BIBLES NET. COM
Dictionary]
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
of salutation are not unfrequently so prolonged as to
become wearisome and a positive waste of time. The
profusely polite Arab asks so many questions after your
health, your happiness, your welfare, your house, and other
things, that a person ignorant of the habits of the country
would imagine there must be some secret ailment or
mysterious sorrow oppressing you, which you wished to
conceal, so as to spare the feelings of a dear,
sympathizing friend, but which he, in the depth of his
anxiety, would desire to hear of. I have often listened to
these prolonged salutations in the house, the street, and
the highway, and not unfrequently I have experienced their
tedious monotony, and I have bitterly lamented useless
waste of time” (Porter, Through Samaria, etc.). The
work on which the disciples were sent forth was one of
urgency, which left no time for empty compliments and
prolonged greetings (Luke 10:4).
Salvation – This word is used of
the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians (Ex.
14:13), and of deliverance generally from evil or danger.
In the New Testament it is specially used with reference to
the great deliverance from the guilt and the pollution of
sin wrought out by Jesus Christ, “the great
salvation” (Heb. 2:3). (See REDEMPTION
Samaria – a watch-mountain or a
watch-tower. In the heart of the mountains of Israel, a few
miles north-west of Shechem, stands the “hill of
Shomeron,” a solitary mountain, a great
“mamelon.” It is an oblong hill, with steep but
not inaccessible sides, and a long flat top. Omri, the king
of Israel, purchased this hill from Shemer its owner for
two talents of silver, and built on its broad summit the
city to which he gave the name of “Shomeron”,
i.e., Samaria, as the new capital of his kingdom instead of
Tirzah (1 Kings 16:24). As such it possessed many
advantages. Here Omri resided during the last six years of
his reign. As the result of an unsuccessful war with Syria,
he appears to have been obliged to grant to the Syrians the
right to “make streets in Samaria”, i.e.,
probably permission to the Syrian merchants to carry on
their trade in the Israelite capital. This would imply the
existence of a considerable Syrian population. “It was
the only great city of Palestine created by the sovereign.
All the others had been already consecrated by patriarchal
tradition or previous possession. But Samaria was the
choice of Omri alone. He, indeed, gave to the city which he
had built the name of its former owner, but its especial
connection with himself as its founder is proved by the
designation which it seems Samaria bears in Assyrian
inscriptions, Beth-khumri (‘the house or palace of
Omri’).”, Stanley.
Samaria was frequently besieged. In the days of Ahab,
Benhadad II. came up against it with thirty-two vassal
kings, but was defeated with a great slaughter (1 Kings
20:1-21). A second time, next year, he assailed it; but was
again utterly routed, and was compelled to surrender to
Ahab (20:28-34), whose army, as compared with that of
Benhadad, was no more than “two little flocks of
kids.”
In the days of Jehoram this Benhadad again laid siege to
Samaria, during which the city was reduced to the direst
extremities. But just when success seemed to be within
their reach, they suddenly broke up the seige, alarmed by a
mysterious noise of chariots and horses and a great army,
and fled, leaving their camp with all its contents behind
them. The famishing inhabitants of the city were soon
relieved with the abundance of the spoil of the Syrian
camp; and it came to pass, according to the word of Elisha,
that “a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel,
and two measures of barely for a shekel, in the gates of
Samaria” (2 Kings 7:1-20).
Shalmaneser invaded Israel in the days of Hoshea, and
reduced it to vassalage. He laid siege to Samaria (B.C.
723), which held out for three years, and was at length
captured by Sargon, who completed the conquest Shalmaneser
had begun (2 Kings 18:9-12; 17:3), and removed vast numbers
of the tribes into captivity.
This city, after passing through various vicissitudes, was
given by the emperor Augustus to Herod the Great, who
rebuilt it, and called it Sebaste (Gr. form of Augustus) in
honour of the emperor. In the New Testament the only
mention of it is in Acts 8:5-14, where it is recorded that
Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached there.
It is now represented by the hamlet of Sebustieh,
containing about three hundred inhabitants. The ruins of
the ancient town are all scattered over the hill, down the
sides of which they have rolled. The shafts of about one
hundred of what must have been grand Corinthian columns are
still standing, and attract much attention, although
nothing definite is known regarding them. (Comp. Micah
1:6.)
In the time of Christ, Western Palestine was divided into
three provinces, Judea, Samaria, and Galilee. Samaria
occupied the centre of Palestine (John 4:4). It is called
in the Talmud the “land of the Cuthim,” and is
not regarded as a part of the Holy Land at all.
It may be noticed that the distance between Samaria and
Jerusalem, the respective capitals of the two kingdoms, is
only 35 miles in a direct line.
return from the Exile, the Jews refused the Samaritans
participation with them in the worship at Jerusalem, and
the latter separated from all fellowship with them, and
built a temple for themselves on Mount Gerizim. This temple
was razed to the ground more than one hundred years B.C.
Then a system of worship was instituted similar to that of
the temple at Jerusalem. It was founded on the Law, copies
of which had been multiplied in Israel as well as in Judah.
Thus the Pentateuch was preserved among the Samaritans,
although they never called it by this name, but always
“the Law,” which they read as one book. The
division into five books, as we now have it, however, was
adopted by the Samaritans, as it was by the Jews, in all
their priests’ copies of “the Law,” for the
sake of convenience. This was the only portion of the Old
Testament which was accepted by the Samaritans as of divine
authority.
The form of the letters in the manuscript copies of the
Samaritan Pentateuch is different from that of the Hebrew
copies, and is probably the same as that which was in
general use before the Captivity. There are other
peculiarities in the writing which need not here be
specified.
There are important differences between the Hebrew and the
Samaritan copies of the Pentateuch in the readings of many
sentences. In about two thousand instances in which the
Samaritan and the Jewish texts differ, the LXX. agrees with
the former. The New Testament also, when quoting from the
Old Testament, agrees as a rule with the Samaritan text,
where that differs from the Jewish. Thus Ex. 12:40 in the
Samaritan reads, “Now the sojourning of the children
of Israel and of their fathers which they had dwelt in the
land of Canaan and in Egypt was four hundred and thirty
years” (comp. Gal. 3:17). It may be noted that the
LXX. has the same reading of this text.
Samaritans – the name given to
the new and mixed inhabitants whom Esarhaddon (B.C. 677),
the king of Assyria, brought from Babylon and other places
and settled in the cities of Samaria, instead of the
original inhabitants whom Sargon (B.C. 721) had removed
into captivity (2 Kings 17:24; comp. Ezra 4:2, 9, 10).
These strangers (comp. Luke 17:18) amalgamated with the
Jews still remaining in the land, and gradually abandoned
their old idolatry and adopted partly the Jewish
religion.
After the return from the Captivity, the Jews in Jerusalem
refused to allow them to take part with them in rebuilding
the temple, and hence sprang up an open enmity between
them. They erected a rival temple on Mount Gerizim, which
was, however, destroyed by a Jewish king (B.C. 130). They
then built another at Shechem. The bitter enmity between
the Jews and Samaritans continued in the time of our Lord:
the Jews had “no dealings with the Samaritans”
(John 4:9; comp. Luke 9:52, 53). Our Lord was in contempt
called “a Samaritan” (John 8:48). Many of the
Samaritans early embraced the gospel (John 4:5-42; Acts
8:25; 9:31; 15:3). Of these Samaritans there still remains
a small population of about one hundred and sixty, who all
reside in Shechem, where they carefully observe the
religious customs of their fathers. They are the
“smallest and oldest sect in the world.”
Nebo! or a cup-bearer of Nebo, probably the title of
Nergal-sharezer, one of the princes of Babylon (Jer.
39:3).
Samos – an island in the AEgean
Sea, which Paul passed on his voyage from Assos to Miletus
(Acts 20:15), on his third missionary journey. It is about
27 miles long and 20 broad, and lies about 42 miles
south-west of Smyrna.
Samothracia – an island in the
AEgean Sea, off the coast of Thracia, about 32 miles
distant. This Thracian Samos was passed by Paul on his
voyage from Troas to Neapolis (Acts 16:11) on his first
missionary journey. It is about 8 miles long and 6 miles
broad. Its modern name is Samothraki.
Samson – of the sun, the son of
Manoah, born at Zorah. The narrative of his life is given
in Judg. 13-16. He was a “Nazarite unto God” from
his birth, the first Nazarite mentioned in Scripture (Judg.
13:3-5; comp. Num. 6:1-21). The first recorded event of his
life was his marriage with a Philistine woman of Timnath
(Judg. 14:1-5). Such a marriage was not forbidden by the
law of Moses, as the Philistines did not form one of the
seven doomed Canaanite nations (Ex. 34:11-16; Deut. 7:1-4).
It was, however, an ill-assorted and unblessed marriage.
