(2.) Another of the "princes," who bore the title
of "Rabmag." He was one of those who were sent to
release Jeremiah from prison (Jer. 39:13) by "the
captain of the guard." He was a Babylonian grandee of
high rank. From profane history and the inscriptions, we
are led to conclude that he was the Neriglissar who
murdered Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and
succeeded him on the throne of Babylon (B.C. 559-556). He
was married to a daughter of Nebuchadnezzar. The ruins of a
palace, the only one on the right bank of the Euphrates,
bear inscriptions denoting that it was built by this king.
He was succeeded by his son, a mere boy, who was murdered
after a reign of some nine months by a conspiracy of the
nobles, one of whom, Nabonadius, ascended the vacant
throne, and reigned for a period of seventeen years (B.C.
555-538), at the close of which period Babylon was taken by
Cyrus. Belshazzar, who comes into notice in connection with
the taking of Babylon, was by some supposed to have been
the same as Nabonadius, who was called Nebuchadnezzar's
son (Dan. 5:11, 18, 22), because he had married his
daughter. But it is known from the inscriptions that
Nabonadius had a son called Belshazzar, who may have been
his father's associate on the throne at the time of the
fall of Babylon, and who therefore would be the grandson of
Nebuchadnezzar. The Jews had only one word, usually
rendered "father," to represent also such a
relationship as that of "grandfather" or
"great-grandfather."
Nero was the emperor before whom Paul was brought on his
first imprisonment at Rome, and the apostle is supposed to
have suffered martyrdom during this persecution. He is
repeatedly alluded to in Scripture (Acts 25:11; Phil. 1:12,
13; 4:22). He died A.D. 68.
The fowling-nets were (1) the trap, consisting of a net
spread over a frame, and supported by a stick in such a way
that it fell with the slightest touch (Amos 3:5,
"gin;" Ps. 69:22; Job 18:9; Eccl. 9:12). (2) The
snare, consisting of a cord to catch birds by the leg (Job
18:10; Ps. 18:5; 116:3; 140:5). (3.) The decoy, a cage
filled with birds as decoys (Jer. 5:26, 27). Hunting-nets
were much in use among the Hebrews.
(2.) Heb. qimmosh, Isa. 34:13; Hos. 9:6; Prov. 24:31 (in
both versions, "thorns"). This word has been
regarded as denoting thorns, thistles, wild camomile; but
probably it is correctly rendered "nettle," the
Urtica pilulifera, "a tall and vigorous plant, often 6
feet high, the sting of which is much more severe and
irritating than that of our common nettle."
This "exceeding great city" lay on the eastern or
left bank of the river Tigris, along which it stretched for
some 30 miles, having an average breadth of 10 miles or
more from the river back toward the eastern hills. This
whole extensive space is now one immense area of ruins.
Occupying a central position on the great highway between
the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, thus uniting the
East and the West, wealth flowed into it from many sources,
so that it became the greatest of all ancient cities.
About B.C. 633 the Assyrian empire began to show signs of
weakness, and Nineveh was attacked by the Medes, who
subsequently, about B.C. 625, being joined by the
Babylonians and Susianians, again attacked it, when it
fell, and was razed to the ground. The Assyrian empire then
came to an end, the Medes and Babylonians dividing its
provinces between them. "After having ruled for more
than six hundred years with hideous tyranny and violence,
from the Caucasus and the Caspian to the Persian Gulf, and
from beyond the Tigris to Asia Minor and Egypt, it vanished
like a dream" (Nah. 2:6-11). Its end was strange,
sudden, tragic. It was God's doing, his judgement on
Assyria's pride (Isa. 10:5-19).
Forty years ago our knowledge of the great Assyrian empire
and of its magnificent capital was almost wholly a blank.
Vague memories had indeed survived of its power and
greatness, but very little was definitely known about it.
Other cities which had perished, as Palmyra, Persepolis,
and Thebes, had left ruins to mark their sites and tell of
their former greatness; but of this city, imperial Nineveh,
not a single vestige seemed to remain, and the very place
on which it had stood was only matter of conjecture. In
fulfilment of prophecy, God made "an utter end of the
place." It became a "desolation."
