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the east, Pamphylia and Lycia on the south, Lydia and Mysia on the west. Its chief cities mentioned in Scripture (Col. ii. 1.) are Laodicea and Hierapolis; and of this St. Luke seems to speak in Acts ii. 10. because he joins it with Pamphylia below it. In Acts xvi. 6. he means Phrygia Minor. The inhabitants are said to have been a servile people, kept in their duty best by stripes, and made wise only by sufferings. In all these parts of Asia Minor, even to Bythinia and the Euxine Sea, the Jews anciently were very numerous.

PHUT, or PUT, the name of an African people. According to Josephus (Ant. Jud. 1. i. c. 7.) they were the inhabitants of Mauritania, where there is a river called Phut. (Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. v. c. 1.) According to the Septuagint and Vulgate versions they were the Libyans. (Jer. xlvi. 9. Ezek. xxvii. 10. xxxviii. 5. Nah. iii. 9.) They are supposed to have been the descendants of Phut, the third son of Ham. (Gen. x. 6.) PHYLACTERIES described, 156.

PHYSICS, or Medicine, state of, 194-197. PHYSICS, or natural philosophy of the Jews, 186. PIHAHIROTH OF HIROTH, without the prefix, a place on the Red Sea, where the Israelites made their second encampment. (Exod. xiv. 2. 9. Num. xiii. 7.) As the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity, and fear of the Egyptians (Exod. xiv. 5.), Dr. Shaw thinks that it derived its name from that circumstance. (Travels, vol. ii. p. 98.) PILATE, Pontius, notice of, 53.

PISGAH, Mount, 31.

PISIDIA (Acts xiv. 24.), a country in Asia Minor, having Pamphylia on the south, Galatia on the north, Isauria on the east, and Phrygia on the west. Its chief city was Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 14.), so called to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria.

PISON, one of the four great rivers which watered the garden of Eden. (Gen. ii. 11, 12.) The author of the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, speaking of a wise man, says, that "he filleth all things with his wisdom," or spreads it on every side, "as Phison and Tigris" spread their waters "in the time of the new fruits," that is, when they are swollen by the melting of the winter snows. Calmet, Reland, and others, suppose it to be the Phasis, a celebrated river of Colchis; Eusebius and Jerome, after Josephus, make it to be the Ganges, which passing into India falls into the ocean.

PITHOм, one of the cities built by the Israelites for Pharaoh. (Exod. i. 11.) Sir John Marsham imagines it to be Pelusium; but it is most probably the arcuμs of Herodotus. (Hist. l. ii. c. 158.), by the Arabians in later times called Fijum or Faijum (pronounced Faioum), which is also applied to the province. PLAGUE, not unknown in Palestine, 38.

PLAINS of the Holy Land, account of, 33.

PLEADING, form of, among the Jews, in civil and criminal cases, 55, 56.

PLOUGHING, Jewish mode of, 177.

POETRY, cultivated by the Hebrews, 186.
POLITENESS, Jewish forms of, 168, 169.

POLITICAL Divisions of the Holy Land, 15-18. Political State of the Israelites and Jews from the patriarchal times to the destruction of their polity by the Romans, 40-48.

POLYGAMY, why tolerated among the Jews, 160. Abolished by Christianity, ibid.

POMEGRANATE trees of Palestine, 36.

PONTUS, a province of Asia Minor, having the Euxine Sea on the north, Cappadocia on the south, Paphlagonia and Galatia on the east, and the Lesser Armenia on the west. It is supposed that Saint Peter preached in Pontus, because he addresses his first Epistle to the believing Hebrews, who were scattered throughout this and the neighbouring provinces.

POOLS of Solomon, 29. Pool of Bethesda, 21. And of Siloam, ibid.

POOR, Jewish laws concerning, 83.

POPULATION of the Holy Land, 38. Of Jerusalem, 22.
PORCH of Solomon, 99.

POSSESSIONS, demoniacal, reality of, 197.

POTIPHAR, the captain of Pharaoh's body guard, who purchased Joseph of some Midianitish merchants, and made him superintendent of his house. Afterwards, however, listening to the false charges of his wife, who accused Joseph of attempting to seduce her, he threw Joseph into prison, where he was rigorously confined. It should seem that this rigour was not of very long continuance; and that he restored Joseph to all his confidence, and intrusted him with the management of the prison.

