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DR. WILLIAM SMITH'S
DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE;
00MPBI8INO m
ANTIQUITIES, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, AND NATURAL HISTORY.
RKVI8ED AMD EDITBD BY
PROFESSOR II. B. HACKETT, D. D.
WITH THE OOOPKBATIOS 01*
EZRA ABBOT, LL. D.
AMBRAIIT UBBABIAV OF BABTABB OOUMB.
VOLUME T. A TO GENNESARET, LAND OP.
NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON.
C«Mkt(«gt: 3ft(bet»f«e |lve««. 1872.
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8TBREOTTPED AND PRINTED BT
H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
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PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
The reputation of Dr. WiUiam Smith's " Dictionary of the Bible " is now toe well established to need any special commendation. It contains, by universal con- sent, the fruit of the ripest Biblical scholarship of England, and constitutes a library of itself (superseding the use of many books otherwise necessary) for the study and illnstradon <^ the Scriptures. As a whole, it is unquestionably superior to any simi- lar Lexicon in our language, and cannot fail to maintain this rank for a long period to come. In this American edition, the Publishers reprint the entire work, wiihovi dridgment or change^ except the correction of typographical errors, or an occa- sional verbal inaccuracy, and of mistakes in quotation and reference.
At the same time, the reprinting of this Dictionary, after the lapse of several years since its first publication, and of a still longer time since the preparation of maoy of the articles, affords an opportunity to give to it some new features, required by die progresnve nature of Biblical science, and adapting it more perfectly to the wants of students of the Bible in our own country. Among the characteristics in which the American edition differs from the English, are the following : —
1. The contents of the Appendix, embracing one hundred and sixteen pages, and treating of subjects overiooked or imperfectly handled in the first volume, have been inserted in their proper places in the body of the work.
2. The numerous Scripture references, on the accufacy of which the value of a Bible Dictionary so much depends, have all been verified anew. The corrections found necessary in these references, and silently made, amount to more than a thou- sand. Many other mistakes in quotation and reference have been corrected during the revision of the work.
3. The system of cross-references from one article to another, so indispensable fbr enabling us to know what the Dictionary contains on related but separated subjects, htt been carried much further in this edition than in the English.
4. The signification of the Hebrew and, to some extent, of the Greek names of persons and places has been given in English, according to the best authorities (Simonis, Gesenius, Dietrich, Furst, Pape) on this intricate subject. We have such definitions occasionally in the original work, but on no consistent plan. The Scrip- ture names reveal to us a striking peculiarity of the oriental mind, and oden throw light on the personal history and the geography of the Bible.
5. The accentuation of proper names has required adjustment Dr. Smith's ** Concise Dictionary of the Bible " differs here widely from the larger work ; and in both, forms perfectly analogous are differently accented, in many instances, without apparent reason. In the present edition, this subject has received careful attention ; and in respect to that lai^e class of names whose pronunciation cannot be reganled as settled by usage, an attempt has been made to secure greater consistency by the application of fixed principles.
6. The English cMlidon, at the beginning of each article devoted to a proper name, professes to give ** the corresponding forms in the Hebrew, Greek, and Vul- gate, together with the variations in the two great manuscripts of the Septuagint, whidi are often curious and worthy of notice.** But this flan has been very imper- fectly carried out so far as relates to the forms in the Septuagint and Vulgate, aspedally in the first volume. The readings of the Vatican manuscript are very
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IT PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
rarely given where thej differ from those of the Roman edition of 1587, — a caM which frequently occurs, though thb edition is, to a great extent, founded on thai manuscript; and those of the Alexandrine manuscript are often ignored. The present edition of the Dictionary seeks to supply these defects ; and not only have the readings of the Roman text (as given by Tischendorf ) been carefully noted, with the variations of the Vatican and Alexandrine manuscripts as edited by Mai and Baber, but also those of the two other leading editions of the Septoagint, the Complutensian and the Aldine, and of the Codex Smtttiicus, whenever the forms given in them accord more neariy with the Hebrew, or on other accounts seem worthy of notice. To these last two editions, in the Apocrypha especially, we must oflen look for the explanation of the peculiar spelling of many proper names in the common English version. Many deviations of the later editions of this version from the first edition (1611), important m affecting the orthography of Hebrew proper names, have also been detected and pointed out
7. The amount of Scripture illustration derived from a knowledge of Easleni customs and traditions, as made known to us so much more fiiUy at the present day by missionaries and travellers in the lands of the Bible, has been largely increased. More frequent remarin also have been made on difficult texts of Scripture, for the most part in connection with some leading word in them, with which the texts are natundly associated.
8. The obsolete words and phrases in the language of the English Bible, or those which, though not obsolete, have changed their meaning, have been explained, so as to supply, to some extent, the place o£ a glossary on that subject Such explana* tioDS will be found under the head of such words, or in oonnection with the subjects to which they relate.
9. On various topics omitted in the English work, but required by Dr. Smith's plan, new articles have been inserted in the American edition, with additions to others which seem not fully to represent our present knowledge or the state of critical opin- ion on the subjects discussed. The bibliographical references have been greatly increased, and care has been taken to mentiod the new works of value, or new editions of works in geography, philology, history, and exegesis, in our own or other languages, which have speared since the original articles were written. Further, all the new wood-cuts in the Abridged English edition, illustrating some of the most important subjects in geography and arehasology, but not contained in the Una- bridged edition, are inserted in the present woric. Many additional views of Seripture scenes and places have been introduced from other more recent publica- tions, or engraved from photographs.
10. Fuller reoogniticm has been made of the names and works of American schol- ars, both as an act of justice to them as co-workers with those of other lands in this department of study, and still more as due to American readers. It must be useful certainly to our own students to be referred to books within their reach, as well as to those which they are unable to consult, and to books also which more justly represent our own tendencies of thought and modes of statement, than can be true of those prepared for other and foreign oommunities. Refhrences are made not only to books of American writers, but to valuable articles in our Periodicab, which discuss questions of theological and Biblical interest
In addition to the aid of Mr. Abbot (who has had special charge of the proo^ reading, the orthoepy, and the verificaticm of references to the original texts and ancient versions of the Bible, and has also given particular attention to the bibli- ography), the editor has had the cooperation of eminent American scholars, as will be seen by the list of names subjoined to that of the writers in the English edition. It is proper to add that the Arabic words in the Dictionary have been revised by the Rev. Dr. Van Dyck, one of the translators of the modem Arabic Bible, or by Professor Salisbury, of Yale College.
H. B. HACKETT.
Newton Centre, Deeemher SO, 1867.
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PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION.
Turn pmcat work b dengnad to render the tame senrioe in the ttody of the Bibk m the Dictkmariet of Gr^k and Roman Antiquitiee, Biography, and Geography have done in the study of the elaancal writert of antiquity. Within the last few years Biblical •todies have received a firesh impulse ; and the researches of modem sdK^ars, as well as the discoveries of modem travellers, have thrown new and nne»> pected light upon the history and geography of the £ast. It has, therefiire, bees 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 di^ eoveries, would prove a valuable addition to the literature of the country. It has been the aim of the Editor and Contriburtora to present the information in such a fenn as to meet the wants, not only of theological students, but also of that larger das 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 introduced, and generally in paren- dieses, 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 expe- lience no difficulty in reading the book through from beginning to end.
The scope and object of the work may be briefly defined. It b a Dictionary of the BAU^ and not of Theology, It is intended to elucidate the antiquities, biogn^ P^y* fSPV^'^y* <^ natin>al history of the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrjrpha ; but not to explain systems of theology, or discuss points of controversial divini^. It has seemed, however, necessary in a ** Dictionary of the Bible," to give a fidl account of the Book, both as a whole and in its separate parts. Accordingly^ articles are inserted not only upon tho general subject, such as ** Bible," ^ Apocry- pha," and ^ Canon," and upon the chief ancient versions, as '* Septuagint " and ** Vulgate," but also upon each of the separate books. These articles are natu* rally some of the most important in the work, and occupy considerable space, as will be seen by referring to '*■ Genesis," *< Isaiah," and ** Job."
The Editor believes that the woik will be found, upon examination, to be for more complete in the subjects which it professes to treat than any of its predeces- sofs. 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 Apoerjrpha. 1^ 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 comparatively obscure persons and places ; but this is no reason for their omission. On the contrary, it is precisely for such articles that a dictionaiy is most needed. An account of the more important perMns and places occupies a prominent position in historical and geographical works ; but of the less conspicuous names no information can be obtmned in ordinary books of reference. Accordingly many names, which have been either entirely omitted or cursorily treated in other dictionaries, have had considerable space de- voted lo thos I the result being that much canons and sometimes important knowl»
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edge Las been elicited respecting subjects of which little or nothing was pre^ioaslj known. Instances may he seen by referring to the articles '* Ishmael, son of Netha- niah," " Jareb," »* Jedidiah," " Jehoeheba."
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, Grreek, and Vulgate are given, together with the variations in the two great mannscripts of the Septuagint, which are often curious and well worthy of notice. All inaccura- cies in the Authorized Version are likewise carefully noted.
In the composition and distribution <^ the articles three points have been espe- cially kept in view — the insertion of copious references to the ancient writers and to the best modem authorities, as much brevity as was consistent with the propei 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 are therefore in- cluded 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 histoiy' of Alexandria, or a detailed life <^ Alexander the Great, simply because they are men^oned 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 character and faith. The same remaric applies to all similar articles, which, &r from being a repetition of those contained in the preceding dictionaries, are supplementary to them, affording the Biblical informatioD 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 Scrip- tures, as would be apprc^riate in systematic treatises on Botany or Zoology. All that can be reasonably 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 modem 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 endeavoring to obtain uniformity, has consid- ered it an advantage to the reader to have the ailments stated from different points of view.
An attempt has been made to insure, as far as practicaUe, unifermity 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. Bobinson's ** Biblical Researches " and to Professor Stanley's ** Sinai and Palestine," have been uniformly made to the second edition of the former work (London, 1856, 8 vols.), and to the fourth edition of the latter (London, 1857).
The Editor cannot conclude this brief explanation without expressing his obliga- tions to Uie writers of Uie 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 speci^^ acknowledgment Mr. George Grove of Sydenham, besides contributing the articles to which his initial is attached, has rendered the Editor important assbtance in writing the majority of the articles on the more ob-
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PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. vii
•cure ames in the first volume, in the correction of the proofs, and in the revision o£ the *hoIe book. The Editor has also to express his obligations to Mr. William AIdi« Wright, Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, and to the Rev. Charles P. Phinn of Chichester, for their valuable assistance in the correction of the proofi, as well as to Mr. E. Stanley Poole, for the revision of the Arabic words. Mr. Aldts Wright has likewise written in the second and third volumes the more obscure names to which no initials are attached.
It 18 intended to publish shortly an Atlas of Biblical Geography, which, it is be> Eeredy will form a valuable supplement to the Dictionary.
WILLIAM SMITH LcwDOX, November. 19lPd,
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WRITERS IN THE ENGLISH EDITION.
H. A. Very Rev. Henry Alford, D. D., Dean of Canterbury.
H. B. Rev. Henry Bailey, B. D., Warden of St Augustine's College, Can-
terbury ; late Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge.
H. B. Rev. HoRATius Bonar, D. D., Kelso, N.B.; Author of "The Land
of Promise.** [The geographieal Articles, signed H. B., are written by Dr. Boiiftr : those on oUier snttjeots, signed H. B., sltb written by Mx. Bailey.]
A. B. Rev. Alfred Barry, B. D., Principal of Cheltenham College ; late
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
W. L. B. Rev. WrLLLAM Latham Bevan, M. A., Vicar of Hay, Brecknock- shire.
J. W. B. Rev. Joseph Williams Blakesley, B. D., Canon of Canterbury ; late Fellow and Tutor of Trinity College, Cambridge.
T. E. B. Rev. Thomas Edward Brown, M. A., Vice-Principal of King Wil- liam's College, Isle of Man ; late Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
R. W. B. Ven. Robert William Browne, M. A., Archdeacon of Bath, and Canon of Wells.
E. H. B. Right Rev. Edward Harold Browne, D. D., Lord Bishop of Ely. W. T. B. Rev. William Thomas Bullock, M. A., Assistant Secretary of the
Society for the Propagation of the Grospel in Foreign Parts.
5. C. Rev. Samuel Clark, M. A., Vicar of Bredwardine with Brobury,
Herefordshire.
F. C. C. Rev. Frederic Charles Cook, M. A., Chaplain in Ordinary to the
Queen.
6. E. L. C. Right Rev. George Edward Lynch Cotton, D. D., late Lord Bishop.
of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India. J. LI. D. Rev. John Llewelyn Da vies, M. A., Rector of Christ Church, Marylebone ; late Fellow of Trinify College, Cambridge.
G. E. D. Prof. George Edward Day, D. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn. E. D. Emanuel Deutsch, M. R. A. S., British Museum.
W. D. Rev. William Drake, M. A., Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen.
£. P. £• Rev. Edward Paroissien Eddrup, M. A., Principal of the Theology ical College, Salisbury.
C. J. £. Right Rev. Charles John Ellicott, D. D., Lord Bishop of Glouces- ter and Bristol.
P. W. F. Rev. Frederick William Farrar, M. A., Assistant Master of Har- row School ; late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
J. F. James Fergusson, F. R. S., F. R. A. S., Fellow of the Royal Insti-
tute of British Architects.
E. S. Ffl Edward Salusbury Ffoulkes, M. A., late Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.
W. F. Right Rev. Willlam Fitzgerald, D. D., Lord Bishop of Ballaloe.
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F. 6. Rev. Francis Garden, M. A., Subdean of Her Majest/s Chapeb
Royal.
F. W. G. Rev. F. William Gotch, LL. D., President of the Baptist College,
Bristol ; late Hebrew Examiner in the University of London.
G. Georoe Grove, Crystal Palace, Sydenham.
H. B. H. Prof. Horatio Balch Hackett, D. D., LL. D., Theological Institu- tion, Newton, Mass. E. H — 8. Rev. Ernest Hawkinjs, B. D., Secretary of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. H. H. Rev. Henry Hayman, B. D., Head Master of the Grammar School,
Cheltenham ; late Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. A. C. H. Ven. rx)rd Arthur Charles Hervey, M. A., Archdeacon of Sud-
bmy, and Rector of Ickworth. J. A. H. Rev. James Augustus Hessey, D. C. L., Head Master of Merchant
Taylors' School. J. D. H. Joseph Dalton Hooker, M. D., F. R. S., Royal Botanic Gardens,
Kew. J. J. H. Rev. James John Hornby, M. A., Fellow of Brasenose College, Ox- ford ; Principal of Bishop Cosin's Hall. W. H. Rev. William Houghton, M. A., F. L. S., Rector of Preston on the
Weald Moors, Salop. J. S. H. Rev. John Saul Howson, D. D., Principal of the Collegiate Institu- tion, Liverpool. Rev. Edgar Huxtable, M. A., Subdean of Wells. Rev. William Basil Jones, M. A., Prebendary of York and of St.
David's ; late Fellow and Tutor of University College, Oxford. Austen Henry La yard, D. C. L., M. P. Rev. Stanley Leathes, M. A., M. R. S. L., Hebrew Lecturer b
King's College, London. Rev. Joseph Barber Lightfoot, D. D., Hulsean Professor of Divinitv<
and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Rev. D. W. Marks, Professor of Hebrew in University College, London. Rev. Frederick Meyrick, M. A., late Fellow and Tutor of Trinity
College, Oxford. Prof. Jules Oppert, of Paris. Rev. Edward Redman Oroer, M. A., Fellow and Tutor of St
Augustine's College, Canterbury. Ven. Thomas Johnson Ormerod, M. A., Archdeacon of Suffolk;
late Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford. Rev. John James Stewart Perowne, B. D., Vice-Principal of St. David's College, Lampeter. T. T. p. Rev. Thomas Thomason Perowne, B. D., Fellow and Tutor of
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. H. W. P. Rev. Henry Wright Phillott, M. A., Rector of Staunton-on-Wye,
Herefordshire ; late Student of Christ Church, Oxford. E. H. P. Rev. Edward Hayes Plumptre, M. A., Professor of Divinity in
King's College, London. E. S. P. Edward Stanley Poole, M. R. A. S., South Kensington Museum. R S. P. Reginald Stuart Poole, British Museum. J. L. P Rev. J. Leslie Porter, M. A., Professor of Sacred Literature, Asseoi-
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LIST OF WRITERS.
Wy's College, Belfast ; Author of " Handbook of Syria and Palestine,"' and " Five Yean in Damascus."
G P. Rev. Charlbs Pritchard, M. A., F. R. S., Hon. Secretary of the
Royal Astronomical Society ; late Fellow of St John's C!ollege, Cam- bridge. G. R Rev. George Rawlin80N, M. A., Camden Professor of Ancient Hig-
tory, Oxford. H. J. R. Rev. HsxRY John Rose, B. D., Rural Dean, and Rector of Houghton
Conquest, Bedfordshire. W. S. Rev. William Selwyn, D. D., Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen ;
Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, Cambridge : Canon of Ely. A. P. S. Rev. Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D., Regius Professor of Ecclesias- tical History, and Canon of Christ Church, Oxford ; Chaplain to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. C. E. 8. Prof. Calvin Ellis cJtowe, D. D., Hartford, Conn.
J. P. T. Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, D. D., New York.
W. T. Most Rev. William Thomson, D. D., Lord Archbishop of York.
S. P. T. Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, LL. D., Author of " An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament," &c.
H. B. T. Rev. Henry Baker Tristram, M. A., F. L. S., Master of Greatham Hospital
J. F. T. Rev. Joseph Francis Thrupp, M^ A., Vicar of Barrington ; late Fel- low of Trinity College, Cambridge.
E. T. Hon. Edward T. B. Twisleton, M. A., late Fellow of Balliol College,
Oxford.
E. V. Rev. Edmund Venables, M. A., Bonchurch, Isle of Wight.
B. F. W. Rev. Brooke Foss Westcott, M. A., Assistant Master of Hanx)W School ; late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
€. W. Rev. Christopher Wordsworth, D. D., Canon of Westminster.
W. A. W. William Aldis Wright, M. A., Librarian of Trinity College, Cana- bridge.
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WRITERS IN THE AMERICAN EDITION.
Ezra Abbot, LL. D., Assistant Librarian of Harvard College, Cambridge,* Mass.
Ptof. Samuel Coloord Bartlett, D. D., Theol. Sem., Chicago, HL
Rev. Thomas Jefferson Conant, D. D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Prof. George Edward Day, D. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
Prof. George Park Fisher, D. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
Prof. Frederic Gardiner, D. D., Middletown, Conn.
Rev. Daniel Ratnes Goodwin, D. D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Prof Horatio Balch Hackett, D. D., LL. D., Theological Institu- tion, Newton, Mass.
Prof. James Hadley, LL. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. Frederick Whitmore Holland, F. R. G. S., London.
Prof. Alvah Hovey, D. D., Theological Institution, Newton, Mass. t
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LIST OF WRITERS.
iiriTiALa.
A. C. K. Prof. AsAHEL Clabk Kexprick, D. D., University of Rochester, N. Y.
C. M. M. Prof. Charles Marsh Mead, Ph. D., TheoL Sem., Andover, Mass.
£. A. P. Prof. Edwards Amasa Park, D. D., TheoL Seminary, Andover, Masa
W. E. P. Rev. William Edwards Park, Lawrence, Mass.
A. P. P. Prof. Andrew Preston Peabody, D. D., LL. D., Harvard College Cambridge, Mass.
G. E. p. Rev. George E. Post, M. D., Tripoli, Syria.
R D. C. R Prof. Rensselaer David Chanceford Robbins, Middlebury Col- lege, Vt.
P. S. Rev. Philip Schaff, D. D., New York.
H. B. S. Prof. Henry Boynton Smith, D. D., LL. D., Union Theological Seminary, New York.
C. E. S. Rev. Calvin Ellis Stowe, D. D., Hartford, Conn.
D. S. T. Prof. Daniel Smith Talcott, D. D., Theol. Seminary, Bangor, Me. J. H. T. Prof. Joseph Henry Thayer, M. A., Theol. Seminary, Andover, Mass. J. P. T. Rev. Joseph Parrish Thompson, D. D., New York.
C. V. A. V. Rev. Cornelius V. A. Van Dyck, D. D., BeirOt, Syria.
W. H. W. Rev. William Hayes Ward, M A., New York.
W. F. W. Prof. William Fairfield Warren, D. D., Boston Theological Sem- inary, Boston, Mass.
S. W. Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D. D., Cleveland, Ohia
T. D. W. President Theodore Dwioht Woolsey, D. D., LL. D., Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
%♦ The new portions in the present edition are indicated by a star (*), the edi- torisd additions being distinguished by the initials H. and A. Whatever is enclosed in brackets is also, with unimportant exceptions, editorial. Thb remark, however, does not apply to the cross-references in brackets, most of which belong to the origi- nal work, though a lai^ number have been added to this edition.
ABBREVIATIONS.
Aid. The Aldine edition of the Septuagint, 1518. Alex. The Codex Alexandrinus (5th cent), edited by Baber, 1816-28. A. V. The authorized (common) English version of the Bible. Comp. The Septuagint as printed in the Complutensian Polyglott, 1514-17, published 1522.
FA. The Codex Friderico-Augustanus (4th cent), published by Tischendorf in 1846.
Rom. The Roman edition of the Septuagint, 1587. The readings of the Septuagint for which no authority is specified are also from this source.
Sin. The Codex Sinaiticus (4th cent), published by Tischendorf in 1862. This and FA. are parts of the same manuscript
Vat The Codex Vaticanus 1209 (4th cent), according to Mai's edition, published by Vercellone in 1857. " Vat H." denotes readings of the MS. (differing firom Mai), given in Holmes and Farsons's edition of the Septuagint, 1 798- 1827. " Vat* " distinguishes the primary reading of the MS. fTX>m " Vat* " or ** 2. m.," the alteration of a later reviser.
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DICTIONARY
OP
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITIES, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, AND NATURAL HISTORY.
