BIBLES NET. COM
Dictionary]
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Nehushtan – of copper; a brazen
thing a name of contempt given to the serpent Moses had
made in the wilderness (Num. 21:8), and which Hezekiah
destroyed because the children of Israel began to regard it
as an idol and “burn incense to it.” The lapse of
nearly one thousand years had invested the “brazen
serpent” with a mysterious sanctity; and in order to
deliver the people from their infatuation, and impress them
with the idea of its worthlessness, Hezekiah called it, in
contempt, “Nehushtan,” a brazen thing, a mere
piece of brass (2 Kings 18:4).
Neiel – dwelling-place of God, a
town in the territory of Asher, near its southern border
(Josh. 19:27). It has been identified with the ruin
Y’anin, near the outlet of the Wady esh Sha-ghur, less
than 2 miles north of Kabul, and 16 miles east of
Caesarea.
boundary of Naphtali (Josh. 19:33). It has with
probability, been identified with Seiyadeh, nearly 2 miles
east of Bessum, a ruin half way between Tiberias and Mount
Tabor.
Nemuel – day of God. (1.) One of
Simeon’s five sons (1 Chr. 4:24), called also Jemuel
(Gen. 46:10). (2.) A Reubenite, a son of Eliab, and brother
of Dathan and Abiram (Num. 26:9).
Nephilim – (Gen. 6:4; Num. 13:33,
R.V.), giants, the Hebrew word left untranslated by the
Revisers, the name of one of the Canaanitish tribes. The
Revisers have, however, translated the Hebrew gibborim, in
Gen. 6:4, “mighty men.”
Nephtoah – opened, a fountain and
a stream issuing from it on the border between Judah and
Benjamin (Josh. 15:8, 9; 18:15). It has been identified
with ‘Ain Lifta, a spring about 2 1/2 miles north-west
of Jerusalem. Others, however, have identified it with
‘Ain’ Atan, on the south-west of Bethlehem, whence
water is conveyed through “Pilate’s aqueduct”
to the Haram area at Jerusalem.
Ner – light, the father of Kish
(1 Chr. 8:33). 1 Sam. 14:51 should be read, “Kish, the
father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, were the sons
of Abiel.” And hence this Kish and Ner were brothers,
and Saul and Abner were first cousins (comp. 1 Chr.
9:36).
Nereus – a Christian at Rome to
whom Paul sent his salutation (Rom. 16:15).
Nergal – the great dog; that is,
lion, one of the chief gods of the Assyrians and
Babylonians (2 Kings 17:30), the god of war and hunting. He
is connected with Cutha as its tutelary deity.
Nergal-sharezer – Nergal, protect
the king! (1.) One of the “princes of the king of
Babylon who accompanied him in his last expedition against
Jerusalem” (Jer. 39:3, 13).
(2.) Another of the “princes,” who bore the title
of “Rabmag.” He was one of those who were sent to
release Jeremiah from prison (Jer. 39:13) by “the
captain of the guard.” He was a Babylonian grandee of
high rank. From profane history and the inscriptions, we
are led to conclude that he was the Neriglissar who
murdered Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and
succeeded him on the throne of Babylon (B.C. 559-556). He
was married to a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. The ruins of a
palace, the only one on the right bank of the Euphrates,
bear inscriptions denoting that it was built by this king.
He was succeeded by his son, a mere boy, who was murdered
after a reign of some nine months by a conspiracy of the
nobles, one of whom, Nabonadius, ascended the vacant
throne, and reigned for a period of seventeen years (B.C.
555-538), at the close of which period Babylon was taken by
Cyrus. Belshazzar, who comes into notice in connection with
the taking of Babylon, was by some supposed to have been
the same as Nabonadius, who was called Nebuchadnezzar’s
son (Dan. 5:11, 18, 22), because he had married his
daughter. But it is known from the inscriptions that
Nabonadius had a son called Belshazzar, who may have been
his father’s associate on the throne at the time of the
fall of Babylon, and who therefore would be the grandson of
Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews had only one word, usually
rendered “father,” to represent also such a
relationship as that of “grandfather” or
“great-grandfather.”
superscription (which is probably spurious, and is
altogether omitted in the R.V.) to the Second Epistle to
Timothy. He became emperor of Rome when he was about
seventeen years of age (A.D. 54), and soon began to exhibit
the character of a cruel tyrant and heathen debauchee. In
May A.D. 64, a terrible conflagration broke out in Rome,
which raged for six days and seven nights, and totally
destroyed a great part of the city. The guilt of this fire
was attached to him at the time, and the general verdict of
history accuses him of the crime. “Hence, to suppress
the rumour,” says Tacitus (Annals, xv. 44), “he
falsely charged with the guilt, and punished with the most
exquisite tortures, the persons commonly called Christians,
who are hated for their enormities. Christus, the founder
of that name, was put to death as a criminal by Pontius
Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the reign of Tiberius; but
the pernicious superstition, repressed for a time, broke
out again, not only throughout Judea, where the mischief
originated, but through the city of Rome also, whither all
things horrible and disgraceful flow, from all quarters, as
to a common receptacle, and where they are encouraged.
Accordingly, first three were seized, who confessed they
were Christians. Next, on their information, a vast
multitude were convicted, not so much on the charge of
burning the city as of hating the human race. And in their
deaths they were also made the subjects of sport; for they
were covered with the hides of wild beasts and worried to
death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and,
when day declined, burned to serve for nocturnal lights.
Nero offered his own gardens for that spectacle, and
exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately mingling with
the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else
standing in his chariot; whence a feeling of compassion
arose toward the sufferers, though guilty and deserving to
be made examples of by capital punishment, because they
seemed not to be cut off for the public good, but victims
to the ferocity of one man.” Another Roman historian,
Suetonius (Nero, xvi.), says of him: “He likewise
inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people
who hold a new and impious superstition” (Forbes’s
Footsteps of St. Paul, p. 60).
Nero was the emperor before whom Paul was brought on his
first imprisonment at Rome, and the apostle is supposed to
have suffered martyrdom during this persecution. He is
repeatedly alluded to in Scripture (Acts 25:11; Phil. 1:12,
13; 4:22). He died A.D. 68.
Net – in use among the Hebrews
for fishing, hunting, and fowling. The fishing-net was
probably constructed after the form of that used by the
Egyptians (Isa. 19:8). There were three kinds of nets. (1.)
The drag-net or hauling-net (Gr. sagene), of great size,
and requiring many men to work it. It was usually let down
from the fishing-boat, and then drawn to the shore or into
the boat, as circumstances might require (Matt. 13:47, 48).
(2.) The hand-net or casting-net (Gr. amphiblestron), which
was thrown from a rock or a boat at any fish that might be
seen (Matt. 4:18; Mark 1:16). It was called by the Latins
funda. It was of circular form, “like the top of a
tent.” (3.) The bag-net (Gr. diktyon), used for
enclosing fish in deep water (Luke 5:4-9).
