given to Adino the Eznite, one of David’s greatest

heroes (2 Sam. 23:8); also called Jashobeam (1 Chr.

“Asiarchs,” the title given to certain wealthy

persons annually appointed to preside over the religious

festivals and games in the various cities of proconsular

Asia (Acts 19:31). Some of these officials appear to have

considerable latitude of meaning in Scripture. Thus Joseph

is called a child at the time when he was probably about

sixteen years of age (Gen. 37:3); and Benjamin is so called

when he was above thirty years (44:20). Solomon called

himself a little child when he came to the kingdom (1 Kings

father, David’s second son by Abigail (2 Sam. 3:3);

called also Daniel (1 Chr. 3:1). He seems to have died when

younger son of Elimelech and Naomi, and husband of Orpah,

unknown which, along with Sheba and Asshur, traded with

youngest son of Barzillai the Gileadite (2 Sam. 19:37-40).

The “habitation of Chimham” (Jer. 41:17) was

probably an inn or khan, which is the proper meaning of the

Hebrew geruth, rendered “habitation”,

established in later times in his possession at Bethlehem,

which David gave to him as a reward for his loyalty in

accompanying him to Jerusalem after the defeat of Absalom

(1 Kings 2:7). It has been supposed that, considering the

stationary character of Eastern institutions, it was in the

stable of this inn or caravanserai that our Saviour was

form of the word (Deut. 3:17; Josh. 19:35), which is also

used in the plural form, Chinneroth, the name of a fenced

city which stood near the shore of the lake of Galilee, a

little to the south of Tiberias. The town seems to have

given its name to a district, as appears from 1 Kings

an island in the Aegean Sea, about 5 miles distant from the

mainland, having a roadstead, in the shelter of which Paul

and his companions anchored for a night when on his third

the Babylonians by the Jews after the Captivity for the

third civil, or ninth ecclesiastical, month (Neh. 1:1;

Zech. 7:1). It corresponds nearly with the moon in

form (Gen. 10:4), the name of a branch of the descendants

of Javan, the “son” of Japheth. Balaam foretold

(Num. 24:24) “that ships shall come from the coast of

Chittim, and afflict Eber.” Daniel prophesied (11:30)

that the ships of Chittim would come against the king of

the north. It probably denotes Cyprus, whose ancient

(R.V. marg., “shrine”). The LXX. translated the

word by Rhephan, which became corrupted into Remphan, as

used by Stephen (Acts 7:43; but R.V., “Rephan”).

Probably the planet Saturn is intended by the name.

Astrologers represented this planet as baleful in its

influences, and hence the Phoenicians offered to it human

Christian (1 Cor. 1:11), some of whose household had

informed Paul of the divided state of the Corinthian

of the places where “David himself and his men were

wont to haunt” (1 Sam. 30:30, 31). It is probably

identical with Ashan (Josh. 15:42; 19:7), a Simeonite city

in the Negeb, i.e., the south, belonging to Judah. The word

ought, according to another reading, to be

Bethsaida and Capernaum as one of the cities in which our

Lord’s “mighty works” were done, and which

was doomed to woe because of signal privileges neglected

(Matt. 11:21; Luke 10:13). It has been identified by

general consent with the modern Kerazeh, about 2 1/2 miles

15:4; Judg. 20:16), of the Hebrew nation (Ps. 105:43; Deut.

7:7), of Jerusalem as the seat of the temple (1 Kings

11:13). Christ is the “chosen” of God (Isa.

42:1); and the apostles are “chosen” for their

work (Acts 10:41). It is said with regard to those who do

not profit by their opportunities that “many are

as Chezib and Achzib, a place in the lowlands of Judah

translation of the Hebrew word rendered “Messiah”

(q.v.), the official title of our Lord, occurring five

hundred and fourteen times in the New Testament. It denotes

that he was anointed or consecrated to his great redemptive

work as Prophet, Priest, and King of his people. He is

Jesus the Christ (Acts 17:3; 18:5; Matt. 22:42), the

Anointed One. He is thus spoken of by Isaiah (61:1), and by

Daniel (9:24-26), who styles him “Messiah the

Greeks or Romans, probably in reproach, to the followers of

Jesus. It was first used at Antioch. The names by which the

disciples were known among themselves were

“brethren,” “the faithful,”

“elect,” “saints,”

“believers.” But as distinguishing them from the

multitude without, the name “Christian” came into

use, and was universally accepted. This name occurs but

three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet.

