.C. ; and
Nabonidus, the great Babylonian chronologist-
king, mentions the date of 3200 years before
his time as the date of Naram-Sin, son of Sargani
or Sargon, and it is not at all unlikely that he
had good authority, in the shape of authentic
records, for that date. Besides the Babylonian
canons, there were also the chronicles, giving a
very full account of the events of every reign,
and omen-tablets, giving the principal events
and the omens to be deduced therefrom, to en
able the after-comers to form an estimate of
what might be likely to happen under the same
astral influences. It is probable therefore that
the extreme exactness of the Babylonian records
arose from the strict account kept of the move
ments of the heavenly bodies.
Trade ; Slavery. — - The Babylonians were
ardent traders, and have left documents dating
from the earliest times. Thev begin about the
time of Hammurabi, 2120 B.C., and are written,
for the most part, in Akkadian, that period seem
ing to be the transition from the non-Semitic to
the Semitic in trade and legal documents, though
all the people at this time spoke Semitic
Babylonian. These early trade documents were
always made in duplicate, each transaction,
having been recorded on a clay tablet, having
an outer coating or envelope of clay moulded
on it, and this in turn inscribed with the
same transaction. All these documents are
dated by the mention of some important event
which took place at or near the time when the
transaction was completed. They are generally
impressed all over with the seals of the contract-

BABYLON

a23

ing parties, rendering tho writing exceedingly
difficult, and sometimes impossible, to read. Iu

A Babylonian cylinder-seal.
later times the trade documents are smaller and
neater, the style of writing not being so compli
cated. The more convenient method of dating

Tart of the edge of a tablet of the time of Nabonidus, showing impressions of cylinder-seals.
Priests (men and eunneh) in an attitude of worship. (Late Semitic type.)
in the regnal years of the kings came also into
use. Seals, however, are not much used, and
case-tablets entirely disappear. During the
latest period the style of the trade documents
does not change much. The writing, however,
gets rougher ; seals are more used ; and small
case-tablets again become usual. During the
earliest and latest periods, the clay tablets were
seldom baked, being only sun-dried. The objects
bought and sold were houses, lauds, plantations,
ships, oxen, sheep, goats, various kinds of grain,
vessels of earthenware or copper, ironware,
&c. The traffic in human beings was very
common ; and slaves, both male and female,
were sometimes branded or marked on the hand
with the name of their master or mistress. The
trade done at Babylon and Sepharvaim from
the time of Nabonidus until the end of the reign
of Darius was enormous.
Though slavery was in full force in Babylonia,
yet the slaves do not seem to have been at all
badly treated, and there were special laws for
their protection. They seem to have been
allowed to acquire property and even to trade
on their own account, and it is probable also
that many were allowed to buy their freedom
with the money thus gained (see p. 325, Manners
and Customs).
Architecture. — The Babylonians were no mean
architects, and knew the use of the arch. There
being but very little or no good building-stone
in the country, most, if not all, of the build
ings were of brick, both baked and unbaked.
It is very probable that any stone that may
have been used (as in the case of the bridge at
Babylon mentioned by Herodotus) was brought
from other lands — probably from Assyria,
where limestone and alabaster are to be found.
The early Mesopotamian buildings were seldom,
if ever, more than one story high. They were
built of both baked and unbaked brick, and
Y 2

324

BABYLON

like those of Assyria, the palaces probably con
sisted of a series of long narrow rooms, with
communicating passages, built round several
courtyards of various sizes (see the article
Assyria, Architecture). Though not altogether
ignorant of the use of the column, and probably
also of the pier, the Babylonians seem, like the
Assyrians, to have made little or no use of
either — hence the long narrow rooms. Like the
palace of Assyria, horizontal lines predominated
in its general physiognomy, and perpendicular
lines in its exterior wall-decoration. Like the
Assyrians also, the royal buildings were raised
on artificial platforms with carefully-paved
surfaces. The lines of the great buildings rose
therefore high above the surrounding country,
attaining a greater prominence than any other
edifice, and breaking the tiring monotony of the
unvarying Mesopotamian plain. Their style
of architecture was very simple, and was not
greatly varied ; but as most of the royal palaces
were on a large scale, the very simplicity
added somewhat to the grandeur of the whole.
A certain number of the bricks were generally
stamped with the name and titles of the king
who had the palace built or restored. The
ornamentation of the inside consisted generally
of designs of men, animals, and fabulous mon
sters, modelled in brick in high relief, and
enamelled in the natural colours — a branch of
art in which the Babylonians probably excelled.
Far grander, however, in appearance than the
palaces, were the temple-towers, such as have
been described by Herodotus. These consisted
of pyramidal towers built in stages, rising in
seven tiers either by an inclined passage all
round, or in a similar number of stages parallel
with each other, to which access was gained by
inclined passages on each side, until the top was
reached. These zikkurati (" peaks " as they
were called) are supposed to have contained only
two chambers, one on the fifth stage, the other
higher up, all the rest being solid. In these
chambers the worship of the gods was per
formed, and shrines for the images of the gods
were erected within them, and in some cases
also on the top of the tower. Simpler forms of

A simple form of Babylonian temple-tower.

the temple-tower, similar to that shown in the
illustration,'also existed.
Art. — Practically, the art of Babylonia was
the same as that of Assyria, though there are
some essential differences as to style and detail,
the Babylonian having, of the two, rather less
mannerism. The art of the earliest period is
naturally that which might be supposed to exist
among a nation in its infancy, the artist being
unskilled, and his productions, therefore, ama
teurish. On the bas-reliefs from Tel-lo (LagaS),
ior example, the human figures, in common with
everything else, are very roughly formed ; but
especially rough are some representations of
birds of prey carrying off the limbs of the

BABYLON
slain. The designs, however, are sometimes
well thought out. Much better executed are
the sculptures in the round, from the same
place. These represent seated and standing
figures probably intended for images of the
kings Gudea and Ur-Bau, whose inscriptions
they bear. All the figures are headless, but two
heads, probably belonging to similar statues, are
very fine. The art of LagaS, however, may be
regarded as almost, if not quite, pure Akkadian.
A small bas-relief in the British Museum, re
presenting king Hammurabi, is a variant of the
same style of art. It is impossible, on account
of the lack of monuments, to trace the develop
ment of Babylonian art. We only know, from
the later examples which are extant, that,
possibly on account of Semitic influence, it
became bolder, more finished, and that more
attention was paid to details. (Compare the
monument known as the " Sungod-stone," found
by Mr. H. Rassam at Abu-habbah, and the bas-
relief of Marduk-nadin-ahi, p. 329.) The decora
tions of the palace-walls, of which only the
merest fragments are now in existence, imply a
style still closer resembling that of Assyria —
bold outlines, and strongly-marked muscles in
the human and animal forms. These wall-deco
rations were carved on the bricks, and then
enamelled m bright colours. They consisted of
men, fabulous monsters, palm-trees, &c., and
call to mind the statement made by Ctesias, as
to the walls of the palace of Babylon being
sculptured and coloured with representations of
hunting-scenes, &c, and the "men pourtrayed
upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans
pourtrayed with vermilion, . . . exceeding in
dyed attire upon their heads, . . . after the
manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the
land of their nativity" (Ezek. xxiii. 14, 15).
These enamelled carvings seem also to have
been accompanied by inscriptions, the characters
beautifully enamelled in white on a blue ground.
The Babylonians also modelled very well m clay,
a very favourite subject being a woman with a
child at her breast (perhaps emblematic of
Istar). Many excellent castings in bronze, from
Lagas, also exist. They represent principally
king Gudea holding a cone with the point down
wards, thought to be intended for the fire-stick.
Engraving. — The Babylonians were, from the
very earliest times, excellent engravers in hard

Warrior and followers returning with two captives and spoils of
war. Seal of the secretary of the king: of Erech"8 brother.
An example of exceedingly early Babylonian engraving.
About 2500 n.o.
stone. The earliest specimen of this kind of art
is a cylinder-seal with the name of Sargani or
Sargon, about 3800 B.C. The design, though
conventional, is rather elaborate, and the

BABYLON
animal forms are especially good. Later the
style grows simpler, but the forms are still
good ; and it is not until about 2000 B.C. that
the art began to degenerate, and probably
about 1200 B.C. began to die out, or at least
only lingered on until the time of Nabonidus,
at which period another style arose, of a much
severer kind, in which, however, the human
figures are excellently formed, and much
attention is given to details. The art of
engraving among the Babylonians suffered
greatly upon the conquest of Babylonia by the
Persians, and the almost national cylinder-seal
gave place to the ordinary stone signet. After the
time of Darius, engraving on stone, in the true
Babylonian style of the art, had ceased to exist.
Religion. — The religion of the Babylonians
was polytheistic, developed out of a worship of
the powers of nature. The chief god was Bel
(the lord), identified in later times with Marduk
or Merodach, " the patriarch of the gods " who
went about doing good to mankind. Other
deities were Anu and Anatu, the male and
female personifications of the heavens ; Ea or Ag,
" lord of the human race, whose hands made
mankind ; " Sin,e the moon-god, " lord of the
month ; " Samas, the sun-god, " lord of judg
ment," and his consort Aa ; Rammanu (Rimmon)
or Addu (Hadad) the god of the atmosphere,
who fertilised the land ; Beltis, consort of Bel,
and Zer-panitum, consort of Marduk f; Istar or
Venus, goddess of love, " lady of the world ; "
Nin-Karrag (lady of Karrag or Isin), "the great
healer ; " Gibil, the god of fire, with many
others. On every occasion these gods were
prayed to and invoked, splendid temples were
erected to them, sacrifices were made at stated
times, and yearly festivals, with magnificent
processions in which their " ships " (arks or
shrines) were carried round, took place in their
honour. See the article Babel, Babylon (end
of " Nebuchadnezzar's account "), and Assyria,
Religion. Manners and Customs. — The manners and cus
toms ofthe Babylonians probably varied from time
to time, as they were influenced by the nations
around with whom they came into contact, i
Strabo (xvi. 1, § 20) says that their customs
were like those of the Persians (save a few which
were peculiar to themselves), but this naturally
refers only to the late period, during and after
the Persian occupation.8
Very few records of a nature to give informa
tion upon these .points have come down to us
from the earliest period, the principal sources
being the very difficult contract-tablets from
Southern Babylonia, dating from about the
22nd century B.C. From these it is to be
gathered, that they worshipped practically the
same deities as in later times, Samas and Sin
(the sun and the moon) being the favourite
deities. At this period, although Semitic Baby
lonian had practically become the language of
the people, it is nevertheless probable that
e This divine name forms the first element in the
name of the Assyrian king Sennacherib.
1 Thi6 name forms part of the royal names Merodach-
baladan, Evil-Merodach, &c.
e Babylonians at this period sometimes even bore
Persian names, as in the case of a certain Baga'pada, son j
of Nabii-zer-iddin, a Babylonian. I

BABYLON

325

Akkadian was much used, portions at least of
most of the legal documents being written in
that tongue, and Akkadian names of persons
being not uncommon. At this early period one
of their customs seems to have been to " make
brotherhood " (tapputu. or dhiutu). The single
record of this custom, the Deed of the Brother
hood of Sini-Innanna and Iriban,-Sin, shows that
it was accompanied by a religious ceremony in
the temple of the Sun and Moon. They were
told to give some slaves to the temple ; then-
brotherhood was then declared to be confirmed,
and an exhortation to brotherly love was pro
nounced. The two parties to one of these deeds
could, however, possess property that was not
in common, if acquired otherwise than with
their common means. Thus Sini-Innanna and
his true brother Apil-ili acquired, with their
mother's money, property to which, it is stated,
Iribam-Sin (Sini-Innanna's partner) and his
brothers had no claim. In later times "brother
hood " of this kind seems not to have existed, an
ordinary business partnership (harrana, lit. " a
double road ") having taken its place.
Slavery had existed in Babylonia from very
remote ages, and many laws and enactments
concerning it had grown up. Slaves seem to
have been liable to be called on to perform
service for the king, &c, and » slave sold un
conditionally could be bought back by the seller
on refunding the money. As in Rome, slaves
were taught trades, and were regularly ap
prenticed, the tablet of apprenticeship generally
recording certain penalties which would be
imposed if his temporary master failed to fulfil
his agreement. Slaves seem to have been able
to work their way, by the favour of their
master, up to freedom, through certain inter
mediate privileged stages, one of which was
called mdr-banutu, or " born-" or " made-son-
ship." He was then regarded more as the son of
his master, for whom probably he still worked,
and who contracted to give him food, oil, and
clothing. A case is recorded of the mdr-banutu
of a slave having been annulled, by mutual
consent, on account of his master having been
unable to fulfil these conditions. His master then
transferred the slave to his married daughter.
Herodotus (i. 194) and Strabo (xvi. 1, 20)
speak of a custom by which young women were
sold by auction, those who were good-looking
going to the highest bidder, and the plain ones
to the men who would take them with the
smallest dowry, the money paid for the good-
looking ones going to dower their less-favoured
sisters. The native records make no mention
of this custom. Dower-contracts exist, but, as
far as known, they are all of the nature of a
private contract between the parties and their
parents. In one or two marriage-contracts, the
clause is inserted that adultery is to be punished
by death, which was apparently the usual
penalty. From one of these documents it seems
that a man could contract a marriage on behalf
of his son, and also annul that contract by
simply saying "(N. N.) ul amatu" ii," "(So-
and-so) is not a wife," but in that case the
dowry had to be returned at the time when the
woman was sent back to her father's house. It
is not improbable, therefore, that a man could
himself divorce his wife in the same easy way.
Judging from the native records, dowries seem

326

BABYLON

to have been the rule, and not the exception.
Married women could possess property and en
gage in trade, and on the death of their husbands
were entitled to the amount of their dowry out
of what he left behind.
Only a portion of the wedding ceremony, on a
fragment of a tablet from Nineveh, has been
preserved. According to this document, after
the priest had pronounced the couple to be man
and wife, they were commanded to make offer
ings of certain things in sevens — 7 canes,
7 cypress-branches, 7 victims, &c. &c, placed
7 feet from the altar The priest then performed
certain rites, and afterwards uttered a prayer to
Ea or Ae", to Samas, aud to Merodach. Istar or
Venus is not mentioned.
No real confirmation has been found in the
native records of the sacrifice by maidens of
their virtue, to.Mylitta (Venus), mentioned by
Herodotus and Strabo. According to these
writers, the women go to a temple of Venus,
accompanied by numerous attendants and a
crowd of people. Each woman has a cord round
her head. A man, on approaching her, placed
on her lap as much money as he thought proper,
and then led her away to a distance from the
sacred grove, and had intercourse with her, she
not daring to refuse. The money given was
considered as consecrated to Venus. It is ap
parently to this that reference is made in
Baruch v. 43 (Epistle of Jeremy): "The women
also with cords about them, sitting in the ways,
burn bran for perfume " [i.e. as incense to the
goddess] : " but if any of them, drawn by some
that passeth by, lie with him, she reproacheth
her fellow, that she was not thought as worthy
as herself, nor her cord broken ; " and from this,
it would seem as if the breaking of the cord
(apparently that about her head) typified her
release from the obligation. An examination of
some of the female figures with their hands
beneath their breasts, or folded upon their
breasts, supposed votaries of Venus, shows only
one with what may be a cord round the head.'
Strabo states also that the Babylonians had
three tribunals — one of whilom military men, one
of nobles, and a third of old men. Besides these
there was another appointed by the king. No
certain indications of any of these have yet been
found in the native records, but " the Judges of
Nabonidus," who are often mentioned on the
tablets of his time, probably correspond with
the last. According to Strabo, it was the tri
bunal appointed by the king which disposed of
the virgins in marriage, and decided in cases
of adultery. The judges mentioned on the
tablets seem to have had to determine all civil
actions, such as disputes as to property, &c.
Of the Babylonian laws which have been pre
served, and the juridical decisions recorded,
none could be juster.
11 A tablet, in private hands, records a contract by
which a man swears to send his daughters, not to the
temple of Venus, but to that of the Sun-god at Sippara,
sayrag, "About the tenth day of Sivan, 1 will take
Sabullatu, Tablutu, Tuna, (and) Amtia, my daughters,
to the treasury of the Sun-god, before Guzanu.tho priest
of Sippara. Whether it be male or female, I will place
it before the Sun-god for redemption." If this latter
phrase reia to the offspring, this text may record a kind
of parallel to the custom mentioned by Herodotus and
btrabo.

BABYLON
The same writer (xvi. 1, § 6) mentions the
" native philosophers called Chaldeans," who
were chiefly devoted to the study of astronomy
[Chaldeans, 3], and a certain section of them
not approved by the rest, who professed to
understand the casting of nativities. Some of
the Chaldean astronomers, he says, have the
names of Orcheni and Borsippeni (Erechites
and Borsippans), &c, as if divided into sects,
and disseminate different tenets on the same
subjects. This statement is borne out by the
native records. Herodotus states that the sick
were brought out into the market-place, where
the passers-by were expected to ask after their
malady, and to give them advice; but the reason
he gives for this, that they employed no phy
sicians, is not true. The dsu, or physician, was
a recognised office from very early times. The
Babylonians were also accustomed to the use
of incantations and charms for the cure of
diseases. Strangely enough, there is but little to be
gathered from the native records concerning
their funeral customs. Strabo says that they
buried their dead in honey, first be smearing
the body with wax. This, however, probably
refers to the latest period ; for the indications
which have been gamed from the native records,
both Assyrian and Babylonian, imply that they
burnt their dead, and the sepulchral remains
which have been found at El-hibba confirm
this. The Babylonians consumed dates, as food, m
large quantities, and used various kinds of corn,
greens, and roots, such as the carrot, &c. They
drank wine from Helbon and Azali, and seem
to have had many kinds of grapes. They were
also flesh-eaters, and consumed, probably, a
large amount of fish, principally caught by
means of nets, as indicated by the bilingual
texts. Sesame was much used, the oil pressed
from it being employed in dressing dishes, and
for anointing the body. Tbeir costume, according
to Herodotus and Strabo, consisted of a linen
tunic reaching to the feet, then a woollen tunic,
and over that a white mantle. They wore
sandals or shoes resembling a buskin, long hair,
curled, and were accustomed to perfume them
selves. Each had a cylinder-seal and a wand,
the former engraved, the latter carved with an
animal or device.
The Babylonians were exceedingly super
stitious, and made constant use of charms
and magical formulae either to protect them
selves from evil, misfortune, and sickness, or
to charm them away if any such happened
to them. The god who was most sought on
such occasions was Merodach, who was regarded
as the most merciful of all the gods, going
constantly about, doing good. In many of
the incantations he is represented as the one
who taught the magical healing formula to the
first man needing it. Merodach was in all things
advised by his father Ea, god of the waters
and lord of deep wisdom, and to him Merodach
always went for the health-working words
which were to charm away the trouble of his
human supplicant. Magical drinks and washings
were also largely used. Before taking in hand
any work also, the Babylonians seem always to ,
have ascertained whether the day were lucky
or unlucky for its performance, whether the

BABYLON
heavenly bodies were propitious, or whether
the terrestrial omens were equally favourable.
The Babylonians. — The Babylonians seem to
have been of mixed race, caused by the mingling
of the Akkadians (supposed Turanians) with the
Semitic tribes of the Euphrates valley. Certain

Impression of a cylinder-seal. The hero Gistubar (GiUjameS) struggling with a lion.
Babylonian tbemitk-) type of about 3000 B.c.
it is that the cylinder-seals, as well as the few
sculptures that have come down to us, show us
two distinct types — the earlier (evidently the

Impression of a cylinder-seaL Deity, worshipper, and divine
attendant. Akkadian (non-Semitic) type of about 2,500 B.C.
Akkadian) being tall, thm, well-formed, with
exceedingly handsome, regular features ; ' and
the later, in which the figure is short and
thick, the features being
decidedly Semitic. It
seems clear that the
more polished race, the
Akkadian (or Sumerian),
was, at an early period,
the ruling race, and
Akkadian was the lan
guage of a large section
of the people Later,
HeadofaBabylonian. the two races mingled,
and the Akkadian type
-was lost in the stronger Semitic. The result of
this mingling of the two races was the pro-

impression of a cylinder-seal. Eunuch-priest before emblems of
the sun and moon. Babylonian type of about 600 B.C.

' There are no traces, on auy of the sculptures or
the engraved seals, of the oblique eyes of which Eeveral
scholars have spoken.

BABYLON 327
duction of a nation far superior to most, of the
peoples around them as to intelligence, and idoas
of freedom aud justice. The Babylonians of
later times seem to have been of very nearlv the
same type as the Assyrians — a round face, full
eyes, with eyebrows meeting over the nose,
which was short and turned
down at the tip, small mouth,
and dark hair aud beard. In
disposition they were mild and
good-humoured, and socm to
have differed from the Assy
rians in loving the arts of peace,
rather than those of war. The
illustrations here given show
the two types which produced
the late Babylonian and also the
Assyrian — early Semitic, almost,
if not quite, pure, and early-
Akkadian, the result of the
fusion being the type of face
shown in the next two illustrations, and in the
reproduction of the seal-impressions, p. 323,
See also the corresponding section of the article
Assyhia, and the type shown in the illustration
to that article on jj. 274.
History. — Babylonian history maybedivided
into three periods, namely — 1, the mythical
period, immediately following the Flood, when
lived and ruled the heroes, such as Gistubar
(Gilgames), Tibi-fttul-Bel, and others ; 2, the
first historical period, which lasted until about
2300 B.C. ; and 3, the second historical period,
from about 2300 B.C. until the end of the ex
istence of the kingdom.
The earliest king of whom we have any certain
record is Sargina or Sargon of Agade, a city
lying very close to Sepharvaim (Abtt-habbah).
This king, who according to Babylonian chrono
logy reigned about 3800 B.C., attacked the
Hittites, subdued certain states in Babylonia,
made expeditions against the Syrians, and pene
trated as far as the Mediterranean. After this
he put down a revolt which had arisen in his
own dominions, and wasted the region called
Sumasti (a part of Elam). He restored and
rebuilt various temples, &c, and founded a city
called Dur-Sargina, on the site of an old
Chaldean town. The story of his mother
placing him, when an infant, in a little ark on
the Euphrates, to save him from the fury of his
uncle, who then ruled the iand, is probably
mythical. Sargina is evidently identical with
the Sargani of a very ancient inscription found
by Mr. H. Eassam at Abu-habbah or Sephar
vaim. Naritm-Sin, his son, who succeeded him about
3750 B.C., conquered, amongst other places, the
city of Apirag, then ruled by a king named ReB-
Kammani, and overran the land of Maganna, a
district of Babylonia.
IJr-Bau, or Ur-Babi (formerly read Urukh),
a king probably of Kassite origin, reigned about
2700 B.C. He was a great builder, and raised, in
the city of Ur (Mukeyyer), a temple to the
moon-god Sin, and restored or founded at Larsa
(Senkereh), Nipur (NifTer), and I.agas (Tel-Io),
temples to the various gods. Hashamer was a
viceroy under him.
Ur-Bau was succeeded by Dungi, his son,
who finished the tower of Ur, rebuilt the temple
of Erech, and built a temple at Babylon.

328

BABYLON

About the time of Dungi, the state of Lagas
comes into prominence, and the names of the
following rulers of this state, which must have
had much influence, have been preserved : — En-
temenna and his son En-ana-gin, Ei-nita-ni,
Ur-Papsukal and his son Gudea. These kings
are only known to us as having restored the
various temples, and Gudea was especially very
energetic in such pious works.

Subject from the signet-cylinder of king TJr-Bau.
The seat of empire passed afterwards to Larsa
(Senkereh), which, under an Elamite dynasty, of
which the first king seems to have been Simti-
silhak, became the most influential city in Baby
lonia. Kudur-Mabug " aud Rim-Agu, his son and
grandson, conquered several other parts of
Babylonia. After the long and prosperous reign
of Rim-Agu, his dominions seem to have been
conquered by Hammurabi1 or Kimta-rapaStu,
about 2120 B.C.
Hammurabi was a vigorous ruler and builder,
but details of his campaigns are entirely want
ing. He made himself master of the whole
of Babylonia, including the region of the Persian
Gulf. Samsu-iluna, his son, succeeded him about
2075 B.C., but nothing except the architectural
history of his reign is known. He reigned^hirty-
five years, and was succeeded by his son IlbiSu!™
_ About 1570 B.C. arose a dynasty of Kassite
kings, the most distinguished of whom was Agu-
kak-rime, son of Tassi-gurumas, grandson of
Abi-gu[rumas], Agu-kak-rime calls himself
king of Kassi (the land of the Cossaeans), and
Akkadi, king of the vast land of Babylon,
coloniser of Ashunak, king of Padan and Alman
and Guti. The dominion of many of these coun
tries he had evidently gained by conquest. Like
most of the Babylonian kings, he was more an
architect than a warrior.
About the year 1450 B.C. Kara-indas ruled
over Babylonia, and made * treaty with AsSur-
bel-nisi-su, king of Assyria, as to the boundary
ot the two kingdoms.

* The likeness of this name to Chedorlaomer (Kudur-
Lagamaru) will be noticed.
1 Also read Hammuraga!
'"Apparently the same name as AbCsn', found on
contracts from Babylonia.

BABYLON
Burna-burias, who reigned about 1425 B.C.
continued the peace with Assyria, and seems to
have married an Assyrian princess, Muballitat-
Serua, daughter of Assur-uballit.
Kara-Murdas was the fruit of this marriage,
and seems to have succeeded Burna-burias.
Some disaffected Kassites, however, arose, and
killing Kara-Murdas', placed Nazi-bugas, "the-
son of a nobody," on the throne.
Assur-uballit, king of
Assyria, to avenge the
death of Kara - Murdas,
marched to Babylonia and
killed Nazi-bugas, placing
on the throne Kuri-galzu, a
child, son of Burna-burias.
Kuri-galzu had a long and
prosperous reign, but Bel-
nirari, king of Assyria after
Assur - uballit, attacked
him, and defeated his army
near the city Sugaga.
Later, about the year
1330 B.C. Nazi - murutas,
king of Babylonia, was de
feated by Rammanu-nirari
near Kar-Istar-akarsal, and
a new rectification of the
boundary of the two coun
tries took place.
About the year 1250
Tukulti-Ninip, king of As
syria, conquered Babylonia, and a little later
the country was invaded by Assur-danan, who
completely defeated the king of Babylonia,
Zagaga-sum-iddin. Nebuchadnezzar I., who ruled about 1150,
invaded Assyria three times, but is said to have
been defeated on the third expedition by the Assy
rian king Assur-res-isi. Marduk-nadin-ahi, Ne
buchadnezzar's successor, invaded South Assyria
and carried off the images of the gods Rammanu
and Sala from the city of Ekallati. Tiglath-
pileser I., king of Assyria at this time, to avenge
this raid, captured Babylon and ravaged tlie
whole of Upper Babylonia.
Marduk-sapik-kuflat," king of Babylonia about
1100 B.C., made peace and alliance with Assur-
bel-kala, then king of Assyria. The Babylonian
king, however, seems to have left his country
for some reason ; and whilst he was away, the
Babylonians raised Rammanu-abla-iddina, a man
of common origin, to the throne. Assur-bel-kala
of Assyria afterwards married a daughter of the
new Babylonian king.
In the reign of Simmas-Sihu, the Sutu, an
Elamite tribe, invaded Babylonia, and spoiled
and carried off the property ofthe temple ofthe
sun-god at Sepharvaim. Simmas-Sihu reigned
seventeen years, and was succeeded by Hea-
mukin-zeri, a usurper, who reigned only three
months. Kassu-nadin-ahi, who succeeded Hea-
mukin-zeri, restored the temple of the sun-god
at Sippara. Ofthe history of the .reigns of the
next few kings nothing is known.
Merodach-baladan, son of Iriba-Marduk, re
stored the temple of Erech. Sibir, a later king,
invaded Assyria, and burned the city Adlil.
Nabu-gum-damik (b.c 913) and his successor
Nabu-sum-iskunboth fought against Rammanu-

• Also read Marduk-sapik-zev-matl.

BABYLON
nirari, king of Assyria, hut were defeated by
him. About 892 B.C. Tukulti-Ninip of Assyria
took possession of the throne of Babylon, and
ruled the country for seven years. During the
struggle which followed upon his expulsion, the
Babylonians seem to have been strong enough
to take and hold the Assyrian cities of Calah
and Imgur-Bel, near Nineveh, until they were
again wrested from them by Assur-nasir-apli.
About 879 B.C. NabQ-abla-iddina ("Nebo-
baladan ") came to the throne. He made a

BABYLON

329

Marduk-nadin-a'hi, king of Babylon about 1130 B.C. (Carved
on a large black stonj brought from Babylon and now in
the British liuseum.)
great many additions to the shrine of the sun-
god at Sippara, and joined the Shuites in resisting
Assur-nasir-apli, king of Assyria. The allies
were defeated by the Assyrians. The leader of
the Shuites escaped by taking to the Euphrates,
but the brother of the Babylonian king and the
general of the army were captured by Assur-
nasir-apli. After the death of the Assyrian
king, a treaty was made between Nabu-abla-
iddin and Shalmaneser II., settling the boundaries
of the two kingdoms.
About 853 B.C. Nabu-abla-iddin died, and was
succeeded by his son, Marduk-sum-iskun. Baby
lonia was now torn by civil war. Marduk-bel-

usite, brother to the reigning king, laid claim
to the throne, but tho revolt was only quelled
with the help of Shalmaneser and the Assyrian
army. In the vears 820-812 B.C. Samsi-Rammumi,
kino- of Assyria, made several expeditions to
Babylonia against Marduk-balat-su-ikbt, in one
of which at least the Babylonian army was
defeated, and the city Dflr-Papsukal taken.
The names of the next few kings of Babylonia
are unknown.
In 747 B.C. Nabonassar came to the throne,
and reigned over Babylonia for fourteen years, lt
is said by Berosus, Sync, Chron. 207, that this
king destroyed all the annals of his predecessors
to compel the Babylonians to date from his
reign, but this is evidently only a fiction to
explain the Era of Nabonassar, for not only have
we many important fragments of the Babylonian
annals, but the Babylonians themselves seem
not to have used his reign as a starting-point
either in their chronology or in dating business
documents. During his reign a revolt occurred
in Babylon and Borsippa, but was quelled. He
died in his palace at Babylon, and was succeeded
by his son, Nabu-nadm-zeri or Nadinu, the
Nadios of the Canon of Ptolemy. This king
was killed, after a reign of two years, in a
revolt led by Nabu-sum-ukin or Sum-ukin, who
reigned only one month.
Nabu-sum-ukin was succeeded by Ukin-zer
(the Chinzirus of the Canon of Ptolemy), chief
of the tribe of Bit-Amukkan, B.C. 731. Tig
lath-pileser III. of Assyria, however, invaded
Babylonia, destroyed Bit-Amukkan, and took
Ukin-zer prisoner, after a short reign of three
years (B.C. 728).
The Babylonian Canon gives Pulu or Pul,
2 Kings xv. 19 (Poros) — whose attack upon
Israel was bought off, and his help secured, by a
paymeut, by Menahem, of a thousand talents of
silver — as the next ruler, but the chronicle
gives Tiglath-pileser — apparently the name
assumed by Pul on his accession to the throne.
He died after a reign of two years, and was
succeeded, according to the Canon, by Ululaa,
the Elulaeus^of Ptolpmy. The chronicle, how
ever, gives Sulman-asarid, the Salmanu-asarid
HI. (Shalmaneser) of the Assyrians. The Baby
lonian chronicle records that this king destroyed
the city of Sabara'in." He died, after reigning
five years in Babylon. (For a fuller account of
these kings, see the corresponding section of the
article Assyria.)
Merodach-baladan, a Babylonian from Tamtim
south of Babylonia, mounted the throne after
the death of Shalmaneser, B.C. 721. During
the reign of this king a great battle took place
in the province of Dur-ili, between Ummanigas,
king of Elam, and Sargon, of Assyria, in which,
it is stated by the Babylonian chronicle, the
former was victorious. Merodach - baladan
came to the aid of the Elamites, but was only
in time to join in the pursuit. Sargon (who,
in his annals, claims the victory) retreated to
Assyria, and did not return to the conquest
until the year 712 B.C. Merodach-baladan,
made great efforts to withstand him, but was
defeated, and compelled to retreat to Ikbi-Bel,

0 Or Samara'in, identified by Prof. Fried. D Iitzseh,
with Samaria (cp. 2 Kings xvii.).

330

BABYLON

whilst the Assyrian king entered Babylon in
triumph. Merodach-baladan was captured in
Ikbi-BSl, and taken prisoner to Assyria.
' Sargon, the Arkeanos of the Canon of Ptolemy,
reigned at Babylon, after the conquest, for five
years, and was succeeded, in the year 705 B.C.,
by his son Sennacherib, who was deposed, how
ever, two years afterwards, and Marduk-zakir-
sum placed on the throne. This king, how
ever, reigned only one month, for Merodach-
baladan, having escaped from the Assyrians,^
killed him, and again mounted the throne of
Babylon. Sennacherib marched to Babylon,
defeated Merodach-baladan at Kes (Hymer), and
compelled him to flee. Sennacherib now ra
vaged the country, and set on the throne of
Babylon a Babylonian prince named Bel-ibni,
the Belibus of the Canon of Ptolemy.
The government of this prince seems not to
have been satisfactory to the Assyrian king,
for in the third year of the reign of Bel-ibni
Sennacherib came to Akkad and ravaged the
country, and carried away Bel-ibni and his
chief men to Assyria, setting on the Babylonian
throne his own son Assur-nadin-sum.
Troubles, however, still continued in Baby
lonia, a chief named Suzub having arisen and
placed himself at the head of a large army.
This new pretender was defeated by Senna
cherib, and obliged to flee and hide himself.
Sennacherib now marched against the kindred
of Merodach-baladan who were at Nagitu, on
the Persian Gulf, completely defeating them.
Whilst Sennacherib was on this expedition,
Suzub, the Nergal-usezib of the Babylonian
chronicle, raised, with the help of the king of
Elam, an army and marched to Babylon, where
he was proclaimed king, Assur-nadin-sum being
carried captive to Elam.p The Assyrian army,
then on their way home, turned aside and
defeated the rebels, and Suzub was captured
and sent to Nineveh. Sennacherib then attacked
Elam, and whilst engaged there, another Suzub,
the Musezib-Marduk ofthe Babylonian chronicle
and the Mesesimordachos of the Canon of
Ptolemy, mounted the Babylonian throne. Dur
ing his reign Umman-menanu, king of Elam, with
an army of Elamites and Akkadians, fought
with the Assyrians near the city Haluli.
Later, however, the Elamite seems to have
become the friend of the Assyrians, for he
invaded Babylonia, captured Musezib-Marduk,
and sent him to Assyria, and Babylonia fell
under the rule of the Assyrians for twenty-one
years (688-668 B.C.).
After the death of Sennacherib in 681 B.C.,
Esarhaddon his son came to the Babylonian
throne. Babylon enjoyed comparative peace
during his reign, the only formidable invasion
being an Elamite raid, which penetrated as far
as Sepharvaim. Esarhaddon fell ill and died on
his way to Egypt, B.C. 668,vand was succeeded
in Babylonia by his son, Samas-sum-ukin or
Saosduchinos.11 During about the first ten years of this king's
reign Babylon was at peace, but the quiet was
broken at the end of this by Urtaku, king of

" This king had reigned, supported on the throne by
the arms of Assyria, for six years (699-G93 B.C.).
i For a fuller account of the reign of Esarhaddon, see
tbe corresponding section of the article AssvnrA.

BABYLON /
Elam, who persuaded Bel-ikisa, with some other
petty Babylonian chiefs, to join him in/a war
against Saosduchinos and Assur-bani-apli his
brother. The result of this war was that Elam
was conquered by the Assyrians, who deposed
Urtaku, and placed on the throne Umman-igas,
one of his sons.
Saosduchinos, however, seems to have become
dissatisfied at being a vassal of his brother, and
determined to try to make himself quite inde
pendent. He therefore broke open the treasuries
of the various temples, and sent the gold and
silver found therein to Umman-igas, king of
Elam, and made an agreement with him to
make war upon Assur-bani-apli.
The struggle which followed was long and
severe, but the Assyrians were in the end vic
torious, the result being that in the year 648
B.C. Babylon was taken, and Saosduchinos, fear
ing to fall into the hands of the Assyrians, set
fire to his palace and was burnt to death.
Samas-sum-ukin or Saosduchiuos was suc
ceeded by Kandalanu or Kineladanos, who reigned
twenty-two years (647-625 B.C.), but of his
reign nothing is known/
Kineladanos was apparently succeeded by the
Assyrian king Assur-etil-ilani, who reigned at
least four years. He seems to have been
followed by Sin-sarra-iskun, who was king of
Assyria as well. This king is evidently the
Saracos of Syncellus, of whom it is related that,
having heard that a great band of barbarians
had come up from the sea to attack him, he sent
his general Busalossor (Nabopolassar) to Babylon
to resist them. Having arrived there, Busa
lossor turned against his master, and made
alliance with Necho, king of Egypt, and Cy
axares, king of Media. The allied armies are
said to have been defeated three times by the
Assyrians, but on the arrival of reinforcements
the tide of fortune turned, the Assyrian army
being routed, and Shalman, brother of the king
of Assyria, slain. The siege of Nineveh fol
lowed, and lasted over two years, at the end of
which time in the spring the Tigris rose so high
that a large portion of the city-wall was
carried away, and the king of Assyria, seeing
that all was over, set fire to his palace and
perished in the flames.
After the division of the Assyrian empire
amongst the allies, Nabopolassar and his son
Nebuchadnezzar made Babylonia the richest and
most influential power iu the world, and Nebu
chadnezzar led the armies of his father against •
the Egyptians and defeated them. Whilst
Nebuchadnezzar was away on this expedition,
his father died, and he hastened back to Baby
lonia to take the crown.
The glory of the name of Nebuchadnezzar II.
is well known. He overran the various small
kingdoms of Palestine, and in 587 B.C. captured
Jerusalem and carried off the people into bond
age. He attacked Tyre, but only captured the
city (if he took it at all) after a siege of thirteen
years (573 B.C.). In the year 572 B.C. Nebu
chadnezzar defeated and deposed Hophra, king of
Egypt, and set on the throne Ahmes or Amasis,
who in the thirty-seventh year of Nebuchad
nezzar's reign seems to have revolted against
r Twenty years would probably he nearer the mark,
as there seems to have been an interregnum.

BABYLON
him, and Nebuchadnezzar marched to Egypt and
defeated him. Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest
builder of his time, restored and rebuiU almost
all the principal temples and palaces of Baby
lonia. He died in the year 562 B.C., and was
succeeded by his son Amel-Marduk or Evil-
Merodach, a king of a very peaceful disposition.
This king, after a short reign of two years, was
assassinated by his own brother-in-law, Nergal-
sarra-usur or Neriglissar, who then took pos
session of the throne.
Neriglissar was rather advanced in years when
he took the reins of government, and reigned
only a little over three years. He is not known
to have engaged in any warlike expedition.
He was succeeded by Labarosoarchodos (Labasi-
Marduk), who was assassinated after a reign of
nine months, and Nabu-na'id, or Nabonidus,
son of Nabu-balat-su-ikbi, raised to the throne
(B.C. 556).
Nabonidus was a most unwarlike king, and
seems to have given up all the military affairs
into the hands of his son Belshazzar, whilst he
himself gratified his taste for archaeology by
excavating the foundation of all the temples to
find the records of ancient kings, and his desire
for splendour by restoring the buildings again
with great magnificence. Whilst the nation
was plunged into mourning for the king's
mother, who had died, Cyrus crossed the Tigris
below Arbela, to attack a petty king in that
neighbourhood. In the year 539 B.C. he began
the conquest of Babylonia itself, and his army
entered Sippara on the 14th of Tammuz, Baby
lon being captured two days later by Gobryas.
Nabonidus, who had fled, was afterwards cap
tured and brought to Babylon, where on the
11th of Marcheswan he died. Belshazzar is
not mentioned byname in the Babylonian annals.
but is always spoken of as " the son of the king."
His father, Nabonidus, once mentions him m
an account of the restoration of a temple at
Mukeyyer, and his name occurs several times in
contracts. According to the Bible account, he
was feasting with his lords when the enemy
entered the city, and was killed. It is probable
that it was he, rather than his father, who was
real king, though his father alone bore the title
of king among the Babylonians. [See Bel
shazzar.] About 538 B.C. Cyrus found himself com
pletely master of Babylonia, and governed,
during the eight or nine years of his reign,
with great ability, taking great care to respect
the feelings of the people whom he had con-
-quered. His son Cambyses was associated with
him during the last two years of his reign.
In the year 527 B.C. Cambyses conquered
Egypt ; and whilst he was upon this expedition,
the Medes revolted, and went over to the
standard of Gumatu or Gomatis, one of the
Magi, who — personating Bardes (in Babylonian,
Barzia), the younger brother of Cambyses, whom
that king is said to have secretly murdered — had
risen in rebellion. Cambyses left Egypt to quell
this revolt, but killed himself, apparently by ac
cident, whilst on the road to Persia. The Pseudo-
Barzia or Bardes now took possession of the
throne, but was deposed and killed by Darius,
who became king of Persia and Babylonia.
The Babylonians now revolted under the
leadership of a man named Nidintu-Bel, who

BABYLON

331

personated Nebuchadnezzar III., son of Na
bonidus. This ruler reigned only one year,
being defeated by Darius in two battles, and
compelled to flee. Darius, however, having
captured him in Babylon, put him to death.
Agaiu, about 515 B.C., another pretender, named
Arahu, also personating Nebuchadnezzar 111.,
arose, but was besieged in Babylon by Darius's
general; and, on the city being taken, was cap
tured and crucified.
After this period Babylonia appears only as a
province ofthe various powers by which it was
subjugated, and has no independent history.
Once during the reign of Nerxes it tried again,
but unsuccessfully, to regain its independence.
Its commerce, which had, during the period from
the end of the reign of Nabopolassar to the end
of that of Darius, been enormous, now declined
considerably. The defences and public buildings
also suffered much from neglect, the new rulers
not having that enthusiasm for the ancient
monuments of the glories of the country which
the native Babylonian rulers possessed. The ob
servations made by the astrologers in the temple-
towers, however, were still continued, and con
siderable additions were made to the library at
E-zida (the Birs-Nimroud) during the time of
Antiochus Soter, who also restored that build
ing to somewhat of its former magnificence.
The Babylonians were in many ways a pecu
liar nation, being, in a sense, a prototype of the
great Anglo-Saxon race — a number of small
kingdoms united at last to form a single state,
from which, however, Assyria broke off, and,
declaring herself independent, became, from time
to time, Babylonia's chief enemy. Babylonia
seems, strangely enough, not to have attained
any considerable military power until the time
of Nebuchadnezzar, her foreign conquests before
that time being few and of short duration. The
kingdom of Babylon had a more honourable
claim than Assyria to the respect of the sur
rounding nations in that she was renowned
more for the arts of peace than for those of
war, and the Babylonian language and writings
became the diplomatic tongue of the ancient
East.- Her "goodly garments" (Josh. vii. 21)
were probably to be found in many a city of the
ancient Eastern world, together with a large
number of her other products ; and her in
fluence, for good or evil, was doubtless widely
felt. Probably there were but few who had
not heard of the world-renowned tower within
her capital (Gen. xi. 4), and who had not been
influenced by her religious system, with its
mysticism and superstition, worshipping her
gods Siccuth, Chiun (Amos v. 26), Succoth-
benoth (2 K. vii. 30), and weeping for Tammuz
(Ezek. viii. 15) like the Israelites. Whilst the
country was free from invasion, the citizens
were most prosperous. Like Tyre, her mer
chants were princes — small wonder that the
land was looked upon with envy by the nations
around, as by Judah and Israel (cp. Ezek, xxiii.
14, 15). But the prosperity of this great nation
soon passed away " The Lord shall perform His
pleasure upon Babylon, and His arm shall be
upon the Chaldeans" (Is. xlviii. 14); Chaldea
was to be a spoil (Jer. 1. 10 ; ; to Babylon and to
all the inhabitants of Chaldea was to be rendered
all the evil that they had done to Zion (Jer li.
24, 25). That land, honoured in being in early

332

BABYLON

times the dwelling-place of Abraham and his
forefathers (Gen. xi. 28 ; Acts vii. 4), fell a prey
first to the Persians and Medes (Dan. v. 29), and
then to the Parthians, the Greeks, the Romans,
and lastly, the Turkish empire, under the rule of
which there is little or no hope for a return to
that prosperity which, under the rule of the old
native kings, polytheists as they were, it enjoyed.
The cities are ruins, the fertilizing canals are all
choked up, malarious marshes abound to make
the land now but little fit for human habitation.
Babylonia, from whom the West has learnt so
much, is waiting, with the rest of the ancient
East, for a slight return, a participation in some
of the advantages which the civilized West now
enjoys, and can, and probably will, in the near
future, give to that now benighted part of the
earth. For the descriptive portions of Babylon the
city, and Babylon the country, see Eich's Two
Memoirs on Babylon; Ker Porter's Travels,
vol. ii. ; Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, chs. xxi.,
xxii. ; Fresnel's Two Letters to M. Mohl in the
Journal Asiatique, June and July 1853 ; and
Loftus's Chaldaea, ch. ii, On the architecture
and art, Perrot and Chipiez's History of Art in
Chaldea and Assyria. On the identifications of
the ruins of ancient sites, compare Eawlinson's
Herodotus, vol. ii., essay iv. ; Oppert's Expedition
en MCsopotamie, and Kennel's Essay in Rich's
Babylon and Persepohs. On the history, com
pare Smith's History of Babylonia and Assyrian
Discoveries, chs. xii. and xv.-xix. ; Pinches' In
troduction to the Guide to the Kouyunjik Gallery ;
Eawlinson's Herodotus, vol. i., essays vi. and viii.,
and Hommel's Geschichte Assyriens und Baby-
loniens. [T. G. P.]
BAB'YLON (BaBvAtiv ; Babylon). The oc
currence of this name in 1 Pet. v. 13 has given
rise to a variety of conjectures, some of which —
such as the identification of it with Jerusalem,
Seleucia, or a frontier fort between Upper and
Lower Egypt — no longer command attention.
There remain two opinions to be considered : 
1. That Babylon denotes Rome. In support
of this opinion is brought forward a tradi
tion recorded by Eusebius (//. E. ii. 15), on
the authority of Papias and Clement of Alex
andria, to the effect that 1 Peter was composed
at Rome. OecumeHius and Jerome both assert
that Rome was figuratively denoted by Babylon ;
and the uniform, unvarying testimony of early
Christian writers is to "the effect that Babylon
here is a recognised appellation of Rome, the
head-quarters of anti-Christian influences. And
this opinion, held by Grotius, Lardner, Cave,
Whitby, Macknight, Hales, and others, is the
opinion generally adopted now (cp. Speaker's
Comm. and Burger iu Strack u. Zockler's Kgf.
Komm. in loco).
2. The very natural supposition that bv Baby
lon is intended the old Babylon of Assyria owes
its origin to Calvin, to whom it was "a strong
hold of popery," and was supported by Lightfoot
and Bentley. But Babylon, though largely
inhabited by Jews previous to the time of
Oaligula, was towards the end of that emperor's
reign (c ad. 40) almost entirely depopulated
?/.l.VffiW"n .C°l0ny (J°S- Mt Xviii" 9> §»). and
it is difficult to suppose that a Christian Church
consisting of Hebrew converts could have been

BABYLONISH GARMENT
established there in less than a quarter of a
century after the catastrophe. rpi
BAB'YLON, in the Apocalypse, is the sym
bolical name by which Rome is denoted (Kev.
xiv. 8, xvii., xviii.). The power of Rome was re^
garded by the later Jews as that of Babylon had
been by their forefathers (cp. Jer. li. 7 with
Rev. xiv. 8. See Speaker's Comm. on xvii. 4), and
hence, whatever the people of Israel be under
stood to symbolize, Babylon represents the anta
gonistic principle. [Revelation.] [W. A. WJ
BABYLO'NIANS (X$22 [Baer], bl^a ;
BaBuAtivwi ; Babylonii, filii Babylonis). The in
habitants of Babylon, a race of impure Semitic
origin, who were among the colonists planted
in the cities of Samaria by the conquering
Assyrians (Ezra iv. 9). Later, when the warlike
Chaldaeans acquired predominance in the 7th
cent. B.C., the names Chaldaean and Babylonian
became almost synonymous (Ezra xxiii. 14, 15 -
cp. Is. xlviii. 14, 20). [W. A. W.] '
BABYLO'NISH GARMENT (IMty JiTW
if/tAT) ttoikiAtj ; pallium coccineum), literally
"robe of Shinar" (Josh. vii. 21; see Speaker's
Comm. and Dillmann,2 I c). An ample robe
probably made of the skin or fur of an ani
mal (cp. Gen. xxv. 25), and ornamented with
embroidery, or perhaps a variegated garment
with figures inwoven in the fashion for which
the Babylonians were celebrated. Josephus
(Ant. v. 1, § 10) describes it as "a royal mantle
(xAapvSa BaatAeiov), all woven with gold."
Tertullian (De habitu muliebri, c. i.) tells us
that while the Syrians were celebrated for dye
ing, and the Phrygians for patchwork, the Baby
lonians inwove their colours. For this kind of
tapestry work they had a great reputation
(Pliny, viii. 74: Colores diversos picturae intexere
Babylon maxime celebravit, et nomen imposuit).
Compare also Martial (Ep. viii. 28) :
" Non ego praetulerim Babylonica pieta superhe
Texta, Semiramia quae variantur acu ; "
and the Babylonia peristromata of Plautus (Stick,
ii. 2, 54 : see also Jos. B. J. vii. 5, § 5 ; Plut.
M. Cato, iv. 5). Perhaps some of the trade in
these rich stuffs between Babylon and the Phoe
nicians (Ezek. xxvii. 24) passed through Jericho,
as well as the gold brought by the caravans of
Sheba, which they may have left in exchange for
the products of its fertile soil (Josh. vii. 21).
[Jericho.] Eashi has a story that the king of
Babylon had a palace at Jericho, probably founded
on the fact that the robe of the king of Nineveh
(Jonah iii. 6) is called TTVJN, addereth. In the
Bereshith Rabba (§ 85, fol.' 75, 2, quoted by Gill)
it is said that the robe was of Babylonian pnrple.
Another story in the same passage is that the
king of Babylon had a deputy at Jericho who
sent him dates, and the king in return sent him
gifts, among which was a garment of Shinar.
Kimchi (on Josh. vii. 21) quotes the opinions of
E. Chanina bar E. Isaac that the Babylonish
garment was of Babylonian purple, of Rab that
it was a robe of fine wool, and of Shemuel that
it was a cloak washed with alum, which we
learn from Plinv (xxxv. 52) was used in dyeing
wool. " [W. A. W.]

BACA THE VALLEY OF
BA'CA, THE VALLEY OF (K33n p®2 i
KoiAds tov KAavBpuvos : A. -povos; Vallislacry-
marum ; E. V. text " valley of Weeping ; " marg.
[valley of] balsam trees)?a valley somewhere in
Palestine, through which the exiled Psalmist
sees in vision the pilgrims passing in their march
towards the sanctuary of Jehovah at Zion (Ps.
Ixxxiv. 6). The passage is thought by some to
contain a play, in the manner of Hebrew poetry,
(1) on the name ofthe trees (D^S ; Mulberkv.
The balsam when bruised distils a white and
bitter " tear "-like sap) from which the valley
may possibly have derived its name, and (2)
on the " tears " 023) shed by the pilgrims in
their joy at their approach to Zion (see various
opinions in Perowne, the Speaker's Comm., De
litzsch3, and Schultz in Strack u. ZBckler's Kgf.
Komm. in loco). These tears were so abundant
as to turn the dry valley in which the Bacaim
trees delighted (Niebuhr, quoted in Winer, s. v.)
into a springy or marshy place (fPIO). That
the valley was a real locality is most probable,
from the use of the definite article before the
name (Gesen. Thes. p. 205). A valley of the
same name (\£jj\ <Jii\«) still exists in the
Sinaitic district (Burck. p. 619). Josephus (Ant.
vii. 4, § 1) calls the " mulberry trees " of 2 Sam.
v. 23, the groves of weeping, iv to7s aAtreo-t
tois KaAovpevois KAavBpuai, thus identifying it
with Baca, but the site of this action of David's
is uncertain; possibly near Jerusalem.
The rendering of the Targum is Gehenna, i.e.
the Ge-Hinnom or ravine below Mount Zion.
Hengstenberg, Tholnck, Hupfeld, and Eobinson
(Phys. Geog. p. 113, note) consider the valley to
be an idealised and not an actual place. [G.] [W.]
BACCHI'DES (BaKxiS-ns), a friend of Anti
ochus Epiphanes (Joseph. Ant. xii. 10, § 2) and
governor of Mesopotamia (iv Tip irepav tov
irorapov, 1 Mace. vii. 8 ; Joseph. I. c), who was
commissioned by Demetrius Soter to investigate
the charges which Alcimus preferred against
Judas Maccabaeus. He confirmed Alcimus in
the high priesthood ; and, having inflicted signal
vengeance on the extreme party of the Assideans
[Assideans], he returned to Antioch. After the
expulsion of Alcimus and the defeat and death
of Nicanor, he led a second expedition into
Judaea. Judas Maccabaeus fell in the battle
which ensued at "Eleasa" (B.C. 161; 1 Mace.
ix. 5, see note in Speaker's Comm.) ; and Bac
chides re-established the supremacy of the Syrian
faction (1 Mace. ix. 25, ol dtreBels &vSpes ; Jos.
Ant. xiii. 1, § 1). He next attempted to sur
prise Jonathan, who had assumed the leadership
of the national party after the death of Judas;
but Jonathan escaped across the Jordan. Bac
chides then placed garrisons in several important
positions, and took hostages for the security of
the government. Having completed the paci
fication of the country * ( Joseph. Ant. xiii.
1,5), he returned to Demetrius (B.C. 160). After
two years he came back at the request of the
Syrian faction, in the hope of overpowering
Jonathan and Simon, who still maintained a

BADGER-SKINS

333

» In 1 Mace. ix. 57, his return seems to be referred to
tbe death of Alcimus.

small force in the desert ; but meeting with ill
success, he turned against those who had induced
him to undertake the expedition, and souo-ht an
honourable retreat. When this was known by
Jonathan, he sent envoys to Bacchides and con
cluded a peace (B.C. 158) with him, acknowledg
ing him as governor under the Syrian king,
while Bacchides pledged himself not to enter the
land again, a condition which he faithfully ob
served (1 Mace. vii. ix. ; Joseph. Ant. xii It), 11 ;
xiii. 1). [B. F. W.I
BACCHU'RLS (BdKXOvpos ; Zaccarus). one
of the "holy singers" (tuv iepo\paATuv) who
had taken a foreign wife (1 Esd. ix. 24). No
name corresponding with this is traceable in the
parallel list in Ezra x. 24, unless the Uri of Ezra
has got corrupted into Bacchurus (see Speaker's
Comm. on 1 Esd. 1. c). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BACCHUS. [Dionysus.]
BACE'NOR (BaK-qvup ; Bacenor), apparently
a captain of horse in the army of Judas Macca
baeus (2 Mace. xii. 35). Or possibly tou BaKt)-
vopos may have been the title of one of the
Jewish companies or squadrons. [W. A. W.]
BACHRITES, THE (n33rt; LXX. [v. 39]
omits ; fam. Becheritarum), the family of Becher,
son of Ephraim (Num. xxvi. 35). [W. A. W.]
BADGER-SKINS (D^nPI n'"lj>, 'orot'h tech-
ashim ; WTXF), tachash [Ezek." xvi. 10]; BAF.
Seppara baKivBiva in Ex. xxv. 5, in Ex. xxxv. 7 ;
baxivBos ; Aq. and Sym. IdvBtva in Ezek. xvi.
10; pdles ianthinae, ianthinus). The Hebrew
tachash, which the A. V. renders badger [E. V.
text " seal," marg. porpoise], occurs in connexion
with 'or, 'orbth (" skin," " skins "), in Ex. xxv. 5,
xxvi. 14, xxxv. 7, 23, xxxvi. 19 ; Num. iv. 6, 8, 11,
12, 14, 25. In Ezek. xvi. 10 tachash occurs with
out 'oroth, aud is mentioned as the substance out
of which women's shoes were made ; inthe former
passages the tachash skins are named in relation
to the Tabernacle, ark, &c, and appear to have
formed the exterior covering of these sacred
articles. There is much obscurity as to the
meaning of the word tachash (see many opinions
collected by Eodiger in Ges. Thes. s. v.), although,
as we shall see, there is reasonable ground for be
lieving it to mean some of the marine mammalia,
as the dugongs and seals found in the Bed Sea,
the skins of which are much used by the Arabs.
The ancient Versions seem nearly all agreed that
it denotes not an animal, but a colour, either
black or sky-blue; and amongst critics who
adopt this interpretation are Bochart (Hieroz.
ii. 387), Rosenmuller (Schol. ad V. T, Ex. xxv.
5 ; Ezek. xvi. 10), Bynaeus (de Calceis Hebrae-
orum, lib. i. ch. 3), Scheuchzer (Phys. Sacr.
in Ex. xxv. 5), Parkhurst ( Heb. Lex. s. v. ),
who observes that " an outermost covering for
the Tabernacle of azure or sky-blue was very
proper to represent the sky or azure boundary
of the system." Some Versions, as the German
of Luther and the A. V., led apparently by the
Chaldee, » and perhaps by a certain similarity of
sound between the words tachash, taxus, dachs,
' ttliJDD. " taxus, slcdictus quia gaudet et superblt
in coloribus multis " (Buxtorf, Lex. Bab. s. v.).

334

BADGER-SKINS

have supposed that the badger (Meles taxus) is
denoted. The badger (Meles taxus) of naturalists
is found in the hilly parts of Palestine, conceal
ing itself in burrows ; and though a nocturnal
and very shy animal, it must be rather common,
as not only have I thi'ee times . procured it
myself, but we frequently found traces of it,
and often saw the skins exposed for sale in
saddlers' shops. The Palestine species is iden
tical with the English, but there is no reason to
think that it could be sufficiently common in the
Sinaitic Peninsula, if it exist there at all, to
have provided an outer covering for the Taber
nacle. Others, as Gesner and Harenberg (in
Musaeo Brem. ii. 312), have thought that the
jackal, known by the Greek name Bus and the
Arabic Shaghul, is intended. Hasaeus (in Dissert.
Philolog. Sylloge, diss. ix. § 17), Busching (in his
preface to the Epitome of Scheuchzer's Physica
Sacra), Sebald Rau (Comment, de iis quae ex
Arab, in usum Tabernac. fuerunt repetita, Traj.
ad Rhen. 1753, ch. ii.), and Dr. Geddes (Crit
Rem. Ex. xxv. 5), are in favour of tachash repre
senting some kind of seal or other marine mam
malian. Gesenius understands some "kind of
seal or badger, or other similar creature."
Fried. Delitzsch (Prolegg. eines neuen Hebr.-
Aram. WSrterbuchs z. A. T., p. 77, &c.) identi
fies the tacliash with the Assyr. tahiu, the
sheep with whose skin the Assyrians lined
their boats (Herod, i. 194). Of modern writers,
Col. H. Smith (Encyc. Bib. Lit., art. Badger),
with much plausibility, conjectures that tachash
refers to some ruminant of the Aigocerine or
Damaline groups, as these animals are known to
the natives under the names of pacasse, thacasse
(varieties, he says, of the word tachash), and have
a deep grey, or slaty (hysginus) coloured skin.
Dr. Robinson on this subject (Bib. Res. i. 171)
writes, " The Superior of the convent at Sinai
procured for me a pair of the sandals usually
worn by the Bedouin of the peninsula, made of
the thick skin of a fish which is caught in the
Red Sea. The Arabs round the convent called it
Turs, but could give no further account of it
than that it is a large fish, and is eaten. It is a
species of Halicore, named by Ehrenbergb (Symb.
Phys. ii.) Halicore hemprichei. The skin is
clumsy and coarse, and might answer very well
for the external covering of a Tabernacle which
was constructed at Sinai, but would seem hardly
a fitting material for the ornamental sandals be
longing to the costly attire of high-born dames
in Palestine, described by the prophet Ezekiel."
It is difficult to understand why the ancient
Versions have interpreted the word tachash to
mean a colour (an explanation which has, as
Gesenius remarks, no ground either in the
etymology or in the cognate languages), unless
it be that they understood by the word some
thing capable of taking a blue tint, and that thus
the tachash became synonymous with that tint.
Whatever is the substance indicated by tacliash,
it is evident from Ex. xxxv. 23, that it was some
material in frequent use among the Israelites
during the Exodus, and the construction of the
sentences where the name occurs (for the word
b According to Ehrenberg, tho Arabs on the coast call
this animal Naka and Lottum. Arabian naturalists
applied the term ensan alma, " man of the sea," to this
creature.

BAG
'ordth, "skins," is always, with one exception
repeated with tachash), seems to imply that the
skin of some animal, and not a colour) is de
noted by it. The fact of the Arabs of Sinai
giving the name tucash, ,p,a^, identical
with the Hebrew, to the various species of
dugongs and seals of the Bed Sea, and also
using their hides as leather, while they dis
tinguish the dolphin as delfin, seems to point
pretty clearly to the dugong skin as the one
intended in the Pentateuch (see Dillmann2 on
Exod. xxv. 5). But as tachash probably included
the seal, there is no difficulty in supposing that
Jewish ladies made their slippers of sealskin.
This would obviate the objection suggested by
Robinson. The dugongs are a singular group of marine
herbivorous mammalia, having affinities with
the Cetacea, or whale tribe, with the seals, and
in some respects with the Pachydermata, or
thick-skinned quadrupeds. They are found off
the shores of the Indian Ocean from Australia
to the Cape ; frequenting the mouths of rivers ;
and are easily caught, as they never leave the
shallow water, where they graze on seaweed.
They are ordinarily from twelve to twenty feet
in length, but sometimes considerably exceed
these measurements. The species from the
coral beds of the Eed Sea, described by Riippell
(Mus. Senck. i. 95-114) as Halicore tabernaculi

The fj-e.

Halicore lal'ernactiH, with enlarged drawing ofthe heed.
(PI. vi.), is probably identical with Ehrenberg's
species, Halicore hemprichii. Pliny (H. N. ii.
55) says that seal-skins were used as coverings
for tents. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BAG is the rendering of several words in the
Old and New Testaments. 1. D^irj; BiAtucos;
sacens : the " bags " in which Naaman bound
up the two talents of silver for Gehazi (2 K.
v. 23), probably so called, according to Gesenius,
from their long, cone-like shape. The word only
occurs besides in Is. iii. 22 (A.V. " crisping-pins"),
and there denotes the reticules [R. V " satchels"]
carried by the Hebrew ladies. 2. D'3 ; pdptrnr-
ttos, papo-tiiTiov; sacculus, saccellus; a bag for
carrying weights (Deut. xiv. 13; Prov. xvi. 11 i

BAGO
Mic. vi. 11), also used as a purse (Prov. i. 14;
Is. xlvi. 6). 3. 173 ; KdStov ; pera : translated
"bag" in 1 Sam. xvii. 40, 49, is a word of most
general meaning, and is generally rendered
" vessel " or " instrument." In Gen. xiii. 25 it
is the " sack " [R. V. '¦ vessel "] in which Jacob's
sons carried the corn which they brought from
Egypt, and in 1 Sam. ix. 7, xxi. 5, it denotes a
bag or wallet for carrying food (A. V. and R. V.
"vessel"; cp. Jud. x. 5, xiii. 10, 15). The
shepherd's "bag" which David had seems to
have been worn by him as necessary to his call
ing, and was probably, from a comparison of
Zech. xi. 15, 16 (A. V. and E. V. " instruments "),
used for the purpose of carrying the lambs which
were unable to walk or were lost, and contained
materials for healing such as were sick and bind
ing up those that were broken (cp. Ezek. xxxiv.
4, 16). 4. "li"IV; evSetrpos, Seo-p6s ; saccidus :
properly a "bundle" (Gen. xiii. 35; 1 Sam.
xxv 29), appears to have been used by travellers
for carrying money during a long journey (Prov.
vii. 20 ; Hag. 1. 6 ; cp. Luke xii. 33 ; Tob. ix. 5).
In such " bundles " the priests bound up the
money which was contributed for the restoration
of the Temple under Jehoiada (2 K. xii. 10,
Heb. c 11 ; -ITS9!, A. V. "put up in bags," so
E. V in text ; in marg. bound up, omitting " in
bags"). The "bag" (yAutradKopov ; loculi)
which Judas carried was probably a small box
or chest (John xii. 6, xiii. 29). The Greek word
is the same as that used in the LXX. for " chest ''
in 2 Ch. xxiv. 8, 10, 11, and originally signified
a box used by musicians for carrying the mouth
pieces of their instruments (see Liddell and Scott
Lex* s. v.). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BA'GO (B. Bavai, A. Bayi; Vulg. omits),
1 Esd. viii. 40 ; head of one of the families who
went up with Ezra from Babylon in the reign of
king Artaxerxes ; called Bagoi in 1 Esd. v. 14,
and Bigvai in Ezra viii. 14. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BAGO' AS (Baytias ; Bugoas, Vagao), Judith
xii. 11. The name is said to be equivalent to
eunuch in Persian (Plin. H. N. xiii. 4, 9. Cp.
Burmann ad Ovid, Am. ii. 21), and may be
related to Bigvai (see Ball in Speaker's Comm.
on Judith xii. 11). [B. F. W.] [F.]
BA'GOI (A. Bay oi, B. Boo-ai; Zoroar), 1 Esd.
v. 14; called Bago in 1 Esd. viii, 40- His
descendants went back to Jerusalem with Zerub
babel after the Captivity. [Bigvai.] [F.]
BAHARU'MITE, THE. [Bahurim.]
BAHU'RIM(Dn-in3andDnn3; A. Baov-
peip [usually] ; B. in 2 Sam. iii. 16, BapaKei ; in
xvi. 5, Bovpeip; in xix. 16, Baovpelp; mxvii. 18,
Baopeip; in 1 K. ii. 8, B.BaaBovpeip, A. BaB-; Jos.
Baxovpr)s and Baovpiv ; Bahurim), a village, the
slight notices remaining of which connect it
almost exclusively with the flight of David. It
was apparently on, or close to, the road leading
from the Jordan valley up to Jerusalem, Shimei
the son of Gera resided here (2 Sam. xvii. 18 ;
1 K. ii. 8) ; and from the village, when David,
having left the "top ofthe mount "behind him,
was making his way down the eastern slopes of
Olivet into the Jordan valley below, Shimei issued
forth, and running along (Joseph. Siarpexuv)

BAKBUK1AII

335

on the side or " rib " of tho hill over against the
king's party, fluug his stones, dust, and foul
abuse (xvi. 5), with a virulence which is to this
day exhibited in the East towards fallen great
ness however eminent it, may previously have
been. Here in the court of a house was tho
well in which Jonathan and Ahimaaz eluded
their pursuers (xvii. 18). In his account of the
occurrence, Josephus (Ant. vii. 9, § 7) distinctly
states that Bahurim lay off the main road (-iralSes
ixTparcevTes tt)s oSov), which agrees well with
the account of Shimei's behaviour. Here
Phaltiel, the husband of Michal, bade farewell
to his wife when on her return to king David at
Hebron (2 Sam. iii. 16). Bahurim must have
been very near the south boundary of Benjamin,
but it is not mentioned in the lists in Joshua,
nor is any explanation given of its being Ben
jamite, as from Shimei's residing there we may
conclude it was. Dr. Barclay conjectures that
the place lay where some ruins still exist close to
a Wddy Ruubeh, which runs in a straight course
for 3 miles from Olivet directly towards Jordan,
offering the nearest though not the best route
(Barclay, pp. .563-4). Tobler (Topog. ii. 763)
identifies it with Om Rdsrds, more correctly
Kit. el Murussus, on the right of the road
from Jerusalem to Jericho ; Antoninus (Itin. xvi.)
describes it as being " not far from Jerusalem,"
and if he followed the Roman road from Jericho
it must have been near El 'Aisdwiyeh.
Azmaveth " the Barhumite " CprnSH ; B.
BapaiapeiTtis, A, Bapupe'iTT)S ; de Beromi; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 31), or "the Baharumite" CD-i'inSn ;
BNC,° 0 Beeppeiv, {<* BeepBeiv, A. Bapoa.pl ;
Bauramites ; 1 Ch. xi. 33), one of the heroes of
David's guard, is the only native of Bahurim
that we hear of except Shimei. [G.] [W.]
BA'JITH (fV3n, with the definite article,
" the house ; " R. V. " Bayith " [marg. the tem
ple]), referring not to a place of this name, but
to the " temple " of the false gods of Moab,
perhaps distinct from the " high places " in the
same sentence (Is. xv. 2, and cp. xvi. 12). This
temple is not improbably the house of high
places mentioned by Mesha (Beth-Bamoth) on
the Moabite Stone (Records of the Past, N. S. ii.
203) and near Dibon (Sayce, Fresh Light from the
Ancient Monuments, p. 81). LXX. Au-irelaBe itp'
eavTobs ; Ascendit domus. [G.] [W.]
BAKBAK'KAR pi?3i?3; A. BaKBaKdp,
B. BaKdp; Bacbacar), a Levite, apparently a
descendant of Asaph (1 Ch. ix. 15). [W. A. W.]
BAK'BUK (P-I3p3 = emptying or de
vastation [see Ges. Thes. s. v.] : in Ezra, B. Bok-
koIik, A. BattBoiK ; in Neh., B. BaKBou, A. -odK,
H. NeKoiB : Bacbuc). " Children of Bakbuk "
were among the Nethinim who returned from
captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 51 , Neh.
vii. 53). In 1 Esd. v. 31 the corresponding name
is Acub. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BAKBUKI'AH (iTj?3i?3, MV.11 = devasta
tion from Jah, BK*A.'o'niit this name; Bec-
becia). 1. A Levite in time of Nehemiah (Neh.
xi. 17 ; Nc-* ""e «»p BaKBaiads ; xii. 9, X0'" °w Bait-
Baids). 2. A Levite porter, apparently a dif
ferent person from the preceding (Neh. xii. 25 ;
Xc.a mg .., BaKBaKids). [W A. W.] [F.]

336

BAKING

BAKING- [Bread.]
BA'LAAM (Dlfa, »•«. Bil'am; BaAaifc;
Joseph. BdAapos ; Balaam), " the soothsayer "
(DD'pn, Josh. xiii. 22), a man endowed with the
gift of prophecy, introduced in Numbers (xxii. 1)
as the son of Beor. He belonged to the Midian-
ites, and perhaps as the prophet of his people
possessed the same kind of authority that Moses
did among the Israelites. At any rate he is
mentioned in conjunction with the five kings of
Midian, apparently as a person of the same rank
(Num. xxxi. 8 ; cp. xxxi. 16). He seems to have
lived at Pethor [the Pi-it-ru of the Monolith
Inscription of Salmanaser IL, B.C. 860-24 ; cp.
Craig in Hebraica, iii. p. 21 3 ; Peiser in Schrader's
Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, i. p. 163], which is
said in Deut. xxiii. 4 to have been a city of
Mesopotamia (Q^HJ W]K). He himself speaks
of being " brought from Aram out of the moun
tains of the East " (Num. xxiii. 7). The reading,
therefore, ]'l»JJ '33, instead of )BV '33 (Num.
xxii. 5 ; cp. Speaker's Comm. and Dillmann2 in
loco), found in some MSS., and adopted by the
Samaritan, Syriac, and Vulgate Versions, need
not be preferred, as the Ammonites do not appear
to have ever extended so far as the Euphrates,
which is probably the river alluded to in this
place. The name Balaam is of uncertain deri
vation ; according to Stade (Lehrb. d. Heb. Gr.
§ 293), from 1??3 and the ending am. The
affinity of the name with that of Bela, the son of
Beor, mentioned Gen. xxxvi. 32 as the first king
of Edom, has often been noticed (cp. Delitzsch
[1887] and Dillmann5 on Gen. I. c). Balaam is
called in 2 Pet. ii. 15 " the son of Bosor "
[R. V. " Beor "] : this Lightfoot ( Works, vii. 80)
thought a Chaldaism for Beor ; but it is far more
probably a dialectic pronunciation of Beor (see
Speaker's Comm. 1. c).
Balaam is one of those instances which meet us
m Scripture of persons dwelling among heathens
but possessing a certain knowledge of the one
true God. He was endowed with a greater than
ordinary knowledge of God : he was possessed of
high gifts of intellect and genius : he had the in
tuition of truth, and could see into the life of
things, — in short, he was a poet and a prophet.
Moreover, he confessed that all these superior
advantages were not his own but derived from
God, and were His gift. And thus, doubtless,
he had won for himself among his contem
poraries far and wide a high reputation for
wisdom and sanctity. It was believed that he
whom he blessed was blessed, and he whom he
cursed was cursed. Elated, however, by his
fame and his spiritual elevation, he had begun
to conceive that these gifts were his own, and
that they might be used to the furtherance of
his own ends. He could make merchandise of
them, and might acquire riches and honour by
means of them. A custom existed among many
nations of antiquity of devoting enemies to
destruction before entering upon a war with
them. At this time the Israelites were march
ing forwards to the occupation of Palestine:
they were now encamped in the plains of Moab,
on the east of Jordan by Jericho. Balak, the
king of Moab, having witnessed the discomfiture
of his neighbours, the Amorites, by this people,

BALAAM
entered into a league with the Midianites against
them, and despatched messengers to Balaam
with the rewards of divination in their hands.
We see from this, therefore, that Balaam was in
the habit of using his wisdom as a trade, and of
mingling with it devices of his own by which
he imposed upon others and perhaps partially
deceived himself. When the elders of Moab
and Midian told him their message, he seems to
have had some misgivings as to the lawfulness
of their request, for he invited them to tarry
the night with him that he.:might learn how
the Lord would regard it. These misgivings
were confirmed by God's express prohibition of
his journey. Balaam reported the answer, and
the messengers of Balak returned. The king of
Moab, however, not deterred by this failure,
sent again more and more honourable princes to
Balaam, with the promise that he should be
promoted to very great honour upon complying
with his request. The prophet again refused,
but notwithstanding invited the embassy to
tarry the night with him that he might
know what the Lord would say unto him
further. God gave him the permission he
desired, subject to certain conditions (xxii. 20) ;
while he was warned at the same time that his
actions must be overruled by the Divine Will.
Balaam, ignoring the conditions, proceeded on
his journey with the messengers of Balak. But
God's anger was kindled at this manifestation of
determined self-will, and the Angel of the Lord
stood iu the way for an adversary against him.
The words of the Psalmist, " Be ye not like to
horse and mule which have no understanding,
whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle,
lest they fall upon thee," had they been familiar
to Balaam, would have come home to him with
most tremendous force ; for never have they re
ceived a more forcible illustration than the com
parison of Balaam's conduct to his Maker with
his treatment of his ass affords us. The wisdom
with which the tractable brute was allowed
to "speak with man's voice," and "forbid "the
intractable "madness of the prophet," is pal
pable and conspicuous. He was taught, more
over, that even she had a spiritual perception
to which he, though a prophet, was a stranger ;
and when his eyes were opened to behold the
Angel of the Lord, " he bowed down his head
and fell flat on his face." It is hardly necessary
to suppose, as some do, among whom are Heng
stenberg and Leibnitz (see also the comments
in the Amer. ed. of this work), that the event
here referred to happened only in a trance or
vision, though such an opinion might seem to
be supported by the fact_ that the translators of
the A. V. render the word 723 in xxiv. 4, 16,
" falling into a trance," whereas no other idea
than that of simply falling down [R. V.] is con
veyed by it. St. Peter refers to it as a real
historical event : " the dumb ass, speaking with
man's voice, forbad the madness of the prophet
(2 Pet. ii. 16). We are not told how these
things happened, but that they did happen.
[For other opinions upon this episode see Speaker s
Comm. add. note on Num. xxii. 5; Riehm, HWB.
s. n. , Herzog, BE.2 s. n.J
It pleased God thus to interfere on behalf
of His elect people, and to bring forth from
the genius of a self-willed prophet, who thought

BALAC
that his talents were his own, four strains of
poetry bearing upon the destiny of the Jewish
nation and the Church at large, which are not
surpassed throughout the Mosaic records. It
is evident that Balaam, although acquainted
with God, was desirous of throwing au air of
mystery round his wisdom, from the instruc
tions he gave Balak to offer a bullock and a
ram on the seven altars he everywhere pre
pared for him ; but he seems to have thought
also that these sacrifices would be of some
avail to change the mind of the Almighty, be
cause he pleads the merit of them ( xxiii. 4 ),
and after experiencing their impotency to effect
such an object, " he went no more," we are told,
" to seek for enchantments " (xxiv. 1). His
religion, therefore, was probably such as would
be the natural result of a general acquaintance
with God not confirmed by any covenant. He
knew Him as the fountain of wisdom : how to
worship Him he could merely guess from the
customs in vogue at the time. Sacrifices had
been used by the patriarchs ; to what extent they
were efficient could only be surmised. There
is an allusion to Balaam in the Prophet Micah
(vi. 5), where Bishop Butler thinks that a con
versation is preserved which occurred between
him and the king of Moab upon this occasion.
But such an opinion is hardly tenable, if we
bear in mind that Balak is nowhere represented
as consulting Balaam upon the acceptable mode
of worshipping God, and that the directions
found in Micah are of quite an opposite character
to those which were given by the son of Beor
upon the high places of Baal. The Prophet is
recounting " the righteousness of the Lord " in
delivering His people out of the hand of Moab
under Balak, and at the mention of his name
the history of Balaam comes back upon his
mind, and he is led to make those noble re
flections upon it which occur in the following
verses. " The doctrine of Balaam " is spoken
of in Eev. ii. 14, where an allusion has been
supposed to NikSAoos, the founder of the sect
of the Nicolaitans, mentioned in v. 15, these two
names being probably similar in signification
(see Speaker's Comm. in loco). Though the
utterance of Balaam was overruled so that he
could not curse the children of Israel, he never
theless suggested to the Moabites the expedient
of seducing them to commit fornication. The
effect of this is recorded in Num. xxv. A battle
was afterwards fought against the Midianites,
in which Balaam sided with them and was slain
by the sword of the people whom he had en
deavoured to curse (Num. xxxi. 8).
The literature (foreign) on this history is
somewhat extensive (cp. Dillmann2 on Num.
xxii. p. 140 ; Herzog, RE.2 s. n.). Its historical
credibility, denied by (e.g.) Meyer and Stade,
is amply attested by (e.g.) Volck (in Herzog)
and Edersheim, Bible Hist. ii. pp. H-32. Cp.
also Bishop Butler's Ser nons, serm. vii. ; Ewald,
Gesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. 277. The interesting
and curious Eabbinic opinions concerning Balaam
are collected in Hamburger's RE.2 s. u. [S. L.]
BALAC (o BaAdK; Balac), Rev. ii. 14.
[Balak.] BAL'ADAN. [Merodach-Baladan.]
BA'LAH (nj>3; B. BaAd, A. BeABaAd ;
Bala), Josh. xix. Y. [Baal, Geogr. No. 2, b.] I
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

BALANCE

337

BA'LAK (p?3 ; BoAcJk ; Balac), son of
Zippor, king of the Moabites, at the timo when
the children of Israel were bringing their
journeyings in the wilderness to a close. Ac
cording to Gesenius (Thes.) the name signifies
inanis vacuus (cp. Is. xxiv. 1) ; in MV."
the meaning emptier, desolator, is adopted.
Balak, himself probably of Midianitish origin
(Targ. See Speaker's Comm. on Num. xxii. 2),
entered into a league with Midian and hired
Balaam to cui'se the Israelites ; but his designs
were frustrated in the manner recorded in Num.
xxii.-xxiv. He is mentioned again in Josh. xxv.
9 ; Judg. xi. 26 ; Mic. vi. 5 ; and in Rev. ii. 14
as the pupil and instrument of Balaam, the type
of those who would lead Christians to a neglect
of the decrees of the Apostles at Jerusalem
(Acts xv. 22). [Balaam.] [S. L.]
BAL'AMO. [Baal, Geogr. No. 6.]
BALANCE. Two Hebrew words are thus
translated in the A. V. and R. V.
1. D?3tND, mdzgnaim (LXX. CyS", Vulg.
statera), the dual form of which points to the
double scales, like Lat. Manx. The balance in
this form was known at a very early period. It
is found on the Egyptian monuments as early as
the time of Joseph, and we find allusions to its
use in the story of the purchase of the cave of
Machpelah (Gen. xxiii. 16) by Abraham. Be
fore coinage was introduced it was of necessity
employed in all transactions in which the
valuable metals were the mediums of exchange
(Gen. xliii. 21 ; Ex. xxii. 17 ; 1 K. xx. 39 ; Esth.
iii. 9 ; Is. xlvi. 6 ; Jer. xxxii. 10, &c). The
weights which were used were at first probably
stones, and from this the word " stone " con
tinued to denote any weight whatever, though
its material was in later times lead (Lev. xix.
36 ; Deut. xxv. 13, 15; Prov. xi. 1, xx. 10, 23;
Zech. v. 8). These weights were carried in a
bag (Deut. xxv. 13 ; Prov. xvi. 11) suspended
from the girdle (Chardin, Voy. iii. 422), and
were very early made the vehicles of fraud.
The habit of carrying two sets of weights is
denounced in Deut. xxv. 13 and Prov. xx. 10,
and the necessity of observing strict honesty in
the matter is insisted upon in several precepts
ofthe Law (Lev. xix. 36 ; Deut. xxv. 13). But
the custom lived on, and remained in full force
to the days of Micah (vi. 11), and even to those
of Zechariah, who appears (ch. v.) to pronounce
a judgment against fraud of a similar kind.
The earliest weight to which reference is made
is the nti'B'i?, kesitdh (Gen. xxxiii. 19 ; Josh.
xxiv. 32 ; Job xiii. 11), which in the margin of
the A. V. is in two passages rendered "lambs,"
while in the text of both A. V. and E. V. it is
" piece of money (or ' silver ')." It may have
derived its name from being in the shape of a
lamb. We know that weights in the form of
bulls, lions, and antelopes were in use among
the ancient Egyptians and Assyrians. [MoNEt".]
By means of the balance the Hebrews appear
to have been able to weigh with consider
able delicacy; and for this purpose they had
weights of extreme minuteness, which are called
metaphorically "the small dust of the bal
ance" (Is. xl. 15). The "little grain" (poirri)
of the balance in Wisd. xi. 22 is the small
weight which causes the scale to turn. In
Z

338

BALASAMUS

this passage, as in 2 Mace. ix. 8, the Greek
word irAdariy^, rendered " balance," was origi
nally applied to the scale-pan alone.
2. H3P, kaneh (Cuyiv. statera), rendered
"balance'" by A. V. and R. V. in Is. xlvi. 6, is
the word generally used for a measuring-rod, like
the Greek kuvuv, and, like it too, denotes the
tongue or beam of a balance. D?S, peles, ren
dered by A. V. " weight," by E. V.' " balance "
(Prov. xvi. 11, LXX. 1>ottti) and "scales " (Is. xl.
12, A. V. and E. V. ; LXX. ffTaBpds), is said
by Kimchi (on Is. xxvi. 7) to be properly the
beam of the balance. In his Lexicon he says it
is the part in which the tongue moves, and
which the weigher holds in his hand. Gesenius
¦(Thes. s. v.) supposed it was a steelyard, but
there is no evidence that this instrument was
known to the Hebrews. Of the material of
which the balance was made we have no infor
mation. Sir G. Wilkinson describes the Egyptian
balance as follows (see the illustration under
Money): — "The beam passed through a ring
suspended from a horizontal rod, immediately
above and parallel to it ; and when equally
balanced, the ring, which was large enough to
allow the beam to play freely, showed when the
scales were equally poised, and had the addi
tional effect of preventing the beam tilting when
the goods were taken out of one, and the weights
suffered to remain in the other. To the lower
part of this ring a small plummet was fixed, and
this being touched by the hand, and found to
hang freely, indicated, without the necessity of
looking at the beam, that the weight was just "
(Ane Egypt, ii. pp. 148, 152 f 1878]).
The expression in Dan. v. 27, " thou art
weighed in the balances, and art found wanting,"
has been supposed to be illustrated by the
modern custom of weighing the Great Mogul on
his birthday in the presence of his chief grandees.
The ceremony is described in a passage from Sir
Thomas Roe's Voyage in India, quoted in Taylor's
Calmet, Frag. 186 : " The scales in which he
was thus weighed were plated with gold, and
the beam on which they hung by great chains
was made likewise of that most precious metal.
The king, sitting in one of them, was weighed
first against silver coin, which immediately
after was distributed among the poor ; then was
he weighed against gold; after that against
jewels (as they say); but I observed (being
there present with my lord ambassador) that he
was weighed against three several things, laid
in silken bags, on the contrary scale. ... By
his weight (of which his physicians yearly keep
an exact account) they presume to guess of the
present state of his body • of which thev speak
flatteringly, however they think it to be." It
appears, however, from a consideration ofthe
other metaphorical expressions in the same
passage of Daniel, that the weighing in balances
is simply a figure, and may or may not have
reference to such a custom as that above de
scribed. See other examples of the same figure
of speech among Orientals in Roberts' Oriental
Illustrations, p. 502. [W. A. W.I
BALA'SAMUS (T." BadAtrapos, B, om. ;
Balsamus), in 1 Esd. ix, 43 The corresponding
name in the list in Neh . viii. 4 is Maaseiah. [F.]

BALM
BALDNESS (nn")i3; tpaAdKputris, tpaAd-
Kpapa ; and in Lev. xiii. 43, tpaAdvTwpa). There
are two kinds of baldness, viz. artificial and
natural. The latter seems to have been un
common, since it exposed people to public de
rision, and is perpetually alluded to as a mark of
squalor and misery (2 K. ii. 23 ; cp. Is. iii. 24, R. V.
" instead of well-set hair, baldness ; . . . brand
ing instead of beauty." Is. xv. 2 ; Jer. xlvii. 5 ;
Ezek. vii. 18, &c). For this reason it seems to
have been included under the AeiXT)v and tfiupd
(Lev. xxi. 20, LXX.) which were disqualifications
for priesthood. A man bald on the back of the
head is called W)p., tpaAaxpSs, LXX. Lev. xiii.
40 ; and if forehead-bald, the word used to
describe him is 1133, avatpaAavrtas, LXX. Lev.
xiii. 41 (recalvaster- See Gesen. s. vv.). In- Lev.
xiii. 29 sq., very careful directions are given to
distinguish Bohak, "a plague upon the head
and beard " (which probably is the Mentagra
of Pliny, and a sort of leprosy), from mere
natural baldness which is pronounced to be clean,
v. 40 (Jahn, Arch. Bibl. § 189). But this shows
that even natural baldness subjected men to an
unpleasant suspicion. It was a defect with
which the Israelites were by no means familiar,
since Aiyv-iTTious b\v tis iAayltTTovs iSoiro tpaAa-
Kpobs TrdvTuv dvBpurruv, says Herodotus (iii. 12) ;
an immunity which he attributes to their con
stant shaving. They adopted this practice for
purposes of cleanliness, and generally wore
wigs, some of which have been found in the
ruins of Thebes. Contrary to the general prac
tice of the East, they only let the hair grow as
a sign of mourning (Herod, ii. 36), and shaved
themselves on all joyous occasions : hence in
Gen. xii. 44 we have an undesigned coincidence.
The same custom obtains in China, and among
the modern Egyptians, who shave off all the
hair except the shoosheh, a tuft on the forehead
and crown of the head (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt.
ii. 328 [1878] ; Lane, Mod. Egypt, i. ch. 1).
Baldness was despised both among Greeks and
Romans. In 11. ii. 219, it is one of the defects
of Thersites ; Aristophanes (who was probably
bald himself, Pax 767, Eq. 550) takes pride m
not joining in the ridicule against it (ovS
eo-Kaif/ev Tabs tpaAwcpois, Nub. 540). Caesar
was said " calvitii deformitatem iniquissime
ferre," and he generally endeavoured to conceal
it (Suet. Coes. 45; cp. Dom. 18).
Artificial balduess marked the conclusion of a
Nazarite's vow (Acts xviii. 18; Num. vi. 9),
and was a sign of mourning ("quasi calvitio
luctus levaretur," Cic. Tusc Disp. iii. 26). It
is often alluded to in Scripture, as in Mic. i. 16,
Amos viii. 10, Jer xlvii. 5, &c. ; and in Deut.
xiv. 1, the reason for its being forbidden to the
Israelites is their being "a holy and peculiar
people " (cp. Lev. xix. 27, and Jer. ix. 26, marg.).
The practices alluded to in the latter passages
were adopted by heathen nations (e. g. the
Arabs, &c.) in honour of various gods. Hence
the expression TpoxoKovpdSes. The Abantes
(SiriBes KopoSvTes), and other half- civilised
tribes, shaved off the forelocks, to avoid the
danger of being seized by them in battle. See
also Herod, i. 82, ii. 36. [?• w- F-J
BALM ('IV," USri; nV, tzM; farfri,;
" !"."$. hi Arab. " to flow, as blood from a wound."

BALM
resina; E. V. margin, "mastick") occurs in
Gen. xxxvii. 25, as one of the substances which
the Ishmaelites were bringing from Gilead to
take into Egypt ; in Gen. xliii. 11, as one of the
presents which Jacob sent to Joseph ; in Jer.
viii. 22, xlvi. 11, li. 8, where it appears that
the balm of Gilead had a medicinal value ; in
Ezek. xxvii. 17 (A. V. margin, " rosin "), as an
article of commerce imported by Judah into
Tyre. The A. V. and E. V. have rendered by the word
" spices " the Hebrew DK*5> basdm, from which
our English balsam or balm is derived, identical
with the Arabic ,\ .*. < (basham), or (jLJo
(balasan), a tropical gum or resin, which can
never have been indigenous in Gilead.
Many attempts have been made to identify
the tzori by different writers, not one of which,
however, can be considered conclusive. The
Syriac Version in Jer. viii. 22, and the Samari
tan in Gen. xxxvii. 25, suppose cera, " wax," to
be meant ; others, as the Arabic Version in the
passages cited in Genesis, conjecture theriaca, a
medicinal compound of great supposed virtue in
serpent bites. Of the same opinion is Castellus
(Lex. Hept. »¦ v. '"IS). Luther and the Swedish
Version have " salve," " ointment," in the pas
sages in Jeremiah ; but in Ezek. xxvii. 17,
they read "mastick," where, as also in Jer.
viii. 22, Coverdale's Bible (a.d. 1535) reads
" tryacle." The Jewish Eabbis, Junius, Tre-
mellius, Diodati, &c, have "balm" or "balsam,"
as the A. V.
Commentators, often without any knowledge
either of botany or of the geographical distri
bution of plants, have made many suggestions
as to the identification of tzori. But three
claimants only seem to demand consideration.
(1.) Pistachia lentiscus, or Mastick, advocated
by Celsius (Hierob. ii. 180). (2.) Balanites
aegyptiaca, the Zukkum tree, suggested by
Bosenmuller (Bibl. Bot. p. 169) and Robinson
(Bibl. Res. ii. 291). (3.) Balsamodendron gilead-
ense, known as the true Balsam of Gilead tree,
a near ally of Balsamodendron myrrha, the
myrrh tree, and of B. opobalsamum, referred
to by Strabo (xvi. 778, 8vo ed. ), Diodorus
Siculus(ii. 132), and Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, § 7),
is suggested also by Bosenmuller (Schol. in Gen.
xxxvii. 25). All three yield products much
valued in the East; gum mastick is obtained
from the Lentisk bush : a valuable healing
tinguent is expressed from the berry of the
Zukkum ; and a highly-prized resinous exu
dation from the Balsamodendron. It seems
difficult to limit the name of tzori to any one of
these, to the exclusion of the others, and pro
bably the term was used for any resin, gum, or
unguent which had a medicinal value.
The Pistachia lentiscus, or Mastick, has been
advocated by Celsius, partly because its Arabic
name, • ^o, deri, resembles the Hebrew
word. The Arabic writers attribute great me
dicinal virtues to its resin (Dioscor. i. 51, 52,
90, 91; Plin. xxiv. 7; Avicenna, Arab. edit.
pp. 204 and 207, with many others given by
Celsius). It is an extremely common shrub in
all the hill-country and plains of Palestine,
except the Jordan valley, and is especially

BALM

339

abundant in the woods of Gilead. It is found also
in all the Mediterranean countries and tho Greek
islands. It belongs to the Terebinth family,
rarely reaches the height of twenty feet, has
winged smooth leaves of a pale colour, and in
conspicuous flowers. It yields a balsamic sap,
which is obtained by making incisions in the
stems from which the sap flows, the gum
mastic of commerce. It burns green, with a
delicious fragrance, and is known by the Al
gerian soldiers as " brule-capote."
The Balanites aegyptiaca, the Zukkum ofthe
Arabs, the product of which is now sold as
Balm of Gilead, is a native of Egypt and
Nubia, but also indigenous in the whole of the
Jordan valley and round the Dead Sea, though
never beyond the depression of that tropical
islet. It is a truly desert-loving plant, and
found in hot plains as far as India. It belongs
to the family Simarubaceae, and is a spiny,
naked-looking small tree, with leaves growing
in pairs, about the size and shape of those ofthe
box-tree, very pale green, and with tufts of
minute white blossoms. The ripe fruit is of
the size and shape of a large filbert or olive, of
a greyish green colour, turning yellow when it
has fallen. The Arabs pound and boil the fruit,
skimming off the oil, which is sold in large
quantities to pilgrims and others, and is used
both internally and for external application as
a remedy. I have found it excellent for al
laying the irritation of scratches and wounds,
and for relieving any tendency to inflammation ;
but it has no perfume. See Maundrell, Journey,
p. 86.
Balsamodendron gileadense is so named some
what unfortunately, as it is not found at present
anywhere in Palestine, and could never have
thriven in Gilead.
Josephus (Ant. viii. 6, § 7) mentions a current
opinion among the Jews, that the queen of
Sheba first introduced the balsam into Judaea,
having made Solomon a present of a root. If
this be so — but perhaps it was merely a tra
dition — the tzori cannot be restricted to repre
sent the produce of this tree, as the word occurs
in Genesis, and the plant was known to the
patriarchs as growing in the hilly districts of
Gilead. Hasselquist has given a description of the
true balsam tree of Mecca. He says that the
exudation from the plant " is of a yellow colour,
and pellucid. It has a most fragrant smell,
which is resinous, balsamic, and very agreeable.
It is very tenacious or glutinous, sticking to the
fingers, and may be drawn into long threads.
I have seen it at a Turkish surgeon's, who had
it immediately from Mecca, described it, and
was informed of its virtues ; which are, first,
that it is the best stomachic they know, if
taken to three grains, to strengthen a weak
stomach ; secondly, that it is a most excellent
and capital remedy for curing wounds, for if a
few drops are applied to the fresh wound, it
cures it in a very short time " (Travels, p. 293).
The Balsamodendron gileadense must not be
confounded with Balsamodendron myrrha. Both
belong to the order Amyridaceae, of which
about fifty species are known in tropical Asia,
Africa, and America. It certainly was not
indigenous in Palestine, and never could have
grown in any part of the country, except in
Z 2

340

BALNUUS

the seething tropical valley of the Dead Sea.
The tradition alluded to 'above as given by
Josephus, of its introduction by Solomon, is
probably correct ; at all events it was cultivated
there in the later Jewish period, and was
considered peculiar to the plains of Jericho.
Hence Cleopatra obtained plants for her gardens
at Heliopolis, over which an Imperial guard
was placed. So famous and precious a product
•was it considered, that it was twice carried in
a triumphal procession through the streets of
Eome— once by Pompey, after the first conquest
of Judaea, B.C. 65, and again by Vespasian,
when Titus exhibited the Balsam tree of Jericho
along with the spoils of the Temple of Jerusa
lem after its final destruction. From that
time we can find no trace of the precious tree,
though the conquerors placed a guard over the
plantations for a time. Probably they perished
through subsequent neglect; for, though the
Crusaders carefully cultivated the sugar-cane
and the date-palm in these plains, and the
Knights Templars derived a large revenue from
them, we find no mention of the balsam. We
carefully searched all the plain of Shittim, and
the recesses of Engedi, Callirrhoe, and other
nooks about the Dead Sea, in the hope that
some survivors might still linger, but in vain.
It is only within the last few years that the
indefatigable researches of Sir G. Birdwood have
brought to light the tree and its true habitat.
It is a native of Yemen, is still cultivated about
Mecca, and grows abundantly in the mountains
of Yemen. It seems to have escaped the obser
vation of Forskal. It is described as a tall, stiff-
branched tree, evergreen, with scanty foliage of
small oblong leaves, like those of the myrtle,
and small white blossoms resembling the tufts
of the acacia, with a reddish-black pulpy nut,
containing a fragrant yellow seed. The balsam
is obtained from the bark by incision, from the
green nut, and also (of inferior quality) by
bruising and boiling the young shoots.
The conclusion at which we are disposed to
arrive is, that while in Genesis [see Delitzsch
(1887) and Dillmann5 on Gen. xxxvii. 25] the
gum mastick or the Zukkum unguent is spoken
of, the precious balm of Gilead of later times was
undoubtedly the product of Balsamodendron
gileadense. [Spices; Mastick.] Compare
Winer, Biblisch. Realwort s. v., for numerous
references from ancient and modern writers on
the subject of the balm or balsam tree ; Hooker's
Kew Garden Misc. i. 257; Eiehm, HWB. s. n.
" Mastik " ; Low, Aram. Pflzn. p. 58. [H. B. T.]
BALNU'TJS (B. BaAvovs, A. BaAvovos ; Bon-
nus), 1 Esd. ix. 31. [Binnui.] One of those
who had taken " strange wives," and put them
away, [W. A, W.]
BALTHA'SAR, Bar. i. 11, . 12. [Bel
shazzar.] BATMAH (HD3, a high place). Though
frequently occurring in the Bible to denote the
elevated spots or erections on which the idola
trous rites were conducted [High-place], this
word appears in its Hebrew form only in one
passage (.Ezek. xx. 29), where the word is
played upon, and a punning etymology appears
to be suggested , " What is [R. V. "meaneth"]

BANI
the high-place (DD3n) whereunto ye hie
(D'XSH)? and the name of it is called Bamah
(DD3) unto this day" (LXX. tI ianv aBauk
. . . ual itreKdAetrav to Svopa avrov 'ABapd).
Ewald (Propheten, p. 286) pronounces this verso
to be an extract from an older prophet than
Ezekiel : Cornill (Ezechiel in loco) agrees with
him ; but he stipulates, on very questionable
grounds, that, if the verse be Ezekelian,
D'SQfl must be taken from a root N3n in
order to give point to the paronomasia. To
Orelli (Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. in
loco) the n of O'tOn is the article in
troduced to preserve the alliteration with
nasn. [G.] [f.]
BA'MOTH (niD3; BaptiB; Bamoth). A
halting-place of the Israelites in the Amorite
country on their march to Canaan (Num. xxi.
19). It was between Nahaliel and Pisgah, north
of the Arnon. Eusebius (OS.2 p. 246, 33) calls it
" Bamoth, a city of the Amorite beyond Jordan
on the Arnon, which the children of Israel took."
Jerome (OS.2 p. 136, 22) adds that it was in the
territory of the Reubemtes. The accuracy of
the description " on the Arnon " is, however,
questioned (Dillmann 2 in loco). Knobel identi
fied it with "the high places of Baal" (Num.
xxii. 41), or Bamoth Baal, and placed it on the
modern Jebel Attarus, the site being marked
by stone heaps which were observed both by
Seetzen (ii. 342) and Burckhardt (Syria,
370). [W.] [F.]
BA'MOTH-BAAL fysTh'DZ, high places
of Baal; B. Batpuv BaaA, A. BapiiB BadA;
Bamothbaal), a hill-sanctuary of Baal in the coun
try of Moab (Josh. xiii. 17), which is probably
mentioned in the Itinerary in Num. xxi. 19,
under the shorter form of Bamoth, and again
in the enumeration of the towns of Moab in Is.
xv. 2. In this last passage Bamoth is translated
in the A. V. and R. V. •' the high places," as it
is also in Num. xxii. 41, where the same locality
is doubtless referred to." It is possibly the Beth
Bamoth rebuilt by king Mesha (Recovery of
Jerusalem, p. 507) ; and is identified by Conder
(Heth and Moab, p. 141) with the ridge south of
the stream of Wady Jedeid, now called el-Maslu-
biyeh. Near to Bamoth was another place bear
ing the name of the same divinity, — Baal-meon,
or Beth-baal-meon. [G.] [W.]
BAN (B. Baevdv, A. Bdv, Thubal), the name
(1 Esd. v. 37, a very corrupt passage; see
Speaker's Comm. in loco) of the head of a family
which could not show their descent from Israel.
Its place is taken by the name Tobiah in the
parallel lists in Ezra and Nehemiah. [W.A.W.] [F]
BANAI'AS (Bavaias ; Baneas), 1 Esd. ix. 35.
[Benaiaii.] One of those who put away his
" strange " wife.
BA'NI ('33), the name of several men. 1. A
Gadite, one of David's mighty men (2 Sam.

» It will be observed that the A. V- has, in Num.
xxiii. 3, rendered by "high place "a totally different
word OSBi), which is devoid of, the special meaning of
" Bamoth"." The R. V. reads here " a bare height."

BANID
xxiii. 36 ; B. vlbs TaAaaSSel, A. vlbs TaSl ; Bonn!
de Gadi). 2. A Levite of the line of Merari, and
forefather to Ethan (1 Ch. vi. 46 ; B. Battel, A.
Baavi ; Boni). 3. A man of Judah of the line
of Pharez (1 Ch. ix. 4 ; LXX. om. ; Bouni).
4. " Children of Bani " returned from Captivity
with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 10; B. Baroii, A.-u( ;
Bani: Neh. x. 14; BN. Bavids (?), A. Bavf ;
Bonni (v. 15): Ezra x. 29 [X. Bavel, B. Bavouel,
A. -eip ; Bonni], v. 34 [A. Bavel, B. 'Avei ;
Bani] : 1 Esd. v. 12 ; BA. Bavei ; Banica). See
Smend, Die Listen d. BB. Esi-a u. A'chemia,
p. 14; Binnui, Mani, and Maaxi. 5. An
Israelite " of the sons of Bani " (Ezra x. 38 ;
Bavoul [2 Esd.], Bani). [Bann us.] 6. A
Levite (N'eh. iii. 17 ; B. Bavei, S. Baavei ;
Benni). 7. A Levite (Neh. viii. 7 [B. Bavaid,
4<A. -ds; Bani], ix. 4, Bani; LXX. transl.
ol uiol KaSpchA: x. 13; A. Bavovaiai, B. Be-
viapeiv; Bani). [ANUS.] 8. Another Levite
{Neh. ix. 4; Bani; H'-'A. transl. uiol Xa-
vevl). 9. Another Levite, of the sons of Asaph
<Neh. xi. 22 ; B. Bavel, Xc * Bovel, A. Bavl ;
Hani). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BA'NID (B. Bavias, A. Bavi ; Bania), 1 Esd.
viii. 36. One of those who went up with Ezra
to Jerusalem. This represents a name which
has apparently escaped from the present Hebrew
text (see Speaker's Comm. in loco, and cp. Ezra
viii. 10). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BANNAI'A (B. SafSavvaiovs, A. Bavvaiovs ;
Bannus), 1 Esd. ix. 33. One of those who had
taken a " strange " wife. The corresponding
name in Ezra x. 33 is Zabad. [W. A. W.]
BANNER. [Ensign.]
BAN'NUS (Bavvobs ; Baneas), 1 Esd. ix. 34.
[Bani, or Binntji.] One of those who put away
his " strange " wife. [W. A. W.]
BANQUETS. These, among the Hebrews,
were not only a means of social enjoyment, but
were a part of the observance of religious
festivity; cp. Jndg. vi. 13, "Wine which
cheereth God and man." The oldest record of
"" a great feast " is that made by Abraham when
Isaac was weaned, the words meaning " a great
¦drinking" (Gen. xxi. 8, !?i"I3 HRE'D) ; and
mearly parallel in time (as soino think) stand
the festivities of Job's children, perhaps recur
ring at stated intervals, in which " drinking
wine " is also prominent, and hence Job's dread on
their account of excess leading to impiety. Yet
drunkenness, until the later days of the mon
archy, when the Prophets commonly rebuke it,
i-; not in the 0. T. a popular vice, and examples
¦of vinous excess, excepting such unique cases as
those of Noah and Lot, scarcely occur. Nabal,
Elah, and Benhadad (the latter an extern
instance) are perhaps the only ones (.lob i. 4,
5, 13, 18 ; 1 Sam. xxv. 36 ; IK. xvi. 9, xx.
12). Such expression as "his heart was merry,"
said of Boaz at his harvest festival, need imply
no such excess (Ruth iii. 7), and so of Ammon
((2 Sam. xiii. 28). Under the Mosaic Law, at the
three solemn Festivals, when all the males ap
peared before the Lord, the family also had its
domestic feast, as appears from the place and
the share in it to which " the widow, the father
less, and the . stranger " were legally entitled

BANQUETS

341

(Deut. xvi. 11). Probably, when tho distance
allowed, and no inconvenience hindered, both
males and females went up (e.g. to Shiloh, 1
Sam. i. 9) together, to hold the festival. Theso
domestic festivities wore doubtless to a great
extent retained, after laxity had set in as regards
the special observance by the male sex (Nob. viii.
17). Sacrifices, both ordinary and extraordinary,
as amongst heathen nations (Ex. xxxiv. 15 ; Judg,
xvi. 23) included a banquet, and Eli's sons
made this latter the prominent part. The two,
thus united, marked strongly both domestic and
civil life. It may even be said that some sacri
ficial recognition, if only in pouring the blood
solemnly forth as before God, always attended
the slaughter of an animal for food. The first
lings of cattle were to be sacrificed and eaten at
the sanctuary if not too far from the residence
(1 Sam. ix. 13 ; 2 Sam. vi. 19 ; Ex. xxii. 29, 30 ;
Lev. xix. 5, 6 ; Deut. xii. 17, 20, 21, xv. 19-22),
From the sacrificial banquet probably sprang the
dyaTTT) ; as the Lord's Supper, with which it for
a while coalesced, was derived from the Passover.
Besides religious celebrations, such events as tho
weaning the son and heir, a marriage, the sepa
ration or reunion of friends, and sheep-shearing
were customarily attended by a banquet or revel
(Gen. xxi. 8, xxix. 22, xxxi. 27, 54; 1 Sam.
xxv. 2, 36 ; 2 Sam. xiii. 23). At a funeral, also,
refreshment was taken in common by tho
mourners, and this might tend to become a
scene of indulgence, but ordinarily abstemious
ness seems on such occasions to have been the
rule. The case of Archelaus, on the occasion of
the first Herod's death, is not conclusive, but his
inclination towards alien usages was doubtless
shared by the Herodianizing Jews (Jer. xvi.
5-7 ; Ezek. xxiv. 17 ; Hos. ix. 4 ; Eccles. vii. 2 ;
Joseph, de B. J. ii. 1). Birthday-banquets are
only mentioned in the case of Pharaoh and
Herod (Gen. xl. 20 ; Matt. xiv. 6). We know,
however, from Herod, i. 133, that these were
customary among the Persians. The entertain
ment to which Esther invited the king and
Haman is called a " banquet of wine " (Esth. v.
6 ; vii. 2), and wine is the prominent feature
in the banquet of Belshazzar. The presence
of the women on this last occasion, although
one of a public character, is in accordance
witb Babylonian manners (Dan. v. 1-4, Speaker's
Comm. notes in loco ; cp. Herod, i. 191 ; Xen.
Cyrop. v. 2, 28 ; Rawlinson, A. M. iii. 21).
" The banquet-house " was probably some hall
of the palace. No details of it are given, save
that the wall was faced with " plaister "
or stucco, a mode of surface-finish which the
existing ruins are said to show (Layard, Nin.
and Bab. p. 295). The state banquets in Esth.
i. 3 sq.. as distinct from the private banquet
of chs. v. and vii. referred to above, give us a
standard of Persian manners ; the queen holding
separately her women's feast, a fact which
enhances the arbitrary and unusual character of
the king's requirement of her presence (i. 9,
10, 11). Of the apparently more popular enter
tainment in the palate garden under awnings,
&c, we have a rather elaborate account ; the
chief features being divers coloured hangings,
variegated pavements, marble columns, and
gold and silver couches and vessels. These,
however, although biblical, are not Judaean
customs. The Jewish standard of luxury is,

342

BANQUETS

found in Is. v. 11, 12 ; Amos vi. 4-6. All these
refer to drinking parties. In Esth. i. 7, 8 wine
and wine vessels alone are prominent, and no

BANQUETS
mention of viands occurs, the abundance and
" royal " quality of the wine being expressly
noticed. We find also here a custom of corn-

Assyrian drinking scene. (From Khorsabad.)

pulsory drinking superseded for the occasion,
and therefore generally the rule. The officers
of the royal household have also charge of the

guests, each perhaps acting as symposiarch at
his table. For the parallel customs in classical
antiquity, see Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Antiq., s. > -

An Egyptian party of guests, entertained with music and the dance. (From Thebes, now In the British. Museom.)
Symposium ; and for the addiction of the later rebuke is the abuse of festivals to an occasion
Persians to wine, Herodot. i. 133, Xen. Cyrop. of drunken revelry, and the growth of fashion
vm. 8, § 12. A leading topic of prophetic in favour of drinking parties. Such was the

BANQUETS
invitation typically given by Jeremiah to the
Rechabites (Jer. xxxv. 5). The usual time of
the banquet was the evening, and to begin
early was a mark of excess (Is. v. 11 ; Eccles. x.
16). The slaughtering of the cattle, which was
the preliminary of a banquet, occupied the
earlier part of the same day (Prov. ix. 2 ; Is.
xxii. 13; Matt. xxii. 4; cp. Jas. v. 5). The
most essential materials of the banqueting-room,
next to the viands and wine, which last was
often drugged with spices (Prov. ix. 2 ; Cant.
viii. 2), were perfumed ointments, garlands or
loose flowers, white or brilliant robes ; after
these, exhibitions of music, singers and dancers,
riddles, jesting and merriment (Is. xxviii. 1 ;
Wisd. ii. 6 sq. ; 2 Sam. xix. 35; Is. v. 12;
Judg. xiv. 12 ; Neh. viii. 10 ; Eccles. ix. 8, x. 19 ;
Matt. xxii. 11 ; Amos vi. 5, 6 ; Luke xv. 25).
Seven days was a not uncommon duration of a
festival, especially for a wedding, but some
times fourteen (Tob. viii. 19 ; Gen. xxix. 27 ;
Judg. xiv. 12) ; but if the bride were a widow,
three days formed the limit (Buxtorf, de
Conviv. Hebr.). The reminder sent to the

BANUAS

343

guests (Luke xiv. 17) was, probably, only usual
in princely banquets ou a large scale, involving
protracted preparation. " Whether the slaves
who bade the guests had the office (as the
vocatores or invitatores among the Romans) of
pointing out the places at table and naming
the strange dishes, must remain undecided "
(Winer, s. v. Gastmahl). There seems no
doubt that the Jews of the 0. T. period used a
common table for all the guests. In Joseph's
Egyptian entertainment a ceremonial separation
prevailed, but there is no reason for supposing
a separate table for each, as is distinctly
asserted in Tosephoth Tr. Berach. c. vi. to have
been usual (Buxtorf, /. a). The latter custom
certainly was in use among the ancient Greeks
and Germans (Hom. Od. xxii. 74 ; Tac. Germ.
22), and perhaps among the Egyptians (Wil
kinson, A. E. ii. p. 44, ed. 1878). But a common
table is the usage suggested by 1 Sam. xx.
25-29 ; and the common phrase " to sit at
table with," or " eat at any one's table," shows
the originality of that usage. The. posture at
table in early times was sitting (32**, 33D, to

An Egyptian dinner-party. (Tomb near the Pyramids.)

sit round, 1 Sam. xvi. 11 ; xx. 5, 18), and the
guests were ranged in order of dignity (Gen.
xliii. 33 ; 1 Sam. ix. 22 ; Joseph. Ant. xv 2,
§ 4) : thus " Abner sat by Saul's side " in 1 Sam.
xx. 25. The words which imply the recumbent
posture (avaxAlvciv, hvtm'tTTTeiv, or dvaKelaBai)
belong to the N. T. The separation of the
women's banquet was not a Jewish custom
(Esth. i. 9). Portions or messes were sent
from the entertainer t© each guest at table,
and a double or even five-fold share when
peculiar distinction was intended, or a special
part was reserved (Gen. xliii. 34; 1 Sam.
ix. 23, 24). Portions were similarly sent to
poorer friends direct from the banquet-table
(Neh. viii. 10 ; Esth. ix. 19, 22). The kiss on
receiving a guest was a point of friendly
courtesy (Luke vii. 45). Perfumes and scented
oils were offered for the head, beard, and gar
ments. It was strictly enjoined by the Rabbis to
wash both before and after eating, which they
called the D^l^tO D'D and D»31lnS D'D;
but washing the feet seems to have been limited
to the case of a guest who was also a traveller.

Allowance must, however, be made for the
widely differing periods to which these notices
of social customs belong.
In religious banquets the wine was mixed, by
rabbinical regulation, with three parts of water,
and four short forms of benediction were pro
nounced over it. At the Passover, four such
cups were mixed, blessed, and passed round by
the master of the Feast (ipxrrplKAivos) It is
probable that the character of this official
varied with that of the entertainment; if it
were of a religious character, his office would
be quasi-priestly ; if a revel, he would be the
mere o-vpiroo-idpx-ris or arbiter bibendi. See fur
ther details in Riehm, HWB., and Herzog, RE?
s. n. Gastmahl. [H. H.]
BAN'UAS (Bdvvos ; Bamis), * name occur
ring in the lists of the Levites who returned
from Captivity (1 Esd. v. 26). Banuas and
Sudias answer to Hodaviah, or are a corruption
of Bene-Hodaviah (Speaker's Comm. in loco) in
the parallel lists of Ezra (ii. 40) and Nehemiah
(*¦ 9. &«•)• [W. A. W.] [F.j

344

BAPTISM

BAPTISM (BdiTTiapa).
I. The Term, p. 344.
II. 0. T. Types and Prophecies, p. 344.
in. Proselyte baptism, p. 345.
IV St. John's baptism, p. 345.
V. Preparation and Commission of the Ministry
of Baptism, p. 346.
VI. Boctrine of Baptism in K. T., p. 317.
VII. Administration, p. 351.
VIII. Literature, p. 354.
I. The Term. — The verb BawTiCetv occurs
twice in LXX. : 2 K. v. 14, of Naaman dipping
in Jordan, and Is. xxi. 4, metaphorically, t\ dvo-
pia pe BairriCet. In the Apocrypha it is em
ployed of bathing in a fountain (Judith xii. 7),
and of washing after touching a corpse (Ecclus.
xxxiv. 25). The usual word for " dip " in an
ordinary sense is Bdirreiv, both in LXX. (Ex.
xii. 22 ; Lev. iv. 6, 17 ; Josh. iii. 15, &c.) and
N. T. (Luke xvi. 24 ; John xiii. 26 ; Eev. xix.
13 ; Matt. xxvi. 23 ; Mark xiv. 20). The latter
is never used of Baptism proper, which is always
expressed by BdirTiapa, ParTTtCetv. These terms
have an exact baptismal reference everywhere
in N. T., except in Mark vii. 4, Luke xi. 38, con
cerning ceremonial washing before meals ; and
m Matt, xx. 22, 23, Mark x. 38, 39, Luke xii. 50,
of our Lord's Baptism by His Passion. The word
BaTTTttrpos, signifying the act of ablution, as
distinct from Bd-tTTiapa, the rfte or condition of
Baptism, is found in Mark vii. 4, 8, of ritual
washing of utensils ; in Heb. ix. 10, of Mosaic
ablutions ; and in the phrase " doctrine of
baptisms," Heb. vi. 2. The verb BairTiCeiv is
often followed by some phrase indicating the
element or purpose of the Baptism, as iv vSari,
Mark i. 8 ; iv irv. ay. koX irvpi, Luke iii. 16 ;
eis to Suopa, Matt, xxviii. 19 ; iirl t$ bvipaTi
'li)tr. Xp. els dtpetriv dpapr., Acts ii. 38 ; inrep
tuv veKptov, 1 Cor. xv. 29.
II. Old Testament Types and Prophecies. —
1. Circumcision is contrasted with Baptism
in Col. ii. 11, 12, in terms which make it also
a symbolic parallel. The correspondence con
sists in the fact that circumcision brought the
male Israelite into covenant with God, and
was a physical sign of the cutting off of sin.
St. Augustine and some of the later Latin
writers attributed to it a definite pardon of
original sin. But there is no indication of this
in Holy Scripture. Its lessons to the Jew were
rather of a moral kind (Deut. x. 16, xxx. 6 ;
Jer. iv. 4). Hence Calvin, with others, in order
to depreciate Baptism, sought to establish an
identity of effect between it and circumcision
(Inst. IV. ch. xvi. 3, 4). The N. T on the contrary
asserts that circumcision is completely superseded
under the Gospel (Acts xv. ; Rom. ii. 25-29, iv.
9-11; Gal. ii., v. 2-6; Col. iii. 11; Tit. i. 10).
The unlikeness of the method of administering
the " circumcision made without hands " may
itself be an indication that its grace wholly sur
passes that of its partial type under the Law.
2. The " divers washings " of the Old Covenant
(Heb. ix. 10) in some respects afford a closer
parallel. Ablution was required before certain
approaches to God (Ex. xix. 10, 14, xxix. 4, xxx.
18-21; Num. viii. 7, 21), and after conditions
symbolical of sin (Lev xlii.-xvi. , Num. xix.).
In some cases the water was mingled with blood
(Lev. xiv. 4-7), in others the blood was used
alone or as the prominent element (Ex. xii. 22,

BAPTISM
xxix. ; Lev- xiv. 14, xvi. 14-19 ; Heb. ix. 19-23).
The general teaching which underlay these rites
was suggestive of cleansing by sprinkling with
the blood of redemption and with water; and
this gives them, as types, a specific reference to
Baptism, although it may not always be their
only or even chief fulfilment.
3. Prophecy more or less obscurely pointed
on to Christian Baptism as the source of a
spiritual purification which the ritual of the
Law failed to effect. No doubt at the time this
meaning was hidden, but when Baptism had
been instituted it became obvious that the O. T.
promises of cleansing by water were fulfilled in
it. Thus the Fathers explain the words of Ezek.
xxxvi. 25, 26, "Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean," to be
prophetic of Baptism. "See, beloved," says
Hippolytus on Is. i. 16, 18, "how the prophet
foretold the cleansing of Baptism " (In Theoph.
10). Cyril of Alexandria wrote of the " fountain
for sin and for uncleanness," in Zech. xiii. 1,
that it is " plainly holy Baptism." And Jerome,
comparing it with Ezek. xlvii., sees the teaching
" that we be all reborn in Christ, and in the
waters of Baptism our sins be forgiven us."
Among texts which some of the Fathers simi
larly interpret of Baptism are especially Pss.
xxiii. 2, xxxii 1, xxxvi. 9, xiii. 1, xlvi. 4, li. 7;
Is. xxxv. 6, xliii. 19, 20, xliv. 3, xlviii. 21, lv. 1 ;
Jer. ii. 13 ; Joel iii. 18 ; Zech. iii. 4.
4. O. T. history affords several types of
Baptism, two of which have the express sanc
tion of Holy Scripture.
St. Peter, after mentioning that those in the
Ark " were saved by water," continues, "The like
figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now
save us" (1 Pet. iii. 20, 21). Commentators
on the type usually dwell on the entrance into
the Ark as the parallel to Baptism. "To neglect
Baptism," says C. Leslie, " is to venture swim-
ing in the Deluge without the Ark" (Water
Baptism, viii.). But St. Peter connects the
saving power of Baptism with the water rather
than with the Ark, and he is followed by the
framers of the English collect, "The waters
of the Flood," writes Leighton, "drowned the
ungodly . . . and upon the same waters the Ark
floating, preserved Noah. Thus the waters of
Baptism are intended as a deluge to drown sin
and to save the believer, who by faith is sepa
rated both from the world and from his sin,
so it sinks, and he is saved." The Fathers
sometimes extend the type as a " Baptism of
the world," " whereby its former iniquity was
purged away " (Tert. De B. viii.).
St. Paul says the Israelites " were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea" (1 Cor.
x 2). Since he is comparing the privileges of
the two covenants there can be no question that
the allusion is strictly to Baptism. The cloud
is sometimes said to symbolise the Spirit, and
the sea the water (John Dam. De Fide Orth. iv.
ix.). But the analogy of the cloud is rather
to be found in Confirmation, while the parallel
of the sea is in Baptism proper, wherein the
spiritual Israel passes out of slavery on to the
way towards its Canaan, the sins which are its
enemy being drowned in the waters. The Fathers
are rich in passages which develop this imagery.
Some add the thought that the water of Baptism
is red, because consecrated by the Blood of

BAPTISM
Christ. St. Jerome, among others, says that
Micah " prophesies of the grace of Baptism"
(Ep. lxix. ad 0c), when he speaks of the
Gospel deliverance as a " coming out of Egypt,"
and declares that God will "cast all their sins
into the depths ofthe sea" (vii. 15, 19).
Other types dwelt upon iu patristic literature
are the Spirit moving on the waters (Gen. i. 2),
the beginning of life from water (i. 20, 22), the
river watering Paradise (ii. 10), Hagar's spring
(xxi. 19), the wells of the Patriarchs (xxi., xxiv.,
xxix.), the waters of Marah (Ex. xv. 23-25), the
water from the rock (xvii. 6), the passage of
Jordan (Josh, iii.), the drenching of Elijah's
sacrifice (1 K. xviii. 33-35), the passage of
Elijah (2 K. ii. 8, 14), Naaman's cleansing (v. 14),
and the swimming axe-head (vi. 6).
III. The baptism of Proselytes was a tradi
tional development of the precepts of the Law.
No instance is recorded in the Bible, and S'.-holars
are divided as to whether it was in use till a
later date. But it is at least probable that it
preceded the Gospel. If the Law demanded
constant ablution, and the Pharisees developed
the demand into the ritual cleansing of vessels,
they were certainly likely to baptize a polluted
Gentile before receiving him into the covenant.
The Rabbis traced the institution of Baptism
to the injunction at Sinai, " Sanctify them to day
and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes "
(Ex. xix. 10). They maintained that the wash
ing of garments always implied ablution of the
body (Gem. Bab. Tit. Jeb. ; Maim. Mikvaoth).
Thus by glosses on Holy Scripture they reached
the position that " Israel was admitted into the
covenant by Circumcision, Baptism, and Sacri
fice" (Talmud, Tract. Eep. ; Maim. Iss. Biah,
xiii.). Similarly no Gentile could become a
proselyte without the same ordinances, even
females requiring Baptism and Sacrifice (Gem.
Bab. Tit. Cherith). The children of Israelites,
both of Jews by birth and of proselytes, were
held not to need a personal baptism, since
they were born within the covenant, and this
fact greatly reduces the similarity of rabbinical
baptism to that of Christianity. The expres
sion of the Eabbis that a proselyte was " like
a child new born" (Gem. Bab. Tit. Jeb.), even
if it existed so early, affords no parallel to the
language of our Lord to Nicodemus. It only
meant that the Gentile was taken out of his
natural relationships into fellowship with a
peculiar people. It suggested no idea to the
Jew of spiritual regeneration. (Proselytes;
Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., on Matt. iii. and John iii. ;
Wall, Introd. ; Gale's Reply, Lett, ix., x.)
IV. St. John's baptism stands by itself, inter
mediate between the rites of the Law and the
Baptism of Christ. It was not, as some of the
Schoolmen asserted, a form of purification be
longing to the Old Covenant, nor, as others have
said, a direct parallel to proselyte baptism. It
was peculiar to his own mission, and was after
wards known as " John's baptism " (Acts xix. 3).
From the Pharisees' question (John i. 25) it may
.be inferred that the Jews were prepared for a
Baptism by the Messiah or His forerunner. To
them St. John vouchsafed very little informa
tion, but to those who came to be themselves
baptized hewas more explicit: "I indeed baptize
you with water unto repentance ; but he that
cometh after me . . . shall baptize you with the

BAPTISM

345

Holy Ghost and with fire "(Matt. iii. 11). It is
wonderful that any should in the fat-e ot' these
words have sought to establish even an approxi
mate sameness between John's baptism and that
of Christ. Yet Petilian connected them danger
ously (Aug. Cont. Pet. II. xxxii,, xxxiv., xxxvii.),
and Peter Lombard so far confused them as to
think that the baptism of John sufficed to those
who looked beyond it, and believed in the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit (Sent IV. ii.). Zwingli (Dc
vera et falsa Rel.), Calvin (Inst. IV. ch. xv. 7) and
most of the disciples of Luther, went further,
and set the two Baptisms almost on an equality.
The essential difference between them is proved
not only by St. John's words, but by the fact
that his disciples at Ephesus were baptized again
by St. Paul. It is impossible to evade this proof
by the untenable expedient of taking Acts xix. 5
as part of the narrative of St. Paul (Voss. De B.
viii. 24). In refuting the views of the extreme
Reformers some have fallen into the opposite
tendency of disparaging John's baptism over
much (Bellarm. DeB. I. chs. xix. -xxiii. ; Maldonat.
De Sac. I. ch. ii. 3). It was " from heaven," by
Divine commission (Matt. xxi. 25 ; John i. 33).
It was characterised as a " baptism of repent
ance, for (els) the remission of sins " (Mark i. 4).
Cyril of Jerusalem, among others, believed that
it conferred remission (Cat. iii. 7, xx. 6). Au
gustine mentions this view, but in common
with most of the Fathers held that there coubl
be no actual remission before the sacrifice of
Christ (De B.v.x.12; Tert. De B. xi. ; Amb.
De Poen. n. vi. 44 ; Jer. Contra Lucif. 7 ; Chrys.
In Matt. Hom. x. 2, xii. 1 ; John Dam. De Fide
Orth., iv. ix. ; Aquin. ill. lxviii. 6). When St.
John himself pointed to our Lord as "the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sin ofthe world,"
the natural inference was that transference to
Him was necessary for remission. It cannot
even be supposed that the Baptist conveyed any
gift of repentance. His baptism was one of
repentance because it enlisted its recipients into
a discipleship of repentance, of which the end
was the remission of sins. But no sacramental
grace was pledged to accompany it. It was
preparatory to that of Christ. It does not
follow that it was devoid of spiritual blessing.
It has been surmised from Acts xix. 4 that
St. John baptized in the name of the Messiah
about to come (Amb. De Sp. S. I, iii. ; P. Lomb.
IV. ii. ; Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. Matt. iii.). If so,
the Pharisees would scarcely have asked whether
he were the Christ. It is a wilder conjecture
that he used the Name of the Trinity' (Voss.
viii. 8). Bellarmin suggests that he employed
no words (De B. I. ch. xx.). Clearly we know
nothing except that he could not have used the
Christian formula.
The significance of St. John's baptism was
demonstrated when our Lord came to be Him
self baptized with it. He declared its impor
tance when He said, " Thus it becometh us to
fulfil all righteousness " (Matt. iii. 15). How
it fulfilled all righteousness is a matter for re
verent speculation, towards which some sugges
tions have been made. It attested St. John's
mission and baptism. It was fitting that the
Son of Man should, in His humility, submit to
that which His people were being called to
accept. As figuring the future Baptism of the
Church, Christ's Baptism by St. John was an

346

BAPTISM

example " that the servants might know with
what alacrity they should haste to the Baptism
of the Lord, when He Himself disdained not to
receive the baptism of a servant " (Aug. In Joan.
t. v. 3). Yet more, He was baptized that He
might "sanctify the element of water to the
mystical washing away of sin." It is the re
curring thought expressed by the Fathers and
in the liturgies that in His own Baptism He
transformed the external rite into a Sacrament.
He came, says Ambrose, "not seeking to be
cleansed, but to cleanse the water " (Exp. Ev. sec.
Luc. ii. 83). " Not to receive forgiveness," says
St. Cyril, " for He was sinless, but being sinless
to grant Divine grace and dignity to the bap
tized " (Cat. iii. 11). " He received no cleanness,
no virtue," says Bishop Andrewes, " but virtue
He gave to Jordan, to the waters, to the Sacra
ment itself" (Serm. viii. on Holy Ghost). Thus
viewed, the Baptism of Christ becomes the re
presentative of His own Baptism of His people.
Hence some of the Fathers ventured on a still
deeper thought, that though He could need no
Baptism for Himself, yet the nature of man
which He had assumed needed to be baptized as
a whole in Him, before the Baptism which He
so consecrated was applied individually to each.
(See Aquin. Summa, III. xxxix. 1.) " By the
Baptism of Christ," says St. Augustine, " were
we baptized, and not we only, but the whole
world, and is baptized to the end " (In Joan. t. iv.
14). The Baptism of our Lord thus marks the
transition from one Covenant to the other.
" Acting with a view to both," says St. Chry
sostom, "He brought the one to an end, but to
the other He gave a beginning : having fulfilled
the Jewish baptism, He at the same time opens
also the doors of that of the Church " (In Matt
Hom. xii. 4).
V. Preparation and Commission of the Minis
try of Baptism. — This was a gradual process.
1. The discourse to Nicodemus has been called
the institution of Baptism as regards precept
(De Burgo, Pupilla Oculi, n. i.). But it was
not a public precept, and therefore not yet
binding (Bernard, Ep. Ixxvii.).
2. Quite at the beginning of the ministry,
" came Jesus and His disciples into the land of
Judaea, and there He tarried with them and
baptized " (John iii. 22). The Evangelist adds
that " Jesus Himself baptized not, but His
disciples " (iv. 2). There are traditions that
our Lord baptized His mother and St. Peter with
His own hands (Euthym. In Joan. iii. 5), and
that Peter baptized Andrew, James, and John,
the last three the other Apostles, and Peter
and John the seventy (Euodias ap. Niceph. n.
iii.). But these traditions are not of much
authority. When Christ's Baptism attracted
more converts than John's, there arose a dispute
on the merits of the two Baptisms, followed
by a complaint to the Baptist (John iii. 26 ;
iv. 1). Though John's answer indicated that
his baptism was on the decline, he seems to
have continued to administer it until his im
prisonment. Whether his disciples were bap
tized again on passing over to Christ does not
appear. It is difficult to determine what was the exact
character of the Baptism by the disciples. That
it was not identical with John's is clear from
the difference between the discipleship of John

BAPTISM
and that of Christ. There is some force in Leslie's
remark that, if the Baptisms had been the same,
John would have been the institutor aud Christ
his follower ( Water Baptism, vi.). Tertullian
and Chrysostom assume that Baptism by the
disciples was no more than that of John (Tert.
De B. xi. ; Chrys. In Joan. Hom. xxix. 1). Yet
Tertullian allows that our Lord's words to St.
Peter, " He that is washed needeth not save to
wash his feet, but is clean every whit : and ye
are clean" (John xiii. 10), indicate that the
Apostles must at some time or other have
received the full benefits afterwards attributed
to Baptism (De B. xii. ; cp. Aug. De Anima,
in. ch. ix.). The notice of the Baptism by the
disciples in close sequence to the pointing out of
our Lord as He Who would baptize with the
Holy Ghost and with fire, and to the discourse
with Nicodemus, naturally leave the impression
that it was the true Baptism of Christ. It is
objected to this view that " the Holy Ghost was
not yet given " (John vii. 39). But this can
only refer to the fulness of His coming, and
need not touch the question of Baptism at all.
Tertullian uses a weightier argument when he
urges that Christian Baptism could not precede
Christ's Passion and Resurrection, " because our
death could not be destroyed but by the Passion
of the Lord, nor life be restored without His
Resurrection " (De B. xi.). This may be met by
the parallel of the institution of the Eucharist,
and by the absolutions given by our Lord before
His death. Augustine believed that this pre
liminary Baptism really "cleansed." "The
disciples supplied the ministry of the body, He
afforded the aid of His majesty" (In Joan. t.
xv. 3), Thomas Aquinas says that it received
efficacy from tho Passion beforehand as did the
sacrifices of the Law, but in a greater degree
because it had direct virtue from Christ Himself
(in. ch. lxvi. 2). Some consider that the recon
ciliation subsequently attached to Christian
Baptism was bestowed on the Apostles by the
breath of our Lord after the Resurrection (Cyr.
Hieros. Cat. xvii. 12 ; Amb. In Ps. cxviii.), or
by their first Communion (Puller, Grace of Con
firmation, p. 18). But it seems more simple to
suppose that this early Baptism of Christ was
the true Baptism of the Gospel, its full effects
being latent until the consummation of the acts
of redemption. This is the opinion of several
among the Fathers and Schoolmen (Aug. Ep.
cclxv., De Div. Quaest. Ixii. ; P. Lomb.iv. ch. iii.;
Hugo S. Vict. De Sac. n. ch. vi. 4). Peter Lombard
even conjectured that the disciples baptized in
the Name of the Trinity, but this is improbable.
3. Mystical writers have always been ready
to see a' reference to Baptism wherever water is
spoken of in connexion with our Lord. "As
often as water alone is mentioned in the sacred
Scriptures," says St. Cyprian, "Baptism is
alluded to " (Ep. lxiii. 5). The most obvious
of the symbolic types in the N. T. are the
miracles wrought at the pools of Bethesda and
Siloam. Others, like the walking of St. Peter
on the water to Christ, are only adapted for
allegorical meditation. The parallel of drinking
so little suits the administration of Baptism that
it may be questioned whether the living water
of John iv. 10-14 can be strictly applied to it.
At any rate such circumstances formed no part
of the direct preparation for the ministry of

BAPTISM

BAPTISM

347

Baptism. There is, however, one typical event
which stands on a, different footing. The flow
of blood and water from the side of Christ has
received a sacramental interpretation in almost
every liturgy and from almost every com
mentator of consideration. A few take it ex
clusively of Baptism, the blood and the water
symbolising either the two Baptisms of martyr
dom and of water (Tert. De Pud. xxii., De B.
xvi. ; Jer. Ep. lxix. 6 ; Cyr. Hieros. Cat. iii. 10),
or the union of Baptism with the Passion (Aug.
Cont. Faust, xii. 16 ; cp. Amb. De Myst 20).
The commoner and probably better application
is to the two great Sacraments. Our Lord came,
St. John says, " by water and blood " (1 John
v. 6). From His body on the cross there flowed
out, in something more than mere symbol, the
life-giving stream of the Sacraments whereby He
ever cometh anew to His people (see Pusey,
Doct of Bapt. pp. 293-301 ; Westcott, St. John,
add. note on xix. 34).
4. The final commission to baptize was for
mally given to the Apostles after the Resurrec
tion, in the words : " All power is given unto Me
in heaven and iu earth. Go ye [therefore], and
make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I commanded you : and, Io, I
am with you alway, even unto the end of the
world " (Matt, xxviii. 18-20, R. V.). The au
thority (i£ovtrta) which our blessed Lord had
received as Man He committed to them : yet,
by virtue of His abiding Presence with them,
He could still throughout be the one Baptizer.
5. The descent of the Holy Ghost on the Day
of Pentecost completed the institution. Before
executing their commission the Apostles had to
wait " for the promise of the Father ; " " for,"
our Lord said, " John truly baptized with water ;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost
not many days hence " (Acts i. 4, 5). These
words may be taken to mean that the full effects
of whatever Baptism they had already received
awaited their consummation through the advent
of the Spirit, or that the Pentecostal outpouring
by itself conveyed to the Apostles the whole
baptismal gift. Either way they demonstrate
that the Baptism of Christ was not entirely
imparted till the Day of Pentecost. Then St.
Peter was able to promulgate it as the condition
of Christianity. The old Law had passed away,
and grace and truth had come by Jesus Christ.
VI. Doctrine of Baptism in N. T. — Like all
other great doctrines, its revelation was gradual.
Prepared for by type and prophecy, by the
introductory baptisms of St. John and the dis
ciples, the full extent of its meaning is only
developed by degrees in the Books of the N. T.
The passages in the Gospels and Epistles which
treat of it explicitly are sufficiently limited to
be passed brierly in review.
1. The first thought is that of regeneration.
Our Lord says, " Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God," and He ex
plained this birth to be " of water and [of] the
Spirit," e'| SSaros Kai Tlveiparos (John iii. 3, 5).
The Fathers from Justin Martyr downwards, and
every liturgy of Christendom, unhesitatingly
apply the words to Baptism, without allusion to
any alternative interpretation. In truth none
is possible. Calvin, the first opponent of bap

tismal regeneration, was perhaps also the firs
to dispute the application of the text to Baptism.
He maintained that to be born of water and the
Spirit meant in fact to be born only of the
Spirit, acting upon the soul for its purification
as water acts upon the body (Inst. iv. ch. xvi. 25).
Somewhat similarly the schools of thought
represented by such men as Zwingli, Grotius,
Limborch, Socinus and Cartwright, have taught
that the water stands as a mere figure of the
Spirit's operation. This not only contradicts
the unanimous opinion of the Church, but does
violence to the language of Holy Scripture. No
one intending to convey the idea that the
"water" was figurative would mention it
before "the Spirit," and connect the two as
parallel elements of birth. The being " born of
water and the Spirit" is plainly one operation,
wrought by two distinct, yet inseparable, means.
Apart from opposition to the whole doctrine
of Sacraments, the difficulty which some in
modern times have felt in applying regeneration
to Baptism has come partly from misusing the
term. Since spirituality is the proper sequel to
regeneration, people living spiritual lives have
sometimes, even in early writings, been called
regenerate, and the unspiritual unregenerate.
But this is not the strict and accurate sense of
the word. " Regeneration," says Bishop Bethell,
"though it requires certain previous qualifica
tions in those who are capable of possessing
them, is entirely the work of Christ and the
Holy Spirit: a spiritual change in which the
principle of self-action implanted in man bears
no part." It "is a single act of God's grace, con
veyed over to us at a determinate time, and in
a form specially appointed by Christ " (Doct. of
Reg. pp. 25, 153). In its own sphere it is as real
a birth as the natural birth is in the material
order. Nowhere is a metaphorical birth, or a
mere instrumental agency, spoken of as that of
(iK) which we are born. St. Peter says we are
" born again of (iK) incorruptible seed by (Sib.)
the word of God " (1 Pet. i. 23) ; St. Paul, " I
have begotten you through (Std) the Gospel "
(1 Cor. iv. 15) ; St. James, " Of His own will
begat He us with the word (Adyu) of truth "
(i. 18). But we are born of (iK) water and the
Spirit as we are born of (iK) God, and on our
fleshly side of (iK) the flesh (John i. 13 ; iii. 6).
This birth is avuBev. St. Chrysostom men
tions that in his day there were already the two
interpretations, " from above," and " anew."
The use of the adverb elsewhere (John iii. 31,
xix. 11, 23 ; cp. Jas. iii. 15, 17, and LXX.) is
in favour of the first, which is adopted by most
Greek commentators beginning with Origen,
and by some Versions and later writers. The
other is favoured by most recent critics, and has
on its side very early tradition. Justin Martyr
quotes the words as tiv pi) dvvayevvnBTJTe (Ap.
i. 61). It is not of importance which is adopted.
When the context is regarded, it will be seen
that either expression implies the other.
Our Lord forewarns men that this spiritual
birth will baffle human calculation, even as the
whole problem of the coming and going of the
wind does. Yet more must it be beyond the
reach of his understanding. St. Chrysostom, in
a beautiful passage, points out how incapable
we are of explaining material birth, or the
growth of plants ; and how, if these visible things

348

BAPTISM

are beyond us, we must expect mysteries in
those which are spiritual and invisible. We
must, then, fall back upon faith in God's word.
" That which called the things that were not
into existence may well be trusted when it
speaks of their nature. What then says it ?
That what is effected is a generation. -If any
ask, How ? Stop his mouth with the declaration
of God, which is the strongest and plainest
proof" (In Joan. Hom. xxv. 1, 2).
2. The commission to the Church to baptize
into the Name of the Trinity (Matt, xxviii. 19)
was really another step in the development of
regeneration. The " Name " cannot mean, as
some would say, the faith, or obedience, or obli
gations, involved in the doctrine of the Trinity.
The " Name " of God in Holy Scripture is an
objective title for God Himself. Nor should a
less force be given to els than is expressed by
" into " (cp. Rom. vi. 3 ; 1 Cor. xii. 13 ; Gal.
iii. 27). It is true that it cannot strictly bear
this meaning in the passage where St. Paul
speaks ofthe Israelites as "baptized els Moses"
<1 Cor. x. 2), and the Syriac Version, Beza,
Calvin, and others paraphrase it there as " by
the hand of." But Chrysostom's explanation is
no doubt correct, that the word is used there
inexactly, in order " to bring the type near the
truth," by using "the terms of the truth even
in the type " (In 1 Cor. Hom. xxiii. 3). There
is no reason for evading a rendering which gives
the best, the simplest, and most natural sense.
Birth is an introduction into a new sphere of
life. That sphere, through regeneration, is the
Blessed Trinity. " He committeth to His dis
ciples," says Irenaeus, " the power of regeneration
into God " (Adv. Haeres. in. xvii.). Even Stier
-says, " There is a translation into communion of
life with the Father, Son, and Spirit in this
dipping into the Name: the baptized become
translated into the powers and nature of God "
(Words of Jesus, on Matt, xxviii.). This is
what man required. Sin had separated him
from communion with God. By Baptism he is
born again into the beginnings of that restored
life. The commission, then, prescribes not
merely the formula which the minister was to
use, but the operation which was to be effected
by the act of Baptism. Patristic comment fully
supports this view of the text.
3. Our Lord affixed salvation to Baptism :
"He that believeth and is baptized shal) be
saved " (Mark xvi. 16). The truth that re
generation is birth mto God at once explains
this declaration. If a man emerges through
Baptism into union with God, he thereby obtains
salvation ; and this none the less because the
new life is immature at first, and may decay or
be strangled during its probation. The assertion
is not altered by the absence of any mention of
Baptism in the other section of the verse : " He
that believeth not shall be damned." The
reasons for the omission may be that the un
believer would naturally remain unbaptized or
would be baptized to no profit ; that unbelief
involves condemnation to the baptized ; and that
our Lord would not imply anything as to the
condemnation of those who have never had the
opportunity of Baptism. The best commentary
on the passage is the story of the Philippian
jailor. When he asked what he must do to be
saved, he was told, " Believe on the Lord Jesus

BAPTISM
Christ, and thou shalt be saved." All turned
on faith, yet what that required is shown when
it is added that he " was baptized, he and all
his, straightway " (Acts xvi. 30-33).
In Tit. iii. 5 regeneration and salvation are
directly connected : " He saved us by the wash
ing of regeneration (Sid Aovrpov iraAiyyevetrlas),
and renewing of the Holy Ghost." The "laver
of regeneration " so distinctly points to Baptism
that even Calvin would not dispute the allusion,
and few have sought for any other interpretation,
The passage teaches that Baptism conveys an
objective grace which is "not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy." It is a gift of God whereby we
are saved through a new birth.
St. Peter states the same truth when he says,
"Baptism doth now save us" (1 Pet. iii. 21).
He draws a contrast between its efficacy to those
who receive it with " a good conscience," and
the insufficiency of the Mosaic purifications,
which were only " the putting away ofthe filth
of the flesh." The figure of Noah's salvation
helps us to understand the sense in which Baptism
can be said itself to save us. Noah's safety was
contingent on his faithful abiding in the Ark,
and ours on our fidelity to God in His Church.
4. Cleansing from sin is a requisite condition
of communion with God, and therefore the full
doctrine of regeneration necessitates that Baptism
should also be the removal of sin. Remission of
sin held a primary position in the ministry of
the Apostles (Luke xxiv. 47 ; John xx. 23), and
it was the first characteristic which they claimed
for the laver of regeneration. On the Day of
Pentecost St. Peter cried, "Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins." So might
they " save " themselves from " this untoward
generation" (Acts ii. 38, 40). "Remission ot
sins " was the climax of his address to Cornelius
and his party, and their Baptism followed im
mediately (x. 43, 48). The 53rd chapter of
Isaiah, which led the eunuch to ask to be
baptized when St. Philip had expounded its
meaning (viii. 32-36), referred above all else to
the forgiveness of sin. Ananias' exhortation to
Saul was, "Arise, and be baptized, and wash
away thy sins " (xxii. 16). The Epistles dwell
equally on the cleansing virtue of Baptism. In
the Epistle to the Hebrews the approach to the
" holiest " in the New Covenant is contrasted
with the approach to its type in the Old. That
was through repeated sacrifices and with "divers
washings " (Statpdpois Baimo-poTs, ix. 10) ; this
through the one sacrifice, " having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies
washed with pure water " (x. 22). The internal
remission is here simultaneous with the external
ablution. Scarce any dispute that the words
refer to Baptism. To the Corinthians St. Paul
writes, evidently of their Baptism, " Ye were
washed, ye were sanctified, ye were justified "
(1 Cor. vi. 11). To the Ephesians he makes
its cleansing grace a reason for our Lord's re
demptive work : " Christ also loved the Church
and gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
word " (t$ Aou-rpp tov SSaros iv ^paTi, v. 25,
26). Unsacramental critics scarcely contest the
reference to Baptism. They are mainly content
with wresting "the word" as far as — :

BAPTISM
from its connexion with the laver, and with
making it mean the word preached, so as to
attribute the cleansing to teaching rather than
to Baptism (Alford, in loco ; cp. Calvin, Inst. iv.
ch. xiv. 4). One must object to such a violent
dislocation of the sentence, and to such an inter
pretation of piipa, which never is used in Holy
Scripture, or could suitably be used, of revelation
or of a sermon. The Greek Fathers, and most
of the Latin, understood it in this place of the
baptismal formula. This seems to be the sense
of St. Augustine's oft-quoted passage : " The
word cleanseth also in the water. Take away
the word, and what is water but water ? The
word is added to the element, and it becomes a
Sacrament " (In Joan. t. Ixxx. 3).
Luther allowed that Baptism remits sin, but
only in a modified sense. He did not allow that
it took sins away, The yet more unorthodox
school of Calvin was obliged by its tenets to
minimise the sense of remission almost further
(Inst. IV. ch. xv. 10, 11 ; Antid. Sess. vi.). Holy
Scripture, however, draws no distinction between
remission and taking away. Least of all could
such a distinction find a place in regard to
Baptism. A remission which did not remove
the sin would be no veritable cleansing. The
enemies of Israel were left behind drowned in
the sea. No doubt the " infection of nature "
may remain, but the sin itself that is remitted
is actually taken away, and it is thus that the
sinner becomes cleansed.
5. Immediately after speaking to the Ephesians
of the cleansing of the Church by water, St. Paul
proceeds to identify the Church with the Body
of Christ (v. 28-32). The bride being one with
the Bridegroom, Baptism into the Church is in
corporation into Christ. " By one Spirit we are
all baptized into one body," and that body is
Christ (1 Cor. xii. 12, 13). "As many of you
as have been baptized into Christ, have put on
Christ . . Ye are all one in Christ Jesus "
(Gal. iii. 27, 28). The expression, to be "in
Christ," is common with St. Paul. It were
unnatural, as an habitual expression, unless it
were to have its simple, natural meaning. "As
we are in Adam," says Dr. Pusey, " not merely
by the imputation of Adam's sin, but by an actual
community of a corrupt nature ... so, on tbe
other hand, are we in Christ, not merely by
the imputation of His righteousness, but by an
actual, real, spiritual origin from Him, not
physical, but still as real as our descent from
Adam " (Doct. of Bapt pp. 113-117). And this,
St. Paul says, is accomplished by Baptism. He
does not mention the means every time he
alludesto the result ; but, since he has distinctly
stated that Baptism is the method whereby we
are made members of Christ, every text in which
he speaks of our being " m Christ " is a separate
testimony to the effect of the Sacrament. And
in this effect lies the whole kernel of baptismal
doctrine. Membership in Christ, however in
explicable it may be in itself, explains how it is
that Baptism brings remission of sin, the gift of
salvation, and regeneration into God, for from
Him flow all the medicines of the Passion, and
in Him is to be found the link which binds man
into union with God.
Baptism is " a death unto sin and a new birth
unto righteousness," because incorporation into
Christ makes us partakers in His Death and

BAPTISM

349

Resurrection. " Know ye not, that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into His Death ? Therefore wc arc
buried with (trvveTdtp-npev) Hun by Baptism mtu
death : that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory ofthe Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life " (Rum. vi.
3, 4). "In Whom also ye are circumcised with
the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in
Baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of God, Who
hath raised Him from the dead " (Col. ii. 11, 12).
The contexts show that the language is not
simply figurative. " We are baptized," says
Tertullian, " into the Passion of the Lord " (De
B. xix.). "As though co-interred with Him in
that element of the world," writes St. Ambrose,
of the baptismal water, " having died to sin,
thou wert raised again to life eternal " (De
Myst 21). " When we are buried with Him
in His baptism," says St. Hilary, "we must
needs die as to the old man, because the re
generation of Baptism is the power of the Re
surrection " (De Trin. ix. 9). Such passages do
justice to the moral side of the Death and
Resurrection. The grace of Baptism is not
irresistible. As the Death of Christ was real,
so, St. Chrysostom points out, must ours be to
sin : " our part must be contributed " (In Rom.
Hom. x.). To Simon Magus Baptism was the
reverse of a blessing. But, because the life can
be quenched, it is not the less truly imparted.
In Baptism we are engrafted into Him Who says,
"I am the life" (John xiv. 6). "God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son : he that hath the Son hath life " (1 John v.
11, 12). The first influx of that life is through
Baptism. The faithful may say with St. Paul,
because they are baptized, "I live; yet not I,
but Christ 'liveth in me " (Gal. ii. 20). It is
this which makes the responsibility of a Chris
tian. Sin in the baptized is an attack upon the
life of Christ within.
6. The relation of the baptized to Christ
throws light upon the difficult text: "Else
what shall they do which are baptized for the
dead, if the dead rise not at all ? Why are they
then baptized for the dead ? " ('Etrel ri ttoit)-
aovtriv ol BaTTTtCdpevoi uirep tuv veKpuv, ei SAus
veKpol ouk iyeipovrai i t[ Kai BaTniCovTat vrrep
auruv , 1 Cor. xv. 29.) The whole subject of
the chapter is the resurrection of the dead.
" In Christ shall all be made alive " (v. 22). We
are " in Christ " by virtue of our Baptism.
Therefore Baptism is not only for the spiritual
resurrection of the soul, but also, like the other
great Sacrament (John vi. 54), for the resurrec
tion of the body. All persons are baptized with
reference to the dead, who are baptized in the
belief that Baptism will affect their own re
surrection. We do not know the precise cir
cumstances which were giving prominence to
the doctrine. But the offence of Christianity
was the preaching of " Jesus and the resurrec
tion," and evidently it was fqr this that disciples
were at the moment "in jeopardy every hour."
St. Paul argues that the peril need not be in
curred if the doctrine could be dropped. But
that very doctrine, because it placed Christians
in danger, was apparently impelling converts to

350

BAPTISM

hasten to Baptism, lest they should be martyred
ere they received that union with Christ which
would be the pledge oftheir resurrection. Thus
they were baptized " for the dead," that is,
as St. Chrysostom says, for their bodies, that
the "dead body may no longer remain dead,"
since by Baptism it acquires the power of resur
rection (In 1 Cor. Hom. xxiii. 3, xl. 2). In the
main this represents the general interpretation
of antiquity, however variously and sometimes
loosely expressed, aud it is substantially accepted
by many able modern commentators.
Another explanation is that the text refers to
Baptism by proxy. The Cerinthians, Marcionites
and others, occasionally baptized a living person
on behalf of a dead one (Tert. De Res. Gam.
xlviii. ; Adv. Marcion. v. ch. x. ; Chrys. In 1 Cor.
Hom. xl.). It is said that St. Paul alludes to
such a custom as a proof that the resurrection
was believed in fact even where it was denied in
word. There is no evidence that the practice
existed so early : it probably originated in a
misunderstanding of this very text. Moreover,
to suppose that St. Paul could bring into evi
dence a custom which he must have denounced
as superstitious and reprehensible, to say the
least, does scant justice to the loftiness of his
reasoning in this chapter. St. Ambrose (ad loc)
is quoted in favour of the view, but the work
referred to is probably not his, and the comment
is capable of another meaning. It is upheld by
Anseltn and Bede, but its chief supporters are
among much later writers.
Numbers of other interpretations have been
hazarded, but all do violence either to the
language or the context. Such are those in
which " the dead " are made to mean dead works,
those dead in sin, a dead Saviour, or some notable
worthies ; those in which Baptism is taken for
ablution after touching a corpse, for martyrdom,
or for the tears of the living for souls in pur
gatory ; and those in which the elastic word
B7rep is juggled with so as to get such senses as
" over the sepulchres of martyrs," " because of
the examples of martyrs," " though so many
martyrs have died," " to fill up the places of
martyrs," "to complete the irA-iipwpa," "as a
simile of death and resurrection," " at the point
of death," and a host of others. For lists of
these views and their authorities, see Jacobi, in
Kitto's Dict. of Bib. Lit. ». v. Baptism; Suicer's
Thesaurus, s. v. Bd-xTitrpa ; Poole's Synopsis ;
Horsley, in Newbery House Mag., Jan. and
March 1890. But the names quoted for each
interpretation must be received with caution,
since it is almost impossible to classify them
accurately. 7. The Holy Ghost has a special office in
regard to Baptism. " By one Spirit we are all
baptized." Baptism is " of water and the Spirit."
" That which is born of the Spirit is spirit."
"Clearly, therefore," says St. Ambrose, "the
Holy Spirit is the Author of spiritual regenera
tion " (De Sp. S. II. vii.). Tertullian compares
the Spirit's brooding over the waters at first to
His present abiding " upon the waters as the
Baptizer " (De B. iv.). " As the water poured
into the kettle," says Cyril of Alexandria,
" being associated with the vigour of fire, re
ceives in itself the impress of its efficacy, so,
through the indwelling ofthe Spirit, the sensible
water is trans-elemented to a divine and ineffable

BAPTISM
efficacy, and sanctifieth those on whom it comes "
(In Joan. iii.).
The operation of the Holy Ghost is expressed
in some passages as that of sealing (2 Cor. i. 22 ;
Eph. i. 13, iv. 30). St. Paul speaks of circum
cision as a seal of the covenant with God under
the Law (Rom. iv. 11) ; but something more
than this is to be understood of the seal of
Baptism. It is not a mere witness of covenant,
but an absolute stamping with the impress of
God. And the Holy Spirit is not simply the
agent by Whom this stamping is done. He
stamps His own impress, because the impress of
the Trinity must necessarily be the impress of
each Person. Consequently Baptism establishes
a real connexion with the Holy Ghost, and a
share in His grace. It would not be true to
credit those who are only baptized with all the
gifts of the Spirit spoken of in the N. T. as
belonging to Christians, because these include
some that are proper to Confirmation. But
neither in the Fathers nor in the liturgies is
the " seal " a title applied to the Confirmation-
aspect of Baptism alone. They constantly
associate it particularly with the water (Hermas,
in. ix. 16 ; Amb. De Sp. S. I. vi. ; Cyr. Hieros.
Cat. i. 2, &c. See Pusey, Scrip. Views, Note E).
The texts therefore indicate a personal relation
ship of the Holy Spirit to the baptized.
8. The necessity of Baptism is grounded on
the effects attributed to it, and more expressly
on our Lord's words to Nicodemus, and on the
terms of the baptismal commission. The Pela
gians denied its necessity for the remission of
original sin (Aug. De Haeres. lxxxviii.), and some
of the 16th-century Reformers followed in their
wake, denying that it was necessary for .the
children of Christian parents (Zwing. De vera et
falsa Relig. ; Calvin, Inst. IV. ch. xvi. 15, 24, &c).
They argued from the text where St. Paul speaks
of children as " holy " when only one parent is
a believer (1 Cor. vii. 14). It is much disputed
what " holy " means here. It has been taken
as equivalent to legitimate, as describing their
Christian education, or as designating their fit
ness for Baptism (Tert. De Anima, xxxix. ; Aug.
De Bapt. Parv. n. xxvi., in. xii.). But if it is
understood more naturally as indicating a real
difference in spiritual condition between those
born within Christianity and those without, it
does not abrogate the need for Baptism. Even
among the Jews, whose inherited birthright
within the covenant was distinctly recognised,
circumcision was required.
St. Augustine took a hard line as to the
damnation of the unbaptized (De Bapt. Parv. I.
xvi.-xviii. ; Ep. clxvi. ; De Anima, I. ix.) , yet
even he allowed that there must be exceptions,
when Baptism was unprocurable, as in the case
of the penitent thief (De B. IV. xxiv. 31 ; De
Anima, in. ix.). Scriptural colour has been
found for the Baptism of desire in the spirit of
Ezek. xviii., and for the Baptism of blood in the
words to the sons of Zebedee (Matt. xx. 22), and
in the flow of blood as well as water from the
side of Christ. Concerning "them that are
without," the unapproached heathen, we have
no right to judge (1 Cor. v. 12, 13). God can
of course work without Baptism that which He
is ordinarily pleased to give by it. But the
Bible gives no hint that it can be dispensed
with where it may be had. It was required

BAPTISM
even in such exceptional cases as those of St.
Paul and Cornelius ; and our Lord's words must
stand as the guiding rule of the Church : " Except
a man be born of water and the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
9. Baptism, being into the "one body " of the
"one Lord," by the "one Spirit," regene
rating man into the "one God," is also
itself " one " (Eph. iv 4-6). This unity con
sists, first, in the contrast to the " divers wash
ings " of the Law ; secondly, in its unique
effects peculiar to itself; thirdly,. in the neces
sity of certain essentials of administration ; and,
fourthly, in the impossibility of its iteration.
This last point lends great awfulness to the
Sacrament. " The bath," says St. Cyril, " cannot
be received twice or thrice ; else might a man
say, Though I fail once, I shall go right a second
time ; whereas if thou failest once, there is no
setting right, for there is one Lord, and one
Faith, and one Baptism " (Cat. Praef. 7). It is
in this sense that many understand the text :
"It is impossible for those who were once
enlightened, ... if they shall fall away, to renew
them again unto repentance " (Heb. vi. 4-6). The
Syr Vers, reads " baptized " for " enlightened,"
and the latter word was at least among the
Fathers a familiar synonym for Baptism. Holy
Scripture tells of lapses, but it never records a
re-baptism. The simile of birth seems to forbid
it. A child cannot enter a second time into its
mother's womb and be born. The life may
grow faint and diseased, and may be renewed by
penitence and absolution ; but if it is once really
lost, it cannot be recovered.
VII. Administration. — 1. Subjects. 2. Dis
positions. 3. Matter. 4. Formula. 5. Minister.
6. Eites and Ceremonies.
1. The terms of the commission are the
widest possible. "All nations" were to be
baptized, without restriction to race.
The command is so explicit that it would
need some very clear evidence to prove that
there was to be a limitation as to age. The
only argument of weight against Baptism of
infants is that they are incapable of qualifying
themselves by active dispositions. The absence
of these in adults sets a positive bar against the
reception of grace ; but unconscious babes can
offer no impediment to the work of God, and
therefore active dispositions are unnecessary for
them until they are old enough to acquire them.
St. Augustine points out that in Abraham faith
preceded the sign, but in Isaac the sign preceded
the faith (De B. iv. ch. xxiv.). The disposition
is not ignored because the order is reversed.
Some of the Anabaptists argued against infant
Baptism from the age of Christ when He was
baptized. Gregory of Nazianzus had forestalled
their objection centuries before by showing that
the circumstances and nature of His Baptism
were too dissimilar from ours to afford any
precedent as to details (Orat. xl.). If 1 Cor.
vii. 14 bears on the subject at all, it can only be
adduced as a reason against baptizing the
children of heathen, while under their parents'
charge, and against their parents' will.
The positive arguments for infant Baptism are
many. i. Children inherit original sin ; Baptism
is its appointed remedy (Eom. v.-vi.). Unless
children are incapable of salvation at all, it is
fitting that they should early receive the

BAPTISM

351

medicine of their healing, ii. The simile of
birth, used by our Lord, suggests that Baptism
is peculiarly appropriate to infants, who are
thus born spiritually into the kingdom of God,
as physically into the world, of no active will
of their own. iii. The children of Jews were
admitted into the covenant as infants, and it
would be unreasonable that the children of
Christians should be excluded because the New
Covenant is greater than the Old. The covenant
itself is " an everlasting covenant " (Gen.
xvii. 13), but the sign has changed with its
development. The analogy was thought so
exact that in the 3rd century some urged that
Baptism ought to take place on the eighth day
(Cyp. Ep. ixiv. 2). iv. The Eabbis baptized
the children of proselytes with their parents, on
the ground " that what is done by their fathers
redounds to their good " (Talmud, Tract.
Chet. i.). v Our Lord blessed infants (BpetpT)),
and said, "Suffer little children to come unto
Me, and forbid them not : for of such is the
kingdom of God" (Luke xviii. 16). He could
not have spoken thus if they were incapable of
being admitted into it (John iii. 5). vi. St.
Peter said to the Jews, " The promise is unto you,
and to your children ; " and, in the light of the
prophecy of Joel, it is at least more likely that
he meant actual children than merely posterity
(Acts ii. 17, 39). vii. Children are addressed in
the Epistles as members of the Church (Eph.
vi. 1 ; Col. iii. 20), without any hint that this
membership began only at years of discretion.
viii. The consistent usage of the Church is,
however, the strongest evidence of the will of
Christ. " The Church received it," says Origen,
" as a tradition from the Apostles to give
Baptism to infants " (In Rom. vi.). Even Ter
tullian, who with characteristic peculiarity was
an advocate for delay, implies that this was not
the usual custom (De B. xviii.).
2. The dispositions necessary for Baptism are
Faith and Eepentance. In Holy Scripture faith
holds the more prominent place of the two.
Our Lord declared its necessity when He said,
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved" (Mark xvi. 16). It was definitely
required of the jailor (Acts xvi. 31, 33) ; and,
according to a very early tradition which crept
into some texts of the N. T., of the eunuch also
(Iren. in. xii. 8 ; [Acts viii. 37]). It is mentioned
in some form or other in close connexion with
the Baptisms on the day of Pentecost (Acts
ii. 41), at Samaria (viii. 12), of Cornelius (x. 43),
of Lydia (xvi. 14, 15), and of the Corinthians
(xviii. 8). The whole tenor of the apostolic
sermons, as well as such notices as that the
belief was in "the kingdom of God, and the
Name of Jesus Christ," or " on the Lord Jesus
Christ," show that it was not a vague general
quality of faith, but an explicit profession of
belief in definite dogmas which presently found
expression in the formal creeds of the Church.
Eepentance is not mentioned so frequently as
faith, but it is everywhere implied by the
character of the Gospel. It had given a title to
St. John's baptism as the " baptism of repent
ance ; " it was inherent in any conception of
the forgiveness of sin ; and to the first converts
it was set forth in the forefront as the one
requisite (Acts ii. 38). Indeed, faith and re
pentance practically involve each other.

352

BAPTISM

There is no indication in the N. T. that
candidates for Baptism were subjected to any
prolonged preparation, such as that which
afterwards became customary. The circum
stances of the first preaching of the Gospel were
peculiar. None were likely to accept it unless
they were too much in earnest to need the test
of a lengthy probation. Yet Holy Scripture
affords one instance which amply justifies the
precautions against hasty Baptism which the
Church afterwards adopted. Simon Magus
either received Baptism hypocritically, or else
with such insufficient faith and repentance that
he immediately fell (Acts viii. 13-24). The
circumstance is of value as an illustration of the
place which the dispositions hold in relation to
Baptism. Simon was truly baptized. "The
Church," says St. Augustine, "had herself
given birth to Simon Magus through the Sacra
ment of Baptism, and yet it was declared to him
that he had no part in the inheritance of Christ.
Did he lack anything in respect of Baptism, of
the Gospel, or of the Sacraments ? Nay, but he
was born in vain, in that he lacked charity "
(De B. I. ch. a. 14). His regeneration was barren
of spiritual life. " He was baptized," says
St. Cyril, " but he was not illuminated ; he
washed his body indeed with the water, but did
not illuminate his heart by the Spirit ; his body
truly descended and ascended, but his soul was
not buried with Christ, nor with Him raised "
(Cat. Praef. 2). But it was more than a still
born birth. The very Baptism, unworthily
received, increased his guilt. To a heathen
St. Peter would scarcely have said, " Thou art
in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of
iniquity." His sin was the worse because he
had become a Christian.
3. The matter of Baptism is water. Our
Lord mentions it specifically as necessary :
" Except a man be born of water and the Spirit "
(John iii. 5). No other element is suggested in
Holy Scripture, and it is particularly related
that this was used at sundry Baptisms (John
iii. 23; Matt. iii. 11, 16; Acts viii. 36, x. 47).
Cleansing by water is even an expression
synonymous with Baptism (Eph. v. 26 ; Heb.
x. 22). The Fathers noticed in this connexion
what a place water had in the baptismal types
and prophecies of the Bible. " If," says St. Cyril,
" anyone is anxious to know why the gift is
given through water, and not through some
other element, let him take up Holy Scripture
and he shall learn. For water is a noble thing,
and of the world's four visible elements the
most beautiful " (Cat. iii. 5). " Water alone,"
says Tertullian, "a matter ever perfect, bright,
simple, pure in its own nature, supplied a vehicle
worthy of God " (De B. iii.).
Immersion appears to have been used where
it could be had. St. John stationed himself on
the banks of the Jordan, and then at Aenon,
" because there was much water there " (John
iii. 23), which would scarcely have been neces
sary for affusion. Our Lord came up " out of
the water " after His Baptism (Matt. iii. 16).
The eunuch went down " into the water " with
St. Philip (Acts viii. 38). St. Paul's symbol of
burial and resurrection only receive their full
significance from immersion (Eom. vi. 4 ; Col. ii.
12). Such types as the Flood, and the passage
of the Red Sea, and the dipping of Naaman, also

BAPTISM
suggest it. But, if this was the ordinary
method, there is evidence that affusion or even
sprinkling sufficed. It is doubtful whether
there was any water at Jerusalem in which
the 3000 could have been immersed ; still more
so whether immersion could have been practised
in the house of Cornelius, or the prison at
Philippi. When St. Cyprian was once consulted
as to the validity of sprinkling, he referred to
Ezek. xxxvi. 25, " Then will I sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shall be clean," and to
the sprinkling of Jewish rites (Num. viii., xix.),
"whence," he says, "it is apparent that the
sprinkling of water has like force with the
saving washing " (Ep. lxix. 11, 12). Those
who insist on immersion chiefly argue from the
sense of Bdirreiv, which is not used of Baptism,
whereas the word which is used did not neces
sarily mean immersion, for the Pharisees mar
velled that our Lord had not " baptized " (iBair-
t'io-Bt)) before dinner (Luke xi. 38).
Trine immersion or affusion is of course
founded on the mention of the three Persons
of the Trinity in the baptismal commission.
4. The formula of Baptism is derived from
our Lord's direction to the Apostles to baptize
"into the Name of the Father, and ofthe Son,
and of the Holy Ghost." Zwingli maintained
that no form was necessary (De vera et falsa
Relig.), and Luther that it was enough to give or
receive it in any Name of God (De Capt. Bab.).
But the tradition of the Church is that the words
of commission impose a necessity of naming the
three Persons of the Blessed Trinity (Tert. Adv.
Prax. xxvi. ; Cyp. Ep. lxxiii. 6 ; Bas. De Sp. S.
xii.). While this declares the faith and the
sphere into which the person is regenerated, the
obligation is probably owing to a deeper reason.
Holy Scripture indicates that a special power is
involved in the solemn naming of God (Num.
vi. 27 ; Ps. xx. 1 , Acts iii. 6, &c). Origen,
writing of the formula, speaks of " the Divinity
of the power of the invocation of the adorable
Trinity " (In Joan. t. vi.). So viewed, the recita
tion of the Name becomes a ministerial act, set
ting in motion the mysterious operation of God.
In the Acts there is mention of Baptism " in
the Name of Jesus Christ " (ii. 38), " of the
Lord Jesus" (viii. 16, xix. 5), "of the Lord"
(x. 48); and the Vulgate, supported by the
Syriac, renders viii. 12, "in nomine Jesu
Christi baptizabautur." Although in none of
the passages is there any literal report of the
words said, such as that in iii. 6, they would
naturally convey the impression that the for
mula of administration contained the phrase
" in the Name of Jesus." The anonymous author
of the De Rebaptismate, in the 3rd century, so
understood them, and dwells at length on "the
power of the Name of Jesus invoked upon a
man by Baptism," defending the form as not
contrary to the commission of Christ (De Re-
bap. 6, 7). But he bears testimony himself to
the fact that the Church had not been wont so
to baptize. Some reliance has been put on a
passage in St. Ambrose, where he says it is
sufficient to name one Person, if the faith in the
Trinity is not denied thereby (De Sp. S. I. iii-) ;
but he is probably speaking of the confession of
the recipient, not of the formula. A few have
maintained the validity of the disputed form of
words (Bede, in Act. x.; Nic. I. Ep. xcvii. 104;

BAPTISM
P. Lorob. iv. 3 ; Scotus, doubtfully, iv. ch. iii. 2) ;
but the general verdict has been against it. A
pure conjecture that it was allowed for a time,
perhaps to give special honour to the despised
Name, was thrown out by some late writers
(De Lyra, in loco ; Th. Aquin. Summa, ill. lxvi. 6 ;
Lyndwood, i. tit. 7 ; De Burgo, ii. ch. iii., Hostien-
sis, in. ch. xiii. 6). Still later it has been sug
gested that the words were incorporated into the
formula as an addition, " In the Xame of the
Lord, I baptize thee," &c, or, " I baptize thee
in the Name of the Father, and of His Son Jesus
Christ," &c. (Corn, a Lap. on Eom. vi. 3 ; Trom-
belli, iv. 406). Neither is probable. If the
usual interpretation is correct, that the naming
of the Trinity was always essential, the phrases
in the Acts must be taken to mean simply that
it was " Christian " Baptism, in the formula
indicated by the Lord's commission, that is,
Baptism " into Christ " (Eom. vi. 3 ; Gal. iii.
27), or by the power of Christ (see Bingham,
XI. ch. iii. 3 ; Moberly, Great Forty Days, App.).
5. When St. John foretold the Baptism ofthe
Gospel, he spoke as though it would be ad
ministered personally by Christ Himself — " He
shall baptize you " (Matt, iii. 11). The Bap
tisms of the Incarnate ministry were, however,
by the hands of His '• disciples " (John iv. 2),
and the great commission of Baptism was given to
men. St. Augustine frequently insists that the
fact which the Baptist was to learn from the
descent of the Holy Ghost upon Christ (John l.
33) was " that the power of the Lord's Baptism
was not to pass from the Lord to any man,
while its ministration plainly would do so " (In
Joan. t. v. 11 ; De B. ill. ch. iv. 6, vi., vn.). If
this is questionable, the truth itself was clearly
conveyed by the declaration with which our Lord
closed the baptismal commission, " Lo, I am
with you alway, even unto the end of the world "
(Matt, xxviii. 20). His Presence was pledged
to accompany those who went forth from Him
to baptize. The minister of Baptism must there
fore be the delegate of Christ, while in the
highest sense He is Himself the one Baptizer.
The recipients of the baptismal commission
were the Apostles. They were specially gathered
together, apparently alone, for the purpose of
receiving it (cp. Matt. xxvi. 32, xxviii. 7, 10;
Mark xvi. 7). Even if others were present,
which seems improbable, the terms of the com
mission would confine its reception to them,
since the authority to baptize is made a result
of that " power " which our Lord Himself re
ceived as Man, and then committed to the
Apostles (John xx. 21). It was for them to
transmit it to others as they handed on the
orders of the ministry. The sacramental cha
racter of Baptism would mark it out as an office
for the Apostles, even if the commission had not
been so explicitly conveyed to them. There
would, therefore, be no doubt that the minister
of Baptism must be an ordained representative
of Christ through the Apostles, were it not for
a widespread sanction of lay Baptism in emer
gency, with high authority, at later periods of
Church history. The result of bringing the
matter to the test of apostolic practice is un
satisfactory. It is not said who baptized the
3000 on the Day of Pentecost. There is, how
ever, no impossibility in supposing that the
Apostles baptized them all in a day; and if
BIBLE DICT.— VOL. I.

BAPTISM

353

others assisted, these at least had their direct
commission for the purpose. Hilary the Deacon
thought the Baptjsm of Cornelius and others,
apparently by the " brethren from Joppa " (Acts
x. 23, 48), a clear case of lay Baptism (Com. in
1 Cor. i. 17), but some of these " brethren " may
have received ordination. So also may who
ever baptized the disciples at Ephesus, if it was
not St. Paul (Acts xix. 5). We know nothing
of the position of Ananias, who baptized St. Paul
himself (ix. 17, 18). The Apostolical Consti
tutions say that both he and Philip the Deacon
baptized by a special Divine call (vni. 46), but
the narrative of Acts viii. seems fully to warrant
Baptism by a Deacon. St. Paul baptized some
at Corinth (1 Cor. i. 14, 16), probably St. Silas
the rest (Acts xvfii. 8), and one of them bap
tized Lydia and the jailor (xvi.). St. Paul's
assertion that he was not sent to baptize (1 Cor.
i. 17) cannot mean that, to baptize did not
belong to the apostolic office, but only that for
particular reasons he usually forbore to do it.
Lay Baptism has, therefore, no direct support
from the N. T. ; on the contrary, the evidence
points rather against it. The main controversies
on the subject lie outside a scriptural enquiry.
6. Rites and ceremonies find little place in
the N. T., owing to the character of the Books
and the circumstances of primitive Christianity.
There could have been little ritual at the Bap
tisms on the Day of Pentecost, by the roadside
to Gaza, or in the prison at Philippi. Subse
quent rites were built upon scriptural expres
sions, but the expressions themselves can rarely
be indicative of actual ceremonial in use by the
Apostles. Some have understood St. Timothy's
" good profession before many witnesses "
(1 Tim. vi. 12) to have been a baptismal pro
fession of faith (Chrys., Theoph., Amb., &c. ad
loc), and "the interrogation of a good con
science before God " (1 Pet. iii. 21) to allude to
questions and pledges at Baptism (Waterland,
Wordsworth, De Wette, &c). Sponsors were
common among the Jews, according to the
Rabbis (Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Matt, iii.), and
perhaps the Christians adopted the usage at
once from them. The unction spoken of (2 Cor.
i. 21 ; 1 John ii. 20, 27) was probably a real
anointing with oil, but rather that belonging
to Confirmation than the baptismal anointing
of the early centuries. The " seal " (2 Cor. i. 22 ;
Eph. i. 13, iv. 30; cp. Rev. vii. 3) is sugges
tive of the sign of the Cross, but does not prove
its actual use as a baptismal ceremony. Other
ritual was plainly borrowed from Scripture
language. The exorcisms were taken from our
Lord's casting out of devils (Matt. xvii. 18).
The unclothing represented the putting off the
old man with the deeds of sin (Eph. iv. 22 ;
Col. iii. 9 ; see Cyr. Hieros. Cat. xx. 2 ; Chrys.
In Col. Hom. vi. 4). The chrisom robe sym
bolised the " new man " (Eph. iv. 24), and
the putting on of Christ (Gal. iii. 27). Lights
signified the illumination of Baptism (Heb. vi. 4,
x. 32). The salt was the symbol of holy life,
from our Lord's words, " Ye are the salt of the
earth " (Matt. v. 13; Mark ix. 49, 50). The milk
and honey pointed to the inheritance in the land
of promise (Ex. iii. 8). The special times for
Baptism were founded upon Scripture symbolism
and precedents : Easter because Baptism is into
the Death and Resurrection of Christ ; Pentecost
2 A

354

BAE-ABBAS

because of the descent of the Holy Ghost, and
because the first Baptisms took place at that
Feast (Tert. De B. xix.). The eves of these
days were selected, because the Sabbath spoke
of eternal rest in God's inheritance (Honorius,
Gemma Animae, in. ch. cxvi.).
VIII. Literature. — Of Greek Fathers there are
Basil, De Spiritu Sancto (the De Bapt. under
his name is not his, and is of secondary value) ;
Cyril of Jerus., Catechesis ; Gregory Naz., Oratio
tie Bapt. Christi; Chrysostom, Homilies; John
Damascene, De Fide Orth. iv. ix. Latin Fathers :
Tertullian's and Pacian's De Bapt. ; Ambrose,
De Sacramentis; Augustine, De Bapt. and De
Bapt. Parvulorum. Migne's Pat. Lat. has an
admirable classified index, No. xovi., on Bap
tism. Pusey's Scriptural Views of Baptism
(originally Tracts for Times, Nos. 67 to 69, en
larged as Doctrine of Baptism) is invaluable for
patristic comments on Scripture. The Commen
taries of Corn, a Lapide and Wordsworth are
both largely patristic. See also Suicer, The
saurus. Of Schoolmen, Th. Aquinas, Summa, in.
chs. xxxviii., xxxix., lxvi.— lxxi., is important. For
extreme Protestant views see Zwingli, De vera
et falsa Religione ; Calvin, Inst. iv. chs. xv., xvi. ;
Luther, De Capt Bab. In spite of unorthodox
opinions, there is much of value in the Loci Com
munes of Chemnitz and Gerhard (Lutheran) ;
Voss (Calvinistic), De Bapt. ; Limborch (Ar-
minian), Theol. Christi. Bellarmin, De Bapt.,
on the other side, is good. Of English works,
those by strongly anti-sacramental writers are
only worth consulting for historical purposes.
The views taken may be seen in Bp. Hopkins,
Doct. of Sacraments and Nature of Regeneration ;
Faber, Prim. Doctrine of Regeneration ; J. Scott,
Inquiry into effect of Baptism, in answer to
Mant. Among orthodox treatises are Barrow,
Of Baptism; Leslie, Water Baptism; Mant,
Bampton Lect. (reprinted as Two Tracts, etc.) ;
Waterland, Regeneration ; Bethell, Doct. of Re
generation; Mozley, Review of the Baptismal
Controversy; Sadler, Second Adam and New
Birth and Sacrament of Responsibility. Other
works, dealing however with much outside
Scripture, are Hooker, V. chs. lviii.-lxiv. ; Trom-
belli, De Sac. torn. i.-v. ; Macaire (Makary),
Tlieol. Dog. iv. ch. iii.; Maskell, Holy Baptism;
Grueber, Sacrament of Regeneration. On In
fant Baptism, Wall's History, with Gale's Re
flections in reply ; Bp. J. Taylor, Liberty of
Prophesying, xviii., and Life of Christ, I. ch. ix.
6 ; Thorndike, Laws of Church, vi.-vfii. On the
Minister, Laurence, Lay Baptism Invalid;
Waterland and Kellsall, Letters ; Elwin, Minis
ter of Baptism. [W. E.]
BAB-ABBAS (Bapa;3j8as ; Barabbas ; Aram.
83K")3, Bar- Abba, son of the father, i.e. of the
teacher or master, cp. Samuel Bar-Abba and
Nathan Bar-Abba, quoted by Lightfoot, Hor.
Heb. in loco). He is described as a notable
prisoner, and as guilty of sedition and murder in
Jerusalem itself. He is also called a robber
(Atio-tt)s, John xviii. 40) ; a term which gives
another side of the life of the insurrectionary
leaders common in Judaea under the Roman
government. The term "robbers" is used by
Josephus to describe the Zealots (B. J. iv. 3, §4).
Nothing is known of Barabbas and his sedition
from other sources. It is conjectured that the

BABAK
two robbers crucified with Jesus may have been
two of Barabbas' comrades in insurrection
(trvtSTatnaaTaC) mentioned (Mark xv. 7) as in
prison at the time. A remarkable reading gives
Barabbas the additional name of Jesus, Barabbas
thus becoming merely a patronymic. In Matt.
xxvii. 16, 17 " Jesus " is inserted before "Bar
abbas " by a few authorities. But " it is
against all analogy that a true reading should
be preserved in no better Greek MSS. than the
common origin of the cursives 1, 118, 209, and
in none of the ancient Versions." The most
probable source of the reading is to be found in
the repetition of IN from Y MIN (Tregelles) in
v. 17, in which verse alone Origen found it.
His doubtful approval (Comm. Matt, in loc.) has
given it notoriety, and Trench (Studies on Gos
pels,2 p. 300), Keim, and others have uncritically
followed Origen. See Tisch. Ed. Crit. viii. ¦
and Westcott and Hort, Greek Testament, notes
on select readings. [E. R. B.]
BA'EAOHEL (^=13, Ges. = God blesses,
Renan [' Les Noms Theophores,' &c. in REJ. v.
172]=Ae who blesses God ; Bapaxir)A; Barachel),
" the Buzite," father of Elihu (Job xxxii. 2, 6).
[Buz.] MV,11 compares the Phoenic. proper
name *T"I3, the Palmyrene "1137,3 and
NFDm. [F.]
BAEACHI'AH, Zech. i. 1, 7, A. V. ed. 1611,
and other early editions. [Beeechiah, 7,]
BABACHI'AS (Bapaxlas ; Barachias), Matt.
xxiii. 35. [Zachaeias.]
BA'BAK (p^S, lightning, as in Ex. xix. 16 ;
BapaK; Barac: cp. the family name of Hannibal,
Barca = " fulmen belli." The name is found
among the Phoenicians, Palmyrenes, and Sa-
baeans ; see MV.11), son of Abinoam of Kedesh
(Judg. iv. 6), a refuge-city in Mount Naph
tali. He was incited by Deborah, a prophetess
of Ephraim, to deliver Israel from the yoke of
Jabin. Jabin (" prudent ") was probably (Keil)
the dynastic name of those kings of northern
Canaan whose capital city was Hazor on Lake
Merom. Sisera, his general and procurator,
oppressed a promiscuous Gentile population
(Is. ix. 1) at Harosheth, hence called "Haro-
sheth of the Gentiles." Accompanied, at his
own express desire, by Deborah, Barak led his
rudely-armed force of 10,000 men from Naph
tali and Zebulon to an encampment on the
summit of Tabor, where the 900 iron chariots
of Jabin would be useless. The force was
assembled in small divisions so as to avoid ex
citing suspicion (such seems to be the meaning
of r\&D in Judg. iv. 6 : cp. xx. 37 ; Ex. xii. 21).
At a signal given by the prophetess, the little
army, seizing the opportunity of n providential
storm (Joseph, v. 5, § 4) and a wind that blew
in the faces of the enemy, boldly rushed down
the hill, and utterly routed the unwieldy host
of the Canaanites in tlie plain of Jezreel (Es
draelon), " the battle-field of Palestine " (Stan
ley, S. and P. p. 331; Thomson, Land and
the Book, i. 141, &c). From the prominent
mention of Taanach (Judg. v. 19) and of the
river Kishon, it is most likely that the victory
was partly due to the suddenly swollen waves

BAEBAEIAN
of that impetuous torrent (xeipdpliovs, LXX.),
particularly its western branch. The victory
was decisive: Harosheth was taken (Judg. iv.
16), Sisera murdered, and Jabin ruined. A
peace of forty years ensued, and the next danger
came from a different quarter. The victors
composed a splendid epinician ode in commemo
ration of their deliverance (Judg. v. Cp. Mil-
man, Hist, of Jews,1 i. 247, &c).
The obedience of Barak to the command of
Deborah entitled him to a place among the
heroes of faith (Heb. xi. 32). His refusal to go
unless Deborah accompanied him does not seem
to have been due to any censurable motive.
Deborah warns him that it will be said, "A
woman conquered Sisera," but he knew that her
presence would facilitate the victory. The
Israelites, like the Messenians, would be likely
to " fight the more bravely, because their seers
were present" (Pausanias, iv. 16), and Barak
was anxious for something better than his own
honour. It is difficult to decide the date of Barak. He
appears to have been a contemporary of Sham-
gar (Judg. v. 6). If so, he could not have been
so much as 178 years after Joshua, where he is
generally placed. The Bishop of Bath and Wells
supposes the narrative to be a variation of Josh.
xi. 1-12 (Genealogies, p. 228 sq. Cp. Stade,
Gesch. d. Volkes Israel, i. 178, n. 1). A great deal
may be said for this view : the names Jabin and
Hazor ; the mention of subordinate kings (Judg.
v. 19 ;"cp. Josh, xi.2 sq.) ; the general locality of
the battle ; the prominence of chariots in both
narratives, and especially the name Misrephoth-
maim (Josh. xi. 8, a spot in 'Ain Meserfe ;
see Dillmann2 in loco). Many chronological
difficulties are also thus removed; but it is
fair to add that in Stanley's opinion (S. and P.
p. 392, note) there are geographical difficulties
in the way. Keil and Edersheim (Bible History,
ii. 120) place a hundred years between the
events described in Joshua and Judges ; Eiehm
(HWB. s. n.) and Ruetschi (Herzog, BE.2 s. n.)
consider these events distinct. Cp. Ewald,
Gesch. des Volkes Israel,2 ii. p. 489, &c. ;
Lord A. Hervey Genealogies, pp. 225-246 sq.)
[Deborah.] [F. W. F.]
BAKBAEIAN ($dp$apos). Uds pr) ^EAAtjv
BdpBapos is the common Greek definition, quoted
by Serv. ad Verg. Aen. ii. 504; and in this
strict sense the word is used in Eom. i. 14, " I
am debtor both to Greeks and barbarians ; "
where Luther used the term Ungrieche, which
happily expresses its force. "EAAnves Kai Bdp-
jSapot is the constant division found in Greek
literature, but Thucydides (i. 3) points out that
this distinction is subsequent to Homer, in
whom the word does not occur, although he
terms the Carians BapBapdtpuvot (11. ii. 867,
where ^ustathius connects the other form Kdp-
fiavos with Kdp). At first, according to Strabo
(xiv. 662), the word " barbarian " was a sneer
ing onomatopoeia applied to those who pro
nounced their words imperfectly (Kar' ovoparo-
iroiiav iirl tuv SuaeKtpdpus Kai ffKA-npus Kai
rpaxeus AaAovvTuv), and its generic use was
subsequent. It often retains this primitive
meaning, as in 1 Cor. xiv. 11 (of one using " the
tongue") and Acts xxviii. 24 (of the Maltese,
who spoke a Punic dialect. In Acts xxviii. 2

BAELEY

355

the A. V. " barbarous people " is replaced in
the R. V. by " barbarians "). So too Aesch.
Agam. 2013, xfAtScScoj SIktiv "Ayvura tpuvriv
BdpBapov KeKT-npivT) : and it is even applied to
one who spoke a patois, &Te AetrBios uv Kai it,
tpuvr] Bapjlldptp Tedpappevos, Plat. Protng. 341 C.
It is not so strong a word as iraAiyyAuo-tros
(Donaldson, Crat. § 88). Ovid defines the word
in the often-quoted line :
"Barbarus hie ego sum quid non intellipor ulla."
(THst. v. 10, 37.)
The ancient Egyptians (like the modern
Chinese) had an analogous word for all toiis ut)
o-tpiaiv bpoyAuao-ous (Herod, ii. 158) ; and Bdp
Bapos is used in the LXX. to express a similar
Jewish distinction. Thus in Ps. lxiii. 1, Ados
fidpBapos is used to translate jV7, " peregrino
sermone utens" (Schleusn. Thes. s. v.),jwhich is,
also an onomatopoeian from 31/?, " to stammer."
In 1 Cor. v. 13, 1 Tim. iii. 7, we have oi e£u,
and Matt. vi. 32, to eBvn, used Hebraistically
for D*13 (in very much the same sort of
sense as that of BdpBapoi), to distinguish all
other nations from the Jews (cp. Col. iii. 11);
and in the Talmudists we find Palestine opposed
to mVIK, just as Greece was to Barbaria or
r) BdpBapos (cf. Cic. Fin. ii. 15 ; Lightfoot,
Centuria Chorogr. ad init.). And yet so com
pletely was the term BdpBapos accepted, that
even Josephus and Philo scruple as little to
reckon the Jews among " barbarians " (Antt. xi.
7, § 1; Philo, Leg. Allegg. iii. 67, 1), as the
early Eomans did to apply the term to ^hem-
selves (" Demophilus scripsit, Marcus vertit
barbare ; " Plaut. Asin. prol. 10). Very natu
rally the word after a time began to involve
notions of cruelty and contempt (B-npbs Bap-
Bdpou, 2 Mace. iv. 25, xv. 2, &c), and then the
Eomans excepted themselves from the scope of
its meaning (Cic. de Rep. i. 37, § 68). After
wards only the savage nations were called bar
barians ; though the Greek 'Constantinopolitans
called the Eomans " barbarians " to the very
last (Gibbon, c. 51, vi. 351, ed. Smith ; Winer,
s. v.). [F. W. F.]
BAEHU'MITE, THE. [Bahurim.]
BAEI'AH (Iin3= fleet; A. Bepia, B. Mapei ;
Baria), one of the sons of Shemaiah, a descen
dant of the royal family of Judah (1 Ch. iii.
22). [W. A. W.]
BAE-JE'SUS. [Elymas.]
BAE-JO'NA. [Peter.]
BAE'KOS (DlpIS ; Bercos). " Children of
Barkos " were among the Nethinim who returned
from the Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 53,
[2 Esd.] B. BapKois, A. BapKds ; Neh. vii. 55,
Bapicove). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BAELEY (n")V'f, se'orah; Kpi8ii\; hordeum),
the well-known useful cereal, mention of which
is made in numerous passages of the Bible.
Pliny (H. N. xviii. 7) states that barley is one
of the most ancient articles of diet. It was
grown by the Egyptians (Ex. ix. 31 ; Herod, ii.
2 A 2

356

BAELEY

77 ; Diodor. i. 34 ; Plin. xxii. 25), and by the
Jews (Lev. xxvii. 16 ; Deut. viii. 8 ; Euth ii.
17, &c), who used it for baking into bread,
chiefly amongst the poor (Judg. vii. 13 ; 2 K. iv.
42 ; John vi. 9, 13) ; for making into bread,
by mixing it with wheat, beans, lentiles, millet,
&c. (Ezek. iv. 9) ; for making into cakes (Ezek.
iv. 12); as fodder for horses (1 K. iv. 28).
Compare also Juvenal (viii. 154) and Pliny
(H. N. xviii. 14 ; xxviii. 21), who states that
though barley was extensively used by the
ancients, it had in his time fallen into disre
pute, and was generally used as fodder for
cattle only. Barley is the common food for
horses in the East. Oats and rye were not
cultivated by the Jews, and perhaps not Known
to them. [Eye.] (See also Kitto, Phys. H. of
Pal. 214.) Barley is mentioned in the Mishna
as the food of horses and asses.
It is the most universally cultivated cereal
in the world, having a more northerly as well
as southerly range than wheat. It is less
impatient of drought, and will thrive in a much
lighter soil. It arrives earlier at maturity, re
quiring less heat to ripen it, and yet is uninjured
by a tropical sun. It will also yield much longer
on the same land, without rotation of crops.
There is consequently no part of Palestine
where it is not the most ordinary grain.
The barley harvest is mentioned in Euth i. 22,
ii. 13 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 9, 10. It takes place in
Palestine in March and April, and in the hilly
districts as late as May ; but the period of
course varies according to the localities where
the corn grows. The barley harvest always
precedes the wheat harvest, generally by not
less than three weeks (Eobinson, Bib. Res. ii.
99, 278). In Egypt, the barley is about a
month earlier than the wheat ; whence its
total destruction by the hail-storm (Ex. ix. 31).
Barley was sown at any time between November
and March, according to the season. Niebuhr
states that he saw a crop near Jerusalem ripe
at the end of March, and a field which had been
just newly sown. But this must have been
exceptional. The seed-time depends upon the
time of " the former" or winter rains. As soon
as ever the ground is thoroughly softened, the
barley and wheat are both sown, and this may
be as early as the first week of November, or as
late as Christmas. The low grounds are fre
quently irrigated, where the means exist for so
doing. Very little labour is expended on the
cultivation. After the wooden plough has
scratched the moist soil, the seed is cast in,
and covered over by means of a rude brush-
harrow. The yield consequently is very light.
Except on the rich alluvial plains, it does not
appear to exceed twenty bushels per acre.
In the Jordan valley, the barley harvest is
over by the end of March, and I have eaten a
barley cake in that month at Jericho, made
from a crop which I had seen sown in De
cember. In the plain of Seisaban (Shittim), I
saw the Arabs in April dibbling maize into
ground they had just cleared of barley. Gene
rally speaking, the time of barley harvest coin
cided with that of the Passover, and it was a
date to fix the time of year, as we should speak
of Eastertide.
Major Skinner (Adventures in an Overland
Journey to India, i. 330) observed near Da-

BAELEY
mascus a field, newly sown with barley, whieh
had been submitted to submersion similar to
what is done to rice-fields. Dr. Eoyle (Kitto's
Cycl. Bib. Lit, art. " Barley ") with good rea
son supposes that this explains Is. xxxii. 20,
" Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters • '"'
and demurs to the explanation which many
writers have given, viz. that allusion is made-
to the mode in which rice is cultivated. We
cannot, however, at all agree with this writer
that. the passage in Eccles. xi. 1 has any reference
to the irrigation of newly-sown barley fields.
Solomon "in the context is enforcing obligations
to liberality, of that especial nature which looks
not for a recompense: as Bishop Hall says
" Bestow thy beneficence on those from whom
there is no probability of a return of kindness."
It is clear that, if allusion is made to the mode
of culture referred to above, either in the case
of rice or barley, the force and moral worth of
the lesson is lost; for the motive of such a
sowing is expectation of an abundant return.
The meaning ofthe passage is surely this : "Be
liberal to those who are as little likely to repay
thee again, as bread or corn cast into the pool
or the river is likely to return again unto-
thee " (see Speaker's Comm. and Wright's Eccle
siastes in loco). Barley, as an article of human
food, was less esteemed than wheat, but the poor
usually mix wheat and barley meal for their
bread. This would appear to have been the
custom in ancient times, for, from 2 Ch. ii. 10,
we learn that Solomon supplied equal quantities
of wheat and barley to the woodmen in Leba
non. But barley bread alone is very poor diet, as
we have found when compelled to live on it in
remote parts of the country, and is much inferior
in nutritive qualities to wheat or rye. [BREAD:]
Compare also Calpurnius (Eel. iii. 84), Pliny
(H. N. xviii. 7), and Livy (xxvii. 13), who tells
us that the Eoman cohorts who lost their
standards were punished by having barley-
bread given them instead of wheaten. The
Jews, according to Tract. Sanhedr. c. 9, § 5,
had the following law : " Si quis loris caesus
reciderit jussu judicum arcae inditus hordeo
cihatur, donee venter ejus rumpatur." That
barley bread is even to this day little esteemed
in Palestine, we have the authority of modern
travellers to show. Dr. Thomson (The Land
and the Book, p. 449) says, "Nothing is more
common than for these people to complain that
their oppressors have left them nothing bnt
barley bread to eat." This fact is important,
as serving to elucidate some passages in Scrip
ture. Why, for instance, was barley meal, and
not the ordinary meal-offering of wheat flour,
to be the jealousy-offering (Num. v. 15) t
Because thereby is denoted the low reputation
in which the implicated parties were held. The
homer and a half of barley, as part of the
purchase- money of the adulteress (Hos. iii. 2), has
doubtless a similar typical meaning. With this
circumstance in remembrance, how forcible is
the expression in Ezekiel (xiii. 19), "Will ye
pollute me among my people for handfuls of
barley 1 " And how does the knowledge of the
fact aid to point out the connexion between
Gideon and the barley-cake, in the dream
which the " man told to his fellow " (Judg. vii.

13). Gideon's family was poor in M
and he was the least in his father's house;

BAE-NABAS
and doubtless the Midianites knew it. Again,
the Israelites had been oppressed by Midian for
the space of seven years. Very appropriate,
therefore, is the dream and the interpretation
thereof. The despised and humble Israelitish
deliverer was as a mere vile barley-cake in the
eyes of his enemies. On this passage Dr.
Thomson remarks, " If the Midianites were
accustomed in their extemporaneous songs to
call Gideon and his band 'cakes of barley
bread,' as their successors, the haughty. Be-
dawin, often do to ridicule their enemies, the
application would be all the more natural."
That barley was cultivated abundantly in
Palestine, is clear from Deut. viii. 8 ; 2 Ch. ii.
10, 15.
The cultivated barleys are usually divided
auto " two-rowed " and " six-rowed" kinds. Of
the first the Hordeum distichum, the common
summer barley of England, is an example ;
while the H. hexastichum, bere, or winter barley
¦of farmers, will serve to represent the latter
kind. The kind usually grown in Palestine is
ithe H. distichum. It is too well known to need
further description." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BAE-NABAS (BapvdBas; Barnabas). His
name was Joseph (Joses is another form of the
same name), and he had the additional name of
Barnabas given him by the Apostles (Acts iv. 36).
¦ Barnabas = Aram. nS'13J""13, son of prophecy
*(but see Ewald, Hist. Isr. vii., for another deriva
tion). The name is explained in Acts /. c. as '¦ the
son of exhortation " (E. V.), probably because
this was a principal department of the work of
N. T. prophets; see, for example, Acts xv. 32. But
A. V., following Vulgate, translates " the son
•of consolation." He belonged to a Levite family-
settled in Cyprus, but had kindred living at
Jerusalem, namely, his cousin John Mark (Col.
iv. 10 ; see Bp. Lightfoot's note), and Mary the
mother of Mark, whose house was a centre of
worship for the Christians (Acts xii. 12). His
life falls under three divisions — ¦
1. The first period reaches to his mission fiom
Antioch (Acts xiii. 2)..
2. The second begins with that mission and
¦closes with his separation from St. Paul (Acts
xv. 39).
3. The third, embracing the rest of his life,
as almost a blank.
1. He is singled out for mention among those
who sold land aud brought the price into the
common stock (Acts iv. 36, 37). He has a lead
ing position in the Church at Jerusalem, for,
when Saul at his first visit after conversion is
received with mistrust, Barnabas is able to in
troduce him to the Apostles (Peter and James
¦only, Gal. l. 19), and his assurances regarding
him are accepted (Acts ix. 26-28). At the news
of the conversion of the Gentiles ("EAAnves) at
Antioch, Barnabas is sent to investigate and to
carry on the work. Its importance leads him
ito fetch Saul from Tarsus and use his assistance.
A whole year is spent by the two friends in
founding the Church of Antioch (Acts xi, 22-26).

BAE-NABAS

357

• The Hebrew word miJC i8 derived from "|UE5>»
horrere; so called from the long rough awns which are
attached to the busk. Similarly, hordeum is from
horrere.

The connexion of Barnabas with Cyprus, so near
Tarsus and Antioch, may account for the pre
vious knowledge of Saul of Tarsus apparentlv
implied in Acts ix. 26 ; and also in part for his
selection for the mission to Antioch, — in part
only, for his personal qualifications are expressly
mentioned (Acts xi. 24). At some time during
the year's stay we must place his mission with
Saul to Jerusalem to carry contributions in view
of the prophesied famine. On their return to
Antioch they were accompanied by Mark
(Acts xii. 25).
2. By the command of the Spirit, Barnabas
and Saul are set apart for missionary work, and
sail from Seleucia to Cyprus (Acts xiii. 1 sq.).
The commission and journey are fully described
under art. Paul. It is enough to notice that
the choice of Mark as their attendant (uTTfipeTns),
and of Cyprus as their first destination, was
probably due to Barnabas. They both returned
to Antioch at the end of the journey, and spent
some time with the disciples. Barnabas was
now thoroughly domiciled at Antioch, and
devoted to the interests of Gentile missions.
Thus he withstands the Judaising emissaries
(Acts xv. 2), and is sent with Paul to represent
the Gentile cause at the Council of Jerusalem.
On their way and on their arrival at Jerusalem
they relate the conversion of the Gentiles; and
in company with Judas and Silas they bring
back the letter which confirms the freedom of
the Syrian and Cilician Churches from the Mosaic
law. An incident now occurs which is entirely
omitted in the Acts. Certain brethren (rives)
came from James to Antioch, whose influence
led Peter, then visiting Antioch, to refuse to
eat with Gentile Christians (see Ewald, Hist.
Israel, vii. in loco). This was dissimulation, for
St. Peter had been taught not to regard any
man as common or unclean (Acts x. 28). By
this dissimulation Barnabas, who was equally
aware of the truth, was carried away (Gal. ii. 13).
The distrust engendered by his conduct may
have prepared the way for the dissension between
Paul and Barnabas which shortly afterwards
led to their separation (Lightfoot, Gal. ii. 13,
note). But the immediate occasion was the wish
of Barnabas to take as their companion his
cousin Mark, who had deserted them on the
former journey. A sharp contention separated
the two friends, and henceforward Silas takes
the place of Barnabas as Paul's comrade (Acts
xv. 36 sq.).
3. Barnabas sails to Cyprus with Mark, and
we hear no more of him. A single verse
(1 Cor. ix. 6) implies that at the date of that
Epistle he was still active, and, like St. Paul,
labouring for his own maintenance.
Three questions remain for consideration.
(a) The first is the relation between Paul and
Barnabas. Paul seems to have owed to Barnabas
much of that impulse and guidance which he
denies having owed to the other Apostles. Bar
nabas, following up the work of his country
men, the Cyprians in Antioch, seems to have
been the first to organise serious missionary
endeavours among Gentiles, and the first to set
Paul to this work (Acts xi. 25, 26). His former
position at Jerusalem enabled him to get a
favourable hearing at Jerusalem for Gentile
missions, which, humanly speaking, Paul could
scarcely have obtained. He was, as Hefelc was

358

BAE-NABAS

points out, trusted' by both sides. But early in
their journey Paul takes the lead, as is suffi
ciently indicated by the change of order from
" Barnabas and Saul " to " Paul and Barnabas "
after their departure from Cyprus. There are
only three exceptions, which all admit of ex
planation (Herzog, RE.2 s. n. Barnabas). (6) The
next question is the apostleship of Barnabas. The
title is clearly given to him (Acts xiv. 4 and 14).
The true reading dirb (Acts iv. 36) cannot bear
on the question, as it means the same as bird.
He is recognised by James, Cephas, and John as
holding, together with Paul, the same position
towards the Gentiles, as they themselves held
towards " the circumcision " (Gal. ii. 9). Paul
classes him with himself among the Apostles
(1 Cor. ix. 5, 6). He has the same commission
and consecration as Paul (Acts xiii. 2, 3) ; but
the previous qualification of having seen the
Lord (1 Cor. ix. 1) is in his case not related,
though highly probable, (c) The third question
is the genuineness of the Epistle attributed to
Barnabas. This is scarcely in the province of
this article. The external testimony is ex
tremely favourable, while the internal testi
mony is extremely unfavourable. Though
Pauline in some respects, and moreover akin in
spirit to the Epistle to the Hebrews (attri
buted to Barnabas by Tertullian), it is alien
to apostolic teaching in its view of the Old
Testament. It abrogates all the truth and worth
of the earlier dispensation, and reduces it to a
riddle.' Such a work can hardly have proceeded
from Barnabas the Apostle. See an admirable
survey in Westcott, Canon of N. T. I. iv.,
and art. "Barnabas" in Dict. of Christ. Biog.,
which however concludes that Barnabas may
perhaps have been the author. The extra-
biblical sources for the life of Barnabas are
utterly untrustworthy. They are (1) Journeys
and Martyrdom of St. Barnabas the Apostle
(Tischendorf, Acta Apost Apoc. p. 64 ; Lipsins,
Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschibhten u. Apostel-
legenden, ii. 2, pp. 270-320). Even Brauns-
berger regards this work as written by a heretic
to support a mystical theology (einer geheimen
Lehre), and the early sections of the narrative
substantiate his view. The incidents and lan
guage are in some places a mere cento from the
Acts of the Apostles. (2) The encomium of the
monk Alexander printed in Acta Sanctorum, xi.
Jun. It is probably a work of the 6th cent.,
and is independent of (1). According to Alex
ander, Barnabas was stoned and burnt : his body,
unconsumed by the fire, was buried in a cave
and discovered afterwards by revelation. (3)
The pseudo-Clementine Homilies describe Bar
nabas as preaching at Alexandria, and claim him
as one of the Petrine school ; a curious contra
diction of the attitude which he is made to
assume in the Epistle of Barnabas.
Literature. — Tillemont (Me~moires, i. art. Bar
nabas, and notes in the same vol.) gathers and in
vestigates fully traditional and patristic notices
of Barnabas. The principal modern works are
Hefele, Das Sendschreiben des Ap. Barn. (Ein-
leitung), and Braunsberger, Der Ap. Barnabas, a
very complete monograph (cp. also the list
given e.g. in Kurtz, Lehrb. d. Kirchengeschichte,"
§ 30, 3). On Barnabas as a possible author of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, see Wieseler, Chro
nologic, bk. ii. Appendix, p. 479 sq. [E. E. B.]

BAE-TIMAEUS
BAEO'DIS (BapuSels ; Rahotis), a name in
serted in the list of those " servants of Solomon "
who returned with Zerubbabel (1 Esd. v. 34).
There is no corresponding name in the list of
Ezra or Nehemiah. [W. A. W.]
BAE-SABAS. [Joseph Barsabas; Judas
Barsabas.] BAE'TACUS (BaprdKos; Bezax), the father
of Apame, the concubine of king Darius (1 Esd.
iv. 29). " The admirable " (6 Bavpatrrbs) was
probably an official title belonging to his rank.
The Syriac Version has PD1N, a name which
recalls that of Artachaeas C ApTaxai-ns), who is
named by Herodotus (vii. 22, 117) as being in a
high position in the Persian army under Xerxes,
and a special favourite of that king (Simonis,
Onom. ; Smith's Dict. of Biog. i. 369). See
Speaker's Comm. on 1 Esd. iv. 29. [W. A. W.]
BAE-THOLOMEW (BapBoAopaios, i.e.
*0?n "13 son of Talmai; Bartholomaeus. The
Heb. Talmai is represented by BoAopal, LXX. 2
Sam. xiii. 37, Cod. Alex. Talmai occurs in five
other passages : see Talmai ; cp. also QoAopdios,
Josephus, Ant. xx. 1, § 1. Edersheim, Messiah1,
i. 521, derives the name from Bar-Telamjon).
Bartholomew appears in all the four lists of the
Apostles (Matt. a. 3 ; Mark iii. 18 ; Luke vi.
14; Acts i. 13), and in nearly the same place;
namely, second or third in the second quater
nion. For the identification of Bartholomew
with Nathanael, see Nathanael. Euseb. (H. E.
v. 10) says that Pantaenus went as missionary
to the Indians, and found in their possession the
Gospel of St. Matthew in Hebrew which had
been left there by Bartholomew. Mosheim (de
Bebus Christianis Comm. p. 206) contends that
the Indians to whom Pantaenus went were Jews
in Arabia Felix, as a Gospel in Hebrew would
have been useless to Indians. Bp. Lightfoot
(Colossiaus, p. 392) inclines to understand
Ethiopia. Am'rus, translated by Assemani
(Bibl. Orient, in. li. 20), says, "He (Bartholo
mew) preached in Greater Armenia; however,
he did not stop there, but he took himself to the
regions of the Indians, and was there flayed."
Cp. Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten
u. Apostellegenden, ii. 2, pp. 54-108. [E. R. B.]
BAE-TIMAEUS (Bapripalos ; Bartimaens),
a blind beggar healed by our Lord near Jericho.
The apparent discrepancies in the story cannot
be fully discussed here, but they are mainly
these. St. Matthew (xx. 29-34 ;^ see note in
Speaker's Comm.) mentions two blind men ; St.
Mark (x. 46-52) and St. Luke (xviii. 35-43)
only one. St. Luke places the miracle at the
entrance to Jericho ; St. Matthew and St. Mark, at
the departure from it. A method of harmonising
the narratives is suggested in Trench, Miracles,
§ 30. St. Mark alone gives the name ofthe man
and that of his father, according to his custom of
recording minute particulars of persons (see for
parallels, Westcott, Introd. to the Gospels? ch. vn.
p. 364). In the Greek the description "son of
Timaeus" precedes the proper name Bartimaeus,
and therefore the objection to the words as an
unnecessary explanation of the name does not
hold good. Hitzig, quoted by Keim, tries to
discredit the miracle by deriving Tiualos from a

BAEUOH
Syriac word meaning "blind." For possible
derivations, see Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.) on the
verse. [E. R. B.]
BA'ETJ 'CH 0]-113,5fessec?= Benedict; Bapoix;
Joseph. Bapovxos ; Baruch). 1. Son of Neriah,
the friend (Jer. xxxii. 12), amanuensis (Jer.
xxxvi. 4 ff., 32), and faithful attendant of Jere
miah (Jer. xxxvi. 10 sq. ; Joseph. Ant. x. 6, § 2 ;
B.C. 603) m the discharge of his prophetic office.
He was of a noble family (Joseph. Ant. x. 9, § 1,
i£ eTrio-fipov trtpdSpa oiKlas ; cp. Jer. li. 59 ;
Bar. i. 1, De tribu Simeon, Vet. Lat.), and of
distinguished acquirements (Joseph. I. c Tp
xaTptpu yA&TTTi Siatpepdvrus TreTra.Sevpevos) ;
and his brother Seraiah held an honourable
office in the court of Zedekiah (Jer. li. 59). His
enemies accused him of influencing Jeremiah in
favour ofthe Chaldaeans (Jer. xliii. 3 ; cp. xxxvii.
13) ; and he was thrown into prison with that
prophet, where he remained till the capture of
Jerusalem, B.C. 586 (Joseph. Ant. x. 9, § 1). By
the permission of Nebuchadnezzar he remained
with Jeremiah at Masphatha (Joseph. I. c), but
was afterwards forced to go down to Egypt with
" the remnant of Judah, that were returned from
all nations " (Jer. xliii. 6 ; Joseph. Ant. i. 9,
§ 6). Nothing is known certainly of the close
of his life. According to one tradition he re
mained m Egypt till the death of Jeremiah, and
then retired to Babylon, where he died in the
12th year after the destruction of Jerusalem
(Bertholdt, Einl. p. 1740 n.). Jerome, on the
other hand, states, "on the authority of the
Jews " (Hebraei tradunt), that Jeremiah and
Baruch died in Egypt " before the desolation of
the country by Nabuchodonosor " (Comm. in Is.
xxx. 6, 7, p. 405. See Gifford, Introd. to Baruch,
§ ii., in Speaker's Comm.). [B. F. W.] [E.]
2. The son of Zabbai,. who assisted Nehemiah
in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. iii.
20). 3. A priest, or family of priests, who signed
the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 6).
4. The son of Col-hozeh, a descendant of
Pharez, the son of Judah (Neh. xi. 5). [W. A. W.]
BA'EUOH, THE BOOK OP, is remark
able as the only book in the Apocrypha which
is formed on the model of the Prophets ; and
though it is wanting in originality, it presents a
vivid reflection of the ancient prophetic fire. It
may be divided into two main parts — i. -iii. 8, and
iii. 9-end. The first part consists of an Intro
duction (i. 1-14), followed by » confession and
prayer (i. 15-iii. 8). The second part opens
with an abrupt address to Israel (iii. 9-iv. 30),
pointing out the sin of the people in neglecting
the divine teaching of Wisdom (iii. 9-iv. 8J, and
introducing a noble lament of Jerusalem over
her children, through which hope still gleams
(iv. 9-30). After this the tone of the book
again changes suddenly, and the writer addresses
Jerusalem in words of great joy, and paints in
the colours of Isaiah the return of God's chosen
people and their abiding glory (iv. 30-v. 9).
1. The book at present exists in Greek, and in
several translations which were made from the
Greek. The two classes into which the Greek
MSS. may be divided do not present any very
remarkable variations (Fritzsche, Einl. § 7).
[The Uncial MSS. which contain the book are the

BAEUCH, THE BOOK OF 359
Codex Vaticanus (B. = IL), Codex Alexandrinus
(A. = III.), Codex Marchalianus (XII.), Codex
Venetus (23). Twenty-two cursive MSS. are
recorded in Holmes and Parsons' edition of the
LXX. as preserving the text of Baruch. Of
these, Codd. 22 and 233 are considered by Field
and Lagarde to present Lucian's Eecensiou of
the LXX. A Hexaplaric Recension is given in
the Syriac Version published by Ceriani (Monu
menta sacra et profana, &c, Mediolan. 1861);
this translation is said to have been made early
in the 7th cent, by Paulus, bishop of Tela. — E.]
Of the two'Old Latin Versions which remain, the
one ( Vet. Lat. a) which is incorporated in the
Vulgate (not translated by Jerome) is generally
literal ; the other (published by Jos. Caro, Rom.
1688, and reproduced from three MSS. by
Sabatier) is more free. The vulgar Syriac and
Arabic follow the Greek text closely (Fritzsche,
I. c). [For a full description of the Versions,
see Kneucker (Das Buck Baruch, Leipz. 1879).]
2. The assumed author of the book is un
doubtedly the companion of Jeremiah, though
Jahn denied this ; but the details are inconsistent
with the assumption. If the reading in i. 1 be
correct (£t<=i ; cp. 2 K. xxv. 8), it is impos
sible to fix " the fifth year " in such a way as
to suit the contents of the book, which exhibits
not only historical inaccuracies, but also evident
traces of a later date than the beginning of
the Captivity (i. 3 sq. ; iii. 9sq. ; iv. 22 sq. Cp.
2 K. xxv. 27).
3. The book was held in little esteem among
the Jews (Hieron. Praef. in Jerem. p. 834 " . . . nee
habetur apud Hebraeos ;" Epiph. de Mens. etPond.
§ 5, ob Keivrai eiritrToAal (Bapobx) trap' 'EBpai-
ois) ; though it is stated in the Greek text of
the Apostolical Constitutions that it was read, to
gether with the Lamentations, " on the tenth of
the month Gorpiaeus " (i.e. the day of Atone
ment ; Const. Ap. v. 20, 1). But this reference
is wanting in the Syriac Version (Bunsen, Anal.
Ante-Nic ii. 187), and the assertion is unsup
ported by any other authority. There is no
trace of the use of the book in the New Testa
ment, or in the Apostolic Fathers, or in Justin.
It is first found quoted in the writings ot
Athenagoras, Suppl. c. 9, Trpotp-iiT-ns, Bar. iii. 35.
But from the time of Irenaeus it was frequently
quoted both in the East and in the West, and
generally as the work of Jeremiah (Iren. adv.
Haer. v. 35, 1 ; significavit Jeremias, Bar. iv. 36
— v. ; Tertull. c. Scorp. viii. Hieremiae, Bar.
(Epist.) vi. 3 sq. ; Clem. Paed. i. 10, § 91, Sici
'leoepiov, Bar. iv. 4 ; id. Paed. ii. 3, § 36, Beta
ypatpr), Bar. iii. 16-19; Orig. ap. Euseb. H. E.
vi. 25, 'lepepias truv BpT\vois Kai tt) iTriOToAfj (?) ;
Homil. in Jerem. vii. 3, yeypaiTTai, Bar. iii. 9-
13 ; Sel. in Jerem. c. xxxi. yeypatnai iv rip
Bapoix, Bar. iii. 10 ; Cypr. Test. Lib. ii. 6, apud
Hieremiam, Bar. iii. 35 ; Orat. Dom. per Hiere-
miam, Bar. (Epist.) vi. 5, &c). It was, how
ever, " obelized " throughout in the LXX. as
deficient in the Hebrew (Cod. Chis. ap. Daniel,
&c, Romae, 1772, p. xxi.). On the other hand
it is contained as a separate book in the Pseudo-
Laodicene Catalogue, and in the Catalogues of
Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, and Nice-
phorus; but it is not specially mentioned in
the Conciliar catalogues of Carthage and Hippo,
probably as being included under the title Jere
miah (cp. [Athan.] Syn. S. Script, ap. Credner,

360 BAEUOH, THE BOOK OF
Zur Gesch. des Kan. 138; Hilar. Prol. in
Psalm. 15). It is omitted by those writers
who reproduced in the main the Hebrew Canon
(e.g. Melito, Gregory Nazianzen, Epiphanius).
Augustine quotes the words of Baruch (iii. 16)
as attributed " more commonly to Jeremiah "
("quidam . . . scribae ejus attribuerant ... sed
Jeremiae celebratius habetur :" de Civ. xviii. 33),
and elsewhere uses them as such (c Faust, xii.
43). At the Council of Trent Baruch was ad
mitted into the Romish Canon; but the Pro
testant Churches have unanimously placed it
among the apocryphal books, though Whiston
maintained its authenticity (I. c. infra). [Miles
Coverdale in his first edition, 1535, printed
Baruch after Jeremiah, and not as one of the
Apocrypha; in his second edition, 1550, he placed
it among the Apocrypha. It may be noted that
Baruch was not included in the list of the apo
cryphal books contained in the first (Latin)
edition (1562) of the XXXIX. Articles. It was
probably still regarded as part of the Book of
Jeremiah. In 1571 it was finally placed among
the Apocrypha. — R.]
4. Considerable discussion has been raised as
to the original language of the book. Those
who advocated its authenticity generally sup
posed that it was first written in Hebrew (Huet,
Dereser, &c. ; Jahn is undecided ; Bertholdt,
Einl. p. 1755), and this opinion found many sup
porters (Bendtsen, Griineberg, Movers, Hitzig,
De Wette, Einl.% 323). Others again have main
tained that the Greek is the original text (Eich-
horn, Einl. p. 388 sq. ; Bertholdt, Einl. p. 1757 ;
Hiivernick, ap. De Wette, 1. c). The truth
appears to lie between these two extremes. The
two divisions of the book are distinguished by
marked peculiarities of style and language. The
Hebraic character of the first part (i.-iii. 8) is
such as to mark it as a translation, and not as
the work of a Hebraizing Greek: e.g. i. 14, 15,
22 ; ii. 4, 9, 25 ; iii. 8 ; and several obscurities
seem to be mistranslations : e.g. j. 2, 8 ; ii. 18,
29. The second part, on the other hand, which
is written with greater freedom and vigour,
closely approaches the Alexandrine type. And
the imitations of Jeremiah and Daniel which
occur throughout the first part (cp. i. 15-18 =
Dan. ix. 7-10 ; ii. 1, 2 = Dan. ix. 12, 13 ; ii. 7-19
= Dan. ix. 13-18) give place to the tone and
imagery of the Psalms and Isaiah.
[A point which for a long time had apparently
been overlooked by commentators convincingly
illustrates the duality of authorship. The titles
of the Deity in the two portions of the book are
distinct. The Name " Lord " (Kupios) occurs
twenty-six times in the first portion of the book,
for the last time in ch. iii. 6. The Name "the
Lord God " (K&pios 6 Bebs) occurs nineteen times
in the first portion of the book, for the last time
in ch. iii. 8. The Name " God " (Bebs) occurs
during the first portion once in a quotation
(ii. 35), and once in iii. 4, where the reading
seems very doubtful. In the second portion
of the book the Name " God " occurs thirty-
one times (o Bebs twenty-seven and Bebs four
times) ; but never the Name " Lord " or " tho
Lord God." The more unusual titles of " the
Eternal One " (6 aiuvios) and " the Holy One "
(<S 0710s) occur, the former eight, the latter
three times in the second portion, but not at all
in the first. That we have to do here with two

BAEUCH, THE BOOK OF
different documents would seem to be the natural
conclusion to be drawn (see Gifford on Baruch
Speaker's Commentary, Apocr. ii. 253, 1888).]
5. The most probable explanationof this con
trast is gained by supposing that some one
thoroughly conversant with the Alexandrine
translation of Jeremiah, perhaps the translator
himself (Hitzig, Fritzsche, Schurer), found the
Hebrew fragment which forms the basis of the
book already attached to the writings of that
Prophet, and wrought it up into its present
form. The peculiarities of language common to
the LXX. translation of Jeremiah and the first
part of Baruch seem too great to be accounted for
in any other way (for instance, the use of Sec-
pt&TT)s, dirotTToATi, B6pBi)o-is[Bop&e'iv]. UTroiKttrp6s,
pdvva, aTTOo-Tpetpetv [neut.], ipydCetrBai tivi,
Svopa err iKaAeiaBat iirl tivi) ; and the great dis
crepancy which exists between the Hebrew and
Greek texts as to the arrangement of the later
chapters of Jeremiah, increases the probability
of such an addition having been made to the
canonical prophecies. These verbal coincidences
cease to exist in the second part, or become very
rare ; but this also is distinguished by charac
teristic words : e.g. 6 aiuvios, 6 dyios, iirdyeiv
(see Gifford, pp. 248-250). At the same time
the general unity (even in language, e.g. xup-
poo-ivn) and coherence of the book in its present
form point to the work of one man (Fritzsche,
Einl. § 5; Hitzig, Psalm, ii. 119; Ewald, Hist
of Isr. iv. 207 sq.). Bertholdt appears to be in
error (Einl. pp. 1743, 1762) in assigning iii. 1-8
to a separate writer (De Wette, Einl. § 322).
[The concluding words of the panegyric
upon Wisdom (iii. 24-37), " Afterwards did he
show himself upon earth and conversed with
men " (perd touto iirl ttjs yi}s HthOn Kai iv
tois dvBptiirois ffuvaveo-TpatpTJ), were regarded by
the Fathers (e.g. Orig. Sel. in Ps. exxv. , Ath.
Or. c Ar. ii. 49, § 409 ; Cyr. Jerus. Cat. xi. 15 ;
Chrysos. Expos, in Ps. xlix. 3 ; Cypr. Test. Lib.
ii. 6 ; Hippol. c. Noet. c. 5 ; Hil. Pictav. in Ps.
lxviii. 19, de Trin. iv. 142 ; Epiph. adv. Haer.
lvi. 7 ; Basil, ado. Eun. iv. 16) as a prediction
of the Incarnation. Recent critics — Hitzig, Hil-
genfeld, Schurer, and Kneueker — have main
tained the view that it is a Jewish Christian
interpolation. The words are at first sight
sufficiently striking to give colour for either
view. There is no need, however, to restrict
the interpretation to these two alternatives, of
prediction and interpolation. The abruptness
of v. 37, which is certainly very noticeable,
admits of explanation if, as is very probable,
v. 36 resumes the reference to " Wisdom" which
was interrupted at v. 32 by an ascription to the
Almighty. It will then be seen that vv. 36, 37
correspond to vv. 27, 28, and the sense will be
as follows:— God did not give the way of
knowledge to the race of the giants (v. 27);
and they perished because they lacked wisdom
(v. 28); He gave the way of knowledge to
" Jacob His servant and Israel His beloved "
(v. 36): and after this she (i.e. Wisdom, J>p6-
v-nais, "the law which abideth for ever ; ' see
iv. 1) appeared upon earth and "conversed
with men " (cp. Prov. viii. 31 ; Ecclus. xxiv. 8,
10-12).— R.]
6. There are no certain data by which to fix
the time of the composition of Baruch. Ewald
(I. c. pp. 207 sq.) assigns it to the close cf

BAEUCH, THE BOOK OF
the Persian period ; and this may be true so far
as the Hebrew portion is concerned ; but the
present book must be placed considerably later,
probably about the time of the war of liberation
(c. B.C. 160). This is also the view of Fritzsche
(Handb, i. 173) ; Schrader (De Wette's Einlcit.
603) ; Bissell (Apocr yplui, p. 417) ; Keil (Einl.
7-33) ; Gifford (Speaker's Comment). [Hitzig
(Zeitschrift fiir wissenscliaftl. Theol. 1860,
p. 262, &c.) assigned its composition to so late
a date as the reign of Vespasian ; and more
recently Schurer and Kneucker have agreed in
placing it after the destruction of Jerusalem by
Titus. They see in the references to the de
struction of Jerusalem and to the captivity of
the nation by the Chaldaeaus (i. 2 ; ii. 23, 26)
a picture of the great catastrophe of the Jewish
nation in A.D. 70 : the sacrifices and prayers
for the welfare of Nebuchadnezzar and
Belshazzar (i. 11) imply sacrifices and prayers
for Vespasian and Titus (cp. Joseph. Bell. Jud.
ii. 17, 2-4): the horrors recorded in ii. 3 have
their parallel, not only in 2 K. vi. 2S, Lam. ii.
20, iv. 10, but also in Josephus, Bell. Jud. vi. 3, 4
(see Schurer, Apokryphen d. AT. in Herzog, RE?
1S77; Gesch. Jud. Volk.2 pp. 723, 724), and,
according to Kneucker, the authors of the two
parts were Jewish Pharisees dwelling at Eome.
This theory of a late date of composition
cannot be lightly dismissed. The allusions to
a catastrophe in the first part of the book have
more points in common with the destruction of
Jerusalem by Titus than with the devastation
iby Antiochus Epiphanes. The injunction in ii.
21-24 to render willing obedience to tbe
heathen ruler would be appropriate to the
attitude of theocratic Judaism towards Eome.
The analogy of 4 Esdras and the Apocalypse of
Baruch reminds us that the Chaldean invasion
and capture of Jerusalem were the accepted
historical types of the final overthrow by the
Romans. The second part of the book has
¦dearly been added for the purpose of intro
ducing a tone of joyfulncss and hope. The date
of its composition must depend upon its relation
to Ps. xi. in the so-called Psalms of Solomon.
The close resemblance, amounting to verbal
correspondence, between Bar. v. and Psalt.
¦Salom. xi. cannot be merely accidental. The
Psalterium Salomonis was in all probability
originally composed in Hebrew, the latter por
tion of Baruch in Greek. Now, it may safely be
assumed that a Hebrew writing would not have
been based upon a Greek writing, and that
therefore the Hebrew Ps. Sal. xi. was not
derived from the Greek Baruch v. The
alternative remains, that Baruch v. is based
upon the Greek of Ps. Sal. xi. ; and this seems
to give the true solution. A comparison of the
two documents tends to show that Baruch v.
gives a free adaptation of Ps. Sal. xi. Now we
know from Ps. Sal. i. ii. viii. xvii. that the Psalms
of Solomon must have been written between
70 B.C. and 40 B.C. If then Baruch v. be dependent
on a translation of Ps. Sal., it is obvious that
its date must be considerably later than this
period ; and although there is no need to place
it so late as the time of the destruction of
Jerusalem, it is probably a work of the 1st
cent. A.D., which the translator of the first
portion of Baruch, finding ready to hand, ap
pended to the older work to give it a more joyful

BAEUCH, THE BOOK OF 3G1
termination. It is therefore interesting to find
that Ewald, who ascribed the Psalms of Solomon
to a date a little later than 170 B.C., held that
the language of Bar. v. 7 sq. is in reality an
echo of Ps. Sal. xi. 5-7 (Hist, of />. iv. p. 498).
The coincidence of language has sometimes been
explained on the supposition that it is derived
from a common source iu the LXX., especially
the prophecies of Isaiah. This theory, how
ever, is quite inadequate to account for the
employment in both writings of such phrases as
gttiBi e-nl tov inpriAou, Taireivovo-Bai upas u\pT}Abv
. . . eis bpaAitrpdv, ioKiaoav . . . oi bpupol, ttciv
£uAov evubias ISe auvTjypeva Ta TeKva txou,
k. t. A. But it is more commonly tacitly
assumed that Ps. Sal. xi. is based upon Ba
ruch (Geiger, Psalt. Sal. xi.pp. 137-139, 1871),
and the similarity then becomes an argument
for the priority of Baruch. The matter perhaps
must for the present bo left undecided, until the
character of the Psalms of Solomon is better
understood. In favour of the later date is to be
reckoned the absence of testimony to the exist
ence of Baruch until the second century. The
theory also, as it has recently been stated,
though apt to be discredited by the ingenuity
which sees allusions to imperial Rome in the
simplest words (e.g. the Coliseum : Bar. iii. 16,
17), throws an interesting light upon the
purpose of the work as a whole. The picture
of the judicial visitation by the Romans is not
complete in the estimation of the theocratic Jew
who compiled it, without a corresponding picture
of Messianic restoration (iv. 36-v. 9). — R.]
7. The Epistle of Jeremiah, which, according
to the authority of some Greek MSS., stands
in the English Version as the 6th chapter of
Baruch, is the work of a later period. It con
sists of a rhetorical declamation against idols
(comp. Jer. x., xxix.), in the form of a letter
addressed by Jeremiah " to them which were to
be led captive to Babylon." The letter is
divided into clauses by the repetition of a
common burden : they are no gods ; fear them
not (vv. 16, 23, 29, 66) ; how can a man think or
say that they are godsl (vv. 40, 44, 56, 64).
The condition ofthe text is closely analogous to
that of Baruch ; and the letter found the same
partial reception in the Church. The author
shows an intimate acquaintance with idolatrous
worship ; and this circumstance, combined with
the purity of the Hellenistic dialect, points to
Egypt as the country in which the epistle was
written. There is no positive evidence to fix its
date, for the supposed reference in 2 Mace. ii. 2
is more than uncertain ; but it may be assigned
with probability to the 1st century B.b.
8. [The " Apocalypse of Baruch " in its en
tirety is a comparatively recent discovery. A
complete Syriac Version of it was found by
A. M. Ceriani in a MS. of the Ambrosian Library
(marked B. 21 Inf.) assigned by William Cureton
to the 6th century. A literal Latin translation
was, with a short preface, published by Ceriani
(Monumenta sacra et prof ana, i. 2, Milan, 1866),
and is given in Fritzsche's Libri Apocryphi
(pp. 654-699), 1871. Before that time it had
only been known to scholars in the form of an
Epistle of Baruch in Syriac to the nine and a
half tribes (cp. 4 Esd. xiii. 40, Vers. Arab.), found
in the London and Paris Polyglotts, which was
edited in Syriac by Lagarde, Leipz. 1861, with

362 BAEUCH, THE BOOK OF
the aid of the Nitrian MSS. in the British
Museum. In this incomplete form it was
published m Latin by Fabricius in Codex
Pseudepigraphus, V. T., ed. iii. t. ii. p. 145 ; in
English by Whiston, A Collection of Authentick
Records, Lond. 1727, and more recently by
Iolowicz (1855) ; in French in the Dictionnaire
des Apocryphes, ed. Migne, ii. 161 sq.
The Apocalypse was written, possibly in
Hebrew, shortly after the destruction of Jerusa
lem. In general character it bears a remarkable
resemblance to the Fourth Book of Esdias. So
close is this similarity as to argue some real con
nexion between the two writings. The majority
of scholars, including Langen and Dillmann,
maintain the priority of 4 Esdras, from which
they say the Apoc. of Baruch has borrowed.
Schurer (Gesch. Jiid. Volkes, ii. 638-645)
holds the opposite view : in his opinion the pro
minent thought of vengeance upon the Romans
— present in Apoc. Bar., but not in 4 Esdias
— implies that the former work was written
when the great catastrophe was very recent,
and therefore prior to the sister Apoca
lypse, which deals with the more abstract
question of " the few " that were saved ; he also
maintains the priority of the Apocalypse on
the ground of style, the composition of 4 Esdras
being the more artificial and polished of the two.
While the subject of relative date is not likely
to be satisfactorily determined, the theory that
both writings come from the same author may
possibly account for the remarkable degree of
resemblance. The Apocalypse has very little
arrangement, and consists of a series of colloquies,
visions, and prayers, loosely strung together. The
language and imagery are chiefly borrowed from
the writings of the 0. T. The style, so far as
it is possible to judge from the translation, is
characterised by the diffuseness and artificiality
commonly found in apocalyptic literature.
The writer was certainly a Jew, possibly still
resident in Palestine (Ixxx., "et relicti sumus
nos hie valde pauci"). His mind is possessed
with two main ideas, the recent destruction of
the Jewish capital and the near approach of the
Messianic consummation. (1) He desires to
explain why God had permitted such calamities
to overtake His people. It was a just punish
ment for national sins (i., xiii., lxxvii.) ; the
dispersion of the sacred people was a boon to
the Gentiles (i.) ; it hastened the final visita
tion of the world by the Most High (xx.). He
consoles his countrymen by pointing out that an
earthly Jerusalem was not the true " sacred
city " (iv.) ; nothing temporal could be the
object of hopes (xv., xxi., xliv.). In the world
to come " the just " wduld find their happiness
and reward (iv., xv., xxi., xxx., xliv., Ii.).
(2) He dwells strongly upon the near approach
of the end of all things (xx., xxii., xxx., xliii.,
lxxxii.), and the retribution that will be passed
upon the world. He speaks of " the Messiah,"
as one who shall be revealed as the Servant to
carry out the Divine judgment and to establish
a Divine rule (xxix., xxx.,'xxxix., xl., lxx., lxxii.).
He predicts the destruction of the Roman empire,
which is depicted as » cedar-tree (xxxvi.), and
as the fourth kingdom (xxxix., xl.).
The eighty-five chapters of which the extant
work is composed are divided into unequal por
tions, of which the characteristic features are

BAEZILLAI
represented by Baruch's Lament (x.), his
Prayers (xiv., xxi., xlviii., liv.), and his Letter
to the nine and a half tribes (lxxviii.-lxxxv.).
The scenes of the various colloquies and
visions are " the valley of Cedron," " the
sacred ruins," "Hebron," and "the oak" (?of
Hebron). In the colloquies Baruch is addressed
by a "voice from on high," "the Lord Him
self," and by "the angel Eamiel," to whom
belong the visions of truth (lv.). The book
then as we have it (for it is probably in
complete) will fall into the following seven
groups of chapters : i.— xii., xiii.-xx., xxi.-xxxiv.
xxxv. -xlvi., xlvii.— Iii., liii.-lxxvi., lxxvii.-lxxxv.
Another division into seven parts is given by
Prof. Stanton: i.-ix., x.-xii,, xiii.-xx., xxi.-xxx.
xxxi.-xliii., xliv.-lxxvi., lxxvii.-end (The Jewish
and the Christian Messiah, p. 72, note; cp.
Drummond's Jewish Messiah, p. 121).
The reader should observe (1) the strength
of the language in which the doctrine of the
resurrection is asserted, implying the Pharisaic
oiigin of the work; (2) the remarkable in
stance of Chiliasm (ch. xxix.), a parallel to, or
more probably the original of, the famous pas
sage of Papias quoted in Irenaeus, v. 23 ; (3) the
numerous instances of coincidence with N. T.
phrases and ideas. This last phenomenon may
be the accidental coincidence of contemporaneous
thought, but it may also indicate the presence of
Christian interpolations in the extant text. The
following may be taken as examples.J (a) Ch. x. :
" laetabuntur enim magis steriles et gaudebunt
illae quae filios non habent, et illae quae filios
habent contristabuntur ; " cp. Matt, xxiv 19 (Is.
liv. 1). (6)Ch. xxi. 13: "Si enim haec tantum
vita esset., quae hie est omni homini, nihil esset
amarius hoc ; " cp. 1 Cor. xv. 19. (c) Ch. xxi.
20 : " illis qui putant longanimitatem tuam esse
infirmitatem;" cp. 2 Pet. iii. 4-9. (d) Ch. xxiv.
1 : " ecce enim dies veniunt et aperientur libri ; "
cp. Eev. xx. 12. (e) Ch. xxx. 1 : " Cum imple-
bitur tempus adventus Messiae et redibit in
gloria, tunc omnes qui dormierunt in spe ejus
resurgent." (/) Ch. xlviii. 33, 34 : " non enim
multi sapientes reperientur illo tempore . . . et
erunt rumores multi ; " cp. 1 Cor. i. 26, Matt.
xxiv. 24. (g) Ch. li. 10 : " assimilabuntur
angelis ; " cp. Luke xx. 36. (h) Ch. li. 15 : " In
quo ergo perdiderunt homines vitam snam, et
quocum commutaverunt animam suam; " cp.
Matt. xvi. 25. (i) Ch. lxxvi. 3: "transibnnt
in conspectu tuo omnes regiones terrae istius ;"
cp. Matt. iv. 8, An account of the Apocalypse
of Baruch is given in Schurer, Gesch. Jud.
Volkes, ii. pp. 638-645. On the Messianic
treatment, see the works of Drummond and
Stanton, quoted above. For other literature,
see Langen, De Apoc Bar. Commentatia, Friburg,
1867 ; Dillmann (art, Pseudepigraphen), in
Herzog's RE.2 ; Eenan, Journ. des Savants, 1877 ;
Kaulen (art. Apocruphen), in Wetzer u. Welte's
KL.2] [B.F.W.] [R.]
BAEZIL'LAI (^n3, iron; Berzillai).
1. A wealthy Gileadite who showed hospitality
to David when he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. xvii.
27, B. BepCe AAei, A. -At). On the score of his
age, and probably from a feeling of independence,
he declined the king's offer of ending his days at
court (2 Sam. xix. 32-39). David before his
death recommended his sons to the kindness of

BASALOTH
Solomon (1 K. ii. 7). The descendants of his
daughter Augia, who married Addus (who took
the name Barzillai), were unable after the Cap
tivity to discover " the description of their
kindred," and were removed from the priests'
office (1 Esd. v. 38. See Ezra ii. 61 ; Neh. vii. 63).
2. A Meholathite, whose son Adriel married
Michal, Saul's daughter (2 Sam. xxi. 8, BA.
BepCeAXel). [E. W. B.] [F.]

BASHAN

303

BAS'ALOTH

SadAuB ;

Phasalon), 1 Esd. v. 31. [Bazlith.] One of
the servants of the Temple. [W. A. W.]
BAS'CAMA (t) Bao-Kapd ; Jos. Boo-zcd ; Bas-
cama), a place in Gilead (els tijx TaAaaStTiv)
where Jonathan Maccabaeus was killed by
Trypho, and from which his bones were after
wards disinterred and conveyed to Modm by
his brother Simon (1 Mace. xiii. 23; Joseph.
Ant. xiii. S, § 6). No trace of the name lias
yet been discovered. [G-] [w]

of the Conntry of EtuttutQ.

BA'SHAN (almost invariably with the
definite article, Jt^Bn ; Bao-dV ; Basan), a district
on the east of Jordan. It is not, like Argob
and other districts of Palestine, distinguished by
one constant designation, but is sometimes
spoken of as the "land of Bashan" (JB>3n JHK,
1 Ch. v. 11 ; and cp. Num. xxi. 33, xxxii.
33), and sometimes as " all Bashan " ('3fi 73 ;
Deut. iii. 10, 13 ; Josh. xii. 5, xiii. 12, 30), but

most commonly without any addition. The
LXX. have TaAiAaia (? Gaulonitis) for Bashan
in Is. xxxiii. 9. It was taken by the children
of Israel after their conquest of the land of
Sihon from Arnon to Jabbok. They " turned "
from their road over Jordan and " went up by
the way of Bashan " — probably by very much
the same route as that now followed by the
pilgrims of the Haj, and by the Eomans before
them — to Edrei. Here they encountered Og, king

364

BASHAN

¦of Bashan, who " came out " perhaps from the
natural fastnesses of Argob, only to meet the
entire destruction of himself, his sons, and all
his people (Num. xxi. 33-35 ; Deut. iii. 1-3).
Argob, with its sixty strongly-fortified cities,
¦evidently formed a principal portion of Bashan
(Deut. iii. 4, 5), though still only a portion (v. 13),
there being besides a large number of unwalled
¦towns (v. 5). Its chief cities were Ashtaroth (i.e.
Beeshterah ; cp. Josh. xxi. 27 [see Dillmann 2 in
loco] with 1 Ch. vi. 71), Edrei, Golan, Salcah,
and possibly Mahanaim (josh. xiii. 30). Two of
these cities, viz. Golan and Beeshterah, were
.allotted to the Levites ofthe family of Gershom,
the former as a " city of refuge " (Josh. xxi. 27 ;
I Ch. vi. 71).
The limits of Bashan are very strictly defined.
It extended from the " border of Gilead " on the
south to Mount Hermon on the north (Deut. iii.
3, 10, 14; Josh. xii. 5; 1 Ch. v. 23), and from
the 'Arabah or Jordan valley on the west to
Salcah (Sulkhad) and the border of the Geshu-
rites, and the Maacathites on the east (Josh.
.xii. 3-5 ; Deut. iii. 10). This important district
was bestowed on the half tribe of Manasseh
(Josh. xiii. 29-31), together with " half Gilead."
After the Manassites had assisted their brethren
in the conquest of the country west of the
Jordan, they went to their tents and to their
cattle in the possession which Moses had given
-them in Bashan (xxii. 7, 8). It is just named
in the list of Solomon's commissariat districts
(1 K. iv. 13). And here, with the exception of
one more passing glimpse, closes the history of
Bashan as far as the Bible is concerned. It
vanishes from our view until we meet with it
us being devastated by Hazael in the reign of
Jehu (2 lv. x. 33). True, the " oaks " of its
forests and the wild cattle of its pastures — the
¦" strong bulls of Bashan " — long retained their
proverbial fame (Ezek. xxvii. 6 ; Ps. xxii. 12),
and the beautyi. of its high downs and wide
sweeping plains could not but strike now and
then the heart of a poet (Amos iv. 1 ; Ps. lxviii.
15 ; Jer. 1. 19 ; Mic. vii. 14), but history it has
none; its very name seems to have given place
as quickly as possible to one which had
a connexion with the story of the founder of
the nation (Gen. xxxi. 47-8), and therefore more
¦claim to use. Even so early as the time of the
¦conquest, " Gilead " seems to have begun to
take the first place as the designation of the
•country beyond the Jordan, * place which it
retained afterwards to the exclusion of Bashan
<cp. Josh. xxii. 9, 15, 32; Judg. xx. 1; Ps.
Ix. 7, cviii. 8 ; 1 Ch. xxvii. 21 ; 2 K. xv. 29).
Indeed, " Bashan " is most frequently used as a
mere accompaniment to the name of Og, when
his overthrow is alluded to in the national
poetry. _ After the Captivity, Bashan is mentioned as
divided into four provinces — Gaulonitis, An-
ranitis, Trachonitis, and Batanaea. Of these
four, all but the third have retained almost
perfectly their ancient names, the modern Lejah
alone having superseded the Argob and Tracho-
uitis of the Old and New Testaments. The
province of Jauldn is the most western of the
four ; it abuts on the sea of Galilee and the
lake of Mei-om, from the former of which it
rises to a plateau nearly 3,000 feet above the
surface of the water. This plateau, though

BASHEMATH
now almost wholly uncultivated, is of a rich
soil, and its N.W. portion rises into a range of
hills almost everywhere clothed with oak
forests (Porter, ii. 259). No less than 127
ruined villages are scattered over its surface.
[Golan.] The Hauran is to the S.E. of the last-named
province and S. of the Lejah ; like Jauldn, its
surface is perfectly flat, and its soil esteemed
amongst the most fertile in Syria. It too
contains an immense number of ruined towns,
and also many inhabited villages. [Hauran.]
The contrast which the rocky intricacies of
the Lejah present to the rich and flat plains
of the Hauran and the Jauldn has already been
noticed. [Argob.]
The remaining district, though no doubt
much smaller in extent than the ancient Ba
shan, still retains its name, modified by a
change frequent in the Oriental languages.
Ard el-Bathanyeh lies on the east of the
Lejah and to the north of the range of Jebe
Hauran or ed-Druze (Porter, ii. 57). It is a
mountainous district of the most picturesque
character, abounding with forests of evergreen
oak, and with soil extremely rich ; the surface
is studded with towns of very remote antiquity,
deserted, it is true, but yet standing almost as
perfect as the day they were built.
For the boundaries and characteristics of
these provinces, and the most complete re
searches yet published into this interesting
portion of Palestine, see Porter's Damascus, vol.
ii. ; Wetzstein, Reisebericht iib. Hauran u. die
Trachonen ; Oliphant, Land of Gilead; Merrill,
East of Jordan ; Schumacher's Across the Jordan!
and The Jauldn. [G.] [W.]
BA'SHAN - HA'VOTH - JA'IR. The name
is so written i i the A. V. of Deut. iii. 14; but
the original is more correctly given by R. V. :
" (Jair) called them, even Bashan, after his own
name, Havvoth-Jair " (cp. Num. xxxii. 41). [F.]
BASH'EMATH, or. BAR'MATH (better,
E. V. " Basemath " : nQB>3, Ges. = suave oleus,
MV.11 pleasant ; Basemath). 1. Daughter of Ish
mael, the last married ofthe three wives of Esau
(Gen. xxxvi. 3 [A. BatreppdB, D. MaaeppdB, E.
MaaeBpdv], 4 [D. as in v. 3, A. Batrep', E. Mairefl-
pdB], 13 [A. MatreppdB, DE. WLatrtrepdB]), from
whose son, Eeuel, four tribes of the Edomites
were descended. When first mentioned, she is
called Mahalath (Gen. xxviii. 9, MaeAeB) ; whilst,
on the other hand, the name Bashemath is in
the narrative (Gen. xxvi. 34, A. MaaeppdB, DM.
BatxevepdB) given to another of Esau's wives,
the daughter of Elon the Hittite. It is remark
able that all Esau's wives receive in the genea
logical table of the Edomites (Gen. xxxvi.)
different names from those by which they have
been previously mentioned in the history. The
diversity will be best seen by placing the names
side by side : —

Genealogy
(Gen. xxxvi. 2, 3).
1. Adah, d. of Elon.
2. Aholibamah, d. of Anah.
3. Bashemath, d. of Ish
mael.

Naehative
(Gen. xxvi. 34; xxviii. 9).
2. Bashemath, d. of Elon.
1. Judith, d. of Beeri.
3. Mahalath, d. of Ish
mael.

If it may be assumed that these names refer
to the same persons respectively (see Speaker s

BASIN
Comm. on Gen. xxxvi., add. note A), it is best to
explain the diversity as due to different tradi
tions (see Ges. Thes. s. u. J1DC3, and Dillmann 5
on Gen. xxxvi. 2, where other hypotheses are
mentioned). 2. A daughter of Solomon and wife of one of
his officers, called in A. V. Basmath (1 K. iv. 15 ;
B. BatreppdB, A. MaaepdB ; R. V. " Basemath ").
[F. W. G.] [F.]
BASIN. 1. pill?, the pouring instrument,
from pit (Ges.) ; tpidAn ; phiala : often in A. V.
bowl. 2. ]2S ; KpaTr)p ; crater. 3. "11D3 ; crater;
in A. V. sometimes cup, from "1Q3, cover, a cup
with a lid. 4. ?|p, wrongly in LXX. (Ex. xii.
22) Bbpa, and in Vulg. limen (Ges.).
1. Between the various vessels bearing in the
A. V. the names of basin, bowl, charger, cup,
and dish, it is scarcely possible now to ascertain
the precise distinction, as very few, if any re
mains exist of Jewish earthen or metal ware, and
as the same words are variously rendered in dif
ferent plaoes. We can only conjecture as to
their form and material from the analogy of
ancient Egyptian or Assyrian specimens of works
of the same kind, and from modern Oriental
vessels for culinary or domestic purposes. Among
the smaller vessels for the Tabernacle or Temple-
service, many must have been required to
receive from the sacrificial victims the blood to
be sprinkled for purification. Moses, on the
occasion of the great ceremony of purification
in the wilderness, put half the blood in " basins "
[R. V. " basons "] (fOllKn), or bowls, and after
wards sprinkled it on the people (Ex. xxiv. 6, 8,
xxxix, 21 ; Lev. i. 5, ii. 15, iii. 2, 8, 13, iv. 5, 34,
viii. 23, 24, xiv. 14, 25, xvi. 15, 19 ; Heb. ix. 19).
Among the vessels cast in metal, whether gold,
silver, or brass, by Hiram for Solomon, besides
the laver and great sea, mention is made of
basins, bowls, and cups. Of the first (Dsp"lTB>
marg. bowls) he is said to have made 100 (2 Ch.
iv. 8 ; 1 K. vii. 45, 46. Cf. Ex. xxv. 29 and
1 Ch. xxviii. 14, 17). Josephus, probably with
great exaggeration, reckons of tptdAat and
trtrovSeia, 20,000 in gold and 40,000 in stiver,
besides an equal number in each metal of Kpa-
T7jpey, for the offerings of flour mixed with oil
(Ant. viii. 3, §§ 7, 8. Cp. Birch, Hist, of Pottery,
i. 152). 2. The " basin " from which our Lord washed
the disciples' feet, vnrTt)p, was probably deeper
and larger than the hand-basin for sprinkling,
"VD (Jer. Iii. 18), which, in A. V. " caldrons "
(R. V. "pots"), Vulg. lebetes, is by the Syr.
rendered "basins for washing the feet" (John
xiii. 5). (Schleusner, Drusius.) [Washing of
Feet and Hands.] [H. W. P.]
BASKET. The Hebrew terms used in the
description of this article are as follows : — (1)
?D, so called from the twigs of which it was
originally made, specially used as the Greek
Kavouv (Horn. Od. iii. 442) and the Latin canis-
trum (Verg. Aen. i. 701) for holding bread (Gen. xl.
16 sq. ; Ex. xxix. 3, 23 ; Lev. viii. 2, 26, 31 ; Num.
vi. 15, 17, 19). The form of the Egyptian bread
basket is delineated in Wilkinson's Ane Egypt.
i. 177 [1878], after the specimens represented in
the tomb of Barneses III. These were made of gold

BASKET

365

(cp. Hom. Oaf. x. 355), and we must assume that
the term sal passed from its strict etymological
meaning to any vessel applied to the purpose.
In Judg. vi. 19, meat is served up in a sal, which
could hardly have been of wickerwork. The
expression l,'lh vD (Gen. xl. 16) is sometimes
referred to the material of which the baskets
were made (Kava. Ba'ivd, Symm.), or the white
colour of the peeled sticks, or lastly to then-
being " full of holes " (A. V. margin), i.e. open
work baskets ; but it is best rendered as by most
moderns and in R. V. " baskets of white bread."
(2) ni?p?D, a word of kindred origin, applied to
the basket used in gathering grapes (Jer. vi. 9).

Egyptian Baskets. (Prom Wilkinson.)
(3) KJtS, in which the first-fruits of the harvest
were presented (Deut. xxvi. 2, 4). From its
being coupled with the kneading-bowl (A. V.
" store," R.V. " kneading-trough " ; Deut. xxviii.
5, 17), we may infer that it was also used for
household purposes, perhaps to bring the corn
to the mill. The equivalent term in the LXX.
for this and the preceding Hebrew words is
KapraAAos, which specifically means a basket that
tapers downwards (Kdtpivos b£bs rd Kdru, Suid.),
similar to the Roman corbis. This shape of"
basket appears to have been familiar to the
Egyptians (Wilkinson, i.43-5 [1878]). (4) 2>k2>
so called from its similarity to a birdcage or trap
(KdpraAAos is used in the latter sense in Ecclus.
xi. 30), probably in regard to its having a
lid : it was used for carrying fruit (Am. viii.
1, 2) ; the LXX. gives dyyos ; Symm. more.
correctly KdAaBos ; the Vulg. uncinus. (5) 1-11,

Egyptian Baskets. (From Wilkinson.)
used like the Greek KdAaBos (LXX.) for carrying
fruit (Jer. xxiv. 1, 2), as well as on a larger
scale for carrying clay to the brickyard (Ps.
lxxxi. 6 ; Kitpivos, LXX. ; " pots," A.V. ; " basket,"
R. V.), or for holding bulky articles (2 K. x. 7 ;
KdpraAAos, LXX.) : the shape of this basket and

366

BASMATH

the mode of carrying it usual among the brick-
makers in Egypt is delineated in the cut given
under Bricks, and aptly illustrates Ps. lxxxi. 6.
The name Sallai (Neh. xi. 8, cp. xii. 20) is by
some taken to indicate that the manufacture
of baskets was a recognised trade among the
Hebrews, but this explanation is very question
able (see others in Bertheau-Eyssel on Neh. xi. 8).
In the N. T. baskets are described under the
three following terms, Kdtpivos, trtrvpis, and
aapydvi). The last occurs only in 2 Cor. xi. 33,
in describing St. Paul's escape from Damascus :
the word properly refers to anything twisted
like a rope (Aesch. Suppl. 791) or any article
woven of rope (irAeypa ti iK axoiviov, Suid.) ;
fish-baskets specially were so made (curb axoiv'tov
irAeypdnov els uiroSoxV tX^ouv, Etym. Mag.).
With regard to the two former words, it may be
remarked that k6cj>ivos is exclusively used in the
description of the miracle of feeding the five
thousand (Matt. xiv. 20, xvi. 9 ; Mark vi. 43 ;
Luke ix. 17 ; John vi. 13), and ffirvpls in that of
the four thousand (Matt. xv. 37 ; Mark viii. 8) ;
the distinction is most definitely brought out in
Mark viii. 19, 20. The arrvpls is also mentioned
as the means of St. Paul's escape (Acts ix. 25).
The difference between these two kinds of baskets
is not very apparent. Their construction appears
to have been the same ; for Kdtpivos is explained
by Suidas as dyyelov TtAeKrdv, while tnrvpls is
generally connected with trirelpa. The o-irupls
(sporta, Vulg.) seems to have been most appro
priately used of the provision basket, the Roman
sportula. Hesychius explains it as to tuv -n-vpuv
&yyos ; compare also the expression Selrrvov curb
airvptSos (Athen. viii. 17). The Kdtpivos of the
N. T. seems to have been more akin to the
wallet, if according to Etym. Mag. it is BaBb
Kai KolAov x^PVpa. As used by the Romans
(Colum. xi. 3, p. 460) it contained manure
enough to make a portable hotbed [Dict. of
Gr. and Rom. Ant. Cophinds]< in Eome itself
it was carried about by the Jews (quorum
cophinus foenumque supellex, Juv. iii. 14, vi.
542). [W. L. B.] [F.]
BAS'MATH (riDB>3; B. BacreppdB, A.
MatrepdB ; Basemath), Solomon's daughter, mar
ried to Ahimaaz, one of his commissariat offi
cers (1 K. iv 15). [Bashemath.] [W. A. W.]
BAS'S A (B. Bao-o-ai ; A. Batro-a ; Vulg. not
recognizable), 1 Esd. v. 16. [Bezai.] His
descendants returned from the Captivity with
Zerubbabel. [W. A. W.]
BA'STAI (BatrBat; Hasten), 1 Esd. v. 31.
[Besai.] A servant of the Temple, whose descen
dants returned from the Captivity. [W. A. W.]
BASTAED. Among those who were ex
cluded from entering the congregation, that is,
from intermarrying with pure Hebrews (Selden,
Table Talk, s. v. " Bastard "), even to the tenth
generation, was the mamzer ("ITDD, A. V. " bas
tard." The etymology of the Hebrew word
is much disputed. See Ges. s. v.), who was
classed in this respect with the Ammonite
and Moabite (Deut. xxiii. 2). This exclusion
had reference, according to tradition, to the law
of marriage only s and was not taken to affect his
other religious or his political and social rights.
A learned mamzer stood higher than an ignorant
priest. The Rabbis do not apply the term to

BAT
any illegitimate offspring, born out of wedlock
but to the issue of any connexion within the
degrees prohibited by the Law. A mamzer
according to the Mishna ( Yebamoth, iv. 13), is one
says K. Akiba, who is born of relations between
whom marriage is forbidden. Simeon the Tema-
nite says, the mamzer is every one whose parents
are liable to the punishment of "cutting off"
by the hands of Heaven ; R. Joshua, every one
whose parents are liable to death by the house
of judgment, as, for instance, the "offspring of
adultery. The ancient Versions (LXX., VuV.
Syr.) add another class, the children of a harlot
and in this sense the term manzer or manser
survived in Pontifical law (Selden, De Succ. in
Bon. Defunct, c. iii.) : " Manzeribus scortum, sed
moecha nothis dedit ortum. '
The child of a goi, or non-Israelite, and a
mamzer was also reckoned by the Talmudists
a mamzer, as was the issue of a slave and a
mamzer, and of a mamzer and female proselyte.
The term also occurs in Zech. ix. 6, " a bastard
shall dwell in Ashdod," where it seems to denote
a foreign race of mixed and spurious birth.
Dr. Geiger infers from this passage that mamzer
specially signifies the issue of such marriages
between the Jews and the women of Ashdod as
are alluded to in Neh. xiii. 23, 24, and applies
it exclusively to the Philistine bastard. See
Speaker's Comm. and Dillmann2 on Deut. 1. c.
Much interesting information is collected in
Hamburger, RE. s. v. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BAT (f^Otf, 'atalleph, literally night-flier;
WKrepis; vespertilio). There is no doubt what
ever that the A. V. and E. V. are correct in
their rendering of this word: the derivation
of the Hebrew name," the authority of the old
Versions, which are all agreed upon the point,"
and the context of the passages where the
Hebrew word occurs, are conclusive as to the
meaning. It is true that in the A. V. of Lev.
xi. 19, and Deut. xiv. 18, the 'atalleph closes the
lists of "fowls that shall not be eaten ; " but
it must be remembered that the ancients con
sidered the bat to partake of the nature of a
bird, and the Hebrew 6ph, "fowls," which
literally means "a wing," might be apphed to
any winged creature : indeed this seems clear
from Lev. xi. 20, where, immediately after the
'atalleph is mentioned, the following words,
which were doubtless suggested by this name,
occur : " All fowls that creep [R.V, " all winged
creeping things "], going upon all four, shall be
an abomination unto you." Besides the passages
cited above, mention of the bat occurs in Is. ii.
20 : " In that day a man shall cast his idols of

» Ges. from ^QJf = ]V»e. Cghatala), "the night
was dark," and tm, " flying." miKrepts, from vv£,
" night ; " vespertilio, from vesper, " the evening." Bat,
perhaps from blatta, blacta (see Wedgwood, Dict. Engl.
Etymol.). Low inMV." comparesit with Talm., Targ.,
and Syr. M.x^ Ji- naked, and thinks the bat was
so named from the character of its wings. Cp. the Fr.
chauvesomis. i> With the exception of the Syriac, which has
JODQ-4 (tawso), "a peacock."

BAT
silver and his idols of gold ... to the moles and
to the bats ; " and in Baruch vi. 22, in the

BATH, BATHING

367

Bat. (Tap/josoHt perforatiis.)
passage that so graphically sets forth the vanity
of the Babylonish idols : " Their faces are blacked
through the smoke that cometh out of the
temple; upon their bodies and heads sit bats,
swallows, and birds, and the cats also."
Bats delight during the daylight to take np
their abode in caverns and dark places.
Bats are exceptionally abundant in Palestine,
owing doubtless to the immense number of
caves where they live in perfect security, safe
from the attacks of their natural enemies. It
is difficult to ascertain how many species of
bats exist in Palestine, as travellers have paid
no attention to them. We have ourselves col
lected seventeen species, which are all that are
hitherto known from the country. They com
prise one Pteropus, or fruit-eating bat, four
Rhinolophidae, nine Yespertilionidae, and three
Emballonuridae. The fruit-eating bat js the
large fox-headed Pteropus, known as Cynony-
cterns aegyptiaca, measuring twenty inches across
the wings ; and, contrary to the usual habits
of the family, which are arboreal, is found in
vast flocks in caves in the wooded parts of the
country. A little horse-shoe tropical bat, with
a tail as long as its body, swarms by thousands
in the caves of the Jordan valley and Dead Sea

/T

Bat. tFhyflorhina tridens.)
basin, especially in the glen of the Callirrhoe in
Moab. Another tropical species, Taphozous
nudiventris, is equally abundant in the ravines

round the Lake of Galilee. Both these species
are remarkable for large deposits of fat laid on
at the base of the tail, just before the period
of hybernation. Another well-known species,
Vesperugo kuhli, swarms in such myriads in the
quarries under the Temple of Jerusalem, and
in the so-called Cave of Adullam, that we have
found it almost impossible to keep a torch
alight while creeping through the caverns.
The common long-eared bat of England, Plecotus
auritus, flits about everywhere. In the Dead
Sea valley it is only the tropical species that
are dormant in winter.
Many travellers have noticed the immense
numbers of bats that are found in caverns in
the East, and Layard says that on the occasion
of a visit to a cavern these noisome beasts
almost compelled him to retreat (Nineveh and
Babylon, p. 307). To this day these animals
find a congenial lurking abode " amidst the
remains of idols and the sculptured represen
tations of idolatrous practices " (Script. Nat. H.
p. 8) ; thus forcibly attesting the meaning of
the Prophet Isaiah's words. Bats belong to the
order Cheiroptera, class M.-mnialia. [H. B. T.]
BATH, BATHING. This was a prescribed
part of the Jewish ritual of purification in cases
of accidental, leprous, or ordinary uncleanness
(Lev. xv. pass., xvi. 28, xxii. 6 ; Num. xix. 7,
19 ; 2 Sam. xi. 2, 4 ; 2 K. v. 10) ; as also after
mourning, which always implied defilement, e.g.
Ruth iii. 3, 2 Sam. xii. 20. The high-priest at
his inauguration (Lev. viii. 6) and on the Day of
Atonement, once before each solemn act of pro
pitiation (xvi. 4, 24), was also to bathe. This
the Rabbis have multiplied into ten times on
that day. Maimon. (Constit. de Vasis Sanct. v.
3) gives rules for the strict privacy of the high-
priest in bathing. There were bath-rooms in
the later Temple over the chambers Abtines and
Happarvah for the priests' use (Lightfoot, Dcscr.
of Temp. 24). A bathing-chamber was probably
included in houses even of no great rank in
cities from early times (2 Sam. xi. 2), much
more in those of the wealthy in later times ;
often in gardens (Susan, v. 15). With this, anoint
ing was customarily joined ; the climate mak
ing both these essential alike to health and
pleasure, to which luxury added the use of per
fumes (Susan, v. 17; Judith x. 3; Esth. ii. 12).
The "pools," such as that of Siloam and Heze-
kiah's (Neh. iii. 15, 16 ; 2 K. xx. 20 ; Is. xxii. 11 ;
John ix. 7), often sheltered by porticoes (John
v. 2), are the first indications we have of public
bathing accommodation. Ever since the time of
Jason (Prideaux, ii. 168) the Greek usages ofthe
bath probably prevailed, and an allusion in
Josephus (Aovtrdpevos arpaTiuTiKUTepov, B. J.
i. 17, § 7) seems to imply the use of the bath
(hence, no doubt, a public one, as in Rome) by
legionary soldiers. We read also of a castle
luxuriously provided with a volume of water in
its court, and of a Herodian palace with spacious
pools adjoining, in which the guests continued
swimming, &c, in very hot weather from noon
till dark (Joseph. Ant. xii. 4, § 11 ; xv. 3, § 3).
The hot baths of Tiberias, or more strictly of
Emmaus, near it, and of Callirrhoe, near the
eastern shore of the Dead Sea, were much re
sorted to (Reland, i. 46 ; Joseph. Ant. xviii.
2, § 3, xvii. 6, § 5 , B. J 1. 33, § 5 ; Amm.

368

BATH-EABB1M

Marcell. xiv. 8 ; Stanley, S. and P. pp. 295, 375 ;
Hamburger, RE. s. nn. Bad, Badeanstalten). The
parallel customs of ancient Egypt, Greece, and
Rome are too well known to need special allu
sion (see Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Ant. art. Balneae).
The verb " bathe " (save in Is. xxxiv. 5, where
it is used hy the A. V. to translate HIT [R. V.

BATH-SHEBA
"hath drunk its fill "]) only occurs in the formula
of Levitical law, " he shall wash his clothes ami
bathe himself in water," i.e. where "wash"
precedes in the same verse. Elsewhere the A. V.
always prefers "wash" for the word JTPI,
rendered " bathe '' in that formula : e.g. Ex. ii
5 ; 2 Sam. xi. 2. [H. H.]

An Egyptian lady in the bath, with attendants. (Wilkinson.)

The distinction, adopted in the R. V., be
tween " to bathe " and " to wash " helps to
explain John xiii. 10 (see note in Speaker's
Comm.). The guest, after the bath, needed only
to have the dust washed from his feet when
he reached the house of his host. The term
Aovrpdv (Eph. v. 26 ; Tit. iii. 5 ; see Speaker's
Comm. in 11.), rendered " laver " in R. V. marg.,
is considered under Baptism (§ iv. 3, 4). The
question whether BairTltruvTai (Mark vii. 4)
refers to the washing of the individuals who
have been to the market or to the things brought
from thence, is decided by the R. V. in favour
of the former ("they wash themselves." See
also Speaker's Comm.). It should not, however,
be forgotten that the reading pavTiauvTai (BN.,
Westcott and Hort, Gebhart), "they sprinkle
themselves," commends itself to many (cp.
Nosgen in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. iu
loco). The means for bathing seem to have
been amply supplied by the tanks and reservoirs
of Jerusalem (see Jerusalem, Waters), and
those means still exist in a more limited extent.
Many synagogues (e.g. at Safed in Galilee, as
well as at Jerusalem) are furnished with bathing
rooms suitable for the ceremonial washings con
nected with their worship. Cp. B. D. Amer.
edit. [F.]
BATH-EAB'BIM, the gate op (TI3 "l)X>
D,3'T), one of the gates of the ancient city of
Heshbon, by (?J?) which were two "pools,"*
whereto Solomon likens the eyes of his beloved
¦ The"flshpools" of the A. V. is from the piscinae of
the Vulg. The Hebrew word Berecah is simply a pool
or tank.

(Cant. vii. 4 [5]). The " Gate of Bath-Rabbim "
at Heshbon would, according to the Oriental
custom, be the gate pointing to a town of
that name. The only place in this neighbour
hood at all resembling Bath-Rabbim in sound
is Rabbah (Amman), but the one tank of which
we gain any intelligence as remaining at Hesbdn,
is on the opposite (S.) side of the town to
Amman (Porter, Handbk., p. 298). Conder (Heth
and Moab, p. 125) supposes the gate to have
been the passage cut through the rocks at
the top of the mountain path from the stream
to the city on the plateau above. The LXX.
and Vulg. translate : iv iriiA.au Bvyarpbs iroA-
A&v ; in porta filiae multitudinis. [G.] [W.]
BATH-SHEBA (MB'TlS, 2 Sam. xi. 3, &c. ;
also called Bath-shua, IMSJ'Tfl, in 1 Ch. iii. 5;
B-npodBee; Joseph. BeeBtraBr); i.e. daughter of
an oath, or, daughter of seven, sc. years), the
daughter of Eliam (2 Sam. xi. 3), or Ammiel
(1 Ch. iii. 5), the son of Ahithophel (2 Sara.
xxiii. 34), the wife of Uriah the Hittite. It is
probable that the enmity of Ahithophel towards
David was increased, if not caused, by the dis
honour brought by him upon his family in the
person of Bathsheba. The child whioh was the
fruit of her adulterous intercourse with David
died : but afterwards she became the mother
of four sons, Solomon (Matt, i. 6), Shimea,
Shobab, and Nathan. When, in David's old age,
Adonijah, an elder son by Haggith, attempted
to set aside in his own favour the succession
promised to Solomon, Bathsheba was employed
by Nathan to inform the king of the conspiracy
(1 K. i. 11, 15, 23). After the accession of
Solomon, she, as queen-mother, requested per
mission of her son for Adonijah to take in

BATH-SHTJA

BDELLIUM

369

marriage Abishag the Shunammite. This per
mission was refused, and the request became the
occasion of the execution of Adonijah (1 K. ii. 23).
JDavid.] Bathsheba was said by Jewish tra
dition to have composed and recited Prov. xxxi.
hy way of admonition or reproof to her son
Solomon, on his marriage with Pharaoh's
daughter (Calmet, Dict. s. v. ; Corn, a Lapid.
on Prov. xxxi.). [H. W. P.]
BATH-SHUA (IW'-nS ; BA. i) BnptrdBee;
Eethsabee), a variation of the name of Bathsheba,
mother of Solomon, occurring only in 1 Ch.
iii. 5. Notice that Shua was a Canaanite name
j(cp. 1 Ch. ii. 3, and Gen. xxxviii. 2, 12 — where
"Bath-shua" is really the name of Judah's
wife), while Bathshcba's first husband was a
Hittite. [W. A. W.]
BATH-ZACHABI'AS (quasi nn3T IV3;
N- BaiBCaxapla ; A. and Josephus BeBCaxapat ;
Bethzachara), a place, named only in 1 Mace. vi.
32, 33, to which Judas Maccabaeus marched
from Jerusalem, and where he encamped for
the relief of Bethsura (Bethzur) when the latter
was besieged by Antiochus Eupator. The two
¦places were seventy stadia apart (Joseph. Ant.
.xii. 9, § 4), and the approaches to Bathzacharia
were intricate and confined — areviis oIjo-tjs ttjs
TrapdSov (Joseph. B. J. i. 1, § 5 ; cp. also the
passage in the Ant. above, from which it is evident
that Josephus knew the spot). This description
is met in every respect by the modern Beit
Skdria, which has been discovered by Robinson
at nine miles north of Beit sur, " on an almost
isolated promontory or tell, jutting out between
two deep valleys, and connected with the high
ground south by a low neck between the heads
of the valleys, the neck forming the only place
of access to what must have been an almost
impregnable position " (Rob. iii. 283, 284). The
place is mentioned by Willibald (E. T. 20), and
lies in the entangled country west of the
Hebron road between 4 and 5 miles south-west
of Bethlehem. [Bethzur.] There are ancient
foundations and rock-cut tombs (PEF. Mem. iii.
35, 108 ; Gusirin, Judge, iii. 316-318). [G.] [W.]
BATTLE-AXE (Jer. li. 20). [Axe (7;
Maul).] BATTLEMENT. [House.]
BAV'AI C-13, possibly of Persian origin,
Ges. ; B. BeSei, X. Befep, A. Bevel; Bavai), son
of Henadad, ruler ("ffif) of the " district " OJ^S)
of Keilah in the time of Nehemiah (Neh. iii.
18). [W. A. W.] [F.j
BAY-TREE (rntS,* 'ezrdch; KeSpos tou
AiBdvov ; cedrus Libani). It is diflicult to see upon
what grounds the translators of the A. V. have
understood the Hebrew word of Ps. xxxvii. 35 to
signify a " bay-tree " [R. V. " a green tree in its
native soil "j ; such a rendering is entirely
unsupported by any kind of evidence. Most of
the Jewish doctors understand by the term
ezrdch, " a tree which grows in its own soil "
(indigena, "one born in the land") — one that
• From rpj, ortus est (Sol).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

has never been transplanted (see Ges. j>. n.) ;
which is the interpretation given in the margin
of the A. V. and accepted by most moderns.
The LXX., however, followed by tho Vulg. and
tho Arabic, reads " cedar of Lebanon," i.e.
|'U3?S1 PN for pin n"ltS, which, on account
of the unusual sense of hitX (the word else
where being always applied to man and signify
ing a native as opposed to a foreigner [as in Lev.
xvi. 29]), has been accepted by Hitzig, Gratz,
Cheyne, Nowack, &c. Dr. Royle (Kitto's Cycl.
Bib. Lit., art. " Ezrach ") suggests the Arabic
ashruk, which, he says, is described in Arabic
works on Materia Medico, as a tree having
leaves like the ghar or " bay-tree." This opinion
must be rejected as unsupported by any autho
rity. At the same time, if the epithet J^in.
ra'anan, is to be taken in its usual sense of
luxuriant, spreading, some tree is intended. The
sweet bay is an evergreen tree, attaining the
height of twenty or thirty feet, the Laurus
nobilis of botanists, and of the natural order
Lauraceae. The Orientals extract a scented oil
from its foliage. It is not very common in
Western Palestine, but is found in all the
wooded glens, more or less sparsely. It is
abundant on Mount Carmel, and in all the
woods of Gilead. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BAZ-LITH (n^V?)- " Children of Baz-
lith " were amongst the Nethinim who returned
with Zerubbabel (Neh. vii. 54; NA. Ba<raAc<Jf?,
B. BaaatiB ; Besloth). In Ezra ii. 52, the name
is Bazluth (n-17^3 ; A. BatraAtiB, B. Baaa-
Sue ; Besluth). [Basaloth.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
BAZ'LUTH: See Bazlith.
BDELLIUM (rh'12, beddlach; avBpat [in
Gen.], KpitrraAAov [in Num.]; bdellium), a precious
substance, the name of which occurs in Gen. ii.
12, with "gold" and "onyx stone," as one of
the productions of the land of Havilah, and in
Num. xi. 7, where manna is in colour compared
to bdellium. There are few subjects that have
been more copiously discussed than that which
relates to the nature of the word beddlach ; and
it must be confessed, that it is still impossible
to say whether beddlach denotes a mineral, or
an animal production, or a vegetable exudation.
Some writers have supposed that the word
should be written berolach (beryl), instead of
beddlach, as Wahl (in Descr. Asiae, p. 856) and
Hartmann (de Mulier. Hebraic, iii. 96), but beryl,
or aqua marine, which is only a pale variety of
emerald, is out of the question, for the bdellium
was white (cp. Ex. xvi. 31 with Num. xi. 7), while
the beryl is yellow or red, or faint blue ; for
the same reason the &vBpa£ ("carbuncle") of
the LXX. (in Gen. I. c) must be rejected ; while
KpiaraAAov ("crystal") of the same Ver
sion, an interpretation adopted by Reland (de
Situ Parodist, § 12), is mere conjecture. The
Greek-Venetian and the Arabic Versions, with
some ofthe Jewish doctors, understand " pearls "
to be intended by the Hebrew word; and
this interpretation Bochart (Hieroz. iii. 592),
Gesenius (Thes.), Lagarde, and Speaker's Comm.
accept ; on the other hand the Greek Versions
of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus, Josephus
2 B

!70

BEALIAH

(Ant. iii, 1, § 6), Salmasius (Hyl. latri. p. 181),
Celsius (Hierob. i. 324), Sprengel (Hist. Rei
Herb. i. 18, and Comment in Dioscor. i. 80),
and most modern writers (cp. MV.11 s. v.,
Dillmann,5 and Delitzsch [1887] on Gen. ii. 12)
believe, with the A. V., that beddlach =
bdellium, i.e. an odoriferous exudation from a
tree which is, according to Kaempfer (Amoen.
Exot. p. 668), the Palmyra Palm, Borassus fia-
belliformis, Linn., an Indian species, which
furnishes Palmyra wood, and was found by
Forskal, Flor. Arab. p. xci., at Beit el Fakih in
Yemen, or Arabia Felix ; compare Pliny (//. N.
xii. 9, § 19), where a full description of the
tree and the gum is given. The aromatic gum
according to Dioscorides (i. 80) was called
pdSeAKov or BdAxov; and according to Pliny
brochon, malacham, maldacon, names which seem
to be allied to the Hebrew beddlach. Plautus
(Cure i. 2, 7) uses the word bdellium.
As regards the theory which explains beddlach
by " pearls," it must be allowed that the evi
dence in its favour is very inconclusive : in the
first place it assumes that Havilah is some spot
on the Persian Gulf where pearls are found, a
point however which is fairly open to question ;
and secondly, it must be remembered that there
are other Hebrew words for " pearls," viz. Dar,"
and according to Bochart, Peninlm,* though there
is much doubt as to the meaning of this latter
word. Amber has also been suggested with some
show of probability.
The fact that eben, " a stone," is prefixed to
shdham, " onyx," and not to beddlach, seems to
exclude the latter from being a mineral ; nor do
we think it a sufficient objection to say " that
such a production as bdellium is not valuable
enough to be classed with gold and precious
stones," for it would be easy to prove that
resinous exudations were held in very high
esteem by the ancients, both Jews and Gentiles ;
and it is more probable that the sacred historian
should mention, as far as may be in a few
words, the varied productions, vegetable as well
as mineral, of the country of which he was
speaking, rather than confine his remarks to its
mineral treasures ; and since there is a simi
larity of form between the Greek BSeAAiov, or
pdSeAKov, and the Hebrew beddlach, and as this
opinion is well supported by authority, the
balance of probabilities appears to us to be in
favour of the translation of the A. V., though
the point must be left an open one. [W. H.]
BE ALI' AH (1t6jQ, Jah is Lord; see Nestle,
Die Israelit. Eigennamen, p. 124; Baethgen,
Beitrage z. Semit. Beligionsgesch. p. 144 : BX.
Babaia, A. Baabid ; Baalia), a Benjamite, who
joined David at Ziklag (1 Ch. xii. 5). [F.]
BEA'LOTH (nftjn, the plur. fem. of Baal ;
B. BaApaivdv, A. BaAuB ; Baloth), a town in the
south of Judah (Josh. xv. 24). ' [G.] [W.]
BE'AN (dissyll.), Children of (v'loi Baidv ;
Joseph, v'loi tou Badvov; filii Bean), a tribe, ap
parently of predatory Bedouin habits, retreating
into " towers " (itvpyovs) when not plundering,

• ~\% Heb. ; A Arab.

b D'J*J2.

BEANS
and who were destroyed by Judas Maccabaeus
(1 Mace. v. 4). The name has been conjectured
to be identical with Beon ; but it is very diffi
cult to tell from the context whether the resi
dence of this people was on the east or west of
Jordan. In the Speaker's Comm. in loco it is con
jectured that Bean may be identical with Maon
3 and D being constantly confused. [G,] [F.] '
BEANS (713,° pbl ; Kvapos ; faba). There
appears never to have been any doubt about the
correctness of the translation of the Hebrew
word. Beans are mentioned with various other
things in 2 Sam. xvii. 28, as having been
brought to David at the time of his flight from
Absalom, and again in Ezek. iv. 9 beans are
mentioned with " barley, lentiles, millet, and
fitches," which the prophet was ordered to put
into one vessel to be made into bread. Pliny
(H. N. xviii. 12) also states that beans were
used for a similar purpose. Beans are cultivated
in Palestine, which country grows niany of the
leguminous order of plants, such as lentils,
kidney-beans, vetches, &c. Beans are in blos
som in Palestine in January; they have been
noticed in flower at Lydda on the 23rd, and at
Sidon and Acre even earlier (Kitto, Phys. H.
Palest. 215); they continue in flower till
March. In Egypt beans are sown in November
and reaped in the middle of February, but in
Syria the harvest is in May. Dr. Kitto (ibid.
319) says that the " stalks are cut down with
the scythe^ and these are afterwards cut and
crushed to fit them for the food of cattle ; the
beans when sent to market are often deprived of
their skins by the action of two small mill
stones (if the' phrase may be allowed) of clay
dried in the sun." Dr. Shaw (Travels, i. 257,
8vo ed., 1808) says that in Korthern Africa
beans are usually full-podded at the beginning
of March, and continue during the whole
spring ; that they are " boiled and stewed with
oil and garlic, and are the principal food of per
sons of all distinctions."
Herodotus (ii. 37) states that the Egyptian
priests abhor the sight of beans, and consider
them impure, and that the people do not sow
this pulse .at all, nor indeed eat what grows in
their country ; but a passage in Diodorus implies
that the abstinence from this article of food was
not general. The remark of Herodotus, there
fore, requires limitation. The dislike which
Pythagoras is said to have maintained for beans
has been by some traced to the influence of the
Egyptian priests with that philosopher (see
Smith's Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biog., art.
" Pythagoras ").
Hiller (Hierophyt. ii. 130), quoting from the
Mishna, says that the high-priest of the Jews
was not allowed to eat eggs, cheese, flesh,
bruised beans (fabas fresas), or lentils on the
day before the Sabbath.
The bean (Vicia faba) is too well known to
need description; it is believed to be a native of
Persia, but has been so long cultivated that its
origin is lost. In the oldest Egyptian mummy
cases, beans have been found. The site of the
* ^13. from ^3, "to roll," in allusion to its form.
Lat. bulla; Dutch, So!, "o bean." The Arabic word
J ai, Jul, is identical. Ges. Thes. s. ».

BEAU

BEAK

371

ancient Gibeah of Saul is now known as Tulcil
el Ful, " the little Bean Hill." The bean is
cultivated over a large portion of the old
world from the north of Europe to the south
of India ; it belongs to the natural order of
plants called Leguminosae. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BEAR (3'V or n'TT, Heb. and Chald. ddb ;
i .»iS. Arab, dubb ; h\pKTos, dpKos, Aukos, in
Prov. xxviii. 15 ; peptpva in Prov. xvii. 12, as if
the word were n3K'!l : ursus, ursa). The bear
was formidable to man. "As if a man did flee
from a lion, and a bear met him " (Amos v. 19).
Its ferocity when deprived of its cubs is re
peatedly mentioned. "They he mighty men,
and they be chafed in their minds, as a bear
robbed of her whelps in the field " (2 Sam. xvii.
8). " Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a
man, rather than a fool in his folly" (Prov.
xvii. 12 ; so Hos. xiii. 8). Its craftiness in am
bush is alluded to, — " He was unto me as a bear
lying in wait " (Lam. iii. 10). And the deep
monotonous grunt of the bear is compared to
the lament of those who mourn over disap
pointed hopes. " We roar all like bears "
(Is. lix. 11) : so Horace, Ep. xvi. 51, " circum-
gemit ursus ovile."
The Syrian bear is distinguished by natural
ists as Ursus Syriacus. It is only to be dis
tinguished from the brown bear of Europe
( Ursus arctos) by its lighter colour, and rather
more slender claws, but it is still more closely
allied to the Himalayan brown bear, which is
very little paler in colour and with still longer
claws. Giebel and many other naturalists unite
all these as one species. The Syrian species or
race extends through Northern Syria, Armenia,
Northern Persia, and the Caucasus. We find
bears represented on Assyrian monuments.

Syrian Bear (Uraua Syriacus).

None of these bears are naturally carnivo
rous, feeding generally on fruits and roots, and
the Syrian bear is less addicted to animal food
than its congener in colder climates, though all
the species occasionally feed on flesh, and when
individual bears have once acquired a carnivorous
taste they soon prefer flesh, and become very
dangerous to the flocks in their neighbourhood.
and even to man himself. The sheepfolds and
the goats of the villages often suffer from their
visits, but they are more generally mischievous
to the crops of lentils, of which they are very
fond. The bear is now exterminated in Southern
* Probably from J^, lmte incedere.

Palestine, and is comparatively rare in Galilee,
though still not uncommon in all parts of
Lebanon and Hermon. The writer never but once
saw it south of Hermon, and this was in winter in
a rugged ravine near the Lake of Gennesaret. It
is said still to inhabit the wooded parts of Gilead
and Bashan. The almost total denudation of
timber and the more powerful weapons devised
by man fully account for its disappearance else
where, for the bear is rarely found far away
from woods or trees. Of its former abundance
we have evidence both in the incidents men
tioned in the sacred writings and in the fre
quent allusions to its habits.

Bear. (From a bronze bowl, Nimrud.)
The bear of Ceylon is sometimes the terror
the Cingalese villages, from its ravages among
the unarmed women and children, but the
attack of the bears on the children of Bethel
who had mocked Elisha, when " there came forth
two she bears out of the wood and tare forty
and two of them " (2 K. ii. 24), was clearly
a divinely directed visitation, apart from the
ordinary habits of the animal, although the
Hebrew l?j?3, baia', does not appear necessarily
to imply, as is generally understood, that the
bears slew the children, or did more than
wound or tear them. The ravine leading up
from Jericho to Bethel is now entirely bare
of timber, and could afford no cover for the
bear ; but when clothed with wood, it must
have been, from its ruggedness, a secure fastness
for any wild animals. The bear always has its
lair in forest cover ; it is therefore hardly neces
sary to suppose with some that they migrated
from Lebanon and Hermon to the lowlands in
winter, traces of them being found in Central
Palestine about Samaria and Carmel as late as
the Crusading times.
When we visited Hermon, before the snow
had melted from the top, we found the snow
ridges trodden in all directions by the tracks of
bears, which were well known, but not much
feared, by the shepherds, and we also saw their
traces in the snow on Lebanon. The late Rev.
F. W. Holland, the well-known explorer of the
Sinaitic Peninsula, wrote to me the following
graphic account of the Syrian bear on Hermon.
" On June 27, 1865, I slept on the top of Mount
Hermon. Just as the sun was setting, I saw
two bears rolling each other over in the snow
about 400 yards distant. We went to sleep,
fully expecting a visit from them during the
night, but they did not disturb us, though at
daybreak we found them still near us. When
2 B 2

372

BEARD

the sun had risen, they left the snow and went
down the mountain side. As we descended we
came upon another in a narrow gorge busily en
gaged in rolling over the large boulders, though
there did not appear to be food of any kind for
him among the stones. I was some distance
ahead of my companions, and he did not see me
till I got within about fifty yards of him. He then
reared himself up, and sat grinning at me as I
approached with my little revolver, my only
weapon. Unfortunately the Syrian we had with
us came in sight and set up a shout, which so
frightened the bear that he turned and fled, falling
head over heels on a frozen spring, but did not
stop till he was fully a quarter of a mile off, when
turning round for a moment, he shook his head
angrily and then galloped away. Bears must
be very common on Mount Hermon. When I
pointed them out to our guide, who lived in one
of the villages at the foot of the Mount, and
was a charcoal-burner by trade, he laughed at
my appearing surprised to see them, and evi
dently did not consider them worth looking at
or thinking about, saying there were many of
them. When we were there, there was but
little snow, and the bears had doubtless come up
from the lower parts of Hermon to enjoy a roll
in it." [H. B. T.]
BEARD (|j?T; vuyuv; barba). Western
Asiatics have always cherished the beard as the
badge of the dignity of manhood, and attached
to it the importance of a feature. The Egyp
tians on the contrary, sedulously, for the most
part, shaved the hair of the face and head, and
compelled their slaves to do the like. Hero
dotus (i. 36) mentions it as a peculiarity of the
Egyptians, that they let the beard grow in
mourning, being at all other times shaved.
Hence Joseph, when released from prison,
" shaved his beard " to appear before Pharaoh
(Gen. xii. 14). It was, however, the practice
among the Egyptians to wear a false beard,

Eeards. Egyptian, from Wilkinson (top row). Of other nations,
from Kosallinl and Lay ard (bottom row).
made of plaited hair, and of a different form
according to the rank of the persons, private in
dividuals being represented with a small beard,
scarcely two inches long, kings with one of con
siderable length, square at the bottom, and gods
with one turning up at the end (Wilkinson, Ane
Egypt, ii. 333 [1878]). The enemies of the
Egyptians, including probably many of the
nations of Canaan, Syria, Armenia, &c, are
represented nearly always bearded. On the
tomb of Beni Hassan is represented a train of

BEARD
foreigners with asses and cattle, who all have
short beards, as have also groups of various
nations on another monument. The Jews are
represented with short beards in the Assyrian
sculptures representing the capture of Lachish.
[See cut under Captivities of the Jews.]
Egyptians of low caste or mean condition are
represented sometimes, in the spirit of carica
ture, apparently with beards of slovenly growth
(Wilkinson, ii. 127). In the Ninevite monu
ments is a series of battle-views from the cap
ture of Lachish by Sennacherib, in which the
captives have beards very like some of those in
the Egyptian monuments.
There is, however, an appearance of conven
tionalism both in Egyptian and Assyrian treat
ment of the hair and beard on monuments
which prevents our accepting it as character
istic. Nor is it possible to decide with certainty
the meaning of the precept (Lev. xix. 27 ; xxi. 5":
cp. notes in Speaker's Comm., and Knobel-Dill-
mann) regarding the "corners of the beard."
It seems to imply something in which the cut of
a Jewish beard had a ceremonial difference from
that of other western Asiatics; and on comparing
Herod, iii. 8 with Jer. ix. 26, xxv. 23, xlix. 32,
it is likely that the Jews retained the hair on
the sides of the face between the ear and the
eye (Kpdratpoi), which the Arabs and others
shaved away in honour of their deity Orotal.
To differentiate the chosen people from idolaters
in this respect may have been a ground of the
prohibition. In Lev. ub. supr. "marring" or .
"shaving off the corners of the beard" is
associated with "cuttings in the flesh," and
both these uniting in the costume of the eighty
devotees of Jer. xii. 5 seems to mark a partial
lapse into heathenish ways at that period." Size
and fulness of beard are said to be regarded, at
the present day, as a mark of respectability and
trustworthiness. The beard is the object of an
oath, and that on which blessings or shame are
spoken of as resting (D'Arvieux, Moeurs et
Coutumes des Arabes). The custom was and is
to shave or pluck it and the hair out in mourn
ing (Is. 1. 6, xv. 2 ; Jer. xii. 5, xlviii. 37 ; Ezra
ix. 3 ; Ep. Jer. 31) ; to neglect it in seasons of
permanent affliction (2 Sam. xix. 24), and to re
gard any insult to it as the last outrage which
enmity can inflict. Thus David resented the
treatment of his ambassadors by Hanun (2 Sam.
x. 4) ; and so in feigning madness the defilement
of his own beard is prominent (1 Sam. xxi. 13);
so the people of God are figuratively spoken of
as " beard " or " hair " which He will shave
with " the razor, the king of Assyria " (Is. vii.
20). The beard was the object of salutation,
and under this show of friendly reverence Joab
beguiled Amasa (2 Sam. xx. 9). The dressing,
trimming, anointing, &c. of the beard, was per
formed with much ceremony by persons of

<• A Phoenic. inscription from Larnaca, in Cyprus, of
the 5th to 4th century b.c, mentions among others
connected with the temple of Ashtoreth, barbers (gal-
labim), who may have been employed iu shaving the
priests or worshippers, or — if the custom of 1 K. xviii.
28 be supposed [with Kenan] to have prevailed in
Cyprus— in healing the wounds inflicted upon them
selves by the devotees in their frenzied rites. Cp.
El'O?} in Ezra v. 1. See Corpus Inscript. Smiti-
carum, No. S6 A 12 and p. 95. [S. R. D.]

BEAST
wealth and rank (Ps. cxxxiii. 2). The removal
of the beard was a part of the ceremonial treat
ment proper to a leper (Lev. xiv. 9). There is
no evidence that the Jews compelled their slaves
to wear beards otherwise than as they wore their
own ; but the Romans, when they adopted the
fashion of shaving, compelled their slaves to
retain their hair and beard, and let them
shave when manumitted (Liv. xxxiv. 52, xiv.
44). [H. H.]
BEAST. The representative in the A. V.
of the following Hebrew words : "V1Q> n'H
(ttyn, chaid.), rons.
1. Behemdh (nfpn3*; to Terpd-noSa, to
ktt)vti, to Br/pia ; jumentum, bestia, animantia,
pecus; "beast," "cattle," A. V.), which is the
general name for " domestic cattle " of auy
kind, is used also to denote " any large quadru
ped," as opposed to fowls and creeping things
(Gen. vi. 7, 20, vii. 2 ; Ex. ix. 25 ; Lev. xi. 2 ;
1 K. iv. 33 ; Prov. xxx. 30, &c.) ; or for "beasts
of burden," horses, mules, &c, as in 1 K. xviii.
5, Neh. ii. 12, 14, &c. ; or the word may denote
"wild beasts," as in Deut. xxxii. 24, Hab. ii.
17, 1 Sam. xvii. 44. [Behemoth, note;
Ox.] 2. Bi'ir CVlfS ; to tpopela, to. KTt)vri ; jumen
tum ; " beast," " cattle ") is used either collec
tively of " all kinds of cattle," like the Latin
pecus (Ex. xxii. 5 ; Num. xx. 4, 8, 11 ; Ps.
Ixxviii. 48), or specially of " beasts of burden "
(Gen. xiv. 17). This word, which is much rarer
than the preceding, though common in Aramaic,
is derived from a root "IJ73, " to pasture."
3. Chayydh (Hsn ; Bripiov, Cuoy> tyPi Terpd-
ttous, kttjvos, eprrerdv, BripidAuTos, Bpuros ;
fera, animantia, animal ; " beast," " wild
beast "). This word, which is the feminine of
the adjective 'PI, " living," is used to denote
any animal. It is, however, very frequently
used specially of " wild beast," when the mean
ing is often more fully expressed by the addition
of the word TSlWi) (hassadeh), (wild beast) " of
the field " (Ex. xxiii. 11 ; Lev. xxvi. 22 ; Deut.
vii. 22 ; Hos. ii. 14, xiii. 8 ; Jer. xii. 9, &c).
Similar is the use of the Chaldee Hvh
(cheyvdh). [W. H.]
BEAST, WILD. The rendering of four
Hebrew words iu the A. V., and of three in
the R. V. 1. rpn (chayyah ; C^ov, Bripiov, B-i\p ;
fera, animal, animantium ; Arab. &j£», hay ah)
signifies simply " a living thing," but is gene
rally applied to wild animals [Beast, 3]. In
Ps. lxviii. 30, where the A. V. reads " company
of the spearmen," the Hebrew text is iljp DTli
chayyath kaneh, " wild beast of the reeds " (and
so R. V.), i.e. the crocodile. In most passages,
however, whether with or without the words
" of the field," it is used for wild animals gene-
rically, frequently as contrasted with birds (Gen.
i. 28 ; Lev. xi. 2, &c).
2. PT (ziz ; upaidrns, povtbs btypios; fera,
ferus) occurs twice — viz. Ps. 1. 11, lxxx. 13 —
and is rendered by the A. V. and R. V. " wild

BEAST, WILD

373

1 From the unused root 2H3. " 'o be dumb."

beast." The word is from tho unused root T-lf,
zooz, " to move oneself," and is a common noun
signifying " that which moves," having no re
ference to any special animal ; tho word sddch,
" of the field," being in each instance coupled
with it.
3. D'-^V (tziyyim ; Br/pla, Satpdvta ; bestiac, dac-
monia. dracunes), i.e. "inhabitants of the desert,"
from iV V, tziyyah, " a desert " or "drought," used
frequently of man (as in Ps. lxxii. 14), but in
three passages — Is. xiii. 21, xxxiv. 14 ; Jer. 1. 39
— applied to some wild animal, and translated in
the A. V. and R. V. " wild beasts of the desert."
As in each of the three passages it is coupled
with D^N, tyyim, which, as we shall see, almost
certainly denotes a particular animal, it is very
probable that tziyyim also distinguishes some
specific creature. But as to the meaning
ancient Versions and critics are alike in uncer
tainty, scarcely any two agreeing. Bochart
(Hieroz. ii. 206) argues strenuously in favour
of the wild cat, referring to the Arabic not

tzaiwa ;

and

very dissimilar name *XjO,
also suggesting that there is a reference to
the cry of the wild cat, along with the howling
of the jackal. But the reasoning is not cogent,
though I should observe that I have noticed the
ruins of deserted cities in Eastern Syria to be
the special haunts of the wild cat. Others have
suggested the hyaena, but this seems to be indi
cated by another word, tzebua' (Jer. xii. 9). The
Chaldee has apes (cercopithecos), the Targum
simiae, and others bubo, "the great owl," but
most have left it general ; and Gesenius (sub
voce) adopts this view, and here we may be con
tent to leave it.
4. D^X (iyyim; ovoKevravpoi; ululae, onocen-
tauri, fauni ficarii ; A. V. "wild beasts of the
islands ") occurs three times : Is. xiii. 22, xxxiv.
14 ; Jer. 1. 39. The R. V. renders it " wolves "
in the text, and " howling creatures " in the
margin. The Arabic renders it it m\ ,.yi\, Ibn
awi, " the son of howling." There can scarcely
be a doubt but that the jackal (Carets aureus) is
the animal intended. The jackal, to which the
name Ibn awi and ,j\jt£> (shaghal) is indis
criminately applied by the Arabs, is not other
wise mentioned in Scripture, as distinct from
7MB' (shu'al, used indifferently for the jackal
and the fox, and identical with the Arabic
shaghal). The name both in Arabic and Hebrew
is probably onomatopoetic, from the wailing
cry of the jackal, and has nothing to do with
'N, " island," from which our translators, with
out any warrant from ancient Versions or authors,
derived it. Bochart (Hieroz. iii. 12) identifies
iyyim with the Greek Bus, and quotes a vast
number of authorities to justify his conclusion,
but seems to have some doubt as to what Bus
really signified. With our knowledge of the
natural history of the East, we can apply the
name to nothing else but the jackal (so MV.11
and Fiirst). Aristotle classes it with the wolf
and the hyaena (Hist. Anim, ii. 17). It was
smaller than the wolf (id. vi. 35), of a tawny
colour, batpotvol Sues (Hom. II. A. 474), gre
garious, and howled like a wolf or fox (Pollux,
Ouomast). It would indeed be strange if an

374

BEBAI

animal so common and familiar in the East
had escaped notice in the Bible. Nor is it a
sufficient objection that it is elsewhere alluded
to under the name shu'al (fox), for the Arabs do
not distinguish the two any more than the
Hebrews seem to have done, while it is not
impossible that other Hebrew words also apply
to it [see Dkagon]. The jackal (Cant's aureus),
so named from its yellow colour, is still the
commonest of wild animals in Palestine, resort
ing especially to ruins and deserted cities, in the
caves and recesses of which it conceals itself
during the daytime. Where ruins, caverns, or
quarries are not to be found,- it secretes itself in
thickets. The traveller in the Holy Land,
wherever he pitches his camp, nightly hears the
wailing cry of the packs of jackals as they
scour the country in search of food. No
where are they more numerous than in the vast
labyrinth of the ruins of Baalbek, where their
howl suddenly breaks the stillness of the night,
and is caught up from pack to pack, echoing
back from the cavernous tunnels and temples,
as if it were the wail of a thousand infants.
" The jackals shall cry in their desolate houses."
But though especially abundant in such places,
they are to be heard in every part of the coun
try, among the caves of the wilderness of Judah,
in the desolate ravines by the Dead Sea, or
round the villages of Sharon. They visit every
stray camp, suddenly ceasing their howl as they
prowl in silence to filch any stray morsel of
food. In the same way they attempt to elude the
vigilance of the keepers of the vineyards when
they plunder the grapes in autumn. They hang
about the towns ; and even under the walls of
Jerusalem often provoke a defiant chorus from
the swarming pariah dogs, who are as intolerant
of them as the hound is of the fox. From the
latter they differ in their gregarious habits and
their omnivorous tastes, preferring flesh and
carrion, but in its absence feeding greedily on
fruits. In its anatomy and structure, as well as
habits, the jackal approaches the domestic dog
very closely, and is by many naturalists believed
to be its wild original ; though probably, if the
lineage of man's companion could be traced,
the wolf as well as the "jackal is among his
progenitors. The jackal has a very wide geo
graphical range, being found throughout North
Africa, South-Eastern Europe (Greece, Turkey,
and South Russia), Western and Central Asia,
the Caucasus, and India. It is not recorded
from China, having probably been exter
minated by the density of the population.
Several closely-allied species are found in
Africa. [H. B. T.j
BE'BAI 033; Bebai). 1. " Sons of Behai,"
623 (Neh. 628) in number, returned from Babylon
with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 11, B. BaBet, A -at;
Neh. vii. 16, B. B-nBl, NA. -el; 1 Esd. v. 13,
B-nBai) ; and at a later period twenty-eight more,
under Zechariah the son of Bebai, returned with
Ezra (Ezra viii. 11, BaBei). Four of this family
had taken foreign wives (Ezra x. 28 ; 1 Esd. ix.
29). The name occurs also among those who
sealed the covenant (Neh. x. 15, A. BijiSol. The
Greek text is confused. See Swete in loco, and
the tables at end of Smend, Die Listen d. BB.
Esra u. Nehemia). [Babi.]
2. Father of Zechariah, who was the leader

BECHER
of the twenty-eight men of his tribe mentioned
above (Ezra viii. 11).
3. A. BnBai, B. and Vulg. omit, a place named
only in Judith xv. 4 (see Speaker's Comm.). It
is possibly a mere repetition of the name Chobai
occurring next to it. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BE'CHER (153; Ges.=ywng,ase.g.a young
camel; Simonis also hints at this derivation
Onom. p. 399 ; Bechor).
1. The second son of Benjamin, according to
the list both in Gen. xlvi. 21 (BA. XoBio
D. -A) and 1 Ch. vii. 6 (B. 'ABeipd, A. Box<fp);
but omitted in the list of the sons of Benjamin in
1 Ch. viii. 1, as the text now stands. No one
however, can look at the Hebrew text of 1 Ch!
viii. i, bs^x "11133 jta-nN T^in jp*3a.
without at least suspecting that 11133, his
first-born, is a corruption of "133, Becker, and
that the suffix 1 is a corruption of 1, and belongs
to the following ?QB'K, so that the genuine
sense in that case would be, Benjamin begat
Bela, Becker, and Ashbel, in exact agreement
with Gen. xlvi. 21. The enumeration, the
second,' the third, &c, must then have been
added since the corruption ofthe1 text.
Becher went down to Egypt with Benjamin
and Jacob, being one of the fourteen descend
ants of Rachel who settled in Egypt, viz. Joseph
and his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim,
Benjamin and his three sons above named,
Gera, Naaman, Ehi OnN, alias DTnK, Ahiram,
Num. xxvi. 38, and mriK, Aharah, 1 Ch. viii. 1,
and perhaps PIUTS and iTIIK, vv. 4 and 7),
and Ard OpX, but' in 1 Ch. viii'. 3, TIK, Addar),
the sons of Bela, Muppim (otherwise Shnppim,
and Shephuphan, 1 Ch. vii. 12, 15, viii. 5;
but Shupham, Num. xxvi. 39), and Huppim
(Huram 1 Ch. viii. 5, but Hupham Num. xxvi.
39), apparently the sons of Ahiram or Ehi
(Aher, 1 Ch. vii. 12), and Rosh, of whom we
can give no account, as there is no name the
least like it in the parallel passages, unless
perchance it be for Joash (EJW), a son of
Becher, 1 Ch. vii. 8." And so, it is worthy
of observation, the LXX. render the passage,
only that they make Ard the son of Gera,
great-grandson therefore to Benjamin, and
make all the others sons of Bela. As regards
the posterity of Becher, there is no family
named after him at the numbering of the Is
raelites in the plains of Moab, as related in
Num. xxvi. 38. But the no less singular circum
stance of there being a Becher, and a family
of Bachrites, among the sons of Ephraim (v. 35),
seems to supply the true explanation. The
slaughter of the sons of Ephraim by the men
of Gath, who came to steal their cattle out of
the land of Goshen, in that border affray related
in 1 Ch. vii. 21, had sadly thinned the house
of Ephraim of its males. The daughters of
Ephraim must therefore have sought husbands
in other tribes, and in many cases must have
been heiresses. It is therefore highly probable
" We are more inclined to think that it is a corrup
tion of D"l, or DtO, and belongs to the preceding AN.
Ehi, as Ahiram is certainly the rieht name as appears
by Num. xxvi. 33.

BECHER

BED and BEDCHAMBER 375

that Becher,b or his heir and head of his house,
married an Ephraimitish heiress, a daughter of
Shuthelah (1 Ch. vii. 20, 21), so that his
house was reckoned in the tribe of Ephraim,
just as Jair, the son of Segub, was reckoned in
the tribe of Manasseh (1 Ch. ii. 22 ; Num. xxxii.
40, 41). The time when Becher first appears
among the Ephraimites, viz. just before the
entering into the Promised Land, when the
people were numbered by genealogies for the
express purpose of dividing the inheritance
equitably among the tribes, is evidently highly
favourable to this view (see Num. xxvi. 52-
56 ; xxvii.). The junior branches of Becher's
family would of course continue in the tribe
of Benjamin. Their names, as given in 1 Ch.
vii. 8, were Zemira, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai,
Omri, Jerimoth, and Abiah ; other branches
possessed the fields round Anathoth and Ala-
meth (called Alemeth vi. 60) and Almon (Josh.
xxi. 18). Which of the above were Becher's
own sons, and which were grandsons, or more
remote descendants, it is perhaps impossible to
determine. But the most important of them,
as being ancestor to king Saul, and his great
captain Abner (2 Sam. iii. 38), the last named
Abiah, was, it seems, literally Becher's son.
The generations appear to have been as follows :
Becher — -Abiah (Aphiah, 1 Sam. ix. 1) — Becho-
a-ath °— Zeror— Abiel (Jehiel, 1 Ch. ix. 35)—
Ner — Kish — Saul. Abner was another son of
Ner, brother therefore to Kish, and uncle to
Saul. Abiel or Jehiel seems to have been the
first of his house who settled at Gibeon or
Gibeah (1 Ch. viii. 29 ; ix. 35), which perhaps
he acquired by his marriage with Maachah,4
and which became thenceforth the seat of his
family, and was called afterwards Gibeah of
Saul (1 Sam. xi. 4; Is. x. 29). From 1 Ch. viii.
6, it would seem that before this, Gibeon, or
Geba, had been possessed by the sons of Ehud
{called Abihud v. 3) and other sons of Bela.
But the text appears to be very corrupt.
Another remarkable descendant of Becher was
Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite, who headed
the formidable rebellion against David described
in 2 Sam. xx. ; and another, probably, Shimei
the son of Gera of Bahurim, who cursed David
as he fled from Absalom (2 Sam. xvi. 5), since
he is said to be " a man of the family of the
house of Saul." But if so, Gera must be a
different person from the Gera of Gen. xlvi. 21
and 1 Ch. viii. 3. Perhaps therefore the passage
may only mean that Shimei [was a Benjamite.
In this case he would be a descendant of Bela.
From what has been said above it will be seen
how important it is, with a view of reconciling
apparent discrepancies, to bear in mind the
different times when different passages were
written, as well as the principle of the genealo
gical divisions of the families. Thus in the case
before us we have the tribe of Benjamin de
scribed (1) as it was about the time when Jacob

b This view suggests the possibility of Becher being
really the first-born of Benjamin, but having forfeited
his birthright for the sake of the Ephraimitish inherit
ance. c It is possible that Bechorath may be the same per
son as Becher, and that the order has been accidentally
inverted. d Cp. 1 Ch. vii. 14 ; viii. 5, 6, 29 ; ix. 35.

went down into Egypt ; (2) as it was just before
the entrance into Canaan ; ,.) as it was in the
days of David ; and (4) as it was eleven gener i-
tions after Jonathan and David, i.e. in Hezekiah's
reign. It is obvious how in these later times
many now heads of houses, called sons of Ben
jamin, would have sprung up, while older ones,
by failure of lines, or translation into other
tribes, would have disappeared. Even the non
appearance of Becher in 1 Ch. viii. 1 may be
accounted for on this principle, without any
alteration of the text.
2. Son of Ephraim, Num. xxvi. 35, called
Bered 1 Ch. vii. 20 (A. BapdS, B. omits). Same
as the preceding. [A. C. H.]
BECHO'RATH (mjl33, first birth ; Beclio-
rath), son of Aphiah, or Abiah, and grandson of
Becher, according to 1 Sam. ix. 1 (B. Baxel,
A. Bexwpdfl) ; 1 Ch. vii. 8 (B. 'ABaxei, A. Boxip).
[Becher.] [A. C. H.]
BECTI'LETH, the plain of (B. to neSlov
BaKTeiAalB, A. BeKTeAeB, N™ -Tt-, N* BatrovAid ;
Syr. A^&Q Aa*3 = house of slaughter),
mentioned in Judith ii. 21, as lying between
Nineveh and Cilicia. The name has been com
pared with BaKTaiaAAd, a town of Syria named by
Ptolemy ; the Bactiali of the Peutinger Tables,
which place it 21 miles from Antioch. The
most important plain in this direction is the
Bekaa, or valley lying between the two chains
of Lebanon. And it is possible that Bectileth
is a corruption of that well-known name : :f
indeed it be a historical word at all (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco). [G.] [W.]
BED and BEDCHAMBER (fcni>, ntSO.
33E>». WSJ. J?-SD, the first being mostly ka'ivt)
in LXX., while ko'itt), arptipaTa, and arpupvri
appear promiscuously for the others). We may
distinguish in the Jewish bed five principal
parts : — 1, the substratum ; 2, the covering ;
3, the pillow; 4, the bedstead or analogous
support for 1 ; 5, the ornamental portions.

Beds. (From Fellowa, Asia Minor.)

1. This substantive portion of the bed, or
part lain upon, was limited to a mere mat, or
one or more quilts. The word which precisely
expresses this seems to be 1?-VD, contrasted with
its " covering : " see Is. xxviii. 20, where the
two are named.
2. A coverlid or quilt finer than those used
in 1. This is called the "covering" (Is /. c.
n3DO), and the two together appear to form the
33K'P> " place of lying, ' which last term seems

376 BED and BEDCHAMBER
used collectively in the singular for " bedding ''
among the stores brought for David's use (2 Sam.
xvii. 28). In Prov. xxii. 27 this is that which is
supposed to be " taken away from under " a man.
Special forms of covering, probably luxurious
or ornamental, are the D'^SID of Prov.
vii. 16, " coverings (R. V. " carpets ") of
tapestry " in A. V. The word JJISJ, properly
a participle just like stratum (used also, however,
for a floor, or story, in 1 K. vi. 5, 6, 10), while its
verb stands for " to make a bed " (Ps. cxxxix. 8),
means comprehensively anything laid flat to lie
on. It appears in combination with BHJ? =
"the couch of my bed" (Ps. cxxxii. 3, R." V.
marg.). In summer a thin blanket or the
outer garment worn by day (1 Sam. xix. 13)
sufficed. This latter, in the case of a poor
person, often formed both 1 and 2, and that
without a bedstead. Hence the law provided
that it should not be kept in pledge after sunset,
that the poor man might not lack his needful
covering (Deut. xxiv. 13).
3. The only material mentioned for this is
that which occurs in 1 Sam. xix. 13, and the word
("V33) used is of doubtful meaning, but seems
to signify some fabric woven or plaited of
goat's-hair (R. V. marg. quilt or network. See
the Comm. in loco). It is clear, however,
that it was something hastily adapted to serve
as a pillow, and is not decisive of the ordinary
use. In Ezek. xiii. 18 occurs the word HD3
(rrpotTKetpdAaiov, LXX.), which seems to be the
proper term. Such pillows are common to this
day in the East, formed of sheep's fleece or goat's
skin, with a stuffing of cotton, &c. We read of
a " pillow," also, in the boat in which our Lord
lay asleep (Mark iv. 38) as He crossed the lake.
A block of stone such as Jacob used at Bethel,
covered perhaps with a garment, was not unusual
among the poorer folk, shepherds, &c.
4. The bedstead was not always necessary ;
the divan, or platform along the side or end of
an Oriental room, sufficing as a support for the
bedding (see preceding cut). Yet some slight
and portable frame seems implied among the
senses of the word ntSD, which is used for a
"bier" (2 Sam. iii. 31), and for the ordinary
bed (2 K. iv. 10), for the litter on which a sick-
person might be carried (1 Sam. xix. 15), for
Jacob's bed of sickness (Gen. xlvii. 31, where "the
bed's head " is perhaps illustrated by the raised

Bed and Head-rest. (Wilkinson, Ancient B

extremity of the bed in the subjoined figure), and
for the couch on which guests reclined at a ban
quet (Esth. i. 6). Thus ni3D seems the compre
hensive and generic term, and might etymo-

BED and BEDCHAMBER
logically be rendered " a stretcher." The proper
word for a bedstead appears to be 'W\V. As
used Deut. iii. 11, it probably describes the
sarcophagus of basalt in which lay the dead
giant Og (cp. Dillmann2 in loco). The basalt of
the Argob is black, and is said to contain 20 per
cent, of " iron " (cp. Pliny, Nat. Hist, xxxvi. 2).
Most of the above words, however, seem to be
used vaguely, especially in poetry.

Assyrian Beds. Making the bed. (Konranjik.)
5. The ornamental portions, and those which
luxury added, were pillars and a canopy (Jud.
xiii. 9 [Canopy]), ivory carvings (Amos vi. 4),.
gold and silver (Joseph. Ant. xii. 2, § 15), and
probably mosaic work. Purple and fine linen-
are also mentioned as constituting parts of beds
(Esth. i. 6). In Cant. iii. 9, 10, the word |inB&
LXX. tpopeTov, seems to mean " a litter " (R. V.
" palanquin ; " cp. Delitzsch in loco). Perfumes
were used ; cp. those (Prov. vii. 17) with which
the " strange woman " sprinkles her bed. She
(ib. 16) speaks of "carved work" (ni3l?n>
which R. V. renders "striped clothes" of the
yarn of Egypt (cp. the LXX. dptpiTdmis ™y.
air' AiyVTTTOV).
There is but little distinction of the bed from
sitting furniture among the Orientals; the same
article being used for rest by night and during
the day. This applies both to the divan and
bedstead in all its forms, except perhaps the

Pillow or Hiad-rest. (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians.)
litter. The " corner of a bed " (HISIp) suggests
the place where two sides of the frame meet and
where more support and ease are found. The
" couch " (feni?) which is made its parallel in
Amos iii. 12, involves some specialty in con
nexion with the context ; but this being uncertain

BfiDAD
it is impossible to determine it (see R. V. text
and marg. Cp. Gaudell in Speaker's Comm., and
Keil3 in loco, for the different views). There
was also a garden-watcher's bed, PO-vD, ren
dered variously in the' A. V. "cottage" (R. V.
"booth") and "lodge" (R. V. " hut "), which
some have thought was slung like a hammock,
perhaps from the trees (Is. i. 8; xxiv. 20).
Josephus (Ant xii. 4, § 11) mentions the bed
chambers in the Arabian palace of Hyrcanus.
The ordinary furniture of a bedchamber in
private life is given in 2 K. iv. 10. The " bed
chamber" in the Temple where Joash was hidden,
was, as Calmet suggests (Dict. of Bib. art.
Beds; see Keil), probably a store-chamber for
keeping beds, not a mere bedroom, and thus
better adapted to conceal the fugitives (2 K. xi.
2; 2 Ch. xxii. 11, lYIBpn Yin, R. V. marg.
chamber for the beds, not the usual 33E>1? Yin,
" chamber of reclining," Ex. viii. 3 and passim).
The position of the bedchamber in the most
remote and secret parts of the palace seems
marked in the passages Ex. viii. 3 ; 2 K. vi. 12.
[H. H.]
BEDA'D (Y13 ; BopaS ; Badad), the father
of one of the kings of Edom, " Hadad ben-Bedad "
(Gen. xxxvi. 35 ; 1 Ch. i. 46). [W. A. W.]
BEDA'IAH, Ezra x. 35. [Bedeiah.]
BEDA'N. 1. (p3; Badan), mentioned
1 Sam. xii. 11, as a Judge of Israel between
Jerubbaal (Gideon) and Jephthah. As no such
name occurs in the Book of Judges, various
conjectures have been formed as to the person
meant, most of which (now obsolete) are dis
cussed in Pole (Synopsis, in loc). The LXX.,
Syr., and Arab, all have Barak ; and this cor
rection, probable except for the order of the
names, is accepted by most modern critics (see
e.g. Wellhausen, Speaker's Comm., and Driver,
Notes on the Heb. Text of the Books of Samuel,
in loco). [G. E. L. C] [F.]
2. B. BaSdp, A. BaSdv. Son of Ulam the
son of Gilead (1 Ch. vii. 17). [W. A. W.]
BEDEI'AH (i"IH3; A. BoSota, B. Boooto,
X. MaSaid ; Badaias), one of the sons of Bani,
in the time of Ezra, who had taken a foreign
wife (Ezra x. 35). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BEE (nil3"1,* debdrah; peAiaaa, peAitraiiv ;
apis). Mention of this insect occurs in Deut. i.
44, " The Amorites which dwelt in that moun
tain came out against you, and chased you as
bees do ; " in Judg. xiv. 8, " There was a swarm
of bees and honey in the body of the lion ; "
in Ps. cxviii. 12, "They compassed me about
like bees;" and in Is. vii. 18, "It shall come to
pass in that day that the Lord shall hiss for the
fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers
of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of
Assyria." Palestine abounded in bees, and was
indeed a land " flowing with milk and honey."
The common bee of Palestine is the Apis fasciata
of Latreille. It much resembles our English

BEE

377

» From -QTj, - T
Thes. s. v.

ordine duxit; coegit (ezatnen). Ges.

hive bee, Apis mcllifica, and still more closely
the bee of Italy and Southern Europe, but it is-
decidedly smaller and of a much lighter colour.
It differs slightly in other ways. The swarms
or colonies, especially of the wild ones, arc
generally more numerous, and the cells of the
combs are naturally a little smaller, while the-
combs themselves are frequently of greater size
and weight. Few countries in the world are
more suited to bees than Palestine, with its dry
climate, its stunted but varied flora, consisting
in large proportion of aromatic thymes, salvias,
mints and other labiate plants, as well as of
crocuses, irises, and colchicums in spring, while
the innumerable caves and fissures of the dry
limestone rocks afford shelter and protection for
the combs through all the countless wadys of
the land. Bees are, if possible, even more abun
dant in the comparatively desert regions of the
south, than in the cultivated central and
northern districts. Many of the Bedouin, par
ticularly in the wilderness of Judaea, obtain,
their subsistence by bee-hunting, bringing into
Jerusalem skins and jars of that wild honey on
which St. John the Baptist fed in the wilderness
(Matt. iii. 4), and which Jonathan had long
before unwittingly tasted when the comb had
dropped on the ground from the tree in which
it was suspended (1 Sam. xiv. 25, &c). When
we see the busy multitudes of bees about the
cliffs (see Thomson, The Land and the Book,
p. 299), we are reminded of the words, " With
honey out of the stony rock should I satisfy
thee" (Ps. lxxxi. 16, R. V.). Such stores of wild
honey the men possessed who petitioned Ishmael
for their lives on that account. " Slay us notr
for we have treasures in the field, of wheat . . .
and of honey" (Jer. xii. 8).
Most of the allusions in Scripture to bees-
refer to these unreclaimed stocks which inhabit
the cliffs, and frequently also hollow trees, as in
the instance referred to in the story of Jonathan.
Having abundant space in which to expand their
colonies, they do not swarm so frequently as
those which are confined in artificial hives, and,.
when robbed, will sometimes attack the plun
derers with great fury. In some parts of India
so enormous are the swarms of wild bees, that
there are ravines which it is impossible to tra
verse, owing to their attacks, which have been
known to be fatal. Compare the expressions iir
Deut. i. 44, Ps. cxviii. 12, quoted above.
There can be no doubt that the attacks of
bees in Eastern countries are more to be dreaded
than they are in more temperate climates. Not
only are swarms in the East far larger than
they are with us, but on account of the heat
of the climate it can be readily understood how
their stings give rise to very dangerous symp
toms. It would be easy to quote from Aris
totle, Aelian, and Pliny, in proof of what has
been stated; but let the reader consult Mungc-
Park's Travels (ii. 37, 38) as to the incident which
occurred at a spot he named " Bees' Creek "
from the circumstance (cp. also Oedman, Ver-
misch. Samml. pt. vi. c. 20). We can well, there
fore, understand the full force of the Psalmist's
complaint, " They came about me like bees." b
» It is very curious to observe that in the passage of
Deut. i. 44, the Syriac Version, the Targum of Onkelos,
and an Arabic MS. read, " chased you as bees that are-

378

BEE

The passage about the swarm of bees and honey
in the lion's carcase (Judg. xiv. 8, R. V. " body ")
admits of easy explanation. The lion which Sam
son slew had been dead some little time before
the bees had taken up their abode in the carcase,
for it is expressly stated that " after a time "
Samson returned and saw the bees and honey in
the lion's carcase ; so that " if," as Oedman has
well observed, " any one here represents to him
self a corrupt and putrid carcase, the occurrence
ceases to have any true similitude, for it is well
known that in these countries, at certain seasons
of the year, the heat will in the course of
twenty-four hours so completely dry up the
moisture of dead camels, and that without their
undergoing decomposition, that their bodies long
remain, like mummies, unaltered and entirely
free from offensive odour." To the foregoing
quotation we may add that very probably the
ants would help to consume the soft parts of
the carcase, and leave perhaps in a short time
little else than the skin and skeleton. Even in
this country wrens and sparrows have been
known not unfrequently to make their nests in
the dried body of an exposed crow or hawk.
Herodotus (v. 114) speaks of a certain Onesilus
who had been taken prisoner by the Amathu-
sians and beheaded, and whose head, having been
suspended over the gates, had become occupied
by a swarm of bees (cp. also Aldrovandus,
de Insect, i. 110). The passage in Is. vii. 18,
" The Lord shall hiss for the bee that is in the
land of Assyria," has been understood by some
to refer to the practice of arresting bees by loud
jingling sounds when they are swarming in
order to induce them to settle. However it
may be explained, the fact is familiar to every
bee-keeper, that the bees do settle more readily
and quickly when the cymbal-like music is
employed. But the passage more probably
simply refers to the call to attention univer
sally employed in Eastern countries (cp. Ges.
5. v. PIS'), which is always "hiss" or "hist"
instead of our " halloa " or " hey." That the
custom existed amongst the ancients of callino-
swarms to their hives, must be familiar to every
reader of Virgil (Georg. iv. 64),
" Tinnitusque cie, et matris quate cymbala circum,"
and it is interesting to observe that this practice
has continued down to the present day.
Besides the unreclaimed bees, vast numbers of
the same species are also domesticated in Pales
tine, especially in Galilee. Probably the method
of keeping them has not varied from the earliest
times. The hives are very simple, consisting of
large tubes of sun-dried mud, about eight
inches in diameter, and four feet long, closed at
either end with a cake of mud, pierced with a
small hole, through which only three or four
bees can pass at a time. There is a door at
either end of the tube, and both seem to be
used indifferently by the bees. The tubes or
hives are laid horizontally close together in rows,
piled in a pyramid. I once counted in one of

smoked," showing how ancient the custom is of taking
bees' nestB by means of smoke. Constant allusion is
made to this practice in classical authors. Wasps' nests
were taken in the samo way. See Bochart (Hieroz. iii.

BEE
these apiaries no less than seventy-eight tubes
each a distinct hive. Coolness being the great
object, the whole is thickly plastered over with
mud, and covered with boughs, while a large
branch is stuck in the ground at each end to
assist the bees in alighting. At first we took
these singular structures for ovens or hen
houses. The barbarous practice of destroying
the swarms for their honey is unknown. When
the hives are full, the clay is removed from the
ends of the tubes and the combs are extracted
with a hook. Those pieces which contain young
bees are carefully replaced, and the hives are
then closed as before.
Honey, wild or from the hives, can be pur
chased everywhere, and is used for many
culinary purposes, especially for kneading with
flour to make sweet cakes. It was from the
earliest times an article of commerce from
Palestine. It was among the delicacies sent
down by Jacob with his sons to the Governor of
Egypt, a country in which, from its character,
bees are and always must have been very scarce
(Gen. xliii. 11). It is mentioned by Ezekiel
among the commodities exported to Tyre:
" Judah and the land of Israel were thy mer
chants ; they traded for thy merchandise wheat,
. . . honey " (xxvii. 17, R. V.).
The Orientals have a sweet tooth, and are in
the habit of eating honey to a degree that
would nauseate a Western stomach. It is pro
bable that in several passages VV\,

stands for the .jujiji dibbs, the sweet syrup
made by boiling down the juice of the grape
to the consistency of treacle, but in most in
stances bees' honey is undoubtedly signified.
Bees'-wax was also employed for various pur
poses, but not, so far as we know, for candles.
It was an ingredient in various ointments and
perfumes. The word of God is frequently compared in
Scripture to honey for its sweetness (Ps. xix. 10,
&c). Deborah (bee) was a favourite and appro
priate female name (Gen. xxxv. 8 ; Judg. iv. 5).
Besides the hive bee there are very many
species of humble bee (Bombus) common in
Palestine, several species of carpenter bee
(Xylocopa), while the more solitary mason bees
are especially numerous both in species and
individuals, but their stores of honey are too
inconsiderable to have ever been an object of
search. The LXX. has the following eulogium on the
bee in Prov. vi. 8 : "Go to the bee, and learn
how diligent she is, and what a noble work she
produces, whose labours kings and private men
use for their health ; she is desired and honoured
by all, and though weak in strength, yet since she
values wisdom, she prevails." This passage is
not found in any Hebrew copy of the Scriptures ;
it exists however in the Arabic, and it is quoted
by Origen, Clemens Alexandrinus, Jerome, and
other ancient writers. Cp. Speaker's Comm.
"Introd. to Proverbs," iii. § 12 (a) (3); De
litzsch on Prov. vi. 8 and Einleit. in das Spruch-
buch, § 5 ; Strack in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf.
Komm. " Spriiche Salomos," Einleit. § 4.
The bee belongs to the family Apidae, of the
Hymenopterous order of insects. The principal
modern writers on bees are Swammerdam, Kirby
and Spence, R&umur, Huber, Schirach, Bonnet,

BEEL-IADA

BEEL-ZEBUB

379

Brandt, and Ratzeburg
177-205).

Zoologie, ii. 8,
[H. B. T.]

BEEL-IA'DA (UY^3 = known by Baal;
BN. BaAeySae, A. BaAAtaSd ; Baaliada), one of
David's sons, born in Jerusalem (1 Ch. xiv. 7).
In the lists in Samuel (2 Sam. v. 16) the name is
Eliada, El taking the place of Baal. [W. A. W.]
BEEL-SARTJS (BeeAtrdpos ; Beelsuro), 1 Esd.
v. 8. [Bilshan ] One of those who returned
to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. [W A. W.]
BEEL-TETHMUS, an officer of Artaxerxes
residing in Palestine (1 Esd. ii. 16, 25. See
note in Speaker's Comm.). The name is a cor
ruption of DBt3 7173 = lord of judgment, the
title of Rehum, the name immediately before
it (Ezra iv. 8 ; where A. V. and R. V. vender
'0 '3 " chancellor "). The title is now explained
by the Assyrian Inscriptions, and signifies " lord
of official intelligence " or " postmaster " (Sayce,
Introd. to the Books of Ezra, Neh. and Esther,
p. 25. Cp. Bertheau-Ryssel on Ezra iv. 8). [F.]
BEEL-ZEBUB (BeeACeBoiA [Tischendorf-
Gebhardt and Westcott and Hort read BeeCeBouA
always] ; Beelzebub), the title of a heathen
deity, to whom the Jews ascribed the sovereignty
of the evil spirits (Matt. x. 25, xii. 24 ; Mark
iii. 22 ; Luke xi. 15 sq.). The correct reading is
without doubt Beelzebul, and not Beelzebub as
given in the Syriac, the Vulg., and some other
Versions ; the authority of the MSS. is decisive
inCfavour of the former, the alteration being
easily accounted for by a comparison with
2 K. i. 2, to which reference is made in the
passages quoted. [Baal, p. 308, No. 2.] Two
questions present themselves in connexion with
this subject : — (1) How are we to account wi
the change of the final letter of the name?
(2) On what grounds did Jews assign to the
Beelzebub of Ekron the peculiar position of b
&pXuv tuv Satpovtuv? The sources of informa
tion at our command for the answer to these
questions are scanty : the names are not found
elsewhere : the LXX. translates Beelzebub BaaA
pula. Beds, as also does Josephus (Ant. ix. 2, § 1) ;
and the Talmudical writers are silent on the
subject. 1. The explanations offered in reference to the
change of the name may be ranged under two
classes, according as they are based on the
sound or the meaning of the word, (a) The
former proceeds on the assumption that the
name Beelzebub was offensive to the Greek ear,
and that the final letter was altered to avoid
the double 6, just as Habakkuk became in the
LXX. 'ApBaKoip (Hitzig, Vorbemerk. in Habak
kuk) ; the choice of I, as a substitute for b,
being decided by the previous occurrence of the
letter in the former part of the word (Bengel,
Gnomon in Matt. x. 25, comparing MeAxbA in
the LXX. as = Michal). It is, however, by no
means clear why other names, such as Magog,
or Eldad, should not have undergone a similar
change : and we should prefer the assumption,
in connexion with this view, that the change was
purely of an accidental nature, for which no
satisfactory reason can be assigned, (b) The

second class of explanations carries the greatest
weight of authority with it : these proceed on
the ground that the Jews intentionally changed
the pi onunciation of the word, so as either to
give a significance to it adapted to their own
ideas, or to cast ridicule upon the idolatry of
the neighbouring nations, in which case we
might compare the adoption of Sychar for
Sychem, Bethaven for Bethel. The Jews were
certainly keenly alive to the significance of
names, and not unfrequently indulged in an
exercise of wit, consisting of a pl-ay upon the
meaning of the words, as in the case of Nabal
(1 Sam. xxv 25), Abraham (Gen. xvii. 5), and
Sarah (Gen. xvii. 15). Lightfoot (Excrcitutions,
Matt, xii 24) adduces instances from the
Talmudical writers of opprobrious puns applied
to idols.
The explanations which are thus based on
etymological grounds, branch off into two classes.
(a) Some connect the term with 7-13T. habita
tion, thus making Beelzebul, T?l?3 = otKoSec-
ttottis (Matt, x, 25), the lord of the dioelling,
whether as the " prince of the power of the air "
(Eph. ii. 2), or as the prince of the lower world
(Paulus, quoted by Olshausen, Comment, in
Matt. x. 25), or as inhabiting human bodies
(Schleusner, Lex. s. v.), or as occupying a
mansion in the seventh heaven, like Saturn in
Oriental mythology (Movers, Phoenic. i. 260,
quoted by Winer, Realwort art. Beelzebub ;
cp. Michaelis, Suppl. ad Lex. p. 205, and Fiirst
for a similar view), (b) Others derive it from
?3T, dung (a word, it must be observed, not in
use in the Bible itself, but occurring in Talmu
dical writers in form 7-131), thus making Beel
zebul, lit. the lord of dung, or the dunghill;
and in a secondary sense, as zebel was used by
the Talmudical writers as = idol or idolatry
(comp. Lightfoot, Exercit. Matt. xii. 24 ; Luke
xi. 15), the lord of idols, prince of false gods, in
which case it = &pxuv tuv Satpovtuv.
It is generally held that the former of these
two senses is more particularly referred to in the
N. T. (Carpzov, Appar. p. 498, comparing the
term dv-1?3 as though connected with 773,
dung; Olshausen, Comment, in Matt. xii. 25):
the latter, however, is adopted by Lightfoot
and Schleusner We have lastly to notice the
ingenious conjecture of Hug (as quoted by
Winer) that the fly under which Baalzebub
was represented [on the cultus of the Zebs
drrdpios and of a god Myiodes or Myiocores, see
Baudissin in Herzog, RE.2 c. n. Beelzebub],
was the Scarabaeus pillularius or dunghill beetle,
in which case Baalzebub and Beelzebul might be
used indifferently.
2. The second question hinges to a certain
extent on the first. The reference in Matt.
x, 25 may have originated in a fancied resem
blance between the application of Ahaziah to
Baalzebub, and that of the Jews of our Lord
to Satan for the ejection of the unclean spirits.
As no human remedy availed for the cure of
this disease, the Jews naturally referred it to
some higher power, and selected Beelzebub as
the heathen deity to whom application was
made in case of severe disease. The title &pxuv

380

BE-ER

t£>v Satpovtuv may have special reference to the
nature of the disease in question, or it may
have been educed from the name itself by a
fancied or real etymology. It is worthy of
special observation that the notices of Beelzebul
are exclusively connected with the subject of
demoniacal possession, — a circumstance which
may account for the subsequent disappearance
of the name. Baudissin (I. c) answers this
question by referring to the fly as an uncleau
insect, and to the god of flies as an uncleangod.
He finds a parallel in the metamorphosis of the
wicked god Loki into a fly. [W. L. B.] [F.]
BE-ER ("\X2 = well; Tb tppeap; puteus).
1. One of the latest halting-places of the
Israelites, lying beyond the Arnon, and so called
because of the well which was there dug by the
" princes " and " nobles " of the people, and which
is perpetuated in a fragment of poetry (Numb. xxi.
16-18). * This is by some considered the Beer-
elim, or " well of heroes," referred to in Is. xv. 8.
The " wilderness " (13"|P) which is named as
their next starting-point in the last clause of
v. 18, may be that before spoken of in v. 13, or
it may be a copyist's mistake for "IK3D. It was
so understood by the LXX., who read the clause,
koI O7ro tppearos — "and from the well," i.e.
" from Beer " (see Dillmann^ in loco).
According to the tradition of the Targumists
— a tradition in part adopted by St. Paul (1 Cor.
x. 4. See Speaker's Comm., note) — this was one
of the appearances, the last before the entrance
on the Holy Land, of the water which had
" followed " the people, from its first arrival
at Rephidim, through their wanderings. The
water — so the tradition appears to have run
— was granted for the sake of Miriam, her
merit being that, at the peril of her life, she
had watched the ark in which lay the infant
Moses. It followed the march over mountains
and into valleys, encircling the entire camp,
and furnishing water to every man at his own
tent door. This it did till her death (Num.
xx. 1), at which time it "disappeared for a
season, apparently rendering a special act neces
sary on each future occasion for its evocation.
The striking of the rock at Kadesh (Num. xx.
10) was the first of these ; the digging of the
well at Beer by the staves of the princes, the
second. Miriam's well at last found a home in
a gulf or recess in the Sea of Galilee, where
at certain seasons its water flowed, and was
resorted to for healing purposes (Targums
Onkelos and Pseudo-Jonathan on Num. xx. 1,
xxi. 18. See also the quotations from the Talmud
in Lightfoot on John v. 4, and in Expositor
[1889], pp. 15-18).
2. B. Bair)p ; A. "Papd ; Vulg. Bera. A place
to which Jotham, the son of Gideon, fled for
fear of his brother Abirnelech (Judg. ix. 21).
There is nothing in the text or elsewhere to
indicate its position, though Keil (in loco)

» There is no connexion between the "gather" in
v. 16 and that in xx. 8. From the A. V. it might be
inferred that the former passage referred to the event
described in the latter: but the two words rendered
"gather" are radically different,— ^np in xx. 8,
where E. V. has " assemble," ppX in xxi, 16.

BEER-LAHAI-ROI
identifies it with el Bireh near the mouth of
Wady es Surar (Robinson, ii. 347). [G.] [W.]
BE-E'RA (&ON3, Ges. = a well; A. Benpi,
B. BaiaiAd ; Bera), son of Zophah, of the tribe
of Asher (1 Ch. vii. 37). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BE-E'RAH (rnN3,Ges.= a well; A.Benpi,
B. Be^A; Beera), son of Baal, prince (N'M) of
the Reubenites, carried away by Tiglath-pileser
(1 Ch. v. 6). [W.A.W.] [F.]
BEER-E'LIM (D^S 1N3, well of heroes;
tppeap tou AiAeip, K- AiAlp; puteus Elim), a
spot named in Is. xv. 8 as on the "border of ,
Moab," apparently tne south, Eglaim being at the
north end of the Dead Sea. Gesenius, Delitzsch,
and Miihlau think that the name points to
the well dug by the chiefs of Israel on their
approach to the Promised Land, close by the
" border of Moab " (Num. xxi. 16 ; cp. v. 13),
but this is rejected by Dillmann2. [Beer, 1.]
Beer-elim was probably chosen by the Prophet
out of other places on the boundary on account
of the similarity between the sound of the name
and that of HAT?* — *be " howling " which was
to reach even to that remote point (Ewald,
Proph. 233). [G.] [W.]
BE-E'RI (nN3, Ges. = man of the well;
AD. Ber)p, E. Bai-iJA ; Beeri). 1. The father of
Judith, one of the wives of Esau (Gen. xxvi.
34), who is called in the genealogical table (Gen.
xxxvi. 2) Aholibamah, daughter of Anah.
Consequently some regard Beeri and Anah as
names of the same person ; others, with more
probability, trace in the whole passage two in
dependent traditions (see Dillmann5 on Gen.
xxxvi. 2). [F.]
2. Be-npei. Father of the prophet Hosea (Hos.
i. 1). [F. W. 6.]
BEER-LAHA'I-ROI ONI ^ 1S3.R.V.
marg. the well of the living One Who seeth me
[cp. Delitzsch (1887) and Dillmann5]; ADE. to
tppeap tt)s dpdaeus ; puteus viventU et videntis
me), a well (Gen. xvi. 14), or rather a living
spring * (A. V. and R. V. " fountain," cp. v. 7),
between Kadesh and Bered, in the wilderness,
" iu the way to Shur," and therefore in the
"south country" (Gen. xxir. 62 ; LXX. aliter),
whose name, according to the explanation of
the text, recalled to Hagar the Name of the
Lord (Gen. xvi. 13, R. V. " Thou art a God
that seeth ") Who spake unto her there. By
this well Is.iac dwelt both before and after
the death of his father (Gen. xxiv. 62 ; xxv. 11:
in both passages the name is given in the A. V.
as " the well [R. V. Beer-] Lahai-roi ").
The well of Hagar was shown in the time of
Jerome between Kadesh and Barad (OS.2 p. 135>
3). Mr. Rowland finds the well Lahai-roi at
'Ain Muweileh, a station on the road to Beer
sheba, ten hours south of Ruheibeh ; near which
is a hole or cavern bearing the name of Beit
Hajar (Ritter, Sinai, pp. 1086-7); but this

* One of the very few cases in which the two words
|\y, Ain, a living spring, and 1X3, Seer, an artificial
well, are applied to the same thing.

BEEROTH

BEER-SHEBA

331

requires confirmation. Prof. Palmer (PEFQy.
Stat. 1871, pp. 21-2) mentions a rock-hewn
chapel and other caves at 'Ain Muweileh, which
it would appear that the early Christians re
garded " as sacred from some tradition attached
to the spot." Mr. Holland (MS. Notes) says
that the principal watering-place consists of a
stream, and three or four shallow wells with
troughs, and notes the presence of much water.
This well is not to be confounded with that
by which the life of Ishmael was preserved on a
subsequent occasion (Gen. xxi. 19), and which,
according to the Moslem belief, is the well Zem-
zem at Mecca. [G.] [W.]
BEE'ROTH (JTHN3, wells; Beroth), one of
the four cities of the Hivites who deluded Joshua
into a treaty of peace with them, the other
three being Gibeon, Chephirah, and Kirjath-
jearim (Josh. ix. 17 ; LXX. v. 23, B. Beiptiv,
B*bn,s BnBtip, AF. B-tipuB). Beeroth was with
the rest of these towns allotted to Benjamin
(xviii. 25 ; B. Be-npuBd, A. B-npuB), in whose pos
session it continued at the time of David, the
murderers of Ish-bosheth being named as belong
ing to it (2 Sam. iv. 2 ; B. B-qptiB, A. om.). From
the notice in this place (vv. 2, 3) it would
appear that the original inhabitants had been
forced from the town, and had taken refuge at
Gittaim (Neh. xi. 34), possibly a Philistine
«ity. Probably this occurred on the occasion of
Saul's massacre of the Gibeonites (2 Sam. xxi. 1),
which would account for the animosity of
Baanah and Rechab to Saul's son.
Beeroth is once more named with Chephirah
and K.-jearim in the list of those who returned
from Babylon (Ezra ii. 25; Neh. vii. 29, B.
Beptis ; 1 Esd. v. 19, B. B-qpdy, aliter BriptiB).
[Beroth.] Beeroth was known in the times of Eusebius,
and his description of its position (OS.2 p. 247,
61, with the corrections of Reland, pp. 618-9 ;
Rob. i. 452, note) agrees perfectly with that of
the modern cl-Bireh, which stands about ten miles
north of Jerusalem by the great road to Nd-
blus, just below a ridge which bounds the pros
pect northwards from the Holy City (Rob. i.
451-2 ; ii. 262. See also PEF . Mem. iii. 8, 88;
and Guirin, Jud€e, iii. 7-13. [Another site
may be seen suggested in Dillmann 2 on Josh. ix.
17]). No mention of Beeroth beyond those
quoted above is found m the Bible, but one
link connecting it with the N. T. has been
suggested, and indeed embodied in the tradi
tions of Palestine, which we may well wish
to regard as true, viz. that it was the place
at wliich the parents of " the child Jesus "
discovered that He was not among their " com
pany " (Luke ii. 43-45). At any rate the
spring of el-Bireh is even to this day the cus
tomary resting-place for caravans going north
ward, at the end of the first day's journey from
Jerusalem (Stanley, p. 215 ; Lord Nugent, ii.
112 ; Schubert in Winer, s. v.).
A church was built by Helena on the spot
where the Virgin Mary sank down on discover
ing her loss. The remains were to be seen in
Maundrell's day (E. T. 436). The church was
standing in the time of Quaresimus (ii. 787) ; he
identifies el-Bireh with Michmash. Bireh be
longed to the Knights Templar (Brocardus, vii.
178).

Besides Baanah and Reehab, the murderers of
Ish-bosheth, with their father Rimmon, we Hnd
Nahari " the Beerothite " ('ir^Sr!, B. 6 B-nBu-
palos, B"b A. BripuBalos ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 37), or
" the Berothite " Cil'"!?!], A. o B-qpuB, B. 6
BepBel, 1 Ch. xi. 39), one of the " mighty men "
of David's guard. [G.] [ W.]
BEE'ROTH op the Children of Jaakan
(li$',;,?3 nhN3 ; BAF. B-npuB vluv 'laKelp ;
Beroth filiorum jacan), the wells of the tribe
of the Bene-Jaakan, which formed one of the
halting-places of the Israelites in tho desert
(Deut. x. 6). In the lists in Num. xxxiii. 31,
the name is given as Bene Jaakan only.
[G.] [W.]
BEE'ROTHITE. [Beeroth.]
BEER-SHEBA ($lf "I.K3. Slf '3 [in
pause], well of shearing, or of seven ; $peap
bpKitrpov, and $peap tou bpKou, in Genesis ;
B. B-qptraBee, A. -BeB [sometimes] in Joshua and
later Books ; Joseph. B-qptrovBai- opKiov Se
tppeap Aeyono Sc; Bersabee), the name of one
of the oldest places in Palestine, and which
formed, according to the well-known expres
sion, " from Dan to Beersheba " (see below),
the southern limit of the country. The sanc
tuary of Beersheba consisted of seven wells ; and
it is notable that among the Semites special
sanctity was attached to a group of this num
ber (W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites,
i. 165). There are two accounts of the origin of the
name. 1. According to the first, the well was
dug by Abraham, and the name — Beersheba —
given, because there he and Abirnelech the king
of the Philistines "aware" (•lJ?3eiJ) both of
them (Gen. xxi. 31), stress being laid by the
Hebrew on the bond ratified by swearing. But
the compact was also ratified by the setting
apart of " seven (J?3B') sheba) ewe lambs " ;
and - the name recalled to the Canaanite the
seven things by which ratification was per
fected (cp. Dillmann5).
2. The other narrative ascribes the origin of
the name to an occurrence almost precisely
similar, in which both Abirnelech the king of
the Philistines, and Phichol his chief captain,
are again concerned, with the difference that
the person on the Hebrew side of the transaction
is Isaac instead of Abraham (Gen. xxvi. 31-33).
Here there is no reference to the " seven "
lambs, and we are left to infer the derivation of
Shibeah (TO3E>, A. V. " Shebah," R. V. "Shi-
bah ") from the mention of the " swearing "
(¦IW^) in v. 31.
If we accept the statement of xxvi. 18 as re
ferring to the same well as in the former ac
count, we need not enquire whether these two
accounts relate to two separate occurrences
(Delitzsch [1887]), or refer to one and the same
event, at one time ascribed to one, at another
time to another of the early heroes and founders
of the nation. It should be remembered that
there are at present on the spot two principal
wells, and five smaller ones (see below). They
are among the first objects encountered on the
entrance into Palestine from the south; and

382

BEER-SHEBA

being highly characteristic of the life of tho
Bible, at the same time that the identity of
the site is beyond all question, the wells of
Beersheba never fail to call forth the enthu
siasm of the traveller.
The two principal wells— apparently the only
ones seen by Robinson— are on or close to the
northern bank of the Wddy es-Seb'a. They lie
just a hundred yards apart, and are so placed as
to be visible from a considerable distance (Bonar,
Land of Prom. 1). The larger of the two,
which lies to the east, is, according to the care
ful measurements of Dr. Robinson, 12A. feet in
diam., and at the time of his visit (April 12) was
44* feet to the surface of the water: the
masonry which encloses the well reaches down
wards for 28 \ feet. The other well is 5 feet in
diam. and was 42 feet to the water.
The kerb-stones round the mouth of both
wells are worn into deep grooves by the action
of the ropes of so many centuries, and " look
as if frilled or fluted all round." Round
the larger well there are nine, and round the
smaller five large stone troughs— some much
worn and broken, others nearly entire, lying at
a distance of 10 or 12 feet from the edge of the
well. There were formerly ten of these troughs
at the larger well. The circle around is car
peted with a sward of fine short grass with
crocuses and lilies (Bonar, pp. 5-7). The water is
excellent, the best, as Dr. Robinson emphatically
records, which he had tasted since leaving Sinai.

The five lesser wells — apparently the only
ones seen by Van de Velde — are, according to
his account and the casual notice of Bonar, in a
group in the bed of the wady, not on its north
bank, and at so great a distance from the other
two, that the latter were missed by him.
On some low hills north of the large wells
are scattered the foundations and ruins of a
town of moderate size, Kh. Bir es-Seb'a. There
are no trees or shrubs near the spot. See
PEF. Mem. iii. 394; Prof. Palmer in PEF.
'.'!/. Stat 1871, 36 ; and Guerin, Judee, ii. 277-
284. After the digging of the well Abraham planted
n "tamarisk-tree" (R. V.) as a place for the
worship of Jehovah, and here ho lived until the
sacrifice of Isaac, and for a long time afterwards
(xxi. 33; xxii. 1, 19). Here also Isaac was dwell
ing at the time of the transference of the birth
right from Esau to Jacob (xxvi. 33, xxviii. 10);
and from the patriarchal encampment round the

BEER-SHEBA
wells of his grandfather, Jacob set forth on the
journey to Mesopotamia which changed the
course of his whole life. Jacob does not appear
to have revisited the place until he made it one
of the stages of his journey down to Egypt. He
then halted there to offer sacrifice to " the God
of his father," doubtless under the sacred grove
of Abraham.
From this time till the conquest of the
country we lose sight of Beersheba, only to
catch a momentary glimpse of it in the
lists of the " cities " in the extreme south
of Judah (Josh. xv. 28) given to the tribe of
Simeon (Josh. xix. 2 ; 1 Ch. iv. 28). Samuel's
sons were judges in Beersheba (1 Sam. viii. 2),
its distance no doubt precluding its being among
the number of the "holy cities" (LXX. tow
Tiytatrpevots TroAetri) to which he himself went
in circuit every year (vii. 16).* By the times of
the monarchy it had become recognised as the
most southerly place of the country. Its posi
tion as the place of arrival and departure for
the caravans trading between Palestine and the
countries lying in that direction would naturally
lead to the formation of a town round the wells
of the patriarchs, and the great Egyptian trade
begun by Solomon must have increased its
importance. Hither Joab's census extended
(2 Sam. xxiv. 7 ; 1 Ch. xxi. 2), and here Elijah
bade farewell to his confidential servant (J"n$D)
before taking his journey across the desert to
Sinai (1 K. xix. 3). From Dan to Beersheba
(Judg. xx. 1, &c), or from Beersheba to Dan
(1 Ch. xxi. 2 ; cp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 2), now be
came the established formula for the whole of
the Promised Land; just as "from Geba to
Beersheba " (2 K. xxiii. 8), or " from Beersheba
to Mount Ephraim " (2 Ch. xix. 4), was that for
the southern kingdom after the disruption.
After the return from the Captivity the formula
is narrowed still more, and becomes " from Beer
sheba to the valley of Hinnom " (Neh. xi. 30).
One of the wives of Ahaziah, king of Judah,
Zibiah mother of Joash, was a native of Beer
sheba (2 K. xii. 1 ; 2 Ch. xxiv. 1). From the
incidental references of Amos, we find that, like
Bethel and Gilgal, the place was in his time
the seat of an idolatrous worship, apparently
connected in some intimate manner with the
northern kingdom (Amos v. 5, viii. 14). In
the latter of these passages we have perhaps
preserved a form of words or an adjuration used
by the worshippers, " Live the 'way' of Beer
sheba ! " * After this, with the mere mention
that Beersheba and the villages round it
(" daughters ") were re-inhabited after the
Captivity (Neh. xi. 30), the name dies entirely
out of the Bible records ; like many other places,
its associations are entirely confined to the earlier
history, and its name is not even once mentioned
in the New Testament.

• The LXX. probably read CSHpD instead of DlpD >
though it is possible that DlpD> '*e the Arabic maiim,
might have a special application to a holy place (see
Wellhausen, Der Text d. BB. Samudis, in loco).
b There is a correspondence worth noting between
the word " way" or " manner " (E. VO in this formula
C'iJ'Jlin, literally "the road"), and the word i, 68«,
the Way" (E. V.), by which the new religion is
in Acts ix. 2, &c.

BE-ESH-TERAH
But though unheard of, its position ensured a
continued existence to Beersheba. In the time
of Jerome it was still a considerable place
(oppidum, Quaest. ad Gen. xvii. 30 ; or vicus
grandis, OS.2 p. 138, 33), the station of a
Roman praesidium ; and later it is mentioned in
some of the ecclesiastical lists as an episcopal
city under the Bishop of Jerusalem (Reland,
p. 620). Its present condition has been already
described. It only remains to notice that the
place retains its ancient name as nearly simi
lar in sound as an Arabic signification will
permit — Bir es-Seb'a — the "well of the lion,"
or " of seven." [G.] [W.j
BE-ESH-TERAH (rnriOTS; B. Boo-opo,
A. BeeBapd ; Bosra), one of the two cities
allotted to the sons of Gershom, out of the
tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan (Josh. xxi. 27).
By comparison with the parallel list in 1 Ch.
vi. 71 (B. 'Ao-qpu8,A. VapuB), Beeshterah appears
to be identical with Ashtaroth ; aud in fact
the name is considered by Gesenius and Olshau
sen (Lehrb. p. 613) and others a contracted
form of Beth-Ashtoreth, the house of Ashtoreth.
R.] [G.] [W.]

BEHEMOTH

383

BEETLE (?jnn, chargbl; btpiopdxris; ophio-
machus ; A. V. " beetle," R. V. " cricket "). The
word only occurs once in the Bible, in Lev. xi. 22,
where it is given along with the " locust," " bald-
locust," and " grasshopper " as one of the flying
creeping things which may be eaten, " which have
legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the
earth." It is clear from the context that some
species of locust or orthopterous saltatorial insect
is intended, and that our translation is erroneous,
for no beetle has legs above its feet to leap
withal, nor have any species of beetle been ever
used as food, though locusts are frequently
eaten. Gesenius and MV.11 interpret the words
as meaning " leaper," identical with the Arabic
A*, j^., kkardjala, "to leap," used of locusts
and of horses, comparing it with the German
Heuschrecke, from schrecken, "to leap." Both
Bochart and Rosenmiiller (Hieroz. iii. p. 257)
agree that some species of locust, and not
wingless locusts in general, is indicated ; but
all attempts to identify it are mere conjec
tures. The LXX. rendering, btpiopdxvs, " ser
pent fighter," occurs nowhere else, and is
interpreted by Hesychius and Suidas as meaning
a wingless species of locust. But the notion of
any locust fighting serpents is of course utterly
without foundation in tradition or fact. Yet
some authors have suggested that the various
species of Truxalis are intended, an orthopterous
genus closely allied to the locusts, and very
numerous in Syria. In order to give colour to
the conjecture, it has been asserted that the
Truxalidae are insectivorous. This, as we our
selves and other naturalists have ascertained by
observation, is incorrect, the genus being as
strictly herbivorous as the locust (see Fischer,
Orthopt Europ. p. 292). Jewish commentators
render chargdl by " grasshopper," the numerous
species of which are closely allied to those of
the locust tribe.
True beetles, or Coleoptera, are very numerous
in Palestine, probably over 1000 species being
recognised, in marked contrast to the small

number of butterflies, Lepidoptera, for which the
country is not so suitable. [H. B. T.]
BEHEADING. [Punishments.]
BEHE'MOTH (niOnS-," Bvpta; behemoth).
This word has long been considered one of the
dubia vexata of critics and commentators, but
modern commentators generally believe the hip
popotamus to be denoted by the original word ;
and so R. V. margin.
Beliemah and behemoth are general terms for
all large mammalia, in which sense it is so
constantly used in the Hebrew ; and also the
specific designation of the hippopotamus. To
this animal, and to this alone, it can apply in
the Book of Job; and in this case only the
translators of A. V., being without accurate
knowledge, wisely abstained from any attempt
to render the original.

Hippopotamus amphibius.
Gesenius and Rosenmiiller have remarked that
since in the first part of Jehovah's discourse-
(Job xxxviii., xxxix.) land animals and birds are
mentioned, it suits the general purpose of
that discourse better to suppose that aquatic
or amphibious creatures are spoken of in
the last half of it ; and that since the
leviathan, by almost universal consent, de
notes the crocodile, the behemoth seems clearly
to point to the hippopotamus, his associate in
the Nile. Harmer (Observ. ii. 319) says, " There
is a. great deal of beauty in the ranging of the
descriptions of the behemoth and the leviathan,
for in the Mosaic pavement the people of art
Egyptian barque are represented as darting
spears or some such weapons at one of the river-
horses, as another of them is pictured with two
sticking near his shoulders. .. .It was then a
customary thing with the old Egyptians thus to
attack these animals (see woodcut below) ; if
so, how beautiful is the arrangement: there
is a most happy gradation ; after a grand
but just representation of the terribleness of
the river-horse, the Almighty is represented as-
going on with His expostulations something after
this manner : — ' But dreadful as this animal is,
barbed irons and spears have sometimes prevailed
against him ; but what wilt thou do with the
crocodile ? Canst thou fill his skin with barbed
irons ? ' " &c. In the Lithostrotum Praenes-
tinum, to which Mr. Harmer refers, there are
two crocodiles, associates of three river-horses,

• Bochart, Gesenius, MV.11, and others consider this
word a hebraized form of the Egyptian p-ehe-mau, i.e.
Bos marinus (see add. note to Job xl. 15 in Speaker's
Comm.).

384

BEHEMOTH

which are represented without spears sticking
in them, though they seem to be within shot.
It has been said that some parts of the de
scription in Job cannot apply to the hippopota
mus : the 20th verse for instance, where it is
said, "the mountains bring him forth food."
This passage, many writers say, suits the
elephant well, but cannot be applied to the
hippopotamus, which is never seen on mountains.
Again, the 24th verse (A. V.) — " his nose pierceth
through snares " — seems to be spoken of the
trunk of the elephant, " with its extraordinary
delicacy of scent and touch, rather than to the
obtuse perceptions of the river-horse." In
answer to the first objection it has been stated,
with great reason, that the word hdrim (DHH)
is not necessarily to be restricted to what we
understand commonly by the expression " moun-

BEHEMOTH
tains." In the Praenestine pavement alluded to
above, there are to be seen here and there as
Mr. Harmer has observed, "hillocks rising above
the water." In Ezek. xliii. 15 (margin), the altar
of God, only ten cubits high and fourteen
square, is called [according to one etymology
see MV.11] "the mountain of God." "The
eminences of Egypt, which appear as the inun
dation of the Nile decreases, may undoubtedly
be called mountains in the poetical language of
Job." But we think there is no occasion for so
restricted an explanation. The hippopotamus,
as is well known, frequently leaves the water
and the river's bank as night approaches, and
makes inland excursions for the sake of the
pasturage, when he commits sad work among
the growing crops (Hasselquist, Trav. p. 188).
No doubt he might be often observed on the

Chase of tbe Hippopotamus. (Wilkinson.)

bill-sides near the spots frequented by him.
Again, it must be remembered that the " moun
tains " are mentioned by way of contrast to the
natural habits of aquatic animals generally,
which never go far from the water and "the banks
of the river . but the behemoth, though passing
much of his time in the water and in " the
covert of the reed nnd fens," eateth grass like
cattle, and feedeth on the hill-sides in company
with the beasts of the field." Livingstone ob-
b A recent traveller in Kgypt, the Eev. J. L. Erring-
ton, writeB to us . '• The valley of the Nile in Upper
Egypt and Nubia is in parts so very narrow, that the
mountains approach within a few hundred yards, and
even less, to the river's hank ; the hippopotamus there
fore might well be said to get its food from the moun
tains, on the Bides of which it would grow."

serves that " they prefer to remain by day in a
drowsy yawning state ; and though their eyes
are open, they take little notice of things at a
distance." There is much beauty in the passages
which contrast the habits of the hippopotamus,
an amphibious animal, with those of herbivorous
land-quadrupeds : but if the elephant is to be
understood, the whole description is, compara
tively speaking, tame.
With respect to the second objection, there is
little doubt that the A. V. marginal reading
is nearer the Hebrew than that of the A. V.
" Will any take him in his sight, or bore his
nose with a gin? " (see note m below). Perhaps
this refers to leading him about alive with a
ring in his nose, as, says Rosenmiiller, "the
Arabs are accustomed to lead camels," am
we mav add the English to lead bulls, "with a

BEHEMOTH
ring passed through the nostrils.'* The ex
pression in v. 17, «* he moveth his tail like a
cedar," has given occasion to much discussion ;
some of the advocates for the elephant main
taining that the word zdndb QJT) may denote
either extremity, and that here the elephant's
trunk is intended. The parallelism, however,
clearly requires the posterior appendage to be
signified by the term. The expression seems to
allude to the stiff unbending nature of the
animal's tail, which in this respect is compared
to the trunk of a strong cedar which the wind
scarcely moves. The description of the animal's
lying under "the shady trees," amongst the
" reeds " and willows, is peculiarly applicable to
the hippopotamus.0 It has been argued that
such a description is equally applicable to the
elephant ; but this is hardly the case, for though
the elephant is fond of frequent ablutions, and
is frequently seen near water, yet the constant
habit of the hippopotamus, as implied in verses
21, 22, seems to be especially made the subject
to which the attention is directed. The whole
passage (Job xl. 15-24) may be thus literally
translated : —
" Behold now Behemoth, whom I made with
theed; he eateth grass8 like cattle.
" Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and
his power in the muscles [so R. V.] of his belly.
"He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews
of his thighs interweave one with another
[R. V. " are knit together"].
" His hones f are as tubes of brass ; his (solid)
bones8 each one as a bar of forged iron.
"He is (one of) the chief of the ways of
God : his Maker hath furnished him with his
scythe (tooth),*
c " At every turn there occurred deep, still pools, and
occasional sandy islands densely clad with lofty reeds.
Above and beyond these reeds stood trees of immense
age, beneath which grew a rank kind of grass on which
the sea-cow delights to pasture " (G. Cumming, p. 297).
d "HEI?* Bochart says, "near thee," i.e. not far from
thy own country. Gesenius and Rosenmiiller translate
the word " pariter atque te." Cary understands it, " at
the same time as I made thee."
e T¥n» " grass," not "hay," as the Vulg. has it, and
some commentators : it is from the Arabic wA^» " to
be green." The Hebrew word occurs in Num. xi. 5, in a
limited sense to denote "leeks."
f DVJ? seems to refer here to the bones of the legs
more particularly ; the marrow-bones.
E D7I3 perhaps here denotes the rib-bones [so R. V.
in marg.; in text "limbs"], as is probable from the
singular number 7f"l3, p^ODD* which appears to be
distributive and thereby emphatic. See Rosenmtlll.
Schol. in loco.
h " With these apparently combined teeth the hippo
potamus can cut the grass as neatly as if it were mown
with the scythe, and is able to sever, as if with shears, a
tolerably stout and thick stem " (Wood's Nat. Hist. i.
762). 3in* perhaps the Greek apmj. See Bochart
(iii. 722), who cites Nicander (Theriae. 566) as compar
ing tbe tooth of this animal to a scythe. The next verse
explains the purpose and use of the "scythe" with
which God has provided His creature; viz. in order that
he may eat the grass ofthe hills. A.V. and R. V. render
the latter part of this verse as follows: **He only tbat
made him can make his sword to approach unto him."
BIBLE DICT.— VOL. I.

BEHEMOTH

385

" For the hills bring him forth Abundant food,
and all the beasts ofthe field have their pastime
there. " Beneath ^he shady trees' he lieth down, in
the covert of the reed, and fens.k
"The shady trees' cover him with their sha
dow ; the willows of the brook surround him.
"Lol the river swelleth proudly against him,
yet he is not alarmed : he is securely confident
though a Jordan1 burst forth against his mouth.
"Will any one capture him when in his
sight?™ will any one bore his nostril in the
snare ? "
This description agrees in every particular

1 D^X^Tirifl; vwb iravroSaira fieVSpa; sub umbra.
A. Schultens, following the Arabic writers Saadias and
Abulwalid, was the first European commentator to pro
pose " the lotus-tree " [so R. V. j as the signification of
the Hebrew ">X¥t which occurs (as a plural) only in
this and the following verse of Job. He identifies the
s y
Hebrew word with the Arabic Jlo, which accord

ing to some authorities is another name for the j^f
(sidr), the lotus of the ancient " lotophagi," Zizyphus
lotus. It would appear, however, from Abu'lfadli, cited
by Celsius (Hierob. ii. 191), that the Dhdl is a species
distinct from the Sidr, which latter plant was also-
known by the name Salam. Sprengel identifies the
Dhdl with the Jujube-tree (Zizyphus vulgaris). The
other species, in Arabic t -*1 o. nubk, is identical
with the Hebrew WV1J3. na'atzootz, and is the Zizy
phus spina-christi of naturalists (Is. vii. 19). But
even if it were proved that the 7X¥ and *he iJU^
were identical, the explanation ofthe 1JL0 by Freytag,
" Arbor quae remota a fluminibus nonnisi pluvia, rigatur,,
aliis, lotus Kam. Dj." does not warrant us in associat
ing the tree with the reeds and willows of the Nile.
Gesenius, strange to say, supposes the reeds (out of which
numerous birds are flying in the woodcut [supra, p. 384}
from Sir G. Wilkinson's work, and which are apparently
intended to represent the papyrus reeds) to be the
lote lilies. His words are : " At any rate, on a certain
Egyptian monument which represents the chase of tbe
hippopotamus, I observe this animal concealing himself
in a wood of water-lotuses — in loti aquaticae sylvd "'
(Wilkinson, Customs and Manners, iii. 71). We prefer
the rendering of the A. V. " shady trees ; " and so read
Vulg.,Kimchi, and Ibn Ezra, the Syriac and the Arabic,
with Bochart. Rosenmiiller takes QvK¥> "more"
Aramaeo pro D v/V' ut DXE>"1 Pro DDDS supra
vii. 5, et Ps. lviii. 8 " (Schol. ad Job. xl. 21).
* See woodcut (p. 384). Compare also Bellonius,
quoted by Bochart: "Vivit arundinibus et canuis
sacchari et foliis papyri herbae."
1 The name of Jordan is used poetically for any river,
as the Greek poets use Ida for any mountain and Ache-
lous for any water (Rosenmtll. Schol.), or perhaps in
its original meaning, as simply a " rapid river " (see
Stanley, S. & P. $ 37). This verse seems to refer to the
inundation of the Nile, and is rendered by R. V.
" Behold, if a river overflow, he trembleth not. He is-
confident, though Jordan swell even to his mouth."
m This seems to be the meaning Implied. Compare in
the case of Leviathan, xii. 2, 5 ; but see also Cary's
rendering, " He receiveth it (the river) up to his eyes."
R. V. ' Shall any take him when he is on the watch t
or pierce through his nose with a snare ? "
2 C

386

BEHEMOTH

with the hippopotamus, which we fully believe
to be the representative of the Behemoth of
Scripture. According to the Talmud, Behemoth is some
huge land-animal which daily consumes the
grass off a thousand hills ; he is to have at some
future period a. battle with Leviathan. On
account of his grazing on the mountains, he is
called "the bull of the high mountains" (see
Lewysohn, Zool. des Talmuds, p. 355). " The
' fathers,' for the most part," says Cary (Job,
p. 402), " surrounded the subject with an awe
equally dreadful, and in the Behemoth here,
and in the Leviathan of the next chapter, saw
nothing but mystical representations of the
devil ; others again have here pictured to them
selves some hieroglyphic monster that has no
real existence ; but these wild imaginations are
surpassed by that of Bolducius, who in the
Behemoth actually beholds Christ ! " ,
The hippopotamus, as being the largest quad
ruped known to the Israelites, was well distin
guished as Behemoth, the beast par excellence.
The genus is peculiar to the African continent,
through the whole of which the species Hippo
potamus amphibius is found from Abyssinia
southward. We have, as has been seen, abun
dant historic evidence of its former existence
throughout the whole course of the Nile. There
is one other living species, a smaller animal,
Hippopotamus liberiensis, on the West Coast of
Africa, distinguished by having only two in
cisors in the lower jaw. It is quite possible
that in former times the hippopotamus may
have extended into Palestine, just as the croco
dile still exists in the marshes under Mount
Carmel. Five extinct species are found in the
late tertiary deposits of the Sevalik range in
India (Cautley and Falconer, Faun. Antiq.
Sival. vii. ; Asiatic Researches, 1836, xix. 39,
and 1838, vii. 1014). Two other species are
found in great abundance in the later gravels of
Britain and Western Europe, along with shells
of many species now existing in the locality,
proving that the temperature has not very
much changed, and that the extinct species
inhabited cold and temperate climates.
The Book of Job alludes to the chase of the
hippopotamus, as depicted on the Egyptian
monuments. A similar method is still practised
by the negroes, who float down a river on a raft
or canoe, so as not to alarm the herd, and then
strike one with a barbed weapon, to which a long
line and buoy are attached. The animal, unable
to disengage himself, is then rapidly pursued,
and struck every time he comes to the surface,
till he is worn out by loss of blood. But
the more ordinary method of capture is
by pitfalls, carefully concealed, across the
paths they frequent in going by night to
their pasture-grounds. The pitfalls are spiked
at the bottom with sharp stakes, and require
much care in their construction, for the caution
and suspicion of the animal are great. "His
nose pierceth through snares ; " but when once
he has inadvertently trodden on the treacherous
platform, his despatch is easy.
The skin of the hippopotamus is cut into
whips by the Dutch colonists of S. Africa, and
also by the Nubians, and the monuments of
Egypt testify that a .similar use was made of the
skin by the ancient Egyptians (Wilkinson, Ane.

BELA
Egypt, i. 240 [1878]). The inhabitants of S.
Africa hold the flesh of the hippopotamus in
high esteem ; it is said to be not unlike pork.
The hippopotamus belongs to the order Packy-
dermata, class Mammalia. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BE'KAH. [Weights.]
BEL. [Baal.]
BEL AND DRAGON. [Daniel, Apoobt-
PHAL ADDITIONS TO.]
BE'LA (1&3 ; AD. BdAaK in Gen. xiv. 2, 8
E. BaAa in Gen. xiv. 2 ; Bela ; a swallowing up,
or destruction. In the Liber Nom. Hebr. in St.
Jerome's works, torn, ii., it is corrupted to SaKoX
in the Cod. Reg. ; but in the Cod. Colbert, it is
written BaAXa," and interpreted KaTatrovTurpis
(see Ps. lv. [liv.] 9, LXX.). Jerome appears to
confound it with ?1?3, where he renders it
" habens, sive devorans : " and with H73, where
he says, " Balla, absorpta sive inveterata").
1. One of the five cities of the plain which
was spared at the intercession of Lot, and re
ceived the name of Zoar ("1171V), smallness, i.e. a
little one (Gen. xiv. 2 ; xix. 22, LXX. Siiyup).
It lay on the south-western extremity of the
Dead Sea, on the frontier of Moab and Palestine
(Jerome on Is. xv. 5 ; cp. Jer. xlviii. 34 ; Gen.
xiii. 10). We first read of Bela in Gen. xiv.
2, 8, where it is named with Sodom, Gomorrah,
Admah, and Zeboiim, as forming a confederacy
under their respective kings, in the vale of
Siddim, to resist the supremacy of the king of
Shinar and his associates. It is singular that
the king of Bela is the only one of the five
whose name is not given ; and this, as Delitzsch
[Genesis, 1887, in loco] points out, may be a mark
of genuineness in the narrative. The writer did
not know the king's name and did not create
one. But it also suggests the probability of
Bela having been his own name, as well as
the name of his city, which may have been
so called from him. The tradition of the Jews
was that it was called Bela from having been
repeatedly engulphed by earthquakes; and in
the passage Jer. xlviii. 34, " From Zoar even
unto Horonaim (have they uttered their voice)
as an heifer* of three years old," and in Is. xv. 5,
they absurdly fancied an allusion to its destruc
tion by three earthquakes (Jerome, Quaest. Heb.
in Gen. xiv.). There is nothing improbable in
itself in the supposed allusion to the swallowing
up of the city by an earthquake, which JP3
exactly expresses (Num. xvi. 30) ; but the re
peated occurrence of 1773, and words com
pounded with it, as names of men, rather

" BaAAa is also the reading of AO. for Bera [E.
Bapa] in Gen. xiv. 2.
b In both passages the cry of the distressed Moabites
is by A. V. compared to the lowing of a heifer whose
calf has been taken from her. The E. T., on the other
hand, takes the words n!£"^E> TiPJl? t0 represent a
proper name, Eglathshelishiyah. The authorities and
arguments on both views are given in Delitzsch, Isaiah*
xv. 6  [F.]

BELA
favours the notion of the city having been called
Bela from the name of its founder. This is
rendered yet more probable by Bela being the
name of an Edomitish king in Gen. xxxvi. 32
[A. BaAdx, E. -e'/c]. For further information see
De Saulcy's Narrative, i. 457-481, and Stanley's
S. and P. p. 285. [Zoar.]
2. Son of Beor (Gen. xxxvi. 32), who reigned
over Edom in the city of Dinhabah, eight gene
rations before Saul, king of Israel, or about
the time of the Exodus. Bernard Hyde, follow
ing some Jewish commentators (Targ. -Jona than
here, and Targ. on 1 Ch. i. 44; cp. Simon.
Onomast 142, note), identifies this Bela with
Balaam the son of Beor ; but the evidence
from the name does not seem to prove more
than identity of family and race. There is
nothing whatever to guide us as to the age
of Beor, the founder of the house from which
Bela and Balaam sprung. Beor ("ll?3) is of a
decidedly Chaldee or Aramean form, like Peor
r~ilB), Pethor Oh3), Rehob (3"m.), and others :
and we are expressly told that Balaam the
son of Beor dwelt in Pethor, which is by the
river of the land of the children of his people,
i.e. the river Euphrates ; and he himself describes
his home as being in Aram (Num. xxii. 5 ; xxiH.
7). Saul again, who reigned over Edom after
Samlah, came from Rehoboth by the river
Euphrates (Gen. xxxvi. 37). We read in Job's
time of the Chaldeans making incursions into
the land of Uz, and carrying off the camels
and slaying Job's servants (Job i. 17). In the
time of Abraham we have the king of Shinar
apparently extending his empire so as to make
the kings on the borders of the Dead Sea his
tributaries, and with his confederates extending
his conquests into the very country which was
afterwards the land of Edom (Gen. xiv. 6).
Putting all this together, we may conclude with
some confidence that Bela the son of Beor, who
reigned over Edom, was a Chaldean by birth, and
reigned in Edom by conquest. He may have been
contemporary with Moses and Balaam. Hadad,
of which name there were two kings (Gen. xxxvi.
35, 39), is probably another instance of an
Aramean king of Edom, as we find the name
Benhadad as that of the kings of Syria, or Aram,
in later history (1 K. xx.). Compare also the
name of Hadad-ezer, king of Zobah, in the neigh
bourhood of the Euphrates (2 Sam. viii. 3, &c).
The passage Gen. xxxvi. 31-39 is given in
¦duplicate 1 Ch. i. 43-51.
3. Eldest son of Benjamin, according to Gen.
jxlvi. 21 ;° Num. xxvi. 38 ; 1 Ch. vii. 6, viii. 1,
and head of the family of the Belaites. The
houses of his family, according to 1 Ch. viii. 3-5,
were Addar, Gera, Abihud (only named here),
Abishua (only named here), Naaman, Ahoah,
«Shupham, and Haram. It is, perhaps, worth
noticing that as we have Husham by the
side of Bela among the kings of Edom (Gen.
xxxvi. 34), so also by the side of Bela, son of
Benjamin, we have the Benjamite family of
Hushim (1 Ch. vii. 12), sprung apparently from
a foreign woman of that name, whom a Benja
mite took to wife in the land of Moab (1 Ch.
viii. 8-11). [Becher.]
4. Son of Ahaz, a Reubenite (1 Ch. v. 8;
« In A. V."Belah," R. Y. "Bela."

BELIAL

387

B. BaAeK, A. BdA.o). It is remarkable that his
country too was "in Aroer, even unto Nebo
and Baal-meon ; and eastward he dwelt even
unto the entering iu of the wilderness from the
river Euphrates " (co. 8, 9, R. V.). [A. C. H.]
BE'LAH. [Bela, 3.]
BE'LAITES, THE Olfari), Num. xxvi. 38
[LXX. v. 42, B. i BaAeel, AF. BaAei ; BelaitmX
descendants of Bela [No. 3]. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BE'LEMUS (B-nAepos ; Balsamus), 1 Esd. ii.
16 [LXX. v. 15]. [Bishlam.] [W. A. W]
BE'LIAL. The translators of the A. V.,
following the Vulgate, have frequently treated
the word ?1?y3 as a proper name, and given it
in the form Belial, in accordance with 2 Cor. vi.
15. This is particularly the case where it is
connected with the expressions WW, man of, or
"[3, son of: in other instances it is translated
wicked or by some equivalent term (Deut. xv. 9 ;
Ps. xii. 8, ci. 3 ; Prov. vi. 12, xvi. 27, xix. 28 ;
Nah. i. 11, 15). The R. V. imitates the A. V.
in this variety of treatment, if it is often care
ful to note in the margin the proper meaning
of the expression (e.g. Deut. xiii. 13 ; Judg. xix.
22, xx. 13). But there can be no question that
the word is not to be regarded in the 0. T. as
a proper name, or as a designation of Satan ;
its meaning there is worthlessness, and hence
recklessness, lawlessness. Its etymology is un
certain: the first part w2= without ; the second
part is derived by most moderns from ?V*,
profit; so that the entire word signifies worth
lessness. The expression son or man of Belial thus
means simply a worthless, lawless fellow (irapd-
vopos, LXX.) : it occurs frequently in this sense
in the Historical Books (Judg. xix. 22, xx. 13 ;
1 Sam. i. 16, ii. 12, x. 27, xxv. 17, 25, xxx. 22 ;
2 Sam. xvi. 7, xx. 1; 1 K. xxi. 10; 2 Ch.
xiii. 7), and only once in the earlier Books
(Deut. xiii. 13). The adjunct EJ^'N is occasion
ally omitted, as in 2 Sam. xxiii. 6 and Job
xxxiv. 18, where ?l?v3 stands by itself, as a
term of reproach.
In the N. T. the term appears in the form
BeA'tap (originally, no doubt, due to a corrup
tion of I into r, but explained by later Syriac
writers as = TK?3, " Lord of the air ; " cp.
Eph. ii. 2) and not BeAiaA, as given in the
A. V. The change of A into p is found occa
sionally (cp. Ges. Thes. s. 1. ? ; e.g. niTTD, Job
xxxviii. 32, for tVO-ID, 2 K. xxiii. 5). The
same change occurred in the Doric dialect (tpavpos
for tpavAos), with which the Alexandrine writers
were most familiar. The term as used in 2 Cor.
vi. 15 is generally understood as an appellative
of Satan [the word used by the Peshitto Version],
as the personification of all that was bad (see
note in Speaker's Comm,). This use of Belial
(usually in the form Beliar) is also found in
the Sibyll. Books, the Ascension of Isaiah, and
the Test, of XII. Patriarchs. Bengel (Gnomon
in loc.) explains it of Antichrist; as more strictly
the opposite of Christ (omnem colluviem anti-
2 C 2

388

BELLOWS

christlanam notare videtur). Cp., on the subject
generally, Schrader in Schenkel's Bib.-Lex. and
Baudissin in Herzog, RE.2 s. a. [W.L.B.] [F.]
BELLOWS (DSD ; tpvaTiT-hp, LXX.). The
Word occurs only in Jer. vi. 29, " The bellows
are burned " [R. V. in text, " blow fiercely "] ;
where their use is to heat a smelting furnace.
They were known even in the time of Moses,
and perhaps still earlier, since the operations
of a foundry would be almost impossible with
out them. A picture of two different kinds
of bellows, both of highly ingenious construc
tion, may be found in Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt.
ii. 316 [1878]. "They consisted," he says,
" of a leather, secured and fitted into a frame,
from which a long pipe extended for carrying
the wind to the fire. They were worked by the
feet, the operator standing upon them, with
one under each foot, and pressing them alter
nately while he pulled up each exhausted
skin with a string he held in his hand. In
one instance we observe from the painting,
that when the man left the bellows, they were
raised as if inflated with air ; and this would
imply a knowledge of the valve. The pipes
even in the time of Thothmes III., [supposed to
have been] the contemporary of Moses, appear
to have been simply of reed, tipped with a metal
point to resist the action of the fire."

Egyptian Bellows. (Wilkinson.)
Bellows of an analogous kind were early
known to the Greeks and Romans. Homer (II.
xviii. 470) speaks of twenty tputrai in the forge of
Hephaestos, and they are mentioned frequently
by ancient authors (Dict. of Ant., art. Follis).
Ordinary hand-bellows, made of wood and kid's-
skin, are used by the modern Egyptians, but are
not found in the old paintings. They may how
ever have been known, as they were to the early
Greeks. [F. W. F.]
BELLS. There are two words thus trans
lated in the A. V. and R. V., viz. jiOWg, Ex.
xxviii. 33 (from D1JS, to strilie; KuSuves, LXX.),
and ni?VD, Zech. xiv. 20 (to &ri rbv x<£A"w
toB 'lirTfov, LXX. ; Vulg. fraena ; A. V. marg.
"bridles; " from ??¥, to sound, tingle).
In Ex. xxviii. 33 the bells alluded to were
the golden ones, according to the Rabbis 72
in number (Winer, s. v. Schellen),' which alter-
a Justin Martyr (Dial. 42) says that they were 12 in
number, and makes them a symbol of the Apostles.
Otto thinks that he confUBed the bells with the 12 gems
wf the Urim.

BELMAIM
nated with the three-coloured pomegranates-
round the hem of the high-priest's 7UD or
ephod (Jos. Ant. iii. 7, § 4). The object of
them was that his sound might be heard when
he went in unto the holy place, and when he
came out, that he die not (Ex. xxviii. 35); or
" that as he went there might be a sound, and a
noise made that might be heard in the Temple,
for a memorial to the children of his people""
(Ecclus. xiv. 9 ; cp. Luke i. 9, 21). No doubt
they answered the same purpose as the bells
used by the Brahmins in the Hindoo ceremonies,
and by the Roman Catholics during the celebra
tion of mass. They were not simply ornamental.
To this day bells are frequently attached, for
the sake of their pleasant sound, to the anklets
of women. [Anklet.] The little girls of Cairo
wear strings of them round their feet (Lane,
Mod. Eg. ii. 370), and at Koojar Mungo Park
saw a dance " in which many performers as
sisted, all of whom were provided with little
bells fastened to their legs and arms." But the
bells on the high-priest's robes were to warn the
people, aud the priest himself, of the solemnity
of his duties on the great Day of Atonement.
Since even Philo gives no special symbolic signi
ficance to the bells in speaking of the " golden '
robes " (de Profug. 20 ; de migr. Abrah. 18,
&c), we can hardly accept Bahr's suggestion
(Symbolik, ii. 126) that they were meant to-
indicate the duty of the high - priest as an
announcer of truth. Josephus, in his Antiqui.
ties (iii. 7, § 4), only speaks of their beauty;.
in his Jewish War he makes the somewhat inane-
suggestion that the bells signified thunder ani
the pomegranates lightning (B. J. v. 5, § 7).
In Zech. xiv. 20, " bells of the horses " (where
our marg. Vers., " bridles," follows the LXX.),
the Heb. word is almost the same as DwSC-
"a pair of cymbals; " and as they are supposed'
to be inscribed with the words " Holiness untd
the Lord," it is probable that they were not bells
as usually understood, but " concave or flat
pieces of brass, which were sometimes attached
to horses for the sake of ornament" (Jahn,
Arch. Bibl. § 96). Indeed, they were probably
the same as the D*3in'g>, pinvlo-Koi (Is. iii. 18;
Judg. viii. 21), lunulae of gold, silver, or brass-
used as ornaments, and hung by the Arabians
round the necks of their camels, as we still see
them in England on the harness of horses (see
Speaker's Comm. note on Zech. xiv. 20 ; cp. Babe-
Ion, Manuel d'Archeologie Orientale, pp. 151-2).
They were not only ornamental, but useful, as
their tinkling tended to enliven the animals ; and
in the caravans they thus served the purpose of
our modern sheep-bells. The comparison to the
KtiSuves used by the Greeks to test horses seems
out of place ; and hence Archbishop Seeker s-
explanation of the verse, as meaning that war-
horses would become useless, and their trappings-
would be converted to sacred purposes, is un
tenable. The general meaning of the passage,
as appears from the context, is that true religion
will then be universally professed. [F. W. r.]
BEL'MAIM (BA. BeABalp, N. 'AfcAfallf
Belma), a place which, from the terms of the
passage, would appear to have been near Dothaim
(Judith vii. 3). The name is perhaps retained in

BELMEN
'Ain and Wddy Beldmeh south of Jenin. Possibly
it is the same as Belmen. The Syriac has Abel-
meholah. [G.] [W.]
BELTVIEN (B. BaiApaiv, X- 'ABeApalv, A.
~BeApo.lv ; Vulg. omits), one of the places to
which the Jews sent messengers on the approach
of Holofernes (Judith iv. 4). The Hebrew name
would seem to have been Abelmaim, but the
only place of that name in the 0. T. was far
to the north of the locality here alluded to.
[Abel-beth-ma'acha.] The Syriac Version has
Abel-meholah, which is more consistent with
the context. [Abel-meholah , Belmaim.] See
Speaker's Comm. on Judith iv 4. [G.] [W.]
BELSHAZZAR p-XK^S, Dan. v. 1, &c;
"VSEW3, vii. 1 ; BaArdtrap ; Baltasar), accord
ing to the well-known scriptural narrative, the
last native king of Babylon, spoken of in Dan.
v., vii., viii. It is in the first of the above-named
¦places — namely, the fifth chapter — that the
account of Belshazzar's feast, the appearance
¦of the handwriting on the wall, Daniel's inter
pretation of it, in which he foretells Belshazzar's
overthrow, which was accomplished that very
night, is given. Except in Josephus (Ant. x.
¦ch. xi § 2) and the Book of Daniel, his name
¦does not occur. Most scholars, however, taking
into consideration that Josephus, when speaking
-of him, says, " Baltasar, who by the Babylonians
was called Naboandelos," have identified him
with this king, whose name appears also under
the forms Nabonidos, Nabonnedos, Nabonadios,
Nabannidochus, and Labynetos.
Belshazzar's name, however, occurs rather
frequently in the cuneiform inscriptions of Baby
lonia ; and he is, besides, often referred to when
not mentioned by name. The most common form
of the name is Y >^31I £j^ ^^' read
.Bel-sarra-usur, composed of the name of the
god Bel (Belos or Baal, Heb. ?D3), the accusa
tive of the word iarru, " king " (Heb. ""IC), and
the imperative masc. sing, of nasaru, " to pro
tect " (Heb. "1X3), the whole meaning, " Bel,
protect the king ! " The best-known passage in
-Babylonian literature in which his name occurs
is that in which Nabonidus, his father, speaks of
him in the following words : " and as for Bel-
sarra-usur, the firstborn son proceeding from my
body, cause thou the reverence of thy great
divinity to exist in his heart ; and may he not
give way to sin, may he be satisfied with ful
ness of life." * Belshazzar is also often men
tioned on contract-tablets. One of these, dated
the 26th day of Ve-Adar in the 1st year of
Nabonidus, records a transaction concerning a,
plot of ground adjoining " the house of the son
-ofthe king," made seemingly through Bel-resua,
¦" servant of Belshazzar the son of the king."
In the 3rd and 7th years of Nabonidus also trans
actions took place in which Belshazzar's ser-

BELSHAZZAR

389

* The last eight lines of the inscription on the
¦cylinders (four in number), found at the corners of the
temple of the Moon-god at Mukeyyor, the supposed Ur
of the Chaldees (Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western
Asia, vol. i., pi. 68). Sir H. C. Rawlinson deciphered
this text in 1854.

vauts (Nabti-snrra-ftsur his scribe, Nabd-sabit-
katii his major-domo, and Nabil-ukiu-tUie, mes
senger of his chief slave) were contracting
parties. In the 11th year of Nabonidus, Bel
shazzar lent, through his mnjor-domo, the sum
of 20 mana of silver to IuMin-Marduk, whose
property was to be Belshazzar's security for tho
repayment ofthe loan. Besides these and other
commercial transactions and relations entered
into by and for him, there are many records of
the son of the king (that is, Belshazzar) having
made gifts to the temples of Babylonia, chiefly
to the shrine of the Sun-god in L-bara (or E-
babara), within Sipar, the city identified with
Sippara and the Biblical Sepharvaim. One of
the most interesting of these notices records
that, on the 5th day of Ab in the 17th year of
Nabonidus — seemingly only a month or two
before his death — Belshazzar paid jjrds (of a
mana) and 7 shekels of silver on behalf of his
sister Ina-E-sagila-rSmat, this sum representing
the amount of tithe owing by her to the offer
tory-house at Sipar or Sepharvaim.1*
As has been above remarked, Belshazzar fre
quently gave offerings to the temple ofthe Sun-
god at Sipar, the reason of this probably being
that he was commander of the army, which
seems to have been permanently stationed in
Akkad, the tract of country from which Akkad,
which was apparently the twin city with Sipar
or Sepharvaim, took its name. The Babylonian
Chronicle informs us, in the entries for the years
7-11 of Nabonidus, that " the son of the king "
was with the army in Akkad in each of those
years, and a complete record is only missing,
apparently, by the mutilation of the text. The
gap extends, practically, from the 11th to the
17th year of Nabonidus, where the chronicle
again resumes its interesting story. In the
account of events in the 17th year of Nabonidus,

*> Whether, before NaboniduB became king of Baby
lonia, the family to which he belonged were in tbe
public service or not, is doubtful. Belshazzar's trade-
transactions seem to imply that they were merchants.
All we know about Nabonidus's ancestry is the single
fact stated in some of his records, that he was son (or
descendant) of Nabu-balat-su-ikbi, the rubit Smgu, or
"deeply-wise prince." Nabonidus seems to have fol
lowed in his father's footsteps, for he was certainly
learned, being, as we now know, an ardent antiquarian.
If learning were the speciality of the family, we have
thus an explanation why Nabonidus was raised to the
thione. This view would be borne out if it could be
proved that the Belshazzar, " son of Balatu " (a possible
abbreviation for Nabii-balat-su-ikbi, just as Nadinu is
short for Nabu-nadin-humi), who borrows some grain
from Daan-sum-iddin in the 1st year of Nabonidus, and
who appears, in the usual place at the end of the list
of witnesses, as the scribe who wrote the tablet, was
really the son of king Nabonidus. This Belshazzar, who
was probably the only one among the group of traders
then assembled who could write a good hand, appears
again five months later; and after this we have the
name of his brother, Nabii-ukln-abli, son of Naboni&uSt
son of Balatu. If the Belshazzar mentioned in these
documents be the Belshazzar of the Book of Daniel, and
Nabonidus his father the well-known king, lt would
point to the probability, that Nabonidus was well ad
vanced in years before he came to the Babylonian
throne ; Remut, son of Nabrl-ukiu-abli, descendant of
Balatu (grandson of Nabonidus, and nephew of Bel
shazzar, descendants of Balatu), being witness to a
contract iu the first year of Nabonidus.

390

BELSHAZZAR

it is stated that Cyrus, after fighting a battle at
Opis, had some conflicts with "the men of
Akkad, and took Sipar on the 14th day of Tam
muz without fighting. Nabonidus fled." From
this last statement it would seem as if Nabo
nidus and Belshazzar had changed places, the
former being with the army in Akkad, and the
latter at Babylon. On the 16th day of Tammuz
— two days latter — Ugbaru (Gobryas) and the
army of Cyrus descended to Babylon without
fighting. It was not until the 3rd of Mar-
cheswan (nearly four months later) that Cyrus
arrived at Babylon, and he at once " established
peace to the city." Throughout the narrative
of the taking of Babylon, Belshazzar is not
once mentioned, but there is one passage to
which, perhaps, an amendment may be pro
posed. As is well known, Belshazzar was, ac
cording to Daniel v., killed in the night, and
Xenophon (Cyrop. vii. 5, 3) tells us that Baby
lon was taken by Cyrus during the night, whilst
the inhabitants were engaged in feasting and
revelry, and that the king was killed. So in
the Babylonian Chronicle, lines 22-24, we have
the statement that "On the night of the 11th
of Marcheswan, Ugbaru (Gobryas) [descended ?]
against [Babylon ?], and the king died. From
the 27th of Adar until the 3rd of Nisan there
was weeping in Akkad. All the people bowed
their head." The most doubtful character in
the above extract is that which stands for the
word " and," the character in question having
been regarded as the large group which stands
for that word. A close examination of the ori
ginal, however, shows that it is possible that
there are two characters instead of one — namely,
the small character for " and " and the character
tur, which, in this connexion, "would stand for
u mar, " and the son of," in which case the line
would read, "and tke son of the king died."
Weeping in Akkad for Belshazzar is just what
Would be expected, when we take into considera
tion that he was for many years with the army
there, and that he must have made himself a
favourite by his liberality to the Akkadian
temples. Even supposing, however, that the old
reading is the right one, it is nevertheless possi
ble that the passage refers to Belshazzar ; for
Berosus relates that Nabonidus, on surrendering
to Cyrus, had his life spared, and that a prin
cipality or estate was given to him in Carmania,
where he died. It is therefore at least probable
that Belshazzar was regarded, even by the Baby
lonians, as king, especially after his father's
surrender. With this improved reading of the
Babylonian text, it is impossible to do otherwise
than identify Gobryas with Darius the Mede (if
we suppose that the last verse of the 5th chapter
of Daniel really belongs to that chapter, and
does not form part, as in the Hebrew text,
of chapter vi.), he being mentioned, in the
Babylonian Chronicle, in direct connexion with
the death of the king's son (or the king, as the
case may be). This identification, though not
without its difficulties, receives a certain amount
of support from Daniel vi. 1, where it is stated
that "it pleased Darius to set over the kingdom
an hundred and twenty princes," &c. — an act
which finds parallel in the Babylonian Chronicle,
which states that, after Cyrus promised peace to
Babylon, " Gobryas, his governor, appointed
governors in Babylon."

BENAIAH
As has been shown above, Belshazzar was
most likely not of royal race, Nabonidus, in his
records, only stating, that he was son or de
scendant of Nabu-balat-su-ikbi. There is, in
fact, no confirmation, in the Babylonian records
of the statement in Daniel v. 2, 11, 13, and
18, that Nebuchadnezzar was his father or
grandfather. It is not improbable, however
that he really was descended from him on his
mother's side, as has been suggested by Rawlin
son (Herod. Essay viii. § 25), who connects
Belshazzar, through his mother, with Nebu
chadnezzar, regarding it as very likely that
Nabonidus, who was certainly not descended
from Nebuchadnezzar, would try to strengthen
his position by marrying the daughter of that
king, who would thus be Belshazzar's maternal
grandfather. Belshazzar's death took place iu
538 B.C., when he was probably about 57 years
old. [T. G. P.]
BELTESHAZZAE. [Daniel.]
BEN ()3 = son ; LXX. omits ; Ben), a Levite
" of the second degree,'' one of the porters ap
pointed by David to the service of the ark (1 Ch.
xv. 18). [W. A. ff.]
BENAIAH (-irVJ5 and rPJ3 = built hj
Jah ; B. Bavaias or -d, A. -alas, N. Baveas or
Bev- ; Banaias), the name of several Israelites: —
1. Benaiahb, the son of Jehoiada the chief
priest (1 Ch. xxvii. 5), and therefore of the
tribe of Levi, though a native of Kabzeel (2 Sam.
xxiii. 20 ; 1 Ch. xi. 22), in the south of Judah;
set by David (1 Ch. xi. 25) over his body-guard
of Cherethites and Pelethites (2 Sam. viii. 18;
1 K. i. 38 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 17 ; 2 Sam. xx. 23), and
occupying a middle rank between the first
three of the Gibborim or " mighty men " and
the thirty " valiant men of the armies " (2 Sam.
xxiii. 22, 23; 1 Ch. xi. 25, xxvii. 6; and see
Kennicott, Diss. p. 177). The exploits which gave
him this rank are narrated in 2 Sam. xxiii. 20,
21 ; 1 Ch. xi. 22. He was captain of the host
for the third month (1 Ch. xxvii. 5).
Benaiah remained faithful to Solomon during
Adonijah's attempt on the crown (1 K. i. 8, 10),
a matter in which he took part in his official
capacity as commander of the king's body-guard
(1 K. i. 32, 38, 44) ; and after Adonijah and
Joab had both been put to death by his hand,
he was raised by Solomon into the place of the
latter as commander-in-chief of the whole army
(ii. 35, iv. 4).
Benaiah appears to have had a son, called
after his grandfather, Jehoiada, who succeeded
Ahithophel about the person of the king (1 Ch.
xxvii. 34). But this is possibly a copyist's
mistake for " Benaiah the son of Jehoiada."
2. Benaiah the Pirathonite (BA. om. in
2 Sam. ; Vulg. in 2 Sam. and 1 Ch. xi. Banaia),
an Ephraimite, one of David's thirty mighty
men (2 Sam. xxiii. 30 ; 1 Ch. xi. 31), and the
captain of the eleventh monthly course (1 Ch.
xxvii. 14).
3. Benaiahu (1 Ch. xv. 18, Bawifa); »
Levite in the time of David, who "played
with a psaltery on Alamoth" (1 Ch. xv. 18,
20, xvi. 5).
4. Benaiahu ; a priest in the time of David,
appointed to blow the trumpet before the ark
(1 Ch. xv. 24 [BSA. Baval}, xvi. 6 [BNA. -oios])-

BEN-AMMI
5. Benaiah (A. Bavalas, B. om.) ; a Levite of
the sons of Asaph (2 Ch. xx. 14).
6. Benaiahu ; a Levite in the time of Heze
kiah, one of the "overseers (DH^B) of offer
ings " (2 Ch. xxxi. 13).
7. Benaiah (A. Bavaid ; Banaid), one of
the "princes" (DWB'J) of the families of
Simeon (1 Ch. iv. 36).
8. Benaiah; a name common to four lay
men in the time of Ezra who had taken strange
wives (Bavoia; Vulg. 1. Banea; 2. Baneas;
4. Banaia). 1 (Ezra x. 25, X. mav-) [Baaxias] ;
2 (Ezra x. 30) [Naidus]; 3 (x. 35); and 4
(x. 43) [Banaias].
9. Benaiahu ; father of Pelatiah, " a prince
ofthe people" in the time of Ezekiel (xi. 1, 13).
[W. A. W.] [F.]
BEN-AM'MI OtSlTi?, son of my kindred),
the son of the younger daughter of Lot, and the
progenitor of the Ammonites (Gen. xix. 38). The
LXX. (ed. Swete) and Vulgate enlarge upon
tbe Hebrew text, by inserting the name of
Ammon, as well as the explanation of it: Kai
eKdAeaev Th ovopa airrov 'Appdv 6 vlbs tou
yevous /iou; Ammon, id est filius populi mei.
J. Derenbourg (REJ. ii. 123) and Halevy
(JAs. vii. 19, p. 480) take Ammi to have
become a local name of the god Ammon, as
preserved by the cuneiform inscriptions in the
name Ammi-nadab, a parallel to Chemosh-nadab
(see Dillmann5 on Gen. 1. c). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BENE'-BEEA'K (j?"U-»33; B. Bavai-
BaKdr ; A. BavnBapdK ; et Bane et Baruch ; Syr.
. -¦*->» VviV one of the cities of the tribe of
Dan, mentioned only in Josh. xix. 45. The
paucity of information which we possess regard
ing this tribe (omitted entirely irom the lists
in 1 Ch. ii.-viii., and of which only one family
is mentioned in Num. xxvi.) makes it im
possible to say whether the " sons of Berak "
who gave their name to this place belonged to
Dan ; or were, as we may perhaps infer from
the name, earlier settlers dispossessed by the
tribe. The reading of the Syriac, Baal-debak,
is not confirmed by any other Version. Bene-
barak is mentioned, with Joppa and Beth
Dagon, under the form Bana-aibarka (Band
'abarka, Del.) in an inscription of Sennacherib
(Schrader, KAT.2 p. 172), and has been identified
by Van de Velde with Ibn Ibrdk, a village east
of Jaffa. By Eusebius the name is divided
(cp. Vulg.), and BapaKal (OS.2 p. 249, 49) taken
to have been a village near Azotus, BapeKa, now
Burkah, which lies beyond the limits of Dan.
[G.] [W.]
BENE'-JA'AKAN (t^-^3, Children of
Jaakan ; B. Bavaid, A. BaviKdv, F. BavtaKdv
[v. 31], Bava- [v. 32]; Benejaacan), » tribe
who gave their name to certain wells in the
desert which formed one of the halting-places
of the Israelites on their journey to Canaan
[Deut. x. 6. Beeroth of the Children of
Jaakan]. In Num. xxxiii. 31, 32, the name is
given in the shortened form of Bene-jaakan.
The tribe doubtless derived its name from
Jaakan, the son of Ezer son of Seir the Horite
(1 Ch. i. 42), whose name is also given in
Genesis as Akan. [Akan ; Jakan.]

BENE-KEDEM

391

The situation of these wells has not been yet
identified. In the time of Jerome and Eusebius
(OS.2 pp. 137, 21; 247, 61; Beroth filiorum
Jacim, 'laKelp) the spot was identified with
the place where Aaron died, and 10 miles from
Petra on the top of a mountain. Robinson
suggests the small fountain et-Taiyibch, at tlie
bottom of the Pass er-Rubd'i under Petra, a
short distance from the Arabah. The word
Beeroth, however, suggests not a spring but a
group of artificial wells.
In the Targ. Ps.-Jon. the name is given in
Numbers as Aktha, NHpl? 'TO. [G.] [W.]
BENE'-KE'DEM (D"|.i?;^3, the children of
tlie East), an appellation given to a people, or
to peoples, dwelling to the east of Palestine. It
occurs in the following passages of the 0. T. : —
(1) Gen. xxix. 1, "Jacob came into the land of
the people [R. V. " childreu "] of the east," in
which was therefore reckoned Haran. (2) Job i.
3, Job was " the greatest of all the men [R. V.
"children"] of the east" [Job]. (3) Judg.
vi. 3, 33 ; vii. 12 ; viii. 10. In the first three
of these passages the Bene-Kedem are men
tioned together with the Midianites and the
Amalekites ; and in the fourth the latter peoples
seem to be included in this common name: "Now
Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their
hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men,
all that were left of all the host of the children
of the east " [R. V.]. In the events to which
these passages of Judges relate, we find a curious
reference to the language spoken by these eastern
tribes, which was understood by Gideon and his
servant (or one of them) as they listened to the
talk in the camp ; and from this it is to be in
ferred that they spoke a dialect intelligible to an
Israelite : an inference bearing on an affinity of
race, and thence on the growth ofthe Semitic lan
guages. (4) 1 K. iv. 30, " Solomon's wisdom ex
celled the wisdom of all the children ofthe east "
[R. V.]. (5) Is. xi. 14 ; Jer. xlix. 28 ; Ezek. xxv. 4,
10. From the first passage it is difficult to deduce-
an argument, but the other instances, with their
contexts, are highly important. In Ezekiel,,
Ammon is delivered to the " children of the
east," and its city Rabbah is prophesied to be
come " a stable for camels, and the children of
Ammon a couching-place for flocks " [R. V.] ;
referring, apparently, to the habits of the wander
ing Arabs ; while " palaces," also mentioned and
thus rendered in the A. V., may be better read
with R. V. " encampments." The words of Jere
miah strengthen the supposition just mentioned :
" Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor,
which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote.
Thus saith the Lord, Arise ye, go up to Kedar,
and spoil the children of the east. Their tents
and their flocks shall they take : they shall carry
away for themselves their curtains [i.e. tents],
and all their vessels, and their camels " [R. V.].
Opinions are divided as to the extension of
the appellation of Bene-Kedem ; some (as Rosen
miiller, Winer, Knobel, and Dillmann) holding
it to be a collective name for the Arabs of the
East; just as the name Saracen (SapaKrivds), 5 c"'
which is apparently derived from 'it,
Jj*'
"eastern," has been extended to the whole
race of which in the time of Pliny and Ptolemy

392

BEN-HADAD

it designated a particular tribe (see Dill
mann5 on Gen, xxv. 15). From a considera
tion of the passages above cited, and that which
makes mention of the land of Kedem, Gen. xxv. 6
[Ishmael], we think (with Gesenius and Fiirst)
that it primarily signified the peoples of the
Arabian deserts (east and north-east of Palestine
and Lower Egypt), and chiefly the tribes of Ish
mael and of Keturah, extending even to Meso
potamia (so we may take Kedem in Num. xxiii.
7, and possibly in Is. ii. 6) ; and that it was
sometimes applied to the Arabs and their country
generally. The only positive instance of this
latter signification of Kedem occurs in Gen. x. 30,
where "Sephar, a mount of the East," is by
the common agreement of scholars situate in
Southern Arabia [Arabia ; Sephar].
In the 0. T., 311!, with its conjugate forms,
seems to be a name of the peoples otherwise
called Bene-Kedem, and with the same limita
tions. The same may be observed of i) dvaroAr),
or araroAai, in the N. T. (Matt. ii. 1 sq.).
D1.P. and D"l.p. ^3. DIP *J3 fT«. Dig fl#
(in the passages above referred -to) are trans
lated by the LXX. and in the Vulg. (except
LXX. in I K iv. 30 [LXX. v. 26], and LXX.
and Vulg in Is. ii. 6, where they make Kedem
to refer to ancient time) : in three places only
(those in Jeremiah and Ezekiel) the LXX. tran
scribes the word KeSep. [E. S. P.]
BEN-HAD A'D OIlI'IS" son of Hadad ; vibs
"Abep ; Benadad), the name of three kings
of Damascus. In the monolith inscription of
Shalmaneser II. Hadad is written Dadda-'idri
(cp, LXX. 'ASep ; Peiser in Schrader's Keilin-
schriftl. Bibliothek, i. p. 172 [cp. p. 134]);
Records of the Past, N. S. iv. 70, or
Hadad-'idn (Craig, Hebraica, 1887, p. 218).
The full form of the word is considered by
Pinches to be Ben-hadad-'idri ( =the son of
Adad [who is identified with Rimmon, the
thunder-god] my glory) -, and this was abbre
viated by the Hebrews into Ben-hadad and by
the Assyrians into Addu (=Hadad)-'idri [cp. the
views on this point of Fried. Delitzsch in ZKF.
n. 161, &c, and of Schrader in ZKF. ii. 365,
KAT.2 p. 200]. Hadad or Adad was the chief
god of the Syrians, probably the Sun (Macrob.
Saturnalia, i. 23; cp. Baethgen, Beitr. z. Sem.
Beligionsgesch. p. 67), still worshipped at
Damascus in the time of Josephus (Ant. ix, 4, 6),
and from it several Syrian names are derived,
e.g. Hadad-ezer, i.e- Hadad is help. The god
is represented on cylinders in the Brit. Mus.
as crowned, wearing long hair and full beard,
and holding a thunderbolt in his hand
{Baethgen). The son of Hadad, therefore,
means worshipper of Hadad. Damascus, after
having been taken by David (2 Sam. viii. 5, 6),
was delivered from subjection to his successor
by Rezon (1 K. xi. 24), who " was an adversary
"to Israel all the days of Solomon."
Benhadad I. (1 K. xv. 18) was either son or
grandson to Rezon, and in his time Damascus
was supreme in Syria, the various smaller
kingdoms which surrounded it being gradually
absorbed into its territory. Benhadad must
have been an energetic and powerful sovereign,
and his alliance was courted both by Baasha of
Israel and Asa of Judah. He finally closed
with the latter on receiving u large amount of

BEN-HADAD
treasure, and conquered a great part of the N,
of Israel, thereby enabling Asa to pursue his
victorious operations in the S. From 1 K. xx.
34, it would appear that he continued to make
war upon Israel in Omn's time, and forced him
to make "streets" in Samaria for Syrian
residents. [Ahab.] This date is B.C. 950
Benhadad IL, son of the preceding, and also
king of Damascus (1 IC xx. 1, &c) Some
authors call him grandson, on the ground that
it \vas unusual in antiquity for the son to
inherit the father's name. But Benhadad seems
to have been a religious title of the Syrian
kings, as we see by its reappearance as the name
of Hazael's son, Benhadad III. The inscriptions
of Shalmaneser II. (see Peiser and Craig tt, c.)
narrate successful expeditions against him in
the 6th, 11th, and 14th years of the reign of
this Assyrian king. In the first of these Ben
hadad and Ahab are mentioned as allies, a fact
corroborated by the Scripture account (1 K. xx.
34 ; cp. Edersheim, Bible Hist. iii. [pt. 2] p. 146,
Schrader, KAT2 p. 199), though the alliance
was of no long duration (1 K. xxii. 1, 31). Long
wars with Israel in fact characterised the reign
of Benhadad II., of which the earlier campaigns
are described under Ahab. His power and the
extent of his dominion are proved by the thirty-
two vassal kings who accompanied him to his
first siege of Samaria. Some time after the
death of Ahab, probably owing to the difficulties
in which Jehoram of Israel was involved by
the rebellion of Moab, Benhadad renewed the
war with Israel, and after some minor attempts,
which were frustrated by Elisha (2 K. vi. 8, &c),
attacked Samaria a second time (2 K. vi. 24, Sic),
and pressed the siege so closely that there was
a terrible famine in the city, and atrocities were
committed in order to get food not less revolting
than those which Josephus relates of the siege of
Jerusalem by Titus. But when the Syrians
were on the very point of success, they suddenly
broke up in the night in consequence of a sudden
panic, under which they fancied that assistance
was coming to Israel from Egypt or some
Canaanitish cities, as Tyre or Ramoth. Jehoram
seems to have followed up this unhoped-for
deliverance by successful offensive operations,
since, we find from 2 K ix. 1 that Ramoth in
Gilead was once more an Israelitish town.
[Ahab.] Soon after this Benhadad fell sick
(2 K. viii 7, &c), and sent Hazael, one of his chief
officers, with vast presents, to consult Elisha,
who happened to be in Damascus, as to the
issue of his malady. Elisha replied that the
sickness was not a mortal one, but that still Ben
hadad would certainly die, and he announced to
Hazael that he would be his successor, with tears
at the thought of the misery which he (Hazael)
would bring on Israel. On the day after
Hazael's return Benhadad died, but not, as is
commonly thought from a cursory reading of
2 K. viii. 15, by the hand of Hazael. Such a
supposition is hardly consistent with Hazael's
character, would involve Elisha in the guilt of
having suggested the deed, and the introduction
of Hazael's name in the latter clause of v. 15
can scarcely be accounted for, if he be also
the subject of the first clause. Ewald, from
the Hebrew text and a general consideration of
the chapter (Gesch. des V. I. iii- 523, note),
thinks that one or more of Benhadad's own

BEN-HAIL
servants were the murderers ; Calmet (Fragm.
vii.) believes that the wet cloth which caused
his death was intended to effect his cure. This
view he supports by a reference to Bruce's
Travels, iii. p. 33, and Klostermann adopts it
(Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. in loco. The
usual view is defended in Speaker's Comm.).
Hazael succeeded him perhaps because he had
no natural heirs, and with him expired the
dynasty founded by Rezon- Benhadad's death
was about B.C. 890, and he must have reigned
some thirty years.
Benhadad III., son of the above-mentioned
Hazael, and his successor on the throne of Syria
{2 K. xiii. 3, &c ). If at first permitted by the
Lord to oppress Israel on account of their sins,
his reign was nevertheless disastrous for Damas
cus ; and the vast power wielded by his father
sank into insignificance. In the striking lan
guage of Scripture, " Jehoahaz [the son of Jehu]
besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto
him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, because
the king of Syria oppressed them ; and the Lord
gave Israel a saviour " (2 K, xiii. 4, 5). This
saviour was Jeroboam II. (cp. 2 K. xiv. 27), but
the prosperity of Israel began to revive in the
reign of his father Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz.
When Benhadad succeeded to the throne of
Hazael, Jehoash, in accordance with a prophecy
of the dying Elisha, recovered the cities which
Jehoahaz had lost to the Syrians, and beat him
in Aphek (2 K. xiii. 17, 23), in the plain of
Esdraelon, where Ahab had already defeated
Benhadad II. [Ahab.] Jehoash gained two
more victories, but did not restore the dominion
of Israel on the east of Jordan. This glory was
reserved for his successor. The date of Ben
hadad III. is c. B.C. 810. His misfortunes in war
are noticed by Amos i. 4 [G. E. L. 0.] [F.]
BEN-HATL (^n"|3, son of the host, i.e.
warrior; Benhail), one of the " princes" (DHB*)
whom king Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the
cities of Judah (2 Ch. xvii. 7). The LXX. trans
lates Tobs -qyovpevovs ai/Tov Kat tous vtoOs
tuv SvvaTuv. [W. A. W.]
BEN-HA'NAN (tjn"!3, Ges. = son of one
who is gracious ; B. vlbs &av&, A. 'Aviv , ftlius
Hanan), son of Shimon, ra the line of Judah
(1 Ch, iv 20). [W. A. W]
BENI'NU (-13*33, Ges. = our son ; BN.
Beviapeiv, A. Bavovaial ; Baninu), a Levite ; one
of those who sealed the covenant with Nehe
miah (Neh. x. 13 [14]). [W. A. W.]
BENJAMIN (1^33, i.e. Binyamm ; in Gen.
xxxv. 18, BD Beviaeiv, E. Beviapiv ; Benjamin).
1. The youngest of the children of Jacob, and
the only one of the thirteen (if indeed there
were not more ; cp. " all his daughters," Gen.
xxxvii. 35, xlvi. 7) who was born in Palestine.
His birth took place on the road between Bethel
and Bethlehem, a short distance — "a iength of
earth " — from the latter, and his mother Rachel
died in the act of giving birth to him, naming
him with her last breath Ben-oni, the son of my
sorrow (R. V. marg Cp. 1 Sam. iv. 19-22).
This was by Jacob changed into Benjamin
(Binyamin , Gen. xxxv. 16-18).
The name is worthy of some attention. From

BENJAMIN

39£

the terms of the story it would appear to be
implied that it was bestowed on the child in
opposition to the desponding, and probably
ominous, name Ben-oni (the son of my sorrow)
given him by his dying mother, and on this
assumption it has been interpreted to mean the
son of the right hand (as if pD^S), i.e. fortu
nate, happy, Felix, the right hand of a thing
representing, in the opinion of antiquity, the
happy side. In this case the child brought to
his father happiness as another (the twelfth)
son, and as born in the land of that father's
home. This interpretation is inserted in the
text of the Vulgate, in the margin of the A. V.
and R. V., and has the support of Gesenius
(Thes. and MV."), Dillmann,5 and Delitzsch
[1887]. The meaning given by Josephus — Sid
ttiv £tt' auT$ yevopevnv bbvvrjv ttj pfjTpi (Ant. i.
21, § 3) — is completely different from this, and
no doubt arose from confusion with Ben-oni.
In the adjectival forms of the word the first
syllable is generally suppressed, as ,J'l!p,_"'l33 or
'J'D'il '3, i.e. " sons of Yemini," for sons of
Benjamin; WOJ &>$, "man of Yemini," for
man of Benjamin (1 Sam. ix. 1 ; Esth. ii. 5) ;
Vl'D* yy$' land of Yemini for land of Benja
min (1 Sam. ix. 4; B. 'laKelp, A. 'lepevatov),
as if the patriarch's name had been originallv
I'D*, Yamin (cp. Gen. xlvi. 10), and that of the
tribe Yeminites. In Judg. iii. 15, and 1 Sam. ix.
1, the A. V. reads in the margin " the son of
Jemini," and " the son of a man of Jemini ; "
the R. V. omits such marginal renderings, and
reads in Judg. " the Benjamite," and in 1 Sam.
" a Benjamite."
Until the journeys of Jacob's sons and of
Jacob himself into Egypt we hear nothing of
Benjamin, and so far as he is concerned those
well-known narratives disclose nothing beyond
the very strong affection entertained towards
him by his father and his whole-brother Joseph,
and the relation of fond endearment in which
he stood, as if a mere darling child (cp. Gen.
xliv. 20), to the whole of his family. Even the
harsh natures of the elder patriarchs relaxed
towards him. But Benjamin can hardly have
been the " lad " which we commonly imagine
him to be; for at the time that the patriarchs
went down to reside in Egypt, when " every
man with his house went with Jacob," ten sons
are ascribed to Benjamin — a larger number
than to any of his brothers — and two of these,
if any weight may be attached to the plural
formation of the names, may have represented
families (Gen. xlvi. 21)."
And here, little as it is, closes all we know of
the life of the patriarch himself; henceforward
the history of Benjamin is the history of the
tribe. And up to the time of the entrance on
the Promised Land that history is as meagre as
it is afterwards full and interesting. We know
indeed that shortly after the departure from
Egypt it was the smallest tribe but one (Num.
i. 36 : cp. v. 1) ; that during the march its
position was on the west of the Tabernacle
with its brother tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh
a See, however, Delitzsch [188Y] in loco. According
to other lists, some of these " children " would seem
to have been grandchildren (cp. Num. xxvi. 38-41 ;
1 Ch. vii. 6-12, viii. 1).

394

BENJAMIN

(Num. ii. 18-24). We have the names of the
" captain " of the tribe, when it set forth on its
long march (Num. ii. 22) ; of the " ruler " who
went up with his fellows to spy out the land
(xiii. 9); of the families of which the tribe
consisted when it was marshalled at the great
halt in the plains of Moab by Jordan-Jericho
(Num. xxvi. 38-41, 63), and of the " prince "
who was chosen to assist in the dividing of the
land (xxxiv. 21). These are indeed preserved
to us. But there is nothing to indicate what
were the characteristics and behaviour of the
tribe which sprang from the orphan darling of
his father and brothers : no touches of personal
biography like those with which we are favoured
concerning Ephraim (1 Ch. vii. 20-23) : no record
of zeal for Jehovah like that of Levi (Ex. xxxii.
26) : no evidence of special bent as in the case
of Reuben and Gad (Num. xxxii.). The only
foreshadowing of the tendencies of the tribe
which was to produce Ehud, Saul, and the

BENJAMIN
perpetrators of the deed of Gibeah, is to be
found in the prophetic gleam which lighted, up
the dying Jacob, "Benjamin is a wolf that
ravineth ; in the morning he shall devour.the
prey, and at even he shall divide the spoil"
(Gen. xlix. 27, R. V.).
The proximity of Benjamin to Ephraim during
the march to the Promised Land was maintained
in the territories allotted to each. Benjamin
lay immediately to the south of Ephraim and
between him and Judah. The situation of this
territory was highly favourable. It formed
almost a parallelogram, of about 26 miles in
length by 12 inbreadth. Its limits are minutely
described in Josh, xviii. 12-19, and they can
still be traced with fair accuracy. The northern
boundary probably left the Jordan at the mouth
of W. Nuei&meh, and, passing N. of Jericho,
crossed a wild mountain district, the wilderness
of Bethayen, to Bethel, Beitin, whence it
descended to Ataroth Adar, A7i. Ddrieh, on the

Map of the tribe of lienjamm.

south side of the Lower Bethhoron, Beit ' Ur el-
Tahta. The western frontier was from Ataroth
Adar to Kirjath-jearim, and thence the southern
boundary ran by the waters of Nephtoah, and
the hill at the north end of the Valley of the
Giants, to the valley of Hinnom, under the
" Shoulder of the Jebusite." This section of
the boundary cannot be accurately traced until
the position of Kirjath-jearim has been definitely
fixed ; the view usually accepted is that it was
at Kuryet el-'Enab, and that the boundary
crossed W. Beit Hanina, the Valley of the
Giants, to Lifta, Nephtoah, whence it passed
to the valley of Hinnom. More probable sites
for Kirjath-jearim have, however, been suggested
by Williams at Deir el-Hawa (H. C. 11), and by
Conder at Kh. 'Erma (PEF. Mem. iii. 43). From
either of these places, which are near each
other, and not far from 'Ain Shems, Bethshemesh,
the boundary would run by the Pools of Solo
mon and Rachel's tomb, to the south side of
Jerusalem. This view is supported by the
statement (1 Sam. x. 2) that Rachel's tomb was
on the border of Benjamin ; the identification of
Nephtoah with Etam in Tal. Bab. Yoma 31a;
and the position, between Jerusalem and Beth
lehem, assigned to the Valley of the Giants by

Josephus (Ant. vii. 12, § 4 ; cp. 4, § 1). From
the valley of Hinnom the boundary passed by
Enrogel and Enshemesh to the valley of Achor,
Wddy Kelt, and thence to the mouth of the
Jordan, leaving Jericho and Beth-hogla, Kvsr
Hajla, to the north. The smallness of this
district, hardly larger than the county of
Middlesex, was, according to the testimony of
Josephus, compensated for by the excellence of
the land (Sid tV ttjs yrjs apeTT,v, Ant. V. 1).
In the degenerate state of modern Palestine few
traces remain of this excellence. But other
and more enduring natural peculiarities remain,
and claim our recognition, rendering this posses
sion one of the most remarkable among those of
the tribes.
(1.) The general level of this part of Palestine
is very high, not less than 2,000 feet above the
maritime plain of the Mediterranean on the one
side, or than 3,000 feet above the deep valley of
b A trace of tbe pasture-lands maybe found intiie
mention of the "herd" (1 Sam. xi. 5; E.V. "oxen");
and possibly others in tbe names of some of the towns
of Benjamin : as hap-Parah, « the cow ; " Zelah-ha-elepb,
" the ox-rib " (Josh, xviii. 23, 28. R. V. omits the art.
in both cases).

BENJAMIN

BENJAMIN

395

the Jordan on the other ; besides which this
general level or plateau is surmounted, in the
district -now under consideration, by a large
number of eminences — defined, rounded hills —
almost every one of which has borne some part
in the history of the tribe. Many of these hills
carry the fact of their existence in their names.
Gibeon, Gibeah, Geba or Gaba, all mean " hill ; "
Ramah and Ramathaim, " eminence ; " Mizpeh,
" watch-tower ; " while the " ascent of Beth-
horon," the " cliff Rimmon," the " pass of
Michmash " with its two " teeth of rock," all
testify to a country eminently broken and hilly.
The special associations which belong to each
of these eminences, whether as sanctuary or
fortress, many of them arising from the most
stirring incidents in the history of the nation,
will be best examined under the various separate
heads. (2.) Not less important than these eminences
are the roads — sometimes following the torrent
beds and ravines, sometimes the rough mountain
spurs — which gave access to the upper country
from the plains of Philistia and of Sharon on
the west, and the deep valley of the Jordan on
the east ; c the latter steep and precipitous in
the extreme, the former more gradual in their
declivity. Up these western passes swarmed
the Philistines on their incursions during the
times of Samuel and of Saul, driving the first
king of Israel right over the higher district of
his own tribe, to Gilgal in the hot recesses of
the Arabah, and establishing themselves over the
face of the country from Michmash to Aijalon.
Down these same defiles they were driven by
Saul after Jonathan's victorious exploit, just as
in earlier times Joshua had chased the Canaanites
down the long hill of Beth-horon, and as cen
turies afterwards the forces of Syria were chased
by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. iii. 16-24). The
principal roads on the western side are : (1) the
present carriage-road from Jerusalem by Ku-
lonieh, Kuryet el-'Enab, and W. 'Aly to Jaffa ;
(2) from Jerusalem by Beit 'Iksa, Biddu, Beit
Likia, and Jimzu, to Lydda ; (3) from Jerusalem
by Sh'afdt, El- Jib, Beit ' Ur eUFoka, and Beit
'ur el-Tahta to join (2) below Jimzu with
branches from Beit 'Ur el-Tahta to 'Amwds and
Y'alo ; (4) from El- Jib by W. Selmdn to Jimzu,
and (5) from El-Jib by Biddu and Kuryet el-
'Enab to Y'alo.
The passes on the eastern side are of a much
more difficult and intricate character than those
on the western. The principal one — which, now
unfrequented, was doubtless in ancient times
the main ascent to the interior — leaves the
Arabah a short distance N. of the mouth of W.
Kelt, and, breaking through the barren hills
with many a wild bend and steep slope, passes

c It is perhaps hardly fanciful to ask if we may not
account in this way for the curious prevalence among
the names of the towns of Benjamin of the titles of
tribes. Ha-Avvim, the Avites; Zemaraim, the Ze-
marites ; ha-Ophni, the Ophnite ; Chephar ha-Am-
monai, the village of the Ammonites ; ha-Jebusi, the
Jebusite, — are all among the names of places in Ben
jamin ; and we can hardly doubt that in these names
is preserved the memory of many an ascent of the wild
tribes of the desert from the sultry and open plains of
the low level to the fresh air and secure fastnesses of the
upper district.

up IV. Riydn and along the ridge of Rds et-
Tawil to Mukhmds, Deir Diwdn, et-Tell and
Bcitin, with a branch from Mukhmds to Birch,
the ancient Beeroth. After the fall of Jericho
this pass must have stood open to the victorious
Israelites, as their natural inlet to the country.
At its upper end must have taken place the
repulse and subsequent victory of Ai, and
through it Joshua perhaps hastened to tho
relief of the Gibeonites, and to his memorable
pursuit of the Canaanites down the pass of
Beth-horon, on the other side of the territory of
Benjamin. Another of these passes is that which since
the time of our Saviour has been the regular
road between Jericho and Jerusalem, the scene
of the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Another pass, over which ran a Roman road,
left the Jordan valley at 'Ain Duk, and,
ascending a bold spur, passed by Kh. Kaswal to
ct-Taiyibeh ; whence it passed, south of Tell
'Azur, to join the north road S.E. of Yebrud; a
branch leading from Kh. Kaswal to et-Tell and
Beitin, Bethel.
These intricate ravines may well have har
boured the wild beasts which, if the deriva
tion of the names of several places in this
locality are to be trusted, originally haunted
the district — zeboim, hyaenas (1 Sam. xiii. 18);
shual and shaalbim, foxes or jackals (Judg. i. 35 ;
1 Sam. xiii. 17) ; ajalon, gazelles.3
It must be remembered, too, that Benjamin
occupied an important position on each side of
the great highway from Jerusalem by Bireh
and Beitin to Ndblus, and thus commanded the
only approach from the north to the Holy City
and the Temple.
Such were the limits and such the character
of the possession of Benjamin as fixed by those
who originally divided the land. But it could
not have been long before they extended their
limits, since in the early lists of 1 Ch. viii. we
find mention made of Benjamites who built Lod
and Ono, and of others who were founders of
Aijalon (vv. 12, 13), all which towns were beyond
the spot named above as the westernmost point
in their boundary. These places, too, were in
their possession after the return from the Cap
tivity (Neh. xi. 35).
The contrast between the warlike character
of the tribe and the peaceful image of its pro
genitor has been already noticed. That fierce
ness and power are not less out of proportion to
the smallness of its numbers and of its terri
tory. This comes out in many scattered notices.
(a) Benjamin was the only tribe which seems to
have pursued archery to any purpose, and their
skill in the bow (1 Sam. xx. 20, 36 ; 2 Sam. i.
22 ; 1 Cb. viii. 40, xii. 2 ; 2 Ch. xvii. 17) and the
sling (Judg. xx. 16) was celebrated, (b) When,
after the first conquest of the country, the
nation began to groan under the miseries of a
foreign yoke, it was to a man of Benjamin, Ehud
the son of Gera, that they turned for deliverance.
The story seems to imply that he accomplished
his purpose on Eglon with less risk, owing to

d The subject of the connexion between the topo
graphy of Benjamin and the events which took place
there, is treated in the most admirable manner in the
Ub chapter of Dean Stanley's Sinai and Palestine. Very
much of the above article is drawn from that source.

396

BENJAMIN

his proficiency in the peculiar practice of using
his left hand, a practice apparently confined to
Benjamites, though by them greatly employed
(Judg. iii. 15, and see xx. 16; 1 Ch. xii. 2).
(c) Baanah and Rechab, " the sons of Rimmon
the Beerothite of the children of Benjamin " (2
Sam. iv 2, 5, &c), are the only Israelites west of
the Jordan named in the whole history as cap
tains of marauding predatory "bands" (D'H-l'lil) ;
and the act of which they were guilty— the
murder of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul and
head of their house — hardly needed the sum
mary vengeance inflicted on them by David to
testify the abhorrence in which it must have
been held by all Orientals, however warlike.
(d) The dreadful deed recorded in Judg. xix.
[Judges, Book of], though repelled by the whole
country, was unhesitatingly adopted and defended
bv the tribe of Benjamin with an obstinacy and
spirit truly extraordinary. Of their obstinacy
there is a remarkable trait in 1 Sam. xxii. 7-18.
Though Saui was not only the king of the nation,
but the head of the tribe, and David a member
of a family which had as yet no claims on the
friendship of the tribe of Benjamin, yet the
Benjamites resisted the strongest appeal of
Saul to betray the movements of David, and
after those movements had been revealed by
Doeg the Edomite (worthy member — -as he
must have seemed to them — of an accursed
race !) they still firmly refused to lift a hand
against those who had assisted him.
And yet, to return to the deed of Gibeah, in
one or two of the expressions of that antique
and simple narrative — the phrase "Benjamin
my brother" (Judg xx. 23); the anxious in
quiry, " What shall we do for wives for them
that remain?" (Judg. xxi. 7, 16), and the
entreaty, " Be favourable to them for our sakes "
(R V., "Grant them graciously unto us") —
we seem to hear as it were an echo of those
terms of fond affection which have given the son
of Rachel's grief so distinct a place in our minds.
The frightful transaction of Judg. xix. was
indeed a crisis in the history of the tribe : the
narrative undoubtedly is intended to convey
that the six hundred" (Judg. xx. 47) who took
refuge in the cliff Rimmon, and who were after
wards provided with wives partly from Jabesh-
gilead (Judg. xxi. 10), partly from Shiloh (xxi.
21), were the only survivors. A long interval
must have elapsed between so abject a condition
and the culminating point at which we next
meet with the tribe.f
Several circumstances may have conduced to
its restoration to that place which it was now
to assume. The Tabernacle was at Shiloh in
Ephraim during the time ofthe last Judge ; but
the ark was on the border of Benjamin at Kir-
jath-jeanm. Ramah, the official residence of
Samuel, and containing a sanctuary greatly
frequented (1 Sam. ix. 12, &c), — Mizpeh, where

0 " Et tribus Benjamin treeentos viros propter Apo-
Btolum reservatos " (Jer. Ep. ad Paul. 38).
f A fair argument in favour of the received chronology
of the Book of Judges may be dra» n from this circum
stance— sine* no shorter period would bave been suffi
cient for the tribe to havi- recovered such almost total
extermination, and to have reached the numbers and
force indicated in the lists of 1 Ch. xii. 1-8, vii. 6-12,
viii. 1-40.

BENJAMIN
the great assemblies of " all Israel " took place
(1 Sam. vii. 5), — Bethel, perhaps the most
ancient of all the sanctuaries of Palestine, and
Gibeon, specially noted as "the great high
place " (2 Ch. i. 3), were all in the land of Ben
jamin. These must gradually have accustomed
the people who resorted to these various places
to associate the tribe with power and sanctity,
and they tend to elucidate the anomaly which
struck Saul so forcibly, "that all the desire
of Israel" (1 Sam. ix. 20; R. V. "all that is
desirable in Israel," with LXX. and Vulg.)
should have been centred in the house of the
smallest of its tribes (1 Sam. ix. 21).
The struggles and contests which followed
the death of Saul arose from the natural un
willingness of the tribe to relinquish its position
at the head of the nation, especially in favour of
Judah. Had it been Ephraim, the case might
have been different, but Judah had as yet no
connexion with the house of Joseph, and was
moreover the tribe of David, whom Saul had
pursued with such unrelenting enmity. The tact
and sound sense of Abner, however, succeeded
in overcoming these difficulties, though he him
self fell a victim in the very act of accomplish
ing his purpose ; and the proposal that David
should be " king over Israel " was one which
"seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin,"
and of which the tribe testified its approval, and
evinced its good faith, by sending to the distant
capital of Hebron a detachment of 3,000 men
of the " brethren of Saul " (1 Ch. xii. 29). Still
the insults of Shimei and the insurrection of
Sheba are indications that the soreness continued
to exist, and we do not hear of any cordial co
operation or firm union between the two tribes
until a cause of common quarrel arose, at the
disruption, when Rehoboam assembled " all the
house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, to
fight against the house of Israel, to bring the
kingdom again to the son of Solomon" (1 K. xii.
21 ; 2 Ch. xi. 1). Possibly the seal may have
been set to this by the fact of Jeroboam having
just taken possession of Bethel, a city of Ben
jamin, for the calf-worship of the northern king
dom * (1 K. xii. 29). On the other hand, Reho
boam fortified and garrisoned several cities of
Benjamin, and wisely dispersed the members of
his own family through them (2 Ch. xi. 10-12).
The alliance was further strengthened by a cove
nant solemnly undertaken (2 Ch. xv. 9), and by
the employment of Benjamites in high positions
in the army of Judah (2 Ch. xvii. 17). But
what above all must have contributed to
strengthen the alliance was the fact that the
Temple was the common property of both tribes.
True, it was founded, erected, and endowed by
princes of " the house of Judah ; " but the city
of " the Jebusite " (Josh, xviii. 28), and the
whole of the ground north of the valley of
Hinnom, were in the lot of Benjamin. In this
latter fact is literally fulfilled the prophecy of
Moses (Deut. xxxiii. 12): Benjamin "dwelt
between " the " shoulders " of the ravines which
encompass the Holy City on the west, south,
and east (see a good treatment of this point in
Blunt's Undes. Coincidences, Pt. II. § xvii.).
e Bethel, however, was on the very boundary line,
and centuries before this date was inhabited by both
Ephraimites and Benjamites (Judg. xix. 16).

BENJAMIN
Henceforward the history of Benjamin becomes
merged in that of the southern kingdom. That
the tribe still retained its individuality is plain
from the constant mention of it in the various
censuses taken of the two tribes, and on other
occasions, and also from the lists of the men of
Benjamin who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. ;
Neh. vii.) and took possession of their old towns
(Neh. xi. 31-35). At Jerusalem the name must
have been always kept alive, if by nothing else,
by the name of " the high gate of Benjamin "
(Jer. xx. 2). [Jerusalem.]
But though the tribe had thus given up to a
certain degree its independent existence, it is
clear that the ancient memories of their house
were not allowed to fade from the recollections
ofthe Benjamites. The genealogy of Saul, to a
late date, is carefully preserved in the lists of
1 Ch. (viii. 33-40, ix. 39-44); the name of
Kish recurs as the ancestor of Mordecai (Esth. ii.
5. Cp. Bertheau-Ryssel in loco), the honoured
deliverer of the nation from miseries worse
than those threatened by Nahash the Ammon
ite. But it was reserved for a greater than
these to close the line of this tribe in the sacred
history. The royal name once more appears, and
" Saul who also is called Paul " has left on
record under his own hand that he was '• of the
stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin " (Phil.
iii. 5). It is perhaps more than a mere fancy
to note how remarkably the chief characteristics
of the tribe are gathered up in his one person.
There was the fierceness, in his persecution of
the Christians ; and there were the obstinacy
and persistence, which made him proof against
the tears and prayers of his converts, and " ready
not to be bound only, but also to die for the
name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts xxi. 12, 13).
There were the force and vigour to which
natural difficulties and confined circumstances
formed no impediment ; and lastly, there was
the keen sense of the greatness of his house, in
his proud reference to his forefather " Saul the
son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin."
Be this as it may, no nobler hero could be
found to close the rolls of the worthies of his
tribe — no prouder distinction could be desired
for Benjamin than that of having produced the
first judge of its nation, the first king, and
finally, when Judaism gave place to Chris
tianity, the great Apostle of the Gentiles.
2. BK. Beviapeiv. A man of the tribe of
Benjamin, son of Bilhan, and the head of a
family of warriors (1 Ch. vii. 10).
3. BXA. Beviapeiv. One of the " sons of
Harim ; " who, in the time of Ezra, had mar
ried a foreign wife (Ezra x. 32). [G.] [W.]
BENJAMIN, high gate, or gate, op
(I'.^rn '3 1W), Jer. xx. 2, xxxvii. 13, xxxviii.
7 ; Zech. xiv. 10. [Jerusalem.]
BENJAMITE. An adjectival form of
Benjamin. BENO' (133, his son; LXX. translates viol ;
Benno), a Levite of the sons of Merari (1 Ch.
xxiv. 26, 27). ¦ [W. A. W.]
BEN-O'NI 03iN_t3, son of my sorrow or
hurt, or of my strength, i.e. of my last effort

BERAIAH

397

[Hiller, Onom. 300] ; vlbs bSivvs pov ; Benoni, id
est filius doloris mei), the name which tho dyino-
Rachel gave to her newly-born son, but which
his father changed into Benjamin (Gen. xxxv.
18). [W. A. W.]
BEN-ZO'HETH (nnifJ3; B. vfol ZudB,
A. uiol Zu'xdt) ; Zoheth), a name occurring among
the descendants of Judah (1 Ch. iv. 20). The
passage appears to be a fragment, and as if the-
namo of a son of the Zoheth just mentioned had
originally followed. [W. A. W.]
BEO'N (|1?3 ; BF'ld. Baidv, A. Bapd ; Beon),
a place on the east of Jordan (Num. xxxii. 3),
a contraction of Baal-meon (cp. v. 38). [W.]
BEO'R pil>3, Ges. = a torch; B. [usually]
Betip, A. [usually] Batup ; Beor). 1. The father
of Bela, one of the early Edomite kings (Gen.
xxxvi. 32 ; 1 Ch. i. 43). 2. Father of Balaam
(Num. xxii. 5, xxiv. 3, 15, xxxi. 8 ; Josh. xiii.
22, xxiv. 9 [BA. Serrtptip'] ; Mic. vi. 5), called Bo-
sok in 2 Pet. ii. 15. [Bela.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
BE'KA (ITI3; AD. BdAAa, E. Bapd; Joseph.
BaAAds ; Bara), king of Sodom at the time of
the invasion of the five kings under Chedor-
laomer (Gen. xiv. 2). [W. A. W.]
BEBA'CHAH (n3*13, blessing; BK. Bep-
X*'d, A. Bapaxtd ; Baracha), a Benjamite, one
of " Saul's brethren," who attached himself to
David at Ziklag (1 Ch. xii. 3). [W. A. W.]
BEEA'OHAH, Valley of (rD13 pttV.
valley of blessing ; KotAas EuAo-yfas ; vallis be'ne-
dictionis; R. V. Beracah); a valley (Jos. riva.
koTAov Kai tpapayyuS-n t6ttov) in which Jeho
shaphat and his people assembled to " bless "
Jehovah after the overthrow of the hosts of
Moabites, Ammonites, and (?) Mehunim, who had
come against them, and which from that fact,
acquired its name of " the valley of blessing "
(2 Ch. xx. 26). The place is remarkable as fur
nishing one of the latest instances in the O. T.
of a name bestowed in consequence of an occur
rence at the spot.
The name of Breikut ( C-> »io •> ^ still sur
vives, attached to ruins in the Wddy el-'Arrub
between Teku'a, Tekoa, and the main road from
Bethlehem to Hebron ; a position corresponding
accurately enough with the locality of the
battle as described in 2 Ch. xx. (Rob. iii. 275.
The discovery is due to Wolcott; see Ritter,'
Jordan, p. 635). It must not be confounded with
Caphar-barucha, now probably Beni N'aim, an
eminence on very high ground, 3 or 4 miles east
of Hebron, commanding an extensive view of the
Dead Sea, and traditionally the scene of Abra
ham's intercession for Sodom. The tomb of Lot
has been shown there since the days of Mande-
ville (Reland, p. 685 ; Rob. i. 489-91). [G.] [W.]
BERACHrAH0njDn3,7aA blesses; Bapa-
Xla ; Baraehia), a Gersh'onite Levite, father of
Asaph the singer (1 Ch. vi. 39). [Bereohiah 6.]
BERAI'AH (WX~a,Jahis creator; Bapala;
Baraia), son of Shimhi, a chief man of Ben jamin
(1 Ch. viii. 21 ^ [-w. A.Jwj

398

BEEEA

BEEE'A (Bepoia; Beroea). 1. A city of
Macedonia, to which St. Paul retired with Silas
and Timotheus, in the course of his first visit to
Europe, on being persecuted in Thessalonica
(Acts xvii. 10) ; and from which, on being again
persecuted by emissaries from Thessalonica, he
withdrew to the sea for the purpose of proceed
ing to Athens (vv. 14, 15). The community of
Jews must have been considerable in Berea, and
their character is described in very favourable
terms (v. 11). Sopater, one of St. Paul's mis
sionary companions, was from this place (Bepoi-
alos, Acts xx. 4). He accompanied the Apostle
on his return from the second visit to Europe
(ib.) ; and he appears to have previously been
with him, in the course of that second visit, at
Corinth, when he wrote the Epistle to the
Romans (Rom. xvi. 21).
Berea, now called Verria or Kara Ycrria, is
fully described by Leake (Northern Greece, vol.
iii. 290 sq.), and by Cousinery (Yoyage dans
la Macedoine, vol. i. pp. 69 sq.). Situated
on the eastern slope of the Olympian mountain-
range, with an abundant supply of water, and
commanding an extensive view of the plain of
the Axius and Haliacmon, it is regarded as one
of the most agreeable towns in Rumili, and has
now 6,000 or 8,000 inhabitants. A few ancient
remains — Greek, Roman, and Byzantine — still
exist here. Two roads are laid down in the
Itineraries between Thessalonica and Berea, one
passing by Pella. St. Paul and his companions
may have travelled by either of them. Two
roads also connect Berea with Dium, one passing
by Pydna. It was probably from Dium that
St. Paul sailed to Athens, leaving Silas and
Timotheus behind ; and possibly 1 Thess. iii. 2
refers to a journey of Timotheus from Berea,
not from Athens. [Timothy.] The coin in
Akerman's Numismatic Illustrations of tke N. T.,
p. 46, is erroneously assigned to the Macedonian
Berea, and belongs to the following (see Dict.
of Gr. and Rom. Geog., art. Beroea).
2. The modern Aleppo, mentioned in 2 Mace.
xiii. 4 (Vulg. om.), in connexion with the in
vasion of Judaea by Antiochus Eupator, as the
scene of the miserable death of Menelaus. This
seems to be the city in which Jerome says
that certain persons lived, who possessed and
used St. Matthew's Hebrew Gospel (De Vir.
Hlust. c. 3. See Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog.
s. n.) 3. Bepea ; Berea. A place in Judaea, where
Bacchides, the general of Demetrius, encamped
shortly before the engagement in which Judas
Maccabaeus was slain (1 Mace. ix. 4). Bacchides
whilst at Jerusalem heard that Judas had en
camped at Eleasa (1 Mace. ix. 5), now H'asa,
near Beth-horon, or according to Josephus (Ant.
xii. 11, § 1) at Beth-zepho, now probably Bir-
ez-Zeit. He thereupon marched to Berea, appa
rently Bireh. [Beeroth.] [J. S. H.] [W.]
BEEECHI'AH (-1^3 13 and tTOlZ, Jehovah
blesses; A. Bapaxia, B. -ml; Baracliias). 1. One
of the sons of Zerubbabel, and a descendant
of the royal family of Judah (1 Ch. iii. 20).
2. A man mentioned as the father of
Meshullam, who assisted in rebuilding the walls
of Jerusalem (Neh. iii. 4 [NA. Bapaxias, B. om.],
30 [BK. Bapxeid, A. Bapid]; vi. 18 [BNA. Bo-
paXeid].) -

BEEIAH
3. B. Bapaxe'h A. Bapaxids; Baraehia. A
Levite of the line of Elkanah (1 Ch. ix. 16).
4. Bapaxtd ; Baracliias. A doorkeeper for the
ark (1 Ch. xv. 23).
5. A. Bapaxlas, B. Zaxapias. One of the
chief men of the tribe of Ephraim in the time
of king Ahaz (2 Ch. xxviii. 12).
6. B. Bapaxid, N. -eia. Father of Asaph the
singer (1 Ch. xv. 17). [Beeachiah.]
7. Bapaxlas. Father of Zechariah the Pro
phet (Zech. i. 1). Here A. V., ed. 1611, reads
" Barachiah." [G.] [\y,]
BE'RED ("PS, hail; BapdS; Barad). 1. A
place in the south of Palestine, between which
and Kadesh lay the well Lahai-roi (Gen. xvi.
14). The name is variously given in the ancient
Versions: Peshitto, Gadar, J_. A*3? = Gerar:
Arab. Tared, <ij, probably a mere corruption
of the Hebrew name ; Onkelos, Chagra, NlJrl
(elsewhere [v. 7] employed in the Targumsfor
"Shur"); Ps.-Jonathan, Chalutza, NV-Pfl, i.e.
the Elusa, "EAoutra, of Ptolemy and the eccle
siastical writers, now el-Khalasdh, in W. Asluj,
about 12 miles south of Beersheba (Rob. i. 201-2 ;
Stewart, p. 205; Reland, p. 755 ; PEFQy. Stat.
1871, p. 35). We have the testimony of Jerome
( Vita S. Hilarionis) that Elusa was called by its
inhabitants Barec, which might represent a cor
ruption of Bered, "J being read for 1 (cp. OS.1
p. 135, 3). Chalutza is the name elsewhere
given in the Arabic Version for "Shur" and
for " Gerar." The position of el-Khalasah, on
the way from Beersheba to Shur and Egypt,
meets all the requirements of Bered.
2. A. BapoS, B. om. A son or descendant of
Ephraim (1 Ch. vii. 20), possibly identical with
Becher in Num. xxvi. 35. [G.] [W.]
BERENI'OE. [Bernice.]
BE'EI (na, if = n«3, Ges. fontanus; A.
Bapi, B. 2aj3pe£ ; Beri), son of Zophah, of the
tribe of Asher (1 Ch. vii. 36). [W. A. W/j
BEEIAH (Pirna [meaning uncertain. In
Arabic 1TO means to ascend, excel ; V. conj. to
give liberally, Lev. xxii. 18 ; Deut. xii. 6 Saad.—
S. R. D.] ; Baria, Beria, Brie). 1. A son of Asher
(Gen. xlvi. 17, A. Bapia, D. -eid; Num. xxvi.
44, 45 [LXX. vv. 28, 29. In v. 28, Bapii ; in
v. 29 the name is omitted]), from whom de
scended "the family of the Beriites" (W"Q.
B." "d Bapiael, B.*T,d -ia, A. -oj, F. -mi ; ftmilla
Brieitarum), Num. xxvi. 44.
2. A son or descendant of Ephraim, so called
on account of his birth on an occasion of great
calamity. The points to be considered are the
meaning of the name in this instance, and the1
place of Beriah in the genealogy of Ephraim. The
passage (1 Ch. vii. 20-23) runs thus: "And the
sons of Ephraim ; Shuthelah, and Bered his son,
and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Ta-
hath his son, and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah
his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of
Gath that were born in the land slew [lit. " and
the men . . . slew them "], because [or " when"]
they came down to take away their cattle. And
Ephraim their father mourned many days, and

BEEIAH
his brethren came to comfort him. And
he went in to his wife, and she conceived,
and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah,
because it went evil with his house " (R. V.)
[lit. " because it was in evil to his house : "
lnraa nri?n nina »a, Sn &> kokois v*™
iv oIku pov, LXX. :' " eo quod in malis domus
ejus ortus esset," Vulg. The real etymology of
the name is uncertain, because — though it is
borne by several persons — the root is not in use
in Hebrew. In the passage quoted, it is stated
to have been given on account of its assonance
with bera'ah, " in evil " (cp. Cain, Moses, &c).
— S. R. D.]
The place of Beriah in the genealogy of
Ephraim is hard to determine. The matter is of
much importance. If the conflict with the men
of Gath should be referred to the sojourn in
Egypt, it would supply the one fact of history
recorded in the Bible outside family events,
between the coming into Egypt and the great
oppression; otherwise this is but an incident
of the little wars of the conquerors of Palestine
which followed the campaigns of Joshua.
There is much in favour of the later date.
The event may be referred rather to Palestine
than to Egypt, for "the settlements of the
Ephraimites in the mountainous district, where
Beth-horon, Gezer, Timnath-serah, &c, lay,
were exactly suited for a descent upon the
plains of the Philistine country where the men
of Gath fed their cattle." After the cata
strophe it would seem that " they called in "
" the Benjamites to help them in driving away
the men of Gath" (1 Ch. viii. 13). [Shuthe
lah, 1st ed.]
We find no families of Ephraim specified
in Numbers but those descended from Shuthe
lah, Becher, Tahan, and Shuthelah's son Eran
(xxvi. 35, 36). Beriah is here not indicated,
though the first four persons in the passage under
consideration probably have their descendants.
Again, Beriah's daughter is said to have built
the two Beth-horons and TJzzen-sherah (1 Ch.
vii. 24). Similarly the expulsion of the Gittites
is connected with the time of building cities,
the days following Joshua's wars (1 Ch. viii.
12, 13). The genealogy is apparently repeated
{vii. 25, 26), which may be explained by the
theory that it is broken earlier (v. 21) to intro
duce a historical event. There seems therefore
to be some confusion of the text. Of course on
this explanation the name of Ephraim before
" their father " would be a gloss. On this ques
tion the reader is referred to the full statement
of Lord Arthur Hervey in art. Shuthelah,
1st ed. Cp. also Speaker's Comm. and Oettli
(Strack u. Zockler's Kgf . Komm.), notes on 1 Ch.
vii. 20-23.
It seems therefore that we cannot venture to
take the story of Beriah as relating to the
period between the death of Joseph and the
beginning of the Oppression, and as the one
historical fact told in the Bible of this long time
of obscurity. The Egyptian monuments have,
however, preserved another incident which is
definite as to place, and throws unexpected
light on this obscure age of the sojourn. The
discovery of this most important evidence is
due to M. Groff, who has developed it in the
Revue Egyptologique. Thothmes III., at a time
which may be placed about B.C. 1550, or midway

BEEITES, THE

399

between the coming into Egypt and the Exodus,
has left a record at Karnak of the peoples or tribes
composing a great army of the confederated
Syrians, Mesopotamians, and Assyrians, whom he
defeated at the battle of Megiddo and afterwards
led captive on the surrender of that stronghold.
It is quite clear that the list is one of the
nationality of the captives. It does not follow
that Thothmes did not conquer some of them in
their own territories, but the list is the tale of
the captive army. The names, as Groff well
remarks, are ethnographic and not 'geographic,
— a most important distinction which his pre
decessors have failed to draw. His position is
not only reasonable in itself, but it also receives
confirmation from the circumstance that few of
these names have been satisfactorily identified
with localities. To his reasoning it may be
added that, if we had a similar list of the com
ponent parts of an army raised in Syria in our
own days, it would contain names of Arab tribes
under race appellations, whose settlements, if
any, were far away in Arabia. Among the
names not identified with any known locality
are two not far apart, Jakob-aal (or aar) and
Joshep-al. The first of these M. de Rouge"
conjectured on its first discovery to possibly
preserve the memory of some establishment of
Jacob in Palestine. M. Groff has carried the
investigation farther, and shown that these
names are those of the tribes of Jacob and
Joseph, the subject lost in the apocopated form
being here preserved, as in Nathaniel for Nathan.
The only inference that we can draw from this
important discovery is, that during the interval
between the death of Joseph and the birth of
Moses, or in other words between the events of
the Books of Genesis and Exodus, the Israelites,
divided into the two tribes of Jacob and Joseph,
when free to move to and fro after the manner
of Arabs, supplied a contingent to the great
confederation which Thothmes overthrew at the
battle of Megiddo. This accords with the fear
of the military power of the Hebrews exhibited
by the Pharaoh of the Oppression, and with the
statement that the people marched out of
Egypt in martial order (Ex., xiii. 18). See M.
GrotTs papers in the Revue Egyptologique, 1885,
p. 95 sq., p. 146 sq. For the chronological
bearing of this discovery, see Chronology.
For the older theories the curious may be
referred to Barrett's Synopsis and Pole's Synopsis
in loco.
3. B. Bepiyd, A. Bap-. A Benjamite, unless he
be the same person as No. 2, adopted into the
tribe of Benjamin, who was connected with the
driving away of the " inhabitants of Gath "
(1 Ch. viii. 13, apparently shortly after the
conquest of Canaan ; cp. v. 12. See supra No. 2).
4. One of the sons of Shimei, a Gershonite of
the time of David (1 Ch. xxiii. 10, 11). [R. S. P.]
BEEI'ITES. [Beriah, 1.]
BE'EITES, THE (DnSH ; BA. iv Xappef),
a tribe or people who are named with Abel and
Beth-maachah, places in the north of Palestine.
They are mentioned as having been visited by
Joab in his pursuit after Sheba the son of
Bichvi (2 Sam. xx. 14). The Vulgate has a
different reading — "omnesque viri electi con-
gregati fuerant " — apparently DnnSH, tlie

400

BEENICE

young men, for Dnan ; and this in Ewald's
opinion is the correct reading (Gesch. iii. 249,
note ; so Wellhausen, I.e.). Klostermann, on the
basis of the LXX. ol iv Xappel (Strack u. Zock-
ler, Kgf, Komm. in loco), prefers Dn33n"?a
" all the Bichrites '' (cp. v. 13), and it is possible
that this may be right (cp. Driver, Notes on
the Heb. Text of the Books of Sam., in loco).
Thomson (Land and the Book, p. 275) supposes
that the Berites lived at Biria, N. of Safed,
which place he identifies with the Beroth (Be-
pue-n) of Jos. Ant. v. 1, § 18. [G.] [W.]
BEENI'CE (Bepv'iKT), shortened for Bepev'iKTi
[Joseph.], the Macedonian form of ifepevUri : see
Sturz, Dial. Maced. p. 31 ; Bernice). The name
is frequent in the princely families of Egypt
and Palestine (see Dict Biogr. and Mythol).
The Bernice or Berenice of Acts xxv., xxvi. was
the eldest of the three daughters of Herod
Agrippa I. by Cypros, the other two being
Drusilla and Mariamme. She was named after
her grandmother, the wife of Aristobulus. She
was first married to Marcus, son of Alexander
the Alabarch (for a different view see Schurer,
N. T. Zeit-Geschichte, p. 314, u. 3). After
his death she was given to her uncle Herod,
king of Chalcis in Lebanon, as his second wife.
By him she had two sons, Berenicianus and
Hyrcanus. After Herod's death, B.C. 48, she
lived with her brother Agrippa under circum
stances of the gravest suspicion. The scandal
is mentioned by Juvenal (vi. 156). To dis
prove the accusation she persuaded Polemon
king of Cilicia to marry her, her wealth
being the inducement. A separation soon took
place, Bernice's misconduct being assigned as
the reason (Jos. Ant. xx. 7, 3). Besides grosser
crimes, Bernice's jealousy of her sister Drusilla's
beauty and her consequent persecution of her
were alleged by Drusilla as a cause of her deser
tion of her husband Azizus for Felix (Jos. Ant.
xx. 7, 2). Bernice returned to her brother
Agrippa, and with him came down to welcome
Festus at Caesarea on his arrival as procurator
of Judaea (Acts xxv. 13). She was present
when St. Paul had his audience (Acts xxv. 23
and xxvi. 30), and this threefold mention of her
name may be taken as an indication of her
political importance. The Apostle had already
reasoned of righteousness, temperance, aud
judgment to come before Drusilla; and now
Bernice, another of the three adulterous sisters,
sat before him. (Mariamme, wife of Archelaus,
had also forsaken her husband Archelaus for
Demetrius : Jos. Ant. xx. 7, 3.) The one re
deeming feature of her career which is known
to us, was her earnest endeavour to stop the
cruelties of Florus, the last and worst of the
Roman governors. She was in Jerusalem at the
time fulfilling a vow ; and she is said to have
urged her petition barefoot at the tribunal, and
at the risk of her life (Jos. B. J. ii. 15, 1).
With the rest of the Syrian vassals she gave
her support to Vespasian in his successful
attempt on the empire (Tac. Hist. ii. 81). In
the last struggle she took part with the Romans,
and at the close of the war came to Rome and
openly renewed a connexion with Titus formed
some time before (Tac. Hist. ii. 2). It was be
lieved that he would have married her, but for

BEBYL
the evident discontent caused by her presence in
the city. He reluctantly dismissed her. She
revisited Rome after Vespasian's death, but
obtained no notice (Dio Cass. lxvi. 15 and 18 ;
Suet. Tit. 7). She is remarkable as the last of
the Herodian dynasty who claims a place in
history. The destruction of Jerusalem cut
short her ambitious design of refounding the
Herodian kingdom of Judaea. The dynasty had
begun, says Hausrath, in blood and terror, and
it ended in moral rottenness and putrefaction.
See, besides the authorities quoted, a full and
spirited article on her by Hausrath in Schenkel's
Bibel-Lexikon. [E. ':.. B.]
BEE'ODACH-BAL'ADAN (2 K. xx. 12).
[Merodach-Baladan.] BE'EOTH (B. Bvpiy, A. B-qptiS), 1 Esd. v.
19. [Beeroth.]
BE-RO'THAH, BE-EO'THAI (rinh3,
'ma. probably the same as m"IN3, wells [Ges.] ;
Berotha, Beroth). Berothah, the first of two
names (probably identical), each of which
occurs once only, is given by Ezekiel (xlvii. 16)
in connexion with Hamath nnd Damascus as
forming part of the northern boundary of the
Promised Land. MV.11, with Furrer (ZPDT.
viii. 34), identifies it not with Berytus (Beirut)
but with Bereitdn in the Bekd" ; Orelli (Strack
u. Zockler, Kgf. Komm. in loco) with some
place north of Horns (= Hameth = Emesa).
Berothai (2 Sam. viii. 8) is the name of a city
of Zobah taken by David, also in connexion with
Hamath and Damascus. [F. W. G.] [F.]
BEEO'THITE, THE (1 Ch. xi. 39). [Bee
roth.] BEBYL (SW-lPI, tarshish; xp^^'h
Bapae'is, &v6pa£, AtBos uvOpaxos; chrysolithus,
hyacinthus, mare) occurs in Ex. xxviii. 20, xxxix. -
13; Cant. v. 14; Ezek. i. 16, x. 9, xxviii. 13;
Dan. x. 6. The tarshish was the first precious
stone in the fourth row of the high-priest's
breastplate ; in Ezekiel's vision " the appearance
of the wheels and their work was like unto the
colour of a tarshish ; " it was one of the precious
stones of the king of Tyre ; the body of the
man whom Daniel saw in his vision was like the
tarshish. It is impossible to say with any degree of
certainty what precious stone is denoted by the
Hebrew word: Luther reads the "turquoise;"
the LXX. supposes either the " chrysolite " or
the "carbuncle" (&vBpa£); Onkelos and the-
Jerusalem Targum have kerum jama, by which
the Jews appear to have understood " a white
stone like the froth of the sea," which Braun
(de Vest. Sacer. ii. c. 17) conjectures may he the
"opal." The R. V., while always employing
" beryl " in the text, has given in different places
three marginal readings — - " chalcedony," Ex.
xxviii. 20; "topaz," Cant. v. 14; "stone Of
Tarshish," Ezek. i. 16. For other opinions,
mere conjectures, see Braun.
It is generally supposed that the tarshish
derives its name from the place so called, re
specting the position of which see Tabshish.
Josephus (Ant. iii. 7, § 5) and Braun (1.0.)
understand the chrysolite to be meant, not,
however, the chrysolite of modern mineralogists,

BEEZELUS
but the topaz ; for it certainly does appear that
by a curious interchange of terms the ancient
chrysolite is the modern topaz, and the ancient
topaz the modern chrysolite (see Plin. H. N.
xxxvii. 8 ; Hill on Theophrastus, de Lapid. ;
King's Antique Gems, p. 57), though Bellermann
(Die Urim und Thummim, p. 62, Berlin, 1824)
has advanced many objections to this opinion,
aud has maintained that the topaz and the
chrysolite of the ancients are identical with the
gems now so called. Braun, at all events, uses
the term chrysolithus to denote the topaz, and he
speaks of its brilliant golden colour. There is
Httle or nothing in the passages where the
tarshish is mentioned to lead us to anything like
a satisfactory conclusion as to its identity,
excepting in Cant. v. 14, where we do seem to
catch a glimmer of the stone denoted : " His
hands are orbs of gold adorned with-the tarshish-
stone." This seems to be the correct, rendering
of the Hebrew [R. V. " His hands are as rings
{marg. cylinders) of gold set with beryl " (marg.
topaz)]. The orbs or rings of gold, as Cocceius
has observed (see Speaker's Comm. in loco), refer
not to rings on the fingers, but to the fiDgers
themselves, as they gently press upon the
thumb, and thus form the figure of an orb or
ring. The latter part of the verse is the
«asual expletive of the former. It is not only
said in this passage that the hands are called
orbs of gold, but the reason why they are
thus called is immediately added— specially
on account of the beautiful chrysolites with
which the hands were adorned (Braun, de Y. S.
ii. 13). Pliny says of the chrysolithos, " It is a
transparent stone with a refulgence like that of
gold." Since then the golden stone, as the name
imports, is admirably suited to the above pas
sage in Cauticles, and would also apply, though in
a less degree, to the other Scriptural places cited
— as it is supported by Josephus, and conjectured
by the LXX. and Vulg. — the ancient chrysolite
or the modern yellow topaz appears to have a
better claim than any other gem to represent
the tarshish of the Hebrew Bible, certainly a
better claim than the beryl of the A. V., a ren
dering which appears to be unsupported by any
kind of evidence. [W. H.] [H. B^ T.]
HERZE'LUS (B. QayCeASaios, A. Zop(eA-
Aeos ; Phargeleu), 1 Esd. v. 38. [Barzillai.]
BE'SAI ('Da, of uncertain meaning, see
Ges. ; B. Botrel, A. -at in Ezra, BKA. B-qtrel in
Neh.; Besee). "Children of Besai " were
Nethinim who returned to Judaea with Zerub
babel (.Ezra ii. 49; Neh. vii. 52). [Bastai.]
[W. A. W.j [F.]
BESODEI'AH (nniD3, Ges. [one] in the
secret of Jah, i.e. the trusted one of Jah ; B. BaSid,
N. 'ABSeid, ATia. Batru Ata; Besodia), father
of Meshullam, and one of the repairers of the
wall of Jerusalem (Neh. iii. 6). [W. A. W.]
BESO'R, the brook (iVCSH ^>m ; BA.
Xetpdpjios tov Botrbp in 1 Sam. xxx. 9, 10 :
in v. 21, B. Beavds, A. Bexoip ; torrens Besor), a
torrent-bed or wady in the extreme south of
Judah, of which mention occurs only in 1 Sam.
xxx. II. c. The expression in v. 10 perhaps
implies that it was a wide and deep ravine,
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

BETH

401

difficult to cross, fit is plain from the conditions
of the narrative that it must have been south
of Ziklag, but hitherto the situation of neither
town nor wddy has been identified with any
probability. Dr. Robinson has suggested (Phys.
Geog. 112) 11". 'Art'trah, the south-western branch
of W. es-Seb'a. The name may signify, from the
Arabic, " cool " (Ges.). [G.] [W.]
BE'TAH (HQ3, confidence; A. Mao-Bdx,
B. MatrBdK ; Bete), a city belonging to Hadad
ezer, king of Zobah, mentioned with Berothai
as having yielded much spoil of brass to David
(2 Sam. viii. 8). In the parallel account 1 Ch.
xviii. 8 (BK. WeTaB-qxds, A. MareBeB), the name
is called, by an inversion of letters, Tibchath.
Ewald (Gesch. ii. 195) pronounces the latter to
be the correct reading, and compares it with
Tebach (Gen. xxii. 24), which is generally
adopted here by modern scholars (see QPB.3),
[G.] [W.]
BE'TANE (B. BoiTaWj, K. Bo-, A. BaitoWj ;
Vulg. omits), a place apparently south of Jeru
salem (Judith i. 9), and possibly identical with
the BriBevlp of Eusebius (OS.2 p. 263, 68), two
miles from the Terebinth of Abraham and four
from Hebron. This has been variously identified
with Betharath, Bethainum, and Betaneh or
Ecbatana in Syria, placed by Pliny (v. 17) on
Carmel (Winer, s. v. Betane). Ball conjectures
]"l)3irrV3 (Josh. xv. 59), Beit 'Anun, five miles
north of Hebron (see Speaker's Comm. on Judith
i. 9). Bethany is inadmissible from the fact of
its unimportance at the time, if indeed it existed
at all. [G.] [W.]
BE'TEN (|t?3, Ges. perhaps a valley i. q.
\m KotAds; Jerome, OS.2 p. 54,27 = venter;
B. BalBoK, A. Barve ; Beten), one of the cities
on the border of the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix.
25, only). By Eusebius (OS.2 p. 249, 40) it is said
fo have been then called BeBfierev, and to have
been situated eight miles east of Ptolemais ; a
position which agrees with that of the village
el-B'aneh(PEF. Mem. i. 150, 153). [G.] [W.]
BETH (TVS, according to Gesenius [ Tlies. and
Lex.'], from a root J1-13, preserved in Aramaio,
to pass the night), the most general word for a
house or habitation. Strictly speaking, it has the
force of a settled, stable, dwelling, as in Gen.
xxxiii. 17, where the building of a " house "
marks the termination of a stage of Jacob's
wanderings (cp. also 2 Sam. vii. 2, 6) ; but it is
also employed for a dwelling of any kind, even
for a tent, as in Gen. xxiv. 32, where it must refer
to the tent of Laban (cp. Judg. xviii. 31 ; 1 Sam.
i. 7, where it refers to the tent of the Taber
nacle ; and 2 K. xxiii. 7, where it expresses the
textile materials [A. V. "hangings"; R. V.
marg. tents, Heb. houses] for the tents of
Astarte). From this general force the transi
tion was natural to a house in the sense of a
family, as Ps. cvii. 41, " families " (Prayer-Bk. V.
" households "), or a pedigree, as Ezra ii. 59.
In 2 Sam. xiii. 7, 1 K. xiii. 7, and other places,
it has the sense of " home," i.e. " to the house."
Beth has also some collateral and almost tech
nical meanings, similar to those which we apply
2 D

402

BETH-ABARA

to the word " house," as in Ex. xxv. 27 for the
" places " or sockets into which the bars for
carrying the table were " housed;" and others.
Like aedes in Latin and Dom in German, Beth
has the special meaning of a temple or house of
Worship, in which sense it is applied not only to
the Tabernacle (see above) or Temple of Jehovah
(1 K. iii. 2 ; vi. 1, &c), but to those of false
gods — Dagon (Judg. xvi. 27 ; 1 Sam. v. 2),
'Rimmon (2 K. v. 18), Baal (2 K. x. 21), Nisroch
(2 K. xix. 37), and other gods (Judg. ix. 27).
" Bajith" in Is. xv. 2 is really ha-Bajith = " the
temple" — not improbably the "house of high
places" mentioned in the Mesha-inscription —
some well-known idol fane in Moab. [Bajith.]
Beth is more frequently employed in combina
tion with other words to form the names of
places than Kirjath, Hatzer, Beer, Ain, or any
other word. A list of the places compounded
with Beth is given below in alphabetical order :
but in addition to these it may be allowable
here to notice two, which, though not appearing
m that form in the A. V., yet do so in the LXX.,
probably with greater correctness.
Beth-e'ked (1J31? '3 ; B. Baiflo/coO ; A. Baifl-
ojcaS ; camera pastorum), A. V. and R. V. the
" shearing house " [R. V. marg. house of gather
ing], at the pit or well (113) of which the
forty-two brethren of Ahaziah were slain by
Jehu (2 K. x. 12). It lay between Jezreel
and Samaria, according to Jerome ( OS.2 p. 141,
17), 15 miles from the town of Legio, and in
the plain of Esdraelon. It is now Beit Kad
(PEF. Mem. ii. 83).
Beth-iiaggan (}Sr\ '3, B. BatBdv ; A.!vM
Batarydv ; Domus horti), A. V. and R. V. " the
garden-house " (2 K. ix. 27), one of the spots
which marked the fiight of Ahaziah from Jehu.
It is doubtless the same place as En-gannim,
" spring of gardens," the modern Jenin, on the
direct road from Samaria northward, and over
looking the great plain (Stanley, S. 4- P.
p. 349, note). [G.j [W.]
BETH-ABA'EA (ByBaBapd, quasi JV3
M"J31?, house of ford or ferry ; Bethania ; R. V.
Bethany, marg. Bethabarah and Betharabah), a
place beyond Jordan, -irepav tov 'lop. ; in which,
according to the Received Text of the N. T.,
John was baptizing (John i. 28), apparently at
the time that he baptized Christ (cp. vv. 29, 35,
39). If the reading of the Received Text be the
correct one, Bethabara may be identical with
Bethbarah, the ancient ford of Jordan, of which
the men of Ephraim took possession after Gideon's
defeat of the Midianites [Beth-baraii] ; or,
which seems more likely, with Beth-nimrah, on
the east of the river, nearly opposite Jericho
[Beth-nimrah]. But the oldest MSS. (B, A)
and the Vulgate* have not Bethabara but
Bethany, a reading which Origen (ad loc.) states
to have obtained in almost all the copies of his
time, o-xeSoc Ttavra to dvrtypatpa, though
altered by him in his edition of the Gospel on
topographical grounds. In favour of Bethabara
are : (a) the extreme improbability of so familiar
a name as Bethany being changed by copyist
into one so unfamiliar as Bethabara, while thS
reverse — the change from an unfamiliar te

' Jerome (OS.2 p. 146, 6) has Beth-abara.