His wife was soon taken from him and given “to his
companion” (Judg. 14:20). For this Samson took revenge
by burning the “standing corn of the Philistines”
(15:1-8), who, in their turn, in revenge “burnt her
and her father with fire.” Her death he terribly
avenged (15:7-19). During the twenty years following this
he judged Israel; but we have no record of his life.
Probably these twenty years may have been simultaneous with
the last twenty years of Eli’s life. After this we have
an account of his exploits at Gaza (16:1-3), and of his
infatuation for Delilah, and her treachery (16:4-20), and
then of his melancholy death (16:21-31). He perished in the
last terrible destruction he brought upon his enemies.
“So the dead which he slew at his death were more [in
social and political importance=the elite of the people]
than they which he slew in his life.”
“Straining all his nerves, he bowed: As with the force
of winds and waters pent, When mountains tremble, those two
massy pillars With horrible convulsion to and fro He
tugged, he shook, till down they came, and drew The whole
roof after them, with burst of thunder Upon the heads of
all who sat beneath, Lords, ladies, captains, counsellors,
or priests, Their choice nobility and flower.”
Milton’s Samson Agonistes.
peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are
recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of
Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord,
earnestly prayed to God that she might become the mother of
a son. Her prayer was graciously granted; and after the
child was weaned she brought him to Shiloh nd consecrated
him to the Lord as a perpetual Nazarite (1:23-2:11). Here
his bodily wants and training were attended to by the women
who served in the tabernacle, while Eli cared for his
religious culture. Thus, probably, twelve years of his life
passed away. “The child Samuel grew on, and was in
favour both with the Lord, and also with men” (2:26;
comp. Luke 2:52). It was a time of great and growing
degeneracy in Israel (Judg. 21:19-21; 1 Sam. 2:12-17, 22).
The Philistines, who of late had greatly increased in
number and in power, were practically masters of the
country, and kept the people in subjection (1 Sam. 10:5;
13:3).
At this time new communications from God began to be made
to the pious child. A mysterious voice came to him in the
night season, calling him by name, and, instructed by Eli,
he answered, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant
heareth.” The message that came from the Lord was one
of woe and ruin to Eli and his profligate sons. Samuel told
it all to Eli, whose only answer to the terrible
denunciations (1 Sam. 3:11-18) was, “It is the Lord;
let him do what seemeth him good”, the passive
submission of a weak character, not, in his case, the
expression of the highest trust and faith. The Lord
revealed himself now in divers manners to Samuel, and his
fame and his influence increased throughout the land as of
one divinely called to the prophetical office. A new period
in the history of the kingdom of God now commenced.
The Philistine yoke was heavy, and the people, groaning
under the wide-spread oppression, suddenly rose in revolt,
and “went out against the Philistines to battle.”
A fierce and disastrous battle was fought at Aphek, near to
Ebenezer (1 Sam. 4:1, 2). The Israelites were defeated,
leaving 4,000 dead “in the field.” The chiefs of
the people thought to repair this great disaster by
carrying with them the ark of the covenant as the symbol of
Jehovah’s presence. They accordingly, without
consulting Samuel, fetched it out of Shiloh to the camp
near Aphek. At the sight of the ark among them the people
“shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang
again.” A second battle was fought, and again the
Philistines defeated the Israelites, stormed their camp,
slew 30,000 men, and took the sacred ark. The tidings of
this fatal battle was speedily conveyed to Shiloh; and so
soon as the aged Eli heard that the ark of God was taken,
he fell backward from his seat at the entrance of the
sanctuary, and his neck brake, and he died. The tabernacle
with its furniture was probably, by the advice of Samuel,
now about twenty years of age, removed from Shiloh to some
place of safety, and finally to Nob, where it remained many
years (21:1).
The Philistines followed up their advantage, and marched
upon Shiloh, which they plundered and destroyed (comp. Jer.
7:12; Ps. 78:59). This was a great epoch in the history of
Israel. For twenty years after this fatal battle at Aphek
the whole land lay under the oppression of the Philistines.
During all these dreary years Samuel was a spiritual power
in the land. From Ramah, his native place, where he
resided, his influence went forth on every side among the
people. With unwearied zeal he went up and down from place
to place, reproving, rebuking, and exhorting the people,
endeavouring to awaken in them a sense of their sinfulness,
and to lead them to repentance. His labours were so far
successful that “all the house of Israel lamented
after the Lord.” Samuel summoned the people to Mizpeh,
one of the loftiest hills in Central Palestine, where they
fasted and prayed, and prepared themselves there, under his
direction, for a great war against the Philistines, who now
marched their whole force toward Mizpeh, in order to crush
the Israelites once for all. At the intercession of Samuel
God interposed in behalf of Israel. Samuel himself was
their leader, the only occasion in which he acted as a
leader in war. The Philistines were utterly routed. They
fled in terror before the army of Israel, and a great
slaughter ensued. This battle, fought probably about B.C.
1095, put an end to the forty years of Philistine
oppression. In memory of this great deliverance, and in
token of gratitude for the help vouchsafed, Samuel set up a
great stone in the battlefield, and called it
“Ebenezer,” saying, “Hitherto hath the Lord
helped us” (1 Sam. 7:1-12). This was the spot where,
twenty years before, the Israelites had suffered a great
defeat, when the ark of God was taken.
This victory over the Philistines was followed by a long
period of peace for Israel (1 Sam. 7:13, 14), during which
Samuel exercised the functions of judge, going “from
year to year in circuit” from his home in Ramah to
Bethel, thence to Gilgal (not that in the Jordan valley,
but that which lay to the west of Ebal and Gerizim), and
returning by Mizpeh to Ramah. He established regular
services at Shiloh, where he built an altar; and at Ramah
he gathered a company of young men around him and
established a school of the prophets. The schools of the
prophets, thus originated, and afterwards established also
at Gibeah, Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho, exercised an
important influence on the national character and history
of the people in maintaining pure religion in the midst of
growing corruption. They continued to the end of the Jewish
commonwealth.
Many years now passed, during which Samuel exercised the
functions of his judicial office, being the friend and
counsellor of the people in all matters of private and
public interest. He was a great statesman as well as a
reformer, and all regarded him with veneration as the
“seer,” the prophet of the Lord. At the close of
this period, when he was now an old man, the elders of
Israel came to him at Ramah (1 Sam. 8:4, 5, 19-22); and
feeling how great was the danger to which the nation was
exposed from the misconduct of Samuel’s sons, whom he
had invested with judicial functions as his assistants, and
had placed at Beersheba on the Philistine border, and also
from a threatened invasion of the Ammonites, they demanded
that a king should be set over them. This request was very
displeasing to Samuel. He remonstrated with them, and
warned them of the consequences of such a step. At length,
however, referring the matter to God, he acceded to their
desires, and anointed Saul (q.v.) to be their king (11:15).
Before retiring from public life he convened an assembly of
the people at Gilgal (ch. 12), and there solemnly addressed
them with reference to his own relation to them as judge
and prophet.
The remainder of his life he spent in retirement at Ramah,
only occasionally and in special circumstances appearing
again in public (1 Sam. 13, 15) with communications from
God to king Saul. While mourning over the many evils which
now fell upon the nation, he is suddenly summoned (ch.16)
to go to Bethlehem and anoint David, the son of Jesse, as
king over Israel instead of Saul. After this little is
known of him till the time of his death, which took place
at Ramah when he was probably about eighty years of age.
“And all Israel gathered themselves together, and
lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah”
(25:1), not in the house itself, but in the court or garden
of his house. (Comp. 2 Kings 21:18; 2 Chr. 33:20; 1 Kings
2:34; John 19:41.)
Samuel’s devotion to God, and the special favour with
which God regarded him, are referred to in Jer. 15:1 and
Ps. 99:6.
translators regarded the books of Samuel and of Kings as
forming one continuous history, which they divided into
four books, which they called “Books of the
Kingdom.” The Vulgate version followed this division,
but styled them “Books of the Kings.” These books
of Samuel they accordingly called the “First” and
“Second” Books of Kings, and not, as in the
modern Protestant versions, the “First” and
“Second” Books of Samuel.
The authors of the books of Samuel were probably Samuel,
Gad, and Nathan. Samuel penned the first twenty-four
chapters of the first book. Gad, the companion of David (1
Sam. 22:5), continued the history thus commenced; and
Nathan completed it, probably arranging the whole in the
form in which we now have it (1 Chr. 29:29).
The contents of the books. The first book comprises a
period of about a hundred years, and nearly coincides with
the life of Samuel. It contains (1) the history of Eli
(1-4); (2) the history of Samuel (5-12); (3) the history of
Saul, and of David in exile (13-31). The second book,
comprising a period of perhaps fifty years, contains a
history of the reign of David (1) over Judah (1-4), and (2)
over all Israel (5-24), mainly in its political aspects.