his disciples that they would arise (Matt. 24:24). It is

said that no fewer than twenty-four persons have at

different times appeared (the last in 1682) pretending to

days, (1 Kings 14:19; 1 Chr. 27:24), the daily or yearly

records of the transactions of the kingdom; events recorded

books were originally one. They bore the title in the

Massoretic Hebrew Dibre hayyamim, i.e., “Acts

of the Days.” This title was rendered by Jerome in his

Latin version “Chronicon,” and hence

“Chronicles.” In the Septuagint version the book

is divided into two, and bears the title Paraleipomena,

i.e., “things omitted,” or

“supplements”, because containing many things

Chr. 27:24) were statistical state records; one of the

public sources from which the compiler of the Books of

Chronicles derived information on various public

of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of

the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era

according to which they date events. Sometimes the years

are reckoned, e.g., from the time of the Exodus (Num. 1:1;

33:38; 1 Kings 6:1), and sometimes from the accession of

kings (1 Kings 15:1, 9, 25, 33, etc.), and sometimes again

precious stone of the colour of leek’s juice, a

alliance with Egypt in the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The word

is found only in Ezek. 30:5. They were probably a people of

Northern Africa, or of the lands near Egypt in the

Hadarezer, king of Syria. David procured brass (i.e.,

bronze or copper) from it for the temple (1 Chr. 18:8). It

is called Berothai in 2 Sam. 8:8; probably the same as

the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s

house”), which was used by ancient authors for the

“crafty”), means a deceiver. In 1 Sam. 25:3, the

word churlish denotes a man that is coarse and ill-natured,

or, as the word literally means, “hard.” The same

Greek word as used by the LXX. here is found in Matt.

double wickedness, or governor of two presidencies, the

king of Mesopotamia who oppressed Israel in the generation

immediately following Joshua (Judg. 3:8). We learn from the

Tell-el-Amarna tablets that Palestine had been invaded by

the forces of Aram-naharaim (A.V., “Mesopotamia”)

more than once, long before the Exodus, and that at the

time they were written the king of Aram-naharaim was still

intriguing in Canaan. It is mentioned among the countries

which took part in the attack upon Egypt in the reign of

Rameses III. (of the Twentieth Dynasty), but as its king is

not one of the princes stated to have been conquered by the

Pharaoh, it would seem that he did not actually enter

Egypt. As the reign of Rameses III. corresponds with the

Israelitish occupation of Canaan, it is probable that the

Egyptian monuments refer to the oppression of the

Israelites by Chushan-rishathaim. Canaan was still regarded

as a province of Egypt, so that, in attacking it

Chushan-rishathaim would have been considered to be

the south-east of Asia Minor. Tarsus, the birth-place of

Paul, was one of its chief towns, and the seat of a

celebrated school of philosophy. Its luxurious climate

attracted to it many Greek residents after its

incorporation with the Macedonian empire. It was formed

into a Roman province, B.C. 67. The Jews of Cilicia had a

synagogue at Jerusalem (Acts 6:9). Paul visited it soon

after his conversion (Gal. 1:21; Acts 9:30), and again, on

his second missionary journey (15:41), “he went

through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.”

It was famous for its goat’s-hair cloth, called

cilicium. Paul learned in his youth the trade of making

Cinnamomum zeylanicum of botanists, a tree of the Laurel

family, which grows only in India on the Malabar coast, in

Ceylon, and China. There is no trace of it in Egypt, and it

was unknown in Syria. The inner rind when dried and rolled

into cylinders forms the cinnamon of commerce. The fruit

and coarser pieces of bark when boiled yield a fragrant

oil. It was one of the principal ingredients in the holy

anointing oil (Ex. 30:23). It is mentioned elsewhere only

in Prov. 7:17; Cant. 4:14; Rev. 18:13. The mention of it

indicates a very early and extensive commerce carried on

“fenced cities” of Naphtali (Josh. 19:35; comp.

Deut. 3:17). It also denotes, apparently, a district which

may have taken its name from the adjacent city or lake of

Gennesaret, anciently called “the sea of

Chinnereth” (q.v.), and was probably that enclosed

district north of Tiberias afterwards called “the

plain of Gennesaret.” Called Chinneroth (R.V.,

Chinnereth) Josh. 11:2. The phrase “all Cinneroth,

with all the land of Naphtali” in 1 Kings 15:20 is

parallel to “the store-houses of the cities of

revolution of the sun round the earth (Ps. 19:6), and the

changes of the wind (Eccl. 1:6). In Job 22:14, “in the

circuit of heaven” (R.V. marg., “on the vault of

heaven”) means the “arch of heaven,” which

This rite, practised before, as some think, by divers

races, was appointed by God to be the special badge of his

chosen people, an abiding sign of their consecration to

him. It was established as a national ordinance (Gen.