In the days of the Greek historian Herodotus, B.C. 400, it
had become a thing of the past; and when Xenophon the
historian passed the place in the "Retreat of the Ten
Thousand," the very memory of its name had been lost.
It was buried out of sight, and no one knew its grave. It
is never again to rise from its ruins.
At length, after being lost for more than two thousand
years, the city was disentombed. A little more than forty
years ago the French consul at Mosul began to search the
vast mounds that lay along the opposite bank of the river.
The Arabs whom he employed in these excavations, to their
great surprise, came upon the ruins of a building at the
mound of Khorsabad, which, on further exploration, turned
out to be the royal palace of Sargon, one of the Assyrian
kings. They found their way into its extensive courts and
chambers, and brought forth form its hidded depths many
wonderful sculptures and other relics of those ancient
times.
The work of exploration has been carried on almost
continuously by M. Botta, Sir Henry Layard, George Smith,
and others, in the mounds of Nebi-Yunus, Nimrud, Koyunjik,
and Khorsabad, and a vast treasury of specimens of old
Assyrian art has been exhumed. Palace after palace has been
discovered, with their decorations and their sculptured
slabs, revealing the life and manners of this ancient
people, their arts of war and peace, the forms of their
religion, the style of their architecture, and the
magnificence of their monarchs. The streets of the city
have been explored, the inscriptions on the bricks and
tablets and sculptured figures have been read, and now the
secrets of their history have been brought to light.
One of the most remarkable of recent discoveries is that of
the library of King Assur-bani-pal, or, as the Greek
historians call him, Sardanapalos, the grandson of
Sennacherib (q.v.). This library consists of about ten thousand
flat bricks or tablets, all written over with Assyrian
characters. They contain a record of the history, the laws,
and the religion of Assyria, of the greatest value. These
strange clay leaves found in the royal library form the
most valuable of all the treasuries of the literature of
the old world. The library contains also old Accadian
documents, which are the oldest extant documents in the
world, dating as far back as probably about the time of
Abraham.
"The Assyrian royalty is, perhaps, the most luxurious
of our century [reign of Assur-bani-pa]...Its victories and
conquests, uninterrupted for one hundred years, have
enriched it with the spoil of twenty peoples. Sargon has
taken what remained to the Hittites; Sennacherib overcame
Chaldea, and the treasures of Babylon were transferred to
his coffers; Esarhaddon and Assur-bani-pal himself have
pillaged Egypt and her great cities, Sais, Memphis, and
Thebes of the hundred gates...Now foreign merchants flock
into Nineveh, bringing with them the most valuable
productions from all countries, gold and perfume from South
Arabia and the Chaldean Sea, Egyptian linen and glass-work,
carved enamels, goldsmiths' work, tin, silver,
Phoenician purple; cedar wood from Lebanon, unassailable by
worms; furs and iron from Asia Minor and Armenia"
(Ancient Egypt and Assyria, by G. Maspero, page 271).
The bas-reliefs, alabaster slabs, and sculptured monuments
found in these recovered palaces serve in a remarkable
manner to confirm the Old Testament history of the kings of
Israel. The appearance of the ruins shows that the
destruction of the city was due not only to the assailing
foe but also to the flood and the fire, thus confirming the
ancient prophecies concerning it. "The recent
excavations," says Rawlinson, "have shown that
fire was a great instrument in the destruction of the
Nineveh palaces. Calcined alabaster, charred wood, and
charcoal, colossal statues split through with heat, are met
with in parts of the Nineveh mounds, and attest the
veracity of prophecy."
Nineveh in its glory was (Jonah 3:4) an "exceeding
great city of three days' journey", i.e., probably
in circuit. This would give a circumference of about 60
miles. At the four corners of an irregular quadrangle are
the ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimrud, Karamless and Khorsabad.
These four great masses of ruins, with the whole area
included within the parallelogram they form by lines drawn
from the one to the other, are generally regarded as
composing the whole ruins of Nineveh.