The fowling-nets were (1) the trap, consisting of a net
spread over a frame, and supported by a stick in such a way
that it fell with the slightest touch (Amos 3:5,
“gin;” Ps. 69:22; Job 18:9; Eccl. 9:12). (2) The
snare, consisting of a cord to catch birds by the leg (Job
18:10; Ps. 18:5; 116:3; 140:5). (3.) The decoy, a cage
filled with birds as decoys (Jer. 5:26, 27). Hunting-nets
were much in use among the Hebrews.
Nethaneel – given of God. (1.)
The son of Zuar, chief of the tribe of Issachar at the
Exodus (Num. 1:8; 2:5).
(2.) One of David’s brothers (1 Chr. 2:14).
(3.) A priest who blew the trumpet before the ark when it
was brought up to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 15:24).
(4.) A Levite (1 Chr. 24:6).
(5.) A temple porter, of the family of the Korhites (1 Chr.
26:4).
(6.) One of the “princes” appointed by
Jehoshaphat to teach the law through the cities of Judah (2
Chr. 17:7).
(7.) A chief Levite in the time of Josiah (2 Chr. 35:9).
(8.) Ezra 10:22.
(9.) Neh. 12:21.
(10.) A priest’s son who bore a trumpet at the
dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 12:36).
(1.) One of Asaph’s sons, appointed by David to
minister in the temple (1 Chr. 25:2, 12).
(2.) A Levite sent by Jehoshaphat to teach the law (2 Chr.
17:8).
(3.) Jer. 36:14.
(4.) 2 Kings 25:23, 25.
Nethinim – the name given to the
hereditary temple servants in all the post-Exilian books of
Scripture. The word means given, i.e., “those set
apart”, viz., to the menial work of the sanctuary for
the Levites. The name occurs seventeen times, and in each
case in the Authorized Version incorrectly terminates in
“s”, “Nethinims;” in the Revised
Version, correctly without the “s” (Ezra 2:70;
7:7, 24; 8:20, etc.). The tradition is that the Gibeonites
(Josh. 9:27) were the original caste, afterwards called
Nethinim. Their numbers were added to afterwards from
captives taken in battle; and they were formally given by
David to the Levites (Ezra 8:20), and so were called
Nethinim, i.e., the given ones, given to the Levites to be
their servants. Only 612 Nethinim returned from Babylon
(Ezra 2:58; 8:20). They were under the control of a chief
from among themselves (2:43; Neh. 7:46). No reference to
them appears in the New Testament, because it is probable
that they became merged in the general body of the Jewish
people.
dropping, a town in Judah, in the neighbourhood, probably,
of Bethlehem (Neh. 7:26; 1 Chr. 2:54). Two of David’s
guards were Netophathites (1 Chr. 27:13, 15). It has been
identified with the ruins of Metoba, or Um Toba, to the
north-east of Bethlehem.
“pricking” or “burning,” Prov. 24:30,
31 (R.V. marg., “wild vetches”); Job 30:7; Zeph.
2:9. Many have supposed that some thorny or prickly plant
is intended by this word, such as the bramble, the thistle,
the wild plum, the cactus or prickly pear, etc. It may
probably be a species of mustard, the Sinapis arvensis,
which is a pernicious weed abounding in corn-fields.
Tristram thinks that this word “designates the prickly
acanthus (Acanthus spinosus), a very common and troublesome
weed in the plains of Palestine.”
(2.) Heb. qimmosh, Isa. 34:13; Hos. 9:6; Prov. 24:31 (in
both versions, “thorns”). This word has been
regarded as denoting thorns, thistles, wild camomile; but
probably it is correctly rendered “nettle,” the
Urtica pilulifera, “a tall and vigorous plant, often 6
feet high, the sting of which is much more severe and
irritating than that of our common nettle.”
services were appointed for the commencement of a month
(Num. 28:11-15; 10:10).
rather “New Covenant,” in contrast to the old
covenant of works, which is superseded. “The covenant
of grace is called new; it succeeds to the old broken
covenant of works. It is ever fresh, flourishing, and
excellent; and under the gospel it is dispensed in a more
clear, spiritual, extensive, and powerful manner than of
old” (Brown of Haddington). Hence is derived the name
given to the latter portion of the Bible.
2:54; Neh. 7:56.
“plain” of Judah. It has been identified with
Beit Nuzib, about 14 miles south-west of Jerusalem, in the
Wady Sur (Josh. 15:43).
Nibhaz – barker, the name of an
idol, supposed to be an evil demon of the Zabians. It was
set up in Samaria by the Avites (2 Kings 17:31), probably
in the form of a dog.
Nibshan – fertile; light soil, a
city somewhere “in the wilderness” of Judah
(Josh. 15:62), probably near Engedi.
Nicanor – conqueror, one of the
seven deacons appointed in the apostolic Church (Acts
6:1-6). Nothing further is known of him.
Nicodemus – the people is victor,
a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. He is first
noticed as visiting Jesus by night (John 3:1-21) for the
purpose of learning more of his doctrines, which our Lord
then unfolded to him, giving prominence to the necessity of
being “born again.” He is next met with in the
Sanhedrin (7:50-52), where he protested against the course
they were taking in plotting against Christ. Once more he
is mentioned as taking part in the preparation for the
anointing and burial of the body of Christ (John 19:39). We
hear nothing more of him. There can be little doubt that he
became a true disciple.
Ephesus (Rev. 2:6) is commended for hating the
“deeds” of the Nicolaitanes, and the church of
Pergamos is blamed for having them who hold their
“doctrines” (15). They were seemingly a class of
professing Christians, who sought to introduce into the
church a false freedom or licentiousness, thus abusing
Paul’s doctrine of grace (comp. 2 Pet. 2:15, 16, 19),
and were probably identical with those who held the
doctrine of Baalam (q.v.), Rev. 2:14.
people, a proselyte of Antioch, one of the seven deacons
(Acts 6:5).
where Paul intended to winter (Titus 3:12). There were
several cities of this name. The one here referred to was
most probably that in Epirus, which was built by Augustus
Caesar to commemorate his victory at the battle of Actium
(B.C. 31). It is the modern Paleoprevesa, i.e., “Old
Prevesa.” The subscription to the epistle to Titus
calls it “Nicopolis of Macedonia”, i.e., of
Thrace. This is, however, probably incorrect.
Simeon (Acts 13:1). He was probably so called from his dark
complexion.
Night-hawk – (Heb. tahmas) occurs
only in the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:16; Deut.
14:15). This was supposed to be the night-jar
(Caprimulgus), allied to the swifts. The Hebrew word is
derived from a root meaning “to scratch or tear the
face,” and may be best rendered, in accordance with
the ancient versions, “an owl” (Strix flammea).
The Revised Version renders “night-hawk.”
Nile – dark; blue, not found in
Scripture, but frequently referred to in the Old Testament
under the name of Sihor, i.e., “the black stream”
(Isa. 23:3; Jer. 2:18) or simply “the river”
(Gen. 41:1; Ex. 1:22, etc.) and the “flood of
Egypt” (Amos 8:8). It consists of two rivers, the
White Nile, which takes its rise in the Victoria Nyanza,
and the Blue Nile, which rises in the Abyssinian Mountains.
These unite at the town of Khartoum, whence it pursues its
course for 1,800 miles, and falls into the Mediterranean
through its two branches, into which it is divided a few
miles north of Cairo, the Rosetta and the Damietta branch.