The last four chapters of Second Samuel may be regarded as
a sort of appendix recording various events, but not
chronologically. These books do not contain complete
histories. Frequent gaps are met with in the record,
because their object is to present a history of the kingdom
of God in its gradual development, and not of the events of
the reigns of the successive rulers. It is noticeable that
the section (2 Sam. 11:2-12: 29) containing an account of
David’s sin in the matter of Bathsheba is omitted in
the corresponding passage in 1 Chr. 20.
Sanballat – held some place of
authority in Samaria when Nehemiah went up to Jerusalem to
rebuild its ruined walls. He vainly attempted to hinder
this work (Neh. 2:10, 19; 4:1-12; 6). His daughter became
the wife of one of the sons of Joiada, a son of the high
priest, much to the grief of Nehemiah (13:28).
Sanctification – involves more
than a mere moral reformation of character, brought about
by the power of the truth: it is the work of the Holy
Spirit bringing the whole nature more and more under the
influences of the new gracious principles implanted in the
soul in regeneration. In other words, sanctification is the
carrying on to perfection the work begun in regeneration,
and it extends to the whole man (Rom. 6:13; 2 Cor. 4:6;
Col. 3:10; 1 John 4:7; 1 Cor. 6:19). It is the special
office of the Holy Spirit in the plan of redemption to
carry on this work (1 Cor. 6:11; 2 Thess. 2:13). Faith is
instrumental in securing sanctification, inasmuch as it (1)
secures union to Christ (Gal. 2:20), and (2) brings the
believer into living contact with the truth, whereby he is
led to yield obedience “to the commands, trembling at
the threatenings, and embracing the promises of God for
this life and that which is to come.”
Perfect sanctification is not attainable in this life (1
Kings 8:46; Prov. 20:9; Eccl. 7:20; James 3:2; 1 John 1:8).
See Paul’s account of himself in Rom. 7:14-25; Phil.
3:12-14; and 1 Tim. 1:15; also the confessions of David
(Ps. 19:12, 13; 51), of Moses (90:8), of Job (42:5, 6), and
of Daniel (9:3-20). “The more holy a man is, the more
humble, self-renouncing, self-abhorring, and the more
sensitive to every sin he becomes, and the more closely he
clings to Christ. The moral imperfections which cling to
him he feels to be sins, which he laments and strives to
overcome. Believers find that their life is a constant
warfare, and they need to take the kingdom of heaven by
storm, and watch while they pray. They are always subject
to the constant chastisement of their Father’s loving
hand, which can only be designed to correct their
imperfections and to confirm their graces. And it has been
notoriously the fact that the best Christians have been
those who have been the least prone to claim the attainment
of perfection for themselves.”, Hodge’s Outlines.
Sanctuary – denotes, (1) the Holy
Land (Ex. 15:17; comp. Ps. 114:2); (2) the temple (1 Chr.
22:19; 2 Chr. 29:21); (3) the tabernacle (Ex. 25:8; Lev.
12:4; 21:12); (4) the holy place, the place of the Presence
(Gr. hieron, the temple-house; not the naos, which
is the temple area, with its courts and porches), Lev. 4:6;
Eph. 2:21, R.V., marg.; (5) God’s holy habitation in
heaven (Ps. 102:19). In the final state there is properly
“no sanctuary” (Rev. 21:22), for God and the Lamb
“are the sanctuary” (R.V., “temple”).
All is there hallowed by the Divine Presence; all is
sancturary.
Sandals – Mentioned only in Mark
6:9 and Acts 12:8. The sandal was simply a sole, made of
wood or palm-bark, fastened to the foot by leathern straps.
Sandals were also made of seal-skin (Ezek. 16:10; lit.
tahash, “leather;” A.V., “badger’s
skin;” R.V., “sealskin,” or marg.,
“porpoise-skin”).
Sanhedrin (Gr. synedrion), meaning “a sitting
together,” or a “council.” This word
(rendered “council,” A.V.) is frequently used in
the New Testament (Matt. 5:22; 26:59; Mark 15:1, etc.) to
denote the supreme judicial and administrative council of
the Jews, which, it is said, was first instituted by Moses,
and was composed of seventy men (Num. 11:16, 17). But that
seems to have been only a temporary arrangement which Moses
made. This council is with greater probability supposed to
have originated among the Jews when they were under the
domination of the Syrian kings in the time of the
Maccabees. The name is first employed by the Jewish
historian Josephus. This “council” is referred to
simply as the “chief priests and elders of the
people” (Matt. 26:3, 47, 57, 59; 27:1, 3, 12, 20,
etc.), before whom Christ was tried on the charge of
claiming to be the Messiah. Peter and John were also
brought before it for promulgating heresy (Acts. 4:1-23;
5:17-41); as was also Stephen on a charge of blasphemy
(6:12-15), and Paul for violating a temple by-law (22:30;
23:1-10).
The Sanhedrin is said to have consisted of seventy-one
members, the high priest being president. They were of
three classes (1) the chief priests, or heads of the
twenty-four priestly courses (1 Chr. 24), (2) the scribes,
and (3) the elders. As the highest court of judicature,
“in all causes and over all persons, ecclesiastical
and civil, supreme,” its decrees were binding, not
only on the Jews in Palestine, but on all Jews wherever
scattered abroad. Its jurisdiction was greatly curtailed by
Herod, and afterwards by the Romans. Its usual place of
meeting was within the precincts of the temple, in the hall
“Gazith,” but it sometimes met also in the house
of the high priest (Matt. 26:3), who was assisted by two
vice-presidents.
Sansannah – a palm branch, or a
thorn bush, a town in the south (the negeb) of Judah (Josh.
15:31); called also Hazarsusah (19:5), or Hazar-susim (1
Chr. 4:31).
Saph – extension, the son of the
giant whom Sibbechai slew (2 Sam. 21:18); called also
Sippai (1 Chr. 20:4).
Judah (Micah 1:11), identified with es-Suafir, 5 miles
south-east of Ashdod.
Sapphira – beautiful, the wife of
Ananias (q.v.). She was a partner in his guilt and also in
his punishment (Acts 5:1-11).
diamonds (Ex. 28:18) and emeralds (Ezek. 28:13); one of the
stones in the high priest’s breastplate. It is a
precious stone of a sky-blue colour, probably the lapis
lazuli, brought from Babylon. The throne of God is
described as of the colour of a sapphire (Ex. 24:10; comp.
Ezek. 1:26).
Sarah – princess, the wife and at
the same time the half-sister of Abraham (Gen. 11:29;
20:12). This name was given to her at the time that it was
announced to Abraham that she should be the mother of the
promised child. Her story is from her marriage identified
with that of the patriarch till the time of her death. Her
death, at the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years
(the only instance in Scripture where the age of a woman is
recorded), was the occasion of Abraham’s purchasing the
cave of Machpelah as a family burying-place.
In the allegory of Gal. 4:22-31 she is the type of the
“Jerusalem which is above.” She is also mentioned
as Sara in Heb. 11:11 among the Old Testament worthies, who
“all died in faith.”
originally borne by Sarah (Gen. 11:31; 17:15).
Sardine stone – (Rev. 4:3, R.V.,
“sardius;” Heb. ‘odhem; LXX., Gr. sardion,
from a root meaning “red”), a gem of a blood-red
colour. It was called “sardius” because obtained
from Sardis in Lydia. It is enumerated among the precious
stones in the high priest’s breastplate (Ex. 28:17;
39:10). It is our red carnelian.
Sardis – the metropolis of Lydia
in Asia Minor. It stood on the river Pactolus, at the foot
of mount Tmolus. Here was one of the seven Asiatic churches
(Rev. 3:1-6). It is now a ruin called Sert-Kalessi.
species of the carnelian combining the sard and the onyx,
having three layers of opaque spots or stripes on a
transparent red basis. Like the sardine, it is a variety of
the chalcedony.
Sargon – (In the inscriptions,
“Sarra-yukin” [the god] has appointed the king;
also “Sarru-kinu,” the legitimate king.) On the
death of Shalmaneser (B.C. 723), one of the Assyrian
generals established himself on the vacant throne, taking
the name of “Sargon,” after that of the famous
monarch, the Sargon of Accad, founder of the first Semitic
empire, as well as of one of the most famous libraries of
Chaldea. He forthwith began a conquering career, and became
one of the most powerful of the Assyrian monarchs. He is
mentioned by name in the Bible only in connection with the
siege of Ashdod (Isa. 20:1).