BETHANY
a familiar name — is of frequent" occurrence.
(6) The fact that Origen, while admitting that
the majority of MSS. were in favour of Bethany
decided notwithstanding for Bethabara. (c) That
Bethabara was still known in the days of Euse
bius (OS.2 a. v.), and greatly resorted to by
persons desirous of Baptism (vitali gurgite bapti-
zantur). Still the fact remains that the most ancient
MSS. have " Bethany," and that name has been
accordingly restored to the text by Lachmann
Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, Gebhardt, and'
the R. V. At this distance of time, and in
the absence of exhaustive research on the
east of Jordan, it is impossible to decide on
evidence so slight and conflicting. It must
not be overlooked that if Bethany be accepted
the definition "beyond Jordan" still remains
and therefore another place must be intended
than the well-known residence of Lazarus.
Major Conder has proposed (PEF. Mem. ii. 89 •
and PEFQy. Stat. 1877, 184-7 ; 1878, 120) to'
identify Bethabara with 'Abarah, a ford of the
Jordan, near Bethshean ; and to read Batanaea
(Basan) for the Bethany of the oldest MSS.
The theory is ingenious, but it does not meet
all the requirements of the case, some of which
necessitate a site nearer Judaea and Jerusalem.
Westcott (Speaker's Comm. in loco) conjectures
"an obscure village in Peraea." It may be
added that the tradition which places the scene
of Christ's Baptism at the Jordan nearly opposite
Jericho appears to be at least as old as the first
half of the 4th century. The question is dis
cussed in Antoninus, App. i., P. P. Text Society
Series. [G.] [W.]'
BETH-ANA'TH (rUB '3, MV.", Nestle,
Halevy, Baethgen, &c. = "house [or temple] of
the goddess 'Anat ; " B. BaiBBape, A. BaivaiiS ;
Bethanath), one of the "fenced cities" of
Naphtali, named with Bethshemesh (Josh. xix.
38) ; from neither of which weTe the Canaanites
expelled (Judg. i. 33 ; B. BaiBavdx, A. BaiBeveB).
It is now probably 'Ainitha, 5j miles W.N.W. ,
of Kades, Kadesh (Thomson, Land and the Book,
p. 212). By Eusebius (OS.2 pp. 242, 70; 249,
45, s. w. Aveip, BnBavaBd) it is spoken of as
a village called Batanaea, 15 miles eastward
of Caesarea, and reputed to contain medicinal
springs, Aovrpd Idtripa: this place, however,
appears to be the modern 'Anin (see PEF. Mem.
ii. 44). [G.] [W.]
BETH-ANO'TH (H'UI? '3, possibly [Dill
mann, Baethgen] called after the goddess
'Anath ; B. BaiBavdp, A. BaiBavuv ; Bethanoth),
a town in the mountainous district of Judah,
named with Halhul, Bethzur, and others, in
Josh. xv. 59 only. lt is very probably the
modern Kh. Beit 'Ainun, N.E. of Hebron, the
remains of which, near to those of Halhul
and Beit Stir, were discovered by Wolcott and
visited by Robinson (iii. 281). See also PEF.
Mem. iii. 311, 351. [G.] [W.]
BETHANY (in Talm. quasi Wn IV3, said
to mean house of unripe dates ; BriBavla; Beth
ania), a village which, scanty as are the notices
of it contained in Scripture, is more intimately
associated in our minds with the most familiar
acts and scenes of the last days of the life of

BETHANY
Christ than perhaps any other place. It was
at Bethany that He raised Lazarus from the
dead, and from Bethany that He commenced
His " triumphal entry " into Jerusalem. It was
His nightly resting-place during the time im
mediately preceding His Passion; and here at

BETHANY

40."

the houses of Martha and Mary, and of Simon
the leper, we are admitted to view Him, mora
nearly than elsewhere, in the circle of His
domestic life.
Though it was only at a late period of the
life of our Lord that His connexion with

Bethany commenced, yet this is fully com
pensated for by its having been the scene of
His very last acts, on earth. It was somewhere
here (Luke xxiv. 50 ; Acts i. 9, 12), on these
wooded slopes beyond the ridge of Olivet, that
the Apostles stood when they- last beheld His

figure, as, with " uplifted hands "—still, to the
very moment of disappearance, " blessing "them
— He was " taken up " into the " cloud " which
"received" and hid Him from their "stedfast"
gaze, the words still ringing in their ears,
which prove that space and time are no.
2 D 2

404

BETHANY

hindrance to the connexion of Christians with
their Lord — " Lo ! I am with you alway, even
to the end of the world " (Matt, xxviii. 20).
The little information we possess about
Bethany is entirely gathered from the N. T.,
neither the 0. T. nor the Apocrypha having
apparently any allusion to it. It was situated
" at " (irpbs) the Mount of Olives (Mark xi. 1 ;
Luke xix. 29), about 15 stadia from Jerusalem
(John xi. 18), on or near the usual road from
Jericho to the city (Luke xix. 29, cp. v. 1;
Mark xi. 1, cp. a. 46), and close by and west (?)
of another village called Bethphage, the two
being several times mentioned together.
There never appears to have been any doubt
as to the site of Bethany, which is now known
by a name derived from Lazarus — el-'Azeriyeh "
( aJ :l*5\ )• It lies on the eastern slope of
the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the
summit, and not very far from the point at
which the road to Jericho begins its more
sudden descent towards the Jordan valley
(Lindsay, p. 91, and De Saulcy, p. 120). The spot
is a woody hollow more or less planted with
fruit-trees, — olives, almonds, pomegranates, as
well as oaks, and carobs ; the whole lying below
a secondary ridge or hump, of sufficient height
to shut out the village from the summit of the
mount (Rob. i. 431, 432 ; Stanley, p. 189 ;
Bonar, pp. 138-9).
From a distance the village is, to use the
emphatic words of one published description,
"remarkably beautiful" — "the perfection of
retirement and repose '' — " of seclusion and
lovely peace " (Bonar, pp. 139, 230, 310, 337 ;
and see Lindsay, p. 69). It is difficult to re
concile these glowing descriptions with Dean
Stanley's words (p. 189), or with the impression
which the present writer derived from the actual
view of the place. Possibly something of the
difference is due to the different time of year at
which the visits were made.
El-'Azeriyeh itself is a ruinous and wretched
village, a " wild mountain hamlet " of " some
twenty families," the inhabitants of which
display even less than the ordinary Eastern
thrift and industry (Rob. i. 432 ; Stanley, p. 189 ;
Bonar, p. 310). In the village are shown the
traditional sites of the house and tomb of
Lazarus: the former the remains of a square
tower, apparently of old date, though certainly
not of the age of the kings of Judah, to which
De Saulcy assigns it (p. 128) ; the latter a deep
vault excavated in the limestone rock, the
bottom reached by twenty-six steps. The house
of Simon the leper is also exhibited. As to the
real age and character of these remains there is
at present no information to guide us.
Schwarz maintains el-'Azeriyeh to be AZAL;
and would fix Bethany at a spot which, he
says, the Arabs call Beth-hanan, on the Mount
of Offence above Siloam (pp. 135, 263).
These traditional spots are first heard of in
the 4th century — in the Itinerary of the Bor
deaux Pilgrim, and in the Onomastioon of

¦ The Arabic name is given from Bobinson. Lord
Lindsay, however, denies that this Is correct, and
asserts, after frequently hearing it pronounced, that the
name is Lazarieh. The PEF. Name Lists agree with
Bobinson.

BETH-ARAM
Eusebius (where the name itself has dropped out
of the text ; OS.2 p. 251, 10) and Jerome (OS.2
p. 142, 3); and they continued to exist, with
certain varieties of buildings and of ecclesiastical
establishments in connexion therewith, down
to the 16th century, since which the place has
fallen gradually into its present decay. This
part of the history is well given by Robinson
(i. 432-3). By Mandeville and other mediaeval
travellers the town is spoken of as the "Castle
of Bethany," an expression which had its origin
in castellum being employed by the Vulgate as
the translation of xup-q in John xi. 1. See
PEF. Mem. iii. 27.
The derivation of the name of Bethany
is much disputed. That given above — that of
Lightfoot and Reland (cp. Hamburger, EM.
Abth. II. s. n. Beth-Hini)— is preferred by many
to that of Simonis (Onom. s. v.), viz. ITJU '3,
locus depressionis, which has no special applica
bility to this spot more than to any other, while
it lacks the correspondence with Beth-phage,
"House of Figs," and with the "Mount of
Olives," which gives so much colour to this
derivation, although it is true that the dates
have disappeared, and the figs and olives alone
are now to be found in the neighbourhood of
Bethany. This has been well brought out by
Stanley (S. $ P. pp. 186, 187)." [G.] [W.]
BETHANY beyond Jordan (John i. 28). See
Beth-abara. BETH-AEA'BAH (n3Tl?ri '3, house of the
desert ; BA. BaiBapafia, in Josh. xv. 6 ; Betka-
raba), one of the six cities of Judah which were
situated down in the Arabah, i.e. the sunk valley
ofthe Joi'dan and Dead Sea ("wilderness," Josh.
xv. 61, B. ®apaBadp, A. B-nBapaBd), on the north
border of the tribe, and apparently between
Beth-hoglah and the high land on the west of
the Jordan valley (xv. 6). It is also included
in the list of the towns of Benjamin (xviii. 22,
B. BaiBaBapd, A. BaiBapafia). [Gj [W.]
BETH-A'EAM (accurately, as in R. V,
Beth-haram, Din '3; B. om., A. Bt)Bapip;
Betharam), one of the towns of Gad on the east
of Jordan (Josh. xiii. 27), described as in " the
valley " (pDl?n, not to be confounded with the
Arabah or Jordan valley), and no doubt the
same place as that named Beth-haran in
Num. xxxii. 36. No further mention is found
of it in the Scriptures ; but Eusebius and Jerome
(OS.2 pp. 137, 16 ; 248, 87. The name appears
to have dropped out of the text of Eusebius)
report that in their day the appellation (a Syris
dicitur) of Betharam was Bethramtha, Bijfynii-
tpBd (see also the quotations from the Talmud in
Schwarz, p. 231 ; the Syriac and other Versions,
however, have all Bethharan, with no material
variation), and that, in honour of Augustus,
Herod had named it Libias (AiBids). Josephus's
account is that Herod (Antipas), on taking

» Mllblau (in Riehm's EWB. s. n. Bethania) prefers,
at least for the Greek form of the name, the sense of
the " house of the unhappy or poor," Jerome that of
"domus atlfiictionis ^jus vel domus obedientiae " (OS.
p. 93, 26). Some of the lesser Greek Ononuxstim, adopt
one or other of these last-named derivations, or add a
fresh one— oIkos Sofijs— or combine them (cp. OS.
index, s. n. Krfituiio.). P^

BETH-AEBEL
.possession of his tetrarchy, fortified Sepphoris
and the city (triAis) of Betharamphtha, building
a wall round the latter, and calling it Julias in
honour of the wife of the emperor. As this
could hardly be later than B.C. 1 — Herod the
Great, the predecessor of Antipas, having died
in B.C. 4 — and as the Empress Livia did not
receive her name of Julia until after the death
of Augustus, A.D. 14, it is probable that Josephus
is in error as to the new name given to the
place, and speaks of it as having originally
received that which it bore in his own day. It
is curious that he names Libias long before
(Ant. xiv. 1, § 4), in such connexion as to leave
no doubt that he alludes to the same place.
Under the name of Amathus he again mentions
it (Ant. xvii. 10, § 6; cp. B. J. ii. 4, § 2),
and the destruction of the royal palaces there
by insurgents from Peraea.
Ptolemy gives the localitv of Libias as
31° 26' lat. and 67° 10' long."(Ritter, Jordan,
p. 573); and Eusebius and Jerome (OS.2 ut
supra) state that it was five miles south of Beth-
nabran, or Bethamnaran (i.e. Beth-nimrah ?).
This agrees with the position of Tell Rdmek, a
conspicuous mound, east of Jordan, near the
mouth of TV". Hesbdn: the mound is 70 feet
high, and 50 feet across at the top ; there are a
few old foundations ( U. S. P. E. S. Stat. iii. 76 ;
iv. 84). Tristram appears (Land of Moab, p. 348)
to have been given the name Beit-harran for
this mound. [G.] [W.]
BETH-AEBE'L 6k3"1K '3; T.' iK toE
oXkou tov 'lepoBodp, A. 'lepoBadA), named only in
Bos. x. 14, as the scene of a sack and massacre
by Shalman fShalmaneser). No clue is given
to its position ; it may be the ancient stronghold
of Arbela in Galilee, but (Hitzig, MV.11,
Schrader, Orelli) is more probably another place
of the same name, now Irbid, N.E. of Pella, of
which mention is made by Eusebius (OS.2
p. 236, 72). The Prophet p'erhaps alludes to
a recent event, and Schrader suggests (KA T.2
pp. 440-2) that Beth-Arbel was taken either
by Shalmaneser III. during his campaign of
773 B.C. against Damascus, or by Salamanu,
king of Moab, who was contemporary with
Hosea, and whose name appears in the list of
subject monarchs who gave tribute to Tiglath-
pileser II. after the fall of Damascus in 732 B.C.
His own preference is with Nowack for the latter
of these two suggestions. In either case Beth-
Arbel would have been east of Jordan. In the
Vulgate Jerome has translated the name to
mean "e domo ejus qui judicavit Baal," i.e.
Jerubbaal (7l?3')'lJ or Gideon, understanding
Salman as Zalmunna, and the whole passage as
referring to Judg. viii. [G.] [W.]
BETH-A'VEN Q)H '3, house of naught, i.e.
badness; Josh, xviii. 12, B. BaiBtiv, A. BaiBaiv ;
Bethaven), a place on the mountains of Benjamin,
east of Bethel (Josh. vii. 2, B. BaiB-hA, A.
B-nBaliv), and lying between that place and
Michmash (1 Sam. xiii. 5 [LXX. see below]; also
xiv. 23, B. BaptiB, A.'ia ®avv). In Josh, xviii.
12, the " wilderness " (Midbar = pasture- land) of
Bethaven is mentioned. In 1 Sam. xiii. 5 the
reading of the LXX. is BaiBuptiv, Beth-horon ;
but if this be correct, another Beth-horon must

BETH-BAEAH

405

be intended than that commonly known, which
was much further to the west (cp. Wellhausen,
/. c). In Hos. iv. 15, v. 8, x. 5 (oIkos ""CLv, but
A. o?ko$ ttjs dStKias, and so B. marg.), the name
is transferred, with a play on the word very
characteristic of this Prophet, to tho neighbour
ing Bethel — once the " house of God," but then
the house of idols, of " naught." [G.] [W,]
BETH-AZMA'VETH (niDW '3, for ety
mology see Azmaveth ; B. Bndao-ptiB ; A. BqB' ;
Bethazmoih). Under this name is mentioned,
in Neh. vii. 28 only, the town of Benjamin
which is elsewhere called Azmaveth and Beth-
samos. Mr. Finn proposes to identify Azmaveth with
Hizmeh, a village on the hills of Benjamin to
the S.E. of Jeb'a. [G.] [W]
BETH-BAAL-MEO'N" flto "?1?3 '3 ; B.
oIkos MeeABti6; A. oIkos BeAaptiv; Oppidum
Baalmaon), a place in the possessions of Reuben,
on the " Mishor " or downs (A. V. " plain ") east
of Jordan (Josh. xiii. 17). At tlie Israelites' first
approach its name was Baal-meon (Num. xxxii.
38 [cp. Dillmann], or, in its contracted form,
Beon, xxxii. 3), to which the Beth was possibly
a Hebrew addition. Later it would seem to have
come into possession of Moab, and to be known
either as Beth-meon (Jer. xlviii. 23) or Baal-
meon (Ezek. xxv. 9). It was built or rebuilt
by king Mesha, according to the inscription on
the " Moabite Stone " (Recovy. of Jerusm. p. 507 ;
Records of the Past, N. S. ii. 201), and a dis
tinction seems to be made between Beth-Baal-
emon and Baal-meon (cp. 11. 9, 26). The name
is still attached to a ruined place of considerable
size (betrachtlich, Seetzen), to the S.W. of
Hesbdn, and bearing the name of M'ain, which
appears to give its appellation to the Wddy
Zerka M'ain (Tristram, Land of Moab, pp. 303-4';
Seetzen, Reisen, p. 408). [G.] [W.J
BETH-BA'EAH (rra '3 ; quasi \TOV '3
[one of the few instances of the 'Ain being
rejected in contraction, Ges. Thes. 976 b], house
of passage, or of the ford; BA. BatBripd ;
Bethbera), named only in Judg. vii. 24, as a
point apparently south of the scene of Gideon's
victory, which took place at or about Bethshean,
and to which point "the waters" (D^ffiil)
were "taken'' by the Ephraimites against
Midian. What these "waters" were is not
clear, probably the wadys and streams which
descend from the highlands of Ephraim ; it is
only plain that they were distinct from the
Jordan, to which river no word but its own
distinct name is ever applied. Beth-barah
derives its chief interest from the possibility
that its more modern representative may have
been Beth-abara where John baptized [Beth
abara] ; but there is not much in favour of
this beyond their similarity in sound. The
pursuit of the Midianites can hardly have
reached so far south as Beth-abara, which was
accessible to Judaea and Jerusalem and all the
"region round about" (i) ireptxupos ; i.e. the
oasis of the South Jordan at Jericho).

• It is possible that Ihe name contains a trace of the
tribe or nation of Maon,— the Maonites or Mehunim.
[Maos ; Mehuhim.]

406

BETH-BASI

If the derivation of the name given above be
correct, Beth-barah was probably the chief ford
•of the district, and may therefore have been that
by which Jacob crossed on his return from
Mesopotamia, and at which Jephthah slew the
Ephraimites. [G.] [W.]
BETH-BA'SI (B. BaiBBaitraei \y. 62], Bai8-
Bao-aei \y. 64], A. BeBBaci ; Bethbesscn), a town
which from the mention of its decays (t& KaBnpq-
peva) must have been originally fortified, lying
in the desert (tt) ipnpif), and in which Jonathan
and Simon Maccabaeus took refuge from Bac
chides (1 Mace. ix. 62, 64). Josephus (Ant. xiii.
1, § 5) has B-qBaAayd (Beth-hogla), but a read
ing of the passage quoted by Reland (p. 632)
presents the more probable form of Beth-keziz.
Either alternative fixes the situation as in the
Jordan valley not far from Jericho. [Keziz,
Valley of.] [G.] [W.]
BETH-BIE'EI 0803 '3, MV.11 = place of
fatness; B. [by inclusion of the next name]
oTkos Bpaovptreupelp, A. oIk. Bapovp- ; Beth-
berai; R. V. Beth-biri), a town of Simeon (1 Ch.
iv. 31), which, by comparison with the parallel
list in Josh, xix., appears to have also the name
of Beth-lebaoth, of which it may possibly
have been a corruption. It lay to the extreme
south, with Beersheba, Hormah, &c. (cp. Josh.
xv. 32, Lebaoth). [G.] [W.]
BETH'-CAE ("13 '3, Ges. = house of lambs;
B. BaiBxop, A. BeAxbp i Bethchar), an un
known place named as the point to which the
Israelites pursued the Philistines from Mizpeh
on a memorable occasion (1 Sam. vii. 11).
From the unusual expression " under Beth-car "
C3 nniTO), it would seem that the place itself
was on a height, with the road at its foot.
Josephus (Ant. vi. 2, § 2) has uexpi Koppaiuv,
and goes on to say that the stone Ebenezer was
set up at this place to mark it as the spot to
which the victory had extended. [Eben-ezer.]
This must not be confounded with the Kopeai
of Ant xiv. 3, § 4 ; of B. J. i. 6, § 5, and iv.
S, § 1. The Targum has Bethsharon. [G.] [W.]
BETH-DA'GON (I'm '3, house of Dagon;
Bethdagon). 1. B. BayaSt-fiA, A. BnBbayuv. A city in the
low country (Shefelah) of Judah (Josh. xv. 41),
aud therefore not far from the Philistine terri
tory, with which its name implies a connexion.
From the absence of any conjunction before this
name, it has been suggested that it should be
taken with the preceding, " Gederoth - Beth-
¦dagon ; " in that case probably distinguishing
Gederoth from the two places of similar name in
the neighbourhood, but the suggestion is not
adopted by the R. V. Caphar-ilagon existed as
a very large village between Diospolis (Lydda)
and Jamnia in the time of Jerome (OS.2 p. 138,
14, s. v. Beth-dagon). The site, hitherto un
known (Dillmann 2 in loco), has been recovered
by M. Ganneau at Dajun, between Lydda and
Ycbnah, Jamnia (PEFQy. Stat. 1874, p. 279). It
is mentioned, with Joppa and Beneberak, in
an inscription of Sennacherib (Schrader, KA T.2
p. 289).
2. A town apparently near the coast, named
as one of the landmarks of the boundary of

BETH-EL
Asher (Josh. xix. 27 ;'"J3*J '3, B. BtuBeyeveQ A.
BnBSayuv). The name and the proximity to
the coast point to its being a Philistine colony.
Conder (Hdbk. to _ Bible, p. 268) proposes to
identify it with Kh. D'auk, a mound near the
mouth of the Belus. Cp. Dillmann5 in loco.
3. In addition to the two modern villages
noticed above as bearing this ancient name a
third has been found by Robinson (iii. 298) a
few miles east of Ndblus. Josephus (Ant. xiii.
8, § 1, and B. J. i. 2, § 3) gives the name of
Dagon to the fortress in the Jordan valley in
which Simon Maccabaeus was killed. rDoctrs.l
There can be no doubt that in the occurrence of
these names we have indications of the worship
of the Philistine god having spread far beyond
the Philistine territory. Possibly these are the
sites of towns founded at the time when this
warlike people had overrun the face of the
country to " Michmash, eastward of Bethaven "
on the south, and Gilboaonthe north — i.e. to the
edge of the heights which overlook the Jordan
valley — driving " the Hebrews over Jordan into
the land of Gad and Gilead " (1 Sam. xiii. 5-7,
cp. 17, 18 ; xxix. 1 ; xxxi. 1). [G.] [W.]
BETH-DIBLATHA'IM (p.)rhv[ '3, kouse
of the double cake [of figs] ; B. oJkos AaiBKaSaip,
XA. oIk. AejS- ; domus Deblathaim), ,i town of
Moab (Jer. xlviii. [LXX. xxxi.] 22), apparently
the place elsewhere called Almon-Diblathaim.
In the inscription on the "Moabite stone,"
found at Dibon, king Mesha states that he built
Beth-Diblathaim (called Dib.lath.an, Mecov. of
Jer. p. 507 ; Stade, Ges. d. V. Isr. i. 534).
[a] [».]
BETH-EDEN. Amos i. 5, marg. [Eden, 2.]
BETH-EL (^S JT1?, house of God; ADE.
[Gen. xxxv. 15] BaiBt)A ; Joseph. Bijfl^A, Be(ty\7|
¦n-dAis ; Bethel). 1. A well-known city and holy
place of Central Palestine.
Of the origin of the name of Bethel there arc
two accounts extant. 1. It was bestowed on
the spot by Jacob under the awe inspired by the
nocturnal vision of God, when on his journey
from his father's house at Beersheba to seek his
wife in Haran (Gen. xxviii. 19 ; LXX. oIkos
fleou; Bethel). He took the stone which had
served for his pillow and put (DE") it for a
pillar, and anointed it with oil; and he "called
the name of that place (K-inri DipBH) Bethel;
but the name of 'the' city ("WT) was called
Luz at the first." The expression in the last
paragraph of this account is curious, and in
dicates a distinction between the "city" and
the "place" — the early Canaanite "city "Luz,
and the " place," as yet a mere undistinguished
spot, marked only by the " stone," or the heap
(Joseph, tois AiBois avptpopovpevois), erected by
Jacob to commemorate his vision.
2. But according to another account, Bethel
received its name on the occasion of a blessing
bestowed by God upon Jacob after his return
from Padan-aram ; at which time also (accord
ing to this narrative) the name of Israel was
given him. Here again Jacob erected (3??*) a
" pillar of stone," which, as before, he anointed
with oil (Gen. xxxv. 14, 15). The key of this
story would seem to be the fact of God's " speak-

BETH-EL

BETH-EL

407

ing " with Jacob. " God went up from him in
the place where He ' spake ' with him " — " Jacob
set up a pillar in the place where He ' spake '
with him," and " called the name of the place
where God spake * with him Bethel."
Whether these two narratives represent dis
tinct events (see Speaker's Comm. and Delitzsch
[1887] on Gen. xxviii. 19), or, as would appear
to be the case in other instances in the lives of
the patriarchs, are different representations of
the one original occasion on which the hill of
Bethel received its consecration, we do not know.
It is perhaps worth notice that the Prophet Hosea
— in the only reference which the later Hebrew
Scriptures contain to this occurrence — had
evidently the second of the two narratives before
him, since in a summary of the life of Jacob
he introduces it in the order in which it occurs
in Genesis (xxxv.), laying full and characteristic
stress on the keyword of the story : " He had
power over the Angel and prevailed ; he wept
and made supplication unto Him ; He found
him at Bethel, and there He spake with us,
even the Lord, the God of hosts " (Hos. xii.
4,5, R. V.).
Early as is the date involved in these narra
tives, yet, if we are to accept the precise defini
tion of Gen. xii. 8, the name of Bethel would
appear to have existed at this spot even before
the arrival of Abram in Canaan : he removed
from the oaks of Moreh to " ' the ' mountain on
the east of Bethel," with " Bethel on the west
and Hai on the east." Here he built an altar ;
and hither he returned from Egypt with Lot
before their separation (xiii. 3, 4). See Stanley,
& and P. p. 218. lt is, however, considered
by some more probable that the names, after
wards so well known, are here given by antici
pation (cp. Delitzsch in loco).
In one thing, however, the above narratives
all agree, — in omitting any mention of towns or
buildings at Bethel at that early period, and
in drawing a marked distinction between the
" city " of Luz and the consecrated " place " in
its neighbourhood (cp., besides the passages
already quoted, Gen. xxxv. 7). Even in the
ancient chronicles of the conquest the two are
still distinguished (Josh. xvi. 1, 2); and the
appropriation of the name of Bethel to the city
appears not to have been made till still later,
when it was taken by the tribe of Ephraim ;
after which the name of Luz occurs no more
(Judg. i. 22-26). If this view be correct, there
is a strict parallel between Bethel and Moriah,
which, probably a heathen sacred spot, received
its consecration when Abraham offered up Isaac,
but did not become the site of an actual sanc
tuary till the erection of the Temple there by
Solomon. [Moriah.]
The intense significance of the title bestowed
by Jacob on the place of his vision — " House of
God" — and the wide extent to which that
appellation has been adopted in all languages
and in spite of the utmost diversities of belief,
has been well noticed by Stanley (S. and P. pp.
220-1). It should not be overlooked how far this
has been the case with the actual name ; the very
syllables of Jacob's exclamation forming, as they

» The word is the same (n3*7)> and is rendered
' spake " by E. V. in all three cases ; in the A. V. it
s rendered " talked " iu the first two.

do, the titi . of the chief sanctuary of tho Ma
hometan world — the Beit-allah of Mecca ; while
they are not less the favourite designation of the
meanest conventicles of the humblest sects of
Protestant Christendom.
On the other hand, how singular is the fact —
if the conclusions of etymologists are to be trusted
(Spencer, De Leg. Hebr. i. 444 ; Bochart, Canaan,
ii. 2) — that the awful name of Bethel should
have lent its form to the word by which was
called one of the most perplexing of all the
perplexing forms assumed by the idolatry of
the heathen — the Baitulia of the ancient Phoe
nicians, the AlOot epipvxoi, or small portable
stones to which magical life was ascribed.
Another opportunity will occur for going more
at length into this interesting subject [Stones.
Cp. Delitzsch (1887) on Gen. xxxv. 14, 15, and
Miihlau in Keim's HWB. s. n. " Beth-el "] ; it
will be sufficient here to say that the Baitulia
seem to have preserved the erect position of
their supposed prototype, and that the worship
included the anointing them with oil (Arnobius,
adv. Gcntes, i. 39).
The actual stone of Bethel itself was the
subject of a Jewish tradition, according to which
it was removed to the second Temple, and served
as the pedestal for the ark. It survived the
destruction of the Temple by the Romans, and
was resorted to by the Jews in their lamenta
tions (Reland, Pal. p. 638). [Temple, the
Second.] After the conquest Bethel is frequently hea^d
of. In the troubled times when there was no
king in Israel, it w.ns to Bethel that the people
went up in their distress to ask counsel of God
(Judg. xx. 18, 26, 31, xxi. 2, LXX. and R. V. ;
in the A. V. and Vulg. [exc. in xx. 31] the
name is translated " house of God "). Here was
the ark of the covenant under the charge of
Phinehas the grandson of Aaron, with an altar
and proper appliances for the offering of burnt-
offerings and peace-offerings (xx. 26-28, xxi. 4) ;
and the unwbnted mention of a regular road or
causeway as existing between it and the great
town of Shechem is doubtless an indication that
it was already in much repute. Later than this
we find it named as one of the holy cities to
which Samuel went in circuit, taking equal rank
with Gilgal and Mizpeh (1 Sam. vii. 16).
Probably it was this ancient reputation — com
bined with its situation on the extreme south
frontier of his new kingdom, and with the hold
which it must have had on the sympathies both
of Benjamin and Ephraim, the former's by lot
and the latter's by conquest — which made Jero
boam choose Bethel as the depository of the new
false worship which was to seal and consum
mate the division between the ten tribes and the
two. Here he established one of the two calves
of gold, the priests of " the high places which
he had made," and an altar b of incense, by
which he himself stood to burn ; as we see
him in the familiar picture of 1 K. xii., xiii.
Towards the end of Jeroboam's life Bethel fell
into the hands of Judah (2 Ch. xiii. 19), whence
it was probably recovered by Baasha (xvi. 1).
It then remains unmentioned for a long period.

¦> W. R. Smith, Religion ofthe Semites, i. 470, suggest
that this altar was a pillar crowned by a sort of capital
bearing a bowl. This would illustrate Amos iii. 14, ix. 1.

408

BETH-EL

The worship of Baal, introduced by the Phoe
nician queen of Ahab (1 K. xvi. 31), had pro
bably alienated public favour from the simple
erections of Jeroboam to more gorgeous shrines
(2 K. x. 21, 22). Samaria had been built (1 K.
xvi. 24) and Jezreel, and these things must have
all tended to draw public notice to the more
northern part of the kingdom. It was during
this period that Elijah visited Bethel, and that
we hear of " sons of the prophets " as resident
there (2 K. ii. 2, 3), two facts apparently incom
patible with the active existence of the calf-
worship. The mention of the bears so close to
the town (ii. 23, 25) looks too as if the neigh
bourhood were not much frequented at that
time. But after his destruction of the Baal-
worship throughout the country, Jehu appears
to have returned to the simpler and more
national religion of the calves, and Bethel comes
once more into view (2 K. x. 29). Under the
descendants of this king the place and the wor
ship must have greatly flourished, for by the
time of Jeroboam II. , the great-grandson of
Jehu, the rude village was again a royal resi
dence with a " king's house " (Amos vii. 13) ;
there were palaces ' both for " winter " and
" summer," " great houses " and " houses of
ivory " (iii. 15), and a very high degree of
luxury in dress, furniture, and living (vi. 4-6).
The one original altar was now accompanied by
several others (ii. 8, iii. 14); and the simple
"incense" of its founder had developed into
the " burnt-offerings " and " meal-offerings " of
" solemn assemblies," with the fragrant " peace-
offerings " of " fat beasts " (v. 21, 22).
How this prosperity came to its doom we are
not told. After the desolation of the northern
kingdom by the king of Assyria, Bethel still re
mained an abode of priests, who taught the
wretched colonists "how to fear Jehovah,"
" the God of the land " (2 K. xvii. 27, 28). Ac
cording to the Jewish tradition (Seder Olam
Rabba, ch. xxii.) the golden calf of Bethel was
carried off by Shalmaneser, but the buildings
remained till the time of Josiah, by whom they
were destroyed ; and in the account preserved
of his reforming iconoclasm we catch one more
glimpse of the altar of Jeroboam, with its last
loathsume fire of "dead men's bones" burnino-
upon it, the altar and high-place surviving in
their archaic antiquity amidst the successive
additions of later votaries, like the wooden altar
of Becket at Canterbury, which continued in its
original simplicity through all the subsequent
magnificence of the church in which he was
murdered (Stanley, Canterbury, p. 184). Not the
least remarkable of these later works was the
monument (J-V-yn ; vtt)Ati ; 2 K. xxiii. 17), evi
dently a conspicuous erection, of the " man of
God " who proclaimed the ultimate downfall of
this idolatrous worship at its very outset (1 IC.
xiii. l)and who would seem to have been at a later
date canonized as it were by the votaries of the
very idolatry which he denounced. " Woe unto
you ! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets,
and your fathers killed them " (Luke xi. 47).
But, in any case, the fact of the continued
existence of the tomb of this protester through
so many centuries of idolatry illustrates very
remarkably the way in which the worship of
Jehovah and the false-worship went on side by
side at Bethel. It is plain from several allusions

BETH-EL
of Amos that this was the case (v. 14 22) ¦
and the fact before noticed of prophets of' Jeho
vah being resident there, and of the friendly
visits even of the stem Elijah ; of the relation
between the "man of God from Judah" and
the lying prophet (1 K. xiii. 18) who caused
his death ; of the manner in which Zedekiah
the son of Chenaanah, a priest of Baal re
sorts to the name of Jehovah for his solemn
adjuration (1 K. xxii. 11), and lastly of the way
in which the denunciations of Amos were tole
rated and he himself allowed to escape, — all
these point to a state of things well worthy of
investigation. In this connexion, too, it is
curious that men of Bethel and Ai returned
with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 28; Neh. vii. 32V
and that they returned to their native place
whilst continuing their relations with Nehemiah
and the restored worship (Neh. xi. 31). In the
1st Book of Esdras the name appears as Betolius
(v. 21 : cp. Ezra ii. 28). In later times Bethel is
only named once, amongst the strong cities in
Judaea which were repaired by Bacchides during
the struggles of the times of the Maccabees
(1 Mace. ix. 50).
Bethel is mentioned by Jerome (OS.2 p. 135
8) as twelve miles from Jerusalem on the
right hand of the road to Neapolis; and
here its ruins still lie under the scarcely
altered name of Beitin. They cover a space
of "three or four acres," and consist of " very
many foundations and half-standing walls of
houses and other buildings." "The ruins
lie upon the front of a low hill between the
heads of two hollow wadys which unite and
run off into the main valley es-Suweinit" (Rob.
i. 448-9). Dr. Clarke, and other travellers-
since his visit, have remarked on the "stony"
nature of the soil at Bethel, as perfectly in
keeping with the narrative of Jacob's slumber
there. For a description of Beitin see l'EF.
Mem. ii. 295, 305. When on the spot little
doubt can be felt as to the localities of this in
teresting place. The mount S.E. of Bethel, on
which there are the ruins of a Byzantine church,
Kh. el-Muhdtir, must be the " mountain " on
which Abram built the altar, and on which he
and Lot stood when they made their division of
the land (Gen. xii. 8, xiii. 1 0). It is still thickly
strewn to its top with stones formed by nature
for the building of "altar " or sanctuary (PEF.
Mem. ii. 373). As the eye turns involuntarily
eastward, it takes in a large part ofthe plain of
the Jordan opposite Jericho ; distant, it is true,
but not too distant to discern in that clear
atmosphere the lines of verdure that mark the
brooks which descend from the mountains
beyond the river, aud fertilise the plain even in
its present neglected state ; but which, if pro
perly used, would again render the district what
it once was, " a garden of the Lord, even as the
land of Egypt." Eastward again of this mount,
at about the same distance on the left that
Bethel is on the right, is a third hill crowned
by a remarkably desolate-looking mass of grey
debris, the most perfect heap of ruin to be
seen even in that country of ruins. This is
et-Tell, "the mound," or "the heap," agreeing
in every particular of name, aspect, and, situa
tion, with Ai.
An admirable passage on the history of Bethel
will be found in Stanley (S. $ P. pp. 217-223).

BETHEL, MOUNT
2. A town in the south part of Judah, named
in 1 Sam. xxx. 27. The collocation of the name
in this list is decisive against its being the well-
known Bethel (see Wellhausen and Klostermann
(. c.) ; but opinions are still divided about the
Bethel named in Josh. xii. 16 (BA. om. See
Dillmann2). In 1 Sam. xxx. 27 the LXX. B.
reads BaiBtroip, i.e. Bethzur (A. BaiWjA). By
comparison of the lists of the towns of Judah
and Simeon (Josh. xv. 30, xix. 4; 1 Ch. iv. 29, 30),
the place appears under the names of Chesil,
Bethul, and Bethdxl. [G.] [W.]
BETHEL, MOUNT. A point on the
southern boundary of the children of Joseph
(Josh. xvi. 1), where, however, R. V. reads more
correctly " through the hill country to Bethel."
It was "in Mount Bethel (R. V. " in the mount
of Bethel ") that Saul assembled 2,000 of his
chosen men before Jonathan made his attack on
the Philistine garrison of Geba (1 Sam. xiii. 2).
"The hill country" is apparently the ridge
E. of Bethel which parts the waters of the
Mediterranean from those of the Dead Sea.
[Beth-el.] [W.]
BETHELITE, THE C^il rV3 ; B. o BatB-
¦nAelTTis, A. BaiBi-), Hiel, is recorded as the re-
builder of Jericho (1 K. xvi. 34). [G.] [W.]
BETH-E'MEK (pnm JV3, house of the
valley ; B. 1,aitp8a.i$a.i6pe [apparently joining to
previous name], A. Br)BaepeK ; Bethemec), ;i
place on or near the border of Asher, ou the
north side of which was the ravine of Jiphthah-
el (Josh. xix. 27). Robinson has discovered an
'Amka about 6| miles to the N.E. of 'Akka ; but
if his identification of Jefdt with Jiphthah-el be
tenable, the site of Beth-emek must be sought
for farther south than 'Amka (Rob. iii. 103, 107,
8. Cp. Dillmann2). Conder (PEFQy. Stat. 1883,
p. 137) identifies Jiphthah-el with W. el-Kurn,
but, if 'Amka be Beth-emek, it is more probably
W. el-KardKa. [G.] [W.]
be'ther, the mountains op pon nn ;
Ges. explains "2 to be a region cut up into
mountains and valleys : oprn KoiAupdruv ; Bethr
and Bethel), Cant. ii. 17. There is no clue to
guide us as to what mountains are intended
here. For the site of Bether, so famous in the
post-biblical history of the Jews, and so disputed,
see Reland, pp. 639, 640; Rob. iii. 267-271;
Hamburger, RE. Abth. ii. s. u. Bethar. [G.] [W.]
BETHES'DA* (B-nBetrSd, as if A*JD
| rI&M, house of mercy, or NIB'S TVS, place
of the flowing of water; N. Bn8(a8d, place
of olives ; B. BrjBtraiSd, fishing-place ; Euseb.
BirfoBd ; Bethsaida), the Hebrew name of a
reservoir or tank (KoAupBriBpa, i.e. a swimming-
pool), with five " porches " (o-tooi), close upon
the sbeep-gate [E. V.] or market [A. V.] (iiti ttj
TrpofiaTiKfj : it will be observed that the word

BETHESDA

409

a The reading " Bethesda," though supported by the
Peshitto, has the weight of MS. authority against it ;
and R. V. gives in the margin the alternative readings
"Bethsaida" and "Bethzatha." The pool is not men
tioned by any Jewish writer.

market is supplied) in Jerusalem (John v. 2).
It should be noted that the Sinaitic Version and
Chrysostom, quoting John v. 2, read TrpoBartKr)
KoAupfinBpa, " sheep-pool ; " and that the Vul
gate has probatica piscina. Eusebius, the author
of the tract De Senuiitc, Cyril of Jerusalem,
and Jerome also write of Bethesda as the
" sheep-pool." The porches — i.e. cloisters or
colonnades — were extensive enough to accom
modate a large number of sick and infirm people,
whose custom it was to wait there for the
" troubling of the water " (r. 7).
There were other KoAvpB-nBpal or "swim-
min°--pools " at Jerusalem, such as the pool of
Siloam (John ix. 7, 11), the pools Struthion
and Am'ygdalon (Jos. B. J. v. 11, § 4), and the
pool of Solomon (B. J. v. 4, § 2). The KoAup-
Bt]Bpa was usually rectangular in form, open
to the air, and surrounded by "porches" or
cloisters b (o-tocJ), in which the bathers louuged
and undressed. Siloam had four such cloisters
(Itin. Hierosol.), of which remains have been
found; Bethesda had five, a peculiarity that
may be explained by comparing the statements
of Eusebius and Cyril. From the former we
gather that Bethesda was a double pool, and
from the latter (Horn, in Par. § 2) that it had
four cloisters round it and one in the middle.
We may, perhaps, then reconstruct Bethesda as
two pools closely adjoining each other, so as to
form a square or rectangle, with » cloister ou
each side and one in the centre between the two-
pools. Eusebius — though unfortunately he gives no-
clue to the situation of Bethesda —describes
it (OS.2 p. 251, 15) as a swimming-pool in.
Jerusalem, which is the sheep-poo/, formerly
having five porches ; and he identifies it with the
twin pools (iv tois Alpvais SiSiipois), of which
one was supplied by the periodical rains, while
the water of the other was of a reddish colour
(iretpoiviypevov), due, as the tradition then ran,
to the fact that the flesh of the sacrifices was
anciently washed there before offering, on which
account the pool was also called trpoBaTiKTji
(see, however, the comments of Lightfoot on this
view, in his Exercit on John v. 2). Eusebius's-
statement is partly confirmed by the Bordeaux
Pilgrim (A.D. 333), who, after mentioning in his
Itinerary " two large pools at the side of the
Temple ; that is, one on the right hand and one
on the left," states that " more within the city
there are twin pools, having five porches, which
are called Bethsaida," and he adds that the
water when agitated is of a ruddy colour (Itin.
Hierosol.). The writer of the tract De Semcnte (Migne,
xxviii. 164) says that the sheep-pool was in exist
ence in his day (circ. 320 a.d.), but that the five
stoae had been destroyed. Eucherius (De Loc.
Sanct.), 440 A.D., notices the twin pools, and the
ruddy colour of the water in one of them ; and
Theodosius, 530 a.d., places it about 100 paces
from the house of Pilate, and says (De Ter.
Sanct. viii.) that near, or in it according to
some MSS., there was a church dedicated to the-
Virgin. Antoninus states (Itin. xxvii.) that at
b Cloisters or colonnades round artificial tanks are-
common in tbe East. One example is the Taj Bowrce,
in the set of drawings of Beejapore published by the
East India Company.

410

BETHESDA

the time of his visit, 570 A.D., the pool was
choked with filth, and that in one of the porches
there was the Basilica of St. Mary. In the
next century the Mary-legend, now connected
with the Church of St. Anne, was fully estab
lished, and the placed was styled "the holy
Probatica in which the illustrious Anna brought
forth Mary " (Sophr. Anac. xx. ; cp. Joan. Dam.
In Nat. B. V. Mar. ; De Fide Orth. iv.).
Four sites have been proposed for Bethesda :—
1. The large reservoir called the Birkct Isrdil,
within the walls of the city, close by the St.
Stephen's gate and under the north-east wall of
the Haram area, is now shown as the modern
representative of Bethesda. This tradition,
however, does not appear to be older than the
13th century, for Brocardus, 1283 A.D., is the
first to distinctly apply the name Piscina Pro
batica to this pool ; the earlier historians of the
Crusades seem to refer to 2. The arguments
in favour of the Birkct Isrdil are, that the most

BETHESDA
probable position of the sheep-gate is at the N E
part of the city [Jerusalem], which applies
equally to 2 and 3 ; and that if this remark
able reservoir be not Bethesda, it is not easy
to see which of the ancient pools it represents.
2. A large pool adjacent to the Church of St.
Anne, which has recently been recovered (PEF
Qy. Stat. 1888, pp. 115-134). Several writers'
from William of Tyre onwards, allude to the
presence of water in this pool ; and in the Citez
de lherusalem, mention is made of a spring in
front of the church. In favour of this site
are, its close connexion with the Church of St.
Anne, and the birthplace, according to modern
tradition, of the Virgin ; the identity of sense
between Beit Hanna, the house of Anne and
Beth-Hesda, both meaning house of mercv or
compassion ; and the discovery in that place of
a marble foot with an inscription testifying to
the cure of a certain Pompeia Lucilia.
3. Sir C. Warren (Recovy. of Jerusm. pp. 196,

Pool of Bethesda-Birket ftrta. (As it appeared aW I860. The pool is now filled np, or nearly so.)

198) has identified the two souterrains near the
Convent of the Sisters of Sion with the Bethesda
of Eusebius and the Bordeaux Pilgrim ; and the
two large pools mentioned by the latter with
the Birket Isrdil and the pool which formerly
existed to the north of it. This identification
has the support of very early tradition ; and
the souterrains are situated in that part of the
city which at the time of the Gospel history
was known as Bezetha, a name which is only
another form of Bethzatha and Bezatha (see
Bordeaux Pilgrim, Appendix iii., P. P. Text
Society Series).
4. Robinson (i. 342-3), with whom Conder
agrees, suggests the " fountain of the Virgin,"
in the valley of the Kedron, a short dis
tance above the Pool of Siloam. In favour
of this are its situation, supposing the sheep-
gate to be at the south-east of the city, as
Lightfoot, Robinson, aud others suppose;" the

strange intermittent "troubling of the water"
caused by the periodical ebbing and flowing of
the supply ; and the fact that the Jews of the
present day bnthe in it when the water rises as
a cure for rheumatism. Against it are the
confined size of the pool; the difficulty of
fiuding room for a kolumbethra with its five
stoae ; and the absence of auy trace or tradition
of the existence of a pool in that locality (see
Barclay's detailed account, City, &c. pp. 516-
524 and 325-6).°
For a description of the Birket Isrdil, as dis-

0 May it not, however, be possible that the true
reading of John v. 2 is, "There is in Jerusalem, by the
sheep-pool, a building which is called in Hebrew
Bethesda, having five porches " ? In this case there would
be two distinct places, the pool and a building, analogous
to a modem hospital for sick poor, with five aisles or
covered galleries.

BETH-EZEL
closed by Sir C. Warren's excavations, see PEF.
Mem. of Jerusalem, pp. 122-126. [G.] [W.]
BETH-E'ZEL ("?¥Nn ITS, of uncertain
etymology [see Ges.] ; oT/cos ixopevos outijs ;
domus vidua), a place named only in Mic. i. 11.
It may have been situated in the plain of
Philistia ; but others identify it with Azel on
the Mount of Olives (Zech. xiv. 5. Cp. Riehm,
HBW. s. n.). [G.] [W.]
BETH-GA'DER (T[| '3, house ofthe wall;
B. BaiByaiSuv, A. BatByeSup; Bethgader), the
same place as Geder (Josh. xii. 13). It has
not been identified. [G.] [W.]
BETH-GA'MUL ("?-lDI '3, house of the
weaned; T.7 oIkos TatptiA, X. TapuAd; Beth-
gamul), a town of Moab, in the mishor or downs
east of Jordan ('¦ plain country," Jer. xlviii.
[LXX. ch. xxxi.] 23, cp. •<--. 21) ; apparently a
place of late date, since there is no trace of it
in the earlier lists of Num. xxxii. 35-38 and
Josh. xiii. 16-20. A place called Kh. Jemail,
nearly due east of Dibon, and not far from
Umm Rus'as, was visited by Tristram (Land
of Moab, p. 150). It occupies a conspicuous
position, and meets the requirements of the text.
Umm cl-Jemdl, mentioned by Burckhardt as
lying south of Busrah, is much too far to the
north. • [G.] [W.]
BETH-HACCE'EEM (DT?n '3, house of
the vineyard ; in Neh., X. BnBaxdp, B. BriBaxdp,
A. Bjj0oxx<W<*j m Jel'-> B. BaiBBaxappd, N.
BeBBa-, K1. Bappd. A. BirBBaxdp ; Bethacharam,
Bethacarcm ; R. V. " Beth-haccherem "), a town
which, like a few other places, is distinguished
by the application to it of the word pelec,
"£>B, A. V. " part" [R. V. " district "] (Neh. iii.
14). It had then a " ruler " called "IC. From
the other mention of it (Jer. vi. 1) we find that
it was used as a beacon-station, and that it was
near Tekoa. By Jerome (Comm. Jer. vi.) a village
named Bethacharma is said to have been on a
mountain between Tekoa and Jerusalem, a posi
tion in which the eminence known as the Frank
mountain (Herodium) stands conspicuous ; and
this has accordingly been suggested as Beth-
haccerem (Pococke, Rob. i. 480). The name is
at any rate a testimony to the early fruitfulness
of this part of Palestine.
Karem (Kapep) is one of the towns added in
the LXX. to the Hebrew text of Josh. xv. 59
[LXX. 59 a], as in the mountains of Judah, in the
district of Bethlehem. This is doubtless 'Ain
Kdrim, near Jerusalem, which may possibly
also be Beth-baccerem. [G.] [W.]
BETH-HA'EAN (Jin '3 ; B. BaiBapdv, A.
Ma.i8o.ppS. ; Betharan), one ofthe " fenced cities"
on the east of Jordan, "built" by the Gadites
(Num. xxxii. 36). It is named with Beth-
nimrah, and therefore is no doubt the same
place as Beth-aeam (accurately Beth-haram,
Josh. xiii. 27. See Dillmann,2 11. cc). The name
is not found in the lists of the towns of Moab
in Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. A Beit Haran
still remains among the ruined sites S. of the
Arnon (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 348).
[G.] [W]

BETH-HORON

411

BETH-HOG'LA and -HOGLAHpSjn '3,
Ges. house of partridge ; though Jerome gives
another interpretation, locus gyri, reading tho
name iwiV '3, and connects it with the
funeral races or dances at the mourning for
Jacob [Atad] : Bethagla) ; a place on the border
of Judah (Josh. xv. 6 ; B. BatBayAdap, A.
BoiflaAa) and of Benjamin (xviii. 19), to which
latter tribe it was reckoned to belong (xviii. 21,
B. BefleyaieS, A. BqBayAd). A magnificent spring
and a ruin between Jericho and the Jordan still
bear the names of 'Ain Hajlu and KUsr Hajla,
and arc doubtless on or near the old site (Rob. i.
544-6 ; see also PEF. Mem. iii. 213 ; Dillmann5
on Gen. 1. 11). The LXX. reading, BaiBayAadp,
may point to En-eglaim, a place which was cer
tainly near this locality. [G.] [W.]
BETH-HO'KON (pin '3, or flTI '3, and
once ph '3, place of the hollow; B. Tipuvelv, A.
BrjBapuv ; Beth-horon), the name of two towns
or villages, an "upper" Qlvlffl '3) and a
" nether " fl'Wnnn '3 ; Josh, ivi! 3, 5 ; 1 Ch.
vii. 24), on the road from Gibeon to Azekah
(Josh. x. 10, 11) and the Philistine plain (1 Mace.
iii. 24). Beth-horon lay on the boundary line
between Benjamin and Ephraim (Josh. xvi. 3, 5,
and xviii. 13, 14), was counted to Ephraim
(Josh. xxi. 22 ; 1 Ch. vii. 24), and given to the
Kohathites (Josh. xxi. 22 ; 1 Ch. vi. 68 [53]).
The road connecting the two places is me
morable in sacred history as the scene of two
of the most complete victories achieved by
the Jewish arms ; that of Joshua over the five
kings of the Amorites (Josh. x. ; Ecclus. xlvi. 6).
and that of Judas Maccabaeus over the forces of
Syria under Seron (1 Mace. iii. 13-24). Later
still, the Roman army under Cestius Gallus was
totally cut up at the same spot (Joseph. i?. Xii.
19, §§ 8, 9)-
There is no room for doubt that the two
Beth-horons still survive in the modern villages
olBcit'url -S- i ".il j ct-Tahta and el-Fdka,
which were first noticed by Dr. Clarke, and have
been since visited by Dr. Robinson, Dean Stanley,
and others (PEF. Mem. iii. 17, 86). Besides
the similarity of the name, and the fact that the
two places are still designated as " upper " and
" lower," all the requirements of the narrative
are fulfilled in this identification. The road is
still the direct one from the site which must
have been Gibeon (el-Jib) and from Michmash
(Mukkmds) to the Philistine plain on the one
hand, and Antipatris (Joseph. B. J. ii. 19, § 9)
on the other. On the mountain -which lies to
the southward of the nether village is still pre
served the name ( Ydlo) and the site of Ajalon,
so closely connected with the proudest memories
of Beth-horon ; and the long " descent " between
the two remains unaltered from what it was on
that great day which was " like no day before or
after it " (Josh. a. 14). See map p. 394.
The importance of the road on which the two
Beth-horons are situated, the main approach to
the interior of the country from the Philistine
plain, at once explains and justifies the frequent
fortification of these towns at different periods
of the history (1 K. ix. 17 ; 2 Ch. viii. 5; 1 Mace.
ix. 50 ; Judith iv. 4, 5). The road is now very

412

BETH-JESHIMOTH

rough, and little used; but, as late as the 16th
century, it was the principal and most frequented
line of communication between Jerusalem and
the coast. There are many traces of the Roman
paved road near Beth-horon. It leaves the main
north road at Tuleil el-Fid, 3£ miles from Jeru
salem, due west of Jericho, and, bending slightly
to the north, runs by the modern village of
el-Jib, the ancient Gibeon ; it then proceeds by
the Beth-horons in a direct line due west to
Jimzu [Gimzo] and Ludd [Lydda], where Jt
parts into three, diverging north to Kefr Saba
[Antipatris], south to Gaza, and west to Ydfa
[Joppa]. From Gibeon to the Upper Beth-horon is a
distance of about 4 miles of broken ascent and
descent. The ascent, however, predominates,
and this therefore appears to be the " going
up " to Beth-horon which formed the first stage
of Joshua's pursuit." With the upper village
the descent commences ; the road rough and
difficult even for the mountain-paths of Pales
tine : now over sheets of smooth rock flat as the
flagstones of a London pavement ; now over the
upturned edges of the limestone strata ; and now
amongst the loose rectangular stones," so charac
teristic of the whole of this district. There
are in many places steps cut, and other marks
of the path having been artificially improved.
But though rough, the way can hardly be called
" precipitous ; " still less is it a ravine (Stanley,
p. 208), since it runs for the most part along the
back of a ridge or watershed dividing wadys on
either hand. After about three miles of this
descent, a slight rise leads to the lower village
standing on its mamelon, — the last outpost of
the Benjamite hills, and characterised by the
date-palm inthe enclosure of the village mosque.
A short and sharp fall below the village, a few
undulations, and the road is amongst the dura
of the great corn-growing plain of Sharon.
This rough descent from the upper to the
lower Beit 'ur is the " going down to Beth-horon "
of the Bible narrative. Standing on the high
ground of the upper village, and overlooking
the wild scene, we may feel assured that it was
over this rough path that the Canaanites fled to
their native lowlands.
In a remarkable fragment of early history
(1 Ch. vii. 24. See note in Speaker's Comm.)
we are told that both the upper and lower towns
were built by a woman of Ephraim, Sheerah
[R. V.], who in the present state of the passage
appears as a granddaughter of the founder of
her tribe, and also as a direct progenitor of the
great leader with whose history the place is so
closely connected. [G.] [W.]
BETH-JESHI'MOTH, or -JESI'MOTH
(niD»2»n '3, in Numb. nbB»n, house of the

tt The statements of Dr. Robinson and Dean Stanley
on this point are 6omewhat at variance ; but although
the road from Gibeon to Beit 'Ur cl-Fdka is by no means
a uniform rise, yet the impression is certainly that of an
ascent ; and Beit 'dr, though perhaps no higher than the
ridge between it and Gibeon, yet looks higher, because
it is so much above everything beyond it.
b Iu the traditions of the Jews these stones are be
lieved to be those which were showered from heaven on
the routed Canaanites. Whoever beholds them is bound
to bless God (Otho, p. 83).

BETH-LEHEM
wastes; B. AltriptiB, A. 'AtriptiB; Bethsimoth).
a town or place east of Jordan, in the " deserts "
(TO,"}]}) of Moab ; that is, on the lower level at
tjie south end of the Jordan valley (Num. xxxiii.
49) ; and named with Ashdoth-pisgah and Beth-
peor. It was one of the limits of the encamp
ment of Israel before crossing the Jordan.
Later it was allotted to Reuben (Josh. xii. 3
B. 'Ao-eiptiB, A. 'Aai-, Fvld. A1V1-; xiii. 2o'
B. BaiBBatreivtiB, A. Bntripoi8 ; Bethjesimoth),
but came at last into the hands of Moab, and
formed one of the cities which were " the glory
of the country " (Ezek. xxv. 9). Eusebius
(OS.2 p. 247, 81) mentions BriBatripoiB as a place
near the Dead Sea, opposite to and 10 miles
from Jericho. It is now probably 'Ain Suweimeh,
a small mound near the N.E. corner of the
Dead Sea, covered with chips of pottery and <rlass
(see Dillmann2 on Numb. xxi. 20). [G.] [W.]
BETH-LEBA'OTH (JTIN^ '3, house of
lionesses ; B. BaBapuB, A. BatBaABdB ; Bethle-
baoth), a town in the lot of Simeon (Josh. xix.
6), and therefore in the extreme south of Judah
(xv. 32, Lebaoth), probably in the wild countiv
to which its name bears witness. In 1 Ch. iv. ol
the name is Beth-Birei. [G.] [W.]
BETH-LEHEM (Orh JV3, Ges.=tas5 of
bread ; BatBAeep or BnBAeep ; Bethlehem). 1. One
of the oldest towns In Palestine, already in
existence at the time of Jacob's return to the
country. Its earliest name was Ephkatk or
Epheatah (see Gen. xxxv. 16, xlviii. 7; Josh.
xv. 59, LXX.), and it is not till long after the
occupation of the country by the Israelites that
we meet with it under its new name of Beth
lehem. The ancient name lingered as a familiar
word in the mouths of the inhabitants of the
place (Ruth i. 2, iv. 11; 1 Sam. xvii. 12),
and in the poetry of the Psalmists and Prophets
(Ps. exxxii. 6 ; Mic. v. 2) to a late period.
[Ephrath.] In the genealogical lists of 1 Ch.
it recurs, and Ephrath appears as a person—
the wife of Caleb and mother of Hur ("1-111 ;
ii. 19, 50, iv. 4); the title of "father of
Bethlehem " being bestowed both on Hur (iv. 4)
and on Salma, the son of Hur (ii. 51, 54). The
name of Salma recalls a very similar name in
timately connected with Bethlehem, namely, the
father of Boaz, Salmah (nofe, Ruth iv. 20;
A. V. and R. V. "Salmon") or Salmon
(flD^t', v. 21). Hur is also named in Ex.
xxxi'. 2, and 1 Ch. ii. 20, as the father of Uri
the father of Bezaleel.
After the conquest Bethlehem appeal's under
its own name Bethlehem-judah (Judg. xvii. 7 ;
1 Sam. xvii. 12 ; Ruth i. 1, 2), possibly, though
hardly probably, to distinguish it from the small
and remote place of the same name in Zebulun.
As the Hebrew text now stands, however, it
is absent from the list ofthe towns of Judah in
Joshua xv., but it is retained in the original
text preserved by the LXX., and forms one of
the eleven names which that Version inserts
between vv. 59 and 60 [in Swete's ed. v. 59 a.
Cp. Dillmann2 in loco]. Among these it occurs
between Theko (Tekoa), QeKu (cp. 1 Ch. iv. 4.
5), and Phagor (? Peor, $ayt&p).

BETH-LEHEM

BETH-LEHEM

413

A remarkable obscurity rests over Bethlehem
throughout the whole of the Sacred history.
Not to speak of the later event which' has
made the name of Bethlehem so familiar to
the whole Christian and Mussulman world, it
was, as the birthplace of David, the scene of a
most important occurrence to ancient Israel.
And yet from some cause or other it never rose
to any eminence, nor ever became the theatre
of any action or business. It is difficult to say
why Hebron and Jerusalem, with no special
associations in their favour, were fixed on as
capitals, while the place in which the great
ideal king, the hero and poet of the nation, drew
his first breath and spent his youth, remained
an " ordinary Judaean village." No doubt this
is in part owing to what will be noticed
presently — the isolated nature of its position ;
but that circumstance did not prevent Gibeon,
Ramah, and rmany other places situated on
-eminences from becoming famous, and is not
sufficient to account entirely for such silence
respecting a place strong by nature, and so im
portant as a military position that it was at one
time occupied bv a Philistine garrison (2 Sam.
.xxiii. 14 ; 1 Ch. "xi. 16).
Though not named as a Levitical city, it was
apparently u residence of Levites, for from it
came the young man Jonathan, the son of
Gershom, who became the first priest of the
Danites at their new northern settlement
{Judg. xvii. 7, xviii. 30), and from it also came
the concubine of the other Levite whose death
at Gibeah caused the destruction of the tribe of
Benjamin (xix. 1-9).
The Book of Ruth is a page from the domestic
history of Bethlehem : the names, almost the
very persons, of the Bethlehemites are there
brought before us ; we are allowed to assist at
their most peculiar customs, and to witness the
very springs of those events which have conferred
immortality on the name of the place. Many
•of these customs were doubtless common to
Israel in general, but one thing must have been
peculiar to Bethlehem. What most strikes the
view, after the charm of the general picture has
lost its first hold on us, is the intimate con
nexion of the place with Moab. Of the origin
of this connexion no record exists, no hint of it
has yet been discovered, but it continued . in
force for at least a century after the arrival of
Ruth, till the time when her great grandson
could find no more secure retreat for his parents
from the fury of Saul, than the house of the
king of Moab at Mizpeh (1 Sam. xxii. 3, 4. Jesse).
But whatever its origin, here we find the con
nexion in full vigour. When the famine oc
curs, the natural resource is to go to the country
of Moab and " continue there ; " the surprise of
the city is occasioned not at Naomi's going but
at her return. Ruth was " not like " the hand
maidens of Boaz — some difference of feature or
complexion there was doubtless which distin
guished the " children of Lot " from the children
-of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; but yet she gleans
after the reapers in the field without molesta
tion or remark, and when Boaz in the most
public manner possible proclaims his intention
of taking the stranger to be his wife, no voice of
remonstrance is raised, but loud congratulations
are expressed : the parallel in the life of Jacob
occurs at once to all, and a blessing is invoked

on the head of Ruth the Moabitess, that she may
be like the two daughters of the Mesopotamian
Nahor, " like Rachel and like Leah, who did
build the house of Israel." This, in the face of
the strong denunciations of Moab contained in
the Law, is, to say the least, very remarkable.
The elevation of David to the kingdom does
not appear to have affected the fortunes of his
native place. The residence of Saul acquired a
new title specially from him, by which it was
called even down to the latest time of Jewish
history (2 Sam. xxi. 6 ; Joseph, B. J. v. 2, § 1,
TaBaBo-aovAif), but David did nothing to dignify
Bethlehem, or connect it with himself. The
only touch of recollection which he manifests
for it, is that recorded in the well-known story
of his sudden longing for the water of the well
by the gate of his childhood (2 Sam. xxiii. 15).
The few remaining casual notices of Bethlehem
in the Old Testament may be quickly enume
rated. It was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi.
6). By the time of the Captivity, the Inn (?) of
Chimham by (?SS = " close to ") Bethlehem,
appears to have become the recognised point of
departure for travellers to Egypt (Jer. xii. 17)
— a caravanserai or khan (mil! ; see Stanley,
App. § 90 ; R. V. " Geruth-Chimham ; " marg.
the lodging-place of C. See QPB.3 in loco),
perhaps the .identical one which existed there
at the time of our Lord (KaTaAupa), like those
which still exist all over the East at the stations
of travellers. Lastly, " children of Bethlebem,"
to the number of 123, returned with Zerub
babel from Babylon (Ezra ii. 21 ; Neh. vii. 26).
In the New Testament Bethlehem retains its
distinctive title of Bethlehem-judah * (Matt. ii.
1, 5), and once, in the announcement of the
Angels, the "city of David "b (Luke ii. 4;
cp. John vii. 42 ; Kup-q ; castellum). Its
connexion with the history of Christ is too
familiar to all to need any notice here : the
remark should merely be made that as in the
earlier history less is recorded of the place after
the youth of David than before, so in the later,
nothing occurs after the birth of our Lord to
indicate that any additional importance or in
terest was fastened on the town. In fact, the
passages just quoted, and the few which follow,
exhaust the references to it in the N. T. (Matt.
ii. 6,8, 16; Luke ii. 15).
After this nothing is heard of it till near the
middle of the 2nd century, when Justin Martyr
speaks of our Lord's birth as having taken
place " in a certain cave very close to the
village," which cave he goes on to say had been
specially pointed out by Isaiah as "a sign."
The passage from Isaiah to which he refers is
xxxiii. 13-19 ; and in the LXX. Version of v. 16
occurs the following — " He shall dwell in the
lofty cave of the strong rock " (Justin. Dial. c.
Tryph. §§ 70, 78). Such is the earliest supple
ment we possess to the meagre indications of the
* In the Greek copies of St. Matthew the name is
given as ttjs 'lov5aivx (Westcott and Hort) ; but in the
more ancient Syriac recension published by Mr. Cureton
it is, as in the O. T'., Bethlehem-judah.
b Observe that this phrase has lost the meaning which
it bears in the 0. T., where it specially and invariably
signifies the fortress of the Jebusites, the fastness of
Zion (2 Sam. v. 1, 9 ; 1 Ch. xi. 5, 1).

¦114

BETH-LEHEM

narrative of the Gospels; and while it is not
possible to say with certainty that the tradition
is true, there is no reason for discrediting it.
There is nothing in itself improbable — as there
certainly is in many cases where the traditional
scenes of events are laid iu caverns — in the
supposition that the place in which Joseph

BETH-LEHEM
and Mary took shelter, and where was the
" manger " or " stall " (whatever the tpi-rvn may
have been),0 was a cave in the limestone rock
of which the eminence of Bethlehem is com
posed (see Speaker's Comm. on Luke ii. 7). Uor
is it necessary to assume that Justin's quotation
from Isaiah is the ground of an inference of

^Z^V '? may equa11? be an authority happily
tradition * ™ SUPP°rt °f the e-™tinS

that cavern, is a very wide one. Even in the

But the step from the belief that the Nativity • * K is as wel1 t0 rememl>cr that the " stable," and
may have taken place in a cavern to tho fc-li/f i lts acoomP»niments, are the creations ofthe imagination
that the present subterraneous vault 01 crypt is | £rr°a" ^"^ W"h "° m^ttnrDiheG^a

BETH-LEHEM
150 years that had passed when Justin wrote, so
much had happened at Bethlehem that it is
difficult to believe that the true spot could have
been accurately preserved. In that interval —
an interval as long as that between the landing
of William III. and the battle of Waterloo— not
only had the neighbourhood of Jerusalem been
overrun and devastated by the Romans at the
destruction of the city, but the Emperor Hadrian,
amongst other desecrations, had actually planted
a grove of Adonis at the spot (Iikus inumbrabat
Thamuz id est Adonidis, Jerome, ad Paul. 58, 3).
This grove remained at Bethlehem for no less
than 180 years, viz. from A.D. 135 till 315.
Cyril of Jerusalem, born 317, says, " Bethlehem
a few years ago was a wild wood" (Catcch. xii.
20). After this the place was purged of its
abominations by Constantine, who about A.D.
330 erected the present churcli (Euseb. Yit
Const. 3, 40. See Tobler, p. 102, note). Conceive
the alterations in the ground implied in this
statement! — a heathen sanctuary established
and a grove planted on the spot — that grove and
those erections demolished to make room for the
Basilica of Constantine 1

BETH-MAKOABOT1I

415

The modern town of Beit Lahm

(^ ^)

lies to the east of the main road from Jerusalem
to Hebron, 6 miles from the former. It is a
well-built stone town, standing on a narrow
limestone ridge which runs east and west. The
hill has a deep valley on the north, and another
on the south. The west end shelves down
gradually ; but the east end is bolder, and over
looks a plain of some extent. The slopes of the
ridge are in many parts covered by terraced
gardens, shaded by rows of olives with figs and
vines, the terraces sweeping round the contour
of the hill with great regularity. Towards the
eastern end of the ridge is the open market
place, and beyond it spreads the noble Basilica
of St. Helena, "half church, half fort," now
embraced by its three convents — Greek, Latin,
and Armenian.
This is not the place for a description of the
" holy places" of Bethlehem. All that can be said
about them has been well said by Lord Nugent
(i. 13-21) and Dean Stanley (pp. 438-442. See
also, though interspersed with much irrelevant
matter, Stewart, pp. 246, 334-5). The archi
tecture of the church is described by De Vogue
(Les Eglises de la Terre Sainte, pp. 46-117) ; see
also Fergusson's History of Architecture,. vol. ii.
288-290." One fact, of great interest— probably
the most genuine about the place — is associated
with a portion of the crypt of this church ;
namely, that here, "beside what he believed to
be the cradle ofthe Christian faith," St. Jerome
lived for more than thirty years, leaving a
lasting monument of his sojourn in the Vulgate
translation of the Bible.
In the plain below and east of the convent,
about a mile from the walls, is the traditional
scene of the Angels' appearance to the shepherds,

d Dean Stanley mentions, and recurs characteristically
to the interesting fact, that the present roof is con
structed from English oak given to the church by
Edward IV. (S. ti P., pp. 141, 439). Tobler, p. 104,
note, adduces the authority of Eutychius that the present
church is the work of Justinian, who destroyed that of
Constantine as not sufficiently magnificent.

a very small poor village called Beit Sahur, to
the east of which are the unimportant remains
of a Greek church. These buildings and ruins
are surrounded by olive-trees (Seetzen, ii. 41,
42). Here in Arculfs time, "by the tower of
Ader," was a church dedicated to the three
shepherds, and containing their monuments
(Arculf, p. 6). But this plain is too rich ever to
have been allowed to lie in pasturage, and it is
more likely to have been then occupied, as it is
now aud as it doubtless was in the days of Ruth,
by corn-fields, and the sheep to have been kept
on the hills."
The traditional well of David (2 Sam. xxiii.
15), a group of three cisterns, is on a flat rock
terrace to the north-west of the present town.
About half a mile east of the convent there is a
small spring, but the principal water supply is
from a shaft over the Jerusalem aqueduct, on
the south side of tho hill ; there is also a large
well in the monastery.
The population of Beit Lahm is about 5,000
souls, almost entirely Christians. All travellers
(e.g. Eothen) remark the good looks ofthe women,
the substantial clean appearance of the houses,
and the general air of comfort (for an Eastern
town) which prevails.
2. Dr£> '3 ; B. BaiBpdv, A. BaiBAeep ; Beth
lehem. A town in the portion of Zebulun named
nowhere but in Josh. xix. 15. It has been re
covered by Dr. Robinson at Beit Lahm, about six
miles we^t of Nazareth, and lying between that
town and the main road from Akka to Gaza.
Robinson characterises it as " a very miserable
village, none more so in all the country, and
without a trace of antiquity except the name "
(iii. 113). It was probably the birthplace of
Ibzan, the judge. [G.] [W.]
BETH'LEHEMITE, THE Qtxhr\ IV3;
Bethlehemites). A native or inhabitant of Beth
lehem. Jesse (LXX. ali ter in 1 Sam. xvi. 1,
BA. B-qBAeepe'iTTis in 1 Sam. xvi. 18, A. B-qB-
AeepeiTTjs in 1 Sam. xvii. 58, B. om.) and
Elhanan (2 Sam. xxi. 19, B. BatBAeepeirris, A.
BTjBAeeptTTjs) were Bethlehemites. Another
Elhanan, son of Dodo of Bethlehem, was one of
David's guard (2 Sam. xxiii. 24 ; LXX. aliter).
[Elhanan.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
BETH-LO'MOM (A. BatBAuptiv, B. PayeB-
Aupuv ; Sepolemon), 1 Esd. v. 17. [Beth
lehem, 1.] [G.] [W]
BETH-MA'ACHAH (rDl?0 '3, and with
the article, 'SD '3 ; B. BatBpaxd, A. B-qBpaxd ;
Bethmaacha), a place named only in 2 Sam. xx.
14, 15, and there occurring more as a definition
of the position of Abel than for itself (see Driver
in loco). It is said to be now represented by Abi,
a village six and a half miles west of Banias
in the north of Palestine (Harper, The Bible
and modern Discoveries, p. 313). [G.] [W.]
BETH-MABCA'BOTH (n'331»n '3, house
of the chariots, in Chronicles, without the ar-

0 'AypauAoCrrc? (Luke ii. 8 ; A. V. and E, V. "abid
ing in the field ") has no special reference to " field "
more than hill; but means rather "passing the night
out of doors." Xupa also means a " district " or neigh
bourhood, with no special topographical signification.

416

BETH-ME0N

tide : in Josh., B. BaiBpaxepeB, A. BaiBappap-
XaaBtiB ; in Ch., B. BaiBpapeipuB, A. iv BaiB'-
papxaBtiB: Bethmarchaboth), one of the towns
of Simeon, situated to the extreme south of
Judah, with Ziklag and Hormah (Josh. xix. 5 j
1 Ch. iv. 31). What "chariots" can have been
in use in this rough and thinly inhabited part of
the country, at a time so early as that at which
these lists of towns purport to have been made
out, we know not. At a later period — that of
Solomon — " chariot cities " are named, and a
regular trade with Egypt in chariots was carried
on (1 K. ix. 19 = 2 Ch. viii. 6 ; 1 K. £ 29 = 2 Ch.
i. 17), which would naturally require depots or
stopping-places on the road " up " to Palestine
(Stanley, p. 160). In the parallel list (Josh. xv. 31),
Madmannah (LXX. t/lauapelp) occurs in place of
Bethmarcaboth ; possibly the latter was substi
tuted for the former after the town had become
the resort of chariots (cp. Dillmann,2 I. c).
[G.] [W.]
BETH-MEO'N (|'WD '3 ; oTkos Mativ; Beth-
maon), Jer, xlviii. 23. A contracted form of
Beth-eaal-meon. [G.] [W.]
BETH-ME'BHAK (pn~]»n fl'S ; iv oXku
Tip paKpdv; procul a domo). The A. V. translates,
" a place that was far off" ; R. V. as the name
above, but in margin the Far House (see
MV.11). A place (2 Sam. xv. 17) outside Jeru
salem at which David tarried, when fleeing from
Absalom, that he might see his servants, and
those who were to accompany him, pass by.
There is no clue to its exact position. [W.]
BETH-NIM'EAH (HIDJ n*2, Ges. house
of limpid and wholesome water: in Num., B.
Nappdp, A. 'ApBpdv; in Josh., B. BaiBavaBpd,
A. BnBapvd : Bethnemra), one of the " fenced
cities " on the east of the Jordan taken and
" built " by the tribe of Gad (Num. xxxii. 36)
and described as lying " in the valley " (pt2V2)
beside Beth-haran (Josh. xiii. 27). In Num.
xxxii. 3 (B. NapBpd, A. 'ApBpdp, F. Nappd) it
is named simply Nimrah. By Eusebius and
Jerome (OS.2 pp. 136, 1; 137, 19; 246,
42, s. nn. B-qBvappdv, Bi)BvapBpls, Bethamnaram,
and Bethnemra) the village is snid to have been
still standing five miles north of Libias (Beth-
haran); and Eusebius further mentions (OS.2
p. 278, 22, s. n. NeBpd) that it was a large
place, Ktip-q peyitmi, in Batanaea, and called
NaBapd. It is now Tell Nimrin, on the south side of
and close to the perennial stream of Nahr
Nimrin, the Arab appellation of the lower end
of the Wddg Sh'aib, where the waters of that
valley discharge themselves into the Jordan,
close to one of the regular fords a few miles
¦above Jericho. The mound is surrounded by
sidr groves, and the stream is fringed with
canes (Conder, MS. Notes; Morrill, East of
Jordan, p. 207). The Wddy Sh'aib runs back up
into the eastern mountains, as far as es-Salt.
Its name (the modern form of Hobab ?) connects
it with the wanderings of the children of Israel,
and a tradition still clings to the neighbourhood
that it was down this valley they descended to
the Jordan (Seetzen, ii. 377).
It seems to have escaped notice how fully the
requirements of Bethabara are met in the cir-

BETH-PHAGE
cumstances of Bethnimrah — its abundance of
water and its situation close to "the region round
about Jordan" (r) -irepixupos tou 'lolbdvov ie
the Ciccar of the 0. T., the Oasis of Jericho')'
immediately accessible to "Jerusalem and all
Judaea " (John i. 28 ; Matt. iii. 5 ; Mark i 5)
by the direct and ordinary road from the capital
Add to this, what is certainly a confirmation
of this suggestion, that in the LXX. (B.) 0f
Josh. xiii. 27 the name of Bethnimrah is found
almost exactly assuming the form of Bethabara
— BaiBavaBpd (see above).
The " Waters of Nimrim," which are named
in the denunciations of Moab by Isaiah (xv. 6)
and Jeremiah (xlviii. 34), may from the contest
be the brook which still bears the same name
at the south-east part of the Dead Sea. [Nim
rim.] A similar name (signifying, however in
Arabic, "panther") is not uncommon on the
east of the Jordan. [G,] r^n
BETHO'RON (B. BaiBupuv; A. BeBtopi;
Vulg. om.), Judith iv. 4. [Beth-hobon.]
BETH-PA'LET (D$>3 '3, Ges. hom of
flight; in Josh., B. BaupdAaS, A. BtuBfaAig j
Bethplielet; R. V. Beth-pelet), a town among
those in the extreme south of Judah, named
in Josh. xv. 27, and Neh. xi. 26 (BA. om.,
^c.an,B BriBtpaAr'), with Moladah and Beer
sheba. In the latter place it is Bethphelet
(so Vulgate). Its remains have not yet been
discovered. [G.] [W.]
BETH-PAZ'ZEZ, Q*tt3 '3, Ges.=hom of
dispersion ; B. Bripo-atpt)s, A. BatBtpatr-iie ; Beth-
pheses), a town of Issachar named with En-
haddah (Josh. xix. 21), and of which nothing is
known. [G.] [W.]
BETH-PEO'E (lira JV3; ohos So^o;
in Josh., B. BaiBtpoyt&p, A. BeB- ; fanum Phogor,
Phogor, Bethphogor ; in OS.2 p. 156, 20, Betl-
fogor), a place, no doubt, dedicated to the god'
Baalpeor, on the east of Jordan, opposite (aireV-
avTt) Jericho, and six miles above Libias or Beth-
haran (Eusebius, OS.2 p. 247, 78). It was in
the possession of the tribe of Reuben (Josh. xiii.
20). Iu the Pentateuch the name occurs in a
formula by which one of the last halting-places
of the children of Israel is designated — "the
ravine (N*in) over against (7-10) Beth-peor''
(Deut. iii.' 29 ; iv. 46). In this ravine Moses
was probably buried (xxxiv. 6).
Here, as in other cases, Beth-Peor may be
an abbreviation for Beth-Baal-Peor (cp. W. . E.
Smith, Religion of the Semites, i. 93, n. 2).
Conder (Heth and Moab, p. 143) places Beth-
peor on a narrow ridge S. of el-Maslubtyeh;
Tristram (Land of Moab, p. 305) on the ridge
N. of Jebel Neba, Nebo. Cp. Dillmann2 on Num.
xxiii. 28. [G.] [W.]
BETH-PHAGE (BeBtpayri and Br\6tpayri\
Bethphage; »|B '3 [Delitzsch, Heb. N. T.\
house of unripe figs), the name of a place on
the Mount of Olives, on the road between
Jericho and Jerusalem. From the two being
twice mentioned together, it was apparently
close to Bethany (Matt. xxi. 1; Mark xi. lj
Luke xix. 29) ; and from its being named first

BETH-PHELET
of the two in the narrative of a journey
from east to west, it may be presumed
that it lay, if anything, to the eastward of
Bethany. The fact of our Lord's making
Bethany His nightly lodging-place (Matt. xxi.
17, &c.) is no confirmation of this (as Winer
would have it) ; since He would doubtless take
up His abode in a place where He had friends,
even though it were not the first place at which
He arrived on the road. No remains which
could answer to this position have however been
found (Rob. i. 433), aud the traditional site is
above Bethany, halfway between that village
and the top of the mount.
By Eusebius and Jerome, and also by Origen,
the place was known, though no indication of
its position is given ; by Eusebius (OS.2 p, 251,
9) it is called Kup-q, bv Jerome (OS.2 p. 142, 1)
villula. They describe it as a village of the
priests, possibly from " Beth-phace," signifying
in Syriac the " house of the jaw," and the
jaw in the sacrifices being the portion of the
priests (Reland, p. 653). L;ghtfoot's theory,
grounded on the statements of the Talmudists,
is extraordinary : that Bethphage was the
name of a district reaching from the foot of
Olivet to the wall of Jerusalem (but see
Reland, p. 652 ; Hug, Einl. i. 18, 19). Schwarz
(pp. 263—4) and Barclay (in his map) appear
to agree in placing Bethphage on the southern
shoulder of the " Mount of Offence," above
the village of Siloam, and therefore west of
Bethany. The mediaeval Bethphage was discovered in
1877 on the road from the Mount of Olives to
Bethany (PEFQy. Stat 1878, p. 51). Certain
passages in the Talmud (Tal. Bab. Menachoth,
xi. 2 ; 78 6) seem to indicate that Bethphage
marked, on the east', the Sabbatic zone round
Jerusalem ; and Ganneau proposes (PEFQy. Stat.
1878, p. 60) to identify it with Kefr ct-Tur,
the village of the Mount of Olives, which is at
the required distance from the city.
The name of Bethphage, the signification of
which as given above is generally accepted, is,
like those of Bethany, Caphenatha, Bezetha, and
the Mount of Olives itself, a testimony to the
ancient fruitfulness of this district (Stanley,
S. <y P. p. 187). [G.] [W.]
BETH-PHE'LET (R. V. Beth-pelet), Neh.
xi. 26. [Beth-palet.]
BETH-RA'PHA(Na-J JV3, house of Rapha,
of uncertain etymology ; B. 6 BaBpaia, A. BaB-
petpd ; Bethrapha), a name which occurs in the
genealogy of Judah as the son of Esh-ton (1 Ch.
iv. 12 only). There is a Rapha in the line of
Benjamin and elsewhere, but no apparent con
nexion exists between those and this, nor has
the name been identified as belonging to any
place. [G.] [W.]
BETH-BEHO'B (3'irn IT'S, liouse of
Rechob, or of room; in Judg. B. 6 oIkos Pad/3,
A. Tti0; Rohob).
1. A place described as being "far from
Zidon," and as having near it the valley in
which lay the town of Laish or Dan (Judg.
xviii. 28). It is probably the same as Rehob, a
place mentioned (Num. xiii. 21 ; LXX. v. 22,
B. 'PadB, A. 'PottiB, F. 'PotiB) as the extreme |
bible dict. — VOL. I.

BETH-SAIDA

417

point reached by the spies, and used apparently
as Dan was afterwards, to denote approximately
the northern limit of the Promised Land. Dr.
Robinson conjectures (iii. 371) that this ancient
place is represented by the modern Hunin, a
fortress commanding the plain of the Huleh, in
which the city of Dan (Tell el-Kddy) lay. It
may, however (see Dillmann2 on Num. l. c),
as has been suggested in the case of the neigh
bouring town of Abel-Beth-Maacah, have been
a colony or offshoot from the Aramean state
of Beth-rehob (2 Sam. x. 6). It must not be
confounded with two towns of the name of
Rehob in the territory of Asher. [Rehob.]
2. 'PotiB. An Aramean state the soldiers
of which were hired by the Ammonites, in con
junction with those of Zobah, Maacah, and
Ishtob (the men of Tob), to fight against David
(2 Sam. x. 6). In v. 8 it is called Rehob
(A. 'Poo;8) ; and in 1 Ch. xix. 6 Aram-Naharaim
(A. V. and LXX. " Mesopotamia ") takes the
place of Beth-rehob and Ishtob (see Speaker's
Comm. and Klostermann on 2 Sam. x. 6). It lay
apparently to the S. of Zobah, and bordered on
the Euphrates. [Aram (1).] Some authorities
(see Dillmann,2 1. c), however, think that it is
tho same as the Beth-rehob of Judg. xviii. 28,
and the Rehob of Num. xiii. 21. [Rehob.]
Hadadezer the king of Zobah is said to .have-
been the son of Rehob (2 Sam. viii. 3, 12 ; BA.
'PadB). [G,] [W.J
BETH-SAIDA (BvBtraXSd ; 1jj_. A.«-t
a fishing place, " sporting lodge ; '' Bethsaida),
the name of one or possibly two places in
Northern Palestine.
" Bethsaida of Galilee,'7 a city (irdAts), was-
the native place of Andrew, Peter, and Philip
(John i. 44 ; xii. 21), and perhaps situated in
the land of Gennesareth (tt/v yriv T. ; Mark vi.
45, cp. v. 53). It was evidently not far from
Capernaum and Chorazin (Matt. xi. 21 ; Luke
x. 13 ; and cp. Mark vi. 45 with John vi. 11) ;
and, if the interpretation of the name is to
be trusted, close to the water's edge. By Jerome
(Comm. in Esai. ix. 1) and Eusebius (OS.2 p. 251,.
7) these towns and Tiberias are all mentioned
together as lying on the shore of the lake.
Epiphanius (adv. Haer. ii.) says of Bethsaida
and Capernaum, ov paKpdv 'ovtuv Tip Siao-TT)-
pa,Ti. Wilibald (A.D. 722) went from Magdalum.
to Capernaum, thence to Bethsaida, and then-
to Chorazin, or possibly, from the context, to
Gergesa, now Khersa, on the eastern shore of
the lake. These ancient notices, however,.
though they fix its general situation, do not
contain any indication of its exact position ; and
as its name and all memory of its site have
perished, no positive identification can be made-
of it.
The difficulty experienced in fixing the site of
Bethsaida is due, in great measure, to the un
certainty in which the question whether there
were two places of that name, or only one, is
still involved.
I. The theory that there were two Bethsaidas
wa3 first put forward by Reland (p. 653), and
it has since been adopted by Robinson, Stanley,
Tristram, and other authorities. The arguments
in its favour are : — (a) That John (xii. 21) men
tions a Bethsaida of Galilee, which Mark (vi.
45, 53) seems to place in Gennesareth ; whilst
2 E

418

BETH-SAIDA

Josephus alludes to a Bethsaida in Lower
Gaulonitis, which was on the Lake of Gen
nesareth, and near the Jordan. This place,
formerly a village (Ktipn), was rebuilt and
adorned by Philip the tetrarch, and raised to
the dignity of a town under the name of Julias,
after the daughter of the Emperor (Ant xviii.
2, § 1 ; Vit. 71 ;—B. J. ii. 9, § 1 ; iii. 10, § 7).
Here Philip died, and was, perhaps, buried
(Ant. xviii. 4, § 6). Pliny (v. 15) and Jerome
(Comm. on Matt. xvi. 13) both speak of Julias
as east of Jordan, (b) That in a narrative of the
same event, the feeding of the five thousand,
Luke (ix. 10) places the scene of the miracle at
Bethsaida, whilst Mark (vi. 45) states, that the
disciples were told "to go to the other side
before to Bethsaida," after the miracle had been
performed. II. On the other hand, (a) tbe words (A. V.)
" a desert place belonging to " a city called
Bethsaida are omitted in the Sinaitic Version of
Luke ix. 10, in a very ancient Syriac recension
(the Nitrian) published by Mr. Cureton, by
Westcott and Hort, and by R. V. ; (b) no ancient
author or pilgrim mentions two Bethsaidas ;
and (c) the Sinaitic Version, in a remarkable
[" but quite arbitrary "] reading of John vi. 23
(see Westcott in Speaker's Comm. p. xcii.), de
scribes the place where the five thousand were
fed as being near Tiberias. This view is confirmed
by Arculf, who places the scene of the miracle
on the grassy plain behind 'Ain Barideh (E. T.
p. 9), and who travelled before any motive could
have arisen for the transference of the site from
the eastern to the western shore of the lake.
The miracle took place in a t6ttos ep-qpos (Mark
vi. 31, 32) — a retired spot covered with a pro
fusion of green grass (John vi. 3, 10 ; Mark vi.
39 ; Matt. xiv. 19). When evening was come,
Matthew says (xiv. 22, 34) that the disciples
were directed to go before " unto the other
side," and that " they came into the land of
Gennesareth " ; Mark (vi. 45-53) that they were
" to go to the other side before unto Beth
saida," and that "they came into the land of
Gennesareth " ; and John (vi. 17-21) that they
"went over the sea toward Capernaum," and
that, after the storm, " immediately the ship
was at the land whither they went." It is,
perhaps, impossible to completely reconcile
these statements ; but if 'Ain Barideh were the
starting-point, Tell Hum, Capernaum, and the
mouth of the Jordan, Bethsaida Julias, would be
nearly in the same direction, and it is possible
that, after having started for Bethsaida, the
wind and waves of the storm may have driven
the boat out of its course, and obliged the
disciples to land near Khan Minyeh, in the land
of Gennesareth. The arguments in favour of
one Bethsaida are given by Wilson (Recov. of
Jerusalem, pp. 375-387) and Thomson (Land and
the Book, p. 373).
If Dalmanutha (Mark viii. 10) were on the
west side of the lake, then the village mentioned
in v. 22 » must have been Bethsaida Julias ;
because in the interval Christ had departed by
ship to the other side (v. 13). And with this well

» The ubb of the word Ktip-q in this place is remark
able Stanley suggests that its old appellation had
stuck to it, even after the change in Its dignity (S. it P.
App. (j 8B).

BETH-SHEAN
accords the mention immediately after of the
villages of Caesarea Philippi (v. 27), and of the
" high mountain " of the Transfiguration (ix. 2)
which, as Stanley has ingeniously suggested "'
was not the traditional spot, but a part of the
Hermon range somewhere above the source of
the Jordan (S. and P. p. 399).
The advocates of two Bethsaidas place the
Galilean town at et-Tdbigah, on the shore of the
lake between Khan Minyeh and Tell Hum
except Ritter, Seetzen, and Socin, who identify
it with Khan Minyeh, and Bethsaida Julias at
et-Tell, a ruin on the hillside, east of Jordan
where the river leaves the mountains. If there
was only one Bethsaida, it was probably near
tne mouth of the Jordan, and perhaps, like
Kerak (Taricheae), surrounded by the river, and
so liable to be included at one period in Galilee
and at another in Gaulonitis. [G.] [W.]
BETH-SAMOS (B. BaiTatrptiv, A. Bmfl-
ao-ptiB; Cebethamus), 1 Esd. v. 18. [Beth-az-
maveth.j BETH-SAN (T.7 BaiBtrdv, A. in 1 Mace. xii.
BeBad ; Bethsan), 1 Mace. v. 52 ; xii. 40, 41.
[Beth-shean.] BETH-SHAN (Bethsan ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 10,
12, A. BnBo-dv, B. [s. 10] BaiBep, [v. 12] Bwfl-
aap ; 2 Sam. xxi. 12, A. B-nBtrdv, B. Bald).
[Beth-shean.] [W. A, W.] [F.]
BETH-SHEA'N Qiif n»3, house o/ res*
or security; or, in Samuel, Beth-shak [|B" '3];
Bethsan), a city which, with its "daughter"
towns, belonged to Manasseh (1 Ch. vii. 29;
B. BatBaadv, A. -trdv), though within the limits
of Issachar (Josh. xvii. 11 ; B™8 A. BtuStrdv,
B. KatBodv), and therefore on the west of
Jordan (cp. 1 Mace. v. 52), but not mentioned
in the lists of the latter tribe. The Canaanites
were not driven out from the town (Judg. i.
27; B. BaiBtrdv, A. Bai8r)A).* In Solomon's
time it seems to have given its name to a
district extending from the town itself to Abel-
meholah ; and " all Bethshean " was under the
charge of one of his commissariat officers (1 IC
iv. 12 ; B. iras 6 oIkos Adv, A. tt. 6 ot Sav).
The corpses of Saul and his sons were fastened
up to the wall of Bethshean by the Philistines
(1 Sam. xxxi. 10, 12; A. BnBodv [bis], B.
BaiBep [v. 10], BatBcdp [v. 12]) in the open
" street " or space (3h"l), which — then as now
— fronted the gate of an Eastern town (2 Sam.
xxi. 12). From this time we lose sight of Beth
shean till the period of the Maccabees, in
connexion with whose exploits it is mentioned
more than once in a cursory manner (1 Maoc. v.
52 ; cp. 1 Mace. xii. 40, 41). The name of
Scythopolis (2k(.8uv irdAis) appears for the
first time in 2 Mace. xii. 29. [Scythopolis.]
This name, which it received after the exile,
and under the Greek dominion, has not sur
vived to the present day ; as in many other
cases (cp. Ptolemais) the old Semitic appella
tion has revived, and the place is still called
b A similar suggestion was made by Eeland (Pal.
pp. 334-6) and by Lightfoot (Bar. Bebr. p. 44J).
¦ The LXX. (Tf. and Swete) to Judg. i. 27 contains
the words {j itrrXv S,KveHv iraAis inserted after Bethshean.

BETH-SHEMESH
Beisdn. In the Mishna (Avoda Zarah, i. § 4)
Bethshean is cited as an example of a town con
taining an idol, and therefore only to be entered
by Jews on certain conditions. It became
a famous Christian school contemporary with
Caesarea, the seat of r bishopric (4th cent.),
and was the birthplace of the Gnostic Basilides.
It lies in the Ghor or Jordan valley, about
twelve miles south of the Sea of Galilee, and
four miles west of the Jordan. The town is
situated on the south side of the Nahr Jdliid, on
a low table-land above the Jordan valley (PEF.
Mem. ii. 105). A few miles to the south-west
are the mountains of Gilboa, and close beside the
town runs the water of the 'Ain Jdlud, the
fountain of which is by Jezreel, and is in all
probability the spring by which the Israelites
encamped before the battle in which Saul was
killed (1 Sam. xxix. l).b Three other large
brooks pass through or by the town ; and in the
fact ofthe abundance of water, and the exuberant
fertility c of the soil consequent thereon, as well
as in the power of using their chariots, wliich
the level nature of the country near the town
conferred on them (Josh. xvii. 16), resides the
secret of the hold which the Canaanites retained
on the place.
If Jabesh-Gilead was where Dr. Robinson con
jectures — at ed-Deir in the Wddy Ydbis — the
distance from thence to Beisdn, which it took
the men of Jabesh " all night " to traverse, can
not be less than twenty miles. [G.] [W.]
BETH-SHE'MESH (B*D^ JV3, house of
the sun ; Bethsames), the name of several places.
1. One of the towns which marked the north
boundary of Judah (Josh. xv. 10 ; ndAis T/Alov),
but reckoned among the cities of Dan (Josh. xix.
41). It was in the neighbourhood of Kirjath-
jearim and Timnah, and therefore in close
proximity to the low-country of Philistia. The
expression " went down " in Josh. xv. 10, 1 Sam.
vi. 21, seems to indicate that the position of
the town was lower than Kirjath-jearim ; and
it is in accordance with this indication that
there was a valley (pDl?) of cornfields attached
to the place (1 Sam. vi. 13 ; B. BaiBadpvs,
A. BeBBdpvs).
From Ekron to Beth-shemesh a road (^"Tl'
SSbs) existed along which the Philistines sent
back the ark after its calamitous residence in
their country (1 Sam. vi. 9, 12) ; and it was in
the field of "Joshua the Beth-shemite " (1V3
'K'DB'n) that the " great stone " [Abel] was,
on which the ark was set down (1 Sam. vi. 18 ;
see QPB.3 in loco). Beth-shemesh was a
b The exactness of the definition in this description
is impaired in the A. V. by the substitution of " a foun
tain " for " the fountain " of the original and R. V. Cp.
the LXX. readings ; B. 'AekStav, A. 'AevStop (?=En-dor ;
cp. xxviii. 1, or = En-harod [Klostermann]).
c So great was this fertility, that it was said by the
Rabbis, that if Paradise was in tbe land of Israel, Beth
shean was the gate of it : for that its fruits were the
sweetest In all tbe land (Bee Lightfoot, Chor. Cent. Ix. ;
Hamburger, BE.2 s. n.). The name is (see Riehm,
BWB. s. d.) called Nysa or Nyssa (from its vine-
culture) by Pliny (B. N. v. 16), and HeBopdp by Zomara
(Reland, p. 993). Its fertility was due to its extreme
heat, for which it is still as noted as it was in the days
of Josephus (.B. J. iii. 9, } 1).

BETH-SHITTAH

419

" suburb city," allotted to the priests (Josh '
xxi. 16, B. BaiBadpvs, A. BeBcdpes ; 1 Ch. vi.
59, B. Batrdpvs, A. BatBtrdpvs) ; and it is
named in one of Solomon's commissariat districts
under the charge of Ben-Dckar (1 lv. iv. 9 ;
B. BatBtrdpvs, A. BeBtrdpvs). It was the scene
of an encounter between Jehoash, king of Israel,
and Amaziah, king of Judah, in which the
latter was worsted and made prisoner (2 K. xiv.
11, 13, B. BaiBo-dpvs [bis], A. B-qB- [or BeB-]
trapve ; 2 Ch. xxv. 21, 23, BA. BtuBtrdpvs [bis]).
Later, in the days of Ahaz, it was taken and
occupied by the Philistines, together with
several other places in this locality (2 Ch. xxviii.
18 ; BA. BatBtrdpvs).
By comparison of the lists in Josh. xv. 10,
xix. 41 (B. irdAeis ^dppavs, A. irdAts tape's),
43, and 1 K. iv. 9, it will be seen that
Ir-Shemesh, " city of the sun," must have been
identical with Beth-shemesh, Ir being probably
the older form of the name ; and again, from
Judg. i. 35 (LXX. aliter), it appears as if Har-
heres, " mount of the sun," were a third name
for the same place (Robinson and Keil) ; sug
gesting an early and extensive worship of the
sun in this neighbourhood. [Ir-Shemesh ;
He'res.] Beth-shemesh is now 'Ain Shems. It was
visited by Dr. Robinson, who found it to be in a
position exactly according with the indications
of Scripture, on the north-west slopes of the
mountains of Judah — "a low plateau at the
junction of two fine plains " (Rob. iii. 153) —
about two miles from the great Philistine plain,
and three or four from Ekron (ii. 224-6). The
origin of the 'Ain (" spring ") in the modern
name is not obvious, as no spring or well
appears now to exist at the -spot ; but the Shems
and the position are decisive (PEF. Mem. iii.
60). 2. BatBtrdpvs, A. BaiBcrpds. A city on the
border of Issachar (Josh. xix. 22 ; cp. v. 38),
not identified.
3. B. ®efftrdpvs, A. Qaapobs in Josh. ; B. BaiO-
trdpvs, A. BeBtrdpvs in Judg. One of the
" fenced cities " of Naphtali, twice named (Josh.
xix. 38 ; Judg. i. 33), and on both occasions
with Beth-anath. The Canaanite inhabitants
were not expelled from either place, but became
tributaries to Israel. Jerome's expression (OS.2
p. 140, 8, s. n. Bethsames) in reference to this is
perhaps worthy of notice, "in quit cultores pristini
manserunt ; " possibly glancing at the worship
from which the place derived its name.
4. By this name is once mentioned (Jer. xliii.
[LXX. 1.] 13) an idolatrous temple or place
in Egypt, which B. renders by 'HAiomdAts iv
"Cv, A. 'H iv ivuv, i.e. the famous Heliopolis ;,
Vulg. domus solis. In the Middle Ages Helio-,
polis was still called by the Arabs 'Ain Shems
(Rob. i. 25). [Aven ; On.] [G.] [W.]
BETH-SHEMITE, THE CK'p^n-ri'1? ;
B. 6 BaiBtrapvo-e'iTTis, A. b BeBBapvtTlrqs ; Beth-
samita, Bethsamitis). Properly "the Beth-
shimshite," an inhabitant of Beth-shemesh (1
Sam. vi. 14, 18). The LXX. in v. 14 refer the
words to the field and' not to Joshua the owner
of the field. [W. A. W.]
BETH-SHIT'TAH (HtSK'n rV3, house of
the acacia; B. BTiBaeeSra, A. Batreerrd; Beth-
2 E 2

420

BETH-SUEA

setta), one of the spots to which the flight of
the host of the Midianites extended after their
discomfiture by Gideon (Judg. vii. 22). Both
the narrative and the name(cp. " Abel-Shittim,"
which was in the Jordan valley opposite Jericho)
require its situation to be somewhere near the
river, where also Zererath (probably Zeredatha
or Zartan) and Abel-meholah doubtless lay : no
certain identification has yet been made of any
of these spots ; but they were probably not far
from the mouth of W. Mdleh. The Shuttah
mentioned by Robinson (ii. 356) and Wilson
(Ritter, Jordan, p. 414) is too far to the west to
suit the above requirements. Josephus's ver
sion of the locality is absolutely in favour of
the place being well watered : iv KoiAu Tivi
xapdbpais TrepieiA-qppevu (Ant. v. 6, § 5).
[G.] [W.]
BETH-SD'BA (T.' r, BaiBtroipa, to Boifl-
trobpa; A. generally BeBtroipa; Bethsura, exc.
1 Mace. iv. 29, Bethoron), 1 Mace. iv. 29, 61 ;
vi. 7, 26, 31, 49, 50; ix. 52; x. 14; xi. 65;
xiv. 7 ; — 2 Mace. xi. 5 ; xiii. 19, 22. [Beth
zur.] BETH-TAP'PUAH (PI-ISF! '3, house of the
apple or citron ; B. BaiBaxov, A. BeBBairtpove ;
Beth-thaphua), one of the towns of Judah, in
the mountainous district, and near Hebron
(Josh. xv. 53 ; cp. 1 Ch. ii. 43 [B. &airovs, A.
®atptpob]). It is, perhaps, the Taphon or Tefo
of 1 Mace. ix. 50. Here it has actually been
discovered by Robinson under the modern name
of Teffuh, If hour, or say 5 miles, W. of Hebron,
on a ridge of high table-land. The terraces of
the ancient cultivation still remain in use ; and
though the " apples " have disappeared, yet
olive-groves and vineyards with fields of grain
surround the place on every side (Rob. ii. 71 ;
Schwarz, p. 105; PEF. Mem. iii. 310).
The name of Tappuah was borne by another
town of Judah which lay in the rich lowland of
the Shefelah. [Apple ; Tappuah.] [G.] [W.]
BETHU'EL (^K-iriS, Ges. = man of God, for
'D, an interpretation queried by Tregelles and
MV.11; Ba8ouT)A; Joseph. BaBotrqAos ; Bathuel),
the son of Nahor by Milcah, nephew of Abra
ham, and father of Rebekah (Gen. xxii. 22, 23 ;
xxiv. 15, 24, 47 ; xxviii. 2). In xxv. 20, and
xxviii. 5, he is called "Bethuel the Syrian" (i.e.
Aramite, ''B'lXn). Though often referred to as
above in the narrative, Bethuel only appears in
person once (xxiv. 50). Upon this an ingenious
conjecture is raised by Prof. Blunt (Coinci
dences, i. § iv.) that he was the subject of some
imbecility or other incapacity. The Jewish
tradition, as given in the Targum Ps.-Jonathau
on Gen. xxiv. 55 (cp. v. 33), is that he died on
the morning after the arrival of Abram's servant,
owing to his having eaten a sauce containing
poison at the meal the evening before ; and
that, on that account, Laban requested that his
sister's departure might be delayed for a year or
ten months. Josephus was perhaps aware of
this tradition, since he speaks of Bethuel as
dead (Ant. i. 16, § 2). [G.] [W.]
BETHU'EL (tains, Ges.=man of God, for
'D [see above] ; B. BaBovv, A. BaBoiA ; Bathuel),
1 Ch. iv. 30. [Bethul.]

BETHULIA
BETHU'L (b)T)2; Arab. J £ \_Betliur],,
Bethul), a town of Simeon in the south, named
with El-tolad and Hormah (Josh. xix. 4- B
BovAd, A. BaBoiA). In the parallel ' list's hi
Josh. xv. 30 (BA. Bai8r)A) and 1 Ch. iv. 30'
(B. BaBovv, A. BofloiiA), the name appears in the-
Heb. under the forms of Chesil (?*D3) and Be
thuel, and probably also under that of Bethell
in Josh. xii. 16 (LXX. om.); since, for the
reasons urged under Bethel, and also on ac
count of the position of the name in this list
the northern Bethel can hardly be intended'
[Bethel.] [g.] [w.]"
BETHU'LIA (BeTuAoiio ; B. commonly Bsi-
TOvAova or Ber-, A. commonly BawvAowk or
Bet-, X. BatTovAAia. or -Aofia ; Bethuliq), the city
which was the scene of the chief events of the
Book of Judith, in which book only does the name-
occur. Its position is there described with very
minute detail. It was near to Dothaim (iv. 6X
on a hill (bpos) which overlooked (fathom) the-
plain of Esdraelon (vi. 11, 13, 14; vii. 7,10 p
xiii. 10), and commanded the passes from that
plain to the hill-country of Manasseh (iv. 7;
vii. 1), in a position so strong that Holofernes
abandoned the idea of taking it by attack, and
determined to reduce it by possessing himself
of the two springs or wells (irriyal) which were
" under the city " in the valley at the foot of
the eminence on which it was built, and from
which the inhabitants derived their chief supply
of water (vi. 11; vii. 7, 13, 21). Notwith
standing this detail, however, the identification
of the site of Bethulia has hitherto defied all
attempts, and is one of the greatest puzzles of
sacred geography ; so much so as to form an
important argument against the historical troth
of the Book of Judith (Rob. iii. 337-8. See-
Speaker's Comm., note on Jud. iv. 6).
In the Middle Ages the name of Bethulia was
given to " the Frank Mountain," between Beth
lehem and Jerusalem (Rob. i. 479: see Bona
parte's Desp. to the Directory, dated 21 Floreal
1799), but it is unnecessary to say that this is
very much too far to the south to suit the
narrative. Others have assumed it to be.
Safed in North Galilee (Rob. ii. 425); which
again, if in other respects it would agree with
the story, is too far north. Von Raumer (Pal.
pp. 135-6) suggests Sanur, which is perhaps the
nearest to probability. The ruins of that town
are on an " isolated rocky hill," with a plain of
considerable extent to the east, and, as far as
situation is concerned, naturally all but impreg
nable (Rob. ii. 312). It is about three miles >
from Tell Dothdn, and some six or seven from
Jenin (Engannim), which stand on the very
edge of the great plain of Esdraelon. Though
not absolutely commanding the pass, which
leads from Jenin to Sebustieh and forms the
only practicable ascent to the high country,
it is yet sufficiently near to bear out the some
what vague statement of Jud. v. 6. Nor is it
unimportant to remember that Sanur actually
endured a siege of two months from Djezzar
Pasha without yielding, and that on a subse
quent occasion it was only taken after a three
or four months' investment, by a force very
much out of proportion to the size of the place
(Rob. ii. 313). Conder proposes (PEF. Mem. ii.

BETH-ZACHABIAS
156) to identify Bethulia with Meselieh or
Mithilia, a small village on the hillside, south
of Jenin and near W. el-Melek. Other opinions
as to locality may be seen in Riehm, HWB.
.». 11,, and in Speaker's Comm. 1. c. [G.] [W.]
BETH-ZACHAEI'AS. [Bath-Zacharias.]
BETH-ZUR CHS n*3, house of rock ; in
Josh. B. Bai0o-oup, A. BeB- ; Bessur, Bethsur,
and in Mace. Betlisura), a town inthe mountains
of Judah, named between Halhul and Gedor
(Josh. xv. 58). As far as any interpretation
.can, in their present imperfect state, be put ou
the genealogical lists of 1 Ch. ii. 42—49, Bethzur
would appear from v. 45 (A. BnBffovp, B. TeS-)
to have been founded by the people of Maon,
which again had derived its origin from Hebron.
However this may be, Bethzur was " built "
— i.e. probably fortified — by Rehoboam, with
¦other towns of Judah, for the defence of his
new kingdom (2 Ch. xi. 7 ; BA. BatBtroupdj.
After the Captivity the people of Bethzur
assisted Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the wall
-of Jerusalem (Neh. iii. 16 ; BS. Bqtrdp, A. BijB'-
•ffovp) ; the place had a " ruler " ("!£?), and the
peculiar word Pelec OpS) is employed to denote
a district or circle attached to it, and to some
other of the cities meutioned here. [Topo
graphical Terms.]
In the wrars of the Maccabees, Bethzur, or
Bethsura, played an important part. It was
fortified by Judas and his brethren "that the
people might have a defence against Idumaea,"
and they succeeded in making it " very strong,
and not to be taken without great difficulty "
«(Jos. Ant. xii. 9, § 4) ; so much so that it was
able to resist for a length of time the attneks of
Simon Maccabaeus (1 Mace. xi. 65) and of Lysias
(2 Mace. xi. 5), the garrison having in the
former case capitulated. Before Bethzur took
place one of the earliest victories of Judas over
lysias (1 Mace. iv. 29), and it was in an attempt
"to relieve it when besieged by Antiochus Eu-
pator, that he was defeated in the passes
between Bethzur and Bath-zacharias, and his
brother Eleazar killed by one of the elephants
.of the king's army (1 Mace. vi. 32—47 ; Jos.
Ant. xii. 9, § 4). The recovery of the site of
Bethzur, under the almost identical name of
Beit Sur, by Wolcott and Robinson (i. 216,
note; iii. 277), explains its impregnability,
and also the reason for the choice of its position,
^ince it commands the road from Beersheba
and Hebron, which has always been the main
Approach to Jerusalem from the south (PEF.
Mem. iii. 311, 324).
A short distance from the Tell, on which
are strewn the remains of the town, is a spring,
'Ain edh-Dhirweh, which in the days of Jerome,
and later, was regarded as the scene of the
baptism of the Eunuch by Philip.' The proba
bility of this is examined elsewhere [Gaza] ;
in the mearftime it may be noticed that Beit Sur
is not near the road to Gaza (Acts viii. 26),
which runs much more to the north-west (cp.
Riehm, HWB. s. n.). [Beth-sura.] [G.] [W.]
BETOXIUS (B. BeToAiti, Vulg. (?) Liptis),
1 Esd. v. 21. His descendants returned from-
the. Captivity with Zerubbabel. [Beth-el.]

BEZALEEL

421

BE TOMES' TH AM and BETOMAS'-
THEM ; Syr, Bithmasthim), a town " over
against Esdraelon, facing the plain that is near
Dothaim " (Judith iv. 6 [B. Banopaio-Bdip, A.
BeropetrB-, N. and Vulg. om.] ; xv. 4 [BA. Boi-
TopatrBdtp, N. -Bev]), and which from the
manner of its mention would seem to have
been of equal importance with Bethulia itself.
No attempt to identify it has yet been suc
cessful (see Speaker's Comm., note on Judith
iv. 6). It is possibly mentioned under the
form Estomason in the list of Christian bishop
rics (Reland, pp. 223, 225). [Bethulia ; Do
thaim.] [G.] [W.]
BETO'NIM (D'ObS," Ges. = pistachio nuts;
B. Boravei, A. BoTaviv ; Betonvm), a town in the
inheritance of the children of Gad, apparently
on their northern boundary (Josh. xiii. 26).
The word, somewhat differently pointed (D*0D3),
occurs in Gen. xliii. 11, A. V. and R. V. "mits,"
and is probably related to the modern Arabic
word Butm = terebinth, Pistacia terebinthus.
The identification of Betonim with Batneh near
Es-Salt has been proposed by Robinson and Van
de Welde (see Dillmann2 in Josh. I. c).
[G.] [W.]
BETROTHING. [Marriage.]
BEUTLAH [3 syll.] (rT?W3 = she who is
married ; oiKovpevv ; inhabitata), the name which
the land of Israel is to bear, when " the land
shall be married (^3fl)," Is. lxii. 4. [F.]
BE'ZAI CV3, Ges., following Bohlen, con
nects it with the Persian for sword; LXX.
[2 Esd.], B. Boo-oo, A. Batrtrob ; in Neh. vii.
BK. Beaei, A. Batrl ; Besai). "Children of
Bezai," to the number of 323 [Neh. 324], re
turned from Captivity with Zerubbabel (Ezra
ii. 17 ; Neh. vii. 23). The name occurs again
among those who sealed the covenant (Neh. x.
18, B. B-qtrel, A. Bijflei). [Bassa.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
BEZAL'E-EL C?i6"i2, in the shadow, i.e.
protection of God ; Beae Ae^A ; Beseleel). 1. The
artificer to whom was confided by Jehovah the
design and execution of the works of art re
quired for the Tabernacle in the wilderness (Ex.
xxxi. 1-6). His charge was chiefly in all works
of metal, wood, and stone, Aholiab being asso
ciated with him for the textile fabrics ; but it
is plain from fhe terms in which the two are
mentioned (xxxvi. 1, 2 ; xxxviii. 22), as well as
from the enumeration of the works in Bezaleel's
name in xxxvii. and xxxviii., that he was the
chief of the two, and master of Aholiab's de
partment as well as his own. Bezaleel was of
the tribe of Judah, the son of Uri the son of
Hur (or Chur). Hur was the offspring of the
marriage of Caleb (one of the chiefs of the
great family of Pharez) with Ephrath (1 Ch. ii.
19, 50), and one of his sons or descendants
(cp. Ruth iv. 20) was Salma, or Salmon, who
is handed down under the title of "father of
Bethlehem ; " and who, as the actual father of
Boaz, was the direct progenitor of king David
(1 Ch. ii. 51, 54; Ruth iv. 21). [Bethlehem ;
Hur.]

422

BEZEK

2. BA. BetreAT)A, X. BetrtxeA-. One of the
sons of Pahath-moab who had taken a foreign
wife (Ezra x. 30). [G-] [W.]
BE'ZEK (RJ3; Be(eK; Bezec). 1. The
residence of Adoiii-bezek, i.e. the "lord of Bezek"
(Judg. i. 5) ; in the " lot (b^i) of Judah "
(v. 3), and inhabited by Canaanites and Perizzites
(v. 4). Some (see Riehm, HWB. s. n.) con
sider this to have been a distinct place from,
others the same as,
2. A. BefeV, where Saul numbered the forces
of Israel and Judah before going to the relief of
Jabesh-gilead (1 Sam. xi. 8). From the terms
of the narrative this cannot have been more
than a day's march from Jabesh, and was there
fore doubtless somewhere in the centre of the
country, near the Jordan valley. In accordance
with this is the mention by Eusebius (OS.2
p. 249, 52) of two places of this name seventeen
miles from Neapolis (Shechem), on the road to
Bethshean (Scythopolis). The LXX. B. reads
koi iiritTKeTTTeTai avrobs 'ABie£eK iv Bapd, and
possibly alludes to some "high place " (= Gibeah,
Wellhausen) at which this solemn muster took
place under one Abiezek ; A. has the reading iv
Be£eK. This Josephus gives as BaAd(Ant. vi. 5,
§ 3). It is now Kh. Ibzik, fourteen miles from
Ndblus on the road to Beisdn (PEF. Mem. ii.
231-237). [G.] [W.]
BE'ZER in the wilderness ('13'1ffi3 "1^2 !
Boabp iv tjj ip-qpip ; Besor in solitudine), a city
of the Reubenites, with " suburbs," in the Mishor
or downs, set apart by Moses as one of the
three cities of refuge on the east of the Jordan,
and allotted to the Merarites (Deut. iv. 43 ;
Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 36 ; 1 Ch. vi. 78). Iu the two
last passages the exact specification, "W133, of
the other two is omitted, but traces of its
former presence in the text in Josh. xxi. 36 are
furnished us by the reading of the LXX. [». 35]
and Vulg. — B. ttji/ Boabp iv rg ipvPVi TV
Me ta u (A. tt? Wlto-up) Kai to TTepia-irdpia, avTqs ;
Bosor in solitudine, Misor et laser.
It was known to Eusebius, who says (OS.2
p. 247, 55, s. n. Botrbp) that it was east of
Jericho, in the desert beyond Jordan ; aud it is
probably the same as the Bezer or Bosor men
tioned in connexion with Dibon, in the inscrip
tion of king Mesha on the Moabite stone (Records
of the Past, N. S. ii. 203). It is now perhaps
Kcsur el-Besheir, a ruin S.W. of Dhibdn. Dill
mann2 (Deut. I. c.) is disposed to identify it
with the Bozrah of Jer. xlviii. 24. [G.] [W]
BE'ZER Cfi2 ! A. Batrdp, B. om. ; Bosor),
son of Zophah, one of the heads of the house
of Asher (1 Ch. vii. 37). [W. A. W.]
BE'ZETH (T.7 Br,(e6; B. ByBfrtB ; Beth-
zecha), a place at which Bacchides encamped
after leaving Jerusalem, and where there was a
" great pit " (to tppeap Ti peya ; 1 Mace. vii.
19). By Josephus (Ant. xii. 10, § 2) the name
is given as " the village Bethzetho " (Ktip-q
BnBgnBu Aeyopevrf), which recalls the name
applied to the Mount of Olives in the early
Syriac recension of the N. T. published by Mr.
Cureton — Beth-Zaith corresponding precisely
with the reading of the Sinaitic MS. in 1 Mace.

BIBLE
vii. 19. The name may refer either to the
main body of the Mount of Olives, or to the
hill north of Jerusalem, which at a later period
was called Bezetha. [G.] [W.]
BI'ATAS (T.7 *o\los, A. i-iuBds; Philias),
1 Esd. ix. 48 ; a Levite teacher and expounder
of the Law after the return from the Captivity
[Peliah.] [W. A. W.] [F.]'
BIBLE (Gk. to BiBAia; Lat. BMa). This
is the most general designation for the Christian
sacred Books, and embraces those which were
primarily given to the Jews, as well as the
more strictly Christian writings of the New-
Testament. The Romish Church and also
some other Christian communions include, under
this name of Bible, the deutero-canonical books
of the Apocrypha. In the Septuagint oi Bi$Aoi
is found (Dan. ix. 2) as the name given to the
Jewish Scriptures, but to BiBAia occurs in a
quotation made by Eusebius (Praep. Evany.
xiii. 12, 16) from the writings of Aristobulus, a
Jewish philosopher who lived in the first half
of the second century before Christ. It is also
used in the prologue to the Book of Sirach, and
in 1 Mace. i. 56 we find the expression ri
BiBAia tov vdpov. Josephus, too (cont. Apion.
i. 8), speaks of the BiBAia of the Jewish Scrip
tures, and subsequently the word is constantly
employed by the Greek Fathers and historians
in the sense of Holy Scripture.
In Greek the plural form of the word (ta
BiBAia) gave the valuable intimation that the
contents of the volume so named were various,
and that in the collection several separate books
were comprised. The Jewish Scriptures alone,
as we shall see, were counted as twenty-two
Books, and comprised more than that number of
distinct portions, while the time that intervened
between the composition of the earliest and the
latest of these must have been several centuries.
But the Latin ecclesiastical writers having
treated Biblia as a singular, the word has entered
as singular into the languages of Western
Christendom, and thus the diversity of origin
and the variety of the contents of the Bible have
been somewhat put out of sight.
These same Jewish and Christian Books are
sometimes spoken of collectively as " the Scrip
tures " par excellence. Scriptura is the Latin
rendering of the Greek ypatpr), a name which
our Lord Himself (John v. 39) applied to the
Jewish Books, and by which they are spoken of
in other places of the New Testament (Acts xvii.
2, 11, xviii. 24, 28 ; Rom. xv. 4 ; 1 Cor. xv.
3, 4). St. Paul, too, to mark the high estima
tion in which these Books were held, calls them
more than once (Rom. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. iii. 15) ayua
ypatpal, the Holy Scriptures, and this title is-
now often applied to the whole Bible.
As the Christian writers also sometimes (cp.
Heb. ix. 15) speak of God's earlier dispensation,
which is set forth in the Jewish Scriptures, as a
StaBiJKTi (Lat. testamentum, foedus), a testament
or covenant, and St. Paul (2 Cor. iii. 14) calls it
r) TraAaia. SioflVl, " the Old Testament,"— while
they regard the Christian dispensation, of which
they are the ministers, as a new SiuBtikv (2 Cor.
iii. 6 ; Heb. ix. 15),— the word "Testament] has
come to be generally applied to the two divisions
of the Bible, and- this had grown to be usual in

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423

the Church as early as the close of the second
century (Tert. adv. Prax. 15 ; Epiphanius, Haer.
xxx. 7). So the pre-Christian and post-Christian
portions are spoken of respectively as the Old
and the New Testaments. It will be convenient
to treat of these two divisions of the Bible
separately. I. The Books of the Old Testament are pre
served to us in the Hebrew Bible, but the form
under which we now find them in Hebrew MSS.
and in printed texts differs somewhat from that
in which these sacred records were first set
down. Leaving out of consideration whether
the present square character of the Hebrew
text was the earliest form of writing among the
Jews (though there can be little question that
it was not), we know that in the earliest times
only the consonantal part of each word was
expressed in writing, the vowels being easily
supplied by the intelligence of the reader. But
all the Hebrew MSS. which as yet have been
discovered, and our Hebrew Bibles as usually
printed, are now supplied with points above or
below the consonants to indicate the necessary
vowels. These additions to the primary text
were made at a late date, when foreign invasion
and dispersion had broken up the unity of the
Jewish people, and the vocalization was not
brought into its present form till several cen
turies after the commencement of the Christian
era. Ever since the return of the Jews from
Babylon there had existed men, like the Scribes
of the New Testament, learned in the traditional
interpretation of the sacred text, and it was by
such men that a system of marks for vocaliza
tion was elaborated ; and after this was complete,
all copies of the Hebrew Bible were conformed
to the one type. These men are known as the
" Massoretes" or " possessors of tradition" (from
Massorah = tradition), and hence the text which
we possess is frequently named the " Massoretic
text." Beside the vowel-points the Massoretes
have also added some marginal notes in places
where for some reason, either because the
adopted text was thought not quite correct or
not adapted for public reading, the reader was
required to modify the written words. Such
marginal notes are called Keri, a name desig
nating the text which is to be read as distin
guished from the Kethib or written text in the
body of the page. It is easy to understand how
these carefully prepared MSS. (in which the
standard for the consonantal portion was pro
bably derived from some copy of high repute
and splendid calligraphy, but not necessarily
the most free from errors of copying) would in
time supersede all others. In this way it has
come to pass that our Hebrew Bibles represent
only one recension of the sacred text, viz. that
which the Massoretes adopted in post-Christian
times. There are, moreover, very few sources
from which we are able to get knowledge of the
earlier condition of the text ; the chief being the
Septuagint, the Targums, and the Samaritan
Pentateuch. The oldest Hebrew MS. of any
portion of the Bible the date of which can be
fixed with certainty was written at the com
mencement of "the tenth century of our era.
This is known as the Codex Petropolitanus, the
Petersburg MS., and it is dated a.d. 916.
The arrangement of the Books in the Hebrew
Bible differs from that adopted in the English

Version, and requires to be specially noticed.
The first section is that which contains the five
Books of Moses, and was called by the Jews the
mill or " Law," and sometimes by the Rabbins
" the five-fifths of the Law." The Hebrew
names of the Books are taken in each case from
some word or words occurring in the first
sentence of the text. Thus the first Book is
called " Bereshith," i.e. " In the beginning."
The names given to these Books in our English
Bibles — Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy — are derived by transliteration or
translation from the Septuagint.
Next to the Law follows the section called
D'NOO, " the Prophets." This consists of two
parts, each containing four Books. The D^Si
D'OIC&O or "earlier Prophets" include (1)
Joshua, (2) Judges, (3) Samuel, and (4) Kings. In
the two last-named the two Books are counted as
one. The second part or D»3nnN DWSJ, " the
later Prophets," comprises (1) Isaiah, (2) Jere
miah, (3) Ezekiel, and (4) the twelve smaller
prophecies, known by us as " the minor Pro
phets," and wliich in the Jewish enumeration
were counted for one Book only.
The third section is called D'OlfD or
" Writings," and is generally known as the
"Hagiographa." This contains first the Psalms,
next Proverbs, then Job, after these the five
Megilloth or " Rolls," which were so named
because, being used on certain annual occasions
in the synagogue-service, they were written each
on a separate roll. These Rolls are, The Song
of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and
Esther. These are followed by Daniel, Ezra,
and Nehemiah, and last of all Chronicles, called
in the Hebrew D»D\T 1131, i.e. "The Words
of the Days," and in the Septuagint to -irapa-
Aenropeva, " things omitted," a. name which
marks the Book as supplementary to the Books
of Kings. We are indebted to Jerome for the
name " Chronicles."
We know that a threefold division of the
Hebrew Scriptures after this manner existed
in our Lord's time. He speaks (Luke xxiv. 44)
of "the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the
Psalms," as if giving a complete enumeration of
the Jewish Books. But it is to be noted that
while He applies to the first two sections the
names by which they are distinguished in the
Hebrew Bible, He only mentions in the third
section the one Book, " the Psalms," which stands
first in that division. It would not therefore
be of necessity a sound conclusion to decide from
this alone that all the Books now included in
the third portion of the Hebrew Bible were
embraced by Christ under the name of Psalms.
And it ought to be remembered that three Books
of the Hagiographa — Esther, Canticles, and
Ecclesiastes — are never quoted in the New Testa
ment, nor by the learned Jew of Alexandria,
Philo, who lived at the same date as the New
Testament writers; while from Jewish autho
rities we learn that there was a discussion
between the Schools of Hillel and Shammai, the
founders of which were contemporaries of Herod
the Great, whether Canticles and Ecclesiastes
formed a part of the canonical Jewish Scrip
tures. Towards the end of the 1st century a.d.
Josephus gives us an account of the Jewish
Books then recognised as Scripture. He says

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(c. Apion, i. 8) ; " We do not possess myriads of
books discordant and conflicting, but only two-
and-twenty, which contain a history of all time,
and are justly believed to be divine. Of these,
five are the Books of Moses : . . . from the death
of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, who suc
ceeded Xerxes as king of Persia, the Prophets
compiled the history of their times in thirteen
Books. The remaining four contain hymns to
God and didactic teaching for men." This
account appears to embrace all the Books of the
Jewish Bible. The thirteen Books of history
written by the prophets, from Moses to Arta
xerxes, would embrace those eight which form
the second section of the Jewish Books, with
Ruth added as a conclusion to Judges, and
Lamentations combined with Jeremiah. With
these Josephus reckoned Ezra and Nehemiah
(counted as one), Chronicles, Esther, Job, and
Daniel. The four which he places in his last
class are Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the
Song of Songs. He has classified the Books in a
different way from the order in which they are
found arranged in the Hebrew Bible, because he
wanted to enforce most strongly his statement
about the regular and uninterrupted composition
of the whole Jewish history. There has been
no list of the Hebrew Scriptures preserved to us
of an earlier date than Josephus.
Josephus' enumeration, though not his
arrangement, is that which was known to the
earliest Christian writers : as to Melito, Bishop
of Sardis (Euseb. H. E. iv. 26), to Origen (Euseb.
H. E. vi. 25), and to Jerome (t A.D. 420), who
derived his information almost entirely from
Jewish sources (Prol. gal. in lib. Reg.). Through
Jerome the traditional Jewish opinions concern
ing the composition of these Books became gene
rally accepted among Christians, and were passed
down with little or no question to comparatively
recent times. These traditional opinions set the
Pentateuch far above the other Old Testament
Scriptures both in importance and antiquity.
In the Book of Chronicles (2 Chron. xxv. 12)
the Pentateuch is spoken of as " the Book of
Moses ; " and following this the Talmud (Baba
Bathra, f. 14 b) relates that "Moses wrote his
book (the Pentateuch) with the exception of
eight verses which were added by Joshua."
Compared with the Law, therefore, all other
parts of the Scriptures were to the mind of the
Jew of very secondary value, and only to be
accounted of as their teaching found support
from the Mosaic records. The Law was believed
to have been given in its entirety to the people
before they entered Canaan, and all the rest of
Israel's history to have been passed through
with a full knowledge of this elaborate code,
and consequently to have been made all the
more sinful by the great deflections which it
presented from the legislation bequeathed to the
people by their great leader and lawgiver. This
opinion, accepted by the Christian world, exer
cised a persistent influence on nearly all the
expositions of Scripture down to modern times.
About the middle of last century, however, a
course of inquiry was commenced which has
considerably modified the opinions of many
students, and the results and tendencies of which
cannot be disregarded. Therefore, before
ascribing to the first division of the Old Tes
tament that antiquity which has so long been

BIBLE
claimed for it, we are bound to state what has
been put forward by the advocates of a much
later origin. A French physician named Astruc
published in 1753 a work which may be taken
as the starting-point of these inquiries. Ex
amining the language of the Book of Genesis
he came to the conclusion that Moses had before
him for the composition of that Book many
records of a date anterior to his own, and out
of these compiled his narrative. A principal
point in Astruc's argument is the occurrence
throughout the Book of different designations
for the Deity. He dwells also on the occurrence
of repetitions which seemed to him to be incon
sistent with unity of authorship, and he assigned
parts of the Book of Genesis to at least twelve
different writers. The same kind of investiga
tion has since been applied to the other Books ;
and similar peculiarities being observable in
them, and also in the Book of Joshua, the con
clusion has been drawn that the writers who
exhibit these peculiarities cannot have lived
before Moses, and that on this ground the
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch must he
given up.
Commencing a little later, but carried on side
by side with the linguistic investigations, there
has been another line of inquiry. The growth
of Israel's religion as represented in the historical
Books has been studied, and a comparison made
of this history with what might have been
looked for had the laws of the Pentateuch been
known and observed from the time of Israel's
departure out of Egypt. The conclusions arrived
at by labourers in these investigations may he
briefly stated thus. The large number of
different documents assumed by the earlier
scholars has been reduced to three or four, and
the distinctions recognised between the different
portions are mainly those marked by the use of
different designations for the Deity. The his
torical inquiries have dealt with the Scripture
records as they would with secular history, and
have started with Israel's existence as a nation
from the date of the Exodus. The people were
then settled in Egypt, and their conflict with
the Egyptian power cemented their national
unity. They were delivered by Moses, und it is
argued that he and others who felt with him as
cribed theirdeliveranceto the aid of Jehovah, Who
was worshipped by the people, but was not their
sole divinity. Moses taught them that by
Jehovah's help they had been enabled to emerge
from what was meant to be permanent bondage,
and to perform that long series of journeyings
which brought them to the borders of Canaan.
During his leadership he also gave to the people
some elementary laws, and specially the ten
commandments and those simple statutes in
Exodus which follow the ten words. It is
thought that the condition of the people was
far too rude to be fitted for the acceptance of
the more advanced legislation, and that it was
not till the times of David and Solomon that a
point of culture was reached which made exten
sive literary composition possible ; and that
some time after tnis, mainly through the instru
mentality of the Prophets of the eighth century,
a first draft of the Mosaic Books was brought
into form, the legislative portion of which
comprised the laws contained in Exodus xx-
xxiv., some of which are given in a summary

BIBLE
form also in Exodus xxxiv. The compiler of
this first Code, spoken of often as the " Book of
the Covenant " (Exod. xxiv. 7), is supposed to
have gathered his material partly from records
preserved from old times in the form of pedi
grees and the like, and partly from the current
traditions of the people. The thread which
binds his narrative into one is the enforcement
of the sole worship of Jehovah, and the special
use of that name in those portions which are
assigned to the earliest form of the Pentateuch
has caused its supposed writer to be named the
Jahvist, in contradistinction to the Elohist, who
employs more frequently Elohim (rendered God
in the English Bible) for the Divine name.
This first writer tells the story of Israel taken
into covenant with Jehovah, and how by His
power the land of old promised to Abraham
became the possession of his descendants. His
composition is supposed to have date about tbe
time of Isaiah. The influence of Moses is thought
to have been feeble in the times immediately
after his death, but still kept alive by the
nobler part of the people till the days of Samuel,
when an impulse was given to prophetic labours
which increased through the times ofthe earlier
kings, and had acquired so great an influence in
the days of Amos and Isaiah as to enable the
prophets to formulate a primary legislation and
to come forward as the religious reformers of
the nation.
But just as Moses had had no great array of
sympathisers, and his zeal for the one God had
only been kept alive in the nation by the enthu
siasm of a few men of whom Samuel may be
taken as a prominent example, so the prophets
were not without their hindrances. It depended
on the king whether they were supported in
their labours or impeded altogether. With the
monarch on their side their influence was con
siderable, but even down to the times of Heze
kiah they had not been able to secure the aboli
tion of the high places, where other deities had
a share in the honours, nor to enforce the sole
worship of Jehovah, which they are so constant
in proclaiming in their words.
lt is not until the days of Josiah that such
sole worship is recorded in the national history,
and it is to the time of that solemn narrative in
2 K. xxii., where we are told how Hilkiah found
the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord,
that many persons refer the composition of the
Book of Deuteronomy, which forbids the offering
of sacrifices at any places except (Deut. xii. 13)
" in the place that Jehovah chooseth in one of thy
tribes." It is thought that priest and prophet
at that time combined to make the idea which
Moses first put forward a reality for the nation.
For this purpose the Deuteronomic code was
composed, and a sanctity claimed for it on ac
count of the place in which it was reported to
have been discovered. For this end a deception
was practised upon the people which the intro
duction of the new code might be deemed to
justify. The new laws were in time combined
with the older, and thus the Pentateuch con
tinued till after the return from Babylon. Then
by the hands of Ezra and his fellow-labourers
further additions were made, and those laws
introduced which are found scattered in the
Books of Leviticus and Numbers. One main
aim of this later code is said to have been to

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425

make more marked the distinction between the
priests of the house of Aaron and the members
ofthe other Levitical families who were engaged
iu the service of the Temple, but who did nut
come near to tho altar. The Levites had many of
them in former times served at those high places
which had been abolished by Josiah. When,
therefore, these men came to join themselves
to the service of the one shrine ut Jerusalem, it
was deemed needful to put a difference between
them and the priestly body who had from the
first been specially attached to the Temple on
Mount Zion. These final laws were iu time
combined with those previously enacted, and
thus a last edition brought the Pentateuch into,
or nearly into, its present form.
The investigations of which these are the re
sults are not without value, though they cannot
be accepted iu their entirety. They have made
it clear that in the Mosaic Books there are three
stages of legislation, aud have also pointed out
how the history indicates a national advance from
one of them to the others. Thus the traditional
teaching that the whole history of Israel wras a
falling away from a complete plan which was
assumed as the nation's standard from the first
can hardly be accepted. Of the threefold form
of the legislation there can be no question. In
the " Book of the Covenant " there is no provi
sion made of priests as a distinct class; the
second code in Deuteronomy sets before us the
whole tribe of Levi as priests ; while iu the middle
Books there is a marked distinction placed be
tween the family of Aaron, who are alone to
serve at the altar, and the rest of the Levites
who are employed in the Temple-worship, but in
a subordinate position. Again, in Ex. xx. 24
there is a command that altars shall be built in
all places where Jehovah records His Name ; in
Deuteronomy (xii. 13) the sacrifices are only to
be offered " in the place which Jehovah chooseth
in one of thy tribes ; " in Leviticus (i._ 3 sq.)
it is ordered that the sacrifices shall be brought
to the door of the tent of meeting, and that the
sons of Aaron are to take the blood and sprinkle
it on the altar. Again, the sacrifices enjoined
in Exodus are only burnt-offerings and peace-
offerings : these the legislation in Deuteronomy
increases by tithes, vows, and freewill orlerings,
while the middle Books add thereto sin-offerings
and trespass-offerings. In Exodus there is very
little said about purification. It is forbidden
(Ex. xxii. 31) to eat the flesh that is torn of
beasts in the field, and it is said of the whole
people, " Te shall be holy men unto me." In
Deuteronomy the people are forbidden to cut
themselves ; a distinction is made between
clean and unclean beasts, and washing with
water is appointed for the unclean. To these
regulations are superadded, in Leviticus and
Numbers, various modes of purification, the use
of the ashes of a red heifer, and all those
observances appointed at the healing of a leper.
Once more, the feasts first ordained in Exodus
are the Sabbath, the feast of unleavened bread,
the Sabbatical year, the feasts of harvest and of
ingatherings. In Deuteronomy we find the
Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, the
feast of weeks, the feast of tabernacles, and the
year of release ; while in the Books of Leviticus
and Numbers we have, beside these, the ob
servance of the new moons, the seven great

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Sabbaths, the day of firstfruits, the feast of
trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the year
of Jubilee. Thus three stages of religious
service are provided for.
Now, it is clear from the history of Israel that
for a long period no attempt was made, even by
the most religious men, to observe anything
beyond the covenant code of the Pentateuch.
For during the time of the Judges there were
many altars erected beside the one at Shiloh.
Men who were not priests, as Joshua and Gideon,
offered sacrifices, and the sacrifices are only
peace-offerings and burnt-offerings. Later on,
in the days of Samuel, the same is the case.
Saul as well as Samuel offers sacrifice, and it is
not the fact of such men offering which consti
tutes an offence, when God is displeased with
the sacrifice. In the times of the Kings we
find worship continued at the high places, and
it was not done away with by the erection of
Solomon's Temple ; while in the northern king
dom, after the severance, we find Elijah sacri
ficing at an altar of Jehovah on Carmel, which
had been used long before. The reforms of
Hezekiah and Josiah were attempts, in some
degree successful, to put an end to such wor
ship ; but as late as Jeremiah's time (Jer. xii. 5)
we find that worshippers went to Mizpah, and
looked upon that ancient sanctuary as " the
house of the Lord." Further than this, the
additional offerings, purifications, and festivals
which have been mentioned as peculiar to the
legislation of Deuteronomy and the middle
Books, find no place in the language of the
Psalms or in the writings of the Prophets before
the Exile. The sin-offering is first mentioned
(2 Ch. xxix. 21, 23, 24) by the chronicler in his
account of the restoration of religion under
Hezekiah, and the trespass-offering in Isaiah
(liii. 10), though it is doubtful whether the
word there can be pressed to prove the obser
vance of such offerings at the Temple in Isaiah's
time. The Levitical purifications and the ela
borate cycle of feasts are not mentioned at all in
the literature before the Exile.
The question has, of course, arisen whether,
in consequence of this great divergence of prac
tice as shown in the history and literature from
the legislation as given in the Pentateuch, it is
possible to accept the Pentateuchal legislation
as of Mosaic origin. In considering such a ques
tion we should not leave out of sight that in
Ex. xxiv. 4 it is expressly stated that Moses
wrote all the words of the Lord, meaning that
Book of the Covenant which is contained in
those chapters, and that also in Deuteronomy
(xxxi. 9) a like statement is made concerning
the Deuteronomic code ; but no such definite
declaration is put forward concerning the legis
lation in the Books of Leviticus and Numbers.
This seems to imply that the code of Exodus
should stand first in order, then the Deuterono
mic laws, and after them the laws of Leviticus
and Numbers, these last as being Mosaic in the
sense that they were revealed to Moses, but not
necessarily gathered and put into form till a
period after the date of the second code. Viewed
in this order, and in the light of the history, the
threefold code admits of explanation, aud the
non-observance of the larger portion becomes
intelligible. The Book of the Covenant given
at Sinai was a simple statute book, containing

BIBLE
what was needful for the guidance of the heads
of tribes before the people became permanently
settled in Canaan. The second code, in Deuter
onomy, was put forth for the edification of
the whole people, and is designed for a state
where the entire land is occupied by Israel and
the enemies driven utterly away: while the
legislation in Leviticus and Numbers is provided
for a state in which the people have become
thoroughly settled in their religious life, and as
God's chosen people press forward towards a
grand ideal of devotion to His service. By these
several codes preparation was made for a regular
development of the religious life of the nation
but that development was long hindered. Much
of the religious discipline of Israel fell into
abeyance during the forty years' sojourn in the
desert (Josh. v. 5 ; Amos v. 25) ; and when the
people entered the Holy Land, their enemies
were not driven out at once, nor did Israel
realise a complete national life for long years to
come ; and meanwhile they were borne down
on all sides by foreign oppressors, and often led
away to foreign superstitions. When the people
became united under the sovereignty of the
house of David, we discover that instead of one
central seat for Divine worship, numerous altars
had been, from the national needs, established
in various parts of the land, in harmony with
the primal legislation of the covenant given at
Sinai. These numerous shrines, often held very
sacred, made an advance to the Deuteronomic
stage difficult, and during the brief union of
the whole nation it was never carried out.
Soon the ten tribes were severed from the rest,
and the task was made more difficult still,
though the more religious element of the nation
longed for the realisation of the higher ideal.
The attempts at reform under Hezekiah and
Josiah show this, and make us able to under
stand how the discovery of the Deuteronomic
code in the reign of the latter king was a verit
able new revelation to the majority of the
nation, though the language of Huldah shows
that to her, and to those who felt with her, it
was but the bringing to light of what the im
perfect worship of former generations had buried
in an oblivion which was never intended. The
short time between the reforms of Josiah and
the Captivity, largely occupied with the troubles
of foreign invasion, made any advance impos
sible ; but when the chastened people were
brought back under Ezra and Nehemiah, both
those leaders were ready to inaugurate and the
nation to accept the more complete religions
code which is comprised in the Books of Leviticus
and Numbers, and which then for the first
time became the rule by which the services of
the second Temple were carried on. Such
neglect and oblivion of the two fuller codes as
is here presumed cannot be taken to prove their
non-existence. Accepting Moses as the Prophet
of the Lord, and regarding, as Christ did, his
legislation not as a product of national develop
ment, but as a divinely inspired code, contain
ing an ideal to which the nation was to he
taught to press forward, the prophetic character
of the two later codes is just what we should ex
pect, — a provision made from the outset whereby
Israel should be trained to the doctrine of Atone
ment, and prepared for Him of Whom Moses
spake as a Prophet like unto himself. More-

BIBLE
over, there are some portions of evidence that
point to the earlier existence of the whole
Mosaic code which deserve consideration. The
language of Deuteronomy and of Leviticus and
Numbers is not that of the later kingdom, dur
ing which modern speculation would place their
composition, nor of the time of the Chronicler ;
while the Levitical code, which never came to
be observed till after the Exile, refers in all its
details to a time when a life in the wilderness
and a camp was what the writer had before
him, while throughout the whole there is no
anachronism such as must have beset a composi
tion written after the Exile, and by one without
experience of the camp life in the desert. But,
above all, we find hints, slight indeed, but yet
sufficient, throughout the whole history, that
the fuller codes were not altogether unknown,
but only through circumstances rendered im
practicable, in the first flush of hope as they
entered the land the people celebrated a grand
Passover feast, long neglected and to be long
neglected iu the future, but proved by this
celebration not to have been unknown. In
the times of the Judges, the ark of the cove
nant and the tent of meeting are frequently
spoken of; there is a distinct priesthood at
Shiloh, and the vow of the Nazarite is under
stood by the parents of Samson, though these
things are only found appointed in the sup
posedly later Levitical legislation. In the days
of Samuel the ark of the covenant plays a large
part in the history, though Samuel seems to
have neglected it ; and the Urim and Thummim,
which belong only to the fuller legislation, are
consulted by Saul. The Temple of Solomon, as
did the Tabernacle before it, makes provision, by
the separation of the Most Holy Place, for the
observance of the solemnities of the great Day of
Atonement ; yet never from the time of its in
stitution in Lev. xvi. have we any allusion to
this, the highest and most significant service of
the whole code, in any part of the historic,
prophetic, or poetic literature of the nation.
Indications like these make it impossible for us
to doubt that, though well-nigh forgotten, the
codes enjoining these services were in existence
from the first, and that the Book of the Law
found by Hilkiah was a copy of that which
Moses wrote and delivered to the priests, the
sons of Levi (Deut. xxxi. 9). That something
analogous to what we now call editing was
performed upon the sacred Books of tho Jews
in the days of Ezra seems highly probable, but
in the case of the Law this work was bestowed
on material which had existed from very early
times. This material may have been modified
in many parts by the varying circumstances of
the national life, but it still retained so great a
portion of the primitive record as to make the
name " Law of Moses " something more than a
fiction. To those who regard the Bible as the
channel of God's revelation and its teaching as
inspired, the acceptance of a conclusion which
would import into its records the sanction of a
deception practised for ever so good an end must
he entirely repugnant. But there seems no need
to take such a course. The historic develop
ment of Israel's religion does not prove the non
existence of the whole of the three Mosaic codes.
It only shows that the people did not for a long
while advance beyond the first stage. To adopt

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427

the theory proposed ofthe late origin as well as
the manner of introduction of the Deuteronomic
legislation is to commence undermining the whole
credit of the sacred volume.
In the second section of the Hebrew Bible it
is not diflicult to understand why the Books
comprised in the first half, though generally
accounted historical, should have been placed by
the Jews where they now stand, and reckoned
among the prophetical writings. The earliest
chroniclers of whom we read in the Old Testa
ment belonged to the prophetic order, and their
works are often alluded to by the compiler of
the Chronicles (1 Ch. xxix. 29 ; 2 Ch. ix. 29,
xii. 15, xx. 34). Before the days of Isaiah
mention is made of Samuel, Nathan, Gad,
Ahijah, Iddo, Shemaiah, and Jehu the son of
Hanani, as labourers on this work of the national
Chronicles, and the existence of such a composi
tion (2 Ch. xxiv. 27) as the story (or commen
tary, Heb. midrash) of the Book of the Kings is
proof that much attention had been paid to the
keeping of these records. Drawn from the
writings of these authors, and others unrecorded
who preceded them, the Books of Joshua, Judges,
Samuel, and Kings have a claim to the name of
prophetical Books, though they contained no
predictive element whatever. That the Books
are of this composite character may be seen from
many parts. The last few chapters of Judges
(xvii.-xxi.) seem clearly to belong to a different
work than the earlier chapters, and in 1 Sam. xvi.
and xvii. we can trace, as it seems, two narra
tives of the history of Saul and David. The
first supplies the material for the account of
David's anointing and his introduction info the
palace of Saul at the time of the king's frenzy.
The latter — -which contained, it may be, a his
tory of David's prowess — is used as the source
whence the conquest of Goliath is taken, and,
though ranged after the previous history, shows
clearly that it belongs to an earlier time, for it
makes Saul and Abner alike ignorant of David's
name and parentage. The compiler has been at
no pains to disguise the double source of his
information, and this fact is good evidence that
we are presented by him with a faithful copy
of what he had before him. The Book of Joshua
is in style and character closely connected with
the Pentateuch, while Judges, Samuel, and Kings
are probably the work of three separate com
pilers, the last of whom must have lived after
the conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar,
the second towards the close of the reign of
David, and the first perhaps among the sons
of the prophets of whom we read in the days
of Samuel. The Talmud ascribes the Book of
Judges to Samuel, and the Book of Kings to
Jeremiah. The Books of Samuel are clearly
written from another point of view than the
Kings. One proof of this is that the compiler
of Samuel mentions without disapproval the
worship at the high places, while in the Kings
we constantly find (1 K. iii. 2 ; xiv. 23 ; xv. 14,
&'c.) this worship represented as the great blot
on reigns in Judah marked otherwise by much
zeal for pure religion.
The collection of the writings of the " later
prophets " must have been a work of some con
siderable time. The last three of the minor
Prophets date after the return from Babylon,
while the work of Ezekiel may have been

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brought into its form by the writer himself
during his residence in exile. The Book of
Jeremiah, in which the order of prophecies in
the Septuagint differs considerably from their
arrangement in the Hebrew text, may have been
entrusted to Baruch, and another copy perhaps
.to some of those who went down into Egypt,
and the double arrangement may be accounted
for as having been carried out in two separate
places, Babylon and Egypt. We may be sure
that the writings of Isaiah and the earlier
prophets were preserved in like manner by
disciples, and there is little doubt that among
the followers of " the men of Hezekiah " there
would be many to collect and preserve this
literature previous to the national overthrow.
There is still much controversy about the in
tegrity of Isaiah and also of Zechariah, opinion
inclining in both cases to a double authorship.
There is no question about any other Book ex
cept that of Jonah, which has been placed in
the Canon rather as dealing with the history of
one of the Prophets, than as being the work of
the Prophet himself.
The contents of the third division of the
Hebrew Bible are very varied, and seem to show
in many ways that this part was not finally
closed at as early a period as the other two. We
.have in it poetry, prophecy, history, and philo
sophic teaching, and it is not easy to find a
principle on which, as in the two former divi
sions, the Books are formed into one collection.
First stand the Psalms, divided into five books :
viz. Bk. 1, Pss. i.-xli. ; Bk. 2, xlii.-lxxii. ; Bk.
3, lxxiii.-lxxxix. ; Bk. 4, xc.-cvi. ; Bk. 5, cvii.-
cl. The whole volume of the Psalms is called
in Hebrew Q villi, " Praises," and it is by the
titles of many of the Psalms, and by the note
at the close of Psalm lxxii. " The Prayers of
David the son of Jesse are ended," that these
poems are connected specially with the name of
David. It is probable that they were gathered
at two or three times. The first collection most
likely consisted of those which David wrote for
the service of the Temple. These may have
been gathered by Solomon, and perhaps form
the main part of Book 1. The next period of
activity in provision for the music of the
Temple-worship appears to have been in the
-days of Hezekiah, to whose scribes (Proverbs
xxv. 1) we may perhaps set down the collection
of such of David's Psalms as were not contained
in the earlier service book and also of the
Psalms of Asaph. These, with additions, form
Book's 2 and 3, and it was perhaps not before
the days of Nehemiah (2 Mace. ii. 13) that a
•further collection was undertaken, and even
¦then the Psalm-book may have been left open to
accept further additions, if, as many suppose,
there are in it a few Psalms which suit best
with the events of Maccabean times. The
division into five Books was probably made to
match in the Psalter the five Books of the Law.
According to the titles affixed to the Psalms,
David is said to have written seventy-three, and
his singers— Asaph, Ethan, and the sons of Korah
— twenty-four. Two are ascribed to Solomon
{viz. lxxii. and exxvii.), and one (Ps. xc.) to
" Moses the man of God." In the title of Ps.
exxxvii. the Septuagint joins Jeremiah's name
to that of David, and mentions Haggai and
.Zechariah as authors of the Psalms exxxviii.

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and cxlvi.-cxlviii. About one-third of the
Psalms have no title or ascription. Sometimes
the titles may be accepted as genuine or as
representing very early tradition, but in some
cases they are only of late origin and the result
of conjecture. No authority should be attached
to them except after they have been subjected
to strict criticism.
The poetical genius of David was succeeded
by a philosophic miud in his son Solomon, to
whom we owe a large part of the Proverbs
which Book stands next in the Hagiographa.
The word Maslial, a proverb, from which the
Hebrew name of the Book is derived, implies
primarily sententious wisdom conveyed under
the form of a comparison or simile, and then
the more general proverbial utterance, a wise
thought tersely expressed, even when there is
contained in it nothing of the nature of ;i
simile. The Book, though ascribed in the title
to Solomon, is made up of several parts. The
first section extends from ch. i.— ix., the next
from x.-xxiv. 22, and this portion is specially
marked as the " Proverbs of Solomon." The
first clause of xxiv. 23, rendered in the A. V.
"These things also belong to the wise," but
which would be better translated " These also
are sayings of the wise," marks the commence
ment of a short appendix (xxiv. 23-34), which
contains words of the same character as what
precede, though not perhaps so generally attri
buted to Solomon. From xxv. 1-xxix. 27 we
have additional proverbs ascribed to Solomon,
which were collected at a later period by " the
men of Hezekiah." Then follow " the words of
Agur " (xxx. 1-33), though some would render
the first words of verse 15 " the proverbs of
Alukah," and so break up the chapter into two
parts ; and lastly "the words of king Lemuel"
(xxxi. 1-31), though it may be that the alpha
betical acrostic containing the character of the
virtuous woman (vv. 10-31) is an independent
composition, the author of which is left un
named. The brevity of these final pieces sug
gests that when the Book was being closed there
were added to the Salomonic portions such pas
sages of the same nature as time had conse
crated and made a permanent part of the
national literature.
The Book of Job has its name from the person
whose history forms its subject, and whose trials
gave rise to the debate contained therein. The
Rabbinical tradition that Moses was the author
is not to be regarded, the philosophic character
of the discussion pointing to an age as late as,
if not later than, that of Solomon. But though
the style may indicate a somewhat late date for
the composition, Job himself may have lived in
very early times ; and the history, which the
writer of the Book has used for the basis of his .
discussion, may have been for a long time part
of the national store. The introductory portion
and the conclusion are in prose, Job's lament
and the debate with his friends in poetry ; and the
Book seems to have been written at some period
of national suffering when problems concerning
the dealings of Providence were forced upon the
mind, both with reference to the people at large
and to individuals.
Of the five Rolls two are ascribed to Solomon,
viz. the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, but
there has been much doubt expressed whether in

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these Books some later writers have not adopted
the name of Solomon to give a dignity to their
composition, though never intending that the
reader should accept the impersonation for a
real fact. These doubts have been strengthened
by the discussions, already alluded to, which pre
vailed among the Jews concerning the canonicity
of these Books. With regard to the Song of Songs
there has been a further discussion whether the
language should be interpreted allegorically of
the love of Christ for His Church, in which case
it is wonderful that St. Paul, who uses the figure
of the marriage bond so constantly in illustra
tion of the union between the Church and her
Lord, should have made no quotation from a
Book so filled with the same imagery ; or
whether the work should be regarded literally
as a pastoral poem, painting in Oriental figures
the struggles and triumph of a pure affection.
It seems justifiable to allow to writers of Scrip
ture, where there is no design of deception, the
literary privileges of which other writers avail
themselves, and that therefore we are not bound
by the form adopted in these two books to
accept them as Solomon's own composition.
The Book of Ruth is a connecting link be
tween Judges and the history of David contained
in Samuel, and so is counted by the Jews along
with the former Book. The Lamentations are
probably the work of Jeremiah, as the prefatory
verse, with which the Book is introduced in the
Septuagint, represents them to be. The Book
of Esther is one of the latest of the canonical
Scriptures, written perhaps in the reign of
Xerxes or of his son Artaxerxes Longimanus. It
is intended to account for the observance of the
feast of Purim (2 Mace. xv. 36), and explains the
cause of its institution. The absence of the
Divine name from the whole Book may perhaps
best be accounted for by regarding it as drawn
from Persian records. Of the author nothing is
known, but it is one of those Books which, deal
ing with the history of the Exile and the Return,
were favourite subjects with the restored people,
and which were amplified in later times by
additions which appear in the Greek of the
Septuagint Version. The like amplification has
happened to the Book of Daniel and to Ezra
and Nehemiah's narrative, and from the same
cause. The order in which these five rolls are placed
in our Hebrew Bibles (though not observed in
all MSS.) is the order of the yearly feasts at
which they are severally read ; Canticles being
read at the feast of the Passover, Ruth at
Pentecost, Lamentations on the 9th of Ab (the
anniversary of the destruction of the holy
Temple, and for other reasons a black day in
Jewish history), Ecclesiastes at the feast of
Tabernacles, and Esther at Purim.
The Haggadic additions to Daniel and Ezra-
Nehemiah have just been alluded to. That the
former of these was a Book which it delighted
the people so to expand with legend is probably
the reason why it is found among the Kethubim,
and not placed with Haggai, Zechariah, and
Malachi among the Prophets. The quasi-his
torical character of much of the matter in
Daniel may be another reason for its position.
The Book of Ezra is a historic compilation from
several sources, one part (ch. ii. and iii. 1) being
identical with the seventh chapter of Nehemiah,

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42 S>

while other portions are perhaps drawn from
writings by Haggai and Daniel, while the four
closing chapters are made up of Ezra's own
history, and the whole was probably put into
one narrative at a somewhat later date than
Ezra's time, with the view of forming a con
tinuation to the Books of Chronicles.
The Book of Nehemiah was always counted as
one with the preceding. It consists in the maiu
of personal narrative by Nehemiah concerning
those events in the restoration of the people and
the rebuilding of Jerusalem ill which the writer
himself took part; but the text, from vii. 6 to
xii. 47, is composed of documents which have
been inserted into the first narrative from
national records and genealogies, with a view of
giving more completeness to the history. There
is one indication that this portion must have-
been allowed to be augmented by annotators
till a comparatively late date; for in xii. 11,
among the high priests we come upon the name
of Jaddua, who, we know, was a contemporary
of Alexander the Great. But whether only a
few names, in this place, were inserted at so late-
a period, or a larger part of the inserted mate
rials was then introduced, we are not able to
judge, though about the authority of the sources
from whence these were drawn there can be no
question, while the first six chapters and those
portions of chapter xii. where Nehemiah speaks
in the first person and the whole of the last
chapter have always been received as the genuine
work of Nehemiah.
The two Books of Chronicles, placed last in
order in the Hebrew Bible, have been assigned to
Ezra, and their composition may very well be
placed about that date. There occurs however
in one place (1 Ch. iii. 22, 24) a genealogy, that
of Zerubbabel, which is carried down to a much
later time, but this may be explained in the
same way as the occurrence of Jaddua's name
in Nehemiah. The Books were written that the
genealogies of the Levites might be known, and
so the Temple might be served by the proper
officers and in their due courses. The early
chapters of the first Book are occupied with
these registers, and the remainder is devoted to-
a history of the kingdom of the house of David,
introduced by a brief mention of the first king,
Saul. Such a history was calculated both to-
comfort and to warn the newly-returned people,
by showing from the past what sins had led to
the downfall of the people, and yet how, on
their repentance, God had not forsaken them,
but brought them again to Jerusalem, in the
way set forth by the narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah.
We do not find for the Old Testament, what
exists for the New, a definite date at which the
Canon is known to have been authoritatively
closed. We are therefore compelled to go back
from post-Christian times to arrive at any con
clusion on the subject. The first witness of
importance is Jerome, who died a.d. 420. He-
has preserved for us, in his Prologus Galeatus, *
list of the Books acknowledged in his day by the
Jews. He says they are generally reckoned as-
twenty-two, viz. five Books of Moses, eight of
the Prophets, and nine of the Hagiographa. But,.
he adds, some separate Ruth from Judges and
Lamentations from Jeremiah, and thus make the-
number of the Books to be twenty-four. Je
rome's list, it will be seen, embraces all the

430

BIBLE

writings of the Old Testament, and it represents,
there is no doubt, a traditional canon of a much
earlier date.
Origen's list, which is preserved for us by
Eusebius (//. E. vi. 25), goes back to a time a
century and a half before Jerome. It is sub
stantially the same as his, stating that the
Books are twenty-two in number, and combining
Ruth with Judges and Lamentations with Jere
miah. A slip of the scribe has made the Books
enumerated to be only twenty-one, for the Book
of the twelve minor Prophets is unmentionedi
But though Origen's Greek is lost, we have
Ruffinus' translation of it, in which the omission
is supplied, and the list made identical with
Jerome's. A still earlier list, made by Melito bishop of
Sardis, is also given by Eusebius (H. E. iv. 26).
Melito lived somewhere in the latter half of the
2nd century. His list does not state how many
Books were reckoned in the Canon, but he men
tions the five Books of Moses, Joshua, Judges,.
Ruth, four Books of Kings, two of Chronicles,
the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of
Solomon, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, twelve minor
Prophets in one Book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras.
The last named no doubt included Nehemiah,
and probably also Esther, which otherwise does
not appear. All the other Books (Jeremiah, in
cluding Lamentations), though in a different
order, find a place in Melito's canon.
This brings us back to Josephus, whose
enumeration has been already mentioned, and
shown to accord with our present list. But
Jewish evidence goes farther than this. For in
the prologue of Ecclesiasticus we find allusion to
ii translation of these same Books made at least
a century and a half before Christ. The writer
of this prologue, Jesus the son of Sirach, speaks
of his grandfather having " much given him
self to the reading of the Law, and the Prophets,
and other Books of our fathers," and how he
was in consequence drawn to write something
himself. This sentence points to the threefold
division of the Jewish sacred Books as known to
the writer of Ecclesiasticus. Shortly afterwards
the prologue speaks of these same writings, " the
Law itself and the Prophets and the rest of the
Books," as being translated, and says, "They
have no small difference when they are spoken
in their own language." The writer to whom
we owe these remarks lived about 132 B.C. in
the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes IL, and from his
words we may almost certainly conclude that
the Septuagint Version had by his day been
brought to a completion. That Version embraces
all the Books of the Old Testament accepted
by the Christian Church. Beyond this we
cannot go.
The statements which are found in Rabbinical
writings concerning the non-acceptance, even m
Christian times, of such works as Ecclesiastes
and the Song of Solomon, must be taken to
mean no more than that, as in the case of the
New Testament, so with the Old, one or two Books
belonged to a class of dvriAeydpeva. They were
widely received, but not everywhere nor by all.
But the Greek translators counted them as of
the Canon, and supplied a version of them as
they had done of the Books universally received.
II. The New Testament, like the Old, comprises
several Books, by various writers, but the whole

BIBLE
was in all probability composed within the last
half of the first century of our era. Much more
time elapsed, however, before these works were all
gathered into one collection, and stamped with
authority as canonical writings. A recently
discovered work, The Teaching of tlie Apostles
shows that in the very early years of the 2nd
century only a small part of our present Canon
was known to that portion of the Christian
Church to which the writer of this treatise
belonged. The Canon now includes twenty-seven
separate writings, the works of eight or nine
different authors. Most of them were accepted
in some portion of Christendom at a very early
period of Church history, though a few only
gained general acceptance after the lapse of some
centuries. It is in the 4th century that we first
find a list of New Testament Books containing all
the present Canon. At the Council of Laodicea
(a.d. 363) a list of Books was accepted " which
should be read in the Church ; " and of our pre
sent Books only the Apocalypse was there
omitted. This Book is found included, thirty-
four years later (a.d. 397), in the list accepted
at the Council of Carthage. The Books about
which any question was raised in the Church,
and which, are called by Eusebius (H. E. iii. 25)
dvTiAeydpeva, are the Epistle to the Hebrews,
the Epistles of St. James and St. Jude, the
Second Epistle of St. Peter, the Second and Third
Epistles of St. John, and the Apocalypse.
In our English Bibles these various Books are
arranged according to their subject-matter, the
historical Books standing first, followed hy the
letters of St. Paul and the other Apostles, and
the volume is concluded by the Apocalypse,
which, being largely eschatological, seems to
claim the last place in the volume. It is, how
ever, quite certain that letters from the Apostles
were written to the Churches which they had
founded or in which they had preached the
Gospel, some time before the need was felt for
any history of the life of Christ, or of the founda
tion of the Christian society. Some of St. Paul's
Epistles are generally accepted as the earliest in
order of time of all our Christian writings, and
the dates at which they were produced range
most probably from a.d. 52, when the first
letter to the Thessalonians was sent from
Corinth, down to a.d. 67, when the Second
Epistle to Timothy was despatched from Rome
during that second imprisonment which was
terminated by St. Paul's martyrdom. The other
Books were produced at various times within
and subsequent to these dates.
Of the Gospels it is certain that St. John's
was written later than the other three, and
probably almost as late as any Book in the New
Testament Canon. The other three Gospels,.
called Synoptic, because they treat mainly of
the same part of Christ's history, viz. His life
in and around Galilee, and so may be studied
together, are yet written each from a different
point of view. St. Matthew writes for Jews,
and so deals with all that would carry most
conviction to that people that Jesus was the
promised Messiah. St. Luke as clearly was
writing for the Gentile world and from the
point of view of a non- Jew ; while St. Mark is
a Jew, writing probably for some Hellenic
Church, and brings out especially all that
bespeaks the divinity of Jesus.

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The Acts of the Apostles is, as its introduction
intimates, a continuation of the Gospel narrative,
by adding to the recital of what Jesus did and
taught, a history of what was done and taught
by those who immediately followed Him, show
ing how they fulfilled His parting command
to preach first in Jerusalem and throughout
Judea, then in Samaria and Galilee, and after
wards to go forth to the uttermost parts of the
earth. The letters of St. Paul, much more than
those which bear the names of the other Apos
tles, were directed to special circumstances in
the state of those Churches to which they were
addressed. Sometimes they are letters of rebuke
for errors which were creeping into the midst
of a congregation, sometimes they are written
in answer to questions addressed to the Apostle,
sometimes they are letters of encouragement,
and of thanks to the brethren for acts of kind
ness shown to St. Paul himself, and sometimes
more than one of these features are exhibited in
the same epistle. The Pastoral Letters (to
Timothy and Titus) contain advice to those dis
ciples for the government of the Churches over
which they had been placed by St. Paul himself.
The Epistle to the Hebrews, sometimes as
signed to St. Paul, is now more generally
thought to have been written by some Chris
tian of Alexandria, perhaps Apollos, to whom
St. Paul's' arguments and the Jewish Scriptures
were extremely familiar, and who was possessed
of a style and knowledge calculated to commend
the advances which Christianity had made
beyond the Jewish faith and practice, and to
convince men that, even though faith in Him
brought with it a great conflict of suffering,
Christ was a precious gain to those who had
laid hold on Him.
The other Epistles of the New Testament are
often styled Catholic, because they are addressed
to the Chnrch of Christ at large, and not to any
special congregation. The name applies well
enough to all but the Second and Third Epistles
of St. John, one of which is written to a Chris
tian lady and her children, the other to an indi
vidual Christian.
The Apocalypse commences with exhortations
and warnings to the Churches then existing in
Asia, and advances in prophetic strain to picture
the trials and victories of Christ's Church
throughout all time. The date of this work,
which seems much more to lean on the Jewish
economy than does St. John's Gospel, ought
almost certainly to be placed before the destruc
tion of Jerusalem.
All the original autographs of the New Testa
ment writings have, as was very likely to be the
case, perished long ago, but many MSS. of com
paratively early date are still in existence, some
going back to within less than a century of the
time when the Canon was settled at the Council
of Carthage. These MSS. are of two kinds.
The earliest in date are written in capital
letters, and have no separation between the
different words. These are called uncials, from
the character of the writing. By the 9th cen
tury, however, a running hand, which combined
the letters of each word together, had super
seded the more cumbrous early writing, and
MSS. in that hand (styled cursive) are much
more numerous than the uncials ; but, as being

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431

made many centuries later, they have the
chance of being heirs to an abundant store of
copyists' blunders. The principal uncials known
at present are distinguished as A, B, 0, D, and
N. The first is the Codex Alexandrinus in the
British Museum, of which copies have lately been
produced in facsimile by photography. B is the
Codex Vaticanus at Rome; C the Codex Ephraemi,
which is at Paris ; and D the Codex Bezae, iu
the University Library at Cambridge. N is the
Codex Sinaiticus, discovered at a, monastery on
Mount Sinai by Dr. Tischendorf, and since edited
by him. Recent scholarship has given a decided
preference to the text of B, and, next to that,
the text of X. Of uncial MSS. about a score
are known, but many of these are fragmentary
and contain only small portions of- the text. So
also are most of the cursives, though about
thirty, out of a total of nearly a thousand, have
the text entire.
Besides MSS. we can learn something of the
character of the earliest text from Versions that
have been made of it, of which the earliest
Latin, the Syriac, and those Versions in the
languages of Egypt are the most important.
Latin Versions were first made in Northern
Africa for the use of Christian congregations in
Carthage and elsewhere. There exist in whole
or part three Syriac Versions, the earliest of
which must have been made in the 2nd century ;
while the 2nd and 3rd centuries produced the
Egyptian Versions, of which the Coptic is of
the greatest antiquity. It is not possible to
arrive at certainty from Versions as to what the
original Greek text must have been, but they
are often very helpful in deciding which read
ings may safely be rejected.
A third aid to the study of the text is found
in the quotations made from it in the writings
of the early Fathers. But this source of help is
not so valuable as it might be judged to be,
because the earlier authors were not so much
concerned about verbal accuracy in their quota
tions, as to give the drift of the passage on which
they were dwelling. Hence they appear often
to have quoted from memory, the same writer
giving on different occasions slightly varying
readings of the same text.
Yet by means of these helps to criticism it is
well-nigh certain in every passage what the
original text of the New Testament was. There
is probably not more than one word in a thou
sand about which any serious doubt can remain
as to what the true reading must have been.
On the Old Testament the student may refer
with advantage to some of the earlier Einleit-
ungen — as Eichhorn (Gottingen, 1823-24) ; De
Wette (Berlin, 1844) ; Hiivernick (Erlangen,
1836); Hengstenberg (Berlin, 1831-39): and
concerning more recent investigations, to the
writings of Prof. Kuenen of Leyden, and of Dr. J.
Wellhausen of Marburg, a condensed sketch of
whose opinions are given in his article Israel, in
the tenth edition of the Encyc. Brit. ; and to
the works of Dr. W. Robertson Smith, The Old
Testament in the Jewish Church, and The
Prophets of Israel.
For the New Testament the Prolegomena of
Mill (Oxford, 1707) and of Wetstein (Amsterdam,
1730) are still valuable. Further information
will be found in the Introduction to the New
Testament, by Dr. Salmon. [J. R. L.]

432

BICHRI

The preceding article is intended to give only
a general view of the subject. It must be
supplemented by the articles Canon, Old Testa
ment, New Testament, Septuagint, Vul
gate, Versions (Ancient), and by the special
articles on the separate Books of the Bible. [Edd.]
BICH'RI C")33; BA. BoXopel; Bichri and
Bochri ; first-born, Sim. ; youthful, Gesen., Fiirst ;
but perhaps rather son of Becher), ancestor of
Sheba (2 Sam. xx. 1 ff.). [Becher.] [A. C. H.]
BID'KAR PP"13, Ges. [Treg. and MV.11] =
~lpT|3 [cp. 1 K. 'iv. 9, R. V.], apierccr, but
this' abbreviation of |3 into 3 is questioned by
Olshausen, Lehrb. d. Heb. Sprache, p. 613 ;
B. BoSe/co, BbA. = -Kap, BmB. BaAeKap ; Joseph.
BaSaKpos ; Badacer), Jehu's " captain " (y?W ;
Joseph, o ttjs toIttjs poipas riyeptiv, Ant. ix. 6,
§ 3), originally his fellow-officer (2 K. ix. 25) ;
who completed the sentence on Jehoram sou of
Ahab, by casting his body into the field of
Naboth after Jehu had transfixed him with an
arrow. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BIER. [Burial.]
BIG'THA (NrU3, of uncertain meaning, see
Oettli [Strack u. ZBckler's Kgf. Komm. in loco],
Ges. connects it, Bigthan, and Abagtha with a
Pers. root signifying " fortunate." MV.11 and
Bertheau-Ryssel = God-given ; Bapa(l ; Baga-
tha), one of the seven " chamberlains " (O'D^D,
eunuchs) of the harem of Ahasuerus (Esth. i.
10). [F. W. F.]
BIGTHAN and BIGTHA'NA (|m3, Esth.
ii. 21, and XJHJ3, vi. 2 ; Bagathan, the same as
Abagtha in i. 10), an eunuch (chamberlain,
A. V.) in the court of Ahasuerus, one of the
seven "who kept the door " (marg. "threshold,"
apxttrupaTotpvAaKes, LXX.), and who conspired
with Teresh, one of his coadjutors, against the
king's life. The conspiracy was detected by
Mordecai, and the eunuchs hung, i.e. crucified,
or impaled (Herod, iii. 120; Thuc. i. 110, &c).
Prideaux (Con. i. 363) supposes that these officers
had been partially superseded by the degrada
tion of Vashti and the elevation of Mordecai,
and sought revenge by the murder of Ahasuerus.
The suggestion falls in with that of the Chaldee
Vs., and of the LXX., which in Esth. ii. 21 in
terpolates the words iAvrriiB-qtrav oi Svo evvovx0'
tov {iatriAeus . . . '6ti Trpor)xBTi MopSoxalos. The
name is omitted by the LXX., on both occasions.
Bigthan is probably derived from -the Persian
and Sanskrit Bagaddta, " a gift of fortune "
(Gesen.-Treg. after Bohlen, s. v. See Bigtha).
Ahasuerus (if Xerxes be intended by this name)
afterwards fell a victim to the conspiracy of an
eunuch (Ctesias, Pers. 29 ; Arist. Polit. v. 10 ;
Diod. Sic. xi. 69). [F. W. F.]
BIG'VAI (i):3, probably from the Pers.,
happy. Cp. the name BoyoTos [Her. iii. 128] ;
Biguai, Beqoai).
1. " Children of Bigvai," 2056 (Neh. 2067)
in number, returned from the Captivity with
Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 14 TB. Booyef, Av,a. Bo-youo] ;

BILGAH
Neh. vii. 19 [X. Bayoel, A. Bayovei, B. BaToet])
and 72 of them at a later date with Ezra (Ezra
viii. 14 [B. BayoovBt, A. TafiovaeQ). [Bagoi-
Bago.] *
2. Apparently one of the chiefs of Zevub-
babel's expedition (Ezra ii. 2 [A. Bayoua B.
Barovtrl] ; Neh. vii. 7 [BK. Botoei, A. Bayom'of])'
and who afterwards signed the covenant (Neh!
s. 16 [B. Bayotri, HA. Bayoel]). [F. W. F.] [F.j
BIL'DAD 0:63 = Bel hath loved [cp.
Eldad], Nbldeke, : ZDMG. 1888, p. 479 .
BaASdS ; Baldad), the second of Job's three
friends. He is called the " Shuhite " ('iTltS'n).
which implies both his family and nation.
Shuah was the name of a son of Abraham and
Keturah, and of an Arabian tribe sprung from
him, when he had been sent eastward by his
father. Gesen. ( s. v.) supposes it to be " the
same as the SokkoIo of Ptolemy (v. 15) to
the east of Batanea," and therefore to the east
of the land of Uz [Shuah: Fried. Delitzsch
(ZKF. ii. 91, &c.) identifies this with Suhu on
the Euphrates, south of Carchemish], The
LXX., strangely enough, renders it 6 tSiv
Savxeuv rupavvos, appearing to intend a dis
tinction between him and the other friends,
whom in the same verse it calls fSturiAels (Job
ii. 11).
Bildad takes a share in each ofthe three con
troversies with Job (viii. xviii. xxv.). He follows
in the train of Eliphaz, but with more violent
declamation, less argument, and keener invec
tive. He relies much on proverbial wisdom-
(viii. 11-18; xviii. 4-20), and represents the
orthodox sage ; whereas Eliphaz is more of the
prophet and Zophar of the formalist (see Cox
on Job). Bildad's address is abrupt and un-
tender, and in his very first speech he cruelly
attributes the death of Job's children to their
own transgressions ; and loudly calls on Job to
repent of his supposed crimes. His second speech
(ch. xviii.) merely recapitulates his former asser
tions ofthe temporal calamities ofthe wicked ; oa
this occasion he implies, without expressing, Job's
wickedness, and does not condescend to exhort
him to repentance. In the third speech (ch, xxv.),
unable to refute the sufferer's arguments, he
takes refuge in irrelevant dogmatism on God's
glory and man's nothingness, which is practi
cally an admission of defeat : in reply to which
Job justly reproves him both for deficiency ire
argument and failure in charitable forbearance.
Cp. Ewald, Das Buck Ijob ; Bradley, The Book
of Jo'i, on chs. viii., xviii., xxv. [F. W. F.]
BIL'EAM (0l/?3; A. 'lBAadp, B. om.;
Baalam), a town in the western half of the-
tribe of Manasseh, named only in 1 Ch. vi. 70,
as being given (with its "suburbs") to the
Kohathites. In the lists in Josh. xvii. 11 »n«
xxi. 24 this name does not appear, hut Ibleam
(LXX. om.) is probably, by an easy changeof
letters, the same place [Ibleam]. [G.] [W.]
BIL'GAH (n^3, Ges. = cheerfulness; A.
BeAyd, B. 'Zppiip; Belga). 1. A priest in the
time of David; the head of the fifteenth courw
for the Temple-service (1 Ch. xxiv. 14).
2. A priest who returned from Babylon with
Zerubbabel and Joshua (Neh. xii. 5 [K"""1

BILGAT
BoAyos, om. BA.], 18 [«•¦•»*'»' BoVyos, BN*A,
om. ; Belgae]) ; probably the same who, under
the slightly altered name Bilgai, sealed the
covenant (Neh. x. 8 [B. BeAtreid, X. BeAtrid,
A. BeAyal; Bclgai]). [W. A. W.] [F.]
BIL'GAI 0^3), Neh. x. 8; probably the
same as Bilgah, 2.
BIL'HAH (DD??, perhaps simple; BaAAo;
Bala). 1. Handmaid of Rachel (Gen. xxix. 29),
and concubine of Jacob, to whom she bore
Dan and Naphtali (Gen. xxx. 3-8, xxxv. 25,
xlvi. 25; 1 Ch. vii. 13). Her stepson Reuben
afterwards lay with her (Gen. xxxv. 22), which
entailed a curse upon Reuben (Gen. xlix. 4).
2. A town of the Simeonites (1 Ch. iv. 29 ;
B. 'ABeAAd, A. BaAad ; Bala) ; also called Baalah
and Balah. [Baal, p. 308, No. 2, b.]
[W. A. W] [F.]
BIL'HAN (|iT?3 ; Balaan, Balan; the same
root as Bilhah, Gen. xxx. 3, &c). The final | is
evidently a Horite termination, as in Zaavan,
Akan, Dishan, Aran, Lotan, Alvan, Hemdan,
Eshban, &c. ; and may be compared with the
Etruscan ena, Greek a(v)s, uv, &c. It is fre
quent in the Tema-inscriptions (cp. Studia Bib-
lica [1885], p. 214.— S. R. D.).
1. A Horite chief, son of Ezer, son of Seir,
dwelling in Mount Seir, in the land of Edom
(Gen. xxxvi. 27 [A. BaAadv, D*'E. -ap] ; 1 Ch.
i. 42 [B. BaAadp, A. -av]).
2. A Benjamite, son of Jediael (1 Ch. vii. 10
[BA. BaAadv]). It does not appear clearly from
which of the sons of Benjamin Jediael was
descended, as he is not mentioned in Gen. xlvi.
£1, or Num. xxvi. But as he was the father of
Ehud (v. 10), and Ehud seems, from 1 Ch. viii.
-I, G, to have been a son of Bela, Jediael, and
consequently Bilhan, were probably Belaites.
The occurrence of Bilhan as well as Bela in the
tribe of Benjamin, names both imported from
Edom, is remarkable. [A. C. H.] [F.]
BIL'SHAN (}B^3, if=$h-]3, then elo
quent, but see Bidkar ; Belsan), one of Zerub-
babel's companions on his expedition from Baby
lon (Ezra ii. 2 [B. Batrtpdp, A. BaAatrdv] ; Neh.
vii. 7 [B. BaAtrdv, K. Baatpdv, A. Baatrdv]). [F.]
BIM'HAL (brjOl, if = ^TO-J3,then circum
cised, but see Bidkar ; B. 'IpaBaTiA, A. Bapa-t)A ;
Chamaal), one of the sons of Japhlet in the
line of Asher (1 Ch. vii. 33). [W. A. W.]
BIN'EA (KW3 ; Banaa), the son of Moza ;
one of the descendants of Saul (1 Ch. viii. 37
[B. Bavd, A. Boai'd]; ix. 43 [Bs* Baavd, A.
Bavd]). [W. A. W.]
BIN'JfTJI ('•'133= a building, perhaps with
reference to the formation of a family [cp. Gen.
xxx. 3, R. V. marg.], a name frequent after the
Exile. 1. A Levite, father of Noadiah, in Ezra's
time (Ezra viii. 33 ; B. 'EQavvaid, A. vibs Bavaid ;
Bennoi). 2. One of the sons of Pahath-moab, who had
taken a foreign wife (Ezra x. 30 ; BS. Qavovei,
A. Bavovi ; Bennui). [Balnuus.]
3. Another Israelite, of the sons of Bani, who
had also taken a foreign wife (Ezra x. 38 ; BKA.
Bavoiu ; Bennui).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

BIRDS

433

4. Altered from Bani in the corresponding
list in Ezra (Neh. vii. 15 [BXA. Bavovi ;
Bannui]). 5. A Levite, son of Henadad, who assisted at
the reparation of the wall of Jerusalem, under
Nehemiah (Neh. iii. 24 [BKA. Bavet ; Bennui] ;
x. 9 [BA. Baraioii, X0*- 'ABavaiov; Bennui]).
Possibly the same as the Levite Binnui in xii. 8
[BXA. Bavovi ; . Bennui]. [W. A. W.] [P.]
BIRDS (f|iV. "itey- DM f|J3 ^3; 'Oph,
tzippor, 'ayit, ba'al-chdndph ; to- Ttcreivd, to
bpvea rov oupavou, bpvis, bpviBiov ; volucris, avis).
f[)V, from the root tfiO, 'ooph, " to fly," the same
as the Arabic ,  i\£; 'aph, is frequently used of
birds in general ; and it is not pretended by any
that it denotes any particular species. 11BV'
which occurs upwards of forty times in the O. T.,
equivalent to the Arabic JbO, sefar, " to
whistle," is everywhere translated "bird" or
" fowl " except in two passages where it is given
as "sparrow," a rendering more accurately
expressive of its real meaning. The Hebrews,
like the modern Orientals, seem to have been
singularly unobservant of the distinctions of
the vast number of species of passerine birds.
With the exception of a few very striking and
conspicuous species, as the swallows, swift, and
starling, they were all included as tzippor,
" sparrows ; " just as the Arabs and Syrians speak
of them all as .a^aP, 'asfur, i.e. " sparrow,"
yet when the distinctions are pointed out,
recognise them at once as a kind of 'asfur.
The word may be taken, with the consent of all
the critics, as the common name of all small
perching birds, though especially applied to the
sparrow. Bochart, while explaining the word
as including all passerine birds, adduces and
discusses at some length nine passages, where
with more or less reason the sparrow is specifi
cally intended ; but it is unnecessary to enter
upon these. The Greeks used o-TpovBiov with
exactly the same indefiniteness and latitude.
[See Sparrow, under which the small birds are
more fully treated of.]
0% 'ayit, is translated " bird " by the A. V.
in Jer. xii. 9, by R. V. " bird of prey ; " else
where " fowls," always denoting birds of prey,
from the root CI?, " to rush on the prey."
In each passage where it occurs, some familiar
characteristic of raptorial birds is referred to,
but nothing which points to any particular
species. "When the fowls ('ayit) came down
upon the carcases, Abram drove them away "
(Gen. xv. 11). "There is a path which no fowl
('ayit) knoweth, and which the vulture's eye
hath not seen " (Job xxviii. 7). In the former
passage, the habit of the various species of
eagles and vultures congregating over a carcase
is referred to, in the second the wonderful
power of distant vision. Raptorial birds do not
detect their prey by scent, but by vision. No
blast which falls in the night, although it be
close to a griffin's roosting-place, where the birds
are often astir, is attacked till morning, save by
the jackals and hyaenas ; but if it be during the
day, although there may not be a vulture in
the sky which the human eye can detect,
within a few minutes a speck will appear
2 F

434

BIRDS

overhead, and a vulture will wheel and circle
in rapid downward flight, followed in rapid
succession from all quarters by a motley crowd
of carrion feeders, kites, buzzards, eagles, crows :
" Wherever the carcase is, there will the eagles
be gathered together."
The track of a wounded deer or gazelle can
be descried by the vulture from a height where
it cannot itself be detected by any human eyes.
In Is. xviii. 6, " The fowls shall summer upon
them," we have another well-known habit of
birds of prey alluded to. The Ethiopian enemies
of Israel are to be stripped like a vine, of foliage,
sprigs, and branches — only a bare stem is to be
left, and on this the buzzard shall perch. No
large raptorial bird will settle on a green tree
if a dead stump or bare pole is in the neighbour
hood, a fact which is often taken advantage of
by fowlers in setting their snares for these
birds. ,
f)33 7l?3, ba'al chdndph, i.e. possessor of
wings, is used in Prov. i. 17, and is a poetical ex
pression denoting generally all birds (cp. Eccles.
x. 20 Heb.)
In the summary of the history of Creation in
Genesis, birds are described as having been
created on the fifth day, from the waters,
immediately after sea-monsters, reptiles, and
fishes, and before the beasts of the earth
(Mammalia), which preceded man on the sixth
day. The recently exhumed Assyrian tablets 'of the
Creation are unfortunately deficient, so far as
has yet been ascertained, in that portion which
relates to the work of the fifth day as recorded
in Genesis. But the seventh tablet in the series
discovered by the late G. Smith at Kouyunjik,
though only a fragment, records the creation of
" cattle of the field, beasts of the field, and
creeping things of the field," exactly in the same
order as in Genesis, and also refers to the
previous creation of " the strong monsters "
(G. Smith, Chaldaean Account of Genesis,
p. 76).
The reference in the tablet to the satisfaction
which a former creation, apparently that of sea-
monsters or whales, had given the Creator, is
parallel to Gen. i. 23 ; and if the missing tablet
be ever discovered, there is reason to expect
that we shall find the creation of birds in the
same order as given in Genesis. Cp. Sayce,
Religion of the ancient Babylonians, p. 388, &c. ;
Records of the Past, N. S. i. 129,
As a matter of fact, this order-ofbird creation
is in exact accord with the geological record.
The earliest undoubted appearance of birds iu
our fossil remains is in the Oolitic deposits,
where at Solenhofen, in Bavaria, the fossilised
remains of a bird, known as Archaeopteryx, were
discovered in 1861. Some supposed footprints
of birds had been found in the triassic formation
in the valley of the Connecticut in 1835 ; but
most palaeontologists are now agreed in referring
them to gigantic reptiles and not to birds.
Thus the first appearance of a bird is exactly
where it is placed in the Mosaic record, im
mediately following the great reptilian epoch.
The Archaeopteryx has many curious reptilian
peculiarities, especially the long lizard-like tail
of twenty vertebrae, from each of which springs
a pair of well-developed rectrices or tail feathers.
The unique specimen is now in the British

BIRDS
Museum. More remains of birds— some of them-
resembling or allied to Penguins, Cormorants
Divers, Rails, and Waders — have been found in
the Cretaceous or Chalk deposits; and still
more in the Eocene, some of which retain the
reptilian character and have their jaws or beaks
armed with true teeth. Still more numerous
are the birds of the Meiocene deposits, and they
are still more closely allied to our existing
forms ; no less than forty-four existing genera
being represented in the lacustrine deposits of
Auvergne, in the neighbourhood of Mentz, in
the freshwater formations of Berne and Provence
in Greece, the Himalayas, and North America.
After this the Pleiocene and Postpleiocene forms
rapidly become closely allied to living species •
with which in the cave deposits and kitchen
middens they are for the most part identical.
It is interesting to observe that in the Oceanic
islands, such as the Mauritius and the other
Mascarene Islands, and in New Zealand, which
mammalia had scarcely reached when first dis
covered by man, the highest forms of Ufe were
birds, many of them incapable of flight, and of
gigantic size, side by side with gigantic tortoises
and reptiles. To these places the products of
the sixth day's creation had not reached.
The birds of Palestine are exceptionally
numerous and varied for so small a region, 348
species having been already recorded from that
country. Omithologieally, Palestine belongs to
what is termed by naturalists " the Palae-arctic
region," i.e. Europe ; Africa north of the Sahara,
but not Egypt ; Asia Minor, Syria, Persia, and
all Asia north of the Himalayas and North
China. But of this region Palestine is almost
an outlying province, impinging as it does on
Egypt, which belongs to the Ethiopian region on
one side, and on the Indian region on another.
In winter, the bird population of Palestine is
chiefly composed of hordes of European migrants
of all orders and families, which seek refuge
there. When spring returns, these begin for the
most part to troop northwards, and the native
or truly indigenous birds take their places,
largely reinforced by summer migrants from the
south. Still the seaboard and the interior,
until the western limits of the Jordan valley are
reached, are purely Palae-arctic in their character.
But the depressed valley of the Ghor, or Jordan
and Dead Sea, which is sunk 1300 feet below
the level of the Mediterranean, seems to he an
outlier of- the Ethiopian region, containing also
a sprinkling of Indian forms ; the Sunbird,
Bush-babbler, Smyrna Kingfisher, Bulbul, and
others being the most remarkable species. The
Southern and Eastern desert regions present, as
their chief . ornithological characteristic, the
types of the African deserts. In the whole of
the country, as might be expected from the
character of its coast and the scarcity of
marshes, sea-birds and water-fowl are compara
tively scarce ; but probably in no country in
the world are diurnal birds of prey more
numerous in individuals or more varied in
species. This explains the exceptional number
of Hebrew names of birds of prey, which are
preserved to us in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Game birds are few, both in numbers and species,
while of passerine birds, especially warblers, the
numbers far exceed those of Southern England.
The most abundant of all families of birds,

BIRSHA
though the species are few, are the Pigeons and
Doves. [H. B. T.]
BIR'SHA (Iffina, Ges. [Treg. and MV.11], if
= 1?EH")3, a wicked one, but see BlDKAR, and
against the interpretation Dillmann5 and
Delitzsch [1887] in loco; Bapad; Bersa), king
of Gomorrah at the time of the invasion of
Chedorlaomer (Gen. xiv. 2). [F.]
BIRTH. [Children.]
BIRTHDAYS (to yevetria, Matt. xiv. 6).
Properly to. yeveBAia is a birthday feast (and
hence in the early writers the day of a martyr's
commemoration), but Tcfc yevetria seems (accord
ing to Schleusner, Meyer, Bleek, &c.) to be used
in this sense in later and Hellenistic Greek, for
in Herod, iv. 26 it means a day in honour of the
dead. It is, however, possible that in Matt. xiv.
S the feast to commemorate Herod's accession is
intended (Grotius ; Wieseler, Beitr. p. 182 ; Haus
rath ; Volkmar, &c), for we know that such
feasts were common (especially in Herod's
family, Joseph. Ant. xv. 11, § 6, xvii. 8, § 4;
Blunt's Coincidences, Append, vii.), and were
called " the day of the king " (Hos. vii. 5).
The Gemarists distinguish expressly between
D'o'pD St? N^DIVJ, yevetria regni, and the
m?n DV or birthday (Avodah Zarah, i. 3, ed.
Strack ; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matt. xiv. 6).
On the other hand, Josephus (Ant xii. 4, § 7) and
Philo (c. Flacc.) use yevetria for a birthday feast,
and Josephus uses i)pepa ttjs dpxfjs for an anni
versary of accession (Ant. xv. 11, § 6), so that
the question must be regarded as an open one
(see Speaker's Comm. in loco ; Edersheim's Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah, i. 672).
The custom of observing birthdays is very
ancient (Gen. xl. 20; Jer. xx. 15); and in Job i.
4, &c, we read that Job's sons " feasted every
one his day." In Persia they were celebrated
with peculiar honours and banquets, for the
details of which see Herod, i. 138. And in
Egypt " the birthdays of the kings were cele
brated with great pomp. They were looked
upon as holy : no business was done upon them,
and all classes indulged in the festivities suit
able to the occasion. Every Egyptian attached
much importance to the day, and even to the
hour of his birth " (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, i.
281 [1878]). Probably in consequence of the
ceremonies usual in their celebration, the Jews
regarded their observance as an idolatrous custom
(Lightfoot,- 1, c). [F. W. F.]
BIRTHRIGHT (Trb3 ; to irpuroT&Kia).
We must distinguish this from the " blessing "
exercised by Isaac and Jacob in turn, in favour
of a selected son or sons, analogous to a testa
mentary disposition; whereas the analogy of
birthright is rather with entail. The blessing,
in the instances which we have of it, includes
spiritual privilege ; whereas the birthright
seems limited to property. Yet the blessing,
being of a mixed character, limits or overrides
primogeniture in the case of Reuben, and of
Manasseh who was adopted with, but postponed
to, Ephraim by Jacob. The distinctive mention
of first-born sons in each generation meets us
in the earliest genealogies ; even in that of the

BIRTHRIGHT

435

Outcast Cain we have, down to Lamech, a line
apparently of first-born sons (Gen. iv. 17 sq.).
Afterwards an even more distinctive formula is
found with considerable uniformity : " A. lived
so many years and begat B., and A. lived after
he begat B. so many years and begat sons and
daughters." The first deviation occurs in the
generations from Noah, but the same formula is
resumed in tracing the line of Terah's descent
from Shem through Arphaxad, whom Shem
" begat after the flood," and who seems preferred
to the elder brothers. Distinctive mention of
first-born sons appears in Gen. xxii. 21, xxv. 13,
xxxv. 23, xxxvi. 15 ; Num. xxvi. 5, &c. The
advantages accruing to the eldest son were not
definitely fixed in patriarchal times. The theory
that he was the priest of the family rests on no
scriptural statement, and the Rabbis appear
divided on the question (see Hottinger's Note on
Goodwin's Moses and Aaron, i. 1 ; Ugol. iii. 53).
Great respect was paid to him in the household ;
and, as the family widened into a tribe, this
grew into a sustained authority, undefined save
by custom, in all matters of common interest.
Thus the " princes " of the congregation had
probably rights of primogeniture (Num. vii. 2 ;
xxi. 18 ; xxv. 14). A " double portion " of the
paternal property was under certain circum
stances allotted to the firstborn by the Mosaic
Law (Deut. xxi. 15-17), nor could the caprice of
the father then deprive him of it. This probably
means twice as much as any other son enjoyed.
Of similar character, in earlier days, was the
exceptional inheritance of Joseph, his sons
reckoning with his brethren, and becoming
heads of tribes (Gen. xlviii. Cp. Riehm, HWB.
s. n. " Erbrecht "). This seems to explain the
request of Elisha for a "double portion" of
Elijah's spirit (2 K. ii. 9 ; so most commen
tators). The sin of Onan (Gen. xxxviii. 9) is
clearly the result of a wish to maintain the
birthright in his own line instead of in that
of his deceased elder brother. And we may
account for the tenacity with which Tamar
clung to her domestic and conjugal rights
by the same consideration, although, being a
Canaanitess, she takes a heathenish mode of
maintaining them (ib. 13 sq. ; see Kurtz, Gesch.
des A. Bundes, § 86). Reuben, through his
unfilial conduct, was deprived of the birthright
(Gen. xlix. 4 ; 1 Ch. v. 1). We see, however,
from Gen. xxxvii. 21, 29, 30, that in earlier
days he had some kind of position distinct
and apart from his brethren, and that he
felt some responsibility for the younger sons as
especially pertaining to him (v. 30; cp. xiii. 37).
It is likely that some remembrance of this lost
pre-eminence stirred the Reubenite leaders of
Korah's rebellion (Num. xvi. 1, 2 ; xxvi. 5-9).
Esau's act, transferring his right to Jacob, was.
allowed to be valid (Gen. xxv. 33). The first
born of the king was his successor by law" (2 Ch.
xxi. 3) ; David, however, by Divine appointment,
excluded Adonijah in favour of Solomon, which
deviation from rule was indicated by the anoint
ing (Goodwin, op. cit. 4, with Hottinger's notes).

» In an article in the Bibliotheca Sacra (Ohio, U.S.),
January 1888, an opinion is urged, with much support
of chronological coincidences, that the succession to the
Jewish throne lay in the son first horn after the father
had reached twenty-one years of age. 2 F 2

436

BIRZAVITH

The Jews attached a sacred import to the title
(see Schottgen, Hor. Hebr. i. 922) : thus " Israel
is . . . My firstborn "(Ex. v. 22); and thus "first
born " and " first-begotten " seem applied to
the Messiah (Rom. viii. 29 ; Heb. i. 6). See
First-born, Heir. Keil, Bibl. Archaol. n. iii. 1.
1, § 142, has some remarks of interest. [H. H.]
BIR'ZAVITH (nin.3, Keri njPD; B.
Brjfolfl, A. Bep(aie ; Barsaith), a name occurring
in the genealogies of Asher (1 Ch. vii. 31),
and possibly, from the mode of its mention,
the name of a place (cp. the similar expression,
" father of Bethlehem," " father of Tekoa," &c.
in chs. ii. and iv.). The reading of the Keri
may be interpreted " well of olives." No trace
of it is found elsewhere. [W. A. W.]
BISH'LAM (D^3, if = D^rj3. peaceful
[but see Bidkar] ; Beselam), apparently an
officer or commissioner (trvvTao-aopevos, 1 Esd.
ii. 16) of Artaxerxes in Palestine at the time
of the return of Zerubbabel from Captivity
(Ezra iv. 7). The LXX. translates it iv elpr)vg,
in peace (see margin of A. V.) ; so also the Syriac
and Arabic Versions ; but this has nothing to
recommend it. [W. A. W.]
BISHOP (iTrio-KOTtos). This word, applied
in the N. T. to the officers of the Church who
were charged with certain functions of superin
tendence, had been in use before as -i title of
office. The inspectors or commissioners sent by
Athens to her subject-states were irrio-KOTroi
(Aristoph. Aves, 1022), and their office, like that
of the Spartan Harmosts, authorized them to
interfere in all the political arrangements of the
states to which they were sent. Other instances
of the use of the term are the following. It is
" the designation of the inspectors whose busi
ness it was to report to the Indian kings
(Arrian, Ind. xii. 5) ; of the commissioners ap
pointed by Mithridates to settle affairs in
Ephesus (Appian, Mithr. 48) ; of magistrates
who regulated the sale of provisions under the
Romans (Charisius in the Dig. 1. 4, 18); and of
certain officers iu Rhodes whose functions are
unknown " (Ross, Inscr. Grace. Incd. fasc. iii.
Nos. 275, 276. Cp. Lightfoot, Philipp. p. 93).
Fresh instances from inscriptions are given by
Hatch, Bampton Lectures, pp. 37, 38 (cp. C.
Gore, The Church and the Ministry, p. 403) ; and
the word is used once by Cicero, ad Attic, vii.
11. To the Hellenistic Jews the title was
familiar from its use in the LXX., where it
appears in the following passages : — Job xx. 29
¦6x); 2 Ch. xxxiv. 12, 17, of Josiah 's over
seers Oi^ilD) ; Is. Ix. 17, exactors (B*JJ);
Numb, iv.' 16, office (n^pS) ; 2 K. xi. 18
(mpS), officers over the house of the Lord ;
v. 15, officers of the host. So Numb. xxxi.
14 (D«Ij3§); Judg. ix. 28, Zebul his officer
<Tj?3) ; ' Nehem. xi. 9, 14, 22, overseer
("PpS). In Wisd. i. 6 it is used of God, as
the true beholder of the heart ; and in 1 Mace. i.
51, of the overseers whom Antiochus appointed
over all the people (so Joseph. Ant. xii. 5, § 4).
In the N. T. the word is only found in five
places. Once (1 Pet. ii. 25) it is applied to our
Lord, the " Shepherd and Bishop of your souls ;"

BISHOP
and four times to officers of the Christian
Church, at Ephesus (Acts xx. 28 ; 1 Tim. iii •>)
Philippi (Philip, i. 1), and Crete (Titus i' 7)
That the " bishops " thus spoken of are identical
with " presbyters " is scarcely disputed by any
who accept the Pastoral Epistles as genuine'
The following facts, among others, may be
taken as establishing it beyond controversy :—
1. iirio-KOTtoi and irpetrfivTepot are nowhere
named together as being orders distinct from
each other.
2. iirlaKOTtoi and SiAkovoi are named appa
rently as an exhaustive division of the local
officers ofthe Churches addressed by St. Paul as
an Apostle (Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 8).
3. The same persons are described by both
names (Acts xx. 17, 28 ; Titus i. 5, 7 ; cp. 1
Pet. v. 1, 2, irpeo-porepoi . . . intrKOTt-ovvres, if
this last word, omitted in BK., be genuine).
4. Ttpeo-frvTepoi discharge functions which are
essentially " episcopal," i.e. involving pastoral
superintendence (1 Tim. v. 17 ; 1 Pet. v. 1 2).
See further, Lightfoot, Philipp. p. 94.
The age which followed that of the Apostles
witnessed a gradual change in the application
of the words. 'In the Epistle of Clement of
Rome (circa 96 a.d.) the two words ittitritoTtos
and irpeo-Birepos are still dealt with as inter
changeable (ad Cor. I. xiii., xliv., lvii.), and in
the AtSaxr) tuv StiSeKa ajrotrrdAtav the terms
i-KloKonot and SiaKoyoi are joined together
(c. xv.) exactly as they are by St. Paul. But
by the time of Ignatius (a.d. 110) the " Bishop "
is recognised as distinct from, and superior to,
the presbyters. See Polyc. §§ 5, 6 ; Eph. § 2, &c.
Assuming as proved the identity of the
" Bishops " and " elders " of the N. T., we have
to inquire into (I.) the origin of the titles
and the relation which existed between them ;
(II.) the functions and mode of appointment of
the men to whom both titles were applied;
(III.) their relations to the general government
and discipline ofthe Church.
I. There can be no doubt that TrpetrBirepin
had the priority in order of time. Whether the
existence of a body bearing that name is im
plied in the use of the correlative ot vetirepoi
(cp. Luke xxii. 26 ; 1 Pet. v. 5) in the narrative
of Ananias may be doubtful (see Acts v. 6, and
obs. veavlffKot in v. 10) ; but there can be no
question that the order itself is recognised as an
already existing fact in Judaea in Acts xi. 30.
Presbyters take part in the deliberations of the
Church at Jerusalem in Acts xv., and are
appointed " in every city " among the Gentile
Churches planted by St. Paul and St. Barnabas on '
their first missionary .journey (Acts xiv. 23).
Of the origin of the order St. Luke says nothing,
but his silence is best explained by the suppo
sition that, as the expansion of the Church
rendered organization necessary, the organiza
tion would be that of the Jews (cp. Jas.
ii. 2, where trvvayuyi) is used of a Christian
assembly), and thus as a matter of course a

» Harnack maintains that the orders were originally
distinct ; but then he refuses to accept the authority of
the Pastoral Epistles, and distinctly says that "anyone
who admits the genuineness of tbe Pastoral Epistles will
reach quite different conclusions from one who regards
them as non-Pauline, and relegates them to the second
century." See Expositor, 3rd Series, v. 322.

BISHOP
body of elders or presbyters (cp. Luke vii. 3,
irpeo-fSirepoi = D\? p\) would be chosen for
disciplinary purposes, and to watch over the
well-being of the society. It is more difficult
to explain the origin of the title iirlo-KOTfos.
The earliest occurrence of it is iu the
address of St. Paul to the Ephesian elders at
Miletus (Acts xx. 28); and there it is rather
descriptive of functions than given as a title.
[Still earlier, iiTio-KOTrq, " bishopric," occurs in a
quotation from Ps. cix. in St. Peter's speech in
Acts i. 20.] The earliest Epistle in which the
word is formally used as equivalent to Ttpea-
BvTepot (except on the improbable hypothesis
that 1 Timothy belongs to the period following
on St. Paul's departure from Ephesus in Acts
xx. 1) is that to the Philippians, as late as the
time of the Apostle's first Roman imprisonment.
lt is used again only in the Pastoral Epistles ;
and thus, as far as the N. T. is concerned, is
limited to Gentile Churches. With regard to
the source of the title two views are possible.
(1) It may have been suggested by the use of
the term in the LXX. : and, remembering the
earliest use of the kindred emtTKoirq, there
appears to be much probability in this view. If
the office was thus designated, it was only
natural that the holder of the office should be
termed eViWoiros. (2) It may, however, have
been selected because of its use m contemporary
Gentile societies, where it was possibly used of
officers, in the general sense of " overseers "
(cp. Hatch, B. L. p. 37, with Gore, Church and
Ministry, p. 409). But it would be a serious
error to infer that, because this term was chosen
for Church officers, therefore they were " in rela
tion to the Christian communities wThat the senate
was in relation to a municipality, and what the
committee was in reference to an association."
The Church, as the translators of the LXX.
before her, in framing her religious vocabulary
seems designedly to have selected terms which
were not profaned by religious or rather idola
trous associations, but which had been used in
civil and political senses (cp. Trench's Synonyms
of the N. T., p. 122). Just as iKKAntria and
AetTovpyia were transferred from civil to re
ligious uses, so it may have been with iyitiKOTtos.
The use of the term in 1 Pet. ii. 25 as applied
to the " Shepherd and Bishop of souls " is of
itself sufficient to prevent us from pressing the
argument from the identity of titles ; and if it
was selected as the name of office in the Gentile
Churches, it may well have been because there
was a life in the organization of the Church
higher than that of the synagogue, and func
tions of pastoral superintendence devolving on
the elders of the Christian congregation which
were unknown to other periods. The instances
of its use collected at the beginning of this
article show to how great an extent it was a
neutral word. This of itself was an advantage.
It had the further merit of being to some ex
tent descriptive as well as titular ; a nomen
officii as well as a nomen dignitatis. It was
profaned by no idolatrous associations. It
could be associated, as irpetrBvTepos could not
be, with the thought of the highest pastoral
superintendence — of Christ Himself as the rtoipr)v
Ktd iiriffKOTTOS.
II. Of the order in which the first elders
were appointed, as of the occasion which led to

Bisiior

437

the institution of the ofiice, we have no record.
Arguing from the analogy of the seven in Acts
vi. 5, 6, it might have seemed probable that
the choice (iKAoyri) would be made by the
members of the Church collectively, and the
appointment (k'otoo'too'ij: cp. Acts vi. 3, oDs
KOTOo'T^o'co/iei') by the Apostles; the act of
ordination being accompanied with prayer and
imposition of hands. But within the limits of
the N. T. (with which alone this article is con
cerned) it cannot be said that there is evidence
of anything like popular election of the elders.
Those ordained " in every Church " by St. Paul
and St. Barnabas on their first missionary journey
evidently received their appointment from those
Apostles (xeipoTOvi\o-avTes Se aVTols Trpetr-
Bvrepovs). Titus is left in Crete that he may
appoint (KaratTTTitrns, Titus i. 5) elders in every
city, nothing being said of their election ; while
the directions given to Timothy in 1 Tim. iii.
1-13 (and perhaps v. 22) imply that the ap
pointment rested with him. In the case of
Timothy himself the npeaBvTepiov, probably the
body of the elders at Lystra, had taken part
witii the Apostle in the act of ordination, but
there is a significant difference in the pre
positions used in the two passages in which St.
Paul speaks of this. The "gift" (xdpurpa) was
in Timothy through (Sid) the laying on of the
Apostle's hands (2 Tim. i. 6), with (peTci.) the
laying on of the hands of the presbytery (1 Tim.
iv. 14). " Laying on of hands " is alluded to in
several other passages of the N. T., and was
clearly the outward sign of the communication
of all xap^paTa, including " gifts of healing "
as well as more definitely spiritual gifts (see
Acts viii. 18 ; ix. 12, 17 ; xiii. 3 ; xix. 6 ; xxviii.
8 ; Heb. vi. 2). It is doubtful whether in
1 Tim. v. 22 the reference is to ordination (so
Van Oosterzee, after most of the older inter
preters), or to the restoration of penitents
(Ellicott), or whether it is purposely left indefi
nite so as to include all the various occasions on
which the rite was used (Huther). There is,
however, no doubt that, from the first the two
essentials of " prayer " aud " laying on of
hands " were required in the ordination of all
Church officers alike.
The conditions to be observed in the selection
of iitio-KOTtoi are stated in the Pastoral Epistles
(1 Tim. iii. 1-7 ; Titus i. 5-9). They are: blame
less life and reputation among " those that are
without " as well as within the Church, fitness
for the work of teaching, the wide kindliness of
temper which shows itself in hospitality, the being
" the husband of one wife." Some doubt has been
felt with regard to the meaning of this expres
sion, and three different interpretations have been
proposed of what the Apostle forbids. (1) Si
multaneous polygamy (this, however, seems to
be excluded by the parallel requirement in the
case of a widow, ivbs dvbpbs yuvr), cp. v. 9).
(2) Successive polygamy (so Ellicott, and the
majority of commentators). (3) Any unfaith
fulness to the marriage vow, whether by keep
ing a concubine, or by other laxity of life
(so Huther; cp. the Dictionary of Christian
Antiquities, ii. 1097). Further, the man who
is chosen must have shown powers of govern
ment in his own household as well as in self-
control, nor must he be a recent, and therefore
an untried, convert. When appointed, the

438

BISHOP

duties of the Bishop-elders were as follows: —
1. General superintendence over the well-being of
the flock (1 Pet. v. 2). According to the aspects
which this function presented, those on whom it
devolved were called iroipeves (Eph. iv. 11),
TTDoeo-TUTes (1 Tim. v. 17), Ttpoio-rdpevot (Rom.
xii. 8 ; 1 Thess. v. 12), and r)yovpevoi (Heb. xiii.
7, 17, 24). Its exercise called for the x&P"rlJ-a
KvBepviitreus (1 Cor. xii. 28). A reference to
these passages will be sufficient to show that so
far as the N. T. is concerned there is no evi
dence whatever that the office was instituted
primarily for a financial purpose. It is on
behalf of the souls that the rulers watch as they
that shall give account. They are over the
tlock "in the Lord." It is thus the whole
spiritual oversight of the flock that is contem
plated. Corporal works of mercy would not be
forgotten, but neither would they be the main
business of the iiritTKoiroi. 2. The work of
teaching both publicly and privately. " Though
government was probably the first conception of
the office, yet the work of teaching must have
fallen to the presbyters from the very first, and
have assumed greater prominence as time went
on. With the growth of the Church, the visits
of the Apostles and Evangelists to any individual
community must have become less and less fre
quent, so that the burden of instruction would
be gradually transferred from these missionary
preachers to the local officers of the congrega
tion. Hence St. Paul in two passages, where he
gives directions relating to Bishops or presbyters,
insists specially on the faculty of teaching as a
qualification for the position (1 Tim. iii. 2 ;
Titus i. 9). Yet even here this work seems to
be regarded rather as incidental to, than as
iuherent in, the office. In the one Epistle he
directs that double honour shall be paid to
those presbyters who have ruled well, but
especially to such as * labour iu word and doc
trine' (1 Tim. v. 17), as though one holding
this office might decline the work of instruction.
In the other, he closes the list of qualifications
with the requirement that the Bishop (or
presbyter) hold fast the faithful word in accord
ance with the apostolic teaching ' that he may
be able both to exhort in the healthy doctrine
and to confute gainsayers,' alleging as a reason
the pernicious activity and growing numbers of
the false teachers. Nevertheless there is no
ground for supposing that the work of teaching
and the work of governing pertained to separate
members of the presbyteral college. As each
had his special gift, so would he devote himself
more or less exclusively to the one or the
other of these sacred functions " (Lightfoot on
Philipp. p. 192). 3. The work of visiting the
sick appears in Jas. v. 14 as assigned to the
elders of the Church. There indeed it is con
nected with the practice of anointing as a means
of healing, but this office of Christian sympathy
would not, we may believe, be confined to the
exercise of the extraordinary xapto-para iapdruv,
and it is probably to such "visitation of the
sick " that we arc to refer the dvTiAapBdvetrBai
tuv daBevovvTuv of Acts xx. 35, and the
dvriAfyeis of 1 Cor. xii. 28. 4. Among these
acts of charity that of receiving strangers occu
pied a conspicuous place (1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Tit. i.
8). The Bishop-elder's house was to be the
house of the Christian who arrived in a strange

BISHOP
city, and found himself without a friend. 5, Of
the part taken by them in the liturgical meet
ings of the Church we have no distinct evidence.
Reasoning from the language of 1 Cor. x. xii,'
and from the practices of the post-apostolic age'
we may believe that they would preside at such
meetings, and that it would belong to them to
bless and to give thanks when the Church met
to break bread.
The mode in which these officers of the
Church were supported or remunerated varied
probably in different cities. At Miletus St.
Paul exhorts the elders of the Church to follow
his example and work for their own livelihood
(Acts xx. 34). In 1 Cor. ix. 14, and Gal. vi. 6
he asserts the right of the ministers of the
Church to be supported by it. In 1 Tim. v. 17
he gives a special application of the principle
in the assignment of a double allowance (ti/4
certainly includes " recompense," cp. Acts xxviii.
10; and see Ellicott and Huther in loco) to
those who have been conspicuous for their
activity. Collectively at Jerusalem, and probably in
other Churches, the body of Bishop-elders took
part in deliberations (Acts xv. 6-22, xxi. 18),
addressed other Churches (xv. 23, where, how
ever, the true reading is ol oir<SoTo\oi «al oi
irpeaBirrepoi dSeAtpoi), and were joined with the
Apostles in the work of ordaining by the laying
on of hands (1 Tim. iv. 14 compared with 2
Tim. i. 6). But the office of ordaining others is
never entrusted to Bishop-elders by themselves.
There is not a word about it in St. Paul's
address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus ; and
from the fact that the Apostle sent Timothy as
his delegate and representative to the already
organized Church of Ephesus, it may fairly be
argued that the iTio-Koiroi of the N. T. had' not
ordinarily this power committed to them. If
the presbyters were self-sufficient for their own
government or their own propagation, it is diffi
cult if not impossible to understand why
Timothy should have been sent to Ephesus to
exercise these functions, and thus set aside -and
override their authority (cp. Bp. Charles Words
worth's Remarks on Dr. Lightfoot's Essay, p.
36). It lay in the necessities of any organized
society that such a body of men should be sub
ject to a power higher than their own, whether
vested in one chosen by themselves or deriving
his authority from some external source; and
we find accordingly that it belonged to the
delegate of an Apostle, and a fortiori to the
Apostle himself, to receive accusations against
them, to hear evidence, to admonish where
there was hope of amendment, to depose where
this proved unavailing (1 Tim. v. 1, 19; Titus
iii. 10).
III. It is clear from what has been said that
episcopal functions in the modern sense of the
words, as implying a special superintendence
over the ministers of the Church with powers of
ordaining others, belonged only to the Apostles,
and to those whom they invested with their
authority. The name of Apostle was not, how
ever, limited to the twelve. It was claimed by
St. Paul for himself (1 Cor. ix. 1) ; it is used by
him of others (2 Cor. viii. 23 ; Philip, ii. 25,
and perhaps Rom. xvi. 7 : see, however, Dr.
Gifford's note in the Speaker's Commentary in
loco). It is clear that a process of change must

BITHIAH

BITHYNIA

439

nave been at work between the date of the
latest of the Pastoral Epistles and the letters of
Ignatius, leading not so much to an altered
organization as to a modification of the original
terminology, and a localization of the higher
office. The name of Apostle is looked on in the
latter as belonging to the past, a title of honour
which their successors could not claim. [It is,
however, still found in the AtSaxri tuv StiSexa
d-iroo-T&Auv, but apparently as the title of itine
rant rather than permanently localized ministers
(c. xi.).] That of Bishop rises in its significance
and takes the place left vacant. The dangers
by which the Church was threatened made the
exercise of the authority which was thus trans
mitted more necessary. The permanent super
intendence of the Bishop over a given district,
as contrasted with the less settled rule of the
travelling apostle, would tend to its develop
ment. According to one view which has much
in its favour, the Revelation of St. John presents
something like an intermediate stage in this
process. The Angels ofthe Seven Churches are
partly addressed as their representatives, partly
as individuals ruling them (see Rev. ii. 2, iii. 2-
4). The name may belong to the special sym
bolism of the Apocalypse, or have been intro
duced like TrpetrBvrepoi from the synagogue, and
we have no reason for believing it ever to have
been in current use as part of the terminology
of the Church. But the functions assigned to
the Angels are those of the earlier apostolate, of
the later episcopate (cp. Trench on the Epistles
to the Seven Churches of Asia, p. 53, and Arch
deacon Lee in the Speaker's Commentary, iu loco :
but against this view see Lightfoot on Philipp.
p. 197). The abuse of the old title of the high
est office by pretenders, as in Rev. ii. 2, may
have led to a reaction against its being used at
all except for those to whom it belonged kot'
i£oxT)v. In this, or in some similar way, the
constitution of the Church assumed its later
form ; the Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons of
the Ignatian Epistles took th'e place of the
Apostles, Bishops or elders, and Deacons of the
New Testament. The full history of the change,
however, belongs rather to the subject of the
antiquities of the early Church than to the pro
vince of Biblical exegesis. For fuller informa
tion on this point, and for the later history of
the word, see Bishop in the Dict. of Christ.
Antiq. ; The Expositor, 3rd Series, vols. v. and
vi. ; and Gore, The Church and the Ministry.
[E. H. P.] [E. C. S. G.]
bithiah (n;ri3 [=n\ ns, Olshausen,
Lehrb. d. Heb. Sprache, p. 611], worshipper, lit.
daughter, of Jehovah; B. TeAtd, A. BeBBid;
Bethia), an Egyptian princess, " the daughter of
Pharaoh," a wife of Mered, a man of the tribe
¦of Judah, mentioned in an obscure passage in
the genealogies of that tribe (1 Ch, iv. 17-19).
Mered appears to have been a descendant of Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, and to have lived in the
early days of the occupation of Canaan, as four
of his sons are spoken of as founders of towns.
The passage in which he is mentioned may be
translated thus : " And the sons of Ezrah [were]
Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon : and
she bare Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah the
father of Eshtemoa. And his wife the Jewess
[R. V.] bare Jered the father of Gedor, and

Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the
father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of
Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered
took. And the sons of his wife Hodiah [R. V.
"the wife of Hodiah"], the sister of Naham,
[R. V. " were "] the father of Keilah, whose
inhabitants are Garmites, and of Eshtemoa,
whose inhabitants are Maachathites " (1 Ch. iv.
17-19). The probable order would be to
transpose "And these are the sons of Bithiah,"
&c, so as to precede " and she bare : " or else the
full stop can be omitted at the close of v. 18,
" which Mered took " (see Jeiiudijah for the
rendering and possible transpositions).
From the mention of the Jewish wife, it is
clear that Bithiah was an Egyptian : Pharaoh is
therefore the regal title [Pharaoh], not a
proper name. We have thus a glimpse of
the relations of the Hebrews and Egypt. The
peaceable intermarriage of a Pharaoh's daughter
with even a powerful Hebrew chief is out of the
question. We must rather suppose Bithiah to
have been carried captive iu a foray. Now it
was precisely in the early period of the occupation
that Egypt was the prey of foreign Shemite
conquest. On the fall of the 19th dynasty, a
time of anarchy ensued, and the Syrian
" Arisu " ruled the country, which was ap
parently broken up into several principalities.
At such a time an Egyptian princess might easily
have been taken captive. If Bithiah were the
mother of Miriam, the LXX., however, making
Miriam child of Jether, there would be a double
confirmation of the view here taken, in the use
of an Egyptian name, for long afterwards dis
used, and the Egyptian non-Semitic precedence
of the daughter.
The name Bithiah implies conversion, although
Semitic names were prevalent in Egypt at this
time, like Bata-'anta, "daughter of (the goddess)
Anath," a daughter of Ramses II. of the 19th
dynasty. [Putiel.] [R. S. P.]
, BITH'ROK (more accurately "the Bithron,"
JTinSn, the broken or divided place, from in3>
to cut up, Ges. ; oAnv tt/j/ Traptereivovtrav ; omnis
Bethhoron), a place — from the form of the ex
pression, " all the Bithron," doubtless a district
— in the Arabah or Jordan valley, on the east
side of the river (2 Sam. ii. 29). The spot at
which Abner's party crossed the Jordan not
being specified, we cannot fix the position of
the Bithron, which lay between that ford and
Mahanaim. As far as we know, the whole of the
country in the Ghor on the other side of the
river is of the broken and intersected character
indicated by the derivation ofthe name. If the
renderings of the Vulg. and Aquila are correct,
they must of course intend another Bethhoron
than the well-known one ; perhaps Livias
(Fiirst). Bethharam, the conjecture of Thenius,
is not probable. Maundeville (E. T. p. 180)
says that the Jordan "separates the land of
Galilee, and the land of Idumea, and the land
of Betron." Dr. Robinson suggests, doubtfully
(Phys. Geog. pp. 63, 79), that Wddy 'Ajlun, north
of the Jabbok, may be Bithron. [G.] [W.]
BITHY'NIA (BtBuvta; Bithynia). This
province of Asia Minor, though illustrious in the
earlier parts of post-apostolic history, through
Pliny's letters and the Council of Nicaea, hjts

440

BITHYNIA

little connexion with the history of the
Apostles themselves. It is only mentioned in
Acts xvi. 7 and in "1 Pet. i. 1. From the
former of these passages it appears that St.
Paul, when on his progress from Iconium to
Troas, in the course of his second missionary
journey, made au attempt to enter Bithynia,
but was prevented, either by providential
hindrances or by direct Divine intimations.
From the latter it is evident that, when St.
Peter wrote his First Epistle, there were
Christians (probably of Jewish or proselyte
origin) in some of the towns of this province, as
well as in " Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and
Asia." Bithynia, considered as a Roman province,
was on the south-west contiguous to Asia. On
the east its limits underwent, great modifications.
The province was originally inherited by the
Roman republic (B.C. 74) as a legacy from
Nicomedes III., the last of an independent line
of monarchs, one of whom had invited into Asia

th j cni ital of Bithyni

Minor those Gauls who gave the name of
Galatia to the central district of the peninsula.
On the death of Mithridates, king of Pontus,
B.C. 63, the western part of the Pontic kingdom
was added to the province of Bithynia, which
again received further accessions on this side
under Augustus, A.D. 7. Thus the province is
sometimes called " Pontus and Bithynia " in in
scriptions ; and the language of Pliny's letters
is similar. The province of Pontus was not
constituted till the reign of Nero [Pontus]. It
is observable that in Acts ii. 9 Pontus is in the
enumeration and not Bithynia, and that in
1 Pet. i. 1 both are mentioned. See Marquardt's
continuation of Becker's Rom. Alterthumer, in.
i. p. 146. For a description of the country,
which is mountainous, well-wooded, and fertile,
see Hamilton's Researches in Asia Minor, and
cp. Ainsworth in the Roy. Geog. Jour. vol. ix.
The course ofthe river Rhyndacus is a marked
feature on the south-western frontier of
Bithynia, and the snowy range of the Mvsian

BITTER HERBS
Olympus on the' south-west (see Diet, of Gr and
Rom. Geog., art. Bithynia). [J. s. H.'] fflr |
BITTER HERBS (D'TTt?, merdrim; m.
KplSes; lactucae agrestes). The Hebrew word
occurs in Ex. xii. 8 ; Num. ix. 11 ; and Lam. iii
15: in the latter passage it is said, "He hath
filled me with bitterness, he hath made me
drunken [R. V. "sated"] with wormwood'"
The two other passages refer to the observance
of the Passover : the Israelites were commanded
to eat the Paschal lamb" with unleavened bread-
and with bitter herbs."
There can be little doubt that the term
merdrim is general and includes the various
edible kinds of bitter plants, whether cultivated
or wild, which the Israelites could with facility
obtain in sufficient abundance to supply their
numbers either in Egypt, where the first
Passover was eaten, or in the deserts cf the
Peninsula of Sinai, or in Palestine. The Mishna
(Pesachim, c. 2, § 6) enumerates five kinds of
bitter herbs— cliazeretk,
'ulshin, thamcah, char-
chabina, and maror—
which it was lawful to
eat either green or
dried. There is great
difficulty in identifyinf
the plants which these
words respectively de
note, but lettuce, en
dive, chicory, and bu-
gloss are among the five.
The reader may see the
subject discussed by
Bochart (Hieroz. i. 691, .
ed. Rosenmiiller), by
Carpzovins (Apparat.
Hist. Crit. p. 402), and
by Knobel-Dillmann2 on,
Exod. xii. 8. Accord
ing to the testimony of
Forskal, in Niebuhr's
Preface to the Descrip
tion de V Arable (p. xliv.),
the modern Jews of
Arabia and Egypt eat
lettuce, or, if this is
not at hand, bugloss"
with the Paschal lamb. The Greek word irutpls
is identified by Sprengel (Hist. Rei Herb. i. 100)
witli the Helminthia [rather, Picris] Echioides
(Linn.), Bristly Helminthia (Ox-tongue), a
plant belonging to the chicory group. Helmin
thia is merely a modern subdivision of the genus
Picris of Linnaeus.
Abenezra in Celsius (Hierob. ii. 227) remarks
that, according to the observations of a certain
learned Spaniard, the ancient Egyptians always
used to place different kinds of herbs upon the
table, with mustard, and that they dipped
morsels of bread into this salad. That the Jews
derived this custom of eating herbs with their
meat from the Egyptians is extremely probable-,
for it is easy to see how, on the one hand, the
bitter-herb salad should remind the Jews of
the bitterness of their bondage (Ex. i. 14), and,

jȣM /jUJ (lissan ettlKir),. which Forskat
(Flor.^Egypt. p. Ixii.) identifies witb Borago-ofidmli!.

BITTERN
on the other hand, how it should also' bring to
their remembrance their merciful deliverance
from it. It is curious to observe in connexion
with the remarks of Abenezra, the custom — for
such it appears to have been — of dipping a morsel
of bread into the dish (rb rpvfi\iov) which
prevailed in our Lord's time (Matt. xxvi. 23 ;
John xiii. 26. See notes in Speakei^s Comm,).
May not rb rpvfSKiov be the salad dish of bitter
herbs, and rb \p(*>/j.iov, the morsel of bread of
which Abenezra speaks ? b
The merorim may well be understood to
denote various sorts ot'. bitter plants, such
particularly as belong to the Cruciferae, as some
of the bitter cresses, or to the chicory group of
the Compositae, the hawkweeds, and sow-thistles,
and wild lettuces which grow abundantly in the
Peninsula of Sinai, in Palestine, and in Egypt.
There are not many of these two great families
of plants which are not eaten as salads by the
Orientals. The artichoke is eaten raw, as are
the hearts of all the other larger wild thistles.
Many of the cresses, the stocks (Matthiola), and
Elecampane (Inula), are used as salads by the
Arabs (Decaisne, Florida Sinaica in Annal. des
Sciences Natur. 1834; Strand, Flor. Palaest.
No. 445, &c). [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BITTERN O'BPj Mppod; 4x&os, ireteKoiv,
Aq. ; kvkvos, Theod. in Zeph. ii. 14; ericius).
The Hebrew word has been the subject of
various interpretations, the old Versions gene
rally sanctioning the "hedgehog" or "porcu
pine ; " in which rendering they have been fol
lowed by Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 454), Shaw (Trav.
i. 321, 8vo ed!), Lowth (Isaiah xiv. 23), the R.V.,
and others. The grounds for this rendering
are due to the similarity between the Hebrew
word and the Arabic name of the porcupine and
hedgehog (tVoj.g, kunfud); but on an examination
ofthe passages where the name occurs, it will be
seen at once that this rendering is inadmissible.
The word occurs in Is. xiv. 23, where of Babylon
the Lord says, " I will make it a possession for
the klppod and pools of water;" — in Is. xxxiv.
11, ofthe land of Idumea it is said, "The kaath
and the kippod shall possess it ; " and again in
Zeph. ii. 14, "I will make Nineveh a desolation
and dry like a wilderness ; flocks shall lie down
in the midst of her; . . . both the kaath and the
kippdd shall lodge inthe chapiters [R.V.] thereof;
their voice shall sing in the windows." The
former passage would seem to point to some
solitude-loving aquatic bird, which might well
be represented by the bittern, as the A. V. has
it ; but the passage in Zephaniah which speaks
of Nineveh being made "dry like a wilderness,"
does not at first sight appear to be so strictly
suited to this rendering. Gesenius, Lee, Park
hurst, Winer, MV.11, all give "hedgehog" or

BITTERN

441

b Our custom of eating salad mixtures is in all pro
bability derived from the Jews. " Why do we pour
over our lettuces a mixture of oil, vinegar, and mustard ?
The practice began in Judaea, where, in order to render
palatable the bitter herbs eaten with the paschal lamb,
it was usual, says Moses Kotsinses, to sprinkle over
them a thick sauce called Earoseth, which was com.
posed of the oil drawn from dates or from pressed raisin-
kernels, of vinegar and mustard " (see " Extract from
the Portfolio of a Man of Letters," Monthly Magazine,
1810, p. 148).

" porcupine " as the representative of the
Hebrew word ; but neither of these two animals
ever lodges on the chapiters of columns, nor
is it their nature to frequent pools of water.
Not less unhappy is the reading of the Arabic
Version, cl-houbara, a species of bustard — the
Houbara undulata (see Jbis, i. 284), which is a
dweller in dry open plains. We are inclined to
believe that the A. V. is correct, and that the
bittern is the bird denoted by the original word ;
as to the objection alluded to above that this
bird is a lover of marshes and pools, and would
not therefore be found in a locality which is
" dry like a wilderness," a little reflection will
convince the reader that the difficulty is more
apparent than real. Nineveh might be made
"dry like a wilderness," but the bittern would
rind an abode in the Tigris which flows through
the plain of Mesopotamia ; as to the bittern
perching on the chapiters of ruined columns,
there is no difficulty in the expression, for the-
columns would be prostrate, and lying in a

Uutuums sU'lIiwLi.
thick tangle of nettles and rushes, where the
bittern would, according to its observed habit,.
conceal itself during the day, standing motion
less on a stem or tuft. There are many reed)'
marshes by the Tigris near Nineveh. In these,
when the city was desolate, the bittern would
take up its abode, and its loud booming would
be heard by night among the ruins. As a matter
of fact the bittern is very plentiful throughout
the swamps, both of the Tigris and the Euphrates,
as well as in all the marshes of Syria ; and its
strange booming note, which we have often
heard disturbing the stillness ofthe night, gives
a sense of desolation, only surpassed by the
wail of the hyaena. In all countries where it is
found, the peasants have a superstitious dread
of its unearthly boom, and the bird itself is a
somewhat mysterious, peculiar creature, rarely
seen by day, and, when found, looking exactly
like a stump of withered rushes, standing per
fectly erect, with its long beak pointing directly
upwards. The Bittern, Botaurus stellaris, was formerly
familiar in the fen districts of England, but now

442

BITUMEN

only an occasional straggler is ever found, for
drainage and cultivation have banished it. It
has a most extensive range, being found in the
whole of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Two other
species are known, both closely resembling it:
one in America, the other in Australasia and New
Zealand. It belongs to the heron family,
Ardeidae; but, unlike its congeners, it is not
gregarious, eschewing the society of even its
own species. [H. B. T.j
BITUMEN. [Slime.]
BIZJO'TH-JAH (nW?3; BA. al Ktipai
uvtuv, i.e. CPn'US, which is no doubt right,
Hollenberg [Char. d. Alex. Uebers. d. B. Josua,
p. 14], Dillmann and Driver; see Neh. xi. 2;
Baziothia; B. V. Biziothiah), a town in the
south of Judah named with Beersheba and
Baalah (Josh. xv. 28). No mention or identi
fication of it is found elsewhere. [G.] [W.]
BIZ'THA (Xnt3 ; Ba£dv, A. Ba£ed ; Baza-
tha), the second of the seven eunuchs of king
Ahasuerus' harem (Esth. i. 10). The name is
Persian, possibly bJ^J, beste, a word referring
to his condition as a eunuch (Ges., MV.11 Cp.
Bertheau-Eyssel in loco). [F.]
BLACK. [Colours.]
BLAINS (DJ)3?3K ; tpAvKTiSes [Ex. ix. 9],
ava^eovaai ev re Tols b.vBpurrois Kai iv rots
TeTpdnotri; also J'llK', pustula ardens), violent
ulcerous inflammations (from 1M3, "to boil
up*'). Blains were the sixth plague of Egypt,
and are called in Deut. xxviii. 27, 35, "the
botch of Egypt " (DnXD ^TW ; cp. Job ii. 7,
1H PO?*)' The disease intended seems to have
been the if/upd aypia or black leprosy, a fearful
kind of elephantiasis (cp. Plin. xxvi. 5). It
must have come with dreadful intensity on the
magicians whose art it baffled, and whose
scrupulous cleanliness (Herod, ii. 36) it rendered
nugatory : so that they were unable to stand in
the presence of Moses because of the boils.
Other names for purulent and leprous erup
tions are TISE' JTinS (Morphea alba), nilSD
^Morphea nigra), and the more harmless scab,
nnSpD, Lev. xiii. passim (Jahu, Arch. Bibl.
§ 189).' [F. W. F.]
BLASPHEMY (rfSNJ. CB-Hil; BAao-tpn-
pla), itt its technical English sense, signifies the
speaking evil of God (IT DB> 3j?3), and iu this
sense it is found in Ps. lxxiv. 18, Is. Iii. 5, Rom. ii.
24, &e. But according to its derivation (BAdrrru
<pripT) quasi BAatyitp.) it may mean any species of
calumny and abuse (or even an unlucky word,
Eurip. Ion, 1187): see 1 K. xxi. 10; Acts xviii.
li ; Jude 9, &c. Hence in the LXX. it is used
to render :p3, Job ii. 5; efts, 2 IC. xix. 6;
rfOiil, 2 K. xix. 4, and iO^, Hos. vii. 16, so that
it means " reproach," " derision," &c. : and it
has even a wider use, as 2 Sam. xii. 14, where
it means "to despise Judaism," and 1 Mace. ii.
6, where BAatrtpripia = idolatry. In Ecclus. iii. 18
we have us BAdatpripos & iyKHTaAmuv -Trarepa,

BLASTUS
where it is equivalent to KaTqpapevos (Schleus
ner, Thesaur. s. v.).
Blasphemy was punished with stoning, which
was inflicted on the son of Shelomith (Lev xxiv
11. Cp. also 1 K. xxi. 13). On this charge
both our Lord (Matt. xxvi. 65) and St. Stephen
(Acts vi. 11, vii. 57, &c.) were condemned to
death by the Jews. From Lev. xxiv. 16
wrongly understood, arose the singular super
stition about never even pronouncing the name
of Jehovah. Ex. xxii. 28, "Thou shalt not
revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy
people," is by many not referred to blasphemy
in the strict sense, since " Elohim " is there used
of magistrates, &c. ; but the majority of modern
commentators prefer with E. V. to render "thou
shalt not revile God," &c. (see Speaker's Comm.
in loco ; QPB.3 note on Exod: xxi. 6), and rightly
understand the passage as a protest against
blasphemy. The Jews, misapplying Ex. xxiii. 13, "Make
no mention of the name of other gods," seemed
to think themselves bound to give nicknames to
the heathen deities ; hence their use of Boshet-h
for Baal, Bethaven for Bethel, Beelzebul for
Beelzebub (Hos. iv. 5, &c). It is not strange that
this " contumelia numinum " (Plin. xiii. 9V
joined to their zealous proselytism, made them
so deeply unpopular among the nations of an
tiquity (Winer, o. v. Gotteslastermj). When a
person heard blasphemy he laid his hand on the
head of the offender, to symbolise his sole respon
sibility for the guilt, and, rising on his feet, tore
his robe, which might never again be mended.
On the mystical reasons for these observances,
see Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matt. xxvi. 65.
It only remains to speak of " the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost," which has been so
fruitful a theme for speculation and controversy
(Matt. xii. 32 ; Mark iii. 28). It consisted in
attributing to the power of Satan those un
questionable miracles which Jesus performed
by " the finger of God," and the power of the
Holy Spirit ; nor have we any safe ground for
extending it to include all sorts of icilling (as
distinguished from wilful) offences, besides this
one limited and special sin. The expression
"it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world," &c, is a direct application of a Jewish
phrase. According to the Jewish school notions,
" a quo blasphematur nomen Dei, ei non valet
poenitentia ad suspendendum judicium, nee dies
expiationis ad expiaudum, nee plagae ad ad-
stergendum, sed omnes suspendunt judicium, et
mors abstergit." Our Lord used the phrase to
imply that " blasphemy against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven ; neither before death, w
by means of death " (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in
loco ; Hamburger, RE. s. v. Ldsterung). As
there are no tenable grounds for identifying
this blasphemy with " the sin unto death,"
1 John v. 16, we shall not here enter into the
very difficult inquiries to which that expression
leads. For other uses of the word in the N. T. see
Matt. ix. 3, xv. 19 ; Acts xxvi. 11 ; Eph. iv. 31 ;
Col. iii. 8; 1 Tim. i. 13, vi. 4; 2 Pet. ii. 11.
See Suicer, Thes. s. v. ; and for Jewish customs,
Hamburger, RE. s. v. Ldsterung. [F. W. F.]
BLASTUS (BAdo-Tos ; Blastus), the cham
berlain £d ivl rod koituvos) of Herod Agrippa I.,

BLESSING
mentioned in Acts xii. 20, as having been per
suaded by the Tyrians and Sidonians to gain
them a hearing from the king. His position
and influence corresponded to those of the
"praepositi sacro cubiculo" at Eome (see Gib
bon, Decl. and Fall, xvii.). Chamberlains were
generally eunuchs [Eunuch]. [E. E. B.]
BLESSING. [Salutation.]
BLINDING. [Punishments.]
BLINDNESS (|if. rQjl?, from the root
"1-11?, to bore) is extremely common among
Orientals from many causes : e.g. the quantities
of dust and sand pulverised by the sun's intense
heat ; the perpetual glare of light ; the attacks
of flies which convey the contagion of ophthal
mia ; the contrast of the heat with the cold
sea-air on the coast where blindness is specially
prevalent ; the dews at night while they sleep
on the roofs ; small-pox, old age, &c. ; and per
haps more than all the Mahommedan fatalism,
wliich leads to a neglect of the proper remedies
in, time. One traveller mentions 4,000 blind
men in Cairo, and Volney reckons that 1 in
every 5 were blind, besides others with sore eyes
(i. 86. Cp. Trench, On the Miracles, ch. 8
[on Matt. ix. 27, &c.]). Ludd, the ancient Lydda,
and Ramleh, enjoy a fearful notoriety for the
number of blind persons they contain. The
common saying is that in Ludd every man is
cither blind or has but one eye. Jaffa is said
to contain 500 blind out of a population of
5,000 at most. There is an asylum for the
blind in Cairo (which contains 300), and their
conduct is often turbulent and fanatic (Lane,
i. 39, 292). Blind beggars figure repeatedly in
the N. T. (Matt. xii. 22, ke.). and "opening the
eyes of the blind " is mentioned in prophecy as
a peculiar attribute of the Messiah (Is. xxix.
18, &c). The Jews were specially charged to
treat the blind with comp assion and care (Lev.
xix. 4; Deut. xxvii. 18).
Penal and miraculous blindness is several
times mentioned in the Bible (D^IJD, Gen. xix.
11, dopatria, LXX. ; 2 K. vi. 18-22 ; Acts ix. 9).
In the last passage some have attempted (on the
ground of St. Luke's profession as a physician)
to attach a technical meaning to dxAvs and
o-k6tos (Jahn, Arch. Bibl. § 201), viz. a spot or
" thin tunicle over the cornea," which vanishes
naturally after a time : for which fact Winer (s. v.
Blindheit) quotes Hippocr. (Praedict. ii. 215),
dxAues . . . iKAeaivovTai /co! atpavi(ovrai t)v pii
Tpiipd ti irttyevnTal iv tovtu Tip xap'ia- But
this does not remove the supernatural character
of the infliction. In the same way analogies are
quoted for the use of saliva (Matt. viii. 23, &c.)
and offish-gall in the caseof the AevKupa of Tobias
(cp. Plin. H. N. xxxii. 24) ; but, whatever may
be thought of the latter instance, it is very
obvious that in the former the saliva was no
more instrumental in the cure than the touch
alone would have been (Trench, On the Miracles,
ad loc).
Kindness wilfully inflicted for political or
other purposes was common in the East, and is
alluded to in Scripture (Num. xvi. 14 ; 1 Sam.
xi. 2 ; Jer. xxii. 12). [F. W. F.] '
BLOOD (D ;[). To blood is ascribed in Scrip
ture the mysterious sacredness which belongs to

BLOOD, ISSUE OE

443

life, and God reserves it to Himself when allow
ing man the dominion over and the use of the
lower animals for food, &c. (as regards, however,
the eating of blood, see Food). Thus reserved,
it acquires a double power : (1) tha^of sacrificial
atonement, in which it hnd a wide recognition
in the heathen world ; and (2) that of becoming
a curse, when wantonly shed, e.g. even that of
beast or fowl by the huntsman, unless duly
expiated, e.g. by burial (Gen. ix. 4 ; Lev. vii.
26, xvii. 11-13). As regards (1), the blood of
sacrifices was caught by the Jewish priest from
the neck of the victim in a basin, then sprinkled
seven times (in the case of birds at once squeezed
out) on the altar, i.e. on its horns, its base, or
its four corners, or on its side above or below a
line running round it, or on the mercy-seat,
according to the quality and purpose of the
offering : but that of the Passover on the lintel
and door-posts (Exod. xii.; Lev. iv. 5-7, xvi.
14-19 ; Ugolini, Thes. vol. x. and xiii.). There
was a drain from the Temple into the brook
Cedron to carry off the blood (Maimon. apud
Cramer, de Ard Exter. ; Ugolini, viii.). In regard
to (2), it sufficed to pour the animal's blood on
the earth, or to bury it, as a solemn rendering
of the life to God ; in case of human bloodshed
a mysterious connexion is observable between
the curse of blood and the earth or land on
which it is shed, which becomes polluted by it,
and as it were animated with a curse upon the
blood-sbedder ; and the proper expiation is the
blood of that shedder, which every one had thus
an interest in seeking, and was bound to seel;
(Gen. iv. 10, 11, ix. 4-6; Num. xxxv. 33; Ps.
cvi. 38 ; see Blood, Bevenger of). Thus a
domestic animal causing human death appears
to share a homicidal curse (Ex. xxi. 28), a de
velopment in fact of the Covenant to Noah
(Gen. ix. 5). In the case of a dead body found,
and the death not accounted for, the guilt of
blood attached to the nearest city, to be ascer
tained by measurement, until freed by prescribed
rites of expiation (Deut. xxi. 1-9). The guilt
of murder is one for which " satisfaction " was
forbidden (Num. xxxv. 31 ; cf. Ps. ix. 12). The
prohibition against murder and against eating
blood and strangled animals formed two of the
seven Noachic precepts, enforced on all prose
lytes of the gate, which was doubtless a further
reason for the retention of the two latter in
Acts xv. 20, 29. [H. H.]
BLOOD, ISSUE OF (D'n 3-1T; 3t, Eabbin. ;
fluxu laborans). The term is in Scripture ap
plied only to the case of women under menstru
ation or menorrhagia (Lev. xv. 19-30 ; Matt.
ix. 20, 7«c?| aipoppoovtra ; Mark v. 25 and Luke
viii. 43, olaa iv piaei a'lpaTOs). The latter
caused a permanent legal uncleanness, the
former a temporary one, mostly for seven days ;
after which she was to be purified by the
customary offering. This latter is a prolonged
and exaggerated condition of the former,- and
was a most intractable complaint, baffling th'e
best physicians, until recent research threw
light upon it. The " bloody flux " (Svo-evrepia)
in Acts xxviii. 8 (on the accuracy exhibited by
St. Paul in the use of this term, see note in
Speaker's Comm.), where the patient is of the
male sex, represents the normal form of dysen
tery, in which the mucous membrane of the

444 BLOOD, REVENGER OF
rectum is shed off, together with a constant
voiding of blood, fever, and prostration (see
Bartholini, de Morbis Biblicis, 17). [H. H.]
BLOOD^ REVENGER OF (b«i ; Goel).
It was, and even still is, a common practice
among nations of patriarchal habits, that the
nearest of kin should, as a matter of duty,
avenge the death of a murdered relative. The
early impressions and practice on this subject
may be gathered from writings of a different
though very early age and of different countries
(Gen. xxxiv. 30 ; Hom. II. xxiii. 84, 88, xxiv.
480, 482 ; Od. xv. 270, 276 ; Muller on Aeschyl.
Eum. c. ii. A. & B.). Compensation for murder
is allowed by the Koran, and he who transgresses
after this by killing the murderer shall suffer a
grievous punishment (Sale, Koran, ii. 21, and
xvii. 230 ; Eodwell, pp. 167, 388). Among the
Bedouins and other Arab tribes, should the
offer of blood-money be refused, the " Thar," or
law of blood, comes into operation, and any per
son within the fifth degree of blood from the
homicide may be legally killed by anyone, within
the same degree of consanguinity to the victim.
Frequently the homicide will wander from tent
to tent over the Desert, or even rove through
the towns and villages on its borders, with a
chain round his neck and in rags, begging con
tributions from the charitable to pay the appor
tioned blood-money. Three days and four hours
are allowed to the persons included within the
" Thar," for escape. The right to blood-revenge
is never lost, except as annulled by compensa
tion: it descends to the latest generation.
Similar customs with local distinctions are
found in Persia, Abyssinia, among the Druses
and Circassians (Niebuhr, Descr. de I' Arable,
pp. 28, 30, Voyage, ii. 350; Burckhardt, Notes
on the Bedouins, i. 148-157, Travels in Arabia, i.
409, ii. 330, Syria, pp. 113, 540, 643; Vam-
bery, Travels, p. 108 ; Arnold, Persia, ii. 183 ;
Layard, Nin. a/ Bab. pp. 305-307; Chardin,
Voyages, vi. 107-112 ; W. E. Smith, Religion of
the Semites, i. See Index, s. v. Blood-revenge).
Money-compensations for homicide are appointed
by the Hindi! law (Sir W. Jones, vol. iii. chap.
vii.), and Tacitus remarks that among the
German nations " luitur homicidium certo
armentorum ac pecorum numero " (Germ. 21).
By the Anglo-Saxon law also money-compensa
tion for homicide, wer-gild, was sanctioned on a
scale proportioned to the rank of the murdered
person (Lappenberg, ii. 336; Lingard, i. 411,
414). The spirit of all legislation on the subject has
probably been to restrain the licence of punish
ment assumed by relatives, and to limit the
duration of feuds. Burckhardt, as quoted above,
considers the custom beneficial, as tending to
diminish tribal warfare among the Arabs. The
law of Moses was very precise in its directions
on the subject of Eetaliation.
1. The wilful murderer was to be put to
death without permission of compensation. The
nearest relative of the deceased became the
authorized avenger of blood (^NJi, the redeemer,
or avenger, as next of kin, Gesen. s. v. p. 254,
who rejects the opinion of Michaelis, understand
ing by it "polluted," i.e. till the murder was
avenged ; o dyxiOTeiuv, LXX., propinquus occisi,

BOANERGES
Vulg., Num. xxxv. 19), and was bound f»
execute retaliation himself if it lay m his power
The king, however, in later times appears to
have had the power of restraining this licence
The shedder of blood was thus regarded as
impious and polluted (Num. xxxv. 16-31 ¦
Deut. xix. 11; 2 Sam. xiv. 7, H xy\ a
and iii. 29, with 1 K. ii. 33, 37 ; 1 Ch xxiv'
22-25). 2. The law of retaliation was not to extend
beyond the immediate offender (Deut. xxiv. 16 •
2 K. xiv. 6; 2 Ch. xxv. 4; Jer. xxxi. 29, 30-
Ezek. xviii. 20 ; Joseph. Ant. iv. 8, § 39). '
3. The involuntary shedder of blood was per
mitted to take flight to one of six Levitical
cities, specially appointed out of the forty-eight as
cities of refuge, three on each side ofthe Jordan
(Num. xxxv. 22, 23 ; Deut. xix. 4-6). . The
cities were Kedesh, in Mount Naphtali ; Shechem,
in Mount Ephraim ; Hebron, in the hill-country
of Judah. On the E. side of Jordan, Bezel, in
Eeuben ; Eamoth, in Gad ; Golan, in Manasseh
(Josh. xx. 7, 8). The elders of the city of
refuge were to hear his case and protect him till
he could be tried before the authorities of his
owrr city. If the act were then decided to have
been involuntary, he was taken back to the citv
of refuge, round which an area with a radius of
2,000 cubits (or with the suburbs 3,000, Patrick)
was assigned as the limit of protection, and was
to remain there in safety till the death of the
high-priest for . the time being. Beyond the
limit of the city of refuge the revenger might
slay him, but after the high-priest's death he
might return to his home with impunity (Num.
xxxv. 25, 28 ; Josh. xx. 4, 6). The roads to the
cities were to be kept open (Deut. xix. 3).
To these particulars the Talmudists add,
among others of an absurd kind, the following:
— At the cross-roads posts were erected bearing
the word tD?pD, refuge, to direct the fugitive.
All facilities of water and situation were pro
vided in the cities : no implements of war or
chase were allowed there. The mothers of high-
priests used to send presents to the detained
persons to prevent their wishing for the high- e
priest's death. If the fugitive died before the "
high-priest, his bones were sent home after the
high-priest's death (P. Fagius in Targ. Onk. Ap.
Eittershus. de Jure Asyli, Crit. Sncr. viii.
p. 159 ; Lightfoot, Cent. Chorogr. c. 50, Op. ii.
p. 208).
4. If a person were found dead, the elders of
the nearest city were to meet in a rough valley
untouched by the plough, and, washing their
hands over a beheaded heifer, protest their inno
cence of the deed, and deprecate the anger of
the Almighty (Deut. xxi. 1-9). [H. W. P.]
BOANE'RGES (Boavnpyes, not Boasts as
Textus Eeceptus ; Vulg. Boanerges). The ety
mology is obscure. That Boavn represents '33
(for \33) is rejected by Kautzsch (Gramm. d.
Bibl.-Aram. § 5, 2 (a)) as " monstrous," and he
thinks no better of connecting pyes with C3"!
(Aram.) or V>V"\ (Heb.) ; neither mean "thunder,"
but " tumult," " shaking." Kautzsch himself
prefers the root T3"l. The true reading BoaniP^'
is important, as pointing to the division Boavn-
pyes. The intention of the name was probably
to mark the personal character of the two

BOAR, WILD
Apostles. Westcott (Gospel of St. John, Introd.
p. xxxii.) justifies the name as regards St. John
(1) by the sayings ascribed to him (Luke ix.
49, 54) ; (2) by the general tone of the Apo
calypse ; (3) by the stern denunciations of doc
trinal error in St. John's Epistles. Ebrard (in
Herzog,2 art. " John the Apostle ") points out
in this connexion the mistake of conceiving
St. John as a sentimental, emotional character.
Suicer (s. v. BpovTrf) collects passages from nearly
all the great Fathers, which explain the name to
refer merely to the office of the sons of Zebedee
as Apostles aud Evangelists ; they thundered
forth the Gospel. This does not appear an ade
quate explanation. Archbp. Trench notices the
coincidence that thunder is not mentioned in the
N. T. except in the writings of St. John. See
whole art. Trench, Studies in the Gospels, " Sons
of Thunder." [E. E. B.]
BOAR, WILD ("inn, hhazir; trvs; asser ;
Arab, p lii» , hhanzir ; Sus scrofa, Linn.), occurs
only once in "the A. V., Ps. lxxx. 13, "The
boar out of the wood doth waste it," but the
Hebrew word is frequently used, and rendered
in A. V. " swine " when referring to the domesti
cated animal. The passage quoted is the only
reference to the wild boar in Scripture. In the
N. T. all the allusions are to the domesticated
animal, invariably termed x°lp°s. If must not
however be supposed that the wild boar was
rare m Bible lands, for throughout the East it
is and always has been plentiful ; the configu
ration of the country and the many wooded
:;lens aud gorges, as well as the marshes and
reeds of the Jordan and its tributaries, affording
it secure lairs. From the thickets and cane-
brakes of the Jordan, it is even now impossible
for either man or dog to dislodge the wild boar.
But during the annual overflowing of the river,
a little before harvest time, they are -driven out
oftheir submerged haunts, and spread themselves
c-ver the upper country, concealing themselves
in woods or thickets by day, .and committing
fearful devastation among the crops at night,
trampling and destroying far more than they
¦eat. In the neighbourhood of Jericho, the
husbandmen at this period have to keep watch
fiy night, over both their barley and especially
their root crops. The presence of the marauders
•can always be detected by the crashing noise they
make in forcing their way through the thickets,
when the guards fire, directed by the sound. In
a single night a party of wild boars will uproot
a whole field, and destroy the husbandman's
hopes for the year. Nor is it only in and near
the Jordan Valley that the boar is destructive.
Even on the slopes of Hermon, where the vine is
largely cultivated, the wild boar commits great
ravages among the vines, devouring not only
the grapes, but the young shoots ; and yet
contriving effectively to conceal himself during
the day. In the downs of Southern Philistia
and Beersheba, it is equally common, ploughing
up the plains in every direction for the roots of
the asphodels, irises, and crocuses which there
abound, and which form its sole subsistence. In
the regions east of Jordan, where men are few
and boars are many, they scarcely take the
trouble to conceal themselves in the daytime.
On one of the sculptures of Kouyunjik, a wild

BOAZ

445

sow is depieted with nine young ones in a
cane-brake (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 109,
PI. 12, 2nd Series, Mon.).
The wild boar, Sus scrofa, is a pachydermatous
animal, family Suina. It has an immense
geographical range, extending throughout the
whole continental old world, except South
Africa, irrespective of climate. The Indian boar
has by some been distinguished as Sus Indicus,
having a longer and more poiuted head, and
small and pointed ears. It is rather smaller
than the West Asiatic hog, which is quite as
large as, and more active than, the German race.
In all the varieties, the young are very prettily
marked with zebra-like stripes. Other species
are found in Africa and South-Eastern Asia and
its islands, and many extinct, among the fossils
of the later Tertiavies. [H. B. T.]
BO'AZ (W3, Ges. connects this with an
Arabic word = sprightliness, alacrity ; B. Boos,
A. [sometimes] Bo6£; Booz). 1. A wealthy
Bethlehemite, kinsman to Elimelech, the hus
band of Naomi. Finding that the kinsman
of Ruth, who stood in a still nearer rela
tion than himself, was unwilling to perform
the office of 7X3, he had those obligations pub
licly transferred with the usual ceremonies to
his own discharge ; and hence it became his duty
by the " levirate law " to marry Ruth (although
it is hinted, Euth iii. 10, that he was much her
senior, and indeed this fact is evident whatever
system of chronology we adopt), and to redeem
the estates of her deceased husband Mahlon
(iv. 1 ff. ; Jahn, Arch. Bibl. § 157. See notes in
Speaker's Comm. on Euth iv., and consult Eiehm,
HWB. s. n. Ruth). He gladly undertook these
responsibilities, and their happy union was
blessed by the birth of Obed, from whom in a
direct line our Lord was descended. No objec
tion seems to have arisen on the score of Euth's
Moabitish birth ; a fact which has some bearing
on the date of the narrative (cp. Ezra ix. 1 sq.).
[Bethlehem.] Boaz is mentioned in the genealogy (Matt. i.
5), but there is great difficulty in assigning his
date. The genealogy in Ruth (iv. 18-22 ; see
notes in Speaker's Comm.) only allows 10 gene
rations for 850 years, and only 4 for the 450
years between Salmon and David, if (as is almost
certain from St. Matt, and from Jewish tradi
tion) the Eahab mentioned is Rahab the harlot.
If Boaz be identical with the judge Ibzan
[Ibzan], as is stated with some shadow of pro
bability by the Jerusalem Talmud and various
Rabbis, several generations must be inserted.
Dr. Kennicott, from the difference in form
between Salman and Salmon (Ruth v. 20, 21),
supposes that by mistake two different men
were identified (Dissert, i. 543) ; but we want
at least three generations, and this supposition
gives us only one. Mill quotes from Nicolas
Syranus the theory, "dicunt majores nostri, et
bene quod videtur, quod tres fuerint Booz sibi
succedentes ; in Mt. i. isti tres sub uno nomine
comprehenduntur." Even if we shorten the
period of the Judges to 240 years, we must
suppose that Boaz was the youngest son of
Salmon, and that he did not marry till the age
of 65 (Dr. Mill, On the Genealogies; Lord A.
Hervey, Id. p. 262, &c). The difficulties in con-

446

BOCCAS

nexion with this genealogy have led some critics
to consider it a mere excerpt from 2 Ch. ii., and
inserted in the original text by an unknown
writer in the Greek period (Reuss, Die Gesch. d.
heilig. Schriften A. T, p. 298 ; Oettli in Strack
u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm., Ruth. Einleit. § 4).
This opinion is purely conjectural.
2. The name of one of Solomon's brazen
pillars erected in the Temple porch. [Jachin.]
It stood on the left, and was 17J cubits high
(1 K. vii. 15, 21 [LXX. v. 7, B. BaAaC*, A. Bdos] ;
2 Ch. iii. 15, 17, BA.'I<rxi5s; Jer. Hi. 21). It
was hollow and surmounted by a chapiter, 5
cubits high, ornamented with network and 100
pomegranates. The apparent discrepancies in
stating the height of it, arise from the including
and excluding of the ornament which united the
shaft to the chapiter, &c. [F. W. F.]
BOCCAS (5 BoKKds; Boccus), a priest in
the line of Esdras (1 Esd. viii. 2). [Bukki ;
Borith.] BO'CHERU 0*03, with the termination
-« sometimes found in proper names; cp.
Gashmu "the Arabian" [Neh. vi. 1, 6], and
see Olshausen, Lehrb. d. Heb. Sprache, p. 201 ;
Euting, Nab. Inschriften, pp. 90-92 : LXX.
ttputStokos : Bocru ; 1 Ch. viii. 38, ix. 44),
son of Azel, of the descendants of Saul.
[Becher.] [S. R. D.]
BO'OHIM (D^sn, the weepers; 6 KAavBptiv,
KAavBpuves ; locus fientium sive lacrymarum), a
place on the west of Jordan, above Gilgal (Judg.
ii. 1, 5), so called because the people " wept "
there. The LXX. inserts ini Bai6r)A after Bochim
in Judg. ii. 1, possibly a tradition that the place
of weeping was near Bethel. [G.] [W.]
BO'HAN ([n'3, thumb; Baiuv; Boen), a
Reubenite, after whom a stone was named,
possibly to commemorate some achievement in
the conquest of Palestine (1 Sam. vii. 12). Its
position was on the border of the territories
of Benjamin and Judah between Beth-arabah
and Beth-hogla on the E., and Adummim and
En-shemesh on the W. Its exact situation is
unknown (Josh. xv. 6 [see Dillmann2 in loco] ;
xviii. 17, A. Badp). M. Ganneau proposes to
identify it with Hajr el-Asbah, a large stone,
6 miles S.W. of 'Ain Hajla, Beth-hogla, which
gives its name to the locality. This, however,
seems to be too far south for a point on the
boundary of Benjamin (PEF. Mem. iii. 199).
[Stones.] ["Vv".]
BOIL. [Medicine.]
. BOLSTER. The Hebrew word (l"lB>K"ip.
mSraashSth) so rendered, denotes, like "'the
English, simply a place for the head. Hardy
travellers, like Jacob (Gen. xxviii. 11, 18) and
Elijah (1 K. xix. 6), sleeping on the bare
ground, would make use of a stone for this pur
pose ; and soldiers on the march had probably
no softer resting-place (1 Sam. xxvi. 7, 11, 12,
16). Possibly both Saul and Elijah may have
used the water-bottle which they carried as a
bolster ; and if this were the case, David's mid
night adventure becomes more conspicuously
'?™gi' The "pillow" of goat's hair which
Michal s cunning put in the place of the bolster

BOOTY .
in her husband's bed (1 Sam. xix. 13, 16) was
probably, as Ewald suggests, a net or curtain
of goat's hair, to protect the sleeper from the
mosquitoes (Gesch. iii. p. 101, note), like the
" canopy " of liclofernes. rdr. A. VV 1
BOLLED. Ex. ix. 31, " the flax was boiled "
rather as in R. V. marg. "was in bloom'"
(QPB.3). The Heb. word ^33 is connected by
Ges. with l?3ji, a cup, and so here, a cup or calix
of flowers. The record is one of importance as
fixing the date of the plague of hail about the
middle of February or early in March (see
Speaker's Comm. on Ex. ix. 31, note; Knobel
places it in January. See Dillmann, Exod -
1. C). |J-j
BONDAGE. [Slavery.]
_ BONNET. [See Head-dress.] In Old Eng.
lish, as in Scotch to this day, the word " bonnet "
was applied to the head-dress of men. Thus in
Hall's Rich. TIL, fol. 9a:" And after a lytle
season puttyng of hys boneth he sayde : 0 Lorde
God creator of all thynges, howe muche is this
realme of Englande and the people of the same
bounden to thy goodnes." And in Shakspere
(Haml. v. 2) :
" Your bonnet to his right use : 'tis for the head."
[W. a. W.]
BOOK. [Writing.]
BOOTHS. [Succoth; Tabernacles, Feast
op.] BOOTY. This consisted of captives of both
sexes, cattle, and whatever a captured city
might contain, especially metallic treasures. The
earliest Biblical record of such a capture is
that by Abram in his rescue of Lot, where the
king of Sodom offers him the entire plunder,
claiming only the rescued captives for himself.
This Abram rejects as regards his own share,
but stipulates that his confederates shall receive
their portion (Gen. xiv. 24). Within the limits
of Canaan, no captives were to be made (Dent.
xx. 14, 17) ; beyond those limits, in case of war
like resistance, all the women and children
were to be made captives, and the men put to
death. So the Israelites anticipate that, if
worsted by the Canaanites, they would be put
to the sword, and "their wives and children
become a prey " (Num. xiv. 3). A special charge
was given to destroy the "pictures [K. V.
" figured stones "] and images " of the Ca
naanites, as tending to idolatry (Num. xxxiii.
52). The case of Amalek was a special one, in
which Saul was bidden to destroy the cattle.
So also was that of the expedition against
Arad, in which the people take a vow to destroy
the cities, and that of Jericho, on which the
curse of God seems to have rested, and the
gold and silver &c. of which were viewed as
reserved wholly for Him (1 Sam. xv. 2, 3;
Num. xxi. 2; Josh. vi. 19). The law of booty
— as laid down in the case of Amalek — was,
that it should be divided equally between the
army who won it and the people of Israel;
but of the former one head in every five hun
dred was reserved to God, and appropriated
to the priests, and of the latter one in every
fifty was similarly reserved, and appropriated

''"-: BOOZ
to the Levites (Num. xxxi. 26-47). The share
of the women in the spoil, as enhancing their
interest in the victory, is mentioned in several
lyric passages, and these point no doubt to
well-known custom (Judg. v. 30 ; 2 Sam. i.
24; Ps. lxviii. 12). As regarded the army,
David added a regulation that the baggage-
guard should share equally with the troops
engaged. The present made by David out of
his booty, to the elders of towns in Judah, was
an act of grateful courtesy merely, though per
haps suggested by the Law (Num. I. c). So
the spoils devoted by him to provide for the
Temple must be regarded as a freewill offering
(1 Sam. xxx. 24-26; 2 Sam. viii. 11; 1 Ch.
xxvi. 27). In the extraordinary victory of
Judith, the plunder of the hostile camp is left
to the people promiscuously for thirty days, the
camp-furniture of Holofernes, with his bed and
canopy, being assigned to her as her special
share, and by her dedicated (Judith xv. 11 ; xvi.
19). The name given to the son of Isaiah,
" Maher-shalal-hash-baz " (R. V. marg. " the
spoil speedeth, the prey hasteth " ; see also
QPB.3), is expressive of the havoc to be
wrought within a few years upon Damascus and
Samaria by the king of Assyria; and the plunder
of treasures by the hostile hand is an oft-
recurring image of prophecy. Thus the spoiler
that was never yet spoiled, and that gathered
spoil like eggs from the nest of every nation,
aptly portrays the violent career of the Assyrian
(Is. viii. 3, 4 ; a. 14 ; xxxiii. 1). [H. H.]
BO'OZ (Rec. T. BodC; Westcott and Hort,
Boer in Matt., Bobs in Luke ; Booz), Matt. i. 5 ;
Luke iii. 32. [Boaz.]
BO'RITH (Borith), a priest in the line of
Esdras (2 Esd. i. 2). The corresponding name
is Boccas in 1 Esd. viii. 2, and Bukki in 1 Ch.
vi. 5.
BORROWING. [Loan.]
BOS'CATH, 2 K. xxii. 1. [Bozkath.]
BOSOM. See (1) Abraham's Bosom;
(2) Dress, 3, (4) ; (3) Meals. Cp. also
Cruse (3).
BO'SOR. 1. B. Boo-dp ; A. Botrabp in v. 26 ;
It. nr>n<~i: Bosor; a city, both large and
fortified, on the east of Jordan in the land of
Gilead (Galaad), named with Bozrah (Bosora),
Carnaim, and other places in 1 Mace. v. 26, 36.
It is now probably Busr el-Hariri at the southern
edge of the Lejah. [G.] [W.]
2. d Bdtrop; ex Bosor; i. q. Beor, the father
of Balaam (2 Pet. ii. 15). The origin of Bosor
for Beor is quite uncertain. Probably it is due
to a textual corruption. That it is a Chaldaism
for Beor, as is sometimes stated, is entirely out
of the question ; for though, under certain
circumstances (see Driver's Heb. Tenses2, § 178),
the Heb. X = Chald. 1?, the reverse change of
Heb. V = Chald. V is unheard of. Cp. Flecker,
Scripture Onomatology, pp. 69-75. [S. R. D.]
BOS'ORA (BS. Boaopd, ]y . Q£5 ; Barasa,
Bosor), a strong city in Gilead taken by Judas

BOTTLE

447

Maccabaeus (1 Mace. v. 26, 28). It is
probably the Roman Bostra, now Busrah, near
the south border of the Hauran. The ruins
are extensive and perfect ; temples, churches,
mosques, triumphal arches, a great theatre,
gateways, colonnades, &c. ; a Roman road con
nected it with Damascus on the one hand ami
with Busra on the Euphrates on the other
(Eeland, Pal. p. 665 ; Porter, ii. chap. 12 ; De
Vogue, Syrie Centrale ; Merrill, East of Jordan,
pp. 53-58 ; Wright in Leisure Hour, 1874,
p. 763.) [G.] [W.]
BOTCH. [Medicine.]
BOTTLE. The words which are usually
rendered in A. V. " bottle " are, in 0. T.,
1. npn (Gen. xxi. 14, 15, 19 ; E. V. marg.
skin); cutk6s; uter: a skin-bottle. 2. 733, or
733 (1 Sam. a. 3 ; Job xxxviii. 37 ; Is. xxx. '
14, marg. ; Jer. xiii. 12 ; Lam. iv. 2, " pitcher ") ;
dyyeiov, Kepdpiov, doKds ; uter, vas testeum,
lagena, laguncula. 3. p-13p3 (Jer. xix. 1) ;
BiKbs bffTpdKivos ; laguncula : earthen bottle.
4. 1JO (Josh. ix. 4, 13 ; Judg. iv. 19 ; 1 Sam.
xvi. 20 ; Pss. lvi. 8, cxix. 83) ; dauds ; uter,
lagena ; R. V. " wine-skin." On the Hebrew
version of Ps. lvi. 8 it may be remarked (1) that
the word 1K3 — possibly selected for its allitera
tion with ^3, the opening word of the verse — -
means properly a skin, i.e. a bottle made of
skin ; (2) that there is no ground for supposing
that any custom prevailed among the Israelites
of collecting tears in vessels used for the purpose,
and for which the name " lachrymatories "
appears to have been invented.
In N. T. the only word rendered " bottle "
(R. V. " wine-skin ") is ao-Ko'j (Matt. ix. 17 ;
Mark ii. 22; Luke v. 37). The bottles of
Scripture are thus evidently of two kinds.
1. The skin bottle; 2. The bottle of earthen
or glass ware, both of them capable of being
closed from the air.
1. The skin bottle will be best described in the
following account collected from Chardin and
others. The Arabs, and all those that lead a
wandering life, keep their water, milk, and other
liquors, in leathern bottles. These are made of
goatskins. When the animal is killed, they cut
off its feet and its head, and they draw it in this
manner out ofthe skin, without opening its belly.
They are stuffed out full and strained by driving
in billets and chips of oak-wood, and are then
tanned with oak-bark, or in Arabia with acacia-
bark, and the hairy part left outside. If not
tanned, a disagreeable taste is imparted to the
water. They afterwards sew up the places
where the legs were cut off and the tail, and
when it is filled they tie it about the neck.
The great leathern bottles are made of the skin
of a he-goat, and the small ones, that serve
instead of a bottle of water on the road, are
made of a kid's skin. These bottles when rent
are repaired sometimes by setting in a piece;
sometimes by gathering up the wounded place
in manner of a purse ; sometimes they put in a
round flat piece of wood, and by that means
stop the hole (Chardin, ii. 405, viii. 409 ;
Wellsted, Arabia, i. 89, ii. 78 ; Lane, Mod. Egyp.
ii. c. 14, p. 154 ; Harmer, from Chardin's notes,
ed. Clarke, i. 284 ; Baker, Abyssinia, p. 50 ;

448

BOTTLE

Robinson, Pal. ii. 79). Bruce gives a description
of a vessel of the same kind, but larger. "A
gerba (Lane, kirbeli) is an ox's skin, squared,
and the edges sewed together by a double seam,
which does not let out water. An opening is
left at the top, in the same manner as the bung-
hole of a cask ; around this the skin is gathered
to the size of a large handful, which, when the
gerba is full of water, is tied round with whip
cord. These gerbas contain about sixty gallons
each, and two of them are the load of a camel.
They are then all besmeared on the outside with
grease, as well to hinder the water from oozing
through, as to prevent its being evaporated by the
heat of the sun upon the gerba, which, in fact,
happened to us twice, so as to put us in danger
of perishing with thirst" (Travels, iv. 334).

Skin Dottles. (From the Museo Borbonico.)
Wine-bottles of skin are mentioned as used by
Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, by Homer (Od.
vi. 78, olvov tixevev atr/ctp iv alyeiu ; B. iii.
247) ; by Herodotus, as used in Egypt (ii. 121),
where he speaks of letting the wine out of the
skin by the itobeuv, the end usually tied up to
serve as the neck ; by Virgil (Georg. ii. 384).
Also by Athenaeus, who mentions a large skin-
bottle of the nature of the gerba (atr/cbs- iK
TtapSaAuv Seppdruv eppappevos, v. 28, p. 199).
Chardin says that wine in Persia is preserved in
skins saturated with pitch, which, when good,
impart no flavour to the wine (Voyages, iv. 75).
Skins for wine or other liquids are in use to this
-day in Spain, where they are called borrachas.
The effect of external heat upon a skin-bottle
is indicated in Ps. cxix. 83, " a bottle [R. V.
-marg. wine-skin] in the smoke ; " and of expan
sion produced by fermentation in Matt. ix. 17,
¦" new wine in old bottles " [R. V. " wine-skins "].
2. Vessels of metal, earthen, or glass ware for
liquids were in use among the Greeks, Egyptians,
Etruscans, and Assyrians (xpuo-6tvttos tpidA-q
Tvpo-qvfi, Athen. i. 20 (28) ; apyvpe-t) tpidA-q, II.

Egyptian Bottles. 1 to 7, glass; 8 to 11, earthenware. (Fromthe
British Mujeum Collection.)
xxiii. 243 ; dptpiBerov tpidA-qv dn-vpurov, ib.
270), and also no doubt among the Jews, espe
cially in later times. Thus Jer. xix. 1, "a

BOWL
potter's earthen bottle." The Jews probably
borrowed their manufactures in this particular
from Egypt, which was celebrated for glass
work, as remains and illustrations of Egyptian
workmanship are extant at least as early as "
the 15th century B.C. (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt
ii. 59, 60 [1878]).
Glass bottles of the 3rd or 4th century B.C.
have been found at Babylon by Sir A. Layard.
At Cairo many persons obtain a livelihood by
selling Nile water, which is earned by camels
or asses in skins, or by the carrier himself on his
back in pitchers of porous grey earth (Lane,

Assyrian Glass Bottles. (From tbe British Museum Collection. )

Mod. Egyp. ii. 153, 155 ; Burckhardt, Syria,
p. 611 ; Maundrell, Journey, p. 407, Bohn;
Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, i. 148-158; Dict. of
Gk. and Rom. Antiq., s. v. " Vinum " ; Layard,
Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 196, 503 ; Gesenius,
s. vv.) [H. W. P.]
BOTTOMLESS PIT. [Deep, The.]
BOW. [Arms.]
BOWELS (the translation of two very
different words, D^l/D, DVpn*l ; to o-n-Aiyxva).
The bowels being regarded by the Hebrews as
the seat of the affections, mercy, tenderness, and
compassion, the word often stands as an equi
valent for heart, breast, and bosom with us.
In most cases the R. V. has adopted the Eng
lish idiom (" tender mercies," " compassion,"
" heart ") in place of the literal translation of
the A. V. (cp. the two in e.g. Pss. xxv. 6, xl. 8 ;
Prov. xii. 10 ; Cant. v. 4 ; Luke i. 78 ; 2 Cor.
iii. 15, vi. 12 ; Philip, i. 8, ii. 1 ; Col. iii. 12;
Philem. vv. 7, 12, 20 ; 1 John iii. 17) ; in some
the word " bowels " is still retained (e.g. Jer. iv.
29, xxxi. 20), as giving a more appropriate
sense (cp. D. B., Amer. ed.). [F.]
BOWL. 1. I"l?3; o-Tpeirrbv avBepiov; funi
culus; see Ges. Thes. p. 288. 2. 7flD; AeKivn;
concha : in Judg. v. 25, A. V. and R. V. " dish " ;
in Judg. vi. 38, A. V. and E. V. " bowl." 3. 1)'33; i
Kparr)p ; scyphus. 4. JVJ53D ; kvuBos ; cyathus.
Of these words (1) may be taken to indicate
chiefly roundness, from 7?3, to roll, as a ball or
globe, placed as an ornament on the tops or
capitals of columns (1 K. vii. 41 ; 2 Ch. iv. 12,
13 : cp. the form hi in Zech. iv. 2) ; also the
knob or boss from which proceed the branches
of a candlestick (Zech. iv. 2), and also a sus
pended lamp, in A. V. and R. V. " golden bowl "
(Eccles. xii. 6). (2) Of uncertain etymology.
Ges. connects it with smallness or shallowness,

BOX
and it perhaps represents a shallow dish or basin.
It is rendered bowls by A. V. in 1 K. vii. 50,
2 K. xii. 13 (14), and cups by R. V. (3) A
round vessel (Jer. xxxv. 5), Kepdpiov, LXX.
(4) A lustratory vessel, from np3, pure.

BOZEZ

449

Bowl, with Hebrew inscription. (Birch's Ancient Pottery.)

Bowl, with Syriac inscription. (Birch's Ancient Pottery.')

A like uncertainty prevails as to the precise
form and material of these vessels as is noticed
under Basin. Bowls would probably be used at
meals for liquids, or broth, or pottage (2 K. iv.
40). Modern Arabs are content with a few
wooden bowls. In the Brit. Mus. are deposited
several terra-cotta bowls with Chaldean inscrip
tions of a superstitious character, expressing
charms against sickness and evil spirits, which
may possibly help to explain the " divining cup "
of Joseph (Gen. xliv. 5. See Divination). The
bowl was filled with some liquid and drunk off
as a charm against evil. See the case of Tippoo
Sahib drinking water out of a black stone as a
charm against misfortune (Gleig, Life of Munro,
i. 218). One of the Brit. Mus. bowls still
retains the stain of a liquid. These bowls,
however, are thought by Mr. Birch not to be
very ancient (Layard, Nin. and Bab. pp. 509,
511, 526; Birch, Ane. Pottery, i. 154; Shaw,
p. 231.) [H. W. P.]
BOX. The A. V. rendering of *|S (tpaKis ;
lenticula), "a box of oil," in 2 K. ix. 1, 3; but
more correctly " vial " m 1 Sam. x. 1. R. V.
has " vial " in both places. [Alabaster.] [F.]
BOX-TEEE Cft&XR," teasshur; Baaaovp,
KeSpos; buxus, pinus; B. V. margin, cypress)
occurs in Is. Ix. 13, together with " the fir-
tree and the pine-tree," as furnishing wood
from Lebanon for the Temple that was to be
built at Jerusalem. In Is. xh. 19 the teasshur
is mentioned in connexion with " the cedar, . . .
the fir-tree and the pine," &c, which should
one day be planted in the wilderness. The
Talmudical and Jewish writers generally are
of opinion that the box-tree is intended, and
with them agree Montanus, Deodatus, the A. V.
and other modern Versions ; Rosenmiiller (Bibl.
Bot 300), Celsius (Hierob. ii. 153), and Park
hurst (Heb. Lex. s. v. "HCWl"!) are also in
favour of the box-tree. The Syriac and the
a Apparently from the root "|K>K, " to be straight,
upright " (Ges. Thes.).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

Arabic Version of Saadiah understand the
teasshur to denote a species of cedar called
sherbin," which is distinguished by the small
size of the cones and the upright growth of
the branches. This interpretation is also sanc
tioned by Gesenius and most modern commen
tators. Hiller (Hierophyt. i. 401) believes that
the Hebrew word may denote either the box
or the maple. With regard to that theory
which identifies the teasshur with the sherbin,
there is not, beyond the authority of the Syriac
and Arabic Versions, any sati.-factory evidence
to support it. Although the Arabic Version of
Dioscorides gives sherbin as the rendering of the
Greek KeSpos, the two trees which Dioscorides
speaks of are rather to be referred to the genus
juniperus than to that of pinus. The true
sherbin is the Juniperus excelsa, one of the most
conspicuous and characteristic trees of the
higher part of Lebanon, lt has often been
confounded with the cedar and especially with
the cypress, which it resembles in its habit and
general appearance. Celsius (Hierob. i. 80)
and Sprengel (Hist. Rei Herb. i. 267), as well
as Kiebuhr, have been led to confound the tall
juniper with the cedar. The same word,
however, in the Chaldee, the Syriac, and the
Arabic Versions, is occasionally used to express
the berosh (£>1"13), which is either the juniper
or the pine, most probably the latter (Pinus
halepensis). The passage in Ezek. xxvii. 6,c
although it is one of acknowledged difficulty, is
taken by many, with Bochart (Geog. Sac. i. iii.
c. 5, 180) and Eosenmuller, to uphold the claim
of the box-tree to represent the teasshur; and
is thus translated by R. V, : " they have made
thy benches (marg. deck) of ivory, inlaid with
boxwood (al. larch, cp. QPB.*) from the isles of
Chittim." Kow it is probable that the isles of
Chittim may refer to any of the islands or
maritime districts of the Mediterranean. Modern
critics [see MV.11] identify Chittim here with
Cyprus, but Bochart believes that Corsica is
intended in this passage: the Vulg. has "de
insuhs Italiae." Corsica was celebrated for its
box-trees (Plin. xvi. 16; Theophrast. H. P. iii.
15, § 5), and it is well known that the ancients
understood the art of veneering wood, especially
box-wood, with ivory, tortoise-shell, &c. (Virg.
Aen. x. 137). This passage therefore does
certainly seem to favour the opinion that te
asshur denotes the wood of the box-tree (Buxus
longifolia), the Oriental representative of our
European Buxus sempervivus, . differing in
having larger and more pointed leaves, and in1
other inconspicuous points. It is a small ever-'
green tree, about twenty feet high, growing in
the higher parts of Lebanon. The wood is
highly prized in Syria for the manufacture
of combs, spoons, locks, and other domestic
articles. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BO'ZEZ ()>Tia, Ges. = shining ; BA. Bafe's!
Boses), the name of one of the two "sharp.
[Baer]; A. V. "The company of the Aehurites have
made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of
Chittim." Bochart, followed by most critics, reads
'KTI3 as one word, DnjS>xri3. 2 G

450

BOZKATH

rocks " (Hebrew, " teeth of the cliff") " between
-the passages" by which Jonathan entered the
Philistine garrison. It seems to have been that
•on the north side (1 Sam. xiv. 4, 5). Bobinson
notices two hills of blunt conical form in the
bottom of the Wddy Suweinit just below
Mukhmds (i. 441 and iii. 289) ; Stanley, on the
other hand, could not make them out (S. Sf P.
p. 205, note). And indeed these hills answer
neither to the expression of the text nor the
requirements of the narrative. Conder (Tent
Work in Pal. ii. 112-14) proposes to identify
it with el-Hosn, a cliff on the N. side of W.
Suweinit, near Mukhmds; cp. PEFQy. Stat,
.1881, p. 252. [G-] [W-J
BOZ'KATH (HpV3, perhaps an elevated
place ; B. Bao-qSuB, A.' MatrxdB, in Josh. ; BA.
in Kings, BaaovpaB; Joseph. BotrKeB; Bascath
in Josh., Besecath in Kings), a city of Judah in
the Shefelah; named in the same group with
Lachish and Eglon (Josh. xv. 39). It is men
tioned once again (2 K. xxii. 1) as the native
place of the mother of king Josiah. Here it is
spelt in the A. V. " Boscath." The site has not
yet been discovered. [G.] [W.]
BOZ'EAH (*l*l¥3, possibly from a root with
the force of restraining, therefore used for a
sheepfold, Ges., and also for a fortified place,
.MV.11 ; Boodp'pa ; Botrdp, also bxvpupa, Jer. xlix.

BRACELET
22 ; Teix»h Amos >• 12 •' ^'"f"1' Mic- "• 12 > V%
ovile ; Bosra), the name of more than one place
on the east of Palestine. 1. In Edom — the city
of Jobab the son of Zerah, one of the early kings
of that nation (Gen. xxxvi. 33 ; 1 Ch. i. 44).
This is doubtless the place mentioned in later
times by Isaiah (xxxiv. 6 ; lxiii. 1) in connexion
with Edom, by Jeremiah (xlix. 13, 22), Amos
(i. 12), and, perhaps, by Micah (ii. 12), " sheep
of B." (B. V., cp. Is. xxxiv. 6), though the
word is here rendered by the Vulgate and
by Gesenius " the sheep into a fold " (Ges. Thes.
p. 230). It was known to Eusebius, who speaks
of it (OS.'1 p. 247, 58) as a city of Esau in the
mountains of Idumaea, in connexion with Is.
lxii. 1, and in contradistinction to Bosor the
" city of refuge." There is no reason to doubt
that the modern representative of Bozrah is el-
Buseireh, i'-j^jj), which was first visited
by Burckhardt (Syr. p. 407 ; Beszeyra), and lies
in the mountain district to the S.E. of the Dead
Sea, between Tufileh and Petra, about half-way
between the latter and the Dead Sea. Irby and
Mangles mention it under the name of Ipseyra
and Bsaida (chap. viii. : see also Robinson, ii.
167). The " goats " which Isaiah connects with
the place were found in large numbers in this
neighbourhood by Burckhardt (Syr. p. 405).
2. In his catalogue of the cities of the land
of . Moab, Jeremiah (xlviii. 24) mentions a

Bozrah as in "the plain country" (v. 21,
*lt5"B*l f»1X, i.e. the high level downs on the
east of the Dead Sea and of the lower Jordan,
the Belka of the modern Arabs). Here lay
Henhbon, Nebo, Kirjathaim, Diblathaim, and
the other towns named in this passage, and it is
here that Bozrah should be sought, and not, as
has been suggested, at Bostra, the Roman city
in Bashan full sixty miles from Heshbon (Porter's
Damascus, ii. 163). If recovered [see Dillmann2

on Deut. iv. 43], it is probably the same as
Bezer in the wilderness, and the Bezer, or Bosor,
of king Mesha's inscription [Bezer] (Records of
the Past, N. S. ii. 203), now Kesur cl-Besheir,
S.W. of Dhibdn, Dibon. [G.] [W.]
bacelet (rnyys; ^aa-ov, x^v).
Under Armlet an account is given of these
ornaments, the materials of which they were
generally made, and the manner in which they

BRAMBLE
were worn, &c. Besides rni?yN (Num. xxxi. 50 ;
2 Sam. i. 10) four other words are translated by
" bracelet " in the Bible, viz. : 1. T13V (from
*IOS, to fasten), Gen. xxiv. 22, Num. xxxi. 50,
&c. 2. rnB> (a chain, treipd, from its being
wreathed, "riSf). It only occurs in this sense
in Is. iii. 19 [E. V. marg. c/tai/is], but compare
the expression " wreathen chains" in Ex. xxviii.
14, 22. Bracelets of fine twisted Venetian gold
are still common in Egypt (Lane, ii. 36S, Append.
A and plates). 3. ^"13, Gen. xxxviii. 18, 25,
rendered "bracelet" by A. V., but meaning
probably " a string by which a seal-ring was
suspended " (Gesen. s. i\ ; cp. R. V. " cord ").
The same word is rendered '¦ lace " (Ex. xxviii.
28) ; " wires " (Ex. xxxix. 3) ; •• ribband " (Num.
xv. 38 ; R. V. " cord ") ; " line " (Ezek. xl. 3) ;
and "thread" (Judg. xvi. 9; R. V. "string").
4. Pin, Ex. xxxv. 22; E. V. "brooches." This
word is thought by many to mean " a nose-ring "
(al. LXX. trtppayiSes ; armillac. Cp. Bochart,
Hieroz". i. 764). Elsewhere it is rendered
"hook" (2 K. xix. 28; Ezek. xxix. 4) and
" chain " (Ezek. xix. 4 ; R. V. " hooKs ").
Men as well as women wore bracelets, as we
see from Cant. v. 14, which may be rendered,
" His wrists are circlets of gold full set with
topazes " [R. V. " His hands are as rings of gold
set with beryl "]. Layard says of the Assyrian
kings : " The arms were encircled by armlets, and
the wrists by bracelets, all equally remarkable for

BRAMBLE

451

Gold Egyptian Bracelet. (WilMnson.)
the taste and beauty of the design and work
manship. In the centre of the bracelets were
stars and rosettes, which were probably inlaid
with precious stones " (Nineveh, ii. 323). These

Assyrian Bracelet Clasp. (Nineveh Marbles.)
may be observed on the sculptures in the -British
Museum. [Armlet ; Anklet.] [F. W. F.]
BEAMBLE, BRIER, PRICKS, THISTLE,
THORNS, THORN-HEDGE/ By these
names at least eighteen Hebrew and four Greek
words are rendered in the A. V. and R. V. In
¦the many passages where they occur the con
text rarely gives any clue by which we can
identify the particular species denoted, and in
many cases the derivation does not aid us in
the identification. But it can scarcely be
doubted that by different Hebrew names dif
ferent plants are indicated, and in most cases a
knowledge of the Flora of Palestine will enable

a This article may replace Thokns and Thistles in
Vol. III., where the subject is not so fully treated.

us to arrive at a probable conclusion. To those
who have noticed the plants of Palestine, how
truly it is, in its shrubs and weeds alike, a land
of thorns and briers ; it can be no matter of sur
prise that our Hebrew vocabulary, scanty as it
is on most subjects of natural history, should
here be so rich. The combined heat and dry
ness of the climate develop a tendency to form
thorns, even in the succulent groups where we
should least expect them. Botanically the
thorn, spina, is entirely distinct from the
prickle, aculcus ; the former being formed in the
wood, and often disappearing under cultivation
or in a rich soil ; the latter being an excrescence
on the barb, as in the rose or the bramble, aud
unaffected by cultivation. All plants become
more spiny in rocky and parched situations ; the
expansive effort, which under moister conditions
would develop a twig or branch with leaf or
blossom, being arrested, and forming merely a
barren spine. Upon waste land in these regions
the whole growth is thorny. " Upon the land
of my people shall come up thorns and briers "
(Is. xxxii. 13). "The thorn and the thistle
shall come up on their altars " (Hos. x. 8).
The Hebrew words are: 1. 'Atad, "TOX (i)
pdpvos, rhamnus), rendered by the "A. V. and
R. V. in Judg. ix. 14, 15, " bramble," and in
Ps. lviii. 9, " thorns." There can be little
question as to the plant intended, for the Arabic
Jjal, atad, is identical, and is applied by the
natives to the Boxthorn or Ehamnus of which
two species are common — Lycium Europaeum (L.),

Lycium Europaeum.
spread over the whole country, from the
Lebanon downwards, excepting in the Jordan
valley, where its place is taken by Lycium
2 G 2

452

BRAMBLE

Ardbicum (Boiss.), an allied form. It is used, like
our hawthorn, for hedges, having numerous
erect branches with stiff short spines, small
pinkish white flowers, and a dark berry. It
has very small, thick, oblong leaves, close set,
less than half the size of those of our box-tree,
to which it has a fancied resemblance, whence
its English name. It belongs to the family
Solanaceae.
¦ 2. Clioach, nin (&Kav, aKavB-q, KviS-q, aKxovX'i
carduus, tribulus, spina, lappa ; and in Job xii.
2, ipeAAiov, armilla), variously rendered. In Is.
xxxiv. 13, by the A. V. "brambles," by the
E. V. " thistles," marg. thorns : in 1 Sam.
xiii. 6, " thickets ; " by A. V. and E. V. " The
people did hide themselves in thickets " (ev Tons
pdvSpais, abditis) : in 2 Iv. xiv. 9, 2 Ch. xxv.
18, Job xxxi. 40, in the A. V. and R. V.
"thistle," marg. thorns: "The thistle that was
in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Leba
non ; " " Let thistles grow instead of wheat."
In other passages both the A. V. and R. V. ren
der the word " thorns." In Job xii. 2, " Canst
thou bore his jaw through with a thorn ? "
(R. V. " hook "), the word is evidently used
for a weapon resembling a choach. The Arabic
• t^-\, achooch, is almost identical, and is
applied to a prickly hawthorn. Celsius would
therefore translate it by Primus sylvestris, the
blackthorn, which however is not a native of
the country. The only passage which affords
any indication of the character of the plant is
that in Job, from which we may infer that it is
a thorny plant of quick growth, springing up
in cultivated ground. There are two classes of
prickly weeds which choke the corn-fields of
Palestine — the true thistles, and the Centaureas
or knapweeds. As the knapweed seems to be
designated by dardar, choach may very well
stand for the common thistle [see MV.11]. Of
this genus there are many species abundant in the
Holy Land, especially in the corn plains of the
coast and of Esdraelon. The typical thistle of
the corn-fields is Notobasis syriaca (L.), a tall
pink flowering thistle with powerful spines.
Carthamus dentatus (Vahl), and C. oxyacantha, a
yellow flowering species with poisonous spines,
inflicting irritating wounds, are also common.
About 80 species of thistles have been recorded
from Palestine.
3. Dardar, -|-J"1*| (TplBoAos, tribulus), occurs
in# the 0. T. in connexion with the Heb. kdts
(pp) in Gen. iii. 18, "thorns and thistles," and
Hos. x. 8: "The thorn and the thistle shall
come up on their altars " (A. V. aud E. V.).
TplBoAos, "thistles," occurs in Matt. vi. 16,
and also in Heb. vi. 8, " briers" A. V., " thistles "
E. V. There is not much difficulty in identify
ing the plant intended, at least generically, as
the Tribulus is often mentioned in classical
writers in connexion with carduus, " the
thistle," and is generally admitted to be a
knapweed or star thistle, of which several spe
cies, especially one, the Centaurea calcitrapa (L.),
are most troublesome intruders in corn-fields
throughout the Mediterranean countries. There
is also another species closely allied to this, but
with even more powerful spines, au inch and a
Halt in length, very abundant in fields and waste
places in Northern Palestine, Centaurea verutum

BRAMBLE
(L.), which is so formidable that horses refuse to>
face it, and it has to be beaten down with sticks.
Celsius has argued at great length (Hierob. ii"
p. 128) in favour of the prickly Fagonia arabica,
(L.), but it is unnecessary to enter on his argu
ment, as the plant is an inhabitant ofthe desert
and only found within Palestine about the shores
of the Dead Sea. Sprengel, Royle, and others.
suggest Tribulus terrestris (L.), which, though a
common weed, is neither characteristic nor espe
cially spinous. It is clear that dardar has
always been identified in the LXX. and else
where with TplBoAos, which is indisputably the
Centaurea calcitrapa. This has been shown bv
Du Molin (Flore Pogtique Ancienne, p. 305) ii
his dissertation on the Tribulus of Virgil. The
thorns of these star ' thistles are not on the
leaf or stem, but are simply the scales ofthe
involucrum or flower sheath, lengthened into-
long hard spines. We are further enabled
to identify TplBoAos by the ancient military
engine named from it, a ball with iron spikes-
projecting in all directions, thrown down to
arrest cavalry, and which may frequently be
seen in museums. This instrument has still
a place in modern military defence, under the
name of "caltrop," taken from this same
thistle. 4. Cliedek, p*l"I, occurs twice : in Prov. xv. 19,
" The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of
thorns," A. V. and R. V. (uKavBa, spina) ; in Mic.
vii. 4, " The best of them is a brier," A. V.
and R. V. (0-7)1 ixTp&yuv, paliurus). The Hebrew
word is evidently represented by the Arabic
Jjii*- , hhedek, which Freytag renders melongem,
the name usually applied to the egg plant
(Solanum melongena), but which is described by
the Arabian botanist Abu'l Fadli as abundant in
Phoenicia, like melongena, but larger, covered
with thorns and bearing a fruit the size of a
walnut, green at first, but yellow when ripe.
This is an exact description of Solanum sanctum.
(L.), commonly known as the apple of Sodom or
vine of Sodom, and which is very common in
all the hotter parts of Palestine, where it is
often used as a hedge. The context in the
passages where cliedek occurs suggests not a
ground thistle, but some taller prickly plant
suitable for fencing, as is the Sodom apple. It
is a shrubby plant from 3 to 5 feet high, with
widely-branching stems, thickly clad with spines
like those of the English brier, with large leaves,
woolly on the underside, and a spinous midriff.
The blossom resembles in shape and colour that
of the potato, to which it is closely allied, ami
bears a large crop of fruit, perfectly spherical,
larger than the potato apple, at first green,
then yellow, and finally, when the pulp within
has dried, a brilliant red, containing inside a
quantity of dust and small black seeds. We
may thus definitely assign the cliedek to the
Sodom apple.
5. Kbtz, y,p (&Kav8a, spinae), occurs twelve
times in the Old Testament, and is always in
our Versions translated " thorns," as in Gen. iii.
18: "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee." In the LXX. it is rendered by
&KavBa, which is also frequently used in the
N. T. (" thorns," A. V. and R. V*.), as in tlie
Sermon on the Mount and in the Parable of the
Sower. Kdts is derived from a root signifying

BRAMBLE
"to out,'' perhaps allied to the Arabic Joljj (Ges.).
But neither from its derivation, nor from the
context of the passages where it occurs, have
we ground to refer it to any particular species.
It is probably as general as the words by which
it is rendered in the Greek and English.
6. Shdmir, "V1?S}>, occurs only in Isaiah ;
where in seven out of eight passages it is used
in connexion with IVt^, shayith. It is variously
rendered by the LXX. x^fros, frpd, aypuaris,
X&pros, vepres splnae. Both the A. V. and E. V.
always translate it " briers." Celsius (Hierob.
ii. 187) identifies this with the Arabic %,„,
samur, described by Abu'l Fadli as a thorny tree,
a species of sidra, but which does not bear fruit,
and which is common in Arabia. But while
this may be accepted without hesitation, it is
not so easy at once to identify the sidra speci
fically, as the Arabs give the name to different
trees in different localities. The Arabs of
Southern and Eastern Palestine give the name
sidra to all thorny non-fruit-bearing trees which
attain any size, and of these there are many
species commonly found, all belonging to the
natural order Rhamnaceae. Some are dis
tinguished by the natives as dahl, nub'k, and
samur. The latter name is given in the south
to Paliurus aculeatus (L., Christ's thorn), and
further north to Rhamnus palaestina (Boiss.), the
Syrian buckthorn, which is more common on the
higher lands. The Hebrew shdmir may there
fore with probability be assigned to one or both
of these species. The Rliamnus is very like our
blackthorn in appearance, with very small
leaves, yellow blossom, and thorns like those of
the hawthorn. Paliurus aculeatus has much
larger leaves, small whitish blossoms, and a
number of sharp thorns on the twigs, as well as
spines on the midriff of the leaves. It is com
mon about Jerusalem, and by some has been
taken, as its name implies, for the material of
which the crown of thorns was composed (but
see § 8).
7. Shaith, IVE* (&KavBa, spina), occurs only
in Isaiah (e.g. v. 6, vii. 23-25, &c), aud then
only in connexion with shdmir ; it is rendered
" thorns " in A. V. and R. V. It is probably an
indefinite term ; at least we have no clue or
derivation by which we can assign it to any
particular species."
8. Na'atzutz, J'-IVIW (o-Toi$f\,saliumca), occurs
twice, in Isaiah vii. 19 and lv. 13, and is rendered
by "thorns" in A. V. and R. V. Celsius would
refer na'atzuz to tbe Arabic / viaO, na'd, which
is explained to be a large thorny fruit-bearing
tree, and identified by him with the nub'k, or
dhdl, (JUc, Zizyphus spina-christi (L.). The
nub'k is very common in the Jordan valley and
in the hotter parts of the country. It often
forms impenetrable thickets, and grows to a
considerable size when it has room. The larger
trees are known as Ddhl, but I believe there is
no specific difference, though Abu'l Fadli states

a Celsius, after searching in vain for a key, patheti
cally concludes, " Ejus indagandae usque adeo nulla
patet via, nullumque vestigium, ut neque conjecturae
locus relictus videatur," {Hierob. ii. 187.)

BRAMBLE

453

that there are two species, bearing the same fruit,
but the larger having smaller thorns, and grow
ing in the mountains. The Zizyphus is not un
common near Jerusalem, but there is stunted in
growth. In the low plains it reaches its full
size and is known as the Dhom tree. One of
these overshadowing the fountain of 'Ain DAk at
Jericho is an ancient and noble tree, and supcr-
stitiously honoured by the Arabs. It is some
times called the Lotus tree. The thorns of the
Zizyphus are long, sharp, and recurved, and apt
to create a festering wound. The leaves are
oval and of a very glossy green. The blossom
is small and white, and the fruit a yellow berry,
the size of a small gooseberry, of a pleasant sub
acid flavour and with a stone like that of the
hawthorn. It is eaten by the natives fresh or
dried, with sour milk. It is generally believed
that of the Zizyphus, or, as it is often called, the
Jujube tree, was composed the crown of thorns
of our Lord's Passion. Its tough and flexible
twigs are well suited for such a purpose, and
the plant is one of the denizens of the valleys
round Jerusalem.
No fence is more impervious or more easily
made than that of the nub'k. The Arabs simply
cut down a few branches and lay them in line
round the barley as it is sown. No goats, cattle,
or camels will attempt to force it, insignificant
as it appears, not more than a yard high, while
the twigs and recurved hooks become so inter
woven that to pull them aside is no easy task,
9. Barkanim, D'Jp'TB (tribuli, untranslated in
the LXX.), occurs only in Judg. viii. 7, 16, " I
will tear your flesh with thorns of the wilder
ness and with briers," A. V. and R. V. The
Rabbinical commentators simply state that it is
a species of thorn, but do not further define it.
Celsius, referring to David's punishment of tho
Ammonites after the capture of Rabbath, sug
gests that Barkanim may mean the spiked
wheels of threshing instruments dragged over
the prostrate bodies ofthe captives. To this it
may be objected that we have no evidence that
such threshing machines were in use at this
early period ; and as tribulus means both a brief
and a threshing instrument, Gesenius very
reasonably observes that the instrument is more
likely to have been named from the plant than
the plant from the instrument. As to the
particular species intended we have no clue,
etymological or other, but about the fords of
Succoth the Zizyphus now grows in impenetrable
thickets, and higher up the country by Bethshean
the common bramble, J.'ubus fruticosus (L.), is
very common. One of these is probably indicated
by the Hebrew .word.
10. Sillon, p?D, o-k6au<P, occurs in Ezek. ii. 6,
xxviii. 24 — " thorns," " pricking briers," A. V.
and R. V. This seems to be identical with the
Arabic ,,.y^n, sallon, the sharp points at the
end of each segment of the palm-leaf, and hence
sometimes used for a needle-point.
11. Sdrabim, D'^ID, occurs once only in Ezek.
ii. 6, where both A. V. and R. V. have " briers."
The LXX. renders the passage napoio-Tpi,trovtri,
and the Vulgate increduli. There has been, as
these various interpretations show, a wide dis
crepancy between the different translators.
Celsius (Hierob. ii. 222) interprets the word
refractarii as from 2 "ID, "to rebel " [cp. A. V,

454

BRAMBLE

marg.], and rejects the rendering spinae as a
Latin gloss. The rendering " briers " seems,
however, to be that preferred by modern com
mentators. 12. Sirpad, "IB"lp (k6w£o, Symm. uvt\
KvtSds, urtica), occurs once only : " Instead of
the brier shall come up the myrtle tree " (Is. lv.
13). The Rabbinical commentators support the
rendering of A. V. and R. V. rather than that
of the LXX., which interprets it as a kind of
nettle. But having no etymological or other
clue, all is mere conjecture.
13. Sirim, Siroth, D^TD. "lil'D, always in
the plural (&KavBat, aKavBtva £i/Aa, o-KdAoip,
apiAat; spinae), " thorns," A. V. and R. V. The
word occurs in several passages. We have no
etymological key to indicate any particular
species. It may be a general term, but from
the context in Eccles. vii. 6 we may infer a
plant used for firing. There is one thorny plant
of rapid and abundant growth, universally used
for heating ovens, and which cannot be assigned
to any of the words examined above, Acanthus
spinosus (L.). From its large and abundant
foliage, it is most suitable for kindling, and we
have often noticed the women in the summer
collecting the acanthus in large bundles for
fuel. 14. Tzinnim, Tzeninim, D^JV [Prov. xxii. 5 ;
Job v. 5], D'J^S [Num. xxxiii. 55, Josh.
Xxiii. 13] (BoAls, TplBoAos; sudes, lancca),
"thorns," A. V. and R. V.; iu Amos iv. 2
(metaph.), " hooks." The word is simply used
for a thorn or prick, and has no reference to any
particular plant.
15. Sek, "?\& (aKdAoty, clavis), is found only in
Num. xxxiii. 55, where the A. V. and R. V.
lender it " pricks " • " As pricks in your eyes."

jr*>

The word is identical with the Arabic ty
shawk, a thorn. This, like the last, appears to
bea general term. From the same root sook,
^¦1S5>, "to hedge," "enclose," or " twist," is also
derived the word mesoochah, n3-lDD (Mic. vii. 4)
or n~iE>p (Prov, xv. 19), translated " thorn-
hedge * in A. V and R. V.
16. E>ll3p, kimmdsh (cp. Baer on Hos. ixt G),
is in Is. xxxiv. 13 and Hos. ix. ii rendered
"nettles;" the kindred form D»3E>l3j? (pi.),
Prov. xxiv. 13, is rendered " thorns."
Thus among the various Hebrew names nine
at any rate may, with more or less probability,
be assigned to conspicuous and familiar thorny
plants of the country. Among these, however,
is not our briar or wild rose, which can only
just claim a place in the Flora of the country.
There are several beautiful specimens of wild
briar, but they are all in the extreme north and
on Hermon and Lebanon.
The prickly pear (Opuntia vulgaris, L.), though
now so common and ordinarily used for hedges
in_ Palestine, is not among the brambles and
briers of Scripture, having been introduced from
tropical America. It has now overrun the whole
of the Mediterranean countries, and is often in
correctly introduced into scriptural and historical
pictures. On the whole subject see Dietrich,
' Dornen- u. Distel-namen ' in his Abhandl. f.
Semit W^rtforschung (1844). [H. B. T ]

BRAZEN SEA
BRASS (xaAKds). The word nBTO is im
properly translated by A. V. and R.' V. by
" brass " in the earlier Books of Scripture, since
the Hebrews were not acquainted with the
compound of copper and zinc known by that
name. In most places of the 0. T. the correct
translation would be " copper," although it
may sometimes possibly mean " bronze " (xa\«bs
KeKpapevos), a compound of copper and tin.
Indeed a simple metal was obviously intended '
as we see from Deut. viii. 9, "out of whose
hills thou mayest dig brass," and Job xxviii. 2
" Brass is molten out of the stone," and Deut.
xxxiii. 25, " Thy shoes shall be iron and brass."
which seems to be a promise that Asher should
have a district rich in mines, which we know-
to have been the case, since Eusebius (viii. 15
17) speaks of the Christians being condemned
Tots Kara $aivw ttjs YlaAaitTTiv-qs xaAnov
perdAAois (Lightfoot, Cent. Chorogr. c. 99).
[ASHER.] Copper was known at a very early period, and
the invention of working it is attributed to
Tubal-cain (Gen. iv. 22 ; cp. Wilkinson, Ane.
Egypt, ii. 153 ; cp. " Prius aeris erat quam ferri
cognitus usus," Lucr. v. 1292). Its extreme
ductility (xaAKbs probably from x<^au) made its
application almost universal among the ancients,
as Hesiod expressly says (Dict. of Gk. and Rom.
Antiq., art. Acs).
The same word is used for money, in both
Testaments (Ezek. xvi. 36 ; Matt. x. 9, &c).
It is often used in metaphors, e.g. Lev. xxvi.
9, " I will make your heaven as iron and your
earth as brass," i.e. dead and hard. This ex
pression is reversed in Deut. xxviii. 23 (cp.
Coleridge's " All in a hot and copper sky," &c.
Ane. Mar.). " Is my flesh of brass ? " i.e. invul
nerable (Job vi. 12). " They are all brass and
iron," i.e. base, ignoble, impure (Jer. vi. 28). It
is often used as an emblem of strength (Zech.
vi. 1 ; Jer. i. 18, &c). The " brazen thighs " of
the mystic image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream
were a fit symbol of the "Axatoi xaAKOxiTtuves.
No special mention of orichalcum seems to be
made in the Bible.
The word xa^KoAiBavov in Rev. i. 15, ii. 18
(oi iroSes avTou opoiot xaAKoAiBdvu), has excited
much difference of opinion. St. John was pro
bably thinking of the xaAKbs o-tIaBuv of Dan.
x. 6 or xaAKbs ilatrrpdn-Tuv of Ezek. i. 7. The
A. V. renders it " fine brass," as though it were
from x- "id AelBu- (smelting brass), or that
opeixaAKos which was so rare as to be more
valuable than gold. Bochart makes if'acs
album igneo colore splendens," as though from
)3^, "shining" (R. V. "burnished brass").
It may perhaps be deep-coloured [amber-
coloured, Speaker's Comm.] frankincense, as
opposed to dpyvpoAlBavov. Suidas defines
it as elSos T)AeKrpov Tipiurepov xPvff°v- ^e&
Wetsteiu, N. T. ii. 472 ; Bochart, Hieroz. ii.
883. [F. W. F-]
On the use of copper and bronze in ancient,
Egypt, among the Hebrews, and in Assyria, see
PSBA. xii. pp. 227-34. [?¦]
BRAYING IN A MORTAR, Prov. xxvii. 2.
[Punishments, III. (a) 4.]
BRAZEN SEA, 2 K. xxv. 13 ; Jer. Iii. 17.
[Sea, Molten.]

BRAZEN SERPENT
BRAZEN SERPENT. [Serpent.]
BREAD (D"6). The preparation of bread
as an article of food dates flora a very early
period : it must not, however, be inferred from
the use of the word Icehem. in Gen. iii. 19
(" bread," A. V. and R, V.) that it was known
at the time of the fall, the word there occurring
in its general sense of food: the earliest un
doubted instance of its use is found in Gcu. xviii.
6. The corn or grain ("DCJ'i p~l) employed was
of various sorts : the best bread was made of
wheat, which after being ground produced the
" flour " or " meal " ("IDp ; dXevpov ; Judg. vi.
19 ; 1 Sam. i. 24 ; 1 Iv" iv. 22, xvii. 1 2, 14),
and when sifted the " fine flour " (TWO ; more
fully D»ISn dVd, Ex. xxix. 2 ; or rhb "IDp,,
Gen. xviii. 6 ; aepiSaAis) usually employed in
the sacred offerings (Ex. xxix. 40 ; Lev. ii. 1 ;
Ezek. xlvi. 14), and in the meals of the wealthy
(1 K. iv. 22 ; 2 K. vii. 1 ; Ezek. xvi. 13, 19 ;
Rev. xviii. 13). " Barley " was used only by
the very poor (John vi. 9, 13), or in times of
scarcity (Ruth iii. 15, compared with i. 1 ; 2 K.
iv. 38, 42 ; Rev. vi. 6 ; Joseph. B. J. v. 10, § 2).
Being the food of horses (1 K. iv. 28), it was
considered a symbol of what was mean and in
significant (Judg. vii. 13 ; comp. Joseph. Ant.
V. 6, § 4, pd£av KpiBlvnv, vrr' evTeAeias dvBpdnrois
&BpuTov ; Liv. xxvii. 13), as well as of what
was of a mere animal character, and hence
ordered for the offering of jealousy (Num. v. 15 ;
cp. Hos. iii. 2 ; Philo, ii. 307). " Spelt "(fflOEQ ;
oAupa, (ea; A. V. rye, fitches, spelt; R. V.
" spelt " always) was also used both in Egypt
(Ex. ix. 32) and Palestine (Is. xxviii. 25 ; Ezek.
iv. 9 ; 1 K. xix. 6, LXX. eyKputpias oAvptT-qs)'.
Herodotus indeed states (ii. 36) that in the
former country bread was made exclusively of
olyra, which, as does the LXX., he identifies with
zea ; but in this he was mistaken, as wheat was
also used (Ex. ix. 32; cp, Wilkinson's Ane. Eg.
i. 180 [1878]). Occasionally the grains above
mentioned were mixed, and other ingredients,
such as beans, lentiles, and millet, were added
(Ezek. iv. 9 ; cp. 2 Sam. xvii. 28) ; the bread so
produced is called " barley cakes " (Ezek. iv.
12, so R. V.), inasmuch as barley was the main
ingredient. The amount of meal required for
a single baking was an ephah or three
measures (Gen. xviii. 6 ; Judg. vi. 19 ; 1 Sam. i.
24; Matt. xiii. 33), which appears to have
been suited to the size of the ordinary oven.
The baking was done in primitive times by
the mistress of the house (Gen. xviii. 6) or by
one of the daughters (2 Sam. xiii. 8). Female
servants were employed in large households
(1 Sam. viii. 13), and it appears always to have
been the proper business of women in a family
(Jer. vii. 18, xliv. 19 ; Matt. xiii. 33 ; cp. Plin.
xviii. 11, 28), Baking as a profession was
carried on by men (Hos. vii. 4, 6). In Jerusalem
the bakers congregated in one quarter of the
town, as we may infer from the names " bakers'
street " (Jer. xxxvii. 21) and " tower of the
ovens " (Neh. iii. 11, xii. 38 ; " furnaces," A. V.
and R. V.). In the time of the Herods, bakers
were scattered throughout the towns of Pales
tine (Ant xv. 9, § 2). As the bread was made
in thin cakes, which soon became dry and un-

BREAD

455

palatable, it was usual to bake daily, or when
required (Gen. xviii. 6 ; cp. Harmer's Obser
vations, i. 483): reference is perhaps made to
this in the Lord's Prayer (Matt. vi. 11 ; Luke xi.
3). The bread taken by persons on a journey
(Gen. xiv. 23 ; Josh. ix. 12) was probably a
kind of biscuit.
The process of making bread was as follows : —
The flour was first mixed with water, or per
haps milk (Burckhardt's Notes on the Bedouins,
i. 58); it was then kneaded (6W) with the

Egyptians kneading dough with their hands (Wilkinson. From
a painting in the Tomb of Kameaes III. at ThebeB).
hands (in Egypt with the feet also ; Herod, ii.
36 ; Wilkinson, ii. 386) in a small wooden bowl

Egyptians kneading the dough with their feet. At a and 6 the-
dough is probably left to ferment in a basket, as is now done at
Cairo (Wilkinson) .
or "kneading-trough" (fTnXB'P, a term which
may, however, rather refer to the leathern bag
in which the Bedouins carry their provisions,
and which serves both as a wallet and a table :
Niebuhr's Voyage, i. 171 ; Harmer, iv. 366 sq. j
the LXX. inclines to this view, giving iyKma-
AeippaTa in Deut. xxviii. 5, 17 ["store," A. V. ;
" kneading-trough," R. V.] ; the expression in
Ex. xii. 34, however, " bound up in their-
clothes," favours the idea of a wooden bowl),
until it became dough (PV3 ; o-tois, Ex. xii. 34,
39; 2 Sam. xiii. 8; Jer. vii. 18; Hos. vii. 4r
the term " dough " is improperly given in the-
A. V. as = "liDni?, in Num. xv. 20, 21 ; Neh.
x. 37 ; Ezek. xliv. 30. [In these passages R. V-
has "dough" in the text and coarse meal in
margin]). When the kneading was completed,
leaven ("INK'; (vpn) was generally added!

456

BREAD

[Leaven] : but when the time for preparation
was short, it was omitted, and unleavened cakes,
hastily baked, were eaten, as is still the preva
lent custom among the Bedouins (Gen. xviii. 6,
xix. 3 ; Ex. xii. 39 ; Judg. vi. 19 ; 1 Sam.
xxviii. 24). Such cakes were termed JlliB
(&(vpa, LXX.), a word of doubtful sense,
variously supposed to convey the ideas of sweet
ness (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 815), or [more pro
bably] purity (Knobel-Dillmann on Ex. xii.
20), while leavened bread was called J*t?n (lit.
sharpened or soured; Ex. xii. 39; Hos. vii. 4).
Unleavened cakes were ordered to be eaten at
the Passover to commemorate the hastiness of
the departure (Ex. xii. 15, xiii. 3, 7 ; Deut. xvi.
3), as well as on other sacred occasions (Lev. ii.
11, vi. 16; Num. vi. 15). The leavened mass
was allowed to stand for some time (Matt. xiii.
33 ; Luke xiii. 21), sometimes for a whole night
("their baker sleepeth all the night," Hos. vii.
6 ; see R. V. marg.), exposed to a moderate heat
in order to forward the fermentation (" he
ceaseth to stir the fire, from the kneading of
the dough until it be leavened," Hos. vii. 4,
R. V.). The dough was then divided into round
cakes (BIT? "11*133, lit. circles; dproi ; " loaves,"
A. V. and R. V. ; Ex. xxix. 23 ; Judg. viii. 5 ;
1 Sam. i. 3 ; Prov. vi. 26 ; in Judg. vii. 13,
7-l?it; payis), not unlike flat stones in shape
and appearance (Matt. vii. 9 ; cp. iv. 3), about
a span in diameter and a finger's breadth in
thickness (cp. Lane's Modem Egyptians, i. 164) :
three of these were required for the meal of a
single person (Luke xi. 5), and consequently one
was barely sufficient to sustain life (1 Sam. ii.
36, " morsel," A. V., " loaf," R. V. ; Jer. xxxvii.
21, "piece," A. V., "loaf," R. V.), whence the
expression fn? D*l7, " bread of affliction " (1 K.
xxii. 27 ; Is. xxx. 20), referring not to the
quality (pane plebeio, Grotius), but to the

e(M£,

WX&$MM%f°

> (c«

^aa "lilii

w mm-

X IN

\V

Two Egyptians carrying bread to the confectioner, who rolls ont
the paste, which is afterwards made into cakes of various forms,
c, rf, e, f, q, li (Wilkinson).
quantity: two hundred would suffice for a
party for a reasonable time (1 Sam. xxv. 18 ; 2
Sam. xvi. 1). The cakes were sometimes punc
tured, and hence called "1711 (KoAAvpls ; Ex. xxix
2, 23 ; Lev. ii. 4, viii. 26, xxiv. 5 ; Num. xv
20 ; 2 Sam. vi. 19), and mixed with oil.

BREAD
Similar cakes, sprinkled with seeds, were made
in Egypt (Wilkinson, ii. 386). Sometimes they
were rolled out into wafers (p*p"l ; Adyauov;
Ex. xxix. 2, 23 ; Lev. ii. 4 ; Num! vi. 15-19),

Egyptians making cakes of bread sprinkled with seeds (Wilkinson),
and merely coated with oil. Oil was occasion
ally added to the ordinary cake (1 K. xvii. 12).
A more delicate kind of cake is described in
2 Sam. xiii. 6, 8, 10 ; the dough ("flour," A.V.)
is kneaded a second time, and probably some
stimulating seeds added, as seems to be implied
in the name "IO1"! 7 (from 33,7, heart : cp. our
expression a cordial ; KoAAvpiSes ; sorbitiun-
culae). The cakes were now taken to the
oven ; having been first, according to the
practice in Egypt, gathered into "white bas
kets " (Gen. xl. 16), '")'"! \j>D, a doubtful ex
pression, referred by some to the whiteness of
the bread (Kavd xov^PLTWV 5 Aquil. Kdtpipoi
yvpeus ; canistra farinae ; R. V. " baskets of
white bread :" see notes in Speaker's Comm. and
Delitzsch, Genesis [1887], in loco), by others, as
in the A. V., to the whiteness of the baskets,
and again? by connecting the word '"in with the
idea of a hole, to an open-work basket (margin,
A. V.), or lastly to bread baked in a hole (Kitto,
Cyclop, art. Bread). The baskets were placed
on a tray and carried on the baker's head (Gen.
xl. 16 ; Herod, ii. 35 ; Wilkinson, ii. 386).

An Egyptian carrying cakes to the oven (Wilkinson).
The methods of baking ("IDN) were, and still
are, very various in the East, adapted to the
various styles of life. In the towns, where
professional bakers resided, there were no doubt
fixed ovens, in shape and size resembling those
in use among ourselves : but more usually each
household possessed a portable oven (1-13*1 ; kKi-
fiavos), consisting of a stone or metal jar about
three feet high, which was heated inwardly with
wood (1 K. xvii. 12 ; Is. xliv. 15; Jer. vii. 18)
or dried grass and flower-stalks (xdpros, Matt.
vi. 30) ; when the fire had burned down, the
cakes were applied either inwardly (Herod, ii.
92) or outwardly : such ovens were used by the
Egyptians (Wilkinson, ii. 385), and by the
Easterns of Jerome's time (Comment, in Lam. v.
10), and are still common among the Bedouins

BREAD
(Wellsted's Travels, i. 350 ; Niebuhr's Descript.
de I' Arable, pp. 45, 46). The use of a single
oven by several families only took place in time
of famine (Lev. xxvi. 26). Another species of
oven consisted of a hole dug in the ground, the
sides of which were coated with clay and the
bottom with pebbles (Harmer, i. 487). Jahu
(Archaeol. i. 9, § 140) thinks that this oven is
referred to in the term D]1,3 (Lev. xi. 35) ; but
the dual number is an objection to this view
(see Knobel-Dillmann in loco) ; the term »*in
(Gen. xl. 16) has also been referred to it.
Other modes of baking were specially adapted
to the migratory habits of the pastoral Jews, as
of the modern Bedouins ; the cakes were either
spread upon stones, which were previously
heated by lighting a fire above them (Burck-
hardt's Notes, i. 58) or beneath them (Belzoni's
Travels, p. 84) ; or they were thrown into the
heated embers of the fire itself (Wellsted's
Travels, i. 350 ; Niebuhr, Descript. p. 46) ; or
lastly, they were roasted by being placed
between layers of dung, which burns slowly,
and is therefore specially adapted for the pur
pose (Ezek. iv. 12, 15 ; Burckhardt's Notes, i.
57 ; Niebnhr's Descript. p. 46). The terms by
which such cakes were described were "131? (Gen.
xviii. 6 ; Ex. xii. 39 ; IK. xvii. 13 ; Ezek. iv-
12 ; Hos. vii. 8), JIJ/D (1 K. xvii. 12 ; Ps. xxxv.
16), or more fully D'DV"} T\SS (1 K. xix. 6, lit.
on the hot stones, R. V. marg. ; " coals," A. V.
and R. V.), the term "131? referring, however,
not to the mode of baking, but to the rounded
shape of the cake (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 997) : the
equivalent terms in the LXX. eyKputplas, and in
the Vulg. subcinericius panis, have direct refer
ence to the peculiar mode of baking. The cakes
required to be carefully turned during the pro
cess (Hos. vii. 8; Harmer, i. 488). Other
methods were used for other kinds of bread ;
some were baked on a pan ("13nD, see
Knobel-Dillmann on Lev. ii. 5 ; T-iyyavov ;
sartago : the Greek term survives in the tajen of
the Bedouins), the result being similar to the
hhubz still used among the latter people (Burck
hardt's Notes, i. 58), or like the Greek Tayr\viai,
which were baked in oil, and eaten warm with
honey (Athen. xiv. 55, p. 646) ; such cakes
appeared to have been chiefly used as sacred
offerings (Lev. ii. 5, vi. 14, vii. 9 ; 1 Ch. xxiii.
29). A similar cooking utensil #was used by
Tamar (2 Sam. xiii. 9), named JTIB'D (riiyavov),
in which she baked the cakes and then emptied
them out in a heap (p V, not poured, as if it had
been broth) before Amnon. A different kind of
bread, probably resembling the ftita of the
Bedouins, a pasty substance (Burckhardt's
Notes, i. 57), was prepared in a saucepan,
"lETl'lD (itrxapa ; craticula ; frying-pan, A. V.
and R. V. ; none of which meanings, however,
correspond with the etymological sense of the
word, which is connected with boiling; see
Knobel-Dillmann on Lev. ii. 7); this was
also reserved for sacred offerings (Lev. ii. 7 ;
vii. 9). As the above-mentioned kinds of bread
(the last excepted) were thin and crisp, the.
mode of eating them was by breaking (Lev. ii.
6; Is. lviii. 7; Lam. iv. 4; Matt. xiv. 19, xv.
36, xxvi. 26; Acts xx. 11; comp. Xen. Anab.
vii. 3, § 22, UpTovs SieKAa), whence the term

BRICK

457

DIS, to break = to give bread (Jer. xvi. 7) : tho
pieces broken for consumption were called KAda-
uoto (Matt. xiv. 20 ; John vi. 12). Old bread
is described in Josh. ix. 5, 12, as crumbled
(D,"l*>3 ; a sense preferred by Dillmann- after
Aquih i\pa6vpwpivos ; in frusta comminuti. The
A. V. and R. V., " mouldy," follow the LXX.
B. evpuriuv Kai BeBpupevos), a term which is
also applied (1 K. xiv. 3) to a kind of biscuit,
which easily crumbled (KoAAvpls ; " cracknels,"
A. V. and R. V.). [W. L. B.] [F.]
BREASTPLATE of the High Priest.
[Pkiest, Dress of.]
BREASTPLATE. [Arms, p. 241.]
BREECHES (D^DiSD; TtepiffKeAri ; femi-
nalia), part of the dress of the priests. They
were short, and extended only from the loins to
the thigh (Ex. xxviii. 42, xxxix. 28 ; Lev. vi. 19,
xvi. 4; Ezek. xliv. 18: cp. Joseph. Ant. iii. 7,
§ 1; Philo, de Monarch, ii. 5). See Priest,
Dress of. [F-]
BRETHREN OF JESUS. [Brother.]
BRICK ("1337, made of white clay, from |3?>
to be white ; ttAivBos ; later ; in Ezek. iv. 1,
A. V., tile). Herodotus (i. 179), describing the
mode of building the walls of Babylon, says
that the clay dug out of the ditch was made
into bricks as soon as it was carried up, and
burnt in kilns (Kapvtot). The bricks were
cemented with hot bitumen (dtrtpaATos), and at
every thirtieth row crates of reeds were stuffed
in. This account agrees with the existing
remains at some places, as at Mugheir, Ur
(Pietro della Valle, Viaggi, ii. 844), and with
the history of the building of the Tower of
Confusion, in which the builders used brick
instead of stone, and slime ("ID*! ; atrtpaAros)
for mortar (Gen. xi. 3 ; Joseph. Ant. i. 4, § 3).

Egyptian brick stamped with the praenomen of Thotmes III.
(Birch's Ancient Pottery.)
In the alluvial plain of Assyria, both the
material for bricks and the bituminous cement,
which bubbles up from the ground, and is
collected and exported by the Arabs, were close

458

BRICK

at hand for building purposes (Plin. H. N.
xxxv. 15, 51, 178); but the Babylonian bricks
were more commonly burnt in kilns than those
used at Nineveh, which are chiefly sun-dried,
like the Egyptian (see Maspero, Archeol. Egypt.
p. 8 ; Babelon, Man. d' Archeol. Orient, p. 12).
Xenophon mentions a wall called the wall of

Brick Arch, Thebes. (Birch's Ancient Pottery.)

Media, not far from Babylon, made of burnt
bricks set in bitumen (n-AlvBois btrTats iv
datpdATtp Ketpevais), 20 feet wide and 100 feet
high. Also another wall of brick 50 feet wide
(Diod. ii. 7, 8, 12; Xen. Anah. ii. 4, § 12,
iii. 4, §11; Nah. iii. 14; Layard, Nineveh, ii.
46, 252, 278). While it is needless to inquire

BRICK
to what place, or to whom the actual inventioni
of brick-making is to be ascribed, there is.
perhaps no place iu the world more favour-.
able for the process, none in which the re
mains of original brick structures have been-
more largely used in later times for building
purposes. The Babylonian bricks are usually
from 12 to 13 in.
square, and 3J in.
thick. (English
bricks are usually
8 in. long, 4J wide,
2\ thick.) They
most of them bear
the name, inscribed
in cuneiform charac
ter, of Nebuchad
nezzar, whose build
ings, no doubt, re
placed those of an
earlier age (Layard,
Nin. and Babyl. pp.
505, 531). They
also possess more of
the character of tiles
(Ezek. iv. 1). They
were sometimes glazed and enamelled with pat
terns of various colours. Semiramis is said by
Diodorus to have overlaid some of her towers
with surfaces of enamelled brick bearing elabo
rate designs (Diod. ii. 8). Enamelled bricks have
been found at Nimroud (Layard, ii. 312). Pliny
(vii. 56, 57, 193) says that the Babylonians

3 a
Foreign captives employed in making bricks at Thebes. (Wilkinson.)
Ulgs._I, 2. Men returning after carrying the bricks. Figs. 3. 6. Taskmasters. Figs. i. 5. Men carrying bricks. Figs. 7,

'-13. niggin::

7,\ Sfitaf w,S °r m°d' ?ig8' 8' "' M"iias brioks witb a wood™ nw£<i 4 h. ' FiB."u. Fetehimj water from tie tank, ...
At e the bricks (tobi) are said to be made at Thebes.

BRIDE, BRIDEGROOM
used to record their astronomical observations
on tiles (coctilibus laterculis). He also, as well
as Vitruvius, describes the process of making
bricks at Rome. There were three sizes : (1)
1J ft. long, 1 ft. broad ; (2) 4 (Greek) palms
long, 12 -135 in. ; (3) 5 palms long, 15 -16875 in.
The breadth of (2) and (3) was the same. He
says the Greeks preferred brick walls in general
to stone (xxxv. 14, 49, 172 ; see Vitruv. ii. 3, 8).
Bricks of more than 3 palms length and of less
than 1 J palm are mentioned by the Talmudists
(Gesen., p. 740; see Plin. I. c. 171). The Israelites,
in common with other captives, were employed
bv the Egyptian monarchs in making bricks and
in building (Ex. i. 14 ; v. 7). Kiln-bricks were
not generally used in Egypt, but were dried in
the sun, and even without straw are as firm as,
when first put up in the reigns of the Amunophs
and Thothmes, whose names they bear. The
usual dimensions vary from 20 in. or 17 in. to
14J in. long ; 8| in. to 6^ in. wide ; and 7 in.
to 4J in. thick. When made of the Nile mud,
or alluvial deposit, they required (as they still
require) straw to prevent cracking, but those
formed of clay taken from the torrent beds on
the edge of the desert held together without
straw ; and crude brick walls had frequently
the additional security of a layer of reeds and
sticks, placed at intervals to act as binders
(Wilkinson, i. 342 [1878]; Birch. Ancient
Pottery, p. 9 sq. [1873], cp. Herod, i. 179).
Baked bricks however w-erc used, chiefly in
places in contact with water. They are smaller
than the sun-dried bricks. A brick pyramid
is mentioned by Herodotus (ii. 136) as the work
of King Asychis. Sesostris (ii. 138) is said to
have employed his captives in building. Nume
rous remains of buildings of various kinds exist,
constructed of sun-dried bricks, of which many
specimens are to be seen in the British Museum,
with inscriptions indicating their date and pur
pose. (See cut on p. 457.) Among the paint
ings at Thebes, one on a tomb, given on the pre
ceding page, represents the enforced labours in
brick-making of captives, who are distinguished
from the natives by the colour in which they
are drawn. Watching over the labourers are
"task-masters," who, armed with sticks, are
receiving the "tale of bricks" and urging on
the work. The processes of digging out the
clay, of moulding, and of arranging, are all
duly represented ; and though the labourers
cannot be determined to be Jews, yet the
similarity of employment illustrates the Bible
history in a remarkable degree (Wilkinson,
i. 342-345 ; Birch, I. c. : see Aristoph. Av. 1133,
Alyun-Tios -nAtvBotpdpos ; Ex. v. 17, 18). The
Jews learned the art of brick-making in Egypt,
and we find a complaint made by Isaiah that
the people built altars of brick instead of
unhewn stone as the Law directed (Is. lxv. 3 ;
Ex. xx. 25)." [Pottery.] [H. W. P.]
BRIDE, BRIDEGROOM. [Marriage.]

a Mention is made of a brick-kiln in 2 Sam. xii. 31
Jer. xliii, 9, STah. iii. 14 ; but it is very doubtful if
137D has the sense of brick-kiln in any of these
passages. Cp. Driver, Notes on the Heb. Text of the
Books of Sam. 1. c. ; and cp. QPB? and E. V. marg. on the
same passage. [S. R. D.)

BRIMSTONE

459

BRIDGE. The only mention of a bridge in
the canonical Scriptures is possibly and quite
indirectly in the proper name Geshur (*I-1L"3), a
district in Bashan, N.E. of the sea of Galilee,
whose inhabitants, the Gcshurites, are men
tioned several times in Scripture (Deut. iii. 14 ;
Josh. xii. 5, xiii. 13; 1 Ch. ii. 23; Gesen.
p. 308). Absalom was the son of a daughter of
the king of Geshur (2 Sam. iii. 3, xiii. 37, xiv.
23, 32 ; 1 Ch. iii. 2). The Chaldee paraphrase-
on Nahum ii. 6 renders D'Hl/C, " gates," by
" bridges," where however dykes or weirs are
perhaps to be understood, which, being burst
by inundation, destroyed the walls of Nineveh
(Diod. ii. 27). Judas Maccabaeus is said to
have intended to make a bridge in order to
besiege the town of Casphor or Caspis, situate
near a lake (2 Mace. xii. 13). Josephus (Ant.
v. 1, § 3), speaking of the Jordan at the time
of the passage of the Israelites, says that it
had never been bridged before, ouk e£euKTo
npdrepov, as if since that time bridges had
been made over it. In Is. xxxvii. 25, "l-lp, dig
for water, is rendered by LXX. yetpvpav TiBrjpi.
Permanent bridges over water do not appear
to have been used by the Israelites in their
earlier times, and west of the Jordan there are
no rivers of permanent importance (see Amm.
Marc. xiv. 8 ; Reland, p. 284) ; but we have
frequent mention made of fords, and of their
military importance (Gen. xxxii. 22 ; Josh. ii. 7
Judg. iii. 28, vii. 24, xii. 5 ; Is. xvi. 2).
Though the arch was known and used in
Egypt as early as the 15th century E.C. (Wil
kinson, ii. 302 sq. ; Birch, i. 14), the Romans
were the first constructors of arched bridges.
They made bridges over the Jordan and other
rivers of Syria, of which remains still exist,
especially one between Lake Hilleh and the Sea
of Galilee, called the Bridge of the daughters of
Jacob (Stanley, p. 296 ; Irby and Mangles,
pp. 90-92, 142, 143 ; Burckhardt, Syria,
p. 315 ; Robinson, ii. 441). The bridge (yetpupa)
connecting the Temple with the upper city, of
which Josephus speaks (B. J. vi. 6, § 2 ; Ant. xv.
11, 5), seems to have been an arched viaduct
(Robinson, i. 288 ; iii. 224). [H. W. P.]
BRIER. [Bramble.]
BRIMSTONE (nnB3T,° gophrith; Belov;
sulphur). There can be no question that the
Hebrew word, which occurs several times in the
Bible, is correctly rendered "brimstone;"11 this
meaning is fully corroborated by the old Versions.
The word is very frequently associated with
" fire : " " The Lord rained upon Sodom and
Gomorrah brimstone and fire out of heaven "
(Gen. xix. 24 ; see also Ps. xi. 6 ; Ezek. xxxviii.

a Probably allied to 1S3> a general name for such
trees as abound with resinous inflammable exudations ;
hence fl^lDS' "sulphur," as being very combustible.
s c
See Gesenius, s. v. Cp. the Arabic t **.* -a£»»
kibrit, and the Assyrian leu, pru. Lagarde conjectures
it to be connected with the Bactrian vohu lcereti,fwni-
gant, Pers. g6-gird, sulphur ( Uebersicht iib. d. im Aram.,
Arab., u. Hebr. iibliche Bildunyd. Nomina, pp. 217-20).
b From A.-S. brennan, " to burn," and stone.

460

BRIMSTONE

22). In Job xviii. 15 and Is. xxx. 33, " brim
stone " occurs alone, but no doubt in a sense
similar to that in the foregoing passages, viz.
as an expression synonymous with lightning, as
has been observed by Le Clerc (Dissert, de Sodo-
mae subversione, Comment. Pentat. adjecta, § iv.),
Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, Dillmann,5 and others.0
There is a peculiar sulphurous odour which is
occasionally perceived to accompany a thunder
storm ; the ancients draw particular attention
to it: see Pliny (N. H. xxxv. 15), " Fulmina
ac fulgura quoque sulphuris odorem habent ; "
Seneca (Q. nat ii. 53), and Persius (Sat. ii. 24,
25). Hence the expression " fire and brim
stone " in the Sacred writings to denote a storm
of thunder and lightning. The stream of brim
stone in Is. xxx. 33 is, no doubt, as Lee (Heb.
Lex. p. 123) has well expressed it, " a rushing
stream of lightning."
From Deut. xxix. 23, " the whole land thereof
is brimstone. . .like the overthrow of Sodom,"
it would appear that native sulphur itself is
alluded to (see also Is. xxxiv. 9). There are
extensive deposits of sulphur in the volcanic
districts of South-Eastern and North-Eastern
Palestine, chiefly on the east side of Jordan.
In the region of Argob or Trachonitis, and on
the banks of the Yarmuk or Hieromax, these
deposits are especially abundant. In the Yar
muk, near the ancient Gadara, are nine hot
sulphurous springs (Tristram, Land of Israel,
p. 462). But by far the most important deposits
are round the Dead Sea, where sulphur is found,
not only in the strata of the surrounding cliffs,
but ejected in vast quantities from springs, both
on the edge of and in the lake, and also in some
of the ravines running down to it. From these
different sources, it is scattered in lumps larger
or smaller over the flats to the north and west
of the lake. One of the most remarkable rock
deposits is in the Wady Mahawat, at the south
west of the lake; where, on the sides of the
Wady, are exposed large masses of bitumen
overlying a thin stratum of sulphur (Land of
Israel, p. 358). All along the western shore of
the lake, from 'Ain Feshkah to Jebel Usdum,
occur hot springs, producing an abundant deposit
of sulphur. But nowhere are these phenomena
more wonderful than in the gorge of the Cal
lirrhoe or Zerka Main, and many of the lesser
glens opening on to the east of the Dead Sea.
The hot springs of Callirrhoe are annually
depositing an incrustation of sulphur on the
sides of the glen, to a thickness sometimes of
150 feet, and all traces of the ancient baths and
the erections of Herod have long since been
buried under many feet of brimstone. Scarcely
less rapid has been the deposit on parts of the
shore, a little to the south of the mouth of the
Callirrhoe (Tristram, Land of Moab, p. 243, &c).
Not the least interesting feature of these sulphur
deposits and springs, is that they support a
peculiar and unique flora, chiefly of the Ascle-
piad family, such as Daemia cordata, described
by Josephus with marvellous legends (Bell,

c A different explanation is preferred by Bp. Harold
Browne {Speaker's Comm. on Gen. xix. 24) and Dean
Payne Smith (0. T. Comm. for Engl. Readers, in loco).
Taking "brimstone" to mean bitumen, tbe bitumen,
whether volcanic or otherwise, was made tbe instrument
by which the offending cities were destroyed.

BROTHER
Jud. vii. 6, 3). Cleome trinervia is another of
these curious plants, with the smell and colour
of the sulphur on which it grows. See also
Irby and Mangles (Travels, p. 453), Burckhardt
(Travels, p. 394), who observes that the Arabs
use sulphur in diseases of their camels, and Shaw
(Travels, ii. 159).
Sulphur was much used by the Greeks and
Romans in their religious purifications (Juv. ii.
157; Plin. xxxv. 15): hence the Greek word
Belov, lit. " the divine thing," was employed to
express this substance. Sulphuris found nearly
pure in different parts of the world, and generally
in volcanic districts ; it exists in combination
with metals and in various sulphates ; it is very
combustible, and is used in the manufacture of
gunpowder, matches, &c. Pliny (/. c.) says one
kind of sulphur was employed " ad ellychnia
conficienda." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
BROIDED, BROIDEEED. See Embroi
derer. The word " broided " occurs in the.
A.V. [ed. 1611] of 1 Tim. ii. 9, "not with
broided hair," and has been replaced by the
corrupt form " broidered " in many more modern
editions. " Broided " (see marg. plaited) is an
old form of braided, which word has been
placed in this text by the R. V. [F.j
BROOK. Four Hebrew words are thus ren
dered in the 0. T.
1. p'SX, aphik (Ps. xiii. 1 [2]); according to
Gesenius, properly the bed, which holds in or con
tains the stream. It occurs only in the poetical
Books. Elsewhere it is rendered " stream,"
" channel," " river."
2. "I'lN?, ySor (Is. xix. 6 [A. V. " the brooks
of defence," R. V. "the streams of Egypt"], 7,
8 [A. V. " brooks," R. V. " Nile " in both ot.1,
xxiii. 3, 10 [A. V. "river," R. V. "Nile" in
both vv.]), an Egyptian word, according to Ebers
— aur da, "the great stream" (Aegypten, &c,
p. 338), and which occurs on the Rosetta-inscrip-
tion (c. B.C. 195). It is the Memphitic jaro,
Sahidic jero, and Assyr. jam, and is generally
applied to the Nile, or to the canals by which
Egypt was watered (see MV.11 s. v.). The only
exceptions to this usage are found in Dan. iii.
5, 6, 7, where A. V. aud R. V. read "river"
(see Speaker's Comm.2 on Dan. xii. 5), and the
word is applied to the Tigris.
3. ?"3<p, micdl (2 Sam. xvii. 20), which
occurs but once, and is of very uncertain
derivation and meaning, though some such
sense as " rivulet " (A. V. and R. V. " brook ")
would be in accordance with the context (see
Driver, Notes on tlie Heb. Text of tke Books of
Sam. in loco). The Targum erroneously para
phrases it " Jordan."
4. 7*13, nachal, >t term applied both to the
dry torrent-bed (Num. xxi. 12, A. V. and R. V.
" valley " ; Judg. xvi. 4, A. V. and R. V.
" vallev " in text, " brook " in marg.) and to the
torrent itself (1 K. xvii. 3, A. V. and R. V.
" brook "). It corresponds with the Arabic
wddy, the Greek xei^ap/Sous, the Italian fiumara,
and the Indian nullah. For further information,
see River. [W. A. W.] [F.]
BROTHER (m ; a.SeA<p6s). The word is
sometimes used in Hebrew as in all languages in

±S±tUTJ±Ji;K
a general or metaphorical sense. In the 0. T.
the term " brother " is sometimes applied to (1)
kinsman, and not a mere brother — e.g. nephew
(Gen. xiv. 16, xiii. 8), husband (Cant. iv. 9) ;
(2) one of the same tribe (2 Sam. xix. 13); (3)
of the same people (Ex. ii. 11), or even of a
cognate people (Num. xx. 14); (4) an ally (Amos
i. 9); (5) any friend (Job v. 15); (6) one of
the same office (1 K. ix. 13); (7) a fellow-man
(Lev. xix. 17) ; (8) metaphorically of any simi
larity. It is a very favourite Oriental metaphor,
as in Job xxx. 19, "I am become a brother to
the jackals" (Gesen. s. v.).
The word dSeAtpbs has a similar range of
meanings in the N. T., and is also used for a
disciple (Matt. xxv. 40, &c.) ; a fellow-worker,
as in St. Paul's Epp. passim ; and especially a
Christian. Indeed, we see from the Epistles and
the early Fathers that it was by this name that
Christians usually spoke of each other. The
name "Christian" was merely used to describe
believers objectively, i.e. from the Pagan point
of view, as we see from the places where it
occurs, viz. Acts [xi. 26], xxvi. 28, and 1 Pet.
iv. 16. Cp. Cremer, Bibl.-theolog. Worterb. d.
NTlich. Grdcitat,1 s. n.
The Jewish schools distinguish between " bro
ther " and " neighbour ; " " brother " meant an
Israelite by blood, "neighbour" a proselyte.
They allowed neither title to the Gentiles ; but
Christ and the Apostles extended the name
"brother" to all Christians, and " neighbour "
to all the world, 1 Cor. v. 11 ; Luke x. 29, 30
(Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matt. v. 22).
We must now briefly touch on the diflicult
and interesting question as to who were " the
brethren of the Lord," and pass in review the
theories respecting them. And first we would
observe that in arguing at all against their being
the real brethren of Jesus, far too much stress
has been laid on the assumed indefiniteness of
meaning attached to the word " brother " in
Scripture. When the word is used historically
and continuously, there is no such indefiniteness.
In all the adduced cases it will be seen that,
when the word is used in any but its proper
sense, the context, in every case of real im
portance, prevents the possibility of confusion ;
and indeed in the only two exceptional instances
(not metaphorical), viz. those in which Lot and
Jacob are respectively called " brothers " of
Abraham and Laban, the word is only extended
so far as to mean "nephew;" and it must be
remembered that even these exceptions are
quoted from a single Book, many centuries
earlier than the Gospels. If then the word
" brethren," as repeatedly applied to James, &c.
really means "cousins" or " kinsmen," it will
be the only instance of such an application
being repeatedly used without any data being
furnished to correct the laxity of meaning.
Again, no really parallel case can be quoted
from the N. T., except in merely rhetorical and
tropical passages ; whereas when " nephews "
or " cousins " are meant they are always
specified as such, as in Col. iv. 10, Acts
xxiii. 16 (Kitto, The Apostles, &c, p. 165 sq.).
It is, then, obvious that there is no adequate
warrant in the language alone, to take "bre
thren " as meaning " relatives ; " and therefore
the a priori presumption is in favour of a literal
acceptation of the term. We have dwelt the

xjiiOTHER

461

more strongly on this point, because it seems to
have been far too easily assumed that no impor
tance is to be attached to the mere fact of then-
being invariably called Christ's brothers ; whereas
this consideration taken alone would go far to
prove that they really were so.
There are, however, three traditions respecting
them. They are first mentioned (Matt. xiii. 56)
in a manner which would certainly lead an un
biassed mind to conclude that they were our
Lord's uterine brothers. " Is not this the car
penter's son ? Is not His mother called Mary ?
and His brethren James, and Joses, and Judas,
and Simon? and His sisters, are they not all
with us?" But since we find that there was
a " Mary, the mother of James and Joses and
Judas and Simon " (Matt, xxvii. 36), and that a
"James and Judas (?)" were sons of Alphaeus
(Luke vi. 15, 16), the most general tradition is
— I. That they were all our Lord's first cousins,
the sons of Alphaeus (or Clopas), who is sup
posed to have been a brother of Joseph (Hege
sippus ap. Euseb. //. E. iv. 22) and Mary, a sister
of the Virgin. This tradition is accepted by
Jerome (Cat. Script. Ecc. 2), Augustine, and the
Latin Church generally, and is now the one
most commonly received. Yet there seem to be
overwhelming arguments against it : for (1)
The reasoning entirely depends on three very
doubtful assumptions, viz. a. that "his mother's
sister" (John xix. 25) must be in apposition
with "Mary, the wife of Cleophas," which
would be improbable, if only on the ground that
it supposes two sisters to have had the same
name, a supposition substantiated by very few
parallel cases [Wieseler (cp. Mark xv. 40)
thinks that Salome, the wife of Zebedee, is
intended by "his mother's sister"]; 6. that
" Mary, the mother of James," was the wife of
Alphaeus, i.e. that the James intended in Luke
vi. 15 is 'ldKuBos 6 'AAtpaiov; c. that Cleophas,
or more correctly Clopas, whose wife Mary was,
is identical with Alphaeus (Hegesipp.); which
may be the case, although it cannot be proved.
(2) If the cousins of our Lord were meant, it
would be signally untrue that " neither did his
brethren believe on him " (John vii. 5 sq.), for
in all probability three out of the four (viz.
James the Less, Matthew (or Levi), and Simon,
as well as Jude, the brother (or, more probably,
the son) of James, were actual Apostles. We do
not see how this objection can be removed. (3)
It is quite unaccountable that these " brethren
of the Lord," if they were only his cousins,
should be always mentioned in conjunction with
the Virgin Mary, and never with their own
mother Mary, who was both alive and in con
stant attendance on our Lord. (4) The
" brethren of the Lord " are generally spoken
of as distinct from the Apostles : see Acts i. 14,
1 Cor. ix. 15; and Jude (v. 17) seems clearly to
imply that he himself was not an Apostle. It
seems to us that these four objections are quite
adequate to necessitate the rejection of the verv
slight grounds adduced for the identification of
the " brethren of the Lord " with the " sons of
Alphaeus." If " the Lord's brethren " were His
cousins, what possible reason could have pre
vented the Evangelists from calling them
cousins ? Why, in writing plain prose, should
they have gone out of their way to suggest a
false inference? Whatever happens to other

462

BROTHER

theories, this at least '(though it has been the
favourite theory in the Western Church) must
be absolutely rejected. It was an arbitrary
attempt on the part of Jerome to assert the
virginity not only of Mary but of Joseph. He
invented it in a.d. 383 as furnishing a plausible
argument against Helvidius ; and afterwards,
when it had served its temporary purpose,
¦he quietly allowed it to fall into abeyance
(see Lightfoot, Galatians, pp. 247-249). The
real usage of the word " brethren " (apart
from its lax and metaphorical applications) is
alone sufficient to relegate this theory into the
region of obsolete conjectures.
II. A second tradition accepted by Hilary,
Epiphanius, and the Greek Fathers generally,
makes them the sons of Joseph by a former
marriage with a certain Escha or Salome of the
'tribe of Judah; indeed Epiphanius (Haeres. 29,
§ 4) even mentions the supposed order of birth
of the four sons and two daughters. But Jerome
(Com. in Matt. xii. 49) slights this as a mere
conjecture, borrowed from the " deliramenta
Apocryphorum," and Origen says that it was
taken from the Gospel of St. Peter. The only
shadow of ground for its possibility is the gene
rally received tradition that there was a differ
ence of age between Joseph and the Virgin. On
the other hand, it is a fatal objection to this late
tradition that, if the brethren were sons of
Joseph by an earlier marriage, James as the
eldest of them was legally " the son of David "
and the lineal heir to David's throne.
III. Theophylact suggested that they were
the offspring of a levirate marriage between
Joseph and the wife of his deceased brother
Alphaeus. But, apart from all evidence, it is
obviously idle to examine so arbitrary an
assumption. The arguments against their being the sons
of the Virgin after the birth of our Lord, are
founded on — (1) The almost constant tradition
of her detwapBevla. St. Basil (Serm. de S.
Nativ.) even records a story that " Zechary was
slain by the Jews between the porch and the
altar " for affirming her to be a Virgin after, as
well as before the birth of her most holy Son
(Jer. Taylor, Duct. Dubit. ii. 3, 4). Still the
tradition was not universal : it was denied, for
instance, by those who were called Antidico-
marianitae and Helvidiani ; and it appears to
have been unknown to, or unaccepted by, Ter
tullian and Victorinus bishop of Petavium. To
quote Ezek. xliv. 2 as auy argument on the
question is plainly absurd. (2) The fact that
on the cross Christ commended His mother to
the care of St John ; but this is easily explicable
on the ground of His brethren's apparent dis
belief in Him at that time, though they seem
to have been converted by the Resurrection.
Indeed the objection, if it has any weight at all,
tells also against the two other theories.
(3) The identity of their names with those of
the sons of Alphaeus. This argument loses
every particle of weight, when we remember
the constant recurrence of names in Jewish
families, and the extreme commonness of these
particular names. In the N. T. alone there may
be at least five contemporary Jameses, and several
Judes, not to mention the (at least) 21 Simons,
17 Joses, and 16 Judes mentioned by Josephus.
On the other hand, the arguments for " the

; BRUIT
brethren of the Lord " being (as they are exclu
sively called) his actual brethren are numerous*
and, taken collectively, to an unprejudiced mind'
almost irresistible, although singly they are
open to objections: e.g. (1) The word npur6-
tokos vids, Luke ii. 7. (2) Matt. i. 25, 0vk
iyiyvuffKev avTT)v eus ov ereKev, K.T.A., to which
Alford justly remarks, only one meaning could
have been attached but for preconceived theories
about the denrapBevia. (3) The general tone of
the Gospels on the subject. The " brethren " are
constantly spoken of with the V. Mary, and with
no shadow of a hint that they were not her own
children (Matt. xii. 46 ; Mark iii. 31, &c.).
(4) The inference which would be naturally
drawn from Matt. i. 18. It can, we think, be
hardly denied that any one of these arguments
is singly stronger than those produced on the
other side.
To sum up, then, we have seen (I.) that " the
brethren of the Lord " could hardly have been
identical with the sons of Alphaeus, and (II.)
that we have no grounds for supposing them to
have been the sons of Joseph by a previous, or
(III.) a levirate marriage ; and (IV.) that the
arguments in favour of their being actual bro
thers of our Lord are very strong, and that
the tradition on the other side (derived partly
from apocryphal Gospels, partly from guess
work) is not sufficiently weighty or unanimoos
to set them aside. Finally, this tradition of
the perpetual virginity of the mother of our
Lord (which any one may hold, if he will, as
one of the " pie credibilia," Jer. Taylor, Duct.
Dub. ii. 3, 6) is easily accounted for by the
widespread Manichean error of the inferiority
of the wedded to the virgin state. Scripture in
no way requires us to believe it, and the no'tion
of a nominal marriage, such as prevailed in the
3rd and 4th centuries, was absolutely unknown
to the Jews. Since Mary's previous virginity
is alone requisite to the Gospel narrative, we
must regard the question of her aemapBevta as
one of mere curiosity. [James; Joses; Jude.]
The question has been discussed by many writers.
Besides the chief New Testament commentators,
see Herder, Brief e Zweener Bruder Jesu, 1775 ;
Blom, de toIs dSeAtpols, 1839 ; Schaff, Das Ver-
haltniss der Jacobus, &c, 1842 ; Lange, Lelen
Jesu, i. 421-437 (E. T.) ; Keim, Jesu von Nazara,
ii. 143 (E. T.) ; Laurent, Neutest. Stud. p. 153 ff.
(1856) ; Pressense, Jesus Christ, p. 287 ; Mill,
Mythical Interpretn. pp. 219-274; McClellan,
New Test. p. 654 ; and especially Bishop Light
foot, Galatians, pp. 241-274. Bishop Lightfoot
supports the hypothesis of Epiphanius. The
Helvidian view may claim to be derived
directly from Scripture ; is supported by the
high authority of Tertullian, who would have
been eager to reject it if there had been any
grounds for doing so; and is accepted by
Herder, Winer, Wieseler, Laurent, Meyer, Stier,
Alford, Weiss, Ewald, De Wette, Keim, De
Pressense, McClellan, and an increasing number
of modern critics. [F. W. F.]
BRUIT, Jer. x. 22 ; Nah. iii. 19. The word,
now obsolete, means report, rumour. The A. V.
follows the Genevan Version ; the R. V. has
substituted " rumour " for " bruit " in Jeremiah,
but retained " bruit " in Nahum. See D. B.,
Amer. ed. [F.]

TsBBaoiIS
BIIBASTIS. [Pibeseth.]
BUCKLER. [Arms, II. 5 ; Shield.]
BUK'KI OipS, of uncertain meaning [see Ges.
and MV.11]; Bocci). 1. Son of Abishua and
father of Uzzi, fifth from Aaron in the line of
the' high-priests in 1 Ch. v. 31, vl. 36 (LXX.
vi. 5 [B. Bwe, A. BuKal], 51 [BA. BuKai]), and
in the genealogy of Ezra, Ezra vii. 4 (B. BoKKei,
A. -i) and 1 Esd. viii. 2 (BA. Bokko,), where he
is called BOCCAS, which is corrupted to Borith
(2 Esd. i. 2). Whether Bukki ever filled the
office of high-priest, we are not informed in
Scripture. Epiphanius in his list of the ances
tors of Jehoiada, whom he fancifully supposes
to be brother of Elijah the Tishbite, omits both
Bukki and Abishua (advers. Mclchizedec. iii.).
Josephus (Ant. viii. 1, § 3) expressly says that
all of Aaron's line between Joseph (Abishua)
the high-priest and Zadok, who was made high-
priest in the reign of David, were private per
sons (ISiuTevaavres), i.e. not high-priests, and
mentions by name "Bukki the son of Joseph
the high-priest," as the first of those who lived
a private life, while the pontifical dignity was
in the house of Ithamar. But in v. 11, § 5,
Josephus says as expressly that Abishua (there
called Abiezer), having received the high-priest
hood from his father Phinehas, transmitted it to
his own son Bukki, who was succeeded by Uzzi,
after whom it passed to Eli. We may conclude
therefore that Josephus had no more means of
knowing for certain who were high-priests be
tween Phinehas and Eli than we have ; and we
may adopt the opinion, which is far the most
probable, that there was no high-priest between
them, unless perhaps Abishua. For an account
of the absurd fancies of the Jews, and the
statements of Christian writers relative to the
succession of the high-priests at this period,
see Selden, de Success, in Pontif. Hebr. ; also
Genealog. of our Lord, ch. x. [A. C. H.]
2. B. Boxxlp, A. Bokk'i, F. Baxx^ j Bocci.
Son of Jogli, "prince" (N'B>3*) of the tribe
of Dan, one of the ten men chosen to apportion
the land of Canaan between the tribes (Num.
xxxiv. 22). [A. C. H.]
BUKKI' AH (-1.1^3, vide Bukki; BovKias,
B. BovKe'tas [bis], A. BokkUs [v. 4], Kokkius
[v. 13] ; Bocciau), a Kohathite Levite, of the
sons of Heman, one of the musicians in the
Temple, the leader of the sixth band or course
in the service (1 Ch. xxv. 4, 13). [A. C. H.]
BUL. [Months.]
BULL, BULLOCK, terms used synony
mously with ox, oxen, in the A. V. and R. V., as
the representatives of several Hebrew words ;
twice in the N. T. as the rendering of raupos
(Heb. ix. 13, x. 4).
Behemah, nO"I3, " beast," is used for cattle
in general, and is not always confined to horned
cattle, e.g. in Gen. xxxiv. 23, " Shall not their
cattle be ours ? "
Bdkdr, ~)p3, is properly a generic name for
a The "princes" are only specified in the case of
seven tribes out of the ten ; not in the case of Judah,
Simeon, and Benjamin.

BULL, WILD

463

horned cattle when of full age and fit for the
plough, without distinction of sex. It Is almost
always used collectively, though occasionally
for an individual, as in Is. xi. 7. Accordingly
it is variously rendered bullock (Is. lxv. 25, R. V.
"ox"), ooio (Ezek. lv. 15), oxen (Gen. xii. 16).
Hence in Deut. xxi. 3, "Ip3 1"I73J? is o heifer
[R. V- "an heifer of the herd"]; Ex. xxix. 1,
Tp3"|3 "IS, a young bullock ; and in Gen. xviii. 7,
simply 1p3"[3, rendered u, calf in A. V. and
R. V- It is derived from an unused root, "Ip3.
" to cleave," hence " to plough," as in Latin ar-
mcntum is aramentum. It is identical with the
Arabic Ju, bakara.
Shdr, *lity, Arabic «]>, thawr, differs from
"Ip3 In the same way as PIS^, a sheep, differs from
JNV, a flock of sheep. It is a generic name, but
almost always signifies one head of horned cattle,
without distinction of age or sex. It is very
seldom used collectively. The Chaldee form of
the word, 111*1, occurs in Ezra vi. 9, 17, vii. 17 ;
Dan. iv. 25, &c. ; and Plutarch (Sail. c. 17) says
©up ol QolviKes tV Bovv KaAovtrt. [It is one of
the few words which appear to be common to
Semitic and Aryan peoples ; cp. Tavpos, taurus,
Sk. sthuras (according to Curtius, meaning
strong), Germ, stier, Engl, steer, though how
this community is to be explained must be
matter of conjecture. There is no apparent
Semitic derivation (cp. Fleischer in Levy,
NHWB. iv. p. 680).— S. R. D.]
'Egel, 'egelah, 731?, TV1V, Arabic (J^f-, 'ajil,
a calf, male or female, properly of the first year,
derived, as Gesenius thinks, from an Aethiopic
word signifying foetus, embryo, pullus, catulus,
while others derive it from 731?, volvit, rotavit,
festinavit. The word is used of a trained heifer
(Hos. x. 11), of one giving milk (Is. vii. 21, 22),
of one used in ploughing (Judg. xiv. 18), and
of one three years old (Gen. xv. 9). Almost
synonymous with 7.31? is "IS, the latter signify
ing generally a young bull of two years old,
though in one instance (Judg. vi. 25) possibly a
bull of seven years old. It is the customary
term for bulls offered in sacrifice, and hence is
used metaphorically in Hos. xiv. 3, " so will we
render, 'as bullocks,' our lips," R. V. The
LXX. and Syr. have, however, " the fruit of our
lips," reading i.e. ,-]B for D'TS, and this is
preferred by many moderns (see QPB.3 in loco).
There are four or five passages in which the
word D,-13N, 'abirim, is used for bulls. It is
the plural of "l'3N, strong, whence its use. See
Ps. xxii. 13, 1. 13, lxviii. 31 ; Is. xxxiv. 7 ; Jer.
1. 11.
All the above words refer to domesticated
cattle, which formed of old, as now, an important
part of the wealth of the people of Palestine.
[See Cattle.] [W. D.] [H. B. T.]
BULL, WILD, the A. V. rendering of NIPl,
to (Is. li. 20), the form 1KJ", ted (Deut. xiv. 5),
being translated ¦' wild ox," the R. V. rendering
both by " antelope." The LXX. gives bpv( in the
latter, and oevrAiov (!) in Isaiah (inepte scripsit,
Gesenius) ; the Vulg. oryx in both passages. It

464

BULRUSH

is almost certain that the LXX., Vulgate, and
R. V. are right !n the rendering " oryx "
or "antelope," though doubts are expressed
under Ox. From its position in the catalogue
of animals permitted as food, it must have been
some creature of the bovine or antelope classes ;
and the allusion in Isaiah shows it to have
been wild and untameable. Neither Bochart,
Gesenius, or other authority, offers any satis
factory derivation for the word, nor does it seem
to have any representative in Arabic. The
Chaldaean Onkelos and some Arabic commen
tators (Bochart, Hieroz. ii. p. 367) propose

BULRUSH
some species of wild cattle. But to this Rosen
miiller reasonably objects that the buffalo is
not indigenous in Syria. Though it is now
domesticated in the swamps of the Huleh and
other similar localities, yet it is an introduction
from India, and there is no reason to believe
that it was ever known in Western Asia, until
brought back by the Khalifs after their conquest
of Persia. Wild oxen or bulls are frequently re
presented in Assyrian sculptures. Though now
used in Egypt, we do not find it portrayed on any
ofthe ancient monuments. Nor can we assign the
ted to the extinct aurochs, since that animal is

Assyrian King hunting wild Bulls. (Nimrud.)

designated by reem ; and moreover, as Bochart
observes (loc. cit), it was far too powerful a crea
ture to be captured in a net, and as a matter
of fact we know that it was by pitfalls aud not
by nets that it was taken. Tdtppovs auTais
Kpun-Tas ipydfyvTai $aBelas, Kai Taurats auTOvs
iAAoxuaiv (Aelian, xvii. 45). Hos siudiose foveis
captos interficiunt (Caesar, de Bell. Gall. vi. 28).
The deer and antelope tribes, on the contrary,
were and are taken by dogs, nets, and snares.
The ted, therefore, probably stands for some
of the larger antelopes, formerly much more
common in these regions than at present, and
of which three species still linger in scanty

_"^SEs»_

numbers on the eastern frontier of Palestine.
The antelope or gazelle frequently occurs in
hunting scenes in Assyrian sculptures. These
are the Antilope leucoryx. Pall., or Oryx;
the Addax, Antilope addax, Licht., and the Bu-
bale, Antilope bubalis, Pall.; the jiiJ\ &a>
bekk'r el wash, " wild cow " of the Arabs. As
the Addax is pretty generally identified with
the Strepsiceros of Pliny or the Pygarg, there
remain but two claimants, the Bubale and the
Oryx, and we may reasonably accept the ren
dering of the LXX., and allow ted to mean
" antelope" generally, or " oryx " specifically.

"2222222=-

: The Antilope leucoryx is a very beautiful and
graceful antelope, with long slender recurved
horns, which attain a length of 3 feet. It is of a
sandy-white colour on the lower parts and face,
with a darker facial stripe, and sandy-coloured
flanks. It inhabits Kordofan, Sennaar, the
Sahara, Upper Egypt, Arabia, and the Syrian
desert, occasionally extending, according to some
authorities, into Persia. [H. B. T.l
t,?-^^11' RXJSH- FLAG, REED,
PAPER-REED, PAPYRUS." Six Hebrew
«,! T^f f?ide i8 in place of Eekd in Vo1- HI., where
the subject is not so fully treated.

Antelope or Gazelle. (Kouynnjik.)
words, ND3, |1D3N. -IPIX. t|-1D. Dill?. flJi", are
represented in the A. V. and R. V* by 'one or
other of these names; and as the translations
are frequently interchanged, the whole group
may be conveniently considered together.
Gome, H'a'i (vdrvpos, BiBAls, Br)Bi), eAos; papy
rus, scirpus, juncus), is variously translated in
the English Versions: in Ex. ii. 3, "ark of
bulrushes," A. V. and R. V., but in the margin
of R. V. papyrus -• in other passages it is ren
dered " rush " in both A. V. and R. V., except in
Is. xviii. 2, where the R. V. has " vessels of papy
rus." The Hebrew word means literally "the
absorber," from the root ND3, hausit; but the
TT' '

BULRUSH

BULRUSH

40*

word may be Egyptian, cp. the Coptic gome,
"reed" (MV.U). "it is the celebrated paper-
need of Egypt, Papyrus antiquorum, Willd. ; a

Papyrus antiquorum.

name which, in some form or other, has found
its way into almost every language in the
world. From it was made the ark in which
the infant Moses was preserved ; but, as is stated
by Isaiah (xviii. 2), it was employed in the con
struction of much larger vessels. Its employ
ment in ship- or boat-building is frequently
alluded to by ancient writers. riAoia -iroiovaiv
i% auTov, Theophr. Hist. PI. iv. 9. " Naves
primum repertas in Aegypto in Nilo ex papyro,"
Plin. vii. 56. "Cum tenet omnia Nilus, con-
seritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyrus,"
Luc. Phars. iv. 136. Celsius (Hierob. ii. 144-
1 52) adduces numerous references to the various
uses of the papyrus from classical authors.
The Egyptians employed it not only in the
construction of light vessels for the navigation
of the Nile, but for baskets, ropes, sails, shoes,
sandals, napkins, and all sorts of domestic
utensils. For these latter, as for boats, a wicker
skeleton of papyrus stem was caulked and then
thinly coated with tenacious pitch, till, as Pliny
(xvi. 36) describes it, it became " glutino tena-
cior, rimisque explendis fidelior pice." Bruce
states (vol. vi. p. 7) that boats of papyrus are
still used among the Abyssinians. They have
not, however, been found in the Central Lakes
of Africa, where the plant abounds, probably
being too fragile for the storms of these inland
seas. But the celebrity of the papyrus is de
rived from its employment in the manufacture
of paper, being the earliest material so used,
and which has given its name to the material
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

throughout the world. The method of prepa
ration was very simple. Sir Gardner Wilkinson
thus describes it : " Papyri are of tho most
remote Pharaonic periods. The mode of making
them was as follows : Tho interior of the stalks
of the plant, after the rind had been removed,
was cut into thin slices in the direction of their
length, and these being laid on a flat board in
succession, similar slices were placed over them at
right angles ; and their surfaces being cemented
together by a sort of glue, and subjected to a
proper degree of pressure and well dried, the
papyrus was completed. The length of the
slices depended of course on the breadth of the
intended sheet, as that of the sheet on the
number of slices placed in succession alongside
each other, so that though the breadth was
limited, the papyrus might be extended to an
indefinite length." The papyrus was so highly
valued in Egypt that the right of growing and
selling it was a government monopoly from
which large profits accrued. It formerly
abounded on the Nile and in the shallow lagoons
of Lower Egypt, where, with its spreading
rhizomes running laterally just below the sur
face of the ooze, it helped largely to- consolidate
the mud ofthe Nile. Ancient writers represent
it as forming a dense forest on some parts of the
river banks. This was only in the permanent
marshes, or lagoons, as alluded to by Job (viii.
11), "Can the rush (gome) grow up without
mire ? " It is strange that it has become utterly
extinct in Egypt, and that to find it at all in
Africa we must go to the marshes of the White
Nile in Nubia 7° north latitude. Thence south
wards it is common ; and in the region of the
Central Lakes, Victoria Nyanza and Albert
Nyanza, vast tracts of swamp are covered with
it. But it still exists in several places in Pales
tine, the only region of Asia where this charac
teristically Ethiopian plant has been found. It
is there well known as ,ej\}i babur, i.e.
ndttvpos ; a term which, like its double Bbj&Aos,
is of Egyptian origin. The most interesting lo
cality is at the north-east corner ofthe Plain of
Gennesareth, where the copious fountain of 'Ain
et Tin feeds a small but dense swamp, filled
with a mass of tall papyrus, very close to the
supposed site of the scriptural Bethsaida.
Higher up the Jordan valley, below Tell Kadi,
the upper part of Lake Huleh, the ancient
Merom, is covered with a floating mass of papy
rus many acres in extent, quite impenetrable
from the treacherous character of the morass
beneath the masses of papyrus root, while the
beautiful blossom tufts which surmount the
stems wave with the gentlest air like a silver
sea. There are also patches of papyrus on the
Plain of Sharon, in a little swamp, Munkalid,
N.E. of Jaffa ; in the Nahr el Wedja ; and also
near the source ofthe Zerka river, under Mount
Carmel at its south-east extremity. This has
been supposed to be a distinct species, Cyperus
syriacus, Pari., but it is now clearly proved to be
identical, though growing under less favourable
circumstances. The papyrus also claims a place
in the Flora of Europe, being found by the
Anapus river near Syracuse (probably intro
duced), and where paper is still manufactured
from it. It is also stated to grow in the Lake
Trasimene in Etruria.
2 H

466

BULRUSH

BULRUSH

The papyrus is the giant monarch of the rush
tribe, or Cyperaceae, to which natural order it
belongs. The root is very bulky, spreading and
fleshy, with many rhizomes sending out shoots
upwards and rootlets downwards, and from it
springs a tall triangular stem tapering upwards,
and protected by a sheath. These stems are
about ten feet high, but in warm swamps, like
that of Lake Huleh, they reach the length of
sixteen feet. When the stem has nearly attained
its full length, the sheath opens, setting free a
beautiful tuft like a feather broom, displaying,
in botanical phraseology, a. many-rayed umbel.
The secondary umbels are composed of three or
four short rays, with an involucel of the three
awl-shaped leaflets. The flowers are a short
spike at the extremity of each ray, and the
earliest do not appear till towards the end of
summer. Agmdn, |'lD3K. The word is frequently used
with a figurative or metaphorical meaning, and
is always so rendered both in the LXX. and the
Vulgate. Yet there can be no question as to
its primary signification. It is from the root
D3K, agam (inusit.), allied to the Arabic jtSfi
atfam, "a marshy pool or reed-bed." "Densi
frutices, arundinetum, palus" (Freytag).
In Is. ix. 14, xix. 15, agmdn occurs in the
proverbial expression " branch and rush," A. V.,
" palm-branch and rush," R. V., simply equiva
lent to our " root and branch," and so inter
preted in the ancient Versions, dpxT)v Kai TeAos,
peyav Kai pixpov, caput et caudam. In Job xii. 2
it is translated " hook " by A. V. ; " rope," marg.
rope of rushes, by It. V. Celsius (Hierob. i. 468)
gives the best explanation of this passage, viz.
that allusion is made to the common practice of
carrying fish that have been caught by a wisp
of rushes thrust through their gills (cp. however
Delitzsch in loco). In the other passage in Job
(xii. 20) in which agmdn is translated by A. V.
" chaldron," it has been suggested that the word
has a different derivation from an Arabic root
signifying " to burn," the interpretation adopted
by the LXX. and Vulg. (&v8pa£, fervens). The
R. V. seems to have solved the difficulty by
suggesting " burning rushes." The rapidity and
terrific roar with which a cane-brake once set
on fire will burn can scarcely be understood
by any who have not seen the result of such a
conflagration in an Eastern ravine overgrown
with reeds. It might be very doubtful whether
agmdn could be referred to any special species of
reed or cane were it not for the expression in
Is. lviii. 5, " to bow down his head as a bulrush "
(A. V., " rush " R .V.), which probably points to
some rush easily yielding to the wind, and with
a tuft or panicle at the top. The same plant
must be referred to in Matt. xi. 5, "a reed
shaken with the wind." And while the general
term for reeds is n.3j5, it is probable that (1D3K
is referable to one familiar species. This can be
no other than the reed typical of the country,
Arundo donax (L.), in Arabic t,_..n*, kasab, a
very tall cane about 12 feet high, with a mag
nificent panicle of blossom at the top, and so
slender and elastic that it will lie perfectly flat
under a gust of wind, and immediately recover
its erect position. The Arundo donax is very

common in Egypt and Syria, growing not only
in marshes, but also in lands only occasionally
irrigated. The finest masses of it are to be

Arundo donax.
seen in the cane-brakes on the north-west side
of the Dead Sea, where, nourished by the warm
springs, it lines the shore for several miles with
an impenetrable fringe, the lair of wild boars
and leopards, to the exclusion of all other
vegetation ; and where it attains a gigantic size.
There are also large patches of it along the
whole Jordan valley, but not of such luxuriant
growth. In the valleys of the Arnon and
Callirrhoe on the east side of the Dead Sea, it
is also most luxuriant. Arundo donax belongs
to the family Gramineae.
Achu, -lnX, occurs in Job viii. 11, and also in
Gen. xii. 2, 18. The word is also used untrans
lated in Ecclus. xl. 16. In the passage from Job,
" Can the flag grow without water ? " (A. V.),
the R. V. has in the margin reed grass
(Bovropos, LXX. ; carectum, Vulg.). In the pas
sages in Genesis the LXX. have left the word
untranslated, &x*h as in Ecclus. The Vulgate
has locipalustres an&virectum paludis ; "meadow,"
A. V. ; " reed-grass," R. V. The word &xi occurs
in the LXX. Is. xix. 7, as the representative of
*li"ll? (" paper reeds," A.V. ; "meadows," R. V.).
Jerome, in his commentary on this passage,
incidentally gives the origin of the word achu ¦
"Pro junco, papyrum LXX. transtulerunt, de
quo charta fit, addentes de suo &xei X^/ioV,
quod m Hebraioo non habetur. Cumque ab
eruditis quaererem, quid hie sermo significaret ,
audivi ab Aegyptiis hoc nomine lingul eorum
omne quod in palude virens nascitur appellare.
The word would thus be familiar to the Alexan
drine translators, who retained it, as being
equally intelligible with its Greek equivalent.
Gesenius, without hesitation, infers it, from this
and other authorities, to be an Egyptian word [so
all moderns. See Ebers, Aeg. u. die Bb. Moses,

BULRUSH
i. 338 sq. — from &.^C&-, green ; or Delitzsch
on Job viii. 11. — S. R. D.]. From the passage in
Job, where it is named along with the papyrus,
we may assume, although Jerome generalises it,
that some specific plant is intended, and from
the mention of it in Genesis we see that it was
a plant eaten by cattle. Two marsh plants,
both very common in Egypt, — Cyperus esculcntus
(L.), the edible rush, and Butomus umbellatus
(L.), the flowering rush, — would meet all
the requirements of the sacred text, and would
also well correspond with the " flag " of the
A. V.
Suph, f^D (eAos ; carectum, papyrio, juncus),
is translated by A. V. and R. V. " flags " iu Ex.
ii. 3, 5, " She laid the ark in the flags by the
river's brink ; " and also in Is. xix. 6. In
Jonah ii. 5 it is rendered " weeds" : "The weeds
were wrapped about my head." The word also
frequently occurs in combination, *|-1D~D\ The
invariable name for the Red Sea is " the sea of
weeds." In this connexion, as in the passage
from Jonah, it must be understood of seaweed.
But in Exodus it may be taken to mean gene
rally " weeds " or marsh vegetation, such as the
rank rushes on the border of the Nile. Celsius
(Hierob. ii. 66) points out that it refers to the
smaller herbage to the exclusion of the papyrus,
reed, or cane. [The word has no apparent
derivation in Hebrew, and is in all probability
Egyptian. It has been connected by some with
the Coptic sippe, "sea-weed," or rebe, "reeds,"
and by others (Brugsch) with the Egyptian tufi,
" papyrus " (see Knobel-Dillmann on Exod. xiii.
18 ; MV."):— S. R D'J
'Ardth, fini? (to &xl T0 X*-apt"/ trdv), occurs
only once, Is. xix. 7, and is rendered " paper
reeds " by the A. V., " meadows " by the R. V.
Whatever be the true rendering, that of the
A. V. cannot be correct, for the prophet had
only just before mentioned the papyrus under
its unquestioned name of iUDi, and would not
immediately mention the same plant under a
totally different name. The Rabbinical commen
tators state that it is a name for all pot-herbs
and green garden stuff, which is evidently the
interpretation adopted by the LXX. The word
is derived from i\~\V, "to be bare or naked,"
TT
and is the same as the Arabic \ _£¦> 'ara, an open
plain, and hence probably signifies meadows
containing the rank green herbage which
abounds in marshy places,
Kdneh, "I3p (KaAapos, KaAapitTKps, KaAapivos,
T"hxosi dyKtiv, £vy6s, irvBpTiv; arundo, culmus,
calamus, fistula statera), from the same root as
the English "cane," occurs in many passages of
the Old Testament, and is the generic name for
a reed or stalk of any kind, and hence for the
stem of a candlestick, a measure of length, the
armbone, &c. Thus " seven ears of corn came
up upon one stalk " (Gen. xii. 5, 22). " Branches
of the candlestick " (Ex. xxv. 32). " Let mine
arm fall from my shoulder blade " (Job xxxi. 22).
In Ezek. xl. 5, &c, it is used for a measuring
reed, 6 cubits in length. In Ezek. xxvii. 19 it
is translated by A. V. and R. V. " calamus," the
rendering elsewhere of a very different word :
"Cassia and calamus were in thy market."
The equivalent Greek word KaAapos is similarly
applied in the N. T. to the growing reed, to a

BURIAL, SEPULCHRES

46T

stalk, to a measuring rod (Rev. xi. 1, &c), auJ
to a pen made of reed (3 John v. 13).
Many species of reed are found in different parts
of Palestine, and it is most probable that kdneh is.
a general term with no special reference to any
one species. The most common, besides those-
already mentioned, are Arundo phragmitis (L.),
the Phragmitis communis of modern botanists,,
still used universally for pens in the East ; the
common toad rush (Juncus bufonius, L.); and
many species of Cyperus, or triangular stalked
rush. There are also about fifteen species of
sedge (Carex) abundant in different parts of
the country. [H. B. T.]
BULRUSHES, ARK OF. [Moses.]
BU'NAH (-13-13, Ges. = prudence; B. Ba
vaid, A. Bavad; Buna), a son of Jerahmeel, of
the family of Pharez in Judah (1 Ch. ii. 25).
BUN'NI. 1. C33, Ges. = built; Bonni,.
Boni), one of the Levites in the time of Nehe
miah (Neh. ix. 4); possibly the same person is.
mentioned in x. 15. The LXX. in both cases
translates the name by ulds.
2. Another Levite, but of earlier date than
the preceding (Neh. xi. 15). The name, *3-1"l
[ed. Baer], is also slightly different. The LXX.
omits it.
Bunni is said to have been the Jewish name
of Nicodemus (Lightfoot on John iii. 1 ; Ewald,,
v. 233). [W. A. W.]
BURDEN (KB>0), used sometimes in the-
sense of an oracle or prophecy (cp. Is. xiii. lr.
&c. For Jer. xxiii. 33 and the highly probable-
variant reading of LXX. and Vulg., see the
commentators, e.g. QPB.3). 'D does not express
of necessity threatening language, but rather —
by its etymology — language lifted up above-
ordinary language, such as the judicial language
of God, or language spoken with uplifted or
emphatic voice (see Oehler, Theology of the 0. T.
§ 210, n. 9; Schultz, Alttest. Theologie* p. 241,,
n. 6 ; Delitzsch 4 on Is. xiii. 1). [F.]
BURIAL, SEPULCHEES. The Jews
uniformly disposed of the corpse by entomb
ment, where possible, and, failing that, by-
interment: extending this respect to the re
mains even of the slain enemy and malefactor
(1 K. xi. 15 ; Deut. xxi. 23), in the latter case
by express provision of law. Since this was
the only case so guarded by Mosaic precept, it
may be concluded that natural feeling was relied
upon as rendering any such general injunction
superfluous. Similarly, to disturb remains was
regarded as a barbarity, only, justifiable in the
case of those who had themselves outraged
religion (2 K. xxiii. 16, 17 ; Jer. viii. 1, 2). The-
Rabbis quote the doctrine " dust thou art, and
unto dust thou shalt return," as a reason for
preferring to entomb or inter their dead; but
that preferential practice is older than the-
Mosaic record, as traceable in patriarchal ex
amples, and it continued unaltered by any Gentile
influence., So Tacitus (Hist. v. 5) notices that
it was a point of Jewish custom, corpora condere
quam cremare. The treatment of the remains
of Saul aud his sons was exceptional ; see
below (1 Sam. xxxi. 11-13; 2 Sam. ii. 4-6).
2 H 2

468 BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
On this subject we have to notice : (1) the
place of burial, its site and shape ; (2) the mode
of burial ; (3) the prevalent notions regarding
this duty ; to which may be usefully added (4)
a brief review of parallel customs among other
ancient races.
1. A natural cave, enlarged and adapted by
excavation, or an artificial imitation of one, was
the standard type of sepulchre. This was what
the structure of the Jewish soil supplied or sug
gested. A distinct and simple form of sepulture,
as contrasted with the complex and elaborate
rites of Egypt, clings to the region of Palestine,
and varies but little with the great social
changes between the periods of Abraham and
the Captivity. Jacob and Joseph, who both died
in Egypt, are the only known instances of the
Egyptian method applied to patriarchal remains.
Sepulchres, when the owners' means permitted
it, were commonly prepared beforehand, and
stood often in gardens, by roadsides, or even
adjoining houses. Kings and prophets alone
were probably buried within towns, and Samuel,
as a special honour, in his own house (1 K. ii. 10,
xvi. 6, 28 ; 2 K. x. 35, xiii. 9 ; 2 Ch. xvi. 14,
xxviii. 27; 1 Sam. xxv. 1, xxviii. 3). Sarah's
tomb and Rachel's [Rachel] seem to have been
chosen merely from the accident of the place of
death ; but the successive interments at the
former (Gen. xlix. 31) form a chronicle of the
strong family feeling among the Jews. It was
the sole fixed spot in the unsettled patriarchal
life; and its purchase and transfer, minutely
detailed, are remarkable as the sole transaction
of the kind, until repeated on a similar occa
sion et Shechem [Machpelah]. Thus it was
deemed a misfortune, or an indignity, not only
to be deprived of burial (Is. xiv. 20 ; Jer.
passim; 2 K. ix. 10), but in a lesser degree to
be excluded from the family sepulchre (1 K. xiii.
22), as were Uzziah, the royal leper, Ahaz, and
Manasseh (2 Ch. xxvi. 23; xxviii. 27 ; xxxiii. 20).
Thus the remains of Saul and his sons were
reclaimed, to rest in his father's tomb. Similarly
it was a mark of a profound feeling towards a
person not of one's family, to wish to be buried
with him (Ruth i. 17 ; 1 K. xiii. 31), or to give
him a place in one's own sepulchre (Gen. xxiii.
6 ; cp. 2 Ch. xxiv. 16). The head of a family
commonly provided space for more than one
generation ; and these galleries of kindred sepul
chres are common in many Eastern branches of
the human race. Cities soon became populous
and demanded cemeteries (cp. the term rroAu-
dvSptov, Ezek. xxxix. 11, 15), which were placed
without the walls ; such an one seems intended
by the expression in 2 K. xxiii. 6, Jer. xxvi.
23, " the graves of the children of the people,"
situated in the valley of the Kedron, or of
Jehoshaphat. Jeremiah (vii. 32 ; xix. 11)
threatens that the valley called Tophet, the
favourite haunt of idolatry, should be polluted
by burying there (cp. 2 K. xxiii. 16). Such was
also the "Potter's Field" (Matt, xxvii. 7).
The Mishnaic description of a sepulchre, com
plete according to Rabbinical notions, is some
what as follows : a cavern about 6 cubits square,
or 6 by 8, from three sides of which are re
cessed longitudinally several vaults, called
D\~j13, each large enough for a corpse. These
have been compared to pigeon-holes and to
ovens. They are described as "rectangular,

BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
sloping spaces, cut into the wall of the rock
extending 6 feet horizontally, sufficiently wide
and high to admit of a corpse being pushed
in," i.e. end-ways (Survey of W. Palestine,
Special Papers, p. 288). On the fourth side
the cavern is approached through a small open
covered court or portico, "IVPl, of a size to receive
the bier and bearers. In some such structures
the demoniac may have housed (Mark v. 3). The
entry from this court to that cavern was closed
by a large stone, called 7713, which was door-
shaped, and swinging upon hinges ; or a small
closely-fitting slab without hinges; or cheese-
shaped, and so capable of being rolled, thus
confirming the Evangelistic narrative. In Survey
of W. P. ii. 123 one such is recorded as found
cylindrical, of 3 J feet diameter, in situ ; while
the marks of its grinding against the face ofthe
rock remain : for one swinging on pivots, see ib.
111. Sometimes several such caverns, each with
its recesses, were entered from the several sides
of the same portico (Mishna Bam Batkra, 6, 8,
q uoted by J. Nicolaus, de Sepulchris Hebraeorum).
For further particulars, see Tombs. Intheclimate
of Palestine decomposition is rapid, and the bones
of previous corpses were probably removed to a
common receptacle, thus allowing of successive
entombments. Osteophagi for collecting the
bones have been found with Hebrew and Greek
inscriptions, but none of them are apparently
earlier thau the Christian era. The collection of
the bones of criminals condemned to death is
mentioned in the Talmud Moed Katon, i. 3.
Benjamin of Tudela (E. P. p. 86) saw "tubs"
(osteophagi) filled with the bones of Israelites in
the cave of Machpelah at Hebron. The collection
of the bones of corpses is still a common custom
in the Greek Church. For a description ofthe
osteophagi, see M. Clermont-Ganneau in Reme
Archeologique, Juin 1873, Novembre 1878. The
masonry tombs are rare ; they are usually of
Roman date, and most commonly found in the
northern part of the country. At Amman there
are, according to Conder, many " towers of well-
cut masonry filled inside with well-arranged
sarcophagi " (Palestine, p. 176). The tombs
haunted by the demoniac may have been of
masonry, and have disappeared. With the
" kokim given off from " the " sides " of the
chamber (above) cp. Ezek. xxxii. 23, "whose
graves are set in the sides of the pit," and Is.
xiv. 15. Where contiguous chambers exist, one
with kokim, the other with loculi of a different
shape, the outer or older one is generally that
which has the kokim. These, therefore, may
be taken to represent the older arrangement.
The later loculi are distinguished as shelf
graves, trough graves, and sunk graves, the
term sufficiently expressing the character. The
earlier sepulchres, to judge from 2 K. xiii.
21, did not prevent mutual contact of remains.
Sepulchres were marked sometimes by pillars, as
that of Rachel, or by pyramids, as those of the
Asmoueans at Modin (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 6, § 7).
Cp. three known as "the Spindles" at El
Meghazel near Sidon, described and figured by
Perrot and Chipiez, p. 154 ; cp. Quart. Review,
Jan. 1886, pp. 210-11; their chief members
are cylinder or pyramid on a quadrate basement.
Like temples, tombs were, from their assumed
inviolability, sometimes made the depositories
of treasures (De Saulcy, ii. 183). We find them

BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
also distinguished by a " title " (2 K. xxiii. 17).
Such as were not otherwise noticeable were
scrupulously "whited" (Matt, xxiii. 27) once
a year, after the rains before the Passover,
to warn passers-by of defilement (Hottinger,
Cippi Hebr. p. 1034 ; Rossteusch, de Sepul. calce
notat ap. Ugoliui, p. xxxiii.). For the bed,
perhaps sarcophagus, of Og, see under Bed.
" Two subterranean tombs, built rudely in basalt,
surmounted by domes, and closed with square
doors of black basalt, were found in Beisdn"
(Bashan; see Survey of 11". Palestine, Sjvcial
Papers, p. 292). Roman columbaria also are found
in well-known Roman sites iu Palestine. Tombs
also exist with Christian emblems anu Greek
inscriptions ; and the seven-branched candlestick
is found on tombs with kokim and with graves of
the 3rd century a.d. For a description of those
at Sheik Abreik in Galilee, see Survey of W. Pal.
i. pp. 386-7, of about the Christian era, where
this device appears ; as does that of the lion (also
found over ancient synagogue, io. p. 319), perhaps
the emblem of Judah. They are of divers ancient
patterns, and the corpses lie indifferently in all
directions of the compass. Others contain niches
for lamps and tear-bottles (Ps. lvi. 8). In one
over 200 such niches occurred, all black with
smoke («"&. pp. 344, 351 ; ii. 375). Inscriptions in
tombs seem extremely rare. One such, but
illegible, is figured in ii. 376. The name of
Alkios,grandson of Simon Maccabaeus, occurs on
a tomb near Gezer (PEF.Qy. Statement, 1875,
p. 57). Tribal marks are believed to be occa
sionally discerned, as on a portico of a tomb (ib.
p. 363).
We may trace in the above arrangements
some elements of the imagery of the prophets.
Thus the " shadow of death " is the contrast
offered by these sepulchral chambers with their
rayless vaults, to the bright glare of the
Syrian sky without. The " gates of the grave "
are the massive slabs or sliding stones with
which the entries of some are closed. The idea
of the Prophet in- Is. xiv. 9 sq. seems to be
derived from some vast chamber of departed
kings, with its lateral kokim, rousing up its
dead tenants to greet the greatest of earthly
monarchs in his fall. Similar is the expression of
Ezekiel (xxxii. 21), where the Prophet (vv. 18-32)
contemplates seven or more vast nations with
the chief of each and " all her multitude round
about her graves " (v. 24, cp. vv. 22, 23, 25, 26),
each forming a vast necropolis, and sings his
awful dirge of triumph over their downfall, as
they lie, an unclean heap of " uncircumcised "
slain, with "their iniquities upon their bones "
(v. 27). The Mukam or Mohamedan sanc
tuaries, connected with the names of various
Bible worthies, may in some cases be their
veritable tombs, besides those of the chief patri
archs near Hebron. Such are those of Eleazar
aud Phinehas, of Samson, of Aaron on Mount
Hor, and of Joshua (ib. p. 262 sq.). [TOilBS.]
2. With regard to the mode of burial, we
should remember that our impressions, as de
rived from the 0. T., are those of the burial of
persons of rank or public eminence, whilst those
gathered from the N. T. regard persons of a
private station. But in both cases "the manner
of the Jews " included the use of spices, where
they could command the means. Thus Asa lay
in a " bed of spices " (2 Ch. xvi. 14 ; cp. Jer.

liuiuAL,, SEPULCHRES 469
xxxiv. 5). A portion of these were burn', in
honour of the deceased, and to this use was
probably destined part of the 100 pounds'
weight of " myrrh and aloes " in our Lord's
case. Ou high state occasions, the vessels, bed,
and furniture used by the deceased were burnt
also. Such was probably the " great burning "
made for Asa. If a king was unpopular, or
died disgraced (e.g Jehoram, 2 Ch. xxi. 19 ;
Joseph. Ant. ix. 5, § 3), this was not observed.
At the present day articles of value are annually
burned at the tombs of certain celebrated Rabbis
iu Palestine. In no case, save that of Saul and
his sons, were the bodies burned, nor in that case
were they so burnt as not to leave the "bones"
easily concealed and transported, and the whole
proceeding looks like a hasty precaution against
hostile violence. Even then the bones were
interred, and re-exhumed for solemn entomb
ment. The penal doom of Achan and that of
Nadab and Abihu seem to have attached an evil
omen to fire, whether as causing death, or as
applied to human remains ; which was enhanced
by its idolatrous association with the Molech
and Baal rituals (Lev. x. 2-6, xviii. 21, xx.
2-5, 14; Num. xi.1-3, xvi. 35 ; Josh. vii. 15,
25 ; 2 K. xxiii. 10; Jer. vii. 31, xix. 5, xxxii.
35). In Amos x. 8-10 a city straitly besieged
and ravaged by pestilence seems to be de
picted. " Ten men in one house " and all
dying show such crowded quarters and such
rapid mortality as Thucydides ascribes to the
siege and plague at Athens (ii. 52). The dead
must be disposed of somehow, and cremation is
the ffnly resource ; but the horror which it
raised in the Hebrew, even when practised by
an extern on an extern, seems expressed in Amos
ii. 1. Like cannibalism, it was regarded as tbe
extremity of dire distress (cp. Deut. xxviii.
53 sq.). In Amos vi. 10 the uncle, perhaps the
last kinsman left, turns cremator a ; and the
last of the ten inmates being thus dealt with,
tbe solitary housekeeper is asked, "Any more
yet?" and replies, "None." To which the kins
man replies, " Hush ! no mention of the sacred
Name," either as unsuited to such a charnel-
house atmosphere, or as desecrated by associa
tion with the burning of human remains, or
perhaps a cry of despair, or of superstition (so
nearly Pusey, Maurice, et al.). The bones, how
ever, are brought forth, to be placed probably
in some common repository. The mere fact of
a great mortality never causes men to burn
corpses ; nor did it do so among the Jews on
such an occasion (Ezek. xxxix. 12-14).
A company of public buriers appears in
Ezek. I. c. Tbe occasion is the offence to the
" passengers"1" arising from the unburied horde
of the typical Gog, lying " on the face of the
field," and tasking the strenuous efforts of the
united population for seven months to get rid

fl The word and idea conveyed in the LXX. arc wholly
different, Kai n-apafiiuivTai tbere taking the place of
13*100-1, "and he that burnetii him " (A. V.).
b A. V. " It shall stop the noses [marg. or mouths] of
the passengers" (lit. shall muzzle), Ezek. xxxix. 11 [JR.
V. takes it differently: "it shall stop them that pasB
through"]; cp. Joel ii. 20. But for this the LXX.
have irepioiKo5op.Yio-ovcri to Ttfpitrropiov rrjc ^dpayyuy.
which shows a different original.

470 BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
of them (v. 12). These are then supplemented
by burial-corps " of continual employment " iu
various parts of the country, and by the more
casual aid of passers-by who " set up a sign,"
wherever remains are still found exposed, " till
the buriers have buried it " (vv. 14, 15). This
duty of "buriers," which the Prophet saw in
vision as arising from an exceptional necessity,
had become, it seems, customary in the times of
the N. T. (Acts v. 6, 10). The closing of the
¦eyes, kissing, and washing the corpse (Gen. xlvi.
4, 1. 1 ; Acts ix. 37) are customs common to all
mations. As regards the last of these, Lane,
detailing the practice prevailing in modern
Egypt, which is probably in its main features
•of high antiquity, says, " The ' mughassil,' or
washer of the dead, soon comes . . . The ordinary
ablution preparatory to prayer having been
performed upon the corpse, with the exception
¦of the washing of the mouth and nose, the
whole body is well washed from head to foot,
with warm water and soap, and with * leef,' or
fibres of the palm-tree ; or, more properly, with
water in which some leaves of the Iote-tree,
-1 nabk,' or ' sidr,' have been boiled. The
nostrils, ears, Sets., are stuffed with cotton ; and
the corpse is sprinkled with a mixture of water,
pounded camphor, and dried and pounded leaves
-of the ' nabk,' and with rose-water ; sometimes
other dried and pounded leaves are added to
those of the ' nabk.' The ankles are bound
together and the hands placed upon the breast "
iMod. Egypt, c. xxviii. p. 512, ed. 1860). Coffins
were but seldom used, and if used were open;
but fixed stone sarcophagi were common in
tombs of rank. The bier, the word for which in
the 0. T. is the same as that rendered bed [see
Bed], was borne by the nearest relatives, and
followed by any who wished to do honour to
the dead. The grave-clothes (oBdvia, ivrdtpto.)
were probably of the fashion worn in life, but
.-swathed and fastened with bandages, and the
head covered separately. Previously to this
being done, spices were applied to the corpse in
-the form of ointment, or between the folds of the
linen ; hence our Lord's remark (John xii. 7),
that the woman had anointed His body n-pbs Tb
ivTatpid£eiv, " with a view to dressing it in
these ivrdtpta;" not, as in A. V. "for the
burial," and R. V. "against the day of my
¦burying." According to Josephus (c. Ap. ii. 27),
the dead were buried decently, but without ex
travagant expense, and without costly monu
ments. The nearest relations performed the
obsequies ; and passers-by were obliged to join
the funeral and assist in the lamentation.
Mourning women were apparently hired, as at
the present day, to wail for the dead (Jer. ix. 17).
After the funeral, the house and its remaining
inhabitants were purified. The high-priest was
forbidden to defile himself by going " in to any
•dead body " (Lev. xxi. 10, 11). For the burial of
Jews at Jerusalem at the present day, see Tobler,
Denkblatter, p. 325. For the custom of mourners
visiting the sepulchre, see Mourning ; for that
of frequenting tombs for other purposes, see
Divination, § 5.
3. The precedent of Jacob's and Joseph's re
mains being returned to the land of Canaan was
iollowed, in wish at least, by every pious Jew.
following a similar notion, some of the Rabbis
taught that only in that land could those who

BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
were buried obtain a share in the resurrection
which was to usher in Messiah's reign on earth.
Thus that land was called by them " the land
of the living," and the sepulchre itself, " the
house of the living." Some even feigned that
the bodies of the righteous, wherever else
buried, rolled back to Canaan under ground and
found there only their appointed rest (J. Nico
laus, de Sepult. Heb. xiii. 1). Tombs were in
popular belief, led by the same teaching, invested
with traditions. Thus Machpelah is stated
(Lightfoot, Centuria Chorographia, s. v. Hebron)
to have been the burial-place not only of Abra
ham and Sarah, but also of Adam and Eve ¦ and
there was probably at the time embraced in the
N. T. a spot fixed upon by tradition as the site of
the tomb of every prophet of note in the 0. T.
To repair and adorn these was deemed a work of
exalted piety (Matt, xxiii. 29). The scruples of
the Scribes extended even to the burial of the
ass whose neck was broken (Ex. xxxiv. 20), and
of the first-born of cattle (R. Maimon. de Pri-
mogen. ch. iii. § 4, quoted by J. Nicolaus, de
Sepult Heb. xvi. 3, 4).
The neighbourhood of Jerusalem is thickly
studded with tombs, many of them of great
antiquity. An account of them is given under
Tombs, to which the reader is referred for fur
ther particulars of the subjects treated of in
this article. An ancient Jewish sarcophagus
was found at Jerusalem, another in a rock-cut
tomb near the Convent of the Cross, and others
at Ashdod, Cam Caitu, Jifna, and Sheik Abreik
(PEF.Survey, &c, 1869-70, p. 152 ; 1871, pp. 90,
105, 116; 1873, p. 59; 1878, p. 64). For
ossuaries with inscriptions found near Jerusalem,
see ib. 1874, p. 149.
4. But all our Bible records are from the
monotheistic point of view, and all known or
traditional sepulchres those of monotheistic
memories. The post-Babylonian extension of
monotheism over the whole Palestinian area,
together with the habit of constantly retenanting
the same graves with new remains, would tend
to efface all traces of earlier heathenish burial,
which must at one time have been abundant in
the Northern kingdom, and prevalent even in
the Southern (cp. Jer. viii. 1, 2). It is on this
ground, as well as generally, worth while to
review the principal features of burial among
ancient, especially neighbouring, nations. Of
Hittite and Amorite burial nothing seems
specially to be known. Of Babylonian, recent
research has collected some highly interesting
facts (see Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, ii. 4, &c.
Dec. 1887), of which the chief are as follows.
Entire necropoleis of considerable size show
their extant remains at Surghul and El Hibba
between Tigris and Euphrates. These occupy
a group of artificial hillocks, raised 15 metres
or less above the plain, forming entire areas
of ruin, the whole of which are mortuary in
character. Cremation, mostly incomplete, was
the practice, for which the vast neighbouring
sedge-growths combined with asphalt furnished
the combustibles, although here and there palm
and other grained woods were used. Very few
remains of bodies are found without clear traces
of fire. The corpses were enveloped in sedge-
matting and plastered over with soft clay, or
sometimes encased in a sort of clay oven to
concentrate the heat, the calcined shells of

BUiUAlj, SxSx'UljUtl.ttrLD
which are still found in abundance in situ. The
fires were quenched, when the skeleton alone
remained, and the bones were often gathered in
narrow-necked vessels. These remains show
that the man retained his war-equipment or
dress of peace, the woman her ornaments, the
child its toy. A pair of golden earrings was
found well preserved. Some stone hatchets and
flint arrow-heads with bronze rings and other
implements often melted into shapeless lumps,
perforated stones, spindles of burnt clay, stones
for polishing, &c. there deposited to be of service
to the dead, were picked out from the vast layers
of dust ; and especially some curious seals with
birds or horned animals figured upon them — ¦
all having passed through the fire. Offerings
of food showed their remains in date-kernels
and bones of edible animals, more or less burnt,
also clay receptacles for perfumes, with perfora
tions to allow their vapours to escape. These
articles were sometimes packed together in an
open vessel, similar to the closed one which
received the human remains.
Besides these, cremated with the corpse, subse
quent offerings for human wants, chiefly those
primary ones of clothing, food, and drink, showed
copious remnants ; but others also, symbolical,
notably three forms of phallus, with intermediate
gradations, and the " nail-cylinder," sometimes
inscribed, occurred. Of pottery an extensive array
— bowl, platter, cup, and bottle, showing delicate
modelling — survived. The hillocks sometimes
have higher terraces imposed on lower, as if to
meet the demands of later mortality. A canal,
lined with brick laid in asphalt, carried off
temporary inundations ; fragments even of sta
tues, the bulks of which had probably been long
removed, were picked up, but rarely. The most
extraordinary feature of the whole mortuary
system was, however, plainly visible in the
ground lines and foundations of large masses of
small houses, chambered, and copiously furnished
with rills of water (one having as many as eight
such), solely intended for the supposed post
mortem tenancy of the dead. The recital
impresses one with the notion of enormous
labour expended, and the corpses of perhaps an
entire province gathered here ; while of solid
belief in the material needs of a future state
hardly such an extensive monument exists else
where. For examples of this belief prevailing
from Central Asia to Central America and Fiji,
see Tylor's Primitive Culture, ch. xi., especially
pp. 413 sq. Some extreme examples are (ib.
pp. 409-10), an annual mock-fight among the
Queensland aborigines, to scare away the souls
let loose by death in the year's course ; nets set
by North American Indians around their cabins
to intercept neighbours' departing souls ; a
widow followed home from her husband's funeral
by a man flapping the air with a bundle of
twigs to drive off his ghost and set her free to
remarry. For some points of Biblical contact
with some of its practices, cp. Deut. xxvi. 14,
where the confessing Israelite is to declare, in
¦making the prescribed offering, "I have not
eaten thereof in my mourning .... nor given
thereof for the dead," show-ing that a cultus of
the dead with eatables was among practices
familiar but forbidden to him ; and Jer. xvi. 7,
" neither shall men break bread for them [the
dead] in mourning, to comfort them for the

w*.mm, SEPULCHRES 471
dead, " " &c. with Hos, ix. 4 : also Ezek. xxxii.
27, "... the uncircumcised, which are gone
down to hell with their weapons of war, and have
laid their swords under their heads," referring
without doubt to the burial or cremation with
weapons, as above. On certain practices of
laceration, &c. and of cutting off' hair as a,
funereal offering, Prof. W. R. Smith remarks (Be
ligion of the Semites, i. 305) that they " were
deemed efficacious to maintain an enduring
covenant between the living and the dead,"
referring to Wilken, Haaropfer, p. 74.
As regards the Persians, Vaux (Nineveh and
Persepolis, p. 392) — quoting Arrian's description
of the tomb of Cyrus, identified by Porter,
Morier, and others with the solid stone building
at Murghab, which is taken by Prof. Sayce
(on Herod, i. pp. 120, 233, notes) to be the tomb
of another Cyrus, brother of Xerxes — adds,
" Within is the gold coffin of Cyrus, near which
is a seat with feet of gold ; the whole is hung
around with coverings of purple and carpets of
Babylon." The Magi were entrusted with the
special custody of this tomb, and a small house
near it is mentioned as for their use. Since the
time of Cambyses, Arrian states that it had
continued in their charge, handed on from father
to son. Q. Curtius narrates how " Alexander
the Great so respected the established customs
of the country, that when the body of Darius
was found, he caused it to be embalmed and
sent to his mother Sisygambis, that it might be
buried after the manner of the kings of Persia
in the tombs of his ancestors " (ib. p. 362).
Of the Egyptian threefold method of embalm
ing, so much is popularly known, from Herodotus
(ii. 85-88) downwards to the latest unrollings
of mummies, as to supersede more minute
description here. One or two special points
may be noted. With the worship of ancestors
was connected the custom of visiting and
banqueting in sepulchres. The offerings were
the materials of the banquet— "cakes, wine,
fruit, &c. with other comestibles." Libations
of oil and wine were also poured over the
mummy case (Rawlinson's Ancient Egypt, i.
423). These further illustrate the passage cited
above from Jeremiah. A future state of which
the basis is the need of the body to the soul
accounts for the minute and scrupulous study
of the preservation of remains. In sepulchral
mural paintings this belief finds elaborate
expression. There the soul is judged, its merits
and demerits weighed in scales. In some cases
it is handed over to jackal-headed demons to
decapitate. Of the Egyptian Book of Hades we
read (Records of the Past, x. 83) : " The general
sense of the great composition is . . . that the
Sun and the gods or the souls who accompany
him are swallowed up by the Earth in the west,
and that they arise in the east. Of the various
scenes recorded, one of the most notable shows
souls in a lake of flame, but not apparently of
penal infliction, to whom vegetables are brought
as nourishment" (ib. pp. 124-5). This accounts
for the funereal banquets and offerings referred
to above. The Sun-god Ra is invoked in a

c Here the author annotates that the "funeral feast
which has for its object to comfort the mourners is, I
apprehend, in its origin a feast of communion with the
dead."

472 BURIAL, SEPULCHRES:
sepulchral hymn, "Thou givest illumination to
those there [in the nether world] departed," the
same deity being thus the source of light to the
¦living and the dead. We may compare the threat
of the Sun-god in the Odyssey in a legend
apparently containing Egyptian elements (xii.
383, Svtropai eis AlSao Kai iv veKueatri tpaeivu).
The copious inscriptions on lids of sarcophagi
are well known from popular examples. On
one of King Maukaura he is said to be " living
eternally," a formula not of the earliest date,
and supposed to mark a new religious develop
ment in the annals of Egypt. The absorption
of the purified soul in Osiris makes its appearance
here for the first time (Rawlinson, ub. sup. ii.
64). We read (Records, tyc, x. 9, 19 and note)
that " a tomb in the consecrated mountains of
the west was at one time the last and highest
comfort that religion could bestow ; " whereas
the Louvre Papyrus, dated as of the Ptolemaean
period, says, " Do not build thy tomb in thine
own estate," showing how greatly the tenets of
the old belief had by that time become relaxed.
In Butler's Ancient Coptic Churches, p. 92, it
is regarded as "quite probable that ancient
Egyptian forms of burial survived among wealthy
persons even into Christian times, though nothing
of the kind is known now," and a note adds that
" embalming was still common as late as the
4th century A.D., for we read that St. Antony's
dread of the process was the chief reason why
his followers concealed his body." The writer
adds that " the Mahomedan custom is, to lay
the body in a white shroud, which is then
loosely folded over it. Round this a winding
sheet is wrapped, of a material varying with
the wealth, &c." of the deceased . . " Three
loose bands are then tied round the sheet- — one
at the neck, one at the waist, and one at the
knees or feet. When the body is placed in the
tomb, these bands are further loosened or
removed. The present Coptic custom is to dress
the deceased in his best dress and lay over him
a sheet of cloth, silk, &c. They do not swathe
in. bands, and they use a coffin."
For parallel customs among classic nations,
see Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antiqq., s. v. FoNUS.
Dennis (Cities, #c. of Etruria, i. 38) says that
the Roman columbaria of masonry were probably
derived from the pigeon-holed tombs which
abound in Etruria, but views combustion as of
far higher antiquity. " De Jorio, a practical
excavator, says, burial among the Greeks was
to burning as ten to one, among the Romans
as one to ten." Burial is, however, noted by
Dennis as practised in the earliest known times
of Greece, and that in the Homeric times
burning was probably confined to the wealthy,
owing to its cost. This, however, is inconsistent
with the "pyres in thick succession burning,"
after the pestilence, of //. i. 52, and with the
truce to burn the dead, both Greek and Trojan,
with the process picturesquely detailed, in II.
vii. 407 sq. The Roman fashion is noted as
varying from time to time. Numa is recorded
by Plutarch (Numa) as wishing to be buried,
and expressly forbidding his body to be burnt.
Dennis thinks burning may have then been
customary for great men only, and that early
Koman practice was in favour of burial, and
that in the early Republic it was generally
preferred. Burning gradually became fashion-

BURIAL, SEPULCHRES
able, probably as wealth and luxury increased •
but for the poorer sort and vast slave population
burial must always have prevailed, and from
Hor. Sat. i. 8, 8-11, plainly did so at the
Augustan period. The oldest Etruscan tombs;
appear to be fitted with rock-hewn couches as
they exhibit furniture of a more archaic
character than the " niched " sort. Yet many
of these last are probably of high antiquity, and
contained vases, mirrors, and other objects, of a
purely Etruscan style. Only at Veii and Sutvi
are cinerary ollae found in Etruria, to receive
which, when burning was preferred, the Roman
columbaria had sometimes a hole sunk in the
floor. An ancient Etruscan tomb, rock-hewn
low, dark, and with a slab-door, contained
several such cinerary jars of great size; then
smaller crocks, bronzes, &c. ; and showed mural
grotesque paintings, human and animal, patch-
worked in red and yellow, supposed emblematical
of the destiny of the soul. On the stone bench
running along either side of the chamber, lav
respectively the skeleton of a warrior with
helmet and breastplate, and that of his wife.
Around or beside them lay a bronze ewer, small
pots painted in the earliest Etruscan style, <i
light candelabrum, a bronze mirror, small figures
of gods and men in terra-cotta, and some of
animals in amber. A small inner chamber con
tained square earthen cinerary urns, with lids
and handles, the latter of human-headed form,
supposed portraits of the incinerated dead. la
the centre was a low brazier of bronze, 2 feet
in diameter, probably to burn perfumes and
neutralize sepulchral effluvia. Here then we have
burial and cremation side by side in the same
tomb, but the seeming principal figures entombed
without fire. The Grotta del Triclinio, described
by the same writer, shows a funeral feast gaily
depicted, attended with music, dancing, and all
the excitement of convivial life, — happy groups
in bright colours. See also a curious description
of an Etruscan cemetery, ib. i. 423.
In and near ancient Sidon several conspicuous
tombs and an entire although small cemeterv
have been unearthed recently. MM. Perrot
and Chipiez (History of Art in Phoenicia, &c,
pp. 144-5) say that Syrian aud Phoenician tombs
are seldom found intact ; when so, they are
Graeco-Roman merely, and probably had an
earlier occupant ; that the corpses are mummy-
looking, " but prepared with much more care
and refinement" than Egyptian; that every
thing — general idea, accidental forms, external
decoration — tells us of borrowing from Egypt
by Phoenicia. Many minor characteristics, how
ever, point to a Greek source (see e.g. a
specially elegant sculptured head, No. 127 on
p. 186). The accessories imply the usual beliefs
that the dead retained a quasi-life and had not
lost all communion with the living to whom
their favour was important. The scene between
Saul and the Witch of Endor shows that such
beliefs had Hebrew currency ; although possibly
Samuel may have been believed to have been
specially gifted and favoured after death, some
what as Teiresias in Homer,4 his prophetic

pavnoos a,\aov, tov re fypeves eptreSoi eio-tv'
t<£ Kai reBveSyri i»6oy Trope TleptreQoveia,
oiu Ttemnio-Ba.' rot be CKiai dto-trovo-tv. {Oi. x. 493-5.)

BURNING
power as lt were abiding. Besides actual sarco
phagi (resembling mummy-cases, with covers,
some of which show the head and neck only,
others the whole figure of the deceased), coffins
of stone, later of cedar, later still of stone again,
have been found, the period ranging in known
tombs from the 6th to the 3rd century B.C. In
Perrot (ub. sup. No. 134), a recumbent figure
holds an alabaster jar of the kind used in funeral
rites for the offering of precious unguents. The
antiques found in these tombs include sculpture,
metallurgy, the glyptic art, jewellery, ivories,
with glass, terra-cotta, and fictile objects. Gar
lands of real leaves are supposed to have en
twined the coffin-handles (ib. pp. 19S-203). In
one coffin the ear orifices of the corpse were
prolonged through perforations in the lid.
With this cp. Tyior (ub. sup. 409), "The Iro
quois . . . used to leave an opening in the grave
for the lingering soul to visit its body, and
some of them still bore holes in the coffin for
the same purpose." In some Phoenician tombs
bronze masks were found, the models, doubtless,
of the likenesses on the sarcophagus-lid. In
one rings aud nails showed traces of a cedar
coffin gone to dust. "The funerary furniture
has the same character as with the Egyptians
and Chaldaeans ;" but the dead were not burnt
until the period of classic decadence. The most
noted Sidonian tomb is that of King Eshmunazar,
ascribed to the 4th century B.C., resembling a
mummy-case, and inscribed with a text given at
length in Records, tf-c, ix. pp. Ill sq.; cp.
Rawlinson's Phoenicia, p. 350, n. 2, also Perrot
&c. ub. sup. He forbids all to violate his
remains, " for treasures I have none ; " and
imprecates on any so presuming, that they
" shall have no funeral couch with the Rephaim
[well-known Hebrew term = Manes, as in Ps.

BURNT-OFFERING

473

"whole burnt-offering," the whole of which was
so offered and so consumed.
The burnt-otlering is first named in Gen. viii.
20, as offered after the Flood (in iv. 4 we find
the more general word "11131?, "offering," a word
usually applied to unbloody sacrifices, though iu
the LXX. and in Heb. xi. 4 translated by Bvata).
Throughout the whole of the Book of Genesis
(see xv. 9, 17 ; xxii. 2, 7, 8, 13) it appears to be
the only sacrifice referred to; afterwards it
became distinguished as one of the regular
classes of sacrifice under the Mosaic Law.
Now all sacrifices are divided (see Heb. v. 1)
into " gifts " and " sacrifices-for-sin " (i.e. eucha-
ristic and propitiatory sacrifices), and of the
former of these the burnt-offering was the
choicest specimen. Accordingly (in Ps. xl. 8, 9,
quoted in Heb. x. 5) we have first (in v. 8) the
general opposition, as above, of sacrifices (Bvtriai;
propitiatory) and offerings (n-poo-tpopai) ; and
then (in v. 9) "burnt-offering," as representing
the one, is opposed to " sin-offering," as repre
senting the other. Similarly in Ex. x. 25 (less
precisely) "burnt-offering" is contrasted with
" sacrifice " (so in 1 Sam. xv. 22 ; Ps. 1.8;
Mark xii. 33). On the other hand, it is dis
tinguished from "meat- [R. V. meal-] offerings "
(which were unbloody), and from " peace-offer
ings" (both of the eucharistic kind), because
only a portion of them was consumed (see 1 K.
iii. 15, viii. 64, &c).
The meaning therefore of the whole burnt-
offering was that which is the original idea of
all sacrifice, the offering by the sacrifice!' of
himself, soul and body, to God, the submission
of his will to the Will of the Lord (see Ps. xl.
10, li. 17, 19, and compare the more general
treatment of the subject under the word
Sacrifice). It typified (see Heb. v. 1, 3, 7, 8)
lxxxviii. 10] nor be buried in graves, nor shall our Lord's offering (as especially in the Tempta-

there be any son or offspring to succeed to
them " (cp. Ps. lxix. 25. cix. 13). Thus the
words of the same context, "The day of my
non-existence has come, my spirit has disap
peared," need not be taken as excluding a future
state. [H. H.]
BURNING. See Boeial, 2 ; Punishments,
HI. (a) 3.
BURNT-OFFERING (rbv or rh)V, and in
poetical passages ?v3, i.e. " perfect ; " bAoKap-
Trutrts [Gen.], SAoKairrupa [Ex. and Lev. &c],
LXX. ; bAoKairupa, N. T. ; holocaustum, Vulg.).
The original derivation of the word "171? is from
the root TOV, " to ascend ; '' and it is applied to
the animal-offering, which was wholly consumed
by fire on the altar, and the whole of which,
except the refuse ashes, "ascended" in the
smoke to God (Judg. xx. 40). It corresponds
therefore in sense, though not exactly in form,
to the word bAoKairupa, " whole burnt-offer
ing," from which the name of the sacrifice in
modern languages is taken. Every sacrifice was
in part "a burnt-offering," because, since fire
was the chosen manifestation of God's Presence,
the portion of each sacrifice especially dedicated
to Him was consumed by fire. But the term is
generally restricted to that which is properly a

tion and the Agony), the perfect sacrifice of His
own human will to the Will of His Father. As.
that offering could only be accepted from one
either sinless or already purified from sin, there
fore the burnt-offering (see Ex. xxix. 36-38 ;
Lev. viii. 14, 18, ix. 8, 12, xvi. 3, 5, &c.) was
preceded by a sin-offering, always according to
some, usually according to others (e.g. Delitzsch
in Riehm's HWB. s. n. " Brandopfer "). So
also we Christians, because the sin-offering has
been made once for all for us, offer the continual
burnt-offering of ourselves, " as a living sacri
fice, holy and acceptable to the Lord " (see
Rom. xii. 1).
In accordance with this principle it was
enacted that with the burnt-offering a " meal-
offering " (of flour and oil) and " drink-offering "
of wine should be offered, as showing that, with
themselves, men dedicated also to God the chief
earthly gifts with which He had blessed them
(Lev. viii. 18, 22, 26, ix. 16, 17, xiv. 20 ; Ex.
xxix. 40 ; Num. xxviii. 4, 5).
The ceremonial of the burnt-offering is given
in detail in the Book of Leviticus. The animal
was to be a male unblemished ; either a young
bullock, ram, or goat, or, in case of poverty, a
turtle-clove or pigeon. It was to be brought by
the offerer " of his own voluntary will, that lie
might be accepted," and slain by himself, after
he had laid his hand upon its head, to make it
his own representative, on the north side of the
altar. The priest was then to sprinkle the

474

BUSH

blood upon the altar," and afterwards to cut up
and burn the whole victim, only reserving the
skin for himself. The birds were to be offered
similarly, but not divided (see Lev. i., vii. 8,
viii. 18-21, &o.). It will be observed how all
these ceremonies were typical of the meaning
described above, and especially how emphatically
the freedom of will in the sacrificer is marked.
The burnt-offering being thus the rite which
represented the normal state and constant duty
of man, when already in covenant with God,"
was the one kind of sacrifice regularly appointed.
Thus there were, as public burnt-offerings —
1st. The daily burnt-offering, a lamb of the
first vear, sacrificed every morning and evening
(with an offering of flour and wine) for the
people (Ex. xxix. 38-42 ; Num. xxviii. 3-8).
2ndly. The Sabbath burnt-offering, double of
that which was offered every day (Num. xxviii.
8-10> 3rdly. The offering at the new moon, at the
three great festivals, the great Day of Atonement,
and feast of trumpets : generally two bullocks,
a ram, and seven lambs (see Num. xxviii. 11—
xxix. 39).
Private burnt-offerings were appointed at the
consecration of priests (Ex. xxix. 15 ; Lev. viii.
18, ix. 12), at the purification of women (Lev.
xii. 6, 8), at the cleansing of the lepers (Lev.
xiv. 19), and removal of other ceremonial un
cleanness (xv. 15, 30), on any accidental breach
of the Nazaritic vow, or at its conclusion (Num.
vi. ; cp. Acts xxi. 26), &c.
But freewill burnt-offerings were offered and
accepted by God on any solemn occasions, as, for
example, at the dedication of the Tabernacle
(Num. vii.) and of the Temple (1 K. viii. 64),
when they were offered in extraordinary abund
ance. But, except on such occasions, the nature,
the extent, and the place of the sacrifice were
expressly limited by God, so that, while all
should be unblemished and pure, there should
be no idea (as among the heathen) of buying
His favour by costliness of sacrifice. Of this
Hw Jephthah's vow was a transgression, con-
t-ii-tent with the semi-heathenish character of
his early days (see Judg. xi. 3, 24). The sacri
fice of cows in 1 Sam. vi. 14 was also a formal
infraction of it, excused by the probable
ignorance of the people, and the special nature
of the occasion. Consult on the subject gene
rally, and specially for its typical signification,
Jukes, The Law of the Offerings, p. 33, &c. ;
Dillmann on Lev. i. 3 sq. ; W. R. Smith, Religion
of the Semites, i. cp. Index, s. n. [A. B.] [F.]
BUSH ("130," sSneh; Bdros ; rubus). The

a It is clear that in this ceremony the burnt-offering
touched closely on the propitiatory or sin-offering;
although the solemnity of the blood-sprinkling in the
latter was much greater, and had a peculiar significance.
It is, of course, impossible that the forms of sacrifices
should be rigidly separated, because the ideas which they
enshrine, though capable of distinction, are yet insepar
able from one another.
b This is remarkably illustrated by the fact that
heathens were allowed to offer burnt-offerings, and that
Augustus ordered two lambs and a bullock to bo offered
for him every day (Joseph. S. J. ii. 11, $ 2).
* The derivation is uncertain. The corresponding
word occurs with a similar meaning in Aramaic aud
Arabic. See MV." rg. R. D.)

BUTTER
Hebrew word occurs only in those passages
which refer to Jehovah's appearance to Moses
" in the flame of fire in the bush " (Ex. iii. 2-4 ¦
Deut. xxxiii. 16). The Greek word is Bin's
both in the LXX. and in the N. T. (Mark xii
26 ; Luke xx. 37 [note that, both in St. Mark
and St. Luke, " the bush " refers to the section
of the Pentateuch so called. See Speaker's
Comm. in loco] ; Acts vii. 35 ; see also Luke vi.
44, where it is correctly rendered "bramble"
bush " by the A. V. and R. V.). Bdros is used
also to denote the sSneh by Josephus, Philo
Clemens, Eusebius, and others (see Celsius
Hierob. ii. 58). Some Versions adopt a more
general interpretation, and understand any kind
of bush, as the A. V. The Arabic in Acts vii. 35
has rhamnus. Others retain the Hebrew word.
From the word sSneli being used of the burn
ing bush alone, and never in any other con
junction, we infer that some definite species of '¦
bush is intended. It cannot be our bramble i
which does not occur in a state of nature in the
Sinaitic Peninsula, which is too hot and dry
for this group of plants. That the Hebrew
should be rendered Bdros by the LXX. is im
material, as the ancients, not carefully dis
criminating species, frequently transfer the
name of a known plant to another resembling it.
The question is, what kind of bush is found on
Sinai, which would best answer the conditions of
the problem ; and this seems certainly to be the
Acacia nilotica, known in Egypt as sunt, closely
allied to the Acacia seyal or shittim tree, but
much smaller and closer in growth. Both
Celsius (Hierob. ii. 58) and Dean Stanley (S. and
P. p. 17) would trace the derivation of the
name of Sinai to the seneh or " thorny tree."
The bush may possibly be Crataegus aroma, which
Sir J. Hooker noticed on Mount Sinai ; but which
certainly is very rare in comparison with the
sunt or Acacia bush. The bramble planted by
the monks near their chapel, in the convent of
St. Catharine, called by Sprengel Rubus sanctus,i
is not an indigenous shrub. We incline, there
fore, to the Acacia nilotica or sunt. [H. B. T.]
BUSHEL. [Measure.]
BUTLER. [Cupbearer; Joseph.]
BUTTER (*lNDn, chem'hah; BoiTvpov;buty-
rum), curdled milk, as distinguished from 3?M>
fresh milk ; hence curds, butter, and in one place
probably cheese. It comes from an unused root,
NQ*1 = Arab. L«j>-, spissum fuit lac. In Gen.
xviii. 8, butter and milk are mentioned among
the things which Abraham set before his hea
venly guests (cp. Judg. v 25 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 29).
Milk is generally offered to travellers in Pales
tine in a curdled or sour state, — lebben, thick,
almost like butter (cp. Josephus' rendering in
Judg. iv. 19 : ydAa SietpBopbs <;Bt)). In Dent.
xxxii. 15, we find JNV 3.br\\ "lp3 HXD!" among
the blessings which Jeshurun had enjoyed, where
milk of kine would seem contrasted with milk
of sheep. The two passages in Job (xx. 17, xxix.
6) where the word "IXDrl occurs are also best
t : V
" "This," says Sir J. Hooker, " is a variety of our
bramble, Rubus fruticosus."

BUZ

CABUL

475

satisfied by rendering it milk (A. V. and R. V.
" butter ") ; and the same may be said of Ps. lv.
21, which should be compared with Job xxix. 6.
In Prov. xxx. 33, Gesenius thinks that cheese
is meant, the word |"Q signifying pressure rather
than churning (A. V. and R. V.). Jarchi (on
Gen. xviii. 8) explains "1X0*1 to be pinguedo
lactis, quam de ejus superficie colligunt, i.e. cream,
and Vitringa and Hitzig give this meaning to
the word in Is. vii. 15-22. Butter was not in use
among the Greeks and Romans except for medi
cinal purposes, but this fact is of no weight as
to its absence from Palestine. Robinson men
tions the use of butter at the present day (Bib.
Res. i. 449), and also the method of churning
(i. 485, and ii. 418), and from this we may
safely infer that the art of butter-making was
known to the ancient inhabitants of the land, so
little have the habits of the people of Palestine
been modified in the lapse of centuries. Butter
is used in different ways by the Arabs of the
Hedjaz (Burckhardt, Travels in Arabia, i. 52),
but it is not the butter which is elsewhere eaten
with bread ; this butter they call zubtlch, which
is cream or fresh semu, the liquid butter consist
ing of the fatty particles of the milk separated
from the whey and the caseine (see Thomson,
The Land and the Book, ii. 393 ; D. B. Amer.
ed. s. v.). [W. D.] [H. B. T.]
BUZ (t-13, contempt ; S Bou|). 1. The second
son of Milcah and Nahor (Gen. xxii. 21). The
gentilic name is 't-13, and Elihu is called " the
Buzite " (Bov(Ittis) of the kindred of Ram, i.e.
Aram. Elihu was therefore probably a de
scendant of Buz, whose family seems to have
settled in Arabia Deserta or Petraea, since
Jeremiah (xxv. 23, 'l?us), in denouncing God's
judgments against them, mentions them with
Thema and Dedan. Some connect the territory
of Buz with Busan, a Roman fort mentioned in
Amm. Marc, xviii. 10, and others with Basta in
Arabia Petraea, which however has only the
first letter in common with it (Winer, s. v.).
The jingle of the names Huz and Buz is by
no means so apparent in the Hebrew (f-117" M3);
but it is quite in the Oriental taste to give
to relations these rhyming appellatives : cp.
Ishua and Ishui (Gen. xlvi. 17) ; Mehujael and
Methusael (Gen. iv.), Uzziel and Uzzi (1 Ch.
vii. 7) : and among the Arabians, Haroot and
Maroot, the rebel angels ; Hasan and Hoseyn,
the sons of 'Alee, &c. The Koran abounds in
such homoioteleuta, and so pleasing are they to
the Arabs, that they even call Cain and Abel,
Kabil and Habil (Weil's Bibl. Legends, 23 ; also
Southey's Notes to Thalabd), or Habil and Habid
(see Stanley, p. 413). The same idiom is found in
Mahratta and the modern languages of the East.
2. A name occurring in the genealogies of the
tribe of Gad (1 Ch. v. 14; A. 'AxtBoi{, B.
ZaBovxdp; Buz). [F. W. F.]
BU'ZI ('T-13, no article ; Bovfel ; Buzi), father
of Ezekiel the Prophet (Ezek. i. 3). Hackett
(D. B. Amer. ed. s. n.) considers the name gen
tilic elsewhere to be personal here; and that
as Ezekiel was a priest, Buzi must have been
one also. [F.]
BU'ZITE (n-13 ; Bov(Ittis ; Buzites). A de
scendant of Buz. The term is applied to Elihu,

who was of the kindred of Ram or Aram (Job
xxxii. 2, 6). [G.]
BY in 1 Cor. iv. 4. The sentence " I know
nothing by myself" (A. V.) is more correctly
rendered by K. V. " I know nothing against
myself." The phrase of the A. V. means in Old
English, " I am not conscious of any evil " (see
Speaker's Comm. in loco). [F.]
BY AJSTD BY is the A. V. rendering of ebBbs
in Matt. xiii. 21; of i£avTr)s in Mark vi. 25;
of ebBeus in Luke xvii. 7, xxi. 9. The R. V. has
dropped the word and replaced it by " straight
way " in Matt, and in Luke xvii. 7 (adopting a
different punctuation of the verse), by " forth
with " in Mark, and by " immediately " in Luke
xxi. 9. [F.]

CAB. [Measures.]
CAB'BON (fi33, of uncertain meaning ;
BA. Xaftpd; Chebbon), a town [possibly the
same as "13330, 1 Ch. ii. 49] in the low country
(Shefelah) of Judah, named with Lahmam and
Kithlish (Josh. xv. 40), which is only once
mentioned, and of which nothing has been since
discovered. Tristram (Bible Places, p. 40)
proposes to identify it with el-Kubeibeh, 3J
miles S.W. of Beit Jibun, and near Kefr Lam,
Lahmam. [G.] [W.]
CA'BUL (>133 ; B. XufiapatropeA, including
the Hebrew word following, pXDB't?, which
A. translates Xa&uA airo dpiffrepuv ; Cabul), a
place named as one of the landmarks on the
boundary of Asher (Josh. xix. 27). It is
probably the same as the Chabolo (XaBuAw) of
Josephus, which was in the district of Ptolemais
and 40 stadia from Jotapata, now Jefat (Vit.
42—44). It is now Kabul, a village 4 J English
miles N.W. of Jefat (PEF. Mem. i. 271). For
references to the Talmud, see Schwarz, p. 192.
Itt is mentioned by Rabbi Uri of Biel (1564),
and Marino Sanuto says it was called Castrum
Zabulon by the Saracens in his day. Being thus
on the very borders of Galilee, it is more than
probable that there is some connexion between
this place and the district (P-133 ^X, "the
land of C") containing twenty cities, which was
presented by Solomon to Hiram king of Tyre
(1 K. ix. 11-14). The LXX. rendering of the
name in 1 K., opiov, appears to arise from their
having read 7133, Gebool, "boundary," for 7133.
From the connexion in 1 K. ix. 13, the word
seems to have suggested to Hiram the idea of
worthlessness, though in what way is uncertain.
According to Josephus, Hiram, not liking
Solomon's gift, seizes on the name of one of the
cities, which in his own Phoenician tongue
expresses his disappointment (peBepp-qvevipevov
yap Tb XaBaAuv Kara QoivIkuv yASmav, ovk
dpeo-KOV, Jos. Ant. viii. 5, § 3 [cp. A. V. marg.
of 1 IC. ix. 13]), and forms from it a designa
tion for the whole district ; but this statement

476

CADDIS

respecting the meaning of 7133 in Phoenician
is not substantiated. Gesenius gives, only to
reject, other etymologies of the name; Ewald
(Hist. iii. 292) thinks that the name may have
been wittily interpreted as if = 733, like naught.
Josephus states (Ant. viii. 5, § 3) that the land
of Chabalon (XaBaAuv) was near Tyre, and
(cont. Ap. i. 17) XaBovAuv in Galilee. He says
elsewhere (B. J. iii. 3, § 1) that Lower Galilee
extended from Tiberias to Chabulon near Ptole
mais, where, however, the town Chabolo is evi
dently intended. In 2 Ch. viii. 2 Solomon is said
to have built or rebuilt the cities. [G.] [W.]
CAD'DIS (Ko55(s, A. TaSSis, X. TaSSei;
Gaddis), the surname (SiauaAovpevos) of Joan-
nan, the eldest brother of Judas Maccabaeus
(1 Mace. ii. 2).
CADES (XA. KijSf's, v. 63 ; KeSes, v. 73 ;
Cades), 1 Mace. xi. 63, 73. [ICedesh.]
CA'DES-BARNE (KdS-qs Bapvh ; Vulg. has
a different reading), Judith v. 14. [Kadesh-
BARNEA.] CADESH. A. V. ed. 1611 (Gen. xvi. 14,
xx. 1), R. V. Kadesh.
CAD'MIEL (B. KaSor)Aos, A. KaSpiiiA in
v. 26 ; B. AapaSvliA, A. KaSuT)A in v. 58 ;
Caduhel), a Levite appointed over the works of
the Temple (1 Esd. v. 26, 58). [Kadmiel.] [F.]
CAESAR (KoHtrap ; b Kditrap, John xix. 12 ;
Caesar). In the N. T. Caesar is always a title,
never a personal name, and denotes the emperor
reigning at the time. It first became famous
as the hereditary family name (cognomen) of
C. Julius Caesar, the founder of the empire, lt
had been introduced a century before into the
ancient patrician stock of the Julii, and was, as
long as that stock occupied the throne, the dis
tinctive name of the members of that noble
house. When with the death of the Emperor
Caius the Julian stock became extinct, his suc
cessor Claudius assumed with the imperial dig
nity the family name of the extinct stock. After
that time it passed from one dynasty to another.
Tacitus speaks of Caesar and Augustus as
" names of imperial dignity " (" principatus
vocabula," Hist. ii. 80). From Hadrian's time
onwards usage changed, and Caesar became the
title, not of the reigning emperor, but of the
heir apparent. See Marquardt-Mommsen, Rom-
ischen Alterthumer, ii. pp. 746, 1082.
Four times in the N. T. the imperial name
aud authority come before us. (1) The Phari
sees and Herodians tempt Jesus to challenge the
sovereignty of Caesar in Judaea by condemning
the payment of tribute to him (the poll-tax :
Matt. xxii. 17; Mark xii. 14; Luke xx. 22).
(2) Disloyalty to Caesar is the charge with
which Pilate is threatened when he is disposed
to release the " King of the Jews " (John xix.
12). Our Lord's claim of kingship was em
ployed both in His lifetime and afterwards
(Acts xvii. 7) to arouse the suspicion that His
teaching was hostile to the Caesar. (3) Ap
peal to the tribunal of Caesar, the right of
every Roman citizen, is the means employed by
St. Paul to avoid being taken to Jerusalem for
trial, and to put an end to his lengthened im-

CAESAREA
prisonment at Caesarea (Acts xxv. 11). On
this privilege of appeal and its limitations, see
Wieseler, Chronologie Apost. Zeit. pp. 383-8 -
Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of St.
Paul, ch. xxii. (4) Caesar's household (see
below) contained many Christians, who formed
an important part of the Roman church at
the time of St. Paul's first imprisonment (Phil
iv. 22). [E. R. B.] '
CAESAR'S HOUSEHOLD. The "do
mus" or "familia Caesaris" represented by
this expression (Phil. iv. 22) includes properly
the whole of the imperial household, from those
highest in rank and influence to the slaves of
the lowest order. It is not, however, probable
that the friends whose salutation St. Paul
conveys are to be reckoned amongst the former.
The " saints " alluded to by the Apostle dated
their conversion to the Gospel earlier than the
time of St. Paul's visit to Rome, and Bishop
Lightfoot has ingeniously recovered some of
their names from the list in Rom. xvi. These
converts were Greeks, Syrians, and Jews,
foreigners temporarily or permanently residing
in the capital ; and the inscriptions relating to
the imperial household record names correspond
ing with the list in the Epistle sufficient to
establish the presumption that in that list some
members of the household are included. Indi
rectly this result is a testimony to the genuine
ness of the last two chapters of the Ep. to the
Romans. See Lightfoot, Philippians, detached
note at end of ch. iv. (from which the above is
taken), and Speaker's Comm. in loco. [F.]
CAESARE'A (Kaio-apeia, Acts viii. 40;
ix. 30; x. 1, 24; xi. 11; xii. 19; xviii. 22;
xxi. 8, 16; xxiii. 23, 33; xxv. 1, 4, 6, 13).
The passages just enumerated show how impor
tant a place this city occupies in the Acts of
the Apostles. It was the residence, apparently
for several years, of Philip, one of the seven
Deacons or almoners (viii. 40 ; xxi. 8, 16), and
the scene of the conversion of the Italian centu
rion, Cornelius (x. 1, 24; xi. 11). Here Herod
Agrippa I. died (xii. 19). From hence St. Paul
sailed to Tarsus, when forced to leave Jerusalem
on his return from Damascus (ix. 30), and at
this port he landed after his second missionary
journey (xviii. 22). He also spent some time at
Caesarea on his return from the third missionary
journey (xxi. 8, 16), and before long was brought
back a prisoner to the same place (xxiii. 23, 33),
where he remained two years in bonds before
his voyage to Italy (xxv. 1, 4, 6, 13).
Caesarea was situated on the coast of Pales
tine, on the line of the great road from Tyre to
Egypt, and between Joppa and Dora (Joseph.
B. J. i. 21, § 5). The journey of St. Peter from
Joppa (Acts x. 24) occupied rather more than a
day. On the other hand St. Paul's journey from
Ptolemais (Acts xxi. 8) was accomplished
within the day. The distance from Jerusalem
is given by Josephus, in round numbers, as 600
stadia (Ant. xiii. 11, § 2 ; B. J. i. 3, § 5). The
Jerusalem Itinerary of the road passing through
Nicopolis and Lydda gives 68 miles (Wesseling,
p. 600. Dr. Robinson thinks this ought to he
7b : Bib. Res. ii. 242, note). There is, however,
a more direct road, through Antipatris, which
is 7 or 8 miles shorter than that given in
the Itinerary, — a point of some importance in

CAESAREA
reference to the night-journey of Acts xxiii.
[Antipatris.] The site of Caesarea was formerly occupied
by a town called " Strato's tower," which,
according to Strabo, had a landing-place (irpdo--
oppov exuv). This town was rebuilt and
enlarged by Herod the Great, and its importance
was so increased by his great works that it
was spoken of as being the head of Judaea
("Judaeae caput," Tac. Hist. ii. 79). The
utmost care and expense were lavished on the
building of Caesarea, which occupied ten years.
It was a proud monument of the reign of Herod,
who named it in honour of the Emperor Augus
tus. The full name was Kaitrapeia ^eBacm)
(Joseph. Ant. xvi. 5, § 1). It was sometimes
called Caesarea Stratonis, and Caesarea Palaes-
tinae ; sometimes also (from its position) n-apaAtos
(Joseph. B. J. iii. 9, § 1), or t) ini BaAdrTTi

CAESAREA PHILIPPI

477

(i'6. vii. 1, § 3). It must be carefully distinguished
from Caesarea Philippi.
The magnificence of Caesarea is described in
detail by Josephus in two plan's (Ant. xv. 9 ¦
B. J. i. 21). The chief features were connected
with the harbour (itself called ZeBaarbs AipT)v
on coins and by Josephus, Ant. xvii. 5, § 1)
which was equal in size to the Piraeus  a
vast breakwater, composed of stones 50 feet
long, curved round so as to affurd complete
protection from the south-westerly winds,
leaving an opening only on the north. Broad
landing-wharves surrounded the harbour; and
conspicuous from the sea was a temple, dedi
cated to Caesar and to Rome, and containing
colossal statues of the Emperor and the Imperial
City. Caesarea contained also an amphitheatre
and a theatre. The latter was the scene of the
death of Herod Agrippa I. Caesarea was the

official residence of the Herodian kings, and of
Festus, Felix, and the other Roman procurators
of Judaea. Here also were the head-quarters
of the military forces of the province. It was
by no means strictly a Jewish city. The Gen
tile population predominated ; and at the syna
gogue-worship the Scriptures of the 0. T. were
read in Greek. Constant feuds took place here
between the Jews and Greeks ; and an outbreak
of this kind was one of the first incidents of the
great war. It was at Caesarea that Vespasian
was declared emperor. He made it a Roman
colony, called it by his name, and gave to it the
7ms Italicum. Tbe history of the place, during
the time of its greatest eminence, is summed up
in one sentence by Pliny : " Stratonis turris,
eadem Caesarea, ab Herode rege condita : nunc
Colonia prima Flavia, a Vespasiano Imperatore
deducta " (v. 14).
To the ecclesiastical geographer Caesarea is
interesting as the home of Eusebius. It was

Caesarea Palaeatinae. (From a Sketch by Wm. Tipping, Eflq.)

also the scene of some of Origen's labours and
the birth-place of Procopius. In 333 a.d. " the
bath of Cornelius," perhaps a public bath erected
by the centurion at his own cost, was shown to
pilgrims (Itin. Hieros.). It continued to be a
city of some importance even in the time of
the Crusades. Now, though an Arabic corrup
tion of the name still lingers on the site (Kaisd-
riyeh), it is utterly desolate ; and its ruins have
for a long period been a quarry, from which
other toWhs in this part of Syria have been
built. Remains of the theatre, the hippodrome,
the mole, the temple, the aqueducts, and the
walls of the Roman city are still extant (see
Buckingham's Travels; the Appendix to vol. i.
of Dr. Traill's Josephus; PEF. Mem. ii. 13-28 ;
Guerin, Samarie, ii. 321-339). [J. S. H.] [W.]
CAESARE'A PHILIPPI (Kcuo-dpeta v *,-
AItttov) is mentioned only in two Gospels (Matt.
xvi. 13 ; Mark viii. 27), and in accounts of the

478

CAESAREA PHILIPPI

same transactions. The story in Eusebius, that
the woman healed of the issue of blood, and
supposed to have been named Berenice, lived at
this place, rests on no foundation.
Caesarea Philippi was the northernmost point
of our Lord's journeyings; and the passage in

CAESAREA PHILIPPI
His life which was connected with the place
was otherwise a very marked one (see Stanley's
Sinai e, Palestine, p. 391). The place itself is
remarkable both in its physical and picturesque
characteristics, and also in its historical asso
ciations. It was at the easternmost and most

important of the two recognised, sources of the
Jordan, the other being at Tell el-Kddy [Dan
or Laish, which by Winer and others has been
erroneously identified with Caes. Philippi]. Not
that either of these sources is the most distant
tountain-head of the Jordan, the name of the

river being given (as in the case of the 1
sippi and Missouri, to quote Dr. Robinson's
illustration), not to the most remote fountains,
but to the most copious. The spring rises, and
the city was built, on a limestone terrace in a
valley at the base of Mount Hermon. Caesarea

CAGE
Philippi has no 0. T. history, though it has been
not unreasonably identified with Baal-Gad.
Its annals run back direct from Herod's time
into heathenism. There is no difficulty in iden
tifying it with the Panium of Josephus ; and
the inscriptions which show that the god Pan
had once a sanctuary at this spot are not yet
obliterated. Here Herod the Great erected a
temple to Augustus, the town being then called
from the grotto where Pan had been honoured.
It is worth while here to quote in succession
the words of Josephus and of Dr. Robinson : —
"Herod, having accompanied Caesar to the
sea and returned home, erected a beautiful
temple of white marble near the place called
Panium. This is a fine cavern in a mountain ;
under which there is a great cavity in the earth ;
and the cavern is abrupt and very deep, and
full of still water. Over it hangs a vast moun
tain, and under the mountain rise the springs of
the river Jordan. Herod adorned this place,
which was already a very remarkable one, still
further by the erection of this temple, which
he dedicated to Caesar " (Joseph. Ant. xv. 10,
§ 3 ; cp. B. J. i. 21, § 3). " The situation is
unique ; combining in an unusual degree the
elements of grandeur and beauty. It nestles in
its recess at the southern base of the mighty
Hermon, which towers in majesty to an eleva
tion of 7000 or S000 feet above. The abun
dant waters of the glorious fountain spread
over the terrace luxuriant fertility and the
graceful interchange of copse, lawn, and waving
fields " (Robinson, iii. 404).
Panium became part of the territory of
Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who enlarged
and embellished the town, and called it Cae
sarea Philippi, partly after his own name, and
partly after that of the emperor (Ant. xviii. 2,
§ 1 ; B.J. ii. 9, § 1). Agrippa II. followed in
the same course of flattery, and called the place
Neronias (Ant. xx. 9, § 4). Josephus seems to
imply in his life (Vit. 13) that many heathens
resided here. Titus exhibited gladiatorial shows
at Caesarea Philippi after the end of the Jewish
war (B. J. vii. 2, § 1). The old name was not
lost. Coins of Caesarea Paneas continued
through the reigns of many emperors. Under
the simple name of Paneas it was the seat of a
Greek bishopric in the period of the great coun
cils and of a Latin bishopric during the Cru
sades. It is still called Bdnias, the first name
having here, as in other cases, survived the
second. A striking monument is the castle above
the site of the city, one of the most remarkable
fortresses in the Holy Land. [J. S. H.] [W.]
CAGE. The term so rendered by A. V.
(marg. coop) and R. V. in Jer. v. 27, 3173, is
more properly a trap (irayls, decipula), in which
decoy birds were placed. It is referred to in
Ecclus. xi. 30 under the term KdpraAAos, which
is elsewhere used of a tapering basket. [Fowl
ing.] In Rev. xviii, 2 the Greek term is tpvAaur),
meaning a prison or restricted habitation rather
than a cage. [W. L. B.]
CAIAPHAS [3 syll.] (Kaidtpas ; Kaltpas, D ;
Caiphas). His true name, Joseph, is given in
Josephus, Ant. xviii. § 2, 2, where we learn that
Caiaphas was a distinguishing name, just as
another Joseph was called Joseph Barnabas

CAIN

479

(Acts iv. 36). Caiaphas has been explained as
from XS?3, Prov. xvi. 26 (Targum), and Keim
does not hesitate to render it " the oppressor."
But Delitzsch (Zeitschrift fiir Luth. Theol. 1876,
p. 594) shows on the evidence of the l'esln|to
and the Mishna (Parall, iii. 5) that the Greek K
here represents p not 3, and he prints the
name XB'jJ in Acts iv. 36 (cp. also Derenbourg,
Essai sur I'Histoire de la Palestine, p. 215, n. 2).
The derivation given above must therefore be
abandoned, and Delitzsch cautiously refuses to
give a substitute.
Joseph Caiaphas was appointed high-priest
by Valerius Gratus, probably a.d. 18, and was
superseded by Vitellius, a.d. 36, in favour of
Jonathan the son of Ananus (Jos. Ant. xviii. 2,
2, and 4, 3). He thus held the office for a length
of time very unusual at that period. For the
conjunction of Annas and Caiaphas as high-
priests at the commencement of the ministry of
the Baptist (Luke iii. 2), see Annas. The first
recorded words of Caiaphas were spoken at
the Sanhedrin assembled after the raising
of Lazarus. In Caiaphas the Sadducees, to
whom he and Annas belong, advance on this
occasion to the position henceforth occupied by
them as the bitter enemies of Jesus and the real
authors of His death. They combine with the
Pharisees, but the latter fall into the back
ground (John xi. 47. See Westcott in loco). The
unconscious prediction of Caiaphas that " Jesus
should die for the nation " (v. 50) has been well
said to be the last utterance of Jewish prophecy.
St. John's description of Caiaphas as "high-priest
that year " (xi. 49, 51, and xviii. 13) has been
supposed (Keim) to betray ignorance of his long
tenure of the office (but see Westcott in loco
on the emphatic use of " that," iKeTvos). The
next mention of Caiaphas is at the meeting of
the chief priests and rulers in his palace (abA-i),
Matt. xxvi. 3), at which the seizure of Jesus by
stratagem was determined on. The bargain
with Judas was the result of this decision.
After the betrayal and the examination before
Annas, Jesus was sent bound to Caiaphas (John
xviii. 24). Some doubt may exist as to the
parts assigned by St. John to Annas and
Caiaphas respectively, but St. Matthew (xxvi.
57) shows plainly that it was Caiaphas who by
his adjuration drew from Jesus the confession
that He was the Son of God, and asked for the
sentence of death (Matt. xxvi. 63 sq.). Indeed
the Synoptists do not name Annas in connexion
with the trial. The last mention of Caiaphas is
as being present at the examination of Peter
and John after their arrest in the Temple (Acts
iv. 6). Here Annas is described as high-priest,
and Caiaphas, who was probably in possession of
the office, has no title given him. [See Annas.]
It follows that it is impossible to assign with
any certainty to Caiaphas the action said to
have been taken by the high-priest in Acts v.
17 sq. Nothing is known of Caiaphas after his
deposition. Westcott observes that " the rela
tionship of Caiaphas to Annas (son-in-law) is not
mentioned by any writer except St. John, and
yet this relationship alone explains how Caiaphas
was able to retain his ofiice by the side of Annas
and his sons." [E. R. B.]
CAIN (('j? [the meaning is altogether un
certain. The text asserts only an assonance, not

480

CAIN

an etymology (as in Seth, Noah, and many other
cases); Cain being connected with "I3p not
because it is derived from it (which would be
against the laws of philology), but because it
Tesembles it in sound. In Arabic ^XS means
" a smith." — S. R. D.] ; Kdtv ; Joseph. Kdts ;
Cain). The historical facts in the life of Cain,
as recorded in Gen. iv., are stated with sudden
ness and brevity * : — He was the eldest son of
Adam and Eve ; he followed the business of
agriculture ; in a fit of jealousy, roused by the
rejection of his own sacrifice and the acceptance
of Abel's, he committed the crime of murder,
for which he was expelled from Eden, and led
the life of an exile (a punishment assigned for
the same crime by Homer and the laws of
Menu) ; married (cp. v. 4 ; see Delitzsch on
Gen. iv. 16 [1887], and Riehm, HWB. 'Kain'),
he settled in the land of Nod, and built a city
which he named after his son Enoch : his de
scendants are enumerated, together with the
inventions for which they were remarkable.
Occasional references to Cain are made in the
N. T. (Heb. xi. 4 ; 1 John iii. 12 ; Jude v. 11).
The following points deserve notice in con
nexion with the Biblical narrative : — 1. The
position of " the land of Nod." The words do
not define a geographical area, but as the name
Nod itself implies — a land of flight or exile, in
reference to v. 12 where a cognate word is used.
The attempt to identify it with India is erro
neously far-fetched ; the only indication of its
position is the indefinite notice that it was " east
of Eden " (v. 16), which of course throws us
back to the previous settlement of the position
of Eden itself [Eden]. It seems vain to attempt
the identification of Nod with any special
locality ; the direction " east of Eden " may
have reference to the previous notice in iii. 24,
and may indicate that the land was opposite to
(Karevavri, LXX.) the entrance, which was
barred against his return. It is not improbable
that the east was further used to mark the
direction which the Cainites took, as distinct
from the Sethites, who would, according to
Hebrew notions, be settled towards the west.
2. The " mark set upon Cain " has given rise
to various speculations, many of which would
never have been broached, if the Hebrew text
had been consulted : the words are better ren
dered by the R. V. " the Lord appointed a sign
for Cain, lest any finding him should smite
him " ; i.e. Jehovah gave a sign to Cain, very
much as signs were afterwards given to Noah
(Gen. ix. 13), Moses (Ex. iii. 2, 12), Elijah (1 K.
xix. 11), and Hezekiah (Is. xxxviii. 7, 8). Whe
ther the sign was perceptible to Cain alone, and
given to him once for all, in token that no man
should kill him, or whether it was some sign or
bodily mark (cp. the Jewish traditions in Ham
burger, RE. s. n. Kain), perceptible also to
others and designed as a precaution to them, is
uncertain; the nature of the sign itself is still
more uncertain (see Speaker's Comm., Ellicott's
O. T. Comm., and Delitzsch in loco).

