original name of Hebron (q.v.), so called from the name of

its founder, one of the Anakim (Gen. 23:2; 35:27; Josh.

15:13). It was given to Caleb by Joshua as his portion. The

Jews interpret the name as meaning “the city of the

four”, i.e., of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Adam, who

Num. 22:39, a Moabite city, which some identify with

Kirjathaim. Balak here received and entertained Balaam,

whom he had invited from Pethor, among the “mountains

of the east,” beyond the Euphrates, to lay his ban

upon the Israelites, whose progress he had no hope

otherwise of arresting. It was probably from the summit of

Attarus, the high place near the city, that the soothsayer

i.e., of woods or forests, a Gibeonite town (Josh. 9:17) on

the border of Benjamin, to which tribe it was assigned

(18:15, 28). The ark was brought to this place (1 Sam. 7:1,

2) from Beth-shemesh and put in charge of Abinadab, a

Levite. Here it remained till it was removed by David to

Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:2, 3, 12; 1 Chr. 15:1-29; comp. Ps.

132). It was also called Baalah (Josh. 15:9) and

Kirjath-baal (60). It has been usually identified with

Kuriet el-‘Enab (i.e., “city of grapes”),

among the hills, about 8 miles north-east of ‘Ain Shems

(i.e., Beth-shemesh). The opinion, however, that it is to

be identified with ‘Erma, 4 miles east of ‘Ain

Shems, on the edge of the valley of Sorek, seems to be

sannah; i.e., of the palm(?), Josh. 15:49; the same as

Kirjath-sepher (15:16; Judg. 1:11) and Debir (q.v.), a

Canaanitish royal city included in Judah (Josh. 10:38;

15:49), and probably the chief seat of learning among the

Hittites. It was about 12 miles to the south-west of

Josh. 15:15; same as Kirjath-sannah (q.v.), now represented

by the valley of ed-Dhaberiyeh, south-west of Hebron. The

name of this town is an evidence that the Canaanites were

acquainted with writing and books. “The town probably

contained a noted school, or was the site of an oracle and

the residence of some learned priest.” The

“books” were probably engraved stones or

strongholds of Moab were Ar and Kir, which latter is

Issachar assigned to the Gershonite Levites (Josh. 19:20),

torrent of Central Palestine, which rises about the roots

of Tabor and Gilboa, and passing in a northerly direction

through the plains of Esdraelon and Acre, falls into the

Mediterranean at the north-eastern corner of the bay of

Acre, at the foot of Carmel. It is the drain by which the

waters of the plain of Esdraelon and of the mountains that

surround it find their way to the sea. It bears the modern

name of Nahr el-Mokattah, i.e., “the river of

slaughter” (comp. 1 Kings 18:40). In the triumphal

song of Deborah (Judg. 5:21) it is spoken of as “that

ancient river,” either (1) because it had flowed on

for ages, or (2), according to the Targum, because it was

“the torrent in which were shown signs and wonders to

Israel of old;” or (3) probably the reference is to

the exploits in that region among the ancient Canaanites,

for the adjoining plain of Esdraelon was the great

27; 29:13; Luke 7:38, 45); reconciliation (Gen. 33:4; 2

Sam. 14:33); leave-taking (Gen. 31:28,55; Ruth 1:14; 2 Sam.

19:39); homage (Ps. 2:12; 1 Sam. 10:1); spoken of as

between parents and children (Gen. 27:26; 31:28, 55; 48:10;

50:1; Ex. 18:7; Ruth 1:9, 14); between male relatives (Gen.

29:13; 33:4; 45:15). It accompanied social worship as a

symbol of brotherly love (Rom. 16:16; 1 Cor. 16:20; 2 Cor.

13:12; 1 Thess. 5:26; 1 Pet. 5:14). The worship of idols

was by kissing the image or the hand toward the image (1

keen-sighted bird of prey (Lev. 11:14; Deut. 14:13). The

Hebrew word used, ‘ayet, is rendered

“vulture” in Job 28:7 in Authorized Version,

“falcon” in Revised Version. It is probably the

red kite (Milvus regalis), a bird of piercing sight and of

town in the plain of Judah (Josh. 15:40). It has been

Zebulun (Judg. 1:30), called also Kattath (Josh. 19:15);

which the dough, after being mixed and leavened, was left

to swell or ferment (Ex. 8:3; 12:34; Deut. 28:5, 7). The

dough in the vessels at the time of the Exodus was still

unleavened, because the people were compelled to withdraw

“the waster,” a sharp instrument for circumcision

(Josh. 5:2, 3, lit. “knives of flint;” comp. Ex.