Nimrah – pure, a city on the east
of Jordan (Num. 32:3); probably the same as Beth-nimrah
(Josh. 13:27). It has been identified with the Nahr Nimrin,
at one of the fords of Jordan, not far from Jericho.
Nimrim, Waters of – the stream of
the leopards, a stream in Moab (Isa. 15:6; Jer. 48:34);
probably the modern Wady en-Nemeirah, a rich, verdant spot
at the south-eastern end of the Dead Sea.
Nimrod – firm, a descendant of
Cush, the son of Ham. He was the first who claimed to be a
“mighty one in the earth.” Babel was the
beginning of his kingdom, which he gradually enlarged (Gen.
10:8-10). The “land of Nimrod” (Micah 5:6) is a
designation of Assyria or of Shinar, which is a part of
it.
“the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi” (2
Kings 9:2; comp. 1 Kings 19:16).
Nineveh – First mentioned in Gen.
10:11, which is rendered in the Revised Version, “He
[i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and builded
Nineveh.” It is not again noticed till the days of
Jonah, when it is described (Jonah 3:3; 4:11) as a great
and populous city, the flourishing capital of the Assyrian
empire (2 Kings 19:36; Isa. 37:37). The book of the prophet
Nahum is almost exclusively taken up with prophetic
denunciations against this city. Its ruin and utter
desolation are foretold (Nah.1:14; 3:19, etc.). Zephaniah
also (2:13-15) predicts its destruction along with the fall
of the empire of which it was the capital. From this time
there is no mention of it in Scripture till it is named in
gospel history (Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32).
This “exceeding great city” lay on the eastern or
left bank of the river Tigris, along which it stretched for
some 30 miles, having an average breadth of 10 miles or
more from the river back toward the eastern hills. This
whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins.
Occupying a central position on the great highway between
the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, thus uniting the
East and the West, wealth flowed into it from many sources,
so that it became the greatest of all ancient cities.
About B.C. 633 the Assyrian empire began to show signs of
weakness, and Nineveh was attacked by the Medes, who
subsequently, about B.C. 625, being joined by the
Babylonians and Susianians, again attacked it, when it
fell, and was razed to the ground. The Assyrian empire then
came to an end, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its
provinces between them. “After having ruled for more
than six hundred years with hideous tyranny and violence,
from the Caucasus and the Caspian to the Persian Gulf, and
from beyond the Tigris to Asia Minor and Egypt, it vanished
like a dream” (Nah. 2:6-11). Its end was strange,
sudden, tragic. It was God’s doing, his judgement on
Assyria’s pride (Isa. 10:5-19).
Forty years ago our knowledge of the great Assyrian empire
and of its magnificent capital was almost wholly a blank.
Vague memories had indeed survived of its power and
greatness, but very little was definitely known about it.
Other cities which had perished, as Palmyra, Persepolis,
and Thebes, had left ruins to mark their sites and tell of
their former greatness; but of this city, imperial Nineveh,
not a single vestige seemed to remain, and the very place
on which it had stood was only matter of conjecture. In
fulfilment of prophecy, God made “an utter end of the
place.” It became a “desolation.”
In the days of the Greek historian Herodotus, B.C. 400, it
had become a thing of the past; and when Xenophon the
historian passed the place in the “Retreat of the Ten
Thousand,” the very memory of its name had been lost.
It was buried out of sight, and no one knew its grave. It
is never again to rise from its ruins.
At length, after being lost for more than two thousand
years, the city was disentombed. A little more than forty
years ago the French consul at Mosul began to search the
vast mounds that lay along the opposite bank of the river.
The Arabs whom he employed in these excavations, to their
great surprise, came upon the ruins of a building at the
mound of Khorsabad, which, on further exploration, turned
out to be the royal palace of Sargon, one of the Assyrian
kings. They found their way into its extensive courts and
chambers, and brought forth form its hidded depths many
wonderful sculptures and other relics of those ancient
times.
The work of exploration has been carried on almost
continuously by M. Botta, Sir Henry Layard, George Smith,
and others, in the mounds of Nebi-Yunus, Nimrud, Koyunjik,
and Khorsabad, and a vast treasury of specimens of old
Assyrian art has been exhumed. Palace after palace has been
discovered, with their decorations and their sculptured
slabs, revealing the life and manners of this ancient
people, their arts of war and peace, the forms of their
religion, the style of their architecture, and the
magnificence of their monarchs. The streets of the city
have been explored, the inscriptions on the bricks and
tablets and sculptured figures have been read, and now the
secrets of their history have been brought to light.
One of the most remarkable of recent discoveries is that of
the library of King Assur-bani-pal, or, as the Greek
historians call him, Sardanapalos, the grandson of
Sennacherib (q.v.). This library consists of about ten thousand
flat bricks or tablets, all written over with Assyrian
characters. They contain a record of the history, the laws,
and the religion of Assyria, of the greatest value. These
strange clay leaves found in the royal library form the
most valuable of all the treasuries of the literature of
the old world. The library contains also old Accadian
documents, which are the oldest extant documents in the
world, dating as far back as probably about the time of
Abraham.
“The Assyrian royalty is, perhaps, the most luxurious
of our century [reign of Assur-bani-pa]…Its victories and
conquests, uninterrupted for one hundred years, have
enriched it with the spoil of twenty peoples. Sargon has
taken what remained to the Hittites; Sennacherib overcame
Chaldea, and the treasures of Babylon were transferred to
his coffers; Esarhaddon and Assur-bani-pal himself have
pillaged Egypt and her great cities, Sais, Memphis, and
Thebes of the hundred gates…Now foreign merchants flock
into Nineveh, bringing with them the most valuable
productions from all countries, gold and perfume from South
Arabia and the Chaldean Sea, Egyptian linen and glass-work,
carved enamels, goldsmiths’ work, tin, silver,
Phoenician purple; cedar wood from Lebanon, unassailable by
worms; furs and iron from Asia Minor and Armenia”
(Ancient Egypt and Assyria, by G. Maspero, page 271).
The bas-reliefs, alabaster slabs, and sculptured monuments
found in these recovered palaces serve in a remarkable
manner to confirm the Old Testament history of the kings of
Israel. The appearance of the ruins shows that the
destruction of the city was due not only to the assailing
foe but also to the flood and the fire, thus confirming the
ancient prophecies concerning it. “The recent
excavations,” says Rawlinson, “have shown that
fire was a great instrument in the destruction of the
Nineveh palaces. Calcined alabaster, charred wood, and
charcoal, colossal statues split through with heat, are met
with in parts of the Nineveh mounds, and attest the
veracity of prophecy.”
Nineveh in its glory was (Jonah 3:4) an “exceeding
great city of three days’ journey”, i.e., probably
in circuit. This would give a circumference of about 60
miles. At the four corners of an irregular quadrangle are
the ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamless and Khorsabad.
These four great masses of ruins, with the whole area
included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn
from the one to the other, are generally regarded as
composing the whole ruins of Nineveh.
Nisan – month of flowers, (Neh.