* The opinion which counts Cain a myth or an ele
mental deity is examined by Baethgen, Beitrage zur
Sennit. Heligionsgeschichte, p. 151 ; cp. Sayce, Hibbert
Lectt. p. 236.

CAIN
3. The narrative implies the existence of a
considerable population; for Cain fears lest he
should be murdered in return for the murder he
had committed (v. 14). The Talmud and Jose
phus (Ant. i. 2, § 1) explain his fears as arising
not from men but from wild beasts ; but such
an explanation is wholly unnecessary. The
family of Adam may have largely increased
before the birth of Seth, as is indeed implied in
the notice of Cain's wife (v. 17), and the mere
circumstance that none of the other children
are noticed by name may be explained on
the ground that their lives furnished nothing
worthy of notice.
4. The character of Cain deserves a brief
notice (cp. 1 John iii. 12). He is described as a
man of a morose, disappointed, and revengeful
temper; and that he presented his offering in
this state of mind, or without the deeper reli
gious apprehension of Abel, is implied in the
rebuke contained in v. 7, which is rendered by
R. V. : " If thou doest well (or, as the LXX.
has it, iav bpBus irpotreveyKys), shall thou not
be accepted ? (canst thou not lift it up ? Cp.
R. V. marg. and QPB.*) and if thou doest not
well, sin coucheth (as a wild beast) at the door:
and unto thee shall be his [Abel's] desire, and
thou shalt rule over him " (better as marg.,
shall be its [sin's] desire ; but thou shouldest
rule over it). The narrative implies therefore
that his offering was rejected, not on account of
the nature of the gift, but on account of the
temper in which it was brought.
5. The descendants of Cain are enumerated
to the sixth generation (v. 17, &c). Some com
mentators (from Buttmann to Kuenen; see De
litzsch and Riehm) have traced an artificial
structure in this genealogy, by which it is
rendered parallel to that of the Sethites (ch. v.):
e.g. there is a decade of names in each, com
mencing with Adam and ending with Jabal and
Noah, the deficiency of generations in the
Cainites being supplied by the addition of the
two younger sons of Lamech to the list; and
there is a considerable similarity in the names,
each list containing a Lamech and an Enoch ;
while Cain in the one = Cain-an in the other,
Methusael= Methuselah, and Mehujael=Maha-
laleel : the inference from this comparison being
that the one was framed out of the other. But
the genealogy of ch. v. may well have co-existed
with that of iv. 17, &c. The differences far
exceed the points of similarity ; the order of the
names, the number of generations, and even the
meanings of those which are noticed as similar
in sound, are easily to be explained by the
tendency of tradition to assimilate what might
be ethically distinct, or are sufficiently distinct
to remove the impression of artificial construc
tion. [On questions connected with the structure
of Gen. iv. cp. Dillmann,2 pp. 88-90 with the
reff., and Delitzsch (1887) on iv. 18. Cp. also
both on Cain and on the two lists Lenormant,
Les Origines de I'Histoire, chs. iv.-v. — S. R. D-]
6. The social condition of the Cainites is pro
minently brought forward in the history. Cain
himself was an agriculturist, Abel a shepherd :
the successors of the latter are represented by
the Sethites and the progenitors of the Hebrew
race in later times, among whom a pastoral life
was always held in high honour from the simpli
city and devotional habits which it engendered:

CAIN
the successors of the former are depicted as the
reverse in all these respects. Cain founded the
first city ; Lamech instituted polygamy ; Jabal
' introduced the nomadic life ; Jubal invented
musical instruments ; Tubal-cain was the first
smith ; Lamech's language takes the stately
tone of poetry ; and even the names of the
women — Naaman (pleasant), Zillah (shadow),
Adah (ornamental) — seem to bespeak an advanced
state of civilisation. But along with this, there
was violence and godlessness : Cain and Lamech
furnish proof of the former, while the concluding
words of Gen. iv. 26 imply the latter.
7. The contrast established between the
Cainites and the Sethites appears to have refer
ence solely to the social and religious condition
¦of the two races. On the one side there is
pictured a high state of civilisation, unsanctified
by religion, and productive of luxury and
violence ; on the other side, a state of simplicity
which afforded no material for history beyond
the declaration, "Then began men to call upon
the name of the Lord." The historian thus
accounts for the progressive degeneration of the
religious condition of man, the evil gaining a
predominance over the good by its alliance with
worldly power and knowledge, and producing
the state of things which necessitated the flood
(see W. Schultz in Herzog, RE.2 s. n. Kain).
8. Another motive may be assigned for the
introduction of this portion of sacred history.
All ancient nations have loved to trace up the
invention of the arts to some certain author,
and, generally speaking, these authors have been
regarded as objects of divine worship. Among
the Greeks, Apollo was held to be the inventor
of music, Vulcan of the working of metals,
Triptolemus of the plough. We may decline to
find the name Apollo in Jabal and Jubal, or
Vulcan in Tubal-cain, or identify from similarity
of meaning Naamah with Venus (Sansc. Vanas) ;
but it is possible that the Hebrew historian has
recorded here the names of those to whom the
invention of the arts was traditionally assigned,
obviating at the same time the dangerous error
into which other nations had fallen, and re
ducing the estimate of their value by the
position which their inventors held as descen
dants not of Abel the accepted but of Cain the
" cursed." [W. L. B.] ' [F.]
CAIN (with the article, t1p~l=" the lance,"
Ges. ; B. Zaxavdetp, A. Zavu ' AKelp [both texts
include the name preceding] ; Accain ; R. V.
Kain) ; one of the cities in the hill-country of
Judah, named in the same list with Carmel,
Ziph, and Juttah, and immediately after Zanoah
(Josh. xv. 56). It is probably Kh. Yukin, S.E. of
Hebron, near Kh. Sunut, Zanoah, and Tell ez-Zif,
Ziph (PEF. Mem. iii. 312, 371). [G.] [W.]
CAI'NAN (marg. correctly Kenan, so R. V. ;
P'p; Katvdv; Cainan; teli faber, Gesen. Thes.,
as if=f*p, from the Arab, to forge, as in Tubal-
cain, Gen. iv. 22 : see Dr. Mill's Vindic. of
our Lord's Geneal, p. 150). 1. Son of Enos,
aged 70 years when he begat Mahalaleel his son.
He lived 840 years afterwards, and died aged
910 (Gen. v. 9-14). The rabbinical tradition
was that he first introduced idol-worship and
astrology — a tradition which the Hellenists [
transferred to the post-diluvian Cainan (2). Thus |
bible dict. — VOL. I.

u^LAH

481

Ephraem Syrus asserts that the Chaldees in the
time of Terah and Abram worshipped a graven
god called Cainan ; and Gregory Bar-Hebraeus,
another Syriac author, also applies it to the son
of Arphaxad (Mill, ut sup.). The origin of tho
tradition is not known ; it may be due to the
assonance with the Sabaean god Kenan [Baeth
gen, Bcitriige zur Scmit. Religionsgeschichte,
pp. 128, 152], or it may have been suggested by
the meaning of the supposed root in the Arabic
and Aramean dialects ; just as another significa
tion of the same root seems to have suggested
the tradition that the daughters of Cain were
the first who made and sang to musical instru
ments (Gesen. s. v. j-lp).
2. Kaivdp, son of Arphaxad, and father of
Sala, according to Luke iii. 36, 37, and usually
called the second Cainan. He is also found in
the LXX. in the genealogy of Shem, Gen. x. 24
[A. Kaivdp, E. -dv], xi. 12 [Katvdv], and 1 Ch. i.
18 (A. Kaij'tti', B. om.), but is nowhere named in
the Hebrew codd., nor in any of the Versions
made from the Hebrew, as the Samaritan,
Chaldee, Syriac, Vulgate, &c. Moreover it can
be demonstrated that the intrusion of the name
into the A'ersion of the LXX. is comparatively
modern, since Augustine is the first writer who
mentions it as found in the 0. T. at all ; and
since we have the absolute certainty that it was
not contained in any copies of the Alexandrine
Bible which either Berosus, Eupolemus, Poly-
histor, Josephus, Philo, Theophilus of Antioch,
Julius Africanus, Origen, Eusebius, or even
Jerome, had access to. It seems certain there
fore that his name was introduced into the
genealogies of the Greek O. T. in order to
bring them into harmony with the genealogy
of Christ in St. Luke's Gospel, where Cainan
was found in the time of Jerome. The question
is thus narrowed into one concerning its intro
duction into the Gospel. It might have been
thought that it had found its way by accident
into the genealogy of Joseph, and that St. Luke
inserted that genealogy exactly as he found it.
But as Beza's very ancient MS. (D) presented to
the University of Cambridge does not contain
the name of Cainan, and there is strong ground
for supposing that Irenaeus's copy of St. Luke
did not contain it, it seems on the whole more
probable that Cainan was not inserted by St.
Luke himself, but was afterwards added in
deference to tradition, or by accident, or to
make np the number of generations to 17, or
from some other cause which cannot now be ¦
discovered. For further information, see Geneal.
of our Lord J. C, ch. viii. ; Heidegger, Hist.
Patriarch, ii. 8-15 ; Bochart, Phaleg, lib. ii.
cap. 13; and for the opposite view, Mill's Vin
dic. of our Lord's Geneal, p. 143. [A. C. H.]
CAIUS. [John, Second and Third Epistles
of.] CAKES. [Bread.]
CA'LAH (ths ; XaAdx ; Chale ; Assyr.
Kalhu, Kalhi, Kalha, Kalah), one of the most
ancient cities of Assyria, being mentioned (Gen
x. 11) with Nineveh, "the city Rehoboth," and
Resen, as having been founded by Asshur, the
patriarch of the Assyrians, when he emigrated
from the land of Shinar. Calah has been
thought to be identical with the Halah l"6*l) of
2 l'"'

482

CALAH

the Books of Kings and Chronicles (2 K. xvii.
6 xviii. 11 • 1 Ch. v. 26), but the Greek form of
this name, 'A\ae', is against this, and the Assy
rian inscriptions,
which give the
native name of
Calah, settle the
question definitely.
Calah, the Assy
rian Kalhu, is re
presented by the
mounds known
under tbe name
of Nimroud, from
which a large pro
portion of the As
syrian sculptures
now in the British
Museum came.
These ruins are
situated about 20
miles south of Kou-
yunjik (Nineveh),
on an irregular
wedge of land
formed by the
Tigris and the
greater or upper
Zab, where the
latter flows into
the former (see
map in art. Nine
veh, D. B.1 ii. 549).
According to A§-
sur-nasir-Spli, king
of Assyria, about
885 B.C. Calah was
founded by Shal
maneser I., about 1300 years before Christ,* and
was rebuilt by Assur-nasir-Spli, who raised
there a royal palace of considerable extent and
great. magnificence. The walls were decorated
with bas-reliefs of large size and most careful
execution, in some
cases coloured in
the natural tints,
as far as was pos
sible upon alabas
ter. These sculp
tures represent
the religious cere
monies in which
the king, as priest,
engaged, and the
military expedi
tions which he
led. The entrances
were adorned by
winged lions and
bulls, many of them
human-headed.
This palace built
by Assur-nasir-Spli
is known as the

CALAH
North-west Palace. Others were built by his
successors, one being the much ruined Central
Palace (where the Black Obelisk was found),

Hull of Estu-hatldon'a Palace at
Nimroud.

a Schrader, in his Cuneiform Inscriptions and the
Old Testament, vol. i. p. 80, says, "Thus the foundation
of Kalah took place about 500 years before the time
wben tlie passage of Genesis we are now considering was
composed by the Jahvistic-prophetic narrator, writing
about 800 n.c."

Chart of the District about Nimroud.

erected by Shalmaneser IL, son and successor of
Assur-nasir-4pli, east of the N.W. Palace. This
was also the palace of the biblical Tiglath-
pileser, but was completely dismantled by
Esarhaddon, who used the materials for the
construction of his own palace.b Sargon, king
of Assyria B.C. 722, restored the N.W. Palace,
and his grandson, Esarhaddon, B.C. 681, built
the South-west Palace, with materials taken
from the Central Palace. Lastly, the grandson
of Esarhaddon, Assur-etil-ilani, the last king of
Assyria but one, built a smaller edifice in the
south-eastern corner of the platform of Nim
roud. Of the sculptures which adorned the
walls of these buildings, those of Tiglath-pileser
are probably the most interesting, on account of
their being those of a king whose name carries
with it biblical associations. The length of the
palace-mound of Nimroud is about 600 yards
(from N. to S.), and the breadth about 400
yards (from E. to W.). At the north-west
corner stands a lofty conical mound 140 feet
high. This covers the ruins of the zikkuratu,
or Tower of Calah, which was excavated by Sir
H. Layard, who found it to be square at the
base, each side measuring 167 ft. 6 in., and
faced with hewn stone to a height of 20 ft.
Besides the above-named palaces, there were
also two temples on this site, one of them being
dedicated to Nebo, and adorned with two colossal
statues of that god, as well as four smaller

>> Fortunately a good portion of these most interesting
remains have been preserved.

CALAMOLALUS
ones." In Assyrian times the Tigris flowed quite
close to the western side of the platform on
which the palaces stood, but there is now a con
siderable interval, the river having changed its
course. The town was enclosed within walls of
considerable extent, the plan of the city being
oblong, the northern side showing traces of no
less than 58 towers. The palaces and temples
above described were situated in the south-west
corner of the enclosure. The platform upon
which they were built was composed of sun-dried
bricks, faced with slabs of stone, and it rises
13 yards above the river-bed. Steps or inclined
passages led from the palace-platform to the
town. The successors of Shalmaneser I. seem to have
taken but little interest in the city of Calah,
and it did not long remain a serious rival of
Nineveh and Assur, in which cities most of the
Assyrian kings preferred to dwell. Calah owes
its principal importance to Assur-nasir-ipli
(885 B.C.), who completely rebuilt the citv,
finished the great wall, and settled there the
captives which he had brought from the lands
that he had conquered. Besides the building of
the N.W. Palace, he dug also an irrigation-canal
from the upper Zab towards the city, and
adorned its banks with orchards and vineyards.
Calah remained faithful to Shalmaneser IL,
son of Assur-nasir-jipli, during the revolt of his
son, Assur-danin-apli, against him, the inha
bitants remembering the favours which Shal
maneser and his father had conferred upon
them. Shalmaneser's son and grandson, and
likewise Tiglath-pileser, resided here, but the
city never regained the importance it had in
Assur-nasir-£pli's reign, and Assur-etil-ilani's
efforts to make the city a royal residence
resulted in nothing — the end was too near, for
under his successor, Sin-sarra-iskun or Saracos,
Assyria fell, never to rise again.
To Sir H. Layard the greatest credit is due
for his enthusiastic work on this important site,
which he was the first to discover. Hormuzd
Rassam and George Smith also excavated there.
Cp. Sir H. Layard's Nineveh and its Remains,
Nineveh and Babylon, &c. ; H. Rassam's articles ;
G. Smith's Assyrian Discoveries; Rawlinson 's
Ancient Monarchies ; Schrader's Cuneiform In
scriptions and the Old Testament (English by the
Rev. 0. C. Whitehouse) ; and Fried. Delitzsch's
article in the Calwer Bibellexicon. [T. G. P.]
CALAMO'LALUS (A. KaAapuAdAos, B.
KaAapuKdAos; Cliomus), 1 Esd. v. 22, a corrupt
name, apparently agglomerated of Elam and
Lod (cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco). [G.]
CALAMUS, SWEET CANE. The Hebrew
words kSneh bosem, kdneh hattdb, DBQ fOpi
3113*1 !13p (K&Aapos eudSris, Ktvdpupov; calamus,
fistula; Arabic i\jj, kenah), occur five times, and
are translated in the A. V. and R. V. of Ex. xxx.
23, Cant. iv. 14, Ezek. xxvii. 19, by " calamus,"
and in Is. xliii. 24, Jer. vi. 20, by " sweet
cane," the same substance being evidently in
tended in all cases. In Exodus it is named as
one of the ingredients of the holy anointing oil ;

CALCOL

483

0 Two of the latter are now in the British Museum
[see the article Assxbia].

in Canticles, among sweet scents, where it is ex
pressed by kdneh aloue ; in Isaiah and Jeremiah,
as a precious offering purchased from a far
country (hattdb iu Jeremiah meaning swoet or
good) ; and by Ezekiel it is enumerated among
the commodities brought into the markets of
Tyre : " Cassia and calamus (Heb. kdneh) were
iu thy market." The word kdneh, " reed "

Andropogon achoenanthug.
without the adjective, has been treated of under
Bulrush, q.v. In these passages no indigenous
plant is intended, and we may therefore dismiss
the speculations as to any fragrant plant from
Lebanon, in which many writers have indulged.
No aromatic reed has been found in Syria. From
a comparison of the passages where it is men
tioned, it is clear that kSneh bosem was not a
sweet cane like the species of sugar-cane, the
sweet sorghum, once extensively cultivated at
Jericho and in the Jordan valley ; but an exotic
aromatic cane, imported by the Phoenicians pro
bably from the East. Bochart reasonably
argues from its being mentioned in Exodus that
it was probably an Arabian product (Hieroz. ii.
687). It was certainly the KaAapos dpupa-
TtKbs of the Greeks. But this does not bring us
much nearer identification, since all we are told
of it is that it came from India (Dioscorides, i.
17). And in this statement the Arabic author
Abu '1 Fadli concurs. There are many aromatic
reeds in India. Dr. Royle suggests Andropogon
aromaticus from Central India. There is another
species of lemon-grass, Andropogon schoenanthus,
found both in India and Arabia, and which the
writer once procured in Gilead, which affords a
delicate aromatic perfume. [H. B. T.]
CAL'COL (73^3 ; A. XaAxd*, in K. and
Ch. ; B. XaAKaS "in K. and XaAKa in Ch. ;
Chalchal, Chalcol), a man of Judah, son or
descendant of Zerah (1 Ch. ii. 6). Probably
identical [see Darda] with Chalcol (A. V.
2 I 2

484

CALDEA

only ; no 'difference in the Hebrew), son of
Mahol, one of the four wise men whom Solomon
excelled in wisdom (1 K. iv. 31, LXX. v. 27).
[G.] [F.]
CALDE'A, -EANS, -EES. [Chaldea, &c]
CALDRON. 1. "in, probably from "1-1*1,
boil, akin to Arab. ^i5, to be moved, as water
in boiling ; a pot or kettle ; also a basket.
2. "I'D, a pot or kettle. 3. fl»3X, or JD3X.
4. nnpp, perhaps from the root *17p, in post-
biblical Heb. = to steam forth ; AeB-qs, xVTPa.
¦KoSitrT-qp ; lebes, olla. A vessel for boiling flesh,

Bronze Caldron from Egyptian Thebes. (Brit Mus.)
either for ceremonial or domestic use (1 Sam.
ii. 14 ; 2 Ch. xxxv. 13 ; Job xii. 20 ; Ps. lviii. 9,
A. V. and R. V. pots; Mic. iii. 3). [H. W. P.]

Assyrian Caldron. (Kouyunjik.)
CALEB (373, of uncertain meaning; XdAeff).
1. According Tto 1 Ch. ii. 9, 18, 19, 42, 50,
the son of Hezron, the son of Pharez, the son of
Judah, and the father of Hur by Ephrath or
Ephratah, and consequently grandfather of Caleb
the spy. His brothers, according to the same
authority, were Jerahmeel and Ram ; his wives
Azubah, Jerioth, and Ephratah ; and his con
cubines Ephah and Maachah (vv. 9, 42, 46, 48).
But from the manifest corruption of the text
in many parts of the chapter, from the name
being written 1363 [R. V. " Chelubai "] in v. 9
(which looks like a patronymic, from 3'173>
Chelub [1 Ch. iv. 11] the brother of Shuah),
from the evident confusion between the two
Calebs at v. 49, and from the non-appearance of
this elder Caleb anywhere except in this gene
alogy, drawn up in Hezekiah's reign [Azariah,
No. 13], it is impossible to speak with confidence
of his relations, or even of his existence.
2. Son of Jephunneh, by which patronymic
'he illustrious spy is usually designated (Num.
xiii. 6, and ten other places), with the addition
of that of " the Kenezite " in Num. xxxii. 12
[R. V. " Kenizzite "], Josh. xiv. 6, 14. Caleb is
first mentioned in the list of the rulers or

CALEB
princes (D,X,b'3), called in the next verse
D'B'XI, "heads'," one from each tribe, who
were sent to search the land of Canaan in the
second year of the Exodus, where it may be
noted that these D'Wb} or C^X"} are all
different from those named in Num. i. ii. vii. x.
as princes or heads of the tribes of Israel, and
consequently that the same title was given to
the chiefs of families as to the chiefs of the
whole tribe. Caleb was a X'BO or £"X"I in the
tribe of Judah, perhaps as chief of the family of
the Hezronites, at the sarne time that Nahshon
the son of Amminadab was prince of the whole
tribe. He and Oshea or Joshua the son of Nun
were the only two of the whole number who,
on their return from Canaan to Kadesh-barnea,
encouraged the people to enter in boldly to the
land and take possession of it ; for which act of
faithfulness they narrowly escaped stoning at
the hands of the infuriated people. In the
plague that ensued, while the other ten spies
perished, Caleb and Joshua alone were spared.
Moreover, while it was announced to the con
gregation by Moses that, for this rebellious
murmuring, all that had been numbered from
twenty years old and upwards, except Joshua and
Caleb, should perish in the wilderness, a special
promise was made to Caleb the son of jephunneh
that he should survive to enter into the land
which he had trodden upon, and that his seed
should possess it. Accordingly, forty-five years
afterwards, when some progress had been made in
the conquest of the land, Caleb came to Joshua
and reminded him of what had happened at
Kadesh, and of the promise which Moses made
to him with an oath. He added that, though he
was now eighty-five years old, he was as strong
as in the day when Moses sent him to spy out
the land, and he claimed possession of the land
of the Anakims, Kirjath-arba, or Hebron, and
the neighbouring hill-country (Josh. xiv.). This
was immediately granted to him, and the fol
lowing chapter relates how he took possession
of Hebron, driving out the three sons of Anak ;
and how he offered Achsah his daughter iu mar
riage to whosoever would take Kirjath-sepher,
i.e. Debir ; and how when Othniel, his younger
brother, had performed the feat, he not only
gave him his daughter to wife, but with her
the upper and nether springs of water which
she asked for. After this we hear no more of
Caleb, nor is the time of his death recorded.
But we learn from Josh. xxi. 13, that in the
distribution of cities out of the different tribes
for the priests and Levites to dwell in, Hebron
fell to the priests, the children of Aaron, of the
family of Kohathites, and was also a city of
refuge, while the surrounding territory con
tinued to be the possession of Caleb, at least
as late as the time of David (1 Sam. xxv. 3,
xxx. 14).
But a very interesting question arises as to
the birth and parentage of Caleb. He is, as we
have seen, styled " the son of Jephunneh the
Kenizzite," and his younger brother Othniel,
afterwards the first Judge, is also called " the son
of Kenaz " (Josh. xv. 17 ; Judg. i. 13, iii. 9, H)-
On the other hand, the genealogy in 1 Ch. h.
makes no mention whatever of either Jephun
neh or Kenaz, but represents Caleb, though
obscurely, as being a descendant of Hezron and

CALEB

CALF

485

a son of Hur (see, too, ch. iv.). Again in Josh.
xv. 13 we have this singular expression, " Unto
Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part
[R. V. " portion "] among the children of Judah ;"
and in xiv. 14, the no less significant one,
" Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the
son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, because that
he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel "
[R. V.]. These variations are probably due to
the different documents consulted (see Dillmann2
on Num. xxxii. 12 ; Josh. xiv. 6) : by combining
them it becomes nearly certain that Caleb was
a foreigner by birth ; a proselyte, incorporated
into the tribe of Judah, into which perhaps he
or his ancestors had married, and one of the
first-fruits of that Gentile harvest of which
Jethro, Rahab, Ruth, Naaman, and many others
were samples and signs. And this conjecture
receives a most striking confirmation from the
names in Caleb's family. For on turning to
Gen. xxxvi. 11, 15, we find that Kenaz is an
Edomitish name, the son of Eliphaz. Again,
in 1 Ch. ii. 50, 52, among the sons of Caleb the
son of Hur we find Shobal and half the Mana-
hethites or sons of Manahath. But in Gen.
xxxvi. 20-23, we are told that Shobal was the
son of Seir the Horite, and that he was the
father of Manahath. So, too, Korah, Ithran,
Elah (1 Ch. ii., iv.), and perhaps Jephunneh,
compared with Pinon, are all Edomitish names
(1 Ch. i. ; Gen. xxxvi.). We find, too, Temanites,
or sons of Teman (1 Ch. i. 36), among the
children of Ashur the son of Hezron (1 Ch. iv. 6).
The finding thus whole families or tribes,
apparently of foreign origin, incorporated into
the tribes of Israel, seems further to supply us
with an easy and natural solution of the diffi
culty with regard to the great numbers of the
Israelites at the Exodus. The seed of Abraham
had been multiplied by the accretion of prose
lytes, as well as by generation.
3. Caleb-Ephratah, according to the pre
sent text of 1 Ch. ii. 24, the name of a place
where Hezron died. But no Such place was
ever heard of, and the composition of the name
is a most improbable one. Nor could Hezron
or his son have given any name to a place in
Egypt, the land of their bondage, nor could
Hezron have died, or his son have lived, else
where than in Egypt. The present text must
therefore be corrupt, and the reading which
Jerome's Hebrew Bible had, and which is pre
served in the LXX. and Vulg., is probably the
true one, viz. *I"1"SX 3^3 X3, " Caleb came
T T : '•' " T T
in unto Ephratah." The whole miormation
given seems to be that Hezron had two wives :
the first, whose name is not given, the mother
of Jerahmeel, Ram, and Caleb or Chelubai ; the
second, Abiah, the daughter of Machir, whom
he married when sixty years old, and who bare
him Segub and Ashur. Also that Caleb had two
wives: Azubah, the first, the mother, according
to Jerome's version, of Jerioth ; and Ephratah,
the second, the mother of Hur : and that this
second marriage of Caleb did not take place till
after Hezron's death. [A. C. H.]
On the other hand, Bertheau and Oettli, in
their notes on this passage, fix the place in
the neighbourhood of Ephratah or Bethlehem.
Further, they query the correctness of the trans
lation of the corrected text, and point out that

it introduces a notice not in keeping with the
text (see Wordsworth, note in loco). [F.]
CALEB. "The south of Caleb" is the
portion of the Negeb (333) or " south country "
of Palestine, occupied by Caleb and his descen
dants (1 Sam. xxx. 14). In the division of
Canaan Joshua assigned the city and suburbs of
Hebron to the priests, but the " field " of the
city, that is the pasture and corn lands, to
gether with the villages, were given to Caleb.
The south, or Negeb, of Caleb is probably to be
identified with the extensive basin or plain
which lies between Hebron and Kurmul, the
ancient Carmel of Judah, where Caleb's descen
dant Nabal had his possessions. [W. A. W.]
CALF (T^iV.' b)V., "IS, which some see
reproduced in the chief god of Palmyra, Agli-
bol, though this deity was represented in human
form ; pdtrx0' i SdpdAis). In Ex. xxxii. 4, we
are told that Aaron, constrained by the people
in the absence of Moses, made a molten calf of
the golden earrings of the people, to represent
the Elohim which brought Israel out of Egypt.
(A young " bull " would be a better rendering,
since the ancients never worshipped calves.) He
is also said to have " fashioned it (the gold)
with a graving- tool " (LXX. iv ypatplbt), but
the word CI*! may mean a mould (cp. 2 K.
v. 23, A. V. and R. V. " bags ; " LXX. BvAdKots).
Bochart (Hieroz. lib. ii. cap. xxxiv.), followed
by Keil, Ewald, Kalisch, Gesenius, &c, explains
it to mean " he placed the earrings in a bag,"
as Gideon did (Judg. viii. 24). Probably, how
ever, it means that after the calf had been cast,
Aaron ornamented it with the sculptured wings,
feathers, and other marks, which were similarly
represented on the statues of Apis, &c. (Wil
kinson, i. 289). It does not seem likely that
the earrings would have provided the enormous
quantity of gold required for a solid figure.
More probably (so Diestel and Baudissin) it
was a wooden figure laminated with gold, a
process which is known to have existed in Egypt.
"A gilded ox covered with a pall" was an
emblem of Osiris (Wilkinson, Ane. Eg. i. 278
[ed. 1878]).

Bronze figure of Apis. (Wilkinson.)
The legends about the calf are numerous. The
suggestion is said by the Jews to have originated
with certain Egyptian proselytes (Godwin's Mos.
and Aar. iv. 5); Hur, the "desert's martyr,"
was killed for opposing it ; Abu'lfeda says that
all except 12,000 worshipped it ; and that, when

486

CALF

made, it was magically animated. " The devil,"
says Jonathan, " got into the metal and fashioned
it into a calf" (Lightfoot, Works, v. 398). Hence
the Koran (Sura, vii. 146) calls it " a corporeal
calf, made of their ornaments, which lowed."
This was effected, not by Aaron (according to
the Mohammedans), but by al Sameri, a chief
Israelite, whose descendants still inhabit an
island of the Arabian Gulf. He took a handful
of dust from the footsteps of the horse of Gabriel,
who rode at the head of the host, and threw it
into the mouth of the calf, which immediately
began to low (see Koran, Sura, vii. 146-148;
xx. 81-96). No one is to be punished in hell
more than forty days, being the number of days
of the calf-worship (Sale's Koran, ed. Davenport,
p. 7, note; and see Weil's Legends, p. 125). It
was a Jewish proverb that " no punishment be-
falleth the Israelites in which there is not an
ounce of this calf" (Godwin, ubi supr. See
Hamburger, R.E. s. nn. " Aaron," " Kalber-
dienst ").
To punish the apostasy Moses burnt the calf,
and then grinding it to powder scattered it over
the water, where, according to some, it pro
duced in the drinkers effects similar to the water
of jealousy (Num. v.). He probably adopted
this course as the deadliest and most irreparable
blow to their superstition (Jerome, Ep. 128 ;
Plut. de Is. p. 362), or as an allegorical act
(Job xv. 16), or with reference to an Egyptian
custom (Herod, ii. 41 ; Pole, Syn. ad loc). It
has always been a difficulty to explain the pro
cess which he used ; some account for it by his
supposed knowledge of a forgotten art (such as
was one of the boasts of alchemy) by which he
could reduce gold to dust. Goguet (Origine des
Lois) invokes the assistance of natron, which
would have had the additional advantage of
making the draught nauseous. Baumgarten
endows the fire employed with miraculous pro
perties. Bochart and Rosenmuller adopt the sim
pler and more natural view that he cut, ground,
and filed the gold to powder, such as was used
to sprinkle over the hair (Jos. Ant viii. 7, § 3).
There seems little doubt that ?[}& = KaraKaiu,
LXX. (Havernick's Introd. to the Pentat. p. 292).
It has always been a question respecting this
calf and those of Jeroboam, whether, I. the Jews
intended them to represent some Egyptian god,
or II. a mere cherubic symbol of Jehovah.
I. The arguments for the first supposition are :
1. The ready apostasy of the Jews to Egyptian
superstition (Ezek. xx. 6-10 ; Acts vii. 39,
and passim ; Lactant. Inst. iv. 10). 2. The
fact that they had been worshippers of Apis
(Josh. xxiv. 14), and their extreme familiarity
with his cultus (l K. xi. 40). 3. The resemblance
of the feast described in Ex. xxxii. 5, to the festi
val in honour of Apis (Suid. s. v^Anibes ; Herod.
iii. 28 ; Plut. de Isid. xx. 29 ; Rawlinson, Herod.
ii. 423). Of the various sacred cows of Egypt,
that of Isis, of Athor, and of the three kinds of
sacred bulls, Apis (Osiris in Memphis), Basis,
and Mnevis (see Strabo, xvii. 805 ; Aeliau, Hist.
An. xi. 10 ; Macrob. Saturn, i. 21), Sir G. Wil
kinson fixes on the last as the prototype of
the golden calf : " The offerings, dancings, and
rejoicings practised on that occasion were doubt
less in imitation of a ceremony they had wit
nessed in honour of Mnevis" (^Irae. Egypt., v.
197; cp.,i. 140 [1878]). It is observable that

CALF
Philo uses the word Tavpos as well as potrxos
for Aaron's calf, and in Rev. iv. 7 no doubt
p6trxos means " a bull ;" but Philo was entirely
mistaken in supposing that it was a, symbol of
Typhon. The ox was worshipped from its utility
in agriculture (Plut. de Is. 74), and was a symbol
of the sun, and consecrated to him (Hom. Od. i.
xii. &c. ; Warburton, Div. Leg. iv. 3, 5). Thus
among the Persians a bull is the symbol of
Mithras, and Moloch was sometimes worshipped
with an ox's head (Movers, Phbniz. i. 377 ; cp.
Lact. Instt. iv. 10), and Bacchus is called Bov-
yevlis (Pausan. vi. 26). Hence it is almost
universally found in Oriental and other mytho
logies. 4. The expression " an ox that eateth
hay," &c. (Ps. cvi. 20, &c), where some see
an allusion to the Egyptian custom of bringing
a bottle of hay when they consulted Apis (God
win's Mos. and Aar. iv. 5). Yet these terms of
scorn are rather due to the intense hatred of the
Jews both to this idolatry and that of Jeroboam.
Thus in Tob. i. 5 (see Speaker's Comm. note)
we have one of Jeroboam's calves called con
temptuously r) SdpaAts BaaA, although the calf-
worship was wholly distinct from the Baal-
worship introduced by Jezebel. In Jer. xlvi. 15
(A. V. "are thy valiant men [R. V. "strong
ones "] swept away ? ") the LXX. has "Airis 6
p6trxos o-ov 6 eKAeKTds, and the true reading
may be, " Hath Khaph (i.e. Apis) thy chosen
one fled ? " (Bochart, Hieroz. ii, 28, 6 ; Schleus
ner, s. u.'Ato; Ewald, Hitzig, &c.)
II. It seems to us more likely that in this
calf-worship the Jews merely
"Likened their Maker to the graved ox ; "
or, in other words, adopted a well-understood
cherubic emblem (1 Kings vii. 25, 29 ; Ezek. i.
10, x. 14; Rev. iv. 7). Reverence for domestic
animals was common among pastoral peoples
(W. R. Smith, i. 277, &c), and calf-worship
very common among Semitic races ; and though
it be matter of dispute whether or not it was
common among the ancient Hebrews (see Diestel
in Riehm's H WB. and Baudissin in Herzog, RE.'
s. v. " Kalb, goldenes "), yet, 1. it is obvious that
they were aware of this symbol, since Moses
finds it unnecessary to describe it (Ex. xxv. 18-
22). 2. Josephus seems to imply that the calf
symbolised God (Ant. viii. 8, § 4). 3. Aaron in
proclaiming the feast (Ex. xxxii. 5) distinctly
calls it a feast to Jehovah, and speaks of the
god as the visible representation of Him Who
had led them out of Egypt. 4. Independent of
the fact that the Egyptians only worshipped
live animals, and that the images of the calf
were probably used in processions only, it was
extremely unlikely that they would so soon
adopt a deity whom they had so recently seen
humiliated by the judgments of Moses (Num.
xxxiii. 4). 5. There was only one Apis, whereas
Jeroboam erected two calves (but see Jahn,
Arch. Bibl. § 464). 6. Jeroboam's well-under
stood political purpose was, not to introduce a
new religion (1 Kings xii. 28, 32, 33 ; cp. 2 Kings
iii. 2, 3), but to provide a different form of the
old ; and we can thus see the reason why this
was the only form of idolatry into which Judah
never fell, since she already possessed the arche
typal emblems in the Temple. 7. It appears
from 1 K. xxii. 6, &c. that the prophets of
Israel, though sanctioning the calf-worship, still

CALITAS
regarded themselves, and were regarded, as "pro
phets of Jehovah." If these views be correct,
the sin of Aaron and Jeroboam was a violation
of the second commandment (Bilderdienst), and
not so flagrant an apostasy as would be implied
by a violation of the first (Abgotterei). The
people however were little likely to draw these
distinctions, and the sins of Aaron and Jeroboam
rapidly culminated in grosser forms of idolatry
(Amos v. 25, 26 ; Jer. ii. 28, xi. 13 ; 2 Kings
xvii. 22, 23).
These arguments, out of many others, are ad
duced from the interesting treatise of Moncaeus,
Aaron Purgatus, sive de Yitulo Aureo (Critici
Sacri, ix.). The work is inhibited by the Church
of Rome, and has been answered by Visorinus.
A brief resume of it may be found in Pole, Syn.
ad Ex. xxxii., and in Watt's Remnants of Time
(ad finem). For fuller accounts of the contro
versy, see Moebius, Moscholatria ; Spencer, de
legg. Hebr. iii. 4 ; Bochart, Hieroz. p. ii. c. xxxiv. ;
Selden, de Diis Syris, Syntagma, i. 4. [Cheru
bim.] The Prophet Hosea is full of denunciations
against the Northern worship of the calves (Hos.
viii. 5, 6 ; x. 6), and mentions the curious custom
of kissing them (xiii. 2). His change of Bethel
into Bethaven possibly rose from contempt of
this idolatry (but see Bethaven). The calf at
Dan was carried away by Tiglath-pileser, and
that of Bethel ten years after by his son
Shalmaneser (2 K. xv. 29, xvii. 3 ; Prideaux,
Connexion, i. 15).
Bochart thinks that the ridiculous story of
Celsus about the Christian worship of an ass-
headed deity called &atpapauB t) 'OvitiA — a story,
at the origin of wliich Tertullian ('OvokoIttts,
Apol. 16, Ad Nat. i. 14) could only guess —
sprang from some misunderstanding of cherubic
emblems (Minuc. Fel. Apol. ix.). But it is much
more probable, as Origen conjectured, that the
Christians were confounded with the absurd
mystic Ophiani or other Gnostic sects which
indulged in strange symbols (Tac. Hist. v. 4 ;
Merivale, Hist, of Emp. vi. 564. See Dict. of
Christ. Ant, s. v. Asinara).
In the expression " the calves of our lips "
(Hos. xiv. 2 ; R. V. " as bullocks the offering of
our lips"), the word "calves" is used meta
phorically for victims or sacrifices, and the pas
sage may mean " we will render to Thee sacri
fices of our lips," that is, " the tribute of thanks
giving and praise " (see Dr. Pusey's note in loc. ;
utterances of thanksgiving instead of sacrifices
of thank-offerings, Speaker's Comm. note; what
was spiritual and not material, Orelli), or " we
will offer to Thee the sacrifices which our lips
have vowed." The LXX. render Kapirbv tuv
XeiAeuv (i.e. *"1S for D'HE), and is followed by
the Syr. and Arab. Versions ; cp. also Heb.
xiii. 15 : a rendering, inasmuch as the Heb.
text is unquestionably harsh, preferred by many
moderns (QPB.3). For allusions to the "fatted
calf," see Gen. xviii. 21, Luke xv. 23, &c. : and
on the custom of cutting up a calf, and " passing
between the .parts thereof" to ratify a covenant,
see Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19 ; Gen. xv. 10, 17 ; Ephrem
Syrus, i. 161 ; Hom. II. iii. 208. [F. W. F.]
CALI'TAS (LXX. om. ; Calitas), 1 Esd. ix.
48, a Levite who taught and explained the word
of the Lord, and is called Kelita in Neh. viii. 7.

CALVARY

487

If he be the same as the Calitas of v. 28, ho was
also one of the Levites who promised to repu
diate his " strange wife." Dr. Swete, however,
reproducing in the text Kuvos, oStos KaAetrats,
Kai TlaBalos, conjectures the right reading to
have been KaAecrai 2(ce7raflaibs. [F.]
CALLIS'THENES (KaAAitrBevqs), a partisan
of Nicanor, who was burnt by the Jews on the
defeat of that general in revenge for his guilt in
setting fire to " the sacred portals " (2 Mace.
viii. 33). [B. F. W.]
CAL'NEH, or CAL'NO (\l£>3, i37;3 ;
XaAawn, XaAdviq ; Chalanne), according to
Gen. x. 10, one of the cities of Nimrod, men
tioned with Babel, Erech, and Akhad, " in the
land of Shinar." The identification of Calneh
is very uncertain. The Targum of Jerusalem,
Eusebius, Jerome, and Ephraim the Syrian
make it to be Ctesiption (Seleucia), beyond the
Tigris, towards Elam. Others make it to be
Niffer, a city which lay between the Euphrates
and the Tigris, the Nipuru of the Assyrian and
Babylonian inscriptions. Both these identifica
tions, however, are mere guesses, and worthless.
The Calneh of Gen. a. 10, and the Calno of Is. x.
9, where, according to the LXX., " the tower
was built," remain as yet unidentified. With
regard to the Calneh of Amos vi. 2 (" Pass ye
to Calneh, and see ; and from thence go ye to
Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of
the Philistines "), this is apparently a Syrian
city, and is probably the same as the Kulnia of
the Assyrian tribute-lists, where it is mentioned
with Arpad, Carchemish, Hadrach, &c. Whether
this is the same as the Kullani of the geo
graphical lists, is uncertain. This last-named
is apparently the Kullani which was captured
in the year 738 B.C. by Tiglath-pileser III.
Prof. Fried. Delitzsch compares the Calneh of
Amos with this city, and gives, as a possible
identification, the modern Kullanhu, a ruined
town about six miles from Arpad. It is there
fore possible that the Kullani or Kulnia of the
Assyrian inscriptions, the Calno of<Is. x. 9, and
the Calneh of' Amos vi. 2, are one and the same
place. There seems to be a confusion of two
names in the Old Testament. [T. G. P.]
CAL'PHI (XA. o XaAtpei; Jos. Xa<pa(oe;
Calphi), father of Judas, one of the two captains
(IxpXOVTes) of Jonathan's army who remained
firm at the battle of Gennesar (I Mace. xi. 70).
[B. F. W.]
CALVARY (Kpaviov ; Syr. Karkaptha ; Cal-
varia ; R. V. the skull), a word occurring in
the A. V. only in Luke xxiii. 33, and there no
proper name (cp. the French word Chaumont
[Renan, Vie de Je'sus, p. 269] ), but arising from
the translators having literally adopted the
word calvaria, i.e. a bare skull, the Latin word
by which the Kpaviov of the Evangelists is
rendered in the Vulgate; Kpaviov again being
nothing but the Greek interpretation of the
Hebrew Golgotha.
Kpaviov is used by each of the four Evangel
ists in describing the place of the Crucifixion,
and is in every case translated in the Vulg.
calvaria; and in every case but that in St. Luke
the A. V. has " skull." Dean Stanley has not
omitted to notice this (S. ty P. p. 460, note), and

488

CAMEL

to call attention to the fact that the popular
expression " Mount Calvary " is not warranted
by any statement in the accounts of the place of
our Lord's Crucifixion. There is no mention
of a mount in either of the narratives. The
association of " mount " with the place of Cruci
fixion is of early origin ; the Bordeaux Pilgrim
has (Itin. Hiero.) "monticulus Golgotha," and
this expression was probably current at an
earlier period. [Crucifixion ; Golgotha ;
Jerusalem.] ' [G.] [W.]
CAMEL. Under this head we shall consider
the Hebrew words gdmdl, becher or bichrdh, and
chirchdrSth. As to the achashteranim " in Esth.
viii. 10, erroneously translated " camels " by the
A. V., see Mule (note).
1. Gdmdl (70| ; udp-qAos ; camelus) is the
common Hebrew term to express the genus
" camel," irrespective of any difference of species,
age, or breed : it occurs in numerous passages
of the 0. T., and is in all probability derived
from a root" which signifies "to carry." It
has been preserved with scarcely any alteration
in Arabic, Greek, and all the languages of
modern Europe. It gave its name to the third
letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which in its
original form was a rude outline of the shape
of the camel. The first mention of camels
occurs in Gen. xii. 16, as among the presents
which Pharaoh bestowed upon Abram when he
was in Egypt. It is clear from this passage that
camels were early known to the Egyptians (see
also Ex. ix. 3), though no representation of this
animal has yet been discovered on the monu
ments (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, i. 234 [1878].
In PSBA. xii. 81-84, Houghton adduces one
or two Egyptian words which denote with much
probability the camel). The camel has been
from the earliest times the most important beast
of burden amongst Oriental nations. The Ethio
pians had " camels in abundance " (2 Ch. xiv.
15) ; the queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem
"with camels that bare spices and gold and
precious stones " (1 K. x. 2) ; the men of Kedar
and of Hazor possessed camels (Jer. xlix. 29,
32) ; David took away the camels from the
Geshurites and the Amalekites (1 Sam. xxvii. 9,
xxx. 17) ; forty camels' burden of good things
were sent to Elisha by Benhadad king of Syria
from Damascus (2 K. viii. 9); the Ishmaelites
trafficked with Egypt in the precious gums of
Gilead, carried on the backs of camels (Gen.
xxxvii. 25). It was especially in the regions
east and south of Palestine that camels were
most numerous, as they are to this day. The
Reubenites in their war with the Hagarites, the
Arabs of the western Belka, took of their
camels 50,000 (1 Ch. v. 21), and the powerful
tribe of the Beni Sakk'r, who now inhabit that
region, boast of 100,000 camels. The Midianites
and the Amalekites possessed camels " as the
sand by the sea-side for multitude " (Judg. vii.

* D\3")")KTIX- See QPB? The E. V. of the latter
part of this verse'is very different from the A. V.
b 703 = Arab, hamala, " to carry," according to
Gesenius and others. [But cp. Sausk. Icramila and
Assyr. gam^mal. The term appears to be a loan word
both in the Aryan and Semitic languages (^hump
backed?).— C. J. B.]

CAMEL
12); Job had 3,000 camels before his affliction
(Job i. 3), and 6,000 afterwards (xiii. 12).
And in the picture given by Isaiah of the
universal triumph of Christ's Church in the
latter days, the wild sons of the desert are
described as coming in with their camels : "The
multitude of camels shall cover thee, the drome
daries of Midian and Ephah " (lx. 6).
David had a. special officer to take charge of
the royal camels, Obil, the lshmaelite (1 Ch.
xxvii. 30), whose charge probably pastured in
his own native deserts, then under David's sway.
On the return from the Babylonian Captivity,
only 435 camels were possessed by the whole
congregation (Neh.' vii. 69).
The camel was used for riding (Gen. xxiv. 64 -
1 Sam. xxx. 17), as a beast of burden generally
(Gen. xxxvii. 25 ; 1 K. x. 2 ; 2 K. viii. 9, &e.),
and for draught purposes (Is. xxi. 7: see also
Suetonius, Neron. c. 11°). From 1 Sam. xxx. 17
we learn that camels were used in war : compare
also Pliny (N. H. viii. 18), Xenophon (Cyrop. vii.
1, 27), Herodotus (i. 80, vii. 86), and Livy
(xxxvii. 40). It is to the mixed nature of the
forces of the Persian army that Isaiah is probably
alluding in his description of the fall of Babylon
(Is. xxi. 7).
The employment of the camel for draught is,
however, less frequent than as a beast of burden.
In Arabia and North Africa, indeed, the camel
is still ordinarily yoked to the plough, but in
Syria this service is almost exclusively per
formed by the ox and the ass. Though Isaiah
(xxi. 7) speaks of " a chariot [so R. V. marg.,
but in text " a troop "] of camels," he is pro
bably referring to a Persian, not a Jewish custom,
as he is describing the composition of the Median
army, whose camels would be the Baetrian two-
humped species. The camel is not now attached
to carriages on wheels, and its anatomical struc
ture does not adapt it so much for draught as
for burdens. " They will carry their treasures
upon the bunches of camels " (Is. xxx. 6). The
great strength of the camel does not lie in the
propelling power of the shoulder, but in the
sustaining power of the back, especially of the
hump, called above " the bunch." To enable the
camel to receive its load, by a special provision
of nature it is formed to kneel down whenever
it desires to rest or to drink (Gen. xxiv. 12), and
it also prefers feeding in this posture. This
habit of kneeling down is not merely the result
of training ; it is the natural posture of repose,
as is shown also by the callosities on the joints
of the legs, and especially by that on the breast,
which serves as a pedestal to support the body.
We read of " camel's furniture " (Gen. xxxi.
34) and " ornaments " (Judg. viii. 21 ; R. V.
" crescents "). The former, in which Rachel
hid the images stolen from her father, is a
huge wooden framework or saddle upon and
round the hump, over which carpet and woollen
cloth is fastened. On the top of the pile,
men sit cross-legged, but women and children
are carried in cages or light wooden frame
work, slung as panniers on either side of the
saddle. The riding camels are frequently deco
rated with bands of bright coloured cloth or
leather, on which are stitched cowrie shells,.
little bells, and sometimes silver crescent-shaped

0 " Commisit etiam camelorum quadrigas.'

CAMEL
ornaments ("ornaments like the moon," Judg.
viii. 21).d To this day these crescent-shaped
ornaments are used, so thickly studded as to
jingle at every step. The camel is never guided
by a bit, but simply by a' halter attached to a
noose round the nose. Nothing more is needed,
for the camels always follow in line, though the
halter of the leader is frequently held by a
mounted horseman who directs the whole cara
van. Cf. Statius, Thebaid. ix. 687 : " Niveo
lunata monilia dente."
The camel is by no means an amiable animal,
and its owner never seems to form any attach
ment to his beast, nor the animal to reciprocate
kindness in any degree. I never found one camel
valued above his fellow for intelligence or
affection. A traveller always makes a friend of
his horse, most certainly of his ass, sometimes
of his mule, but never of his camel. I have
made a journey in Africa for three months with
the same camels, but never succeeded in eliciting
the slightest token of recognition in one of them,
or of a friendly disposition for kindness shown.
Dr. Robinson gives the following very faithful
account of the camel : — " Admirably adapted to
the desert regions which are their home, they
yet constitute one of the evils which travelling
in the desert brings with it. Their long, slow,
rolling or rocking gait, although not at first
very unpleasant, becomes exceedingly fatiguing,
so that I have often been more exhausted in
riding five-and-twenty miles on a camel than in
travelling fifty upon horseback. Yet without
them, how could such journeys be performed at
all ? But their home is the desert, and they
were made, in the wisdom of the Creator, to be
the carriers of the desert. The coarse and
prickly shrubs of the waste are to them most
delicious food, and even of them they eat but
little. So few are the wants of their nature,
that their power of going without food, as well
as without water, is wonderful. They never
appear to tire, but commonly march as freshly
at evening as in the morning ... If they once
begin to fail, they soon lie down and die. Thus,
two camels of our train died between Suez and
Akabah, which a few hours before had been
travelling with full loads. In all our journey
to Wady Musa, the camels fed only upon shrubs,
and never tasted grain of any kind, although
once we had them loaded for thirty-six hours,
during all wliich time they browsed only for
one hour. Their well-known habit of lying
down upon the breast to receive their burdens
... is an admirable adaptation of nature to
their destiny as carriers . . . Hardly less won
derful is the adaptation of their broad-cushioned
feet to the arid sands and gravelly soil, which it
is their lot chiefly to traverse. The camel in
very many respects is not unlike the sheep.
They are silly timid animals; gregarious, and
when alarmed, like sheep, they run and huddle
all together. They are commonly represented
as patient, but, if so, it is the patience of
stupidity. They are rather exceedingly im
patient, and utter loud cries of indignation when
receiving their loads, and not seldom on being
made to kneel down. They are also obstinate,
d D'31nB'. Compare also Is. iii. 18, " Round tires
like the moon," A. V. ; " crescents," R. V. The LXX.
has prtvltrKot, Vulg. lunalae.

CAMEL

489'

and frequently vicious; and the attempt to
urge them forward is often very much like
trying to drive sheep the way they do not choose
to go. The cry of the camel resembles, in a
degree, the hollow bleating of the sheep ; some
times it is like the howling of neat cattle, or
the hoarse squeal of the swine. But the Arabs
heed not their cries, nor does the poor animal
find much mercy at their hands. Heavy and
galling loads and meagre fare are his appointed
portion, and God has hardened him to them.
The camels of the Fellahin (husbandmen) appear
to have an easier lot ; they are mostly large,
fat, and strong, while those of the Bedouin in
the deserts are comparatively thin and slender.
The singular power of the camel to go without
water seems also to be of the same nature as
that of the sheep, at least in its manifestation,
though in a far greater degree. The dew and
the juice of grass and herbs are sufficient for
them in ordinary cases, though, when the
pasturage has become dry, the Arabs water
their flocks every two days and their camels
every three. The longest trial to which we
subjected our camels with respect to water
was from Cairo to Suez, four days ; yet some of
them did not drink even then, although they
had only the driest fodder. But at all times
the camel eats and drinks little ; he is a cold
blooded, heavy, sullen animal, having little
feeling and little susceptibility for pain. Thistles
and briars and thorns he crops and chews with
more avidity than the softest green fodder ; nor
does he seem to feel pain from blows or pricks
unless they are very violent.
"There is nothing graceful or sprightly in
any camel, old or young ; all is misshapen, un
gainly, and awkward. The young have nothing
frisky or playful, but in all their movements
are as staid and sober as their dams. In this
respect how unlike the lamb !
" As the carriers of the East, ' the ships of
the desert,' another important quality of the
camel is his surefootedness. I was surprised to
find them travelling with so much ease and
safety up and down the most rugged mountain
passes. They do not choose their way with
the like sagacity as the mule or even as the
horses, but they tread much more surely and
safely, and never either slip or stumble . . . The-
sounds by which the Arabs govern their camels
are very few and very guttural. The signal for
kneeling is not unlike a gentle snore, and is
made by throwing the breath strongly against
the palate, but not through the nose. That for
stopping is a sort of a guttural clucking which
I never could master" (Robinson's Researches,
ii. pp. 208-210).
The provision of nature by which the camel
is enabled to subsist so long without a fresh
supply of water, consists in the large develop
ment of the honeycomb network, or tissue of
cells, which lines the first stomach, and which
receives and retains the water taken into the
stomach after the natural thirst has been,
allayed. These honeycomb cells become largely
dilated to receive the water.
The camel is not a swift animal. On good
ground it will keep up a pace, when laden, of
three miles an hour ; but its average speed,. .
taking into account rough or uneven ground1 '
and hills, does not exceed two and a half milea

490

CAMEL

an hour, which is the ordinary calculation for
travelling in the East. But this pace it will
maintain for many consecutive hours. The
dromedary, or finely-bred swift camel, will keep
up eight or ten miles an hour when lightly
mounted. Camel's flesh was forbidden as food to the
Israelites (Lev. xi. 4; Deut. xiv. 7), because,
though the camel " cheweth the cud, it divideth
not the hoof." As the camel does not fully
divide the hoof, the anterior parts only being
cleft, it was excluded by the very terms of the
definition. The flesh of the camel is now eaten
by all Moslems without scruple. It is coarse
and dry, much inferior to beef, though commonly
used by the Bedawee. Among the Syrians, only
the very poorest think of cooking it.
The same distinction was observed as regards
sacrifice. The Israelites were forbidden to
sacrifice the camel ; among the Arabs it was a
common offering (W. R. Smith, The Religion of
the Semites, i. 201).
The milk is very largely used wherever the
camel exists, and is excellent. It is rich and
strong, but not very sweet. It was esteemed
from the earliest times (Aristot. Hist. Anim. vi.
"25, § 1 ; Pliny, N. H. xi. 41, xxviii. 9). Among
Jacob's gifts to Esau were " thirty milch camels
with their colts" (Gen. xxxii. 15), D'jDil
rilpi^D, lit. " camels giving suck." The milk
which Jael offered Sisera would probably be
camel's milk, as in camels consisted the wealth
of the Keuites, and the prohibition of the flesh
to the Jews did not extend to the milk. The
milk is ordinarily at once soured and curdled, in
which state it is most nourishing and refreshing.
The curds are salted, immediately squeezed into
a sort of incipient cheese, and are eaten in this
state. Butter is also made from the new milk
poured into a leather bottle and beaten with a
stick. John the Baptist had " his raiment of camel's
hair" (Matt. iii. 4 ; Mark i. 6), and it seems
probable that Elijah was clad in a similar gar
ment (Calmet, Dict. Frag. No. cccxx. ; Rosenmiill.
Schol. ad Is. xx. 2). The hair of the camel,
especially the coarse woolly tufts about the
hump and back, is sometimes torn off, but more
generally, as we have observed, closely shorn
in spring, and is woven into a coarse thick
fabric by the Arab women. It is with this
material that the " black tents of Kedar " are
generally covered, as it is much thicker and
stouter than woollen stuff. It is very harsh and
rough to the touch, and thus the Baptist's dress
was in accordance with the austerity of his life.
There is also a soft fabric made of the carefully
selected under-wool of the camel, but this is a
costly luxury, dearer than the finest cloth of
sheep's wool (see Aelian, Nat. Hist. xvii. 34).
Ezekiel (xxv. 5) declares that Rabbah shall be a
" stable for camels, and the children of Ammon
a couching place for flocks " (R. V.). The ruins
iu this country are places of resort for the
Bedawee where they pasture their camels and
their sheep. See ¦' Illustrations of Scripture,"
in vol. ii. pt. ix. of Good Words.
2. Beccr,bic.-ah CT2Z, n*|33 ; LXX. Kdpr}Aos
, in Is, lx. 6; in Jer. ii. 23, strangely b\pe; Spopeus
in Verss. of Aq., Theod., aud Sym. ; dromedarius,
cursor). The Hebrew words occur only in the

CAMEL
two passages above named, where the A. V. and
R. V. read " dromedary," and no doubt correctly.
The dromedary is not a distinct species, but
merely a finer race, differing from the camel of
the caravan as a race-horse does from a cart
horse. It is taller, more slender, and generally
but not always, of a lighter colour. The hump
is smaller and the shoulders broader than in
the common camel. It is distinguished in
Arabia as the Heirie, and a still finer and
taller race is possessed by the Touareg of the
Sahara, and known as Mahari. It is intolerant
of cold, and never thrives near the coast. Dro
medaries, when pressed, can accomplish eighty
miles in a day.
Isaiah, foretelling the conversion of the Gen
tiles, says, " The multitude of camels shall cover
thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah."
In Jeremiah God expostulates with Israel for
her wickedness, and compares her to a swift
bicrdh " traversing her ways." Bochart
(Hieroz. i. 15 sq.) contends that the Hebrew
word is indicative only of a difference in age,
and adduces the authority of the Arabic becra
in support of his opinion that a young camel is
signified by the term. Gesenius follows Bochait,
and (Comment, ad Jes. lx. 6) answers the objec
tions of Rosenmiiller, who (Not. ad Bochart,
Hieroz. 1. c.) argues in favour of the " drome
dary." Gesenius's remarks are commented on
again by Rosenmiiller in his Bibl. Eaturgesoh.
ii. 21. The] Versions support the rendering
dromedary, as does also the epithet "swift,"
applied to the bicrdh in Jeremiah ; while on the
other hand the term is used in the Arabic B to
denote " a young camel." Oedmann, comment
ing on the Hebrew word, makes the following
observation : — " ' The multitude of camels shall
cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian,' &c. — a
weak distinction if bicrim means only young
camels in opposition to old ones" (Verm.
Sam.), but most moderns accept the rendering
" young camel " (cp. R. V. marg.).
3. As to the chirchdroth (*li"l3"13) of Is. lxvi.
20, which the LXX. interpret OKidSta, the Vulg.
carrucae, and the A. V. and R. V. " swift beasts,"
there is some difference of opinion. The explana
tion is not satisfactory which is given by.Bochart
(Hieroz. i. 25), following some of the Rabbis,
and adopted by Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Lee, and
others, that "dromedaries " are meant. Accord
ing to those who sanction this rendering, the
word (which occurs only in Isaiah, I. c.) is
derived from the root "i"13, "to leap," "to
gallop ;" but the idea involved is surely inap
plicable to the jolting trot of a camel. The old
Versions moreover are opposed to such an expla
nation. We prefer, with Michaelis (Suppl. ad
Lex. Heb. No. 1210) aud Parkhurst (s. v.), to
understand by chirchdroth " panniers " or
" baskets " carried on the backs of camels or
mules, and to refer the word to its unredupli-
cated form in Gen. xxxi. 34.' The shaded

so -

X^_>, "a young camel," up to the age of nine years
(Line, Arab. Lex. i. 240).
' "13, i.e. "the camel's saddle," with a kind of canopy
over it. See Jahn (Arch. Mbl. p. 54, TJpham's transla
tion) : " Sometimes they travel iu a covered vehicle
v Iiich is secured on the back of a camel, and answers tie

CAMEL
vehicles of the LXX. are to be seen to this day
in the environs of every Eastern city, where the
ladies are carried in light chairs slung on either
side of a camel or mule, with a framework over

CAMEL

491

rians loading a Camel. (Kouyunjis.)

them, covered with very light canvas or white
calico. There is no trace of any wild original of the
camels, nor any clue to the period when it was
first reduced to servitude by man. The only
camels known to exist in the world in a feral
state are a few in the Marisma, near the mouth

of the Guadalquivir in Spain, and in the Ca-
narian island of Fuerteventura, the descendants
of some turned loose there many years ago, like
the wild horses of South America.

Arabian Camel.

The camel is probably a native of Central or
Southern Asia, as the bones of fossil species have
been found in the tertiary remains of the
Himalayan region. The camel of Arabia, Africa,

Bactrian or Two-humped Camels on Assyrian monnments. (Layard.)

and Syria is Camelus dromedarius. The only
other species, Camelus bactrianus, which is
depicted on the Assyrian monuments, is never
used in Western Asia or Africa, and was prob
ably unknown to the Jews before the Babylonian
captivity. It extends through Persia, Central
Asia, Tartary, andChina, and can sustain extreme
cold, but has not the powers of endurance of the
one-humped camel. The camel belongs to the
family Camelidae, order Suminantia.
The camel, as may be readily conceived, is the
subject amongst Orientals of many proverbial
' expressions ; see many cited by Bochart (Hieroz.
i. 30), e.g. "Men are like camels; not one in a
hundred is a dromedary." And from the Tal
mud, " There are many old camels which carry
the skins of young ones to be sold ;" " The
camel went to seek horns, and lost his ears."
purpose of a small house," In this sense the word
may be referred to the Arabic . ^5 " sella camelina.

'J-

aliis, cum apparatu euo " (Freytag, s. v.). [But the
name ni*13"13 is probably to be explained by Hebrew
*0*13> "saliit," or Arabic \ ., "subsultim incessit
camela."— C. J. B.J

Two proverbs relating to camels are used by
our Lord : " It is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of » needle, than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God " (Matt.

Bactrian Camel,

xix. 24) ; " Ye blind guides, which strain out the
gnat and swallow the camel " (Matt, xxiii. 24,
R. V.). In both the force of the hyperbolcis in its

492

CAMON

magnitude, and there is no occasion either to
explain away or amend the text, in the former
passage, which simply means that the entrance
of the rich man into heaven without Divine grace
or assistance is impossible. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CA'MOK fltoj?, Ges. perhaps = stability";
B. "Papvuv, A. "Pappti ; Jos. Kap&v ; Camon ;
R. V. Kamon), the place in which Jair the Judge
was buried (Judg. x. 5). The few notices of
Jair which we possess have all reference to the
country E. of Jordan, and there is therefore no
reason against accepting the statement of Jose
phus (Ant. v. 7, § 6) that Camon was a city of
Gilead. In support of this is the mention by
Polybius (v. 70, § 12) of a Camoun (Kapovv) in
company with Pella and other trans-Jordanic
places (Reland, p. 679). The name has not yet
been recovered on the E. of Jordan. Eusebius
(OS.2 p. 271, 65) identifies it with Kappuvd,
Jerome (OS.2 p. 144, 18) with Cimona, Cyamos,
in the plain of Esdraelon. [G.] [W.]
CAMP. [Encampments.]
CAMPHIRE ("133," cdpher ; Kvn-pos; Cyprus,
Cyprus). There can be no doubt that " cam-
phire," A. V., is an incorrect rendering of the
Hebrew term, which occurs in the sense of some
aromatic substance only in Cant. i. 14, iv. 13 :
the margin in both passages has " cypress,"
giving the form but not the signification of the
Greek word. The R. V. rightly renders it
"henna flowers." Camphire, or, as it is now
generally written, camphor, is a product of a tree

largely cultivated in the island of Formosa, the
Camphora offioinarum, of the nat. order Laura-
ceae. There is another tree, the Dryobalanops
aromatica of Sumatra, which also yields cam
phor ; but it is improbable that the substance

" Perhaps from 153, oblevit: "Quia mulieres in
oriente ungues oblinunt" (Simon. Lex. o. v.). Cf.
Arabic iti, pix, and the Syriao j^OD. The Greek
miirpoc is the same word as the Hebrew.

CAMPHIEE
secreted by either of these trees was known to-
the ancients.
From the expression " cluster of cdpher in the
vineyards of Engedi," in Cant. i. 14, the Chaldee
Version reads "bunches of grapes." Several
Versions retain the Hebrew word. The sub
stance really denoted by cdpher is the Kvnpos of
Dioscorides, Theophrastus, &c, and the cypros
of Pliny, i.e. the Lawsonia alba of botanists, the
henna of Arabian naturalists. So R. Ben Melek
(Cant. i. 14) : " The cluster of copher is that
which the Arabs call al-henna " (see Celsius
Hierob. i. 223). Although there is some dis
crepancy in the descriptions given by the Greek
and Latin writers of the cypros-plant, yet their
accounts are on the whole sufficiently exact to
enable us to refer it to the henna-plant. The
Arabic authors Avicenna and Serapion also
identify their henna with the cypros of Dio
scorides and Galen (Royle in Kitto's Bibl. Cycl.
art. Kopher).
"The Kvn-pos," says Sprengel (Comment, on
Dioscor. i. 124), "is the Lawsonia alba, Lam.,
of which L. inermis and spinosa, Linn., are
synonyms ; it is the cdpher of the Hebrews and
the henna of the Arabs, ^ plant of great note-
throughout the East to this day, both on
account of its fragrance and of the dye which its
leaves yield for the hair." In a note Sprengel
adds that the inhabitants of Nubia call the
henna-plant Khofreh ; he refers to Delisle (Flor.
Aegyp. p. 12). Hasselquist (Trav. p. 246, Lond.
1766), speaking of this plant, says, "The leaves
are pulverised and made into a paste with
water ; the Egyptians bind this paste on the
nails of their hands and feet, and keep it on all
night: this gives them a deep yellow [red?],
which is greatly admired by Eastern nations.
The stain cannot be removed by soap, and the
colour lasts for three or four weeks before there
is occasion to renew it. The custom is so
ancient in Egypt that I have seen the nails of
the mummies dyed in this manner." Sonnini
( Voyage, i. 297) says that the women are fond
of decorating themselves with the flowers of the
henna-plant; that they take them in their
hand and perfume their bosoms with them.
Compare with this Cant. i. 13 : see also Mariti
(Trav. i. 29) ; Prosper Alpinus (de Plant. Aegyp.
c. 13); Pliny (H. N. xii. 24), who says that a
good kind grows near Ascalon ; Oedmann ( Verm.
Sam. i. c. 7, and vi. 102), who satisfactorily
answers Michaelis's conjecture (Supp. ad Lex.
Heb. ii. 1205) that " palm-flowers " or "dates"
are intended ; Rosenmiiller (Bib. Bot. p. 133)
and Wilkinson (Ane. Egypt, ii. 345 [1878]).
Some have supposed that the expression ren
dered by the A. V. and R. V. " pare her nails""
(Deut. xxi. 12) has reference to the custom of
staining them with henna-dye ; but it is veiy
improbable that there is any such allusion, for
the captive woman was ordered to shave her
head, a mark of mourning : such a meaning
therefore as the one proposed is quite out of
place (see Rosenmiiller, Schol. ad Deut. xxi. 12 ;
¦'s Comm. ; Dillmann 2 in loco). Not

b ^"iiyviN nnOTiiiit-"andshes,iaUdoher
nails." Onkelos and Saadias understand the expression
to denote "letting her nails grow," as a sign of grief-
The Hebrew "do her nails," however, must surely-
express more than " lettiug them alone."

CANA OP GALILEE
only the nails of the hands and the feet, but the
hair and beard, were also dyed with henna, and
even sometimes the manes and tails of horses
and asses were similarly treated.
The Lawsonia alba, or henna-plant, grows in
Egypt, Arabia, and Northern India. In Palestine
it is found only in the tropical nooks by the
Dead Sea, at Engedi on the west side, in the
Safieh, and at Zara, near the mouth of the
Callirrhoe on the eastern shore. It is probable
that the tree was introduced and cultivated in
these the only spots where it could flourish,
and that the few existing shrubs are a lingering
survival from ancient times. The existence of
the camphire plant at Engedi is an interesting
illustration of reference in Canticles. The
flowers are white and grow in clusters and are
very fragrant. The whole shrub is from four
to six feet high. The fullest description is that
given by Sonnini. The Lawsonia alba, the only
known species, belongs to the natural order
Lythraceae. [W. H.] [H. B. T-]
CA'NA op GALILEE, once Casa m
Galilee (Kara ttjs raAiAalas; Syriac-Pesh.

CANA OF GALILEE

493

Katun, Zl^C Cana Galilacac), a village or
town memorable as the scene of Christ's first
miracle (John ii. 1, 11 : iv. 46), as well as of a
subsequent one (iv. 46, 54), and also as the
native place of the Apostle Nathanael (xxi. 2).
The four passages quoted — all, it will be ob
served, from St. John — are the only ones in
which the name occurs. No one of them
affords any clue to the situation of Cana. All
we can gather is, that it was not far from
Capernaum (John ii. 12; iv. 46), and also on
higher ground, since our Lord went down
(KOTe'fli)) from the one to the other (ii. 12).
A difference of opinion appears to have arisen
at a very early period with regard to the site of
Cana of Galilee ; sometimes it has been placed
at Kefr Kenna, sometimes at Kdna el-Jelil, or
Kh. Kdna. The former, which is the site ac
cording to modern tradition, is a small village
pleasantly situated on the side of a hill, not
quite 3J miles N.E. of Nazareth. It contains a
church in which some stone troughs and large
earthenware jars are shown as the " water-
pots " of the miracle ; and there is a fine spring
from which the water for the miracle was

Cana of Galilee. (Laborde.)

brought (Mislin, iii. 443-6 ; PEF. Mem. i. 363 ;
Guerin, Galile'e, i. 168-182). Antoninus (570
A.D.) found two jars ; Willibald (721 A.D.) only
one. In the time of the Crusades the six jars
were brought to France, where one of them is
said still to exist in the Musee d'Angers (see M.
Didron's Essavs in the Annales Archeologiques,
xi. 5; xiii. 2). Another is exhibited amongst
the famous relics in the Church of St. Miguel at
Oviedo (Ford, Hbk. of Spain, p. 388). The couch
(of the Lord) mentioned by Antoninus (iv.)
appears to have been recently found in the ruins
of a church on the site of Elateia in Phocis
(Bull, de Corresp. Hellenique, 1885, pp. 28-42).
The rival site, Kh. Kdna, is on a spur of
Jebel Kdna, which forms part of the range of
hills north of the large plain of el-Buttauf; it
is at the mouth of W. Jefat, not far from the
site of Jotapata, and about 8 miles N. of Naza
reth. The ruins, part ancient, part Arab, cover

a small mamelon and run some distance up the
hill-side ; there are many rock-hewn tombs and
cisterns, and a small pool ; but no spring (Gue
rin, Galile'e, i. 474-6 ; Wilson, MS. Notes). The
village still bears the name of Kdna el-Jelil
( <\.jJ|jS* \JJJ, a name which is in every
respect the exact representative of the Hebrew
, li3 .fli , is widely dif-

original — as Kenna,

J

ferent from it — and it is in this fact that the
chief strength of the argument in favour of the
northern Cana seems to reside. The notices
of Josephus do not assist us in fixing the
site : the Cana of Vit. 16 is probably Kdna
el-Jelil on the edge of the great plain of Asochis
(cp. Vit. 40) and near Jotapata, but there is
nothing to connect it or the Canas of Vit. 70,
Ant xiii. 15, § 1, and B. J. i. 17, § 5, with

494

CANAAN

the scene of the miracle. Eusebius (OS.2
p. 271, 50), who is followed by Jerome (OS.2
p. 144, 3), identifies the Cana of the N. T.
with the Kanah of Asher ; and from this we
may perhaps infer that, in his day, no tra
dition was attached to the rival sites : if he
refers to either, it must be to Kdna el-Jelil, as
Kefr Kenna could not have been in Asher, and
would probably have been described as near
Nazareth or Diocaesarea. Cana was visited by
St. Paula (xvii.), but its position is not indi
cated ; Theodosius (530 a.d.) makes it 5 miles
from Diocaesarea, the exact distance of Kdna el-
Jelil from Seffurieh ; whilst Antoninus Martyr
(Itin. 4) says that it was 3 miles from Dio
caesarea, and that he bathed in a fountain there,
thus clearly placing it at Kefr Kenna. Willi-
bald went from Nazareth to Cana, where he
spent one day, and thence to Tabor ; he indi
cates neither place nor position, and his words
would apply as well to one site as to the other.
Of the mediaeval writers, Saewulf, Brocardus,
Fetellus, Marinus Sanutus, Breydenbach, Anselm
and Adrichomius, place Cana at Kdna el-Jelil;
Phocas and John of Wiirzburg at Kefr Kenna.
Quaresimus mentions both sites, but decides in
favour of the latter, and this tradition was not
disturbed until Dr. Robinson brought forward
the claims of Kdna el-Jelil (Rob. ii. 346—9 ; iii.
108, with the note on De Saulcy). Dr. Robin
son is followed by Thompson, Ritter, Sepp,
Socin, Renan, and Stanley ; whilst Tristram,
Guerin, De Saulcy, Porter, Hep. Dixon, and
Conder are in favour of Kefr Kenna. A third
possible site of Cana has been indicated by
Conder (PEF. Mem. i. 288) in 'Ain Kanah, on the
road between Reineh and Tabor. The Gospel
history is not affected by the different opinions
as to the site. [G.] [ W.]
CA'NAAN (JW3 [=C'naan ; cp. the Greek
name Xvd, as mentioned below] ; Xavadv ; Jos.
Xavdavos ; Chanaan). 1. The fourth son of
Ham (Gen. x. 6 ; 1 Ch. i. 8 ; cp. Jos. Ant.
i. 6, § 4), the progenitor of the Phoenicians
(" Zidon ") and of the various nations who
before the Israelite conquest peopled the sea-
coast of Palestine, and generally the whole of
the country westward of the Jordan (Gen. x. 15 ;
1 Ch. i. 13). [Canaan, Land of; Canaanites.]
In the ancient narrative of Gen. ix. 20-27, a
curse is pronounced on Canaan for the unfilial
and irreverential conduct of Ham. In this
curse Canaan is simply his father's representa
tive. To the Hebrews the historical represen
tative of Ham was Canaan (cp. Dillmann5 in
loco). 2. The name " Canaan " is sometimes em
ployed for the country itself — more generally
styled " the land of C." It is so in Zeph. ii. 5 ;
and we also find " language of C." (Is. xix.
18), "wars of C." (Judg. iii. 1), "inhabitants
of C." (Ex. xv. 15), " king of C." (Judg. iv. 2,
23, 24 ; v. 19), " daughters of C." (Gen. xxviii.
1, 6, 8; xxxvi. 2), "kingdoms of C." (Ps.
cxxxv. 11). In addition to the above the word
occurs in several passages where it is concealed
in the A. V. by being translated. These are :
Is. xxiii. 8, " traffickers," and xxiii. 11, " the
merchant city " (Gesenius, " Jehovah gab Befehl
fiber Canaan ") ; Hos. xii. 7, " he is a merchant "
(Ewald, "Kanaan halt trugerische Wage ") ;

CANAAN, THE LAND OP
Zeph. i. 11, "merchant-people" (Ewald, "dass
alle Canaaniter sind dahin ")\ [G.] [W.]
CA'NAAN, the LAND op fllttS pjg,
from a root 1?33, signifying " to be low' : " see
2 Ch. xxviii. 19 and Job xl. 12, amongst other
passages in which the verb is used), a name de
noting the country west of the Jordan and Dead
Sea, and between those waters and the Medi
terranean ; specially opposed to the " land of
Gilead," — that is, the high table-land on the east
of the Jordan. Thus : " Our little ones and our
wives shall be here in the cities of Gilead. .
but we will pass over armed into the land of
Canaan" (Num. xxxii. 26-32; see xxxiii. 51):
" Phinehas . . . returned from the children of
Reuben and from the children of Gad, out of
the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan,
to the children of Israel" (Josh. xxii. 32,
R. V. : see also Gen. xii. 5, xxiii. 2, 19, xxxi.
18, xxxiii. 18, xxxv. 6, xxxvii. 1, xlviii. 3, 7,
xlix. 30 ; Num. xiii. 2, 17, xxxiii. 40, 51 ;
Josh. xiv. 1, xxi. 2 ; Judg. xxi. 12). True,
the district to which the name of "low
land " is thus applied contained many very ele
vated spots :— Shechem (Gen. xxxiii. 18), Hebron
(xxiii. 19), Bethel (xxxv. 6), Bethlehem (xlviii.
7), Shiloh (Josh. xxi. 2 ; Judg. xxi. 12), which
are all stated to be in the " land of Canaan."
But high as the level of much of the country
west of the Jordan undoubtedly is, there are
several things which must always have pre
vented, as they still prevent, it from leaving an
impression of elevation. These are : (1) that re
markable, wide, maritime plain over which the
eye ranges for miles from the central hills, — a
feature of the country which cannot be over
looked by the most casual observer, and which
impresses itself most indelibly on the recollec
tion ; (2) the still deeper and still more re
markable and impressive hollow of the Jordan
valley, a view into which may be commanded
from almost any of the heights of Central Pales
tine ; (3) the almost constant presence of the
long high line of the mountains east of the
Jordan, which from their distance have the effect
more of an enormous cliff than of a mountain
range — looking down on the more broken and
isolated hills of Canaan; and (4) the "high
land " of Lebanon, and Antilebanon, with the
snow-clad peak of Hermon, furnishing a constant
standard of height before which everything is
dwarfed. [See Dillmann 5 and Delitzsch (1887)
on Gen. i. 6.— S. R. D.]
The word " Canaanite " was used in the 0. T.
in two senses, a broader and a narrower, which
will be most conveniently examined under that
head ; but this does not appear to be the case
with " Canaan," at least in the older cases of its
occurrence. It is only in later notices, such as
Is. xxiii. 11 (A. V. "the merchant city;"
R. V. " Canaan "), Zeph. ii. 5, and Matt. xv. 22,
that we find it applied to the low maritime
plains of Philistia and Phoenicia (cp. Mark
vii. 26). In the same manner it was by the
Greeks that the name Xvd, Cna, was used for
Phoenicia, i.e. the sea-side plain north of the
"Tyrian ladder" (see the extract in Reland,
p. 7, and Gesenius, Thes. p. 696), and by the

* The R. V. has "Canaan " in Is. xxiii. 11 and Zeph.
i. 11 ; and "traffickers " in Is. xxiii. 8 and Hos. xii. 7.

CANAAN, LANGUAGE OP
later Phoenicians both of Phoenicia proper and
of the Punic colonies in Africa (see the coin of
Laodicea ad Lib. and the testimony of Augustine,
both quoted by Gesenius, I. c). The LXX. trans
lators had learnt to apply this meaning to the
word, and in two cases they render the Hebrew
words given above by x^Pa Twv ^oivIkuv (Ex.
xvi. 35 ; Josh. v. 12, cp. v. 1), as they do
" Canaanites " by Qoiviues.
It is indeed possible that Canaan was the
native name of Phoenicia, and that it was after
wards extended to denote the whole of Pales
tine, which was inhabited by a kindred popula
tion (cp. De Goeje, referred to by Cheyne in
Encycl. Brit? =. n. "Canaan").' Sidon, the
oldest Phoenician city, was the name of the first
born of Canaan (Gen. x. 15), and in Is. xxiii. 11
the word Canaan is used in its primitive sense.
The name Canaan does not appear to have
been known to the Assyrians, who called the
whole country mat-inartu or mat-aharri, the
" west-land " ; but it occurs in the Egyptian
inscriptions as Kanana. [G.] [W.]
CANAAN, LANGUAGE OP, Is. xix. 8;
i.e. Hebrew.
CA'NAANITE, THE (Rec. T. o KavavW-qs,
A. Kavave'iT-qs ; Lachm. with B C, b Kavavdios,
D. in Matt. Xavavalos ; Chananeus ; R. V. the
Cananaean ; R. V. marg. the zealot), the designa
tion of the Apostle Simon, otherwise known as
" Simon Zelotes." It occurs in Matt. a. 4 ;
Mark iii. 18.
The word does not signify a descendant of
Canaan, that being in the Greek both of the
LXX. and the N. T. Xavavalos = »3W3 (cp.
Matt. xv. 22 with Mark vii. 26). Nor' does it
signify, as has been suggested, a native of Kana,
since that would probably be KavtTT)s. But it
comes from a Chaldee or Syriac word, JN3jp>
Kannedn, or 1 » 1 1 «*>. Kendndydh, by which the
Jewish sect or faction of " the Zealots " — so
prominent in the last days of Jerusalem — was
designated (see Buxtorf, Lex. s. v.). This Syriac
word is the reading of the Peshitto Version.
The Greek equivalent of Kannedn is Zt)Autt)s,
Zelotes, and this St. Luke (vi. 15 ; Acts i. 13)
has correctly preserved. St. Matthew and St.
Mark, on the other hand, have literally trans
ferred the Syriac word, as the LXX. translators
did frequently before them. There is no necessity
to suppose, as Dean Cureton did (Nitrian Rec.
lxxxvii.), that they mistook the word for
| . un = Xavavalos, a Canaanite or de
scendant of Canaan. The Evangelists could
hardly commit such an error, whatever subse
quent transcribers of their works may have done.
But that this meaning was afterwards attached
to the word is plain from the readings of the
Codex Bezae (D) and the Vulgate, as given
above, and from the notice quoted from Coteler
in the note to Winer's article (R WB. p. 463).
The spelling of the A. V. has doubtless led many
to the same conclusion ; and it has wisely been
altered in R. V. to " Cananaean." [G.] [W.]
CANAANITES, THE C3W5"I, i.e. accu
rately according to Hebrew usage — Gesen. Heb.
Gram. § 107 — " the Canaanite ; '' but in the
A. V. with few exceptions rendered as plural,

CANAANITES, THE

495

and therefore indistinguishable from DS3V33>
which also, but very frequently, occurs : Xava
valos, $>otvi£,a Ex. vi. 15, cp. Josh. v. 1 ;
Chananeus), a word used in two senses: — 1, a
tribe which inhabited a particular locality of
the land west of the Jordan befijre tho conquest
(see retf. in Riehm, HWB. ». u. " Canaanitcr ") •
and 2, in a wider sense, the people who inhabited
generally the whole of that country.
1. The tribe of " the Canaanites " only — the
dwellers in the lowland. The whole of the
country west of Jordan was a " lowland " as
compared with the loftier and more extended
tracts on the north and east ; but there was a
part of this western country which was still
more emphatically a " lowland." a. These were
the plains lying between the shore of the Medi
terranean and the foot of the hills of Benjamin,
Judah, and Ephraim — the plain of Philistia
on the south — that of Sharon between Jaffa
and Carmel — the great plain of Esdraelon in
the rear of the bay of Akka ; and lastly, the
plain of Phoenicia, containing Tyre, Sidon, and
all the other cities of that nation. 6. But sepa
rated entirely from these was the still lower
region of the Jordan Valley or Arabah, the
modern Ghor, a region which extended in length
from the sea of Cinneroth (Gennesareth) to the
south of the Dead Sea about 120 miles, with a
width of from 8 to 14. The climate of these
sunken regions — especially of the valley of the
Jordan — is so peculiar that it is natural to
find them the special possession of one tribe.
" Amalek " — so runs one of the earliest and
most precise statements in the ancient records of
Scripture — "Amalek dwelleth in the land of the
South ; and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and
the Amorite, dwell in the mountains : and the
Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the
side of Jordan " (Num. xiii. 29, R. V.). This
describes the division of the country a few years
only before the conquest. But there had been
little or no variation for centuries. In the notice
which purports to be the earliest of all, the seats
of the Canaanite tribe — as distinguished from
the sister tribes of Zidon, the Hittites, Amorites,
and the other descendants of Canaan — are given
as on the sea-shore from Zidon to Gaza, and in
the Jordan valley to Sodom, Gomorrah, and
Lasha (afterwards Callirhoe), on the shore of
the present Dead Sea (Gen. x. 18-20). In Josh.
xi. 3 — at a time when the Israelites were actually
in the western country — this is expressed more
broadly. " The Canaanite on the east and the
west " is carefully distinguished from the
Amorite who held " the mountain" inthe centre
of the country. In Josh. xiii. 2, 3, we are told
with more detail that " all the ' circles ' (ni7v3)
of the Philistines . . . from Sihor (the Wady el-
'Arisli) unto Ekron northward, is counted to the
Canaanite." Later still, the Canaanites are still
dwelling in the upper part ofthe Jordan Valley —
Bethshean ; in the plain of Esdraelon — Taanach,
Ibleam, and Megiddo; in the plain of Sharon —
Dor ; and also in the plain of Phoenicia — Accho
and Zidon. Here were collected the chariots
which formed a prominent part of their armies
» Eupolemus (Euseb. Pr. Bv. ix. 11) calls the people
of Sodom, &c, Phoenicians, and m Deut. iii. 9 the LXX.
have $otVt/ces for Zidonians.

496

CANAANITES, THE

(Judg. i. 19, iv. 3; Josh. xvii. 16), and which
could indeed be driven nowhere but in these
level lowlands (Stanley, S. Sf P. p. 134).
The plains which thus appear to have been in
possession of the Canaanites specially so called,
were not only of great extent, but they were
also the richest and most important parts of
the country ; and it is not unlikely that this was
one of the reasons for the name of " Canaanite "
being 2. Applied as a general name for the non-
Tsl-aelite inhabitants of the land, as we have
already seen was the case with " Canaan."
Instances of this are, Gen. xii. 6 ; Num. xxi.
3 — where the name is applied to dwellers in
the south, who in xiii. 29 are called Amalekites ;
Judg. i. 10 — with which cp. Gen. xiv. 13 aud
xiii. 18, and Josh. x. 5, where Hebron, the
highest land in Palestine, is stated to be Amor
ite ; and Gen. xiii. 12, where the " land of
Canaan " is distinguished from the Jordan valley
itself. See also Gen. xxiv. 3, 37, cp. xxviii.
2, 6 ; Ex. xiii. 11, cp. v. 5. But in many of its
occurrences it is difficult to know in which
category to place the word. Thus in Gen. 1. 11 :
if the floor of Atad was at Beth-hogla, close to
the west side of the Jordan, " the Canaanites "
must be intended in the narrower and stricter
sense ; but the expression " inhabitants of the
land " appears as if intended to be more general.
Again, in Gen. a. 18, 19, where the present
writer believes the tribe to be intended, Gesenius
and most moderns take it to apply to the
whole of the Canaanite nations. But in these
-and other similar instances, allowance must
surely be made for the different dates at which
the various records thus compared were com
posed. And besides this, it is difficult to
imagine what accurate knowledge the Israelites
can have possessed of a set of petty nations,
from whom they had been entirely removed
for four hundred years, and with whom they
were now again brought into contact only that
they might exterminate them as soon as pos
sible. And before we can solve such questions
we also ought to know more than we do of the
usages and circumstances of people who differed
not only from ourselves, but also possibly in a
material degree from the Orientals of the present
day. The tribe who possessed the ancient city
of Hebron, besides being, as shown above, called
interchangeably Canaanites and Amorites, are in
a third passage (Gen. xxiii.) called the children
of Heth or Hittites (cp. also xxvii. 46 with
xxviii. 1, 6). The Canaauites who were dwelling
in the land of the south when the Israelites
made their attack on it may have been driven
to these higher and more barren grounds by some
other tribes, possibly by the Philistines who dis
placed the Avvites, also dwellers in the low
country (Deut. ii. 23).
The Canaanites were a settled people in an
advanced stage of civilisation. They possessed
fortresses with lofty walls, horses trained to
war, chariots of iron, treasures • of gold and
silver, and great agricultural and pastoral wealth.
Amongst the spoil taken by Thothmes III. after
the battle of Megiddo were an ark of gold, a
statue of silver, gold rings, cups, and vases,
tables and seats of ivory and cedar inlaid with
gold, chariots plated with gold and silver,
bronze armour, incense, wine, honey, corn,

CANAANITES, THE
horses, cattle, goats, &c.'(Records of tke Past
ii. 42-58). If they were, as most moderns
think (cp. Kautzsch in Riehm's HWB. ; Cheyne
Encycl. Brit.9 s. n. ; Pietschmann, Gesch. d. P/iB-
nicier, p. 98, &c), Phoenicians, they were given
to commerce ; and thus the name became in
later times an occasional synonym for a mer
chant (Job xlir 6 ; Prov. xxxi. 24 ; cp. Is. xxiii.
8, 11 ; Hos. xii. 7 ; Zeph. i. 11. See Kenrick'
Phoen. p. 232).
Of the language of the Canaanites little can
be said." On the one hand, being — if the
genealogy of Gen. x. be right— Hamites, there
must have developed in the course of time a
severance between their language and that of
the Israelites who were descendants of Shem.
On the other hand is the fact that Abram and
Jacob shortly after their entrance to the country
seem able to hold converse with them, and also
that the names of Canaanite persons and places
which we possess are Hebrew. Such are Mel-
chizedek, Hamor, Shechem, Sisera . . . Ephrath,
and also a great number of the names of places.
But we know that the Egyptian and Assyrian
names have been materially altered in their
adoption into Hebrew records, either by transla
tion into Hebrew equivalents, or from the im
possibility of accurately rendering the sounds of
one language by those of another. The modern
Arabs have adopted the Hebrew names of places
as nearly as would admit of their having a
meaning in Arabic, though that meaning may be
widely different from that of the Hebrew name.
Examples of this are Beit ' Er, Beit Lahm, Bir
es-Seba', which mean respectively, " house of tbe
eye," " house of flesh," " well of the lion," while
the Hebrew names which these have superseded
meant " house of caves." " house of bread,"
" well of the oath." May not a similar process
have taken place when the Hebrews took posses
sion of the Canaanite towns, and " called the
lands after their own names " ? (For an exa
mination of this interesting but obscure subject,
see Gesenius, Hebr. Spr. 223-25.)
The " Nethinim," or servants of the Temple
[hieroduli ; see Babylonian Record, ii. 67],
seem to have originated in the dedication of
captives taken in war from the petty states
surrounding the Israelites. [Nethinim.] If
this was the case, and if they were maintained
in number from similar sources, there must be
many non-Israelite names in the lists of their
families which we possess in Ezra ii. 43-54;
Neh. vii. 46-56. Several of the names in these
catalogues — such as Sisera, Mehunim, Nephu-
shim — are the same as those which we know to
be foreign, and doubtless others would be found
ou examination.
This is perhaps the proper place for noticing
the various shapes under which the formula for
designating the nations to be expelled by the
Israelites is given in the various Books.
1. Six nations : the Canaanites, Hittites, Amor
ites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is
the usual form, and, with some variation in the
order of the names, it is found in Ex. iii. 8, 17,
xxiii. 23, xxxiii. 2, xxxiv. 11 ; Deut. xx. 17 ;
Josh. ix. 1, xii. 8 ; Judg. iii. 5. In Ex. xiii. 5,

» See reff. in MV.i° p. xxii. ; Socin in Sntsyclop.
Brit.» s. u. " Phoenicia ; " Pietschmann, Gesch. d. PliS-
nizier, p. 97, n. 2.

UANDAUE
the same names are given with the omission of
the Perizzites.
2. With the addition of the Girgashites:
making up the mystic number seven (Deut. vii.
1 ; Josh. iii. 10, xxiv. 11). The Girgashites are
retained and the Hivites omitted in Neh. ix. 8
(cp. Ezra ix. 1).
3. In Ex. xxiii. 28 we find the Canaanite, the
Hittite, and the Hivite.
4. The list of ten nations in Gen. xv. 19-21
includes some on the east of Jordan, and probably
some on the south of Palestine.
5. In 1 K. ix. 20 the Canaanites are omitted
from the list. [G.] [W.]
[On these lists cp. Budde, Die Bibl. Urgc-
schichte, p. 344 sq.— S. R. D.]
CANDA'CE (Kavbdia) ; Candace. Kanta-ti
is the true spelling according to Brugsch, Hist.
of Egypt, ii. 282), queen of the Ethiopians
(Acts viii. 27). The name is common to a series
of queens (" quod nomen multis iam annis ad
reginas transiit:" Plin. H. N. vi. 35). An
earlier Candace attacked Upper Egypt, B.C. 22,
and was repulsed by C. Petronius with a small
Roman force, who took her palace (BaCiAeiov) at
Napata (Gebel Barkal). The capital of the king
dom of the Candaces, however, appears at this
time to have been Meroe, lying further to the
south (Plin. H. N. 1. c). This name (Meroe)
has caused some confusion. The early designa
tion of Ethiopia proper was Meroe (Miluhhi
in the Assyrian Inscriptions. See Rawlinson,
Ancient Egypt, xxv.). But this name seems to
have been applied at different times to (1) Na
pata (modern Merawi, under Gebel Barkal), its
original capital ; (2) the whole land between
the Atbara and the Blue Nile, known as the
island of Meroe; (3) the town of Meroe, situ
ated in the so-called island of the same name,
some distance above the confluence of the
Atbara. This site, near Assur, was first iden
tified by Cailliaud (see his Voyage a Meroe,
c. xxx., and plates of the Pyramids. See also
Duncker's Hist. Antiq. ch. i. note).
Strabo describes the Candace of his time as a
masculine woman who had lost an eye. There
were also kings of Ethiopia, but they were
cloistered and deified like former Mikados of
Japan. Compare the kings of the Sabaeans
described by Agatharchides (Miiller, Geog. Gr. i.
189). Strabo seems to imply that the regal
power was exercised by the queens (Strab. xvii.
i. 54). Euselous ( H. E. ii. 1) says that the
government of Ethiopia by queens continued to
his time. Bion of Soli, in his Ethiopica, says,
" The Ethiopians do not make known (iKtpai-
vovtri) the fathers of their kings, but keep a
tradition (n-apaSiSiao-t) that they are sons of
the Sun, and the mother of each king they call
Candace" (Miiller, Fragm. Hist. Grace, iv.
p. 351). This testimony to succession in the
female line agrees with a vast mass of evidence,
ancient and modern, as to that and the adjacent
parts of Africa from the Nile to the Red Sea.
For the custom in Arabia, see W. R. Smith's
Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia. [E. R. B.]
CANDLESTICK ("HUD ; AvXvia tov tj>u-
t6s, 1 Mace. i. 21 ; 6 dBdvaros — Aeydpevos Altx-
vos Kai -Kaidpevos aSiaAeiirTas iv Ttp vatip, Diod.
Sic. ap. Schleusn. Thes. s. v.), which Moses was
commanded to make for the Tabernacle, is de-
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

CANDLESTICK

497

scribed in Ex. xxv. 31-37, xxxvii. 17-24. lt is
called in Lev. xxiv. 4, " the pure," and in
Ecclus. xxvi. 19, "the holy candlestick." With
its various appurtenances (mentioned below) it
required a talent of " pure gold," and it was not
moulded, but "of beaten work" (TopevTT)).
Josephus, however, says (Ant. iii. 6, § 7) that it
was of cast gold (Kexuvevpevq), and hollow.
From its golden base (T|T, pdais, Joseph.), which,
according to the Jews, was three feet high
(Winer, Leuchter), sprang a main shaft or reed
(*13p) ; " and spread itself into as many branches
as there are planets, including the sun. It ter
minated in seven heads all in one row, all
standing parallel to one another, one by one,
in imitation of the number of the planets"
(Whiston's Joseph, ubi supra). As the descrip
tion given in Ex. is not very clear, we abbreviate
Lightfoot's explanation of it : — " The foot of it
was gold, from which went up a shaft straight,
which was the middle light. Near the foot was
a golden dish wrought almondwise ; and a little
above that a golden knop, and above that a
golden flower. Then two branches, one on each
side, bowed, and coming up as high as the middle
shaft. On each of them were three golden
cups placed almondwise on sharp, scollop-shell
fashion; above which was a golden knop, a
golden flower, and the socket. Above the
branches on the middle shaft was a. golden boss,
above which rose two shafts more ; above the
coming out of these was another boss, and two
more shafts, and then on the shaft upwards were
three golden scollop-cups, a knop, and a flower :
so that the heads of the branches stood on equal
height " ( VI orks, ii. 399, ed. Pitman). Calmet
remarks that " the number seven might remind
them of the sabbath : " we have seen that
Josephus gives it a somewhat Egyptian refer
ence to the number of the planets, but else
where (B. J. vii. 5, § 5) he assigns to the seven
branches a merely genera] reference, as tt)s
irapd toIs 'lovSalois eBSopdSos ttiv Ttprjv iptpa-
vlQ>vres. The whole weight of the candlestick
was 100 minae ; its height was, according to the
Rabbis, 5 feet, and the breadth or distance
between the exterior branches 3£ feet (Jahn,
Arch. Bibl. § 329 ; cp. Hamburger, RE. s. v.
" Leuchter "). It has been calculated to have
been worth 5076/. exclusive of workmanship.
According to Josephus, the ornaments on the
shaft and branches were seventy in number, and
this was a notion in which the Jews with their
peculiar reverence for that number would readily
coincide ; but it seems difficult from the de
scription in Exodus to confirm the statement.
On the main shaft (called " the candlestick," in
Ex. xxv. 34) there are said to be " four cups made
like almond blossoms, the knops thereof and the
flowers thereof," which would make twelve of
these ornaments in all ; and as on each of the
six branches there were (see R. V. of v. 33) three
bowls, three knops, and three flowers, the entire
number of such figures on the candlestick would
be sixty-six. . The word translated " bowl " in
the A. V., " cup " in the R. V., is 1^33, Kparlqp,
for which Josephus (I. c.) has KpaT-npiSia Kai
poltrKot. It is said to have been almond-shaped
OpB'D, iKTeTmrupevoi KapvitrKois), by which
the blossom of the almond is probably intended.
The word "ll*133 is variously rendered " knop "
2 K

498

CANDLESTICK

(A. V. and R. V.), " pommei " (Geddes), o-tpai-
purlip (LXX.), spherula (Vulg.), " apple "
(Arabic and other Versions) ; and to this some
apply the poioKoi, and not (as is more natural)
the atpaipia of Josephus. The third term is
ITIS, " a bud," Kpiva (LXX. and Joseph.), which
from an old gloss seems to be put for any HvBos
evuStd(ov, Kpivois ipotov. From the fact that it
was expressly made " after the pattern shown
in the mount," many have endeavoured to find
a symbolical meaning in these ornaments,
especially Meyer and Bahr (Symbol, i. 416 sq.).
Generally it was " a type of preaching "
(Godwyn's Moses and Aaron, ii. 1) or of " the
light of the law " (Lightfoot, I. c. ; Hamburger).
Similarly candlesticks are made types of the
Spirit, of the Church, of witnesses, &c. (cp.
Zech. iv. ; Rev, ii. 5, xi. 4, &c. ; Wemyss, Clav.
Symbol, s. v.)
The candlestick was placed on the south side
[symbolical of; the light or sunny region of
heaven; cp. Di*l"p of the first apartment of
the Tabernacle, opposite the table of shewbread,
which it was intended to illumine, in an oblique
position (yo£us), so that the lamps looked to the
east and south (Jos. Ant. ii. 6, § 7 ; Ex. xxv.
37) ; hence the central was called " the western"
lamp, according to some, though others render
it " the evening lamp," and say that it alone
burned perpetually (Ex. xxvii. 20, 21), the
others not being lit during the day, although
the Holy Place was dark (Ex. xxx. 8 ; 1 Mace.
iv. 50). In 1 Sam. iii. 2 we have the expression
" ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of
the Lord ; " and this, taken in connexion with
1 Ch. xiii. 11 and Lev. xxiv. 2, 3, would seem
to imply that " always " and " continually "
merely mean tempore constituto, i.e. by night ;
especially as Aaron is said to have dressed
the lamps every morning and lighted them
every evening. Rabbi Kimchi (in loco) says
that the other lamps often went out at night,
but " they always found the western lamp burn
ing." They were each supplied with cotton, and
half a log of the purest olive-oil (about two
wine-glasses), which was sufficient to keep them
burning during a long night (Winer).
The priest in the morning trimmed the lamps
with golden snuffers (D)np?D ; iwapvo-Trjpes ;
forcipes ; " tongs "), and carried away the snuff
in golden dishes ("llPinD; vn-oBepara; acerrae,
Ex. xxv. 38). When carried about, the candle
stick was covered with " a cloth of blue," and
put with its appendages in badger-skin bags,
wliich were supported on a bar (Num. iv. 9).
In Solomon's Temple, instead of this candle
stick (or besides it, as the Rabbis say, for what
became of it we do not know), there were ten
golden candlesticks similarly embossed, five on
the right and five on the left (IK. vii. 49 ;
2 Ch. iv 7). These are said to have formed a
sort of railing before the vail, and to have been
connected by golden chains, under which, on the
Day of Atonement, the high-priest crept. They
were taken to Babylon (Jer. Iii. 19).
In the Temple of Zerubbabel there was again
a single candlestick (1 Mace. i. 23, iv. 49). It
was taken from the Herodian Temple by Titus,
and carried in triumph immediately before the
conqueror (Joseph. B. J. vii. 5, § 5). The de-

CANE
scription given of its kIuv and Aeirro! kooiaIckoi
by Josephus, agrees only tolerably with the
deeply interesting sculpture on the Arch of
Titus ; but he drops a hint that it was not

Candlestick. (From Arch of Titus.)
identical with the one used in the Temple,
saying (possibly in allusion to the fantastic
griffins, &c, sculptured on the pediment, which
are so much worn that it is difficult to make
them out), to epyov e%i)AAaKT0 ttjs koto. tV
TjpeTepay xpTJctv o-vvnBelas ; where see Whiston's
note. Hence Jahn (Hebr. Com. § clix.) says
that the candlestick carried in the triumph was
" somewhat different from the golden candlestick
of the Temple." These questions are examined
in Reland's treatise De Spoliis Templi Hierosol.
in Arcu Titiano conspicuis. The general
accuracy of the sculpture is undoubted (Pri
deaux, Con. i. 166).
After the triumph the candlestick was de
posited in the temple of Peace, and according to
one story fell into the Tiber from the Milvian
bridge during the flight of Maxentius from
Constantine, Oct. 28, 312 a.d. ; but it probably
was among the spoils transferred, at the end of
400 years, from Rome to Carthage by Genseric,
A.D. 455 (Gibbon, iii. 291). It was recovered
by Belisarius, once more carried in triumph to
Constantinople, " and then respectfully deposited
in the Christian church of Jerusalem " (Id. iv.
24), a.d. 533. It has never been heard, of
since. When our Lord cried, " I am the Light of the
World " (John viii. 12), the allusion was pro
bably suggested by the two large golden
chandeliers, lighted in the court of the women
during the Feast of Tabernacles, which illu
minated all Jerusalem (Wetstein, ad loc), or
perhaps to the lighting of this colossal candle
stick, "the more remarkable in the profound
darkness of an Oriental town" (Stanley, S. $P.
p. 420). These lamps were, moreover, images
of th« pillar of light which had guided the
people in the wilderness; and to this do the
words of our Lord finally refer. " Light was
also one of the titles of the Messiah (cp. Isa.
xiii. 6, xlix. 6 ; Luke i. 78, 79. See Speaker's
Comm. on John viii. 12). [F. W. F.]
CANE. [Calamus.]

CANKEKWOEM
CANKEEWORM (tb\; Bpovxos; bruchus).
The Heb. term yelek signifies " the licker," that
which licks up the grass of the field ; and from
its position in the Prophet Joel's description of
the locust, it probably is not any particular
species, but the larva or caterpillar stage, in
which the locust is even more destructive than
in its mature or winged state. After the winged
locusts have passed on, the young larvae appear
and consume all that has escaped the former.
Then they in turn assume their wings, in the
words of Nahum (iii. 16), " The cankerworm
throweth off (spoileth, A. V. and R. V.) its scales
and fleeth away." The term is translated by the
A. V. caterpiller [R. V. "cankerworm"] in Ps. cv.
34, and Jer. li. 14, 27 ; cankerworm in Joel i. 4,
ii. 25 ; Nah. iii. 15, 16. [Locust.] [H. B. T.]
CAN'NEH (-1333, one Cod. nj^S; T.
Xavai, A. -av; Chene), Ezek. xxvii. 23.
[Calneh.] CANON OF SCRIPTURE, THE, may be
generally described as " the collection of Books
which forms the original aud authoritative
written rule of the faith and practice of the
Christian Church." Starting from this defini
tion, it will be the object of the present article
to examine shortly : I. The original meaning of
the term ; II. The Jewish Canon of the Old Testa
ment Scriptures as to (a) its formation, and (B)
contents ; III. The Christian Canon of the Old ;
and IV. of the New Testament.
I. The use of the word Canon. — The word
Canon (Kavtov, akin to "I3P [cp. Gesen. Thes. s. v.],
Kavq, xdwa, cana [canalis, channel], cane, cannon)
in classical Greek is (1) properly a straight rod,
as the rod of a shield, or that used in weaving
(liciatorium), or a carpenter's rule. (2) The
last usage offers an easy transition to the
metaphorical use of the word for a testing rule
in ethics (cp. Arist. Eth. Nic. iii. 4, 5 ; v. 1 0, 7),
or in art (the Canon of Polycletus ; Luc. de
Salt. p. 946 B.), or in language (the Canons of
Grammar). The varied gift of tongues, accord
ing to the ancient interpretation of Acts ii. 7,
was regarded as the " canon " or test which
determined the direction of the labours of the
several Apostles (Severian. ap. Cram. Cat. in Act.
ii. 7, SlSorai eKaa-TU yAutrffa KaBdrrep Kavtlov).
Chronological tables were called Kavdves xpov'Koi
(Plut. Sol. 27), and the summary of a book was
called Kavt&v, as giving the " rule," as it were,
of its composition. The Alexandrine gram
marians applied the word in this sense to the
great " classical " writers, who were styled " the
rule " (6 Kavuv), or the perfect model of style
and language. (3) But in addition to these
active meanings the word was also used passively
for a measured, space (at Olympia), and, in later
times, for a fixed tax (Du Cange, s. v. Canon).
The ecclesiastical usage of the word offers a
complete parallel to the classical. It occurs in
the LXX. in its literal sense (Judith xiii. 6, and
apparently also in the obscure rendering of
Mic. vii. 4), and again as a translation of 1p in
Aquila (Job xxxviii. 5 and Ps. xix. 5).* In
¦ The metaphorical sense appears in 4 Maccabees, a
late work of Alexandrian origin (vii. 21, 6 r>)s <fjiAoo-o-
tbias itaviov). An instance of this usage appears also in
Josephns (Antiq. Jud. x. 49).

CANON OF SCRIPTURE 499
the N. T. it is found in tw-o places in St. Paul's
Epistles (Gal. vi. 16 ; 2 Cor. x. 13-16), and in
the second place the transition from an active to
a passive sense is worthy of notice. In patristic
writings the word is commonly used both as a
rule in the widest sense, and especially in the
phrases "the rule ofthe Church," "the rule of
faith," " the rule of truth " (o Kavuv ttjs
iKKAijtrias, 6 Kavuv ttjs aAriBelas, 6 Kavuv r-qs
¦nlaTews ; and so also Kavuv iKKAT)GiacrTiK6s, and
b Kavuv simply). This rule was regarded either
as the abstract, ideal standard, embodied only
in the life and action of the Church ; or, again,
as the concrete, definite creed, which set forth
the facts from which that life sprang (regula :
Tertull. de Virg. vel. 1). In the fourth century,
when the practice of the Church was further
systematised, the decisions of synods were styled
" Canons," and the discipline by which ministers
were bound was technically " the Rule," and
those who were thus bound were styled Canonici
(" Canons "). In the phuase " the canon (i.e.
fixed part) of the mass," from which the popular
sense of " canonize " is derived, the passive sense
again prevailed.
As applied to Scripture the derivatives of
Kavuv are used long before the simple word.
The Latin translation of Origen speaks of
Scripturae Canonicae (de Princ. iv. 33), libri
regulares (Comm. in Matt. § 117), canonizatae
Scripturae and libri canonizati (id. § 28). In
another place the phrase haberi in Canone (Prol.
in Cant sub fine) occurs, but probably only as a
translation of Kavovl(,eoBai, which is used in this
and cognate senses in Athanasius (Ep. Fest.),
the Laodicene Canons (aKavdvitrra, Can. lix.),
and later writers. This circumstance seems to
show that the title " Canonical " was first given
to writings in the sense of " admitted by the
rule," and not as "forming part of and giving
the rule." It is true that an ambiguity thus
attaches to the word, which may mean only
" publicly used in the Church ; " but such an
ambiguity may find many parallels, and usage
tended to remove it." The spirit of Christendom
recognised the Books which truly expressed ts
essence ; and in lapse of time, when that spirit
was deadened by later overgrowths of super
stition, the written " Rule " occupied the place
and received the name of that vital " Rule " by
which it was first stamped with authority
(6 Kavuv tt)s dAriBelas at Belat ypcupai, Isid. Pelus.
Ep. cxiv. ; cp. Aug. de doctr. Chr. ii. 12 [viii.];
and as a contrast Anon. ap. Euseb. H. E. v.
28, 13).

b Credner accepts the popular interpretation, as if
canonical were equivalent to " having the force of law,"
and supposes that scripturae legis, a phrase occurring
in the time of the persecution of Diocletian, represents
yptvpaX Kavovos, which however does not, so far as 1
know, occur anywhere (Zur Gesch. d. Kan. p. 61). The
terms canonical and canonize are probably of Alexan
drine origin ; but tbere ib not the slightest evidence for
connecting the "canon" of classical authors with the
" canon " of Scripture, potwithstandlng the tempting
analogy. If it could be shown that 6 Kavutv was used at
an early period for the list of sacred Books, then it
would be the simplest interpretation to take Kavovi^t-
o-dat in the sense of " being entered on the list." [On
the meaning of Kavtiiv, cp. P. C. Baur, Die Bedeutung des
Wortes Kavuiv, in Hilgenfeld's Zeitschr. f. wiss. Theol.
185S, i. 141-150, and Westcott On the Canon of the
N. T., Appendix A.] 2 K 2

500 CANON OP SCRIPTURE
The first direct application of the term Kavuv
to the Scriptures seems to be in the verses of
Amphilochius (c. 380 A.D.), who concludes his
well-known Catalogue of the Scriptures with
the words ovros atpevSeffTaTos Kavuv av ef-i) tuv
Beon-vevo-Tuv ypatpiiv, where the word indicates
the rule by which the contents of the Bible
must be determined, and thus secondarily an
index of the constituent Books. Among Latin
writers the word is commonly found from the
time of Jerome (Prol. Gal. in libr. Reg. .
" Tobias et Judith non sunt in Canone ") and Au
gustine (de Civ. xvii. 24 : " perpauci ea scrip-
serunt quae auctoritatem Canonis obtinerent ; "
id. xviii. 38, " inveniuntur in Canone "), and their
usage of the word, which is wider than that
of Greek writers, is the source of its modern
acceptation. The uncanonical books were described simply
as " those without," or " those uncanonized "
(duavdviOTa, Cone. Laod. lix.). The Apocryphal
books, which were supposed to occupy au in
termediate position, were called " books read "
(avaytyvuo-Kdpeva, Athan. Ep. Fest), or " ec
clesiastical " (ecclesiastici, Rufin. in Syrhb. Apost.
§ 38), though the latter title was also applied
to the canonical Scriptures (Leont. I. c. infr.).
The canonical Books (Leont. de Sect. ii. to. k a-
vovi£dpeva BiBAla)were also called "Books of
the Testament " (ivStdBriKa Bi$Ala), and Jerome
styled the whole collection by the striking name
of " the holy library " (Bibliotheca sancta), which
happily expresses the unity and variety of the
Bible (Credner, Zur Gesch. d. Kan. § 1 ; Hist.
of Canon of N. T. App. D).
II. (a) Tlie formation of the Jewish Canon." —
The history of the Jewish Canon in the earliest
times is beset with the greatest difficulties.
Before the period of the Exile only faint traces
occur of the solemn preservation and use of sacred
Books. According to the command of Moses, the
" Book of the Law " was " put in (R. V. by) the
side of the ark " (Deut. xxxi. 25 ff.), but not in
it (1 K. viii. 9 ; cp. Joseph. Ant iii. 1, § 7, v.
1) § 17) ; and thus in the reign of Josiah, Hilkiah
is said to have " found the Book of the Law in
the house of the Lord " (2 K. xxii. 8 ; cp. 2 Ch.
xxxiv. 14). This " Book of the Law," which, in
addition to the direct precepts (Ex. Xxiv. 7),
contained general exhortations (Deut. xxviii. 61)
and historical narratives (Ex. xvii. 14), was
further increased by the records of Joshua (Josh.
xxiv. 26), and probably by other writings (1
Sam. x. 25), though it is impossible to determine
their contents.*1 At a subsequent time collections

0 [So far as the history of the formation ofthe Jewish
Canon ia affected by the results of recent criticism upon
the structure of the Books of the 0. T.-, the reader will
find the views of the more advanced school represented
in Robertson Smith's Tlie 0. T. in the Jewish Church,
Edinb. 1881 ; Wellhausen's Hist, qf Israel, Edinb. 1886 ;
Wellhausen-Bleek's Einleitwng in d. A. T. Berl. 1886 -,
Kuenen's Hexateuch, transl. Lond. 1886 ; Stade, Gesch.
d. V. Israels, 1888. For a more moderate statement of
the probable iBSue of the controversy, see Dillmann,
Hexateuch (Kurzgf. exeget. Hdb.), Bd. iii. 591-690,
Leipz. 1886 ; Baudissin, Heutige Stand, d. A. Tlicher
Wissensch. Giesseo, 1885; Delitzsch, Genesis, transl.
Edinb. vol. i. Introd. 1888 ; Klttel, Gesch. d. Israels,
Bd. i. Gotha, 1888; Driver, Critical Study of O. T.
(Cont. Rev. Feb. 1890).]
4 According to some (Fabric. Cod. Pseudep. V. T.
i. 1113), this collection of sacred Books was preserved

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
of proverbs were made (Prov. xxv. 1), and the
later Prophets (especially Jeremiah ; cp. Kueper,
Jerem. Libror. ss. interp. et vindex, Berol. 1837)
were familiar with the writings of their prede
cessors, a circumstance which may naturally be
connected with the training of " the prophetic
schools." It perhaps marks a further step in
the formation of the Canon when " the Book of
the Lord " is mentioned by Isaiah as a general
collection of sacred teaching (xxxiv. 16 ; cp. xxix.
18), at once familiar and authoritative ; but it
is unlikely that any definite collection either of
" the Psalms " or of " the Prophets " existed
before the Captivity. At that time Zechariah
speaks of " the Law " and " the former Prophets "
as in some measure co-ordinate (Zech. vii. 12) ;
and Daniel refers to " the Books " (Dan. ix. 2
D'I"ISD"I) in a manner which seems to mark the
prophetic writings as already collected into a
whole. Even after the Captivity the history of
the Canon, like all Jewish history up to the
date ofthe Maccabees, is wrapt in great obscurity.
Faint traditions alone remain to interpret results
which are found realised when the darkness is
first cleared away. Popular belief assigned to
Ezra and " the great synagogue " the task of
collecting and promulgating the Scriptures as
part of their work in organising the Jewish
Church. Doubts have been thrown upon this
belief (Rau, De Synag. magna, 1726 ; Kuenen,
Over de Mannen der Groote Synagoge, Amst.
1876; Wellhausen-Bleek, Einleitung in d. A. T.
§ 246, 1886 ; cp. Ewald, Hist, of Isr. [Eng. tr.]
v. pp. 168-170), and it is difficult to answer
them, from the scantiness ofthe evidence which
can be adduced} but the belief is in every way
consistent with the history of Judaism and with
the internal evidence of the Books themselves
[see Wright. (C. H. H.), The Book of Koheleth,
Excursus iii. p. 475, "The Men of the great
Synagogue "]. The later embellishments of the
tradition, which represent Ezra as the second
author of all the Books [2 Esdkas], or define
more exactly the nature of his work, can only
be accepted as signs of the universal belief in
his labours, and ought not to cast discredit upon
the simple fact that the foundation ofthe present
Canon is due to him. Nor can it be supposed
that the work was completed at once ; so that
the account (2 Mace. ii. 13) which assigns a
collection of Books to Nehemiah is in itself a
confirmation of the general truth of the gradual
formation tjf the Canon during the Persian-
period. The work of Nehemiah is not described
as initiatory or final. The tradition omits all
mention of the Law, which may be supposed to
have assumed its final shape under Ezra, hut
says that Nehemiah " gathered together the
[writings] concerning the kings and Prophets,
and the [writings] of David, and letters of
kings concerning offerings," while "founding a
library " (KarafSaAKopevos f>iBAioBr)icriv iirttrvvii-
yaye ra nepi tuv BatriAeuv ko.1 Trpotprfruv Kai tb
tou AaulS Kai inttrToAhs BaaiAeuv nepi amBe-
pdruv : 2 Mace. I. c). The various classes of
Books were thus completed in succession; and
by Jeremiah at the destruction of the Temple (cp.
2 Mace. ii. 4 f.) ; according to others, it was consumed
together with the ark (Eplph. de Mens. etPond. cap- lv.
p. 162). In 2 K. xxii. 8 sq., 2 Ch. xxxiv. H sq., mention
is made only of tlie Law.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE

CANON OF SCRIPTURE

501

this view harmonises with what must have been
the natural development of the Jewish faith
after the Return. The constitution of the
Church and the formation of the Canon were
both from their nature gradually and mutually
dependent. The construction of an ecclesiastical
polity involved the practical determination of
the divine rule of truth, though, as in the
parallel case of the Christian Scriptures, open
persecution first gave a clear and distinct ex
pression to the implicit faith.
The persecution of Antiochus (B.C. 168) was
for the Old Testament what the persecution of
Diocletian was for the New, the final crisis
which stamped the sacred writings with their
peculiar character. The king sought out " the
Books of the Law" (to BtflAta tou vipov,
1 Mace. i. 56) and burnt them ; and the pos
session of -a " book of the covenant " (BiBAlov
SiaB-nK-qs) was a capital crime (Joseph. Ant. xii.
5» § 4, r)tpavl£eTo einou BlBAos eiipeBelq Upa. Kai
vipos). According to the common tradition,
this proscription of " the Law " led to the
public use of the writings of the Prophets ; and
without discussing the accuracy of this belief,
it is evident that the general effect of such a
persecution would be to direct the attention of
the people more closely to the Books which they
connected with the original foundation of their
faith. And this was in fact the result of the
great trial. After the Maccabaean persecution
the history of the formation of the Canon is
merged in the history of its contents.' The
Bible appears from that time as a whole, though
it was natural that the several parts were not
yet placed on an equal footing, nor regarded
universally and in every respect with equal
reverencer (cp. Zunz, D. Gottesd. Vbrtr. d. Jud.
pp. 14, 25, &c).
But while the combined evidence of tradition
and of the general course of Jewish history leads
to the conclusion that the Canon in its present
shape was formed gradually during a lengthened
interval, beginning with Ezra and extending
through the whole (Neh. xii. 11, 22) of the
Persian period (b.o. 458-332) and even beyond
it, when the cessation of the prophetic gift*
pointed ont the necessity and defined the limits
of the collection, it is of the utmost importance to
notice that the collection was peculiar in character
and circumscribed in contents. All the evidence
which can be obtained, though it is confessedly
scanty, tends to show that it is false, both in
theory and fact, to describe the 0. T. as " all
the relics of the Hebraeo-Chaldaic literature
up to a certain epoch " (De Wette, Einl. § 8), if
the phrase is intended to refer to the time when
the Canon was completed. The epilogue of

e The reference to the work of Judas Maccabaeus in
2 Mace. ii. 14, bxravrus 6~e Kat 'Iovfias ra StaireirruKora
Sta rbv noAcpov top yeyovora ijpiv entcrvvriya.ye navra,
/cat cart 7rap' iipiv, appears from the connexion to refer
in particular to hie care witb regard to tbe restitution
of the copies of the sacred writings which were " lost "
(Stan-eTrTuKora). It is of importance to notice that the
work was a restoration, and not a new collection.
1 Yet the distinction between the three degrees of
inspiration which were applied by Abarbanel (Keil,
Einl. Q 158, 6) to the three classes of writings is
unknown to the early Rabbis.
8 After Malachi, according to the Jewish tradition
(Vitringa, 06s. Socr. vi. 6 ; ap. Keil, 1. c.).

Ecclesiastes (xii. 11 sq.) speaks of an extensive
literature, with which the teaching of Wisdom
is contrasted, and " weariness of the flesh " is
described as the result of the study bestowed
upon it. It is impossible that these "many
writings'* can have perished in the interval
between the composition of Ecclesiastes and the
time of the conclusion of the Jewish Canon.
The Apocrypha includes several fragments which
must be referred to the Persian period, or to the
yet later generation which saw the last writings
added to the sacred collection (Buxtorf, Tiberias,
10 f. ; Hottinger, Thes. Phil. ; Hengstenberg,
Beitr'dge, i. ; HBvernick, Einl. i. ; Oehler, art.
Kanon d. A. T. in Herzog's Encyklop.).
(B) The contents of the Jewish Canon. — The
first notice ofthe 0. T. as consisting of distinct
and definite parts occurs in the prologue to the
Greek translation of the Wisdom of Sirach (Eccle
siasticus). The date of this is disputed [Eccle
siasticus ; Jesus son of Sirach] ; but if we
admit the later date (c. B.C. 131), it falls in
with what has been said on the effect of the Anti
ochian persecntion. After that event " the Law,
the Prophecies, and the remainder of the Books "
ate mentioned as integral sections of a completed
whole (S vdpos, Kai at trpotpriTeTat, Kai tb Aonra
tuv BiBAiuv), and the phrase which desig
nates the last class suggests no reason for sup
posing that that was still indefinite and open to
additions. A like threefold classification is used
for describing the entire 0. T. in the Gospel of
St. Luke (xxiv. 44, iv TtJ> vdptp Mudtreus Kai
TrpotpiiTais ko! \paApoh ; cp. Acts xxviii. 23), and
appears again in a passage of Philo, where the
Therapeutae are said to find their true food in
" laws and oracles uttered by prophets, and
hymns and (to &AAa) the other [books ?] by
which knowledge and piety are increased and
perfected " (Philo, de vita cont. 3).b [Bible.]
The triple division of the 0. T. is itself not a
mere accidental or arbitrary arrangement, but a
reflexion of the different stages of religious
development through which the Jewish nation
passed. The Law is the foundation of the whole
revelation, the special discipline by which a
chosen race was trained from a savage wilfulness
to the accomplishment of its divine work. The
Prophets portray the struggles of the same
people when they came into closer connexion
with the kingdoms of the world, and were led
to look for the inward antitypes of the outward
precepts. The Hagiographa carry the divine
lesson yet further, and show its working in the
various phases of individual life, and in relation
to the great problems of thought and feeling,
which present themselves by a necessary law in
the later stages of civilisation (cp. Oehler, art.
Kanon, in Herzog's Encyklop. p. 253 ; Theol. of
0. T. vol. i. p. 17 [Clark, Edinb.]).
The general contents of these three classes still,
however, remain to be determined. Josephus,

h [The genuineness of this treatise, commonly known
as " De vita contemplativa " (wept £tov OetapnTiKov), is
much disputed. It is found among the writings ascribed
to Philo, but recent criticism assigns it to the 3rd cent.
a.d. The arguments are fully stated by Lucius (Die
Therapeuten und ihre stellung in der Geschichte der
Askese, eine kritiscke Untersuchung der Schrift "de
vita contemplativa," Strassburg, 1879). Cp. Schurer,
Geschichte des Judischen Volkes,? 'i. 863.)

502 CANON OP SCRIPTURE
the earliest direct witness on the subject,
enumerates twenty Books "which are justly
believed to be divine " (to SiKaius Bela n-ent-
o-Tevpeva) : five Books of Moses, thirteen of the
Prophets, extending to the reign of Artaxerxes
(i.e. Esther, according to Josephus),' and four
which contain hymns and directions for life
(Joseph, o. Apion. i. 8). Still there is some
ambiguity in this enumeration, for in order to
make up the numbers it is necessary either to
rank Job among the Prophets, or to exclude one
Book, and in that case probably Ecclesiastes,
from the Hagiographa. The former alternative
is the more probable, for it is worthy of special
notice that Josephus regards primarily the
historic character of the Prophets (to: kot'
avrobs npaxBevTa trvveypaipav), a circumstance
which explains his deviation from the common
arrangement in regard to the later annals (1 and
2 Ch., Ezra, Neh.), and Daniel and Job, though
he is silent as to the latter in his narrative
(cp. Orig. ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 25). The later
history, he adds, has also been written in detail,
but the records have not been esteemed worthy
of the same credit, "because the accurate suc
cession of the Prophets was not preserved in
their case" (Sid Tb prj yeveoBai ttjv tuv npo-
tpnT&v d,Kpt0TJ StaSoxiv). " But what faith we
place in our own Scriptures (ypdppatriv) is seen
in our conduct. They have suffered no addition,
diminution, or change. From our infancy we
learn to regard them as decrees of God (®eou
Sdypara) ; we observe them, and if need be we
gladly die for them " (c. Apion. i. 8 ; cp. Euseb.
H. El iii. 10).
In these words Josephus clearly expresses not
his own private opinion, nor the opinion of his
sect, the Pharisees, but the general opinion of
his countrymen. The popular belief that the
Sadducees received only the Books of Moses
(Pseudo-Tertull. Adversus omn. haer. cap. 1, and
in almost the same words Hieron. Adv. Luci-
ferianos, c. 23 [Vallarsi, ii. 197], in Matth.
xxii. 31 [Vallarsi, vii. 181]; Origen, c. Cels.
i. 49, in Matth. torn. xvii. 35 [ed. Lom-
matzsch, iv. 166, 169]) rests on no sufficient
authority ; and if they had done so, Josephus
could not have failed to notice the fact in his
account of the different sects [Sadducees].j In
the traditions of the Talmud, on the other hand,
Gamaliel is represented as using passages from
the Prophets and the Hagiographa in his con
troversies with them, and they reply with
quetations from the same sources without
scruple or objection (cp. Eichhorn, Einl. § 35 ;
Lightfoot, Horae Hebr. et Talm. ii. 616 ; C. F.
Schmid, Enarr. Sent. Fl. Josephi de Libris V. T.
1 The limit fixed by Josephus marks the period to
which the prophetic history extended, and not, as is
commonly said, the date at which the 0. T. Canon was
itself finally closed.
j In Ant. xiii. 10, $ 6, Josephus simply says that the
Sadducees rejected the precepts which were not contained
in the laws of Moses (airep ovk dvayeypcvtirai ev -rots
Mwvo-e'cus vdftois), but derived only from tradition (ra
ck Trapafioo-ews, opposed to rot yeypappivcC). The state
ment has no connexion whatever with tbe other
writings of the Canon.
The Canon of the Samaritans was confined to the
Pentateuch, not so much from their hostility to the
Jews, as from their undue exaltation of the Law (Keil,
Einl. § 218).

CANON OP SCRIPTURE
1777 ; G. Giildenapfel, Dissert. Josephi de Sadd
Can. Sent, exhibens, 1804).
The casual quotations of Josephus agree with
his express Canon. With the exception of
Prov., Eccles., and Cant., which furnished no
materials for his work, and Job, which, even if
historical, offered no point of contact with other
history, he uses all the other Books either as
divinely inspired writings (5 Moses, Is., Jer.
Ezek., Dan., xii. Proph.), or as authoritative
sources of truth.
The writings of the N. T. completely confirm
the testimony of Josephus. Coincidences of lan
guage show that the Apostles were familiar with
several of the Apocryphal books (Bleek, Ueber
d. Stellung d. Apokr. u. s. w. in Stud. u. Krit.
1853, pp. 267 ff.) ; k but they do not contain
one authoritative or direct quotation from them,
while, with the exception of Judges, Eccles.,
Cant., Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah, every other
Book in the Hebrew Canon is used either for
illustration or proof.1
Several of the early Fathers describe the con
tents of the Hebrew Canon in terms which
generally agree with the results already obtained.
Melito of Sardis (c. 179 a.d.) in a journey to
the East made the question of the exact number
and order of " the Books of the Old Testament "
a subject of special inquiry, to satisfy the wishes
of a friend (Euseb. H. E. iv. 26). He gives the
result in the following form : the Books are,
5 Moses . . .. Jos., Jud., Ruth, 4 K., 2 Ch., Ps.,
Prov. (ZaAopuvos Hapotplai r) Kai -Xotpia), Eccles.,
Cant., Job, Is., Jer., xii. Proph., Dan., Ezek., Esd.
The arrangement is peculiar, and the Books of
Nehemiah and Esther are wanting. The former
is without doubt included in the general title
" Esdras," and it has been conjectured (Eichhorn,
Einl. § 52 ; cp. Routh, Bel. Socr. i. 136) that
Esther may have formed part of the same col
lection of records of the history after the Exile.™
The testimony of Origen labours under a similar
difficulty. According to the present Greek text
(ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 25 ; its Ps. i. Philoc. 3 ;
cp. Selecta). in enumerating the twenty-two
Books " which the Hebrews hand down as in
cluded in the Testament (ivSiaBf)Kovs)," he
omits the Book of the twelve minor Prophets,

k The chief passages which Bleek quotes, after Stier
and Nitzsch, are James i. 19 |1 Sirach v. 11 ; 1 Pet. i.
6, 1 H Wisd. iii. 3-1; Heb. xi. 34, 35 || 2 Mace. vi. 18-
vii. 42 ; Heb. i. 3 || Wisd. vii. 26, &c. ; Kom. i. 20-
32 || Wisd. xiii.-xv. ; Eom. ix. 21 1| Wisd. xv. 1 ; Eph.
vi. 13-1 J || Wisd. v. 18-20. But it is obvious that ii
these passages prove satisfactorily that the Apostolic
writers were acquainted with the Apocryphal hooks,
they indicate with equal clearness that their silence
with regard to them cannot have been purely accidental.
An earlier criticism of the alleged coincidences is given
in Cosin's Canon of Scripture, $$ 35 sq.
¦ Some passages are quoted in the N. T. which are
not found in the canonical Books. The most important
of these is that from the prophecies of Enoch [Enoch,
Book of] (Jude 11). Others have been found iu Luke
xi. 49-51 ; John vii. 38; James iv. 5, 6,; 1 Cor. ii. 9;
but these are more or less questionable.
» Hody (de Bibl. text. p. 646) quotes a singular note,
falsely attributed to Athanasius, who likewise omits
Esther. " Sunt etiam ex antiquis Hebraeis qui Esther
admittant, atque .ut numerus idem (22) servetur, cum
Judicibus copularunt." The book is wanting also in
the Synops. S. Script, Greyer. Nasi., AmphitocUu.',
Nicephorus Callistus, &c. •

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
and adds " the letter " to the Book of Jeremiah
and Lamentations ('lepepias trbv ®p-i)vois xai
rp inttTToAp ev evl). The number is thus
imperfect, and the Latin Version of Rufinus
has rightly preserved the Book of the twelve
Prophets in the catalogue, placing it after
Canticles and before the greater Prophets, a
strange position whioh can hardly have been due
to an arbitrary insertion (cf. Hil. Prol. tn Ps.
15)." The addition of " the letter " to Jeremiah
is inexplicable except on the assumption that
it was an error springing naturally from the
habitual use of the LXX., in which the Books
are united, for there is not the slightest trace
that this late apocryphal fragment [Baruch,
Book of] ever formed part of the Jewish Canon.
The statement of Jerome is clear and complete.
After noticing the coincidence of the twenty-two
Books of the Hebrew Bible with the number of
the Hebrew letters, and of the five double letters
with the five " double Books " (i.e. 1-2 Sam.,
1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah,
Jeremiah— Lamentation), he gives the contents
of the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa,
in exact accordance with the Hebrew authorities,
placing Daniel in the last class ; and adding that
whatever is without the number of these must
be placed among the Apocrypha : — " Hie pro
logus Script, quasi galeatum principium omnibus
libris quos de Hebraeo vertimus in Latinum, con-
venire potest, ut scire valeamus, quidquid extra
hos est, inter Apocrypha esse ponendum " (Hieron.
Prol. Gal.). The statement of the Talmud is in
many respects so remarkable that it must be
transcribed entire. " But who wrote [the Books
of the Bible]? Moses wrote his own Book,
? the Pentateuch, the section about Balaam and
Job. Joshua wrote his own Book and the eight
[last] verses of the Pentateuch. Samuel wrote
his own Book, the Book of Judges and Ruth.
David wrote the Book of Psalms [of which how
ever some were composed] by the ten venerable
elders : Adam, the first man, Melchizedek,
Abraham, Moses, Haman, Jeduthun, Asaph, and
the three sons of Korah. Jeremiah wrote his
own Book, the Books of Kings and Lamentations.
Hezekiah and his friends [reduced to writing]
the Books contained in the Memorial word
laMSCHaK, i.e. Isaiah, Proverbs, Canticles,
Ecclesiastes. The men of the Great Synagogue
[reduced to writing] the Books contained in the
memorial letter KaNDaG, i.e. Ezekiel, the twelve
lesser Prophets, Daniel, and Esther. Ezra wrote
his own Book, and brought down the genealogies
of the Books of Chronicles to his own times ....
Who brought the remainder of the Books [of
Chronicles] to a close? Nehemiah the son of
Hachalijah " (Baba Bathra, f. 14 b. Cp. G. H.
Marx, Traditiorabbinorum veterrima, Lips. 1884).
In spite of the comparatively late date
(c. A.D. 500), from which this tradition is
derived, it is evidently in essence the earliest
description of the work of Ezra and the Great
Synagogue which has been preserved. The
details must be tested by other evidence, but
the general description of the growth of the

n Origen expressly excludes 1 Mace, from the Canon
(e£w fie toutwj/ eo-tI rot Manx.), although written in
Hebrew. Bertholdt's statement to the contrary is in
correct (Einl. } 31), although Keil (de Auct. Can. Libb.
Mace. 67) maintains the same opinion.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE

503

Jewish Canon bears every mark of probability.
The early fables as to the work of Ezra
[2 Esdras ; see above] are a natural corruption
of this original belief, and after a timo entirely
supplanted it ; but as it stands in the great
collection of the teaching of the Hebrew
Schools, it bears witness to the authority of the
complete Canon, and at the same time recog
nises its gradual formation in accordance with
the independent results of internal evidence.
The later Jewish Catalogues throw little
light upon the Canon. They generally reckon
twenty-two Books, equal in number to the
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, five of the Law,
eight of the Prophets (Josh., Judg., and Ruth,
1-2 Sam., 1-2 K., Is., Jer. and Lam., Ezek., 12
Proph.), and nine of the Hagiographa (Hieron.
Prol. in Reg.). The last number was more
commonly increased to eleven by the distinct
enumeration of the Books of Ruth and Lamen
tation ("the 24 Books," HJiaiKI t>nC5>I>), and
in that case it was supposed that the Yod was
thrice repeated in reverence for the sacred name
(Hody, de Bibl. text. p. 644 ; Eichhorn, Einl.
§ 6). In Hebrew MSS., and in the early edi
tions of the 0. T., the arrangement of the later
Books offers great variations (Hody, l.-c, gives
a large collection), but they generally agree in
reckoning all separately except the Books of
Ezra and Nehemiah ° (Buxtorf, Hottinger, Heng-

0 Notwithstanding the unanimous judgment of later
writers, there are traces of the existence of doubts
among the first Jewish doctors as to some Books. Thus
in the Mi6hna (Jad. 3, 5) a discussion is recorded as to
Cant, and Eccles. whether they " soil the hands " ; and
a difference as to the latter Bcok existed between the
great schools of Hillel and Shammai. ["To soil the
hands " is an expression that has often been misinter
preted. The Jewish doctors, in order to protect the
sacred Books from irreverent usage, appear to have laid
down a special rule, by which ceremonial uncleanness
was contracted in the contact of hands or food with the
Jewish Scriptures, lt thus became necessary to deter
mine which writings " soiled " or defiled the hands. To
say of a Jewish book that it soiled the hands, so far
from bemg depreciatory, was equivalent to recognising
its place in the Jewish Canon. /See Ginsburg's Song of
Songs, p. 3, note, 1857, and Coheleth, pp. 13-15, 1861.]
Tbe same doubtB as to Eccles. are repeated in another
form in the Talmud (Sabb. f. 30, 2), where it is said that
the book would have been concealed (DJ) but for the
quotations at, tbe beginning and the end.' Cp. Hieron.
Comm. in Eccles. 8. 1. : " Aiunt Hebraei cum inter cae-
tera scripta Salomonis quae antiquata sunt nee in
memoria duraverunt, et hie liber obliterandus videretur,
eo quod vanas Dei assereret creaturas ... ex hoc uno
capitulo (xii.) meruisse auctoritatem . . . . " Parallel
passages are quoted in the notes on the passage, and by
Bleek, Stud. u. Krit. 1853, pp. 322 sq. The doubts as
to Esther have been already noticed. The gravity of
these doubts may fairly be measured by the vigour of
assertion with which the Jews defended its canonicity.
Cp. Jer. Talm. Megilla, i. 7 (p. 70<i). Eabbi Jochanan
said, " The Prophets and tlie Hagiographa will become
obsolete, but the five Books of the Law will never
become obsolete." Eabbi Simeon, the son of Lakieh,
said, "Nay; the Megillah (roll) of Esther and the
Halacoth will never become obsolete." So also Maimon.
Hikhoth Megilla, ii. 18, " All the Books of the Prophets
and all the Hagiographa will become obsolete in the days
of the Messiah, save only the Megillah (roll) of Esther.
Lo! that shall stand like the five-fifths of the Law."
(Quoted in Herzog-Plitt, Encyk. art. Kanon.) The
Jewish objections to the canonicity of such Books as
Esth., Eccles., Cant, do not seem to have been founded

504 CANON OF SCRIPTURE
stenberg, Havernick, 11. cc. ; Zunz, Gottesd.
Vortrdge d. Juden).
So far, then, it has been shown that the
Hebrew Canon was uniform and coincident with
our own;p but while the Palestinian Jews
combined to preserve the strict limits of the
old prophetic writings, the Alexandrine Jews
allowed themselves greater freedom. Their
ecclesiastical constitution was less definite, and
the same influences which created among them
an independent literature disinclined them to
regard with marked veneration more than the
Law itself. The idea of a Canon was foreign to
their habits; and the fact that they possessed
the sacred Books not merely in a translation,
but in a translation made at different times,
without any unity of plan and without any
uniformity of execution, necessarily weakened
that traditional feeling of their real connexion
which existed in Palestine. Translations of
later books were made (1 Mace, Ecclus., Baruch,
&c), and new ones were written (2 Mace,
Wisd.), which were reckoned in the sum of their
religious literature, and probably placed on an
equal footing with the Hagiographa in common
esteem. But this was not the result of any
express judgment on their worth, but a natural
consequence of the popular belief in the doctrine
of a living Word which deprived the prophetic
writings of part of their distinctive value. So
far as an authoritative Canon existed in Egypt,
it is probable that it was the same as that of
Palestine. In the absence of distinct evidence
to the contrary this is most likely, and positive
indications of the fact are not wanting. The
translator of the Wisdom of Sirach uses the
same phrase (o vdpos Kai ot irpotpTJrai Kai t&
&AAa 0iBAla) in speaking of his grandfather's
biblical studies in Palestine, and of his owu in
Egypt (cp. Eichhorn, Einl. § 22), and he could
hardly have done so had the Bible been differ
ent in the two places. The evidence of Philo,
if less direct, is still more conclusive. His
language shows that he was acquainted with
the Apocryphal books, and yet he does not
make a single quotation from them (Hornemann,
Observ. ad illustr. doctr. de Can. V. T. ex Philone,
pp. 28, 29, ap. Eichhorn, Einl. § 26), though
they offered much that was favourable to his
views. On the other hand, in addition to the
Law, he quotes all the Books of " the Prophets,"
and the Psalms and Proverbs, from the Hagio
grapha, and several of them (Is., Jer., Hos.,
Zech., Ps., Prov.) with clear assertions of their

upon any historical basis, but upon the character and
contents of the Books, and the possibility of their
variance with the traditional interpretation of the Law
{.see Fuerst, Norton des A. T. 148 sq. ; Zahn, Gesch. d.
JV. T. Kan. 123 sq.).
A series of references to the Apocryphal books from
Jewish writers has been made by Hottinger (Thes.
Philol. 1659), and collected and reprinted by Words
worth (On the Canon of the Scriptures, App. C). Cp.
also the valuable notices in Zunz, D. Gottesd. Vortr. d.
Jud. pp. 126 sq.
r The dream of a second and third revision of the
Jewish canon in the times of Eleazer and Hillel, by
which the Apocryphal books were ratified (Genebrard),
icsts on no basis whatever. The supposition that the
Jews rejected the Apocrypha after our Lord's coming
(Card. Perron) is equally unfounded. Cosin, Canon of
Scripture, fl} 23, 25.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
•'prophetic" or inspired character. Of the
remaining Hagiographa (Neh., Ruth, Lam., 1-
2 Ch., Dan., Eccles., Cant.) he makes no mention
but the first three may have been attached, as
often in Hebrew usage, to other Books (Ezra
Judg., Jer.), so that four writings alone are
entirely unattested by him (cp. Hornemann
I. c). A further trace of the identity of the
Alexandrine Canon with the Palestinian is found
in the Apocalypse of Esdras [2 Esdbas], where
"twenty- four open books" are specially dis
tinguished from the mass of esoteric writings
which were dictated to Ezra by inspiration
(2 Esd. xiv. 44 sq.). [Apocrypha.]
From the combination of this evidence there
can be no reasonable doubt that at the begin
ning of the Christian era the Jews had only one
Canon of the Sacred writings, defined distinctly
in Palestine, and admitted, though with a less
definite apprehension of its peculiar' character
istics, by the Hellenizing Jews ofthe Dispersion,
and that this Canon was recognised, as far as
can be determined, by our Lord and His Apostles.
But, on the other hand, the connexion of other
religious books with the Greek translation of
the O. T., and their common use in Egypt, was
already opening the way for an extension of the
original Canon, and assigning an authority to
later writings which they did not derive from
ecclesiastical sanction.
III. The History of the Christian Canon of
the Old Testament— Tbe history of the Old
Testament Canon among Christian writers ex
hibits the natural issue of the currency of the
LXX., enlarged as it had been by apocryphal
additions. In proportion as the Fathers were
more or less absolutely dependent on that Ver
sion for their knowledge of the Old Testament
Scriptures, they gradually lost in common prac
tice the sense of the difference between the
Books of the Hebrew Canon and the Apocrypha.
The custom of individuals grew into the custom
of the Church ; and the public use of the
Apocryphal books obliterated in popular regard
the characteristic marks of their origin and
value, which could only be discovered by the
scholar. But the custom of the Church was
not fixed in an absolute judgment, lt might
seem as if the great leaders of the Christian
Body shrank by a wise forethought from a work
for which they were unfitted ; for by acquire
ments and constitution they were little capable
of solving a problem which must at last depend
on historical data. And this remark must be
applied to the details of patristic evidence on
the contents of the Canon. Their habit must
be distinguished from their judgment. The
want of critical tact which allowed them to
use the most obviously pseudonymous works
(2 Esdras, Enoch) as genuine productions of their
supposed authors, or as "divine Scripture,"
greatly diminishes the value of casual and
isolated testimonies to single Books. In such
cases the form as well as the fact of the attesta
tion requires to be examined, and after this the
combined witness of different Churches can
alone suffice to stamp a Book with ecclesiastical
authority. The confusion which was necessarily intro
duced by the use of the LXX. was further
increased when the Western Church rose in
importance. The LXX. itself was the original

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
of the Old Latin, and the recollection of the
original distinction between the constituent
Books of the Bible became more and more diffi
cult in the Version of a Version ; and at the
same time the Hebrew Church dwindled down
to an obscure sect, and the intercourse between
the Churches of the East and West grew less
intimate. The impulse which instigated Melito
in the second century to seek in " the East " an
" accurate " account of " the Books of the Old
Testament," gradually lost its force as the
Jewish nation and literature were further with
drawn from the circle of Christian knowledge.
The Old Latin Version converted use popularly
into belief, and the investigations of Jerome
were unable to counteract the feeling which had
gained strength silently, without any distinct
and authoritative sanction. Yet one important,
though obscure, protest was made against the
growing error. The Nazarenes, the relics of
the Hebrew Church, in addition to the New
Testament " made use of the Old Testament, as
the Jews" (Epiph. Haer xxix. 7). They had
"the whole Law, and the Prophets, and the
Hagiographa so called ; that is, the poetical
Books, and the Kings, and Chronicles and Esther,
and all the other Books in Hebrew " (Epiph.
/. c. : 7rop' aurols yap nas 6 vopos Kai ol TrpotprJTai
Kai ra. ypatpeia Aeydpeva, tpqpl Se ret trTixvpv,
Kai al BaaiAeiai Kai TlapaAeiTrSpeva, Kai Alc-Orjp
Kai r&AAa n-dvTa 'EBpaiKuis dvaytvtiffKeTai). And
in connexion with this fact, it is worthy of
remark that Justin Martyr, who drew his
knowledge of Christianity from Palestine, makes
no use of the Apocryphal writings in any of
his works.
From what has been said, it is evident that
the history of the Christian Canon is to be
sought in the first instance from definite cata
logues and not from isolated quotations. But
even this evidence is incomplete and unsatis
factory. A comparison of the table (No. I.,
p. 506) of the chief extant Catalogues will
show how few of them are really independent ;
and the later transcriptions are commonly of no
value, as they do not appear to have been made
with any critical appreciation of their distinc
tive worth.
These Catalogues evidently fall into two
great classes, Hebrew and Latin ; and the
former, again, exhibits three distinct varieties,
which are to be traced to the three original
sources from which the Catalogues were derived.
The first may be called the pure Hebrew Canon,
which is that of the Church of England (the
Talmud, Jerome, Joan. Damasc). The second
differs from this by the omission of the Book of
Esther (Melito [Athan.], Syn. S. Script, Greg.
Naz., Amphiloch., Leont, Niceph., Callist.). The
third differs by the addition of Baruch, or " the
Letter" (Origen, Athanas., Cyr. Hieros. [Condi.
Laod.], Hil. Pictav.). The omission of Esther
may mark a real variation in the opinion of the
Jewish Church [Esther], but the addition of
Baruch is probably due to the place which it
occupied in direct connexion with Jeremiah,
not only in the Greek and Latin translations,
but perhaps also in some copies of the Hebrew
text [Baruch, Book of]. This is rendered
more likely by the converse fact that the
Lamentations and Baruch are not distinctly
¦enumerated by many writers who certainly

CANON OF SCRIPTURE 505
received both Books. During the first four
centuries this Hebrew Canon is the only one
which is distinctly recognised, and it is sup
ported by the combined authority of those
Fathers whose critical judgment is entitled to
the greatest weight. In the meantime, how
ever, as has been already noticed, the common
usage of the early Fathers was influenced by
the position which the Apocryphal books occu
pied in the current Versions, and they quoted
them frequently as Scripture, when they were
not led to refer to the judgment of antiquity.
The table (No. II., p. 508) will show the
extent and character of this partial testimony
to the disputed books.
These casual testimonies are, however, of com
paratively slight value, and are, in many cases,
opposed to the deliberate judgment of the
authors from whom they are quoted. The real
divergence as to the contents of the Old Testa
ment Canon is to be traced to Augdstini:,
whose wavering and uncertain language on the
point furnishes abundant materials for contro
versy. By education and character he occupied
a position more than usually unfavourable for
historical criticism, and yet his overpowering
influence, when it fell in with ordinary usage,
gave consistency and strength to the opinion
which he appeared to advocate, for it may be
reasonably doubted whether he differed inten
tionally from Jerome except in language. In a
famous passage (de Doctr. Christ, ii. 8 [13] ) he
enumerates the Books which are contained in
" the whole Canon of Scripture," and includes
among them the Apocryphal books without any
clear mark of distinction. This general state
ment is further confirmed by two other pas
sages, in which it is argued that he draws a
distinction between the Jewish and Christian
Canons, and refers the authority of the Apocry
phal books to the judgment of the Christian
Church. In the first passage he speaks of the
Maccabaean history as not " found in the Sacred
Scriptures which are called canonical, but in
others, among which are also the books of
the Maccabees, which the Church, and not the
Jews, holds for canonical, on account of the
marvellous sufferings of the martyrs [recorded
in them] " (" quorum supputatio temporum
non in Scripturis Sanctis, quae Canonicae appel-
lantur, sed in aliis invenitur, in quibus sunt et
Machabaeorum libri, quos non Judaei, sed
ecclesia pro Canonicis habet," de Civ. xviii.
36). In the other passage he speaks of the
books of the Maccabees as " received (recepta)
by the Church, not without profit, if they be
read with sobriety " (c. Gaud. i. 38). But it
will be noticed that in each case a distinction is
drawn between the " Ecclesiastical " and pro
perly " Canonical " books. In the second case
he expressly lowers the authority of the books
of the Maccabees by remarking that " the Jews
have them not like the Law, the Psalms, and
the Prophets to which the Lord gives His wit
ness " (Aug. 1. a). And the original catalogue
is equally qualified by an introduction which
distinguishes between the authority of Books
which are received by all and by some of the
Churches ; and, again, between those which are
received by Churches of great or of small weight
(de Doctr. Chr. ii. 8 [12] ), so that the list which
immediately follows must be interpreted by

506

CANON OF SCEIPTURE

No. I.— CHRISTIAN" CATALOGUES OF THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
The liBt extendsr only to such books as are ; disputed. Of the signs, * indicates that the book is expressly
reckoned as Holy Scripture : + that it is placed expressly in a second sank : ? that it is mentioned with doubts
A blank marks the silence of the author as to the book in question.

I. Conciliar Catalogues :

[Laodicene] .
Carthaginian

a.d. 363
397 (?)

Apostolic Canons .
II. Private Catalogues :
(a) Greek writers.
Melito . . . a.d. c. 160
Origen . . . c. 183-253
Athanasius . . 296-373
Cyril of Jerus. . 315-386
Synopsis S. Script. .
[Nicephori] Stichometria .
Gregory of Naz. . 370-391

Amphilochius

Epiphanius.
Leontius .

,*c 380

u. 367-403
. c. 590

Joannes Damasc. . f750
NicephoruB Callist. c. 1330
Cod. Gr. Saec. X. . .

(&) Latin writers.
HilariuB Pictav. a.d. fc. 370
Hieronymus . . . f420

Kuffinus . .
AuguBtinus .
[Innocentius] .
Cassiodorus . .
IsidoniB Hispal. .
Sacram. Gallic.
annos 1000 " .

c. 380
393-430

f570 f696

' ante \ '

t

t .
tt

Cone. Laod. Can. lix.'
Cone. Carthag. iii. Can_
I xxxix. (alii xlvii.).s
Can. Apost. lxxxvi. (alii i
1XXXV.),3

Ap. Euseb. H. E. iv. 20.
Ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 25.*
Ep. Fest. xxxix. t. i. .
767, Ed. Ben.'
Cateeh. iv. 33.
Ap. Chrys. ; Migne, Pttfr. .
Gram. lvi. 313 sq.6
Credner, Zur Gesch. d.
Kan. }119sq,7
Carm. Sect. i. xii. 5; .
Migne, Patr. Gr. .
xxvii. 472 sq.8
Iambi ad Sdeucwm, ap-
Gregor. Naz. Carm.
Sect. ii. xvii. ; Migne,
Patr. Gr. xxxvii. .
1593 sq. ; cp. Amphi-
loch. ed. Combef.
p. 130 sq.»
De Mens, et Pond. 4, .
Dind. iv. 7."
Ve Seetis, Act. ii. (Gal- -
land!, xii. 625 sq.)u
Bef.de orthod. iv. W.B
Hody, p. 648."
Montfaucon, Bibl.Cois-
Kn. p. 193 sq.

Prol. in Ps. 15."
Prol. Galeat. in libros -
Samuel et Malachim,
ix. pp. 547 sq., .ed.
Migne.15
Expos. Symb. 37 sq.18
De doctr. Christ, ii. 8.1'
Ep. adExsup. (Gullaiidi,
viii. 561 sq.).
De Instit. Div. Lilt.
xiv. 18
De Ordinc Libr. S. Serif t.
init. ; Migne, Patr. L.
lxxxiii. 156 aq."
Hody, p. 654.

1 The evidence agamst the authenticity of this Canon,
as an original part of the collection, is decisive, in spite
of the defence of Bickell (Stud. u. Exit. iii. 611 sq.), as
the present writer has shown at length in another place
'Hist. ofN. T. Canon, iv. 498 sq.). The Canon recurs in
the Capitular. Aquisgran. u. xx., with the omission of
Baruch and Lamentations.
2 The same Canon appears in Cone. Hipp. Can. xxxvi.
The Greek version of the Canon omits the books of
Maccabees; and the history of the Council itself is very
obscure. Cp. Cosin. $ 82.
3 This Canon mentions three books of the Maccabees.
Judith Is not found in some MSS. ; and generally it may
be observed that the published text of the Conciliar
Canons needs a thorough revision. , Ecclesiasticus is
thus mentioned: e"fuee„ S| ffpoo-10TopflV9w bplv pev-

NOTES ON TABLE No. I.

Odveiv iipiov tov? ve'ov? TTjf arotfriav tou t,o\viio8ovs
-<- tpo-x- Cp. Constit. Apost. ii. 57.
The Canons of Laodicea, Carthage, and the Apostolic
Canons, were all ratified in the Qumi-Sextine Council,
Can. 2.
4 'lepejuta? truv ©pijvot? (cat iirurroAfi h eft. Origen
expressly says that this catalogue is tis 'E^patot tta-
paSiSooio-i, and begins with the words .- eio-t Se at eUotri
Svo /St'jSAot k a ff ¦ EfSpatov; a'tSc. He quotes several of
the Apocryphal books as Scripture, as will be seen
below ; and in his Letter to Africanus defends the inter
polated Greek text of Daniel and the other 0. T. Books,
on the ground of their public use (Ep. ad Af rie. § 3 sq.).
The whole of this last passage is of the deepest interest,
and places in the clearest light the influence which the ¦
LXX. exercised on common opinion.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
this rule. In confirmation of this view of
Augustine's special regard for the Hebrew
Canon, it may be further urged that he appeals
to the Jews, " the librarians of the Christians,"
as possessing " all the writings in which Christ
was prophesied of" (in Ps. xl., Ps. lvi.), and to
"the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets,"
which were supported by the witness of the
Jews (c. Gaud. 1. c), as including "all the
canonical authorities of the Sacred Books " (de
unit. Eccles* 16), which, as he says in another
place (de Civ. xv. 23, 4), "were preserved in
the Temple of the Hebrew people by the care of
the successive priests." But on the other hand
Augustine frequently uses passages from the
Apocryphal books as co-ordinate with Scripture,
and practically disregards the rules of distinc
tion between the various classes of Sacred
writings which he had himself laid down. He
stood on the extreme verge of the age of inde
pendent learning, and follows at one time the
conclusions of criticism, at another the prescrip
tions of habit, which from his date grew more
and more powerful.
The enlarged Canon of Augustine, which was,
as it will be seen, wholly unsupported by any
Greek authority, was adopted at the Council of
Carthage (a.c. 397 ?), though with u. reserva
tion (Can. 47, De confirmando isto Canone trans-
marina ecclesia consulatur), and afterwards pub-

CANON OF SCRIPTURE 507
listed in the decretals which bear the name
of Innocent, Damasus, and Gelasius (cp.
Credner, Zur Gesch. d. Kan. 151 sq.)^ and it
recurs in many later writers. But nevertheless
a continuous succession of tho more learned
Fathers in the West maintained the distinctive
authority of the Hebrew Canon up to the period
of the Reformation. In the 6th century
Primasius (Comm. in Apoc. iv, Cosin, § 92 ?),
in the 7th Gregory the Great (Moral, xix.
21, p. 622), in the 8th Bede (in Apoc. iv.?),
in the 9th Alcuin (ap. Hody, 654; yet see
Carm. vi. vii.), in the 10th Radulphus Flav.
(in Zevit. xiv. ; Hody, 655), in the 12th Peter
OP Cluny (Up, c. Petr. ; Hody, /. c), HUGO DE
S. Victoire (de Script. 6), and John of
Salisbury (Hody, 656 ; Cosin, § 130), in the
13th Hugo Cardinalis (Hody, 656), in the
14th Nicholas Liranus (Hody, p. 657 ; Cosin,
§ 146), Wiclif (? cp. Hody, 658), and Occam
(Hody, p. 657; Cosin, § 147), in the 15th
Thomas Anglicus (Cosin, § 150), and Thomas
de Walden (Id. § 151), in the 16th Card.
Ximenes (Ed. Compl. Pref.)y Sixtus Senensis
(Biblioth. i. 1), and Card. Cajetan (Hody,
p. 662 ; Cosin, § 173), repeat with approval the
decision of Jerome, and draw a clear line between
the Canonical and Apocryphal books (Cosin,
Scholastical ICistory of the Canon ; Reuss, Die
Gesch. d. heiligen Schriften d. N. I7., ed. 2, § 328).

NOTES ON TABLE
5 Athanasius closes his whole catalogue with the
fc'OTds : Taxna. injyal tov cwnjpiou. . .iv toutois ixorot^
to tt)s evaefiias StSaffKaXetov evayyeAt^erat. jtojoeis
tovtois e7ri/3aAA.eTW fttjSe tovtwv a.<paipeio-0ot Tt 
itrrtv xai erepa /3i0Ata rovrtnv efwflev, ov Kavovt£6jJ.eva
fikv Terumtf/xepa Si trapa. tCjv iraripiov avayivaio'Kf.<T0ai
tqls Sftri TTpoa-epxpfLtvois koj. /3ovAoju.eVois icaTTjxei aflat
TOV Tr); ewe/Seias \6yov.
6 The list of the Apocryphal books is prefaced by a
clause nearly identical with that in Athanasius. In a
second enumeration (Credner, Gesch. d. Kanon, p. 144),
three books of the Maccabees and Susanna are enume
rated among the iu>Ti\ey6fjLeva.
7 The Apocryphal books are headed : ko.1 ocrai avri-
Aeyoirai rijs iraAata? avrai tla-tv. Susanna (i.e. Add.
to Daniel) is reckoned among them.
3 The catalogue ends with the words : irda-aq exet?-
et Tt? fie tovt(ov exros ovk ev yvrftrtots.
9 The verses occur under the name of Gregory of
Nazianzus, but are generally referred to Amphilochius.
Of Esther he says : tovtois irpoa-eyKpivovo'i ttjv 'Eo-&ijp
Ttceff. He concludes : oAtos ai/»eu5«TTaTos Kaviav av elij
raw 6eoirveva~r<ov ypcup&v.
10 Epiphanius adds of Wisdom and Ecclus. : xPrn<rtfJ-0L
jiwi/ elai Kai wtpcKtfioi, aAA' eis api.8ti.bv pjjThiv ovk ava-
</>e'poi/T<u, Sib ovSe . . .iv rjf ttjs fitafljJKTjs ki/3wtw [acere-
flijaw]. The same catalogue is repeated de Mens. p. 186.
In another place (adv. Haer. lxxvi. p. 941), he Bpeaks of
the teaching contained in " the xxii. Books " of the Old
Test, in the New Test., and then iv rats 2o<£ta.ts, 2oAo-
fiwi/Tos re <£i)/*i icoi vlov Stpax koX jrdtrats airAws Oeiais
ypaufHus. In a third catalogue (adv. Haer. v. p. 19) he
adds the letters of Baruch and Jeremiah (which he else
where specially notices as wanting in the Hebrew,
de Mens. p. 163), and speaks of Wisdom and Ecclus. as
ev aju,^tAeKTw (among the Jews), xwP^5 aXXuiv rwiov
(3tj3AtW evairoKpv<f><t>v. Cp. adv. Haer. xxix. p. 122.
11 Leont. I. C; Tavra. itrrt ra Kavovi£6/j.eva jStjSAia iv
Tj] eKtckqiria Kai TraAata /eat via, $>v ra iraKaia. navTa
Sexovrai ot 'E^paiot.
12 Joan. Damasc. I. c. r/ troipCa tov SoAo/xwi/tos koX 7}
5o(£ta tov 'hjtrov . . . . evaperoi fj.ev «at icaAai AAA' ovk
aptfyioviTai, ovSe Hkclvto iv rn Ki/3toTw.

No. I. — continued.
13 "Quibus connulli adjiciunt Esther, Judith, et Tobit.
«ekt&s Se TOvThiv tjj? ypatprjs atrav v66ov " (Hody, I. c).
14 Hilar. I. c. : "Quihusdam autem visum est additis
Tohia et Judith xxiv. libros secundum numerum grae-
carum litterarum connumerare . . . . "
15 Hieron. 1. c. : " Quicquid extra hos [the Books of the
Hebrew Canon] est, inter apocrypha ponendum. Igitur
Sapientia^ quaevulgo Salomonis inscribitur, et Jesu Jilii
Sirach liber, et Judith et Tobias et Pastor non sunt in
canone. Macchabaeorum, primum librum Hebraicum
reperi: secundus Graecus est ... . Cp. Prol. in Libros
Salom. ad Clirom. et Heliod. Fertur et TLavdperos,
Jesu Jilii Sirach liber, et alius i/zevSeTrtypo^oy, qui
Sapientia Salomonis inscribitur .... Slcut ergo Judith
et Tobit, et Macchabaeorum libros legit quidem ecclesia,
sed inter canonipos non recipit, sic et haec duo volumina
legit ad aedificationem plebis, non ad auctoritatem
ecclesiasticorumdogmatumconfirmandam. Cp. Prologos
in Ban., Hierem., Tobit, Judith, Jonam ; Bp. ad
Paulinum, liii." Hence at the close of Esther one very
ancient MS., quoted by Martianay on the place, adds :
*'* Hucusque completum est "Vet. Test, id est, omnes
canonicae Scripturae . . . quas transtulit Hieronymus
. . . . de HebraicE veritate (. . . . caeterae vero Scripturae,
quae non Bunt canonicae, sed dicuntur ecclesiasticae,
istae sunt, id est ... . " giving the list contained in
Prol. Galat.
10 After giving the Hebrew Canon and the received
Canon of N. T., Rufinus says: "Sciendum tamen est,
quod et alii libri sunt, qui non canonici sed ecclesiastici
a majoribus appellati sunt, id est, Sapientia, quae
dicitur Solomonis, et alia Sapientia quae dicitur Jilii
Sirach .... ejusdem vero ordinis libellus est Tobiae et
Judith et Machabaeorum libri .... Quae omnia legi
quidem in ecclesiis voluerunt, non tamen proferri ad
auctoritatem ex his fidei confiimandam. Caeteras vero
Scripturas apocryphas nominarunt, quas in ecclesiis
legi noluerunt."
17 See below.
18 Cassiodorus gives also, however, with marks of
high respect, the catalogue of Jerome. Cp. Cosin, $ 89.
19 Isidorus, like Cassiodorus, gives the catalogue oi
Jerome, as well as that of Augustine. Cp. Cosin, 0 103.

No. II.— QUOTATIONS OF THE APOCRYPHA AS SCRIPTURE.!

o CO

I. Greek writers.
Clemess Rom. .
Polycabp . .
Baenabas .
Irenaeus .
CLtM. Alex. .
origenes ,
HippolytusMethodius . .
Athanasius
Eusebius . .
Ctbil. Hieros.
GftEGon, Naz. .
Basil
El'IPHAMUSChrysostom: .
II. Latin writers.
Tertullian
Citbun. . .
HlLAttIU8PlCTA\ .
Ambbosius .
IIierokyhus .
Lucifer. OlTATUS. AUOUSTIKDS

-2 Mace.

[Strom, v. 14.]
DePrinc. ii. 1,5.
[De Antichr. 49.J

I p. 59 (55), 4.

De non pare. pp.
958 sq.

Adv. haer.-7.35, l.
Paed. i, 10; ii. 3.
Sel. in Ps. exxv. ;
Sel. in Jer. xxxi.
Adv. d. Noet. 5.
Conv. viii. 3.
c. Arian. i. 13, \..
329.
Dem. Eo. vi. 19.
Cat. xi. 15.
Ado. Ettn, iv. 16.
Haer. lvii. 2, &c.
In 1's, xlix. 3.

Sco>p. H.
Testim. ii. 6.
TnPs. lxviii. 19;
De Trin. iv. 142.
In Ps. cxviii. 18,
2.

De Civ. xviii. 31.

Ecclesiasticus.

[Ep. 19, 9.]

Stiom. ii. 6, kc.

Comm. in Juan.
xxxii. 14.

Conv. I. 3, kc.
c. Arian. ii. 4, p.
372.

[Cat. xxiii. 17.]
Haer. xxiv. 6, &<.'.
De Laz. ii. i.

Testim. ii. 1 ; Z>e
Mortal. 9.
M P*. lxvi. 9, &c.
De bono mortis, s.
[Dial. c. Pelag. i.
33.]

De Sch. Don. Iii. 3.
In Ps. lxvli. 8, &c.

Wisdom.

[Ep. ad Cor. 21.] [Ep. od Phil. 10.]
[Ep. c. 6.] |
[Adv. haer. iv. 38, i [Adv. haer. i. 30,
3.] j 11-]
Strom, iv. 16? vi. ; Strom, ii. 23; vi,
11, 14, 15, &£.
c. Cete. iii. 72 ;

29 ; Hom. saepe.
In Cant. Prol.
Conv. i. 3, &c.
c. Arian. ii. 33, p.
395.
Praep. Ev. i. 9.
Cat. ix. 2.
Adu. £wno»i. v. 2.
Haer. xxvi.
(finust.) 15, &c.
/» /';>¦. cix. 7.

[Depraes. haer. 7.]
Jfesiim. ii. 14; De
Mortal. 23.
Jra Ps. cxviii. 2, 8.
/><; Sp. S. iii. 18,
135, be.
[Dial. c. Pelag. i.
33.]
pro Athan. i. p,
860, ed. Mfgne.
DeScli. Oon.ii.25.
In Ps. lvii. 1.

i 12.
Ep. ad Afric. 13 ;
Dc Orat. 11.
[In Dan. p. 697,
ed. Migne.]
c. Arian. i. p. 133.
Apol. ad Const, c.

Judith.

17, $ 242.

De Orat. Dom. 32.
In Ps. exxix. 7.

Lib. de Tobia, 1.

Pro Athan. i- P«
871.

[Ep. ad Cor. 55.}

Strom, ii. 7.
[Hom. ix. itt Jud.
10
Sel. in Jer. 23.
[Conv. xi. 2.]
c. Arian. ii. 34,
p. 397.

In Ps. exxv. G.

2?e non pare. p.
955. r

Additions to
Esther.

Ep. ad Afric.%
De Orat. 14.

Additions to
Daniel.

Adv. haer. iv. 5,
2 ; 26, 3.
[Eclog. ex Script.
Proph. l.]
Ep. ad Afric. kc.
Comm. in .Dan. pp.
639 sq.,ed. Migne.
[Conv. xi. 2.]
c. Arian. i. 13,
p. 329; iii. p. 580,

cat. ii. 16, &c.
Orat. xxxvi. 3.
Hom. xii. in Proa.
13.
Ancor. 23, 24.

Adv. Hermog. 44.
De Orat. Dom. 3.
In Ps. Iii. 19, be.
De Sp. S. iii. 6, 39.

Pro Athan. ii. pp.
894 sq.
Sei~m. cccxliii.

;

1 The quotations in brackets are doubtful either as to the reference, or as to the character assigned to the hook quoted.

CANON OF SCKIPTUEE
Up to the date of the Council of Trent,
the Romanists allow that the question of the
Canon was open, but one of the first labours of
that assembly was to circumscribe a freedom
which the growth of literature seemed to render
perilous.' The decree of the Council "on the
Canonical Scriptures," which was made at the
fourth session (April 8th, 1546), at which about
fifty-three representatives were present, pro
nounced the enlarged Canon, including the
Apocryphal books, to be deserving in all its
parts of " equal veneration " (pari pietatis
affectu), and added a list of books " to prevent
the possibility of doubt " (ne cui dvbitatio
suboriri possit). This hasty and peremptory
decree, unlike in its form to any catalogue before
published, was closed by a solemn anathema
against all Who should " not receive the entire
books with all their parts as sacred and ca
nonical " (" Si quis autem libros ipsos integros
cum omnibus suis partibus, prout in ecclesia
catholica legi consueverunt et in veteri vulgata
Latina editione habentur, pro sacris et canonicis
non susceperit . . . anathema esto," Cone. Tiid.
Sess. iv.). This decree was not, however, passed
without opposition (Sarpi, 139 sq., ed. 1655,
though Fallavacino denies this); and in spite
of the absolute terms in which it is expressed,
later Romanists have sought to find a method
of escaping from the definite equalisation of the
two classes of Sacred writings by a forced inter
pretation of the subsidiary clauses. Du Pin
(Dissert, prelim, i. 1), Lamy (App. Bibl. ii. 5),
and Jahn (Einl. in d. Gottl. Backer d. A. T., i.
140-143) endeavoured to establish two classes
of proto-Canonical, and deutero-Canonical books,
attributing to the first -a. dogmatic, and to the
second only an ethical authority. But such
a classification, however true it may be, is
obviously at variance with the terms of the
Tridentine decision, and has found comparatively
Httle favour among Romish writers (cp. [Herbst]
Welte, Einl. ii. 1 sq. ; Kaulen,2 Einl. in d. heilige
Schrift. i. 14, &c).
The Reformed Churches unanimously agreed
in confirming the Hebrew Canon of Jerome, and
refused to allow any dogmatic authority to the
Apocryphal books, but the form in which this
judgment was expressed varied considerably in
the different confessions. The Lutheran formu
laries contain no definite article on the subject,
but the note which Luther placed in the front
of his German translation of the Apocrypha
(ed. 1534) is an adequate declaration of the
later judgment of the Communion : "Apocrypha,
that is books which are not placed on an equal
footing (nicht gleich gehalten) with Holy Scrip
ture, and yet are profitable and good for read
ing." This general view was further expanded
in the special prefaces to the separate books in
which Luther freely criticised their individual
worth, and wholly rejected 3 and 4 Esdras as
unworthy of translation. At an earlier period
Carlstadt (1520) published a critical essay, De
canonicis scripturis libellus (reprinted in Credner,
Zur Gesch. d. Kan. pp. 291 sq.), in which he
followed the Hebrew division of the Canonical

i The history of the Catalogue published at the
Council of Florence (1441) is obscure (Cosin, $$ 159 f.),
and it was probably limited to the determination of
books for Ecclesiastical use (Reuss, 0 325).

CANON OF SCKIFTUEE 50S)
Books into three ranks, and added Wisd., Ecclus.,
Judith, Tobit, 1 and 2 Mace, as Hagiographa,
though not included in the Hebrew collection,
while he rejected the remainder ofthe Apocrypha
with considerable parts of Daniel as "utterly
apocryphal" (plane apocryphi; Credu. pp. 389,
410 sq.).
The Calvinistic Churches generally treated the
question with more precision, and introduced
into their symbolic documents a distinction
between the "Canonical" and "Apocryphal,"
or " Ecclesiastical " books. The Gallican Con
fession (1561), after an enumeration of the
Hieronymian Canon (Art. 3), adds (Art. 4)
" that the other ecclesiastical books are useful,.
yet not such that any article of faith could be
established out of them" (quo [sc. Spiritu
Sancto] suggerente docemur, illos [sc. libros
Cdnonicos] ab aliis libris ecclesiasticis discernere,
qui, ut sint utiles, non sunt tamen ejusmodi, ut
ex iis constituti possit aliquis fidei articulus).
The Belgic Confession (1561 ?) contains a similar
enumeration of the Canonical Books (Art. 4),
and allows their public use by the Church, but
denies to them all independent authority in
matters of faith (Art. 6). The later Helvetic
Confession (1562, Bullinger) notices the distinc
tion between the Canonical and Apocryphal
books without pronouncing any 'judgment on
the question (Niemeyer, Libr. Symb. Eccles.
Sef. p. 468). The Westminster Confession'
(Art. 3) places the Apocryphal books on a level
with other human writings, and concedes to
them no other authority in the Church.
The English Church (Art. 6) appeals directly
to the opinion of St. Jerome, and concedes to
the Apocryphal books (including [1571] 4 Esdras
and The Prayer of Manasses)1 a use " for example •
of life and instruction of manners," but not for
the establishment of doctrine ; and a similar
decision is given in the Irish Articles of 1615
(Hardwick, /. c, 341 sq.). The original English
Articles of 1552 contained no catalogue (Art. 5)
of the contents of "Holy Scripture," and no
mention of the Apocrypha, although the Triden
tine decree (1546) might seem to have rendered
this necessary. The example of foreign Churches
may have led to the addition upon the later
revision. The expressed opinion of the later Greek
Church on the Canon of Scripture has been
modified in some cases by the circumstances
under which the declaration was made. The
" Confession " of Cyril Lucar, who was most
favourably disposed towards the Protestant
Churches, confirms the Laodicene Catalogue, and
marks the Apocryphal books as not possessing
the same divine authority as those whose canoni
city is unquestioned (Kimmel, Libri Symbolici
Eccles. Or. i. p. 42, to Kvpos iraoh, tov iravayiov
irveifiaTOS oiik ixovaiv iis ra, Kvplas Kai ava/j,tj>i-
f$6\tos KavoviKo. j8ij8Ata). In this judgment
Cyril Lucar was followed by his friend Metro-
phanes Critopulus, in whose confession a com
plete list of the Books of the Hebrew Canon is
given (Kimmel, ii. pp. 105 sq.), while some
value is assigned to the Apocryphal books (twro-
fiKiiTovs ovx Tiyov/ieBa) in consideration of their

' The Latin copy of 1562 includes only 2-3 Esd.,
Wisd., Ecclus., Tobit, Jud., 1-2 Mace. (Hardwick, Hist.
qf Art. p. 275).

510 CANON OF SCKIPTUEE
ethical value ; and the detailed decision of
Metrophanes is quoted with approval in the
" Orthodox Teaching " of Platon, Metropolitan
of Moscow (ed. Athens, 1836, p. 59). The " Or
thodox Confession " simply refers the subject of
Scripture to the Church (Kimmel, p. 159, y
lKK\-no-ia exel T^1' Hovtriav . . . vb. So/ci/idfo rots
ypatpds; cp. p. 123). On the other hand, the
Synod at Jerusalem, held in 1672, "against the
Calvinists," which is commonly said to have
been led by Romish influence (yet cp. Kimmel,
p. lxxxviii.), pronounced that the books which
Cyril Lucar " ignorantly or maliciously called
apocryphal," are "canonical and Holy Scripture,"
on the authority of the testimony of the ancient
Church ([Kimmel,] Weissenborn, Dosith. Confess.
pp. 467 sq.). The Constantinopolitan Synod,
which was held in the same year, notices the
difference existing between the Apostolic, Lao-
dicene, and Carthaginian Catalogues, and appears
to distinguish the Apocryphal books as not
wholly to be rejected (Zffa ptvToi tuv ttjs
iraKaias Siadiitcns fiifS\luv ttj avapiS^o-^i tuv
hyioypdtpuv ov trvp.iTtpiKaixfSd.i'eTai . . . ovk o,it6-
j3\?7Ta Tvyx&vovo-i Si6\ov). The authorised
Russian Catechism (The Doctrine of the Bussian
Church, kc, by Rev. W. Blackmore, Aberd.,
1845, pp. 37 sq.) distinctly quotes and defends
the Hebrew Canon on the authority of the Greek
Fathers, and repeats the judgment of Athanasius
on the usefulness of the Apocryphal books as a
preparatory study in the Bible ; and there can
be no doubt but that the current of Greek
opinion, in accordance with the unanimous
agreement of the ancient Greek Catalogues,
coincides with this judgment. [The officially-
printed Russian Bibles contain the Apocryphal
books, with a note to the effect that they are
taken from the Greek Version or are not found
in the Hebrew text.]
The history of the Syrian Canon of the 0. T.
is involved in great obscurity from the scantiness
of the evidence which can be brought to bear
upon it. The Peshitto was made, in the first
instance, directly from the Hebrew, and con
sequently adhered to the Hebrew Canon;* but
as the LXX. was used afterwards in revising the
Version, so many of the Apocryphal books were
translated from the Greek at an early period,
and added to the original collection (Assem.
Bibl. Orient, i. 71). Yet this change was only
made gradually. In the time of Ephrem (c. A.D.
370) the Apocryphal additions to Daniel were
yet wanting, and his commentaries were con
fined to the Books of the Hebrew Canon, though
he was acquainted with the Apocrypha (Lardner,
Credibility, &c, iv. pp. 427 sq. ; see Lengerke,
Daniel, p. cxii.). The later Syrian writers do
not throw much light upon the question.
Gregory Bar-Hebraeus, in his short commentary
on Scripture, treats of the Books in the follow
ing order (Assem. Bibl. Orient, ii. 282): the
Pentateuch, Josh., Judg., 1 & 2 Sam., Ps., 1 &

* [A doubt has been raised whether the Books of
Chronicles were originally included in the 0. T. Canon
of this Version. The peculiarities of the translation
seem to place these Books in a separate class from the
others ; and it has been pointed out that the Nestorians
and some of the Monophysites did not include the Books
of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in their
Canon. See Noldeke, Die alttest. Literatur, p. 263.]

CANON OF SCEIPTUEB
2 K., Prov., Ecclus., Eccles., Cant., Wisd., Ruth
Hist. Sus., Job, Is., 12 Proph., Jer., Lam., Ezek.'
Dan., Bel, 4 Gosp., Acts ... 14 Epist. of St!
Paul, omitting 1 & 2 Ch., Ezra, Neh., Esther,
Tobit, 1 & 2 Mace., Judith, (Baruch?), Apo
calypse, Epist. James, 1 Pet., 1 John.
In the Scriptural Vocabulary of Jacob of
Edessa (Assem. 1. u. p. 499), the order and
number of the books commented upon is some
what different: Pent., Jos., Jud., Job, 1 & 2
Sam., David (i.e. Ps.), 1 & 2 K., Is., 12 Proph.,
Jer., Lam., Baruch, Ezek., Dan., Prov., Wisd.
Cant., Ruth, Esth., Judith, Ecclus., Acts, Epist.
James, 1 Pet., 1 John, 14 Epist. of St. Paul
4 Gosp., omitting 1 & 2 Ch., Ezra, Neh., Eccles.^
Tobit, 1 & 2 Mace, Apoc. (comp. Assem. Bibl.
Orient, iii. 4 not.).
The Catalogue of Ebed-Jesu (Assem. Bibl.
Orient, iii. 5 sq.) is rather a general survey of
all the Hebrew and Christian literature with
which he was acquainted (Catalogus librorum
omnium Eeclesiasticorum) than a Canon of
Scripture. After enumerating the Books of the
Hebrew Canon, together with Ecclus., Wisd.,
Judith, Add. to Dan., and Baruch, he adds, with
out any break, " the traditions of the Elders "
(Mishnah), the works of Josephus, including the
Fables of Aesop which were popularly ascribed
to him, and at the end mentions the " book of
Tobias and Tobit." In the like manner, after
enumerating the 4 Gosp., Acts., 3 Cath. Epist.1
and 14 Epist. of St. Paul, he passes at once to
the Diatessaron of Tatian, and the writings of
" the disciples of the Apostles." Little depend
ence, however, can be placed on these lists, as
they rest on no critical foundation, and it is
known from other sources that varieties of
opinion on the subject of the Canon existed in
the Syrian Church (Assem. Bibl. Orient, iii. 6
not.). One testimony, however, which derives its
origin from the Syrian Church, is specially
worthy of notice. Junilius, an African Bishop
of the 6th century, has preserved a full and
interesting account of the teaching of Paulus, a
Persian, on Holy Scripture, who was educated at
Nisibis, where " the Divine Law was regularly
explained by public masters," as a branch of
common education (Junil. De part. leg. Praef.).
He divides the Books of the Bible into two
classes, those of " perfect," and those of " mean "
authority. The first class includes all the
Books of the Hebrew Canon with the exception
of 1 & 2 Ch., Job, Canticles, and Esther, and
with the addition of Ecclesiasticus. The second
class consists of Chronicles (2), Job, Esdras (2),
Judith, Esther, and Maccabees (2), which are
added by "very many" (plurimi) to the
Canonical Books. The remaining books are
pronounced to be of no authority, and of these
Canticles and Wisdom are said to be added by
" some " (quidam) to the Canon. The classifica
tion as it stands is not without difficulties, but
it deserves more attention than it has received
(cp. Hody, p. 653 ; Gallandi, Biblioth. xii. 79 sq.
[Westcott's Canon of the N. T, App. D., v.]).
The Armenian Canon, so far as it can be
ascertained from editions, follows that of the
LXX., but it is of no critical authority; and a
similar remark applies to the Aethiopian Canon,
though it is more easy in this case to trace the
changes through which it has passed (Dillmann,

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
Ueber d. Aeth. Kan., in Ewald's Jahrbuch, 1 853,
,pp. 144 sq.).
In addition to the books already quoted
under the heads for which they are specially
valuable, some still remain to be noticed.
C. F. Schmid, Hist. ant. et vindic. Can. S. Yet.
.etNov. Test., Lips. 1775. [H. Corrodi], Versuch
einer Beleuchtung . . . d. Bibl. Kanons, Halle,
1792 ; Movers, Loci quidam Hist. Can. V. T.
illustrati, Breslau, 1842. The great work of
Hody (De biblior. text., Oxon. 1735) contains a
rich store of materials, though even this is not
free from minor errors. Stuart's Critical
History and Defence of the Old Test. Canon,
London, 1849, is rather an apology than a
history. Zockler, Hdb. d. theol. Wissensch.
Nordl. 1885 ; Herzog, BE* art. Kanon (0. T.
by Strack); cp. also De Wette-Schrader's
Einleit. Berlin, 1869 ; Noldeke, Die alttest.
Literatur, Leipz. 1868 ; Diestel, Gesch. d. A. T.
in d. christi. Kirehe, Jena, 1869 ; Keil's Einleit.
Frank, a. M. 1873; S. Davidson's The Canon
¦of the Bible, London, 1877 ; Bleek- Wellhauscn's
Einleit. Berlin, 1886; W. Robertson Smith, The
0. T. in the Jewish Church, Edinb. 1881 ; Reuss,
Gesch. d. A. T.2, Braunschw. 1890; Kaulen, Einleit.
in d. A. T., Freiburg, 1881 ; Fuerst's Kanon des
A. T., 1868 ; Bloch, Alt-Hebraische Literatur,
1876; Westcott's Bible in the Church, 1885;
Schurer, Gesch. d. Jud. Volkes, ii. Leipz. 1886 ;
Buhl, Kanon u. Text d. A. T., Leipz. 1891.
IV. The History of the Canon of the Sew
Testament. — The history of the Canon of the
N. T. presents a remarkable analogy to that of
the Canon of the O. T. The beginnings of both
Canons are obscure from the circumstances
under which they arose : both grew silently
under the guidance of an inward instinct rather
-than by the force of an external authority ; both
were connected with other religious literature
by a series of books which claimed a partial and
questionable authority ; both gained definiteness
in times of persecution. The chief difference
lies in the general consent with which all the
Churches of the West have joined in ratifying
one Canon of the N. T., while they are divided
as to the position of the 0. T. Apocrypha.
The history of the N. T. Canon may be con
veniently divided into three periods. The first
•extends to the time of Hegesippus (c. A.D. 170),
and includes the era of tho separate circula
tion and gradual collection of the Apostolic
writings. The second is closed by the persecu
tion of Diocletian (a.d. 303), and marks the
separation of the sacred writings from the
remaining Ecclesiastical literature. The third
may be defined by the third Council of Carthage
(a.d. 397), in which a catalogue of the Books
of Scripture was formally ratified by conciliar
authority. The first is characteristically a
period of tradition, the second of speculation, the
third of authority ; and it is not difficult to
trace the features of the successive ages in the
course of the history of the Canon.
1. The History of the Canon of the New Testa
ment to 170a.d. — The writings ofthe N. T. them
selves contain little more than faint, and perhaps
unconscious, intimations of the position which
they were destined to occupy. The mission ofthe
Apostles was essentially one of preaching and
not of writing: of founding a present Church
and not of legislating for a future one. The

CANON OF SCRIPTURE 511
'¦ word " is essentially one of " hearing," " re
ceived," and " handed down," a " message," a
" proclamation." Written instruction was in
each particular case only occasional and frag
mentary ; and the completeness of the entire
collection of the incidental records thus formed
is one of the most striking proofs of the Provi
dential power which guided the natural develop
ment of the Church. The prevailing method of
interpreting the 0. T., and the peculiar position
which the first Christians occupied, as standing
upon the verge of " the coming age " (altiv),
seemed to preclude the necessity and even the
use of a "New Testament." Yet even thus,
though there is nothing to indicate that the
Apostles regarded their written remains as likely
to preserve a perfect exhibition of the sum of
Christian truth, coordinate with the Law and
the Prophets, they claim for their writings a
public use (l Thess. v. 27 ; Col. iv. 16 ; Rev,
xii. 18) and an authoritative power (1 Tim. iv,
1 ff. ; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14 ; Rev. xxii. 19) ; and at
the time when 2 Peter was written, which on
any supposition is an extremely early writing,
the Epistles of St. Paul were placed in significant
connexion with " the other Scriptures " l (rets
\onras ypatpds, not Tas aWas ypatpds).
The transition from the Apostolic to the sub-
Apostolic age is essentially abrupt and striking.
An age of conservatism succeeds an age of
creation; but in feeling and general character
the period which followed the working of the
Apostles seems to have been a faithful reflection
of that which they moulded. The remains of
the literature to which it gave birth, which
are wholly Greek, are singularly scanty and
limited in range, merely a few Letters and
" Apologies." As yet writing among Christians
was, as a general rule, the result of a pressing
necessity and not of choice ; and under such
circumstances it is vain to expect either a dis
tinct consciousness of the necessity of a written
Canon, or any clear testimony as to its limits.
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers (c.
70-120 a.d.) are all occasional. They sprang
out of peculiar circumstances, and offered little
scope for quotation. At the same time, the
Apostolic tradition was still fresh in the
memories of men, and the need of written Gospels
was not yet made evident by the corruption
of the oral narrative. As a consequence of this,
the testimony of the Apostolic Fathers is chiefly
important as proving the general currency of
such outlines of history and types of doctrine as
are preserved in our Canon. They show in this
way that the Canonical Books offer an adequate
explanation of the belief ofthe next age, and
must therefore represent completely the earlier
teaching on which that was based. In three
places, however, in which it was natural to look
for a more distinct reference, Clement (Ep. 47),
Ignatius (ad Eph. 12), and Polycarp (Ep. 3)
refer to Apostolic Epistles written to those
whom they were themselves addressing. The
casual coincidences of the writings of the Apo-

* The late tradition commonly quoted from Photius
Biblioth. 254) to show that St. John completed the
Canon refers only to the Gospels : rovt tojiovs ot <W-
ypoufioi/ Statpopots y\ticr o-ais rot owijpia toB
Seo-ffdrov iraBn re (cat davjuara Kai SlSdyfjiara ....
Stera^e re Kai avvSirjpOpiatre ....

512 CANON OF SCRIPTURE
stolic Fathers with the language of the Epistles
are much more extensive. With the exception
of the Epistles of Jude, 2 Peter, and 2-3 John,"
with which no coincidences occur, and 1-2
Thessalonians, [Colossians,] Titus, and Philemon,
with which the coincidences are very question
able,1 all the other Epistles were clearly known.
and used by them ; but still they are not quoted
with the formulas which preface citations from
the 0. T. (i) ypatp-h Ae*yei, yeypairTai, &c.),y nor
is the famous phrase of Ignatius (ad Philad. 5,
irpotrtpvyuv t$ ebayyeKlu us trapKl 'lr\ffov Kai
Tots a,irotrT6\ots us irpefffSvTepltp ^KtcKntrias)
sufficient to prove the existence of a collection
of Apostolic records as distinct from the sum of
Apostolic teaching. The coincidences with the
Gospels on the other hand both in fact and
substance are numerous and interesting, but
such as cannot be referred to the exclusive use
of our present written Gospels. Such a use
would have been alien from the character of the
age and inconsistent with the influence of a
historical tradition. The details of the life of
Christ were still too fresh to be sought for only
in fixed records ; and even where memory was
less active, long habit interposed » barrier to
ihe recognition of new Scriptures. The sense
of the infinite depth and paramount authority of
the 0. T. was too powerful even among Gentile
converts to require or to admit of the immediate
addition of supplementary books. But the sense
of the peculiar position which the Apostles
occupied, as the original inspired teachers of the
Christian Church, was already making itself
felt in the sub-Apostolic age ; and by a remark
able agreement Clement (ad Cor. i. 7, 47),
Polycarp (ad Phil, iii.), Ignatius (ad Mom. iv.),
and Barnabas (c. i.) draw a clear line between
themselves and their predecessors, from whom
they were not separated by any lengthened
intervals of time. As the need for a definite
standard of Christian truth became more press
ing, so was the character of those in whose
writings it was to be sought more distinctly
apprehended. ['The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles ' (AiSax^l tuv StiSeKa SurotTToKuv),
which possibly belongs to the Apostolic or sub-
Apostolic age, borrows freely from St. Matthew's
Gospel, and contains language which suggests
the composer's acquaintance with St. Luke and
St. John. Coincidences of diction with 1 Cor.,
1 Pet., and Jude seem very probable ; those that
have been claimed with Eph., 2 Pet., Apoc,
though possible, are less likely. The phrases
(c. viii. 2) us iKehevtrev 6 Kvpios eV Tip evayye\lu

» The titles of the disputed books of the N. T. are
italicised throughout, for convenience of reference.
1 [But see Lightfoot, I Ep. Clem. Eom. xi. (cp. 2 Pet.
ii. 6-9), Ep. Polyc. iii. (cp. 2 Pet. iii. 15), xi. (cp.
2 Thess. i. 4, iii. 15), Ep. Ignat. Eph. x. (cp. Col. i. 23).]
s An exception to this statement occurs in the Ep. of
Barnabas (c. iv.), where the reading of Cod. Sinaiticus,
us ysyptmrai, confirming the Latin translation, "sicut
scriptum est," offers the earliest example of a quotation
made from the N. T. with the formula of citation from
Scripture. In the Greek text of Polycarp there are no
marks of direct quotation. The Latin translation,
which reads (where the Greek MS. is wanting) in
chap. xi. "sicut Paulus docet," and in chap. xii. "ut
hia scnpturis dictum est," probably represents a less
1881)at° tCXt (°P' Westcott' Canon <>f the *• T- P- 52

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
ainov, (c. xi. 3) koto to Hyua toS' fbayyeKlov
(c. xv. 3, 4) ws exere h rip evayyeKbp, deserve
comparison with the words of Ignatius (ad
Phil. 5) quoted above, and clearly presuppose
acquaintance with a recognised body of Evangelic
tradition. For fuller information upon this docu
ment, which was first published by Bryennius
in 1883, see Harnack (Text u. Ontersuch. 1884)
and C. Taylor's The Teaching of the Twelve
Apostles, Camb. 1889 ; cp. Zahn, Gesch. d. Ml.
Kanons, pp. 363 sq. ; Salmon, Introd. to N. T
pp. 601-618.] ' ''
The next period (120-170 A.D.), which may
be fitly termed the age of the Apologists, carrier
the history of the formation of the Canon one
step further. The facts of the life of Christ
acquired a fresh importance in controversy with
Jew and Gentile. The oral tradition, which
still remained in the former age, was dving
away, and a variety of written documents
claimed to occupy its place. Then it was that
the Canonical Gospels were definitely separated
from the mass of similar narratives in virtue of
their outward claims, which had remained as.
it were, in abeyance during the period of
tradition. The need did not create but recog
nised them. Without doubt and without con
troversy, they occupied at once the position
which they have always retained as the fourfold
Apostolic record of the Saviour's ministry.
Other narratives remained current for some
time, which were either interpolated forms of
the Canonical Books (The Gospel according to tlie
Hebrews, &c), or independent traditions (The
Gospel according to the Egyptians, &c), and
exercised more or less influence upon the form
of popular quotations, and perhaps in some
cases upon the text of the Canonical Gospels;
but where the question of authority was raised,
the four Gospels were ratified by universal
consent. The testimony of Justin Masttb
(t o. 148 a.d.) is in this respect most important.
An impartial examination of his Evangelic
references, if conducted with due reference t"
his general manner of quotation, to possible
variations of reading, and to the nature of his
subject, which excluded express citations from
Christian books, shows that they were derived
certainly in the main, probably exclusively,
from our Synoptic Gospels, and that each Gospel
is distinctly recognised by him (Dial. c. Tryph.
§ 103, p. 331 D, iv yap Tois iiropLVr,p.oveipairir
a <pi,pi VTrb tuv airotrT6\uv [SS. Matthew,
John] outoG koi tuv ckhIvois wapaKo\ov6ri-
trdvTuv [SS. Mark, Luke] o-vvrtTdxOai 
Cp. Dial. c. 49 with Matt. xvii. 13 ; Dial. c. 108
with Mark iii. 16, 17 ; Dial. c. 105 with Luke
xxiii. 46). The references of Justin to St. John
are less decided (cp. Apol. i. 61 ; Dial. 63, 123,
56, &c. ; Otto, in Illgen's Zeitschrift, u. s. w.
1841, pp. 77 sq., 1843, pp. 34 sq.) ; and of the
other Books of the N. T. he mentions the
Apocalypse only by name (Dial. c. 81), and
offers some coincidences of language with the
Pauline Epistles.
The evidence of Papias (c. 140-150 a.d.) is
nearly contemporary with that of Justin, but
goes back to a still earlier generation (i trpetr-
PiTepos eApye). In spite of the various ques
tions which have been raised as to the interpre
tation of the fragments of his ' Exposition of the
Oracles of the Lord' (Aoytuv KvpiaKtiv Itf-

CANON OF SCRIPTURE

CANON OF SCRIPTURE 513

yntris) preserved by Eusebius (H. E. iii. 39), it
seems on every account most reasonable to
conclude that Papias was acquainted with our
present Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark,
the former of which he connected with an
earlier Hebrew original (ripn-fivevo-e). It seems
probable, though the evidence is not conclusive,
that he was acquainted with the Gospel of St.
John. No adverse conclusion can be drawn
from Eusebius' silence as to express testimonies
of Papias to the Gospel of St. John (Westcott,
Can. iV. T. p. 76 n.). One prefatory note to a
9th cent. MS. of St. John (Vatican) preserves a
tradition that Papias was both " the beloved
disciple of St. John " and acted as his amanuensis.
The testimony, though not otherwise of much
value, seems to connect Papias with the Apostle
St. John. Papias was acquainted with the
former Epistles of St. John and St. Peter (Euseb.
H. E. iii. 24), and the Apocalypse (Frag, viii.)."
[See art. Papias by Salmon iu Diet. Chr. Biog. ;
Bp. Lightfoot, Essays on Sup. Belig. chs. v. vi.]
Meanwhile the Apostolic writings were taken
by various mystical teachers as the foundation
of strange schemes of speculation, which are
popularly confounded together under the
general title of Gnosticism, whether Gentile or
Jewish in their origin. In the earliest fragments
of Gnostic writers which remain there are traces
of the use of the Gospels of St. Matthew and
St. John, and of 1 Corinthians C Atritpao-ts
p.€yd\-n [Simon M.] ap. Hippol. adv. Haer. vi.
16; 9, 13); and the Apocalypse was attributed
by a confusion not difficult of explanation to
Cerinthus (Epiph. Haer. li. 3). In other Gnostic
(Ophite) writings a little later there are
references to St. Matthew, St. Luke, St. John,
Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Hebrews, Apocalypse (Hist, of N. T. Canon,
p. 283); and the Clementine Homilies contain
clear coincidences with all the Gospels (Hom.
xix. 20, St. Mark ; Hom. xix. 22, St. John). It
is, indeed, in the fragments of a Gnostic writer,
Basilides (c. 125 A.D.), that the writings of the
N. T. are found quoted for the first time in the
same manner as those of the 0. T. (Basil, ap.
Hipp. adv. Haer. pp. 238, yiypaiTTai ; 240, r\
ypatpt), &c). A Gnostic, Heracleon, was the
first known commentator on the Christian
Scriptures. And the history of another Gnostic,
Marcion, furnishes the first distinct evidence of
a Canon of the N. T. (Hist, of N. T. Canon,
pp. 312-319). [The Diatessaron of Tatian (see
Dict. of Christ. Biog. s. n.), the pupil of Justin
Martyr, is the earliest express testimony to the
existence of "a fourfold Gospel." Tatian's
object (cp. the Armenian version of Ephraem
the Syrian's Exposition of Tatian's Harmony,
with Latin translation by Moesinger, 1876)
was to produce a single connected life of
om* Lord drawn from the Four Gospels, and
opening with John i. 1. Such an abridgment
could only imply the recognised authority of the
Four Gospels at a considerably earlier date.]

z A fragment of Papias' Commentary on the Apo
calypse is preserved in the Commentary published by
Cramer, Cat. in Apoc. p. 360, which is not noticed by
Routh. [It is to be observed that Fragment xi. of Routh,
which has been sometimes quoted to show Papias'
acquaintance with the Gospel of St. John, proves to be
the work of a Papias who lived in the 11th century.
See Lightfoot's Gal. 1866, p. 265, note.]
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

The need of a definite Canon must have made
itself felt during the course of the Gnostic con
troversy. The common records of the life of
Christ may be supposed to have been first fixed
in tlie discussions with external adversaries.
The standard of apostolic teaching was deter
mined when the Church itself was rent with
internal divisions. The Canon of MaeoiON
(c. 140 A.D.) contained both elements, a Gospel
("The Gospel of Christ") which was a mutilated
recension of St. Luke, and au " Apostle " or
Apostolicon, which contained ten Epistles of St.
Paul — the only true Apostle in Marcion's judg
ment — excluding the Pastoral Epistles, and that
to the Hebrews (Tert. adv. Marc. v. ; Epiph. ado.
Haer. xiii.). The narrow limits of this Canon
were a necessary consequence of Marcion's belief
and position, but it offers a clear witness to the
fact that apostolic writings were thus early
regarded as a complete original rule of doctrine.
Nor is there any evidence to show that he
regarded the Books which he rejected as un
authentic. The conduct of other heretical
teachers who professed to admit the authority
of all the Apostles proves the converse ; for
they generally defended their tenets by forced
interpretations, and not by denying the authority
of the common records. And while the first
traces of the recognition of the divine inspira
tion and collective unity of the Canon come
from them, it cannot be supposed, without
inverting the whole history of Christianity,
that they gave a model to the Catholic Church,
and did not themselves simply perpetuate the
belief and custom which had grown up within it.
The close of this period of the history of the
N. T. Canon is marked by the existence of two
important testimonies to the N. T. as a whole.
Hitherto the evidence has been in the main
fragmentary and occasional ; but the Muba-
torian Canon in the West, and the Peshitto
in the East, deal with the collection of Christian
Scriptures as such. The first is a fragment,
apparently translated from the Greek, and yet
of Roman origin, mutilated both at the begin
ning and the end, and written, from internal
evidence, about 170 a.d. It commences with a
clear reference to St. Mark's Gospel, and then
passes on to St. Luke as the third, St. John, the
Acts, thirteen Epistles of St. Paul. The First
Epistle of St. John is quoted in the text ; and
then afterwards it is said that " the Epistle of
Jude and two Epistles of the John mentioned
above (superscripti : or "which bear the name
of John " superscriptae) are reckoned among the
Catholic [Epistles] (MS. Catholica, i.e. Ec
clesia?)." "We receive moreover the Apoca
lypses of John and Peter only, which [latter]
some of our body will not have read in the
Church"" Thus the catalogue omits of the
Books received at present the Epistle of James,
the Epistle to the Hebrews, and 2 Peter, while it
notices the partial reception of the Revelation of
Peter. The Canon of the Peshitto forms a re
markable complement to this catalogue. It
includes the four Gospels and the Acts, fourteen
» "We have given what appears to be the meaning of
the corrupt text of the passage. It would be out of
place to discuss all the disputed points here; cp. Hist.
of N. T. Camon, pp. 242 sq., and the references there
given.
2 L

514 CANON OF SCRIPTURE
Epistles of St. Paul, 1 John, 1 Peter, and James,
omitting Jude, 2 Peter, 2-3 John, and the
Apocalypse; and this Canon was preserved in
the Syrian Churches as long as they had an
independent literature (Ebed Jesu f 1318 a.d.
ap. Assem. Bibl. Or. iii. pp. 3 sq.). Up to this
point, therefore, 2 Peter is the only Book of the
N. T. which is not recognised as an apostolic
and authoritative writing ; and in this result
the evidence from casual quotations coincides
exactly with the enumeration in the two express
catalogues. 2. The History of the Canon of the N. T.from
170 a.d. to 303 a.d. — The second period of the
history of the Canon is marked by an entire
change in the literary character of the Church.
From the close of the second century Christian
writers take the foremost place intellectually as
well as morally ; and the powerful influence of
the. Alexandrine Church widened the range of
Catholic thought, and checked the spread of
speculative heresies. From the first the
common elements of the Roman and Syrian
Canons, noticed in the last section, form a
Canon of acknowledged Books, regarded as a
whole, authoritative and inspired, and coordinate
with the 0. T. Each of these points is proved
by the testimony of contemporary Fathers who
represent the Churches of Asia Minor, Alex
andria, and North Africa. Ieenaeus, who was
connected by direct succession with St. John
(Euseb. H. E. v. 20), speaks of the Scriptures as
a whole, without distinction of the Old or New
Testament, as "perfect, inasmuch as they were
uttered by the Word of God and His Spirit "
(adv. Haer. ii. 28, 2). " There could not be,"
he elsewhere argues, " more than four Gospels
or fewer " (adv. Haer. iii. 11, 8 sq.). Clement
of Alexandria, again, marks " the Apostle "
(S oW<J<tto\os, Strom, vii. 3, § 14; sometimes
a,ir6o-To\oi) as a collection definite as " the
Gospel," and combines them "as Scriptures of
the Lord" with the Law and the Prophets
(Strom, vi. 11, § 88) as "ratified by the
authority of one Almighty power" (Strom, iv.
1, § 2). Tertullian notices particularly the
introduction of the word Testament for the
earlier word Instrument, as applied to the dis
pensation and the record (adv. Marc. iv. 1), and
appeals to the New Testament, as made up of
the " Gospels" and " Apostles " (adv. Prax. 15).
This comprehensive testimony extends to the
four Gospels, the Acts, 1 Peter, 1 John, thirteen
Epistles of St. Paul, and the Apocalypse ; and,
with the exception of the Apocalypse, no one of
these Books was ever afterwards rejected or
questioned till modern times."
But this important agreement as to the
principal contents of the Canon left several
points still undecided. The East and West, as
was seen in the last section, severally received
some Books which were not universally ac
cepted. So far the error lay in defect ; but in
other cases apocryphal or unapostolic books
obtained a partial sanction or a popular use,
before they finally passed into oblivion. Both
these phenomena, however, were limited in time
and range, and admit of explanation from the
6 The Manichees offer no real exception to the truth
of this remark. Cp. Beausobre, Hist, de Manich. I. sq.,
29J sq. '

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
internal character of the Books in question. The
examination of the claims of the separate
writings belongs to special introductions; but
the subjoined table (No. III.) will give a general
idea of the extent and nature of the historic
evidence which bears upon them.
This table might be much extended by the
insertion of isolated testimonies of less con
siderable writers. Generally, however, it may
be said that of the "disputed" Books of the
N. T. the Apocalypse was received by all the
writers of the period, with the single exception
of Dionysius of Alexandria [and in his case it is
to be observed that the apostolic authorship
rather than the canonicity of the book, is the
subject of his criticism (Dion. ap. Euseb. H. E.
vii. 25)] ; and the Epistle to the Hebrews, by the
Churches of Alexandria, Asia (?) and Syria, but
not by those of Africa and Rome. The Epistles
of St. James and St. Jude, on the other hand,
were little used, and the SecoiufEp. of St. Peter
was barely known.
But while the evidence for the formation of
the Canon is much more copious during this
period than during that which preceded, it is
essentially of the same kind. It is the evidence
of use and not of inquiry. The Canon was fixed
in ordinary practice, and doubts were resolved
by custom and not by criticism. Old feelings
and beliefs were perpetuated by a living tradi
tion ; and if this habit of mind was unfavourable
to the permanent solution of difficulties, it gives
fresh force to the claims of the acknowledged
Books, which are attested by the witness of every
division of the Church (Origen, Cyprian,
Methodius), for it is difficult to conceive how
such unanimity could have arisen except from
the original weight of apostolical authority.
For it will be observed that the evidence in
favour of the acknowledged Books as a whole is
at once clear and concordant, from all sides as
soon as the Christian literature is indepeudent
and considerable. The Canon preceded the
literature, and was not determined by it.
3. The History of the N. T. Canon from A.D.
303-397. — The persecution of Diocletian was
directed in a great measure against the Chris
tian writings (Lact. Instit. v. 2 ; de mort. persec.
16). The influence of the Scriptures was already
so great and so notorious, that the surest method
of destroying the faith seemed to be the destruc
tion of the records on which it was supported.
The plan of the emperor was in part successful.
Some were found who obtained protection by
the surrender of the Sacred Books, and at a later
time the question of the re-admission of these
" traitors " (traditores), as they were emphati
cally called, created a schism in the Church.
The Donatists, who maintained the sterner judg
ment on their crime, may be regarded as main
taining in its strictest integrity the popular
judgment in Africa on the contents ofthe Canon
of Scripture which was the occasion of the dis
sension ; and St. Augustine allows that they
held in common with the Catholics the same
" Canonical Scriptures," and were alike "bound
by the authority of both Testaments " (August.
c. Cresc. i. 31, 57 ; Ep. 129, 3). The only doubt
which can be raised as to the integrity of the
Donatist Canon arises from the uncertain lan
guage which St. Augustine himself uses as to
the Epistle to the Hebrews, which the Donatists

No. HI.— REFERENCES TO THE ANTILEQOMENA UP TO THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD CENTURY.'

Epistle to the
Hebrews.

Jude.

James.

2-3 John.

2 Peter.

Apocalypse.

Epistle of
Barnabas.

Shepherd of
Hermas.

Epistle of
Clement.

Apocalypse 1
of Peter.

Clemens Rom. . . .

|| Ep. 36, Se.
Cp. Hieron.
De vir. ill.
15.

••

|| Ep. io, 17,
21, &c.

(II Ep, H.)
Polycarp . . .
••
|| Vis. "iii. 8;
(II Ep. 3.)
|| Vis. ii. 4,
iv. 2.
1
Mand. il, Ix.
xi.
!
JUSTIH MARTYK . .
(|| Apol, i. 12,
63.)
(Euseb. H. E.
* Dial. SI.
Irenaeus ....
(Adv. haer. iv.
* Adv. haer.
* Adv. Iiaer. v.
* Adv. haer.
[Adv. Iiaer. iii.
v. 26.)
16, 2.)
i.16,3. 2 John.
30, 1-3.
Cf. Euseb.
11. K. v. 8.
iv. 20, 2.
Cp. Euseb.
11. E. v. 8.
3, 3.]
Clemens Alex, . . .
* Strom, vi. 8,
* Paed. iii. 8,
[Cp. Euseb.
Cp. Strom, ii.
[Cp. Euseb.
* Paed. ii. 10,
* Strom, ii. 6,
* Strom, i. 29,
* Strom, iv. 17,
Cp. Eu6eb.
p. m.
p. 280 ;
ff. E. vi. 14.]
15, } 66.
11. E. vi. 14.J
p. 235, J 108;
0 31, &c.
i) 181.
} 107, &c.
ff. E. vi.
Cp. Euseb.
Strom, iii. 2,
Strom, vi. 13,
Cp. Euseb
Cp. Euseb.
13.
H. E. vi. 14.
p. 615.
Cp. Euseb.
ff. E. vi. 13.
$ 101.
H. E. vi.
13.
ff. E. vi. 13.
Tertullian . .
f Depudicit. 20
(Barnabas).
De cult. fem. 3.
* Adv. Marc.
iii. 14.
t Depudic.
10, 20.
? De Orat. 12.
Origen ...
* Ap. Euseb.
* Comm. in
? Comm. in
[Hom. in Jos.
[* Hom. in Jos.
* Ap. Euseb.
*c. Cds. i.
* Deprinc. ii.l.
* ,SW. in Ezek.
H. E. vi. 25,
Matt. t. x.
Joann. xix. 6,
vii. 1.]
vii. 1 ; in Lev.
ff. E. vi. 25.
63.
Comm. in
viii.
&c.
0 17, i Id. t.
xvii. 30.
* Sel. in Ps.
xxx.
iv. 4.) Cp.
Sel. in Ps. iii.
Comm. in
Joann. i. 14.
Eom. xvi. 14.
Dionysius Alex. . .
* Ap. Euseb.
S. E. vi. 41.
Horn, in Gen.
xiii. 2.
|| Comm. in Luc,
xxii. 46.
? Ap. Euseb.
H. E. vii.
25.
Cp. Euseb.
H. E. vii. 10.
t H. E. vii.
24, 25.
(fDeexli.mart. 11.)
•¦
* Deop. eteleem.
14 ; Ep. lxiii.
Hippolytus .
(t Phot. 121.)
, .
?PhUosoph. ix. 7
*DeAntichr.36.
Methooius . .
|| DeResurr. 5,
p. 286 d.
(ed. Migne),
Conv. v. 7.
* De Jieswr.
9, p. 315.
Conv. viii. 4,
p. 143.
to
* Eel. Proph.
i. 20, &c.
? B. E. iii. 25.
? ff. E. iii. 25.
f H. E. iii.
25.
? H. E. iii. 25.
? H. B. iii. 39.
f H. E. iii.
25.
t ff. .E. iii. 25.
[ff. .E vi. 13.
Cp. iii. 25.]
-f-ff. E. iii.
25.
t">
Cp. ? ff. E.
be
iii. 38.
1 The sign || marks a verbal coincidence: * a direct quotation : ? an expression of doubt : ( ) an uncertain reference : f a clear rejection : [ ] tbat the evidence is suspicious,
or inconclusive as to the authority assigned to the book.
516 CANON OF SCRIPTURE
may also have countenanced. But, however
this may have been, the complete Canon of the
N. T., as commonly received at present, was
ratified at the third Council of Carthage
(a.d. 397),° and from that time was accepted
throughout the Latin Church (Jerome, Inno
cent, Rufinus, Philastrius), though occa
sional doubts as to the Epistle to the Hebrews
still remained d (Isid. Hisp. Proem. §§ 85-109).
Meanwhile the Syrian Churches, faithful to
the conservative spirit of the East, still retained
the Canon of the Peshitto. Chrysostom (f407
a.d.), Theodore of Mopsuestia (f 429 a.d.),
and Theodoret, who represent the Church of
Antioch, furnish no evidence in support of the
Epistles of Jude, 2 Peter, 2-3 John, or the
Apocalypse. Junilius, in his account of the
public teaching at Nisibis, places the Epistles of
James, Jude, 2-3 John, 2 Peter in a second class,
and mentions the doubts which existed iu the
East as to the Apocalypse. And though Ephrem
Syrus was acquainted with the Apocalypse
(Opp. Syr. ii. p. 332 a), yet his genuine Syrian
works exhibit no habitual use of the Books
which were not contained in the Syrian Canon ;
a fact which must throw some discredit upon
the frequent quotations from them, which occur
in those writings which are only preserved in a
Greek translation. [The Greek writings bearing
the name of Ephrem are of very doubtful origin.
Many of them are clearly spurious : others have
been interpolated (see Herzog, BE.2 iv. 257).]
The Churches of Asia Minor seem to have
occupied a mean position as to the Canon be
tween the East and West. With the exception
of the Apocalypse, they received generally all
the Books of the N. T. as contained in the African
Canon, but this is definitely excluded from the
Catalogue of Gregory of Nazianzus (f c. 389
A.D.), aud pronounced " spurious " (v6dov) on the
authority of " the majority " (of irKeiovs), in that
of Amphilochius (c. 380 a.d.), while it is passed
over in silence in the Laodicene Catalogue, which,
even if it has no right to its canonical position,
yet belongs to the period and country with which
it is commonly connected. The same Canon,
with the same omission of the Apocalypse, is
given by Cyril of Jerusalem (f 386 a.d.) ;
though Epiphanius, who was his fellow-country
man and contemporary, confirms the Western
Canon, while he notices the doubts which were
entertained as to the Apocalypse. These doubts

c The enumeration of the Pauline Epistles marks the
doubt which had existed as to the Hebrews : " Epistolae
Pauli Apostoli xiii. ; ejusdem ad Hebraeos una," Iu the
Council of Hippo (Can. 36) the phrase is simply "xiv
Epistles of St. Paul." Generally it may be observed
that the doubt was in many, if not in most, cases as to
the authorship, and not as to the canonicity of the
letter. Cp. Hieron. Ep. ad Dard. 129, $ 3.
d The MSS. of the Vulgate from the 6th century
downwards very frequently contain the apocryphal
Epistle to the Laodiceans among tbe Pauline Epistles,
generally after the Epistle to the Colossians, but also
in other places, without any mark of suspicion. See
this Epistle, with apparatus criticus, printed in Bp,
Lightfoot's Colossians, pp. 287 sq., and Westcott's
Canon of the N. T., Appendix E. Cp. Anger, Der
TModicenerbrief, Leips. 1843, pp. 142 sq. The Greek
title in G (not F), 7rpos AaouScuoja-a? apteral emaroATj,
is apparently only a reproduction of tbe Latin title
given in the Latin (g) of the same (Graeco-Latin) MS.
ad laudicenses incipit Epistola.

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
prevailed in the Church of Constantinople, and
the Apocalypse does not seem to have been
recognised there down to a late period, though
in other respects the Constantinopolitan Canon
was complete and pure (Nicephortjs, Photius,
Oecumenius, Theophylact, f c. 1077 A.D.).
The well-known Festal Letter of Athanasius
(t 373 a.d.) bears witness to the Alexandriue
Canon. This contains a clear and positive list
of the Books of the N. T. as they are received at
present; and the judgment of Athanasius is
confirmed by the practice of his successor
Cyril. One important Catalogue yet remains to be
mentioned. After noticing in separate places
the origin and use of the Gospels and Epistles,
Eusebius sums up in a famous passage the
results of his inquiry into the evidence on the
apostolic Books furnished by the writings of the
three first centuries (H. E. iii. 25). His testi
mony is by no means free from difficulties, nor
in all points obviously consistent, but his last
statement must be used to fix the interpretation
of the former and more cursory notices. In the
first class of acknowledged Books (buoXoyavptm)
he places the four Gospels, the Epistles of St.
Paul (i.e. fourteen, H. E. iii. 3), 1 John, 1 Peter,
and '(elf ye tpavein), in case its authenticity is
admitted (such seems to be his meaning), the
Apocalypse. The second class of disputed Books
(avTi\ey6p.eva) he subdivides into two parts, the
first consisting of such as were generally known
and recognised (yvuptfia tois iroKKois), including
the Epistles of James, Jude, 2 Peter, 2-3 John ;
and the second of those which he pronounces
spurious (v66a), that is, which were either un
authentic or unapostolic, as the Acts of Paul,
the Shepherd, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apo
calypse of John (if not a work of the Apostle),
and according to some the Gospel according to
the Hebrews. These two great classes contain
all the Books which had received ecclesiastical
sanction, and were in common distinguished
from a third class of heretical forgeries (e.g. the
Gospels of Thomas, Peter, Matthias, &c).
One point in the testimony of Eusebius is
particularly deserving of notice. The evidence
in favour of the apostolic authority of 2 Peter
which can be derived from the existing writings
of the first three centuries is extremely slender ;
but Eusebius, who possessed more copious mate
rials, describes it as " generally well known ; "
and this circumstance alone suggests the neces
sity of remembering that the early Catalogues
rest on evidence no longer available for us. In
other respects the classification of Eusebius is
a fair summary of the results which follow
from the examination of the extant ante-Nicene
literature (s,ee Wace and SchafFs ed. of Eus.
H. E. [1890] in loco).
The evidence of later writers is little more
than the repetition or combination of the testi
monies already quoted. An examination of Table
No. IV., which includes the most important
Catalogues ofthe writings ofthe N. T., will convey
a clear summary of much that has been said, and
supply the most important omissions.
At the era of the Reformation the question of
the N. T. Canon became again a subject of great
though partial interest. The hasty decree ofthe
Council of Trent, which affirmed the authority
of all the Books commonly received, called out

CANON OF SCRIPTURE

517

No. IV.— THE CHIEF CATALOGUES OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.
Only "disputed" books are noticed, or Buch as were in some degree recognised as authoritative.
The Bymbols are used as before.

sa

Sis a

I. Conciliar Catalogues .
[Laodicea] 
Carthage 
Apostolic (Concil. Quinisext.)
II. Okibhtal Catalogues :
(a) Syria.
The Peshitto Version. . .
Junilius. ... .
Joann. Damasc. .
EbedJesu ... .
(6) Palestine.
Eusebius 
Cyril of Jerus 
Epiphanius 
(c) Alexandria.
Origen 
Athanasius . . . .
(d) Asia Minor,
Gregor. Naz. . .
Amphilochius 
(e) Constantinople.
[Psmdo-Chrysostom]
Leontius . .
Nicephorus. . .
III. Occidental Catalogues :
(a) Africa.
Cod. Clarom. .
Augustine . .
(o) Italy.
Can. Murat. . .
Philastrius 
Jerome .... - .
K ufinus 
Innocent .....
[Gelasius] 
Cassiodorus (Vet. Trans.") ,
(c) Spain.
Isidore of Sev 
Cod. Baroc. 206 ... .

* *

o *
* *

i

*

*

()

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

>

*

*

*

L. c. supr,
L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.

L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.3
L. c. supr.
H. E. iii. 25.4
L. c. supr.5
Adv. haer. lxxxi. 5.
Ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 25.
L. c. supr.6
L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.7
Synopsis S. Script, torn.
vi. p. 314.3
L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.9

Tischdf. Cod. Clarom.
pp. 468 sq.
L. c. supr.
Canon of N. T., Append.
C. pp. 521^538.
Haer. 88 (All. 60).™
Ad Paul. Ep. 53, $ 8 (i.
p. 548, ed. Migne).
L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.
L. c. supr.
De inst. div. Litt. 14. n
De Ord. Libr. S. Script
initM
Hody, p. 649.

1 The omission of the Apocalypse is frequently ex
plained hy the expressed object of the Catalogue, ae a
list of books for public ecclesiastical use: o<ra Sel
fiifikCa. ava.yivuio-Ke(T9at, compared with the former canon :
ori ou Set ISioitikovs \f/aAftov$ AeyetrOai ev tv eKK\n<ria,
k.t.A. Yet cp. the Catalogue of Cyril.
2 The Catalogue adds likewise the apostolical Consti
tutions (Siow-aycd . . . lv oktw jStjSAtbts) for esoteric use.
When the Catalogue was confirmed in the Quinisextine
Council (Can. 2), the Constitutions were excluded on the
ground of corruptions ; but no notice was taken of the
Epistles of Clement, both of which, as is well known,
are found at the end of the Cod. Alex,, and are men
tioned in the index before the general summary of
books; which again is followed by the titles of the
Apocryphal Psalms of Solomon.
3 He adds also " the apostolic Canons," and, according
to one MS., the two Epistles of Clement.
* The other chief passages in Eusebius are, H. E. iii. 3,
24 ; ii. 23. His object in the passage quoted is avaice<f>a.-
Xauaaao-OaL ras SijA&>0eio-as tJjs Katvijs Sta0^KTj? ypa<f)as.
5 The list concludes with the words, ra Se AotTra
TrdvTa !£i<) KeivOta ev Sevrepat' tcai otra fikv iv ckkAtjcuj
py avayivaxTKeTat., ravra jLiijSe Kara vavrov avaywaoKe
KaQios ijKOutras ....

6 At the end of the list Athanasius says (cp. above),
l&yjSels tovtois €7ri/3aAA€Tto, ju.7j5e Tovrtav a^atpetaBtii rt.
? Amphiloch. 1. c. : —
rives Se <f>a<TL ttjv irpbs 'Ej3pat'ous v69ov,
ovk e5 keyovTes' yvvtria yap i) xapis.
elev tl \oltt6v; koBoKikCiv cji-iotoAwi/
Tives p.ev errra <fia<rCv, ol Se rpets p.6vov
Xpyvai Sex*<r9ai, ttjv 'latctitfiov p,Cav
fj.Cav de Ttirpov, ttjv t' 'Itaavvov fiCav .
77iv 8' *A7ro/caAw/fij/ tt)1/ 'luidwov 7raAij/
Tires p.ev eyiKpivovo-Lv, oi 7rAei'ous 64 ye
v69ov keyovo~Lv. 0£tos ai/zevSeoraTOS
Kavlav av eh) twv $eoirvevo-T<ov ypafyiav .
8 This Canon, which agrees with that of the Peshitto,
is fully supported by the casual evidence of the quota
tions which occur in Chrysostom's works.' The quo
tation from 2 Peter, which is found in Hom. in Joann.
34 (33), torn. viii. p. 230 (ed. Par.), stands alone.
Suidas' assertion (s. v. Twdct^s) that he received "the
Apocalypse and three Epistles of St. John" is not
supported by any other evidence.
9 Nicephorus adds to the disputed hooks " the Gospel
according to the Hebrews." In one MS. the Apocalypse
of St. John is placed also among the Apocryphal books
(Credner, ut supr. p. 122).

518 CANON OF SCRIPTURE
the opposition of controversialists, who quoted
and enforced the early doubts. Erasmus with
characteristic moderation denied the apostolic
origin of the Epistle to the Hebrews, 2 Peter, and
the Apocalypse, but left their canonical autho
rity unquestioned (Praef. ad Antilegom.).
Luther, on the other hand, with bold self-
reliance, created a purely subjective standard
for the canonicity of the Scriptures in the cha
racter of their " teaching of Christ ; " and while
he placed the Gospel and First Epistle of St. Johu,
the Epistles of St. Paul to the Komans, Galatians,
Ephesians, and the First Epistle of St. Peter, in
the first rank as containing the " kernel of Chris
tianity," he set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews,
St. Jude, St. James, and the Apocalypse, at the
end of his Version, and spoke of them and the
remaining Antilegotnena with varying degrees of
disrespect, though he did not separate 2 Peter and
2-3 John from the other Epistles (cp. Landerer,
art. Kanon in Herzog, BE.1 pp. 295 sq., and
Romberg, Die Lehre Luther's von der hi. Schrift,
1867). The doubts which Luther rested
mainly on internal evidence were variously ex
tended by some of his followers (Melanchthon,
Centur. Magdeb., Flacius, Gerhard : cp..sReuss,
§ 334); and especially with a polemical aim
against the Romish Church by Chemnitz (Exam.
Cone. Trid. i. 73). But while the tendency of
the Lutheran writers was to place the Antilego-
mena on a lower stage of authority, their views
received no direct sanction in any of the Lutheran
symbolic books which admit the " prophetic and
apostolic writings of the Old and New Testa
ments," as a whole, without further classifica
tion or detail. The doubts as to the Antilego-
mena of the N. T were not confined to the
Lutherans. Carlstadt, who was originally a
friend of Luther and afterwards professor at
Zurich, endeavoured to bring back the question
to a critical discussion of evidence, and placed
the Antilegomena in a third class " on account
of the controversy as to the books, or rather
(ut certius loqvar) as to their authors" (De
Con. Script, pp. 410-12, ed. Credn.). Calvin,
while he denied the Pauline authorship of the
Epistle to the Hebrews, and at least questioned
the authenticity of 2 Peter, did not set aside
their canonicity (Praef. ad Hebr. ; ad 2 Pttr.) ;
and he notices the doubts as to St.- James and
St. Jude only to dismiss them.
The language of the Articles of the Church of
England with regard to the N. T. is remarkable.
In the Articles of 1552 no list of the Books of
Scripture is given; but in the Elizabethan
Articles (1562, 1571) a definition of Holy Scrip
ture is given as " the Canonical Books of the
Old and New Testament, of whose authority was

CANON OF SCRIPTURE
never any doubt in the Church " (Art. vi.) This
definition is followed by an enumeration of the
Books of the 0. T, and of the Apocrypha; and
then it is said summarily, without a detailed
catalogue, " all the Books of the N T., as they
are commonly received, we do receive and ac
count them for Canonical (pro Canonicis luibe-
mus)." A distinction thus remains between the
" Canonical " Books and such " Canonical Books
as have never been doubted in the Church ; "
and it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion
that the framers of the Articles intended to
leave a freedom of judgment on a point on which
the greatest of the continental Reformers, and
even of Romish scholars (Sixtus Sen. Biblioth.
S. ii. 1 ; Cajetan, Praef. ad Epp. ad Hebr., Jac.,
2-3 John, Jud.), were divided. The omission
cannot have arisen solely from the fact that the
Article in question was framed with reference
to the Church of Rome, with which the Church
of England was agreed on the N. T. Canon ; for
all the other Protestant confessions which con
tain any list of Books, give a list of the Books
of the New as well as of the Old Testament
(Conf. Belg. 4; Conf. Gall. 3; Conf. Fid. 1).
But if this licence is rightly conceded by the
Anglican Articles, the great writers of the
Church of England have not availed themselves
of it. The early commentators on the Articles
take little (Burnet) or no notice (Beveridge) of
the doubts as to the Antilegomena; and the
chief controversialists of the Reformation ac
cepted the full Canon with emphatic avowal
(Whitaker, Disp. on Scripture, cxiv. p. 105;
Fulke's Defence of Eng. Trans., p. 8; Jewel,
Defence of Apol. ii. 9, 1).
The judgment of the Greek Church in the
case of the 0. T. was seen to be little more than
a reflection of the opinion of the West. The
difference between the Roman and Reformed
Churches on the N. T. was less marked; and
the two conflicting Greek confessions confirm in
general terms, without any distinct enumeration
of Books, the popular Canon of the N. T. (Oyr.
Luc. Conf. i. p. 42 ; Dosith. Confess, i. p. 467).
The confession of Metrophanes gives a com
plete list of the Books ; and compares their
number — thirty-three — with the years of the
Saviour's life, that " not.even the number of the
Sacred Books might be devoid of a divine mys
tery " (Metroph. Critop. Conf. ii. 105, ed. Kimm.
et Weissenb.). At present, as was already the
case at the close of the 17th cent. (Leo Alla-
tius, ap. Fabric. Bibl. Graec. v. App. p. 38), the
Antilegomena are reckoned by the Greek Church
as equal in Canonical authority in all respects
with the remaining Books (Catechism, I. c. supr.)-
The assaults which have been made, especially

NOTES TO TABLE
10 This catalogue, which excludes the Epistle to the
Hebrews and the Apocalypse ("statutum est nihil aliud
legi in ecclesia debere catholica nisi . . . . et Pauli tre-
decim epistolas et septem alias . . . ."), is foUowed by a
section in which Philastrius speaks of " other [heretics]
who assert that the Epistle to tlie Hebrews is not Paul's "
(Haer. 89). And in another place (Haer. CO) he reckons
it aa heresy to deny the authenticity of the Gospel aud
Apocalypse of St. John. The different statements seem
to be the result of careless compilation.
n This catalogue is described as " secundum antiquam
translationem," and stands parallel with tbose of Jerome

No. IV. — continued.
and Augustine. The enumeration of the Catholic
Epistles is somewhat ambiguous, but I believe that it
includes only three EpiBtles : Epistolae Petri ad gentes,
Jaeobi, Johannis ad Parthos. The insertion of Judae
after gentes seems to have been a typographical error,
for the present writer has not found the reading in any
one of four MSS. which he baa examined.
12 In another place (De eccles. Offic. i. 12) Isidore
mentions without condemning the doubts which existed
as to the Epistle to the Hebrews, James, 2-3 Johii,
2 Peter, but not as to Jude.

CANOPY
during the present century, upon the authen
ticity of the separate Books of the Old and New
Testaments belong to the special articles. The
general course which they have taken is simple
and natural. Semler ( Unterstich. d. Kan. 1771-5)
first led the way towards the later subjective
criticism, though he rightly connected the for
mation of the Canon with the formation of the
Catholic Church, but without any clear recog
nition of the providential power which wrought
in both. Next followed a series of special essays
in which the several Books were discussed indi
vidually with little regard to the place which
they occupy in the whole collection (Schleier-
macher, Bretschneider, De Wette, &c). At last
an ideal view ofthe early history of Christianity
was used as the standard by which the Books
were to be tried, and the Books were regarded
as results of typical forms of doctrine and not
the sources of them (F. C. Baur, Schwegler,
Zeller). All true sense of historic evidence was
thus lost. The growth of the Church was left
without explanation, and the original relations
and organic unity of the N. T. were disregarded.
For the later period of the history of the N. T.
Canon, from the close of the 2nd century, the
great work of Lardner (Credibility of the Gospel
History, Works i. — vi., ed. Kippis, 1788) fur
nishes ample and trustworthy materials. For
the earlier period his criticism is necessarily im
perfect, and requires to be combined with the
results of later inquiries. Kirchhofer's collec
tion of the original passages which bear on the
history of the Canon (Quellensammlung, u. s. w.,
Zurich, 1844) is useful and fairly complete, but
frequently inaccurate. The writings of F. C. Baur
and his followers often contain very valuable
hints as to the characteristics of the several
Books in relation to later teaching, however
perverse their conclusions may be. In oppo
sition to them Thiersch has vindicated, perhaps
with an excess of zeal, but yet in the main
rightly, the position of the apostolic writings
iu relation to the first age (Versuch zur Her-
stellung, u. s. w., Erlangen, 1845 ; and Erwieder-
"ng, u. s. w., Erlang., 1846). The section of
Reuss on the subject (Die Gesch. d. heil. Schriften
N. T., 2te Aufl., Braunschw. 1853), the articles
on "the Canon" by Landerer (Herzog, BE.1 s. v.),
Holtzmann (Schenkel's Bib. Lex. 1871), Wold-
Schmidt (Herzog, BE.2 1880), contain valuable
summaries of the evidence. Other references
and a fuller discussion of the chief points are
given by the author of this article in On the
Canon of the N. T., 5th ed., London, 1881.
To the above authorities should be added
Credner, Gesch. d. Ml. Kanons, ed. G. Volkmar,
Berlin, 1860; Hilgenfeld, Der Kanon u. d.
Kritik d. N. T, Halle, 1863; S. Davidson's
Canon of the Bible, Lond. 1877 ; Sanday, Author
ship of the Fourth Gospel, Lond. 1872, and
Gospels in the Second Cent. Lond. 1876; Charteris,
Canonicity, Edinburgh, 1880 ; Ed. Reuss, Hist, of
tiie Canon of the Holy Scriptures in the Christian
Church, translated, Edinburgh, 1884; Salmon's
Introd. to the N. T, Lond. 1886; Bp. Light-
foot's Essays on Supernat. Beligion, Lond. 1889 ;
Zahn, Gesch. d. Ntl. Kanons, Leipzig, l'° Bnd.,
1" Halfte, 1888, 2" Bnd. 1889. [B. F. W.] [R.]
CANOPY (kwvuv-Cov ; conopeum ; Judith x.
21, xiii. 9, xvi. 19). The canopy of Holofernes

CANTICLES

519

is the only one mentioned, although, perhaps,
from the " pillars " of the litter [Bed] described
in Cant. iii. 10, it may be argued that its
equipage would include a canopy. It probably
retained the mosquito nets or curtains in which
the name originated, although its description
(Judith x. 21) betrays luxury and display rather
than such simple usefulness. Varro (R, II. ii.
10, 8) uses quae in conopeis jacent of languid
women very much as avairav6fj.evos . . . 4v Tip
Kuvuirtltp (I. c.) describes the position of a
luxurious general (for further classical illus
tration, see Dict. of Gk. and Bom. Ant., art.
Conopeum). It might possibly be asked, Why
Judith, whose business was to escape without
delay, should have taken the trouble to pull
down the canopy on the body of Holofernes?
Probably it was an instance of the Hebrew
notion that blood should be instantly covered
(cp. 2 Sam. xx. 12; Lev. xvii. 13) [Blood];
and for this purpose the light bedding of Syria
was inadequate. [Bed.] Tent furniture also is
naturally lighter, even when most luxurious,
than that of a palace ; and thus a woman's hand
might unfix it from the pillars without mucli
difficulty. Another view which takes tho
Kwvuireiov to mean strictly the mosquito-net
itself (see Speaker's Comm. on Judith xi. 21)
would make the act a simple and easy one.
She simply took the gorgeous (x. 21) mosquito-
net from the pillars as a trophy. This bed with
its canopy is represented as assigned speciallv
from among the spoil to Judith, and by her
dedicated (Judith xvi. 19). [H. H.]
CANTICLES (or THE SONG OF SOLO
MON).
1. Title. — In the Hebrew this remarkable
work is described as nD?K>7 *1K>X D'T'CM "W,
that is, "the most lovely song of Solomon."
Whether the title implies that the song was
written by Solomon, or that it only refers to
him, is a matter of small importance, for the
most superficial acquaintance with the history
of the titles of the Psalms and other Books of
the Old Testament is sufficient to indicate the
lateness of the tradition which they contain.
In the three principal Versions of the Canticles
— namely, the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac —
the titles are respectively TAo,p.a atrp.dTuv o
io-Tt S,a\ai/j.uv, Canticum Canticorum Salamonis,
}t»J^ml L**£xmL £udo), that is,
" The Wisdom of Wisdoms of Solomon, the book
which is called in Hebrew Song of Songs, or
the Hymn of Hymns." This last title is written
as it appears in the printed copies of the Syriac
Old Testament, but the manuscripts present
certain variations, among which may be specially
noticed that which is found in the facsimile of
the Ambrosian Codex recently published by M.
Ceriani, where it stands |AhTZ A..«~i»/
^-»^£L»t> }nVr> riO) JO .oVi A»>
^l* li]» Aj^IL, that is, " The Hymns

520

CANTICLES

of Hymns of Solomon, son of David, the king of
Israel ; that is, the Songs of Songs which is called
in Hebrew ' Sharath Sharin.' " From the arbi
trary character of the variations in the Syriac
texts we may infer that the first verse as it
stands in the Hebrew and the Septuagint was
regarded by the venerable Syrian translator as
a title (as it is by the Vulgate), and that the
translators and copyists allowed themselves con
siderable latitude in expressing their own theories
about the origin of the Book, as they did with
regard to the titles of the Psalms. The Targum
on Canticles being a very diffuse allegorical
paraphrase, and of late authorship, is not of
the same critical value here as it is in the Pen
tateuch and Prophets. The title however, as
usually printed, is as follows: JinSClDI f'VK'
m-O talPH Rata K'32 nota "IDS if
miT XD^l? 5>3 fl3n OTIp nttm From these
passages it appears that the principal Versions
regarded the first verse to imply that Solomon
himself was the author of the work.
2. Language and Diction. — A careful analysis
of the language and diction of the work is most
disappointing. However, the following results
may be obtained : — A large number of words
occur in Canticles which are &ra| \syop.eva.
As many of these will be required for another
purpose in § 38 below, those only are here given
which are not cited there. The total number
of these words is between fifty and sixty, so that
the first phenomenon that we have to deal with
is the remarkable fact that in a work consisting
of 117 short verses, no less than fifty or sixty
airo| \ey6p.eva occur, or, in other words, that in
every third verse at least we may expect to find a
word that does not occur elsewhere in the whole
range of Biblical Hebrew. Perhaps this may
be accounted for by the fact that Canticles is
the only specimen of dramatic or idyllic Hebrew
poetry that remains to us, and perhaps the
peculiarity of the circumstances and persons
who form the subject of the book may give
some reason for the singular language which, is
employed. But let it be remembered that the
mere presence of the fiiraf Keyi/ieva proves
nothing whatever as to the date of the Book.
3. We might expect considerable assistance
in explaining this phenomenon by comparing the
words used in Canticles with those which are
employed by Hebrew writers whose age has been
ascertained, or is at least regarded by many as
well known. But here we are startled at the
frequency with which words occur, that are
generally supposed to be characteristic either
of the earliest or of the latest period of the
Hebrew language. Of the rare words (not
Stto| \ey6fieva) which occur in it, some are to
be found elsewhere only in the Book of Job, as,
for instance, 337, t\W, TQT, yQp (in sense of
leaping), IWV, D»3K, or in Proverbs as, 311?
nip*BO, or in Proverbs and Psalms as, iTJKJ
HQJ, or in Psalms and Isaiah as, !TIN. n'ffin
(perhaps Job also) nWn. Then the rare words
fpl) and OWn are elsewhere found in Genesis
only, while such words as, DllDTl. !"IDS. i"lj31
remind us of Joel, Isaiah, and Judges* respec-
tive.y. Meanwhile such words as £»B> (marble),

CANTICLES
nme, btmo, nianr, dtis occur only in
late Hebrew (that is, if Ecclesiastes, like Ezekiel
Nehemiah, and Esther is late). Turn where we
will, we have to face the fact that for every late
word that we can allege, another can be adduced
on the other side which is early. The absence
of 1 consecutive except in vi. 9 may perhaps be
taken as a mark of late date ; or the universal
presence of £> shortened from ~)Z>ti may be
adduced as indicating late authorship ; but the
latter is now generally acknowledged to be a
dialectic peculiarity. May not the peculiar
dialect of the work perhaps account for the
absence of 1 consecutive ?
4. Dr. Gi-aetz produces certain Greek words
which in his opinion bring the composition of
the Book down to the Macedonian period. The
instances that he takes are J1D, "la^, flVS^Jl
|V"1SX, which he identifies with fuayeiv,
Kfarpos, T-n\Gmis, tpopt7ov. The well-known pre
position OS he identifies with S/io, while in
iv. 13, 14 he alters the second DH"U into
D'TN, so as to obtain another Greek word
which he assumes to be p6Sov.* Dismissing
this as purely conjectural, and remembering
the speakers who use the words jl'lBN and
JTS3 (see § 38), we may observe that D. Kimchi
(Seph. Shor. p. 596) found no difficulty in ex
plaining JVI3K; and JtD, though Sto{ Ae-y<!-
p.ivov in Hebrew, is known to us in the forms
•_>l^O and _ y. and is perhaps only a
dialectic variation of *]DD. In the case of
Kvirpos it should be noticed that the article
itself was foreign, and that the name may have
travelled with it, so that the presence of 1B3
as a Hebrew word need not astonish us any
more than the English use of Otto, Elixir,
Dragoman, and others. Dr. Graetz's seventh
word ?UT is certainly "without analogy" in
Hebrew, but it is a bold step to infer at once that
it is a Graecism, and = a-npteiaTis, founded on
the basis of 7JT = o-nptiov.
5. But it might be expected that if language
alone does not enable us to decide the age of the
Book, the ideas contained in it will help us to
some considerable extent. Let it be remembered,
however, that we know very little of the ideas
and habits of the Hebrew people which would
characterise them at one period more than
another. How could we do so, when the records
of them from the earliest times till perhaps the
century before Christ are so very sparse, and
even these were not written with a view of
giving a chronicle, still less a history, of Israel ?
In all cases when we construct our histories of
Israel a vast amount ofthe matter must be purely
conjectural. The simplest proof of this is to be
found in the variations that may be noticed in
all the principal modern histories of Israel that
have been written.
6. Dr. Graetz, however, in his instructive
Commentary, discovers various signs of Greek
modes of life to which he finds references in the
Canticles. Such are (1) the use of the litter
(P*1BK), and he cites passages from Athenaeus

* The word TH, it is true, is common in Syriac,
Chaldee, and Arabic, but does not occur in Biblical
Hebrew.

CANTICLES

CANTICLES

521

and Polybius to prove that the tpoptiov was used
at Athens in the time of the tyrant Aristion
or Athenion, and by Antiochus Epiphanes at
Alexandria (Polyb. xxxi. 3). But luxurious
habits crept in among the Jewish people during
their periods of greatest prosperity, such as
the reigns of Solomon or Uzziah (see Is. i.-ix.).
(2) Whether the early Jewish court was in
the habit of sitting or lying down at meals
is almost as difficult a problem to solve as
the meaning of the word 3DD (i. 12), upon
which Dr. Graetz bases his argument that here
we have a reference to the Triclinium. (3) The
point about the bride and bridegroom, which
of them wore the crown, is very obscure. The
word for crown here is illQl?, and in the only
other passage where the word occurs it refers
to the royal and not the bridal crown. Nor
does the more frequent word 711121? ever mean
the bridal crown, unless Ezek. xxiii. 42 be
pressed, and here the prophet refers to Sabean
and not to Israelite customs. The verb "1131?
is used in all other passages where it occurs in
,l metaphorical sense. It is doubtful how far
any references to Jer. ii. 2 or Is. lxi. 10 are
really of any value with regard to the point
raised on this passage. (4) The institution of
police (iii. 3, v. 7, TJ?3 a*331Dn DnDBTI) is
considered by Dr. Graetz as indicating the
Macedonian times, because then the irepliroKoi
were introduced into Greece. But the early
history of police both in Greece and Rome is a
very obscure point. Perhaps they may have
existed at an early period. And, after all,
does what took place in Greece bear very much
upon what occurred in Palestine? If men like
Solomon, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were advanced
enough in civilization to make arrangements
with regard to the water supply of Jerusalem
(a subject which is not yet perfectly under
stood even in our own country), may it be
beyond the region of possibility to suppose that
some precautions were taken by them and their
successors for preserving the public peace?
(5) Marble pillars are first mentioned in Esth.
i. 6 and 1 Ch. xxix. 2. (6) The DTIlSri (ii. 3, 5)
are the Symbolic Greek pJnXa. (7) The J3e\»7
ipuros are to be found in CN ''SCI iTSEn
(viii. 6). It may be questioned whether any
thing definite would be proved even if the
assumptions in the last three numbers were
correct. It is true that cedar was the favourite
ornamental material employed by the Hebrews,
but marble may have been used without diffi
culty in a period when commerce was extended.
The references to the Symbolic apples and the
Darts of love appear to us to be far-fetched and
irrelevant. We shall presently return to this
subject, and point out certain ideas which appear
to us to exhibit the only period which indicates
the historic background of the work.
7. Form of the Book. — As we have observed
above (§ 2), the form of this work is unique in
the Holy Scriptures. Even to an English reader
it is apparent that we are here brought face to
face with a short work written in an idyllic
and dramatic form. We are far from suggesting
that the composition was actually intended for
stage representation. Probably M. Renan is
correct (p. 80) when he states that in all the
Jewish history till the time of Herod there is
no trace of a theatre at Jerusalem, not even at

the times when the habits of the city were
most profane. When we say that the form is
dramatic, we mean that the samo form is to be
noticed here which is met with in Psalm xxiv.
and Isaiah lxiii. The style is idyllic as well as
dramatic, because it deals with the subjects of
rural life. It is more highly dramatic than
Psalm xxiv. and Isaiah lxiii. because more
characters are introduced, and the dialogue is
carried out to a greater extent. This, in fact,
gives to Canticles the unique position which it
occupies in the Canonical Books.
8. The dramatic character, we noticed, is
obvious to any English reader who observes that
(1) certain phrases constantly recur, e.g. "I
charge you . . . that ye stir not up . . . love
till she pleases," ii. 7, iii. 5 (cp. v. 8), viii. 4 ;
or again the questions " Who is this," &c,
repeated iii. 6, vi. 10, viii. 5, which seem to
mark certain leading divisions in the Book,
where a chorus or a choragus is brought before
the reader's notice, indicating to him the exact
position of affairs at the peculiar juncture.
(2) A dialogue is carried on sometimes between
two individuals, as i. 9— ii. 7, where it is obvious
from ii. 2, 3, that the two principal characters
are male and female. See also iv. 1-v. 1, where
again it is obvious that the hero and heroine
of the ¦drama are brought before us (cp. vii. 6-
viii. 3). (3) Sometimes again the dialogue is
between a chorus and one of the principal cha
racters. Such is the case in i. 1-8, and more
distinctly so in v. 9-vi. 3, vi. 10-vii. 5.
9. To anyone, however, who is slightly ac
quainted with Hebrew, this is quite apparent
from the prefixes and suffixes of the verbs and
nouns which indicate the gender of the speaker
or the person addressed. Thus it is obvious
that i. 9, 15 is spoken to a female and l. 16 to
a male. These passages will enable the reader
to discover which character is speaking at
almost any time. For it will be noticed that
the words " my love," " my beloved," which
constantly recur throughout the work, indicate
the language of the hero and the heroine re
spectively. Thus " my love " (Win) occurs
ii. 2, iv. 1, 7, vi. 4, in the mouth of the male,
and in ii. 10, 13, v. 2, where, with marvellous
knowledge of human nature, the author makes
the heroine quote her lover's language and the
favourite epithets by which he designates her.
On the other hand, she always speaks of the
hero as her beloved (111), e.g. ii. 3 and nearly
twenty other places, or else as " he whom my
soul loveth " 0CS3 n3riKB>), as i. 7, iii. 1-4.
10. But while the heroine has two epithets
which she applies to her beloved, it appears
that he has a term of endearment which in one
peculiar section of the Book, and there only, he
applies to her who has become his bride. This
is the phrase "My sister, my bride "(WI1K
rfa), iv. 9-12, v. 1, or "bride," iv. 8, 11,
while on one occasion the bride puts into his
mouth the word my " sister " when she imagines
him to be addressing her. These facts are
sufficient to bring with some clearness the
general outlines of the dialogue before the
English reader.
11. There are passages, however, where it is
not so easy to distinguish the dramatis personae
of the dialogue. These are iii. 1-5, v. 1-7,

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viii. 5-14. The best sense is given by ascribing
the first two passages to a Chorus of Virgins
(who are called Daughters of Jerusalem), who
are constantly in the background while the
heroine is narrating her dream, and by sup
posing that at the end of her narrative she
addresses the chorus who, in v. 9, reply to her
and join with her in the search for the beloved.
In viii. 5-14, especially in u. 9, one or more
new characters are introduced who have been
generally identified with the brother or brothers
oi the bride.
12. We are now in a position at which we
can discover the names of the principal cha
racters. The hero is Solomon, though the
bride only once addresses him by name, i.e.
viii. 12. Others mention him as a character in
the drama, as iii. 7, 9, 11 ; viii. 11. The heroine
is not known to us by name : she is once indeed
mentioned as "The Sbulamite," vi. 13; but it
will not be inconvenient to call her Sulamith,
a name to which she may be entitled after the
labours of Delitzsch, Noack, and many others.
13. The following is a brief outline of the
plot of the drama. The scene opens at the
royal palace in Jerusalem (iv. 8 is no obstacle
to this view). All that art can lend to promote
luxury and magnificence is presented to us.
" The three score queens " (vi. 8) are present,
singing the praises of king Solomon, and the
aistheticism of his court. Meanwhile there was
standing among them a girl of dark complexion
(i. 5, 6), plainly dressed (i. 11), who is looked
upon with considerable contempt by the queens
(i. 6), and can only obtain a sneering answer
(i. 8) to a simple question (i. 7) which the love
and imagination of a simple rustic heart dictated.
This is Sulamith, a native of Northern Palestine,
as her language and ideas lead us to infer. Her
father is dead, it appears, for she only mentions
her mother (i. 6, viii. 2), a little sister (viii. 8),
and her brothers (to whom probably the lan
guage in viii. 9 is ascribed), of whom she com
plains that they had not been quite kind in
their treatment ol her (i. 6) during her youth.
14. While the poor girl is in tears at the re
buff which her simplicity has received, Solomon
is supposed to enter (i. 9). It will be readily
seen that the dialogue between him and Sula
mith is continued up to ii. 5, where she appears
to be so carried away by the intensity of her
feelings, as to faint with emotion, and to be able
only to murmur a few words (ii. 6) as Solomon
gently lays her down in a place of rest. The
Chorus of Virgins (ii. 7) addressing the Queens,
and charging them not to disturb Sulamith's
repose, brings the first scene to a close.
15. The second scene (ii. 8 — iii. 5) is most
easily understood by supposing Sulamith to con
tinue in the state of trance to which she had
been brought in the former scene. None but
the Chorus of Virgins are present, and they move
in the background as far as possible. Sulamith
fancies herself at home, and though surrounded,
as she is, by all the pomp and glory of Solomon,
yet imagines herself to be with him at her
country home. It is to be noted (as we observed
above, § 9) that she puts Solomon's favourite
expressions into his mouth — "my love," "my
fair one," "my dove." These, and the words
"in our land"(ii. 12), are sufficient to show
that she fancied that imagination only had

CANTICLES
carried her into Jerusalem. The language of the
chorus (iii. 5) is in itself sufficient to show that
the actual scene is not laid in North Palestine.
But as to Sulamith, so convinced is she of the
reality of her old home being present to her
that she actually breaks out into one of the local
vintagers' songs (ii. 15), which she had sung
when placed as a child by her brothers to watch
(i. 6) the vineyards. It must be observed that
the Beloved is never absent from her thoughts.
The tune and words of her charming Spring-
song (ii. 15) bring back the thoughts of him,
and half awake half asleep she fancies at one
time that he is lost (iii. 1), at another that
he is found again (iii. 4). But in her fancy
it is to her mother's cottage that she brings
liim (iii. 4).
16. The third scene represents to us the first
arrival of Sulamith at Jerusalem, an event which
of course had preceded what was narrated in the
two previous scenes. Such a dislocation of the
action might be considered sufficient to upset the
dramatical hypothesis which we adopt, but it
must be remembered that this is the only piece
of Hebrew poetry which we have of the sort, and
that it is unscientific to apply to it the principles
of dramatic criticism which we have derived
from studying ancient and modern European
plays. All that we have a right to infer is that
the order of events was as much neglected in
the Hebrew drama as it was in Hebrew history.
In the latter, the chronological order of events
gives way to the importance of them as seen
from the writer's point of view. The order
is one of subject-matter, or of magnitude, rather
than of time. Similarly in this drama. The
starting-point of it is that Sulamith is at
Jerusalem. How she was brought to Jerusalem
was a point of minor importance reserved for
the third scene.
17. In iii. 6-v. 1 we are first introduced to
a large crowd in Jerusalem, standing at some
point whence they could observe the approach
of the royal palanquin as it drew near by the
road that came from the north. One speaker
from the crowd (iii. 6) observes the clouds of
incense which thickened the air around the
king, and his bride. A second (vv. 7, 8) notices
the palanquin and the guard of mighty men
which moved alongside of it. A third (re. 9,
10) remarks upon the beauty of the carriage
itself, and the presents that had been made
by the Daughters of Jerusalem. Suddenly a
fourth voice — probably that of a herald —
announces the near approach of the royal train,
and calls upon the daughters of Zion to go forth
and meet their king. At iv. 1 we must suppose
that Solomon and Sulamith have entered the
palace. In iv. 1-5, 7-15, he speaks of her praises,
while in to. 6, 1 6 she appears to deprecate his flat
tery, and to confess her unworthiness of being
honoured with such particular marks of the
favour of one who was so great and so noble.
This is the only way in which the two verses
spoken by Sulamith can be explained, when read
in their connexion with the words of Solomon
which immediately follow. And by this time
we must suppose that the marriage procession
has entered into the banqueting hall. The king
enters with his bride, and calls upon the guests
(v. 1) to partake of the marriage feast. It is m
this scene only that Solomon addresses Sulamith

CANTICLES

CANTICLES

523

as his " sister bride," or " his bride." Nor should
it be forgotten that in this scene alone we read
of Solomon's invitation to her to exchange her
residence in the north for one at Jerusalem.
18. The fourth scene extends from v. 2 to vi. 9.
It appears that Sulamith is represented here, as
in scene 2, to be in a state of trance (v. 2), and
in her half-conscious condition to have imagined
that she had rejected her Beloved's proffered love
for the sake of avoiding a slight personal incon
venience (v. 3). She soon regretted what she
had done : she sought her Beloved, and called
for him, but it was all in vain. She found him
not ; he gave no answer. She describes the
troubles which she endured as she went in search
of him, and calls upon the queens, who stood
around her, to aid her in her search for the Be
loved. She describes him to them (vv. 10-16)
in language so vivid and so plaintive, that the
queens promise " to seek him with her." She
has almost relapsed into her former state of un
consciousness (vi. 2, 3) when (rr. 4-9) the Beloved
is found. These are the last words in the poem
that are ascribed to Solomon (except vii. 6-9 a,
and the very ambiguous passage, viii. 5 b, viii. 13),
and in them must be noted the solemn manner
(w. 8, 9) in which the king renounces the splen
dour and sensuality of his court, and professes
himself to be contented for the future with the
love of the one whom he addresses as " his
dove, the undefiled one, the only one of her
mother." 19. If the scene which we have just considered
is of great importance in its bearing upon the
interpretation of the work, the fifth scene is
certainly of "equal weight. The conversion of
Solomon has been hitherto represented as being
effected by the means of Sulamith. We now find
that the queens who in i. 6 had treated her with
scorn, and in i. 8 had ironically called her the
"fairest among women," D'EOa HS^n, are
gradually becoming lost in their admiration of
her. In v. 9, vi. 1, they use in earnest the same
title which they had applied to her with bitter
sarcasm in the first scene : while in vi. 10, 13 a,
13c-vii. 5, they hardly know how to find words
to express their admiration of her : and, finally
(vii. 1), they address her as the " prince's
daughter," 3H3 D3. They appear to be in
cluded in Sulamith's invitation (vii. 11), and
give up their court life for the sake of the joys
of the countrv. Thus the great curse of Solomon's
court (1 K. xi. 1-8) has been removed through
the simplicity and deep spirituality of the rustic
Sulamith, which has won over the king and his
great ladies. As the scene approaches to a con
clusion Sulamith is once again introduced, ex
pressing her burning love for Solomon, and beg
ging him to return with her to her own home
(vii. 9 b-viii. 3). The end of the scene is marked
by the address of the Chorus of Virgins to the
Daughters of Jerusalem, which has already been
noticed. 20. The last scene opens in North Palestine.
The Chorus and Daughters of Jerusalem are
within the courtyard of the residence of Sula
mith's mother at Shunem (the place described
ii. 9), and they see the Bride and her Beloved
approaching (viii. 5 a). Solomon points out the
places which he could associate with different
facts in Sulamith's history, — the apple-tree
where he first told her of his love, and the

cottage where she was born." She replies to
him (rt1. 6, 7) in language which shows the
intense depth of her spiritual perceptions. In
r. 8 she mentions her sister, trusting that
something will be done for her, and is answered
with rustic rudeness by her brothers (v. 9),
that they will take sufficient ewe of her.
Sulamith replies (r. 10) enigmatically, and
gently reproves her brothers for their former
neglect of herself, implying that she had always
been her own protectress. In vv. 11, 12,
she recommends her brothers to Solomon for
some mark of his favour, and apparently desires
that they may be appointed keepers of his vine
yards. The words (viii. 13) are probably the
language of Solomon asking her to sing. She
complies with the request, and in the last verse
of the Book expresses a hope that he will spend
his life upon the mountains. Thus the end of
the story appears to be that Solomon and all his
court retire to the country, and that they are
perfectly happy in the enjoyment of the sweet
air, and in the contemplation of the objects of
nature. 21. Interpretation. — A key to the interpreta
tion of the Book is to be found, we believe, in
what has been said respecting the form of it.
It appears that the object of the Song of Solomon
is to depict the conversion of that monarch and
his corrupt court through the influence of the
simple-minded but profound Sulamith. The
prophetic author desired to divert the mind
of Solomon from sensual and anti-theocratic
opinions, by leading him to rustic pursuits, in
which his gigantic intellect would find ample
scope for self-development.
22. This view is rendered more probable by
an examination of the progress which may be
discovered in the different dramatis personae.
We have already noticed the change which takes
place in the " Daughters of Jerusalem." At the
commencement of the drama their language was
sensuous. They were perfectly ignorant of the
fact that the king was the shepherd of his people,
and mocked Sulamith (i. 8) for her simplicity in
supposing that there was no other profession in
life except that of a shepherd. At last, however
(vi. 11, &c), we observe that they had a real
admiration for Sulamith, and offered their assist
ance to her as she started in pursuit of her lost
Beloved. 23. In Solomon himself we can notice a great
development of character. We can observe this
even in the language which he uses when ad
dressing Sulamith. At first he calls her simply
"my love" (Wl?1 ; cp. Revised Version); and
this appellation is used by him during the
addresses which are put in his mouth from
i. 9 to iv. 5. The word, however, means no
more than " friend " (LXX. i} irh-qo-iov p.ov,
Vulg. proxima mea, Syr. ..Ao ¦;'*>')_ and con
veys no such impression as the colloquial English
phrase "my love." However, suddenly, at iv. 9,
she becomes " the Sister, the Spouse," and Solo
mon becomes conscious of the higher relation in
which Sulamith stands to him ; and though,

b It must be remarked that the Masoretic vowels
suppose a man to be addressed, but how the words can
be understood if uttered by Sulamith has never been
explained. We have read 'H,miTt>> &o., with the
Syriac Version and Delitzsch.

524

CANTICLES

once again, vi. 4, she becomes " his love," yet in
vii. 6 he is forced to find a new name for her,
"0 love for delights" (D»J13l?n3 mnK), so
completely does he fail to find any words to ex
press the marvellous influence which she had
acquired over him.
24. Nor is it merely in the names which he
applies to Sulamith that we discover this re
markably artistic change in the description of
Solomon's feelings; the very language which
he uses towards her exhibits the change of his
views, and his gradual appreciation of her
charms. For it will be observed that the
language which he uses when first he begins to
sing her praises is almost, if not decidedly,
sensuous (see especially i. 9-11, 15; iv. 1-5).
The change is to be noticed in the scene which
extends from iii. 6 to v. 1. Here, and especially
in iv. 7-15, the intellectual qualities of Sulamith
appear to be the special objects of his praise.
The king is gradually catching her spirit, and
we find, as the story progresses, that he is
simply overcome, he can say nothing, he is
utterly bewildered at his bride's glowing cha
racter. Accordingly, in his subsequent speech
(vii. 7-10 a) he is unable to find words to
express his wonder at her charms. This indeed
is a point which has been too much overlooked,
but yet it appears to have », very important
position in enabling us to understand the meaning
of the work.
25. It appears that there is a development in
the character of Sulamith as well. The girl is
evidently aware of her humble position when
she makes her first appearance (see i. 5, 7, 12).
Though surrounded with the glory of Solomon's
court, she appears to be uninfluenced by what she
sees around her. She is quite content to remain
as she was brought up, amidst all the beauties
of nature (i. 16, 17). But it is amazing to see
how conscious she is of the greatness of Solomon.
She is simply stricken to the earth ; she faints
and withers before his majesty. There can be
no doubt that this is the result of design on the
part of the author, and that some key to the
interpretation of the work is to be found in that
sense of unworthiness which Sulamith so fre
quently professes.
26. During the second scene Sulamith and the
Chorus are alone brought before the reader, and
it would be unreasonable to expect in it any
special signs of development of character. But
we cannot fail to notice the remarkable way in
which she cites the words and the language of
the Beloved (ii. 10 b-14), to notice her thoughts
of home (ii. 12), and to see how she recurs to the
happy home which she hopes to enjoy with him,
as she sings the Spring-song (ii. 15); and in
ii. 16 reverts to her old idea that everybody
who has anything to do must be a shepherd,
because she knows no higher occupation in life
than that.
27. Iu the next scene we notice nothing but
increased love for the Beloved, and a refer
ence to the " mother," which points again to
Sulamith's longing for home. This scene is very
interesting, indicating, as it does, the humble
attitude which Sulamith always bears to Solo
mon. She is introduced to our notice only for
a short while ; and it appears that the words
iv. 6, 16 are in each case references to her own
unworthiness to receive the Beloved, or to the

CANTICLES
preparation which her " garden" requires before
it can be fit to receive a visit from him.
28. The same progress in Sulamith's character
is to be noticed in the two following scenes. The
Beloved had come to the garden (vi. 2) which
she had prepared for him (iv. 16). He had come
at a time when it was inconvenient for her to
receive him. The consequences of this are mani
fested in her increased love for him. She dares
not face him at first, but becomes the second
time a suppliant of the "Daughters of Jeru
salem," and begs them to convey her message to
him. Subsequently (vii. 10-viii. 2) she invites
him to leave the court, and to retire into the
country, concluding with language (viii. 6, 7)
which shows the depth of character which the
author ascribes to her. The love which she feels
towards her Beloved is indissoluble; neither
death nor the grave can destroy it.
29. This development in the characters of the
three principal dramatis personae brought be
fore us, — namely, Sulamith, Solomon, and the
Daughters of Jerusalem, — make our supposition
highly probable that the Book was written (for
what Book of Holy Scripture was written with
out some immediate object ?) with the intention
of the conversion of Solomon. Some prophet
who was charged with the reform of Solomon's
corrupt court, conveyed the warning to him in
this marvellous Book. In other words, this semi-
pastoral yet dramatic poem was one of the means
by which Jehovah sought to recall the apostate
Jedidiah (2 Sam. xii. 25) to a true sense of his
position. 30. But that this view rests upon something
more than conjecture is borne ont by two simple
considerations. (1) The Song of Solomon, like
the Book of Esther, has no mention of the name
of God.c To what purpose was the name of
God omitted, unless that the omission of the
sacred name might appeal to the person to
whom the work is addressed ? Could a
stronger ground be alleged for inducing the
king to forsake false gods and idolatrous rites,
than the picture which has just been set before
us ? He is delicately reminded of his own
sins. He is refuted by his own arguments.
The way of repentance is pointed out to him.
Accordingly we find no reference whatever to
Jehovah, to religion, to sacrifices, or to anything
of the kind. (2) The same intention on the part
of the writer may be noticed in the language
of Solomon himself. We have already dwelt
upon the importance of the third scene in its
relation to the exegesis of the work. We may
remark that after this scene neither Solomon
nor Sulamith speak of anything except the
simplest objects of nature. They have both
risen to a conception of what real love is. In
this they are lost, and henceforth art and luxury
cease to hold any charm over them. Their
satisfaction lies in each other, and they spend
their lives in the contemplation of the works of
God in nature.
31. But is there no further meaning in the
Book? Here we are brought to face the most
difficult question that can be raised in connexion
« The obscure word iT'nii'bw is the onl5r P06sil?le
instance to the coutrary, but observe the Syriac

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CANTICLES

52t

with the Canticles. We may ask the question
in a slightly different form. Is the interpreta
tion of Canticles literal or allegorical ? Roughly
speaking, this question deals with the whole
history of the interpretation of the Book. The
interpretation which we have given is literal ;
that is, we have attempted to find circumstances
in the life of Solomon which are the raison d'etre
of the Book. But we believe that there is a
deeper meaning in it. We find a distinct
Messianic element, but before stating it we
must make two general observations. (1) It
does not follow that because a certain portion
of a prophecy is Messianic, the whole is such.
For instance, in Psalm xxii. there are many things
which are applicable to the sufferings of David,
many which are not. These last, which to
save inconvenience we will call " the collateral
matter " of the prophecy, apply distinctly to the
Messiah. Or, if we may take another illustra
tion, there can be no doubt, from Isaiah vii.— ix.,
that a child named Immanuel actually lived in
the days of the prophet, who in fact was his
father, and that a certain portion of the pro
phecy was fulfilled in the person of this child.
But there remains the collateral matter, which
cannot be explained as applying in any sense to
Isaiah's son, but does apply definitely to the
Messiah. (2) What we have stated with regard
to prophecy applies with equal force to typo
logy. For instance, because a certain character
m Holy Scripture is a type or picture of the
Messiah, it does not follow that he is such in all
the lineaments of the picture. Take the cases
of Joseph and David, which are most probably
admitted as typical of Christ by all those who
recognise the Messianic element in Psalm xxii.
or Isaiah vii.-ix. It does not follow that because
Joseph and David were figures of Christ in one
particular sense, they must have been so in every
respect. It would be as irreverent to explain
Gen. xii. 41—43 of the Messiah, as to suppose
that certain acts of David are Messianic types.
32. Applying these principles to the Canticles,
it is not necessary to suppose that Solomon is a
type of Jehovah or Christ in all respects, or that
in Sulamith we are to look for never-failing traces
of the Synagogue, of the Christian Church, or of
the Christian soul. Some of the language which
is ascribed to Solomon is inconsistent with any
such hypothesis. But we maintain that there
are at least two Messianic pictures in the Can
ticles. There is (1) the conversion of Solomon
and the ladies of his court through the instrumen
tality of Sulamith. Could we have a more dis
tinct representation of the final triumph of the
Church of Christ over the powers and principles
of this world ? Sulamith was the humble instru
ment in the hands of God through whom the
apostate Solomon was converted ; in the great
ness of the task which she performed and in the
divine character of her mission she is the type
of greater things to come. (2) So with regard
to Solomon, it would be irreverent to explain
every word ascribed to him in this Book as
though it were the utterance of Jehovah or of
the Christ. However, in that burning love
which existed between him and Sulamith, a love
which we must remember was mutual, we can
not fail to notice a figure of that love which
each individual soul, and the Church collectively,
possesses towards the Author and Finisher of her

faith. Further than this we dare not allegorise ;
but in this we see enough to excite our wonder
and our longings for further search. Those who
would see what has been discovered in the Can
ticles by men who spent their time in prayer aud
meditation, should read the eighty-six sermons of
St. Bernard on the Book, and the forty-eight ser
mons by Gillebert, which were commenced with
the object of completing what St. Bernard left un
finished at his death. The Commentary on Can
ticles, by the late Dr. Littledale, 1869, places the
allegorical interpretation within a short compass.
See also Gietmann in Cornely's Cursus, &c. 1891.
33. We must not forget, however, that the
interpretation ofthe Book must depend in a great
measure upon the number of dramatis personae
which are introduced. The explanation which
we have ventured to give is based entirely upon
the hypothesis that there are only two principal
characters in the drama. But are we sure that
there is not a third, or even * fourth? Some
expositors discover not only the features of king
Solomon, but also those of a rival, a shepherd, a
man of Sulamith's own position in life, to whom
her heart had been given before she was forced
into attendance at the king's court. This has
been rightly called the " Shepherd hypothesis "
by Mr. Kingsbury (the careful and learned
writer of the Speaker's Commentary on the
Canticles, 1873), and we must briefly examine
what arguments are introduced in favour of it.
This hypothesis is thus enunciated by Dr.
Ginsburg : " This song records the real history
of a humble but virtuous woman, who, after
being espoused to a man of like humble circum
stances, had been tempted in a most alluring
manner to abandon him, and to transfer her
affections to one of the wisest and richest of men,
but who successfully resisted all temptations,
remained faithful to her espousals, and was ulti
mately rewarded for her virtue." d
34. It will be noticed that, according to the
scheme of arrangement which we gave above,
thirty verses and two half-verses were assigned
to Solomon. Of these the " Shepherd " claims
one half-verse, i.e. viii. 5 b, and fifteen whole
verses. He is also credited with the thrice-
repeated refrain, ii. 7, iii. 5, viii. 4. Of the
verses ascribed to him, one only has any import
ance in its bearing upon the hypothesis, namely
viii. 5 b. It may reasonably be asked, how could
Solomon have known various circumstances con
nected with Sulamith's home ? And to us the
answer seems very unsatisfactory which assumes
that the king had wandered to that spot during
one of his hunting expeditions in the North of
Palestine. We have followed Dr. Delitzsch
(Hohelied, 1875, p. 126), reading ^311, ^1*1^
I'Tini!?, ^]DK on the ground of the great
difficulty that there is in putting such a word
as ^pnnil? into the mouth of Sulamith.
35. But if we examine the whole Song with
the Shepherd hypothesis to guide us, we shall
find that in the dialogue with Solomon (for
such it is allowed to be) Sulamith replies to
him in language which is really intended for

d The Song of Songs, with a Commentary, &c, 1867,
p. 11. Similarly M. Renan in La Gantique des Can-
tiques, 4th ed., 18Y9, p. 100 ; and with some modifica
tions Dr. S. Oettli, Das Hohelied, 1889, and others.

526

CANTICLES

the Shepherd. For instance, is the " Well-
beloved " (i. 13) different from the " King " who
was mentioned in the preceding verse? Is it
not strange that the Shepherd (ii. 2) should
apply the same rare word to Sulamith (Wl?1)
which is always employed by Solomon? Passing
over the three refrains, which we have ventured
to ascribe to a Chorus of Virgins, we come to
the long passage iv. 8-v. 1. There is con
siderable difficulty in explaining this upon the
Shepherd hypothesis. It is admitted that iv. 7
is spoken by Solomon, and that the scene is laid
in his palace. It is somewhat odd to find the
king permitting a rival to ask'his wife (for such
she is supposed to be) to make what iu plain
English would be called an elopement with him.
Still less do we see how the Shepherd (v. 1)
could invite his friends to eat and drink with
him in Solomon's palace. It may be urged that
the appearance of the words n?3 and !"l?3 *mnN
in this scene alone support the idea that another
than Solomon is speaking ; but then we must re
member that Solomon had just entered publicly
into Jerusalem as the husband of Sulamith :
why then should he not publicly call her his
wife ? Or if we take vi. 8, 9 ; here the Shepherd
is standing outside the palace, and makes this
sarcastic reference to what is going on within,
so as to "destroy the effect " of Solomon's
remarks (vi. 4-7). But we think it highly
probable that, if the Shepherd had ventured
into such close proximity to the King, one of the
sixty mighty men (iii. 7) would not have
allowed him to live long enough to make his
last request (viii. 13). Again the passage i. 7
is declared to put the hypothesis on a sure
footing ; but, as we observed above (§ 22), we
have no reason to believe that Sulamith knew
that Solomon had any other profession except
that of a shepherd ; or, as Mr. Kingsbury well
puts it, " she speaks figuratively of the ' Son of
David,' as David called the Holy One of Israel
' my Shepherd.' " And a conclusive argument
against the literal interpretation of the passage
is the spiritual character of much of the
language of Sulamith, e.g. i. 12, 13, ii. 17, iv. 6,
v. 5, &c, where a literal explanation is im
possible. After a careful analysis of the work
we cannot help differing from those who have
supported the Shepherd hypothesis in any form
whatever. 36. The Fragmentary hypothesis, in accord
ance with which the Book is supposed to be a
collection of various unconnected poems, may
be said to be obsolete. It was maintained with
great learning by E. J. Magnus, Krit. Bear-
beitung, &c, des Hohen Liedes Salomo's, Halle,
1842. 37. Further Considerations respecting the Lan
guage and Style. — According to our scheme of
arrangement, seventy verses and three half-verses
are ascribed to Sulamith, thirty whole and two
half-verses to Solomon, while the remaining
thirteen and a half verses are distributed among
the Daughters of Jerusalem, the Chorus of
Virgins, the crowd at Jerusalem, and Sulamith's
brothers. It will be observed that a large pre
ponderance of the remarkable words, forms, and
constructions is used by Sulamith. Not only is
she acquainted with various objects of nature
not mentioned by the others (those which are

CANTICLES
peculiar to Canticles are marked with an
asterisk), such as 1B3*, 0*11113*, r6x3n,
nuwK, nixsv, mtac, nn, msn, d*js*,
110D*, ohiW, 131? 11D, 13,3111?, D'npiD*
twin*, D*1*3D, |(J>, TUN*, D*K111 (the
objects mentioned by Solomon and the others
are more common except D313* and 0*131?),
but the localities with which she is familiar are
comparatively few. Besides Lebanon, which is
known to Solomon and the Daughters of Jeru
salem also, she speaks only of Engedi, Sharon
Bether, and Baal-Hamon, the last three of
which were in the North of Palestine. Solo
mon mentions Gilead, Amana, Shenir, Hermon,
Tirzah ; and the Daughters of Jerusalem refer
to Heshbon, Damascus, and Bath-Rabbim, be
traying an acquaintance with Eastern Palestine,
and reminding us of 1 K. xi. 1, 5, 7.
38. Ofthe words peculiar to Canticles Solomon
uses the following: n*l?1 (used by Sulamith
ii. 10, 13, when citing Solomon's language), Tin
(a necklace), O'Vllfl, ehi, D*Xni, D'DNriD,
131D (in this sense), niWn, 331?, |111X, \
amh&, bili, JD3D. The Daughters of Jeru
salem also have a peculiar vocabulary, e.g
ni^ju no*K, pion, \m, Jta.nH paino.
The crowd, as we should expect, introduce some
curious words, such as !"ITS1, f|1X1, ilplK,
|1*1SN, to which may be added the phrase VIIX
3in. But the diction of Sulamith is over
whelmed with anomalies. We take a sample
from the first nineteen verses which are allotted
to her : mmriE*, 1133 (a provincialism for
1X3, which is the form used by her brothers,
viii. 9), H3*N for n*K, Sna, "|in, DID, 0*3X3,
1*DT and 13311 (in this sense). To this may be
added a pleonastic construction, vK> *D13, i.
6, viii. 12 (cp. \TaWxr 111130, iii. 7); the
pronoun after the finite verb, *3N *j1Dp, v. 5,
*3N *linna, v. 6 ; and the forms D*plB>, iii. 2,
rilXlp, v. 2, 11 (reminding us of DniE', Hos.
xii. 12). The above lists might be considerably
augmented, but a sufficient number of words
has been given to show that there are forms
of speech ascribed by the author to Sulamith,
which, like the places that she knows best, are
to be looked for in the North of Palestine. In
some respects her diction resembles Syriac rather
than pure Hebrew.
39. Age and Date of Composition. — We have
endeavoured to show above (§ 3, &c.) that the
age of the Canticles cannot be determined from
the language and diction ; though Gesenius, it is
true,0 maintained that on account of "Chalda-
isms " the Book must have been written shortly
after the return from the Exile. Again, such
words as D11Q and |1*1SN have been claimed
as indicating a Persian or even a Greek .period
of authorship. But as our knowledge of the
different Semitic dialects prevalent in Palestine
from the 10th century B.C. onwards is very
slight, we prefer to discover what indications ot
date are betrayed by the author himself apart
from the language.

Gesch. d. Heb. Spr. p. 27,

CANTICLES
40. We believe that very distinct traces of
the period of Solomon are to be found. For
instance i. 9 refers distinctly to the horse trade
between Egypt and Palestine of which we read
in 1 K. x. 28, 29 ; 2 Ch. i. 16, 17. At no other
time (not even at the date of Is. xxx. xxxi.) are
we aware of any such trade in Israel. We have
already noticed the familiarity with Eastern
Palestine which is exhibited by the Daughters
of Jerusalem. This again points to the date of
Solomon. There is no reference to a divided
kingdom, but Israel is looked upon as one entire
power (iii. 7). It is true that Jerusalem and
Tirzah are mentioned together in vi. 4, but this
does not prove, as M. Renan thinks it does
(pp. 95, 96), that at the time of the composition
of the Book the author had the northern and
southern capitals before him. The references to
Gilead (iv. 1), Heshbon, and Bath Rabbim (vii. 5),
all point to a time when Eastern and Western
Palestine formed one empire. Now we have
every reason to believe that the trans-Jordanic
possessions of Israel revolted at the time of the
great schism. Consequently we are led to infer
that the Song was written previously to the
times of Rehoboam. But another indication of
the date is given to us in some of the ideas of
the Book. We know that Solomon's was an
encyclopaedic age (1 K. iv. 29-34), and assuredly
in no portion of Scripture consisting of 117
consecutive verses do we find so many names of
animals and plants as we do here. It appears
that Sulamith mentions no less than forty objects
of nature or art, of which Solomon or others
mention fourteen. Solomon himself, in his
small number of verses, mentions twenty. So
that we must admit that upon the average we
may expect to find in every other verse the
mention of something which was known to be an
object of research in Solomon's time. In fact'
the references to gardens, parks, fruit, trees,
fish-ponds, within the compass of so few verses,
can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that
one was living who " spake of trees, . . of
beasts, of fowls, of creeping things, and of
fishes " (1 K. iv. 33). In other words, we are
led to place the composition of the Book in the
most prosperous days of Solomon, and consider
that this is highly probable, notwithstanding
the difference in numbers that has been noticed
between Cant. vi. 8 and 1 K. xi. 3.
41. The name of the author, however, must
remain a secret. The Solomonic authorship, as
we observed (§ 1), cannot be proved from the
title. We have not a sufficient amount of
Solomon's writings to enable us to form an idea
of his style. There are, without doubt, many
coincidences in thought and language between
the Canticles and the Proverbs (see Keil's
Introduction to the 0. T. § 124, 4), but, un
fortunately, all are not agreed as to which
proverbs are due to Solomon and which are not.
Again, it is true that Solomon is recorded to
have written 1005 songs, but there is an un
warrantable assumption in maintaining that
this was one of them. We do not venture to
speculate upon the name of the author ; but an
intellectual age such as Solomon's, which pos
sessed a Nathan, or an Ahijah of Shiloh, was
surely capable of giving birth to an author who
could have produced this striking work.
42. Canonicity. — Little can be added on this

CANTICLES

527

subject to what was stated in the first edition.
The Canticles have been rejected by private
individuals on subjective not on external grounds.
The fact that it exists in the Greek Versions,
and that it is cited in the Talmud Babli (Ilab.
Bath: 14 b) as canonical, is sufficient to establish
the canonicity of it. The well-known passage
in the Mishna (D*1*, iii. 5) is sufficient to show
the uniformity of Jewish tradition. See further
Delitzsch, Comm. pp. 14, 15 ; Dr. Ginsburg, § ii.
43. Versions of the Canticles. — We have
already stated that the three principal Versions
are the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Latin.
(For an account of the Targum on Canticles,
see Targum.) Of these the Syriac is by far the
best translation.
44. (1.) The Greek Version is, upon the whole,
a careful and faithful rendering. At times the
translator goes out of his way for the sake of
preserving a literal version. See i. 8, 14 ; ii. 1 1 ;
iii. 6, 11; iv. 7; v. 5, 6, 16; vi. 8, 9 ; vii. 5; viii. 12.
There are occasions where he has made a few
additions : i. 4, els oo-[i$iv pAipuv trov ; ii. 10,
¦trtpto-Tepa. p.ov (as in v. 13) ; ii. 14, trv before
irepiorepa ; iii. 2, Kai before ^nTr)tru ; v. 2, iirl
T-hv dvpav after Kpovei ; v. 8, after 'lepovaaXrip.
he adds iv tois Svvdfj.€fft Kai iv tous io-jrvtreo-i tov
ay pov, as he does in viii. 4, so as to agree with
ii. 7. In vi. 11 [10], after (ioa\ he adds ixe7
Suffa toi/s paffTois pov trot (from vii. 13). In
vii. 1], % ipxop-evri is inserted before iis x<fy>0' i
vii. 5 [4], us before Kifivai.
45. The omissions are very few, being chiefly
confined to particles. Exceptions must be
noticed in 131?, v. 6, and "]7 *37, ii. 10, which
he translates by irepitrTepd, having already
rendered "]? by eXfle, which he read *3? as
in ii. 13.
46. There are certain variations which must
be regarded either as errors or as the result of
misapprehension. Such are p-ao-rol for 0*111,
i. 2, 4, &c. ; tlXKuffav <re, i. 4 ; pApois, ii. 5 ;
ifiaTiuv, iv. 10 (where the source of error is
discoverable from v. 11); apti/xaTd p.ov, iv. 16 ;
ufioiuvrjs, vii. 7 ; /cot eis Tapteiov ttjs a-vKKa-
Poiaris p.e, viii. 2 (where the equivalent *3UD7f1
points out how the error arose) ; \eKevKavdio--
ptvn, viii. 5 ; 6 Ka6r)fievos, viii. 13.
47. That the translator intended to be honest
appears from the transliterations which he
employs, e.g. 8a\iriu6, iv. 4 ; a,\u8 (some copies
have aKuii), iv. 14; Ketpd£, v. 11 (should we
read Kai tpd£? see Hippol. Fragm. xxv. on Daniel,
and cp. v. 15); Baptris, v. 14; Na5i£/3, vii. 2.
Apparently being uncertain of the meaning of the
Hebrew words, he preferred to leave his transla
tion ambiguous.
48. Perhaps indications of a different Hebrew
text are given in the following passages : i. 3,
D*3DB> !?3» "rim n*11 ; ii. 4, >hn . . . *3N*3H :
iv. 1, -tast?, 4, ify-l, 8, *11N ; vii. 9, . . . *J1fib
D*3E*i; viii. 2, *3iBi, 6, n*rii3r6e\ The
division of chapters and verses is different from
what we find in the received Hebrew text.
Thus i. 4 the difficult word *33EJ'D is put into
v. ii and translated e'l\Kvo-dv art: ; so again chapter
v. begins with the middle of iv. 16, and v. 17
with vi. 1. In vi. 11 there is a different division

528

CANTICLES

of the verse, and it is not plain what the trans
lator meant ; and finally vii. 1 a is transferred to
the end of vi. 11.
49. The following passages deserve special
study: i. 7, 8, 11, 12, 16 (obscure); ii. 1 (he
avoids the proper name as ii. 17, iv. 8, vi. 3),
8, 9, 12, 14 ; iii. 6, 10 ; iv. 1 (tsi&itnais, Syr.
jr>A» used metaphorically for veil as in v. 3),
9, 12, 13, 15 ; v. 1, 5, 11, 12, 14 ; vi. 8 (vtavlSes
= niE6l?), 12 ; vii.'9; viii. 1, 4 (iav=iTO, but
cp. ii. 7, iii. 5), 7, 9. These will present to
the reader the most important passages; and
probably after having studied this Version he
will not assent to Dr. Noack's conjecture (Hohe
lied, pp. 37, 38), that it was undertaken on the
occasion of the marriage of Alexander Balas
with Cleopatra ; still less will he approve of the
arbitrary, and (if we understand it correctly)
faulty Hebrew-Roman text which he prints.
50. (2.) The main difficulty with regard to
the Syriac Version is the text itself. A careful
collation of Lee's text with the facsimile of the
Ambrosian MS. lately edited by Dr. Ceriani, and
the Bodleian MSS. Pocock 391, Bod. Or. 141,
will exhibit a large number of variants, certainly
not less than sixty. In fact, till the various
Syriac codices have been collated, one of the
most precious subsidia critica to the Old Testa
ment text will be comparatively valueless. The
omissions in this Version of the Canticles are
very slight, and for the most part confined to
particles ; but in some MSS. even these do not
exist. The additions are of the same .nature,
except perhaps in vii. 4, [i ¦n»«-i - v",
which is repeated from iv. 5, as LXX. It is
hard to distinguish accurately between the
occasional paraphrases which the translator
gives, and indications of a different Hebrew text
lying before him. The following, however,
appears to us to be approximately correct.
51. Paraphrases; — i. 2, jioiflj 1.. «t/i
)hi±& ^1 loOl] ]Vl\>, 6; ..^rim
ja^i ^flo^j 16, ^2;_ij liv^Q
ii. 12, \ttSH£> = 1*»T ; 13, fovnnvi ]ig>n
|**J> QDOUi 17, )iW^«-> = nri3:
iii. 6, jVlffin; ]L* (for ^311 np3N);
9, V»EO'Q2 = P*1SK : iv. 4, ]iJZo )l£> =
11*13^ ; 10, ^tOjZ bis for "pii (but only
here and vii. 13) : v. 12, ^QOlJJ ]<7i]^ for
ta ona ; ^-<^<.n = ahrhn -, 13 (some
MSS. ^ojp), ^jpo IJOSD; 15, ]lSo,
Iqoij ^a]a = swira D*xta»; 16,
OLjw = 1HN1D: vi. 3, ]i ^, = .1X111;
] A » «-> = 111?313, but the same word is
rendered ]Zo2J (some MSS. }AoJOj) in
¦v. 9 : viii. 1, ^-Ko) aj'2 -mi ^ = p^

CANTICLES
*DK *1tJ>; 6, 'jioj ..nA| OUaAl
•nn*3nt?B»i e>k *atn n*atn
52. Different readings are suggested in the
following passages :— i. 3, inn : ii. 1, rt>X3m
(unless p| was corrupted into ¦ . Ji. which is
most unlikely) ; 4, 1731 and *JX*3i1 (that is, if
the point is to be trusted): iv. 4, the order is
inverted which the translator is usually most
careful to preserve, and he seems to have read
Tin hjoa |riDX iiqd iinix in iv. 6
he reads .. \| (or (]]), i.e. "p *3^ instead of
v yH. Verse 11, after the first three words,
probably was written 111111 37PI1 K>31 73
YllSB'. It is not easy to account for vii. 1,
UOjj* ^O'.UOr" ?A IAmJ)
|A . aVrx-v probably the words are a para
phrase of the very hard passage: vii. 7 in
dicates that in the copy before him the trans
lator did not find the words separated from
each other. He read 0*M31?R T13 instead of
0*J131?113 : viii. 11 we find >*-\*& Ois|o for
P»H hv2, and lastly v. 13 ^sAji? <^*1

^S°

V*

i.e. D*3!MM

'1p? D*3*B»pB1 0*333-
53. (3.) The Latin Version of St. Jerome is
an important witness to the condition of the
Hebrew text in the 4th century. It is entirely
independent of the LXX., and suggests one or
two important readings. The additions (such
as ii. 10, v. 2, vi. 4, viii. 2, 6), like the omis
sions (ii. 11, 12, v. 6, vii. 6, 13), are very slight,
and consist almost entirely of particles. We
find one double translation (viii. 6), where
" deliciis affluens, innixa," corresponds to the one
Hebrew word npSlfflb. Proper names are
translated as iv. 6, "collem thuris" for ni?3J
p33?i1 ; vii. 5, "quae sunt in porta filiae multi-
tudinis," 0*31 113 11?E5> ^1?; viii. 11, "in
ea quae habet populos," }1Dll ^1?33. Various
readings of small importance are suggested:
iii. 9, 'Tnfc; iv. 8, *n«, bis; v. 12, DX-im,
and possibly TND, viii! 10. The following
passages are worthy of notice : i. 7, 14 ; iii. 10 ;
iv. 1 (comp. iv. 3, vi. 7), 8 ; v. 5 (note the
important alteration in the division of the
verse) ; vi. 12 ; vii. 6 ; viii. 6 (obscure).
It is an interesting fact to mention that the
Canticles have been translated into various
English dialects,— Cornish, Cumberland, Dorset,
Durham, Lancashire, and Westmoreland. A very
few copies were printed in 1859 by Mr. George
Barclay, 28 Castle Street, Leicester Square.
54. Metrical Versions of the Canticles have
been frequently made, and amongst others may
be mentioned one by Rev. William Moore, M.A.
of Magdalen College, Oxford, published in

CANTICLES
a volume of poems entitled Lost Chords,
Messrs. Parker & Co., Oxford, 1889.
55. Literature bearing upon the Canticles. —
To the exhaustive lists which will be found in
the Introduction to Dr. Ginsburg's Commentary,
and in Kuenen, Hist. Crit. Onderzoek, vol. iii.
pp. 377-399, may be added the following : —
(1.) The Conversion of Solomon, by John Dove,
D.D., London, 1613. The writer proves to his
own satisfaction that the soul of Solomon was
finally saved, that the earlier verses in the
Canticles are the King's prayers for reconcilia
tion with God through Christ. He considers
the rest of the Book to consist of dialogues
between the Church and Christ. (2.) Dr. 0.
Zockler, Das H. Lied, Bielefeld und Leipzig,
1868. He considers Solomon to be the author,
whose love towards Sulamith is typical of the
communion between Christ and His Church.
This work has been translated into English by
Dr. W. H. Green, with additions by the editor,
and is published in a useful form by Messrs.
T. and T. Clark of Edinburgh. (3.) Ludwig
Noack, Tharraquah und Sunamith, Leipzig, 1869.
He considers the reference to be to Samaria and
Tirhakah. (4.) Dr. H. Graetz, Schir ha-Schirim
ubersetzt, Wien, 1871. We have already referred
at length to this highly valuable work. (5.) The
late Dr. Franz Delitzsch, Das Lied der Lieder,
Leipzig, 1875. This is by far the most valuable
modern book on the Canticles, and has been
translated into English in Clark's Foreign Theo
logical Library. (6.) Le Cantique des Cantiques,
par E. Renan, 4me <Sd., Paris, 1879. M. Renan
adopts the "Shepherd hypothesis." (7.) E. Reuss,
Le Cantique des Cantiques, Paris, 1879. We find
a striking sentence, p. 88, " Embarras sans fin !
Plus le texte est clair, plus on y tronve d'e'ni-
gmes." The introduction contains a valuable
synopsis of criticisms, pp. 24—41, and the work,
like all that comes from the pen of the learned
scholar, is of a highly interesting character.
(8.) A. Raabe, Das Buck Buth und das Hohelied,
Leipzig, 1879. This work contains a Glossary
of the words contained in the two Books given
in the title, followed by a brief notice of some
peculiar grammatical forms, and a translitera
tion of the Hebrew text into what the author
conceives to be the original language. The
vehicle of transliteration is, unfortunately, the
italic character. A few notes are added, which
are not void of interest. (9.) Dr. C. Kossowicz,
Petersburg, 1879. Latin notes, containing some
interesting matter, followed by an "Arche-
typum " in unpointed Hebrew characters. The
treatment of the Book, especially chap. iv. 8-
v. 8, is erroneous in our judgment, and the
learned writer is evidently sceptical as to the
correctness of his view. See p. 17, note 48.
(10.) Special mention must be made of the
useful work by Dr. Salfeld, Das H. L. Salomo's
bei den Jiidischen Erklaren des Mittelalters,
Berlin, 1879. In this are classified the different
Jewish interpretations, haggadistic, philosophical,
mystical, &c. These are followed by an appen
dix consisting of fourteen extracts from MSS. of
various writers illustrative of the different
interpretations. A list of the Jewish commen
tators on the Canticles from the 9th to the
16th century concludes the work. (11.) Com-
mentary and Translation by Dr. J. G. Stickel,
Berlin, 1888. According to him, there is a
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

CAPERNAUM

529

twofold drama, the loves of Sulamith and
Solomon, to wliich the loves of a shepherd and
shepherdess are parallel. He maintains tho
antiquity of the Book, and his discussions
pp. 107-147 are very suggestive. (12.) Prof. S.
Oettli, Das Hohelied (in the Kurzgefasstcr
Kommentar, now being edited by Dr. Strack
and Dr. Zockler, 1889); is a very useful work,
developing the hypothesis of Dr. Stickel. He
divides the work into fifteen different scenes, con
sisting of dialogues between Sulamith, the court-
ladies, Solomon, and Sulamith's friend. ' He
considers the Book to have been written (p. 170)
in the first half of the 10th century B.C. The
whole locality of the action is ascribed by him
to North Palestine. The notes contain a vast
amount of information within a small compass.
We are unable to agree with him so far as to
reject the " King-hypothesis " (p. 157). Of
English commentaries we have already referred
to (13) Mr. Kingsbury's, in the Speaker's Comm.
(14.) To this may be added a short and popular
Commentary in the SPCK. series by the Rev.
E. P. Eddrup, of a very unpretending but in
structive kind. The articles on Hohelied by
Diestel in Schenkel's Bibellexicon, and by
Orelli in Herzog's BE.2 are worthy of study.
There is also an article on Cantic'les in the
new edition (9th) of the Encyclopaedia Bri-
tannica, by Prof. W. R. Smith. To those who
are interested in the Arabic versions of the
Bible we recommend a paper on Saadiah's
version of Canticles by Dr. Adalb. Merx, Heidel
berg, 1882. [H. D.]
CAPER'NAUM (Rec.T. Katrepvao/j/j.; Lachm.
Tisch., Treg., Westcott and Hort, and Gebhardt,
with BNDZ., &c. Katpapvaoi/t, as if 01113 103,
"village of Nachum;" Syriac Nitr. >aS1
^OOmJ, Pesh. VOQmJ J2D ; Capharnaum),
a name with which all are familiar as that of
the scene of many acts and incidents in the life
of Christ. There is no mention of Capernaum in
the 0. T. or Apocrypha, but the passage Is. ix. 1
(in Heb., viii. 23) is applied to it by St. Matthew.
The word Caphar in the name perhaps indicates
that the place was of late foundation. [Caphak.]
The few notices of its situation in the N. T.
are not sufficient to enable us to determine its
exact position. It was on the western shore of
the Sea of Galilee (rr/v ifapadaKatrtrtav, Matt.
iv. 13 ; cp. John vi. 24), and, if recent dis
coveries are to be trusted (Cureton's Nitrian
Bee. John vi. 17), was of sufficient importance
to give to that sea, in whole or in part, the
name of the " lake of Capernaum." This was
the case also with Tiberias, at the other extre
mity of the lake (cp. John vi. 1, " the sea
of Galilee which is the sea of Tiberias"). It
was in, or near, the " land of Gennesaret "
(Matt. xiv. 34, compared with John vi. 17, 21,
24) ; that is, the rich, busy plain on the west
shore of the lake, which we know from the
descriptions of Josephus and from other sources
to have been at that time one of the most pro
sperous and crowded districts in all Palestine.
[Gennesareth.] Being on the shore, Caper
naum was lower than Nazareth and Cana of
Galilee, from which the road to it was one of
descent (John ii. 12; Luke iv. 31), a mode of
speech which would, apply to the general level
of the spot even if our Lord's expression " exalted
2 M

530

CAPERNAUM

unto heaven " (iipuBr)o-n, Matt. xi. 23) had any
reference to height of position in the town
itself. It was of sufficient size to be always
called a " city " (tr6\ts, Matt. ix. 1 ; Mark i. 33);
had its own synagogue, in which our Lord fre
quently taught (John vi. 59 ; Mark i. 21 ;
Luke iv. 33, 38) — a synagogue built by the cen
turion of the detachment of Roman soldiers
which appears to have been quartered in the
place " (Luke vii. 1, cp. v. 8 ; Matt. viii. 8).
But, besides the garrison, tliere was also a
customs-station, where the dues were gathered
both by stationary (Matt. ix. 9 ; Mark ii. 14 ;
Luke v. 27) and by itinerant (Matt. xvii. 24)
officers. If the " way of the sea " was the great
road from Damascus to the south (Ritter,
Jordan, p. 271), the duties may have been levied
not only on the fish and other commerce of the
lake, but on the caravans of merchandise passing

CAPERNAUM
to Galilee and Judaea. On the other hand the
duties may have been city tolls, of the nature of
octroi, which would naturally be collected at
the city gate ; or custom dues on merchandise
passing from Galilee to Ituraea by way of Beth-
saida-Julias. The only interest attaching to Capernaum is
as the residence of our Lord and His Apostles
the scene of so many miracles and "gracious'
words." At Nazareth He was "brought up,"
but Capernaum was emphatically His "own
city " (Matt. ix. 1, cp. with Mark ii. 1).
It was when He returned thither that He is'
said to have been " at home " (Mark ii. 1 • such
is the force of iv o'tKtp — A. V. " in the house ").
Here He chose the Evangelist St. Matthew~or Levi
(Matt. ix. 9). The brothers Simon-Peter and
Andrew belonged to Capernaum (Mark i. 29)
and it is perhaps allowable to imagine that it

Capernaum, Tell Hdm. (From a photograph.)

was on the sea-beach below the town (for,
doubtless, like true Orientals, these two fisher
men kept close to home), while Jesus was
"walking" there, before "great multitudes"
had learned to " gather together unto Him,"
that they heard the quiet call which was to
make them forsake all and follow Him (Mark i.
16, 17 ; cp. o. 28). It was here that Christ
worked the miracle on the centurion's servant
(Matt. viii. 5 ; Luke vii. 1), on Simon's wife's
mother (Matt. viii. 14; Mark i. 30; Luke iv.
38), on the paralytic (Matt. ix. 1 ; Mark ii. 1 ;
Luke v. 18), and on the man afflicted with an
unclean spirit (Mark i. 23 ; Luke iv. 33). The
son of the nobleman (John iv. 46) was, though

* The fact of a Roman having built the synagogue
has hee„ thought by some an argument againsrihe
prosperity of the town. ¦

resident at Capernaum, healed by words which
appear to have been spoken in Cana of Galilee.
At Capernaum occurred the incident of the
child (Mark ix. 33; Matt, xviii. 1; cp. xvii.
24); and in the synagogue there was spoken
the wonderful discourse of John vi. (see v. 59).
The doom which our Lord pronounced against
Capernaum has been remarkably fulfilled. In
the present day no ecclesiastical tradition even
ventures to fix its site ; and the contest between
the rival claims of the two most probable spots
is one of the hottest in sacred topography. For
tunately nothing hangs on the decision. The
spots in dispute are : 1. Khurbet Minyeh, a series
of mounds, covering no very large extent of
ground, and containing the remains of no impor
tant building. The ruins take their name from
au old khan, a short distance to the north, and
are situated close upon the sea-shore at the

CAPERNAUM
north-eastern extremity of the plain of Genne
sareth (now el-Ghuweir). Not far from the
mounds, and close to the water-line of the lake,
is a large spring surrounded by vegetation and
overshadowed by a fig-tree which gives it its
name — 'Ain et-Tin (the spring of the fig-tree).
About 2 J miles S.W. of Khan Minyeh is another
large spring, called the " Round Fountain,"
which is rather more than half a mile from the
lake, to which it sends a considerable stream
with fish.
2. The other claimant, Tell Hum, is 2J miles
N.E. of Khan Minyeh. The ruins of the
ancient town are situated ou the shore of the
lake, and cover a space half * mile long and
a quarter wide ; the most important are those
of a synagogue, and of u remarkable tomb to
the north of it. In striking contrast to the
black basalt walls of the surrounding houses,
the synagogue was built of white limestone
(Recovery of Jerusalem, pp. 343-6). About 2J
miles further is the point at which the Jordan
enters the north of the lake.
The arguments in favour of Khan Minyeh will
be found in Robinson (ii. 403-4 ; iii. 344-358).
They are chiefly founded on Josephus's account
of his visit to Cepharnome, which Dr. R. would
identify with the mounds near the khan, and
on the testimonies of successive travellers from
Arculfus to Quaresimus, whose notices Dr. R.
interprets — often, it must be confessed, not
without difficulty — in reference to Khan Minyeh.
The fountain Capharnaum, which Josephus else
where mentions (B. J. iii. 10, § 8) in a very
emphatic manner as a chief source of the water
of the plain of Gennesareth and as abounding
with fish, Dr. R. believes to be the Ain, et-Tin.
But the large fountain of 'Am et-Tabigah, from
which water was carried into the plain by an
aqueduct constructed with great skill, certainly
answers better to Josephus's account than a
spring so close to the shore, and possessing such
a slight head of water as 'Ain et-Tin. The
claim of Khan Minyeh is also supported by
Conder (Tent Work in Palestine, ii. 182-190),
Macgregor, Merrill, and Sepp.
The arguments in favour of Tell Hum are :
the statements of Jerome that Capernaum was
2 miles from Chorazin, a distance agreeing
exactly with that between Tell Hum and Kera-
zeh, now generally accepted as Chorazin; and
of Theodosius (p. 28), who gives the distance
of Capernaum from Magdala as twice that of
Tiberias from the same place, which corresponds
with the relative positions of Tubariyeh, Mejdel,
and Tell Hum ; the extent and character of the
ruins ; the statements of Josephus ; and the
name, which is maintained to be a relic of the
Hebrew original — Caphar having given place
to Tell. The arguments are fully given by Sir
C. Wilson (Becovery of Jerusalem, pp. 375-387) ;
Dr. Wilson (Lands of the Bible, ii. 139-149) ;
Thomson (Land and the Book, pp. 352-6) ; Bonar
(pp. 437-41); Ritter (Jordan, pp. 335-43);
Furrer (Schenkel's Bib. Lex. iii. 495) ; and
Gu<5rin (Galilee, i. 226-39). Renan, Socin,
Schaff, Tristram, and Hepworth Dixon, are also
in favour of Tell Hum. For a good general
description of the district, see Stanley, S. fy P.
ch. x.
The Talmuds (Shir-ha-Shirim, iii. 18 ; and
Tal. Jer. Thrumoth, xi. 7) mention a Caphar

CAPHTOR

531

Tanhum, Tanhiimin, or Tohumin, which are pro
bably variations of Caphar Nahum, and to be
identified with Tell Hum, a name that may
itself have been derived, by the change of a letter,
from Tanhum. The Caphar Ahim mentioned with
Chorazin (Tal. Bab. Menakhoth, 85a) as famous
for its corn is also possibly the same place (Neu
bauer, Gtlog. du Talmud, pp. 220-1). [G.] [W.]
CA'PHAR (IDS^from a root signifying " to
cover," Ges. p. 707), one of the numerous words
employed in the Bible to denote a village or col
lection of dwellings smaller than a city (Ir).
Dean Stanley proposed to render it by " hamlet "
(S. and P., App. § 85), to distinguish it from
Chavvah, Chatzer, Benoteh, and other similar
words. As an appellative it is found only three
times: 1 Ch. xxvii. 25; Cant. vii. 11, and
1 Sam. vi. 18 (in the last pointed Gopher, 133) ;
but in neither is there anything to enable us to
attach any special force to the word.
In names of places it occurs in Chephab-
Ammonai, Chephirah, Caphab-salama. But
the number of places compounded therewith
mentioned in the Talmuds shows that the name
became a much commoner one at a time subse
quent to the Biblical history. In later Latin
Caphar is frequently corrupted to Para, as Para-
Dagon, &c. (Reland, Pal. p. 356). In Arabic Kefr
is in frequent use (see the Index to Robinson,
ii., iii.). To us its chief interest arises from its
forming a part of the name of Capebnaum,
i.e. Caphar-nahum. [G.] [W.]
CA'PHAR-SA'LAMA (XatpaptraXa/id ; A.
Xaptpapo-apa.fi.d-, Caphar salama), a place (Kafir],
Jos. Ant. xii. 10, § 4) at which a battle was
fought between Judas Maccabaeus and Nicanor
(1 Mace. vii. 31). From the fugitives having
taken refuge in the " city of David," it would
appear to have been near Jerusalem. Is it not
possible that it was Siloam, the Arabic name of
which is Kefr Selwdn ? Ewald places it north
of Ramla on the Samaritan boundary (Gesch. iv.
368, note), but no certain traces of it seem to
have been yet found. [G.] [W.T
CAPHEN'ATHA (XatpevaBd; Caphetetha),
a place apparently close to and on the east side
of Jerusalem, which was repaired by Jonathan
Maccabaeus (1 Mace. xii. 37). The name is
derived by Lightfoot from Caphnioth, the Tal-
mudic word for unripe figs. If this be correct,
there is a remarkable correspondence between
the name Caphenatha and those of Bethany
(house of dates), Bethphage (house of figs), and
of the Mount of Olives itself, on which the three
were situated — 'all testifying to the ancient
fruitfulness of the place. [G.] [W.]
CAPHI'RA (A. Katpipd, B. Ueipd; Vulg.
[3 Esd.] has nothing corresponding to it),
1 Esd. v. 19. [Cephieah.]
CAPHTHO'RIM (0*1)133 ; B. omits, A.
Xatpopieipi; Caphtorim). 1 Ch. i. 12. [Caph-
tob.] CAPH'TOR (11)103; Kamr«5<wrfa ; Cappa
docia), gent Caphto'bim (0*11103 ; Tatprepi.
ei/j., X- or KatpToptelfi ; Caphtorim, Cappadoces),
a country (IWSa *N) whence the Philistines
2 M 2

532'

CAPHTOR

migrated to Palestine (Deut. ii. 23 ; Jer. xlvii.
4 ; Amos ix. 7), the term Caphtorim being once
used (Deut. I. c.) to designate the Philistines.
In the Noachian list, the list of the Mizraites
closes with "Casluhim (out of whom came
Philistim [R.V. " whence went forth the Philis
tines "]), and Caphtorim " (Gen. x. 14 ; 1 Ch.
i. 12). It has been conjectured that a trans
position has here occurred, and that the mention
of the Philistine migration should follow the
word Caphtorim (see QPB.3), but there is no
ancient evidence in favour of the conjecture.
The LXX. of Gen. x. 14 follows the sequence of
the Hebrew, limiting the Philistines to the
Casluhim as source. [E- S. P.]
The Egyptian records mention a race which
can only be the people of Caphtor. The name of
Kefa, Kefth, Keft occurs frequently in the
Egyptian inscriptions, but not before the reign
of Thothmes III. (18th dyn., 1600 B.C.). It re
mained uncertain what nation was meant by
that name until the discovery of the trilingual
inscription of Canopus, where Keft is mentioned
(I. g.) between Syria and Cyprus, and translated
by Qoivikt), Phoenicia.
In the famous picture of the tribute of four
races to Thothmes III. which is found in the
tomb of Rekhmara at Thebes, the second line is
described as the offerings of the chiefs of Kefa
and of the islands of the sea. The men are like
the Egyptians in type and colour; they have
not all their hair dressed alike ; they all wear
ornamented kilts and high boots ; but we
cannot say with certainty whether they are
the men of Kefa or from the islands. Their
tribute consists of beautiful vases of gold, elec
trum, silver, bronze and glass, some adorned
with inlaid work in glass and precious stones.
They also bring short swords and an elephant's
tusk (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt. 2nd ed. PI. II. a).
In the annals of Thothmes III. mention is
made of the ships of Keft, which carry timber
for the palaces of the king, and also of a silver
jug of the fabric of the Kefa. In the great
tablet, which is an eulogy on the reign of
Thothmes III., Kefa appears in connexion with
Asebi (Cyprus) in the following line : / come and
I give thee to conquer the western land. Kefa and
Asebi fear tJiee. It is only two lines further
that we find the inhabitants of the islands of the
sea who are distinct from the people of Kefa
(Birch, On a historical Tablet of the reign
of Thothmes III.). It is remarkable that here
as well as in the inscription of the tomb of
Rekhmara, the king citing the Asiatic nations
has adopted the Assyrian orientation, and speaks
of the Kefa as being in the west. As Kefa, Keft,
means in Egyptian the back part, Brugsch con
siders this word as being the translation of the
Semitic 1PIK (i.e. )iinK, western), the Assyrian
aharru, the Egyptian transcription of which is
Kliaru. Thus Kefa and Kharu would be the
Egyptian and the Semitic word meaning those
frombehind, the Western, the Phoenicians (Brugsch,
Altaeg. Yolkestafel, pp. 32, 38). It may be
objected that in the picture of the tomb of
Rekhmara the type of the Kefa is different from
that of the Kharu (Wilk. Ane. Egypt, i. 391) ;
but apart from what has been said before, that
we are not at all sure that the men represented
are not the people of the islands, in two other
instances where the Kefa occur, in the reign of'1

CAPHTOR
Amenophis III., their type is that of the Asiatics
of Syria (Leps. Denkm. iii. 63 a, 88). Besides,
the site of the land of Khar corresponds exactly
to Kefa ; it is said in a papyrus to extend from
the Egyptian city of Zar (Kantarah) to the
north of the Syrian coast ; and the ships of Khar
brought to Egypt chariots, harness, and timber
of different kinds (Chabas, Etudes sur I'AntiquiU
historique, p. 128).
Although in the inscription of Canopus Keft
is translated by Phoenicia, it is not probable that
it had such a definite sense in the time of
Thothmes III. The western is « vague name,
which applies at first to the population of the
Phoenician coast, but which may have extended
further west. Phoenicia proper in the time of
Thothmes III. is called Zahi. Kefa may refer
also to some of the maritime settlements of the
Phoeniciaus : that is why it is often connected
either with Cyprus or with the islands of the
Mediterranean. Ebers, insisting on the connexion which ex
isted between the Eastern Delta and the nations
of Palestine, thinks that, in the 10th chapter of
Genesis, Caphtor must be considered as a part of
Egypt, which was inhabited by Phoenicians. It
is certain that even under the last Pharaohs the
eastern part of the Delta was occupied by a
foreign population ; but as far as we can trace
the Kefa in the inscriptions, they are always men
tioned as inhabiting a foreign country. [E. N.]
At first sight it seems as if the Biblical refer
ences to Caphtor and the Caphtorim were irre
concilable with the Egyptian information as to
Kefa and Keft. In both sources the people
appear to occupy the western Mediterranean:
in both, they have a Palestinian settlement ; in
the Bible this is Philistia, with the Egyptians it
is ultimately defined as Phoenicia, for which, be
it however remembered, there is no Hebrew
name. In the Bible the maritime country of
Caphtor, inland or coastland, is far away enough
to make the Philistine migration a wonder : in
the Egyptian records the link originally seems
unbroken between Phoenicia and the insular
settlements. Added to this is the difficulty of
supposing the Philistines and Phoenicians to
have been of the same stock, the warlike lands
men, and the maritime merchants whose ships
were carriers for the Egyptians.
It must be remembered that the Biblical
geography rests on that archaic document the
tenth chapter of Genesis, and may well be older
than the Egyptian nomenclature of the 18th
dynasty. Names may have moved with migra
tions. Witness the examples in Greek history,
as the Locri and Cumae, the colony of Asiatic
Cyme, or, in later times, the Littus Saxonicum
and primitive Saxony. The Hebrews spoke of
the older settlement : the latest Egyptians trans
ferred its name to the Phoenician coastland,
perhaps including the Hebrew settlement of the
Philistines. It is noteworthy that the name of
that settlement in Hebrew was extended in the
Greek period so as to include Canaan ; Philistia
becoming Palestine.
The cognate origin of the Philistines and
Phoenicians seems at first contrary to our
notions of the two nations. Markedly dissimilar,
they show common qualities of a not less marked
kind. The alliances of cities, the government by
kings and magistrates or senates, the love of

CAPHTORIMS
gain shown in Phoenician commerce and Philistine
mercenary service, roughness of character, and
skill as smiths, are typical of political, moral,
and artistic characteristics rarely found in abso
lutely distinct races. Differences in pursuits,
the warlike tendency of the Philistines and the
dislike of war among the Phoenicians, except for
distinct commercial gain, the pastoral life as
contrasted with that of maritime trade, may be
due in part to mixture with different races, in
part to the effect of territorial conditions.
If then we may look for the Biblical Caphtor
in the Mediterranean, what evidence is there
for its situation ? Some have found this in the
name *J113, Cherethites, used of the southern
Philistines (1 Sam. xxx. 14 ; cp. Ezek. xxv. 16 ;
Zeph. ii. 5), where the LXX. and Syr. read
Cretans. The Cherethites formed part of David's
bodyguard, with the Pelethites, probably another
Philistine tribe. [Cherethites and Pele
thites.] If both are Gentile names, Pelethites
must be cognate to Philistines. The similarity
of Cherethites to Crete has induced critics to
accept the LXX. rendering and conjecture Crete
to be Caphtor. If Caphtor was an island, as
Cyprus can scarcely be Caphtor, owing to the
Egyptian names being different, Crete is a pro
bable identification. It may at least be con
sidered as having been a primitive settlement of
the Caphtorim. The character of the Cretans
presents curious links with both Phoenicians
and Philistines. They stand apart from Greek
history and politics, with their separate states
uniting by " syncretism " against a common foe,
like Phoenicians and Philistines. Their ancient
renown for artistic skill, commemorated by the
name of Daedalus, their later imitative power,
shown in the coins of the 5th century B.C., their
early seafaring activity, are strikingly Phoenician.
And the discoveries in the Cave of Zeus on
Mount Ida show that there must have been
Phoenician settlements in the island in the
1 Oth cent. B.C. Tet the Cretan love of war and
readiness for mercenary service recall the
Philistines. In religion the myth of Europa
and the sacrifices to the Minotaur connect the
Cretans with Phoenicia, the cultus of a fish-god
at Itanus with the Philistine worship of Dagon.
We may therefore infer that the Philistines
and Phoenicians were cognate and of that Ethio
pian race which extended from Southern Arabia
through Ethiopia to Egypt and the Mediterranean
south coast and islands, more and more modified
by mixture with other races as it stretched
north and west ; that one of its earliest settle
ments was in Crete, perhaps the biblical
Caphtor ; and that the Philistine migration was
a subsequent eastward movement of the race.
Whether the Pelesatn were the Philistines, and
whether their southern movement in the time
of Ramses III. in B.C. 1200 was the Philistine
migration, must be discussed later. [Philis
tines.] [R. S. P.]
CAPHTO'RIMS (D*1J1S3 ; oi KairirdSoKes ;
Cappadoces). Deut. ii. 23. ' [W. A. W.]
CAPPADO'CIA (KamraSoKia). This eastern
district of Asia Minor is interesting in reference
to New Testament history only from the men
tion of its Jewish residents among the hearers
of St. Peter's first sermon (Acts ii. 9), and its
Christian residents among the readers of St.

CAPTAIN

533

Peter's first Epistle (1 Pet. i. 1). The Jewish
community in this region, doubtless, formed the
nucleus of the Christian : and the former may
probably be traced to the first introduction of
Jewish colonists into Asia Minor by Seleucus
(Joseph. Ant. xii. 3, § 4). The Roman period,
through the growth of large cities and the
construction of roads, would afford increased
facilities for the spread both of Judaism and
Christianity. It should be observed that Cappa
docia was easily approached from the direction
of Palestine and Syria, by means of the pass
called the Cilician Gates, which led up through
the Taurus from the low coast of Cilicia, and
that it was connected, at least under the later
Emperors, by good roads with the district beyond
the Euphrates.
The range of Mount Taurus and the upper
course of the Euphrates may safely be men
tioned in general terms as natural boundaries
of Cappadocia on the south and east. Its geo
graphical limits on the west and north were
variable. In early times the name reached as
far northwards as the Euxine Sea. The region
of Cappadocia, viewed in this extent, constituted
two satrapies under the Persians, and afterwards
two independent monarchies. One was Cappa
docia on the Pontus, the other Cappadocia near
tlie Taurus. Here we have the germ of the two,
Roman provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia.
[Pontus.] Several of the monarchs who reigned
in Cappadocia Proper bore the name of Aria-
rathes. One of them is mentioned in 1 Mace.
xv. 22. The last of these monarchs was called
Archelaus (see Joseph. Ant. xvi. 4, § 6). He
was treacherously treated by the Emperor
Tiberius, who reduced his kingdom to a province
A.D. 17. This is the position in which the
country stood during the time of St. Peter's
apostolic work.
Cappadocia is an elevated table-land inter
sected by mountain-chains. It seems always to
have been deficient in wood ; but it was a good
grain country, and it was particularly famous
for grazing. Its Roman metropolis, afterwards
both the birthplace and episcopal see of St. Basil,
was Caesarea (now Kaisariyeh), formerly Mazaca,
situated near Mount Argaeus, the highest
mountain in Asia Minor. Some of its other
cities were equally celebrated in ecclesiastical
history, especially Nyssa, Nazianzus, Samosata,
aud Tyana. The native Cappadocians seem
originally to have belonged to the Syrian, or,
more probably, to the Hittite stock : and since
Ptolemy (v. 6) places the cities of Iconium and
Derbe within the limits of this region, we may
possibly obtain from this circumstance some
light on "the speech of Lycaonia," Acts xiv. 11
[Ltcaonia]. See Hamilton's Besearches, and
Texier's Asie Mineure; also Dict. of Gr. and
Rom. Geog., art. Cappadocia. [J. S. H.] [W.]
CAPTAIN. As a purely military title captain
answers to "W in the Hebrew army, and x'Xtapxos
(tribunus) in the Roman. [Army.] The " captain
of the guard " *¦ (o-TpaToireSdpxvs) in Acts xxviii.

a The word is absent from all the principal MSS., is
not recognised by the Syriac and Vulgate Versions, and
is omitted by critical editors. Discussion as to the
identification of this "captain of the guard" with
Burrus Afranius is therefore, however interesting in

534 CAPTIVITIES OF THE JEWS
16 corresponds to the tribunus legionis. (2.)
]*Xp, which is occasionally rendered captain,
applies sometimes to a military (Josh. x. 24 ;
Judg. xi. 6, 11 ; Is. xxii. 3 ; Dan. xi. 18), some
times to a civil command (e.g. Is. i. 10, iii. 6) :
its radical sense is division, and hence decision
without reference to the means employed :
the term illustrates the double office of the
L30b>. (3.) The "captain of the Temple"
(ffTpaTiiybs tov iepov) mentioned by St. Luke
(xxii. 4; Acts iv. 1, v. 24) in connexion with
the priests, was not a military officer, but one
who superintended the guard of priests and
Levites who kept watch by night in the Temple.
The office appears to have existed from an early
date ; the " priests that kept the door " (2 K.
xii. 9, xxv. 18) are described by Josephus (Ant.
i. 8, § 5) as Tobs tpoXdvaovTas Tb Upbv r)ye-
p6vas : a notice occurs in 2 Mace. iii. 4 of a
irpotTTdTns tov iepov ; this officer is styled
o-TpaTiiybs by Josephus (Ant. xx. 6, § 2 ; B.J.
vi. 5, § 3), and in the Mishna (Middoth, i. § 2)
JY3i1 111 C*X, " the captain of the mountain of
the Temple ; " his duty, as described in the place
last quoted, was to visit the posts during the
night, and see that the sentries were doing
their duty. (4.) The term &pxnyos, rendered
" captain " (Heb. ii. 10), has no reference what
ever to a military office. [W. L. B.] [F.]
CAPTIVITIES OF THE JEWS. The
bondage of Israel in Egypt, and their subjugation
at different times by the Philistines and other
nations, are sometimes included under the above
title ; and the Jews themselves, perhaps with
reference to Daniel's vision (ch. vii.), reckon
their national captivities as four — the Baby
lonian, Median, Grecian, and Roman (Eisen-
menger, Entdecktes Judenthum, i. 748). But
the present article is confined to the forcible
deportation of the Jews from their native land,
and their forcible detention, under the Assyrian
or Babylonian kings.
The kingdom of Israel was invaded by three
or four successive kings of Assyria. Pul
(generally identified with Tiglath-pileser III.,
Records of the Past, N. S. i. 17 ; Schrader,
Keilinschr. Bibliothek, ii. 2, u. 1) imposed a tri
bute in B.C. 771 (al. 738) upon Menahem (1 Ch.
v. 26 and 2 K. xv. 19) ; and carried away in
B.C. 740 (al. 734) the trans-Jordanic tribes
(1 Ch. v. 26) and the inhabitants of Galilee
(2 K. xv. 29, cp. Is. ix. 1), to Assyria (Schrader,
KB. ii. 25, &c). Shalmaneser invaded (2 K.
xvii. 3) the kingdom which remained to Hoshea ;
aud his successor, Sargon (cp. Is. xx. 1), after
the siege of Samaria had lasted two years, took
the city (B.C. 722), and carried Israel away into
Assyria (cp. Schrader, KB. ii. 43). The cities
of Samaria were gradually occupied by people
sent from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and
Sepharvaim, who brought with them the wor
ship of their own native deities; and Halah,
Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan became the
seats of the exiled Israelites.
Sennacherib B.C. 701 is stated (see the Taylor-
cylinder, Records of tlie Past, 0. S. i. pp. 38-9 ;
Schrader, KAT.1 pp. 292-3, KB. ii. 81, &c.)
to have carried into Assyria 200,150 captives
itself, unnecessary (see note in Speaker's Comm., and
Abbot in D. B. Amer. ed.). raj

CAPTIVITIES OF THE JEWS
from the Jewish cities which he took (cp. 2 IC.
xviii. 13). Nebuchadnezzar, in the first half
of his reign, B.C. 606-562, repeatedly invaded
Judaea, besieged Jerusalem, carried away the
inhabitants to Babylon, and destroyed the city
and Temple. Two distinct deportations are
mentioned in 2 K. xxiv, 14 (including 10,000
persons) and xxv. 11 ; one in 2 Ch. xxxvi. 20 •
three in Jer. Hi. 28, 29, including 4,600 persons
and one in Dan. i. 3. The two principal de
portations were, (1) that which took place. B.C.
597, when Jehoiaehin with all the nobles
soldiers, and artificers were carried away; and
(2) that which followed the destruction of the
Temple and the capture of Zedekiah B.C. 586.
The three which Jeremiah mentions mav have
been the contributions of a particular class
or district to the general captivity; or they
may have taken place, under the orders of
Nebuchadnezzar, before or after the two prin
cipal deportations. The captivity of certain
selected children B.C. 607, mentioned by Daniel
who was one of them, occurred when Nebuchad
nezzar was colleague of his father Nabopolassar,
a year before he reigned alone. The captivity
of Ezekiel dates from B.C. 598, when that
prophet, like Mordecai the uncle of Esther
(ii. 6), accompanied Jehoiaehin.
We know nothing, except by inference from
the Book of Tobit, of the religious or social state
of the Israelitish exiles in Assyria. Doubtless
the constant policy of seventeen successive kings
had effectually estranged the people from that
religion which centered in the Temple, and had
reduced the number of faithful men below the
7000 who were revealed for the consolation of
Elijah. Some priests at least were among them
(2 K. xvii. 28 ; cp. Edersheim, Bible Hist. iv.
117), though it is not certain that these were
of the tribe of Levi (1 K. xii. 31). The people
had been nurtured for 250 years in idolatry in
their own land, where they departed not (2 K.
xvii. 22) from the sins of Jeroboam, notwith
standing the proximity of the Temple, and the
succession of inspired prophets (2 K. xvii. 13)
among them. Deprived of these checks on their
natural inclinations (2 Iv. xvii. 15), torn from
their native soil, destitute of a hereditary king,
they probably became more and more closely
assimilated to their heathen neighbours in Media.
And when, after the lapse of more than a century,
they were joined B.C. 598 by the first exiles from
Jerusalem, very few families probably retained
sufficient faith in the God of their fathers to
appreciate and follow the instruction of Ezekiel.
But whether they were many or few, their
genealogies were probably lost, a fusion of them
with the Jews took place, Israel ceasing to envy
Judah (Is. xi. 13) ; and Ezekiel may have seen
his own symbolical prophecy (xxxvii. 15-19)
partly fulfilled.
The captive Jews were probably prostrated at
first by their great calamity, till the glorious
vision of Ezekiel in the 5th year of the Captivity
revived and reunited them. The wishes of
their conqueror were satisfied when he had dis
played his power by transporting them into
another land, and gratified his pride by in
scribing on the walls of the royal palace his
victorious progress and the number of his
captives. He could not have designed to increase
the population of Babylon, for he sent Baby-

CAPTIVITIES OF THE JEWS
Ionian colonists into Samaria. One political end
certainly was attained — the more easy govern
ment of a people separated from local traditions
and associations (see Gesenius on Is. xxxvi. 16,
and cp. Gen. xlvii. 21). It was also a great
advantage to the Assyrian king to remove from
the Egyptian border of his empire a people who
were notoriously well-affected towards Egypt.
The captives were treated not as slaves but as
colonists. There was nothing to hinder a Jew
from rising to the highest eminence in the state
(Dan. ii. 48), or holding the most confidential
office near the person of the king (Neh. i. 11;
Tob. i. 13, 22). The advice of Jeremiah (xxix.
5, &c.) was generally followed. The exiles
increased in numbers and in wealth. They
observed the Mosaic law (Esth. iii. 8 ; Tob. xiv.
9). They kept up distinctions of rank among
themselves (Ezek. xx. 1). And though the
assertion in the Talmud is unsupported by proof
that they assigned thus early to one of their
countrymen the title of Head of the Captivity
(or, captain of the people, 2 Esd. v. 16), it is
certain that they at least preserved their
genealogical tables, and were at no loss to tell
who was the rightful heir to David's throne.
They had neither place nor time of national
gathering, no Temple; and they offered no
sacrifice. But the rite of circumcision and their
laws respecting food, &c were observed ; their
priests were with them (Jer. xxix. 1); and
possibly the practice of erecting synagogues in
every city (Acts xv. 21) was begun by the Jews
in the Babylonian Captivity.
The Captivity is not without contemporaneous
literature. In the apocryphal Book of Tobit,
which is generally believed to be a mixture of
poetical fiction with historical facts recorded by
a contemporary, we have a picture of the inner
life of a family of the tribe of Naphtali, among
the captives whom Shalmaneser brought to
Nineveh. The apocryphal Book of Baruch seems,
in Sir A.H. Layard's opinion, to have been written
by one whose eyes, like those of Ezekiel, were
familiar with the gigantic forms of Assyrian
sculpture. Several of the Psalms appear to
express the sentiments of Jews who were either
partakers or witnesses ofthe Assyrian captivity.
Ewald assigns to this period Pss. xiii., xliii.,
Ixxxiv., xvii., xvi., xlix., xxii., xxv., xxxviii.,
lxxxviii., xl., Ixix., cix., li., lxxi., xxv., xxxiv.,
lxxxii., xiv., cxx., cxxi., cxxiii., cxxx., cxxxi.
And in Ps. Ixxx. we seem to have the words of
an Israelite, dwelling perhaps in Judaea (2 Ch.
xv. 9, xxxi. 6), who had seen the departure of
his countrymen to Assyria : and in Ps. cxxxvii.
an outpouring of the first intense feelings of a
Jewish exile in Babylon. But it is from the
three great Prophets, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
Daniel, that we learn most of the condition of
the children of the Captivity. The distant
warnings of Jeremiah, advising and cheering
them, followed them into Assyria. There, for a
few years, they had no prophet guide ; till
suddenly the Vision of Ezekiel at Chebae
assured them that the glory which filled the
Temple at Jerusalem was not hopelessly with
drawn from the outcast people of God. As
Jeremiah warned them of coming woe, so Ezekiel
taught them how to bear that which was come
upon them. And when he died, after passing at
least 27 years (Ezek. xxix. 17) in captivity, Daniel

CAPTIVITIES OF THE JEWS 535
survived, it is thought, even beyond the Return j
and though his high station and ascetic life
probably secluded him from frequent familiar
intercourse with his people, ho filled the place of
chief interpreter of God's will to Israel, and gave
the most conspicuous example of devotion and
obedience to His laws.
The Babylonian Captivity was brought to a
close by the decree (Ezra i. 2) of Cyrus B.C. 536,
and the return of a portion of the nation under
Sheshbazzar or Zerubbabel B.C. 535, Ezra B.C.
458, and Nehemiah B.C. 445. The number
who returned upon the decree of B.C. 536 was
42,360, besides servants. Among them about
30,000 are specified (cp. Ezra ii. and Neh. vii.)
as belonging to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin,
and Levi. It has been inferred (Prideaux,
anno 536) that the remaining 12,000 belonged
to the tribes of Israel (cp. Ezra vi. 17). And
from the fact that out of the 24 courses of
priests only 4 returned (Ezra ii. 36), it has
been inferred that the whole number of exiles
who chose to continue in Assyria was about
six times the number of those who returned.
Those who remained (Esth. viii. 9, 11), and
kept up their national distinctions, were known
as The Dispersion (John vii. 35 ; 1 Pet. i. 1 ;
James i. 1) : and they served a great purpose in
diffusing a knowledge of the true God, and in
affording a point for the commencement of the
efforts of the Evangelists of the Christian faith
(cp. Edersheim, Life, &c. of Jesus, i., chs. i. ii.).
Many attempts have been made to discover
the ten tribes existing as a distinct community.
Josephus (Ant. xi. 5, § 2) believed that in his
day they dwelt in large multitudes, somewhere
beyond the Euphrates, in Arsareth, according to
the author of 2 Esd. xiii. 45. Rabbinical tradi
tions and fables, committed to writing in the
Middle Ages, assert the same fact (Lightfoot,
Hor. Hebr. in 1 Cor. xiv. Appendix), with many
marvellous amplifications (Eisenmenger, Ent.
Jud. vol. ii., ch. x. ; Jahn, Hebrew Commonwealth,
App. bk. vi.). The imagination of Christian
writers has sought them in the neighbourhood
oftheir last recorded habitation : Jewish features
have been traced in the Affghan tribes : rumours
are heard to this day of a Jewish colony at the
foot of the Himalayas : the Black Jews of
Malabar claim affinity with them : elaborate
attempts have been made to identify them
recently with the Nestorians, and in the 17th
century with the Indians of North America.
But though history bears no witness of then-
present distinct existence, it enables us to track
the footsteps of the departing race in four
directions after the time of the Captivity.
(1.) Some returned and mixed with the Jews
(Luke ii. 36 ; Phil. iii. 5, &c). (2.) Some were
left in Samaria, mingled with the Samaritans
(Ezra vi. 21 ; John iv. 12), and became bitter
enemies of the Jews. (3.) Many remained in
Assyria, and mixing with the Jews formed
colonies throughout the East, and were recog
nised as an integral part of the Dispersion (see
Acts ii. 9, xxvi. 7 ; Buchanan's Christian Re
searches, p. 212), for whom, probably ever since
the days of Ezra, that plaintive prayer, the
tenth of the Shemoneh Esre, has been daily
offered, " Sound the great trumpet for our
deliverance, lift up a banner for the gathering
of our exiles, and unite us all together from the

536

CARABASION

four ends of the earth." (4.) Most, probably,
apostatized in Assyria, as Prideaux (anno 677)
supposes, and adopted the usages and idolatry of
the nations among whom they were planted,
and became wholly swallowed up in them.
Dissertations on the Ten Tribes have been written
by Calmet, Commentaire Litte'ral, vols. iii. and
vi. ; by Witsius, Aegyptiaca ; by J. D. Michaelis,
and by Neubauer, Jewish Quarterly. Beview, i.
[1888-9]. The Captivity was a period of change in the
vernacular language of the Jews (see Neh. viii.
8) and in the national character. The Jews who
returned were remarkably free from the old sin
of idolatry : a great spiritual renovation, in
accordance with the divine promise (Ezek. xxxvi.
24-28), was wrought in them. A new and deep
feeling of reverence for the letter of the Law and
for the person of Moses was probably a result of
the religious service which was performed in
the synagogues. A new impulse of commercial
enterprise and activity was implanted in them,
and developed in the days of the Dispersion (see
James iv. 13). [W. T. B.] [F.]
CARABA'SION (B. Kapa&aaetwv, A. -tuv;
Marimoth), a corrupt name (1 Esd. ix. 34) to
which it is difficult to find anything corresponding
in the Hebrew text of Erza x. 33, &c. The con
jecture that it may be a rendering of the Vat.
text Kai 'Pafjaatiiv is not supported by the true
reading of that text. [F.]
CARBUNCLE. The representative in the
A. V. of the Hebrew words 'ekddch and bdr'kath
or barelieth.
1. 'Ekddch (nij5X ; Xtdos KpitrraXXov ; XlBos
yXvtprjs, Sym., Theod. ; X. TpriirTavitr/iov, Aq. ;
lapides sculpti) occurs only in Is. liv. 12 in the
description of the beauties of the new Jerusalem :
"I will make thy windows of agates [R. V.
" thy pinnacles of rubies "] and thy gates of
carbuncles " (cp. Tob. xiii. 16, 17, and Rev. xxi.
18-21) — " general images," as Lowth (Notes
on Is. 1. c.) has remarked, "to express beauty,
magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity,
agreeably to the ideas of the Eastern nations."
The translators of the A. V., having in mind
the etymology of the Hebrew word," render it
" carbuncle ;" but as many precious stones have
the quality of " shining like fire," it is obvious
that such an interpretation is very doubtful.
Symmachus, referring the word to a Chaldee
signification of the root, viz. " to bore," under
stands " sculptured stones," whence the Vulg.
lapides sculpti (see Rosenmiiller, Schol. ad Jes.
liv. 13). Perhaps the term may be a general
one to denote any bright sparkling gem ; but as it
occurs only once, without any collateral evidence
to aid us, it is impossible to determine the real
meaning of the word.
2. Bdr'kath, bdreketh (DJ513, npIS;" trp.d-
payBos, Kepaivios, Sym. ; smaragdus), the third
stone in the first row of the sacerdotal breast
plate (Ex. xxviii. 17 ; xxxix. 10), also one of the

» From nip, "to burn." Cp. the Arabic _aj
" extundere instituit ignem ex igniario" (Freytag, Lex.
Arab. s. v.).
» From p"i3 , ¦• to send forth lightning," " to flash."

CARCHEMISH
mineral treasuresof the king of Tyre(Ezek. xxviii.
13). Braun (de Vestit. Sacerd. Heb. p. 652*
Amst. 1680) supposes with much probability
that the smaragdus or emerald is the precious
stone signified. This view is supported by the
LXX. (which always gives trfuipaySos as the
representative of the bdr'kath), the Vulgate
and Josephus (Ant. iii. 7, § 5). Pliny (xxxvii!
5) speaks in terms of the warmest admira
tion of the smaragdus, and enumerates twelve
kinds, but it is probable that some of them are
malachites or glass. It is certain that the
smaragdus which, according to Theophrastus
(Fr. ii. 24, ed. Schneider), was sent as a present
from the king of Babylon into Egypt, and
which, as Egyptian chronicles relate, was four
cubits long by three wide, must have been made
of some other material than emerald ; but trui-
paySos is used by Theophrastus to denote the
emerald. " This gem," he says, " is very rare
and of a small size ... It has some peculiar
properties, for it renders water of the same
colour with itself. ... It soothes the eyes, and
people wear seals of this stone in order that
they may look at them.'"1 Mr. King (Antique
Gems, p. 30) is of opinion that the smaragdi of
Pliny may be confined to the green ruby and
the true emerald. Braun believes that the
Greek trfidpaySos, fidpaySos is etymologically
allied to the Hebrew term, and Kalisch (on Ex.
xxviii. 17) is inclined to this opinion: see also
Gesenius, Heb. et Ch. Lex. ». v. flplS. Some,
however, believe the Greek word to be a corrup
tion of the Sanskrit smaraiata, and that both
the gem and its name were imported from
Bactria into Europe, while others hold that the
Sanskrit term came from the West. See Mr.
King's valuable remarks on the Smaragdus,
Antique Gems, pp. 30-37. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CAR'CAS (D313 ; Charchas. In the place
of this name T.7 reads @apa(3S, X-* &aPd(),
the seventh of the seven " chamberlains " (i.e.
eunuchs, D*D*1D) of king Ahasuerus (Esth. i.
10). The name has been compared with the Pers.
Kargas or Zend Kahrkdea = severe (Ges. Thes.
p. 713) or vulture (MV.11 s. n.) ; but its ety
mology is quite amatterof conjecture. [G.] [F.]
CAR'CHAMIS, 1 Esd. i. 25, A. V. ed. 1611
(B. XapKa/ivs, A. KaXxap-is ; Charcamis), a city
on the Euphrates. [Caechemish.] [F.]
CARCHEMISH (E>*0313 ; Charcamis). The
site of Carchemish, the ancient capital of the
Hittites, has been placed sometimes at Cir-
cesium, sometimes at Mabug or Membij, and
by Noldeke near Kal'at Nejm. By the help of
the Assyrian inscriptions, however, Messrs. Skene
and George Smith were enabled to identify it
with the ruins of Jerablus or Hierapolis (called
Jerabis by Pococke and Sachau, and identified
with Europus or Oropus by Hoffmann), which
lie on the western bank of the Euphrates,
between Birejik or Bir — the Birtu, " fortress,"
of the Assyrian monuments — and the junction
of the Sajur and Euphrates. Excavations on

c The smaragdus of Cyprus, however, of which Theo
phrastus speaks, is the copper emerald, Chrysocolla;
which he seems himself to have suspected.

CAREAH
the site have brought to light Hittite sculp
tures and inscriptions, some of which are now
in the British Museum. Carchemish was called
Gargamis by the Assyrians, Karkamesh by the
Egyptians, while Stephanus Byzantinus states
that Oropus CClpwiros) was originally named
Telmessus. It commanded the most important
ford across the Euphrates on the high-road
from Mesopotamia into Syria, and was there
fore strongly fortified by the Hittite tribes
when they descended from the highlands of
Cappadocia and occupied part of the territory
of the Semitic Arameans. Like Kadesh on the
Orontes, the southern Hittite capital, Carchemish
also took part in the wars with Egypt in the
time of the 18th and 19th dynasties. In B.C.
1130 the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser I. wasted
the country up to the walls of Carchemish, and
killed the reem or wild ox in the district facing
it on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. Assur-
natsir-pal received tribute from Sangara, the
king of Carchemish, who, after unsuccessfully
contending with Shalmaneser II. in B.C. 858,
purchased peace by the offer of one-third of a
gold talent, one and a sixth talent of silver, 30
talents of bronze, 100 talents of iron, 20 talents
of white and purple cloth, 5 thrones, 500 oxen,
5000 sheep, and the daughters of himself and
100 of his nobles. The Assyrian king further
imposed a yearly tribute of a maneh of gold, a
talent of silver and 2 talents of white and purple
cloth, and occupied Pethor, a few miles south of
Carchemish, on the eastern bank of the Sajur,
where it falls into the Euphrates. Carchemish
was taken by Sargon in B.C. 717, and its last
king, Pisiris, put to death. Henceforth it became
the seat of an Assyrian satrap, and its position
on the great caravan road gave it so important
a commercial influence as to cause " the maneh
of Carchemish " to become a standard weight.
Like Kadesh, Carchemish was regarded as a
sacred city on account of the temple of the
Asiatic goddess [see Atargatis] which stood in
it. In the Greek period both the temple and
the traditions connected with it were transferred
to Bambykg or Mabog, now Membij, which
henceforth was known as Hierapolis. Membij,
however, had no existence in the Assyrian epoch.
After the Roman age the site of Carchemish was
deserted. The meaning of the name is unknown.
Carchemish is only twice mentioned in the Bible
(2 Ch. xxxv. 20 [LXX. om.] ; Jer. xlvi. 2 [T.7
Xapp-eisJ), on the occasion of the battle which
took place under its walls between Nebuchad
nezzar and Pharaoh Necho (B.C. 605) and which
decided the fate of Western Asia. [A. H. S.]
CARE'AH (nip = bald-head; BA. Kapf)0;
Caree), father of Johanan (2 K. xxv. 23), else
where in the A.V. spelt Kaeeah. [G.]
CATtlA (Kapio), the southern part of the
region which in the N. T. is called Asia, and
the south-western part of the peninsula of Asia
Minor. In the Roman times the name of Caria
was probably less used than previously. At an
earlier period we find it mentioned as a separate
district (1 Mace. xv. 23). At that time (B.C. 139)
it was in the enjoyment of the privilege of free
dom, granted by the Romans. A little before
it had been assigned by them to Rhodes, and a
little later -it was incorporated in the province

CARMEL

537

of Asia. From the context it appears that many
Jews were resident iu Caria. The cities where
they lived were probably Halicarnassus (ib.),
Cnidus (ib. ; cp. Acts xxvii. 7), and Miletus
(Acts xx. 15-38). Off the coast of Caria were
the islands Patmos, Cos, Rhodes (Diet, of Gr.
and Eom. Geog., art. Oaeia). [J. S. H.]
CARMA'NIANS (Carmonii). The inhabit
ants of Carmania [Kirman], u, province of Asia
on the north side of the Persian Gulf, to the
west of Gedrosia (2 Esd. xv. 30). They are
described by Strabo (xv. p. 727) as a warlike
race, worshipping Ares alone of all the gods, to
whom they sacrifice an ass. None of them
married till he had cut off the head of an enemy
and presented it to the king, who placed it on
his palace, having first cut out the tongue,
which was chopped up into small pieces and
mixed with meal ; and in this condition, after
being tasted by the king, was given to the
warrior who brought it and to his family to eat.
Nearchus says that most of the customs of the
Carmanians, and their language, were Persian
and Median. Arrian gives the same testimony
(Ind. 38), adding that they used the same order
of battle as the Persians. The events obscurely
shadowed forth in 2 Esd. are thought to have
been the conquests of the Sassanidae and their
conflicts with the Roman generals (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco). [G.] [F.]
CARTVIE (B. Xapixi, ; Caree), 1 Esd. v. 25.
[Harim.] [G.]
CAR'MEL. Nearly always with the definite
article, 701311, i.e. " the park," or " the well-
wooded place." 1. (S KappJiXos ; Carmel, Car-
melus, Channel. In Kings, generally " Mount
C." '3H 111; &pos to Kapp.r)Xiov : in the Pro
phets, "Carmel.") A mountain which forms
one of the most striking and characteristic fea
tures of the country of Palestine. As if to
accentuate more distinctly the bay which forms
the one indentation in the coast, this noble ridge,
the only headland of lower and central Palestine,
forms its southern boundary running out with
a bold bluff promontory all but into the very
waves of the Mediterranean. From this point
it stretches in a nearly straight line, bearing
about S.E., for a little more than twelve miles,
when it terminates suddenly by a bluff somewhat
corresponding to its western end, breaking down
abruptly into the hills of Jenin and Samaria
which form at that part the central mass of the
country. Carmel thus stands as a wall between the
maritime plain of Sharon on the south-west, and
the more inland expanse of Esdraelon on the
north-east. Towards the former the slopes or
spurs, by which the central ridge descends, are
gradual ; but on the north side the gradients
are more sudden, in many places descending
almost by precipices to the Kishon, which runs
at the foot of the mountain in a direction
generally parallel to the central axis.
The mountain is formed of hard grey limestone,
belonging to the chalk series, with nodules and
veins of flint. As usual in limestone formations
it abounds in caves ("more than 2000," Mislin, ii.
46), often of great length and extremely tor
tuous. At the west end are found chalk and

538

CARMEL

tertiary breccia formed of fragments of chalk
and flint (Russegger, in Ritter, Pal. p. 712 ; there
are also beds of nummulitic limestone). On the
north-east of the mount, beyond the Nahr el-
Mukutt'a, plutonic rocks appear, breaking through
the deposited strata and forming the beginning
of the basalt formation which runs through the
Plain of Esdraelon to Tabor and the Sea of
Galilee (Ritter, pp. 712-13). The round stones,
known by the names of " Lapides Judaici " and
" Elijah's melons," are the bodies known to
geologists as " geodes." Their exterior is chert
or flint of a lightish brown colour ; the interior
hollow, and lined with crystals of quartz or
chalcedony. They are of the form, and often
the size, of the large water-melons of the East.
Formerly they were easily obtained, but are now
very rarely found (Seetzen, ii. 131-4; Parkinson's
Organic Remains, i. 322, 451). The "olives"

CARMEL
are commoner. They are the fossil spines of a
kind of echinus (Cidaris glandifera) frequent in
these strata, and in size and shape are exactly
like the fruit (Parkinson, iii. 45). The " apples "
are probably the shells of the cidaris itself. For
the legend of the origin of these " fruits," and
the position of ¦ the "field " or " garden " of
Elijah in which they are found, see Misliu. ii
64-5.* '
In form Carmel is a tolerably continuous
ridge, at the W. end about 470 * feet and the E.
about 1600 feet above the sea. The highest
part is some four miles from the east end' at
the village of 'Esfia, which is 1742 feet above
the sea. In appearance Carmel still maintains
the character which there is no reason to doubt
was the origin of its name. It is still clothed
with the same " excellency " of " wood," which
supplied the prophets of Israel and Judah alike

itat!<£- y£y< -

Mount Carmel. (from a photograph.)

with one of their most favourite illustrations
(Is. xxxiii. 9 ; Mio. vii. 14). Modern travellers
delight to describe its "rocky dells with deep
jungles of copse" — its "shrubberies thicker
than any others in central Palestine " (Stanley,
MS.) — its " impenetrable brushwood of oaks
and other evergreens, tenanted in the wilder
parts by a profusion of game and wild animals "
(Porter, Handb.), but in other places bright with
"hollyhocks, jasmine, and various flowering
creepers" (Van de Velde). "There is not a
flower," says the last-named traveller, " that I
have seen in Galilee, or on the plains along the
coast, that I do not find here on Carmel . . .
still the fragrant, lovely mountain that it was
of old " (i. 317-8). " The whole mountain side
was dressed with blossoms and flowering shrubs
and fragrant herbs " (Martineau, p. 539). See
also Schubert (Reise i. d. Md. iii. 212), and

Conder (Tent Work in Pal. i. ch. 6, especially
pp. 172, 179). The roebuck is mentioned (p. 173)
amongst the animals found on Carmel.
Carmel fell within the lot of the tribe of
Asher (Josh. xix. 26), which was extended as
far south as Dor (Tantura), probably to give
the Asherites a share of the rich corn-growing
plain of Sharon. The king of "Jokneam of
Carmel " was one of the Canaanite chiefs who
fell before the arms of Joshua (xii. 22). These
are the earliest notices which we possess of the
name. There is not in them a hint of any
sanctity as attaching to the mount. But
* The legend is sometimes told of Lazarus (Seetzen,
Reisen, 1854, ii. 134).
b The cupola of the convent is 656 ft. above the sea.
For the general form of the ridge, see PEF. Map of
Western Palestine, sheet V.

CARMEL

CARMEL

539

taking into account the known propensity of
the early inhabitants of Palestine to convert
" high places " into sanctuaries — the prominence
of Carmel — the fact that an altar of Jehovah
did exist there before the introduction of Baal
worship into the kingdom (1 K. xviii. 30) —
¦Elijah's choice of the place for the assembly of
the people, such assemblies being commonly
held at holy places — and the custom, which
appears to have been prevalent, of resorting
thither on new-moon and sabbath (2 K. iv. 23)
— taking these into account, there seem to be
grounds for believing that from very early
times it was considered as a sacred spot. In
later times we know that its reputation was not
confined to Palestine. Pythagoras was led to it
by that reputation ; such is the express state
ment of his biographer Iamblichus, who himself
visited the mountain ; Vespasian too came
thither to consult — so we are told by Tacitus
with that mixture of fact and fable which
marks all the heathen notices of Palestine — the
oracle of the god whose name was the same as
that of the mountain itself; an oracle without
image or temple — " ara tantum et reverentia "
(Diet, of Ane. Geogr., " Carmelus ").
But that which has made the name of Carmel
most familiar to the modern world is its
intimate connexion with the history of the two
great prophets of Israel — Elijah and Elisha.
The fiery zeal of the one, the healing tenderness
of the other, are both inseparably connected in
our minds with this mountain. Here Elijah
brought back Israel to allegiance to Jehovah,
and slew the prophets of the foreign and false
god; here at his entreaty were consumed the
successive "fifties" of the royal guard; but
herej on the other hand, Elisha received the
visit of the bereaved mother whose son he was
soon to restore to her arms (2 K. iv. 25, &c).
The first of these three events, without
doubt, took place at the eastern end of the
ridge. In fact it is difficult to find another
site, the actual name of which has not been
preserved, in which every particular is so
minutely fulfilled as in this. The tradition
preserved in the convent, and among the Druses
of the neighbouring villages — the names of the
places — the distance from Jezreel — the nature
of the locality — the presence of the never-failing
spring — all are in its favour. The identification
was made by two travellers almost at the same
time — Van de Velde in 1852, and Dean Stanley
i.n 1853. This interesting site cannot be
better described than in the words of the
latter traveller : —
" The tradition is unusually trustworthy :
It is perhaps the only case in Palestine in
which the recollection of an alleged event has
been actually retained in the native Arabic
nomenclature. Many names of towns have been
so preserved, but here is no town, only a
shapeless ruin, yet the spot has a name — El-
Maharrakah — 'the burning,' or 'the sacrifice.'
The Druses come here from a distance to per
form a yearly sacrifice ; and, though it is
possible that this practice may have originated
the name, it is more probable that the practice
itself arose from an earlier tradition. , . . But
be the tradition good or bad, the localities
.adapt themselves to the event in almost every
particular. The summit thus marked out is

the extreme eastern point of the range, com
manding the last view of the sea behind, and
the first view of the great plain in front. . . .
There on the highest ridge of the mountain
may well have stood on its sacred ' high-place '
the altar of Jehovah which Jezebel had cast
down. Close beneath, on a wide upland sweep,
under the shade of ancient olives and round a
well" of water, said to be perennial, aud which
may therefore have escaped the general drought,
and have been able to furnish water for the
trenches round the altar, must have been
ranged on one side the king and people with
the 850 prophets of Baal and Astarte, and on
the other the solitary and commanding figure
of the prophet of Jehovah. Full before them
opened the whole plain of Esdraelon: the city
of Jezreel, with Ahab's palace and Jezebel's
temple, distinctly visible: in the nearer fore
ground, immediately under the base of the
mountain, was clearly seen the winding bed of
the Kishon." To this may be added that a
knoll is pointed out between the ridge and the
plain, bearing the name of Tell Kasisf " the hill
of the Priests," and that the modern name of
the Kishon is Nahr el-Mukutta', "the river
of slaughter." " The closing scene still remains.
From the slaughter by the side of the Kishon
the king went up to the glades of Carmel to
join in the sacrificial feast. And Elijah too
ascended to the ' top of the mountain,' and there
with his face on the earth remained rapt in
prayer, while his servant mounted to the
highest point of all, whence there is a wide
view of- the blue reach of the Mediterranean,
over the western shoulder of the ridge. . . .
Seven times the servant climbed and looked,
and seven times there was nothing. . . .¦ At
last out of the far horizon there rose a little
cloud," and it grew in the deepening shades of
evening till the whole sky was overcast, and
the forests of Carmel shook in the welcome
sound of the mighty winds, which in eastern
regions precede a coming tempest" (Sinai and
Palestine, pp. 353-6. See also Conder, Tent
Work in Pal. i. 169-71).
There is good reason to believe that a later
incident in the life of the same great prophet
took place on Carmel. This was when he
"caused fire to come down from heaven" and
consume the two " fifties " of the guard which
Ahaziah had despatched to take him prisoner,
for having stopped his messengers to Baalzebub
the god of Ekron (2 K. i. 9-15). [See Elijah.]
In this narrative our Version, as is too fre
quently the case, conceals the force of the
original by imperfect translation. " A hill "
(v. 9, R. V.) should be " the hill " (1HH), the
word always used for Carmel, and, in connexion
with Elijah, for Carmel only, with the excep
tion of Sinai, which of course cannot be intended
here. Josephus (Ant. ix. 2, § 1), with equal
force, has iirl tt}s Kopvtpris tov 'opovs.
c Josephus distinctly says that the water was ob
tained from the neighbouring well: iirb tij! K/njnjt
(.Ant. viii. 13, }5).
a But this knoll appears to be too far off (PEF.
Map of Western Pal., sheet v.).
0 This cloud is treated in the formularies of the
Roman Catholic Church as a type of the Virgin Mary
(see Mislin, ii. p. 45, and Breviarium Bom. J illy 16).

540

CARMEL

The tradition in the present convent is, that
Elijah and Elisha both resided on the mountain,
and a cave is actually shown under the high
altar of the church as that of Elijah. There is
nothing in the Scripture to sanction such a
statement with regard to Elijah ; but in the
case of Elisha, the tradition may rest on better
grounds. After the ascent of Elijah, Elisha
went to Mount Carmel (2 K. ii. 25), though
only for a time ; but he was again there at the
Shunammite's visit (iv. 25), and that at a time
when no festival, no " new moon or sabbath "
(v. 23), required his presence.
This is the last mention of Carmel as the
scene of any event in the sacred history. Its
sanctity no doubt remained, but it is its richness
and its prominence — " Tabor among the moun
tains ; Carmel by the sea " — which appear to
have taken hold of the poets of the nation, both
of Israel and Judah, and their references to it
are frequent and characteristic (Cant. vii. 5 ;
Is. xxxv. 2, xxxvii. 24 ; Jer. xlvi. 18, 1. 19 ;
Amos i. 2, ix. 3 ; Mic. vii. 14 ; Nah. i. 4)/
Carmel has derived its modern name from
the great prophet; Mar Elyds is the common
designation, KUrmul being occasionally, but only
seldom, heard. It is also the usual name of the
convent, though dedicated "in honorem BB.
Virginis Mariae."
Dean Stanley has pointed out (S. and P.
p. 352) that it is not any connexion with Elijah
that gives the convent its interest to the western
world, but the celebrated order of the Bare
footed Carmelite Friars, that has sprung from
it, and carried its name into Europe. The
order is said in the traditions of the Latin
Church to have originated with Elijah himself
(St. John of Jerus. quoted in Mislin, ii. 49), but
the convent was founded by St. Louis, and its
French origin is still shown by the practice of
unfurling the French flag on various occasions.
Edward I. of England was a brother of the
order, and one of its most famous generals was
Simon Stocks of Kent (see the extracts in
Wilson's Lands, &c, ii. 246. For the convent and
the singular legends connecting Mount Carmel
with the Virgin Mary and our Lord, see Mislin,
ii. 47-50). By Napoleon it was used as a
hospital during the siege of Acre, and after his
retreat was destroyed by the Arabs. At the
time of the visit of Irby and Mangles (1817)
only one friar remained there (Irby, p. 60), in
1883 there were 18 (Wetzer u. Welte, Kirch.
Lex.2 s. n.).
2. Xtpp.iX iu Josh. ; Tb KdppiiiXov in Sam. ;
Channel, Carmelus. A town in the mountainous
country of Judah (Josh. xv. 55), familiar to us
as the residence of Nabal (1 Sam. xxv. 2, 5, 7,
40), and the native place of David's favourite
wife, " Abigail the Carmelitess " (1 Sam. xxvii.
3; 1 Ch. iii. 1). This was doubtless the
Carmel at which Saul set up a "place" (1*,
i.e. a monument or trophy, literally a "hand;"
cp. 2 Sam. xviii. 18, where the same word is
used) after his victory over Amalek (1 Sam.
xv. 12). And this Carmel, and not the northern
mount, must have been the spot at which king
Uzziah had his vineyards (2 Ch. xxvi. 10). In
' In Is. xvi. 10, the word rightly rendered in the A. V.
as an appellative, "plentiful (R. V. " fruitful ") field,"
is in the Vulgate de Carmelo ; see Jerome, Com. ad loc.

CARNAIM
the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was the
seat of a Roman garrison (OS.' pp. 144 31 .
271, 76). The place appears in the wars ofthe
Crusades, having been held by king Amalrich
against Saladin in 1172. The ruins of the town
now Kurmul, still remain at ten miles below
Hebron in a slightly S.E. direction, close to
those of Main (Maon), Zif (Ziph), and other
places named with Carmel in Josh. xv. 55.
They are described both by Robinson (i. 494-8)
and by Van de Velde (ii. 77-79), and appear to
be of great extent. Conspicuous among them
is a castle of great strength, in the walls of
which is still to be seen massive masonry
of ancient date. There is also a very fine and
large reservoir. This is mentioned in the
account of king Amalrich's occupation of the
place, and now gives the castle its name of
Kasr el-Birkeh (Van de Velde, ii. 78; PEF.
Mem. iii. 312, 372). [G.] [w.] '
CAR'MELITE (*^D13 : B. Kapufatos [in
1 Sam. xxx. 5, 2 Sam. ii. 2, xxiii. 35 ; Xapu.a-
Sai in 1 Ch. xi. 37] ; A. Kapp-TiXirtis in 2 Sam.
ii. 2, KappnoXl in 1 Ch. xi. 37, -ios in 1 Sam.
xxx. 5, 2 Sam. xxiii. 35 : Carmeli, de Carmelo,
Carmelites). A native of Carmel in the moun
tains of Judah. The term is applied to Nabal
(1 Sam. xxx. 5 ; 2 Sam. ii. 2, iii. 3) and to
Hezrai, or Hezro, one of David's guard (2 Sam.
xxiii. 35 ; 1 Ch. xi. 37). In 2 Sam. iii. 3 the
LXX. must have read fl*7D13, "Carmelitess." [W. A. W.]
CAR'MELITESS (n*Spi3; KapuitXios,
Kapfi-fiXia ; Carmeli, Carmelitis). A woman of
Carmel in Judah : used only of Abigail, the
favourite wife of David (1 Sam. xxvii. 3;
1 Ch. iii. 1). In the former passage both LXX.
and Vulg. appear to have read *?P"13, "Car
melite." [W.~A. W.]
CAR'MI (*D13, Ges. = a vine-dresser; A.
Xapp.1, B. -^ei ; Channi). 1. A man of the tribe
of judah, father of Achan, the "troubler of
Israel " (Josh. vii. 1, 18 [BA. om.] ; 1 Ch. ii. 7),
according to the first two passages the son of
Zabdi or Zimri. [Zabdi.] In 1 Ch. iv. 1 the
name is given as that of a "son of Judah;" but
the same person is probably intended; because
(1) no sou of Judah of that name is elsewhere
mentioned; and (2) because, out of the five
names who in this passage are said to be " sons "
of Judah, none but Pharez are strictly in that
relation to him. Hezron is the second genera
tion, Hur the fourth, and Shobal the sixth.
2. B. Xapp.il, A. -,u.i ; Charmi. The fourth
son of Reuben, progenitor of the family of the
Carmites (*D13i1 : Gen. xlvi. 9 ; Ex. vi. 14 ;
Num. xxvi. 6 ; Teh. v. 3). [G.] [W.]
CAR'MITES, THE (*D13I1 ; A. d Xapp.1,
B. o Xapfiel; Charmitae). A branch of the
tribe of Reuben, descended from Cabmi 2
(Num. xxvi. 6). [W. A. W.]
CARNA'IM (T.7 Kapvaiv, A. Kapvelv; X-
in 1 Mace. v. 26, KapvatS ; Carnaim), a large
and fortified city in the country east of Jordan
— " the land of Galaad ; " containing a « temple

CARNION
(rb Te/ievos iv K.). It was besieged and taken
by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. v. 26, 43, 44).
The place is called Carnion (to Kapybw) in
2 Mace. xii. 21, 26, and the temple the Atar-
GATEION (to 'ATap7aTeio»'). It is identified
with Ashteroth-Karnaim. [G.] [W.]
CARNI'ON. [Carnaim.]
CARPENTER. [Handicraft.]
CARTES (Kapiros), a Christian at Troas,
with whom St. Paul states that he left a cloak,
books, and parchments (2 Tim. iv. 13); on
which of his journeys it is uncertain, but
probably in passing through Asia Minor after
his first captivity, for the last time before his
martyrdom at Rome. Nothing certain is known
of him. According to Hippolytus, Carpus was
bishop of Berytus in Thrace, called Berrhoea in
the Synopsis de Vita et Morte Prophetarum,
which passes under the name of Dorotheus of
Tyre. [E. R. B.]
CARRIAGE. This word occurs eleven
times, twice in the margin and the remainder in
the text of the A. V., and it may be useful to
remind the reader that in none of these does it
bear its modern sense, but signifies what we now
call " baggage." The Hebrew words so rendered
are three. 1. *j?3, c'le, generally translated
" stuff " or " vessels." It is like the Greek word
oTceOos; and in its numerous applications per
haps answers most nearly to the English word
"things." This word, rendered "carriage"
(R. V. " baggage "), occurs in 1 Sam. xvii. 22 —
" David left his ' baggage ' in the hands of the
keeper of the ' baggage ; ' " also Is. x. 28—" At
Michmash he hath left his ' baggage.' "
2. ni-133, Cebudah, " heavy matters " (R. V.
"goods"), Judg. xviii. 21 only, though perhaps
the word may bear a signification of " precious-
ness," wliich is sometimes attached to the root,
and may allude to the newly acquired treasures
of the Danites (LXX. A. tV kttjo-iv T7)v
tivfiol-ov). 3. The word rendered " carriages " in Is. xlvi.
1 should, it would appear (Ges. Thes. 917 6;
Jesaia, ii. 101), be " your burdens " (R. V. " the
things that ye carried about ").
4. In the N. T., Acts xxi. 15, " we took up
our carriages " is the rendering of iirto-Kevao-d-
p.evoi, and here also the meaning is simply, as in
R. V., " baggage " (Jer. praeparati).
5. But in the margin of 1 Sam. xvii. 20, and
xxvi. 5, 7 — and there only — " carriage " is em
ployed in the sense of a wagon or cart; the
" place of the carriage " answering to " trench "
in the text. The R. V. translates "place of
the wagons," and in marg. barricade. The
Hebrew word is hiVKs, from \T>iV, a wagon,
t: - tt-:
and the allusion is to the circle of wagons
which surrounded the encampment (Ges. Thes.
989). 6. In Judith ii. 17 and iii. 10, the original
word is airapTia, i.e. the effects or baggage of
the army.
7. In 1 Mace. ix. 35, 39, it is airoo-Kein, else
where rendered " stuff" and " baggage."
For carriages in the modern sense, see Cart ;
Chariot. [<*•] [W.]

CART

541

CART (11731? ; &p.a^a ; plaustrum ; also ren
dered " wagon," Gen. xiv. 19, 27 ; Num. vii. 3,
7, 8 : from 7iV, to roll, Ges.), a vehicle drawn
by cattle (2 Sam. vi. 6), to be distinguished
from the chariot drawn by horses. [Chariot.]
Carts and wagons were either open or covered
(Num. vii. 3), and were used for conveyance
of persons (Gen. xiv. 19), burdens (1 Sam. vi.
7, 8), or produce (Amos ii. 13). At the present
time very few roads exist in Syria and Palestine
and the neighbouring countries, and wheel-
carriages for any purpose except conveyance of
agricultural produce are all but unknown ;
and though modern usage has introduced Eu
ropean carriages drawn by horses into Egypt;
they were unknown there also in times com
paratively recent (Stanley, S. and P. p. 135 ;
Porter, Damascus, i. 339 ; Lynch, Narrative,
pp. 75, 84 ; Niebuhr, Voyage, i. 123 ; Layard,
Nin. ii. 75 ; Mrs. Poole, Englishwoman in Egypt,
2nd series, p. 77). The only cart used in Western
Asia has two wheels of solid wood (Olearius,
Travels, 418; Sir R. Porter, Travels, ii. 533).

Egyptian cart with two wheels. (Wilkinson. )
For the machine used for threshing in Egypt
and Syria, see Threshing. But in the monu-

Egyptian cart with four wheels. (WililDaon.)
ments of ancient Egypt representations are
found of carts with two wheels, having four or

Assyrian cart drawn by oxen. (Layard.)
six spokes, used for carrying produce, and of one
used for religious purposes having four wheels

54'2 CARVING
with eight spokes. A bas-relief at Nineveh
represents a cart having two wheels with eight
spokes, drawn by oxen, conveying female cap
tives ; and others represent carts captured from
enemies with captives, and also some used in
carrying timber and other articles (Layard, Nin.
ii. 396 ; Nin. $ Bab. pp. 134, 447, 583 ; Mon.
of Bab. pt. ii. pll. 12, 17). Four-wheeled car
riages are said by Pliny (N. H. vii. 56) to have
been invented by the Phrygians (Wilkinson
Ane. Egypt, i. 384, 385; ii. 39, 47 [1878])
The cart used in India for conveying -

Modern Indian cart.

called Suggar or Hackeri, has two wheels, in
the former case of solid wood, in the latter with
spokes. They are drawn by oxen harnessed to a
pole (Capper, India, pp. 346, 352). [H. W. P.]
CARVING. 1. J11??pp, carved work in relief,
from IDp, to carve; in pi. nil/?j?P, carved figures.
2. JIB'in, from CIII, to carve— xapdatru. 3.
nj?lip, participle in Pual of (Hpll not used) ppn>
to cui, delineate : engraved, or carved (work), 1 K.
vi. 35. 4. 111RS, carved work, from finB, to open,
applied to metal, 1 K. vii. 36 ; to gems, Ex.
xxviii. 9, 36 ; to wood, Ps. lxxiv. 6 ; to stone,
Zech. iii. 9 ; yXvtp-q, yXiSp.p.a, iyKoXairr6v ;
caelatura. The arts of carving and engraving were much
in request in the construction both of the Taber
nacle and the Temple (Ex. xxxi. 2, 5, xxxv. 33 ;
1 K. vi. 18, 35 ; Ps. lxxiv. 6), as well as in the
ornamentation of the priestly dresses (Ex. xxviii.
9-36 ; Zech. iii. 9 •; 2 Ch. ii. 6, 14). In Solo
mon's time Huram the Phoenician had the chief
care of this as of the larger architectural
works. [H. W. P.]
CASEMENT. [Lattice.]
CASIPHTA (X*SD3 ; iv apyvplu tou t6itov
[2 Esd.] ; Chaspia), a place of unknown site not
far from Ahava, on the road between Babylon
and Jerusalem ' (Ezra viii. 17). Neither the
Caspiae Pylae nor the city Kaswin, with which
some writers have attempted to identify it, are
situated upon this route (Ges. T/ws. 703). [F.]
CAS'LEU (Xao-eXm ; Casleu), 1 Mace. i. 54 ;
iv. 52, 59 ;— 2 Mace. i. 9, 18 ; x. 5. [Chisleu ;
Months.] CAS'LUHIM(D*r6t?3; A. Xatr/iuviel^, E.
XaXoetp ; Chasluim), Gen. a. 14, a Mizraite tribe

CASSIA
mentioned as the source geographicallv of the
Philistines, who are elsewhere called emigrants
from Caphtor. No satisfactory identification1
has yet been found for this name, which has
not been discovered in the hieroglyphic inscrip^,
tions. The names of Casiits Mons and Casiotis
may have preserved the first syllable of the
word. The Casluhim would then have been
settled along the coast of Lake Serbonis, between
Pelusium and Rhinocorura (El Areesh). The
meaning of the name of Casluhim seems to have
been quite forgotten at the time ofthe LXX. The
word Xaffixurie'ifi has been compared by Ebers
(Aegypten und die Bucher Moses, p. 120 sq.) to
the Egyptian hesmen, which means "salt," or
rather " nitre," and would thus indicate a popu
lation dealing in salt and living on salt fish.
But it is hardly possible to admit this explana
tion, which is not in accordance with the geo
graphical character of the Noachian list. [E. N.]
CASTHON (T.7 Xao-tp&v, A. XatrtptbQ ; Cas-
bon), 1 Mace. v. 36. [Casphor.]
CAS'PHOR (T.7 Xatrtpt&p, A. Knr^p, X.
Kacrcpii ; Casphor), one of the fortified cities in
the " land of Galaad " (1 Mace. v. 26), m which
the Jews took refuge from the Ammonites under
Timotheus (cp. o. 6), and which with other
cities was taken by Judas Maccabaeus (v. 36).
In the latter passage the name is given as
Casphon, and in 2 Mace. xii. 13 as Cashs, if
indeed the same place is referred to, which is not
quite clear (see Ewald, iv. 359 note). Josephus
gives the name of this place as Casphoma,
Xdo-tbw/ia (Ant. xii. 8, § 3). [G] [W.] '
CASTIS (T.7 Kdtrirtv, A. Kamreix ; Casphin),
a strongly fortified city — whether east or west of
Jordan is not plain — having near it a lake
(xlpivn) two stadia in breadth. It was taken by
Judas Maccabaeus with great slaughter (2 Mace.
xii. 13, 16). The parallel history of the First
Book of Maccabees mentions a city named Cas
phor or Casphon, with which Caspis may be
identical (see Speaker's Comm. in loco) — but the
narratives differ materially. [G.] [W.]
CAS'SIA. The representative in the A. V.
of the Hebrew words kidddh and ketzioth.
1. Kidddh (Hip ;* ipis ; casia, stacte) occurs
in Ex. xxx. 24, as one of the ingredients in the
composition of the " oil of holy ointment ;" and
in Ezek. xxvii. 19, where "bright iron, cassia,
and calamus " are mentioned as articles of mer
chandise brought by Dan and Javan to the
market of Tyre. There can.be no doubt that
the A. V. is correct in the translation of the
Hebrew word, though there is considerable
variety of reading in the old Versions.
The cassia-tree is a native of Southern India,
and especially of Ceylon, where it is still largely
cultivated for its bark. It is known to bota
nists as Cinnamomum cassium, belonging to the
family Lauraceae, of which our Sweet Bay
(Laurus nobilis) is an European representative.
It is nearly related to the true cinnamon (Cinna-

"From T,r); Arab, ^j°, "to cleave," "to tear
lengthwise;" so called from the splitting of the
bark.

C4SSIA
momum zeylonicum), and is a small shrubby tree,
distinguished from the cinnamon by having
obtuse, oblong lanceolate leaves, instead of ter
minating in an acute point, like the other.
The leaf of the cassia, when bitten, has a cinna
mon flavour ; that of the cinnamon has a clove
flavour. The cassia of commerce is obtained by
making longitudinal incisions in the branches,
when the bark peels off, and in drying rolls up
in the form of a pipe. Cassia is cultivated in
India and many of the Eastern islands, Java,
and others, but is never found in Arabia or
Egypt, whither it must always have been im
ported from the far East. The mention of cassia
in Exodus is perhaps the earliest direct evidence
extant of commerce between India and Egypt.
But it seems to have been procured through
Southern Arabia, and hence was sometimes sup
posed to be a native of that country. The LXX.
and Josephus (Ant. iii. 8, § 3) have iris, i.e.
some species of flag, perhaps the Iris florentina,
which has an aromatia root-stock. Symmachus
and the Vulg. (in Ezek. I. c.) read stade, " liquid
myrrh." The Arabic Versions of Saadias and
Erpenius conjecture costus [so R. V. marg. of
Ex. I. c], which Dr. Royle (Kitto's Cyc, art.
" Ketzioth ") identifies with Aucklandia costus,
to which he refers not the kidddh, but the
ketziSth of the Hebrew Scriptures (see below).
The Chaldee and Syriac, with most of the Euro
pean Versions, understand cassia by kidddh :
they are followed by Gesenius, Simon, Fiirst,
Lee, and all the lexicographers. The Greek
word, which is first used by Herodotus (ii. 86),
who says (iii. 110) that the Arabians procured it
from a shallow lake iu their country, is limited
to the Eastern product. Dioscorides mentions
several kinds of cassia, and says that they are pro
duced in Spicy Arabia (i. ch. xii.). One kind is
known by the name of mosyletis, or, according
to Galen (de Theriac. ad Pis. -p. 108), of mosyllos,
from the ancient city and promontory Mosyllon,
on the coast of Africa and the sea of Babei
Mandeb, not far from the modern Cape Guarda-
fui (Sprengel, Annot. ad Dioscor. i. ch. xii.). Will
not this throw some light on Ezek. xxvii. 19,
where it will be observed that, instead of the
rendering " going to and fro " in the text of
the A. V., the margin has Meuzdl ? " Dan and
Javan (and) Menzal traded in thy markets with
cassia, calamus," &c. The cassia would be
brought from India to Meuzal, and from thence
exported to Tyre and other countries under the
name of Meuzalitis, or Meuzal cassia.*
2. Ketzioth (ni?*yp;c Katria; casia), only in
Ps. xiv. 8, " All thy garments smell of myrrh,

CASTOR AND POLLUX

543

D The country of the Mosylli was in the Cinnomo-
mophora regio, and not far from Aromata Emporium,
and the author of the Periplus particularises cassia
amongst the exports ofthe same coast (Tennent, Ceylon,
i. 600, note). As to 7T1KD. see Bochart, Geog. Sac. pp.
i. ch. ii. 21, Kosenmliller.&M. ad Ezek. 1. c, and M.V.'i
who identify it with Sanaa, in Arabia. [The E. V.
does not favour the conjecture in the text. It renders
Ezek. xxvii. 19, " Vedan and Javan traded with yarn
for thy wares," and in the marg. mentions the rendering
of some ancient Versions from Uzal instead of'" with
yarn," a rendering adopted by most moderns, QPB3. — F.]
0 From the root tf¥p> Arab. » w«. " to lop off," "to
scrape," " to peel."

aloes, and cassia." This word is generally sup
posed to be another term for cassia : the old
Versions are in favour of this interpretation, as
well as the etymology of the Hebrew word. The
Arabic reads Salichaf which, from its descrip
tion by Abu'l Fadli and Avicenna (Celsius,
Hierob. ii. 364-5), evidently denotes some cassia-
yielding tree. Dr. Royle suggests (see above)
that ketziSth is identical iu meaning and in
form with the Arab cust, hust, cusht, kusht,"
whence is probably derived the costus of the
Greeks and Romans. Dioscorides (i. 15) enume
rates three kinds of costus, — an Arabian, Indian,
and Syrian sort. The koost of India, called by
Europeans Indian orris, is the root of Aucklandia
costus, a plant of ihe composite order, family
Cynarocephalae, or Artichoke section, grown
chiefly in Cashmere, but well known throughout
India, the root of which has a pungent aromatic
odour, and is largely used in the composition of
incense. There is no reason, however, why we
should abandon the explanation of the old Ver
sions, and depart from the satisfactory etymo
logical evidence afforded by the Hebrew term to
the doubtful question of identity between it and
the Arabic koost. The confusion among ancient
writers as to the different kinds of cassia and
cinnamon is not to be wondered at ; they were
known only as the imported products of distant
countries, and the trees themselves were as little
known as the tea-plant, until recently, among
ourselves. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CASTLE. [Fortifications.]
CAS'TOR AND POL'LTJX, the Dioscuri
(Aioo-/coIpoi, Acts xxviii. 11). For the mytho
logy of these two heroes, the twin-sons of
Jupiter and Leda, we must refer to the Dict. of
Biog. and Mythol. We have here to do with
them only so far as they were connected with
seafaring life. They were regarded as the tute
lary divinities (fleol awrripes) of sailors. They
appeared in heaven as the constellation of
Gemini. Immediately on shipboard they were
recognised in the phosphoric lights, called by
modern Italian sailors the fires of St. Elmo,
which play about the masts and the sails (" In
magna tempestate apparent quasi stellae velo
insidentes : adjuvari se tunc periclitantes existi-
mant Pollucis et Castoris numine," Senec. Nat.
Quaest. i. 1 ; cp. Plin. ii. 37). Hence the fre
quent allusions of Roman poets to these divini
ties in connexion with navigation (see especially
Hor. Carm. i. 3, 2, "fratres Helenae, lucida
sidera," and iv. 8, 31). As the ship mentioned
here by St. Luke was from Alexandria, it may
be worth while to notice that Castor and Pollux
were specially honoured in the neighbouring
district of Cyrenaica (Schol. Pind. Pyth. v. 6).
In Catull. iv. 27, we have distinct mention of a
boat dedicated to them. See also lxviii. 65. In
art these divinities were sometimes represented
simply as stars hovering over a ship, but more

S ** is' -^
d «it ~ • from the root J-*", detraxit, quasi
cortex detractus.
Ja***?, costus, i. e. radicis aromaticae Indicae et
Arabicae species, Kam. Dj. See Freytag.

544

CATS

frequently as young men on horseback, with
conical caps, and stars above them (see the coins
of Rhegium, a city of Bruttii, at which St.

Silver coin of Bruttii. Obv. : Heads of Castor and PoUux to right.
Rev. : Castor and FoUnx mounted, advancing to right. In the
exergue BPETTMN.
Paul touched on the voyage in question, v. 13).
Such figures were probably painted or sculp
tured at the bow of the ship (hence irapdo-ripiov ;
see Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Antiq. art. Insigne).
This custom was very frequent in ancient
shipbuilding. Herodotus says (iii. 37) that the
Phoenicians used to place the figures of deities
at the bow of their vessels. Virgil (Aen. x. 209)
and Ovid (Trist. i. 10, 2) supply us with illustra
tions of the practice ; and Cyril of Alexandria
(Cramer's Catena, ad 1. c.) says that such was
always the Alexandrian method of ornamenting
each side of the prow. [Ship.] [J. S. H.]
CATS(oi alXovpoi; cattae"). This word occurs
only in Baruch vi. 22, in the passage which sets
forth the vanity of the Babylonish idols : " Upon
their bodies and heads sit bats, swallows, and
birds,land the cats also." The Greek;a?\oi/poy, as
used by Aristotle, has more particular reference
to the wild cat (Felis catus, &c). Herodotus, in
the well-known passage (ii. 66) which treats of
the cats of Egypt, uses o&oupos to denote the
domestic animal; similarly Cicero (Tusc. v. 27,
78) employs felis; but both Greek and Latin
words are used to denote other animals, appa
rently some kinds of marten (Martes). The
Israelites, from their intimate connexion with
Egypt, must have been familiar with the cat,
but we have no evidence that they ever domesti
cated it, and the passage in Baruch seems to
point to wild cats. Nor, except in connexion
with Egypt, do we find in classic writers any
allusion to the domestic cat, now as world-wide
in its distribution as the dog, and as common in
Palestine as elsewhere.
The domestic cat of the ancient Egyptians is
generally admitted to be identical with the
Felis maniculata (Riippell) of Nubia, and with
our own domestic animal. Felis maniculata is
also the wild cat of Syria, and is especially
common among ruins in Eastern Palestine.
Felis chaus is also common among woods and
thickets, especially by the Jordan, but it re
sembles a small lynx rather than a cat.
The Egyptians, it is well known, paid an absurd
reverence to the cat ; it was deemed a capital
offence to kill one ; when a cat died it was
embalmed and buried at Bubastis, the city
sacred to the moon, of which divinity the cat
was reckoned a symbol (Herod, ii. 66 ; Wilkin-
a The word Catta occurs once only in classical Latin,
viz. in Martial, Epig. xiii. 69 ; but that some bird is
intended is beyond a doubt. Greeks and Komans do
not appear to have kept domestic cats. . ¦

CATTLE
son, Ane. Egypt, i. 246 [1878]; Jablonski,
Pant. Aegypt. ii. 66, &c. ; Diod. Sic. i. 83).
The cat was allowed to accompany the Egyptian
fowler, but it was doubtless for the sake of a
share in the booty, and not for the benefit of
the fowler. Without laying much stress on the
want of sufficient sagacity for retrieving pur
poses, we cannot believe that the cat could ever
have been trained to go into the water to
which it has a very strong aversion. b See the
woodcuts in Wilkinson (Ane. Egypt, i. pp. 236
237 [1878]), where the fowler is in a boat accom
panied by his cat. As to D*?S, which Bochart
takes to mean wild cats, see Beast, Wild. The
cat belongs to the family Felidae, order Car-
nivora. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CATERPILLAR. [Locust.]
CATERPILLER. The representative in
the A. V. of the Hebrew words chdsil and yelek.
1. Chdsil (?*p!1; aKpts, Qpovxos, ipval$ii;
rubigo, bruchus, aerugo). The Hebrew word
occurs in 1 K. viii. 37 ; 2 Ch. vi. 28 ; Ps.
Ixxviii. 46 ; Is. xxxiii. 4 ; Joel i. 4 : it is evident
from the inconsistency of the two most impor
tant old Versions in their renderings of this
word, that nothing is to be learnt from them.
The word denotes the " consumer ; " and from its
signification, and from its being always men
tioned along with the locust, it may probably
denote that noxious insect in its proper or larva
stages, at which period of its existence it is
more destructive than at any other time. [See
Locust.] .
2. Yelek, p?*. (Ps. cv. 34; Jer. li. 14, 27);
i.e. " the licker." In other passages the word is
rendered " cankerworm." From the significa
tion of its name, and from the position in the
passage from Joel (ch. i.) immediately after the
locust, it may represent not any particular
species, but the larva or caterpiller state of the
insect in which it is more destructive than when
fully developed. The larvae appear after the
winged locusts have left, and lick up everything
that has escaped the former. [H. B. T.]
CATHU'A (B. Kovd, A. KaSovd; Canna),
1 Esd. v. 30 ; one of the heads of the servants of
the Temple who returned with Zerubbabel from
the Captivity. The name apparently answering
to it in the Hebrew text of Ezra ii. 43 is
Giddel. [F.]
CATTLE. The various words which express
cattle are as numerous in Hebrew as in English,
though not always exactly synonymous. For
the etymology and exact signification of these
names, see Bull. In this article we may con
sider the subject of horned cattle generally.
Cattle were more important in the agricultural
economy ofthe Jews than even among ourselves,
among whom the horse has for many purposes
been substituted. They ploughed the land,
they trod out the corn, they carried in the
crops, they drew carts and waggons. Their

b Even to a proverb :—
" Catus amat pisces, sed non vult tingere plantam.
" Letting, I dare not wait upon 1 would,
Like the poor cat i' the adage."— Macbeth, i. 7.
See Trench's Lessons in Proverbs, p. 149.

CATTLE
employment in these various ways is constantly
referred to in Scripture, and it is needless to
•quote passages. Equally important was the
produce of the herds'. Excepting for sacrifices
or on very special occasions, horned cattle were
not ordinarily used as food ; for, as is still the
case in Eastern countries, flesh meat, especially
beef, was not eaten save at religious festivals,
or at special feasts, to do honour to a guest, or
to celebrate a public or private anniversary
{op. W. R. Smith, The Religion of the Semites, i.
277 sq.). On such occasions a bull calf was
generally selected. "Abraham ran unto the
herd, and fetched a calf tender and good " (Gen.
xvii. 7). " Thou hast killed for him the fatted
•calf" (Luke xv. 30). Naturally the value of oxen
for draught restricted their use as food. But the
produce of the herd — milk, butter, and cheese
— formed as important articles of diet then as
now. " They brought . . . butter, and sheep,
¦and cheese of kine for David and for the people
that were with him to eat " (2 Sam. xvii. 29).
During the journeyings in the wilderness, the
people were forbidden to slay their cattle except
for sacrifices, and these only before the Taber
nacle. This was not only to prevent idolatrous
sacrifices, as explained in Lev. xvii. 7, but also
{see Speaker's Comm. i. I.) to bear witness to the
sanctity of life, acknowledging that the animal
belonged to Jehovah, and that its flesh was
received back as His gift. The injunction had
the further effect of securing the preservation
of the flocks and herds for future use when they
had entered the Land of Promise. But especially
important was the use of cattle in sacrifice,
where they were offered from the earliest times
by the richer worshippers, as by Abraham
(Gen. xv. 9). At the dedication of the Temple
Solomon offered hecatombs of 22,000 oxen
(1 Kings viii. 63). At its purification by Heze
kiah 600 were sacrificed (2 Ch. xxix. 33), and
at its second cleansing by Josiah 500 (2 Ch.
xxxv. 9).
There are several provisions in the Law of
Moses for the protection of cattle. "Doth God
take care for oxen ? " "Thou shalt not muzzle
the ox when he treadeth out the corn " (Deut.
xxv. 4), an injunction twice quoted by St. Paul.
So the rest of the Sabbath is enjoined, " that
thine ox and thine ass may rest" (Ex. xxiii.
12). The greater part of Central Palestine is
wholly unsuited for grazing horned cattle,
which were turned loose on the open wilds
during a great part of the year, the wilderness
of Judaea and the south country being treated
as commons are with us ; each village or town
having its recognised landmarks, within which
it was the herdsman's duty to keep his cattle.
The herds roamed in a half-wild state till winter
approached. Such were the bulls of Bashan in
the wild pastoral region east of Jordan. But
when required for table and in winter, they
were brought under cover. The provision for
Solomon's court for each day was ten fat (i.e.
stall-fed) oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pas
tures (1 Kings iv. 23). Stalled cattle are often
referred to, as when Amos rebukes the luxury
of his times, the princes of Samaria eating the
" calves out of the midst of the stall " (Amos vi.
4). " Better is a dinner of herbs where love is,
than a stalled ox and hatred therewith " (Prov.
bible dict.-— vol. i.

CATTLE

545

xv. 17). The word D'p'lHN, often translated
" fatted " cattle, is literally " cattle of the stall."
The custom of thus keeping up cattle is alluded
to by our Lord, " Doth not each one of you on
the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the
stall and lead him away to watering ? " (Luke
xiii. 15.) Barley straw was the fare of these
oxen, for hay, as we understand it, is never made
in the East.
There arc several provisions in the Mosaic
law for cases of injury by a bull goring man or
animal ; and as under our own laws the owner
of an animal known to be dangerous is held
responsible, so by the Jewish, if he had been
warned beforehand and had neglected to keep in
the animal, he had to ransom his own life or to
lose it, in case of fatal injury inflicted by the
beast, which was also to be slain and its flesh
not eaten (Ex. xxi. 28-36). The semi-wild
cattle in the plains and forests are in the habit
of gathering in a circle round any strange
object, and are easily irritated into charging it.
This habit is alluded to in Ps. xxii. 12, "Many
bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of Bashan
have beset me round."
Horned cattle are now restricted to those dis
tricts where fresh pasture can be found through
out the year, and where water is easily attain
able. In the Sinaitic Peninsula, even in those
parts where not only camels but sheep, goats,
and horses are kept, neat cattle are unknown.
In the hill-country of Judaea and in the Judaean
wilderness, they are never seen. In Central
Western Palestine., from Hebron to the Lebanon,
they are rare, except on the plains of Dothan,
Shechem, and Esdraelon. The pastures are few
and burnt up in summer, and the agriculture of
the terraced hills is not adapted for their use.
Goats supply the milk and butter of this hill-
country ; and beef and veal are unknown deli
cacies. But in the southern wilderness of
Judah, on the downs and wide prairies south
and east of Beersheba, and in the Philistian
plain, horned cattle of a small and coarse race
are numerous. They are not used for agricul
ture, but simply for their milk. In the plains of
Sharon, Acre, Esdraelon, and Phoenicia, a much
larger and finer race, from which the southern
cattle have prohably degenerated, is found, and
employed in the tillage of these rich corn-
plains. North of Esdraelon, in all the richer
parts of Galilee, we may frequently see a larger
and finer breed of cattle, known in the country
as the Armenian ox, light coloured, like the
Tuscan cattle, but which appear to be identical
with the best race on the banks ofthe Nile, and
which are depicted on the ancient Egyptian
monuments. This race is also found round
Damascus and in Northern Syria. East of
Jordan, neat cattle form the principal wealth
both of the nomads and of the villagers. They
are a small race, like that of the maritime
plains, but generally black ; and as the numerous
forests of this region preserve the herbage from
the sun throughout the year, the milch kine
afford a constant supply of milk. In the Jordan
valley, and especially in the upper part near
Lake Huleh (the waters of Merom), are herds
of another species, the Indian buffalo (Bos
bubalus, L.), quite distinct from Bos taurus, the
common ox. These huge ungainly creatures,
which can onlv thrive in swamns, where they
2 h

546

CAULS

wallow, buried up to the back in water or mud,
have been by many modern writers erroneously
identified with the bulls of Bashan. They are,
however, a comparatively recent introduction,
having been imported through Persia from
India, and were unknown to the Israelites.
In the bone caves of the Lebanon I discovered
the teeth and bones of two extinct species of
the ox tribe, belonging probably to- Bos primi-
genitus, the aurochs or unicorn, and Bison priscus.
[See Unicorn.] [H. B. T.]
CAULS (D*p*3B> ; ipnrXoKia; torques). The
A. V. and R. V. give in the margin " networks."
The Old English word " caul " denoted a netted
cap worn by women. Compare Chaucer (Wyf
of Bathes Tale, C. T., 1. 6599) :
" Let se, which is the proudest of hem alle,
That werith on a coverchief or a calle."
The Hebrew word shSbisim, thus rendered in
Is. iii. 18, is, like many others which occur in
the same passage, the subject of much dispute.
It occurs but once, and its root is not elsewhere
found in Hebrew. The Rabbinical commenta
tors connect it with )'2B' shibbets, rendered
"embroider" in Ex. xxviii. 39, but properly
" to work in squares, make checker-work." So
Kimchi (Lex. s. v.) explains sheoisim as " the
name of garments wrought in checker-work."
Rashi says that they are " a kind of network to
adorn the head." Abarbanel is more full: he
describes them as " head-dresses, made of silk or
gold thread, with which the women bound their
heads about, and they were of checker-work."
The word occurs again in the Mishna (Celim,
xxviii. 10), but nothing can possibly be inferred
from the passage itself, and the explanations of
the commentators do not throw much light
upon it. It there appears to be used as part of
a network worn as a head-dress by women.
Bartenora says that it was " a figure which they
made upon the network for ornament, standing
in front of it and going round from one ear to
the other." Beyond the fact that the shSbisim
were head-dresses or ornaments of the head-dress
of Hebrew ladies, nothing certain can be said to
be known about them.
Schroeder (de Vest. Mul., cap. ii.) conjectured
that they were medallions worn on the neck
lace, and identified sheoisim with the Arab.
s^o^j «? o ^
f.nrrAt *v shomaiseh, the diminutive of <f%
shams, the sun, which is applied to denote the
sun-shaped ornaments worn by Arab women
about their necks. But to this Gesenius very
properly objects (Jes. i. p. 209), as well as to
the explanation of Jahn (Archdol. i. 2, 139),
who renders the word " gauze veils."
The Versions give but little assistance. The
LXX. render i/iirX6Kta " plaited work," to
which Koo-vpuSovs, " fringes," appears to have
been added originally as a gloss, and afterwards
to have crept into the text.. Aquila has TeAa-
p.uvas, " belts." The Targum merely adopts
the Hebrew word without translating it, and
the Syriac and Arabic vaguely render it " their
ornaments." [W. A. W.]
CAUSEY (Fr. chausstSe). Prov. xv. 19
(A. V. marg. ; It. V. "highway," text) ; 1 Ch.
xxvi. 16, 18 (ed. 1611), a raised or paved way

CAVE
(ll^pP). Of this word causeway, which re
placed it in 1 Ch., is a corruption (Eastwood and
Wright's Bible Wordbook, p. 90). See D. B.
Amer. ed. [F.]
CAUSEWAY. [Causey.]
CAVE (111170 ; a-ir^Xawv ; spelunca ; in A. V.
Is. ii. 19, hole ; jer. vii. 11, den ; Josh. xiii. 4,
literatim, Mearah ; Maara, Vulg.). I. ¦ The
chalky limestone of which the rocks of Syria
and Palestine chiefly consist presents, as is the
case in all limestone formations, a vast number
of caverns and natural fissures, many of which
have also been artificially enlarged and adapted
to various purposes both of shelter and defence
(Kitto, Phys. Geogr. of Pal. p. 72). This cir
cumstance has also given occasion to the use of
so large a number of words as are employed in
the Scriptures to denote caves, holes, and fissures,
some of them giving names to the towns and
places and their neighbourhood. Out of them,
"besides No. I., may be selected the following: —
II. 1-in or iin (Ges.), a hole; usually TptiyXii,
and caverna. From this come, (a) *l'n> dweller
in caves, the name of the Horites of Mount Seir,
Wddy Ghoeyer, expelled by the Edomites, prob
ably alluded to by Job, a Troglodyte race
spoken of by Strabo (Gen. xiv. 6, xxxvi. 21 ;
Deut. ii. 12 ; Job xxx. 6 ; Strab. i. 42, xvi.
775-776 ; Burckhardt, Syria, p. 410 ; Robinson,
ii. 69, 157 ; Stanley, S. and P. pp. 68-71).
[Horites.] (b) pin, fared o/coraerns (Ezek. xlvii.
16, 18; Burckhardt, Syria, pp. 110, 286);
AipaviTis, LXX. ; Auran, Vulg. [Hauran.]
(c) }lirm*3> house of caverns, the two towns
of Beth-horon (Josh. xvi. 3, 5). [Beth
horon.] (d) DJiin> two caverns, the town
Horonaim (Is. xv. 5). [Horonaim.]
III. D**ijn, places of refuge in rocks (Ges.) for
birds (Cant. ii. 14) ; a-Kemi ; foramina petrae,
Obad. v. 3 ; oirai ; scisstiroe petrarum ; A. V. and
R. V. clefts.
IV. mrpD; TpvpiaXta; antrum; A. V. and
R. V. den ; a ravine through which water flows
(Ges. Thes. p. 858), Judg. vi. 2.
The caves of Syria and Palestine are still used,
either occasionally or permanently, as habita
tions ; as at Andb, near Szalt, Ramoth-Gilead
(Buckingham, Travels in Syria, p. 62). The
shepherds near Hebron leave their villages in
the summer to dwell in caves and ruins, in order
to be nearer to their flocks and fields (Robinson,
i. 212; PEFQy. Statement, 1872, p. 176).
Many caves are used as places of shelter both
for the shepherds and their flocks, and are
farther protected by " sheep-cotes," formed by
n rough wall of stones built up in front of the
entrance (Thomson, Land and Book, p. 603).
Almost all the habitations at Om-keis, Gadara,
are caves (Burckhardt, p. 273). An extensive
system of caves exists at Beit Jibrin, Eleuthero
polis, in Judah, which has served for residence
or concealment, though now disused (Robinson,
ii. 53); and another between Bethlehem and
Hebron (Irby and Mangles, p. 103).
The most remarkable caves noticed in Scrip
ture are : — 1. The one in which Lot is said to
have dwelt after the destruction of Sodom
(Gen. xix. 30). 2. The cave of Machpelah (to.

CAVE
xxiii. 17). 3. Cave of Makkedah (Josh. x. 16).
4. The cleft* in the rock Etam, in which Samson
dwelt (Judg. xv. 11). 5. Cave of Adullam
(1 Sam. xxii. 1; 2 Sam. xxiii. 13-16). 6.
Cave of Engedi (1 Sam. xxiv. 3). 7. Obadiah's
cave (1 K. xviii. 4). 8. Elijah's cave, and also
the " clift " of Moses in Horeb (Ex. xxxiii. 22 ;
1 K. xix. 9). 9, 10. The rock sepulchres of
Lazarus and of our Lord (John xi. 38 ; Matt. I
xxvii. 60). Of these, as regards the 0. T., the
site of Machpelah may be regarded as certain ; the
sites of Adullam, Engedi, Etam, and Makkedah
as highly probable ; of the cave of Lot and
of the cave in Horeb, nothing more than their
locality in a general sense can be affirmed ; and
to that of Obadiah no clue can be given, except
that it must have been somewhere in the
northern region of Palestine, in which many
instances of caves fit for his purpose might be
pointed out (Joseph. Ant. vi. 12, 3 ; Jerome, de
Situ et Nom. iii. 871 [150]; Reland, p. 885;
Robinson, i. 103, 500, ii. 28, 79 ; Stanley, Sinai
and Pal. pp. 149, 211, 296 ; Conder, Tent Life,
ii. 156, 159; Heth and Moab, p. 150; Burck
hardt, Syria, p. 608 ; Irby and Mangles, Trav.
p. 93; Lynch, Narr. p. 234; PEFQy. State
ment, 1871, p. 91, 1881, p. 40; Survey of
West Palestine, ii. 411, iii. 337, 367; Victoria
Institute, Journ. of Trans, xxi. § 82. See also
ADtTLLAJI, &c).
Besides these special caves, frequent mention
is made in O. T. of caves as places of refuge.
In the time of Gideon the Israelites took refuge
from the Midianites in caves and strongholds,
such as abound in the mountain region of
Manasseh (Judg. vi. 2), and in the early days
of Saul they fled from the Philistines into
" holes ; " a description to which the scene of
Jonathan's conflict, Mukhmds (Michmash), suffi
ciently answers (1 Sam. xiii. 6, xiv. 5).
And so too the caves of Palestine have afforded
refuge to the inhabitants during the earthquakes
by which the country has from time to time
been visited. This was the case in 1837, when
Safed was destroyed; and to this the Prophet
Isaiah probably alludes in language describing
a divine visitation (Is. ii. 10, 19, 21. Cp. Irby
and Mangles, p. 89 ; Robinson, i. 440, ii. 422).
But Adullam is not the only cave, nor were
its tenants the only instances of banditti making
the caves of Palestine their accustomed haunt.
Josephus (Ant. xiv. 15, § 5) relates the manner
in which, by order of Herod, a cave occupied by
robbers, or rather insurgents, was attacked by
soldiers let down from above in chests and
baskets, from which they dragged forth the
inmates with hooks, and killed or thrust them
down the precipices ; or, setting fire to their
stores of fuel, destroyed them by suffocation.
These caves are said to have been in Galilee, not
far from Sepphoris; and are probably the same
as those which Josephus himself, in providing
for the defence of Galilee, fortified near Gen-
nesaret, which elsewhere he calls the caves of
Arbela (B. J. i. 16, §§ 2-4, ii. 20, § 6 ; Vit. § 37).
|Bacchides, the general of Demetrius, in his ex
pedition against Judaea, encamped at Messaloth,
near Arbela, and reduced to submission the
occupants of the cave's (Ant. xii. 11, § 1 ; 1 Mace.

CAVE

547

* ^l*l?D, from F|1?D» 1° divide ; LXX. rpvp-aXlo. ;
Vulg. speeus ; A. V. top. See Ges.

ix. 2). Messaloth is probably ni?PP, steps, or
terraces (cp. 2 Ch. ix. 11 ; Ges.). The Messa
loth of the Book of Maccabees and the robber-
caves of Arbela are thus probably identical, and
are the same as the fortified cavern near Medjdcl
(Magdala), called Kfilat Ibn Wan, or Pigeon's
Castle, mentioned by several traVellers. They
are said by Burckhardt to be capable of contain
ing 600 men (Reland, pp. 358, 575 ; Burck
hardt, Syria, p. 331 ; Irby and Mangles, p. 91 ;
Survey of West Pal. i. 411; Robinson, ii. 398 ;
Raumer, 108. Cp Hos. x. 14). [Beth-Arbel.]
Josephus also speaks of the robber-inhabitants
of Trachonitis, who lived in large caverns, pre
senting no prominence above ground, but widely
extended below (Ant. xv. 10, § 1). These
banditti annoyed much the trade with Damascus,
but were put down by Herod. Strabo alludes
very distinctly to this in his description of
Trachonitis, and describes one of the caverns as
capable of holding 4,000 men (Strabo, xvi. 756 ;
Raumer, p. 68 ; Jolliffe, Travels in Pal. i. 197).
Lastly, it was the caves which lie beneath and
around so many of the Jewish cities that formed
the last hiding-places of the Jewish leaders in
the war with the Romans. Josephus himself
relates the story of his own concealment in the
caves of Jotapata; and after the capture of
Jerusalem, John of Gischala, Simon, and many
other Jews, endeavoured to conceal themselves
in the caverns beneath the city; whilst in some
of them great spoil and vast numbers of dead
bodies were found of those who had perished
during the siege by hunger or from wounds
(Joseph. B. J. iii. 8, § 1 ; vi. 9, § 4).
The rock dwellings and temples of Petra are
described in a separate article.
Natural cavities in the rock were and are fre
quently used as cisterns for water, and as places
of imprisonment (Is. xxiv. 22 ; Ezek xxxii. 23 ;
Zech. ix. 11) [Cistern; Prison]; also as stalls
for horses and for granaries (Irby and Mangles,
p. 146). No use, however, of rock caverns more
strikingly connects the modern usages of Pales
tine and the adjacent regions with their ancient
history than the employment of them as burial-
places. The rocky soil of so large a portion of the
Holy Land almost forbids interment, excepting
in cavities either natural or hewn from the rock.
The dwelling of the demoniac among the tombs
is thus explained by the rock caverns abounding
near the Sea of Galilee (Jolliffe, i. 36). Accord
ingly numerous sites are shown in Palestine and
adjacent lands of (so-called) sepulchres of saints
and heroes of the Old and New Testaments,
venerated both by Christians and Mohammedans
(Early Travels, p. 36 ; Stanley, p. 148). Among
these may be mentioned the cave of Machpelah,
the tomb of Aaron on Mount Hor, of Joseph, and
of Rachel, as those for which every probability
of identity in site at least may be claimed (Irby
and Mangles, p. 134 ; Robinson, i. 218, 219, ii.
275-287, &c). More questionable are the sites
of the tombs of Elisha, Obadiah, and John the
Baptist, at Samaria ; of Habakkuk at Jebdtha
(Gabatha), of Micah near Keila; and of Deborah,
Rebekah's nurse, at Bethel'(Stanley, pp. 143, 149 ;
Reland, pp. .7 22, 698, 981 ; Rob. ii. 304). The
questions so much debated relating to the tombs
in and near Jerusalem and Bethany will be
found treated under those heads, as also that
of the tombs of the Maccabees at Modin (Survey
2 N 2

5^8 CEDAR
of West Pal. ii. 349). But whatever value
may belong to the connexion of the names of
Judges, Kings, or Prophets, with the very re
markable rock-tombs near Jerusalem, there can
be no doubt that the caves bearing these names
are sepulchral caverns enlarged and embellished
by art. The .sides of the valley of Jehoshaphat
are studded with caves, many of which are in
habited by Arab families (Sandys, p. 188 ; Maun
drell, p 446 ; Robinson, i. 241, 349, 364 ; Bart
lett, Walks about Jerusalem, p. 117). It is no
doubt the vast number of caves throughout the
country, together with, perhaps, as Maundrell
remarks, the taste for hermit life which prevailed
in the 5th and 6th centuries of the Christian
era, which has placed the sites of so many impor
tant events in caves and grottoes ; e.g. the birth
of the Virgin, the Annunciation, the Salutation,
the birth of the Baptist and of our Lord, the
scene of the Agony, of St. Peter's denial, the
composition of the Apostles' Creed, the Trans
figuration (Shaw, pt. ii. c. 1 ; Maundrell, E. T.
p. 479) ; and the like causes have created a
traditionary cave-site for the altar of Elijah on
Mount Carmel, and peopled its sides, as well as
those of Mount Tabor, with hermit inhabitants
(1 K. xviii. 19 ; Amos ix. 3. Cp. Irby and Mangles,
p. 60 ; Reland, p. 329 ; Winer, s. v. Carmel ; Sir
J. Maundeville, Travels, p. 31 ; Sandys, p. 203 ;
Maundrell, E. T. p. 478 ; Jahn, Arch. Bibl. p. 9 ;
Stanley, p. 353 ; Kitto, Phys. Geogr. pp. 30, 31 ;
Van Egmont, Travels, ii. 5-7). [H. W. P.]
CEDAR (11K, erez ; tceSpos ; cedrus ; Arab.
\, arz, " pine " (Lane). [The word is a, pri
mitive, and is found in all the Semitic languages
except Assyrian, which has erinu. — C. J. B.] The
word is invariably rendered cedrus and cedar in
the Vulg., A. V., and R. V., and there can be no
doubt but that in most instances, and always
when in connexion, expressed or understood,
with Lebanon, it means distinctively the cedar
of Lebanon, Cedrus Libani, " the firmly-rooted
and strong tree," as its derivation implies, kot'
i^ox'hv, the firmest and grandest of all the
conifers. Occasionally, as will be seen below,
the word is used, as is the Arabic equivalent at'
the present day, for the pine-trees generically.
Many characteristics of the cedar are mentioned
in Scripture : the passages are too numerous for
quotation. Among prophets and poets it is a
favourite emblem for whatever is grand and
magnificent. " The glory of Lebanon " (Is.
xxxv. 2, lx. 13) ; " The trees of the Lord, the
cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted "
(Ps. civ. 16) ; " The righteous shall grow like a
cedar in Lebanon " (Ps. xcii. 12); "The cedars
of Lebanon that are high and lifted up " (Is. ii.
13) ; " The Assyrian was a cedar on Lebanon,
with fair branches, and with a shadowing
shroud, and of an high stature, and his top was
among the thick boughs. AU the fowls of
heaven made their nests in his boughs " (Ezek.
xxxi. 3, 6) ; " The Amorite, whose height was
like the height of the cedars " (Amos ii. 9).
With peculiar appositeness, its wide-spreading
branches, so unlike those of any other pine, are
the model of the " spreading abroad," the con
stant growth of the righteous man ; his boughs
are multiplied, become fair, thick, overshadow
ing in length and multitude (Ezek. xvii. 23).

JJ

CEDAR
Its fresh resinous fragrance is noticed. ''The
smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon " (Cant. iv. 11). It was the prince of
trees. It was to the vegetable what the, lion
was to the animal world. From the cedar
downwards extended the botanical knowledge of
Solomon. To the cedar upwards is the destruc
tion of the trees in the parable of Jotham.
" Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen " (Zech.
xi. 2). The lesser fir-tree is bidden as a humble
follower to bewail the fall of its mighty chief.
It was the crowning insolence of the .proud
boast of Sennacherib, "I am come up to the
height of the mountains, to the sides of
Lebanon, and I will cut down the tall cedars
thereof " (Is. xxxvii. 24). Of all presumption
the most outrageous was the proposal of the
thistle to ally itself with the cedar (2 K. xiv. 9).
Everyone who has seen the far-famed group
above the Kadisha must recognise the force of
the majestic imagery of the prophets. With
their gnarled and contorted stems and their
scaly bark, with their massive branches spread
ing their foliage rather in layers than in flakes,
with their dark green leaves, shot with silver in
the sunlight, as they stand a lovely group in
the stupendous mountain amphitheatre — those
trees assert their title to be the monarchs of
the forest.
The cedar of Lebanon was the principal timber
employed by David and Solomon in their build
ings, both in the Temple and in palaces. " The
house of the forest of Lebanon " was so named
from the number of cedar pillars and the cedar
beams and roof (1 K. vii. 2). The cedar of
Lebanon also supplied the timber for the Second
Temple of Zerubbabel (Ezra iii. 7). For this
Temple, as well as for that of Solomon, the trees
were felled and shipped from Tripoli and Gebal
(Jebeil) by the Phoenician artisans, " the men of
Tyre and Sidon." Cedar was also used by Herod
for the roof of his Temple (Joseph. B. J. tr. 5,
§ 2). The roof of the Rotunda of the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, destroyed by fire in A.D.
1508, was constructed of cedar ; and so also was
that of the Church of the Virgin at Bethlehem.
But this latter was restored by the Crusaders,
and the material of the present roof appeal's to
be English oak (Williams, Holy City, ii. 202;
Quaresim. Eluc. Terr. Sanct. vi. 12 ; Tobler,
Bethlehem, pp. 110, 112).
Pliny speaks of the cedar of Crete, Africa,
and Syria as being much esteemed and imperish
able. In Egypt and Syria ships were built of
cedar, and in Cyprus a tree was cut down 120
feet long. The durability of cedar was proved,
he says, by the cedar roof of the temple of
Diana at Ephesus which lasted 400 years. At
Utica, the beams made of Numidian cedar of a
temple of Apollo had lasted 1178 years. Vitru-
vius speaks of the antiseptic properties of the
oil of cedar and also of juniper (Pliny, Hist.
Nat. xiii. 5, xvi. 40 ; Vitruv. ii. 9 ; Joseph. Ant.
viii. 5, § 2). It may be and has been objected
that the timber of the cedar has no commercial
value now, and is in no repute as a building
material. It is true that the English grown
cedar supplies an inferior quality of deal, but
the well-ripened old tree in its native climate
vields a fine-grained sound wood. Timber in
the dry climate of Syria will last for centuries
longer than in our moist insular atmosphere :

CEDAR

CEDAR

549

and we have ourselves taken out pieces of acacia
wood (shittim) used for bratticing wells in the
wilderness of Judaea, as sound as when they
were placed there more than 2,000 years ago.
No other tree will meet the conditions of the
problem. The only difficulty that deserves
notice is the mention of the cedar by Ezekiel
(xxvii. 5) as used for ships' masts. Accord
ing to our ideas, the pine would be more
adapted for this purpose, but we have ourselves
seen many a cedar-tree in the Taurid mountains
which would supply admirable masts even for
our far larger shipping. Even were this not so,
it is quite possible that the fir-trees brought
from Lebanon might be spoken of as cedars.
The cedar-trees when crowded grow as straight
poles as do our Scotch firs. It is scarcely neces
sary to quote the many untenable surmises of
writers unacquainted with the country as to
what the erez might be. The Deodara has been
suggested — a variety of cedar confined to the
Himalayas ; the Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris),
which does not exist in the East, but which is
represented by Pinus halepensis. This is the
conjecture of Celsius, generally well informed.
Others have preferred Thuja articulata, the
Sandara tree, with a valuable timber, found in
Turkey and Africa, but not in Syria. As to the
arguments from the name arz being else
where applied by the Arabs to other conifers, it
may be replied that it is only thus applied in
regions where the cedar is not found, and that
this argument might include the larch of
Western Europe, to which the Moors gave the
name el arz, changed by the Spaniards into
alerce, and by ourselves into larch. The three
principal conifers of Lebanon are Cedrus Libani,
Pinus lialepensis, and Juniperus excelsa, and it is
very possible that on the coast and by the
timber-merchants the wood of all was indis
criminately spoken of as erez.
In two passages, and two only — Lev. xiv. 4;
Num. xix. 6 — erez cannot designate the cedar
of Lebanon, for in the wilderness the cedar of
Lebanon would be unattainable, and no cedar
exists in Arabia. Here probably one of the
junipers, whose wood has a strong resinous per
fume, is intended. Juniperus oxycedrus is not
uncommon in Arabia Petraea, and its wood was
anciently burnt as a perfume, especially at
funerals (Plin. Hist. Nat. xiii. 1, 5 ; Ovid, Fast.
ii. 558 ; Horn. Od. v. 60). Pliny speaks of it as
a cedar, though it is hardly larger than a bush ;
whence its specific name of oxycedrus.
Besides the celebrated grove of cedars above
the Kadisha, nearly 7.000 feet above the sea, it
was for centuries believed that none others
existed in Lebanon. It is now, however, well
known that groves, clumps, and even whole
tracts of cedar still remain scattered over
various parts of Lebanon, but chiefly iu the
most inaccessible districts of the south, though
more generally on the northern and almost un-
visited slopes. We ourselves have discovered
several, and at least nine distinct localities are
now ascertained, some of them containing many
thousand trees, and with an abundant succession
of young saplings springing up round them.
These sufficiently indicate that in former ages
the whole Lebanon region may have been one
vast cedar forest, a mine of timber treasure,
which seemed inexhaustible to the Phoenician

woodcutters, who drew thence for successive
centuries their supplies for the ship-building of
the then whole world. But no one ever re
planted a cedar, aud the goats which browsed in
the clearings ate down the young seedlings, till,
if the north of Lebanon were as well peopled as
the southern and central districts, the cedar
might have suffered the same hircine extermina
tion as has been the fate of the ebony of
St. Helena, and of many another rare insular
tree. The cedars remain now just in the dis
tricts- where the physical obstacles to their
transport to the coast are insurmountable ; and
the famous cedar grove far away in the recesses
of the mountains, and almost inaccessible, is but
a surviving outlier of what was, in the days of
David, the grand characteristic of the whole
range. It is curious that there is no trade of
the cedar on Hermon or Antilebanon. But it is
found abundantly all through the Taurid, even
to its southern spurs, and magnificent forests
run down the slopes to the neighbourhood of
Marash and Samosata.
There are but three true cedars known, the
present species, Cedrus atlantica and C. deodara.
The Atlantic cedar is found on Mount Atlas,' and
is barely, if at all, distinguishable from the
cedars of Lebanon and the Taurid. Some of the
old trees at Teniet-el-Haad, 6,000 feet above the
sea, equal those of Kadisha in size and grandeur.
The Deodar, though more distinct in its habit, is
by many united to these as merely a variety ofthe
Lebanon cedar. It is less tolerant of our climate,
and has not been found beyond the Himalayas
and their neighbouring ranges. Its timber bears
the same character as the cedar of old. In the
temple of Kunawar, supposed to be from 600 to
800 years old, Major Madden states that the
cedar beams are sound. Pieces from a bridge
in Cashmere the same writer found to be only
slightly decayed, though they had been exposed
to the action of water for 400 years. The limits
of the Deodar appear to be from 4,000 to 12,000
feet. All the cedars grow rapidly and live long.
Sir J. D. Hooker calculates the age of the cedars
of the grove to be 800 years, from the rate of
growth of the cedars at Chelsea. From the
rings in a branch, one of the older trees might
be 2,500 years old; but this, he observes, is no
doubt widely far from the mark. Still an
immense antiquity must be assigned to some of
them. The cedar wood of modern commerce, used
for pencils, &c, is the wood of a very different
tree, the Juniperus bermudiana, of the warmer
parts of North America.
Sir J. D. Hooker has favoured us with the fol
lowing valuable communication relative to the
true cedars of Lebanon : — " The grove is at the
very upper part of the valley of the Kadisha,
about fifteen miles from the sea, 6000 feet above
that level, and their position is moreover above
that of all other arboreous vegetation. The
valley here is very broad, open, and shallow, and
fhe grove forms a mere speck on its flat floor.
The mountains rise above them on the N.E. and
S. in steep stony slopes, without precipices,
gorges, ravines, or any other picturesque
features whatever. Nothing can be more dreary
than the whole surrounding landscape. To the
W. the scenery abruptly changes, the valley
suddenly contracts to a gorge, and becomes a

550

CEDRON

CEILING

rocky ravine of the most picturesque descrip
tion, with villages, groves, and convents perched
on its flanks, base, and summits, recalling
Switzerland vividly and accurately. At the
time of my visit (October 1860) the flanks of
the valley about the cedars were perfectly arid,
and of a pale yellow red ; and the view of this
great red area, perhaps two or three miles
across, with the minute patch of cedar grove,
seen from above and at a distance of ten miles or
so, was most singular. I can give you no idea
of what a speck the grove is in the yawning
hollow. I have said the floor of the valley is
flat and broad ; but, on nearer inspection, the
cedars are found to be confined to a small
portion of a range of low stony hills of rounded
outlines, and perhaps 60 to 100 feet above the
plain, which sweep across the valley. These
hills are, I believe, old moraines, deposited by
glaciers that once debouched on to the plain
from the surrounding tops of Lebanon. I have
many reasons for believing this, as also for
supposing that their formation dates from the
glacial epoch." a
Since the visit of Sir J. D. Hooker, the cedar
grove has been carefully enclosed by Rustem
Pasha, the late enlightened governor of the
Lebanon, and there is every prospect of an
abundant succession of trees to supply the
places of the failing patriarchs. [H. B. T.]
CE'DRON. 1. (ri KiSptiv ; A. 1 Mace. xv.
39, KaiBp6v ; v. 41, KeSpti ; 1 Mace. xv. 39, 41,
Gedor, but Cedron, ed. 1590, as in xvi. 9), a
place fortified by Cendebaeus under the orders
of king Antiochus (Sidetes), as a station from
which to command the roads of Judaea (1 Mace.
xv. 39, 41 ; xvi. 9). It was not far from Jamnia
(Tebnali), or from Azotus (Ashdod), and had a
winter-torrent or wady (x^ip-dppovs), on the
eastward of it, which the army of the Maccabees
had to cross before Cendebaeus could be attacked
(xvi. 5). These conditions are well fulfilled in
the modern place Katrah, which lies on the
maritime plain below the river Rubin, and three
miles south-west of 'Akir, Ekron (PEF. Mem. ii.
410). Schwarz (p. 119) gives the modern name
as Kadrun ; but this wants confirmation. Ewald
(Gesch. iv. 390, note) suggests Tell Turmus, five
or six miles further south.
2. In this form is given in the N. T. the
name of the brook Kidron (pip 7113 = "the
black torrent "), in the ravine below the eastern
wall of Jerusalem (John xviii. 1, only). Beyond
it was the garden of Gethsemane. Lachmann,
with ASA, has x^'^PP0^ tov K&ptiv ; but
the Rec. Text, with B C L and most of the
uncials, has tuv KiSpuv, i.e. " the brook of the
cedars " (Westcott and Hort ; so, too, the LXX.
in 2 Sam. xv. 23). Other MSS., as N, D, have
the name even so far corrupted as tou KeBpoC,
cedri, and tuv SivSpuv. In English the name is
often erroneously read (like Cephas, Cenchreae,
Chuza, &c.) with a soft C ; but it is unnecessary
to point out that it has no connexion with
" Cedar." [Kidron.] [G.] [W.]
CEI'LAN (Kihdv; Ciaso). Sons of Ceilan
and Azetas, according to 1 Esd. v. 15, returned
* See Sir J. D. Hooker's paper " On the Cedars of
Lebanon, Taurus, Sta" in the Nat. Hist Review, No. 5,
p. 11.

with Zorobabel from Babylon. There are no
names corresponding to these in the lists of
Ezra or Nehemiah. [W, A. W.I
CEILING- (or Cieling ; see Way, Promp-
tuarium parvulorum, p. 65), t'lSD, from )SD
(iKoiXoo-TdB/nia-e, 1 K. vi. 9), to cover with rafters
(Ges. ; Schleusner, Lex. V. T. koiAoot.), or Sprit?
(Ezek. xii. 16), a plank. The descriptions of
Scripture (1 K. vi. 9, 15, vii. 3 ; 2 Ch. iii. 5 9 ¦
Jer. xxii. 14; Hag. i. 4), and of Josephus (Ant.
viii. 3, §§ 2-9, xv. 11, § 5), show that the ceilings
of the Temple and the palaces of the Jewish
kings were formed of cedar planks applied to the
beams or joints crossing from wall to wall, pro
bably with sunk panels (tpaTviifutra), edged and
ornamented with gold, and carved with incised
or other patterns (i3aBv^iXois yXvtpais), some
times painted (Jer. xxii. 14).
It is probable that both Egyptian and Assyrian
models were, in this as in other branches of
architectural construction, followed before the
Roman period. [Architecture.] The con
struction and designs of Assyrian ceilings in the
more important buildings can only be con
jectured (Layard, Nineveh, ii. 265, 289), but the
proportions in the walls themselves answer in a
great degree to those mentioned in Scripture
(Nin. and Bab. p. 642 ; Fergusson, History of
Architecture, i. 174-177). Examples, however,
are extant, of Egyptian ceilings, in stucco painted
with devices, of a date much earlier than that
of Solomon's Temple. Of these devices the
principal are the guilloche, the chevron, and the
scroll. Some are painted in blue with stars,
and others bear representations of birds and
other emblems (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii. 290
[1878] ; Maspfro, L'Ardieologie Egyptienne,
p. 162 sq.). The excessive use of vermilion
iind other glaring colours in Roman house-
painting, of which Vitruvius at a later date
complains (vii. 5), may have been introduced
from Egypt, whence also came in all probability
the taste for vermilion painting shown in
Jehoiakim's palace (Jer. xxii. 14; Amos iii. 15 ;
Wilkinson, i. 19). See also the descriptions
given by Athenaeus of the tent of Ptolemy
Philadelphus and the ship cf Philopator (v. 25
[196], 39 [206]), and of the so-called sepulchres
of the kings of Syria near Tyre (Hasselquist,
p. 165).
The panel work in ceilings, which has been
described, is found in Oriental and North
African dwellings of late and modern times.

Green^

Panelled ceiling from house iu Cairo. (Lane, Modern Egyptians. )

Shaw describes the ceilings of Moorish houses in
Barbary as of wainscot, either "very artfully

CEILING

CENCHREA

551

painted, or else thrown into a variety of panels,
with gilded mouldings and scrolls of the Koran
intermixed" (Travels, p. 2u8). Mr. Porter
describes the ceilings of houses at Damascus
as delicately painted, and in the more ancient

Panelled ceiling from house in Cairo.1 (Lane, Modern Eriyplii.ns.)
houses with " arabesques encompassing panels of
blue, on which are inscribed verses and chapters
of the Koran in Arabic. Also a tomb at

Palmyra, with a stone ceiling beautifully
panelled and painted " (Damascus, i. 34, 37, 57,
60, 232 : cp. Deut. vi. 9 ; also Lane's Mod. Egypt.
i. 37, 38). Many of the rooms in the Palace nl
the Moors at the Alhambra were ceiled and
ornamented with the richest geometrical pat
terns. These still remain, and restorations of
them may be seen at the Alhnmbra Court of tho
Crystal Palace. The ancient Egyptians used
coloured tiles in their buildings (Athen. v. 206 ;
Wilkinson, ii. 288, 292 [1878]). The like taste is
observed by Chardin to have prevailed in Persia,
and he mentions beautiful specimens of mosaic,
arabesque, and inlaid wood-work in ceilings at
Ispahan, at Koom in the mosque of Fatima, and
at Ardevil. These ceilings were constructed on
the ground and hoisted to their position by
machinery (Chardin, Voyage, ii. 434, iv. 126,
viii. 40, pi. 39 ; Olearius, p. 241). [H. W. P.]
CELOSYRIA. [Coelesyria.]
CEN'CHREA (accurately CENCHREAE,
Keyxpeal), the eastern harbour of Corinth (i.e.
its harbour on the Saronic Gulf) and the empo
rium of its trade with the Asiatic shores of the
Mediterranean, just as Lechaeum (Lutrdki) on the

of Corinth, showing both the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfa. (Sketch tahen from the Acropolis.)

¦Corinthian Gulf connected it with Italy and the
west. A line of walls extended from the citadel
¦of Corinth to Lechaeum, and thus the pass of
Cenchreae was of peculiar military importance
in reference to the approach along the Isthmus
from Northern Greece to the Morea. [Co
rinth.] St. Paul sailed from Cenchreae (Acts xviii. 18)
on his return to Syria from his second missionary
journey ; and when he wrote his Epistle to the
Romans In the course of the third journey, an
organized Church seems to have been formed
here (Rom. xvi. 1. See Phoebe). The first
Bishop of this Church is said (Apost. Const.
vii. 46) to have been named Lucius, and to have
been appointed by St. Paul.
The distance of Cenchreae from Corinth was
seventy stadia or about nine miles. Pausanias
(ii. 3) describes the road as having tombs and a
grove of cypresses by the wayside. The modern
Tillage of Kikries retains the ancient name,
which is conjectured by Dr. Sibthorpe to be
derived from the millet (KtyKpi), which still
grows there (Walpole's Travels, p. 41). Some
traces of the moles of the port are still visible
(see Leake's Morea, iii. pp. 233-235). The fol

lowing coin exhibits the port exactly as it is
described by Pausanias (ii. 2, § 3), with a temple
at the extremity of each mole, and a statue of

Colonial Coin of Corinth. On the obverse the head of An
toninus Pius ; on the reverse the port of Cenchreae, with
C. L. I. COE. — that 19, COLONIA IAVH JVLIA COHINTHVS.
Neptune on a rock between them. There is also
a Corinthian coin of the time of Hadrian, on
which the harbours Lechaeum and Cenchreae
are represented as nymphs turned opposite ways,
each holding a rudder. The same two harbours
are referred to on other coins representing
Isthmus as a young male figure, standing anil
holding two rudders (Journ. of Hellenic StwJi-s,
vi. 63, 64). [J. S. H.; [J. E. S.]

552

CENDEBEDS

CENDEBE'CS (accurately CENDE
BAEUS, KevSefiaTos), a general left by Antio
chus VII. in command of the sea-board of
Palestine (1 Mace. xv. 38 sq.) after the defeat of
Tryphon B.C. 138. He fortified Kedron and
harassed the Jews for some time, but was after
wards defeated by Judas and John, the sons of
Simon Maccabaeus, with great loss (1 Mace.
xvi. 1-10). [Antiochus VII.] [B. F. W.]
CENSER (ilPirip and DlPpP; in LXX.
mostly irvpeiov, but also Bvio-Kn and Bvpua-
T^piov ; thuribulum). The former of the Hebrew
words (from Finn, to seize or lay hold of, es
pecially of fire) seems used generally for any
instrument to seize or hold burning coals, or to
receive ashes, &c, such as the appendages of the
brazen Altar and golden candlestick mentioned
in Ex. xxv. 38, xxxvii. 23; in which senses it seems
rendered by the LXX. by iirapvo-Tpis, iirapvTrjp,
or perhaps imi8'ep.a. "Censer," however, gene
rally bears the limited meaning which properly
belongs to the second Hebrew word, found only in
the later Books (e.g. 2 Ch. xxvi. 19 ; Ezek. viii. 1 1,
from 1t3p, to burn incense), that, viz. of a small
portable vessel of metal fitted to receive burning
coals from the Altar, and on which the incense
for burning was sprinkled by the priest to whose
office this exclusively belonged, who bore it in
his hand, and with whose personal share in the
most solemn ritual duties it was thus in close
and vivid connexion (2 Ch. xxvi. 18 ; Luke i. 9).
Thus " Korah and his company " were bidden to
take " censers " (JlDnD), with which in emu
lation of Aaron and his sons they had perhaps
provided themselves1* (cp. Ezek. viii. 11); and
Moses tells Aaron to take " the censer" (not
a as iu A. V.; R. V. "thy," Num. xvi. 46
[Heb., xvii. 11]), i.e. that of the sanctuary,
or that of the high-priest, to stay the plague
by atonement. The only distinct precepts
regarding the use of the censer are found in
Num iv. 14, where among the vessels of the
golden Altar, i.e. of incense, " censers " are
reckoned ; and in Lev. xvi. 12, where we find that
the high-priest was to carry it into the most holy
place within the veil, where the " incense " was
to be " put on the fire," i.e. on the coals in the
censer, " before the Lord." This must have been
on the Day of Atonement, for then only was that
place entered. Solomon prepared "censers of pure
gold " as part of the same furniture (1 Iv. vii.
50 ; 2 Ch. iv. 22). Possibly their general use
may be explained by the imagery of Rev. viii.
3, 4,b and may have been to take up coals from
the brazen Altar, and convey the incense while
burning to the "golden Altar," or "Altar of
incense," on which it was to be offered morning
and evening (Ex.. xxx. 7, 8). So Uzziah, when
he was intending " to burn incense upon the
altar of incense," took " a censer in his hand "
" Gesenius, s. v. njlllDi seems to prefer the general
meaning of a fire-pan in this passage ; but, from Num.
xvi. 17, it was probably the same fashion of thing as
that used by Aaron in the priestly function. Nor, as
the rebellion was evidently a deliberately concerted
movement, is there any difficulty in supposing the
amount of preparation suggested in the text.
b Tho word for censer here is tajSwuTije, from the
Ai^nxos of Matt. ii. II; in Eev. v. 8, <J>taAa.; is UBed
apparently to mean the sumo vessel.

CHAFF
(2 Ch. xxvi. 16, 19). The Mishna (Joma, iv. 4)
mentions a silver censer which had a handle, and
which was fetched from some chamber where-
such utensils were kept (ib. v. 1, and Barthe-
nora's comment) ; it was used to gather the
coals from the altar, which were then transferred
to a golden censer. On the great Day of Atone
ment, however, a golden one of finer standard
(Tamid, v. 5) was used throughout.0 In Ugolini
vol. xi., a collection of authorities on the subject
will be found ; Sonneschmid, de Thym. Sanct. is-
referred to by Winer, s. v. Rauchfass. [H. H.]
CENSUS. [Numbering.]
CENTURION. [Army.]
CE'PHAS. [Peter.]
CE'RAS (Kvpds; Cariae), 1 Esd. .. 29.
[Keros.] CE'SAR. A. V. ed. 1611. [Caesar.]
CESAREA. A. V. ed. 1611. [Caesarea.]
CE'TAB (K-nTdP; Cetlia), 1 Esd. v. 30.
There is no name corresponding with this in the
lists of Ezra and Nehemiah.
CHABRIS (XdjSpts; Vulg. omits), the son
of Gothoniel (6 tou r.), one of the three "rulers"'
(&pxovTes) or " ancients " (7rpeo73iiTepoi) of Beth
ulia, in the time of Judith (Judith vi. 15, viii.
10, x. 6).
CHA'DIAS. "They of Chadias (B. oi X«-
Siotrof, A. XaS'atrai ; Enocadies) and Ammidoi,"
according to 1 Esd. v. 20, returned from Babylon
with Zorobabel. Fritzsche (Exeg. Hdb. in loco}
identifies it with Kedesh (Josh. xv. 23). There
are no corresponding names in the lists of Ezra
and Nehemiah. [W. A. W.]
CHAE'REAS, 2 Mace. x. 32, 37. [Che-
REAS.] CHAFF (V/tin. fO, J3ri; Chald. 1-lfl;
Xvovs, &xvpov; stipvla, pulvis, favilla). The
Heb. words rendered chaff in A. V. have all
different meanings : SJ^BTl = fodder, and occurs
twice only in O. T., viz. Is.- v. 24, xxxiii. 11.
The root K>B>n is not used. Possibly the San
scrit kaksch = hay is the same word (Bopp.
Gloss, p. 41); the Arabic , &jj^, hashish,
is also applied to all cut herbage. Hay, as we
understand it, is not made or stored in the East ;
but stalled cattle and horses are fed on straw
and fodder cut green, or dried and withered
according to the season. Whether fresh or dry,
this is called hashish.
PD or j»fo is chaff separated by winnowing
from the grain — the husk of the wheat. The
carrying away of chaff by the wind is an ordi
nary scriptural image of the destruction of the
wicked, and of their powerlessness to resist
God's judgments (Is. xvii. 13; Hos. xiii. 3;
Zeph. ii. 2). The root of the word is f(Q, to
press out, as of milk ; whence its second meaning,
to separate.
' The word euu-ianiptox, rendered " censer " in Heb.
ix. 4, probably means the " Altar of incense." [Altaii ;
Incense.]

CHAIN
J3PI is rendered correctly straw in Ex. v. 7,
10, li, &c, but stubble in Job xxi. 18. In Ex.
v. 12, we read |3Fj? tip, stubble for straw ; so
that it is not the same as stubble. Straw was
cut into short portions, and mixed with the
mud of which bricks were made to give it con
sistency. In 1 K. iv. 28, mention is made of a
mixed fodder for horses and camels of barley
and |3£l, such as the Arabs call tibn to this day.
The derivation of the word is doubtful. Dietrich
UI
(see MV.11 s. n.) connects it with i >'i. to bruise;
Gesenius was of opinion that }3PI was for 113311.
from root D33, to build, in reference to edifices
of bricks made with straw ; but Roediger prefers
to connect it with ['3, which properly implies
a separation and division of parts, and is thence
transferred to the mental power of discernment ;
so that J3FI signifies properly anything cut into
small parts (Ges. Thes. p. 1492).
The remarkable discovery of the Storehouse
or Treasure-city at Sukkut, or Thuku, in Lower
Egypt (Succoth, Ex. xii. 37), the temple of
Pe-tum (Pithom, Ex. i. 11), which was the sacred
enclosure within the civil city, has cast a vivid
light on the use of straw and stubble mentioned
in Exodus. The lower part of the walls are
formed of dried bricks with chopped straw
(teben). Above these reeds and waterweeds
chopped (the kash or stubble of the A. V.) have
been employed ; while the upper tiers have
been dried without either stubble or straw.
The Chaldaic word 1-11? occurs but once, in
Dan. ii. 35, and has the same meaning as the
Heb. y.0, chaff. It is connected with the Syr.
|JCH. and Arab. ,!»£¦, i.e. a. small bit of chaff,
or a mote. * [W. D.] [H. B. T.]
CHAIN. Chains were used, 1. as badges of
office ; 2. for ornament ; 3. for confining pri
soners. 1. The gold chain (T31) placed about
Joseph's neck (Gen. xii. 42), and that promised
to Daniel (Dan. v. 7, named N3'3l?n, Keri), are
instances of the first use. In Egypt it was one of
the insignia of a judge, who wore an image of
Truth attached to it (Wilkinson's Ane. Egypt, ii.
205 [1878]); it was also worn by the prime
minister. In Persia it was considered not only a
mark of royal favour (Xen. Anab. i. 2, § 27), but
a token of investit ye (Dan. 1. c. ; Morier's Second
Journey, p. 93). In Ezek. xvi. 11, the chain
is mentioned as the symbol of sovereignty.
2. Chains for ornamental purposes were worn by
men as well as women in many countries both
of Europe and Asia (for Egypt, cp. Wilkinson, ii.
339), and probably this was the case among the
Hebrews (Prov. i. 9). The necklace (piV) con
sisted of pearls, corals, &c, threaded on a string ;
the beads were called DV-IHI' from tin, to per
forate (Cant. i. 10, A. V. "chains," where the
words of gold sive interpolated ; R. V. " strings
of jewels "). Besides the necklace, other chains
were worn (Judith x. 4), hanging down as far as
the waist, or even lower. Some were adorned
with pieces of metal, shaped in' the form of the
. moon, named D'i'lilE' (pApiitSKoi, LXX. ; lunulas.,
Vulg. ; " round tires like the moon," A. V., " the

CHALDEA, CHALDAEA 55*
crescents," R. V. ; Is. iii. 18) ; a similar orna
ment, the hildl, still exists in Egypt (Lane's-
Modern Egyptians, App. A). The Midianites'
adorned the necks of their camels with it (Judg.
viii. 21, 26); the Arabs still use a similar
ornament (Wellsted, i. 301). To other chains
were suspended various trinkets — as scent-
bottles, L"S3n *$3 (" tablets," marg. houses of
the souls, A. V. ; " the perfume-boxes," R. V. ;
Is. iii. 20), and hand-mirrors, D'Oi'^J (Is. iii. 23),
Step-chains, tVnWi ("tinkling ornaments," A. V.r
" anklets," R. V.), were attached to the ankle-
rings, which shortened the step and produced <u
mincing gait (Is. iii. 16, 18). 3. The means
adopted for confining prisoners among the Jews
were fetters similar to our handcuffs, D*FlE>rD
(lit. two brasses, as though made in halves),
fastened on the wrists and ankles, and attached
to each other by a chain (Judg. xvi. 21 ; 2 Sam.
iii. 34 ; 2 K. xxv. 7 ; Jer. xxxix. 7). Among
the Romans, the prisoner was handcuffed to one,.
and occasionally to two guards — the handcuff
on the one being attached to that on the other
by a chain (Acts xii. 6, 7 ; xxi. 33 ; — Dict. of Gr,
and Rom. Ant, art. Catena). [W. L. B.] [F.]
CHALCEDONY (xaXKnSuv ; calcedonius).
only in Rev. xxi. 19, where it is mentioned as
being the stone which garnished the third
foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem. The
name is applied in modern mineralogy to one of
the varieties of agate : specimens of this sub
species of quartz, when of a pearly or wai-like-
lustre and of great translucency, are known by
the name of chalcedony, sometimes popularly
called " white carnelian." ¦ There is also a
stalactitic form found occasionally in cavities.
There can, however, be little doubt that the-
stone to which Theophrastus (de Lapid. § 25)
refers, as being found in the island opposite-
Chalcedon and used as a solder, must have been
the green transparent carbonate of copper, or
our copper emerald. It is by no means easy to
determine the mineral indicated by Pliny (H. K.
xxxvii. 5) ; the white agate is mentioned by him
(H. N. xxxvii. 10) as one of the numerous
varieties of Achates (Agate), under the names-
Cerachates and Leucachates. The Chalcedonius
was so called from Chalcedon, and was obtained
from the copper mines there : it was a small
stone and of no great value ; it is described by
Pliny as resembling the green and blue tints-
which are seen on a peacock's tail, or on a
pigeon's neck. Mr. King (Antique Gems, p. 8).
says it was a kind of inferior emerald, as Pliny
understood it. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CHALCOL, 1 K. iv. 31. [Calcol.]
CHALDE'A, CHALD AE'A (D»1KO ; also,
more correctly, tVIED pX, " the land of the
Chaldaeans : " % XaXdaia ; Chaldaea : Assyr.

a " Our calcedony being often opalescent — i.e. having
something of Pliny's ' Carbunculorum ignes ' in it — got
confounded with the Carchedouius or Punic carbancle
of a pale colour, and this again with his green Chalcc-
donius. Kapx^SoVios and KoA^TjSonoc are continually
interchanged in MSS. Marbodus already understood it
of our calcedony, as shown by his ' Pallenaque Chalce—
donius ignis habet effigiem.' "— C. W. King.

•554

CHALDEANS

Mat Kaldu [Kaldi, Kalda'], "the land of
Chaldaea"), properly only the middle portion
¦of Babylonia, apparently the tract immediately
south and east of the city of Babylon, having on
the N.W. the district called Kar-Dunias, on the
S.E. Bit-YEtkin and Tamtim (the latter a district
•on the shores of the Persian Gulf), on the N.E.
Sutu and Yatbur, and on the S.W. the Syrian
Desert. After the time of Jeremiah, however,
the name was extended, and made to include the
whole of Babylonia ; namely, the districts of
Sumir and Akkad (N.E. and S.W. Babylonia),
following and taking in the whole district
between the Tigris and the Euphrates, as far
as the Persian Gulf, and extending on the S.E.
beyond the banks of the Tigris so as to include
the tract of marshland on the S. vV. borders of
Elam. Ih its more extended meaning, its
boundaries were the same as those of Babylonia,
— Assyria and the Kassites on the N. and N.E.,
the Syrian desert and the Persian Gulf on the
S., Elam on the E., and Syria on the W. Its
extreme length (nearly N.E. and S.W.) would
•be about 400 miles, and its average width about
100 miles. [See Babel, Babylonia.]
The meaning of the name Kasdim or Chal-
¦daeans has often been discussed, and the
explanation which may be regarded as the most
satisfactory is that which connects the Hebrew
:form with the Assyrian root kaiddu, "to
¦conquer," whence (by the common change of
¦5, through r, into I before a dental) the word
Kaldu, the form from which the Greek XaXSaia
¦ comes. The Hebrews seem to have borrowed
the word at a very early period, for the form
Kasdu has not yet been found in the wedge-
writing. The absence of this last-named form,
however, is probably to be explained by the fact,
that besides the root kasadu the Assyrians
possessed also the root kaladu, with the same
[meaning ; and they probably considered that
the name [Kaldu came rather from the latter
than the former. The name is supposed to have
¦originated from the warlike nature of the
Chaldaean tribes inhabiting Babylonia (see
•Chaldeans, 1). [T. G. P.]
CHALDE'ANS or CHALDEES (DHBO ;
'XaXBaloi; Chaldaei; Assyr. Ealdda, Kaldu).
1. (In the original and limited sense.) The Chal
deans formed a cluster of tribes, each governed
by its own chief or petty king, and situated im
mediately to the south ofthe city of Baby lon (see
¦Chaldea). It seems not at all unlikely that the
early Chaldaeans were so called on account oftheir
warlike nature (see Chaldea). The Babylonians
proper hardly mention them in their records
as a nationality ; but the Assyrians often record
• encounters with them, and from this we may
infer that they sometimes gave the Assyrians
a great deal of trouble, for they seem to have
been most persevering in resisting the Assyrian
invasions of Babylonia. In the Assyrian records
Chaldea (mat Kaldu) first makes its appearance
-about 880 B.C., being mentioned in the annals of
Assur-nasir-apli or Assurnasirpal. Shalmaneser,
his son, attacked the Chaldaeans, and compelled
-Adinu, of the tribe of Dakkuru or Dakuru, one
of their chiefs, to give tribute. Tiglath-pileser
also attacked manyChaldaean chiefs (Balasu "son
¦of Dakkuru" among the number); and from
-other passages in the Assyrian records we learn

CHALDEANS
also that Chaldea, in its restricted sense, was
governed by a great many petty kings. Judging
from what Sennacherib says about them, they
were often to be found as mercenaries, and he
classes them with the wandering Arabs and
Arameans who used to enter the service of
foreign states. Sennacherib himself, in his
Babylonian expeditions, often came into contact
with them. It is not at all unlikely that both
Nergal-usSzib (Regebelos) and Musezib-Marduk
(Mesesimordakos), kings of Babylon, each of
whom seems to have borne the name of Suzub
(from the Chald. 3T,E' ; cp. the name ^X3f ' BID),
were, as implied by Sennacherib, Chaldeans.
(When a Chaldaean chief became king of Babylon
he seems to have adopted a name in the court-
Babylonian or Assyrian language.) The Chal
daeans were also among those who obeyed the
call of Samas-sum-ukin or Saosduchinos, king of
Babylon, when he revolted against the over
lordship of his brother Assurbanipal, king of
Assyria. On the whole, the warlike nature
attributed in the Bible to the Chaldaeans, is
well borne out by the inscriptions of Assyria
and Babylonia. The house of Dakkuru, mentioned
above, seems to have been the chief tribe.
From their character of warriors, which they
shared with the Aramaeans, the Chaldaeans
probably belonged to the more energetic portion
of the population of Babylonia, the Babylonians
proper being rather traders than warriors.
Hence it probably was, that the Chaldaean
tribes of Babylonia — who seem to have given
more than one king to the country ; and who,
in later times, probably formed, with the
Aramaeans, the backbone of the Babylonian
army — were regarded by the nations around
as the chief race of the country, and the whole
of Babylonia probably obtained the name of
Chaldea (by which it has been known since the
time of Jeremiah) in this way.
Judging from one or two of the proper names
met with in the Assyrian and Babylonian records,
it seems probable that the Chaldaeans proper
spoke a language closely akin to, if not exactly
the same as, the Chaldaean of the books of
Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah. The names which
illustrate this best are those of Dakuru or
Dakkuru and his descendant Adinu. Of the
latter name the Hebrew equivalent would
probably be jtN, whilst the former seems
certainly to be from the root IDT, Chald. 131,
both having the common change from sibilant
(z) to dental (d), which is met with also in
Aramaean or Syriac.
2. (In its extended meaning.) The inhabitants
of the land of which Babylon was the capital,
and which is generally designated by the name
of Babylonia, corresponding with the mat
Bdbili of the Assyrians and Babylonians, and
including Sumer or Shinar, Akkad ( Dri), Kar-
DuniaS, Chaldea (mat Kaldi), mat Tamtim
("the land of the sea"), bit Takin, &c, fa.
(see Babylon, the country). These so-called
Chaldaeans, though Semites for the most part,
probably had originally but little Chaldaean
blood in them. Their language was closely
allied to Hebrew, and any words of Chaldaean
form that it may have had . in later times
are probably due to the preponderating influ
ence which the Chaldaean tribes inhabiting the

CHALDEE

CHAMBERLAIN

district south of Babylon had gained in the
country (see above). The so-called Chaldaeans
(= Babylonians) were in fact of the same race
as the Assyrians, and spoke the same language.
[Babylon (the country) ; Assyria.]
3. (In its derived meaning.) The Book of
Daniel (ch. ii. 2, 10 ; iv. 4, &c), Curtius, Strabo,
and Diodorus understood astrologers by the
word Chaldaean. This use of the name pro
bably arises from the fact, that from ancient
times Babylonia (= Chaldea) was the home
of astrology, and remained so even after the
downfall of the late-Babylonian monarchy.
It is also not unlikely that their special re
putation as astrologers rests upon a kind of
pun, the word Chaldaean (probably restricted to
the class of astrologers) being often written, in
Babylonian and Assyrian, with the characters
f^TTY fcf»— *» (amelu) Gal-du (gal—
" great," and du, " to make ") ; a group which
•could be understood to mean, in the old Akkadian
language, " doer of great (things)." As has been
stated above, the Chaldaeans proper (that is, in
the original restricted sense of the word) spoke
a Semitic dialect closely akin to, if not exactly
the same as, the Chaldaean of the Book of
Daniel and elsewhere ; but the mother-tongue
of the Chaldaean astrologers was apparently
¦ordinary Semitic Babylonian. With regard to
any special knowledge or science that they may
have had, it does not appear from the ancient
Babylonian or Assyrian monuments that they
shone in that respect with greater lustre than
any of the other classes of dupsarruti or scribes.
They nevertheless had a certain reputation, and
it was apparently one of this class whom
Sennacherib raised to the throne of Babylon,
and of whom he speaks as " Bel-ibni, the son of
the Galdu (Kaldu), of the stem of Su-ana (the
city of Babylon), who as a little child had grown
up in my palace." This king, who is the
Belibos of the Canon of Ptolemy, ruled over
Babylonia for three years ; at the end of which
time (699 B.C.) he was deposed by the power
which had raised him to the throne, and
replaced by Assur-nadin-sum (Aparanadios),
Sennacherib's own son. It is probable that this
learned class was located principally at Babylon,
.-and future excavations in Babylonia will
probably bring to light many additional facts
¦concerning them. [T. G. P.]
CHALDEE or CHALD AIC LANGUAGE.
[Shemitic Languages, § 14, &c]
CHALDEE VERSIONS. [Versions, An
cient (Targum).]
CHALDEES. [Chaldeans.]
CHALK STONES (irVUK; Kovia; calx,
lapides cineris) occurs only in Is. xxvii. 9, " He
maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk-
stones that are beaten in sunder," A. V. and
R. V. The word signifies literally stones of lime.
13 is from an unused root, T|, " to boil up,"
in reference to the heating of lime when slaked.
In Dan. v. 5 the noun nTH is translated
"piaster," A. V. and E. V. The Arabic word
.Us-) g'ayydr, "quicklime," is identical, and
from the root A>, " to boil." Lime has been most

abundantly used in Palestine from the very
earliest times ; and the cement of the most
ancient remains is, for fineness, impenetrability
and hardness, unsurpassed. The conditions of
the country would always eucourago the uso of
mortar. Timber is and always has been scorer,
while the whole region, with some insignificant
exceptions, is one mass of limestone, Jurassic
in the lower parts, but on the hills frequently
covered, save when denuded, by eocene chalk.
Here and there are basaltic streams, adjacent tn
which we sometimes find metamorphic limestone.'
The chalk and stone are both extremely friable,
and in preparing lime a wheel like that of an
oil press has been used from ancient times to
pulverize the stone, before it is put into the
kiln. The only fuel used is brushwood and
thistle stalks, and the kiln is simply a saucer-
shaped hollow in the ground about 4 feet deep,
into which the fuel and crushed limestone are
spread in alternate layers, then kindled, and the
whole covered with earth or sods, as in the
manufacture of charcoal, but with a draught
hole in the centre. This is alluded to Is. xxxiii.
12: "The people shall be as the burnings of
lime : as thorns cut up shall they be burned in
the fire." One of the chief uses of this fine
lime was to plaster the inside of the subterranean
cisterns which honeycomb the whole land, espe
cially the hill-country. The storage system, by
which these 'cisterns were fed, consisted also of
narrow cement gutters about six inches in
diameter running along the edge of each terrace,
and conveying the water into the cisterns. The
innumerable sepulchres hewn out of the rocks
and hillsides were likewise carefully plastered.
In all these the cement, often more than 3,000
years old, remains hard, perfect, and impenetrable
by moisture. [H. B. T.]
CHAMBER, UPPER. [House.]
CHAMBERLAIN (oiKov6pj>s ; arcarius).
Erastus, "the chamberlain" (R.V. "treasurer")
of the city of Corinth, was one of those whose
salutations to the Roman Christians are given at
the end of the Ep. addressed to them (Rom.
xvi. 23). The office which he held was appa
rently that of public treasurer, or arcarius, as
the Vulgate renders his title. These arcarii
were inferior magistrates, who had the charge
of the public chest (area publico,), and were under
the authority of the senate. They kept the
accounts of the public revenues. In the Glossary
of Philoxenus the word oikov6/j,os is explained
6 e'ir! Trjs Stipoaias Tpairigris, and in the Pandects
the term arcarius is applied to any one who
attends to public or private money. It is, as
Grotius remarks, one of those words which have
been transferred from the house to the state.
In old glosses quoted by Suicer ( Thesaur.) we
find arcarius explained by viro$eKT$)s xpocou,
and in accordance with this the translators of
the Geneva Version have placed " receiver " in
the margin. Erasmus interpreted the word
quaestor aerarii. St. Ambrose thought that the
office of the oeconomus principally consisted in
regulating the prices of the markets, and hence
Pancirollus was erroneously led to interpret
the term of the aedile. Theophylact rendered
it S SiotKtirlis, & ¦npovoiyr'hs Trjs t6\sus Ko-
pivBov, and is followed by Beza, who gi ves pro
curator.