It was the Diospolis or Thebes of the Greeks, celebrated
for its hundred gates and its vast population. It stood on
both sides of the Nile, and is by some supposed to have
included Karnak and Luxor. In grandeur and extent it can
only be compared to Nineveh. It is mentioned only in the
prophecies referred to, which point to its total
destruction. It was first taken by the Assyrians in the
time of Sargon (Isa. 20). It was afterwards "delivered
into the hand" of Nebuchadnezzar and Assurbani-pal
(Jer. 46:25, 26). Cambyses, king of the Persians (B.C.
525), further laid it waste by fire. Its ruin was completed
(B.C. 81) by Ptolemy Lathyrus. The ruins of this city are
still among the most notable in the valley of the Nile.
They have formed a great storehouse of interesting historic
remains for more than two thousand years. "As I
wandered day after day with ever-growing amazement amongst
these relics of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all
the ruins in Europe, classical, Celtic, and medieval, were
brought together into one centre, they would fall far short
both in extent and grandeur of those of this single
Egyptian city." Manning, The Land of the Pharaohs.
(2.) A false prophetess who assisted Tobiah and Sanballat
against the Jews (Neh. 6:14). Being bribed by them, she
tried to stir up discontent among the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and so to embarrass Nehemiah in his great work
of rebuilding the ruined walls of the city.
The words of his father Lamech at his birth (Gen. 5:29)
have been regarded as in a sense prophetical, designating
Noah as a type of Him who is the true "rest and
comfort" of men under the burden of life (Matt.11:28).
He lived five hundred years, and then there were born unto
him three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Gen. 5:32). He was
a "just man and perfect in his generation," and
"walked with God" (comp. Ezek. 14:14,20). But now
the descendants of Cain and of Seth began to intermarry,
and then there sprang up a race distinguished for their
ungodliness. Men became more and more corrupt, and God
determined to sweep the earth of its wicked population
(Gen. 6:7). But with Noah God entered into a covenant, with
a promise of deliverance from the threatened deluge (18).
He was accordingly commanded to build an ark (6:14-16) for
the saving of himself and his house. An interval of one
hundred and twenty years elapsed while the ark was being
built (6:3), during which Noah bore constant testimony
against the unbelief and wickedness of that generation (1
Pet. 3:18-20; 2 Pet. 2:5).
When the ark of "gopher-wood" (mentioned only
here) was at length completed according to the command of
the Lord, the living creatures that were to be preserved
entered into it; and then Noah and his wife and sons and
daughters-in-law entered it, and the "Lord shut him
in" (Gen.7:16). The judgment-threatened now fell on
the guilty world, "the world that then was, being
overflowed with water, perished" (2 Pet. 3:6). The ark
floated on the waters for one hundred and fifty days, and
then rested on the mountains of Ararat (Gen. 8:3,4); but
not for a considerable time after this was divine
permission given him to leave the ark, so that he and his
family were a whole year shut up within it (Gen. 6-14).
On leaving the ark Noah's first act was to erect an
altar, the first of which there is any mention, and offer
the sacrifices of adoring thanks and praise to God, who
entered into a covenant with him, the first covenant
between God and man, granting him possession of the earth
by a new and special charter, which remains in force to the
present time (Gen. 8:21-9:17). As a sign and witness of
this covenant, the rainbow was adopted and set apart by
God, as a sure pledge that never again would the earth be
destroyed by a flood.
But, alas! Noah after this fell into grievous sin (Gen.
9:21); and the conduct of Ham on this sad occasion led to
the memorable prediction regarding his three sons and their
descendants. Noah "lived after the flood three hundred
and fifty years, and he died" (28:29). (See DELUGE
¯T0001011).
Noah, motion, (Heb. No'ah) one of the five daughters of
Zelophehad (Num.26:33; 27:1; 36:11; Josh. 17:3).
After being supplied with the sacred loaves of showbread,
and girding on the sword of Goliath, which was brought
forth from behind the ephod, David fled from Nob and sought
refuge at the court of Achish, the king of Gath, where he
was cast into prison. (Comp. titles of Ps. 34 and 56.)
This act of David in ordering a numbering of the people
arose from pride and a self-glorifying spirit. It indicated
a reliance on his part on an arm of flesh, an estimating of
his power not by the divine favour but by the material
resources of his kingdom. He thought of military
achievement and of conquest, and forgot that he was
God's vicegerent. In all this he sinned against God.
