BIBLES NET. COM
Dictionary]
Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Perfection – See SANCTIFICATION.
Perfumes – were used in religious
worship, and for personal and domestic enjoyment (Ex.
30:35-37; Prov. 7:17; Cant. 3:6; Isa. 57:9); and also in
embalming the dead, and in other funeral ceremonies (Mark
14:8; Luke 24:1; John 19:39).
Perga – the capital of Pamphylia,
on the coast of Asia Minor. Paul and his companions landed
at this place from Cyprus on their first missionary journey
(Acts 13:13, 14), and here Mark forsook the party and
returned to Jerusalem. Some time afterwards Paul and
Barnabas again visited this city and “preached the
word” (14:25). It stood on the banks of the river
Cestrus, some 7 miles from its mouth, and was a place of
some commercial importance. It is now a ruin, called Eski
Kalessi.
Mysia, in Asia Minor. One of the “seven churches”
was planted here (Rev. 1:11; 2:17). It was noted for its
wickedness, insomuch that our Lord says “Satan’s
seat” was there. The church of Pergamos was rebuked
for swerving from the truth and embracing the doctrines of
Balaam and the Nicolaitanes. Antipas, Christ’s
“faithful martyr,” here sealed his testimony with
his blood.
This city stood on the banks of the river Caicus, about 20
miles from the sea. It is now called Bergama, and has a
population of some twenty thousand, of whom about two
thousand profess to be Christians. Parchment (q.v.) was
first made here, and was called by the Greeks pergamene,
from the name of the city.
Perizzites – villagers; dwellers
in the open country, the Canaanitish nation inhabiting the
fertile regions south and south-west of Carmel. “They
were the graziers, farmers, and peasants of the time.”
They were to be driven out of the land by the descendants
of Abraham (Gen. 15:20; Ex. 3:8, 17; 23:23; 33:2; 34:11).
They are afterwards named among the conquered tribes (Josh.
24:11). Still lingering in the land, however, they were
reduced to servitude by Solomon (1 Kings 9:20).
persecution for religious opinion of which we have any
record was that which broke out against the worshippers of
God among the Jews in the days of Ahab, when that king, at
the instigation of his wife Jezebel, “a woman in whom,
with the reckless and licentious habits of an Oriental
queen, were united the fiercest and sternest qualities
inherent in the old Semitic race”, sought in the most
relentless manner to extirpate the worship of Jehovah and
substitute in its place the worship of Ashtoreth and Baal.
Ahab’s example in this respect was followed by
Manasseh, who “shed innocent blood very much, till he
had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” (2 Kings
21:16; comp. 24:4). In all ages, in one form or another,
the people of God have had to suffer persecution. In its
earliest history the Christian church passed through many
bloody persecutions. Of subsequent centuries in our own and
in other lands the same sad record may be made.
Christians are forbidden to seek the propagation of the
gospel by force (Matt. 7:1; Luke 9:54-56; Rom. 14:4; James
4:11, 12). The words of Ps. 7:13, “He ordaineth his
arrows against the persecutors,” ought rather to be,
as in the Revised Version, “He maketh his arrows fiery
[shafts].”
their certain continuance in a state of grace. Once
justified and regenerated, the believer can neither totally
nor finally fall away from grace, but will certainly
persevere therein and attain everlasting life.
This doctrine is clearly taught in these passages, John
10:28, 29; Rom. 11:29; Phil. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:5. It, moreover,
follows from a consideration of (1) the immutability of the
divine decrees (Jer. 31:3; Matt. 24:22-24; Acts 13:48; Rom.
8:30); (2) the provisions of the covenant of grace (Jer.
32:40; John 10:29; 17:2-6); (3) the atonement and
intercession of Christ (Isa. 53:6, 11; Matt. 20:28; 1 Pet.
2:24; John 11:42; 17:11, 15, 20; Rom. 8:34); and (4) the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost (John 14:16; 2 Cor. 1:21, 22;
5:5; Eph. 1:14; 1 John 3:9).
This doctrine is not inconsistent with the truth that the
believer may nevertheless fall into grievous sin, and
continue therein for some time. (See BACKSLIDE.)
extending from the Indus to Thrace, and from the Caspian
Sea to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. The Persians were
originally a Medic tribe which settled in Persia, on the
eastern side of the Persian Gulf. They were Aryans, their
language belonging to the eastern division of the
Indo-European group. One of their chiefs, Teispes,
conquered Elam in the time of the decay of the Assyrian
Empire, and established himself in the district of Anzan.
His descendants branched off into two lines, one line
ruling in Anzan, while the other remained in Persia. Cyrus
II., king of Anzan, finally united the divided power,
conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylonia, and carried his arms
into the far East. His son, Cambyses, added Egypt to the
empire, which, however, fell to pieces after his death. It
was reconquered and thoroughly organized by Darius, the son
of Hystaspes, whose dominions extended from India to the
Danube.
Persis – a female Christian at
Rome whom Paul salutes (Rom. 16:12). She is spoken of as
“beloved,” and as having “laboured much in
the Lord.”
Peruda – one whose descendants
returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:55); called also Perida
(Neh. 7:57).
Peter – originally called Simon
(=Simeon ,i.e., “hearing”), a very common Jewish
name in the New Testament. He was the son of Jona (Matt.
16:17). His mother is nowhere named in Scripture. He had a
younger brother called Andrew, who first brought him to
Jesus (John 1:40-42). His native town was Bethsaida, on the
western coast of the Sea of Galilee, to which also Philip
belonged. Here he was brought up by the shores of the Sea
of Galilee, and was trained to the occupation of a fisher.
His father had probably died while he was still young, and
he and his brother were brought up under the care of
Zebedee and his wife Salome (Matt. 27:56; Mark 15:40;
16:1). There the four youths, Simon, Andrew, James, and
John, spent their boyhood and early manhood in constant
fellowship. Simon and his brother doubtless enjoyed all the
advantages of a religious training, and were early
instructed in an acquaintance with the Scriptures and with
the great prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah.
They did not probably enjoy, however, any special training
in the study of the law under any of the rabbis. When Peter
appeared before the Sanhedrin, he looked like an
“unlearned man” (Acts 4:13).
“Simon was a Galilean, and he was that out and
out…The Galileans had a marked character of their own.
They had a reputation for an independence and energy which
often ran out into turbulence. They were at the same time
of a franker and more transparent disposition than their
brethren in the south. In all these respects, in bluntness,
impetuosity, headiness, and simplicity, Simon was a genuine
Galilean. They spoke a peculiar dialect. They had a
difficulty with the guttural sounds and some others, and
their pronunciation was reckoned harsh in Judea. The
Galilean accent stuck to Simon all through his career. It
betrayed him as a follower of Christ when he stood within
the judgment-hall (Mark 14:70). It betrayed his own
nationality and that of those conjoined with him on the day
of Pentecost (Acts 2:7).” It would seem that Simon was
married before he became an apostle. His wife’s mother
is referred to (Matt. 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38). He was
in all probability accompanied by his wife on his
missionary journeys (1 Cor. 9:5; comp. 1 Pet. 5:13).
He appears to have been settled at Capernaum when Christ
entered on his public ministry, and may have reached beyond
the age of thirty. His house was large enough to give a
home to his brother Andrew, his wife’s mother, and also
to Christ, who seems to have lived with him (Mark 1:29, 36;
2:1), as well as to his own family. It was apparently two
stories high (2:4).
At Bethabara (R.V., John 1:28, “Bethany”), beyond
Jordan, John the Baptist had borne testimony concerning
Jesus as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29-36). Andrew
and John hearing it, followed Jesus, and abode with him
where he was. They were convinced, by his gracious words
and by the authority with which he spoke, that he was the
Messiah (Luke 4:22; Matt. 7:29); and Andrew went forth and
found Simon and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41).
Jesus at once recognized Simon, and declared that hereafter
he would be called Cephas, an Aramaic name corresponding to
the Greek Petros, which means “a mass of rock detached
from the living rock.” The Aramaic name does not occur
again, but the name Peter gradually displaces the old name
Simon, though our Lord himself always uses the name Simon
when addressing him (Matt. 17:25; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:31,
comp. 21:15-17). We are not told what impression the first
interview with Jesus produced on the mind of Simon. When we
next meet him it is by the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 4:18-22).
There the four (Simon and Andrew, James and John) had had
an unsuccessful night’s fishing. Jesus appeared
suddenly, and entering into Simon’s boat, bade him
launch forth and let down the nets. He did so, and enclosed
a great multitude of fishes. This was plainly a miracle
wrought before Simon’s eyes. The awe-stricken disciple
cast himself at the feet of Jesus, crying, “Depart
from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
Jesus addressed him with the assuring words, “Fear
not,” and announced to him his life’s work. Simon
responded at once to the call to become a disciple, and
after this we find him in constant attendance on our Lord.
He is next called into the rank of the apostleship, and
becomes a “fisher of men” (Matt. 4:19) in the
stormy seas of the world of human life (Matt. 10:2-4; Mark
3:13-19; Luke 6:13-16), and takes a more and more prominent
part in all the leading events of our Lord’s life. It
is he who utters that notable profession of faith at
Capernaum (John 6:66-69), and again at Caesarea Philippi
(Matt. 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-20). This
profession at Caesarea was one of supreme importance, and
our Lord in response used these memorable words: “Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”
“From that time forth” Jesus began to speak of
his sufferings. For this Peter rebuked him. But our Lord in
return rebuked Peter, speaking to him in sterner words than
he ever used to any other of his disciples (Matt. 16:21-23;
Mark 8:31-33). At the close of his brief sojourn at
Caesarea our Lord took Peter and James and John with him
into “an high mountain apart,” and was
transfigured before them. Peter on that occasion, under the
impression the scene produced on his mind, exclaimed,
“Lord, it is good for us to be here: let us make three
tabernacles” (Matt. 17:1-9).
On his return to Capernaum the collectors of the temple tax
(a didrachma, half a sacred shekel), which every Israelite
of twenty years old and upwards had to pay (Ex. 30:15),
came to Peter and reminded him that Jesus had not paid it
(Matt. 17:24-27). Our Lord instructed Peter to go and catch
a fish in the lake and take from its mouth the exact amount
needed for the tax, viz., a stater, or two half-shekels.
“That take,” said our Lord, “and give unto
them for me and thee.”
As the end was drawing nigh, our Lord sent Peter and John
(Luke 22:7-13) into the city to prepare a place where he
should keep the feast with his disciples. There he was
forewarned of the fearful sin into which he afterwards fell
(22:31-34). He accompanied our Lord from the guest-chamber
to the garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46), which he and
the other two who had been witnesses of the transfiguration
were permitted to enter with our Lord, while the rest were
left without. Here he passed through a strange experience.
Under a sudden impulse he cut off the ear of Malchus
(47-51), one of the band that had come forth to take Jesus.
Then follow the scenes of the judgment-hall (54-61) and his
bitter grief (62).
He is found in John’s company early on the morning of
the resurrection. He boldly entered into the empty grave
(John 20:1-10), and saw the “linen clothes laid by
themselves” (Luke 24:9-12). To him, the first of the
apostles, our risen Lord revealed himself, thus conferring
on him a signal honour, and showing how fully he was
restored to his favour (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5). We next
read of our Lord’s singular interview with Peter on the
shores of the Sea of Galilee, where he thrice asked him,
“Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?” (John
21:1-19).