A'ALAB. [Addas.]
sr, Get. ; or from "IHW, enligkUned^ Filnt] : «
'Aop^r : Aaron), the son of Amnm (D^DP,
buidred of the Hightit) and Jochebed ('^^?'^'^> dUwe glory is Jehovah) j and the elder brother of lioses and Miriam (Num. xxvL 59, zxxiii. 39). He was a Lerite, and, as the first-bom, would imturaltj be the priest of the household, even before anj special appointment by God. Of his early history we know nothing, although, by the way m which he is first mentioned in Ex. iv. 14, as " Aaron the Levite,'* it would seem as if be 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 »wfao could speak well." Judging from the acts of his life, we should suppose him to have been, like many doquent men, a man of impulsive and comparatively imstable character, leaning almost wholly on hb brother; incapable of that endurance of k>neliness 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,'* ». e. (accord'mg to the proper meaning of the word), the mterpreter and '* Mouth '* (Ex. iv. 16) of his broth- e*, who was **slow of 'speech;'' and accordingly he was not only the organ of communication with the Israelites and with Pharaoh (Ex. iv. 30, vii-. 2), bat also the actual instrument of workini; most of the miracles of the Exodus. (See Ex. vii. 19, <lc.) Thus also on the way to Mount Sinai, during the battle with Amalek, Aaron is mentioned with Uur, as staying up the weary hands of Moses, when they were lifted up for the victory of Israel (not m prayer, as is sometimes exphuned, but) to bear the rod of God (see Ex. xvu. 0). Through dl Uus period, he is only mentioned as dependent npoD his brother, and deriving all his authority from him. The contrast between them is even moie strongly marked on the arrival at Suiai. Moses at once ads as the mediator (Gal. iii. 19) for the people, to come near to God for them, and to
a • INetrieh suggests (0«8. Heb. Handtob. 6te Anfl.)
fwb, or fluent, Ilka n^^H. H-
AARON
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 immediato presence. Left then, on Moaes' departure, to guide the people, he is tried for a mom^it on his own responsibility and he foils, not frt)m any direct unbdief on his own part, but firom a weak inability to withstand the demand of the people for visible ii gods to go before them." Possibly it seemed to him prudent to make an image <^ 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 re- warded by seeing a *< feast of the Ix)rd " (Ex. xxxii. 5) degraded to the lowest form of heathenish sen- suality, and knowing, firom 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-oonvicted sliame of his excuse, than the burning indignation of Moses, and his stem decisive measures of vengeance; although beneath these there lay an ardent afTection, which went almost to the verge of presumption in prayer for the people (Ex. xxxii. 19-34), and gamed for- giveness 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 tlie 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 himself also com- passed 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 char- acter of the Aaronic priesthood is clearly seen by the fiict, that, in this its inauguration, the priestly office is borne by Moses, as (jod's truer representsk- tive (see Heb. vii.).
The form of consecration resembled other sacri- ficial ceremonies in containing, first, a sin-ofiering, the form of cleansing firom sin and reconciliation [SiN-OFKEiUNo] ; a bumt-oflfering, the sj-mbol of entire devotion to God of the nature v) purified [BuKX'r-oPFERiNo] ; and a meat-otfering, the thankful acknowledgment and sanctifying of God's natural blessmgs [Mkat-offeking]. It had, how- j ever, besides Uiese, the solenm assumption of the
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2 AARON
ncred robes (the garb of righieoasness), the anoint- ing (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 lattei the special consecration of the priest.^
'llie solenmity of the office, and its entire de- pendence for sanctity on the ordinances of God, were vindicated by the death of Nadab and Abihu, for ** offering strange fire ** on the altar, and appar rently (see Lev. x. 9, 10) for doing so in drunken recklessness. Aaron's checking his sorrow, 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 Uii^ time the histcry of Aaron is almost entirely that of the priesthood, and its chief feature is the great rebellion of Korah and the Invites against his sacerdotal dignity, united with that of Dothan and Abinun and the R^benites against the temporal authority of Moses [Korah]. The true vincUcation 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 ofi*ering 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 preservatiou, of God's choice of him and his house.
The only occasion on which his individual char- acter 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 clearly proceeded from their trust, the one in his priesthood, the other in her prophetic inspiration, as equal commissions frx)m God (Num. zii. 2). It seems to have vanished at once before the declaration of Moses' exaltation above all proph- ecy and priesthood, except that of One who was to come; and, if we may judge frx)m the direction of the punishment, to have originated mainly with Miriam. On all other occasions he 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] (Niun. xx. 10 - 12). As 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 idohitry of a stronger mind, into which a weaker one, once conquered, is apt to fi&ll. 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." [Hon.]
The wife of Aaron was Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23); and the two sons who survived him, Eleazar and Itha- mar. The high priesthood descended to the former, and to his descendants until the time of Eli, who, although of the house of Ithamar, received the high .priesthood (see Joseph. AnL v. 11, §6, viii. 1, § 3), and transmitted it to his children; with them it continued until the accession of Solomon, who took
o It Is notfccabltt that the ceremonies of the reston- 'lloD of the leper to his place, as one of God's people, near a strong resemblance to those of conseciatJcMi. Bef Uv ziT. 10-82.
ABANA
it fix>m Abiathar, and restored it to Zadok (of tlie house of Eleazar), so frilfilling the prophecy of 1 Sam. ii. 30. A B.
N. B. In 1 Chr. xxvii. 17, " Aaron " (V">r|H) is counted as one of the ^ tribe* of Itrad,^*
AA'RONITES, THE (pHW: ^ 'Kap^t^. sUrps Aarotk, Aarotdta). Descendants of Aaron, and therefore priests, who, to the number of 3700 fighting men, with Jehoiada the fiither of Bcnaiah at their head, joined David at Hebr>n '1 Chr. xii. 27). Later on in the history (1 Chr. xxvii. 17) we find their chief was Zadok, who in the earlier narrative was distinguished as **a young man mighty of valor." lliey must have been an im- portant fiunily in the reign of David to be reckoned among the tribes of Israel. W. A. W.
AB (3S, father)^ an element in the composi- tion of many proper names, of which Abba is a Chaldaic form, the syllable affixed giving the em- phatic force of the definite article. Applied to God by Jesus Christ (Mark xiv. 36), and by St. Paul (Rom.viii. 15;Gal.iv.6.) [Abba.] R. W. B.
AB. [Months.]
AB'ACUC, 2 Esdr. L 40. [Habakkuk.]
ABAiyDON, Rev. Ix. 11. [Apollyojt.]
ABADFAS CA$<alas; [Aid. BoS/os:] Ab- dim). Obadiah, the son of Jehiel (1 Esdr. viii. 36). . W.A.W.
ABAGTHA (Wi7|5W. : [ZaOoKBd] Alex. FA. Zri$a0a9a ; Compi 'A0arya0<i :] Abgatha\ one of the seven eunuchs in the Persian court of Ahasuerus (Esth. i. 10). In the LXX. the names of these eunuchs are dlfiTerent. The word contains the same root which we find in the Persian namcM Bigiha (Esth. i. 10), Bigthan (Esth. U. 21), Big- tJtana (Esth. vi. 2), and Bagoat. Bohlen explains it from the Sanscrit bagaddiay " given by fortune,'* firom baga^ fortune, the tun.
AB'ANA (HDIJS.: & *Afiayd; [Vat H. (Vat.« Mai) Ap$aya; Alex. NociSaya; Comp. *A/uu^:] Abana\ one of the "rivers (ni^na) of Damas- cus " (2 K. V. 12). The Barada (Xpvaod^6at of the Greeks) and the AtoaJ are now the chief streams of Damascus, and there can be little doubt that the former of these represents the Abana and the latter the Pharpar of the text. As fiur back as the days of Pliny and Strabo the Barada was, as it now is, the chief river of the ci% (Rob. iii. 446), flowing through it, and supplying most of its dwellingi with water. The Avdoj is ftirther from Danmscus, and a native of the pla^ if speaking of the two to- gether, would certainly, with Naaman, name the Barada first (Porter, i. 276). To this may be ad- ded the &ct that in the Arabic version of the pas- sage — the date of which has been fixed by Rodliger as the 11th century — Abana is rendered by Bar-
doy |4>0* Further, it seems to have escaped
notice that one branch of the Awaj — if Kiepert's map (in Rob. 1856) is to be trusted — now bean the name of Wady Barbar. There is however no reference to this in Robinson or Porter.
The Barada rises in the Antillbanus near Zeb- ddnyj at about 23 miles firom the city, and 1148
b The Keri, with the Targum Jonathan and tlM Byriac version, has Amanah. See margin of A. T.
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ABABIM
feei above It. Id its course it passes the site of the ancient Abik, and receives the waters of Ain- fyeA^ one of the largest springs in Syria. This was long believed to be the real source of the Banuia, according to the popular usage of the country, which regards the most copious fountain, i not the most distant head, as the origin of a| river. We meet with other instances of the same miatake in the case of the Jordan and the Orontes [Ai2c] ; it is to Dr. Robinson that we are indebted for its diseoroy in the present case (Rob. iii. 477). Alter flowing through Damascus the Barada runs acroes the plain, leaving the remarkable Assyrian ruin Tell es-Saiahiyeh on its left bank, till it'loees itself in the lake or marsh Bahrtt tUKibUyeh, Mr. Porter calcohtes that 14 viUages and 150,000 souls are dependent on this important river. For the course of the Barada see Forter, vol. i. chap, v., Joum. of S. lit. N. S. vili., Rob. iii. 446, 7. light- foot (Cent, Chor, iv.) and Gesenius {Tkes. 116)
quote the name ^'^^Q^P as applied in the Lexicon Ar^ch to the Amana. G.
* Gesenius ( 7*Aes. p. 116) supposes Abana to be a eommotation for Amaxa bj an interchange of the
labials 3 and 2 : it may be a dialectic or a provin- cial diffirenoe. See also Keil's BB, der Kdmge^ p. 868. Amana ot Abana means ** perennial *' (comp.
VSf^. M said of water in Is. xxxiiL 16 and Jer. XV. 18) and is especiaUy appropriate to this ever- flowing stream. The only biblical allusion to the name is that in Naaman^s scornful interrogation in 2 Kings V. 12: "Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?*' There may be something more than pride of country in this; for the waters of Abana (Borodia), especially after the confluence of the stream from F^eh^ its most copiolis fountain, are remarkably fresh and sparkling, and at the present day proverbially salubrious, while those of the Jor- dan are mixed with day and tepid, though not unfit for drinking (Richter's WaUfahrUn^ p. 157; Bob. Phy*. Geog, p. 165). H.
AB^ARIM (SO Milton accents the word), the ** mount,** or ** mountains of " (always with the def.
aitide, D'^l^Sn -^n, or "^nn, rlUpotrVK^
mplfi^ [etc] or ^y ry ir4pay rod *Iop9lUov, = the wHnaUmns of tiie further parts^ or possibly of the ford$), a mountain or range of highlands on the east of the Jordan, in the land of Moab (Deut. xxxii. 49), fodng Jericho, and forming the eastern wall of the Jonlan valley at that part Its most ele- nited spot was " the Mount Nebo, < head * of * the * Eisgah,** from which Moses viewed the Prom- ised Land before his death. There is nothing to prove that the Abarim were a range or tract of any length, unless the Qe-Abarim (« heaps of A.**) named in Num. xxxiii. 44, and which were on the south frontier of Moab, are to be taken as belong- l^ to them. But it must be remembered that a word derived from the same root as Abarim, namdy,
"^^17, is the term commonly applied to the whole af the country on the east of the Jordan.
These mountains are mentioned in Num. xxvii. 12, xxxiiL 47, 48, and Dent, xxxii. 49; also prob- ifaij m Jer. ndL SO, where the word is renderod in the A. y. »« paMagea."
In the absence of research on the east of the *orrlan and of the Dead Sea, the topography of
ABDIEL
8
those regions must remain to a great degree •b- 8cure.« G.
*ABBA. The Oialdee or Aramaic appends the article instead of prefixing, it as in H^rew; and
hence when Abba (S!3S) occurs the exact 4 rar^f) foUows for the sake of Greek readers. See Wmer's £inst. ad Gtdat. p. 96. Abba, as the vemacular term (a vox mltnnis from childhood), was of course more expressive than any foreign word could be, and came, as it were, first to the lips as the writer or speaker thought of God in the filial relation, which the word designated with such fullness of meaning. See Usteri's Com. iiber d. Brief an die GaiaL p. 148. Tholuck (on Rom. viii. 15) reminds us that Lutlier preferred to translate xar^p Uebei- Vater rather than Vater merely, as the more nat- ural dictate of his childlike feeling toward God. Some others think that Abba passed over from the Arameean Christians to the GreekHspeaking Chris- tians as a sort of proper name, and had merely that force as combined with 6 varfip. To main- tain this view, Meyer has to say (on Gal. iv. 6) that in Mark xiv. 36 the Evangelist puts ^ Abba ** into the mouth of Jesus as he prayed in the garden in anticipation of a usage which began to exist at a later period. H.
ABDA (S^3? [iervarU, a Chaldoe form]:
AW«6v ; fV'at. E^f^pa', Alex. Afi9w; Comp. *Afi- id:] Abda), 1. Father of Adoniram (1 K. iv. 6.) 2. [*Ic0i9^^; Comp.*A^8/as.] SonofShammua (Neh. xi. 17), called Obadiah in 1 Chr. ix. 16.
AB^DEEL (bS^:;? : [om. Aid. Rom. Alex. FA.; Comp. *A/38e^x':] Abdeel), fother of Shele- miah (Jer. xxxvi. 26). [A. V. ed. 1611 reads A\*- dtel.]
AB'DI C*^^? [my servant]: »A/Bat; {yat- A/Mcit] Alex. A/Mi: Abdi). L A Merarite [Mk- RARi], and ancestor of Ethan the singer (1 Chr. vi. 44).
2. CAfiiL ) The fi^er of Kish, a Merarite 1^ rite in the reign of Hezekiah (2 Chr. xxix. 12). Fnnn a comparison of this passage with 1 Chr. vi. 44 it would appear either that ancestral names were repeated in Levitical fomilies, or that they be- came themselves the names of fiimilies, and not of individuals.
3. CA/35fa ; FA. A/Wfia.) One of the Bene- Elam [sons of Elsm] in the time of Ezra, who had married a foreign wife (Ezr. x. 26). W. A. W.
ABDFAS (Abdiat). The prophet Obadiah (2 Esdr. I 39). W. A. W.
ABDIEL (bS^'^T^? [tervatUofCod]: *A0 Ji^X; [Vat. A^JeijXrJ Abdul), son of Guni (1 Chr. v. 16).
* The casual notice here is all that is known to us of this Abdid from the Bible. The celebrity which the name has acquired arises chiefly bom Milton's use of it as applied to that only on< lunong the hosts of Satan, of whom he could say : —
(t Among th« fUthless, fldthfU only he; "
a • For a concise statement of the somewhat per* plexed relation of Abarim, Nebo, and Pisgah to each other, the reader may consult Dr. Bobinson's Pkysictu Geographif of Paiettinty p. 62. Korts ( GevA. des A. B.) has a section (U. § 88) on the " tiebirge Abarim.'' See also Raomer's Palastina, and Kitter's Erdktmdt oo Abarim. Additional information, Uie rwult of latei discoveries, will be fpuud under Nno. If.
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4 ABDON
aod whom (referring to the etymology) he rcpre- ■eiitfl as receiving the lofty praise — «< Servant of God, weU done ; well hast thou fought.*' The name corresponds to the Arabic Abdallah. See Wilkinson^s Personal Namts in tke Bible (London, 1865), p. 297. H.
AB'DON {)^'^2V [BerviU]: *A$i<&y; [in Judg., Alex. Aai38«ji, Aoj88«y:j Abdon). 1. A judge of Israel (Judg. xii. 13, 15), perh^ the Bame person as Sedan in 1 Sam. xii. 11.
2. [Vat AfiaScov.] Son of Shashak (1 Chr. viii. 23).
3. First-bom son of Jehid, son of Gibeon [rath- er, father of Gibeon, t. c. the city or people of Gibeon] (I Chr. viii. 30, ix. 35, 36).
4. [A/85<Jtt; Vat. A^ZoZofA. ; Alex. AjBSwv.] Son of Mican, a contemporary of Josiah (2 Chi*. xxxiv. 20), called Achbor in 2 Kings xxii. 12.
ABDON O'^'^^y [servile]: •A^««6v, Ao^- ^c6y, *Va&<iB\ a city in the tribe of Asher, given to the Gershonites (Josh. xxi. 30; 1 Chr. vi. 74). No place of this name appears in the list of the towns of Asher (Josh. xix. 24-31); but instead we
find (28) T*?^, " Hebron," « which is the same
word, with the change frequent in Hebrew of *^
fOT 1. Indeed many MSS. have Abdon in Josh, xix. 28 (Ges. p. 980; Winer, s. t?.); but, on the other hand, aU the ancient versions retain the K, except the Vatican LXX. which has *ZKfi(S>v (Alex. *Axp^ [^d >o C)omp.; 17 MSS. have^/Spwy]).
ABED'NEGO CUri^y : »A/85€vo7<fi: Ab- denago\ i. e. seruMfd of iVe^,*' perhaps the same as A^e6o, which was the Chaldaean name of the planet Mercury, worshipped as the scribe and inteipreter of the gods ((x^en.). Abedn^go was the Chal- dtean name given to Azariah, one of the three friends of Daniel, miraculously saved from the ' burning fiery furnace (Dan. iii.). [Azariah, No. 24.] R. W. B.
A'^EL P5W= meadow.c accordmg to Ge- senius, who derives it from a root signifying mois- ture like that of graas: see, however, in favor of a different meaning \lamentation\^ the arguments of Lengerke, Kcnaan, i. 358, and Hengstenberg, Pent. ii. 319) ; the name of several phices in Palestine : —
1. A'bel-beth-ma'aciiah (HDytt *^^-P ^ [house of oppression: 2 S. *A$^\ md BtBfiaxd or ^epfiax^ (Alex. Br)0naxa) '• Abtla et Bethmaacha :
1 K. ^ *Ai3«A oIkov Maaxd- Abtldomus Maacha:
2 K. ^ *Aj3eA Ka\ ri eofiaaxdi Alex, n Ka^cX* BtpfjLoaxa- Abel domus Af.])y a town of some im- portance MKis Koi fvnTp6iroKiSy " a city and a mo- ther in Israel," 2 Sam. xx. 19), in the extreme north of Palestine; named with Dan, Cinneroth, Kedesh; and as such fUliiig an early prey to the invading
ABEL
kings of Syria (1 K. xv. 20) and Assjtia (2 K. r?. 29). In the parallel passage, 2 Chr. xvi. 4, the uams
is changed to Abel Maim, U^J2 S = Abel on the vxUers. Here Sheba was overtaken and beaneged by Joab (2 Sam. xx. 14, 15); and the city was saved by the exercise on the part of one of its in- habitants of that sagacity for which it was proverb- ial (18). In verses 14 and 18 it is simply AbeL and in 14 Abel is apparently distinguished from Ueth^naachah.*' If the derivation of Gesenius be the correct one, the situation of Abel was probably in the Atxi eUHuUhy the marshy meadow country which drains into the Sea of Merom, whetlicr at AbU (Robinson, iii. 372), or more to the south (Stanley, S. and P. p. 390, note). Eusebius and Jerome place it between Puieas and Damascus; but this has not been identified.
2. A'BELr-MA'iM (D^P b5^J : *A/3cX/M^ . Abelmaim), 2 Chi*, xvi. 4. [Abel, 1.]
3. A'BEiy-MizitA'iM (Mitoaim), D^H^D S, ac- cording to the etymology of the text, the mourning of Kyypty ir4yeos Alyvirrov [Planctus jEy^pti]^ (this meaning, however, requires a dififerent point- ing, ^5^ for "^5^) ' t^« 'W"''^ &^^ ^7 ^^ Ca- naanites to the floor of Atad, at which Joseph, hia brothers, and the Egyptians made their mourning
for Jacob (Gen. 1. 11). It was beyond ("^5.? = on the east of ) Jordan, though placed by Jerome at lieth-Hogla (now Ain-IIajla)^ near the river, on its west bank.« [Atad.]
4. A'bel-shit'tim (with the article ^5^ 3>^t^n: [B«\<ro ; Alex. B(K<ramfi ; Comp. *Afi(\<raTlfi : AbeUatim])y the meadow of the acadaSy in the " plains " (nD^^^ = the deserts) of Moab; on the low level of the Jordan valley, as contradistinguished from the cultivated '* fields " on the upper le^el of the table-land. Here — their last resting-place before crossing the Jordan — Is- rael " pitched from Betl^esimoth unto A. Shittim," Niun. xxxiii. 49. The place is most frequently mentioned by its shorter name of Shittim. [Suit- TIM.] In the days of Josephus it vas still known as Abila, — the town embosomed in pahns,^ (2hro» vvv it6\ii IffrXv 'A/3iX^, (f>otviK6<l>vroy 8* iarl rh Xfcfiov, Ant iv. 8, § 1), 60 stadia from the river (v. 1,^1). The town and the palms have disappeared ; but the acacia-grox-es, denoted by the name Shit- Um, still remain, ** marking with a line of verdure
o The Ain is here rendered by II. The 11 in the well-known Hebron represents Ch. Elsewhere (as Gasa, Qomorrah) Ain Is rendered by 0 in the Author- bed Version.
& * A *( dragon^' was worshipped with Bel at Baby- lon, and IHetrich (Oos. Heb. Handwb. 1868) thinks well of Rodiger's comparison of Nego with the Sanskr. nagay "serpent." U.
c It is in fiivor of Gesenius^ interpretation that the Chaldee Targum always renders Abel by MishoTy which In later Hebrew lost its special significance, and*waa OMd ftr a level spot or plain geneiully.
(f * It is certain from 2 Sam. xx. 14, that they wert different, and no doubt the fUller name signified Abel near Beth-Maachah (Uengstenberg, Pent. Ii. 819; Robinson, iii. 872). See Ges. Heb. Gr. § 116, 6 a, for this mode of expressing local proximify. See Thomson^s Land and Booky i. 827, for a description of Abel. II.
e • The Biblical text knows nothing of any connec- tion between Abel-Mlxralm and Beth-IIogla. Whether " beyond the Jordan '* denotes the east or the west side, depends on the position of the speaker, like our Trans-etlantic, whether used on one side of the water or the other. Against the supposition of Kitto and others, that Joseph's frmeral escort, with the body of Jacob, travelled through the Great DesSrt, by the way of the Dead Sea and Moab, in going to Canaan, Instead of the direct course through PliUistia, see Thomscm*! Land and Booky ii. 885. H.
/ It was amongst these palms, according to Jose- phus, that Deuteronomy was delivered by Moses. 8eo the passage above dted.
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ABEL
the upper terraces of the Jordan valley ** (Stanley, fl. and P. p. 298).
5. A'BEii-MKiio'LAU (Mecftolah, H^inp ►?, wuadow of ike dance: ['A0i\fitov\d; Alex. Ba- 0'<A/tc»uAa: Abelmehtda\\ named with Beth-ehean (Scytbopolis) and Jokneam (1 K. iv. 12), and therefore in the northern part of the Jordan valley (Eus. iy T^ tmXApi)' The routed Bedouin host fled from Gideon (Jodg. vii. 22) to ** the border (the <Iip' or * brink*) of Abel-meholah/* and to Beth- ifasttah (the ^houae of the acacia*'), both places being evidently down in the Jordan valley. Here Eliaha was found at his pk>ugh by £l\jah returning op the valley from Horeb (1 K. xix. 16-19). In Jerome's time the name had dwindled to *A/8eA/i/a.