4:25); a razor (Ezek. 5:1); a graving tool (Ex. 20:25); an

are very jealous of their privacy, they never knock when

about to enter your room, but walk in without warning or

ceremony. It is nearly impossible to teach an Arab servant

to knock at your door. They give warning at the outer gate

either by calling or knocking. To stand and call is a very

common and respectful mode. Thus Moses commanded the holder

of a pledge to stand without and call to the owner to come

forth (Deut. 24:10). This was to avoid the violent

intrusion of cruel creditors. Peter stood knocking at the

outer door (Acts 12:13, 16), and the three men sent to

Joppa by Cornelius made inquiry and ‘stood before the

gate’ (10:17, 18). The idea is that the guard over your

ornament. (1.) Heb. kaphtor (Ex. 25:31-36), occurring in

the description of the candlestick. It was an ornamental

swell beneath the cups of the candlestick, probably an

Ezek. 23:23, some province or place in the Babylonian

of Levi, and father of Amram (Gen. 46:11). He came down to

Egypt with Jacob, and lived to the age of one hundred and

Kohath. They formed the first of the three divisions of the

Levites (Ex. 6:16, 18; Num. 3:17). In the journeyings of

the Israelites they had the charge of the most holy portion

of the vessels of the tabernacle, including the ark (Num.

4). Their place in the marching and encampment was south of

the tabernacle (Num. 3:29, 31). Their numbers at different

times are specified (3:28; 4:36; 26:57, 62). Samuel was of

Kohathites that descended from Korah. (1.) They were an

important branch of the singers of the Kohathite division

(2 Chr. 20:19). There are eleven psalms (42-49; 84; 85; 87;

and temple-warder of the Korahites, the son of Asaph. He

was father of Shallum and Meshelemiah, temple-porters (1

descended from Korah (Ex. 6:24; 1 Chr. 12:6; 26:1; 2 Chr.

Judah. 1 Chr. 4:8, “Coz;” R.V.,

Bethuel, who was the son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

He lived at Haran in Mesopotamia. His sister Rebekah was

Isaac’s wife (Gen. 24). Jacob, one of the sons of this

marriage, fled to the house of Laban, whose daughters Leah

Canaanitish city in the Shephelah, or maritime plain of

Palestine (Josh. 10:3, 5; 12:11). It was taken and

destroyed by the Israelites (Josh. 10:31-33). It afterwards

became, under Rehoboam, one of the strongest fortresses of

Judah (2 Chr. 10:9). It was assaulted and probably taken by

Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:14, 17; 19:8; Isa. 36:2). An

account of this siege is given on some slabs found in the

chambers of the palace of Koyunjik, and now in the British

Museum. The inscription has been deciphered as follows:,

“Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of

Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment before the city

the Sidonians, in the extreme north of Palestine (Judg.

18:7, 14); called also Leshem (Josh. 19:47) and Dan (Judg.

18:7, 29; Jer. 8:16). It lay near the sources of the

Jordan, about 4 miles from Paneas. The restless and warlike

tribe of Dan (q.v.), looking out for larger possessions,

invaded this country and took Laish with its territory. It

is identified with the ruin Tell-el-Kady, “the mound

of the judge,” to the north of the Waters of Merom

lamb from the first to the third year. Offered daily at the

morning and the evening sacrifice (Ex. 29:38-42), on the

Sabbath day (Num. 28:9), at the feast of the New Moon

(28:11), of Trumpets (29:2), of Tabernacles (13-40), of

Pentecost (Lev. 23:18-20), and of the Passover (Ex. 12:5),

and on many other occasions (1 Chr. 29:21; 2 Chr. 29:21;

wild man. (1.) The fifth in descent from Cain. He was the

first to violate the primeval ordinance of marriage (Gen.