After this scene at the lake we hear nothing of Peter till
he again appears with the others at the ascension (Acts
1:15-26). It was he who proposed that the vacancy caused by
the apostasy of Judas should be filled up. He is prominent
on the day of Pentecost (2:14-40). The events of that day
“completed the change in Peter himself which the
painful discipline of his fall and all the lengthened
process of previous training had been slowly making. He is
now no more the unreliable, changeful, self-confident man,
ever swaying between rash courage and weak timidity, but
the stead-fast, trusted guide and director of the
fellowship of believers, the intrepid preacher of Christ in
Jerusalem and abroad. And now that he is become Cephas
indeed, we hear almost nothing of the name Simon (only in
Acts 10:5, 32; 15:14), and he is known to us finally as
Peter.”
After the miracle at the temple gate (Acts 3) persecution
arose against the Christians, and Peter was cast into
prison. He boldly defended himself and his companions at
the bar of the council (4:19, 20). A fresh outburst of
violence against the Christians (5:17-21) led to the whole
body of the apostles being cast into prison; but during the
night they were wonderfully delivered, and were found in
the morning teaching in the temple. A second time Peter
defended them before the council (Acts 5:29-32), who,
“when they had called the apostles and beaten them,
let them go.”
The time had come for Peter to leave Jerusalem. After
labouring for some time in Samaria, he returned to
Jerusalem, and reported to the church there the results of
his work (Acts 8:14-25). Here he remained for a period,
during which he met Paul for the first time since his
conversion (9:26-30; Gal. 1:18). Leaving Jerusalem again,
he went forth on a missionary journey to Lydda and Joppa
(Acts 9:32-43). He is next called on to open the door of
the Christian church to the Gentiles by the admission of
Cornelius of Caesarea (ch. 10).
After remaining for some time at Caesarea, he returned to
Jerusalem (Acts 11:1-18), where he defended his conduct
with reference to the Gentiles. Next we hear of his being
cast into prison by Herod Agrippa (12:1-19); but in the
night an angel of the Lord opened the prison gates, and he
went forth and found refuge in the house of Mary.
He took part in the deliberations of the council in
Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-31; Gal. 2:1-10) regarding the
relation of the Gentiles to the church. This subject had
awakened new interest at Antioch, and for its settlement
was referred to the council of the apostles and elders at
Jerusalem. Here Paul and Peter met again.
We have no further mention of Peter in the Acts of the
Apostles. He seems to have gone down to Antioch after the
council at Jerusalem, and there to have been guilty of
dissembling, for which he was severely reprimanded by Paul
(Gal. 2:11-16), who “rebuked him to his face.”
After this he appears to have carried the gospel to the
east, and to have laboured for a while at Babylon, on the
Euphrates (1 Pet. 5:13). There is no satisfactory evidence
that he was ever at Rome. Where or when he died is not
certainly known. Probably he died between A.D. 64 and 67.
Peter, First Epistle of – This
epistle is addressed to “the strangers scattered
abroad”, i.e., to the Jews of the Dispersion (the
Diaspora).
Its object is to confirm its readers in the doctrines they
had been already taught. Peter has been called “the
apostle of hope,” because this epistle abounds with
words of comfort and encouragement fitted to sustain a
“lively hope.” It contains about thirty-five
references to the Old Testament.
It was written from Babylon, on the Euphrates, which was at
this time one of the chief seats of Jewish learning, and a
fitting centre for labour among the Jews. It has been
noticed that in the beginning of his epistle Peter names
the provinces of Asia Minor in the order in which they
would naturally occur to one writing from Babylon. He
counsels (1) to steadfastness and perseverance under
persecution (1-2:10); (2) to the practical duties of a holy
life (2:11-3:13); (3) he adduces the example of Christ and
other motives to patience and holiness (3:14-4:19); and (4)
concludes with counsels to pastors and people (ch. 5).
Peter, Second Epistle of – The
question of the authenticity of this epistle has been much
discussed, but the weight of evidence is wholly in favour
of its claim to be the production of the apostle whose name
it bears. It appears to have been written shortly before
the apostle’s death (1:14). This epistle contains
eleven references to the Old Testament. It also contains
(3:15, 16) a remarkable reference to Paul’s epistles.
Some think this reference is to 1 Thess. 4:13-5:11. A few
years ago, among other documents, a parchment fragment,
called the “Gospel of Peter,” was discovered in a
Christian tomb at Akhmim in Upper Egypt. Origen (obiit A.D.
254), Eusebius (obiit 340), and Jerome (obiit 420) refer to
such a work, and hence it has been concluded that it was
probably written about the middle of the second century. It
professes to give a history of our Lord’s resurrection
and ascension. While differing in not a few particulars
from the canonical Gospels, the writer shows plainly that
he was acquinted both with the synoptics and with the
Gospel of John. Though apocryphal, it is of considerable
value as showing that the main facts of the history of our
Lord were then widely known.
Pethahiah – loosed of the Lord.
(1.) The chief of one of the priestly courses (the
nineteenth) in the time of David (1 Chr. 24:16). (2.) A
Levite (Ezra 10:23). (3.) Neh. 9:5. (4.) A descendant of
Judah who had some office at the court of Persia (Neh.
11:24).
dreams, identified with Pitru, on the west bank of the
Euphrates, a few miles south of the Hittite capital of
Carchemish (Num. 22:5, “which is by the river of the
land of the children of [the god] Ammo”).
father of Joel the prophet (Joel 1:1).
Petra – rock, Isa. 16:1, marg.
Peulthai – wages of the Lord, one
of the sons of Obed-edom, a Levite porter (1 Chr.
26:5).
(q.v.), Gen. 11:16.
Phallu – separated, the second
son of Reuben (Gen. 46:9).
Phalti – deliverance of the Lord,
the son of Laish of Gallim (1 Sam. 25:44)= Phaltiel (2 Sam.
3:15). Michal, David’s wife, was given to him.
Phanuel – face of God, father of
the prophetess Anna (q.v.), Luke 2:36.
borne by the Egyptian kings down to the time when that
country was conquered by the Greeks. The name is a compound, as some think, of the
words Ra, the “sun” or “sun-god,” and
the article phe, “the,” prefixed; hence phera,
“the sun,” or “the sun-god.” But
others, perhaps more correctly, think the name derived from
Perao, “the great house” = his majesty = in
Turkish, “the Sublime Porte.”
(1.) The Pharaoh who was on the throne when Abram went down
into Egypt (Gen. 12:10-20) was probably one of the Hyksos,
or “shepherd kings.” The Egyptians called the
nomad tribes of Syria Shasu, “plunderers,” their
king or chief Hyk, and hence the name of those invaders who
conquered the native kings and established a strong
government, with Zoan or Tanis as their capital. They were
of Semitic origin, and of kindred blood accordingly with
Abram. They were probably driven forward by the pressure of
the Hittites. The name they bear on the monuments is
“Mentiu.”
(2.) The Pharaoh of Joseph’s days (Gen. 41) was
probably Apopi, or Apopis, the last of the Hyksos kings. To
the old native Egyptians, who were an African race,
shepherds were “an abomination;” but to the
Hyksos kings these Asiatic shepherds who now appeared with
Jacob at their head were congenial, and being akin to their
own race, had a warm welcome (Gen. 47:5, 6). Some argue
that Joseph came to Egypt in the reign of Thothmes III.,
long after the expulsion of the Hyksos, and that his
influence is to be seen in the rise and progress of the
religious revolution in the direction of monotheism which
characterized the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The
wife of Amenophis III., of that dynasty, was a Semite. Is
this singular fact to be explained from the presence of
some of Joseph’s kindred at the Egyptian court? Pharaoh
said to Joseph, “Thy father and thy brethren are come
unto thee: the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of
the land make thy father and brethren to dwell” (Gen.
47:5, 6).
(3.) The “new king who knew not Joseph” (Ex.
1:8-22) has been generally supposed to have been Aahmes I.,
or Amosis, as he is called by Josephus. Recent discoveries,
however, have led to the conclusion that Seti was the
“new king.”
For about seventy years the Hebrews in Egypt were under the
powerful protection of Joseph. After his death their
condition was probably very slowly and gradually changed.
The invaders, the Hyksos, who for some five centuries had
been masters of Egypt, were driven out, and the old dynasty
restored. The Israelites now began to be looked down upon.
They began to be afflicted and tyrannized over. In process
of time a change appears to have taken place in the
government of Egypt. A new dynasty, the Nineteenth, as it
is called, came into power under Seti I., who was its
founder. He associated with him in his government his son,
Rameses II., when he was yet young, probably ten or twelve
years of age.
Note, Professor Maspero, keeper of the museum of Bulak,
near Cairo, had his attention in 1870 directed to the fact
that scarabs, i.e., stone and metal imitations of the
beetle (symbols of immortality), originally worn as amulets
by royal personages, which were evidently genuine relics of
the time of the ancient Pharaohs, were being sold at Thebes
and different places along the Nile. This led him to
suspect that some hitherto undiscovered burial-place of the
Pharaohs had been opened, and that these and other relics,
now secretly sold, were a part of the treasure found there.
For a long time he failed, with all his ingenuity, to find
the source of these rare treasures. At length one of those
in the secret volunteered to give information regarding
this burial-place. The result was that a party was
conducted in 1881 to Dier el-Bahari, near Thebes, when the
wonderful discovery was made of thirty-six mummies of
kings, queens, princes, and high priests hidden away in a
cavern prepared for them, where they had lain undisturbed
for thirty centuries. “The temple of Deir el-Bahari
stands in the middle of a natural amphitheatre of cliffs,
which is only one of a number of smaller amphitheatres into
which the limestone mountains of the tombs are broken up.
In the wall of rock separating this basin from the one next
to it some ancient Egyptian engineers had constructed the
hiding-place, whose secret had been kept for nearly three
thousand years.” The exploring party being guided to
the place, found behind a great rock a shaft 6 feet square
and about 40 feet deep, sunk into the limestone. At the
bottom of this a passage led westward for 25 feet, and then
turned sharply northward into the very heart of the
mountain, where in a chamber 23 feet by 13, and 6 feet in
height, they came upon the wonderful treasures of
antiquity. The mummies were all carefully secured and
brought down to Bulak, where they were deposited in the
royal museum, which has now been removed to Ghizeh.
Among the most notable of the ancient kings of Egypt thus
discovered were Thothmes III., Seti I., and Rameses II.
Thothmes III. was the most distinguished monarch of the
brilliant Eighteenth Dynasty. When this mummy was unwound
“once more, after an interval of thirty-six centuries,
human eyes gazed on the features of the man who had
conquered Syria and Cyprus and Ethiopia, and had raised
Egypt to the highest pinnacle of her power. The spectacle,
however, was of brief duration. The remains proved to be in
so fragile a state that there was only time to take a hasty
photograph, and then the features crumbled to pieces and
vanished like an apparition, and so passed away from human
view for ever.” “It seems strange that though the
body of this man,” who overran Palestine with his
armies two hundred years before the birth of Moses,
“mouldered to dust, the flowers with which it had been
wreathed were so wonderfully preserved that even their
colour could be distinguished” (Manning’s Land of
the Pharaohs).