At the very beginning of his reign he besieged and took the
city of Samaria (2 Kings 17:6; 18:9-12). On an inscription
found in the palace he built at Khorsabad, near Nieveh, he
says, “The city of Samaria I besieged, I took; 27,280
of its inhabitants I carried away; fifty chariots that were
among them I collected,” etc. The northern kingdom he
changed into an Assyrian satrapy. He afterwards drove
Merodach-baladan (q.v.), who kept him at bay for twelve
years, out of Babylon, which he entered in triumph. By a
succession of victories he gradually enlarged and
consolidated the empire, which now extended from the
frontiers of Egypt in the west to the mountains of Elam in
the east, and thus carried almost to completion the
ambitious designs of Tiglath-pileser (q.v.). He was
murdered by one of his own soldiers (B.C. 705) in his
palace at Khorsabad, after a reign of sixteen years, and
was succeeded by his son Sennacherib.
Satan – adversary; accuser. When
used as a proper name, the Hebrew word so rendered has the
article “the adversary” (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). In
the New Testament it is used as interchangeable with
Diabolos, or the devil, and is so used more than thirty
times.
He is also called “the dragon,” “the old
serpent” (Rev. 12:9; 20:2); “the prince of this
world” (John 12:31; 14:30); “the prince of the
power of the air” (Eph. 2:2); “the god of this
world” (2 Cor. 4:4); “the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). The
distinct personality of Satan and his activity among men
are thus obviously recognized. He tempted our Lord in the
wilderness (Matt. 4:1-11). He is “Beelzebub, the
prince of the devils” (12:24). He is “the
constant enemy of God, of Christ, of the divine kingdom, of
the followers of Christ, and of all truth; full of
falsehood and all malice, and exciting and seducing to evil
in every possible way.” His power is very great in the
world. He is a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Men are said to be “taken
captive by him” (2 Tim. 2:26). Christians are warned
against his “devices” (2 Cor. 2:11), and called
on to “resist” him (James 4:7). Christ redeems
his people from “him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Satan has the “power
of death,” not as lord, but simply as executioner.
Satyr – hairy one. Mentioned in
Greek mythology as a creature composed of a man and a goat,
supposed to inhabit wild and desolate regions. The Hebrew
word is rendered also “goat” (Lev. 4:24) and
“devil”, i.e., an idol in the form of a goat
(17:7; 2 Chr. 11:15). When it is said (Isa. 13:21; comp.
34:14) “the satyrs shall dance there,” the
meaning is that the place referred to shall become a
desolate waste. Some render the Hebrew word
“baboon,” a species of which is found in
Babylonia.
Saul – asked for. (1.) A king of
Edom (Gen. 36:37, 38); called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1:48.
(2.) The son of Kish (probably his only son, and a child of
prayer, “asked for”), of the tribe of Benjamin,
the first king of the Jewish nation. The singular
providential circumstances connected with his election as
king are recorded in 1 Sam. 8-10. His father’s
she-asses had strayed, and Saul was sent with a servant to
seek for them. Leaving his home at Gibeah (10:5, “the
hill of God,” A.V.; lit., as in R.V. marg.,
“Gibeah of God”), Saul and his servant went
toward the north-west over Mount Ephraim, and then turning
north-east they came to “the land of Shalisha,”
and thence eastward to the land of Shalim, and at length
came to the district of Zuph, near Samuel’s home at
Ramah (9:5-10). At this point Saul proposed to return from
the three days’ fruitless search, but his servant
suggested that they should first consult the
“seer.” Hearing that he was about to offer
sacrifice, the two hastened into Ramah, and “behold,
Samuel came out against them,” on his way to the
“bamah”, i.e., the “height”, where
sacrifice was to be offered; and in answer to Saul’s
question, “Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer’s
house is,” Samuel made himself known to him. Samuel
had been divinely prepared for his coming (9:15-17), and
received Saul as his guest. He took him with him to the
sacrifice, and then after the feast “communed with
Saul upon the top of the house” of all that was in his
heart. On the morrow Samuel “took a vial of oil and
poured it on his head,” and anointed Saul as king over
Israel (9:25-10:8), giving him three signs in confirmation
of his call to be king. When Saul reached his home in
Gibeah the last of these signs was fulfilled, and the Sprit
of God came upon him, and “he was turned into another
man.” The simple countryman was transformed into the
king of Israel, a remarkable change suddenly took place in
his whole demeanour, and the people said in their
astonishment, as they looked on the stalwart son of Kish,
“Is Saul also among the prophets?”, a saying
which passed into a “proverb.” (Comp. 19:24.)
The intercourse between Saul and Samuel was as yet unknown
to the people. The “anointing” had been in
secret. But now the time had come when the transaction must
be confirmed by the nation. Samuel accordingly summoned the
people to a solemn assembly “before the Lord” at
Mizpeh. Here the lot was drawn (10:17-27), and it fell upon
Saul, and when he was presented before them, the stateliest
man in all Israel, the air was rent for the first time in
Israel by the loud cry, “God save the king!” He
now returned to his home in Gibeah, attended by a kind of
bodyguard, “a band of men whose hearts God had
touched.” On reaching his home he dismissed them, and
resumed the quiet toils of his former life.
Soon after this, on hearing of the conduct of Nahash the
Ammonite at Jabeshgilead (q.v.), an army out of all the
tribes of Israel rallied at his summons to the
trysting-place at Bezek, and he led them forth a great army
to battle, gaining a complete victory over the Ammonite
invaders at Jabesh (11:1-11). Amid the universal joy
occasioned by this victory he was now fully recognized as
the king of Israel. At the invitation of Samuel “all
the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king
before the Lord in Gilgal.” Samuel now officially
anointed him as king (11:15). Although Samuel never ceased
to be a judge in Israel, yet now his work in that capacity
practically came to an end.
Saul now undertook the great and difficult enterprise of
freeing the land from its hereditary enemies the
Philistines, and for this end he gathered together an army
of 3,000 men (1 Sam. 13:1, 2). The Philistines were
encamped at Geba. Saul, with 2,000 men, occupied Michmash
and Mount Bethel; while his son Jonathan, with 1,000 men,
occupied Gibeah, to the south of Geba, and seemingly
without any direction from his father “smote” the
Philistines in Geba. Thus roused, the Philistines, who
gathered an army of 30,000 chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and
“people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in
multitude,” encamped in Michmash, which Saul had
evacuated for Gilgal. Saul now tarried for seven days in
Gilgal before making any movement, as Samuel had appointed
(10:8); but becoming impatient on the seventh day, as it
was drawing to a close, when he had made an end of offering
the burnt offering, Samuel appeared and warned him of the
fatal consequences of his act of disobedience, for he had
not waited long enough (13:13, 14).
When Saul, after Samuel’s departure, went out from
Gilgal with his 600 men, his followers having decreased to
that number (13:15), against the Philistines at Michmash
(q.v.), he had his head-quarters under a pomegrante tree at
Migron, over against Michmash, the Wady esSuweinit alone
intervening. Here at Gibeah-Geba Saul and his army rested,
uncertain what to do. Jonathan became impatient, and with
his armour-bearer planned an assault against the
Philistines, unknown to Saul and the army (14:1-15).
Jonathan and his armour-bearer went down into the wady, and
on their hands and knees climbed to the top of the narrow
rocky ridge called Bozez, where was the outpost of the
Philistine army. They surprised and then slew twenty of the
Philistines, and immediately the whole host of the
Philistines was thrown into disorder and fled in great
terror. “It was a very great trembling;” a
supernatural panic seized the host. Saul and his 600 men, a
band which speedily increased to 10,000, perceiving the
confusion, pursued the army of the Philistines, and the
tide of battle rolled on as far as to Bethaven, halfway
between Michmash and Bethel. The Philistines were totally
routed. “So the Lord saved Israel that day.”
While pursuing the Philistines, Saul rashly adjured the
people, saying, “Cursed be the man that eateth any
food until evening.” But though faint and weary, the
Israelites “smote the Philistines that day from
Michmash to Aijalon” (a distance of from 15 to 20
miles). Jonathan had, while passing through the wood in
pursuit of the Philistines, tasted a little of the
honeycomb which was abundant there (14:27). This was
afterwards discovered by Saul (ver. 42), and he threatened
to put his son to death. The people, however, interposed,
saying, “There shall not one hair of his head fall to
the ground.” He whom God had so signally owned, who
had “wrought this great salvation in Israel,”
must not die. “Then Saul went up from following the
Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own
place” (1 Sam. 14:24-46); and thus the campaign
against the Philistines came to an end. This was Saul’s
second great military success.
Saul’s reign, however, continued to be one of almost
constant war against his enemies round about (14:47, 48),
in all of which he proved victorious. The war against the
Amalekites is the only one which is recorded at length (1
Sam. 15). These oldest and hereditary (Ex. 17:8; Num.
14:43-45) enemies of Israel occupied the territory to the
south and south-west of Palestine. Samuel summoned Saul to
execute the “ban” which God had pronounced (Deut.