PU

(Gen. xxxvii. 36. xxxix. 19-23.) Potiphar is an Egyptian proper name, which has been explained by the Coptic Пar PPO father, that is, prime minister of PuаRRO, or Pharaoh, Some expositors have made a distinction between the master of Joseph and the keeper of the prison into which he was thrown. Others, however, have conjectured, with more probability, that Potiphar, after having punished Joseph in a transport of wrath and jealousy, acknowledged his innocence; but that, in order to avoid disgracing his wife, instead of restoring Joseph to his former office, he confided to him the command of the stateprison.

POTIPHERAH, governor, or, more correctly, priest of On, is known only from the circumstance of his having given his daughter in marriage to Joseph. (Gen. xli. 45. xlvi. 20.) Jablonski supposed it to be the same as the Coptic ПнONTOPH, priest of the sun; and the recent discoveries among the Egyptian monuments have shown that his conjecture was not altogether without foundation. PE-THEPH-RE signifies that which belongs to RE or the Sun: this name was peculiarly suitable for a priest of On or Heliopolis, the city of the sun. Undesigned coincidences like these strongly corroborate the antiquity and authenticity of the Mosaic narrative.

POTTER'S FIELD. See ACELDAMA.

PRAYERS of the Jews, various appellations of, 131. Public prayers, ibid. Private prayers, ibid. How offered in the synagogues, 104. Attitudes in prayer, 131, 132. Forms of prayer

in use among the Jews, 132. The nineteen prayers now used by them, 106, 107.

PREACHING, a part of the synagogue service, 106.
PRECIPITATION, a Jewish punishment, 68.

PREPARATION of the Passover, 123. Of the Sabbath, 122.
PRESENTS offered to superiors, 169.

PRIESTS, privileges and functions of, 112, 113.
PRINCES of tribes and families, 41.

PRAISCA OF PRISCILLA, the wife of Aquila, a converted Jew of Pontus. See AQUILA, p. 407.

PRISONERS (Roman), treatment of, 58-60. Oriental mode of treating prisoners, 66. Probable origin of one being released at the Passover, 123. Eyes of, put out, 66. PRISONS (Jewish), notice of, 65, 66. PRIVILEGES of the first-born, 163. PROCEEDINGS, judicial, forms of, 55–60.

PROCURATORS (Roman), powers of, 52, 53. State of the Jews under them, 53.

PRODUCTIONS of the Holy Land, 35-37.
PROMISE, land of, 13.

PROMULGATION of laws, 47, 48.

PROPERTY, crimes against, how punished, 62, 63. Disposal of property, 164.

PROPHETS, notice of, 47. 116. Punishment of false prophets, 62. Schools of the prophets, 184, 185. (See further the General Index of Matters, No. III. infra. article Prophets.) "The Prophets" an ancient division of the Old Testament, p. 213. of this volume. Table of the sections of the prophets, as read in the Jewish Synagogue, 105.

PROSELYTES, account of, 109.

PROSEUCHE or oratories of the Jews, 102, 103.
PSALTERY, a musical instrument, 184.

PTOLEMAIS, anciently called Accho (Judg. i. 31.), and now known by the name of ACRE, is a port and town situated on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, on the confines of Lower and Upper Galilee. Here Saint Paul rested for one day on his journey from Ephesus to Jerusalem. (Acts xxi. 7.) As this port must always have been of great importance in time of war, the town has, consequently, undergone great changes. During the croisades this city suffered exceedingly both from infidels and Christians, between whom it was the scene of many sanguinary conflicts: at length it fell under the dominion of the late Djezzar Pacha, under whose government and that of his successor it has revived, and is now one of the most considerable towns on the coast. has a beautiful appearance, when beheld from a short distance. This place is celebrated for the repulse there given to Napoleon Buonaparte, by the Turks under the command of Sir Sydney Smith, who, after a long and memorable siege, compelled the French to retire with great loss, and ultimately to abandon Syria. PUBLICANS, or collectors of the revenue, account of, 78, 79, Why odious to the Jews, 79.

Acre

PUBLIUS, an opulent governor of Malta, at the time of St. Paul's shipwreck, who miraculously healed his father of a dan gerous malady. The bay in which the vessel was wrecked was

RA

RA contiguous to his estate; and he most probably entertained the capital city of the Ammonites, and against the rest of the country, apostle during his three months' residence on that island. (Acts which probably had their completion five years after the destrucxxiii. 7, 8.) An ancient inscription found at Malta designates its tion of Jerusalem. Antiochus the Greek took the city of Rabgovernor by the same appellation-HIPOTOΣ or chief man-bath-Ammon about A. M. 3786. Some time before this, Ptolemy which St. Luke gives to Publius. (Bloomfield and Kuinüel on | Philadelphus had given it the name of PHILADELPHIA. Which Acts xxviii. 7, 8.) see in this index. PUL, or PHUL.