17:10, 11). In compliance with the divine command, Abraham,

though ninety-nine years of age, was circumcised on the

same day with Ishmael, who was thirteen years old

(17:24-27). Slaves, whether home-born or purchased, were

circumcised (17:12, 13); and all foreigners must have their

males circumcised before they could enjoy the privileges of

Jewish citizenship (Ex. 12:48). During the journey through

the wilderness, the practice of circumcision fell into

disuse, but was resumed by the command of Joshua before

they entered the Promised Land (Josh. 5:2-9). It was

observed always afterwards among the tribes of israel,

although it is not expressly mentioned from the time of the

settlement in Canaan till the time of Christ, about 1,450

years. The Jews prided themselves in the possession of this

covenant distinction (Judg. 14:3; 15:18; 1 Sam. 14:6;

Hebrew word bor, which means a receptacle for water

conveyed to it; distinguished from beer, which

denotes a place where water rises on the spot (Jer. 2:13;

Prov. 5:15; Isa. 36:16), a fountain. Cisterns are

frequently mentioned in Scripture. The scarcity of springs

in Palestine made it necessary to collect rain-water in

privileges of a citizen in distinction from a foreigner

(Luke 15:15; 19:14; Acts 21:39). Under the Mosaic law

non-Israelites, with the exception of the Moabites and the

Ammonites and others mentioned in Deut. 23:1-3, were

admitted to the general privileges of citizenship among the

Jews (Ex. 12:19; Lev. 24:22; Num. 15:15; 35:15; Deut.

city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain

(Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the

descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12).

Next, we have a record of the cities of the Canaanites,

Sidon, Gaza, Sodom, etc. (10:12, 19; 11:3, 9; 36:31-39).

The earliest description of a city is that of Sodom

(19:1-22). Damascus is said to be the oldest existing city

in the world. Before the time of Abraham there were cities

in Egypt (Num. 13:22). The Israelites in Egypt were

employed in building the “treasure cities” of

Pithom and Raamses (Ex. 1:11); but it does not seem that

they had any cities of their own in Goshen (Gen. 46:34;

47:1-11). In the kingdom of Og in Bashan there were sixty

“great cities with walls,” and twenty-three

cities in Gilead partly rebuilt by the tribes on the east

of Jordan (Num. 21:21, 32, 33, 35; 32:1-3, 34-42; Deut.

3:4, 5, 14; 1 Kings 4:13). On the west of Jordan were

thirty-one “royal cities” (Josh. 12), besides

southwest coast of Crete, passed by Paul on his voyage to

Rome (Acts 27:16). It is about 7 miles long and 3 broad. It

mentioned in 2 Tim. 4:21. It is a conjecture having some

probability that she was a British maiden, the daughter of

king Cogidunus, who was an ally of Rome, and assumed the

name of the emperor, his patron, Tiberius Claudius, and

Roman emperor. He succeeded Caligula (A.D. 41). Though in

general he treated the Jews, especially those in Asia and

Egypt, with great indulgence, yet about the middle of his

reign (A.D. 49) he banished them all from Rome (Acts 18:2).

In this edict the Christians were included, as being, as

was supposed, a sect of Jews. The Jews, however soon again

sediment found in pits or in streets (Isa. 57:20; Jer.

38:60), of dust mixed with spittle (John 9:6), and of

potter’s clay (Isa. 41:25; Nah. 3:14; Jer. 18:1-6; Rom.

9:21). Clay was used for sealing (Job 38:14; Jer. 32:14).

Our Lord’s tomb may have been thus sealed (Matt.

27:66). The practice of sealing doors with clay is still

common in the East. Clay was also in primitive times used

for mortar (Gen. 11:3). The “clay ground” in

which the large vessels of the temple were cast (1 Kings

7:46; 2 Chr. 4:17) was a compact loam fitted for the

purpose. The expression literally rendered is, “in the

thickness of the ground,”, meaning, “in stiff

uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in

Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and

unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice.

It existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The regulations

regarding such animals are recorded in Lev. 11 and Deut.

Philippi, Paul’s “fellow-labourer,” whose

name he mentions as “in the book of life” (Phil.