Seti I. (his throne name Merenptah), the father of Rameses
II., was a great and successful warrior, also a great
builder. The mummy of this Pharaoh, when unrolled, brought
to view “the most beautiful mummy head ever seen
within the walls of the museum. The sculptors of Thebes and
Abydos did not flatter this Pharaoh when they gave him that
delicate, sweet, and smiling profile which is the
admiration of travellers. After a lapse of thirty-two
centuries, the mummy retains the same expression which
characterized the features of the living man. Most
remarkable of all, when compared with the mummy of Rameses
II., is the striking resemblance between the father and the
son. Seti I. is, as it were, the idealized type of Rameses
II. He must have died at an advanced age. The head is
shaven, the eyebrows are white, the condition of the body
points to considerably more than threescore years of life,
thus confirming the opinions of the learned, who have
attributed a long reign to this king.”
(4.) Rameses II., the son of Seti I., is probably the
Pharaoh of the Oppression. During his forty years’
residence at the court of Egypt, Moses must have known this
ruler well. During his sojourn in Midian, however, Rameses
died, after a reign of sixty-seven years, and his body
embalmed and laid in the royal sepulchre in the Valley of
the Tombs of Kings beside that of his father. Like the
other mummies found hidden in the cave of Deir el-Bahari,
it had been for some reason removed from its original tomb,
and probably carried from place to place till finally
deposited in the cave where it was so recently discovered.
In 1886, the mummy of this king, the “great
Rameses,” the “Sesostris” of the Greeks, was
unwound, and showed the body of what must have been a
robust old man. The features revealed to view are thus
described by Maspero: “The head is long and small in
proportion to the body. The top of the skull is quite bare.
On the temple there are a few sparse hairs, but at the poll
the hair is quite thick, forming smooth, straight locks
about two inches in length. White at the time of death,
they have been dyed a light yellow by the spices used in
embalmment. The forehead is low and narrow; the brow-ridge
prominent; the eye-brows are thick and white; the eyes are
small and close together; the nose is long, thin, arched
like the noses of the Bourbons; the temples are sunk; the
cheek-bones very prominent; the ears round, standing far
out from the head, and pierced, like those of a woman, for
the wearing of earrings; the jaw-bone is massive and
strong; the chin very prominent; the mouth small, but
thick-lipped; the teeth worn and very brittle, but white
and well preserved. The moustache and beard are thin. They
seem to have been kept shaven during life, but were
probably allowed to grow during the king’s last
illness, or they may have grown after death. The hairs are
white, like those of the head and eyebrows, but are harsh
and bristly, and a tenth of an inch in length. The skin is
of an earthy-brown, streaked with black. Finally, it may be
said, the face of the mummy gives a fair idea of the face
of the living king. The expression is unintellectual,
perhaps slightly animal; but even under the somewhat
grotesque disguise of mummification there is plainly to be
seen an air of sovereign majesty, of resolve, and of
pride.”
Both on his father’s and his mother’s side it has
been pretty clearly shown that Rameses had Chaldean or
Mesopotamian blood in his veins to such a degree that he
might be called an Assyrian. This fact is thought to throw
light on Isa. 52:4.
(5.) The Pharaoh of the Exodus was probably Menephtah I.,
the fourteenth and eldest surviving son of Rameses II. He
resided at Zoan, where he had the various interviews with
Moses and Aaron recorded in the book of Exodus. His mummy
was not among those found at Deir el-Bahari. It is still a
question, however, whether Seti II. or his father Menephtah
was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Some think the balance of
evidence to be in favour of the former, whose reign it is
known began peacefully, but came to a sudden and disastrous
end. The “Harris papyrus,” found at Medinet-Abou
in Upper Egypt in 1856, a state document written by Rameses
III., the second king of the Twentieth Dynasty, gives at
length an account of a great exodus from Egypt, followed by
wide-spread confusion and anarchy. This, there is great
reason to believe, was the Hebrew exodus, with which the
Nineteenth Dynasty of the Pharaohs came to an end. This
period of anarchy was brought to a close by Setnekht, the
founder of the Twentieth Dynasty.
“In the spring of 1896, Professor Flinders Petrie
discovered, among the ruins of the temple of Menephtah at
Thebes, a large granite stela, on which is engraved a hymn
of victory commemorating the defeat of Libyan invaders who
had overrun the Delta. At the end other victories of
Menephtah are glanced at, and it is said that ‘the
Israelites (I-s-y-r-a-e-l-u) are minished (?) so that they
have no seed.’ Menephtah was son and successor of
Rameses II., the builder of Pithom, and Egyptian scholars
have long seen in him the Pharaoh of the Exodus. The Exodus
is also placed in his reign by the Egyptian legend of the
event preserved by the historian Manetho. In the
inscription the name of the Israelites has no determinative
of ‘country’ or ‘district’ attached to it,
as is the case with all the other names (Canaan, Ashkelon,
Gezer, Khar or Southern Palestine, etc.) mentioned along
with it, and it would therefore appear that at the time the
hymn was composed, the Israelites had already been lost to
the sight of the Egyptians in the desert. At all events
they must have had as yet no fixed home or district of
their own. We may therefore see in the reference to them
the Pharaoh’s version of the Exodus, the disasters
which befell the Egyptians being naturally passed over in
silence, and only the destruction of the ‘men
children’ of the Israelites being recorded. The
statement of the Egyptian poet is a remarkable parallel to
Ex. 1:10-22.”
(6.) The Pharaoh of 1 Kings 11:18-22.
(7.) So, king of Egypt (2 Kings 17:4).
(8.) The Pharaoh of 1 Chr. 4:18.
(9.) Pharaoh, whose daughter Solomon married (1 Kings 3:1;
7:8).
(10.) Pharaoh, in whom Hezekiah put his trust in his war
against Sennacherib (2 Kings 18:21).
(11.) The Pharaoh by whom Josiah was defeated and slain at
Megiddo (2 Chr. 35:20-24; 2 Kings 23:29, 30).
(12.) Pharaoh-hophra, who in vain sought to relieve
Jerusalem when it was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar (q.v.), 2
Kings 25:1-4; comp. Jer. 37:5-8; Ezek. 17:11-13.
princesses are thus mentioned in Scripture: (1.) The
princess who adopted the infant Moses (q.v.), Ex. 2:10. She
is twice mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 7:21: Heb.
11:24). It would seem that she was alive and in some
position of influence about the court when Moses was
compelled to flee from Egypt, and thus for forty years he
had in some way been under her influence. She was in all
probability the sister of Rameses, and the daughter of Seti
I. Josephus calls her Thermuthis. It is supposed by some
that she was Nefert-ari, the wife as well as sister of
Rameses. The mummy of this queen was among the treasures
found at Deir-el-Bahari.
(2.) “Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, which Mered
took (1 Chr. 4:18).
(3.) The wife of Solomon (1 Kings 3:1). This is the first
reference since the Exodus to any connection of Israel with
Egypt.
Pharez – breach, the elder of the
twin sons of Judah (Gen. 38:29). From him the royal line of
David sprang (Ruth 4:18-22). “The chief of all the
captains of the host” was of the children of Perez (1
Chr. 27:3; Matt. 1:3).
persahin, from parash, “to separate”). They were
probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the
“pious”), a party that originated in the time of
Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against his heathenizing
policy. The first mention of them is in a description by
Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the Jews
were divided (B.C. 145). The other two sects were the
Essenes and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they
were the popular party (John 7:48). They were extremely
accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the law
of Moses (Matt. 9:14; 23:15; Luke 11:39; 18:12). Paul, when
brought before the council of Jerusalem, professed himself
a Pharisee (Acts 23:6-8; 26:4, 5).
There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their
system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was
a very lax morality (Matt. 5:20; 15:4, 8; 23:3, 14, 23, 25;
John 8:7). On the first notice of them in the New Testament
(Matt. 3:7), they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees
as a “generation of vipers.” They were noted for
their self-righteousness and their pride (Matt. 9:11; Luke
7:39; 18:11, 12). They were frequently rebuked by our Lord
(Matt. 12:39; 16:1-4).
From the very beginning of his ministry the Pharisees
showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of our
Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by
every means to destroy his influence among the people.
rivers of Damascus (2 Kings 5:12). It has been identified
with the ‘Awaj, “a small lively river.” The
whole of the district watered by the ‘Awaj is called
the Wady el-‘Ajam, i.e., “the valley of the
Persians”, so called for some unknown reason. This
river empties itself into the lake or marsh Bahret Hijaneh,
on the east of Damascus. One of its branches bears the
modern name of Wady Barbar, which is probably a corruption
of Pharpar.
church at Cenchrea,” the port of Corinth. She was
probably the bearer of Paul’s epistle to the Romans.
Paul commended her to the Christians at Rome; “for she
hath been,” says he, “a succourer of many, and of
myself also” (Rom. 16:1, 2).
palm-tree (as in the R.V.), a town with a harbour on the
southern side of Crete (Acts 27:12), west of the Fair
Havens. It is now called Lutro.
Phenicia – (Acts 21:2) = Phenice
(11:19; 15:3; R.V., Phoenicia), Gr. phoinix, “a
palm”, the land of palm-trees; a strip of land of an
average breadth of about 20 miles along the shores of the
Mediterranean, from the river Eleutherus in the north to
the promotory of Carmel in the south, about 120 miles in
length. This name is not found in the Old Testament, and in
the New Testament it is mentioned only in the passages
above referred to.
“In the Egyptian inscriptions Phoenicia is called
Keft, the inhabitants being Kefa; and since Keft-ur, or
‘Greater Phoenicia,’ was the name given to the
delta of the Nile from the Phoenician colonies settled upon
it, the Philistines who came from Caphtor or Keft-ur must
have been of Phoenician origin” (comp. Deut. 2:23;
Jer. 47:4; Amos 9:7)., Sayce’s Bible and the Monuments.
Phoenicia lay in the very centre of the old world, and was
the natural entrepot for commerce with foreign nations. It
was the “England of antiquity.” “The trade
routes from all Asia converged on the Phoenician coast; the
centres of commerce on the Euphrates and Tigris forwarding
their goods by way of Tyre to the Nile, to Arabia, and to
the west; and, on the other hand, the productions of the
vast regions bordering the Mediterranean passing through
the Canaanite capital to the eastern world.” It was
“situate at the entry of the sea, a merchant of the
people for many isles” (Ezek. 27:3, 4). The
far-reaching commercial activity of the Phoenicians,
especially with Tarshish and the western world, enriched
them with vast wealth, which introduced boundless luxury
and developed among them a great activity in all manner of
arts and manufactures.
The Phoenicians were the most enterprising merchants of the
old world, establishing colonies at various places, of
which Carthage was the chief. They were a Canaanite branch
of the race of Ham, and are frequently called Sidonians,
from their principal city of Sidon. None could “skill
to hew timber like unto the Sidonians” (1 Kings 5:6).
King Hiram rendered important service to Solomon in
connection with the planning and building of the temple,
casting for him all the vessels for the temple service, and
the two pillars which stood in the front of the porch, and
“the molten sea” (1 Kings 7:21-23). Singular
marks have been found by recent exploration on the great
stones that form the substructure of the temple. These
marks, both painted and engraved, have been regarded as
made by the workmen in the quarries, and as probably
intended to indicate the place of these stones in the
building. “The Biblical account (1 Kings 5:17, 18) is
accurately descriptive of the massive masonry now existing
at the south-eastern angle (of the temple area), and
standing on the native rock 80 feet below the present
surface. The Royal Engineers found, buried deeply among the
rubbish of many centuries, great stones, costly and hewed
stones, forming the foundation of the sanctuary wall; while
Phoenician fragments of pottery and Phoenician marks
painted on the massive blocks seem to proclaim that the
stones were prepared in the quarry by the cunning workmen
of Hiram, the king of Tyre.”