556

CHAMELEON

In an inscription in the Marm. Oxon. (p. 85,
ed. 1732), we find NeiXu otKov6p.u 'Adas : and
in another, mention is made of Miletus, who was
oeconomus of Smyrna (Ins. xxx. p. 26 ; see
Prideaux's note, p. 477). Another in Gruter
(p. uixci. 7, ed. Scaliger, 1616) contains the name
of " Secundus Arkarius Reipublicae Amerino-
rum ; " but the one which bears most upon our
point is given by Orellius (No. 2821), and men
tions the "arcarius provinciae Achaiae." For
further information see Reinesius, Syntagm.
Inscr. p. 431 ; La Cerda, Advers. Sacr. cap. 56 ;
Eisner, 06s. Sacr. ii. p. 68 ; and a note by Reine
sius to the Marmora Oxoniensia, p. 515, ed.
1732. Our translators had good reason for rendering
oiKov6pos by "chamberlain." In Stow's Sur
vey of London (bk. v. p. 162, ed. Strype) it is
said of the Chamberlain of the city of London :
" His office may be termed a publick treasury,
collecting the customs, monies, and yearly re
venues, and all other payments belonging to the
corporation ofthe city."
The office held by Blastus, " the king's
chamberlain " (Tbv iirl tov koituvos tov 0atri-
Xias), was entirely different from that above
mentioned (Acts xii. 20). It was a post of hon
our which involved great intimacy and influence
with the king. The margin of our Version
gives " that was over the king's bedchamber,"
the office thus corresponding to that of the prae-
fectus cubiculo (Suet. Dom. 16).
For Chamberlain as used in the 0. T., see
Eunuch. [W. A. W.]
CHAMELEON (n'3, coach ; x<V""A6W ;
chamaeleon). The Hebrew word which signifies
" strength " occurs in the sense of some kind of
unclean animal in Lev. xi. 30 ; the A. V. follows
the LXX. and Vulg. The R. V. renders it
" the land-crocodile." Various other interpreta
tions of the word have been given, for which see
Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 493). There seems to be
no reason, etymological or other, for the render
ing " chameleon," a lizard pre-eminently feeble
rather than strong, and whose skeleton-like body
affords absolutely no flesh that could be eaten.
It is more probable that the chameleon is
intended by the Hebrew T.'QViPi, tinshemeth
(Lev. xi. 30, A. V. " molej"' ' R. V. " cha
meleon"), where the context seems to imply
some lizard, while the etymology, "the
breather," may refer to this lizard, supposed by
the ancients to live upon air.
The present word is referred by Bochart
and others to the Arabic el waral, i.e. the
lizard, of which there are two species, dis
tinguished as waral el bahr and waral el 'ard.
"the water lizard" and "the laud lizard."
These huge lizards, the most powerful of their
class, are found in Africa, especially in Egypt,
and also in the region round the Dead Sea, and
in the southern wilderness. The former (Monitor
Niloticus) is rare in Southern Palestine, and is
distinguished from the other by a high keel
running along the whole length of its tail. It
is in the habit of searching for and devouring
crocodiles' eggs, on which account it was re
verenced by the ancient Egyptians, and is often
found sculptured on their gems (Forsk. Descr.
Anim. p. 13 ; Hasselquist, Travels, p. 221).
The land Monitor, Psammosaurus scincus, " the

CHAMOIS
land-crocodile " of the R. V., attains nearly the-
same size, four or five feet in length, has a long
muzzle and sharp-pointed teeth, and is common
in all the sandy districts of Southern Palestine-
and the Sinaitic desert. It also devours croco
diles' eggs. Both species are carnivorous, feed
ing on small lizards and jerboas, and are eaten
by the Arabs. [H. B. T.]
CHAMOIS (1DJ, zemer; KapenXoirdpSaXts ;
camelopardalus). In the list of animals allowed
for food (Deut. xiv. 5) mention is made of the
zemer. The etymology points to some leaping
animal, and is identical with the Arabic „* •
zamar, "to spring." The creature intended
cannot be the chamois of A. V. and R. V. as this
is a central European antelope, unknown in anv
Bible lands. The LXX., Vulgate, and some-
other Versions are still further astray in ren
dering it '' camelopard " or "giraffe," au
inhabitant of the plains of Central Africa and
which could only be known to the Jews by
specimens possibly brought into Egypt from
Ethiopia, but which never could have been
named as an article of food in the Levitical code
which only comprises the animals attainable in
Palestine or the wilderness of the wanderings.
Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 273) reasonably argues in
favour of some ibex or wild goat [see Knobel-
Dillmann on Lev. xi. 3], after showing the
impossibility of the interpretation of the
LXX. It is not likely to be the Ibex or wild
goat of Sinai, which was and still is common in
those countries, and is satisfactorily identified
with the Hebrew 71!'', yd'el.
Col. H. Smith (in Kitto's Cgc, art. Zemer)
suggests that some mountain sheep is intended,
and figures the Kebsch (Ovis tragelaphus), a wild
sheep not uncommon, he says, in the Mokattam
rocks near Cairo, and found also, though now very
rarely, in Sinai ; it is not improbable that this.

Aoudad Sheep.

is the animal denoted, for the names of the other
ruminants mentioned in the catalogue of beasts
allowed for food are, for the most part, identifi
able with other wild animals ofthe Bible lands,
and there can be no doubt that the Kebsch or

CHAMPIAN
Aoudad was known to the Israelites ; again,
¦Col. Smith's suggestion has partly the sanction
-of the Syriac Version, which reads as the
equivalent of the Hebrew word, " a mountain
goat." Many species of the wild mountain sheep
are known, and are all looked upon by the Arabs
as goats, which in form and habits they much
resemble. The North African Aoudad (Oris
tragelaphus) inhabits the Atlas, and all the
higher and more inaccessible North African
ranges, and is not unfrequently figured on the
monuments of Egypt. An allied species, the
Mouflon (Oris musimon), still exists in Corsica,
Sardinia, and Cyprus, and the same or a closely
allied form was formerly common in Spain, the
Greek mountains, and across Circassia to Northern
Persia, where it is said still to occur. The
Arabians speak of the Kebsch, which is very
probably identical with the Aoudad, as inhabit
ing the mountainous parts of Arabia; but though
undoubtedly still existing, and formerly probably
-extending to the Lebanon, no naturalist has yet
secured a specimen for comparison. The true
wild goat (Capra aegagrus) is still found in
the Taurid range, and I have procured it near
Aintab, on the northern frontier of Syria, where
it is looked on as a Kebsch. It is very possible
that both these species are included under
zemer. [H. B. T.]
CHAMPIAN, CHAMPION, old forms for
champaign in A. V. 1611 ed. Deut. xi. 30
(R. V. " Arabah ") ; Ezek. xxxvii. 2, marg. Cp.
B. D. Amer. ed. [F.]
CHA'NAAN (Xta/adv), the manner in which
the word Canaan is spelt in the A. V. of
the Apocrypha and N. T. (cp. Charran for
Haran, &c). Judith v. 3, 9, 10 ; Bar. iii. 22 ;
Sus. 56 ; 1 Mace. ix. 37 ; Acts vii. 11, xiii. 19
(R. V. " Canaan ").
Chanaanite for Canaanite, Judith v. 16.
[W. A. W.]
CHANEL -BONE, Job xxxi. 22, marg.
A. V. An old term for the collar-bone. See
Eastwood and Wright's Bible Word-Book, s. n.
¦Cp. D. B. Amer. ed. [F ]
CHANNUNE'US (Xavowaios ; Chana-
naeus), 1 Esd. viii. 48 [LXX. v. 47]. This
answers to Merari, if to anything, in the parallel
list of Ezra (viii. 19). [W. A. W.]
CHA'NOCH, Gen. iv. 17. A form of Enoch,
more nearly approaching to the Hebrew. Cp.
D. B. Amer. ed. [F.]
CHAPEL, the A. V. rendering of KHJ5D in
Amos vii 13 (R. V. "sanctuary;" ayiatr/j-a;
sanctificatio). The term is applied not to any
definite temple or shrine, but to Bethel itself,
which Jeroboam II. had filled with idolatry.
In the D. B. Amer. ed., it is suggested that the
rendering, which is as old as the Bishops' Bible,
arose from an idea that the king had a private
place of worship in Bethel. In 1 Mace. i. 47,
2 Mace. x. 2, xi. 3, " chapel " is applied to
places of idol and heathen worship. [F.]
CHAPITER. 1. nip3, in pi. 1111112, from
113, to surround; iirtBepa; capitellum. 2.
USX, from HQS, to draw out (Ges. Thes.); ai

CHARASHIM

557

KtipaAat; capita. The upper member of a
pillar — the same word which is now in use in
the slightly different form of "capital"; nlsu
possibly a roll moulding at the top of a building
or work of art, as iu the case (1) of tho pillars
of the Tabernacle and Temple, and of the two
pillars called especially Jachin and Boaz ; and
(2) of the lavers belonging to the Temple
(Ex. xxxviii. 17 ; 1 K. vii. 27, 31, 38). As to
the form and dimensions of the former, see
Tabernacle^ Temple, Boaz ; and of the latter,
Laver. (3) The word tVXI, roVi = head, is
also occasionally rendered " chapiter," as in the
description of the Tabernacle, Ex. xxxvi. 38,
xxxviii. 17, 19, 28 ; but in the account of the
Temple it is rendered by A. V. and R. V. " top,"
1 K. vii. 16, &c. [H. W. P.]
CHARAATH'ALAR (B. XapaaBaXdv, A.
Xapa 'ABaXap ; Carmellam), 1 Esd. v. 36. The
place-names " Cherub, Addan, and Immer," in
the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah, are here per
verted into " Charaathalar leading them, and
Aalar " (see Speaker's Comm. 1. c). [W. A. W.]
CHAR'ACA (eh Tbv XdpaKa [? Xdpa£] ; in
C/iaraca), a place mentioned only in 2 Mace. xii.
17, and there so obscurely that nothing can be
certainly inferred as to its position. It was on
the east of Jordan, being inhabited by the Jews
called "Tubieni," or of "Tobie" [Tob], who
were in Gilead (cp. 1 Mace. v. 9, 13) ; it was
apparently in the same part of the country as
Camion (Ashteroth-Karnaim), 2 Mace. xii.
18, 21, 26 ; and it was 750 furlongs (i.e. over
92 miles) from the city Caspis ; but where the
last place was situated, or in which direction
Charax was with regard to it, there is no clue.
Ewald (Gesch. iv. 359 n ) places it to the extreme
cast, and identifies it with Raphon ; but it was
more probably in the district immediately south
of the Nahr Yarmuk. The only name now
known on the east of Jordan which recalls
Charax is Kerak, the ancient Kir-Moab, on the
south-east of the Dead Sea, which in post-
biblical times was called XapdKtiujia and Mw-
Bovxdpa% (see the quotations in- Reland, p.
705); this, however, is too far to the south.
The Syriac Peshitto has J3JO, Carea, which
suggests Karkor (Judg. viii. 10). See Speaker's
Comm. on 2 Mace. I. c. [G.] [W.]
CHARA'SHIM, THE VALLEY OF ({Oil
D'Syin, " ravine of craftsmen ; " B. 'AyeaSSaeip,
A. yrjs Patrel/M, 3ti t4ktovss ?j(rav ; vallis arti-
ficum; R. V., in 1 Ch. iv. 14, Ge-harashim
[marg. : the valley of craftsmen] ; in Neh. xi.
35, BK*A. om., ««•• °e >"< Tnapao-ip. ; A. V. and
R. V. " the valiey of craftsmen " [marg. Ge-ha-
harasJiim]), a plaee mentioned twice , — 1 Ch.
iv. 14, as having been founded or settled by
Joab, a man of the tribe of Judah and family
of Othniel ; and Neh. xi. 35, as being reinhabited
by Benjamites after the Captivity. Its mention
by Nehemiah with Neballat, Lod (Lydda), Ono
(Kefr 'Ana), &c, fixes its position as in the
swelling ground at the back of the plain of
Sharon, east of Jaffa. A trace ofthe name' may
perhaps be retained in Kh. Hirsha, a ruin east
of Yolo (PEF. Mem. iii. 36). The Talmud
(as quoted by Schwarz, p. 135) reports the
valley of Charashim to consist of Lod and Ono,

558

CHARCHAMIS

which lay therein. Whether Joab the son
of Seraiah is the same person as the son of
Zeruiah will be best examined under the name
Joab. [G.] [W.]
CHAR'CHAMIS (B. XaPKap.is, A. KaA-xa-
p.vs; Charcamis), 1 Esd. i. 25 (LXX. v. 23).
The ed. of 1611 (with most editions) reads Car-
chamis. [Carchemish.] [F.]
CHAR'CHEMISH (K»p313; LXX. omits;
Charcamis), 2 Ch. xxxv. 20. '[CaiSCHemish.]
CHAR'CUS (B. Boxofe, A. Bapxovd; Barcus),
1 Esd. v. 32. Corrupted from BARKOS, the
corresponding name in the parallel lists of Ezra
(ii. 53) and Nehemiah (vii. 55) — possibly by a
change of 3 into 3. In D. B. Amer. ed. it is
suggested that the translators of the A. V. got
their reading of the name from the Aldine ed.
(XapKoiis). In the edition of 1611 the name is
spelt " Chareus." [F.]
CHA'REA (A. Xapia, B. om. ; Caree), 1 Esd.
v. 32. [Harsha.]
CHARGER (1. nil?j5, from a root signify
ing hollowness ; Tpvfixiov, kotvXv ; acetabulum ;
rendered " dish " by A. V. and R. V. in Ex.
xxv 29, xxxvii. 16, and Num. iv. 7. 2. 7D13K ;
tpvKT-lip > phiala ; only found in Ezra i. 9), a
shallow vessel for receiving water or blood, also
for presenting offerings of fine flour with oil
(Num. viii. 79 ; cp. Ges. Thes. p. 22). The English
word "charger," or that on which anything is
laid, comes from the French charger (still used
of guns) and the old English charge, i.e, to load.
Cp. Eastwood and Wright, Bible Word-Book,
s. n. The " chargers " mentioned in Numbers
are said to have been of silver, and to have
weighed each 130 shekels, or 65 oz. (Hussey,
Ane. Weights, u. ix. p. 190).
The daughter of Herodias brought the head
of St. John the Baptist in a charger, eri ttIvoki
(Matt. xiv. 8) ; probably » trencher or platter,
as Hom. Od. i 141 :
Sairpbs Se Kpeuav rrivaKas irapc'dnKci' aetpas
17tlV70UliV,
Cp. iriva£, Luke xi. 39, A. V. and R. V. " plat
ter;" and Luke i. 63, irivaKiSiov, R. V. "a
writing-tablet." [Basin.] [H. W. P.]
CHARGES, Acts xxi. 24. « Be at charges
with [R. V. " for "] them," i.e. Bear the expense
of their offerings. The word comes, like
Charger, from the French charger, to load;
hence something laid upon a man, cost or ex
pense. [F.]
CHARIOT. 1. 331, from 331, to ride;
iipfi.a ; currus : sometimes including the horses
(2 Sam. viii. 4 ; x. 18). 2. 3-131, a chariot or
horse (Ps. civ. 3). 3. 33113, m. from same
root as (1), a chariot, litter, or seat (Lev. xv. 9,
Cant. iii. 10). 4. .1331D, f. 5. rfclB, from ty,
roll (Ps. xlvi. 10, BVpeYs; scutum).*"' 6. j'PIBK.
Cant. iii. 9 ; tpvpeiov ; ferculum. (Between ' 1-4
there is similarity in signification.) A ve
hicle used either for warlike or peaceful pur
poses, but most commonly the former. Of the

CHARIOT
latter use the following only are probable in
stances, (1) as regards the Israelites, 1 K. xviii.
44, (2) as regards other nations, Gen. xii. 43
xlvi. 29 ; 2 K. v. 9 ; Acts viii. 28.
The earliest mention of chariots in Scripture
is in Egypt, where Joseph, as a mark of dis
tinction, was placed in Pharaoh's second chariot
(Gen. xii. 43), and later when he went in his
own chariot to meet his father on his entrance
into Egypt from Canaan (xlvi. 29). In the
funeral procession of Jacob chariots also formed
a part, possibly by way of escort or as a guard
of honour (1. 9). The next mention of Egyptian
chariots is for a warlike purpose (Ex. xiv. 7).
In this point of view chariots ' among some
nations of antiquity, as elephants among others
may be regarded as filling the place of heavy
artillery in modern times, so that the military
power of a nation might be estimated by the
number of its chariots. Thus Pharaoh in pur
suing Israel took with him 600 chariots. The
Canaanites of the valleys of Palestine were en
abled to resist the Israelites successfully in con
sequence of the number of their chariots of iron,
i.e. perhaps armed with iron scythes (Ges. s. t>, ;
Josh. xvii. 18 ; Judg. i. 19). Jabin, king of
Canaan, had 900 chariots (Judg. iv. 3). The
Philistines in Saul's time had 30,000, a number
which, like the 32,000 mentioned below, can
hardly be correct, and is probably due to a cor
rupt reading of the text (1 Sam. xiii. 5, OBOES'
for T\ehe>, so LXX. [Luc] and Pesh., cp. Driver,
Notes on the Heb. text of the BB. of Sam., in loco.
The LXX. [B.] and Joseph. [An*, vi. 6, § 1]
agree with the Heb. ; Josephus adds 300,000
infantry). David took from Hadadezer king of
Zobah 1000 chariots (2 Sam. viii. 4), and from
the Syrians a little later 700 (x. 18), who in
order to recover their ground collected 32,000
chariots (1 Ch. xix. 7). The Hittites are said in
an Egyptian poem to have brought into the field
2,500 chariots in a contest with Rameses II. B.C.
1361 (Conder, Heth and Moab, c. i. p. 20). Up to
the time of Davifl the Israelites possessed few if
any chariots, partly no doubt in consequence of
the theocratic prohibition against multiplying
horses, for fear of intercourse with Egypt, and
the regal despotism implied in the possession of
them (Deut. xvii. 16 ; 1 Sam. viii. 11, 12). But
to some extent David (2 Sam. viii. 4), and in a
much greater degree Solomon, broke through
the prohibition from seeing the necessity of
placing his kingdom, under its altered circum
stances, on a footing of military equality or
superiority towards other nations. He raised,
therefore, and maintained a force of 1400
chariots (1 K. x. 25) by taxation on certain
cities, agreeably to Eastern custom in such
matters (1 K. ix. 19, x. 25 ; Xen. Arab. i. 4, 9).
The chariots themselves and also the horses
were imported chiefly from Egypt, and the cost
of each chariot was 600 shekels of silver, and of
each horse 150 (1 K. x. 29). [Shekel.] From
this time chariots were regarded as among the
most important arms of war, though' the sup
plies of them and of horses appear to have been
still mainly drawn from Egypt (i K. xxii. 34 ;
2 K. ix. 16, 21, xiii. 7, 14, xviii. 24, xxiii. 30 ;
Is. xxxi. 1). The prophets also allude frequently
to chariots as typical of power (Ps. xx. 7, civ. 3 ;
Jer. li. 21 ; Zech. vi. 1).

CHARIOT

CHARIOT

559

Chariots also of other nations are mentioned,
as of Assyria (2 K. xix. 23 ; Ezek. xxiii. 24), Syria
(2 Sam. viii. 4, and 2 K. vi. 14, 15), and Persia

Ethiopian or Abyssinian eunuch of Queen Can
dace, who is described as sitting in his chariot
reading (Acts viii. 28, 29, 38).
Jewish chariots were no doubt imi
tated from Egyptian models, if not
actually imported from Egypt. The fol
lowing description of Egyptian chariots
is taken from Sir G. Wilkinson. They
appear to have come into use not earlier
than the 18th dynasty (B.C. 1530). The-
war chariot, from which the chariot used
in peace did not essentially differ, was
extremely simple in its construction. It
consisted, as appears both from Egyptian
paintings and reliefs, as well as from an
actual specimen preserved at Florence,
of a nearly semicircular wooden frame
with straightened sides, having the
hinder part resting on the axle-tree of
a pair of wheels, and supporting a rail
pf wood or ivory attached to the frame
by leathern thongs and one wooden up
right in front. The floor of the car was
made of rope network, intending to give
a more springy footing to the occupants..
The car was mounted from the back,
which was open, and the sides were
strengthened and ornamented with lea
ther and metal binding. Attached to
the off or right-hand side, and crossing
each other diagonally, were the bow-case-
aud, inclining backwards, the quiver and
spear-case. If two persons were in the-
chariot, a second bow-case was added.
The wheels, of which there were two,.
An Egyptian war-chariot, ^thbow-caaes and complete fornittu-e. (Wilkinson.) ha(j sjx spokes : those of peace chariots had

(Is. xxiii. 6, 7). Antiochus Eupator is said
to have had 300 chariots armed with scythes
(2 Mace. xiii. 2).
In the N. T., the only mention made of a
chariot except in Rev. ix. 9 is in the case of the

sometimes four, fastened to the axle by a linch
pin secured by a thong. There were no traces ;:
but the horses, which were often of different
colours, wore only a breast-band and girths which.
were attached to the saddle, together with head;

Egyptian princes in their chariot. (WUkinson.)

furniture consisting of cheek pieces, throat-lash,
head-stall, and straps across the forehead and
nose. A bearing-rein was fastened to a ring or
hook in front of the saddle, and the driving-
reins passed through other rings on each side of
both horses. From the' central point of the
saddle rose a short stem of meta], ending in a

knob, whether for use or mere ornament is not
certain. The driver stood on the off-side, and
in discharging his arrow hung his whip from
the wrist. In some instances the king is repre
sented alone in his chariot with the reins
fastened round his body, thus using his weapons
with his hands at liberty. Most commonly two-

560 CHARIOT
pefrsons, and sometimes three, rode in the
-chariot, of whom the third was employed to
carry the state umbrella (1 K. xxii. 34 ; 2 K. ix.
20, 24 ; Acts viii. 38). A second chariot usually
accompanied the king to battle, to be used in
case of necessity (2 Ch. xxxv. 24; 1 Esd. i. 31).
On peaceable occasions the Egyptian gentle
man sometimes drove alone in his chariot,
attended by servants on foot. The horses wore
housings to protect them from heat and insects.
For royal personages and women of rank an
umbrella was carried by a bearer, or fixed up
right in the chariot. Sometimes mules were
driven instead of horses, and in travelling
-sometimes oxen, but for travelling purposes the
sides of the chariot appear to have been closed.
One instance occurs of a four-wheeled car,
which, like the TtTpdKvxXos S/ta|o (Herod, ii.
63), was used for religious purposes. [Cart.]
The .processes of manufacture of chariots and
harness are fully illustrated by existing sculp
tures, in which also are represented the chariots
used by neighbouring nations (Wilkinson, Ane.
Egypt, i. 368, 386 ; ii. 75, 76 [1878]). Recent
¦examination of Egyptian papyrus records has
brought to light an account of a journey per
formed in the 14th century B.C. by an Egyp
tian mohar, either a tax-gatherer or court-
messenger, in a chariot attended by his servant.
The journey appears to have begun from a place
near Aleppo, and the travellers in its course
passed near the Sea of Galilee, and finally
-returned to Egypt by way of Joppa. They
travelled chiefly over the more level parts of
the country, but an accident is described as
happening to the chariot in descending a ravine
(Survey of West. Pal. vol. iv. pp. 163, 165 ;
Conder, Heth and Moab, p. 100).
The earlier Assyrian war-chariot and harness
did not differ essentially from the Egyptian.

Assyrian chariot. (Layard.)
Two or three persons stood in the car, but the
driver is sometimes represented as standing on
the near side, whilst a third warrior in the
chariot held a shield to protect the archer in
• discharging his arrow. The car appears to have
had closed sides. The war-chariot wheels had
six spokes ; the state or peace chariot eight or
more, and a third person in state-processions
carried the royal umbrella. A third horse, like
the Greek irapiiopos, was generally attached
(Layard, Nineveh, ii. 350).
1 In later times the third horse was laid aside,
the wheels were made higher, and had eight
spokes : and the front of the car, to which the
quiver was removed from its former side
position, was made square instead of round.

CHARIOT
The cars were more highly ornamented, pan
elled, inlaid with valuable woods and metals
and painted. The embroidered housings in
which in earlier times the horses were clothed
were laid aside, and plumes and tassels used to
decorate their necks and foreheads (Layard
Nineveh, ii. 353, 356; Nineveh and Bahilon
pp. 341, 587, 603, 618 ; Mon. of Nin. 2nd series'
pi. 24 ; Ezek. xxvii. 20).
_ The Persian chariot, as appears from the sculp
tures at Persepolis, and also at Kouyunjik, shows
great similarity to the Assyrian ; but the pro
cession represented at the former place contains
a chariot or car with wheels of twelve spokes
while from the sculptures at the latter it
appears that the Elamites, or Persians, besides
chariots containing two persons which were
sometimes drawn by four horses, used a kind of
cart drawn by a single mule or more, consisting
of a stage on high wheels capable of holding
five or six persons, of whom the driver sat on
a low stool, with his legs hanging on each side
of the pole. Xenophon mentions one, perhaps
only a state-chariot, with four poles and eight
hnrses. Chariots drawn by asses, i.e. perhaps
mules, and also by camels, are mentioned by
Isaiah (Is. xxi. 7, xxii. 6 ; Ezek. xxiii. 24 ; Xen.
Cyrop. iv. 3, 1 and 2, § 22, vi. 4, 2 ; Niebuhr,
Voyage, ii. 105 ; Chardin, Voyage, viii. 257, pi.
lix. ; Layard, Nin. $ Bab. pp. 447-449 ; Olearius,
Travels, p. 302).

Assyiian chariot. (Layard.)
Chariots armed with scythes (app.aTa SpeiraWj-
tpopa, Xen. Anab. i. 7, § 10) may perhaps be in
tended by the " chariots of iron ' of the Canaan
ites ; they are mentioned as used by Ninus, B.C.
c. 2000 (Diod. Sic. ii. 5, quoting from Ctesias,
Ctes. fr. p. 395), as part of the equipment of
Antiochus (2 Mace. xiii. 2) and of Darius (Diod.
Sic. xvii. 53 ; Appian, Syr. 32).
Among the parts of wheeled-carriages men
tioned in the A. V. are : 1. the Wheels, D'JSift
amoves, rotae ; also Q11^ ?3 ; Tpoxot, rotae. 2.
Spokes, D,1B'n, radii. 3. Naves, D'33 ; modioli.
4. Felloes, D'li5tS'n ; vuroi ; apsides. 5. Axles,
JliT ; xe"P« ! axes- To Put the horses t0 the
carriage, IDS ; fe«|ai ; jungere; and once (Mic.
i. 13), orn. T
The Persian custom of sacrificing horses to
the Sun (Xen. Cyrop. viii. 3, 12) seems to have
led to offerings of chariots and hnrses to the
same object of worship by the Jewish monarchs
who fell into idolatry (2 K. xxiii. 11 ; Ezek. vm.
17; P. della Valle, xv. § ii. p. 255; .Winer,
Wagen). ¦ [H. W. P.]

CHARMER
CHARMER, Deut. xviii. 11; Ps. lviii. 5;
Is. xix. 3. [Divination; Enchantments; Ser
pent-charming.] CHAR'MIS(B. Xapp.ls,A.Xa\p.els; Charmi),
son of Melchiel, one of the three " ancients "
<(irpe<rj3i5T6poi) or " rulers " (&pxovr(s) of Beth
ulia (Judith vi. 15, viii. 10, x. 6). [W. A. W.]
CHAR'RAN (Xap'pdv; Charan), Acts vii.
2, 4. [Haran.]
CHASE. [Hunting.]
CHAS'EBA (Xatrt-Pd; Caseba), one of the
"servants ofthe Temple" (1 Esd. v. 31). There
is no name corresponding to it in the lists of
Ezra and Nehemiah (cp. Speaker's Comm. in
loco). [W. A. W.]
CHA'VAH, Gen. iii. 20 marg. ; a form of
Eve more nearlv approaching the original
Hebrew. Cp. D. B. Amer. ed. [F.]
CHAWS, A. V. ed. 1611, Ezek. xxix. 4,
xxxviii. 4 ; considered iu D. B. Amer. ed. an old
form of "jaws " (R. V.). [F.]
CHE'BAR (133 ; Xo$dp ; Chobar), » river
in the " land of the Chaldeans " (Ezek. i. 3), on
the banks of which the exiles, who had been
carried away by Nebuchadnezzar with Jehoi
aehin, lived ; and where Ezekiel saw his earlier
visions (Ezek. i. 1, 3, iii. 15, 23, x. 15, 22,
xliii. 3). One of the towns where the Jews
dwelt, and which was situated on the banks of
this river, was called Tel-abib (equivalent to
Til-abubi, " the mound of the storm " or " of the
'flood," according to Fried. Delitzsch). It is
commonly regarded as the same as the Habor
(Heb. 113n, Assyr. Habur), the river of Gozan,
to which a portion of the Israelites was removed
by the Assyrians (2 K. xvii. 6). This, however,
is incorrect, the two names being in reality very
dissimilar ; and, in addition to this, it is now
generaUy acknowledged that the Habor of the
Bible is the modern Khabour, the Greek 'AySiifS-
fias (0. T. 'A0up and Xafitbp), a river which
joins the Euphrates near the site of the ancient
Cercesium, quite beyond the boundary of Chal
dea, taken in the usual sense of the O. T. The
Cliebar of Ezekiel was certainly within Baby
lonia, and some of those who have located it
there have argued that it is the Nahr Malcha,
or Royal Canal of Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest
of all the cuttings of Mesopotamia (cp. 133.
kaber, " great "). This canal, however, is appa
rently the Ndr-sarri of the monuments, and
this makes its identification with the Chebar a
little doubtful.' Notwithstanding the numerous
lists of old Babylonian rivers and canals which
exist in Assyrian and Babylonian literature, the
name of the Chebar has not yet been found in
the native records. The etymology which
connects the word Chebar with the common
Semitic root 133, " to be great," is most likely
correct, though it is probably more to the width
or to the depth of the river, or canal, than to
its length that the name refers. The Greek
form Xo0ap seems to point to some such form as

CHEBEL

5G1

* It is nevertheless not impossible that this river or
canal may have been known by two names.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

Kubaru in Babylonian. Compare the word
kuburru, which seems to be a synonym of sent,
"supreme." [T. G. P.]
CHE'BEL (?3n), one of the singular topo
graphical terms iu which the ancient Hebrew
language abounded, and which give so much
force and precision to its records. The ordinary
meaning of the word Chebel is a "rope" or
" cord ;"" and in this sense it frequently occurs
both literally (as in R. V. of Josh. ii. 15, " cord ; "
1 K. xx. 31, " ropes ; " Is. xxxiii. 23, " tacklings ;"
Amos vii. 17, "line") and metaphorically (see
Eccles. xii. 6 ; Is. v. 18 ; Hos. xi. 4). From this it
has passed— with a curious correspondence to our
own modes of speech — to denote a body of men,
a " band " (as in Ps. cxix. 61). In 1 Sam. a. 5,
10, our word "string" would not be inappro
priate to the circumstances — " a string of pro
phets coming down from the high place." Fur
ther, it is found in other metaphorical senses,
arising out of its original meaning (see Job xviii.
10; Ps. xviii. 4; Jer. xiii. 21). From the idea
of a measuring-line (Mic. ii. 5), it has come to
mean a "portion" or "allotment" (see 1 Ch.
xvi. 18 ; Ps. cv. 11 ; Ezek. xlvii.. 13). It is the
word used in the familiar passage " the lines *
are fallen unto me in pleasant places " (Ps. xvi.
6). But in its topographical sense, as meaning
a "tract" or "district," we find it always at
tached to the region of Argob, which is in
variably designated by this, and by no other
term (Deut. iii. 4, 13, 14 ; IK. iv. 13). It has
been already shown how exactly applicable it is
to the circumstances of the case. [Argob.] But
in addition to the observations there made, the
reader should be referred to the report of Mr.
C. C. Graham, who in Cambridge Essays, 1858,
abundantly confirms the statements of his pre
decessors as to the abrupt definiteness of the
boundary of the district. No clue is afforded
as to the reason of this definite localization of
the term Chebel ; but a comparison of the fact
that Argob was taken possession of by Manasseh
— a part of the great tribe of Joseph — with the
use of this word by that tribe, and by Joshua
in his retort, in the very early and characteristic
fragment, Josh. xvii. 5, 14 (A. V. " portion "),
prompts the suggestion that it may have been a
provincialism in use amongst that large and
independent part of Israel. Should this be
thought untenable, its application to the " rocky
shore " of Argob may be illustrated and justified
by its use (Zeph. ii. 5-7 ; A. V. " coast ") for
the " coast line " of the Mediterranean along
Philistia. In connexion with the sea-shore it is
also employed in Josh. xix. 29. [Argob.]
The words used for Chebel in the older Versions
are trxolvtcrfut, irepip-eTpov, irepixupov; regio,
funiculus. Ewald (Gesch. vi. 204, note) seems to derive
" Oblias," the title by which St. James was dis
tinguished (Euseb. E. S. ii. 23), from 7311 and
DV = Dltah. [G] [W.]
a The use of the word in this sense in our own idiom
atic expression — " hard lines " — will not be forgotten.
Other correspondences between Chebel as applied to
measurement, and our own words " rod " and " chain,"
and also "cord," as applied in the provinces and colo
nies to solid measures of wood, &c, are obvious.
2 0

562

CHEDORLAOMER

CHEDORLA'OMER (IPJ^II? ; Xo5oA\o-
yop.6p ; Chodorlahomor), a king of Elam, in
the time of Abraham, who, with three other
subordinate princes of Babylonia and the
neighbouring region, carried on two campaigns
in Palestine, where the kings of Sodom, Go
morrah, and other cities were reduced to ser
vitude. For twelve years he retained his hold
over them ; in the thirteenth they rebelled ;
in the next year, however, he and his allies
marched upon their country, and, after defeat
ing many neighbouring tribes, encountered the
five kings of the plain in the vale of Siddim.
He completely routed them ; slew the kings of
Sodom and Gomorrah, and carried away much
spoil, together with the family of Lot. A rescue,
however, was effected by Abraham upon hearing
of the captivity of his nephew (Gen. xiv. 17).
Recent Assyriological discoveries have shown
that there is nothing improbable in a Babylonian
conquest of Palestine in the time of Abraham,
as critics once urged. At a much earlier period
Sargon I. of Accad, who reigned B.C. 3800, not
only erected a monument on the Syrian coast,
but crossed over into Cyprus, where a seal-
cylinder bearing the name of his son and suc
cessor, Naram-Sin, has been found (TSBA.
v. 2). The name of Kudur-Laomer is formed
in accordance with other Elamite names.
Lagamar, also written Lagamal, — on Susian
bricks, Lagameri, — was an Elamite deity, after
wards adopted by the Babylonians, and Kudur,
"servant," appears as the first element of
many Elamite names. We learn from Assur-
bani-pal that the Elamite king Kudur-nan-
khundi had carried away from Erech to Susa an
image of the goddess Nana 1635 years before
his own recovery of it ; that is to say, B.C.
2280. Recently discovered dynastic tables make
Khammu-ragas king of Babylon at this date
(B.C. 2290-2235). Now Khammu-ragas first
made Babylon the capital of the whole country
by conquering Southern Babylonia or Sumir
(Shinar), governed at that time by Rim-Agu,
also known as Erim-Agu or Eriv-Aku, " minister
of the Moon-god." Rim-Agu had originally
fixed the seat of his power at Larsa (now Sen
kereh) ; from this centre he had extended his
sway over all northern and southern Babylonia,
with the exception of Babylon itself and the
district immediately surrounding it. It was
the overthrow of Rim-Agu which secured to
Khammu-ragas the sovereignty of Chaldaea.
Rim-Agu or Eriv-Aku calls himself the son of
Kudur-Mabug, " the lord of Yavutbal," or Elam,
and " the father of Palestine," from which we
may infer that the rule of Rim-Agu in Babylonia
was due to the conquest of the country by his
father, and also that Kudur-Mabug claimed
dominion over Palestine. Bricks of Rim-Agu
prove that he reigned at Larsa during his
father's lifetime, and that Kudur-Mabug thus
exercised the same suzerainty over Babylonia
that Chedor-Laomer is represented as exercising
in Genesis. Indeed it is diflicult not to compare
Eriv-Aku, king of Larsa, with the biblical
Arioch, king of Ellasar. The names of Chedor-
Laomer (Kudur-Lagamar) and Kudur-Mabug,
however, are not the same, but it is possible
that Chedorlaomer may have been the successor
of Kudur-Mabug and the predecessor of Kudur-
Nankhundi, the latter being the king of Elam

CHELLUH
who, according to an inscription of Khammu-
ragas, assisted Rim-Agu in his final struggle
against the king of Babylon. Dr. Hommel
identifies Amraphel, king of Shinar or Sumir
with Sin-muballidh, the predecessor of Khammu-
ragas, but this does not seem probable. We
must see in Amraphel the king of Southern
Babylonia whose overthrow brought with it
the submission of that part of the country to
Rim-Agu. [A. H. S.j
CHEESE is mentioned only three times in
the Bible, and on each occasion under a different
name in the Hebrew : (1.) ilDUa, from |3J, fo
curdle (Job x. 10), referred to, not historically,
but by way of illustration : (2.) {"ID, from Vin»
to cut (rpvtpaXiSes tov ydXaxros, LXX. ; formel-
lae casei, Vulg., 1 Sam. xvii. 18); the Chaldee
and Syriac give |33-1J ; Hesychius explains
TpvtpaXiSes as Tp-fj/iaTa tov cWaAou rupov :
(3.) 1p3 J11SB', from nSB", to scrape (SatpiiB
Pouv, LXX. ; cheese of kine, A.V. and R.V. 2 Sam.
xvii. 29 : the Vulgate, following Theodotion's
rendering, yaXaBnva p.otrxdpia, gives pingues
vitulos, guided by the position of the words after
" sheep " : the Targum and other Jewish authori
ties, however, identify the substance with those
mentioned above). It is difficult to decide how
far these terms correspond with our notion of
cheese ; for they simply express various degrees
of coagulation. It may be observed that cheese
is not at the present day common among the
Bedouin Arabs, butter being decidedly preferred ;
but there is a substance, closely corresponding
to those mentioned in 1 Sam. xvii., 2 Sam. xvii.,
consisting of coagulated butter-milk, which is
dried until it becomes quite hard, and is then
ground : the Arabs eat it mixed with butter
(Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins, i. 60). In
reference to this subject, it is noticeable that
the ancients seem generally to have used either
butter or cheese, but not both : thus the Greeks
had in reality but one expression for the two,
for fSovrvpov = 0ovs, Tvp6s, " cheese of kine : "
• the Romans used cheese exclusively, while all
nomad tribes preferred butter. On the distinction
between cheese proper and coagulated milk,
see Pliny, xi. 96. [W. L. B.]
CHELA'L (^3, Ges. = perfection; LXX 2
Esd. B. Xtt77A, A. XoA^A, X. ESe«x'- HA [C0UP"
ling it with the preceding name]; Chalal),
Ezra x. 30 ; one of those who had taken a
" strange " wife. [W. A. W.] [F.]
CHELCI'AS (XeXKtas, le. TVphn, * por
tion of the Lord, Hilkiah; Helcias). 1. The
father of Susanna (Hist, of Susanna, vv. 2,
29, 63). Tradition (Hippol. in Susam. i. 689,
ed. Migne) represents him as the brother of
Jeremiah, and identical with the priest who
found the copy of the Law in the time of Josiah
(2 K. xxii. 8). [B. F- W.]
2. The ancestor of Baruch (Bar. i. 1).
3. The high-priest in the time of Isaiah (Bar.
i. 7). [W.A.W.]
CHEL'LIANS, THE (Judith ii. 23).
[CllELLUS.] CHEL'LUH (^3, Keri, Wl^O ; BK.
XeXKetd; A. XeXta; Chilian), Ezra x. 35. One
of the sons of Bani who had foreign wives.

CHELLUS
CHEL'LUS (BA. XeXois, K. XetrAotis ; Vulg.
omits), named amongst the places beyond (i.e. on
the west of) Jordan to which Nabuchodonosor
sent his summons (Judith i. 9). Except its
mention with " Kades," there is no clue to its
situation. Reland (Pal. p. 717) conjectures that
it may be Chalutza, niM?n, a place which, under
the altered form of Elusa, was well known to
the Roman and Greek geographers (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco). With this agrees the subsequent
mention of the " land of the Chellians " (B. ttjs
XaXSaluv, NA. XeXeuv ; terra Cellon), " by the
wilderness," to the south of whom were the
children of Ishmael (Judith ii. 23). Volkmar
(Einl. i. d. Apok. i. 191) adopts the reading
XaXSaluv (B. and Syriac). [G.] [W.]
CHE'LOD (B. XeXcoiX, A. XeXeoiS, N*.
Xso-Xaiovfid, Xc'* XeXatoiS ; Old Lat. Chelleuth,
Vulg. om. ; Syr. Chaldeans). " Many nations of
the sons of Chelod" were among those who
obeyed the summons of Nebuchodonosor to his
war with Arphaxad (Judith i. 6). The word
is apparently corrupt. Simonis suggests XdXuv,
perhaps Ctesiphon. Ewald conjectures it to be a
nickname for the Syrians, " sons of the moles "
Ijh (Gesch. iv. 543). See other suggestions
in Speaker's Comm. i. 1. [G.] [F.]
CHELU'B (3-1^3, bird-cage). 1. A man
among the descendants of Judah, described as
the brother of Shuah and the father of Mechir
(1 Ch. iv. 11). In the LXX. the name is given
as Caleb, XaXefS, the father of Ascha ; the
daughter of the well-known Caleb was Achsah ;
Vulg. Caleb.
2. A. XeXoi$, B. XoPoiS ; Chelub. Ezri the
son of Chelub was "over them who did the
work ofthe field for tillage ofthe ground," one of
David's officers (1 Ch. xxvii. 26). [W. A. W.]
CHELU'BAI 03-1^3 ; A. 6 XoAe'ft B. o
Xa/SeX ; Calubi), the son of Hezron, of one of
the chief families of Judah. The name occurs
in 1 Ch. ii. 9 only ; and from a comparison of
this passage with ii. 18 and 42, it would
appear to be but another form of the name
Caleb. It is worth noting that, while in this
passage Jerahmeel is stated to be a brother
of Chelubai, it appears from 1 Sam. xxvii. 10
that the Jerahmeelites were placed on the
" south of Judah," where also were the posses
sions of the house of Caleb (Judg. i. 15 ; 1 Sam.
xxv. 3, xxx. 14). In the Syriac Vers, the
name is ..*>\«v Said ; probably a transcriber's
error for ..o\«v Celubi (Burrington, i. 209).
[G] [W.]
CHEMA'RIMS, THE (DHO?n ; aruspices,
aeditui). This word only occurs in the text of
the A. V. [R. V. " Chemarim "] in Zeph. i. 4
(T.7 omits). In 2 K. xxiii. 5 (BA. oi Xu/iape'tp.)
it is rendered " idolatrous priests " (A. V. and
R. V.), and in Hos. x. 5 [LXX. had a different
reading] " priests " (A. V. and R. V.), and in
both cases "Chemarim" is given in the
margin. In Syriac the word |}iOQ3, cumro,
is used in Judg. xvii. 5, 12, of the priest of
Micah, while in Is. lxi. 6 it denotes the priests
of the true God, and in Heb. ii. 17 is applied to
Christ Himself. The root in Syriac signifies " to

CHENAANAII

303

be sad," and hence cumro is supposed to denote
a mournful, ascetic person, and hence a priest
or monk (cp. Arab. Aaj\, abil, and Syr.
11 . «il. abild, in the same sense). Kimchi de
rived DHIDS from a root signifying " to be
black," because the idolatrous priests wore
black garments ; and this is the signification
adopted by most moderns (see QPB.3 on Zeph.
(. c), the black-robed priest being taken as a
term equivalent to an unlawful or non-levitical
priest (see Keil on 2 K. /. c). The word occurs
in Nabatean Inscriptions (MV.11. Cp. ZATW.
x. 169). In the Peshitto of Acts xix. 35, the
feminine form of the word is used to render the
Greek vcuK6pov, " a temple keeper." Compare the
Vulg. aeditui, which is the translation of Chem
arim in two passages. [W. A. W.] [F.]
CHEMO'SH (C"lD3 ; Xapuis ; Chamos), the
Baal or Sun-god of the Moabites (Num. xxi. 29 ;
1 K. xi. 7 ; 2 K. xxiii. 13 ; Jer. xlviii. 7, 13, 46),
whose worship was introduced into Judah by
Solomon and abolished by Josiah. In Judg. xi. 24
Chemosh also appears as the supreme god of the
Ammonites ; but this is probably a false reading,
since the title of the national deity of Ammon
was Milcom or Malcham (Moloch), " the king "
(1 K. xi. 7 ; 2 K. xxiii. 13 ; 2 Sam. xii. 30, Heb.
text ; Jer. xlix. 1, Heb. text). On the Moabite
Stone (Records of the Past, N. S. ii. 200-3)
Mesha speaks of Chemosh as if no other
deity were recognised in the country, though
the name of the god is once compounded with
that of the male Ashtar (see Atargatis). The
stone itself is stated to have been erected as " a
stone of salvation " to Chemosh at Kirkhah, and
the oppression of Moab by Israel is ascribed to
the anger of Chemosh. Then " Chemosh had
mercy " on it, and " said " to Mesha, " Go, take
Nebo." Mesha accordingly shook off the Israeli
tish yoke, " killed all the warriors " of Ataroth
" for the well-pleasing of Chemosh," and took
from Nebo " the vessels of Yahveh (Jehovah)
and offered them before Chemosh." Finally,
"Chemosh drove out" Israel from Jahaz, and
"said " to Mesha, "Go down, make war against
Horonaim," which belonged to Edom. When
regarded as the god of generation, Chemosh was
known as Baal-Peor (Num. xxv.), as has been
observed by Jerome (Comm. in Is. xv. 2). The
Jewish legend that he was worshipped under
the form of a black star is a mere invention.
The name enters into composition with that of
Chemosh-melech, the father of Mesha, as well as
of Kamusu-nadbu, or Chemosh-nadab, who was
king of Moab in the time of Sennacherib ; but
the etymology of it is uncertain. [A. H. S.]
CHEN A' AN AH (.13^3; B. Xavdav, A.
Xavavdv; Chananah; according to Gesen. fem. of
Canaan ()1?33), but this is doubtful). 1. Son
of Bilhan, son of Jediael, son of Benjamin, head
of a Benjamite house (1 Ch. vii. 10), probably of
the family of the Belaites. [Bela.]
2. Father, or ancestor, of Zedekiah, the false
prophet who made him horns of iron, and en
couraged Ahab to go up against Ramoth-gilead,
and smote Micaiah on the cheek (1 K. xxii. 11
[B. Xaavd], 24; 2 Ch. xviii. 10 [A. Xavaavd~],
23). He may be the same as 1. [A. C. H.]
2 0 2

564

CHENANI

CHENA'NI OJ33, if i. q. iVJJB = Jehovah
liath protected or set 'up), one of the Levites who
assisted at the solemn purification of the people
under Ezra (Neh. ix. 4 only). The names Bani
and Chenani (A. V., R. V., and Vulg.) are by
K°-»A. read viol Xavavi, as if reading "sons
of 033) Chenani " , B. omits. [F.]
CHEN ANT AH ('11X033, Jehovah hath pro
tected: in 1 Ch. xv. 22, B. Kuvevtd, A. Xuvevla;
in 1 Ch. xv. 27, B. 'UXovias, N. EieXov'tas, A.
Xevevias; in 1 Ch. xxvi. 29, B. Xuveveid, A.
Xuxevias: Chonenias), chief of the Levites,
when David carried the ark to Jerusalem
(1 Ch. xv. 22 ; xxvi. 29. See R. V. and QPB.3
on these passages). In 1 Ch. xv. 27, his name is
written ITJ33. [F-]
CHEPHA'R-HAAMMO'NAI QftBVn 133.
the Ketib of " hamlet of the Ammonites ; "
B. Ketpeipct. koX Tftovei, A. Katpripa/xptiv ; Villa
Emona ; R. V. adopts the Keri, Chephar-ammoni),
a place mentioned among the towns of Ben
jamin (Josh, xviii. 24). No certain trace of it
has yet been discovered, but in its name is
doubtless preserved the memory of an incur
sion of the Ammonites, possibly that mentioned
in Judg. x. 9, up the steep ravines which lead
from the Jordan valley to the highlands of
Benjamin. Conder (MS. note) proposes to iden
tify it with Kh. Kefr 'Ana, north of Beitin on
the road to Ndblus. [G.] [W.]
CHEPHI'RAH (fTVSSil, with the definite
article, except in the later Books, — "the ham
let:" B. Ketpeipd, A. Xetp- [in Josh, ix.] ; B.
Kai 4>eipd, A. Xetp- [in Josh, xviii.] : Caphira
[Josh, ix.], Caphara [Josh, xviii.], Cephira [Ezra
and Neh.]), one of the four cities of the Gibeon-
ites (Josh. ix. 17 [LXX. v. 23]), and named
afterwards among the towns of Benjamin, with
Ramah, Beeroth, and Mizpeh (xviii. 26 [LXX.
' v. 27]). The men of Chephirah returned with
Zerubbabel from Babvlon (Ezra ii. 25, B. Ka-
tpetpd, A. -i- [in 2 Esd.]; Neh. vii. 29, B.
Katpetpd, A. Xatpipd). The Samaritan Version
of Gen. xiii. 3 renders Hai (Ai) by Cephrah,
i11B3 ; but this cannot be Chephirah, since both
Ai and it are mentioned together in Josh. ix.
(cp. v. 3 with v. 17), and in the lists of Ezra
aud Nehemiah already quoted. Dr. Robinson
seems to have discovered it under the scarcely
altered name of Kefireh, in the mountain-
country on the western side of Benjamin, about
If miles north of Kuryet el-'Enab and nearly
5 miles east of Yah (Ajalon ; Rob. iii. 146 ; PEF.
Mem. iii. 103). [Caphira.] [G.] [W.]
CHERA'N (|13, Dillmann5 [Gen. '. c] con
jectures a connexion with 13, a lamb or ram ;
Xafipdv; Charari), one of the sons of Dishon
(so A. V. and R. V., in accordance with the
Mas. text of 1 Ch. ; but the Hebrew of Gen. I. c.
is Dishan), the Horite " duke " (Gen. xxxvi. 26 ;
1 Ch. i. 41). No name corresponding with
this has yet been discovered amongst the tribes
of Arabia. [F.]
CHE'REAS (Xatpects ; Chaereas), a brother
of Timotheus, the leader of the Ammonites
against Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. v. 6), who held

CHERITH
Gazara (Jazar, 1 Mace. v. 8), where he was slain
on the capture of the fortress by the Jews
(2 Mace. a. 32, 37). [B. F. W.]
CHERE'THIMS (D'JIIS), Ezek. xxv. 16
(R. V. " Cherethites " ; Palae'stini). The plural
form of the word elsewhere rendered Chere
thites ; which see. The Hebrew word occurs
again in Zeph. ii. 5 (A. V. and R. V. "Chere
thites " ; Philisthini). In these passages the
LXX. render Cretans (KpjjTes). [F.]
CHE'RETHITES. The Negeb or South
(district) of the Cherethites is mentioned in
1 Sam. xxx. 14; and if this district may be
considered * part of the "land of the Philis
tines " (do. v. 16), the Cherethite was connected
with, possibly a sub-tribe of, that nation. (In
Ezek. xxv. 16, Zeph. ii. 5, the Vulg. renders
it, or replaces it by, Philistines; see Chere-
thims.) The name is very probably con
nected with Crete, and may represent the
section of the Philistine race which passed from
Caphtor into Philistia. The name is very fre
quently coupled with the Pelethites 01)13
'JI/BIII ; XepeBl Kai *eAeflf ; 2tepaToe}i\aKes,
Joseph. Ant. vii. 5, § 4; Cerethi et Phelethi),
and represents that contingent of the tribe
which together with the Pelethite (of unknown
nationality ; see Driver, Notes on the Heb. Text of
the BB. of Sam. on 2 Sam. viii. 18, and reff.)
formed the foreign body-guard of King David
(2 Sam. viii. 18, xv. 18, xx. 7, 23 ; 1 K. i. 38,
44 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 17). Some have supposed that
from this body (or rather that which succeeded
it) were drawn the executioners (2 K. xi. 4) and
couriers (1 K. xiv. 27). Similarly Potiphar was
captain of the guard of Pharaoh, and also chief
of the executioners (Gen. xxxvii. 36), as was
Arioch, Nebuchadnezzar's officer (Dan. ii. 14).
In the latter part of David's reign the Chere
thites and Pelethites were commanded by Benaiah
(2 Sam. viii. 18, xx. 23, xxiii. 23). [F.]
CHE'RITH, THE BROOK ()V13 bm\
X*tp.dpf>ovs Xop'pdB ; torrens Carith), the torrent-
bed or wddy — to use the modern Arabic word
which exactly answers to the Hebrew Nachal —
by which Elijah hid himself during the early part
of the three years' drought (1 K. xvii. 3, 5).
No further mention of it is found in the Bible,
and by Josephus (Ant. viii. 13, § 2) it is spoken
of merely as x^'f-dppovs tis.
The position of the Cherith has been much
disputed. The words of the passage unfortu
nately give no clue to it : — " Get thee hence (i.e.
apparently from the spot where the interview
with Ahab had taken place, and which may or
may not be Samaria), and turn thee eastward
(ilDljl), and hide thyself by the brook Cherith
that is before 033 bv) Jordan" (R. V.). The
expression " before (or facing) the Jordan,
which occurs also in v. 5, seems simply to indi
cate that the stream in question ran into that
river and not into either the Mediterranean or
the Dead Sea. Josephus, as we have seen, does
not name the torrent, and he says that Elijah
went, not " eastward," but towards the south —
eh to irpbs votov p.ip-n. Eusebius and Jerome
on the other hand (OS.2 pp. 147, 28 ; 290, 69)

CHERUB
place the Cherith on the east of the Jordan,
where also Schwarz (p. 51) would identify it
with a Wddy Alias, opposite Bethshean. This
is the Wddy el-Ydbis (Jabesh), which Benj.
Tudela says is a corruption of DNvN INI
(ii. 408 ; Asher). Antoninus Mart. (ch. ix.)
places the valley east of Jordan, opposite
Jericho; apparently identifying it with VV.
Sh'aib or W. el-Kefrein. The only other tradition
on the subject is one mentioned by Marinus
Sanutus in 1321 ; that it ran by Phasaelus,
Herod's city in the Jordan valley. This would
make it the 'Ain Fusdil, which falls from the
mountains of Ephraim into the Gh6r, south of
Kurn Surtabeh, and about 15 miles above
Jericho. This view is supported by Bachiene,
and in our own time by Van de Velde (ii. 310).
The spring of the brook is concealed under high
cliffs and under the shade of a dense jungle (V.
de Velde, Memoir, p. 339). Dr. Robinson, on
the other hand, would find the name in the Wddy
Kelt ((Jl*)j)> behind Jericho. The two names
are, however, essentially unlike, and Wddy Kelt
lies far too much to the south.
The argument from probability is in favour of
the Cherith being on the east of Jordan (see
Miihlau in Riehm's HWB. =,. u. Crith), of
which Elijah was a native, and where he would
be more out of Ahab's reach than in any of the
recesses of the mountains of Ephraim or Ben
jamin. With increased knowledge of that part
of the country, the name may possibly be dis
covered there. [G.] [W.]
CHERUB (3-113; Cherub), apparently a
place in Babylonia from which some persons of
doubtful extraction returned to Judaea with
Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 59, B. Xapovs, A. Xepov/S
[2 Esd.] ; Neh. vii. 61, B. Xapoip, tt°*A. Xep-).
It is, however, quite uncertain whether a place or
persons be meant (see Bertheau-Rvssel on Ezra,
I. c). In the parallel list of 1 Esd. v. 36 this
name, with the next, Addan, seems to be cor
rupted to CnARAATHALAR. [W. A. W.] [F.]
CHERUB, CHERUBIM (3113, plur.
CU-IIB, or, as mostly in Pentateuch,' D'313 ;
Xepoi0, xe(Jowj3i/i). The symbolical figure so
called was a composite creature-form, which
finds a parallel iu the religious insignia of

CHERUB, CHERUBIM

565

Kg. I. The winged female Sphinx. (vVilldnion.)
Assyria, Egypt, and Persia, e.g. the sphinx, the
winged bulls and lions of Nineveh, &c, a general
prevalence which prevents the necessity of our
regarding it as a mere adoption from the Egyp
tian ritual. In such forms (cp. the Chimaera

of Greek and the Griffin of north-eastern f.ibles)
every imaginative people has sought to embody

Fig. 2. An Egyptian winged animal. (Wilkinson.)
its notions either of the attributes of Divine
essence, or of the vast powers of nature which
transcend that of man. In the various legends
of Hercules the bull and the lion constantly
appear as forms of hostile and evil power ; and
some of the Persian sculptures apparently
represent evil genii under similar quasi-cherubic
forms. Cherubim first enter the Bible record in
Gen. iii. 24, attended by a " flaming sword ;"
where notice the article, " the cherubim " (R. V.).
Stern and strict guardianship, prompt to avenge
intrusion on the henceforth unapproachable
scene of a higher spirituality, seems intended ;
" the cherubim " being known from the Taber
nacle devices when Moses wrote, " the sword "
being that of Num. xxii. 23, Josh. v. 13,
although the symbolism is doubtless older than
the Mosaic age. The Hebrew idea seems to
limit the number of the cherubim. A pair
(Ex. xxv. 18, &c.) were placed on the mercy-
seat of the ark ; a pair of colossal size * over
shadowed it in Solomon's Temple with the
canopy of their contiguously extended wings.
To this, " under the shadow of Thy wings," in
Ps. xvii. 8, xxxvi. 7, lxiii. 7, is probably an
allusion. Ezek. i. 4-14 speaks of four,b and
similarly the apocalyptic (ua (Rev. iv. 6) are
four. They utter no voice, though one is
" heard from above them," nor have dealings
with men save to awe and repel ; in short, they
are nowhere developed into personality, unless
we assume their identity with the apocalyptic
Cua (Rev. v. 14; vi. 1). A "man clothed in
linen " is introduced as a medium of communi
cation between them and the Prophet, whereas
for a similar office one of the Seraphim per
sonally officiates ; and these latter also " cry
one to another." The cherubim are placed
beneath the actual presence of Jehovah, Whose
moving throne they appear to draw (Gen. iii.
24; Ezek. i. 5, 25, 26, x. 1, 2, 6, 7 ; Is. vi. 2, 3, 6).
The expression, however, " the chariot ((1331D)
of the cherubim " (I Ch. xxviii. 18), does not

• It is perhaps questionable whether the smaller
cherubim on the mercy-seat were there in Solomon's
Temple, as well as the colossal overshadowing ones.
That they were on the ark when brought from Shiloh
to the battle seems most likely ; and it is hardly con
sistent with the reverential awe shown in the treat
ment of the ark, even by the enemy, to Fuppose that
they could have been lost in the course of its wander
ings [see Ark op Covenant]; still, the presence of
the two pairs together seems hardly consistent and
appropriate. » The number four was one of those which were
sacred among the Jews, like seven, and forty (Bahr
De Symbol.).

566

CHERUB, CHERUBIM

imply wheels, but the whole apparatus of ark
and cherubim is probably so called in reference
to its being carried on staves, and the words
"chariot" and "cherubim" are in apposition.
So a sedan might be called a " carriage," and
331D is used for the body of a litter. See,
however, Dorjen, De Cherub. Sanct. (ap. Ugolini,
vol. viii.), where the opposite opinion is ably
supported. The glory symbolizing that Presence
which eye cannot see rests or rides on them, or
one of them, thence dismounts to the Temple
threshold, and then departs and mounts again
(Ezek. x. 4, IS, cp. ix. 3 ; Ps. xviii. 10). There
is in them an entire absence of human sympathy,
and even on the mercy-seat they probably
appeared not merely as admiring and wondering
(1 Pet. i. 12), but as a vehicle of manifesting
Deity, Whose Presence, in itself inaccessible,
they at once proclaim and veil (Schultz, Alt.
Test. Theol.* p. 321), and as guardians of the
covenant and avengers of its breach. A single
figure there might have suggested an idol,
which two, especially when represented regard
ing something greater than themselves, would
not do. They thus became subordinate, like the
supporters to a shield, and are repeated, as it
were the distinctive bearings of divine heraldry,
— -the mark, carved or wrought, everywhere on
tho house and furniture of God, alike in the
tapestry of the Tabernacle, on the walls of the
first Temple, and in Ezekiel's vision of the
Temple renewed (Ex. xxvi. 31 ; 1 K. vi. 29, 35,
vii. 29, 36 ; Ezek. xii. 18-20, 25).
Those on the ark were to be placed with
wings stretched forth, one at each end of the
mercy-seat, and to be made " of the mercy-
seat," which Abarbenel (Spencer, de leg. Heb.
ritual, iii. diss, v.) and others interpret of the
same mass of gold with it, viz. wrought by
hammering, not cast and then joined on. This
seems doubtful, but from the word ilB'pP the
solidity of the metal may perhaps be inferred.
They are called xePov^P- So^rjs (Heb. ix. 5), as
on them the glory, when visible, rested ; but,

CHERUB, CHERUBIM
cherubim were blazoned on the doors, walls,
curtains, &c. of the house, and from the detailed

Fig. S. Assyrian Gryphon. (Laviu.D
whether thus -visibly symbolized or not, a per
petual Presence of God is attributed to the Holy
of Holies. They were anointed with the holy
oil, like the ark itself, and the other sacred
furniture. Their wings were to be stretched
upwards, and their faces " towards each other
and towards the mercy-seat." It is remarkable
that with such precise directions as to their
position, attitude, and material, nothing save
that they were winged is said concerning their
shape. Was this shape already familiar, or kept
":gnedly mysterious? From the fact that

Fig. 4. Assyrian winged Boll. (Layard, Nin. and

description of shapes by Ezekiel, the latter
notion might be thought absurd. But if the
text of Ezekiel, and the carvings, &c, of the
Temple had made them popular, Josephus could
not possibly have said (Ant. viii. 3, § 3), ras tie
XepoujSets ouSels biro'iai Tives t)trav e'lirelv ovti' ¦
eiKatrai tivvarai. It is also remarkable that Ezek.
i. speaks of them as " living creatures " (fll'n.
(ud), under mere animal forms. In x. 14 the
remarkable expression, " the face of a cherub,"
is introduced, aud the Prophet concludes by a re
ference to his former vision, and an identification
of those creatures with the cherubim — v. 20,
" I knew that they were cherubim." Familiarity
with the colossal winged and human-headed bulls,
&c, of Assyrian sculpture may have moulded
the form in which the vision of Ezekiel was
cast, just as Egyptian prototypes (fig. 7) may
have suggested a symbolism to Moses for the
Tabernacle. He probably develops into greater
complexity under that influence what the older
and simpler symbols involved. On the whole it
seems likely that the word " cherub " meant not
only the composite creature-form, of which the
man, lion, ox, and eagle were the elements, but,
further, some peculiar and mystical form, which
Ezekiel, being a priest, would know and recog
nise as " the face of a cherub," kcit' itpxfa,
but which was kept secret from all others ; and
such probably were those on the ark, which,
when it was moved, was always covered [Abk
OF Covenant], though those on the hangings
and panels might be of the popular device.0
"The "cherubim, lions, and oxen," which orna
mented- certain utensils in the Temple (1 K. vii. 29),
are probably all to be viewed as cherubic insignia, the
former of composite form, tho two latter of simple.

CHERUB, CHERUBIM
What this peculiar cherubic form was is perhaps
an impenetrable mystery. It was probably
believed popularly to be something of the
bovine type (though in Ps. cvi. 20 the notion
appears to be marked as degraded) : so Spencer
(de leg. Hebr. rit. iii. diss. 5) thinks that the
ox was the forma praecipua, and quotes Grotius
on Ex. xxv. 18 ; Bochart, Hierozoic. p. 87, ed.
1690. Hence the " golden calf." On the other
hand we find " lions, oxen, and cherubim " on
the " borders " (cp. 1 K. vii. 29). The symbolism
ofthe visions of Ezekiel is more complex than
that of the earlier Scriptures, and he certainly
means in x. 14 that each composite creature-
form had four faces, so as to look four ways at
once ; was four-sided d and four-winged, so as to
move with instant rapidity in every direction
without turning. Yet in his vision of the
Temple this is again modified, and every
cherub had two faces (xii. 18). But it is not
necessary to import this into the simpler sym
bois of the Tabernacle and Temple, which were
probably single-faced,8 and with but one pair of
wings. Ezekiel adds also the imagery of the
wheels — a mechanical to the previous animal
forms. We should remember, however, the
wheels on the "borders" (1 K. vii. 30, 32, 33),
on which cherubim form part of the ornamenta
tion (i: 29). These are described as having " the
work of a chariot wheel," and were probably
merely for convenience of locomotion. This
might typify inanimate nature revolving in a
fixed course, informed by the spiritual power of
God. The additional symbol of being " full of
eyes " is one of obvious meaning, while the rest
less vivacity of the (ua in Rev. iv. 8 sets forth
the same quality in Divine operations. Thus, in
stead of an animus mundi working mechanically,
we have the nobler idea of a living God per
vading all nature with ubiquitous consciousness ;
and the view of nature which we derive from
the 0. T. is thus defined as being in a higher
than the purely mechanical sphere ; for instance,
the thunderstorm of Ps. xviii. 11 is a mani
festation of Divine Presence and energy.
This mysterious form might well be the sym
bol of Him Whom none could behold and live.
For as symbols of Divine attributes, e.g. omni
potence and omniscience, aot as representations
of actual beings (Clem. Alex. Strom, v. p. 241),

CHERUB, CHERUBIM

567

d Schoetgen, ad Hor. Hebr. Apoc. iv. 3, quotes Pirke
Bab. Eliezer, " Ad qnatnor pedes (throni) sunt quatuor
animalia, quorum unum quodqne quatuor fades et tot
alas habet. Qnaudo Deus loquitur ab oriente, tunc id fit
inter duos cherubinos facie hominis ; quando Deus
loquitur a meridie, tunc id fit inter duos cherubinos facie
leonis," &c.
e Bahr, SymboliJc, vol. i. pp. 313-14 (whose entire
remarks on this subject are valuable and often pro
found), inclines to think that the precise form varied
within certain limits; e.g. the cherubic figure might
have one, two, or four faces, two or four feet, one or
two pair of wings, and might have the bovine or
leonine type as its basis; the imagery being modified
to suit the prominently intended attribute, and the
highest forms of creature-being expressing best the
highest attributes of the Creator. Thus he thinks the
human form migKt indicate spirituality (p. 340. Cp.
¦Grot, on Exod. xxv. 18, and Heb. ix. 5). Some useful
hints as to the connexion of cherubic with other
mythological forms may be found in Creuzer, Symbol.
i. 441, 940.

the cherubim should be regarded/ Philo in
deed assigns a varied signification to the che
rubim : in one place he makes them allegories
of the beneficent and avenging energies of God ;
in another, of the two hemispheres of the then
astronomical system, one of which supported the
planets and the other the fixed stars ; elsewhere
of power and goodness simply. They are sym
bolical in Gen. iii. 24, just as the serpent is a
symbol in iii. 1-14, though functions and actions
are attributed to each. When such symbolical
forms have become conventional, the next step
is to literalize them as concrete shapes of real
beings. The S,wa of Rev. iv. 6-8 are related
both to the cherubim and to the seraphim of Is.
vi., combining the symbols of both. They are
not stern and unsympathising like the former,
but invite the seer to " come and see ;" nor, like
the latter, do they cover their face (Is. vi. 2)
from the Presence of Deity, or use their wings to
speed on His errands, but, in a state of rest aud
praise, act as the choregi of the heavenly host.
And here, too, symbolism ever sliding into
realism, these have been diversely construed, e.g
as the four evangelists, four archangels, &c.
Many etymological sources for the word
3-113 have been proposed. Two worth noticing
are: (1) the Syriac »aQja, great, strong
(Gesen. s. v. ; comp. Philo, de Profugis, p. 465).
The fact that all the symbols embody various
forms of strength — the lion among wild and the
ox among tame beasts, the eagle among birds,
the man as supreme over all nature — is in favour
of this. (2) The Syriac «^rO, to plough, i.e. to
cut into ; hence Arab, t^j ^-*: sculpsit ; and
here a doubt occurs whether in the active or
passive sense, "that which ploughs "= the ox
(comp. 1|13, "ox," from same word in Arab.
" to plough "), which brings us to the forma
praecipua of Spencer ; or that which is carved
= an image. In favour of the latter is the fact
that 3113 is rabbinical for " image " generically
(Simonis, Bouget, and Pagninus, Lexx. s. v.),
perhaps as the only image known to the Law,
all others being deemed forbidden, but possibly
also as containing the true germ of meaning. s

f Keil, on the contrary (.Bibl. Archaeol. $ 19, 3), takes
them to be images representing actual beings, the
highest of spiritual orders, supreme, next to God
Himself, over their hierarchy, as man is supreme over
earthly creatures.
s The griffin of Northern fable watching the gold in
the wilderness has (see above) been compared with the
cherub, both as regards his composite form and his
function as the guardian of a treasure. The " watchful
dragon " of the HesperideB Beems perhaps a fabulous
reflex ot the same, where possibly the "serpent"
(SpaKtuv) may, by a change not uncommon in myth,
have taken the place of the " cherubim." The dragon
and the bull have their place also in the legend of the
golden fleece. There is a very near resemblance too
between the names ypvv- (with s afformative) and
3-113 ; and possibly an affinity between ypvtr- and tho
Greek forms yXvirta, yXtitbio, ypouptu, y\atpvp6t (cp. Germ.
graben), all relating to carving, as between >n3 and
the Syriac and Arab, words signifying aravit, sculpsit,
&c, as above. We have another form of the same root
probably in xvpfivs, the block or tablet on which tho
laws were engraved.

568

CHERUB, CHERUBIM

Assyriologists are still unable to decide whether
or not Cherub be identical with Kirubu, the
occurrence of this latter word as a name for the
winged bull being still a matter of dispute (see
ZA. i. 68). Canon Cook refers the word " to
an Egyptian root, which probably means to
' carve,' or at any rate ' shape ' " (Speaker's
Comm. on Gen. iii. 24, note C end). In PSBA.
1884, p. 193, is a speculation by Renouf on
a word xerefu (phonetically = " lion-forms ")
found on some papyri, but not recognised in
Egyptian vocabularies, which he views as the
probable parent of a Coptic and a demotic word,
each signifying "forms," and suggests that the
Hebrew 3113 may "be derived from the Egyp
tian xeref." Besides these opinions, wisdom or
intelligence has been given by high authority
as the true meaning of the name (Jerome oa
Is. vi. 2 ; so Philo, de Vit. Mos. 688, iis S" av
"EXXnves eliroiev i-wiyvutris Kai iirio-TTip.il iroXXr) ;
and Clem. Alex. Strom, v. 240, iBeXei tie to
vvop.a i3v x6pou)31/t ti-nXovv alaBno-iv 7toX\t)v).
The Rabbins gave the etymological explanation
313, " equal to many " ; Umbreit and others
take the word "cherub" from 331, "a
chariot," by transposing the first two letters
(Oehler, Theol. of the 0. T., i. p. 385, § 119,
who refers to Riehm, de Nat. et Batione Symbol.
Cherub.). Though the exact form of the cherubim is
uncertain, they must have borne a general resem
blance to the composite religious figures found
upon the monuments of Egypt, Assyria, Baby
lonia, and Persia. The first two figures (p. 565)
are winged creatures from the Egyptian monu
ments. The next two (p. 566) are taken from
Assyrian sculptures. The winged Assyrian sphinx
is elsewhere represented as engaged architec
turally with the base of a column; it has thus
analogy to the architectural cherubs ofthe sanc-

CHESALON
mercy-seat with their wings, and thefr faoes
looking one to another " (Ex. xxv. 20). But
these figures appear within the ark (fig, 6)*. and

Fig. G. A Grecian griffin.
tuary. Fig. 5 represents the griffin of Northern
fable, as we see from the griffin found as an
ornament in Scythian tombs, but drawn by
Grecian artists. In the sacred boats or arks of
the Egyptians, there are sometimes found two
figures with extended wings, which remind us
of the description of the cherubim " covering the

Fig. 6. A sacred Egyptian buat or ark, with two figures, perLap*
resembling cherubim. (Wilkinson.)
probably represent inferior deities holding the-
symbol of the superior deity between them,
which in the Mosaic type is significant by its-
absence. [H. H.]
CHESA'LON (fbUS, strength, confidence;
B. Xae-Xtiv, A. XaaaXtiv; Cheslon), a place
named as one of the landmarks on the west
part of the north boundary of Judah, appa
rently situated on the shoulder (A. V. and
R. V. " side ") of Mount Jearim (Josh. xv. 10).
The name does not, however, reappear in the
list of towns of Judah later in the same
chapter. Mount Jearim, the "Mount of
Forests," has not necessarily any connexion with
Kirjath - jearim, though
the two were evidently,
from their proximity in
this statement of the
boundary, not far apart.
Chesalon was the next
landmark to Beth-she
mesh, and it is quite
in accordance with this
that Dr. Robinson has
observed a modern village
named Kesla, about six
miles to the north-east
of 'Ain Shems, on the
western mountains of
Judah (Rob. ii. 30, note,
iii. 154; PEF. Mem. iii.
25). Eusebius and Jerome^
in the Onomasticon, men
tion a Chaslon, but they
differ as to its situation,
the former (OS.2 p. 289,
47, s. n. XaXatrtiv) placing
it in Benjamin,* the latter
(OS.2 p. 147, 4) in Judah :.
both agree that it was a very large village in the
neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The meaning of
the name is thought by Stanley,'like Chesulloth,
* Possibly referring to the village now Beit Ikso,
between Jerusalem and Neby Samunl, and therefore itt
Benjamin.

CHESED
to have reference to its situation on the " loins "
of the mountain. [G.] [W.]
CHE'SED (1B>3; A. XoirfoS, D. XitroS;
Cased), fourth son of Nahor (Gen. xxii. 22).
[Chaldea.] [F.]
CHESI'L (^D3; B. BaiWjA; A. Xatreip ;
Cesil), a town in the extreme south of Palestine,
named with Hormah and Ziklag (Josh. xv. 30).
The name does not occur again, and is evidently
a corruption of the Masoretic text (see Driver,
Xotes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of Samuel,
under 1 Sam. xxx. 27) ; but in the list of towns
given out of Judah to Simeon, the name Bethul
occurs in place of it (xix. 4). This is confirmed
by the reading of 1 Ch. iv. 30, Bethuel ; by
that of the LXX. (B.) as given above ; and by
the mention in 1 Sam. xxx. 27 of a Bethel (not
the better known Bethel, N. of Jerusalem, but)
among the cities in the Negeb of Judah, not
far from Ziklag. [G.] [W.]
CHEST. By this word are translated in the
A. V. two distinct Hebrew terms: 1. JUS or
|1X, from I11X, to gather ; ki$ut6s ; gazophy-
lacium. This is invariably used for the ark of

CHESULLOTH

509

Egyptian cbest or boi from Thebes. (Wilkuisou.)

the Covenant, and, with two exceptions, for that
only. It is instinctive to be reminded that
there is no connexion whatever between this
word and that for the " ark " of Noah, and for
the " ark " in which Moses was hid among the
flags (both fUFI, Tebah). The two exceptions
alluded to are' (a) the "coffin" (the X31K of
the Hauran inscriptions, Delitzsch [1887] in
loco) in which the bones of Joseph were carried
from Egypt (Gen. 1. 26 ; rendered in the Targ.
Ps.-Jon. in Hebrew letters by yXuaaiKopov ;
cp. John xii. 6), probably of stone, and con
taining the wooden chest (cp. Ebers in Riehm,
HWB. s. u. ' Einbalsamiren ') ; and (b) the
" chest " in which Jehoiada the priest collected
the alms for the repairs of the Temple (2 K.
xii. 9, 10 ; 2 Ch. xxiv. 8-11). Of the former
the above woodcut is probably a near repre
sentation. 2. D'TJil, probably of Persian deri
vation (" treasuries " in Esther iii. 9, iv. 7 ;
" chests " in Ezek. xxvii. 24). [G.] [W.j
CHESTNUT-TREE (flQIfc 'armon ; irxd-
Tavos, iXdrti ; platanus ; " plane-tree," R. V.).
Mention is made of the 'armon in Gen. xxx.
37, as one of the trees from which Jacob
took rods in which " he pilled white strakes,"

to set them before Laban's Hocks when they
came to drink (see on this subject Sheev) ;
in Ezek. xxxi. 8, tho 'armon is spoken of as
one of the glories of Assyria. Tho tree really
intended is "the Oriental Plane, Platanus orien
talis, so familiar in the London squares, and
which must not be confounded with our com
mon sycamore, often called a plane-tree, but
which is really a maple, Acer pseudo-platanus.
This rendering of plane-tree is supported by the
LXX. (in Gen. /. c), the Vulg., the Chaldee,
with the Syriac and Arabic Versions (Celsius,
Hierob. i. 513). The chestnut, though a native-
ofthe Caucasus and Western Asia, is only found-
in Palestine cultivated. The plane-tree is fre
quent by the sides of streams and in the plains,
both on the coast and in the north of the
country. It loves a rich soil in a low moist
situation, and thus in Genesis is grouped with
the willow and the poplar. On the Upper-
Jordan, on the banks of the Litany (Leontes),
in the glens of Lebanon, and by the sides of tha
Orontes, it is abundant, and is a noble and
beautiful tree. There are some grand old plane-
trees in the streets of Damascus. One has its
hollow trunk used as a dwelling; another which
we measured is more than 40 feet in circumfer
ence, and a copious spring gushes up among its-
roots. Dr. Kitto (Cyc, art. Armon), in illus
tration of Ezek. (1. c), says that " the planes of
Assyria are of extraordinary size and beauty, in
both respects exceeding even those of Palestine ;.
it consists with our own experience, that one
may travel far in \\XU-m Asia without meet
ing such trees, and so many together, as occur
in the Chenar (plane) groves of Assyria and
Media." The plane-trees of Persia are now and
have been long held in the greatest veneration ;.
with the Greeks also these trees were great
favourites. Herodotus (vii. 31) tells a story of
how Xerxes on his way to Sardis met with a
plane-tree of exceeding beauty, to which he
made an offering of golden ornaments.
The plane-tree belongs to the natural order
Platanaceae, bearing catkins, with the flowers in
clusters of rounded balls, pendulous on a common
stalk, with palmate leaves of pale green colour.
It sheds its bark as well as its leaves annually,
and the trunk then appears white, whence its
Hebrew name 'armon, "naked" (i.e. without
bark). In Ecclus. xxiv. 14, Wisdom is compared
to " a plane-tree by the water." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]'
CHESUL'LOTH (with the definite article,,
ni?D3i1 ; B. XaaaXuB, A. 'AxatreXtiB ; Casaloth),
one of the towns of Issachar, meaning (as some-
think) in Hebrew, " the loins " (Fr. les flancs),
and therefore, perhaps, deriving its name from
its situation on the slope of some mountain
(Josh. xix. 18). It is named in the same group
with Jezreel and Shunem (Sdlam), and is pro
bably the same place as Chisloth-Tabor (v. 12.
Cp. Dillmann,2 I. c). It is mentioned by Euse
bius and Jerome, in the Onomastioon, under
'Axeo-eXuB(08.2?. 241, 58) and Achaseluth (OS.2
p. 130, 24), and is said to be a village called
XatraXois, Chasalus, 8 miles from Diocaesarea,
in the plain near Mount Tabor. It is now Iksdl,
3 miles west of Tabor (PEF. Mem. iii. 385-7 ;
GuiSrin, Galilee, i. 108); and is doubtless the
Xaloth of Josephus (B. J. iii. 3, § 1). [G.] [W.]

570

CHETTHM

CHETTIIM (T.7 XiTTtieip.; HA. XerTieiu;
Chethim) = Macedonia (1 Mace. i. 1). [Chittim.] [F0
CHEZI'B (3*t3; Sam. Cod. H3T3 ; Sam.
Vers. .13113 ; Xao-pi ; Vulg. [quo nato parere
ultra] cessavit; cp. a similar translation by
Aquila, in Jer. Qu. Hebr.), a name which occurs
but once (Gen. xxxviii. 5). Judah was at Chezib
when the Canaanitess Bathshua bare his third
son Shelah. The other places named in this
remarkable narrative are all in the low country
of Judah, and therefore, in the absence of any
specification of the position of Chezib, we may
adopt the opinion of the interpreters, ancient
and modern, who identify it with Aohzib
(SMSN). It is probably the Xao-/3l of Eusebius
and Jerome (OS.2 pp. 289, 37 ; 146, 18), and
the name may perhaps be retained in 'Ain
Kezbeh, at Beit Nettif, 2% miles from 'Aid el-Ma
(Adullam. PEF. Mem. iii. 36). Probably iden
tical with Chozeba. [G.] [W.]
CHI'DON (fP3 ; LXX. B. om., A. XeiXu ;
Joseph. Ant. vii. 4, § 2, XeiSuv ; Chidon), the
name which in 1 Ch. xiii. 9 is given to the
threshing-floor (or to the owner of the thresh
ing-floor) at which the accident to the ark, on
its transport from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem,
and the death of Uzzah took place. In the
parallel account in 2 Sam. vi. 6 the name is
given as Nachon. It has been debated whether
these were two distinct names for the same
spot, or whether the one was a corruption or
alteration of the other (see Ges. Thes. p. 683 ;
Simonis, Onom. pp. 339-40). Further, the
Jewish tradition (Jerome, Quaest. Heb. on 1 Ch.
xiii. 9) — irreconcilable with the topography — -
was that Chidon acquired its name from being
the spot on which Joshua stood when he stretched
out the Chidon (A.V. " spear," R. V. " javelin ")
towards Ai (Josh. viii. 18). All that can be
affirmed is that it is a proper name, or some
designation, which — attached to " threshing-
floor " — constituted it a proper name (cp. Gen.
1. 16, 17 ; 1 Sam. xix. 22), whether of owner or
place (cp. Driver, Notes on the Heb. Text of the
BB. of Sam., under 2 Sam. vi. 6). [G.] [W.]
CHILDREN (Q'OS; tcW, iraiSia; liberi,
filii. From the root 1133, to build, are derived
both |3, sore, as in Ben-jamin, &c, and 713,
daughter, as in Bath-sheba. The Chald. 13, son,
also occurs in 0. T., and appears in N. T. in such
words as Bar-nabas. Cognate words are the
Arabic Beni, sons, in the sense of descendants,
and Benat, daughters, Ges. pp. 215, 236 ;
Shaw, Travels, Pref. p. 8). The blessing of off
spring, but especially, and sometimes exclusively,
of the male sex, is highly valued among all
Eastern nations, while the absence of children
is regarded as one of the severest deprivations.
Women sometimes use charms and empirical
means for the purpose of obtaining their wishes
in this respect, a practice which may perhaps in
some degree account for the teraphim stolen by
Rachel from her father (Gen. xvi. 2, xxix. 32,
xxx. 1, 24, xxxi. 19, 34; Deut. vii. 14; 1 Sam.
i. 6, ii. 5, iv. 20 ; 2 Sam. vi. 23, xviii. 18 ; 2 K.
iv. 14 ; Is. xlvii. 9 ; Jer. xx. 15, xxii. 30 ; Hos.
ix. 14 ; Esth. v. 11 ; Ps. exxvii. 3, 5 ; Eccles. vi. 3.

CHILDREN
Cp. Herod, i. 136 ; Strab. xv. 733 ; Drusius, Prov.
Ben-Sirae, ap. Or. Sacr. viii. 1887 ; Lane, Mod.
Eg. i. 208, 240 ; Mrs. Poole, Englishw. in Eg.
iii. 163 ; Niebuhr, Descr. de I'Ar. p. 67 ; Chardin,
Voy. vii. 446 ; Russell, Nubia, p. 343 ; Thomson,
Land and Book, p. 124)., Childbirth is in the
East usually, but not always, attended with
little difficulty, and accomplished with little or
no assistance (Gen. xxxv. 17, xxxviii. 28 ; Ex. i.
19 ; 1 Sam. iv. 19, 20 ; Burckhardt, Notes on
Bedouins, i. 96 ; Harmer, 06s. iv. 425 ; Lady M.
W. Montagu, Letters, ii. 217, 219, 222). As
soon as the child was born, and the umbilical
cord cut, it was washed in a bath, rubbed with
salt, and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Arab
mothers sometimes rub their children with
earth, sand, or finely powdered salt (Ezek.
xvi. 4 ; Job xxxviii. 9 ; Luke ii. 7 ; Burckhardt,
I. c. ; PEFQy. St. 1881, p. 301). On the eighth
day the rite of circumcision in the case of a
boy was performed, and a name given, some
times, but not usually, the same as that of the
father, and generally conveying some special
meaning. Among Mohammedans, circumcision
is most commonly delayed till the fifth, sixth, or
even the fourteenth year (Gen. xxi. 4, xxix. 32,
35, xxx. 6, 24 ; Lev. xii. 3 ; Luke i. 59, ii. 21,
and Lightfoot ad loc. ; Spencer, de Legg. Hebr.
v. 62; Strab. xvii. 824; Herod, ii. 36, 104;
Burckhardt, I. c. i. 96 ; Lane, Mod. Eg. i. 87 ;
Mrs. Poole, Englishw. in Eg. iii. 158 ; Niebuhr,
Descr. p. 70). [CIRCUMCISION.] After the
birth of a male child the mother was considered
unclean for 7 + 33 days ; if the child were a
female, for double that period, 14 -f- 66 days.
At the end of the time she was to make an
offering of purification of a lamb as a burnt-
offering, and a pigeon or turtle-dove as a
sin-offering, or, in case of poverty, two doves or
pigeons, one as a burnt-offering, the other as a
sin-offering (Lev. vii. 1-8 ; Luke ii. 22). The
period of nursing appears to have been some
times prolonged to three years (Is. xlix. 15;
2 Mace. vii. 27. Cp. Livingstone, Travels, c. vi.
p. 126 ; but Burckhardt was led to a different
conclusion). The Mohammedan law enjoins
mothers to suckle their children for two full
years if possible (Lane, Mod. Eg. i. p. 83 ; Mrs.
Poole, Englishw. in Eg. iii. p. 161). Nurses
were employed in cases of necessity (Gen. xxiv.
59, xxxv. 8 ; Ex. ii. 9 ; 2 Sam. iv. 4; 2 K. xi.
2 ; 2 Ch. xxii. 11). The time of weaning was
an occasion of rejoicing (Gen. xxi. 8). Arab
children wear little or no clothing for four or
five years : the young of both sexes are usually
carried by the mothers on the hip or 'the shoul
der, a custom to which allusion is made by
Isaiah (Is. xlix. 22, lxvi. 12 ; Lane, Mod. Eg. i.
83). Both boys and girls in their early years,
boys probably till their fifth year, were under
the care of the women (Prov. xxxi. 1 ; Herod, i.
136; Strab. xv. 733; Niebuhr, Descr. p. 24).
Afterwards the boys were taken by the father
under his charge. Those in wealthy families
had tutors or governors (D'Op'K, iraitiaytnyoi),
who were sometimes eunuchs (Num. xi. 12 ;
2 K. x. 1, 5 ; Is. xlix. 23 ; Gal. iii. 24; Esth. ii.
7; Joseph. Vit. 76; Lane, Mod. Eg. i. 83).
Daughters usually remained in the womens
apartments till marriage, or, among the poorer
classes, were employed in household work (Lev.
xxi. 9 ; Num. xii. 14 ; 1 Sam. ix. 11 i «ov.

CHILEAB
xxxi. 19, 23 ; Ecclus. vii. 25, xiii. 9 ; 2 Mace.
iii. 19). The example, however, and authority
of the mother were carefully upheld in the case
of children of both sexes (Deut. xxi. 20 ; Prov. x.
1, xv. 20 ; 1 K. ii. 19). Boys of the lower classes
at the present day are taught early to take
sheep and goats to pasture, and to watch vine
yards when the fruit is ripening, and girls to
carry water in buckets on their heads (PEFQy.
St. 1881, p. 301).
The firstborn male children were regarded as
devoted to God, and were to be redeemed by an
offering (Ex. xiii. 13 ; Num. xviii. 15 ; Luke ii.
22). Children devoted by special vow, as
Samuel was, appear to have been brought up
from very early years in a school or place of
education near the Tabernacle or Temple (1 Sam.
i. 24, 28). [Education.]
The authority of parents, especially the father,
over children was very great, as was also the re
verence enjoined by the Law to be paid to parents.
The disobedient child, the striker or reviler of a
parent, was liable to capital punishment, though
not at the independent will of the parent. Chil
dren were liable to be taken as slaves in case of
non-fulfilment of their duties, and were ex
pected to perform menial offices for their parents,
such as washing the feet, and to maintain them
in poverty aud old age. How this last obliga
tion was evaded, see COBBAN. The like obedience
is enjoined by the Gospel (Gen. xxxviii. 24 ;
Lev. xix. 32, xxi. 9 ; Num. xii. 14; IK. ii. 19;
2 K. iv. 1 ; Neh. v. 5 ; Prov. x. 1, XV. 20, xix.
3 ; Drusius, Quaest. Hebr. ii. 63, ap. Cr. Sacr.
viii. 1547 ; Col. iii. 20 ; Ephes. vi. 1 ; 1 Tim.
i. 9 : cp. Virg. Aen. vi. 609, and Servius ad
loc. ; Aristoph. Ban. 146 ; Plato, Phaedo, 144,
de Legg. ix.).
The legal age was twelve, or even earlier in
the case of a female, and thirteen for a male
(Maimon. de Pros. c. v., ed. Prideaux, p. 167 ;
Grotius and Calmet on John ix. 21).
The inheritance was divided equally between
all the sons except the eldest, who received a
double portion (Deut. xxi. 17 ; Gen. xxv. 31,
xlix. 3 ; 1 Ch. v. 1, 2 ; Judg. xi. 2, 7). Daugh
ters had by right no portion in the inheritance ;
but if a man had no son, his inheritance passed
to his daughters, but they were forbidden to
marry out of their father's tribe (Num. xxvii.
1, 8 xxxvi. 2, 8).
The term sons was applied also to the disciples
and followers of the teachers of the various
sects which arose after the Captivity (Light
foot, Hor. Heb. on John xiii. 33 ; Luke xi. 45 ;
John xvi. 16). [See Sects ; Schools ; and
Schools of Prophets.] [H. W. P.]
CHIL'EAB. [Abigail; Daniel.]
CHILTON (}iv3, perhaps wasting away
['but see Oettli in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm.
'das B. Ruth,' Einleit. § 3]; B. XeXatuv and
KeX-; A. XeXeuv and Xai-; Chelion), the son
of Elimelech and Naomi, and husband of
Orpah (Ruth i. 2-5, iv. 6). He is described as
an "Ephrathite (cp. Gen. xlviii. 7; Mic. v. 1)
of Bethlehem-Judah ; " Judah being added to
distinguish this Bethlehem from the Bethlehem
in Zebulon (Josh. xix. 15) [W. A. W.]
CHIL'MAD (10^3 ; Xop. [? Carmania] ;
5, a place or country mentioned in con-

CHINNERETH, SEA OF 571
junction with Sheba aud Asshur (Ezek. xxvii. 2.">).
Bochart found a similarity to it in Charmande,
a town near the Euphrates between the Mascas
and the Babylonian frontier (Xen. Anab. i. 5,
§ 10); but G. Smith (TSBA. 1872, p. 61) and
Fried. Delitzsch ( Wo lag das Parodies, p. 206)
in Kalwudhit near Bagdad, to which Orelli (in
Strack and Zockler's Kgf. Komm. in loco) as
sents. Hitzig (Comm. on Ezek. 1. c), following
Kimchi, does not consider it the name of a place
at all, but alters the punctuation to 1)3?3 with
the sense " Asshur was as thypupilm commerce ;"
and with an alteration of this character Cornill
(Das Buch d. Proph. Ezechiel, in loco) agrees,
though he prefers to render " Assur must ac
commodate himself to thy market." [F.]
CHIM'HAM (DilDS ; in 2 Sam. xix. 40, it
is in the Hebrew text Chimhan, JilDS ; and in
the Ketib of Jer. xii. 17, ChemSham, DiTIDS :
B. Xap.adp, A. Xavadv ; LXX. in Jer. [xlviii.]
couples the name with another reading of the
preceding noun, T.r Taf}iipuxalJU*a, "¦ Fn&aripu-
Xap-d ; Jos. 'Ax'ipavos : Chamaam), a follower,
and probably a son (Josh. Ant. vii. 11, § 4;
and cp. 1 K. ii. 7), of Barzillai the Gileadite,
who returned from beyond Jordan with David
(2 Sam. xix. 37, 38, 40; see Targum on Jer.
xii. 17). David appears to have bestowed on
him a possession at Bethlehem, on which, in
later times, an inn or Khan (71-113) was stand
ing, well known as the starting-point for tra
vellers from Jerusalem to Egypt (Jer. xii. 17).
Josephus (Ant. x. 9, § 5) gives the name of this
place as MdvSpa. [G.] [W.]
CHIN'NERETH (11133, in pause '33 ; B.
KevepeB, A. Xevep6&; Cenereth), a fortified city
in the tribe of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 35 only), of
which no trace is found in later writers, and
no remains by travellers. Whether it gave its
name to, or received it from, the lake, which
was possibly adjacent, is quite uncertain. The
Talmud (Tal. Jer. Megillah, 70 a) renders the
name by 1D133, Genosar (or 1D\33, Tevv-nadp,
1 Mace. xi. 67), and praises the fertility of the
plain of the same name. If this rendering be
correct, Chinnereth was in or near Gennesaret,
possibly at Abu Shusheh, or on the heights above
Khan Minyeh. By St. Jerome Chinnereth was
identified with the later Tiberias (OS.2 p. 146, 28).
This may have been from some tradition then
existing ; but it is more probable that Tiberias
represents the Rakkath of Josh. xix. 35. The
identification of Chinnereth with Tiberias is
denied by Reland (p. 161), on the ground that
Capernaum is said by St. Matthew (iv. 13) to
have been on the very borders of Zebulun and
Naphtali, and that Zebulun was to the south of
Naphtali. But St. Matthew's expression will
hardly bear this strict interpretation. The
town, or the lake, appears to have given its
name (slightly altered) to a district — " all
Cinneroth " (1 K. xv. 20. Cp. the suggested
reading in Josh. xix. 34, QPB.1 in loco). In A. V.
1611 it is spelt " Cinnereth." [G.] [W.]
CHIN'NERETH, SEA OF (11133 DJ; in
Num. B. t) BdXatTo-a Xevdpa, AF. XevepeB, in
Josh. B. XevepeB, A. -ptiB; mare Cenereth,

572 CHINNEROTH
Num. xxxiv. 11 ; Josh. xiii. 27), the inlaud sea,
which is most familiarly known to us as the
" lake of Gennesareth." This is evident from
the mode in which it is mentioned in various
passages in the Pentateuch and Joshua — as
being at the end of Jordan opposite to the
"Sea of the Arabah," i.e. the Dead Sea; as
having the Arabah or Ghor below it, &c. (Deut.
iii. 17 ; Josh. xi. 2, xii. 3). In the two former
of these passages the word " sea " is omitted ;
in the two latter it is in a plural form —
" Chinneroth " (acc. Cinnaroth, 111133 ; and
111133, Cinneroth, Vulg. Ceneroth). The word
is by some derived from Cinnoor (Kivvvpa,
cithara, " a harp "), as if in allusion to the oval
shape of the lake. But this, to say the least, is
doubtful. It seems more likely that Cinnereth
was an ancient Canaanite name existing long
prior to the Israelite conquest, and, like other
names, adopted by the Israelites into their lan
guage. The subsequent name "Gennesar " may
have been derived from " Cinnereth " by a change
of letters of a kind frequent enough in the East.
[Gennesareth.] [G.] [W.]
CHIN'NEROTH (nil_33.nil33: B. Keve-
ptiB, XevepeB ; A. XevepeBB'i, XevvepeB ; F. (bis)
XevepeB : Ceneroth), Josh. xi. 2, xii. 3. [Chin
nereth.] In A. V. 1611 the name is spelt
Cinneroth, as in 1 K. xv. 20. [F.]
CHI'OS (Xlos ; Chius). The position of this
island in reference to the neighbouring islands
and coasts could hardly be better described than
in the detailed account of St. Paul's return
voyage from Troas to Caesarea (Acts xx., xxi.).
Having come from Assos to Mitylene in Lesbos
(xx. 14), he arrived the next day over against
Chios (v. 15), the next day at Samos, and tarried
at Trogyllium (ib.) ; and the following day at
Miletus (ib.) : thence he went by Cos and Rhodes
to Patara (xxi. 1). [Mitylene ; Samos.] With
t his it is worth while to compare the account of
Herod's voyage to join Marcus Agrippa in the
Black Sea. We are told (Joseph. Ant. xvi. 2,
§ 2) that, after passing by Rhodes and Cos, he
was detained some time by north winds at Chios,
and sailed on to Mitylene, when the winds be
came more favourable. It appears that during
this stay at Chios Herod gave very liberal sums
towards the restoration of some public works
which had suffered in the Mithridatic war.
This island does not appear to have any other
association with the Jews ; nor is it specially
mentioned in connexion with the first spread
of Christianity by the Apostles. When St. Paul
was there, on the occasion referred to, he did
not land, but only passed the night at anchor.
At that time Chios enjoyed the privilege of free
dom (Plin. v. 38), and it is not certain that it
ever was politically apart of the province of
Asia, though it is separated from the mainland
only by a strait of 5 miles. Its length is about
32 miles, and in breadth it varies from 8 to 18.
Its outline is mountainous and bold ; and it has
always been celebrated for its beauty and fruit-
fulness. In recent times it has been too well
known, under its modern name of Scio, for the
dreadful sufferings of its inhabitants in the Greek
war of independence. Chios is described by the
older travellers, Thevenot, Tournefort, and
Chandler (Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Geog., art.

CHITTIM, KITTIM
Chios), and by Fustel de Coulanges, Mem. sur
Vile de Chios : Arch, des Miss. v. pp. 92, 273 sq.
(1856) ; Vaux, Gk. Cities and Islands of Asm
Min., p. 159. [J. S. H.] [J. E. S.]
CHISLEU. [Months.]
CHIS'LON (fl^>p3, confidence, strength;
Xao-Xtiv ; Chaselon), father of Elidad, the prince
of the tribe of Benjamin, chosen to assist in the
division of the land of Canaan among the tribes
(Num. xxxiv. 21). [W. A. W.]
CHIS'LOTH-TA'BOR (1311 r6p3, "loins
of Tabor ; " B. XatreXuBaiB, A. XatraXuBISttOiip ;
Ceseleth thabor), a place to the border (7-133) of
which reached the border of Zebulun (Josh.
xix. 12). It is now the village Iksdl, three
miles west of Mount Tabor; and is probablv
the same place as Chesulloth. Eusebius and
Jerome mention it under the forms Xao-e\om
tov ®a$up (OS.2 p. 292, 64) and Chaselatli
Tabor (OS.2 p. 147, 12). Josephus names a
village EaAwO as in the great plain, i.e. of
Esdraelon, and as one of the landmarks of lower
Galilee (B. J. iii. 3, § 1 ; and see Vita, § 44) :
this is doubtless identical with Chisloth-Tabor
and Chesulloth. [G.] [W.]
CHIT'TIM, KIT'TIM (D»PI3. D«J13 ; Kf
tioi, KfTiot, KTjTiefjtt, XerTieip. ; Cetthim, Cethim),
one of the sons of Javau (Gen. x. 4 ; 1 Ch. i. 7 ;
A. V. Kittim), and closely related to the Doda-
nim or llodanim, as well as to Elishah and
Tarshish. Chittim is frequently noticed in
Scripture : Balaam predicts that a fleet should
thence proceed for the destruction of Assyria
(Num. xxiv. 24, D'flS I^D, " from beside Chit
tim ; " venient in trieribus de Italia, Vulg.) : in
Is. xxiii. 1, 12, it appears as the resort of the
fleets of Tyre: in Jer. ii. 10, the "isles of
Chittim '' (^N, i.e. maritime districts) are to
the west, as Kedar to the east of Palestine : the
Tyrians procured thence the cedar or Box- Wood,
which they inlaid with ivory for the decks of
their vessels (Ezek. xxvii. 6, DnBWTQ, A. V.
" the company of the Ashurites," but R. V. better
[ivory, the daughter of cedar, i.e.] " inlaid in box
wood ") : in Dan. xi. 30, " ships of Chittim " (ml
ii{ouo-i 'Poiuaibi ; Trieres et Romani) advance to
the south to meet the king of the north : at a
later period we find Alexander the Great de
scribed as coming ix ttjs yrjs XeTTtelp. (1 Mace.
i. 1 ; A. V. Chettiim), and Perseus as KiTTieKr
0atriXeis (1 Mace. viii. 5 ; A. V. Citims). Jo
sephus rightly explains Chittim as Cyprus, so
named from the Phoenician settlement of
Citium (XeBtpos Se XeBipia t'-ov vr\tsov taxm-
Kinpos avTn vvv KaXenai, Ant. i. 6, § 1).
Citium was the chief Phoenician town in the
island, and its site is at present partly occupied
by Larnaka. A considerable number of Phoeni
cian inscriptions have been found there, and we
learn from them that '113 (Chitti) was the
native word for "a Citian." It was Melek-
yathon, king of Citium (B.C. 370), who caused
the bilingual inscription (in Phoenician and
Cypriote) to be engraved which was dis
covered by Mr. Hamilton Lang at Dali (Idalion),
and furnished Mr. George Smith with the clue
to the decipherment of the Cypriote syllabary.

CHIUN
Citium seems to have been tlie first of the
Phoenician colonies in Cyprus, and hence it
was that the whole island came to be called
the island of the Chittim or " Citians " by
the Phoenicians and their Hebrew neighbours.
The Phoenician settlers, however, occupied only
the eastern and southern portions ofthe island ;
Paphos, with its famous temple of Astarte, and
the ashera/i or upright cone of stone which
symbolised the goddess, being one of their
towns. The rest of the island was for the most
part inhabited by Greek colonists ; hence the
Assyrian name of it, Vavuan or Yanan, the
island " of the Ionians." Yavnan is the Javan
of the 0. T. As early as B.C. 3750, Sargon I.,
of Accad, not only caused an image of himself
to be sculptured on the shores of the Mediter
ranean, but also crossed over into Cyprus ; and
a Babylonian cylinder, bearing the name of his
deified son and successor, Naram-Sin, has been
found by General di Cesnola among the temple-
treasures of Curium. In the 16th century B.C.
Cyprus, under the name of Asebi or Asi, sent
copper, lead, ivory, and chariots as tribute to
the Egyptian Pharaoh, Thothmes III. Seven of
its kings despatched ambassadors to Sargon II.
in B.C. 709, and the Assyrian king caused a mono
lith (now in the Berlin Museum) to be erected
at Citium. Esar-haddon also received tribute
from ten of the Cyprian princes. The island was
conquered by the Egyptian Amasis, and subse
quently passed under the Persian yoke until
Evagoras of Salamis revolted in B.C. 410. The
¦name Chittim has no connexion with that of
the D'fln, or Hittites, and the Greek spelling
with X is erroneous. In Mace, Chittim evidently
= Macedonia, and was perhaps more especially
applied to that country from the apparent
similarity of the name in the form MoKeTia,
which was supposed = Ma and Kenoi, the land
of the Cetii. The use of the term was extended
yet farther so as to embrace Italy according to
the LXX. (Dan.), and the Vulgate (Num. and
Dan.), to which we may add the rendering of
the Chaldee Targum, which gives ]1vt2X
(Italia) in 1 Ch. i. 7, and K^ISK (Apulia)
in Ezek. xxvii. 6. The " ships of Chittim " in
Daniel have been explained as Macedonian,
which Popillins Laenas may have seized at
Delos after the defeat , of Perseus, and taken on
his expedition to Egypt against Antiochus; but
the assumption on which this interpretation
rests is not borne out by the narrative (Liv.
xliv. 29 ; xiv. 10), nor does there appear any
difficulty iu extending the term to Italy, as
one of the lands in the far west with which the
Hebrews were but little acquainted. [A. H. S.]
CHIUN (t-1>3, Amos v. 26). The word occurs
in averse of which there are two very different
renderings (see QPB.3 in loco). The LXX.
{to c\aTpov tov Beov vptuv 'Paitpdv), Peshitto,
and Vulg. (imaginem idolorum vestrorum, sidus dei
vestri) do not consider Chiun a proper name,
and in this they are followed by those who
render (e.g. R.V. marg.) "the shrine (al. the
pedestal) of your images," as if derived from
J'13. On the other hand, many consider Chiun
to be the name of a deity worshipped by the
Israelites in the desert, and, punctuating the
name p'S, identify him with the star Saturn,

CHORAZIN

573

the principle of evil, whoso Assyrian nnme iva<
Kewau or A'tu'tocum (Schrader, KA I'.2 pp.
442-3). [See Rempiian.] [F.]
CHLOE (XXin, Greek female name meaning
verdure ; Chloe), a woman mentioned in 1 Cor. i.
11. It was hy "those of Chloe" (tuv XA.o};s)
that St. Paul had been informed of the divisions
in the Church of Corinth. " Those of Chloe "
were probably slaves or freedmen belonging to
the household of a person of that name (cp.
Rom. xvi. 10 and 11, and see Aristobulus).
Nothing is known of Chloe, and her residence
either at Corinth or Ephesus is a matter of mere
conjecture. [E. R. B.]
CHO'BA (BA. XuBi, N. Xoj3a ; Vulg. omits),
a place mentioned in Judith iv. 4. The Syriac
reads here " the kikkar " or circle of the Jor
dan. The place is not identified (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco). [F.]
CHO'BAI (BA. XaPal, tt1" Xu>3d ; Vulg.
omits) occurs in Judith xv. 4, 5. The name
suggests Hobah (113111, which is the reading of
the Syriac), especially in connexion with the
mention of Damascus in v. 5, but the distance
from the probable site of Bethulia is too great.
It is supposed by Reland (p. 721) to be the
same as Coabis, a station given in the Peutinger
Tables, as 12 Roman miles from Scythopolis,
and 1 2 from Archelais : and it is now probably
the ruin el-Mekhvhby, near which is the cave
'Ardk el-Khubby, on the old Roman road, 3 miles
from Tubas, and 11 from Beisdn (Scythopolis.
See PEF. Mem. ii. 231, 243 ; Conder, Hbk. to
Bible, p. 289). [W.]
CHOR-A'SHAN (JB>irii3. The true read
ing of the Heb. text is ]K>iri13 [cp. Driver,
Kotes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of Sam. in
loco], which is recognised both in B. Bnptrd0ee,
and in A. Bupacrdv; in lacu Asan; cp. R. V.
marg. Bor-ashan), one of the places in which
" David and his men were wont to haunt," and
to his friends in which he sent presents of the
plunder taken from the Amalekites (1 Sam.
xxx. 30). The towns named in this catalogue
are all south of Hebron, and Chorashan may
therefore be identified with Ashan of Simeon
(Josh. xv. 42 ; xix. 7). This is, however, un
certain (cp. Dillmann2 in loco). [G.] [W.]
CHORA'ZIN (XopaCjv, Xopa(elv, Xopo&tv ;
Corozain), one of the cities in which our Lord's
mighty works were done, but named only in His
denunciation (Matt. xi. 21 ; Luke x. 13). In
the time of Eusebius (OS.2 p. 290, 77) it was
stated to.be deserted, and to be 2 (or 12, Euseb.)
miles from Capernaum. Jerome describes it
(Comm. in Is. ix. 1) as on the borders of the
lake. It is mentioned in the Talmud (Tal. Bab.
Menahoth, 85a) as celebrated for the fine quality
of its wheat (see Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud,
p. 220). The origin of the name is also very
uncertain. Origen writes the name as x^Pa
Ziv, i.e. the district of Ziu ; but this is obviously
a mere fancy, and has no support from MSS.
The only traveller who visited Chorazin, previous
to the Crusaders, was Willibald (a.d. 723-6),
who went from Tiberias to Magdalum and Ca
pernaum, and thence to Bethsaida and Chorazin,
" where our Lord healed the demoniac, and sent

574

CHOSAMEL'S

the devil into a herd of swine." Willibald
appears here to identify Chorazin with Gergesa,
which lay on the eastern shore of the lake ; and
in this he is followed by the mediaeval geo
graphers : see especially the map of Mar. Sanutus
(1321). Chorazin is now Kh. Kerdzeh, 2| miles
north of Tell Hum ; the ruins are extensive, and
especially interesting, as the place does not seem
to have been occupied since the fourth century.
The most important ruin is that of a synagogue,
with Corinthian capitals and decorative details
elaborately carved in hard black basalt (Wilson,
Becovy. of Jerusalem, pp. 346-7 ; PEF. Mem.
i. 400-2). [G.] [W.]
CHOSAME'US. [See Simon Chosamaeus.]
CHOZE'BA (K3T3 ; B. -2.uxi.Bd, A. XuCnPd ;
viri mendacii ; R. V. Cozeba). The " men of
Chozeba " are named (1 Ch. iv. 22) amongst the
descendants of Shelah the son of Judah. The
name does not reappear, but it is sufficiently like
Chezib (and especially the reading of the
Samaritan Codex of that name) to suggest that
the two refer to the same place ; that, namely,
elsewhere called ACHZIB, at which place Shelah
was born. (The Vulgate Version of this passage
is worth notice.) Coilder (PEFQy. St. 1875,
p. 13) proposes to identify Chozeba with Kh.
Kueiziba, N.E. of Hiilhul, in the hill-country of
Judaea (PEF. Mem. iii. 358 ; Tristram, Bible
Places, p. 68) ; but if it be the same as Chezib,
it must have been in the low country of Judah
(see Chesib). [G.] [W.]
CHRIST. [Jesus.]
CHRISTIAN (XpitxTiav6s; Christianus). The
disciples, we are told (Acts xi. 26), " were first
called Christians at Antioch " on the Orontes,
somewhere about A.D. 43. The name, and the
place where it was conferred, are both signifi
cant. It is clear that the appellation "Christian "
was one which, though eagerly adopted and
gloried in by the early followers of Christ, could
not have been imposed by themselves. They
were known to each other as brethren of one
family, as disciples of the same Master, as be
lievers in the same faith, and as distinguished by
the same endeavours after holiness and consecra
tion of life ; and so were called brethren (Acts xv.
1, 23; 1 Cor. vii. 12), disciples (Acts ix. 26,
xi. 29), believers (Acts v. 14), saints (Rom. viii.
26, xv. 25). But the outer world could know
nothing of the true force and significance of
these terms, which were in a manner esoteric ; it
was necessary therefore that the followers of
the new religion should have some distinctive
title. To the contemptuous Jew they were
Nazarenes and Galilaeans, names which carried
with them the infamy and turbulence of the
places whence they sprang, and from whence
nothing good and no prophet might come (cp.
John i. 46). The Jews could add nothing to
the scorn which these names expressed, and had
they endeavoured to do so they would not have
defiled the glory of their Messiah by applying
his title to those whom they could not but re
gard as the followers of a pretender. The name
'Christian," then, which, in the only other
cases where it appears in the N. T. (Acts xxvi.
28 ; 1 Pet. iv. 16 : cp. Tac. Ann. xv. 44), is
used contemptuously, could not have been

CHRONICLES
applied by the early disciples to themselves, nor
could it have come to them from their own
nation the Jews ; it must therefore have been
imposed upon them by the Gentile world, and
no place could have so appropriately given rise
to it as Antioch, where the first Church was
planted among the heathen. It was manifest
by the preaching of the new teachers that they
were distinct from the Jews, so distinct as to be
remarked by the heathen themselves ; and as no
name was so frequently in their mouths as that
of Christ," the Messiah, the Anointed, the people
of Antioch, ever on the alert for a jibe or mock
ing taunt, and taking Christ to be a proper
name and not a title of honour, called his fol
lowers Xpto-Tiavoi, Christians, the partisans of
Christ ; just as in the early struggles for the
Empire we meet with the Caesariani, Pompeiani,
and Octaviani. The Latin form of the name is'
what would be expected, for Antioch had long
been a Roman city. Its inhabitants were cele
brated for their wit and a propensity for con
ferring nicknames (Procop. Pers. ii. 8, p. 105).
The Emperor Julian himself was not secure from
their jests (Amm. Marc. xxii. 14). Apollonius
of Tyana was driven from the city by the insults
of the inhabitants (Philostr. Vit. Apoll. iii. 16).
Their wit, however, was often harmless enough
(Lucian, De Saltat. 76), and there is no reason
to suppose that the name " Christian " of itself
was intended as a term of scurrility or abuse,
though it would naturally be used with con
tempt. Suidas (s. v. XptCTtavol) says the name was
given in the reign of Claudius, when Peter ap
pointed Evodius bishop of Antioch, and they who
were formerly called Nazarenes and Galilaeans
had their name changed to Christians. Accord
ing to Malalas (Chrcmoq. x.) it was changed by
Evodius himself, and William of Tyre (iv. 9)
has a story that a synod was held at Antioch for
the purpose. Ignatius, in the Epistle to the
Magnesians (c. x.), regards the prophecy of Isaiah
(lxii. 2, 12) as first fulfilled in Syria, when Peter
and Paul founded the Church at Antioch. But
reasons have already been given why the name
did not originate within the Church.
Another form of the name is XpnaTiavol,
arising from a false etymology (Lact. iv. 7 ;
Tertullian, Apol. u. 3 ; Suet. Claud. 25), by which
it was derived from xPV^tSs. [W. A. W.]
CHRONICLES, First and Second Books
op. I. Title.— Chronicles (in Heb. D'DM '131;
verba dierum, as Jerome translates it, and
sermones dierum, as Hilar. Pictav. in Wolf, but
rather acta dierum ; journals or diaries, i.e. the
record of the daily occurrences) is the name
originally given to the record made by the
appointed historiographers in the kingdoms of
Israel and Judah. In the LXX. these Books are
called Yla.paXetirop.evuv vpiinov and tieirepov,
which is understood, after Jerome's explanation,
as rightly recording one of their characteristics,
viz. that they are supplementary to the Books
of Kings. The Vulgate retains both the Hebrew
aud Greek name in Latin characters, Dibre ja-
mim or hajamim, and Paralipomenon. The
division of Chronicles into two Books is not

» " Christ," and not " Jesus," is the term most com
monly applied to our Lord in the Epistles.

CHKONKJLiES
original any more than a similar division in the
cases of the Books of Samuel and Kings. In all
the old catalogues the Chronicles form but one
out ofthe 22 (or 24 Talmud) Books ofthe 0. T.
canon. Jerome tells us (ad Damnum, et Bogatian.)
that in his time they formed only one Book in the
Hebrew MSS., but had been divided by the LXX.
translators; and that for convenience, on ac
count of their length, the Christian Churches of
the West had adopted this division. In his
Ep. to Paulinus, he thus further explains the
name Paralipomenon, and eulogizes the Book :
" Paralipomenon liber, id est Instrum. Vet.
epitome, tantus ac talis est, ut absque illo si
quis scientiam scripturarum sibi voluerit arro-
gare, seipsum irrideat. Per singula quippe
nomina juncturasque verborum, et praeter-
raissae iu Regum libris tanguntur historiae, et in-
numerabiles explicantur Evangelii quaestiones."
The name Chronica, or Chronicorum. liber, which
is given in some copies of the Vulgate, and from
whence we derive our English name of " Chroni
cles," seems to be taken from Jerome's saying
in his Prologus Galeatus, "Dibre hajamim, i.e.
verba dierum: quod significantius Chronicon
totius divinae historiae possumus appellare."
It was possibly suggested to him by his having
translated the Chronica of Eusebius into Latin.
Later Latin writers have given to the Books
the name of "Ephemeridum libri."
II. Text and Language. — The text of the
Chronicles is in parts very corrupt, and has the
appearance of having been copied from MSS.
which were partly effaced by age or injury.
Various readings of the names of persons and
places are frequent, and the numbers are often
justly open to suspicion. Jerome (Praef. ad
Paral.) speaks of the Greek text as being hope
lessly confused in his days, and assigns this as
a reason why he made a new translation from
the Hebrew. At the same time, these defects
cannot be said seriously to affect the narratives
in these Books. The lacunae in the text are not
of any great length, and the ancient Versions
make no important additions to the Hebrew
(Speaker's Comm. § 8). As regards the lan
guage of these Books, as of Ezra, Nehemiah,
Esther, the later Prophets, &c, it has a marked
Aramaic colouring, and Gesenius says of them,
that " as literary works, they are decidedly
inferior to those of older date " (Heb. Gramm.25
§ 2, 7, ed. Kautsch, and reff. Cp. Ber
theau,2 Komm. z. Chronik, p. xvi. sq.). The
chief Chaldaisms are the use of certain words
not found in old Hebrew, as JDT> S)'lD> &c, or
of words in a different sense, as 1DS> H3I7, &c,
- T TT '
or of a different orthography, as Til for
l^l' 311 for 31, &c, and the interchange of
K and fl at the end and at the beginning of
words. III. Plan and Contents. — One of the greatest
difficulties connected with the Captivity and the
return must have been the maintenance of that
genealogical distribution of the lands which yet
was a vital point of the Jewish economy. Ac
cordingly it appears to have been one to which
both Ezra and Nehemiah gave their earnest atten
tion, as David, Hezekiah, and other kings had
done before them. Another difficulty, intimately
connected withthe former, was the maintenance
of the Temple services at Jerusalem. This could

utiuONICLliS 575
only be effected by the residence of the priests
and Levites in Jerusalem in tho order of their
courses: and this residence- was only practicable
in case of the payment of the appointed tithes,
first-fruits, and other offerings. Immediately
these ceased the priests and Levites were obliged
to disperse to their own villages to obtain a
livelihood, and the Temple services were
neglected. But then again the registers of the
Levitical genealogies were necessary, in order
that it might be known who were entitled to
such and such allowances, as porters, as singers,
as priests, and so on; because all these offices
went by families ; and again the payment of the
tithes, first-fruits, &c, was dependent upon
the different families of Israel being established
each in his inheritance. Obviously therefore
one of the most pressing wants of the Jewish
community after their return from Babylon
would be trusty genealogical records ; and if
there were any such in existence, the arrange
ment and publication of them would be one of
the greatest services such a person as Ezra
could confer. But further, not only had Zerub
babel (Ezra iii. v. vi.), and after him Ezra and
Nehemiah (Ezra ii. viii. ; Neh. vii. viii.), laboured
most earnestly, in the teeth of immense diffi
culties, to restore the Temple and the public
worship of God there to the condition it had
been in under the kings of Judah ; but it
appears clearly from their policy, and from the
language of the contemporary Prophets, Haggai
and Zechariah, that they had it much at heart
to re-infuse something of national life and spirit
into the heart of the people, and to make them
feel that they were still the inheritors of God's
covenanted mercies, and that the Captivity had
only temporarily interrupted, not dried up, the
stream of God's favour to their nation. Now
nothing could more effectually aid these pious
and patriotic designs than setting before the
people a compendious history of the kingdom
of David, which should embrace a full account
of its prosperity, should trace the sins which
led to its overthrow, and, carrying the thread
through the period of the Captivity, should con
tinue it as it were unbroken on the other side ;
and those passages in their former history would
be especially important which exhibited their
greatest and best kings as engaged in building
or restoring the Temple, in reforming all cor
ruptions in religion, and zealously regulating the
services of the house of God. As regards
the kingdom of Israel or Samaria, seeing it had
utterly and hopelessly passed away, and that the
existing inhabitants were among the bitterest
" adversaries of Judah and Benjamin," it would
naturally engage very little of the compiler's
attention. These considerations explain exactly the plan
and scope of that historical work which contains
the two Books of Chronicles. The Books may
be conveniently divided into four principal sec
tions: (a) 1. i.-ix. (Genealogies); (b) x.-xxix.
(Saul and David) ; (c) 2. i.-ix. (Solomon) ; (d)
x.-xxxvi. (the Kings of Judah till the Babylo
nian Captivity). The first eight chapters give
the genealogical divisions and settlements of the
various tribes, the compiler informing us in
ix. 1 of the disturbance of those settlements
by the Babylonish Captivity, and, ra the follow
ing verses, of the partial restoration of them at

576

CHRONICLES

the return from Babylon (vv. 2-24). That this
list refers to the families who had returned
from Babylon is clear, not only from the context,
but from its re-insertion in Neh. xi. 3-22," with
additional matter evidently extracted from the
public archives, and relating to times subsequent
to the return from Babylon, extending to Neh.
xii. 27, where Nehemiah's narrative is again re
sumed in continuance with Neh. xi. 2. Having
thus shown the re-establishment ofthe returned
families, each in their own inheritance according
to the houses of their fathers, the compiler pro
ceeds to the other part of his plan, which is to
give a continuous history of the kingdom of
Judah from David to his own times, introduced
by the closing scene of Saul's life (ch. x.), which
introduction is itself prefaced by a genealogy of
the house of Saul (ix. 35-44), extracted from the
genealogical tables drawn up in the reign of king
Hezekiah, as is at once manifest by counting the
thirteen orfourteen generations, from Jonathan to
the sons of Azel inclusive, exactly corresponding
to the fourteen from David to Hezekiah inclusive.
This part of the plan extends from 1 Ch. ix. 35
to the end of the Book of Ezra. 1 Ch. xv.-xvii.
Kxii.-xxix. ; 2 Ch. xiii.-xv. xxiv. xxvi. xxix. -xxxi.
and xxxv. are among the passages wholly or in
part peculiar to the Books of Chronicles.
As regards the materials used by him, and
the sources of his information, they are not
difficult to discover. The genealogies are ob
viously transcribed from some register, in
which were preserved the genealogies of the
tribes and families drawn up at different times.
This appears from the very different ages at
which different genealogies terminate, indicat
ing of course the particular reign when each
was drawn up. Thus e.g. the genealogy of the
descendants of Sheshan (1 Ch. ii. 34-41) was
drawn up in Hezekiah's reign, since, including
Zabad, who lived in David's time, and Azariah
an the time of Joash, it ends with a generation
contemporary with Hezekiah [Azariah, No. 13].
The line of the high-priests (1 Ch. vi. 1-15)
must have been drawn up during the Captivity ;
that in vv. 50-53 in the time of David or
Solomon; those of Heman and Asaph, in the'
same chapter, in the time of David ; that of
the sons of Azel (1 Ch. viii. 38) in the time of
Hezekiah ; that of the sons of Zerubbabel (1 Ch.
iii. 19-24) in the time of Ezra, and so on.
The same wide divergence in the age of other
materials embodied in the Books of Chronicles is
¦also apparent. Thus the information in 1 Ch. i.
concerning the kings of Edom before the reign
of Saul, was obviously compiled from very
ancient sources. The same may be said of the
incident of the slaughter of the sons of Ephraim
by the Gittites (1 Ch. vii. 21, viii. 13), and of
the account of the sons of Shela, and their
dominion in Moab (1 Ch. iv. 21, 22). The
curious details concerning the Reubenites and
Gadites in 1 Ch. v. must have been drawn from
contemporary documents, embodied probably in
the genealogical records of Jotham and Jeroboam,
while other records used by the compiler are as
late as after the return from Babylon, such
as 1 Ch. ix. 2 sq. ; 2 Ch. xxxvi. 20 sq. ; and
others, as Ezra ii. and iv. 6-23, are as late as
the time of Artaxerxes and Nehemiah. Hence

* Cp. also 1 Cb. ix. 19 with Ezra ii. 42, Neh. vii. 45.

CHRONICLES
it is further manifest that the Books of
Chronicles contain extracts from the writings of
many different writers, which were extant at
the time the compilation was made, and are
by no means to be limited to documents
already existing in the Canonical Books of
Samuel and Kings. For the full account of the
reign of David, he made copious extracts from
the Books of Samuel the seer, Nathan the
prophet, and Gad the seer (1 Ch. xxix. 29).
For the reign of Solomon he copied from " the
book of Nathan," from " the prophecy of Ahijah
the Shilonite," and from "the visions of Iddo
the seer" (2 Ch. ix. 29). Another work of
Iddo, called "the story (or commentary,
Midrash, CHID) of the prophet Iddo," supplied
an account of the acts, and the wavs, and say
ings of king Abijah (xiii. 22); while' yet another
book of Iddo concerning genealogies, with the
book of the prophet Shemaiah, contained the
acts of king Rehoboam (xii. 15). For later
times the " Book of the kings of Israel and
Judah " — a work not to be confounded with the
canonical Books of Kings — is repeatedly cited
(2 Ch. xxv. 26, xxvii. 7, xxxii. 32, xxxiii. 18,
&c), and "the sayings of the seers" (xxxiii.
19, reading D*th with LXX. and R. V. marg.)
or perhaps " of Hozai " (R. V. : — on this disputed
reading see the Comm. in loco), and for the reions
of Uzziah and Hezekiah " the vision of the pro
phet Isaiah" (xxvi. 22, xxxii. 32). In other
cases where no reference is made to auy book
as containing further information, it is probable
that the whole account of such reign is tran
scribed. Besides the above-named works, there
was also the public national record called ISO
D^D'H ,13'!!, mentioned in Neh. xii. 23, from
which doubtless the present Books took their
name, and from which the genealogies and other
matters in them were probably derived, and
which are alluded to as having existed as early
as the reign of David (1 Ch. xxvii. 24). These
" Chronicles of David," 1111 tblh CDfl nil.
are probably the same as the Til ''1.31, above
referred to, as written by Samuel, Nathan, and
Gad. From this time the affairs of each king's
reign were regularly recorded in a book called —
e.g., TXKbe> n.31 ISD, "the book of the
acts of Solomon " (1 K. xi. 41) — by the name of
the king, as before of David, but afterwards
in both kingdoms by the general name of
D^STI "1 "D, as in the constantly recurring
formula,— " Now the rest of the acts of 0.131)
Rehoboam, Abijam, &c. ; Jeroboam, Nadab, lie.,
are they not written in the book of the Chronicles
of the kings of Judah" or "of Israel" (1 K,
xiv. 29, xv. 7, &c.)? And this continues to the
end of Jehoiakim's reign, as appears by 2 K.
xxiv. 5 ; 2 Ch. xxxvi. 8. And it was probably
from this common source that the passages in
the Books of Samuel and Kings identical with the
Books of Chronicles were derived. All these
several works have perished, but the most
important matters in them have been provi
dentially preserved. to us in the Chronicles (see
a useful summary in Speaker's Comm. § 5).
As regards tho closing chapter of 2 Ch. sub
sequent to v. 8, and the 1st ch. of Ezra, a
comparison of them with the narrative of 2 K.

CHRONICLES

OilltONICLES

577

xxiv. xxv. will lead to the conclusion that
while the writer of the narrative in Kings lived
in Judah and died under the dynasty of Nebu
chadnezzar, the writer of the chapter in Chroni
cles lived at Babylon and survived till the
commencement at least of the Persian dynasty.
For this last writer gives no details of the
reigns of Jehoiaehin, or Zedekiah, or of the events
in Judah subsequent to the burning of the
Temple ; but, only dwelling on the moral lessons
connected with the destruction of Jerusalem,
passes on quickly to relate the return from
Captivity. Moreover, he seems to speak as one
who had long been a subject of Nebuchadnezzar,
calling him simply " King Nebuchadnezzar ; "
and by the repeated use of the expression
"brought him, or these, to Babylon," rather
encourages the idea that the writer was there
himself. The first chapter of Ezra strongly
confirms this view, for we have copious details,
not likely to be known except to one at Babylon,
of the decree, the presents made to the captives,
the bringing out of the sacred vessels, the very
name of the Chaldee treasurer, the number and
weight of the vessels, and the Chaldee name of
Zerubbabel ; and in this chapter the writer
speaks throughout of the captives going up to
Jerusalem, and Sheshbazzar taking them up
(HplCT, as opposed to &V3n). But with this
clue we may advance a little further, and ask,
who was there at Babylon, a Prophet, as the
writer of sacred annals must be, an author, a
subject of Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, and
yet who survived to see the Persian dynasty, to
whom we can with probability assign this narra
tive? Surely the answer will be Daniel. Who
so likely to dwell on the sacred vessels taken by
Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. v. 2, 23) ; who so likely
to refer to the prophecy of Jeremiah (Dan. ix.
2) ; who so likely to bewail the stubbornness of
the people, and their rejection of the Prophets
(Dan. ix. 5-8) ; who so likely to possess the
text of Cyrus's decree, to know aud record the
name of the treasurer (Dan. i. 3, 11) ; and to
name Zerubbabel by his Chaldee name (Dan. i.
7) ? Add to this, that Ezra i. exactly supplies
the unaccountable gap between Dan. ix. and x.
[Ezra], and may we not conclude with some con
fidence that as Jeremiah wrote the closing por
tion of the Book of Kings, so did Daniel write
the corresponding portion in Chronicles, and
down to the end of Ezra i. ? Ezra perhaps
brought this with him from Babylon, and made
use of it to carry on the Jewish history from
the point where the old Chronicles failed him.
[A. C. H.]
^ On many of the points considered in the pre
vious paragraphs there is tolerable unanimity
of opinion. It is otherwise with the questions of
date, authorship, and trustworthiness.
IV. Date and Authorship. — Critics are una
nimous upon one point only, viz. that the
Chronicler lived after the Babylonian exile (2
Ch. xxxvi. 20-23), but how soon or how late
after that event must be declared difficult to
determine. Evidence is indeed adduced which
is thought to point to a definite and late date.
(a) The use of the word "daric" (D»3311K,
1 Ch. xxix. 7, R.V. ; " drams," A.V. The word
occurs again in Ezra viii. 27, and under the
form J1D311 in Ezra ii. 69 ; Neh. vii. 70-72) in I
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

the history of David is affirmed to prove compo
sition late in, or even after, tlie Persian period
when the coin had been long in circulation. (6) A
comparison between 1 Ch. ix. 1-34 and Neh. xi.
1-19 is thought to indicate that the time when
Nehemiah was Tirshatha (i.e. B.C. 445) had long
been passed, (c) Tho genealogy in 1 Ch. iii.
17-24 is considered to extend to the eleventh
generation after Zerubbabel. (d) The title
" king of Persia " applied to Cyrus (2 Ch.
xxxvi. 22) is thought to be an explanatory title,
not appropriate in the Persian period but iu
the Greek which followed it, when it was more
necessary thus to distinguish him. But these
indications of date, severally or cumulatively,
hardly warrant positive deductions of a late
date, (a) The word is Persian, and its occur
rence indicates revision in the days of Persian
supremacy, or the introduction into the text of
a marginal money-equivalent, nothing more ;
but, on the other hand, its very occurrence
places such revision or insertion at a date pre
ceding the Greek period, when " talents " or
" drachms " were in use and might have been
expected (cp. 1 Mace. xi. 28 ; 2 Mace. iv. 19) ;
(6) rests too much on one interpretation of a
disputed verse (1 Ch. ix. 18), and upon a pre
sumed superfluity of information had not the
writer lived long after Nehemiah ; (c) also
depends upon one view of a very disputed pas
sage — others finding six generations, and some
only three — and upon a preference for the LXX.
over the Masoretic text ;" (d) this, as a matter
of fact, is the only clear indication of date, but
that not a late one. " King of Persia " is the
title given to Cyrus by the cuneiform inscrip
tions contemporary with the fall of Babylon
(Cyrus, p. 691, note * ; cp. Schrader, Keilin-
schriftl. Bibliothek, iii. 2 Halfte, pp. 130-1).
Moreover, in the Books "Chronicles to Nehe
miah " there is no absolute uniformity of desig
nation for the kings. Cyrus and Artaxerxes are
called " king of Babylon " (Ezra v. 13 ; Neh.
xiii. 6) as well as " king of Persia ;" and often
the longer title is replaced by the simpler, " the
king." Such variations, interesting in them
selves, do but exhibit a faithful reproduction of
any original memoirs before the composer or
reviser. It is, therefore, hardly possible to speak
positively as to a late date if the indications (a)
to (c) only are available, and if (d) be opposed to
such an inference. Something more is needed ;
and therefore connected with the date is the
question: Does "Chronicles" form one work with
" Ezra-Nehemiah " written by Ezra ; or, are
"Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah " to be taken as one
work, emanating from neither Ezra nor Nehe
miah, but from some (otherwise) unknown writer,
who had before him documents relative to the
periods before and after the Exile, and sources
incorporated into the works which bear those
honoured names ?
The former used to be the almost universally-
received opinion. It rests upon the tradition of

b For an explanation of Zerubbabel's genealogy In
1 Ch. iii., see Geneal. of our Lord, by Lord A. Hervey,
p. 97 sq. But even if this explanation is not accepted,
tbere is no difficulty. The hand which added Neh.
xii. 10, 11, 22, 23, might equally have added 1 Ch. iii.
22-24.— [A. C. H.J 2 P

07c

CHRONICLES

the Jews," and is still held by many scholars of
repute. Of late years, however, the latter
opinion has been steadily gaining ground. Un
doubtedly there runs through the three Books
a similarity of style and sentiment, and the
characteristic use of materials and sources noted
in § III. with reference to Chronicles is con
tinued in the other Books (Keil, Movers, and Ber
theau 2). These and other facts therefore suggest
a modification of the first opinion. The materials
for "Chronicles" may well have been collected,
and in part " written " by Ezra ; but, later on,
somewhere about the second half of the 4th
century B.C. (cp. 1 Ch. iii. 18, &c), the several
Books of " Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah " were
revised and assumed their present form. The
unknown reviser may have been a Levite with
considerable musical likings. Most events are
estimated from a Levitical point of view, and
the writer had before him the Pentateuch in its
complete and canonical form. Why or where
fore the compilers of the Hebrew Canon again
separated these Books, and placed Chronicles
after Ezra and Nehemiah in the Ketubim, has
not been — pace those who have attempted it
(e.g. Merx, p. 38 ; Kuenen, pp. 183-4) — satis
factorily explained.
V. Trustworthiness. — Does this conclusion
militate against the trustworthiness and authen
ticity of the whole, or of its component parts?
In this article the question has to be an
swered principally as it affects the " Books of
Chronicles." Critics, who assign a late date
to the work, affirm that the composer or
reviser has presented a picture of pre-exilic
history entirely coloured by the Judaism of
his own post-exilic time. His object was to
present to his contemporaries a mirror in which
they might see reflected for their own edifica
tion the blessing of a religiousness ordered after
strict Levitical models, and the punishment for
deviation from it. The older records have there
fore been purposely altered, and the story
brought into conformity with the convictions
and necessities of the writer's own time, so
that the reader has not a true description of
the earlier periods of Biblical history, but one
to which have been transferred elements of a
very much later date. Criticism of the Books
conducted from this point of view compels those
who maintain it to describe as unhistorical and
untrustworthy (a) the sections in which paral
lels can be instituted between "Chronicles"
and " Samuel and Kings," and (b) the sections
in which the former is independent of the latter.
Under this discipline such parallel accounts (e.g.)
as those connected with the transfer of the Ark
(2 Sam. vi. and 1 Ch. xiii.-xvi.), the number
ing of Israel (2 Sam. xxiv. and 1 Ch. xxi.),
the dedication of the Temple (1 K. iii. and
2 Ch. i.), Athaliah (2 K. xi. and 2 Ch. xxiii.),
and the reformation of Josiah (2 K. xxiii.
and 2 Ch. xxxiv.) are described as deliberately
mutilated, widely differing, directly contra
dictory, intentionally distorted, or purposely

• See the passage from the Baba Bathra quoted under
Canon (p. 503, col. I). It will be noticed thafEara" is
tbere said to have brought "the genealogies down to his
own time," and the words would seem to impose this
limit upon his special work. Cp. Merx, m-aditio Rabb.
oeternma de libris Y.T. ordine atque origine, p. 55 sq

CHRONOLOGY
invented ; while the independent sections cannot
be, in the main, considered historical on account
of the fabulous character of the numbers of
statements considered psychologically and even
doctrinally improbable (e.g. the repentance of
Manasseh, 2 Ch. xxxiii.), and of the transference
of late ideas to early periods. An examination of
such criticisms would be beyond the province of
this article, and belongs more appropriately to
special Introductions and Commentaries. It is
enough here to state that a dispassionate study of
the Books by no means leads to the conclusions
quoted. Critical analysis certainly renders clear
a large and independent usage of documents by
the compiler, but with an eclectic and, in that
sense, idealising purpose, rather than with an
intention which it is extremely difficult to dis
tinguish from deception. Critics who do not
limit almost exclusively the sources used by
the compiler to the Canonical Books of Samuel
and Kings in their present or in subsidiary
forms, and are not fettered by the conclusion
that (e.g.) the Chronicler's description of the
Temple, the preparation for it, its after-cultus
and official personages in the times of David,
&c, were unknown till long after the Exile,
cannot admit what is antecedently most im
probable and is not accepted by some of the
best scholars of the day. They can readily
accept differences and modifications of events
recorded ; the expansion of speeches delivered
by king, prophet, or priest ; and the use of
a syntax and vocabulary even dogmatically
peculiar, without losing faith in the general
trustworthiness of the writer, or in the honesty
with which he worked.
VI. Bibliography. — The views of those who,
for various reasons, reject "Chronicles" as
untrustworthy are to be found in De Wette
(in the earlier, but not in the later, editions of
his Einleitung), Gramberg (Die Chron. rnch
ihrem gesch. Charakter . . . gepruft, 1823), Graf
(Die Gesch. BB. d. A. T, 1866), Noldeke (Die
ATliche Literatur, 1868), Wellhausen (Proleg.
to the Hist, of Israel [pref. W. R. Smith], pp.
171-227 ; Proleg. x. Gesch. Isr.3 pp. 175-235),
Reuss (Gesch. d. heil. Schriften d. A. T., 1881,
§§ 420, &c), and Kuenen-Weber (Histor.-hit.
Einl. in die BB. d. A. T., Erster Teil, Zweites
Stuck, 1890, §§ 28-35). The views of those
who, differing in some not unimportant points,
yet agree in accepting these Books as trust
worthy, are stated by Keil (Bibl. Comm. iib. das
A. 21, Fiinfter Theil), Movers (Krit. Vnter-
suchungen ub. d. Bibl. Chron. 1834), Bertheau
(Die BB. d. Chronik 2), Dillmann (in Herzog's
RE.2 art. " Chronik "), Strack (Handb. d. theolog.
Wissenschaften,3 i. 251, &c), Rawlinson (in
Speaker's Commentary), Ball (in Cassell's Com
mentary), W. R. Smith (Encyclop. Britann? art.
"Chronicles"), and Comely (Introd. Specialis
in Histor. V. T. Libris, ch. vi., 1887). [F.]
CHRONOLOGY. I. Introduction.— The
object of this article is to indicate the present
state of Biblical chronology. By this term we
understand the technical and historical chrono
logy of the Jews and their ancestors from the
earliest times to the close of the New Testament
Canon. The technical division must be discussed
more fully than the historical,' the details of
which are treated in other articles. It may

CHRONOLOGY

CHRONOLOGY

579

close with the return from Babylon, the disputed
matters ofthe period following being separately
noticed under other heads.
The character of the inquiry may be made
clearer by some remarks on the general nature
of the subject. Formerly exactness was expected
in the determination by the Biblical data of
Hebrew chronology. Hence the positive schemes
of the older chronologers. Their attitude was
unreasonable. The character of the records for
bids us to hope for a complete system based on
them. The materials for technical chronology
being scanty and mainly inferential, we can but
raise on them a general structure which cannot
be exact, though it may be approximately cor
rect. With historical chronology it is far other
wise. The Bible does not give a complete history
of the times to which it refers : in its historical
portion it deals with special and detached periods,
not connected by the use of an era, nor defined
by the record of astronomical observations. The
chronological information is therefore not abso
lutely continuous, nor definite ; although, with
the evident purpose of forming a connexion
between the detached periods, it has sometimes
a more continuous character than might have
been expected. It might be supposed that the
accuracy of the data would compensate in some
degree for their scantiness and want of absolute
continuity. It is a most important question at
the outset whether all these data are original.
Some must be, although perhaps not in their
original form, but it is not unreasonable to sup
pose that those which afford a continuous chro
nology were in some cases added to the original
documents. Certainly they were not treated by
redactors with the respect shown to the rest of
the text. They have suffered from designed
alteration as well as from the errors of copyists.
Designed alteration of numbers has only been
detected in the genealogical lists of Abraham's
ancestors in Genesis, in which the nature of
the differences of the Hebrew, the Septuagint,
and the Samaritan Pentateuch, is such as to
indicate separate alteration by design in two of
the three records. From this we may draw two
inferences. Where three sets of data disagree we
cannot be certain that any one is the original,
and it is evident that at least two ancient bodies
of redactors attached no final authority to the
numbers. The object of these alterations has
been either to lengthen or to shorten the chro
nology. With the same purpose alterations
may have been made in the prominent large
numbers in the Old Testament, which give the
reckoning from period to period, as in the case
of the 430 years in Ex. xii. 40 (cp. Speaker's
Comm., add. n.), where the Septuagint (B. Cp.
Swete's ed.) and the Samaritan Version (see
Knobel-Dillmann, /. c.) either insert a gloss, or
preserve a clause dropped out of the Hebrew.
Similarly the small numbers may have been
altered, when forming part of a series within
a period measured elsewhere, or the historical
context may have been modified, but of this
last there does not seem to be any clear in
stance. We must therefore carefully weigh
independent evidence. In considering the
evidence of the New Testament, we must bear
in mind that the object of the Apostles was
to teach religion, not chronology, and that a
new reckoning would have scandalized their

hearers. The evidence of the genealogies is an
important element. Their weight is not so
much injured by the discovery of designed
alteration, of which the mention of tho second
Cainan is the only certain instance, as by the
abundant indications of the errors of copyists.
Their very nature makes them unsafe guides
when unsupported, for a genealogy may be
broken without being technically imperfect in
the Semitic sense. When there is a general
agreement of several contemporary genealogies,
confirmed by the continuity of one of them, their
evidence is invaluable, but this unfortunately is
limited to a single period of disputed reckoning.
The Biblical information cannot, in the pre
sent state of criticism, be assumed to be correct in
all cases of the periods to which it was formerly
assigned. This difficulty will be noticed as it
arises. The discovery of collateral information from
the Egyptian and Assyrian records affords a new
set of data for Biblical chronology and a new
means of testing the Biblical data. If we can fix
the Exodus within fifty years on Egyptian evi
dence, we have an approximative date, and can
compare the Hebrew evidence bearing on the
same date. This is equally the case with the
exact or approximative determination of some
dates in later chronology by means of the Assy
rian Eponym Canon.
II. Technical Chronology. — The technical
part of Hebrew chronology presents great diffi
culties. The Biblical information is, as already
indicated, mainly inferential, but in many cases
positive inferences may be drawn from it.
Thus the exact character of every ordinary year
cannot be fixed, but the general or mean cha
racter of the year may be determined. In this
section we may use with more than ordinary
confidence the Rabbinical information. The
writers who afford it could scarcely be ill-
informed in such matters. They lived near the
times at which all the Jewish observances con
nected with the calendar were strictly observed
in the country for which they were framed, and
it has not been shown that they had any motive
for misrepresentation. We can, however, make
no good use of our materials if we do not know
what character to expect in Hebrew technical
chronology. There is no reason to look for any
great change, either in the way of advance or
decline, although it seems probable that the
patriarchal division of time was somewhat
ruder than that established in connexion with
the Law, and that after the time of Moses until
the establishment of the kingdom but little
attention was paid to science. In endeavouring
to ascertain how much scientific knowledge the
patriarchs and their descendants are likely to
have had, we must not expect the accuracy of
modern science or the inaccuracy of modern
ignorance. As to scientific knowledge necessary
for the calendar, particularly that of astronomy,
the cases of the Egyptians and the Babylonians
and Assyrians afford us the highest level the
Hebrews could have attained. The Hebrews,
however, we must remember, had not the same
advantage of being wholly settled, nor the same
inducements derived from national religions con
nected with the heavenly bodies. The Arabs of
the desert, from somewhat before the time of
Mohammad — that is, so far as our knowledge of
2 P 2

580

CHRONOLOGY

them in this respect extends — to the present day,
afford the best parallel. They have never been a
mathematical people, nor given to chronological
computation depending on astronomy, but have
regulated their calendar by observation alone.
It might have been expected that their observa
tions would, from their constant recurrence,
have acquired an extraordinary delicacy, and have
gradually given place to computations ; but this
was not the case, and those observations are not
now more accurate than the earlier ones must
have been, nor has computation taken their
place except by the publication of calendars of no
strict legal authority. The same characteristics
probably marked the scientific knowledge and
practice of the Hebrews. We have no reason
for supposing that they had attained, either by
discovery or by the instruction of foreigners, to
a high degree of mathematical knowledge or
accuracy of chronological reckoning, at any
period of their history. Probably they were
always far below the Egyptians and the Baby
lonians and Assyrians. But there is sufficient
evidence that they were not inattentive obser
vers of the heavens in the allusions to stars and
constellations as well-known objects sometimes
connecteu with terrestrial seasons. We may
therefore expect, iu the case of the Hebrews,
that wherever observation could take the place
of computation it would be used, and that it
would be but moderately accurate. If, for
instance, as among the Muslims generally, a
new moon were to be observed at any town, it
would bt known within two days when it might
be first seen, and one of the clearest-sighted
men of the place would ascend an eminence on
the first of those days, to look for it. This
would be done for centuries without any close
average for computation being obtained, as the
observations would not be kept on record. So
too with star-risings and the equinoxes. These
probable conclusions as to the importance of
observation and its degree of accuracy must be
kept in view throughout this section.
Before noticing the usual divisions of time we
must discuss genealogies and generations.
Referring the reader to the article Genea
logy for a fuller statement of the subject,
it is only necessary here to speak of the
Hebrew genealogies in their relation to chrono
logy, with a view to determining their use. Iu
spite of their importance to the people and the
great attention bestowed upon them, the Hebrew
lists are seen on a short examination not to be
strictly genealogical, but lines of inheritance.
Thus it is natural that they should sometimes
be broken without being imperfect : a line
could be carried up to a certain point, and then
the remote founder of the family placed at the
head, or the same could be done in the descend
ing order. Looking a little more closely into
the documents, we observe countries and tribes
treated as individuals. Thus in the table of
Gen. x. by the side of the names of individuals
we have Mizraim iu the dual for the double
land of Egypt, or Mizrim " the Egyptians," for
this is a mere question of the vowel-points, as
the parent of " sons " each one of whom is a
people named in the plural. The use of the
terms of relationship is much broader in Semitic
than in Aryan languages. A man may be the
father of a remote descendant or even of a town ;

CHRONOLOGY
a son may be a remote descendant, a disciple 01
even an inhabitant of a town. In the genealo
gies we do not find the broader uses after the
division of the Promised Land save in cases
where they could not confuse the line. The
cause seems obvious : the descents became oi
the greatest importance to inheritance in the
later period ; in the earlier, the indication of a
tribe would serve as well as a continuous list.
Thus after the division of the land we may infei
that there is not any break in a particular line oi
descent, except where the links dropped were
perfectly well known. We may therefore separate
the genealogies into two classes at the point ot
the division of the land. The earlier are probablv
in some cases of individuals only, but it cannot.
be proved that any one of them is absolutely com
plete. The most important, the pedigree of the
nation, separates at Jacob. The lines of every
one of his sons seem to be incomplete for the
age of the sojourn. Neither the genealogy from.
Levi to Moses and his sons nor any parallel list
except the line of Joshua in its present form,.
can be reconciled with the term assigned to the
sojourn in the Hebrew text, nor even with the-
shorter term of the Septuagint and Samaritan -T
nor again with the increase indicated by the
statements of the number at the Exodus and the
accordant numbers of the two censuses twice
in the wilderness. Thus the chronological use
of the genealogies begins with the division of
the land. What that use is has been defined
by the following canon : " What seems neces
sary to make them trustworthy measures ol.
time is, either that they should have special
internal marks of being complete, such as where
the mother as well as the father is named, 01
some historical circumstance defines the several
relationships, or that there should be several
genealogies, all giving the same number of
generations within the same termini." [Genea
logy.] The second part of this canon, how
ever, will only apply to portions of genea
logies before the division of Canaan, notwith
standing their general agreement in the number
of generations between Jacob and that period.
This seems at first sight enough to make u&
distrust the use of genealogies altogether, but
it must be remembered, that according to the
view before expressed, which the historical
character of the narrative seems absolutely to
require, the use of genealogies to designate
tribes and families ends, and the strict use of
descents begins, exactly where the conditions ot
the nation render it necessary.
There is no distinct use in the Bible of gene
rations as divisions of time, according to the
method of Herodotus. Some indeed suppose
that 111 in Gen. xv. 16 is so used, holding it to
mean an interval of 100 years (see Dillmann5),
as it would do if it were a period of time cor
responding to the fourth part of the 400 years
of o. 13 ; but a century as the length of a genera
tion nowhere appears in the lists. Probably the
original use of the term in question is the period
of the lives of a generation of men, and thus a
century. The period from birth to birth is some
what over thirty years, or three to a century.
We observe this in the case of Joseph's descen
dants (Gen. 1. 22, 23). It is noteworthy that
almost all the numbers assigned to generations
in the Hebrew text from Adam to Terah are

CHRONOLOGY
divisible by the ordinary estimate of a generation
or are of that length, and that the longer
generations of the Septuagint and the lengths of
the lives in both text and Version are divisible
by about the same term. [Generation.]
There is no evidence that the Hebrews had
any division of time below the hour : with this
we begin the inquiry into definite divisions of
time. Hour. — The hour is supposed to be mentioned
in Daniel (iii. 6, 15 ; iv. 16, 30— A. V. 19, 33 ;
v. 5), but in no one of these cases is it certain
that a definite period of time is intended by
T\V$. Wirt?. KRVW, Chald. (see MV."). The
Egyptians divided the day and the night into
liours like ourselves, from at least B.C. 1200
{see Lepsius, Chronologie der Aeg. i. p. 230).
Probably therefore the Hebrews were acquainted
with the hour from an early period, at least
during the sojourn in Egypt. " The sun-dial of
Ahaz " implies some division of the kind. In the
N. T. we have the same division as the modern,
the hours being reckoned from the beginning of
the Jewish night and day. [HOURS.]
Day. — For the civil day of twenty-four hours
we find in one place (Dan. viii. 14) the term
1p'3 311?, "evening-morning," LXX. vvxBriuepov
<a'lso in 2 Cor. xi. 25, " a night and a day "). The
A. V. renders J11ND E^B"! Dja^S 1£3 31T IV
¦" unto two thousand and three hundred nights
and days ; " the R. V. prefers " evenings and
mornings." The day is similarly described in
Gcu. i. as consisting of day and night in the
natural sense, and each day of evening and
morning in the civil sense, the word day DV
ieing then extended over the twenty-four hours.
This word DV is used in both senses elsewhere in
the 0. T., the natural day sometimes needing
¦distinction to avoid vagueness, "three days and
three nights " (Jon. ii. 1, E. V. i. 17 ; cp. Matt.
xii. 40). The civil day began with night, as
might perhaps be inferred from the use in Gen. i.
In the passages last cited day perhaps necessarily
¦comes first. The night, 7 v> and thus the civil
day, is generally held to have begun at sunset.
Ideler, however, while admitting that this point
-of time was that of the beginning of the civil
day among all nations who used a lunar reckon
ing, questions whether this was the practice of
the Jews. He argues in favour of the begin
ning of deep night, reasoning that, for instance,
in the ordaining of the Day of Atonement, on
the tenth day of the seventh month, it is said,
" in the ninth [day] ofthe month at even, from
<ven unto even, shall ye celebrate (lit. rest)
your Sabbath" (Lev. xxiii. 32). Here, if the
civil day began at sunset, it would have been
•said that the observance should begin on the
•evening of the tenth day, or merely on that day,
so that the word " evening," 311/, would mean
the latter part of the afternoon. He cites, as
probably supporting his view, the expression
D?3"15i!1 1*3, " between the two evenings," used
of the time of offering the Passover and the
daily evening-sacrifice (Ex. xii. 6 ; Num. ix. 3,
xxviii. 4). The Pharisees, whom the present
Jews follow, took it to be the time between the
ninth and eleventh hours of the day, or our
3 and 5 p.m., but the Samaritans and Karaites

CHRONOLOGY

581

supposed it to be the time between sunset
and full darkness, particularly on account of
the phrase flDCi'll X133, " when the sun is
setting," used in a parallel passage (Deut. xvi.
6 ; see Ideler, Handbuch, i. 482-4). From these
passages we must infer that the time " between
the two evenings " preceded the beginning of
the civil day ; that this day may have begun
after sunset ; but that, if the Samaritans and
Karaites are right, it began with dark night.
On the other hand, the term " between the two
evenings " can scarcely be supposed to have
originally indicated a long period : a special
short period, not a point, the time of sun
set, is shown to correspond to it. This is a
natural division between the late afternoon
when the sun is low, and the evening when his
light has not wholly disappeared, the two even
ings into which the natural evening would be
cut by the commencement of the civil day, if
it began at sunset. By this theory the two
evenings would be the respective halves of the
evening belonging to the ending and the begin
ning day. This is an early view, probably pre
serving the oldest, which ritualistic scruples
would naturally have changed so as to extend
the time. There is no difficulty in the com
mand that the observance of so solemn a day as
the Day of Atonement should commence some
what before the true beginning of the civil day,
for due preparation could thus be made for the
sacrifices. It may be added that in Judaea,
where the duration of twilight is very short, the
most natural division of the day would be at
sunset. Where there is a long twilight, nightfall
acquires special importance. — The natural day,
DV (also used for the civil day), probably began
at sunrise, unless the day was divided into
hours, morning-twilight being included in the
last watch of the night, according to the old
division into three watches, as well as the new
into four: some, however, made the morning-
watch part of the day, in consonance with the
supposed beginning of the civil day at night
fall. Four natural periods, smaller than the civil
day, are mentioned : these are 311?, evening,
1|53, morning, both frequently occurring, and
the less usual D;in¥, " the two lights," as
though " double light," noon, or better noon
tide, and r6T4l lliSn or — 'Xn "half the
night," midnight. Recollecting that the Hebrews
were not an astronomical people, we may sup
pose that evening and morning were indefinite,
and noontide and midnight much shorter periods
rather than points of time.
The night was divided into watches, miptJ'X,
sing. ni-IDEpg. rrjpB>«. In the 0. T. two are
expressly mentioned, and we can thus infer the
existence of a third, the first watch of the
night. The " beginning of the watches "
jlilOt^K B>R1 (Lam. ii. 19) probably refers
to the first watch, without absolutely designat
ing it. The middle watch, njto'flil nibEJ'Krj.
occurs in Judg. vii. 19, where the connexion of
watches with military affairs is shown: "And
Gideon and the hundred men thatwere with him
came unto the outermost part of the camp in the
beginning of the middle watch, when they had

582

CHRONOLOGY

but newly set the watch" (DnDBNI ; R. V.).
The morning-watch, 1p3i1 TTlbVX, is men
tioned in Ex. xiv. 24, in the narrative of the
passage of the Red Sea, and in 1 Sam. xi. 11, in
that of Saul's surprise of the Ammonites, when he
relieved Jabesh-gilead. Some Rabbins held that
there were four watches (Ideler, Hdb. i. p. 486).
In the N. T. four night-watches are mentioned,
which were probably adopted from the Romans
in modification of the old system. All four occur
together in Mark xiii. 35 : oi|/e, the " evening "
watch ; pteaovvKTiov, midnight ; aXeKTpotpuvia,
the cock-crowing ; and irpui, the " morning "
watch. [Day ; Night ; Watches op Night.]
Decad (litW, SeKas). — The Hebrews used
the same term for a period of ten days (Gen.
xxiv. 55) and for the last day of a decad, the
tenth day of the month (Ex. xii. 5 ; Lev. xvi.
29). Dillmann, who refers to Ewald (Alter-
thilmer,3 p. 132), has collected instances of these
two uses, and compared the Egyptian decad or
third of the month (Ueber das Kalendarwesen
der Israeliten vor dem babylonische Exit: Mon-
atsberichte Berl. Akad. 1881, pp. 930, 931).
Until we know more of the Canaanite calendar,
we cannot here draw any inference of origin.
See what is said below of Months and Month
(separate art.).
Week (|M3E>, a hebdomad).— The Hebrew
week was a period of seven days ending with
the Sabbath. It therefore could not have been
a division of the month, which was strictly
lunar, without an intercalary day or days ;
for the Sabbath was every seventh day, and
weeks were counted on without any break. The
mention together of Sabbaths and new-moons
merely proves a similarity of observance of the
day which closed the week and that which
opened the month. The week of the ancients
was of two kinds, a period of seven days or a
quarter of the month. The week of seven days
was fhe Semitic form. It was used with the
Sabbath from remote times in Chaldaea, and was
probably of Cushite origin. The Egyptians,
however, were without the week, although they
had a monthly and half-monthly festival. No
doubt their lunar year was marked by the ob
servance of the new and full moon of each
lunation. The civil or vague year had twelve
months of thirty days each, and at its close five
epagunenae. Each month was divided into
three decades, of which there were thirty-six in
the year, which appears to have closed with -a.
half-decade (Lepsius, Chronologie der Aegypter,
p. 131 sq. ; cp. p. 97). The Hebrew week there
fore cannot have been adopted from Egypt :
week and Sabbath alike were preserved from the
patriarchal times. The days of the week, save
the Sabbath, appear to have been unnamed. The
mode of speaking of them is indicated in Gen. i.
•¦ 7 *P 7
In Syriac the words . Vnn . |v»^». « seven
days," equivalent to the Hebrew 1M3K>, a
hebdomad, are superseded by the use of lAn*
&c, Sabbath, the Hebrew, J13B>, in the sense of
week. The days are numbered [»-i»«-> .,
the first (day) of the week, "{zxitd _»jZ, and

CHRONOLOGY
so forth, Friday having the special name
lAnOfi, "preparation (day)," Ttapao-Kevi], and
P 7
the Sabbath ^A«1» Thus adfifraTov, "Sab
bath," also signifies " week " in the N. T. and
we find pia aafifldTuv, followed by the Fathers
(p.ia, Sevrepa, . . . tuv cufr&dTuv), where the
plural is difficult to account for.
Month (Vn\ KHJI. OW GShn).— The ear
liest mention of months in the Bible is in the
narrative of the Flood. These would seem to
have been of 30 days each, the sum of 150 days
apparently reaching from the seventeenth day
of the second month (Gen. viii. 11) to the
seventeenth of the seventh month. If the
months were lunar, alternately of twenty-nine
and thirty days, the sum would be a little defi
cient. Ewald has ingeniously conjectured that
the year was lunar, comparing the date 2 m.
17 d. of one year with 2 m. 27 d. of the next
(viii. 4), which including both limits gives a
sum of 365 days, or a solar year; a period
which, if the lunar year began about the
autumnal equinox, would begin with the rainy
season (Ewald, Jahrb. d. bibl. Wissenschaft,
t. vii. p. 9, ap. Fr. Lenormant, Les Origines, i.
2nd ed., pp. 411, 412). It must be remembered,
however, that there are positive indications of
the use of the Chaldaeo-Babylonian year of 360
days in prophetic passages, and this year is
more probably here intended. That the months
from the Exodus, when the calendar appears to
have been founded, or at least the beginning of
the year changed, until the time of the Second
Temple, when we have absolute knowledge of
their character, were always lunar, appears
from the command to observe new-moons, and
from the unlikelihood of any change in the
calendar. These lunar months have been sup
posed to have been always alternately of 29 and
30 days. Their average length would of course
be a lunation, or a little (44 min.) over 29£-
days, and therefore they would in general be
alternately of 29 and 30 days ; but if, as is
highly probable, the beginning of each was
strictly determined by observation, occasionally
months might irregularly occur of 29 and 30 days.
That observation was employed for this purpose
is distinctly stated in the Babylonian Talmud
of the practice of the time, when, however, »
month was not allowed to be less than 29 days
in length or more than 30. The first day of the
month is called K'ln, " new moon ; " LXX.
veopievla. In speaking of- the first day of a
month a numeral was sometimes added to this
word, as njil Di»3 • • • • n^C^I B'lhS, "on
the third new-moon .... on that day " (LXX-
tou 8e fiqvhs too Tpfaov . . . Try r)p.epa rairn ;
Ex. xix. 1). Thus the word 'came to mean
" month," though in this sense it was sometimes
qualified as D»D' t^ljl. The new-moon was
kept as a sacred festival. [Festivals.] In the
Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth we find
but one month mentioned by a special name, the
rest being called according to their order. The
month with a special name is the first BJHn
S'ONn (LXX. p.%v tuv veuv), "the month of
the Abib," " ears of corn," when the ears of
corn were so forward that on the sixteenth day,

CHRONOLOGY
the second day of the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, ripe ears, 3'I3S, could be offered (Lev.
ii. 14; xxiii. 10, 11, 14). The similarity in
sound of the name of the Egyptian eleventh
month, in the Graeco-Egyptian form Epiphi, the
Coptic enuri, enK$, ennui, has
suggested the derivation of the Hebrew Abib
from this source, and has led to chronological
inquiry as to the possible derivation of the
Hebrew calendar from the Egyptian. The
Egyptian name is derived from the tutelary
divinity of the month Apet or Apet-heb
(Brugsch, Mat&riaux pour servir a la recon
struction du Calendrier des ane. Eg. p. 53, pi. i.) ;
and the original form was probably Pa-apet,
whence Epiphi, as Apapus from Pepi. The
interchange of the Egyptian letter p with the
Hebrew 3 is unlikely, and the Egyptian word
does not offer any like sense so far as is known.
Thus the idea of a derivation of the name
from Egypt seems unlikely. In 1 K. three
other names of months occur: Zif, 1t, the
second ; D'JJVK, the seventh ; and >13, the
' ¦ T ¦'' '
eighth. The sense of all these appears to be
in relation to the seasons. The name of the
second is the month of " blossom ; " the seventh,
which, like the first, takes the article, the
month of " constant streams ; " and that of the
eighth the month of " rain." The time of
blossom is true of Egypt and Palestine ; that
of constant streams, of Egypt, and not of
Palestine : that of rain, of the Delta, and
not of Palestine. It should be remarked
that, rare as rain is south of the Delta,
it falls in the Delta from October to March.
The most rainy months are November and
December. In the absence of meteorological
observations made in the neighbourhood of
Goshen, we cannot speak more precisely, but
the indications are sufficient to justify the sup
position that Bui, like the other three months
named after the seasons, was named during the
sojourn in Egypt. The very moderate rains of
the Delta would give a sufficient characteristic,
if each month was named from natural condi
tions. Of those names two, Bui and Ethanim
(73. D311X), are found in the Phoenician in
scriptions (MV.11 s. nn.), and it has therefore been
inferred that the Hebrews borrowed them from
the usage of the country. These were solar
months of thirty days, probably of a year of 365,
which would agree with the use of the decad
(Dillmann, Ueber das Kalendarwesen der Is-
raeliten : Monatsber. Berl. Akacl. p. 925 sq.). The
origin cannot yet be determined. If the indica
tions pointed to Egypt, the Canaanite calendar
might have been framed in the Delta during the
Hyksos-age: if they pointed to Canaan, the
origin would be there localised. In the Books
of the Bible written after the return from
Babylon, the later nomenclature of the months,
still in use, appears. It is almost identical with
that of the Babylonians at the same period, and
the origin affirmed by the Jews themselves is
thus confirmed. [Months.]
Year (PUEfy. — It has been noticed in the last
section that the months used in the narrative
of the Flood seem best to accord with the
Chaldaeo-Babylonian year of 360 days, which is
certainly used in prophetical passages in both

CHRONOLOGY 583
Testaments. The time, times, and a half, of
Daniel (vii. 25, xii. 7), where " time " means
"year" (cp. xi. 13), cannot be doubted to be
expressions equivalent to the 42 months of the
Revelation (xi. 2, xiii. 5), and the 1260 days of
the same Book (xi. 3, xii. 6) for 360 X3& = 1260,
and 30x42 = 1260. Whether the year thus
employed is ii year of days or a year of
years, it is clear that we have here an indication
of the use of the Chaldaean year of 360 days ;
and this, combined with the notices of time in
the narrative of the Flood, leaves little doubt
that the patriarchal year was of this duration,
and was brought from Chaldaea by the Hebrews.
In historical passages from the date of the
Exodus downwards the year is lunar. Was the
change made in Egypt, and at the time of the
Exodus? At that time the Egyptians had three
forms of year, the lunar year of 354 days, the
vague year of 365, and the supposed sidereal
year of 365J. The account of the institution of
the Passover may imply the institution of the
calendar, but it may merely indicate the change
of the beginning of the year (Ex. xii. 2) ;, and as
the Hebrews in after-times had two beginnings
to the year, this is the more probable view. If
so, we may reasonably conjecture that the rude
lunar year of 360 days was abandoned during
the sojourn under Egyptian influence for the
fairly accurate lunar year of 354 days. — The
characteristics of the year from the Exodus
downwards can be clearly determined, though
we cannot absolutely fix those of any single
year. There can be no doubt that it was essen
tially tropical, as certain observances connected
with the produce of the laud were fixed to
particular days. It is equally clear that the
months were lunar, each beginning with a new
moon. It would appear therefore that there
must have been some mode of adjustment. To
ascertain what this was, it is necessary first to
decide when the year began. On the 16th day
of the month Abib, as already mentioned, ripe
ears of corn were to be offered as " the first of the
first-fruits " of the harvest (Lev. ii. 14 ; xxiii. 10,
11). The reaping of the barley began the harvest
(2 Sam. xxi. 9), the wheat following (Ruth ii.
23). Josephus states that the offering was of
barley (Ant. iii. 10, § 5). It is therefore neces
sary to find when the barley becomes ripe in
Palestine. According to the observation of
travellers, the barley is ripe, in the warmest
parts of the country, in the first days of April.
The barley-harvest therefore begins about half
a month after the vernal equinox, so that the
year would begin at about that tropical point,
were it not divided into lunar months. We may
conclude that the nearest new moon about or
¦ after the equinox, but not much before, would
be chosen as the beginning of the year. Ideler,
whom we have thus far followed on this
question, concludes that the right new-moon
was found by observation of the forwardness of
the barley-crops in the warmer districts of the
country (Handbuch, i. p. 490). There is how
ever this difficulty, that the different times of
barley-harvest in various parts would have been
likely to cause confusion. It seems therefore
possible that the Hebrews adopted the surer
means of determining their new-year's day by
observations of heliacal risings or similar stellar
phenomena, known to mark the right time before

584

CHRONOLOGY

the barley-harvest. Certainly the ancient Egyp
tians and the Arabs used such means. The
method of intercalation can only have been that
which obtained after the Captivity, the addition
of a thirteenth month, whenever the twelfth
ended too long before the vernal equinox for the
first-fruits of the harvest to be offered in the
middle of the month following, and the similar
offerings at the times appointed This method
would be in accordance with the postponement
of the celebration of the Passover, ih the case of
any one who was legally unclean, or journeying
at a distance, for a whole month to the fourteenth
day of the second month (Num. ix. 9-13), of
which law we find Hezekiah availed himself for
both the reasons allowed, because the priests
were not sufficiently sanctified, and the people
were not collected (2 Ch. xxx. 1-5, 15).
The later Jews had two beginnings to the
year, or, as it is commonly but somewhat inac
curately said, two years. At the time of the
second Temple, as Ideler admits, these two begin
nings obtained, the seventh month of the civil
reckoning being Abib, the first of the sacred.
Hence it has been held, as already stated, that the
institution at the time of the Exodus was merely
a change of commencement, and not the introduc
tion of a new year ; and also that from this time
there were two beginnings. The former opinion
is at present hypothetical, aud has been too
much mixed up with the latter, for which there
is some evidence. The strongest point in this
evidence, although strangely unnoticed by Ideler
as such, is the circumstance that the sabbatical
and jubilee years began in the- seventh mouth.
That the jubilee year began in this month
is distinctly stated, since its solemn proclamation
was on the tenth day of the seventh month, the
Day of Atonement (Lev. xxv. 9, 10) ; and as
this year immediately followed a sabbatical
year, that year must have begun in the same
manner. As these were whole years, they must
have begun on the first day of the month, the
Day of Atonement standing in the same relation
to the defining of the jubilee year, and perhaps
to those of the sabbatical and civil years, as did
the Passover to the sacred beginning, unless in
deed the Feast of Ingathering took its place. It
is clear that the civil reckoning would be most
convenient, if not necessary, for the commence
ment of single years of total cessation from the
labours of the field, as each year so beginning
would comprise the whole round of field-labour
from seed-time to harvest, and from harvest to
vintage and ingathering of fruit. This is indeed
plain from the injunction as to both sabbatical
and jubilee years, apart from the mention of
the Day of Atonement, unless we suppose, very
unreasonably, that the injunction follows the
order of the seasons of agriculture, but that the
observance did not. It might seem at first
sight that the seventh month was chosen, as
itself of a kind of sabbatical character ; but the
seventh of twelve months would not be analogous
to every seventh year. We can therefore come
to no other conclusion but that for the labours of
agriculture the year was held to begin with the
seventh month, while the months were still
counted from the sacred beginning in Abib.
There are two expressions used with respect to
the time of the celebration of the Feast of In
gathering on the fifteenth day of the seventh

CHRONOLOGY
month, one of which leads to the conclusion at
which we have just arrived, while the other is in
accordance with it. The first of these speaks of
this feast as ilJB'ri J1XS3, "in the going out"
or " end of the year " (Ex. xxiii. 16), and the
other, as i13B>n JlS-lpn, "at the change [R. V.
"end-" marg. Heb. revolution] of the year"
(xxxiv. 22); a vague expression, but one consistent
with a turning-point of a natural year. By the
term ilBlpn the Rabbins denote the beginning of
each of the four seasons into which their year is
divided (Ideler, Hdb. i. pp. 550-551). Evidence
in support of our conclusion is also afforded by
the similar distinctive character ofthe first and
seventh months in the calendar with respect to
their observances. The one was distinguished by
the Feast of Unleavened Bread, from the fifteenth
to the twenty-first inclusive ; the other, by that of
Tabernacles, from the fifteenth to the twenty-
second. The parallel is rendered closer by the cir
cumstance that the first-fruits of the harvest were
offered on the sixteenth day of the first month ;
similarly, the Feast of Tabernacles was also called
the Feast of Ingathering, as a time of thankso-ivin^
for the fruit-harvest, including the vintage.
There is further evidence in the special sancti
fication, above that of the ordinary new moon, of
the first day of the seventh month, which, in
the ceremony of blowing trumpets, resembles the
celebration of the beginning of the jubilee year
on the Day of Atonement. That solemn annual
rite seems also more appropriate to the begin
ning than to the middle of the year. On these
grounds we hold that there were two beginnings
of the year from the institution of the Calendar.
Dr. Dillmann writes of the autumnal beginning
of the year rather as a civil use than a calendric.
one, but he cites with caution the indications of
Lev. xxiii. 24, the celebration of the Feast of
trumpets, and of xxv. 9, that of the jubilee
year (Ueber der Kalendarwesen, pp. 919-920).
The probable coincidences in the later reigns of
Judah with the Babylonian reckoning of Nebu
chadnezzar's years, both years from spring
(pp. 923-924), do not prove more than a late
usage of vassal-kings. The earlier usage may
have been of the autumnal beginning (cp.
p. 920 sq.).
The question of the two beginnings of the
year is somewhat confused by our unacquaint-
ance with such usages. In Egypt, until lately,
the Coptic Julian year was used by the Mus
lims for agricultural purposes, the Muslim
lunar year for religious purposes; now the
European Gregorian year is fast superseding the
Coptic. We may more pointedly compare the
beginnings of our civil and ecclesiastical years.
[Year.] Seasons. — The ancient Hebrews do not appear
to have divided their year into fixed seasons. We
find mention of the natural seasons : ]*}|3. " sum
mer," and P|lH, " winter," which are used for the
whole year in the expression P|lhl }*?p_, "summer
and winter" (Ps. lxxiv. 17; Zech. xiv. 8; per
haps Gen. viii. 22). y.p_ properly means the time
of cutting fruits ; C)lh, the time of gathering
fruits, or autumn. Their true senses are therefore
rather summer and autumn than summer and
winter. Tliere can beno doubt, however, that they
came to signify the two grand natural divisions

CHRONOLOGY
ofthe year, both from their use together as the
two seasons and from the mention together of
"the winter house," linil'JVj}, and " the sum
mer house," f'pilTVS (Amos iii. 15). The
last evidence is the stronger, for the winter in
Palestine is the time when a palace would be
needed of different construction to the light
summer pavilion ; and iu the only other passage
in which the winter-house is mentioned, we read
that Jehoiakim " sat in the winter-house in the
ninth month ;" that is, almost at mid-winter :
"and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning
before him " (Jer. xxxvi. 22). It is probable,
however, that ^Ifl, when used without reference
to the year, as in Job xxix. 4, has its original
signification. The phrase " coid and heat," 1p
Dm, in Gen. viii. 22, is still more general, and
cannot be held to mean more than the great
alternations of temperature (cp. Ideler, Handb.
i. p. 494). There are two agricultural seasons
of a more definite character. These are 1HT,
" seed-time," and 1*¥PT, " harvest." Ideler (I. c.)
makes them equivalent to the foregoing seasons
when similarly used together ; but he has not
proved this, and the passage he quotes (Gen. /. c.)
cannot be held to afford any evidence of the
kind, no two terms in it being proved to be
strictly correspondent. [Seasons.]
Festivals and Holy Days. — -Besides the sabbaths
and new moons, there were four great festivals
and a fast in the Hebrew year before the Cap
tivity : the Feast of the Passover, of Weeks,
that of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the
Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast of the Passover,
FIDS, was properly only the time of the sacrifice
and eating of the paschal lamb ; that is, the
evening, D.'STIM |'3, " between the two
evenings" (Lev. xxiii. 5) — a phrase already con
sidered — of the fourteenth day of the first month,
and the night following, — the Feast of Unleavened
Bread, ni-1fK)n 3H, beginning on the morning of the
fifteenth day of the month, and lasting seven days
until the twenty-first inclusive. The fifteenth and
twenty-first days of the month were sabbaths ;
that is, holy days. [Passover.] The Feast of
Weeks, nil?3E> 311, or Pentecost, was kept at the
close of seven weeks, counted from the day inclu
sive following the sixteenth of the first month.
Hence its name means " the feast of seven weeks,"
as indeed it is cited in Tobit, ayia cirri eBSopidSuv
(ii. 1). As the ears of barley, " the first of the
first-fruits," were offered on the sixteenth day of
the first month, so on this day thanksgiving was
made for the blessings of the harvest with its
first-fruits in the form of loaves of leavened
bread made from the new flour : hence the
names 1'Vpil 30, Feast of Harvest, and Di*
Qni33n, Day of First-fruits.— The Feast of
Trumpets, ilinin D'T1 (lit. " of the sound of the
trumpet"), also called Hltflfl J113t ])D2&, "a
great sabbath of celebration by the sound of the
trumpet," was the first day ofthe seventh month,
the civii beginning of the year. The Day of
Atonement, D*1B3n DV, was the tenth day of
the seventh month. It was a sabbath, therefore
a holy day, and also a fast, the only one in the
Hebrew year before the Captivity. Upon this
day the high-priest made an offering of atone-

CHRONOLOGY

boo

ment for the nation. — The Feast of Tabernacles,
niSDn 3D, was kept in the seventh mouth,
from the fifteenth to the twenty-second days
inclusive. Its chief days were the first and
last, which were sabbaths. Its name was taken
from the people dwelling in tabernacles, to com
memorate the Exodus. It was otherwise called
fl'DXil 311, " the Feast of Ingathering," because
it was also the occasion of thanksgiving for the
end of the fruit-harvest, including the vintage.
The small number and simplicity of these primi
tive Hebrew festivals and holy days are especially
worthy of note. It is also observable that they
are not of an astronomical character ; and that
when they are connected with nature it is as
times of thanksgiving for the produce of field,
garden, and vineyard. In later times several holy
days were added. The most noteworthy are the
Feast of Purim or " Lots," commemorating the
deliverance of the Hebrews from Haman's plot;
the Feast of the Dedication, recording the
cleansing and dedication of the Temple by Judas
Maccabaeus ; and fasts on the anniversaries of
great national calamities of the age of the Baby
lonish Captivity. These last were doubtless
instituted during that period (cp. Zech. vii.
1-5). [Fasts and Festivals.]
Sabbatical and Jubilee Years." — The Sabbati
cal Year, jil13B' 713^, "the year of entire rest,"
nBOB'n rOE*, " the year of remission," or
ntSOB' alone, also called "a sabbath" and "a
great sabbath," was an institution of strictly
the same character as the sabbath, a year of
rest, like the day of rest. As the day of
rest has a side of physical necessity with
reference to man, so the year has a side
of physical necessity with reference to the
earth. Every seventh year appears to be a
very suitable time for the recurrence of a
fallow year, on agricultural grounds. Besides
the rest from the labours of the field and vine
yard, there was to be in this year remission,
temporary or absolute, of debts and obligations
among the people. The sabbatical year must
have begun at the civil commencement of the
year, with the seventh month, as already shown.
Although doubtless held to begin with the first
day of the month, its beginning appears to have
been kept at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut.
xxxi. 10), while that of the jubilee year was
kept on the Day of Atonement. After the
lapse of seven sabbatical periods, or forty-nine

a Those who hold that the whole system of the Sab
batical and Jubilee Years is of late introduction have to
explain the occurrence of the principle in relation to the
slavery of Hebrews (Ex. xxi. 2), and in the same parti
cular as well as in the remission of debts in Deut. xv.
1-18, documents held to be respectively much earlier, and
earlier than tbe part of the Law in which the more pre
cise definition of the cyclical system is given. It should
be borne fn mind that if the laws in relation to the Sab
batical system were enforced, tbe slavery of Hebrews
would be of necessity interrupted by the rest of the
Sabbatical Year ; on the other hand, that if the system
were neglected the principle would defend the Hebrews'
right. The liberty proclaimed at the beginning of the
Jubilee Year hos to do with inheritance, the reversion of
the land to its former owners, and not with personal
liberty. This is seen In the passage relating to the
Hebrew hired servant in the Jubilee law (Lev xxv
39-41).

586

CHRONOLOGY

years, a year of jubilee was to be kept, imme
diately following the last sabbatical year. The
jubilee year was called ?3isn J13K>, " the year
ofthe trumpet," or 731* alone, the latter word
meaning either the sound of the trumpet or the
instrument itself, because the beginning of the
year was to be announced on the Day of Atone
ment by sound of trumpet. It was similar to the
sabbatical year in character, though doubtless
yet more important. In the jubilee year debts
were to be remitted, lands restored to their
former owners, and Hebrew slaves set free. It
is obvious from the terms of the enactment in
Leviticus (xxv. 8-11) that this year was to follow
every seventh sabbatical year, so that the
opinion that it was identical with the seventh
sabbatical year is untenable. There is a more
difficult question as to the length of each jubilee
period, some holding the jubilee year to have
been intercalary, and the period therefore of
fifty years, while others hold the sabbatical
periods to have been continuous, the jubilee
year beginning a sabbatical period and not
standing between two such periods. According
to Maimonides, the jubilee period was of fifty
years, the fifty-first year beginning a new cycle.
The same writer mentions a tradition that after
the destruction of the first Temple only sabba
tical years, and no jubilee years, were observed
(Ideler, Handbuch, i. pp. 503, 504). The Jews
in the first and second centuries B.C. certainly
followed the system of continuous sabbatical
periods: the tradition handed down by Mai
monides may be an endeavour to explain away
this evidence. The testimony of Josephus does
not seem conclusive, though Ideler (I. c.) holds
it to be so : the expression Tavra TrevTi)K0VTa
pev etrriv eTn to TtdvTa (Ant. iii. 12, § 3) cannot
be held to prove absolutely that the jubilee year
was not the first year of a sabbatical period
instead of being intercalary.
It is important to ascertain as far as possible
when the first sabbatical year after the entrance
into Palestine ought to have been kept ; whether
the sabbatical and jubilee periods seem to have
been continuous ; and what positive record there
is of any sabbatical or jubilee years having been
observed. 1. It can scarcely be disputed that
the first sabbatical year to be kept after the
Israelites had entered Palestine was about the
fourteenth (Jennings, Jewish Antiquities, bk.
iii. cap. 9). It is possible that it might have
been somewhat earlier or later ; but the narra
tive will not admit of much latitude. 2. The
institution seems to have been greatly neglected.
It is said in Leviticus that in the desolation of
the land she should enjoy the sabbaths which
had not been kept (Lev. xxvi. 34, 35, 43). The
seventy years' Captivity is also spoken of in 2 Ch.
(xxxvi. 21) in like terms ; but this may be on
account of the number being itself sabbatical,
ten times seven, which indeed seems to be
indicated in the passage. In spite of neglect we
may infer that any sabbatical and jubilee years
kept from the time of Joshua until the destruc
tion of the first Temple, would have been
reckoned from the first one, but it may be
questioned if any kept after the return from
Babylon would be counted in the same manner :
from the nature of the institution it is rather to
be supposed that the reckoning would begin again

CHRONOLOGY
after th3 re- occupation of the country. The
recorded sabbatical years do not enable us to
determine this problem, because we do not
know the exact year of the first cultivation 'of
the country by the returned exiles. The known
dates of sabbatical years would make that next
after the return to commence B.C. 528, and be
current B.C. 527, which would make the first
year of the period B.C. 534-3, which would not
improbably be the first year of cultivation;
but the sabbatical period being so short, this
evidence is. of little weight. Of course, both
dates may be brought down seven years.
3. There is no positive evidence of any jubilee
year having been kept. The dates of three
sabbatical years have been preserved. These
were current B.C. 163, 135, and 37, and there
fore commenced about three months earlier,
B.C. 164, 136, and 38 (Jos. Ant. xii. 9, S 5;
xiii. 8, § 1 ; xiv. 16, § 2 ; xv. 1, § 2; B. J. i.
2, § 4; 1 Mace. vi. 49, 53).— The phrase iv
caBBaTu SevTepoirptiru (Luke vi. 1) has been
explained as the first sabbath in the second
year of the cycle. The year would be a.d. 29 ;
and as the second year of a sabbatical period
commenced in the autumn of A.D. 28, the har
vest would have fallen in the spring of a.d. 29.
Eras. — There are indications of several his
torical eras having been used by the Hebrews,
but our information is too scanty for any posi
tive conclusions. Some of these possible eras
may be merely reckonings employed by writers
and not national eras ; others from their refer
ence to events of the highest importance to the
whole people have the true character of eras,
though they may not have had any lasting use.
The era of the Seleucidae is here excepted as
foreign. 1. The Exodus is used as an era in dating the
foundation of Solomon's Temple (1 K. vi. 1).
This is the only positive instance of the occur
rence of this era. Ideler, indeed, supposes it to
be so used in the Pentateuch, referring to
Ex. xix. 1 ; Num. xxxiii. 38 (Handbuch, i.
p. 507). Here, as elsewhere in the same part
of the Bible, the beginning of the Exodus-year
(Regnal years, &c.) is used as the point whence
time is counted ; but during the interval of
which it formed the natural beginning it cannot
be shown to have been an era, though it may
have been, any more than the beginning or first
year of a sovereign's reign is one. A reference
to be conclusive must be after the conquest of
Canaan. 2. The foundation of Solomon's Temple is
conjectured by Ideler to have been an era
(Handb. 1. a). The passages to wnich he refers
(1 K. ix. 10; 2 Ch. viii. 1) merely speak of
occurrences subsequent to the interval of twenty
years occupied in the building of the Temple
(seven years, 1 K. vi. 37) and Solomon's house
(thirteen years, vii. 1).
3. The era once used by Ezekiel (i. 1, 2),
beginning with the reform of Josiah in his eigh
teenth year.
4. The era of Jehoiachin's captivity is con
stantly used by Ezekiel. The earliest date is the
fifth year (i. 2); and the latest, the twenty-
seventh (xxix. 17). The Prophet generally gives
the date without applying any distinctive term to
the era. He speaks, however, of " the fifth year
of king Jehoiachin's captivity" (i. 2), and "the

CHRONOLOGY

CHRONOLOGY

587

twelfth year of our captivity " (xxxiii. 21), the
latter expression probably explaining his con
stant use of the era. The same reckoning is
necessarily employed, though not as such, where
the advancement of Jehoiaehin in the thirty-
seventh year of his captivity is mentioned (2 K.
xxv. 27 ; Jer. Hi. 31). We have no proof that
this era was used save by those to whose cap
tivity it referred. The first year was current
B.C. 598, beginning in the spring of that year. —
The beginning of the seventy years' Captivity
does not appear to have been used as an era. — ¦
The return from Babylon also does not seem to
be so used, though dated from (Ezra iii. 1, 8),
like the Exodus in the Pentateuch. Daniel,
Haggai, and Zechariah, date by the reigns of
foreign kings.
5. The era of the Seleucidae is used in the
First and Second Books of Maccabees.
6. The liberation of the Jews from the Syrian
yoke B.C. 141 was commemorated by an era
used in contracts and agreements (1 Mace. xiii.
41). The years 1 to 5 on the shekels assigned
to Simon are probably dated by this era, although
it is stated that the right of coining money
with his own stamp was not conceded to him
until two years later, B.C. 139, by Antiochus
VII. (xv. 6). lt may be supposed that Antio
chus VII. confirmed privileges before granted
by his brother Demetrius II. (cp. v. 5), or that
he gave his sanction to money already issued.
[Money; Shekel.] The era seems to have
fallen into disuse.
Regnal Years, fyc. — By the Hebrews regnal
years appear to have been counted from the
beginning of the year in which the king came
to the throne, not from his accession. Thus, if
a king came to the throne in the last month of
one year, reigned through the next year, and
died in the first month of the third year, we
might have dates of his first, second, and third
years, although he did not reign above thirteen or
fourteen months. Any dates in the year of his
accession before that event would be assigned to
the last year of his predecessor, and any in the
year of his death after it would be given to his
successor's first year. The same principle
applies to counting from eras or important
events. The whole stated length of reigns and
intervals roughly allows for this mode of
reckoning. III. Historical Chronology. — The histori
cal section of Hebrew chronology is not less
difficult than the technical. The information in
the Bible is rather direct than inferential,
though there is important inferential evidence ;
and the present state of the numbers precludes
absolute certainty in our deductions. For in
stance, where the Hebrew and LXX. differ, when
we have decided, which we cannot always do,
which form of a number has the preponderance
of evidence in its favour, we cannot be sure that
the original form of the number has been pre
served. We may indeed doubt if the text ori
ginally contained numbers. There are also
several gaps in series of smaller numbers which
we cannot supply. When, therefore, we can com
pare several of these smaller numbers with a
larger number, we are frequently prevented from
applying a conclusive test by the deficiencies in
the detailed series. The frequent occurrence of
round numbers is a matter of minor importance,

for, although when we have no other evidence,
it forbids an exact determination, tho variation
of a few years cannot be balanced against great
and apparently insoluble difficulties, like those
of the primeval numbers in the Hebrew, LXX.,
and Samaritan Pentateuch. Until recently
many critics considered that Hebrew chronology
was indeterminable before the time of the build
ing of Solomon's Temple. Recently doubts have
been thrown on the numbers from that time
until the Babylonian Captivity. However much
these numbers may have suffered in the attempt
to synchronise the lines of Israel and Judah, the
theory that they inherently show an artificial
system has signally failed. Dr. Adolf Kamp-
hausen has successfully defended the numbers of
the reigns of the kings against E. Krey and his
followers (Die Chronologie d. hebraischen Konige,
Bonn, 1883). Some have laid great stress on
the frequent occurrence of the number 40,
alleging that 40, its division 20 and multiple
80, as well as 70, are vague terms equi
valent to " many," so that 40 or 70 years would
mean no more than "many years." The
number 40 is not always indefinite even when it
would specially seem to be so. Thus the 40
years in the wilderness can be divided into two
periods : — 1. From the Exodus to the sending of
the spies about a year and a quarter (1 yr. -f-
4 m. ; Num. ix. 1, x. 11 ; cp. xiv. 29, 33, show
ing it was the second year, and xiii. 20, showing
the time was about the fifth month Ab), the 40
days of search being included ; 2. The time of
wandering until the brook Zered was crossed
38 yrs. (Deut. ii. 14) : making altogether
39 yrs. 4 m. This accords with the date of 40 yrs.
11 m. 1 d. of the address of Moses after the
conquest of Sihon and Og (Deut. i. 3, 4), which
was after the crossing of the brook Zered. So
again David's reign of 40 years is divided into
7 yrs. 6 m. at Hebron and 33 yrs. in Jerusalem
(2 Sam. ii. 11, v. 5 ; 1 Ch. iii. 4 ; but 1 K. ii.
11, 7 yrs., omitting the months, and 33). Thus
we cannot hold all periods of 40 yrs. (and of
course 80) to be vague. Another remarkable
instance is the partial confirmation of the second
of the three forties into which the life of Moses
is divided. The reigns of Ramses II. the great
oppressor, and his son the Pharaoh of the Exodus,.
are admitted to have lasted together about eighty-
five years, and the Egyptian evidence shows that
as one of the store cities (Ramses) was already
built in the fifth year of Ramses II. the oppres
sion had already begun in that year. We have
therefore a maximum of 86 years and a minimum
of 81, corresponding to the Biblical 80. On the
whole it is, however, not possible to account for
the numerous instances of 40, 20, and 80, espe
cially where a series of such figures occurs in
juxtaposition with another series of precise
numbers as in the Book of Judges, b except by
the hypothesis that the nearest round number is
intended, unless indeed 40 mean merely " many "
(cp. 1 Sam, xv. 7). It would rather seem as if
the nearest round number was sometimes taken?
but it does not follow that round numbers must
be absolutely vague ones. — In the technical part of

b The periods of foreign rule are predominantly pre
cise, so are the judges' periods, excluding those con
nected with times of rest. The four times of rest are 80
once, 40 three times.

588 CHRONOLOGY
the subject we have shown deference to the early
Rabbinical authorities : here we place no reliance
npon them. As to divisions of time connected
with religious observances, they could scarcely
be far wrong, in historical chronology they
could hardly be right, their knowledge of foreign
sources being limited and inexact. By com
paring their later dates with the certain or
approximative chronology of the time, we find
such inaccuracy that we can scarcely hold they
had any traditional information to guide them,
unless indeed the true date of the Exodus had
been traditionally preserved. Their violent
treatment of later chronology may be due to an
attempt to harmonise it with the interval from
the Exodus, of which the earlier part was in
their judgment fixed by a Biblical statement. —
There are valuable foreign materials to aid us in
discussing Hebrew chronology, principally the

CHRONOLOGY
contemporary evidence of the Egyptian and Assy
rian documents.
Biblical data.— The Biblical information may
be examined under the main periods into
which it may be separated, beginning with
the earliest.
A. First Period, from Adam to Abram's de
parture from Haran. — All the numerical data
for the chronology of this interval are found in
two genealogical lists in Genesis, the first from
Adam to Noah and his sons (Gen. v. 3 ad fin.)
and the second from Shem to Abram (xi. 10-26)'
and in passages in the same Book (vii. 6 11 ¦
viii. 13 ; ix. 28, 29 ; xi. 32 ; xii. 4). The parallel
passages in 1 Ch. (i. 1-4, 24-27) and Luke
(iii. 34-38) give no numbers. The Hebrew
text, the LXX., and the Samaritan Pentateuch
greatly differ, as may be seen in the following
table, taken from the writer's Genesis of the

Adam 
Seth 
Enos 
CainanMahalaleel...Jared 
Enoch 
Methuselah Lamech
Noah 
Shem 

Arphaxad 
Cainan 
Salah 
Eber 
Peleg 
Keu 
Serug 
Nahor 
Terah 
Abram leaves Harau

Age of each when the
next was born.

Sept.

230205190170165
162 165
1871671SS
502100

22642244

135130
130 134
130132130 797075

Sam.

130 105 9070
65 I
65

Years of each after the
next was born.

303430
323029

Sept.

700707
715740
730soo
200
(782) 802565448500

Heb.

Sam.

800
807 815
840
830 | 785
300
782 653

595

600

Total length ofthe
Ufe of each.

Sept.

930912905910
895962
365969753
950600

Heb.

This was " two years after the Flood.

Sam.

847720653

400330330270209
207 200 129
(135)

403430

119
(135)

303 303 109
107100 69
(75)

(535)
(460)(460)(404)
(339)
(339) (330)(208) 205

433404239
239 230143
145

Earth and of Man2, with the addition of a
various reading, the age of Abram when he left
Haran, and parenthetic marks enclosing numbers
¦not stated but obtained by computation from
•others. The advantage of the method of the
table is that it clearly shows the differences and
agreements of the three versions of the data.
The dots indicate numbers agreeing with the
LXX. There is ono difference which may be imme
diately disposed of, the excess of generations in
the LXX. caused by the " second Cainan." The
best chronologers are agreed in rejecting him
as spurious. Probably his name was first
inserted by a copyist in St. Luke's Gospel
(in. 36), and thence transferred to the LXX.
[Cainan.] A rapid glance at the table shows that the
Hebrew is exactly 100 years less than the LXX.
m every generation but one before the period
tor which the longer generations are needed to
leave time for the completion of lives before the

Flood. In the age following the reduction is alone
found in the Heb., the Sam. agreeing with the
LXX. In the lengths of lives the Heb. and Sam.
reduce the fourth, fifth, and sixth after Shem by
100 years, which is inconsistent with the lengths
of the generations in the Sam. which remain
unchanged. — In the Heb. the life of Lamech is
apparently shortened to avoid the Flood ; so also
is the LXX., the numbers differing. In the Sam.
the lives of Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech are
all curtailed from the agreeing or nearly agreeing
numbers of Heb. and LXX., and all three patri
archs die in the year of the Flood. In all Ver
sions the generation of Noah is greatly in excess
of the others, of course far more so in the Heb.
and Sam. than in the LXX. Otherwise, if tho
generation were normal, several of Noah's
ancestors, in the case of the Sam. every one,
would have survived the Flood. — The proportion
of generations to lives is fairly normal in the
LXX. ; in the Heb. less by a century, except
where the LXX. numbers are rendered necessary

CHRONOLOGY

CHRONOLOGY

589

by the Flood and one other instance. The Sam.
is inconsistent.
There can be no question that the LXX.
gives the most satisfactory version of the data,
but there are inherent difficulties. 1. The
apparent reduction of the life of Lamech. 2. The
apparent lengthening of the life of Noah. 3. The
shortness of the lives of Peleg, Reu, and Serug,
while the generations remain the same, though
this is not sufficient to make the generations
absolutely abnormal. Supposing that these diffi
culties may be explained, we find an improba
bility iu the numbers themselves. These are
hundreds and thirty and multiples of thirty,
usually with a small excess, irregularities be
ginning with the generation which if shorter
would leave the residue of the life to overlap
the Flood (Methuselah's). The second figure is
3, 0, 9, 6, in twelve out of fourteen generations.
The first seven generations after the Flood are
135, 134, 132, and (three times, omitting Cainan)
130. The lengths of lives present the same
phenomena, but not to the same extent. It
seems as if the units had been added to bring up
the sums towards complete centuries ; but they
are always defective, as if converted from a
shorter to a longer year. If we suppose thit
the original computation was in Chaldaeo-
Babylonian years of 360 days, and was converted
into years of 365£ days, the sum from the birth
of Arphaxad to that of Nahor is 801 years of the
shorter duration. Similarly from Adam to the
birth of Methuselah would be 1305 years. This
is sufficiently near to warrant the conjecture
that some change of this kind has been effected.
The very artificial character of the numbers for
generations and the less artificial lengths of the
lives have led to the hypothesis that the genera
tions are not original, and the lives alone are so ;
but this hypothesis seems unwarranted by the
texture of the record : the two sets of numbers
must stand or fall together. It is observable
that both are wanting in the Chronicles, and it
is therefore possible that in Genesis the numbers
may be due to an ancient tradition. On this
theory they would still be very early, and
the peculiarity of their gradual diminution is
one which marks some unknown mode of
reckoning, which is much in favour of their
originality, or at least great antiquity. On
this subject see Genesis of the Earth and of
Man,2 pp. 142 sq.
A serious difficulty is raised by the idea that
the numbers are cyclical, and the personages,
for the most part, legendary. The artificial
character of the generation numbers and Enoch's
life of 365 years seems to lend some colour to
this view, but it has failed in spite of the learn
ing and ingenuity with which it has been ad
vanced. The comparison with the Babylonian
zodiacal periods, a coenate hypothesis, instituted
by Lenormant, is most interesting but incon
clusive. It would be easier to conjecture that
as the Babylonians had a tradition of ten patri
archs or kings before the Flood, and as Taurus
in their historical age originally marked the
vernal equinox, it would be natural to them
to connect the period of Aquarius with the
Flood. Beyond this the points of agreement are
slight. The idea that the patriarchs may be
legendary does not wholly rest on the cyclical
hypothesis or its modified zodiacal form: it

claims in its support the parallelism of the
genealogies of Seth and Cain.

SethEnosCainan Mahalaleel Jared
Enoch MethuselahLamech Noah Three sons.

Adam

Cain EnochIrad (TaiSiS, LXX.)
Mehujael (MaAeAoijA, LXX.)
Methusael Lamech Three sous

In these lists two names are identical, three-
very similar, and three unlike. All the similar
names and an identical one are in the same
places in the succession. In addition to this,
Enos, the father of Cainan, is curiously parallel
to Adam, the father of Cain. An endeavour to
explain the relation of the two lists has been
ingeniously made by Lenormant, who sees in the
Cainite names contrasts to the Sethite ones, first
favourable to the Sethites, and, when the general
corruption of mankind extended to these, con
versely unfavourable, but the evidence is insuffi
cient. It is to be noted that the genealogy of
Seth is in an Elohistic passage, that of Cain in a
Jehovistic one. Are they two versions of one list,
differing as versions of the same genealogy do in
various parts of the Bible ? In this case we have
to account for the apparent identity of the lines,,
traced to different heads. To this difficulty no
answer can yet be given, but that if the genera
tions are in neither case wholly successive, some
meeting-points may be thus indicated. Other
wise the knot is cut by the theory that the list
of the Sethites is the original, and that of the
Cainites founded upon it. But the character
istic nature of the incidents told of each line
forbids this view. They are independent and
contrasted. On the whole subject see Lenormant,
Les Origines,2 &c. i. 214 sq.
It has been shown that the LXX. numbers for
the generations have the highest claim to be
considered original, or at least the oldest
form, though where two of three variants are
shown to be corrupted we may reasonably doubt
whether any one is genuine. Accepting, with
this reserve, the numbers in question, we have
to inquire if they are historical. As genera
tions and lives they cannot be historical if ordi
nary years are intended. Is then the gradual
reduction a difference in the periods employed
rather than a reduction of human life? — in
other words, are the years employed such in the.
ordinary senses ?
It is obvious that all other records support
the opinion of the physiologists that the maxi
mum life of man little exceeds a century. The
Egyptians appear to have fixed it as 110 years,
the length of the life of Joseph, and their oldest
document, the Proverbs of Ptah-hotep, dating
about 3000 years B.C., mentions this sum as
extreme old age. In Genesis, when the corrup
tion of mankind is told, "when men began to
multiply on the face of the earth," the duration
of life was limited to 120 years (vi. 1-3). This
admits of three explanations : (1) that this was
the length of human life before the Flood ;.
(2) that it was a reduction ; (3) that it was a
time of repentance allowed before the catas
trophe. The first and second explanations seem

590

CHRONOLOGY

alone reasonable, and the first is the more
probable, as the curtailment, if we accept the
existing chronological scheme, would not have
taken effect on all living people, but only on the
latest born, and Noah would form an exception.
Moreover, we are limited by physiology to the
sum of 120 years. An antediluvian maximum of
that sum would suit the modern conditions.
The idea that shorter periods than the
ordinary years are used in the patriarchal
genealogies is as old as St. Augustine. It is not
without the support of Biblical evidence, though
this is by no means conclusive.
1. The two beginnings of the Hebrew year
suggest the idea of a patriarchal year of six
months, which is perhaps favoured by the
etymology of n3tJ', " year," for the radical sense
is not so much " repetition " as " doing a second
time." During the closing period of the patri
archal age, from Nahor to Amram, a reduction
by one-half would make the narrative far easier
to be understood historically. According to the
ordinary reckoning Jacob was 77 years old when
he went to Haran, 84 or 91 when Reuben his
firstborn was born : 35}, 42, and 45} are more
likely sums. Abraham's age when leaving
Haran was 75 (37}), Sarah's when taken by
Pharaoh 67 (33 J), by Abirnelech 89 (44}). The
ages of Abraham and Sarah at Isaac's birth,
100 (50) and 90 (45), do not, if reduced, weaken
the language of the narrative. It is remarkable
that the period of the sojourn is put at 430
years, and many chronologers compute it at 215,
exactly the half on the data of the text. We
believe the longer is the true period, but the
result of the reduction is significant. The ordi
nary years seem to be employed throughout the
story of Joseph. If two modes of reckoning
are used, the 430 years could have been incor
rectly halved.
2. A period of three months would be that of
one of the natural seasons. We have no evi
dence that the Hebrews so divided the year
before the Rabbinical age. The pagan Arabs
had, however, besides the twelve months, four
equal seasons, beginning, like the Hebrew civil
year, at the autumnal equinox (see Lane, Arab.
Lex. s. v. *xi )• Supposing that this reckon
ing was used in the period during which the
ages are roughly double those of that next
following, we should obtain a like result : the
lives 460 (115) to 330 (82£), and the genera
tions 135 (33f ) to 130 (32}), would be reduced
to the figures required by physiology.
3. The still farther reduction to two months
might be suggested by the six Arab seasons, begin
ning at the autumnal equinox (Lane, Lex. 1. c).
If applied to the generations and lives before the
Flood, including Shem's, 969 (161}) to 535 (88),
and 230 (38|) to 167 (27ji), with the exceptional
generation of Noah, 500 (83J), the result is
nearly the same.
It is argued against any hypothesis of this
kind that the 600th year of Noah's life is
treated as an ordinary year. Had there been a
double use of years in the document, this might
be m natural consequence. No doubt any ex
planation is fraught with difficulties, but in this
case we must consider the difference of what
occurs in a historical narrative and mere state-

CHRONOLOGY
ments of intervals attached to names, and
deductions from them. Thus the 600th year
must be separated from the division of the year
of the Flood. If however we consider each
generation to have probably been of the same
length as in history generally, we must suppose
the generations not to have been consecutive as
we do in the period of the sojourn in Egypt.
B. Second Period, from Abram's departure
from Haran to the Exodus. — The length of this
period is stated by St. Paul as 430 years from
the promise to Abraham to the giving of the
Law (Gal. iii. 17), the first event being held to
be that recorded in Gen. xii. 45. The same
number of years is given in Ex., where the Heb.
reads : " Now the sojourning of the children of
Israel who dwelt in Egypt [was] four hundred
and thirty years. And it came to pass at the
end of the four hundred and thirty years, even
the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the
hosts of the Lord went out from the land of
Egypt " (xii. 40, 41). Here the Vat. LXX. adds
after " in Egypt " the words " and in Canaan ;"
and the Alex, and Sam. add after "Canaan"
" they and their fathers." Clearly we have here
a growth of glosses. The promise to Abraham
states that the sojourn or the oppression shall
last 400 years. " Know of a surety that
tby seed shay be a stranger in a land that
is not their's, and shall serve them ; and they
shall afflict them four hundred years; and also
that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge :
and afterward shall they come out with great
substance ... in the fourth generation (period ?)
they shall come hither again " (Gen. xv. 13, 14,
16). Josephus (Ant. ii. 15, 2) and the Targum
of Pseudo-Jonathan accept the LXX. view : St.
Stephen in the Acts (vii. 6) and Philo (Quis rer.
div. her. § 54, p. 511) cite Gen. xv. 13 ; and
Josephus follows the Heb. reckoning in other
places (Ant. ii. 9, 1 ; B. J. v. 9, 4). In citing
these differences of criticism, Bishop Lightfoot
adds, "The difficulties which attend both
systems of chronology need not be considered
here, as they do not affect St. Paul's argument;
and cannot have entered into his thoughts"
(Epistles of St. Paul, Galatians, p. 140, note).
Supposing however that St. Paul did not hold
the current chronology, his argument would
admit of his reasoning, " You concede the law
was four hundred and thirty years after," with
out in any way vouching for the accuracy of the
reckoning. The two reckonings could be recon
ciled on the theory of a different use of the term
" year," but scholars are generally agreed that
the long period of 430 years is needed for the
growth of the Israelites from a family to a
nation, and the circumstances of Egyptian
history accord best with the chronological
result. This important consequence follows,
that the generations connected with this interval
must be one, and all statements of the heads of
families, and as genealogies broken ; for not one,
even Joshua's from Ephraim [Beriah], can be
reconciled with the long period if consecutive.
On the other hand, Jochebed, the mother of
Moses, would not have been a daughter of Levi
in a literal sense, and thus Amram would not
have necessarily married his aunt, his father s
" sister," but his kinswoman.
If then we take the period of 430 years for
the sojourn in Egypt, we cannot carry our

CHRONOLOGY
chronology farther back. The periods of gene
rations appear too long, and the theory that
they should be reduced is not sufficiently strong
to warrant our coming to any conclusion.
During the sojourn the ages of Levi, Kohath,
and Amram, 137, 133, 137 (Ex. vi. 16, 18, 20),
seem to need reduction ; those of Joseph, and
still more those of Moses and Aaron, appear to be
well made out. This difficulty, which looks like
the effect of a partial redaction, may possibly
apply to the age preceding the sojourn. The
entry into Egypt must for the present be the
starting-point of Hebrew chronology.
It is necessary here to notice the Egyptian
evidence for the date of the Exodus. Egypto
logists are now agreed that this event occurred
in the reign of Merenptah or Menptah, fourth
king of the Nineteenth Dynasty, and son and
successor of Ramses II. This result has been
reached by the following steps. [Egypt, p. 886.]
It has been long held that the Exodus must
have taken place in the period of the Eighteenth
and Nineteenth Dynasties. Attention was
drawn to the later line, and the king just men
tioned, by an Egyptian tradition reported by
Manetho as such,c by Chaeremon, Lysimachus,
and Diodorus Siculus. Manetho and Chaeremon
call the king Amenophis ; and Lysimachus,
Bocchoris.d Manetho makes his son Sethos also
Ramesses, and thus identifies him with Meren
ptah, as may be seen by comparing the lists of
Dynasties ; Chaeremon gives the name Messenes,
which may be a corruption of Rameses.
Two circumstances in the Bible nan-ative
confirmed this view. The great oppressor is
related to have built as store-cities Pithom and
Rameses (Ex. i. 11). The name Rameses points
to a king of that name who. could be no other
than Ramses II. The earlier Ramses I., his
grandfather, had a short and unimportant reign.
Ramses H. was a powerful king and great
builder, and in the early part of his reign, before
his fifth year, he founded a city called after
himself, Pa-Ramses, " the abode of Ramses," in
eastern Lower Egypt, near to if not within the
Land of Goshen. The reign of Ramses II.,
nearly 67 years, or 62 after the latest date of
the foundation of Pa-Ramses and that of his son
— probably 19 or 20, certainly not much less —
correspond, as 86 or 81, well to the period
which the Bible allows from the heat of the
oppression, the time apparently when Rameses
was built, to the Exodus, about 80 years. No
other two reigns make up this sum, and the two
kings as portrayed by Egyptian documents
resemble closely the Pharaoh of the Oppression
and the Pharaoh of the Exodus, showing us in
Ramses II. a stern and merciless oppressor, in
Merenptah his weak shadow, self-important but
irresolute. A recent discovery completes the evidence.
In the mound now called Tell-el-Maskhutah,
M. Naville has discovered the temple and
magazines of the store-city Pithom, with as the
earliest name that of Ramses IL, evidently
founder of the town as well as the temple. The
c virep uiv S' 6 Mavedoiv oi/tc eK riov wap' Alyyn-Ti'ocs
ypawLaTtov, tiAA' w? avTQs up^XoyoKev, eK tojv afieoTroTtos
P-vSoXoyovfievijiv irposTeBeucev, tt. t. X.
4 Bocchoris may be a corruption of Ba-en-ra, better
represented by the Pheron of Herodotus.

CHRONOLOGY

591

identification with the Pithom of Exodus is
rendered complete by the size of the bricks, and
the prodigiously thick walls of the magazines,
those bricks being of the dimensions used under
Ramses II. [see M. Naville's Memoir on Pithom,
3rd ed. Egypt Exploration Fund. Pithom ;

So far we have a historical synchronism. Is
it also chronological ? It must be admitted that
Egyptian dates before the final establishment of
Psammetlchus I. are increasingly vague as we
ascend. The reign of Shishak, however, must
have begun about the middle of the 10th
century, and there is a general agreement in
placing the accession of Ramses II. about
B.C. 1400. Dr. Brugsch indeed would date it
earlier, but this is because he reckons reigns as
generations, three to a century. If the reign of
Ramses II. began about B.C. 1400, the Rabbinical
date of the Exodus, B.C. 1314, would fall about
the close of the reign of Merenptah.
C. Third Period, from the Exodus to the
Foundation of Solomon's Temple. — In but one
passage do we find the whole length of this
period stated. It is that in which the foundation
of the Temple is dated in the 480th (Heb.)
or 440th (LXX.) year after the Exodus, in
the fourth year of Solomon's reign (1 K. vi. 1).
This period is inconsistent with the genealogies,
which give on an average 410 years. David's
exceptional genealogy, if continuous, would seem
to give about 330 to 350 years at the outside ;
but it is possible that one or more generations
may have been dropped, though this can scarcely
be conjectured of the very consistent Levitical
genealogies. It is true that we have to consider
all genealogies from Jacob's sons to the Exodus
as defective, but with the conquest of Canaan a
different system may be reasonably conjectured.
The period 480 or 440 seems again inconsistent
with the separate numbers of the Book of Judges,
with which it can alone be reconciled by making
some judges contemporary or shortening the
times of rest, which in the case of that following
the Moabite servitude is warranted by the LXX.
(40 for 80). Thus the period seems too long for
the genealogies, and probably too short for the
data of Judges. There are two detached state
ments which bear on this difficulty. Jephthah 's
message to the Ammonite king reckons 300
years from the time of the conquest of the
Amorites to his own time (Judg. xi. 26). This
suits the period in- Kings best, allowing some
latitude in the expression : it cannot be recon
ciled with the computation from the genealogies
unless we conjecture 300 years to mean in the
third century. St. Paul's 450 years, which is
usually considered to define the period from the
partition of Canaan to Samuel's judgeship,
apparently inclusive, is ordinarily read as
follows (A. V.) : " And when He had destroyed
seven nations in the land of Chanaan, He divided
their land to them by lot. And after that He
gave unto them judges about the space of four
hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the
prophet. And afterward they desired a king "
(Acts xiii. 19-21). This is the reading of Cod.
Claromont. ; but the Sinaitic, Alex., Vat., and
Ephr. rescr. read thus (R. V.), " He gave them
their land for an inheritance, for about four
hundred and fifty years ; and after these things
He gave them judges until," &c. This reading on

592

CHRONOLOGY

such high manuscript authority makes the passage
extremely obscure, and gives the period of years
the air of a gloss introduced in the wrong place.
If it is the term of the Judges, it is consistent
with the long reckoning in vogue in the early
centuries of the Christian era, and the remark
of Dr. Lightfoot on St. Paul's use of the 430
years already cited might apply to it. On the
whole we prefer the reckoning by genealogies as
depending on a general but not complete con
sensus of evidence of a special kind, less likely
than any other to suffer at the hands of copyists.
It will be seen under the next head that the
probable date of Solomon's accession is a little
after B.C. 950, and in the examination of the
Egyptian evidence for the date of the Exodus
it°has been shown that this event may probably
be placed somewhat before B.C. 1300. This
suggests the idea that the original number in
Kings could have been 380.
D. Fourth Period, from the Foundation of
Solomon's Temple to its destruction. — The
From the Monuments.

Ahab : 854 (battle at Karkar) 
Jehu : 842 (payment of Tribute) 
"Azariah (Uzziah): 742-740 (in these years at war
with Tiglath-pileser) 
Menahem: 738 (payment of tribute)
Pekah : 734 (conquered by Tiglath-pileser)
* .'Hoshea: 728 (last year of Tiglath-pileser in which
Hoshea must have paid him tribute) 
722 (fall of Samaria) 
Hezekiah : 701 (Sennacherib's expedition) 
Manasseh : 681-673 (in this interval he must have
paid tribute to Esarhaddon) 
668 (667 ?) (tribute to Assurbanipal) ; c. 647
The Assyrian dates render necessary several
changes in the Hebrew sums, and the correspon
dences of the two lines in Kings no longer agree.
But there are internal difficulties in these corre
spondences which may induce reasonable doubt
whether they are part of the original text, or,
if so, unaltered. These are the three dates of the
accession of Jehoram of Israel (2 K. i. 17, iii. 1,
viii. 16), the date of the accession of Uzziah
in the 27th year of Jeroboam II. (xv. 1), the
date of Hoshea's accession in the 20th year of
Jotham (v. 30) ; whereas according to both
Kings (v. 30) and 2 Chron. (xxvii. 1) Jotham's
whole reign is stated to have been 16 years.
Dr. Adolf Kamphausen (Die Chronologie der
hebriiisclien Konige, Bonn, 1883) has endeavoured
to construct a chronology of this period on the
comparison of the lengths of reigns with
the Assyrian data. He makes six changes in
the Hebrew reigns (two Israelite, — Menahem,
Pekah; and four of Judah, — Amaziah, Azariah.
Ahaz, Manasseh), in three of which instances 10
years, all in Judah (Amaziah, Azariah, Manas
seh), are struck out. Further he counts 15 of
Jotham's 16 years to him as regent. Lastly he
puts the battle of Karkar (B.C. 854) in the reign
of Jehoram (B.C. 854-843), although Ahab is
mentioned in the Assyrian documents (cp. pp. 32,
43, note 13). It is quite evident, notwithstand
ing the very able character of the essay, that
the results cannot be fully accepted." Though
o The translator of Dr. Schrader's Cuneiform Inscrip
tions and the Old Testament (Prof. Whitehouse) gives a

CHRONOLOGY
chronology of this period was, until lately, held
to be very nearly fixed, but the discovery of the
Assyrian Eponymous Canon has led to a general
opinion that it needs large correction. Nearly
all scholars hold this Canon to be continuous,
Dr. Oppert among Assyriologists standing alone
in the contrary view.
Formerly, although the data of the Books of
Kings were accepted, the difficulty of construct
ing a system from the coincident years of the
kings of Israel and Judah was met by conjec
tures of an arbitrary kind. The usual expedient
was the insertion of two interregna, the first of
eleven years after Jeroboam II., the second of
nine years after Pekah. Another expedient was
to add ten years to the reign of Jeroboam II.
Dr. Schrader in his Die Keilinschriften und das
alte Testament (Eng. trans, by Professor White-
house) compares the Hebrew data with those of
the Canon in the following table, to which »
column is here added, giving the Hebrew dates
as modified by the omission of the interregna.

In the Bible.

[with interregna]
... 918-897 (time of reign) 
... 884-856 

[without}
... 898-876
... 864-837

... 809-758
... 771-761 
... 758-738 (?) 

... 762-752
... 749-72»

729-722 722 (fall of Samaria).
714 (Sennacherib's expedition).
696-642 (time of reign).
(See KATfi pp. 465-6).
the chronological difficulties are as yet insoluble,
the historical synchronisms are in no way
affected. If the reckoning be modified, the
story of the relations of Israel, Judah, Syria, and
Assyria, would remain practically untouched.
In one instance the narrative seems to suit the
change suggested in Dr. Kamphausen's reckon
ing. The story of the capture of Samaria and of
the captivity of Israel is given before the reign of
Hezekiah is spoken of, and during the narrative
of that reign the capture of Samaria is repeated
in brief (cp. 1 K. xviii. 9-12 with xvii. 3
sq.). Again, the history of Hezekiah's reign
in 2 Ch. implies that on his accession Israel
was without a king (xxx. 1, 5, 6, 10, 11; xxxi".
1), and that they were but a remnant (xxx. 6).
Again the length of Isaiah's prophetic career,
from Uzziah to at least the 14th year of
Hezekiah, would according to the old reckoning
be at the shortest 46 years, and that of Hosea
from Jeroboam II. to" Hezekiah at least 44.
These minimum lengths would be reduced to
about 39 and 25 years.
It is thus obvious that, if we accept the
Assyrian Canon as continuous, we must admit
that the sums of some reigns must be changed,
and that the correspondences of the two lines of
Israel and Judah in many cases cannot be correct
in their present form. Farther the chronology
presents internal difficulties which «">not be
explained without arbitrary hypotheses. Were
useful note with Dr. Kamphausen's table, and some
slight modifications suggested (li. 320 sq.).

CHRYSOLITE

CHURCH

59S

the correspondences added to harmonise two
independent books ? The Chronicles present but
one statement of correspondence in years :
Abijah 1 = Jeroboam I. 18 (2 Ch. xiii. 1).
In other cases the beginning of the history of
a reign in Chronicles reads like a shorter form
of that in Kings. The difference is the ab
sence of the clause of correspondence and a
slight variety in the form of the rest of the
statement. In attempting to measure the length of the
interval from the foundation of Solomon's Temple
to its destruction, the earliest fixed date which
can be synchronised with a regnal year is that
of the fa'll of Samaria, B.C. 722-721, in the 9th
year counted from Hoshea's accession. The
earliest fixed date is that of the battle of
Karkar, B.C. 854, late in Ahab's reign, the year
not being known. The reigns of the kings of
Israel to Ahab inclusive are apparently 78 years ;
those of the kings of Judah to 8 years after
that date, 86, the synchronism of Ahab's death
with Jehoshaphat's 17th year suiting the
history. The Israelite sum is 84 years, but
the correspondences reduce it to 78, which with
seven Israelite reigns reckoned as of complete
years could easily be. The sum of 86 years for
four reigns in Judah is near the usual average
and that afforded by the whole series. Taking
the date B.C. c. 850 for Ahab's death, and adding
78 years, we obtain B.C. c. 928 for the separation
of the two kingdoms, and for Solomon's accession
B.C. c. 968.
The date of the building of Solomon's Temple
would thus be B.C. c. 965 ; that of its
destruction is B.C. 586, making the interval
about 382 years. This period corresponds to 18
generations, giving an average of 23 years, and
to 19 reigns, if we omit Athaliah, Jehoahaz, and
Jehoiaehin, or an average of 22 years. It seems
obvious that this reckoning cannot be reduced,
and the Assyrian Canon does not admit of its
being extended, unless in the period before
Ahab's death, and then but little extension is
likely. It is to be hoped that the discovery of
the exact date of Shishak's reign may aid in
determining this question. [See Israel, King.
dom of ; and Judah, Kingdom of.]
E. Fifth Period, from the Destruction of
Solomon's Temple to the return from Babylon.
— The determination of the length of this period
depends on the date of the return. The decree
of Cyrus was promulgated in the 1st year of
his reign at Babylon, B.C. 538 : the return, a
matter needing much time, may well have
occupied one or two years. With it closed the
70 years' Captivity, which is reckoned from
the 1st year of Nebuchadnezzar and the 4th of
Jehoiakim. Ptolemy's Canon allows 6Q years
for this interval, which is near enough to a round
period of 70 years. [R. S. P.]
CHRYSOLITE (xpvtr6XiBos ; chrysolithus),
one ofthe precious stones in the foundation of
the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 20). It has
been already stated [Beryl] that the chrysolite
of the ancients is identical with the modem
Oriental topaz, the tarshish of the Hebrew
Bible*; and there is muchreason for believing that

the topaz is the stone indicated by the xp"o-6xi6os
of St. John's vision. [See Beryl.] [W. H.]
CHRYSOPRASUS (A. V.), -SE (R. V.)
(XpvaAiTpaaos ; chrysoprase) occurs only in Rev.
xxi. 20 as one of the precious stones mentioned
in St. John's vision. In Ezek. xxvii. 16, the
A. V. "agate " is rendered in the marg. chryso
prase, and by R. V. " rubies " ; in Ezek. xxviii.
13 the A.V. and R. V. (text) "emerald" is
marginally rendered by the former chrysoprase,
and by the latter carbuncle. The chrysoprase
of the ancients * is by some supposed to be
identical with the stone now so called, viz.
the apple or leek-green variety of agate, which
owes its colour to oxide of nickel. This stone
at present is found only in Silesia ; but Mr. King
(Antique Gems, p. 59, note) says that the true
chrysoprase is sometimes found in antique
Egyptian jewellery set alternately with bits of
lapis-lazuli ; it is not improbable, therefore, that
this is the stone which was the tenth in the walls
of the heavenly Jerusalem. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CHUB (3-13, Chub, Ezek. xxx. 5) is mentioned
only once in Scripture in a passage referring to
Egypt, where the translations differ considerably.
The name does not occur in the LXX. ; and it is
doubtful whether the Greek Al$ves, Libyans,
indicating 3-17, known only by the plural D'3-17.
must be taken as its equivalent. Some
manuscripts have the variant 3-133. Chenub,
which might be compared to the Egyptian
keneb or gheneb t_ J.*>— , which in the
statistical tablet of Thothmes III. is the collec
tive name for the nations of the South, the
Ethiopians and the Negroes (Brugsch, Die
aegyptische Yolkertafel, p. 45). [E. N]
CHUN (|-l3 ; A. iK tuv iKXeKTav Tr6Xeuv
[woXeptuv, B.] ; Joseph. Mdxuvt ; Chun), a city
of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, which David
spoiled (1 Ch. xviii. 8), called Berothah in the
parallel passage (2 Sam. viii. 8). [Berothah.]
CHURCH (iKKXno-ia).— I. The derivation
of the word Church is uncertain. It is found
in the Teutonic and Slavonian languages (Anglo-
Saxon, Circ, Circe, Cyric, Cgricea ; English,
Church; Scottish, Kirk; German, Kirehe;
Swedish, Kyrka; Danish, Kyrke ; Icelandic,
Kyrkia ; Dutch, Karke ; Swiss, Kirehe ; Frisian,
Tzierk; Bohemian, Cyrkew ; Polish, Cerkiew ;
Russian, Zerhow), and answers to the deriva
tives of iKKX-no-ia, which are found naturally
in the Romance languages (French, Eglise;
Italian, Chiesa; old Vaudois, Gleisa; Spanish,
Iglesia), and by foreign importation elsewhere
(Gothic, Aik-klesjo ; Hungarian, Egyhaz ; Gaelic,
Eaglais; Welsh, Eglwys; Cornish, Eglos). The
word " church " is generally said to be derived
from the Greek Kvpiax6v (Walafrid Strabo, De
Rebus Ecclesiast. c. 7 ; Suicer, s. v. Kvpiax6v ; Glos-
sarium, s. v. " Dominicum " ; Casaubon, Exercit.

* Epiphanius, in his Twelve Stones of the Rationale,
has got " Chrysolite, by some called chrysophyllus, of a
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

golden colour, and found close to the walls of Babylon."
Pliny makes several varieties of this name ; his first is
doubtless the Oriental topaz. — C. W. King.
• That of Solinus (lv.) exactly agrees with our Indian
chrysolite : " Chrysoprasos quoque ex auro et porraceo
mixtam lucem trahentes aeque beryllorum generi adju-
dicaverunt."
2Q

594

CHURCH

Baron, xiii. § xviii. ; Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. ch. xiii.
1 ; Pearson, On the Creed, Art. ix. ; Beveridge, On
the Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. xix. ; Wordsworth,
Theophilus Anglicanus, c. 1 ; Gieseler, Eccles.
History, c. 1 ; Trench, Study of Words, p. 75) ;
but the derivation has been too hastily assumed.
The arguments in its favour are the following :
(1) a similarity of sound ; (2) the statement of
Walafrid Strabo; (3) the fact that the word
KvpiaKbv was undoubtedly used by Greek eccle
siastics in the sense of " a church," as proved
by a reference to the Canons of the Council of
Ancyra (Can. xiv.), of Neocaesarea (Can. v., xiii.),
of Laodicea (Can. xxviii.), and of the Council
in Trullo (Can. lxxiv.), to Maximin's Edict (in
Euseb. Hist. Eccl. ix. 10), to Eusebius' Oration in
praise of Constantine (c. xviii.), to the Apostoli
cal Constitutions (ii. 59), to Cyril of Jerusalem
(Catech. xviii.), and to a similar use of " Domini-
cum " by Cyprian, Jerome, Ruffinus, &c. (4)
The possibility of its having passed as a theo
logical term from the Greek into the Teutonic
and Slavonian languages. (5) The analogous
meaning and derivation of the Ethiopic word
for Church, which signifies "the house of
Christ." On the other hand, it requires little
acquaintance with philology to know that (1)
similarity of sound proves nothing, and is
capable of raising only the barest presumption.
(2) A mediaeval writer's guess at an etymology
is probably founded wholly on similarity of
sound, and is as worthless as the derivations
with which St. Augustine's works are disfigured
(Moroni derives Chiesa from KvpiaKbv in his
Dizionario Storico ecclesiastico, because there is
some likeness of sound in the two words, though
Chiesa is evidently only a modification of the
word ecclesia, and has nothing to do etymologi-
cally with KvptaKo'v ; and Walafrid Strabo derives
the words vater, mutter, from the Greek through
the Latin, herr from heros, moner and monath
from pefivn, in the same breath as kirehe from
icvpiaK6v). (3) Although KvpiaKbv is found,
signifying " a church," it is no more the common
term used by Greeks, than "Dominicum" is
the common term used by Latins. It is there
fore very unlikely that it should have been
adopted by tlie Greek missionaries and teachers,
and adopted by them so decidedly as to be thrust
into a foreign language. (4) Nor is there any
probable way pointed out by which the im
portation was effected. Walafrid Strabo indeed
(loc. cit.) attributes it, not obscurely, so far as
the Teutonic tongues are concerned, to Ulfilas ;
and following him, Trench says (loc. cit.):
" These Goths, the first converted to the
Christian faith, the first therefore that had a
Christian vocabulary, lent the word in their
turn tovthe other German tribes, among others
to our Anglo-Saxon forefathers." Had it been
so introduced, Ulfilas' "peaceful and populous
colony of shepherds and herdsmen on the
pastures below Mount Haemus " (Milman, i. 272)
could never have affected the language of the
whole Teutonic race in all its dialects. But as a
matter of fact we find that the word employed
by Ulfilas in his version of the Scriptures is not
any derivative of Kvptax6v ; but, as we should
haye expected, aikklesjS (Rom. xvi. 23 ; 1 Cor.
xvi. 19 et passim). This theory therefore falls
to the ground, and with it any attempt at
showing the way in which the word passed

CHURCH
across into the Teutonic languages. No special
hypothesis has been brought forward to account
for its admission into the Slavonic tongues, and it
is enough to say that, unless we have evidence to
the contrary, we are justified in assuming that the
Greek missionaries in the 9th century did not
adopt a term in their intercourse with strangers
which they hardly, if at all, used in ordinary
conversation amongst themselves. (5) Further
there is no reason why the word should have
passed into these two languages rather than into
Latin. The Roman Church was in its Origin a
Greek community, and it introduced the Greek
word for Church into the Latin tongue ; but this
word was not cyriacum, it was ecclesia; and
the same influence would no doubt have intro
duced the same word into the northern
languages, had it introduced any word at all.
(6) Finally, it is hard to find examples of a Greek
word being adopted into the Teutonic dialects,
except through the medium of Latin. On the
whole, this etymology must be abandoned. It
is strange that Strabo should have imposed it on
the world so long. It is difficult to say what
is to be substituted. There was probably some
word which, in the language from which the
Teutonic and Slavonic are descended, designated
the old heathen places of religious assembly;
and this word, having taken different forms in
different dialects, was adopted by the Christian
missionaries. It was probably connected with
the Latin circus, circulus, and with the Greek
k{>kXos, possibly also with the Welsh cyloh, cyl,
cylchle, or caer. Lipsius, who was the first to
reject the received tradition, was probably right
in his suggestion that the 'word arose from the
circular form of the ancient temples. " Credo
et a circo Kirck nostrum esse, quia veterum
templa iustar Circi rotunda " (Epist. ad Belgas,
Cent. iii. Ep. 44).
II. The word iKKXTitrta is no doubt derived
from iKKaXe7v, and in accordance with its
derivation it originally meant an assembly
called out by the magistrate, or by legitimate
authority. This is the ordinary classical sense
of the word. But it throws no light on the
nature of the institution so designated in
the N. T. For to the writers of the N. T. the
word had lost its primary signification, and
was either used generally for any meeting
(Acts xix. 32), or, more particularly, it denoted
(1) the religious assemblies of the Jews (Deut.
iv. 10, xviii. 16, ap. LXX.); (2) the whole
assembly or congregation of the Israelitish
people (Acts vii. 38 ; Heb. ii. 12 ; Ps. xxii. 22 ;
Deut. xxxi. 30, ap. LXX.). It was in this last
sense, in which it answered to ?X'1B'* /!]p>
that the word was adopted and applied by the
writers of the N. T. to the Christian congre
gation. The word iKKX-no-la, therefore, does
not carry us back further than the Jewish
Church. It implies a resemblance and corre
spondence between the old Jewish Church and
the recently established Christian Church, but
nothing more. Its etymological sense having
been already lost when adopted by and for
Christians, is only misleading if pressed too far.
The chief difference between the words " ecclesia "
and " church " would probably consist in this,
that " ecclesia " primarily signified the Christian
body, and secondarily the place of assembly,

CHURCH

CHURCH

595

while the first signification of "church" was
the place of assembly, which imparted its name
to the body of worshippers.
III. The Church as described in the Gospels. —
The word occurs only twice. Each time iu St.
Matthew's Gospel (Matt. xvi. 18, "On this
rock will I build My Church;" xviii. 17, "Tell
it unto the Church "). In every other case it
is spoken of as " the kingdom of heaven " by
St. Matthew, and as "the kingdom of God"
by St. Mark and St. Luke. St. Mark, St. Luke,
and St. John never use the expression " king
dom of heaven." St. John once uses the
phrase " kingdom of God " (iii. 3). St. Matthew
occasionally speaks of " the kingdom of God "
(vi. 33, xxi. 31, 43), and sometimes simply of
" the kingdom " (iv. 23, xiii. 19, xxiv. 14).
In xiii. 41 and xvi. 28, it is " the Son of
Man's kingdom." In xx. 21, " Thy kingdom,"
i.e. Christ's. In the one Gospel of St. Matthew
the Church is spoken of no less than thirty-six
times as " the kingdom." Other descriptions or
titles are hardly found in the Evangelists. It
is Christ's household (Matt. x. 25), the salt and
light of the world (v. 13, 15), Christ's flock
(Matt. xxvi. 31 ; John a. 1) ; its members are
the branches growing on Christ the Vine
(John xv.) : but the general description of it,
not metaphorically but directly, is, that it is a
kingdom. In Matt. xvi. 19, " the kingdom of
heaven " is formally, as elsewhere virtually,
identified with iKKX-ntrla. From the Gospels,
then, we learn that Christ was about to
establish His heavenly kingdom on earth, which
was to be the substitute for the Jewish Church
and kingdom, now doomed to destruction (Matt.
xxi. 43). Some of the qualities of this king
dom are illustrated by the parables of the tares,
the mustard seed, the leaven, the hid treasure,
the pearl, the draw-net : the spiritual laws and
principles by which it is to be governed, by the
parables of the talents, the husbandmen, the
wedding feast, and the ten virgins. It is not
of this world, though in it (John xviii. 36). It
is to embrace all the nations of the earth
(Matt, xxviii. 19). The means of entrance into
it is Baptism (Matt, xxviii. 19). The conditions
of belonging to it are faith (Mark xvi. 16) and
obedience (Matt, xxviii. 20). Participation in
the Holy Supper is its perpetual token of
membership, and the means of supporting the
life of its members (Matt. xxvi. 26 ; John vi. 51 ;
1 Cor. xi. 26). Its members are given to Christ
by the Father out of the world, and sent by
Christ into the world; they are sanctified by
the truth (John xvii. 19); and they are to live
in love and unity, cognizable by the external
world (John xiii. 34, xvii. 23). It is to be
established on the Rock of Christ's Divinity, as
confessed by Peter, the representative (for the
moment) of the Apostles (Matt. xvi. 18). It is
to have authority in spiritual cases (Matt.
xviii. 17). It is never to be deprived of Christ's
Presence and protection (xxviii. 20), and never
to be overthrown by the power of hell
(xviii. 19).
IV. The Church as described in the Acts and in
the Epistles; its Origin, Nature, Constitution,
Doctrines, and Growth. — From the Gospels we
learn little in the way of detail as to the king
dom which was to be established. It was in the
great forty days which intervened between the

Resurrection and the Ascension that our Lord
explained specifically to His Apostles " the things
pertaining to the kingdom of God " (Acts i. 3) ;
that is, His future Church.
Its Origin. — The removal of Christ from the
earth had left His followers a shattered company,
with no bond of external or internal cohesion
except the memory of the Master Whom they
had lost, and the recollection of His injunctions.
to unity and love, together with the occasional
glimpses of His Presence which were vouchsafed,
them. They continued together, meeting for
prayer and supplication, and waiting for Christ's-
promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost. They
numbered in all some 140 persons ; namely, the-
eleven, the faithful women, the Lord's mother^
His brethren, and 120 disciples. They had faith
to believe that there was a work before them-!
which they were about to be called to perform ;.
and that they might be ready to do it, they
filled up the number of the Twelve by the ap
pointment of Matthias " to be a true witness "'
with the eleven "of the Resurrection." The
Day of Pentecost is the birthday of the Christian
Church. The Spirit, Who was then sent by the-
Son from the Father, and rested on each of the
disciples, combined them once more into a whole
¦ — combined them as they never had before been
combined, by an internal and spiritual bond of
cohesion. Before they had been individual fol
lowers of Jesus ; now they became His mystical
body, animated by His Spirit. The nucleus was
formed. Agglomeration and development would
do the rest.
Its Nature. — St. Luke explains its nature by
describing in narrative form the characteristics
of the society formed by the union of the original
140 disciples with the 3,000 souls who were
converted on the Day of Pentecost. " Then they
that gladly received his word were baptized . . .
and they continued stedfastly in the Apostles*
teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread
and the prayers " (Acts ii. 41, R. V.). Here we-
have indirectly exhibited the essential conditions
of Church Communion. They are (1) Baptism,.
Baptism implying on the part of the recipient
repentance and faith ; (2) Apostolic Doctrine ;
(3) Fellowship with the Apostles ; (4) the Lord's
Supper ; (5) Public Worship. Every requisite
for church-membership is here enumerated not
only for the apostolic days, but for future ages.
The conditions are exclusive as well as inclusive,
negative as well as positive. St. Luke's defini
tion ofthe Church, then, would be the congrega
tion of the baptized, in which the faith of the
Apostles is maintained, communion with the
Apostles is preserved, the Sacraments are duly
administered, and public worship is kept up..
The earliest definition (virtually) given of the
Church is likewise the best. To this body St.
Luke applies the name of " The Church " (the
first time that the word is used as denoting an.
existing thing) ; and to it, constituted as it was,.
he states that there were daily added oi tru(6-
pievoi (ii. 47). By this expression he probably
means those who " saved themselves from their
untoward generation " (ii. 40), " added," how
ever, " to the Church " not by their own mere
volition, but " by the Lord," and so placed in a
state of present salvation, become the elect
people of God, sanctified by His Spirit, " delivered
from the power of darkness and translated into
2 Q 2

59G

CHURCH

the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. i. 13). St.
Luke's treatise being historical, not dogmatical,
he does not directly enter further into the essen
tial nature of the Church. The community of
goods, which he describes as being universal
amongst the members of the infant society (ii.
44, iv. 32), is specially declared to be a voluntary
practice (v. 4), not a necessary duty of Christians
as such (cp. Acts ix. 36, 39 ; xi. 29).
From the illustrations adopted by St. Paul in
his Epistles, we have additional light thrown
upon the nature of the Church. Thus (Rom. xi.
17) the Christian Church is described as being
a branch grafted on the already existing olive-
tree, showing that it was no new creation, but a
development of the institution which had flou
rished in the Patriarchal and in the Jewish
Church. It is described (Rom. xii. 4 ; 1 Cor.
xii. 12) as one body made up of many members
with different offices, to exhibit the close cohe
sion which ought to exist between Christian and
Christian ; still more, it is described as the body
of which Christ is the Head (Eph. i. 22), so that
members of His Church are members of Christ's
Body, of His Flesh, of His Bones (Eph. v. 23,
30 ; Col. i. 18, ii. 19), to show the close union
between Christ and His people. Again, it is
described as the Temple of God built upon the
foundation-stone of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. iii. 11);
and, by a slight change of metaphor, as the
Temple in which God dwells by His Spirit,
the Apostles and Prophets forming the founda
tion, and Jesus Christ the chief corner-stone,
i.e. probably the foundation corner-stone (Eph.
ii. 22). It is also the city of the saints and
the household of God (Eph. ii. 19). The
passage which is most illustrative of our
subject in the Epistles is Eph. iv. 3-12 :
u Endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one
body and one Spirit, even as ye are called
in one hope of your calling ; one Lord, one faith,
•one Baptism, one God, and Father of all, Who is
above all, and through all, and in you all." Here
we see what it is that constitutes the unity of
the Church in the mind of the Apostle: (1)
unity of Headship, " one Lord ; " (2) unity of
belief, " oue faith ; " (3) unity of Sacraments,
" one Baptism ; " (4) unity of hope of eternal
life, " one hope of your calling " (cp. Tit. i.
2) ; (5) unity of love, " unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace ; " (6) unity of organisation,
" one body ; " (7) unity of ministry, " for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edification of the Body of
Christ." The Church, then, at this period was
a body of baptized men and women who believed
in Jesus as the Christ and in the revelation
made by Him ; who were united by having the
same faith, hope, and animating Spirit of love,
the same Sacraments, the same spiritual invisi
ble Head, and the same discipline.
What was the Constitution of this body ? — On
the evening of the Day of Pentecost, the 3140
members of which it consisted were (1) Apostles,
(2) previous disciples, (3) converts. We never
afterwards find any distinction drawn between
the previous disciples and the later converts ;
but the Apostles throughout stand apart. Here,
then, we find two classes, Apostles and converts
— Teachers and taught. At this time the Church
was not only morally but actually one congrega-

CHURCH
tion. Soon, however, its numbers grew so con
siderably that it was a physical impossibility
that all its members should come together in
one spot. It became, therefore, an aggregate of
congregations. But its essential unity was not
affected by the accidental necessity of meeting
in separate rooms for public worship ; the bond
of cohesion was still the same. The Apostles,
who had been closest to the Lord Jesus in His
life on earth, would doubtless have formed the
centres of the several congregations of listening
believers ; and besides attending at the Temple
for the national Jewish prayer (Acts iii. 1), and
for the purpose of preaching Christ (ii. 42), they
would have gone round to " every house " where
their converts assembled " teaching and preach
ing," and " breaking bread," and " distributing "
the common goods " as each had need " (ii. 46 ;
iv. 35 ; v. 42). Thus the Church continued for
apparently some seven years, but at the end of
that time " the number of disciples was " so
greatly " multiplied " (Acts vi. 1) that the
Twelve Apostles found themselves to be too few
to carry out these works unaided. They there
upon for the first time exercised the powers of
mission entrusted to them (John xx. 21), and,
by laying their hands on the Seven who were
recommended to them by the general body of
Christians, they appointed them to fulfil the
secular task of distributing the common stock,
which they had themselves hitherto performed,
retaining in their own hands the functions of
praying, and preaching, and administering the
Sacraments. It is a question which cannot be
certainly answered, whether the office of these
Seven is to be identified with that of the Siimvoi
elsewhere found. They are not called " deacons "
in Scripture, and it has been supposed by
some that they were extraordinary officers
appointed for the occasion to see that the
Hellenistic widows had their fair share of the
goods distributed amongst the poor believers;
and that they had no successors in their office.
If this be so, we have no account given us
of the institution of the Diaconate : the Dea
cons, like the Presbyters, are found existing,
but the circumstances under which they were
brought into existence are not related. We in
cline, however, to the other hypothesis which
makes the Seven the originals of the Deacons.
Being found apt to teach, they were likewise
invested, almost immediately after their appoint
ment, with the power of preaching to the un
converted (vi. 10) and of baptizing (viii. 38).
From this time, therefore, or from about this
time, there existed in the Church — (1) the
Apostles ; (2) the Deacons and Evangelists ; (3)
the multitude of the faithful. We hear of no
other Church-officer till the year 44, seven years
after the appointment of the deacons. We find
that there were then in the Church of Jeru
salem officers named Presbyters (xi. 30) who
were the assistants of James, the chief admin
istrator of that Church (xii. 17). The circum
stances of their first appointment are not re
counted. No doubt they were similar to those
under which the Deacons were appointed. As
in the year 37 the Apostles found that the whole
work of the ministry was too great for them,
and thev therefore placed a portion of it, viz.
distributing alms to the brethren and preaching
Christ to the heathen, on the deacons, so a tew

CHURCH
years later they would have found that what
they still retained was yet growing too burden
some, and consequently they devolved another
portion oftheir ministerial authority on another
order of men. The name of Presbyter or Elder
implies that the men selected were of mature
age. We gather incidentally that they were
ordained by apostolic or other authority (xiv. 23,
Tit. i. 5). We find them associated with the
Apostles as distinguished from the main body of
the Church (Acts xv. 2, 4), and again as stand
ing between the Apostles and the brethren
(xv. 23). Their office was to minister the grace
of spiritual edification (see Ephes. iv. 11 in the
Speaker's Commentary), by pasturing or feeding
the Church of God (Acts xx. 28), by teaching
(1 Tim. iii. 1, 2, v. 17 ; Tit. i. 9) and super
vising the flocks over which the Holy Ghost had
made them overseers or Bishops (Acts xx. 28 ;
Phil. i. 1), and by praying with and for the
members of their congregations (Jas. v. 14).
Thus the Apostles would seem to have invested
these Presbyters with the powers which they
themselves exercised, excepting in respect to
those functions which they discharged in rela
tion to the general regimen of the whole Church
as distinct from the several congregations which
formed the whole body. These functions, by
which they ministered the grace of government,
they still reserved to themselves. By the year
44, therefore, there were in the Church of Jeru
salem — (1) the Apostles holding the govern
ment of the whole body in their own hands ; (2)
Presbyters invested by the Apostles with autho
rity for feeding and teaching men in each con
gregation; (3) Deacons or Evangelists similarly
invested with the lesser power of preaching and
of baptizing unbelievers, and of distributing the
common goods among the brethren. The same
order was established in the Gentile Churches
founded by St. Paul, the only difference being
that those who were called Presbyters in Jeru
salem bore indifferently the name of Bishops
(Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 1, 2 ; Tit. i. 7) or of
Presbyters (1 Tim. v. 17 ; Tit. i. 5) elsewhere.
It was in the Church of Jerusalem that an
other order of the ministry found its exemplar.
The Apostles, we find, remained in Jerusalem
(Acts viii. 1) or in the neighbourhood (viii. 14)
till the persecution of Herod Agrippa in the
year 44. The death of James the son of Zebedee,
and the imprisonment and flight of Peter, were
the signal for the dispersion of the Apostles.
One remained behind — James the brother of the
Lord, whom we identify with the Apostle, James
the son of Alphaeus [James]. He had not the
same cause of dread as the rest. His Judaical
asceticism and general character would have
made him an object of popularity with his
countrymen, and even with the pharisaical
Herod. He remained unmolested, and from this
time he is the acknowledged head of the Church
of Jerusalem. A consideration of Acts xii. 17,
xv. 13, 19 ; Gal. ii. 2, 9, 12 ; Acts xxi. 18, will
remove all doubt on this head. Indeed, four
years before Herod's persecution he had stood, it
would seem, on a level with Peter (Gal. i. 18,
19 ; Acts ix. 27), and it has'been thought that
he received special instructions for the functions
which he had to fulfil from the Lord Himself
(1 Cor. xv. 7 ; Acts i. 3). Whatever his pre
eminence was, he appears to have borne no

<jnJRCH

597

special title indicating it. The example of the
Mother Church of Jerusalem was again followed
by the Pauline Churches. Timothy and Titus
had probably no distinctive title, but it is im
possible to read the Epistles addressed to them
without seeing that they had an authority
superior to that of the ordinary Bishops or
Priests with regard to whose conduct and ordi
nation St. Paul gives them instruction (1 Tim.
iii., v. 17, 19 ; Tit. i. 5). Thus, then, we see
that where the Apostles were themselves able to
superintend the Churches which they had founded,
the Church-officers consisted of — (1) Apostles ;
(2) Bishops or Priests ; (3) Deacons and Evan
gelists. When the Apostles were unable to give
personal superintendence, they delegated that
power which they had in common to one of
themselves, as in Jerusalem, or to one in whom
they had confidence, as at Ephesus and in Crete.
As the Apostles died off, these apostolic dele
gates necessarily multiplied. By the end of the
1st century, when St. John was the only Apostle
that now survived, they would have been esta
blished iu every country, as Crete, and in every
large town where there were several Bishops or
Priests, such as the seven towns of Asia men
tioned in the Book of Revelation. These super
intendents appear to be addressed by St. John
under the name of Angels (Rev. i.-iii.). With
St. John's death the apostolic College was ex
tinguished, and the apostolic delegates or Angels
were left to fill their places in the government
of the Church, not with the full power of the
Apostles, but with authority which, though un
restricted in its own nature, was in practice
exercised by each individual only within a limited
district. In the next century we find that these
officers bore the name of Bishops, while those
who in the 1st century were called indifferently
Presbyters or Bishops had now only the title of
Presbyters. We conclude, therefore, that the
title Bishop was gradually dropped by the second
order of the ministry, and applied specifically
to those who represented what James, Timothy,
and Titus had been in the apostolic age. Theo
doret says expressly, "The same persons were
anciently called promiscuously both Bishops and
Presbyters, whilst those who are now called
Bishops were called Apostles ; but shortly after,
the name of Apostle was appropriated to such as
were Apostles indeed, and then the name Bishop
was given to those before called Apostles " (Com.
in 1 Tim. iii. 1). There were therefore always
three orders of the ministry in the Christian
Church, but the name or title Bishop, which
was in later times appropriated to the first
order, was originally applied to the second order
in common with that of Presbyter.
There are other names found in the Acts and
in the Epistles which the light thrown back
ward by early ecclesiastical history shows us to
have been the titles of those who exercised
functions which were not destined to continue in
the Church, but only belonging to it while it
was being brought into being by help of miracu
lous agency. Such are prophets (Acts xiii. 1 ;
Rom. xii. 6 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. iv. 11), whose
function was to proclaim and expound the Chris
tian revelation, and to interpret God's will,
especially as veiled in the Old Testament ; and
teachers (Acts xiii. 1 ; Rom. xii. 7), whose special
work was to instruct those already admitted

598

CHURCH

into the fold, as contrasted with the Evangelists,
who had primarily to instruct the heathen.
Prophecy is one of the extraordinary xapitrp-aTa
which were vouchsafed, and it is to be classed
with the gifts of healing, of speaking with
tongues, of interpretation of tongues, and dis
cernment of spirits, the last of which was a
.power of distinguishing between the real and
supposed possessors of spiritual gifts (1 Cor. xii.).
Teaching (xdpttrp.a SiSao-KaXlas, Rom. xii. 6 ;
1 Cor. xii. 28) is one of the ordinary gifts, and
is to be classed with the word of wisdom and
the word of knowledge (1 Cor. xii. 8), perhaps
with " faith " (ib. 9), with the gift of govern
ment (jrdpttrp.a KvBepvr)aeus, ib. 28), and with
the gift of ministration (xdpio-pia tiiaKovias or
dvTiXii^eus, Rom. xii. 6 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28). These
XapitrpMTa, whether extraordinary or ordinary,
were " divided to every man as the Spirit
willed," according to the individual character
¦of each, and not officially. Those to whom the
gifts of prophecy and teaching were vouchsafed
were doubtless selected for the office of Presby
ter ; a those who had the gift of ministration, for
the office of Deacon ; those who had the gift of
government, for the office of delegates and suc
cessors of the Apostles. In the Apostles them
selves they all alike resided.
Its Doctrines. — These were found in the
teaching ofthe Apostles, whether oral or written,
¦and in the traditions and records of the teach
ing of the Master. But whereas some of the
¦evangelic and apostolic statements were of less
importance for the salvation of mankind than
•others (although all were equally true), the
fundamental or necessary truths of Christianity
were put together in the form of a Creed, in
which every person to be admitted into the
Church was bound to declare his belief by him
self or by his representatives, before he was
permitted to be baptized. This formula was
the Baptismal Creed, which contained the essen
tial doctrines of the Church in short compass,
as the Holy Scriptures contained them diffu
sively. Of this Creed we have to this day a
hardly changed form in what is commonly
called the Apostles' Creed. The doctrines con
tained in it were as follows: — 1. The doctrine
¦of the existence of an Almighty God, Who created
the heaven and the earth. 2. The doctrine of
the Holy Trinity, involving the Fatherhood of
<3od, the Sonship of Christ, and the Procession
of the Holy Ghost. 3. The Incarnation of
¦Christ, including His Conception by the Holy
<3host and His Birth of the Virgin Mary.
4. His Passion, Crucifixion, Death, and Burial.
¦5. His Ascension, Session at the Right Hand of
God, and future Judgment. 6. God's forgive
ness and acceptance of mankind. 7. A resur
rection after death and eternal life. These were
the chief dogmas of Revelation, and because the
dogmas of Revelation also the dogmas of the

« It was thus that tho class of Prophets and of Teachers,
which existed under those names in the earliest times,
would become merged in the order of Presbyters. The
ministry which the earlier Teaching of the Twelve
-Apostles attributes to the Prophets (ch. xi.-xv.) is
•assigned by the later Apostolical Constitutions (bk. vll.)
*o Presbyters. The graces of Prophecy and Teaching
would at once have indicated tlieir possessors as men
suitable for the permanent order of the Presbyterate.

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Church. They formed a body of doctrines
which might not be taken from or added to
although when assailed they might be more
explicitly stated. Further truths, of the nature
of corollaries, might be drawn from them, pro
vided that such further truths were logically
deduced and did not conflict with other truths
resting on an equally good basis of logical de
duction ; for such truths were indeed connoted
by the words of Scripture and the Baptismal
Creed, if not directly stated in them. But no
new truths, or supposed truths, could be added
to the deposit, once for all delivered to the
custody of the Church, on pain of anathema
(Jude o. 3 ; 1 Tim. vi. 20; Gal. i. 6-9).
Its external Growth. — The 3,000 souls that
were added to the Apostles and to the 120
brethren on the Day of Pentecost were increased
daily by new converts (Acts ii. 47, v. 14).
These converts were without exception Jews
residing in Jerusalem, whether speaking Greek
or Hebrew (vi. 1). After seven or eight years
a step was made outwards. The persecution
which followed the martyrdom of Stephen drove
away the adherents of the new doctrines, with
the exception of the Apostles, and " they that
were scattered abroad went everywhere preach
ing the word " to the Jews of the Dispersion.
Philip, in his capacity of Evangelist, preached
Christ to the Samaritans, and admitted them
into the Church by Baptism. In Philistia he
made the first Gentile convert, but this act did
not raise the question of the, admission of the
Gentiles, because the Ethiopian eunuch was
already a proselyte (viii. 27), and probably a
proselyte of Righteousness. Cornelius, the next
Gentile convert, was a proselyte of the Gate
(x. 2). The first purely Gentile convert that
we hear of by name is Sergius Paulus (xiii. 7),
but we are told that Cornelius' companions
were Gentiles, and by their Baptism the admis
sion of the Gentiles was decided by the agency
of St. Peter, approved by the Apostles and
Jewish Church (xi. 18), not, as might have been
expected, by the agency of St. Paul. This great
event took place after the peace caused by
Caligula's persecution of the Jews, which oc
curred a.d. 40 (ix. 31), and more than a year
before .the famine, in the time of Claudius,
a.d. 44 (xi. 26, 29). Galilee had already been
evangelized as well as Judaea and Samaria,
though the special agent in the work is not
declared (ix. 31).
The history of the growth of the Gentile
Church, so far as we know it, is identical with
the history of St. Paul. In his three journeys
he carried Christianity through the chief cities
of Asia Minor and Greece. His method appears
almost invariably to have been this: he pre
sented himself on the Sabbath at the Jewish
synagogue, and, having first preached the doc
trine of a suffering Messiah, he next identified
Jesus with the Messiah (xvii. 3). His argu
ments on the first head were listened to with
patience by all, those on the second point
wrought conviction in some (xvii. 4), but roused
the rest to persecute him (xvii. 5). On finding
his words rejected by the Jews, he turned from
them to the Gentiles (xviii. 6, xxviii. 28). His
captivity iu Rome, A.D. 63-65, had the effect of
forming a Church out of the Jewish and Greek
residents in the imperial city, who seem to have

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^xiURCH

599

been joined by a few Italians. His last journey
may have spread the Gospel westward as far as
Spain (Rom. xv. 28 ; Clemens, Eusebius, Jerome,
Chrysostom). The death of James at Jerusalem
and of Peter and Paul at Rome, A.D. 67, leaves
one only of the Apostles presented distinctly to
our view. In the year A.D. 70 Jerusalem was cap
tured, and before St. John fell asleep, in a.d. 98,
the Petrine and Pauline converts, the Churches of
the circumcision and of the uncircumcision, had
melted into one harmonious and accordant body,
spreading in scattered congregations at the
least from Babylon to Spain, and from Mace
donia to Africa. How far Christian doctrine
may have penetrated beyond these limits we do
not know.
Its further Growth. — As this is not an eccle
siastical history, we can but glance at it. There
were three great impulses which enlarged the
borders of the Church. The first is that wliich
began on the Day of Pentecost, and continued
down to the conversion of Constantine. By this
the Roman Empire was converted to Christ, and
the Church was, speaking roughly, made con
terminous with the civilized world. The second
impulse gathered within her borders the hitherto
barbarous nations formed by the Teutonic and
Celtic tribes, thus winning, or, in spite of the
overthrow of the Empire, retaining the countries
of France, Scotland, Ireland, England, Lombardy,
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The
third impulse gathered in the Slavonian nations.
The first of these impulses lasted to the 4th
century, the second to the 9th century, the
third (beginning before the second had ceased)
to the 10th and 11th centuries. We do
not reckon the Nestorian missionary efforts in
the 7th century in Syria, Persia, India, and
China, nor the post- Reformation exertions of the
Jesuits in the East and West Indies, for these
attempts have produced no permanent results.
Nor again do we speak of the efforts now being
made in Africa, India, Australia, and New Zealand,
because it has not yet been proved whether
they will be successful in bringing the natives
of those countries within the fold of Christ.
V. Alterations in its Constitution. — We have
said that ecclesiastical authority resided origin
ally in the Apostles ; next in the Apostles and
the Deacons ; then in the Apostles, the Pres
byters, and the Deacons ; then in the apostolic
delegates, the Presbyters, and the Deacons ; then
in those who succeeded the apostolic delegates,
the Presbyters, and the Deacons. And to these
successors of the apostolic delegates came to be
appropriated the title of Bishop, which was
originally applied to Presbyters. At the com
mencement of the second century and thence-
forwards Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons are
the officers of the Church wherever the Church
existed. Ignatius' Epistles (in their unadulterated
form) and the other records which are preserved
to us are on this point decisive (see Pearson's
Vindiciae Ignatianae, part ii. c. xiii. p. 534,
ed. Churton ; and Lightfoot's 5. Ignatius, i.
p. 375). Bishops were looked upon as Christ's
Vicegerents (Cyprian, Ep. 55 [or 59] with Ri-
galtius' notes), and as having succeeded to the
Apostles (Id. Ep. 69 [or 66] and 42 [or 45],
Firmilian, Jerome), every Bishop's see being
entitled a " sedes apostolica." They retained in
their own hands authority over Presbyters, the

function of ordination, and the general govern
ment of the Church, but with respect to each
other they were equals whether their see was
"at Rome or at Eugubium."
Within this equal college of Bishops there
soon arose difference of rank though not of
order. Below the city Bishops there sprang
up a class of country Bishops (chorepiscopi),
who were enabled to perform episcopal acts
with the sanction of the city Bishops. Their
position was ambiguous, and in the fifth century
they began to decay and gradually died out."
Above the city Bishops there were, in the second
century apparently, Metropolitans, and in the
third, Patriarchs or Exarchs. The metropolitan
was the chief Bishop in the civil division of the
empire which was called a province (iirapxla).
His see was at the metropolis of the province,
and he presided over his suffragans with autho
rity similar to, but greater than, that which is
exercised in their respective provinces by the
two Archbishops in England. The authority of
the patriarch or exarch extended over the still
larger civil division of the empire which was
called a dioecese. The ecclesiastical was framed
in accordance with the exigencies and after the
model of the civil polity. When Constantine,
therefore, divided the empire into thirteen dioe-
ceses, " each of which equalled the just measure
of a powerful kingdom " (Gibbon, c. xviii.), the
Church came to be distributed into thirteen (in
cluding the city and neighbourhood of Rome,
fourteen) dioecesan, or, as we should say, national
Churches. There was no external bond of
government to hold these Churches together.
They were independent self-ruled wholes, com
bined together into one greater whole by having
one invisible Head and one animating Spirit, by
maintaining the same faith, exercising the same
discipline, and having as their chief officers
Bishops, each one of whom had a potential
jurisdiction throughout the whole of Chris
tendom, though the exertion of that power was,
as a matter of order, limited to a special see
or province or diocese. The only authority which
the Diocesan Churches recognised as capable of
controlling their separate action, was that of an
Oecumenical Council composed of delegates from
each ; and these Councils passed canon after canon
forbidding the interference of the Bishop of any
one dioecese, that is, district, or country, with
the Bishop of any other dioecese. " Bishops out
side a ' diocese ' are not to invade the Churches
across the borders, nor bring confusion into the
Churches," says the second canon of the Council
of Constantinople, " lest," says the eighth canon
of the Council of Ephesus, " the pride of worldly
power be introduced under cover of the priestly
function, and by little and little we be deprived
of the liberty which our Lord Jesus Christ, the
deliverer of all men, has given us by His own

b An attempt was made to resuscitate this class in
England, under the title of Suffragan Bishops, by the
26th Henry VIII. c. 14, by which twenty-six towns
were named as the seats of Bishops, who were to be
under the Bishops of the diocese in which they were
situated. This Act, which had fallen into desuetude, was
revived by Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln, who con
secrated a Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham in the year
1869, and his example has been followed by many other
Bishops.

600

CHURCH

blood." c But there was a stronger power at
work than any which could be controlled by
canons. Rome and Constantinople were each
the seats of imperial power, and symptoms soon
began to appear that the patriarchs of the
imperial cities were rival claimants of imperial
power in the Church. Rome was in a better
position for the struggle than Constantinople,
for, besides having the prestige of being Old
Rome, she was also of apostolic foundation.
Constantinople could not boast an Apostle as
her founder, and she was but New Rom». Still
the imperial power was strong in the East
when it had fallen in the West, and furthermore
the Council of Chalcedon had so far dispensed
with the canons and with precedent in respect
to Constantinople as to grant the patriarch
jurisdiction over three dioeceses, to establish a
right of appeal to Constantinople from any part
of the Church, and to confirm the decree of the
second Council, which elevated the See of Con
stantinople above that of Alexandria and of
Antioch. It was by the Pope of Constantinople
that the first overt attempt at erecting a
Monarchy was made ; and by the Pope of Rome,
in consequence, it was fiercely and indignantly
denounced. John of Constantinople, said Gregory
the Great, was destroying the patriarchal system
of government (lib. v. 43 ; ix. 68) ; by assuming
the profane appellation of Universal Bishop he
was anticipating Antichrist (lib. vii. 27, 33),
invading the rights of Christ, and imitating the
devil (lib. v. 18). John of Constantinople failed.
The successors of Gregory adopted as their own
the claims which John had not been able to
assert ; and on the basis of the False Decretals
of Isidore, and of Gratian's Decretum, Nicho
las I., Gregory VII., and Innocent III. reared
the structure of the Roman in place of the Con
stantinopolitan Papal Monarchy. From this time
the federal character of the constitution of the
Church was overthrown. In the West it became
wholly despotic ; and iu the East, though the
theory of aristocratical government was and is
maintained, the still-cherished title of Oecumeni
cal Patriarch indicates that it is weakness which
has prevented Constantinople from erecting at
least an Eastern, if she could not an Universal,
Monarchy. In the 16th century a further change
of constitution occurred. A great part of Europe
revolted from the Western despotism. The
Churches of England and Sweden returned to,
or retained, the episcopal form of government
after the model of the first centuries. In parts
of Germany, of France, of Switzerland, and of
Great Britain, a Presbyterian, or still less defined,
form was adopted, while Rome tightened her
hold on her yet remaining subjects, and by
destroying all peculiarities of national liturgy
and custom, and by depressing the order of
Bishops except as interpreters of her decrees,
converted that part of the Church over which
she had sway into a jealous centralized abso
lutism. VI. The existing Church. — Its members fall
into three broadly-marked groups, — the Oriental
Churches, the Latin Churches, the Teutonic
Churches. The Oriental or Orthodox Greek

• See Canons v., vi. of Nicaea ; ii., iii., vi. of Constan
tinople ; i., viii. of Ephesus ; ix., xvii., xxvii., xxx., of
Chalcedon.

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Church consists of the Patriarchate of Constan
tinople with 127 sees, of Alexandria with 7 sees
of Antioch with 14 sees, of Jerusalem with 11
sees, of the Russian Church with 57 sees •
besides which, there are in Cyprus 4 sees, in
Austria 13 sees, in Montenegro 1 see, in Greece
40 sees, in Roumania 8 sees, in Bulgaria 13 sees.
To these must be added— -(1) The Assyrian or
Nestorian Church, once spread from China to
the Tigris, and from Lake Baikal to Cape Comorin
and ruled by twenty -five Metropolitans and a
Patriarch possessing a plenitude of power equal
to that of Innocent III. (Neale, Eastern Church
i. 143), but now shrunk to 13 sees. (2) The
Christians of St. Thomas under the Bishop of
Malabar. (3) The Syrian Jacobites, with 15
sees, under the Patriarch of Antioch, resident at
Caramit or Diarbekir. (4) The Copts, with 16
sees, under the Coptic Patriarch of Egypt.
(5) The Abyssinians, under the Abuna of Abys
sinia ; and (6) the Armenians, with 47 sees occu
pied by Bishops, under the Catholicos of all the
Armenians residing at Etchmiadzin, and 43
vacant in consequence of persecution.
The Latin Churches are those of Italy with
270 sees, of Spain with 65, of France with 90,
of Portugal with 22, of Belgium and Holland
with 11, of Austria with 53, of Germany with
26, of Switzerland with 6. Besides these, the
authority of the Roman See is acknowledged by
127 Asiatic Bishops, 12 African, 184 American,
84 European, and 23 Australian.
The Teutonic Churches consist of the Anglican
communion, with 200 sees in Europe, Canada,
the United States of America, the West Indies,
Asia, Africa, Australia, and Oceanica ; of the
Old Catholic communion in Germany, Switzer
land, and Holland, with 5 sees ; of the Church
of Sweden and Finland, with 14 sees ; of Nor
way aud Denmark, with 14 sees ; of the
Churches of Prussia, Holland, Scotland, and
scattered congregations elsewhere.
The members of the Oriental Churches are
supposed to number 80,000,000, of the Teutonic
and Protestant Churches 98,000,000, ofthe Latin
Churches 120,000,000, making a total of nearly
25 per cent, of the population of the globe.11
VII. Definitions of tlie Church.— The Greek
Church gives the following : — "The Church is a
divinely instituted community of men, united
by the orthodox faith, the law of God, the
hierarchy, and the Sacraments " (Full Catechism
of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church;
Moscow, 1839). The Latin Church defines it
" the company of Christians knit together by
the profession of the same faith and the com
munion of the same Sacraments, under the
government of lawful pastors, aud especially of
the Roman Bishop as the only Vicar of Christ
upon earth " (Bellarm. de Eccl. Mil. iii- 2 ; see
also Devoti Inst. Canon. 1, § iv., Romae, 1818);
the Church of England, " a congregation of
faithful men in which the pure word of God »
preached, and the Sacraments be duly ministered
according to Christ's ordinance in all those
things that of necessity are requisite to the
same " (Art. xix.) ; the Lutheran Church, " a

a The Latin Church claims 200,000,000, counting as
its members all the inhabitants of those countries in
which the Koman Church is predominant, such as
France, Spain, Italy, and South America,

CHURCH
congregation of saints in which the Gospel is
rightly taught and the Sacraments rightly ad
ministered " (Confessio Augustana, 1631, Art.
vii.) ; the Confessio Helvetica, " a congregation
of faithful men called, or collected out of the
world, the communion of all saints " (Art. xvii.) ;
the Confessio Saxonica, " a congregation of men
embracing the Gospel of Christ, and rightly
using the Sacraments " (Art. xii.) ; the Con
fessio Belgica, " a true congregation, or assembly
of all faithful Christians who look for the whole
of their salvation from Jesus Christ alone, as
being washed by His blood, and sanctified and
sealed by His Spirit " (Art. xxvii.).
These definitions show the difficulty in which
the different sections of the divided Church find
themselves in framing a definition which will at
once accord with the statements of Holy Scrip
ture, and be applicable to the present state of
the Christian world. We have seen that accord
ing to the Scriptural view the Church is a holy
kingdom, established by God on earth, of which
Christ is the invisible King ; it is a divinely
organised body, the members of which are knit
together amongst themselves, and joined to
Christ their Head, by the Holy Spirit, Who
dwells in and animates it ; it is a spiritual but
visible society of men united by constant suc
cession to those who were personally united to
the Apostles, holding the same faith that the
Apostles held, administering the same Sacra
ments, and like them forming separate, but
only locally separate, assemblies, for the public
worship of God. This is the Church according
to the Divine intention. But as God permits
men to mar the perfection of His designs in
their behalf, and as men have both corrupted
the doctrines and broken the unity of the
Church, we must not expect to see the Church
.of Holy Scripture actually existing in its per
fection on earth. It is not to be found, thus
perfect, either in the collected fragments of
Christendom, or still less in any one of these
fragments ; though it is possible that one of
those fragments more than another may
approach the scriptural and apostolic ideal,
which existed only until sin, heresy, and schism
had time sufficiently to develop themselves to
do their work. It has been questioned by some
whether Hooker, in his anxious desire after
charity and liberality, has not founded his defi
nition of the Church upon too wide a basis ; but
it is certain that he has pointed out the true
principle on which the definition must be
framed (Eccl. Pol. v. 68, 6). As in defining a
man, he says, we pass by those qualities wherein
one man excels another, and take only those
essential properties whereby a man differs from
creatures of other kinds, so in defining the
Church, which is a technical name for the pro
fessors of the Christian religion, we must fix
our attention solely on that which makes the
Christian religion differ from the religions
which are not Chri>tian. This difference is
constituted by the Christian religion having
Jesus Christ, His revelation, and His precepts for
the objects of its contemplations and the motive
of its actions. The Church, therefore, consists
of all who acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ
the blessed Saviour of mankind, who give credit
to His Gospel, and who hold His Sacraments, the
seals of eternal life, in honour. To go further,

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GOI

would bo not to define the Church by that
which makes it to be what it is, i.e. to declare
the being of the Church, but to define it by
accidents, wliich may conduce to its well-being,
but do not touch its innermost nature. From
this view of the -Church the important conse
quence follows, that all the baptized belong to
the visible Church, whatever be their divisions,
crimes, misbeliefs, provided only they are
not plain apostates, nor directly deny and
utterly reject the Christian faith, so far as the
same is professedly different from infidelity.
" Heretics as touching those points of doctrine
in which they fail ; schismatics as touching
the quarrels for which or the duties in which
they divide themselves from their brethren ;
loose, licentious, and wicked persons, as touching
their several offences or crimes, have all for
saken the true Church of God — the Church
which is sound and sincere in the doctrine which
they corrupt, the Church that keepeth the
bond of unity which they violate, the Church
that walketh in the laws of righteousness which
they transgress, this very true Church of Christ
they have left — howbeit, not altogether left nor
forsaken simply the Church, upon the founda
tion of which they continue built notwith
standing these breaches, whereby they are rent
at the top asunder " (Hooker, v. 68, 7).
VIII. The Faith, Attributes, and Notes of the
Church. — The Nicene Creed is the especial and
authoritative exponent of the Church's faith,
having been adopted as such by the Oecumenical
Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople, and ever
afterwards regarded as the sacred summary of
Christian doctrine. We have the Western form
of the Creed, originally used as a Baptismal
Creed, in that which is called the Creed of the
Apostles — a name possibly derived from its
having been the local Creed of Rome, which was
the chief apostolic see of the West. An expan
sion of the same Creed, made in order to meet
the Arian errors, is found in the Creed of St.
Athanasius. The Confessions of Faith of the
Synod of Bethlehem (A.D. 1672), of the Council
of Trent (commonly known as Pope Pius IV. 's
Creed, A.D. 1564), of the Synod of London
(a.d. 1562), of Augsburg, Switzerland, Saxony,
&c, stand on a lower level, as binding on the
members of certain portions of the Church, and
negativing certain prevalent errors or supposed
errors, but not being the Church's Creeds. The
attributes of the Church are drawn from the ex
pressions of the Creeds. The Church is described
as One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic. Its Unity con
sists in having one object of worship (Ephes. iv.
6), one Head (Ephes. iv. 15), one body (Rom.
xii. 5), one Spirit (Ephes. iv. 4), one faith (ib. 13),
hope (ib. 12), love (1 Cor. xiii. 13) ; the same
Sacraments (ib. x. 17), discipline, and worship
(Acts ii. 42). Its Holiness depends on its Head
and Spirit, the means of grace which it offers,
and the holiness that it demands of its members
(Ephes. iv. 24). Its Catholicity consists in its
being composed of many national Churches, not
confined as the Jewish Church to one country
(Mark xvi. 15); in its enduring to the end of
time (Matt, xxviii. 20) ; in its teaching the
whole truth in contradistinction to partial
aspects of it, and having at its disposal all the
means of grace vouchsafed to man. Its Aposto-
licity, in being built on the foundation of the

602

CHURCH

Apostles (Ephes. ii. 20), and continuing in their
doctrine and fellowship (Acts ii. 42). The notes
of the Church are given by Bellarmine and
theologians of his school, as being the title
" Catholic," antiquity, succession, extent, papal
succession, primitive doctrine, unity, sanctity,
efficacy of doctrine, holiness of its authors,
miracles, prophecy, confession of foes, unhappy
end of opponents, temporal good-fortune
(Bellarm. Contr. torn. ii. lib. iv. p. 1293 ;
Ingoldst. 1580) : by Dean Field as (1) the com
plete profession of the Christian faith ; (2) the
use of certain appointed ceremonies and Sacra
ments ; (3) the union of men in their profession
and in the use of these Sacraments under lawful
pastors (Of the Church, bk. ii. c. ii. p. 65). It is
evident that the notes by which the Church is
supposed to be distinguished must differ accord
ing to the definition of the Church accepted by
the theologian who assigns them, because the
true notes of a thing must necessarily be the
essential properties of that thing. But each
theologian is likely to assume those particulars
in which he believes his own branch or part of
the Church to excel others as the notes of the
Church Universal.
IX. Distinctions. — " For lack of diligent ob
serving the differences first between the Church
of God mystical and visible, then between the
visible sound and corrupted, sometimes more
sometimes less, the oversights are neither few
nor light that have been committed " (Hooker,
Eccl. Pol. iii. 1, 9). The word Church is em
ployed to designate (1) the place in which
Christians assemble to worship (possibly 1 Cor.
xiv. 19) ; (2) a household of Christians (Col. iv.
15) ; (3) a congregation of Christians assembling
from time to time for worship, but generally
living apart from each other (Rom. xvi. 1) ;
(4) a body of Christians living in one city
assembling for worship in different congrega
tions and at different times (1 Cor. i. 1) ; (5) a
body of Christians residing in » district or
country (1 Cor. xiii.) ; (6) the whole visible
Church, including sound and unsound members,
that is, all the baptized professors of Christi
anity, orthodox, heretical, and schismatical,
moral or immoral; (7) the visible Church
exclusive of the manifestly unsound members,
that is, consisting of those who appear to be
orthodox and pious ; (8) the mystical or in
visible Church, that is, the body of the elect
known to God alone who are in very deed
justified and sanctified, and never to be plucked
out of their Saviour's hands, composed of the
Church Triumphant and of some members of the
Church Militant (John x. 28 ; Heb. xii. 22) ;
(9) the Church Militant, that is, the Church in
its warfare on earth — identical therefore with
the Church visible ; (10) the Church Trium
phant, consisting of those who have passed
from this world, expectant of glory now in
Paradise, and to be glorified hereafter in heaven.
The word may be fairly used in any of these
senses ; but it is plain that if it is employed by
controversialists without a clear understanding
in which sense it is used, inextricable confusion
must arise. And such in fact has been the
case. X. Literature. — On the Nature of the Church
the following books may be consulted: — The
Teaching of the Apostles, ed. Bryennius ; Con-

CHURCH
stantinople, 1883. Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae,
Op. p. 75 ; Amst. 1700. Vincentius Lirinensis,
Commonitorium, Vien. 1809 ; in English, Oxf.
1841. Cranmer, Works, i. 376, ii. 11 ; Cambr!
1843. Ridley, Conference with Latimer, p. 122 •
Cambr. 1843. Hooper, Works, ii. 41 ; Cambr.'
1852. Becon, Works, i. 293, ii. 41 ; Cambr. 1843.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 1, v. 68, §§ 6 and 78 ;
Oxf. 1863. Bellarmine, De Conciliis et Ecclesia
Disputat. i. 1084; Ingolds. 1580. Casaubon,
Epistola ad Cardinalem Perronium ; Lond. 1875.
Andrewes, Works, xiii. ; Oxf. 1854. Crakan-
thorp, Defensio Ecclesiae Anglicanae ; Oxf. 1847.
Field, Ofthe Church; Cambr. 1847. Laud, Con
ference with Fisher ; Oxf. 1849. Jeremy Taylor
'Works, v. ; Lond. 1849. Bramhall, Wonts, i. ii
iii. ; Oxf. 1842. Thorndike, Works, i.-vi. ; Oxf.
1 844. Beveridge, On Art. XIX., Works, vii. 357,
and De Metropolitan-is, xii. 38; Oxf. 1848.
Hammond, Works, ii. ; Oxf. 1849. Pearson,
Exposition of tlie Creed, Art. IX. ; Oxf. 1833.
Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian Church;
Lond. 1875. De Marca, De Concordia Saeerdotii
et Imperii; Paris, 1663. Thomassini, Vetus et
Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina ; Lucae, 1728. Palmer,
Treatise on the Church ; Lond. 1842. Gladstone,
The State in its relations with the Church, Lond.
1839 ; Church Principles considered in their
results, Lond. 1840. Tracts for the Times ; Lond.
1840. Palmer, Treatise on the Church of Christ;
Lond. 1842. Wordsworth, Theophilus Anglicanus,
Lond. 1857 ; in French, 1861 ; in Italian, 1864.
Harold Browne, Exposition of the XXXIX.
Articles, On Art. XIX.; Lond. 1862. Bates,
Lectures on Christian Antiquities; Lond. 1845.
Hook, Church Dictionary ; Lond. 1887. Coxe,
Calendar of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic
Church; New York, 1863. Hale, The Universal
Episcopate; Baltimore, 1882. Meyrick, 7s
Dogma a Necessity ? Lond. 1883.
On the History ofthe Catholic Church : — Euse
bius, Historia Ecclesiastica ; Oxon. 1838, and
(together with his continuators, Socrates, Sozo
men, Theodoret, Evagrius, Philostorgius, and
Theodorus Lector) Cantab. 1720. Mansi, Con-
ciliorum Collectio, Florence, 1759 ; Centuriae
Magdeburgenses, Basil. 1559. Baronius, Annales
Ecclesiastici; Lucae, 1738. Gibbon, Roman
Empire, c. xv. Fleury, Histoire Ecclesiastique ;
Brux. 1713. Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a
Phistoire eccle'siastique des six premiers siecles;
Paris, 1701. Mosheim, Inst. Histor. Ecclesiast.
Helmst. 1755 ; and iu revised translation by
Stubbs, Lond. 1863. Neander, Allgem. Ge
schichte der Christi. Relig. u. Kirehe, Hamb.
1825 ; and in T. T. Clark's translation, Edinb.
1854. Dollinger, Geschichte der Christi. Kirehe,
1833, and in Cox's translation, Lond. 1840.
Gieseler, Compendium of Ecclesiastical History ;
Kurtz, History of the Christian Church ; Baum-
garten, Apostolic History, — all in T. and T. Clark's
series, Edinb. 1854-1860. Cave, Lives of the
Fathers, Oxf. 1840 ; and Scriptonm Ecclesiasti-
corum Historia Literaria, Oxf. 1740. D'AubigncS,
History of the Reformation ; Lond. 1838. Bates,
Lectures on Ecclesiastical History ; Lond. 1852.
Blunt, The Church in tlie Three first Centuries;
Lond. 1856. Hardwick, History of the Christian
Church; Cambr. 1853-1856. Robertson, History
of the Christian Church ; Lond. 1854. De Pres
sense', Histoire Ecclesiastique; Paris, 1858.
Bright, History of the Church;. Oxf. 1860.

CHURCH
Cyriacus, 'E kk Atj <ri a o-tikJ) iVropfa; Athens,
1881. Hefele, History of the Councils, in T. and
T. Clark's translation ; Edinb. 1872-83. Words
worth, Church History ; Lond. 1881-83. Cleve
land Coxe, Institutes of Christian History;
Chicago, 1887.
On the History of the Eastern Church : — Le
Quien, Oriens Christianus; Paris, 1732. Asse-
mani, Bibliotheca Orientalis ; Rome, 1765.
Renaudot, Liturgiarum Orientalium Collectio ;
Paris, 1720. Mouravieff, Church of Russia ; Oxf.
1842. Neale, Holg Eastern Church ; Lond. 1847,
and 1850. Badger, Tlie Nestorians and their
Ritual; Lond. 1852. Palmer, Dissertations on
the Orthodox Communion; Lond. 1853. Stanley,
Lectures on the Eastern Church ; Lond. 1862.
Tolstoi, Le Catholicisme Bomain en Russie;
Paris, 1863.
On the History of the Latin Church : — Milman,
Latin Christianity; Lond. 1854. Greenwood,
Cathedra Petri ; Lond. 1858. Ranke, History of
the Popes, translated by Sarah Austin ; Lond.
1851. Pennington, Epochs of the Papacy ; Lond.
1881. On the History of the Old Catholic Church : —
Neale, History of the so-called Jansenist Church
of Holland; Oxf. 1858. Dollinger, Erklarung an
den Erzbischof von Miinchen-Freising ; Munich,
1871. Theodorus, The Sew Reformation; Lond.
1875. Pomponio Leto, Eight Months at Rome
during the Vatican Council, in English transla
tion; Lond. 1876. Reusch, Proceedings at the
Reunion Conference at Bonn, 1874, in English
translation, Lond. 1875 ; The Union Conferences,
1875, in English translation, New York, 1876.
Scarth, Story of the Old Catholic and kindred
Movements ; Lond. 1883. The Foreign Church
Chronicle; Lond. 1877-88. The Old Catholic
Reform Movements on the Continent ; Lond. 1887,
1888. On the History ofthe Chnrch of England: —
Bede, Histor. Ecclesiast. Gentis Anglorum ; Oxf.
1846. Ussher, Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates ; Works, v. vi. Collier, Ecclesi
astical History of Great Britain; Lond. 1845.
Burnet, History of the Reformation of the
Church of England ; Oxf. 1829. Southey, Book
of the Church; Lond. 1837. Wordsworth, Eccle
siastical Biography ; Lond. 1839. Churton,
Early English Church ; Lond. 1841. J. J. Blunt,
Sketch of the English Reformation, Lond. 1841 ;
and in German, Frankfort, 1863. Massingberd,
History of the English Reformation, Lond. 1842 ;
and in French, 1861. Stubbs, Registrum
Sacrum Anglicanum ; Oxf. 1858. Hook, Ecclesi
astical Biography, Lond. 1852 ; and Lives of
the Archbishops of Canterbury, Lond. 1860, &c.
Debary, History of the Church of England, from
1635 to 1717 ; Lond. 1860. Haddan and Stubbs,
Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents relating to
Great Britain and Ireland; Oxf. 1869-73.
Haddan, Apostolical Succession in the Church of
England; Lond. 1869. Meyrick, The Church
of England from a.d. 597 to A.D. 1887 ; Lond.
1887. Murray's Student's Manuals. Skinner,
Ecclesiastical History of Scotland; London,
1788. Russell, History of the Church in
Scotland; Lond. 1834. Mant, History of the
Church of Ireland; Lond. 1841. King, Church
History of Ireland; Dublin, 1845. Ander
son, History of the Colonial Church; London,
1845. Gray, Life of Robert Gray, Bishop of

CILICIA

603

Capetoicn ; Lond. 1883. Wilberforce, History of
the Protestant Episcopal Church in America;
Lond. 1844. Batterson, Sketch-book of the
American Episcopate; Philadelphia, 1878.
Beardsley, Life of Bishop Seabury ; Boston,
1881. [F. M.]
CHURCHES, ROBBERS OF, Acts xix. 37;
better (with R. V.) " robbers of temples "
(iepotrvXot). Dr. Hackett has pointed out that
" churches," when the Authorized Version was
made, denoted places of pagan as well as of
Christian worship. This use of the word would
not therefore have seemed at that time so in
congruous as it does now (D. B. Amer. ed.).
He refers to Trench, The Authorized Version,
p. 42 (1859), for other examples of this wider
usage in the older writers. [F.]
CHUSHAN-RISHATHA'IM (|E>-13
D'JQBtJH; XovtraptraBatp. ; Chusarsathaim), a king
of Mesopotamia (Aram-Naharaim) who oppressed
Israel for eight years during the time of the
Judges (Judg. iii. 8). The seat of his dominion
was probably that district of Babylonia just
north of Babylon, extending from the Euphrates
to the boundary of Elam. As this name has not
been, as yet, found in the cuneiform inscriptions,
it is very likely that the king who bore it ruled
over the wandering Arameans of Northern Baby
lonia ; and who, the power of both Assyria and
Babylonia being at this time at a very low ebb,
made himself greatly feared in all the districts
around. A great many Aramaean tribes are
mentioned by Tiglath-pileser III., king of
Assyria, in his annals. [T. G. P.]
CHU'SI (B. Xoiis ; A. Xouiref ; Vulg. omits),
a place named only in Judith vii. 18, as near
Ekrebel, and upon the brook Mochmur. In'
form Chusi is gentilic, and Movers (see Speaker's
Comm. in loco) 'connected it with *£)-!3>
" Cuthite," i.e. Samaritans. It is now possibly
Kuzah, a small village 5£ miles south of Ndblus,
and about 5 miles west of 'Akrabeh, Ekrebel.
(PEF. Mem. ii. 285.) [W.]
CHU'ZA (properly CHUZAS), Xov&s, the
iiriTpoiros, or house-steward of Herod (Antipas)
whose wife Joanna ^ludvva, riSm*1) became at
tached to that body of women who accompanied
our Lord on His journeyings (Luke viii. 3) ; and,
together with Mary Magdalen and Mary the
mother of James, having come early to the
sepulchre on the morning of the Resurrection,
to bring spices and ointments to complete the
burial, brought word to the Apostles that the
Lord was risen (Luke xxiv. 10). [F.]
CIC'CAR (133). [Jordan ; Topographical
Terms.] CILI'CIA (KiXikIo,), a maritime province in
the S.E. of Asia Minor, bordering on Pamphylia
in the W., Lycaonia and Cappadocia in the N.,
and Syria in the E. Lofty mountain chains
separate it from these provinces, Mons Amanus
from Syria, and Antitaurus from Cappadocia :
these barriers can be surmounted only by a few
difficult passes ; the former by the Portae
Amanides at the head of the valley of the
Pinarus, the latter by the Portae Ciliciae near

604

CINNAMON

the sources of the Cydnus ; towards the S. how
ever an outlet was afforded between the Sinus
Issicus and the spurs of Amanus for a road,
which afterwards crossed the Portae Syriae in
the direction of Antioch.* The sea-coast is rock-
bound in the W., low and shelving in the E. ;
the chief rivers, Sarus, Cydnus, and Calycadnus,
were inaccessible to vessels of any size from
sand-bars formed at their mouths. The western
portion of the province is intersected with the
ridges of Antitaurus, and was denominated
Trachaea, rough, in contradistinction to Pedias,
the level district in the E. The latter portion
was remarkable for its beauty and fertility, as
well as for its luxurious climate : hence it be
came a favourite residence of the Greeks after
its incorporation into the Macedonian empire,
and its capital Tarsus was elevated into the
seat of a celebrated school of philosophy. The
connexion between the Jews and Cilicia dates
from the time when it became part of the
Syrian kingdom. Antiochus the Great is said
to have introduced 2000 families of the Jews
into Asia Minor, many of whom probably settled
in Cilicia (Joseph. Ant. xii. 3, § 4). In the
apostolic age they were still there in consider
able numbers (Acts vi. 9). Cilician mercenaries,
probably from Trachaea, served in the body
guard of Alexander Jannaeus (Joseph. Ant. xiii.
13, § 5 ; B. J. i. 4, § 3). Josephus identified
Cilicia with the Tarshish of Gen. x. 4 : ®aptrbs
Se ©apffeis, ovtus yap iKaXelro to iraXaibv r)
KtXiKia (Ant. i. 6, § 1). Cilicia was from its
geographical position the high road between
Syria and the West ; it was also the native
country of St. Paul ; heuce it was visited by
him, firstly, soon after his conversion (Gal. i.
21 ; Acts ix. 30), on which occasion he probably
founded the Church there ; and again in his
second apostolical journey, when he entered it
on the side of Syria, and crossed Antitaurus by
the Pylae Ciliciae into Lycaonia (Acts xv. 41).
Cp. W. Barker's Cilicia and its Governors, 1853 ;
T. Kotschy, Reise in den cilicischen Taurus iiber
Tarsus, Gotha, 1858; Langlois, Exploration
archeologique de la Cilicie, Paris, 1857, and
Voyage dans la Cilicie, 1860 ; E. J. Davis,
Anatolica, 1874, and Life in Asiatic Turkey,
1879; J. R. S. Sterrett, Routes in Cilicia,
Lycaonia, Isauria, Pisidia, Archaeol. Inst, of
Amer. iii. 1884-5, vi. 488. [W. L. B.] [J. E. S.]
CINNAMON (jiD3p; Kivip.up.ov; cinna-
momum), a well-known aromatic substance, the
rind of the Cinnamomum zeylonicum, called
Rorunda-gauhah in Ceylon. It is mentioned in
Ex. xxx. 23 as one of the component parts of
the holy anointing oil, which Moses was com
manded to prepare, in Prov. vii. 17 as a per
fume for the bed, and in Cant. iv. 14 as one of
the plants of the garden which is the image of
the spouse. In Rev. xviii. 13 it is enumerated
among the merchandise of the great Babylon.
It was imported into Judaea by the Phoenicians
or by the Arabians, and is now found in Su
matra, Borneo, China, &c, but chiefly, and of
the best quality, in the S.W. part of Ceylon,
where the soil is light and sandy, and the
» Hence the close connexion which existed between
Syria and Cilicia, as indicated in Acts xv. 23 41 •
Gal. 1. 21. '

CIRCUMCISION
atmosphere moist with the prevalent southern
winds. The stem and boughs of the cinnamon-
tree are surrounded by a double rind, the exterior
being whitish or grey, and almost inodorous and
tasteless ; but the inner one, which consists pro
perly of two closely connected rinds, furnishes
if dried in the sun, that much-valued brown
cinnamon which is imported to us in the shape
of fine thin barks, eight or ten of which rolled
one into the other form sometimes a quill. It
is. this inner rind which is called in Ex. xxx'. 23
aV>V\Qlp, " spicy cinnamon " (Kalischad loc).
From the coarser pieces oil of cinnamon is ob
tained, and a finer kind of oil is also got by
boiling the ripe fruit of the tree. This last is
used in the composition of incense, and diffuses
a most delightful scent when burnm".
Herodotus (iii. Ill) ascribes to°the Greek
word Kivvdp.up.ov a Phoenician, i.e. a Semitic
origin. His words are: ipviBas tie Xeyovtrt
p.eydXas tpopeeiv Tavra Ta Kdptpea, to, r)peis airi)
$ovIkuv pia86vTes Kivvdftuuov KaXeopev.
The reader is referred to Sir E. Tennent's
Ceylon (i. 599) for much interesting information
on the subject of the early history ofthe cinna
mon plant ; this writer believes that " the earliest
knowledge of this substance possessed by the
Western nations was derived from China, and
that it first reached India and Phoenicia over
land by way of Persia ; at a later period when
the Arabs, ' the merchauts of Sheba,' competed
for the trade of Tyre, and carried to her ' the
chief of all spices' (Ezek. xxvii. 22), their sup
plies were drawn from their African possessions,
and the cassia of the Troglodytic coast sup
planted the cinnamon of the far East, and to a
great extent excluded it from the market."
With regard to the origin of the word, it is
probable that it is derived from the Persian
Cinnamon, i.e. "Chinese amomum" (see Ten-
nent in I. c). Dr. Royle, however, conjectures
that it is allied to the Cingalese Cacynnama,
" sweet wood," or the Malagan Kaimanis. The
brothers C. G. and Th. F. L. Nees von Esenbeck
have published a valuable essay, " De Cinnamomo
disputatio" ( Amoenitates botan. Bonnenses, Fasc.
i. ; Bonnae, 1823, 4to), to which the reader is
referred for additional information. [See also
Cassia.] [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CIN'NEROTH, ALL (n'n33 ^3 ; B. iraow
ri)v Xe(pd8, A. XevepeB ; nniversam Ceneroth;
R. V. all Chinneroth), a district named with the
" land of Naphtali " and other northern places
as having been laid waste by Benhadad king of
Damascus, the ally of Asa king of Judah (1 K.
xv. 20). It probably took its name from the
adjacent city or lake of the same name (in other
passages of the A. V. spelt Chinneroth) ; and
was possibly the small enclosed district north of
Tiberias, and by the side of the lake, afterwards
known as "the plain of Gennesareth." The
expression " All Cinneroth " is unusual, and may
be compared with "All Bithron," — probably,
like this, a district and not a town. [G.] [W.]
CI'RAMA. The people of Cirama (B. ix
Keipap-as, A. Kipapid ; Gramas) and Gabdes came-
up with Zorobabel from Babylon (1 Esd. v. 20).
[Ramah.] [F.]
CIRCUMCISION (ffJ-ID; wepnoui); cir-
cumcisio) was peculiarly, though by no means

CIRCUMCISION
exclusively, a Jewish rite. It may conveniently
be treated of, as practised : I. By the Jews ;
II. By other nations ; and III. In its relation to
Christianity. I. By the Jews. — The origin of circumcision is
still uncertain (see Bp. Harold Browne, Speak.
Comm., note A on Gen. xvii. 10. Cp. Dill
mann,5 Genesis, p. 254). Whether, however,
an existing rite, as in the case of baptism,
was used for the purpose, or whether it was
then first instituted, it was enjoined upon
Abraham by God, at the institution, and as
the token, of the Covenant, into which He
entered with him and his descendants (Gen.
xvii. ; cp. SiaBfiK-n irepiTo^s, Acts vii. 8).
It was thus made a necessary condition of
Jewish nationality. Every male child was to
be circumcised when eight days old on pain of
death (Gen. xvii. 12, 14). Slaves, whether home-
born or purchased, were to be circumcised (vv. 12,
13). The neglect of Moses to circumcise one
of his children well-nigh brought upon him,
as the culpable party, the threatened penalty
of death (Ex. iv. 24-26). The conjecture of
Calvin, that it was the younger of his two sons,
and that he had abstained from circumcising
him in consequence of the domestic strife caused
by the circumcision of the elder child, seems
probable. " Ego autem potius existimo, post
quam in uno expertus fuerat domesticos sibi
infensos, in secundo supersedisse, ut soceri vel
uxoris indignationem vitaret." In some way,
either by sudden and deadly sickness, or by
some other visitation, '• the Lord sought to kill
him." It was only by promptly performing
herself the rite, which Moses was probably too
prostrate to perform (Hooker, Eccl. Pol. v. ch. lxii.
§ 20), that Zipporah averted the judgment, of
which she rightly divined the cause, and won
again, as a "bridegroom of blood," D'DI ]iin
the husband, whom she thus a second time, as
it were, made her own, by rescuing him from
the jaws of death by the blood of her son. " Te
veluti iterum sponsutn acquirere cogor, san
guine filii mei profundendo " (Maurer).
The Mosaic Law adopted and incorporated into
itself the patriarchal law of circumcision (John
vii. 22). No foreigner could eat the Passover,
unless all the males of his family were circum
cised (Ex. xii. 48 ; cp. Num. ix. 14), so that he
became in fact a Jew (cp. Esth. viii. 17, where in
explanation of Heb. D'l.iTnD, " became Jews,"
the LXX. have, n-epierepjovro Kai 'lovtidifav). The
strict rule of the eighth day was held to over
ride, in this respect, the law of rest if the
Sabbath (John vii. 23). The principle is dis
tinctly recognised in the Mishna (Sabb. xix. 1).
R. Akiva said : " Every work which can be done
on the eve of the Sabbath, does not set aside the
Sabbath ; but circumcision, which cannot be
done on the eve of the Sabbath [if the eve be
the seventh day], sets aside the Sabbath " (Bp.
Westcott in loco).
Various explanations have been given of the
fact, that though the Israelites practised cir
cumcision in Egypt, it was neglected entirely
during their sojourn in the wilderness (Josh. v.
5). . The most satisfactory account of the matter
appears to be, that the nation, while bearing the
punishment of disobedience in its prolonged
wanderings, was regarded as under a temporary
rejection by God, and was consequently pro-

CIRCUMCISION

605

hibited from using the sign of the Covenant.
This view is supported by the mention of their
disobedience and its punishment, which, as
though to give the reason for the omission of
the rite, is immediately subjoined (v. 6). " Haec
igitur causa notanda est, quod filii Israel vagati
sint per desertum, donee tota ilia gens aboleretur
quae Deum sequi abnuerat : ex qua, meo judicio,
colligere licet, in signum maledictionis vel
rejectionis cessasse toto illo tempore circum-
cisionis usum " (Cnlv. in loco). The " forty
years" (v. 6) will then be used as a round
number for the more precise - period (between
38 and 39 years), which had elapsed since
the rebellion at Kadesh, and during which cir
cumcision was in abeyance. And thus the pre
diction would be fulfilled, that the children of
the murmurers, though they should eventually
be brought in and know the land which their
fathers had despised (Num. xiv. 31), should yet,
by this temporary exclusion from the federal
rite, as well as by sharing the privations of the
desert, " bear the whoredoms" of their fathers
(v. 33). The comment of Almighty God upon the
trausaction, as recorded by Joshua (v. 9), " This
day have 1 rolled away the reproach of Egypt
from you," is in harmony with this explanation
of the passage. The " reproach of Egypt " is
not that which tbe Egyptians regard as a
reproach among themselves, i.e. uncircumcision,
but the reproach cast upon the Jews by Egypt
or the Egyptians, viz. the threatened taunt of
their former masters that God had brought them
into the wilderness to slay them (Ex. xxxii. 12 ;
Num. xiv. 13-16 ; Deut. ix. 28), which, so long
as they remained uncircumcised and wanderers
in the desert for their sin, was in danger of
falling upon them. Now that they were actually
within the confines of the promised land, and
had been solemnly received back again as a
nation into covenant with God, that " reproach "
was effectually and for ever " rolled away "
(see Fairbairn, Typology, ii. Cp. also Keil and
Dillmann 2 in loco).
Among the ancient Jews, as among other
nations in early times, circumcision was per
formed with stone knives. [Knife.] The im
plement which Zipporah used, is simply called
" a stone " CVi). The circumcision under
Joshua was done with " knives of stone," ni3^n
CHV, Josh. v. 2, where the rendering, " sharp
knives " (R. V. " knives of flint ") cannot be main
tained; for though 12in T1V means "the edge
of his sword " (Ps. lxxxix. 44), yet there is no
other example of that meaning of the word,
and the fact that Joshua's knives were of stone
is confirmed by the interesting addition of the
LXX. iu Josh. xxiv. 30 : iKe7 eB-nKav pier' avTov
eh to fivTJpa eh t eBaipav aiiTbv iueiTas p.axaipas
tc\s ireTpivas, iv als irepieTepie tovs viobs
'ltrparlX iv raXyaXots, k.t.X. The later Jews
used iron or steel knives (see Maurer on
Josh. v. 2). It has been thought that in early
times the Egyptians used stone knives for cir
cumcision, and that certain stone knives found
in the tombs of Thebes were intended for the
purpose. This, however, appears to be question
able (it is not mentioned in Wilkinson, Ane.
Egypt, ii. 163-4 [1878]). The process was a
painful one, at least to grown-up persons (Gen.
xxxiv. 25 ; Josh. v. 8).

606

CIRCUMCISION

The fact that Abraham received a new name
at the time of his circumcision (Gen. xvii. 5),
and his having probably given Isaa*1 his name
when he circumcised him (ib. xxi. 3, 4), may have
led to the custom, of which we have examples
in the history of our Lord and His forerunner
(Luke i. 59; ii. 21), of naming children at their
circumcision. II. By other nations. — The use of circumcision
by other nations besides the Jews is to be
gathered almost entirely from sources extraneous
to the Bible. The rite has been found to pre
vail extensively both in ancient and modern
times ; and among some nations, as, for instance,
the Abyssinians, Nubians, modern Egyptians,
and Hottentots, a similar custom is said to be
practised by both sexes (see the Penny Cyclo
paedia, art. " Circumcision "). In the Bible, how
ever, the rite is described as distinctively, if not
exclusively, Jewish. Circumcision certainly
belonged to the Jews as it did to no other
people, by virtue of its Divine institution, of the
religious privileges which were attached to it,
and of the strict regulations which enforced its
observance. Moreover, the 0. T. history in
cidentally discloses the fact, that several of the
nations with whom the Israelites came in con
tact were uncircumcised. One tribe of the
Canaanites, the Hivites, were so, as appears from
the story of Hamor and Shechem (Gen. xxxiv.).
To the Philistines the epithet " uncircumcised "
is constantly applied (Judg. xiv. 3, &c. Hence
the force of the narrative, 1 Sam. xviii. 25-27).
From the great unwillingness of Zipporah to
allow her son to be circumcised (Ex. iv. 25) it
would seem that the Midianites, though de
scended from Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv. 2),
did not practise the rite. At the same time, the
biblical references to the subject, when carefully
examined, cannot be held definitely to affirm
anything either way, as regards the circumcision
or uncircumcision of the Egyptians and some
other nations of antiquity. They do amount to
a general division of mankind into two classes,
circumcised and uncircumcised, i.e. Jews and
Gentiles ; but they do not necessarily exclude
all Gentiles from the former class. It must also
be remembered that the testimony of secular
writers, as regards some, at least, of the nations
who are said to have practised circumcision, is
conflicting and uncertain. The origin of the
custom amongst one large section of those
Gentiles who follow it, is to be found in the
biblical record of the circumcision of Ishmael
(Gen. xvii. 25). Josephus relates that the
Arabians circumcise after tlie thirteenth year,
because Ishmael, the founder of their nation, was
circumcised at that age (Ant. i. 12, § 2 ; see
Lane's Mod. Eg. ch. ii.). Though Mohammed
did not enjoin circumcision in the Koran, he was
circumcised himself, according to the custom of
his country ; and circumcision is now as common
amongst the Mohammedans as amongst the
Jews. Another passage in the Bible has been thought
by some to speak of certain Gentile nations as
circumcised. In Jer. ix. 25, 26 (Heb. 24, 25),
whether we. translate the confessedly difficult
expression (nb"ll?3 ^D"!?3, v. 24) with A. V.
"all them which are circumcised with the un
circumcised " (which, however, is grammatically

CIRCUMCISION
doubtful) ; or with Michaelis and Ewald, " all the
uncircumcised circumcised ones " (the passage
being understood to describe the Egyptians, Jews
Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites, as alike
circumcised in flesh and uncircumcised in heart)-
or with R. V. " all them which are circumcised
in their uncircumcision ; " or whether we regard
the best rendering to be, " I will punish everv
one that is circumcised in the manner or character
of — i.e. as, or like — him that is uncircumcised"
(cf. P1D33, Is. xlviii. 10 ; D.^3, Ps. xxxix. 7) ; at
any rate, the next verse makes a plain distinction
between two classes, of which " all the Gentiles "
(D^'lUrr?!), including, generally, the Egyptians
and others just named, were one, and the house
of Israel was the other ; the former being un
circumcised both in flesh and heart, the latter,
though possessing the outward rite, yet destitute
of the corresponding state of heart, and there
fore to be visited as though uncircumcised. The
difficulty then arises, that the Egyptians are
called uncircumcised, whereas Herodotus and
others state that they were circumcised. To
meet this it has been alleged that those state
ments refer only to the priests and those initiated
into the mysteries, so that the nation generally
might still be spoken of as uncircumcised (Herod.
ii. 36, 37, 104 ; and Wesseling and Bahr in loco.
See, however, on the other side, Wilkinson, Ane.
Egypt, [large ed.], c. xv., who says, that " if the
law did not peremptorily require it for every
individual, custom and public opinion tended to
make it universal"). The testimony of Herodotus
must no doubt be received with caution, especially
as he asserts (ii. 104) that the " Syrians in Pales
tine " confessed to having received circumcision
from the Egyptians, who, with the Colchians
and Ethiopians, were the only nations that
practised it originally. If he means by
" Syrians " the Jews, the assertion, though it has
been ably defended (see Spencer, de Leg. Heb.,
i. 5, § 4), cannot be reconciled with Gen. xvii. and
John vii. 22. Indeed, the very reverse has been
suggested, viz. that Joseph introduced it into
Egypt. " If it were previously unknown, no
person was more likely than Joseph to have
introduced it among the Egyptians; and this
is possibly the true solution of an acknowledged
difficulty." The first distinct representation of
the rite is found on a monument of the 19th
dynasty, long after the time of Joseph: two
sons of Rameses II. are pictured as undergoing
it (Speak. Com. vol. i. p. 480). If other Syrian
tribes are intended by Herodotus, we have the
contradiction of Josephus, who writes, "It is
evident that no other of the Syrians that live in
Palestine besides us alone are circumcised"
(Ant. viii. 10, § 3. See Whiston's note there).
Of the other nations mentioned by Jeremiah, the
Moabites and Ammonites were descended from
Lot, who had left Abraham before he received
the rite of circumcision ; and the Edomites
cannot be shown to have been circumcised until
they were compelled to be so by Hyrcanus
(Joseph. Ant. xiii. 9, § 1). The terms, however,
of Jeremiah's classification are, as has been said,
general. They prepare the way for the N T.
usage, which unmistakably represents Jews and
Gentiles respectively, as the circumcision and
the uncircumcision (ireptTop.Ti and aKpofrvtrrta,
Rom. iii. 30, iv. 9 ; Ephes. ii. 11). The use by

CIRCUMCISION

CISTERN

607

Ezekiel of the word " uncircumcised " (xxviii.
10 ; xxxi. 18 ; xxxii. 19, 21, 25, 27) belongs to
the same general way of describing the Gentiles,
the impure heathen (cp. oi BdpBapoi, as em
ployed by the Greeks). The subject is fully
discussed by Michaelis (Commentaries on the
Laws of Moses, iv. 3, clxxxiv.-clxxxvi.).
III. In its relation to Christianity. — -As might
have been expected, the Christian Church was
called upon at an early stage in its history to
take up a definite position with reference to
circumcision. The question first assumed serious
proportions at Antioch, where the peace of the
Church was disturbed by Judaizing teachers
who said to the Gentile converts, " Except ye
be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye
cannot be saved " (Acts xv. 1). A reference of
this question to " the Apostles and elders " at
Jerusalem led to the clear and authoritative deci
sion, that the Gentiles were entirely free from
all obligation to undergo circumcision (bo. 22-29).
The controversy was renewed some years later iu
Galatia, and called forth the Epistle of St. Paul,
in which the earlier decision of the Apostles is
emphatically, though independently, repeated and
enforced. Neither to Jew nor Gentile is circum
cision any longer of any religions or moral value
(Gal. v. 6 ; vi. 15. Cp. 1 Cor. vii. 19). To undergo
it, as if it were, is to sever oneself from Christ
(Gal. v. 3, irepiTep.vop.evtp). While, however,
the Apostles thus resolutely forbade the im
position of the rite as necessary to salva
tion, they made no objection to its practice
as a matter of sentiment or expediency. St.
Paul, who would by no means consent to
the demand, urged as it was with doctrinal
significance and sinister intention, for Titus,
who was a Greek, to be circumcised (Gal.
ii. 3-5), yet on another occasion, true to his
rule of becoming all things to all men in
things indifferent, " took and circumcised "
Timothy, who was of mixed extraction, to re
move a prejudice against his preaching among
the Jews (Acts xvi. 3).
In harmony with this view of the indiffer
ence of circumcision, in itself considered, is the
advice given by St. Paul to the Corinthian
Church. It was possible, bv a surgical opera
tion, for those who had been circumcised to
obliterate the marks of the process and return
to their natural condition (Celsus, de re Medica,
vii. 25). Some of the Jews in the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes, wishing to assimilate
themselves to the heathen around them, built a
gymnasium at Jerusalem, and that they might
not be known to be Jews, when they appeared
naked in the games, " made themselves uncir
cumcised " (1 Mace. i. 15, irroi-ntrav eavrois
aKpoBvcrrias ; fecerunt sibi praeputia. Cp. Joseph.
Ant. xii. § 5, 1 : ttiv tuv aiSoiaiv irept-
Top.r)v eirtKaXinrTeiv, k.t.X. ; and see the essay
of Groddeck in Schottgen's Hor. Hebr. ii.).
Should Christian Jews, then, adopt this prac
tice ? Should they give this proof that they
had broken entirely with Judaism? By no
means, is the Apostle's reply. " Was any man
called being circumcised? let him not become
uncircumcised " (pij iirio-irdtrBu). On the other
hand, he adds, " Hath any been called in uncir
cumcision ? let him not be circumcised." And
the reason for both injunctions is, that " circum
cision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing ;

but the keeping of the commandments of God "
(1 Cor. vii. 18, 19). The Abyssinian Christians
are said still to practise circumcision as a national
custom. While, however, it thus dealt with the out
ward rite and with the false meaning that
was sought to be put upon it, Christianity, as
was no less certainly to be expected, seized upon
and appropriated the true spiritual significance
of circumcision. For this the way had been pre
pared in the 0. T. Employed by Moses to de
scribe his own physical inaptitude and natural
slowness of speech (cp. Ex. vi. 12, 30 with iv. 10),
the epithet " uncircumcised " is also applied by
him and other O. T. writers to spiritual dulness
and want of perception. " Uncircumcised ears "
(Jer. vi. 10) and " uncircumcised hearts " (Lev.
xxvi. 41) are spoken of (see also Deut. xxx. 6 ;
Jer. iv. 4 ; and cp. Acts vii. 51 : the idea
being, according to Gesen. Heb. Lex. s. v. 7])1?>
that lips, or heart, or ears were " closed as it were
with the foreskin "). The more general idea of
impurity seems pointed at in the words of Isaiah,
" The uncircumcised and the unclean ;" and in
the provision that the fruit of newly-planted
trees should be counted "uncircumcised" for
the first three years, and not eaten till by con
secration to God in the fourth year they had
been made clean (Lev. xix. 23-25). In the
N. T. the moral and spiritual idea is fully de
veloped. Circumcision is declared to be "that
of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter "
(Rom. ii. 29). While those who ascribed effi
cacy to the mere outward rite are contemp
tuously styled " the concision " (Philip, iii. 2, 3,
TJjf KaTarop.-l)v, " the mutilation." "This cir
cumcision which they vaunt, is in Christ only as
the gashings and mutilations of the idolatrous
heathen : cp. Gal. v. 12, otpeXov Kai SnroK6-
ipovTai." Lightf. in loco), the title of the true
" circumcision " is claimed for Christians, " who
have put off the impurity of the heart and
have put on Christ." They, though once dead
" through the uncircumcision of their flesh,"
are now in Christ " circumcised with a circum
cision not made with hands, in the circumcision
of Christ " (Col. ii. 11, 13).
The view that the rite was designed to be
significant of the production of a holy seed is
maintained at length by Kurtz, Hist, of the Old
Coven. § 58, i. 234 ; Fairbairn, Tupology, i.
321. '[T. T. P.]
CIS (Rec. T. Kls ; Westcott and Hort, Kefs ;
Cis), Acts xiii. 21. [Kish, 1.]
CI'SAI (Kttraios ; Cis), Esth. xi. 2. [Kish, 2.]
CISTERN (113, from "IN3, to dig or bore,
Gesen. p. 176 ; usually XaKKos ; cisterna or laeus),
a receptacle for water, either conducted from an
external spring, or proceeding from rainfall.
The annual rainfalls of Jerusalem on an
average of twelve years is not more than 16-25
inches, and the general dryness of the summer
months between May and September, in Syria,
and the scarcity of springs in many parts of the
country, make it necessary to collect in reser
voirs and cisterns the rain-water which falls in
the intermediate period (Shaw, Travels, p. 335 ;
St. Jerome, quoted by Harmer, i. 148 ; Robinson,
i. 430 ; Kitto, Phys. Geogr. of H. L. pp. 302, 308 ;

608

CISTERN

Recovery of Jerus. p. 25 ; Sir C. Wilson, Notes on
Water Supply of Jerus. p. 63). Thus the cistern
is essentially distinguished from the living spring
(])$, Ain) ; bnt from the well ("IK3, Beer), only
in the fact that Beer is almost always used to
denote a place ordinarily containing water rising
on the spot, while "TI3, B6r, is often used for a
dry pit, or one that may be left dry at pleasure
(Stanley.S. 4 y.pp. 512, 514). [Ain.] The larger
sort of public tanks or reservoirs, in Arabic,
Birkeh, Heb. Berecah, are usually called in
A. V. " pool," while for the smaller and more
private it is convenient in the present article to
reserve the name " cistern."
Both birkehs and cisterns are frequent
throughout the whole of Syria and Palestine,
and for the construction of them the rocky
nature of the ground affords peculiar facilities
either in original excavation, or by enlargement
of natural cavities. Dr. Robinson remarks that
the inhabitants of all the hill-country of Judah
and Benjamin are in the habit of collecting
water during the rainy season in tanks and cis
terns, in the cities and fields, and along the high
roads, for the sustenance of themselves and their
flocks, and for the comfort of the passing
traveller. Jerusalem, described by Strabo as
well supplied with water, in a dry neighbour
hood (xvi. p. 760), depends mainly for this upon
its cisterns, of which almost every private house
possesses one or more, excavated in the rock on
which the city is built. Josephus (B. J. iv. 4,
§ 4) describes the abundant provision for water
supply in the towers and fortresses of Jerusalem,
a supply which has contributed greatly to its
capacity for defence, while the dryness of the
neighbourhood, verifying Strabo's expression ttiv
kAkXu xd-pa" <=X0V Xvirpav Kai &vvtipov, has in all
cases hindered the operations of besiegers. Thus
Hezekiah stopped the supply of water outside
the city in anticipation of the attack of Senna
cherib (2 Ch. xxxii. 3, 4). The progress of
Antiochus Sidetes, B.C. 134, was at first retarded
by want of water, though this want was after
wards unexpectedly relieved (Joseph. Ant. xiii.
8, § 2; Clinton, iii. p. 331). Josephus imputes
to Divine interposition the supply of water with
which the army of Titus was furnished after
suffering from want of it (B. J. v. 9, § 4). The
Crusaders also, during the siege A.D. 1099, were
harassed by extreme want of water while the
besieged were fully supplied (Matth. Paris, Hist.
pp. 46, 49, ed. Wat.). The defence of Masada by
Joseph, brother of Herod, against Antigonus,
was enabled to be prolonged, owing to an unex
pected replenishing of the cisterns by a shower
of rain (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 15, § 2), and in a
subsequent passage he describes the cisterns and
reservoirs by which that fortress was plentifully
supplied with water, as he had previously done
in the case of Jerusalem and Machaerus (B. J.
iv. 4, § 4, 6, § 2 ; vii. 8, § 3). Benjamin of
Tudela says that very little water is found at
Jerusalem, but the inhabitants drink rain-water,
which they collect in their houses (Early Trav.,
p. 84). Cisterns, both at Jerusalem and in other
parts of the country, may be divided into four
classes : 1. The most ancient, and usually the
smallest, consisting of excavations from the
rock, and shaped like a full-bodied bottle, with
a long neck and a small opening. 2. Larger
excavations of a somewhat similar kind, sup-

CITHERN
ported below by rock-pillars left standing by
the workmen. 3. Excavations in which the
rock has been cut perpendicularly, and the open
ing covered by an arch with a mouth like an
ordinary well. 4. The modern cisterns, built in
the soil, and supplied by rain from roofs and
terraces. Dr. Robinson describes four belonging
to the house in which he resided. (1) 15 x 8 x
12 ft. in depth ; (2) 8x4x15 ft. ; (3)10xl0x
15 ft. ; (4) 30 x 30 x 20 ft. The cisterns have
usually a round opening at the top, sometimes
built up with stonework and furnished with a
curb and wheel for the bucket (Sir C. Wilson
Notes, pp. 48, 53 ; Robinson, i. 324, 325). Cis
terns of the first kind are common in all parts
of the country, and when neglected became
dangerous pitfalls. Sometimes the rock is
cracked and the cistern is thus " broken " and
useless (Jer. ii. 13, xviii. 13, xxxviii. 6 ; Thom
son, Land and the Book, p. 287 ; Survey of West.
Pal. iii. App. p. 441 ; PEFQy. Stat. 1872, p. 17 ;
Recovery of Jerus. pp. 19, 23). When neglected
cisterns become very foul, the water is very
unwholesome (Wilson, pp. 17, 69).
Burckhardt mentions cisterns belonging to
private houses, among other places, at Sermein
near Aleppo (Syria, p. 121), El Bara in the
Orontes valley (p. 132), Dhami and Missema in
the Lejah (pp. 110, 112, 118), Tiberias (p. 331),
Kerek in Moab (p. 377), Mount Tabor (p. 334).
Of some at Hableh, near Gilgal, the dimensions
are given by Robinson : — (1) 7 X 5 x 3 ft. deep.
(2) Nearly the same as (1). (3) 12x9x8 ft.
They have one or two steps to descend into
them, as is the case with one near Gaza, now
disused, described by Sandys as " a mighty cis
tern, filled only by the rain-water, and descended
into by stairs of stone " (Sandys, p. 150 ;
Robinson, ii. 39). Of those at Hableh, some
were covered with flat stones resting on arches,
some entirely open, and all evidently ancient
(Robinson, iii. 137).
Empty cisterns were sometimes used as prisons
and places of confinement. Joseph was cast
into a "pit," 113 (Gen. xxxvii. 22), and his
"dungeon" in Egypt is called by the same name
(xii. 14). Jeremiah was thrown into a miry
though empty cistern, whose depth is indicated
by the cords used to let him down. To this
prison tradition has assigned a locality near the
gate called Herod's Gate (Hasselquist, p. 140 ;
Maundrell, Early Trav. p. 448). Vitruvius (viii.
7) describes the method in use in his day for
constructing water tanks, but the native rock of
Palestine usually superseded the necessity of
more art in this work than is sufficient to exca
vate a basin of the required dimensions.
The city of Alexandria is supplied with water
contained in arched cisterns supported by pillars,
extending under a great part of the old city
(Van Egmont, Travels, ii. 134). ' [Pool; Well.]
1 [H.W.P.]
CITHERN is no doubt,, on' the whole, iden
tical with the modern German Zither; and is,
as its name indicates, a musical instrument of
the guitar family. True, theire now points
of considerable difference between the guitar
and the Zither (cithern), both in shape and the
nature of the strings, &c. These differences are,
however, natural enough after hundreds of years
of independent development of the two instru-

CITIES

CITIES

609

ments. KtBdpa (guitar) and Zither resemble
too closely one another in name not to have
been originally the same.
Although the cithern is mentioned as having
been one of the instruments used at the re-dedi
cation of the Temple and Altar (1 Mace. iv. 54,
. . . Kai Ktddpais Kai Ktvvpais, Kai iv Kvp.BdXois,
k. t. X.), it was an instrument, though probably
known to the early Jews (Harp), not generally
used by them.
Cithern makes its first appearance in the
Hebrew Bible in the late and half-Aramaic
Daniel, where it occurs, in one spelling or other,
four times (iii. 5, 7, 10, 15). The origin of its
peculiar construction is certainly not Greek, but
Persian. The Greeks borrowed it from the
Persians, in whose language Ss Tara (cithern,
KtBdpa, guitar) has a meaning (" three
strings "). [S. M. S.-S.]
CITIES. 1. C-1U, plur. of both "uV, Ar, and
also "CV, Ir, from ~fiV, to keep watch — Ges.
pp. 1004-5 ; once (Judg. x. 4) in plur. D'Tl?,
for the sake of » play on the same word, plur.
of "CV, a young ass ; Tr6xets ; civitates, or urbes.
2. JV"1p> Kirjath; once in dual. D?IV"lp, Kir-
jathaim (Num. xxxii. 37), from ITlp, approach
as an enemy ; prefixed to many names of towns
on both sides of the Jordan existing before
the conquest, as Kirjath-arba, probably the
most ancient name for city, but seldom used
in prose as a general name for town (Ges.
p. 1236 ; Stanley, S. Cf P. App. § 80).
The classification of the human race into
dwellers in towns and nomade wanderers (Gen.
iv. 20, 22) seems to be intimated by the etymo
logical sense of both words, Ar or Ir, and
Kirjath, -viz. as places of security against an
enemy, distinguished from the unwalled village
or hamlet, whose resistance is more easily over
come by the marauding tribes of the desert.
This distinction is found actually existing in
countries, as Persia and Arabia, in which the
tent-dwellers are found, like the Rechabites,
almost side by side with the dwellers in cities,
sometimes even sojourning within them, but not
amalgamated with the inhabitants, and in
general making the desert their home, and,
unlike the Rechabites, robbery their undis-
sembled occupation (Judg. v. 7 ; Jer. xxxv. 9,
11 ; Fraser, Persia, pp. 366, 380 ; Malcolm,
Sketches of Persia, pp. 147-156 ; Burckhardt,
Notes on Bedouins, i. 157 ; Wellsted, Travels
in Arabia, i. 335 ; Porter, Damascus, ii. 96,
181, 188 ; Vaux, Nineteh and Persepolis, c. ii.
note A ; Layard, Nineveh, ii. 272 ; Nin. cy Bob.
141). [Villages.]
The earliest notice in Scripture of city-
building is that of Enoch, by Cain, in the land
of his exile (iti, Nod, Gen. iv. 17). At a
period much later than this, when we read of
the manner in which the earth was " over
spread " by the descendants of Noah, we see
that the races which came from Ham were
planted in Egypt, in Syria, and in Charldaea
(Gen. x. 6, 9, 12). Later still we read of an
Egyptian city, Zoan, whose foundation is said to
have taken place seven years later than that of
Hebron in Syria (Num. xiii. 22), i.e. quite as
early as 2,080 B.C. And we also read that the
Hebrews were employed by the Egyptians to I
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

build treasure-cities, Pithom and Raamses,
during their time of bondage in that country,
i.e. between 1700 and 1600 B.C. (Ex. i. 11).
But there is evidence from monuments to show
that cities were built in Egypt at least as early
as 3,000 B.C. (Smith, Hist, of World, i. 85;
Fergusson, Hist, of Arch. i. 89 sq.), but at a
date not much later than this cities were built
in Chaldaea, both Lower and Upper, and in
Assyria, both by the Cushite and the Semitic
races. The builder whose name is most con
spicuous is Nimrod, son of Cush, the "mighty
hunter," or conqueror of men, and the most
prominent names among the cities are those of
Babel and Kineveh (Gen. a. 8-12). Babel was
probably the oldest in date ; and perhaps Nineveh
with its companions, Calah, Resen the " great
city," and Rehoboth, though this word probably
only denotes " streets " of some other city, was
founded later by a race of Semitic origin, denoted
by Asshur, son of Shem, who had moved
upwards under the pressure of the Cushite
settlers (Rawlinson, Ane. Mon. i. 15, 155). But
we are told that the beginning of Nimrod's
kingdom was not only in Babel, but in Erech,
Accad, and Calneh, all in the land of Shinar. Of
these names Accad may perhaps denote a people
rather than a place, but those of Erech are in
all probability connected with the extensive
remains of a temple, within a large enclosure at
Warka in Lower Chaldaea, of which the lowest
courses of bricks bear the name of its founder,
Urukh, and are of a date not much later than
that assigned to Nimrod, about 2,300 B.C.
Calneh is probably represented by Niffer, while
to these three we may add a fourth, "Ur of
the Chaldees," the original abode of Abraham,
represented by the mass of brick ruins to which
the Arabs have given the name of Mugheir,
"mother of bitumen" (Loftus, Chaldaea, p. 131 ;
Rawlinson, Ane. Mon. i. 153, 158; Smith, Hist.
of World, i. 205 ; Pietro della Valle, Viaggi, ii.
844, 862). But there is good reason to believe
that a race, whose descendants or successors
were called Medes, of Semitic origin, occupied
the region called Elam, or Susiania, quite as
early as the time mentioned above, if not earlier,
and that the seat of their government was at
the place which either then or in later times
obtained the name of Susa, and which thus has
a, claim to be regarded as one of the most
ancient cities ofthe world (Gen. x. 22 ; Rawlin
son, i. 160). When Chederlaomer, one of the
early kings of Elam, but perhaps of Hamite
origin, invaded Syria about 1946 B.C., he found
there on its eastern side cities inhabited by
Canaanites ; and we know that at the same time,
and even earlier than this, cities, as Damascus,
Kirjath-arba (Hebron), and perhaps Sidon, had
been built in other parts of the same region by
other races of the same or kindred stock as the
Canaanites (Gen. x. 19; xiv. 15, 18; xxiii. 2).
In course of time the settled inhabitants of
Syria on both sides of the Jordan grew in power
and in number of cities. In the kingdom of
Sihon are many names of cities preserved to the
present day ; and in the kingdom of Og, in
Bashan, were sixty " great cities with walls and
brazen bars," besides unwalled villages; and
also twenty-three cities in Gilead, which were
occupied and perhaps partly rebuilt or fortified
by the tribes on the east of Jordan (Num. .xxi.
2 R

610

CITIES

21, 32, 33, 35, xxxii. 1-3, 34, 42 ; Deut. iii. 4,
5, 14 ; Josh. xi. xiii. ; 1 K. iv. 13 ; I Ch. ii. 22 ;
Burckhardt, Syria, pp. 311, 457; Porter,
Damascus, ii. 195, 196, 206, 259, 275).
On the west of Jordan, at the time of the
occupation by the Hebrews, whilst 31 " royal "
cities are enumerated (Josh, xii.), in the dis
trict assigned to Judah 125 " cities " with vil
lages are reckoned (Josh, xv.) ; in Benjamin,
26 ; Simeon, 17 ; Zebulun, 12 ; Issachar, 16 ;
Asher, 22 ; Naphtali, 19 ; Dan, 17 (Josh, xviii.
xix.). But from some of these the possessors
were not expelled till a late period, and Jeru
salem itself was not captured till the time of
David (2 Sam. v. 6-9).
From this time the Hebrews became a city-
dwelling and an agricultural rather than a
pastoral people. David enlarged Jerusalem, and
Solomon, besides embellishing his capital, also
built or rebuilt Tadmor, Palmyra, Gezer, Beth
horon, Hazor, and Megiddo, besides store-cities
(2 Sam. v. 7, 9, 10 ; 1 K. ix. 15-18 ; 2 Ch. viii. 6).
To Solomon also is ascribed by Eastern tradition
the building of Persepolis (Chardin, Voyage, viii.
390 ; Mandelslo, i. 4 ; Kuran, c. xxxviii.).
The works of Jeroboam at Shechem (1 K. xii.
25 ; Judg. ix. 45), of Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 5-10),
of Baasha at Rama, interrupted by Asa (1 K.
xv. 17, 22), of Omri at Samaria (xvi. 24), the
rebuilding of Jericho in the time of Ahab (xvi.
34), the works of Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xvii. 12),
of Jotham (2 Ch. xxvii. 4), the rebuilding of
Jerusalem, and later still, the works of Herod
and his family, belong to their respective
articles. Collections of houses in Syria for social habi
tation may be classed under three heads : — 1,
cities ; 2, towns with citadels or towers for
resort and defence ; 3, unwalled villages. The
cities may be assumed to have been in almost all
cases " fenced cities," i.e. possessing a wall with
towers and gates (Lev. xxv.' 29 ; Deut. ix. 1 ;
Josh. ii. 15, vi. 20 ; 1 Sam. xxiii. 7 ; 1 K. iv. 13 ;
2 K. vi. 26, vii. 3, xviii. 8, 13 ; Acts ix. 25).
As it was a mark of conquest to break down a
portion, at least, ofthe city- wall of the captured
place, so the first care of the defenders, as in
the case of the Jews after their return from
Captivity, was to rebuild the fortifications
(2 K. xiv. 13, 22; 2 Ch. xxvi. 2, 6, xxxiii. 14;
Neh. iii. iv. vi. vii. ; 1 Mace. iv. 60, 61, a. 45 ;
Xen. Hell. ii. 2, § 15).
But around the city, especially in peaceable
times, lay undefended suburbs (D'BHJtp, irepi-
<rir6pia, suburbana, 1 Ch. vi. 57 sq. ; Num. xxxv.
1-5 ; Josh, xxi.), to which the privileges of
the city extended. The city thus became the
citadel, while the population overflowed into
the suburbs (1 Mace. xi. 61). The absence of
walls as indicating security iu peaceable times,
combined with populousness, as was the case in
the flourishing period of Egypt, is illustrated by
the prophet Zechariah (ii. 4 ; 1 K. iv. 25 ;
Martineau, East. Life, i. 306).
According to Eastern custom, special cities
were appointed to furnish special supplies for
the service of the state ; cities of store, for
chariots, for horsemen, for building purposes,
and for provision for the royal table. Special
governors for these and their surrounding dis
tricts were appointed by David and by Solomon
(1 K. iv. 7, ix. 19 ; 1 Ch. xxvii. 25 ; 2 Ch. xvii.

CITIES
12, xxi. 3 ; 1 Mace. x. 39 ; Xen. Anab. i. 4, § 10).
To this practice our Lord alludes in His parable
of the pounds, and it agrees with the theory of
Hindoo government, which was to be conducted
by lords of single townships, of 10, 100, or
1,000 towns (Luke xix. 17, 19 ; Elphinstone,
India, c. ii. 39, and App. v. p. 485).
To the Levites forty-eight cities were assigned,
distributed throughout the country, together
with a certain amount of suburban ground, and
out of these thirteen were specially reserved for
the family of Aaron, nine in Judah and four in
Benjamin, and six as refuge cities (Josh. xxi.
13, 42) ; but after the division of the kingdoms
the Levites in Israel left their cities and resorted
to Judah and Jerusalem (2 Ch. xi. 13, 14).
The internal government of Jewish cities was
vested before the Captivity in a council of elders
with judges, who were required to be priests :
Josephus says, seven judges with two Levites as
officers, iirTipeTai (Deut. xxi. 5, 19, xvi. 18, xix.
17 ; Ruth iv. 2 ; Joseph. Ant. iv. 8, § 14).
Under the kings a president or governor appears
to have been appointed (1 K. xxii. 26 ; 2 Ch.
xviii. 25) ; and j udges were sent out on circuit,
who referred matters of doubt to a council com
posed of priests, Levites, and elders, at Jerusalem
(1 Ch. xxiii. 4, xxvi. 29 ; 2 Ch. xix. 5, 8, 10, 11).
After the Captivity Ezra made similar arrange
ments for the appointment of judges (Ezra vii.
25). In the time of Josephus there appear to
have been councils in the provincial towns, with
presidents in each, under the direction of the
great council at Jerusalem (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 9,
§ 4 ; B.J. ii. 21, § 3 ; Vit. 12, 13, 27, 34, 57,
61, 68, 74). [Sanhedrin.]
In many Eastern cities much space is occupied
by gardens, and thus the size of the city is
much increased (Niebuhr, Voyage, ii. 172, 239 ;
Conybeare and Howson, i. 96 ; Ebthen, p. 240).
The vast extent of Nineveh and of Babylon may
thus be in part accounted for (Jon. iv. 11 ;
Diod. ii. 70 ; Quint. Curt. v. ch. i. 26 ; Chardin,
Voy. vii. 273, 284 ; Porter, Damascus, i. 153 ;
P. della Valle, ii. 33). In most Oriental cities
the streets are extremely narrow, seldom allow
ing more than two loaded camels, or one camel
and two foot passengers, to pass each other,
though it is clear that some of the streets of
Nineveh must have been wide enough for chariots
to pass each other (Nah. ii. 4 ; Olearius, Trav.
294, 309 ; Burckhardt, Trav. in Arabia, i. 188 ;
Buckingham, Arab Tribes, 330; Mrs. Poole,
Englishwoman in Egypt, i. 141). The word
for streets used by Nahum ni3n"l, from 3H1,
broad, irXaTeiai, is used also of streets or broad
places in Jerusalem (Prov. i. 20 ; Jer. v. 1,
xxii. 4 ; Cant. iii. 2) ; and it may be remarked
that the -irXaTeiai into which the sick were
brought to receive the shadow of St. Peter
(Acts v. 15) were more likely to be the ordinary
streets than the special piazze of the city. ^ It
seems likely that the immense concourse which
resorted to Jerusalem at the Feasts would
necessitate wider streets than in other cities.
Herod built in Antioch a wide street paved
with stone, and having covered ways on each
side. Agrippa II. paved Jerusalem with white
stone (Joseph. Ant. xvi. 5, § 2, 3 ; xx. 9, § 7).
The Straight street of Damascus is still clearly
defined and recognisable (Irby and Mangles, v.
86 ; Robinson, iii. 454, 455).

CITIES OP REFUGE

CITIES OF REFUGE

till

In building Caesarea, Josephus says that
Herod was careful to carry out the drainage
effectually (Joseph. Ant. xv. 9, § 6). It seems
probable that the internal commerce of Jewish
cities was carried on as now by means of bazaars,
for we read of the bakers' street (Jer. xxxvii.
21), and Josephus speaks of the wool market,
the hardware market, a place of blacksmiths'
shops, and the clothes-market, at Jerusalem
<2f. J. v. 8, § 1).
The open spaces (irXaTeiai) near the gates of
towns were in ancient times, as they are still,
(used as places of assembly by the elders, of hold
ing courts by kings and judges, and of general
resort by citizens (Gen. xxiii. 10 ; Ruth iv. 1 ;
2 Sam. xv. 2, xviii. 24 ; 2 K. vii. 1, 3, 20;
2 Ch. xviii. 9, xxxii. 6 ; Neh. viii. 13 ; Job xxix.
7; Prov. i. 21, viii. 2, 3; Jer. v. 1, xvii. 19;
Matt. vi. 5 ; Luke xiii. 26). They were also
used as places of public exposure by way of
punishment (Jer. xx. 2 ; Amos v. 10).
The vices of populous cities are mentioned by
the author of the Book of Proverbs (Prov. vii.
•6-12; Luke vii. 37).
Prisons were under the kingly government,
•within the royal precinct (Gen. xxxix. 20 ; IK.
xxii. 27 ; Jer. xxxii. 2 ; Neh. iii. 25 ; Acts xxi.
34, xxiii. 35).
Great pains were taken to supply both
Jerusalem and other cities with water, both by
tanks and cisterns for rain-water, and by re
servoirs supplied by aqueducts from distant
springs. Such was the fountain of Gihon, the
aqueduct of Hezekiah (2 K. xx. 20 ; 2 Ch. xxxii.
30 ; Is. xxii. 9), and that of Solomon (Eccles.
ii. 6), by which last water is still conveyed from
near Bethlehem to Jerusalem (Maundrell, Early
Trav. p. 457 ; Robinson, i. 347—8). Josephus also
mentions an attempt made by Pilate to bring
water to Jerusalem (Ant. xviii. 3, 2). [Con
duit.] Burial-places, except in special cases, were
outside the city (Num. xix. 11, 16 ; Matt. viii.
28 ; Luke vii. 12 ; John xix. 41 ; Heb. xiii. 12).
[H. W. P.]
CITIES of REFUGE (Qbpan n^, from
u7p, to contract, Gesen. p. 1216 ; ir6xeis tuv
tpvyatievT-npiuv, tpvyatievT-fipia, tpvyatiela; oppida
in fugitivorum auxilia, praesidia, separata ; urbes
fugitivorum). Six Levitical cities were specially
chosen as places of refuge for the involuntary
homicide until released from banishment by the
death of the high-priest (Num. xxxv. 6, 13, 15 ;
Josh. xx. 2, 7, 9). [Blood, Avenger of.] There
were three on each side of Jordan, i.e. three on
the E. side only, until the country on the W. was
subdued (Mishna, Maccoth, ii. 4). 1. On the
E. side of Jordan — Bezer, in the tribe of Reuben,
in the plains of Moab, said in the Gemara to
be opposite to Hebron, not yet identified, but
perhaps Abu Ser, west of Dibon (Deut. iv. 43 ;
Josh. xx. 8, xxi. 36 ; 1 Mace. v. 26 ; Joseph.
Ant. iv. 7, § 4 ; Reland, p. 662 ; Conder, Heth
and Moab, p. 403). 2. Ramoth-Gilead, in the
tribe of Gad, formerly supposed to be on or near
the site of es-Szalt (Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xxi. 38 ;
1 K. xxii. 3 ; Reland, iii. p. 996 ; but more
probably Rcimun, Conder, pp. 175, 404).
3. GOLAN, in Bashan, in the half-tribe o(
Manasseh, a town which doubtless gave its
name to the district of Gaulonitis. Jauldn

(Deut. iv. 43 ; Josh. xxi. 27 ; 1 Ch. vi. 71 ;
Joseph. Ant. iv. 7, § 4; Reland, p. 815 ; Porter,
Damascus, ii. 251, 254 ; Burckhardt, Syria,
p. 286). 4. Kedesh, in Naphtali, Krtlcs, about
20 miles E.S.E. from Tyre, 12 S.S.W. from
Banias (1 Ch. vi. 76; Robinson, ii. 439; Benj.
of Tudela, Early Trav. p. 89). 5. Shechem,
in Mount Ephraim, Ndbulus (Josh. xxi. 21 ;
1 Ch. vi. 67; 2 Ch. a. 1; Robinson, ii. 287,
288). 6. Hebron, in Judah, ol-KhUlil. The
Inst two were royal cities, and the last sacer
dotal also, inhabited by David, and fortified by
Rehoboam (Josh. xxi. 13 ; 2 Sam. v. 5 ; 1 Ch.
vi. 55, xxix. 27 ; 2 Ch. xi. 10; Robinson, i. 213,
ii. 89).
The Gemara on Maccoth notices that the cities
on each side of the Jordan were nearly opposite
each other, in accordance with the direction to
divide the land into three parts (Deut. xix. 2 ;
Reland, iii. 662; Otho, Lex. liabb. p. 52).
Maimonides says that all the forty-eight Levitical
cities had the privilege of asylum, but that the
six refuge-cities were required to receive and
lodge the homicide gratuitously, but this state
ment appeal's to be without foundation (Calmet,
in Num. xxxv. ; Selden, de Jure Naturali, iv.
2, p. 489 ; Carpzovius, or Goodwin, Moses and
Aaron, p. 339).
Most of the Rabbinical refinements on the
Law are stated under Blood, Revenger of.
To them may be added the following. If the
homicide committed a fresh act of man
slaughter, he was to flee to another city ; but
if he were a Levite, to wander from city to
city. An idea prevailed that when the Messiah
came three more cities would be added ; a mis
interpretation, as it seems, of Deut. xix. 8, 9
(Lightfoot, Cent. Chor. ciii. 208). The altar at
Jerusalem, and, to some extent also, the city
itself, possessed the privilege of asylum under
similar restrictions ; a privilege claimed, as
regards the former, successfully by Adonijah,
and in vain by Joab ; accorded, as regards the
city, to Shimei, but forfeited by him (1 K. i. 53 ;
ii. 28, 33, 36, 46).
The directions respecting the refuge-cities
present some difficulties in interpretation. The
Levitical cities were to have a space of 1,000
cubits (about 583 yards) beyond the city wall
for pasture and other purposes. Presently
after, 2,000 cubits are ordered to be the suburb
limit (Num. xxxv. 4, 5). The solution of the
difficulty may be, either the 2,000 cubits are
to be added to the 1,000 as "fields of the
suburbs " (Lev. xxv. 34), as appears to have
been the case in the gift to Caleb, which ex
cluded the city of Hebron, but included the
" fields and villages of the city " (Josh. xxi. 11,
12, Patrick ; Carpzovius, it. s. p. 340 ; Reland,
Ant. Hebr. p. 216), or the additional 2,000
cubits were a special gift to the refuge-cities,
whilst the other Levitical cities had only 1,000
cubits for suburb. Calmet supposes the line
of 2,000 cubits to be measured parallel, and the
1,000 perpendicular to the city wall ; an ex
planation, however, which supposes all the
cities to be of the same size (Calmet on Num
bers xxxv. [On the whole subject, consult Dill
mann2.]). The right of asylum possessed by many Greek
and Roman towns, especially Ephesus, was in
process of time much abused, and was curtailed
2 R 2

612

CITIMS

by Tiberius (Tac. Ann. iii. 60, 63). It was
granted, under certain limitations, to churches
by Christian emperors (Cod. i. tit. 12 ; Gibbon,
c. xx. iii. 35, ed. Smith). Hence came the right
of sanctuary possessed by so many churches in
the Middle Ages (Hallam, Middle Ages, c. ix.
pt. 1, vol. iii. 302, 11th ed.). [H. W. P.]
CITTMS (Kineoi, A. KiTiaiot; Cetei),
1 Mace. viii. 5. [Chittim.]
CITIZENSHIP (iroXtTela; civitas). The use
of this term in Scripture has exclusive reference
to the usages of the Roman empire ; in the
Hebrew commonwealth, which was framed on a
basis of religious rather than of political privi
leges and distinctions, the idea of the common
wealth was merged in that of the congregation,
to which every Hebrew, and even strangers
under certain restrictions, were admitted.
[Congregation ; Strangers.] The privilege
of Roman citizenship was widely extended under
the emperors ; it was originally acquired in
various ways, as by purchase (Acts xxii. 28;
Cic. ad Fam. xiii. 36 ; Dio Cass. lx. 17), by
military services (Cic. pro Balb. 22 ; Suet. Aug.
47), by favour (Tac. Hist. iii. 47), or by manu
mission. The right once obtained descended to
a man's children (Acts xxii. 28). The Jews had
rendered signal services to Julius Caesar in the
Egyptian war (Joseph. Ant. xiv. 8, §§ 1, 2), and
it is not improbable that many obtained the
freedom of the city on that ground ; certain it
is that great numbers of Jews, who were Roman
citizens, were scattered over Greece and Asia
Minor (Ant. xiv. 10, §§ 13, 14). Among the
privileges attached to citizenship, we may note
that a man could not be bound or imprisoned
without a formal trial (Acts xxii. 29), still less
be scourged (Acts xvi. 37 ; Cic. in Verr, v. 63,
66) ; the simple assertion of citizenship was
sufficient to deter a magistrate from such a step
(Acts xxii. 25 ; Cic. in Verr. v. 62), as any in
fringement of the privilege was visited with
severe punishment. A Jew could only plead
exemption from such treatment, before a Roman
magistrate ; he was still liable to it from Jewish
authorities (2 Cor. xi. 24; Seld. de Syn. ii. 15,
§ 11). Another privilege attaching to citizen
ship was the appeal from a provincial tribunal
to the emperor at Rome (Acts xxv. 11. Cp.
Conybeare and Howson, Life, $c, of St. Paul,
in loco). [W. L. B.]
CITRON. [Apple-Tree.]
CLAU'DA (KXadSr), Acts xxvii. 16 ; called
Gaudos by Mela and Pliny, KAaSBos by Ptolemy,
and KXavSia in the Stadiasmus Maris Magni :
it is still called Clauda-nesa, or Gaudonesi, by
the Greeks, which the Italians have corrupted
into Gozzo). This small island, unimportant in
itself and in its history, is of very great geo
graphical importance in reference to the removal
of some of the difficulties connected with St.
Paul's shipwreck at Melita. The position of
Clauda is nearly due W. of Cape Matala on the
S. coast of Crete [Fair Havens], and nearly
due S. of Phoenice (see Ptol. iii. 17, § 1 ;
Stadiasm. p. 496, ed. Gail). The ship was seized
by the gale a little after passing Cape Matala,
when on her way from Fair Havens to Phoenice

CLAUDIUS
(Acts xxvii. 12-17). The storm came down
from the island (kbt' aiiTr)s, v. 14), and there
was danger lest the ship should be driven into
the African Syrtis (v. 17). It is added that she
was driven to Clauda and ran under the lee of
it (v. 16). We see at once that this is in
harmony with, and confirmatory of, the argu
ments derivable from all the other geographical
circumstances of the case (as well as from the
etymology of the word Euroclydon or Euro-
Aquilo), which lead us to the conclusion that
the gale came from the N.E., or rather E.N.E.
Under the lee of Clauda there would be smooth
water, advantage of which was taken for the
purpose of getting the boat on board, and making
preparations for riding out the gale. [Ship.]
Smith, Voy. and Shipiwreek of St. Paul,2 pp 92
98,253. [J.S.H.]'
CLAU'DIA (KXavoia; Claudia), a Christian
who sends greeting to Timothy in 2 Tim. iv. 21,
and therefore probably an inhabitant of Rome.
Martial (iv. 13) has an epigram on the marriage
of Pudens and Claudia. Martial's Claudia is of
British birth, and the wish to find an early
connexion between Britain and Christianity
has set ingenuity at work to identify the two
pairs of names. The identification is too pre
carious to be given at length here, but see
Alford, Gk. Test. Prolegg. to 2 Tim., Excurs.
Bright (Early Eng. Ch. Hist.2 p. 2) does not
favour it. See art. Pudens. [E. R. B.]
CLAU'DIUS (KXaiSios; Claudius), full name
Tiberius Claudius Drusus Germanicus. He was
the fourth Roman emperor, and reigned from
41 to 54 a.d. He was the son of Nero Claudius
Drusus, and the nephew of the Emperor Tiberius.
He was born a.d. 10 at Lugdunum (Lyons), in
Gaul. A sickly childhood and harsh treatment
had unfitted him for public employments, and
he lived unnoticed till the murder of his nephew,
the Emperor Caius. He was then raised to the
throne by the soldiers. For the important part
taken by Agrippa in his elevation, see Joseph, xix.
§ 2 and art. Herod Agrippa. Duruy's estimate
of the administration of Claudius is as follows :
" In Rome wise measures and useful labours, in
the provinces a liberal administration, in foreign
affairs a firm policy recompensed by success."
This Duruy justifies in detail (ed. Mahaffy, iv.
pt. 1). It was however due, not to Claudius
himself, but to the freedmen Pallas, Narcissus,
and others into whose hands the administration
had now fallen. The miseries and cruelties ot
the reign were in great measure the result of
the profligacy of Messalina and the ambition
and greed of Agrippina, successively the wives
of Claudius during his government. But their
power for evil lay of course in the weakness of
the Emperor himself. He was poisoned by
Agrippina to make way for the succession of
her son Nero.
The points at which Claudius comes into con
tact with N. T. history are: (1) The famine
which is said to have taken place in his reign
(Acts xi. 28). The fulfilment of this prophecy
is vouched for by Suetonius, who mentions
" assiduae sterilitates " under Claudius (Suet.
Claud, xviii.). Dio Cassius (lx. 11) records a
famine at Rome in the first two years of
Claudius, but this would be before the pre-

CLAUDIUS
.diction. There was a famine in Greece (" fames
ingens in Hellade ") in his 4th year (Euseb. Chron.
Arm. ed. Schone, ii. p. 152) ; and again at Rome
in his 11th year (Tac. Ann. xii. 43. See
Wieseler, Chron. Apost. p. 157, note). But the
prophecy of Agabus, though loosely referring
to "the whole world" (oXnv tV olKovp.4vnv :
cp. Luke ii. 1 and Rev. iii. 10), probably had
special reference to a famine in Judaea in the
4th year of Claudius. See art. Agabus.
(2) The command given by him that all Jews
should depart from Rome (Acts xviii. 2). Two
corroborative statements are found in profane
historians, which are however somewhat difficult
to reconcile with each other. Dio Cassius says
that Claudius did not expel the Jews, owing to
the difficulty of carrying out such a measure
without disturbance, considering their great
numbers ; but forbade their assembling together
(Dio Cass. lx. ch. vi. 6). Suetonius on the other
hand says, Claudius expelled the Jews, who were
always causing disorders (" Judaeos impulsore
Chresto assidue tumultuantes expulit," Claud.
xxv.). The two may be fairly reconciled by
keeping close to the account of St. Luke. The
order was given, which is all Suetonius need
mean by " expulit " (cp. the convincing parallel
from Suet. Tib. xxxvi., about the "mathematici,"
quoted by Wieseler). It proved impossible to
carry out the order ; but meanwhile some Jews,
among whom were Aquila and Prisca, had at
once taken alarm and departed. Dio Cassius
seems to place the event in the first year of
Claudius, but does not really assign a date to it.
It probably happened a.d. 52, when Agrippa
was absent from Rome, and his influence in
favour of the Jews was not felt. It would then
coincide in time with the " senatus consultum "
mentioned by Tacitus (Ann. xii. 52), which may
relate to the same event. This also fell through
in execution (inritum).
Another point remains to be noticed. If
" Chresto " in Suet. I. c. stands for " Christo,"
then the cause of- the Jewish disturbances was
(as at Corinth and elsewhere) their disputes
with the Christians, and Aquila and Prisca as
Christians might naturally have to fly. Though
Suetonius elsewhere (Nero, xvi.) spells Christianus
rightly, he may here have followed a common
pronunciation (cp. Tert. Apol. iii.) and meant
Christ. With true Roman indifference he had
informed himself so little about Christ, that he
believed him to have been in Rome in person as

CLEAN

613

Claudius. (British HTiseum.}

the exciter (impulsor) of the strife, which was
really occasioned by faith in His name. The
other view is that Chrestus (not an unusual
name) was some otherwise unknown Jew. But

in that case " Chresto quodam '" would have
seemed more natural. Soe Wieseler, Chron.
Apost. p. 120.
As to the general policy of Claudius towards
the Jews, he first showed himself as a special
patron of Agrippa I. He increased his territory
by adding Judaea, Samaria, and certain districts
in Lebanon (Jos. Ant. xix. 5, § 1). For his sake he
favoured the Jewish worship (xx. 1, § 1), and gave
his brother Herod the principality of Chalcis, and,
later, the oversight of the Temple (xx. 1, § 3).
At the beginning of his reign he treated the
Jews in Asia with great mildness (xix. 5, § 2 ;
xx. 1, § 2), but those of Palestine experienced
much oppression from his officers (Tac. Hist.
f. 4). [E. R. B.]
CLAU'DIUS LYS'IAS. [Lysias.]
CLAY (ID^tp ; irnx6s ; humus or lutum), a
sedimentary earth, tough and plastic, arising
from the disintegration of felspar and similar
minerals, and always containing silica and
alumina combined in variable proportions. As
the sediment of water remaining in pits or in
streets, the word is used frequently in the 0. T.
(e.g. Is. lvii. 20 ; Jer. xxxviii. 6 ; Ps. xviii. 42),
and in the N. T. (irriX6s, John ix. 6), for a mixture
of sand or dust with spittle. It is also found
in the sense of potter's clay (Is. xii. 25). The
alluvial soils of Palestine would no doubt supply
material for pottery, a manufacture which we
know was, as it still is, carried on in the
country (Jer. xviii. 2, 6 ; Thomson, Land and
Book, p. '520), but the clay of Palestine, like
that of Egypt, is probably more loam than
clay (Birch, Hist, of Pottery, i. 55, 152).
[Pottery.] The word most commonly used
for " potter's clay '' is IDPI (Ex. i. 14 ; Job iv.
19 ; Is. xxix. 16 ; Jer. xviii. 4, &c.)." Bitumi
nous shale, convertible into clay, is said to
exist largely at the source of the Jordan, and
near the Dead Sea. The great seat of the
pottery of the present day in Palestine is Gaza,
where are made the vessels in dark blue clay so
frequently met with.
The use of clay in brick-making is described
elsewhere. [Bricks.]
Another use of clay was in sealing (Job
xxxviii. 14). The bricks of Assyria and Egypt
are most commonly found stamped either with
a die or with marks made by the fingers of the
maker. Wine jars in Egypt were sometimes
sealed with clay; mummy-pits were sealed
with the same substance, and remains of clay
are still found adhering to the stone door-
jambs. Our Lord's tomb may have been thus
sealed (Matt, xxvii. 66), as also the earthen
vessel containing the evidences of Jeremiah's
purchase (Jer. xxxii. 14). So also in Assyria,
at Kouyunjik, pieces of fine clay have been
found bearing impressions of seals with As
syrian, Egyptian, and Phoenician devices. The
seal used for public documents was rolled on
the moist clay, and the tablet was then placed
in the fire and baked. The practice of sealing
doors with clay to facilitate detection in case
of malpractice is still common in the East (Wil
kinson, Ane. Egypt, i. 15, 48, ii. 364 [1878] ;
Layard, A'', and B. pp. 153, 158, 608; Herod.
ii.. 38; Harmer, Obs. iv. 376.) [Bricks;
Pottery ; Seals.] [H. W. P.]

614

CLEAN

CLEAN. [Unclean Meats ; Unclean
ness.]
CLEM'ENT (KXr)p.Tis ; Clemens), mentioned
by St. Paul (Phil. iv. 3) as one of his fellow-
labourers (o-vvepyoi). He is distinctly identified
by Origen (Comm. in Joann. torn. vi. 36) with
Clement of Rome, and through Eusebius (H. E.
iii. 15) this view has been transmitted to later
writers (for Clement of Rome, see Dict. of Chr.
Biog.; Lightfoot's Apost. Ff., " Clem, of Rome,"
i. 22). Bp. Lightfoot considers that the probable
dates of Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians
(95 a.d.) and his death (circ. 110 A.D.) are
adverse to this identification, and that the fre
quency of the name Clemens makes any inference
from the name precarious. But his argument
against it from the supposed domicile of this
Clement at Philippi and of the other at Rome is
doubtful. St. Paul's " fellow-labourers " seem
as a class to have had no more permanent
domicile than the Apostle himself. See Light
foot, Philippians,2 note p. 166. [E. R. B.]
CLE'OPAS (YLXe6iras ; Cleophas), one of the
two disciples to whom Jesus showed Himself
as they went to Emmaus on the day of the
Resurrection (cp. Mark xvi. 12). Nothing is
known of him, but he has been conjecturally
identified with Clopas (John xix. 25). See
Cleophas and Alphaeus. [E. R. B.]
CLEOPAT'RA (KXeoirdrpa), the name of
numerous Egyptian princesses derived from
the daughter of Antiochus III., who married
Ptolemy V. Epiphanes, B.C. 193.
1. " The wife of Ptolemy " (Esth. xi. 1) was
probably the granddaughter of Antiochus, and
wife of Ptolemy VI. Philometor. [Ptolemy
Philometor.] 2. A daughter of Ptolemy VI. Philometor and
Cleopatra (1), who was married first to Alex
ander Balas B.C. 150 (1 Mace. x. 51), and after
wards given by her father to Demetrius Nicator
when he invaded Syria (1 Mace. xi. 12 ; Joseph.
Ant. xiii. 4, § 7). During the captivity of
Demetrius in Parthia [Demetrius] Cleopatra
married his brother Antiochus VII. Sidetes, and
was probably privy to the murder of Demetrius
on his return to Syria B.C. 125 (App. Syr. 68 :
yet see Joseph. Ant. xiii. 9, § 3 ; Just, xxxix. 1).
She afterwards murdered Seleucus, her eldest
son by Demetrius (App. Syr. 69); and then
raised to the throne her other son by Demetrius,

Coin of Cleopatra and Antiochus VIII. Gryptis.
Antiochus VIII. Grypus. But finding that he
was unwilling to gratify her ambitious designs,
she attempted to make away with him by offer
ing him a cup of poison, but was compelled to
drink it herself, B.C. 120 (Justin, xxxix. 2).

CLOUD
The above coin represents on the obverse the
heads of Cleopatra and her son Antiochus VIII..
Grypus. [B. F. W.]
CLE'OPHAS (KXuiras; Cleophas). R. V.
gives Clopas, which is undoubtedly right. The
Cleophas of the A. V. represents the Vulgate,
but not the Greek. Cleophas or Clopas is men
tioned (John xix. 25) to distinguish Mary of
Clopas (Mapiapt t) toC KAoiTrS) from two other
Marys mentioned iu the same verse. This is
generally understood to mean "the wife of
Clopas" (sister according to Ewald). The form
Clopas is confirmed by Euseb. H. E. iii. 11
who quotes the statement of Hegesippus that
Clopas was brother of Joseph the husband of
the Virgin, and father of Simeon, second 'Bishop
of Jerusalem. Clopas has been identified with
Alphaeus, father of James the Apostle. The
two names are distinct, and are not duplicate
forms (Lightfoot, Gal.3 p. 260; and Wetzel,
Stud. Krit. 1883, pp. 620-6, a very conclusive
article) ; whether Clopas, like Alphaeus, be
Aramaic, or whether it be a contraction from
the Greek Cleopas and ultimately from Cleo-
patros. A strong argument against identifica
tion is that the Peshitto and the Jerus. Syriac
Versions keep the two distinct.
But if, rejecting the identification of the
names, we also refuse to identify Clopas the
man with the man Alphaeus, we have the diffi
culty of adding another to the list of men who
bore the name of James. If James the son of
Alphaeus is not the son of Clopas, then we have
to admit the existence of another James, son of
Clopas and Mary, and known as "the little"
(<5 piKp&s). At least this is necessary if we do
not deny the almost certain identity of Mary of
Clopas (John xix. 25) with Mary, mother of James
" the little " and Joseph (Mark xv. 4Q). On the
multiplication of persons bearing the same
name, which seems the inevitable result of
honest attempts to investigate the- question,
see Lightfoot, Galatians,3 p. 261. For the litera
ture of the question, see James. [E. R. B.]
CLOTHING. [Dress.]
CLOUD QiV). The word OWi, so ren
dered in a few places, properly means " vapours,"
the less dense form of cloud which rises higher,
and is often absorbed without falling in rain ;
Arab. ?\La and -P/jtJ. The word 31/, some
times rendered " cloud," means merely " dark
ness," and is applied also to " a thicket " (Jer. iv.
29). The shelter given, and refreshment of rain
promised, by clouds, give them their peculiar
prominence in Oriental imagery, and the in
dividual cloud in that ordinarily cloudless
region becomes well defined, and is dwelt upon
like the individual tree in the bare landscape
(Stanley, S. # P. p. 140). Similarly, when a
cloud appeal's, rain is ordinarily apprehended,
and thus the "cloud without rain" becomes a
proverb for the man of promise without per
formance (Prov. xvi. 15 ; Is. xviii. 4, xxv. 5 ;
Jude 12 ; cp. Prov. xxv. 14). The cloud is of
course a figure of transitoriness (Job xxx. 15 •,
Hos. vi. 4), and of whatever intercepts divine
favour or human supplication (Lam. ii. 1 ; »'• ">

CLOUD, PILLAR OF
Being the least substantial of visible forms,
undefined in shape, and unrestrained in position,
it is the one amongst material things which
suggests most easily spiritual being. Hence it
is, so to speak, the recognised machinery by
which supernatural appearances are introduced
(Is. xix. 1 ; Ezek. i. 4 ; Rev. i. 7, and passim),
or the veil between things visible and invisible ;
but, more especially, a mysterious or super
natural cloud is the symbolical seat of the
Divine Presence Itself — ¦ the phenomenon of
Deity vouchsafed by Jehovah to the Prophet,
the priest, the king, or the people ; so especially
at the Transfiguration, Ascension, and gather
ing of the " vintage of wrath." Sometimes
thick darkness, sometimes intense luminousness,
often apparently, and especially by night, an
actual fire (as in the descent of Jehovah on
Sinai, Ex. xix. 18), is attributed to this glory-
cloud (Deut. iv. 11; Ex. xxxiii. 22, 23: 2 Sam.
xxii. 12, 13). In Ex. xl. 34-8, the Divine Pre
sence takes visible possession of " the tent of the
cono-regation," when Moses had "finished the
work," and presents the appearance of a cloud
" covering the tent " and " filling the Taber
nacle " ; and so subsequently the Temple (1 K.
viii. 10, 11). In the former case "Moses was
not able to enter ; " in the latter " the priests
could not stand to minister." The notion seems
that of superhuman brightness which no eye
could face. Such a bright cloud, at any rate
at times, visited and rested on the mercy-seat
(Ex. xxix. 42, 43; 1 K. viii. 11; 2 Ch. v. 14;
Ezek. xliii. 4), and was by later writers named
Shechinah. Thus the priests are cautioned not
to "come at all times . . . within the vail,"
that they " die not, for " (it is added) " I will
appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat," — the
cloud being clearly
that of the Presence . .
mentioned above (Hof- -*" Tnoptam, j^^
mann, Schriftbeweis,
ii. 1, p. 361 sq., ed. 1).
For the curious ques
tion which the Rabbis
and others have raised
concerning it, e.g.
whether its light was
created or not, or
whether it was the
actual " light" created
on the " first day "
(Gen. i. 3) or an
emanation therefrom,
cp. Buxtorf, History
of tlie Ark, chs. xi.-
xiv. (Ugolini, vol.
vii. ; Weber, Altsynag.
Palastin. Theologie,
§ 39 and Index ; Ham
burger, RE. Abth. ii.
a. u. " Schechina.") [H. H.]
CLOUD, PILLAR OF QIVT} WV). This
was the active form of the symbolical glory-
cloud, betokening God's Presence to lead His
chosen host, or to inquire and visit offences, as
the luminous cloud of the sanctuary exhibited
the same under an aspect of repose. The cloud,
which became a pillar when the host moved,
seems to have rested at other times on the

CNIDUS

615

Tabernacle, whence God is said to have " come
down in the pillar" (Ex. xxxiii. 9, 10; Num.
xii. 5). It preceded the host, apparently resting
on the ark which led the way (Ex. xiii. 21, xl.
36, &c. ; Num. ix. 15-23, x. 34). So by night
the cloud on the Tabernacle became fire, and the
guiding pillar a pillar of fire. A note in the
Speaker's Commentary on Ex. xiii. 21 mentions
that " In an inscription of the Ancient Empire
(of Egypt) an Egyptian general is compared to
' a flame streaming in advance of an army ' ;
and that in a well-known papyrus (Anast. 1)
the commander of an expedition is called ' a
flame in the darkness at the head of his sol
diers.' " A remarkable passage in Curtius
(v. 2, § 7), descriptive of Alexander's army on
the march, mentions a beacon hoisted on a pole
from head-quarters as the signal for marching ;
observabatur ignis nnctu, fumus interdiu. This
was probably an adoption of an Eastern custom.
Similarly the Persians used, as a conspicuous
signal, an image of the sun enclosed in crystal
(ib. iii. 3, § 9). Caravans are still known to
use such beacons of fire and smoke ; the cloud-
lessness and often stillness of the sky giving the
smoke great density of volume and boldness of
outline. [H. H.]
CLOUTED. Josh. ix. 5 ; i.e. patched (see
Lumby, s. n. in Gloss, of Bible Words in Eyre and
Spottiswoode's Variorum Teacher's Ed. of the
Bible). Cp. "clouts," i.e. patches or rags, in
Jer. xxxviii. 11, 12. [F.]
CNI'DUS (KviSos) is mentioned in 1 Mace. xv.
23 as one of the Greek cities which contained
Jewish residents in the second century B.C., and
in Acts xxvii. 7 as a harbour which was passed
by St. Paul after leaving Myra, and before

Plan of Cnidns and Chart of adjoining coast.
running under the lee of Crete. It was a city
of great consequence, situated at the extreme
S.W. of the peninsula of Asia Minor [Caria],
on a promontory now called Cape Crio, which
projects between the islands of Cos and Rhodes
(see Acts xxi. 1). Cape Crio is in fact an island,
so joined by an artificial causeway to the main
land as to form two harbours, one on the N.,

616

COAL

the other on the S. The latter was the larger,
and its moles were noble constructions. All
the remains of Cnidus show that it must have
been a city of great magnificence. Few ancient
cities have received such ample illustration from
travels and engravings. We may refer to
Beaufort's Karamania, Hamilton's Researches,
and Texier's Asie Mineure, also Laborde, Leake,
and Clarke, with the drawings in the Ionian
Antiquities, published by the Dilettanti Society ;
the English Admiralty Charts, Nos. 1533, 1604 ;
Newton's Hist, of Discoveries at Cnidus (1862-3),
Travels and Discoveries in tlie Levant, ii. 167
( 18651; Vaux, Gk. Cities and Islands of Asia
Min. pp. 73-80. [J. S. H.] [J. E. S.]
COAL. In A. V. this word represents no less
than five different Heb. words. 1. The first and
most frequently used is Gacheleth, TVi^i (&vBpa£,
avBpaxla ; pruna, carbo), a live ember, burning
fuel, as distinguished from DI1S (Prov. xxvi. 21).
It is written more fully in Ezek. a. 2, t^X \?nj,
and in Ezek. i. 13, n"l"ll?3 E>K 'JIU
In 2 Sam. xxii. 9, 13,'" coals of fire " are put
metaphorically for the lightnings proceeding
from God (Ps. xviii. 8, 12, 13 ; cxl. 10).
In Prov. xxv. 22, we have the proverbial ex
pression, " Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon
his head," which has been adopted by St. Paul
in Rom. xii. 20, and by which is metaphorically
expressed the burning shame and confusion
which men must feel when their evil is requited
by good. In Ps. cxx. 4, " coals " = burning
brands of wood (not " juniper," but broom), to
which the false tongue is compared (James
iii. 6).
In 2 Sam. xiv. 7 the quenching of the live
coal is used to indicate the threatened destruc
tion of the single remaining branch of the family
of the widow of Tekoah suborned by Joab ; just
as Lucian (Tim. § 3) uses the word (/birvpov in
the same connexion.
The root of TVT\l is ?Ui, which is possibly the
v v " ~ T ^ s- ^
same in meaning as the Arab. ~& ' , to light a
fire, with the change of 7 into 12.
2. Pecham, DriS (etrxdpa, &vBpa%; carbo,
pruna). In Prov. xxvi. 21 this word clearly sig
nifies fuel not yet lighted, as contrasted with the
burning fuel to which it is to be added ; but in
Is. xliv. 12 and liv. 16, it means fuel lighted,
having reference in both cases to smiths' work.
SI**
It is derived from DH3 ; Arab. ** , to be very
black. (See below.) '
3. Rezeph, or Rizpah, ^\~i"\, HSyi (&vBpa£;
calculus in Is. vi. 6 ; but in 1 K. xix. 6, 1131?
D^SS") is rendered by the LXX. iyKpvtpias oXvpt-
ttjs, and by the Vulg. panis subcinericius). In
the narrative of Elijah's miraculous meal the
word is used to describe the mode in which the
cake was baked, viz. on a hot stone, as is still
s O -"
usual in the East. Cp. the Arab. ^_a J. , a
hot stone on which flesh is laid. nsyi, in Is.
vi. 6, is rendered in A. V. " a live coal," but
properly means "a hot stone" (R. V. marg.).

COAL
The root is ^V"!, to lay stones together as a
pavement. 4. ejEJ'T, in Hab. iii. 5, is rendered in A. V.
(and R. V. marg.) "burning coals," and in A. V.
margin burning diseases ; in R. V. text, " fiery
bolts." The former meaning is supported by
Cant. viii. 6, the latter hy Deut. xxxii. 24. Ac
cording to the Rabbinical writers, S|B>l=B)p,
pruna. 5. Shechor. In Lam. iv. 8, DIKD "l'lnB'p H&r.
is rendered in A. V. and R. V. " their visage is
blacker than a coal," or in the marg. (A. V.
and R. V.) darker than blackness, "linty is
found but this once, and signifies " to be black,"
from root "HIB*. The LXX. render it by
atrBiX-n, the Vulg. by carbones. In other forms
the word is frequent, and Shihor is a usual
name for the Nile. [Shihor.] [W. D.]
The fuel denoted by the Heb. words gacheleth
(TwVii) and pecham (D|1S) is charcoal, and not
mineral coal. There is no evidence to show that
the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with the
substance we now denominate " coal ; " indeed
it seems pretty clear that the ancients generally
used charcoal for their fuel ; and although there
is a passage in Theophrastus (Fr. ii. 61, ed.
Schneider) from which we learn that fossil coal
was found in Liguria and Elis, and used by " the
smiths," yet its use must have been very limited.
This coal was not what we understand by the
term, but merely lignite, composed of fossilised
vegetable matter, such as often occurs in geo
logical formations much more recent than the
true carboniferous strata. The houses of the
ancient Greeks and Romans were without chim
neys in our sense of the word (see this subject
admirably discussed by Beckmann, Hist. Invent.
i. 295). As the houses had merely an opening
in the centre of the roof, the burning of " coal "
would have made even their kitchens intoler
able. No true coal is found in Palestine, the geo
logical formation of which is far too recent to
afford any possibility of the coal measures being
reached by any method now in man's possession.
The whole of Syria, with the exception of the
Jordan valley and the eastern volcanic dis
tricts, is cretaceous, answering to our greensand
or neocomian, underlying the similar chalk or
cretaceous formation of the lower eocene ter-
tiaries. This latter covers the whole southern
deserts, and also the tops of the central range
running down from Lebanon to Hebron. Else
where it has been denuded by fluviatile action.
Mixed with the limestone are here and there
sandstone, marls, and clays. Of course no coal
could be found in these formations. In the
Jordan basin, from its northern to its southern
extremities, are found large deposits of bitumen
and bituminous shale, which might be used as
fuel, but are all connected with the volcanic
agencies formerly so active in the region.
Lebanon and Hermon are scarcely, if at all,
older than the triassic ; the fossils being chiefly
of the Jurassic and oolite periods, and the super
ficial strata being often more recent. Conse
quently the only carboniferous deposits are some
thin beds of lignite, almost valueless, apparently
underlying the Jurassic deposits.

COCK
The geology of Palestine has been examined
by M. Lartet, in the splendid posthumous work
of the Due de Luynes, " La Mer Morte ;" by
Russegger, Geognostische Karte des Libanon und
AntUibanon ; by Tristram, Land of Israel, and
Land of Moab ; by Lynch, United States' Ex
ploring Expedition to the Dead Sea and the
Jordan; and by Hull, Survey of Western Pales
tine (PEF.). [H. B. T.]
COCK (aXetcrup ; gallus). There appears to
be but one reference to domestic poultry in the
O. T., viz. 1 K. iv. 23 ; the passages where the
LXX. and Vulg. (as in Prov. xxx. 31 ; Is. xxii.
17) read aXetcrup and gallus having no reference
to that bird. In the N. T. the " cock " is men
tioned in reference to St. Peter's denial of our
Lord, and indirectly in the word aXetcrpotpuvla
(Matt. xxvi. 34; Mark xiv. 30, xiii. 35, &c).
At that period domestic poultry must have been
as familiar and common as at present, from the
various references to them, as when our Lord
compares His tender love for Jerusalem to that
of a hen for her brood (Luke xiii. 34). Though
we have no knowledge of their first introduc
tion into Palestine, it is not impossible that
Solomon may have introduced them along with
peacocks, coming as they do from the same
region. D*")3")3, barburim, 1 K. iv. 23, may
refer to gallinaceous birds, though Gesenius
(in loco) and Bochart (Hieroz. ii. 127) would
render the word by " geese " or " swans." The
latter are sometimes found in Palestine in winter,
but too rarely ever to have been a regular article
of food, while geese are only stragglers to the
coast, and can scarcely be domesticated in so
warm a climate. We should therefore prefer
the ordinary rendering of " fowls." Poultry
were common in Rome from the earliest times,
and can certainly be traced in Greece before the
Persian war. The Greek poet Pindar, living soon
after the return from Babylon, mentions the
cock ; and the word 'AXetcrup occurs in Homer
as the name of a man, probably derived from
the bird. Aristophanes calls the cock the
Persian bird (Aves, 483). If, therefore, it were
known so early further west, we may fairly
infer that at the same time or at an earlier date
it was domesticated in Palestine. No figures of
our domestic poultry hare been noticed among
the antiquities of Egypt.
The original of our domestic fowl is from
India, and the islands of the Eastern Archi
pelago ; the jungle fowl (Gallus ferrugineus) of
India and of most of the Malayan islands being
hardly to be distinguished from our common
gamecock. South India, Ceylon, and Java each
possess distinct species (Gallus sonneratti, G.
stanleyi, and 67. furcatus respectively) which
may have assisted by hybridization to modify
some of our existing and ever-varying breeds.
In India the domestication of the fowl goes back
to the earliest known period.
The Mishna (Baba Kama, vii. 7) says that
cocks were not kept at Jerusalem for fear of
their polluting holy things. The statement is
probably a fiction, for not only was the cock not
unclean, but an instance is mentioned of a cock
which was stoned by sentence of the Saiihedrin
for having caused the death of a child. The
Romans were devoted to cock-fighting, and took
their birds with them everywhere. The Jews

COCKLE

61 r,

of Jerusalem keep poultry at the present day in
great numbers, not only in thoir courtyard, but
in the chambers of their houses, where they
roost, aggravating the squalid appearance of a
Jerusalem dwelling. [H. B. T.]
COCK-CROWING is spoken of as a definite
period of the night in Mark xiii. 35 : " Ye know
not when the master of the house cometh, at
eveu or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing or in
the morning." The cock-crowing here spoken of
is really the second cock-crowing, about an hour
and a half before dawn. The first cock-crowing
is at midnight, and there are in the East two
subsequent times of crowing, about an hour and
a half or two hours after midnight, and again
just before the dawn. In our latitude, with the
varying lengths of days and nights, the domestic
fowls do not exercise their voices with the same
regularity as in countries nearer the equator.
On my first visit to Syria I was, for several
successive nights, awakened three times by the
sudden crowing of the cocks on the roof of the
hotel. Arundell (Discoveries in Asia Minor)
writes : " It has often been remarked, in illus
tration of Scripture, that in the Eastern countries
the cocks crow in the night, but the regularity
with which they keep what may be called the
watches has not been perhaps sufficiently noticed.
I will, however, confine myself to one, and that
is between eleven and twelve o'clock. I have
often heard the cocks of Smyrna crowing in full
chorus at that time, and with scarcely the
variation of a minute. The second cock-crowing
is between one and two o'clock. Therefore,
when our Lord says, ' In this night, before the
cock crow twice,' the allusion was clearly to
these seasons." The same regularity has beeu
noticed in the domestic poultry of the South
Sea Islands ; so much so, that the natives of the
New Hebrides mark the division of time in the
night by the cock-crowing. In their language
the midnight is " the little cock-crowing," 2 A.M.
is " the great cock-crowing," and an hour
before dawn is " the last cock-crowing." In
explanation of the expression " the little cock-
crowing," I have often noticed that in Syria
frequently only one solitary cock disturbs the
stillness about, or a little before, midnight, and
he finds no response from his fellows, while two
hours later all the birds in the neighbourhood at
once join in discordant chorus. Dean Alford,
therefore, correctly explains the slight difference
in the wording of our Lord's warning to St.
Peter as recorded by St. Matthew and St. Mark,
" The first cock-crowing is at midnight ; but
inasmuch as few hear it, — when the word is used
generally, we mean the second crowing, early in
the morning before dawn." [H. B. T.]
COCKATRICE. A not very happy render
ing by the A. V. of the Hebrew words tziph'oni
Cgi/BV) and tzepha' (1?QV) ; E. V. " basilisk,"
marg. adder. See Prov. xxiii. 32, margin ;
Is. xi. 8, lix. 5 ; Jer. viii. 17. The cockatrice,
is a fabulous anima], concerning which absurd
stories are told. Perhaps the great yellow
viper, Daboia xanthina, is intended in the
original. [Adder.] [H. B. T.]
COCKLE (i-!K>>!3, bo' shah; Bdros; spina)
occurs only in Job xxxi. 40 : " Let thistles grow

618

COELESYRIA

instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley."
The plural form of a Heb. noun, viz. D'B'NS
(bgushim), is found in Is. v. 2, 4, A. V. " wild
grapes." Whatever it is, it must not be con
founded with what is called the wild vine ( Vitis
labrusca), a North American plant, nor with the
aconite, which is not found in Syria, but which
is proposed by Celsius (Hierob. ii. 199). Hassel-
quist suggests (Trav. p. 290) the hoary night
shade, Solanum villosum, which is a trouble
some vineyard weed in Palestine, bears berries,
and is called by the Arabs 'inab ed di'b, i.e.
" wolf's grapes." Another suggestion, deduced
from the derivation of the name from E>K3>
"to smell as carrion," is that it means some
stinking weed. If the word be specific, and not
general, it may well stand for the stinking arum,
Dracunculus vulgaris, a common Palestine weed,
with a horrible and disgusting odour ; or, from
the context of the word in Job, for the bunt, or
stinking rust, Uredo foetida, which sometimes
attacks barley, and has a scarcely less revolting
smell than the arum. But if the term be
general, it may allude to the troublesome
grasses, such as the " tares " of N. T., Lolium
temulentum, or darnel, which choke the corn, and
also, if unchecked, the trailing vines. [H. B. T.]
COELESYRIA (Kolx-n Xvpia; Coelesyria),
" the hollow Syria," was (strictly speaking) the
name given by the Greeks, after the time of
Alexander, to the remarkable valley or hollow
(KoiXia) which intervenes between Libanus and
Anti-Libanus, stretching from lat 33° 20' to
34° 40', a distance of nearly a hundred miles.
As applied to this region the word is strikingly
descriptive. Dionysius the geographer well
observes upon this, in the lines —
*Hy Koi'Atjp eveirovaiv kirwvvp.ov, ovveic ap' avty}V
Meo-cn)!/ KoX ^0aftaAJjv bpdiav Suo Trpfcipe? i^ovtriv.
Perieg. 899, 900.
A modern traveller says, more particularly :
" We finally looked down on the vast green and
red valley — green from its yet unripe corn, red
from its vineyards not yet verdant — which
divides the range of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ;
the former reaching its highest point in the
snowy crest to the north, behind which lie the
Cedars ; the latter, in the still more snowy
crest of Hermon — the culmination of the range
being thus in the one at the northern, in the
other at the southern, extremity of the valley
which they bound. The view of this great
valley is chiefly remarkable as being exactly to
the eye what it is on maps — the ' hollow '
between the two mountain ranges of Syria.
A screen through which the Leontes (Litany)
breaks out closes the south end of the plain.
There is a similar screen at the north end, but
too remote to be visible " (Stanley's S. cf P.
p. 407). The plain gradually rises towards its
centre, near which, but a little on the southern
declivity, stand the ruins of Baalbek or Helio
polis. In the immediate neighbourhood of
Baalbek rise the two streams of the Orontes
(Nahr-el-Asy) and the LitSnv. which flowing in
opposite directions, to the N.W. and the S.E.,
give freshness and fertility to the tract enclosed
between the mountain ranges.
The term Coele-Syria was also used in a much
wider sense. In the first place it was extended

COLLAR
so as to include the inhabited tract to the east
of the Anti-Libanus range, between it and the
desert, in which stood the great city of Damascus ;
and then it was further carried on upon that
side of Jordan, through Trachonitis and Peraea,
to Idumaea and the borders of Egypt (Strab.
xvi. § 21 ; Polyb. v. 80, § 3 ; Jos. Ant. i. 11, § 5).
Ptolemy (v. 15) and Josephus (Ant. xiii. 13, § 2)
even place Scythopolis in Coele-Syria, though
it was upon the west side of Jordan ; but they
seem to limit its extent southwards to about
lat. 31° 30', or the country of the Ammonites
(Ptol. v. 15 ; Joseph, i. 11). Ptolemy distinctly
includes in it the Damascus country.
None of the divisions of Syria (Aram) in the
Jewish Scriptures appear to correspond with
the Coele-Syria of the Greeks ; for there are no
grounds for supposing, with Calmet (Diet, of
the Bible, art. Coelesyria), that " Syria of Zobah"
is Coele-Syria. Coele-Syria seems to have been
included under the name of " Syria of Damascus"
(ptPB^TDlK), and to have formed a portion of
that kingdom. [Aram.] The only distinct
reference to the region, as a separate tract of
country, which the Jewish Scriptures contain,
is probably that in Amos (i. 5), where " the in
habitants of the plain of Aven" (|lN~ni}p3>.
Bikath-Aven) are threatened, in conjunction
with those of Damascus. Bikath is exactly
such a plain as Coele-Syria (Stanley's Palestine,
Append, p. 484); and the expression Bikath-
Aven, " the plain of Vanity," would be well
applied to the tract immediately around the great
sanctuary of Baalbek. [Aven.] In the Apocry
phal Books there is frequent mention of Coele-
[A. V. Celo-]Syria in a somewhat vague sense,
nearly as an equivalent for Syria (1 Esd. ii. 17,
24, 27, iv. 48, vi. 29, vii. 1, viii. 67 ; 1 Mace. x. 69 ;
2 Mace. iii. 5, 8, iv. 4, viii. 8, x. 11). [G. Ii.]
COFFER (T^N, probably from TJ/J, to be
moved; 8ep.a ; capsella), a movable box hanging
from the side of a cart (1 Sam. vi. 8, 11, 15).
This word is found nowhere else, and in each of
the above examples has the definite article, as
if of some special significance, though not
necessarily so (see Driver, Notes on the Heb.
Text of the BB. of Sam. in loco). [H. W. P.]
CO'LA (B. XuXd, A. KaXd ; N*. Vulg. om.,
but tJc-* KeeiXa), a place named with Chobai
(Judith xv. 4, only) ; it is now, possibly, Eh.
Kd'un in the Jordan Valley, on the road from
Chobai, el-Mekhubby, to Scythopolis. Simonis
(Onom. p. 170) suggests AbelmecAofaA. [W.]
COLHO'ZEH (nyh-^3; LXX. om.; Choi-
hoza), a man of the tribe of Judah in the time
of Nehemiah (Neh. iii. 15, xi. 5). [W. A. W.]
CO'LIUS (Kuios, A. KtSAios ; Colnis), 1 Esd.
ix. 23. [Kelaiah.] [W. A. W.]
COLLAR. For the proper sense of this
term (n'lB,p3), as it occurs in Judg. viii. 26
and in Is. iii'. 18 (R. V. "pendants" in both
passages. See Delitzsch on Is. I. e.), see Ear
rings. The rendering of »S3 (as the collar) in
Job xxx. 18 is supported by 'the LXX. (Surirep
Tb irepio-Tipiiov), the Vulg. (quasi capitio), ^-y-,
and modern critics generally. L* •!

COLLEGE, THE
COLLEGE, THE (i^Bteri; r) p.atrevd;
Secunda). In 2 K. xxii. 14 it is said in the
A. V. that Huldah the prophetess " dwelt iu
Jerusalem in the college," or, as the margin has
it, " in the second part." The same part of the
city is undoubtedly alluded to in Zeph. i. 10
(A. V. " the second [gate] "). In both passages
R. V. reads " the second quarter," i.e. (see
below) the lower city. Our translators derived
their rendering " the college " from the Targum
of Jonathan, which has " house of instruction,"
a schoolhouse supposed to have been iu the
neighbourhood of the Temple. This translation
must have been based upon the meaning of the
Hebrew mishneh, " repetition," which has been
adopted by the Peshitto-Syriac, and the word
was thus taken to denote a place for the repeti
tion of the Law, or perhaps a place where copies
of the Law were made (cp. Deut. xvii. 18 ;
Josh. viii. 32). Rashi, after quoting the render
ing of the Targum, says, " There is a gate in the
[Temple] court, the name of which is the gate
of Huldah in the treatise Middoth [i. 3], and
some translate njC^BS, without the wall, be
tween the two walls, which was a second part
(mishneh) to the city." The latter is sub
stantially the opinion of the author of Quaest.
in Libr. Reg. attributed to Jerome. Keifs
explanation (Comm. on 1 K. I. c.),that the Mishneh
was the " lower city," called by Josephus 77 &X\ii
iriXis (Ant. xv. 11, § 5), and built on the hill Akra,
is more definite than "a part of the city " pre
ferred by Schwally (ZATW. x. 173). Ewald
and Orelli (Zeph. i. 10) render it Neustadt, i.e.
Bezetha, or New Town. [W. A. W.] [F.]
In the American edition of the D. B., Dr.
Conant has pointed out that the earlier stages
of the English Version present a preference for
the now generally accepted rendering. Thus
Coverdale's Bible (1535) reads (in 2 K. I. c.)
"the second porte;" Matthew's Bible (1537)
"the second ward." Cranmer's Bible (1540)
has in 2 K. " the house of the doctrine," but in
the parallel passage in 2 Ch. " the second wall ; "
so also in both passages the Bishops' Bible.
The Genevan Bible (1560) has in 2 K. and 2 Ch.
" the college," with a marg. note on the former
passage, " or, the house of doctrine, which was
near to the Temple ; " and this was the Version
followed by King James' revisers (1611). [F.]
COLLOPS (nD,S = n»,XS, Job xv. 27;
Olsh. Lehrb. d. Heb. Sprache, § 171a, fat or fat
ness). Eastwood and Wright (Bible Handbook, s.n.)
affirm it to be a Yorkshire word still used, signify
ing lumps or slices of meat, and Lumby (Glossary
of Bible Words in Teacher's Bible, s. n.) gives the
same sense with references to the use of the word
in Piers Plowman and North's Plutarch. [F.]
COLONY, a designation of Philippi, the cele
brated city of Macedonia, in Acts xvi. 12. After
the battle of Actium, Augustus assigned to his
veterans those parts of Italy which had espoused
the cause of Antony, and transported many of
the expelled inhabitants to Philippi, Dyrrachium,
and other cities (Dio Cass. li. 4). In this way
Philippi was made a Roman colony with the
" Jus Italicum " (cp. Dig. 50, tit. 15, s. 8), and
accordingly we find it described as a " colonia "
both in inscriptions and upon the coins of
Augustus. The events which befell St. Paul at

COLOURS

619

Philippi were directly connected with the privi
leges of the place as a Roman colony, and with
his own privileges as a Roman citizen : seo
Conybeare and Howson (Life and Epp. of St.
Paul, i. p. 312, orig. ed.), who develop these
points at some length (Orelli, Inscr. 512, 3658,
3746, 4064; Rasche, iii. pt. 2, p. 1120). On
the " Jus Italicum," see Dict. of Ant., Colonia
and Latinitas. [W. S.] [F.]
COLOURS. The terms relative to colour,
occurring in the Bible, may be arranged in two
classes, the first including those applied to the
description of natural objects, the second those
artificial mixtures which were employed in
dyeing or painting. In an advanced state of
art, such a distinction can hardly be said to
exist ; all the hues of nature have been success
fully imitated by the artist ; but among the
Jews, who fell even below their contemporaries.
in the cultivation of the fine arts, and to whom
painting was unknown until a late period, the'
knowledge of artificial colours was very re
stricted. Dyeing was the object to which the
colours known to them were applied ; so ex
clusively indeed were the ideas of the Jews
limited to this application of colour, that the-
name of the dye was transferred without any
addition to the material to which it was applied.
The Jews were not, however, by any means
insensible to the influence of colour ; they
attached definite ideas to the various tints,
according to the use made of them in robes and
vestments ; and the subject exercises an im
portant influence on the interpretation of cer
tain portions of Scripture.
I. The natural colours noticed in the Bible
are white, black, red, yellow, and green. It
will be observed that only three of the prismatic
colours are represented in this list ; blue, indigo,
violet, and orange are omitted. Of the three,
yellow is very seldom noticed ; it was apparently
regarded as a shade of green, for the same term
greenish (p"1pT ; see MV.U) is applied to gold
(Ps. lxviii. 13) and to the leprous spot (Lev. xiii.
49), and very probably the golden (3!"1¥) or yellow
hue of the leprous hair (Lev. xiii. 30-32)
differed little from the greenish spot on the
garments or skin (Lev. xiii. 49). Green is fre
quently noticed, but an examination of the pas
sages in which it occurs will show that the re
ference is seldom to colour. The Hebrew terms
are raanan (pip) and yarak (p"V) ; the first of
these applies to what is vigorous and flourishing ;
hence it is metaphorically employed as an image
of prosperity (Job xv. 32 ; Pss. xxxvii. 35, Iii. 8,
xcii. 14 ; Jer. xi. 16, xvii. 8 ; Dan. iv. 4 ; Hos.
xiv. 8) ; it is invariably employed wherever the
expression " green tree " is used in connexion
with idolatrous sacrifices, as though through its
aged ever-greenness conveying the idea of a
dense and lasting canopy to the worshippers
(Deut. xii. 2 [cp. Dillmann2] ; 2 K. xvi. 4) ; else
where it is used of that which is fresh, as oil
(Ps. xcii. 10) and newly-plucked boughs (Cant.
i. 16). The other term, yarak, has the radical
signification of putting forth leaves, sprouting
(Gesen. Thesaur. p. 632) : it is used indiscrimi
nately for all productions ofthe earth fit for food
(Gen. i. 30, ix. 3 ; Ex. x. 15 ; Num. xxii. 4; Is.
xv. 6 ; cp. xA.«V"fc, Kev. viii. 7, ix. 4), and again

¦620

COLOURS

for all kinds of garden herbs (Deut. xi. 10 ; 1 K.
xxi. 2 ; 2 K. xix. 26 ; Prov. xv. 17 ; Is. xxxvii. 27 ;
contrast the restricted application of our greens) ;
when applied to grass, jt means specifically the
young, fresh grass (KBH, Ps. xxxvii. 2), which
springs up in the desert (Job xxxix. 1). Else
where it describes the sickly yellowish hue of
mildewed corn (Deut. xxviii. 22 ; IK. viii. 37 ;
2 Ch. vi. 28 ; Amos iv. 9 ; Hag. ii. 17) ; and
lastly, it is used for the entire absence of colour
produced by fear (Jer. xxx. 6 ; cp. x*-mp6s> H-
x. 376) : hence x^aP°s (Rev. vi. 8) describes the
ghastly, livid hue of death. In other passages
" green " is erroneously used in the A. V. for
white (Gen. xxx. 37, R. V. " fresh " ; Esth. i. 6,
R. V. marg. cotton), young (Lev. ii. 14, xxiii. 14,
R. V. " fresh "), moist (Judg. xvi. 7, 8, A. V.
marg. ; but R. V. gives in the marg. — as an
-alternative for the " green withes " of the text
— new bowstrings). Thus it may be said that
green is never used in the Bible to convey the
impression of proper colour.
The only fundamental colour of which the
Hebrews appear to have had a clear conception was
red; and even this is not very often noticed. They
had no scientific knowledge of colours, and such
a passage as Rev. iv. 3 is not to be explained by
assuming that the emerald represents green, the
jasper yellow, and the sardine red : the idea in
tended to be conveyed by these images is rather
that of pure, brilliant, transparent light. The
•emerald, for instance, was chiefly prized by the
ancients for its glittering, scintillating qualities
(atyXr)ets, Orpheus, de Lap. p. 608), whence per
haps it derived its name (apidpaytios, from p.ap-
p.alpeiv). The jasper is characterised by St. John
himself (Rev. xxi. 11) as being crystal-clear (Kpv-
<TTaXXt(uv), and not as having a certain hue.
The sardine may be compared with the amber
•of Ezek. i. 4, 27, or the burnished brass of Dan.
x. 6, or again the fine brass, " as if burning in a
furnace," of Rev. i. 15, each conveying the im
pression of the colour of fire in a state of pure
¦incandescence. Similarly the beryl, or rather
the chrysolite (the Hebrew Tharsis), may be
selected by Daniel (x. 6) on account of its trans
parency. An exception may be made perhaps
in regard to the sapphire, in so far as its hue
answers to the deep blue of the firmament (Ex.
xxiv. 10 ; cp. Ezek. i. 26, x. 1), but even in this
case the pellucidity (1133?, omitted in A. V.,
Ex. xxiv. 10; R. V. marg. bright) or polish
•of the stone (cp. Lam. iv. 7) forms an im
portant, if not the main, element in the com
parison. The highest development of colour
in the mind of the Hebrew evidently was
light, and hence the predominance given to
white as its representative (cp. the connexion
between XevKbs and lux). This feeling appears
both in the more numerous allusions to it
than to any other colour — in the variety of
terms by which they discriminated the shades
from a pale, dull tint (HH?, blackish, Lev. xiii.
21 sq.) up to the most brilliant splendour ("int,
Ezek. viii. 2 ; Dan. xii. 3)— and in the comparisons
by which they sought to heighten their ideas of
it, an instance of which occurs in the three
accounts of the Transfiguration, where the
countenance and robes are described as like
'| the sun" and "the light" (Matt. xvii. 2),
•' shining, exceeding white as snow " (Mark ix. 3),

COLOURS
"glistening" (Luke ix. 29). Snow is used
eleven times in a similar way ; the sun five
times ; wool four times ; milk once. In some
instances the point of the comparison is not so
obvious, e.g. in Job xxxviii. 14 " they stand as a
garment," in reference to the white colour of
the Hebrew dress, and in Ps. lxviii. 13, where
the glancing hues of the dove's plumage sug
gested an image of the brilliant effect of the
white holyday costume. Next to white, black, or
rather dark, holds the most prominent place
not only as its opposite, but also as representing
the complexion of the Orientals. There were
various shades of it, including the brown of the
Nile water (whence its name, I'llTE', Sihor) 
the reddish tint of early dawn, to which the
complexion of the bride is likened (Cant. vi. 10)
as well as the lurid hue produced by a flight of
locusts (Joel ii. 2) — and the darkness of black
ness itself (Lam. iv. 8). As before, we have
various heightening images, such as the tents of
Kedar, a flock of goats, the raven (Cant. i. 5,
iv. 1, v. 11), and sackcloth (Rev. vi. 12). Red
was also a colour of which the Hebrews had a
vivid conception : this may be attributed partly
to the prevalence of that colour in the outward
aspect of the countries and peoples with which
they were familiar, as attested by the name
Edom, and by the words adamah (earth) and
adam (man), so termed either as being formed
out of the red earth, or as being red in com
parison with the fair colour of the Assyrians,
and the black of the Aethiopians. Red was
regarded as an element of personal beauty : cp.
1 Sam. xvi. 12 ; Cant. ii. 1, where the lily is the
red one for which Syria was famed (Plin. xxi.
11) ; Cant. iv. 3, vi. 7, where the complexion is
compared to the red fruit of the pomegranate ;
and Lam. iv. 7, where the hue of the skin is
redder than coral (R.V. marg. ; A. V. "rubies "),
contrasting with the white of the garments
before noticed. The three colours — white,
black, and red — were sometimes intermixed in
animals, and gave rise to the terms "VPS,
" dappled " (A. V. " white "), probably white
and red (Judg. v. 10; MV."); IpV, "ring-
straked," either with white bands on the legs,
or white- footed ; 1p3, "speckled;" SOD,
" spotted," white and black ; and lastly *1"I3,
" piebald " (A. V. and R. V. " grisled "), the
spots being larger than in the two former (Gen.
xxx. 32, 35, xxxi. 10) ; the latter term is used
of a horse (Zech. vi. 3, 6) with a symbolical
meaning : Hengstenberg (Christol. in loc.) con
siders the colour itself to be unmeaning, and that
the prophet has added the term strong (so R. V.,
D'VDH ; A. V. " bay ") by way of explanation ;
Orelli (in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. in loco),
on the contrary, is in favour of the opinion that
some colour is intended. It remains for us now
to notice the various terms applied to these three
colours. ,
1. White. The most common term is f37,
which is applied to such objects as milk (Gen.
xlix. 12), manna (Ex. xvi. 31), snow (Is. i. 18),
horses (Zech. i. 8), raiment (Eccles. ix. 8); and a
cognate word expresses the colour of the moon
(Is. xxiv. 23). m, dazzling white, is applied to
the complexion (Cant. v. 10) ; "VlPI, a term of a

COLOURS
later age, to snow (Dan. vii. 9 only), and to the
paleness of shame (Is. xxix. 22, "HIT) ; 3^", to
the hair alone. Another class of terms arises
from the textures of a naturally white colour,
as CK* and ^-lS. These words appear to have
been originally of foreign origin, but were
connected by the Hebrews with roots in their
own language descriptive of a white colour
(Ges. Thesaur. pp. 190, 1384). Thus TO' was
originally Egyptian (schens, cp. Dillmann on
Exod. xxv. 4) ; |*-13 was a later word, and
represents rather the Syrian byssus (see MV.11).
The terms were without doubt primarily applied
to the material ; but the idea of colour is also
prominent, particularly in the description of
the curtains of the Tabernacle (Ex. xxvi. 1) and
ofthe priests' vestments (Ex. xxviii. 6). CC* is
also applied to white marble (Esth. i. 6 ; Cant. v.
15); and a cognate word, H3S'1B', to the lily
(Cant. ii. 16). In addition to these we meet
with "l-in (Bvo-tros, Esth. i. 6, viii. 16), and
DS13 (Kap7rao-os ; A. V. " green," R. V. " cotton,"
Esth. i. 6), also descriptive of white textures.
White was symbolical of innocence : hence the
raiment of Angels (Mark xvi. 5 ; John xx. 12)
and of glorified saints (Rev. xix. 8, 14) is white.
It was also symbolical of joy (Eccles. ix. 8) ; and,
lastly, of victory (Zech. vi. 3 ; Rev. vi. 2). In
the Revelation the term XevKbs is applied ex
clusively to what belongs to Jesus Christ
(Wordsworth's Apoc, p. 105).
2. Black. The shades of this colour are ex
pressed in the terms lilC, applied to the hair
(Lev. xiii. 31; Cant. v. 11); to the complexion
(Cant. i. v.), particularly when affected with
disease (Job xxx. 30) ; and to horses (Zech. vi. 2,
6) : D-in, lit. scorched (tpatos ; A. V. " brown,"
R. V. " black," Gen. xxx. 32), applied to sheep ;
the word expresses the colour produced by the
influence of the sun's rays: Tip, lit. to be dirty,
applied to a complexion blackened by sorrow or
disease (Job xxx. 30) ; to mourner's robes (Jer.
viii. 21, xiv. 2 ; cp. sordidae vestes) ; to a clouded
sky (1 K. xviii. 45) ; to night (Mic. iii. 6 ; Jer. iv.
28 ; Joel ii. 10, iii. 15) ; and to a turbid brook
(whence possibly Kedron), particularly when
rendered so by melted snow (Job vi. 16). Black,
as being the opposite to white, is symbolical of
evil (Zech. vi. 2, 6 ; Rev. vi. 5).
3. Red. ChU is applied to blood (2 K. iii.
22) ; to a garment sprinkled with blood (Is. lxiii.
2) ; to a heifer (Num. xix. 2) ; to pottage made
of lentiles (Gen. xxv. 30); to a horse (Zech. i. 8,
vi. 2); to wine (Prov. xxiii. 31); and to the
complexion (Gen. xxv. 25 ; Cant. v. 10 ; Lam. iv.
7). D1D1X is a slight degree of red, reddish,
and is applied to a leprous spot (Lev. xiii. 19,
xiv. 37). p'"lB', lit. fox-coloured, bay, is applied
to a horse (A". V. "speckled," R. V. "sorrel";
Zech.i. 8), and to a species of vine bearing a purple
grape (Is. v. 2, xvi. 8). The corresponding term
in Greek is irvp'pSs, lit. red as fire. This colour
was symbolical of bloodshed (Zech. vi. 2 ; Rev.
vi. 4, xii. 3).
II. Artificial Colours. The art of ex
tracting dyes, and of applying them to various
textures, appears to have been known at a very
early period. We read of scarlet thread at the

COLOURS

621

time of Zarah's birth (Gen. xxxviii. 28) ; of blue
and purple at the time of the Exodus (Ex. xxvi.
1). There is, however, no evidence to show that
the Jews themselves were at that period ac
quainted with the art: the profession of the-
dyer is not noticed in the Bible, though it is
referred to in the Talmud. They were probably
indebted both to the Egyptians and the Phoe
nicians ; to the latter for the dyes, and to the
former for the mode of applying them. The
purple dyes which they chiefly used were ex
tracted by the Phoenicians (Ezek. xxvii. 16 ; Plin.
ix. 60), and in certain districts of Asia Minor
(Horn. 11. iv. 141), especially Thyatira (Acts xvi.
14). It does not appear that those particular
colours were used in Egypt, the Egyptian colours
being produced from various metallic and earthy
substances (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii. 291, &c.
[1878]). On the other hand, there was a
remarkable similarity in the mode of dyeing
in Egypt and Palestine, inasmuch as the colour
was applied to the raw material, previous to
the processes of spinning and weaving (Ex.
xxxv. 25,' xxxix. 3 ; Wilkinson, ii. 84, 85). The
dyes consisted of purples, light and dark (the
latter being the " blue " of the A. V.), and
crimson ("scarlet," A. V.): vermilion was
introduced at a late period.
1. Purple QtOlltj ; Chaldaic form, K31?"1N,
Dan. v. 7, 16 ; iroptpiipa; purpura). This colour
was obtained from the secretion of a species of
shell-fish (Plin. ix. 60), the Murex trunculus of
Linnaeus, which was found in various parts of
the Mediterranean Sea (hence called rroptpvpa
BaXao-tria, 1 Mace. iv. 23), particularly on the-
coasts of Phoenicia (Strab. xvi. 757), Africa.
(Strab. xvii. 835), Laconia (Hor. Od. ii. 18, 7),
and Asia Minor. The derivation of the Hebrew
name is uncertain : it has been connected
with the Sanscrit ragaman, " tinged with red "
(cp. MV.11), but its occurrence in Assyrian
under the form ar-ga-man-nu (Schrader, KA T.2
p. 155) would seem to make a Semitic derivation
more probable. The colouring matter was
contained in a small vessel in the throat of the
fish ; and as the quantity mounted to only a
single drop in each animal, the value of the dye
was proportionately high : sometimes, however,
the whole fish was crushed (Plin. ix. 60). It is
difficult to state with precision the tint described
under the Hebrew name. The Greek equivalent
was, we know, applied with great latitude, not
only to all colours extracted from the shell-fish,.
but even to other brilliant colours : thus, in John,
xix. 2, ipATiov troptpvpovv = xXa/xbs kokkIvv,
in Matt, xxvii. 28 (cp. Plin. ix. 62). The same
may be said ofthe Latin purpureus. The Hebrew
term seems to bo applied in a similarly broad
sense in Cant. vii. 5, where it either = black (cp.
v. 11), or, possibly, shining with oil. Gene
rally speaking, however, the tint must be con
sidered as having been defined by the distinction
between the purple proper and the other purple
dye (A. V. " blue "), which was produced from
another species of shell-fish. The latter was
undoubtedly a dark violet tint, while the former
had a light reddish tinge. Robes of a purple
colour were worn by kings (Judg. viii. 26), and
by the highest officers, civil and religious ; thus
Mordecai (Esth. viii. 15), Daniel (A. V. " scarlet,"
R. V. "purple," Dan. v. 7, 16, 29), and Androni
cus, the deputy of Antiochus (2 Mace. iv. 38),

622

COLOURS

were invested with purple in token of the offices
they held (cp. Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 8) : so also
Jonathan, as high-priest (1 Mace. x. 20, 64 ; xi.
•58). They were also worn by the wealthy and
luxurious (Jer. x. 9 ; Ezek. xxvii. 7 ; Luke xvi. 19 ;
Rev. xvii. 4, xviii. 16). A similar value was
attached to purple robes both by the Greeks
(Hom. Od. xix. 225 ; Herod, ix. 22 ; Strab. xiv.
648) and by the Romans (Verg. Georg. ii. 495 ;
Hor. Ep. 12, 21; Suet. Caes. 43; Nero, 32).
Of the use of this and the other dyes in the
textures of the Tabernacle, we shall presently

2. Blue (ri73FI ; vdxtvBos, iaKlvBivos, SXo-
ir6ptpvpos, Num. iv. 7 ; hyacinthus, hyacinthinus).
This dye was procured from a species of shell
fish found on the coast of Phoenicia, and called
by the Hebrews Chilzon (Targ. Pseudo-Jon., in
Deut. xxxiii. 19), and by modern naturalists Helix
lanthina. The derivation of the Hebrew name
is uncertain ; in Assyrian the word occurs as ta-
kil-tu (Schrader, KAT.2 p. 155). The tint is best
explained by the statements of Josephus (Ant. iii.
7, § 7) and Philo that it was emblematic of the
sky, in which case it represents not the light
blue of our Northern climate, but the deep dark
hue of the Eastern sky (aepos tie tro'p.poXov vdKiv-
Bos, pieXas yap euros tpiaet, Phil. Opp. i. 536).
The term adopted by the LXX. is applied by
classical writers to a colour approaching to
black (Hom. Od. vi. 231, xxiii. 158 ; Theoc. Id.
10, 28) : the flower, whence the name was bor
rowed, being, as is well known, not the modern
hyacinth, but of a dusky red colour (ferruginous,
Verg. Georg. iv. 183 ; caelestis luminis hyacinthus,
Colum. ix. 4, 4). The A. V. (margin) has rightly
described the tint in Esth. i. 6 as violet; the
ordinary term blue (A.V. and R. V.) is incorrect :
the Lutheran translation — in giving it gelbe Seide
(yellow silk), aud occasionally simply Seide
(Ezek. xxiii. 6) — is still more incorrect. This
colour was used in the same way as purple.
Princes and nobles (Ezek. xxiii. 6 ; Ecclus. xl. 4),
and the idols of Babylon (Jer. a. 9), were clothed
in robes of this tint : the riband and the fringe
of the Hebrew dress were ordered to be of this
colour (Num. xv. 38) : it was used in the ta
pestries of the Persians (Esth. i. 6). The effect
of the colour is well described in Ezek. xxiii. 12,
where such robes are termed 717313 ^37, robes
of perfection, i.e. gorgeous robes.' We niay re
mark, in conclusion, that the LXX. treats" the
term t^nj-l (A. V. " badger," R.V. " sealskin ")
as indicative of colour, and has translated it
iaKlvBivos, ianthinus (Ex. xxv. 5). [Badger.]
3. Scarlet (Crimson, Is. i. 18 ; Jer. iv. 30).
The terms by which this colour is expressed in
Hebrew vary ; sometimes •<}& simply is used, as
in Gen. xxxviii. 28-30 ; sometimes 0£> ni^'lP),
as in Ex. xxv. 4; and sometimes Tll^W simply,
as in Is. i. 18. The word ^013 (probably of
Pers. etymology, see M.V.11; A." V. and R. V-
crimson;" 2 Ch. ii. 7, 14, iii. 14) was intro
duced at a late period, probably from Armenia,
to express the same colour. The first of these
terms (derived from rw, to shine) expresses the
brilliancg of the colour ; the second, T\vb)F\, the

COLOURS
worm, or grub, whence the dye was procured
and which gave name to the colour occasionally
without any addition, just as vermilion is derived
from vermiculus. The LXX. generally renders
it k6kkivov, occasionally with the addition of
such terms as KeKXutrpievov (Ex. xxvi. 1) 0r
Siavev-nap-evov (Ex. xxviii. 8); the Vulgate'has
generally coccinum, occasionally coccus bis tinctus
(Ex. xxviii. 8), apparently following the erroneous
interpretation of Aquila and Symmachus, who
render it BiBatpos, double-dyed (Ex. xxv. 4) as
though from T.if, to repeat. The process of
double-dyeing was, however, peculiar to the
Tyrian purples (Plin. ix. 39). The dye was pro
duced from an insect, somewhat resemblino- the
cochineal, which is found in considerable quanti
ties in Armenia and other Eastern countries. The
Arabian name of the insect is kermez (whence
crimson) : the Linnaean name is Coccus Ilicis.
It frequents the boughs of a species of ilex : on
these it lays its eggs in groups, which become
covered with a kind of down, so that they present
the appearance of vegetable galls or excrescences
from the tree itself, and are described as such
by Pliny, xvi. 12. The dye is procured from the
female grub alone, which, when alive, is about
the size of a kernel of a cherry and of a dark
amaranth colour, but when dead shrivels up to
the size of a grain of wheat, and is covered with
a bluish mould (Parrot's Journey to Ararat,
p. 114). The general character of the colour is
expressed by the Hebrew term f-IDn (Is. lxiii. 1),
lit. sharp, and hence dazzling (compare the
expression xpfya o|i/), and by the Greek Xauirpa
(Luke xxiii. 11), compared with kokkIvii (Matt.
xxvii. 28). The tint produced was crimson rather
than scarlet. The only natural object to which
it is applied iu Scripture is to the lips, which are
compared to a scarlet thread (Cant. iv. 3).
Josephus considered it as symbolical of fire
(Ant. iii. 7, § 7 ; cp. Phil. i. 536). Scarlet threads
were selected as distinguishing marks from their
brilliancy (Gen. xxxviii. 28; Josh. ii. 18, 21);
and hence the colour is expressive of what is
excessive or glaring (Is. i. 18). Scarlet robes
were worn by the luxurious (2 Sam. i. 24;
Prov. xxxi. 21 ; Jer. iv. 30 ; Lam. iv. 5 ; Rev.
xvii. 4, xviii. 12, 16) ; it was also the appropriate
hue of a warrior's dress from its similarity to
blood (Nah. ii. 3 ; cf. Is. ix. 5), and was especially
worn by officers in the Roman army (Plin. xxii.
3 ; Matt, xxvii. 28).
The three colours above described, purple,
blue, and scarlet, together with white, were
employed in the textures used for the curtains
of the Tabernacle and for the sacred vestments
of the priests. The four were used in combina
tion in the outer curtains, the vail, the en
trance-curtain (Ex. xxvi. 1, 31, 36), and the
gate of the court (Ex. xxvii. 16) ; as also in the
high-priest's ephod, girdle, and breast-plate
(Ex. xxviii. 5, 6, 8, 15). The first three, to the
exclusion of white, were used in the pomegranates
about the hem of the high-priest's robe (Ex.
xxviii. 33). The loops of the curtains (Ex. xxvi.
4), the lace of the high-priest's breastplate, the
robe of the ephod, and the lace on his mitre were
exclusively of blue (Ex. xxviii. 28, 31, 37).
Cloths for wrapping the sacred utensils were
either blue (Num. iv. 6), scarlet (v. 8), or purple
(v. 13). Scarlet thread was specified in connexion

COLOURS

COLOSSE

623

with the rites of cleansing the leper (Lev. xiv.
4, 6, 51), and of burning the red heifer (Num.
xix. 6), apparently for the purpose of binding
the hyssop to the cedar wood. The hangings
for the court (Ex. xxvii. 9, xxxviii. 9), the coats,
mitres, bonnets, and breeches of the priests were
white (Ex. xxxix. 27, 28). The application of
1 these colours to the service of the Tabernacle
¦* has led writers both in ancient and modern times
to attach some symbolical meaning to them : re
ference has already been made to the statements
of Philo and Josephus on this subject : the words
of the latter are as follow : t) Bvaffos ttiv yr)v
wnotXT) pM.lv e iv eoiKe, tiia. Tb e| aitTTJs aveiffBai to
Xlvov ?i Te iroptpvpa ttiv BaXatrtrav, Tip Tetpotvix-
Bai tov k6xXov Ttp cupaTt- Tbv tie aepa BoitXeTai
irnXovv b baKivBos- Kai 6 tpoivi^ S' ttv eln
reKpAipiov too irvpos (Ant. iii. 7, § 7). The
subject has been followed up with a great variety
of interpretations, more or less probable. With
out entering on a disquisition upon them, we will
remark that it is unnecessary to assume that the

colours were originally selected with Mich a view ;
their beauty and costliness area sufficient expla
nation of the selection.

4. Vermilion (~\\!

pilXros ; sinopis).

This was a pigment used in fresco paintings,
either for drawing figures of idols on the walls
of temples (Ezek. xxiii. 14), for colouring the idols
themselves (Wisd. xiii. 14), or for decorating
the walls and beams of houses (Jer. xxii. 14).
The Greek term ptiXTos is applied both to minium,
red lead, and rubrica, red ochre : the Latin sinopis
describes the best kind of ochre, which came
from Sinope. Vermilion was a favourite colour
among the Assyrians (Ezek. xxiii. 14), as is still
attested by the sculptures of Nimroud and
Khorsabad (Layard, ii. 303 ; Perrot et Chipiez,
Hist, de I'Art, ii. 291 sq. ; Babelon, Manuel
d' Archiologie Orientale, p. 125 sq. ; Riehm, HWB.
s. v. " Farben "). [W. L. B.] [F.]
COLOS'SE (more properly COLOS'SAE,
KoXoo-aaiJ Westcott and Hort], Col. i. 2. KoA.a<r-

<rai, Colassae, is a form used by the Byzantine
writers, and which perhaps represents the pro
vincial mode of pronouncing the name. On
coins and inscriptions, and in classical writers,
we find KoAotro'ai. See Lightfoot2 in loco, and
Colossians, Epistle to, § 1). A city in the
upper part of the basin of the Maeander, on
one of its affluents named the Lycus. Hierapolis
and Laodicaea were in its immediate neigh
bourhood (Col. ii. 1, iv. 13, 15, 16 ; see Rev.
i. 11, iii. 14). Colossae fell, as these other two
cities rose, in importance. Herodotus (vii. 30)
and Xenophon (Anab. i. 2, § 6) speak of it as
a city of considerable consequence. Strabo
(xii. p. 576) describes it as only a irSXitrpia,
not a itiXis; yet elsewhere (p. 578) he implies
that it had some mercantile importance; and
Plinv, in St. Paul's time, describes it (v. 41)

as one of the " celeberrima oppida '' of its
district. Colossae was situated close to the
great road which led from Ephe=us to the
Euphrates. Hence our impulse would be to
conclude that St. Paul passed this way, and
founded or confirmed the Colossian Church on
his third missionary journey (Acts xviii. 23,
xix. 1). He might also easily have visited
Colossae during the prolonged stay at Ephesus,
which immediately followed. The most com
petent commentators, however, agree in thinking
that Col. ii. 1 proves that St. Paul had never
been there, when the Epistle was written.
Theodoret's argument that he must have visited
Colossae on the journey just referred to, because
he is said to have gone through the whole
region of Phrygia, may be proved fallacious
from geographical considerations : Colossae,

624 COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE

though ethnologically in Phrygia (Herod. 1. c. ;
Xen. I. c), was at this period politically in the
province of Asia (see Rev. I. c). That the
Apostle hoped to visit the place on being
delivered from his Roman imprisonment is
clear from Philemon v. 22 (cp. Philip, ii. 24).
Philemon and his slave Onesimus were dwellers
in Colossae. So also were Archippus and
Epaphras. From Col. i. 7, iv. 12, it has been
naturally concluded that the latter Christian
was the founder of the Colossian church (see
Lightfoot on Col. iv. 12). [Epaphuas.] The
worship of Angels mentioned by the Apostle
(Col. ii. 18; see Lightfoot in loco and reff.)
curiously reappears in Christian times in con
nexion with one of the topographical features
of the place. A church in honour of the Arch
angel Michael was erected at the entrance of
a chasm in consequence of a legend connected
with an inundation (Hartley's Besearches in
Greece, p. 52), and there is good reason for
identifying this chasm with one which is men
tioned by Herodotus. This kind of superstition
is mentioned by Theodoret as subsisting in his
time ; also by the Byzantine writer Nicetas
Choniates, who was a native of this place, and
who says that Colossae and Chonae were the
same. The neighbourhood (visited by Pococke)
was explored by Mr. Arundell (Seven Churches,
p. 158 ; Asia Minor, ii. p. 160) ; but Mr.
Hamilton was the first to determine the actual
site of the ancient city, which is on the left
bank of the Lycus about three miles from the
modern village of Chonas (Researches in A. M.
i. 508 ; Dict. of Gk. and R. Geog., art. " Colos
sae ; " Vaux, Gk. Cities and Islands of Asia Min.
p. 142.) [J. S. H.] [W.]
COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE.
1. Title.— For this Epistle, as for the other
books of the N. T., the rule holds goods that
the simplest form of title is the oldest. There
are however two ways of spelling the name,
KoXoo-ffal and KoXatrtrai, KoXoo-vaeh and Ko-
Xatrtraeh. Of these the first is the older and is
found on coins, &c, as long as the city had a
coinage, i.e. down to the middle of the third
century. The form in a predominates among
later writers. Both forms appear in the
MSS. ; but while there is decisive authority
(N B D E F G L and others) for KoAoo-o-alj in
i. 2 (to?s iv KoXoo-ffais ayiois), there is more
fluctuation in the title of the Epistle. Here
X D E F and Latt. have KoXotrcraeis, while
A B* K and some others give Ko\au-o-aeij. As
combinations with B are found on the whole to be
superior to combinations with N, the latter read
ing seems preferable ; and, on internal grounds, it
is certain that, if KoXoo-o-dis was read in the text,
the title would be assimilated to it. We con
clude therefore that St. Paul wrote "Colossae,"
but that the title which at a very early date
was prefixed to the Epistle was "To the
Colassians." It is probable that " Colassae "
was a vernacular form which only gradually
superseded the more correct usage, but which
prevailed among the classes from which the
Christians of the first two centuries were mostly
taken. For an exhaustive discussion, see Light-
toot Col. p. 17 n. ; comp. Hort, Introd. p. 322.
Lightfoot and Westcott and Hort print nPOS
KOAAZEAEI2 ; Tischendorf, though admitting

the higher authority of tnis spelling, retains
KOAOZZAE IZ out of conformity to i. 2.
2. Authorship.— There does not seem to have
been any doubt in the ancient Church as to the
Pauline authorship of the Epistle; and if the
evidence that has come down to us is something
short of conclusive, it is at least distinctly favour
able to the traditional hypothesis. It is true
that we have to wait until the Muratorian
Fragment (c. 180 a.d.) and Irenaeus (180-190
a.d.) before the Epistle is definitely referred to
by name; but much about the same date we
find it acknowledged by Irenaeus in Gaul by the
Fragment at Rome, by Clement of Alexandria,
and a little later by Tertullian in Africa.
Marcion the Gnostic, who certainly included it
among the ten Epistles which he accepted as
St. Paul's, carries us back at least to a.d. 140
so that there is less reason to lay stress on the
doubtful traces of its use than have been found
in Clement of Rome, Barnabas, and Ignatius.
Justin Martyr and Theophilus of Antioch both
apply to our Lord the phrase itpurdTOKos irda-ns
Krltreus, which in this complete form is probably
a reminiscence of Col. i. 15, and not of Psalm
lxxxix. 28, though an isolated phrase of this
kind might possibly get into oral circulation
without being directly derived from any written
source. It is sufficient to say that as soon as
we find traces of a collection of. St. Paul's
Epistles, the Epistle to the Colossians certainly
had a place among them, and in no quarter of
the ancient world does it appear that this place
was questioned.
The first serious doubts as to the genuineness
of the Epistle date from the second quarter of
the present century, when there was a general
sense of dissatisfaction with the traditional
views of thiugs, and when the critical methods
which had led to marked results in classical
literature came to be applied, with the daring
if also with the extravagance of newly-asserted
freedom, to the books of the N. T. Mayerhoff led
the way (d. Brief an die Kol. mit vomehml
Beriicksicht. d. Pastoralbr. kritisch gepriift,
Berlin, 1838), with objections partly literary,
partly drawn from supposed allusions to Cerin-
thian Gnosticism. These objections were placed
upon a more philosophic basis by Baur and his
Tubingen followers, who saw in the Epistles to
the Colossians and Ephesians a stage in the
process of transition from St. Paul to St. John,
and also in the gradual reconciliation of Jewish
with Gentile Christianity.
It cannot be said that the doubts which were
thus felt were altogether without reason. If
the four great Epistles (1 and 2 Cor., Gal., Rom.)
are taken as the standard of Pauline composition,
the Epistle to Colossians presents a real differ^
ence, both of conception and of style.
(1) Difference of Conception. — Stress is laid
no longer, as in the previous Epistles, so much
upon the method of salvation as upon its Author.
If it would not be true to say that the doctrine
of justification by faith retires into the back
ground (see i. 14, 20, 21; ii. 14), it is at
least not expressed in the old terms (5iKat6ur
Smaiu/ia, tiiKaioaivi) ix TtiffTeus are entirely
wanting), and on the other hand the pre-existence,
exaltation, and true Divinity ofChristarestrongly
emphasized. He is considered less in connexion
with His redeeming work for man than in a high

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
transcendental sphere, as exercising supreme
authority over the world of spirits. There are
many references to Angels, who are classed in an
organised hierarchy. Corresponding to these
incursions into the transcendental region, there
is required on the part of man aotpia rather than
irloris, and the Gospel itself is conceived as a
p.vo-Ti)piov. Besides, language is used which at
first sight seems hardly consistent with the
humility of the Apostle, when he speaks of
himself as "filling up that which is lacking
of the afflictions of Christ."
(2) Difference of Style. — This is felt both in
the general impression left by the Epistle, and
also on examination into the use of particular
words. The sentences are not only long and
"^ftyolved, but heavy and cumbrous in their
movement. There is none of that fiery inter
change of question and answer which was so
characteristic of the earlier group; no rapid
and eager dialectic ; no appeal to the 0. T. ; no
pressing of the antagonist with dilemma after
dilemma ; no sudden and soaring flights of
eloquence. The impetuosity, the quick play
of light and shade, are gone, and in their stead we
have a uniformity which is elevated indeed, but
also rather laboured.
These general characteristics are reflected in
the diction. The particles which give such
rapidity and flexibility of movement to the
earlier Epistles — apa, &pa oZv, S16, Si6ti, ydp —
are either wanting or rare. The catchwords of
Pauline theology, not only the derivatives of
5'iKaios, but a multitude of others — airoKaXotfus,
5oKipA£eiv and its cognates, KavxatrBat and its
cognates, Karapyeiv, Kotvuvia, v6/xos, irtffTeveiv,
awriip, o-ur-npia—sxe absent. Their place is taken
by elaborate compounds, such as alo-xpoXoyia,
avravairXiipovv, tioypiaTi^evBai, iBeXoBprja-Keia,
eipTivorroieiv, ip&aTeveiv, irapriyopia, triBavoXoyla,
•npureveiv, GTepeufia, trvXayuyetv, xelp°'ypa<P0V :
there are thirty-three of these &ra| Xeyipeva in
all. And besides these words that are peculiar
to the Epistle, there are others that are in
frequent in the older group: ten shared only
with the Epistle to the Ephesians, including av-
BpurrdpeffKos, airaXXoTptovo-Bai, aij^no-is, ottp-f],
otpBaXpLotiovXeia ; and others that are rare in St.
Paul's writings, of which the most characteristic
would be airoKpviTTeiv, yevea (in the phrase curb
tuv a'tuvuv Kai cwro tuv yeveuv), otKovopia, trvp.-
BiBd'eiv. Along with these phenomena, however, a dis
passionate criticism could not but detect others
of an opposite character. It was true that there
were both thoughts and expressions that were
wanting in the earlier Epistles, but it was
equally true that there were many others that
were common to those Epistles. The main
lines of doctrine in Romans and Galati.ms were
conspicuous also in Colossians : the idea of
deliverance and reconciliation with God brought
about through the death of Christ, in i. 14, 20,
21, ii. 14; and the idea of death to sin through
union with Christ realised in Baptism, and
followed by the moral veKpuffis which is its
corollary, in ii. 12, iii. 1 sq., 5 sq. The ideas of
o-otpia and iviyvucis had their counterpart in
1 Cor. ii. 6 sq. The condemnation of retrogres-
. sion to the " rudiments of the world " and cere
monial observances was one of the main themes
of the Epistle to the Galatians ; and from the
BIBLB DICT. — VOL. i.

COLOSSIANS, KiTSTLE TO THE 625
same Epistle might be easily paralleled the string
of Christian graces in Col. iii. 12, 13.
And if a part of the vocabulary sounded
novel, much of it also could not tail to be
recognised as distinctly Pauline. No one, for
instance, could read chs. i. 1-8, ii. 6-13, iii.
1-13, or the personal matter in ch. iv., without
a sense of resemblance to the whole style and
manner of St. Paul, too strong to be due to
mere imitation. Still less was it possible to see
any other hand than St. Paul's in that in
comparable little Epistle to Philemon with
which this to Colossians is so intimately
connected. Moved by these considerations, a third group
of critics have tried to mediate between the two
extremes of complete acceptance or complete
rejection. Thus Ewald held that the substance
of the Epistle was St. Paul's, but that its actual
composition was handed over to Timothy.
Weisse and Hitzig had recourse to a theory of
extensive interpolation ; a theory which was
worked out on a most elaborate scale by Dr.
H. J. Holtzmann, well known for his previous
work on the Synoptic Gospels, in his Kritik d.
Epheser- und Kolosserbricfe, Leipzig, 1872. Dr.
Holtzmann maintains the presence in the Epistle
of a genuine nucleus, which he believes to have
been interpolated by the author of the (spurious)
Epistle to the Ephesians. It cannot be said that
this view has met, or is likely to meet, with
much favour iu England ; but as it is based on a
very close examination of the facts by a writer
of great acumen, and as the hypothesis may
possibly serve other purposes besides that for
which it was intended, it may be worth while
to indicate briefly the kind of outline that
was assumed for the genuine Epistle. It was
supposed to contain, roughly speaking, i. 1—5,
6 a, 7, 8, 9 a, a few words of 10, 13, a few
words of 19 aud 20, rather more of 21, 22, 23,
the greater part of 25 and 29 ; chap, ii., 1,
beginning of 2, greater part of 4, 5, 6, 7 b,
greater part of 8, some words of 9, 11, greater
part of 12, 13 and 14,16, 18 b, 20, 21, 22a, 23 b;
chap, iii., 3, 12, 13, 17 ; chap, iv., greater part
of 2-5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, much of 12, 13, 14, 18.
More recently a very friendly critic, Von
Soden, in the Jahrb. f. protestant. Theol. for 1885
(p. 320 sq. ; p. 497 sq. ; p. 672 sq.), after a care
ful examination ofthe passages which Holtzmann
regards as interpolations, has reduced them to.
much smaller dimensions, rejecting only i. 15-
20, ii. 10, 15, 18 b, as not the work of the-
Apostle. Von Soden's defence of the incrimi
nated passages is worthy of all praise : the only
wonder is that, having gone so far in re-vindicat
ing these for St. Paul, he should stop short just
where he does." To draw a dividing line here it
is necessary to strain out gnats with a very fine
strainer indeed. The points of contact with
admittedly Pauline teaching are so many, and
the extensions of this which are involved so
slight, that natural development and change of
circumstances are quite enough to account for
» Pfleiderer aptly points out the inconsistency of
separating passages which so closely resemble each
other as i. 19 (regarded aa not genuine) and ii. 9 (re
garded as genuine), ii. 10 and 15 (not genuine), ii. 14
(genuine), ii. 18 (not genuine), ii. 23 (genuine), &c.
(Urchristenthum, p. 683 n.) 2 S

626 COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
them. On the other hand, such limited inter
polation loses its raison d'etre. It is not even
attempted to show that it had any clear
polemical purpose ; and if it had, that purpose
would not have been served at all effectively.
Yet a larger theory, such as Holtzmann's, is
¦open to still more serious objections. The true
answer to this is the detailed discussion, which
is excellently conducted by Von Soden, of the
passages rejected as spurious, together with the
detailed testing of the reconstructed genuine
Epistle. It was not difficult to show that
this left abruptnesses and awkwardnesses of
style and construction, quite as great as any
supposed incoherence in the present text of the
Epistle. But besides these detailed inquiries
one or two general remarks may be made.
(1.) There ought to be a clearer understanding
as to the nature of the disproof of genuineness
both in thought and in expression. It is not
a sound method to take certain standard docu
ments and to say all that cannot be paralleled
out of these documents is interpolation. It
is not to be supposed that a writer of so much
originality as St. Paul would simply go on
writing in a circle and repeating himself. The
standard documents themselves have their an-a|
Xey6p.eva ; and aira£ Xey6p.ep.a are to be ex
pected, especially with a difference of subject.
The onus probandi certainly lies on the side of
the critic, whose duty it is, as Von Soden
rightly urges, not " to leave nothing but what
is undoubtedly Pauline," but rather "to remove
nothing but what is decidedly un-Pauline."
There is a broad distinction between these two
positions — a distinction which really covers the
greater part of the matter in dispute. Holtz
mann's criteria are altogether too narrow.
•(2.) A further point, which Holtzmann does not
seem to have fully considered, is the nature of
the relation which his theory presupposes
between Colossians and Ephesians. In any case
that relation raises ii question about which we
shall have something to say presently. If both
Epistles proceed from St. Paul, the resemblance
ibetween them has an obvious cause. But on
Holtzmann's theory this is what we have : —
Into one letter (Colossians) the interpolator has
introduced a clause here and a paragraph there ;
yet he also feels competent to write another
letter (Ephesians) from the very beginning to
complete his work. We should not have been
so much surprised if the second letter had taken
a new line and had dealt with new problems ;
but it is modelled upon the Colossian letter
throughout : they are twin Epistles, with the
closest likeness to each other. What strange
parsimony and what strange prodigality of
labour! Surely it would have been easy to
make one letter do duty for both. A little
¦more interpolation in Colossians, a. few addi
tional touches in Ephesians, would have been all
that was wanted. (3.) There is yet a third
point which, both here and elsewhere, ought to
he borne in mind more fully than it has been.
It must be granted in the abstract that the
interpolation of ecclesiastical writings is a pos
sibility. The Sibylline books, 4 Esdras, the
longer Ignatian letters, the working up of the
Didache in the Apostolic Constitutions, Cyprian's
treatise De Unitate Ecclesiae, are instances
that readily occur to us. It must be con-

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
ceded, too, that even within the limits of the
N. T. interpolations are possible. The pericope
adulterae and the moving of the waters in St.
John, the last twelve verses of St. Mark, the
eunuch's confession in the Acts, the phenomena of
the later chapters of St. Luke, the apocryphal
additions scattered throughout the Codex Bezae
and its allies, the shifting place of the Doxology
in Romans, are al) examples in point. But the
very existence of these analogies shows us that
we must proceed carefully. We must not argue
as if any and every document was upon the same
footing : documents which rest on some one or
two MSS., the oldest perhaps of the tenth
century, and documents supported by MSS.,
Versions, and Fathers, the archetypes of which,
if not the actual parchments, take us almost to
the very threshold of the apostolic age. Dis
crimination is called for; and each class of
books must be judged upon its own merits. In
the case of the Historical Books it is not un
reasonable to extend to one place a process
which is seen from the MSS. in actual operation
at another ; but in the case of the Epistles there
are no true analogies for dogmatic interpolation
of the kind required by the hypotheses of Holtz
mann and Von Soden. The phenomena referred
to in the Epistle to the Romans are quite
different. Such hypotheses therefore can only
be received with extreme caution.
We have then to choose between a direct
negative and a direct affirmative of St. Paul's
authorship, and of these alternatives there can
be little hesitation in preferring the latter. The
differences from the earlier Epistles can be far
more easily accounted for on this hypothesis
than the essentially Pauline character of the
Epistle on the other. A change of circumstances,
acting on the singularly impressible character
of St. Paul, will explain all that needs expla
nation. The Epistles of the third missionary
journey were written at a time of great excite
ment. They were wrung from the Apostle in
the heat of his conflict with enemies on the
right hand and enemies ou the left. They bear
marks of high tension, of keen susceptibilities
strongly roused. They betray not only a mental
but a physical restlessness. " When I came to
Troas ... I had no relief for my spirit, because
I found not Titus my brother : but taking my
leave of them, I went forth into Macedonia."
All this accords well with the vehement, impul
sive, intensely personal tone of 2 Corinthians
and Galatians, and the surge and swell of
emotion had not subsided — it was only subsiding
— in Romans.
The Epistles of the imprisonment were written
under very different conditions. They were
written, in a period of forced inaction, to Churches
at a distance, one a Church which St. Paul had
never seen. The problems with which the
Apostle had to deal were in part apparently
new problems. He met them with the fruits
of his own reflection, a quiet and steady develop
ment of thought, and not with the weapons of
a dialectic hammered out under the stress of
fierce personal controversy. But even here, m
an Epistle like Philippians, the old leaven breaks
out, and the old vehemence of style is more
than once resumed. Few writers have had a
range and variety of style equal to St. Paul s,
and there are few in whom the different phases

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
glide and pass into each other by more gradual
and subtle transitions. If 2 Thessalonians leads
on to Corinthians, and Galatians to Romans,
then no less does Romans lead on to Philippians,
and Philippians to Ephesians and Colossians.
We shall see more fully how the peculiar
element in this last Epistle is to be accounted
for when we come to speak of the Colossian
heresy and St. Paul's treatment of it.
Besides these considerations, it is possible that
some reserve ought to be made in favour of
such a theory as that put forward by Ewald.
We do not know in what proportions St. Paul
shared the work of composition with his amanu
enses, and it is, to say the least, conceivable
that more was left in these Epistles to Timothy
than in the case of Romans to Tertius, or in the
case of 1 Corinthians to Sosthenes. The argu
ments of Meyer (E. T., p. 247 sq.) against this
supposition do not seem to be conclusive. It
must, however, be confessed that we are drawing
upon pure conjecture, where we can neither
affirm nor deny with confidence. All we can
say is that, if there is room in the unknown
circumstances for other possibilities, there is
room also for this, and it remains as an indefinite
factor in the question. [For further remarks
on the style of the Epistle and its relation to
Ephesians, see below.]
3. Date and Place. — It is certain that the
three Epistles — to Ephesians, Colossians, and
Philemon — were all written about the same
time and from the same place. They are con
nected together by a series of personal notices.
(1.) Ephesians and Colossians both had the same
bearer — Tychicus, and in both he was charged
with the same commission, conveyed in almost
identical terms (Ephes. vi. 21, 22 = Col. iv. 7, 8).
There is « further connexion, if Dr. Lightfoot
and others are right in supposing that the
" Epistle from Laodicea " mentioned in Col. iv.
16 is really our " Ephesians." This view goes
upon the assumption that the Epistle known to
us by that name was originally a circular letter
addressed to the Churches of Asia, of which
Laodicea would be one. In that case it would
appear that St. Paul desired the Colossians to
acquaint themselves with the contents of the
circular letter as well as with that specially
addressed to themselves. The identification of
the " Epistle from Laodicea " with Ephesians is
of course conjectural, nor can it claim to be as
yet generally accepted, but as a hypothesis it
appears to give a simple and harmonious expla
nation of the facts, and so to possess as much
probability as in the absence of direct attestation
can be expected [see Ephesians, Epistle to
the]. (2.) The links that connect Colossians
with Philemon are, if not closer, at least more
numerous. Here Timothy is joined with St.
Paul in the address of both Epistles. Onesimus,
who is the subject of the Epistle to Philemon, is
the companion of Tychicus, who is to deliver that
to Colossae (Col. iv. 9). Greetings are sent in
both Epistles from the same persons — Aristar-
chus, Mark, Epaphras, Luke, Demas (Col. iv.
10, 12, 14=Philem. vo. 23, 24). A special mes
sage is sent to Archippus in Philem. v. 2 ; and
from Col. iv. 17 we gather that he held an
official position in the Church at Colossae, or
perhaps, as has been inferred from the context
in which his name occurs, at Laodicea.

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE 627
Putting all these various notices together, we
conclude -that St. Paul wrote and despatched
three letters at the same time — a general letter
to the leading Churches of Proconsular Asia
(Ephesians), a letter addressed more directly to
the particular circumstances of the Church at
Colossae (Colossians), and a private letter dealing
with the concerns of a single individual (Phile
mon). What was the time in question ? At what
period in St. Paul's life do these three letters
fall ? The answer to this question depends upon
a further point — the determination of the place
from which they were written. We know that
they were written during one of St. Paul's im
prisonments (Col. iv. 3, 18 ; Philem. 1, 10, 13),
and the choice lies between the two years during
which he was detained at Caesarea (Acts xxiv.
27), or the similar period in which he was a
prisoner at Rome (Acts xxviii. 30). Meyer and
some others contend for the earlier of these two
dates (Ephesians, E. T., pp. 18-21 ; Colossians,
E. T., p. 241 sq.), but the arguments adduced are
small and inconclusive, aud it must be confessed
that those upon the other side are hardly
stronger. The real turning point in the dis
cussion is the relation of these Epistles to
the Epistle to Philippians, which Meyer himself
admits was probably written from Rome. If,
therefore, as we believe, the three Epistles were
written after Philippians, it follows that they
too are a product of the Roman imprisonment,
and they would then fall about the year 62.
This view of the place and date of their com
position is that of by far the majority of critics
and commentators. The more detailed examina
tion of it belongs rather to the article on the
Epistle to the Philippians: see also Ephe
sians, Epistle to the.
4. Persons addressed.- — -A full account of
Colossae and the Colossians has been given in
the preceding article : what we have to con
sider here is, what special circumstances in the
condition of the Colossian Church induced St.
Paul to write to it this Epistle ? The Church
of Colossae had been founded by Epaphras, and
Epaphras was now in the company of St. Paul
at Rome. What brought him there we do not
know, and the guesses that have been made on
the subject are incapable of verification. The
news that he brought of the state of his Church
was on the whole good (Col. i. 3-8), but at the
same time there was some reason for anxiety. A
leaven of false teaching was at work which
St. Paul was afraid might spread, and to guard
against it he sends an earnest warning. In the
character of this false teaching lies the main
problem presented by the Epistle.
It was twofold in its nature, at once practical
and speculative. (1) On the practical side its
tendency was towards asceticism and punctilious
observance of ceremonial rules. It involved
abstinence from meats and .drinks (ii. 16), and
unsparing rigour in the treatment of the body
(ii. 23). Along with this went a scrupulous
attention to the sacred seasons — festivals, sab
baths, new moons (ii. 16). From the stress
which St. Paul lays upon spiritual circumcision
(ii. 11), we gather that literal circumcision was
also practised. All these things St. Paul classes
together as aToixeia tov k6o-/wv (ii. 8), i.e. not
as a majority of the ancients and some moderns
2 S 2

628 COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
have supposed, " the heavenly bodies " as regu
lating the seasons, but crude material rudimen
tary methods which have been superseded by the
higher Christian law of " faith." (2) On the
speculative side the most distinctive feature in
the Colossian heresy was the prominence which
it gave to Angels. Worship was offered to them
(ii. 18) ; aud as we may infer from the emphatic
language in which St. Paul excludes any such
notion, they were regarded as the principal
agents in creation (i. 15), the prerogatives of
Christ were claimed for them (i. 15 ; ii. 10, 15),
the Divine pleroma, or sum ofthe attributes of
Godhead, was supposed in some way to be dif
fused among them.
It is natural to ask, What is the heresy thus
described? Is it possible to give it a single
name, or are we to suppose that there were
several distinct tendencies in the Colossian
Church at the same time ? The tenor of St.
Paul's reply certainly favours the conclusion
that there was but a single heresy. He treats
of its different aspects in the same paragraph
(ii. 16-23), and even in the same sentence : for
what is kept distinct, in vv. 16, 18 is combined
under one view in v. 23. Nor is there anything
incompatible in the union of ascetic cere
monialism with angelolatry : a similar union
was common enough in the later Gnostic sects.
But if this is so, the inquiry may be still
further narrowed. The observance of " sabbaths
and new moons" could only be Jewish, so that
for the other features which went with this we
must also seek a Jewish origin. But if we are
to look in the direction of Judaism, it is not
unnatural that attention should have been
drawn especially to the sect of the Essenes. In
Essenism we find a combination of features wrhich
presents some marked similarities to that which
existed at Colossae. The Essenes seem to have
been vegetarians;13 they avoided wine; they
were scrupulous to an extreme in the keeping
of the Sabbath ; they had some esoteric teaching
in regard to Angels. The parallel, however, does
not perhaps extend so far as is sometimes
assumed. Our knowledge of Essenism is in
many respects very imperfect — too imperfect to
allow us to feel sure of our ground in comparing
it with the Colossian heresy. This heresy con
tained a large element of cosmogonic specula
tion : in ascribing a similar element to Essenism
we are depending upon a single sentence in a
disputed treatise of Philo (Quod omnis probus
liber, § 12), and at best we have no means of
knowing how far the two coincided. Much
would turn upon the degree of probability that
the key-word TXt)pup.a had, as Bp. Lightfoot
thinks (Col. p. 328), a Palestinian origin. If
there is no instance of it in Philo, we may
» The vegetarianism and water-drinking of the Essenes
are described by Lucius and Schurer (Neutestamentliche
Zeitgeschichte, ii. p. 478, ed. 2) ; see, however, Bp. Light-
foot's note, Col. p. 86 : the evidence is perhaps not quite
conclusive, but the parallels seem to make it probable
that the iv d-yyeiov e£ ei/bs e5e'o>aTos of Josephus, B. J.
ii. $ viii. 6, meant vegetables. In this connexion it should
be mentioned that the Philonic treatise Quod omnis
probus liber, besides earlier attacks, lias recently had
regular siege laid against it by Ohle, Die Essiier des
Philo, Leipzig, 1887, and by Ausfeld, De libro mrpl toO
navTO. tnrovSaiov e?i*at eXevOepov, Gottingen, 1887 ; cp.
Harnack in Theol. Literaturzeitung, 1887, col. 493 sq.

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
equally doubt whether there is any instance in
the apocryphal or pseudepigraphic literature
which had its birth in Palestine. Again, all we
are told about the Essene angelology is that the
members of the sect were not "to reveal the
names of the Angels." This was probablv con
nected with the magic which the Essenes seem to-
have practised, and hardly amounts to the
Bp-no-Keia tuv ayyeXuv prevalent at Colossae
(Col. ii. 18). On the other hand, there are a
number of essential features in Essenism for
which there is no evidence of any counterpart
in the Colossian Church. Perhaps we ouo-ht
not to include among these the elaborate lustra
tions, as they might be taken to be covered by
the straining which is apparent after ceremonial
purity. But the reverence, if not worship, paid
to the sun, was a point that St. Paul could
hardly have failed to notice. Tliere is an equal
silence as to the quasi-monastic mode of life
which the Essenes adopted, as to the formidable
process of initiation which they had to go
through, and the obligation of secrecy which
they imposed upon their disciples. The doc
trines current at Colossae would seem to have
been rather matters of common notoriety. Add
to this that, though the Essenes were certainly
strict in the observance of the Sabbath, their
tenets would not favour the observance of the
other festivals, as they avoided the Temple and
its rites. And there is besides the initial diffi
culty that Palestine was the proper home ofthe
Essenes : their principal community was by the
Dead Sea; and Syria was the utmost limit
assigned to their distribution.
It is therefore by no means without cause
that, while a majority of commentators find
Essenic affinities in the false teaching at
Colossae, the best among them (e.g. Lightfoot,
p. 94 sq. ; Klopper, p. 92 sq.) are careful to define
that, in speaking of " the Judaism in the Colos
sian Church as Essene," they "do not assume a
precise identity of origin, but only an essential
affinity of type with the Essenes of the mother
country." In view of what has just been urged
it may be questioned whether even this is not
going too far. Points of contact there are
certainly, but "an essential affinity of type" is
something different. In any case there is no
direct affiliation. The truth seems to be that
like causes were producing like effects in many
parts of the East, and through the East even in
the West. We happen to know rather more
about the Essenes, but there must have been
many similar manifestations of which we have
no such direct record. Not to lay stress on the
Therapeutae, our sole account of whom is
impugned, though it has not wanted strenuous
defenders (e.g. Dr. Edersheim in Diet, of Christ.
Biog. iv. p. 368 sq.), many phenomena akin to
those of Essenism (libations, repudiation of
sacrifice, prayers before meat, but not denial of
the resurrection of the body) are found in
Book iv. of the Sibylline Oracles, which is-
ascribed to Asia Minor and to a date e. 80 A.D. ;
vegetarianism is found even in Rome (Hom. xiv.
2, &c.) ; and it is well known what a prominent
part is played by Angels in a number of apocry
phal and pseudepigraphic writings and in Rab
binical literature. All these are not so much
directly connected as distinct and independent
products of a common tendency. In the first

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
century of the Christian era men's minds were
intent upon the coming revelation. They
caught eagerly at the asceticism, at the cere
monial purifications, and at the theories of
mediatorial agencies between God and man in
which the East was so prolific. The ground was
everywhere prepared ; and just as within less
than a generation Gnosticism itself was rife at
one and the same time in Proconsular Asia, in
Samaria, and in Syria, so now the germs of
Gnostic Judaism were sprouting on the banks of
the Lycus as well as by the Dead Sea.
5. Character and Contents of the Epistle. — St.
Paul gives no uncertain answer to the problems
which this insidious " philosophy " forced upon
him. Its representatives as yet were few (ris,
ii. 8, 16 ; puntieh, ii. 4, 18), but they were no
less dangerous. Alike their method and their
doctrine were utterly wroug. In doctrine they
gave to Angels what was due solely to Christ.
The remedy was to be sought in truer views
about Him. He alone was the incarnation of
Divinity ; He alone was the Agent in creation ;
He alone existed before the worlds ; the Angels
themselves were created by Him ; He was their
Head ; over the powers of the Evil One He had
triumphed in what seemed to be His humilia
tion. Let the Colossians be loyal to Him, and
not be deluded by any specious pretensions of
superior reverence ; it was no true reverence
(though it might seem so) to place inferior
beings between man and God. Equally ill-
judged were the means which they were being
persuaded to adopt for moral reformation. As
ceticism and ceremonialism belonged to a past
state of things. They had been superseded by
methods far more potent. In his Baptism the
Christian threw himself unreservedly on Christ ;
he died with Christ to sin ; he is quickened by
Christ with a new life ; his sins are forgiven ;
he looks up to that heavenly abode to which
Christ is gone, and the thought of heaven in
spires him while on earth ; he is a member of
one vast organism which lives and moves and
has its being in Christ. Whichever way it is
regarded, Christ is all in all ; He is the sum of
all speculation ; He is at once the source and the
goal of all Christian practice. To " hold the
Head " was what the false teachers failed to do,
and "holding the Head" the Colossians would
need nothing more.
Such would seem to be the main lines of the
argument of the Epistle to the Colossians. The
following may be taken as an analysis of the
Epistle.
I. INTRODUCTORY.
(1) Apostolic salutation (i. 1, 2).
(2) Thanksgiving for the faith and love shown
by the Colossians since their conversion
by Epaphras (i. 3-8).
(3) Prayer for their growth in knowledge,
Christian activity, and constancy, as
heirs of Christ's kingdom (i. 9-13).
II. Dogmatic (Positive).
Christ the Saviour and Head (i. 14-19),
of Angels as well as of men (vv. 20-23).
(1) Christ our Redeemer (i. 14).
(2) Christ and Creation, prior to it and sove
reign over it ; its Cause at once effi
cient and final (i. 15-17).
(3) Christ and the Church, its Head in virtue

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE 629
of His Resurrection and as embodying
the Divine pleroma (i. 18, 19).
(4) Christ, the Author of salvation as well
for Angels as for men, by His recon
ciling death (i. 20-22 a), in which sal
vation the Colossians will share if they
are true to the faith (i. 22 b, 23).
III. Pastoral.
(1) The mystery (of Christ's revelation to the
Gentiles) which St. Paul is commis
sioned to preach (i. 24-29).
(2) His anxiety for the Churches which ho
has not visited (ii. 1-5).
(3) Exhortation to the Culossians to continue
as they had begun (ii. 6, 7).
IV. Dogmatic (Negative) or Polemical.
(1) Warning against that false philosophy
which sought salvation through mun
dane agencies and not through Christ
(ii. 8).
(2) Preliminary assertion of true doctrine
and true method (ii. 9-15).
a. Christ the sole Incarnation of
Deity (ii. 9), to Whom all tho
hierarchy of spirits is subordi
nate (ii. 10).
6. Union with Him begins in Bap
tism, the Christian's circum
cision, in which he dies with
Christ and is raised to a new
life with Him (ii. 11-13). In
it he receives that forgiveness
which Christ won for him on
the Cross, triumphing over all
the powers of evil (ii. 13-15)
[so that bad and good spirits
alike are subject to Him].
(3) Direct condemnation of false doctrine and
false method (ii. 16-23).
ct. Punctiliousness as to food and
seasons belongs to a past dis
pensation, the mere shadow of
Christianity (ii. 16, 17).
6. The domineering visionaries who
would force upon the Colossians
a submissive Angel-worship, cut
themselves loose from Christ,
Who alone gives to the organic
structure strength and cohesion
(ii. 18, 19).
c. All such things are a retrogres
sion to one who has died with
Christ, whether (a) rules of
diet and ceremonial cleanness,
or (8) that pretentious and
affected humility which is no
real check on self-indulgence
(ii. 20-23).
V. Practical and Hortatory.
(1) True elevation to be sought through
union with the risen Christ (iii. 1^1).
(2) The necrosis of all evil passions and prac
tices implied in the change from hea
thenism to the Church Universal (iii.
5-11).
(3) Exhortation to assume Christian virtues
and graces (iii. 12-17).
(4) Special duties (iii. 18 — iv. 1) :
a. Of wives and husbands (iii. 18,
19).

630 COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE

6. Of children and fathers (iii. 20,
21).
c. Of slaves and masters (iii. 22 —
iv. 1).
(5) Prayer (a) enjoined on all, (B) requested
by St. Paul for himself (iv. 2-4).
(6) Christian conduct towards the outer
world (iv. 5, 6).
VI. Personal Matter.
(1) The bearer Tychicus and his commission
(iv. 7, 8) ; Onesimus (iv. 9).
(2) Salutations from Aristarchus, Mark, and
Jesus Justus (iv. 10, 11), from Epa
phras (iv. 12, 13), from Luke aud
Demas (iv. 14).
(3) Salutations and instructions to the Church
at Laodicea (iv. 15, 16), with a special
message for Archippus (iv. 17).
(4) Autograph valediction (iv. 18).
Style. — In looking back over the Epistle as a
whole, without reference to critical controversy
or statistics of verbal usage, the sense of unity
in style with the rest of St. Paul's writings
increases in force. The practical and personal
parts are entirely in his manner, and so too are
those in which he expresses his pastoral solicitude
for the group of Churches to which he is writing.
Little less characteristic is his trenchant
polemic against a novel kind of false teaching.
And if in the accumulative method of his own
doctrinal exposition, in which clause is piled
upon clause charged with weighty dogmatic
meaning, we miss something of the old fervid
outbursts and rapid changes of front, yet they
show a masterly grip of first principles, and a
firm enunciation of them which few indeed could
imitate. We are apt to forget how much
fervour and energy of style are a matter not
merely of temperament, but of passing moods
and of physical condition. A high-strung
nature like St. Paul's, rich in emotional sen
sibility, and liable to extremes of elation and
depression, must have been especially open to
such influences. One simple cause seems enough
to account for any difference between the group
of Epistles written after the tumult at Ephesus
and the so-called Epistles of the Imprisonment
—a cause implied in the very name of the later
group — the change from the free exciting varied
life, stimulated to intensity by struggles without
and anxieties within, to a state of monotonous
and compulsory inaction. Allowing for this, we
seem to have sufficient explanation of that small
proportion of the facts which needs explaining.
Relation to Ephesians. — In regard to style the
Epistle to the Colossians presents a close parallel
to the contemporary Epistle to the Ephesians.
But the resemblance between the two Epistles
goes beyond any general features of this kind. In
many places the identity both of thought aud of
language is such as to make the one Epistle
almost a duplicate of the other. The fuller
exhibition of this identity must be reserved for
the article on Ephesians. For the present we
must content ourselves with a few general
remarks on the peculiar literary relation in
volved. The problem is not quite the same
as that which is raised by the Synoptic Gospels
aud the two Epistles, 2 St. Peter and St. Jude :
for we have here not two writers copying each
other, but a single writer repeating himself. In

the case of St. Paul, however, we are in a
measure prepared for the relation which is
found to exist by the marked resemblance, often
amounting to verbal identity, between others of
his Epistles, e.g. between Galatians and Romans
or Romans and Philippians. No doubt the
resemblance is not there so sustained, but there
was also not the same reason why it should be.
The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians
were written at the same time, despatched by
the same messenger, and addressed to Churches
of the same locality. Still, according to our
modern notions, we have not reached an ade
quate explanation of the degree of resemblance
by which we are confronted. The mistake lies
in attempting to apply those notions to a state
of things to which they are not applicable. The
subsequent Christian literature shows how ex
tremely common it was for one writer to tran
scribe bodily from auother any passage that
struck him as appropriate to the subject in
hand. And if this was so as regards others,
much more would a writer consider himself at
liberty to borrow from compositions of his own.
No fastidious literary canons stood in the way.
On the contrary, there was the strongest induce
ment to adopt this course. The Apostles were
none of them practised in the arts of composi
tion. It was true that St. Paul had received as
good an education as his time and country could
offer. But it was characteristic of that educa-,
tion that it was essentially oral : writing was
regarded as a thing to be avoided. Talmud
and Targum had either not been set down in
writing at all, or the little that had been
written was kept secret, for private use rather
than public. When therefore St. Paul found
himself compelled to correspond with the
Churches that he had founded, it must have
beeu u matter of much difficulty and effort to
him, which was only overcome by his intense
earnestness and fulness of soul. "My heart was
hot within me, and while I was thus musing
the fire kindled ; aud at the last I spake with
tongue," would well describe the process by
which his thoughts found expression. Nor was
it merely a common difficulty. The thoughts
were new thoughts, for which a new language
had to be provided. And this language again
had to be shaped into sentences, and accom
modated to the laws of grammar and rhetoric.
It was at best a painful task. And we can well
conceive how, having once succeeded in express
ing his meaning, the Apostle would gladly fall
back on this expression. It was not poverty of
mind — far from it — but only a natural expedient
to relieve an unwonted strain. No one can be
more grandly eloquent than St. Paul, and when
his eloquence is at the flood it sweeps away all
dams and barriers ; but just because it is so
spontaneous, his eloquence does not always flow
with equal volume, and then the restraints
make themselves felt, and the stream is turned
into easier channels.
Text. — As in all cases where the language of
one book is parallel to that of another, the text
of the Epistle to the Colossians has suffered much
from assimilation. And it is a striking testi
mony to the excellence of Cod. B that it is
singularly free from this influence. A good
example may be seen in the parallel passages
Ephes. v. 19, Col. iii. 16.