6. A'beu-ckra^mui (Q'*97? ^' pE^fXxop- /ti^; Alex. A^cX a^TtXmrwr: Abtl qtuB est vineu consUa] ), in the A V. rendered " the plain [marff, *Abel*] of the vineyards," a place eastward of Jordan, beyond Aroer; named as the point to irtueh Jephthah^s pomiit of the Bene-Ammon [sons of A.] extended (Judg. xL 33). A ic^ri ifjort- Xo^ipos ''A/9cX is mentioned by Eusebius at 6 (Je- rome, 7) miles beyond Philadelphia (Kabbah); and another, oiito^oos ica\ov/Uyif, more to the north, 12 milM east oom Gadara. below the Hieromax. Rnina h«>""g the name <tf Abila are still found in the same position (Kitter, Syria, 1058). There were at least three places with the name of Aroer GO the further side of the Jordan. [Arokr.]
7. "The GREAT »Abel' [marg. «or stone,'] in the field of Joshua the Bethshemito '* (1 Sam. vi 18). By comparison with 14 and 15, it would
seem that 2 has been here exchanged for ^, and
that for b^S should be read ] OS = stone. So the LXX. and the Chaldee Targum. Our trans- lators, by the insertion of *^ stone of^" take a middle soune. See, however, Lengerke (358) and Uerx- heimer (1 Sam. vL 18), who hold by Abel as being the name subsequently given to the spot in refer-
enee to the" mourning** ("^b^yO^.) there, ver. 19. In this case compare Gen. 1. 11. G.
A'BEL, in Hebr. HEBEL (b^rr : "AfitK: AM; L e. breatk, vapoty tranntorintu, probably so called from the shortness of his lifo),^' the second son of Adam, murdered by his brother Cain (Geu. iv. 1-16). Jehovah showed reelect for Abel's ofler^ faig, but not for that <d Cain, because, according to the Epistle to the Hdirews (xi. 4), Abel ^> by Uth offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain." Hie expression " sin," i. e. a sin-ofllbring, *« lieth at the door " (Gen. iv. 7), seems to imply that the need of sacrifices of Uood to obtain forgiveness was shtMly revealed. On account of Abel's fidth, St. A^ig^^rtii^ makes Abel the type of the new regeo- «aito man; Cain that of the natural man (de Civ. X>a, XV. 1). St. Chrysostom observes that Abel sfiied the frej< of his flock — Cain that which was most leadHy procured {Hem. in Gen^ xviii. 5). lesns Christ spoke of him as the first martyr (MatL xxiii. 35); so did the eariy church subse- ifaeaOj. For Christian traditions see Iren. v. 67 ; Ghrysost. Horn, in Gen. xix.; Cedren. Httt. 8. for those of the Babbins and Mohammedans, Eisen-
tt *0r, It may be from tlM mother^s Impression of ttke brevity and frailty of human life, which she had nam began to imdeTBtMid ; and In that cone the child aoold haw beea so named at his birta. H.
ABIASAPH 5
menger, EntdtckL Jud. i. 462, 832; Hottinger, HUt. Or. 24 ; Erach & Gruber, Encyklop. t. v. ; and the Kur-dn Y. The place of liis murder and liia grave are pointed out near Damascus (Pococke, b. ii. 168); and the neighboring peasants tell a curi- ous tradition respecting his birial (Stanley, S. and P. p. 413).
llie Oriental Gnosticism of the Sabseans made Abel an incarnate J£on, and the Gnostic or Mani- cbaean sect of tlie Abdita? in North Africa in the time of Augustine {de Hares. 86, 87), so called themselves from a tradition that Abel, though married, lived in continence. In order to avoid perpetuating original sin, they followed his example, but in order to ke^ up their sect, each married pair adopted a male and female child, who in their turn vowed to marry under the same conditions.
R. W.B.
A'BEZ (V3ft in pause V?W : 'Pc^/i; [Aid. Alex. *A€fi4; Comp. Ac^^fO Abe8% a town in the possession of L^achar, named between Ejshion and Remeth, in Josh. xix. 20, only. Gesenius mentions as a possible derivation of the name, that
the Chaldee for tin is H!^^ : [but Fiirst thinks it may be from ^I^SI, and hence height] Pos- sibly, however, the word is a corruption of V^H. Thebez [which see], now TUbdi, a town situated not &r from Engannim and Shunem, (both towns of Issachar), and which otherwise has entirely es- caped mention in the list in Joshua.'* G.
A3I O^S [/oMcr = progenitor] : *'Ai8oi;; [Aid. 'AjSouii; Comp. *Afii]: Aln), mother of king Hezeldah (2 K. xviii. 2). The name is writ- ten Abyah (n*58) in 2 Chr. xxix. 1. Her fifc. tber's name was I^echariah, who was, perhaps, tlu Zochaiiah mentioned by Isaiah (viii. 2). R W. B.
ABFA, ABFAH, or ABFJAH (nj5S=
^njn>? [whose father is Jehovah] : *Afini ; p^ 1 Chr. vii. 8, Rom. *Ai3io^, Alex. AiSiov; Comp. Aid. *A$id:] Abia). 1. Son of Becher, the son of Bei\jamin (1 Chr. vii. 8).
2. Wife of Hezron (1 Chr. ii. 24).
3. Second son of Samuel, whom, together with his eldest son Joel, he made judges in Beerdieba (1 Sam. viii. 2; 1 Chr. vi. 28). The corruptness of their administration was the reason alleged by the Isradites for their demanding a king.
4. Mother of king Hesekiah. [Abi.]
R.W.B.
5. (n*?^? : »A/Bt<£: Abia, [Abias.]) Abu ah of Abu AM, the son of Rehoboam (1 Chr. iii. 10; Matt. i. 7).
6. DescendantofEleazar, and chief of the eighth of the twenty-four courses of priests (Luke i. 5). He is the same as Abuah 4. W. A. W.
For other persons of this name see Abuah.
ABI-AL'BON. [Abiei-]
ABI'ASAPH, otherwise written EBFA- SAPH (n9W^?W, Ex. vi. 24, and nO^^W, 1 Chr. vi. 8, ^'[(ifeb.), 23, 37 (E. V.)]^".* 19: *Afii(laap, *Afii<rd<l>, *A$id<ratp: Abiainph; ao- cording to Simonis, " cujw pair em abstuUt Dtiis,'"
h •Mr. Porter (Handbook, U. 647) puts Abes In hli list of Scripture places not yet Identifled. Knobol and Keil also regard the name as now lost H
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
6
ABIATHAR
with reference to the death of Korah, aa related in Num. x?i. ; but according to Fiint and Geaeuius, faJQitr of gathering^ i. e. the gatherer ; compare
>1DK, Asaph, 1 Chr. vi. 39). He waa the head of one of the fiunilies of the Koriiites (a house of the Kijhatbites), but his precise genealogy is some- what uncertain. In £x. vi. 24, he appears at first sight to be r^resented as one of the sons of Korah, and as the brother of Assir and Elkanah. But in 1 Chr. vi. he appears as the son of Elkanah, the son of Assir, the son of Korah. The natural Loference from this would be that in Ex. vi. 24 the expres- sion '* the sons of Korah " merely means the &m- ilies into which the house of the Korhites was sub- divided. But if so, the verse in Exodus must be a later insertion than the time of Moses, as in Moses* lifetime the great-grandson of Korah could not have been the head of a fiunily. And it is re- markable that the verse is quite out of its place, and appears improperly to s^arate ver. 35 and ver. 23, which both relate to the house of Aaron. If, however, this inference is not correct, then the Ebi- asaph of 1 Chr. vi. is a different person from the Abiasaph of Ex. vi., namely, his great^ephew. But this does not seem probable. It appears from 1 Chr. ix. 19, that that branch of the descendants of Abiasaph of which Shallum was chief were por- ters, " keepers of the gates of the tabemade *' ; and from ver. 81 that Mattithiah, *< the first-bom of Shallum the Korahite, had the set office over the things that were made in the pans,*' apparently in the time of David. From Ndi. xii. 25 we learn that Abiasaph's family was not extinct in the days of Nehemiah; for the fiunily of Meshullam (which is the same as Shallimi), with Talmon and Akkub, still iUled the office of porters, " keeping the ward at the threshold of the gate.*' 'Other remarkable descendants of Abiasaph, according to the text of 1 Chr. vi. 83-37, were Samuel the prophet and FJkanah his fiither (1 Sam. i. 1), and Heman the singer; but Ebiasaph seems to be improperly in- serted in ver. ST.o The possessions of those Ko- hathites who were not descended from Aaron, con- sisting of ten cities, lay in the tribe of Ephraim, the half-tribe of Manasseh, and the tribe of Dan (Josh. xxi. 20-26; 1 Chr. vi. 61). The femily of Elkanah the Kohathite resided in Mount Ephraim (1 Sam. i. 1). A. C. H.
ABFATHAK Ori;?^: 'A$ui0ap : Abi- athar ; but the version of Santes Pagninus has EH- athary according to the Hebrew points. In Mark ii. 26, it is *Afii(i0ap, Acccwding to SinKHiis, the name means **(ctuus) pater superUes mansU^ mortu& scil. matre; " but according to Fiirst and Gese- niuSj father of excelUnce^ or abundance). Abia- thar 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 Edomite (see title to Ps. Hi., and the psalm itself), in revenge for his having inquired of the Lord for David, and given him the shew-bread to eat, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine, as is related in 1 Sam. rdi We are there told that when Do^ slew in Nob ou ihat day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod, " one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Abitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David; *' and it is
a See The OtrutUogies of our Lord and Saviour lesu* Christ J by Lord Arthur Hovej, p. 210, and p. 114, note.
ABIATHAK
added in xxiiL 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, Ac.). The &ct of David ha%ing been the unwilling cause of the death of all Abiathar's kindred, coupled with his gratitude to his fiither Ahimelech for his kind- ness to him, made him a firm and steadficist 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 H^ron (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 Jerusalem (1 Chr. xv. 11 ; 1 K. ii. 26); he continued faithful to him in Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. xv. 24, 29, 85, 86, xvii. 15-17, xix. 11); and ** was afflicted in aU wherein David was afflicted." He was also one of David's chief counsellors (1 Chr. xxvii. 34). When, however, Adonyah set himself up for David's successor on the throne in opposition to Sok>mon, Abiathar, either persuaded by Joab, or in rivah^ to Zadok, or under some influence which cannot now be dis- covered, 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 vil- lage, Anathoth, in the tribe of Bei^amin (Josh. xxi. 18), and narrowly escaped with his life, which was spared by Solomon only on the strength of his long and faithful service to David his father. He was no longer permitted to perform the factions or ei\joy the prerogatives of the higfa-priesthood. For we are distinctly tokl 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, 85). So that it is difficult to understand the assertion in 1 K. iv. 4, that in Solomon's reign ** Zadok and Abiathar were the priests; " and still more difficult in connection witb ver. 2, which tells us that "Azariah the son of Zadok " was *< the priest: " a declaration confirmed by 1 Chr. vi. 10. It is probable that Abiathar did not long survive David. He is not m^itioned again, and he must have been far advanced in years at Solomon's accession to the throne.
There are one or two other difficulties connected with Abiathar, to which a brief refoence must be made before we conclude this article. (1.) In 2 Sam. viii. 17, and in the duplicate passage 1 Chr. xviii. 16, and in 1 Chr. xxiv. 3, 6, 81, we have Ahimelech substituted for Abiathar, and Ahimdtch the ton of Abiathar^ instead of Abiathar the ton of Ahimekch. 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 Ahim- elech, and that Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub. llie difficulty is increased by finding Abiathar spoken of as the high-priest in whose time David ate the shew-bread, in Mark ii. 26. (See Alford, ad loc,) However, the evidence in finvor of David's friend being Abiaihar the ton of Ahimelech pre- pondefates so strongly, and the impossibility of any rational reconciliation is so clear, tLat one can only suppose, with Procopius of Gaza, that the error was a clerical one originally, and was propagated from one passage to another.* The mention of AbL nihnr by our Ijord, in Mark ii. 26, might perhnps he accounted for, if Abiathar was the person who
6 • See addiUon, infra.
Digitized by V^OOQ IC
ABIATHAK
ywwided his fiither to allow David to have the fanad, and if^ as is probable, the loaves were Abi- atliar*8 (Lev. zxiv. 9), aod given bj him with his own hand to David. It maj also be remarked that oar Lofd doubtless spoke of Abiathar as
7n3rT, ** the priest,*' the designation ^)plied to
Ahimekffh throughout 1 Sam. xxL, and equally apptteabfe to Abiathar. The expression ipx^t- f!fis is the Greek transition of our Lord's words.
(2.) Another diflSculty conoeming Abiathar is to determine his position relatively to Zadok, and to aeeount for the double high-priesthood, and for the advanoement of the line of Ithamar over that of Flf tar A theory has been invented that Abia- thar was David's, and Zadok Saul's high-priest, hot it seems to rest on no solid ground. The hcU of the case are these: — Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, was hif^-priest in the reign of Saul. On his death his ton Abiathar became high-priest. The first men- tion of Zadok b in 1 Chr. xii. 28, where he is de- scribed as " a young man mighty of valor," and is said to have joined David while he reigned in Hctooo, in company with Jehoiada, ** the leader of the Aanmites." From this time we read, both in the books of Samuel and Chronicles, of ** Zadok and Abiathar the priests," Zadok being always named irrt. And yet we are told that Solomon on his aeceaslon put Zadok in the room of Abiathar. Per- haps 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 Efeacar (of which Zadok was head), which en- abled it to fturnish 16 out of the 24 courses (1 Chr. xziv.), Zadok acqufaned considerable influence with David ; and that this, added to his being the heir of the ekier line, and perhaps also to some of the paawigrii being written after the line of Zadok were fwta^lHihH in the high-priesthood, led to the pre- cedence given him over Abiathar. We have al- ready suggested the possibility of jealousy of Zadok being one of the motives which inclined Abiathar to join Adon^ah's fiiction. It is most remarkable hM, first, S^*s cruel slaughter of the priests at Nob, and then the political error of the wise Abi- athar, led to the AilfiUment of Crod's denunciation sgahist 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 Lonl, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spake concembig the house of Eli in Shik>h." See also Joseph. AnL viii. 1, §§ 3, 4.
A. C. H.
* Some adhere to the text, without resorting to the soppositMm of a clerical error. It is deemed posBble that Ahimelech and Abiathar were heredi- tsry names in the fiunily, and hence, that the 6lher and the son could have borne these names ivpectively. It would thus be accounted for that Abiathar is called the son of Ahimelech in 1 Sam. zxiL 20, »ud that Ahimeleeh is called the son of Abiathar in 2 Sam. viii. 17. The same person eoDsequefitly could be meant m Mark ii. 26, whether the one name was applied to him or the other; and the reason why the fiither is mentioned by his name Abiathar, and not that of Ahimelech may be that the former had become, historically, more familiar k oooseqoence of the subsequent friendship be- tween Abiathar. the son, and David. Another explanation is, that Abiathar was for some mu tunm reason acting as the fother's vicar at the
ABIEZEB 7
time of this transaction with David, and that the citation in' Mark follows a tradition of that &ci^ not transmitted in the O. T. history. We havi other instances of a similar recognition of events or opinions not recorded in the O. T., to which the N^. T. writers refer as apparently well known among the Jews; such as e. </. Abraham's first coll in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts vii. 3, compared with Gen. xii. 1); the tomb of the patrian:h8 at Sychem, (Acts vii. 16); the giving of the law by the agency of angels ((jfal. iii. 19, Heb. ii. 2), and others. Lange's note on Mark 11. 26 {Bibdwerk^ 11. 28), deserves to be read. For some very just and thoughtfid remarks on the proper mode of dealing with such apparent contradictions of Scripture, see CommtrUary on Mark (p. 53), by Dr. J. A. Alex- ander. * H A'BIB. [Months.]
ABIDAH and ABia)A« (^J'*?^ [falher of knowledge, 1. e. toue]: 'AfitOd, [*Afiitd; Alex. Afiipa, A&t9ai] Abida), a son of 3Ildian [and grandson of Abraham through his wife or concubine Keturah] (Gen. xxv. 4; 1 Chr. L 33).
E.S. P.
AB1DAN 07''?S [father of the judge, Ges. ; or Ab, i. e. Ciod, is judge, FUrst] : *A^<3^t [Alex, twice AfitiZaif:] Abidan), chief of Uie tribe of Beigamln at the time of the Exodus (Num. i. 11, U. 22, vii. 60, 65, x. 24).
A3IEL [as a Ghristian name in English com- monly pronounced Abi'd] ( vS'^DM [father of strength, i. e. ttrongy. *A/3i^X: Alnel). 1. ITie father of Kish, and consequently grandfather of Saul (1 Sam. Ix. 1), as well as of Abner, Soul's commander-in-chief (1 Sam. xiv. 51). In the gen- ealogy in 1 Chr. viii. 33, ix. 39, Ner is made the £eaher of Kish, and the name of Abiel is omitted, but the correct genealogy according to Samuel is : — Aboel.
I
Kish
Ntti
Saul Aimer
2. One of David's 30 " mighty men " (1 Chr. xi. 32); called in 2 Sam. xxlii. 31, Abi-«lbon, a name which has the some meaning R. W. B.
ABIE'ZER njS '':^ father of help: »A/5i- 4itp, 'lefJ, [Alex, in Josli., Axtcfcp: AbUzer,^ dotmts Abiezer). 1. Eldest son of Gllead, and de- scendant 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 bi
the contracted finm of "U^^M» J^^^)' In the genealogies of Chronicles, Abiezer is, in the present state of the text, said to have sprung from the sister of GUead (1 Chr. vii. 18). OriginaUy, there- fore, the fiunily was with the rest of the house of Gilead on the east of Jordan; but when first met with in the history, some port at least of it had crossed the Jordan and established itself at Ophrah, a place which, though not yet identified, must have peea on the hills which overtook fipom the south the wide phdn of Esdraelon, the field of so many of the battles of Palestine (Stanley, pp. 246-7; Judg. vi. 34). Here, when the fortunes of his fimiily
a • A. T., ed. 1611, aod hi other early wUttons, readi Abida in both ]
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
8 ABIEZBITE
were at the loweBt — *^ my < thousand ' is * the poor one' in Manasaeh" (vi. 15) — was born the great Judge Gideon, destined to raise his own house to al- most royal dignity (Stanley, p. 229) and to achieve for his country one of the most signal deliver- ances recorded in their whole history. [Gidkom ; Ophrah.] The name occurs, in addition to the passages above quoted, in Judg. vi. 34, viii. 2.
2. One of David's " mighty men*' (2 Sam. xxiii. 27; 1 Chr. xi. 28, xxvu. 12). G.
ABIEZ'RITE 0"?T5n "^gS [the father of
help] : xQx^p rov *Z<r9pl in Judg. vi. ; *A$l *E<r9pi in Judg. viu.; Alex, varrip A^ic^i, v. rou UQn, w. A/3<c^€<: paUr famUuB Ezn^ famiUa Ezn). [Joash, the &ther of Gibeon, is so termed], a de- scendant of Abiezer, or Jeezer, the son of Gilead (Judg. vi. 11, 24, viii. 32), and thence also called Jeezerite (Num. xxvi. 30). The Peshito-Syriac and Targum both regard the first part of the word «( Abi " as an appellative, ** father of," as also the LXX. and Vulgate. W. A. W.
• " Abiemtes " (A. V.) in Judg. vi. 24, and viii. 82, stands for the coUective ** Abiezrite," which does not occur as plural in the Hebrew. H.
ABIGAIL [3 syl., Heb. Abiga'U], (V^py,
or /J^PS [/(Uher of exuUation^ or, v>ho$e father refoices]: '*A$iy€da: Abigail). 1. The beautiful wife of Nabal, a wealthy owner of goats and sheep in 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 appeasing 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, in 1 Chr. iii. 1. For Daniel The-
nins proposes to read ?^J/^) suggested to him by the IJCX. AaXovia (Then. Kxeg. Handb. ad loc.).
2. A sister of Dand, married to Jether the Jsh- maeiiUj and mother, by him, of Amasa (1 Chr. ii. 17). In 2 Sam. xvii. 25. she is described as the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeniiah, Joab's mother, and as marrying Ithra (another form of Jether) an IsraeUle.
The statement in Samuel that the mother of Amasa <* was an hraeliU is doubtless a transcrib- er's error. There could be no reason for recording this circumstance; but the circumstance of David's sister manning a heathen Ishmaelite deserved men- tion (Theoius, Exeg. Handb, Sam. 1. c).
R. W. B.
ABIHA1L (Vn>?b^ [father of might, I e.
ntighif/]: 'AjBfxo^A: [Abihail; in Num.,] Abi- haUl). 1. FfUher of Zuriel, chief of the Levitical fiimily of Merari, a contemporary of Moses (Num. ill. 3d).
2. Wife of Abishur (1 Chr. il. 29).
3. [*Aj8<Wo; Ald.»A^tyo^X; Comp. *A/3i^A.] Son of Hun; of the tribe of Gad (1 Chr. v. 14).
4. Wife of Rehoboam (2 Chr. xi. 18). She is called ihe daughter, ». e. a descendant, of Eliab, the elder brother of David.
6. [*Afuyai<ifi; Comp. *A$txat\.] Father of Esther and uncle of Mordecai (Esth. ii. 15, ix. 29).
o • "Mother" must be an iniulTertence here for ** &ther of Amasa." The correction Ishmadite for Is- raeUte is suggested in the margin in later editions of the A. V. H.
ABIJAH
The names of No. 2 and 4 are written in MSS. Vn'»2S QAfiixala, [AW. Alex. *A3iyaia Comp. A/5«^X,]* 1 Chr. iL 29; 'Afiiyala, ^Altau A$iata\, Comp. *A$txa^,] 2 Chr. xi. 18), which Gesenius conjectures to be a corruption of *^ZtH
7^n, but which Sim<mis derives from a root /VI, and interprets ^ BeUher of light, or splendor."
R. W:B.
ABI'HU (H!»n'»?y [He (i. e. God) i* faih^ er]:^ *Afiiov9i [Comp.* in Num. iii. and 1 Chr. xxiv. *Ai3<ot;:] Abiu), the second son (Num. iiL 2) of Aaron by Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23), who with his father and his elder brother Nadab and 70 eldera of Israel accompanied Moses to the summit of Sinai (Ex. xxiv. 1). Being together with Nadab guilty of offering strange fire (Lev. x. 1) to the Lord, t. e. not the holy fire which burnt continually upon the altar of burnt-offering (Lev. vi. 9, 12) ; they were both consumed by fire from heaven, and Aaron and his surviving sons were forbidden to mourn for them. [Occurs also Ex. xxiv. 9, xxviii. 1 ; Ntim. iii. 4, xxvi. 60, 61; 1 Chr. vi. 3, xxiv. 1, 2.]-
R. W. B.
ABI'HUD ("Wn'^DS \who$e father is Ju-
dah; or, is renown]: Aj3iot;8: Abiud)y son of Bela and grandson of Beqjamin (1 Chr. viii. 3).