The Phoenicians have been usually regarded as the inventors
of alphabetic writing. The Egyptians expressed their
thoughts by certain symbols, called
“hieroglyphics”, i.e., sacred carvings, so styled
because used almost exclusively on sacred subjects. The
recent discovery, however, of inscriptions in Southern
Arabia (Yemen and Hadramaut), known as Hemyaritic, in
connection with various philogical considerations, has led
some to the conclusion that the Phoenician alphabet was
derived from the Mineans (admitting the antiquity of the
kingdom of Ma’in, Judg. 10:12; 2 Chr. 26:7). Thus the
Phoenician alphabet ceases to be the mother alphabet. Sayce
thinks “it is more than possible that the Egyptians
themselves were emigrants from Southern Arabia.”
“The Phoenicians were renowned in ancient times for
the manufacture of glass, and some of the specimens of this
work that have been preserved are still the wonder of
mankind…In the matter of shipping, whether ship-building
be thought of or traffic upon the sea, the Phoenicians
surpassed all other nations.” “The name Phoenicia
is of uncertain origin, though it may be derived from
Fenkhu, the name given in the Egyptian inscriptions to the
natives of Palestine. Among the chief Phoenician cities
were Tyre and Sidon, Gebal north of Beirut, Arvad or Arados
and Zemar.”
Phicol – great, the chief captain
of the army of Abimelech, the Philistine king of Gerar. He
entered into an alliance with Abraham with reference to a
certain well which, from this circumstance, was called
Beersheba (q.v.), “the well of the oath” (Gen.
21:22, 32; 26:26).
Philadelphia – brotherly love, a
city of Lydia in Asia Minor, about 25 miles south-east of
Sardis. It was the seat of one of the “seven
churches” (Rev. 3:7-12). It came into the possession
of the Turks in A.D. 1392. It has several times been nearly
destroyed by earthquakes. It is still a town of
considerable size, called Allahshehr, “the city of
God.”
Colosse, and apparently a person of some note among the
citizens (Col. 4:9; Philemon 1:2). He was brought to a
knowledge of the gospel through the instrumentality of Paul
(19), and held a prominent place in the Christian community
for his piety and beneficence (4-7). He is called in the
epistle a “fellow-labourer,” and therefore
probably held some office in the church at Colosse; at all
events, the title denotes that he took part in the work of
spreading a knowledge of the gospel.
written from Rome at the same time as the epistles to the
Colossians and Ephesians, and was sent also by Onesimus. It
was addressed to Philemon and the members of his
family.
It was written for the purpose of interceding for Onesimus
(q.v.), who had deserted his master Philemon and been
“unprofitable” to him. Paul had found Onesimus at
Rome, and had there been instrumental in his conversion,
and now he sends him back to his master with this letter.
This epistle has the character of a strictly private
letter, and is the only one of such epistles preserved to
us. “It exhibits the apostle in a new light. He throws
off as far as possible his apostolic dignity and his
fatherly authority over his converts. He speaks simply as
Christian to Christian. He speaks, therefore, with that
peculiar grace of humility and courtesy which has, under
the reign of Christianity, developed the spirit of chivalry
and what is called ‘the character of a gentleman,’
certainly very little known in the old Greek and Roman
civilization” (Dr. Barry).
Hymenaeus, at Ephesus, said that the “resurrection was
past already” (2 Tim. 2:17, 18). This was a Gnostic
heresy held by the Nicolaitanes. (See ALEXANDER
¯T0000168 [4].)
Philip – lover of horses. (1.)
One of the twelve apostles; a native of Bethsaida,
“the city of Andrew and Peter” (John 1:44). He
readily responded to the call of Jesus when first addressed
to him (43), and forthwith brought Nathanael also to Jesus
(45,46). He seems to have held a prominent place among the
apostles (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; John 6:5-7; 12:21, 22;
14:8, 9; Acts 1:13). Of his later life nothing is certainly
known. He is said to have preached in Phrygia, and to have
met his death at Hierapolis.
(2.) One of the “seven” (Acts 6:5), called also
“the evangelist” (21:8, 9). He was one of those
who were “scattered abroad” by the persecution
that arose on the death of Stephen. He went first to
Samaria, where he laboured as an evangelist with much
success (8:5-13). While he was there he received a divine
command to proceed toward the south, along the road leading
from Jerusalem to Gaza. These towns were connected by two
roads. The one Philip was directed to take was that which
led through Hebron, and thence through a district little
inhabited, and hence called “desert.” As he
travelled along this road he was overtaken by a chariot in
which sat a man of Ethiopia, the eunuch or chief officer of
Queen Candace, who was at that moment reading, probably
from the Septuagint version, a portion of the prophecies of
Isaiah (53:6,7). Philip entered into conversation with him,
and expounded these verses, preaching to him the glad
tidings of the Saviour. The eunuch received the message and
believed, and was forthwith baptized, and then “went
on his way rejoicing.” Philip was instantly caught
away by the Spirit after the baptism, and the eunuch saw
him no more. He was next found at Azotus, whence he went
forth in his evangelistic work till he came to Caesarea. He
is not mentioned again for about twenty years, when he is
still found at Caesarea (Acts 21:8) when Paul and his
companions were on the way to Jerusalem. He then finally
disappears from the page of history.
(3.) Mentioned only in connection with the imprisonment of
John the Baptist (Matt. 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19). He was
the son of Herod the Great, and the first husband of
Herodias, and the father of Salome. (See HEROD PHILIP I.
¯T0001763)
(4.) The “tetrarch of Ituraea” (Luke 3:1); a son
of Herod the Great, and brother of Herod Antipas. The city
of Caesarea-Philippi was named partly after him (Matt.
16:13; Mark 8:27). (See HEROD PHILIP II. ¯T0001764)
Crenides, “the fountain,” the capital of the
province of Macedonia. It stood near the head of the Sea,
about 8 miles north-west of Kavalla. It is now a ruined
village, called Philibedjik. Philip of Macedonia fortified
the old Thracian town of Crenides, and called it after his
own name Philippi (B.C. 359-336). In the time of the
Emperor Augustus this city became a Roman colony, i.e., a
military settlement of Roman soldiers, there planted for
the purpose of controlling the district recently conquered.
It was a “miniature Rome,” under the municipal
law of Rome, and governed by military officers, called
duumviri, who were appointed directly from Rome. Having
been providentially guided thither, here Paul and his
companion Silas preached the gospel and formed the first
church in Europe. This success stirred up the enmity of the
people, and they were “shamefully entreated”
(Acts 16:9-40; 1 Thess. 2:2). Paul and Silas at length left
this city and proceeded to Amphipolis (q.v.).
(2.) When Philip the tetrarch, the son of Herod, succeeded
to the government of the northern portion of his kingdom,
he enlarged the city of Paneas, and called it Caesarea, in
honour of the emperor. But in order to distinguish it from
the Caesarea on the sea coast, he added to it subsequently
his own name, and called it Caesarea-Philippi (q.v.).
written by Paul during the two years when he was “in
bonds” in Rome (Phil. 1:7-13), probably early in the
year A.D. 62 or in the end of 61.
The Philippians had sent Epaphroditus, their messenger,
with contributions to meet the necessities of the apostle;
and on his return Paul sent back with him this letter. With
this precious communication Epaphroditus sets out on his
homeward journey. “The joy caused by his return, and
the effect of this wonderful letter when first read in the
church of Philippi, are hidden from us. And we may almost
say that with this letter the church itself passes from our
view. To-day, in silent meadows, quiet cattle browse among
the ruins which mark the site of what was once the
flourishing Roman colony of Philippi, the home of the most
attractive church of the apostolic age. But the name and
fame and spiritual influence of that church will never
pass. To myriads of men and women in every age and nation
the letter written in a dungeon at Rome, and carried along
the Egnatian Way by an obscure Christian messenger, has
been a light divine and a cheerful guide along the most
rugged paths of life” (Professor Beet).
The church at Philippi was the first-fruits of European
Christianity. Their attachment to the apostle was very
fervent, and so also was his affection for them. They alone
of all the churches helped him by their contributions,
which he gratefully acknowledges (Acts 20:33-35; 2 Cor.
11:7-12; 2 Thess. 3:8). The pecuniary liberality of the
Philippians comes out very conspicuously (Phil. 4:15).
“This was a characteristic of the Macedonian missions,
as 2 Cor. 8 and 9 amply and beautifully prove. It is
remarkable that the Macedonian converts were, as a class,
very poor (2 Cor. 8:2); and the parallel facts, their
poverty and their open-handed support of the great
missionary and his work, are deeply harmonious. At the
present day the missionary liberality of poor Christians
is, in proportion, really greater than that of the
rich” (Moule’s Philippians, Introd.).
The contents of this epistle give an interesting insight
into the condition of the church at Rome at the time it was
written. Paul’s imprisonment, we are informed, was no
hindrance to his preaching the gospel, but rather
“turned out to the furtherance of the gospel.”
The gospel spread very extensively among the Roman
soldiers, with whom he was in constant contact, and the
Christians grew into a “vast multitude.” It is
plain that Christianity was at this time making rapid
advancement in Rome.
The doctrinal statements of this epistle bear a close
relation to those of the Epistle to the Romans. Compare
also Phil. 3:20 with Eph. 2:12, 19, where the church is
presented under the idea of a city or commonwealth for the
first time in Paul’s writings. The personal glory of
Christ is also set forth in almost parallel forms of
expression in Phil. 2:5-11, compared with Eph. 1:17-23;
2:8; and Col. 1:15-20. “This exposition of the grace
and wonder of His personal majesty, personal
self-abasement, and personal exaltation after it,”
found in these epistles, “is, in a great measure, a
new development in the revelations given through St.
Paul” (Moule). Other minuter analogies in forms of
expression and of thought are also found in these epistles
of the Captivity.
Philistia – =Palestine (q.v.),
“the land of the Philistines” (Ps. 60:8; 87:4;
108:9). The word is supposed to mean “the land of
wanderers” or “of strangers.”
Philistines – (Gen. 10:14, R.V.;
but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the
Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which
spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the
valley of the Jordan, and Crete and other Mediterranean
islands. Some suppose them to have been a branch of the
Rephaim (2 Sam. 21:16-22). In the time of Abraham they
inhabited the south-west of Judea, Abimelech of Gerar being
their king (Gen. 21:32, 34; 26:1). They are, however, not
noticed among the Canaanitish tribes mentioned in the
Pentateuch. They are spoken of by Amos (9:7) and Jeremiah
(47:4) as from Caphtor, i.e., probably Crete, or, as some
think, the Delta of Egypt. In the whole record from Exodus
to Samuel they are represented as inhabiting the tract of
country which lay between Judea and Egypt (Ex. 13:17;
15:14, 15; Josh. 13:3; 1 Sam. 4).
This powerful tribe made frequent incursions against the
Hebrews. There was almost perpetual war between them. They
sometimes held the tribes, especially the southern tribes,
in degrading servitude (Judg. 15:11; 1 Sam. 13:19-22); at
other times they were defeated with great slaughter (1 Sam.