4:3). It was an opinion of ancient writers that he was the

Clement of Rome whose name is well known in church history,

and that he was the author of an Epistle to the

Corinthians, the only known manuscript of which is appended

to the Alexandrian Codex, now in the British Museum. It is

of some historical interest, and has given rise to much

discussion among critics. It makes distinct reference to

Cleopatros), one of the two disciples with whom Jesus

conversed on the way to Emmaus on the day of the

resurrection (Luke 24:18). We know nothing definitely

regarding him. It is not certain that he was the Clopas of

John 19:25, or the Alphaeus of Matt. 10:3, although he may

this word h is inserted by mistake from Latin MSS.),

rather Cleopas, which is the Greek form of the word, while

Clopas is the Aramaic form. In John 19:25 the Authorized

Version reads, “Mary, the wife of Clopas.” The

word “wife” is conjecturally inserted here. If

“wife” is rightly inserted, then Mary was the

mother of James the Less, and Clopas is the same as

“an exterior tunic, wide and long, reaching to the

ankles, but without sleeves” (Isa. 59:17). The word so

rendered is elsewhere rendered “robe” or

“mantle.” It was worn by the high priest under

the ephod (Ex. 28:31), by kings and others of rank (1 Sam.

Testament, signifies properly a storehouse (Luke 12: 24),

and hence a place of privacy and retirement (Matt. 6:6;

means “a covering,” because clouds cover the sky.

The word is used as a symbol of the Divine presence, as

indicating the splendour of that glory which it conceals

(Ex. 16:10; 33:9; Num. 11:25; 12:5; Job 22:14; Ps. 18:11).

A “cloud without rain” is a proverbial saying,

denoting a man who does not keep his promise (Prov. 16:15;

Isa. 18:4; 25:5; Jude 1:12). A cloud is the figure of that

which is transitory (Job 30:15; Hos. 6:4). A bright cloud

is the symbolical seat of the Divine presence (Ex.29:42,

43; 1 Kings 8:10; 2 Chr. 5:14; Ezek. 43:4), and was called

the Shechinah (q.v.). Jehovah came down upon Sinai in a

cloud (Ex. 19:9); and the cloud filled the court around the

tabernacle in the wilderness so that Moses could not enter

it (Ex. 40:34, 35). At the dedication of the temple also

the cloud “filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings

8:10). Thus in like manner when Christ comes the second

time he is described as coming “in the clouds”

(Matt. 17:5; 24:30; Acts 1:9, 11). False teachers are

likened unto clouds carried about with a tempest (2 Pet.

2:17). The infirmities of old age, which come one after

another, are compared by Solomon to “clouds returning

after the rain” (Eccl. 12:2). The blotting out of sins

is like the sudden disappearance of threatening clouds from

the extreme south-west of the peninsula of Doris in Asia

Minor. Paul sailed past it on his voyage to Rome after

that the Hebrews were acquainted with mineral coal,

although it is found in Syria. Their common fuel was dried

dung of animals and wood charcoal. Two different words are

found in Hebrew to denote coal, both occurring in Prov.

26:21, “As coal [Heb. peham; i.e., “black

coal”] is to burning coal [Heb. gehalim].” The

latter of these words is used in Job 41:21; Prov. 6:28;

Isa. 44:19. The words “live coal” in Isa. 6:6 are

more correctly “glowing stone.” In Lam. 4:8 the

expression “blacker than a coal” is literally

rendered in the margin of the Revised Version “darker

than blackness.” “Coals of fire” (2 Sam.

22:9, 13; Ps. 18:8, 12, 13, etc.) is an expression used

metaphorically for lightnings proceeding from God. A false

tongue is compared to “coals of juniper” (Ps.

120:4; James 3:6). “Heaping coals of fire on the

head” symbolizes overcoming evil with good. The words

of Paul (Rom. 12:20) are equivalent to saying, “By

charity and kindness thou shalt soften down his enmity as

surely as heaping coals on the fire fuses the metal in the

shirt next the skin (Lev. 16:4; Cant. 5:3; 2 Sam. 15:32;

Ex. 28:4; 29:5). The “coats of skins” prepared by

God for Adam and Eve were probably nothing more than aprons

(Gen. 3:21). This tunic was sometimes woven entire without

a seam (John 19:23); it was also sometimes of “many

colours” (Gen. 37:3; R.V. marg., “a long garment

with sleeves”). The “fisher’s coat” of

John 21:7 was obviously an outer garment or cloak, as was

also the “coat” made by Hannah for Samuel (1 Sam.

Hebrew word meaning “glittering” (1 Sam. 17:5,

38). The same word in the plural form is translated

“habergeons” in 2 Chr. 26:14 and Neh. 4:16. The

“harness” (1 Kings 22:34),

“breastplate” (Isa. 59:17), and

“brigandine” (Jer. 46:4), were probably also

(a corruption of “crocodile”) of a fabulous

serpent supposed to be produced from a cock’s egg. It

is generally supposed to denote the cerastes, or

“horned viper,” a very poisonous serpent about a

foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia

xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size

and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer.