2:1) the first month of the Jewish sacred year. Assyrian nisannu, “beginning.”
Nisroch – probably connected with
the Hebrew word nesher, an eagle. An Assyrian god,
supposed to be that represented with the head of an eagle.
Sennacherib was killed in the temple of this idol (2 Kings
19:37; Isa. 37:38).
Nitre – (Prov. 25:20; R.V. marg.,
“soda”), properly “natron,” a substance
so called because, rising from the bottom of the Lake
Natron in Egypt, it becomes dry and hard in the sun, and is
the soda which effervesces when vinegar is poured on it. It
is a carbonate of soda, not saltpetre, which the word
generally denotes (Jer. 2:22; R.V. “lye”).
Amon, the name of Thebes, the ancient capital of what is
called the Middle Empire, in Upper or Southern Egypt.
“The multitude of No” (Jer. 46:25) is more
correctly rendered, as in the Revised Version, “Amon
of No”, i.e., No, where Jupiter Amon had his temple.
In Ezek. 30:14, 16 it is simply called “No;” but
in ver. 15 the name has the Hebrew Hamon prefixed to it,
“Hamon No.” This prefix is probably the name
simply of the god usually styled Amon or Ammon. In Nah. 3:8
the “populous No” of the Authorized Version is in
the Revised Version correctly rendered
“No-Amon.”
It was the Diospolis or Thebes of the Greeks, celebrated
for its hundred gates and its vast population. It stood on
both sides of the Nile, and is by some supposed to have
included Karnak and Luxor. In grandeur and extent it can
only be compared to Nineveh. It is mentioned only in the
prophecies referred to, which point to its total
destruction. It was first taken by the Assyrians in the
time of Sargon (Isa. 20). It was afterwards “delivered
into the hand” of Nebuchadnezzar and Assurbani-pal
(Jer. 46:25, 26). Cambyses, king of the Persians (B.C.
525), further laid it waste by fire. Its ruin was completed
(B.C. 81) by Ptolemy Lathyrus. The ruins of this city are
still among the most notable in the valley of the Nile.
They have formed a great storehouse of interesting historic
remains for more than two thousand years. “As I
wandered day after day with ever-growing amazement amongst
these relics of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all
the ruins in Europe, classical, Celtic, and medieval, were
brought together into one centre, they would fall far short
both in extent and grandeur of those of this single
Egyptian city.” Manning, The Land of the Pharaohs.
Noadiah – meeting with the Lord.
(1.) A Levite who returned from Babylon (Ezra 8:33).
(2.) A false prophetess who assisted Tobiah and Sanballat
against the Jews (Neh. 6:14). Being bribed by them, she
tried to stir up discontent among the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and so to embarrass Nehemiah in his great work
of rebuilding the ruined walls of the city.
grandson of Methuselah (Gen. 5:25-29), who was for two
hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son
of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of
Adam’s death. This patriarch is rightly regarded as the
connecting link between the old and the new world. He is
the second great progenitor of the human family.
The words of his father Lamech at his birth (Gen. 5:29)
have been regarded as in a sense prophetical, designating
Noah as a type of Him who is the true “rest and
comfort” of men under the burden of life (Matt.11:28).
He lived five hundred years, and then there were born unto
him three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 5:32). He was
a “just man and perfect in his generation,” and
“walked with God” (comp. Ezek. 14:14,20). But now
the descendants of Cain and of Seth began to intermarry,
and then there sprang up a race distinguished for their
ungodliness. Men became more and more corrupt, and God
determined to sweep the earth of its wicked population
(Gen. 6:7). But with Noah God entered into a covenant, with
a promise of deliverance from the threatened deluge (18).
He was accordingly commanded to build an ark (6:14-16) for
the saving of himself and his house. An interval of one
hundred and twenty years elapsed while the ark was being
built (6:3), during which Noah bore constant testimony
against the unbelief and wickedness of that generation (1
Pet. 3:18-20; 2 Pet. 2:5).
When the ark of “gopher-wood” (mentioned only
here) was at length completed according to the command of
the Lord, the living creatures that were to be preserved
entered into it; and then Noah and his wife and sons and
daughters-in-law entered it, and the “Lord shut him
in” (Gen.7:16). The judgment-threatened now fell on
the guilty world, “the world that then was, being
overflowed with water, perished” (2 Pet. 3:6). The ark
floated on the waters for one hundred and fifty days, and
then rested on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:3,4); but
not for a considerable time after this was divine
permission given him to leave the ark, so that he and his
family were a whole year shut up within it (Gen. 6-14).
On leaving the ark Noah’s first act was to erect an
altar, the first of which there is any mention, and offer
the sacrifices of adoring thanks and praise to God, who
entered into a covenant with him, the first covenant
between God and man, granting him possession of the earth
by a new and special charter, which remains in force to the
present time (Gen. 8:21-9:17). As a sign and witness of
this covenant, the rainbow was adopted and set apart by
God, as a sure pledge that never again would the earth be
destroyed by a flood.
But, alas! Noah after this fell into grievous sin (Gen.
9:21); and the conduct of Ham on this sad occasion led to
the memorable prediction regarding his three sons and their
descendants. Noah “lived after the flood three hundred
and fifty years, and he died” (28:29). (See DELUGE
¯T0001011).
Noah, motion, (Heb. No’ah) one of the five daughters of
Zelophehad (Num.26:33; 27:1; 36:11; Josh. 17:3).
Nob – high place, a city of the
priests, first mentioned in the history of David’s
wanderings (1 Sam. 21:1). Here the tabernacle was then
standing, and here Ahimelech the priest resided. From Isa. 10:28-32 it seems to have been
near Jerusalem. It has been identified by some with
el-Isawiyeh, one mile and a half to the north-east of
Jerusalem. But according to Isa. 10:28-32 it was on the
south of Geba, on the road to Jerusalem, and within sight
of the city. This identification does not meet these
conditions, and hence others (as Dean Stanley) think that
it was the northern summit of Mount Olivet, the place where
David “worshipped God” when fleeing from Absalom
(2 Sam. 15:32), or more probably (Conder) that it was the
same as Mizpeh (q.v.), Judg. 20:1; Josh. 18:26; 1 Sam.
7:16, at Nebi Samwil, about 5 miles north-west of
Jerusalem.
After being supplied with the sacred loaves of showbread,
and girding on the sword of Goliath, which was brought
forth from behind the ephod, David fled from Nob and sought
refuge at the court of Achish, the king of Gath, where he
was cast into prison. (Comp. titles of Ps. 34 and 56.)
32:42.
(2.) The name given to Kenath (q.v.) by Nobah when he
conquered it. It was on the east of Gilead (Judg. 8:11).
Nobleman – (Gr. basilikos, i.e.,
“king’s man”), an officer of state (John
4:49) in the service of Herod Antipas. He is supposed to
have been the Chuza, Herod’s steward, whose wife was
one of those women who “ministered unto the Lord of
their substance” (Luke 8:3). This officer came to
Jesus at Cana and besought him to go down to Capernaum and
heal his son, who lay there at the point of death. Our Lord
sent him away with the joyful assurance that his son was
alive.