While Joab was engaged in the census, David's heart
smote him, and he became deeply conscious of his fault; and
in profound humiliation he confessed, "I have sinned
greatly in what I have done." The prophet Gad was sent
to him to put before him three dreadful alternatives (2
Sam. 24:13; for "seven years" in this verse, the
LXX. and 1 Chr. 21:12 have "three years"), three
of Jehovah's four sore judgments (Ezek. 14:21). Two of
these David had already experienced. He had fled for some
months before Absalom, and had suffered three years'
famine on account of the slaughter of the Gibeonites. In
his "strait" David said, "Let me fall into
the hands of the Lord." A pestilence broke out among
the people, and in three days swept away 70,000. At
David's intercession the plague was stayed, and at the
threshing-floor of Araunah (q.v.), where the destroying
angel was arrested in his progress, David erected an altar,
and there offered up sacrifies to God (2 Chr. 3:1).
The census, so far as completed, showed that there were at
least 1,300,000 fighting men in the kingdom, indicating at
that time a population of about six or seven millions in
all.
This book is of special historical interest as furnishing
us with details as to the route of the Israelites in the
wilderness and their principal encampments. It may be
divided into three parts:
1. The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations
for their resuming their march (1-10:10). The sixth chapter
gives an account of the vow of a Nazarite.
2. An account of the journey from Sinai to Moab, the
sending out of the spies and the report they brought back,
and the murmurings (eight times) of the people at the
hardships by the way (10:11-21:20).
3. The transactions in the plain of Moab before crossing
the Jordan (21:21-ch. 36).
The period comprehended in the history extends from the
second month of the second year after the Exodus to the
beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, in
all about thirty-eight years and ten months; a dreary
period of wanderings, during which that disobedient
generation all died in the wilderness. They were fewer in
number at the end of their wanderings than when they left
the land of Egypt. We see in this history, on the one hand,
the unceasing care of the Almighty over his chosen people
during their wanderings; and, on the other hand, the
murmurings and rebellions by which they offended their
heavenly Protector, drew down repeated marks of his
displeasure, and provoked him to say that they should
"not enter into his rest" because of their
unbelief (Heb. 3:19).
This, like the other books of the Pentateuch, bears
evidence of having been written by Moses.
The expression "the book of the wars of the
Lord," occurring in 21:14, has given rise to much
discussion. But, after all, "what this book was is
uncertain, whether some writing of Israel not now extant,
or some writing of the Amorites which contained songs and
triumphs of their king Sihon's victories, out of which
Moses may cite this testimony, as Paul sometimes does out
of heathen poets (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12)."
(1.) 'El occurs only in the word El-paran (Gen. 14:6).
The LXX. renders by "terebinth." In the plural
form this word occurs in Isa. 1:29; 57:5 (A.V. marg. and
R.V., "among the oaks"); 61:3
("trees"). The word properly means strongly,
mighty, and hence a strong tree.
(2.) 'Elah, Gen. 35:4, "under the oak which was by
Shechem" (R.V. marg., "terebinth"). Isa.
6:13, A.V., "teil-tree;" R.V.,
"terebinth." Isa. 1:30, R.V. marg.,
"terebinth." Absalom in his flight was caught in
the branches of a "great oak" (2 Sam. 18:9; R.V.
marg., "terebinth").
(3.) 'Elon, Judg. 4:11; 9:6 (R.V., "oak;"
A.V., following the Targum, "plain") properly the
deciduous species of oak shedding its foliage in autumn.
(4.) 'Elan, only in Dan. 4:11,14,20, rendered
"tree" in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Probably
some species of the oak is intended.
(5.) 'Allah, Josh. 24:26. The place here referred to is
called Allon-moreh ("the oak of Moreh," as in
R.V.) in Gen. 12:6 and 35:4.