14:1-47; 17). These hostilities did not cease till the time
of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8), when they were entirely
subdued. They still, however, occupied their territory, and
always showed their old hatred to Israel (Ezek. 25:15-17).
They were finally conquered by the Romans.
The Philistines are called Pulsata or Pulista on the
Egyptian monuments; the land of the Philistines (Philistia)
being termed Palastu and Pilista in the Assyrian
inscriptions. They occupied the five cities of Gaza,
Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, in the south-western
corner of Canaan, which belonged to Egypt up to the closing
days of the Nineteenth Dynasty. The occupation took place
during the reign of Rameses III. of the Twentieth Dynasty.
The Philistines had formed part of the great naval
confederacy which attacked Egypt, but were eventually
repulsed by that Pharaoh, who, however, could not dislodge
them from their settlements in Palestine. As they did not
enter Palestine till the time of the Exodus, the use of the
name Philistines in Gen. 26:1 must be proleptic. Indeed the
country was properly Gerar, as in ch. 20.
They are called Allophyli, “foreigners,” in the
Septuagint, and in the Books of Samuel they are spoken of
as uncircumcised. It would therefore appear that they were
not of the Semitic race, though after their establishment
in Canaan they adopted the Semitic language of the country.
We learn from the Old Testament that they came from
Caphtor, usually supposed to be Crete. From Philistia the
name of the land of the Philistines came to be extended to
the whole of “Palestine.” Many scholars identify
the Philistines with the Pelethites of 2 Sam. 8:18.
from old Egypt, the negro. (1.) Son of Eleazar, the high
priest (Ex. 6:25). While yet a youth he distinguished
himself at Shittim by his zeal against the immorality into
which the Moabites had tempted the people (Num. 25:1-9),
and thus “stayed the plague” that had broken out
among the people, and by which twenty-four thousand of them
perished. For his faithfulness on that occasion he received
the divine approbation (10-13). He afterwards commanded the
army that went out against the Midianites (31:6-8). When
representatives of the people were sent to expostulate with
the two and a half tribes who, just after crossing Jordan,
built an altar and departed without giving any explanation,
Phinehas was their leader, and addressed them in the words
recorded in Josh. 22:16-20. Their explanation follows. This
great altar was intended to be all ages only a witness that
they still formed a part of Israel. Phinehas was afterwards
the chief adviser in the war with the Benjamites. He is
commemorated in Ps. 106:30, 31. (See
ED.)
(2.) One of the sons of Eli, the high priest (1 Sam. 1:3;
2:12). He and his brother Hophni were guilty of great
crimes, for which destruction came on the house of Eli
(31). He died in battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:4,
11); and his wife, on hearing of his death, gave birth to a
son, whom she called “Ichabod,” and then she died
(19-22).
Christian to whom Paul sent salutations (Rom. 16:14).
Phoenicia – (Acts 21:2). (See PHENICIA.)
Phrygia – dry, an irregular and
ill-defined district in Asia Minor. It was divided into two
parts, the Greater Phrygia on the south, and the Lesser
Phrygia on the west. It is the Greater Phrygia that is
spoken of in the New Testament. The towns of Antioch in
Pisidia (Acts 13:14), Colosse, Hierapolis, Iconium, and
Laodicea were situated in it.
Egypt and Canaan in Gen. 10:6, and elsewhere we find the
people of Phut described as mercenaries in the armies of
Egypt and Tyre (Jer. 46:9; Ezek. 30:5; 27:10). In a
fragment of the annuals of Nebuchadrezzar which records his
invasion of Egypt, reference is made to “Phut of the
Ionians.”
Phygellus – fugitive, a Christian
of Asia, who “turned away” from Paul during his
second imprisonment at Rome (2 Tim. 1:15). Nothing more is
known of him.
Phylacteries – (Gr. phulakteria;
i.e., “defences” or “protections”),
called by modern Jews tephillin (i.e., “prayers”)
are mentioned only in Matt. 23:5. They consisted of strips
of parchment on which were inscribed these four texts: (1.)
Ex. 13:1-10; (2.) 11-16; (3.) Deut. 6:4-9; (4.) 11:18-21,
and which were enclosed in a square leather case, on one
side of which was inscribed the Hebrew letter shin, to
which the rabbis attached some significance. This case was
fastened by certain straps to the forehead just between the
eyes. The “making broad the phylacteries” refers
to the enlarging of the case so as to make it conspicuous.
Another form of the phylactery consisted of two rolls of
parchment, on which the same texts were written, enclosed
in a case of black calfskin. This was worn on the left arm
near the elbow, to which it was bound by a thong. It was
called the “Tephillah on the arm.”
Physician – Asa, afflicted with
some bodily malady, “sought not to the Lord but to the
physicians” (2 Chr. 16:12). The “physicians”
were those who “practised heathen arts of magic,
disavowing recognized methods of cure, and dissociating the
healing art from dependence on the God of Israel. The sin
of Asa was not, therefore, in seeking medical advice, as we
understand the phrase, but in forgetting Jehovah.”
supposed to mean. “a cat,” or a deity in the form
of a cat, worshipped by the Egyptians. It was called by the
Greeks Bubastis. The hieroglyphic name is
“Pe-bast”, i.e., the house of Bast, the Artemis
of the Egyptians. The town of Bubasts was situated on the
Pelusian branch, i.e., the easternmost branch, of the
Delta. It was the seat of one of the chief annual festivals
of the Egyptians. Its ruins bear the modern name of
Tel-Basta.
Pieces – (1) of silver. In Ps.
68:30 denotes “fragments,” and not properly
money. In 1 Sam. 2:36 (Heb. agorah), properly a “small
sum” as wages, weighed rather than coined. Josh. 24:32
(Heb. kesitah, q.v.), supposed by some to have been a piece
of money bearing the figure of a lamb, but rather simply a
certain amount. (Comp. Gen. 33:19).
(2.) The word pieces is omitted in many passages, as Gen.
20:16; 37:28; 45:22, etc. The passage in Zech. 11:12, 13 is
quoted in the Gospel (Matt. 26:15), and from this we know
that the word to be supplied is “shekels.” In all
these omissions we may thus warrantably supply this word.
(3.) The “piece of money” mentioned in Matt.
17:27 is a stater=a Hebrew shekel, or four Greek drachmae;
and that in Luke 15:8, 9, Act 19:19, a Greek drachma=a
denarius.
honour and respect toward parents (1 Tim. 5:4). In Acts
17:23 the Greek verb is rendered “ye worship,” as
applicable to God.
Pigeon – Pigeons are mentioned as
among the offerings which, by divine appointment, Abram
presented unto the Lord (Gen. 15:9). They were afterwards
enumerated among the sin-offerings (Lev. 1:14; 12:6), and
the law provided that those who could not offer a lamb
might offer two young pigeons (5:7; comp. Luke 2:24).
reeds grow (LXX. and Copt. read “farmstead”), the
name of a place in Egypt where the children of Israel
encamped (Ex. 14:2, 9), how long is uncertain. Some have
identified it with Ajrud, a fortress between Etham and
Suez. The condition of the Isthmus of Suez at the time of
the Exodus is not exactly known, and hence this, with the
other places mentioned as encampments of Israel in Egypt,
cannot be definitely ascertained. The isthmus has been
formed by the Nile deposits. This increase of deposit still
goes on, and so rapidly that within the last fifty years
the mouth of the Nile has advanced northward about four
geographical miles. In the maps of Ptolemy (of the second
and third centuries A.D.) the mouths of the Nile are forty
miles further south than at present.
connected with the Roman family of the Pontii, and called
“Pilate” from the Latin pileatus, i.e.,
“wearing the pileus”, which was the “cap or
badge of a manumitted slave,” as indicating that he
was a “freedman,” or the descendant of one. He
was the sixth in the order of the Roman procurators of
Judea (A.D. 26-36). His headquarters were at Caesarea, but
he frequently went up to Jerusalem. His reign extended over
the period of the ministry of John the Baptist and of Jesus
Christ, in connection with whose trial his name comes into
prominent notice. Pilate was a “typical Roman, not of
the antique, simple stamp, but of the imperial period, a
man not without some remains of the ancient Roman justice
in his soul, yet pleasure-loving, imperious, and corrupt.
He hated the Jews whom he ruled, and in times of irritation
freely shed their blood. They returned his hatred with
cordiality, and accused him of every crime,
maladministration, cruelty, and robbery. He visited
Jerusalem as seldom as possible; for, indeed, to one
accustomed to the pleasures of Rome, with its theatres,
baths, games, and gay society, Jerusalem, with its
religiousness and ever-smouldering revolt, was a dreary
residence. When he did visit it he stayed in the palace of
Herod the Great, it being common for the officers sent by
Rome into conquered countries to occupy the palaces of the
displaced sovereigns.”
After his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was brought to
the Roman procurator, Pilate, who had come up to Jerusalem
as usual to preserve order during the Passover, and was now
residing, perhaps, in the castle of Antonia, or it may be
in Herod’s palace. Pilate came forth from his palace
and met the deputation from the Sanhedrin, who, in answer
to his inquiry as to the nature of the accusation they had
to prefer against Jesus, accused him of being a
“malefactor.” Pilate was not satisfied with this,
and they further accused him (1) of sedition, (2)
preventing the payment of the tribute to Caesar, and (3) of
assuming the title of king (Luke 23:2). Pilate now withdrew
with Jesus into the palace (John 18:33) and examined him in
private (37,38); and then going out to the deputation still
standing before the gate, he declared that he could find no
fault in Jesus (Luke 23:4). This only aroused them to more
furious clamour, and they cried that he excited the
populace “throughout all Jewry, beginning from
Galilee.” When Pilate heard of Galilee, he sent the
accused to Herod Antipas, who had jurisdiction over that
province, thus hoping to escape the difficulty in which he
found himself. But Herod, with his men of war, set Jesus at
nought, and sent him back again to Pilate, clad in a purple
robe of mockery (23:11, 12).
Pilate now proposed that as he and Herod had found no fault
in him, they should release Jesus; and anticipating that
they would consent to this proposal, he ascended the
judgment-seat as if ready to ratify the decision (Matt.
27:19). But at this moment his wife (Claudia Procula) sent
a message to him imploring him to have nothing to do with
the “just person.” Pilate’s feelings of
perplexity and awe were deepened by this incident, while
the crowd vehemently cried out, “Not this man, but
Barabbas.” Pilate answered, “What then shall I do
with Jesus?” The fierce cry immediately followed.
“Let him be crucified.” Pilate, apparently vexed,
and not knowning what to do, said, “Why, what evil
hath he done?” but with yet fiercer fanaticism the
crowd yelled out, “Away with him! crucify him, crucify
him!” Pilate yielded, and sent Jesus away to be
scourged. This scourging was usually inflicted by lictors;
but as Pilate was only a procurator he had no lictor, and
hence his soldiers inflicted this terrible punishment. This
done, the soldiers began to deride the sufferer, and they
threw around him a purple robe, probably some old cast-off
robe of state (Matt. 27:28; John 19:2), and putting a reed
in his right hand, and a crowd of thorns on his head, bowed
the knee before him in mockery, and saluted him, saying,
“Hail, King of the Jews!” They took also the reed
and smote him with it on the head and face, and spat in his
face, heaping upon him every indignity.