Nod – exile; wandering; unrest, a
name given to the country to which Cain fled (Gen.4:16). It
lay on the east of Eden.
Nodab – noble, probably a tribe
descended from one of the sons of Ishmael, with whom the
trans-Jordanic tribes made war (1 Chr.5:19).
David’s sons, born at Jerusalem (1 Chr. 3:7).
Egyptian city (Isa. 19:13; Jer.2:16; 44:1; 46:14, 19; Ezek.
30:13, 16). In Hos. 9:6 the Hebrew name is Moph, and is
translated “Memphis,” which is its Greek and
Latin form. It was one of the most ancient and important
cities of Egypt, and stood a little to the south of the
modern Cairo, on the western bank of the Nile. It was the
capital of Lower Egypt. Among the ruins found at this place
is a colossal statue of Rameses the Great.
Nophah – blast, a city of Moab
which was occupied by the Amorites (Num. 21:30).
North country – a general name
for the countries that lay north of Palestine. Most of the
invading armies entered Palestine from the north (Isa.
41:25; Jer. 1:14,15; 50:3,9,41; 51:48; Ezek. 26:7).
“hidden” or “dark place,” as opposed to
the sunny south (Deut. 3:27). A Hebrew in speaking of the
points of the compass was considered as always having his
face to the east, and hence “the left hand” (Gen.
14:15; Job 23:9) denotes the north. The “kingdoms of
the north” are Chaldea, Assyria, Media, etc.
Nose-jewels – Only mentioned in
Isa. 3:21, although refered to in Gen. 24:47, Prov. 11:22,
Hos. 2:13. They were among the most valued of ancient
female ornaments. They “were made of ivory or metal,
and occasionally jewelled. They were more than an inch in
diameter, and hung upon the mouth. Eliezer gave one to
Rebekah which was of gold and weighed half a shekel…At
the present day the women in the country and in the desert
wear these ornaments in one of the sides of the nostrils,
which droop like the ears in consequence.”
Numbering of the people – Besides
the numbering of the tribes mentioned in the history of the
wanderings in the wilderness, we have an account of a
general census of the whole nation from Dan to Beersheba,
which David gave directions to Joab to make (1 Chr. 21:1).
Joab very reluctantly began to carry out the king’s
command.
This act of David in ordering a numbering of the people
arose from pride and a self-glorifying spirit. It indicated
a reliance on his part on an arm of flesh, an estimating of
his power not by the divine favour but by the material
resources of his kingdom. He thought of military
achievement and of conquest, and forgot that he was
God’s vicegerent. In all this he sinned against God.
While Joab was engaged in the census, David’s heart
smote him, and he became deeply conscious of his fault; and
in profound humiliation he confessed, “I have sinned
greatly in what I have done.” The prophet Gad was sent
to him to put before him three dreadful alternatives (2
Sam. 24:13; for “seven years” in this verse, the
LXX. and 1 Chr. 21:12 have “three years”), three
of Jehovah’s four sore judgments (Ezek. 14:21). Two of
these David had already experienced. He had fled for some
months before Absalom, and had suffered three years’
famine on account of the slaughter of the Gibeonites. In
his “strait” David said, “Let me fall into
the hands of the Lord.” A pestilence broke out among
the people, and in three days swept away 70,000. At
David’s intercession the plague was stayed, and at the
threshing-floor of Araunah (q.v.), where the destroying
angel was arrested in his progress, David erected an altar,
and there offered up sacrifies to God (2 Chr. 3:1).
The census, so far as completed, showed that there were at
least 1,300,000 fighting men in the kingdom, indicating at
that time a population of about six or seven millions in
all.
Numbers, Book of – the fourth of
the books of the Pentateuch, called in the Hebrew
be-midbar, i.e., “in the wilderness.” In the LXX.
version it is called “Numbers,” and this name is
now the usual title of the book. It is so called because it
contains a record of the numbering of the people in the
wilderness of Sinai (1-4), and of their numbering
afterwards on the plain of Moab (26).
This book is of special historical interest as furnishing
us with details as to the route of the Israelites in the
wilderness and their principal encampments. It may be
divided into three parts:
1. The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations
for their resuming their march (1-10:10). The sixth chapter
gives an account of the vow of a Nazarite.
2. An account of the journey from Sinai to Moab, the
sending out of the spies and the report they brought back,
and the murmurings (eight times) of the people at the
hardships by the way (10:11-21:20).
3. The transactions in the plain of Moab before crossing
the Jordan (21:21-ch. 36).
The period comprehended in the history extends from the
second month of the second year after the Exodus to the
beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, in
all about thirty-eight years and ten months; a dreary
period of wanderings, during which that disobedient
generation all died in the wilderness. They were fewer in
number at the end of their wanderings than when they left
the land of Egypt. We see in this history, on the one hand,
the unceasing care of the Almighty over his chosen people
during their wanderings; and, on the other hand, the
murmurings and rebellions by which they offended their
heavenly Protector, drew down repeated marks of his
displeasure, and provoked him to say that they should
“not enter into his rest” because of their
unbelief (Heb. 3:19).
This, like the other books of the Pentateuch, bears
evidence of having been written by Moses.
The expression “the book of the wars of the
Lord,” occurring in 21:14, has given rise to much
discussion. But, after all, “what this book was is
uncertain, whether some writing of Israel not now extant,
or some writing of the Amorites which contained songs and
triumphs of their king Sihon’s victories, out of which
Moses may cite this testimony, as Paul sometimes does out
of heathen poets (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12).”
Nun – Beyond the fact that he was
the father of Joshua nothing more is known of him (Ex.
33:11).
Nuts – were among the presents
Jacob sent into Egypt for the purpose of conciliating
Joseph (Gen. 43:11). This was the fruit of the pistachio
tree, which resembles the sumac. It is of the size of an
olive. In Cant. 6:11 a different Hebrew word (‘egoz),
which means “walnuts,” is used.
Nymphas – nymph, saluted by Paul
in his Epistle to the Colossians as a member of the church
of Laodicea (Col. 4:15).
Oak – There are six Hebrew words
rendered “oak.”
(1.) ‘El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6).
The LXX. renders by “terebinth.” In the plural
form this word occurs in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg. and
R.V., “among the oaks”); 61:3
(“trees”). The word properly means strongly,
mighty, and hence a strong tree.
(2.) ‘Elah, Gen. 35:4, “under the oak which was by
Shechem” (R.V. marg., “terebinth”). Isa.
6:13, A.V., “teil-tree;” R.V.,
“terebinth.” Isa. 1:30, R.V. marg.,
“terebinth.” Absalom in his flight was caught in
the branches of a “great oak” (2 Sam. 18:9; R.V.
marg., “terebinth”).
(3.) ‘Elon, Judg. 4:11; 9:6 (R.V., “oak;”
A.V., following the Targum, “plain”) properly the
deciduous species of oak shedding its foliage in autumn.
(4.) ‘Elan, only in Dan. 4:11,14,20, rendered
“tree” in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. Probably
some species of the oak is intended.
(5.) ‘Allah, Josh. 24:26. The place here referred to is
called Allon-moreh (“the oak of Moreh,” as in
R.V.) in Gen. 12:6 and 35:4.