4:18-24). His address to his two wives, Adah and Zillah

(4:23, 24), is the only extant example of antediluvian

poetry. It has been called “Lamech’s

sword-song.” He was “rude and ruffianly,”

fearing neither God nor man. With him the curtain falls on

elegy or dirge. The first example of this form of poetry is

the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam.

1:17-27). It was a frequent accompaniment of mourning (Amos

8:10). In 2 Sam. 3:33, 34 is recorded David’s lament

over Abner. Prophecy sometimes took the form of a lament

when it predicted calamity (Ezek. 27:2, 32; 28:12; 32:2,

the Hebrew canon ‘Ekhah, meaning

“How,” being the formula for the commencement of

a song of wailing. It is the first word of the book (see 2

Sam. 1:19-27). The LXX. adopted the name rendered

“Lamentations” (Gr. threnoi = Heb. qinoth) now in

common use, to denote the character of the book, in which

the prophet mourns over the desolations brought on the city

and the holy land by Chaldeans. In the Hebrew Bible it is

candle-sticks of the tabernacle and the temple which bore

the light (Ex. 25:37; 1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chr. 4:20; 13:11;

Zech. 4:2). Their form is not described. Olive oil was

indicated by a stone, stake, etc. (Deut. 19:14; 27:17;

Prov. 22:28; 23:10; Job 24:2). Landmarks could not be

removed without incurring the severe displeasure of

mentioned in Scripture lay on the confines of Phrygia and

Lydia, about 40 miles east of Ephesus (Rev. 3:14), on the

banks of the Lycus. It was originally called Diospolis and

then Rhoas, but afterwards Laodicea, from Laodice, the wife

of Antiochus II., king of Syria, who rebuilt it. It was one

of the most important and flourishing cities of Asia Minor.

At a very early period it became one of the chief seats of

Christianity (Col. 2:1; 4:15; Rev. 1:11, etc.). It is now a

deserted place, called by the Turks Eski-hissar or

4:16), was probably the Epistle to the Ephesians, as

designed for general circulation. It would reach the

called “the wife of Lapidoth” (Judg. 4:4). Some

have rendered the expression “a woman of a fiery

spirit,” under the supposition that Lapidoth is not a

i.e., by putting the hand filled with water to the mouth.

The dog drinks by shaping the end of his long thin tongue

into the form of a spoon, thus rapidly lifting up water,

which he throws into his mouth. The three hundred men that

went with Gideon thus employed their hands and lapped the

bird, mentioned only in Lev. 11:19 and Deut. 14:18. The

Hebrew name of this bird, dukiphath, has been

generally regarded as denoting the hoope (Upupa epops), an

onomatopoetic word derived from the cry of the bird, which

resembles the word “hoop;” a bird not uncommon in

Crete (Acts 27:8). Its ruins are still found near Cape

apparently east of the Dead Sea (Gen. 10:19). It was

afterwards known as Callirhoe, a place famous for its hot

cord, or strap fastening the sandal on the foot (Isa. 5:27;

a latticed opening through which the cool breeze passes

(Judg. 5:28). The flat roofs of the houses were sometimes

enclosed with a parapet of lattice-work on wooden frames,

to screen the women of the house from the gaze of the

“basin” for boiling in, a “pan” for

cooking (1 Sam. 2:14), a “fire-pan” or hearth

(Zech. 12:6), the sacred wash-bowl of the tabernacle and

temple (Ex. 30:18, 28; 31:9; 35:16; 38:8; 39:39; 40:7, 11,

30, etc.), a basin for the water used by the priests in

Law of Nature is the will of God as to human conduct,

founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable

by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law binds all

men at all times. It is generally designated by the term

conscience, or the capacity of being influenced by the

of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra

3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the

Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3,

8). As a written code it is called the “book of the

law of Moses” (2 Kings 14:6; Isa. 8:20), the

versed in the laws of Moses, which he expounded in the

schools and synagogues (Matt. 22:35; Luke 10:25). The

functions of the “lawyer” and “scribe”

Eleazar, whom God helps. (1.) The brother of Mary and

Martha of Bethany. He was raised from the dead after he had

lain four days in the tomb (John 11:1-44). This miracle so

excited the wrath of the Jews that they sought to put both

mentioned Gen. 8:11. The barren fig-tree had nothing but

leaves (Matt. 21:19; Mark 11:13). The oak-leaf is mentioned

Isa. 1:30; 6:13. There are numerous allusions to leaves,

their flourishing, their decay, and their restoration (Lev.