ABFJAH or ABFJAM. 1. (n*?>?,
DJ?ft -nnjDS, wiU of Jehovah: 'AjBici, 'Ai8«kJ, LXX.; ^Afilas, Joseph.: Abiam, Abia), the son and successor of Rehoboam on the throne of Judah (1 K. xiv. 31; 2 Chr. xu. 16). He is called Abijah in Chronicles, Abijam in Kings; the latter name being probably an error in the MSS., since the LXX. have nothing corresponding to it, and their form, *A&io{ff seems taken frt>m Abijahtk, which occurs 2 Chr. xiii. 20, 21. Indeed Gesenius says that some MSS. read Abijah in 1 K. xiv. 31. The suppoution, therefore, of Lightfoot {Harm. 0. T. p. 209, Pitman's edition), tluit the writer in Kings, who takes a much worse view of Abgah'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 unnecessary. But it is not fanci- ful or absurd, for changes of the kind were not un- usual: for example, aflo* 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 Bethel, house of God, into Beth- aven, house of naught. (See Stanley, S. ^ P. p. 222.)
From the first book of Kings we learn that Abi- jah endeavored 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 at- tendant 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 Chron- icles his war against Jeroboam is more minutely described, aud he makes a speech to the men of Israel, reproaching them for breaking their allegi- ance to the house of David, for worshipping the
b *ln such combinationi, says Filrst (Handwb^ i. 819), S^n, he himsdf, refers to God, as ezprosiive of the utmost reverence, like Aw among the PersSaas, and avT^, UtlvxK, among the Greeks. U.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
ABIJAM
{dUoQ cBlrea, and substituting unauthorized priests for the sons of Aaron and Sie Levites. He was sucottsful in battle against Jeroboam, and took the cities of Bethd, Jeshanah, and Ephrain, with their dependent vilhiges. It is also said that his army consisted of 400,000 men, and Jeroboam^s of 800,- 000, of whom 500,000 fell in the action : but Ken- moott {The Hebrew Text of the Old Tesiameni Coimderedj p. 532) shows that our MSS. are fr&- qnentlj incorrect as to numbers, and gives reasons for reducing these to 40,000, 80,000, and 50,000, as we actually find in the Vulgate printed at Ven- ice in 148S, and in the old Latin version of Jose- phus; while there is perhi^ some reason to think that the smalls numbers were in his original Greek text also. Nothing is said bj the writer in Chron- icles of the sins oif Abijah, but we are told that after his victory he " waxed mighty, and married fourteen wives,'* whence we may weU infer that be was elated with prosperity, and like his grand£aither Solomon, fell, during the last two years of his life, into wickedness, as described in Kings. Both rec- ords inform us that he reigned three years. His mother was called either Alaachah or Michaiah, which are mere variations of the same name, and in some places (1 K. xv. 2; 2 Chr. xi. 20) she is ■aid to be the daughter of Absalom or Abishalom (again the same name); in one (2 Chr. xiii. 2) of Uriel of Gibeah. But it is so common for the
ipoid nSl, daughUTy to be used in the sense (tf
grtrnddamghter or defendant, that we need not iieaitaie to assume that Uriel married Absalom's dangfater, and that thus Maachah was daught^ of Urid and granddaughter of Absalom. Abyah therefore was descended from David, both on his fitther's and mother's side. According to Ewald's chronok^ the date of Ab^ah's accession was b. c. 968; Clinton places it m b. c. 959. The 18th year of Jeroboam coincides with the 1st and 2d of Abijah.
2. The second son of Samud, called Abiah in oar version ('AjSi^ LXX.). [Abia, Abiah, No. a.]
3. Hie son of Jeroboam I. king of Israel, in whom alone, of all the house of Jeroboam, was foond "some good thing toward the Lord God of Israd," and who was therefore the only one of his fomily who was sufiered 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 Ah^iah, who gave her the above answer. (1 K. xiv.)
4. A descendant of Eleazar, who gave his name to the eighth of the twoity-four courses into which the priests were divided by Darid (1 Chr. xxiv. 10; S Chr. viii. 14). To the course of Abyah or Abia, bdoQged Zaeharias the fother of John the Baptist (Lake i. 5).
5. A oontempocBry of Nehemiah (Neh. x. 7).
G. E. L. C.
*6. A priest who returned with Zerubbabd ftom Babyfon (Neh. xiL 4, 17). A.
ABrjAM. [Abuah, No. 1.]
AB^LA. [Abilene.]
ABILE'NE CAfii\7itrfi, Luke iiL 1), a tetrar- fhy of which Abita was the capital. This Abila sonst not be confounded with Abila in Persea, and other Syrian cities of the same name, but was sit- osted on the eastern slope of Antilibuius, in a dis- kiet fertilized by the river Barada. It is distinctly
ABILENE g
associated with Lebanon by Josephus {ArU. xviii. 6, § 10, xix. 5, § 1, XX. 7, § 1; B, J. U. 11, § 5). Its name probably arose fit>m the green luxuriance of its situation, '^Abel" perhaps den(HJng **a grassy meadow." [See p. 4, a.] The name thus derived is quite sufficient to account for the tradi- tions of the death of Abel, which are associated with the spot, and which are localized by the tomb called Nebi Habily on a height above the ruins of the city. The position of the dty is very dearly designated by the Itineraries as 18 miles from Da- mascus, and 38 (or 32) miks' from Hdiopolis or Baalboc {Jtln, Ant. and Tab. PeuL).
It is impossible to fix the limits of the Abilene which is mentioned by St. Luke as the tetrarchy of Lysanias. [Lysanias.] Like other districts of the East, it doubtless underwent many changes both of masters and of extent, before it wss finally absorbed in the prorince of Syria. Josephus asso- ciates this neighborhood with the name of Lysanias both before and after the time referred to by the evangelist. For the later notices see the passages just dted. We there find " Abila of Lysanias," and ^^the tetrarchy of Lysanias," distinctly men- tioned in the reigns of Claudius and CJaligula. We find also the phrase *AfilXa Aucauflov in Ptolemy (v. 15, ^22). The natural condusion 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 neighborhood {Ant. xiv. 3, § 3, xv. 4, § 1; B. J. 1, 13, § 1; also Dion C^ass. xlix. 32): and frt>m the dose connection of this man's &ther with Lebanon and Damascus {AnL xiu. 16, § 3, xiv. 7, § 4; B. J. i. 9, § 2) it is probable that Abilene was part of his territory, and that the Lysanias of St. Luke y/fx the son or grand- son of the former. Even if we assume (as many writers too readily assume) that the tetrarch men- tioned in the time of Claudius and Odigula is to be identified, not with the Lysanias of St. Luke but with the earlier Lysanias (never called tetrarch and never podtivdy connected with Abila) in the times of Antony and C^leopatra, there is no diffi- culty in believing that a prince bearing this name ruled over a tetrarchy having Abila for its capital, in the 15th year of Tiberius. (See Wiesder, Chro- nclogiscke Sifnapse der vier iLvangeUen, pp. 174- 183.)
The nte of the chief city of Abilene has been un- doubtedly 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 Wady Barada^ where the river breaks down through the mountain tovnuds the plain of Damascus. Among the remains the in- scriptions are most to our purpose. One contain- ing the words Avtrayiov Terpdpxov is dted by Po- cocke, but has not been seen by any subsequent traveller. Two Latin inscriptions on the fitce of a rock above a firagment of Roman rood (first noticed in the Quarterly Review for 1822, No. 52) were first published by Letronne {Journal des Savans^ 1827), and afterwards by Ordli {/nscr. Lot. 4997, 4998). One relates to some repairs of the road at the expense of the AbUeni ; the other assodates the 16th Legion with the place. (See Hogg m the Trans, of the Royal Geog. Soc. for 1851; Port<T, in the Journal of Sacred Literature for July, 1853, and especiaJly his Damascus, i. 261-273; and Robinson, Later Bib. Res. pp. 478-484.)
J. S. H.
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10
ABIMAEL
ABIM'AEL (^SV?S [/a^er of Mael]:
'A0tfia4\; [Alex. AfiifirnK'] Abimael), a descend- ant of Joktan (Gen. x. 28; 1 Chr. i. 22), and prob- ably [as the name implies] the progenitor of an Arab tribe. Bochart {Phaleg^ ii. 24) conjectures that his name is preserved in Uiat of M«Ui, a place in Arabia Aromatifera, mentioned by Theophrastus {Hi^ PlanL ix. 4), and thinks that the Malitee are the same as Ptolemy^s Manitse (vi. 7, p. 154), and that they were a people of the Minseans (for whom see Arabia )i The name in Arabic would
probably be written JljLo y^\. £. S. P.
ABIM^LEGH [ Hebrew Abimelech ]
(TI^^'^DS , father of the Idng^ or father-king :
'A^ifi^Acx * Abimekck)j the name of several Phil- istine kings. It is supposed by many to have been a conmion title of their kings, like that of Pharaoh among the Egyptians, and that of Csesar and Au- gustus among the Romans. The name Father of Uie 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 Buchana (Gesen. Thes,). An argument to the same effect is drawn from the title of Ps. xxxiv., in which the name of Abimelech is given to the king, who is called Achish in 1 Sam. xxi. 11 ; but perhaps we ought not to attribute much his- torical value to the inscription of the Psalm.
1. A Philistine, king of Gerar (Cren. xx., xxi.), 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. A similar account is given of Abraham's conduct on this oc- casion, to that of his behavior tovrards Pharaoh [Abraham].
2. Another king of Gerar in the time of Isaac, of whom a similar narrative is recorded in rdation to Kebekah (Gen. xxvi. 1, seq.).
3. Son of the judge Gideon by his Shechemite concubine (Judg. viii. 31). After his &ther's death he murdered all his brethren, 70 in number, with the exception of Jotham, the youngest, who con- cealed himself; and he then po^uaded the She- chemites, through the influra<% of his mother's brethren, to elect him king. It is evident from this narrative that Shechem now became an inde- pendent state, and threw off the yoke of the con- quering Israelites (Ewald, Gesch. ii. 444). When Jotham heard that Abimelech 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), whidi may be compared with the well- known £Eible of Menenius Agrippa (Liv. ii. 32). After he had reigned three years, the citizens of Shechem rebdled. He vras absent at the time, but he returned and quelled the insurrection. Shortly after he stormed and took Thebez, but was struck on the head by a woman with the fragment of a mill-stone o (comp. 2 Sam. xi. 21); and lest he
ABISEI
should be said to have died by a woman, he bid hk annor-bearer slay him. Thus Giod avenged the mvadet of his brethren, and fulfilled the curae of Jotham.
4. [*Ax«fi<A.«X? ^-^^ Ax«*M*^*X' ^^^- AjSti*- ^A^x^ Achimtkch.] Son of Abiathar the bign- priest in the time of David (1 Chr. xviii. 16), called Abimelech in 2 Sam. viii. 17. [AinMb- LECH.] R. W. B.
* The reading Abimelech in 1 Chr. is supported by about 12 MSS., and by the principal ancient versions, including the Syriac and Chaldee as well as the Sept. and Vulgate. See De Kossi, Var. Led. iv. 182. A.
•5. Ps. xxxiv. title. [Ahimklech 2.] A.
ABIN'ADAB (.^?3^:?^? [a father noble or princely]: 'Auiyaidfi; [Comp. often * AjBimoJjIjS 0 Abinadab). 1. A Levite, a native of Kirjatbjea- rim, in whose house the ark remained 20 years (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2; [2 Sam. vi. 3, 4;] 1 Chr. xiii. 7).
2. Second son of Jesse, who followed Saul to \as war against the Philistines (1 Sam. xvi. 8, xviL 13; [IChr. U.13]).
3. A son of Saul, who was slain with his broth- ers at the &tal battle on Mount Gilboa (1 Sam- xxxi. 2; [1 CTir. viii. 38, ix. 39, x. 2]).
4. Father of one of the 12 chief officers of Solo- mon (1 K. iv. 11). R. W. B.
ABINER ("l.?'*?S;: »A/3€vi^p; Alex. 'AjB- ouy^p [rather, Afifyrip]'- Abner). This form of the name Abner is given in the margin of 1 Sam. xiv. 50. It corresponds with the Hebrew.
W. A. W.
ABIN'OAM [Heb. Abino'am] (C?D"2tf [a father gradous] : *Afiivt^fi ; [Aid. Comp. some- times *Afiiyo4fi'] Abinoem)y the father of Barak (Judg. iv. 6, 12; V. 1, 12). R. W. B.
ABI^RAM (DT?^ [father exalted]: *Afi- €ipi&v : Abiron). 1. A Reubenite, son of Eliab, wno with Dathau and On, men of the Kmie tribe, and Korah a Levite, organized a conspiracy against Moses and Aaron (Num. xvi.). [For details, see Korah.]
2. [*Afim6y; Alex. Afittpay: Abiram.] 13d- est son of Hiel, the Bethehte, who died when his fother laid the foundations of Jericho (1 K. xiri. 34), and thus accomplished the first part of the curse of Joshua (Josh, vi 26). R. W. B.
ABI'RON {*A$€ux&yi Abiron). Abiram (Ecclus. xlv. 18). W. A. W.
ABISE1E (Abigei). Abishua, the son of Phinehas (2 Eedr. i. 2). W. A. W.
a • The expressioo used in relation to this in A. T. (ed. 1611), as in the Bishops' Bible, is " ai( f o brake his •cuU," t. e. "broke completely," or "all to pieces." In many later editions " brake " has been changed to (< break," giving the lUse meaning " and all this in order to break." " All to " has been explained and written by some as a compound adverb, " all-to " = «< altogethar " (see Robinson in BM. Sacra^ ri. 608),
but this view is now regardod by the beet scholars aa erroneous. In early Englisa, as in Anglo-Saxon, to was in common use as an ink^nsive prefix to verbs and verbal nouns, somewhat lilu be in modern English, but stronger. Thus,
" He to-brae the ston, and ttwr flowiden watris." Wycliffe, Ps. dv. 41.
" Mote thi wicked necke be t% broke I "
Chaucei Cant. TaUs^ 6859.
We have it in Shakespeare's *•' to^ineh the unclean knight " {Merry Wives, iv. 4), aud perhaps the latest example in Milton's "all to-rujfied^^ (Ckmttis, 880). '^ All '* is often used to strengthen the expression, but is not essential. See Boucher's tHossary, art. All, and Taylor's note ; the Glossary to Forahall and Mad- den's ed. of Wycliffe's Bible ; Eastwood and Wright's BibU Word-Book, pp. 21, 22 ; and especially Corson's Thesaurus of Arehaie Englisk, art to . A.
Digitized by V^OOQ l(^
ABISHAO
ABISHAG (a^'*3S [faihtr I e. auUior ^ error, mudeed^ and heniDe odd of man or worn- id; «] 'Afiiodyi AbUag), a beaatiM Shunammite, Ukm into David's harem to comfort him in his stnme old age (1 K. 1. 1-4). After David's death Adon^ induced Bathsheba, the queen- motheff to ask Solomon to give him Abishag in marnage; bat this imprudent petition cost Adoni- jah his life (1 K. iL la, $eq,), [Adomuah.]
R. W. B.
ABI'SHAI'^ [3 syl.] 0©'*:;^ [and >r^, fatker of a gift, Ges.; or Father,' I e. God, 'who exids, Fiirst]: 'Afitaad [also 'Afitad, *Afiurd, etc] and *A0urai' AbiscU), the eldest of the three ioiM of Zeruiah, David's sister, and brother to Joab and Asahel (1 Chr. li. 16). It may be owing to Us seniority of birth that Abishai, first of the three brothcTB, appears as the devoted follower of David. Long before Joab i^pears on the stage Abishai had attached himself to the fortunes of David. He was his companion in the desperate night expedition to the camp of Saul, and would at once have avenged and tenninated his uncle's quarrel by stabbing the Jeeping kmg with his own spear. But David in- digoantly restnined him, and the adventurous war- rion left the camp m stealthily as they had come, earrying with them Saul's spear and the cruse of water which stood at his head (1 Sam. xxvi. 6-9). During David's outlaw life among the Philistines, Abisbai was probably by his side, though nothing iDore is heard of hun till he appears with Joab and Assbd in hot punnit of Abner, who was beaten in the bloody fight by the pod of Gibeon. Asahel fell by Abner'a band: at sunset the survivors re- turned, buried their brother by night in the sepul- chre of thdr father at Bethlehem, and with revenge m their hearts marched on to Hebron by break of day (2 Sam. ii. 18, 24, 32). In the prosecution of their vengeance, though Joab's hand struck the Jeadly bkyw, Abishai was associated with him in the tieachery, and ^ Joab and Abishai kiUed Ab- ner" (2 Sam. iiL 30). [Abker.] In the war sgahist Hanun, undertaken by David as a punish- ment for the insult to his messengers, Abishai, as seeood m conunand, was opposed to the army of the Ammonites before the gates of Kabbah, and drove them headlong before him into the city, while Joab defeated the Syrians who attempted to raise the siege (2 Sam. x. 10, 14; 1 Chr. xix. 11, 15). The defeat of the Edomites in the valley of salt (1 C3ir. xviii. 12), which brought them to a state of vassalage, was due to Abishai, acting perhaps uder the inunediate orders of the king (see 2 Sam. viiL 13), or of Joab (Ps. he. title). On the out- break of Absalom s r^)ellion and the consequent fight of David, Abishai remained true to the king; and the oki warrior showed a gleam of his ancient ^lirit, as fierce and relentless as in the camp of Ssal, when be ofibned to avenge the taunts of Shunei, and uiged his subsequent execution (2 Sun. xvL 9; xix. 21). — In the battle in the wood of ^ihiaim Abishai commanded a third part of the snny (2 Sam. xviiL 2, 5, 12), and in the absence of Amasa was summoned to assemble the troops in ^erasalem and pursue after the rebel Sheba, Joab
ABN£R
11
«*0n the origin and signifleance of the Bible flOMS, K* the artfcle (Amer. ed.) on Names. H.
» * This foUer artfcle from the " Coociae Diction- iiy '^ has been rabetitated here tbr the article of four- iMa Hasi la tb« larger work. H.
bong apparently in dis«^race for the slaughter of Absafom (2 Sam. xx. 6, 10). — The last act of ser- vice which is recorded of Abishai is his timely res- cue of David from the hands of a gigantic Philis- tine, Ishbi-benob (2 Sam. xxi. 17). His personal prowess on this, as on another occasion, when he fought single-handed agahist three hundred, won for him a place as captain of the second three of David's mighty men (2 Sam. xxiii. 18; 1 Chr. xi. 20). But in all probabifity this act of daring was achieved while he vras the companion of Da\ id's wanderings as an outlaw among the Philistines. Of the end of his chequered life we have no record.
ABISH'ALOM (Dnbtr>3y [falher of Pi'Oce] : *A$i(rtra\^fi' Ab€8S(Uom), fiither of Maa- chah, who was the wife of Rehoboam, and mother of Abyah (1 K. xv. 2, 10). He is called Absafom
(a'i'PrnS) m 2 Chr. xi. 20, 21. This person must be David's son (see LXX., 2 Sam. xiv. 27)'. The daughter of Absalom was doubtless called Ma- achah after her grandmother (2 Sam. iiL 3).
ABISHU'A (PW'^as;: [*Aj8«r<rou^, »A3«r- ov4,] 'Kfiiffoi'. Abwe, According to Simonis, pcUris salm; i. q. Xwrimerpos, and ^t^xarpos. According to Fiirst, father or lord of kappineM. Pater scUiOis, Gesen.). 1. Son of BeU, of the tribe of Benjamin (1 Chr. viii. 4).
2. Son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, and the fiither of Bukki, in the genealogy of the high- priests (1 Chr. vi. 4, 5, 50, 61; Ezr. vii. 4, 5). According to Joeephus {AnL viii. 1, § 3) he execu- ted the office of high-priest after his fitther Phme- has, and was succeeded by £11; his descendants, till Zadok, Ming into the rank of private persons (iSiorrc^ayrer). His name is corrupted into *Ic6<r)7Tos> Nothing is known of him.
A.C.H.
ABISHUR ("^ntt?'»?bf [father of the toaU or vpnght] *A0iao^pi Abisur), son of Shammai (1 Chr. ii. 28).
AB1SUM CA^MTcrf; Alex, a^mtowm; [Aid. 'Afiiaovu] : Abisue), Abishua, the son of Phin- ehas (1 Esdr. viii. 2). Called also Abisei.
W. A. W.
ABTTAL (V^'*2N [whose father is dew or protection] : *AfiiTd\; AbitcU), one of David's wives (2 Sam. m. 4; 1 Chr. iU. 3).
ABITUB (aniD^nt^ [father of goodness]-. 'A/3<Tc6x; [Alex. Afitrw0] : Abitub), son of Shaha- raim by Hushim (1 Chr. viii. 11).
ABl^D CAjStovS: Abiud), Descendant ol Zorobabel, in the genealogy of Jesus Christ (Matt i. 13). Lord A. Hervey identifies hun with Ho- DAIAH (1 Chr. iii. 24) and Juda (Luke iii. 26), and supposes him to have been the grandson (k Zerubbabel through his daughter Shelomith.
W. A. W.
ABLUTION. [Purification.]