1. The proper name of a people remote from Palestine. (Isa. lxvi. 19.) The Latin Vulgate renders it Africa; according to Bochart, it was Philæ, an island of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Vitringa supposes it to be a place in the extremity of Egypt; it being the prophet's object, in the passage just cited, to designate the most remote parts.

2. The name of the first king of Assyria, who is mentioned in the Scriptures. He invaded the kingdom of Israel shortly after Menahem had usurped the throne, who gave a thousand talents of silver to support him in his kingdom. (2 Kings xv. 19, 20.) PUNISHMENTS (Hebrew), design of, 64. Inferior punishments, 64-66. Capital punishments, 66—69.

PUNISHMENTS (Roman), mentioned in the Bible, account of,

69-72.

PURIFICATIONS of the Hebrews, account of, 133. Purifications of the leprosy, in persons, garments, and houses, 133, 134. Purifications in case of minor impurities, 134. PURIM, or feast of Lots, account of, 128.

PUTEOLI, a maritime town of Campania, in Italy, between Baie and Naples, founded by a colony from Cuma. It was originally called Dicæarchia, and afterwards Puteoli, from the great number of wells (putei) which were in the neighbourhood. It is now called Puzzoli or Puzzuolo. Here Saint Paul abode seven days, by the favour of the centurion, on his first journey to Rome. (Acts xxviii. 13.) It appears from Acts xxviii. 11. that Puteoli was the destination of this vessel from Alexandria; and we learn from the independent testimony of the Jewish historian, Josephus, corroborated by the geographer Strabo, that this was the port of Italy to which ships from Egypt and the Levant commonly sailed. (Antiq. Jud. lib. xviii. c. 7. § 4. c. 8. § 2. Strabo, Geogr. l. xvii. p. 793. ed Casaub.)

QUARTUS, a Christian resident at Corinth, whose salutations Saint Paul transmitted to Rome. He was probably a Roman, whom commercial affairs had led into Greece. (Rom. xvi. 23.) QUICKSAND (UPT). Two syrtes or sand banks, on the northern coast of Africa, were particularly celebrated among the ancients; one of which, called the Syrtis major, lay between Cyrene and Leptis, and is most probably THN upTV, THE Quicksand, alluded to in Acts xxvii. 17.; since a vessel bound westward, after passing Crete, might easily be driven into it by a strong north-easterly wind. The other (Syrtis minor) lay near Carthage. (Kuinüel on Acts xxvii. 17. Robinson's Lexicon, voce ZuρTI.)

2. RABBATH-MOAB, or Rabbath of the children of Moab, the capital of the Moabites, otherwise An, or ARIEL of Moab, and KIRHERES, or the city with brick walls. (Jer. xlviii. 31. 36.) This city was situated on the river Ar: it underwent many revolutions, and the prophets denounced heavy judgments against it. RABBI, or RABBONI, import of, 185.

RABDOMANCY, or divination by the staff, 143.

RABSHAKEH, an officer of Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was sent with Rabsaris and Tartan to summon Hezekiah to surrender to his master. (2 Kings xviii. 17.)

RACA, a Syriac word of contempt, meaning a worthless person. (Matt. v. 22.) Those who applied this term to another were obnoxious to punishment by the CoUNCIL of twenty-three. See p. 55. supra.

"It

RACHEL, the youngest daughter of Laban, and the wife of Jacob. She was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. In Jer. xxxi. 15. the prophet introduces Rachel as bewailing the exile of her posterity, that is, Ephraim; by quoting which language the evangelist Matthew (ii. 18.) in a similar manner introduces her as bemoaning the fate of the children who were massacred at Bethlehem. (Compare Vol. i. p. 317.) The tomb of Rachel is still shown to travellers, near the ruins of the village of Ramah. is one of the few places where the observer is persuaded that tradition has not erred.....The spot is as wild and solitary as can well be conceived; no palms or cypresses give their shelter from the blast; not a single tree spreads its shade where the beautiful mother [wife] of Israel rests." (Carne's Recollections of the East, p. 157.) Mr. Maundrell is of opinion that this may be the true place of Rachel's interment: but the present sepulchral monument can be none of that which Jacob erected; for it appears to be plainly a modern and Turkish structure. The graves of the Moslems lie thickly strewn around this tomb. КАПАВ.