COLOSSIANS, EPISTLE TO THE
Ephes. v. 19. Eeceived Col. iii. 16. Received
Text. Text.
\aAovires eaurois \paX- roufleTouvTes eaVToiis i//a\-
fioiy Kai v/jlvois Kai 1080.1$ pois Kai iiupois Kai iiiSais
irvevfLtLTiKaAS tf&ovTeq Kai n-feuua-rcKais, iv x**PtTt
i|faAAovT6s ev Tn KapSia ^5oit«s ev 7$ Kapfiia v^Htv
iipuiv tw Kvpta). toj Kvpiq).
Probably correct Text as Probably correct Text as
given in B. given in B.
AoAouires eaurots ev w>u#eroGrr« eaurous t^aA-
iia.VoK Kai vfivott; Kai /xois vjupols wfiats TrvEu^La-
uSats <f^0VTe5 Kai \pdX- rucats ev T7J x*PtTt ?Soin-€S
Aon-es Tfl KapSia viuav ey rats Kapfc'ai? 1X11' to?
TO KvptW. 0tuj,
See Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 313 sq. Westcott
and Hort rather unexpectedly omit iv before
'paXp.ols (cp. 1 Cor. ii. 13), and insert irvev-
paTiKoiis in the text of Ephesians.
This, however, is not the only cause of
corruption. Dr. Hort goes so far as to say that
the Epistle, "and more especially its second
chapter, appears to have been ill-preserved in
ancient times." Accordingly it has presented a
favourite field for conjectural emendations. The
most famous is perhaps Dr. C. Taylor's aepa
KevepiBaTevaiv for a i6paKev ipBaTevuv. Others
may be seen collected in Van Manen, Conjec-
turaal-Kritiek toegepast op d. Tekst van de
Schriften d. N. T., pp. 313-316, or in the similar
work of Van de Sonde Bakhuyzen, Over de
toepassing van de Conjecturaal-Kritiek op d.
Tekst d. N. T., pp. 278-280.
The Epistle is found, generally speaking, in
the same MSS. and Versions as the rest of
St. Paul's Epistles. For the Latin Versions the
evidence is scanty. No portion of the Epistle is
contained in either the Wolfenbiittel (gue),
Gottweig (r3), or Freising (r, r^) Fragments.
But quotations from the Latin Fathers, especially
for the dogmatic portions, are abundant.
6. Literature. — A full and carefully-prepared
list of Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles in
general, and on the Epistle to Colossians in
particular, is given in the English translation of
Meyer's Commentary, Romans, pp. xviii.-xxix. ;
Colossians, pp. vii.-xi. Of the ancient commen
taries (not reckoning fragments or portions
preserved in catenae) the most important would
be the following : in Greek, Chrysostom, Homiliae
in Epist. ad Coloss. ed. Field, Oxon. 1855, trans.
by Ashworth in the Library of the Fathers,
vol. xiv., Oxford, 1843 ; Theodore of Mopsuestia,
Commentary extant in a Latin translation,
Theodori Episc. Mopsuest. in Epist. B. Pauli
Comment, vol. i. ed. Swete, Cambridge, 1880;
Theodoret, Opera, ed. Migne, torn. Ixxx.-lxxxv. :
in Latin, the commentator commonly called
Ambrosiaster (whose identity is still an un
solved enigma : see Marold in Zeitschrift f. wiss.
Theol. 1884, p. 415 sq.), whose works are bound
up with those of Ambrose, ed. Ballerini, torn, iii.,
Milan, 1877 ; Pelagius, printed among the works
of Jerome, ed. Vallarsi, torn, xi., ed. Migne,
torn. xxx. From the Middle Ages we have the
compilations of Oecumenius, ed. Migne, torn.
cxviii., cxix., and of Theophylact, torn, exxiii-
exxvi. ; to which must now be added Euthymius
Zigabenus, ed. Kalogeras, Athens, 1887. In
modern times, to select a few of the most
prominent, we have in Germany, besides the
well-known commentaries of De Wette, Ewald,
Lange, Meyer, the elaborate critical work of
Holtzmann mentioned above, and an able but

COMING OP CHRIST

631

rather prolix commentary by KlSpper, Der
Brief an die Colosser kritisch uutersucht, &c,
Berlin, 1882. The last few years have seen
several additions of importance to the literature
on the Epistle. First came the elaborate
articles 'by Von Soden of which an account has
been given. Holtzmann in his Einleitung (Frei
burg i. B., 1885) states fairly both sides of the
problem, but appears to be conscious that his
own theory has not been found very convincing.
Weiss in his similar work (Berlin, 1886) rejects
the interpolation-hypothesis altogether, and de
fends the genuineness of the Epistle. Weizsiicker,
on the other hand, in his survey of the Apostolic-
age (Freiburg i. B., 1886), pronounces against
this, but, able scholar as he is, he shows the weak
place in his Teutonic armour, by the suggestion
that the Epistle to Philemon is an allegory
turning round the significance of the name
Onesimus! Pfleiderer (Urchristenthum, p. 683 ;
Berlin, 1887) is inclined to have recourse to the
same piece of modern Alexandrianism : he leaves
it an open question whether any part of the
Epistle is genuine. The chief value of his
treatment of the Epistle consists in his clear
definition of the points of difference between it
and the undoubted Epistles. The best and most
complete of English commentaries is doubtless
that by Bishop Lightfoot, which may, however,
be usefully supplemented on the side of close
grammatical exegesis by the Commentary of
Bishop Ellicott. The editions in the Speaker's
Commentary (Bishop of Derry), in Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers (Dr. Barry),
and in Schafifs Popular Commentary (Prof. M. B.
Riddle), all appeal to a wider public. [W. Sy.]
COME BY. " We had much work to come
by the boat " (Acts xxvii. 16). The words
irepiKpaToh yeveaBat are rendered by R. V. " to
secure." Lumby (Glossary of Bibl. Words, s. n.)
quotes from Earle's Microcosmog. — " He is loth
to come by promotion so dear." [F.]
COMFORTER. See Spirit, Holy.
COMING OF CHRIST. In the prophecies
of the Old Testament no distinction is indicated!
between a first coming of Christ in humility
and a second coming in glory. This distinction,.
however, became from an early time one of the-
most familiar points of Christian doctrine, and
the conflict of the early Church both with
Judaism and Gnosticism must have served to-
emphasize it. Note the inclusion of " the
comings " (plur.) iu the enumeration of funda
mental articles of Christian faith in Irenaeus;
(Adv. Haer. i. 2, Greek text). We of later days
have our attention mainly occupied with the his
torical Christ, the Redemption already wrought,
the preparation of the world for, and the fulfil
ment of prophecy in, His first Advent. The
mind and heart of the Church of the first age,
on the other hand, were turned almost more
towards the future. In the New Testament the
" Coming of Christ " commonly denotes the
future coming, without the need for any epithet
such as "second" (Matt. xxiv. 3, 27, 37,39-
1 Cor. xv. 23 ; 1 Thess. ii. 19, iii. 13, iv. 15,
v. 23 ; 2 Thess. ii. 1,8; Jas. v. 7, 8 ; 2 Pet. i.
16 [probably], iii. 4, 12; 1 John ii. 28. The
following passages may also be compared : 1 Cor.
i. 7 ; 2 Thess. i. 7 ; 1 Pet. i. 7, iv. 13 ; 1 Tim. vi.

632

COMMERCE

14 ; 2 Tim. iv. 1, 8 ; Tit. ii. 13) ; and, while the
fact that the Christ has already come is of course
constantly in mind, the phrase "the coming of
Christ" is very rarely used of that first Advent.
The following seem to be the only instances: —
Acts vii. 52, xiii. 24 (where it is to be noted
that the Greek words employed are eXevtris and
eXcrotios, and not one ofthose used for the Second
Advent), 2 Tim. i. 10, which is especially inter
esting from the fact that the Apostle seems to
intend to compare the two " appearings " (cp.
vv. 10 and 12).
The manner of the return of Christ, as con
ceived among Christians universally from the
first, was such as could properly belong only to
a Divine Being. The descriptions of it in the
Synoptic Gospels recall the imagery of Daniel vii.
The title "the Son of man" is used, and He is
to " come with the clouds of heaven " (Matt.
xxiv. 30 ; xxvi. 64, &c.) The same title is not
used in the Epistles, but we find it in the
mouth of St. James the Just, as it is interesting
to observe, in the account of his martyrdom
given by Hegesippus (Fragm. ap. Euseb. H. E.
ii. 23). The favourite terms for describing the
Coming of Christ in the Epistles convey the idea
of its mysteriousness and majesty. They are :
irapoitria, translated coming (very general in the
Fjpistles, and occurring also in St. Matthew) ; t)
i)pepa 'I. X., t. Kvp. &c, the day of J. ft, of the
Lord, and even simply r) r)p.epa, tlie day (1 Cor.
iii. 13 ; and cp. Rom. xiii. 12) ; airoKdXvipis,
revelation ; iiriepdveia, translated appearing (pe
culiar to the Pastoral Epistles, except 2 Thess.
ii. 8, where it is combined with irapoiio-ia) ; and
lastlv the verb tpavepovaBat, " to be made mani
fest '"' (Col. iii. 4 ; 1 Pet. v. 4 ; 1 John ii. 28,
iii. 2, &c).
The first generation or two of Christians
looked for a very speedy return of Christ.
Evidence of this faith is to be found in the New
Testament (1 Cor. vii. 29, 31 ; xvi. 22 [Maran-
atha] ; Phil. iv. 5 ; Heb. x. 25, 37 ; James v. 9 ;
1 Peter iv. 5, 7). With this expectation are to
be contrasted many remarkable parables and
sayings of our Lord Himself, in which He indi
cates a work to be done before His coming
which could only be slow and gradual (e.g.
Matt. xiii. 31-33; Acts i. 8). The disciples,
especially in early days, desired signs like the
Jews, by which they might know the approach
of the end, and in part they were gratified
(Matt, xxiv., Mark xiii., Luke xxi.).
For the Millennium, Judgment, and other
points connected with the Coming of Christ,
and the relation of Christian language on these
subjects to that in tho Old Testament and in
Jewish Apocalyptic and Rabbinic literature,
see Eschatology. [V. II. S.]
COMMERCE. I. rnhp, Gesen. p. 946 ; ip.-
iropla ; negotiatio ; from ""HID, a merchant, from
"inp, trai-el, Ezek. xxvii. 15 ; A. V., merchandise,
¦traffic. 2. iT?3"l, Gesen. p. 1289 ; Ezek. xxvi. 12,
to. virdpxovTa ; negotiationes ; in xxviii. 5, 16,
18, ipiropia, negotiatio, from ?2~\, travel.
From the time that men began to live in <
cities, trade, in some shape, must have been
carried on to supply the town-dwellers with
necessaries (see Heeren, Afr. Nat. i. 462), but

COMMERCE
it is also clear that international trade must
have existed and affected to some extent even the
pastoral nomad races, for we find that Abra
ham was rich, not only in cattle, but in silver
gold, and gold and silver plate and ornaments
(Gen. xiii. 2 ; xxiv. 22, 53) ; and further, that
gold and silver in a manufactured state, and
silver, not improbably in coin, were in use both
among the settled inhabitants of Palestine and
the pastoral tribes of Syria at that date (Gen.
xx. 16, xxiii. 16, xxxviii. 18; Job xiii. 11), to
whom those metals must in all probability have
been imported from other countries (Hussey
Ane. Weights, t. xii. 3, p. 193; Kitto, Phys
Hist, of Pal., pp. 109, 110 ; Herod, i. 215).
Among trading nations mentioned in Scrip
ture, Egypt holds in very early times a pro
minent position, though her external trade
was carried on, not by her own citizens, but
by foreigners, chiefly of the nomad races (Hee
ren, Afr. Nat. i. 468, ii. 371, 372). It was an
lshmaelite caravan, laden with spices, which
carried Joseph into Egypt, and the account
shows that slaves formed sometimes a part of
the merchandise imported (Gen. xxxvii. 25,
xxxix. 1 ; Job vi. 19). From Egypt it is likelv '
that at all times, but especially in times of
general scarcity, corn would bo exported, which
was paid for by the non-exporting nations in
silver, which was always weighed (Gen. xii. 57 ;
xiii. 3, 25, 35 ; xliii. 1*1, 12, 21). These cara
vans also brought the precious stones as well
as the spices of India into Egypt (Ex. xxv. 3, 7 ;
Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii. 235, 237 [1878]).
Intercourse with Tyre does not appear to have
taken place till a later period, and thus, though
it cannot be determined whether the purple in
which the Egyptian woollen and linen cloths
were dyed was brought by land from Phoenicia,
it is certain that coloured cloths had long been
made and dyed in Egypt ; and the use, at least,
of them adopted by the Hebrews for the Taber
nacle as early as the time of Moses (Ex. xxv. 4,
5 ; Heeren, Asiat. Nat. i. 352 ; Herod, i. 1).
The pasture-ground of Shechem appears from
the story of Joseph to have lain in the way of
these caravan journeys (Gen. xxxvii. 14, 25;
Saalschutz, Hebr. Arch. 15, 1. 159).
It is clear that at the same period trade
was carried on between Babylon and the Syrian
cities, and also that gold and silver ornaments
were common among the Syrian and Arabian
races ; a trade which was obviously carried on
by land-carriage (Num. xxxi. 50 ; Josh. vii. 21 ;
Judg. v. 30, viii. 24; Job vi. 19).
Until the time of Solomon the Hebrew nation
may be said to have had no foreign trade.
Foreign trade was indeed contemplated by the
Law, and strict rules for morality iu commercial
dealings were laid down by it (Deut. xxviii. 12,
xxv. 13-16; Lev. xix. 35j 36), and the tribes
near the sea and the Phoenician territory
appear to have engaged to some extent in
maritime affairs (Gen. xlix. 13 ; Deut. xxxiii.
18 ; Judg. v. 17), but the spirit of the Law
was more in favour of agriculture and against
foreign trade (Deut. xvii. 16, 17 ; Lev. xxv. ;
Joseph, c. Apion. i. 12). Solomon, however,
organised an extensive trade with foreign
countries, but chiefly, at least so far as the
more distant nations were concerned, of an
import character. He imported linen yarn,

COMMERCE
horses, and chariots from Egypt. Of the horses
some appear to have been resold to Syrian and
Canaanite princes. For all these he paid in
gold, which was imported by sea from India
and Arabia by his fleets, built under his own
orders, but manned chiefly by Phoenicians
(Heeren, As. Nat. i. 334 ; 1 K. ix. 26, 27, -\.
22-29; Ges. p. 1202). It was by Phoenicians
also that the cedar and other timber for his
great architectural works was brought by sea
to Joppa, whilst Solomon found the provisions
necessary for the workmen in Mount Lebanon
(1 K. v. 6, 9 ; 2 Ch. ii. 16).
The fleets used to sail into the Indian Ocean
every three years from Elath and Ezion-geber,
ports on the Aelanitic gulf of the Red Sea,
which David had probably gained from Edom,
and brought back gold, silver, ivory, sandal
wood, ebony, precious stones, apes, and pea
cocks. Some of these may have come from
India and Ceylon, and some from the coasts of
the Persian Gulf and the E. coast of Africa
(2 Sam. viii. 14; IK. ix. 26, x. 11, 22 ; 2 Ch.
viii. 17; Herod, iii. 114; Livingstone, Travels,
pp. 637, 662).
But the trade which Solomon took so much
pains to encourage was not a maritime trade
only. He built, or more probably fortified,
Baalbec and Palmyra; the latter at least ex
pressly as a caravan station for the land-com
merce with Eastern and South-eastern Asia (1 K.
ix. 18).
After his death the maritime trade declined,
and an attempt made by Jehoshaphat to revive
it proved unsuccessful (1 K. xxii. 48, 49).
[Tarshish ; Ophir.] We know, however, that
Phoenicia was supplied from Judaea with wheat,
honey, oil, and balm (1 K. v. 11 ; Ezek. xxvii.
17 ; Acts xii. 20 ; Joseph. B. J. ii. 21, § 2 ; Vit.
13), whilst Tyrian dealers brought fish and
other merchandise to Jerusalem at the time of
the return from the Captivity (Neh. xiii. 16), as
well as timber for the rebuilding of the Temple,
which then, as in Solomon's time, was brought
by sea to Joppa (Ezra iii. 7). Oil was exported
to Egypt (Hos. xii. 1), and fine linen and orna
mental girdles of domestic manufacture were
sold to the merchants (Prov. xxxi. 24).
The successive invasions to which Palestine
was subjected, involving both large abstraction
of treasure by invaders and heavy imposts on
the inhabitants to purchase immunity or to
satisfy demands for tribute, must have im
poverished the country from time to time
(under Rehoboam, 1 K. xiv. 26 ; Asa, xv. 18 ;
Joash, 2 li. xii. 18 ; Amaziah, xiv. 13 ; Ahaz,
xvi. 8; Hezekiah, xviii. 15, 16; Jehoahaz and
Jehoiakim, xxiii. 33, 35 ; Jehoiaehin, xxiv. 13),
but it is also clear, as the denunciations of the
Prophets bear witness, that much wealth must
somewhere have existed in the country, and
much foreign merchandise have been imported ;
so much so that, in the language of Ezekiel,
Jerusalem appears as the rival of Tyre, and
through its port, Joppa, lo have carried on
trade with foreign countries (Is. ii. 6, 16, iii.
11, 23; Hos. xii. 7 ; Ezek. xxvi. 2; Jonah i. 3;
Heeren, ^is. Nat. i. p. -328).
Under the Maccabees Joppa was fortified
(1 Mace. xiv. 34), and later still Caesarea was
built and made a port by Herod (Joseph. Ant.
iv. 9, § 6; Acts xii. 19, xviii. 22). Joppa

CONCUBINE

633

became afterwards a haunt for piratos, and was
taken by Cestius; afterwards by Vespasian, and
destroyed bv him (Stnib. xvi. p. 759 ; Joseph.
B. J. ii. 18, '§ 10, iii. 9, § 1). There can bo no
doubt that in former limes the soil of Palestine
yielded much more produce than is now the case,
and so we find that during the 1st century a.d.
Tyre and Sidon depended for supplies of pro
visions upon the kiugdom of Herod Agrippa
(Acts xii. 20).
The internal trade ofthe Jews, as well as the
external, was much promoted, as was the case
also in Egypt, by tho festivals, which brought
large numbers of persons to Jerusalem, and
caused great outlay in victims for sacrifices and
iu incense (1 K. viii. 63 ; Heeren, Afr. Nat. ii.
363). The traders in Inter times were allowed to
intrude into the Temple, in the outer courts of
which victims were publicly sold for the sacri
fices (Zech. xiv. 21 ; Matt. xxi. 12; John ii. 14).
The places of public market were then, as
now, chiefly the open spaces near the gates, to
which goods were brought for sale by those who
came from the outside (Neh. xiii. 15, 16 ; Zeph.
i. 10). In the matter of buying and selling great
stress is laid by the Law on fairness in dealing.
Just weights and balances are stringently
ordered (Lev. xix. 35, 36 ; Deut. xxv. 13-16).
Kidnapping slaves is forbidden under the
severest penalty (Ex. xxi. 16 ; Deut. xxiv. 7).
Trade in swine was forbidden by the Jewish
doctors (Surenhus. Mischn. Seder Nezikin, c. 7,
vol. iv. 60; Lightfoot, H. H. on Matt. viii. 33 ;
Winer, Handel; Saalschiitz, Arch. Hebr. c. 15,
16). [H. W. P.]
COMPASS. The A. V. " fetch a compass "
(2 Sam. v. 23 ; 2 K. iii. 9 ; Acts xxviii. 13) is
rendered by R. V. " make a circuit," i.e. to go
round about. [F.]
CONANI'AH (}iT33i3 [Keri, ed. Baer],
Jehovah hath established ; BA*. Xuvevias ;
A.? Xuxwias ; Chonenias), one of the chiefs
(D<*|£>) (if the Levites in the time of Josiah
(2 Ch. xxxv. 9). The same name as Cononiaii.
CONCISION, a word used by St. Paul
(Philip, iii. 2, Karcn-o^) to describe the circum
cision to which the Juuaizers at Philippi would
contemptuously compel the Gentile converts.
"This circumcision which they vaunt, is in
Christ only as the gashings and mutilations of
the idolatrous heathen " (Lightfoot in loco).
Such play of words (KaraTou-i), irepiTopii)) as
is here implied is characteristic of St. Paul (see
Lightfoot and Speaker's Comm. in loco). [F ]
CONCUBINE. BO^B appears to have
been included under the general conjugal sense
of the word ilE^M, which in its limited sense is
rendered " wife." The positions of these two
among the early Jews cannot be referred to the
standard of our own age and country ; that of
concubine being less degraded, as that of wife
was, especially owing to the sanction of poly
gamy, less honourable than among ourselves.
The natural desire of offspring was, in the Jew,
consecrated into a religious hope, which tended
to redeem concubinage from the debasement into

634

CONCUBINE

which the grosser motives for its adoption
might have brought it. The whole question
must be viewed from the point which touches
the interests of propagation, in virtue of which
even a slave concubine who had many children
would become a most important person in a
family, especially where a wife was barren.
Such was the true source of the concubinage of
Nahor, Abraham, and Jacob, which indeed, in
the two latter cases, lost the nature which it
has in our eyes, through the process, analogous
to adoption, by which the offspring was regarded
as that of the wife herself. From all this it
follows that, save in so far as the concubine was
generally a slave, the difference between wife
and concubine was less marked, owing to the
absence of moral stigma, than among us.
Keturah, spoken of in Gen. xxv. 1 as a " wife,"
appears in 1 Ch. i. 32 as a concubine (cp. Gen.
xxv. 6). We must therefore beware of regard
ing as essential to the relation of concubinage,
what really pertained to that of bondage.
The concubine's condition was a definite one,
and quite independent of the fact of there being
another woman or women having the rights of
wife towards the same man. The difference
probably lay in the absence of the right of
the libellus divortii, without which the wife
could not be repudiated, and in some particu
lars of treatment and consideration of which
we are ignorant ; also in her condition and
rights on the death of her lord, rather than in
the absence of nuptial ceremonies and dowry,
which were non-essential ; yet it is so probable
that these last did not pertain to the concubine,
that the assertion of the Gemara (Hierosol.
Chetuboth, v.) to that effect, though contro
verted, may be received. The doctrine that a,
concubine also could not be dismissed without a
formal divorce is of later origin — not that such
dismissals were more frequent, probably, than
those of wives — and negatived by the silence of
Ex. xxi. and Deut. xxi. regarding it. From this
it seems to follow that a concubine could not
become a wife to the same man, nor vice versa,
unless in the improbable case of a wife divorced
returning as a concubine, which, however, seems
against the law of Deut. xxiv. 3, 4. With regard
to the children of wife and those of concubine,
there was no such difference as our illegitimacy
implies ; the latter were a supplementary
family to the former, their names occur in the
patriarchal genealogies (Gen. xxii. 24 ; 1 Ch. i.
32), and their position and provision, save in the
case of defect of those former (in which case
they might probably succeed to landed estate or
other chief heritage), would depend on the
father's will (Gen. xxv. 6). The state of con
cubinage is assumed and provided for by the
Law of Moses. A concubine would generally be
either (1) a Hebrew girl bought of her father,
i.e. a slave, whicli alone the Rabbis regard as a
lawful connexion (Maimon. Halach-Melakim, iv.),
at least for a private person ; (2), a Gentile
captive taken in war; (3), a foreign slave
bought, or (4) a Canaanitish woman, bond or
free. The rights of (1) aud (2) were protected
by law (Ex. xxi. 7 ; Deut. xxi. 10), but (3) was
unrecognised, although enjoying the authority
of the precedent of Hagar, and (4) prohibited.
Iree Hebrew women also might become con
cubines. So Gideon's concubine seems to have

CONDUIT
been of a family of rank and influence in
Shechem, and such was probably the state of
the Levite's concubine (Judg. viii. 29 ; ix. 1-3 -
xx.). The ravages of war among the male sex
or the impoverishment of families, might often
induce this condition. The case (1) was not a
hard lot. The passage in Ex. xxi. is somewhat
obscure, and seems to mean, in brief, as follows : 
A man who bought a Hebrew girl as concubine
for himself might not treat her as a mere
Hebrew slave, to be sent " out " (i.e. in the
seventh year, v. 2), but might, if she displeased
him, dismiss her to her father on redemption i.e.
repayment probably of a part of what he paid
for her. If he had taken her for a concubine
for his son, and the son then married another
woman, the concubine's position and rights were
secured, or, if she were refused these, she be
came free without redemption. Further, from
the provision in the case of such a concubine
given by a man to his son, that she should be
dealt with " after the manner of daughters," we
see that the servile merged in the connubial
relation, and that her children must have been
free. Yet some degree of contempt attached to
the " handmaid's son " (rH3N"|3), a term applied
reproachfully to the son of a concubine merely
in Judg. ix. 18; see also Ps. cxvi. 16. The
provisions relating to (2) are merciful and con
siderate to a rare degree, but overlaid by the
Rabbis with distorting comments. In PSBA.
viii. p. 20 sq. is given in French a contract of
marriage from a papyrus of the 27th year of
King Psammetichus, on which M. Revillout, the
translator, remarks : — " I] ne s'agit la que d'un
manage servile analogue a celui qu'on connait les
juifs, et dont la minute par toutes ses formules
rentre plutot encore dans le titre legal de
I'esclavage que dans celui de mariage."
In the Books of Samuel and Kings the concu
bines mentioned belong to the king, and their
condition and number cease to be a guide to the
general practice. In particular, royal concu
bines, from Saul's (Rizpah) inclusively, seem to
have belonged to the class (4) above, although
prohibited [Eliam, Rizpah]. A new king
stepped into the rights of his predecessor, and
by Solomon's time the custom had approximated
to that of a Persian harem (2 Sam. xii. 8, xvi.
21 ; IK. ii. 22). To seize on royal concubines
for his use was thus an usurper's first act. Such
was probably the intent of Abner's act (2 Sam.
iii. 7), and the request on behalf of Adonijah
was similarly construed (1 K. ii. 21-24). For
fuller information Selden's treatises de llxorc
Hebraed and de Jure Natur. et Gent. v. 7, 8, and
especially that de Successionibus, cap. iii., may
with some caution (since he leans somewhat
easily to rabbinical tradition) be consulted ; also
the treatises Sotah, Kidushim, and Chetuboth in
the Gemara Hierosol., and that entitled Sanhe
drin in the Gemara Babyl. The essential por
tions of all these are collected in Ugolini, vol.
xxx. de Uxore Hebraed. [H. H.]
CONDUIT (rbvfi ; iopayuyds ; aquaeductus;
a trench or watercourse, from TVV, to ascend,
Gesen. p. 1022).
1. Although no notice is given either in
Scripture or by Josephus of any connexion
between the pools of Solomon beyond Bethlehem

CONDUIT

CONEY

635

and a supply of water for Jerusalem, it seems
unlikely that so large a work as the pools
would be constructed merely for irrigating his
gardens (Eccles. ii. 6) ; and tradition, both oral
and as represented by Talmudical writers,
ascribes to Solomon the formation of the original
aqueduct by which water was brought to
Jerusalem (Maundrell, Early Trav. p. 458 ;
Hasselquist, Trav. p. 146 ; Lightfoot, Descr.
Tempi, c. xxiii. vol. i. 612 ; Robinson, i. 265). As
originally constructed, this aqueduct consisted
of a well-shaped channel of masonry lined with
cement on the sides and bottom ; and, though
mnch injured and not usually serviceable for
water beyond Bethlehem, it still exists and con
veys the water from the sources which supply
the pools about two miles S. of Bethlehem.
It then passes from the pools in a N.E. direc
tion, aud, winding round the hill of Bethlehem
on the S. side, is carried sometimes above and
sometimes below the surface of the ground,
partly in earthen pipes and partly in a channel
about one foot square of rough stones laid in
cement, till it approaches Jerusalem. There it
crosses the valley of Hinnom at the S.W. side
of the city on a bridge of nine low arches, at a
point above the pool called birket-es-Sidtdn ;
then returns S.E. and E. along the side of the
valley and under the wall, and, continuing its
course along the east side and being carried
over the causeway and arch called " Wilson's
Arch," terminates in the reservoir beneath the
Haram enclosure (Recovery of Jerus. pp. 23, 24).
It was repaired by Sultan Mohammad Ibn-
Kalauu of Egypt about A.D. 1300 (Williams,
Holy City, ii. 498 ; Raumer, Pal. p. 280 ; Robin
son, i. 265-267, 345, 347, 476, iii. 247).
2. Pontius Pilate, to the great indignation of
the Jews, applied the sacred treasure of the
Corban to the work of bringing water by an
aqueduct from a distance, which in one place
Josephus states to have been 400, but in
another 200, stadia from Jerusalem. This
application of the treasure gave occasion
to a serious disturbance (Joseph. Ant. xviii.
3, § 2 ; B. J. ii. 9, § 4). This aqueduct is pro
bably the same as that still existing which
takes its beginning in the Wddy Arrub, and,
passing not far from Tekoa, finally delivers
its water into the aqueduct of Solomon. Its
total length will thus amount to not less than
thirty miles, and not differ greatly from a mean
between the two distances given by Josephus
(PEFQy. Stat, 1875, p. 71 ; Becovery of Jerus.
p. 24). Dr. Barclay, however, thought that the
aqueduct of Pilate was on the N. side of the city
(City of Great King, p. 316).
3. Another watercourse derives its supply
from a place called the " well of steps," Bir ed-
Durragee, in the Wady el-Biyar, whence the
water is conveyed by a tunnel between three
and four miles in length, into which shafts are
sunk at intervals from the surface above.
Emerging from this tunnel, it follows the side
of the hill for about 1800 feet, and is then
carried by another tunnel 1700 feet in length,
also connected with the ground above by shafts,
of which one is 115 feet in depth. Receiving in
its course a supply of water from the " sealed
fountain," it reaches the Pools of Solomon, the
uppermost of which it circumvents, but is
then lost, having been probably destroyed by

invaders ; it reappears at a point above Rachel's
tomb, and is carried across the valley by a
syphon formed of perforated stone blocks set in
rough masonry. Another portion is visible
beyond Mar Elyas, near the plain of Rephaim ;
but though the place at which it entered Jeru
salem is not known, it must have been at a point
higher than No. 2, and may have been connected
with the Tower of Hippicus, and also with the
palaces on Mount Zion mentioned by Josephus.
It may also have supplied the watercourse of
which a portion exists near the Russian Convent,
and others of which portions exist within the
city. The whole work is one exhibiting in its
remaining portions a very high degree of engi
neering skill (Joseph. Ant. xx. §§ 8, 11 ; B. J. ii.
17, § 9, v. 7, § 3 ; Robinson, iii. 273 ; Barclay,
p. 319 ; Sir C. Wilson, Water Supply of Jei-us.
pp. 32, 33, 58, 62 ; Recovery of Jerus. pp. 23-52).
4. There is also a very remarkable water
course conveying water from the so-called
Virgin's Pool, Birket Sitti Maryam, almost the
only natural spring near Jerusalem on the E.
side of the city, by a. tunnel cut in the rock
1708 feet in length, to the Pool of Siloam. An
inscription in Phoenician characters, lately dis
covered, appears to carry back the construction
of this work to a period not later than that of
Solomon (PEFQy. Stat, 1881, pp. 141, 154, 155,
157 ; Robinson, i. 337, 340) or Hezekiah (Driver,
Notes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of Sam.
Introd. pp. xv. xvi.).
5. Among the works of Hezekiah, he is said
(1) to have " made a pool and a conduit, and
brought water -into the city"; (2) to have
" stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and
brought it straight down to the W. side of the
city of David " (2 K. xx. 20 ; 2 Ch. xxxii. 4, 30 ;
see also Is. xxii. 11, and Ecclus. xlviii. 16). It
is perhaps this aqueduct of which a large por
tion was discovered in digging the foundations
for the English Church at Jerusalem, running
in a direction E. and W. (Robinson, i. 327,
346, iii. 243, 244 ; PEFQy. Stat, 1875, p. 131).
[Gihon ; Jerusalem.] [H. W. P.]
CONEY (|B£? ; tiao-inrous, x0LP°yp'u^^t0^T
v. I. Xayu6v ; Choerogryllus, herinaceus, lepus-
culus) ; a gregarious animal of the class Pachy-
dermata, which is found in Palestine, living in
the caves and clefts of the rocks, and which has
been erroneously identified with the Rabbit or
Coney. Its scientific name is Hyrax syriacus. The
JBE' is mentioned four times in the O. T. In
Lev. xi. 5 and in Deut. xiv. 7 it is declared to
be unclean, because it chews the cud, but does not
divide the hoof. In Ps. civ. 18 we are told
" the rocks are a refuge for the conies," and in
Prov. xxx. 26 that " the conies are but a feeble
folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks."
The Hyrax satisfies exactly the expressions in
the last two passages ; and its being reckoned
among the ruminating animals is no difficulty,
the hare being also erroneously placed by the
sacred writers in the same class, because the
action of its jaws resembles that of the rumihat-
inganimals. TheArabs call the JB^.jJ., wabr;
but among the Southern Arabs we find the term
•> i
^a>, thofun = shaphan (Fresnel in Asiatic

636

CONEY

Journ. June 1838, p. 514). The Amharic name
is aschkoko, under which name the Hyrax is
¦described by Bruce, who also gives a figure of
it, and mentions the fact that the Arabs also
called it Jj^\-uj\ jj J^-, " sheep of the
children of Israel." The derivation of JSt? from
the unused root, |BB', "to hide," chiefly in the
earth, is obvious.

Hyrax ayriacua. (From a specimen in the Pritisb Mujenm.)
The Hyrax or Coney is one of a group which
stands isolated and peculiar among Mammalia.
Il is neither ruminant nor rodent, but is placed
by systematists among the Ungulata, near the
Rhinoceros ; order Pachydermata ; family Hyra-
cidae. It is a peculiarly African form, and is
found throughout the Sinaitic Peninsula gene
rally ; it is not uncommon on the hills on both
sides ofthe Dead Sea, and is scarcer throughout
the rest of the country, but becomes rare in
Galilee. I have seen it near the Ladder of Tyre,
and iu the gorge of the Leontes, as well as in
the rocky wadys near the lake of Galilee. We
have no authority for its present existence in
Lebanon, though it was formerly recorded from
thence, and probably still lingers there. In
Galilee it is known by the peasants not as J«,
wabr, but as .... t W tubsun, the name they also
give to the ichneumon. It is represented by a
closely allied species (Hyrax abyssinicus) in Abys
sinia, and by another rather larger (Hyrax
capensis) in South Africa. Several varieties of
the former species are found in Eastern Africa ;
but the present species is the only one beyond
Africa, nor is it known to extend further into
Arabia or Western Asia.
In its timid, cautious habits and defenceless
character, referred to in Scripture, it is very
like the rabbit, but is scarcely so large. It has
a round head, short round ears, and a tail so
short that it can scarcely be detected at all.
It is marked by a yellow dorsal spot on its
otherwise uniformly tawny fur, out of which a
few long black hairs stand out all over its body.
Its incisor teeth are prominent, chisel-shaped,
exactly like those of the hippopotamus. It has
no claws, but the four toes of its fore feet
and the three of its hind feet are furnished with
nails or hoofs, like those of the river monster.
Its diet is herbivorous, and it lives exclusively
among the rocks in wadys, as Solomon describes
it, not generally burrowing, but utilising fis
sures in the cliffs, where it has its inaccessible
home, coming forth to feed only at sunset and
dawn. It, is not strictly gregarious, but there
are generally several in close neighbourhood ;
and when feeding, a sentry is placed on some
commanding outpost, who gives warning of
approaching danger by a short squeaking bark,

CONFIRMATION
when the company instantly disappear. I have
watched the coney in various parts of the coun
try, but very rarely saw it out of its hole
during the day, though occasionally I have
detected it even at noon, sitting and working
its jaws, as though chewing the cud. I have
found a nest of dried grass and fur, in which
four young were buried like those of a mouse.
Though forbidden to the Jews, the coney's flesh
is eateu by the Arabs. We found it somewhat
like that of the hare, quite dark, but rather
dry and hard.
The late Rev. F. W. Holland, the intrepid ex
plorer of the Sinaitic desert, writes : " Though
I several times saw single conies in Sinai, I only
twice came upon any large number together.
Once, when crossing a mountain pass, I was
startled by a shrill scream near me, but could
see nothing. On my return in the evening, I
approached the place cautiously, and saw eight
conies out, playing like rabbits. I watched
them for some minutes before they saw me. At
length one caught sight of me, and immediately
uttered its scream, and all at once rushed to
their holes. On another occasion I saw about
twelve out feeding at a different spot, but on
neither occasion did I see any appointed guard.
They had runs like rabbits, leading some little
distance from their holes." [H. B. T.]
CONFECTION (" after the art of the
apothecary "), a compound (Lat. confectio) made
up by an apothecary (see quotation from Lily's
Euphues in Lumby's Glossary of Bibl. Words,
in Eyre and Spottiswoode's Teachers' Bible). The
word occurs in Ex. xxxv. 35, and is replaced in
the R. V. by " perfume (after the art of the
perfumer "). [f.]
CONFIRMATION.
I. Tlie Title, p. 636.
II. N. T. Records of Confirmation, p. 636.
III. The Gift of Confirmation, p. 637.
IV. Subsidiary References to Confirmation-Doc
trine, p. 640.
V. Subsidiary References to the Administration
of Confirmation, p. 641.
VI. Literature, p. 642.
I. The Title.— The name Confirmation itself
is not found in Holy Scripture, though it is
suggested by 2 Cor. i. 21, where the expression
b BeBaiuv rgias, " He which stablisheth [or, con
firms] us." may perhaps refer to the rite. In
early Church literature there are traces of the
word with some added qualification, as t!> pipov
BeBaiua-ts ttjs 6p.oXoytas (Apost. Const, iii. 17) ;
but as an absolute title, without any explanatory
clause, it gained general currency somewhat
late, and then only in the West. It is, however,
a convenient name to use because of its fami
liarity to English ears, and the Bible itself pro
vides no single word which can take its place.
II. N. T. Records of Confirmation.— There are
onlv two express narratives of its actual ad
ministration. The first is among the early acts
of the Christian Church. When St. Philip had
baptized the converts at Samaria, the Apostles
" sent unto them Peter and John : who, when
they were come down, prayed for them, that
they might receive the Holy Ghost: (for as yet
he was fallen upon none of them: only they
were baptized in the name of the Lord Jew*-)
Then laid they their hands on them, and they

CONFIRMATION
received the Holy Ghost " (Acts viii. 14-17).
The second occasion that is related was at
Ephesus at a later period. The disciples there,
having before received only the imperfect bap
tism of John, were baptized, under the direction
of St, Paul, with the Baptism of the Lord. But,
just as at Samaria, there was the need of the
further gift of the Spirit. " And when Paul
had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost
came on them " (Acts xix. 1-6).
Four things are clearly to be gathered from
these two records.
1. They show that Confirmation is the proper
sequel to Baptism, but at the same time some
thing entirely distinct from it. The ministry
of the Apostles at Samaria could have nothing
to do with remedying defects inherent in Baptism
by a Deacon. If St. Philip's Baptisms had not
been perfectly valid, the Samaritans would have
been baptized again. This they were not. But
there was still another and separate gift of the
Holy Ghost which they lacked, and this they
received " through laying on of the Apostles'
hands " (viii. 1 8). In the other instance no
question can be raised as to any possible in
sufficiency in the Baptisms, since St. Paul was
present himself. Therefore the laying on of
hands was an additional rite, and not merely
the completion of the baptismal ceremony.
2. It may be gathered that the ministration of
Confirmation was regarded at first as an apostolic
office. Various reasons have been suggested to
account for St. Philip's not having performed the
rite. The obvious one is that he had not the
power. The Apostles might no doubt have
bestowed upon others the authority to confirm,
but they seem not to have done so. Similarly
the administration in later days has usually
been confined, directly or indirectly, to the
episcopate. 3. The notice that the Apostles at Samaria
" prayed for " the people " that they might
receive the Holy Ghost," has sometimes been
thought to indicate that prayer is essential to
the validity of Confirmation. On another point
of ceremonial the testimony is stronger. In
both cases mentioned the laying on of hands is
spoken of as the external rite which was used.
Calvin maintained that this only signified a
formal dedication to God for the purpose of
receiving the Spirit; and, believing that the
Spirit had ceased to come in the primitive
manner, he thought the ceremony had grown
useless (Inst iv. ch. xix. 6). He was as mistaken
about the purpose of the sign as about the
cessation of the Holy Spirit's advents. It did
not signify a dedication of one person to God by
another's instrumentality, but a gift from God
to man by au ordained administration. " The
hands," says Jones, of Nayland, " are the instru
ments of action and power. If any gift is pre
sented, any assistance offered, or any commission
given from one man to another, the hands are
the means of communication. The power of the
human body is so eminently fixed to the hands,
that liand and power are put for the same thing
in the sacred language ... so that if anything
is visibly communicated from God through the
ministration of man, no outward sign can ex
press this so properly as the stretching out and
laying on of the hands of those persons who
act under Him and for Him in a ministerial

CONFIRMATION

037

capacity " (Essay on Confirmation). The im
position of hands in Conlirmatiou has been re
garded as adopted from our Lord's blessing of
children (Matt. xix. 13; .Mark x. 13); but the
act is too ancient a form of benediction, and too
signifiiant iu character, to be safely attributed
to an isolated precedent. Tho narratives in the
Acts formed the authority upon which the
early Church based its adoption of the ceremony,
and for a time the usage seems to have been
universal. " Do you not know this to be the
custom of the Churches," wrote St. Jerome to
an adversary, " that after Baptism hands are
imposed on the baptized persons, and that the
Holy Spirit is invoked upon them? You ask
where this is written? In the Acts of the
Apostles. Nay, though there was no authority
for this in Scripture, the consent of the whole
world as to this matter would be a sufficient
precept thereof" (Contra Lucif. 8).
4. The simple character of the narratives
shows that the rite was a familiar one which
needed neither apology nor explanation. Hence
it may be inferred with certainty that Con
firmation was instituted by our Lord Himself.
It were incredible that the Apostles should have
invented an ordinance, and should have pro
ceeded to administer it as a matter of course, if
they had had no warrant from their Master.
Calvin himself was constrained to admit this,
only rejecting any conclusion as to the per
manent meaning or obligation of the rite
(Inst. IV. ch. xix. 6). It was doubtless one of the
" things pertaining to the kingdom of God,"
concerning which our Lord gave commandment
to the Apostles in the interval between the
Resurrection and the Ascension.
III. The Gift of Confirmation.— -The passages
in the Acts are explicit that those who were
confirmed " received the Holy Ghost." The
only questions that arise are in defining exactly
what the reception of the Holy Ghost means,
and in distinguishing precisely between the gift
of the Holy Ghost in Confirmation and in Bap
tism. These questions must be answered by
carefully studying the teaching of Holy Scrip
ture as to the personal bestowal of the Holy
Spirit's Presence.
1. Under the Old Covenant there was no
pledged gift of the Holy Ghost to individuals.
God led the Israelites by the cloud, and the
Prophets interpreted this particularly as a lead
ing by the " Spirit " (Is. lxiii. 10-14 ; 'Hag. ii. ft).
He promised His Presence generally to the
Church, — " 1 will dwell among the children of
Israel " (Ex. xxix. 45), — and this was especially
fulfilled in the Shechinah of the Temple. But
these were gifts to the people in a mass. The
outpouring of the Spirit upon separate persons
was chiefly restricted to those who, like judges
or prophets, were called to special and extra
ordinary works. Prophecy made it clear that
under the Gospel something more was to be
looked for. Not only was " the Spirit of the
Lord " to rest upon the Messiah for His own
office (Is. xi. 2, lxi. 1), but the same Spirit was
to be poured upon His servants (xxxii. 15,
xliv. 3). The result of His indwelling was to
be the very power of resurrection (Ezek. xxxvii.
14). By Joel God said, "I will pour out My
Spirit upon all flesh . . . Also upon the servants
and upon the handmaids in those days will I

638

CONFIRMATION

pour out My Spirit," a prophecy which St. Peter
declared to be accomplished on the Day of Pente
cost (Joel ii. 28, 29 ; Acts ii. 16-18).
2. The first step towards the fulfilment of
these promises was in the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the Manhood of our Lord. After
His baptism by St. John the heaven opened, and
the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape, like
a dove, and abode upon Him (Matt. iii. 16 ;
Luke iii. 21, 22; John i. 32). This coming of
the Spirit is often taken as if it belonged to the
Baptism. However closely connected, the cir
cumstances were evidently distinct. The Bap
tism was complete, and our Lord had come up
out of the water and was in prayer, when the
event occurred. Tertullian takes it as a pattern
of our Confirmation (De Bapt. viii.) ; and so also
do Athanasius (Cont. Arian. i. 46) and others of
the Fathers (Theoph. ad loc. ; Hil. can. 4).
Optatus goes so far as to speak of the voice of
the Father as representing the laying on of
hands (De Schis. iv. 7). If some appear to con
nect the descent with the Baptism (e.g. Chrys.
In Joan. Hom. xvii. 2 ; Jer. Contra Lucif. ; Aug.
In Joan. t. vi. 3), it is, generally at least,
because Confirmation in their time formed part
of the baptismal rite, and the two were spoken
of as one.
In consequence of this outpouring of the
Holy Spirit, it is said that our Lord was " full
of the Holy Ghost " (Luke iv. 1), was " led "
or " driven " of the Spirit (Matt. iv. 1 ; Mark i.
12), and went " in the power of the Spirit "
(Luke iv. 14). If it is difficult to comprehend
the precise meaning of such expressions as
applied to the Incarnate Son of God, it may
be remembered that as His Baptism was not for
Himself but for us, so also was His Confirmation.
St. Augustine, after saying that it is not to be
supposed that He was without the Holy Ghost
before, adds that " He deigned to prefigure His
Body, that is, His Church, in which especially
the baptized receive the Holy Spirit " (De Trin.
xv. xxvi. 46). And so St. Athanasius says,
¦" The Word was not anointed by the Spirit, but
our flesh, which He had assumed, was ; in order
that the unction then received might flow from
Him upon all ... Thence did we also begin to
receive the unction and the seal " (Cont. Arian.
i. 46, 47). The descent of the Holy Ghost was,
therefore, not only the official consecration or
anointing of Christ for the Incarnate ministry
(Luke iv. 18), but it was also, for our sakes, the
endowing of His Humanity with the peculiar
Presence of the Spirit, that through Him it
might become the heritage of His people.
3. Our Lord dwelt very emphatically in His
last discourses on the promised coming of the
Holy Ghost. Its characteristic note corresponded
with a point which had attracted the Baptist's
attention when the Holy Spirit descended upon
Christ after HisBaptism. He not only descended,
but also abode upon Him (KaraBaivov Kai p.evov,
John i. 33). So our Lord says, " I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you for
ever " (John xiv. 16). And if, as some critics
maintain, $ should be read for p.evn, the simpler
word "be " gives practically the same sense. It
was to be u permanent abiding as distinguished
from fitful and transient inspirations. Our Lord
proceeded to say of the Spirit, " Ye know Him ;

CONFIRMATION
for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you "
(oti Trap' i/xiv ptevei, Kai iv ipiv earai, xiv. 17).
The Vulgate, without existing authority in Greek
MSS., treats both verbs as future (manebit, erit),
and hence St. Augustine understood the two
phrases as equivalent : " He explained what ' He
shall dwell with you ' meant, when He added the
words,' He shall be in you ' "(In Joan. t. lxxiv. 5).
On the other hand there is considerable support
for taking both in the present (iaTlv for eo-Tai),
but it weighs against this reading that it attri
butes a kind of Presence of the Spirit to the dis
ciples which other evidence suggests to be re
served for the period after the Session of Christ.
The A. V. reading has good MS. authority ; and,
giving a more intelligible sense, may probably be
correct. If so, it affords an indication of the
difference between the Holy Spirit's Presence by
means of Baptism and by means of Confirmation.
Supposing the disciples had already received the
Baptism of our Lord [Baptism],— however much
some of its effects were still in abeyance, — they
were in a position between Baptism and Con
firmation. What they had then was the personal
presence of the Holy Ghost with them, but thev
were awaiting His individual indwelling. " The
Spirit," says Theophylact, paraphrasing the
verse, " abides with you ; afterwards there
shall be something greater, because He shall be
in you. For the expression trap' vuiv signifies
the external aid which comes from neighbour
hood, but the expression iv vpiiv signifies
the internal habitation and strengthening."
While the reading of the text is doubtful, it
would be rash to construct a theory of Con
firmation upon it, but at any rate it indicates
that the future reception of the Holy Ghost was
to have the character of indwelling.
4. The gift of the Holy Ghost was consequent
on the completion of Christ's redemptive acts.
When our Lord was applying to the Gospel
times some of the 0. T. Scriptures, it is added,
" But this spake He of the Spirit, which they
that believe on Him should receive : for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that
Jesus was not yet glorified " (John vii. 39 ; cp.
xvi. 7). Immediately this glorification was
accomplished the Holy Ghost came down on
the Day of Pentecost and fulfilled completely
the old promises of the gift of the Spirit. As
the upper room was filled with "a rushing
mighty wind," so the Church of Christ which
it represented was filled with the indwelling
Presence of the Holy Ghost, bringing to it new
powers and a new relationship to God. And
that which was true of the Church as a body
had its counterpart in each individual. The
Church was indwelt by the Spirit ; so also
were its members. As it had been with our
Lord after the descent of the Holy Ghost, so
according to their capacities was it with His
disciples ; they were now full of the Holy Ghost.
Miraculous as was the character, and vast as
was the range of the outpouring, it necessarily
contained within it all that could afterwards be
given by Confirmation. Some of the Fathers
almost identify the two. "The Apostles," says
St. Augustine, " laid on hands, and the Holy
Ghost came ; but when He came to them, who
laid hands on them ? " (Seiin. cclxvi. 3). " A
hundred and twenty persons were gathered
together. No man upon earth laid hands on

CONFIRMATION
them, but the Holy Ghost coming from heaven
filled them " (Cont. Parm. ii. 34). The laying
on of hands may perhaps even have some asso
ciation with the resting of the visible tongues
of fire on the heads of the disciples. The
author of the De Rebaptismate, in common
with many others, saw in this advent of tho
Spirit the fulfilment of St. John's prophecy of
the Baptism " with the Holy Ghost and with
fire." There is no reason to confine the Pente
costal gift to the Apostles. " They were all,"
i.e. the hundred and twenty, " with one accord,
in one place . . . and it sat upon each of
them " (Acts ii. 1, 3). The Apostles might
receive special powers for their peculiar work.
Possibly the gift of tougues was theirs alone,
though there is no indication even of this. The
various manifestations of the Spirit's power were
but accidental circumstances in different persons.
The gift itself was the gift of the Holy Ghost,
and this was the common endowment of the
Chnrch. 5. It passed rapidly on to others. When
St. Peter addressed the converts of the Day of
Pentecost and bade them be baptized " for the
remission of sins," he added, "And ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is to you and to your children, and to
all that are afar off, even as manv as the Lord
our God shall call" (Acts ii. 38, 39). The
Baptism for the remission of sins and the gift
of the Holy Ghost are two things. The
" promise " no doubt refers to both, but very
especially to the latter, since it was the
promise of the Spirit by Joel that had formed
the text of St. Peter's sermon, and the advent
of the Spirit that had attracted the wonder
of the people. They were now told that when
they had been baptized they should themselves
receive the gift which they had seen come to
others. Whether it was bestowed by the rite of
Confirmation, or whether, as perhaps is more
likely, it came direct as a continuation of the
Pentecostal outpouring, it was something dis
tinct from the grace attributed to Baptism.
If not on this occasion, certainly once the
Holy Ghost came, as on the original disciples,
without human ritual. It was fitting that the
gathering in of the first Gentiles should be
marked by the extraordinary manifestations that
had attended the Day of Pentecost. Therefore
the Spirit descended upon Cornelius and his
company without any visible instrumentality
(Acts x. 44). St. Peter was there, but not as
the administrator of Confirmation. For it was
vastly more than Confirmation, though also, as
at Pentecost, it must needs have included it.
From this point of view it is remarkable that the
Holy Ghost fell upon these converts while they
were still unbaptized. The peculiar circum
stances of the case no doubt account for so
strange an inversion of the usual order of grace.
But the very singularity of the fact emphasizes
the distinction which it implies between the
offices of Baptism and Confirmation.
6. Miraculous signs of speaking with tongues
accompanied some at least of these first comings
of the Holy Ghost, even when administered
through the hands of the Apostles in Confirma
tion (Acts xix. 6). Hence it has been argued
that these events are not proper parallels to
the Confirmation of later days which can show

CONFIRMATION

639

no similar results. It is maintained by some
that the only purpose of the original impo
sition of hands was to bestow these special
powers (see Calvin, Inst. IV. ch. xix. 6; Daillri, De
Conf. I. chs. ix., x. ; Lightfoot, Comm. on Acts).
This contention finds some warrant in early
writers. St. Chrysostom, for instance, thought
that the Samaritans simply lacked the signs,
and that it was to give these that the Apostles
laid on hands. But his opinion was inevitably
influenced by the fact that, in his own time,
imposition of hands had already lost its dis
tinctive place iu Confirmation. Holy Scripture
itself does not support the view. The object of
the apostolic mission to the Christian converts
at Samaria is said to have been "that they
might receive the Holy Ghost," not that they
might prophesy or speak with tongues. These
were peculiar manifestations to attest the new
grace ofthe Holy Spirit's advent, but they were
not even at first essential accompaniments of it ;
for St. Paul, appealing to the experiences of the
Corinthians, says, " Do all speak with tongues ? "
(1 Cor. xii. 30). The Fathers in general held
that the Apostles' rite was identical with the
Confirmation of later days. St. Augustine, con
testing the arguments drawn from the cessation
of tongues, says that such sensible miracles
were " the credentials of a rudimentary faith,
and for the extension of the first beginnings of
the Church " (De Bapt. III. ch. xvi. 21). The need
for these ceased. What did not cease was the
need for the personal gift of the Holy Ghost.
"The ordinary, saving graces of the Spirit,"
says Charles Leslie, " which work silently, with
out observation or show, are much preferable
and more desirable than the extraordinary gifts
of miracles which for a time were necessary
at the first propagation of the Gospel" (Water
Baptism, xi.). " It is true," says Jeremy Taylor,
" the gift of tongues doth not remain, but all
the greater gifts of the Holy Spirit remain
with the Church for ever " (Discourse on Conf.
ii. 6). These were of permanent importance ;
the other were temporary proofs of the reality
of the Spirit's presence.
7. The conclusion to which the Scriptural
evidences lead appears to be that the character
istic grace of Confirmation is the indwelling by
the Holy Spirit. Baptism of necessity brings
vital relationship with each Person of the Blessed
Trinity; and, therefore, one may not restrict
the entire method of the Spirit's advent to Con
firmation. But there are degrees and measures
of union with God. Baptism, for instance, makes
a person a member of Christ, and yet there is a
different and enhanced measure of union through
the reception of His Body and Blood in Holy
Communion. So, while there is a true con
nexion with the Holy Ghost through Baptism,
there is another and advanced degree of union
through Confirmation. To take Theophylact's
phrases, and apply them directly to the difference
between the Holy Spirit's operation in Baptism
and in Confirmation, the one seems to give " the
external aid which comes from neighbourhood ; "
the other, " internal habitation and strength
ening." This definition does adequate justice to
the office of the Holy Ghost in both ordinances ;
it makes a clear connexion, and an equally clear
distinction, between the two rites; it gives to
Confirmation the importance wliich it held in

640

CONFIRMATION

the apostolic system ; and it precisely accords
with the statement of Holy Scripture that those
on whom hands were laid " received the Holy
Ghost." It is often difficult, in patristic literature as
well as in the N. T., to disentangle the references
to Baptism and Confirmation, because, throughout
the whole early period, the two were constantly
administered in close conjunction, and usually as
portions ofthe same ceremony. For the most part,
however, it may be said that the opinions of the
Fathers are in favour of this manner of dis
criminating between the gifts. Some, when
they had occasion to distinguish accurately, were
very explicit indeed that the " reception " of the
Holy Ghost was not in Baptism but in Con
firmation (e.g. Tert. De Bapt. vi. ; Cyp. Epp. lxix.
10, lxxii. 1, lxxiii. 6, lxxiv. 7 ; see at length
Mason, Relation of Confirmation to Baptism).
The teaching of later Western theologians was
not so distinct. When Confirmation became
severed from Baptism by a great interval of
time, the graces which Holy Scripture and the
Fathers attributed to the two ordinances to
gether, came naturally to be attributed very
much to Baptism alone ; and thus there seemed
to be left to Confirmation only a general addi
tional gift of spiritual strengthening. The Con
firmation grace was then naturally summed
up especially in the seven-fold gifts of the Holy
Ghost, which represent the fulness of His work
ing within the human soul. Probably this view
does not practically differ very materially from
the former, since it is only another way of ex
pressing the completeness of the Holy Spirit's
Presence aud power. But it would seem as
though it were more scripturally accurate to
regard the strengthening gifts as the result of
the Spirit's indwelling, than as themselves cover
ing the whole Confirmation ground. The East,
in retaining infant Confirmation, has with it
retained the teaching that the personal in
dwelling Presence of the Holy Spirit is to be
distinctly associated with Confirmation (see
Macaire, Theol. Dog. iv. ch. iii.).
The Scriptural examination, it may be added,
gives no opening whatever for the popular sub
jective idea of Confirmation, which reduces it to
Httle, if anything, more than a renewal of
baptismal vows. This notion has simply been
derived from a misunderstanding of the modern
preface attached to the English Confirmation
Service. The original connexion of Confirmation
with Baptism, as its complement and immediate
sequel, would of itself be sufficient to show that
there could iu early times have been no place
for a renewal of vows which had been taken
only a few moments before. But, besides this,
Holy Scripture is plain that the essence of
Confirmation is not an act of man towards God,
but of God towards man. It is a gift which the
Bible declares expressly to be the receiving of
the Holy Ghost.
IV. Subsidiary References to Confirmation-
Doctrine. — There are some minor texts in the
N. T. which need to be examined, for their bear
ing on Confirmation, in the light of the passages
which speak of it in more unmistakable terms.
1. In our Lord's teaching the first mention of
the Holy Spirit's action was to Nicodemus, when
He said, " Except a man be born of water and
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of

CONFIRMATION
God " (John iii. 5). Some have supposed that
this birth of the Spirit is accomplished in Con
firmation. St. Cyprian, under the pressure of
controversy, interpreted the text as indicating a
necessity of being born "of each sacrament-"
that is, of both Baptism and Confirmation (Ep.
lxxii. 1). St. Cyril of Jerusalem also distin
guishes between the birth of water and of the
Spirit, and associates the latter with an unction
administered after Baptism (Cat. xxi. 1, 3).
Among English divines Jeremy Taylor para
phrases the words thus, " Unless a man be
baptized into Christ, and confirmed by the
Spirit of Christ," taking the birth of the Spirit
to be " a mystery distinct from Baptism " (Con
firmation, i. 2). The anonymous author of the
De Rebaptismate, while generally maintaining
the same opinion, repudiated the logical de
duction that a man could not obtain salvation
by Baptism alone (2-6). And, if his view of
the text is correct, it seems impossible not to
follow him in this minimising of its force. But
it must be questioned whether the interpreta
tion can be sustained. The expression e'{ vtiaros
ko.1 XivevpaTos seems to indicate a single action,
not two disjointed actions. If they are sepa
rated, nothing is apparently left to Baptism but
the external rite of water.; and the spiritual
birth is divided into two parts, possibly taking
place at a considerable interval from each other.
This destroys the analogy of birth. It would
appear, therefore, that a distinction ought to be
made between being born of the Spirit and
receiving the Spirit, and that the words can,
at most, have only an indirect reference to
Confirmation. 2. There are some passages in the Epistles
which clearly point, in connexion with Baptism;
to a second ordinance whereby the Holy Spirit
is given, and this must be Confirmation.
In 1 Cor. xii. 13 St. Paul says, "By («/)one
Spirit were we all baptized into one body...
and were all made to drink ["into," A. V., but
eh omitted by best MSS.; R. V. "of"] one
Spirit." Some take the two clauses as synony
mous ; but to be baptized by the Spirit and to
drink the Spirit are two very different ideas.
St. Chrysostom mentions that the second had
been interpreted of the Holy Eucharist, an ex
planation noticed with favour by Cornelius a
Lapide, Luther, Calvin, Estius, Wordsworth,
and others. " But to me," says St. Chrysostom,
" he appears now to speak of that visitation of
the Spirit which takes place iu us after Baptism
and before the mysteries " (In 1 Cor. Hom.
xxx. 2).
In Tit. iii. 5, 6, St. Paul speaks of "the wash
ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy
Ghost ; which He shed on us abundantly through-
Jesus Christ our Saviour." Many liturgies and
commentators take the whole to refer to Bap
tism, but it would seem that this must be in
clusively with Confirmation. Renewal is not a
single act like Baptism, but progressive (Rom.
xii.' 2 ; 2 Cor. iv. 16) by the Holy Ghost's con
tinued influence.
The typical Baptism of Israel " in the cloud
and in the sea " (1 Cor. .<. 2) points to a double
operation. The sea evidently represents the
sacrament of Baptism. The cloud is less^ appro
priate to it. Since its purpose was to guide and
protect the people, it was rather the type of

CONFIRMATION
leading by the Holy Ghost (Rom. viii. 14). This
would not ho confined to Confirmation ; but the
application of the text being distinctly sacra
mental, it is reasonable to suppose that St. Paul's
allusion is to that rite. The Fathers no doubt
often refer the cloud to Baptism, in their com
ments on the verse, but probably they included
Confirmation with it.
A similar distinction is perhaps to be re
cognised in Heb. vi. 4, where mention is made
of enlightening, which early interpretations
identified with Baptism, and then of being
"made partakers ofthe Holy Ghost," an expres
sion which corresponds with Confirmation, both
in its character and in the place which it holds
in the enumeration of the gifts.
3. There are several texts in the Epistles
which speak of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.
These must apply very especially to Confirmation
if the complete indwelling belongs only to the
confirmed. St. Paul calls the Church " an
Holy Temple in the Lord : in whom ye also
are builded together for an habitation of God
through (iv) the Spirit" (Ephes. ii. 21, 22).
St. Cyprian, in one place, speaks of Baptism as
constructing the Temple of God, and of Confir
mation as pouring the Spirit upon the Temple
(Ep. lxxiv. 7). Similar texts are : " Know ye
not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? " " Know ye
not that your body is the Temple of the Holy
Ghost, which is in you, which ve have of God ? "
(1 Cor. iii. 16, vi. 19). "Ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit
of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, He is none of his " (Rom.
viii. 9 : cp. v. 11 ; 2 Tim. i. 14).
4. There are other texts which speak of a
special giving of the Holy Ghost in terms
suggestive of some ordinance of bestowal. Such
are Rom. v. 5 ; 1 Cor. ii. 12 ; Gal. iii. 2, 5 ;
Jas. iv. 5 ; 1 John iii. 24. Although they cannot
be restricted to Confirmation, they are useful to
illustrate it. In the same way all those texts
which refer to the gifts, graces, and strengthen
ing forces of the Holy Ghost relate in part,
at least, to Confirmation. When it is realised
that Confirmation is the appointed method of
conferring the fulness of the Spirit's Presence
and power, the Epistles will be found replete
with passages which bear more or less directly
upon it.
V. Subsidiary References to the Administration
of Confirmation. — The Epistles afford very few
unquestionable references to the actual adminis
tration of Confirmation, or to its ritual.
1. Laying on of hands is spoken of in one
passage where the chief allusion must be to
Confirmation. For in Heb. vi. 1, 2, " the doctrine
ofBaptisms, and of laying on of hands" (iiriBeo-etis
Te x«p£y), is mentioned among " the principles
of the doctrine of Christ." The close connexion
of this "laying on of hands " with " Baptisms,"
and .the fact that it is quoted as a foundation-
doctrine, both point to Confirmation. There is
a very large consensus of opinion, ancient as well
as modern, for so interpreting it. At the same
time it may be doubted whether it signifies
Confirmation exclusively, seeing how largely
imposition of hands was used as a sign of con
ferring all benedictory graces. An extended
meaning in some measure helps the'difficulty as
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

CONFIRMATION

641

to the plural Bairrtc'p.uv, by giving a larger
range to the application of the passage. But
iretBetreus is in the singular, not like BawTitrpuv
in the plural, and therefore seems to refer
prominently to some single rite. Considering
the close connexion with Baptism, this can
only be Confirmation. This being so, it is im
portant to remark that the two ordinances
are treated as distinct from each other, but
linked together as a single pair of foundation-
doctrines. 2. Unction (xpltrp-a) is mentioned in the
Epistles. St. Paul says, " Now He Which stab-
lisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed (xpltras) us, is God " (2 Cor. i. 21). St.
Ambrose, St. Augustine, St. Cyril of Jerusalem,
Primasius, Theodoret, St. Anselm, and others,
interpret this of Confirmation. Even so cautious
a critic as Bishop Westcott applies to Confir
mation the texts of St. John : " Ye have an
unction (xpTtrpa) from the Holy One ; " " The
anointing which ye received (Tb XP'O'M" &
iXdBere) of Him abideth in you " (1 John ii.
20, 27). Dr. Westcott, however, thinks that
the ritual use of oil grew out of the ex
pression in the Epistle, and not the expression
out of the use. But the language must have
been prompted by the symbolic connexion of
oil with the Holy Ghost, a connexion founded
on 0. T. ritual. It is therefore highly probable
that the Apostles borrowed the sign as well as
the phraseology, and that they themselves em
ployed oil in Confirmation. Hugo of St. Victor
and Waldensis, followed by Roman Catholic
commentators, assume that the chrism was used
at the Samaritan Confirmation, but certainly the
Acts give no hint of this. The essential cere
mony was then the laying on of hands, and the
anointing, when it can first be traced, was a
subordinate rite. In itself it is highly significant.
It not only expresses symbolically the actual
gift of the Spirit, but it also suggests that by
Confirmation a person is specially consecrated to
the priestly office of a Christian. St. Ambrose
likens the Confirmation unction of his day to
the unction of consecration in the 0. T., and
alluding to Ps. cxxxiii. says, " It flows down to
Aaron's beard that you may be made' a chosen
generation, sacerdotal, precious, for we are all
anointed with spiritual grace unto the kingdom
of God, and unto the priesthood " (De Myst. vi.
29, 30). This is a secondary aspect of Confir
mation, but one of considerable importance
(cp. 1 Pet. ii. 5 ; Rev. i. 6).
3. The " seal," often with some adjunct, as " of
the Lord," or " of the Holy Ghost," became in
later days a common title of Confirmation both
in East and West. There are three texts which
contain the terminology of sealing. St. Paul
writes, " In Whom also after that ye believed,
ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of pro
mise" (Ephes. i. 13) ; and in the same Epistle,
" Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye were sealed (iv § iatppayiaBtiTe) unto
the day of redemption " (iv. 30). Also, in
direct juxtaposition with one of the texts on
unction, he says, " Who also sealed us, and
gave us (atppaytadp.evos i)pas Kai Sobs) tho
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts " (2 Cor. i.
22). Dr. Pusey says, " It is unquestionable
that the primary use of the word ' sea),' beth
among the Fathers and the liturgies, relates
2 T

642

CONFIRMATION

to Baptism." He regards the application of
it to Confirmation as an extension of the title,
owing to the close connexion of the two rites
(Doct. of. Bapt. p. 153 n., and Note E). Several
of the Fathers do, however, apply the term dis
tinctly to Confirmation (Mason, Belation of Con
firmation to Baptism). It signified the stamping
of a person in relationship to God, and was
equally applicable to both ordinances. Its parti
cular appropriation to one or the other was a
matter of usage. Probably in the Epistles both
were included, for both would have been received
together by most Christians of those days. It
was much later that the expression became
specially associated with the act of signing with
the chrism. If it has any ritual signification in
the N. T., which is doubtful, it must probably
allude to the laying on of hands.
4. On the question of the subjects of Con
firmation the evidence of the N. T. is only in
ferential. It may clearly be gathered that the
gift holds a position in the spiritual life after
Baptism, but in near relation to it. This is
shown by the narratives in the Acts, which
relate the laying on of hands as the immediate
sequel of Baptism, and by the passages in the
Epistles which couple Confirmation with Baptism
in closely connected phrases. No doubt there
are instances of Baptism, even by Apostles, where
there is no reference at all to Confirmation, and
where therefore it is uncertain whether or no
it was conferred on the spot. But it is in
favour of supposing that it was rarely postponed,
that no exhortation to be confirmed is addressed
to anyone iu the Epistles. There is also no
indication that Confirmation depended on age ;
and the universal usage of the Church, for some
centuries, affords a strong presumption that from
the first children were, confirmed as the im
mediate corollary of their Baptism. It is per
haps difficult to know why Western Christen
dom abandoned the practice. The peculiar
grace of Confirmation being a bestowal of the
Holy Ghost, there does not seem to be any reason
in the nature of things why infants should be
incapable of receiving it. No such necessity,
however, as that which our Lord attached to
Baptism, compelled its early administration, as
a Catholic rule. But the Biblical evidence, taken
by itself, is certainly on the side of connecting
Confirmation as nearly as may be with Baptism.
VI. Literature. — Patristic comments are
mostly interspersed in the books on Baptism;
see Migne's Pat. Lat., Index No. xcvii. Among
more special treatises are Cyprian's Epistles ;
Anon., De Rebaptismate (Trans, in Clark's Ante-
Nic. Lib., Writings of Cyprian); Cyril. Hieros.
Catechesis ; Basil, De Spiritu Sancto. Later
works on Confirmation, from the force of circum
stances, usually deal with its ecclesiastical aspects
at greater length than the Scriptural evidences.
Treatises which minimise its grace are Calvin's
Institutes, iv. ch. xix. 4-13, and to a less extent
Dallaeus (Daille'), De Confirmatione et Extrema
Unctione, answered by Hammond, De Confirma
tione. Bellarmin De Confirmatione is largely
a reply to Protestant essays. See also Trombelli,
Tractatus de Sacramentis, torn, ix., x. ; Macaire
(Makary), Theologie Dogmatique, trans, from
Russian. Among English treatises, Hooker, v.
ch. lxvi. ; Baxter, Confirmation, esp. Prop. 13 ;
Joicmy Taylor's valuable Xpltris TeXeiwriKf),

CONGREGATION
A Discourse of Confirmation ; Jones, of Nayland,
Essay on Confirmation ; Puller, What is the dis
tinctive grace of Confirmation'?; Grueber, Rite
of Confirmation, a Catechism; and Mason's
Relation of Confirmation to Baptism. [W. E.]
CONGREGATION (TrtV, blip, from bpp,
to call = convocation ; avvaytiyri ; eKKXtiala, in
Deut. xviii. 16, xxiii. 1 ; congregatio, ecclesia,
coetus). This term describes the Hebrew people
in its collective capacity under its peculiar aspect
as a holy community, held together by religious
rather than political bonds. Sometimes it is
used in a broad sense as inclusive of foreign
settlers (Ex. xii. 19); but, more properly, as
exclusively appropriate to the Hebrew element
of the population (Num. xv. 15) ; in each case
it expresses the idea of the Roman civitas or
the Greek iroXtTeia. Every circumcised Hebrew
(mtK ; avToxBuv; indigena ; A. V. "born in
the iand," the term specially descriptive of the
Israelite, in opposition to the non - Israelite,
Ex. xii. 19 ; Lev. xvi. 29 ; Num. ix. 14) was a
member of the congregation, and took part in
its proceedings, probably from the time that
he bore arms. It is important, however, to
observe that he acquired no political rights in
his individual capacity, but only as a member of
a house ; for the basis of the Hebrew polity was
the house, whence was formed in an ascending
scale the family or collection of houses, the tribe
or collection of families, and the congregation or
collection of tribes. Strangers (DHJ) settled
in the land, if circumcised, were with certain
exceptions (Deut. xxiii. 1 sq.) admitted to the
privilege of citizenship, and are spoken of as
members of the congregation in its more ex
tended application (Ex. xii. 19 ; Num. ix. 14,
xv. 15). It appears doubtful however whether
they were represented in the congregation in its
corporate capacity as a deliberative body, as
they were not, strictly speaking, members of any
house ; their position probably resembled that
of the Trp6%evoi at Athens. The congregation
occupied an important position under the Theo
cracy, as the comitia or national parliament,
invested with legislative and judicial powers.
In this capacity it acted through a system of
patriarchal representation, each house, family,
and tribe being represented by its head or father.
These delegates were named T\~,VT\ *5i?I ("7>«r-
Birepoi; seniores ; "elders"); *iP8'tM (&p-
XovTes ; principes ; " princes ") ; and sometimes
(Vr\ or) "ll/lD W-ji? (iiriKXiiToi; qui voca-
bantur, Num. xvi. 2 ; A. V. " famous in the con
gregation ; " R. V. " called to the assembly ").
The number of these representatives being in
conveniently large for ordinary business, a
further selection was made by Moses of seventy,
who formed a species of standing committee
(Num. xi. 16). Occasionally indeed the whole
body of the people was assembled, the mode ot
summoning being by the sound of the two silver
trumpets, and the place of meeting the door ot
the Tabernacle, hence usually called the Taber
nacle (i.e. tent) of the congregation (*1#)!3, lit
place of meeting, Num. x. 3); the occasions of
such general assemblies were solemn religious
services (Ex. xii. 47 ; Num. xxv. 6; Joel ii. 15),
or to receive new commandments (Ex. xix. 7, 8 ;

CONIAH
Levi viii. 4). The elders were summoned by the
call of one trumpet (Num. x. 4), at the command
of the supreme governor or the . high priest ;
they represented the whole congregation on
various occasions of public interest (Ex. iii. 16,
xii. 21, xvii. 5, xxiv. 1) ; they acted as u court
of judicature in capital offences (Num. xv. 32,
xxxv. 12), and were charged with the execution
of the sentence (Lev. xxiv. 14 ; Num. xv. 35) ;
they joined in certain of the sacrifices (Lev. iv.
14, 15) ; and they exercised the usual rights of
sovereignty, such as declaring war, making
peace, and concluding treaties (Josh. ix. 15).
The people were strictly bound by the acts of
their representatives, even in cases where they
disapproved of them (Josh. ix. 18). After the
occupation of the land of Canaan, the congre
gation was assembled only on matters of the
highest importance. The delegates were sum
moned by messengers (2 Ch. xxx. 6) to such
places as might be appointed, most frequently
to Mizpeh (Judg. x. 17, xi. 11, xx. 1 ; 1 Sam.
vii. 5, x. 17 ; 1 Mace. iii. 46) ; they came attended
each with his band of retainers, so that the
number assembled was very considerable (Judg.
xx. 2 sq.). On one occasion we hear of the con
gregation being assembled for judicial purposes
(Judg. xx.); on other occasions for religious
festivals (2 Ch. xxx. 5, xxxiv. 29) ; on others
for the election of kings, as Saul (1 Sam. x. 17),
David (2 Sam. v. 1), Jeroboam (1 K. xii. 20),
Joash (2 K. xi. 19),' Josiah (2 K. xxi. 24), Je
hoahaz (2 K. xxiii. 30), and Uzziah (2 Ch.
xxvi. 1). In the later periods of Jewish history
the congregation was represented by the San
hedrin ; and the term trvvaytiyrj, which in the
LXX. is applied exclusively to the congregation
itself (for the place of meeting, IfftO 7HX, is
invariably rendered t) o-ktjvt) tov ptapTvp'tov,
tabernaculum testimonii, the word "ll/lD being
considered = JT1"W), was transferred to the
places of worship established by the Jews,
wherever a certain number of families were
collected. [W. L. B.]
The word " congregation " (" in the wilder
ness ") was used as the translation of iKKXtitria
(Acts vii. 38) in Tyndale's, Cranmer's, and the
Genevan Versions, but the revisers of King James
returned to Wycliffe's rendering, and placed
" church " in the text (R. V. marg. or, congre
gation). Ecclesia fitly designated Israel called
out of the heathen world and called together in
solemn assembly to receive the Divine Law
(see Speaker's Comm. on Acts I. c). [F.]
CONI'AH. [Jeconiah.]
CONONTAH (¦1170313 [Keri, ed. Baer],
Jehovah hath established; B. Xuvevias [v. 13;
Xteuevlas, v. 12]; A. Xuxevias ; Chonenias), a
Levite, ruler (T"J3) of the offerings and tithes
in the time of Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxxi. 12, 13).
[Conauiah.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
CONSECRATION. [Priest.]
CONVERSATION (from Lat. conversor,
' to associate and live with ") is never used in
the A. V. in the sense in which the word is
ordinarily understood to-day, such as " talking

COOKING

643

together," &c, but expresses disposition (Heb.
xiii. 5, 6 Tp6iros; R. V. marg., turn of mind),
citizenship (Phil. iii. 20, ri> iroXlTevp-a ; so R. V.
in text ; in marg. or, commonwealth), and manner
of life (Gal. i. 13, ») avao-Tpotpr) ; so R. V.).
Lumby quotes, in illustration of the A. V., a
passage from Walton's Life of Herbert, " The
love of a court conversation drew him often from
Cambridge " (Gloss, of Bible Words, s. n.). [F.]
CONVOCATION (tOJJD, from tO|3, vocare;
cp. Num. x. 2 ; Is. i. 13). This term is applied
invariably to meetings of a religious character,
in contradistinction to congregation, in which
political and legal matters were occasionally
settled. Hence it is connected with BHp, holy,
and is applied only to the Sabbath and the great
annual Festivals of the Jews (Ex. xii. 16 ; Lev.
xxiii. 2 sq. ; Num. xxviii. 18 sq., xxix. 1 sq.).
With one exception (Is. i. 13), the word is
peculiar to the Pentateuch. The LXX. treats
it as an adjective = kXi,t6s, i-it'iKX-tiros ; but
there can be no doubt that the A. V. and R. V.
are correct in their rendering. [W. L. B.]
COOKING. As meat did not form an article
of ordinary diet among the Jews, the art of
cooking was not carried to any perfection.
The difficulty of preserving an animal from
putrefaction necessitated its immediate consump
tion, and hence few were slaughtered except
for purposes of hospitality or festivity. The
proceedings on such occasions appear to have
been as follow : — On the arrival of a guest the
animal, either a kid, lamb, or calf, was killed
(Gen. xviii. 7 ; Luke xv. 23), its throat being
cut so that the blood might be poured out (Lev.
vii. 26) ; it was then flayed, and was ready either
for roasting (iw'i) or boiling (?K>3) : in the
former case the animal was preserved entire
(Ex. xii. 46), and roasted either over a fire (Ex.
xii. 8) of wood (Is. xliv. 16), or perhaps, as the
mention of fire implies another method, in an
oven, consisting simply of a hole dug in the
earth, well heated, and covered up (Burckhardt,
Notes on Bedouin's, i. 240) ; the Paschal lamb was
roasted by the first of these methods (Ex. xii. 8,
9 ; 2 Ch. xxxv. 13). Boiling, however, was the
more usual method of cooking, both in the case
of sacrifices, other than the Paschal lamb (Lev.
viii. 31), and for domestic use (Ex. xvi. 23), so
much so that 7^ 3. = to cook generally, including
even roasting (Deut. xvi. 7). In this case the
animal was cut up, the right shoulder being first
taken off (hence the priest's joint, Lev. vii. 32),
and the other joints in succession ; the flesh was
separated from the bones, and minced, and the
bones themselves were broken up (Mic. iii. 3) ;
the whole mass was then thrown into a caldron
(Ezek. xxiv. 4, 5) filled with water (Ex. xii. 9),
or, as we may infer from Ex. xxiii. 19, occasion
ally with milk, as is still usual among the Arabs
(Burckhardt, Notes, i. 63), the prohibition " not
to seethe a kid in his mother's milk " having
reference apparently to some heathen practice
connected with the offering of the first-fruits
(Ex. 1. c. ; see a useful summary of opinions on
this prohibition in Knobel-Dillmann ; xxxiv. 26),
which rendered the kid so prepared unclean food
(Deut. xiv. 21). The caldron was boiled over a
2 T 2

644

COOS

wood fire (Ezek. xxiv. 10) ; the scum which rose
to the surface was from time to time removed,
otherwise the meat would have turned out loath
some (v. 6) ; salt or spices were thrown in to
season it (v. 10) ; and when sufficiently boiled, the
meat and the broth (p"C2 ; (ap.6s, LXX. ; jus,
Vulg.) were served up separately (Judg. vi. 19),
the broth being used with unleavened bread, and

COPPER
butter (Gen. xviii. 8) as a sauce for dipping
morsels of bread into (Burckhardt's Notes, i. 63).
Sometimes the meat was so highly spiced that
its flavour could hardly be distinguished ; such
dishes were called D^tprDD (Gen. xxvii. 4 ; Prov.
xxiii. 3). There is a striking similarity in the
culinary operations of the Hebrews and Egyp
tians (Wilkinson's Ane. Egypt, i. 174 sq. [smaller

zr if sr

Cooking geese and different joints of meat. (Tomb near the Pyramids.)

ed. 1878]). Vegetables were usually boiled, and
served up as pottage (Gen. xxv. 29 ; 2 K. iv. 38).
Fish was also cooked (ixBvos otttov pepos ; piscis
assi ; Luke xxiv. 42), probably broiled. The
cooking was in early times performed by the
mistress of the household (Gen. xviii. 6) ; profes
sional cooks (D^nSD) were afterwards employed
(1 Sam. viii. 13, ix. 23). The utensils required
were — D*"V3 (xvTp6iroties ; chytropodes), a
cooking range, having places for two or more
pots, probably of earthenware (Lev. xi. 35) ; 11*3
(XeBvs, lebes), a caldron (1 Sam. ii. 14) ; J7tD
(Kpedypa ; fuscinula), a large fork or flesh-hook ;
TP (XeBvs ; olid), a wide open, metal vessel,
resembling a fish-kettle, adapted to be used as
a wash-pot (Ps. lx. 8), or to eat from (Ex. xvi. 3) ;
1-11Q, 1-11, nn?p, pots probably of earthen
ware and high, but how differing from each
other does not appear ; and, lastly, nn?V, or
JVITf??, dishes (2 K. ii. 20, xxi. 13 ; Prov. xix.
24, A. V. " bosom," R. V. " dish "). [W. L. B.]
CO'OS (Rec. Text Kuv ; Westcott and Hort,
Gebhardt, KtD), Acts xxi. 1. [Cos.]
COPPER (n^m). This word in the A. V. is
always rendered " brass," except in Ezra viii. 27,
where "fine copper" is represented in the
margin by " yellow or shining brass." But since
brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, and since
zinc does not seem to have been known to the
ancients, bronze would be a more accurate render
ing in most passages. Beckmann (Hist, of In
ventions, ii. 33, E. tr.) thinks that the ancient
smelters may accidentally have discovered brass
from the presence of zinc ore in their materials.
If so, its brighter colour and lustre would have
made it valuable : see Ezek. i. 4, 7, 27, viii. 2 ;

Rev. i. 15, ii. 18. [See Brass.] This metal is
usually found as pyrites (sulphuret of copper
and iron), malachite (carb. of copper), or in the
state of oxide, and occasionally in a native state,
principally in the New World. It was almost
exclusively used by the ancients for common
purposes ; for which its hard, tough, malleable,
elastic and ductile nature rendered it practically
available. It is a question whether in the
earliest times iron was known (peXas ti' ovk io~Ke
o-lS-npos, Hes. Opp. et Dies, 149 ; Lucr. v. 1285
sq.). In India, however, its manufacture has
been practised from a very ancient date by a
process exceedingly simple, and possibly a similar
one was employed by the ancient Egyptians
(Napier, Ane. Workers in Metal, 137). There is
no certain mention of iron in the Scriptures ; and,
from the allusion to 7P2 as known to Tubal-
cain (Gen. iv. 22), some have ventured to doubt
whether in that place 7.n3 means iron (Wilkin
son, Ane. Eg. ii. 153 [smaller ed., 1878]. Layard,
however, shows (Nineveh, ii. 415) that iron was
known to the ancient Assyrians.
We read in the Bible of copper, possessed in
countless abundance (2 Ch. iv. 18), and used
for every kind of instrument ; as chains (Judg.
xvi. 21), pillars (1 K. vii. 15-21), lavers, the
great one being called "the copper sea "(2 K.
xxv. 13 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 8), and the other Temple-
vessels. These were made in the foundry, with
the assistance of Hiram, a semi-Phoenician (1 K.
vii. 13), although the Jews were not ignorant of
metallurgy (Ezek. xxii. 18 ; Deut. iv. 20, &c),
and appear to have worked their own mines
(Deut. viii. 9 ; Is. li. 1). In Job xxviii. 2 we
read "copper (A. V. and R. V. "brass") is
molten out of the stone," or rather "man
melteth stone (quartz, spar, &c.) into copper."
We read also of copper mirrors (Ex. xxxvm.
8 ; Job xxxvii. 18), since the metal is sus-

COPPER
ceptible of brilliant polish (2 Ch. iv. 16);
and even of copper arms, as helmets, spears, &c.
(1 Sam. xvii. 5, 6, 38 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 16). The
expression " bow of steel " [R. V. " brass "],
in Job xx. 24, Ps. xviii. 34, should be rendered
"bow of copper," since the term for steel is
mbB (Nah. ii. 3 ; A.V. torches), or flD-VD ^."13
(northern iron). They could hardly have applied
copper to these purposes without possessing
some judicious system of alloys, or perhaps
some forgotten secret for rendering the metal
harder and more elastic than we can make it.
It has been maintained that the cutting-tools
of the Egyptians, with which they worked the
granite and porphyry of their monuments, were
made of bronze, in which copper was a chief in
gredient. They might have been rendered effec
tive by the use of emery, which was known to
the ancients. The arguments on this point are
found in Wilkinson, ii. 152, &c. [smaller ed.
1878], but they are not conclusive. There seems
.no reason why the art of making iron and ex
cellent steel, which has been for ages practised
in India, may not have been equally known to
the Egyptians. The quickness with which iron
decomposes will fully account for the non-dis
covery of any remains of steel or iron implements.
For analyses of the bronze tools and articles
found in Egypt and Assyria, see Napier, p. 88.
The only place in the A. V. where " copper "
is mentioned is Ezra viii. 27, " two vessels of
fine copper (R. V. " fine bright brass "), precious
as gold " (cp. 1 Esd. viii. 57 ; OKev-n xaXjcov
ffrixBovros, titdtpopa, irt-iBvpTrra iv xpucrfaj ;
.aeris fulgentis ; "vases of Corinthian brass,"
Syr. ; " ex orichalco," Jun.), perhaps similar
to those of " bright brass " in 1 K. vii. 45 ;
Dan. x. 6. They may have been of orichalcum,
like the Persian or Indian vases found among
the treasures of Darius (Aristot. de Mirab.
Auscult). There were two kinds of this metal :
one natural (Serv. ad Aen. xii. 87), which Pliny
(H. N. xxxiv. 2, 2) says had long been extinct in
his time, but which Chardin alludes to as found
in Sumatra under the name Calmbac (Rosenm.
I. c.) ; the other artificial (identified by some
with ijXeKrpov, whence the mistaken spelling
aurichalcum), which Bochart (Hieroz. vi. ch.
16, p. 871 sq.) considers to be the Hebrew
70KTI, a word of uncertain sense, compared by
Ebers with the Egyptian asmal (Email), and by
Fried. Delitzsch with the Assyrian esmaru (see
MV.11. It occurs in Ezek. i. 4, 27, viii. 2;
tjXeKTpov, LXX. ; electrum, Vulg. ; A. V. and
R. V. [text] " amber," R. V. marg. or, electrum ;
. o.XX6tvttov xPv(ff,ov-> Hesych. ; to which Suid.
adds, p.ep.iyp.evov idXu Kai XtBiu). On this
substance see Pausan. v. 12 ; Pliny, xxxiii. 4,
§ 23. Gesenius considers the xa^K0*-'&a'""' °f
Rev. i. 15 to be xaAKOs Xarapbs = 7DBTI; he
differs from Bochart, and argues that it means
merely " smooth or polished brass."
In Jer. vi. 28 the words " they are brass and
iron (A. V. and R. V.), they are all corrupters,"
refer to the comparatively valueless character
of the inferior metals.
In Ezek. xxvii. 13 the importation of copper
(A. V. and R. V. " brass ") vessels to the markets
of Tyre by merchants of Javan, Tubal, and
' Meshech is alluded to. Probably these were the

CORAL

645

Moschi, &c, who worked the copper-mines in
the neighbourhood of Mount Caucasus.
In Ezek. xvi. 36, copper (R. V. marg. Heb.
brass) is rendered in the A. V. and R. V. (text)
by "filthiness," and perhaps, as in Jer. vi. 28,
the word is used for what is worthless. The
LXX. and the Vulgate, followed by Gesenius,
render it " money " (t|e'xeas Tbv xaAKcic trov,
LXX. ; " effusum est aes tuum," Vulg.) ; but
there is no proof that copper money was ever
used by the Hebrews.
In 2 Tim. iv. 14 xaXKebs is rendered " copper
smith," but the term is perfectly general, and is
used even for workers in iron (Od. ix. 391) ;
XaXKeiis, iras Texvii"ns, ko.1 6 apyvpoK6iros Kai o
Xpva6xoos (Hesych.).
In the N. T. (Matt. x. 9 ; Mark xii. 41) xaXKbs
is used for money (xaXKOvs, tovto iirl xpvtrov
Kai tov c\py6pov eXeyov, Hesych.).
The name " copper " is a corruption of " aes
Cyprium," since the Romans first derived the
elementary metal from Cyprus. [F. W. F.]
COPTIC VERSION. ("Versions, Ancient
(Egyptian)]. COR (13 ; K6pos ; corus), the largest (about
8J bushels) of the dry measures, equivalent to
the homer, and perhaps (etymologically) round
in shape (1 K. iv. 22 [Hebr. v. 2] ; Ezek. xiv. 14 ;
2 Ch. ii. 9, xxvii. 5). The passage, 1 K. v. 11
[Hebr. v. 25], gives the cor as a fluid — as well
as dry — measure ; but the text is, according to
Thenius, possibly corrupt. [F.]
CORAL (niDX"1, ramoth; pereupa; Symm.
inprjXd ; 'Pap.69 ; sericum, excelsa) occurs as the
A. V. and R. V. rendering of the Hebrew ramoth,
in Job xxviii. 18 only, "No mention shall be
made of coral (ramoth, margin) or of pearls
(R. V. " crystal "), for the price of wisdom is
above rubies " (R. V. marg. or, red coral ; or,
pearls) ; and in Ezek. xxvii. 16, where coral is
enumerated amongst the wares which Syria
brought to the markets of Tyre. The old
Versions fail to afford us any clue ; the LXX.
gives one etymological meaning of the Heb. term
" lofty things," 'i.e. " that which grows high," or
" like a tree ; " the Vulg. in Ezek. (I. c.) reads
" silk " (conjectures may be seen in Delitzsch
and Dillmann in loco). " Coral " has decidedly
a better claim than any other substances to
represent the ramoth. The natural upward form
of growth of the Corallium rubrum is well
suited to the etymology of the word. The word
rendered " price " in Job xxviii. 18 also denotes
" a drawing out ; " and there may be a reference
to the manner in which coral and pearls were
obtained from the sea, either by diving or dredg
ing. At present, Mediterranean corals, which
constitute an important article of commerce, are
broken off from the rocks to which they adhere
by long hooked poles, and thus " drawn out."
With regard to the estimation in which coral
was held by the Jews and other Orientals, it
must be remembered that coral varies in price
with us. Fine compact specimens of the best
tints may be worth as much as 10/. per oz.,
while inferior ones are perhaps not worth much
more than a shilling per lb. Pliny says (N. H.
xxxii. 2) that the Indians valued coral as the
Romans valued pearls. It is possible that the
Syrian traders, who, as Jerome remarks (Rosen-

646

CORBAN

miiller, Schol. in Ezek. xxvii. 16), would in his
day run all over the world " lucri cupiditate,"
may have visited the Indian seas, and brought
home thence rich coral treasures ; though they
would also readily procure corai either from
the Red Sea or the Mediterranean, where it is
abundantly found. The coral of the Red Sea
and of the Persian Gulf is the finest and most
valuable. Coral, as is now well known, is
the massive skeleton composed of calcareous
particles deposited by myriads of little micro
scopic polypes or zoophytes, taking various
shapes in different species. Millions of these
zoophytes unite, and generation after generation
deposit their stony cells on the top of their pre
decessors, till some species have gradually formed
vast oceanic islands. , Coral, Mr. King informs
us, often occurs in ancient Egyptian jewellery as
beads and cut into charms. [H. B. T.]
CORBAN (J31p. ; tiupov ; oblatio ; in N. T.
only in Mark vii. 11, KopBav, expl. by tiupov, and
in Vulg. donum: used only in Lev. and Num.,
except in Ezek. xx. 28, xl. 43 ; in A. V. of 0. T.
" offering," in R. V. " oblation ; " in N. T. [Mark
vii. 11] A. V. and R. V. " Corban," i.e. " a gift "
[A. V.], " given to God " [R. V.]), an offering to
God of any sort, bloody or bloodless, but par
ticularly in fulfilment of a vow. The Law laid
down rules for vows, (1 ) affirmative ; (2) negative.
By the former, persons, animals, and property
might be devoted to God ; but, with certain
limitations, they were redeemable by money
payments. By the latter, persons interdicted
themselves, or were interdicted by their parents,
from the use of certain things lawful in them
selves, as wine, either for a limited or an
unlimited period (Lev. xxvii. ; Num. xxx. ; Judg.
xiii. 7 ; Jer. xxxv. ; Joseph. Ant. iv. 4, § 4 ;
B. J. ii. 15, § 1 ; Acts xviii. 18, xxi. 23, 24).
Upon these rules the traditionists enlarged, and
laid down that a man might interdict himself
by vow, not only from using for himself, but
from giving to another, or receiving from him
some particular object whether of food or any
other kind whatsoever. The thing thus inter
dicted was considered as Corban, and the form
of interdiction was virtually to this effect : — " I
forbid myself to touch or be concerned in any
way with the thing forbidden, as if it were
devoted by Law ; " i.e. " let it be Corban." To
a certain extent the principle enunciated here
was legitimate, and Levy (Chald. Worterb. iib.
d. Targumim, s.v. |3"V1p) points out that Light-
foot's strictures (Hor. Heb. on Matt. xv. 5)
must be received with caution. Nevertheless a
person might, by abuse of this principle, exempt
himself from assisting or receiving assistance
from some particular person or persons, as
parents in distress, and in short from any incon
venient obligation. It was with gross abuses of
this sort that our Lord found fault (Matt. xv. 5 ;
Mark vii. 11), as annulling the spirit of the Law.
Theophrastus, quoted by Josephus, speaking
of foreign oaths, as forbidden by the laws of
Tyre, gives Corban as a special instance of this
kind ; and thus, as Josephus remarks, implies,
though he does not point out expresslv, the
Jewish origin of the word. Josephus calls the
treasury in which offerings for the Temple or its
services were deposited, KopBavas, as in Matt.
xxvii. 6. It was by an act of confiscation of

CORD
the treasure thus deposited, KopBavas, and
applying it to the construction of an aqueduct,
that Pilate provoked the indignation of the
Jews, and gave occasion to a serious disturbance.
Origen, on St. Matthew, quoted by Calmet, says
that he had been informed by a Jew, that in
order to lay greater pressure on debtors of
whom they were suspicious, creditors sometimes
transferred, as it were, their debts to the sacred
treasury, or to the service of the poor, thus
making these objects creditors instead of them
selves (but probably, we may add, taking off
the Corban thus created against offerings of their
own) ; and further, that some persons excused
themselves by a similar expedient from con
tributing to the support of their parents
(Joseph. B. J. ii. 9, § 4 ; Ap. i. 22; Mishna,
Surenhus. de Votis, i. 4, ii. 2 ; Calmet and
Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Matt. xv. 6 ; Cappellus,
who has a long dissertation on the subject, very
full of information, in his note, and Grotius,
both of these in Crit. Sacr. vol. vi. ; Selden, de
Jur. Nat. vii. 2 ; Otho, Lex. Rabb. p. 673).
[Alms ; Vows ; Offerings.] [H. W. P.]
COR'BE (XopPi; Choraba), 1 Esd. v. 12.
This name apparently takes the place of Zaccai
in the lists of Ezra (ii. 8) and Nehemiah (vii. 14).
See Speaker's Comm. in loco. [F.]
cord 6217, np.;. inn?, nhr). of the
various purposes to which cord, including under
that term rope and twisted thongs, was applied,
the following are specially worthy of notice.
(1.) For fastening a tent, in which sense "HJ'D
is more particularly used (e.g. Ex. xxxv. 18,
xxxix. 40 ; Is. liv. 2). As the tent supplied a
favourite image of the human body, the cords
which held it in its place represented the prin
ciple of life (Job iv. 21 [R. V.], " Is not their
tent-cord [A. V. and R. V. marg. " excellency "]
plucked up ? " ; Eccles. xii. 6). (2.) For leading
or binding animals, as a halter or rein (Ps.
cxviii. 27 ; Hos. xi. 4), whence to " loosen the
cord " (Job xxx. 11) = to free from authority.
(3.) For yoking them either to a cart (Is. v. 18)
or a plough (Job xxxix. 10). _ (4.) For binding
prisoners, more particularly VOS (Judg. xv. 13 ;
Ps. ii. 3, cxxix. 4 ; Ezek. iii. 25), whence the
metaphorical expression " bands of love " (Hos.
xi. 4). (5.) For bow-strings (Ps. xi. 2) made
of catgut : such as are spoken of in Judg. xvi. 7
(Wrb DniV, A. V. and R. V. text "green
withs ; " vevpal irypai, but more properly [R. V.
marg.] new [or moist] bow-strings). (6.) For
the ropes or " tacklihgs " of a vessel (Is. xxxiii.
23). (7.) For measuring ground, the full ex
pression being PHD 73n (2 Sam. viii. 2; Ps.
Ixxviii. 55 ; Amos" vii. 17 '; Zech. ii. 1) : hence to
" cast a cord "=to assign a property (Mic. ii.5),
and cord or line became an expression for an
inheritance (Josh. xvii. 14, xix. 9 ; Ps. xvi. 6 ;
Ezek. xlvii. 13), and even for any defined district
(e.g. the line, or " region," of Argob, Deut. iii. 4).
[Chebel.] (8.) For fishing and snaring [Fish
ing, Fowling, Hunting]. (9.) For attaching
articles of dress ; as the wreathen chains (V2V),
which were rather twisted cords, worn by the
high-priests (Ex. xxviii. 14, 22, 24; xxxix.
15, 17). (10.) For fastening awnings (Esth. l. 6).

CORE
(11.) For attaching to a plummet. The line
and plummet are emblematic of a regular rule
(2 K. xxi. 13 ; Is. xxviii. 17) ; hence to destroy
by line and plummet (Is. xxxiv. 11 ; Lam. ii. 8 ;
Amos vii. 7) has been understood as = regular,
systematic destruction (ad normam et libellam,
Gesen. Thesaur. p. 125). It may however be
referred to the carpenter's level, which can only
be used on a flat surface (cp. Thenius, Comm. in
2 K. xxi. 13). (12.) For drawing water out of
a well, or raising heavy weights (Josh. ii. 15 ;
Jer. xxxviii. 6, 13). To place a rope on the
head (1 K. xx. 31) in place of the ordinary head
dress was a sign of abject submission. The
materials of which cord was made varied accord
ing to the strength required ; the strongest rope
was probably made of strips of camel hide as
still used by the Bedouins for drawing water
(Burckhardt's Notes, i. 46). The Egyptians
twisted these strips together into thongs for
sandals and other purposes (see the illustrations
in Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii. 331 [smaller ed.
1878]). The finer sorts were made of flax (Is.
xix. 9). The fibre of the date-palm was also
used (Wilkinson, i. 56) ; and probably reed
and rushes of various kinds, as implied in
the origin of the word trxotviov (Plin. xix. 9),
which is generally used by the LXX. as = ?3n.
and more particularly in the word J1D3X (Job
xii. 2), which primarily means a reed ; in the
Talmud (Erubhin, fol. 58) bulrushes, osier, and
flax are enumerated as the materials of which
rope was made ; in the Mishna (Sotah, i. § 6)
the *11fD 73H is explained as funis vimineus
seu salignus. In the N. T. the term trxotvia is
applied to the whip which our Saviour made
(John ii. 15), and to the ropes of a ship (Acts
xxvii. 32). Alford understands it in the former
passage of the rushes on which the cattle were
littered ; but the ordinary rendering cords seems
mere consistent with the use of the term else
where. [W. L. B.]
COR'E (Kope, N. T. a K. ; Core), Ecclus. xiv.
18 ; Jude 11. [Korah, 1.]
CORIANDER (13 ; xipiov ; coriandrum).
The plant called Coriandrum sativum is found in
Egypt, Persia, and India (Plin. xx. 82), and has
a round tall stalk ; it bears umbelliferous white
or reddish flowers, from which arise globular,
greyish, spicy seed-corns, marked with fine striae.
It is much cultivated in the south of Europe, as
its seeds are used by confectioners and druggists.
The Carthaginians called it yoiti = "\i (Dioscorid.
iii. 64). The etymology is uncertain, though it
is not impossible that the striated appearance
of the seed-vessels may have suggested a name
derived from "\~[i, to cut (Ges.). It is men
tioned twice in the Bible (Ex. xvi. 31 ; Num.
xi. 7). In both passages the manna is likened
to coriander-seed as to form, and in the former
passage as to colour also. [W. D.] [H. B. T.]
CORINTH (K6ptvBos ; Corinthus). This city
is alike remarkable for its distinctive geo
graphical position, its eminence in Greek and
Roman history, and its close connexion with the
early spread of Christianity.
Geographically its situation was so marked,
that the name of its Isthmus has been given to

CORINTH

647

every narrow neck of land between two seas.
It was called " the bridge of the sea " (Pind.
Nem. vi. 44 = 67, Isthm. iv. 20 = 35), and " tho
gate of the Peloponnesus " (Xen. Ages. 2). No
invading army could enter the Morea by land
except by this way, and without forcing some
of the defences which have been raised from one
sea to the other at various intervals between
the great Persian war and the struggles of the
Turks with the Venetians, or with the modern
Greeks during the war of Independence.
But, besides this, the site of Corinth is dis
tinguished by another conspicuous physical
feature — viz. the Acrocorinthus, a vast citadel
of rock, which rises abruptly to the height of
1886 feet above the level of the sea, and the
summit of which is so extensive that it once
contained a whole town. The view from this
eminence is one of the most celebrated in the
world. Besides the mountains of the Morea, it
embraces those on the northern shore of the
Corinthian gulf, with the snowy heights of
Parnassus conspicuous above the rest. To the
cast is the Saronic gulf, with its islands, and
the hills round Athens, the Acropolis itself
being distinctly visible at a distance of 45 miles,
Immediately below the Acrocorinthus, to the
north, was the city of Corinth, on a table-land
descending in terraces to the low plain, which
lies between Cenchreae, the harbour on the
Saronic, and Lechaeum, the harbour on the
Corinthian gulf.
The situation of Corinth, and the possession of
these eastern and western harbours, are the
secrets of her history. The earliest impulse to
her progress was probably given by the Phoe
nicians. But at the most remote period of
which we have any sure record we find the
Greeks established here in a position of wealth
(Hom. II. ii. 570 ; Pind. Ol. xiii. 4) and mili
tary strength (Thucyd. i. 13). Some of the
earliest efforts of Greek ship-building are con
nected with Corinth ; and her colonies to the
westward were among the first and most
flourishing sent out from Greece. So too iu the
latest passages of Greek history, in the struggles
with Macedonia and Rome, Corinth held a con
spicuous place. After the battle of Chaeronea
(B.C. 338) the Macedonian kings placed a garri
son on the Acrocorinthus. After the battle of
Cynoscephalae (B.C. 197) it was occupied by a
Roman garrison. Corinth, however, was consti
tuted the head of the Achaean league. Here
the Roman ambassadors were maltreated ; and
the consequence was the utter ruin and destruc
tion of the city (B.C. 146).
It is not the true Greek Corinth with which
we have to do in the life of St. Paul, but the
Corinth which was rebuilt and established as a
Roman colony. The distinction between the
two must be carefully remembered. A period
of a hundred years intervened, during which the
place was almost utterly desolate. The mer
chants of the Isthmus retired to Delos. The
presidency of the Isthmian games was given to
the people of Sicyon. Corinth seemed blotted
from the map ; till Julius Caesar, in B.C. 46,
refounded the city, which thenceforth was called
Colonia Laus Julia Corinthus. The new city
was hardly less distinguished than the old, and
it acquired a fresh importance as the metropolis
of the Roman province of Achaia. We find

648

CORINTH

Gallio, brother of the philosopher Seneca, exer
cising the functions of proconsul here (Achaia
was a senatorial province) during St. Paul's first
residence at Corinth, in the reign of Claudius.
This residence continued for a year and six
months, and the circumstances which occurred
during the course of it are related at some
length (Acts xviii. 1-18). St. Paul had recently
passed through Macedonia. He came to Corinth
from Athens ; shortly after his arrival Silas and
Timotheus came from Macedonia and rejoined
him ; and about this time the two epistles to
the Thessalonians were written (probably a.d.
52 or 53). It was at Corinth that the Apostle
first became acquainted with Aquila and Pris
cilla ; and shortly after his departure Apollos
came to this city from Ephesus (Acts xviii. 27).
Corinth was a place of great mental activity,
as well as of commercial and manufacturing
enterprise. Its wealth was so celebrated as to
be proverbial ; so were the vice and profligacy

CORINTH
of its inhabitants. The worship of Venus here
was attended with shameful licentiousness. All
these points are indirectly illustrated by pas
sages in the two Epistles to the Corinthians,
which were written (probably a.d. 57) the first
from Ephesus, the second from Macedonia,
shortly before the second visit to Corinth, which
is briefly stated (Acts xx. 3) to have lasted
three months. During this visit (probably
A.D. 58) the Epistle to the Romans was written.
From the three Epistles last mentioned, compared
with Acts xxiv. 17, we gather that St. Paul was
much occupied at this time with a collection for
the poor Christians at Jerusalem.
There are good reasons for believing that
when St. Paul was at Ephesus (a.d. 57) he
wrote to the Corinthians an epistle which has
not been preserved (see below, p. 654, c) ; and it
is almost certain that about the same time a
short visit was paid to Corinth, of which no
account is given in the Acts.

It has been well observed that the great
number of Latin names of persons mentioned in
the Epistle to the Romans is in harmony with
what we know of the colonial origin of a large
part of the population of Corinth. From Acts
xviii. we may conclude that there were many
Jewish converts in the Corinthian Church,
though it would appear (1 Cor. xii. 2) that the
Gentiles predominated. On the other hand, it is
evident from the whole tenor of both Epistles
that the Judaising element was very strong at
Corinth. Party-spirit also was extremely pre
valent, the names of Paul, Peter, and Apollos
being used as the watchwords of restless fac
tions. Among the eminent Christians who lived
at Corinth were Stephanus (1 Cor. i. 16 ; xvi.
15, If), Crispus (Acts xviii. 8; 1 Cor. i. 14),
Caius (Rom. xvi. 23 ; 1 Cor. i. 14), and Erastus
(Rom. xvi. 23 ; 2 Tim. iv. 20). The epistles
of Clement to the Corinthians are among the
most interesting of the post-apostolic writings.

According to Dion Cnrysostom, who died about
117 a.d., Corinth was in his time the most
important place in Greece ; he also states that
it possessed a public library (Or. xxxvii. 36,
quoted in Bursian's Geographie von Griechen-
land, ii. 14). Another rhetorician, Aristides,
who was born in the year of Dion's death,
celebrates the fame of Corinth in his oration in
praise of Poseidon (Or. iii. pp. 36-42, ed.
Dindorf). Part of the passage is translated
as follows in Stanley's Introduction to St. Paul's
Epistles to the Corinthians, p. 6 : " At Corinth,
you would learn and hear even from inanimate
objects ; so great are the treasures of literature
in every direction, wherever you do but glance,
both in the streets themselves and in the colon
nades ; not to speak of the gymnasia and schools,
and the general spirit of instruction and in
quiry." Corinth is still an episcopal see. The cathe
dral church of St. Nicolas, " a very mean place

CORINTH

CORINTH

649

for such an ecclesiastical dignity," used in
Turkish times to be on the Acrocorinthus. The
city has now shrunk to a wretched viUage, on
the old site, and bearing the old name, which,
however, is often corrupted into Gortho.
Pausanias, in describing the antiquities of
Corinth as they existed in his day, distinguishes
clearly between those which belonged to the old
Greek city and those which were of Roman
origin. Two relics of Roman work are still to
be seen, — one a heap of brick-work which may
have been part of the baths erected by Hadrian,
the other the remains of an amphitheatre with
subterranean arrangements for gladiators. Far
more interesting are the ruins of the ancient
Greek temple, — the " old columns, which have
looked down on the rise, the prosperity, and the
desolation of two [in fact, three] successive
Corinths." At the time of Wheler's visit in
1676 twelve columns were standing : before
1795 they were reduced to seven ; and further
injury was inflicted by an earthquake in 1858.
Next to the Heraeum at Olympia, this is the
oldest Doric temple in Greece. In 1886 the
whole plan of the temple was laid open by
Dr. Dorpfeld, and found to have been built upon
foundation lines cut in the rock. It is a double
temple, with entrances and pronai both east and
west (Mittheilungen, 1886, quoted, with plan,
by Penrose in Journal of Hellenic Studies, viii.
274).

Saver Stater of Corinth (of the fine style of b.c. 400-338).
Obv., Head of PaUas, to right, wearing helmet bound with olive,
And with " bearded serpent " beneath. Kev., Pegasus bridled,
to right ; below Q . {British Museum Catalogue of Coins of Corinth,
pi. iii. IS, 1889).
The fountain of Peirene, " full of sweet and
clear water," as it is described by Strabo (viii.
21), is still to be seen on tbe Acrocorinthus,
as well as the fountains in the lower city, of
which it was supposed by him and Pausanias to
be the source. The walls on the Acrocorinthus
were in part erected by the Venetians, who held
Corinth for twenty-five years in the 17th
century. This city and its neighbourhood have
been described by many travellers, but we must
especially refer to Leake's Morea, iii. 229-304
(London, 1830), and his Peloponnesiaca, p. 392
(London, 1846) ; Curtius, Peloponnesos, ii. p. 514
(Gotha, 1851 - 1852) ; Clark, Peloponnesus,
pp. 42-61 (London, 1858). There are four
German monographs on the subject : Wilckens,
Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen ad illustrationem
¦utriusque Epistolae Paulinae, Bremen, 1747 ;
Walch, Antiquitates Corinthiacae, Jena, 1761 ;
Wagner, Rerum Corinthiacarum specimen, Darm
stadt, 1824; Barth, Corinthiorum Commercii et
Mercaturae Historiae particula, Berlin, 1844.
This article would be incomplete without
some notice of the Posidonium, or sanctuary of
Neptune, the scene of the Isthmian games, from
which St. Paul borrows some of his most
striking imagery in 1 Cor. and other epistles.
This sanctuary was a short distance to the N.E.

of Corinth, at the narrowest part of the Isthmus,
near the harbour of Schoenus (now Kalanu'tki)
on the Saronic gulf. The wall of tho enclosure
can still be traced. It is of an irregular shape,
determined by the form of a natural platform at
the edge of a ravine. The fortifications of the
Isthmus followed this ravine and abutted at the
east upon the enclosure of the sanctuary, which
thus served a military as well as a religious
purpose. The exact site of the temple is doubt
ful, and the objects of interest, which Pausanias
describes as seen by him within the enclosure,
¦have vanished : but to the south are the remains
of the stadium, where the foot-races were run
(1 Cor. ix. 24) ; to the east are those of the
theatre, which was probably the scene of the
pugilistic contests (v. 26) ; and abundant on the
shore are the small green pine-trees (irevKal)
which gave the fading wreath (v. 25) to the
victors in the games. An inscription found here
in 1676 (now removed to Verona) affords a
valuable illustration of the interest taken in
these games in Roman times (Boeckh, No. 1104).
The French map of the Morea does not include
the Isthmus ; so that, till 1858, Col. Leake's
sketch (reproduced by Curtius) was the only
trustworthy representation of the scene of the
Isthmian games. But the ground was more
minutely examined by Mr. Clark, who in that
year gave us a more exact plan. The sacred
enclosure has recently become better known,
owing to the excavations of the French School.
In the immediate neighbourhood of this sanctuary
are the traces of the canal, which was begun and
discontinued by Nero shortly after the time of
St. Paul's first visit to Corinth (Dict. of Gr. and
Rom. Geog., art. " Corinthus ").
His first visit was towards the close of the
reign of Claudius ; his second, near the begin
ning of that of Nero. The coins of Corinth
under Claudius (a.d. 41-54) include one repre
senting a hexastyle temple on the Acrocoriu-

Copper Coin of Corinth under Claudius.
Obv. Head of Claudius, to right, with crown of laurel. Tj .
CLAVD . CAESAB . AVG . p. p. Bev., Hexastyle temple on Acro
corinthus. OCTAVIO LVSOINO COB. In field, T£B HVIR [iV.nim
duumvir.) thus, probably that of Aphrodite mentioned by
Pausanias, ii. 5, 1 (British Museum Catalogue of
Coins of Corinth, plate xvii. 2). One of those
under Nero (A.D. 54-68) represents the head of
Aphrodite over a galley inscribed with the name
of the Corinthian port of Cenchreae, where there
was also a temple of that goddess (Pausanias,
ii. 2, 3 ; Coins of Corinth, -plate xvii. 13) ; while
another of the same reign shows a wreath of
parsley surrounding the word isthmia (ib.
p. 70). The Isthmian games are also commemo
rated on Roman coins bearing two wrestlers or
boxers, au unarmed runner, or a standing athlete
holding a palm branch ; and a building meant
either for a stadium or a hippodrome (Journal
of Hellenic Studies, vi. p. 64 : " Numismatic
Commentary on Pausanias," by Messrs. Imhoof-

650

1 CORINTHIANS

Blumer and Percy Gardner). In the article
just quoted, pp. 59-77 are devoted to the coins
of Corinth, and it is observed on p. 59 that
"the Roman colonists, entering on a wealth of
Greek art and legend, adopted both with en
thusiasm, and were very proud of both. There
is no other Greek city whereof the coins give
us so extensive information on the subject of
temples and statues, legends and cults."
[J. S. H.] [J. E. S.]
CORINTHIANS, FIRST EPISTLE TO
THE, occupies a position in the N. T. which is
unique. It is the first chapter in Ecclesiastical
History. Being earlier in date than the Acts
and than any Book in the N. T. excepting 1 and
2 Thess., and being more varied in its contents
than any other Epistle, it gives us the first and
fullest information that we possess as to the
institutions, practices, and ideas of the Church
in the apostolic age. And as the authenticity
of the Epistle is impregnable and all but un-
assailed (see below), the value of the informa
tion cannot be overrated. In modern phrase
ology we may say that this First Epistle con
sists of a series of Tracts for tlie Times written
by a master-hand, while the Second is the
Apologia pro vita sua of the writer himself. In
both Epistles the Apostle appears as the great
" director of consciences," indicating the prin
ciples of spiritual pathology for all time.
In the following departments we find Church
History beginning for us in the First Epistle.
(I) In xv. 3, 4 the first germ of a formulated
Creed, which, brief as it is, twice insists on the
harmony between Christ's work of redemption
and the Scriptures ; — KaTa to.s ypatpds, as in
serted into the Nicene Creed at Constantinople.
(2) In xii. 4-27 the first apostolic exposition of
the Unity of the Church. (3) In i. 13-17 the
earliest notice of Christian Baptism as the mode
of admission into the Church and (by implica
tion) as being in the Divine Name. (4) In xi.
23-34 the first written account of the institu
tion of the Eucharist and the earliest directions
respecting it. In x. 15-22 the apostolic exposi
tion of its significance, in which, as in the
Attiaxri tuv titiitieKa ci.tcoo-t6xuv (ix.), the Cup
precedes the Bread. (5) In xiv. much informa
tion about Public Worship in its various ele
ments of prayer (14, 15), praise (15, 26),
thanksgiving with the general " Amen " (16, 17),
preaching and prophesying (24-33, 39). See
also xi. 4, 5, 13, 17-20. (6) In xii. 28, 29 the
earliest sketch of the Christian Ministry, where,
as in Ephes. iv. 11 and the AiSax^ xi.-xv., the
difference between itinerant " apostles " and
" prophets " and resident " teachers " appears.
In the AttiaxTj we have also " Bishops " and
" Deacons," but " Bishops " are not yet distinct
from " presbyters." (7) In xvi. 2 the earliest
notice of the Observance of Sunday. (8) In
xvi. 20 one of the two earliest notices (1 Thess.
v. 26 : cp. 2 Cor. xiii. 12 ; Rom. xvi. 16) of the
Holy Kiss, which still survives in the liturgies
of Oriental churches. (9) In xv. 12-34 the
first Christian argument for a Future State,
preceded (xv. 4-7) by the earliest narrative of
the Resurrection of Christ, and followed (xv.
35-58) by the earliest Christian description of
" the life of the world to come." (10) In v. 3-
5 the first form of Excommunication. (11) In

1 CORINTHIANS
i. 10-iv. 20 the earliest account of Ecclesias
tical Parties, in which axitrpa for the first time
appears in a moral sense, but of a faction inside
the Church, not of a separation from it. (12) In
vi. 2-5 apostolic sanction for the first time
given to Christian Courts of Law. (13) In iii.
1, 2 the principle of Economy or Reserve in
teaching for the first time stated. (14) The
Epistle as a whole lays the foundations of Chris
tian Casuistry, by which small details and
apparently conflicting duties are judged upon
great and comprehensive principles.
I. The Authenticity of thefour great Epistles
of St. Paul — 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and
Romans — is more certain than that of any
ancient writing. The criticism which assails it
stultifies itself. Bruno Bauer in his Kritik d.
Paulinischen Briefe (Berlin, 1850) was until
lately almost alone in questioning it. But he
has now been followed by the Dutch writer
A. D. Loman both elsewhere and in his Quacs-
tiones Paulinae; and a statement of the main
evidence is rendered necessary. These Epistles
are the front bulwarks of the faith, and their
strength should be widely known. Even if the
rest of the N. T. could be shown to be forgeries
of the 2nd century, the evidence for the Cruci
fixion and Resurrection of Christ, and for
miracles, would still remain ample in these four
letters, written by one who was himself con
verted by the evidence, and addressed to those
who had full opportunity of exposing it, had it
been false. Even F. C. Baur asserts that
" there has never been the slightest suspicion as
to authenticity cast on these four Epistles ; and
they bear so incontestably the character of
Pauline originality, that there is no conceivable
ground for the assertion of critical doubts in
their case " (Paulus, Stuttg. 1845, t. ii. Einleit. ;
Eng. tr. i. p. 246).
The External Evidence for 1 Cor. begins with
the earliest Christian literature outside the
N. T. Clement of Rome (c. a.d. 95) writes:
" Take up the Epistle of the blessed Paul the
Apostle. What wrote he first unto you in the
beginning of the Gospel? Of a truth he
charged you in the Spirit concerning himself
and Cephas and Apollos, because that even then
ye had made parties " (xlvii.), — earliest instance
of the N. T. writer being quoted by name (cp.
2 Pet. iii. 15) and of the special use of " blessed"
(cp. Rev. xiv. 13). If 1 Cor. was publicly read
at Corinth, in spite of its strong condemnation
of the Corinthians, they must have been con
vinced of its authority. Cp. xlviii. sub fin.
with 1 Cor. x. 24, xxxviii. with 1 Cor. xii. 12-
27, xlix. with 1 Cor. xiii., xxiv. with 1 Cor. xv.,
and the quotation in xxxiv. with that in 1 Cor.
ii. 9. In the Attiaxri t. Stitiexa airotrT. (A.D. 90-
130) cp. iii. sub fin. with 1 Cor. xii. 6, 10,
and ix. with 1 Cor. x. 16, xi. 27 ; also x. with
1 Cor. xvi. 22, and xvi. with 1 Cor. xv. 52.
Ignatius (c. a.d. 112) in Eph. xTiii.has echoes of
1 Cor. i. 18, 23, 24, and a rough citation from
i. 20, and in Rom. >'. an almost exact citation from
1 Cor. iv. 4. Cp. Eph. ii. sub fm. with 1 Cor.
i. 10, which the interpolator of Ignatius inserts
more fully. Polycarp (c. A.D. 95-155) in Phtl.
xi. quotes half 1 Cor. vi. 2 as KaBiis TlavXos
Sttido-Ket, and in ch. v. abbreviates 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.
Cp. ch. ii. with 1 Cor. vi. 14. Justin Martyr
(o. A.D. 147) in Trypho xxxv. quotes from

1 CORINTHIANS
1 Cor. xi. 19. Athenagoras (o. A.D. 177) in de
Res. Mort. xviii. quotes part of 1 Cor. xv. 55
as Kara Tbv c\it6o-toXov. Irenaeus (A.D. 140-
202) quotes it upwards of 60 times, frequently
naming St. Paul and sometimes the Corinthians.
Where the allusion is quoted as from an "Elder"
the evidence may be dated as A.D. 140 or earlier.
These Elders were " disciples of the Apostles."
Haer. IV. xxvii. 3 is the earliest passage in
which the Epistle is named ; in ad Corinthios,
12 verses of 1 Cor. x. are quoted (see Werner,
Der Paulinismus des Irenaeus, Leipzig, 1889).
Clement of Alexandria (fl. 180-211) quotes it
nearly 150 times, sometimes by name, as iv tt)
TtporepcJ irpbs Kop. iiriaT. (Paed. i. 42). Tertul
lian (fl. 195-210) quotes it 400 or 500 times,
and sometimes names it, as Paulus in prima ad
Corinthios. Among heretical writers Basilides
(c. A.D. 125) certainly knew it, and Marcion
(c. a.d. 140) admitted it (possibly in a garbled
form) to his very limited Canon. The Mura-
torian Canon states that St. Paul " wrote twice
to the Corinthians and Thessalonians for their
correction ; " and again, " he wrote first to the
Corinthians to forbid heretical schism." This
ample evidence is by no means all that might be
cited from all parts of Christendom between
A.D. 90 and 220.
Nor is the Internal Evidence less conclusive :
whether we regard the characteristic energy of
the language, which caused Tertullian to say
that this letter was written with gall and not
with ink, Jerome and Erasmus to compare St.
Paul's words to thunder and lightning, and
Luther to delare that they are " not dead words,
but living creatures and have hands and feet ; "
or consider the numerous coincidences, most of
which must be undesigned, between this Epistle
and other parts of the N. T. (see Table below).
Nothing so completely in harmony with all that
we know from other sources respecting the
character and life of St. Paul, and the con
dition of Corinth in his time, conld have been
invented. Nor can the Integrity of the Epistle be im
pugned. No MS. or Version throws doubt on
any chapter or even verse. The whole Epistle
is contained in the Uncials KABD, and, except
ing vii. 19-ix. 6 and xiii. 9-xv. 39, in the frag
mentary C. Irenaeus quotes from every chapter
excepting iv., xiv., and xvi. Tertullian (adv.
Marc. v. v.-x.) goes through it chapter by chap
ter to the end of xv.
II. The Place and Time are approximately
given in xvi. 8 : " I will tarry at Ephesus until
Pentecost." It was written, therefore, in or near
Ephesus and before Pentecost, in a year which
cannot be determined with certainty, but which
was probably a.d. 57 (see Table of different
views in Farrar's St. Paul, ii. p. 624). The an
cient foot-note, rightly omitted from R. V., states
that it " was written from Philippi ; " an error
which probably arose from a misunderstanding
of xvi. 5, as if Moxetiovtav yap Stepxopwi meant
"For I am at this moment passing through
Macedonia." How could "the churches of Asia"
(xvi. 19) send a greeting from Philippi ? From
Ephesus, the chief Church, they would naturally
do so. The exact time of year was probably
Easter. The Passover seems to have suggested
the imagery in v. 6, 7 ; xv. 20, 23 ; xvi. 15.
Nowhere else in St. Paul does irdtrxa occur, nor

1 CORINTHIANS

651

mcapxTX so frequently. Cp. the repeated ap
peals to Christ's Resurrection (xv. 4, 12, 15, 17,
20), of which at Easter the Apostle would be full.
The period in St. Paul's life can bo determined
with some definiteness. He was twice in Ephe
sus : once at the close of his second missionary
journey after his first and long visit of eighteen
months at Corinth (Acts xviii. 19), and again
for two and a half or three years (Acts xix. 1,
10 ; xx. 31) on his third missionary journey.
The letter cannot have been written during the
first stay at Ephesus. Apollos had not yet
arrived there (Acts xviii. 25): and when the
Epistle was written Apollos had reached Ephe
sus, had been instructed there by Aquila and
Priscilla, whom St. Paul had brought thither
from Corinth (Acts xviii. 19), had been to
Corinth to water what Paul had planted (Acts
xix. 1 ; 1 Cor. iii. 6), and had returned (1 Cor.
xvi. 12). It was, therefore, during St. Paul's
second and long stay at Ephesus, and probably
near the end of it, that the letter was written.
Timothy had already started for Macedonia on
his way to Corinth (1 Cor. iv. 17) ; and his de
parture with Erastus took place shortly before
the uproar of Demetrius, immediately after
which Paul left Ephesus (Acts xx. 1). In the
Acts the writing of the letter must be placed
between xix. 22 and 23.
III. The Persons addressed are always a con
sideration of the utmost importance in studying
St. Paul's writings. He commonly dictated his
letters (xvi. 21; Rom. xvi. 22 ;"Gal. vi. 11;
Col. iv. 18 ; 2 Thess. iii. 17) : and as he dictates
he is " present in spirit " (v. 3) with those
whom he addresses. They are before him, not
as distant correspondents, but as a present
audience. With his eyes closed to all around
him, he sees them alone, with their difficulties
and frailties, their claim upon his sympathy,
and their need of his firmness. He hears their
rejoinders to his rebukes and entreaties, and he
replies to them again. He does not write, but
speak. The result is a compound of oratory,
conversation, and correspondence, which is
unique in literature. No Epistles illustrate
this result more completely than those to the
Corinthians, and in studying them we must
keep the persons addressed in them, paragraph
by paragraph, steadily in view.
Although Athens still remained the chief
representative of Greek intellect and culture,
Corinth in a single century of existence had
become the political and commercial capital of
Greece, and as such was the seat of the Proconsul
Gallio (Acts xviii. 12). Hence "the Church of
God that is in Corinth " represents all Christians
in the whole Roman province of Achaia (2 Cor.
i. 1). The light of this brilliant totius Graeciae
lumen, quenched by Mummius (b.c. 146), had
been rekindled by Julius Caesar (B.C. 46) as
Colonia Julia or Laus Julia Corinthus. Under
the auspices of this reputed son of Venus it soon
recovered its former prosperity and more than
its former licentiousness. The worship of
Aphrodite assumed enormous proportions ; and
her temple became a centre round which the
abominations of Greece, of Rome, and of the
East found a home and intensified one another.
Contemporary literature abounds with passages
which show that this new Corinth was a by
word for moral corruption. It was at Corinth

652

1 CORINTHIANS

that the Apostle's ghastly catalogue of heathen
vices (Rom. i. 21-32) was penned. It was of
heathen society in Corinth that he declared that
it was wholly made up of those to whom such
vices were habitual (1 Cor. v. 10). It was
from such vices that the Corinthian Christians
had been rescued (vi. 10, 11). Their peril in
this direction is the chief motive of the Epistle,
the crisis of which breaks with a crash in v. 1,
2 : "It is actually reported," &c.
The city had other characteristics besides its
licentiousness. Its inhabitants consisted of
(1) Greeks, attracted to the restored city by
sentiment for an historic site and the love of
something new. (2) Italians, descendants of
the freedmen planted there by Caesar. Most ofthe
Corinthian names in the N. T. (1 Cor. i. 14, 16 ;
xvi. 17; Rom. xvi. 21, 23; Acts xviii. 8, 17)
seem to be of servile origin. (3) Adventurers from
all parts of the Mediterranean, including many
Jews who had settled there for trading pur
poses. With almost all of these St. Paul, as an
Hellenist, a Roman citizen, and a Hebrew of
Hebrews, had some point of contact. The Greek
element contributed intellectual and political
activity of a debased kind; the restlessness
without the earnestness of old Greek specula
tion ; and that spirit of faction which had proved
the ruin of Hellas (i. 10-17 ; iii. 1-9, 21, 22 ;
xi. 18). Schools and other instruments of cul
ture abounded, and the Corinthians prided
themselves on their knowledge and acuteness.
Hence the frequent mention of yvutris (i. 5;
viii. 1-11 ; xii. 8; xiii. 2, 8; xiv. 6) and trotpia
(i. 17-30; ii. 1-7, 13; iii. 19; xii. 8). Cp.
2 Cor. i. 12 ; ii. 14 ; iv. 6 ; vi. 6 ; viii. 7 ; x. 5 ;
xi. 6. The settlers from other countries ex
hibited the characteristics of mixed emigrants,
who commonly part with their OAvn national
virtues in exchange for the national vices of all
the rest, and end in self-seeking godlessness. In
morals the Jews were no doubt on <i higher
level. But with them religion had become so
stereotyped, bigoted, and self-satisfied, that
there was more hope of the dissolute heathen
than of them.
Add to these facts three others. A city barely
a century old could have no aristocracy. Its
upper classes owed their elevation mainly to
wealth, and the whole tone of the population
was democratic. It was in such a society that
congregations, in which each exhibited his
spiritual gifts without order or respect of per
sons (xii. ; xiv.), women set custom at defiance
(xi. 5-15; xiv. 34, 35), and an indecent scramble
took place at the public meals connected with
the Eucharist (xi. 17-34), became possible.
Again, the wealthy classes were not manu
facturers, but traders. They lacked the educa
tion of the producer, and had only the shrewd
ness of the money-getter. The works of art
for which old Corinth had been famous were
dug up from ruins and tombs, not to be copied,
but to be sold. They were a city bf shop
keepers. Lastly, there were all the demoral
ising influences of a thriving seaport — a double
seaport (bimaris Corinthi). In moral degrada
tion it was Paris and Liverpool combined. To
sum up: — Licentiousness of the grossest kind,
great mental activity and intellectual pride,
a democratic spirit devoid of reverence, com
mercial energy absorbed in money-getting; —

1 CORINTHIANS
such was the combination into which St. Paul
had introduced the leaven of the Gospel (iii. 6 ;
iv. 15) ; such were the elements out of which
the first great Gentile Church was formed (vi.
11); and such were still the surroundings of
that Church when this letter was written (v.
10). Certainly to speak of " the Church of God
that is in Corinth " involved a startling and a
glorious paradox (Bengel).
Almost certainly St. Paul was the first
Christian who ever set foot in Corinth. Aquila
was still a Jew when Paul took up his abode
with him ; and it was their common trade, not
their common faith, which in the first instance
drew them together (Acts xviii. 23). The plant
ing of Christianity in this unpromising soil was
absolutely the work of St. Paul (1 Cor. iii.
6, 10). The Corinthian Christians were his
children in Christ (iv. 15): and while Aquila
and Priscilla were probably the first Jewish con
verts, Stephanas and his household were the
first Gentiles who accepted the Gospel in Achaia
(xvi. 15 ; i. 16).
IV. The Occasion of the Epistle would seem to
have been threefold, (a) Members of the house
hold of Chloe (i. 11) had brought reports of the
factions and other evils. Whether Chloe was a
Corinthian, whose relations or slaves were visit
ing Ephesus, or an Ephesian whose relations or
slaves had been visiting Corinth, is uncertain.
(6) Independently of her household, St. Paul
seems to have heard of the monstrous case of
incest ; possibly from those mentioned in xvi. 17.
This is the chief occasion of the letter: for
Timothy had already been sent (iv. 17) to deal
with the factions. From one or both of these
sources Paul had also heard of litigation before
heathen judges (vi. 1), disputes in public wor
ship and even at the Eucharist (xi. 18-34), and
erroneous doctrine touching the Resurrection
(xv.). Besides this (c) the Corinthians them
selves had written to consult the Apostle (vii. 1).
This letter seems to have been self-satisfied in
tone, containing no confession of the existing
scandals. Quotations from it, some of them
made sarcastically, may perhaps be traced in
" All things are lawful " (vi. 12 ; x. 23) ; " It
is good," &c. (vii. 1) ; I also (as well as you)
"have the Spirit of God" (vii. 40); "We all
have knowledge " (viii. 1) ; " Why is my li
berty," &c. (x. 29) ; " Ye remember me in all
things " (xi. 2) ; " Jesus is anathema ; Jesus
is Lord" (xii. 3); "The collection for the
saints " (xvi. 1). In several cases the apparent
quotation is followed by a " but," as much as to
say, " What you state is very true, but there is
much to be said on the other side."
V. The Contents of the Epistle are as various
as the evils reported and the questions asked.
The strictures on the evils are somewhat mingled
with the answers to the questions : but on the
whole the evils are discussed first. The tender
hearted Apostle gets the most painful part of
his duty done as quickly as may be, but not
without kindly words first. After the usual
Salutation and Thanksgiving (i. 1-9) he takes
the two worst scandals, the Factions (i. 10-iv.
20) and Impurity (iv. 21-vi. 20). In discussing
the latter he says they are not to judge the
heathen as to this sin ; and this leads him to
condemn them for allowing the heathen to judge
them as to much less important things (vi. 1-9).

1 CORINTHIANS

1 COBINTHIANS

653

Then (vii. 1-xiv. 20) he answers the Corinthians'
questions respecting Marriage (vii.) ; Heathen
Feasts (viii. 1-xi. 1), about which his decision
is an advance on that of the Jerusalem Council
(Acts xv. 20, 29); Public }\~orship and Spiritual
Gifts (xi. 2-xiv. 40). Lastly (xv.) he ex
pounds the doctrine of the Resurrection. The
letter closes with personal Charges and Salu
tations (xvi.). Of the Sosthenes included in
the opening address (i. 1) nothing is known.
Eusebius (if. E. I. xii. 1) makes him one of the
Seventy. That he was the ruler ofthe Corinthian
synagogue, beaten by the Jews in Gallio's
court (Acts xviii. 17), is improbable. The name
was a common one.
The following table of coincidences between the
Epistle and other Books of the N. T., especially
the Acts, will illustrate its contents and also
show the strength of this side of the internal
evidence as to its authenticity.

The Acts.
xvi. 6, 7, 9. [Paul is
tlmce preternaturally di
rected to visit Europe.]
xviii. l. He departed
from Athens and came to
Corinth. xviii. il. He dwelt there
a year and six months,
teaching the word of God
among them.
xviii. 19. They came to
Ephesus, and he left them
(Aquila and Priscilla)
there. xviii. 21. He set sail
from Ephesus.
xix. l. While Apollos
was at Corinth, Paul . . .
came to Ephesus.
xix. 9. When some were
hardened and disobedient,
speaking evil of the Way.
xix. 20. So mightily
grew the word of God and
prevailed. xix. 21. Paul purposed
in the spirit, when he had !
passed through Macedonia
and Achaia, &c.
xix. 22. Having sent
into Macedonia . . Ti
mothy and Erastus.
xx. 2. He came into
Greece. xx. 34. These hands
ministered unto my neces
sities. xxi. 26. Purifying him
self with them.
xvi. l. Circumcised him
because of the Jews.
xxii. 14. See the Eight -
eous One.

xxiii. 1. I have lived
before God in all good
conscience. xxiv. n. I came to bring
alms to my nation and

1 Corinthians.
ii. 1. When I came unto
you, I came not with ex
cellency of speech or of
wisdom (as at Athens),
proclaiming to you the
mystery of God.
ix. l. Are not ye my
work in the Lord ?

xvi. 19. Aquila and
Priscilla salute you.

iii. 6. Apollos watered.

xvi. 9. There are many
adversaries. xv. 32. I fought with
beasts at Ephesus.
xvi. 9. A great door and
effectual is opened unto
me. xvi. 5. I will come unto
you, when I shall have
passed through Macedonia.
iv. 17. I sent unto you
Timothy. xvi. 10. If Timothy
eome. iv. 19. I will come to
you shortly.
iv. 11, 12. Even unto
this hour ... we toil, work
ing with our own hands.
ix. 20. To the Jews I
became as a Jew, that I
might gain the Jews.
ix. 1. Have I not seen
JeBus our Lord ?
xv. 9. He appeared to
me also.
iv. 4. I know nothing
against myself.
xvi. 3. Them will I
send to carry your bounty
to Jerusalem ; and if it be
meet for me to go also, they
shall go with me.

The Acts.
xviii. 8. Crispus, the
ruler of the synagogue,
believed. Rom. xvi. 23. Gaius, my
host. lCor. xvi. 15. Thehouse
of Stephanas . . . the first-
fruits of Achaia.
1 Tim. iv. 12. Let no
man despise thy youth.

1 Corinthi'aws.
1. 14. I baptized none of
you sine Crispus
and Gaius.
i. 16. I baptized also tbe
household of Stephanas.
xvi. 10. Let no man
despise him.

The last four coincidences are specially in
teresting. They show in the most incidental
way why St. Paul made an exception in favour
of Crispus, Gaius, and Stephanas, and why he
was afraid that the Corinthians might despise
Timothy. The Epistle contains some special difficulties.
a. The number and character of the factions
"(i. 12). b. The meaniDg of iii. 12-15. c.
eypaipa vfjuv i=v rrj ^wKXrohii (v. 9). d. fiaWov
Xpvivai (vii. 21). t. a.KoXovdo-ua'Tjs irerpas (x. 4).
/. 4£ovalav ex6"7 ^ TVS ice(pa\9js 8i& robs
ayy4\ovs (xi. 10). g. yevn yKtacrcruv (xii. 10,
28 ; xiii. 1 ; xiv. 2, 4, 16, 19). h. oi Pairritf-
/xevoi virhp t&v vetcp&v (xv. 29). Of these eight
only the first three can be noticed here. For
the remainder see Commentaries, esp. Ellicott.
a. Considering the small amount of informa
tion given us respecting the Factions, the amount
written about them is amazing. We must
separate St. Paul's brief statements and slight
hints from the masses of theory which have
been spun out of them, especially regarding
the party about which we know little more
than the name, the so-called '"Christ party."
Six points may be considered as fairly certain.
(1) The whole Corinthian Church ivas involved.
"EicaffTos vfx&v \4yei implies that there was
hardly anyone who did not attach himself to
one name or another. (2) The factions origi
nated partly in the invariably occurring differ
ences between Jewish and Gentile Christians,
partly in the invariably factious spirit of the
Greek race. There is no modern parallel. To
gain an idea of the intensity of feeling, we must
imagine Irish Romanists and Orangemen sharing
in the same public worship. (3) The factions
are mentioned in chronological order. At first
all were disciples of Paul. When he left and
Apollos came, some disparaged the simplicity of
the Apostle (i. 17 ; ii. 1-5) in comparison with
the learning and eloquence of the brilliant
Alexandrian (Acts xviii. 24, 25, 28). Then certain
other teachers arrived with letters of commen
dation (2 Cor. iii. 1), probably from Jerusalem,
who cast a doubt upon the Apostleship of Paul
(1 Cor. ix. 1-5 ; 2 Cor. xii. 12) and exalted
Cephas and themselves in opposition to him
(2 Cor. xi. 5; xii. 11). Finally, yet another
party, dissenting from those who had elected
human leaders, degraded the Name of Christ
into a party cry. (4) These parties received no
sanction from the teachers with whose names they
made free. St. Paul condemns all parties alike.
Apollos remains at St. Paul's side and declines
to return to Corinth while this crisis continues.
Paul, who once did not shrink from resisting
Peter to the face (Gal. ii. 11), says not one word
against him here : and this shows that Peter
had no sympathy with those whom Paul here
condemns for making Cephas a party name.

654

1 OOEINTHIANS

That Peter was ever in Corinth is very doubtful.
Dionysius of Corinth (Eus. H. E. II. xxv. 8) may
be drawing a baseless inference from 1 Cor. i. 12,
or (if he is correct) must refer to a visit at some
later period. (5) The number of factions was
four, not three or two. . That the last clause of
i. 12 means " But I, Paul, am of Christ," is
utterly improbable. And that it refers to
neutrals, who protested against all divisions, is
against the whole context. The Apostle would
at once have commended such neutrals, had they
existed. No such commendation lurks in iii.
22, 23 : " Ye are Christ's " is addressed to the
whole body, not to any one section. Indeed
2 Cor. X. 7 is conclusive. It is aimed against
those who in some exclusive sense claimed to be
"of Christ;" and 2 Cor. xi. 13 seems aimed
against their leaders. And this may be the
meaning of pepeptffTai b xpicrbs in i. 13: "The
Christ has been made a part." He who ought
to be all in all has been degraded to a fraction
(see Speaker's Comm.). The attractive theory
of Schmidt and Baur that there were only two
factions, that of Paul and Apollos on one side,
and that of Cephas and Christ on the other, does
not bear close inspection. Unlike John xix. 25,
the grouping does not suggest two pairs. There
was much more at work than the difference
between the progress claimed by Paul in the
interests of the Gentiles and the conversatism
maintained by other Apostles in sympathy with
the Jews. That Paul and Apollos were excellent
friends (iii. 5 ; iv. 6 ; xvi. 12) is indubitable.
But it is scarcely less so that real dissension
existed between the admirers of Paul and the
admirers of Apollos (i. 17-28 ; ii. 1-6 ; iii. 4).
Clement of Rome (xlvii.) omits the " Christ
party " because it would not suit his argument.
But if there were virtually only two factions, he
ought to have omitted the Apollos party as
well; all the more so, as its omission would
have improved his argument. His mention of
it is strong evidence of its distinctness. Perhaps
the strangest theory of all is that the only real
parties were those of Paul and of Apollos ; " that
Cephas is introduced only to vary the illustra
tion; and that Christ is added to crown the
absurdity of such mischievous partisanship."
(6) St. Paul abstains from attributing particular
doctrines to particular parties. It will be our
wisdom to do the same. He condemns on the
one hand certain schismatical factious, on the
other certain erroneous doctrines and practices.
But he nowhere assigns any of the latter to any
one of the former. It was unnecessary and
perhaps impossible to do so. Some evils would
be common to two, three, or all four of the
parties. It is easy to see that some of the evils
would be prevalent chiefly among Gentile con
verts, others chiefly among Jewish : and on the
whole the First Epistle treats mainly of the
former, the Second mainly of the latter. But
we need not go beyond these broad facts. In
genious speculations unsupported by evidence
are not worth the time which the study of them
consumes. St. Paul's rebukes were effectual. These fac
tions soon died out. Clement of Rome writes
of them as past, and contrasts them with exist
ing dissensions of quite another kind. Evidently
they had never created a schism.
b. As to the diflicult passage iii. 12-15, all

1 CORINTHIANS
that can be pointed out here is that its imagery
is taken from Corinth as St. Paul knew it. Of
the city destroyed by Mummius only what was
solid had survived the conflagration. Founda
tions and " costly stones " remained, while
everything which had been run up in " wood "
and thatch of " hay " and " stubble " had been
consumed. c. There is no reasonable doubt that v. 9 refers
to a lost epistle written before our 1 Cor. Ex
cepting a possible misapprehension of the meaning
of vvv (v. 11), nothing but a priori dislike to ad
mitting the loss of a letter from a leading Apostle .
to a leading Church, would make interpreters
hesitate. This may be met by another a priori
consideration. No two places equally far apart
were in more constant communication than
Ephesus and Corinth. Is it likely that a Church
of such importance and so critically situated as
Corinth would be left by St. Paul, while at
Ephesus, without either a visit or a letter for
three years ? In point of fact he gave both (see
next article). We know, even without John
xx. 25, that thousands of our Lord's spoken
words have not been preserved. Is it surprising
that some of His Apostles' written words have
perished ? It is to the last degree improbable
that the Apostles wrote nothing, either to
Churches or individuals, but what has come
down to us. See Lightfoot, Philippians, 2nd ed.
p. 136 ; Jowett, Epp. of St. Paul, 2nd ed. p. 195.
On the apocryphal epistle to the Corinthians
see below.
VI. In Style 1 Cor. should possibly be ranked
first among St. Paul's writings. Probably no
such thought was in his mind: but the letter
might convince the fastidious Greeks that in
clearness of thought and power of language he
was no way inferior to the eloquent Apollos.
Chapters xiii. and xv. are among the most sub
lime passages, not only in the Bible, but in
literature. Several other portions are of the
noblest type of eloquence : e.g. the character
istics of heavenly wisdom (ii. 6-16 ; iii. 18-23);
the limits of personal liberty (vi. 12-20); the '
impassioned appeal in ch. ix. The whole letter
conveys a profound impression of lofty thoughts
expressed in lofty language.
The following words and phrases are peculiar
to this Epistle in the N. T. : pupia (i. 18, 21, 23 ;
ii. 14 ; iii. 19), tp-np.1 (vii. 29 ; i. 15, 19 ; xv. 50),
&yap.os (vii. 8, 11, 32, 34), Karaxpao-Oat (vii. 31;
ix. 18), o-vp.tpopos (vii. 35; x. 33), aKaTdXmros
(xi. 5, 13), Koptav (xi. 14, 15), ivepyhpara (xii.
6, 10), ipfaivela. (xii. 10 ; xiv. 26), xouc6s (xv.
47, 48, 49), Xoyia (xvi. 1, 2), of &pxovres to5
aiuvos tovtov (ii. 6, 8), t) aotpia tov Koapov
tovtov (i. 20 ; iii. 18). There is a large number
of a7ra| Xey6p.eva, of which those relating to
the Eucharist are specially interesting : Tb Ttori,-
ptov ttjs evXoytas (x. 16), iroT-iipiov Kvpiov (x.
21), to voT-iipiov tov Kvpiov (xi. 27), rpdirefa
Kvpiov (x. 21), Kvpicucbv Setirvov (xi. 20), Kotvuvla
toC afyiaros, too eupaTos (x. 16). Among others
are irpb tuv ait&vav (ii. 7), to irvevua tou tcitruov
(ii. 12), yvp.viTeielv (iv. 11), irept\frnua (iv. 13),
imo-Tcao-eai (vii. 18), eltiuXelov (viii. 10), irvfcreia)
(ix. 26), Ttepirepeieo-6ai (xiii. 4), iwrptepa (xv. 8),
\ut-Tl otpeaXptov (xv. 52), avtipi(etr0ai (xvi. 13),
Mapav add (xvi. 22). . .
There are thirty quotations from tlie 0. T., of
which nineteen are given as such,— a number

CORINTHIANS
exceeded by no Epistle, excepting Romans and
Hebrews ; and even in Hebrews the range of
quotation is not so wide. Eleven books are
quoted : Isaiah eight times, Psalms four or five,
Deuteronomy four, Genesis four, Exodus two or
three times, Numbers one or two, Zechariah one
or two ; Job, Jeremiah, Hosea, Malachi, each
once. Nowhere else in the N. T. is Job explicitly
quoted (iii. 19 : cp. Phil. 19 ; 1 Thess. v. 22 ;
2 Thess. ii. 8 ; Luke i. 52). In some cases (x. 6
and xi. 25) we cannot be sure from which of two
Books the quotation comes. In eight cases
(vi. 16 ; ix. 9 ; x. 7, 20, 21, 26 ; xv. 32, 45) the
quotation is in exact agreement with the LXX. In
fourteen (i. 19, 31 ; ii. 16 ; v. 7, 13 ; x. 5, 6, 22 ;
xi. 7, 25 ; xiii. 5 ; xv. 25, 27, 47) there is almost
exact, or at least substantial agreement with the
LXX. In four (i. 20 ; iii. 19 ; xiv. 25 ; xv. 5+)
the quotation follows the Hebrew. In three
(ii. 9 ; xiv. 21 ; xv. 55) it differs considerably
from both. In one (iii. 20) it agrees almost
exactly with both. These facts show that,
although St. Paul was familiar with both the
Hebrew and the Greek of the 0. T., yet as a rule
he quotes from the LXX. In his writings, quo
tations which agree with the Hebrew against
the Greek are comparatively rare.
The Epistle contains one of the three quota
tions from classical literature made by St. Paul
(xv. 33 ; Tit. i. 12 ; Acts xvii. 28). That the
parable ofthe body and its members (xii. 12-27)
was suggested by that of Menenius Agrippa
(Livy, ii. 32) is not likely.
In the following passages there are various
readings of much interest: — ii. 1, p.vo-Ti)piov and
papripiov : iii. 1, a-apKivots and trapKtKoTs : v. 6,
ou KaXhv and xax6v: vi. 20, insertion of et
¦portate in some Latin authorities, and of iv Tip
¦ttvevpuTt vpatv wrivd iffTtv tov deov in some
Greek : vii. 3, 5, ttiv otpetXTjv and T7ji/ otpeiXo-
pevnv e&voiav, trxoXdoTYre and axoXdQnTe, -fire
and trvvepxetrde, with the insertion of Kai
vntTTeia ad, seem to show the influence of
ascetic views : vii. 33, 34, punctuation : viii. 7,
ovvT\Beia and aweitii'icei : ix. 1, transposition of
clauses : xi. 10, i^ovciav and KdXvpipia, velamen :
xi. 24, insertion of KXdp.evov ¦ xi. 29, insertion
of i.va\ias : xiii. 3, Kav84itrwpuii and Kavx^aupiai :
xv. 5, tititieKa and evSexa : xv. 47, insertion of
d xvpios : xv. 51, several important variations.
The Epistles to the Corinthians abound in
figures of language, some of which are very
characteristic of St. Paul's style. Some think
that their frequency in his writings indicates
that he had attended lectures in Greek rhetoric
at Tarsus. (The references in this paragraph
are not exhaustive : in some cases many other
instances might be cited.) Accumulation of
participles : 1 Cor. viii. 12 ; xv. 58 ; 2 Cor. iv.
«, 9, 10, 13, 14 ; of synonyms, 2 Cor. vi. 14-16.
Alliteration : 2 Cor. vii. 4 ; viii. 22 ; ix. 5, 8, 10,
13. Anacoluthon : 1 Cor. iv. 2, 6, 7, 8 ; xii. 28 ;
2 Cor. i. 7 ; vii. 5 ; ix. 10-13 ; xi. 23-27.
Antithesis : 1 Cor. i. 18, 21 ; iii. 2 ; iv. 10, 18 ;
viii. 1 ; xiii. 2. Aposiopesis : 1 Cor. ix. 15 ;
2 Cor. vii. 12. Asyndeton : 1 Cor. xiii. 4-8 ;
xiv. 26 ; xv. 43, 44 ; 2 Cor. viii. 23 ; x. 16 ;
xi. 20; xii. 10; xiii. 11. Chiasmus: 1 Cor.
hi. 17 ; viii. 13 ; xiii. 2 ; 2 Cor. ix. 6 ; x. 12 ;
»i. 9, 20. Climax: 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3; 2 Cor.
vii- 11 ; xi. 22, 23. Constructs ad sensum :
1 Cor. vii. 36. Constructio praegnans : 1 Cor.

1 CORINTHIANS

655

xi. 18 ; xv. 54 ; 2 Cor. x. 5 ; xi. 3. Contrast of
prepositions : 1 Cor. xi. 12 ; xii. 8 ; 2 Cor.
iv. 17 ; viii. 3 ; x. 3, 13. Epanaphora : 1 Cor.
i. 26; v. 8; xii. 8-10; xiii. 7, 8; xvi. 19, 20;
2 Cor. vii. 2, 4, 11. Erotesis : 1 Cor. i. 13;
ii. 11 ; iii. 16 ; iv. 7 ; v. 6, 12 ; vi. 9, 15, 16,
19 ; 2 Cor. xii. 17, 18 ; xiii. 5. Euphemism :
1 Cor. v. 1, 2 ; vii. 3 ; 2 Cor. vii. 11. Irony:
1 Cor. iv. 8 ; viii. 1 ; 2 Cor. xi. 16 ; xii. 13.
Litotes : 1 Cor. xi. 17, 22. Oratio variata :
1 Cor. vii. 13 ; xiv. 1 ; 2 Cor. viii. 23 ; xi.
23-28. Oxymoron : 2 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 14 ;
viii. 2 ; xii. 5, 9, 10. Parallelism : 1 Cor. vii. 16 ;
a. 23 ; xi. 4, 5 ; xii. 4, 6, 15-17 ; xiii. 8-12 ;
xv. 21, 42-49, 53, 54 ; 2 Cor. vii. 4, 5 ; xiii. 4.
Parenthesis : 1 Cor. xvi. 15 ; 2 Cor. ii. 5 ; v. 7 ;
vi. 2; ix. 4; xi. 21, 23 ; xii. 2, 3. Paronomasia:
1 Cor. ii. 13 ; iii. 17 ; vii. 31 ; xi. 29, 31, 32 ;
xiv. 10; 2 Cor. iii. 2; iv. 8; v. 4; vi. 10;
vii. 10 ; viii. 22 ; x. 12 ; xi. 2. Pronouns
demonstrative inserted for emphasis before oti
aud the like : 1 Cor. i. 12 ; vii. 26 ; xv. 50 ;
2 Cor. i. 12 ; ii. 1, 9 ; v. 14 ; viii. 20 ; x. 7, 11 ;
xiii. 10. Pronouns personal (vpuv) inserted
between the article and the noun — peculiar to
St. Paul: 1 Cor. vii. 35; ix. 12; xvi. 17;
2 Cor. i. 6 ; vii. 7, 15 ; viii. 13, 14 ; xii. 19 ;
xiii. 9. Repetition of conjunctions : 1 Cor.
ii. 3 ; iii. 22 ; v. 11 ; xiv. 6 ; 2 Cor. vii. 11 ;
xii. 12, 21 ; of emphatic words : 1 Cor. ii. 6, 13 ;
x. 1^-; xi. 3-5; xii. 4-6; xiii. 2, 9, 10, 11;
xv. 21 ; 2 Cor. ii. 16 ; vi. 12 ; vii. 2, 4 ; x. 12 ;
of prepositions : 1 Cor. i. 10 ; ii. 3 ; v. 8 ; xiv. 6 ;
xv. 52 ; 2 Cor. vi. 4-8 ; xi. 23, 27 ; xii. 10 ;
of the relative : 1 Cor. ii. 7. Transposition for
emphasis : 1 Cor. ii. 6 ; iii. 2 ; vi. 4 ; ix. 10 ;
x. 13 ; 2 Cor. ii. 4 ; ix. 7 ; x. 3 ; xii. 7. Zeugma :
1 Cor. iii. 2. ToC with infin. to express design :
1 Cor. ix. 10 ; x. 13 ; xvi. 4 ; 2 Cor. i. 8 ; viii. 11.
Eis or irpbs to express design or result : 1 Cor.
viii. 10 ; ix. 18 ; x. 6 ; xi. 22, 33 ; 2 Cor. i. 4 ;
iii. 13 ; iv. 4 ; vii. 3 ; viii. 6.
"VII. The Bearer of the Letter is not
known. From xvi. 12 it would seem as if the
Apostle had wished that Apollos should undertake
this office. The spurious foot-note assigns it to
Stephanas, Fortunatus, Achaicus, and Timothy.
This is impossible as regards Timothy, who had
already started for Macedonia and Corinth
(iv. 17 ; xvi. 10, 11 ; Acts xix. 22), but may be
true of the rest (xvi. 17, 18). It is, however,
more probable that the bearer was Titus (cp.
2 Cor. viii. 16-24 and xii. 18 with 1 Cor. xvi.
12). See Lightfoot iu Camb. Journal of Class.
and Sacr. Philol. ii. 201, 202, June 1855;
Macknight, Transl. of .the Apost. Epp. i. 451,
674 ; ii. 2, 7, 124 ; Stanley on 1 Cor. xvi. 12.
VIII. Two Apocryphal Epistles connected
with 1 Cor. are preserved in Armenian ; one from
the Corinthians to St. Paul, and one from him in
reply. They are demonstrably spurious and are
of little interest. Text published by Wilkins,
1715; by P. Masson with Latin version, 1715;
by Whiston, 1719; by Whiston's sons with
Greek aud Latin versions, 1736. The English
translation of Father Aucher and Lord Byron is
given in Moore's Life of Lord Byron, vi. 274,
and in Stanley ; and a summary in Dict. of
Christ Biog. ii. 168. These Armenian forgeries
do not represent the letters alluded to in 1 Cor.
vii. 1 and v. 9. The Corinthian letter does not
ask the questions answered by St. Paul in vii.-

656

2 CORINTHIANS

xiv., and the reply gives no warning about
associating with fornicators. Their chief value
is as contrasts to genuine documents. Such
clumsy imitations of apostolic writings indirectly
attest the authenticity of the canonical Epistles
(see Ullmann in Heidelberg. Jahrb., 1823).
IX. Bibliography. — Literature covering both
1 and 2 Cor. will be noticed at the close of the
next article. Few have treated of 1 Cor. singly :
of the Fathers none ; of the Reformers only
Peter Martyr [VermigH], 1551, and Melanch-
thon, 1561 : the latter includes some chapters
of 2 Cor. Crell (Socinian), 1635 ; John Light
foot, 1664 ; Sahl, 1778 ; F. A. W. Krause, 1791 ;
Heydenreich, 1825-27. All these are in Latin :
their full titles will be found in Meyer's Preface
to 1 Cor. English : John Colet, tr. and ed. by
J. H. Lupton, Bell and Daldy, 1874 ; T. T. Shore
in Ellicott's Comm. ii., Cassells ; T. S. Evans in
Speaker's Comm. iii., Murray, 1881, — excellent ;
T. C. Edwards, Hamilton and Adams, 1885 ;
C. J. Ellicott, Longmans, 1887. German: Maier
(Romish), Freiburg, 1857. Dutch : Til, Amster
dam, 1731. French : F. Godet, Neuchatel, 1886-
1887 (Eng. tr., T. and T. Clark). On special
portions : Vitringa on difficult passages, Franeq.
1784; Gratama on cap. vii., Groning. 1846;
Gurlitt on cap. xi., Hamb. 1817 ; Hengel on
cap. xv., Silvae Ducis, 1851 : all four in Latin.
On the Factions: Pott, De sectis Eccl. Cor.,
Gott. 1824; Baur, Tub. Zeitschr., 1831 (the
opening chapter of the Tubingen theory), 1836 ;
Jaeger, Br. P. n. Hor. aus d. Gesichtsp. d. vier
Parth., Tub. 1838; Schenkel, De Eccl. Cor.
factionibus turbata, Basil. 1838 ; Kniewel, Eccl.
Cor. dissensiones, Gedan. 1841 ; Becker, Parth.
in d. Gem. z. Kor., Altona, 1842 ; Riibiger,
Untersuchungen Wxr d. Br. an d. Kor., Breslau,
1847 ; — Beyschlag, De Eccl. Cor. factions Chris
tiana, Hal. 1861 ; Stud. u. Krit, 1865, p. 217 ;
1871, p. 635 ; Zeitschr. f. wissensch. Theol, 1864,
p. 155; 1865, p. 241; 1869,p.398; 1871,p.ll2;
1872, p. 200 ;— Schaff, Hist, of Apost. Church,
Edinb. 1854, pp. 285-291. On the Tongues : Hil-
genfeld, Glossolalie in d. alt. Kirehe, Leipz. 1850;
Reuss, La Glossolalie, chapitre de psychologic e'van-
ge"lique in Sti-assb. Revue de Theol. 1851 ; Ross-
teuscher (Irvingite), Gabe d. Spraclien im apost.
Zeii.,iMarburg, 1855 ; Maier, Glossolalie des apost.
Zeit., Freiburg, 1855 ; — Articles in Stud. u. Krit.
bv Bleek, 1829, 1830; by Kling, 1839; by
Wieseler, 1838, 1860 ; in Dict. of Bible, 1st ed.,
by Plumptre ; — Notes in Schaff, Church Hist.
2nd ed. i. 234-242. In the Expositor, 1st Series,
i. 142, 237, are dissertations on 1 Cor. vi. 1-7,
vii. ; in iii. 355 on 1 Cor. y. 1-5, 13 ; in x. 321
on 1 Cor. vii. 14 ; in xi. 20 on 1 Cor. xi. 10 : in
2nd Series, viii. 241, on 1 Cor. x. 21 ; in viii. 128
on 1 Cor. xv. : also Godet in 3rd Series, 1885.
In W. Sewell's Microscope of N, T., Rivingtons,
1878, are notes on 1 Cor. vi. 12, xv. 29, 30.
In Field's Otium Norvicense, iii., Oxford, 1881,
pp. 101-111, are valuable notes on ii. 2, 3,
iii. 5, iv. 6, 11, v. 1, vi. 4. 7, 11, 15, vii. 16,
ix. 27, x. 13, xi. 22, xiii. 5, 7, xiv. 8, xv. 8,
xvi. 22. [A. P.]
CORINTHIANS, SECOND EPISTLE
TO THE, is the first chapter in Ecclesiastical
Biography, as 1 Cor. is the first in Ecclesiastical
History. It is in part the Apostle's auto
biography, the Apologia pro vita sua. For many

2 CORINTHIANS
details of his life it is our only source of infor
mation; and in all respects is most important
for giving insight into his character and mode
of working. In no other letter are the traces of
conflicting emotions more evident : on none is
the strength of his character, both in its tender
ness and its sternness, impressed more clearly.
Love and thankfulness gain the upper hand in
the first half; indignation and severity in the
second. Of the three episodes in his conflict
with Judaizing opponents we have here the first.
In 2 Cor. x.-xii. 10 he asserts his full apostolic
authority. In Galatians he declares that Gen
tiles have no need of circumcision. In Romans
he shows that Jew and Gentile alike have need
of faith to be saved.
I. The Authenticity of 2 Cor. is as impreg
nable as that of 1 Cor., which reflects much of
its strength upon its companion. But the inde
pendent evidence is ample.
External. — The apparent reminiscences in
Clement of Rome, Ignatius, and Hermas cannot
be relied upon ; and Polycarp vi. 1 may come
direct from Prov. iii. 4 rather than through
2 Cor. viii. 21. But Irenaeus quotes 2 Cor.
repeatedly, and several times by name : Apos
tolus ait in epistola secunda ad Corinthios (iv.
xxviii. 3) ; In secunda quae est ad Corinthios
dicens (v. iii. 1). Cp. rv\ xxvi. 4, xxix. 1,
xxxvi. 6 ; v. xiii. 4. See Werner, Der Paulinis-
mus des Irenaeus, Leipzig, 1889. He quotes
from chaps, ii., iii., iv., v., xiii. Athenagoras
(de Res. Mort. xviii.) quotes part of v. 10.
Theophilus of Antioch shows knowledge of it.
Clement of Alexandria quotes it more than
forty times, and from every chapter, excepting i.
and ix. Tertullian (adv. Marc. xi. xii.) runs
through it, and elsewhere quotes it over seventy
times: see esp. de Pud. xiii. Cyprian quotes
from every chapter excepting i. and x. Of
heretical writers Basilides knew it, and Marcion
admitted it to his mutilated Canon. It is
contained in the Muratorian Fragment.
Internal Evidence is equally strong, whether
we consider the characteristic energy and tender
ness, or the harmonies with the Acts and the
other Epistles, esp. 1 Cor. The following coin
cidences will repay study: 2 Cor. ii. 13 with
1 Cor. xvi. 5 and Acts xx. 1 ; 2 Cor. i. 8 with
Acts xix. 30 ; 2 Cor. i. 19 with Acts xviii. 5 ;
2 Cor. xi. 25 with Acts xiv. 19.
The Integrity of the Epistle has been assailed,
but on very insufficient grounds. All that is
required to account for the difference of tone in
different parts is the reasonable supposition that
it was not all written at one sitting, and possibly
not all at one place. It may have been com
posed in sections, as St. Paul journeyed towards
Corinth. Fresh news may have influenced him
and changed the affection of the first part
(i.-viii.) into the sternness of the last (xi.-xiii.).
Or he began by thinking of the Corinthians, who
as a Church were dutiful to him, and passed on
to address the Judaizing minority and their
leaders, who slandered and resisted him. Those
who deny the integrity are by no means agreed
as to how the Epistle is to be dissected. Semler
and Weisse divide it into three letters, Weber and
Hausrath into two. Emmerling and Ewald re
gard vi. 14-vii. 1 as an after-insertion by St.
Paul or some one else. See Reuss, Hist, of tlie
Sacred Scriptures of H. T., Eng. tr., p. 94. MSS.

2 COKINTHIANS
and Versions lend no support to these disinte
grating views. Irenaeus quotes from ii. 15, 16 and
xiii. 7-9 as secunda nd Corinthios (iv. ch. xxviii.
3 ; v. ch. iii. 1). Tertullian and Clement make
no distinction.
II. The Place and Time can be fixed within
narrow limits. St. Paul was in Macedonia (viii.
1 ; ix. 2) ; but that he was at Philippi, as stated
in the ancient foot-note (B, Peshitto), cannot be
determined. From viii. 1-5 we should infer
that he was leaving Macedonia for Greece rather
than entering it from Asia. He left Ephesus
about Pentecost (1 Cor. xvi. 8), probably a.d.
57 ; went to Troas, where he hoped to meet
Titus with news from Corinth ; and after waiting
in vain for him went on to Macedonia (ii. 12,
13), where Titus met him (vii. 5, 6). For all
this we must allow several months, but not
more ; for the letter was evidently written soon
after the meeting with Titus, and was sent to
Corinth by him (viii. 6). Hence the latter part
of a year, which is probably a.d. 57, is the date
of this Epistle.
III. The Occasion is the reception of news from
Corinth, especially as to the way in which the
former letter had been received. Did this
news come exclusively from Titus ? Probably
Timothy, who left Ephesus before 1 Cor. was
written (iv. 17), and is again with St. Paul when
he writes 2 Cor. (i. 1), had brought some infor
mation. St. Paul expected that 1 Cor. would
reach Corinth before Timothy (xvi. 10). Yet
nothing is said in 2 Cor. about news brought by
him. Hence four hypotheses. 1. Timothy may-
have returned to the Apostle without going to
Corinth at all. This is very improbable. In
that case St. Paul would have explained Timothy's
non-appearance ; all the more so as the hostile
party at Corinth would have made capital out
of it (i. 17). 2. Between our two Epistles
St. Paul may have sent a letter of stern reproof,
in which were contained his comments on the
news brought by Timothy. This is gratuitous.
Such passages as 1 Cor. iii. 1-3 ; iv. 7, 8, 18,
19 ; v. 1, 2 ; vi. 1, 8—10 are quite severe enough
to explain St. Paul's anxiety about their effect ;
and his silence about Timothy's report can be
better explained. 3. Timothy may have left
Corinth before 1 Cor. arrived. 4. More probably
it arrived before he left, and the news brought
by him about his reception is not mentioned in
2 Cor. because (a) he is joint-writer of the letter
(i. 1), and (0) the news brought by Titus was
more pressing.
IV. The Contents are not quite so varied as
those ofthe longer Epistle, but the changes of sub
ject are even more abrupt. After the usual Salu-
tationxai Thanksgiving (i. 1-11), he discusses the
Sews brought by Titus (i. 12-vii. 16). Secondly,
the Collection for the Churches in Judaea (viii.
1-ix. 15), about which he was most anxious,
because (a) it was » means of uniting Jewish
and Gentile Christians, and (6) it proved to the
Jewish Christians how real was his union with
them, in spite of his dissent from their views.
Thirdly, his Apostolical Authority (x.-xii. 13),
followed by farewell Warning and Blessing
(xii. 14-xiii. 13). The benediction is more full
than in any other letter, and from the earliest
times has been used in the service of the Church
{Apost. Const, viii. chs. v. 5 ; xii. 3). There are
various digressions, of which the most important
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

2 CORINTHIANS

657

is the comparison of the Minister of the 0. T.
and the Minister of the N. T. (iii.), and the most
abrupt that on Intercourse with Heathen (vi.
14— vii. 1).
The key-note of the first part is " comfort in
affliction : " TrapaKX-ntris occurs eleven times and
exists nine times in i.-ix. ; neither of them in
x.-xiii. The key-note of the latter part is
" boosting in weakness : " Kavxatrdai occurs
seventeen times, atrSeveiv seven and atrBeveta
six times, in x.-xiii. ; Kavxao-6ai thrice, the
others not at all, in i.-ix.
The Epistle contains some special difficulties.
a. The translation and meaning of iii. 18 : b. of
v. 15 : c. of imepXlav air6o-ToXoi (xi. 5 ; xii. 11).
o*. The allusion in xi. 14. e. The " revelation "
in xii. 2-4. /. The CK6xo\pTg arapKt (xii. 7), for
which see Lightfoot, Galatians, pp. 186-191.
g. The number of St. Paul's visits to Corinth.
Only the last can be noticed here. g. That St.
Paul was thrice in Corinth, twice before writing
1 and 2 Cor. and once afterwards, is clear from
the following passages. (1) Tplrov iXSetv in
xii. 14 and TpWov epxopai in xiii. 1. (2) iv
Xiirri iX8e?v in ii. 1 cannot refer to his first
visit, which was full of joy and success. There
must have been a sad visit since then ; and to
this fact Tairetvuag p.e in xii. 21 also points.
(3) us irapuv Tb tievrepov in xiii. 2 means " as
/ did when I was present the second time."
(4) 1 Cor. xvi. 7 seems to imply a previous short
visit : *' I do not wish to hurry away again at
once, as I did before." If so, this cannot refer
to the first visit, which lasted eighteen months
(Acts xviii. 11). This second and sad and pro
bably short visit would be made during the
three years spent mainly at Ephesus. The
silence of the Acts respecting this visit presents
no difficulty when we remember how few of the
events enumerated in 2 Cor. xi. 23-27 are re
corded by St. Luke.
V. The Style of this Epistle has not been so
universally admired as that of the First. The
Greek is hard. Both narrative and sentences
are often involved and broken. There is-
throughout a want of ease and smoothness.
The thoughts, in the main as noble as in the
earlier letter, are less beautifully expressed.
There are no passages of such lofty eloquence as
1 Cor. xiii. and xv. The oratory is powerful,
not because of the language, but in spite of it.
The intensity of the conflicting feelings under
which it was written has shattered rhythm and
arrangement. But it leaves au impression of
reality and authority which more studied diction
might have weakened. One feels in every
sentence that the writer is speaking straight.
from his heart, that heart on which " Corinth "
is inscribed (iii. 2; vii. 3). In spite of the joy
which pervades the first half, there are signs.
that the letter was written when he was suffer
ing much from his chronic malady. He feels
under " sentence of death " (i. 9 ; iv. 10-12, 16 ;
v. 4), and is fighting against intense depression
(i. 6 ; iv. 8, 9 ; v. 2 ; vii. 4).
The following words and phrases are peculiar
to this Epistle in the N. T. : KdXvppa (iii. 13, 14,
15, 16), avaxaXiiTTeiv (iii. 14, 18), <purto-p.6s
(iv. 4, 6), sktivos (v. 1, 4), iirevtiieo-Oai (v. 2, 4),
iKti-npetv and ivtitipeiv (v. 6, 8, 9), iypvirvla (vi.
5 ; xi. 27), ayviT-ns (vi. 6 [xi. 3]), onrb ireovat
(viii. 10; ix. 2), 0-vp.Ttep.iteiv (viii. 18, 22),
2 U

658

2 CORINTHIANS

irpotravairXripovv (ix. 12 ; xi. 9), els to UpeTpa
(x. 13, 15), iirepXiav (xi. 5 ; xii. 11), KaravapKav
(xi. 9 ; xii. 13, 14), -irpoaptaprdveiv (xii. 21 ;
xiii. 2). The number of aira£ Xey6p.eva is large :
among them are evxapiCTeltrSai (i. 11), Kairii-
Ae<5etv(ii. 17), avaTaTMis (iii. 1), iraXaia, StaBiiKti
(iii. 14), KaTOTTTpt£etr8at (iii. 18), <5 8ebs tov
a'tuvos Toirov (iv. 4), S e|a r\p.uv &v6puiros (iv.
16), BeXtap (vi. 15), poXvffp.6s (vii. 1), kcctk
BdBovs (viii. 2), irpoKaTaprl^eiv (ix. 5), dx^poipa
(x. 4), ^6v8oit((o"toAos (xi. 13), &77eAoj tpur6s
(xi. 14), iBvdpxns (xi. 32), trapydvri (xi. 33),
TpWos obpavSs (xii. 2), o-KcJAoif* (xii. 7), £77^01
ffaTaca (xii. 7).
There are twenty or more quotations from the
0. T., of which nine are given as such ; and ten
or twelve books are quoted : Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, Psalms,
Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea,
Amos ; but the citations from the last three
occur in places where the quotation is com
pound, or where the precise source is uncertain :
iii. 3 from Ex. xxxi. 18, xxxiv. 1 ; Prov. iii. 3,
vii. 3 ; Jer. xxxi. 33 ; Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 26 : vi.
16 from Lev. xxvi. 11 ; Ezek. xxvii. 27: vi. 17
from Is. Iii. 11 ; Jer. li. 45 ; Ezek. xx. 41 : vi.
18 from 2 Sam. vii. 8, 14 ; Hos. i. 10 ; Is. xliii.
6; Amos iv. 13: and ix. 10 from Is. lv. 10;
Hos. x. 12. In six cases (iv. 13 ; vi. 2 ; viii. 15 ;
ix. 9, 10 ; xi. 3) there is exact agreement with
the LXX. In four (viii. 21 ; ix. 7 ; x. 17 ; xiii. 1)
the agreement is close. Quotations which agree
with the Hebrew against the LXX. are rare (vi.
17). Like most Hellenist Jews, St. Paul com
monly used the LXX., though quite at home in
the Hebrew text.
The following various readings are of special
interest: i. 12, ayiST-nTi and o.itX6ttiti: i. 18,
eCTiv and eyevero -. iii. 3, Kaptiiais and Kaptiias :
iii. 13, te'Aos and irpStrutrov : iii. 17, Westcott
and Hort conjecture Kiiptov for Kvpiov : vii. 8,
BXeiru, BXeira ydp, videns (BXeiruv): x. 12,
several : xi. 3, omission of koI tt)s ayv6TTiros :
xi. 6, several : xii. 1, several, and punctuation :
xii. 7, omission of Sio, and punctuation.
For figures of language see the preceding
article. Two points of special interest are suggested
by this Epistle. (1) The personal appearance
ofthe Apostle is indicated as being so mean as to
give a handle to his opponents (x. 10; cp. 1 Cor.
ii. 3) ; and the " stake [thorn] in the flesh " (xii.
7) probably aggravated this. The descriptions
of him in the Acta Pauli et Theclae (c. a.d. 200),
the Philopatris of the Pseudo-Lucian (c. 350),
John Malalas (c. 600), and Nicephorus Callisti
(o. 1350), are quoted by Conybeare and How
son (chap. vii. sub fin.) and Farrar (ii. Excursus
xi.). They all represent him as bald and with
an aquiline nose, and most add that he stooped.
(2) His habit of teaching without payment was
evidently another handle for his enemies (xi.
7-12 ; cp. 1 Cor. ix. 18, x. 33). Gratuitous
instruction was in accordance with the best
Greek traditions (Plato, Sophist, 223, 224;
Arist. de Soph. El. i. ; Xen. Mem. I. vi. 13),
which made it the mark of a Sophist to teach
for pay. But Just as the Sophists could retort
that the philosophers did not dare to ask for
money, because they knew that what they
taught was worthless, so his opponents declared
that St. Paul did not dare to take the wages of

2 CORINTHIANS
an Apostle (1 Thess. ii. 6 ; 2 Thess. iii. 8, 9),
because he knew that he was not an Apostle.
VI. The Bearers of the Lettek were Titus
and two others, who may have been Trophimus
and Tychicus. But " the brother whose praise in
the Gospel is spread through all the churches "
has also been conjectured to be Barnabas, Silas,
Luke, Mark, or Erastus ; and " our brother
whom we have many times proved earnest in
many things," to be Epaenetus, Apollos, Luke,
Zenas, Sosthenes, or Timothy.
That the letter was in the main successful
we infer (1) from the tranquil tone which per
vades the letter to the Romans written from
Corinth a few months later ; (2) from the
absence of information to the contrary. The
Corinthian Church had its faults, but not out
rageous ones, when Clement of Rome wrote to
it c. a.d. 95. Hegesippus (c. 160) says that he
found it continuing in the true faith, and was
himself refreshed there in it (Eus. H. E. iv.
xxii. 1, 2). And its Bishop Dionysius (c. 170)
was so universally respected 'that heretics
thought it worth while to garble his pastoral
letters, in order to seem to have his sanction for
their views (Eus. H. E. iv. xxiii. 12).
VII. Bibliography. — -Very few have treated
2 Cor. singly. Latin : Leun, Lemg. 1804 ; Em-
merling, Lips. 1823 ; Scharling, Kopenh. 1840 ;
Fritzsche, Denonnullis locis, Lips. 1824. English:
Plumptre in Ellicott's Comm. ii., Cassells ; Waite
in Speaker's Comm. iii., Murray, 1881 ; F. W.
Farrar in Pulpit Comm., Kegan Paul, 1883.
German : Burger, Erlang. 1860 ; Klopper, Unter-
suchungen, Gotting. 1869 ; Commentar., Berl.
1874. Commentaries on 1 and 2 Cor. together
abound. Latin: Major [Mayer], Viteb. 1558;
Mnsculus [Meusslin], Basil. 1559; Melanchthon,
Viteb. 1561 (2 Cor. unfinished) ; Rollock, Her-
born. 1600; Stevart, Ingolst. 1608; Contzen
(Jesuit), Colon. 1631; Sclater, Oxon. 1633;
Cocceius [Koch], Amst. 1701 ; Semler, Hal.
1770-6; Storr (Old Tubingen School), Tub.
1788; Pott, Gotting. 1826. English : Hodge
(Calvinist), New York, 1857-60 ; F. W. Robert
son Smith, 5th ed. 1867 ; Stanley, Murray,
4th ed. 1876 ; Lias, Camb. 1879 ; D. Brown
(Free Ch.) in Schaff's Comm. iii., Edinb. 1882;
Beet, Hodder, 2nd ed. 1884. German: Baum-
garten, Halle, 1761; Mosheim, Altona, 1762;
Moldenhauer, Hamb. 1771-2 ; Schulze, Halle,
1784-5; Zachariae, Gotting. 1784-5; Gopfert,
Leipz. 1788 ; Morus, Leipz. 1794; J. Flatt (Old
Tubingen School), Tub. 1827 ; Billroth, Leipz.
1833, Eng. tr. Edinb. 1837-8 ; Riickert, Leipz.
1836-7 ; Jaeger, Tub. 1838 ; Osiander, Stuttg.
1849-58 ; Neander, Berl. 1859; Kling, Bielefeld,
1861, Eng. tr. Edinb. and New York, 1869;
Heinrici, Berl., 1 Cor. 1880, 2 Cor. 1887. French:
Manoury, Paris, 1879. Still more abundant
are commentaries on all St. Paul's Epistles.
Patristic and scholastic — Greek: Chrysostom (the
Homilies on 1 and 2 Cor. are " among the most
perfect specimens of his mind and teaching ") ;
Theodoret ; Theophylact ; — Latin : Ambrosiaster
(important for textual criticism) ; Pelagius (in
Jerome) ; Primasius ; Cassiodorus ; Bede (mainly
a catena from Augustine) ; Sedulius Scotus ;
Rabanus Maurus ; Haimo of Halberstadt ; Re-
migius of Auxerre ; Lanfranc ; Anselm ; Bruno
(Founder of the Carthusians) ; Peter Lombard ;
Aquinas. Modern Latin : Faber Stapulensis

CORMORANT
[Lefevre d'Etaples], Paris, 1512; Cajetan [de
Vio], Venet. 1531 ; Titelmann (Capuchin),
Antw. 1532; GagmSe, Paris, 1543; Calvin,
Genev. 1551 ; Beza, Genev. 1565 ; Salmeron
(Jesuit), 1585 ; Selneceer, Lips. 1595 ; Heshu-
sius, Lips. 1605 ; Justiniani, Lugd. 1612-21 ;
Estius [van Est], Duaci, 1614-6 ; a Lapide [van
Steen], Antw. 1614; Weinrich, Lips. 1620;
Vorst, Amst. 1631; Grotius, Amst. 1644-6;
Fromond, Lovan. 1663 ; Calixtus, Helmst.
1664-6; Fell's Woodhead, 1675-1708; Noel
(Dominican), Paris, 1710 ; Picquigny (Cister-
. «ian), Paris, 1703 ; Bengel, Tub. 1742, Eng. tr.
Edinb. 1857 ; Wetstein, Amst. 1751-2 ; Reiche,
Gott. 1853. English: J. Dale, Oxf. 1652;
Hammond, Lond. 1653 ; D. Dickson, Lond.
1659; T. Pyle, Lond. 1725 ; Macknight, Edinb.
1795; T. Belsham (Unitarian), Lond. 1822;
Slade, Lond. 1824; Bp. Shuttleworth, Oxf.
1829 ; Burton, Oxf. 1831 ; T. W. Peile, Riving
tons, 1853 ; Alford, Rivingtons, 6th ed. 1871 ;
Bp. C. Wordsworth, Rivingtons, 4th ed. 1866 ;
Gloag, Edinb. 1874 ; J. H. Blunt, Rivingtons,
1S82. German: Olshausen, Konigsb. 1840,
Eng. tr. Edinb. 1855, New York, 1858; De
Wette, Leipz. 3rd ed. 1855; Ewald, Gotting.
1857; H. A. W. Meyer, Gotting. 5th ed.
1870, Eng. tr. Edinb. 1877, rewritten by Hen-
rici, Gotting. 18S7; Besser, Halle, 1862-3;
Hofmann, Nordling. 1874-7. French : Reuss.
In Keble's Studia Sacra, Parker, 1877, full
analyses of the Epp. In the Expositor, 1st
Series, i. 267, are notes on 2 Cor. v. 10; in iii.
355 on 2 Cor. ii. 5-11 and vii. 8-13 ; in iii. 174
on 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; in x. 403 on 2 Cor. ii. 14 : in
2nd Series, vii. 416, on 2 Cor. v. 5 ; in viii. 92 on
2 Cor. x. xi. In Field's Otium Norvicense, Oxf.
1881, pp. 111-115, are valuable notes on ii. 14,
iii. 14, v. 1, xi. 28, xii. 7. [A. P.]
CORMORANT. The representative in the
A. V. of the Hebrew words kaath (flXjJ) and
shdldc 0\7&), and of the latter in the R. V. As
to the former, see Pelican.
Shdldc (KaTapaKT-ns ; mergulus ; nycticorax ?)
occurs only as the name of an unclean bird in
Lev. xi. 17 ; Deut. xiv. 17. The word has been
variously rendered (see Bochart, Hieroz. iii. 24),
but some sea-bird is generally understood to be
denoted by it. There is some difficulty in identi
fying the KarapdKT-ns of the LXX. ; but we may
dismiss the Solan goose (Sula bassana) advocated
by Oedman, Michaelis, Rosenmiiller, and others,
as it exists neither in the Red Sea nor the
Eastern Mediterranean. As little claim has the
Caspian Tern (Sterna Caspia) suggested by Col.
H. Smith, which is only a rare straggler on the
Syrian coast in winter. Still more impossible
is the catarrhactes, or skua of modern natural
ists, a native of our far northern seas. Our
translators (A. V. and R. V.) were probably not
far wrong in thus rendering " cormorant "
(so MV.11). The common cormorant (Phala-
crocorax carbo) is very plentiful on the coast,
on the Sea of Galilee, and all down the
Jordan. It comes up all the streams on
the coast, while on these latter, as on the
Litany and the Kishon, another species, the
pygmy cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmaeus),
is common. Vast colonies of the latter breed
in the Lake of Antioch. The common cormorant
and a third species are equally abundant in

CORNELIUS

659

Egypt. These birds are too well known to
require further description. [H. B. T.]
CORN (}3T*). Tho most common kinds were
wheat, n^fY; barley, iTTJ>t2>; spelt, nDE)3
(R. V. ; wrongly rendered " rye " by A. V. in
Ex. ix. 32 and Is. xxviii. 25, and in Ezek. iv. 9,
" fitches," marg. or, spelt), or in plur. form
D'tptpS ; and millet, |IV1 : oats are mentioned
only by rabbinical writers. Tho word illiB'i
rendered "principal," as an epithet of wheat,
in the A. V. of Is. xxviii. 25, is now usually
taken (with R. V.) to mean " in rows."
[Agriculture.] Corn crops are still reckoned
at twentyfold what was sown, and were an
ciently much more. " Seven ears on one stalk "
(Gen. xii. 22) is no unusual phenomenon in
Egypt at this day. The many-eared stalk is
also common in the wheat of Palestine, and it is
of course of the bearded kind. The " heap of
wheat set about with lilies " (which probably
grew in the field together with it) may allude
to a custom of so decorating the sheaves (Cant.
vii. 2). Wheat (see 2 Sam. iv. 6) was stored in
the house for domestic purposes — the " midst of
the house " meaning the part more retired than
the common chamber where the guests were
accommodated. It is at present often kept in a
dry well, and perhaps the " ground corn " of
2 Sam. xvii. 19 was meant to imply that the
well was so used. From Solomon's time (2 Ch.
ii. 10, 15), i.e. as agriculture became developed
under a settled government, Palestine was a
corn-exporting country, and her grain was
largely taken by her commercial neighbour
Tyre (Ezek. xxvii. 17 ; cp. Amos viii. 5) ; and
continued to be so much later (Acts xii. 20).
"Plenty of corn" was part of Jacob's blessing
(Gen. xxvii. 28 ; cp. Ps. lxv. 13). The " store
houses " mentioned in 2 Ch. xxxii. 28 as built by
Hezekiah, were, perhaps, built in consequence
of the havoc made by the Assyrian armies
(cp. 2 K. xix. 29) ; without such protection
the country in its exhausted state would have
been at the mercy of the desert_ marauders.
Grain crops were liable to |lp"V, " mildew,"
and liD"!JiJ>, " blasting " (see 1 K. viii. 37), as
well as of course to fire by accident or malice
(Ex. xxii. 6 ; Judg. xv. 5) ; see further under
Agriculture. Some good general remarks
will be found in Saalschutz, Archiiol. der Hebr.
c. 10, §§ 6, 11, 12. [H. H.]
CORNELIUS (Kopvr)Xios ; Cornelius), a
centurion stationed at Caesarea, and belonging
a This seems .the general word for corn as it grows.
An ear is T\?3X/ i standing corn is HDB ; the word for
grain in its final state as fit for food is -fl, apparently 8°
from the same word, 12, pure: comp. the Arab, j
wheat, and 3, pure, i.e. as sifted. "Ug5 (from "|3t^,
to break) means "grist." "Parched corn," useful for
provisions, as not needing cookery, is rjn and K vp '
cp. the Arab. t£^* to fry. "Pounded wheat,"
niS'l. 2 Sam. xvii. 19 ; Prov. xxvii. 22.
2(12

660

CORNELIUS

to the Italian cohort [Army : II. Roman]. Cor
nelius is an important character, as being one of
the first to receive Christian Baptism without
circumcision, and apparently the first uncircum
cised convert who was received (with his house
hold) into full Christian fellowship. It is
noticeable in this regard that the accusation
against St. Peter (Acts xi. 3) was not for bap
tizing Cornelius, but for eating with him. And
it is probable that the eunuch already baptized
by Philip was uncircumcised (De Wette in loco).
However, the coincident Divine visions granted
to Cornelius and St. Peter, the prominence
given to the story, the employment of St. Peter
in the matter, and his reference to it (Acts xv.
7, 8), all show that the event was an epoch in
the history of the Church. But although Cor
nelius was certainly uncircumcised, and there
fore not a full proselyte, he is nevertheless
represented as in a near and friendly relation
to Judaism (" well reported of by all the nation
of the Jews," Acts x. 22). Besides the circum
cised proselytes (such as Nicolas of Antioch,
Acts vi. 5), there was another class of proselytes
described as " fearers " or " worshippers of
God " (tpofiovuevot or aeBopevm Tbv @eov. See
Schurer, Jewish People, § 31, who in his
second edition controverts his own previous
view that these " fearers of God " correspond to
the " sojourner proselytes " [nt^lR, Lev. xxv. 35],
or in later Rabbinical language to the " prose
lytes of the gate." See, however, Hamburger,
RE. Talmud., art. Proselyten). Authorities
differ as to the requirements made of these
persons. But they were liberally dealt with,
and the result of this liberality was the attach
ment to Judaism in a loose way of vast multi
tudes of " half Jews." On their numbers,
importance, and belief, see Hausrath, Zeit.
der Apost I. Die Proselyten, and Schurer,
Jewish People, § 31. To the strictest section
of these half-proselytes Cornelius belonged.
It was from their ranks that the Chris
tian Church was mainly recruited, and the
importance of Cornelius is that he leads the
way. The terms in which he is described (Acts
x. 2) resemble those applied to his class through
out the Book of the Acts. No distinction can
safely be drawn between " one that feared God "
(Acts a. 2) and " one that worshipped God "
(Acts xviii. 7), for in Acts xiii. the persons
addressed by St. Paul as " Ye that fear God "
(v. 16) are (in v. 43) described as devout
proselytes. For the action of St. Peter in the
matter of Cornelius, see Peter. The cen
turion's personal character appears in the narra
tive as marked by devotion (Acts x. 2, 22),
zeal for the welfare of others (x. 24), humility
(x. 25), and teachableness (x. 33). The gift of
the Holy Ghost in the case of Cornelius and his
friends preceded Baptism and the laying on of
hands, and formed St. Peter's justification for
baptizing uncircumcised persons. Their hearts
were cleansed by faith (Acts xv. 9), and they
received the Spirit by their faith, not by circum
cision (cp. Gal. iii. 2 : " Received ye the Spirit
by the works of the law or bv the hearing of
faith ?").
According to Jerome (adv. Jovin. i. p. 301)
Cornelius built a church at Caesarea. A later
legend (Menol. Graec. i. 129) makes him Bishop
of Scamandros, where he miraculously caused a

CORNER
temple to fall on his persecutors, and then
delivered and converted them. [E. R. B.]
CORNER. The HXS, or "corner," i.e. of
the field, was not allowed (Lev. xix. 9) to be
wholly reaped. It was a right of the poor to-
carry off what was so left, and this was a part
of the maintenance from the soil to which that.
class was entitled. Similarly the gleaning of
fields and fruit trees [Gleaning], and the sheaf
accidentally left on the ground, were secured to
the poor aud the stranger by the Law (xxiii. 22 j
Deut. xxiv. 19-21); so too the spontaneous pro
duce of the Sabbatical year was left for the
poor, and, so far as observed, would make it for
them a year of plenty (Ex. xxiii. 11). To-
these provisions the words of Ps. lxviii. 10,
11, "Thou hast prepared of Thy goodness
for the poor," in connexion with the words.
the "gracious rain upon Thine inheritance,"
just before, may perhaps refer. These seem.
to us, amidst the sharply-defined legal rights
of which alone civilization is cognizant, loose-
and inadequate provisions for the relief of
the poor. But custom and common law
had probably ensured their observance (Job
xxiv. 10) previously to the Mosaic enactment,
and continued for a long but indefinite time to-
give practical force to the statute. Nor were
the " poor," to whom appertained the right, the-
vague class of sufferers whom we understand by
the term. On the principles of the Mosaic-
polity every Hebrew family had a hold on a
certain fixed estate, and could by no ordinary
and casual calamity be wholly beggared. Hence
its indigent members had the claims of kindred
on the " corners," &c, of the field which their
landed brethren reaped. Similarly the " stran
ger " was a recognised dependant ; " within thy
gates " being the description expressive of his:
sharing, though not by any tie of blood, the
domestic claim ; but unable to hold any land'
which formed part of the heritage of Israel.
There was thus a further security for the main
tenance of the right in its definite and ascer
tainable character. Neither do we, in the.
earlier period of the Hebrew polity, closely
detailed as its social features are, discover any
general traces of agrarian distress and the
unsafe condition of the country which results
from it — such, for instance, as is proved by the-
banditti of the Herodian period. David, a
popular leader (1 Sam. xviii. 30 ; xxi. 11),.
could only muster from four to six hundred men
out of all Judah, though " every one that was
in distress, in debt, and every one that was dis
contented," came unto him (1 Sam. xxii. 2;
xxv. 13). Further, the position of the Levites,
who had themselves a similar claim ou the pro
duce of the land, but no possession in its soil,
would secure their influence as expounders,
teachers, and in part administrators of the Law,
in favour of such a claim. In the later period of
the Prophets their constant complaints concern
ing the defrauding of the poor (Is. x. 2 ; Ezek.
xviii. 12, 22, 29; Amos ii. 6, v. 11, viii. 6*>
» The two latter passages, speaking of " taking
exactions of wheat " from the poor, and of selling " the
refuse 6at3) of the wheat," i.e. perhaps the gleaning,
seem to point to some special evasion of the harvest
laws.

CORNER-STONE
seem to show that such laws had lost their
practical force. Still later, under the Scribes,
minute legislation fixed one-sixtieth as the por
tion of a field which was to be left for the legal
" corner " ; but provided also (which seems
hardly consistent) that two fields should not be
50 joined as to leave one corner only where two
should fairly be reckoned. The proportion
being thus fixed, all the grain might be reaped,
and enough to satisfy the regulation was subse
quently separated from the whole crop. This
"corner" was, like the gleaning, tithe-free.
Certain fruit trees — e.g. nuts, pomegranates,
vines, aud olives — were deemed liable to the law
of " the corner." Maimonides indeed lays down
the principle (Constitutiones de donis pauperum,
tap. ii. 1) that whatever crop or growth is fit
for food, is kept, gathered all at once, and car
ried into store, is liable to that law. A Gen
tile holding land in Palestine was not deemed
liable to the obligation. As regards Jews an
¦evasion seems to have been sanctioned as fol
lows : — Whatever field was consecrated to the
Temple and its services, was held exempt from
the claim of the poor : au owner might thus con
secrate it while the crop was on it, and then
redeem it, when in the sheaf, to his own use.
Thus the poor would lose the right to the
" corner." This reminds us of the " Corban "
¦(Mark vii. 11). For further information, see
under Agriculture.
The treatise Peah, in the Mishna. may like
wise be consulted, especially ch. i. 2-6, ii. 4, 7,
the above-quoted treatise of Maimonides, and a
paper "On the Poor Laws of the Hebrews" by
Dr. S. Louis, PSBA. 1883, p. 95. [H. H.]
CORNER-STONE (H5S J3N ; \i8os yu-
vidios, or aKpoyuvuiios ; lapis angularis ; also
H3S B>iO, Ps. cxviii. 22 ; KetpaXi) yuvias ; caput
anguli), a quoin or corner-stone, of great im
portance in binding together the sides of a
iuilding. Some of the corner-stones in the
ancient work of the Temple-foundations are 17
or 19 feet long, and 7J feet thick (Robinson,
i. 286). Comer-stones are usually laid sideways
and endways alternately, so that the end of one
appears above or below the side-face of the
next. At Nineveh the corners are sometimes
dbrmed of one angular stone (Layard, Nin. ii.
254). The expression in Ps. cxviii. 22 is by
some understood to mean the coping or ridge,
" coign of vantage," of a building ; but as in
any part a corner-stone must of necessity be of
.great importance, the phrase " corner-stone " is
sometimes used to denote any principal person,
as the princes of Egypt (Is. xix. 13), and is thus
applied to our Lord, Who, having been once
rejected, was afterwards set in the place of the
highest honour (Is. xxviii. 16 : Matt. xxi. 42 ;
1 Pet. ii. 6, 7 ; Grotius on Ps. cxviii. and Ephes.
ii. 20; Harmer, Obs. ii. 356). [H. W. P.]
CORNET occurs in the A. V. of the Bible
for the first time in Exod. xix. 13, where it is
given in the margin as the equivalent of Yobel
(^IV). In 2 Sam. vi. 5 it is used as the trans
lation of Mena'ane'im (D'WMO) [Cymbals].
It is found four times in the text of that
Version as the equivalent of Shopliar (")21K>) —
viz. 1 Ch. xv. 28, 2 Ch. xv. 14, Ps. xcviii. 6,

CORNET

661

and Hos. v. 8. It also stands four times for
Qarno (Wlp) in Dan. iii. 5, 7, 10, and 15.
Cornet is closely related, as is known, to the
Greek xepas, but springs immediately from the
Latin cornu. Both the Greek and Latin are,
no doubt, derived from the Hebrew Qeren (]~\p).
This (Qcren) is the genus, Yobel and Shopliar
being two species of it ; so that while every
Yohel and Shopliar are a Qeren, a Qeren is not
necessarily a Yobel or a Shopliar,
Cornet, as a mere musical instrument, has in
the course of its development undergone so many
changes (the material is now in most cases not
even horn, but wood or metal) that, in the
ordinary sense of the word, at present, its
legitimate place is a Dictionary of Music, rather
than a Dictionary of the Bible. In this article,
however, the cornet will be treated in a politico-
religious sense, i.e. as the equivalent of the
practically synonymous terms Yobel and Shophar.
As such, the cornet is the representative of the
historical past of the Jewish people, of their
religious present, and of their anxiously looked-
for glorious future — the glorious future medi
ately ofthe whole human race.
I. The historical past of the Jewish people.
According to tradition, the horns of the ram
which was caught in the thicket aud offered by
Abraham as a burnt offering instead of the
intended human victim (Isaac ; Gen. xxii. 13)
were a distinct prefiguration of the part which
the cornet, or ram's horn (Shophar), would later
on play in the religious and political destinies of
the children of Israel (Jacob), who sprang from
Isaac and Abraham.
(1.) The Shophar sounded at the giving of
¦the Law on Sinai (Ex. xix. 16, &c), which was
the consummation of the nation's deliverance
from the material bondage in Egypt. The Law
was to be to them the means of freeing them
selves from the worst of all servitudes — sin
(Ex. xx. 2, 3, 20, and elsewhere). There is no
freedom except in the Law, and nobody is free
except one who engages in the study and execu
tion ofthe Law (Qinyan Hattorah, 2)."
(2.) The Shophar resounded every fifty years
(in the year of Jubilee), when property sold " for
ever " returned to its original owner or family,
and every servant sold " for ever " to his master
became absolutely free (Lev. xxv. 9, 10, 41).
(3.) The Shophar resounded and Jericho fell
at its blast; the first city of the Holy Land
which the Israelites had attacked and taken
(Josh. vi. 20).
(4.) When Ehud had slain Eglon, Israel's
ruthless oppressor for eighteen years, the defeat
of Moab, which secured to Israel a peace of
eighty years, was brought about by the sounding
ofthe Shophar (Judg. iii. 12-30).
(5.) The Shophar played a most important
part in the battle between Gideon and the
Midianites (do., vii. 19, 22).
(6.) When, after the death of the first king
of Israel, the servants of the two rival houses
threatened to annihilate one ancther, Joab at
the solicitation of Abner stayed the internecine
war by the blowing of the Shophar (2 Sam.
ii. 28).

» See Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish lathers (Cam
bridge, 1877, p. 114).

662

CORNET

(7.) When the Two Tables of the Covenant
were being removed to Zion, David and all the
house of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord
containing them, with shouting and the sound of
the Shophar (2 Sam. vi. 15 ; 1 Ch. xv. 28).
(8.) When, after the unsuccessful rebellion of
Absalom, which was to be inaugurated by the
Shophar (2 Sam. xv. 10), there arose a more
formidable enemy against David — Sheba ben
Bichri — both the rebel's temporary success and
his final defeat were proclaimed by the Shopliar
(do., xx. 1, 22).
(9.) When David's divinely-appointed suc-
cessor — Solomon — ascended the throne, in oppo
sition to his usurping brother Adonijah, all the
people shouted, " May King Solomon live ! "
amidst the sounding of the Shophar (1 Kings
i. 39). (10.) When great and public calamities (defeat
by the enemy, want of rain, famine, pestilence,
&c.) befell the inhabitants of any part of Pales
tine, a fast and an assembly were proclaimed,
and in the ceremonies connected therewith a
solemn part was the sounding ofthe Shophar (Joel
ii. 1-17 ; Amos iii. 6 ; Mishnah Ta'anith, ii. iii.).
(11.) When the overthrow of the Jewish
polity is described, the catastrophe is given by
Zephaniah (i. 16) in the words, "A day of
Shopliar and alarm;" and by Jeremiah (iv. 19)
as, " Thou hast heard, 0 my soul, the sound of
the Shophar, the alarm of war."
(12.) The rebuilding of the feeble walls of
Jerusalem (destined one day to become mighty
fortifications), at which every one worked with
one hand whilst holding a weapon with the
other, was only successfully protected by
Nehemiah's sentinel calling together, when
necessary, the separated workmen by the sound
of the Shophar (Neh. iv. 11-14, A. V. 17-20).
II. The religious present of the Jews.
(1.) The Rabbanites (in contradistinction to
the so-called Scriptural Jews) sound the cornet
on the. first and second days of the seventh
mouth. It is true that in the whole of the
Hebrew Scriptures is not found the distinct
mention of a Shophar for the purpose of cele
brating that day (or those days) as day (or days)
of sounding the alarm. On the contrary, from
Num. x. 10 it would appear that the alarm was
to be sounded on the first day of the seventh
month, even as on other solemn occasions, by
the trumpets of silver mentioned (v. 2).
Yet not only is there a sure and absolutely
trustworthy tradition that in the second Temple
there was a Shophar sounded (Mishnah Rosh
Hasshanah, iii. 3) besides the silver trumpets
(ni"l¥'Xri), which stood in connexion with the
offerings of the sacrifices on new moons, &c, but
there can be little doubt that this practice was
observed in the first Temple also. It is
certainly a mistake to think that Joel (ii. 15)
refers to blowing the Shophar on New Year,b that
the fast spoken of there alluded to the Day of

b It is commonly held that Eab Se'adyah Gaon in his
Siddur gave ten reasons for sounding the Shophar on
New Year ; but this is a mistake. The writer of these
lines inspected the Bodleian'MS. (Uri 261), and found
no traces of this treatise. Cp. Encycl. Brit.9 xxi.
121, note 4. That such a little treatise was known and
ascribed in the 14th century to a famous Eab Se'adyah

CORNET
Atonement, and that the solemn assembly re
ferred to the Festival mentioned in Lev. xxiii. 36.
It is impossible that this should be the meaning
of the verse. In the first instance the absence
of the definite article (Shopliar) precludes the
possibility of such an interpretation, and, more
than this, the whole context shows that it refers
to the calamity of the locusts. The Prophet,
however, could not have used the figure he
employs if the Shophar had not sounded on such
days. But we have absolute proofs that the
first day of the seventh month was not treated
as an ordinary new moon. We find that this
day is one of the Seven Holy Convocations,
&c, the name of which (New Year) people,
totally and absolutely ignorant of the spirit of
the Bible, say is a later invention. A few
words will suffice. It is true that Moses com
manded Nisan or Abib to be observed as the first
month of the religious year. But there must
have been a New Year apart from that observed
in his days as a religious one. This New Year
in the times of Moses coincided with the begin
ning of the natural year. For what else does he
mean by the expressions rUKT! I1KV3 (Ex.
xxiii. 16) and n:E>n JlBlpn (do., xxxiv. 22) ?
What else did and could he mean by appointing
the first of the seventh month as a Day of
Memorial and Sounding the Alarm, the tenth
day of that month as the Day of Atonement, the
fifteenth, &c, as the Feast of Tabernacles, and
the twenty-second thereof as the Day of Solemn
Assembly ?
(2.) The Shophar is also sounded at the going
out of the Day of Atonement. This is not pre
scribed by the letter of the Bible ; but if not by
the letter, it is certainly prescribed by the spirit.
For it is the proclamation of freedom from the
yoke of sin, the wages of which is death ! (cp.
I. (2) above.)
(3.) The same is the case as regards the
Seventh Day of Tabernacles, which day was
already observed with special solemnity, cab
balistic rites, and mystic invocations in the
times of the second Temple (Mishnah, Sukkali,
iv. 5). There can be no doubt whatever that.
these ceremonies were accompanied by the
sounding of the Shophar. The Sepharadic Jews
preserve this practice still, although they
do not sound the Shophar on that day as
Sepharadic, but as cabbalistic, Jews, since they,
if not necessarily cabbalists themselves, are the
disciples and followers of cabbalistic teachers.
(4.) All Jews, however, Sepharadic or Ash-
kenazic, cabbalistic or non-cabbalistic, sound
the Shophar every morning of the week-days
of the month of Elul (the month preceding
New Year) ; and all the Sepharadim, and some
of the Ashkenazim, as disciples of cabbalists,
sound it in the evening too. This custom is not
very old ; it is not even known to the Talmuds
and Midrashim.
(5.) The sounding of the Shophar on occasions
of full and extreme Excommunication is to
heighten the solemnity (Pireqe of Rabbi Eli'ezer,
cap. xxxviii.).
(6.) It is customary among the Sepharadic
Jews to sound the Shophar on occasion of the
burial of a Chakham (Chief Rabbi or Rabbi).
is certainly true ; but this must have been another Rat
Se'adyah (probably the commentator on Daniel).

COS

COTTON

663

III. The anxiously looked-for glorious future of
the Jews, and mediately the glorious future of
the whole human race.
These promises are twofold : to the living and
to the dead.
(1.) The Prophets do not merely promise an
ingathering of the dispersed of Israel from any
of the nations whither they had been driven,
but, along with it, a regeneration of the whole
human race. This glorious future is closely
connected with the sounding of the Shophar.
The Prophet whose prophecies are all consola
tion, Isaiah of the first Temple, says (xxvii. 13),
" On that day a great Shophar shall be sounded,"
&c. The same says the prophet who is all
Messianic, Zechariah of the second" Temple
(ix. 14), " And the eternal God will blow in the
Shophar." (2.) But the day of the resurrection of the
dead, the day of judgment, the day of awarding
salvation or condemnation, will be marked by
the sounding of the Shophar. This idea is not
only an old tradition current among the Jews
(Josephus, Hades, 5) ; but is distinctly embodied
in the Greek Scriptures, which fact in itself
would be sufficient evidence that it was Jewish.
For Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, a
'• Hebrew of the Hebrews," speaks in his First
Epistle to the Corinthians (xv. 52) of the " last
trump," by which he, of course, means the last
sound of the Shophar. But the Hebrew Scrip
tures themselves, as far as they teach resur
rection, intimate thus much, though only by
hints (Is. xviii. 3 d). Cp. the Targum (do.,
xiii. 11), and the two sublime poetical pieces'
attached to the " Shopharoth " in the Ashkenazic
Ritual. [S. M. S.-S.]
COS (Kus, now Stanchio or Stanko). This
small island has several interesting points of
connexion with the Jews. It is specified, in the
edict which resulted from the communications
of Simon Maccabaeus with Rome, as one of the
c It is quite true that some modern critics, being led by
the mention of Ephraim and other terms in it, assign this
and several other chapters to an earlier Zechariah of the
First Temple. But a single-minded and real critic will
soon discover that the corruption is not in the text, but
in the over-estimated and shallow criticisms upon the
text, and that the mention of Ephraim and Philistine
cities, &c, is no more out of place in a prophet of the
early times of the Second Temple (Zechariah) than in a
prophet of the Exile (Ezekiel). Moreover, the mention
of Yavan, on the principle of the critics, would rather
point to the Syro-Grecian times than to those of the
First Temple.
d The verse before us was evidently translated by
tradition: "All ye inmates of corruption (73 ]-] =
"putrefaction," from ri/0» t0 fade, to rot; cp. ibidem,
li. 6, where this verb is specially applied to tbe perish-
ableness of the earth), and ye that dwell in the earth
(i.e. the dead ; cp. ibidem, xxvi. 19, where the very noun
¦tyytf occurs) will see it when a banner is lifted up on
the mountains, and ye will hear it when a Shophar is
sounded." 0 It will have been seen from note b, that it was
a mistake to ascribe the Ten P,easons for sounding the
Shophar on New Year to Eab Se'adyah, the Gaon (10th
century), and that the author of these interesting para
graphs was a much later Eab Se'adyah (13th century).
But the poetical pieces just mentioned, in which these
Ten Eeasons are embodied, are hundreds of years older
than the Gaon.

places which contained Jewish residents (1 Mace.
xv. 23). Josephus, quoting Str;ibo, mentions
that the Jews had a great amount of treasure
stored there during the Mithridatic war (Joseph.
Ant. xiv. 7, § 2). From the same source we
learn that Julius Caesar issued nn edict in
favour of the Jews of Cos (ibid. 10, § 15).
Herod the Great conferred many favours on the
island (Joseph. B. J. i. 21, § 11) ; and an in
scription in BBckh (No. 2502) associates it with
Herod the tetrarch. St. Paul, on the return
from his third Missionary Journey, passed the
night here, after sailing from Miletus. The
next day he went on to Rhodes (Acts xxi. 1).
The proximity of Cos to these two important
places, and to Cnidus, and its position at the
entrance to the Archipelago from the east, made
it an island of considerable consequence. It
was celebrated for its light woven fabrics and
for its wines, — also for a temple of Aesculapius,
to which a school of physicians was attached,
and which was virtually, from its votive models,
a museum of anatomy and pathology. The
Emperor Claudius bestowed upon Cos the privi
lege of a free state (Tac. Ann. xii. 61). The
chief town (of the same name) was on the N.E.,
near a promontory called Scandarium ; and
perhaps it is to the town that reference is made
in the Acts (I. c). There is a monograph on
Cos by Kiister (De Co Insula, Halle, 1833), and
a very useful paper on the subject by Col.
Leake (in the Trans, of the Royal Soe. of Litera
ture, vol. i., second series). An account of the
island will be found in Clarke's Travels, vol. ii.
pt. i. pp. 196-213, and vol. ii. pt. ii. pp. 321-
333 ; but the best description is in Ross, Reisen
nach Kos, Halicarnassus, u. s. w. (Halle, 1852),
with which his Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln
should be compared, vol. ii. (1843), pp. 86-92,
vol. iii. (1845), pp. 126-139. Cp. also Rayet,
Mem. sur I'ile de Kos, Arch, des Miss. in. iii.
p. 37 sq. (1876). [J. S. H.] [J. E. S.j

Tetradrachm of Cos (Phoenician ? talent). Obv., Head of young
Hercnles to right. Kev., „,Kj?*°£[,., crab and bow in case,
MoSXIflN
all within dotted square.
CO'SAM (Rao-dp, ; Cosan, a name that occurs
nowhere else either in the 0. T. or N. T., and is
of doubtful etymology), son of Elmodam, and
fifth before Zorobabel, in the line of Joseph the
husband of Mary, Luke iii. 28. [Genealogies
of Christ.] [A. C. H.]
COTTON (DQ")3 ; Kapiratros. tci Kapirdo-iva,
Esth. i. 6, where the Vulg. has carbasini colbris,
as if a colour ¦ [A. V. and R. V. text " green "],

1 So "i-in, "white" in A. V., is probably not a
colour, but a. stuff, possibly silk : cp. Arab » ^
y-y
fiareer, "silk." The |HD» "sheets," marg. shirts,

664

COTTON

and not a material [R. V. marg. cotton], were
intended). There is a doubt whether under
$$, Shesh, in the earlier, and p-13, Bidz, in
the later books of the 0. T., rendered in the
A. V. by "white linen," "fine linen," &c,
cotton may have been included as well. Both
Shesh and Butz are said by Gesen. (s. v.) to
be from roots signifying originally mere white
ness ; a sense said also to inhere in the word
13 (perhaps Arab, abyad, &tj\, "white"),
used sometimes instead of and sometimes to
gether with Shesh to_ mean the fabric. In
Ezek. xxvii. 7, 16, B>B>, Shesh, is mentioned as
imported into Tyre from Egypt, and Butz as
from Syria. Each is found in turu coupled with
)D3")X (purpura), in the sense of " purple and
fine 'linen,'' i.e. the most showy and costly ap
parel (cp. Prov. xxxi. 22 with Esth. viii. 15). The
dress of the Egyptian priests, at any rate in their
ministrations, was without doubt of linen (Herod.
ii. 37), in spite of Pliny's assertion (xix. 1, 2)
that they preferred cotton. Yet cotton garments
for the worship of the temples is said to be men
tioned in the Rosetta Stone (Wilkinson, A. E. ii. 74
[1878]). Linen was the material of the Jewish
ephod and other priestly attire, in which we
cannot suppose any carelessness to have prevailed.
If, however, a Jew happened to have a piece of
cotton cloth, he probably would not be deterred
by any scruple about the heterogenea of Deut.
xxii. 11 from wearing that and linen together.
There is, however, no word for the cotton plant
(like nftB'S for flax) in the Hebrew, nor any
reason to suppose that there was any early
knowledge of the fabric.
The Egyptian mummy swathings also, many
of which are said to remain as good as when
fresh from the loom, are decided, after much
controversy and minute analysis, to have been
of linen, and not cotton. The very difficulty of
deciding, however, shows how easily even scien
tific observers may mistake, and, much more,
how impossible it would have been for ancient
popular writers to avoid confusion. Even Greek
naturalists sometimes clearly include " cotton "
under xivov. The same appears to be true of
bSSvrj, o&ovtov, and the whole class of words
signifying white textile vegetable fabrics. The
proper Oriental name for the article D313 (said
to occur with slight variation in Sansk. and
other Oriental languages11) is Grecised in the
LXX. by Kapirdtriva. From the same word,
with which either their Alexandrian or Parthian
intercourse might familiarize them, the Latins
borrowed carbasus, completely current in poetical
use in the golden and silver period of Latinity, for
sails, awnings, &c. Varro knew of tree-wool
on the authority of Ctesias, contemporary with
Xenophon. The Greeks, through the commer
cial consequences of Alexander's conquests, must
have known of cotton cloth, and more or less of

of A. V., E. V. "linen garments," Judg. xiv. 12, 13,
and " fine linen "(A.V. and R. V.), Is. iii. 23, is perhaps
a form of the same word as au-oVu\ " linen cloth," Mark
xiv. 61.
b Kurpasa or kurpasum is the Sansk. Kupas in
Hindoo means the cotton rose or pod with seed, which
in the Bengalee is kapasee, and in the Bombay dialect,
kapoos.

COUNCIL
the plant. Amasis indeed (about B.c. 540) sent
as a present from Egypt a corslet KeKoo-p.-np.evov
Xpvaip Ka\ ipioitrt curb £u\ou (Herod, iii. 47),
which Pliny says was still existing in his time
in a temple at Rhodes, and that the minuteness
of its fibre had provoked the experiments of the
curious." Cotton was manufactured and worn
extensively in Egypt, but extant monuments
give no proof of its growth, as in the case of
flax, in that country (Wilkinson, A. E. ii. pp. 50,
88 [1878]); indeed, had it been a general
product, we could scarcely have missed finding
some trace of it on the monumental details of
ancient Egyptian arts, trades, &c. ; but, es
pecially, when Pliny (a.d. 75) asserts that
cotton was then grown in Egypt, * statement
confirmed by Julius Pollux (a century later), we
can hardly resist the inference that, at least as
a curiosity and as an experiment, some planta
tions existed there. This is the more likely
since we find the cotton-tree (Gossypium arbor-
eum, less usual than, and distinct from, the
cotton plant, Goss. herbac.) is mentioned still by
Pliny as the only remarkable tree of the adjacent
Ethiopia; and since Arabia, on its other side,
appears to have known cotton3 from time im
memorial, to grow it in abundance, and in parts to
be highly favourable to that product. In India,
however, we have the earliest records of the use
of cotton for dress ; of which, including the
starching of it, some curious traces are found as
early as 800 B.C., in the Institutes of Mann;
also (it is said, on 'the authority of Prof. Wilson)
in the Rig Veda, 105, v. 8. For these and some
other curious antiquities of the subject, see
Royle's Culture and Commerce of Cotton in India,
pp. 117-122.
Cotton is now both grown and manufactured
in various parts of Syria and Palestine, and,
owing probably to its being less conductive of
heat, seems preferred for turbans and shirts to
linen ; but there is no proof that, till they came
in contact with Persia, the Hebrews generally
knew of it as a distinct fabric from linen, whilst
the negative proof of language and the proba
bilities of fact offer a strong presumption that,
if they obtained it at all iu commerce, they
confounded it with linen under the terms Shesh
or Butz. The greater cleanliness and durability
of linen probably established its superiority
over cotton for sepulchral purposes in the N. T.
period, by which time the latter must have
been commonly known, and thus there is no
reason for assigning cotton as the material of
the ifc and ivTatpta of which we read. For
the whole subject, see Yates's Textrinum Anti-
quorum, pt. i. chap. vi. and App. D. [H. H.]
•COUCH. [Bed.]
COUNCIL. 1. (ovvitipiov) the great council
of the Sanhedrin, which sat at Jerusalem. [San-
c So Burckhardt (Trav. jV«6. App. iii. p. 615, note)
mentions " a species of cuirass made of quilted cotton "
as stiU worn by certain tribes adjacent to the Nile.
o -¦
d Arab. Coton, \,'j, means : 1, any annual ; 2,
anything between two leaves; 3, the well-known
"cotton" plant. This evolving of the special from
the general sense seems to indicate that the name
" cotton " is originally Arabic ; though it may be true
that the plant is indigenous in India.

COURT
HEDRIN.] 2. (o-vvetipia, Matt. v. 22, x. 17 ;
Mark xiii. 9) the lesser courts, appointed by the
Great Sanhedrin, of which there were two at
Jerusalem, and one in each town of Palestine.
' The constitution of these courts varied ; accord
ing to Talmudical writers, the number of judges
was twenty-three in places where there was a
population of 120, though three could act under
special circumstances. Evidently the number
varied according to the size of the town (Mishn.
Sanhedr. 1 § 6. Cp. Riehm, HWB. s. n. " Ge-
richtswesen ; " Ginsburg in Kitto's Cyclop, of
Bibl. Liter, s. n. "Sanhedrin"). Josephus,
however, mentions probably the usual practice,
that the court, as constituted by Moses (Deut.
xvi. 18 ; cp. Ant. iv. 8, § 14; B. J. ii. 20, § 5),
consisted of seven judges, each of whom had two
Levites as assessors ; and in the reform which
Josephus carried out in Galilee, he appointed
seveu judges for the trial of minor offences
(B. J. ii. 20, § 5). These courts of justice met
twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays), usually
in a room adjoining the synagogue, and dealt not
only with civil offences, but such capital cases
as did not come within the jurisdiction of the
Great Sanhedrin. To this latter body the judges
referred any decision disputed among themselves
(cp. Hamburger, BE. Abth. ii. s.n. "Synhedrion ")
3. crvptBoiXiov (Acts xxv. 12), a kind of jury or
privy council, consisting of assessors (consiliarii,
Suet. Tib. 33, 55), who assisted Roman governors
in the admmistration of justice and other public
matters. [W. L. B.] [F.]
COURT, an open enclosure, applied in the
A. V. most commonly to the enclosure of the
Tabernacle and the Temple. The Hebrew word
invariably used for the former is Chatzer, "l¥n>
from a root, "I^TI, to surround (Ges. p. 512. See,
amongst others, Ex. xxvii. 9 to xl. 33 ; Lev. vi.
16 ; Num. iii. 26, &c). The same word is also
most frequently used for the " courts " of the
Temple, as 1 K. vi. 36, vii. 8 ; 2 K. xxiii. 12 ;
2 Ch. xxxiii. 5 ; Ps. xcii. 13, &c. In 2 Ch.iv. 9
and vi. 13, however, a different word is em
ployed, apparently, for the same places — Azarah,
nitll, from a root of similar meaning to the
above (cp. the Arab, and Assyr. equivalents
given in MV.11). This word also occurs in
Ezek. xliii. 14, 17, 20 ; xiv. 19 (A. V. and R. V.
" settle "), but perhaps with a different force.
Chatzer also designates the court of a prison
(Neh. iii. 25 ; Jer. xxxii. 2, &c), of a private
house (2 Sam. xvii. 18), and of a palace (2 K.
xx. 4; Esth. i. 5, &c). In Amos vii. 13, where
the Hebrew word is Beth = a " house " (so
K. V.), the A. V., perhaps desirous of using a
term applicable specially to a king's residence,
reads "court." [House; Tabernacle; Temple.]
The word Chatzer is very often employed for
the enclosures of the villages of Palestine (see
the list in MV.11), and under the form of Hazer
or Hazor frequeutly occurs in the names of
places in the A. V. [Hazer; Village.]
In Matt. xxvi. 69 (v. 58 may be doubtful),
Mark xiv. 66 (perhaps also v. 54) and xv. 16,
John xviii. 15, avXii should be rendered, as in
R. V. " court," i.e. the quadrangle around which
the house or palace of the high-priest was built,
and not " palace " or " hall " (A. V.). Peter
himself was not in the room of the palace where
the Saviour was on trial, as the English reader

COVENANT

665

would be led to suppose, but was in the court
outside. [Peter.] Cp. B. D. American edi
tion. [G.] [W.]
COU'THA (KovBd; Phusa), 1 Esd. v. 32.
There is no name corresponding with this in the
lists (printed in parallel columns in Speaker's
Comm. 1. c.) of Ezra and Nehemiah. [F.]
COVENANT. There can be no doubt that
the English word " covenant," by which it is
almost invariably rendered in A. V., conveys nu
accurate idea of the Hebrew word JTH3. in the
0. T. The two words, however, are not proper
equivalents. A covenant (convenire, conventus)
is a coming together or agreement. " A cove
nant is a mutual consent and agreement entered
into between persons, whereby they stand bound
each to other to perform the conditions con
tracted and indented for. And thus a covenant
is the very same thing with a contract or bar
gain " (Bp. Hopkins, ii. 302). " Sunt item
pacta, quae sine legibus observantur ex con-
ventu " (Cic. ad Heren. 2 b). But ITIS, which
ever we accept of the derivations of it which
have been suggested, describes properly some
accessory of the covenant, rather than the cove
nant itself. It is derived by Gesenius from the
unused root 7113, i. q. DIS, " to cut," and taken
to mean primarily " a cutting," with reference
to the custom of cutting or dividing animals in
two, and passing between the parts in ratifying
a covenant (Gen. xv. ; Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19). Hence
the expression " to cut a covenant " (JVIS HIS"
Geu>. xv. 18, or simply JT13, with JTH3 under
stood, 1 Sam. xi. 2) is of frequent occurrence
(cp. 'opKta Tepveiv, Tepveiv trirovtids, icere,
ferire, percutere foedus). Buxtorf derives it from
1113 in the sense of " to choose," or " select : "
" quia eliguntur personae inter quas, et res ac con-
ditiones propter quas foedus initur " (cp. Assyr.
in MV.11). Professor Lee suggests (Heb. Lex. s. v.
JV13) that the proper signification of the word
is an eating together, or banquet, from the mean
ing " to eat," which the root (113 sometimes
bears, because among the Orientals to eat together
amounts almost to a covenant of friendship.
This view is supported by Gen. xxxi. 46, where
Jacob and Laban eat together on the heap of
stones which they have set up in ratifying the
covenant between them. It affords also a satis
factory explanation of the expression " a cove
nant of salt " (l"6ip n»"l3, tiiadiiK-n b.x6s. Num.
xviii. 19 ; 2 Ch. xiii. 5), when the Eastern idea
of eating salt together is remembered. If, how
ever, any other derivation of 1Y~I3 be adopted,
this expression may be explained by supposing
salt to have been eaten or offered with accom
panying sacrifices on occasion of very solemn
covenants, or it may be regarded as figurative,
denoting, either, from the use of salt in sacrifice
(Lev. ii. 13 ; Mark ix. 49), the sacredness, or, from
the preserving qualities of salt, the perpetuity
of, the covenant. But, whatever be its deriva
tion, the usage of the word clearly shows, as has
been said, that it means a covenant or compact.
When, however, we pass to the N. T., a diffi
culty arises from the fact that BiaWj/nj, which
was chosen by the LXX. to represent TVIS
(auvBiiK-n is used in Wisd. i. 16; 1 Mace. x. 26 ;

666

COVENANT

2 Mace. xiii. 25), is sometimes rendered covenant
and sometimes testament in A. V. The intro
duction of this new word, conveying a new idea,
viz. that of a will or bequest, is probably due to
the Vulgate, which, having used testamentum
occasionally (foedus or pactum more commonly,
and often interchangeably. Gen. ix. ; xvii. ;
Ex. vi. 4, 5, &c.) for IVQ (Num. xiv. 44 ;
Ps. cv. [civ.] 8, 10) and for SiaB-iiKri in the
Apocr. (Ecclus. xi. 21, xvii. 10; 1 Mace. i. 16,
&c), adopt it exclusively as the rendering of
StaB-fiKTi in N. T. But it may well be doubted
whether there is any necessity for a second
word to be introduced, and whether it wo.uld
not have been better to retain the one word
covenant throughout the Bible. The meaning of
5iadr)Kri having been fixed in the 0. T. by its
constant employment by the LXX. as the equi
valent of rP13_, which never means testament
or will, but always covenant or agreement (can
it be shown that the Jews of 0. T. times prac
tised the testamentary disposition of property
at all ?), it is only reasonable to suppose that
the N. T. writers, themselves familiar, and
writing for the most part for readers who were
familiar, with the Greek 0. T., should use the
word with the same meaning. Moreover, in the
majority of instances it is the same thing which
has been called a covenant in the 0. T., which is
presented to us again in the N. T. ; and it is
obviously confusing that it should appear under
a new name. " The #rk of the covenant," with
which we are conversant in the 0. T. (Num. x.
33 ; 1 Sam. iv. 3 ; Jer. iii. 16), becomes in the
N. T., now " the ark of the covenant " (Heft. ix.
4), and now " the ark of the testament " (Rev.
xi. 19), its Greek name, however (i) Kifiurbs ttjs
5ta8r)KTis), remaining unchanged, though the
Vulgate has led the way to the variation by
its indifferent use of area foederis (Num. x. 33)
and area testamenti (Jer. iii. 16) in the 0. T.
" The blood of the (old) covenant " (Exod. xxiv.
8; cp. Zech. ix. 11) becomes (though here, too,
not uniformly, Heb. a. 29 ; xiii. 20) in a passage
of great importance, the " blood of the new
testament" (Matt. xxvi. 28, R. V. "of the
covenant "). The inspired Books whichgradually
were added to the first inspired Book of which
we have mention, " The Book of the Covenant "
(Exod. xxiv. 7), and to which in the aggregate
the Apostle gives its name, describing the
writings by ' the great centrnl fact to which
they have reference, become in our English
Bibles " The old testament " (2 Cor. iii. 14,
R. V. " covenant ") ; and the same inaccuracy is
consequently introduced into our common title
of the later Scriptures. There is, however, one
passage in the N. T. in which it has been thought
absolutely necessary to use testament, as the ex
ponent of SiaB^Kv. " For where tiiaB^K-n is " (so
the passage reads in the Revised Version, if we
leave the crucial word for the moment untrans
lated), " there must of necessity be the death
of him that made it. For a tiiaBfan is of force
where there hath been death : for doth it ever
avail while he that made it liveth?" (Heb. ix.
16, 17). Now, no doubt, if this statement could
be looked upon as an independent proposition,
apart from the Epistle and the context in which
it occurs, the rendering of tiiaB^KT) by testament
would be quite satisfactory. The disposition of
a man's property, under the form of a will or

COVENANT
testament, cannot take effect till his desih. It
was under that form that Christ (A SiaBepevos)
bequeathed, as it were, the benefits and condi
tions of His disposition to His Church, for it
was by His death, and by His death only, that
they became effectual. But when we regard
this short paragraph, no longer as an isolated
proposition, but as a portion of a treatise, and a
link in a chain of argument, the difficulty of
this rendering of tiiaB^K-n becomes at once appa
rent. The general usage of the writer, and,
indeed, as we have seen, of the sacred writers
throughout, is against it. Excluding the pas
sage under consideration, the word occurs no
fewer than twelve times in this Epistle (vii. 22 ;
viii. 6, 8, 9 bis, 10 ; ix. 4 bis ; x. 16, 29 ; xii.
24 ; xiii. 30). In all these places its unques
tioned meaning is covenant. In the passage
before us it occurs in all six times ; twice in the
short paragraph above quoted, twice imme
diately before, and twice immediately after it.
Both before and after, it can only mean covenant.
Why then should it not have the same meaning
in the paragraph itself, which forms a part
of a continuous argument? Because, it is
replied, it is not true that, in the case of such
covenants as are here in view, " The death of
him who made" them is necessary to their
validity. It was God Who made them (i
StaBepevos. Cp. rj tiia8r)KTi t)v titaB-tiaopai,
x. 16), but it was man who died and whose
blood was shed, in the person of the sacrifice }iy
which the covenant was ratified. Therefore, it
is alleged, we must needs understand here a
testament or will by this word Sia8f)Kri. But
how does the change help us ? If with the
Revised Version we read covenant both times in
t;. 15, and again in vv. 18, 20, and testament in
vv. 16, 17, the argument would appear to pro
ceed as follows : " Christ is the Mediator of a
new titaBiiK-n, and He died for the redemption of
the transgressions that were under the old Sict-
Bt)kt), u. 15. By tiiaBTjKT] I of course mean what
we Jews always understand by it (and in that
sense, indeed, I have used it frequently already
in this letter), viz. a covenant. But the reason
why I say he died, in connexion with the old
tiiaBi)KTi, or covenant, is that where there is a
tiiaBi)KTi — supposing, that is, that it assumes the
form of a testament or will, for only in that case,
and not when it is of the nature of a covenant,
is the allegation true — there must of necessity
be the death of him that made it, o. 16. For a
tiiaBi^KTi, if and if only it be a testament, is of
force where there hath been death : for doth it
ever avail while he that made it liveth ? v. 17.
Wherefore, because the death of him who made
it is necessary to the validity of a testament, even
the first— I leave you to supply the word — was
not dedicated without blood, v. 18. But if, as
you must needs do, you supply testament, I shall
instantly correct you by reference to the his
torical fact and the actual expression used by
Moses, 'The blood of the covenant,' vv. 19, 20."
In short, unless the statements of vv. 16, 17
apply to titaB^K-n, in whichever of the two senses,
covenant or testament, it is employed, the argu
ment breaks down. But if they do so apply,
then the necessity for a second and (to biblical
usage) foreign meaning of the word ceases. But
then, too, the difficulty connected with S tiiaBe-
pevos remains.

COVENANT

COW

667

With a view to meet this difficulty, it has
been proposed to render iirl veKpols, " over, or
in the case of, dead sacrifices," and S SiaBep-evos,
" the mediating sacrifice " (Scholefield's Hints
for an improved Translation of the X. '!'.).
Ebrard and others would restrict the statement
of v. 16 to the 0. T. idea of a covenant between
man and God, in which man, as guilty, must
always be represented by a sacrifice with which
he was so completely identified, that in its person
he (6 StaBepevos, the human covenanter) actually
died. Mr. Wratislaw, under the somewhat start
ling title of " God's death in Christ," maintains
that " in sacrifices, ratifying treaties and cove
nants, the contracting party or parties were
considered as dying, in respect of the treatg or
covenant, in the sacrificed victim or victims, and
thus retaining no power of changing their minds
in respect of that particular treaty or covenant.
Thus God," he adds, " binds Himself through a
sacrifice to Abraham in Gen. xv. 17, and, by
passing symbolically between the pieces of the
victims, declares Himself to have suffered a
symbolical death in them in respect of His
covenant and promise, which is therefore un
alterable." In its biblical meaning of a compact or agree
ment between two parties, the word is used —
1. Improperly, of a covenant between God and
man. Man not being in any way in the posi
tion of an independent covenanting party, the
word is evidently used in this case by way of
accommodation. Strictly speaking, such a cove
nant is quite unconditional, and amounts to a
promise (Gal. iii. 15 sq., where iirayyeXia and
5io8t)k71 are used almost as synonyms), or act of
mere favour (Ps. lxxxix. 28, where "1DI1 stands
in parallelism with JV13) on God's part (Is. lix.
21). Thus the assurance given by God after
the Flood, that a like judgment should not be
repeated, and that the recurrence of the seasons,
and of day and. night, should not cease, is called
a covenant (Gen. ix. ; Jer. xxxiii. 20). In Gen.
xv. 17, it is God alone, as represented by the
" smoking furnace," and the " burning lamp,"
Who passes between the pieces, as though He
were the sole contracting party in the covenant,
which accordingly takes the form of a free gift,
v. 18. Generally, however, the form of a cove
nant is maintained, by the benefits which God
engages to bestow being made by Him dependent
upon the fulfilment of certain conditions which
He imposes on man. Thus the covenant with
Abraham was conditioned by circumcision (Acts
vii. 8), the omission of which was declared
tantamount to a breach of the covenant (Gen.
xvii.) ; the covenant of the priesthood, by zeal
for God, His honour and service (Num. xxv. 12,
13 ; Deut. xxxiii. 9 ; Neh. xiii. 29 ; Mai. ii. 4,
5) ; the covenant of Sinai, by the observance of
the ten commandments (Ex. xxxiv. 27, 28 ; Lev.
xxvi. 15), which are therefore called "Jehovah's
covenant " (Deut. iv. 13), a name which, as has
been said, was extended to all the Books of
Moses, and probably to the whole body of Jewish
canonical Scriptures (2 Cor. iii. 14, 15). This
last-mentioned covenant, which was renewed at
different periods of Jewish history (Deut. xxix. ;
Josh. xxiv. ; 2 Ch. xv. xxiii. xxix. xxxiv. ; Ezra
x. ; Neh. ix. x.), is one ofthe two principal cove
nants between God and man. They are distin
guished as old and new (Jer. xxxi. 31-34 ; Heb.

viii. 8-13 ; x. 16), with reference to tho order,
not of their institution but of their actual de
velopment (Gal. iii. 17) ; and also as being the
instruments respectively of bondage and freedom
(Gal. iv. 24). The latter of these covenants is
thought by some to be represented in Gal. iii.
under a twofold aspect, as being a covenant be
tween the First and Second Persons of the blessed
Trinity (r. 16 and v. 20, as explained by Schole-
field, Kllicott, oX), and also a covenant, condi
tioned by faith in Christ, between God and man
(see Bp. Hopkins's Works, vol. ii. pp. 299-398,
and Witsius on the Covenants, for the theology of
.the subject). Consistently with this representa
tion of God's dealings with man under the form
of a covenant, such covenant is said to be con
firmed in conformity to human custom by an
oath (Deut. j iv. 31; Ps. lxxxix. 3), to be sanc
tioned by curses to fall upon the unfaithful
(Deut. xxix. 21), and to be accompanied by a
sign (n'lX), such as the rainbow (Gen. ix.), cir
cumcision (Gen. xvii.), or the Sabbath (Ex. xxxi.
16, 17).
2. Properly, of a covenant between man and
man, i.e. a solemn compact or agreement, either
between tribes or nations (1 Sam. xi. 1 ; Josh. ix.
6, 15), or between individuals (Gen. xxxi. 44),
by which each party bound himself to fulfil
certain conditions, and was assured of receiving
certain advantages. In making such a covenant
God was solemnly invoked as witness (Gen. xxxi.
50), whence the exp?-ession "a covenant of
Jehovah " (HilT IVIS, 1 Sam. xx. 8, cp. Ezek.
xvii. 19), and an oath was sworn (Gen. xxi. 31) ;
and accordingly a breach of covenant was regarded
as a very heinous sin (Ezek. xvii. 12-20). A sign
(niX) or witness (IB) of the covenant was some
times framed, such as a gift (Gen. xxi. 30), or a
pillar or heap of stones erected (Gen. xxxi. 52).
The marriage compact is called " the covenant of
God," Prov. ii. 17 (see Mai. ii. 14). The word
" covenant " came to be applied to a sure ordi
nance, such as that of the shewbread (Lev. xxiv.
8) ; and is used figuratively in such expressions as
a covenant with death (Is. xxviii. 18), or with the
wild beasts (Hos. ii. 18). The phrases 1£MX
IVD yl?3> TV13 " lords or men of one's cove
nant," are employed to denote confederacy (Gen-
xiv. 13 ; Obad. «. 7). [T. T. P.]
COVEEING. The word (ITIDS) occurs in
the much-disputed verse, Gen. xx. 16.

A.V.
"And unto Sarah he
said, Behold, I have given
tby brother a thousand
pieces of silver : behold, he
is to thee a covering of the
eyes, unto all that are with
thee, and with all other:
thus she was reproved."

E. V.
" And unto Sarah he
said ... it (i.e. the thou
sand pieces of silver) is for
thee a covering of the eyes
to all that are with thee;
and in respect of all thou
art righted."

Modern criticism (cp. Dillmann5 and Delitzsch
[1887]) accepts by preference the meaning given
Ey the R. V. The present of money would have
the effect on all with regard to Sarah that they
should not notice what had occurred (see QPB.3
in ioco). [F.]
COW. The Heb. words 1^3( nbiS, and lit?
have been treated of under Bull. The A. V.

668

COZ

renders by " cow," both "Ip3, in Ezek. iv. 15,
and liE' in Lev. xxii. 28 ; Num. xviii. 17, where
the feminine gender is required by the sense.
In Job xxi. 10 and Is. xi. 7, the A. V. has
" cow " as the rendering of fHS, the fem. form
of IS, "a bullock." " [W. D]
COZ ()>ip, a thorn; B. Kue, B*b?A. &eKui ;
Cos), a man among the descendants of Judah
¦(1 Ch. iv. 8). The name also occurs as that of
a Levite in 1 Ch. xxiv. 10 ; Ezra ii. 61 ; Neh.
iii. 4, 21, vii. 63, with the article prefixed ; and
in the first of these passages the name is ren
dered Hakkoz both by A. V. and R. V., and by
R. V. in the remainder. [F-]
COZ'BI C3T3, lying, deceitful; B. Xa<r/H
AF. -i; Jos. XotrBia; Cozbi),a Midianite woman,
daughter of Zur, one of the chiefs of the nation
(Num. xxv. 15, 18). Her idolatrous shame-
lessness with Zimri is mentioned in connexion
with the plague at Shittim. [F.]
CRACKNELS (DHjM, of uncertain ety
mology ; A. KoXXvpis ; the passage is absent
from B. ; crustula), part of the present which
Jeroboam's wife took to the prophet Ahijah
when she went to inquire the issue of her
child's sickness. The English word represents
a kind of biscuit, so called from the crackling
sound made when it is broken (cp. Lumby,
•" Glossary of Bible Words," s. n. in Eyre and
Spottiswoode's Variorum Teachers' Bible). [F.]
CEANE (D-1D or D^D, sus or sis; x^'S^v;
Pullus hirundinis, hirundo). There can be little
doubt that the A. V. is incorrect in rendering
sus by " crane," which bird is probably intended
hy the Hebrew word 'agur, translated " swallow "
by the A. V., but rightly "crane" by the
R. V. [Swallow.] Mention is made of the
sus in Hezekiah's prayer (Is. xxxviii. 14),
" Like a sus or an 'agur so did I twitter ; " and
again, in Jer. viii. 7, these two words occur in
the same order, " The sis and the 'agur observe
the time of their coming ; " from which passage
we learn that both birds were migratory. Ac
cording to the testimony of most of the ancient
Versions, sus denotes "a swallow." It would ap
pear that the translators of the A. V. have simply
in the two passages in which the words occur
interchanged the rendering, and that instead of
•" crane and swallow " we should read with the
R. V. " swallow " (or rather " swift," as will be
seen below) " and crane." In neither passage,
however, is the meaning at all affected by the cor
rection. Two facts in the natural history of the
¦crane are referred to, — its loud voice, and its
migratory habits. It is well known in Palestine,
but only visits the plains and cultivated districts
at the period of migration, passing on after a few
days, with the exception of a few pairs, which
remain to breed in the marshy plains of Huleh
(Merom) and the Upper Jordan. In winter vast
iiocks of cranes resort to certain well-known
roosting-places in the southern desert, which are
whitened by their droppings like some sea-fowls'
rock. I have visited two of these stations, one
south-east of Beersheba, and another near Gerar,
south of Gaza. Clouds of these enormous birds
quite darken the air towards evening. Their
roosting-plnce is an isolated knoll, secure on all

CEEDITOE
sides from ambush. Their whooping and trum
peting enlivened the watches of the night, and
till dawn we could hear flocks passing overhead
on their way to their quarters close by. The
note is a powerful clear trumpeting, not chat
tering, and is by the Arabs called " bellowing."
In January in three several years I have ob
served the cranes in these desert winter-quarters.
About the end of March they pass over the Holy
Land. The Rev. F. W. Holland noticed that on
the 22nd of March he saw twelve miles south of
Tor an immense flock of cranes crossing the Red
Sea from Africa, and appearing to stretch across
the whole breadth of the sea. Again, on the
13th of April, three days south of Beersheba,
a flock of more than 2,000 going north passed
over his head, and in the beginning of May he
saw several smaller flocks crossing the desert
from Akabah. Before the introduction of
drainage, the crane visited England in summer,
but has long since become extinct.
DID or D^D, sks or sis, according to most
Versions, is rendered "swallow." It is, how
ever, really " swift," the two birds having a
certain external resemblance, and being often
confused by inaccurate observers ignorant of
natural history. They are, however, widely
different in everything but habits, the swallow
being a passerine bird, the swift one of the
Picariae, a fissirostral bird. There would be a
difficulty in explaining the two passages, if the
swallow were intended ; for in the first place,
though the swallow in Palestine is » migrant,
as with us, it is only partially so, and many
swallows remain all winter in the maritime
plains and Jordan valley, though their number
is increased tenfold at the commencement of
spring. Again, the soft twittering melody of
the swallow could hardly be taken as an appro
priate illustration of the cry of anguish or grief.
There is another word, "IVY5!, deror, which is
universally admitted to represent the swallow.
But the swift, Cypselus apus, meets all the condi
tions. While the swallow is only a partial, the
swift is a regular migrant, returning in myriads
every spring, and so suddenly, that while one
day not a bird can be seen in the country, on
the next they have overspread the whole land,
and fill the air with their shrill cry. This note
too — the well-known harsh, constantly repeated
scream, as of anguish or pain — exactly suits the
prophet's metaphor, for the wail of the suffering
king. This interpretation is confirmed by the
vernacular Arabic, in which the swift is always
distinguished as soos, a name never applied to
the swallow. The word does not appear, so far
as I am aware, in classical Arabic, but it is the
invariable designation of the swift in Syria, and
is doubtless in its origin onomatopoetic, and
derived from the Hebrew. The identity of
Hebrew and vernacular Arabic may be taken
as conclusive, when considered in the light ot
the context of the passages quoted. [H. B. T.]
CBA'TES (KpdT-ns ; Vulg. translates prae-
latus est), governor of the Cyprians (<5 iirl tuv
K.), who was left in charge of the " castle "
of Jerusalem (?), during the absence of Sostratus,
in the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mace.
iv. 29). [W.A.W.]
CEEDITOE. [Loan.]

CEESCENS

CEETIANS

669

CEESCENS (KpT)tTKiis; Crescens), a com
panion of St. Paul, who is mentioned as having
left him to go to Galatia (2 Tim. iv. 10). The
question arises, Which Galatia is meant, the
eastern or the western, Asiatic Galatia or Euro
pean Gaul ? Eusebius (//. E. iii. 4), the gloss
TaXXlav in X, C, and other authorities, favour
European Gaul. See art. Galatia, and Light
foot, Galatians,3 pp. 2 and 31, note. Nothing
more is known of Crescens, but the churches
of Vienne and Mayence claim him as their
traditional founder. [E. R. B.]
CEETE (Kp7)Ti7 ; Creta), the modern Candia.
This large island, which closes in the Greek
Archipelago on the S., extends through a distance
of 140 miles between its extreme points of Cape
Salmone (Acts xxvii. 7) on the E., and Cape
Criumetopon beyond Phoenice or Phoenix (v. 12)
on the W. The breadth is comparatively small,
the narrowest part (called an isthmus by Strabo,
x. p. 475) being near Phoenix. Though ex
tremely bold and mountainous, this island has
very fruitful valleys, and in early times it was
celebrated for its hundred cities (Virg. Aen. iii.
106). Crete has a conspicuous position in the
mythology and earliest history of Greece, but a
comparatively unimportant one in its later
history. It was reduced (B.C. 67) by the Romans
under Metellus, hence called Creticus, and united
in one province with Cyrenaica, which was at no
great distance (Strabo, x. 475) on the opposite
coast of Africa [Cyrene]. It is possible that
in Tit. iii. 1 there may be an implied reference
to a turbulent condition of the Cretan part of
the province, especially as regarded the Jewish
residents. It seems likely that the Cretans and the
Jews were early acquainted with each other.
The story in Tacitus (Hist. v. 2), that the Jews
were themselves of Cretan origin, may be
accounted for by supposing a confusion between
the Philistines and the Jews, and by identifying
the Cherethites of 1 Sam. xxx. 14, 2 Sam. viii.
18, Ezek. xxv. 16, Zeph. ii. 5, with Cretan
emigrants. In the last two of these passages
they are expressly called KpiJTej by the LXX.,
and in Zeph. ii. 6 we have the word Ko^ttj.
Whatever conclusion we may arrive at on this
point, there is no doubt that Jews were settled
in the island in considerable numbers during the
period between the death of Alexander the Great
and the final destruction of Jerusalem. Gortyna
seems to have been their chief residence ; for it
is especially mentioned (1 Mace. xv. 23) in the
letters written by the Romans on behalf of the
Jews, when Simon Maccabaeus renewed the
treaty which his brother Judas had made with
Rome. [Gortyna.] See 1 Mace. x. 67. At a
later period Josephus says (Ant. xvii. 12, § 1 ;
B. J. ii. 7, § 1) that the Pseudo-Alexander, Herod's
supposed son, imposed upon the Jews of Crete,
when on his way to Italy. And later still, Philo
(Leg. ad Cai. § 36) makes the Jewish envoys say
to Caligula that all the more noted islands of
the Mediterranean, including Crete, were full of
Jews. Thus the special mention of Cretans
(Acts ii. 11) among those who were in Jerusalem
at the great Pentecost is just what we should
expect. No notice is given in the Acts of any more
direct evangelisation of Crete ; and no absolute

proof can be adduced that St. Paul was ever
there before his voyage from Caesarea to I'utooli ;
though it is quite possible that he may have
visited the island in the course of his residences
at Corinth and Ephesus. For the speculations
which have been made in reference to this point,
we must refer to what is written in the articles
on Titus, and Titus, Epistle to.
The circumstances of St. Paul's recorded visit
were briefly as follows. The wind being contrary
when he was off Cnidus (Acts xxvii. 7), the ship
was forced to run dowu to Cape Salmone, and
thence under the lee of Crete to the insecure
roadstead of Fair Havens, which was near a city
called Lasaea (v. 8). Thence, after some delay,
an attempt was made, on the wind becoming
favourable, to reach Phoenice for the purpose
of wintering there (v. 12) ; but a, sudden gale
from the N.E. [Winds] coming down from
the high ground of Crete (kkt' ciuttjs), in the
neighbourhood of Mount Ida, and such as
is still common, drove the ship to the little
island of Clauda (vv. 13-16; R. V. Cauda),
whence she drifted to Malta. It is impossible
to say how far this short stay at Fair Havens
may have afforded opportunities for preaching
the Gospel at Lasaea or elsewhere.
The next point of connexion between St. Paul
and this island is found in the Epistle to Titus.
It is evident from Tit. i. 5, that the Apostle
himself was here at no long interval of time
before he wrote the letter. We believe this to
have been between the first and second imprison
ments. In the course of the letter (Tit. i. 12)
St. Paul adduces from Epimenides, a Cretan sage
and poet (BeTos hir)p, Plat. Legg. i. 642), a
quotation in which the vices of his countrymen
are described in dark colours. The truth of
what is said by Epimenides is abundantly con
firmed by the passages collected (iv. 10) in
Meursius's great work on Crete (Meursii Opera,
Florence, 1744, vol. iii.) ; but the description is
no longer true (Tozer, p. 75). He has also a
chapter (iv. 4) on the early Christian history of
the island. Titus was much honoured jn the
island during the Middle Ages. Phoenix or
Phoenice (Acts xxvii. 12) had its own bishops at
an early period, and one of them was present at the
second Council of Nicaea (a.d. 787). The church
at Gortyna, now in ruins and not later than the
4th or 5th century (Tozer, p. 65), bears his
name. The cathedral of Megalo-Castron or
Candia was delicated to him : and his name was
the watchword of the Cretans when they fought
against the Venetians, who themselves seem to
have placed him above St. Mark in Candia, when
they became masters ofthe island. See Pashley's
Travels in Crete, i. pp. 6, 175 (London, 1837).
In addition to this valuable work, see Hoeck's
Kreta (Gottingen, 1829) ; some papers translated
from the Italian, and published by Mr. E.
Falkener in the second volume of the Museum of
Classical Antiquities (London, 1856) ; Spratt,
Travels and Researches in Crete (1865); Perrot,
L'ile de Crete (1887) ; Strobl, Kreta, eine geo-
graph.-histor. Skizze (1875-7) ; Tozer, Islands
of the Aegean (1890). [J. S. H.] [J. E. S.j
CEETES (KprJTes; Cretes; R. V '. Cretans).
Acts ii. 11. Inhabitants of Crete. In Tit. i. 12
the term used is Cretians. [Crete.]
CEETIANS (Kprjres; Cretenses; R. V. Cre-

670

CEIB

tans). Tit. i. 12 ; in the subscription to the
epistle, Titus is said to have been ordained " the
first Bishop of the Church of the Cretians."
Inhabitants of Crete. [Crete ; Cretes.] [G.]
CEIB. The translation (Job xxxix. 9 ; Is. i. 3)
of D13N, a word applied to the stall itself (Prov.
xiv. 4) as well as to the place in which the food
was kept. In shape it was probably a box or
trough of stone such as is still in use (cp.
Thomson, Land and Book, ii. 97, quoted in D. B.
^xner. ed. s. n.). [F.]
CEIMSON - WOEM. The Hebrew tdla',
l??in, is translated " crimson " by our Versions
in Is. i. 18, " Though they be red like crimson."
In other passages it 4s rendered " scarlet." But
it means literally " worm," from the root VOPi
(MV.11 toM eat, and so in Assyr.). Sometimes
shdni, '•OC, " red," is added, but more usually
tdla' stands alone, it being clear from the con
text that not the worm, but the colour obtained
from it, is intended. The production of dyes is
among the most ancient of arts, and was early
practised by the Phoenicians, who long mono
polised especially the red-purple from the shell
fish Murex brandaris, and the crimson from the
cochineal insect. The dye was procured from a
well-known homopterous insect, Coccus ilicis, or
cochineal, of which, in its final or imago stage,
the male is winged and the female wingless, and
double the size of her partner. From the female
alone is the colour obtained. The insect, about
the size of a haw, attaches itself to the under
side of the leaf, or to the twigs of the Syrian
holmoak, on which it fed in the larva stage, from
whence the pupa was gathered and dried for
use. It is very common in Palestine, and is still
occasionally used as a dye, though it has lost its
commercial value from the introduction of a
much more prolific, and therefore profitable,
species, Coccus cacti, which, along with the
smooth cactus on which it feeds, has been intro
duced, from America, and is now found in all
the countries bordering on the Mediterranean,
having generally supplanted the Coccus ilicis.
The Arabic name of the cochineal is l# j°,
liermez, from which, through various languages,
our word " crimson " is derived. [H. B. T.]
CRISPING PINS. The A. V. translation
of D'pnn (Is. iii. 22), though it and R. V.
render the word "bags" in 2 K. v. 23. The
rendering of the R. V. (Is. 7. c.) "satchels"
(QPB.3 "purses") represents more nearly the
reticules of the Hebrew ladies supposed to be
alluded to by the Prophet (see Delitzsch* and
Dillmann 5 in loco). [FT
CEISPUS (Kplo-iros ; Crispus), a Jew of
Corinth bearing a Latin name. Lightfoot (Hor.
Hebr. in loc.) mentions a parallel. Both Crispus
(Acts xviii. 8) and another Corinthian, Sosthenes
(Acts; xviii. 17), have the title of ruler of the
synagogue (apxurvvdywyos). By comparison of
Mark v. 22 and Acts xiii. 15 it seems to have
been sometimes given to more than one of the
leading elders, and not strictly confined to their
president. His conversion appears to have been
a turning-point in the history of St. Paul's

CEOSS
work at Corinth. The Apostle's preaching met
with nothing but resistance from the Jews. He
then turned to the Gentiles and settled in the
house of Justus. At this point comes the con
version of Crispus and his household, and
thenceforward the work is abundantly suc
cessful. The critical moment of Crispus' con
version, and his position, probably account for
St. Paul having baptized him with his own
hands (1 Cor. i. 14). Gaius and the household
of Stephanus shared the distinction with Crispus
and in both these cases there is afterwards evi
dence of special zeal and special services rendered
(Rom. xvi. 23 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 15). [E. R. B.]
CEOSS (aravpis, (tk6Xo\\,). Except" the
Latin crux there was no word definitively and
invariably applied to this instrument of punish
ment. The Greek word o-Tavpbs is derived from
'lo-T-np.i, and properly, like o-k6Xo\j/, means merely
a stake (Hom. Od. xiv. 11 ; B. xxiv. 453).
Hence Eustathius defines CTavpoX to be bpBa. Kai
htrutyppeva £vXa, and Hesych. ol KaTaireirny6Tes
rrK6X0Tres, xdpaKes. The Greeks use the word
to translate both palus and crux ; e.g. o-raupQ
irpoo-tieiv in Dio Cass. (xlix. 22) is exactly
equivalent to the Latin ad palum deligare. In
Livy even crux means a mere stake (in tres sus-
tolli cruces, xxviii. 29), just as vice versa the
Fathers use gk6Xo$, and even stipes (de stipite
pendens) of a cross proper. In consequence of
this vagueness of meaning, impaling (Herod, ix.
67) is sometimes spoken of, loosely, as a kind of
crucifixion, and hvatrKoXoiri^etv is nearly equi
valent to avatTTavpovv ; alii per obscoena stipitem
egerunt, alii brachia patibulo explicuerunt, Sen.
Consol. ad Marc. xx. ; and Ep. xiv. Other
words occasionally applied to the cross are pati-
bulum and furca, pieces of wood in the shape of
IT (or Y) and A respectively (Dig. 48, tit. 13 ;
Plaut. Mil. Gl. ii. 47 ; and in Sail. fr. ap. Non.
iv. 355, patibulo eminens affligebatur seems
clearly to imply crucifixion). After the aboli
tion of this mode of death by Constantine, Tre-
bonianus substituted furca figendos for crucifi-
gendos, wherever the word occurred. More
generally the cross is called arbor infelix (Liv. i.
26 ; Sen. Ep. 101), or lignum infelix (Cic. per
Rob. 3) ; and in Greek |&w (Deut. xxi. 22).
The Fathers in controversy used to quote the
words 6 Kipios iBatrtXevtrev airb tov |ii\ou
(Ital. Dominus regnavit a ligno), from Ps. xcvi.
10, as a prophecy of the Cross (see Just. Mart.
Dial. § 73; Tert. o. Marc. iii. 19; Aug.
Enarratt. in Psalm, ad loc.) ; but these words
are adulterina et Christiand devotione addita:
though Genebrardus thought them a prophetic
addition of the LXX., and Agellius conjectures
that they read p for f)N (Schleusner's Thes.).'
The Hebrews had no word for a cross more
definite than fV, " wood " (Gen. xl. 19, &c), and
so they called the transverse beams 3"ll?1 ''TW,
" warp and woof " (Pearson, On tlie Creed, art.
iv.), like %&Xov Sltivpov, LXX. Crux is connected
with crucio, and is often used proverbially for
what is most painful (as summum jus, summa
crux, Colum. i. 7 ; quaerere in malo crucem, Ter.
Phorm. iii. 3, 11), and as a nickname for villains
(Quid ais, crux'? Plaut. Pere. ii. 5, 17). Rarer
terms are fepioy (Euseb. viii. 8), adns (?), and
gabalus (Varro ap. Non. ii. 373 ; Macrinus ap.
Capitol. Macr. 11). This last word is derived

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from 73.^, terminavit, because a cross or stake
was used for a boundary-mark.
As the emblem of a slave's disgrace and a
murderer's punishment, the cross was naturally
looked upon with the profoundest horror, and
closely connected " with the ideas of pain, of
guilt, and of ignominy " (Gibbon, ii. 153 ;
Nomen ipsum crucis absit non mode a corpore
civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitationc,
oculis, auribus. Cic. pro Rab. 5). But after the
celebrated vision of Constantine (Euseb. V.
Const, i. 27-30), he ordered his friends to make
a Cross of gold and gems, such as he had seen,
and " the towering eagles resigned the flags
unto the Cross " (Pearson). Thus " the tree of
cursing and shame " " sat upon the sceptres and
was engraved and signed on the foreheads of
kings " (Jer. Taylor, Life of Christ, in. xv. 1).
The new standards —
" In quibus effigies crucis aut gemmata refulget,
Aut longis solido ex auro praefertur ab hastis,"
CPrudent. in Symm. ii. 464 sq.)
were called by the name Labarum, and may be
seen engraved in Baronius (Ann. Eccl. a.d. 312,
No. 36), or represented on
the coins of Constantine the
Great and his nearer suc
cessors. The Labarum is
described in Euseb. ( V. Con
stant, i. 25 ; cp. Sozom.
H. E. i. 4), and, besides
the pendent cross, supported
the celebrated
embroidered
monogram of A
Christ (Gibbon,
ii. 154; Trans
versa X litterd, summo capite
circumflexo, Caecil.), which
was also inscribed on the
shields and helmets of the
legions : —
" Christus purpnreum gem-
manti tectus in auro
Signabat labarum; clypeo-
rum insignia Christus
Sripserat, ardebat snmmis
crux addita cristis."
(Prudent. I. c.)
Nay, the aipBoXov auri)-
piov was even more prominently honoured ; for
Jerome says, Regum purpuras et ardentes diade-
matum gemmas patibuli Salvatoris pictura con-
decorat (Ep. ad Laetam). See further in Du
Cange, s. v. Labarum. .
We may tabulate thus the various dracrip-
tions of cross (Lips, de Cruce, i. ; Godwin's
Moses and Aaron) : —
Crux. I 

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671

¦^«

The Labarum.
(From a coin in the British
Museum.)

1. Simplex.

Compacta.

2. Decussata, 3. Commissa 4. Immissa,
St. Andrew's, or and ansata. orcapitata
Burgundian. (Latin).
X Tt t
1. The crux simplex, or bare stake " of one
single piece without transom," was probably the

origiual of the rest. Sometimes it was merely
driven through the man's chest, but at other
times it was driven longitudinally, Sia pdxeus
teal vurov (Hesych. s. i: CK6Xo\p), coming out at
the mouth (Sen. Ep. xiv. ; Consol. ad Marc. 20),
a method of punishment called avao-KivSuXevtrts,
or infixio. The affixio consisted merely of tying
the criminal to the stake (ad palum doligarc,
Liv. xxvi. 13), from which he hung by his
arms : the process is described in the little
poem of Ausonius, Cupido crucifixus. Trees
were naturally convenient for this purpose, and
we read of their being applied to such use in the
Martyrologies. Tertullian also tells us (Apol.
viii. 16) that to punish the priests of Saturn,
Tiberius in eisclem arboribus, obumbratricibus
sedcrum, votivis crucibus explicttit (cp. Tac. Germ.
xii., Proditores et transfugas arboribus suspen-
dunf). How far the expression "accursed tree"
is applicable under this head is examined under
the word Crucifixion.
2. The crux decussata, X, is called St.
Andrew's Cross, although on no good grounds,
since, according to some, he was killed with
the sword ; and Hippolytus says that he
was crucified upright, ad arborem olivae. It is
in the shape of the Greek letter X (Jerome, in
Jer. xxxi. ; X littera et in ftgurd crucem, et in
numero decern demonstrat, Isidor. Orig. i. 3).
Hence Justin Martyr (Dial. c. Tryph. p. 200)
quotes Plato's expression, exia£ev avrbv iv tu
irdvTi, with reference to the Cross. The
Fathers, with their usual luxuriant imagination,
discover types of this kind of Cross in Jacob's
blessing of Joseph's sons, x*Paiv ivnXXaypevats
(cp. Tert. de Baptismo, viii.) ; in the anointing of
priests " decussatively " (Sir T. Browne, Garden
of Cyrus) ; for the Rabbis say that kings were
anointed in forma coronae, sacerdotes autem
'3 j'DO, ad modum Chi, i.e. ad formam X
Graecorum (Schoettgen's Hor. Hebr. et Talm.
ii. 486) ; and in the crossing of the hands over
the head of the goat on the day of Atonement
(Targ. Jonath. ad Lev. xvi. 21, &c).
3. The crux commissa, or St. Anthony's Cross,
T (so called from being embroidered on that
saint's cope, Mrs. Jameson's Sacred Art, i.
xxxv.), was in the shape of a T. Hence Lucian,
in his amusing Aiktj tpuv-nevTuv, jocosely derives
tTTavp6s from Tad (enrb tovtov . . Kai Tip tcyWJ-
paTt Tip TrovTipip T-hv irovTipav iiruvvpiav ffweX-
Beiv), and makes mankind accuse it bitterly for
suggesting to tyrants the instrument of torture
(Jud. Vocal. 12). This shape is often alluded to
as "the mystical Tau" (Garden of Cyrus;
nostra autem T species crucis, Tert. adv. Marc.
iii. 22 ; Jer. in Ezech. ix., &c). It is known as
the patibulary or Egyptian cross, but seems
to be of Phoenician origin (see Ezek. ix. 4 ¦
Didron, Ann. Archeol. xxvi. xxvii. ; and cp. Tert.
adv. Marc. iii. 22). As that letter happens
to stand for 300, opportunity was given for
more elaborate trifling; thus the 300 cubits
of the ark are considered typical (Clem. Alex.
Strom, vi. ; S. Paullin. Ep. ii.) ; and even
Abraham's 318 servants. Since 318 is repre
sented by t«&, the Fathers deduced tov ph
'1-ntrovv iv tois tiiiai ypdptpaaiv Kai iv hi Tbv
trravpSv (Barnab. Ep. ix. ; Clem. Alex. Strom.
vi. § 11 ; Ambros. Prol. in I. i. de Fide; Pear
son [art. iv.] on the Creed, in whose notes these
passages are quoted).

072

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A variety of this cross (the crux ansata,
T" crosses with circles on their heads ") is
found "in the sculptures from Khorsa
bad and the ivories from Nimrod. M.
Lajard (Observations sur la Croix anse~e) refers it
to the Assyrian symbol of divinity, the winged
figure in a circle ; but Egyptian antiquaries
quite reject the theory" (Layard's Nineveh, ii.
213, note). In the Egyptian sculptures, a
similar object, called a crux ansata, is constantly
borne by divinities, and is variously called " the
key of the Nile " (Dr. Young in Encycl. Britan. ;
Creuzer, Symbolik, pp. 168, 169), "the charac
ter of Venus ; " and more correctly (as by
Lacroze) "the emblem of life." Indeed this
was the old explanation (epp-nvevBelaav o-npavai
TaiiT-gv ypatprjv Zutj iTrepxopev-n, Sozomen, Hist.
Eccl. vii. 15 ; so too Ruffinus, ii. 29, who says
it was one of the " lepaTiKol vel sacerdotales
litterae"). "The Egyptians thereby expressed
the powers and motion of the spirit of the
world, and the diffusion thereof upon the
celestial and elemental nature " (Sir T. Browne,
Gard. of Cyrus). This too was the significa
tion given to it by the Christian converts
in the army of Theodosius, when they re
marked it on the temple of Serapis, according to
the story mentioned in Suidas. The same
symbol has been also found among the Copts,
and (perhaps accidentally) among the Indians
and Persians.
4. The crux immissa (or Latin cross, ¦+•)
differed from the former by the projection of
the S6pv vty-nXov (or stipes) above the Kepas
iyKdptriov, or patibulum (Euseb. de V. Constant.
i. 31). That this was the kind of Cross on
which our Lord died is obvious (among other
reasons) from the mention of the " title " as
placed above our Lord's head, and from the
almost unanimous tradition ; it is repeatedly
found on the coins and columns of Constantine.
Hence ancient and modern imagination has been
chiefly tasked to find symbols for this sort of
Cross, and has been eminently successful. They
find it typified, for instance, in the attitude of
Moses during the battle of Rephidim (Ex. xvii.
12), saying that he was bidden by the Spirit,
'iva irotr)o"n tvttov tTTavpov Ka\ tou peXXovros
irdaxeiv (Barnab. Ep. 12 ; Just. Mart. Dial. c.
Tryph. 89 ; habitus crucis, Tert. adv. Marc. iii.
18). Finnic. Maternus (de Errore, xxi.) says
that Moses made a Cross of his rod, ut facilius
impetraret quod magnopere postularet, crucem sibi
fecit ex virgd. He also fantastically applies to
the Cross expressions in Hab. iii. 3-5 ; Is. ix. 6,
&c. Other supposed types are Jacob's ladder
(Jer. Com. in Ps. xci. ; Dominus innixus scalae
Christus crucifixus ostenditur, August. Serm. de
Temp, lxxix.) ; the paschal lamb, pierced by
transverse spits (ffxilpaTi^6p.evov 6p.oius Tip
o-Xupa-rt 'Tov tTTavpov birTctTai, Just. M. Dial. c.
Tryph. xl.) ; and "the Hebrew Tenupha, or
ceremony of their oblations waved by the priest
into the four quarters of the world after the
form of a cross " (Vitringa, 06s. Sacr. ii. 9 ;
Schoettgen, I. c). A truer type (John iii. 14) is
the elevation (niQip», Chald.) of the fiery ser
pent (Num. xxi. 8, 9). For some strange appli
cations of texts to this figure see Cypr. Testim.
ii. xx. sq. In Matt. v. 18, lura ev t) pia Kepaia is
also made to represent a Cross (I itrri rb opBbv
£vXov ko.1 Kepaia Tb irXdyiov, Theophyl. in loc,

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&c). To the four &Kpa of the Cross they also
applied the Sifios Kai BdBos Kai irXdTos Kai
utjkos of Ephes. iii. 18 (as Greg. Nyss. and Aug.
Ep. 120) ; and another oftheir fancies was that
there was a mystical significance in this S6pu
TerpdirXevpov (Nonn. in Joh. xix. 18), because
it pointed to the four corners of the world
(Quatuor inde plagas quadrati colligit orbis,
Sedul. iii.). In all nature the sacred sign was
found to be indispensable (KaTavoT)aaTe irdvra.
iv tu Kucrpip el &vev tov trxhpaTos tovtov titot-
Kelrat, Just. M. Apol. i. 72), especially in such
things as involve dignity, energy, or deliver
ance ; as the actions of digging, ploughing, &c,
the human face, the antennae of a ship in full
sail, &c. Aves quando volant ad aethera signum
crucis assumunt. Homo nutans, vel orans, forma
crucis utitur (Jer. in Marc. xi.). Signa ipsa et
cantabra et vexilla quid aliud quam inauratae
cruces sunt ? (Min. Fel. Oct. xxix.). Similar
analogies are repeated in Firm. Maten. de
Errore, xxi. ; Tert. adv. Nat. i. 12 ; Apol. 16 ;
de Coron. Mil. 3 : and, in answer to the sneers
of those to whom the Cross was " foolishness,"
these analogies were considered sufficient proof
that signo crucis aut ratio naturalis nititur aut
restra religio formatur (Min. Fel., &c. : see Tille
mont, vii. 8-16 ; Baronius, Ann. Eccl. a.d. 326).
The types adduced from Scripture were valuable
to silence the difficulties of the Jews, to whom,
in consequence of Deut. xxi. 22 (iiriKaTapaTos
6 tTTavpovpevos), the Cross was an especial
" stumbling-block " (Tert. adv. Jud. ix.). Many
such fancies (e.g. the harmlessness of cruciform
flowers, the southern cross, &c.) are collected
in Communications with the Unseen World.
Besides the four &Kpa (apices, Tert.) of the
cross, was a fifth (irTJypa), projecting out of the
central stem, on which the body of the sufferer
rested (itp' oT irroxovvTai ol tTTavpoitpevot, Justin
Mart. Dial. 91, who [more suo~] compares it to
the horn of a rhinoceros ; sedilis excesms, Tert.
ado. Nat. i. 12 ; ubi requiescit qui clavis affigitur,
Iren. adv. Haeres. i. 12). This was to prevent
the weight of the body from tearing away the
hands, since it was impossible that it " should
rest upon nothing but four great wounds " (Jer.
Taylor, Life of Christ, iii. xv. 2, who erroneously
quotes the tiopv TerpdirXevpov of Nonnus). This
projection is probably alluded to in the famous
lines of Maecenas (ap. Sen. Ep. 101) : —
" Vita dum superest bene est;
Hanc mihi vel acuta
Si sedeam cruce, sustine."
Ruhkopf (ad loc.) so explains it, and it is not so»
probable that it refers to avao-KivtivXevtrts as
Lipsius thinks (de Cruce, i. 6). Whether there
was also a virojrStitov or support to the feet (as
we see in pictures), is doubtful. Gregory of
Tours mentions it ; but he is the earliest
authority, and has no weight (G. J. Voss. Harm.
Passion, ii. 7, 28).
An inscription, titulus or elogium (iiriypatpii,
Luke xxiii. 38 ; turfo, Matt, xxvii. 37 ; i) iiri-
ypatpTi tt)s oi'tIos, Mark xv. 26 ; tItXos, John
xix. 19 ; Qui causam poenae indicant, Suet.
Cal. 32 ; irival, Euseb. ; ypdppaTa ttiv ahlav
tt)s BavaTtio-eus SjjA.oScto, Dio Cass. liv. 3;
irrvxlov iirlypap.pa %xov> Hesych. Jlv), was
generally placed above the person's head, and

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673

briefly expressed his guilt, as oEtiSs itrriv "At-
TaXos b xPtffT'Lavos (Euseb. H. E. v. 1), Impie
locutus parmularius (Suet. Dom. x.), and gene
rally was carried before the criminal (prue-
¦cedente titulo, Suet.). It was covered with
white gypsum, and the letters were black ;
hence Sozomen calls it XevKupa (H. E. ii. 1), and
Xicephorus a XevKr) advis (H. E. viii. 29). But
Niequetus (Tit. Sanct. Crucis, i. 6) says it was
white with red letters.
A common tradition assigns the perpetual
shiver of the aspen to the fact of the Cross
having been formed of its wood. Lipsius, however
,(de Cruce, iii. 13), thinks it was of oak, which
was strong enough, and common in Judea. Few
will attach any importance to his other reason,
that the relics appear to be of oak. The legend
to which he alludes,
" Pes crucis est ceCr js. corpus tenet alta cupressus,
Palma manus retinet, titulo laetatur oliva,"
hardly needs refutation. It must not be over
looked that crosses must have been of the
meanest and readiest materials, because they
were used in such marvellous numbers. Thus
we are told that Alexander Jannaeus crucified
800 Jews (Joseph. Ant. xiii. 14, § 2) ; Varus
2000 (to?, xvii. 10, § 10); Hadrian 500 a day;
and Titus so many that xwP& T€ iveXeiirero
tois tTTavpois Kai trraupol to?s trdtpamv (Joseph.
Bell. Jud. vi. 28), where Reland rightly notices
the strange retribution, " so that they who had
nothing but ' crucify ' in their mouth, were
therewith paid home in their own bodies "
(Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err. ,. 21). In Sicily,
Augustus crucified 600 (Oros. vi. 18).
It is a question whether tying or binding to the
cross was the more common method. In favour
of the first are the expressions ligare and deligare ;
the description in Ausonius (Cupido Crucif.) ; the
Egyptian custom (Xen. Ephes. iv. 2) ; the men
tion by Pliny (xxviii. 11) of spartum e cruce
among magical implements ; and the allusion to
Crucifixion noted by the Fathers in John xix. 24
(Theophyl. ad loc. and Tert. Tunc Petrus ab
altera cingitur cum cruci astringitur). On the
other side we have the expression irpoG-nXouo-Bai,
and numberless authorities (Sen. de Vit. Beatd,
xix. ; Artemidor. Oneirocr. in several passages ;
Apul. Met. iii. 60; Plaut. Mostel. ii. 1, 13, et
passim). That our Lord was nailed, according
to prophecy, is certain (John xx. 25, 27, &c. ;
Zech. xii. 10; Ps. xxii. 16; Foderunt manus
meas et pedes, quae propria atrocitas crucis,
Tert. adv. Marc. iii. 19, &c. ; upv^av, LXX. ;
Aquil. ytrxvvav; although the Jews vainly
¦endeavour to maintain that here *"!X3, " like a
lion," is the true reading. Sixt. Senensis, Bibl.
Sanct. viii. 5, p. 640). It is, however, extremely
probable that both methods were used at once :
thus in Lucan (vi. 547 sq.) we have mention
both of nodos nocentes and of insertum manibus
chalybem; and Hilary (de Trin. x.) mentions
together colligantum funium vincula et adactorum
clavorum vulnera. We may add that in the
crucifixion (as it is sometimes called, Tert. adv.
Mare. i. 1, cp. Manil. de Androm. v.) of Pro
metheus, Aeschylus, besides the nails, speaks
of a paa-xaXio-rijp (Prom. 79). When either
method was used alone, the tying was con
sidered more painful (as we find in the Martyr-
ologies), since it was a diutinus cruciatus.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

It is doubtful whether three or four nails
were employed. The passage in Plant. Must. ii.
1, 13, is, as Lipsius (de Cruce, ii. 9) shows,
indecisive. Nonuus speaks of the two feet
(6p.otrXoKees) being fastened with one nail (&£uyi
yiptpu), and Gregory Nazianzen (de Christ, pat.)
calls the Cross a £i>Xov TplarjXov : hence on gold
and silver Crosses the nails were represented by
one ruby or carbuncle at each extremity (Mrs.
Jameson, I. c). In the " invention " of the
Cross, Socrates (ff. E. i. 17) only mentions the
hand-nails ; and that only two were found is
argued by Winer (s. v. Kreuzigung) from the ra
nev, tc\ tie (instead of tous pev) in Theodor.
ff. E. i. 17. Romish writers, however, gene
rally follow Gregory of Tours (de Glor. Mart
vi.) in maintaining that four nails were used,
which may also be implied by the plural in
Cypr. de Passione (clavis . . . pedes terebrantibus),
who also mentions three more, used to nail on
the title. Cyprian is a very good authority,
because he had often been a witness of execu
tions. There is a monograph on the subject
by Corn. Curtius (de clavis dominicis, Antw.
1670). What has been said sufficiently dis
proves the calumny against the Albigenses in
the following very curious passage of Lucas
Tudensis (ii. contra Albig.) : Albigenses primi
pinxerunt imaginem cruciftxi uno clavo simul
utrumque pedem configente, et virginem Mariam
Monoculam ; utrumque in derisionem : sed postea
prior figura retenta est, et irrepsit in vulgarem
famam (quoted by Jer. Taylor, I. c). Ou the
supposed fate of the nails, see Theodor. ff. E. i.
17. Constantine fastened one as a tpuXaKTi)piov
on his horse's bridle, and one (Zonaras says
some) on the head of the statue which he in
tended to be the palladium of Constantinople,
and which the people used to surround with
lighted torches (Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. ii. 1, 3,
and notes). The clavus pedis dextri is shown at
Trfeves (Lips. ii. 9, note).
The story of the so-called " invention of the
Cross," A.D. 326, is too famous to be altogether
passed over. Besides Socrates and Theodoret, it
is mentioned by Rufinus, Sozomen, Paulinus,
Sulp. Severus, and Chrysostom, so that Tillemont
(Mem. Ecc. vii.) says that nothing can be more
certain; but, even if the story were not so
intrinsically absurd (for among other reasons it
was a law among the Jews that the cross was
to be burnt, Otho, Lex. Rab. s. v. Supplicia),
it would require far more probable evidence to
outweigh the decisive silence of Eusebius ( Vit.
Const, iii. 26 sq.) in his account of the visit
of Helena to Jerusalem. It clearly was to
the interest of the Church of Rome to maintain
the belief, and encourage the story of the
miraculous multiplication of " the wood of the
true Cross," because the sale of fragments was
extremely profitable. The story itself is too
familiar to need repeating. To this day the
supposed title, or rather fragments of it, are
shown to the people once a year in the church of
Sta. Croce in Gerusalemme at Rome. On the
capture of the true Cross by Chosroes II., and its
rescue by Heraclius, with even the seals of the
case unbroken, and the subsequent sale of a
large fragment to Louis IX., see Gibbon, iv. 326,
vi. 66. Those sufficiently interested in the
subject may see further accounts in Baronius
(Ann. Ecc. a.d. 326, No. 42-50), Jortin, and
2 X

674

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Schmidt (Problem, de Crucis Dominicae Inven
tion, Helmst. 1724); and "On the fate of the
true Cross," a paper read by Lord Mahon before
the Society of Antiquaries, Feb. 1831 (cited
by Dean Milman). Even Cyril of Jerusalem
(Catech. iv. 10) says that fragments of the true
Cross had found their way all over the world.
It is an interesting and remarkable fact that
Clement of Alexandria does not mention the Cross
among Christian symbols worn on signet rings,
&c, when he mentions the ship, the dove, the
fish, the anchor, the harp (Paed. iii. 11, § 59 ) ;
and except in the disguised forms of the mono
gram of Christ and the Gammadias, they do not
occur in the earliest frescoes of the Catacombs.
The Latin Cross is first found on the tomb of
Galla Placidia, A.D. 451. Even when the adop
tion of the Cross by Constantine began to make
it a public and recognised symbol, it was set with
gems and wreathed with flowers, and regarded
as an emblem of exultation and triumph, not of
defeat and agony. The early Christians did not
regard the Atonement exclusively from the point
of view of the propitiatory Blood, but as includ
ing every act of the Divine drama, from the
Incarnation to the Session at the right hand of
the Father.
It was not till the 6th century that the
emblem of the Cross became the imnge of the
Crucifix. As a symbol the use of the Cross was
frequent in the early Church (Orig. c. Cels.
ii. 47 ; frontem crucis signaculo terimus, Tert. de
Cor. Mil. iii. : cp. Apol. 16 ; Ad Nat. i. 12).
It was not till the 2nd century that any
particular efficacy was attached to it (Cypr.
Testim. ii. 21, 22 ; Lact. Inst. iv. 27 ; cp.
Ambr. de obit. Theodos. 46 ; Sozom. ff. E. ii. 3,
&c. ; Mosheim, ii. 4, 5). On its subsequent
worship by the Church of Rome, which passed
insensibly from irpotrKuvrio-is to XaTpeia, see Jer.
Taylor's Diss, from Popery, i. ch. ii. 7, 12 ; and
on the use of the sign in our Church, Hooker's
Eccl. Pol. v. 65. Some suppose an allusion to
the custom in Ezek. ix. 4 (Pole, Synops. ad loc. ;
Gesen., «. v. lfi ; signum spec, cruciforme, Sixt.
Sen. ii. p. 120)1
Besides the noble monograph of Lipsius, de
Cruce (from which we have largely borrowed,
and which quotes so many authorities that it
has been a mine of erudition for later writers),
there are works by Salmasius (de Cruce, Epp. 3) ;
Kippingius (de Cruce et Cruciariis, Brem. 1671) ;
Bosius (de Cruce triumphante et gloriosd, Ant
werp, 1617) ; Gretser (de Cruce Christi) ; and
Bartholinus (Ilypomneumata de Cruce). Very
much may also be gleaned from the learned
notes of Bishop Pearson (On the Creed, art. iv.).
Other authorities are cited or alluded to in the
article itself. [Crucifixion.] Further details
respecting the use of the Cross, its adoration,
and " the invention of the Cross," do not belong
to our subject. They will be found fully treated
in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities.
On the history of the Cross as a Christian
symbol, see Didron, Iconographie ; Binterim,
Denkwiirdigkeiten ; De Rossi, De titulis Christ.
Carthaginiensibus ; St. Laurent and Martigny,
in Didron's Annales Archeologiques, xxvi., &c.
The Fathers recognised that it entered into
heathen as well as Christian symbolism. See
Minuc. Fel. Oetav. 29; Tert. Apol. 16; Ad Nat.
*¦ 12- [F. W. F.]

CEOWN
CEOWN (nnt3r). This ornament, which is
both ancient and universal, probably originated
from the fillets used to prevent the hair from
being dishevelled by the wind. Such fillets are
still common, and they may be seen on the
sculptures of Persepolis, Nineveh, and Egypt ;
they gradually developed into turbans, which
by the addition of ornamental or precious mate
rials assumed the dignity of mitres or crowns
(Jos. Ant. iii. 7, § 7). The use of them as
ornameuts was probably suggested by the
natural custom of encircling the head with
flowers in token of joy and triumph. (" Let us
crown ourselves with rosebuds," Wisd. ii. 8 ;
3 Mace. vii. 16 ; Judith xv. 13, and the classical
writers, passim; Winer, s. v. Kranze). The
Jews only borrowed the use of garlands at ban
quets from the Greeks in post-biblical times.
The first crown was said to have been woven for
Pandora by the Graces (cp. trTetpavos xa-P^Tavi
Prov. iv. 9 = o-Tetpavos tuv rrvevpaTiKuv xaPlv-
pdTwv, Lex. Cyr.). According to Pherecydes,
Saturn was the first to wear a crown ; Diodorus
says that Jupiter was first crowned by the gods
after the conquest of the Titans. Pliny, Harpo-
cration, &c, ascribe the earliest use of crowns to
Bacchus, who gave to Ariadne a crown of gold
and Indian gems, and assumed the laurel garland
after his conquest of India. Leo Aegyptius
attributes the invention to Isis, whose wreath
was cereal. These and other legends are col
lected by Tertullian (de Corona militis, § 7) from
the elaborate treatise on crowns by Claud.
Saturnius (praestantissimus in hac materia com
mentator). Pliny also has much to say about
them (ff. N. xvi. 3 sq., xxi. 3 sq.). Another
tradition says that Nimrod was the first to wear
a crown, the shape of which was suggested to
him by a cloud (Eutychius Alexandr. Ann.
i. p. 63). Tertullian (ubi supra, § 7) argues
against all kinds of garlands as unnatural and
idolatrous. He is, however, singularly unsuc
cessful in trying to disprove the countenance
given to them in Scripture, where they are
constantly mentioned. He says, Quis . . . epis
copus invenitur coronatus ? (chap. 9). But both
the ordinary priests and the high-priest wore
" crowns." The common mitre (nV3|U?, Kitiapis,
Ex. xxviii. 37, xxix. 6, &c; ¦raij'fa, Jos.; o-Tp6$tov
'6 oi iepe7s tpopovtri, Hesych.) was a TriXos &kuvos,.
forming a sort of linen taenia or crown
(o-Tetpdvn), Jos. Ant. iii. 7. The nghiyt? (Buoaivn
Tidpa) of the high-priest (used also of a regal
crown, Ezek. xxi. 26) was much more splendid
(Ex. xxviii. 36. See Knobel-Dillmann in loco).
It was "an ornament of honour, a, costly
work, the desires of the eyes, goodly and
beautiful " (Ecclus. xiv. 12). In Lev. viii. 9
it is called " the holy crown," which however
Ewald renders " the (sign of) consecration,"
from the Tetragrammaton inscribed on it (So-
pranes, de re Vest. Jud., p. 441). It had a
second fillet of blue lace (it, iaKlvBov Ttetroi-
KtXpevos, the colour being chosen as * type of
heaven), and over it a golden diadem (IH, Ex-
xxix. 6), " on which blossomed a golden calyx like
the flower of the iotrKuapos" (Jos. Ant iu._7,
§ 6). The gold band ()»¥> LXX. ireraXov, Orig.
iXao-Tr)piov) was tied behind with blue lace
(embroidered with flowers), and being two fingers
broad, bore the inscription (not in bas-reliet, as

CEOWN
Abarbanel says) " Holiness to the Lord " (cp.
Rev. xvii. 5 ; Braunius, de Vest. Sacerd. ii. 22 ;
Maimon. de Apparatu Templi, ix. 1 ; Reland,
Antiq. ii. 10 ; Carpzov. Appar. Crit. p. 85 ; Jos.
B. J. v. 5, § 7 ; Philo, de Vit. Mosis, iii. 519).
Some suppose that Josephus is describing a later
crown said to have been given by Alexander
the Great to Jaddua (Jennings' Jew. Ant.
p. 158) ; but more probably he is simply adopt
ing the assertions of the Rabbis, for in the Bible
the only distinction between the high-priest's
" crown " and the simple turban of the other
priests consisted in the addition of the gold
plate. The use of the crown by priests and in
religious services was universal, and perhaps the
badge belonged at first " rather to the ponti
ficalia than the regalia." Thus Q. Fabius Pictor
says that the first crown was used by Janus
when sacrificing. "A striped head-dress and
queue," or " a short wig, on which a band was
fastened, ornamented with an asp, the symbol of
royalty," was used by the kings of Egypt in
religious ceremonies (Wilkinson's Ane. Egypt.
ii. 324, smaller ed. [1878]). The crown worn by
the kings of Assyria was " a Iiigh mitre . . . fre
quently adorned with flowers, &c, and arranged
in bands of linen or silk. Originally there was
only one band, but afterwards there were two,
and the ornaments were richer " (Layard, ii.
320, and the illustrations in Jahn, Arch., Germ.
edit., part i. vol. ii. tab. ix. 4 and 8).

CEOWN OF THORNS

67;

Crowns worn l>y Assyrian kings. (From Nimroud ana Kouyunjik.)
There are several words in Scripture for a
crown besides those mentioned ; as "IKS (A. V.
"tire," "bonnet," " ornament," "beauty"), the
head-dress of bridegrooms, Is. lxi. 10 (R. V.
" garland "), pWpa, LXX. ; Baruch v. 2 ; Ezek.
xxiv. 17 (Tpixupa), and of women, Is. iii. 20
(ipirXSKiov?); HTSX (A. V. "morning;"
E. V. " doom," in marg. the turn or the crown
ing time, Ezek. vii. 7, lit. " circle "), a head-dress
of great splendour (Is. xxviii. 5, A. V. and R. V.
" diadem ") ; fVI?, a wreath of flowers (o-retpa-
vos), Prov. i. 9, 'iv. 9, Is. xxviii. 1; SyH, »
common tiara or turban, Job xxix. 14, Is. iii. 23
(but LXX. SnrXois, Bepiarpov). The words
"113, ins, and ^313 are spoken of under
Diadem.' The general word is iTIDl?, and we
must attach to it the notion of a costly turban
interwoven with pearls and gems of great
value, which often form aigrettes for feathers,
as in the crowns of modern Asiatic sovereigns.
Such was probably the crown, which with
its precious stones weighed a talent, taken by
David from the king of Ammon at Rabbah
and used as the state crown of Judah (2 Sam.

xii. 30). Some groundlessly suppose that, being
too heavy to wear, it was suspended over
his head. The royal crown was sometimes
buried with the king (Schickard, Jus Reg. vi.
19, p. 421). Idolatrous nations also " made
crowns for the head of their gods " (Ep. Jer. 9).
The Jews boast that three crowns were given
to them : miD "lfiD, the crown of the Law;
n31H3 "irD, the crown of priesthood ; and
711370 '3, the royal crown ; better than all
which is DID DtJ' 1H3, the crown of = good
name (Carpzov. Apparat. Critic, p. 60 ; Otho,
Lex. Talm. s. v. Corona).
2Tetpavos is used in the N. T. for every kind
of crown ; but CTepipa only once (Acts xiv. 13)
for the garlands used with victims. In the
Byzantine Court the latter word was confined to
the imperial crown (Du Fresne, Gloss. Grace.
p. 1442). The use of funeral crowns is not
mentioned in the Bible.
. In Rev. xii. 3, xix. 12, allusion is made to
" many crowns " worn in token of extended
dominion. Thus the kings of Egypt used to be
crowned with the " pshent " or united crowns of
Upper and Lower Egypt (Wilkinson, A. E. i. 257,
269 ; ii. 323, 325 [1878] ; cp. Layard, ii. 320) ;
and Ptolemy Philometor wore two diadems, one
for Europe and one for Asia. Similarly the
three crowns of the Papal tiara mark various
accessions of power : the first corona was added
to the mitra by Alexander III. in 1159 ; the
second by Boniface VIII. in 1303 ; and the third
by Urban V. in 1362.
The laurel, pine, or parsley crowns given to
victors in the great games of Greece are finely
alluded to by St. Paul (1 Cor. ix. 25 ; 2 Tim. ii.
5, &c). They are said to have originated in the
laurel-wreath assumed by Apollo on conquering
the Python (Tert. de Cor. Mil. 7, 15). " Crown "
is often used figuratively in the Bible (Prov.
xii. 4, xvii. 6 ; Is. xxviii. 5 ; Phil. iv. 1, &c).
The term is also applied to the rims of altars,
tables, &c. (Ex. xxv. 25, &c. ; Deut. xxii. 8, iroi-
•fio-ets o-retpdv-nv rip tiupari trov. Projectura
coronarum, Vitr. ii. 8, Plin. xxxvi. 24 ; Angusti
muri corona, Q. Curt. ix. 4, 30). The ancients
as well as the moderns had a coin called " a
cri>wn" (rbv ffretpavov ov otpeiXeTe, 1 Mace. xiii.
39, x. 29, E. V. " Crown-tax ; " v. Suid. s. v.
o-retpaviKbv TeXetrpa). [DlADEM.]
The chief writers on crowns are Paschalius
(de Coronis, libri x.) and Meursius (de Corona,
Hafhiae, 1671). For others, see Fabricius, Bibl.
Ant. xiv. 13. Full accounts of ancient Pagan
crowns and garlands will be found in the Dict.
of Gk. and Bom. Antiquities ; and of more modern
imperial crowns and .wreaths, in the Dict. of
Christian Antiquities. [F. W. F.]
CROWN OF THOENS (tTTetpavos (?| aKav-
Buv, Matt, xxvii. 29). Our Lord was crowned
with thorns in mockery by the Roman soldiers.
The object seems to have been insult, and not
the infliction of pain as has generally been
supposed. The Ehamnus or Spina Christi,
although abundant in the neighbourhood of
Jerusalem, cannot be the plant intended, because
its thorns are so strong and large that it could
not have been woven (irXe^avres) into a wreath.
The large-leaved acanthus (bear's-foot) is totally
unsuited for the purpose. Had the acacia been
intended, as some suppose, the phrase would
2X2

676

CRUCIFIXION

have been e'£ aKdvBns. Obviously some small
flexile thorny shrub is meant ; perhaps cappares
spinosae (Reland's Palestin. ii. 523). Hasselquist
(Travels, p. 288) says that, the thorn used was
the Arabian Nabk (Zizyphus Spina-Christi).
" It was very suitable for their purpose, as it
has many sharp thorns which inflict painful
wounds ; and its flexible, pliant, and round
branches might easily be plaited in the form of
a crown." It also resembles in colour the rich
dark green of the triumphal ivy-wreath, which
would give additional pungency to its ironical
purpose (Rosenmiiller, Botany of Script, p. 202,
Eng. ed.). The name of " Christ's-thorn " is
also given to the Arabic Samur (Paliurus
aculeatus), which is common in the neighbour
hood of Jerusalem. On the Empress Helena's
supposed discovery of the crown of thorns, and
its subsequent fate, see Gibbon, ii. 306, vi. 65,
ed. Milman. [F. W. F.]
CRUCIFIXION (ffTavpovv, avatTTaupovv,
o-KoXotri^eiv, irpoo-nXovv [and, less properly,
avao-KivtiuXeveiv] ; cruci or patibulo afficere, suf-
figere, or simply figere [Tert. de Pat. iii.],
cruciare [Auson.] ad palum alligare, crucem
alicui statuere, in crucem agere, tollere, &c. : the
sufferer was called cruciarius). The variety of
the phrases shows the extreme commonness of
the punishment, the invention of which is tra
ditionally ascribed to Semiramis. It was in use
among the Egyptians (as in the case of Inarus,
Thuc. i. 30 ; Gen. xl. 19 [as usually under
stood]), the Phoenicians and Carthaginians (as
in the case of Hanno, &c, Val. Max. ii. 7 ;
Sil. Ital. ii. 344), the Persians (Polycrates, &c. ;
Herod, iii. 125, iv. 43 ; Esth. vii. 10, artxapa-
Bt)tu iir' avTd, LXX. v. 9), the Assyrians
-(Diod. Sic. ii. 1), Scythians (Id. ii. 44), Indians
(Id. ii. 18 ; Winer, s. v. Kreuzigung), Germans
(possibly, Tac. Germ. 12), and it was very
frequent from the earliest times (reste sus-
pendito, Liv. i. 26) among the Greeks and
Romans. Cicero, however, refers the introduc
tion of this punishment, not (as Livy does) to
the early kings, but to Tarquinius Superbus (pro
Rab. 4). Aurel. Victor calls it Vetus veterri-
mumque (an teterr. ?) patibulorum supplicium.
Both xpepav and suspendere (Ov. Biis, 299) refer
to death by crucifixion; thus, in speaking of
Alexander's crucifixion of 2000 Tyrians, aveKpe-
pao-ev in Diod. Sic. answers to the Crucibus
affixus, Q. Curt. iv. 4.
Whether this mode of execution was known
to the ancient Jews is a matter of dispute, on
which Winer quotes a monograph by Bormitius.
It is asserted to have been so by Baronius (An
nal. i. xxxiv.), Sigonius (de Rep. Hebr. vi. 8),
&c, who are refuted by Casaubon (c. Baron.
Exerc. xvi. ; Carpzov. Apparat. Crit. p. 591).
The Hebrew words said to allude to it are n'pn
(sometimes with the addition of fllti hv ; hence
the Jews in polemics call our Lord »)^n, and
Christians ^n H211;, "worshippers of the
crucified ") and UgJ, both of which in A. V. and
R. V. are generally rendered "to hang " (2 Sam.
xviii. 10 ; Deut. xxi. 22 ; Num. xxv. 4 ; Job xxvi.
7) ; for which OTavp6u occurs in the LXX. (Esth.
vn. 10), and crucifixerunt in the Vulg. (2 Sam.
xxi. 6, 9). The Jewish account of the matter

CEUCIFIXION
(in Maimonides and the Rabbis) is, that the ex
posure of the body tied to a stake by its hands
(which might loosely be called crucifixion) took
place after death (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. in Matt.
xxvii. 31; Otho, Lex. Rab. s. v. Supplicia;
Reland, Ant. ii. 6 ; Sir T, Browne, Vulg. Errors,
v. 21). Even the placing of a head on a single
upright pole has been called crucifixion. This
custom of crucifixion after death (which seems
to be implied in Deut. xxi. 22, 23) was by no
means rare ; men were first killed or stunned in
mercy (Cic. Verr. ii. 45 ; Suet. Jul. Cues. 74 ;
Herod, iii. 125 ; Plut. Cleom. 38). According to a
strange story in Pliny (xxxvi. 15, § 24), it was
adopted by Tarquin, as a post mortem disgrace,
to prevent the prevalence of suicide. It seems
on the whole that the Rabbis are correct in
asserting that this exposure is intended in Scrip
ture, since the Mosaic capital punishments were
four (viz. the sword, Ex. xxi. 14, cp. 1 K. ii. 31 ;
strangling, Num. xxv. 4 ; fire, Lev. xx. 14 ;
and stoning, Lev. xx. 27). Philo indeed says (da
leg. spec.) that Moses adopted crucifixion as a
murderer's punishment because it was the worst
he could discover ; but the passage in Deut.
(xxi. 23) does not prove his assertion. Probably
therefore the Jews borrowed crucifixion (in the
proper sense) from the Romans (Jos. Ant xx.
6, § 2 ; de Bell. Jud. ii. 12, § 6 ; Vit. 75, &c),
although there may have been a few isolated
instances of it before (Jos. Ant. xiii. 14, § 2).
It was unanimously considered the most hor
rible form of death, worse even than burning,
since the "cross" precedes "burning" in the
law-books (Lips, de Cruc. ii. 1). Hence it is
called crudelissimum teterrimumque supplicium
(Cic. Verr. v. 66), extrema poena (Apul. de Aur.
Asin. x.), summum supplicium (Paul. Sent. v. tit.
xxi., &c.) ; and to a Jew it would acquire facti
tious horror from the curse in Deut. xxi. 23.
Among the Romans also the ' degradation was a
part of the infliction, since it was especially a
servile supplicium (Tac. ff. iv. 11 ; Juv. vi. 218;
Hor. Sat. i. 3, 8, &c. ; Plaut. passim), so that
even a freedman was exempt from it (Cic. pro
Rab. 5) ; or if it was ever applied to freemen, it
was only in the case of the vilest criminals,
thieves, &c. (Jos. Ant, xvii. 10, § 10; Bell.
Jud. v. 11, § 1 ; Paul. Sent. v. tit. xxiii.; Lam-
prid. Alex. Sev. 23). Exemption from this form
of punishment was the privilege of every Roman
citizen by the jus civitatis (Cic. Verr. ii. 1, 3).
Oar Lord was condemned to it by the popular
cry of the Jews (Matt, xxvii. 23, as often hap
pened to the early Christians) on the charge of
sedition against Caesar (Luke xxiii. 2), although
the Sanhedrin had previously condemned him
on the totally distinct charge of blasphemy.
Hundreds of Jews were crucified on this charge,
as by Florus (Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 14, § 9) and
Varus, who crucified 2000 at once (Ant. xvii.
10, § 10).
We now purpose briefly to sketch the steps of
the punishment, omitting only such parts of it
as have been already detailed under Cross.
The scarlet robe, crown of thorns, and other
insults to which our Lord was subjected were
illegal, and arose from the spontaneous petulance
of the brutal soldiery (cp. Tac. Ann. xv. 44,
" et pereuntibus addita ludibria "). But the
punishment properly commenced with scourging,
after the criminal had been stripped ; hence in

CRUCIFIXION
the common form of sentence we find "sum-
move, lictor, despolia, verbera," &c. (Liv. i. 26.
For this there are a host of authorities : Liv.
xxvii. 13, xxxiii. 36 ; Q. Curt. vii. 11 ; Lnc. de
Piscat. 2 ; Jer. Comment, ad Matt, xxvii. 26, &c).
Scourging was inflicted not with the compara
tively mild virgae, but the more terrible flaqellum
(Hor. Sat. i. 3 ; 2 Cor. xi. 24, 25), which was
not used by the Jews (Deut. xxv. 3). Into these
scourges the soldiers often stuck nails, pieces of
bone, &c. (the pxio-Ti£ atrrpayaXurr) mentioned by
Athenaeus, p. 153 a ; Luc. Asin. 38, &c. ; fiagrum
pecuinis ossibus catenatum, Apul. Met. 8). This
was done to heighten the pain, which was often
so intense that the sufferer died under it (Ulp.
de Poenis, lib. viii.). The scourging generally
took place %t a column, aud the one to which our
Lord was supposed to have been bound was seen
by Jerome, Prudentius, Gregory of Tours, &c,
and is still shown at several churches among the
relics. In our Lord's case, however, this inflic
tion seems neither to have been the legal
scourging after the sentence (Val. Max. i. 7 ;
Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 14, § 9), nor yet the examina
tion by torture (Acts xxii. 24), but rather a
scourging before the sentence, to excite pity and
procure immunity from further punishment
(Luke xxiii. 22 ; John xix. 1) ; and if this view
be correct, the tppayeXXutras in Matt, xxvii. 26
is retrospective, as so great an anguish could
hardly have been endured twice. How severe it
was is indicated in prophecy (Ps. xxxv. 15 ; Is.
1. 6). Vossius considers that it was partly legal,
partly tentative (Harm. Pass. v. 13). In the
spurious Acts of Pilate it is said that forty
blows were given, but that is a mere confusion
of the Roman with the Jewish custom.
The criminal carried his own cross, or at any
rate a part of it (Plut. de iis qui sero, &c. 9 ;
Artemid. Oneirocr. ii. 61 ; John xix. 17 ; Patibu-
lum ferat per urbem, delude affigatur cruci, Plaut.
Carbonar.). Hence the term Furcifer, — cross-
bearer. This was prefigured by Isaac carrying
the wood in Gen. xxii. 6, where even the Jews
notice the parallel ; and to this the Fathers
fantastically applied the expression in Is. ix. 6,
" the government shall be upon his shoulder "
(Septimins, «. Jud. 12 ; Aug. Serm. 71 ; Theo
doret, Procopius, &c. ad loc). Criminals were
sometimes scourged and goaded on the way
(Plaut. Mostel. i. 1, 52). "In some old figures
we see our Lord described with a table appendent
to the fringe of his garment, set full of nails and
pointed iron " (Jer. Taylor, Life of Christ, iii.
xv. 2. Haerebas ligno quod tuleras : Cypr. de
Pas. p. 50). [Simon of Cyrene.]
The place of execution was outside the city
(" post urbem," Cic. Verr. v. 66 ; " extra por-
tam," Plaut. Mil. Gl. ii. 4, 6 ; 1 K. xxi. 13 ;
Acts vii. 58 ; Heb. xiii. 12 ; and in camps, " extra
vallura "), often in some public road (Quinct.
Decl. 275) or other conspicuous place like the
Campus Martius (Cic. pro Rabirio), or some spot
set apart for the purpose (Tac. Ann. xv.). This
might sometimes be a hill (Val. Max. vi.) ; it is,
however, merely tradition to call Golgotha a
hill; in the Evangelists it is called tSttos [Cal
vary]. Arrived at the place of execution, the
sufferer was stripped naked (Artemid. Oneirocr.
ii. 58), the dress being the perquisite of the
soldiers (Matt, xxvii. 35 ; Dig. xlviii. 20, 6) ;
possibly not even a cloth round the loins was

CEUCIFIXION

677

allowed him ; at least among the Jews the rule
was " that a man should be stoned naked,"
where what follows shows that " naked " must
not be taken in its restricted sense. We may
be sure, however, that the Acts of Pilate pre
serve a traditional fact when they say of our
Lord irepie(utrav avTbv Xevrtov (Act. Pilot 10).
The cross was then driven into the ground, so
that the feet of the condemned were a foot or
two above the earth (in pictures of the Cruci
fixion the Cross is always much too large and
high), and he was lifted upon it (agere, excur-
rere, tollere, ascendere in crucem; Prudent, irepl
aretp. ; Plaut. Mostel. ' Crucisalus;' Id. Bacch. 2,
3, 128 ; avrtyov, r]yov, r)yov eis &Kpov reXos,
Greg. Naz.), or else stretched upon it on the
ground, and then lifted with it, to which there
seems to be an allusion in a lost prophecy (?)
quoted by Barnabas (Ep. 12), irav £iXov KXiBp
Kai avao-Trj (Pearson on Creed, art. iv.). The
former method was the commoner, for we often
read (as in Esth. vii. 10, &c.) of the cross being
erected beforehand, in terrorem. Before the
nailing or binding took place (for which see
Cross), a medicated cup (sopor, Plin. xx. 18;
Sen. Ep. 83) was given out of kindness to con
fuse the senses and deaden the pangs of the
sufferer (Prov. xxxi. 6), usually of oTvos io-p.vp-
putrpevos or XeXiBavupevos, as among the Jews
(Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad Matt, xxvii.), because
myrrh was soporific. This merciful alleviation
our Lord refused that His senses might be
clear (Matt, xxvii. 34; Mark xv. 23. Maimon.
Sanhed. xiii.). St. Matthew calls it #{oy (or
olvov, N, B, D, K, L, &c.) pteTa xoXi)s Q'Din), an
expression used in reference to Ps. Ixix. 21, but
not strictly accurate. This mercifully intended
draught must not be confounded with the
spongeful of vinegar (or posca, the common
drink of Roman soldiers, Spart. Hadr. ; Plaut.
Mil. Gl. iii. 2, 23), which was put on a hyssop-
stalk and offered to our Lord in mocking and
contemptuous pity (Matt, xxvii. 48 ; Luke xxiii.
36) ; this He barely tasted to allay the agonies
of thirst (John xix. 29).
Our Lord was crucified between two " male
factors" or "brigands" (then so common in
Palestine, Jos. Bell. Jud. ii. 6, &c), according to
prophecy (Is. liii. 12); and was watched accord
ing to custom by a party of four soldiers (John
xix. 23) with their centurion (Kovo-Tutiia, Matt.
xxvii. 66 ; miles qui cruces asservabat, Petr. Sat.
iii. 6 ; Plut. Vit. Cleom. 38), whose express office
was to prevent the removal of the body. This
was necessary from the lingering character of
the death, which sometimes did not supervene
eveu for three days, and was at last the result of
gradual benumbing and starvation (Euseb. ff. E.
viii. 8 ; Sen. Prov. 3). But for this guard, the
sufferers might have been taken down and
recovered (as in the case of Sandokes : Herod.
vii. 194), as was actually done in the case of a
friend of Josephus, though only one survived
out of three to whom the same BepaTrela itrtp.e-
Xeo-TdTTi was applied (Vit. 75). Among the
Convulsionnaires in the reign of Louis XV.
women would be repeatedly crucified, and even
remain on the cross three hours ; we are told of
one who underwent this torture twenty-three
times (Encycl. Metr. s. v. Cross). The pain
consisted almost entirely in the nailing, and not
more than a basonful of blood was lost. Still

678

CEUCIFIXION

we cannot believe from the Martyrologies that
Victorinus (crucified head-downwards) lived
three days, or Timotheus and Maura nine days.
For description of the conduct of men who were
being crucified, see Cic. Verr. v. 62 ; Justin,
xxii. 7 ; Sen. de Vit. beat, 19 ; Jos. B. J. viii.
6, § 4; Keim, Jesu von Nazara, in. ii. 431.
Fracture of the legs (Plaut. Poen. iv. 2, 64) was
especially adopted by the Jews to hasten death
(John xix. 31), and it was a mitigation of the
punishment, as was observed by Origen (in Matt. ;
cp. Sen. Ep. 101). It was sometimes even
purchased as a privilege (Cic. Verr. ii. 45).
But the unusual rapidity of our Lord's death
(Qeirvevcrev, Mark xv. 37, Luke xxiii. 46 ;
cupTJKev Tb Trvevpa, Matt, xxvii. 50 ; irapetiuKev
rb irvevpa, John xix. 30) was due to the
depth of His previous agonies (which appears
from His inability to bear His own Cross far)
and to His mental anguish (Schoettgen, Hor.
Heb. vi. 3 ; de pass. Messiae) ; or it may be suffi
ciently accounted for by the rupture of the
heart which is believed to have been the
physical cause of His death (Stroud, Tlie Phy
sical Cause of tlie Death of Christ, 1871 ; Dr. S.
Haughton, quoted in Speaker's Commentary, add.
note on 1 John v. 6, pp. 349, 350). There is
no need to explain the " giving up the ghost "
as an actual miracle (Heb. v. 7 ?), or to say
with Cyprian, Praevento carnificis officio, spiritum
sponte dimisit (adv. Demetr.), though beyond
all doubt the mode and the moment of Christ's
death were in accordance with His own Divine
will — quia voluit, quando voluit, quomodo voluit
(Aug. Cp. Is. liii. 7 [Vulg. Oblatus est quia ipse
voluit^). Still less can the common cavil of
infidelity be thought noteworthy, since had our
Lord been in a swoon the piercing of His peri
cardium (proved by the appearance of lymph
and blood) would have ensured death (see
Eschenbach, Opusc. Med. de Servatore non ap-
parenter sed vere mortuo, and Gruner, de morte
Christi non synoptica, quoted by Jahn in the
Arch. Bibl.). Pilate expressly satisfied himself of
the actual death by questioning the centurion
(Mark xv. 44) ; and the omission of the break
ing of the legs in this case was the fulfil
ment of a type (Ex. xii. 46). Other modes of
hastening death were by lighting fires under
the cross (hence such nicknames as Sarmentitii
and Semaxii, Tert. Apolog. 50), or by letting
loose wild beasts on the crucified (Suet.
Ner. 49).
Generally the body was suffered to rot on the
cross (Cic. Tusc. Q. i. 43 ; Sil. Ital. viii. 486),
by the action of sun and rain (Herod, iii. 12), or
to be devoured by birds and beasts (Gen. xl. 19 ;
Apul. de Aur. Asin. 6 ; Hor. Ep. i. 16, 48 ; Juv.
xiv. 77). Sepulture was as a rule forbidden,
though it might be granted as a special favour
or on grand occasions. But in consequence of
Deut. xxi. 22, 23, an express national exception
was made in favour of the Jews (Matt, xxvii.
58 ; cp. Joseph. Bell. Jud. iv. 5, § 2).
Having thus traced the whole process of
crucifixion, it only remains to speak of the
manner of death, and the kinds of physical
suffering endured, which we shall very briefly
abridge from the treatise of the physician
Richter (in Jahn's Arch. Bibl). These were:
1. The unnatural position and violent tension
of the body, which caused a painful sensation

CEUSE
from the least .motion. 2. The nails being
driven through parts of the hands and feet
which are full of nerves and tendons (and yet
at a distance from the heart), create the most
exquisite anguish. 3. The exposure of so many
wounds and lacerations brings on inflammation,
which tends to become gangrene, and every
moment increases the poignancy of torment.
4. In the distended parts of the body more
blood flows through the arteries than can be
carried back into the veins : hence too much
blood finds its way from the aorta into the
head and stomach, and the blood-vessels of
the head become pressed and swollen. The
general obstruction of circulation which ensues
causes au internal excitement, exertion, and
anxiety, more intolerable than death itself. 5.
The inexpressible misery of gradually increasing
and lingering anguish. To all which we may
add, 6. Burning and raging thirst. And thus
we see that the terrible death which the Lord
Jesus endured for our salvation involved all
that pain and death can have of ghastly and
horrible, — dizziness, cramp, hunger, thirst,
sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus, mortifi
cation of wounds, publicity of shame, long con
tinuance of torment.
This accursed and awful mode of punishment
was happily abolished by Constantine (Sozom.
ff. E. i. 8; Aurel. Vict. Const. 41), probably
towards the end of his reign (see Lips, de
Cruce, iii. 15), although it is curious that we
have no more definite account of the matter.
" An edict so honourable to Christianity," says
Gibbon, " deserved a place in the Theodosian
code, instead of the indirect mention of it which
seems to result from the comparison of the 5th
and 18th titles of the 9th book " (ii. 154, note).
An explanation of the other circumstances
attending the Crucifixion belongs rather to a
commentary than a dictionary. On the types
and prophecies of it, besides those adduced, see
Ep. Barnab. 11, 12; Just. Mart. Apol. i. 54;
Dial. 86-91, 97 ; Cypr. Testim. ii. 20, &c. On the
resurrection ofthe saints, see Lightfoot ad Matt.
xxvii. 52 (there is a monograph by Gebaverius
— Dissert, de Resur. sanctorum cum Christo). On
other concomitant prodigies, see Schoettgen, Hor.
Hebr. et Talmud, vi. 3, 8. [Darkness ; Cross.]
The chief authorities are quoted in the article,
and the ancient ones are derived in part from
Lipsius ; of whose most interesting treatise, de
Cruce, an enlarged and revised edition, with
notes, would be very acceptable. On the points
in which our Lord's Crucifixion differed from
the ordinary Jewish customs, see Otho, Lex.
Babbinicum, s. v. Supplicia ; Bynaeus, de Morte
Jesu Christi; Vossius, Harm. Passionis ; Carpzov.
Apparat. Crit p. 591 sq., &c. [F. W. F.]
CEUSE, a word employed in the A. V.,
apparently without any special intention, to
translate three distinct Hebrew words.
1. Tzappachath, nnSX (from flStf, a root
with the idea of width; cp. ampulla, from
ampins). Some clue to the nature of this vessel
is perhaps afforded by its mention as being full
of water at the head of Saul when on his night-
expedition after David (1 Sam. xxvi. 11, 12, 16),
and also of Elijah (1 K. xix. 6). In a similar
case in the present day (cp. Thomson, Land and
Book, ii. 21) this would be a globular vessel

CEYSTAL
of blue porous clay — the ordinary Gaza pottery
— about 9. inches in diameter, with a neck of
about 3 inches long, a small handle below the
neck, and opposite the handle a straight spout,
with an orifice about the size of straw, through
which the water is drunk or sucked. The form
is common also in Spain, and will be familiar to
many from pictures of Spanish life. A similar
globular vessel probably contained the oil of the
widow of Zarephath (1 K. xvii. 12, 14, 16).
For the " box " or " horn " in which the conse
crated oil was carried on special occasions, see
Oil. 2. The noise which these vessels make when
•emptied through the neck is suggestive of the
second term, Bakbook, p-13f>2, probably like the
Greek bombulos, B6piBvXos, an onomatopoietic
word. This is found but twice — a " cruse of
honey " (1 K. xiv. 3, R. V. marg. bottle) ; and
an " earthen bottle " (Jer. xix. 1).
3. Apparently very different from both these
is the other term, Tzelacliah, fflTPV (in pi. only,
jlirDX; found also in the forms JVrPS and
Tin?S, from a root n?X, of uncertain meaning,
cp. Ges. Thes. and MV.11). This was probably
a flat metal saucer of the form still common
in the East. TVtp'i occurs in 2 K. ii. 20,
" cruse ; " nilf?V in 2 Ch. xxxv. 13, ," pans ; "
nnW in 2 K. xxi. 13, " dish ; " and in Prov.
xix. 24, xxvi. 15, where R. V. rightly translates
"dish;" in A. V. the figure is obscured by the
choice of the word " bosom." [G.] [W.]
CEYSTAL, the representative in the A. V.
of the Hebrew word zecucith (TTD-IDT), in the
R.V. "glass," and of kerach (rpj?) in the A. V.
and R. V.
1. Zecucith (SdXos ; vitrum) occurs only in
Job xxviii. 17, where wisdom is declared to be
more valuable than " gold and the crystal."
Notwithstanding the different interpretations of
" rock crystal," " glass," " adamant," &c, that
have been assigned to this word, there can, we
think, be very little doubt that " glass " is
intended (so R. V.). The old Versions and para
phrases are in favour of this interpretation. The
Targum has zegougitha, by which the Talmudists
understand " glass." The Syriac has zagugitto ;
the Arabic zujaj, i.e. " glass." Schultens (Com
ment, in Job. 1. c.) conjectures that the) words
zahab uzec-ucith (JV3-13I-1 2iTt) are n. hendiadys
to denote " a valuable glass or crystal goblet,"
or "a glass vessel gilt with gold," such a one
perhaps as that which Nero is reported to have
iroken to pieces in a fit of anger (Pliny, N. ff.
xxxvii. 2). Cary (Job, I. c.) translates the
words " golden glass ; " and very aptly com
pares a passage in Wilkinson (Ane. Egypt ii. 61,
[1878]), who, speaking of the skill of the
Egyptians in making glass, says that " they had
even the secret of introducing gold between two
surfaces of glass, and in their bottles a gold
band alternates within a set of blue, green, and
other colours." It is very probable that the
zecucith of Job (I. c.) may denote such a work
of art as is referred to in this quotation.
[Glass.]

CUCKOO

679

2. Kerach (KpittTaXXos ; crystallum) occurs
in numerous passages in the 0. T. to denote
"ice," "frost," &c. ; but once only (Ezek. i. 22 ;
R. V. marg. ice), as is generally understood, to
signify "crystal:" "And the likeness of the
firmament . . . was as the colour of the mag
nificent crystal." The ancients supposed rock-
crystal to be merely ice congealed by intense
cold ; whence the Greek word KpitTTaXXos, from
Kpuos, "cold" (see Pliny, N. ff. xxxvii. 2).
The similarity of appearance between ice and
crystal caused no doubt the identity of the
terms to express these substances. The A. V.,
following the Vulg., translates the epithet
(SOijn) "terrible" in Ezek. (I. c): the word
might perhaps be rendered " splendid." It has
the same meaning as the Latin spectabilis. The
Greek KpuaraXXos occurs in Rev. iv. 6, xxii. 1.
It may mean either " ice " or " crystal." In
deed there is no absolute necessity to depart
from the usual signification of the Hebrew
kerach in Ezek. (I. c). The upper vault of
heaven may well be compared to " the astonish
ing brightness of ice " (see Harris, Dict. Nat.
Hist, of Bible, art. " Crystal"). [W. H.]
CUBIT. [Measures.]
CUCKOO (*liy&, shachaph; Xdpos; larus),
in the A. V. " cuckow," in the R. V. " sea-mew."
It is difficult to conjecture how the rendering
" cuckoo " has become adopted in all English
versions from that of Coverdale, a.d. 1535, down
to the A. V. There is no authority for it elsewhere.
Cuckoos are certainly well known in Palestine,
where two species are common, Cuculus canorus,
or common cuckoo, and Oxylophus glandarius,
the great spotted cuckoo. They are known to
the Arabs, and probably were to the Hebrews,
as to the Greeks, by the same name as among
ourselves, for the most unobservant of peoples
have always recognised the note of the cuckoo.
The Hebrew word shachaph occurs only in Lev.
xi. 16 (Knobel-Dillmann, Miywe), and in Deut. xiv.
15, as the name of some unclean bird. Bochart
(Hieroz. iii. 1) has attempted to show that
Shachaph denotes the Cepphus. The Keirtpos of
Aristotle (Anim. Hist. viii. 5, § 7 ; ix. 23, § 4),
Nicander (Alexipharm. 165), and other Greek
writers, has been identified by Schneider with
the storm-petrel (Thalassidroma pelagica). Had
this writer identified it with "Petrel" generally,
instead of limiting it to one species, and that the
smallest, and very rare in the Mediterranean, he
would have been more in harmony with all the
ancient Versions, and have been probably correct.
The petrel family, including under the term the
shearwater and storm-petrels, are abundant on
the Syrian coast. The Scholiast on Aristophanes
(Plutus) describes the Cepphus as a light kind
of gull. Suidas, under the word Keirtpos, says,
" It is a bird like a gull, light of body, and sails
over the waves." The notion held by the
ancients that the Cepphus lived on the foam of
the sea, points also to the shearwater, which will
well answer to Suidas' definition of Keirtpos.
The two most common species in the Eastern
.Mediterranean are the Mana shearwater (Puffinus
anglorum) and the Mediterranean shearwater
(Puffinus kuhli). These birds, especially the
former, may be seen all day long passing in
countless flocks up and down the Dardanelles,

680

CUCUMBEES

CUCUMBERS

and are never seen to rest or pause on the water,
but ceaselessly glide within a few inches of the
surface whether the sea be smooth or rough.
They are popularly believed by the Moslems to
be the souls of the lost, and are consequently
known to the Franks as the "imes damnees."
During the late autumn and winter the shear
waters and petrels appear to live altogether out
at sea. In spring they resort to cliffs and banks
on the shore, and breed in burrows which they
scoop out of the soil about one or two feet deep.
The folly ascribed to the bird, whence the Greek
verb Keirtp6op.at, " to be easily deceived " (see
LXX. in Prov. vii. 22), may have some founda
tion in the fact that these birds when on the
nest will allow themselves to be taken by the
hand. It is very possible that not only the petrel
but also the gull tribe, equally or rather more
abundant on the coast and on the inland lakes,
are also included in the Hebrew shachaph, and
the etymology which (according to some) points
to some " slender " bird would also suit this
inclusion. The most common species are the
magnificent Eagle - Gull (Larus ichthyaetus),
Black-headed Gull (L. ridibundus), Common
Gull (L. canus), Yellow-legged Herring Gull
(L. cachinnans), and Lesser Black-backed Gull
(L. fuscus). [H. B. T.]
CUCUMBEES (OWi?, kishshuim; ol
o-'ikvoi ; cucumeres). This word occurs twice, in
Num. xi. 5, as one of the good things of Egypt
for which the Israelites longed, and mikisliah,
" a garden of cucumbers," Is. i. 8. There is no
doubt as to the meaning of the Hebrew word,
which is found with a slight variation in the
Arabic, Syriac, Aethiopic, &c, to denote the
plant now under consideration (see Celsius,
Hierob. ii. 247). Egypt produces excellent
cucumbers, melons, &c. [Melon], the Cu;umis
chate being, according to Hasselquist. (Trav.
p. 258), the best of its tribe yet known. This
plant grows in the fertile earth around Cairo
after the inundation of the Nile. The fruit,
which is somewhat sweet and cool, is eaten, says
Hasselquist, by the. grandees and Europeans in
Egypt as that from which they have least to
apprehend. Prosper Alpinus (Plant. Aegypt
xxxviii. p. 54) speaks of this cucumber as follows :
— " The Egyptians use a certain kind of cucum
ber which they call chate. This plant does not
differ from the common kind, except in size,
colour, and tenderness ; it has smaller, whiter,
softer, and rounder leaves, and the fruit is
longer and greener than ours, with a smooth
soft rind, and more easy of digestion." Forskal
(Flor. Aegypt. p. 168) states that the Cucumis
chate, which he says is called by the Arabs
Abdellavi or Adjur, is the commonest fruit in
Egypt, planted over whole fields. The C. chate
was once cultivated in England and called "the
round-leaved Egyptian melon." Besides the
Cucumis chate, the common cucumber (C. sativus),
of which the Arabs distinguish a number of
varieties, is common in Egypt. This grows
with the water-melons ; the poor people boil
and eat it with vinegar ; the richer people fill
it with spiced mincemeat, in which form it is a
favourite and universal dish throughout the
East. Both Cucumis chate and C. sativus are
now grown in great quantities in Palestine : on
visiting the Arab school in Jerusalem (1858) I

observed that the dinner which the children
brought with them to school consisted, without
exception, of a piece of barley-cake and a raw
cucumber, which they ate rind and all.
The prophet Isaiah (i. 8) foretells the desola
tion that was to come upon Judah and Jeru
salem in these words : — " The daughter of Zion
is left as a cottage (R. V. " booth ") in a vine
yard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as

The cottage or lodge heie

Lodge in Garden of Cucumbers.

a besieged city,
spoken of is a rude
temporary shelter,
erected in the open
grounds where
vines, cucumbers,
gourds, &c, are
grown, in which
some lonely man
or boy is set to
watch, either to
guard the plants
from robbers, or
to scare away the
foxes and jackals
from the vines. It
is a very rude
affair. Four poles
are stuck ill the
ground, planks ^
are bound across '*'•*¦
their tops, and on
these are entwined
boughs cut from
the oleanders by
the watercourses ;
while others, and
often bits of mat
ting, are worked in so as to form a slight
shelter for the occupant. Dr. Thomson (Tlie
Land and the Book, p. 361) well illustrates
this passage of Scripture, and brings out its
full force. The woodcut which he gives of the
lodge at Butaiha represents such a shelter as
is alluded to above : by and by, when the
crop is gathered and the lodge forsaken, the
" poles will fall down or lean every way, and
the green boughs with which it is shaded will
be scattered by the winds, leaving only a ragged
sprawling wreck — a most affecting type of utter
desolation." Job, speaking of the passing prosperity of the-
wicked, compares it to one of these lodges:
" He buildeth his house as the moth and as a
booth that the keeper maketh " (xxvii. 18, R. V.).
It is curious to observe that the custom of
keeping off birds, &c, from fruit and corn by
means of a scarecrow is as old as the time of
Baruch (vi. 70): "As a scarecrow (irpofia-
tTKdvtov) in a garden of cucumbers keepeth
nothing, so are their gods of wood," &c.
The cucumber (Cucumis sativa) is a trailing
annual plant, belonging to the family Cucur-
bitaceae. Its native country is unknown, as it
has been cultivated in all the warm countries of
the, Old World from time immemorial. In the
Jordan valley the cucumber is ripe in March,
but in the higher parts of Palestine the cucum
bers are set in the ground after the barley has
been taken off, should the latter rains have been.
sufficient to enable the fields to be tilled. On
the Plain of Gennesaret, and elsewhere where it
is possible, the cucumber fields are artificially

CUMMIN
irrigated. Near Kedes (Kadesh Naphtali) hun
dreds of acres are devoted to cucumbers for the
Damascus market. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CUMMIN (|to|, cammdn ; Kupivov ; cyminum ;
Arab. ,j»«> cammun). A well-known plant in
Mediterranean countries, belonging to the natural
order Umbelliferae (Cuminum sativum. Linn.),
cultivated in Palestine, and probably indigenous,
though it has not been noticed there in a wild
state. It is twice mentioned in Scripture.
" Doth he not . . . scatter the cummin ? . . . For
the fitches are not threshed with a threshing
instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about
upon the cummin, but the fitches are beaten
out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod "
(Is. xxviii. 25, 27). So small and tender a seed
would be destroyed or crushed if threshed like
corn, or even if beaten with a staff, like the
stouter husks of the fitches (Nigella saiiva).
The same mode of beating out the cummin is
still practised, while the corn is trodden out
with oxen. What is called the seed of the
cummin is really the fruit enclosing the seeds.
Our Lord also (Matt, xxiii. 23) mentions cummin
along with mint and anise, as one of the insig
nificant garden herbs, about the tithing of
which the scribes and Pharisees were punctilious.
Cummin is used in the East very much as
caraway seeds among ourselves, as an economical
spice, mixed with the dough ; and also often
boiled in the various dishes and stews. It is
mentioned by Apicius in his Art of Cooking,
i. 32, &c. It was also used medicinally as a
stimulant, " Condimentorum omnium stomachi
fastidiis cnminum amicissimum " (Plin. xix. 8).
Athenaeus speaks of it as a condiment
with salt. KvpivoTrpio-T-ns was a pro
verbial epithet among the Greeks for
a mean and stiner fellow (see Aristo
phanes, Wasps, 528). [H. B. T.]
CUNNING, a term applied to Esau
as a hunter (Gen. xxv. 27) and to David
as a harpist (1 Sam. xvi. 16), and also
to work (Ex. xxvi. 1). It means skilful m<
(A. S. cunnan =¦ to know). Cp. " cunning
in music and the 'mathematics " (Shakespeare,
Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1, 56, quoted in
Lumby's Glossary of Bible Words in Eyre and
Spottiswoode's Variorum Bible). [F.]
CUP. The chief words rendered " cup " in
the A. V. are, 1. D'l3 ; ttott)piov ; calix : 2. niE*]?.
only in plural; CTovtieta; crateres: 3. IP33;
kSvUv; scyphus: see also further the words
Basln, Bowl. The cups of the Jews, whether
of metal or earthenware, were possibly borrowed,
in point of shape and design, from Egypt and
from the Phoenicians, who were celebrated in
that branch of workmanship (II. xxiii. 743 ;
Od. iv. 615, 618). Egyptian cups were of
various shapes, either having handles or without
them. In Solomon's time all his drinking
vessels were of gold, none of silver (1 K.
x. 21). Babylon is compared to a golden cup
(Jer. li. 7).
Assyrian cups from Khorsabad and Nimroud
may be seen figured in Layard (Nin. ii. 303, 304 ;
Nin. and Bab. pp. 186, 190, 192), some perhaps
of Phoenician workmanship, from which source

CUETAINS

681

both Solomon and the Assyrian monarch possi
bly derived both their workmen and tho works
themselves. The cups and
other vessels brought to
Babylou by Nebuchadnezzar
may thus have been of Phoe
nician origin (Dan. a . 2).
On the bas-reliefs at Per-
sepolis many figures are re
presented bearing cups or
vases which may fairly be
taken as types of the vessels
of that sort described in the
Book of Esther (Esth. i. 7 ;
Niebuhr, Voyage, ii. 106 ;
Chardin, Voyages, viii. p. 268,
pi. lviii.). The great laver,
or " sea," was made with
a rim like the rim of a
cup (Cos), " like the flower
of a lily " (I K. vii. 26), a
form which the Persepolitan
cups resemble (Jahn, Arch.
§ 144). The common form
of modern Oriental cups is
represented in the drawing
below. , The use of gold and silver
cups was introduced into
Greece after the time of
Alexander (Athen. vi. 229- Assyrian drmking-cup.
30; xi. 446, 465; Birch, lL*y"d' "' 3M')
Ane. Pott, ii. 109). The cups of the N. T.,
TroTiipta, were often no doubt formed on Greek
and Roman models. They were sometimes off
gold (Rev. xvii. 4. Cp. Dict. of Gr. and Rom,
Antiq., art. Patera). [H. W. P.]

Assyrian cup wilh
bundle.
(Layard, ii. 303.>

e-flfth of tbe real size. (Lane.)

CUP-BEAEEE (i"l|X>D; oivoX6os ; pin-
cerna), an officer of high rank with Egyptian,.
Persian, Assyrian, as well as Jewish monarchs.
The chief cup-bearer, or butler, to the king of
Egypt was the means of raising Joseph to his-
high position (Gen. xl. 1-21, xii. 9). The name
of Rabshakeh, who was sent by Sennacherib to.
Hezekiah, used to be taken as equivalent to
D'pK'OH ")C 31 or chief of the cupbearers in
the Assyrian court (2 K. xviii. 17 ; Ges. p. 1225),.
but it seems more probable that the latter part,.
ihdkeh, is the Hebraized form of the Assyrian,
idk(e), and that he was in reality a chief com
mander of the army (Schrader, KAT.1 in loco).
Herod the Great had an establishment of
eunuchs, of whom one was a cup-bearer (Joseph.
Ant. xvi. 8, 1). Nehemiah was cup-bearer to
Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia (Neh.
i. 11, ii. 1). Cup-bearers are mentioned among
the attendants of Solomon (1 K. x. 5 ; cp.
Layard, Nin. ii. 324, 326). [H. W. P.]
CUETAINS. The Hebrew terms translated
in the A. V. by this word are three:

682

CUSH

1. Yereeoth, fliTT; the ten "curtains" of
fine linen, &c, each 28 cubits long and 4 wide,
and also the eleven of goats' hair, which covered
the Tabernacle of Moses (Ex. xxvi. 1-13 ; xxxvi.
8-17). The charge of these curtains and of the
other textile fabrics of the Tabernacle was laid
on the Gershonites (Num. iv. 25). Having this
definite meaning, the word came to be used as a
synonym for the Tabernacle — its transitoriness
and slightness ; and is so employed in the sublime
speech of David, 2 Sam. vii. 2 (lit. " the cur
tain" collectively [Driver in loco]) and 1 Ch.
xvii. 1. In a few later instances the word bears
the more general meaning of the sides of a tent ;
as perhaps in the beautiful figure of Is. liv. 2
(where " habitations " [A. V. and R. V.] may
be "tabernacles," JTODE'D, poetic word for
" tents ") ; Jer. iv. 20, x. 20 (where " taber
nacle " and " tent " are both one word, ?i"IX =
tent [R. V.]) ; in Ps. civ. 2 (where " stretch,"
]DJ, is the word usually employed for extending
a tent). Also specially in the case of nomadic
people, Jer. xlix. 29 ; Hab. iii. 7 ; Cant. i. 5 (of
the black hair-cloth of which the tents of the
real Bedoueen are still composed).
2. Masac, ^DD ; the " hanging " for the door
way ofthe Tabernacle (Ex. xxvi. 36, 37, xxxv. 15,
xxxvi. 37, xxxix. 38, xl. 5 ; Num. iii. 25, iv. 25) :
and also for the gate of the court round the
Tabernacle (Ex. xxvii. 16, xxxv. 17, xxxviii. 18,
xxxix. 40, xl. 33 ; Num. iii. 26, iv. 26). Amongst
these the rendering " curtain " occurs but once
(Num. iii. 26); while "hanging" is shared equally
between Masac and a very different word — Kela,
S/p.. The idea in the root of Masac seems to be
of shielding or protecting ("]3D ; Ges. p. 951). If
this be so, the Masac may have been not a curtain
or vei but an awning to shade the entrances —
a thing natural and common in the fierce sun of
the East (see one figured in Fergusson's Nineveh
and Persepolis, p. 184). But the nature of this
and the other textile fabrics of the Tabernacle
will be best examined under Tabernacle.
Besides "curtain" and " hanging," Masac is
rendered " covering " in Ex. xxxv. 12, xxxix. 34,
xl. 21 ; Num. iv. 5 ; 2 Sam. xvii. 19 ; Ps. cv. 39 ;
Is. xxii. 8.
3. D6A, pi. There is nothing to guide us to
the meaning of this word. It is found but once
(Is. xl. 22 ; R. V. marg. gauze), in a passage
founded on the metaphor of a tent. [G.] [F.]
CUSH (K>i3; BN. Xovtrel; Chusi), a Benja
mite mentioned only in the title of Ps. vii. It
is a personal name of uncertain meaning (in later
Hebrew, a spindle, Delitzsch 3 in loco). Cush
was a follower of Saul and an enemy to David,
like Doeg and others. The Jewish interpreters
considered the name symbolic ; Cush was an
Ethiopian, black in character. [F.]
CUSH (E>'!3; Xois; Chus [Gen. x. 6-8;
1 Ch. i. 8-10] ; Aiflioiri'a, AlBioires ; Aethiopia) ;
CUSHITE CB»-13, AiBiotp, Aethiops; pi.
QiB«l3,Di»CJ»3; fem. rVB-'-lS). Cush occurs in the
table of Noah's descendants as first in order of
the sons of Ham, afterwards in the Bible as a
geographical and ethnographical term. The
following is the list of the descendants of Cush
in the table : —

CUSH Cush.

Seba.

ba. Havilah. Sabtah. Eaainak. S

I

Sabteca. Nimrod.*

I

Sheba. Dedan.

In the list of the sons of Shem we find Sheba
and Havilah under the sons of Joktan. In the
list of Abraham's descendants by Keturah, his
son Jokshan is called the father of Sheba and
Dedan (Gen. xxv. 3).
Havilah thus occurs twice, Sheba three times,
and Dedan twice, in the genealogies. Moreover
all three names are used in other plaees in the
Bible in a geographical sense. Though the
Noachian list contains names held with reason
to be those of individuals,' yet it is primarily
ethnographical, dividing the descendants of Noah
under the three great groups of fair, dark, and
tawny, and then giving their geographical dis
tribution [though this is denied by Delitzsch,
p. 200 (1887)]. The names are mainly those of
countries, or nations and tribes. Consequently
the occurrence of the same name in two sections
of the list, or in another list, may mean the
settlement of the same territory by different
tribes. In support of this view it may be men
tioned that the names which are tribal in form do
not occur more than once, unlike names which
are undoubtedly used elsewhere for territories.
It is now possible to consider the great diffi
culty of this article, whether there was a two
fold settlement of the Cushites, or an Eastern
and Western Cush or Ethiopia. Of the Western
Cush, or Ethiopia above Egypt, there has never
been any doubt. The existence of an Eastern
Cush has been questioned. The notices' in the
Bible do not speak of an Eastern Cush by name,
but they indicate Cushites in the East, and this
evidence is rather to be looked for in the distri
bution of the descendants of Cush than the more
direct mention of Cush and the Cushites. Most
remarkable in this reference is the notice as to
Nimrod the son of Cush, that " the beginning of
his kingdom " was in Chaldaea, and that after
wards he moved into Assyria and there founded
Nineveh and other cities ; the other rendering,
which attributes the Assyrian foundations to
Asshur, being not tenable (Gen. x. 10-12). Zerah
the Cushite and the Cushites of his army may
have been Kassites, as seems to have been the
case with the dynasty then ruling Egypt — the
22nd; but that the Kassites were Cushites is
merely an etymological hypothesis. The Ara
bians that were near the Cushites (2 Ch. xxi. 16)
probably afford an indication of Eastern Cushites,
for we can scarcely suppose these Arabians to
have come from the extreme south of the penin
sula facing Ethiopia. The Cushan of Habakkuk
(iii. 7) is evidently the king of Mesopotamia,
Cushan-rishathaim ; the first element, which is
perhaps not Hebrew, being omitted for the sake
of the rhythm. [Cushak-rishathaim.]
If a Western Cush has a distinct nominal
preponderance in the Biblical notices, so that
Schrader (Cuneiform Inscrr. and the 0. T. i.
p. 69 sq.) does not believe in any Babylonian
settlement, the geographical indications offered
by a study of the list in Genesis, compared with
later mentions, indicate a wide extension of the
• Mentioned last, distinctively.

CUSHAN-EISHATHAIM
race, Southern Arabia bridging over the chasm
between Ethiopia and Chaldaea. Cush may be
limited to Africa, but not so the Cushites. Seba
indeed appears to be African, but the Havilah
of the list, Sheba, and Dedan seem to be Arabian,
Sheba at least corresponding to Arabia Felix or
Yemen. There is a certainty that Sheba, or the
Sabaeans, had a northern extension, and this
would account for the northern settlements of
Dedan and the Northern Havilah. Whether the
Havilah mentioned in the description of Paradise
is to be taken for the Northern Havilah is a hard
problem, dependent for its working on the credit
which we give to the Egyptian tradition which
would place Paradise in Arabia Felix, a tradition
not unsupported by Arab legend.
The Egyptian direct evidence simply points to
Cush in the form Kesh as the race and territory
of the blacks, usually represented as Negroes,
but sometimes with the modified features and
lighter colour of the Nubians. The people of
Southern Arabia aud the opposite Ethiopian
coast are portrayed with traits similar to those
ofthe Egyptians.
The evidence of the inscriptions and monu
ments of Chaldaea and the neighbouring
countries is in favour of the theory of an
Eastern Cush. No doubt the present attitude
of scholars is much more cautious in the
attempt to distinguish a distinct Cushite popu
lation in Susiana than was formerly the case.
The problem has become more difficult with
more ample knowledge, yet there is a general
consent that there was such a Cushite popu
lation. Thus Oppert, carefully distinguishing
the mountain tribe of the Cosseans from the
Kassu of Susiana, or Cissians who spoke a Tura
nian language, yet admits that there is in the
Kussu, spoken of in the texts of Susa, a pos
sible relation to the African Cushites (Acad, des
Inscr.: Comptes Bendues, 1888, pp. 223-225).
Maspero more positively accepts the theory
adopted or originated by Lepsius in his Nubische
Grammatik, according to which the Cushites
reached Ethiopia by crossing the Red Sea (Hist.
Ane.* p. 105)." This theory, as stated by
Lepsius, seeks to establish the linguistic affinity
of the great belt of dark but not black races
which stretches from India south of the Vin-
dhyas through Southern Persia and Arabia,
through Ethiopia and north of the Great
Desert as far as the Atlantic.
Ethnography has lent its aid to this theory
in the remarkably black complexion attributed
to the Susian soldiers in the Achaemenian wall
enamels of Susa, a piece of evidence confirmed
by a very early representation of a Susian
king discovered by M. Dieulafoy. It may also
be remarked, that in the Assyrian reliefs the
type of the Susianians is similar to that of the
Babylonians, but further removed from the
Shemite type of the Assyrians.
In this problem, as in many others, the anti
quity and accuracy of Genesis x. are evident, but
it will probably be long before all the details
will be determined. [R. S. P.]
CUSHAN-EISHATHA'IM (D'JWEh JB'W ;
Xovo-aptraBatp. ; Chusarsathaim), a king of Meso-
h It is true that Maspero characterises the Cushites as
white, by which he must mean fair (I. c), and as
Shemite (prl61).

CUTHAH

683

potamia (Aram-Naharaim) who oppressed Israel
for eight years during the time of the Judges
(Judg. iii. 8). The seat of his dominion was
probably the district of Babylonia just north
of Babylon, extending from the Euphrates to
the boundary of Elam. As this name has not
been, as yet, found in the cuneiform inscriptions,
it is very likely that the king who bore it ruled
over the wandering Arameans of Northern
Babylonia ; and, the power of both Assyria and
Babylonia being at this time at a very low ebb,
made himself greatly feared in all the districts
around. A great many Aramaean tribes are
mentioned by Tiglath-pileser III., king of
Assyria, in his annals. [T. G. P.]
CU'SHI 0E«I3 ; BA. Xovtret ; Chusi), a name
occurring more than once in the 0. T. 1. One
of the ancestors of Jehudi, a man about the court
of king Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 14). 2. Father
of Zephaniah the Prophet (Zeph. i. 1). 3. (With
the article, ^-lSn, i.e. "the Cushite" [R. V.],
" the Ethiopian ; " d Xovffi ; Chusi.) A man
apparently attached to Joab's person, but un
known and unaccustomed to the king, as may be
inferred from his not being recognised by the
watchman, and also from the abrupt manner in
which he breaks his evil tidings to David, unlike
Ahimaaz, who was well aware of the effect they
were sure to produce. That Cushi was a foreigner
— as we should infer from his name — is also
slightly corroborated by his ignorance of the
ground in the Jordan valley — " the way of the
' Ciccar ' " — by knowing which Ahimaaz was
enabled to outrun him. The running of Ahimaaz
may, however, have been of a style peculiar and
well known, and by which he was recognised a
long way off by the watchman. [W. L. B.]
CU'THAH or CUTH (nri-13. IVI3 ; [B.
XouvBd, A. Xouci (v. 24)], BA. Xoiifl [v. 30] ; Jos.
Xotiflos; Cutha), a city a little to the east of
Babylon, now Tell-lbrahim, whence Shalma
neser brought colonists into Samaria (2 K.
xvii. 24, 30). These Cutheans, mingling with
the Sepharvites and others whom the Assyrian
king had sent also to Samaria, became the pro
genitors of the Samaritans ; who, according to
Josephus, were even called Cutheans by the
Jews. The Semitic Babylonian form of the
name is Kutu, semiticised from the Akkadian

*# £*4 E-/ jf

Gudua. It was an

important city, and seems, in olden times, to have
had two rivers or canals, one called the river of
Cuthah (being probably that of which Josephus
speaks, and which probably flowed eastwards,
towards Persia) and the other called the " old
river " or " canal," flowing through or near the
city. The patron god and goddess of the city
were Nergal and Laz, whose temple was restored
by Nebuchadnezzar. Shalmaneser IL, king of
Assyria, occupied the city, and offered sacrifices
in the temples, when he went to help Marduk-
sum-iddin against his rebellious brother. Sen
nacherib claims also to have subjugated the
inhabitants. There was also a city called " the
city of the river of Cuthah," situated, probably,
on the river of Cuthah above mentioned, with
which, perhaps, the real Cuthah was sometimes
confounded. [T. G. P.]

y*»*

684

CUTTING OFF

CUTTING OFF FEOM THE PEOPLE.
[Excommunication.] CUTTINGS [IN THE FLESH]. (1. nt2!B>.
s. /. tn^, s. m., both from DX> [Ges. p. 1339],
to cut : 2. DI"!*! J, from "H3, inwro ; ivTopities ;
incisurae [Jer. xlviii. 37; Ges. p. 264]: 3.
VpVp, s., from JMp, engrave [Gesen. p. 1208] ;
ypdpptara tTTiKrd ; stigmata). The prohibition
(Lev. xix. 28) against marks or cuttings in the
flesh for the dead must be taken in connexion
with the parallel passages (Lev. xxi. 5 ; Deut.
xiv. 1), in which shaving the head with the
same view is equally forbidden. But it appears
from Jer. xvi. 6, 7, xii. 5, that some outward
manifestation of grief in this way was not
wholly forbidden, or was at least tolerated.
The ground, therefore, of the prohibition must
be sought elsewhere, and will be found iu the
superstitious or inhuman practices prevailing
among heathen nations. A notion apparently
existed that self-inflicted baldness or mutilation
had a propitiatory efficacy in respect of the
manes of the dead, perhaps as representing, in
a modified degree, the solemnity of human or
animal sacrifices. Herodotus (iv. 71) describes
the Scythian usage in the case of a deceased
king, for whose obsequies not fewer than six
human victims, besides offerings of animals and
other effects, were considered necessary. An
extreme case of funereal bloodshed is represented
on the occasion of the burial of Patroclus, when
four horses, two dogs, and twelve Trojan captives
are offered up (II. xxiii. 171, 176). Together
with human or animal sacrifices at funerals,
anl after these had gone out of use, the minor
propitiatory acts of self-laceration and depila-
tion continued (II. xxiii. 141 ; Od. iv. 197 ;
Virg. Aen. iii. 67, with Servius ad loc. xii. 605 ;
Eurip. Ale. 425; Seneca, Hippol. v. 1176, 1193).
Plutarch says that some barbarians mutilate
themselves (de Consol. ad Apollon. p. 113,
vol. vi. Reiske). He also says that Solon, by
the advice of Epimenides, curtailed the Athenian
practice in this respect (Solon, 12-21, vol. i.
pp. 184, 194). Cicero quotes a law of the Twelve
Tables to the same effect : " mulieres genas ne
radunto " (de Leg. ii. 23).
Such being the ancient heathen practice, it is
not surprising that the Law should forbid
similar practices in every case in which they
might be used or misconstrued in a propitiatory
sense. " Ye shall not make cuttings for
(propter) the dead," &£)? (Lev. xix. 28 ; Ges.
p. 731 ; Spencer, de Leg. Hebr. ii. ch. xix. 404,
405. Cp. Robertson Smith, Religion of the
Semites, i. 304-6).
But the practice of self-mutilation as an act
of worship belonged also to heathen religious
ceremonies not funereal. The priests of Baal, a
Syrian aud also an Assyrian deity, cut them
selves with knives to propitiate the god "after
their manner " (1 K. xviii. 28). Herodotus says
that the Carians, who resided in Europe, cut
their foreheads with knives at festivals of Isis ;
in this respect exceeding the Egyptians, who
beat themselves on these occasions (Herod, ii. 61).
This shows that the practice was not then at
least an Egyptian one. Lucian, speaking of the
Syrian priestly attendants of this mock deity,
says, that using violent gestures they cut their

CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH
arms and tongues with swords (Lucian, Asinus,
c. 37, vol. ii. 102, Amst. ; de Dea Syr. ii. 658,
681 ; cp. Ezek. viii. 14). Similar practices
in the worship of Bellona are mentioned by
Lucan (Phars. i. 560), and are alluded to by
Aelius Lampridius (Comm. p. 209), by Tertullian
(Apol. 9), and Lactantius (Dio. Instit. i. c. 21,
29, Paris). Herodotus, speaking of means used
for allaying a storm, uses the words evTopja
irotouvTes, which may mean cutting the flesh,'
but more probably offering human sacrifices
(Herod, vii. 191, ii. 119, with Schweighauser's
note : see also Virg. Aen. ii. 116 ; Lucr. i. 85). ¦
The prohibition, therefore, is directed against
practices prevailing not among the Egyptians
whom the Israelites were leaving, but among
the Syrians, to whom they were about to
become neighbours (Selden, de Diis Syris, Syn.
ii. c. 1).
Practices of self-mutilation, whether propitia
tory or simply funereal, i.e. expressive of highly
excited feeling, are to be found among the modern
Persians on the occasion of the celebration of
the death of Hoseyu, at which a man is paraded
in the character of the saint, with points of
lances thrust into his flesh. At funerals also
in general the women tear their hair and faces.
The Circassians express grief by tearing the
flesh of their foreheads, arms, and breasts. The
Mexicans and Peruvians offered human sacrifices
both at funerals and festivals. The Gosayens of
India, a class of Brahminical friars, endeavour
in some cases to extort alms by gashing their
limbs with knives. Among the native negro
African tribes also the practice appears to
prevail of offering human sacrifices at the death
of chiefs (Chardin, Voyages, vi. 482, ix. 58, 490 ;
Olearius, Travels, p. 237 ; Lane, Mod. Eg. ii. 59 ;
Prescott, Mexico, i. 53, 63 ; Peru, i. 86 ; Elphin
stone, Hist, of India, i. 116 ; Strab. xv. 711 et
seq. ; Niebuhr, Voyages, ii. 54 ; Livingstone,
Travels, pp. 318, 588 ; Coi. Ch. Chron. No. exxxi.
p. 179; Muratori, Anecd. iv. 99, 100).
But there is another usage contemplated
more remotely by the prohibition, viz. that of
printing marks (trTiypara), tattooing, to indicate
allegiance to a deity, in the same manner as
soldiers and slaves bore tattooed marks to indi
cate allegiance or adscription. This is evidently
alluded to in the Revelation of St. John (xiii. 16,
xvii. 5, xix. 20, x<*payp-a iirl ttjs xe'Pos T^r
Se|iSs Kai iirl tuv p.eTtiiruv), and, though in a
contrary direction, by Ezekiel (ix. 4), by St. Paul
(Gal. vi. 17), in the Revelation (vii. 3), and perhaps
by Isaiah (xliv. 5) and Zechariah (xiii. 6). Lucian,
speaking of the priests of the Syrian deity, says,
n-Tl£ovTai iravres, oi p.ev is Kapirobs, ol tie is
avxevas, Kai inrb ToOBe, diravres 'Afftriptot
aiyp.aToipopeovai (de Dea Syr. ii. p. 684). A
tradition, mentioned by Jerome, was current
among the Jews, that king Jehoiakim bore on
his body marks of this kind which were dis
covered after his death (Spencer, de Leg. Hebr. ii.
ch. xx. 410). Philo, quoted by Spencer, describes
the marks of tattooing impressed on those who
submitted to the process in their besotted love
for idol-worship, as being made by branding
(tritii\pu ireirvpupevu, Philo, de Monarch, i. 819 ;
Spencer, p. 416). The Arabs, both men and
women, are in the habit of tattooing their faces
and other parts of the body, and the members
of Brahminical sects in India are distinguished

CYAMON
by marks on the forehead, ofien erroneously
supposed by Europeans to be marks of caste
(Niebuhr, Descr. de I'Ar. 58 ; Voyages, i. 242 ;
Wellsted, Arabia, ii. 206, 445 ; Olearius, Travels,
299 ; Elphinstone, India, i. 195). [H. W. P.]
CY'AMON (Kudpiuv ; Chelmon), a place
named only in Judith vii. 3, as lying iu the
plain (avXtiv, E. V. " valley ") over against
(lertwrri) Esdrelom. If by " Esdrelom " we
may understand Jezreel, this description an
swers to the situation of Tell Keimun, Jokneam,
a conspicuous hillock, beneath the eastern end
of Carmel, overlooking the Kishon and the great
plain (Rob. iii. 114 ; Van de Velde, i. 330 ;
PEF. Mem. ii. 48, 69). The place was known to
Eusebius (OS.2 p. 272, 66, s. n. Kap.piwva) and
Jerome (OS.1 p. 144, 20, s. n. Cimona). and is
mentioned by them as 6 miles from Legio on the
road to Ptolemais. They identify it with Camon,
the burial-place of Jair the Gileadite. It has
been suggested (Hackett, s. r. in D. B. Amer. ed.)
that Cyamon may be Fuleh, on the east side of
the plain of Esdraelon. Cyamon (Kvapav) and
Fuleh both mean a bean or place of beans, and
so may represent an earlier name pi 3. >13)
of that signification. Raumer (Paldstina, 154)
identifies Cyamon with Fuleh. [G.] [W.]
CYMBALS (D*J"I7VD) occurs eleven times
in the Book of Chronicles alone (besides occur
ring in Ezra, in Nehemiah, and in the Apocrypha).
It is identical with the somewhat older word
Tzeltzelim (D^X^V) of 2 Sam. vi. 5, to which
it is lexicographically, though not grammati
cally, related. The primitive biblical root to
which both words belong is 7)S, " to touch
gently," or to touch even only imaginarily
(cp. ^¥, "shadow "). The developed root, how
ever, with or without reduplication, signifies
everywhere "to touch roughly," " to clash."
The dual form of Metziltayim * points at once

CYPEUS

ijso

Ennneh playing on Cymbals, (Konynnjik.)

* Akin to this word is the Metzilloth (niVviD) ot
Zech. xiv. 20, which is not a neck-ornament of a horse,
as Idd Ezra and Qimchi beUeved, but a pendant from the
forehead down between the eyes, as the Talmud already
explained it (Babli PesacMm, leaf 50 a).

to the mode of construction of this musical
instrument, which is made of two plates of
metal (nETti DAVIDS, 1 Ch. xv. 19). Closely
related to the cymbal were the Mena'ane'im
(D'WMC), which word is, bv mistake, given in
the A. V. (2 Sam. vi. 5) as " cornets," but rightly
translated in the R. V. " castanets." [Cornet";
Jonath Elem Reciiokim.] [S. M. S.-S.]
CYPEESS (Hp.R, tirzah; hypioBdXavos,
A., Aq., and Theod. ; ilex). The Hebrew word
is found only in Is. xliv. 14, " He heweth him
down cedars and taketh the tirzah and the oak."
In the R. V. tirzah is rendered "holm tree."
Besides the cypress, the "beech," the ''holm-
oak" (Quercus pseudococcifera), and the "fir"
have been proposed ; but there is nothing in the
etymology of the Hebrew name, or in the passage
where it occurs, to guide us to the tree intended.
The word is derived from a root which means
" to be hard," a quality which obviously suits
many kinds of trees. Celsius (Hierob. ii. 269)
believes the " ilex " or " holm-oak " is meant ;
the prickly-leaved ilex being one of the most
common trees in Palestine. With respect to
the claims of the cypress (Cupressus sempcr-
vivens), which, at present at all events, is found
cultivated only in the lower levels of Syria, it
must be granted that they are unsupported by
any authority. Van de Velde's cypress is the
Juniperus excelsa, which is also the cypress of
Pococke ; and which grows higher upon Lebanon
than any other tree except the cedar. " The
juniper," says Sir J. D. Hooker, " is found at
the height of 7,000 feet, on Lebanon, the top of
which is 10,500 feet or so." The true cypress
is a native of the Taurus. The Hebrew word
points to some tree with a hard grain, and this
is all that can be positively said of it. But if it
be assumed that the carpenter went to the
mountains for his timber, the tall juniper would
be the most natural tree to name along with
the cedar and the oak, they being the three
arboreal features of Lebanon and its spurs. Our
own conviction is that the tirzah and berosh
stand for the juniper and the pine, Juniperus
excelsa and Pinus halepensis, the only question
being which of the two each Hebrew word
represents. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
CYP'EIANS (Kiirpiot ; Cyprii). Inhabitants
of the island of Cyprus (2 Mace. iv. 29). At the
time alluded to (that is, during the reign of
Antiochus Epiphanes), they were under the
dominion of Egypt, and were governed by a
viceroy who was possessed of ample powers, and
is called in the inscriptions crTpaTtiybs Kai
vavapxos Kai apxtepeus 6 KaTc\ T-hv vr)o-ov (cp.
Boeckh, Corp. Insc. Nos. 2619, 2622, 2624,
p. 417 ; Cesnola's Cyprus, Jour, of Hell. Studies,
ix. 225, 229, 234, 235, 242). Crates, one of these
viceroys, was left by Sostratus in command of
the castle, or acropolis, of Jerusalem while he was
summoned before the king. [J. E. S.]
CYPEUS (Kuirpos). This island was in
early times in close commercial connexion with
Phoenicia ; and there is little doubt that it is
referred to in such passages of the O. T. as Ezek.
xxvii. 6. [Chittim.] Josephus makes this
identification in the most express terms (XeBipa
. . . Kiiirpos ailTTj vvv KaXeiTai ; Ant i. 6, § 1 ;

686

CYPEUS

so Epiphan. Haer. xxx. 25). Possibly Jews may
have settled in Cyprus before the time of Alex
ander. Soon after his time they were numerous
in the island, as is distinctly implied in 1 Mace.
xv. 23. The first notice of it in the N. T. is in
Acts iv. 36, where it is mentioned as the native
place of Barnabas. In Acts xi. 19, 20 it appears
prominently iu connexion with the earliest
spreading of Christianity, first as receiving an
impulse among its Jewish population from the
persecution which drove the disciples from
Jerusalem, at the death of Stephen, and then as
furnishing disciples who preached the Gospel to
Gentiles at Antioch. Thus, when Paul was sent
with Barnabas from Antioch on his first mis
sionary journey, Cyprus was the first scene of
their labours (Acts xiii. 4-13). Again, when
Paul and Barnabas separated and took different
routes, the latter went to his native island,
taking with him his relative Mark, who had
also been there on the previous occasion (Acts
xv. 39). Another Christian of Cyprus, Mnason,
called " an old disciple," and therefore probably
an early convert, is mentioned in Acts xxi. 16.
The other notices of the island are purely geo
graphical. On St. Paul's return from the third
missionary journey, they "sighted" Cyprus,
and sailed to the south of it on the voyage from
Patara to Tyre (ib. 3). At the commencement
of the voyage to Rome, they sailed to the north
ward of it, on leaving Sidon, in order to be
under the lee of the land (Acts xxvii. 4), and
also in order to obtain the advantage of the
current, which sets northerly along the coast of
Phoenicia, and westerly with considerable force
along Cilicia.
All the notices of Cyprus contained in ancient
writers are diligently collected in the great
work of Meursius (Meursii Opera, vol. iii. Flor.
1744). Situated in the extreme eastern corner
of the Mediterranean, with the range of Lebanon
on the east, and that of Taurus on the north,
distinctly visible, it never became a thoroughly
Greek island. Its religious rites were half
Oriental [Paphos], and its political history has
almost always been associated with Asia and
Africa. Cyprus was a rich and productive
island. Its fruits and flowers were famous.
The mountains also produced metals, especially
copper. This circumstance gives us an interest
ing link between this island and Judaea. The
copper mines were at one time farmed to Herod
the Great (Joseph. Ant. xvi. 4, § 5), and there is
a Cyprian inscription (Boeckh, No. 2628) which
seems to refer to one of the Herods. The his
tory of Cyprus is briefly as follows: — After
being subject to the Egyptian king Amasis
(Herod, ii. 182) it became a part of the Persian
empire (ib. iii. 19, 91), and furnished ships
against Greece in the expedition of Xerxes (ib.
vii. 90). For a. time it was subject to Greek
influence, but again became tributary to Persia.
After the battle of Issusj it joined Alexander,
and after his death fell to the share of Ptolemy.
In a desperate sea-fight off Salamis at the east
end of Cyprus (B.C. 306), the victory was won
by Demetrius Poliorcetes ; but the island was
recovered by his rival, and afterwards it re
mained in the power of the Ptolemies, and was
regarded as one of their most cherished posses
sions. It became a Roman province (B.C. 58)
under circumstances discreditable to Rome. At

CYPEUS
first its administration was joined with that of
Cilicia, but after the battle of Actium it was
separately governed. In the first division it
was made an imperial province (Dio Cass. liii.
12). From this passage and from Strabo (xiv.
p. 683) it has been supposed by some, as by

Copper Coin of Cyprus, under Emp. Claudius.
°l>v. [CL]AVDIVS.CAESA[R]. Head of Emp. to left. Kev.
EHI KoMINloY H[POKA]OY AN0YIIA KYHPIWN.
Baronius, that St. Luke used the word avBi-
traTos (proconsul), because the island was still
connected with Cilicia ; by others, as by Grotius
and Hammond, that the Evangelist employs the
word in a loose and general manner. But, in
fact, Dio Cassius himself distinctly tells us (ib.
and liv. 4) that the emperor afterwards made
this island a senatorial province ; so that St.
Luke's language is in the strictest sense correct.
Further confirmation is supplied by coins and
inscriptions, which mention other proconsuls of
Cyprus not very remote from the time of
Sergius Paulus (Engel's Kypros, i. 459-463 ;
Conybeare and Howson, Life and Epistles of
St. Paul, ch. v. ; Cesnola, Cyprus, pp. 420, 428 ;
Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix. 243). The
governor appears to have resided at Paphos ou
the west of the island. Under the Roman
empire a road connected the two towns of Paphos
and Salamis, as appears from the Peutinger
Table. One of the most remarkable events in
this part of the history of Cyprus was a terrible
insurrection of the Jews in the reign of Trajan,
which led to a massacre, first of the Greek
inhabitants, and then of the insurgents them
selves (Milman, Hist, of Jews, iii. Ill, 112 ;
Mommsen's Provinces of the Roman Empire, ii.
221). In the 9th century Cyprus fell into
the power of the Saracens. In the 12th it was
in the hands of the Crusaders, under the English
king Richard I.
Some of the results of archaeological re
search during the present century may here
be noticed. In 1846 an interesting bas-relief
presented to the Cyprian princes in B.C. 707
by " Sargon, the king of Assyria " (Is. xx. 1),
was found in a garden near Larnaka, and is
now in the Berlin Museum. " It is still the
most valuable of all Cyprian statues, being in
admirable preservation, and bearing upon itself
its own history in a long cuneiform inscription "
(R. Hamilton Lang, Cyprus, p. 329).
In 1869, while digging out an ancient temple
at Dali (Idalium), Mr. Lang discovered two
treasures of silver coins belonging to the six or
seven distinct kingdoms which, we know from
other sources, once existed in the island, the
earliest of these coins being probably about the
middle of the 6th century B.C. (Numismatic
Chronicle, xi. N. S. 1871 ; Vaux, Ancient Cities,
$c, of Asia Minor, p. 167). He also dis-

CYPEUS
covered a bilingual inscription in Cypriote and
Phoenician writing which supplied the key to
the ancient Cyprian alphabet. The characters,
which closely resemble those of the Lycian
alphabet, have little or no resemblance to Greek
characters, but the words are much the same as
those used by the early Greeks. The Cyprian
writing strongly confirms the statement of the
Old Testament Scriptures, iu which Kittim is
named among the sons of Javan (Gen. x. 4), thus
implying that the inhabitants of Cyprus were of
Javanian (Ionian) and not Semitic origin (Lang,
I. u. pp. 5-8, 333 sq.). Javan, iu the form

OYEENE

687

Slab of Sargon, In Berlin Museum. (From Cesnola's
Cyprus, p. 47.)
Yavnan or Yunan, is the term descriptive of
Cyprus in the cuneiform inscription of Sargon,
about B.C. 709 [Javan]. Mr. Lang's discoveries
were even surpassed in extent and in varied
interest by those of General di Cesnola at
Golgos, Salamis, Palaeopaphos, Soli, Amathus,
and Curium (The Antiquities of Cyprus, 1873 ;
Cyprus, its Ancient Cities, 1877 ; Salaminia,
1882). In 1888 organised research in Cyprus
was undertaken, by means of public subscrip
tions in England, and grants from the Hellenic
Society and the Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, by Messrs. D. G. Hogarth, M. R.
James, R. Elsey, and E. A. Gardner (Director of
the British School of' Archaeology in Athens) :
an account of their excavations at Paphos may
be found in the Journal of Hellenic Studies, ix.
143-271. Materials for the description of Cyprus are sup

plied by Pococke (1745) and Von Hammer, Topo-
graphisclie Ansichten gcsammclt auf eincr Reise
in die Levant, Vienna, 1811). But soe especially
Engel's Kypros, Berlin, 1843, and Ross's Reisen
nach Kos, Halikarnassos, Rhodos, u. der Insel
Cypern, Halle, 1852 ; Dict. of Gr. and Rom.
Geog., art. "Cyprus ; " Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchen-
Lcxicon,' art. " Cypern " ; Unger and Kotschy,
Die Insel Cypern, Vienna, 1866 ; Palma di Ces-
nola's works, noted above ; Von Lbher, Cypern,
ed. 3, Leipzig, 1879 ; R. Hamilton Lang, Cyprus,
1878 ; S. W. Baker, Cyprus as I saw it in 1879 ;
G. Colonna-Ceccaldi, Monuments antiques de
Chypre, &c, Paris, 1882. For a short account
of the researches of Laug and Cesnola, see
Vaux, Greek Cities, &c, pp. 166-171. The Engl.
Ordn. Map of Cyprus was published in 1887.
[J. S. H.] [J. E. S.]
CYEAMA, 1 Esd. v. 20. [Cirama.]
CYEE'NE (KuprjfT)), the principal city of
that part of Northern Africa which was an
ciently called Cyrenaica, and also (from its five
chief cities) Pentapolitana. This district was
that wide projecting portion of the coast (cor
responding to the modern Tripoli) which was
separated from the territory of Carthage on the
one hand, and that of E-^ypt on the other. Its
surface is a table-land descending by terraces to
the sea; and it was celebrated for its climate
and fertility. It is observable that the expres
sion used in Acts ii. 10, "the parts of Libya
about (Kara) Cyrene," exactly corresponds with
a phrase used by Dio Cassius (AiBun t) irepl
Kvpi)vTiv, liii. 12), and also with the language of
Josephus (t) irpbs K.vpr)vnv AiBtrn ¦ Ant. xvi. 6,
§1). [Libya.]
The points to be noticed in reference to Cyrene
as connected with the N. T. are these : that,
though on the African coast, it was a Greek
city ; that the Jews were settled there in large
numbers, and that under the Romans it was
politically connected with Crete, from which it
is separated by no great space of sea. The
Greek colonisation of this part of Africa under
Battus began as early as B.C. 631 ; and it
became celebrated not only for its commerce,
but for its physicians, philosophers, and poets.
After the death of Alexander the Great, it
became a dependency of Egypt. It is in this
period that we find the Jews established there
with great privileges. Ptolemy, the son of
Lagus, introduced them, because he thought
they would contribute to the security of the
place (Joseph, c. Apion. ii. 4) : they became a
prominent and influential class of the com
munity (Ant. xiv. 7, § 2) ; and they afterwards
received much consideration from the Romans
(xvi. 6, § 5). See 1 Mace. xv. 23. We learn
from Josephus (Life, 76) that soon after the
Jewish war they rose against the Roman power.
Another insurrection in the reign of Trajan led
to great disasters, and to the beginning of the
decay which was completed under the Moham
medans. It was in the year B.C. 75 that the
territory of Cyrene (having previously been
left to the Romans as a legacy by Apion, son of
Ptolemy Physcon) was reduced to the form of
a province. On the conquest of Crete (B.C. 67)
the two were united in one province, and to
gether frequently called Creta-Cyfene. Under
Constantine they were again separated. [Crete.]

688

CYEENE

The notices above given of the numbers and
position of the Jews in Cyrene (confirmed by
Philo, who speaks of the diffusion of the Jews,
airb tou irpbs AiBinv KaTaBaBpov pexpt tuv
Spiuv AlBioirias, adv. Flacc. p. 523) prepare us
for the frequent mention of the place in the
N. T. in connexion with Christianity. Simon,
who bore our Saviour's cross (Matt, xxvii. 32 ;
Mark xv. 21 ; Luke xxiii. 26), was a native of
Cyrene. Jewish dwellers in Cvrenaica were in

CYEENIUS
Jerusalem at Pentecost (Acts ii. 10). They even
gave their name to one of the synagogues in
Jerusalem (ib. vi. 9). Christian converts from
Cyrene were among those who contributed
actively to the formation of the first Gentile
church at Antioch (ib. xi. 20), and among those
who are specially mentioned as labouring at
Antioch when Barnabas and Saul were sent on
their missionary journey is Lucius of Cyrene
(ib. xiii. 1), traditionally said to have beeu the

first Bishop of his native district. Other tradi
tions connect Mark with the first establishment
of Christianity in this part of Africa.

Tctradraobm (Attic talent) of Cyrene.

Obv. Sacred iilpbium plant, liev. KYPA. Head of bearded
Jupiter Ammon to the right.
The antiquities of Cyrene have been illus
trated in a series of recent works. See Della
Celia, Viaggio da Tripoli, &c, Genoa, 1819;
radio, Voyage dans la Marmarique, la Cirgndique,
Hf 7o1'018^7"1829; Th"ge.^ Cyrenenses,
mm 1848 ; Beechey, Expedition to explore the
No,-th Coast of Africa, &c, London, 1828 ;
Jiartti, Vianderungen durch das Punische u.

Kyrendische Kustenland, Berlin, 1849; Hamil
ton, Wanderings in North Africa, London, 1856 ;
Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog., art. " Cyrene ; "
Smith and Porcher, Hist, of recent Discoveries at
Cyrene, pp. 117 sq. (1864). [J. S. H]
CYBE'NIAN (Kvp-nvaTos ; Cyrenaeus), a
native or inhabitant of Cyrene. Cp. 2 Mace.
li. 23; Matt, xxvii. 32; Mark xv. 21; Luke
mil. 26 ; Acts vi. 9, xi. 20, xiii. 1.
CYEE'NIUS (Kupiivtos; Kipeivos, B*; Cy-
rinus).^ P. Sulpicius Quirinus is mentioned ia
Luke ii. 2 under the Grecised form Cyrenius.
The facts of his life will be given first, and then
St. Luke's statement will be' examined.
I. His life is thus briefly sketched by Tacitus
on the occasion of his public funeral. " Quirinus
had no connexion with the old patrician family
of the Sulpicii, sprung as he was from the
municipality of Lanuvium. By activity in the
field and an eager discharge of duty he won the
consulship under Augustus, and afterwards
gained the honours of a triumph by capturing
throughout Cilicia the forts of the Homona-

CYEENIUS
denses. Appointed as 'rector' to C. Caesar, who
then had the province of Armenia, he had sought
the favour of Tiberius during the residence of
the latter at Rhodes. This was now stated by
Tiberius iu the senate. The emperor praised the
services of Quirinus to him, accusing Lollius, to
whom he sought to attribute the origin of C.
Caesar's malice and ill-will. But the emperor
alone dwelt with pleasure on the memory of
Quirinus ; others thought of the peril into which
he had brought Lepida, of his old age sullied by
avarice and dreaded for its power " (Tac. Ann.
iii. 48). To this must be added the statement of
Josephus, that when Archelaus was deposed and
Judaea made dependent on Syria, Quirinus, a
man of consular rank, was sent to assess Syria
and to sell the property of Archelaus (Jos. Ant.
xvii. 13, § 5). Everything beyond this is more or
less hypothetical, but Zumpt's minute investi
gations make it probable that the victory of
Quirinus over the Homonadenses implies as a
necessary condition a previous tenure of the
government in Syria, preceding by about ten
years that mentioned bv Josephus (Zumpt, Geb.
p. 71).
II. The " taxing." The statement of Luke ii.
2 runs thus in the R. V. : " This was the first
enrolment made when Quirinius was governor
of Syria." It is pretty clear in the Greek that
TtpurTi (first) is an emphatic word, and that
a main object of St. Lute is to distinguish this
enrolment as the first from some subsequent
enrolment. Such an object would sufficiently
account for the parenthesis (r. 2) being in
serted. We know that St. Luke was aware of
another enrolment by his mention of it (Acts v.
37). He there connects an enrolment with the
insurrection of Judas. We know from Josephus
(see above) that a census was carried out by
Quirinus, and that it was followed by an insur
rection. St. Luke seems here (ii. 2) to say, " I
do not mean that later one, but an earlier one."
At this point the difficulty arises. The later
census did undoubtedly take place when Quirinus
was legate of Syria. But St. Luke seems to
imply that both did. Yet our lord's Birth
occurred before the death of Herod the Great,
and Quirinus' first government of Syria (sup
posed by Zumpt) cannot have then begun. We
know from Josephus that Varus was legate till
after Herod's death, and that Sentius Saturninus
preceded Varus. With our present information
it is impossible to escape from this difficulty,
though Zumpt's explanation, given below, is
perhaps just admissible. But even if it should
be acknowledged that on present information it
appears as if St. Luke is inaccurate in dating
the first as well as the second census in the
legateship of Quirinus, yet the web of the
narrative is not thereby affected. Such a con
cession is a very different matter from the
assertion that no such first census ever took
place, and consequently that the reason given
tor Joseph's journey and the journey itself are
unhistorical (Keim, Jesus of N. ii. p. 104 sq.).
The grounds of this assertion must be con
sidered. (1) Herod the Great was an ally, not a sub
ject of Rome, and would not 'have been thus
interfered with. But Herod paid tribute to
Eome (Wieseler, Stud. Krit. 1875, p. 541), and
may "well have had to comply with a request
bible dict. — VOL. I.

CYEENIUS

689

for a census. This is the view of Sieffert (art.
Schatzung, Herzog, RE.2), who in other respects
freely criticises the Gospel narrative. Two
important passages on the position of Herod are
Jos. Ant. xv. 10, § 3, and Appian, P. C. v. 75.
Zumpt will not admit the relevancy of the case
of the Clitae (Tac. Ann. vi. 41).
(2) lt is further objected that (a) there is no
mention in early sources of a general census of
the Roman world, or even of the provinces at
this time, and that the* evidence of more than
one census of Roman citizens by Augustus does
not bear in any way on the point in question.
Admitting this, Zumpt has proved that there
are historical grounds for the probability of a
general census by Augustus, dating perhaps in
its inception from B.C. 27, when the senatorial
and imperial provinces were divided. The words
" in those days " (Luke ii. 1) do not pretend to
fix the date with exactness (see Zumpt, Geb. p.
159). Further we must take into account the
statements of Cassiodorus, Isidorus, and Suidas
(Zumpt, Geb. pp. 149-155), whatever they may
be worth ; aud Riess warmly defends against
Schegg the testimony of Orosius (Hist. Rom. vi.
22). (b) There is also silence as to such a census
in Judaea. Josephus does not mention it, and
is held by Schurer (Neutest. Zeitgesch. ' p. 277)
to describe the census after the banishment of
Archelaus as something unprecedented. Against
this may be set the statement of Tertullian c
that it did take place.
Maintaining then against Keim and others the
fact of a census before Herod's death, we still
have left the difficulty that St. Luke dates it in
the legateship of Quirinus. It will be proper to
mention some of the explanations which have
been suggested, though, as already stated, none
are convincing. Two of them arise out of the
history, and two out of the verbal exegesis of
the passage.
1. Historical. — (a) The first census was
ordered by Sentius Saturninus (as stated by
Tertull. I. c), and only completed under Quirinus
in his first term of office after Herod's death.
This supposes the work to have lingered on
under three governors, — -Saturninus, Varus, and
Quirinus (Zumpt, Geb. pp. 220-1).
(b) The first census was ordered by Quirinus,
who was in the East before Herod's death as
rector to C. Caesar. Saturninus was then pro
perly the legate of Syria, but Quirinus from
his position as " rector " had an authority which
superseded that of the legate (Riess, Geburtsjahr,
p. 71, and Nochmals Geburtsjahr, pp. 64-5).
2. Exegetical. — (a) The first of these links
itself to Zumpt's explanation given above, but
is by no means essential to it. 'EyeveTO (lit.
" was " or " took place ") is held to mean
" took effect," " was completed," and to carry on
the story to a later date than the going forth of
the edict (cp. parallel use of iyevero, Acts xi.
28). This interpretation is supposed to be
strengthened by taking irpurn closely with
iyeveTO, and translating "first took effect"
(tum demum facta est). Admitting that TrpuT-n
may stand for irpuTov, this rendering is never-
« " Sed et census constat actos snb Augusto nunc in
Judaea per Sentium Saturninum " (Tert. adv. Marc. iv.
191. On this see Zumpt, p. 218 sq 2 Y

690

CYEUS

theless untenable. Even -trpurov iyevero could
not mean "first took effect," in the sense of
"did not take effect until." And a further
objection, if it were needed, lies in the probable
omission of t) before airoypatpii (see Westcott and
Hort, N. T, Notes on Select Readings), which
obliges o3tt) to be taken separately as the
subject of the verb (see Winer, ed. Moulton,
§ 18, 4, n. 1). It may be added that it is hard
to make any use of such an explanation without
drawing an unwarrantable distinction of mean
ing between the cognate verb and substantive :
between Joseph going to enrol himself (hiro-
ypdtpetrBai), supposed to mean a preliminary
step, and the enrolment (airoypatpr)), supposed
to mean the taxation.
(6) The second explanation is equally un
tenable. Resting on the use of rrpuTos (first) in
a comparative sense in such passages as John i.
15, it translates " this taxing took place before
Quirinus was governor of Syria." But irptiTTi
is here followed by the genitive of a participle
as well of a noun, which makes all the difference.
The great names alleged for this view — Ewald,
Wieseler, and others — can give no probability to
an interpretation according to which, as Sieffert
justly says, the Evangelist would have expressed
himself as unintelligibly as possible.
The controversy involves a number of in
tricate collateral questions of history, chrono
logy, and archaeology, such as the dates of
Herod's reign and our Lord's birth, Roman pro
vincial government, and the position of the sub
ject kingdoms, the genuineness of the Orsato
inscription," and the interpretation of the
Tiburtine, numismatic questions, and the like.
Hence the modern literature of the subject is
very large. A good list of works is given at
the end of Sieffert's art. Schatzung in Herzog,2
to which the writer is indebted, as well as to
Schurer, Neutest. Zeitgesch.1 p. 262 sq. ; Keim,
Jesus of Nazara (tr.), vol. ii. pp. 114-122 ; and
on the other side, Riess, Geburtsjahr Christi, and
Nochmals Geburtsjahr Christi. But the prin
cipal authority on the subject is the masterly
essay of A. W. Zumpt, Das Geburtsjahr Christi,
Leipzig, 1869, which, whether its conclusions
are justified or not, states all the data with
clearness and impartiality. [E. R. B.]
CYEUS (BH3 or Ehi3, Koresh ; Old Per
sian, Kurush [K'-u-r'-u-sli] ; Semitic Baby
lonian, Kuras, Kurrai, Kurasu, and Kurrasu;
Gr. Kvpos, originally supposed [so Ctesias apud
Plut. Artax. c. 1] to be from the Persian khor
[ jt^t 1^*1 "'ne sun" — an etymology now
regarded as impossible, it being evidently from
the root kuru, from which the name of the river
Kur is derived), according to the Greeks (Herod.
i. 107 ; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, 1), the son of Cambyses, a
Persian of the royal family of the Achaemenidae,
and Mandane, daughter of Astyages. This ac
cords with Cyrus's own statement (cylinder-
inscription), in which he says: "I am KuraS,
king of multitudes, the great king, the mighty
king, king of Babylon, king of Sumeri and Ak-
kadi (Shinar and Accad), king of the four regions,
son of Kambuzia (Cambyses), the great king, the
king of the city of Ansan, grandson of Euros
(Cyrus), the great king, the king of the city of

CYEUS
Ansan, great-grandson of SiSpig (Teispes), the
great king, the king ofthe city of Ansan." Ac
cording to the well-known legend, Astyages in
consequence of a dream, which was interpreted
to portend that his grandson should be master
of all Asia, designed the death of the infant
and immediately after its birth consigned it to
Harpagus, his confidential attendant, with strict
orders to kill it. Harpagus, wishing not to com
mit this crime, delivered the child to a herdsman
named Mithradates, who was to expose it, and
satisfy Harpagus of its death. Whilst the herds
man was in the city, his wife brought forth a
still-born child. This they substituted for the
royal infant, whom they brought up as their
own. He seems at first sight not to have been
called Cyrus, but Agradates (Strabo, xv. p. 729).
It is said (Herod, i. 114) that his real parentage
was discovered by the imperious spirit which he
displayed. He was made king by the boys of
the village in their sports; and one, the son
of a, noble Median, who had disobeyed his
commands, he caused to be severely scourged.
Complaint was made to Astyages, who sent for
Cyrus, and recognised him as his daughter's son.
Astyages forgave the herdsman, but took a
fearful revenge on Harpagus, inviting him to a
banquet, and there serving up to him, with cir
cumstances of the most refined cruelty, the flesh
of his own son. As for Cyrus, Astyages, by
advice of the Magians, concluded that he had
nothing to fear from him, the dreams having
been fulfilled by the boy's having been king in
sport. Cyrus was sent to his parents, and
whilst he was there Harpagus ingratiated him
self with him by means of presents, and urged
him by letter to avenge himself upon Astyages
for his attempt to kill him. Cyrus followed
this advice, and, exciting still more the dis
content under which the Persians were labouring,
gathered an army. Astyages sent a force against
Cyrus, and was betrayed by Harpagus, who
joined the Persians with a large portion of his
army. A second engagement afterwards took
place, in which Astyages was taken prisoner,
near Parsagadae (Murgh-Aub, Strabo, xv. 730),
549 B.C. Both Nabonidus (cylinder-inscription)
and Cyrus (annals of the reign of Nabonidus)
mention this conflict, but they seem to refer to
one engagement only. Nabonidus says : " In the
beginning of my long reign a dream was shown
to me. Marduk, the great lord, and Sin, the
illuminator of heaven and earth, stood on each
side. Marduk spake with me : ' Nabonidus,
king of Babylon, come up with the horses of
thy chariot, build the walls of E-hulhul, and
have the seat of Sin, the great lord, set within
it.' Reverently I spoke to the lord of the gods,
Marduk : ' I will build that house of which thou
speakest. The Umman-Manda (Medes) besieged
it, and strong was their might.' Marduk spoke
with me : ' The Umman-Manda, of which thou
speakest ; they, their country, and the kings
going by their side, shall not exist.' When the
third year arrived, he caused Cyrus, king of the
land of Anzan, his young servant, to march
against them with his little army ; he caused
him to destroy the vast Umman-Manda; Istu-
wegu (Astyages), king of the Umman-Manda,
he captured, and took his treasures to his (own)
country." The statement in the annals (6th
year of Nabonidus) is as follows : " [Astyages]

CYEUS
gathered [his army], and went against Cyrus,
king of Ansan, to capture (him), and . . . Asty
ages' army revolted against him and made him
prisoner and delivered him to Cyrus. Cyrus
[went] to the land of Ecbatana, his royal city,
[and] carried off from Ecbatana silver, gold,
furniture, goods [and merchandise], and took to
Ansan the furniture (and) goods which he had
taken." These two accounts, one composed by
scribes during the reign of Cyrus in Babylon,
and possibly under his direction, and the other
written by orders of Nabonidus, probably give
as fair an account of Cyrus's first step towards
empire as could be expected. It will be noted
that these accounts, that of Nabonidus included,
both call Cyrus king of Ansan or Anzan, a name
which is explained in the Assyrian lists as being
equivalent to Elam.* He had therefore already
attained to royal rank. Cyrus is said to have
treated Astyages well, and kept him until his
death. During the next two years (548-547 B.C.),
Cyrus was probably consolidating the conquests
which he had made, by reducing to obedience
the few cities of Media which still held out for
Astyages. The next year (546 B.C.) Cyrus
fathered his army, and crossed the Tigris below
Arbela, to attack a petty king in that neighbour
hood, whom he seems to have taken prisoner,
carrying off also treasure and other valuables.
In the year 545 B.C., also, Elamites seem to have
gone into Akkad for some purpose (Annals of
Nabonidus). Judging from the way in which
Nabonidus speaks of Cyrus, calling him "the
young servant of Merodach," it is not unlikely
that Cyrus was acting in concert with him, or
at least at his request. It was probably about
this time that Cyrus defeated Croesus, and con
quered Lydia. He afterwards prepared to attack
the Greek cities of Asia Minor. Leaving that
region, he returned to Ecbatana, taking Croesus
with him, but he had no sooner gone than the
states which had formed the Lydian empire
revolted, but the whole of Asia Minor was after
wards reduced to submission by Harpagus, after
a long and obstinate resistance. In the mean
while Cyrus was engaged in subduing the nations
of Upper Asia, sparing none. He then turned
his attention to Babylonia, to which country,
with a large army and in great state, he marched
in the year 538 B.C. A battle was fought at
Opis in the month Tammuz, and Sippara was
captured on the 14th of the same month with
out fighting. Nabonidus, king of Babylon, fled ;
and two days after, Gobryas, governor of Gutium,
entered Babylon, with the army of Cyrus, with
out fighting.* Nabonidus was captured and taken
thither. On the 3rd of Marcheswan Cyrus him
self came to Babylon. He promised peace to
Babylon, and Gobryas, his governor, appointed
governors in that city. The images of the
gods, which Nabonidus had taken to Babylon,
were returned to their shrines. The son of the
king [see Belshazzar] died on the 11th of
Marcheswan, and there was mourning for him

* Also pronounced Alian, assimilated from Ansan or
Ansan. Cyrus is also called king of Persia in the
annals. b Cyrus himself, in his cylinder-inscription, also says
that he entered Babylon " without fighting and battle "
(see below).

CYKUS

691

throughout the country. This being over, Cam
byses, son of Cyrus, celebrated a festival on
the 14th of Nisan, in the temple E-nig-sig-
kalarna. There is no mention, in the official
account, of any of the many engineering feats
which Cyrus is said to have performed — passing
the Gyndes, one of the tributaries of the Tigris,
by diverting its water into a large number of
small channels; besieging Babylon, and taking
the city after a long time by diverting the
course of the Euphrates, so that his soldiers
were able to enter by the bed of the river. It
is not at all unlikely, however, that something
of this kind was done, in which case Cyrus
would naturally have made use of the many
water-channels and irrigation works already in
existence, extending them, and otherwise making
them more suitable for his purpose. The con
quest of Babylon must be regarded as one of his
greatest military exploits, opening the way for
still greater designs. According to Herodotus,
Cyrus next conquered the Massagetae, a people
dwelling beyond the Araxes. He offered to
marry Tomyris, the widowed queen of this
people, but she refused him. The war which
followed ended with the death of Cyrus in battle
(529 B.C.), after a reign of twenty-nine (Hero
dotus) or thirty years. He had ruled over
Media for eleven, and over Babylonia (and
Assyria) for nine years. According to the
Babylonian contract-tablets, Cambyses, his son,
was associated with him on the throne during
the last year of his reign."
The account of Ctesias differs considerably
from that of Herodotus on some points. Accord
ing to him, Cyrus and Astyages, king of the
Medes, were not related. When Cyrus made
the conquest of Media, Astyages fled to Ecbatana,
and was there concealed by his daughter Amytis,
and her husband, Spitamus, whom, with their
children, Cyrus would have put to torture, had
Astyages not discovered himself. Astyages was
put in fetters, but was afterwards set free by
Cyrus, who honoured him as a father, and, having
put Spitamus to death for telling a falsehood,
married the widow of the latter, Amytis,
daughter of Astyages. Ctesias says that Cyrus
made war with the Bactrians, and also with the
Sacae, in which Cyrus was taken prisoner, but
afterwards ransomed. Cyrus met his death,
accordmg to Ctesias, from a wound received
when in battle with the Derbices.
Xenophon's account also differs from that of
Herodotus. He says that Cyrus was brought
up at the court of Astyages, and afterwards
served in Media under Cyaxares, his uncle, son
and successor of Astyages ; that he conquered
the Armenians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians,
as general of Cyaxares, who allowed him to
assume the power and state of an independent
sovereign at Babylon ; that he married the
daughter of Cyaxares, and at last died quietly
in his bed, after dividing his empire between his
two sons, and giving a discourse to his children,
recommending brotherly affection, piety, virtue,

• Cyrus, in his cylinder-inscription, says that all the
kings, from the upper sea to the lower sea, and all the
kings of Phoenicia, brought their valuable tribute to
him at Babylon, and kissed his feet. Further excava
tions in the East will probably bring to light other
records concerning Cyrus's conquests.
2 Y 2

692

CYEUS

CYEUS

&c. Diodorus agrees, for the most part, with
Herodotus, but says that Cyrus was taken
prisoner by the Scythian queen (apparently
meaning Tomyris), who, however, crucified or
impaled him.
There is hardly any doubt that all the
accounts of the Greek historians are more or
less drawn from the legends which were current
about Cyrus at the time they wrote. In the
time of Herodotus he was already regarded as
the national hero of Persia, and his history had
received various popular embellishments (Herod.
i. 95; cp. iii. 18, 160; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, 1).
Xenophon, indeed, has gone so far as to make
him the hero of a romance, giving him all the
virtues which it was possible for h man at that
period to possess. The Babylonian Chronicle or
Annals, however, probably give, as far as they

go, the most trustworthy account of his exploits.
Taking this as a standpoint, it seems certain
that Herodotus is the most trustworthy of all
the historians outside of Cyrus's own dominions.
It may safely be said, however, that Cyrus was
a brave, talented, generous, and liberal-minded
ruler. Cyrus's policy in every case was conciliation,
and self-identification with the national feelings,
aspirations, and religion of the nations which he
conquered. Under his rule contentment was to
be found everywhere. The Babylonians did not
find fault with him ; and the Jews became even.
enthusiastic over him. Cyrus, in his cylinder-
inscription, writes as if he were a Babylonian.
He speaks of the anger of the gods in conse
quence of the dues to the temples not being
paid, and the evil which was done. " The gods

Tomb of Cyrua at Murgh-Aub, the ancient Posargadae.

left their seats in anger against him who had
sent them down to Su-anna" (Nabonidus had
caused many of the images of the divinities to
be taken to Babylon, or " Su-anna "). " Whose
hands (Merodach) holds, Cyrus, king of Ansan,
his name he called, and he proclaimed his name
to the kingdom of the whole world (kullata
naphar) ; the Guti d and the whole of the Um
man-Manda (the Modes) submitted to his feet.
The people of the black head, whom he (Mero
dach) had caused his hands to capture, with
righteousness and justice he constantly visited
them .... He commanded him to go to his city
Babylon ; he caused him to take the road to
Babylon — like a friend and a companion he went
by his side .... Without fighting and battle he
caused him to enter into Su-anna ; he guarded
his city, Babylon ; with the wretch (?) Naboni
dus, the king who did not fear him, he filled his
hand (i.e. delivered him as prisoner to Cyrus)."
The people of Babylon, all of them, the whole of

« Another form of the word Gutium, a tribe of which
Gobryas was governor (see above).
0 NaboniduB. when in captivity, probably changed his
opinion about Cyrus being the servant of Merodach.

Sumer and Akkad, prince and ruler, gathered
unto him, and kissed his feet." Cyrus even
calls himself the worshipper of Merodach, and
invokes the god to approach him, his son Cam
byses, and his people, favourably. He sent back
the gods of Assur, Agade (the city of Akkad),
Abnunag, Zamban, MS-Turnu, Dur-ili, &c. &c,
to their places, and founded for them " lasting
seats ; " and the gods of Sumir and Akkad, which
Nabonidus, " to the anger of the lord of the
gods," had brought to Su-anna, he restored to
their places with peace, by command of the lord
of the gods, Merodach. Of course, it is highly
probable that Cyrus did not really feel any
reverence for these, to him, foreign deities, but
he certainly allowed ceremonies to be performed,
and inscriptions to be written, in his name, in
praise and worship of the gods of Babylon,
especially Merodach. It is difficult to reconcile
this with the monotheistic tone of his procla
mation ordering the rebuilding of the Temple of
Jerusalem (2 Ch. xxxvi. 23 ; Ezra i. 2, v. 13, iv.
3), but it is not improbable that Merodach, the
chief god of the Babylonians, was. with him, the
only god— another name for the Supreme Being.
It is perhaps in this way that we can make

DABAEEH
his reference to " the Lord, the God of heaven,"
agree. Cyrus, besides giving orders for the re
building of the Temple, returned the vessels of
the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar
had taken away (Ezra i. 7), and made a grant
to bring cedar-trees from Lebanon (Ezra iii. 7) ;
but he did as much for the Babylonians, in
restoring their temples, and bringing back the
images of their gods to their shrines. Still,
there must have been great sympathy between
the Jews and their new ruler, as likely as not
arising out of similarity of religious belief, and
this it probably was that caused Isaiah (xliv. 28)
to recognise in him a "shepherd " of the Lord, an
" anointed " king (ITCD, Messiah ; Top xpiarep p.ov;
Christo meo, Is. xiv. 1) — a title which seemed to
later writers to invest him with the dignity of
being, in some sense, a type of Christ himself
(Hieron. Comm. in Is. xiv. 1). Whatever his
religious opinions may have been, it is certain
that he was a just and generous ruler, guarding
the rights and privileges of his subjects in such
a way that his reign may be regarded, in a cer
tain sense, as having been a distinct advance in
a barbarous age. [T. G. P.]

DA"BAEEH (IT]31, pasture ; B. Ae0$d,
A. AiBpdB; Dabereth, R. V. Daberath), Josh.
xxi. 28. This name, incorrectly spelt in the
A. V., should be Daberath (R. V.). [G.] [W.]
DABBA'SHETH (n^H; B. BaiBdpaBa,
A. AofidtjBai ; Debbaseth, R. V. Dabbesheth), a
town on the boundary of Zebnlun (Josh. xix.
11 only). The name signifies a hump (Gesen.,
Fiirst) as of a camel (cp. Is. xxx. 6), and possibly
indicates that the town was on a hill; cp.
Josephus' statement (B. J. iv. 1, § 1) with
regard to the origin of the name Gamala. The
place is unknown (Dillmann2). Conder has
suggested (PEF Qy. Stat. 1883, pp. 134-138)
as a possible identification Kh. ed-Dabsheh, a
roin on the left bank of W. el-Kurn (PEF.
Mem. i. 174). Tristram, however (Bible Places,
252), identifies it with Kh. ed-Duweibeh on Mt.
Carmel ; Knobel with Jebdta on the north side
of the plain of Esdraelon. [G.] [W]
DA'BEEATH(with the art. in Josh, rniirn
B. LaBeiptiB, A. Aa0pd6 ; in Chron. by double
copying, B. tV AeBepl Kai tt\v Aa$tip ; Dabe
reth), a town on the boundary of Zebulun (Josh.
xix. 12), named as next to Chisloth-Tabor. In
the list of Levitical cities, however, in 1 Ch. vi.
72, and in Josh. xxi. 28 (where the name in
the origmal is the same, though in the A. V.
" Dabareh "), it is stated as belonging to Issachar.
It is no doubt the Dabaritta (AaBap'iTTav Ktipif)
mentioned by Josephus (B. J. ii. 21, § 3 ; and
Vit. 61) as being in the great plain, on the
border of Galilee. It is the AaBeipa. of Eusebius
and the Dabira of Jerome (OS.2 pp. 149, 19 ;
257, 53), and is there stated to be on Mt. Tabor,
in the district of Diocaesarea. William of Tyre
(xxii. 13) has " Buria juxta Nairn urbem anti-
quissimum." Under the name of Deburieh it
still lies at the western foot of Tabor (PEF.

DAGON

693

Mem. i. 363). A tradition mentioned by Van
de Velde (ii. 374) makes this the scene of the
miracle on the lunatic child performed by our
Lord after His descent from the Mount of Trans
figuration (Matt. xvii. 14). But this probablv
took place far away. [G.] [W.]"
DA'BEIA, one of the five swift scribes who
recorded the visions of Esdras (2 Esd. xiv. 24-;
cp. vv. 37, 42). [F.]
DACO'BI (A. AaKovBt, B. om. ; Accuba),
1 Esd. v. 28. [Akkub.] [B. F. W.]
DADDE'US or SADDE'US (1 Esd. viii. 45
[LXX. r. 44, B. Aaatiaios, A. AoASoios], 46 [LXX.
v. 45, B. AoSaioj, A. AoA-]), captain " in the
place of the treasury " (see Speaker's Comm. n. in
loco). In Ezra viii. 17 the name is Iddo. [F.]
DAGGEE. [Arms, i. 1.]
DAGON (PW; Adyuv) was originally a god
of the Accado-Sumerian population of pre-
Semitic Chaldaea, in whose language the name
signified " the exalted one." In the inscriptions
he is associated with Ana, the Sky-god, "Ana
and Dagan " being coupled together. The two
names were borrowed by the Semitic Babylonians
under the forms of Anu and Dagan, and handed
on by them to their kinsfolk further west. The
Assyrian texts speak of the worship of the two
gods at Kharran, the Haran of Genesis (xi. 31) ;
and proper names like Anah (Gen. xxxvi. 2, 24),
or Beth-Anoth (Josh. xv. 59) and Beth-Dagon
(Josh. xv. 41), show that they were reverenced
in Canaan. Here, however, Dagon superseded
his companion Anu. He became one ofthe chief
deities ofthe Philistines, his most famous temples
being at Gaza (Judg. xvi. 21-30) and Ashdod
(1 Sam. v. 5, 6; 1 Ch. x. 10). The latter
temple was destroyed by Jonathan during the
Maccabaean wars (1 Mace. x. 83—4, xi. 4;
Joseph. Ant. xiii. 4, § 5). Temples or high-
places must also have been erected to him in
Caphar-Dagon, " the village of Dagon " near
Jamnia, and Beth-Dagon in Judah (Josh. xv. 41)
and Asher (Josh. xix. 27). The J3eth-Dagon of
Judah is mentioned by Sennacherib, as being
near Joppa and under the rule of the king of
Ashkelon. We learn from 1 Sam. v. 4 that the god was
represented in human form with head and hands.
The belief that his body terminated in the tail
of a fish arose from a mistaken etymology of the
name from the Heb. il, " a fish." The fish-god,
however, was not Dagon, but the water-god Ea ;
and a seal in the British Museum, on which is
the figure of a deity with human head aud hands
and the tail of a fish, states that it represents
" the god of pure life," a title of Ea. At the
same time Babylonian mythology seems to have
identified Ea and Dagon in the person of Odakon
('CltidKuv), one ofthe fabulous creatures who rose
from the waters of the Persian Gulf in the
antediluvian period.
In Phoenicia (and therefore presumably Phi
listia also) the name of the god was connected
with the word \i% " corn," and is accordingly
rendered into Greek by SXtuv in the fragments
of Philo Byblius. In consequence of this
etymology Dagon became the god of agriculture,

694

DAISAN

and was compared with the Zebs ap6Tpios of the
Greeks (Philo Bybl. ap. Euseb. Praep. Ev. i. 10 ;
Sanchon. p. 32). This explains the gift of five
golden field-mice sent by the Philistines as " a
trespass-offering " to the God of Israel, the field-
mouse being destructive to corn. It was there
fore regarded as the symbol of a deity who had
overthrown the image and brought plague upon
the worshippers of Dagon, the god of agriculture.
A Phoenician cylinder obtained by Mr. Greville
Chester, and now in the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford, bears the name of " Baal-Dagon " in
Phoenician characters of the 7th century B.C.
The name is accompanied by rude representations
of a goat or gazelle standing on its hind-legs, au
altar and " grove " or symbol of the goddess
Asherah, the winged solar disk, stars and a fly (?).
But there is no reference to a fish or water. It
may be added that, according to Phoenician
mythology as reported by Philo Byblius, Dagon
was the offspring of the Heaven and Earth and
the brother of El Betylos (or Beth-el) and Atlas
(cp. J. Menant, Le Mythe de Dagon in the
Revue de V Histoire des Religions, xi. pp. 295-301 ;
and Sayce, Hibbert Lectures on the Religion of
the Ancient Babylonians, pp. 188-9). [A. H. S.]
DAISAN (B. Aattrdv, A. Aetrdv; Desanon),
1 Esd. v. 31 ; i.e. Rezin (Ezra ii. 48), by the
common confusion of R, "1, and D, 1. [F.]
DALAI' AH (!TI7':! ; AaXaatd, A. AaXaid ;
Dalaiu), the sixth son of Elioenai, a descendant
of the royal family of Judah (1 Ch. iii. 24). [F.]
DALMANU'THA (AaXpavovBd), a place
on the shore ofthe Sea of Galilee (Mark viii. 10).
The name has been derived from NT113D7NT JV3,
Beth-dalmanutha, the house of widowhood, aud
also from f1D?¥, Zalmon (Lightfoot, ii. 307-9),
but incorrectly. For Dalmon an Aramaean
might perhaps have said Talmon, but not
Zalmon. Jesus, leaving the district of Tyre and Sidon,
passed "through the midst of the borders
(district) of Decapolis," which lay almost en
tirely east of the Jordan, to the close neighbour
hood of the Sea of Galilee ; there He fed the four
thousand, and then, entering a boat, " came into
the parts of Dalmanutha," or, according to Matt.
xv. 39, " into the coasts of Magdala " (R. V. the
borders of Magadan) ; after a brief stay, He again
entered the boat, and crossed the lake " to°the
other side " (Mark viii. 13 ; cp. Matt. xvi. 5),
apparently to Bethsaida (Mark viii. 22). The
sequence is clear : Jesus starts from the eastern
shore ofthe Sea of Galilee, crosses to the W. shore,
and afterwards recrosses to Bethsaida near the
mouth ofthe Jordan. Dalmanutha was probably
a village near Magdala, now Mejdel, at the S.
end ofthe plain of Gennesareth, and it is perhaps
represented by one of the small mounds on the
shore of the lake. Tristram (Bible Places, p. 263)
and others have identified Dalmanutha with
Am el-Bdrideh, about one and a half miles from
Mejdel on the road to Tiberias, but tlie distance
between the two places seems too great. Thomson
(Land and the Book, p. 393), adopting the reading
Magadan— a place which, according to Eusebius
("*> 277> 81), was near Gerasa— would
identity it with a ruined site called Dalhamia,

DAMASCUS
or Dalmamia, on the Ydrmuk, but this would
be south of the lake and some distance from
its shore. Schwarz (p. 150) states that in the
Jer. Tal. Demai, ii. 2, "a cave of Teliman"
(l&JDvta) is named ; this he identifies with Tal-
manutha, which he says was another name of
Migdol. Neubauer, however, places this cave
iu the neighbourhood of Caesarea Maritima (Geoq.
du Talmud, p. 268). [W.]
DALMA'TIA (AdXp.aTia), a mountainous
district on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea,
extending from the river Naro in the S. to the
Savus in the N. It formed a portion of the
Roman province of Illyricum subsequently to
Tiberius' expedition, a.d. 9 (cp. Marquardt, Rdm.
Staatsverwalt. i. 141, &c). St. Paul sent Titus
there (2 Tim. iv. 10) : he himself had preached
the Gospel in its immediate neighbourhood
(Rom. xv. 19), for the boundaries of Illyricum
and Dalmatia were not well defined, and the two
names were used by St. Paul in a general sense
(cp. Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epp. of
St. Paul* ii. 127). [W. L. B.] [F.]
DALPHON (lista; AeXtpuv, some MSS.
•ual dtieXtpuv; Delphon), the second of the ten
sons of Haman ; killed by the Jews on the 13th
of Adar (Esth. ix. 7). [W. A. W.] [F.]
DA'MAEIS (Adpapis ; Damaris), an Athenian
woman converted by St. Paul (Acts xvii. 34).
The Greek text does not support the view of
Chrysostom (Sacerd. iv. 7) that she was the
wife of Dionysius, who is mentioned with her.
The name is probably another form of AdpaXis
(heifer), which occurs as a proper name. X and
p are interchangeable : cp. BeoK6Xos for Beox6pos
and Bouk6Xos, aiytKopeus (Lob. Phryn. pp. 179,
652). [E. R. B.]
DAMAS'CUS (pBW ; ASJ! tX&*d ;
Aapao-Kos ; Damascus) is one of the most
ancient, and has at all times been one of the
most important, of the cities of Syria. It is
situated in a plain of vast size and of extreme
fertility, which lies east of the great chain of
Anti-Libanus, on the edge of the desert. This
fertile plain, which is nearly circular, and
about 30 miles in diameter, is due to the river
Barada. This stream, starting from two im
portant fountains high up in the centre of
Anti-Libanus, forces its way through the chain,
running for some time among the mountains, till
suddenly it bursts through a narrow cleft upon
the open country east of the hills, and diffuses
fertility far and wide. " From the edge of the
mountain-range," says a modern traveller, "you
look down on the plain of Damascus. It is here
seen in its widest and fullest perfection, with the
visible explanation of the whole secret of its
great and enduring charm, that which it must
have had when it was the solitary seat of civili
sation in Syria, and which it will have as long
as the world lasts. The river is visible at the
bottom, with its green banks, rushing through
the cleft ; it bursts forth, and as if in a moment
scatters over the plain, through a circle of 30
miles, the same verdure which had hitherto been
confined to its single channel. . . . Far and wide
in front extends the level plain, its horizon bare,

DAMASCUS
its lines of surrounding hills bare, all bare far
away on the road to Palmyra and Bagdad. In
the midst of this plain lies at your feet the vast
lake or island of deep verdure, walnuts aud
apricots waving above, corn and grass below ;
and in the midst of this mass of foliage rises,
striking out its white arms of streets hither and
thither, and its white minarets above the trees
which embosom them, the city of Damascus.
On the right towers the snowy height of Hermon,
overlooking the whole scene. Close behind are
the sterile limestone mountains — so that you
stand literally between the living and tlie dead "
(Stanley, S. and P., p. 410). Another writer
mentions among the produce of the plain in
question " walnuts, pomegranates, figs, plums,
apricots, citrons, pears, and apples " (Addison's
Dam. and Palmyra, ii. 92). Olive-trees are also
a principal feature of the scene. Besides the
main stream of the Barada, which runs directly
through the town, supplying its public cisterns,
baths, and fountains, a number of branches are
given off to the right and to the left, which
irrigate the meadows and corn-fields, turning
what would otherwise be a desert into a garden.
The Barada, giving off numerous streams, flows
on towards the east for about 15 miles, when it
separates, and pours its waters, when not ex
hausted by evaporation, into two small marshes,
which lie upon the verge of the desert. On its
way from the mountains to the city, the Barada
Tuns through a verdant meadow, the Ager
Damascenus, now called EI-Merj. On either
side the gronnd rises, somewhat abruptly, in ter
races ; and here, by the margin of the meadow,
flow two of the seven rivers that are drawn off
from the parent stream. The river on the right
is the Nahr * Banias, pronounced Abanias by the
fellahin, the Aba>"a of the Bible ; that on the
left is the Nahr Taura, a name that takes the
place of Pharpar in the Arabic Version.
Foundations of houses and other remains show
that the city once extended far beyond its present
limits, in the direction of the gorge from which
the Barada issues. Here, in the prosperous
period of the Syrian kingdom, the villas of the
wealthy were probably situated, embosomed in
luxuriant foliage amidst which ever sparkled
the clear cold waters of the two streams that
were "better than all the rivers of Israel."
(Dr. W. Wright, MS. Notes.)
According to Josephus (Ant. i. 6) Damascus
was founded by Uz, the son of Aram, and grand
son of Shem. It is first mentioned in Scripture
in connexion with Abraham, whose steward was
a native of the place (Gen. xv. 2. ' This is
probably the sense, but the translation is dis
puted. Cp. QPB3). We may gather from the
name of this person, whom Moslem tradition
claims as the founder, as well as from the state
ment of Josephus, which connects the city with
the Aramaeans, that it was a Semitic settlement.
According to a tradition preserved in the native
writer, Nicolaus, Abraham stayed for some time
at Damascus, after leaving Charran and before
entering the Promised Land, and during his stay
was king of the place (see Delitzsch [1887] and
a In poetry and common conversation the descriptive
term Nahr, *' river," the same word used by Naaman
the Syrian, is always applied to each of the seven canals
of Damascus (Dr. W. Wright, MS. Notes).

DAMASCUS

695

Dillmann in loco). "Abraham's name was,"
he says, " even in his own day familiar in the
mouths of the Damascenes, and a village was
shown where he dwelt, which was called after
him " (Fr. 30). This last circumstance would
seem, however, to conflict with the notion of
Abraham having been king, since in that case
he would have dwelt in the capital. Damascus
is not mentioned again in the Bible until the time
of David, when " the Syrians of Damascus came
to succour Hadadezer, king of Zobah," with
whom David was at war (2 Sam. viii. 5 ;
1 Ch. xviii. 5). On this occasion David "slew
of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men ; "
and in consequence of this victory became com
pletely master of the whole territory, which he
garrisoned with Israelites. "David put gar
risons in Syria of Damascus ; and the Syrians
became servants to David, and brought gifts"
(2 Sam. viii. 6). Nicolaus of Damascus said
that the name of the king who reigned at
this time was Hadad ; and he ascribes to him a
dominion, not only over Damascus, but over " all
Syria except Phoenicia " (Fr. 31). He noticed
his attack upon David; and related that many
battles were fought between them, the last,
wherein he suffered defeat, being "upon the
Euphrates." According to this writer, Hadad
the first was succeeded by a son, who took the
same name, as did his descendants for ten
generations. But this is irreconcilable with
Scripture. It appears that in the reign of Solo
mon, a certain Rezon, who had been a subject of
Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and had escaped when
David conquered Zobah, made himself master of
Damascus, and established his own rule there
(1 K. xi. 23-5). He was " an adversary to
Israel all the days of Solomon . . . and he
abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria." After
wards the family of Hadad appears to have
recovered the throne, and a Benhadad, who is
probably the Hadad III. of Nicolaus, a grand
son of the antagonist of David, is found in
league with Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa
(1 K. xv. 19; 2 Ch. xvi. 3), and afterwards
in league with Asa against Baasha (1 K. xv. 20).
He made a successful invasion of the Israelite
territory in the reign of that king ; and in the
reign of Omri he not only captured » number
of Israelite cities which he added to his own
dominions, but even seems to have exercised a
species of lordship over Samaria itself, in which
he acquired the right of" making himself streets "
(1 K. xx. 34; cp. Nic. D. Fr. 31, ad fin.). He
was succeeded by his son, Hadad IV. (the Ben
hadad II. of Scripture, and the Ben-idri of the
Assyrian inscriptions), who came at the head of
thirty-two subject kings against Ahab, and laid
siege to Samaria (1 K. xx. 1). The attack was
unsuccessful ; and was followed by wars, in
which victory declared itself unmistakably on the
side of the Israelites; aDd at last Benhadad was
taken prisoner, and forced to submit to a treaty
whereby he gave up all that his father had
gained, and submitted in his turn to the
suzerainty of Ahab (xx. 13-34). The terms of
the treaty were perhaps not observed. At any
rate three years afterwards war broke out afresh,
through the claim of Ahab to the city of Ramoth-
Gilead (1 K. xxii. 1-4). The defeat and death
of Ahab at that place (vv. 15-37) seems to have
enabled the Syrians of Damascus to resume the

696

DAMASCUS

offensive. Their bands ravaged the lands of
Israel during the reign of Jehoram ; aud they
even undertook at this time a second siege of
Samaria, which was frustrated miraculously
(2 K. vi. 24, vii. 6-7). After this, we do not
hear of any more attempts against the Israelite

DAMASCUS
capital. The cuneiform inscriptions show that
towards the close of his reign Benhadad was
exposed to the assaults of a great conqueror, who
was bent ou extending the dominion of Assyria
over Syria and Palestine. Three several attacks
appear to have been made by this prince upon

11111 1 1

ii Aiil :!

li I

t;:

Benhadad, who, though he had the support of
the Phoenicians, the Hittites, and the Hama-
thites, was unable to offer any effectual opposition
to the Assyrian arms. His troops were worsted
in several engagements, and in one of them he
lost as many as 20,000 men. It may have been

these circumstances which encouraged Hazael,
the servant of Benhadad, to murder him, and
seize the throne, which Elisha had declared would
certainly one day be his (2 K. viii. 15). He may
have thought that the Syrians would willingly
acquiesce in the removal of a ruler under whom

DAMASCUS
they had suffered so many disasters, The change
of rulers was not at first productive of any
advantage to the Syrians. Shortly after the
accession of Hazael (about B.C. 884), he was in
his turn attacked by the Assyrians, who defeated
him with great loss amid the fastnesses of Anti-
Libanus. However, in his other wars he was
more fortunate. He repulsed an attack ou
Ramoth-Gilead, made by Ahaziah king of Judah
and Jehoram king of Israel iu conjunction (2 K.
viii. 28-9); ravaged the whole Israelite territory
east of Jordan (x. 32-3); besieged and took
Gath (xii. 17 ; cp. Amos vi. 2) ; threatened
Jerusalem, which only escaped by paying a
heavy ransom (2 K. xii. 18) ; and established a
species of suzerainty over Israel, which he

DAMASCUS

697

maintained to tlie day of his death, and handed
down to Benhadad, his son (2 K. xiii. 3-7, 22).
This prince in the earlier part of his reign had
the same good fortune as his father. Like him,
he " oppressed Israel," and added various cities
of the Israelites to his own dominion (2 K. xiii.
25) ; but at last a deliverer appeared (v. 5), and
Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, " beat Hazael thrice,
and recovered the cities of Israel " (v. 25). In
the next reign still further advantages were
gained by the Israelites. Jeroboam II. (c. B.C.
836) is said to have " recovered Damascus "
(xiv. 28) ; and though this may not mean that
he captured the city, it at least implies that he
obtained a certain influence over it. The mention
of this circumstance is followed by a long pause,

East Gate of Damascus, at the end of the "Street called stn
The arches now built np are of Soman architecture, as old as the time of Bt. Paul.

(From a photograph.)

during which we hear nothing of the Syrians,
and must therefore conclude that their relations
with the Israelites continued peaceable. When
they reappear nearly a century later (c. B.C.
742), it is as allies of Israel against Judah (2 K.
xv. 37). We may suspect that the chief cause
of the union now established between two powers
which had been so long hostile, was the necessity
of combining to resist the Assyrians, who at
the time were steadily pursuing a policy of en
croachment in this quarter. Scripture mentions
the invasions of Pul (2 K. xv. 9 ; 1 Ch. v. 26)
and Tiglath-pileser (2 K. xv. 29 ; 1 Ch. v. 26);
and there is reason to believe that almost every
Assyrian monarch of the period made war in this
direction. It seems to have been during a pause
in the struggle that Rezin king of Damascus, and

Pekah king of Israel, resolved conjointly to
attack Jerusalem, intending to depose Ahaz and
set up as king a creature of their own (Is. vii.
1-6 ; 2 K. xvi. 5). Ahaz may have been already
suspected of a friendly feeling towards Assyria,
or the object may simply have been to consoli
date a power capable of effectually opposing the
arms of that country. In either case the attempt
signally failed, and only brought about more
rapidly the evil against which the two kings
wished to guard. Jerusalem successfully main
tained itself against the combined attack ; but
Elath, which had been formerly built by Asariah,.
king of Judah, in territory regarded as Syrian
(2 K. xiv. 22), having been taken and retained
by Rezin (xvi. 6), Ahaz was induced to
throw himself into the arms of Tiglath-pileser,

698

DAMASCUS

to ask aid from him, and to accept voluntarily
the position of an Assyrian feudatory (xvi. 7-8).
The aid sought was given, with the important
result, that Rezin was slain, the kingdom of
Damascus brought to an end, and the city itself
destroyed, the inhabitants being carried captive
into Assyria (B.C. 733, v. 9 ; cp. Is. vii. 8 ;
Amos i. 5).
It was long before Damascus recovered from
this serious blow. As Isaiah and Amos had
prophesied in the day of her prosperity, that
Damascus should be " taken away from being a
city and be a ruinous heap " (Is. xvii. 1), that
" a fire should be sent into the house of Hazael,
which should devour the palaces of Benhadad "
(Amos i. 4) ; so Jeremiah, writing about B.C. 600,

DAMASCUS
declares " Damascus is waxed feeble, she turneth
herself to flee, and trembling hath seized on her ;
anguish and sorrows have taken her, as hold of
a woman in travail. How is the city of praise
not forsaken, the city of my joy ? " (Jer. xlix.
24-5, R. V.) We do not know at what time
Damascus was rebuilt, but Strabo says that it
was the most famous place in Syria during the
Persian period (xvi. 2, § 19) ; and we find that
before tbe battle of Issus it was selected by
Darius as the city to which he should send for
better security the greater part of his treasures
and valuables (Arr. Exp. Al. ii. 11). Shortly
after the battle of Issus it was taken by Parmenio
(ibid.) ; and from this time it continued to be a
place of some importance under the Greeks;

Gate of Damascus, leading towards Arabia, where, according to tradition, St. Paul was let down in a basket.

becoming however decidedly second to Antioch,
which was raised up as a rival to it by the
Seleucidae. From the monarchs of this house it
passed to the Romans, who became masters of it
in the war between Pompey and Mithridates
(Mos. Choren. i. 14 ; cp. Joseph. Ant. Jud. xiv. 2,
§ 3 ; and App. Bell. Mithr. p. 244). At the time
of the Gospel history, and of the Apostle Paul,
it formed a part ofthe kingdom of Aretas (2 Cor.
xi. 32), an Arabian prince, who, like the princes
of the house of Herod, held his kingdom under
the Romans (Joseph. Ant. Jud. xvi. 11, § 9). A
little later it was reckoned to Decapolis (Plin.
//. N. v. 16), after which it became a part of
the province known as Phoenicia Libanesia
(Hierocl. Synecd. p. 717). It grew in magnifi

cence under the Greek emperors, and, when taken
by the Mahometan Arabs in A.D. 634; was one
of the first cities of the Eastern world. It is not
necessary to trace its subsequent glories under
the Caliphs, the Saracens, and the Turks. It
may, however, be noticed that there has scarcely
been an interruption to its prosperity, and that
it is still a city of 100,000 to 130,000 inhabitants.
Damascus has always been a great centre for
trade. The difficulties and dangers • of the
mountain passes to the west of Anti-Libanus
made the line of traffic between Egypt and Upper
Syria follow the circuitous route by Damascus
rather than the direct one through Coele-Syria,
while the trade of Tyre with Assyria and the
East generally passed naturally through Da-

DAMASCUS
mascus on its way to Palmyra and the Euphrates.
Ezekiel, speaking of Tyre, says (xxvii. 18, R. V.),
" Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude
of thy handyworks, for the multitude of all
kinds of riches ; with the wine of Helbon, and
white wool." lt would appear from this that
Damascus took manufactured goods from the
Phoenicians, and supplied them in exchange
with wool and wine. The former would be
produced in abundance in Coele-Syria and the
valleys of the Anti-Libanus range ; while the
latter seems to have been grown in the vicinity
of Helbon, a village still famous for the produce
of its vines, 10 or 12 miles from Damascus to
the north-west (Geogr. Journ. vol. xxvi. p. 44).
But the passage trade of Damascus has probably
been at all times more important than its direct
commerce. Its merchants must have profited
largely by the caravans which continually passed
through it on their way to distant countries.
It is uncertain whether in early times it had
any important manufactures of its own. Ac
cording to some expositors, the passage in Amos
iii. 12, which A. V. translates " in Damascus on a
couch " (WW p'^pna-1), means (R. V.) " on the
silken cushions of a bed," which would indicate
that the Syrian city had become famous for a
textile fabric as early as the 8th century B.C.
Tbere is no doubt that such a fabric gave rise to
-our word " damask," which has its counterpart
in Arabic as well as in most of the languages of
modem Europe ; but it is questionable whether
either this, or the peculiar method of working in
steel, which has impressed itself in a similar way
upon the speech of the world, was invented by
the Damascenes before the Mahometan era. In
ancient times they were probably rather a
consuming than a producing people, as the
passage in Ezekiel clearly indicates.
Certain localities in Damascus are shown as
the site of those Scriptural events which espe
cially interest us in its history. A " long wide
thoroughfare " — leading direct from the eastern
gate to the western side of the city — is " called
by the guides ' Straight ' " (Acts ix. 11) ; but
the natives know it among themselves as " The
King's highway" (Stanley, p. 412). The house
<f Judas is shown in the street " Straight."
That of Ananias is also pointed out. The scene
¦of the conversion is confidentlv said to be "an
open green spot, surrounded by trees," and
used as the Christian burial-ground ; but this
spot is on the eastern side of the city, whereas
St. Paul must have approached from the south
or west. Again, it appears to be certain that
"four distinct spots have been pointed out at
different times " (Stanley, p. 412) as the place
where the " great light suddenly shined from
heaven " (Acts ix. 3) ; so that little confidence
¦can be placed in any of them. The point of
the walls at which St. Paul was let down by a
basket (Acts ix. 25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 33) is also shown ;
and, as this locality is free from objection, it
may be accepted, if we think that the tradition
which has been so faithless or so uncertain in
other cases has any value here.
In the vicinity of Damascus certain places are
shown, traditionally connected with the prophet
Elisha; but these local legends are necessarily
even more doubtful than those which have
reference to the comparatively recent age of the
Apostles.

DAN

699

See Stanley's Sinai and Palestine ; Maundrell's
Journey to Damascus ; Addison'.s Damascus and
Palmyra ; Pococke's Travels ; Porter's 7<7re Years
in Damascus, and his account of the country
round Damascus in the Oa, graphical Journal,
vol. xxvi. ; Damascus and iis People, by Mrs!
Mackintosh; Thomson's Land anil the Book,
new series, vol. iii. [G. R.] [W.]
DAMN, DAMNATION. These N.T. words,
now used in a very restricted sense, had in the
A. V. of 1611 the far wider and more general
sense of to condemn and condemnation. They
were the translation of up'ivu and its compounds,
and of Kplais or Kplpa. As words they have
disappeared from the R. V. of the N. T., and arc
replaced — the verb by condemn or judge, the
noun by condemnation or judgment. For the
verb, cp. the A. V. and R. V. of Mark xvi. 16;
Rom. xiv. 23; 2 Thess. ii. 12 : for the noun, cp.
the A; V. and R. V. of Matt, xxiii. 14 (the
verse is absent from the R. V. text, but the
A. V. word " damnation " is rendered in the
R. V. marg. condemnation) and its parallels,
Mark xii. 40, Luke xx. 47 ; Matt, xxiii. 33 ;
John v. 29 ; Rom. iii. 8, xiii. 2 ; 1 Cor. xi. 29 ;
1 Tim. v. 12; 2 Pet. ii. 3." The context of
these passages will show that the judgment or
condemnation contemplated is most frequently
temporal (cp. e.g. 1 Cor. xi. 29). [F.]
DAMNABLE. The A.V. of aipetreis airuXeias
(2 Pet. ii. 1), " damnable heresies," is better
rendered by R. V. " destructive heresies " (cp.
R. V. marg. sects of perdition). [F.]
DAN. 1. ([I ; Adv ; Joseph. Adv, Be6Kptrov
dv Tives eXiroiev Kara, tt^ 'EXX. yXuTTav ; Dan).
The fifth son "of Jacob, and the first of Bilhah,
Rachel's maid (Gen. xxx. 6). The origin of the
name is given in the exclamation of Rachel
(R. V.) — " ' God hath judged me ('JUT, dananni)
. . . and hath given me a son,' therefore called
she his name Dan," i.e. "judge." In the bless
ing of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 16) this play on the
name is repeated — "Dan shall judge b (f'T'1.
yadin) his people." Dan was own brother
to Naphtali ; and, as the son of Rachel's maid,
in a closer relation with Rachel's sons, Joseph
and Benjamin, than with the other members of
the family. ' It may be noticed that there is a
close affinity between his name and that of
Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob whose name
is preserved.
The records of Dan are unusually meagre.
Of the patriarch himself no personal history is,
unfortunately, preserved. Only one son is
attributed to him, variously called Hushim in
Gen. xlvi. 23 — a plural form, as if the name,
not of an individual, but of a family — and Shu-
ham in Num. xxvi. 42 ; and it is remarkable —
whether as indicating that some of the descend
ants of Dan are omitted in these lists, or from

» Mark iii. 29 is omitted from this list. The reading
a/jLapTYiva i8 now generally accepted in the place of
Kpitris. ° Gesenius has pointed out a slight difference between
the two derivations ; the verb being active in the latter
and passive in the former (flies. 336). This is quite In
keeping with the uncertainty which attends many of
these ancient paronomastic derivations (compare Abel,
Benjamin, and others).

700

DAN

other causes — that when the people were num
bered in the wilderness of Sinai, this was, with
the exception of Judah, the most numerous of
all the tribes, containing 62,700 men able to
serve. The position of Dan during the march
through the desert was on the north side of the
Tabernacle (Num. ii. 25). Here, with his brother
Naphtali, and Asher, the son of Zilpah, before
him, was his station, the hindmost of the long
procession (ii. 31, a. 25). The names of the
"captain" (K'EO) of the tribe at this time,
and of the " ruler " (the Hebrew word is the
same as before), who was one of the spies (xiii.
12), are preserved. So also is the name of one
who played a prominent part at that time,
"Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe
of Dan," associated with Bezaleel in the design
and construction of the fittings of the Tabernacle
(Exod. xxxi. 6, &c). The numbers of this tribe
were not subject to the violent fluctuations which
increased or diminished some of its brethren (cp.
the figures given in Num. i. and xxvi.), and it
arrived at the threshold of the Promised Land
and passed the ordeal of the rites of Baal-peor
(Num. xxv.) with an increase of 1700 on the
earlier census." The remaining notices of the
tribe before the passage of the Jordan are un
important. It furnished a " prince " (Nasif as
before) to the apportionment of the land ; and
it was appointed to stand on Mount Ebal, still
in company with Naphtali (but opposite to the
other related tribes), at the ceremony of blessing
and cursing (Deut. xxvii. 13). After this
nothing is heard of Dan till the specification
of the inheritance allotted to him (Josh. xix. 40).
He was the last of the tribes to receive his
portion, and that portion, according to the
record of Joshua — strange as it appears in the
face of the numbers just quoted — was the
smallest of the twelve." But notwithstanding
its smallness, it had eminent natural advantages.
On the north and east it was completely em
braced l>y its two brother-tribes Ephraim and
Benjamin, while on the south-east and south it
joined Judah, and was thus surrounded by the
three most powerful states of the whole con
federacy. Of the towns enumerated as forming
" the * border ' of its inheritance," the most
easterly which can now be identified are Ajalon,
Zorah (Zareah), and Ir - Shemesh (or Beth
shemesh ; which see). These places are on the
slopes of the lower ranges of hills by which
the highlands of Benjamin and Judah descend
to the broad maritime plain, that plain which
on the N. bore the distinctive name of "Sharon."
From Japho — afterwards Joppa, and now Ydfa
— on the north, to Ekron and Gath-rimmon on
the south — a length of at least 14 miles — that
noble tract, one of the most fertile in the whole
of Palestine, was allotted to this tribe. By

c The frequent variations in the LXX. forbid absolute
reliance on these numbers. See Census.
d This one word is rendered in the A. V. by " prince,"
" ruler," "captain," "chief," and "governor."
• The enumeration of the tribes In this record is
in the order of their topographical position, from S.
to N. It is remarkable that Dan is named after
Naphtali and Asher, as if already associated with the
northern position afteTwards occupied by the city
Dan. This is also the case in Judg. i. 34 and 1 Ch.
xii. 35.

DAN
Josephus (Ant. v. 1, § 22, and 3, § 1) this is
extended to Ashdod on the south, and Dor, at
the foot of Carmel, on the north, so as to em
brace the whole, or nearly the whole, of the
great plain. But this rich .district, uhe corn
field and the garden of the whole south of
Palestine (Stanley, S. and P. p. 258), which
was the richest prize of Phoenician conquest
many centuries later/ and which even in the
now degenerate state of the country is enor
mously productive, was too valuable to be given
up without a struggle by its original possessors.
The Amorites accordingly " forced the children
of Dan into the mountain, for they would not
suffer them to come down into the valley "
(Judg. i. 34) — forced them up from the corn
fields of the plain, with their deep black soil,
to, the villages whose ruins still crown the hills
that skirt the lowland. True, the help of the
great tribe so closely connected with Dan was
not wanting at this juncture, and " the hand of
the children of Joseph," i.e. Ephraim, " pre
vailed against the Amorites " for the time. But
the same thing soon occurred again, and in the-
glimpse with which we are afterwards favoured
into the interior of the tribe, in the history of
its great hero, the Philistines have taken the
place of the Amorites, and with the same result.
Although Samsou " comes down" to the "vine
yards of Timnath " and the valley of Sorek, yet
it is from Mahaneh-Dan — the fortified camp of
Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol, behind Kirjath-
jearim — ¦ that he descends, and it is to that
natural fastness, the residence of his father, that
he " goes up " again after his encounters, and
that he is at last borne to his family sepulchre,.
the burying-place of Manoah (Judg. xiv. 1, 5,
19, xiii. 25, xvi. 4 ; cp. xviii. 12, xvi. 31).
These considerations enable us to understand
how it happened that long after the partition
of the land the inheritance of the Danites " had
not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel"
(Judg. xviii. 1).B They perhaps furnish a reason
for the absence of Dan from the great gathering
of the tribes against Sisera h (Judg. v. 17).
They also explain the warlike and independent
character of the tribe betokened in the name of
their head-quarters, as just quoted — Mahaneh-
Dan, " the camp, or host, of Dan " — in the fact
specially insisted on and reiterated (xviii. 11,
16, 17) of the complete equipment of their 600
warriors ' " appointed with weapons of war,"
and in the lawless freebooting style of their
behaviour to Micah. There is something very

f See the inscription of king EBhmunazar iu Stanley;.
S. & P. p. 278. The sarcophagus dates from c. B.C. 350.
e The reading in A. V., " all tlieir inheritance had not
fallen unto them," is wrong : there is nothing answering
to the word all in the Hebrew text, and it is omitted by
K. V.
Q Ewald ascribes it to their being engaged in com
merce (.Dichter, i. 130). This may have been the case
with Asher, but can hardly, for the reasons advanced
above, have been so with Dan. The " ships " of Deborah's
song are probably only a bold figure, in allusion ta-
Joppa. 1 The complete appointment of these warriors is
perhaps a more certain sign of the tribe being practised
in war, when wc recollect that it was the Philistine
policy to deprive of their arms those whom they had
conquered (cp. 1 Sam. xiii. 19-21, and perhaps also
Samson's rude weapon, tbe jaw-bone).

DAN
¦characteristic in the whole of that most fresh
and interesting story preserved to us in Judg.
xviii. — a narrative without a parallel for the
vivid glance it affords into the manners of that
distant time — characteristic of boldness and
sagacity, with a vein of grim sardonic humour,
but undeformed by any unnecessary bloodshed.
In the " security " and " quiet " (Judg. xviii.
7, 10) of their rich northern possession the
Danites enjoyed the leisure and repose which

DAN

701

had been denied them in their original seat.
But of the fate of the city to which thev gave
"the name of their father" (Josh. xix. 47), we
know scarcely anything. The strong religious
feeling which made the Danites so anxious to
ask counsel of God from Micah's Levite at the
commencement of their expedition (Judg. xviii.
5), and afterwards take him away with them
to be "a priest unto a tribe aud a family in
Israel," may have pointed out their settlement

bs6"7ui:

Map of the Tribe of Dan.

to the notice of Jeroboam as a fit place for his
northern sanctuary. But beyond the exceed
ingly obscure notice in Judg. xviii. 30, we have
no information' on this subject. From 2 Ch.
ii. 14 it would appear that the Danites had not

Ewald

J For » the captivity of the land," yy&,
proposes to read " of the ark," fi^K ; that is, till the
time of Samuel (1 Sam. iv. 11) : Gesch. ii. pt. 2, 233.

kept their purity of lineage, but had inter
married with the Phoenicians of the country
(see an elaboration of this in Blunt, Coincidences,
Pt. II. iv.).
In the' time of David Dan still kept its place
among the tribes (1 Ch. xii. 35). Asher is
omitted, but the " prince of the tribe of Dan "
is mentioned in the list of 1 Ch. xxvii. 22. But
from this time forward the name as applied to
the tribe vanishes ; it is kept alive only by the

702

DAN

northern city. In the genealogies of 1 Ch. ii.
to xii. Dan is omitted entirely, which is remark
able when the great fame of Samson and the
warlike character of the tribe are considered,
and is best accouuted for by supposing that
its genealogies had perished. It is perhaps
allowable to suppose that little care would be
taken to preserve the records of a tribe which
had left its original seat near the head-quarters
of the nation, and had given its name to a distant
city notorious only as the seat of a rival and
a forbidden worship. Lastly, Dau is omitted
from the list of those who were sealed by the
Angel in the vision of St. John (Rev. vii. 5-7).
The mention of this tribe in the " blessings "
of Jacob (Gen. xlix. 16-18) and Moses (Deut.
xxxiii. 22) must not be overlooked. Herder's
interpretation, as given by Dean Stanley, is as
follows : —
" It is doubtful whether the delineation of
Dan in Jacob's blessing relates to the original
settlement on the western outskirts of Judah,
or to the northern outpost. Herder's explana
tion will apply almost equally to both. ' Dan,'
the judge, ' shall judge his people ; ' he the son
of the concubine no less than the sons of Leah ;
he the frontier tribe no less than those in the
places of honour shall be ' as one of the tribes
of Israel.' ' Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
an adder in the path ; ' that is, of the invading
enemy by the north or by the west, ' that biteth
the heels of the horse,' the indigenous serpent
biting the foreign horse unknown to Israelite
warfare, 'so that his rider shall fall backwards.'
And his war-cry as from the frontier fortresses
shall be ' For Thy salvation, 0 Lord, I have
waited ! ' k In the blessing of Moses the
southern Dan is lost sight of. The northern Dan
alone appears, with the same characteristics
though under a different image ; ' a lion's whelp '
in the far north, as Judah in the far south : ' he
shall leap from Bashan ' — from the slopes of
Hermon, where he is couched watching for his
prey." 2. fl; Adv; Joseph. Tb Advov; Dan. The
well-known city, so familiar as the most
northern landmark of Palestine, in the common
expression " from Dan even to Beersheba." The
name of the place was originally Laish or
Leshem (Josh. xix. 47). Its inhabitants lived
"after the manner'of the Zidonians," %.e. engaged
in commerce, and without defence. But it is
nowhere said that they were Phoenicians,1
though it may perhaps be inferred from the
parentage of Huram — his mother " of the
daughters of Dan," his father " a man of

k According to Jewish tradition, Jacob's blessing on
Dan is a prophetic allusion to Samson, the great
" Judge " of the tribe ; and the ejaculation with which
it closes was that actually uttered by Samson when
brought into the temple at Gaza (Bee the Targum Ps.-
Jonathan on Gen. xlix. 16, 17 ; and tho quotations in
Kalisch's Genesis ad loc). Modern critics likewise see
an allusion to Samson in the terms of the blessing, which
they consider on that account to have been written after
the days of the Judges (Ewald, Gesch. i. 92. Cp. on
this subject generally the opposite views expressed by
Dillmanns and Delitzsch [188?] on Gen. xlix.). Jerome's
observations (Qu. in Gen.) on this passage are very
interesting. 1 By Ptolemy (Eeland, p. 458), Caesarea Panias is
counted as one of the towns of Phoenicia.

DAN
Tyre " (2 Ch. ii. 14). Living thus " quiet and
secure," they fell an easy prey to the active
and practised freebooters of the Danites. They
conferred upon their new acquisition the name
of their own tribe, " after the name of their
father who was born unto Israel " (Judg. xviii.
29 ; Josh. xix. 47), and Laish became Dan.
The locality of the town is specified with
some minuteness. It was " far from Zidon,"
and " in the valley (pOV, Emek) that is by (^)
Beth-rehob ; " but as this latter place has not
been identified with certainty, the position of
Dan must be ascertained by other means.
The graven image which the wandering
Danites had stolen from Micah they set up in
their new home, and a line of priests was
established, which, though belonging to the
tribe of Levi and even descended from Moses,™
was not of the family of Aaron, and therefore
probably did not belong to the regular priest
hood. To the form of this image and the nature
of the idolatry we have no clue, nor to the
relation, if any, which existed between it and
the calf-worship afterwards instituted there by
Jeroboam (1 K. xii. 29, 30). The latter is
alluded to by Amos (viii. 14) in a passage
which possibly preserves a formula of invoca
tion or adjuration in use among the worshippers ;
but the passage is very obscure.
After the establishment of the Danites at Dan
it became the acknowledged extremity of the
country, and the formula " from Dan even to
Beersheba " is frequent throughout tho His
torical Books (Judg. xx. 1 ; 1 Sam. .iii. 20 ;
2 Sam. iii. 10, xvii. 11, xxiv. 2, 15 ; 1 K. iv. 25).
In the later records the form is reversed, and
becomes " from Beersheba even to Dan " (1 Ch.
xxi. 2 ; 2 Ch. xxx. 5).
Dan was, with other northern cities, laid
waste by Benhadad (1 K. xv. 20 ; 2 Ch. xvi. 4),
and this is the last mention of the place. The
calf is said by the Jewish traditions (Sed. 01am.
rab. ch. 22) to have been carried away by Tig
lath-pileser when he invaded the north of Pales
tine (2 K. xv. 29).
Various considerations would lead to the
conclusion that Dan was a holy place of note
from a far earlier date than its conquest by the
Danites. These are : — (1.) The extreme re
luctance of the Orientals — apparent in numerous
cases in the Bible — to initiate a sanctuary, or
to adopt for worship any place whioh had not
enjoyed a reputation for holiness from pre
historic times. (2.) The correspondence of Dan
with Beersheba in connexion with the life of
Abraham— the origin of Beersheba also being, as
has been noticed, enveloped in some diversity of
statement. (3.) More particularly its incidental
mention in the very clear and circumstantial
narrative of Gen. xiv. 14, as if well known even
at that very early period. Its mention in Deut.
xxxiv. 1 is also before the events related in
Judg. xviii., though still many centuries later
than the time of Abraham. But the subject is
very difficult, and we can hardly hope to arrive
at more than conjecture upon it.

¦» Moses (R. V. text) is doubtless the genuine reading
of the name, which, by the insertion of an N, was
changed by the jews into Manasseh, as it stands in
the A. V. of Judg. xviii. 30. [Mamasseh, 6 J

DAN
With regard to Gen. xiv. 14 three explana
tions suggest themselves. 1. That another place
of the same name is intended (see Kalisch iu
loco for an ingenious suggestion of Dan-jaan ;
another Is disposed of by Dean Stanley, S. 4' P-
p. 400). Against this may be put the belief of
Josephus (cp. Ant. i. 10, § 1, with v. 3, § 1) and
of Jerome (OS.2 p. 168, 11, s. >,. Laisa, cp. with
Quaest. Hebr. in Genes, xiv. 14), who both unhe
sitatingly identify the Dan of the Danites, near
Paneas, with the Dan of Abraham. 2. That
it is a prophetic anticipation by the sacred hist
orian of a name which was not to exist till
centuries later, just as Samson has been held to
be alluded to in the blessing of Dan by Jacob.
3. That the passage originally contained an
older name, as Laish ; and that when that was
superseded by Dan, the new name was in
serted in the MSS. This last is the opinion of
Ewald (Gesch. i. 73), Delitzsch [1SS7], Knobel,
Dillmann,5 &c, and of the three is the most
probable, especially when we consider the cha
racteristic, genuine air of the story in Judges,
which fixes the origin of the name so circum
stantially. Josephus (Aut. v. 3, § 1) speaks
positively of the situation of Laish as " not
far from Mount Libanus and the springs of
the lesser Jordan, near Qcard) the great plain
of the city of Sidon " (cp. also Ant. viii. 8,
§4); and this, as just said, he identifies with
the Dan in Gen. xiv. 14 (A,it. i. 10, § 1). In
consonance with this are the notices of St.
Jerome, who derives the word " Jordan " from
the names of its two sources. Dan, the western
most and the smaller of the two, he places at
four miles from Paneas on the road to Tyre.n
In perfect agreement with this is the position of
Tell el-Kddy, a mound from the foot of which
gashes out " one of the largest fountains in the
world," the main source of the Jordan (Rob. iii.
390-93 ; Stanley, pp. 394-95). The Tell itself,
rising from the plain by somewhat steep terraces,
has its long level top strewed with ruins, and
is very probably the site of the town and citadel
of Dan. The spring is called el Ledddn, possibly
a corruption of Dan (Rob. iii. 392), and the stream
from the spring Nahr ed-Dan (Wilson, ii. 173),
while the name, Tell el-Kddy, "the Judge's
mound," agrees in signification with the ancient
name. Both Dr. Robinson and Dean Stanley
give the exact agreement of the spot with the
requirements of the story in Judg. xviii. — " a
good land and a large, where there is no want of
anything that is on the earth" (Rob. p. 396;
Stanley, as above). [G.] [W.]
DAN (J'J; om. in LXX.; Dan). This is
given in the A.V. (" Dan also," pi) as the name
of a city. It is associated with Jason, as one
of the places in Southern Arabia from which
the Phoenicians obtained wrought iron, casaia,
and calamus (Ezek. xxvii. 19). The R. V. and
n Jerome, elsewhere, identifies Laish with Paneas,
"urbem Lezem . . . quae hodie appellatur Paneas"
(Com. in Ezech. xlviii.) ; and again, " Dan quae hodie
Paneas " (Ep. ad Eo. 8) ; Dan " ubi nunc Paneas est "
(Com. in Amos viii.) Leshem is also identified with
Paneas in Tal. Bab. Meguillah, 6a; the Jerusalem
Targum, however, renders the word Dan by Dan of
Kisrion (Caesarea Philippi, Neubauer, Giog. du Talmud,
P- 236).

DANCE

703

many moderns do not accept the 1 as = " and "
or "also," but render " Wedan." MV." takes
this to be an Arabian city, perhaps otherwise
unknown. Cornill seeks to explain the whole
context by Assyrian words. Ewald conjectures
that it is the same as the Keturahite Dedan in
Geu. xxv. 3, but his conjecture is without sup
port, and Dedan is mentioned in v. 20. Others
refer it to the tribe of Dan, for the Danites were
skilful workmen, and both Aholiab (Ex. xxxv.
34) and Huram (2 Ch. ii. 13) belonged to this
tribe. But for this there appears to be little
foundation, if we consider the connexion in
which the name occurs. [W. A. W.] [F.]
DANCE. As emotions of joy and sorrow
universally express themselves in movements
and gestures of the body, efforts have been made
among all nations, but especially among those
of the south and east, in proportion as they seem
to be more demonstrative,, to reduce to measure
and to strengthen by unison the more pleasur
able — those of joy. The dance is spoken of in
Holy Scripture universally as symbolical of some
rejoicing, and is often coupled for the sake of
contrast with mourning, as in Eccles. iii. 4, " a
time to mourn and a time to dance " (cp. Ps.
xxx. 11 ; Matt. xi. 17). In the earlier period it is
found combined with some song or refrain (Ex.
xv. 20, xxxii. 18, 19 ; 1 Sam. xxi. 11) ; and with
the C]R, or tambourine (A. V. " timbrel "), more
especially in those impulsive' outbursts of popular
feeling which cannot find sufficient vent in voice
or in gesture singly." Nor is there any more
strongly popular element traceable in the reli
gion of the ancient Jews than the opportunity
as given to a prophet or prophetess to kindle
enthusiasm for Jehovah on momentous crises of
national joy, and thus root the theocracy in their
deepest feelings, more especially in those of the
women, themselves most easily stirred, and most
capable of exciting others. The dance was re
garded even by the Romans as the worship of
the body, and thus had a place amongst sacred
things : " Sane ut in religionibus saltaretur,"
says Servius ud Virg. Bucol. v. 73, " haec ratio
est, quod nullam majores nostri partem corporis
esse voluerunt, quae non sentiret religionem." b
A similar sentiment is conveyed in Ps. xxxv. 10,
— "All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like
unto Thee ? " So the " tongue " is the best
member among many, the " glory " (Ps. lvii. 8)
of the whole frame of flesh, every part of which
is to have a share in the praises of God. Simi
larly among the Greeks is ascribed by Athenaeus
to Socrates the following fragment —
ot Se xppots KaAAiora deoiis TipSitrtv apitrroi
ev jroXept?"
who also praises among styles of dancing Tb
e&yeves Kai &vSpaSes (Athen. xiv. 627 ; cp. Arr.
Alex. iv. 11).
Dancing formed a part of the religious cere-
» The proper word for this combination is pCIC"
(Judg. xvi. 25 ; 1 Sam. xviii. 6 ; 2 Sam. vi. 5, 21 ;
1 Ch. xiii. 8, xv. 29; Jer. xxx. 19), though it also
includes other senses.
b Among Romans of a late period the sentiment
had expired. "Nemo fere saltat sobrius, nisi forte
insanit" (Cic. pro Mur, 14). Perhaps, however, the
standard of morals would lead us rather to expect thot
drunkenness was common than that dancing was rare

704

DANCE

monies of the Egyptiahs, and was also common
in private entertainments. Many represen
tations of dances both of men and women
are found in the Egyptian paintings. The
" feast unto the Lord," which Moses proposed
to Pharaoh to hold, was really a dance (jn ;
see below).
Plato certainly (Leg. vii. 6) reckons dancing
(Oipxrio-is) as part of gymnastics (yuixvao-TiKTi).
So far was the feeling of the purest period of
antiquity from attaching the notion of effeminacy
to dancing, that the ideas of this and of warlike
exercise are mutually interwoven, and their
terms almost correspond as synonyms (Hom. H.
xvi. 617; cp. Creuzer, Symb. ii. 367, iv. 474;
and see especially Lucian, de Salt., passim).
Women, however, among the Hebrews made the

Egyptian uaucoH. (Wilkinson.)
dance their especial means of expressing their
feelings; and when their husbands or friends
returned from a battle on behalf of life and
home, felt that they too ought to have some
share in the event, and found that share in the
dance of triumph welcoming them back. The
" eating and drinking and dancing " of the
Amalekites is recorded, as is the people's " rising
up to play " (pns, including a revelling dance),
with a tacit censure ; the oue seems to mark the
lower civilisation of the Amalekites, the other
the looseness of conduct into which idolatry led
the Israelites (Ex. xxxii. 6 ; 1 Sam. xxx. 16 ;
1 Cor. i. 7). So among the Bedouins, native

DANCE
dances of men are mentioned (Lynch, Dead Sea,
p. 295 ; Stanley, pp. 56, 466), and are probably
an ancient custom. The Hebrews did not always
leave the dancing to the women ; in Jer. xxxi.
13 the young men are mentioned as dancing
with the old. But more especially on such
occasions of triumph, any woman whose nearness
of kin to the champion of the moment gave her •
a public character among her own sex, seems to
have felt that it was her part to lead such a
demonstration of triumph, or of welcome; so
Miriam (Ex. xv. 20) and so Jephthah's daughter
(Judg. xi. 34), and similarly there no doubt was,
though none is mentioned, a, chorus and dance
of women led by Deborah, as the song of the
men by Barak (cp. Judg. v. 1 with Ex. xv. 1, 20).
Similarly, too, Judith (xv. 12, IS) leads her own
song and dance of triumph over Holofernes.
There was no such leader of the choir mentioned
in the case of David and Saul. Hence whereas
Miriam " answered " the entire chorus in Ex. xv.
21, the women in the latter case "answered one
another as they played " (1 Sam. xviii. 7) ; that
" answer " embodying the sentiment, of the
occasion, and forming the burden of the song.
The " coming out " of the women to do this
(Judg. xi. 34 ; 1 Sam. xviii. 6 ; cp. " went out,"
Ex. xv. 20) is also a feature worthy of note, and
implies the object of meeting, attending upon,
and conducting home. So Jephthah's daughter
met her father, the " women of all the
cities " came to meet and celebrate Saul and
David and their host, but Miriam in the same
way " goes out " before " Jehovah " the " man
of war," Whose Presence seems implied. This
marks the peculiarity of David's conduct, when,
on the return of the Ark of God from its long
sojourn among strangers and borderers, he (2
Sam. vi. 5-22) was himself clioregus ; and here
too the women, with their timbrels0 (see especially
v. 5, 19, 20, 22), took an important share. This
fact brings out more markedly the feelings of
Saul's daughter Michal, keeping aloof from the
occasion, and " looking through a window " at
the scene. She should, in accordance with the
examples of Miriam, &c, have herself led the
female choir, and so come out to meet the Ark
and her lord. She stays with the " household "
(v. 20), and " comes out to meet " him with
reproaches, perhaps feeling that his zeal
was a rebuke to her apathy. It was before
" the handmaids," i.e. in leading that choir
which she should have led, that he had " un
covered " himself; an unkingly exposure as she
thought it, which the dance rendered necessary3
— the wearing merely the ephod or linen tunic.
The occasion was meant to be popularly viewed
in connexion with David's subjugation of various
enemies and accession to the throne of Israel

c The t]'pi was clearly the women's instrument. See
the allotmeut of the other different instruments to
men in 1 Ch. xv. 16-21, and xvi. 6, 42 ; cp. also the
niaain niD^i?<>fPs.ixviii.25.
d Some commentators have been at pains to point
out that it was not the act of dancing, out the dress
divested of upper robes which was the subject of
remark. But clearly the " dancing with all his
might " could hardly be done in the dignified costume
of royalty : every Hebrew would see that the one
implied the other. Cp. Ex. xxxii. 6, 25.

DANCE
(see 1 Ch. xii. 23 — xiii. 6); he accordingly
thinks only of the honour of God, Who had so
advanced him, and in that forgets self (cp.
Miiller, de Davide ant. Arc. Ugolini, xxxii.).
From the mention of " damsels," " timbrels,"
and "dances" (Ps. lxviii. 25, cxlix. 3, cl. 4), as
elements of religious worship, it may perhaps be
inferred that David's feeling led him to incorpo
rate in its rites that popular mode of festive
celebration. This does not seem to have survived
him, for as Saalschiitz remarks (Areluxcol. der
Bebr. vol. i. p. 299), in the mention of religious
revivals under Hezekiah and Josiah, no notice
of them occurs ; and this, although the " words,"
the " writing," and the " commandment of
David " on such subjects, are distinctly alluded
to (2 Ch. xxix. 30 ; xxxv. 4, 15). It is possible
that the banishing of this popular element,
which found its vent no doubt in the idolatrous
rites of Baal and Astarte (as it certainly did in
those of the golden calf, Ex. xxxii. 19), made
those efforts take a less firm hold ou the people
than they might have done ; and that David's
more comprehensive scheme might have retained
some ties of feeling which were thus lost. On
the other hand was doubtless the peril of the
loose morality which commonly attended festive
dances at heathen shrines. Certainly in later
Judaism the dance was included among some
religious festivities, e.g. the feast of Tabernacles
(Mishna, Succah, v. 3, 4), where, however, the
performers were men. This was, probably, a
mere following the example of David in the
letter. Also in the earlier period of the Judges
the dances of the virgins in Shiloh (Judg. xxi.
19-23) were certainly part of a religious
festivity. It seems also from this last instance
clear, and from the others probable, that such
dances were performed by maidens apart from
men, which gives an additional point to the
reproach of Michal. What the fashion or
figure of the dance was is a doubtful question ;
nor is it likely to have lacked such variety as
would adapt it to the various occasions of its
use. The word 3311 means to move in a ring or
round ; whence in Ps. xiii. 4 we find J.Jin )1D!"I.
meaning a festive crowd, apparently as dancing
in a ring. So >in (whence n?lRD) means " to
tum." In modern Oriental dances a woman leads
off the dance ; the others then follow her with
exact imitation of her artistic and graceful
attitudes. A parallelism of movement is also
incident to it (Saalschutz, ib. p. 301). Possibly
Miriam so led her countrywomen. The same
writer thinks that in Cant. vi. 13 the words
DJJnSPI fthfta (A. V. " company of two ar
mies;" R. V. "dance of Mahanaim," i.e. dance
of a double choir) imply two rows of dancing
girls, and that the address in the singular
number, " return, return," and again in vii. 1,
applies to the movements of the individual per
former in a kind of contre-danse.
Dancing also had its place among merely
festive amusements apart from any religious
character (Jer. xxxi. 4, 13 ; Lam. v. 15 ; Mark vi.
22; Luke xv. 25). The accomplishments ex
hibited by Herodias's daughter seem, however,
to show that Archbishop Trench's remark on the
last-named passage, that the dancers were of
c°Mse not the guests but hired performers, is
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

DANIEL

705

hardly to be received with strictness ; althouo-h
the tendency of luxury in the East has no
doubt been to reduce the estimation in which
the pastime, as shared in, is there held. Chil
dren, of course, always did and always will
dance (Job xxi. 11; Matt. xi. 17; Luke vii.
32). In their "dancing dervishes" the Turks
seem to have adopted into their system the
enthusiastic raptures, at once martial and sacred,
which (e.g. in the Roman Salii) seem indigenous
in many Southern and Eastern races from the
earliest times. For further remarks Spencer,
de Saltat. vet. Hebr., may be consulted (Ugolini,
xxx.) ; and, for the Greek and Roman dances, see
Dict. of Gk. and Rom. Ant., " Saltatio." [H. H.]
DANCE is given by the A. V. as the
equivalent of the Hebrew Machol (71TO). This
word, however, evidently includes also the
musical instrument to the accompaniment of
which the dance was usually performed. This
may be seen by comparing with one another the
various passages of Holy Writ in which the
word occurs. Some scholars connect Machol
with Chalil Qvn ; Flute), which is certainly
no bad derivation, as the Chalil is one of the
oldest, if not the oldest of, musical instruments.
Be this, however, as it may, the Machol was, in
any case, as simple an instrument as the dance
itself was a simple performance. If Toph (f]R)
was, in one sense, a, bracelet with tinkling bells
attached to it, Macliol was no doubt sometimes,
in like manner, an anklet with tinkling bells ;
the sounds of which not merely gave ris"e to the
dancing, but were also, in turn, produced by it
(cp. Is. iii. 16). [S. M. S.-S.]
DANIEL &X>i% Dan. i. 6, 7, 8, &c. ; Ezra
viii. 2 ; Neh. x. 6 ; 1 Ch. iii. 1 ; and ^Njn
[Kethib ; ^K.*3^, Keri, ed. Baer], Ezek. xiv. 14,
20 ; xxviii. 3), the name of three (or four)
persons in the Old Testament.
1. The second son of David (B. Aap.vii\X,
A. AaXovia), " born unto him in Hebron," " of
Abigail the Carmelitess" (1 Ch. iii. 1). In
the parallel passage, 2 Sam. iii. 3, he is called
Chileab (BA. AaXovia).
2. The fourth of " the greater Prophets "
(cp. Matt. xxiv. 15, irpotpiiT-ns). Nothing is
known of the parentage or family of Daniel.
He appears, however, to have been of royal or
noble descent (Dan. i. 3 ; cp. Joseph. Ant. x.
10, § 1), and to have possessed considerable
personal endowments (Dan. i. 4). He was
taken to Babylon in " the third year of Jehoia
kim,"" and trained in a college like to " the house
a This date has given rise to many objections,
because tbe fourth year of Jehoiakim is identified with
the first of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. xxv. 1). The text of
Daniel itself suggests the true explanation. The second
year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (ii. 1) falls after the
completion of the three years' training of Daniel, which
commenced with his captivity (i. 1, 5); and this is a
clear indication that the expedition mentioned in i. I
was undertaken in the last year of the reign of Nabo
polassar, while as yet Nebuchadnezzar was not properly
king (see Speaker's Comm. add. note to i. 1). Others ex
plain it (cp. 2 K. xxiv. 1) of tbe third year (B.C. 598-7 ;
al. 606) of Jehoiakim's subjection to Nebuchadnezzai
(Delitzsch in EK1 ; Tiele, Bab.-Assyr. Gesch. p. 441).
2 /.