AB'NER ("I55M, once "1.?^?W, father of
light: k^evyiip\ [Alex, often Afitvrip or Afiaimrip] : Abner). L Son of Ner, who was the brother of Kish (1 Chr. ix. 36) the fiither of Saul. Abner ' therefore, was Saul's first cousin, and was made by him commander-in-chief of his army (1 Sam. xiv. 51). He vras the person who conducted David intc Saul's presence after the death of (ioUath (xvii. 57); and afterwards accompanied his master when he
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12
ABKEB
Bought David's life at Hachi]ah(zxvi. 3-14). From this tiiue we hear no more of him till after the death of Saul, when he rises into importance as the main-stay of his family. It would seem that, im- mediately after the disastrous battle of Mount Gil- boa, 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 power. Dtuing that time the Israelites were grad- ually recovering their territory, and at length Ab- ner proclaimed the weak and unfortunate Ishbo- sheth, 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 apprehensi<m of danger from them must have soon passed away — and Ishbosheth was generally recog- nized except by Judah. This view of the order of events is necessary to reconcile 2 Sam. ii. 10, where Ishbosheth is said to have reigned over Israel for two years, with ver. 11, in which we read that Da- vid was king of Judah for seven ; and it is con- firmed by vers. 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 Da^ vid hoped that his title would be soon acknowl- edged by all Israel; while the exhortation «*to be valiant" probably refers to the struggle with the Philistines, who pkoed the only apparent impedi- ment in the way of his recognitk>n. War soon broke out between the two rival kings, and a " very sore battle " was fought at Gibeon ^ween the men of Israel under Abner, and the men of Judah under Joab, son of Zeruiah, David's sister (1 Chr. 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 him. After this the war continued, success inclining more and more to the side of David, till at last the im- prudence 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, accord- ing to the views of Oriental courts, might be so interpreted as to imply a design upon the throne. Thus we read of a certain Armais, who, while left riceroy of Egypt in the absence of the king his brother, "used violence to the queen and concu- bines, and put on the diadem, and set up to oppose his brother " (Manetho, quoted by Joseph, c Apion, L 15). Cf. also 2 Sam. xvi. 21, xx. 3, 1 K. u. 13- 25, and the case of the Pseudo-Smerdis, Herod, iii. 68. [Absalom ; Adonuah.] Rightly or wrongly, Ishbosheth so understood it, though Abner might seem to have given su£5cient proof of his loyalty, and he even \'entured to reproach him with it. Abner, incensed at his ingratitude, after an indignant reply, opened n^otiations with David, by whom he was most &vorably reoa^ved at Hebron. He then un- dertook to procure his recognition throughout Is- rael; but after leavii^ his court for the purpose was enticed back by Joab, and treacherously mflrdered * by him and his brother Abishai, at the gate of the tity, partly no doubt, as Joab showed afterwards in the case c^ A»ia8A, from fear lest so distinguished a convert to their cause should gain too high a place In David's fiivor (Joseph. AnU \M. 1, § 5), but os- leniiUy in retaliation for the death of Asahel For
ABOMINATION
this there was indeed some pretext, <n«ipni|i».. n^ i| was thought dishonorable even in battle to kill a mere stripling like Asahel, and Joab and Abiahai were in this case the revtngert of blood (Num. XXXV. 19), but it is also plain that Abner only killed the youth to save his own life. This murder caused the greatest sorrow and indignation to David; but as the assassins were too powerful to be punished, he contented himself with showing every public to- ken of respect to Abner's memory, by following the bier and pouring forth a simple dirge over the slain, which is thus transhited by Ewaki {JXdUer des Alten Bunde^ i. 99 :~
As a villain dies, ought Abner to die? Thy hands, not fettered ; Thy feet, not bound with chains ;
As one fldli before the malicious, fellest thou : — i. e. *^ Thou didst not fell as a prisoner taken in battle, with hands and feet fettered, but by secret assassination, such as a villain meets at the hands of villains " (2 Sam. iii. 33, 34). See also Lowth, Lectures on Hebrew Poetry, xxii. G. E. L. C.
2. Father of Jaasiel, chief of the Bei\jamites in David's reign (1 Chr. xxvii. 21): probably the same as Abker 1. W. A. W.
ABOMINATION OF liBSOLATION
irh fiZiXvyiM rfly i(nifA^99$s, Matt. xxiv. 15), mentioned by our Saviour as a sign of the ap- proaching destruction of Jerusalem, with refegnenoe to Dan. ix. 27, xi. 31, xiL 11. The Hebrew
words in these passages are respectively, C^^^'vQ?,
D?c;^, CDirp V'PTr?* Md CDttf v^'^ir-
the LXX. translate the first word uniformly fih4- KvyfMj and the second ipyifuixriw (y^- 27) and ifmtuixTivs (zi. 31, xii. 11 )r many MSS. however have if<payi(rfi4yoy in xL 31. The meaning of the
first of these words is clear: ^^'vQ? expresses any religious inyDurily, and in the plural number espe- cially idoU. Suidas defines fi94\vyfia as used by the Jews iro*' clSwXor icol naif ditr^wfia di^ Bp^ov. It is important to observe that the ex- pression is not used of idolatry in the abstract, but of idoktry adopted by the Jews themselves (2 K. xxi. 2-7, xxiii. 13). Hence we must look for the ftdfillment 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 Joeephus {B. J, iv. 6, § 3), that the temple would be destroyed Huf x<<p^' oiictuu irpofuiiMwn rh r4fieyos. With regird to the second word Qpt£7, which has been variously translated of desolation^ of the desolator, that asion- isheth (Ma^^inal transL xi. 31, xii. 11), it is a par- ticiple used substantively and placed in immediate apposition with the previous noun, quali^ing it with an adjective sense astonishing, horrible. (Geseu.
s. V, Cp^), and thus the whole expression signi- fies a horrible abomination. What the ol^ject re- ferred to was, is a matter of doubt; it should be observed, however, that in the passages in Daniel the setting up of the abomination was to be conse- quent upon the cessation of the sacrifice. The Jews considered the prophecy as ftilfilled in the profiuiation of the Temple under Antiochus Epiph- anes, when the Israelites themsel>'es erected an idolatrous altar (/Swfi^s, Joseph. Ant. xii. 5, § 4) upon the sacred altar, and offered sacrifice thereon : this altar is described as fiS4\uyfM ttjs ifnifi^fma
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ABRAHAM
(1 Mace. i. 54, vi. 7). The prophecj, however, re- fcncd uHifiiatelj (as Josephus himself perceived, AnL X. 11, § 7) to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and consequently the fi^^Kvy/uL must describe some occurrence connected with that event. Bbt it is not easy to find one which meets all the reqmrouents of the case: the introduction of the Konmn standards into the Temple would not be a PSiKuyfiOy properly speaking, unless it could be diown that the Jews themsel\'es participated in the worship of them ; moreover, this event, as well as several others which have been proposed, such as the erection of the statue of Hadrian, fiaiil in regard to the time of their occurrence, being subsequttU to the destruction of the city. It appears most prob- able that tLe profimities of the Zesdota constituted the abomination which was the sign of impending niin « (Joseph. £. J. iv. 3, § 7.) W. L. B.
A'BRAHAM (ann:?^, /aOter of a mxdO- (■I'e: 'Kfipuifi'- Abraham: originally ABRAM, U^2^, father of ekv-rtion: ^Afipofi'- Abram\ the ton of Terah, and brother of Nabor and Iloran ; and the progeiator, not only of the Hebrew nation, bat oi se\-end cognate tribes. His history is re- corded to us with much detail in Scripture, as the wry type of a true patriarchal life; a life, that is, in which all authority b paternal, derived ulti- mately from God the Father of all, and relijjion, impedbct as yet. in revelation and ritual, is based entirely on that same Fatheriy relation of God to man. The Aatural tendency of such a religion is to the worship of tutelary gods of the &mily or of the tribe; traces of sucK a tendency on the part of the patriarchs are found in the Scriptural Ilistory itsdf ; and the declaration of God to Moses (in Ex. ri. 3) plainly teaches that the fuU sense of the unity and eternity of Jehovah was not yet unfolded to tiwm. But yet the revelation of the Lord, as the " Almighty God " (Gen. xvii. 1, xiriii. 3, xxxv. 11). and '' the Judge of all the earth " (Gen. x\'iii. 25), the knowledge of His intercourse with kings of other tribes (Gen. xx. 3-7), and His judgment OQ Sodom and Gomorrah (to say notliing of the promise which extended to "all nations") must have raised the patriarchal religion &r above this ovrow idea of God, and gi>'en 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 nomad pastoral life; free, simple, and msaly; fuD of hospitality and family afibction; truthful to all such as were bound to him by their ties, though not untainted with Eastern cindt to those cooudered as aliens; ready for war, but not a profimed warrior, or one who lived by plunder; free ud childlike in religion, and gradiuUly educated by God's hand to a continually deepening sense of its all-absorbing claims. It stands remarkably oontnsted with those of Isaac and Jacob.
The Scriptural history of Abraham is mainly fimited, m usual, to the evolution of the Great Cov- enant m hii life; it is the history of the man him- •df rather than of the external events of his life; and, except in one or two instances (Gen. xli. 10- 20, xiv., XX., xxi. 22-34) it does not refer to his re- lation with the rest of the worM. To them he may nlj ha»e appeared as a chief of the hardier Chal-
ABRAIIAM
13
« • Laogs^s note (BiMwerky 1. 842), especially as •Isrsed by Dr. BchalT {Cbm. on Matt, p. 424), enu- I of this diflkult ex- U.
daean race, disdaining the settled life of the more luxurious C^aanltes, and fit to be hired by plun- der as a protector against the invaders of the Nortk (see Gen. xiv. 21-20). Nor is it unlikely, though we have no historical evidence of it, that his pas- sage 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. ff. by Abimelech, 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 (Ewald, Gesch. i. 409-413).
llie traditions which Josephus adds to the Scrip- timd narrative, are merely such as, after his man« ner and in accordance with the aim of bis writings, exalt the knowledge and wisdom of Abraham, mak- ing him the teacher of monothdsm to the Chal- dieans, and of astronomy and mathematics to the Egyptians. He quotes however Nicolaus of Da- mascus,^ as ascribing to him the conquest and gov- ernment of Damascus on his way to Canaan, and stating that the tradition of his habitation was still preserved there (Joseph. Ani, i. c. 7, § 2; see Gren. XV. 2).
The Arab traditions are partly ante-Mohamme- dan, renting mainly to the Kaabah (or sacred house) of Alecca, which Abraham and his son " Is- mail " are said to have rebuilt for the fourth time over the sacred black stone. But in great meas- ure they are taken fix>m the Koran, which has it- self borrowed from the O. T. and fiY>m the Kab- binical traditions. Of the latter the most remark- able is the story of his having destroyed the idols (see Jud. ▼. 6-8) which Terah iK)t only worshipped (as declared in Josh. xxiv. 2), but also manu&c- tured, and having been cast by Nimrod into a fiery f^unace, which turned into a pleasant meadow. The legend is generally traced to the word Ur
(n^S), Abraham's birth-place, which has also the sense of " light " or " fire.*' But the name of Abraham appears to be commonly remembered in tradition through a very large portion of Asia, and the title »« el-Khali V* «Hhe Friend" (of God) (see 2 Chr. XX. 7; Is. xli. 8; Jam. ii. 23) is that by which he is usually spoken of by the Arabs.
The Scriptural history of Abraham is divided into vark>us periods, by tlie various and progressive revelations of God, which he received —
(I.) With his fiather Terah, hU wife Sarai, and nephew Lot, Abram left Ur for Haran (Cbarran), in obedience to a call of God (alluded to in Acts vii. 2-4). Haran, apparently the eldest brother — since Nahor, and probably also Abram,<^ married his daughter — was dead already; and Nahor remained behind ((Sen. xi. 31). In Haran Terah died; and Abram, now the head of the fiunily, received a ' call, and with it the promise.^ His promise
b Nicolaus was a contemporary and fkvorite of Herod the Qreot and Augustus. The quotation ia probably from an Universal Uistory, 8^1 to hive contained I'M hookB.
c <t Isoah *' 0n Gen. xi. 29) Is generally supposed tc be the same person as 9arai. That Abram calls her tijs " sister " is not conclusive against It ; fbr see xir. 16, where Lot Is called his «' brother.''
d It 0 exprMsly stated In the Acts (tU. 4) that Abram quitted Haran after his father's death. Tliis is supposed to be inconsistent with the statements that Terah was 70 years <dd at the Urtb of Abram (0«ni. xi. 26) ; that he died at the age of 205 (Oen. xi. 82; and that Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran : hence it would seem to follow that Abram mfanrated
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14
ABRAHAM
was two-fold, containiiig both » temporal and spir- itual blessing, the one of which was the type and earnest of the other. Hie temporal promise was, that he should become a great and prosperous na- tion; the spiritual, that in him "should all fiimilies of the earth be blessed** (Gen. xii. 2).
Abram appears to have entered Canaan, as Jacob afterwards did, along the valley of the Jabbok ; for he crossed at once into the rich plain of Moreh, near Sichem, and under Ebal and Gerizim. Tliere, in one of the most fertile spots of the land, he re- ceived the first distinct promise of his future inher- itance (Gen. xii. 7), and built his first altar to God. " The C^anaanite *' (it is noticed) " was then in the land,*' and probably would view Uie strangers of the warlike north wiUi no fiiendly eyes. Ac- cordingly Abram made his second resting-place in the strong mountain country, the key of the various posses, between Bethel and Ai. There he would dwell securely, till fiimine drove him into the richer and more cultivated land of Egypt.
That his history is no ideal or heroic legend, is very clearly shown, not merely by the record of his deceit as to Sarai, practiced in Egypt and repeated ailerwards, but much more by the dear description of its utter failure, and the humiliating position in which it pUbced him in comparison with Pharaoh, and still more with Abimelech. That he should have felt afiraid 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 fiilse in efibct, is unfortunately not at all incompatible with a generally religious character; but that such a story should have been framed in an ideal description of a saint or hero is inconceiv- able.
The period of his stay in Egypt is not recorded, but it is firom this time that his wealth and power appear to have begun (Gen. xiii. 2). If the domin- ion of the Hyksos in Memphis is to be referred to this epoch, as seems not improbable [Egypt], then, since they were akin to the Hebrews, it is not im- possible that Abram may have taken part in their war of conquest, and so have had another recom- mendation to the fiivor of Pharaoh.
On his return, the very &ct of this growing wealth and importance caused the separation of Lot and his portion of the tribe from Abram. Lot's departure 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 hb separation from him was a Prov- idential prqMuration for Uie future. From thb time he took up his third resting-fdace at Mamre, or Hebron, the future capital of Judah, situated in Uie direct line of communication with Egypt, and 9])ening down to the wilderness and pasture land of Beershebo. This very position, so different from the mountain-fastness <^ Ai, marks the change in the numbers and powers of his tribe.
The history of his attack on Chedorlaomer, which
from Haran tn his Ikthsr's Ufetiiiie. YarisQS ezplan- sttons have been givsn of this dilBcalty ; the most probable is, that the statement in Gen. zi. 26, that Terah was 70 years old when he b<^t his three chil- dien, appUea only to the oldwt, Uaran, and that the Mrths of hb two younger children belonged to a iub- seqoent periM [CaaoKuuMZTj.
ABRAHAM
follows, gives us a specimen of the view which would be taken of him by the external world. By the way in which it speaks of him as ** Abram ihe Hebrew," ^ it would seem to be an older document, ft fragment of Canaanitish history (as Ewald caQs it), preserved and sanctioned by Moses. The inra- si<Mi was deariy another northern immigratkm or foray, for the chiefe or kings were of Shinar (Baby- k>nia), Ellasar (Assyria?), Elam (Persia), ix. ; that it was not the first, is evident from the vassalage of the kings of Uie cities of the plain ; and it ex- tended (see Gen. xiv. 5-7) &r 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 n^ bade for a time the stream of northern immigra- tion. His high position is seen in the gratitude of the people, and the dignity with which he refiises the character of a hireling; that it did not elafce him above measure, is evident from his reverenee to Melchizedek, in whom he recognized one wfaoee call was equal and consecrated rank superior to his own [Melchizedek].
(U.) The second period of Abram*8 life is marked by the fresh revelation, which, without further unfolding the spiritual promise, completes the tem- poral one, already in course of fblfillinent. 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 pronyse, unlike the other, appeared at his age contrary to nature, and therefore it is on this occasion that hb 6uth u specially noted, as accepted and "counted for rights eousness." Accordingly, he now passed into a new position, for not only b a fuller revelation given as to the captivity of hb seed in Egypt, the time of their deliverance, and their conquest of the land, " when the iniquity of the Amorites was full," but after hb solemn bumt-ofiering the visible appear^ ance of God in fire b vouchsafed to him as a sign, and he enters into covenant with the Lord (Glen. XV. 18). Thb covenant, like the earlier one with Noah ((}en. ix. 9-17), b one of free promise from God, fiiith only in that promise being required fit)m man.
The immediate consequence was the taking of Hagar, Sarai*s maid, to be a concubine of Abram (as a means for the fulfillment of the promise of seed), and the conception of IshmaeJ.
(in.) For fourteen years after, no more b re- corded of Abram, who seems during all that period to have dwelt at Marore. After that time, in Abram*s 99th year, the last step in the revelation of the promise b 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 dis- tinguished ; Ishmael can share only the one, Isaac b to ei\joy the other. The covenant, which before was only for temporal inheritance (Gen. xv. 18), b now made "everlasting," and sealed by circum- cision. Thb new state b marked by the change of Abram's name to " Abraham," and Sarai*8 to " Sarah," ^ and it was one of fu greater acquaint
o *0 wtftdrnt, LXX. If thb sense of the word be taken, it strengthens the snpposiCion notteed. In any case, the name b that applied to the Israelites by for> eigneri, or used by them of themselves only in speak log to foreigners : see UzBaiw.
b The origiDal name ^ItT b onoeiialn in derivar
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ABRAHAM
•noe and intercoune with God. For, ixmnediatdy afler , we read of the Lord's appearance to Abraham in human form, attended bj two angels, the minis- ten of His wrath against Sodom, of His announce- ment of the coming judgment to Abraham, and aoeeptance of his intercession for the condemned atitB,^ The whole record stands alone in Scripture for the sunple and fiuniliar intercourse of God with him, oontrasting strongly with the vaguer and more awliil descriptions of previous appearances (see e. y. zv. 12), and with those of later times ((ien. zzriii. 17, xzzii. 30; Ex. iii. 6, Ac.)* And ooiTesp<mdlng with this there is a perfect absence of an fear on Abraham's part, and a cordial and reverent jo v, which, more than anything 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 repetitioo of the felsehood as to Sarah in the knd of the PhUistmea (Gen. xx.). It was the first time be had come in contact with that tribe or collection of tribes, which stretched along the coast almost to the borders of 'Egypt; a race iq>parently of lords ruling over a conquered popuktion, and another example of that series of immigration^ which ap- pear to have taken place at this time. It seems, from AlHraham*B excuse for his deceit on this oca^ skm, as if there had been the idea in his mind that aO arms may be used against unbelievers, who, it is assumed, have no "fcar of God," or sense of right. If 80, the rebuke of Abimdech, by its dig- nity and its clear recognition of a (lod of justice, must have put him to manifest shame, and taught him that others also were servants of the Lord.
This period agun, like that of the sojourn in Egypt, was one of growth in power and wealth, as the respect of Abhnelech and his akrm for the firtore, so natural in the chief of a race of conquer- ing invaders, very cfeariy shows. Abram's settle- ment 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 crowns his happiness, and ftdfiOs the first great promise of (xod; aud the ex- poUon of Tshmael, painftil as it was to him, and rindictive 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 ol^ject. The symbolical meaning of the act (drawn out in Gtl.
tfam and meanfog. Gcsenlus renders It <' nobility,'* from the same root as (* Sarah '* ; Ewmld by " quarrel-
mm»" (firom the root tl^W, in sense of *' to fight *').
The name Sarah, fT^{t7, is certainly ^ prinoen.**
a Traditk>n still points out the supposed site of this spfoininre ot the Lord to Abraham. About a mile frooi Hebron te a beantiftil and maaslva oak, whkh BtUl bears Abraham's name. The residence of the patriarch was called ** the oaks of Mamre," errone- •osiy translated in A. T. '^ the plain " of Hamre (Qen. OL 18, xrtii. 1); but It Is doubtfid whether this Is the exact spot, slnoe the tra^tkm in the time of Jo- •ephns {R J. Iv. 9, f 7) was attached to a terebinth. ThM tne no km^sr remains ; but Uiers Is no doubt that It stood within the aadent enclosure, whkh Is «ffl called "Abeaham^s Hooee.** A lUr was held taneath It in the time of Oonstaathie, and It remained to the time of TbewlosiuA. (Robinson, iL 81, ed. tBK; Stanl'v, S, ^ P. p. 148.)
ABRAHAM 15
iv. 21-31) could not have been wholly uiifelt bj the patriarch himself, so far as it involved the sense of the spiritual nature of the promise, and carried out the fore-ordained will of Ciod. •
(IV.) Again for a long period (25 years, Joseph. AnL i. 13, § 2) the history is silent: then comes the final trial and perfection of his faith in the cotpmand to ofier up the child of his affections and of God's promise. The trial lay, first in the preciousness of the sacrifice, and ttie perplexity in which the command involved the fulfillment of the [Homise; secondly, in the stnmgeness of the com- mand to violate the human life, of which the sa- credness had been enforced by God*s special com- mand (Cien. ix. 5, 6), as well as by the feelings of a &ther. To these trials he rose superior by fiuth, that " (xod was able to raise Isaac even firom the dead" (Ueb. xi. 19), probably through the same faith to which our Lord refers, that (xod had promised to be the ** (jod of Isaac " ((jen. xvii. 19), and that he was not ^* a God of the dead, but of the living.*' ^
It is remarkable that, hi the blessing given to him now, the original spiritual promise is repeated for the first time since his earliest call, and in the same words then used. But the promise that <* in his seed all nations should be blessed " would be now understood very differently, and felt to be f^ above the temporal promise, in which, perhaps, at first it seemed to be absorbed. It can hardly be wrong to refer preeminently to this epoch the de- claration, that Abraham **saw the day of Christ and was gkid " (John viii. 56).
The history of Abraham is now all but over, though his life was prolonged for neariy 50 years. The only other incidents are the death and burial of Sarah, the marriage of Isaac with Rebekah, and that of Abraham with Keturah.
The death of Sarah took place at Kiijath Arba, t. 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 char- acter of Abraliam, as a mighty prince, and the exceeding modesty and courtesy of his demeanor. It is sufficiently striking that the only inheritance of his fimiily 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. <f P. p. 101). [Hebron.]
The marriage of Isaac, so fiir as Abraiiam is concerned, marks his utter refusal to ally his son with the polluted and condemned blood of the Ca- naanites.
The marriage with Keturah is the strangest and most unexpected event recorded in his life, Abra- ham having long ago been spoken of as an old man ; but his youth living been restored before the birth of Isaac, must have remained to him, and Isaac's
b The scene of the sacrifloe Is, according to our present text, and to Joeephus, the land of '< Moriah,'^
or n^*l*1D, chosen fry /MovoA, (}es. (oomp. the name ^ Jehovah-JIreh "). The Samaritan Pentateuch has "Moreh," nnhtS; the LXX. render the word here by fyiv vt^i^y, the phrase umd for what Is undoubtedly "Moreh »' In xll. 6, whereas In 2 Chr. Hi. they render " Horlah " by 'Afiwpia : they therefore probably read " Horah *' also. The ftct of the three days' journey from Beersheba suits Moroh better (see Stanley^ 8. ^ P. p. 951) ; other conidderationf seem In fhvor of Mo- riah. pioRiAii.]
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
16
ABRAHAM'S BOSOM
Diarringe having taken his son comparatively away, may have induced him to seelc a wife to be the support of his old age. Keturah hdd a lower rank than Sarah, and her children were sent away, lest they should dispute the inheritance of Isaac, Abra- ham having learnt to do voluntarily in their case what had been forced upon him in the case of Ish- mael. *
Abraham died at the age of 175 }'earR, 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 Isradites; (2) a btunch of the Ai-ab tribes through Ishmael; (3) the '^ children of the East," of whom the Midian- ites 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. A. B.