25:17-19) on this cruel and relentless foe of Israel. The
cup of their iniquity was now full. This command was
“the test of his moral qualification for being
king.” Saul proceeded to execute the divine command;
and gathering the people together, marched from Telaim (1
Sam. 15:4) against the Amalekites, whom he smote “from
Havilah until thou comest to Shur,” utterly destroying
“all the people with the edge of the sword”,
i.e., all that fell into his hands. He was, however, guilty
of rebellion and disobedience in sparing Agag their king,
and in conniving at his soldiers’ sparing the best of
the sheep and cattle; and Samuel, following Saul to Gilgal,
in the Jordan valley, said unto him, “Because thou
hast rejected the word of the Lord, he also hath rejected
thee from being king” (15:23). The kingdom was rent
from Saul and was given to another, even to David, whom the
Lord chose to be Saul’s successor, and whom Samuel
anointed (16:1-13). From that day “the spirit of the
Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord
troubled him.” He and Samuel parted only to meet once
again at one of the schools of the prophets.
David was now sent for as a “cunning player on an
harp” (1 Sam. 16:16, 18), to play before Saul when the
evil spirit troubled him, and thus was introduced to the
court of Saul. He became a great favourite with the king.
At length David returned to his father’s house and to
his wonted avocation as a shepherd for perhaps some three
years. The Philistines once more invaded the land, and
gathered their army between Shochoh and Azekah, in
Ephes-dammim, on the southern slope of the valley of Elah.
Saul and the men of Israel went forth to meet them, and
encamped on the northern slope of the same valley which lay
between the two armies. It was here that David slew Goliath
of Gath, the champion of the Philistines (17:4-54), an
exploit which led to the flight and utter defeat of the
Philistine army. Saul now took David permanently into his
service (18:2); but he became jealous of him (ver. 9), and
on many occasions showed his enmity toward him (ver. 10,
11), his enmity ripening into a purpose of murder which at
different times he tried in vain to carry out.
After some time the Philistines “gathered themselves
together” in the plain of Esdraelon, and pitched their
camp at Shunem, on the slope of Little Hermon; and Saul
“gathered all Israel together,” and “pitched
in Gilboa” (1 Sam. 28:3-14). Being unable to discover
the mind of the Lord, Saul, accompanied by two of his
retinue, betook himself to the “witch of Endor,”
some 7 or 8 miles distant. Here he was overwhelmed by the
startling communication that was mysteriously made to him
by Samuel (ver. 16-19), who appeared to him. “He fell
straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid,
because of the words of Samuel” (ver. 20). The
Philistine host “fought against Israel: and the men of
Israel fled before the Philistines, and fell down slain in
Mount Gilboa” (31:1). In his despair at the disaster
that had befallen his army, Saul “took a sword and
fell upon it.” And the Philistines on the morrow
“found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount
Gilboa.” Having cut off his head, they sent it with
his weapons to Philistia, and hung up the skull in the
temple of Dagon at Ashdod. They suspended his headless
body, with that of Jonathan, from the walls of Bethshan.
The men of Jabesh-gilead afterwards removed the bodies from
this position; and having burnt the flesh, they buried the
bodies under a tree at Jabesh. The remains were, however,
afterwards removed to the family sepulchre at Zelah (2 Sam.
21:13, 14).
(3.) “Who is also called Paul” (q.v.), the
circumcision name of the apostle, given to him, perhaps, in
memory of King Saul (Acts 7:58; 8:1; 9:1).
Saviour – one who saves from any
form or degree of evil. In its highest sense the word
indicates the relation sustained by our Lord to his
redeemed ones, he is their Saviour. The great message of
the gospel is about salvation and the Saviour. It is the
“gospel of salvation.” Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ secures to the sinner a personal interest in the
work of redemption. Salvation is redemption made effectual
to the individual by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Scapegoat – Lev. 16:8-26; R.V.,
“the goat for Azazel” (q.v.), the name given to
the goat which was taken away into the wilderness on the
day of Atonement (16:20-22). The priest made atonement over
the scapegoat, laying Israel’s guilt upon it, and then
sent it away, the goat bearing “upon him all their
iniquities unto a land not inhabited.”
At a later period an evasion or modification of the law of
Moses was introduced by the Jews. “The goat was
conducted to a mountain named Tzuk, situated at a distance
of ten Sabbath days’ journey, or about six and a half
English miles, from Jerusalem. At this place the Judean
desert was supposed to commence; and the man in whose
charge the goat was sent out, while setting him free, was
instructed to push the unhappy beast down the slope of the
mountain side, which was so steep as to insure the death of
the goat, whose bones were broken by the fall. The reason
of this barbarous custom was that on one occasion the
scapegoat returned to Jerusalem after being set free, which
was considered such an evil omen that its recurrence was
prevented for the future by the death of the goat”
(Twenty-one Years’ Work in the Holy Land). This
mountain is now called el-Muntar.
Scarlet – This dye was obtained
by the Egyptians from the shell-fish Carthamus tinctorius;
and by the Hebrews from the Coccus ilicis, an insect which
infests oak trees, called kermes by the Arabians.
This colour was early known (Gen. 38:28). It was one of the
colours of the ephod (Ex. 28:6), the girdle (8), and the
breastplate (15) of the high priest. It is also mentioned
in various other connections (Josh. 2:18; 2 Sam. 1:24; Lam.
4:5; Nahum 2:3). A scarlet robe was in mockery placed on
our Lord (Matt. 27:28; Luke 23:11). “Sins as
scarlet” (Isa. 1:18), i.e., as scarlet robes
“glaring and habitual.” Scarlet and crimson were
the firmest of dyes, and thus not easily washed out.
skeptron), properly a staff or rod. As a symbol of
authority, the use of the sceptre originated in the idea
that the ruler was as a shepherd of his people (Gen. 49:10;
Num. 24:17; Ps. 45:6; Isa. 14:5). There is no example on
record of a sceptre having ever been actually handled by a
Jewish king.
chief of the priests at Ephesus (Acts 19:13-16); i.e., the
head of one of the twenty-four courses of the house of
Levi. He had seven sons, who “took upon them to call
over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord
Jesus,” in imitation of Paul. They tried their method
of exorcism on a fierce demoniac, and failed. His answer to
them was to this effect (19:15): “The Jesus whom you
invoke is One whose authority I acknowledge; and the Paul
whom you name I recognize to be a servant or messenger of
God; but what sort of men are ye who have been empowered to
act as you do by neither?” (Lindsay on the Acts of the
Apostles.)
alienation causing divisions among Christians, who ought to
be united (1 Cor. 12:25).
designated by Paul (Gal. 3:24, 25). As so used, the word
does not mean teacher, but pedagogue (shortened into the
modern page), i.e., one who was intrusted with the
supervision of a family, taking them to and from the
school, being responsible for their safety and manners.
Hence the pedagogue was stern and severe in his discipline.
Thus the law was a pedagogue to the Jews, with a view to
Christ, i.e., to prepare for faith in Christ by producing
convictions of guilt and helplessness. The office of the
pedagogue ceased when “faith came”, i.e., the
object of that faith, the seed, which is Christ.
Schools of the Prophets – (1 Sam.
19:18-24; 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7, 12, 15) were instituted for
the purpose of training young men for the prophetical and
priestly offices. (See PROPHET
Scorpions – mentioned along with
serpents (Deut. 8:15). Used also figuratively to denote
wicked persons (Ezek. 2:6; Luke 10:19); also a particular
kind of scourge or whip (1 Kings 12:11). Scorpions were a
species of spider. They abounded in the Jordan valley.
Variously administered. In no case were the stripes to
exceed forty (Deut. 25:3; comp. 2 Cor. 11:24). In the time
of the apostles, in consequence of the passing of what was
called the Porcian law, no Roman citizen could be scourged
in any case (Acts 16:22-37). In the scourging of our Lord (Matt. 27:26;
Mark 15:15) the words of prophecy (Isa. 53:5) were
fulfilled.
Scribes – anciently held various
important offices in the public affairs of the nation. The
Hebrew word so rendered (sopher) is first used to designate
the holder of some military office (Judg. 5:14; A.V.,
“pen of the writer;” R.V., “the
marshal’s staff;” marg., “the staff of the
scribe”). The scribes acted as secretaries of state,
whose business it was to prepare and issue decrees in the
name of the king (2 Sam. 8:17; 20:25; 1 Chr. 18:16; 24:6; 1
Kings 4:3; 2 Kings 12:9-11; 18:18-37, etc.). They
discharged various other important public duties as men of
high authority and influence in the affairs of state.
There was also a subordinate class of scribes, most of whom
were Levites. They were engaged in various ways as writers.
Such, for example, was Baruch, who “wrote from the
mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord” (Jer.
36:4, 32).