1. A woman of Jericho, who received into her house, and afterwards concealed, the two spies, whom Joshua had sent to explore that city and its contiguous territory. On the capture of Jericho, Rahab, with her parents, brethren, and all that she had, under the conduct of the two spies, quitted her house in safety. She subsequently married Salmon, one of the chief men in the tribe of Judah, and became the mother of Boaz. (Josh. ii. vi. 17. 22, 23. Ruth iv. 21. Matt. i. 5.) Much discussion has taken place respecting Rahab, whether she were a harlot or one who kept a house of entertainment for strangers. The same word in the Hebrew language denotes persons of both professions: for the same reason, the appellation of harlot is given to Rahab in the Septuagint version, from which the apostles Paul (Heb. xi. 31.) and James (ii. 25.) make use of the same expression: but the Chaldee paraphrast calls her by a word which signifies a woman who keeps a public house, without any mark of infamy. Since those apostles cite her as an eminent example of faith in God, and have ranked her with Abraham, we shall be justified putting the most charitable construction upon the appellation given to her.

QUIRINUS OF CYRENIUS (Kuvios, in Latin Quirinus), that is, Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, a Roman senator; who, after the banishment of Archelaus to Vienne in Gaul, and the annexation of Judea to the province of Syria, was sent from Rome, as governor of Syria, to take a census of the whole province with a view to taxation. (Compare Acts v. 37.) This census he com-in pleted, A. D. 8. This enrolment is alluded to in Luke ii. 2.; for an elucidation of which, see Vol. I. pp. 419, 420.

RABBATH.

1. RABBATH, RABBATH-AMMON, or RABBATH of the children of Ammon, afterwards called Philadelphia, the capital of the Ammonites, was situated beyond Jordan. It was a place of considerable note in the time of Moses. When David declared war against the Ammonites, his general Joab laid siege to Rabbath-Ammon, where the brave Uriah lost his life, by a secret order given by this prince, that Uriah should be forsaken in a place of danger. And when the city was reduced to the last extremity, David himself went thither, that he might have the honour of taking it. From this time it became subject to the kings of Judah. Afterwards the kings of Israel became masters of it, with all the rest of the tribes beyond Jordan. But towards the conclusion of the kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pileser having taken away a great part of the Israelites from that country, the Ammonites were guilty of many cruelties against those who remained, in consequence of which the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel pronounced very severe prophecies against Rabbath, the

2. A poetical name of Egypt. (Isa. xxx. 7. li. 9. Psal. lxxxvii. 4. lxxxix. 11.) The Hebrew word signifies proud; and the name seems to have been given to Egypt from the pride and insolence of its princes and inhabitants.

RAINS, early and latter, importance of, in Palestine, 24. RAMA, RAMAH, or RAMATHAIM, was a small town or village in the tribe of Benjamin, about thirty miles north of Jerusalem : it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. As it stood in a pass between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Baasha king of Israel seized it, and began to fortify it, to prevent his subjects from passing that way into the kingdom of Judah. (1 Kings xv. 17. 21.) Here Nebuzaradan, the Chaldæan general, disposed of his Jewish prisoners after their capital was taken, which occasioned a great lamentation among the daughters of Rachel. (Jer. xl. 1-3. xxxi. 15.) Oriental geographers speak of this place as having formerly been the metropolis of Palestine; and Mr. Buckingham informs us that every appearance of its ruins even now confirms the opinion of its having been once a considerable city. "Its situation, as lying immediately in the high road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, made it necessarily a place of great resort; and, from the fruitfulness of the country around it, it must have

