the components of the perfume which was offered on the

golden altar (Ex. 30:34; R.V. marg.,

“opobalsamum”). The Hebrew word is from a root

meaning “to distil,” and it has been by some

interpreted as distilled myrrh. Others regard it as the gum

of the storax tree, or rather shrub, the Styrax officinale.

“The Syrians value this gum highly, and use it

medicinally as an emulcent in pectoral complaints, and also

who pretend to tell what will occur by looking upon the

stars. The Chaldean astrologers “divined by the rising

and setting, the motions, aspects, colour, degree of light,

figuratively given to Christ (Rev. 22:16; comp. 2 Pet.

1:19). When Christ promises that he will give the

“morning star” to his faithful ones, he

“promises that he will give to them himself, that he

will give to them himself, that he will impart to them his

own glory and a share in his own royal dominion; for the

star is evermore the symbol of royalty (Matt. 2:2), being

therefore linked with the sceptre (Num. 24:17). All the

glory of the world shall end in being the glory of the

37:9); the seven (Amos 5:8); wandering (Jude 1:13); seen in

the east at the birth of Christ, probably some luminous

meteors miraculously formed for this specific purpose

(Matt. 2:2-10); stars worshipped (Deut. 4:19; 2 Kings

17:16; 21:3; Jer. 19:13); spoken of symbolically (Num.

“piece of money” (Matt. 17:27, A.V.; and

“shekel” in R.V.). It was equal to two didrachmas

(“tribute money,” 17:24), or four drachmas, and

steel” in (A.V.) 2 Sam. 22:35; Job 20:24; Ps. 18:34 is

in the Revised Version “bow of brass” (Heb.

kesheth-nehushah). In Jer. 15:12 the same word is used, and

is also rendered in the Revised Version “brass.”

But more correctly it is copper (q.v.), as brass in the

ordinary sense of the word (an alloy of copper and zinc)

the church at Corinth, whose family were among those the

apostle had baptized (1 Cor. 1:16; 16:15, 17). He has been

supposed by some to have been the “jailer of

Philippi” (comp. Acts 16:33). The First Epistle to the

Corinthians was written from Philippi some six years after

the jailer’s conversion, and he was with the apostle

deacons, who became a preacher of the gospel. He was the

first Christian martyr. His personal character and history

are recorded in Acts 6. “He fell asleep” with a

prayer for his persecutors on his lips (7:60). Devout men

philosophers at Athens, so called from the Greek word stoa

i.e., a “porch” or “portico,” where

they have been called “the Pharisees of Greek

paganism.” The founder of the Stoics was Zeno, who

flourished about B.C. 300. He taught his disciples that a

man’s happiness consisted in bringing himself into

harmony with the course of the universe. They were trained

to bear evils with indifference, and so to be independent

of externals. Materialism, pantheism, fatalism, and pride

article of female attire, probably some sort of girdle

for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Gen.

28:18; Josh. 24:26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:12, etc.). They were

gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa. 5:2; comp. 2 Kings

3:19). This word is also used figuratively of believers (1

Pet. 2:4, 5), and of the Messiah (Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16;

Matt. 21:42; Acts 4:11, etc.). In Dan. 2:45 it refers also

to the Messiah. He is there described as “cut out of

referred to (1 Kings 10:2; 2 Chr. 3:6; 9:10; Rev. 18:16;

21:19). There are about twenty different names of such

stones in the Bible. They are figuratively introduced to

denote value, beauty, durability (Cant. 5:14; Isa 54:11,

(Lev. 20:2; 24:14; Deut. 13:10; 17:5; 22:21) prescribed for

certain offences. Of Achan (Josh. 7:25), Naboth (1 Kings

21), Stephen (Acts 7:59), Paul (Acts 14:19; 2 Cor.