In later times, after the Captivity, when the nation lost
its independence, the scribes turned their attention to the
law, gaining for themselves distinction by their intimate
acquaintance with its contents. On them devolved the duty
of multiplying copies of the law and of teaching it to
others (Ezra 7:6, 10-12; Neh. 8:1, 4, 9, 13). It is evident
that in New Testament times the scribes belonged to the
sect of the Pharisees, who supplemented the ancient written
law by their traditions (Matt. 23), thereby obscuring it
and rendering it of none effect. The titles
“scribes” and “lawyers” (q.v.) are in
the Gospels interchangeable (Matt. 22:35; Mark 12:28; Luke
20:39, etc.). They were in the time of our Lord the public
teachers of the people, and frequently came into collision
with him. They afterwards showed themselves greatly hostile
to the apostles (Acts 4:5; 6:12).
Some of the scribes, however, were men of a different
spirit, and showed themselves friendly to the gospel and
its preachers. Thus Gamaliel advised the Sanhedrin, when
the apostles were before them charged with “teaching
in this name,” to “refrain from these men and let
them alone” (Acts 5:34-39; comp. 23:9).
usually fastened to the girdle (1 Sam. 17:40); “a
shepherd’s bag.”
In the New Testament it is the rendering of Gr. pera, which
was a bag carried by travellers and shepherds, generally
made of skin (Matt. 10:10; Mark 6:8; Luke 9:3; 10:4). The
name “scrip” is meant to denote that the bag was
intended to hold scraps, fragments, as if scraped off from
larger articles, trifles.
Scripture – invariably in the New
Testament denotes that definite collection of sacred books,
regarded as given by inspiration of God, which we usually
call the Old Testament (2 Tim. 3:15, 16; John 20:9; Gal.
3:22; 2 Pet. 1:20). It was God’s purpose thus to
perpetuate his revealed will. From time to time he raised
up men to commit to writing in an infallible record the
revelation he gave. The “Scripture,” or
collection of sacred writings, was thus enlarged from time
to time as God saw necessary. We have now a completed
“Scripture,” consisting of the Old and New
Testaments. The Old Testament canon in the time of our Lord
was precisely the same as that which we now possess under
that name. He placed the seal of his own authority on this
collection of writings, as all equally given by inspiration
(Matt. 5:17; 7:12; 22:40; Luke 16:29, 31). (See BIBLE.)
consisted of “all the pastoral tribes who dwelt to the
north of the Black Sea and the Caspian, and were scattered
far away toward the east. Of this vast country but little
was anciently known. Its modern representative is Russia,
which, to a great extent, includes the same
territories.” They were the descendants of Japheth
(Gen. 9:27). It appears that in apostolic times there were
some of this people that embraced Christianity (Col.
3:11).
Seah – In land measure, a space
of 50 cubits long by 50 broad. In measure of capacity, a
seah was a little over one peck. (See
MEASURE.)
Seal – commonly a ring engraved
with some device (Gen. 38:18, 25). Jezebel “wrote
letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his
seal” (1 Kings 21:8). Seals are frequently mentioned
in Jewish history (Deut. 32:34; Neh. 9:38; 10:1; Esther
3:12; Cant. 8:6; Isa. 8:16; Jer. 22:24; 32:44, etc.).
Sealing a document was equivalent to the signature of the
owner of the seal. “The use of a signet-ring by the
monarch has recently received a remarkable illustration by
the discovery of an impression of such a signet on fine
clay at Koyunjik, the site of the ancient Nineveh. This
seal appears to have been impressed from the bezel of a
metallic finger-ring. It is an oval, 2 inches in length by
1 inch wide, and bears the image, name, and titles of the
Egyptian king Sabaco” (Rawlinson’s Hist. Illus. of
the O.T., p. 46). The actual signet-rings of two Egyptian
kings (Cheops and Horus) have been discovered.
The use of seals is mentioned in the New Testament only in
connection with the record of our Lord’s burial (Matt.
27:66). The tomb was sealed by the Pharisees and chief
priests for the purpose of making sure that the disciples
would not come and steal the body away (ver. 63, 64). The
mode of doing this was probably by stretching a cord across
the stone and sealing it at both ends with sealing-clay.
When God is said to have sealed the Redeemer, the meaning
is, that he has attested his divine mission (John 6:27).
Circumcision is a seal, an attestation of the covenant
(Rom. 4:11). Believers are sealed with the Spirit, as
God’s mark put upon them (Eph. 1:13; 4:30). Converts
are by Paul styled the seal of his apostleship, i.e., they
are its attestation (1 Cor. 9:2). Seals and sealing are
frequently mentioned in the book of Revelation (5:1; 6:1;
7:3; 10:4; 22:10).
expression used in Rev. 4:6 and 15:2. According to the
interpretation of some, “this calm, glass-like sea,
which is never in storm, but only interfused with flame,
represents the counsels of God, those purposes of
righteousness and love which are often fathomless but never
obscure, always the same, though sometimes glowing with
holy anger.” (Comp. Ps. 36:6; 77:19; Rom.
11:33-36.)
Sea of Jazer – (Jer. 48:32), a
lake, now represented by some ponds in the high valley in
which the Ammonite city of Jazer lies, the ruins of which
are called Sar.
AGRICULTURE
Sea, The – (Heb. yam), signifies
(1) “the gathering together of the waters,” the
ocean (Gen. 1:10); (2) a river, as the Nile (Isa. 19:5),
the Euphrates (Isa. 21:1; Jer. 51:36); (3) the Red Sea (Ex.
14:16, 27; 15:4, etc.); (4) the Mediterranean (Ex. 23:31;
Num. 34:6, 7; Josh. 15:47; Ps. 80:11, etc.); (5) the
“sea of Galilee,” an inland fresh-water lake, and
(6) the Dead Sea or “salt sea” (Gen. 14:3; Num.
34:3, 12, etc.). The word “sea” is used
symbolically in Isa. 60:5, where it probably means the
nations around the Mediterranean. In Dan. 7:3, Rev. 13:1 it
may mean the tumultuous changes among the nations of the
earth.
Sea, The molten – the great laver
made by Solomon for the use of the priests in the temple,
described in 1 Kings 7:23-26; 2 Chr. 4:2-5. It stood in the
south-eastern corner of the inner court. It was 5 cubits
high, 10 in diameter from brim to brim, and 30 in
circumference. It was placed on the backs of twelve oxen,
standing with their faces outward. It was capable of
containing two or three thousand baths of water (comp. 2
Chr. 4:5), which was originally supplied by the Gibeonites,
but was afterwards brought by a conduit from the pools of
Bethlehem. It was made of “brass” (copper), which
Solomon had taken from the captured cities of Hadarezer,
the king of Zobah (1 Chr. 18:8). Ahaz afterwards removed
this laver from the oxen, and placed it on a stone pavement
(2 Kings 16:17). It was destroyed by the Chaldeans
(25:13).
Seba – (1.) One of the sons of
Cush (Gen. 10:7).
(2.) The name of a country and nation (Isa. 43:3; 45:14)
mentioned along with Egypt and Ethiopia, and therefore
probably in north-eastern Africa. The ancient name of
Meroe. The kings of Sheba and Seba are mentioned together
in Ps. 72:10.
Sebat – the eleventh month of the
Hebrew year, extending from the new moon of February to
that of March (Zech. 1:7). Assyrian sabatu,
“storm.”
Secacah – enclosure, one of the
six cities in the wilderness of Judah, noted for its
“great cistern” (Josh. 15:61). It has been
identified with the ruin Sikkeh, east of Bethany.
Sechu – a hill or watch-tower, a
place between Gibeah and Ramah noted for its “great
well” (1 Sam. 19:22); probably the modern Suweikeh,
south of Beeroth.
rendered “heresy”, Acts 24:14; 1 Chr. 11:19; Gal.
5:20, etc.), meaning properly “a choice,” then
“a chosen manner of life,” and then “a
religious party,” as the “sect” of the
Sadducees (Acts 5:17), of the Pharisees (15:5), the
Nazarenes, i.e., Christians (24:5). It afterwards came to
be used in a bad sense, of those holding pernicious error,
divergent forms of belief (2 Pet. 2:1; Gal. 5:20).
Secundus – second, a Christian of
Thessalonica who accompanied Paul into Asia (Acts
20:4).
Seer – a name sometimes applied
to the prophets because of the visions granted to them. It
is first found in 1 Sam. 9:9. It is afterwards applied to
Zadok, Gad, etc. (2 Sam. 15:27; 24:11; 1 Chr. 9:22; 25:5; 2
Chr. 9:29; Amos 7:12; Micah 3:7). The “sayings of the
seers” (2 Chr. 33:18, 19) is rendered in the Revised
Version “the history of Hozai” (marg., the seers;
so the LXX.), of whom, however, nothing is known.
boiling provisions in (Job 41:20; Jer. 1:13).
youngest son of Hiel the Bethelite. His death is recorded
in 1 Kings 16:34 (comp. Josh. 6:26).