(6.) ‘Allon, always rendered “oak.” Probably
the evergreen oak (called also ilex and holm oak) is
intended. The oak woods of Bashan are frequently alluded to
(Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 27:6). Three species of oaks are found in
Palestine, of which the “prickly evergreen oak”
(Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. “It covers
the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of
trees from 8 to 12 feet high, branching from the base,
thickly covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and
bearing acorns copiously.” The so-called Abraham’s
oak at Hebron is of this species. Tristram says that this
oak near Hebron “has for several centuries taken the
place of the once renowned terebinth which marked the site
of Mamre on the other side of the city. The terebinth
existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and under it the
captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared about A.D.
330, and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present
oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23
feet in girth, and the diameter of the foliage, which is
unsymmetrical, being about 90 feet.” (See HEBRON
¯T0001712; TEIL-TREE ¯T0003597.)
Oath – a solemn appeal to God,
permitted on fitting occasions (Deut. 6:13; Jer. 4:2), in
various forms (Gen. 16:5; 2 Sam. 12:5; Ruth 1:17; Hos.
4:15; Rom. 1:9), and taken in different ways (Gen. 14:22;
24:2; 2 Chr. 6:22). God is represented as taking an oath
(Heb. 6:16-18), so also Christ (Matt. 26:64), and Paul
(Rom. 9:1; Gal. 1:20; Phil. 1:8). The precept, “Swear
not at all,” refers probably to ordinary conversation
between man and man (Matt. 5:34,37). But if the words are
taken as referring to oaths, then their intention may have
been to show “that the proper state of Christians is
to require no oaths; that when evil is expelled from among
them every yea and nay will be as decisive as an oath,
every promise as binding as a vow.”
Obadiah – servant of the Lord.
(1.) An Israelite who was chief in the household of King
Ahab (1 Kings 18:3). Amid great spiritual degeneracy he
maintained his fidelity to God, and interposed to protect
The Lord’s prophets, an hundred of whom he hid at great
personal risk in a cave (4, 13). Ahab seems to have held
Obadiah in great honour, although he had no sympathy with
his piety (5, 6, 7). The last notice of him is his bringing
back tidings to Ahab that Elijah, whom he had so long
sought for, was at hand (9-16). “Go,” said Elijah
to him, when he met him in the way, “go tell thy lord,
Behold, Elijah is here.”
(2.) A chief of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chr. 7:3).
(3.) A descendant of Saul (1 Chr. 8:38).
(4.) A Levite, after the Captivity (1 Chr. 9:16).
(5.) A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:9).
(6.) A prince of Zebulun in the time of David (1 Chr.
27:19).
(7.) One of the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the
people in the law (2 Chr. 17:7).
(8.) A Levite who superintended the repairs of the temple
under Josiah (2 Chr. 34:12).
(9.) One who accompanied Ezra on the return from Babylon
(Ezra 8:9).
(10.) A prophet, fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew
canon, and fifth in the LXX. He was probably contemporary
with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing
is known.
Obadiah, Book of – consists of
one chapter, “concerning Edom,” its impending
doom (1:1-16), and the restoration of Israel (1:17-21).
This is the shortest book of the Old Testament.
There are on record the account of four captures of
Jerusalem, (1) by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings
14:25); (2) by the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of
Jehoram (2 Chr. 21:16); (3) by Joash, the king of Israel,
in the reign of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:13); and (4) by the
Babylonians, when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 586). Obadiah (1:11-14) speaks of this
capture as a thing past. He sees the calamity as having
already come on Jerusalem, and the Edomites as joining
their forces with those of the Chaldeans in bringing about
the degradation and ruin of Israel. We do not indeed read
that the Edomites actually took part with the Chaldeans,
but the probabilities are that they did so, and this
explains the words of Obadiah in denouncing against Edom
the judgments of God. The date of his prophecies was thus
in or about the year of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Edom is the type of Israel’s and of God’s last foe
(Isa. 63:1-4). These will finally all be vanquished, and
the kingdom will be the Lord’s (comp. Ps. 22:28).
Obal – stripped, the eight son of
Joktan (Gen. 10:28); called also Ebal (1 Chr. 1:22).
Obed – serving; worshipping. (1.)
A son of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:21, 22), and the grandfather
of David (Matt. 1:5).
(2.) 1 Chr. 2:34-38.
(3.) 1 Chr. 26:7.
(4.) 2 Chr. 23:1.
Obed-Edom – servant of Edom. (1.)
“The Gittite” (probably so called because he was
a native of Gath-rimmon), a Levite of the family of the
Korhites (1 Chr. 26:1, 4-8), to whom was specially
intrusted the custody of the ark (1 Chr. 15:18). When David
was bringing up the ark “from the house of Abinadab,
that was in Gibeah” (probably some hill or eminence
near Kirjath-jearim), and had reached Nachon’s
threshing-floor, he became afraid because of the
“breach upon Uzzah,” and carried it aside into
the house of Obededom (2 Sam. 6:1-12). There it remained
for six months, and was to him and his house the occasion
of great blessing. David then removed it with great
rejoicing to Jerusalem, and set it in the midst of the
tabernacle he had pitched for it.
(2.) A Merarite Levite, a temple porter, who with his eight
sons guarded the southern gate (1 Chr. 15:18, 21; 26:4, 8,
15).
(3.) One who had charge of the temple treasures (2 Chr.
25:24).
Obeisance – homage or reverence
to any one (Gen. 37:7; 43:28).
Ishmaelite who was “over the camels” in the time
of David (1 Chr. 27:30).
Oboth – bottles, an encampment of
the Israelites during the wanderings in the wilderness
(Num. 33:43), the first after the setting up of the brazen
serpent.
Oded – restoring, or setting up.
(1.) Father of the prophet Azariah (2 Chr. 15:1, 8).
(2.) A prophet in the time of Ahaz and Pekah (2 Chr.
28:9-15).
Offence – (1.) An injury or wrong
done to one (1 Sam. 25:31; Rom. 5:15).
(2.) A stumbling-block or cause of temptation (Isa. 8:14;
Matt. 16:23; 18:7). Greek skandalon, properly that at which
one stumbles or takes offence. The “offence of the
cross” (Gal. 5:11) is the offence the Jews took at the
teaching that salvation was by the crucified One, and by
him alone. Salvation by the cross was a stumbling-block to
their national pride.
Offering – an oblation, dedicated
to God. Thus Cain consecrated to God of the first-fruits of
the earth, and Abel of the firstlings of the flock (Gen.
4:3, 4). Under the Levitical system different kinds of
offerings are specified, and laws laid down as to their
presentation. These are described under their distinctive
names.
Bashan, who was defeated by Moses in a pitched battle at
Edrei, and was slain along with his sons (Deut. 1:4), and
whose kingdom was given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and
half the tribe of Manasseh (Num. 21:32-35; Deut. 3:1-13).
His bedstead (or rather sarcophagus) was of iron (or
ironstone), 9 cubits in length and 4 cubits in breadth. His
overthrow was afterwards celebrated in song (Ps. 135:11;
136:20).
third son of Simeon (Gen. 46:10).