“kindness,” indicating thus the character of the

bird, which is noted for its affection for its young. It is

in the list of birds forbidden to be eaten by the Levitical

law (Lev. 11:19; Deut. 14:18). It is like the crane, but

larger in size. Two species are found in Palestine, the

white, which are dispersed in pairs over the whole country;

and the black, which live in marshy places and in great

flocks. They migrate to Palestine periodically (about the

22nd of March). Jeremiah alludes to this (Jer. 8:7). At the

appointed time they return with unerring sagacity to their

old haunts, and re-occupy their old nests. “There is a

well-authenticated account of the devotion of a stork

which, at the burning of the town of Delft, after repeated

and unsuccessful attempts to carry off her young, chose

rather to remain and perish with them than leave them to

their fate. Well might the Romans call it the pia

denotes a person from a foreign land residing in Palestine.

Such persons enjoyed many privileges in common with the

Jews, but still were separate from them. The relation of

the Jews to strangers was regulated by special laws (Deut.

23:3; 24:14-21; 25:5; 26:10-13). A special signification is

also sometimes attached to this word. In Gen. 23:4 it

denotes one resident in a foreign land; Ex. 23:9, one who

is not a Jew; Num. 3:10, one who is not of the family of

Aaron; Ps. 69:8, an alien or an unknown person. The Jews

were allowed to purchase strangers as slaves (Lev. 25:44,

5:7-18). Used figuratively in Job 41:27; Isa. 11:7; 25:10;

the Wady el-‘Arish, called also “the river of

Egypt,” R.V., “brook of Egypt” (Num. 34:5;

Josh. 15:4; 2 Kings 24:7). It is the natural boundary of

Egypt. Occasionally in winter, when heavy rains have fallen

among the mountains inland, it becomes a turbulent rushing

torrent. The present boundary between Egypt and Palestine

“Straight” at Damascus (Acts 9:11) is “a

long broad street, running from east to west, about a mile

in length, and forming the principal thoroughfare in the

city.” In Oriental towns streets are usually narrow

and irregular and filthy (Ps. 18:42; Isa. 10:6). “It

is remarkable,” says Porter, “that all the

important cities of Palestine and Syria Samaria, Caesarea,

Gerasa, Bozrah, Damascus, Palmyra, had their ‘straight

streets’ running through the centre of the city, and

lined with stately rows of columns. The most perfect now

remaining are those of Palmyra and Gerasa, where long

ranges of the columns still stand.”, Through Samaria,

not to exceed forty (Deut. 25:1-3), and hence arose the

custom of limiting them to thirty-nine (2 Cor. 11:24). Paul

claimed the privilege of a Roman citizen in regard to the

infliction of stripes (Acts 16:37, 38; 22:25-29). Our Lord

to Paul’s epistles are no part of the original. In

their present form they are ascribed to Euthalius, a bishop

of the fifth century. Some of them are obviously

of a city or town (Num. 35:3, 7; Ezek. 45:2). In 2 Kings

23:11 the Hebrew word there used (parvarim) occurs nowhere

else. The Revised Version renders it “precincts.”

The singular form of this Hebrew word (parvar) is supposed

by some to be the same as Parbar (q.v.), which occurs twice

encampment of the Israelites after leaving Ramesses (Ex.

daughters, supposed to be the name of a Babylonian deity,

the goddess Zir-banit, the wife of Merodach, worshipped by

(Vulg. and LXX., “troglodites;” i.e.,

cave-dwellers in the hills along the Red Sea).

Shiskak’s army, with which he marched against

Jerusalem, was composed partly of this tribe (2 Chr.

mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries

of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence

they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons.

The worship of the sun was one of the oldest forms of false

religion (Job 31:26,27), and was common among the Egyptians

and Chaldeans and other pagan nations. The Jews were warned

against this form of idolatry (Deut. 4:19; 17:3; comp. 2

“some ancient versions have the Red Sea,” as in

the A.V.). Some identify it with Suphah (Num. 21:14, marg.,

A.V.) as probably the name of a place. Others identify it

with es-Sufah = Maaleh-acrabbim (Josh. 15:3), and others

again with Zuph (1 Sam. 9:5). It is most probable, however,

that, in accordance with the ancient versions, this word is

to be regarded as simply an abbreviation of Yam-suph, i.e.,

R.V.), a place at the south-eastern corner of the Dead Sea,

the Ghor es-Safieh. This name is found in an ode quoted

from the “Book of the Wars of the Lord,” probably

a collection of odes commemorating the triumphs of

the day among the Jews. It was partaken of in the early

part of the evening (Mark 6:21; John 12:2; 1 Cor. 11:21).

responsible for another. Christ is the surety of the better

covenant (Heb. 7:22). In him we have the assurance that all

its provisions will be fully and faithfully carried out.