(2.) A descendant of Judah (1 Chr. 2:21, 22).
Horite; one of the “dukes” of Edom (Gen.
36:20-30).
(2.) The name of a mountainous region occupied by the
Edomites, extending along the eastern side of the Arabah
from the south-eastern extremity of the Dead Sea to near
the Akabah, or the eastern branch of the Red Sea. It was
originally occupied by the Horites (Gen. 14:6), who were
afterwards driven out by the Edomites (Gen. 32:3; 33:14,
16). It was allotted to the descendants of Esau (Deut. 2:4,
22; Josh. 24:4; 2 Chr. 20:10; Isa. 21:11; Exek. 25:8).
(3.) A mountain range (not the Edomite range, Gen. 32:3)
lying between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab (Josh.
15:10).
Seirath – woody district; shaggy,
a place among the mountains of Ephraim, bordering on
Benjamin, to which Ehud fled after he had assassinated
Eglon at Jericho (Judg. 3:26, 27).
capital of Edom, situated in the great valley extending
from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea (2 Kings 14:7). It was
near Mount Hor, close by the desert of Zin. It is called
“the rock” (Judg. 1:36). When Amaziah took it he
called it Joktheel (q.v.) It is mentioned by the prophets
(Isa. 16:1; Obad. 1:3) as doomed to destruction.
It appears in later history and in the Vulgate Version
under the name of Petra. “The caravans from all ages,
from the interior of Arabia and from the Gulf of Persia,
from Hadramaut on the ocean, and even from Sabea or Yemen,
appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and
from Petra the tide seems again to have branched out in
every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through
Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, and Damascus, and by other
routes, terminating at the Mediterranean.” (See EDOM
¯T0001129 [2].)
Selah – a word frequently found
in the Book of Psalms, and also in Hab. 3:9, 13, about
seventy-four times in all in Scripture. Its meaning is
doubtful. Some interpret it as meaning “silence”
or “pause;” others, “end,” “a
louder strain,” “piano,” etc. The LXX.
render the word by daplasma i.e., “a
division.”
divisions the name of the great gorge which lies between
Hachilah and Maon, south-east of Hebron. This gorge is now
called the Wady Malaky. This was the scene of the interview
between David and Saul mentioned in 1 Sam.26:13. Each stood
on an opposing cliff, with this deep chasm between.
Antioch, near the mouth of the Orontes. Paul and his
companions sailed from this port on their first missionary
journey (Acts 13:4). This city was built by Seleucus
Nicator, the “king of Syria.” It is said of him
that “few princes have ever lived with so great a
passion for the building of cities. He is reputed to have
built in all nine Seleucias, sixteen Antiochs, and six
Laodiceas.” Seleucia became a city of great
importance, and was made a “free city” by Pompey.
It is now a small village, called el-Kalusi.
genealogy of our Lord (Luke 3:26).
Senaah – thorny, a place many of
the inhabitants of which returned from Babylon with
Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:35; Neh. 7:38).
“elders of Israel” who formed a component part of
the Sanhedrin.
Seneh – the acacia; rock-thorn,
the southern cliff in the Wady es-Suweinit, a valley south
of Michmash, which Jonathan climbed with his armour-bearer
(1 Sam. 14:4, 5). The rock opposite, on the other side of
the wady, was called Bozez.
Senir – =Shenir, the name given
to Hermon by the Amorites (Deut. 3:9). It means “coat
of mail” or “breastplate,” and is equivalent
to “Sirion.” Some interpret the word as meaning
“the prominent” or “the snowy
mountain.” It is properly the name of the central of
the three summits of Hermon (q.v.).
Sennacherib – Sin (the god) sends
many brothers, son of Sargon, whom he succeeded on the
throne of Assyria (B.C. 705), in the 23rd year of Hezekiah.
“Like the Persian Xerxes, he was weak and
vainglorious, cowardly under reverse, and cruel and
boastful in success.” He first set himself to break up
the powerful combination of princes who were in league
against him. Among these was Hezekiah, who had entered into
an alliance with Egypt against Assyria. He accordingly led
a very powerful army of at least 200,000 men into Judea,
and devastated the land on every side, taking and
destroying many cities (2 Kings 18:13-16; comp. Isa. 22,
24, 29, and 2 Chr. 32:1-8). His own account of this
invasion, as given in the Assyrian annals, is in these
words: “Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not
submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of
arms and by the might of my power I took forty-six of his
strong fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were
scattered about, I took and plundered a countless number.
From these places I took and carried off 200,156 persons,
old and young, male and female, together with horses and
mules, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless
multitude; and Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his
capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round
the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against
the gates, so as to prevent escape…Then upon Hezekiah
there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent
out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with 30
talents of gold and 800 talents of silver, and divers
treasures, a rich and immense booty…All these things were
brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government.”
(Comp. Isa. 22:1-13 for description of the feelings of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem at such a crisis.)
Hezekiah was not disposed to become an Assyrian feudatory.
He accordingly at once sought help from Egypt (2 Kings
18:20-24). Sennacherib, hearing of this, marched a second
time into Palestine (2 Kings 18:17, 37; 19; 2 Chr. 32:9-23;
Isa. 36:2-22. Isa. 37:25 should be rendered “dried up
all the Nile-arms of Matsor,” i.e., of Egypt, so
called from the “Matsor” or great fortification
across the isthmus of Suez, which protected it from
invasions from the east). Sennacherib sent envoys to try to
persuade Hezekiah to surrender, but in vain. He next sent a threatening letter (2 Kings
19:10-14), which Hezekiah carried into the temple and
spread before the Lord. Isaiah again brought an encouraging
message to the pious king (2 Kings 19:20-34). “In that
night” the angel of the Lord went forth and smote the
camp of the Assyrians. In the morning, “behold, they
were all dead corpses.” The Assyrian army was
annihilated.
This great disaster is not, as was to be expected, taken
notice of in the Assyrian annals.
Though Sennacherib survived this disaster some twenty
years, he never again renewed his attempt against
Jerusalem. He was murdered by two of his own sons
(Adrammelech and Sharezer), and was succeeded by another
son, Esarhaddon (B.C. 681), after a reign of twenty-four
years.
Seorim – barley, the chief of the
forth priestly course (1 Chr. 24:8).
Sephar – numbering, (Gen. 10:30),
supposed by some to be the ancient Himyaritic capital,
“Shaphar,” Zaphar, on the Indian Ocean, between
the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
locality unknown. The modern Jews think that Spain is
meant, and hence they designate the Spanish Jews
“Sephardim,” as they do the German Jews by the
name “Ashkenazim,” because the rabbis call
Germany Ashkenaz. Others identify it with Sardis, the
capital of Lydia. The Latin father Jerome regarded it as an
Assyrian word, meaning “boundary,” and
interpreted the sentence, “which is in Sepharad,”
by “who are scattered abroad in all the boundaries and
regions of the earth.” Perowne says: “Whatever
uncertainty attaches to the word Sepharad, the drift of the
prophecy is clear, viz., that not only the exiles from
Babylon, but Jewish captives from other and distant
regions, shall be brought back to live prosperously within
the enlarged borders of their own land.”
king of Assyria (2 Kings 17:24; 18:34; 19:13; Isa. 37:13).
It was a double city, and received the common name
Sepharvaim, i.e., “the two Sipparas,” or
“the two booktowns.” The Sippara on the east bank
of the Euphrates is now called Abu-Habba; that on the other
bank was Accad, the old capital of Sargon I., where he
established a great library. The recent discovery of cuneiform inscriptions
at Tel el-Amarna in Egypt, consisting of official
despatches to Pharaoh Amenophis IV. and his predecessor
from their agents in Palestine, proves that in the century
before the Exodus an active literary intercourse was
carried on between these nations, and that the medium of
the correspondence was the Babylonian language and script.
(See KIRJATH-SEPHER ¯T0002204.)
Sepulchre – first mentioned as
purchased by Abraham for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite
(Gen. 23:20). This was the “cave of the field of
Machpelah,” where also Abraham and Rebekah and Jacob
and Leah were burried (79:29-32). In Acts 7:16 it is said
that Jacob was “laid in the sepulchre that Abraham
bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father
of Sychem.” It has been proposed, as a mode of
reconciling the apparent discrepancy between this verse and
Gen. 23:20, to read Acts 7:16 thus: “And they [i.e.,
our fathers] were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the
sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the
sons of Emmor [the son] of Sychem.” In this way the
purchase made by Abraham is not to be confounded with the
purchase made by Jacob subsequently in the same district.
Of this purchase by Abraham there is no direct record in
the Old Testament.
Serah – abundance; princess, the
daughter of Asher and grand-daughter of Jacob (Gen. 46:17);
called also Sarah (Num. 26:46; R.V.,
“Serah”).