* On Abraham, see particularly Ewald, Gtsch, i. 409-439, 2e Aufl. ; Kurtz, Gtsch. des A. Bundes^ 2e Aufl., i. 160-215; and Stanley, Lect. on the Bltt. of the Jetcish Clittrcky Part I., Lect. i., ii. The Jewish legends respecting him have been col- lected by Beer, Leben AbraJiams nach Auffassung dtr j&dischen Sage^ Leipz. 1859 ; see also Eisen- menger's Etddtcktts JudtrUhum, A.
ABRAHAMS BOSOM. During the Ro- man occupation of Judsea, at least, the practice of reclining on couches at meab was customary among the Jews. As each guest leaned upon his left arm, his neighbor next below him would naturally be described as lying hi his bosom ; and such a po- sition with respect to the master of the house was one of especiaJ honor, and only occupied by his nearest fiiends (John i. 18, xiii. 23). To lie in Abraham's bosom, then, was a metaphor in use among the Jews to denote a condition aft^ death of perfect happiness and rest, and a position of friendship and nearness to the great founder of then: race, when they shall lie down on his right hand at the banquet of Paradise, " with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven ** (Matt. viii. 11). That the expression was in use among the Jews is shown by Lightibot {Hor, Iltb. in Iaw. xvi. 22), who quotes a passage from the Talmud {KUldushin, fol. 72), which, according to his uitcrpretation, represents Levi as saying in reference to the death of I^abbi Judah, <* to-day he dwelleth in Abraham's bosom." The future bless- edness of ihe just was represented under the figure of a banquet, **the banquet of the garden of Eden or Paradise." See Schoettgen, Hor. Ileb. in MaU. viii. 11. [Lazarus.] W. A. W.
A3RAM. [Abilvham.]
ABROTJAH (nj-ip? [ptissagel from
^•^y, to cross over), one of the halting-pbces of the Israelites in the desert, immediately preceding Ezion-geber, and therefore, looking to the root, 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 (*E$pvyd; [Vat. 2tfifMya'^ ffe- hrona) (Num. xxxiii. 34, 35). G.
ABRO'NAS CA/3p«vat; [Comp. *Ap$a,ydt; Aid. *Ap$oyat'' Mambre])^ a torrwit (xftfiop^os), apparently near C^icia [Jud. ii. 24 compared with 25] : if so, it may possibly be the N^nhr Abraim^ or Ibrahim, the ancient Adonis, which rises in the Lebanon at Afka, and foils into the sea at J^ml (Byblos). It has, however, been cot^jectured (Mo-
ABSALOM
vers, Bonner ZtiU. xiii. o8) that the word is a cat-
ruption of "^Hin 155? = beyond the river (Eu-
phrates), which has just before been mentioned ; a corruption not more inconceivable than many which actually exist in the LXX. The A. V. has Ar- son ai (Jud. ii. 24). G.
AB'SALOM (Dlbc:2W, faOieT of peace:
*kfit(r(raXd»u, : Ab»ahm\ third son of David by ^laachah, oaughter of Talmai king of Geshur, a Syrian district a4Joming the north-eastern frt>ntier of the Holy Land near the Lake of Merom. He b scarcely mentioned till after David bad committal the great crime which by its consequences embit- tered his old age, and then appears as the instru- ment by whom was fulfilled God's threat against the sinftd king, that ** evil should be raised up against him out of his own house, and that his neigblxn' ' should lie with his wives in the sight of the* sun." In the btter part of David's reign, polygamy bore its ordinary fruits. Not 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 tiie punishment of that sin, by rais- ing up jealousies and conflicting chiims 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, <fec.). Absalom had a sister Tamar, who was viokted by her half- brother Amnon, David's ddest son by Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess. The king, though indignant at so great a crime, would not punish Amnon because he was his first-bom, as we learn from the words koX oifK i\{nrri<r€ rh irvtviia ^kfiviitv tow viov axnov^ Sri ijryctjra avr6vy tri 7fptcT6roKos ahrov ^v, which are round in the LXX. (2 Sam. xiii. 21), though vranting in the Hebrew. The natural avenger of such an outrage would be Tamar's full brother Ab- salom, just as the sons of Jacob took bloody ven- geance for their sister Dinah (Gen. xxxiv.). He brooded over the wrong for two years, and then in- vited all the princes to a sheep-shearing feast at his estate in Baal-hazor, possibly an old Canaanitish sanctuary (as we infer from the prefix Baal), on the borders of Ephraim and Benjamin. Here he or- dered his servants to murder Amnon, ynd then fled for safety to his &ther-in-1aw's court at Geshur, where he remained for three years. David was over- whelmed by this accumulation of fiimily sorrows, thus completed by separation from his &vorite 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 (afterwards known as the birthplace of the prophet Amos) to en- treat the king's int^^erence in a suppcsititicus 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 apiplied his assent to the recall of Absalom, and uiged him, as he had thus yielded the general principle, to *' fetch home his banished.'* Dand did so, but would not see Absalom for two more years, though he allowed him to live in Jerusalem. At last wearied with delay, perceiving that his triumph wa^ only half complete, and that his ex- clusion from court interfered vrith the ambitious schemes which he was forming, femcying too that sufiScient exertions were not nuide in his &vor, the impetuous young man sent his servants to bum a field of com near his own, belonging to Joab, thus doing as Samson had done (Judg. xv. 4). There-
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ABSALOM
upon Joahj probablj dreading some further outrage bom his violence, brought him to his father, from whom he receive the kiss" of reconciliation. Ab- lalom now began at once to prepare for rebellion, urged to it partly by his own re^itless wickedness, partly perhaps by the fear lest liathsheba's ohild ahoulJ suppUnt him in the succession, to which he would feel himself entitled as of royal birth on his mother's side as well as his fittlier's, and as being now David's eldest surviving son, since we may iu- fis* that the second son Chileab was dead, from no mention being made of him after 2 Sam. iii. 3. It is harder to account for his temporary success, and the imminent danger which befell so powerful a gov- ernment as his Other's. The sui with Uathsheba 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, and that personal administration of justice which was ope of an eistem ki]i<;'s chief duties. For Ab- salom tiied to supplant his &ther by courting pop- ularity, standing in the gate, conversing with every suitor, lamenting the diiiiculty which he would find in getting a hearing, " putting forth his hand and kinong any man who came nigh to do him obei- ■mce.'* He also maintained a splendid retinue (xv. 1), and was admired for his iiersonal beauty and the luxuriant growth of his h^r, on grounds similar to those which had made Saul acceptable (1 Sam. X. 23). It is probable, too, that the great tribe of Judah had taken some offense at David's goTemment, perhaps from finding themselves com- pktdy merged in one united Israel ; and Uiat they hoped secretly for preeminence under the less wise and liberal rule of his son. Thus Absalom selects Hebron, the old capital of Judah (now supplanted bv Jerusalem), as the scene of the outbreak ; Amasa his chief captain, and Ahithophel of Giloh his prin- cipal coonsellor, are both of Judah, and afler the r^)ellJon was crushed we see signs of ill-feelhig between Judah and the other tribes (xix. 41). But whatever the causes may have been, Absalom nused the standard of revolt at Hebron afler /orty years, as we now read in 2 Sam. xv. 7, which it seems better to consider a false reading for ftmr (the number actually given by Josephus), than to interpret of the fortieth year of David's reign (see Gerbch, m loco, and Ewald, Cesckidite, iii. 217*). The revolt was at first completely successful; David fled from his capital over the Jordan to Mahanaim in (iilead, where Jacob had seen the ** Two Hosts " of the angelic vision, and where Abner had rallied the Israelitea round Saul's dynasty in the person of the unfortunate Ishbosheth. Abs.ilom occupied Je nisalem, and by the advice of Ahithophel, who saw that for audi an unnatural rel)dlion war to the biife was the best security, took possession of David's harran, in which he had left ten concubines. TUs was considered to imply a formal assumption of all his iather*s royal rights (cf. the conduct oi Adon\)ah, 1 R. ii. 13 ff*., and of Sraerdis the Ma- gian, Herod, iii. 68), and was also a fidfillment of Nathan's prophecy (2 Sam. xii. II). But David had left firiends who watched over his interests. The vigorous counst^ of Ahithophel were afterwards vqeeted through the crafty advice of Hushai, who JMin^iatH bimsdf into Absalom's confidence to work his ruin, and Ahithophel himself, seeing his ambitious hopes firatrated, and another preferred by the man for whose sake he had turned traitor, went boirs to Giloh and committed suicide. At htt, after being solenmly anohited kuig at Jenisa- 2
ABSALOM
17
lem (xix. 10), and lingering there far longer than was expedient, Absalom crassed the Jordan to attack hjs father, who by this time had rallied round him a considerable force, whereas had Ahithophel's advice been followed, he would probably have been crushed at once. A decisive battle was fought in Gilead, in the wood of Kphraim, so called, according to Gerlach ( Comm. in loco), from the great defeat of the Kphraimites (Judg. xii. 4^), or perhaps from the connection of Kphraim with the trans-Jordanlo half-tribe of Manasseh (Stanley, S. and P. p. 323). Here Absalom's forces wei-e totally defeated, and as he himself was escaping, his long hair was entuigled in the branches of a terebintli, where he was left hanging while the mule on which he wm riding ran away from under him. Here he was dispatched by Joab, in spite of the prohibition of David, who, loving him to the last, had desired that his Ufe might be spared, and when he heard of hia death, lamented over him in the pathetic words, 0 my 9on Absalom! would God J lutd died /or thee I 0 Absalom, my son, my son! He was buried in a great pit in the forest, and the con- querors threw stones over his grave, an old proof of bitter hostility (Josh. vii. 26).a I'he sacred historian contrasts this dishonored burial with the tomb which Absalom had raised in the King's dale (comp. Gen. xiv. 17) for the three sons whom he had lost (comp. 2 Sam. xviil. 18, with xiv. 27), and where he probably had intended that his own re- mmns should be laid. Josephus (Ant. vii. 10, § 3) mentions the pillar of Absalom as situate 2 stadia from Jerusalem. An existing monmnent in the valley of Jehoshaphat just outside Jerusalem bean the name of the Tomb of Absalom; but the lonis pillars which surround its base show that it belongs to a much later period, even if it be a tomb at ail.
6. £. L. C.
The so-called Tomb of Absalom.
AB'SALOM CA&fffffdkwfios; [Ck)mp. Alex. *A^d\»nos, and so Sin. 1 M. xixi. :] Absohmm,
a • The same custom of heaping up stones as a mark of detestation and ignominy over the graves of perpetrators of crime«, i« still obwrvod in the lands of the Bible. For illustrations of this, see Thomson^s Land and Book, ii. 284, and Bonar's Mission of JSW- qmry to the Jews, p. 818. U.
Digitized by VjOOQ IC
18
ABSALON
Absalomm), the father of Mattathias (1 Maoc xi 70) and Jonathan (1 Mace. xlLL 11).
B. F. W. . AB'SALON CA/5e<r«ro\«^/4: Abesalom). An unbttBBador with John (rum the Jews to I^ysias, chief governor of Coele-Sjiia and Phcenice (2 Maoc. xi. 17). W. A. W.
ABU'BUS QAfiovfiofi Abobus). Father of EHdemeus, who was captain of the plsun of Jericho^ and son-in-law to Simon Maocabseus (1 Mace. xvi. li, 15). W. A. W.
* ABYSS. [Deep, the.] H.
ACATAN {'Ajcardy: EcceUm), Hakkatan (1 l^>dr. viU. 38). W. A. W.
ACCAD (12M [/orireMaooordingtoFurst]: 'Apx^B: Achad), one of the cities m the hmd of Shinar — the others being Isabel, Erech, and Cal- ndi — which were the beginning of Nimrod's king- dom (Gen. X. 10). A great many corgectures have been formed as to its identification : — 1. Following the reading of the oldest version (the LXX.), the river Argades, mentioned by iElian as in the Per siau part of Sittacene beyond the Tigris, has been put forward (Bochart, PhaL iv. 17). But this is too fiur east. 2. Sacada, a town stated by Ptolemy to have stood at the junction of the Lycus (Great Zab) with the Tigris, below Nine\eh (I^eclerc, in Winer). 3. A district " north of Babylon " called •Akk^ (Knobel, Genesis, p. 108). 4. And per- haps in the absence of any remains of the name this has the greatest show of evidence in its fietvor, Nisi- bis, a city on the Khabour river still retaining its name {Nisibin\ and mtuated at the N. E. part of Mesopotamia, about 150 miles east of Or/a, and midway between it and Nineveh. We have the tes- timony of Jerome ( Onomasticon, Achad), that it was the belief of the Jews of his day {Hebrcei dicurU) that Nislbis was Accad; a belief confirmed by the renderings of the Targums of Jerusalem and Pseu- do-Jonathan (] ^13^/^3), and of Ephraem Syrus;
and also by the &ct that the ancient name of Ni- aibis was Acar (Koseumiiller, ii. 29), which is the word given in the early Peshito version ;-0), and also occurring in three MSS. of the OnomasUcon of Jerome. (See the note to <*Aehad" in the edition of Jerome, Ven. 1767, voL iii. p. 127.)
The theory deduced by Hawlinson fiK>m the latest Anyrian researches is, tkit "Akkad'* was the name of the " great primitive Hamite race who in- habited Babylonia from the earliest time,*' who originated the arts and sciences, and whose language was " the great parent stock from which the trunk stream of the Semitic tongues sprang." ** In the inscriptions of Sargon the name of Akkad is ap- 'plied to the Armenian mountains instead of the vernacular title of Ararat.** (Rawiinson, in Uerod- aim, i. 319, note.) The name of the city is be- lieved to have been discovered in the inscriptions under the form Kwd Akkad {ibid. p. 447). G. ACrCARON. [Ekrow.] ACCHO (ISy, hot sand (7): "Aicx*, "Aicn, Strabo; the Ptolemais of the Maccabees and N. T.), now called i4cca, or more usually by Europeans, Saint Jean d'Acre, the most importaait sea-port town on the Syrian coast, about 30 miles S. of Tyre. It was situated on a slightly projecting headloDd, at the northern extremity of that spacious bay — the onlj inlet of any importance along the
ACELDAMA
whole sea-board of Palestine ~ which is fonned b; the bold promontory of Carmel on the opposite side. This bay, though spacious (the distance from Accho to Carmel being about 8 miles), is shaUow and ex- posed, and hence Accho itself does not at all times ofier safe harborage; on the opposite side of the bay, however, the roadstead of JI<tlfa, immediately imder Channel, supplies this deficiency. Inland the hills, which from Tyre southwards press close upon the sea-shore, gradually recede, leaving in the inmie- diate neighborhood of Accho a plain of remarkable fertility about six miles broad, and watered by the small river Belus (Nahr Naindn), which discharges itself into the sea close under the walls of the town. To the S. E. the still receding heights afford access to the interior in the direction of Sep- phoris. Accho, thus fieivorably placed in command of the approaches from the north, both by sea and land, haa been justly termed the *' key of Pales- tine."
In the division of Ganaan among the 'iiibea, Accho fdl to the lot of Asher, but was never wrested from its original inhabitants (Judg. i. 31); and hence it is reckoned among the cities of Phoenicia (Strab. u. 134; PUn. v. 17; Ptol. v. 15). No further mention is made of it in the (). T. history, nor does it appear to have risen to nmch importance until after the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, when its proximity to the frontier of Syria made it an object of frequent contention. Along with the rest of Phoenicia it fell to the lot of Egypt, and was named Ptolemais, after one of the Ptolemies, probably Soter, who could not have failed to see its importance to his dominions in a military point of view. In the wars that ensued between Syria and Egypt, it was taken by Antiochus the Great (Ptol. v. 62), and attached to his kingdom. When the Maccabees established themselves in Judtea, it became the base of operations against them. Simon drove hit enemies back within its walls, but did not take it (I Mace. V. 22). Subsequently, when Alexander Balas set up his claim to the Syrian throne, be could offer no more tempting bait to secure the c>- i peration of Jonathan than the possession of Ptol - mais and its district (1 Mace. x. 39). On the decay of the Syrian power it was one of the few cities of Judsea which established its mdependence. Al- exander Jumieus attacked it without success. Cleopatra, whom he had summoned to his assist- ance, took it, and transferred it, with her daughter Selene, to the Syrian monarchy: under her rule it was besieged and taken by Tigranes (Joecph. AnL xiii. 12, §2; 13, § 2; 16, § 4). Ultimately it passed into the hands of the Romans, who con- structed a military road along the coast, from Ber^-tus to Sepphoris, passing through it, and de- vated it to the rank of a colony, with the title Colonia Claudii Cosaris (Plin. v. 17). The only notice of it in the N. T. is in connection with St. Paul's passage from Tyre to Cttsarea (Acts xxi. 7). Few remains of antiquity are to be found in the modem town. The original name has alone sur- vived all the changes to which the place has been exposed. W. L. B.
AC'COS QAkk^s; [Alex. Aicyw, Fidd:] Jo- eob\ father of John and grandfiftther of Etipokmni the ambassador fiK>m Judas Maccab»us to Rome (1 Mace. viii. 17).
ACrCOZ. [Koz.]
A.CEI/DAMA CAx<x8«yii; Lachm. [and
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ACELDAMA
DmiLl ([Sin-] B)»AiCfX5a^X- ^a^eldama); x»- 9iw ^[/MTos, " the field of blood; " (ChaJd. ^[22 K^"^), the name given by the^ewB of Jerusalem *M a "field" (x«pM near Jerusalem purchased by Judas with the money which he received for the betrayal of Christ, and so called from his violent death therein (Acta i. 19). This is at variance with the account of St. Matthew (xx\ii. 8), accord- ing to which the " field of blood " {ayphs cunaros) was purchased by the Prieste with the 30 pieces of lilver after they had been cast down by Judas, as a burial-pboe for strangers, the locality being well known at the time as " the field of the Potter," <» (t^*' kyph¥ rou Kipa/Aws)- See Alford*s notes to Acts i. Ij). And accordingly ecclesiastical tradition appean from the earliest times to have pointed out two distinct (though not unvarying) spots as re- ficrred to in the two accounts. In Jerome's time {OatMo. Achtldatni) the "ager sanguinis" was shown •* ad australem ^ plagam mentis Sion/* Ar- cnlfus (p. 4) saw the " large /^-ttee where Judas hanged hinuelf," certainly in a different place lh)m that of the "smaU field (Aceldama) where the bodies of pilgrims were buried " (p. 6). Saewulf (p. 42) was shown Aceldama " next " to Gethsem- ane, ^^ at the foot of OUvet, near the sepulclu^s of Simeon and Joseph" (Jacob and Zachariaa). hi the ** Citez de Jherusalem " (Rob. ii. 660) the plaee of the suicide of Judas was shown as a stone arch, apparently inside the city, and giving its name to a street. Su- John Maundeville (p. 175) found the " eWer-tre6 " of Judas " fast by " the M image of Absalom; " but the Aceldama "on the other side of Mount Sion towards the south." Maondreil's account (p. 468-9) agrees with this, and » does the laige map of Schultz, on which both sites are marked. Thie Aceldama still retains its ancient position, but the tree of Judas has been tramferred to the " Hill of Evil Counsel " (Stanley, S. ^ P. pp. 105, 188; and Barclay's Map, 1857, and "(S/^" Ac. pp. 75, 208).
The ** field of blood " is now shown on the steep southern £ace of the valley or ravine of Hinnom, near its eastern end; on a narrow plateau (Salz- mann, Etade^ p. 22), more than half way up the hiD-side. Its modem name is Hak ed-damm. It is sepanOed by no enck)sure; a few venerable olive- trees (see Salzmann's photograph, "Champ du tfmg ") occupy port of it, and the rest is covered by a mined square edifice — half built, half excavated — which, perhaps originally a church (Pauli, m Ritter, Pal. p. 464), was in Maundrell's time (p. 468) m use as a charnel-house, and which the latest eooiectares (Schults, WlUiams, and Barclay, p. 207) propose to Identify Mrith the tomb of Ananus (Joseph. B. J, r. 12, § 2). It was believed m the middle ages that the soil of this place had the power of very lapidly consuming bodies buried m it (Sandys, p. 187), and in consequence either of this or of the WKtity of the spot, great quantities of the earth ■en taken away; amongst others by the Pisan Cm-
ACELDAMA
19
« The propbecy referred to by St. Blatthew, Zeeha- ikih (not Jeremiah) xi. 12, 18, does not in the present itete of the Hebrew text agree with the quotation of IM Bvao^list. The Syriac Version omits the name
^ SoaaUos, from whom Jerome translated, has hero jrfioftims. This may be a clerical error, or it may •dd anoCher to the many instanoes existing of the •baage of a tnditioaal aita to meet cbfoumstanosa.
saders in 1218 for then* Campo Santo at Pisa, and by the Empress Helena for that at Rome (Rob. L 355; Raumer, p. 270). Besides the charod-hotMe above mentioned, there are several large hollows hi the ground in this immediate neighborhood which may have been caused by such excavations. The formation of the hill is cretaceous, and it is well known that chalk is always fiivorable to the rapid decay of animal matter. Ihe assertion (Krafft, p. 193; Ritter, Pid. p. 463) that a pottery still exists near this spot does not seem to be borne out by other testunony.c (;.
* There are other views on some of the points unbraced m this article, which deserve to be men- tioned. I'he contradiction said to exist between Matt xxvii. 8 and Acts i. 19 is justly qualified in the Concm DicUonary as ** af^oarent," and hence not neceasarily actual The difficulty turns whoUy upon a smgle word, namely, ^/crijiraro, in Acts 1. 18; and that being susceptible of a two- fold sense, we are at liberty certainly to choose the one which agrees with Matthew's statement, instead of the one eonflicting with it. Many un- derstand iK-Hifforo in Acts as having a Uiphil or causative sense, as Greek verbs, esp^ually in the middle voice, often have (Win. N. T. Or, § 38, 3; Scheuerl. Syntax, p. 298). With this meaning, Luke in the Acts (or Peter, since it may be the latter's remark,) states that Judas by his treachery gave occasion for the purchase of "the potter's field " ; and that is precisely what Matthew states m saying that the priests purchased the field, shioe they did it with the money Aunished to them by the traitor. In like manner we read in the Gos- pels that Jesus when cmcified was put to death by the Roman soldiers; but in Acts v. 80, Peter says to the members of the Jewish Council: — " Whom (Jesus) ye slew, hanging on a tree " : ^ which all accept as meanmg that the Jewish rulers were the means of procuring the Saviour's death. For other examples of this causative sense of verbs, corap. Matt. u. 16, xxvii. 60; John iv. 1; Acts vii. 21, xvi. 23; 1 Cor. vii. 16; 1 Tim. iv. 16, etc. As explaming, perhaps, why Peter chose this concise mode of expression, Fritzsche's remark may be quoted: — I'he man (a sort of acei-ba iirisio) thought to enrich himself by his crime, but only got by it a field where blood was paid for blood {JLvanff. MatL p. 799). Many of the best critics, as Kumoel, Olshausen, Tholuck {MS, noUs), Ebrard ( Witsmsch. Kritik, p. 543), Baumgarten, {Apo8UUf€9ch, p. 81), Lange (Bibelwerk, i. 409), Lechler {Der AposL Gesck. p. 14), Robhison (ffar- many, p. 227), Andrews {Life of our Lord, p. 511), and others, adopt this explanation.