Solomon warns against incautiously becoming security for

Shushan, who joined the other adversaries of the Jews in

the attempt to prevent the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra

38:14; Jer. 8:7), the Arabic for the swift, which “is

a regular migrant, returning in myriads every spring, and

so suddenly that while one day not a swift can be seen in

the country, on the next they have overspread the whole

land, and fill the air with their shrill cry.” The

swift (cypselus) is ordinarily classed with the swallow,

which it resembles in its flight, habits, and

unclean birds (Lev. 11:18; Deut. 14:16), is sometimes met

literally the “pride” of Jordan (as in R.V.),

i.e., the luxuriant thickets of tamarisks, poplars, reeds,

etc., which were the lair of lions and other beasts of

prey. The reference is not to the overflowing of the river

the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev.

11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine

were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken

of figuratively in Matt. 7:6 (see Prov. 11:22). It is

frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the

wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the

pointed, sometimes two-edged, was worn in a sheath, and

suspended from the girdle (Ex. 32:27; 1 Sam. 31:4; 1 Chr.

Luke 17:6. It is rendered by Luther “mulberry

tree” (q.v.), which is most probably the correct

rendering. It is found of two species, the black mulberry

(Morus nigra) and the white mulberry (Mourea), which are

common in Palestine. The silk-worm feeds on their leaves.

The rearing of them is one of the chief industries of the

peasantry of Lebanon and of other parts of the land. It is

of the order of the fig-tree. Some contend, however, that

(Heb. shikmoth and shikmim, Gr. sycomoros), a tree which in

its general character resembles the fig-tree, while its

leaves resemble those of the mulberry; hence it is called

the fig-mulberry (Ficus sycomorus). At Jericho, Zacchaeus

climbed a sycomore-tree to see Jesus as he passed by (Luke

19:4). This tree was easily destroyed by frost (Ps. 78:47),

and therefore it is found mostly in the “vale” (1

Kings 10:27; 2 Chr. 1:15: in both passages the R.V. has

properly “lowland”), i.e., the “low

country,” the shephelah, where the climate is mild.

Amos (7:14) refers to its fruit, which is of an inferior

character; so also probably Jeremiah (24:2). It is to be

distinguished from our sycamore (the Acer pseudo-platanus),

Isa. 28:1, 7), has been from the time of the Crusaders

usually identified with Sychem or Shechem (John 4:5). It

has now, however, as the result of recent explorations,

been identified with ‘Askar, a small Samaritan town on

the southern base of Ebal, about a mile to the north of

30:6), a town of Egypt, on the borders of Ethiopia, now

called Assouan, on the right bank of the Nile, notable for

its quarries of beautiful red granite called

“syenite.” It was the frontier town of Egypt in

“an assembly”), found only once in the Authorized

Version of Ps. 74:8, where the margin of Revised Version

has “places of assembly,” which is probably

correct; for while the origin of synagogues is unknown, it

may well be supposed that buildings or tents for the

accommodation of worshippers may have existed in the land

from an early time, and thus the system of synagogues would

female member of the church at Philippi, whom Paul

south-east coast of Sicily, where Paul landed and remained

three days when on his way to Rome (Acts 28:12). It was

distinguished for its magnitude and splendour. It is now a

the Old Testament given to the whole country which lay to

the north-east of Phoenicia, extending to beyond the

Euphrates and the Tigris. Mesopotamia is called (Gen.