Ohel – a house; tent, the fourth
son of Zerubbabel (1 Chr. 3:20).
have been used among the Hebrews. It was used for many
purposes: for anointing the body or the hair (Ex. 29:7; 2
Sam. 14:2; Ps. 23:5; 92:10; 104:15; Luke 7:46); in some of
the offerings (Ex. 29:40; Lev. 7:12; Num. 6:15; 15:4), but
was excluded from the sin-offering (Lev. 5:11) and the
jealousy-offering (Num. 5:15); for burning in lamps (Ex.
25:6; 27:20; Matt. 25:3); for medicinal purposes (Isa. 1:6;
Luke 10:34; James 5:14); and for anointing the dead (Matt.
26:12; Luke 23:56).
It was one of the most valuable products of the country
(Deut. 32:13; Ezek. 16:13), and formed an article of
extensive commerce with Tyre (27:17).
The use of it was a sign of gladness (Ps. 92:10; Isa.
61:3), and its omission a token of sorrow (2 Sam. 14:2;
Matt. 6:17). It was very abundant in Galilee.
marg., “oleaster”), Heb. ‘etz shemen,
rendered “olive tree” in 1 Kings 6:23, 31, 32, 33
(R.V., “olive wood”) and “pine
branches” in Neh. 8:15 (R.V., “branches of wild
olive”), was some tree distinct from the olive. It was
probably the oleaster (Eleagnus angustifolius), which grows
abundantly in almost all parts of Palestine, especially
about Hebron and Samaria. “It has a fine hard
wood,” says Tristram, “and yields an inferior
oil, but it has no relationship to the olive, which,
however, it resembles in general appearance.”
preparations, also compounds for medical purposes, are so
called (Ex. 30:25; Ps. 133:2; Isa. 1:6; Amos 6:6; John
12:3; Rev. 18:13).
Old gate – one of the gates in
the north wall of Jerusalem, so called because built by the
Jebusites (Neh. 3:6; 12:39).
olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued.
The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being
fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (Deut. 24:20; Isa.
17:6; 24:13). It was called “beaten,” or
“fresh oil” (Ex. 27:20). There were also
oil-presses, in which the oil was trodden out by the feet
(Micah 6:15). James (3:12) calls the fruit “olive
berries.” The phrase “vineyards and olives”
(Judg. 15:5, A.V.) should be simply “olive-yard,”
or “olive-garden,” as in the Revised Version.
mentioned in Scripture. The dove from the ark brought an
olive-branch to Noah (Gen. 8:11). It is mentioned among the
most notable trees of Palestine, where it was cultivated
long before the time of the Hebrews (Deut. 6:11; 8:8). It
is mentioned in the first Old Testament parable, that of
Jotham (Judg. 9:9), and is named among the blessings of the
“good land,” and is at the present day the one
characteristic tree of Palestine. The oldest olive-trees in
the country are those which are enclosed in the Garden of
Gethsemane. It is referred to as an emblem of prosperity
and beauty and religious privilege (Ps. 52:8; Jer. 11:16;
Hos. 14:6). The two “witnesses” mentioned in Rev.
11:4 are spoken of as “two olive trees standing before
the God of the earth.” (Comp. Zech. 4:3, 11-14.)
The “olive-tree, wild by nature” (Rom. 11:24), is
the shoot or cutting of the good olive-tree which, left
ungrafted, grows up to be a “wild olive.” In Rom.
11:17 Paul refers to the practice of grafting shoots of the
wild olive into a “good” olive which has become
unfruitful. By such a process the sap of the good olive, by
pervading the branch which is “graffed in,” makes
it a good branch, bearing good olives. Thus the Gentiles,
being a “wild olive,” but now “graffed
in,” yield fruit, but only through the sap of the tree
into which they have been graffed. This is a process
“contrary to nature” (11:24).
Olves, Mount of – so called from
the olive trees with which its sides are clothed, is a
mountain ridge on the east of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:7;
Ezek. 11:23; Zech. 14:4), from which it is separated by the
valley of Kidron. It is first mentioned in connection with
David’s flight from Jerusalem through the rebellion of
Absalom (2 Sam. 15:30), and is only once again mentioned in
the Old Testament, in Zech. 14:4. It is, however,
frequently alluded to (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13; Neh.
8:15; Ezek. 11:23).
It is frequently mentioned in the New Testament (Matt.
21:1; 26:30, etc.). It now bears the name of Jebel et-Tur,
i.e., “Mount of the Summit;” also sometimes
called Jebel ez-Zeitun, i.e., “Mount of Olives.”
It is about 200 feet above the level of the city. The road
from Jerusalem to Bethany runs as of old over this mount.
It was on this mount that Jesus stood when he wept over
Jerusalem. “No name in Scripture,” says Dr.
Porter, “calls up associations at once so sacred and
so pleasing as that of Olivet. The ‘mount’ is so
intimately connected with the private, the devotional life
of the Saviour, that we read of it and look at it with
feelings of deepest interest and affection. Here he often
sat with his disciples, telling them of wondrous events yet
to come, of the destruction of the Holy City; of the
sufferings, the persecution, and the final triumph of his
followers (Matt. 24). Here he gave them the beautiful
parables of the ten virgins and the five talents (25); here
he was wont to retire on each evening for meditation, and
prayer, and rest of body, when weary and harassed by the
labours and trials of the day (Luke 21:37); and here he
came on the night of his betrayal to utter that wonderful
prayer, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou
wilt’ (Matt. 26:39). And when the cup of God’s
wrath had been drunk, and death and the grave conquered, he
led his disciples out again over Olivet as far as to
Bethany, and after a parting blessing ascended to heaven
(Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:12).”
This mount, or rather mountain range, has four summits or
peaks: (1) the “Galilee” peak, so called from a
tradition that the angels stood here when they spoke to the
disciples (Acts 1:11); (2) the “Mount of
Ascension,” the supposed site of that event, which
was, however, somewhere probably nearer Bethany (Luke
24:51, 52); (3) the “Prophets,” from the
catacombs on its side, called “the prophets’
tombs;” and (4) the “Mount of Corruption,”
so called because of the “high places” erected
there by Solomon for the idolatrous worship of his foreign
wives (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., “Mount of
Offence”).
Olympas – a Roman Christian whom
Paul salutes (Rom. 16:15).
Eliphaz, who was Esau’s eldest son (Gen. 36:11-15).
letter in the Greek alphabet.
Omer – a handful, one-tenth of an
ephah=half a gallon dry measure (Ex. 16:22, 32, 33,
36)=”tenth deal.”
Omri – servant of Jehovah. When
Elah was murdered by Zimri at Tirzah (1 Kings 16:15-27),
Omri, his captain, was made king (B.C. 931). For four years
there was continued opposition to his reign, Tibni, another
claimant to the throne, leading the opposing party; but at
the close of that period all his rivals were defeated, and
he became king of Israel, “Tibni died and Omri
reigned” (B.C. 927). By his vigour and power he gained
great eminence and consolidated the kingdom. He fixed his
dynasty on the throne so firmly that it continued during
four succeeding reigns. Tirza was for six years the seat of
his government. He then removed the capital to Samaria
(q.v.), where he died, and was succeeded by his son Ahab.