(1.) The father of Joab (1 Chr. 4:13, 14).
(2.) The grandfather of Jehu (1 Chr. 4:35).
(3.) One of David’s scribes or secretaries (2 Sam.
8:17).
(4.) A Netophathite (Jer. 40:8), a chief priest of the time
of Zedekiah. He was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar to
Babylon, and there put to death (2 Kings 25:18, 23).
(5.) Ezra 2:2.
(6.) Father of Ezra the scribe (7:1).
(7.) A ruler of the temple (Neh. 11:11).
(8.) A priest of the days of Jehoiakim (Neh. 12:1, 12).
(9.) The son of Neriah. When Zedekiah made a journey to
Babylon to do homage to Nebuchadnezzar, Seraiah had charge
of the royal gifts to be presented on that occasion.
Jeremiah took advantage of the occasion, and sent with
Seraiah a word of cheer to the exiles in Babylon, and an
announcement of the doom in store for that guilty city. The
roll containing this message (Jer. 50:1-8) Seraiah was to
read to the exiles, and then, after fixing a stone to it,
was to throw it into the Euphrates, uttering, as it sank,
the prayer recorded in Jer. 51:59-64. Babylon was at this
time in the height of its glory, the greatest and most
powerful monarchy in the world. Scarcely seventy years
elapsed when the words of the prophet were all fulfilled.
Jer. 51:59 is rendered in the Revised Version, “Now
Seraiah was chief chamberlain,” instead of “was a
quiet prince,” as in the Authorized Version.
Seraphim – mentioned in Isa. 6:2,
3, 6, 7. This word means fiery ones, in allusion, as is
supposed, to their burning love. They are represented as
“standing” above the King as he sat upon his
throne, ready at once to minister unto him. Their form
appears to have been human, with the addition of wings.
This word, in the original, is used elsewhere
only of the “fiery serpents” (Num. 21:6, 8; Deut.
8:15; comp. Isa. 14:29; 30:6) sent by God as his
instruments to inflict on the people the righteous penalty
of sin.
Sered – fear, one of the sons of
Zebulun (Gen. 46:14).
Sergeants – Acts 16:35, 38 (R.V.,
“lictors”), officers who attended the magistrates
and assisted them in the execution of justice.
man” (R.V., “man of understanding”), the
deputy (R.V., “proconsul”) of Cyprus (Acts
13:6-13). He became a convert to Christianity under Paul,
who visited this island on his first mission to the
heathen.
A remarkable memorial of this proconsul was recently (1887)
discovered at Rome. On a boundary stone of Claudius his
name is found, among others, as having been appointed (A.D.
47) one of the curators of the banks and the channel of the
river Tiber. After serving his three years as proconsul at
Cyprus, he returned to Rome, where he held the office
referred to. As he is not saluted in Paul’s letter to
the Romans, he probably died before it was written.
spending a night in solemn meditation and prayer in the
lonely mountain-range to the west of the Lake of Galilee
(Luke 6:12), on the following morning our Lord called to
him his disciples, and from among them chose twelve, who
were to be henceforth trained to be his apostles (Mark
3:14, 15). After this solemn consecration of the twelve, he
descended from the mountain-peak to a more level spot (Luke
6:17), and there he sat down and delivered the “sermon
on the mount” (Matt. 5-7; Luke 6:20-49) to the
assembled multitude. The mountain here spoken of was
probably that known by the name of the “Horns of
Hattin” (Kurun Hattin), a ridge running east and west,
not far from Capernaum. It was afterwards called the
“Mount of Beatitudes.”
ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty
species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous
character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s
blessing on Dan (Gen. 49:17; see Prov. 30:18, 19; James
3:7; Jer. 8:17).
This word is used symbolically of a deadly, subtle,
malicious enemy (Luke 10:19).
The serpent is first mentioned in connection with the
history of the temptation and fall of our first parents
(Gen. 3). It has been well remarked regarding this
temptation: “A real serpent was the agent of the
temptation, as is plain from what is said of the natural
characteristic of the serpent in the first verse of the
chapter (3:1), and from the curse pronounced upon the
animal itself. But that Satan was the actual tempter, and
that he used the serpent merely as his instrument, is
evident (1) from the nature of the transaction; for
although the serpent may be the most subtle of all the
beasts of the field, yet he has not the high intellectual
faculties which the tempter here displayed. (2.) In the New
Testament it is both directly asserted and in various forms
assumed that Satan seduced our first parents into sin (John
8:44; Rom. 16:20; 2 Cor. 11:3, 14; Rev. 12:9; 20:2).”
Hodge’s System. Theol., ii. 127.
“deadly,” Vulg. “burning”), Num. 21:6,
probably the naja haje of Egypt; some swift-springing,
deadly snake (Isa. 14:29). After setting out from their
encampment at Ezion-gaber, the Israelites entered on a wide
sandy desert, which stretches from the mountains of Edom as
far as the Persian Gulf. While traversing this region, the
people began to murmur and utter loud complaints against
Moses. As a punishment, the Lord sent serpents among them,
and much people of Israel died. Moses interceded on their
behalf, and by divine direction he made a “brazen
serpent,” and raised it on a pole in the midst of the
camp, and all the wounded Israelites who looked on it were
at once healed. (Comp. John 3:14, 15.) This “brazen serpent” was preserved by
the Israelites till the days of Hezekiah, when it was
destroyed (2 Kings 18:4).
Nahor (Gen. 11:20-23); called Saruch in Luke 3:35.
Servitor – occurs only in 2 Kings
4:43, Authorized Version (R.V., “servant”). The
Hebrew word there rendered “servitor” is
elsewhere rendered “minister,”
“servant” (Ex. 24:13; 33:11). Probably Gehazi,
the personal attendant on Elisha, is here meant.
Seth – appointed; a substitute,
the third son of Adam and Eve (Gen. 4:25; 5:3). His mother
gave him this name, “for God,” said she,
“hath appointed me [i.e., compensated me with] another
seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.”
Sethur – hidden, one of the spies
sent to search the Promised Land. He was of the tribe of
Asher (Num. 13:13).
frequently in Scripture, and in such connections as lead to
the supposition that it has some typical meaning. On the
seventh day God rested, and hallowed it (Gen. 2:2, 3). The
division of time into weeks of seven days each accounts for
many instances of the occurrence of this number. This
number has been called the symbol of perfection, and also
the symbol of rest. “Jacob’s seven years’
service to Laban; Pharaoh’s seven fat oxen and seven
lean ones; the seven branches of the golden candlestick;
the seven trumpets and the seven priests who sounded them;
the seven days’ siege of Jericho; the seven churches,
seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven vials, and
many others, sufficiently prove the importance of this
sacred number” (see Lev. 25:4; 1 Sam. 2:5; Ps. 12:6;
79:12; Prov. 26:16; Isa. 4:1; Matt. 18:21, 22; Luke 17:4).
The feast of Passover (Ex. 12:15, 16), the feast of Weeks
(Deut. 16:9), of Tabernacles (13:15), and the Jubilee (Lev.
25:8), were all ordered by seven. Seven is the number of
sacrifice (2 Chr. 29:21; Job 42:8), of purification and
consecration (Lev. 42:6, 17; 8:11, 33; 14:9, 51), of
forgiveness (Matt. 18:21, 22; Luke 17:4), of reward (Deut.
28:7; 1 Sam. 2:5), and of punishment (Lev. 26:21, 24, 28;
Deut. 28:25). It is used for any round number in such
passages as Job 5:19; Prov. 26:16, 25; Isa. 4:1; Matt.
12:45. It is used also to mean “abundantly” (Gen.
4:15, 24; Lev. 26:24; Ps. 79:12).
period mentioned in Dan. 9:24, and usually interpreted on
the “year-day” theory, i.e., reckoning each day
for a year. This period will thus represent 490 years. This
is regarded as the period which would elapse till the time
of the coming of the Messiah, dating “from the going
forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem” i.e., from the close of the Captivity.
place of foxes, a town of the tribe of Dan (Josh. 19:42;
Judg. 1:35). It was one of the chief towns from which
Solomon drew his supplies (1 Kings 4:9). It is probably the
modern village of Selbit, 3 miles north of Ajalon.
Shaaraim – two gates. (1.) A city
in the plain of Judah (1 Sam. 17:52); called also Sharaim
(Josh. 15:36).
(2.) A town in Simeon (1 Chr. 4:31).
beautiful, a chief eunuch in the second house of the harem
of king Ahasuerus (Esther 2:14).
Levite who assisted in expounding the law and investigating
into the illegal marriages of the Jews (Ezra 10:15; Neh.
8:7; 11:16).
name of God in frequent use in the Hebrew Scriptures,
generally translated “the Almighty.”
Copyright 2008. Bibles Net. Com. All Rights Reserved.