Pilate then led forth Jesus from within the Praetorium
(Matt. 27:27) before the people, wearing the crown of
thorns and the purple robe, saying, “Behold the
man!” But the sight of Jesus, now scourged and crowned
and bleeding, only stirred their hatred the more, and again
they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” and
brought forth this additional charge against him, that he
professed to be “the Son of God.” Pilate heard
this accusation with a superstitious awe, and taking him
once more within the Praetorium, asked him, “Whence
art thou?” Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate was
irritated by his continued silence, and said, “Knowest
thou not that I have power to crucify thee?” Jesus,
with calm dignity, answered the Roman, “Thou couldest
have no power at all against me, except it were given thee
from above.”
After this Pilate seemed more resolved than ever to let
Jesus go. The crowd perceiving this cried out, “If
thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s
friend.” This settled the matter. He was afraid of
being accused to the emperor. Calling for water, he washed
his hands in the sight of the people, saying, “I am
innocent of the blood of this just person.” The mob,
again scorning his scruples, cried, “His blood be on
us, and on our children.” Pilate was stung to the
heart by their insults, and putting forth Jesus before
them, said, “Shall I crucify your King?” The
fatal moment had now come. They madly exclaimed, “We
have no king but Caesar;” and now Jesus is given up to
them, and led away to be crucified.
By the direction of Pilate an inscription was placed,
according to the Roman custom, over the cross, stating the
crime for which he was crucified. Having ascertained from
the centurion that he was dead, he gave up the body to
Joseph of Arimathea to be buried. Pilate’s name now
disappears from the Gospel history. References to him,
however, are found in the Acts of the Apostles (3:13; 4:27;
13:28), and in 1 Tim. 6:13. In A.D. 36 the governor of
Syria brought serious accusations against Pilate, and he
was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where, according to
tradition, he committed suicide.
building (Judg. 16:26, 29); as a trophy or memorial (Gen.
28:18; 35:20; Ex. 24:4; 1 Sam. 15:12, A.V.,
“place,” more correctly “monument,” or
“trophy of victory,” as in 2 Sam. 18:18); of
fire, by which the Divine Presence was manifested (Ex.
13:2). The “plain of the pillar” in Judg. 9:6
ought to be, as in the Revised Version, the “oak of
the pillar”, i.e., of the monument or stone set up by
Joshua (24:26).
mentioned along with the fir-tree in Isa. 41:19; 60:13.
This is probably the cypress; or it may be the stone-pine,
which is common on the northern slopes of Lebanon. Some
suppose that the elm, others that the oak, or holm, or
ilex, is meant by the Hebrew word. In Neh. 8:15 the Revised
Version has “wild olive” instead of
“pine.”
Pinnacle – a little wing, (Matt.
4:5; Luke 4:9). On the southern side of the temple court
was a range of porches or cloisters forming three arcades.
At the south-eastern corner the roof of this cloister was
some 300 feet above the Kidron valley. The pinnacle, some
parapet or wing-like projection, was above this roof, and
hence at a great height, probably 350 feet or more above
the valley.
1:40; Isa. 5:12; 30:29). The Hebrew word halil, so
rendered, means “bored through,” and is the name
given to various kinds of wind instruments, as the fife,
flute, Pan-pipes, etc. In Amos 6:5 this word is rendered
“instrument of music.” This instrument is
mentioned also in the New Testament (Matt. 11:17; 1 Cor.
14:7). It is still used in Palestine, and is, as in ancient
times, made of different materials, as reed, copper,
bronze, etc.
Piram – like a wild ass, a king
of Jarmuth, a royal city of the Canaanites, who was
conquered and put to death by Joshua (10:3, 23, 26).
Pirathon – prince, or summit, a
place “in the land of Ephraim” (Judg. 12:15), now
Fer’on, some 10 miles south-west of Shechem. This was
the home of Abdon the judge.
Pirathonite – (1.) Abdon, the son
of Hillel, so called, Judg. 12:13, 15.
(2.) Benaiah the Ephraimite (2 Sam. 23:30), one of
David’s thirty heroes.
summit in the land of Moab, in the territory of Reuben,
where Balak offered up sacrifices (Num. 21:20; 23:14), and
from which Moses viewed the promised land (Deut. 3:27). It
is probably the modern Jebel Siaghah.
Minor, to the north of Pamphylia. The Taurus range of
mountains extends through it. Antioch, one of its chief
cities, was twice visited by Paul (Acts 13:14;
14:21-24).
Pison – Babylonian, the current,
broad-flowing, one of the “four heads” into which
the river which watered the garden of Eden was divided
(Gen. 2:11). Some identify it with the modern Phasis,
others with the Halys, others the Jorak or Acampis, others
the Jaab, the Indus, the Ganges, etc.
Pit – a hole in the ground (Ex.
21:33, 34), a cistern for water (Gen. 37:24; Jer. 14:3), a
vault (41:9), a grave (Ps. 30:3). It is used as a figure
for mischief (Ps. 9:15), and is the name given to the
unseen place of woe (Rev. 20:1, 3). The slime-pits in the
vale of Siddim were wells which yielded asphalt (Gen.
14:10).
Pitch – (Gen. 6:14), asphalt or
bitumen in its soft state, called “slime” (Gen.
11:3; 14:10; Ex. 2:3), found in pits near the Dead Sea
(q.v.). It was used for various purposes, as the coating of
the outside of vessels and in building. Allusion is made in
Isa. 34:9 to its inflammable character.
Pitcher – a vessel for containing
liquids. In the East pitchers were usually carried on the
head or shoulders (Gen. 24:15-20; Judg. 7:16, 19; Mark
14:13).
“house of Tum,” the sun-god, one of the
“treasure” cities built for Pharaoh Rameses II.
by the Israelites (Ex. 1:11). It was probably the Patumos
of the Greek historian Herodotus. It has now been
satisfactorily identified with Tell-el-Maskhuta, about 12
miles west of Ismailia, and 20 east of Tel-el-Kebir, on the
southern bank of the present Suez Canal. Here have recently
(1883) been discovered the ruins of supposed
grain-chambers, and other evidences to show that this was a
great “store city.” Its immense ruin-heaps show
that it was built of bricks, and partly also of bricks
without straw. Succoth (Ex. 12:37) is supposed by some to
be the secular name of this city, Pithom being its sacred
name. This was the first halting-place of the Israelites in
their exodus. It has been argued (Dr. Lansing) that these
“store” cities “were residence cities, royal
dwellings, such as the Pharaohs of old, the Kings of
Israel, and our modern Khedives have ever loved to build,
thus giving employment to the superabundant muscle of their
enslaved peoples, and making a name for
themselves.”
affliction, or disease. Sent as a divine chastisement (Num.
11:33; 14:37; 16:46-49; 2 Sam. 24:21). Painful afflictions
or diseases, (Lev. 13:3, 5, 30; 1 Kings 8:37), or severe
calamity (Mark 5:29; Luke 7:21), or the judgment of God, so
called (Ex. 9:14). Plagues of Egypt were ten in number.
(1.) The river Nile was turned into blood, and the fish
died, and the river stank, so that the Egyptians loathed to
drink of the river (Ex. 7:14-25).
(2.) The plague of frogs (Ex. 8:1-15).
(3.) The plague of lice (Heb. kinnim, properly gnats or
mosquitoes; comp. Ps. 78:45; 105:31), “out of the dust
of the land” (Ex. 8:16-19).
(4.) The plague of flies (Heb. arob, rendered by the LXX.
dog-fly), Ex. 8:21-24.
(5.) The murrain (Ex.9:1-7), or epidemic pestilence which
carried off vast numbers of cattle in the field. Warning
was given of its coming.
(6.) The sixth plague, of “boils and blains,”
like the third, was sent without warning (Ex.9:8-12). It is
called (Deut. 28:27) “the botch of Egypt,” A.V.;
but in R.V., “the boil of Egypt.” “The
magicians could not stand before Moses” because of it.
(7.) The plague of hail, with fire and thunder (Ex.
9:13-33). Warning was given of its coming. (Comp. Ps.
18:13; 105:32, 33).
(8.) The plague of locusts, which covered the whole face of
the earth, so that the land was darkened with them (Ex.
10:12-15). The Hebrew name of this insect, arbeh,
points to the “multitudinous” character of this
visitation. Warning was given before this plague came.
(9.) After a short interval the plague of darkness
succeeded that of the locusts; and it came without any
special warning (Ex. 10:21-29). The darkness covered
“all the land of Egypt” to such an extent that
“they saw not one another.” It did not, however,
extend to the land of Goshen.
(10.) The last and most fearful of these plagues was the
death of the first-born of man and of beast (Ex. 11:4, 5;
12:29,30). The exact time of the visitation was announced,
“about midnight”, which would add to the horror
of the infliction. Its extent also is specified, from the
first-born of the king to the first-born of the humblest
slave, and all the first-born of beasts. But from this
plague the Hebrews were completely exempted. The Lord
“put a difference” between them and the
Egyptians. (See PASSOVER.)
(Judg. 11:33), a “grassy plain” or
“meadow.” Instead of “plains of the
vineyards,” as in the Authorized Version, the Revised
Version has “Abel-cheramim” (q.v.), comp. Judg.
11:22; 2 Chr. 16:4.
(2.) Heb. ‘elon (Gen. 12:6; 13:18; 14:13; 18:1; Deut.
11:30; Judg. 9:6), more correctly “oak,” as in
the Revised Version; margin, “terebinth.”
(3.) Heb. bik’ah (Gen. 11:2; Neh. 6:2; Ezek. 3:23; Dan.
3:1), properly a valley, as rendered in Isa. 40:4, a broad
plain between mountains. In Amos 1:5 the margin of
Authorized Version has “Bikathaven.”
(4.) Heb. kikar, “the circle,” used only of the
Ghor, or the low ground along the Jordan (Gen. 13:10-12;
19:17, 25, 28, 29; Deut. 34:3; 2 Sam. 18:23; 1 Kings 7:46;
2 Chr. 4:17; Neh. 3:22; 12:28), the floor of the valley
through which it flows. This name is applied to the Jordan
valley as far north as Succoth.
(5.) Heb. mishor, “level ground,” smooth, grassy
table-land (Deut. 3:10; 4:43; Josh. 13:9, 16, 17, 21; 20:8;
Jer. 48:21), an expanse of rolling downs without rock or
stone. In these passages, with the article prefixed, it
denotes the plain in the tribe of Reuben. In 2 Chr. 26:10
the plain of Judah is meant. Jerusalem is called “the
rock of the plain” in Jer. 21:13, because the hills on
which it is built rise high above the plain.
(6.) Heb. ‘arabah, the valley from the Sea of Galilee
southward to the Dead Sea (the “sea of the
plain,” 2 Kings 14:25; Deut. 1:1; 2:8), a distance of
about 70 miles. It is called by the modern Arabs the Ghor.
This Hebrew name is found in Authorized Version (Josh.
18:18), and is uniformly used in the Revised Version. Down
through the centre of this plain is a ravine, from 200 to
300 yards wide, and from 50 to 100 feet deep, through which
the Jordan flows in a winding course. This ravine is called
the “lower plain.”
The name Arabah is also applied to the whole Jordan valley
from Mount Hermon to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, a
distance of about 200 miles, as well as to that portion of
the valley which stretches from the Sea of Galilee to the
same branch of the Red Sea, i.e., to the Gulf of Akabah
about 100 miles in all.