26:36; Isa. 34:4; Jer. 8:13; Dan. 4:12, 14, 21; Mark 11:13;

13:28). The fresh leaf is a symbol of prosperity (Ps. 1:3;

Jer. 17:8; Ezek. 47:12); the faded, of decay (Job 13:25;

The Jews were forbidden to enter into an alliance of any

kind (1) with the Canaanites (Ex. 23:32, 33; 34:12-16); (2)

with the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8, 14; Deut. 25:17-19); (3)

with the Moabites and Ammonites (Deut. 2:9, 19). Treaties

were permitted to be entered into with all other nations.

Thus David maintained friendly intercourse with the kings

of Tyre and Hamath, and Solomon with the kings of Tyre and

of Laban, and sister of Rachel (Gen. 29:16). Jacob took her

to wife through a deceit of her father (Gen. 29:23). She

was “tender-eyed” (17). She bore to Jacob six

sons (32-35), also one daughter, Dinah (30:21). She

accompanied Jacob into Canaan, and died there before the

time of the going down into Egypt (Gen. 31), and was buried

in singing, occurs in the title to Ps. 88. The title

“Mahalath (q.v.) Leannoth” may be rendered

“concerning sickness, to be sung” i.e., perhaps,

English word meaning lies, or lying, as the Hebrew word

Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) and John the Baptist (Matt. 3:4).

Leather was employed both for clothing (Num. 31:20; Heb.

11:37) and for writing upon. The trade of a tanner is

mentioned (Acts 9:43; 10:6, 32). It was probably learned in

12:15, 19; 13:7; Lev. 2:11), the remnant of dough from the

mountain of Syria,” is the loftiest and most

celebrated mountain range in Syria. It is a branch running

southward from the Caucasus, and at its lower end forking

into two parallel ranges, the eastern or Anti-Lebanon, and

the western or Lebanon proper. They enclose a long valley

(Josh. 11:17) of from 5 to 8 miles in width, called by

Roman writers Coele-Syria, now called el-Buka’a,

“the valley,” a prolongation of the valley of the

of Judas (Jude), one of the twelve (Matt. 10:3), called

also Thaddaeus, not to be confounded with the Judas who was

near Shiloh, on the north side of Bethel (Judg. 21:19). It

has been identified with el-Lubban, to the south of

porrum), rendered “grass” in 1 Kings 18:5, 2

Kings 19:26, Job 40:15, etc.; “herb” in Job 8:12;

“hay” in Prov. 27:25, and Isa. 15:6;

“leeks” only in Num. 11:5. This Hebrew word seems

to denote in this last passage simply herbs, such as

lettuce or savoury herbs cooked as kitchen vegetables, and

not necessarily what are now called leeks. The leek was a

favourite vegetable in Egypt, and is still largely

word meaning to keep or preserve. It was applied to

“lees” from the custom of allowing wine to stand

on the lees that it might thereby be better preserved (Isa.

25:6). “Men settled on their lees” (Zeph. 1:12)

are men “hardened or crusted.” The image is

derived from the crust formed at the bottom of wines long

left undisturbed (Jer. 48:11). The effect of wealthy

undisturbed ease on the ungodly is hardening. They become

stupidly secure (comp. Ps. 55:19; Amos 6:1). To drink the

denoted the north (Job 23:9; Gen. 14:15), the face of the

20:16), one unable to use the right hand skilfully, and who

therefore uses the left; and also one who uses the left as

well as the right, ambidexter. Such a condition of the

hands is due to physical causes. This quality was common

army, the number of men composing which differed at

different times. It originally consisted of three thousand

men, but in the time of Christ consisted of six thousand,

exclusive of horsemen, who were in number a tenth of the

foot-men. The word is used (Matt. 26:53; Mark 5:9) to

tribe of Judah where Samson achieved a victory over the

Philistines (Judg. 15:9, 14, 16), slaying a thousand of

them with the jawbone of an ass. The words in 15:19,

“a hollow place that was in the jaw” (A.V.),

should be, as in Revised Version, “the hollow place

whom his mother instructed (Prov. 31:1-9). Nothing is

certainly known concerning him. The rabbis identified him

species of vetch (Gen. 25:34; 2 Sam. 23:11), common in

Syria under the name addas. The red pottage made by Jacob

was of lentils (Gen. 25:29-34). They were among the

provisions brought to David when he fled from Absalom (2

Sam. 17:28). It is the Ervum lens of Linnaeus, a leguminous

because spotted, Cant. 4:8), was that great spotted feline

which anciently infested the mountains of Syria, more

appropriately called a panther (Felis pardus). Its

fierceness (Isa. 11:6), its watching for its prey (Jer.