706

DANIEL

of the males " (Records of the Past, N. S. iv. 110)
for the king's service with his three companions,
afterwards called Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego (see some conjectures on these names
in Speaker's Comm.2 on Daniel, p. 242 sq. ; ZA.
iv. 46 sq. ; Fabre d'Envieu, Le Livre du Pro-
phete Daniel, i. 147). Like Joseph in earlier times,
he gained the favour of his guardian, and was
divinely supported in his resolve to abstain
from the " king's meat " for fear of defilement
(Dan. i. 8-16). At the close of his three years'
discipline (Dan. i. 5, 18), Daniel had an oppor
tunity of exercising his peculiar gift (Dan. i. 17)
of interpreting dreams, on the occasion of Ne
buchadnezzar's decree against the Magi (Dan. ii.
14 sq.). In consequence of his success he was
made " ruler of the whole province of Babylon,"
and " chief of the governors over all the wise
men of Babylon " (ii. 48). He afterwards
interpreted the second dream of Nebuchadnezzar
(iv. 8-27) and the handwriting on the wall
which disturbed the feast, of Belshazzar (v.
10-28), though he no longer held his official
position among the Magi (Dan. v. 7, 8, 12), and
probably lived at Susa (Dan. viii. 2 ; cp. Joseph.
Ant'x. 11, § 7; Bochart, Geogr. Sacr. iii. 14).
At the accession of Darius TDarius] he was
made " one of the three presidents " (R. V.) of
the empire (cp. 1 Esd. iii. 9), and was delivered
from the lions' den, into which he had been cast
for his faithfulness to the rites of his faith (vi.
10-23 ; cp. Bel & Dr. vv. 29-42). At the accession
of Cyrus he still retained his prosperity (vi. 28 ;
cp. i. 21 ; Bel & Dr. v. 2) ; though he does not
appear to have remained at Babylon (cp. Dan. i.
21), and in "the third year of Cyrus" (B.C. 535)
he saw his last recorded vision on the banks of
the Tigris (x. 1, 4). According to the Mahom-
medan tradition Daniel returned to Judaea, held
the government of Syria, and finally died at
Susa (Rosenmiiller, Schol. p. 5, n.), where his
tomb is still shown (Dieulafoy, Journal des
fouilles a Suse, pp. 81, 169-70), and is visited
by crowds of pilgrims. In the prophecies of
Ezekiel mention is made of Daniel as a pattern
of righteousness (xiv. 14, 20, v. B.C. 592) and
wisdom (xxviii. 3, c. B.C. 587) ; and since Daniel
was still young at that time, some have thought
that another Prophet of the name must have
lived at some earlier time (Bleek), perhaps
during the captivity of Nineveh (Ewald, Die
Propheten, ii. 560), whose fame was transferred
to his later namesake. Hitzig imagines ( Vorbe-
merk. § 3) that the Daniel of Ezekiel was purely
a mythical personage, whose prototype is to be
sought in Melchizedek, and that the character
was borrowed by the author of the Book of
Daniel as suited to his design. These supposi
tions are favoured by no internal probability,
and are unsupported by any direct evidence.
The order of the names " Noah, Daniel, and Job "
(Ezek. xiv. 14) seems to suggest the idea that
they represent the first and last historic types
of righteousness before the Law and under it,
combined with the ideal type (cp. Delitzsch in
Herzog, RE.1 p. 271). On the other hand, the
narrative in Dan. i. 11 implies that Daniel was
conspicuously distinguished for purity and know
ledge at a very early age (cp. Hist. Sus. v. 45),
and he may have been thirty to forty years old
at the time of Ezekiel's prophecy.
Allusion has been made already to the com-

DANIEL
parison which may be instituted between Daniel
and Joseph, who stand at the beginning and
the close of the divine history of the Jews, as
representatives of the true God in heathen courts
(Auberlen, Daniel, pp. 32-3). In this respect
the position of Daniel must have exercised a
powerful influence upon the form ofthe revela
tions conveyed through him. And in turn tbe
authority which he enjoyed renders the course
of the Exile and the Return clearly intelligible.
By station, by education, and by character, he
was peculiarly fitted to fulfil the work assigned
to him. He was not only a resident in a foreign
land, like Jeremiah or Ezekiel, but the minister
of a foreign empire, and of successive dynasties
(Dan. ii. 48 ; vi. 28). His political experience
would naturally qualify him to give distinct
expression to the characteristics of nations in
themselves, and not only in their relation to
God's people. His intellectual advantages were
as remarkable as his civil dignity. Like the
great Lawgiver who was "trained in all the
wisdom of the Egyptians," the great seer was
trained in the secrets of Chaldaean wisdom, and
placed at the head of the school of the Magi
(Dan. ii. 48). He was thus enabled to preserve
whatever was true in the traditional teaching
of the East, and to cast his revelations into
a form suited to their special character.
But though engaged in the service of a heathen
prince and familiar with Oriental learning,
Daniel was from the first distinguished by his
strict observance of the Mosaic Law (i. 8-16 ;
cp. vi. 10, 11). In this way the third outward
condition for his work was satisfied, and at the
close ofthe Exile he offered a pattern of holiness
for the instruction of the Dispersion of after-
times (cp. Auberlen, Daniel, p. 24, &c).
In addition to his Hebrew name, God is my
Judge, another, a Chaldaean name, Belteshazzar
(-l-XNB'toba, i. 7, ii. 26, v. 12; Theodotion,
LXX., BaXTdtrap ; Vulg. Baltassar), was given to
him at Babylon (Dan. i. 7). The meaning of the
name is disputed. It may be (cp. Fried. De
litzsch, Praef. to Baer's ed. of Dan., Ezra, and
Neh., p. ix.) = balStsu-usur = protect his life,
and be a compendious form of Bdl-balatsu-usur
=Bel protect his life; or if the name Beltis
(Bilat) be the first element of the name (Rawlin
son, Sayce; see Speaker's Comm.2 p. 244)
= Beltis defend the King. Hoffmann (ZA.
ii. 56) also finds the name of a god in
D?3 (cp. Sanballat), but prefers to consider it
the name of Saturn. Such name-changes have
been common at all times (for the simple assump
tion of a foreign name, cp. Gen. xii. 45;
Ezek. i. 11, v. 14, Sheshbazzar) ; and Babylonian
contract tablets show that Jews settled at
Babylon had no objection to taking Babylonian
names (Records of the Past, N. S. iv. pp. 101,
107). Various apocryphal fragments attributed to
Daniel are collected by Fabricius (Cod. Pseud.
V. T. i. 1124).b It is surprising that his

h Apocryphal histories such as the Persian
Daniel (cp. Zotenberg in Merx, Archiv, i. 385 sq. [18J0] ;
Darmesteter, If Apocalypse Persane de Daniel in the
Melanges Senier, p. 405 [188?]) serve hut to emphasize
the vast differences between such works and the Bib
lical narrative.— [F0

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
fame in later times seems to have been obscured
(Hottinger, Hist Orient. 92). Cp. Epiph. Vit.
Ban. ii. p. 243. ed. Petav. ; Vit. Dan. ap.
Fabric. ; Joseph. Ant x. 11.
Cp. H. Deane, Daniel, his Life and Times;
P. H. Hunter, The Story of Daniel, kc.
3. A descendant of Ithamar, who returned
with Ezra to Judaea in the time of " Artaxerxes."
[Artaxerxes.] (Ezra viii. 2.)
4. A priest, probably the same as 3, who sealed
the covenant drawn up by Nehemiah B.C. 445
(Neh. x. 6). He is confounded with the Prophet
in the apocryphal addenda : Dan. xiv. 1 (LXX.,
not Theodotion). [B. F. W.] [F.]
DANIEL, THE BOOK OF, is the earliest
example of apocalyptic literature, and in a
great degree the model, according to which all
later apocalypses were constructed. In this
aspect it stands at the head of a series of
writings in which the deepest thoughts of the
Jewish people found expression after the close
ofthe prophetic era (cp. Smend, ZATW., 1885,
p. 222 sq. He adopts the Maccabaean date). The
Book of Enoch [Enoch], the Jewish Sibyllines,
and the fourth Book of Ezra [2 Esdras], carry
out, with varied success and in different directions,
the great outlines of universal history which it
contains ; and the " Revelation " of Daniel re
ceived at last its ju st completion in the Revelation
of St. John. Without an inspired tvpe it is
difficult to conceive how the later writings could
have been framed ; and whatever judgment be
formed as to the composition of the Book, there
can be no doubt that it exercised a greater
inBuence upon the early Christian Church than
any other writing of the Old Testament, while
in the Gospels it is specially distinguished by
the emphatic quotation of our Lord (Matt. xxiv.
15, ri prjdev tiuz AavtriX tov irpotpriTov ... 6
ta/ayivuffKuv voe'tTu . . .).
1. Character. — In studying the Book of Daniel
it is of the utmost importance to recognise its
apocalyptic character. It is at once an end and a
beginning, the last form of prophecy and the first
•'philosophy of history." The nation is widened
into the world : the restored kingdom of Judah
into a universal kingdom of God. To the old
Prophets Daniel stands, in some sense, as a
commentator (Dan. ix. 2-19): to succeeding
generations, as the herald of immediate deliver
ance. The form, the style, and the point of
sight of prophecy, are relinquished upon the
verge of a new period in the existence of God's
people, and fresh instruction is given to them
suited to their new fortunes. The change is not
abrupt and absolute, but yet it is distinctly felt.
The eye and not the ear is the organ of the
Seer: visions and not words are revealed to
aim. His utterance is clothed in a complete
and artificial shape, illustrated by symbolic
imagery and pointed by a specific purpose. The
Divine counsels are made known to him by the
ministry of Angels (vii. 16, viii. 16, ix. 21), and
not by "the Word of the Lord." The seer
takes his stand in the future rather than in the
present, while the Prophet seized on the
elements of good and evil whioh he saw working
around him and traced them to their final
issue. The one looked forward from the present
to the great "age to come;" the other looked
backward from "the last days " to the trials in

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF 707
which he was still placed. In prophecy the form
and the essence, the human and Divine, were
inseparably interwoven ; in Revelation the two
elements can be contemplated apart, each in its
greatest vigour, — tho most consummate art,
and the most striking predictions. The
Babylonian exile supplied the outward training
and the inward necessity for this last form of
Divine teaching ; aud the prophetic visions of
Ezekiel form the connecting link between the
characteristic types of revelation and prophecy
(cp. Liicke, Vcrsuch. i. 17 sq. ; Hitzig, Daniel,
Vorbem. § 9 ; Hilgenfeld, Die Jud. Apol:., 1 sq. ;
Pusey, Daniel the Prophet, Lect. V.). [Daniel.]
2. Philology. — The language of the Book pre
sents some interesting philological problems (cp.
Pusey, Lecture I. and Notes A-D at the end
of his volume). No less than its general form,
it belongs to an era of transition. Like the
Book of Ezra, Daniel is composed partly iu
the vernacular Aramaic (Chaldee) and partly
in the sacred Hebrew. The introduction
(i.-ii. 4 a) is written in Hebrew. Ou the
occasion of the "Syriac" (IVDIX, aupta-Tl,
syriace, i.e. Aramaic) answer of the Chaldaeans,
the language changes to Aramaic, and this is
retained till the close of the seventh chapter
(ii. 4 6-vii.). The personal introduction of
Daniel as the writer of the text (viii. 1) is
marked by the resumption of the Hebrew,
which continues to the close of the Book (viii.—
xii.). Arguments from style are always preca
rious ; but if " the Captivity be the grave of the
old Hebrew and the old Israel, and the womb of
the new Hebrew and the new Israel" (Margo-
liouth, Essay on Ecclesiasticus, p. 21), then the
language of Daniel may be expected to show, as
it does show, affinity — as regards its Hebrew — to
that of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, or in
other words to those Prophets who lived nearest
to the assumed age of Daniel (to others certain
peculiarities of style present a general simi
larity to the Hebrew of the Chronicles [De
litzsch, RE.2 s. n. ' Daniel,' p. 470]) ; and also,
as was to be expected, Babylonianisms indicating
the hand of one long resident in Babylon. The
Aramaic of Daniel, which has been shown to be
on a par with that of Ezra (see reff. in Speaker's
Comm.2 p. 228, n. 5; Delitzsch, p. 471), is also
of an earlier form (cp. Maurer, Comm. in Dan.
p. 87) than exists in any other Chaldaic docu
ment; but as the Targums — the next most ancient
specimens of the language — were not committed
to writing till about the Christian era, this fact
cannot be insisted on as a proof of remote anti
quity. Furthermore, it is, with Ezra, the earliest
example of East Aramaic as distinguished from
the closely akin West Aramaic of Palestine
(Kautzsch, Grarnm. d. Biblisch-Aramdischen,
' Einleitung,' § 1), not vice-versS, and repre
sents, with the Babylonian dialect, the principal
language of the Babylonian kingdom (Luzzatto,
Delitzsch, Niildeke. Assyro-Babylonian was
known and studied in Palestine before the age
of the Exodus : see ZA. iv. 387). A philological
comparison between Assyrian and Hebrew is still
in its infancy (cp. Fried. Delitzsch, Prolegg. eines
neuen Hebr. -Aram. Worterbuchs z. A. T. § 12),
but as regards the Book of Daniel quite enough
has been collected to show the philological
approximation of chs. i.-vii. to the language of
the Babylonian inscriptions (cp. Meinhold, Die
2 Z 2

708 DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
Compositiond. B. Daniel, pp. 3-18), if — from the
nature of the case — this is much less marked in
chs. viii.-xii. In addition to these two great
elements — -Aramaic and Hebrew — the Book of
Daniel contains traces of other languages which
indicate the peculiar position of the writer.
Greek technical terms (cp. § 10) illustrate
the intercourse and commerce between Assyria,
Asia Minor, and Greece ; and the occurrence of
Persian words, explicable enough when Persians
traded with, and probably lived in, Babylon, as
they did by the time of Nebuchadnezzar (Pinches.
See Records of the Past, N.S., iii. 124, for then-
presence there in the time of Belshazzar), is
quite inexplicable on the supposition that the
whole Book is a Palestinian forgery of the Mac-
cabaean age (cp. Strack u. Zockler, Handb. d.
theolog. Wissenschaften,2 i. p. 172).
3. Contents. — -The Book is generally divided
into two nearly equal parts. The first of these
(i.-vi.) contains chiefly historical incidents, while
the second (vii.-xii.) is entirely apocalyptic. This
division is further supported by the fact that
the details of the two sections are arranged in
order of time, and that the commencement of
the second section falls earlier than the close of
the first, as if the writer himself wished to mark
the division of subject. But, on the other hand,
this division takes no account of the difference
of language, nor of the change of person at the
beginning of ch. viii. And though the first
section is mainly historical, yet the vision of
ch. vii. finds its true foundation and counter
part in ch, ii. From these circumstances it
seems better to divide the Book (cp. Auberlen,
pp. 36 sq.) into three parts. The first chapter
forms an introduction. The next six chapters
(ii.-vii.) give a general view of the progressive
history of the powers of the world, and of the
principles of the Divine government as seen in
the events of the life of Daniel. The remainder
of the Book (viii.-xii.) traces in minuter detail
the fortunes of the people of God, as typical of
the fortunes of the Church in all ages. The
second section is distinguished by a remarkable
symmetry. It opens with a view of the great
kingdoms of the earth revealed to a heathen
sovereign, to whom they appeared in their out
ward unity and splendour, and yet devoid of
any true life (a metal Colossus) ; it closes with
a view of the same powers as seen by a Prophet
of God, to whom they were displayed in their
distinct characters, as instinct with life, though
of a lower nature, and displaying it with a
terrible energy of action (9-npia, four beasts).
The image under which the manifestation of
God's kingdom is foreshown corresponds exactly
with this twofold exhibition of the worldly
powers. " A stone cut without hands, . . . be
coming a great mountain and filling the whole
earth" (Dan. ii. 34, 35) — a rock and not a
metal — is contrasted with the finite proportions
of a statue moulded by man's art, as " a son of
man," the representative of humanity, is the
true Lord of that lower creation (Gen. i. 30)
which symbolises the spirit of mere earthly
dominions (Dan. vii. 13, 14). The intermediate
chapters (iii.-vi.) exhibit a similar correspond
ence, while setting forth the action of God
among men. The deliverance of the friends of
Daniel from the punishment to which they were
condemned for refusing to perform an idolatrous

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
act at the command of Nebuchadnezzar (ch. iii.)
answers to the deliverance of Daniel from that
to which he was exposed by continuing to serve
his God in spite of the edict of Darius (ch. vi.) •
and in the same way the degradation, the re
pentance, and the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar
(ch. iv.) form a striking contrast to the sacri
legious pride and death of Belshazzar (ch. v.
22-31). The arrangement of the last section
(viii.-xii.) is not equally distinct, though it
offers traces of a. similar disposition. The de
scription of the progress of the Grecian power
in ch. viii. is further developed in the last vision
(x.-xii.), while the last chapter appears to carry
on the revelation to the first coming of Messiah
in answer to the prayer of Daniel.
4. Canonical Authority. — The position which
the Book of Daniel occupies in the Hebrew
Canon seems at first sight remarkable. It is
placed among the Holy writings (Ketubim, ayi6-
ypatpa) between Esther and Ezra, or immedi
ately before Esther (cp. Hody, De Bibl. Text.
pp. 644-5), and not among the Prophets. This
collocation, however, is a natural consequence
of the right apprehension of the different func
tions of the Prophet and seer (Pusey, Lecture V.).
If it be very uncertain at what time the
triple division of the Scriptures which is pre
served in the Hebrew Bibles was first made,
yet the characteristics of the classes show that
it was not based exclusively on outward au
thority, but on the inward composition of the
Books [Canon]. Daniel, as the truth has been
well stated, had the spirit but not the work of a
Prophet ; and as his work was a new one, so
was it carried out in a style of which the Old
Testament offers no other example. His Apoca
lypse is as distinct from the prophetic writings
as the Apocalypse of St. John from the apostolic
Epistles. The heathen court is to the one seer
what the isle of Patmos is to the other, a place
of exile and isolation, where he stands alone
with his God, and is not, like the Prophet, active
in the midst of a struggling nation (Auberlen,
p. 34)." This estimate of the position of the
Book in this division of the Canon is not incom
patible with the view that that position also
indicated a somewhat late admission (Strack).
5. Unity. — The unity of the Book in its
present form, notwithstanding the difference of
language, is generally acknowledged (De Wette-
Schrader, Einl. § 319 ; Hitzig, § 4 ; Bleek-
Wellhausen, Einl* § 233 ; do.5 § 201)." Still

a The Jewish doctors of later times were divided as
to the degree of the inspiration of Daniel. Abarbanel
maintained against Maimonides that he was endowed
with the highest prophetic power (Fabric. Cod. Pseudep.
r. T. i. 897, n.).
b There have been, and are, those who dispute this
unity. Eichhorn attributed chs. ii.-vi„ vii.-xii„ to
different authors; and Bertholdt supposed that each
section was the work of a distinct writer, though he
admitted that each of his nine successive writers was
acquainted with the composition of his predecessors,
recognising in this way tbe unity of the Book (Einl,).
[A view, similar in character, is adopted by Strack
(Zockler's Handb. d. theolog. Wissenschaften,' B. 1 a,
'Einleit. ins A. T." } 6). Meinhold (Beitrage z.
Erklarung d. Buches Daniel, p. 22) assigns i.-ii. 4 a
to the author of viii.-xii., ii. 4 b-vi. to a second, and
ch. vii. to a third. Other views are mentioned by
Delitzsch (Herzog, BE." p. 471).— F.j

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
there is a remarkable difference in its internal
character. In the first seven chapters Daniel
is spoken of historically (i. 8-21 ; ii. 14-49 ;
iv. 8-27 ; v. 13-29 ; vi. 2-28 ; vii. 1, 2) : in
the last five he appears personally as the writer
(vii. 15-28; viii. 1-ix. 22; a. 1-19; xii. 5).
This peculiarity, however, is not without some
precedents inthe writings of the earlier Prophets
(e.g. Is. vii. 3 ; xx. 2), and the seventh chapter
prepares the way for the change ; for while
Daniel is there spoken of in the third person
(vii. 1, 2), the substance of the chapter is
given in his words, in the first person (vii. 2,
15, 28). The eause of the difference of person
is commonly supposed to lie in the nature of the
case. The Prophet narrates symbolic and repre
sentative events historically, for the event is its
own witness ; but revelations and visions need
the personal attestation of those to whom they
are communicated. It is, however, more pro
bable that the peculiarity arose from the manner
in which the Book assumed its final shape
(§ 11)-
6. Reception. — Allusion has been made already
to the influence which the Book exercised upon the
Christian Church. Apart from the general type
of apocalyptic composition which the apostolic
writers derived from Daniel (2 Thess. ii. ; Rev.
passim; cp. Matt. xxvi. 64, xxi. 44 ?), the New-
Testament incidentally acknowledges each of the
characteristic elements of the Book, its miracles
(Heb. xi. 33, 34), its predictions (Matt. xxiv. 15),
and its doctrine of Angels (Luke i. 19, 26). At
a still earlier time the same influence may be
traced in the Apocrypha. The Book of Baruch
[Baruch] exhibits so many coincidences with
Daniel, that by some the two Books have been
assigned to the same author (cp. Fritzsche,
Handb. zu d. Apok. i. 173 ; Speaker's Comm.
' Introd. to Baruch,' § iv.) ; and the First Book
of Maccabees represents Mattathias quoting the
marvellous deliverances recorded in Daniel,
together with those of earlier times (1 Mace. ii.
59, 60), and elsewhere exhibits an acquaintance
with the Greek Version of the Book (1 Mace. i.
54=Dan. ix. 27). The allusion to the guardian
Angels of nations, which is introduced into the
Alexandrine translation of the Pentateuch (Deut.
xxxii. 8 ; LXX., some MSS.), and recurs in the
Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclus. xvii. 17), may have
been derived from Dan. x. 21, xii. 1, though
this is uncertain, as the doctrine probably formed
part of the common belief. According to Josephus
(Ant. xi. 8, § 4) the prophecies of Daniel gained
for the Jews the favour of Alexander [Alex
ander the Great] ; and whatever credit may
he given to the details of his narrative, it at
least shows the unquestioning belief in the pro
phetic worth of the Book which existed among
the Jews in the time of Josephus.
7. Early Opinion. — The testimony of the
Synagogue and of the Church gave a clear expres
sion to the judgment implied by the early and
authoritative use of the Book, and pronounced
it to contain authentic prophecies of Daniel,
without contradiction, with one exception, till
modern times. Porphyry alone (f c. 305 a.d.)
assailed the Book, and devoted the 12th of
his fifteen Discourses against Christians (x6yoi
""¦ra Xpia-Tiavuv) to a refutation of its claims
to be considered a prophecy. " The history,"
he said, "is true up to the date of Antiochus

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF 709
Epiphanes, and false afterwards; therefore the
Book was written in his time " (Hieron. Praef.
in Dan.). The argument of Porphyry is ari
exact anticipation of the position of many
modern critics, and involves a twofold assump
tion, that the whole Book ought to contain
predictions of the same character, and that
definite predictions are impossible. Externally
the Book is as well attested as any Book of
Scripture, and there is nothing to show that
Porphyry urged any historical objections against
it ; but it brings the belief in miracle and pre
diction, in the Divine power and foreknowledge
as active among men, to a startling test, and
according to the character of this belief in the
individual must be his judgment upon the
Book. 8. Modern Opinion. — The history ofthe assaults
upon the prophetic worth of Daniel in modern
times is full of interest. In the first instance
doubts were raised as to the authorship of the
opening chapters, i.-vii. (Spinoza, Newton), which
were perfectly compatible with the fullest recog
nition of their canonicity. Then the variations
inthe LXX. suggested the belief that chs. iii.-vi.
were a later interpolation (J. D. Michaelis). As
a next step the last six chapters only were re
tained as a genuine Book of Scripture (Eichhorn,
1st and 2nd edd.); and at last the whole Book
was rejected as the work of an impostor, " with
out intention to deceive," who lived in Palestine
in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (Corrodi,
1783. Hitzig fixes the date more exactly from
170 E.c. to the spring of 164 B.C.). This opinion
has found wide acceptance, and has been pro
nounced " a certain result of historical criti
cism ; " the " certainty " of which has again been
transformed into uncertainty by the view which
assigns the Hebrew sections to the Maccabaean
period, and the Aramaic to c. B.C. 300 (cp. Mein-
hold, Beitrage, p. 22 ; Das Buck Daniel in Strack
u. Zockler's Kurzgef. Komm. z, A. T., pp. 261-2).
9. Grounds of Rejection (cp. § 12). — The real
grounds on which most modern critics rely
in rejecting the Book, are the "fabulousness
of its narratives " and " the minuteness of its
prophetic history." " The contents of the Book,"
it is said, "are irrational and impossible"
(Hitzig, § 5). It is obvious that it is impossible
to answer such a statement without entering
into general views of the Providential govern
ment of the world. It is admitted that the
contents of the Book are exceptional and sur
prising ; but revelation is itself a miracle, how
ever it be given, and essentially as inconceivable
as any miracle. There are times, perhaps, when
it is required that extraordinary signs should
arrest the attention of men and fix their minds
upon that Divine Presence which is ever work
ing around them. Prodigies may become a
guide to nature. Special circumstances may
determine, and, according to the Bible, do deter
mine, the peculiar form which the miraculous
working of God will assume at a particular
time ; so that the question is, whether there is
any discernible relation between the outward
wonders and the moral condition of an epoch.
Nor is it impossible to apply this remark to the
case of Daniel (cp. Pusey, Lecture VII. § 12).
The position which he occupied [Daniel] was
as exceptional as the Book which bears his
name. He survived the Exile and the dis-

710 DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
appointment which attended the first hopes of
the Jews. The glories which had been con
nected with the Return in the foreshortened
vision of earlier Prophets were now felt to be
far off, and a more special Revelation may have
been necessary as a preparation for a period of
silence and conflict.0 The very character of the
Babylonian exile seems to have called for some
signal exhibition of Divine power. As the first
Exodus was distinguished by great marvels, it
might appear natural that the second should be
also (cp. Micah vii. 15 ; Caspari and Delitzsch).
National miracles, so to speak, formed the
beginning of the theocracy : personal miracles,
the beginning of the Church. To speak of an
" aimless and lavish display of wonders " is to
disregard the representative significance of the
different acts, and the relation which they bore
to the future fortunes of the people. A new
era was inaugurated by fresh signs. The Jews,
left among the nations of the world, looked
for some sure token that God was able to
deliver them and work out His own purposes.
The persecution of Antiochus completed the
teaching of Daniel ; and the people no longer
sought without that which at length they had
found within. They had withstood the assault
of one] typical enemy, and now they were pre
pared to meet all. The close of special predic
tions coincided with the consolidation of the
national faith. [Antiochus Epiphanes.]
10. Other Objections. — The general objections
against the " legendary " miracles and specific
predictions of Daniel are strengthened by other
objections in detail, which cannot, however, be
regarded in themselves as of any considerable
weight (cp. Pusey, Lecture VII.). Some of
these have been already answered incidentally.
Some still require a short notice, though it
is evident that they are often after-thoughts ;
the results, and not the causes, of the rejection
of the Book. Not only, it is said, is (a) the Book
placed among the Hagiographa, but (6) Daniel is
omitted in the list of prophets given in the
Wisdom of Sirach ; (c) the language is corrupted
by an intermixture of Greek words; (d) the details
are essentially unhistorical ; (e) the doctrinal and
moral teaching betrays a late date.
In reply to these remarks, it may be urged,
that (a-b) if the Book of Daniel was already
placed among the Hagiographa (see § 4) at the
time when the Wisdom of Sirach was written,
the omission of the name of Daniel (Ecclus.
xlix.) is quite natural, and that under any cir
cumstances the omission is not more remarkable
than that of Ezra (xlix. 11) or of the individual
mention of the twelve lesser Prophets (xlix. 10).
(c) Up to the present time the decipherment of
the Assyrian inscriptions has not thrown light
upon the technical names of the musical instru
ments in use, but the objection founded upon
the mention of Greek musical instruments'1
(iii. 5, 7, 10, DirVp, KiBapa; njJSP'ID, trvp-

c The special prophecies of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 24)
and Isaiah (xliv. xiv.) centre in Daniel (cp. Dan.
xi. 30); aud the prediction of Balaam offers a remark
able parallel to those of Daniel, both from their par
ticularity and from the position which the Prophet
occupied fcp. Pusey, Lecture II.).
•' H. Derenbourg, "Les mots Grecs dans le livre
biblique de Daniel " (Melanges Graux, 1884, pp. 235-

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
tpuvia; JHRJDS, if- aXriipiov : cp. the 'Excursus
on the Musical Instruments,' in Speaker's Comm.2
p. 281), once supposed insuperable, cannot be
pressed. It is admitted that such mention is
not surprising at a time when the intercourse
between Greece and Assyria can be traced to the
time of Sargon at least (B.C. 722 ; Meinhold,
Beitrage, p. 32), and when the Hellenization of the
Jewish race between B.C. 607-587, before and
after deportation into Babylonia, was an indis
putable fact (cp. Flinders-Petrie, Tanis, ii. pp. 49,
50. Cp. also Brandis in Delitzsch, RE.1 p. 274 ;
Ale. Frag. 33, Bergk.). (d) The details are in
some cases as yet unattested, or otherwise stated
than in contemporary documents, but unhis
torical they are not. The whole colouring, scene,
and characters of the Book are Oriental, and
especially Babylonian, impossible to an age so
unfamiliar with them as the Maccabaean. The
colossal image (D?S, iii. 1, probably that of the
god Marduk [Merodach]), the fiery furnace, the
martyr-like boldness of the three confessors (iii.
16), the decree of Darius (vi. 7), the lions' den
(vi. 7, 19, 313), the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar
and his demand of the Chaldaeans (see p. 555,
col. 1), his obeisance before Daniel (v. 46), his
greatness as a builder (iv. 30) and his sudden fell
(v. 33 ; cp. Euseb. Praep. Ev. ix. 41 ; Joseph, o. Ap.
i. 20), the events connected with Belshazzar,
Cyrus, Darius the Mede, and the fall of Babylon
(see s. nn.), are not only consistent with the facts
of Eastern life, but in many instances directly
confirmed by the evidence of the Inscriptions (see
on these points not only the notes of Pusey and
Speaker's Comm.', but also Meinhold, Die Com
position u.s.ir.ip. 194; Andrea, Beweis d. Glaubens
for 1887, 1889 ; Vigouroux, La Bible et les dg-
couvertes modernes,1 iv. 377 sq., and Les Livres
Saints et la critique rationaliste, 1890. The
inscriptions relative to the time from Nebuchad
nezzar to Belshazzar are conveniently collected
and translated in Schrader, Keilinschriftliche
Bibliot/iek, iii., 2te Halfte, p. 10 sq. Cp. also
Ball's translations in PSBA. x. xi. ; Records of
the Past, N.S., iii. iv. ; Babylonian Record,!, ii.).
(e) In doctrine the Book is closely connected
with the writings of the Exile, and forms a last
step in the development ofthe ideas ofthe Messiah
(vii. 13, &c), of the resurrection (xii. 2, 3), of
the ministry of Angels (viii. 16, xii. 1, &c), of
personal devotion (vi. 10, 11, i. 8), which formed
the basis of later speculations, but received no
essential addition in the interval before the
coming of our Lord (cp. on these points Pusey
and the Speaker's Comm.2).
Generally it may be said that while the Book
presents in many respects a startling and
exceptional character, yet it is inaccurate on his
torical, philological, and archaeological grounds
to assign its composition to the Maccabaean
period (cp. Delitzsch, p. 479; Bp. Thirlwall's
Letters, Literary and Theological, pp. 245-9.
Meinhold, Beitrage u.s.w., ' Abweis der Abfassung
von Dan. ii.-vi. in der Zeit d. makkabiiischen
244, translated in Hebraica, iv. t sq. [1887]), starts with
the assumption of the Maccabaean date and finds Greek
words everywhere ; Fabre d'Envieu (Le Livre du PropUte
Daniel, i. 101 [1888]) will not admit that there are any
Greek words at all. On the words in Dan. iii- 2, 3, see
p. 157 sq.— [F.]

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
Kampfe,' p. 46 sq., admits this as regards that
special section). It appears as a key to the later
history and struggles of the Jews, and not as a
result from them. The reception into the Canon,
the phenomena of the Alexandrine Version, all
point in the same direction. If the prophetical
section be to some the difficulty, a sounder system
of interpretation, combined with a more worthy
view of the Divine government of men and
nations, will probably do much to remove those
undefined doubts as to the inspired character of
the Revelation which naturally arise at first in
the minds of thoughtful students.
11. Conclusion. — But while all historical evi
dence supports the canonicity of the Book of
Daniel, it does not follow that the recognition of
the unity and authority of the Book is necessarily
connected with the belief that the whole, as it
stands at present, is as it issued from the hands
of Daniel. According to the Jewish tradition
IBaba Bathra, f. 146), " the Books of Ezekiel, the
twelve minor Prophets, Daniel and Esther, were
written (i.e. drawn up in their present form) by
the men ofthe great synagogue," and in the case
of Daniel the tradition is supported by strong
internal evidence. The manner in which Daniel
is spoken of (i. 17, 19, 20, v. 11, 12 ; the title
in ix. 23, xii. is different) suggests the notion of
another writer ; and if Daniel wrote the passages
in question, they cannot be satisfactorily ex
plained by 1 Cor. xv. 10 ; 2 Cor. xi. 5, 6, xii. 2
(Keil, § 136), or by the consciousness of the
typical position which he occupied (Auberlen,
p. 37). The substantial authorship of a Book of
Scripture does not involve the subordinate work
of arrangement and revision ; and it is scarcely
conceivable that a writer would purposely write
one book in two languages, though there may
have been an obvious reason why he should treat
in separate records of events of general history
in the vernacular dialect, and of the special
fortunes of God's people in Hebrew. At the
Return we may suppose that these records of
Daniel were brought into one whole, with the
addition of an introduction and a fuller narra
tive,' when the other sacred writings received
their final revision (cp. Speaker's Comm.2 p. 230).
The visions themselves would be necessarily
preserved in their original form, and thus the
later chapters (vii.-xii.) exhibit no traces of
any subsequent recension, with the exception,
perhaps, of two introductory verses, vii. 1, x. 1.
12. Interpretation. — The interpretation of
Daniel has hitherto proved an inexhaustible
field for the ingenuity of commentators, and
the certain results are comparatively few. To
touch on two points only : A. The four king
doms. According to the traditional view (cp.
Pusey, Lect. IL), which appears as early as the
Fourth Book of Ezra [2 Esdras] and the Epistle
of Barnabas (ch. iv.), the four empires described in
chs. ii. vii. are the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian,
the Greek, and the Roman. With nearly equal
consent it has been supposed that there is a
change of subject in the eleventh chapter
B The letter of Nebuchadnezzar (ch. iv.) appears to
present clear traces of the interweaving of a commen
tary with the origmal text. Further the variant spelling
of some proper names in the present original text ofthe
o°ok, as well as the mis-spelling of others, point to tex
tual mistakes, intentional or otherwise, in the copyist.

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF 711
(xi. 31 sq.), by which the seer passes from the
persecutions of Antiochus to the times of Anti
christ. A careful comparison of the language
of the prophecy with the history of the Syrian
kings must, however, convince every candid
student of the text that the latter hypothesis is
wholly unfounded and arbitrary. The whole of
the eleventh chapter forms a history of the
struggles of the Jewish Church with the Greek
powers up to the death of its great adversary
(xi. 45). This conflict, indeed, has a typical
import, and foreshows in its characteristic out
lines the abiding and final conflict of the people
of God and the powers of evil, so that the true
work of the interpreter must be to determine
historically the nature of each event signalized
in the prophetic picture, that he may draw from
the past the lesson of the future. The tra
ditional interpretation of " the four empires "
seems to spring from the same error as the
other, though it still finds numerous advocates
(Hofmann, Auberlen, Keil, Havernick, Heng
stenberg, Ziindel, Kliefoth, and most English
commentators). It originated at a time when
the triumphant advent of Messiah was the
object of immediate expectation, and the Roman
empire appeared to be the last in the series of
earthly kingdoms. The long interval of conflict
which has followed the first Advent formed no
place in the anticipations of the first Christians,
and in succeeding ages the Roman period has
been unnaturally prolonged to meet the require
ments of a theory which took its rise in a state
of thought which experience has proved false.
It is a still more fatal objection to this interpre
tation that it destroys the great idea of a cyclic
development of history which lies at the basis of
all prophecy. Great periods (aluves) appear to
be marked out in the fortunes of mankind which
answer to another, so that that Divine utterance
which receives its first fulfilment in one period
receives a further and more complete fulfilment
in the corresponding part of some later period.
Thus the first coming of Christ formed the close
of the last age, as His second coming will form
the close of the present one. The one event is
the type and, as it were, the spring of the other.
This is acknowledged with regard to the other
Prophecies, and yet the same truth is not applied
to the revelations of Daniel, which appear then
first to gain their full significance when they
are seen to contain an outline of all history in
the history of the nations which ruled the world
before Christ's coming. The first Advent is as
much a fulfilment of the visions of Daniel as of
those of the other Prophets. The four empires
precede the coming of Messiah and pass away
before him. At the same time their spirit
survives (cp. vii. 12), and the forms of national
existence which were developed on the plains of
Mesopotamia again reproduce themselves in later
history. According to this view, the empires of
Daniel can be no other than those of the Baby
lonians, Medes, Persians, and Greeks, who all
placed the centre of their power at Babylon, and
appear to have exhibited on one stage the great
types of national life. The Roman power was at
its height when Christ came, but the Egyptian
kingdom, the last relic of the empire of Alex
ander, had just been destroyed, and thus the
"stone cut without hands struck the feet of
the image," and Christianity destroyed for ever

712 DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
the real supremacy of heathen dominion. But
this first fulfilment of the vision was only
inchoative, and the correlatives of the four
empires must be sought in post-Christian his
tory. The corresponding symbolism of Babylon
and Rome is striking at first sight, and other
parallels may be drawn. The Byzantine empire,
for instance, "inferior" to the Roman (Dan.
ii. 39), may be compared with that of the Medes.
The Teutonic races with their divided empire
recall the image of Persia (vii. 6). Nor is it
difficult to see in the growing might of the
Northern powers, a, future kingdom which may
rival in terrible energy the conquests of Alex
ander. Without insisting on such details as
these, which still require careful examination, it
appears that the true interpretation of Daniel
is to be sought in the recognition of the principle
which they involve. In this way the Book
remains a "prophecy," while it is also a
" revelation ; " and its most special predictions
acquire an abiding significance.'
[B. The seventy weeks (ix. 24-27. See the
excursus in Speaker's Comm.2 p. 360 sq.). — Fraidl
(Die Exegese der Siebzig Wochen Daniels, p. 154,
1883) sums up the interpretation of the Church
up to the time of the Middle Ages as marked by
unanimity of opinion upon the main thoughts
of the passage, coupled with great diversity as
regards individual expressions and the mode
of reckoning. Zockler ('Der Prophet Daniel,'
pp. 170-198 [in Lange's Theol.-homil. Bibelwerk,
1870]) has collected with exhaustive fulness all
that more modern criticism has to say upon the
subject. To those starting from a Maccabaean
date, it is of course a vaticinium ex eventu, and
a solution, satisfactory at least to its advocates,
is attained, even if they be unable to agree as
to the terminus a quo or the terminus ad quern
(cp. Cornill, Die Siebzig Jahrwochen Daniels,
1889, ever among the most courageous of inter
preters). The defenders of the Danielic author
ship (cp. Wolf, Die Siebzig Wochen Daniels, 1889)
are less confident in their belief that they have
solved the problems. Such an attitude is to be
preferred. To reckon these weeks backward and
forward from the starting-point of a Jew of
B.C. 164 is easy, but that starting-point has yet
to be proved to be the true one : to reckon them
from the date of such an one as Daniel professes
to be is not easy, but is yet, from its difficulty,
the truer one, which a better acquaintance with
the still unexplained nature of the author's com
putation and chronology, and possibly light upon
the mysteries of the numbers from a Babylonian
point of view, may be elucidated hereafter. — F.]
13. Versions. — There is no Chaldee translation
of Daniel, and the deficiency is generally accounted
for, as in the parallel case of Ezra, by the danger
which would have existed in such a case of

f An example of the recurrent and advancing com
pletion of tbe predictions of Darnel occurs in Matt.
xxiv. 15, compared with I Mace. i. 64. The same
truth is also implied in the interpretation of "the
seventy sevens," as springing out of the "seventy"
(years) of Jeremiah. On this there are Borne good
remarks in Browne's Ordo Saeclorum, though his
interpretation of the four empires as signifying the
Babylonian, Grecian, Roman, and some future empire
(pp. 6T5 sq.), seems very unnatural. The whole force of
his argument (after Ibn Ezra and Maitland) lies in the
proof that the Roman was not the fourth empire.

DANIEL, THE BOOK OF
confusing the original text with the paraphrase •
but on the other hand the whole Book has been
published in Hebrew. The Greek Version has
undergone singular changes. At an early time
the LXX. Version was supplanted in the Greek
Bibles by that of Theodotion,8 and in the time
of Jerome the Version of Theodotion was gene
rally " read by the Churches " (c. Ruffin. ii. 33 ;
Praef. in Comm.: " Hlud quoque lectorem admoneo
Danielem non juxta LXX. interpretes sed juxta
. . . Theodotionem ecclesias legere . . . "). This
change, for which Jerome was unable to account
("hoc cur acciderit nescio," Praef. in Vers. Dan.),
may have been made in consequence of the
objections which were urged against the corrupt
LXX. text in controversy with Jews and
heathen. The LXX. Version was certainly very
unfaithful (Hieron. 1. c.) ; and the influence of
Origen, who preferred the translation of Theo
dotion (Hieron. in Dan. iv. 6), was probably
effectual in bringing about the substitution (cp.
Credner, Beitr. ii. 256 sq.). In the course of
time, however, the Version of Theodotion was
interpolated from the LXX., so that it is now
impossible to recover the original text. [Daniel,
Apocryphal Additions to, § 4.] Meanwhile
the original LXX. translation passed entirely
out of use, and it was supposed to have been lost
till the last century, when it was published at
Rome from a Codex Chisianus (Daniel secundum
LXX. . . . Romae, 1772, ed. P. de Magistris),
together with that of Theodotion, and several
illustrative essays. It has since been published
several times (ed. Michaelis, Gotting. 1774 ; ed.
Segaar, 1775; Hahn, 1845, and Tischendorf1-7.
Cp. Bludau, De Alexandrinae interpretationis libri
Danielis indole critica et hermeneutica, Munster,
1890). Another recension of the text is con
tained in the Syro-Hexaplaric Version at Milan
(ed. Bugatus, 1788), but a critical comparison
of the several recensions is still required.
14. Commentaries. — The commentaries on
Daniel are very numerous. The Hebrew com
mentaries of R. Saadijah Hageaon (t 942), Rashi
(t c 1105), and Ibn Ezra (to."ll67), are printed
in the great Rabbinic Bibles of Bamberg and Basle.
That of Abarbanel (f c. 1507) has been printed
separately several times (Amstelod. 1647, 4to) ;
Ibn Ali the Karaite's Comm. (ed. by Margo-
liouth) forms part iii. of vol. i. of the Semitic
Series of Anecdota Oxoniensia; and others are
quoted by Rosenmiiller, Scholia, pp. 39, 40.
Among the patristic commentaries the most im
portant are those of Jerome (vol. v. ed. Migne,
Paris, 1857), who noticed especially the objections
of Porphyry, Theodoret (ii. 1053 sq. ed. Schulze),
and Ephrem Syrus (Op. Syr. ii. ; Romae, 1740).
Considerable fragments remain of the commen
taries of Hippolytus (collected in Migne's edition,
Paris, 1857; Bratke, Bonn, 1891) and Poly-
chronius (Mai, Script. Vet. Nov. Coll. vol. i.);
and Mai has published (I. c.) a catena on Daniel,
containing fragments of Apollinarius, Athanasius,
Basil, Eusebius, and many others. The chief
Reformers — Luther (Auslegung d. Proph. Dan.
1530-1546 ; Op. Germ. vi. ed. Walch), Oecolam-
padius (In Dan. libri duo, Basil. 1530), Melanch-

e The Version bears in the tetraplar text the singular
title, to Etp aypvm/os AwiijA. yij} Is the term which
Daniel applies to the Angels, "watchers " (Dan. iv. 13,
11, 23). Cp. Daniel sec. LXX. p. 125 sq.

DANIEL, APOC. ADDITIONS TO

DANIEL, APOC. ADDITIONS TO 713

thon (Comm. in Dan. proph. Vitemb. 1543), and
Calvin (Praelect. in Dan.- Genevae, 1563, &c. ;
iu French, 1565 ; in English, 1852-3) — wrote
on Daniel ; and Rosenmiiller enumerates nearly
fifty other special commentators, and his list
requires considerable additions. The combination
ofthe Revelations of Daniel and St. John (Sir I.
Newton, Observations upon the Prophecies, &c,
Lond. 1733 ; M. F. Roos, Ausl. d. Weissag. Dan.
u.s.ic, Leipz. 1771) opened the way to a truer
understanding of Daniel ; but the edition of
Bertholdt (Daniel, aus dem Hebr.-Aram. neu
iibersetzt und erkliirt, u.s.w., Erlangen, 1806-8),
in spite of all its grave faults, marks the begin
ning of a new era in the study of the Book.
Bertholdt was decidedly unfavourable to its
authenticity; and he has been followed on the
same side by Von Lengerke (D. B. Dan. verd. u.
ausgel. Konigsb. 1835), Maurer (Comm. -Gramm.
Crit. ii. Lips. 1838), Hitzig (Kurzgef. Exeg.
Handb. Leipz. 1850), Bleek (Einl. var. edd.),
LScke (Versuch einer vollstdnd. Einl. u.s.w., 2te
Aufl., Bonn 1852), De Wette (Einl. Tar. edd.),
Meinhold (works cited). On the other hand, the
authenticity is affirmed more or less absolutely by
Havernick (Comm. iib. d. B. Dan. Hamb. 1832),
Auberlen (Der Proph. Dan. u. d. Offenbarung
Joh.u.s.ic, 2te Aufl., Basel 1857, translated into
English from the 1st ed. by A. Saphir, 1856),
Hengstenberg (Die Authentie d. Dan  er-
tnesen,1831, translated by E. B. Pratten, Edinb.),
Havernick (Neue krit. Untersuch. Hamb. 1838),
Delitzsch (Herzog's RE.1 ; in RE.2 his views
approximate to the other school), Keil (Lehrb. d.
Einl in d. A. T., Frankf. 1853), Pusey (Daniel
theProphet, var. edd.), Speaker's Comm.2, the com
mentaries of Ziindel, Kranichfeld, and Kliefoth,
mentioned in Zockler's work, Kaulen (Einl. in d.
heilige Schrift A. u. N. T. p. 328 sq.), Comely
(Historica et critica Introductio in utriusque. Testa-
menti Libros sacros, ii. 2, p. 466 sq., who gives
a list of R. C. writers) ; Knabenhauer (Comm. in
Banielem, Paris 1891), and Fabre d'Envieu (Le
Litre du Prophete Daniel, 1890). Essays on
special points are supplied by T. R. Birks — The
four prophetic Empires, &c, 1844, and The two
later Visions of Daniel, &c, 1846 ; E. B. Elliott,
Horae Apocalypticae, 1844 ; S. P. Tregelles, Re
marks on the prophetic Visions of Daniel, 1852 ;
Desprez, Daniel or the Apoc. of the 0. T., 1865 ;
Payne Smith, Dan. i.-vi., 1889 ; Lagarde (v.
Havet), GGA. xiv. 1891. [B. F. W.] [F.]
DANIEL, APOCRYPHAL ADDITIONS
TO. The Greek translations of Daniel, like that
of Esther, contain several pieces which are not
found in the original text, but are accepted as
canonical by the Roman Catholic Church (Comely
and Kaulen). The most important of these
additions are contained in the Apocrypha of the
English Bible under the titles of The Song of the
Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna,
and The History of . . . Bel and the Dragon.
1. a. The first of these pieces is incorporated
into the narrative of Daniel. After the three
confessors were thrown into the furnace (Dan.
iii. 23), Azarias is represented praying to God for
deliverance (Song of Three Children, vv. 3-22) ;
and in answer the Angel of the Lord shields
them from the fire which consumes their enemies
(to. 23-27), whereupon " the three, as out of one
mouth," raise a triumphant song (vv. 29-68),

drawn largely from the Psalter, of which a chief
part (cv. 35-66) has been used as u hymn (the
Benedicite) in the Christian Church since the 4th
century (Rutin. Apol. ii. 35 ; cp. t'oncil. Tolet. iv.
Can. 14). Like several similar fragments, the
chief parts of this composition are given at the
end of the Psalter in the Alexandrine MS. as
separate psalms, under the titles " The Prayer of
Azarias " and " The Hymn of our Fathers ; " and
a similar arrangement occurs in other Greek
and Latin Psalters. Ball gives numerous illus
trations from Talmudic and Midrashic literature,
showing that the conception of a deliverance
from a fiery furnace was traditional among the
Jews from very early times (Speaker's Comm.,
Apocrypha, ' Introduction to the Song of the
Three Children,' ii. 305-7).
b. The two other pieces appear more distinctly
as appendices, and offer no semblance of forming
part of the original text. The History of
Susanna is generally found at the beginning of
the Book (Gk. MSS. ; Vet. Lat.) ; though it also
occurs after the 12th chapter (Vulg. ed. Compl.).
Another name given to this piece, " The judg
ment of Daniel," expresses clearly the point of
the story. Ball considers it a traditional history
or Jewish Haggadah (Bertholdt), and (after
Briill, Das apokryph. Susanna-Buch, in the
' Jahrb. f. Jiidische Geschichte u. Litteratur,7
1879) an Anti-Sadducean Tendenz - schrift of
B.C. 94-89, partly based upon Jer. xxix. 20-23
(Speaker's Comm., Apocrypha, ' Introd. to the
Hist, of Susanna,' pp. 325, &c.) ; but Zockler
(Strack n. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. ' Die Apokry
phen ,d. A.T.' p. 215, 1891) shows that this
cannot be pressed.
The History of Bel and the Dragon is placed
at the end of the Book ; and in the LXX. Version '
it bears a special heading as "part of the prophecy
of Habakkuk" (iK irpotpT\Teias 'ApBauovp vlov
'Iriaov eK tt)s tpuXfjs Aev't), which would seem to
indicate that it was an extract from a pseud
epigraphic writing attributed to that Prophet
(Fritzsche). Ball finds the nucleus of this story
in Jer. li. 34, 44, afterwards developed by the
Haggadah in its own fashion, but also illus
trating that Prophet's own moral of the utter
futility of idols, and the sole sovereignty of the
God of Israel (Speaker's Comm., Apocrypha,
' Introduction to Bel and the Dragon,' pp. 345-6).
It is not uninteresting to compare this Apo
cryphal work with the legend of the contest
between Bel and the Dragon preserved in the
cuneiform tablets. Jewish authors in Babylon
would hardly be ignorant of the popular Baby
lonian legends, even if it be thought improbable
that the coincidences between these accounts
were " hardly accidental " (Ball, pp. 347-8).
2. The additions are found in both the Greek
text's— the LXX. and Theodotion, in the Old
Latin and Vulgate, and inthe existing Syriac and
Arabic Versions. On the other hand, there is
no evidence that they ever formed part of the
Hebrew text, and they were originally wanting
in the Syriac (Polychronius, ap. Mai, Script.
Vett. Nov. Coll. i. p. 113, says of the hymn ex
pressly ob KUTai iv toIs eBpaiKois i) iv Tots
o-vptaKois BiBXiots). From the LXX. and Vulgate
the fragments passed into common use, and they
are commonly quoted by Greek and Latin Fathers
as parts of Daniel (Clem. Alex. Eel. proph. i.;
Orig. Ep. ad Afric. ; Tertull. de Pudic. 17, &c),

714 DANIEL, APOC. ADDITIONS TO
but rejected by those who adhered to the Hebrew
canon. Jerome in particular called attention to
their absence from the Hebrew Bible (Praef. in
Dan.), and instead of any commentary of his own
adds shortly Origen's remarks " on the fables of
Bel and Susanna" (Comm. in Dan. xiii. 1). In a
similar manner he notices shortly the Song of
the Three Children, "lest he shouldseem to
have overlooked it " (Comm. in Dan. iii. 23).
3. Various conjectures have been made as to
the origin of the additions. It has been sup
posed that they were derived from Hebrew or
Aramaic originals. Kaulen (Einl. in. d. heil.
Schrift A. u. N. T. ii. § 395 [see his reff.]) and
Comely (Historica et critica Introductio in utri-
usque Testamenti Libros sacros, ii. 2, p. 499 sq.)
give the substance of the arguments, and Ball
affirms them afresh, but the evidence is intri
cate, and insufficient to establish the point (Bis-
sell, The Apocrypha of tlie 0. T. p. 442 sq. ; Zockler,
p. 215). The character of the additions them
selves indicates rather the hand of an Alexandrine
writer ; and it is not unlikely that the translator
of Daniel wrought up traditions which were
already current, and appended them to his work
(cp. Fritzsche, Exeg. Handb. zu den Apok. i. 121).
The abruptness of the narrative in Daniel fur
nished an occasion for the introduction of the
prayer and hymn ; and the story of the Dragon
seems like a strange exaggeration of the record
of the deliverance of Daniel (Dan. vi.), which
may naturally have formed the basis of different
legends. Nor is it difficult to see in the History
of Susanna a pointed allusion to the name of
the Prophet, though the narrative may not be
wholly fictitious.
4. The LXX. appears to be the original source
from which all the existing recensions of the
fragments were derived (cp. Hody, de Bibl. Text.
p. 583). Theodotion seems to have done little
more than transcribe the LXX. text with im
provements in style and language, which are
considerably greater in the appended narratives
than in the Song incorporated into the canonical
text. Thus while the History of Susanna and
Bel and. the Dragon contain large additions
which complete and embellish the story (e.g.
Hist. Sus. to. 15-18; 20, 21; 24-27; 46, 47,
49, 50 : Bel. & Dr. vv. 1, 9-13 ; Eichh. pp. 431
sq.), the text of the Song is little more than a
repetition of that of the LXX. (cp. De Magistris,
Daniel, &c, pp. 234 sq. ; Eichh. Einl. in d.
Apok. Schrift. 422 sq.). The Polyglott-Syriac,
Arabic, and Latin Versions are derived from
Theodotion ; and the Hexaplar-Syriac from the
LXX. (Eichh. p. 430, &c).
5. The stories of Bel and Susanna received
various embellishments in later times, which
throw some light upon the manner in which
they were originally composed (cp. Orig. Ep. ad
Afric. §§ 7, 8 ; Bochart, Hieroz. iii. 3 ; Eichh.
p. 446, &c.) ; just as the change which Theodo
tion introduced into the narrative of Bel, to give
some consistency to the facts, illustrates the
rationalising process through which the legends
passed (cp. Delitzsch, De Habacuci vita et aetate,
1844). It is thus useless to institute auy in
quiry into the historic foundation which lies
below the popular traditions ; for though the
stories cannot be regarded as mere fables, it is
evident that a moral purpose determined the
shape which they assumed. A later age found

DAPHNE
in them traces of a deeper wisdom, . and to
Christian commentators Susanna appeared as a
type of the true Church tempted to infidelity by
Jew and Pagan, and lifting up her voice to God
in the midst of persecution (Hippol. In Susann.
pp. 689 sq., ed. Migne). [B. F. W.] [F.]
DAN'ITES, THE Qiin : B. S Aavei, A.
6 Aov [Judg. xiii. 2] ; BA. 6 Adv [Judg. xviii.
1, 11] ; B. ol AavetTai, NA. -i- [1 Ch. xii. 35] :
Dan). The descendants of Dan, and members of
his tribe. [W. A. W.] [F.]
DAN- J A' AN ([IP-pp B- A«" Ei5*" ""'
Oiitidv ; A. Aci^ 'lapav Kai 'lovSdv; Lucian, Advi
Dan silvestria), a place named only in 2 Sam.
xxiv. 6 as one of the points visited by Joab in
taking the census of the people. It occurs
between. Gilead and Zidon — and therefore may
have been somewhere in the direction of Dan
(Laish), at the sources of the Jordan. The
reading of the LXX. (Alex.) and of the Vulg. was
evidently "UP pi, Dan-jaar, the nearest trans
lation of which is " Dan in the wood." This
reading is approved by Gesenius, and agrees with
the character of the country about Tell el-Kady.
Driver (Notes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of
Samuel, in loco) corrects the reading of the
passage as follows : hii "pDD J'lD'l fj 1N3'1
JIT'S. There seems no reason for doubting that
the well-known Dan is intended. We have no
record of any other Dan in the north ; and even
if this were not the case, Dan, as the accepted
northern limit of the nation, was too important
a place to escape mention in such a list as that
in the text. Dr. Schultz, formerly Prussian
Consul at Jerusalem, discovered an ancient site
called Kli. Danidn, in the mountains about two
miles E. of Rds en Ndkurah, south of Tyre, which
he proposes to identify with Dan-jaan (Van de
Velde, Memoir, 306); Major Conder (Hbk. to
Bible, p. 408) holds the same view. [G.] [W.]
DAN'NAH (nin, depression, low ground,
Ges. ; B. "Pevvd ; Danna). A city in the moun
tains of Judah (Josh. xv. 49), and according to
Dillmann2 not yet identified. It is mentioned
with Debir and Socoh, and may perhaps be
identified with Idhna (\ji\), the Jedna men-
tioned by Eusebius (OS.2 p. 268, 30) as being
six miles from Eleutheropolis on the road to
Hebron. It lies S. of Wddy el-Afranj (PEF.
Mem. iii. 305). [G.] [W.]
DAPH'NE (Adtpv-n; Daphne), a celebrated
grove and sanctuary of Apollo, near Antioch in
Syria [Antioch]. Its establishment, like that of
the city, was due to Seleucus Nicator. The dis
tance between the two places was about five
miles, and in history they are associated most
intimately together. Just as Antioch was
frequently called 'A. iirl Adtpvn, and t) irpbs
AdtpvTjv, so conversely we find Daphne entitled
A. i) irpbs 'AvTiox^iav (Joseph. B. J. i. 12, § 5)-
The situation was of extreme natural beauty,
with perennial fountains and abundant wood.
Seleucus localised here, and appropriated to
himself and his family the fables of Apollo and
the river Penens and the nymph Daphne. Here
he erected a magnificent temple and colossal

DARA
statue of the god. The succeeding Seleucid
monarchs, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, em
bellished the place still further. Among other
honours, it possessed the privileges of an asylum.
It is in this character that the place is men
tioned in 2 Mace. iv. 33. In the reign of An
tiochus Epiphanes (B.C. 171) the aged and
patriotic high-priest Onias, having rebuked
Menelaus for his sacrilege at Jerusalem, took
refuge at Daphne ; * whence he was treacherously
brought out, at the instance of Menelaus, and
murdered by Andronicus, who was governor of
Antioch during the king's absence on » cam
paign. Josephus does not give this account of
the death of Onias (Ant xii. 5, § 1). When
Syria became Roman, Daphne continued to be
famous as a place of pilgrimage and vice (see
Farrar's Life of St. Paul [pop. ed.4], p. 163 sq.).
" Daphnici mores " was a proverb (see Gibbon's
Soman Empire, ch. xxiii.). The beginning of
the decay of Daphne must be dated from the
time of Julian, when Christianity in the Empire
began to triumph over Heathenism. The site
has been well identified by Pococke and other
travellers at Beit el-Md, "the House of the
Water," on the left bank of the Orontes, to the
S.W. of Antioch, and on higher ground ; where
the fountains and the wild fragrant vegetation
are in harmony with all that we read of the
natural characteristics of Apollo's sanctuary
(Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog., art. Daphne ;
Miiller, De Ant Antiochenis.) The Greek in
scription of the date B.C. 189 relating to the
worship of Apollo and Artemis at Daphne, and
referred to in the Amer. ed. of the D. B., has
been translated and published in the Journ. of
the American Oriental Societg, vi. 550-5 ; vii.
p. xUv. [J. S. H.] [W.]
DA'EA (Vft; BA. Aopa; Dara), 1 Ch. ii.
6. [Darda.]
DAK'DA (IFn'H ; B. AapaXd ; A. Tbv Adpaa ;
Joseph. AdpSavos ; Dordci), a son of Mahol, one
of four men of great fame for their wisdom, but
who were excelled by Solomon (1 K. iv. 31,
LXX. b. 27 ; Heb. v. 11). Ethan, the first of the
four, is called " the Ezrahite ; " but it is un
certain whether the designation extends to the
others. [Ethan.] In 1 Ch. ii. 6, however, the
same four names occur again as " sons of Zerah,"
of the great family of Pharez in the tribe of
Judah, with the slight difference that Darda
appears as Dara. The identity of these persons
with those in 1 K. iv. is still debated (see the
arguments on both sides in. the Speaker's Comm.
and in Strack u. Zockler's Kurzgef. Komm.). In
favour of their identity : —
(1.) A great number of Hebr. MSS. read
Darda in Ch. (Davidson, Hebr. Text, p. 210), in
which they are followed by the Targum and the
Syriac and Arabic Versions. [Dara.]
(2.) The son of Zerah would be without diffi
culty called in Hebrew the Ezrahite, the change
depending merely on the position of a vowel-
point. [Ezrahite.] And further, the change
Is actually made by the Targum Jonathan, which
iu Kings has " son of Zerah."
¦ According to Jewish tradition, some of the Jews led
into captivity were settled at Daphne (Jer. Tal. Shek.
vU).

DARIUS

715

(3.) The word "son" is used in Hebrew so
often to denote a descendant beyond the first
generation, that no stress can be laid on the
"son of Mahol," as compared with "son of
Zerah." For instance, of the five " sons of
Judah " in 1 Ch. iv. 1, the first was really
Judah's son, the second his grandson, the third
his great-grandson, and the fourth and fifth still
later descendants. Further, some conjecture
that " Bene Mahol " means " sons of the choir ; "
in which case the men in question were the
famous musicians, two of whom are named in
the titles to Pss. lxxxviii. and lxxxix. [Mahol.]
It must, however, be added, that these argu
ments do not command universal acceptance,
and it is best, with Riehm (HWB. s. n. Heman)
to consider the identity uncertain. [G.] [F.]
DARIC (|toT!K; (toTl; only in pi.
D'JSTIN. D'OiDisTl; Talm." flSTI : xpvtrovs;
solidus, drachma : Ezra ii. 69, viii. 27 ; Neh.
viii. 70, 71, 72 ; 1 Ch. xxix. 7), a gold coin
current in Palestine after the return from Baby
lon. That the Hebrew word is, at the time
mentioned, the name of a coin, although it may
have been originally that of a weight, is evident
from its identity with the Greek name of the
only Persian gold coin of the time, the AapeiKis,
or o-TaTTjp AapeiKos. The origin of the word is
obscure. It has been derived in the Greek form
from the name of Darius Hystaspis, the first
Persian monarch known to have struck gold or
money of any metal. The name Darius however,
in Achaemenian Persian, Daryava(h)ush, when
confronted with the Hebrew forms, forbids this
derivation (but cp. G. Hoffmann, Zeitsch.f. Assyrio-
logie, ii. 49 sq.). M. Oppert and M. V. Revillout
identify it with the Assyro-Babylonian H3D 3T7,
darag mana, " degree (i.e. Jj) of the mina " (Ann.
deNum. 1884, p. 119; Head, Historia Nummorum,
p. 698). Possibly the word is Aramaic. This was
the usual language of the coins of the satraps, and
seems to have been that of commerce under the
Achaemenian kings, and even under the Assyrian
Sargonids. The Syriac form, pr>»i »<» was
used iu the vulgar language in the time of
Barhebraeus, 13th century a.d., to designate
the current gold coin, the dinar of the Arabs
(Castell. Lex. Syr., ed. Michaelis, s. v.).
The Daric weighs 130 grs. or the 60th of the
light Babylonian or Assyrian gold mina. It
appears that the Hebrew shekel of gold, which
seems to have been only a weight, was identical
with the Daric. Thus the use of the term in 1 Ch.
xxix. 7 proleptically would be accurate. The
usual type represents the King of Persia as an
archer (see illustration). The double Daric is
supposed to have been issued by Alexander after
the conquest of Asia. (On the whole subject,
see Head, op. cit. pp. 698 sqq.) [R. S. P.]

Gold Daric. (BritMi Mmsomn. Actual size.)

DARI'US (^TJ; Old Persian, Ddraya-
waush; Median, Tariyamaui \j=Dariyawausli\;

716

DARIUS

Babylonian, Dariamus [= DariawusK], Ddruya-
muiu [_=Daruydwushu], Daruesiu, Darius, &c. ;
LXX. Aape"ios ; Xen. Hell. ii. 1, 9, Aapei-
aios [Nothus] ; Strabo, xvi. 785, <5 Aapii)KTis :

Persian, '.id,

>\.\ii), the name of several

kings of Persia and Media. Herodotus (vi. 98)
says that the name is equivalent to ep£lr)s, i.e.
" doer " or " driver." It has also been com
pared with the Persian ddr, " possessor," from
dashtan, " to possess," and dara or darab,
"king." Three kings bearing this name are
mentioned in the 0. T.
1. Darius the Mede (nan B^Tl, Dan.
xi. 1, Chald. K»1D "T [KethibX ''H/ho "t
TTT "- -1 TTT
[Keri], vi. 1 = v. 31), " the son of Ahasuerus
(=Xerxes) of the seed of the Medes," who
succeeded to the Babylonian kingdom after
Belshazzar's violent death [Belshazzar], being
then sixty-two years old (Dan. v. 31 =vi. 1 ;
ix. 1). The first year only of his reign is men
tioned (Dan. ix. 1 ; xi. 1), but it seems to have
been a very important one for Daniel and the
Jews, the prophet being advanced by Darius
the Mede to a very high dignity (Dan. vi. 1 sq.) ;
namely, that of " one " (R. V.) of the three
presidents which were placed over the hundred
and twenty satraps ; and Darius, after Daniel's
miraculous deliverance, issued a decree enjoining
" reverence for the God of Daniel " throughout
his dominions.
Various attempts have been made to identify
Darius the Mede. He has been regarded as the
same as Darius Hystaspis ; or as Cyaxares II.,
" the son and successor of Astyages " (Josephus,
Ant. x. 11, § 4; Bertholdt; Von Lengerke ;
Auberlen, Daniel und d. Offenbarung, Sec.) ;
or as Astyages himself, the last king of the
Medes (Winer, RWB. s. v.; Niebuhr, Gesch.
Ass. u. Bab. pp. 45, 92). All these identifica
tions, however, may be passed over, as they do
not agree with the history of the last days of
the native kings of Babylonia, as related in the
native chronicles.
In determining who Darius the Mede was, it
is needful to note certain of the more prominent
points as related or indicated in the Book of
Daniel. This ruler is there said to have " re
ceived "(?3p) the kingdom (cp. Dan. vii. 18,
where the saints of the Most Higli are said to
do the same thing), an expression wh'ich would
imply acting for another. It is also said that
Darius the Mede appointed satraps throughout
the whole kingdom. His first year only is
mentioned, and at the end of the sixth chapter
of Daniel these words occur : " So this Daniel
prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the
reign of Cyrus the Persian." All these state
ments, it is to be noted, agree fairly well with
what the Babylonian Chronicle relates of Cyrus's
general Gobryas. We there find that Gobrvas
was governor of Gutium ; that he descended,
with the army of Cyrus, to Babylon, on the
16th of Tammuz ; that Cyrus arrived later (on
the 3rd of Marcheswan) ; and that Gobryas,
Cyrus's governor, appointed governors in Baby
lon. Gobryas seems to have been concerned also
iu the attack which resulted in Belshazzar's
death [Belshazzar]. It is evident from the
Babylonian Chronicle, that Gobryas was en
dowed by Cyrus with great power — that he

DARIUS
was practically his viceroy. The Jewish writers
of late times therefore looked upon him as
being in the same position as Belshazzar, whom
they (though with better reason) also regarded1
as king. As Gobryas preceded Cyrus, so he
may be regarded as having "received" the
kingdom on his behalf; and as, after Cyrus's
arrival, the latter immediately assumed the
reins of government, Gobryas could only have
been regarded as " reigning " during a portion
of one year," and the mention of Cyrus at the
end of the sixth chapter of Daniel is therefore
quite natural. The substitution of " Darius the
Mede " for Gobryas of Gutium,* probably rests
J upon a confusion of names in the mind ofthe
| Hebrew scribe, or it may arise from Gobryas
having borne the name of Darius as well. Con-
| fusion on account of the likeness between the
two names is hardly possible, the Babylonian
form of the name Darius being Dariawus (Heb,
Daryawesh), and that of the name Gobryas
being Ugbaru and Gubaru : confusion would, in
fact, only be likely in the case that the scribe
was better acquainted with the Greek than with
the Babylonian forms of these two names.
Whether the name Darius, applied to the con
queror of Babylon in Daniel, is due to the fact
that Darius Hystaspis conquered Babylon, is
doubtful. Darius Hystaspis was not a Mede,
but a Persian ; he was not the son of Xerxes,
but of Hystaspes; and he was not sixty-two
years old when he began to rule over Babylon,
but about thirty-three. Whatever confusion,
therefore, the Hebrew scribe may have made
with regard to the name, there is hardly any
doubt that he intended to describe Cyrus's
general, Gobryas, under the name of Darius
the Mede. [T. G. P.]
2. Darius, the son of Hystaspes (Vish-
taspa). This ruler, the fifth in descent from
Achaemenes (Hakhdmanish), was the founder of
the Persian dynasty, of which he calls himself
the ninth king, apparently regarding his gene
alogy, " in a double line " (Behistun Inscription)
as follows : — Achaemenes

1. Teispes

2 and 3 Cyrus I.
4 and 5 Cambyses I.
6 and 1 Cyrus II.
I
S and 9 Cambyses II.

Ariaramnes Arsarnes
Hystaspes Darius.

Darius's father, grandfather, and great-grand
father, however, were not really kings, but
only satraps — Hystaspes, Darius's father, hold
ing that rank in Persis, and being, therefore,
really subject to his son, for whom he fought in
Parthia. According to the popular legend (Herod, i.
» It is possible, however, that this only implies
Gobryas's early death or retirement. If we accept the
explanation here proposed, "Darius the Mede" was
already advanced in years when he took Babylon (Dan.
v. 31).
> It seems probable that Gutium is another name for
Media, or the name of the tract in which Media lay.
Prof. Sayce, Eerodotos, p. 357, makes Media to be the
eastern boundary of this province.

DARIUS
209, 210), Darius was already, when young,
marked out for empire, Cyrus having had a
dream concerning him indicating this. Darius
afterwards attended Cyrus's son and successor,
Cambyses, in Egypt a-s one of his body-guard, j
Upon the detection of the imposture of the
Magian Gqmates (Bardes or Smerdis), who I
seized the throne after Cambyses' death, Darius
went to Susa just as the conspiracy against the
usurper was being formed, aud by his advice
the death of Gomates was resolved upon with
out delay aud accomplished." A monarchy
being decided upon by the Persian chiefs who
had taken part in the conspiracy, it was agreed
that he whose horse first greeted the rising sun
by neighing should be king. Darius's horse
having been the first to do this, his lucky pos
sessor was proclaimed king B.C. 521.
The death of the Magian, however, did not by
any means leave a clear field for the new ruler
of the vast Persian empire. First Babylonia,
under Nidintu-Bel and afterwards under Arakhu,
then Persia, Susia, Media, Assyria, Egypt,
Parthia, Margiana, Sattagydia, and Scythia, in
turn fell away from him. With the help of his
faithful generals, however, all the pretenders —
nine in number — were at last disposed of, not
without much bloodshed and some cruelty on
the part of the conqueror. Nineteen battles
had to be fought ere Darius could say that " the
land was his." 4
Having thus firmly seated himself on the
throne, and made the possession of it more sure
by marrying Cyrus's two daughters, Atossa and
Artystone, Parmys, the daughter of Cyrus's
son Smerdis, and Phaedime, daughter of Otanes,
one of the seven who had conspired with him to
murder the usurper Gomates, he began to set
the affairs of the empire in order. He first
divided the land owning his sway into twenty
satrapies, assigning to each a certain amount.
The successes of Cambyses in Africa were to
be followed, during the reign of Darius, by
Persian conquests in Europe. The way for this
had already been paved by the death of Poly-
crates at the hands of Oroctes ; for Polycrates,
at the head of the great naval power which he
had created, could easily have contested with
Persia the possession of the Aegean. Meandrius,
his successor, who had taken possession of the
throne, was ousted in consequence of treachery
by Otanes ; and Syloson, tyrant of Samos, who
had been banished by Polycrates, was restored.
Through this, Byzantium and Thracian Cherso
nesus were subjugated. Darius now determined
to extend his conquests as far as the Danube ;
his object being, according to Herodotus, to
avenge the incursions made by the Scythians in
the time of Cyaxares. It is more probable,
however, that this expedition was undertaken
simply from lust of conquest.
Mandrocles was commanded, therefore, to
build a bridge across the Bosphorus ; and this
was done to the satisfaction of Darius," who

' At Sikayauvatish, in the province of Nisaya (in
Media). 4 A favourite expression of Darius in the Behistun
Inscription is, " After that the land was mine."
" Mandrocles, to commemorate his work, caused a
picture to be dedicated to Hera of Samos. This con
sisted of a representation of the bridge, tin .rmy

DARIUS

il7

crossed with his army (h.c. 513), whilst the
fleet of the Greeks, acting in concert, sailed to
the Danube. Meanwhile, the land army
marched away from the coast, meeting with no
resistance until they passed the heights of the
Balkans. After the whole army had crossed the
Danube, Darius wished to destroy the bridge ;
but as he was advised by Coes not to do so, it was
allowed to remain. Darius's army being unable
to bring the Scolati, the chief tribe concerned,
to an engagement, and deciding to retreat, got
away unobserved by the enemy by the ruse of
leaving the camp, with the sick and the beasts
of burthen, by night. Returning to the bridge,
Darius found that a part only had been taken
away by the Greeks. This having been restored,
the army safely reached the eastern shore.
Darius is said to have lost 80,000 men on this
expedition (Ctesias). Some of the Greek cities,
including Byzantium, having rebelled, Darius
allowed part of his army, under Megalysus, to
remain ou the European shore for the purpose
of reducing them again to subjection. Otanes
besieged those on the Asiatic shore, and captured
Chalcedon and Byzantium, whose exiles after
wards founded Mesembria.
Bactria, Arachosia, Asia Minor, and Egypt
remained loyal at a time when Semites and
Aryans, including even his own people, the
Persians, fell away from him ; and for Darius to
have kept Egypt faithful says much for the
policy of the Persian rulers, who, taking care to
respect the religion of subjeot nations, won not
only their confidence, but also their sympathy.
Such was Darius's policy, and for this reason he
was so highly honoured by the Egyptians that
they affected to consider him, even in his life
time, as a god. From the valley of the Nile,
therefore, in the autumn of the year in which
he had marched to the Danube, a second Persian
expedition set out, army and fleet, to extend
the Persian rule on the north coast of Africa.
This expedition was directed against the Libyans
and other tribes in the neighbourhood who had
agreed to pay tribute to Cambyses. A pretext
to attack these was found in the person of
Pheretina of Barca, whose son, " in return for
fidelity to Persia," had been slain by some of his
own subjects, who alleged that he had treated
them cruelly. The army which set out from
Memphis was commanded by a Persian named
Amasis, who invested Barca, but met with a
vigorous resistance. The city was at last only
taken by a ruse, and a number of prisoners fell
into the hands of the Persians, by whom they
were carried to Bactria, where they founded
n city, to which they gave the name of Barca,
and which still existed in Herodotus's time.
Monuments and inscriptions prove that much
more than this solitary city was subdued by
the army of Darius; indeed, the region sub
jected must have included the tract as far as
the oases on the northern edge of the desert.
The inscription of the tomb of Darius, Naksh-i-
Rustem, quotes among the nations who were
his subjects the Butiya (Put = Libyans), the
Machiya (Maxyes?), and Kushiya (Cushites or
Ethiopians). Whilst the Persian army was marching west-
crossing it, Darius on his throne, 'and o. dedicatory
inscription.

718

DARIUS

wards along the southern coast of the Mediter
ranean, Megabyzus was moving in the same
direction along the northern shore (B.C. 512).
Perinthus and the cities on the northern shore
of the Propontis were reduced and punished,
and Herodotus says that Darius gave orders for
the reduction of Thrace, which was done. The
Paeonians were also made to submit, and many
other cities of the Greeks on this coast became
subjects of Darius.
Marching on, Megabyzus tried to get the
Macedonians to submit, and they agreed to do
so. The Persian envoys, however, having tried,
in their cups, to outrage the women of the
royal house, were at once cut down. Megabyzus,
finding that they did not return, sent his son
Bubares with a force, but an arrangement was
come to by which the daughter of Amyntas,
king of Macedonia, was given in marriage to
Bubares, and a large sum paid as a kind of com-

DARIUS
pensation. Otanes completed the subjection of
the rebellious Greeks on the south of the straits.
After the expedition across the Danube, Darius
intended to carry his conquests to the west of
Europe, Hellas being the conquest for which
Megabyzus and Otanes were preparing the way.
j To this end, being unable to trust the Greeks
he sent fifteen Persians to examine the coasts of
Greece, accompanied by Democedes, his Greek
physician. Having made a kind of map of the
coast, they went from Hellas to lower Italy ; and
at Tarentum Democedes succeeded in escaping,
and reached Crotana, his native place, whose
inhabitants refused to give him up. The
Persians were afterwards driven to Iapygia,
where they were captured and enslaved, but
were ransomed by Gillus. The main object,
however, was attained, Persians having been
made acquainted with the coast of Greece. In
the expedition which followed, the forces of

Tomb of Darius.

Darius had at first some success, but the army
which he sent was apparently not numerous
enough for such an undertaking as the conquest
of Greece, and the final result was the complete
defeat of the Persians at the battle of Marathon.
Being, however, of opinion that he could subdue
the country, he called out the whole force of his
empire. For three years preparations were
made, at the end of which time a rebellion
occurred in Egypt. Darius only redoubled his
ardour, resolving to reduce both Greece and
Egypt to subjection at the same time. A fresh
complication, however, arose, in a dispute
between his two sons, Ariabignes and Xerxes, as
to which should be his successor. After having
designated the latter as the future king of
Persia, he hastened to set his troops in motion,
but died before anything in the way of conquest
was done either in Egypt or Greece, after a reign
ot thirty-six years, according to Herodotus— a

length of time which the contract-tablets of
Babylonia indicate as being correct-^against the
thirty-one years mentioned by Ctesias (B.C. 484).
The perseverance of Darius had succeeded in
re-establishing and extending the kingdom of
Cyrus. On the W. he had reached Mount
Olympus and the great Syrtis ; on the E. he
had reached the Indus ; on the N, the Caucasus
and Jaxartes ; on the S., Arabia and the negroes
above Nubia. To this vast empire, which
exceeded in extent that of the Assyrians, he set
himself to give a regular administration. Tri
bute came to Persia from every side, and the
Persians were proud of their state and king, the
more especially so that they were not only free
from taxes, but were entitled, at certain periods,
to largess from the king, and were thus re
warded for their help in governing. In ac
cordance with the policy of the Persian kings,
subject nations were not interfered with more

DARIUS
than was necessary, and this explains the
general contentment, not only of Egypt, but
also, after the suppression of the rebellions in
the provinces, of all the other dependants of the
empire. The creation of really good roads, the
formation of posts to and from all parts of the
empire by means of relays of horses and riders,
and the creation of a uniform currency, are
among the acts of Darius's wise reign. The
splendid palace at Persepolis, and the inscription
at Behistun, with its three versions of his
suppression of the revolts in the provinces and
its elaborate sculptures, are probably among
the most noteworthy mementoes of his reign.
During the reign of Darius the Jews prospered
as they had done under Cyrus, whom they had
welcomed as their deliverer, and who had given
them permission to rebuild the Temple at Jeru
salem (Ezra i. 1 sq.). This permission, withdrawn
by Artaxerxes (Ezra iv. 17 sq.), was renewed by
Darius in his second year, B.c 519, when it came
to the king's knowledge that the work had been
resumed by the encouragement of Haggai and
Zechariah (Hag. i. 1, ii. 1, 10; Ezra v. 1 sq.).
The Temple was finished in four years (Ezra vi.
15), though it was apparently used before that
time (Zech. vii. 1). Cp. the English translation
of Duncker, History of Antiquity, vol. vi., and
the translations of the Behistun Inscription in
the Records of the Past (1st edit.), vols. i. aud
vii., and in Weisbach's Achamenideninschriften,
Zweiter Art (Leipzig, 1890). [T. G. P.]

DARKNESS

719

I'ehi.-turi Inscription.

3. Dabitjs the Persian (Neh. xii. 22,
*P")Sn "1) may be identified with Darius 'II.
Nothus (Ochus), king of Persia B.C. 424-3 —
405-4, if the whole passage in question was
written by Nehemiah. If, however, the register
of the Levites as the " recorded chiefs of the
fathers" was continued to a later time, as is
at present the general opinion, the occurrence of
the name Jaddua (ot. 11, 22), who was high-
priest at the time of the invasion of Alexander
[Alexander], points to Darius III. Codomannus,
the antagonist of Alexander, son of Philip. This
ruler, the last king of Persia, was raised to the
throne after the murder of Arses,B.C. 336, and was
overthrown by Alexander, B.C. 330. In 1 Mace.
i- 1, he is called " king of the Persians and the
Medes.'' He was a mild ruler and of excellent
character. Cp. Jahn, Archdol. ii. 1, 272 sq. ; Keil,
Bibl. Comm., 'Chronik . . . Nehemia,' &c, p. 495,
who defends at length the identification with
Nothus. [Nehemiah.] [B. F. W.] [T. G. P.]

4. Darius (HA. Aaplos, T.' -et- ; Arius), a
misreading for Areus, of the Lacedaemonians
(1 Mace. xii. 7. Speaker's Comm. in loc). [F.]
DARKNESS 0|B*n, fem. form H3KTI, and
with much variation in the vowel-points ;
o-k6tos) is spoken of as encompassing the actual
Presence of God, as that out of which He
speaks ; the envelope, as it were, of Divine glory
(Ex. xx. 21 ; 1 Iv. viii. 12). The cloud symbol
of His guidance offered an aspect of darkness to
the enemy as of light to the people of Israel.
In the description of His coming to judgment,
darkness overspreading nature and blotting the
sun, &c, is constantly included (Is. xiii. 9, 10 ;
Joel ii. 31, iii. 15; Matt. xxiv. 29; Mark xiii.
24 ; Luke xxi. 25 ; Rev. vi. 12).
The plague of darkness in Egypt has been
ascribed by various neologistic commentators to
non-miraculous agency, but no sufficient account
of its intense degree, long duration, and limited
area, as proceeding from any physical cause, has
] been given. The darkness iirl iracrav tV ygv
! of Matt, xxvii. 45 attending the Crucifixion has
! been similarly attributed to an eclipse. Phlegon
i of Tralles indeed mentions an eclipse of intense
darkness, and which began at noon, combined,
he says, in Bithynia, with an earthquake, which
in the uncertain state of our chronology (see
Clinton's Fasti Romani, Olymp. 202) more or
less nearly synchronises with the event. Nor
was the account one without reception in the
early Church. See the testimonies to that
effect collected by Whiston (Testimony of
Phlegon vindicated, Lond. 1732). Origen, how
ever, ad loc. (Latin commentary on St. Matt.).
denies the possibility of such a cause, arguing
that by the fixed Paschal reckoning the moon
must have been about full, and denying that
Luke xxiii. 45 by the words ioKoriaBii 6 r)Xios°-
means to allege that fact as the cause. The
genuineness of this commentary has been im
peached, nor is its tenor consistent with Origen
adv. Cels. p. 80 ; but the argument, unless on
such an assumption as that mentioned below,
seems decisive, and has ever since been adhered
to. He limits iratrav T^jy yr)v to Judaea. Dean
Alford (in loco), though without stating his
reason, prefers the wider interpretation of all
the earth's surface on which it would naturally
have been day. That Phlegon's darkness, per
ceived so intense in Tralles and Bithynia, was
felt in Judaea, is highly probable; and the
Evangelist's testimony to similar phenomena of
a coincident darkness and earthquake, taken in
connexion with the near agreement of time,
gives a probability to the supposition that the
former speaks of the same circumstances as the
latter. Wieseler (Chron, Synop. p. 388) however,
and De Wette (Comm. on Matt.), consider the
year of Phlegon's eclipse an impossible one for
the Crucifixion, and reject that explanation of
the darkness (see Edersheim, The Life and Times
of Jesus the Messiah, ii. 603). The argument
from tho duration (3 hours) is also of great
force ; for an eclipse seldom lasts in great in
tensity more than 6 minutes. On the other
hand, Seyffarth (Chronolog. Sacr. p. 58, 9) main
tains that the Jewish calendar, owing to their

» The reading now generally adopted is tou i)Xiov
eicXei'iroi/Tos, R. V. " the sun's light failing." [F.J

720

DARKON

following the sun, had become so far out that
the moon might possibly have been at new ;
and thus, admitting the year as a possible
epoch, revives the argument for the eclipse as
the cause. He however views this rather as a
natural basis than as a full account of the dark
ness, which in its degree at Jerusalem was still
preternatural (ib. p. 138). The pamphlet of
Whiston above quoted, and two by Dr. Sykes,
Dissertation on the Eclipse mentioned by Phlegon,
and Defence of same, Lond. 1733 and 1734, may
be consulted as regards the statement of
Phlegon. Darkness is also, as in the expression " land of
darkness," used for the state of the dead (Job
x. 21, 22) ; and frequently figuratively, for
ignorance and unbelief, as the privation of
spiritual light (John i. 5 ; iii. 19). [H. H.]
DAR'KON (jip*lT; AapKtiv, AopKiiv; Der-
con). Children of Darkon were among the
"servants of Solomon," who returned from
Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 56 ; Neh. vii.
58). [Lozon.] [W. A. W.]
DART. [Arms.]
DATES. A. V. margin of 2 Ch. xxxi. 5
only. [Palm Tree.] In text, A. V. and R. V.
" honey." DA'THAN (|rn, of uncertain etymology,
cp. Ges. Thes. on the one hand, and Olshausen,
Lehrb. d. Heb. Spraclie, §§ 215, 220, on the other ;
AaBdv ; Dathan), a Reubenite chieftain, son of
Eliab, who joined the conspiracy of Kora'h the
Levite (Num. xvi. 1, xxvi. 9 ; Deut. xi. 6 ;
Ps. cvi. 17). [R. W. B.] [F.]
DA'THEMA (T.7 AidBepia; A. and Josephus,
AdBepa ; X. AaBatpd ; Dathemi), a fortress (rb
oxvpupa ; Jos. tppoipiov) in which the Jews of
Gilead took refuge from the heathen (1 Mace. v.
9). Here they were relieved by Judas and
Jonathan (v. 24), who, after the capture of
Bosora, Busrah, made a night march (v. 29 ; cp.
Josephus, Ant. xii. 8, § 3) and reached Dathema
as Timotheus, the heathen general, was ad
vancing to the assault (vv. 30-34). The read
ing of the Peshitto, Ramtha, points to one of
the Ramoths of Gilead, and a suitable site would
be Remtheh, on the Haj road, about 25 miles
W. of Busrah. Ewald however (iv. 359, note)
would correct this to Damtha, which he com
pares with Dhami or Ddineh in the Lejah, but
this place is much too far irom Busrah, and the
same remark applies to Ramoth-Gilead, with
which it has been identified. [G.] [W.]
DAUGHTER (Bath, D3, contr. from n:3,
fem. of [3; BuyaT-hp; filia). 1. The word is
used in Scripture not only for daughter, but for
grand-daughter or other female descendant,
much in the same way and with like extent as
13, son (Gen. xxiv. 48, xxxi. 43). [See Chil
dren; Education; Women.]
2. In a kindred sense the female inhabitants
of a place, a country, or the females of a parti
cular race, are called " daughters " (Gen. vi. 2,
xxvn. 46, xxviii. 6, xxxvi. 2 ; Num. xxv. 1 ;
Deut .xxiii. 17; Is. iii. 16; Jer. xlvi. 11, xlix!
2, 3, 4 ; Luke xxiii. 2s).

DAVID
3. Women in general (Prov. xxxi. 29).
4. Those addicted to particular forms of
idolatrous worship (1 Sam. i. 16 ; Mai. ii. 11).
5. The same notion of descent explains the
phrase " daughters of music," i.e. singino- birds
(Eccles. xii. 4), and the use of the word for
branches of a tree (Gen. xlix. 22), the pupil of
the eye, K6pr\ (Lam, ii. 18 ; Ps. xvii. 8), and the
expression " daughter of ninety years," to denote
the age of Sarah (Gen. xvii. 17).
6. It is also used of cities in general, agree
ably to their very common personification as
belonging to the female sex (Is. x. 32, xxiii. 12
xxxvii. 22, xlvii. 1, Iii. 2 ; Jer. vi. 2, 26, ix. 1
xxxi. 4, xlvi. 11, 24, xlviii. 18, li. 33; Nah. iii!
4, 7 ; Zech. ix. 9 ; Ezek. xvi. 3, 44, 48, xxiii. 4).
7. But more specifically of dependent towns
or hamlets, while to the principal city the co-
relative "mother" is applied (Num. xxi. 25;
Josh. xvii. 11, 16; Judg. i. 27 ; 1 Ch. vii. 28;
2 Sam. xx. 19).
Hazerim is the word most commonly em
ployed for the " villages " lying round, and
dependent on, a " city " (Ir ; TI?). But in one
place Bath is used as if for something inter
mediate, in the case of the Philistine cities
Ekron, Ashdod, and Gaza (Jush. xv. 45-7) 
" her towns [R. V. marg., Heb. daughters'] and
her villages." Without this distinction from
Hazerim, the word is also employed for Philis
tine towns in 1 Ch. xviii. 1 — Gath ; 2 Ch. xxviii.
18 — Shocho, Timnath, and Gimzo. In Neh. xi.
25-31, the two terms are employed alternately,
and to all appearance quite indiscriminately.
[Village.] [H. W. P.]
DA'VID (in, •VV1 = beloved;°- LXX. AavlS;
N. T. AaBiti, Aaveiti), the son of Jesse, is the
best known to us of any of the characters in the
0. T. In his case, as in that of St. Paul in the
N. T., we have the advantage of comparing a
detailed narrative of his life with undoubted
works of his own composition, and the combined
result is a knowledge of his personal character,
such as we probably possess of no historical
personage before the Christian era, with the
exception of Cicero, and perhaps of Caesar.
The authorities for the life of David may be
divided into six classes : —
I. The original Hebrew authorities : —
1. The Davidic portion of the Psalms," in
cluding such fragments as are preserved
to us from other sources, viz. 2 Sam.
a The shorter form is used everywhere in the earlier
Books ; indeed, everywhere except in 1 K. iii. 14, and in
Ch., Ezra, Neh., Cant., Hosea, Amos, Ezek. xxxiv. 22
[cp. Baer in loco, Heb. v. 24], and Zech., in which the
longer form is found. Eenan (" Des Noms Theophores
Apocopes," in BEJ. No. 10 [1882], pp. 168-9) gives its
signification as "le Favori de Lui." The Arabic form
of the name, in common use, is D&ood. [Cp. the name
Dudu, a Canaanitish name found on the tablets of Tel-
el-Amarna (Becords of the Past, N.S. ii. 60, 66).— FJ
*> In quoting the Psalms in connexion with the
history, Dean Stanley was guided partly by the titles (as
expressing the Jewish traditions), partly by the internal
evidence, as verified by the judgment of the Hebrew
scholars of his day (see his flirt, of the Jewish Church,
pref. to Lect. xxii.). Opinions, sometimes agreeing,
sometimes disagreeing with those of the Dean, will be
found in the commentaries of Delitzsch and Perowne,
but not in Cheyne, Origin, tic., of tlie Psalter.—?.

DAVID
i. 19-27, iii. 33, 34, xii. 1-51, xxiii. 1-7.
[Psalms.]
2. The " Chronicles " or " State-papers " of
David (1 Ch. xxvii. 24), and the original
biographies of David by Samuel, Gad, and
Nathan (1 Ch. xxix.' 29). These are
lost, but portions of them no doubt are
preserved in
3. The narrative of 1 Sam. xvi. to 1 K. ii.
10 ; with the supplementary notices con-
tamed in 1 Ch. xi. 1 to xxix. 30.
II. The two slight notices in the heathen his
torians, Nicolaus of Damascus in his Universal
History (Jos. Ant. vii. 5, § 2), and Eupolemus in
his History of the Kings of Judah (Eus. Praep.
Ev. lx. 30).
III. David's apocryphal writings, contained in
Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus V. Test pp. 906-
1006. (1) Ps. cli., on his victory over Goliath.
(2) Colloquies with God, on madness, on his
temptation, and on the building of the Temple.
(3) A charm against fire. Of these the first
alone deserves any attention.
IV. The Jewish traditions, which may be
divided into three classes : —
1. The additions to the Biblical narrative
contained in Josephus, Ant. vi. 8 — vii. 15.
2. The Hebrew traditions preserved in
Jerome's Quaestitmes Hebraicae m Libros
Requrn et Paralipomenon (vol. iii., Venice
ed.).
3. The Rabbinical traditions reported in
Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, lib. v. c. 2 ;
Calmet's Dictionary (David) ; Ham
burger, BE.2 " David."
V The Mussulman traditions, chiefly remark -

DAVID

721

able for their extravagance, are contained in the
Koran, ii. 250-252, xxxviii. 20-24, xxi. 79-82
xxii. 15, and explained in Lane's Selections from
the Koran, pp. 228-242 ; or amplified in Weil's
Legends, Eng. Tr. pp. 152-170.
VI. In modern times his life has been often
treated, both in separate treatises and in his
tories of Israel. Winer's article on David refers
to monographs on almost every point in his life.
In English, a well-known work is Dr. Chandler's
Life, written in the last century; in French,
De Choisi's, and that in Bayle's Dictionary.
A recent and excellent treatment is that
in Ewald's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, iii.
71-257. To these may be added the pages in
Griitz, Gesch. d. Juden, i. ; the Lectures (xxii.-
iv.) in Stanley's Hist, of the Jewish Church ; the
articles and reff. in Herzog's,2 Riehm's, and
Weltzer u. WelteV Dictionaries; C. Kingsley,
David ; W. J. Deane's David, his Life and Times
("Men of the Bible" series); and Edersheim,
Bible History, vol. ii.
His life may be divided into three portions,
more or less corresponding to the three old lost
biographies by Samuel, Gad, and Nathan : —
I. His youth before his introduction to the court of
Saul. II. His relations with Saul. III. His reign.
I. The early life of David contains in many
important respects the antecedents of his future
career. 1. Unlike most of the characters of the Scrip
tures, his family are well known to us by name,
and are not without bearing on his subsequent
career. They may best be seen in the form of a
genealogy.

Bahab = Salmon
(Matt. i 5) or Salman
(Bnth iv. 21,
1 Ch. ii. 11)
I
Boaz =

Elimelech = Naomi (Rath i. 1)

Euth

(2 Sam. xvii. 1

\ Nahash — unknown — J
 I I

Mahlon
(Bnth iv. 10)
Obed (Ruth iv. 17)
3 Jonathan (1 Ch. xxvii. ;

Chilion =

Orpah

Zeruiah Abigail = Jether = Ira??

(1 Ch. ii. 16;
Jm. Ant. vii
10, j 1)

Abishai Joab Asahel

(1 Ch. ii. (Jerome,
17;I<hra. Qti. Btb.
1 Sam.
lvii 25)

Eliab
Elihu
(ICh.

on 1 Ch. xxvii 18)
xi40) |

Shammah
Shimma Shimeah (2 Sam.
xxi 21)

¦A Baddai (Bael,
Jos. Ant.
vi. 8, ^ 1 ;
Bei, Ewald)

I

J .

Zebadiah
(ICh. xxvii 7)

Behoboam
(2 Ch. xi 19)

Jonathan
(2 Sam xxi 21,
ICh. xxvii. 32)?
(Nathan??
Jer. Qu. Beb.
on 1 Sam. xvi 12)

Jonadab (2 Sam.
xiii. 3)

Joel??
(Jerome, Qu. Beb.
on 1 Ch.
xi. 87)

Ozem one DAVID
(Asam, is not
Jos. Ant. given,
vi. 8, tj 1) unless Elihu
(Syr. and
Arab.
1 Ch. ii 15)

It thus appears that David was the youngest
son, probably the youngest child, of a family of
ten. His mother's name is unknown. His
father, Jesse, was of a great age when David
was still young (1 Sam. xvii. 12). His parents
both lived till after his final rupture with Saul
(I Sam. xxii. 3). Through them David inherited
several points which he never lost, (a) His
connexion with Moab through his great-grand
mother Ruth. This he kept up when he escaped
to Moab and entrusted his aged parents to the
care of the king (1 Sam. xxii. 3), and it may not
have been without its use in keeping open a
wider view in his mind and history than if he
had been of purely Jewish descent. Such is
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. l.

probably the design of the express mention of
Ruth in the genealogy in Matt. i. 5.
(b) His birthplace, Bethlehem. His recol
lection of the well of Bethlehem is one of the
most touching incidents of his later life (1 Ch. xi.
17). From the territory of Bethlehem, as from
his own patrimony, he gave a property as a
reward to Chimham, son of Barzillai (2 Sam. xix.
37, 38 ; Jer. xii. 17) ; and it is this connexion of
David with Bethlehem that brought the place
again in later times into universal fame, when
Joseph went up to Bethlehem, " because he was
of the house and lineage of David " (Luke ii. 4).
(c) His general connexion with the tribe of
Judah. In none of the tribes does the tribal
3 A

722

DAVID

feeling appear to have been stronger ; and it
must be borne in mind throughout the story
both of his security amongst the hills of Judah
during his flight from Saul, and of the early
period of his reign at Hebron ; as well as of the
jealousy ofthe tribe at having lost their exclusive
possession of him, which broke out in the revolt
of Absalom.
(d) His relations to Zeruiah and Abigail.
Though called in 1 Ch. ii. 16, sisters of David,
they are not expressly called the daughters of
Jesse ; and Abigail, in 2 Sam. xvii. 25, is called
the daughter of Nahash. Is it too much to
suppose that David's mother had been the wife
or concubine c of Nahash, and then married by
Jesse? This would agree with the difference of
age between David and his sisters, and also (if
Nahash was the same as the king of Ammon)
with the kindnesses which David received first
from Nahash (2 Sam. x. 2), and then from Shobi,
son of Nahash (xvii. 27).
2. As the youngest of the family he may pos
sibly have received from his parents the name,
which first appears in him, of David, the beloved,
the darling. But, perhaps for this same reason,
he was never intimate with his brethren. The
eldest brother, who alone is mentioned in con
nexion with him, and who was afterwards made
by him head of the tribe of Judah (1 Ch. xxvii.
18), treated him scornfully and imperiously
(1 Sam. xvii. 28), as the eldest brothers of large
families are apt to do; his command was re
garded in the family as law (xx. 29) ; and the
father looked upon the youngest son as hardly
one of the family at all (xvi. 11), and as a mere
attendant on the rest (xvii. 17). The familiarity
which he lost with his brothers, he gained with
his nephews. The three sons of his sister Zeruiah,
and the one son of his sister Abigail, seemingly
from the fact that their mothers were the eldest
of the whole family, were probably of the same
age as David himself, and they accordingly were
to him — especially the three sons of Zeruiah —
throughout life in the relation usually occupied
by brothers and cousins. In them we see the
rougher qualities of the family, which David
shared with them, whilst he was distinguished
from them by qualities of his own, peculiar to
himself. The two sons of his brother Shimeah
are both connected with his after-history, and
both celebrated for the gift of sagacity in which
David himself excelled. One was Jouadab, the
friend and adviser of his eldest son Amnon
(2 Sam. xiii. 3). The other was Jonathan
(2 Sam. xxi. 21), who afterwards became the
counsellor of David himself (1 Ch. xxvii. 32).
It is a conjecture or tradition of the Jews pre
served by Jerome (Qu. Heb. on 1 Sam. xvii. 12)
that this was no other than Nathan the prophet,
who, being adopted into Jesse's family, makes up
the eighth son, not named in 1 Ch. ii. 13-15.
But this is hardly probable.

0 The later Rabbis represent him as born in adultery.
This is probably a coarse inference from Ps. li. 6 ; but it
may possibly have reference to & tradition of the above.
On the other hand, In the earlier Babbie we have an
attempt at " immaculate conception." They make
Nahash — "the serpent" — to be another name of Jesse,
because he had no sin except that which he contracted
from the original Berpent ; and thus David inherited
none (Jerome, Qu. Eeb. in 2 Sam. xvii. 25).

DAVDD
The first time that David appears in history
at once admits us to the whole family circle.
There was a practice once a year at Bethlehem,
probably at the first new moon of the year, of
holding a sacrificial feast, at which Jesse, as the
chief proprietor of the place, would preside
(1 Sam. xx. 6), with the elders of the town.
At this or such like feast (xvi. I) suddenly
appeared the great prophet Samuel, driving a
heifer before him, and having in his hand a horn
of the consecrated oil a of the Tabernacle. The
elders of the little town were terrified at this
apparition, but were reassured by the august
visitor, and invited by him to the ceremony of
sacrificing the heifer. The heifer was killed.
The party were waiting to begin the feast.
Samuel stood with his horn to pour forth the
oil, as if for an invitation to begin (cp. ix. 22).
He was restrained by Divine intimation as son
after son passed by. Eliab, the eldest, by " his
height " and " his countenance," seemed the
natural counterpart of Saul, whose rival, un
known to them, the prophet came to select.
But the day was gone when kings were chosen
because they were head and shoulders taller
than the rest. " Samuel said unto Jesse, Are
these all thy children ? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and behold he
keepeth the sheep."
This is our first and most characteristic intro
duction to the future king. The boy was brought
in. We are enabled to fix his appearance at once
in our minds. He was of short stature, thus
contrasting with his tall brother Eliab, with his
rival Saul, and with his gigantic enemy of Gath.
He had red " or auburn hair, such as is not un
frequently seen in his countrymen of the East
at the present day. In later life he wore a
beard/ His bright eyes8 are especially men
tioned (xvi. 12), and generally he was remarkable
for the grace of his figure and countenance (" fair
of eyes," " comely," " goodly," xvi. 12, 18, xvii.
42), well made, and of immense strength and
agility. His swiftness and activity made him
(like his nephew Asahel) like a wild gazelle, his
feet like harts' feet, and his arms strong enough
to break a bow of steel (Ps. xviii. 33, 34).
He was pursuing the occupation — that of the
shepherd — allotted in Eastern countries usually
to the slaves, the females, or the despised of
the family (cp. the case of Moses, of Jacob, of
Zipporah, and Rachel, and, in later times, of
Mahomet; Sprenger, p. 8). The pastures of
Bethlehem are famous throughout the sacred
history. The Tower of Shepherds (Gen. xxxv.
21. Cp. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus
tlie Messiah, i. 186), the shepherds abiding with
their flocks by night (Luke ii.), were both there.
He usually carried a switch or wand h iu his hand
(1 Sam. xvii. 40), such as would be used for his
dogs (xvii. 43), and a scrip or wallet round his
d " The oil ; " so Joseph. Ant. vi. 8, } 1.
« 1 Sam. xvi. 12, xvii. 42. Ruddy = red-haired ;
mippaicr/s, LXX. j rufus, Vulg. : the same word as for
Esau, Gen. xxv. 26. The Rabbis (probably from this)
say that he was like Esau. Josephus (Ant, vi. 8, 1)
makes it his tawny complexion (£cw0bs tJjc xpo<w)-
I 1 Sam. xxi. 13.
s " Fierce, quick j " •yooybt ™s 6ifiei; (Joseph. Ant.
vi. 8, fl).
h The same word as is used in Gen. xxx. 37, Jer.
i. H, Hos. iv. 12.

DAVID
neck, to carry anything that was needed for his
shepherd's life (xvii. 40). Such was the outer
life of David when (as the later Psalmists
described his call) he was " taken from the
sheepfolds, from following the ewes great with
young, to feed Israel according to the integrity
of his heart, and to guide them by the skilful-
ness of his hands" (Ps. Ixxviii. 70-72). The
recollection ' of the sudden and great elevation
from this humble station is deeply impressed
on his after-life. " The man who was raised up
on high " (2 Sam. xxiii. 1) — " I have exalted one
chosen out of the people " (Ps. lxxxix. 19) — "I
took thee from the sheepcote " (2 Sam. vii. 8).
3. But there was another preparation still
more needed for his office, which possibly had
made him already known to Samuel, and which
at any rate is his next introduction to the history.
When the body-guard of Saul were discussing
with their master where the best minstrel could
be found to chase away his madness by music,
one of the young men in the guard suggested
David. Saul, with the absolute control inherent
in the idea of an Oriental king, instantly sent
for him, and in the successful effort of David's
harp we have the first glimpse into that genius
for music and poetry which was afterwards
consecrated in the Psalms. It is impossible not
to connect the early display of this gift with the
schools of the prophets, who exercised their
vocation with tabret, psaltery, pipe, and harp
(1 Sam. x. 5), in the pastures (Naioth ; cp. Ps.
xxiii. 2), to which he afterwards returned as to
his natural home (1 Sam. xix. 18)."
Whether any of the existing Psalms can be
referred to this epoch of David's life is uncertain.
The 23rd, from its subject of the shepherd, and
from its extreme simplicity (though placed by
Ewald somewhat later), may well have been
suggested by this time. The 8th, 19th, and
29th,'which are universally recognised as David's,
describe the phenomena of nature, and as such
may more naturally be referred to this tranquil
period of his life than to any other. The imagery
of danger from wild beasts, lions, wild bulls, &c.
(Ps. vii. 2 ; xxii. 20, 21), must be reminiscences
of this time. And now, at any rate, he must
have first acquired the art which gave him one
of his chief claims to mention in after-times —
" the sweet singer of Israel " (2 Sam. xxiii. 1),
" the inventor of instruments of music " (Amos
vi. 5) ; " with his whole heart he sung songs and
loved him that made him " (Ecclus. xlvii. 8).™
4. One incident alone of his solitary shepherd
life has come down to us — his conflict with the
lion and the bear in defence of his father's flocks
(1 Sam. xvii. 34, 35). But it did not stand

DAVID

723

1 It is useless to speculate on the extent to which his
mission was known to himself or to others. Josephus
{Ant. vi. 8, i 1) says that Samuel whispered it into his
i'ar. k The Mussulman traditions represent him as skilled
in making haircloth and sackcloth — the usual occupa
tions of the prophets.
1 The Mussulman traditions describe him as under
standing the language of birds (.Koran, xxi. 9, xxii. 16).
70 In Mussulman traditions, as Abraham is called
"the Friend," and Mohammed " the Apostle," so David
is "the Prophet of God." In Weil's Legends, p. 157, is
» striking Oriental description of his powers as a
psalmist: "He could imitate the thunders of heaven,
the roar of the lion, the notes of the nightingale."

alone. He was already known to Saul's guards
for his martial exploits, probably against the
Philistines (xvi. 18); and when he suddenly
appeared in the camp, his elder brother im
mediately guessed that he had left the sheep in
his ardour to see the battle (xvii. 28). To
this new aspect of his character we are next
introduced. There is no perfectly satisfactory means of
reconciling the apparently contradictory accounts
in 1 Sam. xvi. 14-23 and xvii. 12-31, 55-58.
The first states that David was. made known to
Saul and became his armour-bearer in con
sequence of the charm of his music in assuaging
the king's melancholy. The second implies that
David was still a shepherd with his father's
flocks, and unknown to Saul. The Vatican MS.
of the LXX., followed by Kennicott (who
argues the question at length, Dissertation on
Hebrew Text, pp. 418-432, 554-558), rejects
the narrative in 1 Sam. xvii. 12-31, 55-58, as
spurious. But the internal evidence from its
graphic touches is much in its favour, and it
must at least be accepted as an ancient tradition
of David's life. Horsley, but with no external
authority, transposes 1 Sam. xvi. 14-23. An
other explanation supposes that Saul had for
gotten him. But this only solves half the
difficulty, and is evidently not the intention of
the narrative. It may therefore be accepted as
an independent statement of David's first ap
pearance, modified by the counter-statement
already noticed.11
The scene of the battle is at Ephes-dammim",
in the frontier-hills of Judah, called probably
from this or similar encounters " the bound of
blood." Saul's army is encamped on one side of
the ravine, the Philistines on the other; the
watercourse of Elah or " the Terebinth " runs
between them." A Philistine of gigantic stature,
and clothed in complete armour, insults the
comparatively defenceless Israelites, amongst
whom the king alone appears to be well armed

. n The solution of the question cannot be said to have
been much advanced since this paragraph was written.
The contradictions are to some very real (cp. Wellhausen,
Proleg. to the Eist. of Israel, p. 262 sq. ; Stade, Gesch.
d. 7. Israel, i. p. 224, &c); to others they are but
apparently real or quite capable of adjustment (cp.
Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, i. 415 sq. ; the Speaker's Comm.
on 1 Sam. xvi. 21, and the suppl. passage to the art.
" David " in the Amer. ed. of this work !). — F.
o Variations in the common account are suggested by
two other passages. 1. In 2 Sam. xxi. 19, it is stated
that " Goliath of Gath, the staff of whose spear was like
a weaver's beam," was killed (not by David, but) by
Elhanan of Bethlehem. This, combined with the fact
that the Philistine whom David slew is usually nameless,
has suggested to Ewald (ii. 23, 611) the conjecture
that the name of Goliath (which is only given twice
to David's enemy, 1 Sam. xvii. 4, xxi. 9) was borrowed
from the conflict of the real Goliath with Elhanan,
whose Bethlehemite origin has led to the confusion. To
Wellhausen, Stade, and others, the whole account is
legendary. Jerome (Qu. Eeb. ad loc.) makes Elhanan tbe
same as David. 2. In 1 Ch. xi. 12, Eleazar (or more
probably Shammah, 2 Sam. xxiii. 11) is said to have
fought with David at Ephes-dammim against the Philis
tines. It is of course possible that the same scene may
have witnessed two encounters between Israel and the
Philistines ; but it may also indicate tbat David's first
acquaintance with Eleazar, afterwards one of his chief
captains, was made on this memorable occasion.
" 3 A 2

724

DAVID

(xvii. 38 ; cp. xiii. 20). No one can be found to
take up the challenge. At this juncture David
appears in the camp, sent by his father with ten
loaves and ten slices of milk-cheese to his three
eldest brothers, fresh from the sheepfolds. Just
as he comes to the circle of waggons which
formed, as in Arab settlements, a rude fortifica
tion round the Israelite camp (xvii. 20), he
hears the well-known shout of the Israelite war-
cry (cp. Num. xxiii. 21). The martial spirit of
the boy is stirred at the sound ; he leaves his
provisions with the baggage-master, and darts
to join his brothers (like one of the royal
messengers5) into the midst of the lines.' Then
he hears the challenge, now made for the
fortieth time — sees the dismay of h;" country
men — hears the reward proposed by une king —
goes with the impetuosity of youth from soldier
to soldier talking of the event, in spite of his
brother's rebuke — is introduced to Saul — and
undertakes the combat. His victory over the
gigantic Philistine is rendered more conspicuous
by his own diminutive stature, and by the
simple weapons with which it was accomplished
— not the armour of Saul, which he naturally
found too large, but the shepherd's sling, which
he always carried with him, and the five polished
pebbles which he picked up as he went from the
watercourse of the valley, and put in his
shepherd's wallet.' Two trophies long remained
of the battles-one, the huge sword of the
Philistine, which was hung up behind the ephod
in the Tabernacle at Nob (1 Sam. xxi. 9) ; the
other, the head, which he bore away himself,
and which was either laid up at Nob, or sub
sequently at Jerusalem. [Nob.] Ps. cxliv.,
though by its contents of a much later date, is
by the title in the LXX. "against Goliath."
But there is also a psalm, preserved in the LXX.
at the end of the Psalter, and which, though
probably a mere adaptation from the history,
well sums up this early period of his life :
" This is the psalm of David's own writing (?)
(ttit6ypaipos eh Aaulti), and outside the number,
when he fought the single combat with Goliath."
"I was small amongst my brethren, and the
youngest in my father's house. I was feeding
my father's sheep. My hands made a harp, and
my fingers fitted a psaltery. And who shall tell
it to my Lord ? He is the Lord, He heareth.
He sent His messenger (angel?) and took me
from my father's flocks, and anointed me with
the oil of His anointing. My brethren were
beautiful and tall, but the Lord was not well
pleased with them. I went out to meet the
Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. But
I drew his own sword and beheaded him, and
took away the reproach from the children of
Israel." a
II. Relations with Saul. — We now enter on a
new aspect of David's life. The victory over
Goliath had been a turning-point of his career.
Saul inquired his parentage, and took him finally
to his court. Jonathan was inspired by the

P The same word is used as in 1 Sam. xxii. 17.
i Ab In 1 Sam. iv. 16, 2 Sam. xviii. 22.
* For the Mussulman legend, see Weil's Legends,
p. 153.
H Of these and of like songs, Bunsen (Bibelwm-Tc, Pref.
p. cl.) interprets the expression in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, not
"the sweet stager of Israel," but "the darling of the
songs of Israel." [Ho Is not followed by modern critics.]

DAVID
romantic friendship which bound the two youths
together to the end of their lives. The trium
phant songs' of the Israelitish women announced
that they felt that in David Israel had now
found a deliverer mightier even than Saul.
And in those songs, and in the fame which David
thus acquired, was laid the foundation of that
unhappy jealousy of Saul towards him Which,
mingling with the king's constitutional malady,
poisoned his whole future relations to David.
Three new qualities now began to develop
themselves in David's character. The first was
his prudence. It had been already glanced at
on the first mention of him to Saul (1 Sam. xvi.
18), " prudent in matters." But it was the
marked feature of the beginning of his public
career. Thrice over it is emphatically said,
"he behaved himself wisely," and evidently
with the impression that it was the wisdom
called forth by the necessities of his delicate and
difficult situation. It was that peculiar Jewish
caution which has been compared to the sagacity
of a hunted animal, such as is remarked in
Jacob, and afterwards in the persecuted Israel
ites of the Middle Ages. One instance of it
appears immediately, in his answer to the trap
laid for him by Saul's servants, " Seemeth it to
you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law,
seeing that I am a poor man and lightly es
teemed ? " (xviii. 23.) Secondly, we now see
his magnanimous forbearance called forth, in
the first instance, towards Saul, but displaying
itself (with a few painful exceptions) in the rest
of his life. He is the first example of the virtue
of chivalry. Thirdly, his hairbreadth escapes,
continued through so many years, impressed
upon him a sense of dependence on the Divine
help, clearly derived from this epoch. His
usual oath or asseveration in later times was,
" As the Lord liveth, Who hath redeemed my
soul out of adversity " (2 Sam. iv. 9 ; 1 K. i.
29) ; and the Psalms are filled with imagery
taken even literally from shelter against pur
suers, slipping down precipices (Ps. xviii. 36),
hiding-places in rocks and caves, leafy coverts
(xxxi. 20), strong fastnesses (xviii. 2).
This course of life subdivides itself into four
portions : —
1. His life at the court of Saul till his final
escape (1 Sam. xviii. 2-xix. 18). His ofiice is
not exactly defined. But it would seem that,
having been first armour-bearer (xvi. 21, xviii.
2), then made captain over a thousand — the
subdivision of a tribe (xviii. 13) — he finally, on
his marriage with Michal, the king's second
daughter, was raised to the high office of captain
of the king's body-guard," second only, if not
equal, to Abner, the captain of the host, and
Jonathan, the heir apparent. These three
formed the usual companions of the king at his
meals (xx. 25). David was now chiefly known
for his successful exploits against the Philistines,
by one of which he won his wife, and drove
back the Philistine power with a blow from
which it only rallied at the disastrous close of
Saul's reign.1 He also still performed from time

' See Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. V. T. p. 906.
« 1 Sam. xx. 26, xxii. 14, as explained by Ewald,
iii. 98.
» The Btory of his wooing Merab, and of her marriage
with Adriel (1 Sam. xviii. 17-19), is omitted in LXX.

DAVID
to time the office of minstrel. But the suc
cessive snares laid by Saul to entrap him, and
the open violence into which the king's madness
twice broke out,1' at last convinced him that his
life was no longer safe. He had two faithful
allies, however, in the court — the son of Saul,
his friend Jonathan ; the daughter of Saul, his
wife Michal. Warned by the one, and assisted
by the other, he escaped by night,* and was
from thenceforward a fugitive. Jonathan he
never saw again except by stealth. Michal was
given in marriage to another (Phaltiel), and
he saw her no more till long after her father's
death [Michal]. To this escape the traditional
title assigns Ps. lix. Internal evidence (ac
cording to Ewald) gives Pss. vi.* and vii. to this
period. In the former he is first beginning to
contemplate the necessity of flight ; in the
latter he is moved by the plots of a person not
named in the history (perhaps those alluded to
in 1 Ch. xii. 17) — according to the title of the
Psalm, Cush, a Benjamite, and therefore of
Saul's tribe.
2. His escape (1 Sam. xix. 18-xxi. 15). He
first fled to Naioth (or the pastures) of
Ramah, to Samuel. This is the first recorded
occasion of his meeting with Samuel since the
original interview during his boyhood at Beth
lehem. It might almost seem as if »he had
intended to devote himself with his musical and
poetical gifts to the prophetical office, and give
up the cares and dangers of public life. But he
had a higher destiny still. Dp to this time
both the ting and he himself had thought that
a rennion was possible (see xx. 5, 26). But
the madness of Saul now became more settled
and ferocious in character ; and David's danger
proportionably greater. The secret interview
with Jonathan, of which the recollection was
probably handed down through Jonathan's de
scendants when they came to David's court,
confirmed the alarm already excited by Saul's
endeavour to seize him at Ramah, and he now
determined to leave his country, and take refuge,
like Coriolanus, or Themistocles in like circum
stances, in the court of his enemy. Before this
last resolve, he visited Nob, the seat of the
Tabernacle, partly to obtain a final interview
with the high-priest (1 Sam. xxii. 9, 15), partly
to obtain food and weapons. On the pretext of
a secret mission" from Saul, he gained an answer
from the oracle, some of the consecrated loaves,
and the dedicated sword of Goliath. "There
is none like that : give it me." The incident
was of double importance in David's career.

DAVID

725

and Josephns (Ant. vi. 10, $ 1). The obliteration of
her name in the existing text of 2 Sam. xxi. 8 is con
sidered a lapsus calami (Driver, in loco).
' The first of these (1 Sam. xviii. 9-11) is omitted
in the Vatican MS. of the LXX. and Josephus (Ant. vi.
W, }1).
' For the Mussulman legend, see Weil's Legends,
p. 154.
* The allusions to his danger from the Benjamite
archers (Ps. xi. 2), to his flight like a bird to the
mountains (xi. 1, cp. 1 Sam. xxvi. 20), and probably to
tbe neighbourhood of the Dead Sea (xi. 6), rather point
to the time when he was at Engedi.
b The statement of his pretended mission is differently
given in the Hebrew and in the LXX. It must be
observed that the young men spoken of as his com
panions were imaginary. He was quite alone.

First it established a connexion between him
and the only survivor from the massacre in
which David's visit involved the house of
Ahimelech. Secondly, from Ahimelech's sur
render of the consecrated bread to David's
hunger our Lord drew the inference of the
superiority of the moral to the ceremonial law,
which is the only allusion made to David's life
in the N. T.° (Matt. xii. 3 ; Mark ii. 25 ; Luke vi.
3, 4). It is also commemorated by the tra
ditional title of Ps. Hi.
His stay at the court of Achish was short.
Discovered possibly by " the sword of Goliath,"
his presence revived the national enmity of the
Philistines against their former conqueror ; and
he only escaped by feigning madness," violent
gestures, playing on the gates of the city, or on
a drum or cymbal, letting his beard grow, and
foaming at the mouth (1 Sam. xxi. 13, LXX.).
The 56th and 34th Psalms are both referred by
their titles to this event, and the titles state
(what does not appear in the narrative) that he
had been seized as a prisoner by the Philistines,
and that he was, in consequence of this strata
gem, set free by Achish, or (as he is twice
called) Abirnelech.
3. His life as an independent outlaw (xxii.
1-xxvi. 25). (a) His first retreat was the
cave of Adullam. There he was joined by his
whole family, now feeling themselves insecure
from Saul's fury (xxii. 1). This was probably
the foundation of his intimate connexion with
his nephews, the sons of Zeruiah.
Of these, Abishai, with two other companions,
was amongst the earliest (1 Ch. xi. 15, 20;
1 Sam. xxvi. 6 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 13, 18). Besides
these, were outlaws and debtors from every
part, including doubtless some of the original
Canaanites — of whom the name of one at least
has been preserved, Ahimelech the Hittite
(1 Sam. xxvi. 6).°
(6) His next move was to a stronghold, either
the mountain, afterwards called Herodium, close
to Adullam, or the fastness called by Josephus
(B. J. vii. 8, § 3) Masada, the Grecised form of
the Hebrew word Matzed (E.V. " hold," 1 Sam.
xxii. 4, 5 ; 1 Ch. xii. 16), in the neighbourhood
of En-gedi. Whilst there, he had deposited his
aged parents for the sake of greater security,
beyond the Jordan, with their ancestral kins
man of Moab (ib. 3). The neighbouring king,
Nahash of Ammon, also treated him kindly
(2 Sam. x. 2). Here another companion appears
for the first time, a schoolfellow, if we may use
the word, from the schools of Samuel, the
prophet Gad, his subsequent biographer (1 Sam.
xxii. 5) ; and whilst he was there, occurred the
chivalrous exploit ofthe three heroes mentioned
above (a) to procure water from the well of
Bethlehem, and David's chivalrous answer
(1 Ch. xi. 16-19; 2 Sam. xxiii. 14-17), like
that of Alexander in the desert of Gedrosia. He
was joined here by two separate bands. One a

¦= It is a characteristic Jewish comment (as distin
guished from the lesson drawn by Christ) that the bread
was useless to him (Jerome, Qu. Eeb. in loc).
d This is the subject of one of David's apocryphal
colloquies (Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. V. Test. p. 1002).
o Sibbechai, who kills the giant at Gob (2 Sam.
xxi. 18), is said by Josephus to have been a Hittite.

726

DAVID

little body of eleven fierce Gadite ' mountaineers,
who -swam the Jordan in flood-time to reach
him (1 Ch. xii. 8). Another was a detachment
of men from Judah and Benjamin under his
nephew Amasai, who henceforth attached him
self to David's fortunes (1 Ch. xii. 16-18).
(c) At the warning of Gad, he fled next to
the forest of Haeeth, and then again fell in
with the Philistines, and again, apparently
advised by Gad (xxiii. 4), made a descent on
their foraging parties, and relieved Keilah, in
which he took up his abode. Whilst there, now
for the first time, in a fortified town of his own
(xxiii. 7), he was joined by a new and most im
portant ally — -Abiathar, the last survivor of the
house of Ithamar, who came with the high-
priest's ephod, and henceforth gave the oracles,
which David had hitherto received from Gad
(xxiii. 6, 9 ; xxii. 23). By this time, the 400
who had joined him at Adullam (xxii. 2) had
swelled to 600 (xxiii. 13).
(d) The situation of David was now changed
by the appearance of Saul himself on the scene.
Apparently the danger was too great for the
little army to keep together. They escaped
from Keilah, and dispersed, " whithersoever they
could go," amongst the fastnesses of Judah.
Henceforth it becomes difficult to follow his
movements with exactness, partly from igno
rance of the localities, partly because the same
event seems to be twice narrated (1 Sam. xxiii.
19-24, xxvi. 1—4, and perhaps 1 Sam. xxiv.
1-22, xxvi. 5-25). But thus much we discern.
He is in the wilderness of Ziph. Once (or twice)
the Ziphites betray his movements to Saul.
From thence Saul literally hunts him like a
partridge, the treacherous Ziphites beating the
bushes before him, and 3000 men being stationed
to catch even the print of his footsteps on the
hills (1 Sam. xxiii. 14, 22 [Heb.], 24 [LXX.] ;
xxiv. 11 ; xxvi. 2, 20). David finds himself
driven to the extreme south of Judah, in the
wilderness of Maon. On two, if not three
occasions, the pursuer and pursued catch sight
of each other. Of the first of these escapes, the
memory was long preserved in the name of the
" Cliff of Divisions " [or, escape, R. V. marg.],
given to the cliff down one side of which David
climbed, whilst Saul was surrounding the hill
on the other side (xxiii. 25-29), and was
suddenly called away by a panic of a Philistine
invasion. On another occasion, David took
i-efuge in a cave " by the spring of the wild
goats" (Engedi), immediately above the Dead
Sea (1 Sam. xxiv. 1, 2). The rocks were
covered with the pursuers. Saul entered, as is
the custom in Oriental countries, for a natural
necessity. The followers of David, seated in the
dark recesses of the cave, seeing, yet not seen,
suggest to him the chance thus thrown in their
way. David, with a characteristic mixture of
humour and generosity, descends and silently
cuts off the skirt of the long robe, spread, as is
usual in the East on such occasions, before and
behind the person so occupied — and then ensued
the pathetic scene of remonstrance and for-

' Gad, as Jerome's Jewish commentators observe (Qu.
Eab. in loc), appears suddenly, without introduction,
like Elijah. Is it possible that he, like Elijah, may have
been from beyond the Jordan, and had come, as his name
implies, with the eleven Gaditcs ?

DAVID
giveness (xxiv. 8-22).* The third (if it can be
distinguished from the one just given) was in
the wilderness further south. There was a
regular camp, formed with its usual fortifica
tion of waggon and baggage. Into this en
closure David penetrated by night, and carried
off the cruse of water, and the well-known royal
spear of Saul, which had twice so nearly trans
fixed him to the wall in former days (xxvi. 7,
11, 22). [Arms, p. 238, Chanith.] The same
scene is repeated as at Engedi — and this is the
last interview between Saul and David (xxvi.
25). He had already parted with Jonathan in
the forest of Ziph (xxiii. 18).
To- this period are annexed by their traditional
titles Psalm liv. (" When the Ziphim came and
said, Doth not David hide himself with us?");
lvii. (" When he fled from Saul in the cave,"
though this may refer also to Adullam); lxiii.
(" When he was in the wilderness of Judah " [or
Idumaea, LXX.]) ; cxiii. (" A prayer when he
was in the cave "). It is probably these Psalms
which made the Psalter so dear to Alfred and to
Wallace during their like wanderings.
Whilst he was in the wilderness of Maon
occurred David's adventure with Nabal, in
structive as showing his mode of carrying on
his fugitive life, and his marriage with Abigail.
His marriage with Ahinoam from Jezreel,11 also
in the same neighbourhood (Josh. xv. 56), seems
to have taken place a short time before (1 Sam.
xxv. 43, xxvii. 3 ; 2 Sam. iii. 2).
4. His service under Achish1 (1 Sam. xxvii. 1;
2 Sam., i. 27). Wearied with his wandering
life, he at last crosses the Philistine frontier, not
as before, in the capacity of a fugitive, but the
chief of a powerful band — his 600 men now
grown into an organised force, with their wives
and families around them (xxvii. 3, 4). After
the manner of Eastern potentates, Achish gave
him, for his support, a city — Ziklag on the
frontier of Philistia — and it was long re
membered that to this curious arrangement the
kings of Judah owed this appanage of their
dynasty (xxvii. 6). There we meet with the
first note of time in David's life. He was settled
there for a year (R. V. " full year ") k and four
months (xxvii. 7), and his increasing importance
is indicated by the fact that a body of Benjamite
archers and slingers, twenty-two of whom are
specially named, joined him from the very tribe
of his rival (1 Ch. xii. 1-7). Possibly during
this stay he may have acquired the knowledge
of military organization in which the Philis
tines surpassed the Israelites, and in which he
surpassed all the preceding rulers of Israel.
He deceived Achish into confidence by attack
ing the old Nomadic inhabitants of the desert
frontier, and representing the plunder to be of
portions of the southern tribes or the Nomadic
allied tribes of Israel. But this confidence was

s For the Mussulman legend, see Weil, p. 156.
h Joseph. Ant. vi. 13, $ 8, calls it Abessar.
1 According to the Jewish tradition (Jerome, Qu. Eeb.
on 2 Sam. viii. 10), he was the son of the former Achish;
his mother's name Maacah.
* In the Vatican MS. of the LXX. this is reduced to
"4 months," and by Josephus (Ant. vi. 13) to "i months
and 20 days." The Alexandrine MS. of the LXX. is a
literal rendering of the Hebrew and is more correct (see
notes on this passage in Keil, Speaker's Comm., and
Driver).— F.

DAVID
not shared by the Philistine nobles ; and ac
cordingly David was sent back by Achish from
the last victorious campaign against Saul. In
this manner David escaped the difficulty of
being present at the battle of Gilboa, but found
that during his absence the Bedouin Amalekites,
whom he had plundered during the previous
year, had made a descent upon Ziklag, burnt it
to the ground, and carried off the wives and
children of the new settlement. A wild scene
of frantic grief and recrimination ensued
between David and his followers. It was calmed
by an oracle of assurance from Abiathar. It
happened that an important accession had just
been made to his force. On his march with the
Philistines northward to Gilboa, he had been
joined by some chiefs of the Manassites, through
whose territory he was passing. Urgent as
mast have been the need for them at home, yet
David's fascination carried them off, and they
now assisted him against the plunderers (1 Ch.
xii. 19-21). They overtook the invaders iu the
desert, and recovered the spoil. These were the
gifts with which David was now able for the
first time to requite the friendly inhabitants of
the scene of his wanderings (1 Sam. xxx. 26-31).
A more lasting memorial was the law which
traced its origin to the arrangement made by
him, formerly in the attack on Nabal, but now
again, more completely, for the eqnal division
of the plunder amongst the two-thirds who
followed to the field, and one-third who re
mained to guard the baggage (1 Sam. xxx. 25,
sxv. 13). Two days after this victory a
Bedouin arrived from the North with the fatal
news of the defeat of Gilboa. The reception of
the tidings of the death of his rival and of his
friend, the solemn mourning, the vent of his
indignation against the bearer of the message,
the pathetic lamentation that followed, well
close the second period of David's life (2 Sam. i.
1-27). III. David's reign.
(I.) As king of Judah at Hebron, 7£ years
(2 Sam. ii. 11 ; 2 Sam. ii. 1-v. 5).
Hebron was selected, doubtless, as the ancient
sacred city of the tribe of Judah, the burial-
place of the patriarchs and the inheritance of
Caleb. Here David was first formally anointed
king — by whom is not stated — but the ex
pression seems to limit the inauguration to the
tribe of Judah, and therefore to exclude any
intervention of Abiathar (2 Sam. ii. 4). To
Judah his dominion was nominally confined.
But probably for the first five years of the time
the dominion of the house of Saul, whose seat
was now at Mahanaim, did not extend to the
west of the Jordan ; and consequently David
would be the only Israelite potentate amongst
the western tribes. Gradually his power in
creased; and during the two years which
followed the elevation of Ishbosheth, a series of
skirmishes took place between the two kingdoms.
First came a successful inroad into the territory
of Ishbosheth (2 Sam. ii. 28). Next occurred
the defection of Abner (2 Sam. iii. 12), and the
surrender of Michal, who was now separated
from her second husband to return to her first
(2 Sam. iii. 15). Then rapidly followed, though
without David's consent, the successive murders
of Abner and of Ishbosheth (2 Sam. iii. 30,

DAVID

727

iv. 5). The throne, so long waiting for him,
was now vacant, and the united voice of the
whole people at once called him to occupy it.
A solemn league was made between him and his
people (2 Sam. v. 3). For the third time
David was anointed king, and a festival of three
days celebrated the joyful event (1 Ch. xii. 39).
His little band had now swelled into " a great
host, like the host of God " (1 Ch. xii. 22). The
command of it, which had formerly rested on
David alone, he now devolved on his nephew
Joab (2 Sam. ii. 28). It was formed by con
tingents from every tribe of Israel. Two are
specially mentioned as bringing a weight of
authority above the others. The sons of
Issachar had "understanding of the times to
know what Israel ought to do," and with the
adjacent tribes contributed to the common feast
the peculiar products of their rich territory
(1 Ch. xii. 32, 40). The Levitical tribe, for
merly represented in David's following only by
the solitary fugitive Abiathar, now came in
strength, represented by the head of the rival
branch of Eleazar, the high-priest, the aged
Jehoiada and his youthful and warlike kinsman
Zadok (1 Ch. xii. 27, 28 ; xxvii. 5).
The only Psalm directly referred to this epoch
is the 27th (by its title in the LXX, Xlpb tov
Xpto-Bfivai — " before the anointing," i.e. at
Hebron). Underneath this show of outward prosperity,
two cankers, incident to the royal state which
David now assumed, had first made themselves
apparent at Hebron, which darkened all the rest
of his career. The first was the formation of a
harem, according to the usage of Oriental kings.
To the two wives of his wandering life he had
now added four, and, including Michal, five
(2 Sam. ii. 2 ; iii. 2-5, 15). The second was
the increasing power of his kinsmen and chief
officers, which the king strove to restrain within
the limits of right ; and thus of all the incidents
of this part of his career the most plaintive and
characteristic is his lamentation over his power-
lessness to prevent the murder of Abner (2 Sam.
iii. 31-36).
(II.) Reign over all Israel 33 years (2 Sam. v. 5
to .1 K. ii. 11).
1. The foundation of Jerusalem. It must
have been with no ordinary interest that the
surrounding nations watched for the prey on
which the Lion of Judah, now about to issue
from his native lair, and establish himself in a
new home, would make his first spring. One
fastness alone in the centre of the land had
hitherto defied the arms of Israel. On this, with
a singular prescience, David fixed as his future
capital. By one sudden assault Jebus was taken,
and became henceforth known by its ancient name
of Jerusalem (called in the tablets of Tel-el-Amarna
[15th cent. B.C.] "Urusalim"; see Records of
the Past, N.S., iv. p. vi.) and by the name of
Zion. Of all the cities of Palestine great in
former ages, Jerusalem alone has vindicated by
its long permanence the choice of its founder.
The importance of the capture was marked at
the time. The reward bestowed on the successful
scaler of the precipice, was the highest place in
the army. Joab henceforward became captain
of the host (1 Ch. xi. 6). The royal residence
was instantly fixed there — fortifications were
added by the king and by Joab — and it was

728

DAVID

1 The importance of the victory is indicated by the
(probable) allusion to it in Is. xxviii. 21.
m 1 Ch. xiv. 8 reads, " David. . .went outagainst (K.V.
marg. before) them," instead of "David... went down
into the hold " (2 Sam. v. 17).
n Eupolemus (Eus. Praep. Ev. ix. 30) mentions an
expedition against Hiram, king of Tyre and Sidon, and a
letter to Vafres, king of Egypt, to make an alliance.
0 1 Ch. xvi. 1 says, " they offered ; " 2 Sam. vi. 17,
" he offered." Both say, " he blessed." The LXX., by
a slight variation of the text, readB in 2 Sam. vi. 14,
"instruments of praise," for " all his might ; " cp. 2 Ch.
xxx. 21, LXX. and QPB.'

known by the special name of the " city of
David " (1 Ch. xi. 7 ; 2 Sam. v. 9).
The neighbouring nations were partly enraged
and partly awestruck. The Philistines' made
two ineffectual attacks on the new king (2 Sam.
v. 17-20),m and a retribution on their former
victories took place by the capture and confla
gration of their own idols (1 Ch. xiv. 12).
Tyre, now for the first time appearing in the
sacred history, allied herself with Israel; and
Hiram " sent cedar-wood for the buildings of the
new capital (2 Sam. v. 11), especially for the
palace of David himself (2 Sam. vii. 2). Un
hallowed and profane as the city had been
before, it was at once elevated to a sanctity
which it has never lost, above any of the
ancient sanctuaries of the land. The ark was
now removed from its obscurity at Kirjath-
jearim with marked solemnity. A temporary
halt (owing to the death of Uzzah) detained it at
Obed-edom's house, after which it again moved
forward with great state to Jerusalem. An
assembly of the nation was convened, and (ac
cording to 1 Ch. xiii. 2 ; xv. 2-27) especially of
the Levites. The musical arts in which David
himself excelled were now developed on a great
scale (1 Ch. xv. 16-22 ; 2 Sam. vi. 5). Zadok
and Abiathar, the representatives of the two
Aaronic families, were both present (1 Ch. xv.
11). Chenaniah presided over the music (1 Ch.
xv. 22, 27). Obed-edom followed his sacred
charge (1 Ch. xiii. 18, 21, 24). The prophet
Nathan appears for the first time as the con
trolling adviser of the future (2 Sam. vii. 3). A
sacrifice was offered as soon as a successful start
was made (1 Ch. xv. 26 ; 2 Sam. vi. 13). David
himself was dressed in the white linen dress of the
priestly order, without his royal robes, and played
on stringed instruments (1 Ch. xv. 27 ; 2 Sam. vi.
14, 20). As in the prophetic schools where he
had himself been brought up (1 Sam. a. 5), and
as still in the impressive ceremonial of some
Eastern Dervishes, and of Seville cathedral
(probably derived from the East), a wild dance
was part of the religious solemnity. Into this
David threw himself with unreserved enthu
siasm, and after this manner conveyed the
symbol of the Presence of Jehovah into the
ancient heathen fortress. In the same spirit of
uniting the sacerdotal with the royal functions,
he offered sacrifices on a large scale, and himself
gave the benediction to the people (2 Sam. vi.
17, 18 ; 1 Ch. xvi. 2).° The scene of this inau
guration was on the hill which from David's
habitation was specially known as the " City of
David." As if to mark the new era, he had not
brought the ancient Tabernacle from Gibeon,
but had erected a new tent or Tabernacle (1 Ch.
xv. 1) for the reception of the ark. It was the

DAVID
first beginning of the great design, of which we
shall speak presently, afterwards carried out by
his son, of erecting a permanent Temple or
palace for the Ark, corresponding to the state in
which he himself was to dwell. It was the
greatest day of David's life. One incident only
tarnished its splendour — the reproach of Michal
his wife, as he was finally entering his own
palace, to carry to his own household the bene
diction which he had already pronounced on his
people. [Michal.] His act of severity towards
her was an additional mark of the stress which
he himself laid on the solemnity (2 Sam. vi
20-23 ; 1 Ch. xv. 29).
No less than eleven Psalms, either in their
traditional titles, or in the irresistible evidence
of their contents, bear traces of this great
festival. The 29th Psalm (by its title in the
LXX.) is said to be on the " Going forth of the
Tabernacle." «• The 30th by its title, the 15th
and 101st by their contents, express the feelings
of David on his occupation of his new home.
The 68th, at least in part, and the 24th « seem
to have been actually composed for the entrance
of the ark into the ancient gates of the heathen
fortress — and the last words of. the second of
these two Psalms' may be regarded as the
inauguration of the new Name by which God
henceforth is called, The Lord of hosts. " Who
is this king of glory ? " " The Lord of hosts,
He is the king of glory " (Ps. xxiv. 10 ; cp.
2 Sam. vi. 2). Fragments of poetry worked up
into Psalms (xcvi. 2-13," cv., cvi. 1, 47, 48),
occur in 1 Ch. xvi. 8-36, as having been de
livered by David " into the hands of Asaph and
his brother " after the close of the festival, and
the two mysterious terms in the titles of Pss. vi.
and xlvi. (Sheminith and Alamoth) appear in
the lists of those mentioned on this occasion in
1 Ch. xv. 20, 21. The 132nd is, by its contents,
if not by its authorship, thrown back to this
time. The whole progress of the removal of
the Ark is traced in David's vein.
2. Foundation of the Court and Empire of
Israel (2 Sam. viii. to xii.). The erection of the
new capital at Jerusalem introduces us to a new
era in David's life and in the history of the
monarchy. Up to this time he had been a king,
such as Saul had been before him, or as the
kings of the neighbouring tribes, each ruling
over his territory, unconcerned with any foreign
relations except so far as was necessary to defend
his own nation. But David, and through him
the Israelitish monarchy, now took a wider
range. He became a king on the scale of the
great Oriental sovereigns of Egypt and Persia,
with a regular administration and organization
of court and camp ; and he also founded an
p As "the tabernacle " was never moved from Gibeon
in David's time, "the ark" is probably meant. It is
the Psalm which describes a thunderstorm. Is it pos
sible to connect this with the event described in 2 Sam.
vi. 6 ? A similar allusion may be found in Ps. Ixviii.
7, 33 (see Chandler, ii. 211).
i Iu the LXX. title said to be " on the Sabbath-day."
» Ewald, iii. 164. For an elaborate adaptation of the
68th Psalm to this event, see Chandler, ii. 54.
¦ In the title of the LXX. said to be David's " when
the house was built after the captivity." It is possible
that by " the captivity " may be meant the captivity of
the Ark in Philistia, as in Judg. xviii. 30; but most
critics interpret the term of the Captivity in the exile.

DAVID
imperial dominion which for the first time
realized the prophetic description of the bounds
of the chosen people (Gen. xv. 18-21). The
internal organization now established lasted till
the final overthrow of the monarchy. The
empire was of much shorter duration, con
tinuing only through the reigns of David and
his successor Solomon. But, for the period of
its existence, it lent a peculiar character to the
sacred history. For once, the kings of Israel
were on a level with the great potentates of the
world. David was an imperial conqueror, if not
of the same magnitude, yet of the same kind, as
Rameses or Cyrus, — -'I have made thee a
great name, like unto the name of the great
men that are in the earth" (2 Sam. vii. 9).
"Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast
made great wars " (1 Ch. xxii. 8). And as, on
the one hand, the external relations of life and
the great incidents of war and conquest receive
an elevation by their contact with the religious
history, so the religious history swells into
larger and broader dimensions from its contact
with the course of the outer world. The en
largement of territory, the amplification of
power and state, leads to a corresponding en-

DAVID

729

largement and amplification of ideas, of imagery,
of sympathies ; and thus (humanly speaking)
the magnificent forebodings of a wider dispen
sation in the prophetic writings first became
possible through the court and empire of David.
(a) In the internal organization of the king
dom the first new element that has to be
considered is the royal family, the dynasty of
which David was the founder, a position which
entitled him to the name of " Patriarch " (Acts
ii. 29) and (ultimately) of the ancestor of the
Messiah. Of these. Absalom and Adonijah both inherited
their father's beauty (2 Sam. xiv. 25 ; 1 K. i. 6) ;
but Solomon alone possessed any of his higher
qualities. It was from a union of the children
of Solomon and Absalom that the royal line was
carried on (1 K. xv. 2). The princes were
under the charge of Jehiel (1 Ch. xxvii. 32),
perhaps the Levite (1 Ch. xv. 21 ; 2 Ch. xx. 14),
with the exception of Solomon, who (as some
have thought, see p. 731, n. *) was under the
charge of Nathan (2 Sam. xii. 25). David's
strong parental affection for all of them is very
remarkable (2 Sam. xiii. 31, 33, 36, xiv. 33,
xviii. 5, 33, xix. 4 ; 1 K. i. 6).

DAVID'S WIVES AND CHILDREN.
(I.; At the Court of Saul.
incnai
(1 Sam. ni. 11. xxv. 44 ; 2 Sam. iii. 14),
said to be Eglah-'

(IL) Wives of the Wanderings.
Aninoam of Jezreel = Abigail of Carmel
(1 Sam. xiv. 43) (1 Sam. xxv. 42)
Amnon Chileab or Daniel
(1 Ch. iii. 1).
(Jehiel, Jer. Q. ff. on 1 Ch.
xxvii. 32.)
K.B.— There were, besides, 10 concubines (2 Sam. v. 13,
xv. 16), whose children fX Ch. iii. 9) are not named.

(III.) Wives at Hebron.
(2 Sam. iii. 2-5; 1 Ch. iii. 1-4.)

Maacaha =
of Geshur

Haggith =

Eglah I

Absalom Tamar Adonijah

3 sons who
died (2 Sam.
xiv. 27 ;
xviii. 18)

Tamar = Uriel of Gibeah
Maachah = Rehoboam
or Michaiah

xiv. 27;
2 Ch. xiii. 2)

Abijah

(IV.) Wives at Jerusalem.
(2 Sam. v. 13-16 ;* 1 Ch. iii. 5-8, xiv. 4-7.)
 I

I

I

I

Eli-tma
TTliBrmTTift
CI Ch. iii. 6)

Eliphelet

Nogah Xepheg Japhia E
Also daughters (1 Ch. xiv. S ; 2 Sam. v. »13).

Eliada
Beeliada
(1 Ch. xiv. 7)

Eliphalat

Ten (?) concubines (2 Sam. v. 13 ; xv. 16).
Jerimoth Jesse
(2Ch. xi. 18) J
Jerome, Q. K. Eh»t>
Mahalath = Eeboboam = Abihail

one died
as a child
(2 Sam. xii. 15)

(2.) Bathflheba (1 Ch. iii. 6)
Bathshua

Shammna Shim* a
(1 Ch. iii. 5)

Jedidiah
or Solomon
(2 s.ira. xii. 25)
Rehopoam = Maacah
i

1 Eglah alone is called " David's Wife " in the enumera
tion 2 Sam. iii. 5. The tradition in Jerome (Qu. Eeb.
ad loc.) says that she was Michal ; and (ib. ad 2 Sam.
vi. 23) that she died in giving birtb to Ithream.
» Taken in war (Jerome, Qu. Eeb. ad 2 Sam.
xiii. 3*).
1 The LXX. in 2 Sam. v. 16, after having given sub
stantially the same list as the present Hebrew text, re
peats the list, with strange variations, as follows : Samae,

lessibath, Nathan, Galamaan, lebaar, Theesus, Elphalat,
Naged, Naphelc, Ianathan, Leasamys, Baalimath, Eli-
plumth. y Josephus (Ant. vii. 3, $ 3) gives the following list,
of which only four names are identical. He states that
the last two were sons of the concubines :— Amnus,
Emnus, Eban, Nathan, Solomon, lebar, Elien, Phalna,
Ennaphen, Ienae, Eliphale; and also his daughter,
Tbamar.

730

DAVID

(6) The military organization, which was
in fact inherited from Saul, but greatly de
veloped by David, was as follows : —
(1.) " The host," i.e. the whole available mili
tary force of Israel, consisting of all males
capable of bearing arms, and summoned only for
war. This had always existed from the time of
the first settlement in Canaan, and had been
commanded by the chief or the judge, who
presided over Israel for the time. Under Saul,
we first find the recognised post of a captain or
commander-in-chief— in the person of Abner;
and under David, this post was given as a
reward for the assault on Jerusalem, to his
nephew Joab (1 Ch. xi. 6 ; xxvii. 34), who con
ducted the army to battle in the absence of the
king (2 Sam. xii. 26). There were twelve
divisions of 24,000 each, who were held to be in
duty month by month ; and over each of them
presided an officer, selected for this purpose,
from the other military bodies formed by David
(1 Ch. xxvii. 1-15). The army was still dis
tinguished from those of surrounding nations
by its primitive aspect of a force of infantry
without cavalry. The only innovations as yet
allowed were, the introduction of a very limited
number of chariots (2 Sam. viii. 4) and of mules
for the princes and officers instead of the asses
(2 Sam. xiii. 29; xviii. 9). According to a
Mussulman tradition (Koran, xxi. 80), David
invented chain armour." The usual weapons
were still spears aud shields, as appears from
the Psalms. For the general question of the
numbers and equipment of the army, see Arms
and Army.
(2.) The Body-guard. This also had existed
in the court of Saul, and David himself had
probably been its commanding officer (1 Sam.
xxii. 14 ; Ewald). But it now assumed a pecu
liar organization. They were at least in name
foreigners, as having been drawn from the
Philistines, probably during David's residence
at the court of Gath. They are usually called
from this circumstance " Cherethites (see sub
nom.) and Pelethites," but had also" a body
especially from Gathb amongst them, of whom
the name of one, Ittai, is preserved, as a faithful
servant of David (2 Sam. xv. 19). The captain
of the force was, however, not only not a
foreigner, but an Israelite of the highest dis
tinction and purest descent, who first appears in
this capacity, but who outlived David, and
became tbe chief support of the throne of his
son, namely Benaiah, son of the chief priest
Jehoiada, representative of the eldest branch of
Aaron's house (2 Sam. viii. 18, xv. 18, xx. 23 ;
1 K. i. 38, 44).
(3.) The most peculiar military institution in
David's army was that which arose out of the
peculiar circumstances of his early life. As the
nucleus of the Russian army is the Preobajinsky
regiment formed by Peter the Great out of the
companions who gathered round him in the

* Cp. the legends in Weil's Legends, p. 155, and Lane's
Selections from the Koran, p. 229. Thus a good coat of
mail is often called by the Arabs " Daoodee," i.e.
Davidean. * A tradition in Jerome (Qu. Eeb. on 1 Ch. xviii. 17)
speaks of their heing in the place of the seventy judges
appointed by Moses.
* But here the reading is doubtful (see p. 733, note °,
and QPB? on 2 Sam. xv. 18).

DAVID
suburb of that name in Moscow, so the nucleus
of what afterwards became the only standing
army in David's forces was the band of 600
men who had gathered round him in his wander
ings. The number of 600 was still preserved,
with the name of Gibborim, " heroes " or " mighty
men." It became yet further subdivided c into
three large bands of 200 each, and small bauds
of twenty each. The small bands were com
manded by thirty officers, one for each band, who
together formed "the thirty," and the three
large bands by three officers, who together formed
" the three," and the whole by one chief, " the
captain of the mighty men " (2 Sam. xxiii.
8-39; 1 Ch. xi. 9-47). This commander of
the whole force was Abishai, David's nephew
(1 Ch. xi. 20 ; and cp. 2 Sam. xvi. 9). " The
three " were Jashobeam (1 Ch. xi. 11) or Adino
(2 Sam. xxiii. 8), Eleazar (1 Ch. xi. 12 ; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 9), and Shammah (2 Sam. xxiii. ll).a Of
" the thirty," some few only are known to fame
elsewhere: Asahel, David's nephew (1 Ch. xi.
26 ; 2 Sam. ii. 18) ; Elhanan, the victor of at
least one Goliath (1 Ch. xi. 26 ; 2 Sam. xxi. 19);
Joel, the brother or son (LXX.) of Nathan
(1 Ch. xi. 38) ; Naharai, the armour-bearer of
Joab (1 Ch. xi. 39; 2 Sam. xxiii. 37); Eliam,8
the son of Ahitophel (2 Sam. xxiii. 34) ; Ira,
one of David's priests (1 Ch. xi. 40 ; 2 Sam.
xxiii. 38, xx. 26) ; and Uriah the Hittite (1 Ch.
xi. 41 ; 2 Sam. xxiii. 39, xi. 3).
(c) Side by side with this military organiza
tion were established social and moral institu
tions. Some were entirely for pastoral, agri
cultural, and financial purposes (1 Ch. xxvii.
25-31), others for judicial (1 Ch. xxvi. 29-32).
Some few are named as constituting what would
now be called the court, or council of the king :
the councillors, Ahitophel of Gilo and Jonathan
the king's nephew (1 Ch. xxvii. 32, 33); the
companion or "friend" Hushai (1 Ch. xxvii. 33;
2 Sam. xv. 37, xvi. 19) ; the scribe, Sheva or
Seraiah, and at one time Jonathan (2 Sam. xx.
25 ; 1 Ch. xxvii. 32) ; Jehoshaphat the recorder
or historian ' (2 Sara. xx. 24), and Adoram the
tax collector, both of whom survived him
(2 Sam. xx. 24 ; IK. xii. 18, iv. 3, 6). Each
tribe had its own head (1 Ch. xxvii. 16-22).
Of these the most remarkable were Elihu,
David's brother (probably Eliab), Prince of
Judah (v. 18), and Jaasiel, the son of Abner, of
Benjamin (v. 21).
But the more peculiar of David's institutions
were those directly bearing on religion. Two
prophets appear as the king's constant advisers.
Of these, Gad, who seems to have been the elder,
had been David's companion in exile ; and from
his being called "the seer," belongs probably
to the earliest form of the prophetic schools.
Nathan, who appears for the first time after the
establishment of the kingdom at Jerusalem
» See Ewald, iii. 178.
d The LXX. (cp. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8) make them:—
I. Isboseth the Canaauite ; 2. Adino the Asouite ;
3. Eleazar, son of Dodo (cp. Swete's Greek text, and
Driver's Notes on the Eeb. Text of the BB. of Sam. ta
loco). • Perhaps the father of Bathsheba, whose marriage
with Uriah would thus be accounted for (see Blunt,
Coincidences, n. ch. x.).
f As in tbe court of Persia (Herod, vi. 100, vii. 90,
vill. 100).

DAVID
(2 Sam. vii. 2), is distinguished both by his
title of "prophet," and by the nature of the
prophecies which he utters (2 Sam. vii. 5-17,
xii. l-14)i »s of the purest type of prophetic
dispensation, and as the hope of the new genera
tion,8 which he supports in the person of
Solomon (1 K. i.). Two high-priests also
appear — representatives of the two rival houses
of Aaron (1 Ch. xxiv. 3) ; here again, as in the
case of the two prophets, one, Abiathar,1" who
attended him at Jerusalem, companion of his
exile, aud connected with the old time of the
Judges (1 Ch. xxvii. 34), joining him after the
death of Saul, and becoming afterwards the
support of his son ; the other Zadok, who
ministered at Gibeon (1 Ch. xvi. 39), and who
was made the head of the Aaronic family
(xxvii. 17). Besides these four great religious
functionaries, there were two classes of sub
ordinates : (o) prophets, specially instructed in
singing and music, under Asaph, Heman, the
grandson of Samuel, and Jeduthun (1 Ch. xxv.
1-31) ; (B) Levites, or attendants on the sanc
tuary, who again were subdivided into the
guardians of the gates and guardians of the
treasures (1 Ch. xxvi. 1-28) which had been
accumulated, since the re-establishment of the
nation, by Samuel, Saul, Abner, Joab, and
David himself (1 Ch. xxvi. 26-28).
The collection of those various ministers and
representatives of worship round the capital
must have given a new aspect to the history in
David's time, such as it had not borne under the
disconnected period of the Judges. But the
main peculiarity of the whole must have been,
that it so well harmonized with the character
of bim who was its centre. As his early martial
Ufe still placed him at the head of the military
organization which had sprung up around him,
so his early education and his natural dispo
sition placed him at the head of his own religious
institutions. Himself ? prophet, a psalmist, he
was one in heart with those whose advice he
sought and whose arts he fostered. And, more
remarkably still, though not himself a priest,
he yet assumed almost all the functions usually
ascribed to the priestly office. He wore, as we
have seen, the priestly dress, offered the sacri
fices, gave the priestly benediction (2 Sam.
vi. 14, 17, 18) ; and, as if to include his whole
court within the same sacerdotal sanctity,
Benaiah, the captain of his guard, was a priest i
by descent (1 Ch. xxvii. 5), and joined in the
sacred music (1 Ch. xvi. 6) ; David himself and
" the captains of the host " arranged the pro
phetical duties (1 Ch. xxv. 1) ; and his sons are
actually called " priests " (2 Sam. viii. 18. Cp.
Driver in loco ; 1 Ch. xviii. 17, translated " chief,"
and abxdpxai, " chief rulers "), as well as Ira,
of Manasseh (2 Sam. xx. 26, translated " chief
ruler," but LXX. tepeis). Such a union was never
seen before or since in the Jewish history. Even
Solomon fell below it in some important points.
But from this time the idea took possession of
the Jewish mind and was never lost. What

8 2 Sam.' xii. 25 is by some interpreters rendered,
"He put him (Solomon) under the hand of Nathari: "
thus making Nathan Solomon's preceptor (see Chandler,
ii. 272).
h Cp. Blunt, Coincidences, ir. ch. xv.
1 o tepeus tw yeVet (Joseph. Ant. vii. 12, $ 4).

DAVID

731

the heathen historian Justin antedates, by re
ferring it back to Aaron, is a just description of
the effect of the re'ign of David : — " Sacerdus
mox rex creatur ; semperque exinde hie mos
apud Judaeos fuit ut eosdem reges et sacerdotes
haberent ; quorum justitut religione permixtii,
incredibile quantum coaluere " (Justin, xxxvi. 2).
(d) From the internal state of David's king
dom, we pass to its external relations. These
will be found at length under the various
countries to which they relate. It will be here
only necessary to briefly indicate the enlarge
ment of his dominions. Within ten years from
the capture of Jerusalem, he had reduced to a
state of permanent subjection the Philistines*
on the west (2 Sam. viii. 1); the Moabites'
ou the east (2 Sam. viii. 2), by the exploits of
Benaiah (2 Sam. xxiii. 20) ; the Syrians on the
north-east as far as the Euphrates m (2 Sam.
viii. 3); the Edomites" (2 Sam. viii. 14) on
the south ; and finally the Ammonites,0 who
had broken their ancient alliance, and made one
grand resistance to the advance of his empire
(2 Sam. i. 1-19 ; xii. 26-31). These last three
wars were entangled p with each other. The
last and crowning point was the siege of Rabbah.
The Ark went with the host (2 iSam. xi. 11).
David himself was present at the capture of the
city (2 Sam. xii. 29). The savage treatment of
the inhabitants — the only instance as far as
appears of cruel severity against his enemies — •
is perhaps to be explained by the formidable
nature of their resistance — as the like stain on
the generosity of the Black Prince in the
massacre of Limoges. The royal crown, or
" crown of Milcom," was placed on David's head
(2 Sam. xii. 30), and according to Josephus
(Ant. vii. 5) was always' worn by him afterwards.
The Hebrew tradition (Jerome, Qu. Heb. ad
1 Ch. xx. 2) represents it as having been the
diadem of the Ammonite god Milcom, or Moloch ;
and that Ittai the Gittite (doing what no
Israelite could have done, for fear of pollution)
tore it from the idol's head, and brought it to
David. The general peace which followed was
commemorated in the name of " the Peaceful "
(Solomon), given to the son born to him at this
crisis.5 To these wars in general may be ascribed
Ps. ex., as illustrating both the sacerdotal
character of David, and also his mode of going

* By the reduction of Gath (1 Ch. xviii. 1).
1 The punishment inflicted on the Moabites is too ob
scurely worded to be explained at length. A Jewish tra
dition (which shows tha.t there was a sense of its being
excessive) maintained that it was in consequence of the
Moabites having murdered David's parents, when con
fided to them (1 Sam. xxii. 3 ; Chandler, ii. 163).
™ Described briefly in a fragment of Nicolaus of
Damascus (in Joseph. Ant. vii. 5, § 2) and Eupolemus
(in Eus. Praep. Ev. ix. 30).
° To these Eupolemus adds the Nabateans and Neb-
daeans. • For the details of the punishment, see Rabbah.
Chandler (ii. 237, 238) interprets it of hard servitude ;
Ewald (iii. 204), of actual torture and slaughter.
p The story appears to be told twice over (2 Sam.
viii. 3-14, x. 1— xi. 1, xii. 26-31).
i The golden shields taken in the Syrian wars re
mained long afterwards as trophies in the Temple at
Jerusalem (2 Sam. viii. 7 ; Cant. iv. 4). [Aems, Shelet,
p. 242.] The brass was used for the brazen basins' and
pillars (2 Sam. viii. 8 ; LXX.).

732

DAVID

forth to battle. To the Edomite war, both by
its title and contents, must be ascribed Ps. lx.
<>-12 (cp. cviii. 7-13), describing the assault on
Petra. Ps. Ixviii. may probably have received
additional touches, as it was sung on the return
of the Ark from the siege of Rabbah. r Ps. xviii."
(repeated in 2 Sam. xxii.) is ascribed by its
title, and appears from some expressions, to
belong to the day " When the Lord had delivered
him out of the hand of all his enemies," as well
as " out of the hand of Saul " (2 Sam. xxii. 1 ;
Ps. xviii. 1). That " day " may be either at
this time or at the end of his life. Pss. xx.
(Syr. Vers.) and xxi. relate to the general union
of religious and of military excellences displayed
at this time of his career (Ps. xxi. 3, " Thou
settest a crown of pure gold upon his head," not
improbably referring to the golden crown of
Ammon, 2 Sam. xii. 30).
3. In describing the incidents of the life of
David after his accession to the throne of Israel,
most of the details will be best found under the
names to which they refer. Here it will be
needful only to give a brief thread, enlarging on
those points in which David's individual cha
racter is brought out.
Three great calamities may be selected as
marking the beginning, middle, and close of
David's otherwise prosperous reign ; which
appears to be intimated in the question of Gad
(2 Sam. xxiv. 13), "a three' years' famine, a
three months' flight, or a three days' pesti
lence."" (a) Of these, the first (the three years'
famine) introduces us to the last notices of
David's relations x with the house of Saul.
There has often arisen a painful suspicion in
later times, as there seems to have been at the
time (xvi. 7), that the oracle which gave as
the cause of the famine Saul's massacre of the
Gibeonites, may have been connected with the
desire to extinguish the last remains of the
fallen dynasty. But such an explanation is
not needed. The massacre was probably the
most recent national crime that had left any
deep impression ; and the whole tenor of David's
conduct towards Saul's family is of an opposite
kind. It was then that he took the opportunity
of removing the bodies of Saul and Jonathan to
their own ancestral sepulchre at Zelah (2 Sam.
xxi. 14); and it was then, or shortly before,
that he gave a permanent home and restored all
the property of the family to Mephibosheth, the
only surviving son of Jonathan (2 Sam. ix. 1-13 ;
xxi. 7). The seven who perished were, two
sons of Saul by Rizpah, and five grandsons-
sons of Merab » and Adriel (2 Sam. xxi. 8).
(b) The second group of incidents contams

r See Hengstenberg on Ps. Ixviii.
¦ The imagery of the thunderstorm (Ps. xviii. 7-14)
may possibly allude to the events either of 2 Sam. v.
20-24 (Chandler, ii. 211), or of 2 Sam. vi. 8.
' So LXX. and 1 Ch. xxi. 12, instead of seven (see
QPB.s on 2 Sam. xxiv. 13).
" Ewald, iii. 207.
x That this incident took place early in the reign
appears (1) from the freshness of the allusion to Saul's
act (2 Sam. xxi. 1-8) ; (2) from the allusions to the
massacre of Saul's sons in xix. 28 ; (3) from the apparent
connexion of the story with ch. ix.
y The mention of Adriel necessitates the reading of
Merab for Michal (see Driver, in loco).

DAVID
the tragedy of David's life, which grew in all
its parts out of the polygamy, with its evil
consequences, into which he had plunged on
becoming king. Underneath the splendour of
his last glorious campaign against the Am
monites, was a dark story, known probably at
that time only to a very few ; and even in
later times z kept as much as possible out of the
view of the people, but now recognised as one of
the most instructive portions of his career — the
double crime of adultery with Bathsheba, and
of the virtual murder of Uriah. The crimes*
are undoubtedly those of a common Oriental
despot. But the rebuke of Nathan ; the sudden
revival of the king's conscience ; his grief for
the sickness of the child ; the gathering of his
uncles and elder brothers around him ; his
return of hope and peace, — are characteristic of
David, and of David only. And if we add to
these the two Psalms, the 32nd and the 51st, —
of which the first by its acknowledged internal
evidence, the second by its title," also claim to
belong to this crisis of David's life, — we shall
feel that the instruction drawn from the sin has
more than compensated to us at least for the
scandal occasioned by it.
But, though the "free spirit" and "clean
heart " of David returned, and though the birth
of Solomon was as auspicious as if nothing had
occurred to trouble the victorious festival which
succeeded it, the clouds from this time gathered
over David's fortunes, aud henceforward "the
sword never departed from his house " (2 Sam.
xii. 10). The outrage on his daughter Tamar,
the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and then
the revolt of his best beloved Absalom, brought
on the crisis, which once more sent him forth a
wanderer, as in the days when he fled from
Saul ; and this, the heaviest trial of his life, was
aggravated by the impetuosity of Joab, now
perhaps from his complicity in David's crime
more unmanageable c than ever. The rebellion
was fostered apparently by the growing jealousy
of the tribe of Judah at seeing their king
absorbed into the whole nation; and if, as
appears from a 2 Sam. xi. 3, xxiii. 34, Ahitho.
phel was the grandfather of Bathsheba, its main
supporter was one whom David had provoked
by his own crimes. For its general course, the
reader is referred to the names just mentioned.
But two or three of its scenes relate so touchingly
aud peculiarly to David, that this is the place
for dwelling upon them.
The first is the most detailed description of
any single day that we find in the Jewish
history. It was apparently early on the morning of

z It is omitted in the Chronicles.
* This is the subject of one of the apocryphal col
loquies of David (Fabric. Cod. Apoc. V. list. p. 1000).
The story is also told in the Koran (xxxviii. 20-24),
and wild legends are formed out of it (Weil's Legends,
pp. 158-160, 170).
b Ewald places it after the Captivity. From tbe last
two verses (li. 18, 19) this would be the almost certain
conclusion. But is it not allowable to suppose these
verses to be an adaptation of tbe Psalm to tbat later
time? 0 See Bluut's Coincidences, n. ch. xi., for a theory
perhaps too much elaborated, yet not without some
foundation. a Blunt ii. ch. x. ; Jerome, Qu. Eeb. on 2 Sam. xi. 3.

DAVID
the day after he had received the news of the
rebellion at Hebron that the king left the city
of Jerusalem on foot. He was accompanied bv
a vast concourse ; in the midst of which he and
his body-guard were conspicuous. They started
from a house on the outskirts of the city
(2 Sam. xv. 17, LXX.), and every stage of the
mournful procession was marked by some inci
dent which called forth a proof of the deep and
lasting affection which the king's peculiar
character had the power of inspiring in all who
knew him. The first distinct halt was by a
solitary olive-tree (2 Sam. xv. 18, LXX.) that
marked the road to the wilderness of the
Jordan. Amongst his guard of Philistines and
his faithful company of 600" he observed Ittai
of Gath, and with the true nobleness of his
character entreated the Philistine chief not to
peril his own or his countrymen's lives in the
service of a fallen and a stranger sovereign.
But Ittai declared his resolution (with a fervour
which almost inevitably recalls a like profession
[cp. Matt. xxv. 31 sq.] made almost on the same
spot to the great descendant of David centuries
afterwards) to follow him in life and in death.
They all passed over the ravine of the Kedron ;
and here, when it became apparent that the king
was really bent on departure, " the whole land
wept with a loud voice " — the mountain and the
valley resounded with the wail of the people.
At this point they were overtaken by the two
priests, Zadok and Abiathar, bringing the Ark
, from its place on the sacred hill to accompany
David on his flight — Abiathar, the elder, going
forward up the mountain, as the multitude
defiled past him. Again, with a spirit worthy
ofthe king, who was prophet as well as priest,
David turned them back. He had no super
stitious belief in the Ark as a charm ; he had
too much reverence for it to risk it in his
personal peril. And now the whole crowd
turned np the mountain pathway ; all wailing,
all with their heads muffled as they went ; the
king only distinguished from the rest by his
unsandalled feet. At the top of the mountain,
consecrated by an altar of worship, they were
met by Hnshai the Archite, " the friend," as he
was officially called, of the king. The priestly
garment, which he wore ' after the fashion as it
would seem of David's chief officers, was torn,
and his head was smeared with dust, in the
bitterness of his grief. In him David saw his
first gleam of hope. A moment before, the
tidings had come of the treason of Ahithophel ;
and to frustrate his designs Hushai was sent
back, just in time to meet Absalom arriving
from Hebron. It was noon when David passed
over the mountain top, and now, as Jerusalem
was left behind, and the new scene opened
before him, two new characters appeared, both
in connexion with the hostile tribe of Benjamin,
whose territory they were entering. One was
Ziba, servant of Mephibosheth, taking advan
tage of the civil war to make his own fortunes.
At Bahurim, also evidently on the downward
pass, came forth one of its inhabitants, Shimei,
in whose furious curses broke out the long-

• Ewald, iii. 177, note. According to the reading of
Gibborvm, for Gittim.
' 2 Sam. xv. 32. Cutaneth ; r» xitwvo. ; A. V. and
E. V. "coat."

DAVID

733

suppressed hatred of the fallen family of Saul,
as well perhaps as the popular feeling against
the murderer^ of Uriah. With characteristic
replies to both, the king descended to the
Jordan valley (2 Sam. xvi. 14, and cp. xvii. 22 ¦
Jos. Ant vii. 9, § 4), and there rested after the
long and eventful day at the ford or bridge11
(Abara) of the river. At midnight they were
aroused by the arrival of the two sons" of the
high-priests, and by break of dawn they had
reached the opposite side in safety.
To the dawn of that morning is to be ascribed
Ps. iii., and (according to Ewald, though this
seems less certain) to the previous evening,
Ps. iv. Ps. cxliii. by its title in the LXX. —
" When his son was pursuing him " — belongs to
this time. Also by long popular belief the
trans-Jordanic exile of Ps. xiii. has been supposed
to be David, and the complaints of Pss. lv., lxix.,
and cix., to be levelled against Ahithophel.
The history of the remaining period' of the
rebellion is compressed into a brief summary.
Mahanaim was the capital of David's exile, as it
had been of the exiled house of Saul (2 Sam.
xvii. 24; cp. ii. 8, 12). Three great chiefs of
that pastoral district are specially mentioned as
supporting him: one, of great age, not before
named, Barzillai the Gileadite ; the two others,
bound to him by former ties, Shobi, the son of
David's ancient friend Nahash, probably put by
David in his brother's place (xii. 30, a. 2) ; and
Machir, the son of Ammiel, the former protector
of the child of David's friend Jonathan (2 Sam.
xvii. 27, ix. 4). His forces were arranged under
the three great military officers who remained
faithful to his fortunes — Joab, captain of the
host ; Abishai, captain of " the mighty men ; "
and Ittai, who seems to have taken the place of
Benaiah (had he wavered in his allegiance, or
was he appointed afterwards?), as captain of
the guard (2 Sam. xviii. 2). On Absalom's side
was David's nephew, Amasa (ib. xvii. 25). The
warlike spirit of the old king and of his faithful
followers at this extremity of their fortunes is
well depicted by Hushai, " chafed in their
minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the
* field ' (or a fierce wild boar in the Jordan
valley, LXX.) : " the king himself, as of old,
" lodging not with the people," but " hid in
some pit or some other place" (2 Sam. xvii.
8, 9). The final battle was fought in the
" forest of Ephraim," which terminated in the
accident leading to the death * of Absalom. At
this point the. narrative resumes its minute
detail. As if to mark the greatness of the
calamity, every particular of its first reception
is recorded. David was waiting the event of
the battle in the gateway of Mahanaim. Two
messengers, each endeavouring to outstrip the
other, were seen running breathless from the
field. The first who arrived was Ahimaaz, the

e Blunt, Coincidences, n. ch. x.
i> Cp. 2 Sam. xv. 28, xix. 18 (both Kethib, a reading
preferred by most moderns over that ofthe Keri, Ara-
both, i.e. the "plains" or "desertB." Cp. Driver,
in loco).
i If Ewald's interpretation of 2 Sam. xxiv. 13 be
correct, and if the LXX. here and the Heb. of 1 Ch.
xxi. 12 be followed, it was three months. The Jewieh
tradition (in Jerome, Qu. Eeb. on 2 Sam. iv. 4) makes
it six.
* For the Mussulman legend, see Weil, p. 161.

734

DAVID

son of Zadok, already employed as a messenger
on the first day of the king's flight. He had
been entreated by Joab not to make himself the
bearer of tidings so mournful ; and it would
seem that when he came to the point his heart
failed, and he spoke only of the great confusion
in which he had left the army. At this moment
the other messenger burst in — a stranger,
perhaps an Ethiopian1 — and abruptly revealed
the fatal news (2 Sam. xviii. 19-32). [Cushi.]
The passionate burst of grief which followed is
one of the best proofs of the deep affection of
David's character. He wrapt himself up in his
sorrow; and even at the very moment of his
triumph, he could not forget the hand that had
slain his son. He made a solemn vow to super
sede Joab by Amasa, and in this was laid the
lasting breach between himself and his powerful
nephew, which neither the one nor the other
ever forgave (2 Sam. xix. 13).
The return was marked at every stage by
rejoicing and amnesty, — Shimei forgiven, Mephi-
bosheth m partially reinstated, Barzillai rewarded
by the gifts long remembered to his son Chim-
HAM (2 Sam. xix. 16-40 ; 1 K. ii. 7). Judah
was first reconciled. The embers of the insur
rection still smouldering (2 Sam. xix. 41—43)
in David's hereditary enemies of the tribe of
Benjamin were trampled out by the mixture
of boldness and sagacity in Joab, now, after the
murder of Amasa, once more in his old position.
And David again reigned in undisturbed peace
at Jerusalem (2 Sam. xx. 1-22)."
(c) The closing period of David's life, with
the exception of one great calamity, may be
considered as a gradual preparation for the
reign of his successor. This calamity was the
three days' pestilence which visited Jerusalem
at the warning of the prophet Gad. The
occasion which led to this warning was the
census of the people taken by Joab at the king's
orders (2 Sam. xxiv. 1-9 ; 1 Ch. xxi. 1-7, xxvii.
23, 24) ; an attempt not unnaturally suggested
by the increase of his power, but implying a
confidence and pride alien to the spirit inculcated
on the kings of the chosen people [see Numbers].
Joab's repugnance to the measure was such that
he refused altogether to number Levi and
Benjamin (1 Ch. xxi. 6). The king also scrupled
to number those who were under twenty years
of age (1 Ch. xxvii. 23), and the final result
was never recorded in the " Chronicles of King
David" (1 Ch. xxvii. 24). The plague, how
ever, and its cessation were commemorated down
to the latest times of the Jewish nation. Possibly
Pss. xxx. and xci. had reference (whether
David's or not) to this time. But a more
certain memorial was preserved on the exact
spot which witnessed the close of the pestilence,

1 " Cushi " — or Hebrew ha-Cushi, with the article.
It is doubtful whether it is a proper name.
m The injustice done to Mephibosheth by this division
of hiB property was believed in later traditions to be the
sin which drew down tbe division of David's kingdom
(Jerome, Qu. Eeb. on 2 Sam. xix.). The question is
argued at length by Selden, De Successione, c. 2B,
pp. 67, 68. See Chandler, ii. 376.
" To many English readers the events and names of
this period have acquired a double interest from the
power and skill with which Dryden has made the story
of r Absalom and Ahithophel " the basis of his political
poem on the Court of King Charles II.

DAVID
or, as it was called, like the Black Death of
1348, " The Death." Outside the walls of
Jerusalem, Araunah or Oman, a wealthy Jebu
site — perhaps even the ancient king of Jebus
(2 Sam. xxiv. 23) ° — possessed a threshing-floor :
there he and his sons were engaged in threshing
the corn gathered in from the harvest (1 Ch.
xxi. 20). At this spot an awful vision appeared,
such as is described in the later days of Jeru
salem, of the Angel of the Lord stretching out
a drawn sword between earth and sky over the
devoted city.p The scene of such an apparition
at such a moment was at once marked out for
a sanctuary. David demanded, and Araunah
willingly granted, the site; the altar was
erected on the rock of the threshing-floor; the
place was called by the name of "Moriah"
(2 Ch. iii. 1 : the " Marru" of the Tel-el-Amarna
tablets); and for the first time a holy place,'
sanctified by a vision of the Divine Pre
sence, was recognised in Jerusalem. It was
this spot which afterwards became the altar of
the Temple, and therefore the centre of the
national worship, with but slight interruption,
for more than 1000 years, and it is even
contended that the same spot is the rock, still
regarded with almost idolatrous veneration, in
the centre of the Mussulman " Dome of the
Rock " (see Professor Willis in Williams' Holy
Citg, ii.).
The selection of the site of this altar probably
revived the schemes of the king for the building
of a permanent edifice to receive the Ark, which
still remained inside his own palace in its
temporary tent. Such schemes, we are told, he
had entertained after the capture of Jerusalem,
or at the end of his wars. Two reasons were
given for their delay. One, that the ancient
nomadic form' of worship was not yet to be
abandoned (2 Sam. vii. 6); the other, that
David's wars ¦ unfitted him to be the founder of
a seat of peaceful worship (1 Ch. xxii. 8). But
a solemn assurance was given that his dynasty
should be established " for ever " to continue the
work (2 Sam. vii. 13 ; 1 Ch. xxii. 9, 10). Such
a founder, and the ancestor of such a dynasty,
was Solomon to be, and to him therefore the
stores' and the plans of the future Temple
(according to 1 Ch. xxii. 2-19, xxviii. 1-xxix. 19)
were committed.
A formidable conspiracy to interrupt the
succession broke out in the last days of David's
reign [see Adonijah], which detached from his
0 In the original the expression is thought by some
to be much stronger than in the A. V. : they read with
R. V. marg., "Araunah, the king." The B. V. text
reads " O king," referring the words to David. [See
Araunah.] p This apparition is also described in a fragment of the
heathen historian Eupolemus (Eus. Praep. Ev. ix. 30),
but is confused with the warning of Nathan against
building the Temple. " An angel pointed out the place
where the altar was to be, but forbad him to build tbe
Temple, as being stained with blood, and having fought
many wars. His name was Dianathan."
i In 1 Ch. xxi. 2B, a fire from heaven descends to
sanctify the altar. This is not mentioned in 2 Sum. xxiv.
r This is tbe subject of one of the apocryphal col
loquies (Fab. Apoc. v. i. p. 1004).
¦ In this respect David still belonged to the older
generation of heroes (see Jerome, Qu. Eeb. ad loc.).
1 Eupolemus (Eus. Praep. Ee. ix. 30) makes David
send fleets for these stores to Elath and to Ophir.

DAVID •
person two of his court, who from personal
offence or adherence to the ancient family had
been alienated from him — Joab and Abiathar.
But Zadok, Nathan, Benaiah, Shimei, and Rei "
remaining firm, the plot was stifled, and
Solomon's inauguration took place under his
father's auspices * (1 K. i. 1-53).
The Psalms which relate to this period are, by
title, Ps. xcii. ; by internal evidence, Ps. ii.
By this time David's infirmities had grown
upon him. The warmth of his exhausted frame
was attempted to be restored by the introduc
tion of a young Shunammite, of the name of
Abishag, mentioned apparently for the sake
of an incident which grew up in connexion
with her out of the later events (1 Iv. i. 1,
ii. 17). His last song is preserved — a striking
union ofthe ideal of a just ruler which he had
placed before himself, and ofthe difficulties which
he had felt in realizing it (2 Sam. xxiii. 1-7).
His last words, as recorded, to his successor, are
general exhortations to his duty, combined with
warnings against Joab and Shimei, and charges
to remember the children of Barzillai (1 K.
ii. 1-9).
He died, according to Josephus (Ant. viii. 15,
2), at the age of 70, and " was buried in the city
of David." y After the return from the Cap
tivity, " the sepulchres of David " were still
pointed out between Siloah and " the house of
the mighty men, " or the guardhouse (Neh. iii.
16). His tomb, which became the general
sepulchre of the kings of Judah, was pointed
out in the latest times of the Jewish people.
" His sepulchre is with us unto this day," says
St. Peter at Pentecost (Acts ii. 29) ; and Josephus
(Ant. vii. 15, 3 ; xiii. 8, 4 ; xvi. 7, 1) states that,
Solomon having buried a large treasure in the
tomb, one of its chambers was broken open by
Hyrcanus, and another by Herod the Great. It
is said to have fallen into ruins in the time of
Hadrian (Dio Cassius, lxix. 14). In Jerome's
time a tomb, so called, was the object of pilgrim
age (Ep. adMarcell. 17,46), but apparently in the
neighbourhood of Bethlehem. The edifice shown
as such from the Crusades to the present day is
on the southern hill of modern Jerusalem, com
monly called Mount Zion, under the so-called
"Coenaculum" (for the description of it see
Barclay's City of the Great King, p. 209. For
the traditions concerning it, see Williams' Holy
City, ii. 509-513). The so-called "Tombs of
the Kings" have of late been claimed as the
royal sepulchre by De Saulcy (ii. 162-215), who
brought to the Louvre (where it may be seen)
what he believed to be the lid of David's sarco
phagus. But these tombs are outside the walls,
and therefore cannot be identified with the tomb
of David, which was emphatically within the
walls (see Robinson, iii. p. 252, note).
The character of David has been so naturally
brought out in the incidents of his life that it

" Jerome (Qu. Eeb. ad loc.) renders Rei = Ira, not
improbably. Klostermann would alter i]}-\ into V1T)=
his friends. Ewald conjectures (iii. 266, note) that
be is identical with Raddai.
x Eupolemus (Eus. Praep. Eo. ix. 30) adds, "in the
presence of the high-priest Eli."
y A striking legend of his death is preserved in Weil's
Legends, pp. 169, 170 ; a very absurd one in Basnage,
•Sm*. des Juifs, bk. v. ch. 2.

DAVID

735

need not be here described in detail. In the
complexity of its elements," passion, tenderness
generosity, fierceness— the soldier, the shepherd'
the poet, the statesman, the priest, the prophet
the king — the romantic friend, the chivalrous
leader, the devoted father — there is no character
of the O. T. at all to be compared to it. Jacob
comes nearest in the variety of elements included
within it. But David's character stands at a
higher point of the sacred history, and repre
sents the Jewish people just at the moment of
their transition from the lofty virtues of the
older system to the fuller civilisation and cultiva
tion of the later. In this manner he becomes
naturally, if one may so say, the likeness or
portrait of the last and grandest development of
the nation and of the monarchy in the person
and the period of the Messiah. In a sense more
than figurative, he is the type and prophecy of
Jesus Christ. Christ is not called the son of
Abraham, or of Jacob, or of Moses, but He was
truly "the son of David."
To David's own people his was the name most
dearly cherished after their first ancestor Abra
ham. "The city of David," "the house of
David," "the throne of David," "the seed of
David," "the oath sworn unto David" (the
pledge of the continuance of his dynasty), are
expressions which pervade the whole of the Old
Testament and all the figurative language of
the New, and they serve to mark the lasting
significance of his appearance in history."
His Psalms (whether those actually written
by himself be many or few) have been the source
of consultation and instruction beyond any other
part of the Hebrew Scriptures. In them appear
qualities of mind and religious perceptions not
before expressed in the sacred writings, but
eminently characteristic of David, — the love of
nature, the sense of sin, and the tender, ardent
trust in, and communion with, God. No other
part of the Old Testament comes so near to the
spirit of the New. The Psalms are the only
expressions of devotion which have been equally
used through the whole Christian Church —
Abyssinian, Greek, Latin, Puritan, Anglican.
The difficulties which attend on his character
are valuable as proofs of the impartiality of
Scripture in recording them, and as indications
of the union of natural power and weakness
which his character included. Some Rabbis in
former times, and critics (like Bayle b and Renan)
in later times, have seized on its dark features and
exaggerated them to the utmost. And it has been
often asked, both by the scoffers and the serious,
how the man after God's c own heart could have

« This variety of elements is strikingly expressed in
" The Song of David," a poem written by the unfortunate
Christopher Smart in charcoal on the walls of his cell,
in his intervals of reason.
« It may be remarked that the name never appears
as given to any one else in the Jewish history, as if,
like "Peter" in the Papacy, it was too sacred to be
appropriated. b For some just remarks in answer to Bayle on the
necessity of taking into account the circumstances of
David's age and country, see Dean Milman's Eist. of
the Jews, i. 247. The Rabbinical estimate, both favour
able and unfavourable, of his character is summarized
in Hamburger's BE.2 s. n.
o This expression has been perhaps made too much
of. It occurs only once in tbe Scriptures (1 Sam.

736

DAVID, CITY OF

murdered Uriah, and seduced Bathsheba, and
tortured the Ammonites to death ? An extract
from one who is not a too-indulgent critic of
sacred characters expresses at once the common
sense and the religious lesson of the whole
matter. " Who is called ' the man after God's
own heart'? David, the Hebrew king, had
fallen into sins enough — blackest crimes — there
was no want of sin. And therefore the un
believers sneer, and ask, ' Is this your man ac
cording to God's heart?' The sneer, I must
say, seems to me but a shallow one. What are
faults, what are the outward details of a life, if
the inner secret of it, the remorse, temptations,
the often-baffled, never-ended struggle of it be
forgotten ? . . . David's life and history as written
for us in those Psalms of his, I consider to be
the truest emblem ever given us of a man's
moral progress and warfare here below. All
earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful
struggle of au earnest human soul towards
what is good and best. Struggle often baffled
— sore baffled — driven as into entire wreck :
yet a struggle never ended, ever with tears,
repentance, true unconquerable purpose begun
anew " (Carlyle's Heroes and Hero- Worship,
p. 72). [A. P. S.]
DAVID, CITY OF. [Jerusalem.]
DAY (Tom, Di', Ges. from an unused root
which may have had the meaning of heat, and
also of light, Delitzsch. Cp. iaivu). The vari
able length of the natural day (" ab exortu ad
occasum solis," Censor, de Die Nat. 23) at
different seasons led in the very earliest times
to the adoption of the civil day (or one revolu
tion of the sun) as a. standard of time. The
commencement of the civil day varies in different
nations: the Babylonians (like the people of
Nuremberg) reckoned it from sunrise to sunrise
(Isidor. Orig. v. 30); the Umbrians from noon
to noon; the Romans from midnight to mid
night (Plin. ii. 79); the Athenians and others
from sunset to sunset (Macrob. Saturn, i. 3 ;
Gell. iii. 2).
The Hebrews, if we may judge by some pas
sages of the Mosaic Law and cosmogony (cp.
Lev. xxiii. 32, R. V. " from even unto even
shall ye keep your sabbath ; " Gen. i. 5, R. V.
" and there was evening and there was morning,
one day, " a passage which the Jews are said to
have quoted to Alexander the Great, cp. Tamid.
33, 2 ; Reland, Ant. Hebr. iv 15 ; Hershon, Talm.
Misc. p. 146), count the night as the first
portion of the civil day ; though it must be
admitted that Delitzsch [1887] and Dillmann"
agree in considering Gen. i. 5 as reckoning
after the Babylonian practice from morning
to morning. Others (cp. Godwin's Moses and
Aaron) argue from Matt, xxviii. 1, Luke
xxiii. 54, that they began their civil day
in the morning ; but the expression iiritputr-
Kovtrg * shows that the natural day is there

xiii. 14, quoted again in Acts xiii. 22), where it merely
indicates a man whom God will approve, in distinction
from Saul who was rejected. A much stronger and
more peculiar commendation of David is that contained
in 1 K. xv. 3-5, and implied in Ps. lxxxix. 20-28.
a For the phrase cp. Herod, iii. 86, ap' fipepn tie
SitHputrKovoyi. McClellan (The New Testament, ad loc.)
renders tq eiri<2>ta)cneovarfl ets v-iav ara^fSa.Tfjjv " on the

DAY •
intended. Hence the expressions "evening-
morning'' = day (1J53 3TJ, Dan. viii. 14;
LXX. vuxBipepov; also 2 Cor. xi. 25), the
Hindoo ahoratra (Von Bohlen on Sen. i. 4),
and vuxBfoepov (2 Cor. xi. 25). There was a
similar custom among the Athenians, Arabians,
and ancient Teutons (Tac. Germ, xi., "nee
dierum numerum ut apud nos, sed noetium
computant . . . nox ducere diem videtur ") and
Celtic nations (Caes. de B. G. vi. 18, "ut
noctem dies subsequatur "). This mode of
reckoning was widely spread ; it is found in the
Roman law (Gaius, i. 112), in the Niebelungen-
lied, in the Salic law (inter decern nodes), in our
own terms " fort-night," " seven-nii/Ais " (see
Orelli, &c. Tac. in loco), and even among the
Siamese ("they reckon by nights," Bowring,
i. 137) and New Zealanders (Taylor's Te-Ika-
Maui, p. 20). No doubt this arose from the
general notion " that the first day in Eden was
36 hours long " (Lightfoot's Works, ii. 334, ed.
Pitman ; Hes. Theogon. 123 ; Aristoph. Av. 693) ;
Kalisch plausibly refers it to the use of lunar
years (Gen. p. 67 ; cp. Ps. civ. 19).
But it has, says Deutsch (Kitto's Cyclop.' s. n.),
always been a moot point whether the Hebrews,
at all times and in all respects, began their
calendar or civil day with the night. Some
times they reckoned from sunrise (ripepovinriov :
cp. Ps. i. 2; Lev. vii. 15). Deutsch quotes
Mishnah Chulin, v. 6, to show that " ritually no
general rule had ever been laid down as to the
commencement of the civil day ; " and says that
even now a Hebrew letter written on Saturday
night would be dated either K>'D, "end of
Sabbath," or 'X D1^> 11X, "eve of the first
day." The Jews are supposed, like the modern
Arabs, to have adopted from an early period
minute specifications of the parts of the natural
day. Roughly indeed they were content to
divide it into " morning, evening, and noonday "
(Ps. lv. 17) ; but when they wished for greater
accuracy they divided the day into six unequal
parts, each of which was again subdivided. The
alleged distinctions are however so slight as to
be barely perceptible, and the expressions vary
in meaning. They are : —
I. t\#} (from f\Pi, " to blow ") and 1W.
or "the dawn." Nesheph is however also
used for "evening "(Job xxiv. 15) and "night"
(Is. xxi. 4). After their acquaintance with
Persia they divided this into, (a) the time
when the eastern, and (6) when the western
horizon was illuminated, like the Greek Leu-
cothea (Matuta) and Aurora; or "the gray
dawn" (Milton) and the rosy dawn. Hence
we find the dual Shaharaim as a proper name
(I Ch. viii. 8). The writers of the Talmud
(see Shabbath, f. 34, 2) divide the dawn into
four parts, of which the first was Aijeleth
hasshachar, " the gazelle of the morning "
(M.V.11), the Aurora [Aijeleth Shahar], a
name by which the Arabians call the sun (cp.

eve of the first day of the week," and gives various
arguments and references to support the view that
e-Kvp&TKoviTo. is used of " the whole interval between sun
set and next sunrise, as preparatory to tho expected
light of the morrow." See further Casaubon, Exerc.
Antibaron. p. 416, and Schleusner, Lex. N. T., e. v.

DAY
"eyelids of the dawn," Job iii. 9; ap.epas BXe-
tpspov, Soph. Antig. 109). This was the time
when Christ arose (Mark xvi. 2 ; John xx. 1 ;
Eev. xxii. 16 ; V iiritpua-Kovai), Matt, xxviii. 1).
The other three divisions of the dawn were,
(2) "when one can distinguish blue from
white " (irput, CKOTias <?ti o8ot)s, John xx. 1 ;
"obscurum adhuc coeptae lucis," Tac. Hist. iv.
2). At this time they began to recite the
phylacteries. (3) Cum lucescit oriens (SpBpos
BaBvs, Luke). (4) Oriente sole (Xlav irput,
ivarelXavTos tou i)Xiov, Mark xvi. 2 ; Lightfoot,
Hor. Hebr. ad Marc. xvi. 2. In the Mishnah
the phrase for twilight is niB'DK'n J»3).
II. "1J53, " sunrise." Some suppose that the
Jews, like other Oriental nations, commenced
their civil day at this time until the Exodus
(Jennings' Jewish Ant.).
III. Di»n DPI, "heat ofthe day " (?aj SieBep-
pAvB-e t) f?ruepa, LXX.), about 9 o'clock.
IV. OnnV, "the two noons" (Gen. xliii. 16 ;
Deut. xxviii. 29).
V. DVD ID-!, "the cool (lit. icind) of the
day," before sunset (Gen. iii. 8); so called by
the Persians to this day (Chardin, Voy. iv. 8 ;
Jahn, Arch. Bibl. § 29).
VI. 3TT, "evening." The phrase "between
the two evenings" (Ex. xvi. 12, xxx. 8), being
the time marked for slaying the Paschal lamb
and offering the evening sacrifice (Ex. xii. 6,
xxix. 39), led to a dispute between the Karaites
and Samaritans on the one hand, and the
Pharisees on the other. The former took it to
mean between sunset and full darkness (Deut.
xvi. 6); the Rabbinists explained it as the time
between the beginning (SeiXti irpuia, "little
evening") and end of sunset (5. oipla, or real
sunset : Shabbath, f. 34, 2 ; Jos. B. J. vi. 9, § 3 ;
Gesen. t. v. ; Jahn, Arch. Bibl. § 101 ; Bochart,
Hieroz. i. p. 558).
Since the Sabbaths were reckoned from sunset
to sunset (Lev. xxiii. 32), the Sabbatarian
Pharisees, in that spirit of scrupulous supersti
tion which so often called forth the rebukes of
our Lord, were led to settle the minutest rules
for distinguishing the actual instant when the
Sabbath began (otj/ia, Matt. viii. 16 = %Te etiv 6
tjXios, Mark). They therefore divided the time
between the actual sunset and the appearance
of three stars (Maimon. in S/iabb., cap. 5 ; cp.
Neh. iv. 21, 22), and the Talmudists decided
that " if on the evening of the Sabbath a man
did any work after one star had appeared, he
was forgiven ; if after the appearance of two,
he must offer a sacrifice for a doubtful trans
gression; if after three stars were visible, he
must offer a sin-offering:" the order being
reversed for works done on the evening after
the actual Sabbath (Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr. ad
Matt. viii. 16 ; Otho, Lex. Rab. s. v. Sibbathum).
The necessity for such minute directions, in the
absence of dials, &c, is illustrated by the story
that once, on a cloudy afternoon, the Jews went
to the Sabbath evening prayers by mistake
some hours before sunset. Rabbi Judah decided
that the prayer was not to be repeated
(Berachoth, f. 27, 6; Schwab, p. 332).
Before the Captivity the Jews divided the
night into three watches (Ps. lxiii. 6 ; xc. 4) :
viz. the first watch, lasting till midnight (Lam.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

DAY

737

ii. 19, A. V. and R. V. " the beginning of tho
watches ") = apxv vukt4s ; tho " middle watch "
(which proves the statement), lasting till cock
crow (Judg. vii. 19) = piaov vuktuv; and the
morning watch, lasting till sunrise (Ex. xiv. 24)
= aptpiXvmi viif (Hom. II. vii. 433). These
divisions were probably connected with tho
Levitical duties in the Temple service. The
Jews, however, say (in spite of their own
definition, "a watch is the third part of the
night ") that they always had four night-watches
(cp. Neh. ix. 3), but that the fourth was
counted as a part of the morning (Buxtorfs
Lex. Talm. s. v. ; Carpzov. Appar. Crit p. 347 \
Reland, iv. 18).
In the N. T. we have allusions to four
watches, a division borrowed from the Greeks
(Herod, ix. 51) and Romans (tpvXaKr), Tb Terap-
tov pepos tt)s wkt6s, Suid.). These were :
1. oife, btyla, or iif/ta i&pa, from twilight till
9 o'clock (Mark xi. 11 ; John xx. 19); 2. pecro-
viiKTiov, midnight, from 9 till 12 o'clock (Mark
xiii. 35) ; 3. aXeKropotpuvia, till 3 in the morning
(Mark xiii. 35, air. Xey. ; 3 Mace. v. 23) •,
4. irpui, till daybreak, the same as irputa (upa)
(John xviii. 28 ; Jos. Ant. v. 6, § 5, xviii. 9y
§6). The word held to mean " hour " is first found
in Dan. iii. 6, 15 ; v. 5 (Sha'ah, i"ll?E5>, also " a
while," iv. 19, R. V.). Perhaps the Jews, like the
Greeks, learnt from the Babylonians the division
of the day into twelve parts (Herod, ii. 109). In
our Lord's time the division was common (John
xi. 9). In the Talmud the day is divided into
four parts of three hours each (Aboda Zara,
f. 3). It is probable that Ahaz introduced the
first sundial from Babylon (&pox6yiov, TVOVti,
Is. xxxviii. 8; 2 K. xx. 11), as Anaximenes did
the first c-KidB-npov into Greece (Jahn, Arch.
§ 101). Possibly the Jews at a later period
adopted the clepsydra. The third, sixth, and
ninth hours were devoted to prayer (Dan..
vi. 10 ; Acts ii. 15, iii. 1, &c).
On the Jewish way of counting their week
days from the Sabbath, see Lightfoot's Works,.
ii. 334, ed. Pitman. [Week.]
By the Jewish rule of inclusive counting,
" one day of a year is counted as a whole
year " (Rosh Hashana, f. 2, 2). Hence if a
king were crowned on Adar 29, on the next day
(Nisan 1) he would be said to begin the second
year of his reign. So, too, "part of a day is
equivalent to a whole day " (Moed Katoru,
f. 17, 2). This must be borne in mind when
we read such passages as Matt. xii. 40. The
Jews had no names for the days of the week,
but numbered them from the Sabbath.
The word " day " is used of a festal day (Hos.
vii. 5) ; a birthday (Job iii. 1) ; a day of ruin
(Hos. i. 11; Job xviii. 20; cp. tempus, tern-
pora reipublicae, Cic, and dies Cannensis) ; the
judgment-day (Joel i. 15; 1 Thess. v. 2);
the kingdom of Christ (John viii. 56; Rom.
xiii. 12) ; and in other senses which are mostly
self-explaining. In 1 Cor. iv. 3, inrb avBpu-
irivns fipepas is rendered "of man's judgment."
Jerome, ad Algas. Quaest. x., considers this a
Cilicism (Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 471). Grotius
compares it with the phrases diem dicere, &c.,.
and regards it as a Latinism [Daysman].
Others, referring to Jer. xvii. 16, think that it
3 B

738

DAY'S JOUItNEY

may be a Hebraism. On the prophetic or year-
day system (Lev. xxv. 3, 4; Num. xiv. 34;
Ezek. iv. 2-6, &c), see a treatise in Elliot's
Hor. Apoc. iii. 154 sq. The expression iiriou-
criov, rendered " daily " in Matt. vi. 11, is an
air. Xey., and has been much disputed. It is
'unknown to classical Greek (eoiKe ireirXdtrBai
uirb tuv EuayyeXtffTuv, Orig. Orat. 16). The
Vulg. has supersubstantialem, a rendering
recommended by Abelard to the nuns of the
Paraclete. Theophyl. explains it as S iirl Trj
.ivaia «al o-utTTdtrei rjpuv auTapKf)s, and he is
tfollowed by most commentators (cp. Chrysost.
Hom. in Or. Domin. ; Suid. and Etym. M. s. v.).
Salmasius, Grotius, &c, arguing from the
rendering "lflD in the Nazarene Gospel, translate
it as though it were = ty)s iiriovtrris Tjpepas, or
els aiipiov (Sixt. Senensis Bibl. Sanct. p. 444 a).
it is not possible here to enter into the questions
as to the etymology of the phrase, whether
¦from iirl and ovaia, meaning " for sustenance,"
¦whether physical or spiritual (which would
rather require eirovtrios) ; or from t) iiriovtxa
¦ (r)p.epa), meaning " for the coming day ; " or
from 6 iiriuv, meaning " bread for the future
' life.*' If the second view be correct, the prayer
is a, prayer for our continual sustenance by the
merciful providence of God ; if the third, it is a
prayer for spiritual food. But see the question
examined at full length (after Tholuck) iu
Alford's Greek Test, ad loc. ; Schleusner, Lex.
;s. v.; Wetstein, N. T. A. p. 461, &c. The
meaning of Tbv &pTov rip-uv Tbv iiriouffiov has
recently been elaborately examined by McClellan
¦ (New Testament, pp. 632-647), who arrives at
"the conclusion that it means " bread proper for
the future world," i.e. " our bread of life eter-
mal," and regards the rendering "daily" as
¦" the one which is most manifestly and utterly
condemned : " and by Bishop Lightfoot (On a
fresh Revision, pp. 195-234), who decides that
"" the familiar rendering ' daily ' is a fairly
adequate representation of the original, nor does
the English language furnish any one word
which would answer the purpose so well."
¦ See Mansel and Cook's note in Speaker's Comm.
¦in loco. [Chronolo&y.] [F. W. F.]
DAY'S JOURNEY. An expression signi
fying not so much a recognised distance tra-
¦versed as the time occupied in the journey (Gen.
xxxi. 23; Ex. iii. 18 ; Num. xi. 31 ; Deut. i. 2 ;
1 K. xix. 4 ; 2 K. iii. 9 ; Jonah iii. 3, 4 ; Luke
ii. 44; Acts i. 12). No uniformity is to be
¦¦expected in such a matter. A " day's journey "
to a solitary traveller on a level plain would be
ii different thing from that of a caravan with
women and children, with mules and camels,
«veT mountains and valleys. It can only be
-generally affirmed that a man travelling at
-3 miles an hour for six to eight hours would
make a clay's journey of 18 to 24 miles, and a
•samel at 2J miles one of 15 to 20 miles. [F.]
DAYSMAN, an old English term, meaning
umpire or arbitrator (Job ix. 33 ; see marg.).
It is derived from day, in the specific sense of a
¦Jay fixed for a trial (cp. 1 Cor. iv. 3, where iv-
QponrlvTi i)pepa — lit. man's day, and so given in
Wycliffe's translation — is rendered " man's
Judgment" in the A. V. and R. V.). Similar ex
pressions occur in German (eine sache tagen=

DEACON
to bring a matter before a court of justice) and
other Teutonic languages. The word "days
man" is found in Spenser's Faerie Queene, ii.
c. 8, in the Bible of 1551 (1 Sam. ii. 25), and
in other works of the same age. [W. L. B.]
DEACON (titaKovos; diaconus). The office
described by this title appears in the N. T. as
the correlative of eiricKOTros [Bishop]. As a
nomen officii it is confined to Philip, i. 1 ; 1 Tim.
iii. 8, 12 ; and Rom. xvi. 1 [see Deaconess],
though the word is used frequently in other
passages in reference to Christian ministers, but
in no such strict official sense (see Eph. iii. 7,
vi. 21 ; Col. i. 7, 23, iv. 7, &c). In the LXX. it is
curiously enough confined to the Book of Esther,
in which it stands three times as the rendering
of nX'P (Esth. i. 10 ; ii. 2 ; vi. 3). [It is true
that Is. lx. 17 is quoted by Clement of Rome
(ad Cor. xiii.) as follows : — Karao-r^tra tovs
iirio-K6irovs avTuv iv tiiKaiotrvvg Kai Tobs Siok6-
vovs avTuv ev iriaTet, and is thus applied to the
Christian ministry ; but the introduotion of the
StdKovot is simply due to mistranslation, the
LXX. being titio-u Toils dpxovTds trov iv eipJivr,
teal Tobs iiritTKOTtovs trov ev titKaiotrvvn. The
text is similarly applied hy Irenaeus (adv. Haer.
iv. 26. 5), but quoted from the LXX. correctly.]
The narrative of Acts vi. is commonly referred
to as giving the account of the institution of
this office. The Apostles, in order to meet the
complaints of the Hellenistic Jews that their
widows were neglected in the daily ministration
(titaKovia), called on the body of believers to choose
seven men "full of the spirit and of wisdom"
whom they (i.e. the Apostles) might " appoint
over this business." The seven were accordingly
selected by the "whole multitude," and set
before the Apostles, from whom they received
their commission, with prayer and the laying on
of hands (v. 6). The duties of the seven as
gathered from this passage were to serve tables
(5iaKove7v Tpairefats), to attend to the distribu
tion of the alms of the Church in money or in
kind, while the ministry of the word (t) titaKovia
tov Xoyou) was reserved for the Apostles.
It is, however, noticeable that nowhere in the
narrative are the " seven " called " deacons,"
and where Philip is mentioned again in xxi.
8 he is not spoken of as Philip the Deacon, but
as " Philip the evangelist, which was one of
the seven." It has also been thought that the
gifts implied in the words " full of the spirit and
of wisdom" are higher than those required for the
office of a Deacon in 1 Tim. iii. ; and accordingly
it has been inferred that we meet in this narra
tive with the record of a special institution to
meet u, special emergency, and that the seven
we're not Deacons in the later sense of the term,
but (I) commissioners who were to superintend
those that did the work of Deacons, prototypes
of the later Archdeacons (Stanley, Apost. Age,
p. 62, and E. H. P. in the 1st ed. of this Dic
tionary), or (2) the first elders, the office origin
ally instituted for a single and quite special need
being " afterwards gradually enlarged into the
office of elder " (Ulhorn, Christian Charity in the
Ancient Church, p. 76).
On this view the origin of the diaconate must
be sought for at a still earlier period, and the
germs of the office might plausibly be traced in
the mention of the vetirepoi and veavio-KOi of

UJiAUON
Acts v. 6, 10, who were perhaps not merely the
younger men, but persons occupying a distinct
position and exercising distinct functions. In
spite, however, of this, it is believed that the
following reasons are sufficient to establish the
identity of the office whose creation St. Luke
records in Acts vi. with the later diaconate : —
(1) Although the title Siokovos does not occur,
yet the corresponding verb and substantive,
tiioxove'iv and tiiajcovta, are both used (vv. 1, 2).
(2) " The functions are substantially those which
devolved on the Deacons of the earliest ages, and
which still in theory, although not altogether
in practice, form the primary duties of the
office " (Lightfoot on Phil. p. 186). (3) From the
position of the narrative in the Acts, and the
emphasis with which it is recorded, it has been
inferred that St. Luke regarded the establish
ment of the office, •' not as an isolated incident,
but as the initiation of a new order of things in
tbe Church." (4) Tradition is unanimous as to
the identity of the two offices, and that from
the earliest times. Irenaeus (the first author
who alludes to them) speaks of both Nicolas
and Stephen as ordained " to the diaconate "
(ail diaconium : adv. Haer. I. xxiii.; iv. xxvi.),
and elsewhere speaks of Stephen as "primus
diaconus" (m. xii. 13). So also Hippolytus and
Cyprian in the following century, and later
writers; and for some centuries the Roman
Church restricted the number of Deacons to
seven, thus preserving the memory of the first
institution of the office (see the letter of
Cornelius in Euseb. H. E. vi. ch. xliii. ; and cp.
Sozomen, H. E. vii. ch. xix.), while the 15th
Canon of Xeo-Caesarea says distinctly : t" Even
in the largest towns there must be, according to
the rule, no more than seven Deacons. This
may be proved from the Acts of the Apostles."
[The limitation did not always remain in force.
Cp. Euseb. H. E. n. ch. i., n. 2 a ; VI. ch. xliii.,
u. 18, edd. Wace and Schaff.]
Taking, then, the account in Acts vi. as de
scribing the creation of the office, we have to
inquire :
I. Whether it can be traced to any previous
organization. II. How it spread from Jerusalem to other
Churches. III. What were the qualifications and func
tions of those appointed to it.
I. It has been thought that the office of
Deacon may find its prototype in the organiza
tion of the Jewish synagogue, just as does the
office of the Christian Presbyter. As the con
stitution of the Jewish synagogue had its
elders (D*3j5t) or pastors (t'DJnB), so also it
had its subordinate officer (J'Tr"l), the iirrjpeVrjs
of Luke iv. 20, whose work it was to give the
reader the roll containing the lessons for the
days, to clean the synagogue, and to open and
close it at the right time [see Synagogue]. It
has sometimes been thought that this office may
have suggested the institution of the Christian
diaconate. It should, however, be noticed that
(a) as a rule there was but one chazzan to each
synagogue; (6) the Greek word used for this
official by St. Luke in his Gospel is not tiidKovos
but mtipems (Luke iv. 20) ; (o) the duties of
the chazzan are analogous to those of the modern
parish clerk rather than to those of the primi
tive Deacon ; and, further, (d) the length at

DEACON

739

which St. Luke dwells upon the institution,
when contrasted with the silence with which
he passes over the origin of the presbyterate,
may not unfairly lie taken as an indication that
he regards it as "not merely new within tho
Christian Church, but novel absolutely " (Lightf.
on Phil. p. 187). We conclude, therefore, that
the office of which Acts vi. gives us the origin
was one which was entirely new. It is, how
ever, not impossible that the number seven may
have been suggested by the analogy of the
septem viri epulones at l'ome. These were a
body of seven men appointed to relieve the
poiitifices and preside over the heathen religious
banquets, which were to some extent analogous
to the Christian agapae. This institution would
of course be familiar to the Libertini of the
Imperial city (cp. Acts vi. 9), and may perhaps
account for the long-continued limitation of the
Deacons of the Roman Church to the original
number (cp. Plumptre's Biblical Studies, p. 356).
II. For tracing the spread of the diaconate
from the mother Church at Jerusalem to the
various Churches of the Gentile world our mate
rials are but scanty, and we are forced to be
content" with incidental allusions which appear
to bear witness to the gradual extension of the
office as the Church enlarged her borders. In
1 Cor. xii. 28, St. Paul, when enumerating the
various offices and gifts in the Church, mentions
among others " helps " (avTiX-frtpeis), in which
expression some have found a definite ¦ allusion
to the diaconate. Less doubtful is the refer
ence to " ministration " (SiaKovia) in Rom. xii.
7, while a woman-deacon belonging to the Church
of Cenchreae is mentioned by name in xvi. 1
[see Deaconess]. Again, a very probable allu
sion to the office is found in 1 Pet. iv. 11, "If
any man ministereth (et tis StaKovei), ministering
as of the strength which God supplieth ; " while
in Philip, i.l the Deacons are recognised together
with the imcrKOTroi as constituting the two resi
dent orders of ministers at Philippi. By the
date of the Pastoral Epistles we find the office
still more securely fixed. In 1 Tim. iii. 8 sq.
St. Paul gives full directions with regard to the
qualifications of those appointed to it, and from
the language used it is evident that " in the
Christian communities of proconsular Asia, at
all events, the institution was so common that
ministerial organization would be considered in
complete without it " (Lightf. on Phil. p. 189).
But at the same time it must be noticed that in
the Epistle to Titus there is no mention of the
order ; a fact which serves to mark the gradual
extension of the office. The Church at Ephesus,
which had been planted for some years and had
taken firm root, possessed it, while in the newly
organized Church of Crete it was apparently
not considered indispensable.
These are all the notices of the diaconate in
the New Testament. It does not fall within the
province of this article to trace out its later his-
torv. It will be sufficient to point out that it
is recognised as one of the orders of the Church
by Clement of Rome (I. ch. xiii.), who, as we have
seen, connects it with Is. lx. 17 ; in the Aitiap}
tuv titiitieKa airoo-T6Xuv (ch. xv.); in Ignatius
(ad Polyc. vi., &c), Polycarp (ad Phil, v.), and
all later writers who deal with the subject of
the Christian ministry (see Dictionary of Chris
tian Antiquities, art. " Deacon "). 3 B 2

740

DEACONESS

III. The moral qualifications described in
1 Tim. iii. as necessary for the office of a Deacon
are, to a great extent, the same as those of the
Bishop. The same purity aud sobriety of life is
required of each (ptcis yvvatKbs &vtipa . . . p.r)
oXvtp iroXXip TrpoffexoVTa, cp. prj irdpoivov, v. 3)
the same power of influence at home (t4kvuv
KaXiis irpottrTdpevos, v. 12, cp. v. 4); the same
absence of the love of money (in; aiffxpoKeptieis.
So of the Bishop in Titus i. 7 : in 1 Tim. iii. 3
the word is an interpolation, but cp. iupiXdp-
yvpov). We notice, however, that the Deacons
were not required to be " given to hospitality,"
nor to be " apt to teach." It was enough for
them to " hold the mystery of the faith in a
pure conscience." In their behaviour they were
to be trepvoi, and in their dealings with others
pr] StXoyot. On offering themselves for their
work they were to be subject to a strict scrutiny
(1 Tim. iii. 10), and if this ended satisfactorily
were to enter upon their duties.
Their office was primarily that of the relief of
the poor, the "serving of tables" in the "daily
ministration." As the Church spread and this
" daily ministration " became an impossibility,
they naturally dropped into the position of
almoners of the community (see Dict. of Christ.
Antiq. i. 528). Hence the qualifications on
which St. Paul lays stress in their case are those
which would be most important, not, as in the
case of elders, in those who have to teach, but in
those who were to move about from house to
house, entrusted with the distribution of alms.
It does not appear to have belonged to the office
of a Deacon to teach publicly in the Church.
The possession of any special xfyivpa would
lead naturally to a higher work and office, but
the idea that the diaconate was but a proba
tion, through which a man had to pass before he
could be an elder or Bishop, was foreign to the
constitution of the Church of the 1st century.
Whatever countenance it may receive from the
common patristic interpretation of 1 Tim. iii. 13
(cp. Estius and Hammond in loco), there can be
little doubt (as all the higher order of expositors
have felt : cp. Wiesinger and Ellicott in loco) that
when St. Paul speaks ofthe KaXbs BaBpis, which
is gained by those who " do the office of a Deacon
well, "he refers to the honour which belongs essen
tially to the lower work, not to that which they
were to find in promotion to a higher. Traces
of the primitive constitution and of the per
manence of the diaconate are found even in the
more developed system of which we find the
commencement in the Ignatian Epistles. Ori
ginally the Deacons had been the helpers of the
Bishop-elder of a Church of a given district.
When the two names of the latter title were
divided and the Bishop presided, the Deacons
appear to have been dependent directly on him,
and not on the Presbyters ; and, as being his
ministers, the " eyes and ears of the Bishop "
(Const. Apost. ii. 44), were tempted to set them
selves up against the elders. Hence the neces
sity of laws like those of Cone. Nic. c. 18 ; Cone.
Carth. iv. o. 37, enjoining greater humility, and
hence probably the strong language of Ignatius
as to the reverence due to Deacons (Ep. ad Trail,
c. 3 ; ad Smyrn. c. 8). [E. H. P.] [E. C. S. G.]
DEACONESS (StdKovo s. The word tiiaKovitra-a
is post-Biblical. It occurs in Const. Apost. III.

DEACONESS
ch. xv. [as a doubtful reading], and again in vi.
ch. xvii., vm. ch. xxx. In Cone. Nic. u. 19 the
reading is doubtful. Aiukovos is still used in
Cone. Chalcedon. c. 15 ; Sozomen, H. E. iv. ch.
xiv., &c. ; and Theodoret, II. ch. xiv.). The wori
SiaKovos is found in Rom. xvi. 1 associated with
a female name (" Phoebe . . . quae est in minis-
terio ecclesiae," Vulg.) ; and this has led to the
conclusion that there existed in the apostolic
age, as there undoubtedly did a little later
(Pliny, Ep. ad Traj. x. 97, " ancillae . . . quae
ministrae dicebantur "), an order of women bear
ing that title, and exercising in relation to their
own sex functions which were analogous to
those of the Deacons. On this hypothesis it has
been inferred that the women mentioned in
Rom. xvi. 6, 12, belonged to such an order
(Herzog, RE.2 " Diakonissa "). The rules given
as to the conduct of women in 1 Tim. iii. 11,
Tit. ii. 3, have in like manner been referred to
them, and they have even been identified with
the " widows " of 1 Tim. v. 3-10.
In some of these instances, however, it seems
scarcely doubtful that writers have transferred
to the earliest age of the Church the organiza
tion of a later. It was of course natural that
the example recorded in Luke viii. 2, 3, should
be followed by others, even when the Lord was
no longer with His disciples. The new life
which pervaded the whole Christian society
(Acts ii. 44, 45 ; iv. 32) would lead women as
well as men to devote themselves to labours of
love. The strong feeling that the true BpntrKeia.
of Christians consisted in " visiting the father
less and the widow " (Jas. i. 27) would make
this the special duty of those who were best
fitted to undertake it. The social relations of
the sexes in the cities of the empire (cp. Grotius
on Rom. xvi. 1) would make it fitting that the
agency of women should be employed largely
in the direct personal application of Christian
truth (Tit. ii. 3, 4), possibly iu the preparation
of female catechumens. Even the later organi
zation may be thought to imply the previous
existence of the germs out of which it was
developed. It may be questioned, however,
whether all the passages referred to above allude
to a recognised body bearing a distinct name.
Much perplexity surrounds the question of the
" widows," of whom two classes are distinctly
recognised in 1 Tim. v. [see Widows]; but
there are very strong objections against the
view of Schleiermacher, Mack, Schaff, and others,
which identifies the enrolled widows of «. 9
with the deaconesses : for (a) there is not a
particle of evidence that deaconesses and x*IPat
are synonymous terms, and (h) the age fixed for
admission, sixty, is wholly incompatible with
the active duties which must have belonged to
the office of the deaconess (see below, and cp.
Ellicott in loco). In Tit. ii. 3-5 the directions
aro evidently not to officials, but to the elder
and younger women generally, as in vv. 1 and 2
to aged men and in vv. 6-9 to younger men. In
1 Tim. iii. 11, however, it is probable that the
reference is more definite, and that the order of
deaconesses is alluded to (Chrys. and most
moderns, including Lightfoot and Ellicott). The
only alternative is to understand the charge of
the Apostle as referring to the wives of the
Deacons ; and against this the following reasons
appear conclusive : (a) the omission of aliruv ;

DEAD SEA
(b) the expression uo-avrus (cp. v. 8), which
seems to mark a new ecclesiastical class ; (c) the
injunction concerning Deacons in v. 12, which
hardly looks as if their wives had been mentioned
before; (d) the absence of any notice of the
wives of the iirttrKoiroi in rv. 1-7 ; and (e) the
omission of any special notice of domestic duties
(see further Ellicott in loco). There remain the
notices in Rom. xvi. 1, 6, 12. Of these the last
two are perfectly general, and may or may not
refer to deaconesses. The first, while clearly
implying the existence of the office, tells us
nothing of the functions of those who filled it.
These are all the passages in which it is
possible to discover any trace of the office ; and
it will be seen from them how slight and frag
mentary our knowledge of it is. The qualifica
tions of deaconesses are laid down in 1 Tim.
iii, 11. They were to be, like the Deacons,
" grave " (treuval), " not slanderers " (pii Sid-
BoXot, answering to the pii SiX6yot ofthe Deacons,
,"as the vice to which the female sex is more
addicted," Alf.), " temperate " (vntpdXioi, answer
ing to pr) oivu iroXX$ irpotrex.), and " faithful in
all things" (ir«TTal iv trao-tv, answering to pi)
attrxpoKepSeis). With regard to their duties
nothing definite is anywhere said in the N. T.,
and it is not safe to argue back from those
undertaken by the deaconesses of the later
Church, since the institution in its primitive
form appears to have been almost confined to
the apostolic age. There is, it is true, the
certain allusion to them at the very beginning
of the 2nd century in the letter of Pliny to
Trajan, but apart from this there is no mention
of the female diaconate outside the N. T. till
the very end of the 3rd century, though the
order of widows is frequently alluded to. The
apostolic Fathers are all silent as to the office :
so are Tertullian and Cyprian. Origen has
nothing to say of it in his exposition of Rom.
xvi. 1, nor does he mention it in his enumeration
of Church dignitaries (in Luc. Hom. 17 : cp.
Ohlhorn's Christian Charity in the Ancient
Church, p. 166). At the close of the 3rd cen
tury the institution was apparently revived in
the East ; but where the interval is so great, it
would be highly precarious to transfer to the
office in the apostolic age the functions assigned
to it under the later ecclesiastical system. We
are left then to conjecture what the duties of
the office may have been from the qualifications
required of those who undertook it. From these
it may fairly be inferred (a) that tHeir service
included the visitation of the members of the
Church in their homes, on which account the
Apostle requires them not to be slanderers,
carrying gossip from house to house ; and (b)
that they had some share in the distribution of
alms, whence he specially enjoins them to be
"faithful in all things" (cp. Uhlhorn, p. 79).
Beyond this there is nothing whatever to be
gathered from the N. T. [For the later history
of the order, see Dict. of Christ. Antiq., art.
"Deaconess."] [E. H. P.] [E. C. S. G.]
DEAD SEA. This name nowhere occurs in
the Bible, and appears not to have existed until
the 2nd century after Christ. It originated in
an erroneous opinion, and there can be little
doubt that to the name is due in a great measure
the mistakes and misrepresentations which were

DEB1E

741

for so long prevalent regarding this lake, and
which have not indeed yet wholly ceased to
exist. In the 0. T. the lake is called " the Salt Sea "
and "the Sea of the Plain" (Arabah); and
under the former of these names it will be found
described [Salt Sea]. [G.] [W.I
DEAETH. [Famine.]
DEBI'E, the name of three places in Palestine.
!• 0^\ b«t in Judg. and Ch. T^H, hinder
part, as of a temple, and hence the sanctuary,
Ges.; BA. AaBelp; Dabir), a town in the
mountains of Judah (Josh. xv. 49), one of a
group of eleven cities to the west of Hebron. In
the narrative it is mentioned as being the next
place which Joshua took after Hebron (x. 38).
It was the seat of a king (x. 39, xii. 13), and was
one of the towns of the Anakim, from which
they were utterly destroyed by Joshua (xi. 21).
The earlier name of Debir was Kirjath-sepher,
" city of book " (Josh. xv. 15; Judg. i. 11), and
Kirjath-sannah, " city of palm " (Josh. xv. 49).
The records of its conquest vary, though not
very materially. In Josh. xv. 17 and Judg. i. 13
a detailed account is given of its capture by
Othniel son of Kenaz, for love of Achsah the
daughter of Caleb, while in the general history
of the conquest it is ascribed to the great com
mander himself (Josh. x. 38, 39). In the last
two passages the name is given in the Hebrew
text as Debirah (ITU^). lt was one of the cities
given with their "suburbs" (BHJO) to the
priests (Josh. xxi. 15 ; 1 Ch. vi. 58). Debir
does not appear to have been known to Jerome,
and it has only been identified in modern times.
Ewald (Gesch. ii. 373, note) appears to derive
the name from 127, "an oracle or adytum."
He takes it to indicate a position " on the back,
i.e. the S. or S.W. slopes of the mountains," and
identifies the place with edh- Dhdheriyeh, a large
village, with ancient cave dwellings, wells and
cisterns, which stands high on a flat ridge, on
the right bank of W. el-Khulil, In the list of
cities in Josh. xv. 49, 50, Debir follows Socoh
(Shuweikeh) and Dannah (Idhna), and precedes
Anab ('Andb) and Eshtemoa (es-Semu'a) ; edh-
Dhdheriyeh is situated between these places,
and its identification with Debir is accepted by
Conder (PEF. Mem. iii. 402, 407) and Tristram
(Bible Places, p. 61). The " upper and the nether
springs" may be found in the W. ed-Dilbeh, a
valley to the north of edh- Dhdheriyeh. In
striking contrast to the general aridity of the
south couutry, fourteen springs, divided into
three groups, feed a stream that runs for three
or four miles through a succession of small
gardens (PEF. Mem. iii. 302). In this valley
Van de Velde (Mem. p. 307) places Debir. About
three miles to the W. of Hebron is a deep and
secluded valley called the Wddy Nunkur, enclosed
on the north by hills of which one bears a name
certainly suggestive of Debir, — Dewir-ban (see
the narrative of Rosen in the Zcitsch. D. M. G.
1857, pp. 50-64). Felix Fabri (Evag. ed. Hassler,
ii. 338) heard of a place near this valley called
Debir ; and Schwarz (p. 86) speaks of a Wddy
Dibir in this direction. This position, however,
seems too far N. to meet the requirements of
the narrative.

742

DEBIE

It has been assumed from the name Kirjath-
sepher that the Canaanites were acquainted with
writing aud books ; and Quatremere (/. des Sav.
1842, p. 513) considers that their archives were
kept in the place : he instances as parallels the
preservation of the Persian records (Ezra vi. 1,2),
and of the Phoenician records at Tyre ; and to
these are to be added the libraries of Babylon.
2. ("D*1! ', irtl rb TeTpaprov ttjs tpdpayyos
'Axtbp ; Debera), a place on the north boundary
of Judah, near the " valley of Achor " (Josh. xv.
7), and therefore somewhere in the complications
of hill and ravine behind Jericho. A trace of
the name mav be retained in Thoghret ed-Debr,
" the pass of the rear," not far from Khan
Hathrurah, on the Jerusalem-Jericho road ; or
perhaps in W. ed-Dubbdr, near Neby Musa. Cp.
Dillmann2 iu loco.
3. The " border (7-13JI) of Debir " is named
as forming part of the boundary of Gad (Josh.
xiii. 26), and apparently as an eastern limit in
contradistinction to Mahanaim, which was
situated on the western edge of the highland
above the Jordan valley ; cp. " Heshbon unto
Ramath-Mizpeh," which describes roughly the
N. and S. limits of the tribe. Reland (p. 734)
conjectures that the name may possibly be the
same as Lodebar (^31?), but no identification
has yet taken place (BA. AaBetp ; Dabir : R. V.
marg. Lidebir). Lying in the grazing country
on the high downs east of Jordan, the name
may be derived from "D1!, Dabar, the same
Word which is the root of Midbar, the wilder
ness or pasture (see Ges. p. 318). [Desert.]
Oliphant, Land of Gilead, p. 212, places Debir
on the N.W. frontier of Gad, near the Sea of
Tiberias. [G.] [W.]
DEBI'E (TOT; B. AaBeiv, A. AaBelp;
Dabir), king of Eglon, a town in the low country
of Judah ; one of the five kings hanged by
Joshua (Josh. a. 3, 23). [G:]
DEB'OEA (AeBBupd), a woman of Naphtali,
mother of Tobiel, the father of Tobit (Tob. i. 8).
The same name as
DEB'OEAH (rni3"7; AeB6tfa, AeBBapa;
Debbora). 1. The nurse' of Rebekah (Gen. xxxv.
8). Nurses held a high and honourable place
in ancient times, and especially in the East
(2 K. xi. 2 ; Hom. Od. i. 4'29 ; Virg. Aen. vii. 2,
"Aeneia nutrix " ; Ov. Met xiv. 441), where
they were often the principal members of the
family (2 Ch. xxii. 11 ; Jahn, Arch. Bwl. § 166).
Deborah accompanied Rebekah from the house
of Bethuel (Gen. xxiv. 59), and is only mentioned
by name on the occasion of her burial, under
the oak-tree of Bethel, which was called in her
honour Allon-Bachuth (BdXavos irevBous, LXX.).
Such spots were usually chosen for the purpose
(Gen. xxiii. 17, 18 ; 1 Sam. xxxi. 13 ; 2 K. xxi.
18, &c). If the numbers be correct, she must
have attained the great age of at least 150 years,
for she was grown up at Rebekah's birth, and
Jacob was 97 when he returned from Paran, and
was not born till twenty years after Rebekah's
marriage (Gen. xxv. 19, "26). Many have been
puzzled at finding Deborah in Jacob's family ;
it is unlikely that she was sent to summon
Jacob from Haran (as Rashi suggests), or that she

DEBOEAH
had returned during the lifetime of Rebekah and
was now coming to visit her (as Abarbanel and
others say) ; but she may very well have re
turned at Rebekah's death, and that Rebekah
was dead is probable from the omission of her name
in Gen. xxxv. 27 ; and if, according to the Jewish
legend, Jacob first heard of his mother's death
at this spot, it will be an additional reason for
the name of the tree, and may possibly be im
plied in the expression ^IP.'I, comforted, A. V.
and R. V. " blessed " (Gen.' xxxv. 9 ; see too
Ewald, Gesch. i. 390).
2. A prophetess who judged Israel (Judg. iv.
v.). Her name, i"n3'!J, means " a bee " (or <np<jt,
" a wasp "), just as MeXtaaa and Melitilla were
proper names. This name may imply nothing
whatever, being a mere appellative, derived like
Rachel (a lamb), Tamar (a palm), &c, from
natural objects ; although she was (as Corn, a
Lapide quaintly puts it) suis mellea, hostibus
aculeata. Some, however, see in the name an
official title, implying her prophetic authority.
A bee was an Egyptian symbol of regal power
(cp. Callim. Jov. 66, and Et. Mag. s. v. itro-i)v) ;
and among the Greeks and Romans the term was
applied not only to poets (more apis Matinae,
Hor.) and to those peculiarly chaste (as by the
Neoplatonists), but especially to the priestesses
of Delphi (xpritrpbs peXttrtras AeXtpltios, Pind.
P. iv. 106), Cybele, and Artemis (Creuzer, Sym-
bolik, iii. 354, &c), just as itrtrriv was to the
priests. In both these senses the name suits
her, since she was essentially a votes or seer,
combining the functions of poetry and prophecy.
She lived in the one secure spot in Palestine,
under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Ramah
and Bethel in Mount Ephraim (Judg. iv. 5).
" Such tents the patriarchs loved " (Coleridge).
So Abraham lived under the oak of Mamre, and
Saul under the pomegranate of Migron (Gen. xiv.
13 ; 1 Sam. xiv. 2). The words " she dwelt "
may mean that she sat under the palm to
deliver her judgments, just as St. Louis used to
sit under the oak at Vincennes. Since palm-
trees were rare in Palestine, this tree " is men
tioned as a well-known and solitary landmark,
and was probably the same spot as that called
(Judg. xx. 33) Baal-Tamar, or the sanctuary of
the palm " (Stanley, S. and P. p. 146). Von
Bohlen (p. 334), followed by most moderns, thinks
that this tree is the same as Allon-Bachuth
(Gen. xxxt^ 8 ; see Dillmann,5 Delitzsch [1887]),
the name and locality being nearly the same
(Ewald, .Gesch. i. 391, 405), although it is ridi
culous to say that this " may have suggested a
name for the nurse" (Havernick's Introd. toPent.
p. 201 ; Kalisch, Gen. ad loco). Tlie same critics
consider very probable the identification of the
palm-tree of Deborah and " the oak of Tabor," in
1 Sam. x. 3, where Thenius would read !"n2'!t
for inFI. It was doubtless one of the well-
known trees of Palestine, and such trees often
became surrounded with religious associations.
The Targum says, " She lived in Ataroth, having
independent means, and she had palm-trees in
Jericho, gardens in Ramah, olive-yards in the
valley, well-watered lands in Bethel, and white
clay in the King's mount."
Deborah was probably a woman of Ephraim,
although from the expression in Judg. v. 15

DEBOEAH
some suppose her to have belonged to Issachar
(Ewald, Gesch. ii. 489). The expression nt."N
HITS? (Ju^?- ""• 4) is much disputed ; it is
generally thought to mean " wife of Lapidoth,"
as in A. V. and R. V. ; but other Versions render
it "uxor principis," or " Foemina Lapidothaua"
(" that great dame of Lapidoth," Tennyson), or
mulier splendorum, i.e. one divinely illuminated,
since J"liTB? = lightnings. Those who take the
latter view refer to Is. lxii. 1 ; Job xii. 2 ; Nah.
ii. 4 ; Ecclus. xlviii. 1, which, however, prove
nothing. But the most prosaic notion is that of
the Rabbis, who take it to mean that she attended
to the Tabernacle lamps, from TB?, lappid, a
lamp! (Megilla, f. 14, Rashi). The fem. termi
nation is often found in men's names, as iu
Shelomith (1 Ch. xxiii. 9), Naboth, Koheleth,
&c. Lapidoth (or more correctly, Lappidoth)
then was probably her husband, and not Barak,
as is asserted by later Jews (Midrash Rabba
on Ruth i.).
She was not so much a judge (a title which
belongs rather to Barak, Heb. xi. 32) as one
gifted with prophetic command in a time of
despondency and confusion (Judg. iv. 6, 14, * . 7 ;
Midrash Koheleth, § 5), and by virtue of her in
spiration " a mother in Israel." Her sex would
give her additional weight, as it did to Veleda
and Alaurinia among the Germans, from an
instinctive belief in the divinity of womanhood
(Tac. Germ. viii.). Compare the instances of
Miriam, Huldah, Noadiah, Anna (2 K. xxii. 14 ;
Neh. vi. 14 ; Luke ii. 36). Among the Jews,
however, prophetesses were the exception. Ac
cording to the Rabbis, her prophetic functions
ceased with the victory over Jabin (Pesachim,
f. 66), and thev explain Job v. 5 by the fact that
the lands of Sisera were assigned to her and to
Barak (see Hamburger, SE. i. 241). With
the exception of the Phoenician murderess
Athaliah, she is the only female ruler in Jewish
history ; but she was less a ruler than a de
liverer, like Joan of Arc, " the inspired maid of
Domremi." Jabin's tyranny was peculiarly felt in the
northern tribes, who were near his capital and
under Deborah's jurisdiction, viz. Zebulun, Naph
tali, and Issachar ; hence, when she summoned
Barak to the deliverance, " it was on them that
the brunt ofthe battle fell ; but they were joined
by the adjacent central tribes, Ephraim, Ma
nasseh, and Benjamin, though not by those of
the extreme west, south, and east " (Stanley,
p. 339). Under her direction Barak encamped
on the broad summit of Tabor (Jos. B. J. ii.
2", § 6). When asked to accompany him, " she
answered indignantly, Thou, 0 Barak, deliverest
up meanly the authority which God hath given
thee into the hands of a woman ; neither do I
reject it " (Jos. Ant. v. 5, § 2). The LXX. inter
polate the words '6ti ovk oitia ttiv ypepav ev fj
euoSoi 6 Kipios rbv &yyeXov per' ipov as a sort
of excuse for Barak's request (iv. 8, cp. v. 14,
v. 23). When the small band of ill-armed (Judg.
v. 8) Israelites saw the dense iron chariots of
the enemy, " they were so frightened that they
wished to march "off at once, had not Deborah
detained them, and commanded them to fight
the enemy that very day " (Jos. /. c). They

DECAPOLIS

743

did so, but Deborah's prophecy was fulfilled
(Judg. iv. 9), and the enemy's general perished
among the " oaks of the wanderers (Zaanaim),"
in the tout of the Bedouin Kenite's wife (Judg. iv.
21) in the northern mountains. "And the land
had rest forty years " (Judg. v. 31). For
the natural phenomena which aided (Judg. v.
20, 21) the victory, and the other details (for-
which we have ample authority in the twofold
narration in prose and poetry), see Barak, where
we have also entered on the difficult ques
tion of the chronology (Ewald, Gesch. ii. 489-
494). A village named Debarieh, at the foot of
Tabor, possibly preserves the traditional me
morial of her association with Barak at Mount
Tabor (Judg. iv. 10).
Deborah's title of " prophetess" (ntj'a)) in
cludes the notion of inspired poetry, as in Ex. xv.
20 ; and in this sense the glorious triumphal
ode (Judg. v.) well vindicates her claim to the-
office. On this ode much has been written, andi
there are separate treatises about it by Holl-
mann, Kalkar, and Kenrick. It is also ex
plained by Ewald (Die poet. Biic/ier des Alt.
Bundes, i. 125) and Gumpach (Alttestament.
Studkn, pp. 1-140). [F. W. V.J
DEBTOE. [Loan.]
DECAPOLIS (AeKdn-oXis, " the ten cities ")..
This name occurs three times in the N. T.
(Matt. iv. 25 ; Mark v. 20, and vii. 31), and on.
each occasion it is used in a geographical sense-
to denote the territory belonging to " the ten
cities," or perhaps, more generally, the district
S.E. of the Sea of Galilee. The term seems,.
however, to have been a political rather thaife
a geographical one, and to have been applied to
a bund, or privileged confederation of free cities,.
formed for self-defence and joint political action^
under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Syria.
According to Pliny (v. 16), the cities were-
Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis,.
Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Galasa (Garasa)^.
and Canatha ; he admits, however, that autho
rities differed as to the names of the cities, and
states that between and around them there were-
tetrarchies, each like a kingdom, such as Tracho
nitis, Paneas, Abila, &c. Ptolemy (v. 17) makes
Capitolias one of the cities ; Reland (p. 525).
quotes an old Palmyrene inscription which
includes Abila in the Decapolis ; whilst Josephus.
(B. J. iii. 9, § 7) calls Scythopolis the largest city
of Decapolis, which would exclude Damascus.
The discrepancies may perhaps be reconciled by-
supposing that ten cities at first received certain
privileges and immunities, and that the name
Decapolis was retained after changes had beers
made by increasing or decreasing the number
of towns in the confederation.
In Matt. iv. 25, Decapolis is distinguished!
from the country beyond Jordan, though till the-
cities, with the exception of Scythopolis, were-
east of that river in the tetrarchy of Herod
Agrippa. Eusebius and Jerome (OS.1 p. 251, 89).
say that Decapolis was a district beyond Jordan,
around Hippos, Pella, and Gadara ; Epiphanius-
(adv. Haer. i. 123) describes Decapolis as being-
around Pella and in Basanitis ; Josephus always.
speaks of the cities as "Decapolis of Syria,""
possibly to show that they were under ther
jurisdiction of the Governor of Syria ; and sc

744

DECAPOLIS

also Pliny when he praises (xv. 3) the olives of
Decapolis of Syria. Elsewhere Pliny alludes to
Philadelphia and Raphana as lying back towards
Arabia, and to Pella as "rich in waters."
Each city appears to have been the centre of
a small district which was subject to it, and to
which it gave its name. Josephus (B. J. ii. § 1)
.speaks of the Jews having laid waste the
villages of Decapolis ; in B. J. iii. 3, § 5, he
•calls Pella the capital of a toparchy; Gadara
was the capital of a large district, Gadaritis,
which probably included Gergesa oa the Sea of
Galilee, and it was the seat of a district court
<5. /. i. 8, § 5) ; the district of Philadelphia
was known as Philadelphene, and that of
Hippos as Hippene. These districts were quite
independent of the provinces or tetrarchies in
which they were situated; and their geographi
cal position, in the provinces, may be compared
with that of the detached portions of some
English and Scotch counties.
The cities of Decapolis contained a mixed
-population, which varied according to the
position of the city; Philadelphia, for instance,
on the edge of the desert, was peopled by Greeks,
Syrians, and Arabs (Strabo, xvi. 2, § 34). Iu
each the Greek element preponderated : Jose
phus goes so far (Ant. xvii. 11, § 4) as to call
Gadara and Hippos Greek cities; the official
language, as shown by the coins and inscriptions,
was Greek ; Greek customs, forbidden to the
Jews, such as the keeping of swine by the
"Gadarenes (Matt. viii. 28-33), prevailed ; the
people of Abila called themselves, on their coins,
Seleucians; and some of the cities may have been.
¦Greek military settlements, as for instance Pella
and Dion, which appear to have been named after
and were possibly founded by colonists from
Pella and Dion in Macedonia.
The Jews were, almost constantly, in a state
of open warfare with the cities of Decapolis ; and,
•even when this was not the case, the relations
between them and the Greek inhabitants were
strained. The cities, as heathen cities, paid
no tithes ; and some of them, as Scythopolis,
could only be entered by Jews on certain
conditions. This did not, however, prevent the
Jews from living in them; at Scythopolis there
was a large population- of Jews, noted for the
strictness with which they kept the Sabbath,
and the scrupulous manner in which they per
formed their religious observances ; at Gadara
and Hippos there were also many Jews (B. J. ii.
18, § 5).
During the Maccabaean wars the cities suffered
•greatly, and nearly all of them seem to have
fallen into the hands of Alexander Jannaeus.
At a later period they were recaptured by
'Pompey, who, after rebuilding and beautifying
them, placed them under the jurisdiction of the
¦Governor of Syria. At the same time he
appears to have granted them self-government
(avTovopia), and freedom and immunity from
taxation (iXeuBepia Kai areXeia). Most of the
towns, of which coins aro extant, counted from
the ora of Pompey, 64 B.C., and to this date
may perhaps be assigned the foundation of tlie
•confederation to which the name of Decapolis
was given. At the commencement of the Jewish
war, Justus and the people of Tiberias made
¦war with Decapolis of Syria, and burned the
Tillages which belonged to the cities ; the people

DEDAN
thereupon sent an embassy of their chief men
to Vespasian, who was then at Ptolemais, to
complain of Justus and his actions (Jos. Vit.
64, 73).
The cities, with the rich fertile districts which
belonged to them, were, in the time of the
Saviour, populous and prosperous ; six of them
are now desolate aud uninhabited ; three —
Scythopolis, Gadara, and Canatha — have a few
families living in them ; and one alone, Damas
cus, retains something of its former prosperity.
[Gadara ; Gerasa ; Philadelphia ; Scytho
polis.] [W.]
DECISION, VALLEY OF. [Jehosha
phat.] DEDA'N (JTI ; Dedan, Dadan). 1. The
name of a son of Raamah, son of Cush (Gen. x. 7,
A. AaSdv; 1 Ch. i. 9, A. Aatidv, B. 'lovtiatidv,
" the sons of Raamah, Sheba, and Dedan ").
2. That of a son of Jokshan, son of Keturah
(Gen. xxv. 3, A. [bis] Aattidv ; D. and D. vary
in the second occurrence of A., and " Jokshan
begat Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan
were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim." Cp.
1 Ch. i. 32, BA. Aattidv). The usual opinion
respecting these founders of tribes is tbat the
first settled among the sons of Cush, wherever
these latter may be placed ; the second, on the
Syrian borders, about the territory of Edom.
But Gesenius and Winer have suggested that
the name may apply to one tribe ; and this may
be adopted as probable on the supposition that
the descendants of the Keturahite Dedan inter
married with those of the Cushite Dedan, whom
the writer places, presumptively, on the borders
of the Persian Gulf. [Arabia ; Cush ; Raamah,
&c] The theory of this mixed descent gains
weight from the fact that in each case the
brother of Dedan is named Sheba. It may be
supposed that the Dedanites were among the
chief traders traversing the caravan-route from
the head of the Persian Gulf to the south of
Palestine, bearing merchandise of India, and
possibly of Southern Arabia ; and hence the
mixture of such a tribe with another of different
(and Keturahite) descent presents no impos
sibility. The passages in the Bible in which
Dedan is mentioned (besides the genealogies
above referred to) are contained in the pro
phecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and
are in every case obscure. The Edomite settlers
seem to be referred to in Jer. xlix. 8, where
Dedan is mentioned in the prophecy against
Edom ; again in xxv. 23, with Tenia and Buz ; in
Ezek. xxv. 13, with Teman, in the prophecy
against Edom; and in Is. xxi. 13, R. V. ("The
burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia
shall ye lodge, 0 ye travelling companies of
Dedanites "), with Tema and Kedar. This last
passage is by some understood to refer to
caravans of the Cushite Dedan; and although
it may only signify the wandering propensities
of a nomad tribe, such as the Edomite portion
of Dedan may have been, the supposition that it
means merchant-caravans is strengthened by
the remarkable words of Ezekiel in the lamen
tation for Tyre. Ezekiel (in ch. xxvii.) twice
mentions Dedan ; first in v. 15, where, after
enumerating among the traffickers with the
merchant-city many Asiatic peoples, it is said

DEDANIM
(B. V.)i "The men of Dedan were thy traffickers,
many isles (0"!$) were the mart of thine hand :
they brought thee in exchange horns of ivory,
and ebony." Passing thence to Syria and
western and northern peoples, the Prophet
nrain (in v. 20) mentions Dedan in a manner
which seems to point to the widespread and
possibly the mixed ancestry of this tribe. Verse I
15 may be presumed to allude especially to the
Cushite Dedan (cp. xxxviii. 13, where we find
Dedan with Sheba and the merchants of Tar
shish ; apparently, from the context, the Dedan
of xxvii. 15) ; but the passage commencing in
o. 20 appears to include the settlers on the
borders of Edom (i.e. the Keturahite Dedan).
The whole of the passage is as follows (R. V.) :
" Dedan [was] thy trafficker in precious clothes
for riding. Arabia, and all the princes of
Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand ;
in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these [were
they] thy merchants. The traffickers of Sheba
and Raamah they [were] thy traffickers : they
traded for thy wares with chief of all spices,
and with all precious stones, and gold. Haran,
and Canneh, and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba,
Asshur, ami Chilmad, [were] thy traffickers "
(Ezek. xxvii. 20-23). We have here a Dedan
connected with Arabia (probably the north
western part of the peninsula) and Kedar, and
also with the father and brother of the Cushite
Dedan (Raamah and Sheba), and these latter
with Asiatic peoples commonly placed in the
regions bordering the head of the Persian Gulf.
This Dedan moreover is a merchant, not in
pastoral produce, in sheep and goats, but in
"precious clothes," in contradistinction to Arabia
and Kedar, like the far-off Eastern nations who
came with " spices and precious stones and gold,"
"wrappings of blue and broidered work," and
" chests of rich apparel."
The probable inferences from these mentions
of Dedan support the argument first stated,
namely, 1. That Dedan son of Raamah settled
<in the shores of the Persian Gulf, and his de
scendants became caravan-merchants between
that coast and Palestine. 2. That Jokshan, or
a son of Jokshan, by intermarriage with the
Cushite Dedan, formed a tribe of the same name,
which appears to have had its chief settlement
in the borders of Idumaea, and perhaps to have
led a pastoral life.
All traces of the name of Dedan, whether in
Idumaea or on the Persian Gulf, are lost in the
works of Arab geographers and historians. The
Greek and Roman geographers, however, throw
some light on the eastern settlement; and a
native indication of the name is thought to
exist in the island of Dddan, on the borders of
the gulf. The identification must be taken in
connexion with Dr. Poole's recovery of the
name of Sheba, the other son of Raamah, on the
island of Awdl, near the Arabian shore of the
same gulf. This is discussed in the article
Raamah. Consult Dillmann5 and Delitzsch
[1887] on Gen. *. 7. [E. S. P.] [F.]
DEDA'NIM. [Dedan.]
DEDA'NITES. [Dedan.]
DEDICATION, FEAST OF THE (ret
iytaivia, John x. 22, Encaenia, Vulg. ; S iyKai-
Pitrubs too Bvtriao-TTipiov, 1 Mace. iv. 56 and 59

DEDICATION, FEAST OF 745
[the same term as is used in the LXX. for the
dedication of tho Altar by Moses, Num. vii. 101-
6 KaBapitrpbs tou vaou, 2 Mace. x. 5 ; Mishna!
n3}n, i.e. "dedication"; Joseph, tpura, Ant.
xii- "i, § "), the festival instituted to commemo
rate the purging of the Temple and the rebuild
ing of the Altar after Judas Maccabaeus had
driven out tlie Syrians, B.C. 164. It is named
only once in the Canonical Scriptures, John
x. 22. Its institution is recorded 1 Mace. iv.
47-59. lt commenced on the 2oth of Chisleu,
the anniversary of the pollution of the Temple
by Antiochus Epiphanes, B.C. 167. Like the
great Mosaic Feasts, it lasted eight days, but it
did not require attendance at Jerusalem. It
was an occasion of much festivity. It was
celebrated in nearly the same manner as the
Feast of Tabernacles, with the carrying of
branches of trees, and with much singing
(2 Mace. x. 6, 7). Josephus states that "the
festival was called " Lights ; " and there was cer
tainly a setting forth of incense, lights, and
shewbread (2 Mace. x. 3; cp. 1 Mace. iv. 50).
Further, he supposes that the name was given to
it from the joy of the nation at their unexpected
liberty — ttiv eoprriv dyopev KaXovvTes avTrjv
*«ra, iK tov Trap' ix-rritios otptai TaiiT-nv i)piv
tpavTJvatTTjv i^outriav (Ant. xii. 7, § 7). The title
chosen by our Lord, " I am the Light of the
world " (John ix. 5), may have reference to the
custom of lighting the lights of the seven-
branched candlestick (see Speaker's Comm. on
John x. 22). The Mishna informs us that no
fast on account of any public calamity could be
commenced during this Feast. In the Gemara a
story is related that when the Jews entered the
Temple, after driving out the Syrians, they
found there only one bottle of oil which had
not been polluted, and that this was miracu
lously increased, so as to feed the lamps of the
sanctuary for eight days. The special number
of lights to be lit was a matter of discussion in
the 1st century A.D. in the schools of Hillel and
Shammai. The latter enjoined eight lights on
the first night, and one light less each night
that the festival lasted. The former reversed
the process, and, beginning with one light,
increased the number daily by one, till on the
last night the eight lights were burning. The
latter custom was in existence in the time of
Maimonides, and is still the custom of the
British Jews (Mills, The British Jews, their
religious Ceremonies, he., pp. 185-7). Neither
the Books of Maccabees, the Mishna, nor Jo
sephus mention this custom, and it would seem
to be of later origin, probably suggested by the
name which Josephus gives to the festival. In
the Temple at Jerusalem, the " Hallel " was
sung every day ofthe feast.
In Ezra (vi. 16) the word DSjn, applied to
the dedication of the second Temple, on the third
of Adar, is rendered in the LXX. by iyKaivta,
and in the Vulg. by dedicatio. But the anni
versary of that day was not observed. The
dedication of the first Temple took place at the
Feast of Tabernacles (1 K. viii. 2 ; 2 Ch. v. 3).
[Tabernacles, Feast of.]
See Lightfoot, Temple Service, sect, v.; Horae
Heb. on John x. 22, and his Sermon on the same
text; Mishnah, vol. ii. 369, ed. Surenhusius ;
Hamburger's RE. Abth. ii. s. n. "Weihfest;"
Westcott on John x. 22. [S. C] [F.]

746

DEEP, THE

DEEP, THE (dButrtros; abyssus). This is
the rendering adopted by the A. V. in Luke
viii. 31 and Rom. a. 7, of a word which it
translates "bottomless pit " in Rev. ix. 1, 2, 11,
xi. 7, xx. 1, 3. The R. V. has adopted the
rendering "abyss" in all these passages, and
such a rendering is especially needful in Luke
viii. 31, as avoiding the interpretation that by
" the deep " is meant the sea. Rather, according
to many, is meant that part of the under-world
in which evil spirits are confined. [F.]
DEGREES, SHADOW OF. [Ahaz ; Dial;
Hezekiah.] DEGEEES, SONGS OF, or, more accu
rately, Songs of Ascents (R. V.). These
" Songs " are fifteen in number, and constitute
Psalms cxx.-cxxxiv. Fourteen of these Psalms
(cxx., cxxii.-cxxxiv.) are each superscribed Shir
Ilamma'aloth (nibtfOn "W), whilst one of
them (cxxi.) bears the heading of Shir Lamma-
'aloth (mbvth T£>). Rashi, with his fine
Hebrew instinct, remarks that, although Shir
Lamma'aloth stands second, it is in reality the
first of the series. This observation is quite
true, and can be critically established, both
negatively and positively, — negatively, as there
can be no reason assigned for the break of the
uniformity of this series so early, and the im
mediate resumption of it to break it no more.
Again, one may make practically, i.e. in a mere
translation, no difference between Shir Hamma
'aloth and Shir Lamma'aloth. But Hamma'aloth
and Lamma'aloth are in Hebrew not one ahd
the same thing ; as, indeed, they cannot be.
This was already perceived by the keen critic
Ibn Ezra, who gives Shir Hamma'aloth as the
beginning of one poem, the tune of which was
well known, whilst he gives Shir Lamma'aloth
as the beginning of another poem, &c. (although
he is in the interpretation of these names as
mistaken as he is in that of several other head
ings ; cp. Aijeleth Shahar, Al-Taschith,
&c). But that Psalm cxxi. was originally
meant to stand first can also be proved posi
tively, as it is evidently introductory (even as
Psalm cxxxiv. is terminatory) to the whole
series, and expresses the leading idea why for
one of the several reasons these Psalms are
called Songs of Liftings-up, of Goings-up, of
Adoring, and of Trusting in, Him Who dwells
on high, and is the Most High." Thus: I lift
up mine eyes (cxxi. 1). To God (on high) I
called (cxx. 1). I was glad when they said to
me, Let us go (up) to the House of God. For
there went up the tribes (cxxii. 1, 4). To Thee
I lift up mine eyes (cxxiii. 1). The righteous
God Who is even higher than the oppressor,
Who is higher than Israel (cxxiv. ; see below,
cxxix.). Mountains (uplands) are round Jeru
salem, and God is round His people (exxv. 2).
When God brings back (up) the Captivity of
Zion (exxvi. 1). If God (from on high) does
not build a house (exxvii. 1). The man fearing
God who walketh in His Way (looketh up to
Him for guidance ; exxviii. 1). The same
argument as in cxxiv., though expressed in a
• Hence one of God's names in the Bible is t'l^l?,
and in the Talmud F13JI-

DEHAVITES
somewhat different way (cxxix.). I called from
the depths (to Him on high; exxx. 1). Mine
eyes are not lifted up iu pride (but in humility,
to God ; exxxi. 1). Let us go up to His taber
nacles (exxxii. 7). Brethren (Israel and Judah)
to dwell together (on the hills, i.e. uplands, of
Zion; cxxxiii. 1-3). Lift up your hands in
holiness (cxxxiv. 2). This explanation does by
no means exclude some of the other reasons for
calling these poems Shir Lamma'aloth and Shir
Hamma'aloth. No doubt, both before the Cap
tivity and after the return from it, the Hebrew^
on going up to Jerusalem, recited one or other
of these Psalms ou such occasions as the three
annual festivals, the bringing-up the first-
fruits, the bringing-wp the second tithe, &c.
Nor does this explanation exclude the ideas that
these fifteen Psalms gave rise to the construction
of the fifteen steps communicating between the
court of the women and the Israelite court, on
which the Levites sang and played on the occa
sion of the " Joy at the Drawing of the Water,"
and that these fifteen steps gave rise, in their
turn, to the superscriptions of the fifteen Psalms,
which were apparently recited upon them.
These are ideas which are embodied in traditions
which are too well founded to be called in ques
tion (cp. Mishnah Middoth, ii. 5 ; Sukkah, v. 4 ;
and compare with one another Rab Se'adyah's
first interpretation, as quoted by Ibn Ezra, and
Rashi's and Qimchi's interpretations in loco).
What this entirely new explanation does ex
clude, however, is, first, that these songs ever
stood in connexion with the legend concerning
the Deep and David and Ahitophel, &c. ; a legend
to which the Targum in loco alludes, and which
the Talmud contains (Babli Sukka/i, fol. 53 a).
Such a Midrash, though consistent, is not to be
taken seriously, since there is not the least
allusion to it in all these fifteen Psalms. What
this explanation next excludes is Rab Se'adyah
Gaon's second interpretation (see Ibn Ezra),
whioh was adopted by Luther, lt was that these
poems were therefore called Shir Hamma'aloth
and Shir Lamma'aloth, because they were sung
in a higher, i.e. a more powerful, key. For this
interpretation there is not the slightest warrant
or even hint to be found anywhere, be it in
these sublime compositions themselves, or even in
the traditions of the Talmud and Midrash. What
this explanation finally excludes is the stereo
typed theory advanced by Ibn Ezra, that four
teen of these Psalms were sung to one and the
same tune, and one to a different melody. This
is impossible, as these fourteen Psalms differ
greatly from one another, not merely in author
ship and time of composition, but in sentiment
and length of diction. The other theories adr
vanced, that these fifteen Psalms were called
Shir Hamma'aloth and Shir Lamma'aloth because
of their "repetitive or ladder-like structure,"
or because they were the "choicest of all
Psalms," scarcely need refutation. [S. M. S.-S.]
DEHAVITES (X.in;n [Kethib], SOrR [Keri],
ed. Baer; A. [2 Esd.] Aavaioi, B. 01 eitr\v
'HXapaiot ; Dievi) are mentioned but once in
Scripture (Ezra iv. 9). They were among the
colonists planted in Samaria by the Assyrian
monarch Esarhaddon, after the completion of
the Captivity of Israel. From their name, taken
in conjunction with the fact that they are

DEKAR
coupled with the Susanchites (Susianians, or
people of Susa) and the Elamites (Elymaeaus,
cp. B., natives of the same country), it is con
jectured that they are the Dai or Dahi, men
tioned by Herodotus (i. 125) among the nomadic
tribes of Persia. This people appears to have
been widely diffused, being found as Dahae
(Aeioi=Dahistan), both in the country east of
the Caspian (Strab. xi. S, § 2 ; Arrian. ExpvJ.
Al. iii. H? &c0 and ln *'le vicinity of the Sea
of Azof (Strab. xi. 9, § 3); and again as Dii
(Aioi, Thucyd. ii. 96), Dai (Adoi, Strab.), or
Daci (Aaxot, Strab., Dio Cas-., &c.) upon the
Danube. They were an Aryan race, and are
by some as having their lineal de-

DELUS

747

seendants in the modern Danes (see Grimm's
Gtschichte d. Deutsch. Sprach. i. 192-3). This
conjecture, as also that of Friedr. Delitzsch
(Praef. p. x. to Baer's ed. of Daniel, Ezra, and
Nehemiah), who finds their city Du'-u-a in an
Assyrian contract tablet, is questioned by
Schrader (KAT.2 p. 616) and Bertheau-Ryssel
(Die BB. Esra, Nechem., u. Ester, in loco).
The Septuagint form of the name — Davaeus —
may compare with the Darus (= AdFos\ of Latin
comedy. [G. R.] [F.]
DE'KAR. The son of Deker, i.e. Ben-
Deker ("ljyrjB ; vibs Aaxdp ; Bendecar), was
Solomon's commissariat officer in the western
part ofthe hill-country of Judah and Benjamin,
Shaalbim and Bethshemesh (1 K. iv. 9). [G.]
DELAI'AH Kxhm and iT^ = whom
' tt : tt :
Jehovah hath freed — cp. aireXevBepos Kvpiov,
1 Cor. vii. 22 ; also the Phoenician name
AeXtuatrTapros, quoted from Menander by Jose
phus, Cont. Ap. i. 18, and the modern name
Godfrey = Gottesfrey), . the name of several
persons. 1. Delaiahu (A. AaXaia, B. Maao-ai; Da-
laiau), a priest in the time of David, leader of
the twenty-third course of priests (1 Ch. xxiv.
18). 2. Delaiah ; " children of Delaiah " were
among the people of uncertain pedigree who
returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Ezra
ii. 60 [A. AaXaia, B. Aaxed ; Dalaia] ; Neh.
vii. 62 [NA. AaXaia, B. AaXed; Dalaia]. In
1 Esd. v. 37 the name is Ladan [A. AriXdv,
B. 'Atrdv]).
3. Delaiah (NA. AaXaia, B. AaXed ; Dalaia),
son of Mehetabeel and father of Shemaiah (Neh.
vi. 10).
4. Delaiahu (AaXaias and ToSoXias), son
of Shemaiah, one of the "princes" (D,"1B')
•hout the court of Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 12,
25). The name also occurs in the A. V. as Da-
Uuh. [G.] [F.]
DELI'LAH (n^T = weak or feeble, either
in the sense of delicate or pining with desire,
or as a traitress ; AaXitid ; Joseph. AaXiXn ;
Balila), a woman who dwelt in the valley
of Sorek, beloved by Samson (Judg. xvi. 4-
18). Her connexion with Samson forms the
third and last of those amatory adventures
which in his history are so inextricably blended
with the craft and prowess of a judge in Israel.
She was bribed by the "lords of the Philistines "

to win from Samson the secret of his strength,
and the means of overcoming it. [Samson.]"
It is not stated, either in Judges or in Jo
sephus, whether she was an Israelite or a Phi
listine. Nor can this question be determined by
reference to the geography of Sorek ; since in
the time of the Judges the frontier was shifting
and indefinite. [Soeek.] The following con
siderations, however, supply presumptive evi
dence that she was a Philistine :—
1. Her occupation, which seems to have been
that of a courtesan of the higher class, a kind of
political Hetaera. Tho hetaeric and political
view of her position is more decided in Josephus
than in Judges. He calls heryuvri eratpi(opevn,
and associates her influence over Samson with
tt6tos aud trvvoutria (Ant. v. 8, § 11). 'He also
states more clearly her relation as a political
agent to the " lords of the Philistines " (D'pD.
Joseph, oi irpoetrTures, to'is bXpxouai IIaA.ai-
stIvuv ; LXX. &pxovres ; Satrapae ; ol tou koi-
vov ; " magistrates," " politician lords," Milton,
Sams. Ag. 850, 1195), employing under their
directions " liers in wait " Q'lNil, to evetipov ;
insidiis : cp. Josh. viii. 14 ; Josephus, CTpaTtu-
tuv). On the other hand, Chrysostom and many
of the Fathers have maintained that Delilah
was married to Samson (so Milton, 1. 227), u
natural but uncritical attempt to save the
morality of the Jewish champion (see Judg.
xvi. 9, 18, as showing an exclusive command of
her establishment inconsistent with the idea of
matrimonial connexion ; Patrick, in loco). There
seems to be little doubt that she was a cour
tesan; and her employment as u political
emissary, together with the large sum which
was offered for her services (1100 pieces of
silver from each lord = 5,500 shekels, about
£700 ; cp. Judg. iii. 3), and the tact which is
attributed to her in Judges, but more especially
in Josephus, indicates a position" not likely to be
occupied by any Israelitish woman at that period
of national depression,
2. The special tendency of the Scripture nar
rative : the sexual temptation represented as
acting upon the Israelites from without (Num.
xxv. 1, 6 ; xxxi. 15, 16).
3. The special case of Samson (Judg. xiv. 1 ;
xvi. 1).
In Milton Delilah appears as a Philistine, and
justifies herself to Samson on the ground of
patriotism (Sams. Ag. 11. 850, 980). [T. E. B.]
DELUGE. [Noah.]
DE'LUS (Ar)Xos), mentioned in 1 Mace", xv.
23, is the smallest of the islands called Cyclades
in the Aegean Sea. It was one of the chief
seats of the worship of Apollo, and was cele
brated as the birthplace of this god and of his
sister Artemis (Diana). We learn from Josephus
(Ant xiv. 10, § 8) that Jews resided in this
island, which may be accounted for by the fact,
that after the fall of Corinth (B.C. 146) it
became the centre of an extensive commerce.
The sanctity of the spot and its consequent
security, its festival, which was a kind of fair,
the excellence of its harbour, and its convenient
situation on the highway from Italy and Greece
to Asia, madcit a favourite resort of merchants.
So extensive was the commerce carried on in
the island, that 10,000 slaves are said to have

748

DEMAS

changed hands there in one day (Strab. xiv.
p. 668). Delus is at present uninhabited,
except by a few shepherds. See further, Dict.
of Gr. e, Rom. Geogr. s. v. [W. S.]
DE'MAS (Aripas; Demas). The name is
probably a shortened form of Demetrius. He
was a companion of St. Paul, classed by him
(Philem. v. 24) with Mark, Aristarchus, and Luke
as a fellow-worker, and joined with these in
greetings to Philemon. He was not a Jew, for
in Col. iv. 14 he is, with Luke, expressly
separated from " those of the circumcision." It
is noticeable that in the verse quoted Luke has
an epithet of affection, while Demas is barely
named. This difference forebodes the final
contrast in 2 Tim. iv. 10, 11: "Demas forsook
me, having loved this present world, and went
to Thessalonica . . . Only Luke is with me." It
is scarcely fair to conclude with Epiphanius
(Haeres. li. 6), and, we may add, with liunyan,
that absolute apostasy is implied. We merely
gather that he would not stay with St. Paul at
Rome under the trying circumstances of his
imprisonment. His journey to Thessalonica has
been very probably interpreted by Chrysostom
as a return home (e'tXeTO oIkoi Tpvtpdv, " he chose
to live in luxury at home "). Lightfoot (Col.
iv. 14) inclines to consider him a Thessalonian ;
and so a fellow-citizen of the more faithful
Aristarchus. [E. R. B.]
DEME'TRIUS (Atipr)Tpios; Demetrius).
1. A master silversmith of Ephesus, employing
many men in the manufacture of silver models
of the temple of Artemis, which it was custom
ary to wear on the body, or place in houses, as
amulets. Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen,
in fear for their trade, raised a tumult against
Paul and his companions. For the commercial
interests involved in idolatry, cp. Pliny's satis
faction at the renewed demand for " keep "
(pastus) for sacrificial victims in consequence
of the measures which he had taken against
Christianity (Plin. Ep. ad Traj. 96). The
speech of Demetrius has had a commentary
provided for it by one of the inscriptions
discovered by Mr. Wood at Ephesus, in which
the glory of Artemis is set forth in nearly the
same language as that which Demetrius uses
(see Contemp. Review, May 1878, p. 294).
2. A Christian mentioned by St. John (3 John
v. 12) as deserving the confidence of Gaius, to
whom the Epistle is addressed. He is described
as having the testimony (1) of all, i.e. Chris
tians generally ; (2) of the Truth itself, so far as
¦the ideal of Christianity was seen to be realised
by him ; (3) of St. John and those with him,
speaking with the authority of the Church.
This commendation of him seems to imply that
he was about to visit Gaius, very probably as
the bearer of the Epistle. See Westcott, Epp.
¦of St. John, in loco. [E. R. B.]
DEME'TRIUS I. (A-pp-i,Tpios), surnamed
" The Saviour " (^utt)p, in recognition of his
services to the Babylonians), king of Syria, was
the son of Seleucus Philopator, and grandson of
Antiochus the Great. While still a boy he was
sent by his father as a hostage to Rome (B.C.
175) in exchange for his uncle Antiochus Epi
phanes. From his position he was unable to
offer any opposition to the usurpation of the

DEMETRIUS I.
Syrian throne by Antiochus IV.; but on the
death of that monarch (B.C. 164) he claimed his
liberty and the recognition of his claim by the
Roman senate in preference to that of his cousin
Antiochus V. flis petition was refused from
selfish policy (Polyb. xxxi. 12); and, by the
advice and assistance of Polybius, whose friend
ship he had gained at Rome (Polyb. xxxi. 19;
Just, xxxiv. 3), he left Italy secretly, and landed
with a small force at Tripolis in Phoenicia
(2 Mace. xiv. 1 ; 1 Mace. vii. 1 ; Jos. Ant. xii. 10,
§ 1). The Syrians soon declared in his favour
(B.C. 162), and Antiochus and his protector
Lysias were put to death (I Mace. vii. 2, 3;
2 Mace. xiv. 2). Having thus gained possession
of the kingdom, Demetrius succeeded in securing
the favour of the Romans (Polyb. xxxii. 4), and
he turned his attention to the internal organiza
tion of his dominions. The Graecizing party
were still powerful at Jerusalem, and he sup
ported them by arms. In the first campaign
his general Bacchides established Alcimus in the
high-priesthood (1 Mace. vii. 5-20); but the
success was not permanent. Alcimus was forced
to take refuge a second time at the court of
Demetrius ; and Nicanor, who was commissioned
to restore him, was defeated in two successive
engagements by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. vii.
31-2, 43-5), and fell on the field. Two other
campaigns were undertaken against the Jews by
Bacchides (B.C. 161, 158) ; but in the meantime
Judas had completed a treaty with the Romans
shortly before his death (B.C. 161), who forbade
Demetrius to oppress the Jews (1 Mace. viii. 31).
Not long afterwards Demetrius further incurred
the displeasure of the Romans by the expulsion
of Ariarathes from Cappadocia (Polyb. xxxii. 20 ;
Just. xxxv. 1) ; and he alienated the affection of
his own subjects by his private excesses (Just.
I.e.; cp. Polyb. xxxiii. 14). When his power
was thus shaken (B.C. 152), Alexander Balas
was brought forward, with the consent of the
Roman senate, as a claimant to the throne, with
the powerful support of Ptolemy Philometor,
Attalus, and Ariarathes. Demetrius vainly
endeavoured to secure the services of Jonathan,
who had succeeded his brother Judas as leader
of the Jews, and now, from the recollection of
his wrongs, warmly favoured the cause of
Alexander (1 Mace. x. 1-6). The rivals met in
a decisive engagement (B.C. 150), and Demetrius,
after displaying the greatest personal bravery,
was defeated and slain (1 Mace. *. 48-50 ; Jos.

Tetradrachm (Attic talent) tt Demotrius I.
Obv. Hood of Demetrius to tho right. Kev. BA2TAEU2 AH-
MHTPIoY SftTHPoS, iQ fleld monogram and MI ; in
exergue AHP (161 of Era Selene). Seated female figure to the
left, with sceptre and cornucopia.
Ant xiii. 2, § 4 ; Polyb. iii. 5). In addition to
the very interesting fragments of Polybius, con
sult the following references : Just, xxxiv. 3,
xxxv. 1 ; App. Syr. 46, 47, 67. [B. F. W.] [R-]

DEMETRIUS II.
DEME'TRIUS II. (Avpi)rpios), "The Vic
torious" (NiKaTap), was the elder son of Deme
trius Soter. He was sent by his father, together
with his brother Antiochus, with a large trea
sure, to Cnidus (Just. xxxv. 2), wheu Alexander
Balas laid claim to the throne of Syria. Wheu
he was grown up, the weakness and vices of
Alexander furnished him with an opportunity
of recovering his father's dominions. Accom
panied by a force of Cretan mercenaries (Just.
(. c. ; cp. 1 Jlacc. a. 67), he made a descent on
Syria (B.C. 148), and was received with general
favour (1 Mace. x. 67 sq.). Jonathan, however,
still supported the cause of Alexander, and
defeated Apollonius, whom Demetrius had ap
pointed governor of Coele-Syria (1 Mace. x.
74-82). In spite of these hostilities, Jonathan
succeeded in gaining the favour of Demetrius
when he was established in the kingdom (1 Mace.
xi. 23-27), and obtained from him an advanta
geous commutation of the royal dues and other
concessions (1 Mace. xi. 32-37). In return for
these favours the Jews rendered important
services to Demetrius when Tryphon first
claimed the kingdom for Antiochus VI., the
son of Alexander (1 Mace. xi. 42), but, afterwards
being offended by his faithless ingratitude
(1 Mace. xi. 53), they espoused the cause of the
young pretender. In the campaign which fol
lowed, Jonathan defeated the forces of Deme
trius (B.C. 144; 1 Mace. xii. 28); but the
treachery to which Jonathan fell a victim
(B.C. 143) again altered the policy of the Jews.
Simon, the successor of Jonathan, obtained very
favourable terms from Demetrius (B.C. 142) ;
but shortly afterwards Demetrius was himself
taken prisoner (B.C. 138) by Arsaces VI. (Mith
ridates), whose dominions he had invaded
(1 Mace. xiv. 1-3; Just, xxxvi.). Mithridates
treated his captive honourably, and gave him
his daughter in marriage (App. Syr. 67) ; and
after his death, though Demetrius made several
attempts to escape, he still received kind treat
ment from his successor, Phraates. When
Antiochus Sidetes, who had gained possession
of the Syrian throne, invaded Parthia, Phraates
employed Demetrius to effect a diversion. In
this Demetrius succeeded ; and when Antiochus
fell in battle, he again took possession of the
Syrian crown (B.C. 128). Not long afterwards
an Egyptian pretender, Alexander Zabinas, sup
ported by Ptolemy VII. Physcon, appeared in

Tetradrachm (Attic talent) of Demetrius II.
0b?. Head of Demetrius to the right. Eev. BASIAEfiS AH-
MHTPIoY 0EoY *IAAAEA*oY NIKAToPoS; in
eiergue HP© {169? of Era Selene.). Apollo to the left, seated
on Cortina, with arrow and bow.
the field against him. Demetrius, aftpr suffering
a defeat near Damascus, fled to Ptolemais, and
thence took ship to Tyre, where, as he was
about to 'land, he was assassinated, according to

DEMETRIUS PHALAREUS 749
some (App. Syr. 68) by the order of his wife
(Just, xxxix. 1 ; Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, 3). [CLiiO-
patra.1 [B. F. W.] [K.]
DEME'TRIUS III., "The Prosperous " (eii-
Kaipos), was the fourth son of Antiochus Grypus,.
and therefore grandson of Demetrius II. Nicator.
The two elder sons of Antiochus Grypus, Seleu
cus VI. and Antiochus XL, had been defeated
and slain by Antiochus X. (Eusebes). The two
younger brothers,Philip and Demetrius Eucaerus,
were more successful. Philip first ascended the
throne, but Demetrius, through the support of
Ptolemy Lathurus, was also made king at Da
mascus; and as Antiochus X. (Eusebes) soon
after perished iu a war with the Parthians,
Philip and Demetrius were for a short time
masters of Syria (Jos. Ant. xiii. 13, § 4). It was
at this time that, the great Jewish rebellion
against king Alexander Jannaeus was at its
height. The leaders of the Pharisee faction
implored the assistance of king Demetrius, who
came to their aid with 3,000 horse and 40,000
foot (Jos. Ant. xiii. 14, § 5 ; Bell. Jud. i. § 4). A
severe engagement near Shechem ended in the
complete victory of Demetrius (circ. 87 B.C.).
Many, however, of the disaffected Jews seem to
have dreaded a revival of the Syrian supremacy
more than the tyranny of Alexander Jannaeus ;
and immediately after Demetrius' victory 6,000
of the insurgents went over to the side of the
fugitive Asmonean king. Discouraged by this
treacherous conduct or by the heavy losses in
the recent encounter, Demetrius returned to his
own country. A civil war breaking out between
the two brothers, Demetrius besieged Philip in
the town of Beraea (Aleppo). Mithridates
Sinaces, the Parthian king, came to the aid
of Philip. Demetrius was defeated and taken
prisoner. He was well treated by Mithridates,
but ended his days in captivity in Parthia (Jos.
Ant. xiii. 14, §§ 1, 4). The coins which have been
discovered bearing the inscription of Demetrius
III. Eucaerus belong to the seven years from
95 to 88 B.C. (cp. Gardner's Catalogue of Greek
Coins, p. 101). [R.]
DEME'TRIUS PHALAREUS (A-np-iiTpios
o QaXapeus). In the Letter of the Pseudo-
Aristeas, the Egyptian king, Ptolemy II. Phila
delphus (284-247) applies, at the instigation of
his librarian Demetrius Phalareus, to Eleazar,
the high-priest at Jerusalem, in order to obtain
for the great library at Alexandria a copy of the
Jewish Law. Demetrius receives the seventy-
two Jewish delegates whom the high-priest
sends and conducts them with great ceremony
to the island of Pharos, where in seventy-two
days they completed the Greek version of the
Pentateuch (Gallandi, Biblioth. Patr. ii. p. 771).
According to Eusebius, Aristobulus the Alexan
drine Jew (circ. 170 B.C.) also connected the
name of Demetrius Phalareus with the LXX.
translation (ap Euseb. Praep. Evang. xiii. 12,
1-2 : i) tie '6X-n ipp-nveia tuv Sta toS v6p.ov
irdvTuv iv\ tov irpoaayopevBevTOS QiXatieXtpov
BaaiXeas, (Sou 5e irpoyovov, irpotxeveyKapevoo
pel&va tptXoTipiav, AripriTpiov tou QaXypeus
irpaypaTeva-apevov Tct -irepl tovtuv), but it is
more than probable that he has based this
statement upon the Letter of the Pseudo-
Aristeas, or upon an early version of that
legend.

750

DEMETRIUS

The unhistorical character of the Letter has
been often abundantly demonstrated. [See
Septuagint.] It is well illustrated by the
use made of the name of Demetrius Phalareus.
For it does not appear that Demetrius Phalareus
ever resided at Alexandria in the reign of
Ptolemy II. Philadelphus. According to one
account, which there is no reason to doubt,
Demetrius was banished from the coult on the
death of Ptolemy Lagi, whose favourite he had
been (Hermippus Callimachius ap. Diog. Laert.
v. 78), and died shortly after (c. B.C. 2S3) in
exile in Upper Egypt. On his early life and
his political career at Athens, see Smith's Dict.
of Gr. and Rom. Biog.
The fact that the foundation of the great
library at Alexandria was associated in popular
tradition with the name of this remarkable
man, Attic orator and Alexandrian courtier, a
patron of literature, was sufficient to account
for his introduction into a Jewish legend, in
tended to glorify the origin of the Alexandrine
Version, regardless of anachronisms. [R.]
DEME'TRIUS, a Jewish historian of Alexan
dria, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy IV.
Philopator, B.C. 222-205. Clemens Alexandrinus
{Strom, i. 21, 141) has preserved an extract of
his work Concerning tlie Kings in Judaea (irepl
tuv ev tt) 'loutiaia BaaiXeuv), which deals with
the chronology of the Captivity of the Ten
Tribes. Other fragments ascribed to him sur
vive in the writings of Eusebius, one relating to
the story of Jacob (ap. Euseb. Praep. Evang. ix.
21), and others to the life of Moses (id. ix. 29,
1-3 ; Chron. Pasch. i. 117 ; and ap. Euseb. Praep.
Ecang. ix. 29, 15). It is probable that he was
the author of a complete work on Israelite
history. The subject of his literary labours and
the character of the extant extracts make it
practically certain that he was a Jew by birth;
and this is the opinion both of Eusebius (Hist
Ecc. vi. 13, 17, en pr)v <viXuvos Kai 'AptffToBvXov,
'lwo-r)irou Te Kai Atip-nTplou Kai EiiiroXepov,
'loutialuv truyypatpeuv) and of Jerome (De Viris
Illustr. xxxviii. 879 : " necnon et de Judaeis Aris-
tobulum quemdam et Demetrium et Eupolemum
•scriptores adversus Gentes refert, qui in simili-
tudinem Josephi apxaioyovtav Moysi et Judaicac
gentis asseverant "). Josephus himself, however,
seems to think otherwise ; for, speaking of the
failure of Gentile historians to do justice to
Jewish history, he makes exception in favour of
Demetrius, Philo the elder, and Eupolemus, whose
slight deviations from accuracy were excusable
on the ground of an incomplete acquaintance
with Hebrew literature (contr. Apion. i. 23,
sub fin. : <5 pevToi QaX-npevs A-qp-iiTpios Kai QlXuv
6 irpetrBurepos KaX Euir6Xepos ov iroXu ttjs &At;-
Beias tirfipaprov. Ois ffuyyivtaffKeiv &£iov ov
yap ivrjv avrois jueTa rcdo-ris ctKpiB^as toIs
Tiperepois ypdppacriv TrapaKoXovBelv). Josephus,
it will be noticed, seems to have confused Deme
trius the historian with Demetrius Phalareus ;
and so far as Demetrius is concerned, this may
account for his error. Some scholars, however,
have regarded Josephus' statement as sufficient
proof that Demetrius was not a Jew (e.g. Hody,
De Textibus, p. 107). [R.]
DEMON (LXX. tiatp6vtov; N. T. SaipSvtov,
or rarely tiuipuv. Derivation uncertain. Plato
[Crat. i. p. 398] connects it with Sar)p.uv, "in-

DEMON
telligent," of which indeed the form tia.lp.uv is
found in Archil. [B.C. 650]; but it seems more
probably derived from Saiu, to " divide " or
" assign," in which case it would be similar to
Moipa). In sketching out the Scriptural doc
trine as to the nature and existence of the
demons, we will consider, 1st, the usage of the
word Satpuv in classical Greek ; 2ndly, notice
any modification of it in Jewish hands; and,
3rdly, refer to the passages in the N. T. in
which it is employed (cp. Cremer, Bibl.-theol.
Worterb:1 ; Thayer, Gk. Engl. Lex. to N. T. s. n.).
I. Its usage in classical Greek is various. In
Homer, where the gods are but supernatural
men, it is used interchangeably with Be6s ; after
wards in Hesiod (Op. 121), when the idea of the
gods had become more exalted and less familiar,
tho tiaipoves are spoken of as intermediate
beings, the messengers of the gods to men. This
latter usage of the word evidently prevailed
afterwards as the correct one, although in
poetry, and even in the vague language of
philosophy, tJ> tiaip.6vtov was sometimes used, as
equivalent to Tb Beiov, for any superhuman
nature. Plato (Symp. pp. 202, 203) fixes it
distinctly in the more limited sense : irSi/ t5
tiaip6viov peTa^u iffTt &eou /cal BvnTov ....
Bebs avBpuiru ov fxiyvvrai, aXXa tita tiaipovluv
trao-d ifTTiv r] dpiXla Kai t) tiiaXeKTOs Beois irpbs
avBpurrovs. Among them were numbered the
spirits of good men, " made perfect " after
death (Plat. Crat. p. 398, quotation from Hesiod).
It was also believed that they became tutelary
deities of individuals (to the purest form of
which belief Socrates evidently referred in the
doctrine of his 5aip6viov) ; and hence Satptov
was frequently used in the sense of the "fate"
or " destiny " of a man (as iu the tragedians
constantly), thus recurring, it would seem,
directly to its original derivation.
The notion of distinctively evil demons appears
to have belonged to a later period, and to have
been due both to Eastern influence and to the
clearer separation of the good and evil in men's
thoughts of the supernatural.* They were sup
posed to include the spirits of evil men after
death, and to be authors, not only of physical,
but of moral evil.
II. In the LXX. the words tialpuv and Sai-
p6viov, although not found very frequently, are
yet employed to render different Hebrew words ;
generally in reference to the deities of heathen
worship ; as in Ps. xcv. 3, for D YY.N, the
" empty," the " vanities," rendered x61P<"r<"^"
tois, &c, in Lev. xix. 4, xxvi. 1 ; in Deut. xxxii.
17, for W~\V, " lords " (cp. 1 Cor. viii. 5) ; in
Is. lxv. 11, for 11, Gad, the god of Fortune:
sometimes in the sense of avenging or evil
spirits, as in Ps. xci. 6, for 3t?j5, " pestilence,"
i.e. evidently " the destroyer ; " also in Is. xiii. 21,
xxxiv. 14, for ~PVM>, he-goat, and D*|X, " dwell
ers in the desert," in the same sense in which
the A. V. renders " satyrs."
In Josephus we find the word " demons " used
always of evil spirits ; in Bell. Jud. vii. 6, § 3,
» Those who imputed lust and envy of man to their
gods were hardly likely to have a distinct view of
supernatural powers of good and evil, as eternally
opposed to each other.

DEMON
ke defines them as to irveii/icera tuv itov-npuv,
and speaks of their exorcism by fumigation (as
in Tob. viii. 2, 3). See also Ant. vi. c. 8, § 2 ;
viii. c. 2, § 5. Writing as he did with a con
stant view to the Gentiles, it is not likely that
he would apply the word to heathen divinities.
By Philo the word appears to be used in a
more general sense, as equivalent to " angels,"
and referring to spirits both good and evil.
The change, therefore, of sense in the Hel
lenistic usage is, first, the division of the good
and evil demons, and the more general use of
the word for the latter ; secondly, the applica
tion of the name to the heathen deities.
III. We now come to the use of the term in
the N. T. In the Gospels generally, in James
ii. 19, and in Rev. xvi. 14, the demons are
spoken of as spiritual beings, at enmity with
God, and having power to afflict man, not only
with disease, but, as is marked by the frequent
epithet "unclean," witb spiritual pollution also.
In Acts xix. 12, 13, &c, they are exactly defined
as to TtvevpaTa to irovnpd. They " believe "
ia the power of God "and tremble" (Jas. ii. 19);
they recognise our Lord as the S.>n of God
(Matt. viii. 29 ; Luke iv. 41), and acknowledge
the authority of His name, used in exorcism, in
the place of the name of Jehovah, by His ap
pointed messengers (Acts xix. 15); and look
forward in terror to the judgment to come
(Matt. viii. 29). The description is precisely
that of a nature akin to the angelic [see
Asgels] in knowledge and powers, but with the
emphatic addition of the idea of positive and
active wickedness. Nothing is said either to
support or to contradict the common Jewish
behef, that in their ranks might be numbered the
spirits of the wicked dead. In support of it are
quoted the fact that the demoniacs sometimes
haunted the tombs of the dead (Matt. viii. 28), and
the supposed reference of the epithet aKoQapra
to the ceremonial uncleanness of a dead body.
In 1 Cor. x. 20, 21, 1 Tim. iv. 1, and Rev. ix. 20,
the word tiaip6via is used of the objects of Gen
tile worship, and iu the first passage is opposed
to the word &eip (with a reference to Deut.
xxxii. 17). So also is it used by the Athenians
in Acts xvii. 18. The same identification of the
heathen deities with the evil spirits is found in
the description of the damsel having irveiipa
rltma, or triBuvos, at Philippi, and the exor
cism of her as a demoniac by St. Paul (Acts
xvi. 16) ; and it is to be noticed that in 1 Cor.
J. 19, 20, the Apostle is arguing with those who
declared an idol to be a pure nullity, and while
he accepts the truth that it is so, yet declares
that all, which is offered to it, is offered to a
"demon." There can be no doubt then of its
being a doctrine of Scripture, mysterious
(though not a priori improbable) as it may be,
that in idolatry the influence of the demons was
at work, and permitted by God to be effective
within certain bounds. There are not a few
passages of profane history on which this doc
trine throws light ; nor is it inconsistent with
the existence of remnants of truth in idolatry,
or with the possibility of its being, in the case
of the ignorant, overruled by God to good.
Of the nature and origin of the demons, Scrip-
tare is all but silent. On one remarkable
occasion, recorded by the first three Evangelists
(Matt. xii. 24-30; Mark iii. 22-30- Luke xi.

DEMONIACS

751

X4r-26), our Lord distinctly identifies Satan with
Beelzebub, Tip &pxovri tuv Saipovtuv ; and there
is a similar though less distinct connexion iu
Rev. xvi. 14. From these wo gather certainly
that the demons are agents of Satan in his work
of evil, subject to the kingdom of darkness, and
doubtless doomed to share in its condemnation ;
and we conclude probably (though attempts
have been made to deny the inference) that they
must be the same as " the angels of the devil "
(Matt, xxv. 41 ; Rev. xii. 7, 9), "the principali
ties and powers" against whom we "wrestle"
(Eph. vi. 12, &c). As to the question of their
fall, see Satan ; aud on the method of their
action on the souls of men, see Demoniacs.
The language of Scripture, as to their exist
ence and their enmity to man, has suffered the
attacks of scepticism, merely on the ground
that, in the researches of natural science, tliere
are no traces of superhuman orders of being,
and that the fall of spirits, created doubtless in
goodness, is to us inconceivable. Both facts are
true, but the inference false. The very darkness
in which natural science ends, wheu it ap
proaches the relation of mind to matter, not
only does not contradict, but rather gives proba
bility to the existence of supernatural influence.
The mystery of the origin of evil in God's crea
tures is inconceivable ; but the difficulty in the
case of the angels differs only in degree from
that of the existence of sin in man, of which
nevertheless as a fact we are only too much
assured. The attempts made to explain the
words of our Lord and the Apostles as a mere
accommodation to the belief of the Jews must
be dissipated by any careful study of the actual
details. They are clearly incompatible with the
simple and direct attribution of personality to
the demons, as much as to men or to God, and
must destroy or impair our faith in the truth
and honesty of Holy Scripture itself. [A. B.]
DEMONIACS (Satp.ovi(6pevot, tiaip6via
exovres). This phrase is frequently used in
the N. T., and applied to persons suffering under
the possession of a demon or evil spirit [see
Demon], such possession generally showing
itself visibly in bodily disease or mental de
rangement. The word tiaipovav is used in a
nearly equivalent sense in classical Greek (as in
Aesch. Choeph. 566; Sept. c. Tlieb. 1001; Eur.
Phoen. 888, &c), except that, as the idea of
spirits distinctly evil and rebellious hardly
existed, such possession was referred to the will
of the gods or to the vague prevalence of an
"At?;. Neither word is employed in this sense
by the LXX., but in our Lord's time (as is seen,
for example, constantly in Josephus) the belief
in the possession of men by demons, who were
either the souls of wicked men after death, or
evil angels, was thoroughly established among
all the Jews with the exception of the Saddu
cees alone. With regard to the frequent men
tion of demoniacs in Scripture, three main
opinions have been started.
I. That of the purely mythical school, which
makes the whole account merely symbolic,
without basis of fact. The possession of the
devils is, according to this idea, only a lively
symbol of the prevalence of evil in the world,
the casting out the devils by our Lord a corre
sponding symbol of His conquest over that evil

752

DEMONIACS

power by His doctrine and His life. The notion
stands or falls with the mythical theory as a
whole : with regard to the special form of it, it
is sufficient to remark the plain, simple, and
prosaic relation of the facts as facts, which,
whatever might be conceived as possible in
highly poetic and avowedly figurative passages,
would make their assertion here not a symbol
or a figure, but a falsehood. It would be as
reasonable to expect a myth or symbolic fable
from Thucydides or Tacitus in their accounts of
contemporary history.
II. The second theory is, that our Lord and
the Evangelists, in referring to demoniacal pos
session, spoke only in accommodation to the
general belief of the Jews, without any assertion
as to its truth or its falsity. It is concluded
that — since the symptoms of the affliction were
frequently those of bodily disease (as dumbness,
Matt. ix. 32 ; blindness, Matt. xii. 22 ; epilepsy,
Mark ix. 17-27), or those seen in cases of
ordinary insanity (as in Matt. viii. 28 ; Mark v.
1-5) — since also the phrase " to have a devil "
is constantly used in connexion with, and as
apparently equivalent to, " to be mad " (see
John vii. 20, viii. 48, x. 20, and perhaps Matt.
xi. 18 ; Luke vii. 33) — and since, lastly, cases
of demoniacal possession are not known to occur
in our own days — therefore we must suppose
that our Lord spoke, and the Evangelists wrote,
in accordance with the belief of the time, and
with a view to be clearly understood, especially
by the sufferers themselves, but that the
demoniacs were merely persons suffering under
unusual diseases of body and mind.
With regard to this theory also, it must be
remarked that it does not accord either with the
general principles or. with the particular lan
guage of Scripture. Accommodation is possible
when, in things indifferent, language is used
which, although scientifically or etymologically
inaccurate, yet conveys a true impression, or
when, in things not indifferent, a declaration of
truth (1 Cor. iii. 1, 2), or a moral law (Matt.
xix. 8), is given, true or right so far as it goes,
but imperfect, because of the imperfect progress
of its recipients. But certainly here the matter
was not indifferent. The age was one of little
faith and great superstition; its characteristic
the acknowledgment of God as a distant Law
giver, not an Inspirer of men's hearts. This
superstition in things of far less moment was
denounced by our Lord ; can it be supposed that
He would sanction, and the Evangelists be per
mitted to record for ever, an idea in itself false,
which has constantly been the very stronghold
of superstition ? Nor was the language used
such as can be paralleled with mere conventional
expression. There is no harm in our " speaking
of certain forms of madness as lunacv, not
thereby implying that we believe the moon to
have or to have had any influence upon them ;
. . . but if we began to describe the cure of such
as the moon's ceasing to afflict them, or if a
physician were solemnly to address the moon,
bidding it abstain from injuring his patient,
there would be here a passing over to quite a
different region, . . . there would be that gulf
between our thoughts and words iu which the
essence of a lie consists. Now Christ does
everywhere speak such language as this."
(Trench, On Miracles, p. 153, where the whole

DEMONIACS
question is most ably treated.) Nor is there, in
the whole of the New Testament, the least
indication that any " economy " of teachine1 was
employed on account of the " hardness " of the
Jews' " hearts." Possession and its cure are
recorded plainly and simply ; demoniacs are fre
quently distinguished from those afflicted with
bodily sickness (see Mark i. 32, xvi. 17, 18 •
Luke vi. 17, 18), even, it would seem, from the
epileptic (treXrivta£6p.evoi, Matt. iv. 24); the
same outward signs are sometimes referred to
possession, sometimes merely to disease (cp.
Matt. iv. 24 with xvii. 15; Matt. xii. 22 with
Mark vii. 32, &c.) ; the demons are represented
as speaking in their own persons with super
human knowledge," and acknowledging our Lord
to be, not as the Jews generally called Him, Son
of David, but Son of God (Matt. viii. 29 ; Mark
i. 24, v. 7 ; Luke iv. 41, &c). All these things
speak of a personal power of evil, and, if in any
case they refer to what we might call mere
disease, they at any rate tell us of somethino- in
it more than a morbid state of bodily organs or
self-caused derangement of mind. Nor does our
Lord speak of demons as personal spirits of evil
to the multitude alone, but in His secret con
versations with His disciples, declaring the
means and conditions by which power over
them could be exercised (Matt. xvii. 21).
Twice also He distinctly connects demoniacal
possession with the power of the Evil One ; once
in Luke x. 18, to the seventy disciples, where
He speaks of His power and theirs over de
moniacs os a " fall of Satan," and again in Matt.
xii. 25-30, when He was accused of casting out
demons through Beelzebub, and, instead of
giving any hint that the possessed were not
really under any direct and personal power of
evil, He uses an argument, as to the division of
Satan against himself, which, if possession be
unreal, becomes inconclusive and almost in
sincere. Lastly, the single fact recorded of the
entrance of the demons at Gadara (Mark v.
10-14) into the herd of swine," and the effect
which that entrance caused, is sufficient to over
throw the notion that our Lord and the Evan
gelists do not assert or imply any objective
reality of possession. In the face of this mass
of evidence it seems difficult to conceive how
the theory can be reconciled with anything like
truth of Scripture. We may fairly say that it
would never have been maintained, except on
the supposition that demoniacal possession was
in itself a thing absolutely incredible, and
against all actual experience.
But how far is this the case ? Is such in
fluence really incredible ? Clearly to say of a
case that it is one of disease or insanity, gives
no real explanation of it at all ; it merely refers
it to a class of cases which we know to exist,
but gives no answer to the further question, how
did the disease or insanity arise? Even in
disease, whenever the mind acts upon the body,
(as e.g. in nervous disorders, epilepsy, &c), the
a Compare also the case of the damsel with the
spirit of divination (Trpeviu.a ttuIWos) at Philippi;
where also the power of the evil spirit is referred to
under the well-known name of the supposed inspira
tion of Delphi.
* It is almost needless to refer to the subterfuges of
interpretation by which the force of this fact is evadeil.

DEMONIACS
mere derangement of the physical organs is not
the whole cause of the evil ; there is a deeper
one lying in the mind. There are (so to speak)
two poles of force — the material and the spiri
tual  from which proceed influences telling on
the whole nature of man. Insauity may arise,
in some cases, from the physical injury or de
rangement of those bodily organs through which
the mind exercises its powers, but far oftener it
appears to be due to ideas or emotions acting
«pon and disordering the mind itself. How are
these produced? Sometimes by action or im
pression ofthe mind itself; sometimes by action
of some other spirit upon it. X»r is this latter
action always the plain and ordinary action of
communication of thought through word. In
fact, modern observation and speculation are
now disclosing to us, in startling aud d priori
incredible forms, the extraordinary secret in
fluence—often a morbid and tyrannical influence
—of spirit upon spirit, sometimes assuming
such dimensions as apparently to leave no room
for freewill. If there be spirits of good or evil,
stronger than the spirits of men, what improba
bility is there in the idea of their gaining
possession of them? It is an assumption,
therefore, which requires proof, that, amidst
the many inexplicable phenomena of mental and
physical disease in our own days, there are none
in which one gifted with " discernment of
spirits " might see signs of what the Scripture
calls "possession."
The truth is, that here, as in many other
instances, the Bible, without contradicting or
dinary experience, yet advances to a region
whither human science cannot follow. As
generally it connects the existence of mental
and bodily suffering in the world with the
introduction of moral corruption by the Fall,
and refers the power of moral evil to a spiritual
and personal source; so also it asserts the
existence of inferior spirits of evil, and it refers
certain cases of bodily and mental disease to the
influence which they are permitted to exercise
directly over the soul and indirectly over the
hody. Inexplicable to us this influence certainly
is, as all action of spirit on spirit is found to
be; but no one can pronounce a priori whether
it be impossible or improbable, and no one has a
right to eviscerate the strong expressions of
Scripture in order to reduce its declarations to a
level with our own ignorance.
HI. We are led, therefore, to the ordinary
and literal interpretation of these passages, that
there are evil spirits [Demons], subjects of the
Evil One, who, in the days of the Lord Himself
und His Apostles especially, were permitted by
God to exercise a direct influence over the souls
and bodies of certain men. This influence is
clearly distinguished from the ordinary power
of corruption and temptation wielded by Satan
through the permission of God. [Satan.] Its
relation to it, indeed, appears to be not unlike
that of a miracle to God's ordinary Providence,
or of special prophetic inspiration to the or
dinary gifts of the Holy Spirit. Both (that is)
we actuated by the same general principles,'and
tend to the same general object ; but the former
B a special and direct manifestation of that
which is worked out in the latter by a long
, ree of indirect action. The distinguishing
'eature of possession is the complete or incom-
BIBLE Did. — VOL. I.

DEMONIACS

753

piete loss of the sufferer's reason or power of
will; his actions, his words, aud almost his
thoughts are mastered by the evil spirit (Mark
i. 24, v. 7 ; Acts xix. 15), till his personality
seems to be destroyed ; or, if not destroyed, s.i
overborne as to produce the consciousness of a
twofold will within him, like that sometimes
felt in a dream. In the ordinary temptations
aud assaults of Satan, the will itself yields
consciously, and by yielding gradually assumes,
without losing its apparent freedom of action,
the characteristics of the Satanic nature. It is
solicited, urged, and persuaded against the
strivings of grace, but not overborne.
Still, however, possession is only the special
and, as it were, miraculous form of the " law of
sin in the members," the power of Satan over
the heart itself, recognised by St. Paul as an
indwelling and agonizing power (Rom. vii. 21-
24). Nor can it be doubted that it was ren
dered possible in the first instance by the
consent of the sufferer to temptation and to sin.
That it would be most probable in those who
yielded to sensual temptations may easily be
conjectured from general observation of the
tyranny of a habit of sensual indulgence.' The
cases of the habitually lustful, the opium-eater,
aud the drunkard (especially when struggling
in the last extremity of delirium tremens) bear,
as has been often noticed, many marks very
similar to those of the Scriptural possession.
There is in them physical disease, but there is
often something more. It is also to be noticed
that the state of possession, although so awful in
its wretched sense of demoniacal tyranny, yet,
from the very fact of that consciousness, might
be less hopeless and more capable of instant
cure than the deliberate hardness of wilful sin.
The spirit might still retain marks of its original
purity, although, through the flesh and the
demoniac power acting by the flesh, it was
enslaved. Here also the observation of the
suddenness and completeness of conversion, seen
in cases of sensualism, compared with the
greater difficulty in cases of more refined and
spiritual sin, tends to confirm the record of
Scripture. But, while it seems rash to assert that in our
own days demoniacal possession does not exist,
we can perhaps see reasons why it should have
appeared in visible and flagrant intensity at the
time of which the Scripture speaks. It was but
natural that the power of evil should show
itself, in more open and direct hostility than
ever, in the age of our Lord and His Apostles,
when its time was short. It was natural also
that it should take the special form of possession
in an age of such unprecedented and brutal
sensuality as that which preceded His coming,
and continued till the leaven of Christianity
was felt. Nor was it less natural that it should
have died away gradually before the great
direct, and still greater indirect, influence of
Christ's kingdom. Accordingly we find early
Fathers (as Just. Mart. Dial. a. Tryph. p. 311 B ;
Tertullian, Apol. 23, 37, 43) alluding to its

c It is to be noticed that almost all the cases of
demoniac possession are recorded as occurring among
the rude and half-Gentile population of Galilee.
St. John, writing mainly of tbe ministry in Judaea,
does not mention any. 3 C

754

DEMOPHON

existence as a common thing, mentioning the
attempts of Jewish exorcism in the name of
Jehovah as occasionally successful (see Matt. xii.
27 ; Acts xix. 13), but especially dwelling on
the power of Christian exorcism to cast it
out invariably as a test of the truth of the
Gospel, and as one well-known benefit which
it already conferred on the empire. By degrees
the mention is less aud less frequent, till the
very idea is lost — to be revived hereafter with
strange perversions and superstitions in the
belief in witchcraft and sorcery in the Middle
Ages. The spiritual condition of modern times
is wholly different, less open perhaps to excep
tional outbursts, more liable to the subtler
and more pervasive influences, of evil.
Such is a brief sketch of the Scriptural
notices of possession. That round the Jewish
notion of it there grew up, in that age of super
stition, many foolish aud evil practices, and
much superstition as to fumigations, &c. (cp.
Tob. viii. 1-3 ; Joseph. Ant. viii. c. 2, § 5), in
the "vagabond exorcists" (see Acts xix. 13), is
obvious and would be inevitable. It is clear
that Scripture does not in the least sanction or
even condescend to notice such things ; but it is
certain that, in the Old Testament (see Lev. xix.
31 ; 1 Sam. xxviii. 7, &c. ; 2 K. xxi. 6, xxiii. 24,
&c.) as well as in the New, it recognises posses
sion as a real and direct power of evil spirits
upon the heart. [A. B.]
DE'MOPHON (A-npotpuv), a Syrian general
in Palestine under Antiochus V. Eupator (2 Mace.
xii. 2).
DENA'RIUS (tirivdptov ; denarius; A. V.
" penny," Matt, xviii. 28 ; xx. 2, 9, 13 ; xxii.
19 ; — Mark vi. 37 ; xii. 15 ; xiv. 5 ; — Luke vii.
41; x. 35; xx. 24; — John vi. 7; xii. 5; — Rev.
vi. 6), the principal Roman silver coin in the
period of the N. T.
The denarius (or properly denarius nummus ?)
Was thus called because it was first struck as
equivalent to ten asses. It therefore first bore
ou the obverse the symbol X, and was called by
a name indicating its denary character. The
denarius was first issued B.C. 268, and was the
chief coin of the first silver issue at Rome. The
weight was 70 grains. The half, or quinarius,
Was equal to 5 asses and bore the mark V,
and the quarter, or sestertius, was equal to 2J
asses, aud bore the mark IIS. The divisions
must have been first issued at the same time
as the denarius. The weight of the denarius
was reduced circ. B.C. 217 to 60 grains, at which
it remained until it was further reduced to
52£ grains circ. A.D. 60.
By the time of Augustus the denarius had
become the chief coin of the Roman world. The
drachm of the Attic talent, which from the time
of Alexander was the most important Greek
monetary standard, had by gradual reduction
fallen from the weight of 67 ¦ 5 grains to the
weight of the denarius of Augustus, and the
two coins thus came to be regarded as identical.
Under the same emperor the Roman money
superseded the Greek except in a few issues.
The great currency in the precious metals was
of coins struck at Rome, and the common silver
coin was the denarius. Thus in Palestine in
the period of the N. T. denarii must have mainly

DEPOSIT
formed the silver currency. A few local cur
rencies of the neighbouring countries of inferior
metal could only have been also in use. It is
therefore almost certain that we are to under
stand the denarius by the terms tipaxpri and with
1 ess certainty apyupiov in the N. T., both rendered
in the A. V. "piece of silver." [Deachma;
Silver, Piece of.] The tiitipaxpov of the tribute
(Matt. xvii. 24) was probably not a current coin,
unlike the o-TaT-hp mentioned in the same passage
(v. 27). [Stater.] From the parable of the

Denarius of TiberiUB.
Obr. TI CAESAK DIVI AV6 F AVGVSTVS. Head of Tiberius,
laureate, to the right (Matt. xxii. 19, 20, 21). Eev. PONTIF.
MAXIM. Seated female figure to the right.
labourers in the vineyard it seems that a
denarius was then the ordinary pay for a
husbandman's day's labour (Matt. xx. 2. 4, 7,
9, 10, 13). [See Monet.] [R. S. P.]
DENS. [Caves.]
DEPOSIT (|i"lj5S; irapaBiJKri, TtapaKaTa-
8t)kti ; depositum). The arrangement by which
one man kept at another's request the property
of the latter, until demanded back, was one
common to all the nations of antiquity; and the
dishonest dealing with such trusts is marked by
profane writers with extreme reprobation (Herod.
vi. 86 ; Juv. xiii. 199, &c. ; Joseph. Ant. iv. 7,
§ 38 ; B. J. iv. 8, §§ 5, 7). Even our Saviour
seems (Luke xvi. 12) to allude to conduct, in
such cases as a test of honesty .a In later times,
when no banking system was as yet devised,
shrines were often used for the custody of trea
sure (2 Mace. iii. 10, 12, 15 ; Xenoph. Anab. v. 3,
§7; Cic. Legg. ii. 16; Plut. Lys. c. 18); but,
especially among an agricultural people, the
exigencies of war and other causes of absence
must often have rendered such a deposit, espe-
cially as regards animals, an owner's only course.
Nor was the custody of such property burden
some ; for the use of it was no doubt, so far as
that was consistent with its unimpaired restora
tion, allowed to the depositary, which office also
no one was compelled to accept. The articles
specified by the Mosaic law are — (1) " money or
stuff ; " and (2) " an ass, or an ox, or a sheep,
or any beast." The first case was viewed as
only liable to loss by theft (probably for loss by
accidental fire, &c, no compensation could be
claimed), and the thief, if found, was to pay
double, i.e. probably to compensate the owner's
loss, and the unjust suspicion thrown on the
depositary. If no theft could be proved, the
depositary was to swear before the judges that
he had not appropriated the article, and then

" Such is probably the meaning of the words h t<3
AXXotpu? moral. It may also be remarked that, in the
parable of the talents, the " slothful servant " affects to
consider himself as a mere depositarius, in the words
We exeis TO adv (Matt. XXV. 25).

DEPUTY
was quit.b In the second, if the beast were to |
"die or be hurt, or driven away, no man see-
jn!r jy — accidents to which beasts at pasture
were easily liable, — the depositary was to purge
himself by a similar oath. (Such oaths are
probably alluded to Heb. vi. 16, as " an end of
all strife.") In case, however, the animal were
stolen, the depositary was liable to restitution,
which probably was necessary to prevent collu
sive theft. If it were torn by a wild beast,
some proof was easily producible, and, in that
case, no restitution was due (Ex. xxii. 7-13). In
case of a false oath so taken, the perjured person,
besides making restitution, was to " add the fifth
part more thereto," to compensate the one
injtired, and to "bring a ram for a trespass-
offering unto the Lord " (Lev. vi. 5, 6). In the
Book of Tobit (v. 3) a written acknowledgment
of a deposit is mentioned (i. 14 [17], iv. 20 [21]).
This, however, merely facilitated the proof of
the fact of the original deposit, leaving the law
untouched. The Mishnah (Baha Metzia, c. iii. ;
Shebuoth, v. 1) shows that the law of the oath
of purgation in such cases continued in force
among the later Jews. Michaelis on the laws
of Moses, ch. 162, may be consulted on this
subject. [H. H.]
DEPUTY. The uniform rendering in the
A.V.andR. V. of avBinraTos, "proconsul" (Acts
xiii. 7, 8, 12 ; xix. 38). The English word is
curious in itself, and to a certain extent appro
priate, having been applied formerly to the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland. Thus Shaksp. Hen. VIII.
iii. 2: " Plague of your policy,
You sent me deputy for Ireland." [W. A. W.]
DEE'BE (AepBr), Acts xiv. 20, 21, xvi. 1 ;
Hth. AepBaios, Acts xx. 4). The exact position
of this town has but lately been ascertained. It
was apparently on one of the main roads from
Cilicia to Iconium, and on the great upland
plain of Lycaonia, which stretches from Ico-
Sma eastwards along the north side of the chain
of Taurus. It appears that Cicero went through
Derbe on his journey from Cilicia to Iconium (Cic.
ad Fam. xiii. 73). Such was St. Paul's route
on his second missionary journey (Acts xv. 41 ;
.xvi. 1, 2), and probably also on the third (xviii.
,23, xix. l). In his first journey (xiv. 20, 21) he
approached from the other side, viz. from
.Iconium, in consequence of persecution in that
place and at Lystra. No incidents of an adverse
character are recorded as having happened at
Derbe. In harmony with this, it is not men
tioned in the enumeration of places in 2 Tim. iii.
11. "In the apostolic history Lystra and
Derbe are commonly mentioned together : in
the quotation from the epistle, Lystra is men-
. tioued and not Derbe. The distinction is accu
rate; for St. Paul is here enumerating his
persecutions " (Paley, Horae Paulinae, in loco).
/Gains, who accompanied St. Paul on his journey
,from Greece " as far as Asia," was a native of
Derbe. Strabo (p. 535), after describing the ten dis-
6 The Hebrew expression fjfo Qtf, Ex. xxii. 8, ren
dered in the A. V. and E. V. " to see whether. . .(not),"
is a common formula juramdi.

DERBE

755

tricts of Cappadocia, adds that there was an
eleventh " formed out. of Cilicia, consisting of the
country about Castabala and Cybistra (Eregli),
extending to Derbe." He stales elsewhere (p. 569)
that Derbe was " on the side of tho Isaurian terri
tory close upon Cappadocia." Ptolemy states
(v. 6) that Derbe formed, with Laranda (Kara-
man), Olbasa, and Mousbanda, the " strategia
Antiochiane," which was between Lycaonia and
Tyanitis. In the Sgnecdemus of Hierocles (Wes-
seling, p. 675, where the word is AepBai) it
is placed, as in the Acts of the Apostles,
in Lycaonia. The boundaries of these districts
were not very exactly defined. The whole
neighbourhood, to the sea-coast of Cilicia,
was notorious for robbery and piracy. Antipater,
the friend of Cicero (ad Fam. xiii. 73), was the
bandit chieftain of Lycaonia. Amyntas, king of "
Galatia (successor of Deiotarus IL), murderei.
Antipater and incorporated his dominions with.
his own. Derbe was in the province of Cappa
docia, constituted by Tiberius a.d. 17, when
the last king Archelaus died. It was probably
given the title Claudio-Derbe when transferred
by Claudius to Lycaonia. Afterwards, when
Cappadocia and Galatia were united by Vespa
sian, Lycaonia, with Derbe, was included in the
province. [Galatia.] Derbe does not seem to
be mentioned in the Byzantine writers. Leake
(p. 102) says that its Bishop was a suffragan of
the Metropolitan of Iconium.
Three sites have been assigned to Derbe. (l.)>
By Col. Leake (Asia Minor, p. 101) it was sup
posed to be at Bin Bir Kilisseh, at the foot of
the Karadagh, a remarkable volcanic mountain.
which rises from the Lycaonian plain ; but this
is almost certainly the site of Barata. (2.)-
Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, ii. 313) and
Texier (Asie Mineure, ii. 129, 130) were disposed
to place it at Divle, a little to the S.W. of the
last position and nearer to the roots of Taurus.
In favour of this view there is the important
fact that Steph. Byz. says that the place was
sometimes called AeXBeia, which inthe Lycaonian
language (see Acts xiv. 1 1) meant a " juniper
tree." Moreover, he speaks of a Xipr/v here,
which (as Leake and the French translators of
Strabo suggest) ought probably to be Xipvn ;
and if this is correct, the requisite condition is-
satisfied by the proximity of the Lake Ak Gil.
Wieseler (Chronol. der Apost. Zeitalter, p. 24)*
takes the same view, though he makes much
of the possibility that St. Paul, on his second
journey, travelled by a minor pass to the W. of
the Cilician Gates. The people of DivU have
a tradition that they originally came from Am-
barrarassi, a small village situated in a recess.
in the hills close to the eastern end of the
marshy lake Ak GUI: there are here the ruins of
an old town, and an extensive cemetery, partly of
rock-hewn tombs, and partly of sarcophagi now
covered by soil washed down from the hills-
One of the sarcophagi, of enormous size, 14 ft.
and 8 ft. deep, has its lid and sides ornamented!
with figures in bold relief, similar in style to the
sculptures at Pergamum (Davies, Life in Asiat.
Turkey, p. 280). Above the village the Roman
road, which connected it with Eregli, eighteen
miles distant, is well marked by a cutting in,
the rock (Sir C. Wilson, MS. Notes). (3.) Pro
fessor W. H. Ramsay argues (Hist. Geog. of
Asia Minor, p. 336) that Derbe must have been
3 C 2

756

DESERT

W. of Laranda, and that it must be placed, as
suco-ested by Professor Sterrett, at Zusta, on the
road which ran from Cilicia Tracheia through
Laranda to Iconium. Winer (Realworterbuch,
s. v.) states that Derbe was " S. of Iconium and
S.E. of Lystra." [J. S. H.] [W.]
DESERT, a word which is sparingly em
ployed in the A. V. to translate four Hebrew
terms, of which three are essentially different in
signification. A " desert," in the sense which
is ordinarily attached to the word, is a vast,
burning, sandy " plain, alike destitute of trees
and of water. This idea is probably derived
from the deserts of Africa — that, for example,
which is overlooked by the Pyramids, and with
which many travellers are familiar. But it
should be distinctly understood that no such
region as this is ever mentioned in the Bible as
having any connexion with the history of the
Israelites, either in their wanderings or their
settled existence. With regard to the sand,
the author of Sinai and Palestine has given the
fullest correction to this popular error, and has
shown that " sand is the exception and not the
rule of the Arabian desert " of the Peninsula bf
Sinai (S. $ P., pp. 8, 9, 64). And as to the other
-features of a desert, certainly the Peninsula of
Sinai is no plain, but a region extremely variable
in height, and diversified, even at this day, by
oases and valleys of verdure and vegetation, aud
by frequent wells, which were all probably far
more abundant in those earlier times than they
now are. This, however, will be more appro
priately discussed under the head of Wilder
ness of the Wanderings. Here it is simply
necessary to show that the words rendered in
the A. V. by " desert," when used in the his
torical books, denoted definite localities ; and
that those localities do not answer to the com
mon conception of a " desert."
1. ArIbah (rQ"IB). The root of this word,
¦according to Gesenius ( Thes. p. 1066), is Arab,
2~\V, to be dried up as with heat ; and it has
been already shown that when used, as it in
variably is in the historical and topographical
records of the Bible, with the definite article,
it means that very depressed and enclosed region
— the deepest and the hottest chasm in the
world — the sunken valley north and south of
the Dead Sea, but more particularly the former.
[Arabah.] True, in the present depopulated
and neglected state of Palestine the Jordan
valley is as arid and desolate a region as can be
met with, but it was not always so. On the
contrary, we have direct testimony to the fact
that when the Israelites were flourishing, and
later in the Roman times, the case was emphati
cally the reverse. Jericho, " the city of palm
trees," at the lower end of the valley, Bethshean
at the upper, and Phasaelis in the centre, were
famed both in Jewish and profane history for
the luxuriance of their vegetation (Jos. Ant.
xviii. 2, § 2 ; xvi. 5, § 2 ; Bethshean; Jericho).
When the abundant water-resources of the
valley were properly husbanded and distributed,
the tropical heat caused not barrenness but
tropical fertility ; and here grew the balsam, the

* "Tbe sea of sand." See Coleridge's parable on
Mystics and Mysticism (Aids to Beft. Conclusion).

DESERT
sugar-cane, and other plants requiring great
heat, but also rich soil, for their culture.
Arabah iu the sense of the Jordan Valley is
translated by the A. V. " desert " (R. V. Arabah)
only in Ezek. xlvii. 8. In a more general sense
of waste, deserted country — a meaning easily
suggestive by the idea of excessive heat con
tained in the root — " Desert," as the rendering
of Arabah, occurs in the Prophets and poetical
Books (cp. Is. xxxv. 1, 6, xl. 3, xii. 19, li. 3;
Jer. ii. 6, v. 6, xvii. 6, 1. 12): but this general
sense is never found in the Historical Books. In
these, to repeat once more, Arabah always
denotes the Jordan Valley, the Ghor of the
modern Arabs. Dean Stanley proposes to use
" desert " as the translation of Arabah whenever
it occurs, and, though not exactly suitable, it is
difficult to suggest a better word.
2. But if Arabah gives but little support to
the ordinary conception of a "desert," still less
does the other word which our translators have
most frequently rendered by it. Midbar
("13"7P) is accurately the "pasture ground,"
deriving its name from a root dabar ("\y*f), " to
drive," significant of the pastoral custom of
driving the flocks out to feed in the morning,
and home again at night ; and therein analogous
to the German word trift, which is similarly
derived from treiben, " to drive." Jeremiah
(xxiii. 10) speaks of the " pleasant places," R. V.
"pastures" (fl'lM), of the Midbar. With
regard to the Wilderness of the Wanderings —
for which Midbar is almost invariably used —
this signification is most appropriate; for we
must never forget that the Israelites had flocks
and herds with them during the whole of their
passage to the Promised Land. They had them
when they left Egypt (Ex. a. 26, xii. 38) ; they
had them at Hazeroth, the middle point of the
wanderings (Num. xi. 22), and some of the
tribes possessed them in large numbers imme
diately before the transit of the Jordan (Num.
xxxii. 1). Midbar is not often rendered by
" desert " in the A. V. Its usual and certainly
more appropriate translation is " wilderness," a
word in which the idea of vegetation is present.
In speaking of the Wilderness of the Wander
ings the word " desert " occurs as the rendering
of Midbar, in Ex. iii. 1, v. 3, xix. 2 ; Num. xxxiii.
16 ; and in more than one of these it is evidently
employed for the sake of euphony merely. In
each case R. V. has " wilderness."
Midbar is most frequently used for tbuse
tracts of waste land which lie beyond the culti
vated ground in the immediate neighbourhood
of the towns and villages of Palestine, and which
are a very familiar feature to the traveller in
that country. In spring these tracts are covered
with a rich green verdure of turf, and small
shrubs and herbs of various kinds. But at the
end of summer the herbage withers, the turf
dries up and is powdered thick with the dust of
the chalky soil, and the whole has certainly a
most dreary aspect. An example of this is fur
nished by the hills through which the path
from Bethany to Jericho pursues its winding
descent. In the spring so abundant is the
pasturage of these hills, that they are the resort
of the flocks from Jerusalem on the one hand
and Jericho ou the other, and even from the
Arabs on the other side of the Jordan. And

DESSAU
even in the month of September — when the
writer made this journey — though the turf was
only visible on close inspection, more than one
large flock of goats and sheep was browsing,
scattered over the slopes, or stretched out in a
long even line like a regiment of soldiers. b A
strikin" example of the same thing, and of the
manner in which this waste pasture land
gradually melts into the cultivated fields, is
seen in making one's way up through the
mountains of Benjamin, due west, from Jericho
to MukJimds or Jeb'a. These Midbars seem to
have borne the name of the town to which they
were most contiguous: for example, Bethaven
(in the region last referred to) ; Ziph, Maon,
and.Paran, in the south of Judah; Gibeon,
Jernel, &c.
In the poetical Books " desert " (R.V. " wilder
ness") is found as the translation of JJidbar in
Deut. xxxii. 10; Job xxiv. 5; Is. xxi. 1; Jer.
nv. 24.
3. Chorbah (n3")r"l). This word is perhaps'
related to Arabah, with the substitution of one
guttural for another ; at any rate it appears to
have the same force, of dryness, and thence of
desolation. It does not occur in any historical
passages. It is rendered " desert " in Ps. cii. 6 ;
Is. xlviii. 21 ; Ezek. xiii. 4. The term com
monly employed for it in the A. V. is " waste
places " or " desolation."
4. Jeshimon (pD'EJ^ ; desert, waste). This
word in the historical books is used with the
definite article, apparently to denote the waste
tracts on both sides of the Dead Sea. In all
these cases it is treated as a proper name in the
A. V.; and in the R. V. is translated "the
desert " (marg. Jeshimon). [Jeshqion ; Beth-
Jesdioth.] Without the article it occurs in a
few passages of poetry ; in the following of
which it is rendered " desert " (Ps. Ixxviii. 40,
cvi. 14; Is. xliii. 19, 20). ' [G.] [W.]
DES'SAU (Aeaaaoi, A. Aeo-ffaoi ; Dessau),
a village (not "town;" Ktipn, castellum) at
which Nicanor's army was once encamped during
his campaign with Judas (2 Mace. xiv. 16).
There is no mention of it in the account of these
transactions in 1 Mace, or in Josephus. Ewald
conjectures that it may have been Adasa (Gesch.
iv. 368, note). [G.]
DEU'EL (^Win ; BA. 'Payov-hX ; Dehuel),
father of Eliasaph, the " captain " (X^) of the
tribe of Gad at the time of the numbering of
the people at Sinai (Num. i. 14 ; vii. 42, 47 ;
I. 20). The same man is mentioned again in
ii. 14, but here the name appears as Reuel,
owing to au interchange of the two very similar
Hebrew letters T and "I. In this latter passage
the Samaritan, Arabic, and Vulg. retain the D ;
the LXX., as in the other places, has R.
[Recel.] Which of the two was really his
name, we have no means of deciding. [G.]
DEUTERONOMY (AeuTepovipiov, from the
[inexact] LXX. rendering of rn'lFin fl^D
b This practice is not peculiar to Palestine. Mr.
Blakesley observed it in Algeria ; and gives the reason
for it, namely, a more systematic, and therefore com
plete, consumption of the scauty herbage (Four Months
in Algeria, p. 303).

DEUTERONOMY 757
rlN-tn, * xvii. 18, t}> tieuTepovipiov touto [up.
'¦Josh. viii. 32]; Vulg. Deutcronomium; called
by the Jews, from the opening words, rfpN
Dna'in, or more briefly Dna'l), the fifth Book
of the Pentateuch, recording the events of the
last month (i. 3; xxxiv. 8) of the forty years'
wanderings of the children of Israel. The
greater part ofthe Book is occupied by the final
discourse of Moses delivered in the plains of
Moab, setting before the Israelites the laws
which they are to obey, and the spirit in which
they are to obey them, when they are settled
in the Promised Land. This is preceded and
followed by other matter, the nature of which
will appear more distinctly from a preliminary
outline of contents. I. Contents and Scope.
§ 1. i. 1-5. Historical introduction, describ
ing the situation and occasion on which the dis
courses following were delivered.
i. 6 — iv. 40. Moses' first discourse, consisting
of a review of the circumstances under which
the Israelites had arrived at the close of their
wanderings, and concluding with an eloquent
practical appeal (ch. iv.) not to forget the great
truths impressed upon them at Horeb.
iv. 41-43. Historical account of the appoint
ment by Moses of three cities of refuge east of
Jordan. iv. 44-49. Historical introduction to Moses'
second discourse, forming the legislation proper.
v.-xxvi. The legislation, consisting of two.
parts : (1) v.-xi. Hortatory introduction,
developing the first commandment of the Deca
logue, and inculcating the general theocratic
principles by which Israel, as a nation, is to be
guided. (2) xii. -xxvi. The code of special
laws. xxvii. Injunctions (narrated in the third
person) relative to a symbolical acceptance by
the nation of the preceding code, after taking
possession of Canaan.
xxviii. -xxix. 1. Conclusion to the code (con
nected closely with xxvi. 19), consisting of a
solemn declaration of the consequences to follow
its observance or neglect.
xxix. 2 — xxx. 20. Moses' third discourse,
embracing (1) the establishment of a fresh cove
nant between the people and God (ch. xxix.) ;
(2) the promise of restoration, even after the
abandonment threatened in ch. xxviii., if the
nation should then exhibit due tokens of peni
tence (xxx. 1-10) ; (3) the choice set before
Israel (xxx. 11-20).
xxxi. 1-13. Moses' farewell of the people,
and commissiou of Joshua. His delivery of the
Deuteronomic law to the Levitical priests.
xxxi. 14 — xxxii. 47. The Song of Moses,
with accompanying historical notices.
xxxii. 48 — xxxiv. 12. Conclusion of the whole
Book, containing the Blessing of Moses, and
describing the circumstances of his death.
§ 2. The Deuteronomic legislation, properly
so called, is thus included in chs. xii.-xxvi., to
which chs. v.-xi. form an introduction. The
remaining portions of the Book, differing as they
do from these chapters in character and scope,

- Which = a repetition (i.e. copy) °f ""'s lav>, not this.
repetition of the law.

758

DEUTERONOMY

are sometimes spoken of as the " margins " b of
the legislation proper. In Deut. itself, the code
(including its supplement, ch. xxviii.) is referred
to continually (i. 5 ; iv. 8 ; xvii. 18, 19 ; xxvii.
3,8, 26; xxviii. 58, 61; xxix. 29 [Heb. 28];
xxxi. 9, 11, 12, 24, 26) as this law, sometimes
also as this book of the law (xxix. 21, xxx. 10 ;
cf. Josh. i. 8). That these expressions refer to
Deut. alone (or the code contained in it c), and
not to the entire Pentateuch, appears in par
ticular (1) from the wording of i. 5 and iv. 8,
44, which points to a law about to be, or actually
being, set forth ; (2) from the parallel phrases
.this commandment, these statutes, or these judg
ments, often spoken of as inculcated to-day (vii.
12 [see v. 11]; xv. 5; xix. 9; xxvi. 16; xxx.
11 : cf. v. 1 ; vi. 6 ; xi. 28, 32), and this cove
nant (xxix. 9, 14), which clearly alludes to the
Deuteronomic legislation (cf. 19, 20, "the curse
written in this book " [ch. xxviii.]), and is dis
tinguished from the covenant made before at
•Sinai (xxix. l).a
§ 3. In order to gain a right estimate of Deut.,
it is necessary to compare it carefully with the

DEUTERONOMY
previous Books of the Pentateuch, upon which
in its historical and legislative portions alike it
is based. Let us consider the latter portions
first. In comparing these with the laws in Ex.-
Lev., it must be kept iu mind that these laws
are not homogeneous, but fall into at least three
distinct codes, each marked by features of its
own ; and it is important to observe in what
manner Deut. is related to each of these. The
codes referred to are (1) that contained in
Ex. xx.-xxiii., comprising the Decalogue, and
what is commonly known as the " Book of the
Covenant " (Ex. xxiv. 7), to which must be
added the (partial) repetition of the latter in
xxxiv. 10-26, and the kindred section xiii. 3-16 ;
(2) the laws, specially on ritual, occupying
Ex. xxv.-xxxi., xxxv.-xl., Lev. i.-xvi., xxvii.,
and the greater part of Numbers, now often
termed the " Priests' Code " ; (3) the special
code contained in Lev. xvii.-xxvi. The following
synopsis will show immediately which of the
enactments in Deut. relate to subjects not dealt
with in the other codes, and which are parallel
to provisions there contained.

§ 4. Synopsis of Laws contained in Deuteronomy

Exodus.

Deuteronomy.

The Peiests' Code.

XX. 2-17.

v. 6-21 (the Decalogue).

xxiii. 12.

, , 14 b (object of Sabbath).

xx. 24.
xii. 1-28 (place of sacrifice).
Lev. xvii. 1-9.
, , 16, 23 ; xv. 23 (blood not to be eaten).
, , xvii. 10-14 ; xix. 26 a.
xii, 29-xiii. 18 (against seduction to idolatry).
xiv. lsq. (disfigurement in mourning).
, , xix. 28.
, , 3-20 (clean and unclean animals).
,, xi. 2-22; xx. 25.
xxii. 31.
, , 21 a (food improperly killed).
, , xvii. 15 ; xi. 40.
xxiii. 19 b ; xxxiv. 26 b.
, , 21b (kid in mother's milk).
, , 22-29 (tithes).
:xxiii. 10 sq.
xv. 1-11 (Sabbatical year).
Lev. xxv. 1-7.
xxi. 2-11.
, , 12-18 (Hebrew slaves).
, , xxv. 39-46.
xxii. 3C ; xiii. 11, 12 ;
, , 19-23 (firstlings of ox and sheep).
Ex. xiii. 1 sq. ; Num. xviii.
xxxiv. 19.
17 sq.
xxiii. 14-17 ; xxxiv. 18,
xvi. 1-17 (the three annual pilgrimages).
Lev. xxiii. ; Num. xxviii. sq.
20 b, 22-25.
, , 18 (appointment of judges).
xxiii. 1-3, 6-8.
,, 19 sq. (just judgment).
Lev. xix. 15.
, , 21 sq. (neither Asherah nor pillar to be used as a
, , xxvi. 1 a.
religious symbol).
xvii. 1 (offerings to be without blemish : cf. xv. 21).
, , xxii. 17-24.
xxii. 20.
, , 2-7 (idolatry, especially of the*'host ofheaven").
, , 8-13 (court of final appeal).
, , 14r-20 (law of the king).
xviii. 1-8 (eights ofthe tribe of Levi).
,, vii. 32-34; Num. xviii.
, , 9-22 (law of the prophet).
8 20.
, , 10 a (Molech- worship).
, , xviii. 21 ; xx. 2-5.
sxii. 18 (witch alone).
, , 10 b-11 (different kinds of divination).
,, xix. 26 b, 31; xx.6,27.
.xxi. 12-14.
xix. 1-13 (murder and asylum).
, , 14 (the landmark).
, , xxiv. 17, 21 ; .Num.
xxxv.
xxiii. 1.
, , 15-21 (law of witnesses).
xx. (laws of war and military service : cp. xxiv. 5).
xxi. 1-9 (expiation of uncertain murder).
, , 10-14 (treatment of female captives).
, , 15-17 (primogeniture).
, , xix. 16 b.
xxi, 15, 17.
, , 18-21 (undutiful son).
, , 22 sq. (body of malefactor).
, , xx. 9.
" Kleinert [see full title In $ 40], p. 33 sq.
" A limitailon which seems to be demanded by the
nature of the injunction In xxvii. 3, 8.
d So Delitzsch (Genesis, 18Y2, p. 21 ; 1887, pp. 15, 23),
¦with the majority of modem scholars. Keil (Einleitung,
J8J3, } 23, 3) refers this law (1. 5) to the legislation
preceding Deut.; but though it is true that the ex
pression might be used to denote, for Instance, the Book
of Numbers, this (as we shall see) is not anywhere
" explained " in Deut. Ex. xx.-xxiil. Is " explained "
in Deut., but is too remote to be described by the
pronoun "this."
DEUTERONOMY

759

Exodus.

Deuteronomy.

The Pkiests' Code.

sxiii. 4 sq.

xxii. 1-4 (animals straying or fallen).
, , 5 (sexes not to interchange garments).

, 6sq. (bird's nest).

, S (battlement).
, 9-11 (against non-natural mixtures).
Lev. xix. 19.
, 12 (law of " fringes ").
Num. xv. 37-41.
, 13-21 (slander against a maiden).
, 22-27 (adultery).
Lev. xviii. 20; xx. 10.
xxii. 16 sq.
, 23 sq. (seduction).
, 30 (incest with step-mother).
,, xviii. 8; xx. 11.
xxiii. l-s (conditions of admittance into the theocratic
community).
, , 9-14 (cleanliness in the camp).
Num. v. 1-4.
, , 15 sq. (humanity to escaped slave).
, , 1 7 sq. (against religious prostitution).
xxii. 25.
, , 19 (usury).
Lev. xxv. 35-37.
, , 21-23 (vows).
Num. xxx. 2.
, , 24sq. (regard for neighbour's crops).
xxiv. 1-4 (divorce).
xxii. 26 sq.
. , 6, 10-13 (pledges).
xxi. 16.
, , 7 (man-stealing).
,, Ssq. (leprosy).
Lev. xiii.-xiv.
, , 14 sq. (justice towards hired servants).
, , xix. 13.
, , 16 (the family of a criminal not to suffer with him).
xxii. 21-24, xxiii. 9.
, , 17 sq.Qustice towards stranger, widow, and orphan).
, , xix. 33 sq.
, , 19 sq. (gleanings).
,, xix. 9sq. ; xxiii. 22,
xxv. 1-3 (moderation in the infliction of the bastinado).
, , 4 (ox not to be muzzled while threshing).
, , 5-10 (law of the levirate).
, , 11 sq. (modesty).
, , 13-16 (just weights).
Lev. xix. 35 sq.
xvii. 14.
,, 17-19 (Amalek!).
cp. xxii. 29 a; xxiii.
xxvi. 1-15 (form of thanksgiving at the offering of first-
cp. Num. xviii. 12 sq.
19 a ; xxxiv. 26 a.
fruits and triennial tithes).
xiii. 9, 16.
xxiii. 13 ; xxxiv. 14.
xiii. 14.
•yyiii, 24, 32 sq. ; xxxiv.
12 sq., 15 sq.
XXU. 20, Tcxin. 9.
vi. 8 ; xi. 18 (law of frontlets).
vi. 14 ; xi. 16 (against " other gods ").
vi. 20 sq. (instruction to children).
vii. 2-5, 16 ; xii. 3 (no compact with Canaanites : their
altars and religious emblems to be destroyed).
x. 19 (to love the stranger).
xvi. 13, 15 (feast of " booths," " seven days").
xvii. 6 ; xix.. 15 (" two or three witnesses ").
xix. 21 (lex talionis)
(but in a different application in each case).
Num. xxxiii. 52, 55.
Lev. xix. 34.
, , xxiii. 34, 39, 41-43.
Num. xxxv. 30.
Lev. xxiv. 19 sq.
§ 5. The parallels for xxvii. 15-26 (the imprecations) are as foil
OWS
—
Exodus.
Detjteboxomy.
Leviticus xvii.-xxvi.
xx. 4, 23 ; xxxiv. 17.
xxi. 17.
xxvii
15 [ep. vii. 25].
16 [cp. xxi. 18-21].
17 [xix. 14].
18.
xix. 4 ; xxvi. 1 a.
xx. 9.
xix. 14.
xxii. 21-24 ; xxiii. 9.
xxii. 19 [Heb. 18).
, ,
19 [xxiv. 17].
20 [xxii. 30 (xxiii. 1 Heb.)].
21.22.
23.
xix. 33 sq.
xviii. 8 ; xx. 11.
xviii. 23; xx. 15.
xx. 17 ; cp. xviii. 9.
xviii. 17 ; xx. 14.
xxi. 12.
, ,
24.
xxiv. 17.
xxiii. 8.
"
25 [xvi. 19].
§ 6. In the matter of arrangement, Deut. is
not dependent upon any of the other codes.
The only principles that can be traced are — (1.)
laws concerning kindred subjects are sometimes
placed together. (2.) In the legislation, viewed
as a whole, religious duties occupy the first
place (chaps, xii.-xvi. mainly); then follow
«ml ordinances (chaps, xvii.-xx.) ; lastly, regu
lations touching social and domestic life (chaps.
xxi.-xxv.). If, however, the parallels are
examined in detail, it will become apparent that
the foundation of the legislation is the code in
Ex. xx.-xxiii. : this is evident as well from the
numerous verbal coincidences • as from the fact
e E.g. Deut. xvi. 1 b and Ex. xxiii. 15 (=xxxiv. 18) j
3 m and xiii. 6 (= xxiii. 15 = xxxiv. 18) ; 4 a and xiii. 7 J
760

DEUTEEONOMY

which is plain from the left-hand column, viz.
that nearly the whole ground covered by Ex. xx.-
xxiii. is included in it, the chief exception being
the special compensations to be paid for various
injuries (Ex. xxi. 18— xxii. 15), which would be
less necessary in a manual intended for the
people.' In a few cases the entire law is repeated
verbatim, elsewhere only particular clauses (e.g.
vi. 8, 20; xv. 12, 16, 17); more commonly it
is explained (xvi. 19b; xxii. 4b) or expanded;
fresh definitions being added (xvi. 1-17), or a
principle applied so as to cover expressly par
ticular cases (xvii. 2-7; xviii. 10b, 11). Some
times even the earlier law is modified :
discrepancies arising from this cause will be
considered subsequently. The additional civil
and social enactments make provision chiefly
for cases likely to arise in a more complex and
developed community than is contemplated in
the legislation of Ex. xx.-xxiii.
In the right-hand column most of the parallels
are with Lev. xvii.-xxvi. These consist princi
pally of specific moral injunctions ; but it can
not be said that the legislation in Deut. is based
upon this code, or connected with it organically,
as it is with Ex. xx.-xxiii. With the other
parts of Lev.-Num. the parallels are less com
plete, the only remarkable verbal one being
afforded by the description of clean and unclean
animals in xiv. 4a, 6-19 a: in some other cases
the differences are such (see § 16) as to cause
great embarrassment to the harmonizer. Deut.
thus stands in a different relation to each of the
three codes referred to: it is an expansion of
that in Ex. xx.-xxiii. ; it is, in several features,
parallel to that in Lev. xvii.-xxvi. ; it contains
allusions to laws such as those codified in the
rest of Lev.-Num.
§ 7. In so far as it is a law-book, Deut. may
be described as a manual, which without enter
ing into technical details (almost the only
exception is xiv. 3-20, which explains itself)
would instruct the Israelite in the ordinary
duties of life. It gives general directions as to
the way in which the annual feasts are to be
kept and the principal offerings paid. It lays
down a few fundamental rules concerning sacri
fice (xii. 5 sq., 20, 23 ; xv. 23 ; xvii. 1) ; for a
case io which technical skill would be required,
it refers to the priests (xxiv. 8). It prescribes
the general principles by which family and
domestic life is to be regulated, specifying a
number of the cases most likely to occur.
Justice is to be equitably and impartially
administered (xvi. 18-20); only the terms of
compensation, as has been remarked (§ 6), are
not again particularized. It prescribes a due
position in the community to the prophet (xiii.
1-5 ; xviii. 9-22), and siiows how even the
monarchy may be so established as not to con
travene the fundamental principles of the theo
cracy (xvii. 14 sq.).
§ 8. Deuteronomy is, however, more than u.
mere code of laws : it is the expression of a pro
found ethical and religious spirit, which deter
mines its character in every part. At the head
of the hortatory introduction (chaps, v.-xi.)

4 b and xxiii. 18, xxxiv. 25 ; 16 a and xxiii. 17 (=xxxiv.
23) ; 16 b and xxiii. 15 (=xxxiv. 20).
f The other exceptions are Ex. xx. 25 sq., xxii. 28,
*9 b, xxiii. 18.

DEUTERONOMY
stands the Decalogue ; and the First Command
ment forms the text of the chapters which
follow. Having already (iv. 12 sq.) dwelt on
the spirituality of the God of Israel, the law
giver emphasizes here, far more distinctly than
had been done before, His unity and unique God
head (vi. 4; x. 17: cp. iii. 24; iv. 35, 39),
drawing from this truth the practical conse
quence that He must be the sole object of the,
Israelite's reverence (vi. 13 ; x. 20). He ex
horts the people to keep His statutes ever in
remembrance (v. 1 ; vi. 6-9, 17 sq., &c.) ; warn
ing them with special earnestness lest in days
of prosperity and thoughtlessness they should
forget Him (vi. 10-12; viii. 11-18, &c), and.
yield to the temptations of idolatry ; and setting
before them the dangers of disobedience (vi.
14 sq.; vii. 4; viii. 19 sq. ; xi. 16 sq. : soiv. 25 sq.
— a prelude of ch. xxviii.). He reminds them
of the noble privileges, undeserved on their part
(vii. 7 sq. ; ix. 4-6 ; and the retrospect following,
as far as x. 11), which had been bestowed upon
them(x. 14 sq., 22; soiv. 37); and re-asserts with
fresh emphasis the old idea (Ex. xxiv. 8 ; xxxiv.
10) of the covenant subsisting between the
people and God (v. 2, 3 ; xxvi. 16-19 : so iv. 23,
32 ; xxix. 12-15), assuring them that if they
are true on their side God will be true likewise
(vii. 9-13; viii. 18; xi. 22-28). Particularly
he emphasizes the love of God (vii. 8, 13 ; x. 15 ;
xxiii. 5 b : so iv. 37), tracing even in his people's
affliction the chastening hand of a father (viii.
2sq., 5, 16), and dwelling on the providential
purposes which His dealings with Israel ex
emplified. Duties, however, are not to be performed
from secondary motives, such as fear, or
dread of consequences : they are to be the spon
taneous outcome of a heart from which every
taint of worldliness has been removed (x. 16),
and which is penetrated by an all-absorbing
sense of personal devotion to God (" with all the
heart, and with all the soul " : see § 37). Love
to God, as the motive of human action, is the
characteristic doctrine of Deuteronomy (vi. 5 ;
x. 12 ; xi. 1, 13, 22 ; xiii. 3 : xix. 9 : xxx. 6, 16,
20) : as here dwelt upon and expanded, the
old phrase those that love Me is filled with a
moral significance, which the passing use of it,
in passages like Ex. xx. 6, Judg. v. 31, would
scarcely suggest. No more profound expression
of the true principle of human action -can be
found than this : it was a true instinct which
in later times selected Deut. vi. 4—9 for daily
recitation by every Israelite s ; and it is at once
intelligible that our Lord should have pointed
to the same text, both as the " first command
ment of all " (Matt. xxii. 37 sq.; Mark xii. 29 sq.),
and as embodying the primary condition for the
inheritance of eternal life (Luke x. 27 sq.).
§ 9. The code of special laws (xii.-xxvi.) is
dominated by similar principles. Sometimes,.
indeed, the legislator is satisfied to leave au
enactment to explain itself: more commonly he
insists upon the object which it is to subserve
(e.g. xiv. 23, xxi. 23, &c), or the motive which
should be operative in its observance. An
ethical and religious aim should underlie the
entire life of the community. Local sanctuaries
s The Sliemd : see (e.g.) C. Taylor, Sayings of the
Jewish Fatliers (Cambridge, 1877), pp. 52, 130.

DEUTERONOMY
were apt to be abused, and to degenerate into
homes of superstition and idolatry : all offerings
and public worship generally are to take place
at the central sanctuary, "the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose " (ch. xii. aud often).
Old enactments are repeated (xii. 3; cp. vii. 5),
and fresh enactments to meet special cases
(xiii. ; xx. 16-18) are added, for the purpose of
neutralizing every inducement to worship
"other gods." The holiness of the nation is to
be its standard of behaviour, even in matters
which might appear indifferent (xiv. 1 sq., 3-20,
21); its perfect devotion to its God is to exclude
all customs or observances inconsistent with
this (xviii. 9-14). Especially are the duties of
humanity, philanthropy, and benevolence in
sisted on, towards those in difficulty or want
(xii. 19; xv. 7^11; xxii. 1-4; xxiv. 12 sq.,
14sq. ; xxvii. 18), and towards slaves (xv. 13 sq. ;
xxiii. 15 sq.), in particular upon occasion of
the great annual pilgrimages (xii. 12. IS; xiv.
27,29; xvi. 11, 14; xxvi. 11, 13). Gratitude
and a sense of sympathy evoked by the recollec
tion of their own past, are the motives again
and again inculcated: two forms of thanks
giving form the termination of the code
(ch. xxvi.). Already in the Decalogue the
reason assigned for the observance of the fourth
commandment, " that thy manservant and thy
maidservant may rest as well as thou," and the
motive, "And thou shalt remember that thou
wast a bondman in the land of Egypt " (v. 14 b,
15), indicate the lines along which the legislator
moves, and the principles which it is his desire
to impress (add xiii. 5, 10 ; xv. 15 ; xvi. 3 b, 1 2 ;
xxiii. 7 ; xxiv. 18, 22). Forbearance, equity,
and forethought underlie the regulations xx.
5-11, 19sq. ; xxi. 10-14,15-17; xxii. 8; xxiii.
24, 25; xxiv. 5, 6, 16, 19-22; xxv. 3:
humanity towards animals, those in xxii. 7 ;
xxv. 4. Not indeed that similar considerations
are absent from the older legislation (see e.g.
Ex. xxii. 21-24, 27 ; xxiii. 9, 11, 12), and (as the
table will have shown) some of the enactments
which have been cited are even borrowed from
it; but they are developed in Deut. with an
emphasis and distinctness which give a character
to the entire work. Nowhere else in the 0. T.
do we breathe such an atmosphere of generous
devotion to God, and of large-hearted benevolence
towards man ; and nowhere else is it shown
with the same fulness of detail how these prin
ciples may be made to permeate the entire life
ofthe community.
§ 10. The relation of the historical sections of
Dent, (i.-iii., ix. sq.) to Ex.-Num. must next be
examined. The following table of verbal coinci
dences shows that these are even more closely
dependent upon the earlier narrative than are
the laws. The reader who desires to apprehend
properly the nature and extent of these coin
cidences, should mark in the margin of his copy
of Deut. the references, and underline (or, if he
uses the Hebrew text, ocerline) the words in
common : he will theu be able to see at a glance
(1) the passages of Ex.-Num. passed over in
Deut.; (2) the variations and additions in Deut.
We have only space for the parallels in i. 7-17
and ix. 6 sq. : the reader must work out those in
i- 24-46 with parts of Num. xiii. 17-xiv. 25,
*>-45, xx. 1, and in ii. 1— iii. 11 with Num. xxi.
*-35 (which are not less noticeable) for himself.

DEUTERONOMY

701

Deut.

i. 7 a

(Num. xiv. 25) I*

9 a

(Num. xi. 14)
12
(.Num. xi. IV b)
13 a
t'l», Kx. xviii. 21 a
15
Ex. xviii. 25
17 b
Ex. xviii. Tl, 26 (n^p)
i. 6 b
Ex. xxxii. 9; xxxiii. 3, 5;
xxxiv. 9
9a
Ex. xxiv. 12
9 middle
Ex. xxiv. 18 b
9 end
(Ex. xxxiv. 28 a)
10 a
Ex. xxxi. 18 b
IL!
Ex. xxxii. 7, 8 a
13
Ex. xxxii. 9
14 b
Ex. xxxii. lob (Num. xiv. 12 b)
15
Ex. xxxii. 15
16
Ex. xxxii. 19 a, 8 a
17
Ex. xxxii. 19 b
18-19
Ex. xxxiv. 28 (cp. 9)
20
* * *
21
Ex. xxxii. 20
22
(Cp. Num. xi. 1-3; Ex. xvii.
7; Num. xi. 4, 34) *
26^
(Kx xxxii. lib)
27 a"
(Ex. xxxii. 13)
2S^
(Num. xiv. 113; cp. Ex. xxxii,
12)
(Ex. xxxii. lib, ^nj PD)
29b
x. la
Ex. xxxiv. 1 a
lb
Ex. xxxiv. 2
1 c (the arlc)
* * *
2a
Ex. xxxiv. 1 b
2b-3a
(the ark)
* * a
3b
Ex. xxxiv. 4
4
Ex. xxxiv. 28 b
5, 6-9
* * *
10(=ix
18)
Cp. Ex. xxxiv. 9 sq., 28
11
(Ex. xxxiii. 1)
The dependence of the retrospects upon the
earlier narrative is remarkable. Apart from
the verbal coincidences, it will be observed that
while there are sometimes omissions, as a rule
the substance is reproduced freely with ampli-
ficatory additions. The many cases in which a
phrase describing originally one incident is
applied in Deut. to another are also noticeable.
We have here to ask two questions : (1) Do the
variations between the two narratives ever
assume the character of discrepancies which do-
not admit of being reconciled ? (2) Is the rela
tion between the two narratives such as to be
compatible with the traditional view that the
author of both is Moses ?
II. Authorship and Date of Deuteronomy.
§ 11. The consideration of the question just
asked will conveniently introduce this part of
our subject. Additions such as those in i. 6-8,
16 sq., 20-22, iii. 23-25, obviously cause no
difficulty: they relate to personal details which
might well have been passed over in the his-
i The parenthesis indicates that, though there is a
coincidence of language, the passage quoted does not
describe the same event, but is borrowed from another
part of the narrative.
' In passages introduced witb " cp." the coincidence is
not verbal.
t Verses 26-29 cannot refer actually to Ex. xxxii.
11-13, because the intercession there recorded waB made
before Moses' first descent from the mount, whereas
in Deut. v. 25 points back to v. 18, which clearly relates
what took place after it (viz. Ex. xxxiv. 9, 28 a).
762

DEUTERONOMY

torical account. The following variations are,
however, of greater importance, and demand
closer consideration.
a. i. 9-15. The appointment of officers to assist
Moses is considered to be at variance with the account
in Ex. xviii. (1) From v. Q it appears to be placed after
the departure from Horeb, i.e. at the date named in
Num. x. 11 ; whereas in Ex. (xviii. 5, cp. iii. 1) it is said
to have occurred at a much earlier period of the encamp
ment there (before the date, xix. 1). (2) The institution is
described here as the result of a complaint on Moses'
part ; whereas in Ex. it is referred to the advice of
Jethro, and no allusion is made to the difficulty felt by
Moses. (3) There appears to be some confusion with the
appointment of seventy elders in Num. xi. : the phrases
in vv. 9, 12 are borrowed thence: and when it is con
sidered that the narrative following passes at once to
Num. xiii. sq. (without any notice of Ex. xix.-xxiv., &c),
the period of Num. xi. seems more probable than that
of Ex. xviii. To (1) it may be replied that in a review of
incidents which, exhypothesi, occurred nearlyforty years
previously, the space of a year more or less may reason
ably be covered by the expression at that time ; and that
v. 18 (pointing apparently to Ex. xxiv. 3, 7) seems
to limit the preceding narrative still more decidedly to
the period before the actual departure from Horeb.
(2) Moses, it may be said, relates here the motives by
which he was conscious that he was influenced himself:
the narrator in Ex. describes the occurrence from the
outside. (3) There cannot be any confusion with
Num. xi. : the institution there described had an
administrative object, and the number of elders was
but seventy. Deut. agrees with Ex. in describing the
institution of a judicature ; it agrees also in the far
greater number of those selected and in the stress laid
upon their moral fitness (see w. 13, 15 in the table).
The phraseology borrowed from the description of
another incident is tbown by the table (and by the
other instances in chaps, i.-iii.) to be characteristic of
tlie whole discourse.
&. i. 22-23. The apparent contradiction as regards the
originators of the proposal to send out the spies may be
removed by supposing that the people, as Deut. states,
having preferred their request, Moses refers it to God,
who then gives it His sanction, at which point the
narrative in Num. xiii. opens.
c. A greater difficulty is the reconciliation of i. 37 sq.,
which here interrupts the chronology of the retrospect
hy tbe notice of an event occurring (Num. xx. 12) thirty-
seven years subsequently, after which (v. 39) the
account of Num. xiv. is resumed. It is true that the
exception made in the case of Caleb might suggest the
similar one of Joshua ; but the stress seems to lie rather
on v. 37 (cp. iii. 26 ; iv. 21), and fortius there is no point
of contact in the present narrative of the spies. It Is
possible that the notice may allude to some incident not
otherwise recorded * : in the phraseology notbing points
to either Num. xx. 12 or Num. xxvii. 12-23. {The
expression on your account is commonly reconciled
with Num. xx. 12, by being understood to imply that
the sin of Moses was in fact a consequence of the unbelief
ofthe people.)
d. i. 44. Amorites in lieu of Amalekites and Ca
naanites in Num. xiv. 43-45 (cf. 25). This discrepancy
is not important : it may fairly be replied that the
native inhabitants of Palestine are here designated,
not by their specific names, but by the same generic
term applied to them elsewhere : e.g. Deut. i. 7, 19, 27.
e. ii, 2-8 a appears to differ from Num. xx. 14-21,
where the Israelites at Kadesh send to ask permission
to pass through the territory of Edom (so as to avoid the
detour by the Red Sea), which is refused by the
Edomites with some f-how of violence (go Judg. xi. 17).
In fact, however, in Deut., the incident ofthe Edoniites'
refusal is passed over; and the narrative begins at the
1 Comp. Kosters [see $ 40], p. 51.

DEUTERONOMY
point when the Israelites, having abandoned (Num. xx.
21)the idea of a direct passage, have reached the southern
extremity of Edum where it abuts on the Red Sea.
Only here was their border to be crossed, at a part
where, from the nature of the soil, it was more difficult
to prevent it than on the rocky western frontier near
Kadesh. Journeying afterwards northwards, on the
east of Edom, the Israelites, it is added (v. 8 a), were
careful not to encroach on the Edomite territory. In
v. 29, further, allusion is made to the Edomites supplying
Israel with food and water, which seems scarcely com
patible with the temper attributed to them in Num. xx.
18-20. The eastern frontier is, however, more weakly
defended than the western; and seeing the successful
advance of the Israelites, the Edomites may have deemed
it expedient to adopt towards them a different attitude.
/. ii. 29. In Judg. xi. 17 the Moabites are stated to
have refused permission to the Israelites to pass through
their territory, and in Deut. xxiii. 4 are described as
not offering them bread and water on the way. The
variation may be removed by supposing that, though
they sold the Israelites provisions, perhaps under com
pulsion, they showed no friendliness in so doing, did
not "come to meet " (Is. xxi. 14) them with it, but, on
the contrary, hired Balaam to curse them.
g. ix. 9. According to Ex. xxxii.-xxxiv., Moses was
three times in the mount ; but he is only recorded to
have fasted on the third occasion (xxxiv. 28): Deut. in
the very words of Ex. describes him as doing 60 on the
first occasion. Obviously, Deut. may relate what is
passed by in silence in Ex. ; but the variation is
remarkable. h. ix. 22-24. These verses interrupt the chronological
order, but (unlike i. 37 f.) they are in such close con
nexion with the general context, the rebelliousness of
the people, that their presence is sufficiently explained.
i. ix. 25-29. This, it is plain, must refer either to
Ex. xxxii. 30 sq., or more probably (Keil) to xxxiv.
4-28. It is remarkable, now, that the terms of Moses'
own intercession are borrowed, not from either of these
narratives, but from xxxii. 11-13, at the close of his
first stay upon the mountain. The notice in v. 20,
however, though an addition to what is distinctly
stated in Ex. xxxii. 31 sq., is not contradictory to it.
j. x. 1-5 = Ex. xxxiv. 1-4, 28 sq., with the differ
ence, that here Moses is directed to make, and does
actually make, an ark of wood before ascending the
mountain the second time for the Ten Commandments.
That Moses should describe as made by himself what
was in fact made by Bezaleel acting on his behalf is, no
doubt, natural enough ; but in Ex. the command is
both given to Bezaletl and executed by him after
Moses' return from the mountain (xxxvi. 2-4 ; xxxvii.
1; also xl. 20 sq.): the discrepancy in two narratives,
so circumstantial as each of these is, is singular.
fc. x. 6, 7 : cp. Num. xxxiii. 31-33, relating, however, to
a period long subsequent to the episode of the golden calf.
In Num., moreover, the stations Bene-jaakan andMoserah
are mentioned in the inverse order : and (v. 38) the death
of Aaron is recorded to have taken place at Mount Hor,
three stations beyond Jotbathah. A formal reconciliation
is possible by tlie supposition that the verses in Deut. are
parallel, not to Num. xxxiii. 31-33, but to v. 37, the
journey from Kadesh to Mount Hor, which may have
brought the Israelites to some of the stations which they
had visited previously (though not in the same order),
and by the further assumption that Moserah itself was
in the neighbourhood of Mouut Hor, perhaps the desert
at its foot.m
But why is the notice here at all ? The ground of its
Insertion has been supposed to be (Hengst., Keil) to
show that Aaron was not only forgiven through Moses*
intercession, but was even honoured by the confirmation
of the priesthood to his family. No doubt it is the
design of the preceding retrospect to illustrate the grace
of God as shown in the renewal, at Moses' earnest inter-
m So Hengst., Die Authentic des Pent., ii. 431-434.
But the solution is somewhat artificial.

DEUTERONOMY
cession, of the Covenant : but it is difficult to think that,
had such been the aim of these verses, it would have
h«n expressed so indirectly ; Aaron's own institution
to the priesthood, which would be the important point,
is passed over in silence. If vv. 6 sq. form an integral
part of tbe narrative, they can hardly be reasonably
explained, except as introductory to vv. asq. : the mention
ofthe ark, vv. 1-3, suggests a notice of the tribe of Levi,
whose duty it was to guard it, aud vv. 7 sq. specify the
occasion— viz. the sojourn at Jotbathah, or at least the
period of Aaron's death — when tbey were set apart for
tbis purpose. But according to Ex.-Num. their conse
cration took place as early as the second year of the
Exodus. Upon the assumption that the discourse was
delivered by Moses, the use of the third person of the
Israelites, the transition to the fortieth year and back
agnin— in v. 10, if not in v. S — the date assigned for the
consecration ofthe tribe of Levi, seern inexplicable. On
that assumption vo. 6sq. can hardly be explained except
as a gloss : D though the motive for their introduction
here is fiir from evident, and (what is stranger in a gloss)
they are in apparent disagreement with Num. xxxiii.
31-33. Keil indeed suggests that in order to reproduce
the past vividly Moses, by a quotation from the itinerary,
"lets the history speak itself: " but this explanation,
even if admitted as probable, only relieves a portion of
the difficulty. Upon the supposition, however, that
together with vv. 8 sq. they were written in view of a
different tradition from that preserved in Xum. xxxiii.,
or at a date when the consciousness of the interval
separating the first and fortieth year had become ob
scured, they are intelligible: they will then be an
integral part of the discourse, in which the author, how
ever, speaks (as in ii. 12) rather to his own readers than
in the person of Moses.0
I. x. 8. 9. If vv. 6 sq. are a gloss, the words at ihat
time wul refer, of course, to rr. 1-5 : if they are an
integral part of the text, it is both straining tbis ex
pression and also depriving tre. 6 sq. of their raison
tfttre, to refer it to anything except vv. 6 sq. Upon
the supposition that rr. 1-5 are referred to, the al
lusion is commonly considered to be to the institution of
a priesthood related in Ex. xxviii. sq., Lev. viii., and to
the separation of the Levites, Num. iii. 6sq. ; but the
expression at that time gains greatly in force by the
conjecture that the verse alludes to some incident con
nected with Ex. xxxii. 26-29 not recorded in the present
text of Exodns.p
Such are the historical discrepancies worthy
of notice alleged to exist in Deut. Treated
singly, the majority are fairly explicable upon
the theory of Mosaic authorship. The retrospect
in Deut. and the narrative in Ex.-Xum. are
designed with different objects, and different
periods or aspects of the transactions recorded
are made prominent in each. At the same time
there are some (especially c, j, k) which are
undoubtedly more serious; and it is singular
that there should be so many cases, from the
fasting and intercession of Hoses to the slaughter
ofthe sons of Sihon and Og, in which the recon
ciliation can only be effected by a duplication of
the event recorded inthe earlier narrative. The
discrepancies viewed as » whole create, it must
¦ So also Wellh., Proleg. p. 394 {=Hist. of Isr. p. 371]
(cp. J.D.TA.xxil. 46V sq.); Reuss, La Bible, &c, ii. 297
(together with vv. 8sq.). Dillmann attributes vv. 6 sq.
to the redactor of Deut. [below, 0 26 end].
0 So Graf, p. 12 ; Kayser, p. 131 ; Kuen. Hi. Tijdsehr.,
1881, p. 201 sq. Delitzsch also (Studien, xi. p. 565) agrees
that (with w. 8sq.) they are unquestionably an integral
part of Deut.; but admits (Genesis, 1887, p- 21) that they
embody a divergent tradition. It is against Mr. Waller's
theory (in Bp. Ellicott's Comm.) that the meaniDgs
assigned by him to the names are highly questionable.
» So Dillmann, Ex.-Lev. p. 342, with others.

DEUTERONOMY

763

be owned, an impression not wholly favourable
to the Mosaic authorship of the Book.
§ 12. A further noticeable fact results from a
comparison of the historical allusions in Deut.
with the earlier narrative of the Pentateuch.
In subsequent articles reasons will be given for
believing that the Pentateuch is composite in
structure, and that the narrative in the main
consists of two documents, each by means of
phraseological and' other criteria readily dis
tinguishable from the other. One of these, com
prising the ceremonial law and the narrative
attached to it, may be briefly referred to by the
letter P (Priests' Code) ; that which remains
when this has been separated, and which in
cludes the " Book of the Covenant " (§ 3), is
itself also in its turn composite : but as it is of
less importance, and indeed not always possible,
to distinguish its component parts, it will be
sufficient here to designate it as a whole by the
double letters JE. Assuming, now, that the
separation of P and JE has been effected in Ex.-
Num., we obtain this remarkable result : the
historical allusions in Deut., with hardly an
exception, are to events recorded in JE, and not
to those recorded in P. Throughout the parallels
referred to in § 10, not the allusions only, but
the words cited, will be found, all but uniformly,
in JE, not in P. Inasmuch now as the two
documents repeatedly cross one another, the
only explanation of which (as it seems) this fact
is capable is, that at the time when Deut. was
composed they were not yet united into a single
work ; and JE alone formed the basis of Deut.i
This conclusion, derived primarily from i.-iii.
ix. sq., is confirmed by other indications : Deut.
speaks regularly of Horeb, not of Sinai, as is
done by P : Deut. names Dathan and Abiram
(xi. 6), but is silent as to Korah ; in the com
posite narrative, Num. xvi., Dathan and Abiram
alone belong to JE. Similarly, in i. 36, the ex
ception of Caleb alone (without Joshua) agrees
with JE. The allusions to Gen. -Ex. are like
wise consistently to JE : thus, while the pro
mise, i. 8, is found in both JE and P, the oath
is peculiar to JE. If the author of Deut. was
acquainted with P, he can only have quoted it
occasionally, and certainly did not make it the
basis of his work. The verdict of the historical
sections in Deut. thus confirms that of the
legislative sections, § 6 end.
§ 13. The conclusion just reached has a bear
ing on the question of the authorship of Deut.
If it be true that Deut. and P are thus un
connected, the question whether both are by the
same hand need not detain us : it can, under the
circumstances, be answered only in the negative.
May, however, the Mosaic authorship of Deut.
be maintained in face of the comparison with
JE? That a composite narrative ofthe Exodus
should have arisen in the lifetime of Moses, and
that Moses should himself have drawn upon it
in Deut., appears scarcely probable. But even
though JE were treated as the work of a single
hand, the tenacity with which in general Hebrew
writers preserve their individuality of style
would almost preclude us from attributing JE

» This was shown independently by Kosters in 1868,
and Kayser in 1874 [see titles in y 40], and is generally
accepted by critics, e.g. by Delitzsch, Z. K. W. L. 1882,
p. 227 ; Dillmann, p. 609. Cp. Gfaf [J 40], pp. 8-19.

764

DEUTERONOMY

and Deut. to the same author. The style of
Deut. is singularly marked (§§ 34-30) : and the
discourses are pervaded throughout by a uniform
colouring and tone, absent from JE. It is true
that continuous portions of the narrative in
Ex.-Num. are transcribed in Deut., and that cer
tain of the Deuteronomic phrases occur in isola
tion in parts of Ex. (§ 34) : but these facts do
not lessen the general impression of difference
which a comparison of the two writings creates.
A final consideration of this question must,
however, be reserved.
§ 14. Let us next consider more closely the
laws in Deut., in their relation to Ex. -Lev.
Here we observe in certain cases modifications
which can hardly be reasonably accounted for,
except on the supposition thnt they belong to a
later stage of society than those in Ex. xx.-xxiii.
Even the greater detail and development (§ 6)
points in this direction, though not of course so
decisively as the cases of modification, a. In
Ex. xxi. 2sq. a Hebrew bondman is to serve for
six years, and to go out free in the seventh
(v. 2) ; a woman who comes into service with
her husband is to do the same (v. 3). But a
daughter sold by her father as a bondwoman is
on a different footing : she is not to go free as
bondmen do (o. 7). But in Deut. xv. 17 b the
bondwoman (without any limitation) is subject
to the same law of manumission as bondmen.
This law, it is argued, regulates usage for a
state of society in which the power of a father
over his daughter had ceased to be so absolute
as in primitive times, and places the two sexes
on entire equality.1 b. Ex. xxi. 14, immediately
following v. 13, implies naturally that the " place
appointed " in v. 13 is identical with the " altar "
in v. 14 ; in Deut. definite cities are set apart for
asylum, c. In Ex. xxiii. 10 sq. the provisions of
the sabbatical year have a purely agricultural
reference : in Deut. xv. the institution is applied
so as to form a check on the power of the
creditor. It does not appear reasonable to
attribute these modifications to the altered cir
cumstances or prospects of the nation which
marked the close of the wanderings in the
desert : the provisions of £x., as is plain both
from the tenor of xxiii. 20 sq., and from the
various laws implying the existence of houses
and the possession of separate holdings of land,
are equally designed for the use of the people
when settled in Canaan : those of Deut. differ
just in being suited to the needs of a more
advanced social state."

r The laws have been harmonized by the supposition
(1) that the law of Ex. xxi. 2 is meant to be tacitly
extended to women ; (2) that Deut. xv. 17 b does not
abrogate Ex. xxi. 7, but enforces the extension tacitly
implied in v. 2. But the notice of the special case v. 3,
and the law v. 4, that even a female slave married to a
bondman did not go free with her husband, renders
it improbable that this tacit extension in Ex. can be
designed. Bissell (p. 179) says that Ex. "speaks only
of Hebrew men as servants ; " but this is contradicted by
v. 1.
8 The judicial system of Deut., especially tbe supreme
court of appeal (xvii. 8-13), which is not prescribed, but
presupposed as existing, suggests the same inference.
See Kleinert, pp. 128-130 (the force of whose remarks is
not met by Keil, EM. $ 26, 1 ; or Bissell, p. 137 sq.);
Dillmann, pp. 319, 611. On Deut. xxii. 28 sq., cp.
W. R. Smith, O. T. J. ft, p. 367 Bq. ; Add. Answer,
p. 66 sq. The hypothesis (Bissell, p. 177) that the law

DEUTERONOMY
§ 15. But the difficulties which the Deut.
legislation presents culminate in the provisions
respecting the Central Sanctuary and the tribe
of Levi.
The Central Sanctuary. — In Deut. the law re
specting sacrifice is unambiguous and strict : it is
not to be offered in Canaan " in every place that
thou seest " (xii. 13), but only at the place chosen
by God " out of all thy tribes to set His Name
there" (xii. 4-18; xiv. 23, and often), i.e. at
some central sanctuary. Now, in Ex. it is said,
in immediate connexion with the law respecting
altars (xx. 24b), "In every place where I record
My Name, I will come unto thee and bless thee ; "
and with the principle here laid down, the prac
tice of Josh.-l K. vi., it is argued, conforms : in
these Books, sacrifices are frequently described
as offered in different parts of the land without
any indication (and this is the important fact)
on the part of either the actor or the narrator
that a law such as that of Deut. is bein<'-
infringed. After the exclusion of all uncertain
or exceptional cases, such as Judg. ii. 5, vi. 24,
where the theophany may be held to have
justified the erection of an altar, there remain
as instances of either altars or local sanctuaries,
Josh. xxiv. lb, 26 b; 1 Sam. vii. 9 sq., 17 ; ix.
12-14 ; x. 3, 5, 8 (xiii. 9 sq.) ; xi. 15 ; xiv. 35 ;
xx. 6 ; 2 Sam. xv. 12, 32 (" where men used to
worship God "). The inference authorized appa
rently by these passages is met by the conten
tion that the period from the abandonment of
Shiloh to the erection of the Temple was an
exceptional one, the nation was in disgrace
and undergoing a course of discipline, its spiri
tual privileges being withheld till it was ripe
to have them restored; and that, in so far as
Samuel appears often as the agent, his function
was an extraordinary one, limited to himself.
It may be doubted whether this answer is satis
factory. There is no trace in the narrative of
such disciplinary motives having actuated
Samuel ; and the narrator betrays no conscious
ness of anything irregular or abnormal having
occurred. This is especially clear in 1 Sam. ix.
12 sq., a. 3-5, where ordinary and regular cus
toms are evidently described. The sanctuary
at which the Ark and Tent of Meeting were for
the time located had doubtless the pre-eminence :
but sacrifice at other places, so far as the evi
dence before us goes, was freely permitted.
The law of Deut. was either not known or not
felt to be operative. Yet the time assigned in
Deut. xii. 10 had arrived, according to Josh. xxi.
44, xxiii. 1, before the death of Joshua. From
the time of Joshua therefore the law of Deut.
ought to have been in force : and yet, as it
appears, practice continued to be regulated by
the law of Ex. The difficulty is a great one.
The non-observance of a law does not, of course,
imply necessarily its non-existence ; still, when
men who might fairly be presumed to know of
it, if it existed, not only make no attempt to
put it in force, but disregard it without explana
tion or excuse, it must be allowed that such an
inference is not altogether an unreasonable one.
Perhaps on the whole the facts at our disposal
would be best explained by the supposition that
in Deut. xv. is a " result of experience in the practical
workings of tbe law" of Ex. xxiii. 10 during the forty
years' wanderings is surely not a probable one.

DEUTERONOMY
the kernel of the statute is Mosaic ; that the
old law, while not superseding local sanctuaries,
if properly sanctioned and approved,1 still encou
raged a preference for the sanctuary at which
the Ark was stationed (as indeed is implied
in Ex. xxiii. 19), but that the exclusiveness
which characterises the law in Deut. arose from
the necessities of a later age, when history had
shown bow impossible it was to secure the local
shrines against abuse, and to free them from
idolatry. Prophetic authority, which had more
and more distinctly taught that Ziou was em
phatically Jehovah's seat, it moy be supposed,
sanctioned the reform ; Hezekiah gave it effect,
at least temporarily (2 K. xviii. 4. 22 ; xxi. 3),
and it is codified in Deut.
§ 16. The tribe of Levi. — Here the issues,
stated succinctly, are two : (i.) Does Deut.
recognise the sharp distinction between the
priests and the common Levites as instituted in
Ei,-Nnm., or does it treat every member of
the tribe as qualified to exercise priestly func
tions? (ii.) Do the provisions made in Deut.
for the support of both priests and Levites agree
with those prescribed in Lev.-Num. ? It is
admitted on all hands that a complete code of
regulations on these subjects is not to be looked
for in Deut. : the question is, whether the
reswufm xviii. 1-8 and the allusions elsewhere
are such as might reasonably be expected from
a writer having Ex.-Num. before him, or
acquainted with their contents.
As will appear, the answer to ii. is so distinct
that for our present purpose we are dispensed
from the necessity of finding a definite answer
to i. The following remarks may therefore
suffice. It is true that no stress is laid in Deut.
upon the descent of the priests from Aaron ;
their regular designation is not " the sons of
Aaron " (as in the Priests' Code), but '• the
priests, the Levites," i.e. the priests of the
tribe of Levi, or more precisely " the Levitical
priests " (xvii. 9, 18 ; xviii. 1 ; xxiv. 8 ; xxvii.
9": ep. "the priests the sons of Levi," xxi. 5.
xxxi. 9) : nor is there any allusion to the privi
leges of a fixed minority. More than this,
iviii. lb, 2b, appear to assign to the whole
tribe the altar dues reserved in Num. xviii. 20 T

1 The limitation Qt»> V£& T3?K "I&PK should be
noticed : cp. W. E. Smith, Add. Answer, pp. 57 sq., 68-70 ;
Delitzsch, Sludien, xi. p. 563. DIpD ?32 may include
with equal propriety places conceived as existing con
temporaneously (cp. the same idiomatic use of 73,
l*v. xi. 24 b), or selected successively. The plural
fflOlpOM ?D3 would point rather to actually exist
ing places : the singular exactly answers to *' in what
ever place." The appeal therefore to Hebrew idiom will
not determine the dispute between Prof. Green (Moses
and the Prophets, p. 311) and Dr. W. E. Smith (The
Prophets of Israel, p. 393). The use of HllT ^sb is
not examined by Prof. Green with sufficient thorough
ness. With words such as gathered or sat, there is a
presumption from usage that it denotes presence at an
altar or sanctuary.
¦ Elsewhere (a) Josh. iii. 3," viii. 33 ; Jer. xxxiii. 18 ;
Ezek. xliii. 19, xliv. 15 : (6) 2 Ch. v. 5, xxiii. 18, xxx. 27
(all. In Is. lxvi. 21, as also in 1 Ch. ix. 2, Ezra x. 5,
Ken. x. 38, 34, xi. 20, there is an asyndeton).
' Where, in spite of Bissell, pp. 20, 114, 124, and even
Dillmann (see, however, p. 605), there is a contrast -with
", 21, 24: Jehovah is the inheritance>of the priests;

DEUTERONOMY

765

to the priest ; and xviii. 6-8, relating to the
" Levite " coming from the country to reside at
the Central Sanctuary, describe his services
there in terms which elsewhere, when used in
a ritual connexion,™ denote regularly priestly
offices. Even, however, should the inference
thus suggested be just, there is nothing in Deut.
inconsistent with the pre-eminence of a par
ticular family, and the hereditary priesthood of
Aaron's line appears to be recognised in x. 6."
(ii.) In Num. xviii. particular provision is
made for the support of both priests and Levites ;
and in Num. xxxv. (cp. Josh, xxi.) forty-eight
cities are appointed for their residence. In
Deut. the provisions appear to be very different ;
and the Levites, instead of dwelling in their
cities, are represented as scattered about the
land (" in thy gates," § 34), and are earnestly
commended to the Israelites' charity (xii. 12,
18, 19 ; xiv. 27, 29 ; xvi. 11, 14 ; xviii. 6 ; xxvi.
11, 12 sq.).
Let us examine the passages in order.
a. xviii. 3, which is in direct contradiction
with Lev. vii. 32-34. Various attempts have
been made to reconcile the discrepancy, (a) The
traditional Jewish solution y is that the allusion
in Deut. is not to sacrifices at all, but to animals
slain at home for private use. This is obviously
a desperate resource : !"DT, as Keil rightly
observes, is always used in a sacrificial connexion
(tbe poetical passages Is. xxxiv. 6, &c.,z form
no exception) ; and the combination of verb and
noun, "sacrifice a sacrifice" (cp. 1 Sam. ii. 13),
only brings out the meaning with greater dis
tinctness. (#) F. W. Schultz (p. 59) and Mr.
Espin consider that, though the reference is to
the same sacrifices as Lev. vii., the dues prescribed
are not in lieu of those there assigned (which,
it is said, are included here in the fire-sacrifices
of v. 1), but in addition to them, and perhaps
intended as a compensation for the loss sustained
by the abrogation of Lev. xvii. 1 sq. in Deut.
xii. 15. If this be the meaning, it is obscurely
and strangely expressed ; an additional due,
introduced in terms which imply that it is a
normal and regular institution, is prescribed
without a word to indicate that it is any
novelty ! (7) Keil himself, modifying (a),
supposes the reference to be, not to the peace-
offerings proper, but to the festal meals held in
connexion with these at the annual sacrifices (so
Bissell, p. 126). But such a limitation is not
suggested at all by the phraseology; and it
seems incredible that in a statement of " the

the tithes are the inheritance of the Levites. So in Ezek.
xliv. 28, where the same phrase is used, it is applied to
the priest.
w D^O n")£?» 1° -minister in the name, as xviii. 5
(of the priest : cp. xvii. 12, xxi. 5) ; V* <i}Ffr l^y,
to stand before Jehovah, as Ezek. xliv. 15, Judg. xx. 28 ;
cp. Deut. xvii. 12, xviii. 5. To stand before is a Hebrew
idiom signifying to wait upon : see e.g. 1 Kings x. 8. The
Levites "stand before" the congregation: Num. xvi. 9 ;
Ezek. xliv. 11 b. (In 2 Ch. xxix. 11, priests are present :
sec v. 4.)
* There are points in the history of the tribe which are
still not clear. Space forbids here an examination of
2 K. xxiii. 9, Ezek. xllv^ 6-15.
y Josephus, Ant. iv. 4, 4 ; Philo, De Praemiis, $ 3
Cp. 235 M.) : see Keil ad loc.
' ' Quoted by Curtiss [y 40], p. 43.

766

DEUTERONOMY

priests' right " from the people, their appointed
due (Lev. vii. 32-34) should be passed over in
silence, and a fresh due alone be mentioned.
The verse must refer to the commonest kind
of sacrifices named in v. 1, and specify for the
people's instruction what parts of these are due
to the priest. The only fair interpretation
appears to be to treat it as parallel to Lev. vii.
32-34, and consequently as belonging to a time
when the regulation there laid down was not in
force. b. Verse 4 agrees with Num. xviii. 12 sq.
except that " the first of the fleece of thy sheep "
is here an addition. But this is a minor dis
crepancy, which need not detain us.
c. Verse 6. The language of this verse is, it is
said, inconsistent with the institution of Levi
tical cities. The word rendered sojourneth is a
distinct one: it means to stay as a guest or
stranger — for a longer or shorter time — in a
place ; a and is not used of residence in ». per
manent home. To understand it * of those
Levites who have sold their houses and wan
dered to other cities involves the improbable
supposition that the legislator gives no per
mission to a Levite to go directly from a Levi
tical city to the sanctuary : he must become a
sojourner elsewhere first ! Verse 6 and the
allusion v. 8 b to property owned by Levites are
in no way incompatible with the institution of
Levitical cities, supposing it to have been im
perfectly put in force : at the same time, worded
as they are, these verses come strangely from
the lips of one who, if the chronology be cor
rect, had only six months before c assigned to the
Levites permanent dwelling-places. Why did
he not write " from one of the cities which I
have appointed them " ?
cl. Firstlings. — In Deut. xii. 6,17 sq., xv.19 sq.,
it is laid down that the firstlings of the herd
and the flock are to be eaten by the owner at the
central sanctuary : in Num. xviii. 18 they are
assigned to Aaron, with these words, " And the
flesh of them shall be thine: as the wave-breast
and as the right thigh, it shall be thine." Two
explanations are offered. (1) The phrase in
Num. does not mean that the whole of the first
ling was the priest's, but only the parts specified
in the comparison : the rest therefore would
belong to the offerer, and might be consumed by
him, as Deut. prescribes. d But the text says
distinctly " their flesh," without any limitation ;
and this explanation, though formerly accepted
by Keil, • is now f given up by him. (2) The
firstlings were given wholly to the priest, who,
however, may not have consumed the flesh of
them himself, but may have been at liberty
to invite the offerer to share this with him at
a sacrificial meal. s Whether such an invita
tion, not prescribed, is likely to have been given,
may be doubted ; and as before it must be owned

• See e.g. Gen. xv. 13, xix. 9, xlvii. 4 (Is. Iii. 4) ;
Judg. xix. 16 (opp. to the natives, QlpDH ''GWX). &c-
Kittel, in his article cited $40 (ig82, p. 288 f.), does not
take sufficient account of this uniform use of y\y.
b CurtisB, p. 48 sq.
" Num. xxxv. ; cp. the date xxxiii. 38 with Deut. i. 3.
d Hengst. ii. p. 406 sq. ; Curtiss, p. 40 sq.
0 Havernick, Einl?, i. 2, 1856, p. 430.
' Comm. on Deut. xii. 6.
s Keil ; Green, p. 84 ; Espln ; Bissell, p. 1 27 sq.

DEUTERONOMY
that, if this be the meaning of the repeated in
junction in Deut., it is expressed with unusual
indirectness and obscurity ; the primary rather
than the secondary disposition of the firstlings
would surely have been emphasized. The law,
moreover, for the disposal of the " wave-breast "
and right (or " heave ") thigh by the priest,
explicitly specifies those of the priest's family as
sharing in them (Lev. vii. 34 ; cf. Num. xviii. 11,
" to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, as
a due for ever ") ; it is remarkable, if it was the
purpose of the legislation that the offerer should
also regularly (and as a duty) partake in the
firstlings, that there should be so little to inti
mate it in the terms of the original institution.'
e. Tithes. — In Num. the tithes — as appears
from Lev. xxvii. 30, 32, both vegetable and
animal alike — are definitely assigned to the
Levites (xviii. 21-24), who in their turn pay
a tenth to the priests (vv. 26-28) : in Deut. there
appears to be no injunction respecting the tithes
of animal produce ; but the reservation of a
tithe of vegetable produce (xii. 17 sq. ;.xiv. 22 sq.)
is enjoined, which is to be consumed by the
offerer, like the firstlings, at a sacrificial "feast,
in which the Levite shares only in company
with others, as the recipient of a charitable
benevolence. A large proportion therefore of
what is assigned in Num. to the Levites — viz.
the whole of the animal tithe, and a part of the
vegetable tithe — remains implicitly the property
of the lay Israelite in Deut. The discrepancy is
commonly removed by the supposition that the
allusion in Deut. is not to the tithe named in
Lev.-Num. at all, but to a. second or additional
tithe, taken on the increase of the field only.
It cannot perhaps be shown that a second tithe
on a portion of the annual produce would be
exacting or oppressive ; but the writer must
confess that such an interpretation does not
appear to him to be fairly consistent with the
language of Deut. and the manner in which the
tithe is there spoken of. Even supposing the
first tithe to be taken for granted, as an estab
lished usage, it is incredible that a second tithe
should be thus for the first time instituted, with
out a word to indicate that it was an innovation,
or in any respect different from what would be
ordinarily understood by the word "tithe."
And in xxvi. 12 sq., when in the third year the
whole " tithe of the produce " has been stored
(xiv. 28), and the Hebrew makes a solemn pro
fession that it has been properly spent by him,
it is scarcely possible that there should be no
allusion to his disposition of the larger and
more important tithe, if such were really due
from him.1

h Dr. Moody Stuart [$ 40] would explain xii. 18 on
the analogy of xii. 27 (offer) — " eat," viz. not personally,
but through the agency of those authorized in P to do
so, i.e. the priests (pp. 161-3). But is this a case to
which the principle Qui facit per alium facit per se
could be applied ?
1 The tithe ofthe thirdjeas, namedxiv. 28 sq., xxvi.
12, though sometimes spoken of as the "third tithe,"
is allowed generally to be merely the tithe elsewhere
described in Deut., specially applied in that year. The
word Sevrepov, in xxvi. 12, LXX., arises from a false
rendering of the Hebrew H3B>, " year of," and hos
no critical value. The second tithe would be *l£*UQn
l}£>n. of which ItJTDn JW >B not a probable cor
ruption.

DEUTERONOMY
Upon the whole, it is difficult not to feel that
the references in Deut. to priests aud Levites
presuppose the existence of customs and institu
tions not in agreement with those prescribed in
Es.-Num. The allusions are numerous ; and if
the speaker were familiar with those institutions,
his words, it is reasonable to suppose, however
'general and popular in scope, would form natu
rally a resume', the original of which could be at
once recognised in those Books. Perhaps the
most singular circumstance is the absence of
any reference to Num. xviii. or xxxv., and the
frequency with which the Levite is commended
to the charity of others. That Moses may have
foreseen the neglect of his own institutions is
indeed thoroughly conceivable; but if this be
the explanation of his exhortations, should we
not have expected him to introduce them by
terms implying distinctly that it was only a
Mure need which he was contemplating ? The
nmdition of the Levites appears evidently to be
that which the writer saw around him, and
reminds us involuntarily of Judg. xvii. 7 sq.,
iix. 1 sq. (note especially the term " sojourn ").
Minor discrepancies offer a fair field to the
harmoiiizel : when they are systematic, and can
only be removed by means of a series of assump
tions, each more or less artificial, the legitimacy
of the attempt becomes questionable. The
points considered under (ii.) do not directly
prove Deut. to be non-Mosaic ; but they tend
independentlv to confirm the conclusion expressed
attheendof§12. § 17. There are, it is alleged, indications that
the author lived at a distance from the period
which he describes. Thus, if i. 3, " eleventh
month," be compared with Num. xxxiii. 38,
"fifth month " (fixing the date of Num. xx. 22—
28), it appears that the whole of the events
reviewed from ii. 2 to iii. 29 had taken place
during the six months preceding the time when
the words were spoken. In such a situation,
however, the repeated "at that time " (ii. 34 ;
iii. 4, 8, 12, 18, 21, 23), as also " unto this day "
in iii. 14, though suitable when a longer period
had elapsed, appears inappropriate. Ch. v. 3
and xi. 2-7 point in the same direction. The
writer, though aware as a fact (viii. 2, 4) of the
forty years' wanderings, does not appear to
realize fully the length of the interval, and
identifies those whom he addresses with the
generation that came ont of Egypt in a
manner which betrays that he is not speaking
as a contemporary. In ii. 12 b there is an
evident anachronism : however, some writers
have treated the notices ii. 10-12, 20-23
(though otherwise in the style of Deut. and
similar to iii. 9, 11, xi. 30) as glosses.' Keil,
who compares (Einl. § 25, 3) " his possession "
in iii. 20, forgets that there the pronoun refers
to the two and a half Transjordanic tribes, not
as here to Israel : where the two and a half
tribes are meant, they are regularly specified by
name. Whether, however, an anachronism is
involved in the mention of Gilgal (xi. 30) may
he doubted ; the Gilgal named may (Keil) be
i Bissell (p. 267) suggests that the verbs in ii. 12 b
>W be "prophetic perfects:" but (1) the prophetic
perfect hardly occurs in prose; (2) the comparison
postulates a reference to something known, i.e. to
something past, not to something still in the future.

DEUTERONOMY

767

the Jiljilia of Robinson, k — a height 13 miles
S. of Shechem and 2441 ft. (Pal. Expl. Map)
above the level of the sea. Or (Dillmann) some
other " stone-circle " may bo intended.
§ IS. The use of the phrase " beyond Jordan "
for E. Palestine in Deut. i. 1, 5, iv. 41, 46,
47, 49 (as elsewhere in the Pentateuch : cp.
Num. xxii. 1, xxxiv. 15), exactly as in Josh. ii.
10, vii. 7, ix. 10, &c, Judg. v. 17, x. 8, is said
to imply that the author was resident in W.
Palestine. It is indeed difficult to resist this
inference. On the one hand, Deut. iii. 20, 25,
xi. 30, and Josh. v. 1, ix. 1, xii. 7, show that the
assumption sometimes made, that |TVn "131?
had a fixed geographical sense (like Gallia
Transalpina, &c), and was used as a standing
designation of the Transjordanic territory,
irrespectively of the actual position of the
speaker or writer, is incorrect ; on the other
hand, if its meaning was not thus fixed, its
employment by a writer, whether in E. or W.
Palestine, of the side on which he himself stood, is
difficult to understand, unless the habit had
arisen of viewing the regions on the two sides of
Jordan as contrasted with each other ;' and this
of itself implies residence in Palestine. The
question thus resolves itself into a prior one :
was this a habit of the Canaanites, and did the
usage suggested by it pass from them to the
Israelites, before the latter had set foot in the
land, and experienced the conditions likely to
naturalize it amongst them ? The possibility of
this cannot, perhaps, be denied ; at the same
time it may be doubted whether it is probable.
The use of the phrase in the Pentateuch gene
rally, exactly as in Josh. ii. 10, &c, creates a
presumption that the passages in question were
written under similar local conditions.™
§ 19. If Deut. be net Mosaic, to what age
may it be ascribed ? Critics have agreed gene
rally to assign it to the period of either
Manasseh or Josiah. Let us inquire what
evidence may be adduced in favour of either of
these dates.
The composition of Deut. must have been
prior to the eighteenth year of king Josiah
(B.C. 621). From the narrative 2 K. xxii. 8 sq.
relating the memorable discovery in that year
by Hilkiah of the " book of the law " in the
Temple, it is clear that this must have embraced
Deut. ; for although the bare description of its
contents, and of the effect produced upon those
who heard them (xxii. 11, 13, 19), might suit
Lev. xxvi. equally with Deut. xxviii., yet the
allusions to the covenant contained in it (xxiii. 2,
3, 21) which refer evidently to Deut. (xxix. 1,
9, 21, &c), and the fact that in the reformation

t Bibl. Res. (1856) ii. 265 sq. Still, though this height
(as the writer was informed on the spot) is visible on a
clear day from the top of Gerizim (it is certainly not
visible from the plain at its foot), it is no particularly
conspicuous one ; and it is not easy to understand why
it should have been selected as a landmark.
i Hence its use in Josh. v. 1 ; ix. 1 ; xii. 7, written
(presumably) in W. Palestine.
" So (since the present article was in type) Dean
(now Bishop) Perowne in the Contemp. Sev., Jan. 1888,
p. 143 sq. In Deut. iii. 20, 25, the (assumed) position of
tbe speaker is naturaUy maintained. In v. 8, on the
contrary, in a phrase of common occurrence (iv. 47 ;
Josh. ii. 10, ix. 10), as in Josh. i. 14, 15, the point of
view is that of the narrator, not of the speaker.

768

DEUTERONOMY

based upon it Josiah carries out step by step
both the letter and the spirit of Deut., " leave no
doubt upon this matter. This gives a posterior
limit for its composition: how much earlier
may it be ? The suggestion has been made that
it was the work of Hilkiah the high-priest him
self, who either alone or with the assistance
of Jeremiah, wishing to introduce a religious
reform, compiled this book for the purpose of
inculcating his principles, and placed it where,
when wanted, it could conveniently be " found " !
This view will not bear examination, and has
been repudiated repeatedly by the best critics.0
To say nothing of the incredible " pious fraud "
which it involves, it is to be noticed that (I) a
book compiled by the high-priest could hardly
fail to emphasize the interests of the priestly
hody at Jerusalem, which Deut. does not do:
(2) the hypothesis that Jeremiah was the
author cannot be sustained ; it is true there
is much that is common to Jer. and Deut.,
but when the two are minutely compared
it appears that many of the characteristic ex
pressions and ideas of each are absent in the
other p : (3) the fact that the book was found
while the Temple was being cleared out for
repairs, strengthens the prima facie impression
produced by the narrative that the discovery
was an accidental one. The book, however,
•could hardly have been lost for the first time
in the early years of Josiah (who appears
throughout to have been devoted to the service
of Jehovah) ; but this might easily have hap
pened during the heathen reaction under
Manasseh, when the Temple was desecrated,
and fell into disrepair (2 K. xxi. 4-7, xxii. 5).
We are thus thrown back to the reign of
Manasseh as the latest to which the composition
of Deut. can reasonably be assigned. q
n Cp. xxii. 13 with Deut. xxix. 27 ; xxii. 19 with
xxviii. 37; xxiii. 3 b, 24 b, with xxvii. 26; vv. 4, 5 b, 11
with xvii. 3 ; vv. 5 a, 13 sq. with xii. 2 sq. ; v. 6 with xvi.
21 ; v.1 with xxiii. 17 sq. ; v. 9 b with xviii. 8a; v. 10
with xviii. 10a ; v. 14 with xvi. 21 sq. ; vv. 21, 23 ("in
Jerusalem ") with xii. 13 sq., xvi. 5 sq. ; v. 24 with
xviii. 11 ; v. 25 with vi. 5. Whether the book found
by Hilkiah embraced more than Deut. is unimportant
for our present purpose : Deut. is sufficient to satisfy
the terms of the narrative.
° Ewald, Mist. iv. p. 235; Riehm, p. 105; W. E.
Smith, Answer, p. 34, 0. T. J. C. p. 362 ; Dillmann,
p. 614 ; Kittel [0 40 end}, p. 57 sq.
P The proof may be found, by the reader who can
disentangle it from the irrelevant matter concealing it,
in J. L. Konig's Alttestamentliche Studien, ii. (1839).
The salient points are exhibited with superior discrimi
nation and scholarship by Kleinert, pp. 186-190, 235.
See also Schrader, Einl. $ 206 g ; Keil, Einl. $ 28, 3.
Jeremiah's authorship was hinted at by P. von Bohleu
(against whom Konig's book was chiefly directed) in
1835 (Die Genesis, $ 22): but its only conspicuous advo
cate has been Colenso (Pent. iii. p. 618 ; vii. pp. 225-
227 ; and App. pp. 85-110).
1 So Ewald, Hist. 1. 127, iv. 221 ; Bleek, Intr. $ 126;
Riehm (in 1854) ; W. E. Smith, Add. Answer, p. 78 ;
Valetou, vii. pp. 222 sq. ; Kittel, pp. 67-9. Eeuss, La
Bible (1879), i. 166 sq., Gesch. d. Beit. Schr. A. T.'s,
50 286-288, Kuenen (Hex. p. 214), and (though less con
fidently) Dillmann (p. 613 sq.) prefer the reign of Josiah.
Eiehm more recently (St. u. Kr., 1873, p. 194) and
Delitzsch (Studien, xi. p. 561) assign it to the age of
Hezekiah. The case against Deuteronomy being suppo-ed
to be the work of Hilkiah, or of a member of his circle,
is forcibly put by Dean (now Bishop) Perowne, Cont. r.ev

DEUTERONOMY
§ 20. The following considerations have been
appealed to for the purpose of fixing the date
more closely.
(1.) The circumstances referred to in §§ 14,
17 point more or less conclusively to a period
considerably removed from that at which the
Israelites took possession of Canaan, and pre
supposing a changed social condition of the
people. (2.) The law of the kingdom, xvii. 14 sq., is
coloured by reminiscences of the monarchy of
Solomon. The argument does not deny that
Moses may have made provision for the esta
blishment of a monarchy in Israel, but affirms
that the form in which the provision is here cast
bears traces of a later age (cp. § 24).
(3.) The forms of idolatry alluded to, specially
the worship of "the host of heaven" (iv. 19,
xvii. 3), are thought to point to the middle
period of the monarchy. It is true that the
worship of the sun and moon is ancient, as is
attested even by the names of places in Canaan ;
but in the notices (which are frequent) of
idolatrous practices in Judg.-Kings, no men
tion occurs of "the host of heaven" till the
period of the later kings (2 K. xxiii. 12 names
Ahaz ; cp. Is. xvii. 8 end, belonging to the
same reign : 2 K. xxi. 3, 5 [cp. xxiii. 4, 5, 12],
Manasseh : ' Zeph. i. 5 ; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13
[cp. vii. 18, xliv. 17 ; Ezek. viii. 16], belong to
a somewhat later period). That the cult is
presupposed in Deut. and not merely anticipated
prophetically, seems clear from the terms in
which it is referred to." While we are not in a
position to affirm positively that the danger was
not felt earlier, the law, as formulated in Deut.,
seems designed to meet the form which the cult
assumed at a later age.
(4.) Deut. xvii. 8-13, xix. 17, have been
thought to presuppose the judicature estab
lished by Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xix. 8-11). Cer
tainly (§ 14, note) the language of Deut. appears
to presuppose the existence of a supreme court
of appeal ; and if allowance be made for the
point of view from which the Chronicler writes,
he may fairly be supposed to describe the same
institution which is alluded to in Deut.' Still,
there is an element of uncertainty in this argu
ment, which forbids our attaching too much
weight to it.
(5.) The description in xxviii. 49 sq. has been
supposed to betoken a familiarity with the cha
racter and dealings of the Assyrians ; and that
in xxviii. 53 sq., 64 sq., to show an acquaintance
with the siege of Samaria (2 K. vi. 28 sq.) and
exile of the ten tribes. Both arguments, espe
cially the latter, are of slight weight. Exile
and deportation of inhabitants was a familiar
experience in the ancient world ; and the possi
bility of such fate may well have presented
itself to a writer before the 7th or even before
the 8th cent. B.C. ' All that can be allowed is

Feb. 1888, pp. 255-257 : but his arguments do not affect
the position that it was composed a generation or more
previously, and had since been genuinely lost.
r The notices in 2 K. xvii. 16, xxiii. 11, are in
definite. B So Kleinert, p. 106.
' Eiehm, pp. 86-88 : comp. especially v. 11 with
Deut. xvii. 12. Kleinert's objections, p. 141 sq., do not
appear to be conclusive. Cp. Dillmann, pp. 320 sq., 611.

DEUTERONOMY
that the form of the description (particularly
that of the invading foe) somewhat strengthens
the presumption, derived primarily from other
indications, in favour of a date after (or during)
the great Assyrian invasions of Palestine.
(6.) The influence of Deut. upon subsequent
writers is clear and indisputable. It is remark
able now, that the early Prophets Amos, Hosea,
and the undisputed portions of Isaiah show no
certain traces of this influence (see § 33) ; Jere
miah exhibits marks of it on nearly every page ;
Zephaniah and Ezekiel are also evidently influ
enced by it. If Deut. were composed in the
period between Isaiah and Jeremiah, these facts
would be exactly accounted for.
(7.) The language and style of Deut. (§§ 31, 37),
dear and flowing, free from archaisms, but
purar than that of Jeremiah, would suit the
same period. It is difficult in this connexion
not to feel the force of Dillmann's remark
(p. 611), that "the style of Deut. implies a
long development of the art of public oratory,
and'is not of a character to belong to the first
age of Israelitish literature."
(8.) It is believed also (though all will not
recognise equally the force of such an argument)
that the prophetic teaching of Deut., the point
of view from which the laws are presented, the
principles by which conduct is estimated, pre
suppose a relatively advanced stage of theo
logical reflection, as they also approximate to
what is found in Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
(9.) In Deut. xvi. 22, we read, " Thou shalt
not set thee up a mazzebah (obelisk or pillar),
which the Lord thy God hateth." Had Isaiah
known of this law, would he, it is asked, have
adopted the mazzioah (xix. 19) as a symbol of
the conversion of Egypt to the true faith ? The
supposition that heathen pillars are meant in
Deut. is not favoured by the context (v. 21b);
the use of these has, moreover, been proscribed
before (vii. 5 ; xii. 3 °).
(10.) Ewald and Riehm x (in 1854) sought to
fb: the date of Deut. more precisely from xxviii.
68. The combination was an ingenious one,
but could not be relied upon with any confi
dence ; and Riehm afterwards abandoned it.r
(11.) Nor can any more certain inference be
drawn from xxiii. 3-8 (prohibiting the naturaliza
tion of Ammonites and Moabites, but inculcating
» spirit of friendliness towards Edom and Egypt).
With Ammon and Edom relations of hostility
(so far as appears) prevailed uniformly almost
from the earliest times : with Moab there was
greater fluctuation, and with Egypt there are
traces of intercourse at many different periods.
But even if it were clear that these injunctions
reflect the temper of a particular age, the mate
rials are too scanty to enable us to fix what
that1 age may have been. Perhaps Delitzsch
(p. 560 sq. ; cp. Dillmann, p. 605) is right in re
garding the injunctions in vv. 7 sq. as the oldest,
and assigning those in vv. 3-6 to a later origin
(prior, however, to the date of Deut. itself).

from Ex. xxiii. 24, xxxiv. 13. The
"Book of the Covenant" enjoins the destruction of
lnnthen altars and pillars ; but contains no prohibition
wrreaponding to Deut. xvi. 22 : in Ex. xxiv. 4 " pil-
W" are erected beside an altar by'Moses.
1 Ewald, Hist. iv. p. 219 ; Riehm, Gesetageb. p. 98 sq.
* Stud. u. Krit., 1873, p. 194.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

DEUTERONOMY

769

In answer to these considerations some reli
ance is placed upon the acquaintance which, ic
is said, is displayed in Deut. with Egyptian
customs." lt may be doubted whether this
argument possesses great cogency, oven though
it be granted that the customs alluded to in
vi. 9 » [not 8 "], xxv. 2 » (the bastinado), 4,"
xxvii. 2 b,° are necessarily derived from Egypt.
The mention of a custom by a particular author
is not evidence that he was a contemporary of
its introduction ; and the allusions to Egyptian
peculiarities in xi. 10, and vii. 15, xxviii. 27, 35,
are not more marked than the one in Amos
viii. 8, and not so minute as those in Is. xix.
§ 21. If it be true that Deut. is the composi
tion of another than Moses, in what light are
we to regard it ? In particular, does this view
of its origin detract from its authority and value
as a part of the Old Testament Canon ? Let us
consider the manner in which the author must
have worked, and the object which he may have
had in view. The objection is commonly made
that, if this be the origin of the Book, it is
a " forgery : " the author, it is asserted, has
sought to shelter himself under a great name,
and to secure by a fiction recognition or
authority for a number of laws devised by him
self. It does not appear, however, that this
objection can be sustained : and the theory
respecting the author's supposed motives is
entirely unsupported by fact. The book does not
claim to be written by Moses : whenever the
author speaks himself, he purports to give a
description in tlie third person of what Moses
did or said.' Now, it is the uniform practice of
the biblical historians, in both the Old and the
Xew Testaments, to represent their characters
as speaking in words and phrases which cannot
have been those actually used, but which they
themselves select and frame for them : thus iu
z Hengstenberg, Die Biicher Mose's und Aegypten
(1841), pp. 89 sq., 224; whence Schultz, p. 78, &c, and
the commentators.
a See. Wilkinson-Birch, Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Egyptians, ed. 2 (1878), i. 362 ; Riehm, Hand
worterbuch des Bibl. AUertums (1884), p. 678.
b For this is based upon Exodus (xiii. 9, 16) ; the
custom, moreover, of hanging written charms on the
necks of children (Wilkinson-Birch, ii. 334-6) is only
partially parallel. *
o Wilkinson-Birch, i. 305-8.
¦i Ib. ii. 418-421.
. Ib. ii. 286 sq. This is the most plausible. But
there appears to be no ground for referring, in ex
planation of xx. 5, to ib. i. 266, 285-87, 300 sq. ; or to
RoseUini, I Monimenti dell' Egitto, n. iii. p. 218. The
" officers " named are not mere registrars : they are
represented elsewhere as exercising administrative func
tions, and here they perform merely such duties as
would be assigned in the army of any country to simi
larly constituted officials. The practice of burying
viands with the dead-if Dillmann be right m sup-
nosing it to be alluded to in xxvi. 14 (otherwise Keil)—
though Egyptian (Wilk.-Birch, iii. p. 433), is far from
being confined to Egypt (Tylor, Primitive Culture,
1871, ii. pp. 26 sq.).
< See i. 1-5 ; iv. 41-43, 44-v. 1 ; xxvii. 1, 9, 11 ; xxix.
2 (Heb. 1) ; xxxi. 1-30. Undoubtedly, the third person
may have been used by Moses : but it is unreasonable to
claim that he must have used it, or to contend that
passages in which it occurs could only have been written
by him The case is stated correctly by Delitzsch,
Studien, x.p.503sq.; more briefly in Genesis (1887),
p. 22. 3 D

770

DEUTERONOMY

the Acts of the Apostles many of the speeches
exhibit plain marks of the style of St. Luke ;
the speeches in the Chronicles (except those
borrowed from the Books of Kings) are in the
style of the author of that Book ; many of those
in Kings are in the style of the compiler of
Kings.** Thus David in 1-2 Sam. speaks in one
style ; in the Chronicles he speaks in another.1"
In some of these cases the authors no doubt had
information as to what was actually said on the
occasions in question, which they recast in their
own words, only preserving, perhaps, a few cha
racteristic expressions; in other cases, they
merely gave articulate expression to the thoughts
and feelings which it was presumed that the
personages in question would have entertained.
This custom of the biblical writers might be
abundantly illustrated ; and it is important, if
we wish to read the Historical Books aright, to
bear it in mind. The principle may be applied
in the present case. No doubt there was a tra
dition of a final address delivered by Moses to
the people ; perhaps, also, « written record of
its general purport and scope.1 Upon this basis
the discourses in Deut. are constructed. The
historical retrospect is sketched in full ; the
old laws are explained, and referred to their -
motives and aim : at the same time the modifi
cations and additions which some had undergone
in the course of years, in the effort to adapt to
new conditions and otherwise extend the princi
ples of the old legislation, are silently incorpo
rated. To suppose that the ordinances are the
author's " inventions " is out of the question, —
whether imagined on the one side, or objected
on the other ; the fact, if true, must have been
at once discovered, and have proved fatal to
their acceptance by the nation : they are cur
rent customs, some as old as the Book of the
Covenant, others doubtless more recent, but
sanctioned by prophetic or other authority, and
obviously such as would be recognised as authori
tative by those to whom they were addressed.
In thus building upon a foundation supplied by
tradition ; in adopting laws which were, or were
reputed to be, Mosaic ; in providing them with
hortatory introductions, conceived in the true
spirit of the older legislation, there is no dis
honesty and no literary fraud."
§ 22. The same conclusion may be reached
from another direction. Deut. xii.— xxvi. is not,
strictly speaking, a code : the discursive, un-
technical style which it often assumes is incom
patible with the character of a code ; it contains
a code, but is not the code itself. It is (as has
been said before) the popularization of a code, a
manual taking a code as its basis, and extracting
and commenting upon such provisions as were
most generally necessary to be known. But a
work of this sort obviously pretends to no
authority of its own ; its authority is derived
from the code which underlies it. In casting his
explanations therefore into a form appropriate to
Moses' mouth, the author could not have been
e See for illustrations Delitzsch, Jesaias* (1889),
p. 11 sq. (Engl. Tr. i. 16 sq.)
h See e.g. 1 Ch. xxviii., xxix. (both the idioms
and the ideas of which are throughout those of the
Chronicler : cp. the writer's Introduction, pp. 498 sq.,
502 sq.).
1 So Kleinert, p. 135 ; Delitzsch, Studien, x. p. 508.
k Cp. Delitzsch, ib. p. 605.

DEUTERONOMY
actuated by a desire to gain authority for a
" new code : " the code existed and was recog
nised as such ; the author's aim is simply to
apply and enforce it. His own position is thus,
as towards the code, essentially subordinate : he
is not an originator, but expounds anew old
principles. Not merely then is there nothing in
the Book implying an interested or dishonest
motive on the part of the (post-Mosaic) author ;
the imputation is refuted by the nature of the
case. And this being so, the moral and spiritual
greatness of Deut. remains unimpaired : its inspi
ration and canonical value are in no degree less
than those of any other part of the 0. T. Scrip
tures which happens to be anonymous.
§ 23. In fact, it is apparent upon intrinsic
grounds that in the main the laws in Deut. are
anything but new enactments. In ch. xx.,
though the form is Deuteronomic, the substance
is certainly earlier : the law of military service
implies a simpler state of society than the age
of the later kings ; and the injunction to give
no quarter to the inhabitants of Canaan (vii.
1-5; xx. 16-18) "points us directly back to
the days of Moses."1 The text itself refers to
Ex. xxiii. 31-33 ; and in any subsequent recapi
tulation of Mosaic principles it must unques
tionably have found a place. The repetition,
so far from being nugatory (as is sometimes
objected) in the 8th-7th cent. B.C., would
indirectly have a real value : occurring, as it
does, in close connexion with the prohibition of
all intercourse with the Canaanites, it would be
an emphatic protest against tendencies which,
under Ahaz and Manassehalike, were dangerously
strong. And as regards the laws included in
xxi. 10 — xxv., the same conclusion is supported
by the somewhat unusual expressions which are
here found to occur (Dillmann, p. 340).
§ 24. The much-debated "law of the king
dom " (xvii. 14-20) is also undoubtedly in its
kernel old (so Dillmann, pp. 322, 604). It will
be observed that the limitations laid down are
all theocratic : the law does not define a political
constitution, or limit the autocracy of the king
in civil matters. It stands thus out of relation
with 1 Sam. viii. 11-17, x. 25. Its object is to
show how the monarchy, if established, is to
conform to the same Mosaic principles which
govern other departments of the community.
Verse 15 does not allude, as has been supposed,
to the possible danger of a foreign usurper in
the 8th or 7th cent., but asserts the primary
condition which the monarchy must satisfy, —
" Thou mayest not set a stranger to be king
over thee : " a condition conceived thoroughly
in the spirit of Ex. xxiii. 32 sq., and designed
to secure Israel's distinctive nationality against
the intrusion of a heathen element in this most
important dignity. The prohibitions vv. 16 sq.
guard against the distractions too often produced
by riches and luxury at an Oriental Court;
danger from this source may well have been
foreseen by Moses : still, these verses certainly
wear the appearance of being coloured by re
collections of the court of Solomon (1 K. a. 25-
28 ; xi. 2^4), or even of the eagerness of a
powerful party in the days of Isaiah to induce
the king to strengthen himself by means of
Egyptian cavalry (Is. xxx. 16 ; xxxi. 1 ; cp.
1 Cp. Dillmann, p. 272 : " gewiss uralt."

JLFJli U TUiKUJN UJM.K
Jer. ii. 18, 36).m The injunctions vv, 18 sq. secure
the king's personal familiarity with the princi
ples of the Deuteronomic law, for the reason
specified in v. 20. As the re-formulation of an
older law, embodying the theocratic ideal of the
monarchy, the law of the kingdom contains
nothing that is ill-adapted to a date in 8th-7th
cent., or that would have sounded " absurd " to
the author's contemporaries, supposing that to
be the period at which he lived."
That the legislation of Deut. is based gene
rally upon pre-existing sources is fully recog
nised by critics." In estimating their position
it is necessary accordingly to bear this in mind.
Arguments'1 which are sufficiently forcible against
the view that the laws of Deut. are inventions of
the 7 th cent. B.C. have by no means the same
cogency when directed against the position that
Deut. is the reproduction and re-formulation of
an older system of laws.
§ 25. Critical questions connected chietiy with
the ''margins" of Deut* — As has been stated (§ 2),
ch. v.-xxvi., with ch. xxviiL as a conclusion,9
belong closely together : they comprise the legis
lation proper, and are marked throughout by
the same spirit and method of treatment.* To
this iv. 44-49 form a superscription. Ch. xxvii.,
as it stands, plainly interrupts the connexion,
and is probably misplaced ; xxviii. 1 would form
a natural sequel to xxvi. 19, though the view is
highly probable that the two verses xxvii. 9 sq.
were the link which originally connected xxvi.
19 with xxviii. 1."
§ 26. What relation, now, does ch. i.— iv. 40
hear to the body of Deut. ? Is it by the same
hand? The main reasons for answering this
question in the negative, and for supposing it
added after ch. v. sq. was completed, are ' (1) the
disagreement between ii. 14 b and v. 2 sq., xi.
2-7, and between ii. 29 and xxiii. 3, 4, 7 ; " (2) the
separate heading iv. 44-49, which appears to be
superfluous after i. 1-4. These are, no doubt,
m To "cause the people to retnrn to Egypt," is not to
he understood literally, as Num. xiv. 4: what is meart
is that in sending to Egypt in quest of cavalry the king
will be acting counter to the intention of the words
Voted. " With yy 23 and 24 cp. Delitzsch, Studien, xi.
• Xj. Graf, pp. 20, 22, 24 ; Eiehm, Stud. u. Krit. 1873,
p. 193; Castelli, La Legge, &c., p. 318 ; Eeuss, La Bible,
i p. 159 sq. ; Dillmann, Comm. on Deut., passim, esp.
p.604sq. Also Delitzsch, Genesis (1887), p. 25.
P As those of Mr. Espin and Prof. Bissell (chap. viii.).
i Cp. the sections of similar import with which the
^oues in Ex. xxi.-xxiii. (xxiii. 20-33) and Lev. xvii.-
*xvi. (xxvi. 3-45) close.
' See esp. Kuenen, Hex. pp. 111-115 ; Dillm. p. 292.
' So Iwald, Hist. i. 121 ; Kleinert, p. 183 ; Kuenen,
H- Tijdschr. 1878, p. 302 sq. ; Hex. p. 125; Dillmann.
' The grounds are stated more fully by Kuenen, Hex.
$ t, 12-17 (following others), and Eiehm, Einl. pp. 315-
317, both of whom express themselves satisfied by them.
a The recipients of the Deut, legislation, who in
chaps, v. xi. are identified with the witnesses of the
tneophany at Horeb, are in ch. ii. expressly distinguished
ftomthem. The question which arises is this, Do suffi-
*ut grounds exi6t in the context of tbe passages quoted
» make it probable that one and the same writer would
adopt in them two different points of view ?
Edom and Moab are placed on the same footing in ii.
», but on a different footing in xxiii. 3, 7 sq. However,
the injunction in xxiii. 8' is avowedly based upon the
."brotherhood" of Edom— a relationship not subsisting
^n the case of Moab.

DEUTERONOMY

771

incongruities: but it is doubtful if they are
sufficiently grave to outweigh the strong im
pression produced by tho language of ch. i.-iv.
that it is by the same hand as ch. v.sq. Not
only is the general style and manner of treat
ment the same — ch. i.-iii. generallg like ch.
ix. x., and ch. iv. generally like ch. v. — but
there are, besides, remarkable coincidences of
phraseology. Not to quote the broader features
of the Deuteronomic style,' which are readily
susceptible of imitation, the following are
worthy of notice : —
i. 17, T]3 (xviii. 22); 27, nWC (ix. 28); 28,
DW3 nnisn (ix. i); 29, pp (vii. 21, xx. 3,
xxxi. 6), 31 end (y 36, No. 24); 43, "ji|n (xvii. 13,
xviii. 20) ; 46 b (idiom), cp. ix. 25, xxix. 16 [Heb. 15] ;—
ii. 5, ep *|"no, cp. xi. 24 ; 27, |-|D3 changed to "^D
(} 36, No. 21); 30, 2^h fDN (xv. 7; only 2 Ch.
xxxvi. 13 besides) ; 33, »J£p [ JiJ (} 36, No. 20) ;— iii.
y hli (?¦ 21, ix. 26, xi. 2);-iv. 9, y}>i) 1fcO 1EJ>K
(y 36, No. 26) ; 10 b (cp. xii. 1 b) ; 19 (cf. xvii. 3) ; 29 b
(} 36, No. 19) ; 32, cp. xiii. 7 [Heb. 8], xxviii. 64 (all) ;
3*. niDD and D^NIID (vii- 19, xxvi. 8); 40 (} 34,
No. 8 ; y 36, No. 13; y 34, Nos. 3, 4).
The combination of minuter and broader fea
tures constitutes a strong argument in favour
ofthe unity of authorship. Still, there is justice
inthe remark that the separate heading iv. 44-9,
especially when its circumstantiality is considered,
wears the appearance of being due to a writer
who was not acquainted with the introduction
to v.-xxvi. contained in i.-iv. 40. Kleinert, with
older scholars (pp. 33, 168 sq.), supposes that iv.
44-xxvi. was the part of Deut. that was first
completed, and that i.-iv. 40, 41--43 was prefixed
subsequently by the author himself as an intro
duction. Dillmann, who does not doubt that the
substance of ch. i.-iv. is by the author of ch. v. sq.,
but holds that it has been modified in form by
the redactor who incorporated Deut. in the
Hexateuch, attributes to the latter both ii. 14 b-
16 and iv. 44-49.
§ 27. Ch. xxvii. Verses 9 sq. have been spoken
of already (§ 25). In the rest of the chapter
four distinct ceremonies are enjoined : (1) The
inscription of the Deuteronomic law on stones
upon Mount Ebal, ot. 1-4, 8 ; (2) the erection
of an altar and offering of sacrifices on the same
spot, vv. 5-7 ; (3) the ratification of the new
covenant by the people standing on both moun
tains, vv. 11-13 ; (4) the twelve curses uttered
by the Levites and responded to by the whole
people, vv. 14-26. It is true that vv. 11-13 are
disconnected with 1-8, the situation and circum
stances being alike different1: at the same time
some actual symbolical ceremony must have
been intended in the words xi. 29 sq., and these
verses specify what that is. In the opinion of
critics, the basis of vv. 1-8 is an older narrative,
which has been recast by the writer of Deut. in
his own phraseology. The connexion of vv. 14-
26 with vv. 11-13 is very imperfect. Verses
12 sq. represent six of the tribes (including Levi,
which is reckoned here as a lay-tribe, Ephraim

v The reader who cannot discover them for himself
will find them noted in Dillmann, p. 229. The differ.
ernes which Kuenen (p. 120) notes are real but slight.
i Kuenen, Th. Tijdschr. 1878, p. 304 sq. (cp. Hex. 0 7,
22) ; Dillmann, p. 367 sq. 3 \j A

772

DEUTERONOMY

and Manasseh being treated as one) on Gerizim
and six on Ebal — in tolerable accordance with
Josh. viii. 33 ; and we expect (cp. xi. 29) some
invocation of blessings and curses on the two
mountains respectively. Verses 14 sq., on the
contrary, describe only a series of curses,
uttered by the Levites, to which all Israel
respond. The two representations are evidently
divergent, and give an inconsistent picture of
the entire scene. Either something which made
the transition clear has dropped out between
vv. 13 and 14, or vv. 14 sq. have been incorporated
from some independent source (see Dillmann,
pp. 367-9).
§ 28. It is not possible perhaps to feel so
confident respecting xxix. 2 (Heb. 1) — xxx. 20,
as respecting ch. i.— iv. : for here, though there
is no lack of Deuteronomic phrases, the Deutero
nomic ring (except in xxx. 11—20, especially
11-14) is not heard quite so distinctly. Several
new expressions also make their appearance (e. g.
xxix. 6b, 9b, lib [both Josh.]; 17, D'XIpt?
and uh'hi; 19, U^> nnnt50; and xxix. 22-
xxx. 10 is connected imperfectly with the context.
Kleinert (p. 202) remarks that the promise of
restoration in xxx. 1-10 is alien to the intention
of a legislator, whose object throughout the rest
of ch. xxviii.-xxx. is exclusively to inculcate
motives for the observance of his statutes,
and kindred rather to the spirit of a prophet.
It may be replied that the author is more than
a mere legislator : the section, moreover (with
xxix. 22-29), is but the expansion of iv. 27-31.
But it is true that xxx. 11 (which clearly gives
the reason for ^present duty, and is in no relation5"
with the future contemplated in vv. 9, 10) is
connected imperfectly with v. 10, and can hardly
have been originally preceded by xxx. 1-10.
Dillmann considers that elements belonging to
Deut. have been here united and amplified by
the redactor, and agrees, in particular, that xxx.
11-20 is "beyond question original."
§ 29. Ch. xxxi. 1 — xxxii. 47, including the
Song of Moses (ch. xxxii.).
Argument of tlie Song. — After an exordium (vv. 1-3)
the poet states his theme (4 a 1">JJB QIDfl "II "OX), viz'
the uprightness and faithfulness of Jehovah, as illustrated
in His dealings with a corrupt and ungrateful nation
(vv. 4-6). He dwells on the providential care with which
the people had been guided to the home reserved for them
(vv. 7-11) : how it hod triumphantly taken possession of
the soil of Canaan (vv. 13, 14); how prosperity had
tempted it to be untrue to its ideal (" Jeshurun ")
character, to forsake and dishonour its God (vv. 15-18),
until the punishment decreed for this (vv. 19-25)
had all but issued in national extinction, and the final
step had only been arrested by the thought of the foe's
malicious triumph (vv. 26-8). Had the nation possessed
true wisdom, it would perceive whither its course was
tending, and would understand the true ground of its
disasters (vv. 29-33). But the enemy will not triumph
for ever : in His people's extremity Jehovah will Him
self interpose (vv. 34-36) ; and when the gods whom they
have chosen are powerless to aid them, He "Who is God
alone, and Lord of life and death, will avenge His ser
vants' cause (vv. 37-43). The thought underlying the
whole is thus the rescue of the people by an act of grace,
at the moment wheu annihilation seemed imminent.
The poem begins reproachfully; but throughout tender
ness prevails above severity, and towards Its close the
strain becomes wholly one of consolation and hope.

J Keil, Einl., 5 24, 3 end.

DEUTERONOMY
The Song shows great originality in form,
being a presentation of prophetical thoughts in
a poetical dress, which is unique in the O. T.
The standpoint — whether assumed or real — from
which the poet speaks is, of course, subsequent
to the Mosaic age, to which, vv. 7-12, he looks
back as to a distant past. The style of treat
ment, as a historical retrospect, is in the man
ner of Hos. ii., Jer. ii., Ezek. xx., Ps. cvi. The
theme is developed with great literary and
artistic skill ; the images are varied and expres
sive ; the parallelism, though not perfectly
regular, is often very forcible.
It would be going too far to affirm that the
Song cannot he by the same hand as the body
of Deut. At the same time most of the charac
teristic expressions are different, and it presents
many fresh thoughts : hence Delitzsch, wishing
to vindicate its Mosaic authorship, seeks to show
that it is independent of and prior to the dis
courses, and that in such points of contact as
are traceable between them the originality is
rather on the side of the Song." In this he
appears to be right : at any rate internal evi
dence, while not indeed precluding the identity
of authorship,* is far from being strong enough
to make it a certainty. If xxxi. 14 sq. be ex
amined carefully, it will be seen that there are
really two introductions to the Song, viz. vv. 14—
22 and vv. 23-30. These appear to be by dif
ferent hands ; the first exhibiting several phrases
not found elsewhere in Deut., the second being
in the general style of the body of the Book.
Verses 14—22 are considered by critics to form
part of JE ; and the view taken by them of the
Song is that, being already at the time when
JE was composed attributed to Moses, it was
incorporated in this historical work accord
ingly." The section containing it was ex
cerpted by the author (or redactor) of Deut.,
who, adding xxxi. 23-30 and xxxii. 45-47,
gave it the place which it now holds. This
view presupposes naturally that the Song is
older than JE, and a fortiori older than Deut.
Dillmann, in agreement with Knobel and
Schrader (Einl. § 205 h), assigns it to the period
of the Syrian wars, in particular to the interval
between 2 K. xiii. 4, 7, and xiii. 23, 25, xiv. 25 sq.
(circ. 800 B.C.). Certainly a period such as
this is the standpoint from which the Song
purports to be spoken.
Ch. xxxii. 48-52. This is part of the narra
tive of P: it has all the marks of P's style,
and none of the style of Deut. (e.g. 'ON, vv. 49,
52, like Num. xiii. 2, xv. 2, &c, but contrary

* Studien, x. p. 507.
a Keil, aiming to prove more, catches at straws : in
what respect are ?K"X? and QlTtfb better evidence
of antiquity than V1TN? and E«K"N^> wM°b. are
used by Isaiah? Mr. Bspin (p. 917), in referring' to a
" long list " of coincidences given by Colenso, Pent. iii.
y 799, has neglected to notice that a large number of
these are with Jeremiali, and consequently have no
cogency except for those who believe that Deut. is the
work of that Prophet.
» So Schrader, Einl. (1869), y 191 ; Klostermann, in
the Stud. u. Krit. 1871, p. 262 sq. (whose arguments
satisfy Wellh. J. D. Th. xxi. 685) ; Dillmann ; Eiehm,
Einl. p. 312. Cp. Ewald, Hist. i. p. 123 sq. See also
Kuenen, yy 8, 15 ; and Stade in the Z. A. T. W. 1885,
pp. 297-300.

DEUTERONOMY
to the usage of Deut. [see § 37]). It is partly
identical with Num. xxvii. 12-14.
s 30. Ch. xxxiii. The Blessing of Moses. —
This offers even fewer points of contact with
the discourses of Deut. than ch. xxxii., and is
accordingly considered by Delitzsch not to have
been among the materials made use of by the
author of Deut., but to have been handed down
separately; till it was inserted here by the
redactor who incorporated Deut. as a whole in
the present Pentateuch. A peculiarity of form
will be noticed : each blessing is introduced by
the narrator separately, speaking in his own
person. The exegesis is in many parts diflicult,
and the text sometimes corrupt (e.g. 2 b, 3,
probably 21). The Dlessing on Joseph is
evidently moulded on Gen. xlix. 25 sq. : the other
blessings are original. Compared, as a whole,
with the blessing of Jacob, it may be said to be
pitched in a higher key : the tone is more
buoyant : while the former in the main has in
view the actual characteristics of the different
tribes the blessing of Moses contemplates
them in their ideal glories, and views them both
separately and collectively (vv. 26-29), as exer
cising theocratic functions, and enjoying theo
cratic privileges. The most salient features
are the (apparent) isolation and depression of
Judah, the honour and respect with which Levi
isviewed,the strength and splendour ofthe double
tribe of Joseph, and the burst of grateful
enthusiasm with which (vv. 26-29) the poet
celebrates the fortune of his nation, settled and
secure, with the aid of its God, on the fertile
soil of Palestine. Verse 4, if not also vv. 27 b,
28 (dmve out, said, dwelt), implies a date later
than Moses ; as regards the rest of the Blessing,
opinions differ, and, in fact, conclusive criteria
fail ns. The external evidence, supplied by the

DEUTERONOMY

773

title (v. 1), is slight: internal evidence, from
the obscure nature of some of the allusions, is
indecisive, and affords scope for diverging con
clusions. Kleinert (pp. 169-175), urging v. 7
(Judah's isolation, in agreement with its non-
mention in Deborah's song), assigns it to the
period of the Judges. Graf, ° understanding v. 7
differently, and remarking the allusion to the
Temple in v. 12 and the terms in which th*
power of Joseph is described in v. 17, thinks of
the prosperous age of Jeroboam II. (2 K. xiv. 25).
which is accepted by Kuenen, d Reuss,0 and
others. Dillmann (p. 415 sq.), while interpreting
ur. 7 and 12 similarly, considers that the terms
in which Levi and Judah are spoken of are
better satisfied by a date very shortly after the
division of the kingdom (so Schrader, Einl.
§ 204) ; and adduces reasons for supposing it to
be the work of a poet of the northern kingdom,
which afterwards came to be attributed to
Moses. Volck, ' partly on the questionable
ground that such concrete traits as the Blessing
exhibits are those of the Mosaic age, partly on
the ground of its predominant ideal character,
defends its Mosaic authorship ; and Delitzsch e
agrees with him (both, however, excepting
v. 4). The style of ch. xxxiii. is more archaic
than that of ch. xxxii.
In ch. xxxiv., verses 1-7 (in the main) con
sist of J's account of Moses' death, slightly ex
panded by a later hand, and concluded by v. 10
(cp. Ex. xxxiii. 11) ; vv. 8, 9 (cp. Num. xxvii.
22 sq.) belong toP : vv. 11 sq. are a compilation
of Deut. phrases, but probably not by D, on
account of the indifferent style (?3?); they
are attached to v. 10 loosely as a supplement.
The structure of Deut. may be exhibited
in a tabular form, as follows : —

<ffl xxvii. 5-7a. ***¦ 14"22' no „„
DL-xxvL, xxvii. 1-4. 7b-8, 9-10, 11-13 (14-26*). xxviii., xxix. 1-xxxi. 13. 23-.0.

J JE xxxii. (1-43*), 44.

xxxii. 48-52.

xxxiv. 8-9.

xxxii. 45-47.

(xxxiii.*)

xxxiv. 1-

10.

xxxiv. 11-12.

* Incorporated from independent sources.

§ 31. Evidence of language on the date of
Zl«ii.—i. Alleged archaisms. "Very incorrectly,"
writes Delitzsch," abandoning his previous posi
tion,1 "have certain linguistic criteria been
appealed to as evidence for the equal and high
antiquity of the component parts of the Penta
teuch." This verdict is indeed the only one
authorized by the facts of philology. The only
archaism in the Pentateuch which Delitzsch
now admits is the use of "IM as a feminine
(Gen. xxiv. 14, 16, 28, 55, 57 ; xxxiv. 3, 12 ; and
in the laws Deut. xxii. 15-29, thirteen times) ;
the feminine I1TM occurring but once (xxii. 29).
The following is a list of the other principal
words or forms which have been cited by Keil,
" Ver Segen Mose's (1857), pp. 79-82.
4 Beligion of Israel, i. 378 sq. ; Hex. p. 234.
• La Bible, ii. p. 360 sq.
* Ber Segen Hose's (1873), p. 157 sq.
* P. 508. Bntintemal evidence connecting ch. xxxiii.
"with ch. xxxii. is slight ; " Jeshurun," the figure xxxii.
13a, xxxiii. 29 b (both occurring elsewhere), and Cpl?
(only xxxii. 2 a, xxxiii. 28 b), being the sole noteworthy

by Delitzsch himself formerly, and others, as
archaisms, with an indication of the grounds
which compel their rejection.
(1.) The use of XIH for both genders, which occurs
196 times in the Pentateuch (by the side of 11 times
VIA), of which 36 are in Deut. The fact that all Se
mitic languages have a feminine with yod authorizes
the inference that this must have formed part of the
original Semitic stock, before the several sister dialects,
Hebrew amongst them, acquired independent exist
ence'' Whatever, then, be the explanation of the
epicene Kin. Hebrew in its earliest stage must have
had a feminine i?T\. In all probability the peculiarity
is not original. It is clear, from a comparison of the
LXX tbat in the older Heb. MSS. ihe plena scriptio
was fir from being in general use (Bee the writer's Notes

resemblances: the others, cited by Volck, p. 167, from
Lagarde, are not characteristic. Keil, and those who
agree with him, do not perceive the difficulty of v. 7.
b Genesis, 1887, p. 27.
i Genesis, 1872, p. 22 sq. ; cp. this Diet.,' u. 783.
k So Noldeke, the highest living authority on tho
Semitic languages, Z. D. M. (?., 1866, p. 458 sq. ; 1876,
p. 594 ; endorsed by DelitzBch, Studien, vm. p. 394.

774

DEUTERONOMY

on the Hebrew Text of Samuel, 1890, xxxiii. sq.) ; and
doubtless, in the autographs of the 0. T., as on the stone
of Mesha for the masculine,' and on the inscriptions of
Eshmunazarm and Yehawmelech of Gebaln for both
genders, the pronoun of the third pers. sing, was regu
larly written XH> though read, of course, as hu' or hi',
us occasion required. When at a comparatively late
period the plena scriptio was inserted, this for some
reason, which we can only supply from conjecture, was
in the Pentateuch, with eleven exceptions, always V"
(20 ^Kn for r6«n. 'v. 42, vii. 22, xix. Il, as in
Gen. xix. 8, 25, xxvi. 3, 4, Lev. xviii. 27 ; and ?X for
!"6x> 1 Ch- xx- 8 (not a quotation). This is met with
in Phoenician : P but the kindred dialects generally have
a dissyllabic form,*! an indication that the pronoun ter
minated originally in a vowel sound. There is no
ground for supposing it an archaism other than its oc
currence in books reputed to be ancient : the fact that
i-pKn also is found some eighty times (besides i"PK
uniformly) in the same Books ought alone to have
shown how questionable the inference was.
(3.) The following forms, occurring sporadically in
Deut., are no test of antiquity, for the simple reason
that they mostly occur likewise sporadically in other
books of the O. T. down to Jer. and Ezek. inclusive : —
(a..) pnpl, xxi. 15 ; T|XSDn. xxxi. 21 (an ortho
graphical variation for the more usual n3N¥DFb
Vo nixf?. '. 33 ; ipyb, xxvi. 12 (&r nisnr6.
-iOTr6). (y.) The ending (.1- in 2 and 3 pi. impf., which occurs
305 times in the 0. T., of which 56 are in Deut. (On
0, 7, see the writer's Notes on Samuel, pp. 28 sq., 23.)
(8.) The ending p.. in 3 P1- Pf-> viii- 3> le- This
occurs besides in Is. xxvi. 16, but is without analogy
in the kindred dialects, except in those which are
secondary aud late.r A form which occurs three times
in the 0. T. and is badly supported by analogy, is due
probably to a clerical error. So Noldeke, p. 411.
(e.) The construction of the passive with JIN of the
subject (xii. 22, xx. 8 : see Ges.« J 121, 1 ; Ewald, y 295 b ).
This is met with at every period of the language, down
i Line 6, Kn D5 "IDfcO! ; line 27, Kn Dili *3
(" for it was broken down : " cp. 1 K. xviii. 30).
» Line 10, «n DIKi line 11, «n nD^DD;«ne22
KSi fDi?DDn (Corp. Inscr. Sem., No. 3).
» Line 9, «n pi* ~6q ; line 13, tf,-| M&6o
(ib. No. 1). Add ib. No. 93, 2 (254 B.C.) ; 94, 2; 166,
b 4 ; 171, 7 ; and the recently discovered Inscription of
Tabnith, 1. 6 (Notes on Samuel, p. xxvi.).
0 The epicene Kin appears, in fact, not to be confined
to the Pentateuch. As the reader can himself learn from
the facsimile published by Strack in 1876, it occurs in
the MS. of the ' Later Prophets,' exhibiting the Oriental
text aud the superlinear punctuation, now at St. Peters
burg, and dated a.d. 916. See the passages cited in the
Adnotationes Criticae, p. 026 (on Ezek. xxx. 18) ; and
cp. Delitzsch, Genesis (1887), p. 32.
p In Eshmunazar's Inscr., 1. 22 ; in the C. I. S. No.
14 (from Larnaca), 1.5: No. 93, 1. 3 : probably pro
nounced as a dissyllable (Schroeder, Phoen, Gr, 1869,
y 61). In the Poenulus, vi. 9, written ily : in the Neo-
punic Inscr. 125 (Z. D. M. G. xxix. 240), tf^N-
q J\ }\, ACh $*. anrz* (^ioi),
m-
' Noldeke, Z. D. M. G., 1884, p. 410 : for some ex
amples see Driver's Hebrew Tenses (ed. 2, 1881,
p. xiv. ; ed. 3, 1891, p. 7). The old Semitic ending, as
Arab., Eth., and Aram, show, was !)-.

DEUTERONOMY
to at least the time of Jeremiah (xxxv. 14, xxxviii. 4,
1. 20), and evidently therefore is no mark of antiquity.
((.) p|- locale occurs repeatedly in Kings and Jere
miah (e.g. H?33> more 'ban twenty times).
(4.) Other words are borrowed from the older laws, as
lOX, xvi. l; 113T' xvi- 16 ("I80 xx. 13); Qp<") (in
sense of without an offering), ib., in verbal quotations
from Ex. (cp. § 6, note) : or are .technical terms, as
mp:.iv. i6; ntw. xviu. 1.
§ 32. ii. Other forms occurring in Deut. have
been claimed as agreeing with a date in the
7th century." Of these the most striking arc
the Nithpael in xxi. 8 (1S33), which, it is true,
occurs again only Ezek. xxiii. 48 ; the Aramaism
DDtp, xvi. 10 (not elsewhere) ; and D-USDO.
viii. 9 (I3PP, of which this is a derivative,
occurring besides only in the late book Qoheleth
iv. 13, ix. 15 sq.) : ' the others are of slight
importance." On the whole, the evidence from language
may be regarded as neutral : 1SD3, flDD, and
niJ3DD may be fairly held to balance 1UJ, and
"TDT in xx. 13. The language of Deut. exhibits
nothing which can be characterised as either
specially early or specially late: such pecu
liarities as it presents are too isolated to admit
of any wide-reaching conclusion being safely
deduced from them. The language of Deut. is
thoroughly compatible with a date early in the
7th century B.C. : it contains nothing which can
be cited as positively favouring an earlier date,
though we are not in a position to affirm that a
somewhat earlier date is excluded by it.
§ 33. Evidence of the Prophets and Historical
Books on the date of Deut. — These are often
appealed to as witnessing by their allusions
to the existence of Deut. at a date prior to that
assigned to it by modern critics. Is their
evidence decisive ? In determining this ques
tion, the nature of the issue is very commonly
forgotten ; it is thought sufficient to point out
the parallel, and to assume at once that the
imitation (or dependency) is in favour of the
side which is being advocated. A moment's
consideration will show how illogical such a
method is. Given two similar passages, of
which the relative dates are known, it is, of
course, immediately obvious on which side the
imitation lies ; but the inverse problem (which
naturally, when the date is under dispute, is the
one to be solved) — Given two similar passages, to
determine which is the original — is vastly more
difficult and delicate. Assuming the antiquity
of Deut., we may, for instance, say with
Hengstenberg that xxx. 3 is the basis of all the'
passages in which the phrase m3C 2W occurs;
but there is nothing in the passage itself to*
render this self-evident, and a critic who held a
different view of the date of Deut. might witb
equal propriety claim Amos ix. 14 as the funda
mental passage. So Amos iv. 9 resembles Deut.
xxviii. 22 ; v. lib resembles xxviii. 39 : the
rDDDD (" overthrow ") of Sodom and Gomorrha

8 Ryssel, De Elohistae Pentateuchi sermme (1878),
p. 27. .
' Parallels to the strange i}BU? (*¦ u) and "*
Hothp. XBI2H (xxiv. 4) are met with in Lev. and
Num. (P) : they form, therefore, part of a larger ques
tion [see Pentateuch].
» On some of them, see Journ. qf Phil. 1882, p. 235 sq-

DEUTERONOMY
is common to Deut. with Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah ;
but who will presume to say, without assuming
the question in dispute, in which writer each of
these phrases is original ? Other passages in
both Amos and Hosea which have been cited as
showing acquaintance with Deut. are too general
in their terms to be conclusive. There may
well have been a law against Kedeshoth in Israel
prior to the 7th cent. B.C. : but Hos. iv. 14
is no proof of it, unless it be supposed that the
moral enlightenment possessed independently
by the Prophet was insufficient to teach him to
condemn them. The only law to which Hosea
may be held perhaps to allude in v. 10 is that on
the landmark (xix. 14) ; but this does not show
his acquaintance with the Book as we have it,
for, as has been contended above, Deut. does not
prescribe new laws, but reproduces old ones.
Indeed, might there not well exist a popular
feeling on the subject, adequate to explain
Hosea's language, without the hypothesis of any
law whatever ? Nor does Is. i. betray acquaint
ance with the body of Deut. ; the parallels
advanced by Caspari x can surely satisfy no one.
The part of Deut. which may be reasonably held
to be alluded to by Isaiah, and perhaps by
Hosea, is the Song: cp. Is. i. 2a with xxxii.
1; i. 2b, 4a ("sons") with xxxii. 5a, 19b,
20b; the thought of i. 2 b with xxxii. 6, 15b;
Hos. v. 14 b, vi. 1, with xxxii. 39 ; viii. 14 a
(cp. xiii. 6) with r. 18 ; ix. 10 with v. 10 ;
si. 3 a (thought) with t;. 11. But, as we have
seen (§ 29), there are independent grounds
for regarding the Song as prior to the hody of
Deut. y In the prophets there are no allusions
sufficient to establish an acquaintance with
Deut. as a whole prior to Jeremiah.
In estimating the allusions in the historical
books, we must first put aside those which may
refer to the earlier laws embodied in Deut. (as
1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 1 K. xxi. IO),1 and those in
which the reference to Deut. is not evident, as
IK. xxii. 11, 2 K. vi. 30* (surely the recollec
tion of Deut. xxviii. 53 is not needed to explain
the king's horror !). There remain the large
number of cases (cp. § 38) in which the phrase
ology is modelled on that of Deut. These
passages, however, do not appear generally to be
part of the original sources incorporated in
those Books, but to belong to the framework or
additional matter due to the post-Deuteronomic
redactor. It would, however, be out of place
here to state the grounds which justify this
opinion : and in so far as they have to be assumed,
' Beitrage zur Einl. in das Buch Jesaia (1848), p.
204. Isaiah works out the figure of the sick person
(i.5sq.)on lines entirely his own. The specific images
in Deut. are all different : in xxviii. 35 b the phrase used
is one in current use (2 Sam. xiv. 25 ; Job ii. 7), unlike
that in Is. i. 6.
i So the introduction in JE to the Song (} 29) may
be alluded to in Hos. iii. 1 b ; Mic. iii. 4, 11 : cp. xxxi.
18b, 20b; 17 a, 18 a; 17 b.
¦ But Judg. ii. 2 sq., xiv. 3, 1 Sam. viii. 3, are suffi
ciently accounted for by Ex. xxxiv. 12, 13, 15 sq., xxiii.
8, and do not point necessarily (as has been supposed)
to Deut vii. 2, 3, xii. 3, xvi. 19. Indeed, the expostula
tion in Judg. xiv. 3 Beems to be prompted by national
feeling, rather than to depend upon an express prohi
bition. * Pulpit Comm. p. x. eq. (from Hengst. ii. pp. 131,

DEUTERONOMY 775
the present discussion on Deut. must be admitted
to be incomplete. III. Style of Deuteronomy.
§ 34. The literary style of Deut. is very
marked and individual. In vocabulary, indeed,
it presents comparatively few exceptional words ;
but particular phrases and forms of expression,
consisting sometimes of entire clauses, recur
with extraordinary frequency, giving a distinc-
tit-c colouring to every part of the work. While,
however, the phraseology, in its predominant
features, is strongly original, it appears in
certain particulars to be based upon that of the
narrative which we have termed JE, notably of
the sections Ex. xiii. 3-16, xix. 3-8, parts of xx.-
xxiii., xxxiv. 10-26.b
*¦ 2i"IK> to love, with God as object: vi. 5; vii. 9;
x. 12; xi. 1, 13, 22; xiii. 3 [Heb. 4]; xix. 9; xxx. 6,
16, 20. [Josh. xxii. 5, xxiii. 11.] So Ex. xx. 6 (=Deut.
v. 10).
Of God's love to His people : iv. 37 ; vii. 8, 13 ; x. 15 ;
xxiii. 5 [Heb. 6]. Not so before. Otherwise first in
Hosea iii. 1 ; ix. 15 ; xi. 1, cf. 4 ; xiv. 4 [Heb. 5].
2- ?''InX QTl?N> other gods : vi. 14 ; vii. 4 ; viii. 19 ;
xi. 16, 28 ; xiii. 2, 6, 13 [Heb. 3, 7, 14] ; xvii. 3 ; xviii.
20 ; xxviii. 14, 36, 64 ; xxix. 26 [Heb. 25] ; xxx. 17 ;
xxxi. 18, 20. [Josh, xxiii. 16 ; xxiv. 2, 16.] So Ex. xx.
3 (= Deut. v. 7) ; xxiii. 13 ; cp. xxxiv. 14 ("inN ?N).
Always in Deut. (except v. 7 ; xviii. 20 ; xxxi. 18, 20)
with to serve or go after. Often in Kings and Jeremiah,
but (as Kleinert remarks) usually with other verbs.
3. That your (thy) days may be long [or to prolong
days'] : iv. 26, 40 ; v. 33 [Heb. 30] ; vi. 2b; xi. 9 ; xvii.
20; xxii. 7; xxv. 15; xxx. 18; xxxii. 47. So Ex. xx.
12 (=Deut. v. 16). Elsewhere, only Is. liii. 10, Prov.
xxviii. 16, Eccles. viii. 13 ; and, rather differently, Josh.
xxiv. 31=Judg. ii. 7.f
4, The land (V^KH : less frequently the ground,
nO*TXn) which Jehovah thy God is giving thee (also
us, you, them, i. 20, &c.) : iv. 40, xv. 7, and constantly.
So Ex. xx. 12 (=Deut. v. 16), nDlXD-
5- D'HSI? IVD' house of bondage (lit. of slaves) :
vi. 12 ; vii. 8 ; viii. 14 ; xiii. 5, 10 [Heb. 6, 11]. [Josh.
xxiv. 17.] So Judg. vi. 8 ; Mic. vi. 4 ; Jer. xxxiv. 13
From Ex. xiii. 3, 14, xx. 2 (=Deut. v. 6).f
6. In thy gates (of the cities of Israel) : xii. 12, 15, 17,
18, 21 ; xiv. 21, 27-29 ; xv. 7, 22 ; xvi. 5, 11, 14, 18 ;
xvii. 2, 8 ; xviii. 6 ; xxiii. 16 [Heb. 17] ; xxiv. 14 ; xxvi.
12 ; xxviii. 52, 55, 57 ; xxxi. 12. So Ex. xx. 10 (=
Deut. v. 14). Nowhere else in this application : but cf.
1 K. viii. 37 =2 Ch. vi. 28.
1 a. n?3D OV> a people of special possession : vii. 6 ;
xiv. 2; xxvi. 18.f Cf. Ex. xix. 5 n'jJD 'b DIWII-
7b. W\"\p Dl?> a holy People: vii. 6; xiv. 2, 21;
xxvi. 19; xxviii. 9.f Varied from Ex. xix. 6 »1J
B>nj?, a holy nation.
8. Wliich I command thee this day : iv. 40 ; vi. 6 ;
vii. 11, and repeatedly. So Ex. xxxiv. 11.
9. Take heed to thyself (yourselves) Ust, kc. : iv. 9, 23 ;
vi. 12 ; viii. 11 ; xi. 16 ; xii. 13, 19, 30 ; xv. 9 (cp. xxiv. 8) :
cp. ii. 4; iv. 15. [Josh, xxiii. 11.] So Ex. xxxiv.
12 ; cp. xix. 12. (Also Ex. x. 28, Gen. xxiv. 6, xxxi. 24,
cp. 29 ; but with no special force.)
10. A mighty htmd and a stretched out arm : iv. 34 ;

6 In the preparation of yy 34-36, much help has been
derivedfrom the scholarly work of Kleinert, p. 217 sq.—
To avoid repetition, and for the sake of the more com
plete synopsis, the occurrences in the Deuteronomic sec
tions of Joshua have been noted here in brackets. The
sign t denotes that all examples of the word or phrase
quoted, occurring in the O. T., have been cited.

776

DEUTERONOMY

v. 15; vii. 19; xi. 2; xxvi. ( 8,. Hence Jer. xxxii. 21
(UlltS). cf. xxi. 6; 1 K. viii. 42 |] ; Ezek. xx. 33, 34;
Ps. cxxxvi. 12. The combination occurs first in Deut.
Mighty hand alone : Deut. iii. 24; vi. 21; vii. 8; ix. 26;
xxxiv. 12 [cp. Josh. iv. 24]. So Ex. iii. 19 ; vi. 1 ; xiii. 9 ;
xxxii. 11 (Num. xx. 20). Hence Dan. ix. 15 ; Neh. i. 10.
Stretched out arm alone : Deut. ix. 29 (varied from Ex.
xxxii. 11). So Ex. vi.eP. Hence Jer. xxvii. 5, xxxii. 17 ;
2 K. xvii. 36.+
Other coincidences, with the same sections of
Ex. appear to be instances of quotation or allu
sion (see § 6, note).0
§ 35. There are two or three points of con
tact between Deut. and Lev. xvii.-xxvi. : —
¦ ri31?in. abomination (to Jehovah), especially as
the final ground of a prohibition: vii. 25 sq. ; xii. 31;
xiii. 14 [Heb. 15] ; xiv., 3 ; xvii. 1,4; xviii. 12 ; xxii.
5 ; xxiii. 18 [Heb. 19] ; xxiv. 4 ; xxv. 16 ; xxvii. 15.
Cp. Lev. xviii. 22 b, also 26, 27, 29, 30 ; xx. 13 (but
only of sins of unchastity). Not so in Ex.
Thy brother, as used iu xv. 3, 7, 9, 11, 12; xvii.
15 b ; xxii. 1-4 ; xxiii. 19 sq. [Heb. 20 sq.] ; xxv. 3.
Cp. Lev. xix. 17; xxv. 14, 25, 35 sq., 39, 47.
' To rejoice before Jehovah (at a sacrificial meal) : xii.
12, 18 ; xvi. 11; xxvii. 7 (cp. xii. 7 ; xiv. 26b ; xvi. 14 ;
xxvi. 11). So only Lev. xxiii. 40 (of the Feast of
Tabernacles) ; cp. Is. ix. 2.
With the rest of P, Deut. exhibits no phrase
ological connexion. In the few laws which
are in part common, identical expressions occur
(as ch. xiv. J'O ; xxiv. 8, nimn Vil) ; but
these are of the nature of quotations, and do not
Constitute any real phraseological similarity
between the two writings : they do not recur in
Deut. § 36. Characteristic expressions either not
occurring at all in Gen. — Num., or occurring
only in the instances cited : —
1- ["]J1B>fi} fl1X ^33. with »-11 the desire of his
(thy) soul : xii. 15, 20, 21 ; xviii. 6.f Cp. 1 Sam. xxiii.
20 6).
2. inn* *° choose : of Israel, iv. 37 ; vii. 6, 7 ; x.
15 ; xiv. 2 ; — the priests, xviii. 5 ; xxi. 5 ; — of the
future king, xvii. 15 ;— and especiaUy in the phrase
" the place which Jehovah shall choose to place (or set)
His Name there," xii. 6, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26 ; xiv. 23-25 ;
xv. 20 ; xvi. 2, 6, 7, 11, 15, 16 ; xvii. 8, 10 ; xxvi. 2; or
" the place which Jehovah shall choose," xviii. 6, xxxi.
11. [JoBh. ix. 27.] Very characteristic of Deut.: not
applied before to God's choice of Israel : often in Kings
of Jerusalem (1 K. viii. 44; xi. 32, &c); in Jeremiah
once, xxxiii. 24, of Israel. Also charact. of H. Isaiah
<xli. 8, 9 ; xliii. 10 ; xliv. 1, 2 : cp. chosen, xliii. 20,
xiv. 4. Of the future, xiv. 1 ; lxv. 9, 16, 22 : and
applied to Jehovah's ideal Servant, xiii. 1 ; xlix. 7).
3. 6socs»o) naipo nn nisi), and aim
shalt extinguish the evil from thy midst (or from
Israel) : xiii. 5 [Heb. 6] ; xvii. 7, 12 ; xix. 19 ; xxi.
21 ; xxii. 21, 22, 24 ; xxiv. 7.+ This phrase is peculiar
to Deut. : but Judg. xx. 13 is similar. The verb "UJ3
¦occurs also in xix. 13, xxi. 9, xxvi. 13, 14; 2 Sam.
iv. il ; and in Kings.
4. That the Lord thy God may (or Because He will)
bless tliee : xiv. 24, 29 ; xv. 4, 10 ; xvi. 10, 15 ; xxiii.
'20 [Heb. 21] ; xxiv. 19 : cp. xii. 7 ; xv. 6, 14.
5. The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow:
-v. 18 ; xxiv. 17, 19, 20, 21 ; xxvii. 19. Cp. Ex. xxii. 21 sq
" They do not therefore, as Colenso thought (Pent. vi.
App., }y 111, U8), show identity of authorship. The
relation of Deut. to Ex. xxiii. 22-33 is the same as to
Ex. xxiii. 1-21. Note also that "jl ptn3. Ex. xiii. 3,
11, 16, and T|3in, xiii. 8, are not Deuteronomic.

DEUTERONOMY
Hence Jer. vii. 6, xxii. 3; Ezek. xxii. 7. Together
with the Levite : xiv. 29 ; xvi. 11, 14 ; xxvi. 12, 13.
6. p3"7, to cleave, of devotion to God: x. 20; xi.
22 ; xiii. 4 [Heb. 5] ; xxx. 20 : the corresponding ad
jective, iv. 4. [Josh. xxii. 5 ; xxiii. 8.] So 2 K. xviii.
6 : with a different object, iii. 3 ; 1 K. xi. 2.f
7. And remember that thou wast a bondman in the
land of Egypt : V. 15 ; XV. 15 ; xvi. 12 ; xxiv. 18,
8- (I'^l?) yV DiriD tih. thine eye shall mot
spare (him) : vii. 16 ; xiii. 8 [Heb. 9] ; xix. 13, 21 ;
xxv. 12. Also Gen. xiv. 20 ; Is. xiii. 18 ; and fre
quently in Ezek.
*• VOSO pin, be strong and qf a good courage:
xxxi. 6, 7, 23. [Josh. i. 6, 7, 9, 18 ; x. 25.] Cp. ch. iii.
28. The reader may think this phrase an ordinary
one ; but it occurs besides only in 1 Ch. xxii. 13, xxviii.
20 ; 2 Ch. xxxii. 7.
!"¦ XI2n "13 iTm. and it be sin in thee: xv. 9 ;
xxiii. 21 [Heb. 22]; xxiv. 15; cp. xxi. 22;— with not,
xxiii. 22 [Heb. 23].
11- nintDH J'IKn. the good land of Canaan:
i.'35 ; iii. 25 ; iv. 21, 22 ; vi. 18 ; viii. 10 (cp. 7) ; ix. 6 ;
xi. 17. [Josh, xxiii. 16.] So 1 Ch. xxviii. 8.f Ch. i.
25 (Num. xiv. 7) and Ex. iii. 8 are rather different.
12. Wliich thou (ye) knowest (or knewest) not : viii.
3, 16 ; xi. 28 ; xiii. 2, 6, 13 [Heb. 3, 7, 14] ; xxviii. 33,
36, 64 ; xxix. 26 [Heb. 25]. Chiefly with reference to
strange gods, or a foreign people. Cp. xxxii. 17.
13. That it may be well with thee QUO? or "lt}>K
~f? 30") : iv. 40 ; v. 16, 29 [Heb. 26] ; vi. 3, 18; xii.
25, 28 ; xxii. 7. Similarly (D3^0 f? 3101 : v. 33
[Heb. 30], xix. 13 ; and 3}0^>. vi. 24, x. 13.
14. 3'OTI. inf. dbs., used adverbially = tho
roughly : ix. 21 ; xiii. 14 [Heb. 15) ; xvii. 4 ; xix. 18 ;
xxvii. 8. Elsewhere, in this application, only 2 K.
xi. 18.+ i
15. To fear God (nfcOv : often with that they may
learn prefixed) : iv. 10 ; v. 29 [Heb. 26] ; vi. 24 ; viii.
6 ; x. 12 ; xiv. 23 ; xvii. 19 ; xxviii. 58 ; xxxi. 13,
cp. 12.
!6. (?31') 731 fl fcO, in the sense of not to be al
lowed: vii. 22; xii. 17; xvi. 5; xvii. 15; xxi. 16;
xxii. 3, 19, 29 ; xxiv. 4. A very uncommon use ; cp.
Gen. xliii. 32.
17. To do that which is right Cnfc^'n) in the eyes of
Jehovah : xii. 25 ; xiii. IS [Heb. 19] ; xxi. 9 : with
310il> that which is good, added, vi. 18 ; xii. 28. So
Ex. xv. 26 ; then Jer. xxxiv. 15 ; and several times in
Kings and Chronicles.
18. To do that which is evil Qnn) "* ^ ^^ °J
Jehovah: iv. 25"; ix. 18 • ; xvii. 2 ; xxxi. 29. So
Num. xxxii. 13 ; often in the framework of Judges and
Kings, Jeremiah, and occasionally elsewhere. Both 17
and 18 gained currency through Deut, ; and are rare
except in passages written under its influence.
19. With all thy (your) heart and with all thy
(your) soul : iv. 29 ; vi. 5 ; x. 12 ; xi. 13 ; xiii. 3 [Heb.
4] ; xxvi. 16 ; xxx. 2, 6, 10. [Josh. xxii. 5 ; xxiii. 14.]
A genuine expression of the spirit of the Book (} 8).
Only besides (in the third person), 1 K. ii. 4, viii. 48 [| ;
2 K. xxiii. 3, 25 || ; 2 Ch. XV. 12.
20. '2B? |}"|g, in the sense of delivering up to: i.
8, 21 ; ii. 31, 33, 36 ; vii. 2, 23 ; xxiii. 14 [Heb. 15] ; xxviii.
7 and 25 (with CjSJ); xxxi. 5. [Josh. x. 12; xi. 6.]

d In Gen. xxxii. 13 [Keil, $ 28] the ubo is different,
and normal, pnj (cited ib.) is used peculiarly in Deut.
(iii. 24; v. 24 [Heb. 21]; ix. 26; xl. 2 : Thy, His
greatness; cp. Ps. cl. 2), and differently from Num. xiv.
19. It is not cited in the text, being of minor im
portance. 0 With to vex him OD'l?3rT?) added, as also often
in Kings and Jeremiah.