(7.) Heb. shephelah, “low ground,” “low
hill-land,” rendered “vale” or
“valley” in Authorized Version (Josh. 9:1; 10:40;
11:2; 12:8; Judg. 1:9; 1 Kings 10:27). In Authorized
Version (1 Chr. 27:28; 2 Chr. 26:10) it is also rendered
“low country.” In Jer. 17:26, Obad. 1:19, Zech.
7:7, “plain.” The Revised Version renders it
uniformly “low land.” When it is preceded by the
article, as in Deut. 1:7, Josh. 11:16; 15:33, Jer. 32:44;
33:13, Zech. 7:7, “the shephelah,” it denotes the
plain along the Mediterranean from Joppa to Gaza, “the
plain of the Philistines.”
14:13; R.V., “oaks of Mamre;” marg.,
“terebinths”). (See MAMRE ¯T0002397;
TEIL-TREE ¯T0003597.)
(Gen. 30:37; Ezek. 31:8), rendered “chesnut” in
the Authorized Version, but correctly “plane
tree” in the Revised Version and the LXX. This tree is
frequently found in Palestine, both on the coast and in the
north. It usually sheds its outer bark, and hence its
Hebrew name, which means “naked.” (See
CHESTNUT.)
cluster” (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8, A.V., “seven
stars;” R.V., “Pleiades”), a name given to
the cluster of stars seen in the shoulder of the
constellation Taurus.
Gen. 45:6, where the Authorized Version has
“earing,” but the Revised Version
“ploughing;” next in Ex. 34:21 and Deut. 21:4.
The plough was originally drawn by oxen, but sometimes also
by asses and by men.
Poetry – has been well defined as
“the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry
deals almost exclusively with the great question of
man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation,
punishment, pardon, redemption, repentance are the awful
themes of this heaven-born poetry.”
In the Hebrew scriptures there are found three distinct
kinds of poetry, (1) that of the Book of Job and the Song
of Solomon, which is dramatic; (2) that of the Book of
Psalms, which is lyrical; and (3) that of the Book of
Ecclesiastes, which is didactic and sententious.
Hebrew poetry has nothing akin to that of Western nations.
It has neither metre nor rhyme. Its great peculiarity
consists in the mutual correspondence of sentences or
clauses, called parallelism, or “thought-rhyme.”
Various kinds of this parallelism have been pointed out:
(1.) Synonymous or cognate parallelism, where the same idea
is repeated in the same words (Ps. 93:3; 94:1; Prov. 6:2),
or in different words (Ps. 22, 23, 28, 114, etc.); or where
it is expressed in a positive form in the one clause and in
a negative in the other (Ps. 40:12; Prov. 6:26); or where
the same idea is expressed in three successive clauses (Ps.
40:15, 16); or in a double parallelism, the first and
second clauses corresponding to the third and fourth (Isa.
9:1; 61:10, 11).
(2.) Antithetic parallelism, where the idea of the second
clause is the converse of that of the first (Ps. 20:8;
27:6, 7; 34:11; 37:9, 17, 21, 22). This is the common form
of gnomic or proverbial poetry. (See Prov. 10-15.)
(3.) Synthetic or constructive or compound parallelism,
where each clause or sentence contains some accessory idea
enforcing the main idea (Ps. 19:7-10; 85:12; Job 3:3-9;
Isa. 1:5-9).
(4.) Introverted parallelism, in which of four clauses the
first answers to the fourth and the second to the third
(Ps. 135:15-18; Prov. 23:15, 16), or where the second line
reverses the order of words in the first (Ps. 86:2).
Hebrew poetry sometimes assumes other forms than these.
(1.) An alphabetical arrangement is sometimes adopted for
the purpose of connecting clauses or sentences. Thus in the
following the initial words of the respective verses begin
with the letters of the alphabet in regular succession:
Prov. 31:10-31; Lam. 1, 2, 3, 4; Ps. 25, 34, 37, 145. Ps.
119 has a letter of the alphabet in regular order beginning
every eighth verse.
(2.) The repetition of the same verse or of some emphatic
expression at intervals (Ps. 42, 107, where the refrain is
in verses, 8, 15, 21, 31). (Comp. also Isa. 9:8-10:4; Amos
1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6.)
(3.) Gradation, in which the thought of one verse is
resumed in another (Ps. 121).
Several odes of great poetical beauty are found in the
historical books of the Old Testament, such as the song of
Moses (Ex. 15), the song of Deborah (Judg. 5), of Hannah (1
Sam. 2), of Hezekiah (Isa. 38:9-20), of Habakkuk (Hab. 3),
and David’s “song of the bow” (2 Sam.
1:19-27).
“heat,” the poison of certain venomous reptiles
(Deut. 32:24, 33; Job 6:4; Ps. 58:4), causing
inflammation.
(2.) Heb. rosh, “a head,” a poisonous plant
(Deut. 29:18), growing luxuriantly (Hos. 10:4), of a bitter
taste (Ps. 69:21; Lam. 3:5), and coupled with wormwood;
probably the poppy. This word is rendered “gall”,
q.v., (Deut. 29:18; 32:33; Ps. 69:21; Jer. 8:14, etc.),
“hemlock” (Hos. 10:4; Amos 6:12), and
“poison” (Job 20:16), “the poison of
asps,” showing that the rosh was not
exclusively a vegetable poison.
(3.) In Rom. 3:13 (comp. Job 20:16; Ps. 140:3), James 3:8,
as the rendering of the Greek ios.
apple” (pomum granatum), Heb. rimmon. Common in Egypt
(Num. 20:5) and Palestine (13:23; Deut. 8:8). The Romans
called it Punicum malum, i.e., Carthaginian apple, because
they received it from Carthage. It belongs to the myrtle
family of trees. The withering of the pomegranate tree is
mentioned among the judgments of God (Joel 1:12). It is
frequently mentioned in the Song of Solomon (Cant. 4:3, 13,
etc.). The skirt of the high priest’s blue robe and
ephod was adorned with the representation of pomegranates,
alternating with golden bells (Ex. 28:33,34), as also were
the “chapiters upon the two pillars” (1 Kings
7:20) which “stood before the house.”
Pommels – (2 Chr. 4:12, 13), or
bowls (1 Kings 7:41), were balls or “rounded
knobs” on the top of the chapiters (q.v.).
Minor, stretching along the southern coast of the Euxine
Sea, corresponding nearly to the modern province of
Trebizond. In the time of the apostles it was a Roman
province. Strangers from this province were at Jerusalem at
Pentecost (Acts 2:9), and to “strangers scattered
throughout Pontus,” among others, Peter addresses his
first epistle (1 Pet. 1:1). It was evidently the resort of
many Jews of the Dispersion. Aquila was a native of Pontus
(Acts 18:2).
Pool – a pond, or reservoir, for
holding water (Heb. berekhah; modern Arabic, birket), an
artificial cistern or tank. Mention is made of the pool of
Gibeon (2 Sam. 2:13); the pool of Hebron (4:12); the upper
pool at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20); the pool of
Samaria (1 Kings 22:38); the king’s pool (Neh. 2:14);
the pool of Siloah (Neh. 3:15; Eccles. 2:6); the fishpools
of Heshbon (Cant. 7:4); the “lower pool,” and the
“old pool” (Isa. 22:9,11).
The “pool of Bethesda” (John 5:2,4, 7) and the
“pool of Siloam” (John 9:7, 11) are also
mentioned. Isaiah (35:7) says, “The parched ground
shall become a pool.” This is rendered in the Revised
Version “glowing sand,” etc. (marg., “the
mirage,” etc.). The Arabs call the mirage
“serab,” plainly the same as the Hebrew word
sarab, here rendered “parched ground.”
“The mirage shall become a pool”, i.e., the
mock-lake of the burning desert shall become a real lake,
“the pledge of refreshment and joy.” The
“pools” spoken of in Isa. 14:23 are the marshes
caused by the ruin of the canals of the Euphrates in the
neighbourhood of Babylon.
The cisterns or pools of the Holy City are for the most
part excavations beneath the surface. Such are the vast
cisterns in the temple hill that have recently been
discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration
Fund. These underground caverns are about thirty-five in
number, and are capable of storing about ten million
gallons of water. They are connected with one another by
passages and tunnels.
Pools of Solomon – the name given
to three large open cisterns at Etam, at the head of the
Wady Urtas, having an average length of 400 feet by 220 in
breadth, and 20 to 30 in depth. These pools derive their
chief supply of water from a spring called “the sealed
fountain,” about 200 yards to the north-west of the
upper pool, to which it is conveyed by a large subterranean
passage. They are 150 feet distant from each other, and
each pool is 20 feet lower than that above it, the conduits
being so arranged that the lowest, which is the largest and
finest of the three, is filled first, and then in
succession the others. It has been estimated that these
pools cover in all a space of about 7 acres, and are
capable of containing three million gallons of water. They
were, as is generally supposed, constructed in the days of
Solomon. They are probably referred to in Eccles. 2:6. On
the fourth day after his victory over the Ammonites, etc.,
in the wilderness of Tekoa, Jehoshaphat assembled his army
in the valley of Berachah (“blessing”), and there
blessed the Lord. Berachah has been identified with the
modern Bereikut, some 5 miles south of Wady Urtas, and
hence the “valley of Berachah” may be this valley
of pools, for the word means both “blessing” and
“pools;” and it has been supposed, therefore,
that this victory was celebrated beside Solomon’s pools
(2 Chr. 20:26).
These pools were primarily designed to supply Jerusalem
with water. From the lower pool an aqueduct has been traced
conveying the water through Bethlehem and across the valley
of Gihon, and along the west slope of the Tyropoeon valley,
till it finds its way into the great cisterns underneath
the temple hill. The water, however, from the pools reaches
now only to Bethlehem. The aqueduct beyond this has been
destroyed.
regarding the poor is specially important. (1.) They had
the right of gleaning the fields (Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut.
24:19,21).
(2.) In the sabbatical year they were to have their share
of the produce of the fields and the vineyards (Ex. 23:11;
Lev. 25:6).
(3.) In the year of jubilee they recovered their property
(Lev. 25:25-30).
(4.) Usury was forbidden, and the pledged raiment was to be
returned before the sun went down (Ex. 22:25-27; Deut.
24:10-13). The rich were to be generous to the poor (Deut.
15:7-11).
(5.) In the sabbatical and jubilee years the bond-servant
was to go free (Deut. 15:12-15; Lev. 25:39-42, 47-54).
(6.) Certain portions from the tithes were assigned to the
poor (Deut. 14:28, 29; 26:12, 13).
(7.) They shared in the feasts (Deut. 16:11, 14; Neh.
8:10).
(8.) Wages were to be paid at the close of each day (Lev.
19:13).
In the New Testament (Luke 3:11; 14:13; Acts 6:1; Gal.
2:10; James 2:15, 16) we have similar injunctions given
with reference to the poor. Begging was not common under
the Old Testament, while it was so in the New Testament
times (Luke 16:20, 21, etc.). But begging in the case of
those who are able to work is forbidden, and all such are
enjoined to “work with their own hands” as a
Christian duty (1 Thess. 4:11; 2 Thess. 3:7-13; Eph. 4:28).