5:6), its swiftness (Hab. 1:8), and the spots of its skin

(Jer. 13:23), are noticed. This word is used symbolically

“smiting,” a “stroke,” because the

disease was regarded as a direct providential infliction).

This name is from the Greek lepra, by which the Greek

physicians designated the disease from its scaliness. We

have the description of the disease, as well as the

regulations connected with it, in Lev. 13; 14; Num.

12:10-15, etc. There were reckoned six different

circumstances under which it might develop itself, (1)

without any apparent cause (Lev. 13:2-8); (2) its

reappearance (9-17); (3) from an inflammation (18-28); (4)

on the head or chin (29-37); (5) in white polished spots

(38, 39); (6) at the back or in the front of the head

the outward form. The “oldness of the letter”

(7:6) is a phrase which denotes the old way of literal

outward obedience to the law as a system of mere external

rules of conduct. In 2 Cor. 3:6, “the letter”

last mentioned of the three sons of Dedan, and head of an

son of Jacob by Leah. The origin of the name is found in

Leah’s words (Gen. 29:34), “This time will my

husband be joined [Heb. yillaveh] unto me.” He is

mentioned as taking a prominent part in avenging his sister

Dinah (Gen. 34:25-31). He and his three sons went down with

Jacob (46:11) into Egypt, where he died at the age of one

Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning “twisted,”

“coiled.” In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg.

of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which,

according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in

41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Ps. 104:26 it “denotes

any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the

body, the whale, the monsters of the deep.” This word

is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think

“the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and

cast on the shores of the Red Sea” (Ps. 74:14). As

used in Isa. 27:1, “leviathan the piercing [R.V.

‘swift’] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V.

marg. ‘winding’] serpent,” the word may

probably denote the two empires, the Assyrian and the

“a husband’s brother,” the name of an ancient

custom ordained by Moses, by which, when an Israelite died

without issue, his surviving brother was required to marry

the widow, so as to continue his brother’s family

through the son that might be born of that marriage (Gen.

38:8; Deut. 25:5-10; comp. Ruth 3; 4:10). Its object was

tribe of Levi (Ex. 6:25; Lev. 25:32; Num. 35:2; Josh. 21:3,

41). This name is, however, generally used as the title of

that portion of the tribe which was set apart for the

subordinate offices of the sanctuary service (1 Kings 8:4;

Pentateuch; so called in the Vulgate, after the LXX.,

forced service. The service of tributaries was often thus

exacted by kings. Solomon raised a “great levy”

of 30,000 men, about two per cent. of the population, to

work for him by courses on Lebanon. Adoram (12:18) presided

over this forced labour service (Ger. Frohndienst; Fr.

or wickedness, not lewdness in the modern sense of the

word. The word “lewd” is from the Saxon, and

means properly “ignorant,” “unlearned,”

one who once had been a slave, but who had been set at

liberty, or the child of such a person. In this case the

name probably denotes those descendants of Jews who had

been carried captives to Rome as prisoners of war by Pompey

and other Roman generals in the Syrian wars, and had

afterwards been liberated. In A.D. 19 these manumitted Jews

were banished from Rome. Many of them found their way to

(1.) One of the stations of the Israelites in the

sons of Gershon, the son of Levi (Ex. 6:17; Num. 3:18, 21).

(Gen. 10:13), Northern Africa, a large tract lying along

the Mediterranean, to the west of Egypt (Acts 2:10). Cyrene

creatures employed in the third plague sent upon Egypt (Ex.