“He wrought evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did
worse than all that were before him.”
Beth-omri, “the house” or “city of
Omri,” is the name usually found on Assyrian
inscriptions for Samaria. In the stele of Mesha (the
“Moabite stone”), which was erected in Moab about
twenty or thirty years after Omri’s death, it is
recorded that Omri oppressed Moab till Mesha delivered the
land: “Omri, king of Israel, oppressed Moab many days,
for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him,
and he also said, I will oppress Moab” (comp. 2 Kings
1:1; 3:4, 5). The “Moabite stone” also records
that “Omri took the land of Medeba, and occupied it in
his day and in the days of his son forty years.”
On – light; the sun, (Gen. 41:45,
50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh
(Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank
of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and near Cairo,
in the north-east. The Vulgate and the LXX. Versions have
“Heliopolis” (“city of the sun”)
instead of On in Genesis and of Aven in Ezekiel. The
“city of destruction” Isaiah speaks of (19:18,
marg. “of Heres;” Heb. ‘Ir-ha-heres, which
some MSS. read Ir-ha-heres, i.e., “city of the
sun”) may be the name given to On, the prophecy being
that the time will come when that city which was known as
the “city of the sun-god” shall become the
“city of destruction” of the sun-god, i.e., when
idolatry shall cease, and the worship of the true God be
established.
In ancient times this city was full of obelisks dedicated
to the sun. Of these only one now remains standing.
“Cleopatra’s Needle” was one of those which
stood in this city in front of the Temple of Tum, i.e.,
“the sun.” It is now erected on the Thames
Embankment, London.
“It was at On that Joseph wooed and won the
dark-skinned Asenath, the daughter of the high priest of
its great temple.” This was a noted university town,
and here Moses gained his acquaintance with “all the
wisdom of the Egyptians.”
Onan – strong, the second son of
Judah (Gen. 38:4-10; comp. Deut. 25:5; Matt. 22:24). He
died before the going down of Jacob and his family into
Egypt.
Onesimus – useful, a slave who,
after robbing his master Philemon (q.v.) at Colosse, fled
to Rome, where he was converted by the apostle Paul, who
sent him back to his master with the epistle which bears
his name. In it he beseeches Philemon to receive his slave
as a “faithful and beloved brother.” Paul offers
to pay to Philemon anything his slave had taken, and to
bear the wrong he had done him. He was accompanied on his
return by Tychicus, the bearer of the Epistle to the
Colossians (Philemon 1:16, 18).
The story of this fugitive Colossian slave is a remarkable
evidence of the freedom of access to the prisoner which was
granted to all, and “a beautiful illustration both of
the character of St. Paul and the transfiguring power and
righteous principles of the gospel.”
Onesiphorus – bringing profit, an
Ephesian Christian who showed great kindness to Paul at
Rome. He served him in many things, and had oft refreshed
him. Paul expresses a warm interest in him and his
household (2 Tim. 1:16-18; 4:19).
wilderness longed for the “onions and garlick of
Egypt” (Num. 11:5). This was the betsel of the
Hebrews, the Allium cepe of botanists, of which it is said
that there are some thirty or forty species now growing in
Palestine. The onion is “the ‘undivided’ leek,
unio_, _unus, one.”
Ono – a town of Benjamin, in the
“plain of Ono” (1 Chr. 8:12; Ezra 2:33); now Kefr
‘Ana, 5 miles north of Lydda, and about 30 miles
north-west of Jerusalem. Not succeeding in their attempts
to deter Nehemiah from rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem,
Sanballat and Tobiah resorted to strategem, and pretending
to wish a conference with him, they invited him to meet
them at Ono. Four times they made the request, and every
time Nehemiah refused to come. Their object was to take him
prisoner.
(Heb. sheheleth; Ex. 30:34), a Latin word applied to the
operculum, i.e., the claw or nail of the strombus or
wing-shell, a univalve common in the Red Sea. The opercula
of these shell-fish when burned emit a strong odour
“like castoreum.” This was an ingredient in the
sacred incense.
Onyx – a hail; claw; hoof, (Heb.
shoham), a precious stone adorning the breast-plate of the
high priest and the shoulders of the ephod (Ex. 28:9-12,
20; 35:27; Job 28:16; Ezek. 28:13). It was found in the
land of Havilah (Gen. 2:12). The LXX. translates the Hebrew
word by smaragdos, an emerald. Some think that the sardonyx
is meant. But the onyx differs from the sardonyx in this,
that while the latter has two layers (black and white) the
former has three (black, white, and red).
Open place – Gen. 38:14, 21, mar.
Enaim; the same probably as Enam (Josh. 15:34), a city in
the lowland or Shephelah.
Ophel – hill; mound, the long,
narrow, rounded promontory on the southern slope of the
temple hill, between the Tyropoeon and the Kedron valley (2
Chr. 27:3; 33:14; Neh. 3:26, 27). It was surrounded by a
separate wall, and was occupied by the Nethinim after the
Captivity. This wall has been discovered by the engineers
of the Palestine Exploration Fund at the south-eastern
angle of the temple area. It is 4 feet below the present
surface. In 2 Kings 5:24 this word is translated
“tower” (R.V., “hill”), denoting
probably some eminence near Elisha’s house.
Ophir – (1.) One of the sons of
Joktan (Gen. 10:29).
(2.) Some region famous for its gold (1 Kings 9:28; 10:11;
22:48; Job 22:24; 28:16; Isa. 13:12). In the LXX. this word
is rendered “Sophir,” and “Sofir” is
the Coptic name for India, which is the rendering of the
Arabic version, as also of the Vulgate. Josephus has
identified it with the Golden Chersonese, i.e., the Malay
peninsula. It is now generally identified with Abhira, at
the mouth of the Indus. Much may be said, however, in
favour of the opinion that it was somewhere in Arabia.
Benjamin (Josh. 18:24).
(1.) A city of Benjamin (Josh. 18:23); probably identical
with Ephron (2 Chr. 13:19) and Ephraim (John 11:54).
(2.) “Of the Abi-ezrites.” A city of Manasseh, 6
miles south-west of Shechem, the residence of Gideon (Judg.
6:11; 8:27, 32). After his great victory over the
Midianites, he slew at this place the captive kings
(8:18-21). He then assumed the function of high priest, and
sought to make Ophrah what Shiloh should have been. This
thing “became a snare” to Gideon and his house.
After Gideon’s death his family resided here till they
were put to death by Abimelech (Judg. 9:5). It is
identified with Ferata.
used in every case, except 2 Sam. 16:23, to denote the most
holy place in the temple (1 Kings 6:5, 19-23; 8:6). In 2
Sam. 16:23 it means the Word of God. A man inquired
“at the oracle of God” by means of the Urim and
Thummim in the breastplate on the high priest’s ephod.
In the New Testament it is used only in the plural, and
always denotes the Word of God (Rom. 3:2; Heb. 5:12, etc.).
The Scriptures are called “living oracles” (comp.
Heb. 4:12) because of their quickening power (Acts 7:38).
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