8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew

tziph’oni by “basilisk”). In Prov.

23:32 the Hebrew tzeph’a is rendered both in the

Authorized Version and the Revised Version by

“adder;” margin of Revised Version

“basilisk,” and of Authorized Version

time the Jews had adopted the Greek and Roman division of

the night into four watches, each consisting of three

hours, the first beginning at six o’clock in the

evening (Luke 12:38; Matt. 14:25; Mark 6:48). But the

ancient division, known as the first and second

cock-crowing, was still retained. The cock usually crows

several times soon after midnight (this is the first

crowing), and again at the dawn of day (and this is the

second crowing). Mark mentions (14:30) the two

cock-crowings. Matthew (26:34) alludes to that only which

(marg., “noisome weeds”), where it is the

rendering of a Hebrew word (b’oshah) which means

“offensive,” “having a bad smell,”

referring to some weed perhaps which has an unpleasant

odour. Or it may be regarded as simply any noisome weed,

such as the “tares” or darnel of Matt. 13:30. In

Isa. 5:2, 4 the plural form is rendered “wild

name (not found in Scripture) given by the Greeks to the

extensive valley, about 100 miles long, between the Lebanon

box placed beside the ark by the Philistines, in which they

deposited the golden mice and the emerods as their

reference to the burial of Joseph. Here, it means a

mummy-chest. The same Hebrew word is rendered

“thoughts,” as the Chaldee word in Dan. 7:28

had no regularly stamped money. They made use of uncoined

shekels or talents of silver, which they weighed out (Gen.

23:16; Ex. 38:24; 2 Sam. 18:12). Probably the silver ingots

used in the time of Abraham may have been of a fixed

weight, which was in some way indicated on them. The

“pieces of silver” paid by Abimelech to Abraham

(Gen. 20:16), and those also for which Joseph was sold

(37:28), were proably in the form of rings. The shekel was

the common standard of weight and value among the Hebrews

down to the time of the Captivity. Only once is a shekel of

gold mentioned (1 Chr. 21:25). The “six thousand of

gold” mentioned in the transaction between Naaman and

Gehazi (2 Kings 5:5) were probably so many shekels of gold.

The “piece of money” mentioned in Job 42:11; Gen.

33:19 (marg., “lambs”) was the Hebrew

kesitah, probably an uncoined piece of silver of a

certain weight in the form of a sheep or lamb, or perhaps

having on it such an impression. The same Hebrew word is

used in Josh. 24:32, which is rendered by Wickliffe

30:18 the mouth or opening of the garment that closes round

the neck in the same way as a tunic (Ex. 39:23). The

“collars” (Heb. netiphoth) among the spoils of

the Midianites (Judg. 8:26; R.V., “pendants”)

were ear-drops. The same Hebrew word is rendered

Palestine, from various causes, suffered from poverty. Paul

awakened an interest in them among the Gentile churches,

and made pecuniary collections in their behalf (Acts 24:17;

22:14; 2 Chr. 34:22), rendered in Revised Version

“second quarter”, the residence of the prophetess

Huldah. The Authorized Version followed the Jewish

commentators, who, following the Targum, gave the Hebrew

word its post-Biblical sense, as if it meant a place of

instruction. It properly means the “second,” and

may therefore denote the lower city (Acra), which was built

after the portion of the city on Mount Zion, and was

a Roman colony (Acts 16:12), i.e., a military settlement of

Roman soldiers and citizens, planted there to keep in

subjection a newly-conquered district. A colony was Rome in

miniature, under Roman municipal law, but governed by

military officers (praetors and lictors), not by

proconsuls. It had an independent internal government, the

Phrygia, on the Lycus, which is a tributary of the

Maeander. It was about 12 miles above Laodicea, and near

the great road from Ephesus to the Euphrates, and was

consequently of some mercantile importance. It does not

appear that Paul had visited this city when he wrote his

letter to the church there (Col. 1:2). He expresses in his

letter to Philemon (ver. 1:22) his hope to visit it on

being delivered from his imprisonment. From Col. 1:7; 4:12

it has been concluded that Epaphras was the founder of the

Colossian church. This town afterwards fell into decay, and

the modern town of Chonas or Chonum occupies a site near

written by Paul at Rome during his first imprisonment there

(Acts 28:16, 30), probably in the spring of A.D. 57, or, as

some think, 62, and soon after he had written his Epistle

to the Ephesians. Like some of his other epistles (e.g.,

those to Corinth), this seems to have been written in

consequence of information which had somehow been conveyed

to him of the internal state of the church there (Col.