(6.) 'Allon, always rendered "oak." Probably
the evergreen oak (called also ilex and holm oak) is
intended. The oak woods of Bashan are frequently alluded to
(Isa. 2:13; Ezek. 27:6). Three species of oaks are found in
Palestine, of which the "prickly evergreen oak"
(Quercus coccifera) is the most abundant. "It covers
the rocky hills of Palestine with a dense brushwood of
trees from 8 to 12 feet high, branching from the base,
thickly covered with small evergreen rigid leaves, and
bearing acorns copiously." The so-called Abraham's
oak at Hebron is of this species. Tristram says that this
oak near Hebron "has for several centuries taken the
place of the once renowned terebinth which marked the site
of Mamre on the other side of the city. The terebinth
existed at Mamre in the time of Vespasian, and under it the
captive Jews were sold as slaves. It disappeared about A.D.
330, and no tree now marks the grove of Mamre. The present
oak is the noblest tree in Southern Palestine, being 23
feet in girth, and the diameter of the foliage, which is
unsymmetrical, being about 90 feet." (See HEBRON
¯T0001712; TEIL-TREE ¯T0003597.)
(2.) A chief of the tribe of Issachar (1 Chr. 7:3).
(3.) A descendant of Saul (1 Chr. 8:38).
(4.) A Levite, after the Captivity (1 Chr. 9:16).
(5.) A Gadite who joined David at Ziklag (1 Chr. 12:9).
(6.) A prince of Zebulun in the time of David (1 Chr.
27:19).
(7.) One of the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the
people in the law (2 Chr. 17:7).
(8.) A Levite who superintended the repairs of the temple
under Josiah (2 Chr. 34:12).
(9.) One who accompanied Ezra on the return from Babylon
(Ezra 8:9).
(10.) A prophet, fourth of the minor prophets in the Hebrew
canon, and fifth in the LXX. He was probably contemporary
with Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Of his personal history nothing
is known.
There are on record the account of four captures of
Jerusalem, (1) by Shishak in the reign of Rehoboam (1 Kings
14:25); (2) by the Philistines and Arabians in the reign of
Jehoram (2 Chr. 21:16); (3) by Joash, the king of Israel,
in the reign of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:13); and (4) by the
Babylonians, when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar (B.C. 586). Obadiah (1:11-14) speaks of this
capture as a thing past. He sees the calamity as having
already come on Jerusalem, and the Edomites as joining
their forces with those of the Chaldeans in bringing about
the degradation and ruin of Israel. We do not indeed read
that the Edomites actually took part with the Chaldeans,
but the probabilities are that they did so, and this
explains the words of Obadiah in denouncing against Edom
the judgments of God. The date of his prophecies was thus
in or about the year of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Edom is the type of Israel's and of God's last foe
(Isa. 63:1-4). These will finally all be vanquished, and
the kingdom will be the Lord's (comp. Ps. 22:28).
(2.) A stumbling-block or cause of temptation (Isa. 8:14;
Matt. 16:23; 18:7). Greek skandalon, properly that at which
one stumbles or takes offence. The "offence of the
cross" (Gal. 5:11) is the offence the Jews took at the
teaching that salvation was by the crucified One, and by
him alone. Salvation by the cross was a stumbling-block to
their national pride.
It was one of the most valuable products of the country
(Deut. 32:13; Ezek. 16:13), and formed an article of
extensive commerce with Tyre (27:17).
The use of it was a sign of gladness (Ps. 92:10; Isa.
61:3), and its omission a token of sorrow (2 Sam. 14:2;
Matt. 6:17). It was very abundant in Galilee.
The "olive-tree, wild by nature" (Rom. 11:24), is
the shoot or cutting of the good olive-tree which, left
ungrafted, grows up to be a "wild olive." In Rom.
11:17 Paul refers to the practice of grafting shoots of the
wild olive into a "good" olive which has become
unfruitful. By such a process the sap of the good olive, by
pervading the branch which is "graffed in," makes
it a good branch, bearing good olives. Thus the Gentiles,
being a "wild olive," but now "graffed
in," yield fruit, but only through the sap of the tree
into which they have been graffed. This is a process
"contrary to nature" (11:24).
It is frequently mentioned in the New Testament (Matt.
21:1; 26:30, etc.). It now bears the name of Jebel et-Tur,
i.e., "Mount of the Summit;" also sometimes
called Jebel ez-Zeitun, i.e., "Mount of Olives."