RE been equally important as a military station or a depôt for supplies, and as a magazine for the collection of such articles of commerce as were exported from the coast. In its present state the town of Ramah is about the size of Jaffa, in the extent actually occupied. The dwellings of the last, however, are crowded together around the sides of a hill, while those of Ramah are scattered widely over the face of the level plain on which it stands. The style of building here is that of high square houses, with flattened domes covering them: and some of the old terraced roofs are fenced around with raised walls, in which are seen pyramids of hollow earthenware pipes, as if to give air and light, without destroying the strength of the wall itself. The inhabitants are estimated at little more than five thousand persons, of whom about one third are Christians of the Greek and Catholic communion, and the remaining two-thirds Mohammedans, chiefly Arabs; the men of power and the military being Turks, and no Jews residing there. The principal occupation of the people is husbandry, for which the surrounding country is highly favourable; and the staple commodities produced by them are corn, olives, oil, and cotton, with some soap and coarse cloth made in the town. There are still remains of some noble | subterranean cisterns at Ramah, not inferior either in extent or execution to many of those at Alexandria: they were intended for the same purpose, namely, to serve in time of war as reservoirs of water." (Buckingham's Travels in Palestine, p. 168.) RAMOTH, a famous city in the mountains of Gilead, often called Ramoth-gilead, sometimes Ramoth, and sometimes Ramothmizpeh, or the Watch-tower. (Josh. xiii. 26.) This city belonged to the tribe of Gad. It was assigned to the Levites, and was one of the cities of refuge beyond Jordan. (Deut. iv. 43. Josh. xx. 8. xxi. 38.) It became celebrated during the reigns of the later kings of Israel, and was the occasion of several wars between these princes and the kings of Damascus, who had conquered it, and from whom the kings of Israel endeavoured to regain it. (1 Kings xxii. 3—36. 2 Kings viii. 28, 29. 2 Chron. xxii. 5.) Jehoram, king of Judah, was dangerously wounded at the siege of this place; and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, was here anointed king of Israel by a young prophet sent by Elisha. (2 Kings ix. 1-10.) Ahab, king of Israel, was killed in battle with the Syrians before this place. (2 Chron. xviii. 3, 4, 5. et seq.) It is now called Ramza.

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READING, oriental mode of, 183.
REAPING, notice of, 177.

REBELS' BEATING, What, 67.

RECEPTION of visiters, 169, 170.
RECHABITES, account of, 116.
RECORDER, office of, 47.

RECREATIONS of the Jews, 189, 190.

RED SEA, that branch of the southern sea which interposes itself between Egypt on the west, Arabia Felix and some part of Arabia Petræa on the east, while its northern extremities touch on the coast of Edom. Edom, it is well known, in the Hebrew tongue signifies Red, and was the name given to Esau for selling his birthright for a mess of pottage. Both the country which was possessed by his posterity (Gen. xxv. 30. xxxvi. 31—40.), and the sea which was contiguous to it, were called after his name; but the Greeks, not understanding the reason of the appellation, translated it into their tongue, and called it aro Epupa, whence the Latins termed it Mare Rubrum, and we the Red Sea. It is also called Yam Suph, "the weedy sea," in several passages (Num. xxxiii. 10. Psal. cvi. 9., &c.) which are improperly rendered "the Red Sea." Some learned authors have supposed that it was so named from the quantity of weeds in it. But Mr. Bruce, who had seen and examined the whole extent of it, states that he never saw a weed of any sort in it; and remarks that a narrow gulf, under the immediate influence of monsoons blowing from contrary points six months each year, would have too much agitation to produce such vegetables, seldom found but in stagnant water, and seldomer, if ever, found in salt water. He is of opinion that the sca derives its name from the large trees, or plants, of white coral, perfectly in imitation of plants on land. One of these, which he saw, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications measuring twenty-six feet in diameter every way. (Travels, vol. ii. p. 138.) This seems to be the most probable solution that has been hitherto proposed of the name. The tides in this sea are but moderate. At Suez, the difference between high and low water did not exceed from three to four feet, according to Niebuhr's observations on the tides in that gulf, during the years 1762 and 1763. (Voyage en Arabie, p. 363.)

RE

Every one knows the celebrated mi acle of the passage over the Red Sea, when God opened this sea, dried it up, and made the Israelites pass through it, dry shod, to the number of 600,000, without reckoning old men, women, or children. The rabbins, and many of the ancient fathers, relying on Psal. cxxxvi. 13. (to him which divided the Red Sea into parts), have maintained that the Red Sea was so divided as to make twelve passages; that each of the twelve tribes passed through a different passage. But other authors have advanced that, Moses having lived long near the Red Sea, in the country of Midian, had observed that it kept its regular ebbing and flowing like the ocean; so that, taking the advantage of the time of the ebb, he led the Hebrews over; but the Egyptians not knowing the nature of the sea, and rashly entering it just before the return of the tide, were all swallowed up and drowned, as Moses relates. Thus the priests of Memphis explained it, and their opinion has been adopted by a great number of moderns, particularly by the learned critic and philologer, John David Michaelis, who in the queries which he sent to the Danish traveller M. Niebuhr, while in Egypt, proposed to him to inquire upon the spot, "Whether there were not some ridges of rocks where the water was shallow, so that an army, at particular times, may pass over? Secondly, Whether the Etesian winds, which blow strongly all summer from the north-west, could not blow so violently against the sea as to keep it back on a heap; so that the Israelites might have passed without a miracle?" and a copy of these queries was left also for Mr. Bruce, to join his inquiries likewise, his observations on which are excellent. "I must confess," says he, "however learned the gentlemen were who proposed these doubts, I did not think they merited any attention to solve them. This passage is told us by Scripture to be a miraculous one; and, if so, we have nothing to do with natural causes.