1:4-8). Its object was to counteract false teaching. A

large part of it is directed against certain speculatists

who attempted to combine the doctrines of Oriental

mysticism and asceticism with Christianity, thereby

promising the disciples the enjoyment of a higher spiritual

life and a deeper insight into the world of spirits. Paul

argues against such teaching, showing that in Christ Jesus

they had all things. He sets forth the majesty of his

redemption. The mention of the “new moon” and

“sabbath days” (2:16) shows also that there were

here Judaizing teachers who sought to draw away the

the Holy Ghost (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; R.V. marg.,

“or Advocate, or Helper; Gr. paracletos”). The

same Greek word thus rendered is translated

“Advocate” in 1 John 2:1 as applicable to Christ.

It means properly “one who is summoned to the side of

another” to help him in a court of justice by

defending him, “one who is summoned to plead a

cause.” “Advocate” is the proper rendering

reference to his first advent “in the fulness of the

time” (1 John 5:20; 2 John 1:7), or (2) with reference

to his coming again the second time at the last day (Acts

34:28; Deut. 10:4, marg. “ten words”) i.e., the

Decalogue (q.v.), is a summary of the immutable moral law.

These commandments were first given in their written form

to the people of Israel when they were encamped at Sinai,

about fifty days after they came out of Egypt (Ex.

19:10-25). They were written by the finger of God on two

tables of stone. The first tables were broken by Moses when

he brought them down from the mount (32:19), being thrown

by him on the ground. At the command of God he took up into

the mount two other tables, and God wrote on them “the

words that were on the first tables” (34:1). These

tables were afterwards placed in the ark of the covenant

(Deut. 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). Their subsequent history is

unknown. They are as a whole called “the

covenant” (Deut. 4:13), and “the tables of the

covenant” (9:9, 11; Heb. 9:4), and “the

(Gen. 18:17-33; Ex. 33:9-11; Num. 12:7, 8), between Christ

and his people (John 14:23), by the Spirit (2 Cor. 13:14;

Phil. 2:1), of believers with one another (Eph. 4:1-6). The

Lord’s Supper is so called (1 Cor. 10:16, 17), because

in it there is fellowship between Christ and his disciples,

a Levite placed over the tithes brought into the temple (2

“mutilation”), a term used by Paul contemptuously

of those who were zealots for circumcision (Phil. 3:2).

Instead of the warning, “Beware of the

circumcision” (peritome) i.e., of the party who

pressed on Gentile converts the necessity of still

observing that ordinance, he says, “Beware of the

concision;” as much as to say, “This circumcision

which they vaunt of is in Christ only as the gashings and

a female conjugally united to a man, but in a relation

inferior to that of a wife. Among the early Jews, from

various causes, the difference between a wife and a

concubine was less marked than it would be amongst us. The

concubine was a wife of secondary rank. There are various

laws recorded providing for their protection (Ex. 21:7;

Deut. 21:10-14), and setting limits to the relation they

sustained to the household to which they belonged (Gen.

21:14; 25:6). They had no authority in the family, nor

(R.V., “coveting”); Col. 3:5 (R.V.,

“desire”). The “lust of concupiscence”

(1 Thess. 4:5; R.V., “passion of lust”) denotes

channel (Job 38:25). The “conduit of the upper

pool” (Isa. 7:3) was formed by Hezekiah for the

purpose of conveying the waters from the upper pool in the

valley of Gihon to the west side of the city of David (2

Kings 18:17; 20:20; 2 Chr. 32:30). In carrying out this

work he stopped “the waters of the fountains which

were without the city” i.e., “the upper

water-course of Gihon”, and conveyed it down from the

west through a canal into the city, so that in case of a

siege the inhabitants of the city might have a supply of

“the hider”), an animal which inhabits the

mountain gorges and the rocky districts of Arabia Petraea

and the Holy Land. “The conies are but a feeble folk,

yet make they their houses in the rocks” (Prov. 30:26;

Ps. 104:18). They are gregarious, and “exceeding

wise” (Prov. 30:24), and are described as chewing the

“ointment” in ver. 25; R.V.,

“perfume”). The Hebrew word so rendered is

derived from a root meaning to compound oil and

8:13, those who make confections, i.e., perfumers, who

profession of faith (Luke 12:8). (2.) An acknowledment of

sins to God (Lev. 16:21; Ezra 9:5-15; Dan. 9:3-12), and to

a neighbour whom we have wronged (James 5:16; Matt.

Hebrew people collectively as a holy community (Num.