It does not afiect the accuracy of Matthew or Luke whether "tha field of blood" which they mention was the present Aceldama or not ; for they aflten nothmg as to its position beyond implying that it was a "potter's field" near Jerusalem.
' •KnOt'B statement is (Topognqtkie Jerwatems, p. 198) that he saw people cutting or digging up oUy there (Erde sttehen), and not that they worked It up on the ground. Schults, ttie Prussian consul (Jeru$a^ lem, eine Vorlentng, p. 39), and Porter ( Giant CUiu, p. 147), speak of a bed of clay in that plac^. See, also, Williams's Holjf CUy, U. 495. There is a potteiy at Jerusalem at present, for which the clay is obtained flrom the hill over the valley of Hinnom. H.
rf •The A. V. strangely minreprasenta the Greek here, as if the putting to death of Jesus was prior t© the crocUixion. u
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20
ACELDAMA
Nor d JOB the existence of traditions which point | 3ut different spots as **the field,*' prove that the first Christians recognized two different accounts, t. e. a contradiction in the statements of Matthew and Luke; for the variant traditions are not old mough (that of Arculf a.d. 700) to be traced to any such lource. Vet it is not impossible that the potter's fidd which the Jews purchased may actually be the present Aceldama, which overlooks the \'alley of Uinuom. llie receptacles for the dead which ap- pear in the rocks in that quarter show that the ancient Jews were accustomed to bury there.
It is usually assumed that Judas came to his miserable end on the very field which bad been bought with his 30 pieces of silver. It was for a twofoW reason, sa}-s I jghtfoot {IJor. Iftbr. p. 690), tliat the field was called Aceldama; first, because, as stated in Matt, xxvii. 7, it had been bought with the price of blood; and, secondly, because it was sprinkled with the man's blood who took that price. Such congruities often mark the retributions of guilt. Yet it should be noted that l^ke does not say in so many words that Judas " fell headkmg and burst astmder " on the field purchased with his ** reward of iniquity '* ; but may mean that the fidd was called Aceldama because the fact of the trai- tor's bloody end, whether it occurred in one place or another, was so notorious {yvwrrhy iyiv^o • . • fioTc KhriB^vax)' In either case there is no incon- sistency betwem the two reasons assigned by Mat- thew and Luke for the appeUation : the field could be called Acddama with a double emphasis, both because it was " the price at blood," and because the guilty man's blood was shed there by his own hand.
Further, the giving of the 80 pieces of silver, ** the price of him that was valued," for tlie ** pot- ter's field," fulfilled an O. T. prophecy. But why the evangelist (Matt, xxvii. 9) should refer this prophecy to Jeremiah, and not Zechariah (Zecli. xl. 12, 13), in whom the words are found, is a question not easy to answer. Possibly as the Jews (according to the Talmudic order) pbced Jeremiah at the head of the prophets, his name is cited merely as a general title of the prophetic writings. Bee Davidson's BibL Ci-iticUm^ i. 330. Dr. E. Robinson {Harmony ^ p. 227) agrees with those who think 3(& roi; Tpo^^ov may be the true reading, but certainly against the external testimony. The view of Hengstenberg is that though Zediariah's prophecy was directly Messianic and that of Jere- miah ante-Messianic and national, yet they both really prophesy one truth (namely, that the people who spurn God's mercies, be Uiey his prophets and their warnings or Christ and his Gospel, shall be them8el\'es spumed); and hence MatUiew in effect quotes them both, but names Jeremiah only because he was better known, and because Zechariah incor- porates the older prophecy with his own so as to give to the latter the effect of a previous fulfillment as a pledge for the future: the common truth taught in the two passages, and the part of **■ the potter " ■o conspicuous in them, being supposed sufficient to admonish the reader of this relation of the proph- ecies to each other. See his Christolot/y of the 0. T. ii. 187 ff., § 9 (Keith's trans.). So f^ a critic ■8 Grotius {AnnotL ad loc.) takes nearly the same view: — "Cum autem hoc dictum Jeremite per Zach. repetitum hie recitat Matt., simul ostendit ^acite, eas pcenas imminere Judieis, quas iidem propbBtie ohm sui temporis hominibus pnedix- crani." For other opinions, which nmy be thought.
ACHAN
however, to iUustrate rather than solve the diA* culty, see Dr. Schaff's edition of Lange's Common-' tary, i. 505. H.
ACHA'IA (*AYota) signifies in the N. T. » Koman province, wuidi included the whole of th» Peloponnesus and the greater part of Hellas proper, with the adjacent islands, lliis province, with that of Macedonia, comprehended the whole of Greece : hence Achaia and Macedonia are frequently mentioned together in the N. T. to indicate aU Greece (Acts xviii. 12, 27, xix. 21; Kom. xv. 26, xvi. 5 [T. K., but here *Kcias is the true reading] ; 1 Cor. xvi. 15; 2 Cor. i. 1, ix. 2, xi. 10; 1 'ITiesa. i. 7, 8). A narrow slip of country upon tlie northern coast of Peloponnesus was originally c:dled Achaia, the cities of which were confedo^ited in an ancient I^eague, which was renewed ui u.c. 280 for the purpose of resisting the Macedonians, lliia I^eague subsequently included several of the other Grecian states, and became the most powerful po- litical body in Greece; and hence it was natural for the Komans to apply the name of Achaia to the Peloponnesus and the south of Greece, when they took Corinth and destroyed the l.eague in u.c. 146. (KaAot/crt 3i ovk *EAA<£5oy ^lAA' 'Axata; r,y€fi6ya ol 'Pcfificuoif 3i<fri ixfip<l^<un-o "EWrjyas 8i* *Axcuuy r6Tf rov *EWriyiKOv xpotart\K6r(av^ Pans. vii. 16, § 10). Whether the Koman province of Achaia was established immediately aher the conquest of the I^jcague, or not till a Inter period, need not be discussed here (see Diet, of Otot/i', i. 17). In the division of the provinces by Augus- tus between the emperor and the senate in n.c. 27, Achaia was one of the provinces assigned to the senate, and was governed by a proconsul (Strab. xvii. p. 840; Dion. 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 province governed by a procurator (Tac. Arm, I. 76); but Claudius restored it to the senate (Suet. CUmd, 25). lliis was its condition when Paul was brought be- fore Gallio, who is therefore (Acts xviii. 12) cor- rectly called the "proconsul" {k^xnraros) ot Achaia, which is translated in the A. V. " deputy " of Achahu [For the relation of Achaia to Hellas, see Gkeece, adjin.]
ACHAICUS {*AxaXK6s), name of a Chris- Uan (1 Cor. xvi. 17, subscription No. 25).
A'CHAN il^V, iroubler; written ^DV in 1
Chr. ii. 7: "Axoi' or "Axap' Achan or Acknr)^ an Israelite of the tribe of Judah, who, when Jericho and all that it contamed were accursed and de\'oted to destruction, secreted a portion of the spoil in his tent. For this sin Jehovah punished Israel by th^ defeat in th^ attack upon Ai. AA'hen Achan confessed his guilt, and the booty was discovered, he was stoned to death vrith his whole family by the people, ui a valley situated between Ai and JericLo, and their remains, together with his prop- erty, were burnt. From this e\'ent the valley re- ceived the name of Achor (t. e. trouble) [Achok]. From th^ similarity of the name Achan to Achar, Joshua said to Achan, " Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord sliall trouble thee this day" (Josh, vii.). In order to account for the terrible ven- geance executed upon the family of Achan, it is quite unnecessary to resort to the hypothesis that tJbey were accomf^ces in his act of inilitary insub- ordination. The sanguinary severity of Oriental nations, from which the Jewish people were by no
Digitized by V^OOQIC
ACHAR
■neans free, has in all ages involved the children in :he pnnia^tnait of the fiUher. R. W. B.
« The name occurs Josh. viL 1, 18, 19, 20, 24, zxii. 20. A.
A'CHAB 05^ : 'Kxh' 'ic*'"')- A variar tion of the name of Achan wliich seems to have arisen firom the pUj upon it given in 1 Chr. ii. 7,
« Achw, the troubler (-13*^37 'deer) of Israel."
W.A W.
ACH'BOR ("^"^a?? [motwe] : *Axo$(ip [also
'AX»3d^, *AKXO$(ip]' Achobor). 1. Father of Bkil-4ianan, king of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 38, 39; 1 Chr. i. 49).
2. Son of Michaiah, a contemporary of Josiah (2 K. xiu. 12, 14; Jer. xxvi. 22, xxxvi. 12), called Abdon in 2 Chr. xxxiv. 20.
A'CHAZ ("AxaC" Achaz). Ahaz, king of Jndah (Matt i. 9). W. A W.
ACHIACH'ARUS QAxidxapos, [FA. and Sin.] AxctX'V^^* [Ax**«X*V<**» Ax€<«ap, etc.]), t. e. I'l"^™'*™ = PoBtumus : Achickarus). Chief minister, ** cupbearer, and keeper of the sig- net, 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, behig the son of his brother Anad, and supported him in his blindness till he left Nineveh. From the occorrenoe of the name of Aman in xiv. 10, it has been conjectured that Achiacharus is but the Jewish name for Mordecai, whose history suggested some points which the author of the book of Tobit worked up into his narrative; but there is no res^ eon to have recourse to such a supposition, as the discrepancies are much more strongly marked than the lesemblanceB. W. A. W.
ACHI^AS (Achiw). Son of Phinees; high- priest and progenitor of Esdras (2 Esdr. i. 2), but <»nitiAi1 both in the genealogies of Ezra and 1 Es- dras. He is probably confounded with Ah\jah, the son of Ahitub and grandson of Eli. W. A. W.
A'CHIM CAx€/A^ Matt. L 14), son of Sadoc, and fiither 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
^>2^ Jachin (Gen. xlvL 10; 1 Chr. xxiv. 17), ^ueb in the latter place the LXX. render 'Axifi, [Rom. ed.], or *Ax«iM [Y^^- ? Alex. laYfi", Comp. ^laxtifh AU. •Ax^»'J' It is a short rorm of Je- boiachin, the Lord taill estobUth. The name, per- haps, indicates him as successor to Jehoiachin's throne, and expresses his parents' &ith that God would, in due time, ettalUsk the kingdom of Da- vid, aceotding to the promise in Is. ix. 7 (6 in the Heb. Bib.) and elsewhere. A. C. H.
A'CHIOR ('Ax«6p, t. e. "1*TK»nS, the brother ofHgkt; comp. Num. xxxiv. 27: Achior: foiifomided with 'Axwixopof, Tob. xi. 18), a gen- jnl of the Ammonites in the army of Holofemes, vbo Is afterwards repnsentod as becoming a prose- lyte to Judaism (Jud. v., vi., xiv.). B. F. W.
A'CHISH (C?'»?W : AtxoOj; [Alex. In 1 K. \-yxif; C<«np. 'Aicx^J, in 1 K. Ax^jO Achit), % I'hilistine king at Gath, son of Maoch, who in the title to the 34th Psahn is called Abimelech
(possibly corrupted from "FfbD D'^^K). David
AOHSAH
21
twice found a refuge with him when he fled from Saul. On the first occasion, bdng recognized by the sorants of Achish as one celebrated for his victories over the Philistines, he was alarmed for his safety, and feigned madness (1 Sam. xxi. Ii)- 13). [David.] From Achish he fled to the cav? of AduUam. On the second occasion, David fle^ to Achish with 600 nien (1 Sam. xxvU. 2), and remained at Gath a year and four mouths.
Whether the Achish [son of Maachoh] to whom Shimei went in disobedience to the commands of Solomon (1 K. ii. [39,] 40), be the same person is uncertain. R. W. B.
* In the title of the 34ih Psalm, Abimelech (which see) may be the royal title, and Achish in the history the personal name, as Hengstenbeig, Da Wette, Lengerke remark. Fiirst (ffandwb, s. V.) regards Achish as Phllistian and probably k serpent-charmer. The name occurs also 1 Sam. xxvii. 3-12, xxviii. 1, 2, xxix. 2-9. H.
ACHITOB (Axit4/3 [Vat. -vci-]: Achi- tob). Aiirrun, the high-priest (1 Esdr. viii. 2; 2 Esdr. i. 1), in the gen^ogy of Esdras.
W. A. W.
ACHTtfETHA. [Ecbatana.]
A'CHOR, VALLEY OF, (^^:2^ p^? : [ipdpay^ *Apc<i>p,] *EfifKax^pi [Hos. Koikh 'Ax^p' '^^J Achor) = valley of trouble^ ac- cording 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 Is. Ixv. 10; Hos. ii. 15). It was known in the time of Jerome ( Onom. s. v.), who describes it as north of Jericho; but this is at vari- ance with the course of the boundary m Joshua (Keil's Joshua, p. 131). G.
*No trace of the name is found any fonger. Yet Achor *> was situated at all events near Gilgal and the West-Jordan heights " (Knobel, Josua, p. 116 ). It is a valley " that runs up from Gilgal to- ward Bethel" (Thomson's Land and Book, ii. 185). The prophet's alluuon in Hos. ii. 15 is not so much to the place as to the meaning of the
name. "And I vrtll give her the valley of
Achor for a door of hope," u c. through " trouble," through affliction and discipline, gA will prepare His people for greater blessings than they vrouM otherwise be fitted to have bestowed on them. H.
ACH'SA (nD55 : A<rx<i; Alex. Ax<ra; [Comp. 'Ofd''] Achsa), Daughter of Caleb, 01 Chelubai, Uie son of Hezron (1 Chr. iL 49).a [Caleb.] W. A. W.
ACH'SAH (nOD? [anklet]: Acrx^; [Alex. Comp. in Josh., Ax<ra: Axa), daughter of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, the Kenezite. Her fiither promised her in marriage to whoever should take Debir, the ancient name of which (according to the amdogy of Kirjath-Arba, the ancient name of Hebron) was Rirjath-Sepher (or as in Josh. xv. 49, Kirjath-Sanna), the city of the book. Othniel, her fistther's younger brother, took the dty, and ac- cordingly received the hand of Achsah as his re- ward. C!aleb at his daughter's request added to her dowry the upper and lower springs, which she had pleaded for as peculiariy suitable to her inher- itance in a south country (Josh. xv. 16-19. Sea
a * Achsa is merely an incorrect form wfateh In mod* em ecUtlniis of A. Y. has been snbetitated for Aehsah, the reading of the first and other early editions. A.
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22
ACHSHAPH
Btoiiley's S. ./ P. p. 101). [Guluxth.] The Btorj is repeAted in Judg. i. 11-15. Achuli is mentioned again, as being the daughter of Caleb, in 1 Chr. ii. 49. But there is much confusion in the genealogy of Caleb there given. [Achsa; Caleb.] A. C. H.
ACH'SHAPH e^itt^rW [fiucination, or
magic rites] : 'Aff^ [Vat. Af«^], Ko*<£i|/ [?] and Ktd^'j [Akx. Ax**^, Ax<rwp; Comp, Xcurdtp, *Axaff<ip; Aid. 'Axti^, 'Apctrd^:] Achtapk, Ax- njA), a city within the temtory of Asher, named between Beten and Alammekch (Josh. xix. 25); originally the seat of a Canaanite king (xi. 1, xii. 20). It is possibly the modem Kesof, ruins bear- ing which name were found by Bobinson (ill. 55) on the N. W. edge of the HuUh. But more prob- ably the name h^ survived in Chaifa [on the sea, at the foot of the north side of Mount Carmelj, 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. If this suggestion b correct, the LXX. rendering, Kc<i^, exhibits the name in the process of change frt)ra the ancient to the modem form. G.
ACH'ZIB (3^?^ [/«&€Aoocq: KefTiS, [Vat. KcCctiS; Alex. AxCc^> « prima ma$m\ 'AxC</5; [Comp. 'Axf^iBO Achzib). L A city of Juaan, hi the Shefeiah (Sephela), named with Keilah and Mareshah (Josh. xv. 44, Micah i. 14). The latter passage contains a play on the name: " The houses
of Achzib (n'^TpH) shaO be a lie (nTpS)." It is probably the same with Chezib and Chozeda, which see.
2. [In Josh., 'ExoC<JiS; Alex. aCci^, **AxC€«f (so Aid.); Comp. 'Axa^fiS; — in Judg. 'Acrvail [Vat. -^«]; Akx. A<rx«i^««; Aid. 'Axaff^iS; Comp. ^Atfxa^iS.] A town belonging to Asher (Josh. xix. 29), from which the Canaanites were not expelled (Judg. 1. 31); afterwards Ecdippa (Jos. B. /. i. 13, § 4, ^'E.KZimwv). Josephus also {AnL v. 1, § 22) gives the name as 'Apiri> . . . . ^ koI ^EkZUtovs. Here was the ComU Huberti of the CrusaderB (Schulx; Bitter, Pal p. 782); and it b now es-Zib^ on the sea-shore at the mouth of the Nahr IlerdawU, 2 h. 20 m. N. of Akka (Bobinson, iil. 628; and comp. Maundrell, p. 427). After the return fhnn Babyfon, Achzib was considered by the Jews as the northernmost limit of the Holy Land. Hee the quotations fW>m the Gemara in Belaud (p. 544). G.
ACITHA CAxifid [Vat -x€i-] ; Alex. Avi^pa; [Aid. 'Aki^O Agista). Hakupha (1 Ksdr. v. 31). W. A. W.
ACITHO ([Alex.] »Ajcie«ii', [Comp. Aid. */iKi0^t] probably an error for *Axtrt&fi [which b
the readuag of Sm.]: Achiiob, i. e. IS^ttD^Ph?, t9$td brother)^ Jnd. viii. 1; comp. 2 Esdr. L 1.
B. F. W. ACRABATTI'NB. [Arabattine.]
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES {wpd^tts AwMTT^Xwr, Acta Apottolorum)^ a second treatise (itvrtpos X^f) by the author of the third Gos- pel, traditionslly known as I^cas or Luke (which •ee). The identity of the writer of both books b strongly shown by their great similarity in style and Ulionu and the usage of particubr words and ■ompound forms. The theories which assign the book to oUier authors, or divide it among several.
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
will not stand the test of searching inquiry. They will be found enumerated in Davidson's Intit)d. to the N. T. vol. ii., and Alford's prolegomena to voL ii. of hb edition of the Greek Testament. It must be confessed to be, at first sight, somewhat surpris- ing that notices of the author are so entirely want- ing, not only in the book itself, but also, generally, in the Epbtles of St. Paul, whom he must have accompanied for some yean on hb traveb. But our surprise b removed when we notice the habit of the Apostle with regard to mentioning hb com- panions to have been very various and uncertain, and remember that no Epbtles were, strictly speak- ing, written by him while our writer was in hb company, before hb Boman imi^risonment; for he does not seem to have joined him at CorinUi (Acts xviii.), where the two £pp. to the These, were written, nor to have been with him at Ephesus, ch. xix., whence, perhaps, the £p. to the Gal. was written ; nor again to have wintered with him at Corinth, ch. xx. 3, at the time of hb writing the Ep. to the Bom. and, perhaps, that to the Gal.
The book commences wiUi an inscription to one Theophilus, who, fix>m bearing the appellation Kod- rtaroSf was probably a man of birth and station. But its design must not be supposed to be limited to the edification of Theophilus, whose name b pre- fixed only, as was customary then as now, by way of dedication. The readers were evidently intended to be the members of the Chrbtian Church, whether Jews or Gentiles; for its contents are such as are of the utmost consequence to the whole church. They are The /ulfiUment of tfie promise of the Father by the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the results of that ontpouring, by the disper- sion of the Gospel among Jews and GetUiles. Under these leading heads all the personal and subordinate detaib may be ranged. Immediately after the Ascension, St. Peter, the first of the Twelve, designated by our Lord as the Bock on whom the Church was to be built, the holder of the keys of the kingdom, becomes the prime actor un- der God in the founding of the Church. He b the centre of the first great group of sayings and do- ings. The opening of the door to Jews (ch. il.) and Gentiles (ch. x.) b hb oflSce, and by him, in good time, b accomplished. But none of (he ex- bting twelve Apostles were, humanly speaking, fitted to preach the Gospel to the cultivated Gen- tile world. To be by divine grace the spiritual conqueror of Asb and Europe, (xod raised up an- other instmment, from among the highly-educated and zealous Pharisees. The preparation of Saul of I'arsus for the woric to be done, the progress, in hb hand, of that work, hb joumeyings, preachings, and perils, hb stripes and imprisonments, hb testi- fying in Jerusalem and being brought to testify in Bome, — these are the subjects of the latter half of the book, of which the great central figure b the Apostle Paul.
Any view which attributes to the writer as hb chief design some coUateral purpose which b served by the book as it stands, or, indeed, any purpose beyond that of writing a foithfU history of such facts as seemed important in the spread of the Gos- pel, b now generally and very properly treated as erroneous. Such a view has become celebrated in modem times, as held by Baur ; — that the purpose of the writer was to compare the two great Apostles, to show that SL Paul did not depart from the prin- ciples which r^ulated St. Peter, and to exalt hinc at e^wy opportunity by comparison with St, Peter.
Digiti
zedbyV^OOgle
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
The reader need hardly be raminded how little any such purpose is bwne out by the contents of the book itadf ; nay, how naturally they woidd follow their j^esent sequence, without any such thought having been in the writer's mind. Doubtless many ends are answered and many results brought out by the book as its narrative proceeds: as e. g. the rgection of the Gospel by the Jewish people every- where, and its gradual transference to the G^itiles; and others whkh might be easily gathered up, and made by ingenious hypothesizers, such as Baur, to appear as if the writer were bent on each one in its turn as the chief ol^ject of his work.
As to the time when and place at which the book was written, we are left to gather them en- tirely fipom indirect notices. It seems most proba- ble that the place of writing was Rome, and the time about two years finom the date of St. Paul's arrival there, as related in ch. xxviii., sub Jin, Had any conskicrable alteration in the Apostle's circumstances taken place before the publication, there can be no reason why it should not have been noticed. And on other accounts also, this time was by fiu* the most likely for the publication of the book. The arrival in Rome was an important period in the Apostle's life: the quiet which suc- ceeded it seemed to promise no immediate deter- mination of his cause. A large amount of historic material had been collected in Judaea, and during the various missionary journeys; or, taking another and not leas probable view, Nero was beginning to andergo that change for the worse which disgraced the latter porticm of his reign : none could tdl how soon the whole outward repose of Roman society might be shaken, and the tacit toleration which the Christians ei^joyed be exchanged for bitter per- secution. If such terrors were inmiinent, there would surdy be in the Roman Church prophets and teachers who might tell them of the storm which was gathering, and warn them that the records lying ready for publication must be given to the fidthfU before its outbreak or event.