If we do not believe Moses, we need not believe the transaction at all, seeing that it is from his authority alone we derive it. If we believe in God, that he made the sea, we must believe he could divide it when he sees proper reason; and of that he must be the only judge. It is no greater miracle to divide the Red Sea than to divide the river Jordan. If the Etesian winds, blowing from the north-west in summer, could keep up the sea as a wall on the right, or to the south, of fifty feet high, still the difficulty would remain of building the wall on the left hand or to the north. Besides, water standing in that position for a day must have lost the nature of fluid. Whence came that cohesion of particles which hindered that wall to es cape at the sides? This is as great a miracle as that of Moses. If the Etesian winds had done this once, they must have repeated it many a time before and since, from the same causes. Yet Diodorus Siculus (lib. iii. p. 122.) says the Troglodytes, the indigenous inhabitants of that very spot, had a tradition from father to son, from their very earliest ages, that once this division of the sea did happen there; and that, after leaving its bottom some time dry, the sea again came back, and covered it with great fury.' The words of this author are of the most remarkable kind: we cannot think this heathen is writing in favour of revelation: he knew not Moses, nor says a word about Pharaoh and his host; but records the miracle of the division of the sea in words nearly as strong as those of Moses, from the mouths of unbiassed, undesigning pagans. Were all these difficulties surmounted, what could we do with the pillar of fire? The answer is, We should not believe it. Why, then, believe the passage at all? We have no authority for the one but what is for the other: it is altogether contrary to the ordinary nature of things; and, if not a miracle, it must be a fable." (Vol. ii. pp. 135-137.) Still, such skeptical queries have their use; they lead to a stricter investigation of facts, and thereby tend strongly to confirm the veracity of the history they meant to impeach. Thus it appears, from the accurate observations of Niebuhr and Bruce, that there is no ledge of rocks running across the gulf any where to afford a shallow passage. And the second query, about the Etesian or northerly wind, is refuted by the express mention of a strong easterly wind blowing across, and scooping out a dry passage, not that it was necessary for Omnipotence to employ it there as an instrument, any more than at Jordan; but it seems to be introduced in the sacred history by way of anticipation, to exclude the natural agency that might in after times be employed for solving miracles; and it is remarkable that the monsoon in the Red Sea blows the summer half of the year from the north, the winter half from the south, neither of which could produce

however, that "the ground was bare to the very bottom of the gulf” is

1 Diodorus attributes this to an "extraordinary high tide." The fact,

admitted by this curious tradition.

RH

RE the miracle in question. Wishing to diminish, though not to REGION round about Jordan, notice of, 33. deny the miracle, Niebuhr adopts the opinion of those who con- REHOBOAM, the son and successor of Solomon. In his reign tend for a higher passage, near Suez. "For," says he, "the the kingdom of David was divided, the tribes of Judah and Benmiracle would be less if they crossed the sea there, than near jamin retaining their allegiance to Rehoboam, while the other Bedea. But whosoever should suppose that the multitude of ten tribes became subject to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Rehothe Israelites could be able to cross it here, without a prodigy, boam died after reigning 17 years, and was succeeded on the would deceive himself; for even in our days no caravan passes throne of Judah by his son ABIJAH OF ABIJAM, B. C. 954. that way to go from Cairo to Mount Sinai, although it would RELIGION, Corruptions of, among the Jews, 135-143. Parshorten the journey considerably. The passage would have been ticularly in the time of Christ, 148-150. naturally more difficult for the Israelites some thousands of years REMPHAN, a Coptic name of Saturn, who was also worshipback, when the gulf was probably larger, deeper, and more ex-ped under the name of MOLOCH. (Acts vii. 43. Compare tended towards the north; for in all appearance the water has p. 137.) retired, and the ground near this end has been raised by the sands of the neighbouring desert." (p. 354.) But it sufficiently appears, even from Niebuhr's own statement, that the passage of the Israelites could not have taken place near Suez: for, 1. He evidently confounded the town of Kolsum, the ruins of which he places near Suez, and where he supposed the passage to be made with the bay of Kolsum, which began about forty-five miles lower down; as Mr. Bryant has satisfactorily proved from the astronomical observations of Ptolemy and Ulug Beigh, made at Heroum, the ancient head of the gulf. (See his treatise on the Plagues of Egypt, pp. 371, 372.)