24:10; Deut. 23:4) Aram-naharain (=Syria of the two

rivers), also Padan-aram (Gen. 25:20). Other portions of

Syria were also known by separate names, as Aram-maahah (1

Chr. 19:6), Aram-beth-rehob (2 Sam. 10:6), Aram-zobah (2

Sam. 10:6, 8). All these separate little kingdoms

afterwards became subject to Damascus. In the time of the

Romans, Syria included also a part of Palestine and Asia

4:7; Dan. 2:4), more correctly rendered

“Aramaic,” including both the Syriac and the

Chaldee languages. In the New Testament there are several

Syriac words, such as “Eloi, Eloi, lama

sabachthani?” (Mark 15:34; Matt. 27:46 gives the Heb.

form, “Eli, Eli”), “Raca” (Matt. 5:22),

“Ephphatha” (Mark 7:34), “Maran-atha”

Syrophenician by nation” (Mark 7:26), i.e., a Gentile

ancient royal city of the Canaanites, on the south-western

border of the plain of Esdraelon, 4 miles south of Megiddo.

Its king was conquered by Joshua (12:21). It was assigned

to the Levites of the family of Kohath (17:11-18; 21:25).

It is mentioned in the song of Deborah (Judg. 5:19). It is

identified with the small modern village of

Shiloh, a place on the border of Ephraim (Josh. 16:6),

probably the modern T’ana, a ruin 7 miles south-east of

“the children of,” returned from the Captivity

tribe of Ephraim (Judg. 7:22), to the south of Bethshean,

father of one whom the kings of Syria and Samaria in vain

Samaria, who joined others in the attempt to prevent the

wilderness of Paran, where the “fire of the Lord”

consumed the murmuring Israelites (Num. 11:3; Deut. 9:22).

drum or tabret. In Nahum 2:7, where alone it occurs, it

means beating on the breast, as players beat on the

of the great annual festivals of the Jews (Lev. 23:33-43).

It is also called the “feast of ingathering” (Ex.

23:16; Deut. 16:13). It was celebrated immediately after

the harvest, in the month Tisri, and the celebration lasted

for eight days (Lev. 23:33-43). During that period the

people left their homes and lived in booths formed of the

branches of trees. The sacrifices offered at this time are

mentioned in Num. 29:13-38. It was at the time of this

feast that Solomon’s temple was dedicated (1 Kings

8:2). Mention is made of it after the return from the

Captivity. This feast was designed (1) to be a memorial of

the wilderness wanderings, when the people dwelt in booths

(Lev. 23:43), and (2) to be a harvest thanksgiving (Neh.

8:9-18). The Jews, at a later time, introduced two

appendages to the original festival, viz., (1) that of

drawing water from the Pool of Siloam, and pouring it upon

the altar (John 7:2, 37), as a memorial of the water from

the rock in Horeb; and (2) of lighting the lamps at night,

a memorial of the pillar of fire by night during their

Dorcas), gazelle, a disciple at Joppa. She was

distinguished for her alms-deeds and good works. Peter, who

was sent for from Lydda on the occasion of her death,

prayed over the dead body, and said, “Tabitha,

arise.” And she opened her eyes and sat up; and Peter

“gave her his hand, and raised her up; and calling the

saints and widows, he presented her alive” (Acts

banqueting-couches or benches, on which the Jews reclined

when at meals. This custom, along with the use of raised

tables like ours, was introduced among the Jews after the

Captivity. Before this they had, properly speaking, no

table. That which served the purpose was a skin or piece of

leather spread out on the carpeted floor. Sometimes a stool

was placed in the middle of this skin. (See ABRAHAM’S

beads worn round the neck (Ex. 35:22; Num. 31:50). In Isa.

3:20 the Hebrew word means a perfume-box, as it is rendered

et-Tur, a cone-like prominent mountain, 11 miles west of

the Sea of Galilee. It is about 1,843 feet high. The view

from the summit of it is said to be singularly extensive

and grand. This is alluded to in Ps. 89:12; Jer. 46:18. It

was here that Barak encamped before the battle with Sisera

(q.v.) Judg. 4:6-14. There is an old tradition, which,

however, is unfounded, that it was the scene of the

(q.v.) or tambourine, generally played by women (Gen.