DEUTERONOMY
Also Judg. xi. 9 ; 1 K. viii. 46 ; Is. xii. 2.+ ' The
nsml phrase in this sense is T3 |]-|J.
21. To turn (ID) neither to the right hand nor to
Qu Uft : ii. 27 lit. (Num. has HDj) : s0 1 Sam. vi. 12.
Mttaph.: v. 32 [Heb. 29]; xvii. 11, 20; xxviii. 14.
[Josh. i. 7; xxiii. 6.] So 2 Kings xxii. 2 1|. +
22. D'T nG^I/0» H16 work of the hands (= enter
prise) : ii. 7 ; xiv. 29 ; xvi. 15 ; xxiv. 19 ; xxviii. 12 ;
xxx. 9 : in a bad sense, xxxi. 29. In a neutral sense, not
very common elsewhere, Hag. ii. 14, 17; Ps. xc. 17;
job i. 10 : in a bad sense, Ps. xxviii. 4 ; 1 K. xvi. 7 ;
2 K. xxii. 17 ai.
23, r]"jrj, of the redemption from Egypt: vii. s
(Mic. vi. 4) ; ix. 26 ; xiii. 5 [Heb. 6] ; xv. 15 ; xxi. 8 ;
xxiv. 18. Not so before : Ex. xv. 13 uses 7^3 (to
rectal). 24. Even to or unto this place : 1. 31; ix. 7; xi. 5 ;
xxvi, 9; xxix. 7 [Heb. 6].
25. 31p, in different connexions, especially "]3Tp3,
T31PD' -^ favourite word in Deut., though naturally
occurring in JE, as also elsewhere. In P "Jin is
preferred. 26. Which thine eyes have seen : iv. 9 ; vii. 19 ; x.
21; xxix. 3 [Heb. 2]; cp. xxi. 7.+ (Prov. xxv. 7
differently.) 27. Thy (your) eyes are those that have seen : iii.
21; iv. 3; xi. 7.+
28. TO eat ami be satisfied: vi. 11 ; viii. 10, 12 ; xi.
15; xiv. 29 ; xxvi 12 ; xxxi. 20.
29. The caution not to forget : iv. 9, 23 ; vi. 12 ;
viii. 11, 14, 19 ; ix. 7 ; xxv. 19b ; xxvi. 13b. Cp. xxxii.

DEUTERONOMY

777

30. To make His name dwell there (J3£5>, J3£v):
xii. 11 ; xiv. 23 ; xvi. 2, 6, 11 ; xxvi. 2. Only besides
Jer. vii. 12 ; Ezra vt 12 ; Neh. i. 9.+ With D-l B>"> (to
set): xii. 5, 21; xiv. 24. This occurs also in Kings
(together with DTri/, WTl'1, which are not in Deut.) :
1 K. ix. 3 ; xi. 36 ; xiv. 21 ; 2 K. xxi. 4, 7.
31- T rPK*0» ihat which thou puttest thy hand
to: xii. 7, 18 ; xv. 10 ; Triii 20 [Heb. 21] ; xxviii. 8,
2°.t ,
32. 7K1K" BOS'. Sear, O Israel: v. 1 ; vL 4; ix.
1; xx. 3; cp. xxvii. 9.
33. And .... shall hear and fear (of the deterrent
effect of punishment) : viii 11 [Heb. 12] ; xvii. 13 ;
iix, 20 ; xxL 21.+ r
34. To observe to do (nlB>IJ? IDE?) : T- !> 32
[Heb. 29], vi. 3, &c. (sixteen times : also four times with
an object intervening). [Josh. i. 7, 3 ; xxii. 5.] Also
a few tunes in Kings and Chronicles.
35. To observe and do: iv. 6; vii. 12; xvi. 12;
mii. 23 [Heb. 24] ; xxiv. 8 ;;xxvi. 16 ; xxviii. 13; cp.
xxix. 9 [Heb. 8]. [Josh, xxiii. 6.]
36. The land whither ye go over (or enter in) to
fattest it: iv. 5, 14, and repeatedly. Hence Ezra ix. 11.
nnEJOPi to possess it, also after which Jehovah is
girting thee (y 34) : xii. 1; xix. 2, 14; xxi. 1. [Josh. L
116.] Cp. Gen. xv. 7. In P, with similar clauses, we
¦"ve ntriX7 : Lev. xiv. 34, xxv. 45 ; Num. xxxii. 29 ;
Deut. xxxii. 49.
These are the most striking expressions cha
racteristic of Dent. It will be observed that,
as a rule, they occur seldom or never elsewhere,
or only in passages modelled upon the style of
Deut. In addition to these, the attentive reader
will notice other, recurring features, which
combine, with those that have been cited, to
give a unity of style to the whole work. The
strong and impressive individuality of the
author colours whatever he writes : and even a
sentence, or part of a sentence, borrowed from

'Ex.

xxx, 36 and 1 K. xi. 6 (Keil) are not parallel.

elsewhere, assumes, by tho setting in which it is
placed, a new character, and impresses the
reader in a different light." It is plain that the
original features in his style preponderate
decidedly above those that are derived. It is
true there is an element common to Deut. with
the parenetic sections of JE, and hence the style
of Deut. may be termed, in & certain sense, an
extension or development of that of JE h ; but
the development, it must be remembered, is a
very considerable one. The question will be
before us again, when the structure of JE, as
a whole, is examined under the article Penta
teuch. The text of Deut., except in a few parts of ch.
xxxii. xxxiii., is remarkably pure.
§ 37. Some other more general features
in the style of Deut. may here be noted. The
author is fond of the reflexive dative (11?D> 13D,
D37 13lC : i. 7, 40 ; ii. 3 ; v. 27 ; x. 11, &c.) ;
of asyndeta ' ; of the emphatic termination [1-
i'n 3 pi. impf. (§ 31) ; of constructions with
"JT 01313, TlOnn. n:riO. HE>0). He prefers
33? (nearly fifty times) to 3? (only iv. 11 me-
taph. ; xxviii. 65 ; xxix. 4, 19 [Heb. 3, 18]. He
uses always the longer and more emphatic form
of the pronoun of the first pers. '33N (of the
two exceptions in the body of the work, xii. 30
after the verb is in accordance with usual cus
tom,11 xxix. 6 [Heb. 5] is a stereotyped formula).1
His syntax is idiomatic, and remarkably free
from irregularities and anomalies ; his diction
classical and pure. His power as an orator is
shown iu the long and stately periods with
which his work abounds : at the same time the
parenetic treatment which his subject often
demands always maintains its freshness, and is
never either monotonous or prolix. In his use
of figures (i. 31, 44 ; viii. 5 ; xxviii. 29, 49, cp.
13, 44 ; xxix. 18 b, 19 b) he agrees with other
writers of the more elevated prose style.™ His
noble and impressive eloquence has stirred the
heart of every reader.
§ 38. The influence of Deut. upon subsequent
Books of the O. T. -is very great. As it fixed
for long the standard by which men and things
were to be judged, so it provided the formulae
in which these judgments were expressed. Or,
to speak more generally, it provided a religious
terminology which readily lent itself to adoption,
except on the part of writers possessing unusual
independence (as Ezek. and II. Isaiah), upon
whom it exerted only a partial influence. In

e E.g. xvi. 3 (by the addition of all tlie days of thy
life : cp. iv. 9,- vi. 2, xvii. 19), 16 ; and especially in the
retrospects, chs. i-— iii-, ix.-x.
i Delitzsch, Studien, i. p. 604 ; cp. Genesis (1887).
p. 21.
¦ Those with all may be given, on account of their
bearing on the interpretation of xviii. la:— ii. 37b;
iii 4b- iv. 19; xv. 21; xvi. 21; xvii. 1; xx. 14;
xxiii. 19 [Heb. 20]; xxix. 20 [Heb. 19]. They
regularly, it will be seen, denote the entire group, of
which one or more representative items have been
specified in the preceding words.
k Journal of Philology, 1882, pp. 223, 226. 1 he other
cases are in the Song, xxxii. 21, 39 ; and xxxii. 49, 52(P).
i Ex. vii. 17, viii. 18, x. 2 ; 1 K. xx. 13, 28.
» Cp. Ex. xxxiii. 11; Num. xi. 12, xxii. 4, xxvii.
17 ; Judg. vi. 5, vii. 12, xiv. 6, xv. 14, xvi. 9 ; 2 Sam.
xiv. 17, 20, xvii. 8, 10, 11, 13, &c.

778

DEUTERONOMY

the Historical Books entire sections of Joshua
(e.g. i. ; xxii. 1-6 ; xxiii.) are largely composed
of Deuteronomic phrases : from the subsequent
Books, these specimens — mostly comments, or
other additions, made by the compiler — may be
quoted: Judg. ii. 11-23, iii. 4-6 ; 1 K. ii. 3, 4,
viii. 15-61, ix. 1-9, xi. 1-6, 31-39 (in parts),
xiv. 8, 9 ; 2 K. xvii. 7-23, xviii. 6, xix. 15-19, &c.
Differences, however, should be noted as well as
resemblances : many of these passages, for in
stance, contain new phrases not met with in
Deut. ;n and it is interesting to trace what is ou
the whole an increasing accumulation of varia
tions from the original Deuteronomic type, till
in (e.g.) 2 K. xvii. it is mingled with phrases
derived from the Book of Kings itself, Judges,
Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Among the Prophets,
Jeremiah, as is well known, shows most pro
minently the influence of Deut. : it may be
traced more subtly in II. Isaiah.
§ 39. However reluctant we may be to aban
don the current view of the authorship of Deut.,
in face of the facts stated above (which do not
appear to admit of a satisfactory explanation
upon the basis of the current view) it is diflicult
to maintain it. The positive arguments upon
which its defenders largely rely certainly appear
to be insufficient. Negatively, their attack on
the critical position derives its strengfn (1) from
the moral argument that Deut., if it be not the
work of Moses, is a " forgery ; " (2) from the
material argument that it contains provisions
which, regarded as originating in the 8th cent.
B.O., are nugatory and unintelligible. No doubt
critics have not always been at sufficient pains to
guard themselves against such objections. But
the " author " of Deut., it must be recollected,
is not the speaker, but the writer of i. 1-5, who
uses, there and elsewhere, the third person (§ 21) ;
and it cannot be shown that this writer is
necessarily, or even presumably, Moses. • And
against the position, which, as we saw (§§ 23,
24), is consonant with the facts, that Deut. is
the prophetical reproduction of an earlier legisla
tion,0 the second objection would seem to lose its
prima facie cogency. In conclusion, attention is
called to the fact that the real difficulties which
Deut. presents are not theological, but critical
and historical. Were they theological, the
entire question might be relegated to a corner
of the article Miracles : the discussion in the
present article has been concerned throughout
with arguments of a different character altoge
ther. It is, however, to these arguments that
we must look for an approximate solution (which
is often all that we can hope to obtain) of the
problems which the literary records of the
Older Dispensation present to the inquirer.

" E.g., l K. ii. 4 to talce heed to their way, and to
walk before me in faithfulness ; xi. 2 to incline the
heart; xi. 4 aperfect heart; Judg. x. 7 sold (60 only in
the Song, xxxii. 30).
° This is also the opinion reached in 1880 by Prof.
DelitzBch. In that year, as the result of a renewed study
of the subject, he expressed the conviction that the
immediate Mosaic authorship of Deut. (as upheld in
his Genesis, ed. 4, 1872, pp. 19-25) is not tenable. He
insists upon the literal truth of Deut. xxxi. 9, 24; but
considers the statement to refer not to Deut., as we
have it, but to its substance, the legal code on which
lt is based (cp. y 2, note). (Studien, x. p. 505 ; Genesis,
ed. 5, 1887, pp. 23-25.)

DEUTERONOMY
§ 40. Literature. — (a.) Commentaries :<- Joh.
Gerhard (Jena, 1657); F. W. Schultz, 1859 (the
Mosaic authorship which the author here main
tains he afterwards abandoned, no longer con
sidering it to be demanded by xxxi. 9 [cf. § 39
note0]; see the Pref. to Schopfungsgesch. nach
Naturwiss. u. Bibel, 1865, pp. viii.-x.); Aug.
Knobel, 1861 (in the Eurzgef. Exeg. Handbuch),
ed. 2 (re-written) by Aug. Dillmann, 1886 (re
markably thorough and complete) ; F. W. J.
Schroeder, 1866 (in Lange's Bibelwerk); C. F. Keil
(2nd ed. 1870); T. E. Espin, 1871 (in the Speaker's
Comm.) ; W. L. Alexander, 1882 (in the Pulpit
Commentary). On ch. xxxii.: Ewald, "Das
grosse Lied im Deut.," in the Jahrbiicherf. Bibl.
Wissenschaft, 1857, pp. 41-65; Ad. Kamphansen,
Das Died Mose's, 1862 ; Klostermann, in the
Studien u. Kritiken, 1871, p. 249, 1872, pp
230, 450. On ch. xxxiii. : K. H. Graf, Der Segen
Mose's, 1857; W. Volck, Der Segen Mose's, 1873..
Other references on these two chapters are given
by Dillmann.
(6.) Criticism : Parts of Hengstenberg's Die
Authentic des Pent., 1839 (chiefly vol. ii.) ; Ed.
Riehm, Gesetzgebung Mose's im Lande Moab,lS5i ;
Ewald, History of Israel (Eng. tr. i. 117-128 ;
iv. 220-6); Colenso, The Pent, and Book of
Joshua critically examined, Part iii. 1863; K. H.
Graf, Die Gesch. Biicher des A. T., 1866, pp. 1-
25, &c. ; W. H. Kosters, De Historie-Beschouwing
van den Deuteronomist, Leiden, 1868 ; Paul
Kleinert, Das Deut. u. der Deuteronomiker, 1872
(assigns Deut. to the close of the period of the
Judges), with Riehm's review in the Stud. u.
Krit, 1873, pp. 165-200 ; C. F. Keil, Einleitung,
ed. 3, 1873 (largely rewritten, especially with
reference to Deut.) ; Aug. Kayser, Das Vor-
exilische Buck der Urgeschichte Israels, 1874,
especially p. 122 ff. ; Jul. Wellhausen, in the
Jahrb. f. Deutsche Theologie, xxi. (1876), 584 f.,
xxii. (1877), 458-479 [reprinted in Die Composi
tion des Hex. und der hist. Bb. des A. T.'s, 1889] ;
S. I. Curtiss, The levitical Priests (1877); Ed.
Reuss, L' Histoire Sainte et la Loi, 1879, i. 154-
211 (Introd. to the author's translation of the
whole Bible ; comp. his Gesch. der Heiligen
Schriften A. T.'s, 1881, §§ 216, 226, 286-293);
Franz Delitzsch in 12 " Pentateuch-kritische
Studien," in the Zeitschrift fur kirehliche Wiss.
und kirchliches Leben, i. (1880), of which ix.,
x., xi. relate specially to Deut. ; also ib. 1882,
pp. 281-299 (on the Decalogue) ; W. Robertson
Smith, Additional Answer to the Libel, &c. (Edinb.
1878), Answer to the amended Libel (Edinb. 1879);
Old Test, in the Jewish Church (1881), Lect. xii.;
Rud. Kittel, Die neueste Wendung der Pent.
Frage in the Theol. Studien aus Wiirttemberg, ii.
(1881), pp. 29, 147, iii. (1882), p. 278 (an acute
criticism of some of Wellhausen's positions:
the third art. relates especially to Deut.);
Riehm, HandwSrterb. des Bibl. Altertums, s. v.
Priester, p. 1223 sq. ; David Castelli, La Legge
del popolo Ebreo net suo svolgimento storico, 1884
(especially ch. viii.) ; Dr. A. Moody Stuart, The
Bible true to itself, 1884, pp. 47-188, &c.
The following have appeared since the pre
ceding article was written: the writer has
not found it necessary to introduce in conse
quence any substantial change, but has incor
porated references, where necessary : — Kuenen,
Historisch-critisch Onderzoek naar het Ontstaan
en de Verzameling van de Boeken des Ouden Ver-

DEVIL
bonds, I. i. (ed. 2), Leiden, 1885 (translated under
the title The Hexateuch, London, 1886 p) ; E. C.
Bissell, The Pentateuch, its Origin and Structure,
New York and London, 1885 ; Dillmann's com
mentary mentioned above ; Delitzsch, Nouer
Commentar iiber die Genesis, 1887, esp. pp.
22-30 (a re~sume of the views developed in the
articles cited above) ; Dean (now Bishop)
Perowne in the Contemporary Beview, Jan. and
Feb. 1888, pp. 129, 145 ; Kittel, Gesch. der
Sebraer (1888), pp. 43-59 ; Cheyne, Jeremiah
(in the series called ' Men of the Bible '),
pp 48-86 ; Riehm, Einleitung in das A. T.
(posthumous), 1889, §§ 9, 18, 24.' [S. R. D.]
DEVIL (AidjSoXos; Diabolus; properly "one
who sets at variance," 8ia/J<foAei ; cp. Plat.
Symp. p. 222 C, D; and generally a "slanderer"
or " false accuser ").
The use of the name " devil " to render the
Greek $aip6viov is an error in our A. V. which
the R. V. has everywhere corrected.
The word is found in the plural number and
adjectival sense of " slanderous" in 1 Tim. iii. 11,
2 Tim. iii. 3, and Tit. ii. 3. In all other cases it
is used with the article as a descriptive name of
Satan [Satax], excepting that in John vi. 70 it
is applied to Judas (as " Satan " to St. Peter in
Matt. xvi. 23), because they — the one per
manently, and the other for the moment — were
doing Satan's work.
On the personality of the Evil One and the
methods of his attacks on men generally, see
Satan. It is sufficient to note the significance
of the name " devil " applied to him.
The name describes him as slandering God to
man, and man to God.
The former work is, of course, a part of his
great work of temptation to evil; and is not
only exemplified but illustrated as to its general
nature and tendency by the narrative of Gen. iii.
We find there that its essential characteristic is
the representation of God as an arbitrary and
selfish Ruler, seeking His own good and not that
of His creatures. The effect is to stir up the
spirit of freedom in man to seek a fancied in
dependence ; and it is but a slight step further
to impute falsehood or cruelty to Him. The
success of the devil's slander is seen, not only in
the Scriptural narrative of the Fall, but in the
corruptions of most mythologies, and especially
in the horrible notion of the divine tpdovos, which
ran through so many (see e.g. Herod, i. 32,
vii. 46). Possibly it may be traced in some

v The references are to the original pagination, re
peated on the margin of the English translation.
t [The preceding article exhibits the views of modem
critics respecting the date and authorship of Deuteron
omy. The article Pentateuch (Dict of the Bible, 1st ed.)
states the arguments in favour of the Mosaic origin of
the Book. Differing, to some extent, from the Writers
of both articles, we think it is clear from xxxi. 24-26
that Moses must have written the substance ofthe Book
inthe first instance ; but we do not see any objection to
admitting, if the evidence seems to point that way, that a
posthumous edition, embodying later Temple usages, may
have been put forth subsequently by authority, just as
geographical glosses appear to have been added. Even
if the post-Mosaic authorship be admitted, the inspiration
and canonical value of the Book remain unimpaired, as
the Writer of the preceding article has been careful to
point out (see }y 21, 22, 33).— Ediiobs.]

DIADEM

779

corruptions of the true idea of God in Christianity
itself, and in the rebellion against Him, to which
such corruptions have given cause. The same
slander is implied rather than expressed in the
temptation of our Lord, and overcome by the
faith which trusts in God's love, even where its
signs may be hidden from the eye (cp. the un
masking of a similar slander by St. Peter in
Acts v. 4).
The other work, the slandering or accusing
man before God, is, as it must necessarily be,
unintelligible to us in its literal sense. The All-
Seeing Judge can need no accuser, can regard no
false accuser ; and the All-Pure could, it might
seem, have no intercourse with the Evil One.
Like the vision of Micaiah (1 K. xxii. 19-22), it
may be an accommodation to human ideas and
experiences of a mysterious reality, which tran
scends both. But in truth the question touches
on two mysteries, the reality of energy under
the Infiuite of the finite spirit, and the permission
of the existence of evil under the government of
Him Who is " the Good." As a part of these it
must be viewed, — to the latter especially it be
longs ; and this latter, while it is the great
mystery of all, is also one in which the fact is
proved to us by incontrovertible evidence.
The fact of the devil's accusation of man to
God is stated generally in Rev. xii. 10, where he
is called " the accuser (Kariiytop) of our brethren,
who accused them before our God day and night,"
and exemplified plainly in the case of Job. Its
essence as before is the imputation of selfish
motives (Job i. 9, 10), and its refutation is
placed in the self-sacrifice of those "who loved
not their own lives unto death." [A. B.]
DEW (70 ; Spitros ; ros). This in the summer
is so copious in Palestine that it supplies to some
extent the absence of rain (Ecclus. xviii. 16, xliii.
22), and becomes important to the agriculturist ;.
as a proof of this copiousness the well-known
sign of Gideon (Judg. vi. 37, 39, 40) may be
adduced. Thus it is coupled in the Divine
blessing with rain, or mentioned as a prime
source of fertility (Gen. xxvii. 28 ; Deut. xxxiii.
13 ; Zech. viii. 12), and its withdrawal is attri
buted to a curse (2 Sam. i. 21 ; 1 K. xvii. 1 ;
Hag. i. 10). It becomes a leading object in
prophetic imagery by reason of its penetrating
moisture without the apparent effort of rain
(Deut. xxxii. 2 ; Job xxix. 12 ; Ps. cxxxiii. 3 ;
Prov. xix. 12 ; Is. xxvi. 19 ; Hos. xiv. 5 ; Mic. v.
7) ; while its speedy evanescence typifies the
transient goodness of the hypocrite (Hos. vi. 4,.
xiii. 3). It is mentioned as a token of exposure
in the night (Cant. v. 2 ; Dan. iv. 15, 23, 25-33,.
v. 21). [H. H.]
DEW OF HERMON. [Hermon.]
DIADEM (SVJV. S|Wy» or J1W.V9 » als°
ITVSV) is the word employed in the A. V. as
the translation of the above Hebrew terms.
They occur in poetical passages, in which
neither the Hebrew nor the English words
appear to be used with any special force-
nD3 VO is strictly used for the " mitre " of the
high-priest. [Mitre.]
What the "diadem" of the Jews was we do not
know. That of other nations of antiquity was a
fillet of silk, two inches broad, bound round the-

780

DIADEM

Diadem on head of Dionysus.
(Coin of Naxos in Sicily.
British Museum.)

head and tied behind, the invention of which is
attributed to Liber (Dionysus ; Plin. H.. N. vii.
• 56, 57). Its colour was
generally white (Tac.
An. vi. 37; Sil. Ital.
xvi. 241) ; sometimes,
however, it was of blue,
like that of Darius, ce-
rulea fascia albo dis-
tincta (Q. Curt. iii. 3,
vi. 20 ; Xen. Cyr. viii. 3,
§ 13) ; and it was in
woven with pearls or
other gems (Gibbon, i.
392 ; Zech. ix. 16), and
enriched with gold
(Rev. ix. 7). It was peculiarly the mark of
Oriental sovereigns (1 Mace. xiii. 32, -rb Std-
8j)|U.a ttjs 'Ao-tas), and hence the deep offence
caused by the attempt of Caesar to substitute it
for the laurel crown appropriated to Roman
emperors (sedebat . . . coronatus ; . . . diadema
ostendis, Cic. Phil. ii. 34) : when some one
crowned his statue with a laurel-wreath, can-
didae fasciae praeligatam, the tribunes instantly
ordered the fillet or diadem to be removed, and
the man to be thrown into prison (Suet. Cues.
79). Caligula's attempt to introduce it was
considered an act of insanity (Suet. Cal. 22).
Heliogabalus only wore it in private. Antony
assumed it in Egypt (Flor. iv. 11), but Diocletian
(or, according to Aurel. Victor, Aurelian) first
assumed it as a badge of the empire. Repre
sentations of it may be seen on the coins of any
of the later emperors (Tillemont, Hist. Imp.
iii. 531). Isidore (Orig. xix. 31) defines diadema
thus : " Ornamentum capitis matronarum, ex
auro et gemmis contextum, quod in se circum-
actis extremitatibus retro astringitur."
A crown was used by the kings of Israel, even
in battle (2 Sam. i. 10 ; similarly it is repre
sented on coins of Theodosius and other em
perors as encircling the helmet); but in all
probability this was not the state crown (2
Sam. xii. 30), although the same word is used
in describing the coronation of Joash (2 K. xi.
12). Kitto supposes that the state crown may
have been in the possession of Athaliah ; but
perhaps we ought not to lay any great stress on
the word "IT} in this place, especially as it is
very likely that the state crown was kept in the
Temple. In Esth. i. 11, ii. 17, we have lU'Z (xirapts,
Kidapis) for the turban (o-toXtj Bvo-trivri, vi. 8)
worn by the Persian king, queen, or other emi
nent persons to whom it was conceded as a
special favour (viii. 15, SidS-npa fiio-aivov
rroptpvpovv). The diadem of the king differed
from that of others in having an erect triangular
peak (icvpPao-la, Aristoph. Av. 487 ; t)v ol
fiao-ikzis p.6vov 6p8}]v 4tp6povv irapa Xlepo-ais,
ot Se trrpaTTiyol neK\tp.4vriv, Suid. s. v. riapa,
and Hesych.). The &6jH3 of Dan. iii. 21 used
to be considered a turban (as in LXX., where,
however, Drusius and others invert the words
Kai rtdpais Kai TrepiKvnp.'itri), A. V. "hat," but
the rendering " tunic " (R. V.) is now generally
preferred. Some render it by tibials or caloea-
mentum. Schleusner suggests that KptifSvKos
tmay be derived from it. The tiara generally
iad pendent flaps falling on the shoulders (see

Obverse of Tetradrachm of
Tigxanes, Jung of Syria.

DIAL
Paschalius, de Corona, p. 573 ; Brissonius, de
Begn. Pers., &c. ; Layard, ii. 320 ; Scacchius,
Myrothec. iii. 38;
Fabricius, Bibl. Ant.
xiv. 13).
The words i'D'""?
D^-ISD in Ezek.
xxiii. 15, " exceeding
in dyed attire "
(R. V. marg. Or,
with dyed turbans),
mean long and flow
ing turbans of gor
geous colours (LXX.
¦irap&fSaTTTa, where
a better reading is ndpai jSairraf), though
Fried. Delitzsch prefers for ?)2Q the sense of a
many-folded rather than vari-coloured fillet.
[Cbown.] [f. W. F.]
DIAL (ni7l?D ; ava&aBpal; horologium). The
word is the same as that rendered " steps " in
A. V. (Ex. xx. 26 ; IK. x. 19), and " degrees "
in A. V. (2 K. xx. 9, 10, 11; Is. xxxviii. 8),
where, to give a consistent rendering, we should
read with the margin the " degrees " rather than
the " dial " of Ahaz. In the absence of any
materials for determining the shape and structure
of the solar instrument, which certainly appears
intended, the best course is to follow the most
strictly natural meaning of the words, and to
consider with Cyril of Alexandria and Jerome
(Comm. on Is. xxxviii. 8 : see Delitzsch* in loco),
that the JTOTD were really stairs, and that the
shadow (perhaps of some column or obelisk on
the top ; cp. the picture in TSBA. iii. 36) fell
on a greater or smaller number of them accord
ing as the sun was low or high. The terrace of
a palace might easily be thus ornamented.
Ahaz's tastes seem to have led him in pursuit
of foreign curiosities (2 K. xvi. 10), and his
intimacy with Tiglath-pileser gave him probably
an opportunity of procuring from Assyria the
pattern of some such structure ; and this might
readily lead the "princes of Babylon" (2 Ch.
xxxii. 31) to " inquire of the wonder," viz. the
alteration of the shadow, in the reign of Heze
kiah. Herodotus (ii. 109) mentions that the
Egyptians received from the Babylonians the
tt6\os and the yvtiptev, and the division of the
day into twelve hours. Of such division, how
ever, the O. T. contains no undoubted trace ; nor
does any word, proved to be equivalent to the
" hour," occur in the course of it, although it is
possible that Pss. cii. 11 and cix. 23 may contain
allusion to the progress of a shadow as measuring
diurnal time. In John xi. 9 the day is spoken
of as consisting of twelve hours. As regards
the physical character of the sign of the retro
gression of the shadow in Is. xxxviii. 8, it seems
useless to attempt to analyse it; no doubt an
alteration in the inclination of the gnomon, or
column, &c, might easily effect such an apparent
retrogression ; but the whole idea, which is that
of Divine interference with the course of nature
in behalf of the king, resists such an attempt to
bring it within the compass of mechanism.
It has been suggested that the Wifoft of Is.
xvii. 8, xxvii. 9 ; Ezek. vi. 4, 6, rendered in the

DIAMOND
margin ofthe A. V. " sun-images," were gnomons
to measure time, but there seems no adequate
ground for this theory. [H. H.]
DIAMOND (D?fV ; tatnris ; jaspis), a pre
cious stone, the third in the second row on the
breast-plate of the high-priest (Ex. xxviii. IS
[B. V. marg. Or, sardonyx'], xxxix. 11), and
mentioned by Ezekiel (xxviii. 13) among the
precious stones of the king of Tyre. Gesenius
has noticed the difficulty of identifying the terms
used in the Versions for each of the Hebrew
names of precious stones in the above passages,
the translators or transcribers having appa
rently altered the order in which they stand.
lianris seems to be the word in the LXX. corre
sponding to D?fV, but most ancient commentators
give iwl-, bvvxtov, cnychinus. Our translation,
"diamond," is derived from Ibn Ezra, and is
defended by Braun (de Test. Sacerd. ii. 13).
Kalisch (on Ex. p. 536) says, " perhaps emerald."
The etymology (from D7H, to strike or crush)
leads us to suppose a hard stone. The emerald,
which is of a green colour, of various depths, is
nearly as hard as the topaz, and stands next to
the ruby in value. The same authority doubts
whether the art of engraving on the diamond
was known to the ancients, since they did not
even understand how to cut the ruby. Modern
commentators prefer onyx (see Knobel-Dillmann
on Ex. xxviii. 18).
Bespecting "VCRP, which is translated " dia
mond " in Jer. xvii. 1, see Adajiaxt. [W. D.]
DIA'NA This Latin word, properly denoting
a Roman divinity, is the representative of the
Greek" Artemis (fAprepts), the tutelary 'goddess
ofthe Ephesians, who plays so important a part
in the narrative of Acts xix. The Ephesian
Artemis was, however, invested with very dif
ferent attributes, and made the object of a
different worship, from the ordinary Artemis of
the Greeks, and is rather perhaps to be regarded
as a personification of Nature and to be generally
identified with the divinity who, under various
names, such as Cybele or Ma or Anaitis, was
worshipped in Phrygia, Lydia, Cappadocia, and
even as far as Armenia and Bactria (E. Curtius,
Alterthum und Gegenwart, ii. 100). K. 0. Miiller
says (Hist, of the Dorians, i. 403, Eng. trans.),
- "Everything that is related of this deity is
singular and foreign to the Greeks."
Gnhl, indeed (Ephesiaca, pp. 78-86), takes the
contrary view, and endeavours in almost all
points to identify her with the true Greek god
dess. And in some respects there was doubtless
afusion ofthe two. On the other hand, the state
ment that the temple of Diana at Ephesus was
formerly washed by the sea (Plin. ii. 87, § 201),
points to her worship having probably been
introduced by Phoenician mariners (E. Curtius,
"¦ 101). Coressus, the hill S.W. of the city,
is connected by Stephanus Byzantinus with K6p-q.
« was also fancied that, when the temple was
burnt on the night of Alexander's birth, the
calamity occurred because the goddess was ab
sent in the character of Lucina (Plut. Alex. 3).
Again, on coins of Ephesus we sometimes find her
exhibited as a huntress and with a stag. But the
true Ephesian Artemis is represented in a form
entirely alien from Greek art. St. Jerome's

DIANA

781

words are (Praefat. ad Ephes.), "Scribebat
Paulus ad Ephesios Dianam colentes, non hanc
venatricem, quae arcum tenet et succincta est
sed istam multimammiam, quam Gracci rro\b-
pao-rov vocant, ut scilicet et ipsa effigie men-
tirentur omnium earn bestiarum et viventium
esse nutricem." Guhl indeed supposes this mode
of representation to have reference simply to
the fountains over which the goddess presided,
conceiving the multiplication of breasts to be
similar to the multiplication of eyes in Argus or
of heads in Typhoeus. But the correct view
is undoubtedly that which treats this peculiar
form as a symbol of the productive and nutritive
powers of nature. This is the form under which
the Ephesian Artemis, so called for distinction,
was always represented, wherever worshipped ;
and the worship extended to many places, such
as Samos, Mitylene, Perga, Hierapolis, and Gor
tyna, to mention those only which occur in the
N. T. or in the Apocrypha. The coin below will

Greek imperial copper coin commemorating a reconciliation
('O/AoVota) between Ephesus and Smyrna; Domitia (A.B. 78-83),
with name of proconsul, Caesenniua Paetus.
Obv.: AOMITIA C6BACTH. Bust to right. Kev.:
AN0Y KAIC6N HAITOY OMONOIA 6*6 ZMYP.
Ephesian Diana. There is a similar coin "of Antoninus Pius,
Mionnet, Ionie, Nos. 289, 1291.
give some notion of the image, which was
grotesque and archaic in character. The head
wore a mural crown, each hand rested on a prop
(sometimes supposed to be a falling ribbon), and
the lower part ended in a rude block covered
with figures of animals and mystic inscriptions.
This idol was regarded as an object of peculiar
sanctity, and was believed to have fallen down
from heaven (toS Ato-ireTovs, Acts xix. 35). The
image worshipped in the temple was made either
of the wood of the vine or of ebony, gold and
ivory ; and it is said to have survived all the seven
restorations of the temple (Plin. xvi. 79, § 213).
A representation of it was stamped on amulets
of terracotta inscribed with ypdppara "Etpitrta
and used as charms. Such an amulet, probably
of the 2nd century B.C., may be seen in the
museum at Syracuse, copied in Stephani's Me
langes greco-romains, 1, taf. 1 ; Daremberg and
Saglio's Dict. des Ant. s. v. amulettes; and in
Schreiber's Bilderatlas, I. xii. 2.
The Oriental character of the goddess is shown
by the nature of her hierarchy, which consisted
of a number of vestals Q/leXitro-ai ?), under a
eunuch-priest (M*yd>3v{os). There was also a
college of priests called 'S.ao-r}ves. These terms
have probably some connexion with the fact that
the bee was sacred to Artemis (Aristoph. Ban.
1273) In the period between B.C. 295 and 288
" the bee which had for so many ages maintained
its place on the obverse of the coinage of Ephesus
as the signet of the high-priest (or King Bee,
io-o-riv) gives way," for the first time, "to a
purely Hellenic type, the head of the Greek
huntress-goddess whose bow and quiver occupies

782

DIANA

the whole field of the reverse ; the bee being
relegated to the copper coins, and as the silver
to an inferior position, as a mere symbol or
mint-mark " (Head's Coins of Ephesus, 1880,
p. 41 ; id, p. 8 ; and cp. Weniger, Zur Symbolik
der Biene in der antiken Mythologie, quoted by
E. Curtius, op. cit. ii. 102). But even before
B.C. 480 the fore part of a stag, suggestive of
the goddess of the hunt, appears on the coins
(ib. p. 15). It was the duty of the priestesses
to deck the idol with robes and ribbons, tc6trptipa
ttjs 'ApreptSos (Corp. Insc. Gr. 3001-3 ; Inscr.
British Museum, iii. No. 481, 1. 369, p. 134, ed.
Hicks ; the epitaph of a Koo-p-tirelpri, ib. No. 655.
Cp. esp. ib. pp. 83-87).
For the temple considered as a work of art
we must refer to the article Ephesus. No arms
were allowed to be worn in its precincts. No
bloody sacrifices were offered. Here also, as in
the temple of Apollo at Daphne, were the privi
leges of asylum. This is indicated on some of
the coins of Ephesus (Akerman, in Trans, of
the Numismatic Soe. 1841); and we find an
interesting proof of the continuance of these
privileges in imperial times in Tac. Ann. iii. 6.1
(Strab. xiv. 641 ; Paus. vii. 2, §§ 7, 8 ; Cic.
Verr. ii. i. 33, § 85 ; Inscr. Brit. Mus. iii.
p. 177 ff.). The temple had a large revenue
from endowments of various kinds. It was also
the public treasury ofthe city, and was regarded
as the safest bank for private individuals.
The cry of the mob (Acts xix. 28), " Great is
Diana of the Ephesians!" and the strong ex
pression in v. 27, "whom all Asia and the
¦world worshippeth," may be abundantly illus
trated from a variety of sources. The term
ptydx-n was evidently a title of honour recog
nised as belonging to the Ephesian goddess. We
find it in inscriptions (as in Boeckh, Corp. Insc.
Gr. 2963 c, ib. 6797, 'Etpetrov &vao-tra, and Inscr.
Brit. Mus. iii. No. 481, 1. 220, p. 131, i) peyitrT-n
dea'Aprepts), and in Xenophon's Ephesiaca, i. 11.
(For the Ephesian Xenophon, see Dict. of Biog.
and Mythol.) As to the enthusiasm with which
" all Asia " regarded this worship, independently
of the fact that Ephesus was the capital of the
province, we may refer to such passages as the
following : " communiter a civitatibus Asiae
factum," Liv. i. 45 ; " tota Asia extruente," Plin.
xvi. 79, § 213 ; " factum a tota Asia," ib. xxxvi.
21, § 95. As to the notoriety of the worship of
the Ephesian Diana throughout " the world," the
evidence of inscriptions and coins shows that it
existed at Mitylene, Cyzicus, Claros, Clazomenae,
in Samos, Chios, Crete, and elsewhere (Guhl, I. c.
104). Her chief festival in spring was called the
Artemisia (see Roscher's Lex. der Mytliologie, i.
591, and Hicks in Inscr. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 79).
Lastly, Pausanias tells us (iv. 31, § 8) that the
Ephesian Artemis was more honoured privately
than any other deity, which accounts for the large
manufacture and wide-spread sale of the " silver
shrines " mentioned by St. Luke (Acts xix. 24),
and not by him only. In this connexion Dionysius
Hal. Ant. Bom. ii. 22, ra tt)s 'Etpetrias 'Apre'-
uifios atptbpiipaTa, is quoted in Conybeare and
Howson's St. Paul, ch. xvi., ii. 89, ed. 1865 ; but
Mr. E. L. Hicks, in an article on " Demetrius the
Silversmith," in the Expositor, June 1890, No. 6,
treating of the light thrown on the narrative in
the Acts by the inscriptions from Ephesus in the
British Museum, holds that there is no evidence

DIBON
for supposing that these " silver shrines " were
sold to pilgrims. They may, nevertheless, be
regarded as silver counterparts of the extant
terracotta and marble shrines which were used
as votive offerings to Artemis (E. Curtius, in
Athenische Mittheilungen, ii. 49, and Prof.
W. M. Ramsay in the Expositor for July 1890,
p. 9). This specific worship was publicly
adopted also, as we have seen, in various and
distant places : nor ought we. to omit the games
celebrated at Ephesus in connexion with it,
or the treaties made with other cities on this
half-religious, half-political basis.
[J. S. H.] [J. E. S.]
DIBLATM (Dv3'!I, of uncertain etymology;
A. AefiriXaeip,; Debelaim), probably the father
(Manger, Gesen., Hengst., Maurer) of Hosea's
wife Gomer (Hos. i. 3). [WT]
DIB'LATH (accurately Diblah [R. V.],
n?3^, the word in the text being nrral =
"toward Diblah;" AepXafid; Deblaiha), a
place named only in Ezek. vi. 14, as if situated
at one of the extremities of the land of Israel :
" I will . . . make the land desolate . . , 'from'
the wilderness (Midbar) toward Diblah." The
word Midbar being frequently used for the nomad
country on the south and south-east of Palestine,
it is natural to infer that Diblah was in the
north. To this position Beth-diblathaim or
Almon-diblathaim in Moab, on the east of the
Dead Sea, are obviously unsuitable ; and indeed a
place which like Diblathaim was on the extreme
east border of Moab, and never included even in
the allotments of Reuben or Gad, could hardly be
chosen as a landmark of the boundary of Israel.
The only name in the north at all like it is
Riblah, and the letters D (1) and R (1) are so
much alike and so frequently' interchanged,
owing to the carelessness of copyists, that there
is a strong probability that Riblah is the right
reading. The conjecture is due to Jerome (Comm.
in loc), but it has been endorsed by Michaelis,
Gesenius, and most modern scholars (Ges. Thes.
p. 312 ; see Davidson, Heb. Text, Ezek. vi. 14).
Riblah, though an old town, is not heard of
till shortly before the date of Ezekiel's prophecy,
when it started into a terrible prominence from
its being the scene of the cruelties inflicted on
the last king of Judah, and of the massacres
of the priests and chief men of Jerusalem perpe
trated there by order of the king of Babylon.
[G] [W.]

DIBLATHAIM.
Beth-Diblathaim.]

[ Almon-Diblathaim ;

DI'BON (Jh^ ; Dibon), a town on the east
side of Jordan, in the rich pastoral country,
which was taken possession of and rebuilt by
the children of Gad (Num. xxxii. 3, 34 [BA.
Aaifitbv, F. in v. 34 Ae&tivJ). From this cir
cumstance it possibly received the name of
Dibon-Gad. Its first mention is in the ancient
fragment of poetry Num. xxi. 30 [BAF. Aai-

» See Deuel, Dimnah, &c. It is in the LXX. Version
tbat the corruption of D into E is frequently to be
observed. A case in point is Riblah itBelf, which in tbe
LXX. is more often AejSAadd tuan 'PejSAafla.

DIBON-GAD
ftM, and fr°m "l's *' appears to have belonged
originally to the Moabites. The tribes of Reuben
and Gad being both engaged in pastoral pursuits,
are not likely to have observed the division of
towns originally made with the same strictness
as the more settled people on the west, and
accordingly we find Dibon counted to Reuben
in the lists of Joshua (xiii. 9 [B. AatoaQdv,
B.a!b Mni-, A ($ sup ras A.«?) MaiSa/So!], 17
[BA. AaijSoV]). In the time of Isaiah and Jere-
; miah, however, it was again in possession of
Moab (Is. xv. 2 [T.7 AyQtiv, AS.1 Aoij87j5<6y] ;
Jer. xlviii. 18, 22 [T.; N.1 (bis) AaiPtiv, H. (bis)
AejUiii'], cp. v. 24). In the same denunciations
of Isaiah (v. 9) it appears, probably, under the
name of Dimon, M and B being convertible in
Hebrew, and the change admitting of a play
characteristic of Hebrew poetry. The two
names were both in existence in the time of
Jerome (Comm. on Is. xv., quoted by Reland,
p. 735). The last passages appear to indicate
that Dibon was on an elevated situation; not
only is it expressly said to be a " high place "
(Is. xv. 2), but its inhabitants are bid to " come
down" from their glory or their stronghold.
It was the chief sanctuary of Chemosh (Jerome,
Comm. on Is. xv.). Under the name of Debon
it is mentioned bv Eusebins and Jerome in the
Onomastioon (OS.2 pp. 148, 8 ; 257, 42). It
was then a very large village (tcojpTj Trappeyefhis)
beyond the Arnon. In modern times the name
Ii'kibia has been discovered by Seetzen, Irby and
Mangles (p. 142). and Burckhardt (Syr. p. 372),
as attached to extensive ruins on the Roman
road, about three miles north of the Arnon
(Wddy Mojib. See also Dillmann2 on Num. xxi.
30). All agree in describing these ruins as
lying low ; but, looked at from the east, they
are on high ground, and being situated on two
hills, the first that rise from the east, the cry
" come down " would be exceedingly applicable.
The ruins cover the tops and sides of two
adjacent knolls, and are surrounded by a wall
(Tristram, Land of Moab, pp. 132-7). It was at
Dhibdn that Mr. Klein discovered, in 1868, the
celebrated Moabite stone, with an inscription of
Mesa, king of Moab, who was apparently him
self a Dibonite (see Records of the Past, N.S. ii.
194, &c).
2. One ofthe towns which were re-inhabited
by the men of Judah after the return from
Captivity (Neh. xi. 25, Xc- * m« Aefr&v, B. omits ;
¦Bite). From its mention with Jekabzeel,
Moladah, and other towns of the south, there
can be no doubt that it is identical with
DmosAH. [G.] [W.]
DI'BON-GAD (13 p"|; Aaifav TdS;
Dibon-gad), one of the halting-places of the
Israelites. It was in Moab between Ije-abaeim
and Aimon-Diblathaim (Xum. xxxiii. 45, 46).
It was no doubt the same place which is generally
called Dibon (cp. Dillmann2 in loco); but
whether it received the name of Gad from the
tribe, or originally possessed it, cannot be ascer
tained. [G.] [W.]
DIBUI (na-n ; B. Aafytl, AF. -pi ; Dibri),
aDanite, father' of Shelomith, a woman who had
roai-ried an Egyptian and whose son was stoned
«>r having " blasphemed the Name " [i.e. of
Jehovah] (Lev. xxiv. 11). [G.]

DIBLAH

783

DIDKACHMON (SiSpaxpov ; didrachma).
[Money ; Shekel.]
DID'YMUS (AlSvpos), that is, the Twin, a
surname of the Apostle Thomas (John xi. 16
xx. 24, xxi. 2). [Thomas.] [g.] '
DIK'LAH (rbpl.. The form f?pl occurs on
the Teiimi Inscriptions [MV.n] ; AexKd ; Decla ;
Gen. x. 27 ; 1 Ch. i. 21 [A. AmcKdfi, B. om.]),
a son of Joktan, whose settlements, in common
with those of the other sons of Joktan, must be
looked for in Arabia. The name in Aramaic
signifies " a palm-tree," and the cognate word
in Arabic (jOJii), "an inferior kind of date-
palm : " hence it is thought that Diklah is a
part of Arabia containing many palm-trees. The
city boivlicav, in the north-west of Arabia Felix,
has been suggested as preserving the Joktanite
name (Boch. Phaleg, ii. 22) ; but Bochart, and
after him Gesenius, refer the descendants of
Diklah to the Minaei, a people of Arabia Felix
inhabiting a palmiferous country. Whether we
follow Bochart and most others in placing the
Minaei on the east borders of the Hijaz, south
wards towards the Yemen, or follow Fresnel in
his identification of the Wddy Dodn with the
territory of this people, the connexion of the
latter with Diklah is uncertain and unsatis
factory. No trace of Diklah is known to exist
in Arabic works, except the mention of a place
called Dakalah &Jj'i> = nPjTn) in El- Yemameh
(Kdmoos, s. v.), with many palm-trees (Marasid,
s. v.). " Nakhleh " (&is» ) also signifies a
palm-tree, and is the name of many places,
especially Nakhleh el-Yemdneeyeh, and Nakhleh
esh-Shdmeeyeh (here meaning the Southern and
Northern Nakhleh), two well-known towns
situated near each other. According to some,
the former was a seat of the worship of El-Latt,
and a settlement of the tribe of Thakeef ; and in
a tradition of Mohammad, this tribe was not
of unmixed lshmaelite blood, but one of four
which he thus excepts : — " All the Arabs are
[descended] from Ishmael, except four tribes:
Sulaf [Sheleph], Hadramawt [Hazarmaveth],
El-Arwah [?], and Thakeef " (Mir-dt ez-Zemdn,
bis). Therefore, 1. Diklah may probably De re
covered in the place called Dakalah above
mentioned ; or, possibly, 2. in one of the places
named Nakhleh.
A discussion of the vexed and intricate
question of the Minaei is beyond the limits of
this article ; but as they are regarded by some
authorities of high repute as representing
Diklah, it is important to record an identifica
tion of their true position. They who have
written on the subject have argued on the
vague and contradictory statements of the
Greek geographers, from the fact that no
native mention of so important a people as the
Minaei had been discovered (cp. Bochart,
Phaleg; Fresnel's Lettres, Journal Asiatique ;
Jomard, Essai, in Mengin's Hist, de I'Egypte,
vol. iii. ; Caussin, Essai, &c). There is, how
ever, a city and people in the Yemen which

784

DILBAN

appear to correspond in every respect to the
position and name of the Minaei. The latter is
written Meivaioi, Mivaiot, and MivvaTot, which
may be fairly rendered " people of Meiv, of ttliv,
and of Wtvv" while the first exhibits the sound
of a diphthong, or an attempt at a diphthong.
The Greek account places them, generally,
between the Sabaeans (identified with Seba, or
Ma-rib : see Arabia) and the Erythraean Sea.
It is therefore remarkable that where it should
be sought we find a city with a fortress, called
Ma'een or Ma'in, ...Jjvo (Kdmoos, Mardsid,
s. v.), well known, and therefore not carefully
described in the Arabic geographical diction
aries, but apparently near San'a ; and further
that in the same province are situated the town
of Mo'eyn (..,juw, abbr. dim. of the former),
whence the Benee-Mo'eyn; and the town of
Ma'eeneh (fem. of Ma'een). The gent. n. would
be Ma'eenee, &c. The township in which are
the latter two places is named Sinhan (cp.
Niebuhr, Descr. p. 201), which was one of the
confederation formed by the ancient tribe of
G S
Jenb, ,, .'i— (Mardsid, s. v.), grandson of
Kahlan, who was brother of Himyer the Jok
tanite. This identification is reconcilable with
all that is known of the Minaei. See further in
art. Uzal. [E. S. P.]
DIL'BAN (ty^; B. Aa\d\, A. AaXad;
Delean ; R. V. Dilan), one of the cities' of Judah,
in the Shefelah or low country (Josh. xv. 38).
If Gesenius's interpretation, " gourd " or
" cucumber," be correct, the name is very
suitable for a place situated in that rich
district. It is not elsewhere mentioned, nor
has it yet been identified. [G.] [W.]
DILL, Matt, xxiii. 23 ; A.V. and R.V. marg.
[Anise.] DIM'NAH (rUD1! ; B. omits, or has another
name, 2e\\o5, A. Aapvd ; Damna), n city in the
tribe of Zebulun, given to the Merarite Levites
(Josh. xxi. 35). The name does not occur in the
list of cities belonging to the tribe (Josh. xix.
10-16) ; but the name Rimmon is given (v. 13).
This name also occurs in the list of Levitical
cities in 1 Ch. vi. 77 [Heb. v. 62], more accu
rately Rimmono or -nah (13113"] or IT}"), which
may possibly be a variation of Dimnah, T being
often changed into "I. In this case Rimmon is
probably the real name (Bertheau, Chronik,
pp. 72-3 ; Movers, Chronik, p. 72. Cp. Dill
mann2 on Josh. xxi. 35). This may perhaps be
Bummdneh, N. of Nazareth. [G.] [W.]
DI'MON, the waters op (|iD,-1 V?; to
iiotep to Auptiv, Aatptiv, T.7 N.1 Aep'ptov,
AN28 Vep'poiv; Dibon), some streams on the east
of the Dead Sea, in the land of Moab, against
which Isaiah is here uttering denunciations
(Is. xv. 9). From Dibon being named in v. 2,
as well as in the lists of Moabite towns in Jer.
xlviii., and no place named Dimon being else
where mentioned as belonging to Moab, Gesenius
(Comment, iiber Jes. p. 534), followed by most
modern commentators, conjectures that the two

DINAH
names are the same, the form " Dimon " being
used for the sake of the play between it and
the word Dam (<D1), " blood." [Dibon, 1.] It
may, however, be Dimnah, S. of- the Arnon
(Tristram, Bible Places, p. 355). [G.] [W.]
DIMO'NAH (HjiD^; B. '•PeypA, A. Ai-
pwvd ; Dimond), a city in the south of Judah,
the part bordering on the desert of Idumaea
(Josh. xv. 22). Dimonah is mentioned in the
Onomastioon (OS.2 pp. 149, 32 ; 258, 63), but
was evidently not known to Eusebius and
Jerome, nor has it been identified in later times.
It probably occurs under the altered name of
Dibon in Neh. xi. 25. Knobel-Dillmann2 in loco
thinks Dimonah = Dibon may be ed-Dheib, a
heap of ruins at the head of a wddy of the same
name, 5 miles N. of Tell 'Ardd. Keil (Book
of Joshua, p. 159) regards this conjecture as
possibly correct. See also Tristram, Bible Places,
p. 16. [G.] [W.]
DI'NAH (H3'|,!J, judged or avenged, from the
same root as Dan ; Aeiva; Dina), the daughter
of Jacob by Leah (Gen. xxx. 21). She accom
panied her father from Mesopotamia to Canaan,
and, having ventured among the inhabitants to
take part in a feast (Josephus), was violated by
Shechem the son of Hamor, the ohieftain of the
territory in which her father had settled (Gen.
xxxiv.). Her age at this time, judging by the
subsequent notice of Joseph's age (Gen. xxxvii.
2), may have been from 13 to 15, the ordinary
period of marriage in Eastern countries (Lane's
Mod. Egypt, i. 208). Shechem proposed to
make the usual reparation by paying a sum to
the father and marrying her (Gen. xxxiv. 12) ;
such reparation would have been deemed
sufficient under the Mosaic law (Deut. xxii. 28,
29) among the members of the Hebrew nation.
But in this case the suitor was an alien, and
the crown of the offence consisted in its having
been committed by an alien against the favoured
people of God ; he had " wrought folly in
Israel" (xxxiv. 7). The proposals of Hamor,
who acted as his deputy, were framed on the
recognition of the hitherto complete separation
of the two peoples ; he proposed the fusion of
the two by the establishment of the rights of
intermarriage and commerce ; just as among
the Romans the jus connubii and the jus com-
mercii constituted the essence of civitas. The
sons of Jacob, bent upon revenge, availed them
selves of the eagerness, which Shechem showed,
to effect their purpose ; they demanded, as a
condition of the proposed union, the circum
cision of the Shechemites : the practice could
not have been unknown to the Hivites, for the
Phoenicians (Her. ii. 104) and probably most of
the Canaanite tribes were circumcised. They
therefore assented ; and on the third day, when
the pain and fever resulting from the operation
were at the highest [Circumcision], Simeon
and Levi, own brothers to Dinah, as Josephus
observes (Ant. i. 21, § 1 ; bpopiirpwi ab~e\tpol),
attacked them unexpectedly, slew all the males
and plundered their city. Jacob's remark
(v. 30) does not imply any guiltiness on the
part of his sons in this transaction ; for the
brothers were regarded as the proper guardians
of their sister's honour, as is still the case
among the Bedouins: but he dreaded the

diss aii: tati
revenge of the neighbouring peoples, and even
of the family of Hamor, some of whom appear
to have survived the massacre (Judg. ix. 28).
His escape, which was wonderful, considering
the extreme rigour with which the laws of
blood-revenge have in all ages prevailed in the
East [Blood-revenge], is ascribed to the
special interference of Jehovah (xxxv. 5). Jo
sephus omits all reference to the treachery of
the sons of Jacob, and explains the easy capture
of the city as occurring during the celebration
of a feast (Ant. i. 21, § 2). The object for
which this narrative is introduced into the Book
of Genesis probably is, partly to explain the
allusion in Gen. xlix. 5-7, and partly to exhibit
the consequences of any association on the part
of the Hebrews with the heathens about 1 hem.
Ewald (Geschichte, i. 488) assumes that the
historical foundation of the narrative was
furnished by an actual fusion of the nomad
Israelites with the aborigines of Shechem, on
the ground that the daughters of the patriarchs
are generally noticed with an ethnological
view ; the form in which the narrative appears
being merely the colouring of a late author :
such a view appears to us perfectly inconsistent
with the letter and the spirit of the text. Well
hausen (Die Composition des Hexateuchs, u.s.w.
.p. 47, &c.) discovers the hands of two narrators
in the section, and counts the chapter ques
tionable. [W. L. B.] [F.]
DI'NAITES (KOT; AeivaToi; Dinaei,
Ezra iv. 9), the name of some of the Cuthaean
colonists who were placed in the cities of
Samaria by the Assyrian governor, after the
conquest and captivity of the ten tribes under
Shalmaneser. They remained under the do
minion of Persia, and united with their fellow-
colonists in opposition to the Jews; but nothing
more is known of them. Junius (Comm. in loc),
without any authority, identifies them with the
people known to geographers by the name
Dennani. The name has been compared with
the name of a land and race, Dai-a-i-ni, men
tioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser I.
(Schrader, Keil. Bibliothek, i. 30), but this would
be a part of Western Armenia, and not likely
to be alluded to in this passage of Ezra. Fried.
Delitzsch (Pref. p. x.'to Baer's ed. of Daniel,
Ezra, and Nehemiah) compares the name with
D'm-Sarru, i.e. (the city of) King Din, near
Susa. [W. A. W.] [F.]
DINHA'BAH (finnyi ; AevvaPd; Denaba;
<5en. xxxvi. 32 ; 1 Ch. Y. 43), the capital city,
and probably the birthplace, of Bela, son of
Beor, king of Edom. The place is not identified.
Eusebius (OS.2 s. n. Aava$a, p. 247, 35) mentions
a village Dannea (Damnaba, Jerome, OS.2
p. 148, 31), 8 miles from Areopolis, or Ar of
Moab (on the road to Arnon: Jerome), and
another on Mount Peor, 7 miles from Esbus
(Heshbon) ; but neither of these has claim to be
the Dinhabah of Scripture. R. Joseph, in his
Targum (on 1 Ch. i. 43, ed. Wilkins), finds a
significance in the name. After identifying
Balaam the son of Beor with Laban the Syrian,
he adds, "And the name of his capital city was
Dinhabah, for it was given (rDTPIYN) him as
a present." With as little probability Gesenius
conjectured that it might signify dominus, i.e.
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

DIONYSIUS 7S5
locus direptionis, i.e. praedonum latibulum. The
name is not uncommon among Semitic races
Ptolemy (v. 15, § 24) mentions Aavdfra in
Palmyrene Syria, afterwards a Bishop's see ;
and according to Zosimus (iii. 27) there was a
Aavd$n in Babylonia (Knobel in Dillmann,
Genesis,* in loco). The Peshitto Syriac has
y 7
*20L>), Daihab, probably a mistake for
JDOUJ. [W. A. W.] [F.]
DINNER. [Meals.]
DIONY'SIA (Aiovitria ; Bacchanalia), " the
feast of Bacchus," which was celebrated, es
pecially in later times, with wild extravagance
and licentious enthusiasm. Women, as well as
men, joined in the processions (fli'ao-oi), acting
the part of Maenads, crowned with ivy and
bearing the thyrsus (cp. Ovid, Fast. iii. 767 sq. ;
Broudkh. ad Tib. iii. 6, 2, who gives a coin of
Maroneia, bearing a head of Dionysus crowned
with ivy); and the phallus was a principal
object in the train (Herod, ii. 48, 49. See Diet.
of Gk. and Bom. Antiq. s. v.). Shortly before
the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes, 168 B.C.,
in which the Jews " were compelled to go in
procession to Bacchus carrying ivy " (2 Mace.
vi. 7), the secret celebration of the Bacchanalia
in Italy had been revealed to the Roman senate
(B.C. 186). The whole state was alarmed by
the description of the excesses with which the
festival was attended (Liv. xxxix. 8 sq.), and a
decree was passed forbidding its observance in
Kome or Italy. This fact offers the best com
mentary on the conduct of Antiochus ; for it is
evident that rites which were felt to be in
compatible with the comparative simplicity of
early Roman worship must have been peculiarly
revolting to Jews of the Hasmonaean age (cp.
Herod, iv. 79, SKvBai tov Baitxcvetv irepl "EA\7|-
aiv dv£ibi£ovo-i). As the greatest of the
Dionysiac festivals (Aiovvaia ev dtrrei or p.eyd\a)
was celebrated in the spring in the month of
Elaphebolion (March-April), it nearly syn
chronised with the Jewish Passover. Antiochus
therefore probably hoped, by the introduction
of the great Hellenic festival at Jerusalem, to
supplant the most sacred of the national Feasts
in the affections of the people, and to substitute
in lieu thereof the most licentious, seductive, and
extravagant rites that received the sanction of
Hellenic.religion. [B. F. W.] [R.]
DIONY'SIUS (Aiovitrtos ; Dionysius), an
Athenian converted by St. Paul (Acts xvii. 34).
He was a person of some distinction, being a
member of the Council of Areopagus [Areo
pagus]. He is said to have been the first Bishop
of Athens, and the evidence is stronger than is
usually the case regarding early episcopates.
Eusebius (H. E. iv. 23) says that another
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, stated in his epistle
to the Athenians that Dionysius the Areopagite
was the first to be entrusted with the episcopate
at Athens (irparos rr)s iv 'A8r)vais Ttapoutlas tV
imo-KOTfTiv iyKex€''P"TT°y- Rufinus, the translator
of Eusebius, gratuitously adds that he was
appointed by St. Paul himself. The strength of
the evidence lies in its early date, Dionysius
of Corinth writing apparently about a.d. 170.
Lightfoot (Philippians,2 p. 214), however, doubts
3 E

786

DIONYSUS

its cogency. The martyrdom of Dionysius is
described in early martyrologies on the authority
of the apology of Aristides the Athenian, but it
contains no mention of Dionysius. See Aristides
in Texts and Studies, vo). i. p. 18. Writings are
extant bearing the name of Dionysius the
Areopagite. They are first mentioned and
appealed to in the Monophysite controversies
of the 6th century. They were held in honour
in the Church till the Reformation period, since
which time their authenticity has been gradually
but completely discredited. The date of their
authorship is still a matter of dispute. See Dict.
of Christ. Antiq. ; and Bp. Westcott, Beligious
Thought in the West, pp. 147-155. [E. R. B.]
DIONY'SUS (Atovvtros, Attivvtros, of uncer
tain derivation), also called Bacchus (Bdtcxos,
"latexes, the noisy god : after the time of Hero
dotus), was properly the god of wine. In
Homer he appears simply as the " frenzied " god
(II. vi. 132), and yet " a joy to mortals " (_W.
xiv. 325) ; but in later times the most varied
attributes were centred in him as the source of
the luxuriant fertility of nature, and the god of
civilization, gladness, and inspiration. The
eastern wanderings of Dionysus are well known
(Strab. xv. 7, p. 687 ; Dict. Biogr. s. v.), but
they do not seem to have left any special trace
in Palestine (yet cp. Luc. de Syria Dea, p. 886,
ed. Bened.). His worship, however, was greatly
modified by the incorporation of Eastern ele
ments, and assumed the twofold form of wild
orgies [Dionysia] and mystic rites. To the
Jew Dionysus would necessarily appear as the
embodiment of Paganism in its most material
shape, sanctioning the most tumultuous passions
and the worst excesses. Thus Tacitus (Hist. v.
5) rejects the tradition that the Jews wor
shipped Bacchus (Liberum patr em ; cp. Plut.
Quaest. Conv. iv. 6), on the ground of the
" entire diversity of their principles " (nequa-
quam congruentibus institutis), though he in
terprets this difference to their discredit. The
consciousness of the fundamental opposition
of the God of Israel and Dionysus possibly
explains the punishment which Ptolemaeus
Philopator inflicted on the Jews (3 Mace. ii. 29),
" branding them with the ivy-leaf of Dionysus."
But the more probable explanation of this
occurrence is that of Grimm (see note in loc),
who points out that Dionysus was the family
god of the Ptolemies as Apollo was of the
Seleucids ; and traces of the cult of Dionysus as
the form of Hellenic worship most attractive to
Orientals are found in many parts of Syria and
Palestine. The representation of Dionysus upon
the coins of Caesarea, Damascus, Scythopolis,
and cities of the Hauran, testify to the wide
popularity of his worship during the Roman
period (cp. Schurer, Gesch. d. Jud. Volkes,2 ii.
15-20). Nicanor's threat which he is said to
have made, to erect a temple of Dionysus at
Jerusalem (2 Mace. xiv. 33), has on this account
a special significance. For while the Dionysiac
worship would be most abhorrent to the pious
Jew, to the Hellenizing Jew and to the resident
Greeks it apparently presented especial fasai-
liations. At a later time, when Jerusalem
became^a Roman colony with the name of Aelia
Capitolina, dedicated to Jupiter, it appears from
extant coins that Dionysus was among the other

DISH
deities to whose charge the city was committed
(cp. Schurer, .i. 586). [B. F. W.] [R.]
DIOSOOEINTHIUS. [Months.]
DIOTEEPHES (AioTpe>,j; Diotrephes).
An ambitious member of an unnamed Church
whose conduct is condemned by St. John in his
letter to Gaius (3 John, vv. 9, 10). He had even
been able to withstand the authoritv of a letter
from St. John himself, and had " prated against
him with wicked words." While Gaius had
been ready to receive with hospitality brethren
from distant Churches, Dioti-ephes had repelled
them, and had prevented others from receiving
them by the threat or act of excommunication.
These "brethren and strangers" (v. 5) were
probably travelling evangelists. [E.-R. B.1
DISCIPLE. [Education; Schools.]
DISCOVEE (dis a negative prefix), a word
frequently used in the A. V. in the sense of
" uncover," by which word the R. V. replaces
it in Deut. xxii. 30, but not in Micah i. 6. In
2 Sam. xxii. 6 the R. V. has " laid bare," in Ps.
xxix. 9 " strippeth bare." [F.]
DISCUS (Sio-kos), one of the exercises in the
Grecian gymnasia, which Jason the high-priest
introduced among the Jews in the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes, and which he induced
even the priests to practise (2 Mace. iv. 14).
The discus was a circular plate of stone or
metal, made for throwing to a distance as an
exercise of strength and dexterity. It was in-

Dkcobolns. (Osterley, Denlt. der ,>h. K,m.,t. vol L No. 189.)
deed one of the principal gymnastic exercises of
the Greeks, and was practised in the heroic age.
For details and authorities, see Dict. of Gr. and
Bom. Antiq. a. v. [W. S.]
DISEASES. [Medicine.]
DISH. 1. ?BD, Gesen. p. 965: see Basin.
2. nr6& in plur. only DlrT?^ rp]T7V, or
fin?X ; iSpio-ien, 6 aKdfSao-Tpos, Ae^tji; vas,
lebes. 3. iTltfp ; see Charger.
tt': '

DISHAN
In N. T. rpvfixlov, Matt. xxvi. 23, Mark xiv.
20. In ancient Egypt, and also in Judaea, guests
at the table handled their food with the fingers,
but spoons were used for soup or other liquid
food, when required (Wilkinson, Ane. Eg. i.
183-4 [smaller ed., 1878]). The same is the
case in modern Egypt. Each person breaks
off a small piece of bread, dips it in the dish,
and then conveys it to his mouth, together
with a small portion of the meat or other con
tents of the dish. To pick out a delicate morsel
and hand it to a friend is esteemed a compli
ment, and to refuse such an offering is contrary
to good manners. Judas dipping his hand in
the same dish with our Lord was showing
especial friendliness and intimacy. rpvfixiov is
used in LXX. for iTuVp, sometimes in A. V.
"charger" (Ex. xxv. 29 [R. Y. "spoons"];
Num. iv. 7 [R. V. " spoons "], vii. 13, 19). This
is also rendered KoriXn or half sextarius, i.e.
probably a cup or flask rather than a dish.
rpvBhiov is in Vulg., Matt. xxvi. 23, paropsis ;
in Mark xiv. 20, catinus. Cp. Schleusner, Lex. in
N. T. rpvfixiov (Lane, Mod. Eg. i. 193 ; Chardin,
Toy. iv. 53, 54 ; Niebuhr, Descr. de I' Arab. p. 46).
[Basin.] [H. W. P.]
DI'SHAN (|I-",'7 ; Disan), the youngest son
of Seir the Horite (Gen. xxxvi. 21 [A. 'Veitrtiv,
M. 'PitriLv'], 28, 30 (bis) [A. 'Putrtiv, E.
'fritrtiv] ; 1 Ch. i. 38 [A. 'Purt&v, B. om.], 42
[BA. Aaitrtiv']). [W. L. B.] [F.]
DI'SHON Qi^hl [the name may mean a
gazelle (cp. Deut. xiv. 5), from a root signifying
to spring. There are cognate words in Aramaic,
Syriac, and Assyrian (see MV.11)]; Dison). 1. The
fifth son of Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 21, 26, 30 [A.
Aj|irii/] ; 1 Ch. i. 38 [BA. AytrtivJ). 2. The son
of Anah and grandson of Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 25 ;
1 Ch. i. 41 [BA Acuo-tbv]). Dishon and Dishan
are among the names in the list of the de
scendants of Seir the Horite which are derived
from animals (cp. a similar nomenclature
among the Red Indians). This is only natural
amongst those whose forefathers were Trog
lodytes (cp. Delitzsch [1887] on Gen. xxxvi.
20-28 ; Dillmann,5 do. v. 29 sq.), but does not
warrant the assumption that their worship was
animal worship (cp. Jacobs, Archaeological Be-
niew, iii. 150 sq.). The geographical position of
the tribes descended from these patriarchs is
uncertain. Knobel (cp. Dillmann5 in loco) places
them to E. and S.E. of the Gulf of Akaba, on the
ground that the names of the sons of Dishon,
Eshban, and Hemdan may be identified with
Usbany and Humeidy, branches of the tribe of
Omran. Such identifications must be received
with [caution (Delitzsch), as similar names are
fonnd in other parts of Arabia — Hamde, for
instance, near Tayf, and again Hamdan, which
hears a still closer resemblance to the original
name, near Sana (Burckhardt's Arabia, i. 156,
¦¦376). [W. L. B.] [F.]
DISPERSION, THE JEWS OF THE,
or simply The Dispersion, was the general title
applied to those Jews who remained settled in
foreign countries after the return from the
Babylonian exile, and during the period of the
second Temple. The original word applied to
'hese foreign settlers (Tthi, ; cp. Jer. xxiv. 5,

DISPERSION, JEWS OP THE 787
xxviii. 4, &c, from TVi, to strip naked ; so '33
NrH7j., Ezra vi. 16) conveys the notion of
spoliation and bereavement, as of men removed
from the Temple and home of their fathers ; but
in the LXX. the ideas of a " sojourning " (peToi-
uso-la) and of a " colony " (airottcia) were com
bined with that of a " captivity " (atxpaXwo-ia),
while the term " dispersion " (biatntopd, first in
Deut. xxviii. 25, njltt ; cp. Jer. xxxiv. 17), which
finally prevailed, seemed to imply that the people
thus scattered " to the utmost parts of heaven "
(Deut. xxx. 4), " in bondage among the Gentiles "
(2 Mace. i. 27), and shut out from the full
privileges of the chosen race (John vii. 35),
should yet be as the seed sown for a future har
vest (cp. Is. xlix. 6, Hebr.) in the strange lands
where they found a temporary resting-place
(1 Pet. i. 1, TrapeTrtfiT)p.ois Stao-iropas). The
schism which had divided the first kingdom was
forgotten in the results of the general calamity.
The dispersion was not limited to the exiles
of Judah, but included " the twelve tribes "
(Jas. i. 1, tceis 5w5e/ca tboXals rais iv Tg
Siao-iropa), which expressed the completeness
of the whole Jewish nation (Acts xxvi. 7, -rb
Satb-eKdtpvXov). The Dispersion, as a distinct element influ
encing the entire character of the Jews, dates
from the Babylonian exile. Uncertain legends
point to earlier settlements in Arabia, Ethiopia,
and Abyssinia ; but even if these settlements
were made, they were isolated and casual, while
the Dispersion, of which Babylon was the acknow
ledged centre, was the outward proof that a
faith had succeeded to a kingdom. Apart from
the necessary influence which Jewish com
munities bound by common laws, ennobled by
the possession of the same truths, and animated
by kindred hopes, must have exercised on the
nations among whom they were scattered, the
difficulties which set aside the literal observance
of the Mosaic ritual led to a wider view of the
scope of the Law, and a stronger sense of its
spiritual significance. Outwardly and inwardly,
by its effects both on the Gentiles and on the
people of Israel, the Dispersion appears to have
been the clearest providential preparation for the
spread of Christianity.
But while the fact of a recognised Dispersion
must have weakened the local and ceremonial
influences which were essential to the first train
ing of the people of God, the Dispersion was still
bound together in itself and to its mother
country by religious ties. The Temple was the
acknowledged centre of Judaism, and the faithful
Jew everywhere contributed the half-shekel
towards its maintenance (rb Sibpaxpov, Matt.
xvii. 24 : cp. Mishna, Shekalim, 7, 4 ; Jos. Ant.
xvi. 6) ; and, in part at least, the ecclesiastical
calendar was fixed at Jerusalem, whence beacon-
fires spread abroad the true date of the new
moons (Mishna, Eosh-Hashana, 2, 4). The
tribute was indeed the simplest and most strik
ing outward proof of the religious unity of
the nation. Treasuries were established to
receive the payments of different districts (Jos.
Ant. xviii. 9, § 1 ; cp. Ant. xvi. 6, §§ 5, 6), and
the collected sums were forwarded to Jerusalem,
as in later times the Mahometan offerings were
sent to Mecca (Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. i. 337 n. ;
Cic. pro Flacco, xxviii.). 3 E 2

788 DISPEESION, JEWS OF THE
At the beginning of the Christian era the
Dispersion was divided into three great sections,
the Babylonian, the Syrian, and the Egyptian.
Precedence was yielded to the first. The jealousy
which had originally existed between the poor
who returned to Palestine and their wealthier
countrymen at Babylon had passed away, and
Gamaliel wrote "to the sons of the -Dispersion
in Babylonia, and to our brethren in Media . . .
and to all the Dispersion of Israel " (Frankel,
Monatsschrift, 1853, p. 413). From Babylon
the Jews spread throughout Persia, Media, and
Parthia ; but the settlements in China belong to
a modern date (Frankel, I. c. p. 463). The few
details of their history which have been pre
served bear witness to their prosperity and in
fluence (Jos. Ant. xi. 5, § 2, xv. 2, § 2 sq., xviii. 9 ;
Bell. Jud. vi. 6, § 2). No schools of learning are
noticed, but Hillel the Elder and Nahum the
Mede are mentioned as coming from Babylon to
Jerusalem (Frankel).
The Greek conquests in Asia extended the
limits of tho Dispersion. Seleucus Nicator
transplanted large bodies of Jewish colonists
from Babylonia to the capitals of his western
provinces. His policy was followed by his suc
cessor Antiochus the Great ; and the persecu
tions of Antiochus Epiphanes only served to push
forward the Jewish emigration to the remoter
districts of his empire. In Armenia the Jews
arrived at the greatest dignities, and Nisibis
became a new centre of colonization (Frankel,
pp. 454-6). The Jews of Cappadocia (1 Pet. i.
1) are casually mentioned in the Mishna ; and a
prince and princess of Adiabene adopted the
Jewish faith only thirty years before the de
struction of the Temple (Jos. Ant. xx. 2). Large
settlements of Jews were established in Cyprus,
in the islands of the Aegaean (Cos, Delos : Jos.
Ant. xiv. 10), and on the western coast of Asia
Minor (Ephesus, Miletus, Pergamus, Halicar-
nassus, Sardis : Jos. Ant. 1. c). The Romans
•confirmed to them the privileges which they had
obtained from the Syrian kings ; and though they
were exposed to sudden outbursts of popular
violence (Jos. Ant. xviii. 9 ; Bell. Jud. vii. 3),
the Jews of the Syrian provinces gradually
formed a closer connexion with their new homes,
and together with the Greek language adopted
in many respects Greek ideas. [Hellenists.]
This Hellenizing tendency, however, found its
most free development at Alexandria [Alex
andria]. The Jewish settlements established
there by Alexander and Ptolemy I. became the
source of the African Dispersion, which spread
over the north coast of Africa, and perhaps
inland to Abyssinia (the Falasha). At Cyrene
(Jos. Ant. xiv. 7, 2; Jason) and Berenice
(Tripoli) the Jewish inhabitants formed a con
siderable portion of the population, and an
inscription lately discovered at the hitter place
(Frankel, p. 442) speaks of the justice and
clemency which they received from a Roman
governor (cp. Jos. Ant. xvi. 6, 5). The African
Dispersion, like all other Jews, preserved their
veneration for the " holy city " (Philo, Leg. ad
Caium, § 36 ; u. Flacc. c. 7), and recognised the
universal claims of the Temple by the annual
tribute (Jos. I. c). But the distinction in lan
guage led to wider differences, which were
averted in Babylon by the currency of an Aramaic
dialect. The Scriptures were no longer read on

DISPEESION, JEWS OF THE
the Sabbath (Frankel, p. 420 ; Vorstudien, p. 52
sq.), and no fire-signals conveyed the dates of the
new moons to Egypt (cp. Frankel, p. 419 n.).
Still the national spirit of the African Jews was
not destroyed. After the destruction ofthe Temple
the Zealots found a reception in Cyrene (Joseph.
B. J. vii. 11) ; and towards the close of the
reign of Trajan, a.d. 115, the Jewish population
in Africa rose with terrible ferocity (Dio Cass.
Ixviii. 32). The insurrection was put down by a
war of extermination (Euseb. H. E. iv. 2) ; and
the remnant who escaped established themselves
on the opposite coast of Europe, as the beginning
of a new Dispersion.
The Jewish settlements in Rome were con
sequent upon the occupation of Jerusalem bv
Pompey, B.C. 63. The captives and emigrants
whom he brought with him were located in the
trans-Tiberine quarter, and by degrees rose in
station and importance (Philo, Leg. ad Caium
§ 23 sq.). They were favoured by Augustus
and Tiberius after the fall of Sejanus (Philo,
I. c.) ; and a Jewish school was founded at Rome
(Frankel, p. 459). In the reign of Claudius
[Claudius] the Jews became objects of suspicion
from their immense numbers (Dio Cass, lx.6) ; and
the internal disputes consequent, perhaps, upon
the preaching of Christianity, led to their banish
ment from the city (Suet. Claud. 25 : " Judaeos
impulsore Chresto assidue tumultuantes Roma ex
pulit." Cp. Acts xviii. 2). This expulsion, if
general, can only have been temporary, for in a
few years the Jews at Rome were numerous (Acts
xxviii. 17 sq.), and continued to be sufficiently
conspicuous to attract4 the attention of the
satirists (Mart. Ep. xi. 94 ; Juv. Sat. iii. 14).
[See Hindekoper, Judaism at Borne, N. T. 1876 ;
Schurer, Die Gemeindeverfassung der Juden in
Bom in der Kaiserzeit, 1879 ; Hudson, History of
the Jews in Borne, 1884; Morrison, The Jews
under Roman Bule, 1890.]
The influence of the Dispersion on the rapid
promulgation of Christianity can scarcely be
overrated. The course of the apostolic preaching
followed in a regular progress the line of Jewish
settlements. The mixed assembly from which
the first converts were gathered on the day of
Pentecost "represented each division of the Dis
persion (Acts ii. 9-11 ; (a) Parthians . . . Meso
potamia; (b) Judaea (i.e Si/ria) . . . Pamphylia;
(c) Egypt . . . Greece ; (d) Romans . . . ), and
these converts naturally prepared the way for
the Apostles in the interval which preceded the
beginning of the separate apostolic missions.
The names of the seven Deacons are all Greek,
and one is specially described as a proselyte
(Acts vi. 5). The Church at Antioch, by which
St. Paul was entrusted with his great work
among the heathen (Acts xiii. 1), included
Barnabas of Cyprus (Acts iv. 36), Lucius of
Cyrene, and Simeon, surnamed Niger ; and
among his "fellow-labourers" at a later time
are found Aquila of Pontus (Acts xviii. 2),
Apollos of Alexandria (Acts xviii. 24 ; cp. 1 Cor.
iii. 6), Urbanus (Rom. xvi. 9), and Clement
(Phil. iv. 3), whose names at least are Roman.
Antioch itself became a centre of the Christian
Church (Acts xiii. 1, xiv. 26, xv. 22, xviii. 22),
as it had been of the Jewish Dispersion; and
throughout the apostolic journeys the Jews were
the class to whom " it was necessary (Itvayicdiov)
that the word of God should be first spoken "

DISTAFF
(Acts xiii. 46), and they in turn were united
with the mass of the population by the inter
mediate body of " the devout " (oi o-e&6/xevoi),
which had recognised in various degrees " the
faith of the God of Israel."
The most important origiual authorities on
the Dispersion are Joseph. Ant. xiv. 10, xiv. 7 ;
c Apion. ii. 5 ; — Philo, Leg. ad Caium : id. c. F/ae-
cum. Frankel has collected the various points
together in an exhaustive essay in his Monats-
sclnftNov. Dec. 1853, pp. 409-11, 449-51. A
valuable contribution to onr knowledge of this
subject is presented in § 31, Das Judenthum in
der Zerstreuung in Schiirer's Geschic/tte d. Jud.
Volkes,2 Bd. ii., where exhaustive use is made of
the available literary materials. Cp. Jost, Gesch.
d. Judenth. 336, 344 ; Ewald. Hist, of Isr. (Eng.
Tr.) vol. v. sec. ii. A ; Herzfeld, Gesch. d. Volkes
Isr. iii. 425-479 ; Gratz, Gesch. d. Jiiden. iii. 26-
54; Hausrath, XTliche Zeitgesch.2 iii. 383-392 ;
Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,
i. chs. i. ii. [B. F. W.] [R.]
DISTAFF (Prov. xxxi. 19). [Spinning.]
DIVES. [Lazarus.]
DIVINATION (QDpD ; pavreia, Ezek. xiii.
7;uo.yela, Wisd. xvii. 7; Q'El"?, tpappaKt'ia,
tenendum, dainatio, Is. xlvii. 9 ; ETI7, i^iflu-
pieuis, &c). This art •' of taking an aim of
Divine matters by human, which cannot but
breed mixture of imaginations " (Bacon, Ess.
xvii.), has been universal in all ages, and in all
nations alike civilised and savage. It arises
from an impression that in the absence of direct,
visible, guiding Providence, the Deity suffers His
Will to be known to men, partly by inspiring
those who from purity of character or elevation
of spirit are susceptible of the divine afflatus
(kouifTfis, ivOovtrtaaToi, iico-TaTutol), and partly
hy giving perpetual indications of the future,
which must be learnt from experience and ob
servation (Cic. Div. i. 18 ; Plin. xxx. 5).
The first kind of divination is called Natural
(bn%yos, afiltiaKTOs), in which the person in
spired with prophetic gifts is transported from
his own individuality, and becomes the passive
instrument of supernatural utterances (Aen. vi.
47 ; Ov. Met. ii. 640, &c). As this process in
volved violent convulsions, the word pavriKT} is
derived from paivto-Bou, and alludes to the foam
ing mouth and streaming hair of the possessed
seer (Plat. Tim. 72 B, where the udvris is
carefully distinguished from the -irpotpi)T-ns).
But even when the recorded prophecies of Scrip
ture are of the most passionate character, their
utterance was not accompanied by these un
natural distortions (Num. xxiii. 5; Ps. xxxix. 3;
Jer, xx. 9), although, as we shall see, they were
well-known phenomena (1 Sam. xviii. 10, xix. 24),
and were characteristic of pretenders to the gift.
The other kind of divination was artificial
("xpurij), and probably originated in an honest
conviction that external nature sympathised
with and frequently indicated the condition and
prospects of mankind ; a conviction not in itself
ridiculous, and fostered by the accidental syn
chronism of natural phenomena with human
igitastrophes (Thuc. iii. 89 ; Jos. B. J. vi. 5, § 3 ;
jloxe's Martyrs, iii. 406, &c). When once this
feeling was established, the supposed manifesta-

DIVINATION

789

tions were infinitely multiplied, and hence the
numberless forms of imposture or ignorance
called kapnomaney, pyromancy, arithmomancy,
libanomancy, botanomancy, kephalomancy &c.
of which there arc abundant accounts in Cic. de
Die. ; Cardan, de Sapientia ; Anton, v. Dale, de
Orig. Idol. ; Fabricius, Bibl. Ant. pp. 409-426 ;
Carpzov. App. Crit. pp. 540-549 ; Potter's Antiq.
i. ch. viii. sq. Indeed there was scarcely any
possible event or appearance which was not
pressed into the service of augury, and it mav
be said of the ancient Greeks and Romans, as of
the modern New Zealanders, that " after utter
ing their karakias (or charms), the whistling of
the wind, the moving of trees, the flash of
lightning, the peal of thunder, the flying of a
bird, even the buzz of an insect would be re
garded as au answer " (Taylor's New Zealand,
p. 74; Bowring's Siam, i. 153 sq.). A system
commenced in fanaticism ended in deceit. Hence
Cato's famous saying that it was strange how
two augurs could meet without laughing in
each other's face. But the supposed knowledge
became in all nations an engine of political
power, and hence interest was enlisted in its
support (Cic. de Legg. ii. 12 ; Liv. vi. 27 ; Soph.
Aut. 1055; Mic. iii. 11). It fell into the hauds
of a priestly caste (Gen. xii. 8 ; Is. xlvii. 13 ;
Jer. v. 31 ; Dan. ii. 2), who in all nations made
it subservient to their own purposes. Thus
Chardin says that, iu Persia, the astrologers
would make even the Shah rise at midnight and
travel in the worst weather in obedience to their
suggestions. The invention of divination is ascribed to
Prometheus (Aesch. Pr. Vinct. 492), to the
Phrygians and Etrurians, especially sages (Cic.
de Div. 1 ; and Clem. Alex. Strom, i. 326, where
there is a great deal more on the subject), or
fas by the Fathers generally) to the devil
(Firmic. Maternus, de Errore, Prooem. ; Lactant.
ii. 16 ; Minuc. Felix. Oct. 27). In the same
way Zoroaster ascribes all magic to Ahriman
(Nork, Bram. und Rab. p. 97). Similar opinions
have prevailed iu more modern times (Sir Thomas
Browne, Vulg. Err. chs. i. xi.).
Many forms of divination are mentioned in
Scripture, and the subject is so frequently al
luded to that it deserves careful examination.
We shall proceed to give a brief analysis of its
main aspects as presented in the sacred writers,
following as far as possible the order of the
Books in which the professors of the art are
spoken of.
They are first mentioned as a prominent body
in the Egyptian court, Gen. xii. 8. 1. D'BDin
(i^TiyriTai ; Hesych. S -irepX hpeioiv KaX Stoo-npeiav
i£r\yovpevos ; Aqu. Kpvtptao-ral). They were a
class of Egyptian priests, eminent for learning
(iepoypappareis). The name may be derived
from D^n, a style ; or, according to Jablonski,
from an Egyptian word Chertom = thaumaturgus
(Gesen. s. v. Cp. Harkavy, Journ. Asiat. [1870]
p. 168 sq. See MV.11 reff. For other con
jectures see Kalisch, Gen. p. 647; Heidegger,
Hist. Patr. xx. 23). If their divination was
connected with drawn figures, it is paralleled
by the Persian Bummal (Calmet) ; the modern
Egyptian Zairgeh, a table of letters ascribed
to Idrees or Enoch (Lane, i. 354) ; the diagrams
of the Chinese Yih-king, revealed to Fuh-hi on
the back of a tortoise, which explain everything,

790

DIVINATION

and on which 1450 learned commentaries have
been written (Hue's China, i. 123 sq.) ; and the
Jamassu or marks on paper, of Japan (Kempfer's
Hist. ch. xv.).
2. D*03n (trocpio-Tai, Ex. vii. 11 ; Suid. oStois
iXeyov Ttdvras rovs TreTmtbevpevovs ; conjectores).
Possibly these, as well as their predecessors,
were merely a learned class, invested by vulgar
superstition with hidden power. Daniel was
made head of the college by Nebuchadnezzar
(Dan. v. 11). Cp. the " college of males " at
Babylon (Records of the Past, N. S. iv. 110). _
3. D'SEOD (iiraoiool, Ex. vii. 11, D'SE'S.
tpappatcoi ; irlcantatores : the variety of words
used in the Versions to render these names shows
how vague was the meaning attached to them).
The original meaning of P|B*3 is to mutter ; and
in Ex. vii. 11, the word seems to denote mere
jugglers, of the class to which belonged Jannes
and Jambres (2 Tim. iii. 8). How they pro
duced the wonders which hardened the heart of
Pharaoh, whether by mechanical or chemical
means, or by mere legerdemain, or by demo
niacal assistance (as supposed by the Fathers
and Joseph. Ant. ii. 5), it is idle to conjecture.
Michaelis (adopting an Arabic derivation of
e|K>3) explains them to be "astrologers," such as
m ancient times were supposed (from their power
to foretell eclipses, &c.) to be able to control the
sun and moon by spells (Virg. Aen. iv. 489 ; Ov.
Met. xii. 263. " While the labouring moon
eclipses at their charms," Milton. "A witch,
and one so strong she could control the moon,"
Shaksp. The Tempest). Women were supposed
to be peculiarly addicted to these magical arts
(Ex. xxii. 18), which were forbidden to the Jews
on theocratic grounds, independently of their
liability to abuse.
4. D'OtyT, Lev. xix. 31, xx. 6 (yvaa-rai,
sciolae ; wizards, from in*1, to know : cp. weiser
Mann, Huge Frau, as Saipoiv, from Sdnpi) : they
who could by whatever means reveal the future.
The Rabbis derive this word from a certain beast
I?n7, in shape like a man (tcaTafiXeirdSa), the
bones of which the diviner held in his teeth
(Sanhedrin, f. 65 ; Maimon. de Idol. vi. 3 ;
Bulenger, de Dio. iii. 33 ; Delrio, Disquis. Mag.
iv. 2 ; Godwin's Mos. and Aar. iv. 10 ; Carpzov.
App. Crit. p. 545). The Greek diviner ate
Tcfc Kvpititrara pdpia $tov pavriKwv (Porphyr.
de Abstinent, ii.). For other bone divinations
see Rubruquis' China, p. 65, and Pennant's
Scotland, p. 88 (in Pinkerton). For allusions
to a conjurer with human bones, see Berachoth,
f. 59, 1. For other Talmudic allusions to
various forms of witchcraft and necromancy, see
Sanhedrin, f. 65, 2, f. 66, 1 ; Eiruvin, f. 64, 2 ;
Baba Bathra, f. 58, 1. King Alexander Jannaeus
on one occasion hung eighty witches at once
(Sanhedrin, f. 45, 1 ; and Rashi ad loco). Many
of the Talmudic passages are translated in Her-
shon's Talmudic Miscellany, pp. 229-236.
5. n'U'N, Lev. xx. 6 ; Is. viii. 19, xix. 3 ;
iyyatrTpipvBoi veKpopdvreis ; qui Pythones con-
sulet, ventriloqui [D'tSX, Is. xix. 3]. The word
properly means " spirits of the dead," and then
by an easy metonomy those who consulted them
(niK VtjSB', Deut. xviii. 10; D*>n»rt 7K peni;
ol ivepoiT&vres Tobs vatpobs, quaerentes a moriuis

DIVINATION
veritatem. But Shuckford, who denies that the
Jews in early ages believed in spirits, makes it
mean " consulters of dead idols," Connect, ii.
395sq.). They arealsocalledPythones; iyyatrrp.
Tt-dXai vvvl TivSavas KaXovpivovs (Plut. de Def.
Or. 414 ; Cic. de Div. i. 19). Hence the rrvevpa
Xlieoivos, Acts xvi. 16. These ventriloquists
" peeped and muttered " (cp. rpi^eiv, II. xxxiii.
101 ; " squeak and gibber," Shaksp. Jul. Caes.)
from the earth to imitate the voice of the re
vealing " familiar " (Is. xxix. 4, &c. ; 1 Sam.
xxviii. 8 ; Lev. xx. 27 : cp. o-repv6pavris, Soph.
Frag.). 31K properly means a bottle (Job xxxii.
19), and was applied to the magician, because
he was supposed to be inflated by the spirit
(SaipovoXTiTrrSs), like the ancient EfyroKAeij (els
aXXo-rpias yaa-ripas ivSvs, Ar. Vesp. 1017 ; malum
spiritum per verenda naturae excipiebat, Schol.
in Ar. Plut). The Talmud says, "A Python is a
familiar spirit who speaks from the arm-pits "
(Sanhedrin, f. 65). Of this class was the witch
of Endor (Jos. Ant. vi. 14, § 2), in whose case
intended imposture may have been overruled
into genuine necromancy (Ecclus. xlvi. 20). On
this wide subject see Chrysost. ad 1 Cor. xii. ;
Tert. adv. Marc. iv. 25, de Anima, 57 ; Aug. de
doctr. Christ. § 33 ; Cic. Tusc. Disp. i. 16, and
the commentators on Aen. vi. ; Critici Sacri, vi.
331; Winer, s. v. Todtenbeschworer ; Le Moyne,
Var. Sacr. p. 993 sq. ; Selden, de Diis Syr. i. 2,
and above all Bottcher, de Inferis, pp. 101-121,
where the research displayed is marvellous.
Those who sought inspiration, either from the
demons or the spirits of the dead, haunted
tombs and caverns (Is. lxv. 4), and invited the
unclean communications by voluntary fasts
(Maimon. de Idol. ix. 15 ; Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr.
ad Matt. a. 1). That the supposed v/vxopavTela
was often effected by ventriloquism and illusion
is certain ; for a specimen of this even in modem
times, see the Life of Benvenuto Cellini.
6. D'DDp DDp (fiavrev6pevos pamelav; qui
ariolos sciscitetur : Deut. xviii. 10. As the most
complete list of diviners is given in this passage,
we shall follow the order of the kinds there
enumerated). This word involves the notion of
"cutting," and therefore may imply the same
thing as the Chald. pt| (from 11$, to cut),
Dan. ii. 27, iv. 4, &c, and be taken to mean
astrologers, magi, genethliaci, &c. (Dict. of Gk.
and Bom. Ant. art. Astrologia ; Juv. vi. 582 sq. ;
Diod. Sic. ii. 30 ; Winer, s. vv. Magier, Sterne).
Others refer it to the tcK-npopdvTtis (Schol. ad
Eur. Hipp. 1057), since the use of lots was very
familiar to the Jews (Gataker, On Lots, ad init.) ;
but it required no art to explain their use, for
they were regarded as directly under God's con
trol (Num. xxvi. 55 ; Esth. iii. 7 ; Prov. xvi. 33,
xviii. 18). Both lots and digitorum micatio (odd
and even) were used in distributing the duties
of the Temple (Otho, Lex. Bab. s. v. Digitis
micando). 7. J3il?D, Mic. v. 12, 2 K. xxi. 6; observans
somnia ; A. V. " an observer of times ; " tcXa-
$ovi£6pevos (always in LXX., except in Lev. xix.
26, where probably they followed a different
reading, from f\)V, a bird, opviBocKOTreiv) = 6 in
Twv XaXovp4vtav o-Toxa£6p.tvos, Lex. Cyr. ; aito
&.kot)s, Hesych. It is derived from |31', to cover,
and may mean generally " using hidden arts "

DIVINATION
(Is. ii. f i ^er- xxv1'- 9). If the LXX. under
stand it correctly, iC refers to that X6yaiv trapa-
¦rijpijim (Suid.), which was common among the
Jews, and which they called Bath Kol ; or
which remarkable instances are found in Gen.
xxiv. 14; 1 Sam. xiv. 9, 10 ; 1 K. xx. 33.
For Talmudic allusions to the Bath Kol, see
Berachoth, f. 61, 2 ; Baba Bathra, f. IS, 1 ;
Mod Katon, f. 9, 1, and many other passages ;
but a distinction must be drawn between the
use of the term to imply an actual " voice from
heaven," and its application to chance omens
(see Hamburger, BE. ii. 92). After the ex
tinction of the spirit of prophecy the Bath
Kol was considered by the Jews as a sort of
substitute for the loss. For a curious disser
tation on it, see Lightfoot ad Matt. iii. 13. A
belief in the significance of chance words was
very prevalent among the Egyptians (Clem.
Alex. Strom, i. 304 ; Plut. de Is. 14), and the
accidental sigh of the engineer was sufficient to
prevent even Amasis from removing the mono
lithic shrine to Sals (Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii.
310). The universality of the belief among the
ancients is known to every scholar (Cic. de Die.
i. ; Herod, ii. 90; Virg. Aen. vii. 116, &c).
From the general theory of the possibility of
snch omens sprang the use of the Sortes Bib-
licae, &c. (Niceph. Greg, viii.; Aug. Ep. 119;
Prideaux, Connect, ii. 376, &c. ; Cardan, de Varie-
tote, p. .1040).
If [31171? be derived from \)V, it will mean
"one who fascinates with the eyes," as in the
Syr. Vers. (cp. Vitringa, Comment, ad Is. ii. 6).
A belief in the otpBaXpbs Pdo-tcavos (VI ]\S!) was
universal, and is often allnded to in Scripture
(Deut. xxiii. 6 ; Matt. xx. 15 ; Tob. iv. 7, /it)
tyvovriadru o-ov 6 6d.8aXp.6s : 1 Sam. xviii. 9,
"Saul eyed David "). The well-known passages
of Pliny and the ancients on the subject are
collected in Potter's Ant. i. 383 sq.
Others again make the D'33Jf (Is. ii. 6, &c.)
to be " soothsayers" who predicted " times " as in
A V. and R. V., from the observation ofthe clouds
(Aben Ezra on Lev. xix. 26) and other Sioo-rgiiai, as
lightnings, comets, meteors, &c. (Jer. x. 2), like
the Etruscan Fulguratores (Cic. de Div. i. 18 ;
Plin. ii. 43, 53 ; Plut. de Superst. ; Hom. Od. v.
102; Virg. Eel. i. 16; Humboldt's Cosmos, ii.
135, ed. Sabine). Possibly the position of the
diviner in making these observations originated
the Jewish names for East and West, viz. front
and back (Godwin, iv. 10, but Carpzov disputes
the assertion, App. Crit. p. 541). The practice
naturally led to the tabulation of certain days
as lucky or unlucky (Job iii. 5, " monthly prog-
nosticators ;" Is. xlvii. 13, ripepas iraparnpeio-Be,
Gal. iv. 10), just as the Greeks and Romans
regarded some days as candidi, others as atri
(Hes. Opp. et D. 770 ; Suet. Aug. 92, &c). If
we had space, every one of the superstitions
allnded to might be paralleled in modern times.
In Judg. ix. 37, the expression " terebinth of
Meonenim (enchantments) " refers not so much
to the general sacredness of great trees (Hom.
Od. xiv. 328 ; habitae Gratis oraeula quercus,
Virg. Georg.), as to the fact that (probably)
here Jacob had buried the idolatrous amulets
¦which his wives had brought from Syria (Gen.
*xxv. 4; Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 142).
8. D'tJTUD (olavi(ipevoi ; observantes au-

DIVINATION

791

guria ; Vs. lviii. 5 ; 2 K. xvii. 17, xxi. 6, &c.) :
A. V. enchanters ; pphiomants (Bochart, Hieroz.
ii. p. 3S3), from t."n3, to hiss ; people who, like
the ancient Psylli (Plin. II. X. vii. 2 ; xviii. 4)
and Marmaridae (Sil. Ital. iii. 301),
" Ad quorum cantus serpens obllta veneni,
Ad quorum tactum mites jacuere ccrastae,"
were supposed to render serpents innocuous and
obedient (Ex. vii. 9 ; Jer. viii. 17 ; Eccles. x. 11),
chiefly by the power of music (Nicand. Meriac.
162 ; Luc. ix. 891 ; Sil. Ital. 8, 495 ; Aen. vii.
753; Niebuhr's Travels, i. 189); but also no
doubt by the possession of some genuine and
often hereditary secret (Lane, Mod. Egypt, ii.
106 sq. ; Arnob. adv. Gent. ii. 32). They had a
similar power over scorpions (Francklen's Tour
to Persia). The whole subject is exhausted by
Bochart (Hieroz., torn. n. iii. 6, de Aspide
Surdd). tiTJ3 has, however, a general meaning of
"learning by experience," like "to augur," in
English, Gen. xxx. 27, 1 K. xx. 33 ; either be
cause ophiomancy (Ter. Phorm. iv. 4, 26) was
common, or because the word meant (as the
Rabbis say) an observation of iv6Sta c-bpfSoXa,
&c. (Jer. x. 2 ; Plin. xxviii. 5, 7). Some
understand it of divinatio ex pelvibus (Plin.
H. N. xxx. 2 ; Poli Syn. ad Deut. xviii. 10).
9. D'SSJOD (tpappanoi ; maleftci, venefici,
A. V. wizards'), from the Arabic, " to reveal,"
meaning not only astrologers proper (Chaldaeans),
but generally all who practised occult means of
discovering the unknown. It might no doubt
involve the use of divining-rods for the purpose
of Aquaelicium, &c, dependent on physical laws
only partially understood (Mayo's Pop. Super
stitions). 10. D'lDIl 1311 (iiraeibovTes iiraoidiiv ; in-
cantatores), from 1311, to bind (cp. bannen =
binden, Gesen. s. v.). Those who acquired power
by uttering spells, &c. (uaTaoeo: ; and vpvos
Setrpios, Aesch. Eum. 296 :
" So the spell now works around thee,
And the clankless chain bath bound thee."

1.1.)
In Onkelos it is rendered J'tDI, a mutterer ; and
this would connect these " enchanters " with
the Nekromanteis (No. 5. Is. xxix. 4).
11. Belomants. Alluded to in Ezek. xxi. 21
(Heb. v. 26), where Nebuchadnezzar, at the
parting of two ways, uses divination to decide
whether he shall proceed against Jerusalem
or Rabbah, and D'-Sna 7|1?i? (tou avafydirai
fidpSov, LXX.; but it should be rather f>i\pai
jiixri, or as Vulg. commiscens sagittas ; R. V.
" he shook the arrows to and fro." The other
explanations are untenable). The practice of
lots-by-arrows was Babylonian (Lenormant, La
Divination chez les ChaldtSens, p. 21). Jerome
(ad loc.) explains it of mingling in a quiver
arrows on which were inscribed the names of
various cities, that city being attacked the name
of which was drawn out (Prid. Connect, i. 85).
Estius says, " He threw up a bundle of arrows
to see which way they would light, and since
they fell on the right hand he marched towards
Jerusalem." (For the Arabic practice, see
Dozy, Hist, de I'Islamisme, p. 10.) The A. V.

792

DIVINATION

" made his arrows bright," seems to allude to
a sort of triSnipopavrela, — incorrectly. The
arrows used were parti-coloured, and seven
such were kept at Mecca. Pietro della Valle
saw a divination derived from the changes of
eight arrows at Aleppo, and attributed it to
diabolical agency. We read of a somewhat
similar custom in use among the ancient Teutons
(Tac. Germ, x.), and among the Alani (Am.
Marcell. xxxi.) : also among the modern Egyp
tians (Lane, ii. 111). " But of another kind
was that practised by Elisha, 2 K. xiii. 15" (Sir
Thos. Browne, Vulg. Errors, v. 23, 7).
12. Closely connected with this was |uAo-
or fiaPSo-pavTela (Hos. iv. 12), 7j?D 7KK'. Avo
itrravTes pdfiSovs . . . Trnrrovo-as ineTT)povv ottov
tyipaivro, Cyr. Alex, (ad loc), and so too Theo-
phylact. Another explanation is that the posi
tive or negative answer to the required question
was decided by the equal or unequal number of
spans in the staff (Godwin, I. c). Parallels are
found among the Scythians (Herod, iv. 67, and
Schol. Nicandri luvdai pvpitcivip pavTtvovrai
|iiA<p), Persians (Strab. xv. p. 847), Assyrians
(Athen. Deipn. xii. 7), Chinese (Stavorinus'
Java ; Pinkerton, xi. 132), and New Zealanders
(called Niu, Taylor's New Zeal. 91). These kinds
of divination are expressly forbidden in tbe
Koran, and are called al Meisar (ch. v. Sale's
Prelim. Dissert, p. 89).
13. KoAiKo^ocTei'o, Gen. xliv. 5 (il^Zi ; rb
k6v5v rb apyvpovv . . . abrbs 5e oltavitrpovs
otuvi^erat iv tu»T$ ; Hesych. k6vSu, -iroriipiov
&ao-iXut6v. In quo augurari solet). Parkhurst
and others, denying that divination is intended,
make it a mere cup of office (Bruce's Travels,
ii. 657), " for which he would search carefully "
(a meaning which ETI3 may bear). But in all
probability the A. V. and R. V. are right. The
Nile was called the cup of Egypt, and the silver
vessel which symbolised it had prophetic and
mysterious properties (Havernick, Introd, to the
Pentateuch, ad loc. Cp. also the notes of De
litzsch [1887] and of Knobel in Dillmann5 on
this passage). The divination was by means of
radiations from the water, or from magically
inscribed gems, &c. thrown into it ; a sort of
vSpopavreia, KaTortTpopavreia, or KpvtrraXXo-
pavreia (Cardan, de rerum Variet. cap. 93), like
the famous mirror of ink (Lane, ii. 362), and the
crystal divining globes, the properties of which
depend on a natural law brought into notice in
the exhibitions of Mesmerism. The jewelled cup
of Jemsheed was a divining cup, and such a one
was made by Merlin (Faerie Queen, iii. 2, 19).
Jul. Serenus (de Fato, ix. 18) says that after
certain incantations, a demon vooem instar sibili
edebat in aquis. It is curious to find kvXiko-
pavreia even in the South Sea Islands (Daily
Bib. Illustr. i. 424). For illustrations of Egyp
tian cups, see Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, i. 180,
and index s. n. " Vases " [1878]. This kind of
divination must not be confused with Cyatho-
manteia (Suid. s. v. KOTTa&'tCeiv).
14. Consultation of Teraphim (Zech. x. 2 ;
Ezek. xxi. 21 ; iiTcpwTrjvai iv -rois yXvrcTo'is ;
1 Sam. xv. 23, f)lh = an inquirer). These were
wooden images (1 Sam. xix. 13) consulted as
"idols," from which the excited worshippers
fancied that they received oracular responses.

DIVINATION
The notion that they were the embalmed heads
of infants on a. gold plate inscribed with the
name of an unclean spirit, is Rabbi Eliezer's
invention. Other Rabbis think that they may
mean " astrolabes, &c." [Teraphim.]
15. 'HTcaToo-tcoiria, or extispicium (Ezek. xxi.
21, KaraaKOTt-nadtrBai al. 7JiraTi k., LXX., flNI
1333). The liver was the most important
part of the sacrifice (Artemid. Oneirocr. ii
75 ; Suet. Aug. 95 ; Cic. de Div. ii. 13 j Sen.
Oedip. 360). Thus the deaths of both Alexander
and Hephaestion were foretold '6rt &Xo$ov rb,
\ynap i)v ifpeiov (Arrian, Alex. vii. 18).
16. 'Oveipopavreia (Deut. xiii. 2, 3 ; Judg.
vii. 13 ; Jer. xxiii. 32 ; Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, § 4).
God frequently revealed Himself by dreams
when the soul was thought to be least debased
by contact with the body (eSSovcra yap tf>pr)v
ippaatv XaprtpiveTai, Aesch. Eum. 104). Many
warnings occur in Scripture against the impos
tures attendant on the interpretation of dreams
(Zech. x. 2, &c). We find however no direct
trace of seeking for dreams such as occurs in
Virg. Aen. vii. 81 ; Plaut. Curcul. i. 1, 2, 61.
[Dreams.] 17. The consultation of oracles may be con
sidered as another form of divination (Is. xii.
21-24, xliv. 7). The term oracle is applied to
the Holy of Holies (1 K. vi. 16 ; Ps. xxviii. 2,
lv31, ba&hp to ayia tuv ay'tttv 6vopi(u, Lex.
Ms. ;'Hottinger, Thes. Phil. p. 366). That there
were several oracles of heathen gods known to
the Jews we may infer both from the mention
of that of Baal-zebub at Ekron (2 K. i. 2-6),
and from the towns named Debir. " Debir quod.
nos oraculum sive responsum possumus appellate,
et ut contentiosius verbum exprimamus e verbo
AaATjT^pjo!/, vel locutorium dicere " (Hieron.
ad Eph. i.). The word " oracles " is applied in
the N. T. to the Scriptures (Acts vii. 38 ; Rom.
iii. 2, &c). On the general subject of oracles,
see Anton, v. Dale, de Oraculis; Dict. of Ant-
art. Oraculum; Potter's Antiq. i. 286-326;
Sir T. Browne, Tract vi., and Vulg. Err. vii.
12, &c. ; W. Robertson Smith, The Beligion of
tlie Semites, i., index s. n.
18. It only remains to allude to the fact that
superstitious importance was peculiarly attached
to the words of dying men. And although the-
observed fact that " men sometimes at the hour
of their departure do speak and reason above
themselves " (Relig. Medici, ch. xi.) does not of
course take away from the death-bed prophecies
of Scripture their supernatural character (Gen.
xlix. ; 2 K. xiii., &c), yet it is interesting to
find that there are analogies which resemble
them (77. xxii. 355, and the story of Calanus •„
Cic. de Div. i. 30 ; Shaksp. Rich. II, ii. 1 ; Daniel!,.
Civil Wars, iii. 62, &c).
Moses forbade every species of divination (cp.
Koran, ch. v. ; Cato, de Re Rust. 5, vand super- ,
stitione rudes animos infestant ; Columell. ii. 1),
because a prying into the future clouds the mind
with superstition, aud because it would have.
been (as it actually proved to be, Is. ii. 6 ; 2 K.
xxi. 6) an incentive to idolatry; indeed the-
frequent denunciations of the sin in the Prophets:
tend to prove that these forbidden arts presented
peculiar temptations to apostate Israel (Hot-
tinger, Jur. Hebr. Lex. pp. 253, 254). But God
had supplied His people with substitutes for

DIVOECE
divination, which would have rendered it super
fluous, and would have left them in no doubt as to
His Will in circumstances of danger, had they
continued faithful. It was only when they were
nnfaithful that the revelation was withdrawn
(1 Sam. xxviii. 6 ; 2 Sam. ii. 1, v. 23, &c).
According to the Rabbis, the Urim and Thum-
mim lasted until the Temple ; the spirit of
prophecy until Malachi ; and the Bath Kol,
as the sole means of guidance from that time
downwards (Lightfoot, I. c; Maimonides, de
Fwidam. Leg. cap. 7 ; Abarbanel, Prolegg. in

DIVOECE

793

How far Moses and the Prophets believed in
the reality of necromancy, &c, as distinguished
from various forms of imposture, is a question
which at present does not concern us. But even
if, in those times, they did hold such a belief,
no one will now urge that we are bound to do
so at the present day. And yet such was the
opinion of Bacon, Bp. Hall, Baxter, Sir Thos.
Browne, Lavater, Glanville, Henry More, and
numberless other eminent men. Such also was
the opinion which led Sir M. Hale to burn Amy
Duny and Rose Cullenden at Bury iu 1664 ; and
caused even Wesley to say, that '' to give up a
belief in witchcraft was to give up the Bible."
We recommend tbis statement, in contrast with
the all but universal disbelief in such supersti
tions now, to thoughtful consideration. For a
carious statute against witchcraft (5 Eliz. cap.
15), see Collier's Eccl. Hist. vi. 366.
Superstition not unfrequently goes hand in
hand with scepticism, and hence, amid the
general infidelity prevalent through the Roman
empire at our Lord's coming, imposture was
rampant; as a glance at the pages of Tacitus
will suffice to prove. Hence the lucrative trades
of such men as Simon Magus (Acts viii. 9),
Bar-jesus (Acts xiii. 6, 8), the slave with the
spirit of Python (Acts xvi. 16), the vagabond
Jews, eiorcists (Luke xi. 19 ; Acts xix. 13), and
other 70V6S (2 Tim. iii. 13 ; Rev. xix. 20, &c),
as well as the notorious dealers in magical
0ij9\ot ('E</)€o"ia ypdppara) and TrepUpya at
Ephesus (Acts xix. 19). Among the Jews these
flagrant impostors (art-armves, Jos.) had become
dangerously numerous, especially during the
Jewish war ; and we find them constantly
alluded to in writers of that age (Jos: Bell.
Jvd. vi. 5, §§ 1, 2; cp. Matt. xxiv. 23, 24;
Tac. Hist. v. 12 ; Jos. Ant. xx. 5, § 1, &c). As
was natural, they, like most Orientals, especially
connected the name of Solomon with their spells
and incantations (Jos. Ant. viii. 2). The names
of the main writers on this wide and interesting
subject are mentioned in the course of the
article, and others are referred to in Fabricius,
Ml. Antiq. cap. xii., and Bottcher, de Inferis,
PP. 101 sq. [F. W. F.]
. DIVOECE. The law regulating this subject
is found in Deut. xxiv. 1-4, and the cases in
which the right of a husband to divorce his wife
was lost are stated in ib. xxii. 19, 29. The
ground of divorce was what the text calls a
"O'J 1111?, on the meaning of which the Jewish
doctors of the period of the N. T. widely differed ;
the school of Shammai seeming to limit it to a
moral delinquency in the woman, whilst that of
Hillel extended i't to trifling causes, e.g. if the
wife burnt the food she was cooking for her

husband." The Pharisees wished perhaps to
embroil our Saviour with these rival schools by
their question (Matt. xix. 3) ; He, however, by
His answer as well as by His previous maxim
(v. 31), declares that but for thoir hardened state
of heart, such questions would have no place.
Yet from the distinction made, "but 1 say
unto you " (ce. 31, 32), it seems to follow, that
He regarded all the lesser causes than " forni
cation " as standing on too weak ground, and
declined the question of how to interpret the
words of Moses. It would be unreasonable.
therefore, to suppose that by 11)11? 131, to
which he limited the remedy of divorce, Moses
meant what our Lord calls x6yos ttopvelas, for
that interpretation would at once make void the
distinction referred to above between His teach
ing and that of Moses. Still less can Moses by
that expression have intended adultery, for that
would have been to stultify the law " that such
should be stoned " (John viii. 5 ; Lev. xx. 10)i
The practical difficulty, however, which attends
on the doubt which is noio found in interpreting
Moses' words will be lessened if we consider
that the mere giving " a bill (or rather " book,"
133) of divorcement " (cp. Is. 1. 1 ; Jer. iii. 8)
would in ancient times require the interven
tion of n Levite, not only to secure the formal
correctness of the instrument, but because the
art of writing was then generally unknown.
This would bring the matter under the cog
nizance of legal authority, and tend to check
the rash exercise of the right by the husband.
Traditional opinion and prescriptive practice
would probably fix the standard of the fillip
and, doubtless with the lax general morality
which marks the decline of the Jewish polity,
that standard would be lowered (Mai. ii. 14—16).
Thus the Gemar. Babyl. Gittin, 9 (ap. Selden,
de Ux. Heb. iii. 17) allows divorce for a wife's
spinning in public, or going out with head un
covered or clothes so torn as not properly to.
conceal her person from sight. But the absence
of any case in point in the period which lay
nearest to the lawgiver himself, or in any, save
a much more recent one, makes the whole ques
tion one of great uncertainty. The case of
Phalti and Michal is not in point, being merely
an example of one arbitrary act redressed by
another (1 Sam. xxv. 44 ; cp. 2 Sam. iii.
14-16). Selden (de Ux. Heb. iii. 19) quoting
Zohar, Praef. p. 8 b, &c, speaks of an alleged
custom of the husband, when going to war,
giving the wife the libellus divortii; but the
authority is of slight value, and the fact im
probable. It is contrary to all known Oriental
usage to suppose that the right of quitting their
husband and choosing another was allowed to
women (Joseph. Ant. xv. 7, § 10). Salome is
noted (ibid.) as the first example of it ;— one,
no doubt, derived from the growing prevalence
of heathen laxity. Hence also, probably, the
caution given in 1 Cor. vii. 10. Winer is surely
mistaken (s. v. Ehescheidung) in supposing that
a man might take back as wife her whom he
had divorced, except in the cases when her

» Mishna Gittin, ix. 10. E. Akibah allowed divorce if
the husband merely saw a woman whose appearance
pleased him better. Cp. Riehm, HWB. " Ehe," $ 8 ;
Hamburger, BE. " Scheidung."

794

DI-ZAHAB

second husband had died or had divorced her.
Such resumption is contemplated by the law
giver as only possible in those two cases, and
therefore is in them only expressly forbidden
(Jer. iii. 1; cp. Deut. xxiv. 3, 4). For the
question of divorce in the N. T., see Adultery ;
where it is suggested that the Aoyos Tropveias of
Matt. v. 32 means fornication before marriage,
presumed to be fraudulently concealed. For
another view of the matter, see Origen in
Catena, p. 128 ; Photius, p. 136 ; Chrysostom
on 1 Cor. vii. 12; Hammond on Divorce, i.
p. 606 ; Bp. Colenso on Divorce, Works, iv.
p. 496 ; Gerhard, Loci Tlieol. vii. pp. 692-743.
The only case in the N. T. in which separation
of man and wife is clearly permitted is that of
a Christian and unbeliever (1 Cor. vii. 12), where,
however, continued union is recommended.
For the view taken among later Jews on this
subject, see Joseph. Ant. iv. 8, § 23 ; xvi. 7,
§ 3 ; Vit. 76 : a writer whose practice seems to
have been in accordance with the views of
Hillel. On the general subject, Buxtorf, de
Spousal, et Divert, pp. 82-85; Selden, Uxor. Hebr.
iii. 17 sq. ; and Michaelis, Laws of Moses, ii. 336,
may be consulted. See also the additional
remarks in D. B., Amer. edit. [H. H.]
DI-ZA'HAB (311*1; tcaraxpio-ea ; ubi auri
est plurimum), a place in the Arabian desert,
mentioned Deut. i. 1, as limiting the position of
the spot in which Moses is there represented as
addressing the Israelites. It has been identified
by Robinson (i. 147, ii. 187, note) with Dahab, a
cape on the W. shore of the Gulf of Akabah,
about two-thirds down its length ; but this
identification is given up as being too far south
(cp. Dillmann2 in loco). The LXX. and Vulg.
may perpetuate a tradition that it was a place
where gold had been found. [F.]
DOCTOE (StSda-KaXos), Luke ii. 46 ; and
" doctor of the Law " (vopoStbdo-KaXos), Luke v.
17, Acts v. 34. [Lawyer ; Rabbi ; Scribes.]
DO'CUS (At&ie; Aid. Aukos ; Jos. Aaytiv;
Doch; Syr. ,fi}o>, Doak), a "little hold"
(rb oxvptcfidriov ; munitiunculum) near Jericho
(1 Mace. xvi. 15, cp. v. 14) built by Ptolemaeus
the son of Abubus, and in which he entertained
and murdered his father-in-law Simon Macca
baeus, with his two sons. By Josephus (Ant.
xiii. 8, § 1 ; B.J. i. 2, § 3) it is called Dagon, and
is said to have been one of the fortresses (ipv-
pdrtov) above Jericho. The name still remains
in the neighbourhood, attached to the copious
and excellent springs of iAin Duk, which burst
forth in the 11 ddy Nueidmeh, at the foot of the
mountain of Quarantania (Kuruntul), about
4 miles N.W. of Jericho. Above the springs
are traces of ancient foundations, which may be
those of Ptolemy's castle, but more probably of
that of the Templars, one of whose stations this
was : it stood as late as the latter end of the
13th century, when it was visited by Brocardus
(see Rob. i. 571, 572, note; also PEF. Mem.
iii. 173, 191, 205). [G.] [W.]
DO'DAI ('I'll ; B. AwSeitJ; A. -Sm; Dudia),
an Ahohite who was chief of the course of the
second month (1 Ch. xxvii. 4). Probably the
same as Dodo, whose name in the Ketliib and in

DODO
the LXX. is Dodai ; the words " Eleazar son of"
having been omitted from the above passage
in Chronicles. [Dodo, 2.] [G.]
DOD ANIM (D'SII; 'Po'Sioi; Dodanim),
Gen. x. 4 ; 1 Ch. i. 7 (in R. V. and in marg. of
A. V. 1 Ch. i. 7, Rodanim, D'311), a family or
race descended from Javan, the son of Japhet
(Gen. x. 4 ; 1 Ch. i. 7). Authorities vary as to
the form of the name : the Hebrew text has
both. Dodanim appears in the Syriac, Chaldee,
Vulgate, Persian, and Arabic Versions, and in
the Targum of Onkelos ; Rodanim is supported
by the LXX., the Samaritan Version, and some
early writers, as Eusebius and Cosmas. The
weight of authority is in favour of the former;
the substitution of 'Po'Sioi in the LXX. may
have arisen from familiarity with that name
(cp. Ezek. xxvii. 15, where it is again substi
tuted for Dedan). Dodanim is regarded as
identical with Dardani (Ges. Thesaur. p. 1266 ;
Delitzsch [1887] on Gen. x. 4), the latter, which
is the original form, having been modified by
the change of the liquid r into o, as in Barmil-
car and Bomilcar, Hamilcar and Hamilco. Thus
the Targum of? Jonathan, that on Chronicles,
and the Jerusalem Talmud give Dardania for
Dodanim. The Dardani were found in historical
times in Illyricum and Troy : the former dis
trict was regarded as their original seat. They
were probably a semi-Pelasgic race, and are
grouped with the Chittim in the genealogical
table, as more closely related to them than to
the other branches of the Pelasgic race (Knobel,
Volkertafel, pp. 104 sq.). The similarity of the
name Dodona in Epirus has led to the identifica
tion of Dodanim with that place ; hut a mere
local designation appears too restricted for the
general tenor of Gen. -x. Kalisch (Comm. on
Gen.) identifies Dodanim with the Daunians,
who occupied the coast of Apulia: he regards
the name as referring to Italy generally. The
wide and unexplained difference of the names,
and the comparative unimportance of the
Daunians, form objections to this view. Dill
mann5 prefers the reading Rodanim, and under
stands the inhabitants of the Rhodian islands, or
the islands of the Aegean Sea. [W. L. B.] [F.]
DODA'VAH (acc. Dodavahu, -111111;
B. 'nScici, A. 'O.Sia ; Dodoau), a man of Maresha
in Judah, father of Eliezer who denounced
Jehoshaphat's alliance with Ahaziah (2 Ch. xx.
37). In the Jewish traditions Dodavah is the
son of Jehoshaphat, who was also his uncle
(Jerome, Qu. Heb. in loco).
DO'DO. The name appears under the form
Dudu in the cuneiform tablets of the 15th
century B.C., discovered at Tel-el-Amarna in
Upper Egypt (Becords of the Past, N. S. iii. 57).
1. (il'll; patruus ejus), a man of Bethlehem,
father of Elhanan, who was one of David's
" thirty " captains (2 Sam. xxiii. 24 [B. Aoviel,
A. AouSef] ; 1 Ch. xi. 26 [B. AoiSSe, A. -wai]).
He is a different person from
2. Dodo the Ahohite, father of Eleazar,
the second of the three " mighty men " who were
over the " thirty " (2 Sam. xxiii. 9 [see Driver,
Notes on the Heb. Text of the BB. of Sam. ; B.
Sowel ; Bbvld AovSel, A. Soxrefj ; 1 Ch. xi. 12
[B. Aaoal, H. -Se]). He, or his ison— in which

DOEG
case we must suppose the words " Eleazar son
of" to have escaped from the text — probably
had the command of the second monthly course
(1 Ch. xxvii. 4). In the latter passage the
name is Dodai Ciii ; B. AtoSeid, A. Atobta) ;
but this form occurs in the Hebrew text (Ketliib)
of 2 Sam. xxiii. 9 (Keri 1111), in the LXX. of
all, and in Josephus (Ant. vii. 12, § 4; AaSelos) ;
and is believed by Kennicott (Dissertation, ,\e.
p. 134), who has examined these lists with great
minuteness, to be the correct one. The Jewish
tradition (Jerome, Qu. Hebr. on 1 Ch. xi. 12)
was, that Dodo was the brother of Jesse.
3, A man of Issachar, forefather of Tola the
Judge (Judg. .v. 1). The LXX. and Vulg. ren
derings are translations : TraTpafieXQov avrov ;
ptrui Abirnelech. [G.] [W.]
DOTBG (3N1 = fearful ; Awt)k ; Doeg), an
Idumean (LXX. and Joseph. Ant. vi. 12, § 1, 6
2upos), chief of Saul's herdmen ("having charge
of the mules'"). He was at Nob when Ahimelech
gave David the sword of Goliath ; and not
only gave information to Saul, but, when
others declined the office, executed the king's
order to destroy the priests of Nob, with their |

DOG

795

families, to the number of 85 persons, together
with all their property (1 Sam. xxi. 7, xxii. 9.
17, 22 ; Ps. Iii.). A question has arisen on the'
nature of the'business by which he was "detained
before the Lord" (flirT '3^ 1¥M, <rweX6.
pevos Nentro-aphv ivoiiriov Kvpiov ; intus in taher-
¦naeulo Domini). The difficulty which lies in the
idea that Doeg was a foreigner, and so incapable
of a Nazarite vow (Mishna de Votis, ix. 1,
Surenh.), is explained by the probable supposi
tion that he was a proselyte, attending under
some vow or some act of purification at the
Tabernacle (Patrick ; Calmet on 1 Sam. xxi. 7 ;
Ges. p. 1059 ; Winer, s. v. Doeg ; Thenius, ad
loc. in Kurzg. exeg. Hdb.). [H. W. P.]
DOG (3J3, keleb; Kvtiv, Kvvdptov ; canis ; Arab.
i_a!} , kelb). The dog is mentioned forty times
in Scripture. The derivation of the name is
from an unused root, 373, "to make a noise"
by clapping, whence the German klaffen, "to
bark or yelp." Gesenius observes, " transfertur

Egyptian dogs, from the Bculpttire3. (Wilkinson.)

ad latratum canum." Bochart would derive it
from the tenacity of a dog's grip, adducing the
Arabic juu , " pincers ; " but this is more

probably itself derived from i .Is. Though
the dog was domesticated among the Jews, yet
its position in the household was very different

796

DOG

from that which it holds among modern nations,
and it never was a domestic and cherished pet.
Nor were the various breeds of dogs carefully
cultivated as among the Egyptians, nor their
instinct utilized for the purposes of the chase,
as by the latter people; the Jews never having
been from the time of Jacob a hunting nation.
In the greater part of their thickly-populated
territory there was no scope for the sports of
the field, had they been so inclined. The prin
cipal use of the dog among the Jews was for

Babylonian Dog. (From a black atone found at Babylon.)
guarding the flocks. " Whose fathers I dis
dained to set with the dogs of my flock" (Job
xxx. 1, R. V.). But the shepherd's dog in
the East, though of apparently the same race as
our sheep-dog or collie, is never trained to tend
or drive the flock as among ourselves. The
sheep always follow the shepherd, who is him
self accompanied by his dogs, and only avails
himself of the natural canine instinct of watch
fulness in the night, and aversion to all wild
animals, iu order to protect the flocks
from the nocturnal attacks of prowling
wolves or jackals. In the same way
dogs were used for guarding the house,
as is still the universal custom in the
East. " His watchmen are blind : . . .
they are all dumb dogs, they cannot
bark ; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber "
(Is. lvi. 10, R. V.).
But, besides the domestic dogs, there have
ever been in all the cities and villages of the
East, troops of hungry aud half-savage dogs,
which own allegiance to no one, but tenaciously
maintain their rights to a particular and gene
rally very limited district, within which they
will never permit the dogs of the adjoining
street or village to enter ; and who wander
about at night, the only scavengers, clearing
away carcases and offal of every kind, which
but for them might create a pestilence. Even
human graves, unless well secured, are not safe
from their search. This habit is most exactly
described by the Psalmist: "At evening let
them return ; let them make a noise like a dog,
and go round about the city. They shall wander
up and down for meat, and tarry all night if
they be not satisfied "'(Ps. lix. 14, 15, R. V.).
" In the place where dogs licked the blood of
Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood." "The dogs
shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel."
"Him that dieth of Ahab in the city the dogs

DOG
shall eat" (1 K. xxi. 19, 23, 24, R. V.). On the
very spot on the mounds of Jezreel, outside the
modern hovels, as Dean Stanley remarks, and
as the writer has often seen, the descendants
doubtless of those very dogs may be seen search
ing for refuse. With the passage in Prov. xxvi.
11 may be compared, "Vixissetcanis immundus,
vel arnica luto sus " (Hor. Ep. i. 2, 26).
It is from this habit of these uncared-for out
casts, as well as from its being ceremonially un
clean, that the dog is almost always in Scripture
spoken of with more or less aversion or con
tempt. In every language of the East the term
dog is applied as a name of scorn or reproach.
" Am I a dog, that thou contest to me with
staves ? " (1 Sam. xvii. 43.) " Why should this
dead dog curse my lord ? " (2 Sam. xvi. 9.) As
the Jews contemptuously applied the term
" dog " to the Gentiles, so to the present dnv a
Mohammedan will rarely speak of a Christian
without the epithet " dog." " Dog of a Jew,"
"dog of a Christian," are expressions rarely out
of his mouth.
The word was also frequently used as a term
of the most abject humility, applied by the
speaker to himself, in the presence of a superior.
"After whom dost thou pursue? after a dead
dog ? " (1 Sam. xxiv. 14.) " That thou shouldest
look upon such a. dead dog as I am " (2 Sam.
ix. 8). The name was also applied to a woman
of ill-fame (Deut. xxiii. 13). So " a shameless
woman shall be counted as a dog" (Ecclus.
xxvi. 25).
Though we have spoken of the ownerless dogs
as half savage, yet even these exhibit all the
wonderful sagacity and confidence in man which
is characteristic of the domestic breeds. If a
traveller camp near a. town or village, one or
two of these pariah dogs will come and endeavour
to attract attention. If the least notice be
taken of them, or a morsel of food be given

Assyrian Dog. (Terra-cotta from Eonynnjlk.)
them, they will establish themselves as sentries
outside the tent, and faithfully guard the camp
night and day, chasing away all other dogs,
until they see the baggage packed and the tents
struck, when they will at once rejoin their less
fortunate comrades, declining to leave their
hereditary settlement. On one occasion, close
to Jerusalem, one bf these dogs visited our camp,
and being kindly received, immediately ran off,
but soon returned with a blind pup in her

DUOKS
mouth, which she deposited in a corner outside
one of the tents; and as soon as, in separate
journeys, she had brought her whole litter of
four whence we could not ascertain, she took
her station, and for a fortnight, till our depar
ture faithfully protected us, never taking any
food save what was given her, nor allowing any
foragers in our neighbourhood. If, however,
the pariah dog be taken young enough, it shows
no such local attachment, but devotes itself to
persons exclusively. The writer had one, which
he had found when a few weeks old, and which
was faithful for months, exhibiting the sagacity
of a sheep-dog, watching the horses and mules
ofthe party, driving away all others from their
pasturage, and selecting camping-places towards
nightfall, showing great disgust if the journey
were persisted in further than he approved.
The many instances of sagacity shown by these
Oriental dogs lead us to the belief that their
ancestors have at one time been very much
more reclaimed and associated with man than
at present; for the wild original, the jackal,
even when tamed, shows no such instinct or
intelligence. In the conversation of our Lord with the
SyTophoenician woman, Kvvdpiov instead of
kikhv, u Uttle dogs " or " young dogs," is used.
From this we may infer that the dog was not at
this lime held in such abhorrence as in earlier
days; and that the young dogs at least wTere
reared and cherished within the house. Perhaps
it was owing to the introduction of Roman
fashions, that the dog had begun to take <i
higher position. Onr Lord, in using the familiar
diminutive, refers to the dependence of the dog
on the family of his master, rather than to its
uncleanness, and the woman's response confirms
the inference, " Tea, Lord, for even the dogs too
eat," as the Vulgate has rightly, "Etiam,
Domine ! nam et catelli edunt."
There is no difference in type between the
shepherd's and the pariah or ownerless dog of
Palestine. Though larger than the jackal, pro
bably the wild original, it has the same sharp-
pointed ears and snout, and generally a similar
tawny coat, differing from the " collie " only in
«ng a less bushy tail. Other breeds have
hintroduced by Europeans, and the Bedawee
possess also the Persian greyhound, larger and
stronger than our p-eyhound, with long silky
hair on the ears, and a fringe of the same fine
hair on the tail. It is used for the chase of the
gazelle. .Neglected as are the dogs of the East, canine
madness is a disease unknown. [H. B. T.]
DOOBS. [Gates.]
DOPH'KAH pltJOT ; B. 'PatpaKd, A. -av,
the LXX apparently reading 1 for 1 ; Daphca),
a place mentioned in Num. xxxiii. 12, as a
station in the Desert where the Israelites en
camped. It is not yet certainly identified : con
jectures may be seen in Knobel-Dillmann on
&• xvii. 1. [H. H.]
DOR (111 and 1K1, a habitation ; in Josh.
"«¦ 11, Judg. i. 27, and 1 Ch. vii. 29, Awp ; in
Josh. xi. 2, xii. 23, and 1 K. iv. 11, *«/aeSSd;p,
iemeaXUp, WatpeSot&p, NttpBaSt&pcu ; in 1 Mace.
"• H, 13, 25, AapS. ; Dor, in 1 K. Nephathdor),
a royal city of the Canaanites whose king, as an

DOE

797

ally of Jabin king of Hazor, took part in the
battle by the waters of Merom (Josh. xi. I 2 •
xii. 23). It belonged to Manasseh, but appears
to have been situated in the territory either of
Issachar, or Asher (Josh. xvii. 11 ; 1 Ch. vii. 29) ;
it is not said wliich of the two, though there is
no doubt from other indications that it was
the latter. According to Josephus (Ant. v. 1,
§ 22) it marked the western limit of Manasseh
and the northern limit of Dan. The Canaanites
who dwelt in the city were not driven out, but
they were put to tribute (R. V. taskwork) when
Israel was strong (Judg. i. 27, 28). During the
reign of Solomon it was the station of Ben-
Abinadab, who was one of the twelve officers
appointed to provide victuals for the king and
his household, and who was also married to the
king's daughter (1 K. iv. 11); his district is
said (Jos. Ant. viii. 2, § 3) to have included the
region of Dor and the sea-coast. In the 3rd
and 2nd centuries B.C. Dor was an important
fortress, strongly fortified and well garrisoned ;
it was fruitlessly besieged by Antiochus III.
during his war with Ptolemy Philopator (Polyb.
v. 6); the usurper Tryphon fled thither when
driven from the throne by Antiochus VII.
(Sidetes), and there he was besieged, circ. 139
B.C., by Antiochus, who made several ineffectHal
attempts to take the place by assault (1 Mace.
xv. 11-25; Jos. Ant. xiii. 7, § 2 ; B. J. i. 2,
§ 2). During the civil war between Antiochus
Philometor and Antiochus Cyzicenus it was
held, with Strato's Tower, by the tyrant Zoilus,
who was able to maintain his position against
Alexander Jannaeus, but was afterwards sub
dued by Ptolemy Lathyrus (Jos. Ant. xiii. 12,
§§ 2, 4). At a later period it must have fallen
into the hands of the Jews, for it was taken
from them by Pompey, who made it a free city,
and placed it under the jurisdiction of the
Governor of Syria (Jos. Ant. xiv. 4, § 4 ; B. J.
i. 7, § 7). A few years afterwards it was re
built by Gabinius a (Jos. Ant. xiv. 5, § 3) ; and
during the reign of Herod Agrippa 1. it was the
scene of a riot during which a statue of Caesar
was set up in a synagogue of the Jews (Jos.
Ant. xix. 6, § 3). The coins of Dor show that,
like other autonomous towns in Palestine, it
adopted the era of Ptolemy; and the legend
which some of them bear, AGP . IEP .
ACYA . AYT . NAYAP-, attest its importance
under the Empire. In the 4th century a.d.
it was deserted, but Jerome speaks of it as
having once been a very powerful city (Ep. S.
Paulae, v.) ; it was an episcopal city of Palaes-
tina Prima, and one of its Bishops took part in
the Council of Constantinople. In the time of
the Crusades it was sometimes called Pirgul,
perhaps from Tlvpyos.
Dor is included in Phoenicia by Josephus (Vit.
8 • B. J. i. 21, § 5), who states that it was a
maritime city near Mount Carmel, and that it
had no harbour to protect ships from the S.
wind (Ant. xv. 9, § 6 ; cont. Ap. ii. 10). Ac
cording to Claudius Julius, quoted by Stephen of
Byzantium (Reland, p. 739), it was a small town
inhabited by Phoenicians, who, attracted by the
abundance of the shell-fish from which the
purple dye was obtained, had settled there,

» In B. J. i. 8, $ i, the name of the town rebuilt by
Gabinius is 'ASoipeo!, as if it were Adoraim, now Mra.

798

DOEA

made a harbour, and called the place, in their
own tongue, Dora. Some, however, maintained
that the town was founded by Dorus, a son of
Neptune. Scylax (42) calls it a city of the
Sidonians, and in the inscription on the sarco
phagus of Eshmunazar it is stated to have been
added to the dominions of Sidon by that mon
arch.11 Under the form Du-u-ru it is mentioned
with Megiddo in an Assyrian geographical list
(Schrader, p. 168). In the Onomastioon it is said
to be 9 miles from Caesarea Palaestina on the
road to Tyre ; in the Peutinger Table it is
written Thora, and the distance is given as
8 miles. Dor is now Kh. Tanturah, a, little N. of the
village of the same name. The most con
spicuous ruins are a mound and mediaeval
tower, picturesquely situated on a low promon
tory, and separated from each other by a rock-
hewn ditch. North of the promontory are the
remains of the ancient harbour, and of a payed
road which ran up the coast ; there are also
traces of a colonnade, and several rock-hewn
tombs and cisterns (PEF. Mem. ii. 3, 7-10 ;
Gu^rin, Samarie, ii. 305-15).
There is much difference amongst commenta
tors and translators as to the meaning of the
word 1133, used in connexion with Dor ih Josh.
xi. 2, xii. 23, and 1 K. iv. 11. In A. V. it is
rendered " border," " coast," and " region," but
in R. V. " height " of Dor ; the LXX. take it to
be a proper name, $evae$5i>p or NetpBadi&p ; the
Vulgate has, in Josh. xi. 2, et regionibus Dor
juxta mare, in Josh. xii. 23, Dor et provinciae
Dor, and in 1 K. iv. 11, Nephathdor. In the
Onomastioon (OS.2 250, 56 ; 283, 3) Eusebius
has Aip toO Natba.6 and rJcupedbcJop, which he
identifies with maritime Dor ; and Jerome (OS.2
115, 22 ; 142, 13) Dor Naphet and Nefeddor, to
which he adds, quod Symmachus interpretatur
maritimam. In Josh. xvii. 11, where the word
occurs again, the renderings are still more
remarkable : A. V. " even three countries ; "
R. V. "even the three heights"; LXX. to
Tpirov ttjs MtHpeTti: (A. NatpeBd) ; and the Vul
gate, tertia pars urbis Nopheth. [W.]
DOEA (Aapci; Dora), 1 Mace. xv. 11,13,
25. [Doe.]
DOE'OAS. [Tabitha.]
DOEYMENES (Aopvptvns), father of
Ptolemy-Macron (1 Mace. iii. 38 ; 2 Mace. iv.
45). As this Ptolemy was in the service of
Ptolemy Philometor, king of Egypt, before he
deserted to Antiochus Epiphanes, it is probable
that his father Dorymenes is the same as he
who fought against Antiochus the Great (Polyb.
v. 61). [W. A. W.]
DO'SITHETJS (AoitriBtos; Dositheus, Dosi-
tliaeus). 1. One iof the captains of Judas Mac
cabaeus in the battle against Timotheus (2 Mace.
xii. 19, 24).
2. A horse-soldier of Bacenor's company, a.
man of prodigious strength, who, in attempting
b Tbe orthography 1^1 which occurs in the Esh
munazar inscription is confirmed by the cuneiform
inscriptions (see MV."), and is equivalent to the Arabic

DOTHAN
to capture Gorgias, was cut down by a Thracian
(2 Mace. xii. 35).
3. The son of Drimylus, a Jew, who had
renounced the law of his fathers, and was in the
camp of Ptolemy Philopator at Raphia (3 Mace.
i. 3). He appears to have frustrated the attempt
of Theodotus to assassinate the king. According
to the Syriac Version, he put in the king's tent
a man of low rank (&o-np6v riva), who was
slain instead of his master. Polybius (v. 81)
tells us that it was the king's physician who
thus perished. Dositheus was perhaps a cham
berlain. [VV. A. W.]
4. "A priest and Levite," who carried the
translation of Esther to Egypt (Esth. xi. 1, 2).
It is scarcely likely that he is identical with
the Dositheus mentioned (Joseph, c. Ap. ii. 5) as
one of the " commanders of the forces " of Ptolemy
VI. Philometor, though he probably lived in the
reign of that monarch. [B. F. W.]
DO'THAIM. [Dothan.]
DO'THAN (once [JIVI, Dothain, and in
contracted form [11 ; = possibly itco wells
— Ges. pp. 332, 568 ; Dothain; in 2 K. Dothan,
but ed. 1590 Dothain), a place first mentioned
(Gen. xxxvii. 17 ; ADE. AwBdeip) in connexion
with the history of Joseph, and apparently as
in the neighbourhood of Shechem. It next
appears as the residence of Elisha (2 K. vi. 13 ;
BA. AwBdeip), and the scene of a remarkable
vision of horses and chariots of fire surrounding
"the mountain" (111), on which the city
stood. It is not again mentioned in the 0. T. ;
but later still we encounter it — then evidently
well known — as a landmark in the account of
Holofernes' campaign against Bethulia (Judith
iv. 6 ; vii. 3, 18 ; viii. 3). The change in the
name Dothaim is due to the Greek text, from
which this book is translated. In the Vat. and
Alex, and Vulg. texts, it is also mentioned in
Judith iii. 9, where the E. V. has "Judea"
('lovbalas for Awralas. Cp. Speaker's Comm. in
loco), and all these passages testify to its situa
tion being in the centre of the country near the
southern edge of the great plain of Esdraelon.
Dothain was known to Eusebius (OS.2 249, 38),
who places it 12 miles to the N. of Sebaste
(Samaria) ; and here it has been at length dis
covered in our own times by Mr. Van de Velde
(i. 364, &c.) and Dr. Robinson (iii. 122), still
bearing its ancient name unimpaired, and
situated at the south end of a plain of the
richest pasturage, 4 or 5 miles S.W. of Jenin,
and separated only by a swell or two of hills
from the plain of Esdraelon. The Tell, or
mound on which the ruins stand, is described as
very large (" huge," Van de Velde, i. 364) ; at
its southern foot is still a fine spring. Close to
it is an ancient road, running N. and S., the
remains of the massive (Jewish ?) pavement of
which are still distinguishable (V. de Velde,
pp. 369-70). The great road from Beisan to
Egypt also passes near Dothan (Rob. iii. 122).
The traditional site was at the Khan Jubb Yusuf
near Tell Hum, at the N. of the Sea of Galilee
(see the quotations in Rob. ii. 419). It need
hardly be said that this position is not in
accordance with the requirements of the narra
tive. See also PEF. Mem. ii. 169, 215;
Gu<5rin, Samarie, ii. 219-222. [G] [W.]

WJ AU 11 J.J.

DOVE, PIGEON

799

DO TO WIT. The words occur in the A.V.
of 2 Cor. viii. 1, " We do you to wit of the
jrace of God." The phrase, now obsolete, is
replaced in the R. V. by the words " We make
fcnown to you," &c. " Do " was formerly used
in the sense of "make" or "cause," and "to
wit " i» the sense of "to know." See D. 11.,
Amer. edit. [F.]
DOVE, PIGEON (131% yonah; irepttrrepd;
oohmba), TUETLE, TURTLE-DOVE (1W,
tor • rpvytbv ; turtur). As these birds are closely
allied, and as they generally are mentioned in
connexion with each other, it will be conve
nient to treat of them together. Yonah is used
of the pigeon tribe in general, comprising both
pigeons and turtle-doves ; but more frequently
for birds of the genus Columba, as distinguished
from tor, the genus Turtur ; while tor is used
only of the latter. But of both genera there
are several very distinct species in the Holy
Land. fll'V is derived by Stade from an unused
root n3\ which may be an older pronuncia
tion of 13K, "to sigh," "to mourn." The
derivations suggested by Gesenius for 11)1
seem less satisfactory, for the name is phonetic,
evidently derived from the plaintive cooing
of the dove, like the Latin turtur. 7t'l3, gozal,
translated in Gen. xv. 9 "a young pigeon,"
is, as may be seen from Deut. xxxii. 11,
simply the young of any bird, as we should
say "a cheeper," from its cry (Lat. pipiens).
The dove is mentioned more than sixty times
in the sacred writings, and from the con
nexion in which the names occur we see
that the Hebrews, while they distinguished the
pigeon (yonah), indifferently termed " dove " in
both our Versions, from the turtle-dove (tor),
were perfectly aware of their natural affinity.
The first mention of the dove is in Gen. viii.
8-12, where Xoah three times sent out a dove
from the ark, as the waters began to abate.
Possibly already the dove had been domesticated
even before the Deluge ; and certainly so far as
we have any historical record, it was the earliest
domesticated bird, retained by man in the same
semi-domestic state in Egypt and the East as
at this day in our own conntry. We have no
evidence of any other bird being domesticated
hy the Jews before the time of Solomon, who
introduced peacocks, and most probably at the
same time barn-door fowls and other gallina
ceous birds from India. Ducks and geese,
reclaimed from a very early date in colder cli
mates, are rarely kept in Palestine, the heat
and drought being, unless in a very few locali
ties, obstacles to their successful cultivation.
But tame pigeons, all of them from the same
original wild stock, the Rock-dove or Blue-rock
(Columba livid), have always been universally
reared in the East. To this day, in Syria, the
pigeon is the invariable companion of man
wherever he has a settled habitation. The
richer people and the village sheikhs have large
isolated dovecots built of clay or sun-dried
brick, filled with wide-mouthed earthen pots
laid on their side, each of which is the home of
a pair of birds. The poorer people have similar
jars, or square pigeon-holes, in long rows inside

their houses, just under the roof, opposite to
the door which is the only modo of exit and
entry for the winged as for the human inhabit
ants. It is interesting to note, as also illus
trating the extreme antiquity of their domesti
cation, that all the principal " fancy " races, as
fantails, trumpeters, jacobins, and especially
black carriers, are much valued throughout the
East, where they seem to have originated, and
whence they were introduced into Western
Europe. The pigeon and turtle-dove were the only
birds recognised for sacrifice under the Mosaic
law, and indeed their use for this purpose dates
much further back, as may be seen from
Gen. xv. 9, where Abram is enjoined to offer a
turtle-dove and a young pigeon. The two are
almost always mentioned together. A pair of
the one or the other is constantly enjoined as a
substitute for those who were too poor to pro
vide a lamb or a kid, and these birds were
admissible as trespass, sin, or burnt offering.
So, for the purification of the leper, "two
turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as
he is able to get; the one shall be a sin
offering, and the other a burnt offering"
(Lev. xiv. 22). The like is commanded for
ordinary purification (Lev. xv. 14, 29). For
the purification of the Nazarite who had been
accidentally defiled, two turtles or two young
pigeons were exclusively enjoined. For the
purification of women after childbirth, " if she
be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall
bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons "
(Lev. xii. 8, R. V.), as was done by the mother
of our Lord (Luke ii. 22-24).
From the great abundance of pigeons, the
offering must have been one within the reach of
the poorest, and the offerer was accepted accord
ing to that he had, and not according to that
he hail not. There is a significance also in the
expression young pigeons, and also in the alterna
tive, turtle-doves, which was a still further con
cession to extreme poverty : for unlike the dove
cot pigeon, the turtle-dove, from its migratory
habit and its timid disposition, has never yet
been kept in a state of free domestication like
its congener. But being extremely numerous
from spring to autumn, and never shunning the
neighbourhood of man, while it resorts to gar
dens and olive-yards for nidification, its young
might easily be found and captured by those
who were so poor .as not even to possess pigeons.
Again the turtle-dove is easily captured by
snares or nets on the ground, and many are thus
taken at the present day in Syria ; but the wild
pigeon is much more wary and suspicious. But
while the turtle-dove is a migrant, and can only
be taken from spring to autumn, the wild rock-
doves, which abound in " clouds " in Palestine,
are permanent residents, roosting in the cliffs
and deep glens which seam the hill-country,
and in old wells in the plains. Not only so, but
they rear several broods in the year; their
food being always abundant in a country where
the characteristic herbage is of the Leguminosae
order, on the leaves as well as the fruit of
which the pigeon tribe principally subsist.
There is also force in the adjective " young ; "
for while the adult turtle-dove can be trapped,
it was hopeless, before the introduction of fire
arms, to secure the old pigeon, while the nest-

800

DOVE, PIGEON

lings could easily be procured among the cliffs,
and therefore are specially permitted for use in
sacrifice. Various characteristics of the dove, both
tame and wild, are alluded to in Scripture.
Either may be intended by the Prophet when
he asks, "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and
as the doves to their windows ? " (Is. lx. 8),
where the windows may refer either to the lat
ticed openings in the dovecots, to permit the
passage of the birds, or to the clefts and fissures
of the rocks to which the wild pigeons resort.
The distinctive and characteristic habit of the
rock-dove, the wild original of our dovecot
pigeon, is that, contrary to the habit of all the
other species, it invariably selects cliffs, deep
ravines, or in their absence wells or ancient
cisterns for nesting and roosting, and always
avoids trees or the neighbourhood of man. This
is referred to in Canticles : " 0 my dove, that
art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places
of the stairs " [" in the covert of the steep place,"
R. V.] (ii. 14). " 0 ye that dwell in Moab,
leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be
like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides
of the hole's mouth " (Jer. xlviii. 28), which
may refer to its resorting to deserted wells and
cisterns. Again, " They shall be on the moun
tains like doves of the valleys, all of them
mourning " (Ezek. vii. 16), " valleys " (n'VKS)
here being &03, " a ravine where there is no
water " (Gesen.). The myriads of rock-doves in
the wilder parts of Palestine are beyond computa
tion, far exceeding the numbers of the domestic
birds. The country, especially the parts abut
ting on the Jordan valley, is admirably adapted
for them, abounding in deep gorges or " wddys "
with precipitous cliffs of soft limestone, honey
combed in all directions by fissures and caves
natural and artificial. Several of these gorges
are named " Wddy Hamam," i.e. Pigeon ravine.
One of the most remarkable of these is the
Wady Hamam leading up to Hattin from the
Plain of Gennesaret, where the famous " robbers'
caves " are inhabited by thousands of rock-doves,
whose swift flight and roosting-places far in
the fissures render them secure from the attacks
of the birds of prey which share the caverns
with them. Above all, they remain in the
cliffs of the ravines of the Arnon and Callirrhoe
of Moab, in " clouds " as numerous as in the
days of Jeremiah. It is to the rock-dove that
the Psalmist makes reference when he speaks of
"the wings of a dove covered with silver, and
her feathers with yellow gold " (Ps. Ixviii. 13) ;
Alluding to the metallic lustre, especially on
the neck, which glistens like silver, and the
wings with the gleam of gold in the sunshine.
The swift flight of the pigeon is alluded to in
several passages. " Oh that I had wings like a
dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest "
(Ps. lv. 6, and so Hos. xi. 11). Some of the
scriptural allusions apply equally to the pigeon
and the turtle, as for instance those referring to
the plaintive mournful note : " I did mourn as
a dove "(Is. xxxviii. 14. See also ch. lix. 11,
and Nah. ii. 7). The " coo " of each species of
the Columbidae is perfectly distinct, and can be
discriminated by the naturalist, but all consist
of two notes of similar character. The amative-
ness of the dove is also referred to in Cant. ii.
14, vi. 9. On this account it was sacred to

DOVE, PIGEON
Venus both among the Phoenicians and the
Greeks. Stanley (S. Sf P., p. 257), speaking of
Askalon as the haunt of the Syrian Venus, says
" Her temple is destroyed, but the sacred doves
— sacred by immemorial legends on the spot,
and celebrated there even as late as Eusebius 
still fill with their cooingsthe luxuriant gardens
which grow in the sandy hollow within the
ruined walls." It is supposed that the dove
was placed upon the standards of the Assyrians
and Babylonians in honour of Semiramis.
Tibullus (i. 7) says : —
" Quid referam ut volitet crebras intacta per urbes
Alba Palestino sancta columba Syro."
Its gentle eye has supplied several com
parisons, as in Cant. i. 16, iv. I. /The brio-lit red
skin round the dark eye of the turtle explains
the verse, "His eyes are like doves beside tbe
water brooks ; washed with milk, and fitly set "
(v. 12, R. V.).
But, above all, our blessed Lord has laid
hold of the innocence and gentleness of the
dove, to exemplify the Christian character,
" harmless as doves." The same character
rendered it the fitting emblem under which
the appearance of the Holy Spirit is described,
when He appeared in a visible form at the
Baptism of the Saviour, " descending like a
dove, and lighting upon Him " (Matt. iii. 16).
Three or four species of dove, and three of
turtle, inhabit Palestine. Of the former, the
most abundant, Columba livia (L.), or Rock-dove,
has already been treated of. It is the only
pigeon of the coast. It is found in all suitable
localities in Europe, from Norway to Portugal
and the Black Sea ; in all North Africa as far as
Sierra Leone and Abyssinia ; and in the whole
of Asia. The bird of the Jordan Valley, Moab
and Egypt, as well as of a great part of Southern
Asia, has been distinguished as Columba schim-
peri (Bp.), from its rump being ashy instead of
white. But I have found the two interbreeding,
and having every intermediate grade of colora
tion, which leads me to doubt the specific value of
the distinction. The Stock dove, Columba aenas
(L.), is also found, but not in large numbers, and
only in the wooded parts of the country. In
winter the highlands, north and south, Mount
Carmel, and especially the forests of Gilead,
are visited by myriads of the common wood-
pigeon or ring-dove, Columba palumbus (L.),
which all quit the country for the north early
in March.
Of the genus Turtur, or Turtle-dove, three
species are found. Of these the Collared Turtle,
Turtur risorius (L.), the largest species of the
group, resides throughout the year in consider
able numbers in the Jordan valley, wherever
there are trees. In summer it is sparsely spread
through Gilead, and in the woods of Tabor and
Carmel. It is a strictly Asiatic species; and
though it straggles as far as the Bosphorus,
Palestine may be looked on as its ordinary
western limit, and India as its central home. It
is the original of the blanched and somewhat
degenerated turtle-dove of our English aviaries.
The second species, the Palm Turtle (Turtur sene-
galensis, L.), has a rather wider range in Palestine
than the former, but is nowhere very numerous,
except near the Dead Sea, where it resides
throughout the year, and is extremely common.

DOVE, PIGEON
It is also a permanent resident in Jerusalem,
many pairs living in the enclosure of the Mosque
of Omar, and in the gardens of the city. It is
very familiar and confiding in man, and is never
molested. Its natural home is among the
palm-trees, and in Arabia and in all the oases
of the Sahara it swarms wherever the palm
grows. It is not impossible that it in some
measure may have supplied the sacrifices in the
wilderness. In Arabia every palm-tree is the
home of two or three pairs. In the crown of a
single date-tree I have found five or six nests
placed together. In such camps as that of
Elim a considerable supply of these doves mav
have been obtained.
But the turtle-dove which is most abundant,
and that to which undoubtedly the scriptural
allusions refer, is our own turtle-dove, Turtur
communis (Selby), well known during the summer
months in the southern counties of England.
Its return in spring is one of the best marked
epochs in the ornithological calendar. This
regularity of migration is allnded to by
Jeremiah (viii. 7), "The turtle and the crane
and the swallow observe the time of their
coming." And in Cant. ii. 11, 12 we have this
exquisite picture of spring : " Lo, the winter is
past ; the rain is over and gone : the flowers
appear on the earth ; the time of the singing
of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land." So Pliny, " Hyeme mutis,
a vere vocalibns ; " and Aristotle (Hist. An. ix.
8), "Turtle-doves spend the summer in cold
countries, the winter in warm ones." But
elsewhere (viii. 5) he makes it hybernate (tboXei).
There is no more sure evidence of the return of
spring in Mediterranean countries than the
arrival of the turtle-dove. Especially is this the
case in Palestine. Search the glades and valleys
even by sultry Jordan at the end of March, and
not a turtle-dove is to be seen. Return in the
second week of April, and clouds of turtle-doves
are feeding on the trefoils of the plain. They
stock every thicket and tree ; at every step they
flutter up from the herbage in front of you —
they perch on every tree and bush — they over
spread the whole face of the land. So universal,
sftsimultaneous, so conspicuous is their migration,
that the Prophet might well place the turtle
dove at the head of those birds which " observe
the time of their coming." While other song
sters are heard chiefly in the morning, or only
at intervals; the turtle, immediately on its
arrival, pours forth from every garden, grove,
and wooded hill, its melancholy yet soothing
ditty, unceasingly from early dawn till sunset.
If any surprise be felt at the great multitudes
of these birds, and the question be asked how
they all find sustenance, we must remember
that the rank herbage of the plains is now in
its full luxuriance, and consists largely of
clovers, lucernes, and astragalus, the leaves
of which plants are the favourite food of the
dove. [There is therefore no limit to the number
which the country can maintain in spring and
early summer. The common turtle-dove in
habits in summer all the temperate parts of
Europe, Western Asia as far as Afghanistan,
and Africa north of the Sahara. Its winter-
qaarters are in Central Africa. In Eastern Asia
Jt is represented by a closely allied species, Turtur
^enUis (Lath.). TQ.. B. T]
BIBLE DICT.— VOL. I.

DOVE'S DUNG

801

DOVE'S DUNG (D>3i»ln, chirydnim; Keri,
D^VIll, dibyoniin : Koirpos irepioTepaJi/ : stercus
culiimbariwi). Various explanations have been
given of the passage in 2 K. vi. 25, which
describes the famine of Samaria to have been su
excessive, that •' an aXs head was sold for four
score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a
cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver."
The old Versions and very many ancient com
mentators are in favour of a literal interpreta
tion of the Hebrew word. Bochart (Hieroz. ii.
572) has laboured to show that it denotes a
species of cicer, '• chick-pea," which he says the
- ^ %
Arabs call usndn (^U*J)> and sometimes im
properly "dove's or sparrow's dung." Lin
naeus suggested that the chirydnim may signify
the Ornithogalum umbellatum, " Star of Bethle
hem." On this subject the late Dr. Edward
Smith remarks (English Botany, iv. p. 130, ed.
1814): " If Linnaeus is right, we obtain a sort
of clue to the derivation of ornithogalum (birds'
milk), which has puzzled all the etymologists.
May not this observation apply to the white
fluid Which always accompanies the dung of
birds, and is their urine ? One may almost
perceive a similar combination of colours in the
green and white of this flower, which accords
precisely in this respect with the description
which Dioscorides gives of his ornithogalum "
(see- also Linnaeus, Prelectiones, ed. P. D. Giseke,
p. 287). Sprengel (Comment, on Dioscorides,
ii. 173) is inclined to adopt the explanation of
Linnaeus. Fuller (Miscell. Sacr. vi. 2, p. 724)
understood by the term the crops of pigeons
with their indigested contents. Josephus (Antiq.
ix. 4) thought that dove's dung might have been
used instead of salt. Harmer (Observat. iii. 185)
was of opinion, that as pigeon's dung was a
valuable manure for the cultivation of melons,
it might have been needed during the siege of
Samaria for that purpose. Most of these inter
pretations have little to recommend them, and
have been refuted by Bochart and others. With
regard to Bochart's own opinion, Celsius (Hierob.
ii. 30) and Rosenmiiller (Not. ad Bochart, Hieroz.
ii. 582) have shown that it is founded on an error,
and that he confuses the Arabic tia^^., the
name of some species of saltwort (Salsola), with
t)a-+2~, cicer, a " vetch," or chick-pea. The
explanation of Linnaeus appears to us to be far
fetched ; and there is no evidence whatever to
show that the Arabs ever called this plant by a
name equivalent to dove's dung. On the other
hand, it is true that the Arabs apply this or a
kindred expression to some plants. Thus it was
sometimes used to denote a kind of moss or
lichen (Kuz-iendem, Arabic^) ; also some alkali-
yielding plant, perhaps of the genus Salsola
(ashnan, or usnan, Arab.). In favour of this
explanation, it is usual to compare the German
Teufelsdreck ("devil's dung") as expressive of
the odour of asafoetida (see Gesenius, Thes.
p. 516). A small species of Holcus sorghum, per
haps identical with the Hebrew chirydnim, is
still extensively cultivated in Kurdistan. This
millet, from being small and round, may have
been called by the Hebrews in olden time Khare
of Doves, or, as we should say, " Doves' seed."
1 3 F

802

DOWEY

The advocates for the literal meaning of the
expression, viz. that dove's dung was abso
lutely used as food during the siege, appeal
to the following reference in Josephus (Bell.
Jud. v. 13, 7): "Some persons were driven to
snch terrible distress as to search the common
sewers and old dunghills of cattle, and to eat
the dung which they got there, and what they
of old could not endure so much as to look upon
they now used for food." See also Eusebius
(H. E. iii. 6) : " Indeed necessity forced them
to apply their teeth to everything ; and gather
ing what was no food even for the filthiest of
irrational animals, they devoured it." Celsius,
who is strongly in favour of the literal meaning,
quotes the following passage from Bruson
(Memorabil. ii. u. 41) : " Cretenses, obsidente
Metello, ob penuriam vini aquarumque jumen-
torum urina sitim sedasse ; " and one much
to the point from a Spanish writer, who states
that in the year 1316 so great a famine distressed
the English, that " men ate their own children,
dogs, mice, and pigeon's dung." Lady Callcott
(Scrip. Herb. p. 130) thinks that by the pigeon's
dung is meant the Ornithogalum umbellatum.
We cannot allow this explanation ; because, if
the edible and agreeable bulb of this plant was
denoted, it is impossible that it should have been
mentioned by the Spanish chronicler along with
dogs, mice, &c. As an additional argument in
favour of the literal interpretation of the passage
in question may be adduced the language of
Rabshakeh to the Jews in the time of Hezekiah
(2 K. xviii. 27 ; Is. xxxvi. 12). Keil's cautious
comment is (Comment. 1. c.) : " The above-stated
facts prove no doubt the possibility, even the
probability, of the literal meaning, but not its
necessity ; for which reason we refrain, with
Gesenius, from deciding." Without venturing
on any dogmatic statement, we recall, after
comparing these many authorities, the trite
remark, that the simplest explanation is often
the best. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
DOWEY. [Marriage.]
DEAOHMA (Spaxp-il ; drachma ; 2 Mace.
iv. 19, x. 20, xii. 43 ; * Luke xv. 8, 9), a Greek
silver coin varying in weight on account of the
use of different talents. The Jews at the time
to which the Second Book of Maccabees relates
must have used drachmae of two talents, — the
Attic, of which the drachma then weighed about
64 grs., and the Phoenician, about 59 grs. at
Aradus, and elsewhere about 56 ; they may also
have used the Rhodian drachma of 60 grs.
The Maccabaean shekels follow the Phoenician
talent.

Attic drachma: late. (British Museum. Actual size.)

In St. Luke denarii seem to be intended by
drachmae, for in the Evangelist's time the Attic

a In tbe first and second of these passages the Vulg.
has didrachma.

DEAGON
drachma, the last survivor of the Greek
drachmae, had fallen to the weight of the
Roman denarius and practically lost its identity.
In Palestine denarii must have been the common
silver coins. [Monet.] pj, §_ p j
DEAGON. In the A. V. two similar but
distinct Hebrew words have been so rendered :
)J1, tan, and J'jIJ-l, tannin. In this identification
the translators followed the Vulgate ; and the
confusion is the more easily accounted for since
the masculine plural of |PI is written in Lam.iv.
3 pjJl instead of D'J'JFI, and on the other hand
the plural ?'•aPl is used for the singular |»3H in
Ezek. xxix. 3 and xxxii. 2. The LXX. however
have recognised the distinctness of the words
and so has the R. V., which invariably translates
I PI correctly by "jackal."
I. Tan occurs, always in the plural, in the
following passages : "lama brother to dragons,
and a companion to ostriches " (Job xxx. 29) *
"An habitation of dragons and a court for
ostriches" (Is. xxxiv. 13); "The dragons and
the ostriches " (ib. xliii. 20), in all which the
LXX. has treiprjves. In Is. xiii. 22, where the
LXX. has trrpovBoi, the A. V. reads : " The wild
beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate
houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces ; "
but the R. V.: "Wolves shall cry in their
castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces."
In Jer. ix. 11, xiv. 6, li. 37, and Mic. i. 8, the
LXX. 'has SpdtcovTes. Gesenius derives the word
from an unused root, |3R, " to extend," " draw
out," cognate with the Sanscrit tan, reiva,
tendo, tenuis, German diinn, dehnen, and applied
to the jackal from its long-drawn howl. One
of the Arabic names for a wolf is ...\ja!>, teynan,
and for the jackal ^A ^\, "son of howl
ing." In all the passages of Scripture where
the word occurs, it is in connexion either with
ostriches, with wild beasts, with deserts, or
with the sound of wailing, or snuffing up the
wind. Now all these suit the jackal exactly,
and certainly point to no serpent or monster.
The jackal (Canis aureus, L., from its tawny
yellow colour) is and always has been extremely
common in all the countries south and east of
the Mediterranean to the far east of Asia. It
inhabits the whole of Africa, and in Europe it is
found in Southern Russia, Turkey, and Greece, ,
as far as the northern point of the Adriatic.
The Holy Land, from the number of caves and
old tombs which afford it concealment every
where, is an especial home of the jackal. The .
traveller, whether in towns or in camp, nightly [
hears the wailing cry, as the packs scour the 1
country in seach of food. But though ever on
the alert to seize any stray sheep or kid, they
are most inoffensive to man. Nowhere are they
more numerous than in the ruins of Baalbek, ;
where indeed " the jackals howl in the pleasant
palaces." II. Tannin, p$F| (plur. D'O'JR), is always;
rendered by Spdicoiv in the LXX. except in Gen. ,
i. 21 — where we find ktjtos, A. V. "great,'
whales," R. V. " great sea-monsters." It seems .
to refer to any great monster, whether of the ,
land or the sea, being more usually applied to
some kind of reptile or serpent, but not exclu-

DEAGON
sively restricted to that sense. It is identical
with the Arabic ijj£, of which there are many
fabulous accounts, suggesting the stories of the
sea-serpent. When referring to the sea, it is
used as a parallel to JfVl?, leviathan, as in
Is. xxvii. 1 (A. V. and R. V. " dragon "). When
vre examine special passages, we find the word
used in Gen. i. 21 of the great sea-monsters, the
representatives of the inhabitants of the deep.
The same sense is given to it in Ps. lxxiv. 13
(where it is again connected with " leviathan "),
Ps. cxlviii. 7, and in Job vii. 12 (Vulg. cetus,
A, V. " whale," R. V. " sea-monster "). On the
other hand, in Ex. vii. 9, 10, 12, it refers to a
land serpent, in Deut. xxxii. 33 to a poisonous
land serpent, and in Ps. xci. 13 to a powerful
land reptile, where A. V. has '• dragon " and
E. V. " serpent." It is also applied in several
passages metaphorically to symbolize the power
of Pharaoh and of Egypt, of which the crocodile,
fhe great monster of the Nile, was the emblem.
"Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and
wounded the dragon ? '' (Is. li. 9.) '¦ Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in
the midst of his rivers " (Ezek. xxix. 3).
"Thou earnest forth with thy rivers, and
tamblest the waters with thy feet " (ch. xxxii.
2). The mention of feet in the latter passage
shows that neither a whale nor a serpent is
intended. [See Leviathan.] The same word
is also applied to Nebuchadnezzar in Jer. li. 34.
Though no crocodile is found at the present day
in the Euphrates or the Tigris, yet there is
every reason to believe that they formerly
existed there, as they do still on all the other
great rivers of Asia ; and even in small
streams, as under Mount Carmel ; but they
were extirpated, as in Lower Egypt, by the dense
population which once lived on the banks of
those rivers. If, as some have supposed, the
land of Uz was nn the Upper Tigris, Job may
have had personal knowledge of the crocodile.
Such is the usage of the word " dragon " in
the 0. T. In the N. T. it is only found in the
Apocalypse (Rev. xii. 3, 4, 7, 9, 16, 17, &c.) as
applied metaphorically to "the Old Serpent,
called the Devil and Satan," the description of
the "dragon" being dictated by the symbolical
meaning of the image, rather than by any
reference to any actually existing creature. Of
similar personification, either of an evil spirit
or of the powers of material nature, as distinct
from God, we have traces in the extensive
prevalence of dragon- worship and existence of
dragon-temples of peculiar serpentine form ; the
Me of dragon-standards, both in the East,
especially in Egypt (see also the apocryphal
kistory of Bel and the Dragon), in China and
Japan to the present day ; and in the west,
more particularly among the Keltic tribes. The
most remarkable" of all, perhaps, is found in the
feek legend of Apollo as the slayer of the
Pjrffhon, and the supplanter of serpent-worship
by a higher wisdom. The reason at least of
the scriptural symbol is to be sought, not only
rothe union of gigantic power with craft and
malignity, of which the serpent is the natural
emblem, but in the record of the serpent's
agency in the temptation and fall (Gen. iii.).
[A. B.] [H. B. T]

DEEAMS

803

DEAGON WELL (pSPin |W, R. V. Dra
gon's Well, but more correctly " Dragon's
Fountain." The LXX., apparently reading
D'SNrrpr, translate irqyti rav ovkSiv, " fountain
of fig-trees " ; the Vulgate, fons Draconis), a
spring, or perhaps an outflow, from an aqueduct,
in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, which
is mentioned in the account of Nehemiah's night
inspection of the city walls (Neh. ii. 13). It was
probably in the valley to the west of Jerusalem,
now called " valley of Hinnom ; " and may
have been an outflow of the aqueduct from
" Solomon's Pools." * No true spring is known
in the " valley of Hinnom " at the present day.
Robinson (i. 514, 1st ed.) supposes it to be
another name of Gihon, and places it in the
northern part of the " valley of Hinnom ; " Bar
clay (City of Great King, p. 315, 1st ed.), below
the " Jaffa Gate ; " and so also Riehm (s. v.).
Sepp (Jerusalem u. d. H. L. i. 330) identifies it
with the Hammdm esh-Shefa well in the Tyro-
poeon Valley ; and Sayce (PEFQy. Stat. 1883,
p. 217), placing it in the same valley, connects
it with the rock-hewn conduit discovered by
Sir C. Warren on the west side of the Temple
Hill. [W.]
DEAM. [Daric]
DEEAMS (nib?n ; ivinrvta ; somnia ; KaB'
Srrvov in LXX., and kot' ovap in St. Matthew,
are generally used for " in a dream "). The
Scriptural record of God's communication with
man by dreams has been so often supposed to
involve psychological difficulty, that it seems not
out of place to refer briefly to the nature and
characteristics of dreams generally, before enu
merating and classifying the dreams recorded in
Scripture. I. The main difference between our sleeping
and waking thoughts appears to lie in this, —
that, in the former case, the perceptive faculties
of the mind (the sensational powers," and the
imagination which combines the impressions
derived from them) are active, while the re
flective powers (the reason or judgment by
which we control those impressions, and dis
tinguish between those which are imaginary or
subjective and those which correspond to, and
are produced by, objective realities) are gene
rally asleep. Milton's account of dreams (in
Par. Lost, Book v. 100-113) seems as accurate
as it is striking : —
" But know, that in the mind
Are many lesser faculties, that serve
Eeason as chief: among these Fancy next
Her office holds ; of all external things,
Which the five watchful senses represent,
She forms imaginations, airy shapes,
Which Eeason, joining or disjoining, frames
All what we affirm, or what deny, and call
Our knowledge or opinion ; then retires
Into her private cell, when Nature sleeps."

• May not tbe aqueduct, with its long winding course
from " Solomon's Pools," have been called the " Tannin
" Dragon," or " Monster," as the winding ascent to the
fortress o'f Masada was called " the Serpent" ?
* These powers are to be carefully distinguished
fas in Butler's Analogy, V^ '¦ ch- O fr°m the
organs through which they are exercised when we
are awake. 3 F 2

804

DEEAMS

Thus it is that the impressions of dreams are
in themselves vivid, natural, and picturesque,
occasionally gifted with an intuition beyond our
ordinary powers, but strangely incongruous and
often grotesque. The feeling of surprise or in
credulity, which arises from a sense of incongruity,
or of unlikeness to the ordinary course of events,
is in dreams a thing almost unknown ; and even
the moral judgment, with its delight in good and
horror of evil, is at least languid, if not alto
gether dormant. The mind seems to be sur
rendered to that power of association, by which,
even in its waking hours, if it be inactive and
inclined to " musing," it is often carried through
a series of thoughts connected together by some
vao-ue and accidental association, until the
reason, when it starts again into activity, is
scarcely able to trace back the slender line of
connexion. The difference is, that, in this latter
case, we are aware that the connexion is of our
own making, while in sleep it appears to be
caused by an actual succession of events.
Such is usually the case ; yet there is a class
of dreams, seldom noticed and indeed less com
mon, but recognised by the experience of many,
in which the reason and conscience are not
wholly asleep. In these cases the mind seems to
look on as it were from without, and so to have
a double consciousness : on the one hand we enter
into the events of the dream, as though real, on
the other we have a sense that it is but a dream,
and that ere long we shall awake and its
pageant pass away.
In either case the ideas suggested are accepted
by the mind in dreams at once and inevitably,
instead of being weighed and tested, as in our
waking hours. But it is evident that the method
of such suggestion is still undetermined, and in
fact is no more capable of being accounted for by
any single cause than the suggestion of waking
thoughts. The material of these latter is sup
plied either by ourselves, through the senses, the
memory, and the imagination, or by other men,
generally through the medium of words, or
lastly by the direct action of the Spirit of God,
or of created spirits of orders superior to our own,
on the spirit within us. So also it is in dreams.
In the first place, although memory and imagina
tion supply most of the material of dreams, yet
physical sensations of cold and heat, of pain or
of relief, even actual impressions of sound or of
light, will often mould or suggest dreams, and
the physical organs of speech will occasionally
be made use of to express the emotions of the
dreamer. In the second place, instances have
been known where a few words whispered into
a sleeper's ear have produced a dream corre
sponding to their subject. On these two points
experience gives undoubted testimony ; as to
the third, it can, from the nature of the case,
speak but vaguely and uncertainly. But modern
psychological investigation certainly seems to
disclose to us the reality of a secret power of
one spirit upon another, exercised by means
utterly mysterious to us. Nor can we dismiss
as merely delusive the many records extant of
strange prophetic intuition in dreams, beyond
the limits of the mind's own ordinary insight.
The Scripture, as usual, goes beyond these
doubtful and hesitating results of speculation.
Viewing as it does all human life from a Divine
standpoint, it declares, not as any strange thing,

DEEAMS
but as a thing of course, that the influence of
the Spirit of God upon the soul extends to its
sleeping as well as its waking thoughts. It
declares that God communicates with the spirit
of man directly in dreams, and also that He
permits created spirits to have a like communi
cation with it. Its declaration is to be weighed
not as an isolated thing, but in connexion with
the general doctrine of spiritual influence-
because any theory of dreams must be regarded
as a part of the general theory of the origination
of all thought.
II. It is, of course, with this last class of
dreams that we have to do in Scripture. The
dreams of memory or imagination are indeed
referred to in Eccles. v. 3, Is. xxix. 8 ; but it is
the history of the Revelation of the Spirit of
God to the spirit of man, whether sleeping or
waking, which is the proper subject of Scripture
itself. It must be observed that, in accordance with
the principle enunciated by St. Paul in 1 Cor.
xiv. 15, dreams, in which the understanding is
asleep, are recognised indeed as a method of
Divine Revelation, but placed below the visions
of prophecy, in which the understanding . plays
its part.c It is true that the Book of Job,
standing as it does on the basis of "natural
religion," dwells on dreams and " visions in deep
sleep " as the chosen method of God's revelation
of Himself to man (see Job iv. 13, vii. 14, xxxiii.
15). But in Num. xii. 6; Deut. xiii. 1, 3, 5;
Jer. xxvii. 9 ; Joel ii. 28, &c, dreamers of
dreams, whether true or false, are placed below
" prophets," and even below " diviners ; " and
similarly in the climax of 1 Sam. xxviii. 6, we
read that " the Lord answered Saul not, neither
by dreams, nor by Urim [by symbol], nor by
prophets." Under the Christian dispensation,
while we read frequently of trances (iKtrritrcis)
and visions (ovrnxcn'ai, bpdpara), dreams are never
referred to as vehicles of Divine revelation. In
exact accordance with this principle are the
actual records of the dreams sent by God. The
greater number of such dreams were granted,
for prediction or for warning, to those who were
aliens to the Jewish covenant. Thus we have
the record of the dreams of Abirnelech (Gen. xx.
3-7), of Laban (Gen. xxxi. 24), of the chief butler
and baker (Gen. xl. 5), of Pharaoh (Gen. xii. 1-8),
of the Midianite (Judg. vii. 13), of Nebuchad
nezzar (Dan. ii. 1, &c, iv. 10-18), of the Magi
(Matt. ii. 12), and of Pilate's wife (Matt, xxvii.
19). Many of these dreams, moreover, were
symbolical and obscure, so as to require an inter
preter. And, where dreams are recorded as
means of God's Revelation to His chosen servants,
they are almost always referred to the periods
of their earliest and most imperfect knowledge
of Him. So it is in the case of Abraham (Gen. xv.
12, and perhaps vv. 1-9), of Jacob (Gen. xxviii.
12-15), of Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 5-10), of Solomon
(1 K. iii. 5), and, in the N. T., of Joseph (Matt.
i. 20 ; ii. 13, 19, 22). It is to be observed, more
over, that they belong especially to the earliest
age, and become less frequent as the revelations
0 The same order, as being the natural one, is found
in the earhest record of European mythology—
'AAA' aye Sr} riva pAvrtv cpcionev, r) iepi]0.
*H mil bveipoTtohov, Kai yap nvap eK Aios earl*
Horn. tl.i. 63.

DEESS
of prophecy increase. The only exception to
this is found in the dreams and " visions of the
night " given to Daniel (ii. 19, vii. 1), apparently
designed to meet the Chaldaean belief in pro
phetic dreams and in the power of interpretation,
putting to shame its errors and superstitions,
and yet bringing out the truth latent therein
(cp. St. Paul's miracles at Ephesus, Acts xix. 11,
12, and their effect, vv. 18-20).
The general conclusion therefore is, first, that
the Scripture claims the dream, as it does every
other action of the human mind, as a medium
through which God may speak to man either
directly, and specially, or indirectly in virtue of
a general influence upon all his thoughts ; and
secondly, that it lays far greater stress on that
Divine influence by which the understanding
also is affected, and leads us to believe that as
snch influence extends more and more, revelation
by dreams, unless in very peculiar circumstances,
might be expected to pass away. [A. B.]
DRESS. This subject includes the follow
ing particulars : — 1. Materials. 2. Colour and
decoration. 3. Names, forms, and mode of wear
ing the various articles. 4. Special usages
relating thereto. 1. The materials were various,
and multiplied with the advance of civilisation.
The earliest and simplest robe was made out of
the leaves of a tree (13X11, A. V. " fig-tree "—
and cp. the present Arabic name for the fig, tin,
or feen), portions of which were sewn together,
so as to form an apron (Gen. iii. 7). Ascetic
Jews occasionally used a similar material in
later times. Josephus ( Vita, § 2) records this
of Banus (itsBriTi piv arrb Sevbpav xp»/i£"<"') j
hut whether it was made of the leaves, or the
bark, is uncertain. After the Fall, the skins of
animals supplied a more durable material (Gen.
hi. 21), which was adapted to a rude state of
society, and is stated to have been used by
various ancient nations (Diod. Sic. i. 43, ii. 38 ;
Arrian, Ind. cap. 7, § 3 ). Skins were not wholly
disused at later periods : the addereth (J111N)
worn by Elijah appears to have been the skin of
a sheep or some other animal with the wool left
on : in the LXX. the word is rendered p-nXoyrii
(1 K. xix. 13, 19; 2 K. ii. 13), Sopd (Gen.
ixv. 25), and Sipfns (Zech. xiii. 4) ; and it may
be connected with Sopa etymologically (Saal-
schiitz, Archaeol. i. 19); Gesenius, however,
prefers the notion of amplitude, IIN, in which
case it = 11K (Micah ii. 8 ; Thesaur. p. 29).
The same material is implied in the description
0W fy?3 E»K ; avrip Sacris, LXX. ; A. V.
"hairy man," 2 K. i. 8), though these words
may also be understood of the hair of the Pro
phet; and in the comparison of Esau's skin to
such a robe (Gen. xxv. 25). It was character
istic of a Prophet's office from its mean appear
ance (Zech. xiii. 4 ; cp. Matt. vii. 15). Pelisses
cf sheep-skin a still form an ordinary article of
dress ¦ in the East (Burckhardt's Notes on
Bedouins, i. 50). The addereth worn by the
* Tbe sheep-skin coat is frequently represented in the
sculptures of Khorsabad : it was made with sleeves, and
"as worn over the tunic : it fell over the back, and
terminated in its natural state. The people wearing
it have been identified with ¦ the Sagartii (Bonomi's
Mneveh, p. 1935.

DEESS

805

king of Nineveh (Jonah iii. 6), and the "goodly
Babylonish garment" found at Ai (Josh. vii.
21), were of a different character, either robes
trimmed with valuable furs, or the skins them
selves ornamented with embroidery. The art
of weaving hair was known to the Hebrews at
an early period (Ex. xxvi. 7 ; xxxv. 6) ; the
sackcloth used by mourners was of this material
[Sackcloth], and by many writers the addereth
of the prophets is supposed to have been such.
John the Baptist's robe was of camel's hair
(Matt. iii. 4), and a similar material was in
common use among the poor of that day
(Joseph. B. J. i. 24, § 3), probably of goats'
hair, which was employed in the Roman cilicium.
At what period the use of wool, and of still
more artificial textures, such as cotton and
linen, became known, is uncertain : the first of
these, we may presume, was introduced at a
very early period, the flocks of the pastoral
families being kept partly for their wool (Gen.
xxxviii. 12) : it was at all times largely em
ployed, particularly for the outer garments
(Lev. xviii. 47; Deut. xxii. 11; Job xxxi. 20;
Prov. xxvii. 26, xxxi. 13; Ezek. xxxiv. 3). [WOOL.]
The occurrence of the term cctoneth in the Book
of Genesis (iii. 21 ; xxxvii. 3, 23) seems to in
dicate an acquaintance, even at that early day,
with the finer materials : for that term, though
significant of a particular robe, originally appears
to have referred to the material employed (the
root being preserved in our cotton ; cp. Bohlen's
Introd. ii. 51 ; Saalschiitz, Archaeol. i. 8), and
was applied by the later Jews to flax or linen,
as stated by Josephus (Ant. iii. 7, § 2, XtBopiv-n
pev KaAeiVai. Aiveov tovto o-npaivei, x*®ov
yap rb xivov Tjpeis itaXovpev). No conclusion,
however, can be drawn from the use of the
word: it is evidently applied generally, and
without any view to the material, as in Gen.
iii. 21. It is probable that the acquaintance of
the Hebrews with linen, and perhaps cotton,
dates from the period of the captivity in Egypt,
when they were instructed in the manufacture
(1 Ch. iv. 21). After their return to Palestine
we have frequent notices of linen, the finest
. kind being named shesh (W), and at a later
period butz Q>-13), the latter a word of Syrian
and the former of Egyptian origin, and each
I indicating the quarter whence the material was
procured : the term chur (HIT) was also ap
plied to it from its brilliant appearance (Is.
xix. 9 ; Esth. i. 6, viii. 15). It is the jSiWoj
of the LXX. and the N. T. (Luke xvi. 19 ; Rev.
xviii. 12, 16), and the "fine linen" ofthe A. V.
It was used in the vestments of the high-priests
(Ex. xxviii. 5 ff.), as well as by the wealthy
(Gen. xii. 42 ; Prov. xxxi. 22 ; Luke xiv. 19).
[Linen.] A less costly kind was named bad
(13 ; Xlveos), which was used for certain por
tions of the high-priest's dress (Ex. xxviii. 42 ;
! Lev. xvi. 4, 23, 32), and for the ephods of
Samuel (1 Sam. ii. 18) and David (2 Sam.
vi. 14) : it is worthy of notice, in reference to
its quality and appearance, that it is the material
! in which Angels are represented (Ezek. ix. 3, 11 ;
a. 2, 6, 7 ; Dan. a. 5, xii. 6 ; Rev. xv. 6). A
coarser kind of linen, termed wp6xtvov (Ecclus.
i xl. 4), was used by the very poor [Linen].
| The Hebrew term sadin (|HD ; cp. aivSdv, and
expresses a fine kind of linen, especially

806

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adapted for summer wear, as distinct from the
sarabatta, which was thick (Talmud, Menach.
p. 41, 1). What may have been the distinction
between shesh and sadin (Prov. xxxi. 22, 24) we
know not : the ¦ probability is that the latter
name passed from the material to a particular
kind of robe. Silk was not introduced until a
very late_ period (Rev. xviii. 12): the term
meshi CB'D ; rpixavTov ; Ezek. xvi. 10) is of
doubtful meaning [Silk]. The use of a mixed
material (T3pi?5J* ; tcipS-nXov, i.e. spurious, LXX. ;
avTitiiatceipevov, Aquil. ; ipi6Xtvov, Gr. Ven.),
such as wool and flax, was forbidden (Lev. xix.
19 ; Deut. xxii. 11), on the ground, according
to Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, § 11), that such was
reserved for the priests, or as being a practice
usual among idolaters (Spencer, Leg. Heb. Bit.
ii. 32), but more probably with the view of
enforcing the general idea of purity and sim
plicity. 2. Colour and decoration. The prevailing
colour of the Hebrew dress was the natural
white of the materials employed, which might
be brought to a high state of brilliancy by the
art of the fuller (Mark ix. 3). Some_ of the
terms applied to these materials (e.g. &T£>, |*-13>
111!) are connected with words significant of
whiteness, while many of the allusions to gar
ments have special reference to this quality
(Job xxxviii. 14 ; Ps. civ. 1, 2 ; Is. lxiii. 3) :
white was held to be peculiarly appropriate to
festive occasions (Eccles. ix. 8 ; cp. Hor. Sat.
ii. 2, 60), as well as symbolical of purity (Rev.
iii. 4, 5; iv. 4; vii. 9, 13). It is uncertain
when the art of dyeing became known to the
Hebrews; the cetoneth passim worn by Joseph
(Gen. xxxvii. 3, 23) is variously taken to be
either a " coat of divers colours " (ttoikiXos ;
polymita, Vulg. ; cp. the Greek -irdtrtreiv, H. iii.
126, xxii. 441), or a tunic furnished with sleeves
and reaching down to the ankles, as in the Ver
sions of Aquila, ao"Toa7aA€tos, KapTtti>r6s, and of
Symmachus, x^ipibt»T6s, and in the Vulg. (2 Sam.
xiii. 18), talaris, and as described by Josephus
(Ant. vii. 8, § 1). The latter is probably the
correct sense, in which case we have no evidence
of the use of variegated robes previously to the
sojourn of the Hebrews in Egypt, though the
notice of scarlet thread (Gen. xxxviii. 28) im
plies some acquaintance with dyeing, and the
light summer robe (e],l?V ; Bipitj-rpov; veil, A. V.
and R. V.) worn by Rebecca and Tamar (Gen.
xxiv. 65 ; xxxviii. 14, 19) was probably of an
ornamental character. The Egypti ans had carried
the art of weaving and embroidery to a high
state of perfection, and from them the Hebrews
learned various methods of producing decorated
stuffs. The elements of ornamentation were —
(1) weaving with threads previously dyed (Ex.
xxxv. 25 ; cp. Wilkinson, Ane. Egypt, ii. 79-81
[1878]) ; (2) the introduction of gold thread or
wire (Ex. xxviii. 6 sq.) ; (3) the addition of figures,
probably of animals and hunting or battle
scenes (cp. Layard, ii. 297), in the case of
garments, in the same manner as the cherubim j
were represented in the curtains of the Taber- )
nacle (Ex. xxvi. 1, 31; xxxvi. 8, 35). These
devices may have been either woven into the j
stuff, or cut out of other stuff and afterwards
attached by needlework : in the former case the :
pattern would appear only on one side, in the I

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latter the pattern might be varied. Such is tbfr
distinction, according to Talmudical writers
between cunning-work and needlework, or as
marked by the use of the singular and dual
number, IDpl, needlework, and D*)lDp1, needle
work [R.V. "'embroidery "] on both sides (Judg:
v. 30, A. V.), though the latter term may after
all be accepted in a simpler way as a dual=Jiai
embroidered robes (Bertheau, Comm. in loco). The
account of the corslet of Amasis (Herod, iii. 47)
illustrates the processes of decoration described
in Exodus. Robes decorated with gold (JllVSE'D
Ps. xiv. 13), and at a later period with silver
thread (Joseph. Ant. xix. 8, § 2 ; cp. Acts xii. 21),
were worn by royal personages : other kinds of
embroidered robes were worn by the wealthy
both of Tyre (Ezek. xvi. 13) and Palestine (Judg.
v. 30 ; Ps. xiv. 14). The art does not appear
to have been maintained among the Hebrews:
the Babylonians and other Eastern nations (Josh.
vii. 21 ; Ezek. xxvii. 24), as well as the Egyp
tians (Ezek. xxvii. 7), excelled in it. Nor does
the art of dyeing appear to have been followed
up in Palestine : dyed robes were imported from
foreign countries (Zeph. i. 8), particularly from
Phoenicia, and were not much used on account
of their expensiveness ; purple (Prov. xxxi. 22;
Luke xvi. 19) and scarlet (2 Sam. i. 24) were
occasionally worn by the wealthy. The sur
rounding nations were more lavish in their use
of them : the wealthy Tyrians (Ezek. xxvii. 7),
the Midianitish kings (Judg. viii. 26), the
Assyrian nobles (Ezek. xxiii. 6), and Persian
officers (Esth. viii. 15), are all represented in
purple. The general hue of the Persian dress
was more brilliant than that of the Jews:
hence Ezekiel (xxiii. 12) describes the Assyrians
as Pfop 'BQ7, lit. clothed in perfection (A. V.
and R. V. "clothed most gorgeously ") ; according
to the LXX. einrdpvtpa, wearing robes with hand
some borders. With regard to the head-dress
in particular, described as DV-13D 'D-lID
(ridpat &airrat ; A. V. and R. V. " dyed attire ; "
cp. Ov. Met. xiv. 654, mitra pieta), some doubt
exists whether the word rendered " dyed " does
not rather mean flowing (Ges. Thesaur. p. 542 ;
Layard, ii. 308).
3. The names, forms, and mode of wearing
the robes. It is difficult to give a satisfactory
account of the various articles of dress mentioned
in the Bible : the notices are for the most pan
incidental, and refer to a lengthened period of
time, during which the fashions must have
frequently changed : while the collateral sources
of information, such as sculpture, painting, or
contemporary records, are but scanty. The
general characteristics of Oriental dress have
indeed preserved a remarkable uniformity in all
ages : the modern Arab dresses much as the
ancient Hebrew did ; there are the same flowing
robes, the same distinction between the outer ,
and inner garments, the former heavy and warm,
the latter light, adapted to the rapid and ex- .
cessive changes of temperature in those countries;
and there is the same distinction between the
costume of the rich and the poor, consisting in
the multiplication of robes of a finer texture
and more ample dimensions. Hence the nume
rous illustrations of ancient costume, which may
be drawn from the usages of modern Orientals,

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supplying in great measure the want of con
temporaneous representations. With regard to
the figures which some have identified as Jews
jtt Egyptian paintings and Assyrian sculptures,
we cannot but consider the evidence insufficient.
The figures in the painting at Beni Hassan,
delineated by Wilkinson (Ane. Egypt.1, ii. 296),
and supposed by him to represent the arrival of
Joseph's brethren, are dressed in a manner at
variance with our ideas of Hebrew costume :
the more important personages wear a double
tunic, the upper one constructed so as to pass
over the left shoulder and under the right arm,
leaving the right shoulder exposed : the servants
wear nothing more than a skirt or kilt, reaching
from the loins to the knee. Wilkinson suggests
some collateral reasons for doubting whether
they were really Jews : to which we may add a
further objection that the presents, which these
persons bring with them, are not what we should
expect from Gen. xliii. 11. Certain figures
inscribed on the face of a rock at Behistun, near
Kermanshah, were supposed by Sir R. K. Porter
to represent Samaritans captured by Shalmane
ser: they are given in Vaux's Xineveh, p. 372.
These sculptures are now recognised as of a
later date, and the figures evidently represent
people of different nations, for the tunics are
alternately short and long. In another instance
the figures are simply dressed in a short tunic,
with sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, and
confined at the waist by a girdle, a style of dress
which was so widely spread throughout the
East that it is impossible to pronounce what
particular nation they may have belonged to :
the style of head-dress seems an objection to
the supposition that they are Jews. These
figures are given in Bonomi's Xineveh, p. 381.
The costume of the men and women was very
similar ; there was sufficient difference, however,
to mark the sex, and it was strictly forbidden to
a woman to wear the appendages ( y3 ; ovceifoj),
such as the staff, signet-ring, and other orna
ments, or, according to Josephus (Ant. iv. 8, § 43),
the weapons of a man ; as well as to a man
to wear the outer robe (17OS50 of a woman
(Deut. xxii. 5) : the reason of the prohibition,
according to Maimonides (Mor. Neboch. iii. 37),
'being that such was the practice of idolaters
(cp. Carpzov. Appar. p. 514) ; but more probably
it was based upon the general principle of pro
priety. We shall first describe the robes which
were common to the two sexes, and then those
which were peculiar to women.
(1.) Thecetoneth (113113, cp. the Greek x'Tony)
was the most essential article of dress. It
was a closely-fitting garment, resembling in
form and use our shirt, rather than the coat
of the A. V. and R. V. The material of which
it was made was either wool, cotton, or linen.
From Josephus' observation (Ant. iii. 7, § 4) with
regard to the meil, that it was ovk iK SvoTv
xepiTUTiudrtnv, we may probably infer that the
ordinary cetoneth or tunic was made in two
pieces, which were sewn together at the sides.
In this case the x'VTa'v b\fbaobos worn by our
lord (John xix. 23) was either a singular one,
W) as is more probable, was the upper tunic
M meil. The primitive cetoneth was without
sleeves and reached only to the knee, like the

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807

Doric x^o>" ! it may also have been, like the
latter, partially opened at one side, so that a
person in rapid motion was exposed (2 Sam. vi.
20). Another kind, which we may compare
with the Ionian x^Ta>", reached to the wrists
and ankles: such was probably the cetoneth
passim worn by Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 3, 23) and
Tamar (2 Sam. xiii. 18), and that which the
priests wore (Joseph. Ant. iii. 7, § 2). It was
in either case kept close to the body by a girdle
[Girdle], and the fold formed by the over
lapping of the robe served as an inner pocket,
in which a letter or any other small article
might be carried (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 5, § 7). A
person wearing the cetoneth alone was described
as DTI?, naked, A. V. : we may compare the use
of the term yvpva) as applied to the Spartan
virgins (Plut. Lye. 14), of the Latin nudus
(Virg. Georg. i. 299), and of our expression
stripped. Thus it is used of Saul after having
taken off his upper garments (1*133, 1 Sam. xix.
24) ; of Isaiah (Is. xx. 2) when he had put off
his sackcloth, which was usually worn over the
tunic (cp. Jon. iii. 6), and only on special occa
sions next the skin (2 K. vi. 30) ; of a warrior
who has cast off his military cloak (Amos ii. 16 ;
cp. Liv. iii. 23, inermes nudique) ; and of St.
Peter without his fisher's coat (John xxi. 7).
The same expression is elsewhere applied to the
poorly clad (Job xxii. 6 ; Is. lviii. 7 ; Jas. ii. 15).
Fig. 1 on the next page represents the simplest
style of Oriental dress, a long loose shirt or
i cetoneth without a girdle, reaching nearly to the
ankle. The same robe, with the addition of the
girdle, is shown in fig. 4.
In fig. 2 we have the ordinary dress of the
modern Bedouin ; the tunic overlaps the girdle
at the waist, leaving an ample fold, which serves
as a pocket. Over the tunic he wears the abba,
or striped plaid, which completes his costume.
(2.) The sadin (I'lD) appears to have been a
wrapper of fine linen (crivboiv, LXX.), which
might be used in various ways, but especially
as a night-shirt (Mark xiv. 51 ; cp. Schleusner
and Grimm-Thayer,2 Lex. in N. T. s. v.). The
Hebrew term is given in the Syriac N. T. as =
sovhdptov (Luke xix. 20) and Xh-riov (John xiii.
4). The material or robe is mentioned in Judg.
xiv. 12, 13 (" sheet," marg. shirt, A. V. ; " linen
garment," K. V.), Prov. xxxi. 24, and Is. iii. 23
("fine linen," A. V. and R. V.) ; but in none of
these passages is there anything to decide its
specific meaning. The Talmudical writers oc
casionally describe the talith under that name,
as being made of fine linen ; hence Lightfoot
(Exercitations on Mark xiv. 51) identifies the
aivZtHv worn by the young man as a talith, which
he had put on in his haste without his other
garments. (3.) The meil &VO) was an upper or second
tunic, the difference 'being that it was longer
than the first. It is hence termed in the LXX.
biroSirTis vo5iipr)s, and probably in this sense
the term is applied to the cetoneth passim (2 Sam.
xiii. 18), implying that it reached down to the
feet. The sacerdotal meil is described elsewhere
[Priest]. As an article of ordinary dress it
was worn by kings (1 Sam. xxiv. 4), prophets.
(1 Sam. xxviii. 14), nobles (Job i. 20), and
youths (1 Sam. ii. 19). It may, however, be

808

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doubted whether the term is used in its specific
sense in these passages, and not rather in its
broad etymological sense (from ?J?D, to cover),
for any robe that chanced to be worn over the
cetoneth. In the LXX. the renderings vary
between itrevSuTTis (1 Sam. xviii. 4; 2 Sam. xiii.
18 ; 1 Sam. ii. 19, Theodot.), a term properly
applied to an upper garment, and specially used
in John xxi. 7 for the linen coat worn by the
Phoenician and Syrian fishermen (Theophyl. in
loco), SttrXois (1 Sam. ii. 19, xv. 27, xxiv. 4, 11,
xxviii. 14 ; Job xxix. 14), tpdrta (Job i. 20),
ct6Xti (1 Ch. xv. 27 ; Job ii. 12), and vttoSAttis
(Exod. xxxix. 21 ; Lev. viii. 7), showing that
generally speaking it was regarded as an upper
garment. This further appears from the
passages in which notice of it occurs : in 1 Sam.
xviii. 4 it is the " robe " which Jonathan first
takes off; in 1 Sam. xxviii. 14 it is the " mantle "
in which Samuel is enveloped ; in 1 Sam. xv.
27 it is the "mantle," the skirt of which is

DEESS
rent (cp. 1 K. xi. 30, where the i10?B> is
similarly treated) ; in 1 Sam. xxiv. 4 it is the
" robe," under which Saul slept (generally the
133 was so used) ; and in Job i. 20, ii. 12, it is
the " mantle " which he rends (cp. Ezra ix. 3, 5) :
in these passages it evidently describes an outer
robe, whether the simlah, or the meil itself used '
as a simlah. Where two tunics are mentioned
(Luke iii. 11) as being worn at the same time
the second would be a meil; travellers generally
wore two (Joseph. Ant. xvii. 5, § 7), but the
practice was forbidden to the disciples (Matt x
10 ; Luke ix. 3).
The dress of the middle and upper classes in
modern Egypt (fig. 3) illustrates the customs
of the Hebrews. In addition to the shirt, they
wear a long vest of striped silk and cotton,
called kaftdn, descending to the ankles, and
with ample sleeves, so that the hands may be
concealed at pleasure. The girdle surrounds ;
this vest. The outer robe consists of a long

Fig. 1. An Egyptian. (Lane'a Modern Egyptians.)
Fig. S. An Egyptian of
cloth coat, called gibbeh, with sleeves reaching
nearly to the wrist. In cold weather the abba
is thrown over the shoulders.
(4.) The ordinary outer garment consisted of
a quadrangular piece of woollen cloth, probably
resembling in shape a Scotch plaid. The size
and texture would vary with the means of the
wearer. The Hebrew terms referring to it are
—simlah (170^, occasionally ftthb), which
appears to have had the broadest' sense, and
sometimes is put for clothes generally (Gen.
xxxv. 2, xxxvii. 34; Ex. iii. 22, xxii. 9 ; Deut. x.
18 ; Is. iii. 7, iv. 1), though once used specifically
of the warrior's cloak (Is. ix. 5) ; beged (133),
which is more usual in speaking of robes of a
nandsome and substantial character (Gen. xxvii.
15, xii. 42 ; Ex. xxviii. 2 ; 1 K. xxii. 10 ; 2 Ch.
xvm. 9 ; Is. lxiii. 1) ; cesuth (TV1D3), appropriate
to passages where covering or protection is the
prominent idea (Ex. xxii. 26; Job xxvi. 6,
xxxi. 19) ; and lastly lebush (B'-'oV), usual in

Fig. 2. A Bedouin. (Lynch, Dead Sea.)
the upper claases. (Lane.)
poetry, but specially applied to a warrior's cloak
(2 Sam. xx. 8), priests' vestments (2 K. x. 22),
and royal apparel (Esth. vi. 11 ; viii. 15). A
cognate term (malbush, t2>-13^D) describes speci
fically a state-dress, whether as used in a royal
household (1 K. x. 5 ; 2 Ch. ix. 4), or for reli
gious festivals (2 K. x. 22) : elsewhere it is used
generally for robes of a handsome character (Job
xxvii. 16 ; Is. lxiii. 3 ; Ezek. xvi. 13 ; Zeph. i. 8).
Another term, mad (ID), with its derivatives, :
11D (Ps. cxxxiii. 2) and 11D (2 Sam. a. 4;
1 Ch. xix. 4), is expressive of the length of the
Hebrew garments (1 Sam. iv. 12; xviii. 4), and
is specifically applied to a long cloak (Judg. iii. |
16 ; 2 Sam. xx. 8), and to the priest's coat (Lev.
vi. 10). The Greek terms Ipdrtov and o-t6xti
express the corresponding idea, the latter being
specially appropriate to robes of more than
ordinary grandeur (1 Mace. a. 21, xiv. 9 ; Mark
xii. 38, xvi. 5 ; Luke xv. 22, xx. 46 ; Rev. vi. 11,
vii. 9, 13) ; the x^TU>" and ipdrtov (tunica, pal-

DEESS
liam, Vulg. ; coat, cloak, A. V.) are brought into
juxtaposition in Matt. v. 40 and Acts ix. 39.
fhe beged might be worn in various ways, either
mapped round the body, or worn over the
shoulders, like a shawl, with the ends or
"Skirts" (D?S33; Trrepvyia; angidi) hanging
down in front ; or it might be thrown over the
head, so as to conceal the face (2 Sam. xv. 30 ;
Esth. vi. 12). The ends were skirted with a
fringe and bound with a purple riband (Num.
rv. 38) : it was confined at the waist by a
girdle, and the fold (|TI1; k6Xttos; simis),
formed by the overlapping of the robe, served
as a pocket in which a considerable quantity of
articles might be carried (2 K. iv. 39 ; Ps. lxxix.
12; Hag. ii. 12 ; Niebuhr, Description, p. 56),
or as a purse (Prov. xvii. 23, xxi. 14; Is. lxv.
6,7; Jer. xxxii. 18 ; Luke vi. 38).
The ordinary mode of wearing the outer robe,
tailed abba or abayeh, at the present time, is

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809

exhibited in figs. 2 and 5. The arms, when
falling down, are completely covered by it, as
in fig. 5: but in holding any weapon, or in
active work, the lower part of the arm is ex
posed, as in rig. 2.
The dress of the women differed from that of
the men in regnrd to the outer garment, the
cetoneth being worn equally by both sexes (Cant.
v. 3). The names of their distinctive robes
were as follows : — (1) mitpachath (nnSDD;
TteplCiofia ; pallium, linteamen ; veil, wimple, A. V.),
a kind of shawl (Ruth iii. 15 ; Is. iii. 22) ; (2)
maatapha (riBBl?»; palliolum; mantle, A.'v.),
another kind' of' shawl (Is. iii. 22), but, how
j differing from the one just mentioned, we know
not ; the etymological meaning of the first name
is expansion, of the second enveloping : (3) tsaiph
(Spi?!? ; B4pitrTpov ; veil, A. V.), a robe worn by
Rebecca on approaching Isaac (Gen. xxiv. 65),
and by Tamar when she assumed the guise of a

Figs. 4, 5. Egyptians of the lower orders. (Lane.) Fig. 6. An Egyptian woman. (Lane.)
Fig. 7. A woman of the Southern Province of Upper Egypt. (Lane.)

harlot (Gen. xxxviii. 14, 19) ; it was probably,
as the LXX. represents it, a light summer dress
of handsome appearance (irepiefiaXe to Bipia-rpov
wl iieaXXomiffaTO, Gen. xxxviii. 14), and of
ample dimensions, so that it might be thrown
over the head at pleasure : (4) radid (THI ; A. V,
*veil "), a similar robe (Is. iii. 23 ; Cant. v. 7 ; R. V-
¦mantle "), and substituted for the tsaiph in the
Chaldee Version : we may conceive of these robes
asresembling the peplum of the Greeks, which
night be worn over the head, as represented in
Diet, of Gr. arid Rom. Antiq. ii. 321, or again as
resembling the habarah and mildyeh of the modern
Egyptians (Lane, i. 73, 75) : (5)pethigil fovnQ ;
X'rint pecrcnr6pipvpos ; stomacher, A. V.), a term
of doubtful origin, but probably significant of a
g»7 holiday dress (Is. iii. 24) ; to the various
explanations enumerated by Gesenius (Thesaur.
V- H37), we may add one proposed by Saalschiitz
Urchaeol. i. 31), '113, wide or foolish, and b^l,
ire, in which case it=unbridled pleasure,

and has no reference to dress at all : (6) gilyonim
(D'3'71, Is. iii. 23), also a doubtful word (see
MV.1'), explained in the LXX. as a transparent
dress, i.e. of gauze (Siatpavij Aanoivind) ; Schroe-
der (de Vest. mul. Heb. p. 311) supports this view,
but more probably the word means, as in the A. V.,
" glasses," R. V. " hand-mirrors." The garments
of females were terminated by an ample border or
fringe (73£!>> >1B'; onlaBia; skirts), which con
cealed the feet (Is. xlvii. 2 ; Jer. xiii. 22).
Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate some of the peculiari
ties of female dress : the former is an Egyptian
woman (in her walking dress) ; the latter repre
sents a dress, probably of great antiquity, still
worn by the peasants in the south of Egypt :
the outer robe, or hulaleeyeh, is a large piece of
woollen stuff wound round the body, the upper
parts being attached at the shoulders : another
piece of the same stuff is used for the head-veil,
or tarhah.
Having now completed our description of

810

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Hebrew dress, we add a few remarks relative to
the selection of equivalent terms in our own
language. It must at once strike every Biblical
student as a great defect in our A. V. — a
defect not altogether removed in the R. V. — that
the same English word should represent various
Hebrew words : e.g. that " veil " should be pro
miscuously used for radid (Is. iii. 23), tsaiph
(Gen. xxiv. 65), mitpachath (Ruth iii. 15 ; R. V.
" mantle "), masveh (Ex. xxxiv. 33) ; " robe "
for meil (1 Sam. xviii. 4), cetoneth (Is. xxii. 21),
addereth (Jonah iii. 6), salmah (Micah ii. 8) ;
" mantle " for meil (1 Sam. xv. 27 ; R. V.
" robe "), addereth (1 K. xix. 13), maatapha
(Is. iii. 22); and "coat" for meil (1 Sam. ii.
19 ; R. V. " robe "), cetoneth (Gen. iii. 21) : and
conversely that different English words should
be promiscuously used for the same Hebrew
one ; meil being translated " coat," " robe,"
" mantle " ; addereth " robe," " mantle." Uni
formity would be desirable, in so far as it
could be attained, so that the English reader
might understand that the same Hebrew term
occurred in the original text, where the same
English term was found in the translation.
Beyond uniformity, correctness of translation
would also be desirable : the difficulty of attain
ing this in the subject of dress, with regard to
which the customs and associations are so widely
at variance in our own country and in the East,
is very great. Take, for instance, the cetoneth :
at once an under-garment, and yet not unfre
quently worn without anything over it ; a shirt,
as being worn next the skin ; and a coat, as
being the upper garment worn in a house :
deprive the Hebrew of his cetoneth, and he was
positively naked ; deprive the Englishman of
his coat, and he has under-garments still. The
beged again : in shape probably like a Scotch
plaid, though the use of such a term would not
be intelligible to the minds of English peasants ;
in use unlike any garment with which we are
familiar, for we only wear a great-coat or a
cloak in bad weather, whereas the Hebrew and
his beged were inseparable. With such difficul
ties attending the subject, any attempt to
render the Hebrew terms must be, more or less,
a compromise between correctness and modern
usage ; and the English terms which we are
about to propose must be regarded merely in
the light of suggestions. Cetoneth answers in
many respects to " frock ; " the sailor's " frock "
is constantly worn next the skin, and either
with or without a coat over it; the "smock-
frock " was once familiar as an upper-garment.
In shape and material these correspond with
cetoneth, and, like it, the term " frock " is applied
to both sexes. In the sacerdotal dress a more
technical term might be used : " vestment," in its
specific sense as = the chasuble, or casula, would
represent it very aptly. Meil may perhaps be best
rendered " gown," for this too applies to both
sexes, and, when to men, always in an official
sense, as the academic gown, the alderman's gown,
the barrister's gown, just as meil appears to have
represented an official, or at all events a special,
dress. In sacerdotal dress " alb " exactly meets
it, and retains still, in the Greek Church, the
very name, poderis, by which the meil is de
scribed in the LXX. The sacerdotal ephod
approaches, perhaps, most nearly to the terra
"pall," the wpotp6piov of the Greek Church,

DEESS
which we may compare with the irntuh of the
LXX. Addereth answers in several respects to
"pelisse," although this term is now applied!
almost exclusively to female dress. Sadin =
"linen wrapper." Simlah we would render
" garment," and in the plural " clothes," as the
broadest term of the kind ; beged, " vestment,"
as being of superior quality ; lebush, " robe," as
still superior ; mad, " cloak," as being long ; and
malbush, " dress," in the specific sense in which
the term is not unfrequently used as=fme dress.
In female costume mitpachath might be rendered
" shawl," maatapha " mantle," tsaiph " hand
some dress," and radid " cloak."
In addition to these terms, which we have
thus far extracted from the Bible, we have in
the Talmudical writers an entirely new nomen
clature. The talith (fl Vt3) is frequently noticed ;
it was made of fine linen, and had a fringe
attached to it, like the beged; it was of ample
dimensions, so that the head might be enveloped
in it, as was usual among the Jews in the act
of prayer. The kolbin (P3?lp) was probably
another name for the talith, derived from the
Greek koX6$iov ; Epiphanius (i. 15) represents
the o-roXai of the Pharisees as identical with
the Dalmatica or the Colobium; the latter, as
known to us, was a close tunic without sleeves.
The chaluk (p1?n) was a woollen shirt, worn as
an under tunic. The mactoren QUDpQ) was a
mantle or outer garment (cp. Lightfoot, Exer-
citation on Matt. v. 40 ; Mark xiv. 51 ; Luke
ix. 3, &c). Gloves (il'Dp or S|3) are also
noticed (Chelim, xvi. 6 ; xxiv. 15 ; xxvi. 3), not,
however, as worn for luxury, but for the pro
tection of the hands in manual labour.
With regard to other articles of dress, see
Girdle ; Handkerchief ; Head-dress ; Hem
op Garment ; Sandals ; Shoes ; Veil.
The dresses of foreign nations are occasionally
referred to in the Bible ; that of the Babylonians
is described in Dan. iii. 21 in terms which have
been variously understood (see Speaker's Comm.,2
Meinhold [in Strack n. Zockler's Kgf. Komm.']
in loco, and consult MV.11), but which may be
identified with the statements of Herodotus
(i. 195 ; vii. 61) in the following manner : —
(1) The sarbalin ()^31D; A. V. " coats," R. V.
" hosen ") = either ava^ipiSes or drawers, orr
more probably, underclothing; (2) the patish
(E"t3B ; A. V. " hosen ") = KiBitiv n-oSriveKTis
Xiveos or inner tunic (so R. V. ; in marg., Or,
turbans) ; (3) the carbala (fc^313 ; A.V. "hat,"
R. V. " mantle ") = SAAoj elplvws kiB&v, or
upper tunic, corresponding to the meil, of the
Hebrews; (4) the lebush (E«I3^ ; A.V. "gar
ment "), a general term for the rest of the
dress worn by these three Jews, or = xAovlSior
XevKbv or cloak, which was worn, like the beged,
over all. In addition to these terms, we have
notice of a robe of state of fine linen, tachrich
CSpTDFI ; SidSiipa ; sericum pallium), so called
from its ample dimensions (Esth. viii. 15). The
same expression is used for purple garments in
the Chaldee of Ezek. xxvii. 16.
The references to Greek or Roman dress are
few ; the x*,*t*i>s (2 Mace. xii. 35 ; Matt, xxvii.

DEESS
28) was either the paludamentum, the military
scarf of the Roman soldiery, or the Greek chlamys
itself, which was introduced under the Empe
rors [Diet, of Gr. 4- Rom. Ant. art. Chlamys] ; it
was especially worn by officers. The travelling
cloak (tpex6vys) referred to by St. Paul (2 Tim.
iv, 13) is generally identified with the Roman
paenuia, of which it may be a corruption ; the
Talmudical writers have a similar name (|1v2
or tTOB)- It is, however, otherwise explained
as a travelling case for carrving clothes or books
(Conybeare, St. Paul, ii. 499).
4. The customs and associations connected
with dress are numerous and important, mostly
arising from the peculiar form and mode of
wearing the outer garments. The beged, for
instance, could be applied to many purposes
besides its proper use as a vestment ; it was
sometimes used to carry a burden (Ex. xii. 34 ;
Judg. viii. 25 ; Prov. xxx. 4), as Ruth used her
shawl (Ruth iii. 15) ; or to wrap up an article
(1 Sam. xxi. 9); or again as an impromptu
saddle (Matt. xxi. 7). Its most important use,
however, was a coverlet at night (Ex. xxii. 27 ;
Ruth iii. 9 ; Ezek. xvi. S"), whence the word is
sometimes taken for bed-clothes (1 Sam. xix. 13 ;
1 K. i. 1): the Bedouin applies his abba to a
similar purpose (Niebuhr, Description, p. 56).
On this account a creditor could not retain it
after sunset (Ex. xxii. 26 ; Dent. xxiv. 12, 13 ;
cp. Job xxii. 6, xxiv. 7 ; Amos ii. 8). The cus
tom of placing garments in pawn appears to
have been very common, so much so that D131N
pledge = a garment (Deut. xxiv. 12, 13); the
accumulation of such pledges is referred to in
Hab. ii. 6 (that loadeth himself with tS'Oai?, i.e.
pledges [so R.V.] ; where the A.V., following the
LXX. and Vulg., reads u'p 31?, " thick clay") ;
this custom prevailed in the time of our Lord,
Who bids His disciples give np the ipaTiov=-beged,
in which they slept, as well as the x'Ttof (Matt.
v. 40). At the present day it is not unusual to
seize the abba as compensation for an injury: an
instance is given in Wortabet's Syria, i. 293.
The loose flowing character of the Hebrew
robes admitted of a variety of symbolical
actions ; rending them was expressive of various
emotions, as grief (Gen. xxxvii. 29, 34 ; Job i.
20; 2 Sam. i. 2) [Mourning], fear (1 K. xxi.
27; 2 K. xxii. 11, 19), indignation (2 K. v. 7,
xi. 14 ; Matt. xxvi. 65), or despair (Judg. xi. 35 ;
Esth. iv. 1): generally the outer garment alone
was thus rent (Gen. xxxvii. 34 ; Job i. 20, ii. 12),
occasionally the inner (2 Sam. xv. 32), and
occasionally both (Ezra ix. 3 ; Matt. xxvi. 65,
compared with Mark xiv. 63). Shaking the
garments, or shaking the dust off them, was a
sign of renunciation (Acts xviii. 6) ; spreading
them before a person, of loyalty and joyous
reception (2 K. ix. 13 ; Matt. xxi. 8) ; wrapping
them round the head, of awe (1 K. xix. 13), or
of grief (2 Sam. xv. 30 ; Esth. vi. 12 ; Jer. xiv.
3, 4); casting them off, of excitement (Acts
xxii. 23) ; laying hold of them, of supplica
tion (1 Sam. xv. 27 ; Is. iii. 6, iv. 1 ; Zech.
viii. 23).
The length of the dress rendered it incon
venient for active exercise; hence the outer
garments were either left in the house by a
person working close by (Matt. xxiv. 18) or were

DEESS

811

thrown off when the occasion arose (Mark x. 50 -
John xiii. 4 ; Acts vii. 58) ; or, if this was not
possible, as in the case of a person travelling
they were girded up (1 K. xviii. 46 ; 2 K. iv. 29,'
ix. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 13) : on entering a house, the
upper garment was probably laid aside and
resumed on going out (Acts xii. s). In a sittino-
posture, the garments concealed the feet; this
was held to be an act of reverence (Is. vi. 2 ; see
Lowth's note). The proverbial expression in
1 Sam. xxv. 22; 1 K. xiv. 10, xxi. 21 ; 2 K.
ix. 8, probably owes its origin to the length of
the garments, which made another habit more-
natural (cp. Her. ii. 35 ; Xen. Cyrop. i. 2, § 16 ;
Ammian. Marcell. xxiii. 6); the expression is
variously understood to mean the lowest or the
youngest of the people (Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1397 ;
Jahn, Archaeol. i. 8, § 120). To cut the gar
ments short was the grossest insult that a Jew-
could receive (2 Sam. x. 4 ; the word there used
11D is peculiarly expressive of the length of the-
garments). To raise the border or skirt of a.
woman's dress was a similar insult, implying
her unchastity (Is. xlvii. 2 ; Jer. xiii. 22, 26 l
Nah. iii. 5).
The putting on and off of garments, and the
ease with which it was accomplished, are fre
quently referred to ; the Hebrew expressions
for the first of these operations, as regards the-
outer robe, are £?3?, to put on, 101^ IDS, and
f|!Dl?, lit. to cover, the last three having special
reference to the amplitude of the robes ; and for
the second DCS, lit. ro expand, which was the
natural result of taking off a wide, loose gar
ment. The ease of these operations forms the
point of comparison in Ps. cii. 26 ; Jer. xliii. 12..
In the case of closely-fitting robes the expression
is 1311, lit. to gird, which is applied to the ephod
(1 Sam. ii. 18; 2 Sam. vi. 14), to sackcloth
(2 Sam. iii. 31 ; Is. xxxii. 11; Jer. iv. 8); the
use of the term may illustrate Gen. iii. 7, where
the garments used by our first parents are called
ni3n (A. V. " aprons "), probably meaning such
as could be wound round the body (see marg.
rendering). The converse term is nJlD, to loosen
or unbind (Ps. xxx. 11 ; Is. xx. 2).
The number of suits possessed by the Hebrews-
was considerable : a single suit consisted of an
under and upper garment, and was termed ^11?
D'133 (o-roXri ip-ariav, i.e. apparatus vestium,.
LXX. ; Judg. xvii. 10). Where more than one
is spoken of, the suits are termed JliSvIl
(aXXaao-6pevai aroXai ; cp. Hom. Od. viii. 249,
i'lpara Q-np-oifid ; changes of raiment, A. V.).
These formed in ancient times one of the most
usual presents among Orientals (Harmer, Obser
vations, ii. 397 sq.) ; five (Gen. xiv. 22) and even
ten changes (2 K. v. 5) were thus presented,,
while as many as thirty were proposed as a
wager (Judg. xiv. 12, 19). The highest token
of affection was to present the robe actually
worn by the giver (1 Sam. xviii. 4 ; cp. Hom.
II. vi. 230 ; Harmer, ii. 388). The presentation
of a robe in many instances amounted to instal
lation or investiture (Gen. xii. 42 ; Esth. viii. 15 ;
Is. xxii. 21 ; cp. Morier, Second Journey, p. 93);
on the other hand, taking it away amounted to
dismissal from office (2 Mace. iv. 38). The

812

DEINK, STEONG

production of the best robe was a mark of
special honour in a household (Luke xv. 22).
The number of robes thus received or kept in
store for presents was very large, and formed
one of the main elements of wealth in the East
(Job xxvii. 16 ; Matt. vi. 19 ; Jas. v. 2), so
that to have clothing = to be wealthy and
powerful (Is. iii. 6, 7). On grand occasions the
entertainer offered becoming robes to his guests
{Trench on Parables, p. 231). Hence in large
households a wardrobe (HlFIpP) was required
for their preservation (2 K. x.' 22 ; cp. Harmer,
ii. 382), superintended by a special officer,
named D'1331 IDS', keeper of the wardrobe
(2 Ch. xxxiv. 22). Robes reserved for special
occasions are termed JllXPIlD (A. V. "change
able suits " ; R. V. " the festival robes " in Is. iii.
22; A.V. "change of raiment," R. V. "rich
apparel" in Zech. iii. 4), because laid aside
when the occasion was past.
The colour of the garment was, as we have
already observed, generally white ; hence a spot
or stain readily showed itself (Is. lxiii. 3 ;
Jude 23 ; Rev. iii. 4) ; reference is made in
Lev. xiii. 47 sq. to a greenish or reddish spot of a
leprous character. Jahn (Archaeol. i. 8, § 135)
conceives this to be not the result of leprosy,
but the depredations of a small insect. Schiling
(de Lepra, p. 192) states that human leprosy
taints clothes, and adds sunt maculae omnino
indebiles ; but Dillmann points out that the
passage in Lev. does not necessarily allude to
clothes thus infected (Knobel-Dillmann in loco).
Frequent washings and the application of the
fuller's art were necessary to preserve the purity
of the Hebrew dress. [Soap; Fuller.]
The business of making clothes devolved upon
women in a family (Prov. xxxi. 22 ; Acts ix. 39) ;
little art was required in what we may term
the tailoring department; the garments came
forth for the most part ready made from the
loom, so that the weaver supplanted the tailor.
The references to sewing are therefore few : the
term 1SJ1 (Gen. iii. 7 ; Job xvi. 15 ; Eccles. iii. 7 ;
Ezek. xiii. 18) was applied by the later Jews to
mending rather than making clothes.
The Hebrews were open to the charge of
extravagance in dress ; Isaiah in particular
(iii. 16 sq.) dilates on the numerous robes and
ornaments worn by the women of his day. The
same subject is referred to in Jer. iv. 30;
Ezek. xvi. 10 ; Zeph. i. 8 ; Ecclus. xi. 4 ; 1 Tim.
ii. 9 : 1 Pet. iii. 3. [W. L. B.] [F.]
DEINK, STEONG (IDE'; o-l^pa). The
Hebrew term sliekar, in its etymological sense,
applies to any beverage that had intoxicating
qualities : it is generally found connected with
wine, either as an exhaustive expression for all
other liquors (e.g. Judg. xiii. 4; Luke i. 15), or
as parallel to it, particularly in poetical passages
(e.g. Is. v. 11; Mic. ii. 11); in Num. xxviii. 7
and Ps. lxix. 12, however, it stands by itself and
must be regarded as including wine. The Bible
itself throws little light upon the nature of the
mixtures described under this tei'm. We may
infer from Cant. viii. 2 that the Hebrews were in
the habit of expressing the juice of other fruits
¦besides the grape for the purpose of making
wine : the pomegranate, which is there noticed,

DBOMEDAEY
was probably one out of many fruits so used.
In Is. xxiv. 9 there may be a reference to the
sweetness of some kind of strong drink. In
Num. xxviii. 7 strong drink is clearly used as
equivalent to wine, which was ordered in Ex.
xxix. 40. With regard to the application of the
term in later times we have the explicit state
ment of Jerome (Ep. ad Nepot.'), as woll as
other sources of information, from which we
may state that the following beverages were
known to the Jews : — 1. Beer, which was largely
consumed in Egypt under the name of zythus
(Herod, ii. 77 ; Diod. Sic. i. 34), and was thence
introduced into Palestine (Mishna Pesach. 3, § 1).
It was made of barley ; certain herbs, such as
lupin and skirrett, were used as substitutes for
hops (Colum. x. 114). The boozah of modern
Egypt is made of barley-bread, crumbled in
water and left until it has fermented (Lane
i. 131) : the Arabians mix it with spices (Burck
hardt's Arabia, i. 213), as described in Is. v. 22.
The Mishna (I. c.) seems to apply the term
shekar more especially to a Median drink,
probably a kind of beer made in the same
manner as the modern boozah; the Edomite
chomets, noticed in the same place, was probably
another kind of beer, and may have held the
same position among the Jews that bitter beer
does among ourselves. 2. Cider, which is
noticed in the Mishna (Terum. 11, § 2) as
apple-wine. 3. Honey-wine, of which there were
two sorts, one like the oiv6peXt of the Greeks,
which is noticed in the Mishna (Shabb. 20, § 2 ;
Terum. 11, § 1) under a Hebraized form of that
name, consisting of a mixture of wine, honey,
and pepper ; the other a decoction of the juice
of the grape, termed debash (honey) by the
Hebrews, and dibs by the modern Syrians,
resembling the 'iv/v/ia of the Greeks and the
defrutum of the Romans, and similarly used,
being mixed with wine, milk, or water. 4. Date-
wine, which was also manufactured in Egypt
(oivos tpotviKTiios, Herod, ii. 86, iii. 20). It was
made by mashing the fruit in water in certain
proportions (Plin. xiv. 19, § 3). A similar
method is still used in Arabia, except that the
fruit is not mashed (Burckhardt's Arabia,
ii. 264) : the palm-wine of modern Egypt is the
sap of the tree itself, obtained by making an
incision into its heart (Wilkinson, ii. 174 [1878]).
5. Various other fruits and vegetables are
enumerated by Pliny (xiv. 19) as supplying
materials for factitious or home-made wine, such
as figs, millet, the carob fruit, &c. It is not
improbable that the Hebrews applied raisins to
this purpose in the simple Arabian manner
(Burckhardt, ii. 377), viz., by putting them in
jars of water and burying them in the ground
until fermentation takes place. [W. L. B.]
DEOMEDAEY. The representative in the
A. V. of the Hebrew words becer or bicrah, recesh
and rammdc. As to the two former terms, see
under Camel.
1. Recesh (B'31; imreieiv, appa; jumenta,
veredarii) is variously interpreted in the A. V.

a "Sicera Hebraeo sermone omnis potio, quae in-
ebriare potest, sive ilia, quae frumento conficitur sive
pomorum succo, aut cum favi decoquuntur in dulcem et
barbaram potionem, aut palmarum fructus exprimuntur
inliquorem, coctisquefrugibusaquapinguior coloratur."

DEUSILLA
by " dromedaries " (1 K. iv. 28), " mules "
(Esth. viii. 10, 14), "swift beasts " (Mic. i. 13),
in all which passages the R. V. has "swift
steeds." There seems to be no doubt that
recesh denotes a "superior kind of horse,"
such as would be required when dispatch was
necessary. It is derived from L"31, "to collect
the feet," and so "to gallop;" i.e. "the swift
runner," or "galloper," applied especially to
stallions. 2. Rammak C|B1: LXX. and Vulg. omit)
occurs only in plur. form in Esth. viii. 10, in
connexion with bene, " sons ; " the expression
bene ramrndkim being an epexegesis of the
Hebrew word achashteraniin, " mules, the sons of
mares." The Hebrew ^131, "a mare," which
the A. V. renders incorrectly " dromedary,"
but the R. V. accuratelv, " bred of the stud," is
evidently allied to the Arabic sx« .> ramakah,
"a brood mare." [VV. H.] [H. B. T.]
DRUSILLA (ApovtrlXXa; Drusilla). She
was the third and youngest daughter of Herod
Agrippa I., and was six years old at the time
of his death (Jos. Ant. xix. 9, § 1). She had been
betrothed by her father to Epiphanes, son of
Antiochus, king of Commagene. But on the
refusal of Epiphanes to conform to Judaism,
Drusilla was given bv her brother Herod
Agrippa H. to Aziz, king of Emesa, who consented
to be circumcised. This marriage did not turn
out happily, and the envious illwill of her sister
Berenice [Bernice] added to her troubles.
Felix, the procurator of Judaea, happened to see
her, was struck with her remarkable beauty,
and employed a friend of his, one Simon, a
pretended sorcerer, to entice DrusUla to forsake
her husband. This man is by some identified
with Simon Magus, but his description as "a
Cyprian" is against the identification. Simon
succeeded, and we find Drusilla the wife of
Felix at the time of St. Paul's imprisonment at
Caesarea (Acts xxiv. 24). She must then have
been about eighteen. Josephus, who gives the
story, seems to think her transgression lay only
in marrying one who was neither a Jew nor a
proselyte (Jos. Ant. xx. 7, §§ 1, 2). She had
a son by Felix named Agrippa, who died with
his wife in the great eruption of Vesuvius in
the reign of Titus. Drusilla's presence when
Paul had his audience, and the fact of her being
a Jewess, seem to be mentioned (Acts xxiv. 24)
partly to account for Felix showing this interest
in Christianity, and partly to give point to
the Apostle's fearless preaching of self-control
(iyicp&raa). [E. R. B.]
DUKE, Gen. xxxvi. 15, 40; Ex. xv. 15;
Josh. xiii. 21 (R. V. marg. Or, chief), the Latin
dux = a leader. Lumby points out that the title
was extinct in England in 1611 when the A. V.
was made, and the word was used literally of
any chief (Glossary of Bible Words in Eyre and
Spottiswoode's Teachers' Bible). [F.]
, DULCIMEE occurs in the A. V. and R. V.
in Dan. iii. 5 (ine. 10 is another form of the same
word) and v. 15.
Whatever the etymology of this so-called
latino-Greek word may be, the fact that " the

DUMAH

813

people of the music of the future " call it
Hackbrct (" chopping-board ") shows at once that
dulcimer cannot be a wind-instrument. But if
it be no wind-instrument, how can it repre
sent the Sumponeyah (n*3BI31D), or Supponeya
(I'OB-l D), both of which, surely, are the equivalent
ofthe Greek o-vptpoivta? Tho opinion expressed that
Sumponeyah meant " a tube," " a pipe," is quite
correct; but the "Semitic" Sympon (J1BDD) itself
rests only on the Danielic passages quoted above.
Now, these passages are hundreds of years older
than any Talmudic or Midrashic passages which
have the word Sympon. It is also noteworthy
that the Rab Se'adyah, who explains Sumponeyah
by Sympon, is not the exact and famous scholar,
the Gaon (Head of the Academy of Suro. See
Schiller-Szinessy, " Saadia," Encycl. Britannica,"
vol. xxi.). The revisers of the A. V. were,

Assyrian Dulcimer. (Konynnjik.)
therefore, nearer the truth when they gave (in
marg. of Dan. iii. 5) for " dulcimer " the alterna
tive rendering, bagpipe. [S. M. S.-S.]
DTJ'MAH (HOn ; Aovpd, 'ltiovud, 'lSovpaia;
Duma), an lshmaelite tribe of Arabia, and thence
the name of the principal place, or district, in
habited by that tribe. In Gen. xxv. 14, and
1 Ch i 30, the name occurs in the list of the
sons of Ishmael; and in Isaiah (xxi. 11), in the
" burden of Dumah," it is coupled with Seir,
the forest of Arabia, and Kedar. The name of
a town in the northern part of the peninsula,
about halfway between Petra and the Euphrates,
Dumat-el-Jendel, is held by Gesenius, and other
European authorities, to have been thus derived ;
and the opinion is strengthened by Arab tra-
ditionists, who have the same belief (Mir-at ez-
Zemdn). The latter, however, err m writing.

814

DUMAH

" Dawmat-el-Jendel " (ijtioctf \ A*j<i) ; while
the lexicographers and geographers of then-
nation expressly state that it is correctly
¦" Dumat - el - Jendel," or " Duma - el - Jendel "
( JaJ^\ S*j<S, or Jjls)\ A.j<>). signi
fying " Dumah of the stones or blocks of stone,"
-of which it is said to have been built (Sihdh ;
Yakut, Mo' jam, and Mushtarak, s. v.), indicating,
perhaps, that the place was built of unhewn or
Gyclopean masonry, similar tothat of very ancient
structures. The town itself, which is one of the
¦" Kureyydt " of Wddi-l-Kurd (Yakut, Mo' jam,
s. v. Dfimah), is now called "J6f (see MV.11);
and the fortress which it contains, appears to have
had the special appellation of " Mdrid " ^i3j \jo) .
There are two D Amahs ; that named in this
article, and D. el- Irak. The chief of one, a
¦contemporary of Mohammad, is said to have
founded the other, or to have given it the name
of Diimah ; but most Arab authorities, and pro
bability also, are in favour of the prior antiquity
of the former. [E. S. P.]
DU'MAH (Ttan = silence ; B. 'Peuvd, A.
'Povpd ; Buma), a city in the mountainous
district of Judah, near Hebron (Josh. xv. 52).
In the Onomastioon of Eusebius and Jerome
{OS.2 116, 4; 250, 68) it is named as a very
large place (Ktipn peyitrrri), 17 miles from
Eleutheropolis, in the district of Daroma (i.e.
*' the south," from the Hebrew QUI). It is now
ed-Domeh, a large ruin, with rock-hewn tombs
first noticed by Robinson (i. 212). It is about
¦6 miles S.W. of Hebron, and 14 English miles
from Beit Jibrin, Eleutheropolis (PEF. Mem. iii.
313, 328 ; Guerin, Judee, iii. 359-60). [G.] [W.]
DUNG (h% tyi, 1XV, the latter always,
.and the two former generally, applied to men ;
|D'l> BHB' l^BV, to brute animals, the second
exclusively to animals offered in sacrifice, and
the third to the dung of cows or camels). The
uses of dung were twofold, as manure and as
fuel. The manure consisted either of straw
steeped in liquid manure (13D10 ''D3, lit. in
dung water, Is. xxv. 10), or the sweepings (iniD,
Is. v. 25) of the streets and roads, which were
carefully removed from about the houses and
collected in heaps (jlBK'S) outside the walls of
the towns at fixed spots (hence the dung-gate at
Jerusalem, Neh. ii. 13), and thence removed in
due course to the fields (Mishna Sheb. 3, §§ 1-3).
To sit on a dung-heap was a sign of the deepest
dejection (1 Sam. ii. 8 ; Ps. cxiii. 7 ; Lam. iv.
5 : cp. Job ii. 8, LXX. and Vulg.). The mode
of applying manure to trees was by digging holes
about their roots and inserting it (Luke xiii. 8),
as still practised in Southern Italy (Trench,
Parables, p. 356). In the case of sacrifices the
dung was burnt outside the camp (Ex. xxix. 14 ;
Lev. iv. 11, viii. 17; Num. xix. 5): hence the
-extreme opprobrium of the threat in Mai. ii. 3.
Particular directions were laid down in the Law
to enforce cleanliness with regard to human
•ordure (Deut. xxiii. 12 sq.) : it was the grossest

DUEA
insult to turn a man's house into a receptacle
for it (ISinO, 2 K. a. 27 ; 6l3, Ezra vi. 11 ;
Dan. ii. 5, i'iiT 29, "dunghill " A. V.). Public
establishments of that nature are still found in
the large towns of the East (Russell's Aleppo, i.
34). The expression to " cast out as dung "
implied not only the offensiveness of the object,
but also the ideas of removal (1 K. xiv. 10), and
still more exposure (2 K. ix. 37 ; Jer. viii. 2).
The reverence of the later Hebrews would not
permit the pronunciation of some of the terms
used in Scripture, and accordingly more delicate
words were substituted in the margin (2 K. vi.
25, x. 27, xviii. 27 ; Is. xxxvi. 12). Tho occur
rence of such names as Gilalai, Dimnah, Mad-
menah, and Madmannah, shows that these ideas
of delicacy did not extend to ordinary matters.
The term trKi$aXa ("dung," A. V., Phil. iii.
8) applies to refuse of any kind (cp. Ecclus.
xxvii. 4).
The difficulty of procuring fuel in Syria,
Arabia, and Egypt, has made dung in all ages
valuable as a substitute : it was probably used
for heating ovens and for baking cakes (Ezek. iv.
12, 15), the equable heat which it produced
adapting it peculiarly for the latter operation.
Cow's and camel's dung is still used for a similar
purpose by the Bedouins (Burckhardt's Notes, 1.
57) : they even form a species of pan for frying
eggs out of it (Russell, i. 39) : in Egypt the
dung is mixed with straw and formed into flat
round cakes, which are dried in the sun (Lane,
i. 252 ; ii. 141). [W. L. B.]
DUNGEON. [Prison.]
DUNG POET (Neh. ii. 13), one of the gates
of Jerusalem. [W.]
DU'EA (Kill; At-ttpd; Dura), the plain
where Nebuchadnezzar set up the golden image
(Dan. iii. 1), has been sometimes identified with
a tract a little below Tekrit (Ammianus Mar
cellinus) on the left bank of the Tigris (Layard,
Nin. and Bab. p. 469), where the name of Dur
is still found. But (1) this tract probably
never belonged to Babylon ; (2) at any rate it
is too far from that site to be the place where the
image was set up, for the plain of Dura was in
the province or district of Babylon (?33 TU'IOS
probably corresponding in meaning with tbe
native ina pihat Bdbili, " in the district of Baby
lon "), and must therefore have been within or
near the city. M. J. Oppert places the plain
(or, as he calls it, " valley ") of Dura to the
south-east of Babylon, in the vicinity of the
mound Dowair or Duair, on which site he dis
covered the pedestal of a colossal statue. He
regards the modern name as a corruption of the
ancient appellation. That it is the plain of
Shinar (as has been thought) is a mere con
jecture. German Assyriologists seem inclined to
identify Dura with the Babylonian Duru, a word
which simply means " the wall " or " fortifi
cation." It is noteworthy that the Greek form
is Aeeipd, implying that the LXX. identified it
with a name containing long & (or Si) as the
middle vowel. This would point to some such
name as Dgru, which, however, seems to offer
an even less satisfactory solution than the
other. [G. R.] [T. G. P.]

EAGLE

E
EAGLE OWl> nesher; Arab, y, niss'r ;
atris ; aquila). The Hebrew word, which occurs
frequently in the 0. T., is derived from a root
signifying " to tear with the beak " ; and is ren
dered " eagle " in A. V. and R. V. in all passages
(but cp. Lev. xi. 13, Deut. xiv. 12, R. V. marg.,
,jreat vulture ; and in Micah i. 16, R. V. marg.,
evittwe). The bird denoted by the Hebrew and
Arabic name is beyond doubt the griffon vulture,
gyps fulvus (Gm.) of naturalists, a majestic
bird, most abundant and never out of sight,
whether on the mountains or the plains of
Palestine. Everywhere it is a feature in the
sky, as it circles higher and higher, till lost to
all but the keenest sight, and then rapidly
swoops down again. The Arabs never apply
the term nissV to any other bird than this,
unless it be to the comparatively rarer species,
the dnereus or black, and the eared vulture

EAGLE

815

Eagle-headed figure. (N.W. Palace, Nimrud.)

(Tultur dnereus, Gm., and Otogyps auricularis,
Daud.), which they do not discriminate, and
which have the same general characteristics
and habits. The bird commonly known as the
Egyptian vulture (Heb. Dill, Arab. «^i-,)j thc

universal scavenger of the East, Neophron per-
cnopterus (L.), is always distinguished by its
special name, and is an object of contempt,
while the griffon is one of reverence. The true
Eagle family is distinguished in Hebrew by
many different names, rendered in the A. V.
as ossifrage, kite, glede, osprey, &c. ; and in
Arabic eagles are designated collectively as
, jloft, nqab, with a specific adjective for the
various species. Our translators seem to have
shrunk from the true rendering of nesher,
through confusing the idea of the griffon with
that of the Egyptian scavenger. Although the
griffon feeds on carrion, or rather on fresh
carcases, this habit is no less characteristic of
the true eagles, which will never kill for them
selves if they can find dead flesh ; and it is very
possible that the larger eagles which sometimes
consort with the griffon are embraced under the
same name ; but while the latter may he seen
by hundreds, the less conspicuous eagles are
only to be counted by a few individuals here
and there. The Assyrian deity Nisroch, in
whose temple Sennacherib was
murdered, is by Sir H. Layard
considered to be typified by the
eagle or griffon headed figure of
a divinity so familiar in Assyrian
monuments. This eagle-headed
or vulture-headed human figure
is continually introduced into
the sculptures of Nineveh, con
tending with other mythic ani
mals, and in their contests it
appears to be always the con
queror. This illustrates the
reverence in which the creature,
so adopted as a symbol, was held.
We may refer also to a fragment
of the Zoroastrian oracles pre
served by Eusebius : " God is he
that has the head of a, hawk."
Sometimes the griffon head is
attached to the body of a lion,
and resembles the gryphon of
Greek mythology, and is the
original of the griffon of West
European heraldry. The range
of the griffon vulture is from
Spain to India, and from the
Alps to thc Cape of Good Hope.
At least eight distinct kinds
of eagles have been observed in
Palestine : viz., the golden eagle
(Aquila Chrgsaetus, L.), the
spotted eagle (Aquila clangct,
Pall.), the commonest species in
the rocky districts (see Ibis, i.
23), the imperial eagle (Aquila
Heliaca, Sav.), and the very com
mon Circaetos gatlicus (Gm.),
which preys on the numerous
reptilia of Palestine (for a figure
of this, see Ospeet). The other
four — Aquila fasciata V., Aquila
nipalensis Hodg., Aquila rapax Tem., and
Aquila pennata Gm.— are comparatively rare.*

• The reader will find the vernacular Arabic names of
different species of Vulturida! and Falconida; in Lochc's

816

EAGLE

The Persians used the eagle as their military
emblem and standard. In Is. xlvi. 11, Cyrus is
alluded to under the symbol of this bird:
" calling a ravenous bird (D*l?) from the East "
(cp. Xen. Cyrop. vii. 4) ; and from Assyria and
Persia the Romans probably borrowed the
ensign, which has been adopted by so many
modern nations, with more appropriateness of
character than its bearers would be willing to
acknowledge.

Job accurately describes the habits of the
griffon : " Doth the eagle (nesher) mount up at
thy command, and make her nest on high ? She
dwelleth on the rock, and hath her lodging
there, upon the crag of the rock and the strong
hold. From thence she spieth out the prey ;
her eyes behold it afar off. Her young ones
also suck up blood ; and where the slain are,
there is she " (xxxix. 27-30, R. V.).
So the fastnesses of Edom, amid the gorges of
Petra, are described by Jeremiah as no security
against the vengeance of Jehovah : " 0 thou
that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that
holdest the height of the hill: though thou
shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle
(nesher), I will bring thee down from thence, saith
the Lord " (Job xlix. 16). While the eagles and
other birds are content with lower elevations,
and sometimes even with trees, the griffon alone,
with the lammergeier, selects the stupendous
gorges of Arabia Petraea and of the defiles of
Palestine, and there in great communities rears
its young, where the most intrepid climber can
only with ropes and other appliances reach its
nest. The griffon's or eagle's swiftness of flight is
the subject of frequent allusion in Scripture
(Deut. xxviii. 49; 2 Sam. i. 23; Jer. iv. 13,
xlix. 22 ; Lam. iv. 19, &c.) ; its mounting high
into the air is referred to (in Prov. xxiii. 5, xxx.
19 ; Is. xl. 31 ; Jer. xlix. 16) ; its strength and
vigour (in Ps. ciii. 5) ; its predaceous habits (in
Job ix. 26 ; Prov. xxx. 17) ; the care in training
Catalogue des Oiseaux obsei-ves en Algeria ; and in Tbis,
vols. i. ii., Tristram's papers on tbe Ornithology of
North Africa.

EAGLE
its young to fly (in Ex. xix. 4 ; Deut. xxxii. II);,
its powers of vision (in Job xxxix. 29).
The passage in Micah i. 16, "Enlarge thy
baldness as the eagle " (R. V. marg. or, vulture),
has been understood by Bochart (Hieroz. ii.
744) and others to refer to the eagle at the
time of its moulting in the spring. Oedman
(Vermisch. Samm. i. 64) erroneously refers the
baldness spoken of by the prophet to point
to the Gypaetus barbatus, the bearded vulture
or lammergeier, which he supposed was bald.
It is extremely improbable that there is any
reference in the passage under consideration
to eagles moulting. . Allusion is here made
to the custom of shaving the head as a token
of mourning; but the-re would be little or
no appropriateness in the comparison of a
shaved head with an eagle at the time of
moulting. But in the case . of the griffon
vulture ( Vultur fulvus), the simile is peculiarly
appropriate ; it may be remarked that the
Hebrew verb kdrach (nip) signifies "to make
bald on the back part of the head ; " the notion
here conveyed is very applicable to the whole
head and neck of this bird, which is destitute
of true feathers, and either naked or thinly
covered with a powdery down.
With regard to the texts referred to above,
which compare the watchful and sustaining care
of His people by the Almighty with that ex
hibited by the eagle in training its young ones
to fly, we may quote a passage from Sir Hum
phry Davy, who says, "I once saw a very
interesting sight above one of the crags of Ben
Nevis, as I was going in the pursuit of black
game. Two parent eagles were teaching their
offspring, two young birds, the manoeuvres of
flight. They began by rising from the top of
the mountain, in the eye of the sun. It was
about mid-day, and bright for this climate.
They at first made small circles, and the young
birds imitated them. They paused on their
wings, waiting till they had made their first
flight, and then took a. second and larger gyra
tion ; always rising towards the sun, and
enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a
gradually ascending spiral. The young ones
still and slowly followed, apparently flying
better as they mounted ; and they continued
this sublime exercise, always rising, till they
became mere points in the air, and the young
ones were lost, and afterwards their parents, to-
our aching sight." The expression in Exodus
and Deuteronomy (11. co.), "beareth them on
her wings," has been understood by Rabbinical
writers and others to mean that the eagle does
actually carry her young ones on her wings and
shoulders. This is putting on the words a con
struction which they by no means are intended
to convey ; at the same time, it is not improba
ble that the parent bird assists the first efforts
of her young by flying under them, thus sus- ¦
taining them for a moment, and encouraging
them in their early lessons.
In this connexion we may note that the
griffon appears to have been sacred in the
Egyptian mythology to Maut, the goddess cf
maternity. In Ps. ciii. 5 it is said, "Thy youth is re
newed like the eagle " (R. V. ; see also Is. xl. 31).
Some Jewish interpreters have illustrated this
passage by a reference to the old fables about

EANES
the eagle being able to renew his strength when
very old (see Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 747). Modern
commentators for the most part are inclined to
think that these words refer to the eagle after
the moulting season, when the bird is more full
of activity than before. We much prefer Heng-
stenberf's explanation on Ps. ciii. 5, " Thy youth
is renewed, so that in point of strength thou
art like the eagle."
The eagle (nesher), as emblematic of the
Divine attributes, is one of the four living

EAEEINGS

817

creatures in the vision of Ezekiel ( i. 10), as
also in that of St. John (liov. iv. 7) ; to whom.
from his keen insight into heavenly truths, and
his near approach to the brightness of the Divine
glory in the Revelation vouchsafed to him, this
bird has been assigned as an emblem.
The aerol of Matt. xxiv. 28, Luke xvii. 37,
have evidently an inclusive sense ; comprehend
ing all the ravenous birds which invnriably
congregate round a field of battle. These are
all the species of vulture, of eagle, and of

Easles and Hare. (Nimrud.)

buzzard : among all these the griffon will pre
ponderate in the proportion of twenty to one.
These birds also accompany armies in their
march, on the watch for the dead horses and
baggage animals. During the Crimean war,
round Sebastopol, where the griffon had pre
viously been very scarce, immense numbers
congregated ; and came, as the Turks said, from
the ends of the earth. The writer noticed
during that period an unusual scarcity of these
birds in North Africa.
Eagles are frequently represented in Assyrian
.sculptures attending the soldiers in their battles ;
portraying the common feature in Eastern
battle-field scenery, of birds of prey awaiting
to satisfy their hunger on the bodies of the
slain. [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
E'ANES (B. yidirns ; Esses), 1 Esd. ix. 21, a
name which, according to the margin, stands for
Harim in Ezra (x. 21), but which is really all
that remains of the three names in Ezra — Harim,
JIaaseiah, and Elijah. The form Eanes is
dne to tbe Aldine misprint 'Kairns for Mdvris
(see Speaker's Comm. in loco). [F.] .
EAR, EAEED, EAEING (Gen. xiv. 6;
Kx. xxxiv. 21 ; Deut. xxi. 4 ; 1 Sam. viii. 12 ;
Is. xsx. 24) of the A. V. is now replaced in the
R. V. by the modern equivalent " plough " or
"plow." It comes from the Lat. arare, through
the A.-S. erian (cp. earth, arable, i.e. earable,
ground), and was one of the words " very reluc
tantly abandoned, and only because their mean-
jog was unknown to many persons of good
intelligence and education " (Revisers' Pref. to
0. T.). [F.]
EARNEST. This term occurs only thrice
jn the A. V. and R. V. (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5 ; Ephes.
'-14). The equivalent in the original is b.p'pafitbv,
aGraecised form of J1311?, which was intro
duced by the Phoenicians into Greece, and also
mto Italy, where it reappears under the forms
arrhabo and arrha (see further in MV.11). It
bible dict. — VOL. I.

may again be traced in the French arrhes, and
in the Old English expression Earl's or Arle's
money. The Hebrew word was used generally
for pledge (Gen. xxxviii. 17), and in its cognate
forms for surety (Prov. xvii. 18) and hostage
(2 K. xiv. 14). The Greek derivative, however,
acquired a more technical sense as signifying
the deposit paid by the purchaser on entering
into an agreement for the purchase of any thing
(Suid. Lex. s. v.). A similar legal and tech
nical sense attaches to earnest, the payment of
which places both the vendor and the purchaser
in a position to enforce the carrying out of the
contract (Blackstone, ii. 30). There is a marked
distinction between pledge and earnest in this.
respect, that the latter is a part-payment, and
therefore implies the identity in kind of the
deposit with the future full payment ; whereas a
pledge may be something of a totally different
nature, as in Gen. xxxviii., to be resumed by
the depositor when he has completed his con
tract. Thus the expression "earnest of the
Spirit " implies, beyond the idea of security, the
identity in kind, though not in degree, and the
continuity of the Christian's privileges in this
world and in the next. The payment of earnest-
money under the name of arrabon is still a
common occurrence of Arab life. [W. L. B.]
EAEEINGS. The word DTJ, by which these
ornaments are usually described, is unfortunately
ambiguous, originally referring to the nose-ring
and thence transferred to the earring. The full
expression for the latter is D^tSO 1K*N DJJ
(Gen. xxxv. 4. Cp. Ex. xxxii.' 2 '; Prov.' xxv.
12), in contradistinction to *1X"71? D.T3 (Gen.
xxiv. 47. Cp. Prov. xi. 22 ; Is. iii. 2l'; Ezek.
xvi. 12). In the majority of cases, however,
the kind is not specified, and the only clue to
the meaning is the context. The term occurs
in this undefined sense in Judg. viii. 24,
Job xiii. 11, Hos. ii. 13 ; the probability being
that the nose-ring is intended. The material
3 G

818

EARTH

of which the earring was made was generally
gold (Ex. xxxii. 2), and its form circular, as
we may infer from the name s'iV, by which
it is described (Num. xxxi. 50 ; Ezek. xvi. 12) :
such was the shape usual in Egypt (Wilkinson's
Ane. Egypt, ii. 336, 338, 345). They were worn
by the Hebrew women, by the youth of both sexes
(Ex. I. c), and — less commonly (cp. Kamphausen
in Riehm's HWB. s. n. Ohrringe)—hy men
(Judg. viii. 24). In the latter passage the
amount of the gold is the peculiarity adverted to,
and not the character of the ornament, a pecu
liarity which is still noticeable among the in
habitants of Southern Arabia (Wellsted's Travels,
i. 321). The earring appears to have been re
garded with superstitious reverence as an amulet :
thus it is named in the Chaldee and Samaritan
Versions NB"1p, a holy thing ; and in Is. iii. 20
the word D^BTf?, prop, amulets (R. V.), is ren
dered in the A* V., after the LXX. and Vulg.,
earrings. [Amulet.] On this account they were
surrendered along with the idols by Jacob's
household (Gen. xxxv. 4). Chardin describes
earrings, with talismanic figures and characters
on them, as still existing in the East (Brown's
Antiquities, ii. 305). Jewels were sometimes
attached to the rings : they were called )11S'ID3
(from f]!03, to drop), a word rendered in Judg.
viii. 26 SpfutTKOi, monilia; "collars," marg. or
sweet jewels, A. V. (R. V. " pendants "), and in
Is. iii. 19, KdBepa; torques; "chains," marg. or
sweet balls, A. V. (R. V. " pendants "). The size

Egyptian Earrings. (From Wilkinson.)

¦ofthe earrings still worn in Eastern countries far
exceeds what is usual among ourselves (Harmer's
06s., iv. 311, 314) ; hence they form a hand
some present (Job xiii. 11), or offering to the
service of God (Num. xxxi. 50). [W. L. B.] [F.]
EAETH. This term is used in two widely
different senses : (1) for the material of which
the earth's surface is composed ; (2) as the name
of the planet on which man dwells. The Hebrew
language discriminates between these two by
the use of separate terms, Adamah (1D1N) for
the former, Erets (flS) for the latter/ As the
two are essentially distinct, we shall notice them
separately. 1. Adamah is the earth in the sense of soil or
ground, particularly as being susceptible of cul
tivation ; hence the expression ish adamah for an
agriculturist (Gen. ix. 20). The earth supplied
the elementary substance of which man's body
was formed, and the terms adam and adamah are
brought into juxtaposition, implying an etymo
logical connexion (Gen. ii. 7). [Adam.] The

EAETH
opinion that man's body was formed of earth
prevailed among the Greeks (Hesiod, Op. et Di.
61, 70 ; Plat. Bep. p. 269), the Romans (Virg.
Georg. ii. 341 ; Ovid, Met. i. 82), the Egyptians
(Diod. Sic. i. 10), and other ancient nations. It
is evidently based on the observation of the
material into which the body is resolved after
death (Job x. 9 ; Eccles. xii. 7). The law pre
scribed earth as the material out of which altars
were to be raised (Ex. xx. 24) ; Bahr (Symb. i.
488) sees in this a reference to the name adam :
others jvith more reason compare the ara de
cespite of the Romans (Ov. Trist. v. 5, 9 ; Hor.
Od. iii. 8. 4, 5), and view it as a precept of
simplicity. Naaman's request for two mules'
burthen of earth (2 K. v. 17) was based on the
idea that Jehovah, like the heathen deities, was
a local god, and could be worshipped acceptably
only on his own soil.
2. Erets, the etymology of which is still un
certain (cp. Delitzsch [1887] on Gen. i. 10, and,
on the other hand, MV.11 s.n. )*1X), is applied in
a more or less extended sense : — 1, to the whole
world (Gen. i. 1) ; 2, to land as opposed to sea
(Gen. i. 10) ; 3, to a country (Gen. xxi. 32) ;
4, to a plot of ground (Gen. xxiii. 15) ; and 5,
to the ground on which ,i man stands (Gen.
xxxiii. 3). The two former senses alone concern
us, the first involving an inquiry into the
opinions of the Hebrews on Cosmogony, the
second on Geography.
I. Cosmogony. — -The views of the Hebrews
on this subject are confessedly imperfect and
obscure. This arises partly from the ulterior
objects which led them to the study of natural
science, and still more from the poetical colour
ing with which they expressed their opinions.
The Books of Genesis, Job, and Psalms supply
the most numerous notices : of these, the two
latter are strictly poetical works, and their lan
guage must be measured by the laws of poetical
expression ; in the first alone have we anything
approaching to an historical and systematic
statement, and even this is but a sketch — an
outline — which ought to be regarded at the
same distance, from the same point of view, and
through the same religious medium as its author
regarded it. The act of Creation itself, as re
corded iu the first chapter of Genesis, is a subject
beyond and above the experience of man ; human
language, derived, as it originally was, from the
sensible and material world, fails to find an
adequate term to describe the act ; for our word
" create " and the Hebrew bara, though most
appropriate to express the idea of an original
creation, are yet applicable and must necessarily
be applicable to other modes of creation; nor
does the addition of such expressions as " out of
things that were not " (ef ovk ovtuv, 2 Mace.
vii. 28) or " not from things which appear " (pii
ix tpaivopivoiv, Heb. xi. 3) contribute much to
the force of the declaration. The absence of a
term which shall describe exclusively an original
creation is a necessary infirmity of language: as
the event occurred but once, the corresponding
term must, in order to be adequate, have been
coined for the occasion and reserved for it alone,
which would have been impossible. The same
observation applies, though in a modified degree,
to the description of the various processes sub
sequent to the existence of original matter (cp.
Delitzsch, Genesis [1887], p. 40). Moses viewed

EAETH
matter and all the forms of matter in their
relations primarily to God, and secondarily to
mn  as manifesting the glory of the former, and
as designed for the use of the latter. In relation
to the former, he describes Creation with the
special view of illustrating the Divine attributes
of power, goodness, wisdom, and accordingly he
throWs this narrative into a form which im
presses the reader with tlie sense of these attri
butes. In relation to the latter he selects his
materials with the special view of illustrating
the subordination of all the orders of material
things to the necessities and comforts of man.
With these objects in view, it ought not to be
a matter of surprise, if the simple narrative
of Creation omits much that scientific research
has since supplied, and appears in a guise adapted
to those objects. The subject itself is through
out one of a transcendental character ; it should
consequently be subjected to the same standard
of interpretation as other passages of the Bible,
descriptive of objects which are entirely beyond
the experience of man, such as the day of judg
ment, the states of heaven and hell, and the
representations of the Divine Majesty. The
style of criticism applied to Gen. i. by the oppo-
' nents, and not unfrequently by the supporters
^Revelation, is such as would be subversive of
niany of tbe most noble and valuable portions of
the Bible. With these prefatory remarks we
proceed to lay down what appear to us to be the
leadinc features of Hebrew Cosmogony.*
1. The earth was regarded not only as the
central point of the universe, but as the uni
verse itself, every other body — the heavens, sun,
moon, and stars — being subsidiary to and, as it
were, the complement of the earth. The Hebrew
language has no expression equivalent to our
mwse: "the heavens and the earth" (Gen. i.
1, liv. 19; Ex. xxxi. 17) has been regarded as
such; but it is clear that the heavens were
looked upon as a necessary adjunct of the earth
—the curtain of the tent in which man dwells
(Is. xl. 22), the sphere above which fitted the
sphere below (cp. Job xxii. 14 and Is. xl. 22) —
designed solely for purposes of beneficence in
the economy of the earth. This appears from
the account of its creation and offices : the exist
ence of the heaven was not prior to or contem
poraneous with that of the earth, but subsequent
toit; it was created on the second day (Gen. i.
6). Thc term under which it is described, rakia
(B'pl), is significant of its extension, that it was
stretched out as a curtain (Ps. civ. 2) over the
surface of the earth. Moreover it depended upon
the earth ; it had its " foundations " (2 Sam.
nii. 8) on the edges of the earth's circle,
where it was supported by the mountains as by
Massive pillars (Job xxvi. 11). Its offices were

• The student may compare the Hebrew with the
Phoenician and Babylonian cosmogonies by the aid of
Delitzsch, Genesis [1887], pp. 40-1 ; Lenormant, Ori-
jha de VHistoire, i. 1 sq., 36 sq., 536 sq.; G. Smith,
Ti® Clialdean Account of Genesis [.Records of the Past,
*. S. i. 122 sq.] ; Jensen, Kosmologie d. Babylonier.
¦ Cp. also on tbe subject, " Genesis and Science," Driver,
*' Ooamgony of Genesis (Expositor, 1886, p. 23 sq.) ;
Stokes, Pritchard, and Bonney (Expositor, 1891, pp. 42,
p): and for exegetical treatment, Bishop Perowne
ifrposilor, 1890, p. 241 Bq.). Consult also the Com. of
IMlmannS ; and see Genesis.— [F.]

EAETH

819

(1) to support the waters which were above it
(Gen. i. 7 ; Ps. cxlviii. 4), and thus to form a
mighty reservoir of rain and snow, which were
to pour forth through its windows (Gen. vii. 11 ¦
Is. xxiv. 18) and doors (Ps. Ixxviii. 2,1), as
through opened sluice-gates, for the fructificiition
of tho earth ; (2) to serve as the substratum
(arepitopa or firmament) in which the celestial
bodies were to be fixed. As with the heaven
itself, so also with the heavenly bodies; they
were regarded solely as the ministers of the
earth. Their offices were (1) to give light ;
('£) to separate between day and night; (3) to
be for signs, as in the case of eclipses or other
extraordinary phenomena ; for seasons, as regu
lating seed-time and harvest, summer and winter,
as well as religious festivals ; and for days and
years, the length of the former being dependent
on the sun, the latter being estimated by the
motions both of sun and moon (Gen. i. 14-
18); so that while it might truly be said
that they held "dominion " over the earth (Job
xxxviii. 33), that dominion was exercised solely
for the convenience of the tenants of earth (Ps.
civ. 19-23). So entirely indeed was the exist
ence of heaven and the heavenly bodies de
signed for the earth, that with the earth they
shall simultaneously perish (2 Pet. iii. 10) : the
curtain ofthe tent shall be rolled up and the stars
shall of necessity drop off (Is. xxxiv. 4 ; Matt.
xxiv. 29) — their sympathy with earth's destruc
tion being the counterpart of their joyous song
when its foundations were laid (Job xxxviii. 7).
2. The earth was regarded in a twofold as
pect : in relation to God, as the manifestation of
His infinite attributes ; in relation to man, as
the scene of his abode. (1.) The Hebrew cos
mogony is based upon the leading principle that
the universe exists, not independently of God, by
any necessity or any inherent power, nor yet
contemporaneously with God, as being co-existent
with Him, nor yet in opposition to God, as a
hostile element, but dependently upon Him, subse
quently to Him, and in subjection to Him. The
opening words of Genesis express in broad terms
this leading principle ; however difficult it may
be, as we have already observed, to express this
truth adequately in human language, yet there
can be no doubt that the subordination of matter
to God in every respect is implied in that passage,
as well as in other passages, too numerous to
quote, which comment upon it. The same
great principle runs through the whole history
of Creation : matter owed all its forms and
modifications to the Will of God : in itself dull
and inert, it received its first vivifying capacities
from the influence of the Spirit of God brooding
over the deep (Gen. i. 2) ; the progressive im
provements in its condition were the direct and
miraculous effects of God's Will ; no interposition
of secondary causes is recognised : " He spake,
and it was" (Ps. xxxiii. 9); and the pointed
terseness and sharpness with which the_[Elohistic]
writer sums up the whole transaction in the
three expressions " God said," " it was so," " God
saw that it was good" — the first declaring
the Divine volition, the second the immediate
result, the third the perfectness of the work-
harmonise aptly with the view which he in
tended to express. Thus the earth became in
the eyes of the pious Hebrew the scene on
which the Divine perfections were displayed :
3 G 2

820

EAETH

EAETH

the heavens (Ps. xix. 1), the earth (Ps. xxiv. 1,
civ. 24), the sea (Job xxvi. 10 ; Ps. lxxxix. 9 ;
Jer. v. 22), " mountains and hills, fruitful trees
and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creeping
things and flying fowl " (Ps. cxlviii. 9, 10), all
displayed one or other of the leading attributes
of His character. So also with the ordinary
operations of nature — the thunder was His voice
(Job xxxvii. 5) ; the lightnings His arrows (Ps.
lxxvii. 17) ; wind and storm His messengers (Ps.
cxlviii. 8) ; the earthquake, the eclipse, and the
comet, the signs of His Presence (Joel ii. 10 ;
Matt. xxiv. 29 ; Luke xxi. 25).
(2.) The earth was regarded in relation to
man, and accordingly each act of creation is a
preparation of the earth for his abode — light, as
the primary condition of all life ; the heavens,
for purposes already detailed ; the dry lanl,
for his home ; " grass for the cattle, and herb
for the service of man " (Ps. civ. 14) ; the alter
nations of day and night, the one for his work
and the other for his rest (Ps. civ. 23) ; fish,
fowl, and flesh for his food ; the beasts of burden,
to lighten his toil. The work of each day of
Creation has its specific application to the re
quirements aud the comforts of man, and is
recorded with that special view.
3. Creation was regarded as a progressive work
— a gradual development from the inferior to
the superior orders of things. Thus it was with
the earth's surface, at first a chaotic mass, icaste
and empty, well described in the paronomastic
terms tohu, bohu, overspread with waters and
enveloped in darkness (Gen. i. 2), and thence
gradually brought into a state of order and
beauty so conspicuous as to have led the Latins
to describe it by the name Mundus. Thus
also with the different portions of the universe,
the earth before the light, the light before the
firmament, the firmament before the dry land.
Thus also with light itself: at first the ele
mentary principle, separated from the darkness,
but without defined boundaries ; afterwards the
illuminating bodies with their distinct powers
and offices — a progression that is well expressed
in the Hebrew language by the terms or and
madr (litf. 11ND). Thus also with the orders
of living beings : first, plants ; secondly, fish
and birds ; thirdly, cattle ; and lastly, man.
From " good " in the several parts to " very
good " as a whole (Gen. i. 31), such was its
progress in the judgment of the Omnipotent
Workman. 4. Order involves time ; a succession of events
implies a succession of periods ; and accordingly
Moses assigns the work of creation to six days,
each having its specific portion — light to the
first, the firmament to the second, the dry land
and plants to the third, the heavenly bodies to
the fourth, fish and fowl to the fifth, beasts and
man to the sixth. The manner iu which these
acts are described as having been done, precludes
all idea of time in relation to their performance :
it was miraculous and perhaps instantaneous :
" God said " and then " it was." But the progres-
siveness, and consequently the individuality of
the acts, do involve an idea of time as elapsing
between the completion of one and the com
mencement of another; otherwise the work of
Creation would have resolved itself into a single
continuous act. The period assigned to each
individual act is a day— the only period which

represents the entire cessation of a work throuo-h -ft
the interposition of night. That a natural day^t>
is represented under the expression " evening.*!!1
was and morning was," admits, we think, of no,^
doubt ; the term " day," when alone, may refer- jjiis
sometimes to an indefinite period contempora-i^
neous with a single event ; but when the indiXs
vidual parts of a day, " evening and morning,'*, jt
are specified, and when a series of such days are.'jji
noticed in their numerical order, no analogy of^n
language admits of our understanding the "term y
in anything else than its literal sense [Driver,',- -^
p. 26]. The Hebrews had no other means of^vi
expressing the civil day of 24 hours than as.'H'r!
" evening and morning " (lp2 311/, Dan. viii.'i-t
14 ; R.V.), similar to the Greek vvx8f)pcpov ; and <¦¦-
although the alternation of light and darkness layX*1
at the root of the expression, yet the Hebrews in
their use of it no more thought of those elements-1*"'^
than do we when we use the term fortnight orX?
se'nnight: in each case the lapse of a certain,^'':
time, and not the elements by which tbat timeX'-
is calculated, is intended; so that, without the-»:-::
least inconsistency either of language or of %y '
reality, the expression may be applied to the-:^-:
days previous to the creation of the sun. Ther:'. is
application of the same expression to the events cV-
subsequent to the creation of the sun, as well:;"-:
as the use of the word " day " in the fourth com-X ¦.
mandment without any indications that it isfee;
used in a different sense, or in any other than -
the literal acceptation of Gen. i, 5 sq., confirm. -. -— .
the view above stated. The interpretation that .: - -
" evening and morning "^beginning and end, is-. -¦',
opposed not only to the order in which the words-, -
stand, but to the sense of the words elsewhere.
5. The Hebrews, though regarding Creation as?--^
the immediate act of God, did not ignore the?.:.
evident feet that existing materials and inter-^x
mediate agencies were employed both then anin-.-n .
in the subsequent operations of nature. Thu-.;-,C
the simple fact " God created man " (Gen. i. 27r7.".~,
is amplified by the subsequent notice of th~' •" 7
material substance of which his body wa "..'
made (Gen. ii. 7); and so also of the animal-. "-. ."
(Gen. i. 24, ii. 19). The separation of sea an." '""
land, attributed in Gen. i. 6 to the Divine fiat 7."
was seen to involve the process of partial eleva'. " "
tions of the enrth's surface (Ps. civ. 8, "th^'.^*
mountains ascend, the valleys descend ;", cj~!.t!SK
Prov. viii. 25-28). The formation of clouds an ^a«
the supply of moisture to the earth, which i""^:"
Gen. i. 7 was provided by the creation of thX -'•
firmament, was afterwards attributed to its tru"*---t
cause in the continual return of the waters frori;r_
the earth's surface (Eccles. i. 7). The existenc^X,,
of the element of light, as distinct from the su"x
(Gen. i. 3, 14 ; Job xxxviii. 19), has likewise bee*:!;-,- •
explained as the result of a philosophically corX;: •.
rect view as to the nature of light ; more pre 5. .- .
bably, however, it was founded upon the incorrect ..."
view that the light of the moon was independe*!, ^

of the sun,

, ^- ,>:r<

6. With regard to the earth's body, ths^".1^
Hebrews conceived its surface to be an immens^;,. ,^:
disc, supported, like the flat roof of an Easter:^ ^:-
house, by pillars (Job ix. 6; Ps. lxxv. 3), whic;^'
rested on solid foundations (Job xxxviii. 4, 6%,^
Ps. civ. 5; Prov. viii. 29); but where thofSl^.K;
foundations were on which the " sockets " of th/x^r
pillars rested, none could tell (Job xxxviii. 6^^,,
The more philosophical view of the earth beinrt'Sfaj,

EAETH
suspended in free space seems to be implied in
Jub xxvi. 7 ; nor is there any absolute contra
diction between this and the former view, as the
nillars of the earth's surface may be conceived
to have been founded on the deep bases of the
mountains, which bases themselves were unsup
ported. Other passages (Ps. xxiv. 2, cxxxvi. 6)
jjeni to imply the existence of a vast subter
raneous ocean; the words, however, are essen
tially poetical, even if susceptible of the sense
that the earth was elevated above the level of
ithe seas (cp. Delitzsch and Perowne, Comm.
in loc); and that this is the sense in which
they are to be accepted, appears from the con
verse expression " water under the earth "
111. xs. 4), which, as contrasted with "heaven
above" and "earth beneath," evidently implies
the comparative elevation of the three bodies.
Beneath the earth's surface was sheol (?1KL'>),
the Woic'place, " hell " [R.V. " pit "] (Num. xvi.
30; Deut. xxxii. 22 ; Job xi. 8), the "house ap
pointed for the living " (Job xxx. 23), a " land of
darkness" (Job x. 21), to which were ascribed in
poetical language gates ( Is. xxxviii. 10) and bars
(Job xvii. 16), and which had its valleys or deep
places(Prov. ix. IS). It extended beneath the sea
(Job xxvi. 5, 6), and was thus supposed to be con
terminous with the upper world.
IL^Geography. — We shall notice (1) the
views of the Hebrews as to the form and size
of the earth, its natural divisions, and physical
features; (2) the countries into which they
divided it and their progressive acquaintance
with those countries. The world in the latter
sense was sometimes described by the poetical
term tebel (73FI), corresponding to the Greek
mavpivT) (Is. xiv. 21).
1. In the absence of positive statements we
have to gather the views of the Hebrews as to
the form of the earth from scattered allusions,
and these for the most part in the poetical Books,
where it is difficult to decide how far the lan
guage is to be regarded as literal, and how
, itt as metaphorical. There seem to be traces
«f the same ideas as prevailed among the
Greeks, that the world was a disc (Is. xl. 22 ;
the word 3-H, circle, is applied exclusively to the
circle of the horizon whether bounded by earth,
sea, or sky), bordered by the ocean (Deut. xxx. 13 ;
Johxxvi. 10 ; Ps. cxxx'ix. 9 ; Prov. viii. 27), with
Jerusalem as its centre (Ezek. v. 5), which was
thus regarded, like Delphi, as the navel (1-1313 ;
Judg. ix. 37 ; Ezek. xxxviii. 12 ; LXX. ; Vulg.),
or, according to another view (Gesen. Thesaur.
y.), the highest point "of the world. The
^usages quoted in support of this view admit of
4 different interpretation : Jerusalem might be
'egarded as the centre of the world, not only as
t*he seat of religious light and truth, but to a
. **r'ain extent in a geographical sense ; for
Palestine was situated between the important
*mpires of Assyria and Egypt ; and not only
Between them but above them, its elevation above
_ the plains on either side contributing to the
'^appearance of its centrality. A different view
«as been gathered from the expression " four
«rners " (n'lB33, generally applied to the skirts
J>f a garment: 'see the Assyrian form in MV.11),
as though implying the quadrangular shape of a
|Saroent stretched out, according to Eratosthenes'

EAETH 821
comparison ; but the term " corners " may be
applied in a metaphorical sense to the extreme
ends of the world (Job xxxvii. 3, xxxviii. 13 •
Is. xi. 12, xxiv. 16 ; Ezek. vii. 2). Finally, it is
suggested by Biihr (Symbolik, i. 170) that these
two views may have been held together, the
former as the actual and the latter as the sym
bolical representation of the earth's form. ' As
to the size of the earth, the Hebrews had but a
very indefinite notion ; in many passages the
" earth," or " whole earth," is used as co-exten
sive with the Babylonian (Is. xiii. 5, xiv. 7 sq.,
xxiv. 17) or Assyrian empire (Is. x. 14, xiv. 26,
xxxvii. 18), just as at a later period the Roman
empire was styled orii's terrarum; the "ends of
the earth " (fliXj?) in the language of prophecy
applied to the nations on the border of these
kingdoms, especially the Medes (Is. v. 26, xiii. 5)
in the east, and the islands and coasts of the
Mediterranean in the west (Is. xii. 5, 9) ; but
occasionally the boundary was contracted in this
latter direction to the eastern shores of the
Mediterranean (Is. xxiv. 16 ; Zech. ix. 10 ; Ps.
lxxii. 8). Without unduly pressing the language
of prophecy, it may be said that the views of the
Hebrews as to the size of the earth extended but
little beyond the nations with which they came
in contact ; its solidity is frequently noticed, its
dimensions but seldom (Job xxxviii. 18 ; Is. xiii.
5). We shall presently trace the progress of
their knowledge in succeeding ages.
The earth was divided into four quarters or
regions corresponding to the four points of the
compass : these were described in various ways,
sometimes according to their positions relatively
to a person facing the east, before (Dip), behind
(I'lIlN), the right hand QW), and the left hand
(7KQEP), representing respectively E., W., S.,
and N. (Job xxiii. 8, 9) ; sometimes relatively to
the sun's course, the rising (fllTD), the setting
(X13D, Ps. 1. 1), the 6ri7«an*Tquarter (Dill.
Ezek. xl. 24), and the dark quarter (flBV, Ex.
xxvi. 20 ; cp. the Greek (6tpos, Hom. II. xii. 240) ;
sometimes as the seat of the four winds (Ezek.
xxxvii. 9) ; and sometimes according to the
physical characteristics, the sea (D^ for the W.
(Gen. xxviii. 14), the parched (333; see Dill
mann5 on Gen. xii. 9) for the S. (Ex. xxvii. 9),
and the mountains (D11!!!) for the N. (Is. xiii.
4). The North appears to have been regarded as
the highest part of the earth's surface, in con
sequence perhaps of the mountain ranges which
existed there, and thus the heaviest part of the
earth (Job xxvi. 7). The North was also,
according to some, the quarter in which the
Hebrew el-Dorado lay, the land of gold mines
(Job xxxvii. 22, margin, but R. V. " golden
splendour;" cp. Herod, iii. 116).
These terms are very indistinctly used when
applied to special localities; for we find the
North assigned as the quarter of Assyria (Jer.
iii. 18), Babylonia (Jer. vi. 22), and the Euphrates
(Jer. xlvi. 10), and more frequently Media (Jer.
1.3; cp. li. 11), while the South is especially
represented by Egypt (Is. xxx. 6 ; Dan. xi. 5).
The Hebrews were not more exact in the use of
terms descriptive of the physical features of the
earth's surface ; for instance, the same term (D*)
is applied to the sea (Mediterranean), to the lakes

822

EAETH

of Palestine, and to great rivers, such as the
Nile (Is. xviii. 2), and perhaps the Euphrates (Is.
xxvii. 1) : mountain (11) signifies not only high
ranges, such as Sinai or Ararat, but an elevated
region (Josh. xi. 16); river (113) is occasionally
applied to the sea (Jon. ii. 3 ; Ps. xxiv. 2) and to
canals fed by rivers (Is. xliv. 27). Their voca
bulary, however, was ample for describing the
special features of the lands with which they
were acquainted, the terms for the different sorts
of valleys, mountains, rivers, and springs being
very numerous and expressive. We cannot fail
to be struck with the adequate ideas of descriptive
geography expressed in the directions given to
the spies (Num. xiii. 17-20) and Jn the closing
address of Moses (Deut. viii. 7-9) ; nor less, with
the extreme accuracy and the variety of almost
technical terms, with which the boundaries of
the various tribes are described in the Book of
Joshua, warranting the assumption that the
Hebrews had acquired the art of surveying
from the Egyptians (Jahn, i. 6, § 104).
2. We proceed to give a brief sketch of the
geographical knowledge of the Hebrews down
to the period when their distinctive names and
ideas were superseded by those of classical
writers. The chief source of information open
to them, beyond the circle of their own ex
perience, was their intercourse with the Phoe
nician traders. While the first made them ac
quainted with the nations from the Tigris to the
African desert, the second informed them of the
coasts of the Mediterranean, the regions of the
North, and the southern districts of Arabia.
From the Assyrians and Babylonians they gained
some slight knowledge of the distant countries of
India, and perhaps even China.6
Of the physical objects noticed we may make
the following summary, omitting of course the
details of the geography of Palestine : — (1.) Seas
— the Mediterranean, which was termed the
" great sea " (Num. xxxiv. 6), the " sea of the
Philistines " (Ex. xxiii. 31), and the " western
sea " (Deut. xi. 24) ; the Red Sea, under the
names of the " sea of Suph," sedge (Ex. x. 19 ;
see MV.11 SpD), and the "Egyptian sea" (Is.
xi. 15) ; the Dead Sea, under the names " Salt
Sea " (Gen. xiv. 3), " Eastern Sea " (Joel ii. 20),
and " Sea of the Desert " (Deut. iv. 49) ; and
the Sea of Chinnereth, or Galilee (Num. xxxiv.
11). (2.) Rivers — the Euphrates, which was
specifically " the river " (Gen. xxxi. 21), or " the
great river " (Deut. i. 7) ; the Nile, which was
named either Yor (Gen. xii. 1) or Sihor (Josh.
xiii. 3) ; the Tigris, under the name of Hiddekel
(Dan. x. 4) ; the Chebar, Chaboras, a tributary
of the Euphrates (Ezek. i. 3) ; the Habor, pro
bably the same, but sometimes identified with
the Chaboras that falls into the Tigris (2 K. xvii.
6) ; the river of Egypt (Num. xxxiv. 5) ; and
the rivers of Damascus, Abana (Barada) and
Pharpar (2 K. v. 12). For the Gihon and Pison
(Gen. ii. 11, 13), see Eden. (3.) Mountains —
Ararat or Armenia (Gen. viii. 4) ; Sinai (Ex. xix.
2) ; Horeb (Ex. iii. 1) ; Hor (Num. xx. 22) near
Petra; Lebanon (Deut. iii. 25); and Sephar
(Gen. x. 30) in Arabia.
The distribution of the nations over the face

1 The geographical questions arising out of the
description of the garden of Eden are discussed in a
separate article. [Eden.]

EAETH
of the earth is systematically described in Gen.
x.;c to which account subsequent, though not
very important, additions are made in chs. xxv.
and xxxvi., and in the Prophetical and Historical
Books. The table in Gen. x. is partly ethno
graphical, but the historico-geographical element
is more strongly developed (Dillmann): the
writer had in his mind's eye not only the descent
but the residence of the various nations. Some
of the names indeed seem to be purely geo
graphical designations : Aram, for instance,
means high lands (?); Canaan, low lands (see-
MV.11) ; Eber, the land across, or beyond,; Sidon,
fishing station ; Madai, central land (?) ; Tarshish,
conquered (?) ; Mizraim, still more remarkable
from its dual form, the Upper and Lower Egypts ;
Ophir, the rich land (?). It has indeed been sur
mised that the names of the three great divisions
of the family of Noah are also in their origin
geographical terms : Japhet, the widely-extended
regions of the North and West ; Ham, the country
of the black soil, Egypt ; and Shem, the moun
tainous country : all this is, however, more than
doubtful. In endeavouring to sketch out a map of the
world, as described in Gen. a., it must be borne
in mind that, in cases where the names of the
races have not either originated in or passed
over to the lands they occupied, the locality
must be more or less doubtful ; for the migra
tions of the various tribes in the long lapse ot
ages led to the transfer of the name from one
district to another, so that even in Biblical
geography the same name may at different
periods indicate a widely different locality.
Thus Magog in the Mosaic table may have been
the Scythian people of the Caucasus, and in
Ezekiel's record (xxxix. 6) that invading host
which passed south as far as Egypt ; Gomer
at the former period north of the Pontus
Euxinus, at the latter in Asia Minor. .Again,
the terms may have varied with the extending
knowledge of the earth's surface : Chittim,
originally Cyprus, was afterwards applied to
the islands and coasts of Greece (Jer. ii. 10 ;
Ezek. xxvii. 6), to Macedonia in the age of the
Maccabees (1 Mace. i. 1, viii. 5), if not even to
Italy in the prophecies of Daniel (xi. 30). Pos
sibly a solution may be found for the occurrence
of more than one Dedan, Sheba, and Havilah, in
the belief that these names represent districts of
a certain character, of which several might exist.
in different parts. From the above remarks it
will appear how numerous are the elements of
uncertainty introduced into this subject; una
nimity of opinion is almost impossible; nor need
it cause surprise, if even in the present article
the views of different writers are found at
variance. The principle on which the following
statement has been compiled is this — to assign;
to the Mosaic table the narrowest limits within
which the nations have been, according to the
best authorities, located, and then to trace out,
so far as our means admit, the changes which
those nations experienced in Biblical times.
c Where so much difference of opinion exists, it has
been thought better to modify but slightly the statements
of the writer in the text. The student may he referred
to Delitzsch [1887] and Dillmann 5 for a critical summary
of the points in dispute, and for the special literature
which examines them at length. — [F.]

EAETH
Commencing (x. 2-4) from the West, the " isles
ofthe Gentiles," i.e. the coasts and islands ofthe
Mediterranean Sea, were occupied by the Japhet-
ites in the following order : — Javan, the lonians,
perhaps Greeks generally ; Elishah, perhaps the
Medians of Greece and Asia Minor (al. Sicily) ;
Dodanim, the Dardani, in Illyricum (al. Rodanim,
the Bhodians of the Aegean Sea) ; Tiras, perhaps
the Tyrsenes of the Aegean (al. the Scythians
near the river Tyras); Chittim (see above);
Ashkenaz, here, probably, the Phrygians ; Gomer
(see above), and Tarshish of the Aegean Sea. In
the North, Tubal, the Tibireni, in Pontus ;
Jleshech, the Moschi in Colchis (possibly, how
ever, Tibarenes and Moschi of a less northerly
latitude; see Dillmann5); Magog (see above);
Togarmah in (Western?) Armenia; and Madai
in Media. The Hamites (x. 6-20) represent the
southern parts of the known world : Cush,
probably an appellative similar to the Greek
Aethiopia, and possibly applicable to all the
dark races of Arabia and Eastern Africa; Miz-
raim to Egypt (see above) ; Phut to Libya ;
Naphtuhim (possibly dwellers in'Central Egypt),
and Lehabim or Libyans ; Caphtorim, the
Cretans; Casluhim, possibly the dwellers be
tween the Nile and the border of Palestine ;
Pathrusim in the Thebaid ; Seba on the Arabian
Sea(?); Sabtah. on the western coast of the
Arabian Sea ; Havilah, nearer to the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb ; and Sabtechah, possibly on the
Persian Gulf; — Raamah and Dedan, according
to some, on the south-western coast of the same
gulf; according to others, African tribes. In
the central part of the world (x. 21—31) were
the Shemites: Elam, E/ymais and Susiana, in
Persia; Asshur in Assyria: Arphaxad, Arra-
pachitis, in Northern Assyria; Lud in Lydia
(though not limiting the name to the western
province of Asia Minor) ; Aram in Syria and
Mesopotamia, and the descendants of Joktan in
the peninsula of Arabia.
This sketch is filled up, so far as regards
Northern Arabia, by a subsequent account, in
ssv. 12, &c. (consult the Comm. of Delitzsch
[1887] and Dillmann5), of the settlement of the
descendants of Abraham by Keturah and of
Ishmael. The geographical position of many is
uncertain ; but we are acquainted with that of
the Midianites among the sons of Abraham, and
of Nebaioth, Nabataea; of Kedar, Kedrei (Plin. v.
12); ofDumah, Dumaitlia (Ptol. v. 19; in the
district of El-Gau), among the sons of Ishmael.
Some of the names in this passage are thought
hy some critics to have a geographical origin,
as Mibsam, a spice-bearing land, Tema, an arid
or-> southern land ; but such etymologies are
precarious. Again, in ch. xxxvi. we have some
particulars with regard to the country im
mediately to the south of Palestine, where the
aboriginal Horites, the Troglodytes of the
motmtainous districts in the eastern part of
Arabia Petraea, were displaced by tbe descend
ants of Esau. The narrative shows an intimate
acquaintance with this district, as we have the
names of various towns — Dinhabah, Bozrah,
•Avith, Masrekah, Rehoboth, and Pau, few of
which have any historical importance. The
Peninsula of Sinai is particularly described in
the Book of Exodus.
The countries, however, to which historical
interest attaches are Mesopotamia and Egypt.

EAETH

823

The hereditary connexion of the Hebrews with
the former of these districts, and the importance
ofthe dynasties which bore sway in it, make it
by far the most prominent feature in the map
of the ancient world; its designation in the
Book of Genesis i< Padan-aram, or Aram-Naha-
raim: in the north was Ur of the Chaldees,
and the Haran to which Terah migrated ; in the
south was the plain of Shinar (Babylonia proper),
and the seat of Nimrod's capital, Babel ; in his
realm were the cities of Accad (Ak-ka-di of the
inscription of Nebuchadnezzar I.), Calneh, Nine
veh (Kouyunjik) and its suburb Rehoboth-Ir,
Calah (the Kalhu of the inscriptions and the
present Nimroud), Resen (between Nineveh and
Calah), and Erech (Warka, Gen. x. 10-12).
From the same district issued the warlike ex
pedition headed by the kings of Shinar (see
above), Ellasar (probably Larsam), Elam, and
Goiim (R. V.), the object of which apparently
was to open the commercial route to the Aelan-
itic Gulf (Gen. xiv.), and which succeeded in
the temporary subjection of all the intervening
nations — the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim
(Bashan), the Zuzim in Ham (broadly speaking,
Ammon), the Emim in Shaveh (R. V. Shaveh-
Kiriathaim ; broadly, Moab), and the district of
the Amalekites (to the south, or, broadly, the
Negeb). It is, in short, to the early predomi
nance of the eastern dynasties that we are
indebted for the few geographical details which
we possess regarding those and the intervening
districts. The Egyptian captivity introduces to
our notice some of the localities in Lower Egypt,
viz. the province of Goshen, and the towns
Rameses (Gen. xlvii. 11); On, Heliopolis (Gen.
xii? 45); Pithom (Ex. i. 11); and Migdol, lately
re-discovered (Ex. xiv. 2).
During the period of the Judges, the Hebrews
had no opportunity of advancing their knowledge
of the outer world; but with the extension of
their territory under David and Solomon, and
the commercial treaties entered into by the
latter with the Phoenicians in the north and
the Egyptians in the south, a new era com
menced. It is difficult to estimate the amount
of information which the Hebrews derived from
the Phoenicians, inasmuch as the general policy
of those enterprising traders was to keep other
nations in the dark as to the localities they
visited ; but there can be no doubt that it was
from them that the Hebrews learned the route
to Ophir, by which the trade with India and
South Africa was carried on, and that they also
became acquainted with the positions and pro
ductions of a great number of regions compara
tively unknown. From Ezek. xxvii. (consult
the Commentaries, e.g. of Cornill and Orelli) we
may form some idea of the extended ideas of
geography which the Hebrews had obtained :
we have notice of the mineral wealth of Spain,
the dyes of the Aegean Sea, the famed horses of
Armenia, the yarns and embroideries of Assyria,
the iron of South Arabia, the spices and precious
stones of the Yemen, and the caravan trade
which was carried on with India through the
entrepots on the Persian Gulf. As the Prophet
does not profess to give a systematic enumera
tion of the places, but selects some from each
quarter of the earth, it may fairly be inferred
that more information was obtained from that
source. Whether it was from thence that the

824

EAETH

Hebrews heard of the tribes living on the
northern coasts of the Euxine — the Scythians
(Magog ; see above), the Cimmerians (Gomer),
&c. (on £>K1 in Ezek. xxxviii. 2, see MV.11
and Comm.) — is uncertain : the inroad of the
northern hordes, which occurred about Eze-
kiel's time, may have drawn attention to that
quarter. The progress of information on the side of
Africa is clearly marked : the distinction be
tween Upper and Lower Egypt is shown by the
application of the name Pathros to the former
(Ezek. xxix. 14). Memphis, the capital of Lower
Egypt, is first mentioned in Hosea (ix. 6) under
the name Moph, and afterwards frequently as
Noph (Is. xix. 13; see MV.11) ; Thebes, the
capital of Upper Egypt, at a later period, as
No-Ammon (Nah. iii. 8) and No (Jer. xlvi. 25) ;
and the distant Syene (Assouan ; Ezek. xxix. 10).
Several other towns are noticed in the Delta :
Sin, Pelusium (Ezek. xxx. 15); Pibeseth, Bubastis
(Ezek. xxx. 17); Zoan, Tunis (Is. xix. 11);
Tahapanes, or Tahpanhes, Daphne (Jer. ii. 16) ;
Heliopolis, under the Hebraised form Bethshe
mesh (Jer. xliii. 13); and, higher up the Nile,
Hanes, Heracleopolis (Is. xxx. 4). The position
of certain nations seems to have been better
ascertained. Cush (Aethiopia) was fixed imme
diately to the south of Egypt, where Tirhakah
held sway with Napata for his capital (2 K.
xix. 9) ; the Lubim (Libyans, Ezek. xxx. 5 ; R. V.
Put. See Comm. in loco) appear as allies of
Egypt ; and with them a people not previously
noticed, the Sukkiims, the Troglodytes of the
western coast of the Red Sea (2 Ch. xii. 3) : the
Ludim and Phut are mentioned in the same
connexion(Ezek. xxx. 5).
The wars with the Assyrians and Babylonians,
and the captivities which followed, bring us back
again to the geography of the East. Incidental
notice is taken of several important places in
connexion with these events : the capital of
Persii, Shushan, Susa (Dan. viii. 2); that of
Media, Achmetha, Ecbatana (Ezra vi. 2) ; Hena,
Ivah, and Sepharvaim, on the Euphrates (2 K.
xviii. 34) ; Carchemish, Circcsium, on the same
river (Is. x. 9) ; Gozan and Halah, on the borders
of Media (2 K. xvii. 6) ; Kir, a place not yet
identified (2 K. xvi. 9). The names of Persia
(2 Ch. xxxvi. 20) and India (Esth. i. 1) now
occur : whether the far-distant China is noticed
at an earlier period under the name Sinim
(Is. xlix. 12), admits of doubt.
The names of Greece and Italy are hardly noticed
in Hebrew geography : the former, in its widest
sense of Ionians, occurs in Gen. x., Is. lxvi. 19,
&c, under the name of Javan. In Dan. viii. 21,
the term definitely applies to Greece. If Italy is
described at all, it is under the name Chittim
(Dan. xi. 30).
In the Maccabaean era the classical names
came into common use : Crete, Sparta, Delos,
Sicyon, Caria, Cilicia, and other familiar names
are noticed (1 Mace. x. 67, xi. 14, xv. 23); Asia,
in a restricted sense, as = the Syrian Empire
(1 Mace. viii. 6) ; Hispania and Rome (1 Mace.
viii. 1-3). Henceforward the geography of the
Bible, as far as foreign lands are concerned, is
absorbed in the wider field of classical geography.
It is hardly necessary to add that the use of
classical designations in our Authorized Version
is in many instances a departure from the

EAETHQUAKE
Hebrew text : for instance, Mesopotamia stands
for Aram-Naharaim (Gen. xxiv. 10); Ethiopia
for Cush (2 K. xix. 9) ; the Chaldaeans for
Chasdim (Job i. 17) ; Graecia for Javan (Dan.
viii. 21); Egypt for Mizraim (Gen. xiii. 10);
Armenia for Ararat (2 K. xix. 37) ; Assyria for
Asshur (Gen. ii. 14) ; Idumaea for Edom (Is.
xxxiv. 5) ; and Syria for Aram. Arabia, it may
be observed, does occur as an original Hebrew
name in the later Books (Is. xxi. 13 ; cp.
Delitzsch4 in loco), but probably in a restricted
sense as applicable to a single tribe. [W. L. B.] [!'.]
EAETHENWAEE. [Potterv.]
EAETHQUAKE (OT1). Earthquakes, more
or less violent, are of frequent occurrence in
Palestine, as might be expected from the nume
rous traces of volcanic agency visible in the
features of that country. The recorded in
stances, however, are but few ; the most re
markable occurred in the reign of Uzziah (Amos
i. 1 ; Zech. xiv. 5), which Josephus (Ant. ix. 10,
§ 4) connected with the sacrilege and consequent
punishment of that monarch (2 Ch. xxvi. 16 sq.).
From Zech. xiv. 4 we are led to infer that a
great convulsion took place at this time in the
Mount of Olives, the mountain being split so as
to leave a valley between its summits. Josephus
records something of the sort, but his account is
by no means clear, for his words (tou 6povs
aTTodpayTJvat rb r)pttrv tov Kara tttiv Sitrtv) can
hardly mean the western half of tlie mountain,
as Whiston seems to think, but the half of tlui
western mountain, i.e. of the Mount of Evil
Counsel, though it is not clear why this
height particularly should be termed the western
mountain. We cannot but think that the two
accounts have the same foundation, and that the
Mount of Olives was really affected by the earth
quake. Hitzig (Comm. in Zech.) suggests that
the name rVflB'p, " corruption," may have ori
ginated at this time, the rolling down of the side
of the hill, as described by Josephus, entitling
it to be described as the destroying mountain, in
the sense in which the term occurs in Jer. li. 25.
An earthquake occurred at the time of our
Saviour's Crucifixion (Matt, xxvii. 51-54), which
may be deemed miraculous rather from the
conjunction of circumstances than from the
nature of the phenomenon itself, for it is de
scribed in the usual terms (t) yr) iaeiffB-n).
Josephus (Ant. xv. 5, § 2) records a very
violent earthquake, that occurred B.C. 31, in
which 10,000 people perished ; and in 1837 an
earthquake was very destructive in Galilee
(Robinson, Bibl. Bes. iii. 321 sq.). Earthquakes
are not unfrequently accompanied by fissures of
the earth's surface ; instances of this are recorded
in connexion with the destruction of Korah and
his company (Num. xvi. 32 ; cp. Joseph. Ant.
iv. 3, § 3), and at the time of our Lord's death
(Matt, xxvii. 51) ; the former may be paralleled
by h similar occurrence at Oppido in Calabria
a.d. 1783, where the earth opened to the extent
of 500 and a depth of more than 200 feet : and
again by the sinking of the bed of the Tagus at
Lisbon, in which the quay was swallowed up(Pfaff,
SchSpfungsgesch. p. 115). These depressions are
sometimes on a verv large scale : the subsidence

EAST
ofthe valley of Siddim at the southern extremity
ofthe Dead Sea may be attributed to an earth
quake ; similar depressions have occurred in
many districts, the most remarkable being the
saibniersion and subsequent re-elevation of tho
temple of Serapis at Puteoli. The frequency of
earthquakes about the Dead Sea is possibly
testified in the name Bela (Gen. xiv. 2 ; cp.
Jerome ad Is. xv.). Darkness is frequently a
concomitant of earthquake. [Darkness.] The
awe which an earthquake never fails to inspire,
¦ "conveving the idea of some universal and un
limited" danger " (Humboldt's Kosin,>s, i. 212),
rendered it a fitting token of the Presence of
Jehovah (1 K. xix. 11); hence it is frequently \
connected with His appearance (Judg. v. 4;
2 Sam. xxii. S ; Ps. lxxvii. 18, xcvii. 4, civ. 32 ;
Amos viii. 8 ; Hah. iii. 10). [\Y. L. B.]
EAST (D1|5; 11110). The Hebrew terms,
descriptive of the east, differ in idea, and, to ;i
certain extent, in application : (1) kedem pro
perly means that which is before or in front of
a person, and was applied to the east from the
custom of turning in that direction when de
scribing the points of the compass, before, behind,
the right and the left, representing respectively
E., W., S., and X. (Job xxiii. 8, 9) ; (2) mizrach
means the place of the sun's rising, and strictly
answers to the Greek avaToXri and the Latin
eriens; sometimes the full expression TlltD
EW is used (Judg. xi. 18 ; Is. xii. 25}, and
sometimes kedem and mizrach are used together
(e.g. Ex. xxvii. 13 ; Josh. xix. 12), which is after
all not so tautologous as it appears to be in our
" translation, •¦ on the east side eastward." Bear
ing in mind this etymological distinction, it is
natural that kedem should be used when the
/our quarters of the world are described (as in
Gen. xiii. 14, xxviii. 14 ; Job xxiii. 8, 9 ; Ezek.
xlvii. 18 sq.), and mizrach when the east is only
distinguished from the west (Josh. xi. 3 ; Ps. 1. 1,
ciii. 12, cxiii. 3; Zech. viii. 7). or from some
other single quarter (Dan. viii. 9, xi. 44 ; Amos
viii. 12); exceptions to this usage occur in
Ps. cvii. 3 and Is. xliii. 5, each, however, ad-
' mitting of explanation. Again, kedem is used in
a strictly geographical sense to describe a spot
or country immediately before another in an
easterly direction; hence it occurs in such
passages as Gen. ii. 8, iii. 24, xi. 2, xiii. 11,
xxv. 6 ; and hence the subsequent application
of the term, as => proper name (Gen. xxv. 6,
eastward, unto the land of Kedem), to the lands
. lying immediately eastward of Palestine, viz.
''.Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia [Bene-
Kedem] ; on the other hand, mizrach is used of
the far east with a less definite signification
(Is. xii. 2, 25 ; xliii. 5 ; xlvi. 11). In describing
aspect or direction the terms are used indifferently
(cp. kedem in Lev. i. 16, and Josh. vii. 2 with
aizrach in 2 Ch. v. 12, and 1 Ch. v. 10). The
east seems to have been regarded as symbolical
of distance (Is. xlvi. 11), as the land stretched
out in these directions without any known limit.
In Is. ii. 6 it appears as the seat of witchery
and similar arts (cp. Job xv. 2); adopting, with
Delitzsch,4 D1J3D rather than DD^D, preferred
by Gesenius (Thesaur. p. 1193). In the LXX.
icoToAal is used both for kedem and mizrach.
It should be observed that the expression is,

EBAL 825
with but few exceptions (Dan. viii. 9 ; Rev.
xxi. 13 ; cp. vii. 2, xvi. 12, from which it would
seem to have been St. John's usage to insert
r)\tov), avaroXal (Matt. ii. 1, viii. 11, xxiv. 27 ;
Luke xiii. 29), and not avaroXr). lt is hardly
possible that St. Matthew would use tho two
terms indifferently in succeeding verses (ii. 1, 2),
particularly as he adds the article to avaroXi),
which is invariably absent in other cases (cp.
Rev. xxi. 13). He seems to imply a definiteness
in the locality — that it was the country called
Dip, or avaroXi) (cp. the modern Anatolia), as
distinct from the quarter or point of the com
pass (apaToAa!) in which it lay. In confirma
tion of this it may be noticed that in the only
passage where the article is prefixed to kedenn
(Gen. x. 30), the term is used for a definite and
restricted locality; viz. South Arabia. [W. L. B.]
EAST, or EASTEEN SEA, THE. Ezek.
xlvii. 18; Joel ii. 20; Zech. xiv. 8, marg.
[Sea, the Salt.] [W.]
EASTEE (trdaxa ; pascha). The occurrence
of this word in the A. V. of Acts xii. 4 — " in
tending after Easter to bring Him forth to the
people " — is chiefly noticeable as an example of
the want of consistency in the translators. In
some of the earlier English Versions " Easter "
had been the usual translation of Ttdtsxa. In
deed Tyndale has it or " Easter-lamb " in every
instance of the occurrence of the word but two,
viz. Mark xiv. 12, John xviii. 28 ; and it is
scarcely less frequent in the Version of Cranmer
and in the Genevan Testament of 1557. The
Genevan Bible of 1560 substituted "Passover"
everywhere ; as did the Bishops' Bible, except
in Acts xii. 4. Iu this it has been exactly
followed by the A. V., of which it was taken as
the basis. The translation of the Acts in the
Bishops' Bible was entrusted to Cox, bishop of
Ely, and it is probably owing to his desire to
avoid " inkhorn terms " (see Westcott's History
of the English Bible, p. 101) that the retention
of " Easter " in this single passage is due, just
as elsewhere throughout the Acts he has chosen
or retained the most familiar rather than the
most correct equivalents for the technical terms
occurring in the Book, e.g. "deputy" (Acts
xiii. 7, &c), "serjeants" (xvi. 35), "town-
clerk" (xix. 35), and "robbers of churches"
(xix. 37). It is possible that the same principle
may have influenced the translators of 1611 in
retaining the word which would most naturally
suggest the season of the year to the reader.
The word has, however, happily disappeared
from the R. V., in which it is replaced by the
ordinary rendering "Passover." For all that
regards the nature and celebration of the feast,
see Passover. [E. H. P.] [E. C. S. G.]
E'BAL (^3W = strong (?) ; TaifoX in Gen.,
A. TaodriX in ICh. ; Mai). 1. One of the sons
of Shobal the son of Seir (Gen. xxxvi. 23 ; 1 Ch.
' 2. Obal, the son of Joktan (1 Ch. i. 22 ; ,
B. omits, A. Teptdv; Hebal: cp. Gen. x. 28)
Eleven of Kennicott's MSS., with the Syriac and
Arabic Versions, read felW in 1 Ch. as in Gen.

826

EBAL, MOUNT

E'BAL," MOUNT (^l? 11," Mount of
stone (?) ; Spos TaifidX ; Joseph. TtPdXos ; Mons
Hebal), a mount in the Promised Land, on
which, according to the command of Moses,
the Israelites were, after their entrance on
the Promised Land, to " put " the curse which
should fall upon them if they disobeyed the
commandments of Jehovah. The blessing con
sequent on obedience was to be similarly
localised on Mount Gerizim (Deut. xi. 26-29).
This was to be accomplished by a ceremony in
which half the tribes stood on the one mount
and half on the other; those on Gerizim
responding to and affirming blessings, those on
Ebal curses, as pronounced by the Levites, who
remained withtheArk in the centre of the inter
vening space (cp. Deut. xxvii. 11-26 with Josh.
viii. 30-35, with Joseph. Ant. iv. 8, § 44, and
with the comments of the Talmud \_Sota, vii.
§ 5], quoted in Herxheimer's Pentateuch).
The choice ofthe one as the Mount of Cursing
and the other as the Mount of Blessing does
not rest upon such reasons as that the one
was less fruitful than the other (see below),
but probably on the fact that according to
due orientation (Deut. xi. 30) Ebal would be
on the left of a spectator and Gerizim to his
right, and according to the conception of the
Israelite the right represents the side of happi
ness and blessing (Gen. xxxv. 18. See Dill
mann2 on Deut. xi. 29). Notwithstanding the
ban thus apparently laid on Ebal, it was further
appointed to be the site of the first great
Altar to be erected to Jehovah ; an Altar of
large unhewn stones plastered with lime and
inscribed with the words of the Law (Deut.
xxvii. 2-8). On this Altar peace-offerings were
to be offered, and round it a sacrificial feast
was to take place, with other rejoicings (vv. 6, 7).
Scholars disagree as to whether there were to be
two erections — a cromlech and an altar — -or an
Altar only, with the Law inscribed on its stones.
The latter was the view of Josephus (Ant. iv. 8,
§ 44 ; v. 1, § 19) ; the former is unhesitatingly
adop ted by Keil and Dillmann2 (on Josh. viii. 32).
The words may perhaps bear either sense.
The terms of Moses' injunction seem to infer
that no delay was to take place in carrying out
this symbolical transaction. It was to be " on
the day " that Jordan was crossed (xxvii. 2),
before they " went in unto the land flowing
with milk and honey " (v. 3). And accordingly
Joshua appears to have seized the earliest
practicable moment, after the pressing affairs
of the siege of Jericho, the execution of Achan,
and the destruction of Ai had been concluded, to
carry out the command (Josh. viii. 30-35). After
this Ebal appears no more in the sacred story.
The question now arises, where were Ebal
and Gerizim situated? The all but unanimous
reply to this is, that they are the mounts which
form the sides of the fertile valley in which
lies Ndblus, the ancient Shechem — Ebal on the
north and Gerizim on the south. [See Map
under Gerizim.]

" If, as Gesenius suggests, Gerizim was so called from
the Gerzites, Ebal may have taken its name from the
ancient Edomite tribe of Ebal ben Shobal.
¦> In LXX. B. of 2 K. xxiii. 8, TaySAA is r<kd in
stead of the Geba of Benjamin. The LXX. A., as usual,
is in accordance with the Hebrew, Tafiaa.

EBAL, MOUNT
(1) It is plain from the passages already
quoted that they were situated near together,
with a valley between.
(2) Gerizim was very near Shechem (Judg. ix.
7), and in Josephus's time their names appear to
have been attached to the mountains, which were
then, as now, Ebal on the north and Gerizim on
the south. Since that they have been mentioned
by Benjamin of Tudela (Asher, i. 66), and
among modern travellers by Maundrell (Mod.
Trav. p. 432).
¦ The main impediment to our entire reception
of this view rests in the terms of the first
mention of the place by Moses in Deut. xi. 30 :
A. V. "Are they not on the other side (R. V.
"beyond") Jordan, by the way where the sun
goeth down (R. V. "behind the way of the
going down of the sun "), in the land of the
Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign (R. V.
"the Arabah ") over against Gilgal, beside the
plains (R. V. " oaks," marg. terebinths) of
Moreh ? " Here the mention of Gilgal, which
was in the valley of the Jordan near Jericho, of
the valley itself (Arabah, mistranslated by A. V.
here only "champaign"), and of the Canaanites
who dwelt there, and also the other terms of
the injunction of Moses, as already noticed, seem
to imply that Ebal and Gerizim were in the
immediate neighbourhood of Jericho. And this
is strengthened by the narrative of Joshua, who
appears to have carried out the prescribed cere
monial on the mounts while his camp was at
Gilgal (cp. vii. 2, ix. 6), and before he had (at
least before any account of his having) made his
way so far into the interior of the country as
Shechem. This is the view taken by Eusebius (OS.2
p. 242, 79 ; p. 243, 89 ; rtuj8d\). He does not
quote the passage in Deut., but seems to be led
to his opinion rather by the difficulty of the
mountains at Shechem being too far apart to
admit of the blessings and cursings being heard,
and also by his desire to contradict the Sama
ritans; add to this that he speaks from no
personal knowledge, but simply from hearsay
(Xiyerai), as to the existence of two such hills
in the Jordan valley. The notice of Eusebius is
merely translated by Jerome (OS.2 p. 126, 4), with
a shade more of animosity to the Samaritans
(vehementer errant), and expression of difficulty
as to the distance, but without any additional
information. Procopius and Epiphanius also
followed Eusebius, but their mistakes have been
disposed of by Reland (Pal. pp. 503-4 ; Mlscell.
pp. 129-133).
With regard to the passage in Deut., it will
perhaps assume a different aspect on examination.
(1) Moses is represented as speaking from the
east side of the Jordan, before anything was
known of the country on the west beyond the
exaggerated reports of the spies, and when
everything there was wrapped in mystery, and
localities and distances had not assumed their
due proportions. (2) A closer rendering of the
verse is as follows : " Are they not on the other
side the Jordan, beyond — (HIK, the word
rendered " the backside [R. V. " the back "] of
the desert," in Ex. iii. 1)— the road to the
sunset, in the land of the Canaanite who dwells
in the Arabah over against Gilgal, near the
terebinths of Moreh." If this rendering is cor
rect, a great part of the difficulty has dis-

EBAL, MOUNT
appeared (see Dillmann2 in loco). Gilgal no
longer marks the site of Ebal and Gerizim, but
of the dwelling of the Canaanites, who were, it is
true the first to encounter the Israelites on the
other side of the river, in their native lowlands,
but who, we have it actually on record, were both
in the time of Abraham (Gen. xii. 6) and of the
conquest (Josh. xvii. 18) located about Shechem.
The word rendered " beyond " by R. V. is not
represented at all in the A. V., and it certainly
throws the locality much further back ; and
lastly there is the striking landmark of the
trees of Moreh, which were standing by Shechem
when Abraham first entered the land, and whose
name possibly survived in Morthia, or Jla-
mortha (Jos. B. J. iv. 8, § 1, WlafiopBd), a name
of Shechem found on coins ofthe Roman period
(Reland, Miscell. pp. 137-9).
In accordance with this is the addition in the
Samaritan Pentateuch, after the words '• the
terebinths of Moreh," at the end of Deut. xi. 30,
of the words "over against Shechem." This
addition is the more credible because there is
not, as in the case noticed afterwards, any
apparent motive for it. If this interpretation
be accepted, the next verse (r. 31) gains a fresh
force : " For ve are to pass over Jordan " [not
only to meet the Canaanites immediately on the
other side, but] " to go in to possess the land"
[the whole of the country, even the heart of it,
where these mountains are situated (glancing
back to r. 29)], " the land which the Lord your
God giveth you ; and ye shall possess it, and
dwell therein " (R. V.). And it may also be asked
whether the significance of the whole solemn
ceremonial of the blessing and cursing is not
missed if we understand it as taking place
directly a footing had been obtained on the
outskirts of the country, and not as acted in
the heart of the conquered land, in its most
prominent natural position, and close to its oldest
city — Shechem?
This is evidentlv the view taken by Josephus.
His statement (Ant. v. 1, § 19) is that it took
place after the subjugation of the country and
the establishment of the Tabernacle at Shiloh.
He has no misgivings as to the situation of the
mountains. They were at Shechem (iirl -2.tKlp.uv),
and from thence, after the ceremony, the people
returned to Shiloh.
The narrative of Joshua is more puzzling.
But even with regard to this something may be
said. It will be at once perceived that the Book
contains no account of the conquest of the centre
of the country, of those portions which were
afterwards the mountain of Ephraim, Esdraelon,
or Galilee. We lose Joshua at Gilgal, after the
conquest ofthe south, to find him again suddenly
at the waters of Merom in the extreme north
(x. 43, xi. 7). Of his intermediate proceedings
the only record that seems to have escaped is
the fragment contained in viii. 30-35 (see
Dillmann 2 in loco. Many modern writers re
gard the passage as an interpolation where it
is, and would place it after xi. 23). Nor
should it be overlooked that some doubt is
thrown on this fragment by its omission in both
the B. and A. MSS. of the LXX.
The distance of Ebal and Gerizim from each
other is not such a -stumbling-block to us as it
was to Eusebius ; though it is difficult to under
stand how he and Jerome should have been

EBAL, MOUNT

827

ignorant of tho distance to which the voice will
travel in the clear elastic atmosphere of the
East. Prof. Stanley has given some instances
of this (.!>'. .[¦ P. p. 13) ; others equally remarkable
were observed by the writer ; and ho has been
informed by a gentleman long resident in the
neighbourhood that a voice can be heard without
difficulty across the valley separating the two
spots in question (see also Bonar, p. 371, and
Dr. Winslow's testimony, PEFQy. Stat. 1891,
p. 79).
It is not necessary to suppose that every word
was heard by the spectators ; the " blessings "
and " cursings " were probably as well known
to the Israelites as the Commandments are to
us, aud the responses would be taken up when
the vuice of the reader ceased. The valley be
tween Ebal and Gerizim rises gently eastward,
to the water-parting between the waters of the
Mediterranean and the Jordan, and at this point
there is a grand natural amphitheatre formed
by a recess in either mountain. There is no
other place in Palestine so convenient for the
assembly of a large body of men within the
limits to which the human voice can travel,
and where at the same time every individual
would be able to see what was going on.
Nothing is wanting in the natural beauty of the
site to add to the solemnity and impressiveness
of a scene such as that described in Josh. viii.
32-35 (Wilson, PEFQy. Stat. 1873, pp. 66-71).
It is well known that one of the most serious
variations between the Hebrew text of the Pen
tateuch and the Samaritan text is in reference,
to Ebal and Gerizim. In Deut. xxvii. 4, the
Samaritan has Gerizim, followed by LXX.,
Vulg., while the Hebrew (as in E. V.) has Ebal,
as the mount on which the Altar to Jehovah
and the inscription of the Law were to be
erected. Upon • this basis they ground the
sanctity of Gerizim and the authenticity of the
temple and holy place, which did exist and still
exist there. The arguments upon this difficult
and hopeless question will be found in Kennicott
(Dissert. 2), and in the reply of Verschuir
(Leovard. 1775 ; quoted by Gesenius, de Pent.
Sam. p. 61). Two points may merely be
glanced at here which have apparently escaped
notice. 1. Both agree that Ebal was the mount
on which the cursings were to rest, Gerizim
that for the blessings. It appears inconsistent
that Ebal, the mount of cursing, should be the
site of the Altar and the record of the Law,
while Gerizim, the mount of blessing, should
remain unoccupied by sanctuary of any kind.
2. Taking into account the known predilection
of Orientals for ancient sites on which to fix
their sanctuaries, it is more easy to believe (in
the absence of any evidence to the contrary)
that in building their temple on Gerizim, the
Samaritans were making use of a spot already
enjoying a reputation for sanctity, than that
they built on a place upon which the curse was
laid" in the records which they received equally
with the Jews. Thus the very fact of the occu
pation of Gerizim by the Samaritans would
seem an argument for its original sanctity.
: The summit of Ebal is a comparatively level
plateau of some extent. There is no actual
peak, but the ground rises towards the west,
and attains its greatest elevation (3077 feet)
near a small pile of stones. The view from this

82S

EBED

EBEE

{point is one of the finest and most extensive in
Palestine, embracing Safed and Mount Hermon
¦on the. north, Jaffa and the maritime plain on
the west, the heights above Bethel on the south,
and the Hauran plateau on the east. The upper
portion of the mountain is nummulitic lime
stone, and the surface of the plateau is so
cracked and broken that it has the appearance
¦of being covered by a rude pavement. Towards
the east end is the curious Kh. Kuneisa, or
Kuleisa ; it is an enclosure 92 feet square with
walls 20 feet thick, built of selected, unhewn
stones without mortar ; in the thickness of the
wall are the remains of several chambers, but
there is nothing to connect the building with
4he altar erected by Joshua.
The contrast between the rich vegetation on
Gerizim and the barrenness of Ebal has often
been commented upon by travellers (see Benja
min of Tudela, &c). This arises from the
structure of the rock, for the strata dip towards
the N. across the valley, and prevent the exist-
•ence of springs on the southern slope of Ebal.
The mountain, however, is by no means sterile :
for a considerable height it is clothed with
luxuriant gardens of cactus, and above these, to
ithe very summit, rises a succession of terraces
well supplied with cisterns that speak of a
careful system of cultivation and irrigation at a
former period. Many of these terraces are well
preserved, and planted in spring-time with corn
•which grows as well as that planted on Gerizim.
At the foot of the mountain there is a Moslem
•cemetery, and many rock-hewn tombs are to be
found in the gardens of cactus. The slopes of
Ebal towards the valley are rather steeper than
those of Gerizim ; it is also the higher moun
tain of the two. Tho altitudes are : —
Nablus, above sea, 1675 ft.
Gerizim, „ 2849ft. ... above NCtblus, 1174 ft.
Ebal, „ 3077 ft  , „ 1402 ft.
The modern name of Ebal is Jebel Sitti Esla-
rniiyeh, from a Muhammadan female saint, whose
tomb stands high up on the southern slope
opposite Nablus. It is also called /. 'Amad ed
Din, from a sheikh whose tomb is further to the
west (PEF. Mem. ii. 170, 186, 220 ; PEFQy.
Stat. 1873, p. 66 ; Gu&in, Samarie, ii. 446-453).
On the south-east shoulder is a ruined site
bearing the name of 'Askar (Rob. iii. 132).
03YCHAK.] [G.] [W.]
E'BED. 1. (12V -slave; but many MSS.,
and the Syr. and Arab. Versions, have 131?,
Eber: B. 'IaijSijA, A. 'A/3e'B, except in v. 35
SaBir ; Ebed and Obed), father of Gaal, who
•with his brethren assisted the men of Shechem
in their revolt against Abirnelech (Judg. ix. 26.
28, 30, 31, 35).
2. (131;; B. 'aBi]B, A. 'VtSr]-; Abed), son
of Jonathan ; one of the Bene- Adin who returned
from Babylon with Ezra (Ezra viii. 6). In
1 Esdras the name is given as Obeth.
It would add greatly to the force of many
passages in the O. T. if the word " slave " or
" bondman " were appropriated to the Hebrew
term Ebed, while "servant," "attendant," or
•" minister " were used to translate Na'ar,
Mesharet, Sec. In the addresses of subjects to a
ruler, the Oriental character of the transaction
would come home to us at once if we read

" what saith my lord to his slave " — the verv
form still in use in the East, and familiar to us
all in the Arabian Nights and other Oriental
works — instead of " his servant." [G.] [W.]
E'BED-ME'LECH 0]ta"I31?; ' APtepiXex;
Abdemelech), an Aethiopian eunuch in the service
of king Zedekiah, through whose interference
Jeremiah was released from prison, and who
was on that account preserved from harm at
the taking of Jerusalem (Jer. xxxviii. 7 sq. ;
xxxix. 15 sq.). His name seems to be an official
title = King's slave, i.e. minister.
EBEN-E'ZEE (IWiT |3K = the stone of
help : 13A. 'AOevefcp ; Joseph. XtBos ltrxvp6s :
lapis Adjutorii), a stone set up by Samuel after
a signal defeat of the Philistines, as a memorial
of the "help" received on the occasion from
Jehovah (1 Sam. vii. 12). " He called the name
of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath Jehovah
helped us " (azaranu, -12 ITU). Its position is
carefully defined as between Mizpeh — "the
watch-tower"— and Shen, "the tooth" or
" crag." Neither of these points, however, have
been identified with any certainty — the latter,
being probably a well-known (cp. LXX. and
Syr. J landmark, not at all. According to
Josephus's record of the transaction (Ant. vi.
2, § 2), the stone was erected to mark the limit
of the victory, a spot which he calls Korraia,
but in the Hebrew Bethcab. It is remarkable
that of the occurrences of the name Eben-ezer,
two, recalling the defeat of Israel by the Philis
tines (1 Sam. iv. 1 [B. 'Afievi&p, A. 'AjBew-],
v. 1 [B. 'A/3evWip, A. 'A/JejWfep]), are found in
the order of the narrative before the place
received its title. This prolepsis would not
unnaturally happen in a record written after
the event, especially in the case of a spot so noted
as Eben-ezer must have been.
_ In the Onomastioon (OS.2 p. 226, 15) Ebenezer
('A0evi£ep) is said to have been near Bethsames,
'Ain Shems, on the road from Aelia to Ascalon,
and the site has apparently been recovered in
Deir 'Abdn, a large village 2 miles E. of 'Ain
Shems (PEF. Mem. iii. 24), and close to the
Roman road to Jerusalem. M. Clermont-Gan-
neau, who connects this place with "the great
Abel "of 1 Sam. vi. 18 [Abel, 7], has ingeniously
suggested that the Ark was brought back to the
place where it was captured ; and that it was on
the same ground that Samuel won his signal
victory over the Philistines (PEFQy. Stat. 1877,
pp. 154-6). Major Conder, who also places
Ebenezer at Deir 'Abdn, identifies Mizpeh with
Kh. Shufa, and Bethcar with Akur (PEFQy.
Stat. 1876, p. 149). Dr. Chaplin identifies
Ebenezer with Beit Iksa, and Shen with Deir
Yesin (PEFQy. Stat. 1888, p. 263). [G.] [W.]
E'BEE (131?; "E0ep; Heber). 1. Son of
Salah, and great-grandson of Shem (Gen. x. 24.
xi. 14-17; 1 Ch. i. 19). See Hebeb; and for
the factitious importance attached to this
patriarch, and based upon Gen. x. 21, Num.
xxiv. 24, see Hebrew. [T. E. B.]

* In iv. 1 the definite article prefixed to both words
exhibits their apposition to each other. Cp. Driver,
Notes on the Hebrew Text of the BB. of Samuel, in
loco* Ewald, Ausfiihrl. Lehrb. $ 290 d.

EBIASAPH
2. 131? ; 'n^S; Heber. Son of Elpaal and
descendant of Shaharaim of the tribe of Benjamin
(1 Ch. viii. 12). He was one of the founders of
Ono and Lod with their surrounding villages.
3. A priest, who represented the family of
Amok, in the days of Joiakim the sou of Joshua
(Neh. xii. 20; BX*A. omit, K«- »¦>»'¦" 'AuovaBiS).
[W.A.W.] [P.]
EBI'ASAPH (=1D}3$; Abiasaph), a Koha
thite Levite of the family of Korah, one of the
forefathers of the prophet Samuel and of Heman
the sinsjer (1 Ch. vi. 23 [B. 'A^ioflap, A. 'ABia-
eitf,'], t." 37 [B. 'AjSiao-dp, B»<viJ>b -tp). The same
man is probably intended in ix. 19. The name
appears also to be identical with Aihas.u'U
(which see), and in one passage (1 Ch. xxvi. I)
to be abbreviated to Asaph [so A. : B. 'A/3itt,
[W.A. W.] [F.]

ECBATANA

828

EBONY (0^31, hobnim : Kai toTs eitrayo-
pevois ; * i&ivovs, Symm. : [ifenfrs] kebeninos)
occurs only in Ezek. xxvii. 15, as one of the
valuable commodities imported into Tyre by
the men of Dedan. [Dedan.] It is mentioned
together with '• horns of ivory," and it may
hence be reasonably conjectured that ivory and
ebony came from the same country. The

Diotpyrvs ebtntta.
ancients held the black heart-wood in high
esteem. Herodotus (iii. 97) mentions ebony
(tjt&Xuyyes iBivov) as one of the precious sub
stances presented by the people of Ethiopia to
the king of Persia. Dioscorides (i. 130) speaks
of two kinds of ebony, an Indian and an Ethio
pian; he gives the preference to the latter kind.
Virgil (Georg. ii. 116) says that "India alone
produces the black ebony ; " and Theophrastus
(Hist. Plant, iv. 4, § 6) asserts that " ebony is
peculiar to India." This, however, is an error,
as trees of this order are found in all the
tropical and in some semi-tropical parts of the
Old World, all of which yield a hard black heart-
wood. The number of known species of the
order Ebenaceae is about 160. Those species
of which the wood has the greatest commercial
value belong generally to the genus Diospyrus,
of which the most important are Diospyrus
ebenus and Diospyrus melanoxylon from India
* For tbe Heb. word used by the LXX. see Eosen-
mfiller's Schol. ad Ezek. xxvii. 15,

and Ceylon ; Diospyrus ehenastnt from Ceylon,
and Diospyrus hirsttta, which produces the varie
gated cnlamander wood of Coylon. Any or all
of these may have been imported into the
Mediterranean countries by the Phoenicians.
Africa is equally rich in these ironwood-yielding
trees. The Abyssinian ebony referred' to by
Herodotus is from Diospyrus mcsjn'lifonnis, railed
" -\ja " by the Abyssinians, who in ancient times
exported it down the Nile ; and which is also-
found through Central Africa, Mozambique, and!
Guinea. The latter region supplies many other-
kinds. Diospyrus melanoxylon, found also ire
Coromandel, is abundant in Senegal, while East
and Southern Central Africa possess various
species, among them Euclea pseudebenus, Mey.,
the " Zwartebbenhout " of the Boers. Among
more northern kinds is the Diospyrus kaki of
Japan, and the Dinspyrus lotus of South-eastern
Europe, which yielded the famous fruit which,
according to the Greek poets, produced oblivion.
Most of the ebony trees yield a sweet and edible
fruit. The Greek word eB^vos, the Latin ebenus,
our " ebony," have all doubtless their origin in
the Hebrew hobnim, a term which was thought
to denote " wood as hard as stone " (cp. the
German Steinliolz, "fossil-wood;" see Gesenius,
Thes. s. \., and qualify by MV.11). It is pro
bable that the product and material, or the-
plural form of this noun, is used to express the
billets into which the ebony was cut previous to-
exportation, like our "logwood." See full dis
cussions on the ebony of the ancients in
Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 714 ; and Salmasius, Plin.
Exercitat. p. 725 c : cp. also Royle, in Kitto's
Cycl., art. "Hobnim." According to Sir E.
Tennent (Ceylon, i. 1 16), the wood of Diospyrus:
ebenus, which is abundant throughout all the-
flat country to the west of Trincomalee, " excels-
all others in the evenness and intensity of its-
colour. The heart of the trunk is the only
portion which furnishes the extremely black
part which is the ebony of commerce ; but the-
trees are of such magnitude that reduced logs
of 2 feet in diameter, and varying from 10 to 15
feet in length, can readily be procured from the
forests at trincomalee." [W. H.] [H. B. T.]
EBEO'NAH. [Abronah.]
ECA'NUS, one of the five swift scribes who.
attended on Esdras (2 Esd. xiv. 24).
ECBATANA (XriDnX ; 'ApaBd, 'ZuBdrava -r
Ecbatana; Old Persian, Hagmatana; Semitic
Babylonian, Agamatana, Agamatani; Modern
Persian, Hamadun). It is doubtful whether the
name of this place is really contained in the
Hebrew Scriptures. Some commentators under
stand the expression XnpnK3, in Ezra vi. 2,
differently, and translate it in area, " in a coffer "
(see Buxtorf and others, and so the A. V. in the
margin). The LXX. B. however gives iv Tt6Xet,.
" in a city," and A. iv 'ApaBd ; R. V. " at Ach-
metha," and in marg. That is, Ecbatana, which
favours the ordinary interpretation. If a city is.
meant, there is little doubt of one of the two
Ecbatanas being intended, for except these towns,
there was no place in the province of the Medes
" which contained a palace " 011*3), or where re
cords are likely to have been deposited. The name
NJlOnX (Achmetha) too, which at first sight

830

ECBATANA

seems somewhat remote from Hagmatana, the
ancient native name, is not really so, as it only
wants the harder aspirate at the beginning, and
the syllable -na at the end, whilst the g is
changed into oh (=kh). In the apocryphal
books Ecbatana is frequently mentioned (Tob.
iii. 7, xiv. 12, 14; Judith i. 1, 2; 2 Mace. ix. 3,
&c); and uniformly with the later and less
correct spelling of 'EKBdrava, instead of the
earlier and more accurate form, used by Hero
dotus, Aeschylus, and Ctesias, of 'AyBdrava.
Two cities of the name of Ecbatana seem to
have existed in ancient times : one the capital of
Northern Media, the Media Atropatene" of Strabo ;
the other the metropolis of the larger and more
important province known as Media Magna (see
Sir H. Rawlinson's paper on the Atropatenian
Ecbatana, in the 10th volume of the Journal of
tlie Geographical Society, art. ii.). The site of
the former appears to be marked by the very
curious ruins at Takht-i-Sule'iman (lat. 36° 28',
long. 47° 9'); while that of the latter is
occupied by Hamadan, which is one of the most
important cities of modern Persia. There is
generally some difficulty in determining, when
Ecbatana is mentioned, whether the northern or
the southern metropolis is intended. Few
writers are aware of the existence of the two
cities, and they lie sufficiently near to one
another for geographical notices in most cases
to suit either site. The northern city was the
"seven-walled town" described by Herodotus,
and declared by him to have been the capital of
Cyrus (Herod, i. 98-99, 153 ; cp. Mos. Choren.
ii. 84); and it was thus most probably there
that the roll was found which proved to Darius
that Cyrus had really made a decree allowing
tho Jews to rebuild their temple.
Various descriptions of the northern city
have come down to us, but none of them is
completely to be depended on. That of the
Zendavesta (Vendidad, Fargard II.) is the oldest,
and the least exaggerated. "Jemshid," it is
said, "erected a Var, or fortress, sufficiently
large, and formed of squared blocks of stone ; he
assembled in the place a vast population, and
stocked the surrounding country with cattle for
their use. He caused the water of the great
fortress to flow forth abundantly. And within
the var, or fortress, he erected a lofty palace,
encompassed with walls, and laid it out in many
separate divisions, and there was no place, either
in front or rear, to command and overawe the
fortress." Herodotus, who ascribes the founda
tion ofthe city to the king Deioces, says : "The
Medes were obedient to Deioces, and built the
city now called Agbatana, the walls of which
are of great size and strength, rising in circles
one within the other. The plan of the place is
that each of the walls should out-top the one
beyond it by the battlements. The nature of
the ground, which is a gentle hill, favours this
arrangement in some degree, but it was mainly
effected by art. The number of the circles is
¦seven, the royal palace and the treasuries stand
ing within the last. The circuit of the outer
wall is nearly the same with that of Athens.
Of this outer wall the battlements are white, of
the next black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth
blue, of the fifth orange : all these are coloured
with paint. The last two have their battle
ments coated respectively with silver and gold.

ECBATANA
All these fortifications Deioces caused to be
raised for himself and his own palace. The
people were required to build their dwellings
outside the circuit of the walls" (Herod.
i. 98-99). Finally, the book of Judith, probably
the work of an Alexandrian Jew, professes to
give a number of details, which appear to be
drawn chiefly from the imagination of the writer
(Judith i. 2y).
The peculiar feature of the site of Takht-i-
Suleiman, which Sir H. Rawlinson has proposed
to identify with the Northern Ecbatana, is a
conical hill rising to the height of about 150 feet
above the plain, and covered both on its top and
sides with massive ruins of the most antique and
primitive character. A perfect enceinte, formed
of large blocks of squared stone, may be traced
round the entire hill along its brow; within
there is an oval enclosure about 800 yards in its
greatest and 400 in its least diameter, strewn
with ruins, which cluster round a remarkable
lake. This is an irregular basin, about 300
paces in circuit, filled with water exquisitely
clear and pleasant to the taste, which is supplied
in some unknown way from below, and which
stands uniformly at the same level, whatever
the quantity taken from it for irrigating the
lands which lie at the foot of the hill. This
hill itself is not perfectly isolated, though it
appears so to those who approach it by the
ordinary route. On three sides — the south, the
west, and the north — the acclivity is steep and
the height above the plain uniform, but on the
east it abuts upon a hilly tract of ground, and
here it is but slightly elevated above the adjacent
country. The remarkable platform of hewn
stone with which it is crowned, and on which
the palace apparently stood, does not rise above
the crest of the hill on the eastern side, and it
cannot therefore have ever answered exactly to
the description of Herodotus, as the eastern side
could not anyhow admit of seven walls of cir
cumvallation. It is doubted whether even the
other sides were thus defended. Although the
flanks on these sides are covered with ruins,
" no traces remain of any wall but the upper
one " (As. Journ. a. p. 52). Still, as the nature
of the ground on three sides would allow this
style of defence, aud as the account in Herodotus
is confirmed by the Armenian historian, writing
clearly without knowledge of the earlier author,
it seems best to suppose, that in the peaceful
times of the Persian empire it was thought
sufficient to preserve the upper enceinte, while
the others were allowed to fall into decay, aud
ultimately were superseded hy domestic build
ings. With regard to the colouring of the walls,
or rather of the battlements, which has been
considered to mark especially the fabulous
character of Herodotus' description, recent dis
coveries show that such a mode of ornamenta
tion was actually in use at the period in question
in a neighbouring country. The temple of the
Seven Spheres at Borsippa was adorned almost
exactly in the manner which Herodotus assigns
to the Median capital [Babel, Tower of] ; and
it does not seem at all improbable that, with
the object of placing the city under the protec
tion of the Seven Planets, the seven walls may
have been coloured nearly as described. Hero
dotus has a little deranged the order of the hues,
which should have been either black, orange,

ECBATANA
scarlet, gold, white, blue, silver — as in the case
ofthe Borsippa temple — or black, white, orange,
blue, scarlet, silver, gold — if the order of the
days dedicated to the planets were followed.
Even the use of silver and gold in external
ornamentation — which seems at first sight highly
improbable — is found to have prevailed. Silver
roofs were met with by the Greeks at the
Southern Ecbatana (Polyb. x. 27, §§ 10-12) ; and
there is reason to believe that at Borsippa the
eold and silver stages of the temple were actually
coated with those metals.
The Northern Ecbatana continued to be an
important place down to the 13th century after
Christ. By the Greeks and Romans it appears
to have been known as Gaza, Gazaca, or Canzaca,
•' the treasured city," on account of the wealth
laid up in it ; while by the Orientals it was
termed Shi;. Its decay is referable to the Mogul
conquests, c. A.D. 1200 ; and its final ruin is
supposed to date from about the 15th or 16th
century (As. Soe. Journ. vol

ECCLESIASTES

831

Flan of Ecbatana.
Explanation. 5. Cemetery.

1 Remains of a Fire-Temple.
2. Enined Mosque. 6- Eidge of Eock called " the Dragon.
3. Ancient bni]ding3 with shafts and capitals. 7. HU1 called "Tawilah," or "the Stable,
4. Bains of the Palace of Abakai Khan. 8. Bnins of Kalisiah.
9. Bochy hill of Zindani-Soleimau.
In the 2nd book of Maccabees (ix. 3, &c.) the
Ecbatana mentioned is undoubtedly the southern
city, now represented both in name and site by
Hamadan. This place, situated on the northern
flank of the great mountain called formerly

cessors it was more than once taken and retaken,
each time suffering largely at the hands of its
conquerors (Polyb. x. 27). It was afterwards
recognised as the metropolis of their empire bv
the Parthians (Oros. vi. 4). During the Arabian
period, from the rise of P,aghdad on thc one
hand and of Isfahan on the other, it sank into
comparative insignificance ; but still it has
never descended below the rank of a provincial
capital, and even in the present depressed con
dition of Persia it is a city of about 35,000
inhabitants. The Jews, curiously enough, re
gard it as the residence of Ahasuerus (Xerxes)
— which is in Scripture declared to be Susa
(Esth. i. 2, ii. 3, &c.) — and show within its
precincts the tombs of Esther and Mordecai (Ker
Porter, vol. ii. pp. 105-110) — a plain brick
structure, consisting of a small cylindrical tower
and dome, with small projections or wings on
each side. In the tomb-chamber, a plain room
paved with glazed tiles, are two wooden chests
shaped like sarcophagi, situated over the spots
where the dead are said
to lie. It is not distin
guished by any remark
able peculiarities from
other Oriental cities of
the same size, except
that it is an important
trading centre, and pos
sesses, as such, excel
lent and well-supplied
bazaars and superior
khans. The principal
manufacture of the city
is leather. The city contains re
mains of ruined walls
of great thickness, and
towers of sun - dried
bricks. Shafts and bases
of columns (the mould
ing of one of the latter
bearing an inscription
of Artaxerxes), belong
ing to buildings of the
Persian period, have also
been found there ; but
there is no eminence corresponding with that
indicated bv Polybius and Herodotus as the site
of the castle or palace, save an inconsiderable
hill to the east, with some Persian remains.
The Ecbatana of the book of Tobit js thought

Orontes, and now Ehcend, was perhaps as ancient j by Sir H. Rawlinson to be the »«£*«»» cltY (see

as the other, and is far better known in history.
If not the Median capital of Cyrus, it was at
any rate regarded from the time of Darius
Hystaspis as the chief city of the Persian satrapy
of Media, and as such it became the summer
residence of the Persian kings from Darius down
wards.* It was occupied by Alexander soon
after the battle of Arbela (Arr. Exp. Alex. iii.
19), and at his decease passed under the dominion
ofthe Seleucidae. In the wars between his suc-

* There is a tablet (in private hands) recording a loan,
from a Babylonian officer stationed at Agamatani (Ecba-
tana), to one of his countrymen temporarily visiting the
city. It is dated in Ab (July- August) in the 3rd year
of Cyras (535 B.C.). It is to be noted that the cuneiform
inscriptions give no indications that there were two
cities of this' name.

As. Soe. Journ. *. pt. i. pp. 137-141).
See Ker Porter's Travels; Perrot and Chipiez,
Histoire de I' Art, tome v. ; and Dieulafoy's L'Art
Antique de la Perse, premiere partie.
[Ct. K.J (_1. «¦ ir.J
ECCLESIASTES, or THE PREACHER.
 I Title. The word rendered Ecclesiastes by

the LXX. is Qoheleth (n?np, Aq. KtoXeB). In
form it is a feminine of the qal participle active
from qahal, iKKX-naid^w, to assemble, or to be
or act as a member of an assembly, which has
led some to think that it denotes Wisdom per
sonified, who harangues the assembled people as
in Prov. i. 20 or viii. 1. But since it is used
in six places out of seven (Eccles. i. 1, 2, 12; xii.
8 9 10) as a masculine name or appellative, it

832

ECCLESIASTES

is natural to presume that in the seventh also
(vii. 27) it is masculine. If so, we have to con
sider whether we should not adopt a slight
emendation of the text — reading not HICK
rf?np, but rbnpn IDS, as in xii. 8, unless
we are content, with Rashbam, to refer for
a parallel to the anomalous construction of
David as the subject of a feminine verb in
2 Sam. xiii. 39: "And king David longed
(fem.) to go forth unto Absalom." Cp. Ezek.
xvi. 30: "How weak (fem.) is thine heart."
With Qoheleth, regarded as masculine, com
pare Sophereth (Neh. vii. 57), which is found
likewise with the article (Ezra ii. 55), and
the class of words of the corresponding form
s s '
in Arabic, such as i'j)\i, a deep investigator.
X*
Qoheleth would thus be not Wisdom herself,
but a wise man (xii. 9 ; cp. vii. 23), whose
mouth she opens in the midst of the con
gregation (Ecclus. xv. 5). The invariable and
frequent use of the derivatives of the root
QHL * of the assemblage not of things but of
persons must govern the meaning of Qoheleth,
which should accordingly denote not a com
piler, nor an eclectic philosopher, nor one who
amasses wisdom and experience, but one who
convenes or addresses an assembly. Solomon,
we read, was so called " because his words
were spoken in the assembly," with reference
to 1 Kings viii. 1, 2 (Midr. Chazitha on Eccles.
i. 1). Jerome accordingly explains the term
by concionator, whence Luther's " Prediger "
and our " Preacher." The book is styled in
Wiclif's prologue, " boc of talker to the puple
or togider klepere," but he employs the word
Ecclesiastes in the text. Qoheleth might indeed
serve to designate one who speaks as an
ordinary member of an academic assembly, but
the rendering debater which has been proposed
from this point of view scarcely suits the cha
racter of Solomon or the Book in its entirety.
Some who regard Qoheleth as a feminine
(vii. 27) have inferred that it denotes an
assembly or aggregation of debaters personified.
2. Authorship. — The question as to the
authorship of Ecclesiastes practically reduces
itself to this : Did Solomon write it or not ? If
he did not, what limits of date can be assigned
to the Book? The general arguments for a late
date tell of course against the Solomonic author
ship, but up to a certain point it is possible to
treat the two questions independently, as we
accordingly propose to do, commencing with
some consideration of the tradition which names
Solomon as the writer, and of the internal
evidence bearing upon this point.
In favour of the Solomonic authorship, it is
alleged that the Book ascribes itself to Solomon
under the name Qoheleth (i. 1, 12), and that
this is confirmed by a consensus of ancient
interpreters. It is indeed clear that Qoheleth is intended to
play the part of king Solomon, even if the super-

a No trace of the qal occurs except in Qoheleth, and the
primary meaning of the root may be uncertain, but
in tbe hiphil it means "to summon an assembly"
OllpT. 1?1p), and in the niphal congregari (I K. viii.
1, 2, 65). T ' :

ECCLESIASTES
scription which describes him as "son of David"
be not authentic. But the Book comprises, over
and above the discourse of Qoheleth speaking in
the first person (i. 12), an epilogue which briefly
sums up the conclusion from his argument in
editorial style, and commends him in terms
which he could scarcely have used of himself
(xii. 9-14). It has been conjectured that these-
verses are no part of the original work, but the
internal evidence, carefully examined by Delitzsch
and others, does not point to this conclusion ;
so that, while we agree with Rashbam (1085-
1155 A.D.) so far as to say that they are not
the words of Qoheleth himself, we may yet
decline to disintegrate a Book alike unique and
uniform in style and diction by assuming that
its epilogue is an incongruous addition of »
later age.
If the epilogue is a part of the original work,
it seems to follow that the claim of the Book to
have been written by Qoheleth is only apparent ;
and that, in whatever sense and to whatever
extent Solomonic, it is in its entirety the com
position of some sage well versed in his history
and writings, who has thought fit to suppress
his own name, and to put his profound re
flexions on the life of man and the moral
government of the world into the mouth of
the proverbially wise king. That a writer's
motive in such self-suppression need not be inter
preted unfavourably is shown by the example of
the school of Pythagoras, who kept their know
ledge secret, and attributed it to the school or
its master. Hippasus, who offended against
this rule, was lost at sea for his impiety (Iambli-
chus, Vit. Pythag. cap.- 18). He had divulged
and taken credit for a certain discovery in geo
metry, whereas everything belonged to " Him "
(elvat 5e -irdvTa iKtivov tov t\vSp6s), for so they
called Pythagoras, and not by his name. With
this compare the saying in the Palestinian)
Talmud (Megillah, iv. 1) : " Scripture, Mishnah,
and Talmud, and Agadah, and even that which
the diligent scholar was destined to point out
before his master, were already spoken to Moses
from' Sinai." Such dicta cannot be taken lite
rally, but are the paradoxes of idealists, which
leave us in doubt as to how much they supposed!
to have been revealed explicitly.11 They assume
that the literary embryo comprehends what can
and is to be evolved from it : the progenitor
includes the race (Heb. vii. 10). On this prin
ciple the tradition which ascribes Ecclesiastes to
Solomon may only mean that its germ or basis-
is Solomonic. That the Book as a whole owes
something to post-Solomonic editing — how much
or how little depends upon the sense to be
attached to the word " wrote " — seems to be
suggested by the tradition of the Babylonian!
Talmud (Baba Bathra, 15 a), that " Hezekiah and
his company (Prov. xxv. 1) wrote Isaiah, Pro
verbs, Song of Songs, Qoheleth," where Heze
kiah and his college or company may range over
a succession of generations from king Hezekiah,
" the Pisistratus of Israelitish literature," to
the Captivity. Further, it may be doubted
whether the words of the Targumist are to be
taken quite literally when he recognises repeated
anachronisms in the Book, and characterises
them as " words of prophecy which Qoheleth,

* See Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, p. 122 (1871).

ECCLESIASTES
that is, the son of David the king, who was in
Jerusalem, prophesied." It remains to touch
upon some points in the internal evidence bear-
incr upon the question now under discussion.
Qoheleth's reference to his kingship as in
the past is alleged in support of the conclusion
that he is not the true son and successor of
David, but a second Solomon or "Solomon
redivivus." He writes : " I the Preacher was
king over Israel in Jerusalem. And I applied
mv heart to seek and to search out by wisdom
concerning all that is done under heaven "
(i. 12, 13) ; and this has given rise to a legend in
the Talmuds (T. B. Gittin, 6S b ; Jerus. Sanhedr.
ii. 6), to the effect that he was dethroned for
his sins and succeeded by a spirit in his outward
form, whilst he himself wandered from place to
place in the land of Israel, begging his bread
and crying. " I Qoheleth was king over Israel in
Jerusalem," which may have been intended as a
word to the wise, hinting that Qoheleth was
not the actual Solomon, but one who wrote in
his " spirit and power " (Luke i. 17). But the
point of departure in this legend being the
words "I was king," considered in and by
themselves, after the manner of the Agadah,
we cannot argue therefrom to their true signifi
cance in their proper context. Qoheleth, writing
for the future, may possibly mean that he
applied his heart to seek and to search out by
wisdom, &c, and that he was at that time king
over Israel in Jerusalem, and therefore in the
best of positions (i. 12 : ii. 12) for bringing his
experiments to a successful issue. Nevertheless,
whatever may be the significance of this much
discussed preterite 'JVM in relation to its con
text, the phrase " king over Israel in Jerusalem"
does seem to point to the division of the king
dom after the time of Solomon, and is such as
a historian writing after his death might most
fitly have used. Compare 1 Kings xi. 41, 42 :
"Now the rest of the acts [or words, cp. Eccles. i.
1] of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wis
dom, are they not written in the book of the
acts [or words'] of Solomon? And the time
that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all
Israel was forty years." The Targnm teaches
that the division of the kingdom is referred to
repeatedly in the Book (i. 1, 2 ; ii. 18 ; iii. 11 ;
iv. 15, &c), calmly accepting, as we have said,
such anachronisms and signs of later date as
"words of prophecy which Qoheleth pro-

ECCLESIASTES

833

Other allusions to Solomon in the Book are
consistent with the theory that he is not the
writer of it, and some of Qoheleth's sayings
would come better from a commoner than from
a king (iii. 16 ; iv. 1, 13 ; x. 5, &c). Lastly,
except for the tradition that Solomon wrote the
Book, there is no reason to think of it as the
record of a merely personal experience. Qohe
leth is rather an abstraction, who speaks with
preternatural calm of addicting himself to sen
sual pleasure and making fair trial of madness
and folly by way of philosophical experiment ;
and the Book, although ostensibly a sort of
autobiography, can scarcely be said to add any
thing to our knowledge of the facts of the life
of Solomon. To conclude, it is not proven that
the Book claims Solomon as its author, nor is it
the quite unanimous verdict of tradition that he
wrote " it. The matter being thus uncertain,
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

we have to consider what limits of date can be
assigned to Ecclesiastes on other grounds.
3. Date. —A list of dates conjocturally
assigned to the Book is quoted in the Speaker's
Coinmentarg. They range from the time of
Solomon to that of Herod, to whom Graetz
dating it B.C. 8, makes it refer. By Graetz
and others the superscription (i. 1), which styles
Qoheleth "son of David," and the epilogue
(xii. 9-14), which again seems to point to
Solomon, are ascribed to an editor distinct from
the author of the main body of the work.
Following Krochmal," he maintains that the
verses xii. 12-14 do not refer exclusively to
Ecclesiastes, but form the conclusion of the
Hagiographa, the division of the 0. T. to which
it belongs. He supposes it to be the latest
of the Books, and to have been finally pro
nounced canonical only at the Synod held in
Jamnia about 90 A.D., up to which date the
schools of Shammai and Hillel had disputed
whether it " defiled the hands." In confirma
tion of this view it was necessary to show that
the LXX. Version of the Book was of com
paratively recent origin. Accordingly, he refers
it to the 2nd century a.d., laying stress upon
its renderings of the objective prefix eth by avv,
as in avv -rbv S'tKaiov Kai avv rbv ctaeBfj Kpivei &
8e6s (iii. 17), and Kai dvBponros ovk ip.vT\aBri avv
rod avSpbs to5 viv-nTos iKtivov (ix. 15), which
are thought to mark the translator as of the
school of Aquila, who writes avv rbv ovpavbv
Kai avv tt\v yr\v (Gen. i. 1), and abv aKibX-nKos
rb Sidtpopov (Ex. xxviii. 5). This correspondence
in style of rendering is remarkable, and invites
careful consideration ; but we shall not dwell
upon it here, as it does not in any case con
stitute a positive argument for the late date
assigned to the original of Ecclesiastes. Nor do
the continued questionings of its authority, even
if in all cases to be taken seriously, prove
anything more than that it was still treated as
an antilegomenon, although it may have been
received long before into the Canon.
A most interesting and instructive attempt
to fix the date of the Book is to be found in
Mr. Thomas Tyler's concise treatise on Eccle
siastes, published in 1874. From the supposed
clear traces of the post-Aristotelian philosophies of
Zeno and Epicurus in it on the one hand, and from
the traces of the Book itself in Ecclesiasticus and
the Wisdom of Solomon on the other hand, it is
inferred that it must have been written between
the years 250 B.C. and 180 B.C., and the specific
date c. 200 B.C. is then assigned to it. Of his
two limits of date the lower is perhaps the more
conclusively established.
Ecclesiasticus, — The following series of
parallels raises a strong presumption that there
is some sort of interdependence between the
books of Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiasticus. Accord
ing to one view, the title of the latter book was
itself chosen with reference to the former.
Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiasticus.
iii. 1. To everything there xxxix. 16, 11, 33. All the
is a season, and a time to works of the Lord are
every purpose under exceeding good, and
heaven. whatsoever he command
eth shall be in due
season, &c.

c See Nachman Krochmal's article in Kerem Chemed,
vol. v. 79 (1841).
3 H

834

ECCLESIASTES

ECCLESIASTES.
iii. 2-6. A time to be born.
and a time to die, &c.

Hi. 7. A time to keep
silence, and a time to
speak.

lit. 11. He hath made
everything beautiful in
its time.

ECCr.ESIATICUS.
xi. 14.. Prosperity and ad
versity, life and death,
poverty and richeB, come
ofthe Lord.
xx. 6, 7. ... and some
keepeth silence etSws
tcatpov. A wise man will
hold his tongue eW
Keupov.
xxxix. 34. So that a man
cannot say, This is worse
than that: for in time
they shall all be well
approved.
xxxit. 4. dwcaipcos jxtj <ro-
<t>£gov.
xxvii. 12. If thou be
among the indiscreet,
observe the time.

vii. 16. jut-ij (roif> l£ov ire-
pta-ad.
viii. 5. ... a wise man's
heart discerneth both
time and judgment.
A marked characteristic of Qoheleth is his
doctrine that there is a time for everything,
which finds its justification in the saying that
everything that God made was " very good."
This doctrine the Son of Sirach likewise dwells
upon, and he advocates and defends it against
objectors, when he writes, " So that a man
cannot say, This is worse than that : for in
time they shall all be well approved." The
presumption thus raised that he was an imi
tator of Qoheleth is confirmed by numerous
other parallels, of which the followiDg are
examples. Ecclesiastes,
i. i. One generation pass-
eth away, and another
generation cometh.
i. 18. For in much wis
dom is much grief: and
he that increaseth know
ledge increaseth sorrow.
iii. 14. aiJjtAtu'.
iv. 2. Wherefore I praised
(Sym. efiaxaptaa) the
dead which are already
dead more than the liv
ing which are yet alive.
Cp. vii. 1.
v. 2-9.
Vii. 12. (TKtilTiL (TOtfu'a
(Sym.).
vii. 13-15. Consider the
works of God (tSe to.
TroiTjjuaTa tov ©eov) : for
who can make that
straight which He hath
made crooked ? In the
day of prosperity be joy
ful, but in the day of
Adversity consider : God
hath also set the one
•over against the other
<nr npi?1? ni n*
TOVTO (THj±if)U>l'0l' TOVTO>),
¦to the end that man
should find nothing after
him . . . There is a just
man that perieheth in his
righteousness, and there
Is a wicked man that
j)rolongeth his life in his
wickedness.

Ecclesiasticus.
xiv. 13. ... so is the
generation of flesh and
blood, one cometh to an
end, and another is born.
xxi. 12. ... there is a wis
dom (Travovpyta) which
multiplieth bitterness.
xviii. 6 ; xiii. 21. e\a.T-
Tuicrai.
xi. 28. Trpb Te\evri)s fxr}
IJ.aicd.piGe jUYjSe'i/a. Cp.
Herod, i. 32.

vii. 14 ; xiv. 1 ; xviii. 22 ;
xxxiv. 5-7 ; vii. 15 (?).
xiv. 26. ev Tfl crKiirp auras'.
xxxiii. 13-15. As potter's
clay in his hand, all his
ways are according to his
good pleasure [straight
or crooked (Targ. on i.
15)] : so man is in the
hand of Him that made
him, to render to them
according to His judg
ment. Good is set against
(AireVai'Ti) evil, and life
against death : so is the
sinner against the godly.
Kat out(U5 efX|8A,€iJfoi> eis
iravTa Ta cp-ya tov vi/a-
otov, Svo Svo, «=v feare-
vavri tov ecds.

ECCLESIASTES
Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiasticus.
viii. 1. A man's wisdom xiii. 25. The heart of a
maketh his face to shine, man changeth his coun-

and the hardness of his
face shall be changed
(/AtoTj^o-eTat).

tenance (dAAoiol), whe
ther it be for good or
evil. jCp. xxv. 11 ; xxxvii.
17.

We may conclude that the Son of Sirach made
free use of Qoheleth in the original Hebrew ; A
and if so, that it was in all probability referred
to by him as one of " the rest of the books,"
ra kotira. tS>v jSfjSAtwz/, the Hagiographa, and
was written before the commencement of the
2nd century B.C. It will be noticed that the
contrast between the Greek of Ecclesiasticus and
the Septuagint version of Qoheleth is strongly
marked in some of the passages cited.
We shall next show reason to think that
there may possibly be allusions to Qoheleth in a
book of very different style and tone, the Book
of the Wisdom of Solomon, which has been called
" anti-Ecclesiastes." The Book of Wisd&m.— The Book of the
Wisdom of Solomon, like Ecclesiastes, introduces
Solomon as speaking, and provides a corrective
to some of the doctrines of Qoheleth, or at least
a caution against inferences which the unwary
might draw from his enigmatical teaching.
The contrast between the books will be apparent
from the following examples. The " wisdom "
of the one Book, Qoheleth, is human philosophy :
that of the other is the ideal and absolute
Wisdom. Doctrines propounded in the one with
apparent approval are in the other expressly
attributed to the ungodly. If Ecclesiastes is
really aimed at, this again gives a lower limit
for its date.

Ecclesiastes.
i. 18. In much wisdom is
much grief, and he that
increaseth knowledge in
creaseth sorrow.
iv. 2. I praised the dead
which are already dead
&c
iii. 2, 11. ... a time to be
born, and a time to die.
. . .He hath made every
thing beautiful in its
time.
iii. 19. For the sons of men
are a chance, and the
beasts are a chance . . .
as the one dieth, so dieth
the other ; yea, they have
all one breath ; and man
hath no preeminence &c.

iii. 11. He hath made
everything beautiful in
its time: also He hath
set the world (D?l?i"l>
Sept. Toy aiura) in their
heart, yet so that man
cannot find out the work

Wisdom.
viii. 16. ... her conver
sation hath no bitter
ness ; and to live with
her hath no sorrow, but
mirth and joy.
i. 12. Seek not death io
the error of your life . . .
i. 13, 16. For God made
not death . * . But un
godly men with their
works and words called
it to them, &c.
ii. 1, 2. For they said,
reasoning with them
selves, but not aright, . . .
we are born at all adven
ture (avTOffx^Stws) : and
we shall be hereafter as
though we had never
been : for the breath in
our nostrils &c.
xiii. 7-9. For being con
versant in His works they
search Him diligently,
and believe their sight :
because the things are
beautiful that are seen.
Howbeit neither are they

d There are sayings attributed to him in Rabbinic
literature which agree more or less with the Greek of
Ecclesiasticus. A collection of these has been made for
the Jewish Quarterly Review (iii. 682 sq. 1891) by Mr.
S. Schechter, Univers. Lect. in Rabbinic at Cambridge.

ECCLESIASTES

ECCLESIASTES

835

Ecclesiastes.
that God hath done from
the beginning even to
the end.

Wisdom.
to be pardoned [Kom. i.
20]. For If they were
able to know so much,
tbat they could aim at
the world (o-roxdo-axrBai
rbv aiwya) ; how did they
not sooner find out the
Lord thereof?

The true rendering of the above verse, Eccles.
iii. 11, is of critical importance, on account of its
bearing upon the linguistic argument for the
date of the book. Everything turns upon the
meaning of D71TI, of which a favourite modern
rendering in this place is " eternity " (K. V.
margin). At the same time it is admitted that
the use of the word " in the sense in which here
alone it can be taken, X in the signification of
the idea of eternity, must in any case be regarded
as unique" (Wright, Koheleth. p. 196). Against
the rendering the world (LXX. -rbv aiwva) it is
urged that the word is not so used elsewhere in
the Hebrew Scriptures. But, having regard to
the exceptional character of the diction of
Qoheleth, we need not therefore reject it on
apriori grounds; audit yields the appropriate
sense, "he hath given the world into their
heart," or mind — mundum tradidit disputationi
mum (Vulg.). Man is led by his instincts to
give attention to the passing things of the
world, each " beautiful in its season," while he
fails to grasp the working of God in its entirety,
" from beginning to end." He has no capacity
for absolute knowledge, and so God has given
him by way of compensation to find pleasure in
mundane affairs.
If this interpretation of Eccles. iii. 11 be the
trne one, we may conclude that the verse is
referred to in Wisd. xiii. 9. According to
Qoheleth, man gives his mind to the things of
the world in detail without fathoming the depth
of God's working: according to Wisdom, he
forms his theories of the outer world (rbv
uiiva) without finding its Creator at work
therein. Assuming that Qoheleth was reckoned by the
Son of Sirach amongst " the rest of the books,"
we have next to notice some of the attempts
which have been made to assign an upper limit
of date to it.
Philosophy in Qoheleth. — By way of assigning
such upper limit of date to Ecclesiastes, it has
been maintained by some that both Stoic and
Epicurean elements are present side by side in it,
and that this points to the post-Aristotelian
period, and indicates that the Book was written
probably after the deaths of Epicurus and Zeno.
It has accordingly been placed between 250-40
B.C. and 180 B.C., the supposed date at which
the Son of Sirach wrote. " Perhaps we cannot,
on the whole, better satisfy the conditions of
the problem than by placing the composition of
oar book at about 200 B.C., nearly the date
assigned by Hitzig on other grounds " (Tyler,
Ecclesiastes, p. 31). Its Telation to Stoicism and
Epicureanism is set forth as follows.
The conquests of Alexander had paved the
way for the reception of the post-Aristotelian
philosophy in the East, whilst, on the other
hand, as regards Stoicism, its principal teachers
all came from the East, and the most famous of

them were not only Oriental but Shemitic.
I his philosophy may therefore have been known
in lalestine, where the writer of the Book pro
bably lived, at an early period.
The great Stoic principle of living conform-
ably to nature is set forth in tho catalogue of
times and seasons in Eccles. iii. 2-8. For every
thing there is an appointed time. The righteous
lives conformably to this order : the wicked
violates it (iii. 16, 17). In the Stoic physical
philosophy the course of nature is a succession
of similar cycles of events, and Qoheleth accord
ingly teaches that " That which is hath been
already ; and that which is to be hath already
been: and God seeketh again that which is
passed away " (iii. 15). " That which hath been
is that which shall be; and that which hath
been done is that which shall be done: and
there is no new thing under the sun " (i. 9).
The Stoic doctrine of fatalism is conspicuous in
Qoheleth (ix. 11, 12, &c), and the influence ol'
the same philosophy, according to which folly
was madness (iravras Se robs dtppovas patveaBat,
Diog. Laert. vii. 124), accounts for their re
markable collocation or parallelism in several
verses of our Book (i. 17; ii. 12; vii. 25;
a. 13).
The opposite doctrine of Epicureanism is set
forth in iii. 18-22 and v. 18-20.
The admonition, that " of making many books
there is no end ; and much study is a weariness
of the flesh " (xii. 12), hints at the fruitless
literary activity of the post-Aristotelians, of
whom Epicurus is said to have composed about
300 books, Apollodorus above 400, Chrysippus
more than 705, and so forth, in which the same
problems were handled again and again without
decisive result.
For collateral arguments in favour of this
theory we must refer the reader to the treatises
of Mr. Tyler and Dean Plumptre, who are fully
convinced of its truth. It is an attractive theory,
but is not generally accepted. If the teachers
of a Greek philosophy came from the East, what
there may be of it in Ecclesiastes need not have
been borrowed from the West.
The theory shows a true appreciation of the
tone and tendency of the Book, whether it be
post-Aristotelian or not. Its gloomy and intro
spective character points to a time when the
glory of the kingdom had departed. Political
life was at a low ebb, faith in the God of Israel
was on its trial, and the writer has recourse to
philosophical speculation in the vain hope of
throwing light for himself on the mysteries
of human life and the apparent miscarriage
of justice in the moral government of the world.
All this fits in well with the opinion that it was
written after the Captivity, but is not in itself
irreconcilable with some pre-exilian date, falling
within the period of the activity of "Hezekiah
and his company," referred to in the above-cited
tradition of the Babylonian Talmud. But
Delitzsch and others of the most modern com
mentators place it after the Captivity, laying
much stress upon the linguistic peculiarities of
the Book, to which we must here call attention,
referring the reader for full details to the com
mentaries of Delitzsch and C. H. H. Wright
(1883) on the one hand, and on the other hand
to the well-known anonymous treatise on the
Authorship of Ecclesiastes [auct. David Johnston],
3 H 2

836

ECCLESIASTES

published in 1880, in which the Solomonic
authorship is unhesitatingly maintained. The
same side is taken by Dr. M. Friedlander in the
Jewish Quarterly Bevieu; vol. i. Nos. 1, 4
(1888-9). Style. — The argument from its linguistic
style is now much relied upon in proof of the
late date of Ecclesiastes. That the Book was
not actually Solomon's was expressly concluded
on other grounds, viz. from its structure, by a
Jewish writer of unknown date, quoted by
R. Abraham ibn Ezra" of Toledo in his com
mentary on Qoheleth. In the course of a note
on Eccles. vii. 3 : " Sorrow (marg. A. V.,
Anger) is better than laughter," &c. ; he calls
attention to the opposite opinions expressed in
different parts of the Book, contrasting vii. 3,
viii. 15, vi. 8, iv. 2, &c, with vii. 9, ii. 2, ii. 13,
ix. 4, &c. respectively, on account of which
self-contradictions there was a tradition, that
" the wise sought to apocryphise the book of
Qoheleth ; " and he adds, that one of the inter
preters felt himself accordingly constrained
to interpret Qoheleth as assembly (Deut.
xxxiii. 4), and he said that his disciples
compiled the book, and each spake according to
his own opinion — or as it runs in the original :
rbnp rr?D tns1? d^isdh jd nns -pxim
¦ran v-po^n 'd -id*o api?' JT?nj> mi
•lniBTID >sd -idn ins 'pai -isdh
Although this much older commentator had
thus distinctly laid down that Ecclesiastes ema
nated from the school of Solomon and set forth
the various views of his " disciples " — whether
in the sub-Solomonic age or at some later date —
but was no composition of the master himself,
the denial of its Solomonic authorship is com
monly said to date only from Luther. Following
him, Grotius, in the 17th century, gave it as
his opinion (Comm. on Eccles. i. 1) that it was
written later, under the name of Solomon, and
he put forward a linguistic argument in support
of his opinion : " Ego tamen Solomonis esse non
puto, sed scriptum serius sub illius regis,
tanquam poenitentia ducti nomine. Argu
mentum ejus rei habeo multa vocabula, quae
non alibi quam in Daniele, Esdra et Chaldaeis
interpretibus reperias."
There is no need to dwell at length on the
proof that the diction of Qoheleth is peculiar
or unique in the Hebrew Scriptures, since thus
much is admitted on all hands ; and the reader,
on passing from the remaining Solomonic or
other canonical writings to this Book, cannot
but feel with Bishop Lowth, that "alia est
totius operis ratio, alius color, longe dispar
stylus." The only question is, what inference
is to be drawn from this peculiarity of style ?
Can it be by any means accounted for on the
supposition that Solomon wrote the Book ?
Delitzsch, whose glossary of hapaxlegomena and
modernisms in Qoheleth extends to nine pages
(cp. C. H. H. Wright's Koheleth, Exc. iv.), con
cludes that if it could have been written by
Solomon, there is no history of the Hebrew
language, and further, that it is without doubt
a product of the post-exilian period (p. 206,

• He was born at Toledo after 1090 a.d., and died at
Eome (?) after 1165 a.d.

ECCLESIASTES
1875). Pusey (Daniel, Lect. vi.), going to the
opposite extreme, maintains that there is not
one word in Ecclesiastes to characterise a later
age than Solomon's. The history of the Hebrew
language may well be more defective than is
generally supposed, if there be any truth in the
Talmudic legend, that " When the Law was
forgotten from Israel, Ezra came up from Babylon
and established it " (T. B. Sukkah, 20 a), or that
the Law was burnt and he re-wrote it (2 Esd.
xiv.) ; but it must be admitted that the
character of the diction of Qoheleth constitutes
a strong objection to the traditional view of its
authorship, while on the other hand we may
admit, with Eenan, that too much is sometimes
made of this kind of argument, and that much
allowance has to be made for its literary style
and its subject-matter, which drive the writer
to use words and expressions that are not found
in other biblical Books. Nevertheless, the
linguistic argument in itself points more or
less indefinitely to a late date, and the utmost
that can be done as against it is to minimise
its significance.
Professor Driver (Hebr. Tenses, chap, ix.)
argues from a comparative view of the uses of
loaw with the tenses in the several Books to the
late date of Qoheleth : " Although in Hebrew the
continuation of a historical narrative is most
usually expressed by the imperfect with • 1.
we find occasionally in the earlier Books of the
O. T., and with increasing frequency in the
later ones, that this idiom, which is so pecu
liarly and distinctively a creation of the Hebrew
language, has been replaced by the perfect with
the simple or weak icaw, ). . . . There is only
one Book in the O. T. in which this state of
things is reversed, and the perfect with simple
waw obtains a marked, and indeed almost ex
clusive, preponderance. In the whole of Qohe
leth ¦ 1 occurs not more than three times (i. 17 ;
iv. 1, 7), whereas the other construction is of
repeated occurrence. This circumstance, esti
mated in the light of what is uniformly
observable in other parts of the 0. T., is of
itself, though naturally it'does not stand alone,
a strong indication of the date at which that
Book must have been composed."
As regards single words, we have already
discussed the use of D7BH in iii. 11, and have
concluded that it there means the world, ac
cording to the usage of the later Hebrew. On
the other side, it should be remarked on the
use of the Divine name Elohim in this Book,
which is said to approximate so closely in its
diction to the Mishnah, that neither that nor
any other of the biblical names of God is used
in the Talmudic and Rabbinic writings except
in citations from the Bible.' In place of such
names, the Rabbis' feeling of reverence led them
to speak of Heaven, or Space (cp. TrXfytepu),
or the Name, or the Holy One, &c. (Sayings
of the Jewish Fathers, 1877, pp. 53, 80). Thus
its use of Elohim differentiates Qoheleth from
the later and non-canonical Jewish writings.

' It may also have been used exceptionally, as in
oaths ; but see in the Gospel, Matt. v. 34 and xxiii.
16-22. Schechter refers to Synonyma fiir Gott in der
neuhebraischen Literatur von Br. E. Landau (Zilrlch,
1888) as a very instructive work upon the subject.

ECCLESL4.STES
(h-aecisms. — Graetz (1S71) devotes an ap
pendix to the traces of Greek influence on the
diction of Ecclesiastes. Zirkel first (1792)
claimed to have found Graecisms in the Book,
and, overjoyed at his discovery, sought to
explain everything from the Greek which he
could not rightly explain from the Hebrew.
He was opposed by Schmidt and Eichhorn, and
his theory fell into oblivion. Of his examples
Graetz approves but few, but thinks it mere
ese^etical caprice to refuse to see Graecisms in
DjnB> HS'' "Iin, and at all events I131D DV.
einiliepia (vii. 14). In the first hemistich of
v. 17, ilS' IB'K 310 is supposed by Graetz to
stand for xaXbv Kaya86v, but the construction
of the clause is much disputed. It would be
in accordance with analogy to render it some
what as follows : Behold that wliich I have seen
[this phrase with the same punctuation occurs
in ii. 13, 24, cp. ix. 16] ; it is a good thing that
[cp. ii. 24; v. 4; vii. 18] it is coinelg to eat
and to drink, &c. Since man cannot rise out of
the common concerns of life, it is well that he
can take pleasure in them, and it is by the
gift of God that he can find satisfaction therein.
Further traces of Greek influence are detected
by some in the uses of ilXI, in 31t3 mt'l?'? (iii.
12), 1^13 (iv. 14), bin and D"lXn ^3 HT
(xii. 13), in vii. 16, 17 (cp. p-nSev S70J/), in
the oft-recurring phrase "under the sun,"
and in "the repeated employment of plural
nouns with » singular verb " (Tyler, Eccles.
p. 71).
The linguistic peculiarities of the Book are
considered by many to •' point with great defi-
niteness to an epoch after the exile," whilst the
political condition of the people described in it,
the tyranny and perversion of justice, the disso
lute court "life, and the elevation of unworthy
persons to positions of dignity, fall in with the
theory that it was written before the end of the
Persian period, llanv commentators accord
ingly place it between the middle of the 5th
century, and about 330 A.D.. while some, as
we have seen, have been led bv the philosophical
character of its contents, and its supposed
Hellenic affinities, to place it more than a cen
tury later. "The simple reason," it has been
said, " why no more definite date can be assigned
is that Jewish history is almost a blank from
the death of Nehemiah down to the accession of
Antiochus Epiphanes (c. 410-175 B.C.). The
annals of the Persian empire, too, are very defi
cient from the death of Xerxes in 465 B.C.
down to the appearance of Alexander the Great
on the stage of history" (Wright, Koheleth,
p. 136).
4. Canonicitv. — There are not adequate data
to determine when Ecclesiastes first came to
be regarded as canonical ; but we have seen
reason to think that it was already included in
the Kethubim or Hagiographa (to. Xoina ruv
fSifSXlwv) when the Prologue to Ecclesiastes was
written. There is no clear trace of it in the
New Testament, nor is it very frequently quoted
in the Talmud, doubtless on account of its ab
struse and esoteric character, Solomon, according
to a saying of the Zohar on Levit. xiii. 40, with
reference to a passage of Ecclesiastes, hiding his
words, NE>Hp &63TI lib 1J3, in the inmost
recesses of the holy temple.

ECCLESIASTES

837

To understand it-one must set out with tho
fact that many of its conclusions are tentative,
and not in accordance with the deliberate ver
dict of the writer. In the course of his inquiry
he seems to give in his adhesion now tn this
system, now to that, as if all manner of doc
trines and their oppositcs wore each '¦ beautiful
in its season." To appreciate the Book we must
take it as a whole, regarding the epilogue as au
integral and iudispensablo part of it. If other
wise treated, it cannot fail to mislead, many of
its statements not being intended to be accepted
as final. We can well understand therefore
how, even after it had been accepted as Scrip
ture, its authority may have been impugned
and called in question, on account of its appa
rently erroneous teaching. Or it may have been
attempted to " hide " it as a Book hard to be
understood, which the unlearned might haply
" wrest to their own destruction." So it was
sought to set aside the Book of Ezekiel, not only
as containing ordinances at variance with the
Pentateuch, but because of the matter of the
" chariot," which it wras dangerous for the im
mature and simple-minded to speculate upon;
for we read in the Talmud that a story is
told of a boy who was reading Ezekiel in his
teacher's house, and he was pondering on the
word amber (Ezek. i. 27), "and fire went forth
from the amber and burnt him, and they sought
to apocryphise the Book of Ezekiel " (T. B.
Chagigah, 13 a). For like reasons they may
have attempted to set aside Qoheleth.
Before proceeding to notice the ancient contro
versies about the Book, we should mark the use
of an archaic term in referring to it, which tells
somewhat against extreme theories as to its late
date. The Pentateuch alone being sometimes
distinguished as Torah, the remaining Books of
Scripture are then styled Qabbalah, which is
literallv oidboxh, that is to say, tradition re
garded from the point of view of reception.
" This mode of speaking may be assumed to be
a survival from a remote period at which the
Pentateuch alone had been accepted as canonical ;
for it could scarcely have arisen in compara
tively recent times " (Jewish Fathers, p. 121 ).
Qoheleth is quoted under that name in Sifre on
Deuteronomy, Pisqa 48 (Eccles. x. 8) : " Solomon
came and interpreted it in Qabbalah, And whoso
breaketh a fence, a serpent sltall bite him. Lo !
thou hast learned that whoso breaketh fences of
the wise, eventually punishments come upon
him." It is related that the wise sought to apocry
phise the Book of Qoheleth (T. B. Shabbath, 30 b ;
Nnp^DS, Pisqa 8, fol. 68 b, ed. Buber, 1868),
because its words contradicted one another, or
because some of them were of heretical tendency.
And why did they not do so ? Because its be
ginning and its end were words of Torah. That
is to say, these critics, taking a general view of
the Book, found its thesis and its conclusion
orthodox, whatever objection might be made to
particular statements made by the way and in
the course of the inquiry. Its beginning is
made out to be " words of Torah," because the
phrase " under the sun " (i. 3) carries with it
a reference by implication to another world,
'• above (or before) the sun."
There are various other passages in the
Talmudim and Midrashim bearing upon this

838

ECCLESIASTES

controversy, in some of which the question takes
the technical form, Does the Book of Qoheleth
defile tlie hands ? The school of Shammai said,
No : the school of Hillel, Yes. That is to say,
the former pronounced against it, and the latter
in its favour, with reference to the saying
(Mishnah, Yadaim, iii. 5), that "All Holy Scrip
tures defile the hands," — a peculiar form of ex
pression which is explained as follows. It
having been the custom to keep the Book of the
Law along with the heave-offerings, it was found
that it suffered injury from mice, &c, and was
accordingly said to defile the hands, as if it were
unclean, in order that it might be kept apart,
and be no longer in danger of such attacks
(T. B. Shabbath, 14 a).
For further details of these controversies see
the commentaries of Delitzsch and C. H. H.
Wright, and Dr. S. Schiffer's Das Buck Kohelet
nach der Auffassung der Weisen des Talmud und
Midrasch und der jiidischen Erklarer des Mit-
telalters. It is possible that some of the discussions
about Qoheleth were of a merely scholastic
character, and intended to bring out the true
meaning of sayings by which the superficial
reader was in danger of being misled ; but it
must be admitted that there was a certain
amount of bona-f.de antagonism to the Book
at a comparatively late date. This, however,
as we have said, is not inconsistent with the
opinion that it was still disputed, like the avri-
XeySpeva of the New Testament, long after
it had taken its place amongst the Canonical
Books. It seems to have been regarded by
some amongst the Jews as " obliterandus " as
late as the time of Jerome (Comm. on Eccles.
xii. 13).
5. Contents. — From these questions we pass
to the Book itself, which in places almost defies
analysis, owing to the indefiniteness of its lan
guage or the want of obvious connexion between
consecutive sayings. It is characterised, how
ever, by some leading thoughts which are con
tinually recurring.
The text of the Preacher is : " Vanity of
vanities ; all is vanity." What profit (asks he)
hath a man of all his labour that he laboureth
under the sun ? The generations come and go.
There is a perpetual flux and reflux of the ele
ments, whilst Nature in her totality stands un
changed. There is neither rest from toil nor
real progress, but wearisome iteration of the
same sequence of things, so that that which
has been is that which shall be, and there is
nothing new under the sun.
Qoheleth had been king over Israel in Jeru
salem, and with all the resources of wealth and
wisdom at his command had given his mind to
philosophic inquiry into terrestrial and human
affairs. But the result was disappointing ; for
on a comparison of wisdom with " madness and
folly," he had found no satisfaction in the former,
but rather that " In much wisdom is much
grief: and he that increaseth knowledge in
creaseth sorrow" (i. 12-18).
Wisdom alone does not bring happiness :
neither does uncontrolled mirth. Accordingly
he makes trial of pleasure under the sober
guidance of wisdom, still hoping to discover
what is that good for the sons of men which they
should do under tlie heaven all thc days of their

ECCLESIASTES
life (ii. 3). But though his plans for the re
fined enjoyment of life afford him pleasant
occupation for the time being, in the retrospect
he sees no satisfaction in all his labours. And
turning again to the comparison of wisdom with
" madness and folly," he concludes that though
it may command success in life, yet in the end
the wise man is none the better for his wisdom,
but he too dies and is forgotten like the fool,
and leaves the fruit of his toil to he knows not
whom. It was not in man to find his supreme
good s [cp. ii. 3] in the way in which he had
sought it, else why should he with his unique
advantages have failed to secure it (ii. 24, 25) ?
But God decrees that one shall labour to heap
up riches which he is not to enjoy, and freely
grants to another wisdom and knowledge and
tranquil joy, according to His good pleasure.
" This also is vanity and vexation of spirit "
(R. V. " a striving after wind ").
This leads up to his doctrine of opportuneness.
Kaipbv yva>8t (Pittacus in Diog. Laert. i. 4, § 6).
For all manner of things and their opposites
there are set times in the course of nature (iii.
1-8). What profit then hath he that worketh,
if all things are thus changeful ? God has made
everything beautiful in its season, and has so
framed man that he can find satisfaction in the
affairs of life as they come to pass, albeit unable
to comprehend His work in its fulness (iii. 11).
Man's instincts are regulated by an immutable
law. What God doeth shall be for ever, and He
hath done it that men should fear before Him.
The observed perversions of the Divine order
raise the hope of a just judgment to come. Or
may it not, on the contrary, be that man is not
morally accountable for his actions, and has no
pre-eminence over the beasts ? Let him then
enjoy the world, for that is his portion, " for
who shall bring him (R. V. back) to see what
shall be after him ? " (iii. 16-22).
Still brooding over the failures of justice in
the world's course, he is led to praise the dead
which are already dead more than the living
which are yet alive. Successful competition is
rewarded with envy. The fool who folds his
hands and " eats his own flesh," is perhaps the
wisest in his generation. It is a weary lot to
toil even successfully if one has none for whom
to labour. In every way " two are better than
one," and "a threefold cord is not quickly
broken " (iv. 1-12).
Then follows, perhaps in pursuance of the
thought of the evil of isolation, a passage of
great difficulty, in which many have imagined
that there must be a historical reference of a
nature to determine something as to the date of
Qoheleth. Better is a youth needy and wise
than a king old and foolish, who will no longer
listen to the advice of counsellors (iv. 18 ; cp.
Wisd. iv. 8, 9), for one has risen from the state
of thraldom to a throne, and one born to a king
dom has come to poverty (Sym., Vulg. ; cp. R. V.
marg.). He passes in review the living, toiling
* The clause "o "?3N^ D1N3 31Q J*S (»¦ 24)
is much disputed. The A. V. and E. V. : "There is
nothing better for a man than that he 6hould eat and
drink," &c. is a rendering not of the text, but of
'13 ^SK^D. with mem, repeated from D1K3- CP-
tn ill. 22, -|B>ND 31D |>K.

ECCLESIASTES
multitude, with the younger generation that is
to stand in their stead. They that come after
will not res* satisfied with what has been before
theui.h This also is vanity and vexation of
spirit. " Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not
thine heart be hasty to utter anything before
God." From the oppressions done under the
sun it does not follow that there is none that
regardeth. What is objected to may be in
eradicable from the linked system of things, in
which grade rises above grade, and even the
supreme ruler is subject to conditions (v. 2-9).
Besides, men's conditions are not altogether so
unequal as they seem ; but poverty has its
blessings and wealth it* cares. A man's laying
up in store for the future may bring him no
real advantage. And so the Preacher comes
round again to the conclusion that it is well to
enjoy the lawful pleasures of the hour as they
present themselves. Yet it is but a limited
measure of enjoyment that is possible for man,
and what advantage has the wise over the fool ?
Were it not better not to have been born?
"Who knoweth what is good for man in his
life, all the days of his vain life, which he
\spendeth as a shadow ? for who can tell a man
what shall be after him under the sun ? "
(vi. 12).
In the later chapters of the Book there is on
the whole less of sustained speculation, and the
Preacher shows more and more as the Paroe-
miast, who "sought out and set in order many
proverbs." The gnomic character of the seventh
and following chapters is very marked. The
seventh corresponds in a manner to the third,
with its contrasts of life and death, mirth and
mourning, prosperity and adversity. "A good
name is better than precious ointment, and the
day of death than the day of one's birth ....
God hath set the one over against the other, to
the end that man should find nothing after him"
(vii. 1-14). The wise man will avoid extremes :
he will preserve a philosophic calm in all
vicissitudes : he will enjoy his prosperity and
profit by the uses of adversity. Wisdom is a
tower of strength, but its range is limited.
What was the essence and origin of that evil
which had so corrupted all women and most
men ? " Behold, this only have I found, that
God made man upright ; but they have sought
ont many inventions " (vii. 29).
Wisdom, in the realm of politics, will make a
; man respect the powers that be as ordained of
;?God (viii. 2-5). But here also the same
-inequalities are observed : the same uncertainties
ijand disappointments and failures of justice,
which vex the heart of the righteous and tempt
the sinner to persevere in his, wickedness (viii.
11). And the Preacher comes round again by
the old path to the old conclusions, that " There
is one event to the righteous and to the wicked
¦ . . Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and
drink thy wine with a merry heart . . . What
soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy
might (?), for there is no work, nor device, nor
h The transference of a ^ gives the reading )'K
'13 ^>3 tai/n bib yp in iv- 16 (°p- iv- 8)> wUch is
perhaps worth considering. Then for IPIDB" compare
ii. 10 and v. 18.

ECCLESIASTES

839

knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither
thou goest " (ix. 2, 7, 10).
Taking a fresh departure, he remarks that
wisdom and capacity may fail of success, or,
having done their work, may not receive due
recognition. And wisdom itself is sometimes
marred by some " little folly " in its possessor
(ix. 11-x. 1). The wise man will be the more
on his guard, and will have his wisdom always
at hand. Though folly may be exalted, and
true merit debased, he will know the danger
of attempting hasty reforms. If the time
is out of joint, he will observe the caution :
" Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought ;
and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber : for
a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and
that which hath wings shall tell the matter"
(x. 20).
But caution and reserve are but one side of
wisdom. He who would command success
must discharge the plain duties that lie before
him, uncertain as may be the future. He must
do the work of to-day in a spirit of enterprise,
taking no thought for the morrow. This will
make life worth living, even in face of the
darkness that lies beyond. Rejoice therefore in
the blessings of life and in all its lawful
pleasures, "but know thou that for all these
things God will bring thee into judgment "
(xi. 1-9).
Chapter xii. consists of two parts. The
former describes the approach of death in highly
poetical language, and concludes with the
refrain : " Vanity of vanities, said Qoheleth ; all
is vanity." The latter consists of the epilogue,
the composition of some writer distinct from
" Qoheleth." It tells therefore against the
Solomonic authorship, unless we assume that it
was itself no part of the original work. But
after the Preacher's weary round of inconclusive
speculation, ending in " all is vanity," how
natural is the commendation of the well-con-
considered " words of the wise." How season
able the warning: "And furthermore, my son,
be admonished : of making many books there is
no end ; and much study is a weariness of the
flesh." The conclusion is, that God will bring
every work into judgment, and unveil all that
is mysterious. " Fear Him therefore, and keep
His commandments ; for this is the whole duty
of man." The lame conclusion of the Book
curtailed (as some think it should be) of its
epilogue might have been arrived at without
the wisdom of Solomon ; and unless we can
somehow divest the Preacher of the character
which he assumes at the outset, we must allow
the opening of Ecclesiastes to be a designed
prelude to the " words of Torah " with which
it ends.In the description of the approach of death
(xii. 1-7), the long array of commentators who
follow the Rabbinic tradition find a more or less
complete anatomy of the human body in its
decrepitude. But we are no more obliged on
such authority to accept this, in one or other of
its numerous forms, as the true and only ren
dering, than in ix. 13-16 to see an allegory of
the city of " Mansoul," in which the " great
king " is the personified Evil in man's nature,
and the neglected saviour of the city the Good.
Without pronouncing upon the intrinsic merits
of the anatomical rendering, I shall here try to

840

ECCLESIASTES

show briefly that there is a way of putting the
details of xii. 1-7 together in their literal sense
so as to form a consistent whole. The passage
falls into three divisions, severally commencing
with the self-same phrase (0,7 It^K IV), of
which the first describes the " evil days," &c.
when youth is long past (v. 1), and the third
the dissolution of the frame (vv. 6, 7). Be
tween these comes the section, " Ere the sun
and the light and the moon and the stars be
darkened, and the clouds return after the rain,
viz. In the day when the keepers of the house
tremble, &c. . . . Because the man passeth
[LXX. iiropevBrj] to his eternal house, and the
mourners go about in the street." Death beiug
thus imminent, or (according to the Septuagint)
already present in the mansion, servants and
men of hign degree tremble : the maids at the
handmills cease from work, and the joy of their
mistresses is darkened. The doors are shut to
the street (Isaiah xxiv. 10, 11) concurrently
with the falling of the sound of the mills, which
are no longer employed in preparing food for
guests. The bird, significant of solitude and
desolation in the Old Testament, makes its voice
heard [? b)fb for ^>ip^] in the hush, and all the
daughters of song sink to silence. Compare
Jer. xxv. 10, 11, and Rev. xviii. 2, 22, " Baby
lon the great ... is become a cage of every
unclean and hateful bird . . . And the voice of a
millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee."
For further illustrations see Tlie Dirge of Cohe-
leth (1874), in which I have given also an
account of the semi-literal renderings of Michaelis,
Umbreit, and Nachtigall. To these add the inter
pretation of J. G. Wetzstein, as in Delitzsch
and Wright's commentaries. On v. 5 I will
only remark that, since " the almond " is the
first and most highly prized " flower of the
spring " (Dirge Sfc, pp. 31-33), there may be
an allusion to it in Wisdom ii. 7, " let no
flower of the spring pass by us : " the preceding
verses (1-6) seem to refer to Ecclesiastes. The
overclouding of sun, moon and stars (v. 2) is
a familiar symbol, here interpreted by what
comes after the words, " In the day when." The
same formula of transition from symbol to
interpretation is used in Is. xxx. 26.
6. Bibliography. — For a full and valuable
" Historical Sketch of the Exegesis of the Book,"
the reader is referred to Dr. C. D. Ginsburg's
commentary on " Coheleth," published in 1861.
Further and later information on the many books
made upon the discourse of the Preacher will be
found in the commentaries of Delitzsch, C. H.
H. Wright, and Zockler (in Lange's Bibelwerk),
and in the American edition of the work last
mentioned, namely by Prof. Tayler Lewis.
Pdeiderer's Die Philosophic des Heraklit (Berlin,
1886) has an appendix upon the influence of
Heraclitus on Ecclesiastes, Wisdom &c. ; and
Prof. Cheyne, in his Job and Solomon (1887),
discusses the problems of Koheleth and contri
butes to its bibliography (p. 285), concluding
with a reference to Prof. A. Palm's monograph
on Die Qohelet- Literatur (1886). Professor
Margoliouth of Oxford, in his inaugural lecture
(1890), has a linguistic argument in favour of
an early date for Ecclesiastes: it must have
been written (he contends) many generations
before the days of the Son of Sirach, whose

ECCLESIASTICUS
style is made out by an ingenious process to
have been akin to the modern Rabbinic. On
the text of Ecclesiastes see Sebastian Euringer's
Der Masorahtext des Koheleth kritisch untersucht
(Leipzig, 1890), an appendix to which brino-s
together the Rabbinic citations from the Book
to the 7th century A.D. [y, x.]
ECCLESIASTICUS, the title given in the
Latin Version to the book which is called in the
Septuagint The Wisdom op Jesus the Son of
Sirach (Sotpia 'I-naov uioS Sipdx, ACS. ; Soli's
Seipox, B. Rufinus, Vers. Orig. Hom. in Num.
xviii. 3: "In libro, qui apud nos quidem inter
Salomonis volumina haberi solet, et Ecclesiasticus
dici, apud Graecos vero Sapientia Jesu filii Sirach
appellatur scriptum est. . ."). The word, like
many others of Greek origin, appears to have
been adopted in the African dialect (e.g. Tertull.
de Pudic. xxii. p. 435), and thus it may have
been applied naturally in the Vetus Latina to a
Church reading-book ; and when that translation
was adopted by Jerome (Praef. in Libros Sal.
juxta LXX. x. p. 404, ed. Migne), the local title
became current throughout the West, where the
book was most used. The right explanation of
the word is given by Rufinus, who remarks that
" it does not designate the author of the book,
but the character of the writing," as publicly
used in the services of the Church (Comm. in
Symb. § 38 : " Sapientia, quae dicitur filii Sirach
. . . apud Latinos hoc ipso generali vocabulo
Ecclesiasticus appellatur, quo vocabulo non
auctor libelli sed scripturae qualitas cognomi-
nata est "). The special application by Rufinus
of the general name of the class (ecclesiastici as
opposed to canonici) to the single book may be
explained by its wide popularity. Atnanasius>
for instance, mentions the book (Ep. Fest. sub
fine) as one of those " framed by the Fathers to
be read by those who wished to be instructed
(KaTnxeiaBai) in the word of godliness." Ac
cording to Jerome (Praef. in Libr. Sol. ix. 1242),
the original Hebrew title was Proverbs ; and the
Wisdom of Sirach shared with the canonical
Book of Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon
the title of The book of all virtues (i) Travdperos
aotpia or t) -iravdpt-ros, Hieron. I. c. ; cp. Routh,
Bell. Sacr. i. p. 127). In many places it is
simply styled Wisdom (Orig. in Matt. xiii. § 4 ;
cp. Clem. Al. Paed. i. 8, §§ 69, 72, &c), and
Jesus Sirach (August, ad Simplic. i. 2, 20).
2. The writer of the present book describes
himself in the Greek as Jesus (i.e. Jeshua) the
son of Sirach of Jerusalem (1. 27) ; Codd.
ABN. add 'EXed&p, other MSS. 'EXedfapos ; in
the Peshitto he is described as Jesus the son of
Simon, who is called Bar-AsirS ; * the real
name would seem to have been i"ITD ]3 VW,
differing only graphically from HTD p, the
name whereby he is known in the Talmud
(plTD is a late error: Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth.
i. 311). ITVD wasprobably a nickname (mean-
a Bar-hebraeus, in his unpublished scholia on this
book, identifies this Simon on the one hand with the son
of Onias, on the other witb the Simeon of Luke ii. 25 ;
and he was called "the Prisoner" ( |* * Pl*'|) "because
be was bound 216 years before he saw our Lord : " the
date is singularly accurate. He adds tbat he is often
called j* » OQ without olaph, u contemptuous name
meaning "dust."

ECCLESIASTICUS
in<r " a coat of mail : " Schurer, The Jewish People
inthe Time of the Christ, ii. 2, 24) ; but that
the true name of the author's father was Simon,
and that of his grandfather Eleazar, cannot be
asserted with confidence, although the latter
seems to rest on sufficient authority. The con
jectures which have been made to fill up this
short notice are either unwarranted or absolutely
improbable. There is no evidence to show that
he was of priestly descent. The mistake of
Svncellus (Chron. ed. Dindorf, i. 525), who states
that he was a high priest after Simon, probably
arose from the fact that in Eusebius' Chronicle
his name followed that of Simon, son of Onias II.,
not as high priest, but as author of this book
(Schurer, ut supra, 25). The Palestinian author
ship of the book is substantiated by internal evi
dence. Of the author's lite we know no more
than that he had travelled and had been often in
extreme danger (xxxi. 10, 11), owing, on one
occasion, to his being slandered before a king
(li. 5).-
3. The language in which the book was
originally composed was •• Hebrew " ("EBpaiaT't)
according to the express statement of the Greek
translator, and Jerome says (Praef. in Libr.
Sal. 1. c) that he had met with the Hebrew text.
From the remaining fragments we know that
the language was rather Judaec-Aramaic (Fiirst,
Aramaische Chrestomathie, p. 73) ; i.e. the lan
guage used by the Jewish doctors of the 2nd
century, of which the basis was the Hebrew of
the Bible, but which was greatly mixed with
Aramaic words and forms. Attempts which
have been made in recent times to reconstruct
the original from the errors of the Versions have
confirmed this. The Greek translator has for
the most part retained the Hebraisms unaltered,
and hence the difference between the Greek of
the translation and that of the Prologue is very
noticeable. 4. There are fragments of the original
scattered over the Talmud and Midrash (col
lected by Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der Jiidischen
Poesie, Appendix, and more fully by Dukes,
Sakbinische Blumenlese, p. 31 sq.), corresponding
with about thirty verses of the Versions (iii. 21,
22; vi. 6 ; ix. 8 sq. ; xi. 1, 29 ; xiii. 16 ; xiv. 18 ;
xviii. 23; xxiii. 15; xxv. 2; xxvi. 1; xxviii. 6;
m. 23 ; xxxviii. 1, 4, 7 ; xiii. 9 sq.), besides
others, to which nothing in the Versions corre
sponds.0 These fragments are variously read,
aud show signs of inaccurate reminiscence or
careless quotation ; and it is wholly uncertain
when the original disappeared from the world.d

ECCLESIASTICUS

841

b The Alphabet or book of Ben Sira (sometimes called
"the younger Ben Sira") which exists at present, iB a
later compilation (Zunz, Gottesdienstliche Vortriige der
Jv&en, pp. 100-105) of proverbs in Hebrew and Chaldee,
containing some genuine fragments, among much that
18 worthless. See also Fflrst, Aramaische Clirestomatliie,
PP.22, 23.
c Dukes has also collected several anonymous or
' psendonymous quotations : e.g. vii. 17, where the Syriac
translation iB verbally identical with a maxim in Aboth,
P- li b (ed. Schechter), assigned to a different author.
Several more remain.
4 Inthe Sahih of Muslim (ed. Boulak, 1290, i. 41), a
saying taken from Ben Sira is put in Mobammed'H
month : "There are three whom God will not speak to
on the day of judgment,— on old adulterer, and a lying
*%, and a poor man wlio is proud." This clearly
comes from Ecclus. xxv. 2, TTTtaxpv ime prjtjjai'ov teal

The Greek translation incorporated in the
LXX. was made by the grandson of the author
in Egypt, eV Tip 6yS6tp Kat Tptaudartp frei iirl
too Ebepyirov BaaiXius, " in the thirty-eighth
year of king Euergetes." Two kings of Egypt
bore the aame Euergetes, — Ptol. III., son and"suc-
cessor of Ptol. II. Philadelphus, B.C. 247-222 ;
and Ptol. VII. Physcon, the brother of Ptol. Vi!
Philometor, B.C. 170-117, who reigned jointly
with his brother till the latter's death iii
B.C. 145. Obviously the date given must refer
to the second of these ; and we thus get the
date B.C. 132 for the arrival of the translator iu
Egypt, and may place the .composition of his
grandfather's work at about B.C. 200-180. This
date has been thought by many to conflict with
the panegyric upon Simon of Onias (ch. 1.), whom
the author would seem to describe from personal
knowledge (vv. 5, 15 sq.); the person to whom
this description applies being most probably
Simon I., high priest about B.C. 310-290, sur
named the Just. The following ways of
reconciling these data have been attempted
(see H. Bois, Essai sur les Origines de la
Philosophic Judio-Alexandrine, pp. 314-344): —
(i.) To suppose the Simon of ch. 1. to be
Simon II., also son of Onias, high priest
B.C. 219-198, a personage of whom little is
known (Herzfeld, Jost, Derenbourg, Seligmann,
Schiirer). (ii.) To interpret Ttdiriros of the Greek
Prologue not as grandfather, but as ancestor
(Horowitz ; also suggested byGriitz and Ewald).
(iii.) To interpret the words quoted from the Greek
Prologue as meaning in the translator's thirty-
eighth year, in which case they will cease to
have any chronological value ; and some have
indeed maintained that this is the only sense
which the words can bear ; however, although
the translation " in the thirty-eighth year of king
Euergetes " somewhat violates Greek usage, the
translator, who shows no skill in manipulating
Greek syntax, may well be made responsible
for this. The question whether Simon I. or
Simon II. be the most likely object of the
panegyric is difficult to settle, owing to the
scanty notices that we have of both of them.
If Seligmann (Das Buch der Weisheit des Jesus
Sirach, Breslau, 1883) be thought to have
proved against Josephus that Simon II. was
surnamed pHVH, the first of the above solutions
will be the most probable ; but, on the whole,
it is best to suppose that the author had uot
really seen the high priest whom he describes,
nor is there anything in the panegyric which
necessarily implies that he had done so. Of late
years there has been a consensus in favour of
assigning the original work to about 200 B.C.,
and the later date of the translation seems also
confirmed by the manner in which the translator
speaks of the Alexandrine Version of the Old
Testament, and the familiarity which he shows
with its language (e.g. xliv. 16, 'Evi>x eiinpiaT-qae
wXovtriov \jievtTTnv, yipovro. p-oi>(6v, "VtPV) HKJ ?T
SltOD IPtl ETI3D (see Delitzsch and Dukes, ut
supra). Mohammed must have got it from the Jews of
Medina, who therefore may have possessed copies of
Ben Sira. Since the true reading is evidently yipovro.
naipdx (of several MSS. and Versions), the coincidence
rannot be accidental. In the Sefer retsira (of uncertain
date) some words in $ 42 bear a striking likeness to
Ecclus. xxxix. 25.

842

ECCLESIASTICUS

Ka) ptTeTeBri, Gen. v. 24) ; the allusions, too, to
Greek customs and perhaps to Greek literature,
which have been found in the book, will suit the
beginning of the 2nd rather than the middle of
the 3rd century.
5. The name of the first Greek translator,
the grandson of the author, is unknown. He is
commonly supposed to have borne the same
name as his grandfather, but this tradition rests
only on conjecture or misunderstanding (Jerome,
1. o. ; Synops. S. Script., printed as a Prologue in
the Compl. ed. and in A. V.). There seems no
reason to doubt that his translation is in the
main preserved in the text of the uncials ABCN,
which the editions of Swete and Fritzsche
(in the main) follow very closely. Yet this
translation must at an early time have under
gone revision by comparison with Hebrew copies,
and the different families of MSS. are differen
tiated by the character of these alterations.
They consist (a) in slight modifications of the
translation, e.g. xix. 14, rbv tpiXov ABtf rbv
TtX-naiov SX, &c., for U"1 ; iii. 26, ifiireaeirai B,
a7roAe2rot ACK, &c. ; xix. 30, ra Ttepl avrov BN,
to wepl ip.ov A, r?V for VpV, &c: (b) in slight
additions intended to make the verses clearer,
e.g. iv. 4, trav & iav itraxBg aot $e£ai (aapivtos
added by 106, 248, 253) ;' iv. 8, kX7vov rb ods
aov (aXirrms added by 248) : (c) in the addi
tion of a considerable number of verses, some of
which are quoted by very early authorities
(e.g. Chrysostom and Clement of Alexandria),
or are confirmed by the best collateral evidence
(e.g. the Syriac, Latin, and Coptic Versions).
Many of these verses are translated in the Syro-
Hexaplar Version, where they are marked with
asterisks, the meaning of which in the Apocryphal
Book is a matter of difficulty (Field, Hexapla, i.
p. lxx.). That they are translations of Hebrew
verses is shown by the fact that the sense of
many of them only becomes clear after re-
translation: e.g. in i. 10, i.ydirnais Kvpiov ivSo^os
aotpla, ec5o|os aotpia probably represents "llpD
HD3ri (wrongly written or read HD3n HplD),
" the fount of wisdom."
The following is a list of these verses, most of
which are supplied by MSS. 23, 55, 70, 106, 248,
253 :— i. 5, 7, 10, 12, 18, 20 ; ii. 4, 9 ; hi. 19, 25 ;
iv. 23b; v. 7b, lib; ix. 8c ; x. 8, 20; xi. lie,
15, 16 ; xii. 6 c; xiii. 14, 25; xvi. 10b, 14; xvii.
5, 17, 18, 21, 22, 26; xviii. 5, 9 b, 27 b, 29;
xix. 5 b, 6a, 13b, 14a, 18, 19, 21, 25c; xx. 3, 14b,
17 b, 32; xxii. 9, 10, 13b, 23c,d; xxiii. 3e, 4c,
5 b, 28 ; xxiv. 18, 24; xxv. 12, 26 c ; xxvi. 19-27
(also in Syriac Version); xxix. 23 b ; xxx. 12 b ;
xxxviii. 32 ; xlvii. 9 ; 1. 29 b.
In all the Greek MSS. hitherto collated (ex
cept, perhaps, 248, a Vatican MS. of the 14th
century), the original order of the chapters is
disturbed. They proceed from xxx. 24 (Co.)
to xxxiii. 16 (ais KaXaptbptvos), which is con
tinued till xxxvi. 11 a, after which follow xxx.
25 to xxxiii. 16, when the rest of xxxvi. 11 is
taken up, slightly altered. The true order
(which is rendered certain by the context) is
preserved in the Peshitto and Vetus Latina
(being indeed no slight 'proof of their indepen
dence), and was exhibited in the Complutensian
and other_ early editions of the LXX., and more
recently in Fritzsche's Libri Apocryphi Veteris
Testamenti. In the Vatican edition, followed

ECCLESIASTICUS
by Tischendorf, the order of the Greek MSS.
was followed, and the numbers of the chapters
altered accordingly.
The Greek MSS. in which Ecclesiasticus is
preserved are enumerated by Hatch, Essays in
Biblical Greek, p. 247 sq. To these must be
added a fragment of a Jerusalem uncial, com
prising the Prologue and parts of chs. i. and ii.
edited by R. Harris, in Biblical Fragments from
Mt. Sinai (No. iv.). Dr. Hatch's Essay contains
some important observations on the grammatical
varieties of the MSS. It may be said that of
the MSS., 248 represents best the recension
furthest removed from the uncials, while 106
and 253 constitute an intermediate family, often
independent of both.
6. The Peshitto Syriac is an independent
version of the original of uncertain date and
origin ; its independence, first noticed by Bendt-
sen (Spec. Exercit. Crit. in Vet. T. libr. Apocr.
pp. 16, 29), has since been proved by Geiger
and others, and is now generally acknowledged
(see the Speaker's Comm. on the Apocrypha, ii.
p. 27). It offers a wholly different text from
the Greek in i. 20-28 ; omits xii. 12 — xiii. 9 ;
and has many other minor omissions and varia
tions (especially in the last chapters). Of
the Greek MSS. hitherto collated, MS. 248
agrees with it most closely. A large number of
its variations may be accounted for by different
reading or interpretation of the original.
While ordinarily literal, even to absurdity, it
appears in some cases to paraphrase the original
with a view to clearness or for dogmatic reasons.
Its great importance for the criticism of the
text has found hitherto scanty recognition. The
best edition is by Lagarde (Libri Apocryphi Vet.
Test. Syriace, 1861).
The Latin Version (part of the Vetus Latina,
unrevised by Jerome, Praef. ut supra) gives proof
of the work of a great many hands. Many
verses are rendered twice or even thrice ; the
renderings sometimes agree very closely with
the Peshitto, at other times with different
families of the Greek ; while occasionally it has
independent varieties, some of which probably
represent the original more faithfully than the
other authorities. Hence it was conjectured by
Sabatier and Bengel (Eichhorn's Bibliothek, vii.
481) that this translation was made with the aid
of a Jew or by a Jewish Christian in possession
of the original. Cases which make for this
hypothesis are such as ix. 7, iv this- ipr)uois
auTTJs p.Ti TtXavw, Vet. Lat. in plateis eius, clearly
representing iTnUrTD for rPninrQ, in ac
cordance with the context ; xxvii. 11, aotpla,
Vet. Lat. ut sol, apparently i"IOri3 for'UDSII,
rendered very probable by the antithesis ; xxv.
12, TtX-nyTiv KapSias, Vet. Lat. tristitiam videbit
cordis, agreeing with the Talmudic quotation
(Dukes, I. c.) 37 3N3. Some remarkable
additions are found in chs. i. and xxiv., espe
cially xxiv. 45, which perhaps betrays the hand
of a Christian. The Latin presents great pecu
liarities ; even in the first two chapters the
following words occur which are found in no
other part of the Vulgate: defunctio (i. 13),
religiositas (i. 17, 18, 26), compartior (i. 24),
inlionoratio (i. 38), obductio (ii. 2 ; v. 1, 10),
receptibilis (ii. 5). The MSS. in which it exists
are enumerated by Hatch, I. c. They present

ECCLESIASTICUS
few varieties, as Sabatier observed ; the text of
the Amiatinus has been separately edited by
lawirde (Mittheilungen, vol. i.).
7. Of the remaining Versions the Arabic
published in the Polyglot is from the Peshitto ;
it is not clear whether this is the same as that
made by Ai-harith ibn Sinan ibn Sanbat (De
Slane, Catal. des MSS. Arabes de la Bibliotheque
Nationale, i. 11). The other ancient Versions
are from the Greek. Of these the most im
portant is the Coptic (Sahidic dialect), existing
in a Turin MS. of the 6th century, published by
Lagarde in his Aegyptiaca (1SS4). A fragment
of a Memphitic Version (ii. 1-9) was published
by the same scholar in his Orientalia (Pt. i.
1880). The Akjiesiax Version which existed
before the time of Moses of Chorene was pub
lished from a fragmentary MS. by the Mechi-
tarists of Venice, 1833 ; it has a lacuna from
iixv. 19 — xxxviii. 14 (inclusive), and breaks oft
at xiii. 24 ; besides minor omissions (e.g. the
whole of ch. viii.). While exhibiting a text
similar to that of the uncials, it has some re
markable readings (e.g. xl. 6 and xii. 17). The
Aeihiopic Version (of which an edition is pro
mised) exists in MSS. of the British Museum,
the Bibliotheque Nationale, and Tubingen. The
Stko-Hexaplare (published by Ceriani in
vol. vii. of Anecdota Sacra et Prof a no) has a
text remarkably similar to that of MS. 257.
The translator would appear to have consulted
the Peshitto concerning difficult words (e.g. iv.
30, ^oiTourioKOirwi'). The Ambrosian MS. con
tains some marginal scholia besides the critical
marks. 8. It is impossible to make any satisfactory
plan of the book in its present shape. Separate
portions seem constituted by (1) the hymns to
Wisdom, i. 1-18, and ch. xxiv. : (2) the prayers,
xxxiii. 1-11, with xxxvi. 16 b-22, and ch. li.,
which Bickell (Ein Alphabetisches Lied Ben
Sira's) fancied, bnt on insufficient grounds,
to be alphabetical: (3) the hymn to God,
xxxix. 12-21, called by the author a "fresh
thought;" cp. xvi. 22— xviii. 13: (4) the praise
of famous men (rrareptov vpvos), xliv. 1-1. 24.
The attempts which have been made to show
that the book was made up out of several
collections (Eichhorn, Einl. 50 sq. ; Ewald, His
tory of Israel, E. T. v. 205), belonging to dif
ferent epochs, cannot be considered successful ;
'although, doubtless, as might be expected in a
ignomology, most of the maxims are not original.
jlhe words of Jerome, Praef, in Libr. Salom.
|" Quorum priorem [rravdperov Jesu filii Sirach
librum] Hebraicum repperi, non Ecclesiasticutn
nt apud Latinos, sed Parabolas praenotatum, cui
juncti erant Ecclesiastes et Canticum Canti-
corum, ut similitudinem Salomonis non solum
librorum numero, sed etiam materiarum genere
ibaequaret") 'can scarcely point, as has been
thought, to any threefold division of the present
hook, but rather imply that under Ben Sira's
name two other Hebrew works were known,
corresponding with the two other Books of Solo
mon; and this is somewhat confirmed by the
fact that the Rabbis speak occasionally of the
books of Ben Sira (Seligmann, ut supra), and
that passages are quoted by them from Ben Sira
which are not found in the Greek ; notably some
rhyming verses, quoted in the appendix to the
Massecheth Kallah (published in Coronel's

ECCLESIASTICUS

843

D'DIDJIp ntyOn : see the Expositor for
November 1890, pp. 357-8). In the central
portion of Ecclesiasticus several headings are
introduced in the oldest MSS. (xxviii. £9,
iyKpdreta u^u^s ; xxxii. nepi Tjyovpivwv), and
similar titles preface ch. xliv. (iraTepaii/ itpvos)
and ch. li. (Tt-poasvxri '\T}aov uioC Seipay) ;
vestiges of these are not wholly wanting in the
Peshitto, and all are found in the Vetus Latina.
These sections may have contributed to the dis
arrangement of the text, but they do not offer
any sufficient clue to its true subdivisions.
9. The earliest clear coincidence with the
contents of the book occurs in the Epistle of
Barnabas (ch. xix. = Ecclus. iv. 31 ; cp. Const.
Apost. vii. 11 ; this maxim, however, is found in
other Jewish gnomologies). The parallels which
have been discovered in the N. T. are thought
by many too general to show that they were
derived from the written text, and not from
popular language. There is no sign of the use
of the book in Justin Martyr, which is the more
remarkable as it offers several thoughts congenial
to his style. The first distinct quotations occur
in Clement of Alexandria ; but from the end of
the 2nd century the book was much used and
cited with respect, and in the same terms as the
canonical Scriptures (August, de Cura pi-o Mort.
17). Clement speaks of it continually as Scrip
ture (Paed. i. 8, § 62 ; ii. 2, § 34 ; 5, § 46 ; 8,
§ 69, &c), as the work of Solomon (Strom, ii. 5,
§ 24), and as the voice of the great Master
(traiSayay6s, Paed. ii. 10, § 98). Origen cites
passages with the same formula as the Canonical
Books (yiypairrai, In Johann. xxxii. § 14 ; In
Matt. xvi. § 8), as Scripture (Comm. in Matt.
§ 44 ; In Ep. ad Bom. ix. § 17, &c), and as the
utterance of " the divine word" (c. Cels. viii. 50).
The other writers of the Alexandrine school
follow the same practice. Dionysius calls its
words "-divine oracles" (Frag, de Nat. iii. p. 1258,
ed. Migne), and Peter Martyr quotes it as the
work of " the Preacher " (Frag. i. § 5, p. 515, ed.
Migne). The passage quoted from Tertullian (de
Exhort. Cast. 2, "sicut scriptum est: ecce posui
ante te bonum et malum ; gustasti enim de arbore
agnitionis . . . : " cp. Ecclus. xv. 17, Vulg.) is not
absolutely conclusive ; but Cyprian constantly
brings forward passages from the book as Scrip
ture (de bono Pat. 17 ; de Mortalitate, 9, § 13)
and as the work of Solomon (Ep. lix. 20, &c).
The testimony of Augustine sums up briefly the
result which follows from these isolated autho
rities. He quotes the book constantly himself
as the work of a prophet (Serm. xxxix. 1), the
word of God (Serm. lxxxvii. 11), "Scripture"
(Lib. de Nat. 33), and that even in controversy
(c. Jul. Pelag. v. 36) ; but 'he expressly notices
that it was not in the Hebrew Canon (de Cura
pro Mort. 18), " though the Church, especially
of the West, had received it into authority "
(de Civit. xvii. 20, cp. Speculum, iii. 1127, ed.
Paris). Jerome, in like manner (I. c. § 7), con
trasts the book with " the Canonical Scriptures "
as "doubtful," while they are "sure;" and in
another place (Prol. Galeat.) he says that it
« is not in the Canon," and again (Prol. m Libr.
Sol) that it should be read "for the instruction
fo the people (plebis), not to support the autho
rity of ecclesiastical doctrines." The book is
not quoted by Irenaeus, Hippolytus, or Eusebius ;
and is not contained in the Canon of Melito,

841

ECCLESIASTICUS

Origen, Cyril, Laodicea, Hilary, or Rufinus (cp.
Diestel, Gesch. des alten Testaments, pp. 71-77 ;
Edersheim, Introduction, p. 35). [Canon.] It
was never included by the Jews in their Scrip
tures, in the opinion of Geiger (ZDMG. 1858,
p. 538 = Schriften, iii. 275) partly for political
reasons, more probably owing to its late origin ;
but among the " outer books," not however the
heretical sort, but such as were harmless, though
not fit for profound study (M. Joel, Blicke in die
Beligicmsgeschichte zu Anfang des Zweiten christ-
lichen Jahrhunderts, Breslau, 1880, pp. 68-7b).
Edersheim (Introduction, p. 34) endeavours to
show that the opinion of the Rabbis varied at
different epochs, and suggests that the con
demnation of the book which appears in some
passages (Jerus. Sank. 28 a; Midr. Koheleth, xii.
12) may have been due to its wide use in the
Christian Church.
10. But, while the book is destitute of the
highest canonical authority, it is a most im
portant monument of the condition and language
of the Jews at the period of its composition. As
an expression of Palestinian theology it stands
alone ; although the writer's travels may have
inspired him with certain Greek ideas (e.g. the
love of beauty, xl. 22 ; of music and good cheer,
xl. 21, &c. ; appreciation of the medical art,
xxxviii. 1-15 ; Bois, ut supra, pp. 160-163), and
certain parallels with Greek writers seem too
close to be the result of accident (e.g. xiii. 2, the
fable of the pot and the jar = Fab. Aesop. 422,
Halm, Avianus,- xi. ed. Ellis ; xiv. 18 = Iliad,
vi. 146-7 ; vii. 12, 13 are to be explained from
Hesiod, Worlts and Days, 652-4), there is no
sufficient reason for assuming Alexandrine inter
polations oi' Alexandrine influence (Bois, ut supra,
pp. 163-204, against Gfrorer and Dahne). Nor
does it seem probable that the translator has
intentionally altered the text with the view of
introducing Alexandrine doctrines, although this
has been maintained by Edersheim (Speaker's
Comm., passim). The statement that " Enoch
became an example of repentance for all the
generations " (xliv. 16), although this notion is
to be found in Philo (ii. pp. 410-11 ; de Praemiis
et Poenis, § 3) is not sufficiently characteristic
of Alexandrine hermeneutics to give support to
either hypothesis ; and the omission of that verse
in the Peshitto, combined with the meution of
Enoch in xlix. 14, renders it peculiarly liable to
suspicion. The conception of God as Creator,
Preserver, and Governor is strictly conformable
to the old Mosaic type ; but at the same time
His mercy is extended to all mankind (xviii.
11-13). The angelology would seem to be similar
to that of the Book of Daniel (cp. xvii. 17 with
Dan. x. 20) ; while the identification of the
forces of nature with spirits (xxxix. 28, &c.)
corresponds with certain representations in the
Psalms. The doctrine of a resurrection seems
emphatically denied (xvii. 27, 28. Yet this can
scarcely have been a ground for the exclusion of
the book from the Canon, as Geiger held). In
addition to the general hope of a restoration
(xxxvi. 1, &c), one trait only of a Messianic
faith is preserved, in which the writer contem
plates the future work of Elias (xlviii. 10, a
somewhat obscure passage). The prophetic
notion of the superiority of " charity " to cere
monious observance is maintained (xxxii. 1-12),
at the same time as the writer is exhorting to a

ECLIPSE OP THE SUN
punctilious observance of the prescribed ritual,
on the sole ground of its being prescribed (v. 6).
As is so often the case in proverbial philosophy,
little attempt is made to harmonise the often
contradictory maxims in which common sense
expresses itself.
11. Numerous commentaries on Ecclesiasticus
appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries (cp.
Bretschneider, Lib. Sirac. Praef. x. note, for a
list of these), of which the most important were
those of Drusius and Grotius (reprinted in Critici
Sacri, vol. v.". ; the latter is especially valuable
in collecting parallel passages from classical
writers, which of course are very numerous.
An edition was published with commentary by
Bretschneider in 1806 (Liber Jesu Siracidae ad
ftdem Codd. et Verss. emend, et perpet. Comm.
illustratus a Car. Gottl. Bretschneider . . . Ratis-
bouae, MDCCCVI.), which however was an im
mature work, aud showed but slight progress.
Fritzsche's Commentary in the Kurzg. exeget.
JLindbuch (Die Weislieit Jesus Siraeh's erkliirt
und iibersetzt, Leipz. 1859, followed by a Greek
text with critical notes in Libri Apocryphi
Veteris Testamenti, Lips. 1871) was an advance
on Bretschneider ; but, owing to the writer's
failing to perceive the value of the Syriac aud
Latin Versions, and to estimate aright the im
portance of the MSS. and secondary Versions,
left very much stiil to be done ; moreover the
contributions of Geiger, Delitzsch, and Herzfeld
are unduly neglected. A critical edition col-
leciing all the evidence of MSS. and Versions, to
be followed by a restoration of the Hebrew so
far as the materials at our disposal admit of its
being restored with certainty, should be the basis
for any satisfactory treatment of the book. A
beginning was made towards this in the com
mentary of A. Edersheim (Speaker's Comm.,
Murray, 1888), which both for criticism and
exposition was a considerable advance on all its
predecessors. A brief Commentary, with a
valuable Introduction (by O. Zockler), is to be
found in the ninth section of Strack and Zock- ¦
ler's Kurzgefasster Kommentar, &c. (Miinchen,
1891). Cp. Ball, Var. Apocrypha, 1892.
The monographs which deal with special
questions have been mentioned in the foregoing
paragraphs ; the connexion between Ecclesias
ticus and the Proverbs of Solomon has been best
treated by Seligmann, Das Buck der Weislieit des
Jesus Sirach (Halle, 1883); between Ecclesias
ticus and Ecclesiastes by C. H. H. Wright, The
Book of Koheleth (London, 1883): while con
tributions of interest are to be found in the
histories of Jost, Gratz, Ewald, Herzfeld, and
Schurer; in Geiger's Urschrift und Uebersetz-
ungen; in T. K. Cheyne's Job and Solomon
(London, 1887) ; and in the various Introductions
to the Old Testament. [B. F. W.] [D. S. M.],
ECLIPSE OP THE SUN. No historical
notice of an eclipse occurs in the Bible, but there
are passages in the Prophets which were once
considered to contain manifest allusion to this
phenomenon : — " The sun goes down at noon,"
" the earth is darkened in the clear day " (Amos
viii. 9), " the day shall be dark " (Mic. iii. 6),
" the light shall not be clear nor dark " (Zech.
xiv. 6), " the sun shall be dark " (Joel ii. 10,
31 ; iii. 15). Hence these notices were taken
to refer to eclipses that occurred about the

ED
time of the respective compositions : thus the
date of Amos was said to coincide with a total
eclipse which occurred Feb. 9, B.C. 784, and
was visible at Jerusalem shortly after noon
(Hitzig, Comm. in Proph.), or with eclipses of
the sun in B.C. 791, 771, and 770 (Ussher. See
Speaker's Comm. in loco) ; that of Micah with
the eclipse of June 5, B.C. 716, referred to by
Dionys. Hal. ii. 56, to which same period the
latter part of the Book of Zechariah was as
signed. A passing notice in Jer. xv. 9 was
said to coincide in date with the eclipse of
Sept. 30, B.C. 610, so well known from Hero
dotus' account (i. 74, 103). Such opinions are
now given up. The darkness that overspread
the world at the Crucifixion cannot with reason
he attributed to an eclipse, as the moon was at
the full at the time of the Passover. [Dark
ness.] The awe which is naturally inspired by
an eclipse in the minds of* those who are
unacquainted with the cause of it, rendered it a
token of impending judgment in the Prophetical
Books. [W. L. B.]
ED = witness, a word inserted — as a name
—in the A. V. and R. V. of Josh. xxii. 34,
apparently on the authority of a few- MSS.,
and also of the Syriac and Arabic Versions, but
not existing in the generally-received Hebrew
Tert. The passage may be translated as
follows: "And the children of Reuben aud the
children of Gad named (LXX. iiravopdaev)
the altar: for it is a witness (Ed) between us
that Jehovah is God." The rendering of the
LXX. (" Joshua named the altar of Reuben and
of Gad and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, and
said," &c), though in some respects differing
materially from the present text, shows plainly
that at that time the word Ed (IV) stood in the
Hebrew in its present place (for a further investi
gation of this passage, see Keil and Dillmann 2
in loco). If we may trust the indications in
Josh. xxii. 9-34, the altar was in Gilead, on the
east side of Jordan, and not far from that river ;
and this is more directly stated by Josephus
(Ant. vi. 1, § 26). A position near the mouth of
the Jabbok would seem to meet the require
ments of the narrative. [G.] [W.]
ETDAR, TOWER OF (accur. Eder, bliK)
1~W ; LXX. v. 16 ; A. -iriipyos Taoip, E. TaBip ;
Turns Eder), a place named only in Gen. xxxv.
21. Jacob's first halting-place between Beth
lehem and Hebron was "beyond (H8<7nD)
the tower Eder." It was possibly a shep
herd's tower, for protection against robbers,
near "Solomon's Pools," or on the pass be
yond them. According to Jerome (OS." p. 101, 9)
it was 1000 paces from Bethlehem. The name
signifies " a flock " or " drove," and is quite
in "keeping with the pastoral habits of the
district. Jerome sees in it a prophecy of the
announcement of the birth of Christ to the
shepherds ; and there seems to have been a
Jewish tradition that the Messiah was to be born
there (Targum Ps.- Jon. Cp. Edersheim, Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah, i. 186), possibly
founded on or alluded to in Micah iv. 8 (A. V.
" Tower of the flock "). This, however, Kimchi
explains as "the tower of David where Israel
I," a notion Vfhicb. receives some

EDEN

845

countenance from tho use of the word Ophel
(A. V. " stronghold "), the name of one of the
chief fortifications of Jerusalem. [G.] [W.]
EDDI'AS (B. 'Ufeias, A. 'USSias ; Geddias).
One of those who had taken a " strange " wife
and agreed to put her away (1 Esd. ix. 26)
[Jeziah.] [If.] '
E'DEN (\-{V; 'EUp), the biblical and well-
kuown name of the first abode of man, in a part
of which a garden (" the garden of Eden ") was
planted, which the first man was to dress and
keep, but from which he was expelled for dis
obedience. No subject has probably attracted the atten
tion of men of learning so much as that of the
identification ofthe land of Eden and its garden.
Every quarter of the Old World has, at one time
or other, formed the subject of examination to
this end. India, Ceylon, China, the Mountains
of the Moon, the Canary Islands, the coasts of
the Baltic — all these have been fixed on as
possible localities. Columbus, when sailing to
find the New World (then supposed to be part of
India), expected to come across it there ; and a
very bold and learned contention, published of
late years, locates it — at the North Pole ! Not
withstanding the new material of late brought
to bear on the subject, however, the matter
must still be regarded as doubtful, and many
will probably look upon its ultimate settlement
as unlikely.
The words of Gen. ii. 8-14 concerning Eden
are as follows : " And the Loed God planted a
garden eastward in Eden ; and there He put the
man whom He had formed. And out of the
ground made the Lord God to grow every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food ;
the tree of life also in the midst of the garden,
and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
And a river went out of Eden to water the
garden ; and from thence it was parted, and
became four heads. The name of the first is
Pishon : that it is which compasseth the whole
land of Havilah, where there is gold ; and the
gold of that land is good : there is bdellium
(b'dolakh) and the onyx stone (eben hashshoham).
And the name of the second river is Gihon
(Gikhon) ; the same it is which compasseth the
whole land of Cush. And the name of the third
river is Hiddekel: that it is which goeth in
front of (R. V. marg., Or, toward the east of)
Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates."
From this detailed and circumstantial de
scription there is hardly any doubt that the
writer of it was trying to describe a place which
he had in his mind, and which, though he may
not have seen, he had heard of. Whatever
allegory there may have been, therefore, in
the story of Paradise, for the Hebrew author of
Genesis it was a real tract of country, with a
garden situated in the eastern part. The river
which flowed through Eden watered the garden,
and then became four distinct streams, two of
which, the Hiddekel (Assyr. Idiglat, the Tigris)
and the Euphrates (Assyr. Purattu), are well-
known and important waterways. For the
proper identification of the garden of Eden,
therefore, it is needful to find a tract of country
fulfilling all the above conditions, both as to
geographical situation and natural products.

846

EDEN

The more reasonable of the theories as to the
position of Paradise may be roughly divided
into two classes : namely, those which place the
garden of Eden below the junction of the Tigris
and the Euphrates, and seek the Pishon and Gihon
among the many natural or artificial tributaries
of those streams ; and those which locate the
site in the high tableland of Armenia, where so
many noble streams have their origin. These
theories have been supported by learned men
of all nations and ages, representing every
shade of theological belief; but there is not
one which is not based in some degree upon a
forced interpretation of the words of the
narrative. Those who contend that thc united
stream of the Tigris and the Euphrates is
the " river '' which " went out of Eden to water
the garden " have been obliged to neglect the
primitive meaning of N¥\ which generally in
dicates the origin or source of a thing, and to
accept the more general one of " running on " or
" through " (boundary, &c). According to the
description (v. 10), the river should begin (have
its outlet into the sea) in Eden, pass through the
garden, and then divide into four branches, the
separation taking place either in the garden or
after passing through it, becoming four heads or
sources (see Gesenius, D'EJ'N"! iTlDIK; and com-
V ' ¦ T t t : - .,
pare the Assyr. res eni, " source," lit. " head ot
a spring "). There are other difficulties in the
details of the several theories, which may be
obstacles to their entire acceptation, but no theory
which involves undue forcing of the words of
the sacred narrative ought to be allowed to take
its place even among the probable explanations.
With regard to the meaning of the name
Eden, the old Versions or translations give us
little or no assistance. The translators seem to
have halted between a mystical and a literal in
terpretation. The word |"1J? is rendered by the
LXX. as a proper name in three places only
(Gen. ii. 8, 10, and iv. 16), where it is represented
by 'Etiip. In all others, with the exception of
Is. li. 3 (where it is translated by irapdoeiaos),
it is translated by rpvtpT), " delight " (the plural
of the word, with the meaning " delights," occurs
in Ps. xxxvi. 9). In the Vulgate it does not occur
as a proper name, but is rendered " voluptas,"
¦" locus voluptatis " or " deliciae." The Targum
of Onkelos gives it uniformly as pi?, and the
Peshitto Syriac the same, with the slight varia
tion, in two passages, of —i-L for . ^.
It would be a hopeless task to attempt to
chronicle the opinions of all the commentators
upon this question : their name is legion. Philo
(de Mundi Opif. § 54) is the first who ventured
upon an allegorical interpretation. He conceived
that by Paradise is darkly shadowed forth the
governing faculty of the soul ; that the tree of
life signifies religion, whereby the soul is im
mortalised ; and that the faculty of knowing good
and evil was the middle sense, by which are dis
cerned things contrary to nature. In another
passage (de Plantat. § 9) he explains Eden, which
signifies " pleasure," as a symbol of the soul, that
sees what is right, exults in virtue, and prefers
one enjoyment, the worship of the Only Wise, to
myriads of men's chief delights. And again
(Legis Allegor. i. § 14) he says, "Now virtue
is tropically called Paradise, and the site of

EDEN
Paradise is Eden, that is, pleasure." The four
rivers he explains (§ 19) of the several virtues
of prudence, temperance, courage, and justice;
while the main stream of which they are
branches is the generic virtue, goodness, which
goeth forth from Eden, the wisdom of God. The
opinions of Philo would not be so much worthy
of consideration, were it not that he has been
followed by many of the Fathers. Origen, ac
cording to Luther (Comm. in Gen.), imagined
Paradise to be heaven, the trees Angels, and the
rivers wisdom. Papias, Irenaeus, Pantaenus,
and Clemens Alexandrinus have all favoured the
mystical interpretation (Huet. Origeniana, ii.
167). Ambrosius followed the example of
Origen, and placed the terrestrial Paradise in the
third heaven, in consequence of the expression of
St. Paul (2 Cor. xii. 2, 4) ; but elsewhere he
distinguishes between the terrestrial Paradise
and that to which the Apostle was caught up
(De Parad. c. 3). In another passage (Ep. ad
Sabinum) all this is explained in allegory.
Among the Hebrew traditions enumerated by
Jerome (Trad. Hebr. in trim.) is one that Paradise
was created before the world was formed, and is
therefore beyond its limits." Moses Bar Cepha
(De Parad.) assigns it a middle place between
the earth and the firmament. Some affirm that
Paradise was on a mountain, which reached
nearly to the moon ; while others, struck by tbe
manifest absurdity of such an opinion, held that
it was situated in the third region of the air,
and was higher than all the mountains of the
earth by twenty cubits, so that the waters of
the Flood could not reach it. Others, again, have
thought that Paradise was twofold, one cor
poreal and the other incorporeal : others that it
was formerly on earth, but had been taken away
by the judgment of God (Hopkinson, Descr.
Parad. in Ugol. Thes. vii.). Among the opinions
enumerated by Morinus (Diss, de Parad. Terrest.
Ugol. Thes. vii.) is one that, before the Fall, the
whole earth was Paradise, and was really situated
in Eden, in the midst of all kinds of delights.
Ephraem Syrus (Comm. in Gen.) expresses him
self doubtfully upon this point. Whether the
trees of Paradise, being spiritual, drank of spi
ritual water, he does not undertake to decide ;
but he seems to be of opinion that the four rivers
have lost their original virtue in consequence
of the curse pronounced upon the earth for
Adam's transgression.
Conjectures with regard to the dimensions of
the garden have differed as widely as those
which assign its locality. Ephraem Syrus main
tained that it surrounded the whole earth, while
Johannes Tostatus restricted it to a circum
ference of thirty-six or forty miles, and others
have made it extend over Syria, Arabia, and
Mesopotamia (Hopkinson, as above). But of
speculations like these there is no end.
What is the river which goes forth from Eden
to water the garden ? is a question which has
been often asked, and still waits for a satisfactory
answer. That the ocean stream which sur
rounded the earth was the source from which
the four rivers flowed was the opinion of Josephus
(Ant. i. 1, § 3) and Johannes Damascenus (De
» The Akkadian or Sumerian legend of the Creation
indicates that they, too, believed that Eridu, " the happy
city," was created before the world was formed (see
below, p. 850).

EDEN
Qrthod. Fid. ii. 9). It was the Sliatt-al-Arab, ac
cording to those who place the garden of Eden
below the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates.
By those who refer the position of Eden to the
highlands of Armenia, the " river " from which
the four streams diverge is conceived to mean
"a collection of springs," or u well-watered
district. It is scarcely necessary to say that
this signification of *1!"I3 (ndhdr) is wholly with
out a parallel ; and even if it could, under
certain circumstances, be made to adopt it, such
a signification is, in the present instance, pre
cluded by the fact that, whatever meaning we
may assign to the word in r. 10, it must he
the same as that which it has in the following
verses, in which it is sufficiently definite. Sickler
(Augusti, Theol. Monatsehrift. i. 1, quoted by
Winer), supposing the whole narrative to be a
myth, solves the difficulty by attributing to its
author a large measure of ignorance. The
"river" was the Caspian Sea, which in his
apprehension was an immense stream from the
east. Bertheau, applying the geographical
knowledge of the ancients as a test of that of
the Hebrews, arrived at the same conclusion, on
the ground that all the people south of the
Armenian and Persian highlands place the dwell
ing of the gods in the extreme north, and the
regions of the Caspian were the northern limit of
the horizon of the Israelites (Knobel, Genesis).
But he allows the four rivers of Eden to have
been real rivers, and not, as Sickler imagined,
oceans which bounded the earth east and west
ofthe Nile.
That the Hiddekel1' is the Tigris, and the
Phrath the Euphrates, has never been denied,
except by those who assume that the whole
narrative is a myth which originated elsewhere,
and was adapted by the Hebrews to their own
geographical notions. As the former is the
name of the great river by which Daniel sat
(Dan. x. 4), and the latter is the term uniformly
applied to the Euphrates in the Old Testament,
there seems no reason to suppose that the
appellations in Gen. ii. 14 are to be understood
in any other than the ordinary sense. One cir
cumstance in the description is worthy of
Ipbservation. Of the four rivers, one, the Eu
phrates, is mentioned by name only, as if that
were sufficient to identify it. The other three
are defined according to their geographical posi
tions, and it is fair to conclude that they were
therefore rivers with which the Hebrews were
less intimately acquainted. If this be the case,
it is scarcely possible to imagine that the Gihon,
or, as some say, the Pishon, is the Nile, for that
must have been even more familiar to the
Israelites than the Euphrates, and have stood as
little in need of a definition.
With regard to the Pishon, the most ancient
and most universally received opinion identifies
it with the Ganges. Josephus (Ant. i. 1, § 3),
Eusebius (Onom. s. v.), Ambrosius (de Parad.
»• 3), Epiphanius (Ancor. c. 58), Ephr. Syr.
(Op. Syr. i. 23), Jerome (Ep. 4 ad Bust, and
miest Heb. in Gen.), and Augustine (de Gen. ad
lit- viii. 7) held this. But Jarchi (on Gen. ii.
11), Saadiah Gaon, R. Moses ben Nachman, and
b This name is said to be still in use among the
tribes who live upon its banks (Sir Of. Cbesney, Exp\to
Tigris ami Euphrates, i. 13).

EDEN

847

Abr. Peritsol (Ugol. Thes. vii.), maintained that
the Pishon was the Jsile. The first of these
writers derives the word from a root which sig
nifies " to increase," " to overflow " (cf. Hab.
i. 8), but at the same time quotes an etymology
given in Bereshith Babba, § 16, in which it is
asserted that the river is called Pishon " because
it makes the flax (jnB'D) to grow." Josephus
explains it by TrX-nBis, Scaliger by irXr)pp.vpa.
The theory that the Pishon is the Ganges is
thought to receive some confirmation from the
author of the book of Ecclesiasticus, who mentions
(xxiv. 25, 27) in order the Pishon, the Tigris, the
Euphrates, Jordan, and Gihon, and is supposed
to have commenced his enumeration in the east
and to have terminated it in the west. That
the Pishon was the Indus was an opinion current
long before it was revived by Ewald (Gesch. de
Yolk. Isr. i. 331, note 2) and adopted by Kalisch
(Genesis, p. 96). Philostorgius, quoted by Huet
(Ugolin. vol. vii.), conjectured that it was the
Hydaspes ; and Wilford (As. Bes. vol. vi.), fol
lowing the Hindoo tradition with regard to the
origin of mankind, discovers the Pishon in the
Landi-Sindh, the Ganges of Isidorus, called also
Nilab from the colour of its waters, and known
to the Hindoos by the name of Nild-Ganga or
Ganga simply. Severianus (de Mundi Great.) and
Ephraem Syrus (Comm. on Gen.) agree with
Caesarius in identifying the Pishon with the
Danube. The last-mentioned Father seems to
have held, in common with others, some singular
notions with regard to the course of this river.
He believed that it was also the Ganges and
Indus, and that, after traversing Ethiopia and
Elymai's, which he identified with Havilah, it
fell into the ocean near Cadiz. Such is also the
opinion of Epiphanius with regard to the course
of the Pishon, which, he says, is the Ganges of
the Ethiopians and Indians and the Indus of the
Greeks (Ancor. c. 58). Some, as Hopkinson
(Ugol. vol. vii.), have found the Pishon in the
Naharmalca, one of the artificial canals which
formerly joined the Euphrates with the Tigris.
This canal is the fluinen regium of Amm. Marc.
(xxiii. 6, § 25, and xxiv. 6, § 1), and the Armal-
char of Pliny (N. H. vi. 30). Grotius, on the
contrary, considered it to be the Gihon. Even
those commentators who agree in placing the
terrestrial Paradise on the Shalt-al-Arab, the
stream formed by the junction of the Tigris and
Euphrates, between Ctesiphon and Apamea, are
by no means unanimous as to which of the
branches, into which this stream is again divided,
the names Pishon and Gihon are to be applied.
Calvin (Comm. in Gen.) was the first to con
jecture that the Pishon was the most easterly of
these channels, and in this opinion he is followed
by Scaliger and many others. Huet, on the
other hand, conceived that he proved beyond
doubt that Calvin was in error, and that the
Pishon was the westernmost of the two channels
by which the united stream of the Euphrates and
Tigris flows into the Persian Gulf. He was con
firmed by the authority of Bochart (Hieroz. pt. ii.
1. 5, c. 5). Junius (Prael. in Gen.) and Rask dis
covered a relic of the name Pishon in the Pasiti-
gris. The advocates of the theory that the true
position of Eden is to be sought for in the moun
tains of Armenia have been induced, from a cer
tain resemblance in the two names, to identify the
Pishon with the PhasiSj which rises in the elevated

848

EDEN

plateau at the foot of Mount Ararat, near the
sources of the Tigris and Euphrates. Reland (de
Situ parad. terr. Ugol. vii.), Calmet (Dict. s. v.),
Link (Urwelt, i. 307), Rosenmiiller (Handb. d.
Bibl. Alt.), and Hartmann have given their
suffrages in favour of this opinion. Raumer
(quoted by Delitzsch, Genesis) endeavoured to
prove that the Pishon was the Phasis of Xenophon
(Anab. iv. 6) ; that is, the Aras or Araxes, which
flows into the Caspian Sea. There remain yet
to be noticed the theories of Leclerc (Comm. in
Gen.) that the Pishon was the Chrysorrhoas, the
modern Barada, which takes its rise near
Damascus; and of Buttmann (Aelt. Erdk.
p. 32), who identified it with the Besynga or
Irabatti, «. river of Ava. Mendelssohn (Comm.
on Gen.) mentions that some affirm the Pishon to
be the Gozan of 2 K. xvii. 6 and 1 Ch. v. 26,
whifh is supposed to be a river, and the
same as the Kizil-Uzen in Hyrcania. Sir G.
Chesney, from the results of extensive observa
tions in Armenia, was " led to infer that the
rivers known by the comparatively modern
names of Halys and Araxes are those which, in
the Book of Genesis, have the names of Pishon
and Gihon ; and that the country within the
former is the land of Havilah, whilst that which
borders upon the latter is the still more re
markable country of Cush " (Exp. to Euphr.
and Tigris, i. 267).
Such, in brief, is a summary of the various
conjectures which have been advanced, with
equal degrees of confidence, by the writers who
have attempted to solve the problem of Eden.
The majority of them are characterised by one
common defect. In the narrative of Genesis the
river Pishon is defined as that which surrounds
the whole land of Havilah. It is, then, absolutely
necessary to fix the position of Havilah before
proceeding to identify the Pishon with any par
ticular river. But the process followed by
most critics has been first to find the Pishon and
then to look about for the land of Havilah. The
same inverted method is characteristic of their
whole manner of treating the problem. The
position of the garden is assigned, the rivers are
then identified, and lastly the countries men
tioned in the description are so chosen as to
coincide with the rest of the theory.
With such diversity of opinion as to the river
which is intended to be represented by the Pishon,
it was scarcely possible that writers on this
subject should be unanimous in their selection
of a country possessing the attributes of Havilah.
In Gen. ii. 11, 12, it is described as the land
where the best gold was found, and which was
besides rich in the treasures of the b'dolakh and
the stone slioham. A country of the same name
is mentioned as forming one of the boundaries of
Ishmael's descendants (Gen. xxv. 18), and the
scene of Saul's war of extermination against the
Amalekites (1 Sam. xv. 7). In these passages
Havilah seems to denote the desert region south
east of Palestine. The word occurs also as
the proper name of a son of Joktan, in close
juxtaposition with Sheba and Ophir, also sons of
Joktan and descendants of Shem (Gen. x. 29),
who gave their names to the spice and gold
countries of the south. Again, Havilah is
enumerated among the Hamites as one of the
sons of Cush ; and in this enumeration his name I
stands in close connexion with Seba, Sheba, and '

EDEN
Dedan, the first founders of colonies in Ethiopia
and Arabia which afterwards bore their names.
If, therefore, the Havilah of Gen. ii. be identical
with any one of these countries, we must look for
it on the east or south of Arabia, and probably not
far from the Persian Gulf. In other respects,
too, this region answers to the conditions re
quired. Bochart, indeed, thought the name sur
vived in Chaula, which was situated on the east
side of the Arabian Gulf, and which he identified
with the abode of the Shemitic Joktanites ; but if
his etymology, in which he connects Havilah with
the root 7in, "sand," be correct, the appella
tion of " the sandy " region would not necessarily
be restricted to one locality. That the name is
derived from some natural peculiarity is evident
from the presence of the article. Whatever mav
be the true meaning of b'dolakh — be it carbuncle"
bdellium, ebony, pepper, cloves, beryl, pearl,
diamond, or emerald — all critics detect its
presence, under one or other of these forms, in
the country which they select as the Havilah
most appropi-iate to theirown theory. As little
difficulty is presented by the shoham : call it
onyx, sardonyx, emerald, sapphire, beryl, or
sardius, it would be hard indeed if some of these
precious stones could not be found in any con
ceivable locality to support even the most far
fetched and improbable conjecture. That Havilah
is that part of India through which the Ganges
flows, and, more generally, the eastern region of
the earth ; that it is to be found in Susiana
(Hopkinson), in Ava (Buttmann), or in the Ural
region (Raumer), are conclusions necessarily
following upon the assumptions with regard to
the Pishon. Hartmann, Reland, and Rosenmiiller
are in favour of Colchis, the scene of the legend
of the Golden Fleece. The Phasis was said to
flow over golden sands, and gold was carried
down by the mountain-torrents (Strabo, xi. 2,
§ 19). The crystal (b'dola/tli) of Scythia was
renowned (Solinus, c. xx.), and the emeralds
(sholiam) of this country were as far superior to
other emeralds as the latter were to other pre
cious stones (Plin. H. N. xxxvii. 17), all which
proves, say they, that Havilah was Colchis.
Rosenmiiller argues, rather strangely, if the
Phasis be the Pishon, the land of Havilah mu~t
be Colchis, supposing that by this country the
Hebrews had the idea of a Pontic or Northern
India. In like manner Leclerc, having previously
determined that Pishon must be the Chrysorrhoas,
finds Havilah not far from Coele-Syria. Hasse
(Entdeck. pp. 49, 50, quoted by Rosenmiiller)
compares Havilah with the "VXaia of Herodotus
(iv. 9), in the neighbourhood of the Arimaspians,
and the dragon which guarded the land of gold.
For all these hypotheses there is no more support
than the merest conjecture.
The second river of Paradise presents diffi
culties not less insurmountable than the Pishon.
Those who maintained that the Pishon is the
Ganges held also that the Gihon was the Nile.
One objection to this theory has been already
mentioned. Another, equally strong, is, that
although in the Books of the Old Testament
frequent allusion is made to this river, it nowhere
appears to have been known to the Hebrews by
the name Gihon. The idea seems to have
originated with the LXX. rendering of "IIITp'
by T-nuiv in Jer. ii. 18 ; but it is clear from the

EDEN
manner in which the translators have given the
latter clause of the same passage that they had
no conception of the true meaning. Among
modern writers, Bertheau (quoted by Delitzsch,
Genesis) and Kalisch (Genesis) have not hesitated
to support this interpretation, in accordance
with the principle they adopt, that the descrip
tion of the garden of Eden is to be explained
according to the most ancient notions of the
earth's surface, without reference to the advances
made in later times in geographical knowledge.
If this hypothesis be adopted, it eertainlv
explains some features of the narrative ; but, so
far from removing the difficulty, it introduces
another equally great. It has yet to be proved
that the opinions ofthe Hebrews on these points
were as contradictory to the now well-known
relations of land and water as the recorded im
pressions of other nations at a much later period.
At present we have nothing but categorical
assertion. Pausanias (ii. 5). indeed, records a
legend that the Euphrates, after disappearing in
a marsh, rises again beyond Ethiopia and flows
through Egypt as the Nile. Arrian (Exp. Ale.c.
vi. 1) relates that Alexander, on finding croco
diles in the Indus, and beans like those of Egypt
on the banks of the Acesines, imagined that he
had discovered the sources of the Nile : but he
adds, what those who make use of this passage
do not find it convenient to quote, that on re
ceiving more accurate information Alexander
abandoned his theory, and cancelled the letter
he had written to his mother Olympias on the
subject. It is but fair to say that there was
at one time a theory afloat that the Nile rose in
a mountain of Lower Mauretania (Plin. H. N.
v. 10).
The etymology of Gihon (n\3, to burst forth)
seems to indicate that it was a swiftly-flowing
impetuous stream. According to Golius (Lex.
Arab.), . Jff£? (G'aihoon) is the name given to
the Oxus, which has, on this account, been as
sumed by Rosenmiiller, Hartmann, and Michaelis
to be the Gihon of Scripture. But the Araxes,
too, is called by the Persians G'aihoon ar-Bas,
and from this circumstance it has been adopted
hy Reland, Calmet, and Sir G. Chesney as the
modern representative of the Gihon. It is clear.
then-fore, that the question is not to be decided
by etymology alone, as the name might be ap
propriately applied to many rivers. That the
Gihon should be one of the channels by which
the united stream of the Tigris and Euphrates
falls into the Persian Gulf, was essential to the
theory which places the garden of Eden on the
Shatt-al-Arab. Bochart and Huet contended
'hat it was the easternmost of these channels,
while Calvin considered it to be the most
westerly. Hopkinson and Junius, conceiving
'hat Eden was to be found in the region of
Auranitis (=Audanitis, quasi Edenitis) on the
Euphrates, were compelled to make the Gihon
coincide with the Naharsar, the Marses of Amm.
Marc, (xxiii. 6, § 25). That it should be the
Orontes (Leclerc), the Ganges (Buttmann and
Ewald), the Kur or Cyrus, which rises from the
side of the Saghanlou mountain, a few miles
northward of the sources of the Araxes (Link),
necessarily followed from the exigencies of the
several theories. Rask and Verbrugge are in
favour of the Gyndes of the ancients (Her. i. 189),
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

EDEN

849

now called the Diyalah, one of the tributaries of
the Tigris. Abraham Pcritsol (U«-c>l. vol. vii.)
was of opinion that the garden "of Eden was
situated in the region of the Mountains of the
Moon. Identifying the Pison with the Nile, anil
the Gihon with a river which his editor (Hyde)
explains to be the Niger, he avoids the difficulty
which is presented by the fact that the Hiddekel
and P'rath are rivers of Asia, by conceiving it
possible that these rivers actually take their
rise in the Mountains of the Moon, and run
underground till they make their appearance in
Assyria. Equally satisfactory is the explanation
of Ephraem Syrus that the four rivers have their
source in Paradise, which is situated in a very
lofty place, but are swallowed up by the sur
rounding districts, and, after passing underneath
the sea, come to light again in different quarters
of the globe. It may be worth while remarking,
by the way, that the opinions of this Father are
frequently misunderstood in consequence of the
very inadequate Latin translation with which
his Syriac works are accompanied, and which
often does not contain even an approximation
to the true sense (for an example, see Kalisch,
Genesis, p. 95).
From etymological considerations, Huet was
induced to place Cush in Chusistan, Leclerc in
Cassiotis in Syria, and Reland in the " regio Cos-
saeorum." Bochart identified it with Susiana,
Link with the country about the Caucasus, and
Hartmann with Bactria or Balkh, the site of
Paradise being, in this case, in the celebrated
vale of Kashmir. The term Cush is generally
applied in the Old Testament to the countries
south of the Israelites. It was the southern
limit of Egypt (Ezek. xxix. 10), and apparently
the most westerly of the provinces over which
the rule of Ahasuerus extended, " from India,
even unto Ethiopia " (Esth. i. 1, viii. 9). Egypt
and Cush are associated in the majority of in
stances in which the word occurs (Ps. Ixviii. 31 ;
Is. xviii. 1 ; Jer. xlvi. 9, &c.) ; but in two pas
sages Cush stands in close juxtaposition with
Elam (Is. xi. 11) and Persia (Ezek. xxxviii. 5).
The Cushite king, Zerah, was utterly defeated by
Asa at Mareshah, and pursued as far as Gerar, a
town of the Philistines, on the southern border of
Palestine, which was apparently under his sway
(2 Ch. xiv. 9, &c). In 2 Ch. xxi. 16, the Arabians
are described as dwelling " beside the Cushites,''
and both are mentioned in connexion with the
Philistines. The wife of Moses, who, we learn
from Ex. ii., was the daughter of a Midianite
chieftain, is in Num. xii. 1 denominated a Cush
ite. Further, Cush and Seba (Is. xliii. 3), Cush
and the Sabaeans (Is. xiv. 14), are associated in
a manner consonant with the genealogy of the
descendants of Ham (Gen. x. 7), in which Seba
is the son of Cush. From all these circumstances
it is evident that under the denomination Cush
were included both the country north of Arabia,
including a portion of Cappadocia, and the
country south of Egypt on the western coast
of the Red Sea. It is possible, also, that the
vast desert tracts west of Egypt were known
to the Hebrews as the land of Cush, but of
this we have no certain proof. The Targumist
on Is. xi. 11, sharing the prevailing error of his
time, translates Cush by India, but that a better
knowledge of the relative positions of these
countries was anciently possessed is clear from

850

EDEN

Esth. i. 1. With all this evidence for the south
western situation of Cush, on what grounds are
Rosenmiiller and others justified in applying the
term to a more northern region on the banks of
the Oxus ? We are told that, in the Hindoo
mythology, the gardens and metropolis of Indra
are placed around the mountain Meru, the ce
lestial north pole ; that, among the Babylonians
and Medo-Persians, the gods' monntain, Albordj,
" the mount of the congregation," was believed
to be " in the sides of the north " (Is. xiv. 13) ;
that the oldest Greek traditions point north
wards to the birthplace of gods and men ; and
that, for all these reasons, the Paradise of the
Hebrews must be sought for in some far distant
hyperborean region. Guided by such unerring
indications, Hasse (Entdeckungen, pp. 41, 50, n.)
scrupled not to gratify his national feeling by
placing the garden of Eden on the coast of the
Baltic ; Rudbeck, a Swede, found it in Scandi
navia, and the inhospitable Siberia has not been
without its advocates (Morren, Rosenmiiller's
Geog. i. 96). But, with all this predilection in
favour of the north, the Greeks placed the
gardens of the Hesperides in the extreme west,
and there are strong indications in the Puranas
" of a terrestrial Paradise, different from that of
the general Hindu system, in the southern parts
of Africa " (As. Pes. iii. 300). Even Meru was
no further north than the Himalayan range,
which the Aryan race crossed in their migrations.
In the midst of so much diversity of opinion,
it is very difficult to arrive at any conclusion.
Among the most worthy of consideration, how
ever, may be quoted the recent view expounded
by Prof. Fried. Delitzsch. This scholar regards
the word Eden as being borrowed from the
Akkadian edina, "field," "land," "desert,"
which, he contends, was applied to a part of
Babylonia as " the country " par excellence ; and
this contention of his receives some support from
the fact that, in a geographical list from Baby
lonia, one ofthe cities known as Sipar or Sippara
(identified with the Biblical Sepharvaim) is
called Sipar Edina, "Sippara of Eden." He
quotes the common name of Babylonia, Kar-
DuniaS, " the garden" or " enclosure of the god
Dumas'," which, he says, might also be read
Gan-Duniasc (cp. Gan-Eden, "the garden of
Eden "), and contends that this is the garden of
Eden of the Bible. He says moreover that the
two names Havilah and Cush also speak in favour
of Babylon being the land of the garden of Eden.
With regard to the former, he identifies it with
the tract immediately to the south and west of
the Euphrates," and, in order to make things fit,
identifies the Pishon with the Pallacopas (Bab.
Palhtkatu) canal, and quotes the fact that
in Bit-Yakin, the neighbouring tract to the east,
Merodach-baladan brought to the Assyrian king
" gold, the dust of his land, in great quantity,"
also " stones, the produce of the sea." fhe
shoham-stone he regards as the same as the
Assyrian sdmtu, a grey or brown stone (chalce
dony or cornelian). Cush he ident ties with
Meluhha, u tract of country to the siouth-east

'This rests partly upon a misreading of George
Smith's; the form Kar-Dunias is the only one justified
by the inscriptions.
y See above, on the position of Havilah and the
PiBhon, pp. 847-8.