It is about 200 feet above the level of the city. The road
from Jerusalem to Bethany runs as of old over this mount.
It was on this mount that Jesus stood when he wept over
Jerusalem. "No name in Scripture," says Dr.
Porter, "calls up associations at once so sacred and
so pleasing as that of Olivet. The 'mount' is so
intimately connected with the private, the devotional life
of the Saviour, that we read of it and look at it with
feelings of deepest interest and affection. Here he often
sat with his disciples, telling them of wondrous events yet
to come, of the destruction of the Holy City; of the
sufferings, the persecution, and the final triumph of his
followers (Matt. 24). Here he gave them the beautiful
parables of the ten virgins and the five talents (25); here
he was wont to retire on each evening for meditation, and
prayer, and rest of body, when weary and harassed by the
labours and trials of the day (Luke 21:37); and here he
came on the night of his betrayal to utter that wonderful
prayer, 'O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou
wilt' (Matt. 26:39). And when the cup of God's
wrath had been drunk, and death and the grave conquered, he
led his disciples out again over Olivet as far as to
Bethany, and after a parting blessing ascended to heaven
(Luke 24:50, 51; Acts 1:12)."
This mount, or rather mountain range, has four summits or
peaks: (1) the "Galilee" peak, so called from a
tradition that the angels stood here when they spoke to the
disciples (Acts 1:11); (2) the "Mount of
Ascension," the supposed site of that event, which
was, however, somewhere probably nearer Bethany (Luke
24:51, 52); (3) the "Prophets," from the
catacombs on its side, called "the prophets'
tombs;" and (4) the "Mount of Corruption,"
so called because of the "high places" erected
there by Solomon for the idolatrous worship of his foreign
wives (1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., "Mount of
Offence").
Beth-omri, "the house" or "city of
Omri," is the name usually found on Assyrian
inscriptions for Samaria. In the stele of Mesha (the
"Moabite stone"), which was erected in Moab about
twenty or thirty years after Omri's death, it is
recorded that Omri oppressed Moab till Mesha delivered the
land: "Omri, king of Israel, oppressed Moab many days,
for Chemosh was angry with his land. His son succeeded him,
and he also said, I will oppress Moab" (comp. 2 Kings
1:1; 3:4, 5). The "Moabite stone" also records
that "Omri took the land of Medeba, and occupied it in
his day and in the days of his son forty years."
In ancient times this city was full of obelisks dedicated
to the sun. Of these only one now remains standing.
"Cleopatra's Needle" was one of those which
stood in this city in front of the Temple of Tum, i.e.,
"the sun." It is now erected on the Thames
Embankment, London.
"It was at On that Joseph wooed and won the
dark-skinned Asenath, the daughter of the high priest of
its great temple." This was a noted university town,
and here Moses gained his acquaintance with "all the
wisdom of the Egyptians."
The story of this fugitive Colossian slave is a remarkable
evidence of the freedom of access to the prisoner which was
granted to all, and "a beautiful illustration both of
the character of St. Paul and the transfiguring power and
righteous principles of the gospel."
(2.) Some region famous for its gold (1 Kings 9:28; 10:11;
22:48; Job 22:24; 28:16; Isa. 13:12). In the LXX. this word
is rendered "Sophir," and "Sofir" is
the Coptic name for India, which is the rendering of the
Arabic version, as also of the Vulgate. Josephus has
identified it with the Golden Chersonese, i.e., the Malay
peninsula. It is now generally identified with Abhira, at
the mouth of the Indus. Much may be said, however, in
favour of the opinion that it was somewhere in Arabia.
(2.) "Of the Abi-ezrites." A city of Manasseh, 6
miles south-west of Shechem, the residence of Gideon (Judg.
6:11; 8:27, 32). After his great victory over the
Midianites, he slew at this place the captive kings
(8:18-21). He then assumed the function of high priest, and
sought to make Ophrah what Shiloh should have been. This
thing "became a snare" to Gideon and his house.
After Gideon's death his family resided here till they
were put to death by Abimelech (Judg. 9:5). It is
identified with Ferata.