This word is used figuratively in Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; 2
Cor. 8:9; Rev. 3:17.
“white”, (Gen. 30:37; Hos. 4:13), in all
probability the storax tree (Styrax officinalis) or white
poplar, distinguished by its white blossoms and pale
leaves. It is common in the Anti-Libanus. Other species of
the poplar are found in Palestine, such as the white poplar
(P. alba) of our own country, the black poplar (P. nigra),
and the aspen (P. tremula). (
colonnade on the east of the temple, so called from a
tradition that it was a relic of Solomon’s temple left
standing after the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Babylonians. (Comp. 1 Kings 7:6.) The word
“porch” is in the New Testament the rendering of
three different Greek words:
(1.) Stoa, meaning a portico or veranda (John 5:2; 10:23;
Acts 3:11; 5:12).
(2.) Pulon, a gateway (Matt. 26:71).
(3.) Proaulion, the entrance to the inner court (Mark
14:68).
Porter – a gate-keeper (2 Sam.
18:26; 2 Kings 7:10; 1 Chr. 9:21; 2 Chr. 8:14). Of the
Levites, 4,000 were appointed as porters by David (1 Chr.
23:5), who were arranged according to their families
(26:1-19) to take charge of the doors and gates of the
temple. They were sometimes employed as musicians (1 Chr.
15:18).
Post – (1.) A runner, or courier,
for the rapid transmission of letters, etc. (2 Chr. 30:6;
Esther 3:13, 15; 8:10, 14; Job 9:25; Jer. 51:31). Such
messengers were used from very early times. Those employed
by the Hebrew kings had a military character (1 Sam. 22:17;
2 Kings 10:25, “guard,” marg.
“runners”). The modern system of postal
communication was first established by Louis XI. of France
in A.D. 1464.
(2.) This word sometimes also is used for lintel or
threshold (Isa. 6:4).
Potiphar – dedicated to Ra; i.e.,
to the sun-god, the Egyptian to whom the Ishmaelites sold
Joseph (Gen. 39:1). He was “captain of the
guard”, i.e., chief, probably, of the state police,
who, while they formed part of the Egyptian army, were also
largely employed in civil duties (37:36; marg., “chief
of the executioners”). Joseph, though a foreigner,
gradually gained his confidence, and became overseer over
all his possessions. Believing the false accusation which
his profligate wife brought against Joseph, Potiphar cast
him into prison, where he remained for some years.
whose daughter Asenath became Joseph’s wife (Gen.
41:45).
i.e., anything severed, as a fragment of earthenware (Job
2:8; Prov. 26:23; Isa. 45:9).
“boiled”, a dish of boiled food, as of lentils
(Gen. 25:29; 2 Kings 4:38).
Potters field – the name given to
the piece of ground which was afterwards bought with the
money that had been given to Judas. It was called the
“field of blood” (Matt. 27:7-10). Tradition
places it in the valley of Hinnom.
Pottery – the art of, was early
practised among all nations. Various materials seem to have
been employed by the potter. Earthenware is mentioned in
connection with the history of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18), of
Abraham (18:4-8), of Rebekah (27:14), of Rachel (29:2, 3,
8, 10). The potter’s wheel is mentioned by Jeremiah
(18:3). See also 1 Chr. 4:23; Ps. 2:9; Isa. 45:9; 64:8;
Jer. 19:1; Lam. 4:2; Zech. 11:13; Rom. 9:21.
maneh, equal to 100 shekels (1 Kings 10:17; Ezra 2:69; Neh.
7:71, 72). Gr. litra, equal to about 12 oz. avoirdupois
(John 12:3; 19:39).
(2.) A sum of money; the Gr. mna or mina (Luke 19:13, 16,
18, 20, 24, 25). It was equal to 100 drachmas, and was of
the value of about $3, 6s. 8d. of our money.
(praitorion) thus rendered in Mark 15:16 is rendered
“common hall” (Matt. 27:27, marg.,
“governor’s house”), “judgment
hall,” (John 18:28, 33, marg., “Pilate’s
house”, 19:9; Acts 23:35), “palace” (Phil.
1:13). This is properly a military word. It denotes (1) the
general’s tent or headquarters; (2) the governor’s
residence, as in Acts 23:35 (R.V., “palace”); and
(3) the praetorian guard (See PALACE ¯T0002827), or
the camp or quarters of the praetorian cohorts (Acts
28:16), the imperial guards in immediate attendance on the
emperor, who was “praetor” or
commander-in-chief.
Prayer – is converse with God;
the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation
or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be
oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or
formal. It is a “beseeching the Lord” (Ex.
32:11); “pouring out the soul before the Lord” (1
Sam. 1:15); “praying and crying to heaven” (2
Chr. 32:20); “seeking unto God and making
supplication” (Job 8:5); “drawing near to
God” (Ps. 73:28); “bowing the knees” (Eph.
3:14).
Prayer presupposes a belief in the personality of God, his
ability and willingness to hold intercourse with us, his
personal control of all things and of all his creatures and
all their actions.
Acceptable prayer must be sincere (Heb. 10:22), offered
with reverence and godly fear, with a humble sense of our
own insignificance as creatures and of our own unworthiness
as sinners, with earnest importunity, and with unhesitating
submission to the divine will. Prayer must also be offered
in the faith that God is, and is the hearer and answerer of
prayer, and that he will fulfil his word, “Ask, and ye
shall receive” (Matt. 7:7, 8; 21:22; Mark 11:24; John
14:13, 14), and in the name of Christ (16:23, 24; 15:16;
Eph. 2:18; 5:20; Col. 3:17; 1 Pet. 2:5).
Prayer is of different kinds, secret (Matt. 6:6); social,
as family prayers, and in social worship; and public, in
the service of the sanctuary.
Intercessory prayer is enjoined (Num. 6:23; Job 42:8; Isa.
62:6; Ps. 122:6; 1 Tim. 2:1; James 5:14), and there are
many instances on record of answers having been given to
such prayers, e.g., of Abraham (Gen. 17:18, 20; 18:23-32;
20:7, 17, 18), of Moses for Pharaoh (Ex. 8:12, 13, 30, 31;
Ex. 9:33), for the Israelites (Ex. 17:11, 13; 32:11-14,
31-34; Num. 21:7, 8; Deut. 9:18, 19, 25), for Miriam (Num.
12:13), for Aaron (Deut. 9:20), of Samuel (1 Sam. 7:5-12),
of Solomon (1 Kings 8; 2 Chr. 6), Elijah (1 Kings
17:20-23), Elisha (2 Kings 4:33-36), Isaiah (2 Kings 19),
Jeremiah (42:2-10), Peter (Acts 9:40), the church
(12:5-12), Paul (28:8).
No rules are anywhere in Scripture laid down for the manner
of prayer or the attitude to be assumed by the suppliant.
There is mention made of kneeling in prayer (1 Kings 8:54;
2 Chr. 6:13; Ps. 95:6; Isa. 45:23; Luke 22:41; Acts 7:60;
9:40; Eph. 3:14, etc.); of bowing and falling prostrate
(Gen. 24:26, 52; Ex. 4:31; 12:27; Matt. 26:39; Mark 14:35,
etc.); of spreading out the hands (1 Kings 8:22, 38, 54;
Ps. 28:2; 63:4; 88:9; 1 Tim. 2:8, etc.); and of standing (1
Sam. 1:26; 1 Kings 8:14, 55; 2 Chr. 20:9; Mark 11:25; Luke
18:11, 13).
If we except the “Lord’s Prayer” (Matt.
6:9-13), which is, however, rather a model or pattern of
prayer than a set prayer to be offered up, we have no
special form of prayer for general use given us in
Scripture.
Prayer is frequently enjoined in Scripture (Ex. 22:23, 27;
1 Kings 3:5; 2 Chr. 7:14; Ps. 37:4; Isa. 55:6; Joel 2:32;
Ezek. 36:37, etc.), and we have very many testimonies that
it has been answered (Ps. 3:4; 4:1; 6:8; 18:6; 28:6; 30:2;
34:4; 118:5; James 5:16-18, etc.).
“Abraham’s servant prayed to God, and God directed
him to the person who should be wife to his master’s
son and heir (Gen. 24:10-20).
“Jacob prayed to God, and God inclined the heart of
his irritated brother, so that they met in peace and
friendship (Gen. 32:24-30; 33:1-4).
“Samson prayed to God, and God showed him a well where
he quenched his burning thirst, and so lived to judge
Israel (Judg. 15:18-20).
“David prayed, and God defeated the counsel of
Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:31; 16:20-23; 17:14-23).
“Daniel prayed, and God enabled him both to tell
Nebuchadnezzar his dream and to give the interpretation of
it (Dan. 2: 16-23).
“Nehemiah prayed, and God inclined the heart of the
king of Persia to grant him leave of absence to visit and
rebuild Jerusalem (Neh. 1:11; 2:1-6).
“Esther and Mordecai prayed, and God defeated the
purpose of Haman, and saved the Jews from destruction
(Esther 4:15-17; 6:7, 8).
“The believers in Jerusalem prayed, and God opened the
prison doors and set Peter at liberty, when Herod had
resolved upon his death (Acts 12:1-12).
“Paul prayed that the thorn in the flesh might be
removed, and his prayer brought a large increase of
spiritual strength, while the thorn perhaps remained (2
Cor. 12:7-10).
“Prayer is like the dove that Noah sent forth, which
blessed him not only when it returned with an olive-leaf in
its mouth, but when it never returned at all.”,
Robinson’s Job.
properly used only with reference to God’s plan or
purpose of salvation. The Greek word rendered
“predestinate” is found only in these six
passages, Acts 4:28; Rom. 8:29, 30; 1 Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:5,
11; and in all of them it has the same meaning. They teach
that the eternal, sovereign, immutable, and unconditional
decree or “determinate purpose” of God governs
all events.
This doctrine of predestination or election is beset with
many difficulties. It belongs to the “secret
things” of God. But if we take the revealed word of
God as our guide, we must accept this doctrine with all its
mysteriousness, and settle all our questionings in the
humble, devout acknowledgment, “Even so, Father: for
so it seemed good in thy sight.”
For the teaching of Scripture on this subject let the
following passages be examined in addition to those
referred to above; Gen. 21:12; Ex. 9:16; 33:19; Deut.
10:15; 32:8; Josh. 11:20; 1 Sam. 12:22; 2 Chr. 6:6; Ps.
33:12; 65:4; 78:68; 135:4; Isa. 41:1-10; Jer. 1:5; Mark
13:20; Luke 22:22; John 6:37; 15:16; 17:2, 6, 9; Acts 2:28;
3:18; 4:28; 13:48; 17:26; Rom. 9:11, 18, 21; 11:5; Eph.
3:11; 1 Thess. 1:4; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1
Pet. 1:2. (See DECREES OF GOD .)
Hodge has well remarked that, “rightly understood,
this doctrine (1) exalts the majesty and absolute
sovereignty of God, while it illustrates the riches of his
free grace and his just displeasure with sin. (2.) It
enforces upon us the essential truth that salvation is
entirely of grace. That no one can either complain if
passed over, or boast himself if saved. (3.) It brings the
inquirer to absolute self-despair and the cordial embrace
of the free offer of Christ. (4.) In the case of the
believer who has the witness in himself, this doctrine at
once deepens his humility and elevates his confidence to
the full assurance of hope” (Outlines).
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