8:16-18). They were miraculously produced from the dust of

the land. “The entomologists Kirby and Spence place

these minute but disgusting insects in the very front rank

of those which inflict injury upon man. A terrible list of

examples they have collected of the ravages of this and

closely allied parasitic pests.” The plague of lice is

the truth. Lies are emphatically condemned in Scripture

(John 8:44; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10; Rev. 21:27; 22:15). Mention is

made of the lies told by good men, as by Abraham (Gen.

12:12, 13; 20:2), Isaac (26:7), and Jacob (27:24); also by

the Hebrew midwives (Ex. 1:15-19), by Michal (1 Sam.

3:12; 8:9; 9:3; Ezra 8:36), a governor or viceroy of a

Persian province having both military and civil power.

Correctly rendered in the Revised Version

(Gen. 2:7; Luke 16:25, etc.); also used figuratively (1)

for immortality (Heb. 7:16); (2) conduct or manner of life

(Rom. 6:4); (3) spiritual life or salvation (John 3:16, 17,

18, 36); (4) eternal life (Matt. 19:16, 17; John 3:15); of

God and Christ as the absolute source and cause of all life

divine command (Gen. 1:3). “All the more joyous

emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the

frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse were

habitually described among the Hebrews under imagery

derived from light” (1 Kings 11:36; Isa. 58:8; Esther

8:16; Ps. 97:11). Light came also naturally to typify true

religion and the felicity it imparts (Ps. 119:105; Isa.

8:20; Matt. 4:16, etc.), and the glorious inheritance of

the redeemed (Col. 1:12; Rev. 21:23-25). God is said to

dwell in light inaccessible (1 Tim. 6:16). It frequently

signifies instruction (Matt. 5:16; John 5:35). In its

highest sense it is applied to Christ as the “Sun of

righteousness” (Mal. 4:2; Luke 2:32; John 1:7-9). God

is styled “the Father of lights” (James 1:17). It

is used of angels (2 Cor. 11:14), and of John the Baptist,

who was a “burning and a shining light” (John

5:35), and of all true disciples, who are styled “the

to by the sacred writers (Nah. 1:3-6). Thunder and

lightning are spoken of as tokens of God’s wrath (2

Sam. 22:15; Job 28:26; 37:4; Ps. 135:7; 144:6; Zech. 9:14).

They represent God’s glorious and awful majesty (Rev.

‘ahalim), a perfume derived from some Oriental tree

(Num. 24:6), probably the agallochum or aloe-wood. (See

only in Ex. 28:19 and 39:12, as the name of a stone in the

third row on the high priest’s breastplate. Some have

supposed that this stone was the same as the jacinth

(q.v.), others that it was the opal. There is now no

mineral bearing this name. The “ligurite” is so

shoshan, i.e., “whiteness”, was used as the

general name of several plants common to Syria, such as the

tulip, iris, anemone, gladiolus, ranunculus, etc. Some

interpret it, with much probability, as denoting in the Old

Testament the water-lily (Nymphoea lotus of Linn.), or

lotus (Cant. 2:1, 2; 2:16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2, 3; 7:2).

“Its flowers are large, and they are of a white

colour, with streaks of pink. They supplied models for the

ornaments of the pillars and the molten sea” (1 Kings

7:19, 22, 26; 2 Chr. 4:5). In the Canticles its beauty and

fragrance shadow forth the preciousness of Christ to the

Church. Groser, however (Scrip. Nat. Hist.), strongly

argues that the word, both in the Old and New Testaments,

denotes liliaceous plants in general, or if one genus is to

be selected, that it must be the genus Iris, which is

“large, vigorous, elegant in form, and gorgeous in

rendered means “boiling” or

“effervescing.” From Isa. 33:12 it appears that

lime was made in a kiln lighted by thorn-bushes. In Amos

2:1 it is recorded that the king of Moab “burned the

bones of the king of Edom into lime.” The same Hebrew

word is used in Deut. 27:2-4, and is there rendered

“plaster.” Limestone is the chief constituent of

pishtah, denotes “flax,” of which linen is made

(Isa. 19:9); wrought flax, i.e., “linen cloth”,

and dividing land; and hence the word came to denote a

portion or inheritance measured out; a possession (Ps.

projecting cover (Ex. 12:22, 23; ver. 7, “upper door

post,” but R.V. “lintel”); the head-piece of

a door, which the Israelites were commanded to mark with