31:27; 1 Sam. 10:5; 18:6). In Job 17:6 the word (Heb.

topheth) “tabret” should be, as in the Revised

Version, “an open abhorring” (marg., “one in

whose face they spit;” lit., “a spitting in the

the tabernacle curtains were connected (Ex. 26:6, 11, 33;

name given to Jashobeam (2 Sam. 23:8; comp. 1 Chr.

ropes attached to the mast of a ship. In Acts 27:19 this

word means generally the furniture of the ship or the

“gear” (27:17), all that could be removed from

Solomon “in the wilderness” (2 Chr. 8:4). In 1

Kings 9:18, where the word occurs in the Authorized

Version, the Hebrew text and the Revised Version read

“Tamar,” which is properly a city on the southern

border of Palestine and toward the wilderness (comp. Ezek.

47:19; 48:28). In 2 Chr. 8:14 Tadmor is mentioned in

connection with Hamath-zobah. It is called Palmyra by the

Greeks and Romans. It stood in the great Syrian wilderness,

176 miles from Damascus and 130 from the Mediterranean and

was the centre of a vast commercial traffic with Western

=Tahpanhes=Tehaphnehes, (called “Daphne” by the

Greeks, now Tell Defenneh), an ancient Egyptian city, on

the Tanitic branch of the Nile, about 16 miles from

Pelusium. The Jews from Jerusalem fled to this place after

the death of Gedaliah (q.v.), and settled there for a time

(Jer. 2:16; 43:7; 44:1; 46:14). A platform of brick-work,

which there is every reason to believe was the pavement at

the entry of Pharaoh’s palace, has been discovered at

this place. “Here,” says the discoverer, Mr.

Petrie, “the ceremony described by Jeremiah [43:8-10;

“brick-kiln”, i.e., pavement of brick] took place

before the chiefs of the fugitives assembled on the

platform, and here Nebuchadnezzar spread his royal

who gave her sister in marriage to Hadad the Edomite (1

newly inhabited, (2 Sam. 24:6). It is conjectured that,

instead of this word, the reading should be, “the

Hittites of Kadesh,” the Hittite capital, on the

Orontes. It was apparently some region east of the Jordan

task,” as weighed and measured out = tally, i.e., the

number told off; the full number (Ex. 5:18; see 1 Sam.

18:27; 1 Chr. 9:28). In Ezek. 45:11 rendered

3,000 shekels (Ex. 38:25, 26), and was equal to 94 3/7 lbs.

avoirdupois. The Greek talent, however, as in the LXX., was

only 82 1/4 lbs. It was in the form of a circular mass, as

the Hebrew name kikkar denotes. A talent of gold was

double the weight of a talent of silver (2 Sam. 12:30).

Syriac or Aramaic expression, meaning, “Little maid,

arise.” Peter, who was present when the miracle was

wrought, recalled the actual words used by our Lord, and

(1.) One of the Anakim of Hebron, who were slain by the men

of Judah under Caleb (Num. 13:22; Josh. 15:14; Judg.

mentioned by Ezekiel (47:19; 48:28), on the southeastern

border of Palestine. Some suppose this was

21:33; 1 Sam. 22:6; 31:13, in the R.V.; but in A.V.,

“grove,” “tree”); Arab. asal. Seven

species of this tree are found in Palestine. It is a

“very graceful tree, with long feathery branches and

tufts closely clad with the minutest of leaves, and

surmounted in spring with spikes of beautiful pink blosoms,

which seem to envelop the whole tree in one gauzy sheet of

the Accadian sun-god (the Adonis of the Greeks), the

husband of the goddess Ishtar. In the Chaldean calendar

there was a month set apart in honour of this god, the

month of June to July, the beginning of the summer

solstice. At this festival, which lasted six days, the

worshippers, with loud lamentations, bewailed the funeral

of the god, they sat “weeping for Tammuz” (Ezek.