EDEN
of Babylon, and the Gihon is the canal known
as the Shatt-an-Nil. In defence of this theory
he contends that, as the word ndru, " river " in
Assyrian means also " canal," then the Pishon and
the Gihon might easily be artificial waterways.
and he quotes Wetzstein in Franz Delitzsch's'
Commentary on Genesis, p. 535, who says that
" the idea of watering lies at the bottom of the
fourfold division of the river of Paradise : in a
country poor in water, and therefore sterile, a
river has no other meaning." and Fried. Delitzsch
finds in this a welcome confirmation of his view
of the Pishon and Gihon as irrigation canals.
Excellent as all this is in its way, it is far
from being satisfactory, for the identification of
the rivers Pishon and Gihon, as well as the
lands of Cush and Havilah, cannot be regarded
as based by any means on a firm foundation.
All four rivers are spoken of in the same way,
so that they should all be regarded as of the
same nature. In connexion with the identifica
tion of the Gihon, it may be remarked that a
portion of Cappadocia seems auciently to have
borne the name of Cush, so that there is no
need to seek in Egypt or iu India the name of
that country ; or to force that name on any
tract in the neighbourhood of the two rivers
Tigris and Euphrates. With this the G'aihoon
ar-Bas would fall in very well ; but the Pishon
and Havilah still remain a crux. That the site
of Paradise should be located by the Semites
and other nations of the East in the cradle-land
of their race, and of civilization, namely, Baby-
Ionia — a, veritable garden in the time of its
prosperity, and a land of romance to all who
took interest in the affairs of the time — is, after
all, one of the most natural things that could
be expected. Moreover, it is to be noted that
modern scholars locate in Southern Babylonia
the city of Eridu or Guruduga, " the good city,"
and apparently a type, with the Babylonians,
of the Eridu, " the good city " or divine Para
dise under the sea, which they seem to have
believed existed, and which those more modern
writers who have located the site of Paradise
beneath the waters seem to have unconsciously
imitated. This " good city " was situated
within the abyss (abzu, " the abode of know
ledge "), and, according to the Akkadian crea
tion-story, was made or built " when within the
sea there was a stream," and E-sagila ("the
high-headed house ") was founded by the god
Lugal-du-azaga (" the king of the glorious
mound "). The abyss (abzu) was the abode ot
the god of wisdom, Ea or Oannes, and it had a
channel (nakbu) and a gate (bdbu). Its king
was Ea, and Damkina or Dauke was the queen.
A special incantor of the abyss was supposed ;
by the Babylonians to exist, and the incantation
of Eridu, the good city therein, was regarded as
the most precious and effective of all.
It must not be denied, however, that other ^
methods of meeting the difficulty than those'
above mentioned have been proposed. Some, ¦
ever ready to use the knife, have unhesitatingly
pronounced the whole narrative to be a spurious ¦
interpolation of a later age (Granville Penn,:
Min. and Mos. Geol: p. 184). But, even admit-!
ting this, the words are not mere unmeaning^
jargon, and demand explanation. Ewald (Gesch.<
i. 331, note) affirms, and we have only his word'!

EDEN
for it, that the tradition originated in the far
East and that in the course of its wanderings
the original names of two of the rivers at least
were changed to others with which the Hebrews
were better acquainted. Hartmann regards it
as a product of the Babylonian or Persian
period. Luther, rejecting the forced interpreta
tions on which the theories of his time were
based, gave it as his opinion that the garden
remained under the guardianship of angels till
the time of the Deluge, and that its site was
known to the descendants of Adam ; but that
by the Flood all traces of it were obliterated.
On the supposition that this is correct, there is
still a difficulty to be explained. The narrative
is so worded as to convey the idea that the
countries and rivers spoken of were still existing
in the time of the historian. It has been sug
gested that the description of the garden of
Eden is part of an inspired antediluvian docu
ment (Morren, Rosenniiiller's Geogr. i. 92). The
conjecture is beyond criticism ; it is equally
incapable of proof or disproof, and has not much
probability to recommend it. The effects of the
Flood in changing the face of countries, and
altering the relations of land and water, are too
httle known at present to allow any inferences
to be drawn from them. Meanwhile, as every
expression of opinion results in a confession of
ignorance, it will be more honest to acknowledge
4he difficulty than to rest satisfied with a fic
titious solution.
The idea of a terrestrial Paradise, the abode of
purity and happiness, has formed an element in
the religious beliefs of aU nations. The image
of " Eden, the garden of God," retained its hold
upon the minds of the poets and prophets of
Israel as a thing of beauty whose joys had
departed (Ezek. xxviii. 13 ; Joel ii. 3), and before
whose gates the cherubim still stood to guard it
from the guilty. Arab legends tell of a garden
in the East, on the summit of a mountain of
jacinth, inaccessible to man : a garden of rich
soil and equable temperature, well watered,
and abounding with trees and flowers of rare
colours and fragrance. In the centre of Jambu-
-dwipa, the middle of the seven continents of
the Puranas, is the golden mountain Meru,
which stands like the seed-cup of the lotus of
the earth. On its summit is the vast city of
Brahma, renowned in heaven, and encircled by
the Ganges, which, issuing from the foot of
Vishnu, washes the lunar orb, and, falling
thither from the skies, is divided into four
streams, that flow to the four corners of the
earth. These rivers are the Bhadra, or Oby of
Siberia ; the Si'ta, or Hoangho, the great river
of China; the Alakananda, a main branch of
the Ganges; and the Chakshu, or Oxus. In
this abode of divinity is the Nandana, or grove
of Indra; there too is the Jambu tree, from
whose fruit are fed the waters of the Jambu
river, which give life and immortality to ail
who drink thereof (Vishnu Parana, trans, by
Wilson, pp. 166-171). The enchanted gardens
of the Chinese are placed in the midst of the
summits of Houanlun, a high chain of moun
tains further north than the Himalaya, and
further east than Hindukush. The fountain of
¦ immortality which waters these gardens is
divided into four streams, the fountains of the
supreme spirit, Tychin. Among the Medo-

EDEK

851

Persians the gods' mountain Albordj is the
dwelling of Ormuzd and the good spirits, and
is called " the navel of the waters." The Zend
books mention a region called ifa/cn, and the
place of Zoroaster's birth is called Hedenesh, or,
according to another passage, Air j ana Vecdjo.
Cp. Dillmann5 and Delitzsch (1887) on Gen. I. c.
All these and similar traditions are but mere
mocking echoes of the old Hebrew story, jarred
and broken notes of the same strain ; but, with
all their exaggerations, " they intimate how in
the background of man's visions lay a Paradise
of holy joy, — a Paradise secured from every
kind of profanation, and made inaccessible to
the guilty ; a Paradise full of objects that were
calculated to delight the senses and to elevate
the mind ; a Paradise that granted to its tenant
rich and rare immunities, and that fed with its
perennial streams the tree of life and immor
tality" (Hardwick, Christ and other Masters,
pt. ii. p. 133).
In addition to the numerous works already
quoted, the reader who wishes to go still deeper
into the question may consult Fried. Delitzsch's
Wo lag das Paradies? (Leipzig, 1881), and
Warren's Paradise Found, the Cradle of the
human Bace at the North Pole (Boston, U.S.A.,
1886). [W. A. W.] [T. G. P.]
E'DEN. 1. Q1V ; 'ESip ; Eden ; omitted by
LXX. in Is. xxxvii. 12 and Ezek. xxvii. 23), one
of the marts which supplied luxurious Tyre
with richly embroidered stuffs. It is associated
with Haran, Sheba, and Asshur ; and in Amos
i. 5, Beth-Eden, or " the house of Eden," is
rendered in the LXX. by Xapbdv. In 2 K.
xix. 12 and Is. xxxvii. 12, " the sons of Eden "
are mentioned with Gozan, Haran, and Rezeph,
as victims of the Assyrian greed of conquest.
Modern criticism identifies it with Bit-'Adini
on the banks of the Euphrates between Balis
and Bireg'ik (Schrader, KAT.2 p. 327).
2. Beth-Eden (pl> JY3, " house of plea
sure ; " &v8pes Xapfidv ; domus voluptatis), pro
bably the name of a country residence of the
kings of Damascus (Amos i. 5). Grotius pointed
to the TrapdSeiaos of Ptolemy (v. 15) as the
locality of Eden (see MV.11). The ruins of the
village of Jusieh el-Kadimeh are supposed by
Dr. Robinson to mark the site of the ancient
Paradisus, and his suggestion is approved by
Mr. Porter (Handb. p. 577). [W. A. W.] [F.]
EDEN (]"$}= pleasantness ; LXX. has a dif
ferent text, B" 'laSdv, A. 'lad; Eden). 1. A
Gershonite Levite, son of Joah, in the days ot
Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxix. 12). He was one of the
two representatives of his family who took part
in the purification of the Temple.
2. BA. "OSop. Also a Levite, contemporary
and probably identical with the preceding, under
Kore the son of Imnah (2 Ch. xxxi. If, 15).
[W. A. W.] [D.J
E'DEK (Til? = a flock ; B. omits ; A. 'E5-
paiv ; Eder). 1. One of the towns of Judah in
the extreme south, and on the borders of Edom
(Josh. xv. 21). No certain trace of it has been
discovered in modern times, unless, as has been
suggested, it is identical with Arad, by a
transposition of letters. Conder suggests (PEF.
3 12

85^

EDES

Mem. iii. 236) Kh. el- Adar, 5 miles S. of Gaza;
and is followed by Tristram, Bible Places, p. 11.
2. 'E5ep; Eder. A Levite of the family of
Merari, in the time of David (1 Ch. xxiii. 'I'-S,
xxiv. 30). [G.] [W.]
E'DES (B. 'HS6s, A. 'HSais; Sedmi), 1 Esd.
ix. 35 ; one of those who put away his " strange "
wife. [Jadatj.] [P.]
ED'NA CESva, i.e. TtyTV = pleasure ; Anna),
the wife of Raguel (ToK vii. 2, 8, 14, 16; viii.
12 ; x. 12 ; xi. 1). [B. F. W.]
EDOM, IDTJMEA or IDUMAEA (D'tH
= ruddg. The R. V. correctly gives Edom for
Idumea, in Is. xxxiv. 5, 6, Ezek. xxxv. 15 and
xxxvi. 5. In LXX. 'EStip; in N. T. 'ISovpaia,
Mark iii. 8 only).
The mountain country, on the east side of the
'Arabah, or open valley between the Dead Sea
and the Gulf of 'Akabah, is so called in the 0. T.
The term is usually equivalent to Mount Seik
(TIS!'), " the rough mountain." It is generally
supposed that the name Edom, or "ruddy," is
connected with the colour of the sandstone and
volcanic rocks of which these mountains mainly
consist, and which is remarkable in contrast with
the white of the neighbouring chalk districts.
The name Edom, however, is given to Esau (Gen.
xxv. 34, xxvi. 1 and 8), and the reason is stated
(Gen. xxv. 30) in the words, "And Esau said
to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with the red
(pottage), this red (pottage, R. V. marg.), for I
am faint : therefore was his name called Edom."
In a previous verse (v. 25) we read that Esau
was red from his birth, and the word Seir
(" rough " or " hairy ") is also applied — with a
different pointing — to Esau CVS&, Gen. xxvii.
11, 23 ; see Gesen. Lex.). Esau is also called
" the father of Edom " (Gen. xxxvi. 9, 43), " in
Mount Seir," and Josephus also connects Esau
and Seir (Ant. i. 18, § 1).
The exact boundaries of Edom are only to be
deduced from incidental notices, and from the
special meaning of the Hebrew words describing
the region. In the earliest notice of Mount Seir
it appears to be adjacent to the " plain of
Paran " (Gen. xiv. 6), " which is by the wilder
ness." It appears that this region was not in
Canaan (Gen. xxxii. 3, xxxvi. 6), and in the
latter passage the Peshitto reads, " Esau . . . went
into the country of Seir." The 'Arabah itself
was not in Edom, as appears from another pas
sage (Deut. ii. 8), where it is noticed that Israel,
being denied a way through Edom, " turned and
passed" "through the way of the 'Arabah," in
order to " compass the land of Edom " (Judg. xi.
IS ; see R. V.). Mount Hor, which Josephus
places where it is still shown near Petra, was on
the border of Edom (Num. xx. 23), or " in the
edge of the land of Edom" (xxxiii. 37), and
Kadesh-bamea was " a city in the uttermost
of thy (the Edomites) border " (Num. xx. 16).
Jewish and Christian traditions place this city
at Rekem or Petra (Targum of Onkelos on
Num. xxxiv. 4 ; Euseb. in OS.2 p. 269, 4, s. v.,
and Peshitto of same passage) ; but its locality
is still matter of controversy. No passage in
the 0. T., however, connects Edom with any
localities west of the 'Arabah. On the north it
appears that the boundary between Edom and

EDOM
Moab was the river Arnon (Judg. xi. 18), but
the line seems to have varied at various historic
periods (cp. Num. xxi. 13, 21). On the north
west Edom bordered on the tribe of Judah in
the wilderness of Zin, near the Dead Sea and
the ascent of Acrabbim (Josh. xv. 1, 21). It
was here apparently that border contests oc
curred in the Valley of Salt (or " salt brook "
2 Sam. viii. 13, 14; 2 K. xiv. 7 ; 1 Ch. xviii. 12.
The Peshitto brings these passages into accord
by reading Edomite DTK for Syrian D")X
in the first — v. 13). The Valley of Salt was
thus apparently the northern part of the
'Arabah (where 'Ain Melihy, "the salt spring,"
is still known), west of Petra. The distance from
Horeb or Sinai "by way of Mount Seir" to
Kadesh-barnea is given (Deut. i. 2) as eleven
days' journey.
The various terms applied to this region agree
with its mountainous character. The land of
Seir is called the country of Edom (Gen. xxxii.
8, ni?!', i.e. plain field or plateau), apparently
with reference to the plateau above the rugged
slopes on the east : the same term is also ren
dered " field " (A. V. Judg. v. 4) : the " wilder
ness of Edom " is also mentioned (2 K. iii. 8 ;
Josephus, Ant. ix. 3, § 1), and Mount Seir (Gen.
xiv. 6, xxxvi. 8, 9 ; Deut. i. 2 ; Josh. xxiv. 4 ;
Ezek. xxxv. 5) is constantly connected with
Edom, and is called "the Mount of Esau" by
Obadiah (vv. 1, 8, 9, 19, 21). The rugged
character of the country is noticed in the latter
prophet, and also by Jeremiah (xlix. 16), " 0
thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
that holdest the height of the hill."
At a later period the term Gabla, or Gebalene,
meaning "mountainous," is applied to Edom,
and still survives inthe name el-Jebal (i)\j^ ,
" the hills "), applying to the district round
Petra. Eusebius and Jerome both identify
Edom with Gebalene near Petra (see the pas
sages quoted by Reland, Pal. Hlustr., p. 71).
The Jerusalem Targum reads, X?3JT flllD,
" Mount of Gabla," for Mount Seir : in Deut.
xxxiii. 2, the Samaritan Version also reads PI?2J
for Seir. Josephus includes Gobolitis in Idumea
(Ant. ii. 1, § 2, ToBoXItis): in the Onomasticon
this is rendered TePaXrivri by Eusebius (OS.2
p. 266, 84). In another passage Josephus men
tions Edomites and Gebalites (TaBaXiruv, Ant.
ix. 9, § 1). From a passage in Jeremiah (Lam.
iv. 21) it appears that the land of Uz was in
Edom (cp. Jer. xxv. 20) ; and Uz (f![V) has been
compared with the name 'Aud ((ji«p-), which
was that of a deity adored by the early Arab
tribes of this region with So'air, whose name is
radically the same as Seir. In Gen. xxxvi. 28
Uz is mentioned as an early inhabitant of Edom
(cp. Gen. x. 23 and xxii. 21). Eusebius and
Jerome mention this identification of Ausitis or
Uz with Gebalene or Edom (see Reland, Pal.
Illustr. p. 71), and many circumstances favour
this view as to the country of Job (i. 1).
The names of towns in Edom mentioned in the
Old Testament, so far as the sites are known,
favour the restriction of the district to the
region east of the 'Arabah. The situations of

EDOM
Avith, Dinhabah, Dizahab, Masrekah, and Pan
or Pai are unknown (see under those heads) ; but
Selah (" the rock ") or Joktheel is believed to
be the later Petra (see 2 K. xiv. 7). Elath and
Ezion-geber, the southern ports of Edom, were
atthe°head ofthe Gulf of 'Akabah (see Deut. ii.
8), and are stated to have been " in the land of
Edom" in Solomon's time (1 K. ix. 26). The
old capital of Edom was Bozrah (Gen. xxxvi. 31! ;
Is. xxxiv. 6, lxiii. 1 ; Jer. xlix. 13, 22; Amos i.
11), and was found by Burckhardt at Buseirah,
on the plateau of Mount Seir, 25 miles south
of Kerak, in Moab. Punon appears to have
been in the same region (Num. xxxiii. 42). and
Tophel (Deut. i. 1) is the present Tuftieh, N.E.
of Petra. Teman, an important Edomite town
(Gen. xxxvi. 34; Job iv. 1; Ezek. xxv. 13;
Amos i. 12), which is sometimes mentioned in
connexion with Bozrah, is not identified, though
said by Jerome to have been 5 miles from
Petra. The Maonites (Judg. a. 12) also appear
to have dwelt at Maun (now M-aan) in Edom,
if the usual reading be correct.
Several direct statement in the Old Testament
also show that no part of the laud of Edom fell
within the limits of the land of Israel. Esau
was to be left in possession of his own country,
although in the days of David and of Solomon
the Edomites were subjected for a time. In
Deuteronomy we read, " for I will not give you
oftheir land, no, not so much as a foot breadth ;
because I have given Mount Seir unto Esau for
a possession " (Dent. ii. 5 ; cp. Josh. xxiv. 4).
It appears clear, therefore, that the possessions
of the tribe of Simeon, west of the 'Arabah, in
the Tih plateau, were not in the country belong
ing to the Edomites. When, however, we turn
to the later Greek and Roman periods, we find
that the term Idumea has a much wider appli
cation than the ancient Edom ; which is natural,
since the power of tbe Edomite was at this time
much increased. Josephus includes in Idumea
not only Gebalene or Gobolitis, but also Amale-
kitis, or the Amalekite country, which was in
the Tih, west of the 'Arabah. Thus he states
that the lot of Simeon was " that part of Idumea
which bordered upon Egypt and Arabia '
(Antiq. v. 1, § 22) ; and in 'another passage he
states that Idumea was a large country in
cluding the Amalekite region (Ant. ii. 1, § 2).
This extended application of the term Idumea
first meets us in the First Book of Maccabees.
The border contests between Hebrews and
Edomites, in the 2nd century B.C., occurred
even in the hills north of Hebron. Bethsura
(now Beit Sur) was the Jewish outpost (1 Mace.
iv. 15, 29, 61), and Hebron was an Idumean
city (1 Mace. v. 65). Josephus gives us further
information to the same effect, for it appears
that not only Hebron, but Dora (Dura) and
Marissa (Mer'ash), were Idumean cities (Antiq.
xii. 8, § 6 ; xiii. 9, § 1 ;— Wars, iv. 9, § 7),
thus carrying the border to the line from Beit
Jibrin to Beit Sur, and including all the Hebron
hills in Idnmea. Jerome accepts this^ larger
definition in connexion with Beit Jibrin (see
Eleutheropolis), and says that " all the
southern region of the Edomites from Eleuthero
polis as far as Petra and Elath " was the posses
sion of Esau (see Reland, Pal. Illustr. p. 72). The
geographer Ptolemy also, in the 2nd century A.D.,
enumerates five cities of Idumea, including

EDOM

853

Elousa, or Khalasah, in the Tih district, west of
the 'Arabah. Many classical writers speak of the
Idumeans without distinguishing them from the
Jews, which was not unnatural in an age when
the Idumean dynasty was ruling in Jerusalem
(Virg. Georg. iii. 12; Juv. Sat. viii. Kit); Stat.
Syfr. i. 6, f. 2 ; Mart. II. Epig. 2, .v. 50 ; Val.
Flac. Argonaut, i. 12 ; see Reland, pp. 49 and
462). Thus with the rise of Edomite power,
culminating in the accession of Herod the Great
(see the next article), the old meaning of Edom,
"the red land," was forgotten, and the whole
country south of the Jerusalem hills, including
the western as well as the eastern deserts, came
to be included under the name Idumea, although
no region west of the 'Arabah presents the ruddy
sandstone mountains which rise to the cast of
that natural highway.
The topography of Edom is still very im
perfectly known. Of the towns mentioned in
the Old Testament, as we have seen above, only
four out of about a dozen are identified ; and we
are little better off in treating of those which
existed in the Roman and Byzantine ages, when
the Arab trade from the port of Leuke Kome, at
the mouth of the Gulf of 'Akabah, extended
northwards to Damascus and westwards from
Petra to Gaza and to Egypt (Strabo, xvi. 4, 24).
Military stations existed along the great Roman
road, still strewn with milestones, which ran
along the plateau of Edom ; and in Christian
davs the Metropolitan of Petra had under him
bishops of the Edomite villages. Arindela, one
of these bishoprics, is probably the present ruin
Ghurundel, on the plateau north of Petra.
Dhdna, a village visited by Burckhardt, on a
declivity of the same plateau, is no doubt the
Thana, or Thoana, of Ptolemy ; and the spring
of Usdakah is probably the Zadagatha of the
Peutinger Tables, 18 Roman miles south of
Petra, and the episcopal see of Zodocatha in
the 5th century a.d. (see Robinson, Bib. Bes.
ii. 117, 168). Bozrah had then its Metro
politan, but the greater part of the bishoprics
have names not to be discovered, especially as
the texts are much corrupted in the ecclesias
tical lists. The Roman military stations, where
native archers and foreign cohortswere quartered,
included Elath and Arindela, and the old city of
Teman, with Bozrah and Zodocatha and other
unknown places (see Reland, Pal. III., p. 230).
The Crusaders, who opened up again this trade
route with the south, built the strong castle of
Montreal at Shobek, north of Petra ; and Renaud
of Chatillon held the road from his great fortress
of Kerak, east of the Dead Sea, to Elath, or
'Akabah, with stations at Tophel (Tuftieh) and
at M'adn, then called Ahamant. Petra was then
known by the name which it still bears, " the
Valley of Moses " ( Wddy Musa), on account of
the tradition which regarded the Sik or " gorge "
leading to Petra as having been cloven by the
rod of Moses, arising out of the identification of
Petra, as above mentioned, with Kadesh-barnea.
With the decay of civilisation the settled
places in Edom fell into ruins, and even the site
of Petra was forgotten and supposed to be at
Kerak, until the famous ruins were rediscovered
in 1812 by Burckhardt. It would seem that in
the 12th century there was some cultivation
round Petra, the chroniclers describing extensive
fig and olive gardens (Rey, Colonies Franques,

854

EDOM

p. 397). At the present day there are only a
few mud houses in one or two miserable hamlets,
and over the rest of the region the nomadic
Arabs hold sway. The northern district near
Petra is known as el-Jebdl, and the southern
mountains as esh-Sherah, a word which has no
connexion with the Hebrew Seir. It is worthy
of notice in passing that the village of el-Jy,
close to Petra, probably preserves the Hebrew
N*;l (valley or brook), whence the name " Rekem
of the brook," already noticed as given to Petra,
was derived. Josephus gives this old name of
Petra as still surviving in his day in the forms
Arecem (Ant. iv. 7, § 1) and Arce (Ant. iv. 4, § 1).
In the Commentary, Siphre, the same place is
called mam Dpi, " Rekem of Hagrah."
The district of which the limits have thus
been noted has an important history, noticed in
the succeeding article. It remains to give an
account of its physical features, which have
been recently examined by Dr. Hull (PEF.
Mem. 1886). It is in this region that the Nubian
sandstone, which forms the base beds of the
Lebanon and appears on the east of the Jordan
Valley and of the Dead Sea, becomes the prin
cipal constituent of the mountain slopes. The
mountains extend about 100 miles south of
the Dead Sea, with a maximum width of 20
miles between the 'Arabah and the plateau of
Mount Seir. The highest ridges approach to
some 4000 feet above the Mediterranean level,
so that when they are covered with snow they
can be distinctly seen from Jerusalem (a fact
which is noted by Josephus, Wars, v. 4, § 3). The
'Arabah itself falls northwards and southwards
from a watershed 650 feet above the Medi
terranean, south of Petra, to sea-level at
'Akabah, and to the Dead Sea -level (1292 feet
lower) on the north. The old Red Sea shore
line within historic times was perhaps further
north than at present, for the mud flats extend
20 miles inland to 'Ain Ghudidn, in which
name Robinson recognises that of Ezion in Ezion-
geber. Palms flourish on the east side of the
valley at this point, as also at 'Akabah, near
which Elath is supposed to have stood. The
soil of the 'Arabah consists mainly of gravel in
the higher part, giving place on the north to
lacustrine marls like those of the Jordan Valley,
and to the alluvial deposits of the Dead Sea shore.
The great fault in the strata, which forms the
Jordan Valley, runs south, on the east side of
the 'Arabah. Thus the foot hills of Edom, close
to the 'Arabah, are of the same calcareous lime
stone which forms the Tih plateau, west of the
valley. Beyond these the sandstone rises
abruptly in rugged mountains, which the
underlying granite and porphyry, veined with
dykes of basalt and felstone, and belonging to
the system of the Sinaitic region, break through,
and present crags which recall the Hebrew
name Seir, or " rugged." Mount Hor, a double-
peaked, isolated mountain formed by the up
heaval of the sandstone, rises to about 3,000 feet
above the Mediterranean, west of the Petra
hollow, and on the east the strata rise in higher
steps, capped by the chalky limestone, which
forms the plateau of Edom and of Moab, stretching
eastward into the desert. The Tih plateau rises
only to about 1800 feet above the Mediterranean,
so that the elevation of Mount Seir appears
considerable, not only from the valley, but also

EDOM
from the western desert, while the variegated
hues of the sandstone and granite, contrasted
with the white chalk, appear to give a natural
explanation of the old name Edom, or " red."
The Edomite mountains are deficiently sup
plied with water. Springs occur at consider
able intervals near the edge of the plateau,
and along the course of the principal valleys,
such as Wddy Ghuweir. The brook at Petra,
and 'Ain Deldghah further south, spring close
to the outcrop of the sandstone, beneath the
porous limestoue ; and further south, where the
mountains are granitic, the springs rise in the
'Arabah itself. The old road from 'Akabah,
leading over the plateau to Petra, has ruined
posts along it, which were supplied by cisterns ;

lHyyt
•ly/ M

Map of Edom.
and only one spring is known on this route,
namely the 'Ain el- Usdaka, already mentioned as
a Roman station.
The climate of this desert region is healthy,
and a considerable population has always ranged
among the mountains. In winter there is snow
on the plateau, but the presence of palms in the
'Arabah marks a region where severe frosts do not
occur. In the Petra gorge, thickets of oleander
exist, with wild figs and tamarisks among the
rocks ; and creeping vines hang from the cliffs.
The mountains are barren and treeless, the prin
cipal desert shrub being the white broom called
"juniper" in the English Version, but still pre
serving its Hebrew name as mentioned in Job
(xxx. 4). It is said by Tristram (Nat. Hist, of
Bible, p. 359) to be specially frequent near
Petra. The fauna and flora of the Book of Job

EDOMITES
are indeed, generally speaking, those of the
deserts of Moab and Edom. The waterless con
dition of the desert of Edom is also specially
mentioned in the Old Testament, on the occasion
when the kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom made
a circuit of seven days' march, and attacked
Moab, probably travelling along the old highway
by which Israel had advanced (2 IC. iii. 9).
The standard authorities on this region are
Reland's Palesti7ia (as quoted above), Burck
hardt's Travels in Syria, Laborde's Voyage.
Robinson's Biblical Bcsearches, Irby and Mangles'
Travels : to these may now be added Prof. Hull's
Mount Seir, giving the latest scientific infor
mation, and his Memoir on the geology of the
region already noticed. See also Dr. Clay Trum
bull's Kadesh Borneo. [C. R. C]
EDOMITES CP1K, Deut, xxiii. 8, and fem.
pi. ni»B1N, 1 K. xi. 1; lt'T \i3, Deut. ii. 4:
'iSovjtdibi), the inhabitants of Edom. The
aborigines were the " children of Seir " or
Horites (Gen. xiv. 6 ; xxxvi. 20), who, according
to the usual translation of the latter word ('"in,
"cave man." from 1111, "cave "), were dwellers
in holes or caverns, like the Troglodytes whom
Strabo mentions east of tbe Red Sea (xvi. 4, 17).
The soft sandstone of Edom was easily burrowed,
and Jerome (inObad.) speaks ofthe Idumeans as in
his time dwelling in caves, on account ofthe heat
— a practice stiU usual throughout Syria among
the poorest class of the population. At a very
early period we find mention of an attack on
these cave men bv the Chaldeans and Elamites
from the east (Gen. xiv. 6). The nationality
of these early Edomites is not stated. They
possessed some kind of organisation under chiefs
(Q'S-lpN, "leaders," Gesen. Lex. : " dukes" in
A. V. and R. V. text, in R. V. marg. chiefs;
also used of other leaders, Jer. xiii. 21, Zech.
ix. 7, xii. 5, 6) whose names appear to be
Semitic, and who were of the Bene Seir (Gen.
xxxvi. 20) : to one of these (v. 24) was due the
discovery of hot springs (see R. V.) in the desert.
The Horites were destroyed by the Bene Esau,
who attacked them from the west (Deut. ii. 12 ;
cp. Gen. xxxii. 3 and xxxvi. 6, 8), and who were
of mixed race, Hebrew and Canaanite, the wives
of Esau being Hittites and Hivites (Gen. xxxvi. 2).
It would seem that the Horites were Hivites,
and allied to Esau by marriage, if we may judge
from the names Zibeon and Anah (cp. vv. 2
and 20); while another of Esau's wives was a
Nabathean (v. 4) or lshmaelite — a people who
also somewhat later became powerful in Edom.
The sons of Esau also had their '• dukes " (Gen.
xxxvi. 40-43), and the same chapter gives us
the names of early kings of Edom (CZpD)
"before there reigned any king over the children
of Israel " (v. 31) : they appear to have been
petty monarchs, like those encountered by the
Assyrians, and came from different cities, if not
of different families. Of these cities some (such
as Bozrah and Teman) were in Edom ; but Saul
of " Rehoboth by the river " seems to have come
from the town of that name on the Euphrates
(cp. Gen. x. 12), and it is not stated whether
these kings were sons of Esau or not (cp. 1 Ch. i.
43-54). At the period of the Exodus we find
Edom governed by a king (Num. xx. 14 ; Judg.

EDOMITES

855

xi. 17, 18), and in the time of David and Solomon
there was ^ royal house (1 K. xi. 14) with a
name (Hadad) for one prince which also belongs
to a prince of the earlier period (Hadad, son of
Bedad) ; after Edom was subdued by David the
king appears still to havo ruled as an allied
tributary (2 K. iii. 8, 12), and .Mich monarchs
claimed independence when possible (2 K. viii
20). Esau is called the " father of Edom " (Gen.
xxxvi. y and 43), and in Deuteronomy the
relationship to the Hebrews is insisted on (Deut.
ii. 4—5) : an Edomite was not to be abhorred like
a Canaanite (Deut. xxiii. 7) ; yet in a later age
great mutual hatred appeal's to have arisen,
and wars were of constant occurrence between
Hebrews and Edomites. The " dukes " of Edom
are mentioned as unfriendly as early as the time
of the Song of Moses (Ex. xv. 15) ; and the king
of Edom refused a passage to Israel (Num. xx.
14—21), and armed to protect the road, thus
forcing the Hebrews to make a long detour by
Elath and the eastern deserts, before reaching
the border-land of the Amorites.
Some light seems to be thrown on the early
history of the Edomites by the early Egyptian
records. It is thought by Chabas and by
Brugsch that the country Adma or Atuma, near

Egypt ( (

- (\S\S\ ; Chabas, Voyage,

p. 307), was Edom. It is mentioned as early as
the Twelfth Dynasty (see Becords of the Past, vi.
pp. 135-150 ; and Brugsch, Hist. i. pp. 146, 216).
The inhabitants are called Shasu — apparently a
Semitic word for " nomads " (see Gesen. Lex.
XE'C : " to stray "). The Shasu were found
even in Northern Syria, but one of their tribes
were the Saaru, whose name Chabas compares
with Seir (Becherches, p. 50 : see Pierret, Vocab.
p. 457). The Egyptians called the Shasu chiefs
Mahautu (Chabas, Voyage, p. 146) or " leaders,"
equivalent to the Hebrew term rendered "dukes "
in the English Version. The accounts which we
have of the Shasu agree with the Biblical notices
of Ishmael's lawless life, and of Esau's living by
his sword ; for they are represented in the time
of Rameses II. as brigands seeking to waylay the
Egyptian officials. Possibly, also, the " officer
of the Se-ir-ru-u," which people appear to
be mentioned on the Tell Amarna tablets
(1430 B.C.) as being near " the entrance to the
land of Egypt," may be connected with the
dukes of Seir. The relations existing at that
time between the kings of Mesopotamia and the
Egyptians serve to illustrate the yet earlier
incursions of the Chaldeans into Mount Seir —
already noted — when the Jordan Valley towns
were made tributary to the Chaldean king.
The establishment of a kingdom in Palestine
was soon followed by conflicts with the Edomites.
Saul attacked them (1 Sam. xiv. 47), and David
subdued them (2 Sam. viii. 13) and " got him a
name," when, after defeating them in the Valley
of Salt (as explained in the preceding article),
he put garrisons in Edom. The heading of
Ps. lx. refers to this victory, and the words of
Gen. xxvii. 40 agree with this subjection of the
sons of Esau to the sons of Jacob. Hadad of the
Edomite royal house fled, as we are told, while
Joab was burying the dead (1 K. xi. 14), and
became an adversary to Solomon, who continued

856

EDOMITES

to hold Edom, and built his fleets at the Edomite
port of Ezion-geber (1 K. ix. 26 ; 2 Ch. viii. 17).
Some of his wives also were Edomite princesses
(1 K. xi. 1).
With the decay of the power of the kings of
Judah, troubles in Edom coincide. In the reign
of Jehoshaphat (about 890 B.C.) a joint attack on
Moab was made, from the south of Edom, by the
allied kings of Judah, Israel, and Edom (2 K.
iii.) ; but this appears to have failed, and was
followed by the victories of Mesha, king of Moab,
recorded on the Moabite Stone. In Chronicles
(2 Ch. xx. 10-30) we read of a combined
attack on Judah by Moabites, Ammonites, and
" Mount Seir," not occurring in Edom, but north
of Hebron, on the edge of the desert, at Beracah
(v. 27), now Breikut, where Jehoshaphat was
victorious. This apparently explains the abrupt
ending of the account in the parallel passage
(2 K. iii. 27) : " And there came great wrath
upon Israel " (see R. V.). King Joram not long
after endeavoured to quell the revolt of Edom,
passing over to Zair (Seir, according to Vulgate),
but was surrounded and had to cut his way out
at night (2 K. viii. 21, 22), " so Edom revolted
from under the hand of Judah unto this day."
At the close of the 9th century, however,
Amaziah succeeded in re-asserting the power of
Judah. He fought the Edomites as David had
done in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela or
Petra (2 K. xiv. 7 ; cp. Pss. lx. 8 and cxxxvii.
7)." The Book of Chronicles adds that Amaziah
killed the Edomites by throwing them from the
" top of the rock " (Sela, 2 Ch. xxv. 12) ; and
brought back with him the gods of the children
of Seir (as the Babylonians also used to remove
the idols from conquered cities), which he after
wards himself adored (v. 14). Josephus speaks
of an Idumean god called Koze (Ant. xv. 7, § 9),
from whom the name of the Idumean Costobarus
was taken. In cuneiform records (as will be
seen below), Kaus Malka and Kaus Gabri are
Edomite names. At Cyrene, a Greek inscription
has been found with the words KOZBAPAKOS
MAAIXOY IAOYMAIOZ, showing that this
deity Ko£e or Kocre was the chief Idumean god.
The same name has been compared with that of
a Nabathean god, l'Vp, and of a town in Edom,
and the Arabs appear to have preserved this (as
ij'i or i), calling the rainbow the " bow
ofKozah" (Lenormant, Lettres Assyr. ii. 119).
We are thus not without information as to the
Edomite gods (cp. Bathgen, Beitr. z. Sem.
Beligionsgeschichte, p. 10, &c).
About the middle of the 8th century B.C. we
find Uzziah still holding Elath in the extreme
south of Edom, having " restored it to Judah "
(2 K. xiv. 22), but this was the last of Jewish
supremacy. Tiglath-pileser II., king of Assyria
(2 K. xv. 29), about 743 B.C. records in his
Annals that he made Kaus Malka king of Edom
tributary, after having shut into his capital
Rezon or Rezin, the Syrian king of Damascus ;
but on the retreat of the Assyrians Rezin re
covered power, and took Elath from the king of
Judah (2 K. xvi. 6) : the Syrians (or Edomites,
"The expression "over Edom will I cast my shoe"
is illustrated hy Egyptian sandals which have been
found, • with pictures of enemies bound together, and
thus daily trodden under foot by the wearer.

EDOMITES
according to the Hebrew margin and many MSS
— also the LXX. and Vulgate) then came to
Elath and drove out the Jews " unto this day."
Some ten years later Ahaz, who was a tributarv
of Assyria, appealed for help against Edomite
incursions, in which captives (or daughters)
were taken from Judah (2 Ch. xxviii. 17). With
the close of the 8th century B.C. Sennacherib
besieging Hezekiah, was received by the various
petty kings inimical to Judah as a master and
Airammu, king of Edom, is mentioned in his
records as a tributary ; while thirty years later
Esarhaddon received tribute from Kaus Gabri of
Edom (see Schrader, KAT.1 in locis). These
Edomite names — Costobarus, Kosbarakos, Kaus
Malka, and Kaus Gabri, all taken probably from
the national deity — are possibly comparable with
the Hebrew Kushaiah (•liTK'-lp), "the bow of
Jehovah." The cuneiform inscriptions serve to fill up a
gap in the history of Edom during the reign of
Manasseh. There was at this period a general
upheaval of the Arabs, who, forced northwards
probably by the pressure of population, about
650 B.C. attacked Assyria (though unsuccess
fully) and overran Edom, Moab, and the Hauran,
advancing even to Hamath. This sudden success
of the Arab king Vaita, whose line of advance
was the same afterwards followed by Omar, was
however soon checked. A parallel attack by
Arabs and Babylonians and Elamites revolting
from Assyria was repulsed by Assur-bani-pal in
648 B.C., and Vaita was driven back towards
Edom. He sought refuge with the Nabathean
king, Nathan, who appears to have given him
up to the Assyrians. This Arab outbreak was
put down with great cruelty by Assyria, but it
marks the commencement of a northward move
ment of the inhabitants of the Nejed, which
continued century by century — the base of
attack on Palestine being always in Edom.
In the time of Nebuchadnezzar Edom, still
ruled by a king (Jer. xxvii. 3), was attacked by
the Chaldeans .about 582 B.C., but the Nabathean
power in this region appears to have become
strong during the troubles which preceded the
fall of Babylon ; and the denunciations of the
prophets show how unfriendly the Edomites were
to Judah during all the later times of her kings
(Is. xxxiv. 5-8, lxiii. 1-4 ; Jer. xlix. 17 ; Lam.
iv. 21; Ezek. xxv. 13, 14; Amos i. 11, 12;
Obad. v. 10).
During the Greek period we have one notice
of the history of Edom ; for in 312 E.C. Anti-
gonus, one of Alexander's successors, attacked
the Nabatheans in Petra in two expeditions
(Diodorus Siculus, xix. 94-98). These children
of Nebaioth (Gen. xxv. 13 ; Is. lx. 7) extended
their sway, according to Josephus, from the Red
Sea to the Euphrates (Ant. i. 12, § 4), and were
already beginning to trade. Their kingdom of
Arabia Petraea had its centre at Petra, in Edom,
and we have already seen that they were allied
by birth to the Edomites. The names of their
kings — such as Aretas and Obodas — were Semitic,
the former being the Arabic Hdris or Hdrith,
a common name for Arab legendary heroes.
The Hasmonean chiefs in Judea warred against
Edom, but were apparently friendly with the
Nabatheans in Moab and Gilead (1 Mace. v. 25 ;
ix. 35). Judas Maccabaeus defeated the Idumeans
on the old battle-field by the ascent of Akrabbim

JiDUlUlTJiiiS
(1 Mace. v. 3) ; but, as noticed in the last
article, the Idumean power now extended to
Bethsura, north of Hebron (1 Mace. iv. 29, 61).
Hvrcanus took Dora and Marissa, and compelled
the Idumeans to become circumcised about
130 B.C. (Ant. xiii. 9, § 1) ; so that, as Josephus
says (and as classical writers appear also to have
thought), "they were hereafter no other than
Jews." In 93 B.C. Alexander Jannaeus was de
feated by Obodas, the Arab (Ant. xiii. 13, § 5 ;
Wars, i. 4, § 4); and the Nabathean rulers, even
in 166 B.C., seem to have ruled as far as
Damascus (2 Mace. v. 8). The names Obodas
and Aretas are found as those of Arab kings in
Damascus and in Petra, in the 2nd and 1st
centuries B.C. (Ant. xiii. 13, § 5, 15, §§ 1, 2 ;
xiv. 1, § 4 ;— Wars, i. 4, §§ 4, 7, 8 ; i. 6, § 2 ; Dio
Cass, xxxvii. 15). In 63 B.C. Scaurus was sent by
Pompey against Petra : he was aided with sup
plies by the Idumean Antipater, and levied a fine
on Aretas (Ant. xiv. 5, § 1) : immediately after
the death of Pompey, Costabarus the Idumean
was made governor of Idumea and Gaza by Herod,
being one of the old priestly family who adored
Koze. He was, however, afterwards suspected
and slain by the tyraut (Auf. xv. 7, § 9).
The astuteness ofthe Idumean Antipater, who
took the side of the Romans, led to the extension
of Idumean rule over the whole of Palestine, in
the person of his son Herod the Great. Augustus,
however, bestowed the kingdom of Edom on
Aeneas or Aretas (Ant. xvi. § 9, 4 ; 10, § 9 ; xvii.
3, § 2). Antipater's father had ruled Idumea
under Alexander Jannaeus. and he himself was
a prominent figure in Jewish politics, becoming
Procurator under Julius Caesar. His daughter
Salome was the wife of Costabarus, whom she
divorced : to his grandson Archelaus, the
Roman province, including Samaria, Judea, and
Idumea, was given by Rome in confirmation of
Herod's will. The Idumeans also played a part
in the history of the great revolt, besieging
Sabinus in Jerusalem '(Wars, ii. 3, § 1), and form
ing a very important faction in the same city
during the siege ( Wars, iv. 1, § 5, and iv. 4, §§ 4,
5, &c. : cp. Ant. xiv. 1, § 3, 8, § 5 ; xv. 7, § 9 ;
xvii. 11, §4; Wars, i. 8, § 1).
Coins of the kings of Petra and of Nabathean
queens exist, from the time of the Hasmoneans
down to the days of Pompey and Herod, and as
late as Trajan. About thirty types are known
with the names Malchus, Aretas, Dabel, Gamalith
and Sycaminth (Levy, ZDMG. xiv. 363-480);
and the Nabathean alphabet, which was of
Aramean origin, is known from these, and from
the later inscriptions of the Sinaitic desert
(Taylor, Hist. Alph. i. 330). Coins of Petra
also occur after the annexation of Idumea to
Eome, which occurred in 105 a.d. in the time
of Trajan, being effected by Cornelius Palma,
then Governor of Syria (Dio Cass. Ixviii. 14).
Eight of these coins have been described, three
with the name of Hadrian, one of Marcus
Aurelius and Verus, two of Septimius Severus,
and two of Geta : they -'generally bear on the
reverse the words 'ASpidv-n Tlerpa MTirpoiroXis
(see authorities in Robinson, Bib. Bes. ii. p. 170).
During this period the Nabatheans of Petra,
mentioned by Pliny (H. N. vi. 28 and 32), were
mingled with Romans and lived peacefully under
the law (Strabo, xvi. 4, § 21). ;It is to this period
that the celebrated Roman remains of Petra are

EDOMITES

857

to be ascribed, together with many other im
portant cities in Syria: Strabo calls Petra the
Nabathean metropolis.
The Edomite or Nabathean population shared
the trading prosperity of Syria under the
Romans ; Strabo speaks of the merchandise from
the Gulf of 'Akabah which was carried to Petra
and thence to Rhinocolura (cl-Arish) for the
west (xvi. 4, § 24). The military stations in
Edom were held by levies from Asia", Europe, and
Africa, the Alpine cohort being stationed on the
Arnon, and the Galatians at Ghurnndal, with
Carthaginians at Bozrah (cp. Reland, Pal.
pp. 230-232). Christianity penetrated into
this region early, and Germanus was Bishop of
Petra in 359 a.d. (Council of Seleucia) and
Theodorus in 536 a.d. (Council of Jerusalem) :
cp. Le Quien, Oriens Christ, iii. 725; Rob. Bib.
lies. ii. 170. The Christians of Elath paid
tribute to Muhammad in 630 A.D., and those of
Bozrah to Abu Bekr in 634 a.d. (Abu el Feda's
Annals quoted by Robinson, Bib. Bes. ii. 162).
The Nabathean texts of Sinaitic Idumea
belong to the Christian period (3rd and 4th
cent. A.D. : Levy, ZDMG. xiv.), and are often
marked with the cross ; but these and earlier
texts from the Hauran also show (as do Patristic
accounts) that the Paganism of Arabia flourished
side by side with Christianity among the
Edomites ; and indeed to the present day the
Arabs of Edom and Moab remain almost pagan.
Robinson remarks on their sacrifices (still
offered) and on their marking camels with
crosses from the blood of a kid, offered to secure
the health of the Bedouin livestock. The chief
Edomite deities of the Roman and Arab age were
Dushera, whose name occurs in Nabathean texts,
even as far north as Bashan and Sidon (&OCH ;
(C^ijl .h ', Aouadprjs), and the goddess called
Khabou by Epiphanius fajkj»Sob: an annual
festival of the two was held at Petra, and Suidas
(s. o. Qnvadpris) says that Dushera was re
presented by a black stone 4 feet high and 2
feet broad. The Meccan goddess Khalasah
(nX?n on Sinaitic texts, s^alsi ) appears,
according to Tuch (ZDMG. iii. p. 196), to have
been adored at Elusa (now Khalasah) in Western
Idumea. The festival of this goddess, which was
celebrated by women with perambulations, and
with orgies like those of the Moabite women, is
mentioned by Jerome (Vita Hilarion, 25). In
Justinian's reign a stone idol was also adored on
Sinai (Antoninus, Itin. xxxviii.), at a time when
the desert was full of anchorites and nuns
(ib. xxxiv.). This barbarous idolatry — having
erect stones for its objects — was prevalent at
the same time all over Arabia, and has been
elucidated by the inscriptions discovered east
of Jordan (see De Vogiie', Syrie Centrale, Textcs
Nabateens; and Lenormant, Lettres Assyr. ii.
88, 121, 151, 167, 244). Islam first reached
Syria though Edom, following the line of the
Nabathean advance ; but the region is unnoticed
in Moslem writings, and only again appears in
history during the Crusades. Baldwin I. in
1100 a.d. marched from Hebron to the Vallis
Moysi or Petra (Will, of Tyre, xvi. 6, &c), and
fifteen years later he advanced through Moab
and built the Castle of Montreal (in 1116 a.d.)

858

EDREI

at Shobek, on the great southern road. In 1144
King Baldwin III. cut down the olive-trees at
Petra, and in 1182 Rainaud of Chatillon, whose
fief included all the Sinaitic peninsula, embarked
at Aila on his adventurous expedition into
Arabia. In 1188 Saladin took Montreal after
reducing Kerak in Moab, and nothing more is
heard of the history of Edom until the time of
Burckhardt's journey in 1812 (see Rob. Bib.
Bes. ii. 164-5) : by the Crusaders the region
was called Arabia Prima, but the country was
not so well known as in the Byzantine period.
The first Crusaders considered Mount Hor near
Petra to be Mount Sinai, and Ernoul, writing
about 1231 A.D., seems to suggest the same.
Nabathean inscriptions of the prosperous Roman
period have, been discovered at Petra and also at
Bozrah, and a bilingual in Nabathean and Greek
has been discovered at Sidon with the name of
Dushera, as also on a stone in the Haur&n. It
appears to be from this Edomite script that the
early Arabic characters of the time of Muham
mad are derived. To this also belong the
Sinaitic inscriptions which before the time of
scientific study were attributed even to the
days of Moses (see Taylor's Hist. Alph. i. 330).
The leading authorities are those quoted
above, together with the list in the preceding
article. [C. R. C]
ED'EEI. 1. 'I?"nX = strong, mighty : B.
'ESpdeiv, exc. Deut. iii. 1, 10, 'ESpdeip ; A.
'ESpdeiv, exc. Josh. xiii. 12, corrupt, and xiii. 31
'ESpaip: Edrai. One of the two cities, Ashtaroth
being the other, in which Og king of Bashan
resided (Deut. i. 4; Josh. xii. 4, xiii. 12, 31),
and at or near which he was defeated by the
Israelites (Num. xxi. 33 ; Deut. iii. 1). In
Deut. iii. 10, Edrei is mentioned with Salecah as
a limit of Bashan; but in Josh. xiii. 11, the
latter name only occurs. It was within the
territory allotted to the half tribe of Manasseh
(Num. xxxii. 33), but is not mentioned in the
later Books of the 0. T. The town was appa
rently not far from Ashtaroth (Deut. i. 4) ; and
on or near "the way to Bashan," probably the
Derb el Haj, which the Israelites followed after
defeating Sihon, king of the Amorites (Deut.
iii. 1 ; Num. xxi. 33).
Eusebius says (OS.1 p. 253, 30, s. v. Edrai) that
it was in his day called Adraa ('ASpad), and
was an important town in Arabia, 24 miles
from Bostra; and (OS.1 p. 213, 35, s. v. Asta
roth) that it was 6 miles from Astaroth and
25 from Bostra. In the Tab. Peut. Adraha is
placed on the Roman road from Gadara to
Bostra, 16 miles from Capitolias, Beit er-Bds,
and 24 from Bostra. It is alluded to by Epi
phanius (adv. Haer. i. 142, cxi. 874) and is placed
by Ptolemy in the same latitude as Gadara.
The names of Bishops of Adraa appear at the
General Councils of Constantinople (381 a.d.)
and Chalcedon (451 a.d.) ; and the place is
mentioned as the seat of a bishopric under the
Archbishop of Bostra in the 6th century (Not.
Ant. Pat.). During the Roman period it was
one of the chief towns of the Arabian province,
and was apparently autonomous, coining its own
money. The legends on the coins and the in
scriptions found on the site are Greek, indicating
that the population was in great part Hellenised,
or that it was of Macedonian origin. In 1142

EDUCATION
a.d. it was known as Civitas Bernardi de Stampis,
and was attacked by Baldwin III. on his way
to Bostra. The Crusaders suffered, on this
occasion, from thirst ; for when they attempted
to draw water from the wells, the ropes attached
to the buckets were cut by men concealed in the
subterranean chambers (W. of Tyre, xvi. 10).

It is now Dera'ah,

>lpjiS\, one of the

largest towns in the Hauran, situated 6J miles
S.S.E. of el-Mezeirib, the first station, on the Derb
el-Haj, after leaving Damascus. The position
agrees with that assigned to Adraa by Euse
bius and the Peutinger Table. The extensive
ruins, and the remarkable series of underground
chambers beneath them, have been described by
Wetzstein (Beisebericht, pp. 47, 48) and by Schu
macher (Across the Jordan, pp. 121-147 ; see
also Wright in Leisure Hour, 1874, pp. 523, 5571.
The subterranean town was probably excavated,
like those in Cappadocia, to receive the popu
lation in times of danger. Knobel and Keil
(Com. on Num. xxi. 33-35 ; Deut. iii. 10) sup
pose that there were two Edreis, and identify the
one mentioned in Deut. iii. 10 as the limit of
Bashan, with Ezr'a, or Edhr'a, c, ,iV the
ancient Zorava, on the W. border of the Lejah.
This place is identified by Porter, on doubtful
grounds, with Edrei, the royal city of Og (Five
Years in Damascus, ii. 220). The supposition of
two Edreis is, however, unnecessary (see Dill
mann2 on Deut. iii. 10).
2. 'Eh-pdeiv; A. 'ESpdei. A place named only
in Josh. xix. 37, as one of the towns allotted to
Naphtali. It is mentioned between Kedesh and
En-hazor, and has been identified doubtfully by
Porter (Hdbk.) and Tristram (Bible Places) with
Tell Kliureibeh ; and by Conder (PEF. Mem. i.
203, 205, 260) with the village of Ydter. [W.]
EDUCATION. Although nothing is more
carefully inculcated in the Law than the duty
of parents to teach their children its precepts
and principles (Ex. xii. 26, xiii. 8, 14; Deut. iv.
5, 9, 10, vi. 2, 7, 20, xi. 19, 21; Acts xxii. 3;
2 Tim. iii. 15 ; Hist, of Sus. 3 ; Joseph, c. Ap.
ii. 16, 17, 25), yet there is little trace among
the Hebrews in earlier times of education in
any other subjects. The wisdom, therefore,
and instruction, of which so much is said in the
Book of Proverbs, is to be understood chiefly of
moral and religious discipline, imparted, accord
ing to the direction of the Law, by the teaching
and under the example of parents (Prov. i. 2, 8 ;
ii. 2, 10 ; iv. 1, 7, 20 ; viii. 1 ; ix. 1, 10 ; xii. 1 ;
xvi. 22 ; xvii. 24 ; xxxi.). Implicit exceptions
to this statement may perhaps be found in the
instances of Moses himself, who was brought up
in all Egyptian learning (Acts vii. 22) ; of the
writer of the Book of Job, who was evidently
well versed in natural history and in the
astronomy of the day (Job xxxviii. 31, xxxix.,
xl., xii.) ; of Daniel and his companions in
captivity (Dau. i. 4, 17) ; and above all, in the
intellectual gifts and acquirements of Solomon,
which were even more renowned than his
political greatness (1 K. iv. 29, 34, x. 1-9 ; 2Ch.
ix. 1-8), and the memory of which has, with
much exaggeration, been widely preserved in
Oriental tradition. The statement made above
may, however, in all probability be taken as

iiUCUAl'lUJN
representing the chief aim of ordinary Hebrew
education, both at the time when the Law was
best observed, and also when, after periods of
national decline from the Mosaic standard,
attempts were made by monarchs, as Jehosha
phat or Josiah, or by prophets, as Elijah or
Isaiah, to enforce, or at least to inculcate,
reform in the moral condition of the people on
the basis of that standard (1 K. xix. 14 ; 2 K.
xvii. 13, xxii. 8-20 ; 2 Ch. xvii. 7, 9 ; Is. i.
et sq.).
In later times the prophecies, and comments
on them as well on the earlier Scriptures, to
gether with other subjects, were studied (Prol.
to Ecclus. and Ecclus. xxxviii. 24, 26, xxxix.
1-11). St. Jerome adds that Jewish children
were taught to say by heart the genealogies
(Hieronym. on Titus iii. 9 ; Calmet, Dict. s. v.
Gene'alogie). Parents were required to teach
their children some trade, and he who failed to
do so was said to be virtually teaching his child
to steal (Mishn. Kiddush. ii. 2, vol. iii. 413,
ed. Surenh. ; Lightfoot, Chron. Temp, on Acts
xviii. vol. ii. 79).
The sect of the Essenes, though themselves
abjuring marriage, were anxious to undertake
and careful in carrying out the education of
children, but confined its subject-matter chiefly
to morals and the Divine Law (Joseph. B. J. ii.
8, § 12 ; Philo, Quod omnis probus liber, vol. ii.
458, ed. Mangey ; see Essenes).
Previous to the Captivity, the chief deposi
taries of learning were the schools or colleges,
jfs from which in most oa>es (see Amos vii. 14)
proceeded that succession of public teachers
fltwho at various times endeavoured to reform
i the moral and religious conduct of both rulers
and people. [Schools of Prophets.] In these
' schools the Law was probably the chief subject
of instruction ; the study of languages was
little followed by any Jews till after the
Captivity, but from that time the number of
Jews residing in foreign countries must have
made the knowledge of foreign languages more
common than before (see Acts ii. 5, 8 ; xxi. 37).
From the time of the outbreak of the last war
with the Romans, parents were forbidden to
instruct their children in Greek literature
(Mishn. Sotah, c. ix. 15, vol. iii. 307, 308, ed.
Surenh.). "As well as in the prophetical schools instruc
tion was given by the priests in the Temple and
elsewhere, but their subjects were doubtless
exclusively concerned with religion and worship
(Lev. x. 11 ; 1 Ch. xxv. 7, 8 ; Ezek. xliv. 23, 24 ;
Mai. ii. 7). Those sovereigns who exhibited
any anxiety for the maintenance of the religious
element in the Jewish polity, were conspicuous
in enforcing the religious education of the
people (2 K. xxiii. 2; 2 Ch. xvii. 7-9, xix. 5,
8, 11).
From the time of the settlement in Canaan
there must have been among the Jews persons
skilled in writing and in accounts. Perhaps the
neighbourhood of the tribe of Zebulun to the
; commercial district of Phoenicia may have been
the occasion of their reputation in this respect.
The " writers " of that tribe are represented
(Judg. v. 14) by the same word ISD, used in
that passage of the levying of an army or
perhaps of a military officer (Ges. p. 966), as is

EDUCATION

859

applied to Ezra, in reference to the Law (Ezra
vii. 6) ; to Seraiah, David's scribe or secretary
(2 Sam. viii. 17); to Shebna, scribe to Heze
kiah (2 K. xviii. 37) ; Shemaiah (1 Ch. xxiv. 6) ;
Baruch, scribe to Jeremiah (Jer. xxxvi. 32), and
others filling like offices at various times. The
municipal officers of the kingdom, especially in
the time of Solomon, must have required a staff
of well-educated persons in their various de
partments under the recorder "VStO, or historio
grapher, whose business was to compile me
morials of the reign (2 Sam. viii. 16, xx. 24 ;
2 IC. xviii. 18; 2 Ch. xxxiv. 8). Learning, in
the sense above mentioned, was at all times
highly esteemed, aud educated persons were
treated with great respect, and, according to
Rabbinical tradition, were called " sons of the
noble," and allowed to take precedence of others
at table (Lightfoot, Chron. Temp, on Acts xvii.
vol. ii. 79 sq. ; Hor. Hebe. Luke xiv. 8-24, ii. 540).
The same authority deplores the degeneracy of
later times in this respect (Mishn. Sotah, ix. 15,
vol. iii. 308, ed. Surenh.).
To the schools of the Prophets succeeded,
after the Captivity, the synagogues, which were
either themselves used as schools or had places
near them for that purpose (see on this subject
generally Simon, L' Education et V Instruction des
Enfants cliez les anciens Juifs,3 1879). In most
cities there was at least one, and in Jerusalem,
according to some, 394 ; according to others,
460 (Calmet, Dict. Eccles.). It was from these
schools and the doctrines of the various teachers
i presiding over them, of whom Gamali el, Shammai,
and Hillel were among the most famous, that
many of those traditions and refinements pro
ceeded by which the Law was in our Lord's
time encumbered and obscured, and which may
be considered as represented, though in a highly
exaggerated degree, by the Talmud. After the
destruction of Jerusalem, colleges inheriting
and probably enlarging the traditions of their
predecessors were maintained for a long time
at Japhne in Galilee, at Lydda, at Tiberias, the
most famous of all, and at Sepphoris. These
schools in process of time were dispersed into
other countries, and by degrees destroyed. Ac-
1 cording to the principles laid down in the
Mishnah, boys at five years of age were to begin
the Scriptures, at ten the Mishnah, at thirteen
they became subject to the whole Law (see
Luke ii. 46), at fifteen they entered the Gemara
(Mishnah Pirk. Ab. iv. 20, v. 21, vol. iv. 460,
482,486, ed.- Surenh.). Teachers were treated
with great respect, and both pupils and teachers
were exhorted to respect each other. Physical
science formed part of the course of instruction
(ib. iii. 18). Unmarried men and women were
not allowed to be teachers of boys (Kiddush. iv.
13, vol. iii. 383). In the schools the Rabbins
sat on raised seats, and the scholars, according
to their age, sat on benches below or on the
ground (Lightfoot on Luke ii. 46 ; Philo, ibid.
12, ii. 458, Mangey). Teachers, however, at
Antioch are called by Evagrius xapatbtSdaKa-
Xot (Evagr. H. E. iv. 29).
Of female education we have little account in
Scripture, but it is clear that the prophetical
schools included within their scope the instruc
tion of females, who were occasionally invested
with authority similar to that of the Prophets
themselves (Judg. iv. 4; 2 K. xxii. 14). Needle-

860

EGGS

work formed a large but by no means the only
subject of instruction imparted to females,
whose position in society and in the household
must by no means be considered as represented
in modern Oriental, including Mohammedan,
usage (see Prov. xxxi. 16, 26 ; Hist, of Sus. 3 ;
Luke viii. 2, 3, x. 39; Acts xiii. 50; 2 Tim.
i. 5). Among modern Mohammedans, education,
even of °boys, is usually of a most elementary
kind, and of females still more limited. In one
respect it may be considered as the likeness or
the caricature of the Jewish system, viz., that
besides the most common rules of arithmetic,
the Kuran is made the staple, if not the only,
subject of instruction. In Oriental schools, both
Jewish and Mohammedan, the lessons are
written by each scholar with chalk on tablets
which are cleaned for a fresh lesson. All recite
their lessons together aloud ; faults are usually
punished by stripes on the feet. Female
children are, among Mohammedans, seldom
taught to read or write. A few chapters of
the Kuran are learnt by heart, and in some
schools they are taught embroidery and needle
work. In Persia there are many public schools
and colleges, but the children of the wealthier
parents are mostly taught at home. The Kurin
forms the staple of instruction, being regarded
as the model not only of doctrine but of style,
and the text-book of all science. In the
colleges, however, mathematics are taught to
some extent (Jahn, Arch. Bibl. §§ 106, 166,
Engl. tr. ; Fabri, Evagatorium, i. 322 ; Shaw,
Tracels, p. 194 ; Rauwolff, Travels, c. vii. p. 60 ;
Burckhardt, Syria, p. 326 ; Travels in Arabia, i.
275 ; Porter, Damascus, ii. 95 ; Lane, Mod. Eg.,
i. 89, 93; Englishw. in Eg., ii. 168-171; Well
sted, Arabia, ii. 6, 395 ; Chardin, Voyages, iv.
224 [Langles]; Olearius, Travels, pp. 214, 215;
Pietro della Valle, Viajgi, ii. 188). [Schools
of Prophets.]
EGGS. [Fowls.]
EG'LAH (ibiV = a heifer ; Egla), one of
David's wives during his reign in Hebron, and
the mother of his son Ithream (2 Sam. iii. 5
[B. AlydX, A. Aiyds'] ; 1 Ch. iii. 3 [B. 'Axd,
A. 'AyXdJ). In both lists the same order is
preserved, Eglah being the sixth and last, and in
both is she distinguished by the special title
of David's "wife." According to the ancient
Hebrew tradition (see Jerome, Quaest. Heb. on
2 Sam. iii. 5, vi. 23) she was Michal, the wife of
his youth ; and she died in giving birth to Ithream.
A name of this signification is common amongst
the Arabs at the present day. [G.] [F.]
EGLA'IM (D^JX = two ponds ; 'AyaXetp ;
N. 'AyaXXip ; Gallim), a place named only in
Is. xv. 8, and there apparently as a point on
the northern boundary of Moab, Beer-elim
being on the southern boundary. It is perhaps
the same as En'-eglaim. A town of this name
was known to Eusebius (OS.1 p. 98, 10 ; p. 228,
61, Agallim), who places it 8 miles to the south
of Areopolis, i.e. Ar-Moab (Babba). Exactly
in that position, however, stands Kerek, the
ancient Kir Moab.
A town named Agalla is mentioned by Jose
phus as one of twelve cities — Medaba, Libyas,

EGLON
Zoar, and Marissa being amongst the number —
which were taken from the Arabians by Alex
ander Jannaeus (Ant. xiv. 1, § 4).
With other places on the east of the Dead
Sea, Eglaim yet awaits further research for its
identification. [G.] [W.]
EG'LON (\mV = vitulinus; 'EyXtip; Eg-
lon), a king of the Moabites (Judg. iii. 12 sq.),
who, aided by the Ammonites and the Amale
kites, crossed the Jordan and took " the city of
palm-trees," or Jericho (Joseph.). Here he
built himself a palace (Joseph. Ant. v. 4, § 1 sq.),
and continued for eighteen years (Jndg. aud
Joseph.) to oppress the children of Israel, who
paid him tribute (Joseph.). Whether he resided
at Jericho permanently, or only during the
summer months (Judg. iii. 20 ; Joseph.), he
seems to have formed a familiar intimacy (avvr\-
B-ns, Joseph, not Judg.) with Ehud, a young
Israelite (veavias, Joseph.), who lived in Jericho
(Joseph, not Judg.), and who, by means oi
repeated presents, became a favourite courtier
of the monarch. Josephus represents this
intimacy as having been of long continuance ;
but in Judges we find no mention of intimacy,
and only one occasion of a present being made,
viz. that which immediately preceded the death
of Eglon. The circumstances attending this
tragical event are somewhat differently given
in Judges and in Josephus. That Ehud had the
entree of the palace is implied in Judges (iii. 19),
but more distinctly stated in Josephus. In
Judges the Israelites send » present by Ehud
(iii. 15) ; in Josephus Ehud wins his favour by
repeated presents of his own. In Judges we
have two scenes, the offering of the present and
the death scene, which are separated by the
temporary withdrawal of Ehud (rr. 18, 19) ; in
Josephus there is but one scene. The present is
offered, the attendants are dismissed, and the
king enters into friendly conversation (bpiXlav)
with Ehud. In Judges the place seems to change
from the reception-room into the "summer-
parlour," where Ehud found him upon his
return (cp. vv. 18, 20). In Josephus the entire
action takes place in the summer-parlour (dtopd-
riov). In Judges the king exposes himself to
the dagger by rising apparently in respect for
the Divine message which Ehud professed to
communicate (Patrick, in loco) : in Josephus it
is a dream which Ehud pretends to reveal, and
the king, in delighted anticipation, springs up
from his throne. The obesity of Eglon, and the
consequent impossibility of recovering the dagger,
are not mentioned by Josephus (vid. Judg. iii.
17, fat, aareios, LXX. ; but " crassus," Vulg.,
and so Gesen. Lex.).
After this desperate achievement Ehud re
paired to Seirah (R. V. ; not Seirath, as in A. V.),
in the mountains of Ephraim (iii. 26, 27), or
Mount Ephraim (Josh. xix. 50). To this wild
central region, commanding, as it did, the plains
E. and W., he summoned the Israelites by sound
of horn (a national custom, according to Joseph. ;
A. V. and R. V. "a trumpet"). Descending
from the hills, they fell upon the Moabites,
dismayed and demoralised by the death of their
king (Joseph., not Judg.). The greater numbei
were killed at once, but 10,000 men made foi
the Jordan with the view of crossing over into
their own country. The Israelites, however,

had already seized the fords, and not one of the
unhappy fugitives escaped. As a reward for his
conduct Ehud was appointed Judge (Joseph., not
Judg.). . Note. — The sentence " the quarries that were
by Gilgal " (iii. 19) is better rendered in the
margin, as in Deut. vii. 25, " graven images "
(cp. Gesen. s. v. D^DB). [T. E. B.] [F.]
EG'LON (ffa}> : in Josh. x. BA. 'OSoXXdp ;
in Josh. xii. 12, B. Aixdp, A. 'EyXtip, F.
'EyXdiv ; in Josh. xv. 39, B. omits, A. 'EyXtip :
Eglon, Aglon), a town of Judah in the Shefelah
or low country (Josh. xv. 39). During the
struggles of the conquest, Eglon was one of a
confederacy of five towns, which under Jeru
salem attempted resistance, by attacking Gibeon
after the treaty of the latter with Israel.
Eglon was then Amorite, and the name of its
king Debir (Josh. x. 3-5). The story of the
overthrow of this combination is too well known
to need notice here (x. 23-25, &c). Eglon was
soon after visited by Joshua and destroyed
(x. 34, 35 ; xii. 12). The name survives in the
modern 'Ajldn, a low mound covered with scat
tered heaps of stones, about 10 miles W.S.W.
of Beit Jibrin (Eleutheropolis), and 15 from
Gaza, on the south of the great maritime plain
(Porter, Handb. ; Van de Velde, ii. 188 ; Rob. ii.
49 ; PEF. Mem. iii. 261, 278 ; Guerin, Judee,
ii. 297, 298). Eusebius mentions (OS.1 p. 103,
21 ; p. 234, 91) a village called Bethagla on this
site, but does not identify it with Eglon. Mr.
Petrie (PEFQy. Stat. 1890, pp. 161-3) identifies
Eglon with Tell Nejileh, which, from the cha
racter of the remains, must have been an older
site than 'Ajldn. He supposes that the Jews
who returned after the Captivity, not being
strong enough to dispossess the occupiers, built
a new Eglon, at 'Ajldn, within sight of the
old one.
In the Onomasticon (OS.1 p. 118, 21) it is given
as Eglon quae et Odollam ; and its situation is
stated as 10 miles east of Eleutheropolis. The
identification with Adullam arose no doubt from
the reading of the LXX. in Josh. x. given
above; and it is to the site of that place, and
not of Eglon, that the remarks of Eusebius and
Jerome refer {cp. Adollam). [G.] [W.]
EGYPT (Dn_¥D, DnVD fit?' "I1V?' 2ent-
n. 'IVD; AtyvTtTOs; Aegyptus), a country oc
cupying the north-eastern angle of Africa, and
lying between N. lat. 31° 37' and 24° 1', and
E. long. 27° 13' and 34° 12'.
1. Boundaries. — Its Bmits appear to have
been always very nearly the same. Under
the Pharaohs, the most southern province was
the district -of Elephantine, called the "be
ginning of the southern country," which means
Ppper Egypt. Ezekiel, speaking of the country
^n all its extent (xxix. 10, xxx. 6), gives as
its limits, according to the obviously correct
translation, Migdol and Syene. Migdol (Magdo-
lon) is mentioned by the Itinerary of Antoninus;
it was situate at 12 miles' distance from
Pelusium, and being on the road to the land
of the Philistines, was one of the first places
reached by travellers coming from Syria or
Palestine. At the other end, Syene or Ele
phantine corresponds nearly with the tropic of

EGYPT

861

Cancer, and Strabo says that going southwards
it is the first place where the sun may be seen
shining at the bottom of wells.
The ancients have attributed Egypt sometimes
to Asia, sometimes to Africa. Several authors
considered the Nile as dividing what we should
call the two continents. Strabo observes that
the most sensible opinion is that which con
siders the Arabian Gulf as separating Asia
from Africa. With the ancient geographers,
Egypt included no more than the tract irrigated
by the Nile, within the limits we have specified.
The deserts on each side were not considered as
being part of it. It was Libya on one side, and
Arabia on the other, both of which have been at
times subject to Egypt, but only exceptionally ;
they generally were independent.
2. Names and Divisions. — The common name
of Egypt in the Bible is " Mizraim," or more
fully the " land of Mizraim." This word is a
dual of which the singular appears to be
" Mazor " (Ili'D). There has been much dis
cussion about the sense and the origin of the
name Mizraim, which Prof. Ebers considers as
signifying the " double fortified enclosure,"
because the Shemites coming from Asia found
on the border the walls constructed by the
Pharaohs in order to defend themselves against
the invasions of Asiatic nomads. Gesenius
translates by " limit ; " Dillmann, by " dis
trict " (Gebiet). No satisfactory explanation
has yet been given of this name. Undoubtedly
it is a Semitic word, the meaning of which
! is not to be looked for in Egyptian, and which
must have been the translation of one of the
I usual names of Egypt, perhaps of one of the
J ideographic groups by which Egypt was desig-
j nated. As long as the true sense of the Semitic
word has not been established, it is difficult to
find the hieroglyphic group to which it corre
sponds. It is important to observe that while
' the sense of the dual " Mizraim " is absolutely
certain, it is not the case with the singular
'• Mazor," which can hardly be considered as
meaning Egypt." What has led to this inter
pretation is the fact that in three cases (Is. xix.
6, xxxvii. 25 ; 2 K. xix. 24) it is connected
with "IIK'1, which commonly means rivers of
Egypt, the Nile, or its canals. In none of those
passages have the LXX., followed by the Coptic
Version, translated "TlVD by Egypt ; but we find
these expressions: I'lVD niK>, 2 K. xix. 24;
-irorapoi avvoxvs, aquae clausae (Vulg.) ; Is. xix. 6,
xxxvii. 25, avvayuyri vSaros, rivi aggerum; just
as Mic. vii. 11, "I1VD 'Htf, ir6Xeis oxvpal, civi-
tates munitae, i.e. surrounded by walls: and
this leads us to consider the dual Mizraim as
meaning neither a district or limited space, nor
a fortified enclosure, but as the Vulgate trans
lates in the passage above quoted, aquae clausae,
water enclosed in dykes or walls, basins or
canals. Thus Mizraim would be quite analogous
to the name of Kebui or Kebhui, which means
the two basins, and which is common in Ptolemaic
times. Besides, in the hieroglyphical inscriptions
the Nile has often a dual form ; we hear of a Nile
of Upper Egypt and a Nile of Lower Egypt, as if

> Gesenius, Lex. ; Bochart, Geogr. a. 258; A. V.,
MV.11, and R. V. adopt "Egypt."

862

EGYPT

they were two separate rivers. The dual Mizraim
might refer either to the two Niles, or to the
two chief branches of the Delta, which were
best known to the Israelites. It seems natural
that the Shemites should have given to Egypt a
name derived from her hydrographic descrip
tion, which must have struck them at first
sight, and which gave to the country its peculiar
character. Another name which is often met with in
Scripture is that of " land of Plam," Dn Yl$'
which refers to Ham, the son of Noah, lt is
generally considered that the word 3rp, "the
proud," " the insolent," is a poetical appellation
of Egypt. It is to be remarked, however, that
in all the passages where this sense has been
attributed to the word Rahab, the LXX. and
the Coptic Version invariably take it as a com
mon name, except in Ps. lxxxvii. 4, where both
versions read 'PadB, P<L«L.&., which does not
necessarily apply to Egypt.
The usual name of Egypt in the hieroglyphic
texts is Kern, demotic Kemi ; it is written by a
sign which represents the tail of a crocodile.
As a common name, Kem means " black," and the
name of the land is derived from the colour of
the arable soil (cp. Plut. de Is. et Osir. c. 33 : en
ttiv Alyvirrov iv rois paXiara peXdyyttov oiaav,
uSfnrep rb peXav tov otpBaXpou, X-nplav KaXovai) ;
while the surrounding deserts, the pink and
yellow colour of which makes such a strong
contrast with the valley of the Nile, are called
Tesher, "the red," just as the ideographic sign
representing an undulated country is painted
red. The Coptic forms of this name are
KHJU.6 (T.), KHJUU (B.), Xiw-e'
¦V"A.JULI (M.), which signify as well the black
colour as the land of Egypt ; and it is impossible
not to notice the likeness which exists between
this word and the name of Ham, 'Y'A.jm.j
who is the ancestor of the Egyptians and of the
neighbouring nations.
As for the name of Alyv-irros, which has been
adopted by the Greeks, and which originally in
Homer means " the river," it seems to be the
transcription of the word Ageb or Akeb, which
is a common name of the Nile.
As high as we may go up in the Egyptian
documents, we find the land divided into two
portions, or two regions ; the south, which is
always named first, and the north. A great
number of ideographic groups indicate this
division. Egypt is called to ui, "the two lands,"
the " land of the two crowns," the white one
being the emblem of the South, and the red of
the North : both combined form the pschent or
the schent, which is the head-dress of the king
reigning over the whole land. Other names
signify " the land of the lotus and of the papy
rus," " the land of the asp and of the vulture,"
" the portion of Horus and that of Set," " the
two stalks," " the two basins," &c. The usual
emblems of royalty are the reed for the South,
and the wasp for the North ; both together read
suten nit, and indicate that the king ruled over
the country in all its extent. This is what
Josephus and the bilingual stone of Rosetta
translate by BaaiXGvs t&v tc &vw ko) tuv kc(tco
Xtapoiv. The Romans divided Upper Egypt into two, the

EGYPT
Heptanomis and the Thebais ; however, the old
division survived. There are no traces of the
change in the hieroglyphical inscriptions dating
from the time of the emperors, who, like the
Pharaohs, were called lords of the two lands, or
of the two regions.
3. Superficies. — The superficies of the land
watered by the Nile was, in the year 1798,
9,582 square miles (including the bed of the Nile
and the islands within it, together representing
294,217 acres). Since, the irrigated area has
increased, and the superficies of the land below
Assouan may be reckoned as 11,351 square miles,
equal to 7,264,640 acres, of which 4,625,000 are
cultivated (McCoan, Egypt as it is, p. 19).
Mr. Lane calculated from Abdallatif that the
extent of the cultivated land in the year
1375 a.d. was 5,500 square geographical miles.
If we compare the present extent of arable soil
with what it was in ancient times, it is evident
that it has greatly diminished. On .the western
side the artificial Lake Moeris caused a con
siderable area to be watered between the
Fayoom and Mariout. Linant Bey has cal
culated that if it were restored to its original
size, it would recover to agriculture about
800,000 acres, a great part of which was
cultivated under the Pharaohs. In the north,
all the space which is now covered by Lake
Menzaleh (40 miles long and 18 miles wide), and
by salt marshes around it, not only was not
under water, as we find there ruins of large
cities, but constituted what Scripture compares
to the garden of the Lord (Gen. xiii. 10). Itt
the east, the Wady Tumitet was the land of
Goshen, renowned for its good pastures, one of
the most productive parts of the country, which
is now a barren desert.
4. Nomes. — From a very remote period we
find Egypt divided into administrative districts,
which the Greeks called vopot, nomes, and which
lasted even under the Romans. We have several
lists of these provinces in the temples of Egypt ;'
some of them are of the 18th and 19th dynas
ties, but most of them belong to the Ptolemaic
period. The number of the nomes has varied.
Under Seti I. it was 37. In later times, under
the Ptolemies, some of them were divided, and
thus the number was increased. Strabo men
tions 36, Pliny 43, Ptolemy 47. The hierogly
phical lists vary between 42 and 44, while there
are coins of 46.
A nome was called in Egyptian hesep or tesch.
It had four particular elements : (1) the capital,
which was the residence of the governor, but
which was chiefly the abode of the divinity special
to the province; (2) a cultivated territory; (3)a
certain amount of marshes which were very likely
pasture-land ; (4) a canal or canals, the care
of which was very important for the prosperity
of the land. As in Egypt everything was based
on religion, we find that each nome had a god or
several gods, under whose protection it was spe
cially placed, a college of priests and priestesses,
a high priest and a high priestess who had both a
particular name, sacred boats, sacred trees, and
special festivals. Besides, each nome was con
sidered as having as a relic a part ofthe body of
Osiris. The lists of nomes which are engraved
on the walls of the temples give us all these
details at great length, while they are silent as
to the political administration of the nome.

EGYPT
The division seems to have originated from
religion, and from local worships, to which the
inhabitants remained very much attached, even
in the time of the decline of Egypt. The same
animal was sacred in one nome, and profane in
the next; and we hear under the Romans of a
war between the Tentyrites and the Ombites
on account of the crocodile. Under the em
perors Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, and Anto
ninus Pius, each nome had an intermittent
coinage of its own.
5. General A/pearanee, Climate, 4'C- — The
general appearance of the country cannot have
greatly changed since the days of Moses. The
Delta was always a vast level plain, although
of old more perfectly watered than now by the
branches of the Nile and numerous canals, while
the narrow valley of Upper Egypt must have

EGYPT

863

suffered still less alterations. Anciently, how
ever, the rushes must have been abundant,
whereas now they have almost disappeared'
except in the lakes. The whole country is'
remarkable for its extreme fertility, which
especially strikes the beholder when the rich
green of the fields is contrasted with the
utterly bare yellow mountains, or the saml-
strewn rocky desert on either side. Thus the
plain of Jordan, before the cities were destroyed,
was, we read in the passage already referred to,
" well watered everywhere," ..." like the
garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as
thou goest unto Zoar " b (Gen. xiii. 10). This
passage refers to the part of Egypt which was
watered by the Pelusiac branch, and which was
tirst reached coming through " the way of the
land of the Philistines." In Deuteronomy also

5l&l> til J.uiver Egypt and Sinai.

(xi. 10, 11), contrasting the land of Canaan with
Egypt, Egypt is described as a country where
artificial irrigation is necessary, and which does
not depend on rain for cultivation. The climate
is equable and healthy. Rain is not unfrequent
on the northern coast ; in Upper Egypt it is very
rare; it 'has occurred more frequently in later
years. There is hardly a traveller who has not
seen one or two showers in Upper Egypt, though
Herodotus describes (iii. 10) a shower, which
took place under the reign of Psammenitus, as
an event worth mentioning. The Egyptians con
sidered it as a great advantage for their country
not to have to rely on rain, as was the case with ;
the Greeks (Herod, ii. 14). " Some day," they j
said, " the Greeks will be disappointed of their
grand hope, and they will be wretchedly hungry."
This remark is still often made by the lower I
classes of Egypt. |

However, whenever the Nile did not rise
sufficiently high, famine ensued, and it was one
of the common calamities of the country.
Dr. Brugsch quotes an inscription which may be
contemporary with theend ofthe Hyksos dynasty,
in which an officer called Baba says that "when
there was a famine which lasted several years,
he delivered corn to his city." Another instance
is found in the inscription of Canopus. It is
said that, when it happened, in the reign of
king Ptolemy Euergetes, that alow Nile brought
great misery on the land, the king took care
that corn should be brought from Syria, Phoe
nicia, and Cyprus. It was therefore just the
converse of what happened in Jacob's time.
Egypt has been visited in all ages by severe
pestilences, but it cannot be determined that

b Or Zoan, according to tlie Syrian Version.

864

EGYPT

any of those of ancient times were of the
character of the modern plague. The medical
papyri, and chiefly the so-called Papyrus Ebers,
mention a great number of diseases which have
not yet been all identified. Several of those
maladies were no doubt peculiar to Egypt, and
are still prevalent in the country, such as
ophthalmia, dysentery, and diseases of the skin.
It is in these medical texts of the old Egyptians
that we shall very likely find the explanation of
the " evil diseases of Egypt," with which tho
Israelites are threatened several times (Deut. vii.
15 ; xxviii. 27, 35, 60).
6. Geology. — The fertile plain of the Delta and
the valley of Upper Egypt are bounded by rocky
deserts, covered or strewn with sand. On either
side of the plain they are low, but they overlook
the valley, above which they rise so steeply as
from the river to present the aspect of cliffs.
The formation is limestone, as far as a little
above Thebes, where sandstone begins. The
First Cataract, the southern limit of Egypt, is
caused by granite and other primitive rocks,
which rise through the sandstone and obstruct
the river's bed. In Upper Egypt, the moun
tains near the Nile rarely exceed 300 feet in
height, but far in the Eastern desert they often
attain a much greater elevation. The highest
is Gebel Gharib, which rises about 6,000 feet
above the sea. The highest summit of the
mountains of Thebes on the western side of the
Nile is about 1,000 feet high.
The geological formation of the country has
certainly had a great influence on its civilisa
tion, and particularly on the development of art.
Unlike the Chaldean, who, in the vast plains of
Lower Mesopotamia, had nothing but bricks to
build with, the Egyptian found in his own
country the very best materials for construction
and for sculpture ; besides, the difficulties of
transport were minimised by the fact of his
being able to reach every important city of the
country by water. These very favourable cir
cumstances explain how, already at «. very re
mote epoch, stone architecture had been carried
so far. For the bulk of the constructions nothing
could be better than the limestone of Toura,
which may be polished like marble, and which
was used for the coating of the Pyramids. At
Thebes, the most delicate hieroglyphics could be
carved in the walls of the galleries which were
cut in the mountain. The sandstone of Gebel
Silsileh, where the immense quarries are still to
be seen, belongs to the most durable of the
kind. Besides, there were all the more valuable
stones, like the syenite of which the obelisks
were made, diorite, breccia, serpentine, and
alabaster, which were chiefly used for statues,
and the porphyry of Gebel Dukhan, near the
Red Sea.
Great geological changes have taken place at
different epochs. The most important must
have been the change in the bed of the river,
which took place between the 13th and the 18th
dynasty. There was a barrier at Gebel Silsileh
which formerly was the entrance of the Nile
into Egypt, and through which the Nile broke,
— we do not know exactly when. The proof of
this important fact consists in the discovery
which Lepsius made at Semneh of a series of
inscriptions of the 12th and 13th dynasties,
recording the height of the rising of the Nile,

EGYPT
and which show that at that time the Nile rose
on the average 24 feet higher than it did at
the time of the 19th dynasty. Whether the
change was sudden or not, we cannot say ; but
the result was, that while it deprived Lower
Nubia of the benefit of the inundation, it must
have increased considerably the surface of irri
gated soil in Egypt proper.
Another change, which must have been very
slow, is the retreat of the Red Sea or Arabian
Gulf, which even in Roman times extended a-i
great deal more north than it does now, and
which by degrees reached its present boundaries,
as we may see described in Isaiah : " The Lord
shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian
sea " (xi. 15) ; " the waters shall fail from the
sea " (xix. 5). There has been a raising of the
soil which caused the old canal of the Pharaohs
to be dried up, so that the WSdy Tumilat, which
used to be the land of Goshen covered with
pastures, became a barren desert until the
present canal was dug. In this region there are
constant changes in the appearance of the surface
because of the great facilities with which mounds
and banks are formed through obstacles which
stop the sand blown by the wind (Linant, Mem.
sur les princip. travaux d'utilite publ. pp. 104,
105). Farther north, on the contrary, the soil
has sunk considerably : several of the north
eastern nomes are now either under water or
covered with salt marshes, difficult to cross, and
amidst which are the cities which were on the
military road going from Egypt to Syria.
Outside of the narrow winding valley of Upper
Egypt was the oasis of the Fayoom, the two Arsi-
noite nomes. This very fertile land was already
in the Libyan desert, and connected with the
valley of the Nile through a breach in the
mountains. It was watered chiefly by Lake
Moeris, a work of the 12th dynasty.
7. The Nile. — The Nile has several names in
Scripture. [NILE.] It is usually called "IIN*,
"ISO, and besides -lilTE', OnVP "1HJ. DnVD bn-
In Egyptian there are a great number of names
for the river. The most usual is Hapi, the same
word as the name of the bull Apis, a coincidence
which is not at all surprising, as even in Greek
mythology the fertilising power of water is re
presented by a bull, and several rivers — such as
the Achelous, the Eurotas, and the Asopus — were
considered as having this form. As Egypt was
divided into two regions, we have also two Niles :
Hapi res or Hapi kema, the Southern Nile, which
was considered as issuing from two caves (Kerti)
near Elephantine, and Hapi mehit, which was
thought to originate at Babylon, near Heliopolis,
and from thence to form the Delta.
The river, the watering element, the canals
which are derived from it, are generally named
atur, aw; dem. ial, iar; Copt. IOpj Ii.ptOj
iepO, GIOOp, eiepO, which is evi
dently the origin of the Hebrew 1X\ It must
not be taken as being a proper name ; it must be
considered as meaning the river, the canal, the
water, very much like the j** ofthe Arabs.
Though we do not admit the theory of
Herodotus (ii. 5, 10) as to the origin of Egypt,
we agree with him as to the land being a gift of
the river; for Egypt depends entirely on the

EGYPT

865

inundation, which begins about the summer
solstice. The water rises generally during one
hundred days, the greatest height being attained
somewhat after the autumnal equinox. The
inundation lasts about three months, but in fact
the level of the Nile is always changing. The
water falls during the winter and the spring
months until it begins again to rise. It is con
stantly going up and down. An allusion is
made to the inundation in the Prophet Amos,
who, speaking of the ruin of Israel, says that
the land shall be '• drowned as by the flood of
Egypt " (viii. 8, ix. 5).
In former times the Nile divided itself into
seven branches, the most important of which
were the outer ones, — the Canopic on the west,
and the Pelusiac on the east. At present, there
are only two : the Rosetta and the Damietta
branches. The Suez Canal has dried up the
eastern part of Lake Menzaleh and the end of
the Pelusiac branch. The Tanitic branch may
still be recognised in the canal called Muezz.
The Nile was of course considered
as a god and an object of worship.
Several hymns are addressed to him,
in which he is generaUy called the
father of the gods. One of his sacred
names is Aim, the celestial water or
• the celestial ocean. He is praised
for all the benefits which he confers
on the country, especially through
the inundation.
Researches disagree as to the rate
at which the Nile deposits the al
luvial soil of Egypt. The opinion
which seems to prevail is that it
¦amounts at most to five inches in a
' century. 8. Cultivation, Agriculture, fyc. —
The richness of Egypt has always been
in agriculture. The most ancient
monuments indicate that it was on
the produce of the soil much more
than on trade that a population lived
which certainly was more numerous than now,
judging from the number of ruined cities and
the extent of several of them.
We have still very interest
ing representations of Egyp
tian agriculture at the most
remote epochs ; they may be
seen in the sculptures of the
tombs of the Old Empire,
contemporaneous with the
builders of the Pyramids. In
those pictures we find the
image of what the deceased
•considered as a life endowed
with all the enjoyments of
riches and prosperity. In
this respect it makes no dif
ference whether those pic
tures relate what his past
life has been, or whether ac
cording to Mariette's opinion
it is the ideal existence which
he is supposed to lead in the
•other world ; in any case,
we have there a description of the customs and
civilisation of the land.
Wealth was derived chiefly from agriculture ;
• ¦gold, silver, precious stones are rather foreign
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

imports : in later times they constitute tho
tributes which arc paid by conquered nations.
A rich man owns a great number of estates,
each of which has its particular name ; they are
generally due to the generosity of the king,
they are rewards for long and faithful service,
or some deed of valour.
Husbandry was very nearly thc same as it is
now ; it was regulated by the inundation of the
Nile. As soon as the river began to fall the
grain was sown on the moist fields, on which
sheep and oxen were driven instead of harrowing
it. When the soil was getting drier, a hoe or a
plough with a wooden share was sufficient in
order to break up the alluvial deposit in which
there is no stone. Artificial irrigation completed
the effect of the inundation. The canals were
numerous and better taken care of than now.
In order to fill them, the cultivators used an
elementary means, still seen all along the
Nile — the shadoof, which is a pole having a
weight at one end and a bucket at the other,

SMdoof, or pole and bucket, for watering the garden. (Wilkinson.)
so hung that the labourer is aided by the weight
in raising the full bucket. There are detailed

Granary, showing how the grain was nut in, and that the doors « !> ivere intended for
taking it ont. (Wilkinson.)
pictures in the tombs of breaking up the earth,
of ploughing, sowing, harvest, threshing, and
storing the wheat in granaries. [See cuts under
Agriculture, pp. 63, 64, 65.] The threshing
3 K

866

EGYPT

was simplv treading out by oxen or cows
unmuzzled "(cp. Deut. xxv. 4). The granaries
were often vaulted, and the corn thrown in
through an opening at the top ; scribes are seen
keeping accounts of the corn which has been

EGYPT
gathered. The corn is generally common wheat,
or the doorah which is still cultivated.
The Egyptians seem to have cultivated the
vine much more than at present. The vines
are of a picturesque appearance ; they are raised

Vineyard. (Wilkinson.)

on high poles like the Italian pergole. The
wine was pressed in different ways. Small
quantities of grapes were put in a bag, which
was twisted so as to squeeze out the juice. For
large quantities the foot-press was used ; it re-

Winepreas. (Wilkinson.) [For another large Winepress, see Diet, of (he Bible,' iii., p. 1774.]

quired several men to work together (Is. lxiii. 2).
There were several qualities of Egyptian wines
which were celebrated ; one of them is called
the morning star in the sky : they came from
Lower Egypt or from the oasis in the Lib
yan desert. For the sacred offerings they used
what they called wine from Asia, which came
from Syria and from Mesopotamia. The olive-
tree and the date-palm were also objects
of cultivation. The Egyptians seem to have
had a great quantity of live stock on their
estates, — oxen, sheep, goats, and asses ; they
had domesticated antelopes, which were very
numerous ; besides, they had a great number of
birds, geese, pigeons, and several kinds of
cranes, but not the common fowl. A deceased
at Sakkarah boasts that he owned 15,360 oxen
of different descriptions. Another, a contem
porary of the building of the Second Pyramid,
says he had 974 sheep, 2,235 goats, 838 oxen,
and 760 asses. Another says he had more than
a hundred thousand ducks. We cannot believe
that all these numbers are real ; yet they give
us an idea of what the riches of the land may
have been.

It is difficult to know what the laws of the
tenure of land were under, the old Pharaohs, and
whether there was a private property in land.
On this point we have to resort for information
chiefly to the documents of the Ptolemaic epoch
and to the numerous
deeds of various kinds
which have been pre
served. If we consider
the style of most of
those deeds, some of
which are written in
demotic and others in
Greek, we see that the
Ptolemies had inno
vated very little, and
that, as regards civil
laws as well as in re
lation to the worship of
the country, they had adhered in most cases to
the old tradition. Under the Ptolemies, land
could be sold freely, under certain regulations
and subject to the tax of excise ; it could be
inherited and divided between the members
of the family. The Greek authors, Diodorus
and Strabo, speak of the land of Egypt being
divided into three parts, of which one-third be
longed to the priests, or rather to the caste of
the priests, the income of which was devoted to
the expenses of the temples and to keep up the
priests and their servants. Another third be
longed to the king, who out of it kept up his
court, his army, and rewarded his officers. The
last third belonged to the soldiers, who being
provided for could devote themselves entirely to
their military life. This description of the Greeks
excludes the idea of private property in land,
and of small landowners ; but it agrees only
partially with the documents. It is likely that
the greatest part of the land was possessed by
the king, who made grants to the temples and
to some of his officers. Probably the small
landowners must have been few, and the great
bulk of the agricultural population were tenants,

EGYPT

867

who hired for a small rent the land of the king,
of the priests, and of the soldiers. One circum
stance seems to indicate that individual property
existed to a greater extent at the time of the
Pharaohs than under the Greek kings. This is
what is related of Joseph (Gen. xlvii. 20-26).
It is said that he gained for Pharaoh all the
land except that of the priests in exchange for
food, and required for the right thus obtained a
fifth of the produce, which became a law. This
act seems to be in accordance with the policy of
the king under whose rule Joseph was raised to
his high position. In suppressing thus all landed
property except that of the priests, he had the
whole people in his power ; while being a stranger,
of a different race than the Egyptians, he would
not alienate the priests, a class which in many
cases proved more powerful than the king.
Whether the state of things which prevailed
nnder the Ptolemies is a consequence of what
Joseph did, we cannot say. It is not likely
that what he did outlived the war which
caused the Hybsos to be expelled and the re
action which ensued. But the idea of the
absolute right of the king over the land is so
common in Eastern monarchies, even at present,

that it is quite natural that we should find
something of the kind in Egypt.
Besides agriculture, one of the important
incomes of Egypt was derived from the fisheries.
The Greek authors speak of the great amount
of salt fish which was eaten in Egypt. Lake
Moeris was one of the places which was most
productive, as well as the northern part of the
Delta. Fishing, like hunting, was one of the
sports of the upper classes, aud there were offi
cers specially entrusted with the supervision of
the lakes preserved for the kings. There were
evidently many more canals and lakes than at
present, and great care was taken of them as
well as of the dykes. The rising of the Nile
was registered in the nilometers, and great fes
tivals took place at the beginning of the
inundation. An art which is intimately connected with
agriculture, and which the Egyptians carried
very far, is land surveying. The invention of
it was attributed to the god Thoth ; it was more
necessary in Egypt than anywhere else,' as con
stantly the Nile carries away the landmarks, and
there is great difficulty in recognising the limits
of different properties.

Halting a papyrus boat. (Wilkinson.)

9. Botany. — The cultivable land of Egypt con
sists almost wholly of fields, in which are few
trees. There are no forests and few groves,
except of date-palms, and in some parts of Lower
Egypt a few of orange and lemon trees. The
two kinds of palms are represented on the
monnments ; they seem to have been as common
as they are now. The date-palm was cultivated
not only for its fruit, but also as an ornament
in the gardens ; its fibres were used as thread.
The dom-palm — which, according to an inscrip
tion, sometimes reached the height of sixty
cubits — was employed for the masts which
adorned the pylons of the temples. The syca-,
mores and several kinds of acacia were also very
much grown. One of them, the Acacia nilotica,
was a most useful tree. With its wood were
made doors, boxes, coffins, boats, and statues ;
it gave also a kind of oil, which was one of the
sacred offerings, and from which some medicine
Was also prepared. We find in the inscriptions a
great number of names of trees which have not
been identified.
The fruits of Egypt were considered as very
good, as well as the vegetables ; and the Israel
ites in the desert looked back to the time when
they enjoyed the luxuries of the Egyptian soil :
"We remember the fish, which we did eat in
Egypt freely ; the cucumbers, and the melons,

and the leeks and the onions, and the garlick "
(Num. xi. 5). The numerous pictures in
the tombs give us an idea of the variety of
fruits and vegetables : grapes, figs, dates, pome
granates, water - melons, onions, cucumbers,
lentils, all those things are found in abundance,
as well as different kinds of corn — wheat, which
was the most common, and also oats, barley,
millet, and doorah. In the account of the
plague of hail (Ex. ix. 32), mention is made of a
field product called J"II?I33, " spelt," which is
rendered there iXvpa (far, Vulg.) ; Ezek. iv. 9,
milium, Vulg. ; in Is. xxviii. 25, fe'a, milium.
It is doubtful whether it is a cereal or a legu
minous product; but if it is a cereal, it is
likely that it must be millet or even doorah,
as spelt is not cultivated in such a hot climate
as Egypt.
The reeds were very common along the canals
and the river, and the most famous of them
was the papyrus (Cyperus papyrus). There
were several kinds of reeds which have different
names in Egyptian. One of them is called kern,
heman, KOJUU ; i" Heb- N9^ Reed9> and
among them the papyrus, were employed for
making boxes, baskets, and also very light boats,
which were used for hunting the hippopotamus
in the marshes. Baskets of reeds are still made
3 K 2

868

EGYPT

in Nubia and on the Upper Nile, and sold in
great quantities in Egypt. The KDj rDF), the
ark or skiff of reeds, in which the mother of
Moses put her child (Ex. ii. 3), must have been
something of the kind. Isaiah (xviii. 2) also tells
us of KOjTyS, vessels of reeds, which were sent
to Ethiopia. The papyrus or byblos was parti
cularly cultivated in Lower Egypt; the paper
was made with the inner part of the stalk, which
was cut in thin slices after the rind had been
removed. The use of the papyrus seems to have
been contemporary with the origin of the civili
sation ; the papyrus roll is a common sign in
all the inscriptions. The plant which was the
object of such a flourishing industry has now
entirely disappeared from the soil of Egypt, and
is found only on the Upper Nile.
The Egyptians bestowed great care on their
gardens, in which we see trees, vegetables, and
a great many plants which were purely orna
mental ; some of them came from abroad.
There are always ponds in the gardens, and
they were favourite places of resort during the
heat. [For a drawing of an Egyptian garden,
see Garden.] Both sexes seem to have had a
particular taste for flowers; they made great use
of wreaths and garlands, and certain priests
were especially entrusted with the flowers of
the temples.
Much valuable information has been brought
to us concerning the flora of Egypt, by the
offerings which have been found in the tombs,
and quite lately by the wreaths which adorned
the mummies of kings and princesses discovered
in the hiding - place of Deir-el-Bahri. The
tombs of the 11th dynasty contained wheat,
oats, barley, flax, doorah, olives, beans, millet.
The flax is the Linum humile, the same which is
now cultivated. None of those seeds has ever
grown, whatever care has been applied in sowing
them. The wreaths of the kings who reach
from the 18th to the 21st dynasty are made in
the most artistic way ; they are chaplets, made
of several kinds of flowers sewn in folded
leaves. The outward cover is generally made
with the leaves of a tree now common in Abys
sinia, but which is not found in Egypt, the
Mimusops Schimperi, the so-called persea; it
must have been cultivated for its red berries,
which are now the food of the inhabitants of the
land of Bongo. Among the flowers some of the
most handsome are the Centaurea depressa and
the Delphinium orientale, which do not belong to
the flora of Egypt at present. Before the time of
the Ptolemies, the Egyptians had only two lotus
flowers, the white and the blue lotus ; the pink
one, Nelumbium spinosum, is not found with the
royal mummies. The blue was a favourite flower
in festivals, for its fine hue and its good smell.
One of the most curious results of the discovery
of Deir-el-Bahri is to show that at that early
time there was already a trade in plants with
the Greek islands. There was a basket full of
a kind of lichen, Parnelia furfuracea, which
does not grow in Egypt, and which is common
in all the bazaars, where it comes from Greece.
This lichen is called cheba, and is used as leaven
for making Arab bread. It is also very much
employed as medicine in diseases of the chest.
Another product which has very likely the same
origin, and came either from Syria or from

EGYPT
Greece, are the berries of the juniper. In the gar
lands of Amenophis I., the flowers of the car-
thamus had preserved their beautiful red colour.
10. Zoology. — Of old, Egypt was a far more
pastoral country than at present. Cattle were
very abundant, and the Egyptians seem even to
have succeeded in domesticating animals which
are no longer such. They had several kinds of
oxen — we see even in one instance the zebu,
which very likely must have been imported ;
goats and sheep were numerous, and chiefly
antelopes of various descriptions, of which they
had large herds, like the leucoryx, of which they
ate the flesh, and which were sacrificed with
the oxen. As early as the 4th dynasty we find
the swine, but it is rarely represented in the
tombs, very likely on account of its being a
Typhonic animal. In general we cannot argue,
because an animal has not been found repre
sented in the tombs, that it did not exist in the
country. There may have been some religious
idea which prevented its being sculptured or
painted in a funeral picture. For instance, we
never find the camel, although it is several
times mentioned in the papyri of the 19th
dynasty. It is spoken of as an animal that came
from Ethiopia, that was of a very submissive
character and easy to be trained ; a teacher
even gives this animal as an example to a lazy
disciple, a fact which shows that it must have
been familiar to him. The neighbouring nations
of Arabia and Syria had a great number of
camels, and it would be strange if the Egyp
tians should not have known this animal and
made use of it. Abraham coming to Egypt had
camels, and the Ishmaelites who took Joseph
with them had their merchandise carried on
these animals.
The horse is not found in the pictures of the
earlier dynasties, while we find large flocks of
asses. It is likely that the horse was brought
to Egypt fby Syrian or Mesopotamian invaders,
such as the Hyksos. The horse seems to have
particularly thrived in Egypt: the Pharaohs
had a great number of them, and the best
part of their army was formed of chariots.
They had studs which were under the super
vision of high officers, and which they seem to
have valued very much, as we see in the in
scription of Piankhi that it is one of the first
things the conqueror looks after. The result
was that Egypt, which at the beginning was
dependent on Syria for her horses, became on
the contrary the market-place of her eastern
neighbours. Thus it is commanded respecting a
king of Israel : " He shall not multiply horses
to himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses"
(Deut. xvii. 16), which shows that the breed
of the royal studs was in high repute. " Solomon
had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen
yarn: the king's merchants received the linen
yarn at a price. And a chariot came up and
went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of
silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty : and
so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the
kings of Syria, did they bring them out by.
their means " (1 K. x. 28, 29). The number of
horses kept by Solomon for chariots and cavalry
was large (1 K. iv. 26, x. 26; 2 Ch. i. 14,
ix. 25). Some of them came as yearly tributes
from his vassals. Such was the case also for

EGYPT
the kings of the Hittites mentioned above, and
who appear often in the Egyptian inscriptions.
The Kheta (Hittites) were among the fiercest
enemies of the Pharaohs of the 19th dynasty :
their principal arm was a force of chariots
resembling those of the Egyptians. Among the
tributes brought by the Retennu (Syrians) to
the kings of the 18th dynasty we see white
horses. The horse was also used for ploughing.
Dogs were more prized formerly than they
are now, for they are held by the Muslim to be
unclean animals. We can trace on the monu
ments several kinds of dogs of various breeds
and colours : hounds for hunting the gazelle ;
the modern spits ; the mastiff, which was used in
the chase ofthe lion; besides the common watch
dog, which is now seen everywhere in Egypt.
[Doe.] The deserts have always abounded in wild
animals, especially the hyaena, which could be
domesticated, several kinds of jackals and foxes,
and antelopes. The lion was found much
further north than now. The cat was one of
the sacred animals, particularly venerated at
Bubastis. Like the Indian princes of the present
day, the kings and the very wealthy men liked
to have strange animals ; we see that Negroes
brought from Ethiopia giraffes, a kind of leopard
which was used for hunting, besides elephants.
From the land of Punt came a kind of cyno
cephalus, which the inscriptions call kafu, the
D'SIp of Solomon (1 K. *. 22 ; 2 Ch. ix. 21).
The pictures of the tombs very often show
the deceased hunting the hippopotamus, which
is found in the marshes. It was chased with
spears and nooses by men standing on small
boats made of reeds. According to the sculp
tures in the tombs, at a very remote epoch the
hippopotamus was frequent in Lower Egypt.
Tradition said that the first king, Mena, had
been carried off by one of these animals. But if
we consider that we see the chase of the hippo
potamus only in funereal pictures, and that the
same word applies in Egyptian to the wild boar,
we may reasonably suppose that it is a merely
conventional representation. In the text of
the myth of Horus we find that the sacrifice of
a pig commemorated the victory of the god
over Typhon, who had taken the form of a
hippopotamus. There may be something of
the kind in the funereal pictures. In the other
world the deceased chases the huge Typhonic
animal ; while in real life he amused himself
in chasing the wild boar, which must have been
still more abundant than it is now, in the
marshes of the Fayoom. The description of Hero
dotus (ii. 71) would apply much better to the
boar than to the hippopotamus. On the
contrary, in the Book of Job, the poetical de
scription of the behemoth must be understood as
meaning the hippopotamus. [Behemoth.] The
elephant is always represented as a strange
animal ; however, it gave its name to the city
of Elephantine.0 Among the small animals,
which were very numerous iu the country, we
may mention the hare, the porcupine, the ich-

« Tbe name of this city must be understood as
meaning the city of ivory, and not of the elephant.
There ivory was brought by the traders of the Upper
Nile.

EGYPT

869

neumon (which was a sacred animal), the rat,
and about fifteen varieties of bats.
Birds abounded as they do still now ; among
them, the hawk, the vulture, the ibis, the
plover were sacred, as being emblems of di
vinities. The poultry consisted of several kinds
of geese, ducks, pigeons, as well as herons and
cranes. The ordinary fowl does not appear in
the sculptures, although the hieroglyphic sign
for the letter u represents a chicken. The
chase of water-fowl was a very common sport.
Among the reptiles, the crocodile must be
especially mentioned. In the Bible it is usually
called 1*3F|. D)3R, " dragon," a generic word of
almost as wide a signification as " reptile," and it
is used as a symbol of the king of Egypt. Thus
in Ezekiel : " Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh
king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in
the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My
river is mine own, and I have made it for
myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and
I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto
thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the
midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy
rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will
have thee thrown into the wilderness, thee
and all the fish of thy rivers ... I have given
thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to
the fowls of the heaven " (xxix. 3-5). Here
seems to be a retrospect of the Exodus, which
is described with a closer resemblance in.
Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14 : " Thou didst divide the sea
by thy strength : Thou brakest the heads of
the dragons (D'^-iri) in the waters. Thou
brakest the heads of leviathan (jn11!?) in pieces,
and gavest him to be meat to the dwellers in the
wilderness." The last passage is important, as
indicating that whereas J'|0 is the Hebrew gene
ric name for reptiles and whales, |IVl? is the
special name of the crocodile. Its description
in Job (xl., xii.) fully bears out this opinion.
The crocodile was found even in Lower Egypt j
now it has retired to the upper part of the
country, and it is seldom seen below the First
Cataract except near Kom Ombo, the ancient
Ombos, or even as far as Keneh. It was one of
the animals which played a most important
part in religion. In some places, like Apolli-
nopolis (Edfoo), Tentyra (Denderah), Heracle-
opolis (Almas el Medineh), it was considered as
an emblem of Set, who had taken this form in
making war against Horus ; while at Ombos and
Arsinoe it was the object of great reverence ;
it was fed by priests and worshipped as a god.
The reason of this is that the Egyptians attri
buted to the crocodile a certain power in causing
the Nile to rise, and, besides, the crocodile was
also a solar god.
Among the reptiles we must mention the
serpents, which are very numerous. Some of
them are considered dangerous, like the horned
snake or cerastes, which constantly occurs in
the inscriptions as the letter /. The asp is
the sign of royalty ; it adorns all the head
dresses of the kings, and of most of the gods.
As in many other countries, the snake was one
of the animals to which the idea of divinity was
most commonly attached. Being the symbol of
eternity, it was also the emblem of royal power.
Frogs are so numerous that it is not difficult

870

EGYPT

to picture the second plague. There was a
goddess with a frog's head who was connected
with the measure of time, in reference to some
very long period. The tadpole in the hiero
glyphs is the sign for 100,000.
There was abundance of fishes in the lakes
and the canals. Although the fisheries have
greatly fallen away, their produce is still a
common article of food, especially in the north
ern districts near Lake Menzaleh and Lake Ma
reotis. Several of them were sacred,— the oxy-
rhynchus (Mormyrus oxyrhynchus), which gave
its name to one of the nomes of Upper Egypt,
and the latus (Perca latus) which was worshipped
at Latopolis, Esneh ; also the phagros, which is
perhaps an eel, and the lepidotus (Cyprinus
lepidotus). The scorpion is common in the desert and in
the ruins of Upper Egypt; it is much more
dangerous in summer than during the winter
time. It is also the emblem of the goddess Selk
or Serk, who was one of the forms of Isis.
Among the insects the locusts must be men
tioned, which sometimes come upon the culti
vated land in a cloud, and eat every herb, fruit,
and leaf where they alight. They are more
common in Nubia, where they are an article of
food. Flies are one of the permanent plagues of
Egypt, as well as mosquitoes. The fourth plague
(Ex. viii. 21), 210, Kvv6pvia (Sept.), irdppvia
(Hieron.), seems to have been a plague of those
animals ; while the third, D33, aKvitpes, would
rather refer to fleas or lice (Ex. viii. 16 ; Heb. v. 1 1).
11. Ancient Inhabitants. — The old inhabitants,
studied from an anatomical point of view,
appear now with certainty to have belonged to
the Caucasian race, and to the branch of the
Noachian family which is called Hamite or
sometimes Cushite. The great number of their
mummies which have been preserved, and
also the very clear and instructive represen
tations which they have left, show that in their
corporal structure they had none of the charac
ters of the Negro race ; they had neither the
protruding lower jaw, the so-called prognathism,
nor the flat nose, nor the sloping forehead. The
hair was long and flaxy, add the stature does
not show the common feature of the Negro races,
the pelvis projecting backwards and forming an
angle with the spinal cord. The Caucasian
character of their type is most visible in the
skulls which belong to the mummies of the Old
Empire. This natural kinship with the Semitic
andlndo-Germanic races compels us to admit that
their cradle must have been somewhere in West
ern Asia, very likely in Mesopotamia, and that
from thence they migrated to the valley of the
Nile and settled there. The question is, whether
they came through the Isthmus of Suez, or
whether, like other Cushite nations, they
crossed over from Arabia, and following the
course of the Nile reached Egypt proper. This
point is very much discussed among Egyptolo
gists, who generally admit that the migrations
of the Egyptians must have been from the North
through the Isthmus of Suez, considering that
the oldest monuments are those of the neigh
bourhood of Memphis, and that in the Upper
Nile and in Meroe we find nothing but monu
ments of very late date. However, the tra
ditions of the old Egyptians seemed to point

EGYPT
to the land called Toneter, the divine land, as
their birthplace. Toneter and Punt (Phut) are
two names intimately connected, the site of
which must be looked for on the African coast in
the land of the Somalis and on the opposite side
of the strait in Southern Arabia. They would
thus have come over through Arabia with all
the other Cushite nations, and followed the
same track. It must be remarked that the Egyp
tians in their orientation turn to the South, and
that the South is always mentioned before the
North. The tradition was that Mena, the first
king, had started from This in Upper Egypt,
and founded Memphis, thus pushing farther
north than had been done before him. It seems
natural to admit that he only yielded to the
impulse which had been given by former genera
tions, which had migrated from the South to
the North, following the course of the Nile.
The Egyptians, a Hamite race, are thus quite
distinct from the Negroes and other African
races, while they are closely connected with the
Cushites, to whom, according to the latest
researches, belong very likely the Phoenicians,
the Kefa of the inscriptions. It is extraordinary
that, although the conquests of the Egyptians
extended very far, from the Upper Nile to the
north of Syria, they never spread as a population
outside of Egypt proper. They remained con
fined between the First Cataract and the Mediter
ranean. Immediately above Elephantine began
the Negroes of Uaua, who were at times
subject to the Pharaohs, but only at intervals,
and who never were amalgamated with the
Egyptians. The same may be said in regard
to the populations of the desert of Sinai,
who were in constant contact with the
Egyptians. The Egyptians must have had
a very strongly marked individual character,
which was derived perhaps from their religious
ideas, perhaps also from the peculiar circum
stances in which their country was placed, and
which gave them customs quite different from
those of other nations. They were suspicious
towards strangers, except those who could be
reduced to slavery. For example, the Cushites
are often called "the vile Rush," or the Hittites
" the vile Kheta," while the Negro is praised for
his submissive character.
Like all other Eastern nations, they used their
prisoners as slaves, who very likely were not
treated more cruelly than the inhabitants of the
country subject to forced labour. While every
thing connected with the Egyptian religion is
most strongly condemned in the Bible, the
Israelites do not seem to have had a. particular
antipathy towards the Egyptians, for they gave
them the privilege of admission into the con
gregation in the third generation (Deut. xxiii. 8),
while the Ammonites and the Moabites were
absolutely excluded.
12. Language ; -Writing. — The language ofthe
Egyptians is known to us from a very early
period. The inscriptions in the Pyramids and
on some statues are the first remains of it. It
may be said that from the beginning until the
Roman time, during a period which lasted
more than four thousand years, there has been
little change in the language, considering the
immense duration of the Egyptian empire. Of
course there has been some alteration: the
language of the scribes of the 19th dynasty is

EGYPT
not identical with that of the hymns or prayers
which are engraved in the Pyramids ; the Book
of the Dead, which can be traced to a very early
date, contains many grammatical forms which
were obsolete in the New Empire and under the
Ptolemies. However, the general features of
the language are the same.
The language is agglutinative, with biliteral
roots, which become first quadriliteral by redup
lication, then triliteral by the fall of one of the
letters. It has in common with the Semitic and
Indo-Germanic branches the distinction of gen
ders, which does not exist in African languages ;
besides, there are some affinities with the Semitic
idioms in the personal pronouns and in the
numerals. Many more likenesses with the
Semitic languages might be traced, chiefly in
the roots and the words ; but they must be con
sidered as importations coming from the inter
course of the Egyptians with the Semites, which
followed the Hyksos period. Very few are
found in the old language.
The other languages which with the Egyptian
constitute the Hamitic branch are the Libvan or
Berber languages, such as the Tuareg and the
Tamashek, and the languages spoken in some
parts of Soodan and Abyssinia, the Bedja, the
Soho, the Galla, the Somali, to which Dr.
Lepsius adds the Hottentot in South Africa
(Lepsius, Nub. Gram. p. xvii. ; Hommel, Die
vorsem. Cidturen, p. 92).
The writing was hieroglyphical ; it is inter
esting because it is transitional, between the pure
picture-writing, or ideographic, and the pho
netic. It may be said that the Egyptians were
the inventors of phonetic writing, as they have
signs corresponding to a definite sound quite
irrespective of the object which the sign repre
sents. Thus an eagle is a, an owl m. It was
through these signs that Champollion succeeded
in deciphering two proper names which gave
him the key to the rest of the alphabet. The
Egyptians could never free themselves from the
old tradition of the picture-writing. A sentence
is never written in phonetic signs only ; it is a
mixture of the three kinds of signs : the ideo
graphic, the syllabic, and the phonetic. From
the ideographic they passed to the syllabic, a
sign being used for the same sound irrespective
of the object it represents. The ideographic is
generally used as determinative, as a kind of
explanatory picture added to the word which is
written with syllabic or phonetic signs. From
the beginning we find this threefold writing. In
the old language, for instance in the inscriptions
of the Pyramids, there are no more ideographic
signs than subsequently ; the phonetic alphabet
is used as frequently as at another epoch. The
result of the existence of these three kinds of
signs is that in Egyptian there is no orthography
in the sense which we give to that word. There
is not one single spelling for a word ; it can be
written in many ways according to the space, or
the material, or the fancy of the scribe.
We must bear in mind that hieroglyphical
writing has also an ornamental character. In
stone monuments the inscription is the necessary
accompaniment of the sculpture ; it is part of a
picture, and therefore it must follow the rules
of elegance and taste. That is why we often
find inscriptions written from left to right,
while the usual way is the contrary.

EGYPT

871

Hiero

glyphical writing being difficult and slow, tho
Egyptians employed for the common use a short
hand, which is called by the quite inadequate
name of " hieratic." There is a hieratic sign
corresponding to each hieroglyph. We find
hieratic texts already in the Old Empire. A
farther simplification is the demotic, which goes
parallel with a modification in the language.
We have no demotic text earlier than the 22nd
dynasty. There the signs very much deviate
from the original hieroglyph, and are often
difficult to recognise ; but there are still the
three kinds of signs. It is curious that the
desire to simplify affected only the drawing of
the sign itself, and never induced the Egyptians
to adopt a purely phonetic alphabet of which
they had the elements. To the last they ad
hered to the rather cumbrous system cf three
kinds of signs, including determinatives, until
they rejected their writing entirely and adopted
the Greek letters with four additional signs, i.e.
the Coptic alphabet. Then the language was
very much altered, chiefly under the influence
of Greek, which was the common language in
the cities. The Coptic is still the sacred lan
guage of the Copts, who read their prayers
without understanding the meaning, unless they
have the Arabic text by the side. It seems to
have ceased to be spoken only at the end of the
last century.
The pure hieroglyphs were used only for
monumental inscriptions and for sacred texts,
like the Book of the Dead. Owing to the
monumental character of this writing, it has
gone through the same phases as the architec
ture. The affected taste of the Ptolemies, the
pompous style of the time, is felt even in the
engraving of the Egyptian scribes. A great many
new signs were adopted, and increased in number
under the Romans. Nothing is more difficult to
decipher than the enigmatic inscriptions of the
late Ptolemies or of the emperors.
13. Beligion. — The religion ofthe ancientEgyp-
tians has often been viewed in a very false light,
owing to the prejudiced ideas with which it has
been studied. The fault rests first with the
Greeks, who translated in»- their own language
the names of a certain number of Egyptian gods,
giving thus an utterly wrong idea of their
nature and their attributes. It is quite certain
that there are some likenesses between Zeus,
Dionysos, and their Egyptian substitutes Amon
and Osiris ; but there is a fundamental difference
between the Hellenic and the Egyptian gods. It
is equally erroneous to reconstitute the Egyptian
religion from the works of the Gnostic philo
sophers, or even from the late Alexandrine
writings, like the Orphic hymns or "Hermes
Trismegistos." Whether in some of them a
Christian influence is recognisable or not, it is
certain that these writings belong to an epoch
where metaphysical speculation had taken a
development which is quite unknown in ancient
Egypt; and in adopting the interpretation of
these late philosophers, we attribute to the
early priests a mode of thought which they very
likely never had.
The Egyptian religion is not a system well co
ordinated in all its parts, and in which every
element has its definite place, nor can it be
considered as having been immutable during
the 4,000 years that the Egyptian empire lastedi

872

EGYPT

It certainly underwent some alterations, al
though on the whole, like the language, it
remained very similar in itself in proportion to
its immense duration. Religious inscriptions
are innumerable : they constitute the great bulk
of the texts which have come down to us ; and
at first sight the mass presents itself as a
confused and perplexing mixture of ideas which
are sometimes contradictory, sometimes remark
ably simple and beautiful, sometimes on the
contrary childish and even ridiculous. However,
in spite of the difficulty of discovering the way
in which abstract ideas were expressed, and of
penetrating the sense of a fantastical and wild
symbolism, there are now some well-established
facts which give us a general idea of what the
religion was.
It is, of course, the doctrine of the priests
which must be examined. Popular religion was
very much alike everywhere ; it was the worship
of the local god, to whom, more or less, all the
attributes of the deity were given. Looking at
the texts of the Pyramids or the inscriptions
of the tombs of the kings, or the Book of the
Dead, we find that the religion of the Egyptians
was pre-eminently a worship of nature and its
leading manifestations. The chief god was the
god Tum Khepra, also called Ra, who was con
sidered as born from water, and who gave birth
himself to his limbs, which were gods. The
cosmogonic cycle of gods was composed of nine
divinities, the gods of Heliopolis, the city
which was said to be the most ancient in
the whole land. These gods were Ra Tum
Khepra, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Isis,
Nephthys, and Horus. All manifestations of
nature, all the natural forces were gods, but were
not separated from the Creator, and were part of
him. This idea is very unlike what we call
monotheism, although there is in fact but one
god from whom everything originates. It
would rather correspond to what we call pan
theism. Besides this general substratum of
religion, there is the local element, which has a
considerable influence. Each large locality or
city had its peculiar god : Phtah was the god of
Memphis, Neith of Sais, Bast of Bubastis, Amon
of Thebes, Khnum of Elephantine, Hathor of
Denderah, Horus of Edfoo, Khem of Panopolis,
Isis of Philae, Osiris of Abydos. Each of those
divinities was considered as the chief god, was
adorned with the attributes of the Creator, so that
the Egyptian pantheon is composed of gods who
differ in name, but are very much alike in their
nature. Especially they were identified with
the elements which are most beneficial, — the sun,
the earth, and the water. It would thus be
wrong to give to one of these gods, like Amon,
the pre-eminence over the others,— it might
just as well be done for Horus of Edfoo, — except
as regards the cycle ofthe nine gods of Heliopolis,
who seem to have been the most anciently
worshipped, and who are the cosmic gods of the
Book of the Dead, which was venerated in all
Egypt. In the relation of the gods to mankind there
are some ideas which seem to contradict the
system of the cosmic gods. The great god of
the Lower World is Osiris, who, sitting on a
throne in a sanctuary called, like the temple of
Heliopolis, " the great abode," presides over a
court of justice in which he is assisted by four

EGYPT
judges, and where forty-two witnesses are suc
cessively appealed to by the deceased, who declares
that he has not committed one particular sin.
Then the heart of the deceased is weighed against
the goddess of truth and justice; and if the
weight is exactly equal, he is called "justified."
This most interesting scene is part of what is
called the Book of the Dead, and in the negative
confession of the deceased we find the expression
of the highest moral commands. This strong
feeling of the responsibility of man, and the-
character which is here given to Osiris, do not
agree with the indifference to good and evil
which is the necessary consequence of pantheistic
doctrine. As regards the fate of the soul after death,
the ideas of the Egyptians are very vague. The
Book of the Dead does not give us one definite
line which each soul has to follow ; it teaches us
all that may befall the soul of the deceased, all
the forms it may assume, all the gates it may
pass, without its being compelled to do so.
Sometimes also it seems to be merged in the one
all-comprising god. One thing is certain, the
body was not to be destroyed ; it must be
preserved by all means and reconstituted in all
its vital parts in the Ament ; the body must not
decay. That is the reason why they embalmed
the corpses with such care, and why the kings
shrunk from no expense and difficulties, and
built pyramids or excavated long galleries in
the mountains in order to be certain that their
burial-places would not be violated.
The worship of the forces and manifestations
of nature led the Egyptians to adopt as symbols
the figures of animals. The hawk was the
representative of Horus, the ibis of Thoth, the
ram of Amon. Two sacred bulls, Apis and
Mnevis, were worshipped, — one at Memphis, the
other at Heliopolis ; the latter, as it was of yellow
colour, probably was the animal that gave to
the Israelites the idea of the golden calf. The
adoration of animals must have been to the
Hebrew legislator the most offensive feature of
the Egyptian religion ; and in the detailed pro
hibitions of the second commandment to make
" any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is
in the water under the earth," Moses seems to
have remembered those countless representations
of hawks, ibises, bulls, rams, and crocodiles
which he and his countrymen had seen so often,
and to have warned the Israelites against such
a profanation. A few foreign divinities were admitted in the
Egyptian pantheon. Set or Baal, the god of
the Hyksos, remained after the invaders had
been expelled ; Ramses II. associated him with
Amon in the temples of Tanls and Bubastis, and
was one of his most faithful worshippers. Asto-
reth (Astarte) was worshipped at Memphis.
Her foreign origin is proved by her being repre
sented on a chariot, while the Egyptian gods
travel by boat.
The mystical turn of mind of the Egyptians,
their strange symbolism, which was not under
stood by the Greeks, caused their religion to
degenerate. Under the Romans the Egyptian
priests fell into disrepute for their gross super
stitions and their magical practices.
14. Laws. — We have only very imperfect
accounts of the laws of the Egyptians during

EGYPT
the Old and Middle Empire, and even under the
great Theban dynasties. However, from a
certain number of papyri which contain records
of suits of law either civil or criminal, we
may infer that there were very definite laws,
and that the organisation of justice was very
high and dated from a very early epoch.
Among the titles of the deceased in the tombs of
the Old Empire, we find some which evidently
indicatemagistrates; for instance, what is called
the royal thirtg, which must have been a court
of law, and the title of the arch-judge, who,
according to Diodorus, wore around his neck a
chain from which hung the image of the god
dess Ma (Truth and Justice).
The most interesting trials of which records
have been preserved, belong to the reign of
Ramses III. and Ramses IX. One is a trial for
high treason which had taken place in the
palace of the king himself, and where the king
seems to delegate to the court the prerogative
which he possessed of condemning the culprits.
The other document is the inquest which takes
place on the state of the royal tombs at Thebes,
which had been violated by thieves, and where
the guiltiness of the accused not being proved
they were acquitted. From these and from other
documents of the same kind we may see that
generally a suit of law was introduced by the
plaintiff, who handed his grievance in writing to
the governor ; then the court was assembled,
which was composed of priests and several
high officers. The debates were public and
verbal, each party speaking in turn. The court
pronounced only the verdict for or against the
plaintiff, and the right of passing the sentence
belonged to the king. It must be admitted
that this right was only exercised by the king
in important cases, or before the high court,
which, according to the Greek authors, was
composed of thirty judges, ten from each of
the greatest cities — Thebes, Memphis, and Helio
polis.
'. Capital punishment was often applied, but
'sometimes in the form (which is still used in
some Eastern countries) of compelling the con
demned to commit suicide. Bastinado was the
most common of corporal punishments applied to
both sexes; a much more severe one was the
cutting off of the nose and ears. Torture was
also applied in order to extort an avowal from
the accused.
Very much information has been acquired by
tbe translation of the demotic contracts of late
epoch; of which there is a great number in
the various museums. We have thus obtained
an insight into the civil law of the Egyptians,
which, under the last Pharaohs and the Ptole
mies, was most precise and definite. The stipu
lations concerning the sale of land, . mortgage,
inheritance, the rights of the wife and children,
show that there was a code of laws which
certainly was the result of very old traditions
and of a time when the state of the country
was settled and peaceful.
The judges were chiefly priests : among the
lists of members of the courts we find men who
were merely civil officers ; nevertheless it is
likely that the priestly order, the most powerful
in the state, furnished the greatest number of
judges. Crimes of impiety were looked at with
abhorrence, even- by the population; and de-

EGYPT

87;.

stroyers of temples, like the stranger Cambyses,
were always the objects of popular hatred.
15. Government. — The government was mon
archical, but limited by laws and customs,
which originated from the fact that the king was
the first priest and the head of all that was" con
nected with religion. The right of succession
was by inheritance. Queens were not excluded
from occupying the throne, and some of them
were very powerful and warlike. Though the
king did not belong to the priestly order, he was
initiated in their knowledge and their mysteries,
and he is considered as performing himself all
the important acts concerning the worship of
the gods. On the countless sculptures which
adorn the walls of the temples he is always
represented and named as doing what must
have been the duty of the priests. The Greek
authors, and specially Diodorus, speak in the
most laudatory terms of what we should call
the constitution, of the way in which the rights
and duties of the kings were determined, of the
laws which limited his power, and of the educa
tion which was given to the heir to the throne.
Considering the advanced state of civilisation
which the Egyptians reached at » very early
epoch, we must admit that the royal power in
Egypt was very different from the dominion of
the barbarous tyrants who ruled over African
or most of the Asiatic nations. The court of
Egypt may well be compared -to the court of
Persia, which also excited the admiration of the
Greeks. That there were really some of these
sovereigns who cared for the welfare and pro
sperity of their subjects, is proved by the tra
ditions which have been preserved by Manetho
concerning several of them, and also by two
Egyptian books which are instructions to royal
princes. One of them is the so-called Papyrus
Prisse, written by the son of king Assa, con
taining a moral teaching similar to the Proverbs
of Solomon, and in which the conditions of real
greatness, the duties of man towards his
neighbour, of a son towards his father, are
expounded in simple words which indicate a
very high standard of morality. The other
one, which has been preserved by a scribe
of the 20th dynasty, is called the teaching of
Amenemha I. to his son Usertesen I. (12th
dynasty). The reigning father gives advice to
his son on his duties when he will ascend the
throne. Even at the time when Joseph was
raised to his high position, when the Hyksos
kings were reigning, it is easy to see that the
king felt some limitation to his power. Not
only did he not dare to monopolise the land of
the priests as he did in the case of the rest of
the people, but he would not defy the prejudice
of his subjects against shepherds, a prejudice
which arose not so much from the profession
in itself as from the fact that it was that of
the invaders who had conquered the land.
It is quite a wrong idea to imagine that there
were in Egypt hereditary castes. It is certain
that high employments were often monopolised
by families who very likely enjoyed the favour
of a king or of a dynasty. But a priest might
be at the, same time a general or a civil officer,
and we do not see those insuperable barriers
between the professions which are found in India.
16. Foreign Policy. — The foreign policy of
the Egyptians has generally been considered as

874

EGYPT

being marked by extreme exclusiveness and by a
great reluctance to admit foreigners into Egypt.
The Egyptians, like all other nations ,of anti
quity, considered the strangers more or less
as barbarians; and this idea, which is derived
chiefly from a religious feeling, had a kind of
justification as long as they had as neighbours
only nations which stood very far behind them
in civilisation. They seem to have admitted
strangers in Egypt whenever they found that
they "could employ them to their own ad
vantage. The kings of the first six dynasties waged war
chiefly with the inhabitants of the Sinaitic
peninsula, which they held under their rule;
but from the end of the 11th, and during the
12th and the 13th dynasties, we see the efforts
of the Pharaohs directed against the southern
countries, the Negroes and the Cushite popu
lations. Many inscriptions indicate that those
nations were considered as subjects, and very
likely reduced to slavery; however, when we
find at Tanis a prince of the 13th dynasty called
the Negro, and also a king of the Papyrus of
Turin bearing the same name, it shows that the
strangers had acquired in Egypt a certain in
fluence. Under the 12th and the 13th dynasties
the country seems to have been more accessible
to the admission of foreign elements than earlier.
At this time we find the first intercourse with
the Mat'aiou, a Libyan nation out of which the
Pharaohs of the great dynasties recruited a
foreign police. Then also we see the peaceful
invasion of the Shemites, or, according to some
authors, of the semitising Khamites who settled
in the eastern part of the Delta, the Amu
Bovk6Xoi, the forerunners of the Hyksos, who
were to conquer the whole land.
When Egypt had been liberated from her
foreign rulers, there began the long war with the
nations of Palestine, Syria, and the upper part
of Mesopotamia. The Semitic element had not
disappeared from the country with the Hyksos.
Not only did a great part of the Semitic popula
tion remain in the Eastern Delta, but their
influence was felt very strongly in many re
spects. We have spoken before of the introduc
tion of horses and of chariots. The worship of
Baal remained at Tanis, and even in the language
there are many Semitic words which are em
ployed rather than the corresponding Egyptian,
as if it had been fashionable to choose the Semitic
rather than the vernacular. The conquests of
the Pharaohs in Syria did not last longer than
the lives of the conquerors ; they had no in
fluence on the conquered nations, and except
a few inscriptions no trace remained of the
passage of the Egyptians, who exacted tribute
from their vassals, but did not attempt to
press upon them their civilisation. There is
one nation for which the Egyptians seem to
have had more respect than for any others,
the Hittites or Kheta. In spite of their being
always called "the vile Kheta," Ramses II. must
have found that they were rivals worthy of him,
and that it had cost him great difficulty to
beat them, as he made a treaty of peace in
which both nations are on the same footing, and
which is the first diplomatic document of which
we know. In this treaty we find a positive
alliance between the two nations, which are to
help each other in case of attack ; besides, there

EGYPT
are clauses of extradition of fugitive criminals,
and a kind of protection of industry, for it is
stipulated that clever workmen coming from
Egypt will not be allowed to settle in the land
of the Kheta, but will be sent back, and the re
ciprocal clause. Another proof of the respect
which Ramses II. had for the Kheta is the fact
of his marrying the king's daughter.
Of the relations of the Egyptians to the
Israelites, the first we know of is the arrival of
Abraham in the reign of a Hyksos king, who re
ceived him just as one of his followers, Apepi,
was to receive Jacob. The revolution which took
place at the beginning ofthe 17th dynasty, and
the return to power of the native line,
greatly altered the feeling of the Egyptians
towards the foreign settlers, who were then con
sidered as prisoners of war and treated as such.
The anarchy which prevailed in Egypt at the
end of the 19th dynasty, and the weakness of
most of the rulers of the 20th, prevented them
from doing anything against the Israelites ; and
later still, when the kingdom of Israel had risen
to a great power, one of the kings of the
21st dynasty, very likely a Tanite, gave his
daughter to Solomon. The expedition of Shishak
in Palestine may be considered as the last of
those great conquering campaigns in Syria of
which there had been so many in the 18th and
the 19th dynasties. After that time Egyptians
and Hebrews were natural allies against the
Assyrians and Babylonians. It was this rea
sonable policy which Necho advocated in his
message to Josiah. As to Zerah, who is said to
have been beaten . by Asa, he may have been one
of the Osorkons, or he may perhaps have been
one of the Ethiopian chiefs who at that time
began already to invade Egypt. The history of
Jeremiah shows how the Jews were accustomed
to look to Egypt for support and to take refuge
there. With respect to the African nations, the Lib
yans, the Mashuash (Maxyes), and the Mat'aiou
were very early employed by the Egyptians as
gendarmerie, and also as mercenaries ; they had
likewise some Negro troops. The chiefs of these
mercenaries succeeded sometimes in usurping
the kingly power. The dynasty of Shishak and
of the Bubastite kings very likely attained to the
throne by the help of their foreign mercenaries.
Generally we may consider that the Negroes
were subject to predatory attacks, like the slave-
hunts of modern times. The Negroes were liked
as slaves ; they are spoken of as the " good
Negroes ; " they were diligent and attentive in
their work.
The Greeks and the other nations of the Medi
terranean, which had been kept out because
several times the Pharaohs, like Menephtah and
Ramses III., had had to repel their invasions,
were not only admitted, but called in by Psam-
metik and the kings of the 26th dynasty, who
put an end to the Dodecarchy, and who' made
great use of them in their wars. From that
time the foreign soldiery is an important element
in the history of Egypt. The native population
was exhausted, and had not sufficient energy to
resist foreign invaders. They depended on their
mercenaries for their defence, and their indepen
dence was in the hands of those troops. They
could not resist the Persians, and after them
they easily submitted to the Macedonians.

EGYPT
17. Army. — The Egyptians do not seem to have
been from the first a very warlike people ; they
were rather engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Their first kings were not great conquerors, and
except Pepi, who fought against the Sinaites,
we do not see records of great wars at this
early period. The army was then also in a
much more elementary state than later, and
very likely much less trained and disciplined
than under the great Theban dynasties. How-

EGYPT

875

ever, even under the 6th dynasty they had
already African mercenaries from different Negro
races. The fact of their having to fight only
barbarians like the Negroes did not develop their
military skill, and it is perhaps the reason why
they were such an easy prey to the Hyksos
invaders. With the beginning of the 18th
dynasty we see a complete change in this re
spect. The horse and the chariot become an
important element in the warfare. Then we

Phalanx of heavy infantry. (Wilkinson.)

see well-disciplined troops uniformly armed
and divided into various regiments or bodies.
Chariots and cavalry were the rapid part of the
army. Though we hardly see any representation
of horsemen inthe battle-scenes, it is likely that
there were some. But the chariots were far

more important. It was the way in which the
king fought. Each car carried two men, the
charioteer and the warrior, who generally was
an archer.

The infantry consisted of several kinds of
troops. The spearmen had a large shield and
a spear, and also a kind of falchion. The archers
had, beside their bow, a hatchet or a kind of
curved stick, which is still used by African
nations. Slingers are seen on the boats in a
naval fight. Pole-axes and maces are also
common weapons. Even at the time of their
great conquests the Egyptians had mercenaries :
the Shartana, who wore a metal helmet and a

876

EGYPT

short dagger, the Mashuash (Maxyes), and the
Kahek, another Libyan tribe. Not only could
these troops fight pitched battles, but they
knew to a certain degree the art of making
ieges. We see on some sculptures the capture

EGYPT
of very strongly fortified cities of Syria, which
could only be taken by a regular siege.
The description which Scripture gives of the
army of Shishak corresponds to the variety of
foreign troops which are often found in an

Egyptian army (2 Ch. xii. 2): "It came to pass
that in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, Shishak,
king of, Egypt, came up against Jerusalem . . .
with twelve hundred chariots and threescore
thousand horsemen, and the people were without

number that came with him out of Egypt : the
Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians."
Here the Septuagint translates the word Suk
kiim Troglodytes. We have no reason to contest
this translation ; we should thus have mention

EGYPT
of three kinds of African mercenaries — the
Libyans, the Troglodytes, and the Ethiopians.
It is curious to find such a very large cavalry,

EGYPT

877

which does not appear in the Egyptian pictures.
They may have been the Libyans, something
like the Numidian cavalry."1

Shartana. Toirsha. TJashasha.
Foreign troops. (Wilkinson.)

18. Domestic Life. — The sculptures and paint
ings of the tombs give us a very full insight into
the domestic life of the ancient Egyptians, as may
be seen in Sir Gardner Wilkinson's great work.
One of the most striking features is the high
position occupied by women ; it is not rare in
the funeral pictures to see them represented
near their husbands : the wife is called " the
lady of the house," " a palm of loveliness,"
"beloved by her husband." Monogamy seems
to have been the rule ; polygamy, however, was
not forbidden, nor marriage between brother and
sister, which may perhaps be traced to the early
tradition of "endogamy," the marriage within
the family. It is certain that polygamy was
very common with the kings.
As to their general manner of life it is that
of a highly civilised people, whose pursuits
and occupations were essentially agricultural.
The occupations of the upper classes, indepen
dently of the employments, which must have
been very numerous, either in the administra
tion of the country or in everything which con
cerned religion, consisted in the superintendence
of their fields and gardens. The Egyptians
were of a cheerful and rather careless nature,
and were very fond of amusements of all kinds.
Their tum of mind seems to have been rather
witty ; they liked caricatures ; and in the dia
logues of workmen which we often meet with,
there are jokes of the same kind as one would
hear now in a gang of fellah-labourers. They
were fond of banqueting, and their parties were
very merry and distinguished by great luxury.
Women sat with men ; they were attended by
female slaves, who brought them the dishes and
cups of wine and flowers in abundance, especially
the lotus, very much liked because of its good
perfume. Dancing girls would come to amuse the
guests, accompanied by players on the flute and
tambourine, and women clapping their hands.
They were -fond of music: the flute, the " dara-
' the harp, and several kinds of guitars

were their instruments. They had many games :
draughts, which men and women would play
together, dice, and another called "the vase."
Besides, they liked gymnastics, and one of their
entertainments was to see women juggling, or
performing feats of agility.
All this was in the greatest possible contrast
with the mode of life of the Israelites, who
were from the first a pastoral people (2 K. xiii.
5). Joseph's brethren must have felt very
much as strangers in his company and amidst
his Egyptian attendants, and this explains the
distance which Joseph is obliged to keep between
them and the Egyptians when he admits them to
eat in his presence.
The funeral ceremonies were an important
part of the Egyptian life. A considerable
number of priests and workmen were occupied
in the embalming of the body, which took a
long time, and had to be done carefully. This
custom, which continued to a very late period,
originated in the religious idea above mentioned
(p. 872) : the body was to be preserved from
corruption. The ceremonies accompanying the
funeral were of various kinds : there was a
procession in which the mummy lying on a
sledge was drawn by cows, while the mourners
followed, and priests read prayers and burnt
frankincense. The mourning lasted seventy-two
days. Jacob and Joseph, according to Scripture,
were treated in that respect exactly as if they
had been born Egyptians.
d It is through sacred aud profane writers that we
know of the existence of Egyptian cavalry. In the case
of Shishak's army, horsemen are clearly indicated by
the uBe of tbe word E^")3, which is a riding-horse, while
chariot-horses are CD-ID- It is a question whether
cavalry was employed independently or only in con
junction with the chariots which had the main work to
do. This conjunction would explain their not being
represented on the battle-scenes, and also the fact that
the Q't^lS are generally mentioned after the chariots.

878

EGYPT

19. Literature and Art. — In the Egyptian
language there is what we call a literature, a
collection of works of various descriptions,
some of which date from the remotest origin.
There is the religious literature, which is pre
served both by stone monuments and by papyri,
besides all other works contained in the nu
merous papyri which are deposited in the
museums. The Egyptians and their sovereigns
were a very literary nation ; they were the first
to have what the Assyrians had also after them,
libraries, which were preserved in the temples.
In the temple called the Ramesseum, and which
Diodorus describes as the tomb of Osymandyas,
there is a hall, part of which is still extant,
which is consecrated to Thoth and Safekh, " the
lady of the house of books," and which is clearly
the library which Diodorus mentions. In the
Ptolemaic temples we also find the library, and
the inscriptions on its walls show the catalogue
of the books it contained.
Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom, lib. vi. p. 286)
gives us very important information on what
he calls the Hermetic books of the Egyptians,
the books attributed to the god Thoth, sacred
books. They did not cover the whole extent of
the Egyptian literature, but they must have
comprised a large part of it. Most of them
have been lost, but there are some works which
we may consider as being part of the forty-two
Hermetic books : they were, first, the two books
of the chants, of which one contained songs in
honour of the gods, the second a description of
royal life and its duties. The next class com
prised the four astronomical books of the Horo-
scopus ; then came the ten books of the hiero-
grammatist, some of which referred to the art
of writing, others to the geography of Egypt,
the course of the Nile ; and then the description
of the properties of the temples. The great
Harris Papyrus, giving detailed accounts of the
donations of king Ramses III. to the chief
temples of Egypt, would undoubtedly belong to
the last class. Then came the ten books of the
Stolistes, devoted to all the ordinances concern
ing religious worship. It is likely that long
inscriptions found in the temples of Abydos, or
more frequently in the Ptolemaic temples, and
giving ritualistic prescriptions, are derived from
the books of the Stolistes. Then came the
sacred books par excellence, the books of the
prophet, also ten in number, which contained
the laws and everything concerning the gods
and the education of the priests. It is to this
class that belongs the most important religious
work we know, the Book of the Dead. The last
six books contained treatises on medical science,
an art which was very popular in Egypt.
Manetho says that the second king of Egypt,
Athothis, practised medicine and wrote books on
anatomy. The same is said of a king of the 3rd
dynasty. And in fact in the medical papyri,
the largest of which is the Ebers Papyrus, we
find that parts of the book are attributed to
very early kings.
The Book of the Dead, of which a great
number of copies have been preserved, is a col
lection of hymns and prayers, which are con
sidered as being pronounced by the deceased.
They describe all that may happen to the soul
after it has been separated from the body. This
book is not a whole ; it is a mere collection ; but

EGYPT
it was usual to put at least part of it near the
mummies in the coffins. Therefore the papyri
differ very much in length. The first publication
of it was made by Lepsius from a copy preserved
at the Museum of Turin, which probably belongs
to the early Ptolemies.
Besides the religious books, we have papyri on
mathematics and on moral teaching ; descriptions
of travels ; descriptions of the different conditions
of men ; various tales, some of them very old,
relating the life of adventurers, the tale of a
doomed prince, and the famous tale of the Two
Brothers. Magical books are frequent: corre
spondences between a teacher and his disciple, in
which generally the teacher endeavours to per
suade his pupil of the great advantage of learn
ing ; besides what is called poems, without our
being certain that they were poetry. A work
like the poem of Pentaur, celebrating the cam
paign of Ramses II. against the Kheta, is
certainly written in a poetical style. But the
laws of the verse have not yet been recognised.
If there were real poetry, it consisted in some
thing like the Hebrew verse, in parallel sentences.
It is a great misfortune that we have lost all
historical books of the Egyptians, except one list
of kings, of which only a few fragments can be
used, owing to the very bad state of the
papyrus. The great interest which attaches to Egyptian
art is derived from several circumstances. It is
perhaps the oldest we know. It had reached
a high point of perfection when all around there
was nothing but nations which could justly be
called barbarians. It had grown ont of itself ;
there was no borrowing of foreign elements, for
they did not exist. We do not know how long
it took what we may call the prehistoric Egyp
tians to reach the state of civilisation indi
cated by the tombs near the Pyramids and by
those monuments themselves ; but we may be
certain that this was the result of the artistic
sense developing itself gradually, interpreting
nature without any external influence: every
thing is indigenous, and has sprung up in the
valley of the Nile, which was for such a long
time like a well-built house surrounded by huts
of savage barbarians.
The foundation of the Egyptian art being
religion, architecture has had by far the pre
eminence over sculpture and painting. The
temple was the abode of the god, and on it the
kings have lavished their treasures and the
labour of their subjects. The remarkably good
stones which are found everywhere in the
valley of the Nile favoured the ' special gift of
the Egyptians for building; the colossal and
magnificent buildings which they raised are
still the admiration of travellers. They invented
the column and the architrave, in which the
imitation of nature and of the vegetable kingdom
is easily to be recognised.
On the other hand, they raised the Pyramids,
specially destined to protect the body which
each contained, and the construction of which
implies an advanced knowledge of mathematics
and even of mechanics.
The architect was a man of high position, wiule
the sculptor and the painter were only work
men. Their arts were only the accompaniment
of architecture, and, though they attained a high
degree of beauty, they never extricated them-

selves entirely from the conditions which recall
their original purpose. The characteristics of
sculpture and painting are remarkable skill in
the portrait, in the reproduction of the features
which distinguish the individual, and at the same
time great purity in line and great boldness in
drawing. The harmony of colour is quite re
markable. Nevertheless there remains a con
ventional style and certain characteristics of an
art still in its infancy. The complete indepen
dence of the sculptor, coupled with great ability
in handling the stone or the metal, was only
attained by the Greek sculptor. However,
Egyptian art was very much admired in
antiquity, and the Phoenicians made very
many imitations of works of art as well in
Egyptian as in Assyrian style, and sold them in
their colonies in the Mediterranean.
The Hebrews, who were a pastoral people,
had not much propensity for art, not even for
architecture; besides, the second commandment
did not allow sculpture to develop itself among
them. In that respect they borrowed little from
Egypt, except perhaps some details in the con
struction of the Tabernacle and the Ark, like the
cherubs. Their first great monument was the
temple of Solomon. It is difficult to know what
in that building came from Egypt, or what was
due to the Phoenicians, to whose skill they
appealed. 20. Magicians. — We find frequent reference in
the Bible to the magicians of Egypt, and to the
interpreters of dreams (Gen. xii. 8). Visions at
night were considered as a way in which the
gods spoke to men. We have several accounts of
dreams in the inscriptions: for instance, Har-
machis, the god of the great sphinx, appears to
king Thothmes U. during his sleep, and orders
him to repair his monument near the Pyramids ;
the king of the Exodus, Menephtah, when
threatened by an invasion from nations of the
Mediterranean, is warned by the god Phtah not
to take part himself in the battle.
Generally magic was not separated from
medicine. There was a wide-spread belief in
spells, in the magic power of certain words ; we
have several magical books written both in
hieratic and in demotic, in which the most
j&extraordinary prescriptions are made, mixed
with strange invocations and unintelligible
words, which when pronounced were thought
to have some mysterious effect. Magicians were
not in the least disrepute, and their art seems
on the contrary to have been the sign of pro
found and hidden knowledge. The serpent was
an animal which always was connected with
magical practices, and what is said of the
sorcerers of Pharaoh and of their changing their
rods into serpents reminds us of the extra
ordinary power which some men exert over
those animals, as may be seen constantly even
now in the streets of an Oriental city. (Ex. vii.
11 sq., viii. 18, 19, ix. 11 ; 2 Tim. iii. 8, 9.)
[Magic ; Jambres ; Jannes.]
21. Industrial Arts. — The industrial arts held
an important place in the occupations of the
Egyptians, and here we have again to revert to
the tombs, not only to their pictures and to the
representations they give us of the industry of
the country, but to the numerous objects which
have been preserved in them. Owing to the
very good flax which grew in the valley of the

EGYPT

879

Nile, the industry of weaving had a great de
velopment ; they made linen of all qualities,
from the coarsest to the most delicate, which
they dyed iu brilliant colours. Egyptian linen
had a great repute (Is. xix. 9), and found its
way to Palestine, very likely through Phoenician
traders (Prov. vii. 16). A stouter material was
leather, which was worked in large pieces,
painted and ornamented most brilliantly, like
the funeral canopy of Queen Isis em Kheb.
Many arts connected with good housing and
comfort in the dwellings were found in Egypt.
Carpenters and cabinet-makers are seen, as well
as turners, who used the bow as they do now
in the bazaars of Cairo. There was very fine
furniture ; most elegant chairs, beds, and stools
are represented in the tombs, besides boats of
pleasure, which must have been most luxurious.
A great quantity of pottery was made. It was
perhaps one ofthe employments ofthe Hebrews
during their bondage. Glass seems to have
been known as early as the 11th dynasty, and
pictures of glass-blowers are met with in the
tombs of Beni-Hassan ofthe 12th dynasty.
Boat-making must have employed a great
number of people, as nearly all transport was
made by water ; however, they also made
chariots, but only after the use of the horse
became frequent in the army.
Egyptian jewellers have left us pieces of their
work which still excite the admiration. The
famous jewels of Queen Aahhotep of the 17th
dynasty show how skilful they were. These are
made in silver and gold, precious stones, and a
glass paste or enamel. In the ornamenting of
the temples, besides gold and silver, the Egyp
tians used the metal called asem, the ijXeKrpos
of the Greeks, which is a mixture of gold and
silver ; for common use they had chiefly copper
and bronze ; iron, though known already at an
early epoch, was much rarer, and very likely a
foreign import. Precious metals were never
coined ; there was no Egyptian coinage before
Alexander ; the gold is seen in rings or purses,
or plates, and the exchanges were paid by weigh
ing the precious metals, as was customary in
Palestine at the time of the Patriarchs (Gen.
xxiii. 16).
22. Festivals. — The religious festivals were in
great number, judging from the lists which are
found in the calendars ; and in the great tem
ples like Thebes, Denderah, and Edfoo, they were
kept with great pomp. The processions were
an important part of the festivals : the emblems
of the gods were carried in the halls or some
times outside of the temple at certain fixed days
and hours. It is certain that some of those fes
tivals were attended with much licence — for
instance, the grand festivity of Bubastis, which
is described by Herodotus (ii. 59, 60) ; this was
particularly the case with the festivals of gods
of generation. The description of the festival
of the golden calf given in Ex. xxxii. shows
that it also took that character. Whether
the golden calf was a recollection of Apis or
Mnevis or some other bull, it was an emblem of
the generative power, and the description has a
certain likeness to the festival of Amon Khem
represented on the temples at Thebes, where a
white bull appears, and where there is much
dancing. 23. Manners of modern Inhabitants. — In the

880

EGYPT

manners of the modern inhabitants there is
much which recalls the old Egyptians, which
is derived from peculiar circumstances of the
nature and the climate of Egypt, so different
from other countries; much also which illus
trates the Bible, owing to the immutability of
things in the East, and also to Arab influence.
In this respect, the standard work to be con
sulted is Lane's Modern Egyptians ; cp. also Mrs.
Poole, The Englishwoman in Egypt.
24. Chronology. — No subject in Egyptology is
more discussed than chronology ; there is none
on which opinions are more at variance, and
which is to be treated with more caution.
Chronology is based upon astronomy ; and al
though we have a certain number of astrono
mical representations, they are so intermingled
with mythology, so evidently recorded for a
religious purpose, that it is difficult to make any
safe use of them. We know, however, that
there were some astronomical books, but none of
them have come down to us, except perhaps a few
fragments inscribed on the walls of some temple.
According to the generally prevalent ideas
which were first advocated by Lepsius in his
standard book on Egyptian chronology, the
Egyptians had two different years: a vague
year, consisting of twelve months of thirty days
and five intercalary days ; and, besides, a fixed
solar year, consisting of 365J days. Those years
began originally on the same day, the first of the
month of Thoth (20th July, Greg.), with the
heliacal rising of Sothis. But as after four
years there was a difference of one day in the
beginning of the two years, it is admitted, and
confirmed by testimonies of Greek authors, that
they made use of the so-called Sothiac cycle,
1460 solar years corresponding to 1461 vague
years : after the lapse of that period, the two
years began again on the same day. Although
we find no allusion in the hieroglyphic texts to
the Sothiac period, the constant mention of Sothis
in reference to the beginning of the year makes
it very probable that they knew the period and
made use of it ; while on the contrary there is
no reason at all to admit the existence of a
period of Apis (25 years), or of the Phoenix
(500 years), which are not supported even
indirectly by tbe monuments. In the inscrip
tions, when a great number of years is indicated,
it is generally by means of the Set cycle, the
TpiaKovTeTinpis (30 years), or the hunti, a period
of 120 years.
The Egyptians had three seasons of four
months. The first was the season of the inun
dation, which began shortly after the summer
solstice, and which comprised the months of
Thoth, Paophi, Athyr, and Choiak. The second,
comprising the months of Tybi, Mechir, Phame-
not, and Pharmuti, was the season of ploughing
and agricultural iabours. The third was the
season of harvest, — Pachons, Payni, Epiphi,
Mesori. The names of the seasons had no sense
in the vague year, as in the course of time the
seasons went through all the different parts of
the year.
There was no fixed era : no mention has been
found of anything like it except in mythological
texts and in the tablet of the year 400, in which
an officer of Ramses II. dates his arrival at
Tanis in the 400th year of the king Set Nubti,
in the- 4th day of Mesori. It is difficult to

EGYPT
know what real historical value may be attri
buted to this date. The events are always
dated by the year of the reigning king. Besides,
the Egyptians do not seem to have felt the need
of fastening their history to some fixed astro
nomical facts. Their chronology was more a
succession of kings aud names, with the sum of
years during which they had reigned. The
calendars seem to have had a specially religious
purpose ; they indicate when the festivals of
the gods are to take place, when the offerings
are to be brought. The mention of an era is
derived from a passage of the Greek mathema
tician Theon, who speaks of an era of king
Menophres, the beginning of a Sothiac cycle,
which would correspond to July 20, B.C. 1322.
Lepsius has endeavoured to prove that king
Menophres was the son of Ramses II., Menephtah
of the 19th dynasty. In fact, the name of
Menophres has not been identified in this form,
and it is a question whether it is not the
coronation name of a king, the name of the
first cartouche including the syllable Ra, rather
than the second name, as is the case with
Menephtah. Extensive researches on the calendar have been
lately made by several scholars, and particu
larly by Brugsch, who, in his book written in
1865 (Materiaux pour servir a la reconstruction
du Calendrievgdes anciens Egyptiens), had come to
the conclusion that under the 12th dynasty the
Egyptians used four different years — the vague
year, the solar year, a lunar year, and a lunar
year with intercalation. Quite lately, reverting
to his former studies with the addition of a
great number of new texts, and interpreting
many of the mythological expressions which
refer to astronomical facts, Dr. Brugsch discards
several of the results which he advocated in his
previous works, and brings forward conclusions
which, if they can stand the test of a severe
criticism, would certainly be a great progress
in our knowledge of the Egyptian calendar.
According to the new theory of the eminent
Egyptologist, the principal facts would be the
following. The dates of all Egyptian monuments are
given in the vague year of 365 days, which
began originally with the heliacal rising of
Sothis in the night of the 19-20 July. There
are only two mentions of a fixed solar year with
an intercalary day after four years, and both of
them are later than the reform of the calendar
made by the emperor Augustus and the intro
duction of the Alexandrian year. The corre
spondence of the vague year with a fixed year
is indicated through the phases of the moon, the
stations of the sun, the beginning of the seasons,
and the rising of certain stars, particularly
Sothis. The existence of a lunar year running
parallel with the solar year, and which was
used as well as the civil year for the dating
of certain festivals, is with Dr. Brugsch an
established fact. "The eminent Egyptologist,
although denying that there is any mention of
the Sothiac cycle, quotes three inscriptions giving
the rising of Sirius at a certain date of the
vague year : of those dates one belongs to the
6th, another to the 18th dynasty, and the
last to a Roman emperor at Esneh; they are
evidently separated by the so-called amKaru-
araais, the period of 1461 years of the Sothic

EGYPT
cycle; which would imply that this period was
well known to the ancient Egyptians.
These few facts will show how difficult it is
at present to reconstruct the chronological
system of the Egyptians, the more so because
there are evidently many expressions of which
we do not yet know the real sense.
We are not much more fortunate with his
torical chronology. Our best materials for esta
blishing it are the lists of kings, the most
important of which is contained in the Papyrus
of Turin. It is written in hieratic characters,
very likely under the reign of Ramses III. of
the 20th dynasty. It consisted of ten columns
of text giving the names of all the kings, from
the gods or heroes down to the time of the
Hyksos, with the number of years, months,
and days which they had reigned ; at the end
of each dynasty the numbers were summed up.
This document, which contained more than 200
names, and which would be invaluable for the
reconstruction of historical chronology, is unfor
tunately broken into 164 pieces. A few larger
portions have been put together, but a run
ning text cannot be restored.
There are some other lists on different monu
ments : the largest is the list of Seti I. in the
temple of Abydos, giving 75 names of predeces
sors of Seti I., the first being Mena. Although
this list is of great value for the sequence of
the kings, it is far from being complete. Apart
from the Hyksos, who are entirely omitted, it
is certain that Seti has made a choice between
his ancestors, and has neglected those whose
reigns were very short or inglorious. This list
was copied by the son of Seti I., Ramses II. , in
the same temple of Abydos. The fragments of
his copy have been brought to the British
Museum. Further, we have the list of Sakkarah, which
comes from the tomb of an officer called Tou-
nari; it contains only 47 names, begins with
the sixth king of the 1st dynasty, and is less
reliable than that named above, as the scribe has
evidently shown some carelessness in the way he
copied his original. It belongs also to the time
of Ramses U. There are several others of minor
importance.
—^According to tradition, the lists of kings pre
served in the temples were used as documents
by a Sebennytic priest called Manetho, who
wrote under Ptolemy Philadelphos, and by his
command. He is said to have written three
books on AiyvrcTtaKa {nrop.vi)paTa. This work
was not noticed by the Greeks, and particularly
not by Diodorus ; but the Christian chrono-
graphers and Josephus have made great use of
it, and we know Manetho only through their
writings. Josephus gives us a few fragments,
but the lists of dynasties are known by the ex
tracts of Africanus quoted by Syncellus and
those of Eusebius. It is therefore hardly possi
ble to say that we have the text of Manetho
-himself, as it has mainly come to us third hand.
Manetho divided the history of Egypt down to
the Ptolemies into thirty dynasties, the thirty-
first being the Persians ; for each dynasty he
gives the names of the kings and the number
of years they reigned. It was long supposed
that Manetho would be a sound basis for the
reconstruction of Egyptian chronology. How
ever, it has proved not to be so. Wherever we
bible dict — vol. r.

EGYPT

881

can check his dates by monumental evidence.
there is a considerable difference between his
numbers and those of the Egyptian inscriptions,
and that chiefly for the time previous to tho
20th dynasty. Admitting all his dynasties to
have been successive, Mena, the first king, would
have to be placed iu the year 5613 B.C. On the
other hand, a passage of Syncellus says that
Manetho reckoned the length of the history of
Egypt as 3555 years from Mena to the conquest
under the Persian king Ochos ; which would
place the beginning of the first reign in the
year 3892. Lepsius lays a great stress on this
passage, which he considers as taken from the
original Manetho, while others think that it is
derived from a book called Sothis, which was
falsely attributed to Manetho. In order to
make the lists of the kings coincide with this
sum, Lepsius has admitted that several of the
dynasties must be considered as having reigned
simultaneously. It is certain that the nearly total
absence of monuments of the 7th to the 10th
dynasties and the great gap of the Hyksos' time
may justify such an assumption. However,
there is hardly any evidence of collateral dy
nasties in the inscriptions, and, besides, we know
many names of kings who are not mentioned by
Manetho. It is easy to understand that with such scanty
and unreliable information there is considerable
difference of opinion among Egyptologists as to
the dates, chiefly for the Old and the Middle
Empire. After the 18th dynasty we have some
synchronisms which help us, to a certain degree ;
the date of the Exodus, which historical proof
shows to have taken place very soon after Ramses
II. ; and the capture of Jerusalem by Shishak
(Sheshonk I.).
List of the Dynasties of Manetho."

Dynasty.

Native of

Kings.

1st

This (Arabat el Madfotmeh)..

8

2nd

,, ... ... ...

9

3rd

Memphis 

9

4th

,,

S

5th

Elephantine (Memphis ?) ..

9

6th

Memphis (Elephantine i) ..

6

7th

Memphis 

5

8th

„ 

9

9th

Heracleopolis 

4

10th

„ ... 

19

nth

Diospolis (Thebes) 

16 6(?)

12th

,,

8

13th

,,

60

14th

Xois (Sakha) 

76

15th

Hyksos 

6

16th

,,

32

17th

Diospolis 

5

18th

„ 

8

19th

,,

7

20th

„

J2

21st

Tanis 

7

22nd

Bubastis 

9

23rd

Tanis 

3

24th

Sa'is 

3

25th

Ethiopians 

3

26th

Sa'is 

9

27th

Persians 

9

28th

Sa'is 

4

29th

Mendes 

4

30th

Sebennytos 

3

31 Bt

Persians from Ochos 

3

e See Lepsius, Konig&bueh der Aegypter. ¦ > L*

882

EGYPT

The following table gives the date of the
beginning of each dynasty according to the view
of three of the leading Egyptologists. It is to
be remarked that, as has been said before, the
system of Lepsius starts from the datum which
he considers as Manethonian, that the whole
duration of the Egyptian empire was 3555^years.
Mariette (Apereu de I'Hist. Ane. de I'Egypte)
merely sums up the numbers of Manetho, while
Brugsch alone has a chronological system which
is given here from his last History of Egypt'
(Leipz. 1877).

Dynasty.

Lepsius.

Mariette.

Brugsch

1

3892

5004

4400

2

3639

4751

4133

3

3338

4449

3966

4

3124

4235

3733

5

2840

3951

3566

6

2744

3703

3300

7

2592

3500

3100

8

2522

3500

—

9

2674

3358

—

10

2565

3249

—

11 12

2423 2380

... } 3064 { '

2466

13

2136

2851

2223

14

2167

2398

—

15

2101

... l j ..

—

16

1842

... } 2214 i ..

—

17

1684

... 1 I ..

—

18

1691

1703

1700

19

1443

1462

1400

20

1269

1288

1200

21

1091

1110

1100

22

961

980

966

23

787

810

766

24

729

721

733

25

716

715

700

26

685

665

666

27

625

527

527

28

625

406

—

29

399

399

399

30

378

378

378

31

340

340

340

Alexander

332

332

332

25. History. — We shall now give a short sketch
of the history of Egypt, insisting chiefly oh the
general features, and on the facts connected with
Scripture. The early age, as we know from Manetho
and the Turin Papyrus, is mythological. The
gods were considered as having reigned over
the country, even Set himself; and the duration
of each dominion was assigned in the papyrus.
After the gods came the age of the Shesu-Hor,
the followers of Horus, who are said to have
helped Horus in his conquest of Egypt from
Set. The time of the followers of Horus is
mentioned in the texts as what we should call
the prehistoric dge.
The first historical king is called by the
inscriptions Mena. We have no Egyptian
inscriptions concerning him, only the mention of
his name ; but the Greek authors speak of him.
By them he is said to have left This (near the
present town of Girgeh), and to have founded
Memphis on a spot which he gained from the Nile
f Since Brugsch wrote his history, his recent dis
coveries will probably modify his numbers. As he
refers to the reign of Thothmes III. the astronomical
coincidence of the stone of Elephantine, which falls in
the years 1477-1474, this lowers Mb numbers by about
120 years.

EGYPT
through changing the bed ofthe river by means of
a dyke. Diodorus relates (i. 45) that he taught
his subjects how to worship the gods and to
offer sacrifices, and besides how to make tables
and beds and use precious clothing, and to
introduce into their life all kinds of luxuries.
Thus he seems to have been the first sovereign
who, if he did not introduce civilisation in the
country, at least did very much to further it.
It is quite possible that his work consisted in
uniting under his sceptre districts which were
under the dominion of different rulers, and in
making thus one kingdom. It is a difficult
question, which very likely will never be solved,
how far the Egyptians were civilised before
Mena, and how long it took them to reach that
point. This question is intimately connected
with that of the origin of the Egyptians. It
has been said above that most of the historians
are of opinion that they came into the country
through the isthmus of Suez, and not from
Ethiopia, as is said by Herodotus, because the
most ancient monuments are found near Mem
phis ; and that, on the contrary, on the Upper
Nile there is nothing except of a very recent
date. However, it may be observed that
civilisation does not always go parallel with
the migrations of nations. In the Egyptian
tradition everything points to a migration from
the South, as if they had come from Asia
through Arabia, crossing the Red Sea ; and
particularly the fact that Mena himself, a
native of This, has to go north a great distance
in order to found Memphis near the point of the
Delta. As that part of the country has always
been called Typhonian, it indicates that it was
occupied by a population of foreign race.
Memphis, in Egyptian Mennefer, the good
building, was celebrated for its temples of
Phtah and of the bull Apis, of which the
burial-place has been found. Besides erecting
these temples, Mena is described as a warlike
king who fought the Libyans ; but he was
killed by a hippopotamus, which is perhaps a
mythical way of saying that he perished .in
a war agaiust the Shemites.
The succession of kings has been divided into
three periods: the Old Empire, which reaches
from the 1st to the 10th dynasty; the Middle
Empire, which comprises the 11th and following
dynasties, to the end of the Hyksos period ; and
the New Empire, which goes down to the conquest
of the country by the Persians.
The monuments, except the lists of kings, are
silent on the first three dynasties; but suddenly
there is a great number of those of the fourth
dynasty, in the time of which the prosperity of
Egypt increased considerably. The kings of the
Pyramids raised Egypt to a very high degree of
civilisation, which has hardly been surpassed
later. The first of them, Snefru, fought the
natives of Sinai, and probably was the first to
make use of the mines of copper and turquoise
which are found in the peninsula. His son,
Khufu, was the builder of the Great Pyramid.
He also made war against the Shemites of Sinai.
A tradition which lasted down to the time
of the Ptolemies attributes to him the plan
of the temple of Hathor at Denderah. But
he is chiefly famous for the construction of the
Great Pyramid, that gigantic monument which
has been the object of wonder to all generations.

His successor, Khafra, followed his example, and
also Menkaura, who reigned after them. These
three kings are the constructors of the three
pyramids of Geezeh, which are most frequently
visited.

EGYPT

883

It is a very common error to think that there
are only the three pyramids of Geezeh, and that
this is a kind of construction which was special
to those three kings. On the whole ridge of the
desert which goes from Meydoom to Aboo Ruash,

Outline M«p ol EOT*, showing tie ««t of the DyDMtie*

a length of more than twenty miles, are scat
tered pyramids which amount to nearly a
.hundred, besides probably a considerable number
which have disappeared. They differ very much
in size, but they originate from a religious
idea which induced the sovereigns to choose that

particular kind of burial. The pyramids stand
in one vast cemetery, where thousands of dead
were buried, not only from Memphis, but also
from other neighbouring cities. This fact
alone would make it probable that they were
intended to be tombs; besides, all inscriptions
3 L 2

884

EGYPT

which mention pyramids speak of them as
funeral monuments, and this form is represented
on papyri of a much later epoch as the abode
in which the mummy was placed. It would be
extraordinary that all the hidden wisdom which,
according to new theories, lay concealed in the
proportions of the Great Pyramid should be a
privilege of which all the others would be
entirely deficient. These facts, and others on
which it is not possible to dwell, have induced
Egyptologists unanimously to discard entirely
the ideas which have been brought forward lately
about the purpose of the Great Pyramid, or
which consider it as an observatory; not to
speak of the opinion which supposes all the
pyramids to have been built in order to prevent
the sand from covering the valley of the Nile.6
Let us remember the fundamental principle
of Egyptian eschatology : the body is to revive
in the Ament, but on condition that it should
not be dissolved, and that it should be preserved
at any price from corruption or violation. Nearly
everywhere in antiquity the tomb of the chief,
the tomb which is to be respected, is a tumulus
covering a chamber or a coffin. The peculiar
circumstances in which Egypt was placed
prevented the inhabitants from using the mere
mound as a burial. If it had been in the valley,
the inundation would have washed it off; or had
it been made of sand in the desert, the wind
would soon have blown it away. That is why
they made it of stone. A pyramid is a much
improved tumulus, but its purpose is the same.
All around the pyramids, the chief officers
of the kings have been buried in tombs cut in
the rock. The funeral chamber which contained
the mummy is generally at the bottom of a
deep shaft, which has been filled up, so that the
coffin was held to be absolutely safe. The upper
chambers, in which offerings were made to the
deceased, are adorned with fine rilievos, which
give us a picture of what is considered to be in
the other life. We have thus by means of these
representations an idea of what was the state
of Egypt at that time. As the picture is
funereal, it is necessarily incomplete, but we
derive from it very much information on the
state of the country, on the customs of the
inhabitants, on their industry, on their way of
life, on their art. It is remarkable that art in
certain respects had reached a degree of perfection
beyond which it would not advance ; it is more
free than later, nearer to nature, less conven
tional. At that time the turn of mind of the
Egyptians was less mystical than later. Their
representations of future existence are nothing
but the pictures of a rich and prosperous life
in this world. Properly religious texts are
never found except in the pyramids themselves.
Though we do not know much of the history
of Snefru, Khufu, Khafra, and Menkaura
(Menkheres), the chief kings of the 4th dynasty,
their constructions show that they were power
ful sovereigns. They were the first conquerors.
We know the names of the kings of the 5th
dynasty and the pyramids of most of them.
The 6th is said to have come from Elephantine ;
the most eminent of the kings is Pepi, who
made war against the Herusha, who very likely

e Cp. the admirable book of Mr. FlinderB Petrie, Tlie
Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh.

EGYPT
were a Semitic nation, and against several of
the negro clans or tribes. He was also the
founder of the temples of Tanis and Bubastis.
The last ruler ofthe dynasty was Queen Nitocris,
to whose name the Greek authors have fastened
legends which are not attested by the Egyptian
documents. The most complete obscurity reigns over the
four next dynasties till the end of the 10th.
According to Manetho, the first two were Mem-
phitic, while the last two came from Heracleo-
polis. We cannot control these data from the
monuments, having only the lists and the very
fragmentary information derived from the
Papyrus of Turin. Excavations made at Hera-
cleopolis (Hanes, Is. xxx. 4), the present Ahnas
el Medineh, would perhaps throw some light on
that dark period.
The monuments agree with Manetho in giving
to the 11th dynasty a Theban origin. The sove
reigns of this dynasty, of which the exact order
is unknown, are called Antef and Mentuhotep :
the Antefs were buried at Thebes. It is doubt
ful whether there was not at the same time a
rival line at Heracleopolis. Under the last king,
Sankhkara, we see the first naval expedition of
which we have any record. A fleet is sent to
the land of Punt, the Somali coast, to fetch
frankincense. The 12th dynasty is very well known, owing
to the great number of documents which have
been left. These kings were the founders of the
great temple of Amon at Thebes, and since their
age Thebes became the capital of the Egyptian
empire. The Amenemhas and Usertesens were
warlike princes ; they directed their efforts
chiefly against the negro nations ; they extended
the limits of their kingdom into Nubia, as far
as Dongola ; they had also to fight the Libyans
and the Herusha ; besides, they made great con
structions : they enlarged the temple of Tum at
Heliopolis, of which one of the obelisks yet
stands, bearing the name of Usertesen I., the
second ruler of the dynasty ; they enlarged
also the temple of Tanis (Zoan), the entrance
hall of which was adorned with the statues of
almost all these kings. To the sixth king,
Amenemha III., is attributed the digging of Lake
Moeris, a large artificial basin at the entrance of
what is now called the Fayoom, the purpose of
which was to regulate the waters of the inunda^
tion. When the Nile was very high, a great
quantity of water was gathered there, which
could be used for inundating the country around
when the Nile was low. The site of Lake
Moeris is much discussed ; its restoration has>
been strongly advocated. Near the lake was.
situated the city of Shet, called by the Greeks.
Arsinoe, and now Medinet el Fayoom. Another
construction of Amenemha was the temple
described by Herodotus as the Labyrinth, some
remains of which Lepsius discovered near the
village now called Howara. A literary docu
ment of the 12th dynasty is the curious tale
of Saneha, who relates how, leaving Egypt, he
took refuge with the prince of Atima, who gave
him his daughter ; after many years spent there
and successful wars Saneha returned to Egypt in
the time of Usertesen I. This text gives us an.
interesting insight into the friendly intercourse
which there was then between Egypt and the
inhabitants of the Sinaitic peninsula. Of this

EGYPT
dynasty we have most beautifully painted tombs
at Beni-Hassan, which depict the life and the
customs of the Egyptians. One of them in
particular, the tomb of the officer called Khnum-
hotep, who lived under Amenemha II. and User
tesen IL, contains a most interesting picture,
showing a Semitic family, numbering thirty-
seven people, coming from the land of Abesha.
That they are of Semitic origin is shown by
their very characteristic type, by the name of
Abesha, and by their being called Amu. The
chief bows respectfully before Khnumhotep and
presents him with a wild goat of the same kind
as are found in Sinai ; behind him are women
and children riding on asses. The women wear
garments of various colours, and carry musical
instruments ; it is said also that they brine with
them a kind of balm for the eyes, called mestem.
It is obvious that these Shemites desire to settle
in the country, and that they are entrusted to
the officer who has to take charge of them.
This shows that the Semitic nations had then
begun to advance into Egypt. They came at
first peacefully and settled in the land, but
such tribes or families were the forerunners of
the Hyksos invaders, who for several centuries
put an end to the Egyptian dominion.
The 13th dynasty was also Theban. The first
sovereigns, the Sebekhoteps, of whom monuments
are found as well in Nubia as at Thebes and at
Tanis, certainly held the whole land under their
sceptre, but we have not the complete list of
these rulers, and still less of those of the 14th
dynasty. We reach here the second great
chasm in Egyptian history, the period of the
Hyksos, the time when not the whole land, but
f certainly Lower Egypt, was subjugated by a
foreign race.
Much has been written about the Hyksos, to
whom very different origins have been attri
buted. As for the sense of their name, it is
given correctly by Josephus ; it means the
Kings ofthe Shepherds : shasu (shos in demotic) is
the usual word for nomads. The longest account
oftheir invasion is given by Josephus, who relates,
on the authority of Manetho, that, under the
reign of a king called Timaios, men of un
known origin, coming from the East, invaded
the country and conquered it easily without a
struggle. After having subdued the kings, they
burnt the cities, destroyed the temples, and
iehaved most cruelly towards the inhabitants,
killing the men and reducing the women- and
ihe children to slavery. He goes on to say that
¦one of their kings was Salatis, who resided
at Memphis; then he names others: Beon,
Apakknas, Apophis, Jannas, Asses, who are also
quoted with variants by Africanus and Eusebius.
The duration of their rule is said by Africanus
to have been 284 years, and by Josephus 511,
until they were expelled by a king called
Misphragmuthosis. At present the scarcity of the monuments
makes it guess-work to reconstruct the events
•which Josephus relates. We do not know ex
actly at what time the invasion took place ;
'the end of the 13th dynasty and the 14th are
¦a chaos from which we shall perhaps never be
able to extricate ourselves. There must have
'been anarchy in the land ; many of the so-called
kings reigned only a very short time, consider
ing the great number of names which have

EGYPT

885

been preserved by the Papyrus of Turin, most
of which are only fragmentary. Generally the
14th dynasty is called Egyptian, while the pure
Hyksos are the 15th and 16th. What was the
origin of the Hyksos ? They certainly belonged
to a race different from the Egyptians. They have
been called Phoenicians, Arabs, Elamites, Akka
dians, and Cushites. Their name Shasu means
only nomads of the same kind as those who ar/
often met with in the campaigns of the Pharaohs
against Syria. It is not improbable that their
invasion of Egypt is connected with the con
quests of the Elamites in Babylonia, who drove
out of the country the former inhabitants. Be
sides, Egypt, the rich and fertile land, has
always been the object of the covetousness of
the neighbouring nomads, especially in time of
famine. It is certain that they occupied the
Delta, and that their principal cities were Tanis,
Bubastis, and Avaris (Tell el Her) ; their god was
Set Baal, the worship of whom already existed at
Tanis during the 14th dynasty, as a newly dis
covered monument has shown. Light has been
thrown on the race to which the rulers of the
Hyksos belonged by the monuments discovered
at Tanis, and quite lately at Bubastis — sphinxes
and statues, some of which bear the name of
Apepi, while others very likely give his portrait.
The type of face is not Egyptian; nor is it
Semitic. The strongly modelled face, with high
cheek-bones, the broad mouth with thick and
projecting lips, the curved nose, reveal an Asiatic
race, which must have had Turanian or Mon
golian affinities. It is evident that though the
Hyksos princes were not Shemites themselves,
they were accompanied in Egypt by nations of
that race which, already under the preceding
Pharaonic dynasties, came in great numbers to
settle in the conntry. The fact that the Hyksos
came from Mesopotamia may have contributed to
dispose their kings favourably towards Hebrews
like Abraham or Jacob, and towards Mesopota
mians who came to take shelter in their kingdom.
The great importance of the history of the
Hyksos for biblical criticism is derived from
the fact that the arrival of Abraham in Egypt
and the history of Joseph must be placed during
the time of their dominion. We have no reason
to doubt the accuracy of Eusebius and Syn
cellus, who say that it was under Apophis
(Apepi) that Joseph was raised to his high posi
tion. We know two kings of the name of
Apepi, and we cannot decide to which of the
two it refers — more likely to him whose name
has been found at Tanis. The description of the
Egyptian court as given by Genesis shows that
the Hyksos were no more the semi-barbarous
pillagers who first conquered the land, but that
they had adopted most of the customs and the
civilisation of their subjects. Nevertheless, the
amalgamation between subduers and subdued
had not taken place. Traces of their different
origin still subsisted, and often appear in the
narrative. For instance, the king shows to the
new comers a good will which is not shared by
his subjects. He himself does not seem to have
against the shepherds the hatred which the
Egyptians felt towards that class of men. The
old antipathy between the two races was not
extinct, and was to revive shortly afterwards
when after successful wars the Hyksos were ex
pelled, and a native dynasty again ascended the

886

EGYPT

throne. The history of Joseph must be placed
towards the end of the Hyksos dominion (cp.
Tomkins, The Life and Times of Joseph in the
Light of Egyptian Lore). Parallel with the
last Hyksos dynasty runs the 17th dynasty of
Thebans, who are nearly all called Rasqenen.
They were the first to attack the Hyksos. A
papyrus which, if not a historical document, must
yet be based on a historical tradition, relates how
one of those princes had a quarrel with Apepi ;
we do not know how it ended.
The conqueror of the Hyksos, who captured
their fortified city, Avaris, was the Pharaoh
Ahmes, as we know from the biography of one
of his generals who had the same name. With
him begins the most powerful dynasty of Egypt,
the 18th. Under the reign of these sovereigns
the empire reached its greatest extent, and rose
to a degree of prosperity and riches which was
never equalled afterwards. This and the begin
ning of the 19th dynasty are the time which is
best known, and from which we have the
greatest number of monuments.
After having driven out the Hyksos, Ahmes
pursued them to the east as far as the city of

EGYPT
Sheruhan, in the south of Palestine (Josh. xix.
6). When the whole empire was again united
under his dominion, he directed his steps towards
the south, and conquered Nubia. His successor,
Thothmes I., followed his example ; he began the
campaigns in Syria, and went as far as Mesopo
tamia. After him came Thothmes II. and his
famous queen and sister Hatshepsu, who made
the great naval expedition to the land of Punt.
She survived her husband, and associated with
herself on the throne her younger brother
Thothmes III., who was her successor, and who
may justly be called the greatest of all the
Egyptian kings. During a reign of nearly fifty-
four years he carried successfully the arms of
Egypt from the Third Cataract to the north
of Syria, and at the same time erected a con
siderable number of temples which have been
enlarged by his successors. The art of his time
is probably the most perfect of the New Em
pire. It is not possible to give here the cata
logue of all the cities and nations which he
boasts to have conquered, and the names of
which cover some of the pylons of Thebes. The
Euphrates and the Mount Amanus were at that

The son of King Ramses II., with his charioteer. (Wilkinson.)

time the western and northern limits of the
empire. The king of Naharain was beaten :
Phoenicia and Cyprus were tributary to the
king, who 'in several of his campaigns marched
through Palestine. The Syrian nations are called
in the inscriptions Retennu ; Phoenicia is called
Keft (Kaphtor). We see also the first mention
of the Kheta, the Hittites, who afterwards be
came dangerous enemies to Egypt. In the lands
Thothmes conquered he left garrisons, but he
had constantly rebellions to put down, and it is
doubtful how far his successors could have kept
up such a vast empire. One of them, Amenhotep
III., was a rather peaceful king, who erected
several of the principal temples at Thebes, in
particular that of Luxor. At the end of the
18th dynasty there was a kind of religious
revolution : Amenhotep IV. tried to destroy
the worship of Amon, and to replace it by that
of the solar disk Aten ; but he did not succeed,
and, after a short time of anarchy, Horus, the
last king of the dynasty, re-established the old
worship. In the 19th dynasty, although Egypt is still
mighty, the decline begins to be felt : the second
king, Seti I., fights the Shasu and the Kheta, the

Hittites, whose power had grown considerably,
and who ruled over the north of Syria. He
began one of the most marvellous constructions
of Egypt, the great hypostyle hall ef Karnak,.
which was the entrance to the temple of Amon
at Thebes. His son, Ramses II. , made several
successful campaigns against the Kheta, which
he caused to be related and celebrated in high-
flowing words, even on the walls of the temples.
But his reign lasted too long (sixty-seven years) ;.
and the honourable peace which he concluded
with the Kheta in his twenty-first year shows
how little subdued they had been. Besides,
Egypt was exhausted by several centuries of
war and conquests ; and in spite of the vanity of
Ramses II., and of his fancy for writing his name
everywhere, it is easily discernible that the
kingdom was weakened. Ramses IL, according
to chronological synchronisms, is the Pharaoh of
the oppression. In Scripture one short sentence
is the only information which we have concerning
all that took place between the death of Joseph
and the rise of the oppressor : " Now there arose
up a new king over Egypt which knew not Joseph "
(Ex. i. 8). The Hyksos had been expelled ; an
Egyptian dynasty occupied again the throne. It

EGYPT
is quite natural that they had no sympathy for
a race which was kindred to their former rulers,
and to the nations they were fighting in the
East. They employed them as they did their
prisoners ; but when they grew very numerous,
the Egyptian king felt alarmed at the increase of
these foreigners, and the more so because he felt
that they soon would be more powerful than
himself. This caused him to oppress the
Israelites [Exodus]. The best proof of the decay
of the Egyptian empire is the fact that, a few
years after his coming to the throne, the son of
Ramses IL, Menephtah, had to struggle against a
formidable coalition of Mediterranean nations
who invaded Egypt, and pushed forward nearly
as far as Memphis. The difficulties in which
Menephtah was engaged favoured the escape of
the Israelites, who went out from the land of
Goshen, through the northern part of the
Arabian Gulf.
The 19th dynasty ended in anarchy ; the
beginning of the 20th is obscure. One of the
first rulers, Ramses III., succeeded in restoring
to Egypt part of its former splendour ; but his
successors, who all bore the name of Ramses,
seem to have been idle and incapable kings, who
allowed the high priests of Amon to usurp the
power more and more, until, after Ramses XII.,
the high priest Her-Hor put aside the Rames-
sides and began a new dynasty.
It is still uncertain whether Her-Hor, the
founder of the dynasty, was a Tanite himself;
however, one of his successors, Pisebchan, has
left important monuments at Tanis, and at the
same time we know that these kings had also
Thebes and Upper Egypt in their power. Yery
likely they inhabited more frequently their
northern capital, leaving the high priests of
Amon to govern at Thebes. There is much un
certainty as to the order of succession and the
length of their reigns ; but it must be the last
of them, Horpisebchan, who gave his daughter
to Solomon, and who conquered for him the city
of Gezer, which he gave as dowry to his daughter
(1 K. ix. 16). It is also to one of the Tanite princes
that Hadad fled (1 K. xi. 14), the Edomite who
attained such a high position at the Egyptian
court, which he left in order to retaliate on
Solomon what David had done to his country.
With Jeroboam we meet with the name of
the first king ofthe 22nd dynasty, Sheshonk, or
as Scripture caUs him, Shishak (1 K. xi. 40), a
chief of Libyan mercenaries, who came to the
throne probably owing to military usurpation,
but who legitimated the title of his family by
giving a princess of royal blood as wife to his
son and successor. In the fifth year of Rehoboam
he invaded the kingdom of Judah, took Jeru
salem, pillaged it, and carried away the treasures
of the Temple (1 K. xiv. 25 ; 2 Ch. xii. 2). He
recorded on the walls of the temple of Amon
at Thebes this successful campaign, in which
he took a considerable number of cities or
villages of Judah and Israel, these latter mostly
Levitical. The expedition of Shishak had no
lasting result for Egypt. His successors, who
bore the names of Osorkon, Sheshonk, and
Takeloth, were engaged in wars with the east,
and had some difficulty in defending their throne
against foreign invaders. The second king,
Osorkon I., may have been the Zerah of the
Bible who invaded Palestine with a large army,

EGYPT

887

perhaps in the hope of following up the victories
of his father (2 Ch. xiv. 9-13), but who was
thoroughly beaten by king Asa. However, it is
possible that he may have been only one of the
generals of the king.
The 23rd dynasty began with kings of the
same family, but then the Ethiopians of Napata,
headed by their king Piankhi, invaded Egypt.'
He conquered the whole land, established gover
nors in thc principal cities, and returned to his
capital. The 24th dynasty consists of one king
only, Bocchoris, Bek en renf, of whom we have
few monuments, and whom we know chiefly
through the legends of the Greek authors.
During the 25th dynasty Ethiopians again
occupy the throne, but then we have other
information than the Egyptian inscriptions : we
have the records of the Assyrian campaigns
against the Pharaohs.
The first king of the 25th dynasty, Shabaka, is
called Soa" in Scripture (A. V. and R. V. " So ")
and Shabe in the Assyrian texts. Hoshea, king of
Samaria, sent messengers to him (2 K. xvii. 4)
when Shalmaneser had made him his tributary.
The discovery of this treachery caused the
Assyrian king to put Hoshea in prison, where
he died. Shabak did not move in order to prevent
the capture of Samaria by Sargon ; his army
was next routed at Rnphia on the coast of the
Mediterranean, and he also became vassal to the
Assyrians. Under his son Shabatak, Sargon, the
victor of Shabak, died, and was succeeded by
Sennacherib. Shabatak himself, after having one
of his armies beaten at Altaka by the Assyrian
monarch, was put aside and killed by the
Ethiopian conqueror Taharka, or, as Scripture
calls him, Tirhakah (2 Ch. xix. 9 ; Is. xxxvii
9). This valiant and persevering adversary of
the Assyrians began his career by making a
treaty with Hezekiah, an act which very likely
brought upon Egypt the invasion of Esarhaddon,
Sennacherib's son. Tirhakah was beaten and
fled to Ethiopia ; the Assyrians went as far as
Thebes, and divided the country between twenty
princes, one of whom was Necho, prince of Sa'is.
Soon after Esarhaddon's death, Tirhakah again
invaded Egypt, and conquered it in the 24th year
of his reign ; but he could not resist Assurbani
pal, and was obliged to fly again to Ethiopia.
Thebes was taken by Assurbanipal, who re-esta
blished the twenty princes and returned to
Nineveh. Shortly afterwards the governors
entered into an alliance with Tirhakah, who, for
the second time, swept down the valley of the
Nile and conquered Memphis; but he soon
retired to Ethiopia, where he died. His son
Urdamane, or Nut Amen, as the Egyptian in
scriptions call him, succeeded him ; he put to
death Necho, prince of Sa'is, but he was obliged
to retire before Assurbanipal, who again cap
tured Thebes, which he boasts to have sacked
and destroyed. Then the princes were once
more re-installed, and Egypt was for a few years
tributary to Assyria (cp. Nah. iii. 8-10).
One of the most energetic of the petty
kings, Psammetik I., son of Necho, taking ad
vantage of the fact that towards the end of
the reign of Assurbanipal the power of Assyria
was much diminished, succeeded, with the aid
h The LXX. call this king Sua, %ov6., and Sijyup :
the Vulg. Sua.

888 EGYPT
of Ionian and Carian mercenaries, in subduing
his rivals, and in becoming sole master of Egypt,
which reached its former limits ; he ventured
even as far as Ashdod in the land of the Phi
listines. Psammetik I. was the founder of the
26th dynasty ; he was a warlike king, but his
power depended chiefly on his northern mer
cenaries, who from this time play an important
part in the history of Egypt. Under the Sai'te
kings there was a kind of revival in Egyptian
art ; we have many monuments of that period
which show that the artistic traditions had not
been lost during the great troubles Egypt had
gone through. After he had reigned fifty-four
years Psammetik was succeeded by Necho, who
followed the traditions of his father, favoured
the establishment of foreigners, especially of
Greeks, in the country, and encouraged trade
by opening again the canal which went from
the Nile to the Red Sea. Nineveh was no more ;
it had been destroyed by the Medes. Babylon
had risen in its stead under the mighty ruler
Nabopolassar. Necho, wishing to restore to
Egypt its old conquests, and understanding that
Babylonia was his hereditary enemy, asked the
king of Judah, Josiah, to allow him to go through
his country, but Josiah tried to oppose him, and
was killed at Megiddo (2 Ch. xxxv. 20-36 ;
2 K. xxiii. 29-35). The land became tributary
to Necho, who did not recognise the new king,
Jehoahaz, son of Josiah, but replaced him by
his brother Eliakim, to whom he gave the
name of Jehoiakim. Necho seems at that time
to have been master of a great part of the
territory which had been conquered by Ramses
II. : his kingdom extended as far as Mesopo
tamia; but he had hardly returned to Egypt
when Nebuchadnezzar marched against him. The
two armies met at Carchemish. Necho was
thoroughly routed and fled to Egypt ; he lost all
his Syrian conquests, and was so much weakened
that he did not stir in order to come to the
rescue of Jehoiakim when the latter was attacked
by Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian conqueror
did not follow Necho into Egypt; he was re
called to Babylon by the death of his father.
Necho died two years afterwards. His successor,
Psammetik IL, was chiefly engaged in wars
against Ethiopia. After him Uahabra, Apries,
Hophra (Jer. xliv. 30), began with great successes :
he beat the fleets of Cyprus and the Phoenicians,
and conquered the coast of Syria, where the
Jews had revolted (Jer. xxxvii. 5-11). But
hearing that Nebuchadnezzar drew near, he fell
back without helping Zedekiah, king of Jeru
salem. The city was finally taken by the
Babylonians, and the people carried to Babylon
in 588 B.C. ; a considerable number of Jews mi
grated to Egypt, and settled not only in the
Delta, but even in Upper Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar
was detained by the siege of Tyre, but at the
end of the reign of Apries the king of Babylon
invaded Egypt ; however, it was a mere plun
dering expedition: no trace of the Babylonian
dominion remained in Egypt when Amasis filled
the throne with distinction during thirty-eight
years. During his time the Persian empire of
Cyrus had put an end to the second Chaldaean
empire, and Cyrus had begun his conquests,
which were soon to extend as far as Egypt. The
Greek tradition says that Amasis excited the
animosity of Cambyses, who marched into Egypt

EGYPT
and besieged the king, Psammetik III., in his
citadel of Memphis. The city was taken, the
king made prisoner, and, after an attempt at
rebellion, cruelly put to death. From that time
Egypt was a province of the Persian empire ;
her national history is only the narrative of her
fruitless endeavours to free herself from the
Persian rule.
, Cambyses is described by the Greek authors
as having been a cruel and unmerciful king to
the Egyptians, in spite of all that he did for the
goddess Neith at Sais, which is related to us
by one of his officers, called Uzahor en piris
(Brugsch). No doubt, after his unsuccessful ex
peditions to the Oasis of Amon and to Ethiopia,
his tyranny went beyond all bounds. Darius
was a much milder sovereign : he re-established
the worship of the gods, built some important
temples, like that of the Oasis of El Khargeh,
and worked at the canal of Necho. He came to
Egypt himself, and put to death the satrap
Aryandes, who by his cruelty had caused the
Egyptians to revolt. But the spirit of inde
pendence was not extinct in the inhabitants,
who, taking advantage of the defeat of Darius
at Marathon, revolted under Khabbash, who
reigned two years, as we know from the in
scription on one of the bulls Apis. Xerxes
reconquered the land easily before starting for
his Greek campaign. When in 464, after the
murder of Xerxes and his eldest son Darius,
Artaxerxes ascended the throne, he had to put
down a new rebellion headed by the Libyan king
Inaros, who had secured the support of the
Athenians. Inaros was at first victorious, and
beat the satrap Achaemenes at Papremis, but
next year a large army of Persians raised the
siege of Memphis, destroyed the Atnenian fleet,
and brought Inaros to Persia, where he was
put to death. His Egyptian ally, Amyrtaeos,
fled to the marshes.
The 28th dynasty consisted of one single king,
a Sai'te, Amyrtaeos, who succeeded for a short
time under Darius II. in conquering Egypt;
but his own mercenaries put him aside and
chose as their ruler a native of Mendes, called
Nepherites, who was the first prince of the
29th dynasty. All the five princes who form
this dynasty had but short reigns, except the
second, Hakar, Acoris, who allied himself to
Euagoras, king of Cyprus, and succeeded in
beating the Persians. The last of them, Nephe
rites II., was killed by his soldiers, who made
king Nekhthorheb or Nectanebo I., a Sebennyte,
the head of the last dynasty. Under his rule
there was a kind of resurrection of the power
of Egypt. Nekhthorheb successfully resisted the
attack of Pharnabazus and Iphicrates. During
his reign of eighteen years not only did he
constantly fight the Persians, but he built con
siderably in all parts of Egypt, at Thebes as
well as at Bubastis, Pharbaethus, Sebennytus,
and Pithom. His successor, Teos, tried to fight
the Persians in Syria with the help of Agesilaos,
but he was driven out of Egypt by the rebellion
of the army. Nectanebo II. (Nekhtnebef) as
cended the throne, but in spite of successes at
the beginning he could not hold his ground
against the energy of Artaxerxes Ochus, and he
was compelled to fly to Ethiopia. He was the
last Egyptian Pharaoh ; after him Egypt again
became a Persian satrapy, and, like the whole

EGYPTIAN
empire, was conquered by Alexander. It is a
striking commentary on the words of Ezekiel —
" there shall be no more a prince of the land of
Egypt" (Ezek. xxx. 13) — that since Nectanebo
II. no native ruler has ever reigned over the
land of Egypt.
26. Egyptology. — It is not possible to give here
a list of the works which have been published
on ancient Egypt: since Chairrpollion's dis
covery, Egyptian studies have largely developed,
and the number of Egyptologists increases con
stantly. In France, after Champollion's death,
Egyptology was represented only nominally by
Charles Lenormant, until it revived with Y'°
Emmanuel de Rouge, who was soon followed by
Mariette, Chabas, Maspero, Lefebure, Pierret,
Rivillout, Grebaut, V* Jacques de Rouge,
Robiou, Bouriant Guieysse, and Loret. In Ger
many the founder of Egyptology was Lepsius, and
all the present scholars may be considered as his
disciples : Brugsch, Duemichen, Ebers, Eisen-
lohr, Erman, Stern, Abel, Lauth, Lincke, Meyer,
Pietschmann, and Wiedemann. In England
Dr. Birch was for some years between Cham-
pollion and Lepsius the only representative of
Egyptology, with the distinguished traveller,
Sir Gardner Wilkinson ; the other English
scholars are Bonomi, Sharpe, Goodwin, Le Page
Renouf, Reginald Stuart Poole, Lushington,
Canon Cook, Rev. H. C. Tomkins, Miss Amelia
B. Edwards, Flinders Petrie, and F. L. Griffith.
Every country in Europe has now its Egypto
logists : in Holland are Dr. Leemans and
Dr. Pleyte; in Sweden, Dr. Lieblein and
Dr. Piehl; in Austria, Dr. Reinisch, Dr. von
Bergmann, and Dr. Krall ; in Russia, Goleni-
scheff ; in Switzerland, Ed. NaviUe ; in Italy, the
country of Rosellini, the friend of Champollion,
are now Rossi, Schiaparelli, and Lanzone. We
must refer to the works of these authors, who
have studied Egypt in aU its aspects, as well as
to the museums, of which the most important are
the British Museum, the Louvre, the museums
of Berlin, of Turin, of Leyden, of Florence, and
of Geezeh. [E. N.]
EGYPTIAN Clffi, masc. ; IV"!?!?, fem- !
AXyintTtos, Aiyvmla; Aegyptius), EGYPTIANS
(Onyp, masc; Jl'inSt?, fem.; D.nSD: Alyv-
ttuh, yvvouKes Alyim-ov. Aegyptii, Aegyptiae
mulieres). Natives of Egypt. The word most
commonly rendered Egyptians (Mitzraim) is the
name of the country, and might be appropriately
so translated in many cases. [W. A. W.]
On the " Egyptian " leader of " murderers,"
with whom the chief captain confounded St.
Paul (Acts xxi. 38), see Josephus (B. J. ii. 13,
§ 5 ; Ant . xx. 8, § 6 ; and note in Speaker's
Comm. on Acts, I. c). [P.]
WHICnX =brother or brotherly; BA.'Ayxe'ts,
D.-etv;Echi), head of one ofthe Benjamite houses
according to the list in Gen. xlvi. 21, and son of
Belah according to the LXX. Version of that
passage. He seems to be the same as Ahi-ram,
DTriN, in the list in Num. xxvi. 38 ; and if so,
Ahiram is probably the right name, as the
family were called Ahiramites. In 1 Ch. viii.
1, the same person seems to be called rPPIK,
Aharah, and perhaps also nins$, Ahoah, in v. 4,
(B. 'Axta, A. om.), HjriK (B. 'Ax«<0, Ahiah,

EKRON

889

v. 7, and inN (B. 'Aip, A. 'A6p), Aher, 1 Ch.
vii. 12. These fluctuations in the orthography
seem to indicate that the original copies were
partly effaced by time or injury. [Becher;
Chronicles.] [a. C. H.]
E'HUD 0-1 HNI ; Joseph. 'HouBfc; Aod), like
Gera, an hereditary name among the Benjamites.
1. Ehud, the son of Bilhan, and great-grand
son of Benjamin the Patriarch (1 Ch. vii. 10
[B. 'AtiB, A. 'ApelS] ; viii. 6 [B. 'AtiS, A. "n5]).
2. Ehud (BA. 'As5B), the son of Gera (K1J1 ;
T-npd ; Gera : three others of the name, Geii.
xlvi. 21; 2 Sam. xvi. 5 ; 1 Ch. viii. 3), of the
tribe of Benjamin (Judg. iii. 15, marg. "son of
Jemini," but vid. Gesen. Lex. s. v. pD'33 ; R. V.
"the Benjamite"), the second Judge of the
Israelites. In the Bible he is not called a Judge,
but a " deliverer " (;. c. ; R. V. " Saviour ") : so
Othniel. (Judg. iii. 9) and all the Judges (Neh.
ix. 27). As a Benjamite he was specially chosen
to destroy Eglon, who had established " himself
in Jericho, which was included in the boundaries
of that tribe. [Eglon.] In Josephus he appears
as a young man (veavtas). He was very strong,
and left-handed (see Comm. in loco). This ena
bled him to draw unobserved the dagger from
his right thigh (Judg. iii. 21). For Ehud's ad
ventures see Eglon ; and for the period of eighty
years' rest which his valour procured for the
Israelites, see Judges. [T. E. B.] [F.]
E'KER, ("Ipi; ; 'Ako> ; Achar), *. descendant
of Judah through the families of Hezron and
Jerahmeel (1 Ch. ii. 27). [G.]
EK'REBEL ('EKpe^A; Pesh. Aoj_Ql,
Ecrabat ; Vulg. omits), a place named in Judith
vii. 18 only, as " near unto Chusi, that is on
the brook Mochmur ; " apparently somewhere in
the hill-country to the south-east of the Plain
of Esdraelon and of Dothain. The Syriac read
ing of the word points to the Talmudic JlSlpI?
and the place Acrabbein, mentioned by Eusebius in
the Onomasticon (OS.1 p. 214, 61) as the capital
of a district called Acrabattine, and still standing
as 'Akrabeh, 8 miles from Nablus (Shechem),
at the mouth of a pass on the Roman road to
the Jordan valley (PEF. Mem. ii. 386, 389).
Though frequently mentioned by Josephus (B. J.
ii. 20, § 4 ; iii. 3, § 5, &c), neither the place
nor the district is named in the 0. T., and
they must not be confounded with those of the
same name in the south of Judah. [AKRABBIM ;
Ababattine ; Maaleh-akrabbim.] [G.] [W.j
EK'EON (\'T,py = uprooting, cp. Zeph. ii. 4,
and note b next page ; 'AKKaptiiv ; Accaron in
Josh. xix. 43, Acron), one of the five towns
belonging to the lords of the Philistines, and
the most northerly of the five (Josh. xiii. 3).
Like the other Philistine cities, its situation was '
in the Shefelah. It fell to the lot of Judah
(Josh. xv. 11, 45, 46 ; Judg. i. 18), and indeed
formed one of the landmarks on his north
border, the boundary running from thence to
the sea at Jabneel (Yebnah). We afterwards,
however, find it mentioned among the cities of
Dan (Josh. xix. 43). But it mattered little to
which tribe it nominally belonged, for before
the monarchy it was again in full possession of
the Philistines (1 Sam. v. 10). Ekron was the

890

EKEONITES, THE

last place to which the ark was carried before
its return to Israel, and -the mortality there in
consequence seems to have been more deadly
than at either Ashdod or Gath." From Ekron
to Bethshemesh was a straight highway.
Henceforward Ekron appears to have remained
uninterruptedly in the hands of the Philistines
(1 Sam. xvii. 52 ; 2 K. i. 2, 16 ; Jer. xxv. 20).
Except the casual mention of a sanctuary of
Baal-zebub existing there (2 K. i. 2, 3, 6, 16),
there is nothing to distinguish Ekron from any
other town of this district — it was the scene of
no occurrence, and the native place of no man
of fame in any way. The following complete
the references to it: 1 Sam. vi. 16, 17, vii. 14;
Amos i. 8 ; Zeph. ii. 4b ; Zech. ix. 5, 7.
According to the Assyrian inscriptions, when
most of the towns in Palestine revolted, on the
death of Sargon, Padi, king of Ekron, remained
faithful. His subjects, however, rebelled and
handed him over to king Hezekiah, at Jeru
salem, who retained him a prisoner until he was
released and reseated on the throne by Senna
cherib. In the reign of Esarhaddon, the king was
Ikanan or Ikasamsu (Schrader, KAT.2 p. 164).
Eusebius (OS.1 p. 218, 57) calls it a large village
inhabited by Jews. In the Middle Ages it was
known by the same name (see the quotation in
Rob. ii. 228, note).
'Akir, the modern representative of Ekron,
lies at about 5 miles S.W. of Bamleh, and
4 due E. of Yebnah, on the northern side of
the important valley Wddy Surdr. "The vil
lage contains about fifty mud houses, without a.
remnant of antiquity except two large finely-
built wells." The plain south is rich, but
immediately round the village it has a dreary
forsaken appearance, only relieved by a few
scattered stunted trees (Van de Velde, ii. 169 ;
Rob. ii. 228 ; Guenn, Judee, ii. 36-44). In
proximity to Jabneh ( Yebnah) and Bethshemesh
('Ain Shems), 'Akir agrees with the require
ments of Ekron in the 0. T., and also with the
indications of the Onomasticon (s. v. Accaron).
Jerome (OS.1 p. 91, 6) mentions a tradition
that the Turris Stratonis, Caesarea, was Ekron.
In the Apocrypha it appears as Accahon
(1 Mace. x. 89, only), bestowed with its borders
by Alexander Balas on Jonathan Maccabaeus as
a reward for his services. [G.] [W.]
EKEONITES, THE OJ'njWn, D'?-; B. 6
'AKKapaveiT-ns, BbA. -vt- [Josh.] ; B. oi 'AaKaXav-
e?rai, B'A. -vi- [Sam.] ; Accaronitae), the in
habitants of Ekron (Josh. xiii. 3 ; 1 Sam. v. 10).
On the LXX. reading in Sam. I. c, cp. Ekron,
note ¦. [W. A. W.] [F.]
E'LA ('Hxd ; Jolaman), 1 Esd. ix. 27. [Elam.]

• The LXX. in both MSS. and Josephus (Ant. vi. 1,
$ 1) substitute Ascalon for Ekron throughout this pas
sage (1 Sam. v. 10-12, vii. 16). In support of this it should
be remarked that, according to the Hebrew text, the
golden trespass offerings were given for Askelon, though
it is omitted from the detailed narrative of the journey
ings of the ark. There are other important differences
between the LXX. and Hebrew texts of this transaction
(see especially v. 6 ; consult Keil and "Wellhausen in
loco). » There is a play on the meaning as well as on the
sound of the name in this verse.

ELAH, THE VALLEY OF
ELA'DAH (fTllta? = God hath adorned;
B. AaaSd, A. 'EXedd; Elada), a descendant of
Ephraim through Shuthelah (1 Ch. vii. 20).
E'LAH. 1. (n?K = a terebinth : 'KXd ; Jo
seph. "HXavos; Ela), the son and successor of
Baasha, king of Israel (1 K. xvi. 8-10) ; his
reign lasted for little more than a year (cp. v.
8 with v. 10). He was killed, while drunk, by
Zimri, in the house of nis steward Arza, who
was probably a confederate in the plot. This
occurred, according to Josephus (Ant. viii. 12,
§ 4), while his army and officers were absent at
the siege of Gibbethon.
2. Father of Hoshea, the last king of Israel
(2 K. xv. 30 ; xvii. 1).
3. (i"DK ; 'HXas ; Ela), one of the dukes of
Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 41 ; 1 Ch. i. 52). On the
supposition that this and other names in Gen.
xxxvi. 40-43 represent district-names, Knobel,
Dillmann,5 and Delitzsch [1887] (in loco) com
pare the name with Elath (AUa) on the Red
Sea (Gen. xiv. 6). ,
4. Shimei ben-Elah (accur. Ela, &ON ; "RXd)
was Solomon's commissariat officer in Benjamin
(1 K. iv. 18).
5. (B. 'ASd, A. 'AXd), a son of Caleb the son
of Jephunneh (1 Ch. iv. 15). His sons were
called Kenaz (A. V.); but the words may be
taken as if Kenaz was, with Elah, a son of
Caleb (R. V. see QPB.*). The names of both
Elah and Kenaz appear amongst the Edomite
" dukes." 6. (B. om., A. 'Hxd), son of Uzzi, a Ben
jamite (1 Ch. ix. 8), and one of the chiefs of the
tribe at the settlement of the country. [G.] [F.]
E'LAH, THE VALLEY OP (!T?sn pm
= Valley of the Terebinth ; i) koiXcis 'HXd, or tt)s
5pv6s, once iv rg KoiXdSi; Vallis Terebinthi),
a valley in (R. V.; not "by," as in A. V.>
which the Israelites were encamped against the
Philistines when David killed Goliath (1 Sam.
xvii. 2, 19). It is once more mentioned in the
same connexion (xxi. 9). It lay near SOCOH,
Shuweikeh, and Azekah, Zakariya ; and is now
the W. es-Sunt, or " Valley of Acacias." The
great valley of Elah rises near Hebron, and,
running northwards past Keilah, Kh. Kila, and
Adullam, 'Aid el-Ma, to Socoh, divides the low
hills of the Shefelah from the mountains of
Judah. At Socoh it turns westward, and pass
ing Gath, Tell es-Sdfi, runs to the sea N. of
Ashdod, Esdud. Above Socoh the valley is
known as W. es-Sur ; below, first as W. es-Sunt
and then as Nahr Sukereir. W. es-Sunt is one
of the most fertile valleys in Palestine, about
half a mile wide, and cultivated in fields of
corn. In the centre is a torrent bed, apparently"
the N?3n (" valley ; " cp. 1 Sam. xvii. 3), which
has been cut by the winter torrents in the
open valley (pDV, v. 2) ; it is thickly strewed
with white water-rolled pebbles, and is about
10 ft. deep and 20 ft. to 30 ft. wide. On either
side rise stony hills covered with brushwood.
The origin of the name "Valley of the Tere
binth " may still be traced in the number of
large specimens of that tree along its course :
one of them, the largest in Palestine, is near
Shuweikeh. and in the ruin known as Deir el-
Butm, "Convent of the Terebinth," near Tell

ELAM
es-Sdfi. For the valley, see Rob. ii. 20, 21 ;
Van de Velde, ii. 191 ; Porter, Handb. ; PEF.
Mem. iii. 298 ; PEFQy. Stat. 1875, pp. 147, 191 ;
Geikie, Holy Land and the Bible, i. 105-113.
Through the valley of Elah passed one of the
main lines of communication between Philistia
and the hill-country of Judah.' From Gath,
which guarded the entrance to the valley,
it ran to Socoh, at the approach to the
mountains, and there branched off, on the one
hand, to Hebron, and, on the other, to Beth
lehem and Jerusalem. The Philistines, ad
vancing from the plain, camped in Ephes-
dammim, "the boundary of blood," between
Socoh and Azekah. Saul, coming down from
the hiU-country by the old road to Gaza, must
have met the Philistines, near the great bend at
Socoh, and pitched in the open valley or Emek.
The armies would thus be in their natural
position; that of Saul facing W., and that of
the Philistines facing E., with the deep torrent
bed, Gai (v. 3), between them. The latter,
when defeated, were pursued to Shaaraim, Tell
ez-Zakarlya (?), Gath, T. es-Sdfi, and Ekron,
'Akir, respectively 4, 8J, and 16 miles from the
field of battle. The ""valley " (Gai) of v. 52 is
apparently the torrent bed of the lower course
of the TT. es-Sunt, or of the W. es-Surdr on the
way to Ekron. There is no gorge, or ravine, as
the usual interpretation of SOU supposes, be
tween Socoh and the sea.
The traditional " Valley of the Terebinth " is
the Wddy Beit Hannina, which lies about four
miles to the N.W. of Jerusalem, and is crossed
by the road to Nebi Samwit. The scene of
David's conflict is pointed out a little north of
the " Tombs of the Judges," and close to the
traces of the old paved road ; but this spot is in
the tribe of Benjamin, and also does not corre
spond with the narrative of the text. [G.] [W.]
E'LAM (Clb''V ; 'EXdp ; Strabo, &c. 'EXvpais,
'EXvpaia; Aelam: in Assyro-Baby Ionian, Elamtu,
Elammat ; Akkadian, Nimma or Elamma ; in the
neo-Susian version of the Behistun Inscription,
Apirti). 1. The name of a country to the E. of
Babylonia, bounded on the north by Persia (of
which it now forms part), and on the S. and
S.W. by the Persian Gulf. It is a country of
fertile and picturesque mountains, valleys, and
ravines, the only flat tract (called Dustistan)
being on the shores of the Persian Gulf; the
climate of which, during the winter and spring,
is very pleasant, but the heat of autumn is
excessive. In the interior also, the heat is often
intense. The two principal rivers are the Karun
and the Karkhah : the latter, rising in the
mountains south of Hamadan, runs southwards
towards the Mesopotamian plain, mingles with
the Karun, and flows ultimately into the
Persian Gulf. The principal stream, the Kar
khah, was called the Ulai by the Hebrews, and is
the UMa of the Assyrians, and the Eulaeus of
classical writers. In ancient times Elam seems
to have been divided into several districts, the
part on the banks of the Tigris being called
Rasu by the Assyrians and Babylonians ; whilst
the ancient name of the district in which Shu
shan was situated was probably Anzan, Ansan,
or Assan, the most eastern portion being Elam
proper. .The principal cities were Shushan or
Susa, Mataktu, Bit-Burnaki, Bit-Imbi, Nagitu,

ELAM

891

Lahiru, Til-humba, Bubd, Pillatu, Hilimu, and
Biib-D&ri — the names of whioh, being'taken from
Assyrian sources, seem, in some cases, to have
the Assyrian prefixes bit, " house of," til, " mound
of," and bdb, "gate of," attached. Elam wa^
evidently fairly well populated in ancient times,.
and is at present inhabited by Kurds, Lurs, and
Arabs. Though, from Gen. x. 22 and 1 Ch. i.
17, the Elamites would seem to have been a
Semitic people (Elam being in these passages
given as son of Shem), their language is certainly
unlike any of the Semitic tongues. Time can
alone decide whether the Elamites are really to-
be regarded as the descendants of this Elam or
not. The late-Susian name of the country,.
Apirti, may prove to have some bearing upon
this question when more is known.
Language and Writing. — The language of
Elam was agglutinative, and has been supposed
to belong to the Finnish division of the Ugrian
bransh. It seems to have been similar to-
Kassite or Cossean, and, if so, may also have
been allied to Akkadian and Sumerian. Two
dialects are to be distinguished, the one earlier
than the other (" Anzanian " and " neo-Susian "),
one of the dialectic differences being, that where
"Anzanian" had w (written, as is usual in the
wedge-inscriptions, with the characters ex
pressing m), the neo-Susian had 6. Inscriptions
are not over-plentiful in either dialect, so that
they are, as yet, rather imperfectly known. The
form of the character in use in Elam was a
modification of archaic Babylonian cuneiform, it
having been borrowed, probably, when Baby
lonia was under the dominion of the Elamite
kings (about 2300 B.C.), and modified and simpli
fied in later times. No clay tablets have been
found in Elam, but numerous inscribed bricks,
used in building the palaces and temples of Susa,
have been discovered. Any other literature
that the Elamites may have possessed has
probably perished, though the discovery of
inscribed tablets in Elamite at Nineveh indicates
that the chance of finding native records is not
utterly hopeless.
History. — The history of Elam is almost en
tirely from foreign — that is, Assyrian and Baby
lonian — sources. The first king of the country of
whom we have record is Kudur-Nanhundi, who,
about 2280 B.C., invaded Akkad (northern Baby
lonia), and carried off an image of the goddess.
Nanit from Erech [ERECH]. This king reigned
about the time of Chedorlaomer, to whom he-
was probably related, the names being com
pounded with the same root ; namely, Kudur or-
Chedor.a A probable successor of, or con
temporary with, Chedor-Laomer, Kudur-Mabug
(son of Simti-Silhak), and Eri- Aku, son of Kudur-
Mabug, reigned at Larsa about this period
[Arioch; Ellasar].
It is not for several centuries that Elam again
comes forth from its obscurity. About the year
1310 B.C. Hurba-tila, " king of Elammat " (see
above for this form ofthe name), sent a challenge
to Durri-galzu, king of Babylon, to fight with
him at Dur-Dungi. The challenge was accepted,,
and the Elamite king was defeated and taken
prisoner. About the year 885 B.C. B^l-nadin, king of'

f. Chedor-Laomer is apparently the Hebrew form of
Kudur-Lagamar.

892

ELAM

Babylon, seems to have sent an embassy to the
then king of Elam.
UmmanigaS or Humbanigas' reigned from 733
to 716 B.C. He made alliance with Merodach-
baladan, king of Babylonia, against Sargon, king
of Assyria ; and in the 2nd year of the former
(720 B.c),b whilst Sargon was engaged in
Palestine, he reconquered from the Assyrians
the whole of Babylonia. Two years later, how
ever, Sargon was able to lead his forces against
the allied armies ; and in a battle fought near
Duran, Humbanigas was driven across the border
into his own country. After this defeat, Hum
banigas' ruled for three years, and, when he died,
was succeeded by IStar-Hundu (a Babylonian
«orruption of the Elamite Sutruk-Nahhunte), his
sister's son. This king seems to have been of a
rather peaceful disposition, for he refused to
fight against Sargon at the instigation of Mero
dach-baladan. In the year 697 B.C.C his brother
Hallusu revolted against him and took him
prisoner by shutting him up in his palace,
whilst he himself mounted the throne. Sutruk-
Nahhunte had reigned eighteen years.
In the year 692 B.C. Sennacherib, having set
his son, A8sur-nadin-sum,a on the throne of
Babylonia, marched to Nagitu, in Elam, where
the relations of Merodach-baladan had taken
refuge, and captured and spoiled several cities
in the neighbourhood. Evidently in revenge for
this inroad, Hallusu invaded Akkad (the north
¦of Babylonia), and penetrated as far as Sippara,
putting to death the inhabitants ofthe districts
through which he passed. The Elamite king
captured Assur-nadin-sum, son of Sennacherib,
and placed on the throne in his stead Nergal-
uisSzib, a Babylonian. Hallusu also met with a
violent death, and this at the hands of his own
people, after having reigned only six years
{B.C. 691). He was succeeded by Kudur-Nan-
hundi (or Kudur-Nahhunte). This king was no
sooner on the throne than Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, invaded Elam and ravaged the country
from Ritsu to Burnaku; but in consequence of
the state of the roads, it being rather late in the
year, he was obliged to give up his attempt to
subjugate the country. On account apparently
of the new ruler's want of success, the Elamites
revolted against and killed him, after a reign of
only ten months.
Umman-me'nanu was the vnext king of Elam,
and he, on the invitation of Suzub, a Babylonian
pretender, invaded Akkad, and fought a battle
near the city of Halule, with regard to which
the Babylonians claim the victory for the
Elamites, aud Sennacherib, evidently with good
reason, for his own army. A second battle was
also fought near the city Halulina, where the
Assyrians were again victorious. Gmman-
menanu, four years later, invaded for some
reason the land of his former allies; and, taking
Musezib-Marduk, king of Babylonia, prisoner, he
sent him to Assyria. Umman-menanu died
three months later, having ruled over Elam for
four years.
Ummanaldas' (or Humbahaldas) II. mounted
the throne of Elam' in 687 B.C. During his
reign, NabQ-zSr-napiSti-egir, son of Merodach-

11 722 b.c. according to Assyrian chronology.
0 695 b.c. according to Assyrian chronology.
•a The Nadios of the Greeks.

ELAM
baladan, having been defeated in battle by Esar
haddon, king of Assyria, took refuge in Elam.
Ummanaldas, however, wishing to be on good
terms with the Assyrian king, put him to death.
Ummanaldas died in his palace (as the Baby
lonian Chronicle has it) " not sick " — an ex
pression which would seem to imply that he
was murdered. His brother Urtaku succeeded
him in 682 B.C. During the reign of this ruler
a famine took place in Elam, and the distressed
people were aided by the Assyrians until the
next harvest. Afterwards, however, Urtaku,
forgetting the benefits he had received at the
hands of the Assyrians, invaded Akkad, then
under Assyrian rule. Being defeated by the
Assyrian army, he fled back to his own land,
where he died miserably.
Te-umman, a man regarded by the Assyrians
as the very personification of evil, succeeded
Urtaku. In order to have no rival, this new
ruler tried to kill all the sons of Urtaku and his
predecessor Ummanaldas. These princes, five
in number, fled for protection' to the court of
Assur-bani-apli, king of Assyria. Te-umman
sent messengers to the Assyrian king demanding
their surrender, and, this being refused, war was
declared. In a great battle fought by the
Assyrians and the Elamites not far from Susa,
the Elamite army was routed, and Te-um
man and his son killed. Umman-igas, one of
the sons of Urtaku, was placed by the conqueror
on the throne of Elam, whilst Tammaritu, a
younger son, was raised to the under-kingdom of
Hidalu, a mountainous part of Elam. In the
battle above mentioned many Elamites fought
on the side of the Assyrians against their own
country." On the revolt of Saosduchinos, king of Babylon,
against the over-lordship of his brother the king
of Assyria, Umman-igas' turned traitor, and sent
Undasi, son of Te-umman, to help the Babylonian
king, telling him to go and revenge the death
of his father. Retribution speedily followed
this counsel, for Umman-igas's own son, Tam
maritu, revolted against and killed his father,
with a part of his family, and took the throne.
The first act of the new king was also to side
with Saosduchinos, but his plans were ent short
by his being compelled to take to flight, with
his principal adherents, in consequence of the
successful rebellion of Indabigas, one of his
servants. Tammaritu, who took refuge in
Assyria, was, notwithstanding his action against
the power of Assyria, well received by Assur-
bani-apli. In a very short time, another revolu
tion took place in Elam ; IndabigaS, the usurper,
was killed, and Ummanaldas, son of Attametu,
mounted the throne.
The new king had attracted the attention and
enmity of the powerful monarch of Assyria,
who, wishing to be suzerain of the country,
marched with au army to set on the throne the
man who had once already deceived him. Assur-
bani-apli relates the details of this campaign at
great length. Among other cities, Bit-Imbi and
Susa were captured, and Tammaritu, who had
taken refuge with the Assyrian king, was re
stored. Aggur-bant-apli accuses him of treachery

• Assur-banl^apli had the details of this battle sculp
tured on the walls of his palace at Kouyunjik. These
bas-reliefs are now in the British Museum.

ELAM
even at the moment when the former was
working for his restoration. Tammaritu was
again deposed, and the country came once more
under the sway of UmmanaldaS.
Assur-bani-apli, however, was determined to
conquer the country, if he could, and sent there
fore a second army, the pretext being, that the
Elamites detained an image of the goddess Nana"
which had been carried off from Erech 1635
years before [Erech]. An extensive district
was overrun, and many cities captured, Susa,
the capital, being one of them. An enormous
amount of booty was carried off, including the
most sacred images of the gods of the land, and
thirty-two images of Elamite kings. A large
number of captives also was sent to Assyria,
and the goddess Nana was restored with rejoic
ings to her old place at Erech. The Elamite
king, fearing the total ruin of his country, whose
principal cities were already practically heaps
of ruins, fled and made submission (so AsSur-
bani-apli relates). Later on, the servants of
Ummanaldas revolted against him and he fled to
the mountains, whither he was followed by the
Assyrian army, captured, and taken to Assyria.
There, with other captive princes, yoked to
Assur-bani-apli's chariot, he drew the Assyrian
king to the temple called E-masmas in Nineveh,
where the great king made obeisance to and
praised the gods who had bowed down his enemies
to his feet.
After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, which
took place some thirty years after these events,
Elam disappears, to all intents and purposes,
from history. From what the Babylonian records
tell us of the history of Anzan or Ansan (see
above), with which that of Elam was probably
practically identical, we may infer that the
country, about the years 600—555 B.C., was
under the dominion of Teispes, Cyrus I., Cam
byses I., and Cyrus IL, who were all kings of
Anzan. As is well known, the last named de
feated and captured Astyages, king of the Medes,
spoiled Ecbatana, and captured Babylon [Baby
lon ; Belshazzar ; Cyrus]. This celebrated
ruler not only became "king of Babylon, Sumer,
Akkad, and the four regions," but also made
himself master of the whole of Persia. Of this
new empire, under Cambyses II., Darius Hys
taspis, and his successors, Elam, with its famous
province of Anzan, became a mere unit, having
no special history. At the time of the revolt of
the provinces after Darius ascended the throne,
Elam revolted under the leadership, first of
Asina, and afterwards of Martia, who claimed
to be " Imanisi, king of Elam." This latter
pretender, however, was put to death by the
Elamites themselves, whilst the former was
captured and killed by Darius. Elam formed a
distinct and not unimportant satrapy of the
Persian Empire, for she furnished to the crown
an annual tribute of 300 talents, and the
language spoken by the people seems to have
been used as one of the official tongues. Susa,
her capital, became the favourite residence of
the king, and the metropolis of the whole empire
[Shushan]. Daniel (viii. 2) speaks of " Shushan
the palace (or castle) in the province of Elam."
Besides the references to Elam in Gen. a. 22,
xiv. 1, and 1 Ch. i. 17, the country is also
referred to in Is. ix. 11, where it is mentioned
as one of the countries from which the Lord

ELAM

893

would bring His scattered people ; again in xxi.
2, where the Prophet calls on Elam to go up,
seemingly against Babylon. Cyrus, who cap
tured Babylon, might, as we have seen, easily be-
called an Elamite. Jeremiah (xxv. 25) calls upon
Elam, among a large number of other nations,
to drink the cup of fury ; to fall, and rise no
more. Ezekiel (xxxii. 24) speaks of Elam with
"all her multitude round about her grave, all
fallen by the sword, which are gone down un
circumcised" — apparently referring to her as an
idolatrous nation, like the other Gentiles. See
G. Smith's History of Sennacherib and History
of Assurbanipal; T. G. Pinches' Capture of
Babylon by Cyrus, &c, in the Transactions of the
Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. viii., and
The Babylonian Chronicle in the Journal of the
Boyal Asiatic Society, vol. xix. ; Weisbach's
Achamenideninschriften Zweiter Art (Leipzig,
1890)and Anzanische Inschriften (Leipzig, 1891);
also Bezold's Achamenideninschriften (Leipzig,
1882). [T. G. P.]
2. B. 'laiXdp. ; A. joins 'I. with previous
name. A Koshite Levite, fifth son of Meshele-
miah; one of the Bene-Asaph in the time of
David (1 Ch. xxvi. 3).
3. B. Aixdp., A. 'AvXap ; Aelam. A chief
man of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the sons of
Shashak (1 Ch. viii. 24).
4. " Children of Elam," Bene-Elam, to the
number of 1254, returned with Zerubbabel from,
Babylon (Ezra ii. 7 [B. MaXdp, A. Alxdp~] ; Neh.
vii. 12 [B. ,AiAa//, N. 'EA.a,u] ; 1 Esd. v. 12
[B. 'IuXdp.os, A. 'HXa^u.]), and a further detach
ment of 71 men with Ezra in the second caravan
(Ezra viii. 7 [B. 'HAo, A. 'HXdp] ; 1 Esd. viii. 33
[B. Adp, A. 'Exdp"]). It was one of this family,
Shechaniah, son of Jehiel, who encouraged Ezra
in his efforts against the indiscriminate mar
riages of the people (x. 2, Keri, 07''!}, Elam ;
Ketib, D711?, Olam), and six of the Bene-Elam
accordingly put away their foreign wives (x. 26).
Elam occurs amongst the names of those, the
chief of the people, who signed the covenant
with Nehemiah (Neh. a. 14). The lists of
Ezra ii. and Neh. vii. contain apparently an
irregular mixture of the names of places and of
persons. In the former, vv. 21-34, with one or
two exceptions, are names of places ; vv. 3-19, on
the other hand, are not known as names of places,
and are probably those of persons (see Bertheau-
Ryssel in loco ; Smend, Die Listen d. BB. Esra
u. Nehemia, p. 15). No such place as Elam in
Palestine is mentioned either in the Bible or in
the Onomastioon of Eusebius, nor has any such
been discovered as existing in the country. We
may therefore conclude that Elam was a person.
5. In the same lists is a second Elam, whose
sons, to the same number as in the former case,
returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 31 ; Neh.
vii. 34), and which for the sake of distinction is
called "the other Elam" ("inK D^V ; [BA.
Ezra] 'UXapdp, [BKA. Neh.] 'HXapadp ; Aelam
alter). The coincidence of the numbers is
curious, and also suspicious (cp. Bertheau-
Ryssel ; Smend, p. 19).
6. One of the priests who accompanied Nehe
miah at the dedication of the new wall of Jeru
salem (Neh. xii. 42. The name is omitted by
BX*A., and read AlXap by K°- * ¦»*). [G-] [F.j

894

ELAMITES

E'LAMITES (Wobi), plural of the Chald.
Vlby, " an Elamite " [from tb^V, Elam] : 'EXv-
paioi, Strabo, Ptol., Josephus ; 'EXaptTai, Is. xi.
11, &c, Acts ii. 9; 'EXvp.aiav, Judith i. 6:
Assyr. Elamu, Elamda). This word, used to
designate the inhabitants of Elam, is found (in
the Hebrew form) only in Ezra iv. 9, but is left
out in that place by the Septuagint translators,
probably as being superfluous, as " Elamites "
might be regarded as coming under the head of
¦" Susanchites," inhabitants of Susa or Shushan,
the capital.
From Gen. x. 22 and 1 Ch. i. 17, the Elamites
would seem to have been a Semitic people, Elam
being there stated to be a son or descendant of
Shem. Their language [see Elam], however,
hardly bears out this statement, though, as is
well known, language is no real test of nation
ality. On the Assyrian bas-reliefs they are re
presented with faces of somewhat singular type,
owing to their rather low and retreating fore
heads, contrasting with the type ofthe Assyrians,
which contrast, however, is greatly intensified by
their shorter beards. It is not impossible that
they were of a kindred race to a certain section
•of the Akkadians of Babylonia, which exhibit
similar peculiarities of type.
Like most of the other nations of that part of
the world in ancient times, the Elamites were
polytheists. Their principal deity seems to have
been called Tishu, god of libations, regarded by
the Assyrians and Babylonians as the same as
their god Ninip. He bore several names, among
them being Adaene, Dagbak (" he of Dagab " ?),
and Susinak, " he of Shushan " or Susa. Many
of their kings' names are compounded with that
•of the god Umma or Humba, a name given by
the Babylonians to the star which they regarded
as " lord of Susa and Elam." Other deities were
Lagamaru, Nahunda (Nanhundi, Nahhunte), "the
sun," Sumudu, Partikira, Amman - kasim as,
Qduru, and Sapag, all but' Nahunda being wor
shipped only by kings. Assur-bani-apli mentions
also twelve other minor deities. The Lagamaru
mentioned above was probably pronounced Laga-
war, and seems also to have been called Lagamal
or Lagawal. In Susian the name was pronounced
Lagabarri (? Lagavarri). It forms the second
element in the name Chedor-Laomer, the king of
Elam mentioned in Genesis. The deities Dipti
and Tirutur are supposed to have been the
Elamites' gods of literature. There was a great
deal of secrecy about their religion, for ASsur-
bani-apli, in his account of the Assyrian wars
in Elam, speaks, when referring to the spoiling
of Shushan, of the god of their oracle, " who,
dwelt in secret places, the image of whose
divinity nobody ever saw."
The Elamites must have been skilled in various
arts, for they were fair builders, and the fact
that the Assyrians carried off thirty-two images
of kings covered (inlaid) with silver, gold, bronze,
and white marble or limestone, testifies to their
possessing a certain skill as sculptors, inlayers,
and artificers in metals. They often traded with
Assyria and Babylonia, especially (at least with
regard to the latter country) during the Persian
period ; and many Elamites seem to have settled
there at various periods.
The Elamites were a very warlike people, as
may be judged from their constant invasions of

ELATH
Babylonia, and the difficulty which the Assyrian
kings experienced in attempting to subdue them.
They were also probably rather turbulent.
Strabo (xv. 3, § 10) says that they were skilful
archers, and with this agrees the incident of the
battle in which king Te-umman lost his life,
when Ituni, one of his generals (a eunuch), in
despair destroyed his bow, " the defence of his
body." Jeremiah also (xlix. 35) speaks of " the
bow of Elam ; " and Isaiah (xxii. 6) says that
" Elam bare the quiver." From Isaiah we also
gather that they fought both on horseback and
from chariots, though their battle array was
never equal to that of the Assyrians. They had
the same kind of musical instruments, also, as
the latter ; namely, harps, pipes, and cymbals.
Apparently they retained their nationality to a
very late date, for, from the mention of them on
the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 9), it is clear that
at that time they kept their own language, and
Ptolemy's notice of them more than a century
later seems to show that they still existed as a
separate tribe or people. When, however, their
language finally disappeared, and they them
selves ceased to be distinguishable from the
people among whom they lived, is unknown. [T.G. P.]
EL-A'SAH (rk>vbx = God hath made; El-
v t t : v
asa). 1. ('nxaad.) One of the Bene-Pashur,
a priest, in the time of Ezra, who had married
a Gentile wife (Ezra x. 22). In the apocryphal
Esdras, the name is corrupted to Talsas.
2. (T.7 'EXeaadv, A. 'EXeaadp, B2o3K. 'EAe-
a(dp ; Vulg. om.). Son of Shaphan ; one of the
two men who were sent on a mission by king
Zedekiah to Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon after
the first deportation from Jerusalem, and who
at the same time took charge of the letter of
Jeremiah the Prophet to the captives in Babylon
(Jer.'xxix. [LXX., xxxvi.] 3).
Elasah is the same name as Eleasah. [G.] [F.]
E'LATH, E'LOTH (T&$. Dl^N, possibly
= trees (palm); AlXt&v, AiXdB, AiXtiB, 'EXtiB,
AiXdp ; Joseph. Ant. viii. 6, § 4, A'tXavt) ;
Elath, Ailath, Aelath, Aila), the name of a town
of the land of Edom, commonly mentioned
together with Ezion-geber, and situate at the
head of the Arabian Gulf, which was called
the Elanitic Gulf. It first occurs in the ac
count of the wanderings (Deut. ii. 8), and in
later times must have come under the rule of
David in his conquest of the land of Edom, when
" he put garrisons in Edom ; throughout all
Edom put he garrisons : and all they of Edom
became David's servants" (2 Sam. viii. 14).
We find the place named again in connexion
with Solomon's navy, " in Ezion-geber, which is
beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the
land of Edom " (1 K. ix. 26 ; cp. 2 Ch. viii. 17).
It was apparently included in the revolt of
Edom against Joram recorded in 2 K. viii. 20 ;
but it was taken by Azariah, who " built [t'.e.
" restored "] Elath, and restored it to Judah "
(xiv. 22). After this, however, " Rezin king of
Syria recovered Elath, and drave out the Jews
from Elath, and the Syrians came to Elath and
dwelt there to this day " (xvi. 6). From this
time the place is not mentioned until the Roman
period, during which it became a frontier town

EL-BETHEL
ofthe south, and the residence of a Christian
Bishop. The Arabic name is Eyleh ( «Ji_>\ ).
In the geography of Arabia, Eyleh forms the
extreme northern limit of the province of the
Hijilz (El-Makrizy, Khitat; and Y&kut, Mo'jam,
s. v. ; cp. Arabia), and is connected with some
points of the history of the country. According
to several native writers, the district of Eyleh
was, in very ancient times, peopled by the
Sameyda', said to be a tribe of the Amalekites
(the first Amalek). The town itself, however,
is stated to have received its name from Eyleh,
daughter of Midian (El-Makrizy, Khitat, s. v. ;
Caussin de Perceval, Essai sur I'Histoire des
Arabes, i. 23). The Amalekites, if we may credit
the writings of Arab historians, passed in the
earliest times from the neighbourhood of the
Persian Gulf through the peninsula (spreading
over the greater part of it), and thence finally
passed into Arabia Petraea.
By the Greeks and Romans, Elath was called
'EXdva (Ptol. v. 17, § 1), AlXava (Strabo, xvi.
768), Aelana (Plin. v. 12, vi. 32). Under their
rule it lost its former importance with the
transference of its trade to other ports, such as
Berenice, Myos Hormos, and Arsinoe ; but in
Mohammadan times it again became a place of
some note. A few mounds and some palm-
groves alone remain now to mark the site or
neighbourhood (Robinson, Pal. i. 280 ; Stanley,
& If P. p. 84). It lies on the route of the
Egyptian pilgrim-caravan, and the mountain-
road or 'Akabah named after it was reconstructed
by Ahmad Ibn-Tulun, who ruled Egypt from circ.
a.d. 868 to 883. [E. S. P.] [F.]
EL-BETH'EL (^X-TV3 b» = God of tlie
house of God; LXX. omits the "El," B. BaiB-fiX,
D. BeBi)X ; and so also Vulg., Domus Dei, Syr.
and Arab. Versions), the name which Jacob is
said to have bestowed on the place at which
God appeared to him when he was flying from
Esau (Gen. xxxv. 7). [Bethel.] [G.] [F.]
ELCI'A ('EXKeia), one of the forefathers of
Judith, and therefore belonging to the tribe of
Simeon (Judith viii. 1) ; probably the same
name as Hilkiah (I K. xviii. 18). The Syriac
Version has Elkana. The Vulgate Elai is
possibly a corruption of Elkai, itself a contrac
tion of Hilkiah (Neh. xii. 15). Cp. Speaker's
Comm. on Apocrypha, Judith in loco. [F.]
EL-DA' AH (ilVlb$, perhaps = whom God
called; Gen. xxv. 4 [A.' @epyapd, D. (&)€p-irap(a),
rescr D\ pitapa, E*. 'Apayd, Ea. 'Eapay£\ ; 1 Ch.
i. 33 [B. EXXaSd, A. 'EXSad] ; Eldaa), men
tioned last, in order, among the sons of Midian.
The name does not occur except in the two
lists of Midian's offspring. The Himyaritic
inscriptions record one similar to it, 7K1H' (see
Delitzsch, Gen. in loco [1887]). [E. S. P.] [F.]
EL'DAD and ME'DAD (TI?K, 1 =wliom
God loves ; 'EXSaS Kai M»5oS ; Eldad et Medad),
two of the seventy elders to whom was commu
nicated the prophetic power of Moses (Num. xi.
16, 26). Although their names were upon the
list which Moses had drawn up (xi. 26), they
did not repair with the rest of their brethren to

ELDER

895

the Tabernacle, but continued to prophesy in
the camp. Moses being requested by Joshua to
forbid this, refused to do so, and expressed a
wish that the gift of prophecy might be diffused
throughout the people. The great fact of the
passage is the more general distribution of the
spirit of prophecy, which had hitherto been
concentrated in Moses; and the implied sanction
of a tendency to separate the exercise of this
gift from the service of the Tabernacle, and to
make it more generaUy available for the en
lightenment and instruction of the Israelites, a
tendency which afterwards led to the establish
ment of '• schools of the prophets." The cir
cumstance iis in strict accordance with the
Jewish tradition that all prophetic inspiration
emanated originally from Moses, and was trans
mitted from him by a legitimate successor down
to the time of the Captivity. The mode of
prophecy in the case of Eldad and Medad was
probably the extempore production of hymns,
chanted forth to the people (Hammond) : cp. the
case of Saul, 1 Sam. x. 11.
From Num. xi. 25, it appears that the gift
was not merely intermittent, but a continuous
energy, though only occasionally developed in
action. [T. E. B.]
ELDER (]pt; TtpeaBvTspos ; senior). The
term elder or old man, as the Hebrew literally
imports, was one of extensive use, as an official
title, among the Hebrews and the surrounding
nations. It applied to various offices : Eliezer,
for instance, is described as the " old man of the
house," i.e. the majordomo (Gen. xxiv. 2) ; the
officers of Pharaoh's household (Gen. 1. 7) and,
at a later period, David's head servants (2 Sam.
xii. 17) were so termed ; while in Ezek. xxvii. 9
the " old men of Gebal " are the master-workmen.
As betokening a political office, it applied not
only to the Hebrews, but also to the Egyptians
(Gen. 1. 7), the Moabites, and Midianites (Num.
xxii. 7). Wherever a patriarchal system is in
force, the office of the elder will be found to be the
keystone of the social and political fabric ; it is
so at the present day among the Arabs, where
the Sheikh ( = the old man) is the highest
authority in the tribe. That the title originally
had reference to age, is obvious ; and age was
naturally a concomitant of the office at all
periods (Josh. xxiv. 31 ; IK. xii. 6), even when
the term had acquired its secondary sense :
coupled with age would probably be position
due to birthright in tribes and families. At
what period the transition occurred, in other
words when the word elder acquired an official
signification, it is impossible to say. The
earliest notice of the elders acting in concert as
a political body is at the time of the Exodus
(iii. 16-18). We need not assume that the
order was then called into existence, but rather
that Moses availed himself of an institution
already existing and recognised by his country
men, and that, in short, " the elders of Israel "
(Ex. iii. 16, iv. 29) had been the senate (yepovala,
LXX.) of the people, ever since they had become
a people. The position which the elders held in
the Mosaic constitution, and more particularly
in relation to the people, is described under
Congregation ; they were the representatives
of the people, so much so that elders and people
axe occasionally used as equivalent terms (cp.

896

ELEAD

Josh. xxiv. 1 with vv. 2, 19, 21 ; 1 Sam, viii. 4
with oo. 7, 10, 19). Their authority was un
defined, and extended to all matters concerning
the public weal ; nor did the people question the
validity of their acts, even when they dis
approved of them (Josh. ix. 18). When the
tribes became settled, the elders were dis
tinguished by different titles according as they
were acting as national representatives (" elders
of Israel," 1 Sam. iv. 3 ; 1 K. viii. 1,3;" of
the land," 1 K. xx. 7; "of Judah," 2 K. xxiii. 1;
Ezek. viii. 1), as district governors over the
several tribes (Deut. xxxi. 28 ; 2 Sam. xix. 11),
or as local magistrates in the provincial towns,
appointed in conformity with Deut. xvi. 18,
whose duty it was to sit in the gate and ad
minister justice (Deut. xix. 12, xxi. 3 sq., xxii.
15; Ruth iv. 9, 11 ; 1 K. xxi. 8; Judith x. 6);
their number and influence may be inferred
from 1 Sam. xxx. 26 sq. They retained then-
position under all the political changes which
the Jews underwent : under the Judges (Judg.
ii. 7, viii. 14, xi. 5 ; 1 Sam. iv. 3, viii. 4) ; under
the kings (2 Sam. xvii. 4; IK. xii. 6, xx. 8,
xxi. 11); during the Captivity (Jer. xxix. 1;
Ezek. viii. 1, xiv. 1, xx. 1) ; subsequently to the
Return (Ezra v. 5 ; vi. 7, 14 ; x. 8, 14) ; under
the Maccabees," when they were described some
times as the senate (yepovaia ; 1 Mace. xii. 6 ;
2 Mace. i. 10, iv. 44, xi. 27 ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 3,
§ 3), sometimes by their ordinary title (1 Mace.
vii. 33, xi. 23, xii. 35) ; and, lastly, at its com
mencement of the Christian era, when they are
noticed as a distinct body from the Sanhedrin,
but connected with it as one of the classes
whence its members were selected, and always
acting in conjunction with it and the other
dominant classes [Sanhedrin]. Thus they are
associated sometimes with the chief priests
(Matt. xxi. 23), sometimes with the chief priests
and the scribes (Matt. xvi. 21), or the council
(Matt. xxvi. 59), always taking an active part
in the management of public affairs. St. Luke
describes the whole order by the collective term
TrpeaBvTrlpiov (Luke xxii. 66 ; Acts xxii. 5). In
Matt. xv. 2 and Heb. xi. 2 " elders " is expressive
of time rather than office. For the position of
the elders in the synagogue and the Christian
Church, see Synagogue, Bishop. Much in
teresting information on this subject is given in
Hamburger, BE.1 s. n. "Aelteste," and (for the
time of our Lord) in Schurer, Gesch. d. Jud.
Volkes2 (see Index s. n. " Aelteste ").
[W.L.B.] [F.]
EL'EAD Cttf?$ ; B. om., A. 'EXedS ; Elad),
named with Ezer as a descendant of Ephraim
(1 Ch. vii. 21). They were probably heads of
families co-ordinate with that of the elder Shu
thelah (Keil in loco), or possibly his brother
(Oettli), the second Shuthelah being taken as
a son of Zabad. [G.] [F.]
EL-EA'LEH (1TP1&K, ? = Godis exalted [Num.
v. 3]; 'EXeaXi) [Num! i>.'37], B. AeaXip., B* 'EA.-
a Some difficulty arises at this period from the notice
in 1 Mace. xiv. 28 of a double body, apxox-res eflrovs,
and 7rpe(rj3uT€pot t% X"Pas ! and again in 2 Mace. i. 8,
-yepouo-ta and'irpea)3vTepot: the second term may refer
to the municipal authorities, as is perhaps implied in
the term xwpa. The identity of the yt-pova-U and the
n-peo-pvTepot in other passages is clear from 1 Mace.
xii. 6 compared with u. 35'.

ELEAZAE
ea\^u, AF. 'EXeaXi) ; Eleale), a place on the east
of Jordan, in the pastoral country, taken posses
sion of and rebuilt by the tribe of Reuben (Num.
xxxii. 3, 37). We lose sight of it till the time
of Isaiah and Jeremiah, by both of whom it is
mentioned as a Moabite town, and, as before, in
close connexion with Heshbon (Is. xv. 4, xvi. 9 •
Jer. xlviii. 34). The extensive ruins of the
place are still to be seen, bearing very nearly
their ancient name, el-'Al, though with a modern
signification, "the lofty," a little more than a
mile N. of Heshbon. It stands on the summit
of a rounded hill commanding a very extended
view of the plain and of the whole of the Southern
Belka (Burckh. Syr. p. 365 ; Seetzen, i. 467,
1854). It is from this commanding situation that
it doubtless derives its name, which, like many
other names of modern Palestine, is as near an
approach to the ancient sound as is consistent
with an appropriate meaning. There are rock-
hewn wine-presses (Is. xvi. 9 ; Jer. xlviii. 33,
34), the ruins of a church, and the remains of a
Byzantine town (PEF. Survey of E. Palestine,
i. 16). [G.] [W,]
ELEA'SA ('EXeaad, A. 'AXaad; Laisa),
a place at which Judas Maccabaeus encamped
before the fatal battle with Bacchides, in which
he lost, his life (1 Mace. ix. 5). It was not far
from Mount Azotus (cp. v. 15). Josephus (Ant.
xii. 11, § 1) has Bethzetho, probably Bir ez-Zeit,
by which he elsewhere renders Bezeth. But
this may be but a corrupt reading of Berzetha
or Bethzetha, which is found in some MSS. for
Berea in 1 Mace. ix. 4. Reland and others
propose to change the reading to Adasa, where
Judas had encamped on a former memorable
occasion (vii. 40) ; but no such reading is found.
It is singular that Bezeth should be mentioned
in this connexion also (see o. 19). It is now,
apparently, Khurbet ll'asa, near Beth-horon
(PEF. Mem. iii. 36, 115). [Azotus, Mount;
Berea, 3.]
The reading of the Vulgate suggests a possible
identification with the Laishah (A. V. Laish) of
Is. x. 30. [Laish.] [G.] [W.]
EL-EA'SAH (HOT^ = God liath made;
Elasa). 1. (B. 'Epds, A^'EXtaad), son of Helez,
one of the descendants of Judah, of the family of
Hezron (1 Ch. ii. 39).
2. (B. 'Ear/X or 'Eaai)X; A. 'EAeao-d), son
of Rapha, or Rephaiah; a descendant of Saul
through Jonathan and Merib-baal or Mephibo-
sheth (1 Ch. viii. 37 ; ix. 43).
This name is elsewhere rendered in the A. V.
Elasah. [G.] [F.]
EL-EA'ZAE ("IT1>^ = God hath helped;
'EXedfrp ; Eleazar). 1. Third son of Aaron, by
Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, who was
descended from Judah, through Pharez (Ex. vi.
23, 25 ; xxviii. 1 : for his descent see Gen.
xxxviii. 29, xlvi. 12 ; Ruth iv. 18, 20). After
the death of Nadab and Abihu without children
(Lev. a. I ; Num. iii. 4), Eleazar was appointed
chief over the principal Levites, to have the
oversight of those who had charge of the sanc
tuary (Num. iii. 32). With his brother Ithamar
he ministered as a priest during their father's
lifetime, and immediately before his death was
invested on Mount Hor with the sacred gar-

ELEAZAR
ments, as the successor of Aaron in the office of
high-priest (Num. xx. 28). One of his first
duties was in conjunction with Moses to super
intend the census of the people (Num. xxvi. 3).
He also assisted at the inauguration of Joshua,
and at the division of spoil taken from the
Midianites (Num. xxvii. 22; xxxi. 21). After
the conquest of Canaan by Joshua he took part
in the distribution of the land (Josh. xiv. 1).
The time of his death is not mentioned in Scrip
ture ; Josephus says it took place about the
same time as Joshua's, twenty-five years after
the death of Moses. He is said to "have been
buried in " the hill of Phinehas " his son (Ges.
p. 260), where Josephus says his tomb existed
(Ant. v. 1, § 29) ; or possibly in a town called
Gibeath-Phiuehas (Josh. xxiv. 33 : cp. Dillmann5).
The high-priesthood is said to have remained in
the family of Eleazar until the time of Eli, a
descendant of Ithamar, into whose family, for
some reason unknown, it passed until it was
restored to the family of Eleazar in the person
of Zadok (1 Sam. ii. 27 ; 1 Ch. vi. 8, xxiv. 3 ;
1 K. ii. 27 ; Joseph. Ant. viii. 1, § 3), and con
tinued in his family till the times of the Macca
bees (see Schurer, Gesch. d. Volkes Israel,1 Index
s. n. " Hohepriester ").
2. The son of Ahinadab, of the " hill " (flMJ)
of Kirjath-jearim, consecrated by the people of
that place to take care of the Ark after its
return from the Philistines (1 Sam. vii. 1).
3. The son of Dodo the Ahohite ('nnK-|3),
i.e. possibly a descendant of Ahoah of the tribe
of Benjamin (1 Ch. viii. 4) ; one of the three
principal mighty men of David's army, whose
exploits are recorded in 2 Sam. xxiii. 9, 1 Ch.
xi. 12.
4. A Merarite Levite, son of Mahli, and
grandson of Merari. He is mentioned as having
had only daughters, who were married by their
" brethren " (i.e. their cousins ; 1 Ch. xxiii. 21,
22 ; xxiv. 28).
5. A priest who took part in the Feast of De
dication under Nehemiah (Neh. xii. 42).
6. One of the sons of Parosh ; an Israelite
(i.e. a layman) who had married a foreign wife,
and had to put her away (Ezra x. 25 ; 1 Esd.
ix. 26).
7. Son of Phinehas a Levite (Ezra viii. 33 ;
1 Esd. viii. 63).
8. Eleazar QEXed(ap ; Joseph. 'EXedfapos),
surnamed Avaran (1 Mace. ii. 5, Aiiapdv, or
Abpdv, and so Joseph. Ant. xii. 6, § 1 ; 9, 4. In
1 Mace. vi. 43, the common reading 6 Savapav
arises either from the insertion of C by mistake
after 0, or from a false division of 'EXedfapos
Avapdv). The fourth son of Mattathias, who
fell by a noble act of self-devotion in an engage
ment "with Antiochus Eupator, B.C. 163 (1 Mace.
vi. 43 sq. ; Joseph. Ant. xii. 19, § 4 ; B. J. i.
1, § 5 ; Ambr. De offic. min. 40). In a former
battle with Nicanor, Eleazar was appointed by
Judas to read "the holy book" before the
attack, and the watchword in the fight — " the
help of God" — was his own name (2 Mace.
viii. 23).
The surname Avaran is of uncertain meaning.
Some (see Speaker's Comm. in loco) have derived
it from his exploit, others from his pale com
plexion (Zockler, in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf.
Komm. zu den Apokryphen).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

ELEPHANT

897

9. A distinguished scribe ('EAectfopoj . . . tuv
irpttnev6vTo>v ypappariav, 2 Mace. vi. 18) of
great age, who suffered martyrdom during the
persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Mace. vi.
18-31). His death was marked by singular
constancy and heroism, and seems to have pro
duced considerable effect. Later traditions em
bellished the narrative by representing Eleazar
as a priest (De Mace. 5), or even high-priest
(Grimm, ad Mace. 1. c). He was also dis
tinguished by the nobler title of " the proto
martyr of the old covenant," "the foundation
of martyrdom " (Chrys. Hom. 3 in Mace. init.
Cp. Ambr. de Jacob, ii. 10).
For the general credibility of the history cp.
Grimm, Excurs. iiber 2 Mace. vi. 18— viii. in
Exeg. Handb. ; Ewald, Gesch. iv. 341, 532 ;
Speaker's Comm. on the Apocrypha, ' Introd.'
§§ 2, 4 ; Zockler, Einleit. § 2. [Maccabees.]
The name Eleazar in 3 Mace. vi. appears to
have been borrowed from this Antiochian mar
tyr, as belonging to one weighed down by age
and suffering and yet " helped by God." For
the name cp. Lazarus, Luke xvi. 19-25.
10. The father of Jason, ambassador from
Judas Maccabaeus to Rome (1 Mace. viii. 18).
11. The son of Eliud, three generations above
Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary (Matt.
i. 15). [B. F. W.] [F.]
ELEAZU'EUS (B. 'EXidaeBos, A. -ai-;
Eliasib), 1 Esd. ix. 24. [Eliashib.] One of
the " holy singers " who had taken to himself
a "strange wife." Lupton (Speaker's Comm.
in loco) conjectures that the E. V. got their
form of this name from the Aldine 'EXid£ov<pos,
reading p instead of tp. [G.] [F.]
EL ELOHE ISRAEL (b$iii>\ ^H b^
= God (Almighty), the God of Israel; Kai i-tt-e-
KaXdaaTo Tbv Bebv '\apa-i]X ; Fortissimum Deum
Israel), the name bestowed by Jacob on the
altar which he erected facing the city of She
chem, in the piece of cultivated land upon which
he had pitched his tent, and which he after
wards purchased from the Bene-Hamor (Gen.
xxxiii. 19, 20 ; see Delitzsch [1887] and Dill
mann 5 in loco). [G.] [F.]
E'LEPH (e]S«n = the ox; B. om., A. 2e-
XaXitp ; Eleph), one of the towns allotted to
Benjamin, and named next to Jerusalem (Josh.
xviii. 28). The signification of the name may
be taken as an indication of the pastoral pursuits
of its inhabitants. The LXX. A. reads Zelah and
Eleph as one name, possibly owing to the " and "
between them having been dropped ; but if this
is done, the number of fourteen cities cannot be
made up. The Peshitto has li'il.i, Gebiro,
for Eleph ; but what the origin of this can be
is not obvious. Conder (PEF. Mem. iii. 47)
identifies it with Lifta, to the right of the road
from Jerusalem to Jaffa ; the usual identifica
tion of this place with Nephtoah being un
satisfactory. [G.] [W.]
ELEPHANT. The word does not occur in
A. V. excepting as a marginal reading for
Behemoth in Job xl. 15, where the hippopota
mus (R. V. marg.) is clearly intended. But the
most valuable product of that animal, ivory, is
3 M

898

ELEUTHEROPOLIS

repeatedly mentioned under the name of )£'•
shen ; and in two passages (1 K. x. 22, 2 Ch. ix.
21) we read D^aiW, shenhabbim (A. V. and
R. V. "ivory," A. V. marg. elephants' teeth;
LXX. oBoVtss iXeQdvrivoi), in the account of
the imports brought to Solomon by the navy of
Tarshish. Habbim is not a Hebrew word. The
derivation of Gesenius from the Sanskrit ibhas,
" an elephant," is now given up ; but the word
may have arisen out of D^il (cp. the Assyrian
al-ab, MV.11)- ' , , .
The Hebrew expression shows that the Jews,
though at that time they do not appear to have
had any further acquaintance with the elephant,
knew that ivory was the tusk or tooth, not the
horn of the animal. The term " horns of ivory "
(Ezek. xxvii. 15) is merely applied to the shape
of the tusk, not its growth, and is literally
" horns of teeth."
Elephants (ixitpaVTes) are frequently men
tioned in the Books of the Maccabees. Antiochus
Epiphanes had thirty-two elephants in his army
when he went to attack Jerusalem, and one of
them was killed by Eleazar, who crept under it and
slew it, but was himself crushed to death by. its
fall (1 Mace. vi. 46). At the battle of Magnesia,
Antiochus is stated to have had 120 elephants
(do. viii. 6). That the Seleucian kings of Syria
attached great importance to their elephants in
warfare is shown by the fact that the tetra-
drachms of Seleucus I. bear four elephants in a
row on the reverse. It is evident, from the
various allusions to ivory, that it was obtained
by the Jews and Phoenicians both from Ethiopia
through Egypt, and also from India by the
traders to Ophir and by the men of Dedan, in
the Persian Gulf. But the elephants of the
Syrian kings must have been the Asiatic species
imported from India by way of Persia. [See
Ivory.] [H. B. T.]
ELEUTHEROPOLIS ('EXevBepoTr6Xts,
" free city "), a word not found in the Bible, but
curiously connected in early Christian and
Jewish Commentaries with the Horites and
Mount Seir. Jerome (ad Obad. v. 1) says that
Seir was " in the region of Eleutheropolis, where
before dwelt the Horites, which is interpreted
' free,' whence perhaps the town was afterwards
named." In Bereshith Babba (xiii.) we read,
"The Horites (ilinn), that is Eleutheropolis
(D^lSnrnvN) ; and why was it called Eleu
theropolis ? Because they chose it and entered it
free at the time of the division, since in Greek
eliutheru (lim^N, iXeiBepo) is 'free,' and
Phulis (Dv1D, tr6Xis) 'town.'" Again in
another passage the Midrash (Yalkut, Gen.
xxxiii.) renders Seir by Beth Gubrin (fpa
ti^aii), and this town was the same as Eleu
theropolis, as appears below. The reason for
this curious opinion is found in what is probably
h false etymology for the word Horite, which
means " cave man " (Edomites) : the Jews,
whose interpretations Jerome so often followed,
seem to have rendered this word *in as though
it were D*"Yin, " free born," " nobles " (see
Gesen. Lex. s. v.).
The identity of Eleutheropolis with Beth

ELEUTHEROPOLIS
G ubrin was supposed by Robinson (Bib. Bes. ii.
p. 57), and is established by distances mentioned
in the Onomastioon to towns near it as measured
from the present village Beit Jibrin (i "±i\

English
Miles. Miles.
Jedna, now Idhnah . 6 actually 5*
Nezib, „ Beit Nusib 7 „ 6t
Adullam, „ 'Aid el MS 10 „ 1
Socoh, „ Shuweikeh 8 „ 1
Zoreah, ,, Sur'ah . 10 „ 12
Jarmuth, „ el Termtik 10 „ 9
Gaza, „ Ghiizzeh . 16 „ 20
(Peutinger Tables.)
Ascalon „ Askulan . 24 „ 21
(Antonine Itin.)
The Greek name Eleutheropolis was perhaps
a translation of the Hebrew Beth Gibborim
(from "112$, " hero "), meaning " house of mighty
ones," whence the Aramaic name of Beth Gubrin
above noticed. The Horites are included among
the old heroic aborigines of Palestine (see Deut.
ii. 12). The Semitic name first appears in
Ptolemy (iv. 16) as Baetogabra (BairoyaBpd,
Reland, Pal. p. 641) in the 2nd century A.D.,
and again in the old Roman map of the Peutin
ger Tables as Betogabri. It is mentioned in
other Jewish works (Midrash Koheleth, &c;
see Reland, p. 641), and in the 12th century by
the Jewish traveller Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela
(P"Q3 JV3). Reland also thinks it is the
Begabris of some editions of Josephus (Bell. Jud.
iv. 8, § 1, B-iyyaBpis), In the 10th century the
name appears corrupted by El Mukaddasy (985
A.D.) as Beit Jibril or " House of Gabriel," and
a spot is still shown near the village sacred to
Neby Jibril (PEF. Mem. iii. pp. 270, 271).
William of Tyre calls this place " The House
of Gabriel," but the commoner Crusading name
was Gibelin. He states that the Arab name
was then (in 1136 a.d.) Bethgebrim, and be
lieves it to be the ancient Bersabe or Beersheba.
So also Marino Sanuto speaks of Bersabre as
Ziblin (vi. 15, 18), and savs it was vulgarly
called Gybelyn (1321 A.D.). '
The Greek name of this place is mentioned on
coins of the city with the name of Julia Domna
in 202 a.d. Severus, her husband, bestowed
privileges on Palestine cities in that year (see
Robinson, Bib. Bes. ii. p. 60). The earliest
Bishop of Eleutheropolis attended the Nicene
Council, 325 A.D., and the names of four others
occur down to 536 a.d. In the mediaeval eccle
siastical lists (Bongar, Gesta Dei per Francos,
p. 1044) the Latin Beit Gerbein seems to answer
to the Eleutheropolis of a corresponding Greek
list (Robinson, Bib. Bes. ii. p. 62, note). This
place was regarded by the Patristic writers as
Ramath Lehi. Hence Jerome (Ep. 86, Epitaph.
Paulae) says that Morasthim or Mareshah (el
Mer'ash, close to Beit Jibrin) was near Samson's
Fountain, and the pilgrim Antoninus Martyr
(circa 530 a.d.) calls Eleutheropolis (ch. xxxii.)
the place where Samson slew a thousand men
with the jaw-bone of an ass, whence water
sprang forth (Judg. xv. 19). Marino Sanuto
seems to mention the same site in the 14th
century as the " fountain of the jaw." In the
Acta Sanctorum Martyrum the Syriac reads

ELEUTHEROPOLIS
Beth Gubrin, the Greek and Latin Eleutheropolis
(Robinson, Bib. Bes. ii. p. 66 ; cp. Reland, Pal
pp. 749-754).
The place was important in Crusading times.
William of Tyre records its fortification by King
Fulke of Anjou in 1136 A.D. It was confided to
the Knights Hospitallers as a bulwark against
Ascalon. Geoffry de Vinsauf (v. 44) says that
Ybelin of the Hospitallers by Hebron was near
the valley where St. Anne was born. A great
church of Sanda Hannah now lies in ruins near
Beit Jibrin.
The modern village, in a sheltered valley full
of olive groves, has a population of about 1000
souls, living in mud and stone houses. It has
four spring wells, the largest to the south
(Bir Umm Judeia') being regarded by Robinson
as the traditional " Fountain of the Jaw-bone "
above mentioned. It is perhaps worthy of note
that this name may mean " Well, the mother of
clamour" (c\jc»-, Freytag, Lex.), comparable
to the Hebrew En Hakkore, or " spring of the
crier." The site, however, of Samson's exploit
may have lain further north than Beit Jibrin.
Outside the viUage on the north the remains of
the Crusading walls and castle extend for about
a third of a mile east and west. The ditch re
mains and a cloister, which is clearly Norman
work. The castle was, however, repaired in 958
a.h. (1551 a.d.) by Moslems, as evidenced by an
Arab text on the wall. The church near the
village must in Byzantine times have been one
of the largest in the country. The length was
124 feet, with a nave 32 feet wide. The Cru
sading restoration was much smaller.
There are fourteen remarkable caverns near
Beit Jibrin, which have often been described and
supposed to be very ancient. Some writers
have called them " Horite caves," but they are
like many others in tbis part of Palestine,
apparently formed by quarrying in the first
instance, and now used as stables for goats and
cows. There is no evidence of their being very
ancient. In one case a Jewish tomb has been
destroyed in enlarging the cavern, showing that
this at least is not as old as the tomb. There
are a good many Arabic texts on the walls, one
of which perhaps contains the name of Saladin.
There are also crosses cut by Christians, but
nothing more ancient than these remains is
known. One cave has a finely-carved band of
bas-relief arabesque work on the walls. El
Mukaddasy speaks of " marble quarries" at Beit
Jibril, which may account for these caverns.
There are several very fine specimens of
ancient Jewish tombs near the village, and a
very curious excavation at Tell Sandahannah,
consisting of well-like chambers with staircases
running down round the walls. There is also a
large columbarium, perhaps of the Roman period,
called es Sui, " the market."
A curious legendary character called Sultan
el Fenish is connected with the vicinity. He is
said to have been a Christian king, and a cavern
and garden called after him are shown at Beit
Jibrin : he is also known elsewhere in the low
lands west of Jerusalem.
The authorities on the ancient history have
already been quoted. The fullest account of
Beit Jibrin and its antiquities will he found in

ELHANAN

899

the PEF. Mem. (iii. 257-8, 264-274, 275-278
289-292, with the Fenish legends, p. 294).
[C. R. C]
ELEUTHERUS ('EXtiBepos), a river in
Phoenicia, where Jonathan the Hasmonaean met
Ptolemy (1 Mace. xi. 7), and which appears to
have been beyond the limits of Hasmonaean rule
(xii. 30). Josephus makes it the limit of the
country given to Cleopatra by Antony (Ant. xiii
*¦ § 5! 5> § 10; *?. 4, § 1; Bell. Jud. i.
18, § 5). Strabo (xvi. 2, 12) makes it the northern
limit of Phoenicia. Pliny (H. N. v. 17) places it
north of Tripoli, and says that it swarmed with
tortoises (ix. 10). Reland is inclined to connect
the name with the Arabic iS»*5\, "tortoise."
Strabo clearly places the river north of Tripoli.
In the Middle Ages it was incorrectly shown
near Lydda (William of Tyre). The Sabbatic
river (Nahr es Sebta, further north) has also
been incorrectly identified with the Eleutherus.
The river in question is now called Nahr el
Kebir ("the great river"), and it divides the
northern Lebanon (Jebel Akkdr) from the chain
which joins Mount Amanus. It rises in a sort
of natural crater or hollow plain, called el
Bukeia', in the pass between the two ranges,
west of the lake of Horns. This crater is
several miles across, marshy, and dotted with
oaks. It is the camping-ground of the Turko
man tribes. On the south are the rugged and
snowy ridges of Lebanon. On the north the old
Crusading castle Krak des Chevaliers commands
the pass. The soil is of hard black basalt round
the crater. The river runs west for twenty
miles into the sea, fifteen miles north of Tripoli.
The bed near the shore is full of canes. It is
easily fordable, except when swollen by the
rains, when it is for a time a deep and rapid
stream. [C. R. C]
ELEUZAI, the reading of the A. V. (a.d.
1611) in 1 Ch. xiv. 5 for Eluzai (R. V.).
ELHA'NAN QinbtA = God hath been gracious,
al. whom God gave [cp. ^K}}l"l, i"PJ3n, and
Phoen. Hannibal. See Renan, Des Noms Th€o-
phores apocopes, p. 176 in BEJ. 1882 ; Baethgen,
Beitrage z. Semit. Beligionsgeschichte, p. 302] ;
'EXeavdv; Adeodatus). 1. A distinguished warrior
in the time of king David, who performed a
memorable exploit against the Philistines, though
in what that exploit exactly consisted, and who
the hero himself was, it is not easy to determine.
(a.) 2 Sam. xxi. 19 says that he was the " son
of Jaare-Oregim the Bethlehemite," and that he
"slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose
spear was like a weaver's beam." Here, in the
A. V., the words " the brother of" (omitted in
R. V.) are inserted, to bring the passage into
agreement with
(b.) 1 Ch. xx. 5, which states that " Elhanan
the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath
the Gittite, the staff of whose spear," &c.
Driver (Notes on the Hebrew Text of the BB,
qf Samuel, in loco) comes to the conclusion that
the text of Samuel * (independent of questions

a Cp. Kennicott's Dissertation, p. 78. Deutsch (Kitto's
Cyclop, of Biblical Literature,3 e. n.) deals with the
question as one of emendation of the text.
3 M 2

900

ELHANAN

ELI

with reference to Oregim, which is generally
allowed to have found its way to connexion
with Jaare from the line below of the Hebrew
text) is the more likely to be correct ; the
original writer of this article considers the text
of Chron. as probably the more correct.*
1 Sam. xvii. declares that Goliath the Gittite
was killed by David (see s. n. p. 723, u. °) ; but
even if the reading of Samuel here be accepted
as the original, it does not follow that Ewald's
suggestion would be true (Gesch. iii. 91, 2), viz.
that from the fact that David's antagonist is,
with only three exceptions (one of them in the
doubtful verses, xvii. 12-32), called " the Philis
tine," and for other linguistic reasons, Elhanan
was the real victor of Goliath ; and that, after
David became king, the name of Goliath was
attached to the nameless champion whom he
killed in his youth. Against this is the fact
that Goliath is named thrice in 1 Sam. xvii.
and xxi. — thrice only though it be; and also
that Elhanan's exploit, from its position both in
Samuel and in Chronicles, and from other indi
cations, took place late in David's reign, and
when he had been so long king and so long
renowned, that all the brilliant feats of his
youth must have been brought to light, and
well known to his people. It is recorded as the
last but one in the series of encounters of what
seems to have been the closing struggle with
the Philistines. It was so late that David had
acquired among his warriors the fond title of
" the light of Israel " (2 Sam. xxi. 17), and that
his nephew Jonathan was old enough to perform
a feat rivalling that of his illustrious uncle
years before. It was certainly after David was
made king, for he goes down to the fight, not
with his " young men " (*1M),° as when he was
leading his band during Saul's life, but with
his " servants " (H317), literally .his " slaves,"
a term almost strictly reserved for the subjects
of a king. The vow of his guard, on one of
these occasions, that it should be his last
appearance in the field, shows that it must
have been after the great Ammonite war, in
which David himself had led the host to the
storming of Rabbah (2 Sam. xii. 29). It may
have Keen between this last event and the
battle with Absalom beyond Jordan, though
there are other obvious reasons why David
stayed within the walls of Mahanaim on that
occasion. On the whole, therefore, it seems best to
conclud'e that the passages in 1 Sam. xvii. and
in 2 Sam. xxi. do not refer to the same oc
currence. b Ewald has overcome the difficulty of the two dis-
crepant passages by a curious eclectic process. From
Chronicles he accepts the name "Jair," but rejects
" Lahmi, the brother of." From Samuel he takes " tho
Bethlehemite," and rejects "Oregim." Cp. also Griitz,
Gesch. i. 427.
• Nothing can be more marked than this distinction.
Na'ar (*U/3) iB used almost invariably for David's
followers up to the death of Saul, and then at once
the term changes, and Ebed (.131)), a "slave," is as
exclusively employed. Even Absalom's people go by
the former name. This will be evident to any one who
will look into the quotations under the two words in
that most instructive book The Englishman's Hebrew
Concordance.

Jerome, in his Quaest. Heb. on both passages
— lie does not state whether from ancient tra
dition or not — translates Elhanan into Acho-
datus, and adds filius saltus Polymitarius Beth
lehemites — •" a wood-man (?), a weaver, a Beth
lehemite." Adeo-datus, he says, is David, which
he proves not only by arguments drawn from
the meaning of each of the above words, but
also from the statement in the concluding verse
of the record that all these giants " fell by the
hand of David and by the hand of his ser
vants ; " and as Elhanan slew Goliath, Elhanan
must be David.
2. The son of Dodo of Bethlehem, one of " the
thirty " of David's guard, and named first on
the list (2 Sam. xxiii. 24 ; 1 Ch. xi. 26). See
Kennicott's Dissertation, p. 179
The same name is also found with Baal sub
stituted for El, — Baal-hanan. (Cp. Beel-
iada.) [G.] [F.]
ELI (^1?, Q)= elevation; 'HXl; 'HXd, Joseph.;
Heli), high-priest and judge, was descended from
Aaron through Ithamar, the younger of his two
surviving sons (Lev. x. 1, 2, 12 ; 1 Ch. xxiv. 2),
as appears from the fact that Abiathar, who was
certainly a lineal descendant of Eli (1 K. ii. 27),
had a son Ahimelech, who is expressly stated to
have been " of the sons of Ithamar " (1 Ch. xxiv.
3 ; cp. 2 Sam. viii. 17). With this accords the
circumstance that the names of Eli and his
successors in the high-priesthood, up to and
including Abiathar, are not found in the gene
alogy of Eleazar (1 Ch. vi. 4-15 ; cp. Ezra vii.
1—5). As the history makes no mention of any
high-priest of the line of Ithamar, before Eli, he is
generally supposed to have been the first of that
line who held the office CHAel trptiTov Tairnv
[ttiv apxisptoavvTiv] TrapaXaB6vros, Joseph. Ant.
viii. 1, § 3). From him, his sons having died
before him, it appears to have passed to his
grandson, Ahitnb (1 Sam. xiv. 3 ; Josephus, how
ever, says, Qivtiaris Se ^5t; koX Uparo, toC
7TOTpos at/rip TrapaKGXttipriK6T0s Sia rb yrjpas,
Ant. v. II, § 2), and it certainly remained in his
family till Abiathar, the grandson of Ahitub,
was "thrust out from being priest unto the
Lord," by Solomon, for his share in Adonijah's
rebellion (1 K.i ii. 26, 27 ; cp. i. 7). The high-
priesthood then passed back to the family of
Eleazar in the person of Zadok (1 K. ii. 35),
where it continued as long as the monarchy
lasted (1 Ch. vi. 4-15), and still remained after
the Captivity in Babylon (Ezra vii. 1-5). How
the office ever came into the younger branch of
the house of Aaron we are not informed, though
we are expressly told that it did so, with the
sanction of Almighty God (1 Sam. ii. 30, in
which and the following verses, 31-36, as Ewald
points out, Eli's " father's house " is evidently
restricted to his particular branch of the sacer
dotal line, though in the preceding verses,
27-29, it must be understood of the whole tribe
of Levi, as is clear from the historical reference
to Egypt, and the contrast with the other tribes
of Israel. Hist, of Isr. ii. 410, Eng. trans.).
In addition to the office of high-priest, Eli
held that of judge. (1 Sam. iy. 18), being the
immediate predecessor of his pupil Samuel, the
last of the judges (1 Sam. vii. 6, 15-17). Of
the circumstances which led to the combination
of the two offices in one person we know

ELI
nothing. It has been suggested that " Eli in
his youth was a great hero and deliverer of
Israel, and that, like all the judges, he attained
his position by extraordinary prowess." And
support has been found for this suggestion, in
the fact, which is thought to be deducible from
the history, that " in the forty years ascribed to
Eli's rule, the Philistines had no longer the
same preponderance as in the forty years of their
first ascendancy, within whioh Samson's isolated
resistance is comprised" (Ewald, Hist, of Isr.
ii. 411 ; Stanley, Jewish Ch. i. 333). The length
of time during which he judged Israel is given
as forty years in our present Hebrew copies,
whereas the LXX. make it twenty years (elfwo-
aiv &T7J, 1 Sam. iv. 18). Some have thought
that the discrepancy is to be accounted for by
supposing that Eli was sole judge for twenty
years, after having been co-judge with Samson
for a like period (Judg. xvi. 31).
The figure of Eli stands out in bold relief on
the sacred page. It is portrayed in few lines,
but they are drawn by a master's hand. When
first introduced to us, he is already an old man
— sixty-eight, according to the received chron
ology. The Tabernacle, with the Ark of the
Covenant, is still at Shiloh, where Joshua had
placed it ; but buildings have grown np around
it, so that the name " Temple," or " palace " of
Jehovah, is already given to it (il'liV PS'H.
1 Sam. i. 9 ; iii. 3), and there are gates or
" doors " to the court in which it stands (1 Sam.
iii. 15). In the corresponding porch or gate
way, fixed against one of the posts or pillars
which support it, and commanding, it would
seem, the outer court in which the worshippers
assembled, and perhaps the road beyond, is a
" seat " or " throne," on which Eli is accustomed
to sit (" the seat," 1 Sam. i. 9 ; iv. 13). Here
he is found when the sacred history first men
tions him. His watchful survey of the multi
tudes who had come up to worship at the Feast,
his dignified rebuke of the supposed delinquent,
who, after the evil example of his own sons, was
profaning, as he thought, the Temple of the
Lord, his priestly blessing bestowed upon her
when he discovered his mistake, set him before
us as no unworthy occupant of the high offices
which he held. His subsequent reception from
the hands of Hannah, of the child which had
been given to her prayer, together with his
benediction of her and her husband (1 Sam. i.
25-28 ; ii. 20), are quite in keeping with this
first description of him. His relations with
Samuel, throughout the history, justify the
conclusion that his heart found solace in the
purity and piety of the child who was growing
up under his care, uncontaminated by the
wickedness which, springing from his own
family and office, as from a corrupt fountain-
head, was overflowing and polluting the whole
nation. It is his weak toleration of this
wickedness with which he had no sympathy
whatever, but which he failed effectually to
curb, that is the one great blot in the character
of Eli : " His sons made themselves vile, and he
restrained them not" (1 Sam. iii. 13). As a
private person, it would have been his duty to
"put away evil from among" his people, by
bringing his sons to punishment (Deut. xxi. 18-
21). As high-priest and judge, the power and

ELI

901

the responsibility of dealing with them were
alike his own. This he failed practically to
recognise. He spoke when he should have
acted. He remonstrated when he should have
restrained. He allowed his sons by their ra
pacity and licentiousness to profane the office
of the priesthood, and to bring the rites of
religion into abhorrence among the people
(1 Sam. ii. 12-17, 22 ; in which latter verse we
ought probably to render "the women that
served," — " did service," R. V. — i.e. discharged
various offices in connexion with the Taber
nacle ; cp. Driver, Notes on the Heb. Text of the
BB. of Sam. in loco, Exod. xxxviii. 8, and
Num. iv. 23, where the same Hebrew word
is rendered, "perform the service"). The sin
of which he was thus guilty was grievous
and, in its temporal consequences, unpardon
able. Neither bloody nor unbloody sacrifice
could purge it away (1 Sam. iii. 14). His
doom, which had been previously foretold by
an unknown prophet sent to Shiloh (1 Sam.
ii. 27-36), became the subject of the first
prophetic revelation made to Samuel (iii.
11-14). The meek submission with which
the aged high-priest received the terrible sen
tence from the lips of the reluctant child who
was commissioned to deliver it, is another proof
of his genuine piety, while it forms at the same
time a touching episode in the history. The
closing scene in the life of Eli is full of solem
nity and pathos. The Israelites have again
encountered and been defeated by their ancient
enemies, the Philistines. They have left 4,000
men dead upon the field. To retrieve this
disaster, they fetch from Shiloh the Ark of the
covenant of the Lord, by which such mighty
things had been done for them in times past.
But the expedient is vain. Despite a. transient
enthusiasm in their own ranks and panic among
their enemies, they are again defeated, and the
Ark is taken, and the sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, are slain. A swift runner bears tie
news to Shiloh. The city, which is first reached,
sends up a wail of anguish as he proclaims it.
Eli, anxious and expectant, is sitting on his
throne or seat in the gateway of the temple, on
the hill beyond. He is ninety-eight years old,
and blind, but he hears the cry, and asks those
around him what it means. Calamity after
calamity in quick succession is poured upon him.
" Israel is fled." " There hath been a great
slaughter among the people." " Thy two sons,
Hophni and Phinehas, are dead." And, to crown
all, "The Ark is taken." It was this last
intelligence which proved the death-blow of
Eli, for his heart was still true to God and to
His service. " It came to pass, when he made
mention of the Ark of God, that he fell from
off the seat backward, by the side of the gate,
and his neck brake and he died, for he was
an old man and heavy" (1 Sam. iv. 1-18; cp.
Stanley, i. 338). Another part of his punish
ment, the return of the high-priesthood to the
elder branch of the family, took effect, as we
have seen, in the time of Solomon. The decay
of his house, which had also been predicted
(1 Sam. ii. 31-33), appears to have been in pro
gress in the reign of David, when we read that
" there were more chief men found of the sons
of Eleazar, .than of the -sons of Ithamar," sixteen
of the former, and only eight of the latter.

902

ELIAB

ELIAKIM

(1 Ch. xxiv. 4.) [Abiathar ; Eleazar ; Itha
mar.] (See Lightfoot's Works, i. 53, 907, fol.
Lond. 1684 ; Selden, de Success, in Pontif. Hebr.
lib. i. cap. 4.) [T. T. P.]
ELIAB (3K^K = my God is Father [see
Olshausen, Lehrb. d. Heb. Sprache, p. 6 15] ; 'EXtdB ;
Eliab). 1. Son of Helon and leader of the tribe
of Zebulun at the time of the census in the wil
derness of Sinai (Num. i. 9 ; ii. 7 ; vii. 24, 29 ;
A. 16).
2. A Reubenite, son of Pallu or Phallu, whose
family was one of the principal in the tribe ; and
father or progenitor of Dathan and Abiram, the
leaders in the revolt against Moses (Num. xxvi.
8, 9, xvi. 1. 12 ; Deut. xi. 6). Eliab had another
son named Nemuel, and the record of Num.
xxvi. is interrupted expressly to admit » state
ment regarding his sons.
3. One of David's brothers, the eldest of the
family (1 Ch. ii. 13 ; 1 Sam. xvi. 6, xvii. 13, 28).
His daughter Abihail married her second cousin
Rehoboam, and bore him three children (2 Ch.
xi. 18 ; B. 'EXidv, A. -aB) ; although, taking into
account the length of the reigns of David and
Solomon, it is difficult not to suspect that the
word " daughter " is here used in the less strict
.sense of granddaughter or descendant. In 1 Ch.
xxvii. 18, we find mention of " Elihu, of the
brethren of David," as "ruler" (Til), or
" prince " ("iSf) ofthe tribe of Judah. According
to the ancient Hebrew tradition preserved by
Jerome (Quaest. Heb. in loco), this Elihu was
identical with Eliab (so LXX.). " Brethren " is
however often used in the sense of kinsmen, e.g.
in 1 Ch. xii. 2.
4. A Levite in the time of David, who was
both a " porter " (TBiB>, i.e. a doorkeeper) and
a musican on the " psaltery " (1 Ch. xv. 18
[BS1. 'EXtaBd, N*. 'EXiBd, A. 'EXidB], 20,
xvi. 5).
5. One of the warlike Gadite leaders who
came over to David when he was in the wil
derness taking refuge from Saul (1 Ch. xii. 9 ;
N. 'EXeidB).
6. An ancestor of Samuel the Prophet ; a
Kohathithe Levite, son of Nahath (1 Ch. vi. 27 ;
Hebr. 12). In the other statements of the gene
alogy this name appears to be given as Elihu
(1 Sam. i. 1) and Eliel (1 Ch. vi. 34 ; Hebr. 19).
7. Son of Nathanael, one of the forefathers
of Judith, and therefore belonging to the tribe
of Simeon (Judith viii. 1 ; B. 'EXeidB, A. 'EXidB,
N. 'EvdB). [G.] [F.]
EL-IA'DA (Vvb$ = God hath known ; Elioda,
Eliada). 1. One of David's sons ; according to
the lists, the youngest but one of the family born
to him after his establishment in Jerusalem (2
Sam. v. 16 [B. 'EiriSoe, A. 'EXtSae] ; 1 Ch. iii. 8
[B. 'EXeiSd, A. 'EXteSd]). From the latter pas
sage it appears that he was the son of a wife and
not of a concubine. In another list of David's
family we find the name Eliada changed to
Beeliada, the false god (Baal) for the true (1 Ch.
xiv. 7 [BK. BoA-FySae, A. BaXXiaSd]). What
significance there may be in this change it is
impossible to say (see Driver, Notes on the Heb.
Text of the BB. of Sam. on 2 Sam. v. 16) ; it is
the only instance oocnrring, and even here Eliada
is found in one Hebrew MS. [Beeliada.] The

name appears to be omitted by Josephus in his
list of David's family (Ant. vii. 3, § 3).
2. A mighty man of war (?;n *l'l3|), a Ben
jamite, who led 200,000 of his tribe to the army
of Jehoshaphat (2 Ch. xvii. 17 [B. 'EAeiSii, A.
•EXiaSd]). [G.] [F.]'
EL-IA'DAH (V}lb:X =God hath known; B.
om., A. 'EXtaSai; Eliada), apparently an Aramite
of Zobah ; father of Rezon the captain of a
marauding band which annoyed Solomon (1 K
xi. 23). * [G.] [F.]
EL-IA'DAS ('EXiaSds ; Eliadas), 1 Esd. ix.
28. [Elioenai.]
EL-IA'DUN (B. EiXtaooiv, A. 'IX- ; Vulg.
omits), 1 Esd. v. 58. Possibly altered from
Henadad. [G.] [F.]
ELI' AH (irta = God [is'] Jehovah ; Elia).
1. CHXla.) A Benjamite ; one of the sons of Jero
ham, and a chief man (B'NI, literally " head ")
of the tribe (1 Ch. viii. 27).
2. ('HAio.) One of the Bene-Elam; an Is
raelite (i.e. a layman) in the times of Ezra, who
had married a foreign wife (Ezra x. 26).
This name is accurately Elijah, and the trans
lators of the A. V. have so expressed it, not only
in the name of the Prophet (most frequently
spelt with a final u), but in another case (Ezra
x. 21). [Elijah.] [G] [F.j
EL-IAH'BA (N3It6n = God hides [or pro
tects] ; 'EXiaBd, 'Epaaoi, 'EXidB ', Eliaba), a
Shaalbonite, i.e. probably from Shaalbim ; one
of the thirty of David's guard (2 Sam. xxiii. 32
[B. 'Epaaoii 6 SaXaBaveiT-ns, A. 'EXidB']; 1 Ch.
xi. 33 [A. 'EXiaBa 6 SaXa0avl, N. 'Eauafia 6
tupei, B. ZapaBa 6 'Opei~]). [G.] (T.]
EL-IA'KIM (D*j?^>8 = God establishes; MV.1!
compares the Sabean ^>KDpi"l, bxDp» ; 'EXioxlp
and 'EXiaKelp ; Eliacim). 1. Son of Hilkiah ;
master of Hezekiah's household (TV3i"rbu =
" over the house," as Is. xxxvi. 3), 2 K. xviii.
18, 26, 37. He succeeded Shebna in this office,
after he had been ejected from it (Grotius
thinks by reason of his leprosy) as a punish
ment for his pride (Is. xxii. 15-20). Eliakim
was a good man, as appears by the title em
phatically applied to him by God, " My servant
Eliakim " (Is. xxii. 20), and as was evinced by
his conduct on the occasion of Sennacherib's in
vasion (2 K. xviii. 37 ; xix. 1-5), and.also in the
discharge of the duties of his high station, in
which he acted as a " father to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah"
(Is. xxii. 21). It was as a special mark of the
Divine approbation of his character and con
duct, of which however no further details have
been preserved to us, that he was raised to the
post of authority and dignity which he held at
the time of the Assyrian invasion. What this
office was has been a subject of some perplexity
to commentators. The ancients, including the
LXX. and Jerome, understood it of the priestly
office, as appears by the rendering of J3D (Is.
xxii. 15, A. V. and R. V. " treasurer ; "' R. V.
marg. Or, steward) by iraaTotp6piov, the " priest's

ELIAKIM
chamber," by the former, and of JV3rP7U by
" praepositus templi" by the latter. Hence
Nicephorus, as well as the author of the
Alexandrian Chronicle, includes in the list of
high-priests, Somnas or Sobnas (/.<;. Shebna)
and Eliakim, identifying the latter with Shallum
or Meshullam. His twelfth high-priest is,
Somnas, Me impius ct perditus, regnante Ezechid ;
and his thirteenth, Eliakim Muselum. But it
is certain from the description of the office in
Is. xxii., and especially from the expression in
v. 22, "the key of the house of David will 1
lay upon his shoulder," that it was the king's
house, and not the House of God, of which
Eliakim was praefect, as Ahishar had been in
the reign of Solomon, 1 K. iv. 6, aud Azrikam
in that of Ahaz, 2 Ch. xxviii. 7. And with this
agrees both all. that is said, and all that is not
said, of Eliakim's functions. The office seems
to have been the highest under the king, as was
the case in Egypt, when Pharaoh said to Joseph,
'• Thou shalt be over my house ('ITS"?!?) . . .
only in the throne will I be greater than thou,"
Gen. xii. 40 ; cp. xxxix. 4. In 2 Ch. xxviii.
7, the officer is called " governor (T3J) of the
house." It is clear that the " Scribe " was
inferior to him, for Shebna, when degraded from
the praefecture of the house, acted as scribe
under Eliakim a (2 K. xviii. 37). Further, the
whole description of it by Isaiah implies a place
of great eminence and power. This description
is transferred in a mystical or spiritual sense to
Christ the Son of David in Rev. iii. 7 ; thus
making Eliakim in some sense typical of Christ.
This it is perhaps which gave rise to the inter
pretation of Eliakim's name mentioned by Ori
gen, & ®€os pov aviaTTi- or as Jerome has it,
Dei resurrectio, or Besurgens Deus; and also
favoured the mystical interpretation of the
passage in Isaiah given by Jerome in his com
mentary, based upon the interpretation of |3D
as " habitans in tabernaculo" as if it imported
the removal of the Jewish dispensation, and the
setting up of the Gospel in its place. The mean
ing of jgfa is probably " steward," in a high
sense of the term (MV.11 gives instances of its
occurrence in the Carthaginian inscriptions).
Eliakim's career was a most honourable and
splendid one ; if with Gesenius and Ewald (cp.
Driver, Isaiah, his Life and Times, p. 103, n. 1 ;
Riehm, HWB. s. n. ; Dillmann5 in loco) Is. xxii.
25 is taken to apply not to him, but to Shebna.1'
Eliakim's name also occurs 2 K. xix. 2 ; Is.
xxxvi. 3, 11, 22 ; xxxvii. 2 (see further Jerome,
de nom. Hebr. and Comm. on Is. xxii. 15 sq. ;
Rosenmiill. to. ; Bp. Lowth's Notes on Is. ; Selden,
de Success, in Pontif. Hebr. ; Winer, sub voc).
2. The original name of Jehoiakim king of
Judah (2 K. xxiii. 34; 2 Ch. xxxvi. 4). [Je
hoiakim.] 3. A priest in the days of Nehemiah, who
assisted at the dedication of the new wall of
Jerusalem (Neh. xii. 41 ; BK*A. om.).
4. Eldest son of Abiud, or Judah ; brother of

ELIASHIB

903

» Bp. Lowlh thinks, but without sufficient reason,
that this Shebna is a different person from the other.
» Others (Delitzsch,' G. A. Smith, &c. in loco) take
this verse as referring to Eliakim, and consider that he
fell through the nepotism of hi6 family.

Joseph, and father of Azor (Matt. i. 13). [Ge
nealogy of Christ.]
5. Son of Melea, and father of Jonan (Luke
iii. 30, 31). [Ibid.] [a. C. H.]
EL-IA'LI (B. 'EoiaXeis, A. 'EXiaXel ; Dielus),
1 Esd. ix. 34. [Binnui.]
ELI'AM (DJJ^N; BA. 'EA.rf.j8 ; Eliam),
1. Father of Bathsheba, the wife of David
(2 Sam. xi. 3). In the list of 1 Ch. iii. 5,
the names of both father and daughter are
altered, the former to Ammiel and the latter to
Bathshua * ; and it may be noticed in passing,
that both the latter names were also those of
non-Israelite persons, while Uriah was a Hittite
(cp. Gen. xxxviii. 12 ; 1 Ch. ii. 3 ; in both of
which "the daughter of Shua " is 1ME> 113,
Bath-shua ; also 2 Sam. xvii. 27). The trans
position of the two parts of the name El-i-am
in Am-mi-el does not alter its Hebrew signifi
cation, which may be " God is my people."
2. B. 'EAid|8; A. OveXidtp. Son of Ahithophel
the Gilonite ; one of David's " thirty " warriors
(2 Sam. xxiii. 34). The name is omitted in the
list of 1 Ch. xi., but is now probably dimly
discernible or mutilated (Driver) as " Ahijah
the Pelonite " (v. 36 ; see Kennicott, Disserta
tion, p. 207). The ancient Jewish tradition pre
served by Jerome (Qu. Hebr. on 2 Sam. xi. 3,
and 1 Ch. iii. 5) is that the two Eliams are one
and the same person. An argument has been
founded on this to account for the hostility of
Ahitophel to king David, as having dishonoured
his house and caused the death of his son-in-
law (Blunt, Coincidences, Pt. II. x.). [G.] [F.]
ELIAO'NIAS (B. 'EXtaXavlas, A. 'EXiuu-
vias ; Moabilionis, including preceding name),
1 Esd. viii. 31. [Elihoenai.]
ELIAS CHxlas > m Maccabees, and in N. T.
"HX'tas [Lachm. and Treg.] or 'HXelas [Westc. and
Hort] ; Elias, but in Cod. Amiat. Helias), the
form in which the name of Elijah is given in
the A. V. of the Apocrypha and N. T. : Ecclus.
xlviii. 1, 4, 12 [K. vv. 1. 12, 'HAelas] ; 1 Mace. ii.
58 ; Matt. xi. i4, xvi. 14, xvii. 3, 4, 10, 11, 12,
xxvii. 47, 49 ; Mark vi. 15, viii. 28, ix. 4, 5, 11,
12, 13, xv. 35, 36 ; Luke i. 17, iv. 25, 26, ix. 8,
19, 30, 33, 54; John i. 21, 25; Rom. xi. 2;
James v. 17. In Rom. xi. 2 the reference is
not to the prophet, but to the portion of Scrip
ture designated by his name, the words being
iv 'HXta, " in Elias " (A. V. and R. V. marg.), not
as in A.' V. and R. V. text, " of Elias." [G.]
EL-IA'SAPH (*|D)^jl = God hath added;
B. 'EXeiadtj>, AF. -i-;' Eliasaph). 1. Son of
Deuel ; head of the tribe of Dan at the time of
the census in the Wilderness of Sinai (Num. i.
14 ; ii. 14 ; vii. 42, 47 ; x. 20).
2. BAF. 'EXiadtj>. Son of Lael ; a Levite,
and " chief of the house of the father of the
Gershonite " at the same time (Num. iii. 24).

EL-IA'SHIB (3,B'V« = God will bring back ;
cp. Nestle, Die Israel. Eigennamen, p. 194. MV.11
compares the Sabean 7N3F1 ; Eliasub, Eliasib),
» Driver (Notes on the Hebrew Text of the BB. of
Samud, in loco) thinks that U1{J» (in Ch.) was pro
nounced ])1t*», and was merely an error for L'2%}.

904

ELlAsfS

a common name at the later period of the 0. T.
history. 1. B. 'EXtaBiei, A. 'EXiaadp. A priest in
the time of king David, eleventh in the order
of the "governors" ('XO of the sanctuary
(1 Ch. xxiv. 12).
2. B. 'Ao-ef/3, B. 'EXiaaeiB- A son of Elioenai ;
one of the latest descendants of the royal
family of Judah (1 Ch. iii. 24).
3. High-priest at Jerusalem at the time of
the rebuilding of the walls under Nehemiah
(Neh. iii. 1 [B. 'EXetaoiB, NA. -(-], 20, 21 [in
these vv. B. BnBeXiaobB or -ttaovB, K. BrjBaiXi-
aoi/B or -eiaov or -eiaovfi, A. BinBeXfl 'AaaobB or
-¦naovBas or -taaovB]). His genealogy is given
in xii. 10 [B. 'EXeiaaelp or -i-, X. 'EXiaolB or
-etaaelB, A. 'EXtaaetB], 22 [BA. 'EXtaaiP, X.
'EXtiaaeip], 23 [B. 'EXztaoue, A. -i-, it*. 'EXci-
aoiB]. Eliashib was in some way allied (31~lp
= near) to Tobiah the Ammonite, for whom
he had prepared a room in the Temple, a
desecration which excited the wrath of Nehe
miah (Neh. xiii. 4, 7). One of the grandsons of
Eliashib had also married the daughter of San-
ballat the Horonite (xiii. 28). There seems no
reason to doubt that the same Eliashib is re
ferred to in Ezra x. 6 (B. 'EXtiaovB, NA. -'-)¦
4. A singer in the time of Ezra who had mar
ried a foreign wife (Ezra a. 24, B. 'EXetadtp,
SA. -i-). [Eleazurus.]
5. A son of Zattu (Ezra x. 27, B. 'EXeiaoip,
A. -i-, X. -o-ou) [Elisimus], and
6. A son of Bani (x. 36, B. 'EXeiaaeltp, H.
-aeiB, A. 'EXeiaaelB) [Eliasib], both of whom
had transgressed in the same manner. [G.] [F.]
ELI'ASIS ('EXtdaets ; Eliasis), 1 Esd. ix. 34.
This name and Enasibus may be duplicate forms
answering to Eliashib (see Speaker's Comm. in
loco). [G.] [F.]
ELI'ATHAH (nriN^N and Wl^N = God
t t ¦ v: T t • ¦•".
or my God hath come ; B. 'HXiaBdB, A. 'EXiaBd ;
Eliatha), one of the sons of Heman, « musician
in the Temple in the time of king David (1 Ch.
xxv. 4), who with twelve of his sons and
brethren had the twentieth division of the
Temple-service (xxv. 27 ; B. A'tpaBa, A. 'EXidB).
In Jerome's Quaest. Hebr. on v. 27, the name
is given as Eliaba and explained accordingly ;
but not so in the Vulgate. [G.] [F.]
ELI'D AD (TI^K = God or my God loves ;
'EA5a8 ; Elidad), son of Chislon ; the man chosen
to represent the tribe of Beujamin in the
division ofthe land of Canaan (Num. xxxiv. 21).
[G.] [F.]
ELI'EL frwbx. = God or my God is [the
true] God ; B. 'EAei^A, A. -i- ; Eliel). 1. One
of the heads of the tribe of Manasseh — of that
portion of the tribe which was on the east of
Jordan (1 Ch. v. 24).
2. Son of Toah ; a forefather of Samuel the
prophet (1 Ch. vi. 34, Hebr. v. 19). Probably
identical with Elihu, 2, and Eliab, 6.
3. (B. 'EXiinXei, A. -Xi), one of the Bene-
Shimhi ; a chief man in the tribe of Benjamin
(1 Ch. viii. 20).
4. (EAeVjA), like the preceding, a Benjamite,
but belonging to the Bene-Shashak(l Ch. viii. 22).

ELIEZER
5. (B. AerfjA, K. -i-, A. 'IeAi^A), "the Maha-
vite ; " one of the heroes of David's guard in
the extended list of 1 Ch. (xi. 46).
6. (BK. AaAWJA, A. 'AAt^A), another of the
same guard, but without any express desig
nation (xi. 47).
7. ( BN. 'EAia/3, A. 'EXit)x), one ofthe Gadite
heroes who came across Jordan to David when
he was in the wilderness of Judah hiding from
Saul (1 Ch. xii. 11).
8. A Kohathite Levite, " chief" ("IB>) of the
Bene-Chebron at the time of the transportation
of the Ark from the house of Obed-edom to
Jerusalem (1 Ch. xv. 9 [B. 'Evr)p, H. -7|A,
A. 'EXit)X],'U [B. 'Ei/^A, N. 'AveXi)pi,A. 'EXit)X]).
9. A Levite in the time of Hezekiah ; one of
the " overseers " (D'T'pQ) of the offerings made
in the Temple (2 Ch'. xxxi. 13, B. 'UeehX,
A.'Uir)X). [G.] [F.]
ELI-E'NAI (W^K; B. 'EAioAioti, A.
'EXiueval ; Elioenai), one of the Bene-Shimhi ; a
descendant of Benjamin, and a chief man in the
tribe (1 Ch. viii. 20). [G.] [F.]
ELI-E'ZEE 0\V>\< ; 'EAie'fep ; God or my
God is help. MV.11 compares the Phoen.
-ITIMDCN. -,ivbv2. ^M-|T1>). 1. Abraham's
chief servant, called by him, as the passage is
translated in A. V., " Eliezer of Damascus," or
by Chald. and Syriac, " the Damascene, Eliezer "
(Gen. xv. 2. On the disputed points connected
with this verse see Delitzsch [1887], Dillmann,5
and the summary in QPB.3). It was, most
likely, this same Eliezer who is described in
Gen. xxiv. 2 (R. V.) as Abraham's servant, the
elder of his house, that ruled over all that he
had, and whom his master sent to Padan-Aram
to take a wife for Isaac from among his own
kindred. With what eminent zeal and faithful
ness he executed his commission, and how en
tirely he found the truth of what his own name
expressed, in the providential aid he met with on
his errand, is most beautifully told in Gen. xxiv.
The two passages, " Judaeis origo Damascena,
Syriae nobilissima civitas . . . Nomen urbi a Da-
masco rege inditum . . . Post Damascum Azelus,
mox Adores et Abraham et Israhel reges fuere "
(Justin, lib. xxxvi. cap. 2) : and 'ABpdp,Tis iBaai-
Aeucre AapaaKov . . . tou Be 'ABpdpov in Ka\
vvv iv tjj AapaaKTjvrj Tb &vopa 8o|a£eTai ¦ leal
Ktlip-n art' ovtov SelKvvrai 'ABpdpov oIktio'is
Xeyopevn (Joseph. Ant. i. 7, § 2, quoting Nicol.
Damascen.) have probably some relation to the
narrative in Gen. xv. (see Gesen. Thes. s. v.
pB'D ; Rosenmiill. on Gen. xv. ; Knobel, Genesis).
2. Second son of Moses and Zipporah, to
whom his father gave this name, " because, said
he, the God of my father was my help, that de
livered me from the sword of Pharaoh" (Ex. xviii.
4; 1 Ch. xxiii. 15, 17). He remained with his
mother and brother Gershom, in the care of
Jethro his grandfather, when Moses returned to
Egypt (Ex. iv. 18), she having been sent back to
her father by Moses (Ex. xviii. 2), though she
set off to accompany him, and went part of the
way with him. Jethro brought back Zipporah
and her two sons to Moses in the wilderness, after
he heard of the departure of the Israelites from
Egypt (ch. xviii.). Eliezer had one son, Rehabiab,
from whom sprang a numerous posterity (1 Ch.

ELIHABA
xxiii. 17, xxvi. 25, 26). Shelomith in the reigns
of Saul and David (v. 28), who had the care of
all the treasures of things dedicated to God, was
descended from Eliezer in the sixth generation, if
the genealogy in 1 Ch. xxvi. 25 is complete.
3. One of the sons of Becher, the son of Ben
jamin (1 Ch. vii. 8).
4. A priest in the reign of David, one of those
appointed to sound with trumpets before the
Ark on its passage from the house of Obed-edom
to the city of David (1 Ch. xv. 24).
5. Son of Zichri, '• ruler " (TM) of the Reu-
benites in the reign of David (1 Ch. xxvii. 16).
6. (B. 'EXeiaSd, A. 'EAiefe'p.) Son of Dodavah,
of Mareshah in Judah (2 Ch. xx. 37), a prophet,
who rebuked Jehoshaphat for joining himself
with Ahaziah king of Israel, " who did very
wickedly," in making a combined expedition of
ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold ; and
foretold the destruction of his fleet at Ezion-
geber, which accordingly came to pass. When
Ahaziah proposed a second expedition, Jehosha
phat refused (2 Ch. xx. 35-37 ; 1 K. xxii. 48, 49).
The combination of the names Eliezer and
Dodavah almost suggests that he may have been
descended from David's mighty man Eleazar the
son of Dodo (2 Sam. xxiii. 9).
7. (?EXea£dp.) A chief Israelite — a " man of
understanding " — whom Ezra sent with others
from Ahava to Casiphia, to induce some Levites
and Nethinim to accompany him to Jerusalem
(Ezra viii. 16). In 1 Esd. viii. 43, the name is
given as Eleazar.
8, 9, 10. A priest, a Levite, and an Israelite
of the sons of Harim, who, in the time of Ezra,
had married foreign wives (Ezra x. 18, 23 [K.
-Cap], 31 [BXA. 'EAefeftp]). The fonner is called
Eleazar, the second Eleazurus, and the third
Elionas, in 1 Esd. ix. 19, 23, 32.
11. Son of Jorim, thirteenth in descent from
Nathan the son of David, in the genealogy of
Christ (Luke ii. 29). [A. C. H.]
ELI-HA'BA the Shaalbonite (2 Sam. xxiii.
32; 1 Ch. xi. 33), one of David's "thirty," ren
dered Eliahba by R. V. in both passages.
ELLHO-E'NAI ('3'inn^N ; B. 'EXtavd, A.
'EXiaavd ; Elioenai), son of Zerahiah, one of the
Bene-Pahath-moab, who with 200 men returned
from the Captivity with Ezra (Ezra viii. 4). In
the apocryphal Esdras the name is Eliaonias. [G.] [F.]
ELI-HCEEPH (^frta, (?) = God or my
God is [a] reward; B. 'EXtdtp, A. 'Evapitp ; Eliho-
reph), son of Shisha. He and his brother Ahiah
were scribes (D'^SD) to Solomon at the com
mencement of his reign (1 K. iv. 3). [A. C. H.]
ELI'HU (N-liT^K = God or my God is He ;
'EXiois; Eliu). 1. One ofthe interlocutors in
the Book of Job. He is described as the " son of
Barachel the Buzite," and thus apparently re
ferred to the family of Buz, the son of Nahor,
and nephew of Abraham (Gen. xxii. 21). This
supposition suits well with the description of
the other personages [Eliphaz ; Bildad],' and
the probable date to be assigned to the scenes
• The connexion of Dedan and Tema with Buz in Jer.
xxv. 23 is also to be noticed.

ELIJAH

905

recorded. In his speech (chs. xxxii.-xxxvii.) he
describes himself as younger than the three
friends, and accordingly his presence is not
noticed in the first chapters. He expresses his
desire to moderate between the disputants ; and
his words alone touch upon, although they do
not thoroughly handle, that idea of the dis-
oiplinal nature of suffering, which is the key to
Job's perplexity and doubt ; but, as in the whole
Book, the greater stress is laid on God's un
searchable wisdom, and the implicit faith which
He demands. [Job, Book or.] [A. B.]
2. (B. 'HAefoo, A. E-). Son of Tohu; a fore
father of Samuel the prophet (1 Sam. i. 1). In
the statements of the genealogy of Samuel in
1 Ch. vi. the name Eliel occurs in the same
position — son of Toah and father of Jeroham (vi.
34, Heb. v. 19); and also ELiAB(vi. 27,Heb.t). 12),
father of Jeroham and grandson of Zophai. The
general opinion is that Elihu is the original
name, and the two latter forms but copyists'
variations thereof.
3. (B. and A. 'EXidB) A similar variation of
the name of Eliab, the eldest son of Jesse, is pro
bably found in 1 Ch. xxvii. 18, where Elihu " of
the brethren of David " is mentioned as the chief
of the tribe of Judah. But see 1 Ch. xii. 2,
where, in a similar connexion, the word " bre
thren " is used in its widest sense. The LXX.
retains Eliab. [Eliab, 3.] In this place the
name is without the final Aleph — IflvK.
4. (B. 'EXipoiB ; A. 'EXioiiS.) One of the " cap
tains " ('{Wl, i.e. heads) of the " thousands of
Manasseh " (1 Ch. xii. 20) who followed David
to Ziklag after he had left the Philistine army
on the eve of the battle of Gilboa, and who as
sisted him against the marauding band (T!"Iil) of
the Amalekites (cp. 1 Sam. xxx.).
5. (11T7K ; B. 'Ewoi, A. 'EXiou.) A Korhite
Levite in the time of David; one of the doorkeepers
(A. V. " porters ") of the house of Jehovah.
He was a son of Shemaiah, and of the family of
Obed-edom (1 Ch. xxvi. 7). Terms are applied to
these doorkeepers which seem to indicate that
they were not only " strong men," as in A. V.,
but also (R. V. " valiant ") fighting men (see
vv. 6, 7, 8, 12, in which occur the words 7T1 =
army, and 'IISJ = warriors or heroes). [G.] [F.]
ELI'JAH. 1. (generally -Ifl^K, Eliyahu,
but sometimes HvX, Eliyah = God is Jehovah,
or Jehovah is my God; B. 'HAeiofS, A. -i-, Luc.
'HXlas ; Aquila, 'HAi'a ; » N. T. 'HAelas [Westcott
and Hort]; Elias). Elijah the Tishbite
has been well entitled " the grandest and the
most romantic character that Israel ever pro
duced." * Certainly there is no personage in
the O. T. whose career is more vividly por
trayed, or who exercises on us a more remark
able fascination. His rare, sudden, and brief
appearances — his undaunted courage and fiery
zeal — the brilliancy of his triumphs — the pathos
of his despondency — the glory of his departure,
a By Chrysostom and others the name is Grecised
into 'HAios, as if signifying the brightness of the sun.
b Stanley, S. & P. p. 328. In the Acta Sanctor. he is
called Proddgiosus Tlicsbites..

906

ELIJAH

and the calm beauty of his reappearance on
the Mount of Transfiguration — throw such a
halo of brightness around him as is equalled by
none of his compeers in the sacred story." The
ignorance in which we are left of the circum
stances and antecedents of the man who did and
who suffered so much, doubtless contributes to
enhance our interest in the story and the cha
racter. " Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants
(R. V. " sojourners ") of Gilead," is literally all
that is given us to know of his parentage and
locality.4 It is in remarkable contrast to the
detail with which the genealogies of other pro
phets and leaders of Israel are stated. Where
the place — if it was a place — lay, which gave
him this appellation, we know not, nor are we
likely to know. It is not again found in the
Bible, nor has any name answering to it been
discovered since.8 [Tiiisbe.]
The mention of Gilead, however, is the key
note to much that is most characteristic in the
story of the prophet. Gilead was the country
on the further side of the Jordan — a country of
chase and pasture, of tent-villages and moun
tain-castles, inhabited by a people not settled
and civilised like those who formed the communi
ties of Ephraim and Judah, but of wandering,
irregular habits, exposed to the attacks of the
nomad tribes of the desert, and gradually con
forming more and more to the habits of those
tribes ; making war with the Hagarites, and
taking the countless thousands of their cattle
and then dwelling in their stead (1 Ch. v. 10,
19-22). To an Israelite of the tribes west of
Jordan the title " Gileadite " must have conveyed
an impression similar, though in a far stronger
degree, to that which the title " Celt " does to

c " Omnium suae aetatis Prophetarum facile princeps ;
et, si a Mose discesseris, nulli secundus" (Frischmuth,
in Crit. Sacri, quoting from Abarbanel). .
a The Hebrew text is 'J int^nD 'OBTin IflVN-
The third word may be pointed (1) as in the present
Masoretic text, to mean " from the inhabitants of
Uilead," or (2) " from Tishbi of Gilead ; " which, with a
slight change in form, is what the LXX. has. The
latter is followed by Ewald (iii. 486, note). Renan (Hist.
du Peuple d'Israel, ii. 284) considers " the Tishbite "
a mere copyist's error. Lightfoot assumes, but without
giving his authority, that Elijah was from Jabesh-gilead,
and this conjecture is approved by Klostermann (Strack
u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. on 1 K. xvii. 1). By Josephus
he is said to have come from Thesbon — e« itoXeots
©eo-jSwn]? Trjs raAaaSiVtSo? x^Pa? (viii. 13, $ 12). Per
haps this may have been read as Heshbon, a city of the
priests, and have given rise to the statement of Epi
phanius, that he was " of the tribe of Aaron,' ' and grand
son of Zadok. See also the Chron. Pasch. in Fabricius,
Cod. Pseudep. V. T. 1010, &c. ; and Quaresmius, Blueid.
ii. 605. According to Jewish tradition — grounded on the
similarity between the fiery zeal of the two— Phinehas
the son of Eleazar the priest was typical of Elijah
(Hamburger, BK. s. n.). Elijah was alBO the Angel of
Jehovah who appeared in fire to Gideon (Lightfoot on
John i. 21 ; Eisenmenger, i. 686). Arab tradition places
his birth-place at Gilliad Gilhood, a few miles N. of
es-Salt (Irby, p. 98), and his tomb near Damascus
(Mislin, i. 490).
• The common assumption— perhaps originating with
Hiller (Onom. p. 947) or Reland (Pa!, p. 1035)— is that he
was born in the town Thisbe mentioned in Tob. i. 2.
But not to insist on the fact that this Thisbe was not in
Gilead but in Naphtali, the name there disappears in the
Heb. text, which reads, "he was of the inhabitants of a
city in Naphtali " (see Speaker's Comm. in loco). [Thisbe J

ELIJAH
us. What the Highlands were a century ago
to the towns in the Lowlands of Scotland, that,
and more than that, must Gilead have been to
Samaria or Jerusalem/ One of the most famous
heroes in the early annals of Israel was " Jephthah
the Gileadite," in whom all these characteristics
were prominent ; and Dean Stanley has well re
marked how impossible it is rightly to estimate
his character without reoollecting this fact (S. $
P. p. 327 ; Hist, of the Jewish Church, Lect. xxx.).
With Elijah, of whom so much is told, and
whose part in the history was so much more
important, this is still more necessary. It is seen
at every turn. Of his appearance as he " stood
before " Ahab — with the suddenness of motion
to this day characteristic of the Bedouins from
his native hills, we can perhaps realise spmething
from the touches, few but strong, of fhe narra
tive. Of his height little is to be inferred —
that little is in favour of its being beyond the
ordinary size.B His chief characteristic was his
hair, long and thick, and hanging down his
back,h and which, if not betokening the immense
strength of Samson, yet accompanied powers of
endurance' no less remarkable. His ordinary
clothing consisted of a girdle of skin k round his
loins, which he tightened when about to move
quickly (1 K. xviii. 46). But in addition to
this he occasionally wore the " mantle," or cape,1
of sheepskin, which has supplied us with one of
our most familiar figures of speech.™ In this
mantle, in moments of emotion,! he would hide
his face (1 K. xix. 13), or when excited would
roll it up as into a kind of staff." On one oc
casion we find -him bending himself down upon
the ground with his face between his knees."

1 See a good passage illustrative of this in Ebb Roy,
ch. xix.
s From a comparison of 2 K. iv. 34 with 1 K. xvii. 21,
it would seem as if Elisha approached nearer than Elijah
to the stature of the child. But the inference is not to be
relied on. Chrysostom applied the same epithet to
him as to St. Paul, Tpltnq^yv avBooiTrov.
h 2 K. i. 8, "a hairy man;" literally, "a lord of
hair." This might be doubtful, even with the support
of the LXX. and Josephus — avBptarrov Saovv — and of
the Targum Jonathan— )"|1?D ^33— the same word
used for Esau in Gen. xxvii. 11 ; but its application to
the hair of his head is corroborated by the word used by
the children of Bethel when mocking Elisha. " Bald-
head " is a peculiar term (mp) applied only to want of
hair at the back of the head ; and the taunt was called
forth by the difference between the bare shoulders of
the new prophet and the shaggy locks of the old one.
[Elisha.] 1 Running before Ahab's chariot ; the hardships ofthe
Cherith ; the forty days' fast.
k "ity (2 K. i. 8), rendered by A. V. and R. V.
" leather" in this one place only. See Gen. iii. 21, &c.
i Adderetli, ni^N ; LXX. htjAcottji ; alwayB used
for this garment of Elijah, but not for that of any
prophet before him. It is perhaps a trace of the per
manent impression which he left on some parts of the
Jewish society, that a hairy cloak became afterwards
the recognised garb of a prophet of Jehovah (Zech.
xiii. 4 ; A. V. " rough garment ; " where R. V. trans
lates correctly " hairy mantle ").
m Various relics of the mantle are said to exist. Tbe
list of claimants will be found in the Acta Sanctorum
(July 20). One piece is shown at Oviedo in Spain.
" u7i (2 K. ii. 8) ; " wrapped " is a different word.
0 This is generally taken as having been in prayer ;

ELIJAH

ELIJAH

907

Such, as far as the scanty notices of the record
will allow us to conceive it, was the general
appearance of the great prophet, an appearance
which there is no reason to think was other
than uncommon even at that time.p "Vir qui
curationem et cultum corporis despiceret ; facie
squallente, quae multitudine suorum crinium
obumbraretur .... pelle caprini tantum de cor-
pore tegentem quantum abscondi decorum erat,
reliqua corporis ad aera perdurantem " (Gregory
Nyss. quoted by Willemer, de Pallio Eliae, in Crit.
Sacri). The solitary life in which these external pecu
liarities had been assumed had also nurtured
that fierceness of zeal and that directness of
address which so distinguished him. It was
in the wild loneliness of the hills and ravines
of Gilead that the knowledge of Jehovah, the
living God of Israel, had been impressed on
his mind, which was to form the subject of his
mission to the idolatrous court and country of
Israel. The northern kingdom had at this time for
saken almost entirely the faith in Jehovah. The
worship of the calves had been a departure from
Him, it was a violation of His command against
material resemblances ; hut still it would appear
that even in the presence of the calves Jehovah
was acknowledged, and they were at any rate
a national institution, not one imported from the
idolatries of any of the surrounding countries.
[Calf.] They were announced by Jeroboam as
the preservers of the nation during the great
crisis of its existence : " Behold thy gods, 0
Israel, that brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt " (1 K. xii. 28). But the case was quite
different when Ahab, not content with the calf-
worship — " as if it had been a light thing to
walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat "
— married the daughter of the king of Sidon, and
introduced on the most extensive scale (Joseph.
Ant. ix. 6, § 6) the foreign religion of his wife's
family, the worship of the Phoenician Baal.
What this worship consisted of we are ignorant
—doubtless it was of a gay, splendid, and festal
character, and therefore very opposite to the
grave, severe service of the Mosaic ritual. At
tached to it and to the worship of Asherah
(see Preface to the Revised Version) were
licentious and impure rites, which in earlier
times had brought the heaviest judgments on
the nation (Num. xxv. ; Judg. ii. 13, 14, iii. 7,
8). But the most obnoxious and evil character
istic of the Baal-religion was that it was the
worship of power, of mere strength, as opposed
to that of a God of righteousness and goodness
— a foreign religion, imported from nations, the
hatred of whom was inculcated in every page of
the Law, as opposed to the religion of that God
Who had delivered the nation from the bondage
of Egypt, had " driven out the heathen with His
hand, and planted them in;" and through Whom
their forefathers had " trodden down their ene
mies, and destroyed those that rose up against
them." It is as a witness against these two evils
that Elijah comes forward.
but kneeling apparently was not (certainly is not) an
attitude of prayer in the East. " When ye stand pray
ing, forgive " (Mark xi. 25 ; and see Matt. vi. 5, kc).
p This is to be inferred, as we shall see afterwards,
from king Ahaziah's recognition of him .by mere de
scription.

1. What we may call the first Act in his life
embraces between three and four years — three
years and six months for the duration of the
drought, according to the statements of the New
Testament (Luke iv. 25 ; Jas. v. 17), and three
or four, months more for the journey to Horeb
and the return to Gilead (1 K. xvii. 1-xix. 21).
His introduction is of the most startling descrip
tion : he suddenly appears before Ahab, as with
the unrestrained freedom of Eastern manners he
would have no difficulty in doing, and proclaims
the vengeance of Jehovah for the apostasy of
the king. This he does in the remarkable
formula evidently characteristic of himself, and
adopted after his departure by his follower
Elisha — a formula which includes everything
at issue between himself and the king — the name
of Jehovah — His being the God of Israel — the
Living God — Elijah being His messenger; and
then. — the special lesson of the event — that the
god of power and of nature should be beaten at
his own weapons. " As Jehovah, God of Israel,
liveth, before Whom I stand," whose constant
servant I am, " there shall not be dew nor rain
these years, but according to my word." What
immediate action followed on this we are not
told ; but it is plain that Elijah had to fly before
some threatened vengeance either of the king, or
more probably of the queen (cp. xix. 2). Perhaps
it was at this juncture that Jezebel " cut off the
prophets of Jehovah " (1 K. xviii. 4). He was
directed to the brook Cherith, either one of the
torrents which cleave the high table-lands of his
native hills, or on the west of Jordan, more in
the neighbourhood of Samaria. [Cherith.]
There in the hollow of the torrent-bed he re
mained, supported in the miraculous manner
with which we are all familiar, till the failing
of the brook obliged him to forsake if. How
long he remained in the Cherith is uncertain.
The Hebrew expression is simply "at the end
of days," nor does Josephus afford us any more
information. A vast deal of ingenuity has been
devoted to explaining away Elijah's "ravens."
The Hebrew word, D'S")!?, Orebim, has been
interpreted as " Arabians," as " merchants," as
inhabitants of some neighbouring town of Orbo
or Orbi* By others Elijah has been held to
have plundered a raven's nest — and this twice a
day regularly for several months ! There is no
escape from the plain meaning of the words —
occurring as they do twice, in a passage other
wise displaying no tinge of the marvellous — or
from the unanimity of all the Hebrew MSS., of
all the ancient Versions, and of Josephus/
His next refuge was at Zarephath, a Phoenician
town lying between Tyre and Sidon, certainly the
last place at which the enemy of Baal would be
looked for." The widow woman in whose house
he lived l seems, however, to have been an
Israelite, and no Baal-worshipper, if we may
i Jerome, quoted by Kennicott, p. 581. These hypo
theses, long ago rejected by all competent critics, may
be seen brought together in Keil ad loco.
r This subject is exhausted in a dissertation entitled
Elias corvorum convictor in the Critici Sacri.
B Lightfoot quaintly remarks on this that Elijah was
the first Apostle to the Gentiles.
t The traditional scene of his meeting with the widow
was in a wood to the Bouth of the town (Mislin, i. 532,
who however does not give his authority). In the time
of Jerome the spot was marked by a tower (Jerome,

908

ELIJAH

take her adjuration by " Jehovah thy God " as
an indication." Here Elijah performed the
miracles of prolonging the oil and the meal ;
and restored the sou of the widow to life.1
Here the prophet is first addressed by the
title which, although occasionally before used
to others, is so frequently applied to Elijah as
to become the distinguishing appellation of
himself and his successor : — " 0 thou man of
God " — " Now I know that thou art a man of
God " (1 K. xvii. 18, 24).
In this, or some other retreat, an interval of
more than two years must have elapsed. The
drought continued, and at last the full horrors
of famine, caused by the failure of the crops, de
scended on Samaria. The king and his chief
domestic officer divided between them the mourn
ful duty of ascertaining that neither round the
springs, which are so frequent a feature of Cen
tral Palestine, nor in the nooks and crannies of
the most shaded torrent-beds, was there any of
the herbage left, which in those countries is so
certain an indication of the presence of moisture.
No one short of the two chief persons of the
realm could be trusted with this quest for life or
death — " Ahab went one way by himself, and
Obadiah went another way by himself." It is
the moment for the reappearance of the prophet.
He shows himself first to the minister. There,
suddenly planted in his path, is the man whom
he and his master have been seeking for more
than three years. " There is no nation or king
dom," says Obadiah with true Eastern hyperbole,
" whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee ; "
and now here he stands when least expected.
Before the sudden apparition of that wild figure,
and that stern, unbroken countenance, Obadiah
could not but fall on his face.7 Elijah, however,
soon calms his agitation — " As Jehovah of hosts
liveth, before Whom I stand, I will surely show
myself to Ahab ;" and thus relieved of his fear
that, as on a former occasion, Elijah would dis
appear before he could return with the king,
Obadiah departs to inform Ahab that the man
they seek is there. Ahab arrived, Elijah makes
his charge — " Thou hast forsaken Jehovah and
followed the Baals." He then commands that all
Israel be collected to Mount Carmel with the
four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the

Ep. Paulae). At a later period a church dedicated to the
prophet was erected over the house of the widow, in
which his chamber and her kneading-trough were shown
(Anton. Martyr, and Phocas, in Reland, p. 985). This
church was called to xijpeiov (Acta Sanctorum).
n This must not be much relied on. Zedekiah, son
of Chenaanah, one of Ahab's prophets, uses a similar
form of words, "Thus saith Jehovah" (1 K. xxii. 11).
The apparent inference however from Luke iv. 26 is
that she was one of the widows of Israel. In the Jewish
traditions her son was the Messiah (Eisenmenger, Entd.
Judenth. ii. 725).
* Josephus's language (viii. 13, } 3) appears to show
that he did not understand the child to have died. But
that the death was real and not apparent is evident from
the expressions used by the prophet (1 K. xvii. 20, 21).
The Jewish tradition, quoted by Jerome, was that this
boy was the servant who afterwards accompanied Elijah,
and finally became the Prophet Jonah (Jerome, Pref. to
Jonah; and see the citations from the Talmuds in Eisen
menger, Entd. Jud. ii. 725).
* The expressions of Obadiah, "lord" and "slave."
Bhow his fear of Elijah ; they are those ordinarily used
in addressing a potentate.

ELIJAH
four hundred of Asherah (Ashtaroth), the latter
being under the especial protection of the queen.
Why Mount Carmel, which we do not hear of
until now, was chosen in preference to the nearer
Ebal or Gerizim, is not evident. Possibly Elijah
thought it wise to remove the place ofthe meeting
to a distance from Samaria. Possibly in the
existence of the altar of Jehovah (xviii. 30) —
in ruins, and therefore of earlier erection — we
have an indication of an ancient sanctity
attaching to the spot. On the question of the
particular part of the ridge of Carmel, which
formed the site of the meeting, there cannot
be much doubt. It is examined elsewhere.
[Carmel.] There are few more sublime stories in history
than this. On the one hand the solitary servant
of Jehovah, accompanied by his one attendant ;
with his wild shaggy hair, his scanty garb, and
sheepskin cloak, but with calm dignity of de
meanour and the minutest regularity of pro
cedure, repairing the ruined altar of Jehovah
with twelve stones, according to the number of
the twelve founders of the tribes, and recalling
in his prayer the still greater names of Abraham,
Isaac, and Israel — on the other hand, the 850
prophets of Baal and Ashtaroth, doubtless in all
the splendour of their vestments (2 K. x. 22),
with the wild din of their " vain repetitions "
and the maddened fury of their disappointed
hopes, and the silent people surrounding all —
these things form a picture with which we are
all acquainted, but which brightens into fresh
distinctness every time we consider it. The con
clusion of the long day need only be glanced at.*
The fire of Jehovah consuming both sacrifice
and altar — the prophets of Baal killed, it would
seem, by Elijah's own hand (xviii. 40)— the king,
with an apathy almost unintelligible, eating and
drinking in the very midst of the carnage of
his own adherents — the rising storm— the ride
across the plain to Jezreel, a distance of at least
sixteen miles ; the prophet, with true Bedouin
endurance, running before the chariot, but also
with true Bedouin instinct stopping short of the
city, and going no further than the " entrance
of Jezreel."
So far the triumph had been complete ; but
the spirit of Jezebel was not to be so completely
overcome, and her first act is a vow of vengeance
against the author of this destruction. "God
do so to me, and more also," so ran her exclama
tion, " if I do not make thy life as the life of one
of them to-morrow about this time." It was no
duty of Elijah to expose himself to unnecessary
dangers, and, as at his first introduction, so now,
he takes refuge in flight. The danger was great,
and the refuge must be distant. The first stage
on the journey was Beersheba — " Beersheba
which belongeth to Judah," says the narrative,
with a touch betraying its Israelitish origin.
Here, at the ancient haunt of those fathers of
his nation whose memory was so dear to him,
and on the very confines of cultivated country,
Elijah halted. His servant — according to Jewish
tradition the boy of Zarephath — he left in the
town ; whilst he himself set out alone into the
wilderness — the waste uninhabited region which
1 The more so as the whole of this scene is admirably
drawn out by Stanley (S. & P. pp. 355, 356), and espe
cially in his Lectures on the Jewish Church, Lect. xxx.

ELIJAH
surrounds the south of Palestine. The labours,
anxieties, and excitement of the last few days
had proved too much even for that iron frame
and that stern resolution. His spirit is quite
broken, and he wanders forth over the dreary
sweeps of those rocky hills wishing for death —
"It is enough 1 Lord, let me die, for I am not
better than my fathers."" It is almost impossible
not to conclude from the terms of the story
that he was entirely without provisions for this
or any journey. But God, Who had brought His
servant into this difficulty, provided him with
the means of escaping from it. Whether we are
to take the expression of the story literally or not
is comparatively of little consequence. In some
way little short of miraculous — it might well seem
to the narrator that it could be by nothing but.
an Angel * — the prophet was wakened from his
dream of despondency beneath the solitary bush"
of the wilderness, was fed with the bread and
water which to this day are all a Bedouin's re
quirements,'1 and went forward, " in the strength
of that food," a journey of forty days " to the
mount of God, even to Horeb." Here in " the
cave " e — one of the numerous caverns in those
awful mountains, perhaps some traditional sanc
tuary of that hallowed region, at any rate well-
known — he remained for certainly one 'night.
In the morning came the " word of Jehovah " —
the question, " What doest thou here, Elijah ?
Driven by what hard necessity dost thou seek
this spot on which the glory of Jehovah has in
former times been so signally shown ? " In
a Although to some it may seem out of place in a
work of this nature, yet the writer cannot resist referring
to the Oratorio of Elijah by Mendelssohn, one of the
most forcible commentaries existing on the history of the
prophet. The scene in which the occurrences at Beer
sheba are embodied is perhaps the most dramatic and
affecting in the whole work.
b *nK^3 is both a "messenger" and an "Angel."
LXX. v. 5, tis ; and so Josephus (viii. 13, $ 7). ^
•= " One Hotem tree,"- Hebrew, inX DlVl- The
indented rock opposite the gate of the Greek convent,
Deir Mar Elias, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem,
which is now shown to travellers as the spot on which
the prophet rested on this occasion (Bonar ; Porter,
Handbook. &c), appears at an earlier date not to have
been so restricted, but was believed to be the place on
which he was " accustomed to sleep " (Sandys, lib. iii.
p. 176 ; Maundrell, Ear. Trav. p. 456), and the site of the
convent as that where he was born (Gaysforde, 1506, in
Bonar, p. 117). Neither the older nor the later story can
be believed; but it is possible that they may have
originated in some more trustworthy tradition of his
having rested here on his southward journey, in all
probability taken along this very route. See a curions
statement by Quaresmius of the extent to which the
rock had been defaced in his own time '* by the piety or
impiety " of the Christian pilgrims (Elucidatio, ii. 605 ;
cp. Doubdan, Voyage, &c, p. 114).
a The LXX. adds to the description the only touch
wanting in the Hebrew text — "a cake -of meal" —
bXvplTos, « The Hebrew word has the article, T\~\VGiil '-, "na B0
too tbe LXX., to airnXalov. The cave is now shown
"'in the secluded plain below the highest point of Jebel
Musa;" "a hole just large enough for a man's -body,"
beside the altar in the chapel of Elijah (Stanley, p. 49 ;
Bob. i. 103).
' Hebrew, m. A. V. " lodge ; " but to Gen. xix. 2,
accurately, " tarry all night."

ELIJAH

909

answer to this invitation the prophet opens his
griefs. He has been very zealous for Jehovah ;
but force has been vain : one cannot stand against
a multitude ; none follow him, and ho is left
alone, flying for his life from the sword which
has slain his brethren. The reply comes in that
ambiguous and indirect form in which it seems
necessary that the deepest communications with
the human mind should be couched, to be
effectual. He is directed to leave the cavern and
stand on the mountain in the open air (els rb
Sh-aiBpov, Josephus), face to face (\5?7) with
Jehovah. Then, as before with Moses (Ex. xxxiv.
6), " The Lord passed by ; " passed in all the
terror of His most appalling manifestations.
The fierce wind tore the solid mountains and
shivered the granite cliffs of Sinai ; the earth
quake crash reverberated through the defiles of
those naked valleys ; the fire burnt in the in
cessant blaze of Eastern lightning. Like these,
in their degree, had been Elijah's own modes of
procedure, but the conviction is now forced upon
him that in none of these is Jehovah to be known.
Then, penetrating the dead silence which followed
these manifestations, came the fourth mysterious
symbol — the "still small voice." What sound
this was — whether articulate voice or not, we
cannot even conjecture ; but, low and still as it
was, it spoke in louder accents to the wounded
heart of Elijah than the roar and blaze which had
preceded it. To him no less unmistakably than
to Moses, centuries before, it was proclaimed that
Jehovah was " merciful and gracious, long-
suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."
Elijah knew the call, and, at once stepping
forward and hiding his face in his mantle, stood
waiting for the Divine communication. It is in
the same words as before, and so is his answer ;
but with what different force must the question
have fallen on his ears, and the answer left his
lips ! " Before his entrance to the cave, he was
comparatively a novice ; when he left it, he was
an initiated man. He had thought that the
earthquake, the fire, the wind, must be the great
witnesses of the Lord. But he was not in them;
not they, but the still small voice had that awe
in it which forced the prophet to cover his face
with his mantle. What a conclusion of all the
past history ! What an interpretation of its
meaning !" (Maurice, Prophets andKings, p. 136.)
Not in the persecutions of Ahab and Jezebel, nor
in the slaughter of the prophets of Baal, but in
the 7,000 unknown worshippers who had not
bowed the knee to Baal, was the assurance
that Elijah was not alone as he had seemed
to be.
Three commands were laid on him — three
changes were to be made. Instead of Ben
hadad, Hazael was to be king of Syria ; instead
of Ahab, Jehu the son of Nimshi was to be king
of Israel ; and Elisha the son of Shaphat was to
be his own successor. Of these three commands
the first two were reserved for Elisha to accom
plish, the last only was executed by Elijah him
self. It would almost seem as if his late trials
had awakened in him a yearning for that affec
tion and companionship which had hitherto been
denied him. His first search was for Elisha.
Apparently he soon found him ; we must conclude
at his native place, Abel-meholah, probably at
'Aincl-Helweh, at the south end of the Bethshean

910

ELIJAH

plain in the Jordan valley. [Abel-meholah.]
Elisha was ploughing at the time,6 and Elijah
" passed over to him " — possibly crossed the
river h — -and cast his mantle, the well-known
sheepskin cloak, upon him, as if, by that familiar'
action, claiming him for his son. A moment of
hesitation — but the call was quickly accepted ;
and then commenced that long period of service
and intercourse which continued till Elijah's re
moval, and which after that time procured for
Elisha one of his best titles to esteem and rever
ence — " Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured
water on the hands of Elijah."
2. Ahab and Jezebel now probably believed
that their threats had been effectual, and that
they had seen the last of their tormentor. At
any rate, this may be inferred from the events
of chap. xxi. Foiled in the wish to acquire
the ancestral plot of ground of Naboth by the
refusal of that sturdy peasant to alienate the
inheritance of his fathers, Ahab and Jezebel pro
ceeded to possess themselves of it by main force,
and by a degree of monstrous injustice which
shows clearly enough how far the elders of Jez
reel had forgotten the laws of Jehovah, and how
abject was their submission to the will of their
mistress. At her orders Naboth was falsely ac
cused of blaspheming God and the king, was with
his sonsk stoned and killed, and his vineyard then
— as having belonged to a criminal — became at
once the property of the king. [Naboth.]
Ahab lost no time in entering upon his new
acquisition. Apparently the very next day after
the execution he proceeded in his chariot to take
possession ofthe coveted vineyard. Behind him
— probably in the back part of the chariot —
rode his two pages, Jehu and Bidkar (2 K. ix. 26).
But the triumph was a short one. Elijah had
received an intimation from Jehovah of what
was taking place, and, rapidly as the accusation
and death of Naboth had been hurried over, he
was there to meet his ancient enemy, and as an
enemy he does meet him — as David went out to
meet ' Goliath — on the very scene of his crime.
Suddenly, when least expected and least wished
for, he confronts the miserable king. And then
follows the curse, in terms fearful to any Oriental
— peculiarly terrible to a Jew — and most of all
significant to a successor of the apostate princes
of the northern kingdom — "I will take away
thy posterity ; I will cut off from thee even thy
very dogs ; I will make thy house like that of
Jeroboam and Baasha ; thy blood shall be shed
e Eleven yoke of oxen, with their ploughs, were
before him, and he was with the twelfth plough at the
end. This mode of ploughing is still common in Pales
tine (Thomson, Land and tlie Book, p. 144).
h The word is that always employed for crossing the
Jordan. 1 See alBo Ruth iii. 4-14. Ewald, Alterthumer, p. 191, n.
A trace of a similar custom survives in the German word
Mantelkind. k " The blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons"
(2 K. ix. 26; cp. Josh. vii. 24). From another expres
sion in this verse— yesternight (E>DK, A. V. and E. V.
' ' yesterday "), we may perhaps conclude that like a later
trial on a similar charge, also supported by two false
witnesses— the trial of our Lord— it was conducted at
night. The same word— yesternight — prompts the in
ference that Ahab's visit and encounter with Elijah
happened on the very day following the murder.
1 Tbe Hebrew word is the same.

ELIJAH
in the same spot where the blood of thy victims
was shed last night ; thy wife and thy" children
shall be torn in this very garden by the wild
dogs of the city, or as common carrion devoured
by the birds of the sky " — the large vultures
w hich in Eastern climes are always wheeling aloft
under the clear blue sky, doubtless suggesting
the expression to the prophet. How tremendous
was this scene we may gather from the fact that
after the lapse of at least twenty years Jehu was
able to recall the very words of the prophet's
burden, to which he and his companion had
listened as they stood behind their master in the
chariot. The whole of Elijah's denunciation may
possibly be recovered by putting together the
words recalled by Jehu, 2 K. ix. 26, 36, 37, and
those given in 1 K. xxi. 19-25.
3. A space of three or four years now elapses
(cp. 1 K. xxii. 1, 51 ; 2 -K. i. 17), before we
again catch a glimpse of Elijah. The denun
ciations uttered in the vineyard of Naboth have
been partly fulfilled. Ahab is dead, and his son
and successor, Ahaziah, has met with a fatal
accident, and is on his death-bed, after a short
and troubled reign of less than two years (2 K.
i. 1,2; 1 K. xxii. 51). In his extremity he sends
to an oracle or shrine of Baal at the Philistine
town of Ekron to ascertain the issue of his ill
ness. But the oracle is nearer at hand than the
distant Ekron. An intimation is conveyed to
the prophet, probably at that time inhabiting
one of the recesses of Carmel ; and, as on the
former occasions, he suddenly appears on the path
of the messengers, without preface or inquiry
utters his message of death, and as rapidly dis
appears. The tone of his words is as national on
this as on any former occasion, and, as before,
they are authenticated by the Name of Jehovah
— " Thus saith Jehovah, Is it because there is no
God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal
zebub, god of Ekron ? " The messengers re
turned to the king too soon to have accomplished
their mission. They were possibly strangers; at
any rate they were ignorant of the name of the
man who had thus interrupted their journey.
But his appearance had fixed itself in their minds,
and their description at once told Ahaziah, who
must have seen the prophet about his father's
court or have heard him described in the harem,
who it was that had thus reversed the favour
able oracle which he was hoping for from Ekron.
The " hairy man "—the " lord of hair," so the
Hebrew reading™ runs — with a belt of rough
skin round his loins, who came and went in this
secret manner, and uttered his fierce words in
the Name of the God of Israel, could be no other
than the old enemy of his father and mother,
Elijah the Tishbite. But, ill as he was, this
check only roused the wrath of Ahaziah, and,
with the spirit of his mother, he at once seized
the ' opportunity of possessing himself of the
person of the man who had been for so long the
evil genius of his house. A captain was dis
patched, with a party of fifty, to take Elijah
prisoner. He was sitting on the top of " the
mount," ¦> i.e. probably of Carmel. The officer
approached and addressed the prophet by the
title which, as before noticed, is most frequently
m See note h, p. 906.
" "inn (2 K. i. 9 ; A. T.t inaccurately, "an hill;"
R. V. " the hill").

ELIJAH
applied to him and Elisha — " 0 man of God, the
king hath spoken : come down." " And Elijah
answered and said, If I be a man of God, then
let fire come down from heaven and consume
thee and thy fifty ! And there came down fire
from heaven and consumed him and his fifty."
A second party was sent, only to meet the same
fate. The altered tone of the leader of a third
party, and the assurance of God that His servant
need not fear, brought Elijah down. But the
king gained nothing. The message was delivered
to his face in the same words as it had been to
the messengers, and Elijah, so we must conclude,
was allowed to go harmless. This was his last
interview with the house of Ahab. It was also
his last recorded appearance in person against the
Baal-worshippers. Following as it did on Elijah's previous course
of action, this event must have been a severe
blow to the enemies ot Jehovah. But impressive
as it doubtless was to the contemporaries of
the prophet, the story possesses a far deeper
significance for us than it could have had for
them. While it is most characteristic of the
terrors of the earlier dispensation under which
men were then living, it is remarkable as having
served to elicit from the mouth of a greater than
even Elijah an exposition, no less characteristic,
of the distinction between that severe rule
and the gentler dispensation which He came to
introduce. It was when our Lord and His disciples
were on their journey, through this very district,
from Galilee to Jerusalem, and whfn smarting
from the churlish inhospitality of some Sama
ritan villagers, that — led to it by the distant
view of the heights of Carmel, or, perhaps, by
some traditional name on the road — the im
petuous zeal of the two " sons of thunder "
burst forth : " Lord, wilt Thou that we command
fire to come down from heaven and consume
them, even as Elijah did ? " But they little knew
the Master they addressed. " He turned and re
buked them, and said, Ye know not what manner
of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not
come to destroy men's lives, but to save them "°
(Luke ix. 51-56). As if He had said, " Ye are
mistaking and confounding the different standing
points of the Old and New Covenants ; taking
your stand upon the Old — that of an avenging
righteousness, when you should rejoice to take
it upon the New — that of a forgiving love."
(Trench, Miracles, ch. iv.)
4. It must have been shortly after the death
of Ahaziah that Elijah made a communication
with the southern kingdom. It is the only one
of which any record remains, and its mention is
the first and last time that the name of the
prophet appears in the Books of Chronicles.
Mainly devoted, as these Books are, to the affairs
of Judah, this is not surprising. The alliance
between his enemy Ahab and Jehoshaphat can
not have been unknown to the prophet, and it
must have made him regard the proceedings of
the kings of Judah with more than ordinary
interest. When, therefore, Jehoram the son of
Jehoshaphat, who had married the daughter of
Ahab, began " lo walk in the ways of the kings
of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, and to do-
that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah,"

ELIJAH

911

° R. V., following a majority of the most important
MSS., omits the words "even as Elijah did," and from
" and said " to " save them."

Elijah sent him a letter'' denouncing his evil
doings, and predicting his death (2 Ch. xxi. 12-
15). This letter has been considered as a great
difficulty, on the ground that Elijah's removal
must have taken place before the death of Jeho
shaphat (from the terms of the mention of
Elisha in 2 K. iii. 11), and therefore before the
accession of Joram to the throne of Judah.
But admitting that Elijah had been translated
before the expedition of Jehoshaphat against
Moab, it does not follow that Joram was not at
that time, and before his father's death, king of
Judah; Jehoshaphat occupying himself during
the last six or seven years of his life in going
about the kingdom (2 Ch. xix. 4-11), and in con
ducting some important wars, amongst others
that in question against Moab, while Joram
was concerned with the more central affairs of
the government (2 K. iii. 7, &c). That Joram
began to reign during the lifetime of his father
Jehoshaphat is stated in 2 K. viii. 16. According
to one record (2 K. i. 17), which immediately
precedes the account of Elijah's last acts on earth,
Joram was actually on the throne of Judah at
the time of Elijah's interview with Ahaziah ;
and though this is modified by the statements of
other places q (2 K. iii. 1, viii. 16), yet it is not
invalidated, and the conclusion is almost inevit
able, as stated above, that Joram ascended the
throne some years before the death of his father.
[See Joram ; Jehoshaphat ; Judah.] In its
contents the letter bears a strong resemblance
to the speeches of Elijah,' while in the details of
style it is very peculiar, and quite different from
the narrative in which it is imbedded (Bertheau,
Chronik in loco).
5. The closing transaction of Elijah's life in
troduces us to a locality heretofore unconnected
with him. Hitherto we have found him in the
neighbourhood of Samaria, Jezreel, and Carmel,
only leaving these northern places on actual
emergency, but we now find him on the frontier
of the two kingdoms, at the holy city of Bethel,
with the sons of the prophets of Jericho, and in
the valley of the Jordan (2 K. ii. 1, &c).
It was at Gilgal — probably not the ancient
place of Joshua and Samuel, but another of the
same name still surviving on the western edge
p 3FO£„ "a writing," almost identical with thc
word used in Arabic at the present day. The ordinary
Hebrew word for a letter is Sepher, IQD, a book.
<i The second statement of Jehoram's accession to
Israel (in 2 K. iii. 1) seems inserted there to make the
subsequent narrative more complete. Its position there,
subsequent to the story of Elijah's departure, has pro
bably assisted the ordinary belief in the difficulty in
question. [The student wiH find this "difficulty"
diversely treated by Keil and the Speaker's Comm.
on the one hand and by Bertheau s and Oettli (in Strack
u. ZSckler's Kgf. Komm.) on the other, in their notes
on 2 Ch. xxi. 12.— F.]
1 The ancient Jewish commentators get over the
apparent difficulty by saying that the letter was written
and sent after Elijah's translation. Others believed that
it was the production of Elisha, for wboBe name that of
Elijah hod been substituted by copyists. The first of
these requires no answer. To the second, the severity
of its tone, as above noticed, is a sufficient .reply.
Josephus (Ant. ix. 5, 0 2) says that the letter waB
sent while Elijah was still on earth (see Lightfoot,
Chronicle, &c. " Jehoram." Other theories will be
found in Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepig. p. 1075, and Otho,
I.ex. Babb. p. 167).

912

ELIJAH

of the hills of Ephraim " — that the prophet re
ceived the Divine intimation that his departure
was at hand. He was at the time with Elisha,
who seems now to have become his constant
companion. Perhaps his old love of solitude
returned upon him, perhaps he wished to spare
his friend the pain of a too sudden parting ; in
either case he endeavours to persuade Elisha to
remain behind while he goes on an errand of
Jehovah. " Tarry here, I pray thee, for Jehovah
hath sent me to Bethel." But Elisha will not
so easily give up his master, — "As Jehovah liveth
and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee."
They went together to Bethel.' The event which
was about to happen had apparently been com
municated to the sons of the prophets at Bethel,
and they inquire if Elisha knew of his impend
ing loss. His answer' shows how fully he was
aware of it. " Yea," says he, with all the
emphasis possible, "indeed I do" know it; hold
ye your peace." But though impending, it was
not to happen that day. Again Elijah attempts
to escape to Jericho, and again Elisha protests
that he will not be separated from him. Again,
also, the sons of the prophets at Jericho make
the same unnecessary inquiries, and again Elisha
replies as emphatically as before. Elijah makes
a final effort to avoid what they both so much
dread. " Tarry here, I pray thee, for Jehovah
hath sent me to the Jordan." But Elisha is not
to be conquered, and the two set off across the
undulating plain of burning sand, to the distant
river, — Elijah in his mantle or cape of sheep
skin, Elisha in ordinary clothes (133, v. 12).
Fifty men of the sons of the prophets ascend
the abrupt heights behind the town — the same
to which a late tradition would attach the scene
of our Lord's temptation — and which command
the plain below, to watch with the clearness of
Eastern vision what happens in the distance.
Talking as they go, the two reach the river, and
stand on the shelving bank beside its swift brown
current. But they are not to stop even here.
It is as if the aged Gileadite cannot rest until he
again sets foot on his own side of the river. He
rolls up x his mantle as into a staff, and with his
old energy strikes the waters as Moses had done
before him, — strikes them as if they were an
enemy ; y and they are divided hither and thither,
and they two go over on dry ground. What
follows is best told in the simple words of the
narrative (R. V.) : " And it came to pass when
they were2 gone over, that Elijah said unto
Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I
be taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray
8 The grounds for this inference are given under
Elisha (p. 920, col. 1). See also Gilgal.
* The Hebrew word "went down" is a serious diffi
culty, if Gilgal is taken to be the site of Joshua's camp
and the resting-place ofthe Ark, since that is more than
3000 feet helow Bethel. But this is avoided by adopting
the other Gilgal to the N.W. of Bethel, and on still
higher ground, which also preserves the sequence ofthe
journey to Jordan (see Stanley, S. & P. p. 308, note).
Some considerations in favour of this adoption will be
found under Elisha.
" ¦'FllTI'1 13X"Di="-ilso I know it; " Kayi, eywoica.
1 D7J' The above is quite the force ofthe word.
J The word is ,"|3J, used of smiting in battle ; gene-
TT
rally with the sense of wounding (Ges. p. 883).
' LXX. " As they were going over," iv tu 8ia|9>ji>ai.

ELIJAH
thee let a double portion of thy spirit be upon
me. And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing :
nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken
from thee, it shall be so unto thee ; but if not,
it shall not be so. And it came to pass, as
they still went on, and talked, that, behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of
fire, which parted them both asunder, and Elijah
went up by the whirlwind into heaven" (the
skies).* Well might Elisha cry with bitter
ness," " My father, my father." He was gone
who, to the discerning eye and loving heart of
his disciple, had been " the chariot of Israel and
the horsemen thereof" for so many years ; and
Elisha was at last left alone to carry on a
task to which he must often have looked for
ward, but to which in this moment of grief he
may well have felt unequal. He saw him no
more ; but his mantle had fallen, and this he
took up — at once h personal relic and a symbol
of the double portion of the spirit of Elijah
with which he was to be clothed. Little could
he have realised, had it been then presented
to him, that he whose greatest claim to notice
was that he had "poured water on the hands
of Elijah " should hereinafter possess an influence
which had been denied to his master — should,
instead of the terror of kings and people, be
their benefactor, adviser, and friend, and that
over his death-bed a king of Israel should be
found to lament with the same words that had
just burst from him on the departure of his stern
and silent master, " My father, my father, the
chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof."
And here ends all the direct information which
is vouchsafed to us of the life and work of this
great prophet. Truly he " stood up as a fire,
and his word burnt as a lamp " (Ecclus. xlviii. 1).
How deep was the impression which he made on
the mind of the nation may be judged from
the fixed belief which many centuries after pre
vailed that Elijah would again appear for the re
lief and restoration of his country. The prophecy
of Malachi (iv. 6) c was possibly at once a cause
and an illustration of the strength of this belief.
What it had grown to at the time of our Lord's
birth, and how continually the great prophet

a The statements of the text hardly give support to
the usual conception of Elijah's departure as represented
by painters and in popular discourses. It was not in tlie
chariot of fire that he went up into the skies. The fire
served to part the master from the disciple, to show that
the severance had arrived, but Elijah was taken up by
the fierce wind of the tempest. The word |"ni?D
involves no idea of whirling, and is frequently ren
dered in the A. V. "storm" or "tempest." The term
" the skies " has been employed above to translate the
Hebrew D^DK'il, because we attach an idea to the word
" heaven " which does not appear to have been present
to the mind of the ancient Hebrews. Lrthe 4th century
the site of Elijah's ascension was pointed out on a little
hill, on the left bank of the Jordan, near the place of
Christ's Baptism (Itin. Hieros.).
* pV£< the word used e.g. for the " great and bitter
cry " when the first-born were killed in Egypt.
0 The expression in Malachi is " Elijah the prophet."
From this unusual title some have believed that another
Elijah was intended. The LXX., however, either fol
lowing a Hebrew text different from that which we
possess, or falling in with the belief of their times,
insert the usual designation, "the Tishbite." (See
¦Lightfoot, Exerc. on Luke i. 17.)

ELIJAH
was present to the expectations of the people, we
do not need the evidence of the Talmud to assure
us,d it is patent on every page of the Gospels.
Each remarkable person, as he arrives on the
scene, be his habits and characteristics what they
may — the stern John equally with his gentle
Successor — is proclaimed to be Elijah (Matt. xvi.
14; Mark vi. 15; John i. 21). His appearance
in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration does
not seem to have startled the disciples. They
were " sore afraid," but not apparently surprised.
On the, contrary, St. Peter immediately proposes
to erect a tent for the prophet whose arrival
they had been so long expecting. Even the cry
of our Lord from the Cross, containing as it did
but a slight resemblance to the name of Elijah,
immediately suggested him to the bystanders.
" He calleth for Elijah." " Let be, let us see if
Elijah will come to save Him."
How far this expectation was fulfilled in John,
and the remarkable agreement in the character
istics of these two men, will be considered under
John the Baptist.
But, on the other hand, the deep impression
which Elijah had thus made on his nation only
renders more remarkable the departure which the
image conveyed by the later references to him
evinces, from that so sharply presented in the
records of his actual life. With the exception
of the eulogiums contained in the catalogues of
worthies in the Book of Jesus the son of Sirach
(ch. xlviii.) and 1 Mace. ii. 58, and the questionable
allusion in Luke ix. 54 (p. 911, n.°), none of these
later references allude to his works of destruction
or of portent. They all set forth a very different
side of his character to that brought out in the
historical narrative. They speak of his being a
man of like passions with ourselves (Jas. v.
17); of his kindness to the widow of Sarepta
(Luke iv. 25) ; of his " restoring all things "
(Matt. xvii. 11); "turning the hearts of the
fathers to the children, and the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just " (Mai. iv. 5, 6 ; Luke i.
17). The moral lessons to be derived from these
facts must be expanded elsewhere than here ; it
will be sufficient in this place to call attention
to the great differences which may exist between
the popular and contemporary view of an emi
nent character, and the real settled judgment
formed in the progress of time, when the excite
ment of his more brilliant but more evanescent
d He is recorded as having often appeared to the wise
and good Rabbis — at prayer in the wilderness, or on
their journeys — generally in the form of an Arabian
merchant (Eisenmenger, i. 11 ; ii. 402-7). At the cir
cumcision of a child a seat was always placed for him,
that as the zealous champion and messenger of the
"covenant" of circumcision (1 K. xix. 14; Mai. iii. 1)
he might watch over the due performance of the rite.
During certain prayers the door of the house was set
open that Elijah might enter and announce the Mes
siah (Eisenmenger, i. 685). His coming will be three
days before that of the Messiah, and on each of the
three he will proclaim, in a voice which shall be heard
all over tbe earth, peace, happiness, salvation, respec
tively (Eisenmenger, p. 696). So firm was the conviction
of his speedy arrival, that when goods were found and
no owner appeared to claim them, the common saying was,
"Put them by till Elijah comes " (Lightfoot, Exercit.
Matt. xvii. 10 ; John i. 21). The same customs and
expressions are still in use among the stricter Jews
of this and other countries (see Revue des deux JHondes,
xxiv. 131, &c. ; Hamburger, BE.1 s. n. Messias).
BIBLE DICT. — VOL. I.

ELIJAH

913

deeds has passed away. Precious indeed are the
scattered hints and faint touches which enable us
thus to soften the harsh outlines or tho discordant
colouring of the earlier picture. In the present
instance they are peculiarly so. That wild figure,
that stern voice, those deeds of blood, which stand
out in such startling relief from the pages of the
old records of Elijah, are seen by us all silvered
over with the " white and glistering " light of
the Mountain of Transfiguration. When he last
stood on the soil of his native Gilead, he was
destitute, afflicted, tormented, wandering about
" in sheep-skins and goat-skins, in deserts and
mountains, and dens and caves of tho earth."
But these things have passed away into the dis
tance, and with them has receded the fiery zeal,
the destructive wrath, which accompanied them.
Under that heavenly light they fall back into
their proper proportions, and Ahab and Jezebel,
Baal and Ashtaroth are forgotten, as we listen to
the prophet talking to our Lord — -talking of that
event which was to be the consummation of all
that He had suffered and striven for — " talking
of His decease which He should accomplish at
Jerusalem." Elijah has been canonized in the Greek and
Latin Churches. Among the Greeks Mar Elias
is the patron of elevated spots, and many
a conspicuous summit in Greece is called by
his name." The service for his day — 'HXtas
peyaXtl.vvp.os — will be found in the Menaion on
Juiy 20, a date recognised by the Latin Church
also/ The convent bearing his name, Deir Mar
Elias, between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, is well
known to travellers in the Holy Land. It pur
ports to be situated on the spot of his birth, as
already observed. Other convents bearing his
name once existed in Palestine : in Jebel 'Ajlun,
the ancient Gilead (Ritter, Syrien, pp. 1029, 1066,
&c.) ; at Ezr'a in the Hauran (Burckhardt,
Syria, p. 59), and at the more famous establish
ment on Carmel.
It is as connected with the great Order of the
barefooted Carmelites that Elijah is celebrated
in the Latin Church (see " Carmeliten-Orden "
in Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchen Lex.1). According
to the statements of the Breviary (Off. B. Mariae
Virginis de Monte Carmelo, Julii 16) the connexion
arose from the dedication to the Virgin of a
chapel on the spot from which Elijah saw the
cloud (an accepted type of the Virgin Mary)
rise out of the sea. But other legends trace the
origin of the Order to the great prophet himself
as the head of a society of anchorites inhabiting
Carmel ; and even as himself dedicating the
chapel in which he worshipped to the Virgin Is
These things are matters of controversy in the
Roman Church, Baronius and others having
proved that the Order was founded in 1181, a
date which is repudiated by the Carmelites (see
extracts in Fabricius, Cod. Pseudepig. p. 1077).
In the Muhammadan traditions Ilyds is said
to have drunk of the Fountain of Life, "by

« See this fact noticed in Clark's Peloponnesus and
Morea, p. 190.
' See the Acta Sanctorum, July 20. By Cornelius a
Lapide it is maintained that his ascent happened on
that day, in the 19th year of Jehoshaphat (Keil, p. 331).
e S. John of Jerusalem, as quoted by Mislin, Lieux
Saints, ii. 49 ; and the Bulls of various Popes enumerated
by Quaresmius, vol. ii.
3 N

914

ELIKA

virtue of which he still lives, and will live to
the day of Judgment." He is by some con
founded with St. George and with the mysterious
el-Khidr, one of the most remarkable of the
Moslem saints (see Lane's Arabian Nights,
Introd. note 2 ; also Selections from the Kuran,
pp. 221, 222). The Persian Sufis are said to trace
themselves back to Elijah (Fabricius, p. 1077).
Among other traditions it must not be omitted
that the words " Eye hath not seen," &c. (1 Cor.
ii. 9), which are most probably quoted by the
Apostle from Is. lxiv. 4, were, according to an
ancient belief, from " the Apocalypse, or mysteries
of Elijah," Ta "RXia a.Tt6Kpvtpa. The first mention
of this appears to be by Origen (Hom. on Matt.
xxvii. 9), and it is noticed with disapproval by
Jerome, ad Pammachium (see Fabricius, p. 1072).
By Epiphanius, the words " Awake, thou that
sleepest," &c. (Ephes. v. 14), are inaccurately
alleged to be quoted " from Elijah," le. the por
tion of the 0. T. containing his history —
¦n-apa tS 'HXiq (cp. Rom. xi. 2).
Monographs on Elijah are (inter alia): —
Frischmuth, De Eliae Prophetae Nom. &c, in
the Critici Sacri; Elias Thesbites, by Aegidius
Camartus, 4to, Paris, 1631 ; Milligan, Elijah,
his Life and Times (" Men of the Bible " series).
There are also dissertations of great interest on
the ravens, the mantle, and Naboth, in the
Critici Sacri.h [G.]
ELI'KA (K^N; B. om., A. 'EvaKd; Elica),
a Harodite, i.e. from some place called Charod ;
one of David's guard (2 Sam. xxiii. 25). The
name is omitted in the corresponding list of
1 Ch. xi. — to account for which see Kennicott's
conjecture [Dissertation, &c, p. 182) — and not
recognised in 1 Ch. xxvii. (Driver). [G.] [F.]
E'LIM (D^K" ; AiXelp), mentioned Ex. xv.
27, Num. xxxiii. 9, as the second station where
the Israelites encamped after crossing the Red
Sea. It is distinguished as having had " twelve
wells (rather " fountains," ni3*U) of water, and
threescore and ten palm trees." Laborde (Geo
graphical Commentary on Exod. xv. 27) supposed
Wddy Useit to be Elim, the second of four w&dys
lying between 29° 7' and 29° 20',1' which de
scend from the range of et-Tih (here nearly
parallel to the shore), towards the sea, and which
the Israelites, going from N.W. to S.E. along the
coast, would come upon in the following order : —
W. Ghurundel (where the " low hills begin," Stan-
h The above article remains substantially as written
for the firBt edition of this work. Another view of
Elijah, which allows to him a real personality and
activity, but rejects most of his history as legendary,
may be 6een in Wellhausen (Hist, of Israel, p. 287 sq.
[ed. 1885]), Stade (Gesch. d. Volk. Isr. i. 624, &c), and
Renan (op. cit. ii. ch. vii.). — [F.]
* Root b^H, or P'K, " to be strong," hence " a strong
tree," properly either an "oak" or "terebinth," but
also generally "tree ; " here in plur. as " the trceB of
the desert" (Stanley, S. A P. p. 615). Eloth or Elath
is another plur. form of same.
11 Seetzen (Reisen, 1854, iii. 114-117) traversed them
all, and reached Howara in about a six hours' ride. He
was going in the direction opposite to the routes of
Robinson and Stanley ; and it is interesting to compare
his notes of the local features, caught in the inverse
order, with theirs.

ELIOENAI
ley, S. Sr P. p. 35), W. Useit, W. Thai, and W. Shu-
beikeh ; the last being in its lower part called also
W. Taiyibeh, or having a junction with one of that
name. Between Useit and Taiyibeh, the coast-
range of these hills rises into the Gebel Hummam,
"lofty and precipitous, extending in several
peaks along the shore, apparently of chalky
limestone, mostly covered with flints '; . . . its
precipices . . . cut off all passage alongshore
from the hot springs (lying a little W. of S.
from the mouth of Wddy Useit, along the coast)
to the mouth of W. Taiyibeh" (Rob. i. 102;
cp. Stanley, S. $ P. p. 35). Hence, between the
courses of these widys the track of the Israelites
must have been inland. Dean Stanley says, " Elim
must be Ghurundel, Useit, or Taiyibeh" (p. 35);
elsewhere (p. 66) that " one of two valleys, or
perhaps both, must be Elim ; " these appear from
the sequel to be Ghurundel and Useit, " fringed
with trees and shrubs, the first vegetation he had
met with in the desert ; " among these are " wild
palms," not stately trees, but dwarf or savage,
" tamarisks," and the " wild acacia." Modern
opinion is now almost unanimous in finding
Elim in Wddy Ghurundel (see Knobel-Dillmann
in loco ; Ord. Survey of Sinai, i. 151 ; Harper,
The Bible and Modem Discoveries, p. 118).
[Wilderness op the Wandering.] [H. H.]
ELI-MELECH 0|So^K = God or my God is
King ; 'EXtpiXeK), a man of the tribe of Judah,
and of the family of the Hezronites and the
kinsman of Boaz, who dwelt in Bethlehem-
Ephratah in the days of the Judges. In conse
quence of a great dearth in the land he went
with his wife Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon
and Chilion, to dwell in Moab, where he and
his sons died without posterity. Naomi re
turned to Bethlehem with Ruth, her daughter-
in-law, whose marriage with Boaz, " a mighty
man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech,"
" her husband's kinsman," forms the subject of
the Book of Ruth (Ruth i. 2, 3 ; ii. 1, 3 ; iv.
3, 9). [A. C. H.]
EL-IO-E'NAI C^Si^S ! B. 'EXeiBaivdv, A.
'EXitonvat ; Elioenai). 1. Head of one ef the
families of the sons of Becher, the son of Ben
jamin (1 Ch. vii. 8).
2. Head of a family of the Simeonites (1 Ch.
iv. 36 ; B. 'EXtavai, A. -vni). ,
3. (accur. El-iho-e'nai, ^JfliTpK). Seventh
son of Meshelemiah, the son of Koi-e, of the sons
of Asaph, a Korhite Levite, and one of the door
keepers of the "house of Jehovah" (1 Ch.
xxvi. 3; B. 'EXioivals, A. -rivai). It appears
from u. 14 that the lot fell to Meshelemiah
(Shelemiah) to have the east gate ; and as we
learn from v. 9 that he had eighteen strong
men of his sons and brethren under him, we
may conclude that all his sons except Zechariah
the first-born (v. 14) served with him, and there
fore Elioenai likewise. There were six Levites
daily on guard at the east gate, whose turn
would therefore come every third day.
4. Eldest son of Neariah, the son of Shemaiah,
1 Ch. iii. 23, 24 [B. 'EXetBavh or -av, A. 'EXioiriva.
or -avvai]. According to the present Heb. text
he is in the seventh generation from Zerubbabel,
or about contemporary with Alexander the Great ;
but there are strpng grounds for believing
that Shemaiah is identical with Shimei (v. 19),

ELIONAS
Zerubbabel's brother (see Geneal. of our Lord,
pp. 107-109, and ch. vii.).
5. A priest of the sons of Pashur, in the days
of Ezra, one of those who had married foreign
wives, but who, at Ezra's instigation, put them
away with the children born of them, and offered
a ram for a trespass offering (Ezra x. 22, B.
'EXiwvd, A. -rivai). He is possibly the same
person as is mentioned in Neh. xii. 41 (B. om.
A. 'EXiwrivaC), as one of the priests who accom
panied Nehemiah with trumpets at the dedica
tion of the wall of Jerusalem. He is called
Elioxas, 1 Esd. ix. 22.
6. COJJV^). An Israelite, of the sons of
Zattu, who had also married a strange wife (Ezra
x. 27 ; B. 'EXiavd, X. -vav, A1, -nvai). From
the position of Zattu in the lists (Ezra ii. 8 ;
Neh. vii. 13, x. 14) it was probably a family of
high rank. Elioenai is corrupted to Eliadas,
1 Esd. ix. 28. [A. C. H.]
EL-IO'XAS. 1. (B. 'EXimvais, A. 'EXiavds ;
Vulg. omits), 1 Esd. ix. 22. [Elioenai.]
2. (B. 'EXiaSds, A. -vas ; Noneas), 1 Esd. ix.
32. [Eliezer.] [G.] [F.]
ELITHAL (^S^N = God or my God hath
judged ; B. 'EXtpdr, A. 'EXitpadx ; EliphaT), son
of Ur; one of the members of David's guard
(1 Ch. xi. 35). In the parallel list in 2 Sam.
xxiii. the name is given as Eliphelet, and the
names in connexion with it are much altered.
[UR.] ELI-PHA'LAT CEXeitpaXaT ; Eliphalach), 1
Esd. ix. 33. [Eliphelet.] [G.] [F.]
ELI-PHA'LET (t3.^>S7N = God or my God
is deliverance; 'EXitpaXd; Eliphaleth). 1. The
last of the thirteen sons born to David, by
his wives, after his establishment in Jerusalem
(2 Sam. v. 16, B. 'EXutpdaB, A. -t-; 1 Ch. xiv. 7,
B. 'EpipdXeT, X- 'Ev-, A. 'EXitpdXfT). Elsewhere,
when it does not occur at a pause, the name is
given with the shorter vowel — Eliphelet (1 Ch.
iii. 8). Equivalent to Eliphalet are the names
Elpalet and Phaltiel.
2. 1 Esd. viii. 49. [Eliphelet, 5.] [G.] [F.]
ELI'PHAZ (TS'yN, of uncertain meaning ;
'EXitpds ; Eliphaz). 1. The son of Esau and
Adah, and father of Teman (Gen. xxxvi. 4 ;
1 Ch. i. 35, 36).
2. The chief of the " three friends " of Job.
He is called " the Temanite ; " hence it is
naturally inferred that he was a descendant
of Teman (the son of the first Eliphaz), from
whom a portion of Arabia Petraea took its name,
and whose name is used as a poetical parallel to
Edom in Jer. xlix. 20. On him falls the main
burden of the argument, that God's retribution
in this world is perfect and certain, and that
consequently suffering must be a proof of pre
vious sin (Job iv. v. xv. xxii.). His words are
distinguished from those of Bildad and Zophar
by greater calmness and elaboration, and in the
first instance by greater gentleness towards Job,
although he ventures afterwards, apparently
from conjecture, to impute to him special sins.
The great truth brought out by him is the un
approachable majesty and purity of God (iv. 12-
21, xv. 12-16). [Job, Book of.] But still, with
the other two friends, he is condemned for having,

ELISABETH

915

in defence of God's providence, spoken of Him
"the thing that was not right," i.e. by refusing
to recognise the facts of human life, and by con
tenting himself with an imperfect retribution as
worthy to set forth the righteousness of God.
On sacrifice and the intercession of Job, all three
are pardoned. [A. B.]
ELI-PHELE'H (-in^B^N = God or my God
distinguish (him) ; Eliphalu), a Merarite Levite ;
one ofthe gatekeepers (D'HJJIB', A. V. "porters ")
appointed by David to play on the harp " on the
Sheminith " on the occasion of bringing up the
Ark to the city of David (1 Ch. xv. 18 [BN.
'EXeitpevd, A. 'EXi<paA(£], 21 [B. 'Evtpavalas, X.
-vt-, A. 'EXitpaXalas]). [G.] [F.]
ELI-PHELE'T (t^S^K = God or my God
is deliverance ; Eliphaleth, Eliphelet).
1. (B. 'EXeitpaX-hB, A. 'EXitpaXeT.) The name
of a son of David, one of the children born to
him, by his wives, after his establishment in
Jerusalem (1 Ch. iii. 6). In the list in 2 Sam.
v. 15, 16, this name and another are omitted;
while in another list in 1 Ch. xiv. 5, 6, it is
given as Elpalet.
2. (B. 'EXeiqbaXd), another son of David, be
longing also to the Jerusalem family, and appa
rently the last of his sons (1 Ch. iii. 8). In
the other list, occurring at the pause, the vowel
is lengthened and the name becomes Eli
phalet. It is believed by some that there were not two
sons of this name ; but that, like Nogah, one is
merely a transcriber's repetition. The two are
certainly omitted in Samuel, but on the other
hand they are inserted in two separate lists in
Chronicles, and in both cases the number of sons
is summed up at the close of the list.
3. (B. 'AXeupaXeB, A. 'EXttpaXeT), son of
Ahasbai, son of the Maachathite. One of the
thirty warriors of David's guard (2 Sam. xxiii.
34). In the list in 1 Ch. xi. the name is abbre
viated into Eliphal.
4. Son of Eshek, a descendant of king Saul
through Jonathan (1 Ch. viii. 39, B. 'EXitpdXets,
A. -er).
5. One of the leaders of the Bene-Adonikam,
who returned from Babylon with Ezra (Ezra viii.
13, B. 'AXeitpdr, A. corrupt). [Eliphalet, 2.]
6. One of the Bene-Hashum in the time of
Ezra who had married a foreign wife and re
linquished her (Ezra x. 33 ; B. 'EXeitpdveB, B^K.
-XeB, A. 'EXttpaXer). [Eliphalat.] [G.] [F.]
ELISABETH CEXiad0er ; B. everywhere
'EXeiadBer ; Elisabet ; Elisabeth). The name
occurs in the 0. T. as that of the wife of Aaron
(Ex. vi. 23). The Hebrew form is inK^N
(Elisheba), and probably means "God of the
oath," on the analogy of Beersheba (Gen.
xxi. 31). The MSS. of the LXX. in Ex. vi. 23
represent the word variously as 'EXetadBeT,
'EXiadfieB, 'EXiadBer. The LXX. addition of t
(t) or 8 (th) is illustrated by comparing the two
forms Jehosheba (2 K. xi. 2) and Jehoshabeath
(2 Ch. xxii. 11), both used of the wife of Jehoiada.
It is remarkable that two wives of high-priests
should have borne names so near in signification
as Elisheba and Jehosheba [Jehosheba], and
that this name should occur again in the N. T.
3 N 2

916

EL1SEUS

as that of a priest's wife. An allusion to the
meaning of his wife's name may probably be
traced in the mention by Zacharias of the oath
of God to Abraham (Luke i. 73). Elisabeth
was of the family of Aaron, and, like her
husband Zacharias, is described as " righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (v. 6).
A comment of Ambrose on these words ied to
the citation of both persons in the Pelagian
controversy as instances of sinlessness (see
Aug. de Gratia Christi, xlviii.). They dwelt in a
city of Judah in the hill-country, supposed by
some to have been Hebron, which was a priests'
city (cp. Josh. xxi. 11). Mary the mother of
the Lord was her kinswoman (Luke i. 36) : hence
the relationship between Jesus and the Baptist
so prominent in Christian art. She takes rank
as a prophetess in virtue of her acknowledgment
of the yet unborn Messiah : " Whence is this
to me, that the mother of my Lord should come
unto me ? " (Luke i. 43.) [E. Ii. B.]
ELISE'TJS CEXiaati ; N. T. Rec. Text with
B C, 'EXtaaaiov ; Lachm., Westc. and Hort, with
A D, 'EXiaaiou ; Eliseus, but in Cod. Amiat.
Helisaeus) : the form in which the name Elisha
appears in the E. V. of the Apocrypha and the
R. V. of the N. T. (Ecclus. xlviii. 12 ; Luke iv.
27, R. V. " Elisha "). ' [F.]
ELI'SHA (Ifl^K = God or my God is sal
vation; B. 'EXetaaTe, A. 'EXiaaate; Joseph.
'EXiaadios ; Elisaeus), son of Shaphat of Abel-
meholah.* The attendant and disciple (Kai
paBriTTis Kai StaKovos, Jos. Ant. viii. 13, § 7) of
Elijah, and subsequently his successor as prophet
of the kingdom of Israel.
The earliest mention of his name is in the
command to Elijah in the cave at Horeb (1 K.
xix. 16, 17). But our first introduction to the
future prophet is in the fields of his native place.
Abel-meholah — the "meadow of the dance" —
was probably at 'Ain el-Helweh in the valley of
the Jordan, and, as its name would seem to indi
cate, in a moist or watered situation. [Abel.]
Elijah, on his way from Sinai to Damascus by
the Jordan valley, lighted on his successor en
gaged in the labours of the field, twelve yoke
before him, and he with the last, i.e. eleven yoke
of oxen with their ploughs were before him, and
he with the twelfth plough at the end. To
cross to him, to throw over his shoulders the
rough mantle — a token at once of investiture
with the prophet's ofiice, and of adoption as a
son — was to Elijah but the work of an instant,
and the prophet strode on as if what he had
done were nothing b — " Go back again, for what
have I done unto thee ? "
So sudden and weighty a call, involving the
relinquishment of a position so substantial and
family ties so dear, might well have caused hesi
tation. But the parley was only momentary.
To use a figure which we may almost believe to
have been suggested by this very occurrence,

* The story in the Chron. Paschale and Epiphanius
is that when Elisha first saw the light the golden calf
at Gilgal roared, bo loud as to be heard at Jerusalem.
"He shall destroy their graven and their molten
images" (Fabricius, p. In71).
» So our translation, and so the Jewish rendering
(Zunz). Other Versions interpret the passage differently.

ELISHA
Elisha was not a man who, having put his hand
to the plough, was likely to look back ; ' he delayed
merely to give the farewell kiss to his father and
mother, and preside at a parting feast with his
people, and then followed the great prophet on
his northward road, to become to him what in
the earlier times of his nation Joshua d had been
to Moses.
Of the nature of this connexion we know
hardly anything. " Elisha the son of Shaphat,
who poured water on the hands of Elijah," is all
that is told us. The characters of the two men
were thoroughly dissimilar ; but how far the
lion-like daring and courage of the one had in
fused itself into the other, we can judge from the
few occasions on which it blazed forth, while
every line of the narrative of Elijah's last hours
on earth bears evidence how deep was the per
sonal affection which the stern, rough, reserved
master had engendered in his gentle and pliant
disciple. Seven or eight years must have passed between
the call of Elisha and the removal of his master.
and during the whole of that time we hear nothing
of him. But when that period had elapsed, he
reappears, to become the most prominent figure
in the history of his country during the rest of
his long life. In almost every respect Elisha
presents the most complete contrast to Elijah.
The copious collection of his sayings and doings
which are preserved in the 3rd to the 9th
chapters of the 2nd Book of Kings, though in
many respects deficient in that remarkable vivid
ness which we have noticed in the records of
Elijah, is yet full of testimonies to this contrast.
Elijah was a true Bedawin child of the desert.
The clefts of the Cherith, the wild shrubs of the
desert, the cave at Horeb, the top of Carmel,
were his haunts and his resting-places. If he
entered a city, it was only to deliver his message of
fire and be gone. Elisha, on the other hand, was a
civilised man, an inhabitant of cities. He passed
from the translation of his master to dwell OB'*,
A. V. " tarry") at Jericho (2 K. ii. 18) ; from
thence he "returned" to Samaria (o. 25). At
Samaria (v. 3, vi. 32, cp. i: 24) and at
Dothan (vi. 13) he seems regularly to have re
sided in a house (v. 9, 24, vi. 32, xiii. 17) with
" doors " and " windows," in familiar intercourse
with the sons of the prophets, with the elders
(vi. 32), with the lady of Shunem, the general
of Damascus, the king of Israel. Over the king
and the " captain of the host " he seems to have
possessed some special influence, capable of being
turned to material advantage if desired (2 K. iv.
13). And as with his manners, so with his
appearance. The touches of the narrative are
very slight, but we can gather that his dress was
the ordinary garment of an Israelite, the beged,
probably similar in form to the long abbeyeh of
the modern Syrians (2 K. ii. 12) ; that his hair
was worn trimmed behind, in contrast to the
disordered locks of Elijah (ii. 23, as explained
below) ; and that he used a walking-staff (iv. 29)

° According to Josephus (Ant. viii. 13, } 7), he began
to prophesy immediately.
d The word .mri""©" (A. V. "ministered to him")
is the same that is employed of Joshua. Gehazi s rela
tion to Elisha, except once, is designated by a different
word, -)B3 = " lad " or " youth."

ELISHA
of the kind ordinarily carried by grave or aged
citizens (Zech. viii. 4). What use he made of
the rough mantle of Elijah, which came into
his possession at their parting, does not anywhere
appear, but there is no hint of his ever having
worn it.
If from these external peculiarities we turn
to the internal characteristics of the two, and to
the results which they produced on their con
temporaries, the differences which they present
are highly instructive. Elijah was emphatically
a destroyer. His mission was to slay and
to demolish whatever opposed or interfered
with the rights of Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts.
The nation had adopted a god of power and
lorce, and they were shown that he was feeble
ness itself compared with the God Whom they
had forsaken. But after Elijah the destroyer
comes Elisha the healer. " There shall not be
dew nor rain these years " is the proclamation
of the one. " There shall not be from thence
any dearth or barren land " is the first miracle
of the other. What may have been the dis
position of Elijah when not engaged in the actual
service of his mission we have unhappily no
means of knowing. Like most men of strong
stern character, he had probably affections not less
strong. But it is impossible to conceive that he
was accustomed to the practice of that bene
ficence which is so strikingly characteristic of
Elisha, and which comes out at almost every step
of his career. Still more impossible is it to
onceive him exercising the tolerance towards
the person and the religion of foreigners for
which Elisha is remarkable, — in communication,
for example, with Naaman or Hazael ; in the
one case calming with a word of peace the scruples
of the new proselyte," anxious to reconcile the
due homage to Bimmon with his allegiance to
Jehovah ; in the other case contemplating with
tears, bnt still with tears only, the evil which
the future king of Syria was to bring on his
country. That Baal-worship was prevalent in
Israel even after the efforts of Elijah, and that
Samaria was its chief seat, we have the evidence
of the narrative of Jehu to assure us ( 2 K. x.
18-27), but yet not one act or word in dis
approval of it is recorded of Elisha. True, he
could be as zealous in his feelings and as
cutting in his words as Elijah. " What have I
to do with thee ? " says he to the son of Ahab —
" this son of a murderer," as on another occasion
he called him — " What have I to do with thee ?
get thee to the prophets of thy father and to
the prophets of thy mother. As the Lord of
Hosts liveth before Whom I stand "—the very
formula of Elijah — " surely were it not that I
regard the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah,
I would not look toward thee nor see thee ! "
But after this expression of wrath, he allows
himself to be calmed by the music of the minstrel,
and ends by giving the three kings the counsel
which frees them from their difficulty. So also
he smites the host of the Syrians with blindness,
but it is merely for a temporary purpose ; and
the adventure concludes by his preparing great
provision for them, and sending these enemies
of Israel and worshippers of false gods back
unharmed to their master.
In considering these differences the fact must
not be lost sight of that, notwithstanding their
greater extent and greater detail, the notices of

ELISHA

917

Elisha really convey a much more imperfect idea
of the man than those of Elijah. The prophets
of the nation of Israel — both the predecessors of
Elisha, like Samuel and Elijah, and his successors,
like Isaiah and Jeremiah — are represented to us
as preachers of righteousness, or champions of
Jehovah against false gods, or judges and
deliverers of their country, or counsellors of
their sovereign in times of peril and difficulty.
Their miracles and wonderful acts are introduced
as means towards these ends, and are kept in the
most complete subordination thereto. But with
Elisha, as he is pictured in these narratives, the
case is completely reversed. With him the
miracles are everything, the prophet's work
nothing. The man who was for years the
intimate companion of Elijah, on whom Elijah's
mantle descended, and who was gifted with a
double portion of his spirit,6 appears in these
records chiefly as a worker of prodigies, a pre-
dicter of future events, a revealer of secrets and
of things happening out of sight or at a distance.
The working of wonders seems to be a mutual
accompaniment of false religions, and we may
be sure that the Baal-worship of Samaria and
Jezreel was not free from such arts. The story
of 1 K. xxii. shows that even before Elisha's time
the prophets had come to be looked upon as
diviners, and were consulted, not on questions of
truth and justice, nor even as depositaries of the
purposes and will of the Deity, but as able to
foretell how an adventure or a project was likely
to turn out, whether it might be embarked in
without personal danger or loss. But if this
degradation is inherent in false worship, it is no
less a principle in true religion to accommodate
itself to a state of things already existing, and
out of the forms of the alien or the false to pro
duce the power of the true/ And thus Elisha
appears to have fallen in with the habits of his
fellow-countrymen. He wrought, without re
ward and without ceremonial, the cures and
restorations for which the soothsayers of Baal
zebub at Ekron were consulted in vain : he
warned his sovereign of dangers from the Syrians
which the whole four hundred of his prophets
had not succeeded in predicting to Ahab, and
thus in one sense we may say that not less sig
nally than Elijah he vanquished the false gods
on their own field. But still even with this
allowance it is difficult to help believing that the
e The ordinary meaning put upon this phrase (see, for
example, J. H. Newman, Subj. of tlie Bay, p. 191) is
that Elisha possessed double the power of Elijah. This,
though sanctioned by the renderings of the Vulgate
and Luther, and adopted by a long series of commen
tators from S. Ephraem Syrus to Pastor Krummacher,
would appear not to be, the real force of the words.
D'J t? 'S, literally " a mouth of two "—a double mouth
ful — is the phrase employed in Deut. xxi. 17 to denote
the amount of a father's goods which were the right and
token of a firstborn son. Thus the gift of the " double
portion " of Elijah's spirit was but the legitimate con
clusion of the act of adoption which began with the
casting of the mantle at Abel-meholah years before.
This explanation is given by Grotius and others (see
Keil ad loco). Ewald (Gesch. iii. 507) gives it as nur
Zweidrittel, und auch diese /cotw^-two-thirds, and
hardly that. For a curious calculation by S. Peter
Damianus, that Elijah performed 12 miracles and, Elisha
24, see the Acta Sanctorum, July 20.
' See Stanley's Canterbury Sermons, p. 320.

918

ELISHA

anecdotes of his life (if the word may be permitted,
for we cannot be said to possess his biography)
were thrown into their present shape at a later
period, when the idea of a prophet had been
lowered from its ancient elevation to the level of
a mere worker of wonders. A biographer who
held this lower idea of a prophet's function
would regard the higher duties above alluded to
as comparatively unworthy of notice, and would
omit all mention of them accordingly. In the
eulogium of Elisha contained in the catalogue of
worthies of Ecclus. xlviii. 12-14 — the only later
mention of him save the passing allusion of Luke
iv. 27 — this view is more strongly brought out
than in the earlier narrative : — " Whilst he lived,
he was not moved by the presence of any prince,
neither could any bring him into subjection. No
word could overcome him, and after his death
his body prophesied. He did wonders in his life,
and at his death were his works marvellous."
But there are other considerations from which
the incompleteness of these records of Elisha
may be inferred : — (1.) The absence of marks by
which to determine the dates of the various
occurrences. The " king of Israel " is continually
mentioned, but we are left to infer what king is
intended (2 K. v. 5, 6, 7, &c. ; vi. 8, 9, 21, 26 ; yii.
2 ; viii. 3, 5, 6, &c). This is the case even in the
story of the important events of Naaman's cure,
and the capture of the Syrian host at Dothan.
The only exceptions are iii. 12 (cp. v. 6), and the
narrative of the visit of Jehoash (xiii. 14, &c),
but this latter story is itself a proof of the dis
arrangement of these records, occurring as it
does after the mention of the death of Jehoash
(v. 13), and being followed by an account of
occurrences in the reign of Jehoahaz his father
(vv. 22, 23). (2.) The absence of chronological
sequence in the narratives. The story of the
Shunammite embraces a lengthened period, from
before the birth of the child till he was some
years old. Gehazi's familiar communication with
the king, and therefore the story which pre
cedes it (viii. 1, 2), occurred before he was
struck with leprosy, though placed long after the
relation of that event (v. 27). (3.) The different
stories are not connected by the form of words
usually employed in the consecutive narrative of
these Books (see Keil, Kings, p. 348, where other
indications will be found).
With this preface we pass to the consideration
of the several occurrences preserved to us in the
life of the Prophet.
The call of Elisha seems to have taken place
about four years before the death of Ahab. He
died in the reign of Joash, the grandson of Jehu.
This embraces a period of not less than 65 years,
for certainly 55 of which he held the office of
" prophet in Israel " (2 K. v. 8).s

e The figures given above are arrived at as follows : 
Ahab's reign after Elisha's call, say 4 years.
Ahaziah's do  2 „
Jorom's do  1 2
Jehu's do  28
Jehoahaz's do  17
Joash, before Elisha's death, say .. 2 ,,
(if.
Out of the above Elijah lived probably 9 years ; the 4 of
Ahab, the 2 of Ahaziah, and say 3 of Joram : which
leaves 56 years from the aBcent of Elijah to the death of
Elisha.

ELISHA
1. After the departure of his master, Elisha
returned to dwell h at Jericho (2 K. ii. 18). The
town had been lately rebuilt (1 K. xvi. 34), and
was the residence of a body of the " sons of the
prophets " (2 K. ii. 5, 15). No one who has visited
the site of Jericho can forget how prominent a
feature in the scene are the two perennial springs
which send their streams across the plain to
wards the Jordan, scattering, even at the hottest
season, the richest and most grateful vegetation
over what would otherwise be a bare tract of
sandy soil. At the time in question part at
least of this charm was wanting. One of the
springs was noxious — -had some properties which
rendered it unfit for drinking, and also prejudicial
to the land (ii. 19, Dnn=bad, A. V. and R. V.
" naught "). At the request of the men of Jericho
Elisha remedied this evil. He took salt ina new
vessel, and cast it into the water at its source in
the name of Jehovah. From, the time of Josephus
(B. J. iv. 8, § 3) to the present (Saewulf, Mod.
Trav. p. 17 ; Mandeville ; Maundrell ; Rob. i. 554—
5), the tradition of the cure has been attached
to the large spring N.W. of the present town,
and which now bears, probably in reference to
some later event, the name of 'Ain es-Sultan.1
2. We next meet with Elisha at Bethel, in
the heart of the country, on his way from Jericho
to Mount Carmel (2 K. ii. 23). His last visit
had been made in company with Elijah on their
way down to the Jordan (ii. 2). Sons of the
prophets resided there, but still it was the seat
of the calf-worship, and therefore a prophet of
Jehovah might expect to meet with insult,
especially if not so well known and so formidable
as Elijah. The road to the town winds up the
defile of the Wddy Suweinit, under the hill which
still bears what in all probability are the ruins
of Ai, and which, even now retaining some trees,
was at that date shaded by a forest, thick and
the haunt of savage animals.k Here the boys of
the town were clustered, waiting, as they "still
wait at the entrance of the villages of Palestine,
for the chance passer-by. In the short-trimmed
locks of Elisha, how were they to recognise the
successor of the prophet, with whose shaggy
hair streaming over his shoulders they were all
familiar? So with the licence of the Eastern
children they scoff at the new comer as he walks
by — " Go up,1 roundhead ! go up, roundhead !"
"» Heb. 3gh; A. V. generally "dwelt," but here
" tarried " (so R. V.).
1 This, or 'Ain Hajlah, in the same neighbourhood,
is probably the spring intended by Scott iu the opening
chapter of the Talisman, under the name of the " Dia
mond of the Desert." But his knowledge of the topo
graphy is evidently most imperfect.
k The "lion" and the " bear" are mentioned as not
uncommon by Amos (v. 19), who resided certainly for
some time iu the neighbourhood of Bethel (see vii. 10;
also iv. 4 ; v. 5, 6). The word used for the ' ' forest " is
"W, ya'ar, implying a denser growth than clioresh,
more properly a "wood " (Stanley, a & P. App. $ 73).
' X\)V, "go up," can hardly, as Abarbanel would
have it, be a scoff at the recent ascent of Elijah. The
word rendered above by " roundhead " (mp), A. V.
and R. V. " bald-head," is a peculiar Hebrew term for
shortness of hair at the back of the head, as distinguished
from na j, bald in front ; A. V. " forehead-bald." This
is noticed by Ewald (iii. 512).

ELISHA
For once Elisha assumed the sternness of his
master. He turned upon them and cursed them
in the Name of Jehovah, and we all know the
catastrophe which followed. The destruction
of these children has been always felt to be
a difficulty. It is so entirely different from
anything elsewhere recorded of Elisha — the one
exception of severity in a life of mildness and
beneficence — that it is perhaps allowable to con
clude that some circumstances have been omitted
in the narrative, or that some expression has
lost its special force, which would have explained
and justified the apparent disproportion of the
punishment to the offence.
3. Elisha extricated Jehoram king of Israel,
and the kings of Judah and Edom, from their
difficulty in the campaign against Moab, arising
from want of water (iii. 4—27). The revolt of
Moab occurred very shortly after the death of
Ahab (iii. 5, cp. i. 1), and the campaign followed
immediately — " the same day " (iii. 6 ; A. V. and
R. V. " time "). Th. prophet was with the army ;
according to Josephus (Ant. ix. 3, § 1), he
"happened to be in a tent (stuxe KaTeaKnv-
ohtk&s) outside the camp of Israel." Joram he
refuses to hear except out of respect for
Jehoshaphat, the servant of the true God ; but
a minstrel is brought, and at the sound of
music the hand of Jehovah comes upon him,
and he predicts a fall of rain, and advises a
mode of procedure in connexion therewith which
results in the" complete discomfiture of Moab.
This incident probably took place at the S.E.
end of the Dead Sea.
4. The widow of one of the sons of the
prophets — according to Josephus, of Obadiah,
the Steward of Ahab — is in debt, and her two
sons are about to be taken from her and sold as
slaves. She has no property but a pot of oil.
This Elisha causes (in bis absence, iv. 5) to
multiply, until the widow has filled with it all
the vessels which she could borrow. No in
vocation of Jehovah is mentioned, nor any place
or date of the miracle.
5. The next occurrence is at Shunem and
Mount Carmel (iv. 8-37). The story divides
itself into two parts, separated from each other
by several years, (a.) Elisha, probably on his
way between Carmel and the Jordan Valley,
calls accidentally at Shunem, now Solum, a
village on the southern slopes of Jebel el-Duhy,
the Little Hermon of modern travellers. Here
he is hospitably entertained by a woman of
substance, apparently at that time ignorant of
the character of her guest. There is no occa
sion here to quote the details of this charming
narrative, or the manner in which, as a recom
pense for her care of the prophet, she was saved
from that childless condition which was esteemed
so great a calamity by every Jewish wife, and
permitted to " embrace a son."
(b.) An interval elapsed of several years.
The boy was then old enough to accompany his
father to the corn-field, where the harvest was
proceeding. The fierce rays ofthe morning sun
were too powerful for him, and he was carried
home to his mother only to die at noon. She
said nothing of their loss to her husband, but de
positing her child on the bed ofthe man of God,
at once started in quest of him to Mount Carmel.
The distance is fifteen or sixteen miles, at least
four hours' ride ; but she was mounted on the

ELISHA

919

best assm in the stable, and she did not slacken
rein. Elisha was on one of the heights of Carmel
commanding the road to Shunem, and from his
position opposite to her (133D) he recognises in
the distance tho figure of the regular attendant
at the services which he holds here at " new
moon and sabbath " (cp. e. 23). He sent
Gehazi down to meet her, and inquire the reason
of her unexpected visit. But her distress was for
the ear of the master, and not of the servant,
and she pressed on till she came up to the place
where Elisha himself was stationed," then throw
ing herself down in her emotion she clasped him
by the feet. Misinterpreting this action, or per
haps with an ascetic feeling of the unholiness of
a woman, Gehazi attempted to thrust her away.
But the prophet was too profound a student of
human nature to allow this — " Let her alone,
for her soul is vexed within her, and Jehovah
hath hid it from me, and hath not told me."
"And she said " — with the enigmatical form of
Oriental speech — "did I desire a son of my
lord ? did I not say, do not deceive me ? " No
explanation was needed to tell Elisha the exact
state of the case. The heat of the season would
allow of no delay in taking the necessary steps,
and Gehazi was at once despatched to run back to
Shunem with the utmost speed." He took the
prophet's walking-staff in his hand, which he was-
to lay on the face of the child. The mother
and Elisha followed in haste. Before they reached
the village the sun of that long, anxious summer
afternoon must have set. Gehazi met them
on the road, but he had no reassuring report to
give, the placing of the staff on the face of the
dead boy had called forth no sign of life. Then
Elisha entered the house, went up to his own
chambers, " and he shut the door on them twain,
and prayed unto Jehovah." It was what Elijah
had done on a similar occasion, and in this and
his subsequent proceedings Elisha was probably
following a method which he had heard of from
his master. The child was restored to life, the
mother was called in, and again fell at the feet
of the prophet, though with what different emo
tions — " and she took up her son and went out."
There is nothing in the narrative to fix its
date with reference to other events. We here
first encounter Gehazi the " servant " of the
man of God." It must of course have occurred
before the events of viii. 1-6, and therefore
before the cure of Naaman, when Gehazi became
a leper. 6. The scene now changes to Gilgal, apparently
at a time when Elisha was residing there (iv.
38-41). The sons of the prophets were sitting
round him. It was a time of famine, possibly the
same seven years' scarcity which is mentioned
in viii. 1, 2, and during which the Shunammite
woman of the preceding story migrated to the

m t'm^n = "the she-ass." She-asses were, and
still are, most esteemed in the East.
» The A. V. and R. V. in iv. 27 render ")nn, " the
T T
mount," by "the hill," thus obscuring the connexion
with v. 25, " Mount Carmel."
» " Gird up thy loins and go."
i> »|])j, i.e. the lad or youth, a totally different term
to that by which the relation of Elisha to Elijah is
designated— see p. 916, n. a ; though the latter is also
occasionally applied to Gehazi.

920

ELISHA

Philistine country. The food ofthe party would
consist of any herbs that could be found. The
great caldron was put on at the command of
Elisha, and one of the company brought his
blanket (133 ; not " lap" as in A. V. and R. V.)
full of such wild vegetables as he had collected,
and emptied it into the pottage. But no sooner
had they begun their meal than the taste betrayed
the presence of some noxious herb,11 and they cried
out, " There is death in the pot, 0 man of God 1 "
In this case the cure was effected by meal which
Elisha cast into the stew, in the caldron. Here
again there is no invocation of the Name of
Jehovah. 7. (iv. 42-44.) This in all probability belongs
to the same time, and also to the same place, as
the preceding. A man from Baal-shalisha
brings the man of God *. present of the first-
fruits, which under the Law (Num. xviii. 8, 12 ;
Deut. xviii. 3, 4) were the perquisite of the
ministers of the sanctuary — 20 loaves of the
new barley, and some delicacy, the exact nature
of which is disputed, but which seems most
likely to have been roasted ears of corn not
fully ripe,r brought with care in a sack or bag.8
This moderate provision is by the word of
Jehovah rendered more than sufficient for a
hundred men.
This is one of the instances in which Elisha is
the first to anticipate in some measure the
miracles of Christ.
The mention of Baal-shalisha gives great
support to the supposition that the Gilgal
mentioned here (v. 38) as being frequented by
the sons of the prophets, and therefore the same
place as that in ii. 1, was not that near
Jericho ; since Baal-shalisha or Beth-shalisha is
fixed by Eusebius at 15 Roman miles north
of Lydda, the very position in which we still
find the name of Gilgal lingering as Jilgulieh.
[Gilgal.] 8. The simple records of these domestic in
cidents amongst the sons of the prophets are
now interrupted by an occurrence of a more
important character (v. 1-27).
The chief captain of the army of Syria, to
whom his country was indebted for some signal
success,' was afflicted with leprosy, and that in

i For a full discussion of the nature of this herb see
the article " Pakyoth " by the late Dr. Forbes Royle in
Kitto's Cyclop. One kind of small gourd has received
thc name Cucumis prophetarvm in allusion to this
circumstance ; but Dr. R. inclines to favour C. colo-
cynthis, the colocynth, or Momordica elateriunn, the
squirting cucumber. This is surely impossible.
r The Hebrew expression 7013 seems to be ellip
tical for '3 {ji^J (Lev. ii. 14 ; A. V. " green ears of
corn," R. V. "corn in the ear"). The same ellipsis
occurs in Lev. xxiii. 14 (A.V. "green ears," R. V.
"fresh ears"). The old Hebrew interpretation is
" tender aud fresh ears." Gesenius (Thes. p. 713) makes
it out to be grains or grits. The passage in Lev. ii. 14,
compared with the common practice of the East in the
present day, suggests the meaning given above.
" j'PpV > LXX. wfipo.. The word occurs only here.
The meaning given above is recognised by the majority
of the Versions and by Gesenius, and iB adopted in the
text (" sack ") ofthe R. V.
1 The tradition of the Jews is that it was Naaman
who killed Ahab (Midrash Tehillim, p. 29 b, on Ps.
xxviii).

ELISHA
its most malignant form, the white variety
(v. 27). In Israel this would have disqualified
him from all employment and all intercourse
(2 K. xv. 5; 2 Ch. xxvi. 20, 21). But in
Syria no such practice appears to have prevailed ;
Naaman was still a " great man with, his master,"
" a man of countenance." One of the members
of his establishment was an Israelite girl, kid
napped by the marauders" of Syria in one of
their forays over the border, and she brought
into that Syrian household the fame of the name
and skill of Elisha. " The prophet in Samaria,"
who had raised the dead, would, if brought " face
to face "* with the patient, have no difficulty in
curing even this dreadful leprosy. The news
was communicated by Naaman himself' to the
king. Benhadad had yet to learn the position
and character of Elisha. He wrote to the king
of Israel a letter very characteristic of a military
prince, and curiously recalling words uttered by
another military man in reference to the cure
of his sick servant many centuries later — "I
say to this one, Go, and he goeth ; and to my
servant, Do this, and he doeth it." " And now "
— so ran Benhadad's letter after the usual com
plimentary introduction had probably opened
the communication — " and now, when this letter
is come unto thee, behold I have sent Naaman,
my slave, to thee, that thou mayest recover him
of his leprosy." With this letter, and with a
present, in which the rich fabrics,* for which
Damascus has been always in modern times so
famous, formed a conspicuous feature, and with a
full retinue of attendants (vv. 13, 15, 23), Naaman
proceeded to Samaria. The king of Israel — his
name is not given, but it was probably Joram —
was dismayed at the communication. He had but
one idea, doubtless the result of too frequent
experience — " Consider how this man seeketh a
quarrel against me ! " The occurrence soon
reached the ear of the prophet, and with a certain
dignity he " sent " to the king — " Let him come
to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet
in Israel." To the house of Elisha Naaman went
with his whole cavalcade, the " horses and
chariot " of the Syrian general fixing themselves
particularly in the mind of the chronicler.
Elisha still kept in the background, and, while
Naaman stood at the doorway, contented himself
with sending out -^ messenger with the simple
direction to bathe seven times in the Jordan.
The independent behaviour of the prophet, and
the simplicity of the prescription — not only
devoid of any ceremonial, but absolutely in
sulting to the native of a city which boasted, as
it still boasts, of the finest water-supply of any
city ofthe East — all combined to enrage Naaman.
His slaves, however, knew how to deal with the
quick but not ungenerous temper oftheir master,
and the result was that he went down to the
Jordan and dipped himself seven times, "and his
flesh came again like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean." His first business after his
cure was to thank his benefactor. He returned
with his whole following (PljnO, i.e. " host," or
u Heb. O^l-llil, i.e. plunderers, always for irregular
parties of marauders.
» So the Hebrew. A. V. and R. V. " with."
y A. V. and R. V. (text), "one went in" is quite
gratuitous. ¦ The word used is fc^-ia? = a dress of ceremony.

ELISHA
" camp "), and this time he would not be denied
the presence of Elisha, but making his way in,
and standing before him, he gratefully acknow
ledged the power of the God of Israel, and
entreated him to accept the present which he had
brought from Damascus. But Elisha was firm,
and refused the offer, though repeated with the
strongest adjuration. Naaman, having adopted
Jehovah as his God, begged to be allowed to take
away some of the earth of His favoured country,
of which to make an altar. He then consulted
Elisha on a difficulty which he foresaw. How
was he, a servant of Jehovah, to act when he
accompanied the king to the temple of the
Syrian god Rimmon ? He must bow before the
god; would Jehovah pardon this disloyalty?
Elisha's answer was '• Go in peace," and with this
farewell the caravan moved off. But Gehazi,
the attendant of Elisha, could not allow such
treasures thus to escape him. "As Jehovah
liveth " — an expression, in the lips of this
vulgar Israelite, exactly equivalent to the oft-
repeated Wallah (" by God ") of the modern
Arabs — " 1 will run after this Syrian and take
somewhat of him." So he framed a story
by which the generous Naaman was made to
send back with him to Elisha's house a con
siderable present in money and clothes. He
then went in and stood before his master as
if nothing had happened. But the prophet
was not to be so deceived. His heart had
gone after his servant through the whole trans
action, even to its minutest details, and he
visited Gehazi with the tremendous punishment
•of the leprosy from which he has just relieved
Naaman. This cure of leprosy — the only one which he
effected (Luke iv. 27) — is a second miracle in
which Elisha, and Elisha only, anticipated our
Lord." The date of the transaction must have been
at least seven years after tbe raising of the
Shunammite's son. This is evident from a com
parison of viii. 4 with vo. 1, 2, 3. Gehazi's
familiar conversation with the king must have
taken place before he was a leper.
9. (vi. 1—7.) We now return to the sons of
the prophets, but this time the scene appears
to be changed, and is probably at Jericho, and
during the residence of Elisha there. Whether
from the increase of the scholars consequent on
the estimation in which the master was held, or
from some other cause, their habitation had
become too small — " the place in which we sit
before thee is too narrow for us." They would
therefore move to the close neighbourhood of the
Jordan, and cutting down beams — each man one,
as with curious minuteness the text relates —
make there a new dwelling-place. Why Jordan
was selected is not apparent. Possibly for its
distance from the distractions of Jericho — possi
bly the spot was one sanctified by the crossing
of Israel with the Ark, or of Elijah, only a few
years before. Urged by his disciples, the man of
God consented to accompany them. When they
reached the Jordan, descending to the level ofthe
stream, they commenced felling the trees b of the

MLISIIA

921

» The case of Miriam (Num. xii. 10-15) is different.
Human agency appears to have done nothing towards
her cure.
t> So the Hebrew, B^UD-

dense belt of wood in immediate contact with
the water. [Jordan.] As one of them was
cutting at a tree overhanging the stream, the
iron of his axe (a borrowed tool) flew off and
sunk into the water. His cry soon brought the
man of God to his aid. The stream of the Jordan
is deep up to the very bank, especially when the
water is so low as to leave the wood dry, and
is moreover so turbid that search would be
useless. But the place at which the lost axe
entered the water was shown to Elisha; he broke
off0 a stick and cast it into the stream, and
the iron appeared ou the surface, and was re
covered by its possessor. No appeal to Jehovah
is recorded here.
10. (vi. 8-23.) Elisha was now residing at
Dothan, halfway on the road between Samaria
and Jezreel. The incursions of the Syrian
marauding bands d (cp. v. 2) still continued : but
apparently with greater boldness, and pushed
even into places which the king of Israel was
accustomed to frequent.0 But tbeir manoeuvres
are not hid from the man of God, and by his
warnings he saves the king " not once nor twice."
So baffled were the Syrians by these repeated
failures, as to make their king suspect treachery
in his own camp. But the true explanation was
given by one of his own people — possibly one of
those who had witnessed the cure wrought on
Naaman, and could conceive no power too great
to ascribe to so gifted a person: "Elisha, the
prophet in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the
words that thou speakest in thy bed-chamber."
So powerful a magician must be seized without
delay, and a strong party with chariots was de
spatched to effect his capture. They inarched by
night, and before morning took up their station
round the base of the eminence on which the
ruins of Dothan still stand. Elisha's servant —
not Gehazi, but apparently a new comer, un
acquainted with the powers of his master — was
the first to discover the danger. But Elisha re
mained unmoved by his fears ; and at his request
the eyes of the youth were opened to behold the
spiritual guards which were protecting them,
horses and chariots of fire filling the whole of
the mountain. But this was not enough. Elisha
again prayed to Jehovah, and the whole of the
Syrian warriors were struck blind. He then
descended, and offered to lead them to the person
and the place which they sought. He conducted
them to Samaria. There, at the prayer of the
prophet, their sight was restored, and they found
themselves not in a retired country village, but
in the midst of the capital of Israel, and in the
presence of the king and his troops. His enemies
thus completely in his grasp, the king of Israel
was eager to destroy them. " Shall I slay ? shall
I slay, my father ? " But the end of Elisha had
been answered when he had shown the Syrians
how futile were all their attempts against his
superior power. " Thou shalt not slay. Thou

c The Hebrew word 3Vp occurs only once besides
this place. Its exact force is not clear, but the LXX.
render it tminvttre, "he pinched off."
d D^-IISt always with the force bf irregular ravaging.
See v. 23.
« The expression is peculiar—" beware thou pass not
by such a place." Josephus (ix. 4, 0 3) says tbat the
king was obliged to give up hunting in consequence.

922

ELISHA

mayest ' slay those whom thou hast taken captive
in lawful fight, but not these : feed them, and
send them away to their master." After such
a repulse it is not surprising that the marauding
forays of the Syrian troops ceased.
11. (vi. 24— vii. 2.) But the king of Syria
could not rest under such dishonour. He
abandoned his marauding system, and gathered
a regular army, with which he laid siege to
Samabia. The awful extremities to which the
inhabitants of the place were driven need not
here be recalled. Roused by an encounter with
an incident more ghastly than all, and which
remained without parallel in Jewish records till
the unspeakable horrors of the last days of
Jerusalem (Joseph. B. J. .. 10, § 3 ; 13, § 7,
&c), the king vented his wrath on the prophet,
probably as having by his share in the last
transaction,6 or in some other way not recorded,
provoked the invasion ; possibly actuated by the
spite with which a weak bad man in difficulty
often regards one better and stronger than him
self. The king's name is not stated in the Bible,
but there can be no doubt that Josephus is
correct in giving it as Joram ; and in keeping
with this is his employment of the same oath
which his mother Jezebel used on an occasion
not dissimilar (1 K. xix. 2), " God do so to me
and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of
Shaphat shall stand on him this day." No
sooner was the word out of the king's mouth than
his emissary started to execute the sentence.
Elisha was in his house, and round him were seated
the elders of Samaria, doubtless receiving some
word of comfort or guidance in their sore
calamity. He received a miraculous intimation
of the danger. Ere the messenger could reach
the house, ne said to his companions, " See how
this son of a murderer ¦* hath sent to take away
my head ! . . . Shut the door, and keep him from
entering : even now I hear the sound of his
master's feet behind him, hastening to stay the
result of his rash exclamation ! " ' As he said
the words the messenger arrived at the door,
followed immediately, as the prophet had pre
dicted, by the king and by one of his officers, the
lord on whose hand he leaned. What follows is
very graphic. The king's hereditary love of
Baal bursts forth, and he cries, "This evil is
from Jehovah," the ancient enemy of my house ;
" why should I wait for Jehovah any longer ? "
To this Elisha answers : " Hear the word of
Jehovah " — He Who has sent famine can also
send plenty — " to-morrow at this time shall a
measure of flour be sold for a shekel, and two
measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of
this very city." " This is folly," says the officer :
" even if Jehovah were to make windows in
heaven and pour down the provisions, it could
not be." " It can, it shall," replies Elisha; " and
you, you shall see it all, but shall not live even
to taste it."
12. (viii. 1-6.) We now go back several years
to an incident connected with the lady of Shunem,
f This interpretation is that ofthe Targum, De Wette,
and others, and gives a better sense than that of thc
A. V. and R. V. The original will perhaps bear either.
8 Josephus, Ant. ix. 4, $ 4.
11 Surely an allusion to Ahab (Joram's father) and
Naboth. 1 Josephus (Ant. ix. 4, $ 4).

ELISHA
at a period antecedent to the cure of Naaman and
the transfer of his leprosy to Gehazi (v. 1, 27).
Elisha had been made aware of a famine which
Jehovah was about to bring upon the land for
seven years ; and he had warned his friend the
Shunammite thereof that she might provide for
her safety. Accordingly she had left Shunem
with her family, and had taken refuge in the
land of the Philistines — that is, in the rich corn-
growing plain on the sea-coast of Judah — where
secure from want she remained during the dearth.
At the end of the seven years she returned to her
native place, to find that during her absence
her house with the field-land attached to it —
the corn-fields of the former story — had been
appropriated by some other person. In Eastern
countries kings are (or were) accessible to the
complaints of the meanest of their subjects to
a degree inconceivable to the inhabitants of the
Western world. k To the king therefore the
Shunammite had recourse, as the widow of
Tekoah on a former occasion to king David
(2 Sam. xiv. 4). And now occurred one of those
rare coincidences which it is impossible not to-
ascribe to something more than mere chance.
At the very moment ofthe entrance ofthe woman
and her son — clamouring, as Oriental suppliants
alone clamour,1 for her home and her land — the-
king was listening to a recital by Gehazi of "all
the great things which Elisha had done," the
crowning feat of all being that which he was-
then actually relating — the restoration to life of
the boy of Shunem. The woman was instantly
recognised by Gehazi. " My lord, 0 king, this-
is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha
restored to life." From her own mouth the king
heard the repetition of the wonderful tale, and,
whether from regard to Elisha, or struck by the
extraordinary coincidence, ordered her land to be-
restored, with the value of all its produce during
her absence.
13. (viii. 7-15.) Hitherto we have met with
the prophet only in his own country. We now
find him at Damascus.™ He is there to carry
out the command given to Elijah on Horeb to-
" anoint Hazael to be king over Syria." At the
time of his arrival Benhadad was prostrate with
his last illness. This marks the time of the visit
as after the siege of Samaria, which was con
ducted by Benhadad in person (cp. vi. 24). The
memory of the cure of Naaman, and of the sub
sequent disinterestedness of the prophet, were no
doubt still fresh in Damascus ; and no sooner
did he enter the city than the intelligence was
carried to the king — " the man of God is come
hither." The king's first desire was naturally to
ascertain his own fate ; and Hazael, who appeared
to have succeeded Naaman, was commissioned to-
be the bearer of a present to the prophet, and to

k Instances of this are frequent in the Arabian Nights-
Ibrahim Pacha, the famous son of Muhammad Ali, used
to hold an open court in the garden of his palace at Akka
(Acre), for complaints of all kinds and from all classes.
1 pV*i (A, V. " cry ") ; a word denoting great ve
hemence. m The traditional spot of his residence on this occa
sion is shown in the synagogue at Jobar (? Hobah), a.
village about 2 miles E. of Damascus. The same
viUage, if not the same building, also contains the cave
in which Elijah was fed by ravens and the tomb of
Gehazi (Stanley, p. 412 ; Quaresmius, ii. 881—" vana et
mendacia Hcbraeorum ").

ELISHA
ask the question on the part of his master,
" Shall I recover of this disease ? " The present
is one of royal dimensions ; a caravan of forty
camels," laden with the riches and luxuries
which that wealthy city could alone furnish.
The terms of Hazael's address show the respect
in which the prophet was held even in this
foreign and hostile country. They are identical
with those in which Naaman was addressed by
his slaves, and in which the king of Israel in a
moment of the deepest gratitude and reverence
had addressed Elisha himself. " Thy son Ben
hadad hath sent me to thee, saying, Shall I
recover of this disease ? " The reply, probably
originally ambiguous, is doubly uncertain in
the present doubtful state of the Hebrew text
(cp. A. V. and R. V.) ; but the general conclu
sion was unmistakable : " Jehovah hath showed
me that he shall surely die." But this was not
all that had been revealed to the prophet. If
Benhadad died, who would be king in his stead
but the man who now stood before him ? The
prospect was one which drew forth the tears
of the man of God. This man was no rash and
imprudent leader, who could be baffled and
deceived as Benhadad had so often been. Behind
that " steadfast " impenetrable countenance
was a steady courage and ¦*¦ persistent resolu
tion, in which Elisha could not but foresee the
greatest danger to his country. Here was a
man who, give him but the power, would
" oppress " and " cut Israel short," would " thresh
<Silead with threshing instruments of iron," and
" make them like the dust by threshing" as no
fonner king of Syria had done, and that at a
time when the prophet would be no longer alive
to warn and to advise. At Hazael's request
Elisha confessed the reason of his tears. But the
prospect was one which had no sorrow for Hazael.
How such a career presented itself to him may
be inferred from his answer. His only doubt was
the possibility of such good fortune for one so
mean. " But what is thy slave, dog that he is,
that he should do this great thing ? " ° To which
Elisha replies, " Jehovah hath showed me that
thou wilt be king over Syria."
Returning to the king, Hazael told him only
half the dark saying of the man of God—" He
told me that thou shouldest surely recover."
But that was the last day of Benhadad's life.
From whose hand he received his death, or what
were the circumstances attending it, whether
in the bath as has been suggested, we cannot
tell.p The general inference, in accordance

n Josephus, Ant. ix. 4, 0 6.
• Cp. E. T. The A. V. hardly represents the very
characteristic turn of the original— given above— and
also differs from all the Versions. In the Hebrew the
word " dog " has the force of meanness, in the A. V. of
cruelty. For a long comment founded on the reading
of the A. V., 6ee H. Blunt, Lectures on Elislia, p. 222, be.
p The word -|33Qn. A- v- "a thlck clotb," B. V.
"the coverlet," has been variously conjectured to be a
carpet, a mosquito-net (Michaelis), and a bath-mattress.
The last is Ewald's suggestion (iii. 523, note), and, taken
in connexion with the "water," and with the inference
to be drawn from the article attached to the Hebrew
word, is more probable than the others. Abbas Pacba
is said to have been murdered in the same manner.
As to the person who committed the murder, Ewald
ustly remarks that as u high officer of state Haza

ELISHA

923

with the account of Josephus, is that Hazael
himself was the murderer, but the statement in
the text does not necessarily bear that interpre
tation ; and, indeed, from tho mention of Hazael's
name at the end of the passage, the conclusion is
rather the reverse.
14. (ix. 1-10.) Two of the injunctions laid on
Elijah had now been carried out ; the third still
remained. Hazael had begun his attacks on
Israel by an attempt to recover the stronghold
of Bamoth-Gilead (viii. 28), or Ramah, among
the mountains on the east of Jordan. But the
fortress was held by the kings of Israel and
Judah in alliance ; and though the Syrians had
wounded the king of Israel, they had not suc
ceeded in capturing the place (viii. 28; ix. 15).
One ofthe captains of the Israelite army in the
garrison was Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the
son of Nimshi. At the time his name was
mentioned to Elijah on Horeb he must have been
but a youth ; now he is one of the boldest and
best known of all the warriors of Israel. He
had seen the great prophet once, when with his
companion Bidkar he attended Ahab to take
possession of the field of Naboth, and the scene
of that day and the words of the curse then pro
nounced no subsequent adventure had been able
to efface (ix. 25, 36). The time was now come
for the fulfilment of that curse by his being
anointed king over Israel. Elisha's personal
share in the transaction was confined to giving
directions to one of the sons of the prophets,
and the detailed consideration of the story will
therefore be more fitly deferred to another plac*>_i
[Jehu.] 15. Beyond this we have no record of Elisha's
having taken any part in the revolution of Jehu,
or the events which followed it. He does not
again appear till we find him on his deathbed in
his own house (xiii. 14-19). Joash, the grand
son of Jehu, is now king, and he is come to
weep over the approaching departure of the great
and good prophet. His words are the same as
those of Elislia when Elijah was taken away- —
" My father ! my father ! the chariot of Israel
and the horsemen thereof! " But it is not a
time for weeping. One thought fills the mind
of both king and prophet. Syria is the fierce
enemy who is gradually destroying the country,
and against Syria one final effort must be made
before the aid of Elisha becomes unobtainable.
What was the exact significance of the ceremonial
employed, our ignorance of Jewish customs does
not permit us to know, but it was evidently
symbolic. The window is opened towards the
hated country, the bow is pointed in the same
direction, and the prophet laying his hands on
the string as if to convey force to the shot, " the
arrow of Jehovah's deliverance, the arrow of
deliverance from Syria," is discharged. This
done, the king takes up the bundle of arrows,
and. at the command of Elisha beats them on the
ground. But he does it with no energy, and the
successes of Israel, which might have been so

would have no business in the king's bath. Some sup
pose tbat Benhadad killed himself by accident, having
laid a wet towel over his face while Bleeping. See Keil
in loco.
i The connexion and the contrast between Elisha and;
Jehu are well brought out by Maurice (Provhets and
Kings, Serm. ix.).

924

ELISHA

prolonged as completely to destroy the foe, are
limited to three victories.
16. (xiii. 20-22.) The power of the prophet,
however, does not terminate with his death.
Even in the tomb ' he restores the dead to life.
Moab had recovered from the tremendous reverse
inflicted on her by the three kings at the opening
of Elisha's career (2 K. iii.), and her marauding
bands had begun again the work of depredation
which Syria so long pursued (2 K. v. 2 ; vi. 23).
The text perhaps infers that the spring — that is,
when the early crops were ripening — was the
usual period for these attacks ; but, be this as it
may, on the present occasion they invaded the
land " at the coming in of the year." A man
was being buried in the cemetery which con
tained the sepulchre of Elisha. Seeing the
Moabite spoilers in the distance, the friends of
the dead man hastened to conceal his corpse in
the nearest hiding-place. They chose — whether
by design or by accident is not said — the tomb
of the prophet ; and as the body was cast "
into the sepulchre, it came in contact with
his bones. The mere touch of those hallowed
remains was enough to effect that which in his
lifetime had cost Elisha both prayers and exer
tions — the man " revived and stood up on his
feet." It is the only instance in the whole
Bible — Old Testament, New Testament, and
Apocrypha — of restoration wrought by the in
animate remains of prophet or saint. It is to
this miracle that the Fathers of the 5th century
and the divines of the Roman Catholic Church
have appealed as a parallel to the numerous
alleged cures at the tombs of saints, such as those
at the graves of SS. Gervasius and Protasius.'
Before closing this account of Elisha we must
not omit to notice the parallel which he presents
to our Lord — the more necessary because, unlike
the resemblance between Elijah and John the
Baptist, no attention is called to it in the New
Testament. Some features of this likeness have
already been spoken of." But it is not merely
because he healed a leper, raised a dead man, or
increased the loaves, that Elisha resembled Christ,
but rather because of that loving gentle temper
and kindness of disposition — characteristic of him
above all the saints of the Old Testament — ever
ready to soothe, to heal, and to conciliate, which
attracted to him women and simple people, and
made him the universal friend and " father," not
only consulted by kings and generals, but resorted
to by widows and poor prophets in their little
r Josephus says that Elisha had a magnificent funeral
(tck^js p-eyaXoTtpeirovs, Ant. ix. 8, $ 6). Is this implied
in the expression (xiii. 20), "they buried him"? The
rich man in the Gospel is also particularly said to have
been "buried" (Luke xvi. 22), i.e. probably in a style
befitting his rank. .
s If the Hebrew word \yi, translated " let down " in
A. V. and "went" in the margin, implies "descent,"
the tomb was probably one of those reached by a shaft
from above, like the Phoenician and Egyptian tombs,
and not the ordinary Hebrew sepulchre entered from the
face of the rock. There is some reason to suppose that
such tombs were occasionally made by the Jews under
the Mouarchy.
6 Augustine's Confessions (ix. § 16).
n These resemblances are drawn out, with great
beauty, but in some instances rather fancifully, by J. H.
Newman (Sermons on Subj. of the Day, Elisha a Type
of Christ, &e.). See also Rev. Isaac Williams (Old
Test. Clmracters).

ELISHAMA
troubles and perplexities. We have spoken above
of the fragmentary nature of the records of
Elisha, ami of the partial conception of his work
as a prophet which they evince. Be it so. For
that very reason we should the more gladly
welcome those engaging traits of personal good
ness which are so often to be found even in those
fragments, and which give us a reflection, feeble
it is true, but still a reflection, in the midst of
the sternness of the Old Dispensation, of the love
and mercy of the New."
Elisha is canonized in the Greek Church ; his
day is the 14th of June. Under that date his life,
and a collection of the few traditions concerning
him — few indeed when compared with those of
Elijah — will be found in the Acta Sanctorum.
In the time of Jerome a " mausoleum " contain
ing his remains was shown at Samaria (Reland,
p. 980). Under Julian the bones of Elisha were
taken from their receptacle and burnt. But
notwithstanding this, his relics are heard of
subsequently, and the church of S. ApoUinaris at
Ravenna still boasts of possessing his head. The
Carmelites have a special service in honour of
Elisha. [G.]
ELI'SHAH (ntJ^K; 'EXiad, 'EXeiaal ; Jo
seph. 'EAitrSj ; Elisa), the eldest son of Javan
(Gen. x. 4). The residence of his descendants is
described in Ezek. xxvii. 7 as the " isles of
Elishah " (d^K = maritime regions), whence the
Phoenicians obtained their purple and blue dyes.
Josephus identified the race of Elishah with the
Aeolians ('EXiacis pkv 'EXiaaiovs iKaXeaev, tt>v
r)px*v, AloXeis 5e vvv elai, Ant. i. 6, § 1). His
view, followed by St. Jerome, is adopted by
many (cp. Delitzsch, Genesis [1887] in loco) in
preference to the opinion that Elisha = Elis, and
in a more extended sense Peloponnesus, or even
Hellas (cp. Orelli in Strack u. Zockler's Kgf.
Komm. on Ezek. I. c). It certainly appears
correct to treat it as the designation of a race
rather than of a locality ; and if Javan re
presents the Ionians, then Elishah represents
the Aeolians, whose predilection for maritime
situations quite accords with the expression in
Ezekiel. In early times the Aeolians were
settled in various parts of Greece, Thessaly,
Boeotia, Aetolia, Locris, Elis, and Messenia :
from Greece they emigrated to Asia Minor, and
in Ezekiel's age occupied the maritime district.
in the N.W. of that country, named after them
Aeolis, together with the islands Lesbos and
Tenedos. The purple shell-fish was found on
this coast, especially at Abydus (Virg. Georg.
i. 207), Phocaea (Ovid, Metam. vi. 9), Sigeum
and Lectum (Athen. iii. p. 88). Not much,
however, can be deduced from this as to the
position of the " isles of Elishah," as that shell
fish was found in many parts of the Mediterra
nean, especially on the coast of Laconia (Pausan.
iii. 21, § 6). Dillmann5 (Gen. I.e.) would identify
Elishah with Southern Italy (Silicia), and Movers
and Fried. Delitzsch (Wo lag das Parodies?
p. 250) with Carthage. [W. L. B.] [F.]
ELI-SHA'MA (1?DB>^K = God or my God
hath heard. Cp. 7XDB" and the Sabaean
v The attitude of Wellhausen, Stade, and Renan to
wards the history of Elisha is similar to that noted on
p. 914, u. '>, with regard to Elijah.— [F.]

ELISHAPHAT
tfDDk>K and btX0O< in MV.11 ; B. [usually] 'EXm-
aapd, A. 'EXtaapd), the name of several men.
1. Son of Ammihud, the " prince " or " cap
tain " (both NVJ) of the tribe of Ephraim in the
Wilderness of Sinai (Num. i. 10 ; ii. 18 ; vii. 48 ;
x. 22). From the genealogy preserved in 1 Ch.
vii. 26 [B. 'EXei/ioo-ol], we find that he was
grandfather to the great Joshua.
2. A son of king David. One of the thirteen,
or, according to the record of Samuel, of the
eleven, sons born to him of his wives after his
establishment in Jerusalem (2 Sam. ,. 16;
1 Ch. iii. 8, xiv. 7 [B. 'EXeiaapae]).
3. (B. 'EA.eio'a ; A. 'EA.Kra^to). By this name
is also given (in the Hebrew text) in 1 Ch. iii. 6,
another son of the same family, who in the other
lists is called Elishua.
4. A descendant of Judah ; the son of Jeka-
miah (1 Ch. ii. 41). In the Jewish traditions
preserved by Jerome (Qu. Hebr. on 1 Ch. ii. 41),
he appears to be identified with
5. The father of Nethaniah and grandfather
of Ishmael "ofthe seed royal," who lived at the
time of the great Captivitv (2 K. xxv. 25 ; Jer.
xii. 1).
G. Scribe to king Jehoiakim (Jer. xxxvi. 12,
20, 21).
7. A priest in the time of Jehoshaphat, one of
the party sent by that king through the cities of
Judah, with the Book of the Law, to teach the
people (2 Ch. xvii. 8). , [G.] [F.]
ELI-SHA'PHAT (DaC'^K = God or my
God hath judged; B. 6 'EXetaatpdv, A. 'EXiaa-
tpaT ; Elisaphat), son of Zichri ; one of the
" captains of hundreds," whom Jehoiada the
priest employed to collect the Levites and other
principal people to Jerusalem before bringing
forward Joash (2 Ch. xxiii. 1). [G.] [F.]
ELI-SHE'BA (l/a^N, ? = God or my God
is the oath, i.e. one who swears by, or is a wor
shipper of, God ; B. 'EXeiaaBeB, A1. 'EXiaaBir,
A*. -£e ; Elisabeth), the wife of Aaron (Ex. vi.
23). She was the daughter of Amminadab, and
sister of Nahshon the captain of the host of
Judah (Num. ii. 3), and her marriage to Aaron
thus united the royal and priestly tribes. The
name in the Gk. and Lat. Versions corresponds
to that of Elisabeth, the wife of Zecharias
and the mother of St. John the Baptist (Luke
i. 7). [W. A. W.] [F.]
ELI-SHU'A (WE^K = God or my God is
salvation ; in Sam. B. 'EXiaovs, A. -i- ; Elisua),
one of David's family by his later wives ; born
after his settlement in Jerusalem (2 Sam. v. 15 ;
1 Ch. xiv. 5 [B. 'E/rrSe, A. 'EXiaai]). In the
list of 1 Ch. iii. 6, the name is given with a
slight difference as Elishama. [G.] [F.]
ELI-SI'MUS (B. 'EXeidaeipos, A. -i-t- ; Lia-
sumus), 1 Esd. ix. 28. [Eliashib.]
ELI'TJ (BKA. 'axeioi, B". -i- = Hebr. Elihu),
one of the forefathers of Judith (Judith viii. 1),
and therefore of the tribe of Simeon. [G.]
ELI'TJD ('EXiovS, from the Heb. TlrT^K,
which however does not occur, God of the Jews),
son of Achim in the genealogy of Christ (Matt. i.
15), four generations above Joseph. His name is

ELKANAH

925

of the same formation as Abiud, and is probably
indicative of descent from him. [A. C. H.]
ELI-ZA'PHAN (IBV^N = God or my God
hath protected. Cp. Phoen. 7l?3:BV in MV." ; B.
'EXetaatpdv, AF. •!-; Elisaphan). 1. A Levite,
son of Uzziel, chief ofthe house of the Kohathites
at the time of the census in the Wilderness of
Sinai (Num. iii. 30). His family was known
and represented in the days of king David (1
Ch. xv. 8 [B. 'EXsiaatpdr^, and took part in
the revivals of Hezekiah (2 Ch. xxix. 1.3). His
name is also found in the contracted form of
Elzapiian. 2. Son of Parnach ; " prince " (N'K>3) of the-
tribe of Zebulun, one of the men appointed to-
assist Moses in apportioning the land of Canaan
(Num. xxxiv. 25). [G.] [F.]
ELIZETJS, A. V. 1611 in Luke iv. 27,(R. V.
"Elisha ") and Ecclus. xlviii. 12. [Eliseus.]
ELI'ZTJR p-lX^K = God or my God is (the).
rock ; B(usually)AF. 'EXtaoip ; Elisur), son
of Shedeur ; " prince " (fcOBO) of the tribe, and
over the host of Reuben, at the time of the
census in the Wilderness of Sinai (Num. i. 5 ;
ii. 10 ; vii. 30, 35 ; x. 18). [G.] [F.]
EL-KA'NAH (i"Op6x = God hath created or
possessed; 'EXKavd; Elcana). 1. Son of Korah,
the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the
son of Levi, according to Ex. vi. 24, where his
brothers are represented as being Assir and Abi
asaph. But in 1 Ch. vi. 22, 23 (Hebr. vv. 7, 8)
Assir, Elkanah, and Ebiasaph are mentioned in
the same order, not as the three sons of Korah,
but as son, grandson, and great-grandson, re
spectively ; and this seems to be correct, though
Keil (on 1 Ch. /. c.) prefers to consider them
brothers. If so, the passage in Exodus must be
understood as merely giving the families of the
Korhites existing at the time the passage was
penned, which must, in this case, have been long
subsequent to Moses. In Num. xxvi. 58, " the
family of the Korhites " (A. V. " Korathites ")
is mentioned as one family. As regards the
fact of Korah's descendants continuing, it may
be noticed that we are expressly told in
Num. xxvi. 11, that when Korah and his-
company died, "the children of Korah died
not." 2. A descendant of the above in the line of
Ahimoth, otherwise Mahath, 1 Ch. vi. 26, 35
(Hebr. vv. 11, 20 ; see Hervey, Geneal. pp. 210,
214, note.)
3. Another Kohathite Levite, in the line of
Heman the singer. He was son of Jeroham, and
father of Samuel, the illustrious Judge and
Prophet (1 Ch. vi. 27, 34). All that is known
of him is contained in the above notices and in
1 Sam. i. 1, 4, 8, 19, 21, 23, and ii. 2, 20, where
we learn that he lived at Ramathaim-Zophim
in Mount Ephraim, otherwise called Ramah ;
that he had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah,.
but had no children by the former, till the birth
of Samuel in answer to Hannah's prayer. We
learn also that he lived in the time of Eli the
high-priest, and of his sons Hophni and Phinehas ;
that he was a pious man who went up yearly
from Ramathaim-Zophim to Shiloh, in the tribe

926

ELKOSH

ELM

of Ephraim, to worship and sacrifice at the
Tabernacle there ; but it does not appear that
he performed any sacred functions as a Levite,
— a circumstance quite in accordance with the
account which ascribes to David the establish
ment of the priestly and Levitical courses for the
Temple service. He seems to have been a man
of some wealth from the nature of his yearly
sacrifice, which enabled him to give portions out
of it to all his family, and from the costly
offering of three bullocks made when Samuel
was brought to the House of the Lord at Shiloh.
After the birth of Samuel, Elkanah and Hannah
continued to live at Ramah (where Samuel
afterwards had his house, 1 Sam. vii. 7), and
had three sons and two daughters. This closes
all that we know about Elkanah.
4. A Levite (1 Ch. ix. 16; B. 'HXKavd, A.
'EX-). 5. Another man of the family of the Korhites
who joined David while he was at Ziklag (1
Ch. xii. 6 ; BNA. 'HXKavd). From the terms of
v. 2 it is doubtful whether this can be the well-
known Levitical family of Korhites. Perhaps it
was the same who was afterwards one of the
doorkeepers of the Ark (xv. 23).
6. An officer in the household of Ahaz, king
of Judah, who was slain by Zichri the Ephraim-
ite, when Pekah invaded Judah. He seems to
have been the second in command under the
praefect of the palace (2 Ch. xxviii. 7 ; B. ElX-
Kavd, A. 'EA.-). [A. C. H.]
EL'KOSH (mpbit), the birthplace of the
Prophet Nahum, hence called " the Elkoshite,"
Nah. i. 1 (6 'EXKeaahs ; Elcesaeus). Two widely
differing Jewish traditions assign as widely
different localities to this place. In the time
of Jerome it was believed to exist in a small
village of Galilee. The ruins of some old
buildings were pointed out to this Father by his
guide as the remains of the ancient Elkosh
(Jerome on Nah. i. 1 — possibly El-KozaK in the
map of the PEF., not far from Ramah in Naph
tali). Cyril of Alexandria (Comm. on Nahum)
says that the village of Elkosh was somewhere
or other in the country of the Jews. Pseudo-
Epiphanius (de Vitis prophetarum, Op. ii. 247)
places Elkosh on the east of the Jordan, at
Bethabara (eis B-nyafidp, Chron. Pasch. p. 150 ;
Cod. B. has eis BnraBapiiv), where he says the
Prophet died in peace (but this is due to an
error : see Nestle, Zeitsch. d. Deutsch. Paldst.-
Vereins, i. 222 sq.). According to Schwartz
(Descr, of Palestine, p. 188), the grave of Nahum
is shown at Kefr Tanchum, a village 2| English
miles north of Tiberias ; and Knobel and Hitzig
have considered it an earlier name of Capernaum
(D-irO "IS3). But mediaeval tradition, perhaps
for the convenience of the Babylonian Jews,
attached the fame of the Prophet's burial-place
to Alkush, a village on the east bank of the
Tigris, near the monastery of Rabban Hormuzd,
and about 2 miles north of Mosul. Benjamin
of Tudela (p. 53, ed. Asher) speaks of the syna
gogues of Nahum, Obadiah, and Jonah at Asshur,
the modern Mosul. R. Petachia (p. 35, ed.
Benisch) was shown the prophet's grave, at a
distance of 4 parasangs from that of Baruch,
the son of Neriah, which was itself distant a
mile from the tomb of Ezekiel. It is mentioned
in a letter of Masius, quoted by Asseman (Bibl.

Orient, i. 525). Jews rrom the surrounding
districts make a pilgrimage to it at certain
seasons. The synagogue which is built over the
tomb is described by Colonel Shiel, who visited
it in his journey through Kurdistan (Journ.
Geog. Soe. viii. 93). Rich evidently believed
the tradition correct, considering the pilgrimage
of the Jews as almost sufficient test (Kurdistan,
i. 101). The tradition which assigns Elkosh to
Galilee is, however, more in accordance with
the internal evidence afforded by the prophecy,
which gives no sign of having been written in
Assyria. [Nahum.] [W. A. W.] [F.]
ELKOSHITE. [Elkosh.]
EL-LA'SAE ("It&tf; 'EXXaadp; Pontus),
which has been considered by some to be the
Telassar (-|B>i6fi or "lf!?ri) of 2 Kings xix. 12
and Is. xxxvii. 12 (so the Targ. of Jerus.), is
now regarded as being more probably the Meso-
potamian town called by the Akkadians Ararma,
and by the Semitic inhabitants of that tract
Larrisu, Larsa, or Larsam, the Larissa (Adpiaaa)
of the Greeks. It must be confessed that this
identification, though defensible, is not quite
satisfactory from a philological point of view.
The first syllable, El, may be regarded as the
same as the Bab.-Assyr. dl, "city," in which
case the remainder of the word," lasar, would
stand for the Larsa of the native records, by
interchange of r and s. On the other hand this
identification would be thoroughly satisfactory
from a historical point of view. Larsa was a
town in Lower Babylonia or Chaldea, about half
way between Ur (Mukeyyer) and Erech (Warka),
on the left bank of the Euphrates, now repre
sented by the ruins called Senkereh. Important
for the early history of Larsa is the fact that
one of the kings of Mesopotamia bears the Ela
mite name Kudur-Mabug (compare the Chedor-
Laomer of Gen. xiv. 1, 9). This ruler had a
son, to whom was given the Akkadian name of
Eri-Aku, identified with the Arioch of Gen.
xiv. 1 (cp. Judith i. 6). Eri-Aku was king of
Larsa under his father, and this is just the
position which Arioch, king of Ellasar, seems to
have occupied with regard to Chedor-Laomer."
The Mesopotamian Larsa was a city where
the sun-god (Samas or Shamas) was worshipped,
and had many renowned temples. The principal
one, called E-bara (or t-babbara), was built by
Ur-Bau, about 2500 B.C., rebuilt anew by Ham
murabi, and restored by Nebuchadnezzar' and
Nabonidus. Cylinders, small clay bas-reliefs, and
various tablets (including one giving square and
cube roots) have been found among the ruins.
See Loftus's Chaldea ; Oppert's Expedition, &c.
[T. G. P.]
ELM (Heb. !"PK, elah; t) Tepi$ivBos; tere-
binthus) occurs only once in A. V. in Hos. iv. 13,
where R. V. rightly reads "terebinth." In
* It is probable, indeed, that Chedor-Laomer was the
successor of Kudur-Mabug, as, in Elam, accordmg to
G. Smith, the right of succession passed to the brother
of the reigning king. Arioch (Eri-Aku) may, there
fore, have been in succession vassal to his father and to
his uncle. If, however, Chedor-Laomer was also son
of Kudur Mabug, Eri-Aku was probably his younger
brother.

ELMODAM
Is. vi. 13, A. V. renders elah " teil tree," and
R. V. " terebinth." i"PK in all other passages
is in A. V. rendered " oak ; " and in R. V. gener
ally "oak," with marg. terebinth. There can
be no doubt, that this latter rendering, which
follows the LXX., is correct. The elm ( Ulmus
campestris, L.) is scarcely to be called a Pales
tine tree, being only rarely found in the higher
parts of Lebanon, where it has most probably
been introduced. It is essentially a native of
colder climates. The compilers of the LXX.
could scarcely fail to be familiar with the tere
binth and its Hebrew equivalent, for no tree is
more conspicuous throughout the land than the
lonely and isolated terebinth (Pistachia terebin-
thus, L.), which from the days of Jacob to the
present has been selected that its branches
might overshadow the graves of holy or distin
guished persons. [H. B. T.]
EL-MO'DAM QEXpaUp, Westc. and Hort,
apparently the same as the Heb. "TT)D7N, Gen. a.
26 ; A. 'EXpuoSdS, E. -dap.), son of Er, six gene
rations above Zerubbabel, in the genealogy of
Joseph (Luke iii. 28). [Almodad.] [A. C. H.]
EL-NA'AM (Dw5?N,?= God is grace; B.
'EXXdap, K"a. 'EXXdp, A. 'EXvadp; Elnaem),
the father of Jeribai and Joshaviah, two of
David's guard, according to the extended list in
1 Ch. xi. 46. In the LXX. the second warrior
is said to be the son of the first, and Elnaam is
himself a member of the guard. [G.] [F.]
EL-NATHAN Qnibvi = God hath given.
Cp. Adeodatus, Theodorus, and the Phoenician,
Palmyrene, Nabatean, and Sabean parallels col
lected in MV." ; Elnathan). 1. The maternal
grandfather of Jehoiaehin, distinguished as " El
nathan of Jerusalem " (2 K. xxiv. 8 ; B. 'EAAa-
vaBdp, A. -p-). He is doubtless the same man as
" Elnathan the son of Achbor," one of the leading
men in Jerusalem in Jehoiakim's reign (Jer.
xxxvi. 12, T». 'lavdBav, K. tidBav [xliii. 12]).
Two incidents are recorded of him : — (a) He was
one of those commissioned by Jehoiakim to go
into Egypt and " fetch forth " Uriah of Kiriath-
jearim, who had prophesied against Jerusalem.
Jeremiah was saved, but Uriah was slain with
the sword (Jer. xxvi. 22—4. The name is
omitted by the LXX. [xxxiii. 22-3]). (b) He
and two others " made intercession to the king "
Jehoiakim that he should not burn Jeremiah's
" roll," but without success (Jer. xxxvi. 25 ;
f'.'EXvdBav, A. NdBav [xliii. 25]). The variations
in the LXX. arise from the names Elnathan,
Jonathan, and Nathan having the same sense.
2. The name of three persons, apparently Levites,
in the time of Ezra (Ezra viii. 16 ; B. 'EXvaBdp,
~Na8dv, 'EavaBdv, A. for the last 'EX-). In 1
Esd. they are corrupted to Alnathan and
Eotatan. [W. L. B.] [F.]
E'LON. 1. (j^X = an oak; Elon), a Hittite,
whose daughter was one of Esau's wives (Gen.
xxvi. 34 [AE. AiXtbp, D. A'tStip], xxxvi. 2 [A.
'EXt&p, E. A'tXtiv, D. AtSdip]). For the variation
in the name of his daughter, see Bashemath.
2. (flbit. ; Elon), the second of the three sons
attributed to Zebulun (Gen. xlvi. 14, A. 'Affpdiv,

ELPAEAN

927

D.ta 'AXXtliv; Num. xxvi. 26, BAF. 'AXXtiv),
and the founder of the family (i"inBE>P) of the
Elonites 035Nn). From this tribe came
3. Elon the (not "a") Zebulonite (ji^N! ;
B. AiXtip, A. -v ; Joseph. "HXuv ; Ahialon), who
judged Israel for ten years, and was buried in
Aijalon in Zebulun (Judg. xii, 11, 12). The
names "Elon" and "Aijalon" in Hebrew have
in common four letters, and differ principally
in the vowel-points, so that the place of Elon's
burial may have been originally called after
him. It will be remarked that the Vulgate
does assimilate the two. [G.] [F.]
E'LON (P^K ; B. A'tXtiv, A. 'laXtiv ; Elon),
one of the towns in the border of the tribe of
Dan (Josh. xix. 43). It is mentioned between
Ajalon (Ydlo) and Timnah (A. V. Thimnathah,
Tibneh), and was apparently near the E. border
of Dan. The identification is uncertain. Conder
(PEF. Mem. ii. 293) suggests Beit Ello, in the
hills 6 miles N. of Upper Beth-horon ; but this
place must have been in Ephraim. The name
in Hebrew signifies a great oak or other strong
tree, and may therefore be a testimony to the
wooded character of the district. It is possibly
the same place as
E'LON - BETH - HANAN OjrrrVa '8 =
oak of the house of grace; B. 'Exiip. 'ias Br/B-
Xapdv, A. AlaXdip. %. B-nBavdv), which is named
with Shaalbim and Bethshemesh ('Ain Shems),
two Danite towns, as forming one of Solomon's
commissariat districts (1 K. iv. 9). For " Beth-
hanan " some Hebrew MSS. have " Ben-hanan,"
and some " and Beth-hanan ; " the latter is
followed by the Vulgate, et in Elon, et in Beth-
hanan. Conder (Hbk. to Bible, p. 410) suggests
Beit 'Andn, in the mountains 4 miles W.N.W.
of Neby Samwil, and within the limits of the
tribe of Benjamin. [G.] [W.]
ELONITES, THE. Num. xxvi. 26.
[Elon, 2.]
ELOTH. 1 K. ix. 26 ; 2 Ch. viii. 17, xxvi.
2. [Elath.]
EL-PA'AL (bysbti, ? = God hath rewarded.
Cp. the Phoen. name riD3N7l>B, Bast being
an Egyptian god [MV.11] ; B. 'AXtpdaS, A. -X ;
Elphaal), a Benjamite, son of Hushim and
brother of Abitub (1 Ch. viii. 11). He was
the founder of a numerous family. The Bene-
Elpaal appear to have lived in the neighbourhood
of Lydda (Lod), and on the outposts of the Ben
jamite hills as far as Ajalon (Ydld ; viii. 12-18),
near the Danite frontier. Hushim was the name
ofthe principal Danite family. If the forefather
of Elpaal was the same person, his mention in a
Benjamite genealogy is an evidence of an inter
marriage of the two tribes. [G.] [W.]
EL-PA'LET (D^K ; B. 'EXettpdXeB, N. -er,
A. -t-er; Eliphalet), one of David's sons born
in Jerusalem (1 Ch. xiv. 5). In the parallel
list, 1 Ch. iii. 6, the name is given more fully as
Eliphelet. [G.]
EL-PA'EAN. [Paean.]

928

ELTEKEH

EL-TEKE'H (MRI^g ; B. 'AXKa8d, and f)
'EXKtoBaip, A. 'EXBeKti-j Elthece, R. V. Elteke in
Josh. xxi. 23), one of the cities in the border of
Dan (Josh. xix. 44), which with its " suburbs "
(BH3D) was allotted to the Kohathite Levites
(xxi. 23). It is however omitted from the parallel
list of 1 Ch. vi. Conder (Hbk. to Bible, p. 410)
and Tristram (Bible Places, p. 51) identify it
with Beit Likia, near the mouth of W. Selmdn,
but this place is too far to the north. It is
mentioned in the list immediately after Timnah
(A. V. Thimnathah, Tibneli) and' Ekron ('Akir),
and it is apparently the same place as Altaku,
near which Sennacherib defeated an Egyptian
army that was advancing to the relief of Ekron,
which he was then besieging. The victory was
followed by the surrender of Altaku and the
neighbouring town of Tamna (Tibneli. Schrader,
KAT.1 pp. 171 sq., 289 sq. ; G. Smith, Hist, of
Assyria, p. 114). It was near the S. border of
Dan, but no trace of the name has yet been
discovered; [G.] [W.]

EL-TEKO'N (Jpn?K; B. QeKovp, A. 'EX-
Bexiv ; Eltecon), one of the towns of the tribe of
Judah, in the mountains (Josh. xv. 59). From
its mention in company with HALHULand Beth
zur, it was probably about the middle of the
country of Judah, a few miles north of Hebron ;
but it has not yet been identified. It is possibly
Tekoa, which is not mentioned in the list of the
towns of Judah in Josh. xv. [G.] [W.]
EL-TO'LAD (-6ini?? ; B. 'EXBvvSaS and
'EXBovXd, A. 'EXBaSaS and 'EXBovSdS ; Eltholad),
one of the cities in the south of Judah (Josh.
xv. 30) allotted to Simeon (Josh. xix. 4), and
in possession of that tribe until the time of David
(1 Ch. iv. 29). It is named with Beersheba and
other places which we know to have been in the
extreme south, on the border of the country ;
but it has not yet been identified. In 1 Ch. iv. 29
the name is given as Tolad (B. ©ovXdep. A.
BaXdo). [G.] [W.]
ELU'L (>17K; 6 'EXoiX; Elul), the name
of the' sixth month of the Hebrew year, and
corresponding to our mid-August to mid-Sep
tember. The name is Ulfdu in Assyrian. In
Neh. vi. 13 it is commemorated as the month
in which Nehemiah finished the wall of Jeru
salem, and in 1 Mace. xiv. 27 as the month in
which the tablets of brass, recording the deeds
of Simon Maccabaeus and his brethren, were set
upon pillars in Mount Sion. [Months.] [F.]
ELU'ZAI OMlfojl; 'A(a-i, A. 'EXmCl;
Eluzai), one of the warriors of Benjamin, who
joined David at Ziklag while he was being pur
sued by Saul (1 Ch. xii. 5). [G.] [F.]
ELYMAEANS CEXvpaTtoi), Judith i. 6.
[ELAMITliS.] ELYMA'IS. In the E. V. of 1 Mace. vi. 1
this is given as " a city in the country of Persia,
and attacked by Antiochus Epiphanes." The I

ELYMAS
E. V. followed the rendering of T.'X, but such
a rendering seems to be a mistake. No such
city is known to any writer, and Josephus-
(Antiq. xii. 9, § 1) in mentioning it simply
follows the author of i Mace. The truer ren
dering is given in A. iariv iv '£Xvpis . . . tt6Xis,
and is adopted by Fritzsche, Rawlinson, and
Zockler. Elymais is therefore the name of a
district of Susiana. What city "greatly re
nowned for riches," and its splendid temple, is
meant, is not known. It cannot be Persepolis,
a city also attacked by Antiochus (2 Mace. ix. 2),
for Persepolis was never reckoned as belonging
to Elymais. Cp. Speaker's Comm. in loco ; and
Zockler in " Die Apokryphen d. A. T." in Strack
u. Zockler's Kgf. Komm. *. d. hdl. Schriften
A. u. N. Ts. [F.]
EL'YMAS ('EXvpas ; Elymas) represents
either Arabic ^jjip, " learned " (cp. plural
Ulema, the lea.'ned in the law of the Koran), or
Aramaic KD'PN, " the strong." His name was
Bar-jesus, and Elymas appears to have been a
title assumed by him in virtue of his profession-
He is described as " a magian, a false prophet, a
Jew " (Acts xiii. 6). The word " magian " has
a long and obscure history, traceable from the
pre-Semitic religions of the East, through the
" magi " ofthe Chaldaeans, Medes, Persians, and
Parthians (see the admirable art. Magier in
Herzog, BE.1 s. n.). In N. T. times it had come
to mean little more than " sorcerer," and its use
in Acts is much more normal than its occur
rence in an honourable sense in Matt. ii. 1. By
adding the designation " false prophet " St. Luke
draws the spiritual ancestry of' the sorcerer
from the false prophets of the O. T. who with
stood Micaiah and Jeremiah before rulers,
exactly as Bar-jesus withstood St. Paul. Elymas-
was a Jew, and it was probably not only as a
sorcerer but as a Jew that he had gained
influence with Sergius Paulus, whose interest .
in religious questions is proved by his " calling
unto him Barnabas and Saul." If Bar-jesus was
" perverting the right ways of the Lord," he
must already have been in some fashion ex
pounding them. The influence which he had
with the Roman official is exactly paralleled by
the position which another Jewish magian occu
pied with Felix (Jos. Ant. xx. 7, § 2). The
blinding of Elymas, with the death of Ananias
and Sapphira, occupy an almost unique position
in the N. T. as miracles of punishment. On the
one hand, we are reminded of " the spirit of
Elias," and of the fatal prediction of Jeremiah
against his opponent (Jer. xxviii. 15-17). On
the other hand, this miracle has been made the
type for countless fabulous miracles of ven
geance upon persecutors and heretics. St. Paul
met with " many adversaries " in his subsequent
career, but, so far as we know, miraculous aid
was never again employed to confound them.
The nearest approach is in 1 Tim. ii. 20 and
2 Tim. iv. 14. [E. R. B.]

END OP THE FIRST PART OP THE FIRST VOLUME.

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