Sndi a priori considerations would, it is true, weigh but little against presumptive evidence ftir- nisUBd by the book itself; but arrayed, as they are, in aid <jr such eridence, they carry some weight, when we find that the time naturally and &irly in- dicated in the book itself for its publication is that one of aD others when we should conceive that pub- Eeation most likely.
This would give us for the publicittion the year S3 A. D., acoordmg to the most probable assign- ment of the date of the arrival of St. Paul at Rome.
The genuineness of the Acts of the Apostles has ever ben recognized in the Church. It is men- tloned by Einebius {IT. E, iii. 25) among the bftoXoyoifi^rai deuu ypoupai. It is first directly quoted in the epbtle of the churches of Lyons and Vienne to those of Asia and Phrygia (a. d. 177); thra repeatedly and expressly by Iremeus, Clement of Alexandria, TertuUian, and so onwards. It was rgeeted by the Mardonites (cent iii.) and Mani- :h«an8 (cent iv.) as contradicting some of their wttooa. In modtfn Germany, ^ur and some others have attempted to throw discredit on it, and fix iti publication in the second century, mainly by awHiming the hypothesis impugned above, that it ii an apology for St. PauL But the riew has feond no bvor, and would, ere this, have been for- gotten, had it not been for the ability and subtlety Viti chief supporter.
The text of the Acti of the Apostles is very fhll
ACTS OP THE APOSTLES 28
cf various readings; more su than any other book of the N. T. To this several reasons may have contributed. In the many backward references k Gospel history, and the many anticipations of state- ments and expressions occurring in the Epistles, temptations abounded for a corrector to try his hand at assimilating, and, as he thought, reconcil- ing the various accounts. In places where ecclesi- astical order or usage was in question, insertions or omissions were made to suit the habits and views of the Chiuch in aftertimes. Wliere the narrative simply related fiusts, any act or word apparently unworthy of the apostoUc agent was modified for the sake of decorum. Where St Paul repeats to different audiences, or the writer himself narrates the details of his miraculous conversion, the one passage was pieced fh)m the other, so as to produce verbal accordance. There are in this book an un- usiml number of those remarkable interpolations of considerable length, which are found in the CoAex. Bezae (D) and its cognates. A critic of some em- inence, Bomemann, believes that the text of the Acts originally contained them all, and has been abbreviated by correctors; and he has* published an edition in which they are inserted in ftill. But, while some of them bear an appearance of genuine- ness (as e. g. that in ch. xii. 10, where, after i^9\e6vTtSy is added Karifitivav robs iirrk $00- fjLovsy Kol) tlie greater part are unmeaning and ab- surd (e. g. that in ch. xri. 39, where we read after i^t\6€iyf — th6yT€Sf ^Hyvo^aaiiw ri KoXt iftas 5ti icrrh Ay9pfs 5/wcuoc* icol 4^ayay6irr€S Tope- Kd\€ffay avTohs \4yoyr(S 'Eic t^j toXcws ra^rns i^4K$aT€ fi'fiTOTt T(l\iy avvcrrpi/^wriv rjfuy Iki- KpdCovrcs Koff huSiv),
The most remarkable ex^tical works and mon- ographs on the Acts, beside commentaries on the whole N. T. [Alford, Wordsworth, DeWettc, Meyer, Lechler in I^mge's Bibelwerk]^ are Baumgarten, ApofUlgeschichU^ oder der EntwickeUmgsgang der Kirche wn Jerusalem bis Rom, Halle, 1852 [2d ed. 1859, £ng. trans. Edinb. 1854; Zeller, Die Aposidgeschidite nach ihrem Inhalt u, Urtpnmg hit. untersucht, Stuttg. 1854, first publ. m the TheoL Jahi-b. 1849-51 ; and] I^ebusch, Die Com- position und Entstthung der Apostelgeschichte von Neuem wUersucht, Gotha, 1854.
The former of these work is a very complete treatise on the Christian-historical development of the Church as related in the book : the latter is of more value as a critical examination of the various theories as to its composition and authorship. [Zel- ler's is the ablest attack on its genuineness and au- thenticity.]
Valuable running historical comments on the Acts are also found in Neander's PJlnnzung u. Leitung der ChiiBtlichen Kirdie durch die AposfeL, 4th ed., Hamburg, 1847 [Eng. trans, by Ryland in Bohn's Stand. Library, 1851, rerised and cor- rected by E. G. Robinson, N. Y. 1865]; Cony- beare and Howson*s Life and Epistles of SL Paul^ 2d ed., Lond. 1856. Professed commentaries have been published by Mr. Humphry, Lond. 1847, [2d ed. 1854], and Professor Hackett, Boston, U. S. 1852 [enlarged ed. 1858, and Dr. J. A. Alex- ander, New York, 1857]. H. A.
•Add to the collateral helps Paley's IIonB Paul- nas ; Biscoe, The History of the Acts of the Apos- tles confirmed^ etc., Lond. 1742, new ed. Oxf. 1841 ; Meyer, J. A. G., Versuch einer Vertheidig- ung d. Gesch. Jesu «. d. Apostel alldn aus griedi, u. rdm. Profanscribenienj 1805; Megier, Diss, d^
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24 ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
lAKm iL^iowurrlt^ in scribendo ActL Aposi. lAbro^ Hag. Com. 1827 ; Biittger's Beitrage zur EmL m dU PauUtmchcn Brief e^ 1837-38; Birks'i Hoi-oi Apoitolica ; Lewiirs Life and Epistles of £t Patd^ 2 vol.. I^nd. 1861; Dr. Howson on the Character <(f si Paid (Hulaean I^tures for 1862); Lang«, ApoU. ZeitaUer^ 1853-54; Dr. Schafl's History of the Apostohc Church, N. Y. 1854, p. 191 ff.; Lechler, Das apostol. u. d, nachapostd, Zeitalter^ 2d ed., 1857 ; Pressens^, Htsioire des trots premieis sikdes de t£gUse Chretienne, l*ari«, 1858, i. 348 S,% Ewald, Gtsch. d. cgpost. Zeitalters, Gott. 1858 (Bd. vi. of his Gesch, d Voikes Israel) ; an art. in the Christian Examiner for July, 1861, on the "Origin and Composition of tiie Acts of the Apostles'': the AbW Vidal, Saint Paul, sa vie et ses cBuvreg, 2 vol., Paris, 1863; Vaughan, C. A., llie Churdt of the First Bays, 3 vol., Lond. 1864-65; SniiUi, James, Voyage and Shiptcredc of St. Paul, 3d ed., Lond. 1866; and Kloster- mann, Vindicia Lucante, seu de Itineraru in Libro ActL asservato Auctore, Gotting. 1866.
On the chronoloffy, see particuloriy Anger, De Temporum m Actis AposL Ratione, lips. 1833, and Wieseler, Chronologie des (yMsloL ZntaUers, Gott 1848. H. and A.
* Some additional remarics will here be made upon the theory of the Tiibingen school respecting the authorship of the book of Acts. This theory proceeds upon the assumption that Peter and the rest of the original disciples of Christ were Judaiz- ers; i. e., that they insisted upon the circumcision of tiie Gentile convots to Christianity, as an indis- pensable condition of fellowship. Consequently, according to Dr. Baur, Peter and Paul and the two branches of the church of which they were respec- tively the leaders were placed in a relation of hos- tility to one another. After the death of these Apmtles, various attempts were made to produce a reconciliation between the opposing parties. The book of Acts, it is claimed, is the product of one of these irenical or compromising efforts. A Paul- ine Christian in the eariier part of the second cen- tury composes a half-fictitious history, with the de- sign to present Paul in a fav(M«ble light to the Ju- daizers, and Peter in an equally &vorable light to the adherents of Paul. Paul is represented as hav- faig circumcised Timothy, and as having in other points conformed to the Judaizing principles; whilst Peter, on the other hand, in the afiair of Cornelius and on other occasions, and the Jerusalem Church (in the narrative of Apostolic convention, for exam- ple), are made out to agree almost with the tenets of Paul. One feature of Dr. Baur*s system was the rgection of the genuineness of all the Pauline Epistles, save the two Epistles to the Coiinthians, the Epistle to the Romans and that to the Gala- tians. The following remarks form the heads of a conclusive argument against the Tiibingen theory.
1. Paul's general style of reference to the other Apostles, in the Epistles acknowledged to be genu- ine, is inconsistent with that theory. He and they form one company, and are partakers of com- •non afflictions. See 1 Cor. iv. 9 seq., 1 Cor. xv. 5 seq. In the last passage (ver. 9) he styles him- Klf "the least of the Apostles." When both Epistles were written, he was engaged in collecting a contribution for "the saints" at Jerusalem. The last two chapters of the Epistle to ihe Komans, which show the friendship of Paul for the Jewish CShristians, are, on quite insufficient grounds, de-
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
nied to be genuine by Baur. There is no i able doubt of thdr genuineness.
2. Paul's account of his conference with tha Apostles at Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 1 sc^.) — the pas- sage on which Baur chiefly relies for the establish- ment of his thesis — really overthrows it. The " fiedse brethren " (ver. 4) were not Apostles, bo* the &ction of Judaizers. Of the Apokles Peter, James, and John, he says (ver. 9) when they " per- ceived the grace that toas given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship?'* The sincerity of this act of fellowship is proved, if proof were needed, by the arrangement made for the contribution for the poor, to be gathered by Paul from the Gentile Churches (ver. 10). The controversy with Peter (vo*. 11 seq,) was not about a principle, but was occasioned by the circumstance that the latter did " not walk vprightly,^^ or was false to his ccmvictions. The ciroumcision of 1 un> otliy, as recorded in Acts, is not rendered improb- able by the ref\isal of Paul (Gal. ii. 3) to circum- cise Titus, since Titus was a heathen by birth, and Timothy was circtuncised, not to comply with a demand of Judaizers, but to conciliate Jews. In the latter case, no principle was sacrificed ; see 1 Cor. ix. 20. The right interpretation of Gal. ii. removes the objections brought to the credibility of the narrative, in Acts xv., of the Apostolic conven- tion. In the light of this interpretation, the prin- cipal objections of the Tiibingen school to the cred- ibility of the book of Acts, as a whole, vanish. But some of the positive proofs of the genuinenen of this book may be here briefly stated. •
1. The testimony of the author, especially when we consider the form in which it is given. It is generally conceded that the third Gospel and Acti are by the same author. This author declarei (Luke i. 2) that he derived his information iVom eye-witnesses and contemporaries. The passages in Acts (xvi. 11, XI. 5-15, xxi. 1-18, Xxvii. 1, xxviii. 17) in which the writer speaks in the first person plural — the so-called "we" passages — prove him to have been a companion of Paul. The theory that Acts is a compilation of documents being un- tenable, we are obliged to suppose dther that the writer was a partjoipant in the events recorded, or that he has introduced a document, retaining the pronominal peculiarity on purpose to deceive the reader. This last hypothesis is advocated by Zel- ler. Bleek's theory that a document from Unio- thy is artlessly introduced without any notice to the reader, is refuted by the circumstance that, in language and style, the passages in question cor- respond with the rest of the book.
2. The moral spirit of the book is inconsistent with the ascription of it to forgery and intentional deception. See, for example, the narrative of Ana- nias and Sapphira.
3. llie relation of Acts to the Paulme Epistles proves the genuineness and credibility of the for- ma*. Both the coincidences and diversities make up this proof. It is exhibited in part in Paley's fforce PauUnm. The Acts is seen to be an inde- pendent narrative.
4. An examination of the contents of the Acts will show the untenable character of the Tiibingen hypotiiesis. See, for example. Acts i. 21, 22, where another Apostle is chosen to fU up t}te number of the twelve^ — a passage which an author such as Baiur describes would never have written. See also Acts xxi. 15 seq., especially vers. 20, 21, whero the believing Jews who are zealous for the
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AOUA
icir an deekred to be ** maoy thowaaiMJH *' (jiupt- ii^f). See ftbo Puil'i deouBciatioa of tbe Jewi, AtU xxviU. 25 seq.
The hwt^H'tir'^ ditcrepuicies whieh the critics find in Acts are such as, if they were made out to exist, prove no ** tendency ** or partisan purpose in the work, but only show that the author, like other credible historians, is not free from inaccura- cies. Tbe speeches are doubtless given or repro- duced in the language of Luke himselt Their his- torical credibility is shown by Tholuck {TheoL Sttidien «. KrUikeu, 1839, U.).
In the defence of the Tiibingen hypothesis, «e Baur, I>u ChritUnihum u, die ch^iUhche Kirche dtr drti enien Jahrkundet'ten, 2e Ausg., 1860; slao, htt PanUu ; and Zeller, Dit Apostalyeschichte. In the refutation of this hypothesis, see Eduard lAehiisch, Dit Competition it. UnUiehung dtr ApoOdgtMchichU^ 1854; Professor Hackett, Conu meatary on the AcU, revised ed. 1858 (both hi the introduction and in the exegesis of the passages pertaining to the controversy); Meyer, Apoelelt/e- tckichU; Ligfatfoot, Kp. to the GalitianSy Carab. 1865, Diss. iiL SL Paid and the Thtee^ pp. 276- i46; and Fisher's Eseay$ on the Supernatural Origin of Chrittianityy New York, 1865.
G. P. F.
ACU'A CAico^; [Aid. 'Aicawi:] Accub), Akkub (1 Esdr. v. 30) ; comp. Ear. ii. 45.
W. A. W.
A'CUB CAico^; Alex. Akovm; [Aid. A*roi5i3:] Accaau). Barbuk (1 Esdr. v. 31; comp. Ett. ii. 15). W. A W.
AIXADAH (^7^7? Waived]', 'hpov4iK\
[Alex. Comp. Aid. ASoSi:] Adada), one of tbe eities in the extreme south of Judah named with Dimonah and Kedesb (Josh. xv. 22). It is not Mentioned in the Onomattioon of Eusebius, nor has any trace of it been yet discovered.
A^AH (niy, ornament^ beauty: A5<£:
Ada), 1. The first of the two wives of Lamech, fifth in descent from C^ain, by whom were bom to him Jabal and Jubal ((;en. iv. 1», [20, 23 J).
2. A Uittitess, daughter of Elon, one (probably the first) of the three wives of Eaau, mother of his first-bom son Eliphaz, and so the ancestress of six (or seven) of the tribes of the Edomites (Gen. xxxvL 2, [4,] 10 ff. 15 ff.). In Gen. xxvL 34, she is eaUed Bashemath. F. W. G.
ADA^AH [3 syl.] (n^S [whom Jehovah
odonu]: 'EScmC; fVat E^cimi;] Alex. IcSiSa: Eadala). 1. The maternal gnmd&ther of King Josiah, and native of Boseath in the lowlands of Judah (2 K. xxii. 1).
2. CAM; [Vat. Af«io;] Alex. A5oia: Adala.) A Levtte, of the Gershonite branch, and ancestor of Asaph (1 Chr. vL 41). In ver. 21 he is called
lODO.
3. CAddA»; [Vat. AiSta;] Alex. AAoia: Adala.) X Betyaminite, son of Shimhi (1 Chr. viiL 21), «ho is apparently the same as Shema in ver. 13.
4. (Alex. SoStftf, AZaia'- Adaiiis^ Adaia,) A priest, son of Jeroham (1 Chr. ix. 12; Neh. xi. 12), who returned with 242 of his brethren from Baby- lon.
6. CASo^: AdaXa.) One of the descendants •f Bani, who had married a foreign wife alter the retora from Babylon (Ezr. x. 29). He is called iUDEVB in 1 Esdr. ix. 30.
ADAM
25
6. CA9cda] Alex. A3«iar; FA. A99tafi: AdiOa*,) The descendant of another Bani, who had abo taken a foreign wife (Ezr. x. 39.)
7. (Alex. Axom; [Vat.] FA AoAfa: AdaXa.) A man of Judah of the Une of Pharez (Ndi. xi. 6).
8. (^tnjll? : 'ASra; [Vat 'Afcio, 2. m. A8- cut ;] Alex. ASoia : Adala*, ) Ancestor of Maaseiah, one of the captains who supported Jehoiada (2 Chr. xxiU. 1). W. A. W.
ADAXIA (W;^7W.: Baptd; [Vat. M. Bap- cm; Alex. FA. BopcX; Comp. 'ASoAti:] AdaUa)y a son of Haman (Esth. ix. 8).
* He was massacred by the Jews, together with nine other sons of Haman, in the palace of the Persian king at Shushan, on Haman's dovmM and the elevation of Mordecai to his place as chief min- ister of state (Esth. ix. 6-10). The name is Per- sian, though the fiither was probably an Amalek- ite. H.
ATVAM (C^W: A84^: Adam\ tbe 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
(•■^^7^» ^^' "• ^^" ^^* *^®* ^ redness of cokr seems to be inherent in either word. ((X D^M, I.am. iv. 7; D'"TS, red^ D*"TSI £cfo//», Gen. xxv.
30; D*!!H a why: Arab. aOI) cxjkrt fusoo
pnsditus fuity rvbrum tinxity Ac.) The generic term Adam, man^ becomes, in the case of the first man, a denominative. Supposing tbe Hebrew lan- guage to represent accurately the primary ideas connected 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 tbe name by which he preferred to designate himself was lA
(T**S, a man of substance or worthy (jen. ii. 23). The creation of man was the work of the sixth day. His formation was the ultimate ol^ect of the Creator. It was with reference to him that a& tilings were designed. He was to be the ^* roof and crown " of the whole fi^mc of the world. In the first nine chapters of Genesis there appear to be three distinct hi^ries rebtting more or lees to the life of Adam. The first extends from (jen. L 1 to ii. 3, the second fix>m ii. 4 to iv. 26, the third from V. 1 to the end of ix. llie word at the commence meat of the two latter narratives, which is ren- dered there and elsewhere generations^ may also be rendered history. The style of the second of these records differs very considerably 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 tbe second to give an account of paradise, the orig- inal 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, prindpally in relation to that patri- arch.
The Mosaic accounts ftimish us with v^ few materials from which to form any adequate concep- tion of tbe first man. He is said to have been created in the image and likeness of Cxod, and this
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ADAM
is oommonlj interpreted to mean some super-ez- eoUent and divine condition which was lost at the Fall: apparently, however, without suflScieut reason, as the continuance of this condition is implied in the time of Noah, subsequent to the flood (Gen. ix. 6), and is asserted as a fiict 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; res^ son, understanding, imagination, volition, &c. being attributes 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, was a spirit created to reflect God's righteousness and truth and love, and capable of holding direct inter- course and communion with Him. As long as his will mo\'ed in harmony with God's will, he Mfilled the purpose of his Creator. When he refused sub- mission to God, he broke the law of his existence and fell, introducing oonflision and disorder into the economy of his nature. As much as this we may learn fh>m 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 Adiam was not confined to the fiither of the human race, but like homo was applicable to woman as well as man^ so that we find it is said in Gen. v. 1, 2, " Thb is the book of the * history * of Adam in the day that God created < Adam,' in the likeness of God made He him, nude and female created He them, and called their name Adam in the day when they were created."
The man Adam was placed in a garden which the Lord God had planted ^^eastwanl in Eden," for the purpose of dressing it and keeping it. It is of course hopeless to attempt to idoitify the sit- uation of Eden with that of any district fiEUuiliar to modem geography. There seems good ground for supposing it to have been an actual locality. It was probably near the source of a river which subsequently divided into four streams. These are mentioned by name: Pison is supposed by some to be the Indus, Gihon is taken for the Nile, Hiddekel is called by the LXX. here, and at Dan. X. 4, Tigris, and the foiuth is Euphrates; but how they should have been originally united is unintelligible. 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. Its name would seem to indicate that it had the power of bestowing the consciousness of the difler- erenoe between good and evil ; in the ignorance of which man's innocence and happiness consisted. Hie prohibition to taste the fi*uit of this tree was enforced by the menace of death. There was also imother tree which was called " the tree of life." Some suppose it to have acted as a kind of med- icine, 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 beists of the field and the fowls of the air were brought to him to be named, and whatsoever he called every living creature that was the name thereof. Thus the power of fitly designating objects of sense was possessed by the first man, a fiiculty which is generally considered as indicating mature and extensive intellectual re- sources. Upon the fiiilure of a companion suitable for Adam among the creatures thus brought to him to l)e named, the Ix>rd God caused a deep sleep to
ADAM
fall upon him, and took one of his iibt from hfan, which He fiishioned into a woman and brought bet to the man. Prof. S. Lee supposed the narratiw of the creation of Eve to have been revealed to Adam in his deep sleep (Lee's Jo6, Jntrod, p. 16). This is agreeable with the analogy of similar pas- sages, 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 FaU. Inhere is no narrative of any condition superhuman or contrary to the ordinary laws of humanity, llie 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, r^ost of Him that was to come,'* the second Adam, Christ Jesus (Kom. v. 14). His human excellence, therefore, camiot have been superior to that of the Son of Mary, who was Himself the Pattern and Perfect Man. By the subtlety of the serpent the woman who was given to be ?rith Adam, was b^uiled 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-consciousness was the first fruits of sin; their eyes were opened and they knew that they wero naked.^ llie subsequent conduct of Adam would seem to militate against the noUon that he was in himself the perfection of moral ex- cellence. His cowardly attempt to clear himself by the inculpation of his helpless wife bears no marln of a high moral nature even though fallen ; it was conduct unwortliy 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 transgression, was probably a manifes- tation of Divine meroy, because the greatest male- diction of all wouM have been to have the gift of indestructible life superadded to a state of wretch- edness and sin. When moreov^ we find in l^v. iii. 18, that wisdom is declared to be a tree of lifo to them that lay hold upon her, and in Kev. 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 favorable as that of Adam before the Fall, and their spiritual state the same, with the
a * For an analysis of this first sin of the nce^ th» naturo of the tonptation, and its effects on the mind of Adun, the reader will find Auberlen's remarks in- structjve (Die goUliche Ojfenbarung, i. 164 flf., trans- lated in the Bibl. Sacra^ xxii. 480 ff.). H.
b • The better view of interpreters is that Adam meant to cast the blame of his dn not so much on Ere as on his Maker for having given to him a woman whose example had led him into tran«greaiion. And in that disposition certainly he manifested only a trait of human character that has ever distinguished his descendants, namely, a proneness to find the cause of sin not in their own hearts, but in Qod's relations to them as having ordained the circumstances in which they act, and given to