Netophathite; one of the captains who supported Gedaliah (2

town in the valley or lowland of Judah; formerly a royal

city of the Canaanites (Josh. 12:17; 15:34). It is now

encampment of the Hebrews in the wilderness (Num. 33:27,

mentioned only in Matt. 13:25-30. It is the Lolium

temulentum, a species of rye-grass, the seeds of which are

a strong soporific poison. It bears the closest resemblance

to wheat till the ear appears, and only then the difference

is discovered. It grows plentifully in Syria and

after the LXX. and Vulg.), a kind of small shield. The

margin has “gorget,” a piece of armour for the

throat. The Revised Version more correctly renders the

Hebrew word (kidon) by “javelin.” The same Hebrew

word is used in Josh. 8:18 (A.V., “spear;” R.V.,

“javelin”); Job 39:23 (A.V., “shield;”

R.V., “javelin”); 41:29 (A.V., “spear;”

word, meaning “the sea coast.” (1.) One of the

Cilicia. It was distinguished for its wealth and for its

schools of learning, in which it rivalled, nay, excelled

even Athens and Alexandria, and hence was spoken of as

“no mean city.” It was the native place of the

Apostle Paul (Acts 21:39). It stood on the banks of the

river Cydnus, about 12 miles north of the Mediterranean. It

is said to have been founded by Sardanapalus, king of

Assyria. It is now a filthy, ruinous Turkish town, called

of the gods of the Arvites, who colonized part of Samaria

after the deportation of Israel by Shalmaneser (2 Kings

meaning “the commander-in-chief.” (1.) One of

Sennacherib’s messengers to Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:17).

(Heb. pehah, i.e., “satrap;” modern

“pasha”) “on this side the river”,

i.e., of the whole tract on the west of the Euphrates. This

Hebrew title pehah is given to governors of

provinces generally. It is given to Nehemiah (5:14) and to

Zerubbabel (Hag. 1:1). It is sometimes translated

“captain” (1 Kings 20:24; Dan. 3:2, 3), sometimes

also “deputy” (Esther 8:9; 9:3). With others,

Tatnai opposed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 5:6); but

at the command of Darius, he assisted the Jews

the great “Appian Way,” about 11 miles from Rome,

designed for the reception of travellers, as the name

indicates. Here Paul, on his way to Rome, was met by a band

of Roman Christians (Acts 28:15). The “Tres Tabernae

was the first mansio or mutatio, that is, halting-place for

relays, from Rome, or the last on the way to the city. At

this point three roads run into the Via Appia, that from

Tusculum, that from Alba Longa, and that from Antium; so

necessarily here would be a halting-place, which took its

name from the three shops there, the general store, the

blacksmith’s, and the refreshment-house…Tres Tabernae

is translated as Three Taverns, but it more correctly means

three shops” (Forbes’s Footsteps of St. Paul,

command (Ex. 30:11-16) that every Jew from twenty years and

upward should pay an annual tax of “half a shekel for

an offering to the Lord.” This enactment was

faithfully observed for many generations (2 Chr. 24:6;

“enrolment”), “when Cyrenius was governor of

Syria,” is simply a census of the people, or an

enrolment of them with a view to their taxation. The decree

for the enrolment was the occasion of Joseph and Mary’s

going up to Bethlehem. It has been argued by some that

Cyrenius (q.v.) was governor of Cilicia and Syria both at

the time of our Lord’s birth and some years afterwards.

This decree for the taxing referred to the whole Roman

probably of Persian origin, denoting the cold time of the

year; used by the later Jews as denoting the tenth month of

lime-tree, the tilia), Isa. 6:13, the terebinth, or

turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus of botanists. The

Hebrew word here used (elah) is rendered oak (q.v.) in Gen.

35:4; Judg. 6:11, 19; Isa. 1:29, etc. In Isa. 61:3 it is

rendered in the plural “trees;” Hos. 4:13,

“elm” (R.V., “terebinth”). Hos. 4:13,

“elm” (R.V., “terebinth”). In 1 Sam.

17:2, 19 it is taken as a proper name, “Elah”

tents; fastening down, a town of Judah, about 12 miles

south of Jerusalem, and visible from the city. From this

place Joab procured a “wise woman,” who pretended

to be in great affliction, and skilfully made her case

known to David. Her address to the king was in the form of

an apologue, similar to that of Nathan (2 Sam. 12:1-6). The

object of Joab was, by the intervention of this woman, to

induce David to bring back Absalom to Jerusalem (2 Sam.