15:15). Every circumcised Hebrew from twenty years old and

upward was a member of the congregation. Strangers resident

in the land, if circumcised, were, with certain exceptions

(Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; Deut. 23:1-3), admitted to the

privileges of citizenship, and spoken of as members of the

congregation (Ex. 12:19; Num. 9:14; 15:15). The

congregation were summonded together by the sound of two

silver trumpets, and they met at the door of the tabernacle

(Num. 10:3). These assemblies were convened for the purpose

of engaging in solemn religious services (Ex. 12:27; Num.

25:6; Joel 2:15), or of receiving new commandments (Ex.

19:7, 8). The elders, who were summonded by the sound of

one trumpet (Num. 10:4), represented on various occasions

(Isa. 14:13), has been supposed to refer to the place where

God promised to meet with his people (Ex. 25:22; 29:42, 43)

i.e., the mount of the Divine presence, Mount Zion. But

here the king of Babylon must be taken as expressing

himself according to his own heathen notions, and not

according to those of the Jews. The “mount of the

congregation” will therefore in this case mean the

northern mountain, supposed by the Babylonians to be the

meeting-place of their gods. In the Babylonian inscriptions

mention is made of a mountain which is described as

“the mighty mountain of Bel, whose head rivals heaven,

whose root is the holy deep.” This mountain was

regarded in their mythology as the place where the gods had

mind, or inborn sense of right and wrong, by which we judge

of the moral character of human conduct. It is common to

all men. Like all our other faculties, it has been

perverted by the Fall (John 16:2; Acts 26:9; Rom. 2:15). It

is spoken of as “defiled” (Titus 1:15), and

“seared” (1 Tim. 4:2). A “conscience void of

offence” is to be sought and cultivated (Acts 24:16;

setting apart of anything to the worship or service of God.

The race of Abraham and the tribe of Levi were thus

consecrated (Ex. 13:2, 12, 15; Num. 3:12). The Hebrews

devoted their fields and cattle, and sometimes the spoils

of war, to the Lord (Lev. 27:28, 29). According to the

Mosaic law the first-born both of man and beast were

for the Messiah in common use among the Jews, probably

suggested by Isa. 12:1; 49:13. The Greek word thus rendered

(Luke 2:25, paraklesis) is kindred to that translated

stars, or stars which appear to be near each other in the

heavens, and which astronomers have reduced to certain

figures (as the “Great Bear,” the

“Bull,” etc.) for the sake of classification and

of memory. In Isa. 13:10, where this word only occurs, it

is the rendering of the Hebrew kesil, i.e.,

“fool.” This was the Hebrew name of the

constellation Orion (Job 9:9; 38:31), a constellation which

represented Nimrod, the symbol of folly and impiety. The

word some interpret by “the giant” in this place,

“some heaven-daring rebel who was chained to the sky

which one’s desires are confined to his lot whatever it

may be (1 Tim. 6:6; 2 Cor. 9:8). It is opposed to envy

(James 3:16), avarice (Heb. 13:5), ambition (Prov. 13:10),

anxiety (Matt. 6:25, 34), and repining (1 Cor. 10:10). It

arises from the inward disposition, and is the offspring of

humility, and of an intelligent consideration of the

rectitude and benignity of divine providence (Ps. 96:1, 2;

145), the greatness of the divine promises (2 Pet. 1:4),

and our own unworthiness (Gen. 32:10); as well as from the

view the gospel opens up to us of rest and peace hereafter

goings out and in of social intercourse (Eph. 2:3; 4:22;

R.V., “manner of life”); one’s deportment or

course of life. This word is never used in Scripture in the

sense of verbal communication from one to another (Ps.

50:23; Heb. 13:5). In Phil. 1:27 and 3:20, a different

Greek word is used. It there means one’s relations to a

sinner to God (Acts 15:3). In a general sense the heathen

are said to be “converted” when they abandon

heathenism and embrace the Christian faith; and in a more

special sense men are converted when, by the influence of

divine grace in their souls, their whole life is changed,

old things pass away, and all things become new (Acts

26:18). Thus we speak of the conversion of the Philippian

jailer (16:19-34), of Paul (9:1-22), of the Ethiopian

treasurer (8:26-40), of Cornelius (10), of Lydia

religious character as distinguished from congregation,

which was more general, dealing with political and legal

matters. Hence it is called an “holy

convocation.” Such convocations were the Sabbaths

(Lev. 23:2, 3), the Passover (Ex. 12:16; Lev. 23:7, 8; Num.

28:25), Pentecost (Lev. 23:21), the feast of Trumpets (Lev.

23:24; Num. 29:1), the feast of Weeks (Num. 28:26), and the

feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:35, 36). The great fast, the

annual day of atonement, was “the holy

perform culinary service. In early times among the Hebrews

cooking was performed by the mistress of the household

(Gen. 18:2-6; Judg. 6:19), and the process was very

expeditiously performed (Gen. 27:3, 4, 9, 10). Professional

cooks were afterwards employed (1 Sam. 8:13; 9:23). Few

animals, as a rule, were slaughtered (other than

sacrifices), except for purposes of hospitality (Gen. 18:7;

Luke 15:23). The paschal lamb was roasted over a fire (Ex.

12:8, 9; 2Chr. 35:13). Cooking by boiling was the usual

method adopted (Lev. 8:31; Ex. 16:23). No cooking took

a small island, one of the Sporades in the Aegean Sea, in

the north-west of Rhodes, off the coast of Caria. Paul on

his return from his third missionary journey, passed the

night here after sailing from Miletus (Acts 21:1). It is

kupros (the island of Cyprus), called “Cyprian

brass,” occurs only in the Authorized Version in Ezra

8:27. Elsewhere the Hebrew word (nehosheth) is improperly

rendered “brass,” and sometimes “steel”

(2 Sam. 22:35; Jer. 15:12). The “bow of steel”

(Job 20:24; Ps. 18:34) should have been “bow of

copper” (or “brass,” as in the R.V.). The

vessels of “fine copper” of Ezra 8:27 were

probably similar to those of “bright brass”

untranslated, denotes a round vessel used as a measure both

for liquids and solids. It was equal to one homer, and

contained ten ephahs in dry and ten baths in liquid measure

(Ezek. 45:14). The Rabbins estimated the cor at forty-five

gallons, while Josephus estimated it at about eighty-seven.

In 1 Kings 4:22; 5:11; 2 Chr. 2:10; 27:5, the original word

“heights;” i.e., “high-priced” or

valuable things, or, as some suppose, “that which

grows high,” like a tree (Job 28:18; Ezek. 27:16),

according to the Rabbins, red coral, which was in use for

into the Greek of the New Testament and left untranslated.

It occurs only once (Mark 7:11). It means a gift or

offering consecrated to God. Anything over which this word

was once pronounced was irrevocably dedicated to the

temple. Land, however, so dedicated might be redeemed

before the year of jubilee (Lev. 27:16-24). Our Lord

condemns the Pharisees for their false doctrine, inasmuch

as by their traditions they had destroyed the commandment

which requires children to honour their father and mother,

teaching them to find excuse from helping their parents by

the device of pronouncing “Corban” over their

proper sense, for fastening a tent (Ex. 35:18; 39:40),

yoking animals to a cart (Isa. 5:18), binding prisoners

(Judg. 15:13; Ps. 2:3; 129:4), and measuring ground (2 Sam.

8;2; Ps. 78:55). Figuratively, death is spoken of as the

giving way of the tent-cord (Job 4:21. “Is not their

tent-cord plucked up?” R.V.). To gird one’s self

with a cord was a token of sorrow and humiliation. To

stretch a line over a city meant to level it with the

ground (Lam. 2:8). The “cords of sin” are the

consequences or fruits of sin (Prov. 5:22). A

“threefold cord” is a symbol of union (Eccl.

4:12). The “cords of a man” (Hos. 11:4) means

that men employ, in inducing each other, methods such as

are suitable to men, and not “cords” such as oxen

are led by. Isaiah (5:18) says, “Woe unto them that

draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with

a cart rope.” This verse is thus given in the Chaldee

paraphrase: “Woe to those who begin to sin by little

and little, drawing sin by cords of vanity: these sins grow

and increase till they are strong and are like a cart

rope.” This may be the true meaning. The wicked at

first draw sin with a slender cord; but by-and-by their

sins increase, and they are drawn after them by a cart

rope. Henderson in his commentary says: “The meaning

is that the persons described were not satisfied with

ordinary modes of provoking the Deity, and the consequent

ordinary approach of his vengeance, but, as it were, yoked

themselves in the harness of iniquity, and, putting forth

all their strength, drew down upon themselves, with

accelerated speed, the load of punishment which their sins

Num. 11:7), seed to which the manna is likened in its form

and colour. It is the Coriandrum sativum of botanists, an

umbelliferous annual plant with a round stalk, about two

feet high. It is widely cultivated in Eastern countries and

in the south of Europe for the sake of its seeds, which are

in the form of a little ball of the size of a peppercorn.

They are used medicinally and as a spice. The Greek name of

this plant is korion or koriannon, whence the name