RENDING of garments, a sign of mourning, 159.

REPHAIM OF RAPHAIM, the sons of Rapha (2 Sam. xxi. 16. 18. Heb. and marginal rendering), a Canaanitish race of giants that dwelt beyond the Jordan (Gen. xiv. 5. xv. 20. Josh. xvii. 15.), from whom the gigantic Og king of Bashan was descended. (Deut. iii. 11.) In a wider sense, this word seems to have included all the giant tribes of Canaan. (Deut. ii. 11. 20.) In subsequent times, the sons of Rapha appear to have been men of extraordinary strength among the Philistines. (2 Sam. xxi. 16. 18. marg. rend.) The VALLEY OF THE REPHAIM (for an account of which see pp. 31, 32.) derives its name from this tribe.

2. Instead of crossing the sea at or near Ethan, their second station, the Israelites "turned" southwards along the western REPHIDIM, a station or encampment of the Israelites in the shore; and their third station at Pihahiroth, or Bedea, was at desert (Exod. xvii. 1.), where the Israelites were miraculously least a full day's journey below Ethan, as Mr. Bryant has satis- supplied with water out of the rock of MERIBAH. It is an infactorily proved from Scripture. (Exod. xiv. 2.) And it was sulated rock, at the foot of Mount Sinai, about six yards square, this unexpected change in the direction of their march, which according to Dr. Shaw, but Mr. Carne says that it is about five intimated an intention in the Israelites to quit Egypt; and the yards long, five in height, and four yards wide. This rock, apparently disadvantageous situation in which they were then which is of granite, is in Deut. viii. 15. rightly called a rock of placed, entangled in the land, and shut in by the wilderness," flint, in consequence of its hardness: it lies, tottering, as it with a deep sea in front, the mountains of Attaka on the sides, were, and loose, near the middle of the valley, and seems forand the enemy in their rear, that tempted the Egyptians to pur-merly to have been a part or cliff of Mount Sinai. The waters sue them through the valley of Bedea, by the direct road from Cairo; who "overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, opposite to Baalzephon." (Exod. xiv. 2-9.)

Niebuhr wonders how the Israelites could suffer themselves to be brought into such a disadvantageous situation, or be led blindfold by Moses to their apparent destruction: "one need only travel with a caravan," says he "which meets with the least obstacle, viz. a small torrent, to be convinced that the Orientals do not let themselves be led, like fools, by their Caravan Baschi," or leader of the caravan. (p. 350.) But the Israelites went out of Egypt with "a high hand," though led by Moses, yet under the visible guidance and protection of "THE LORD GOD of the Hebrews," who went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and who, for their encouragement to enter the passage of the sea miraculously prepared for them, removed the cloud which went before the camp of Israel hitherto, and placed it behind them. (Exod. xiv. 8-20.) "And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to the one, but gave light by night to the other; so that the one came not near the other all the night." (Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. pp. 388-391.) The preceding elaborate view of this subject furnishes a most clear and satisfactory answer to the cavils of modern infidels.

Various ancient traditions among the heathen historians attest the reality of the miraculous passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites: to which we may add that it is manifest from the text of Moses and other sacred authors, who have mentioned this miraculous passage, that no other account is supportable but that which supposes the Hebrews to cross over the sea from shore to shore, in a vast space of dry ground which was left void by the waters at their retiring. (Exod. xiv. 16, 17, &c.) To omit the numerous allusions in the book of Psalms, Isaiah says (lxiii. 11, &c.) that the Lord divided the waves before his people, that he conducted them through the bottom of the abyss, as a horse is led through the midst of a field. Habakkuk says (iii. 15.), that the Lord made himself a road to drive his chariot and horses across the sea, across the mud of great waters. Lastly, in the apochryphal book of Wisdom we read (xix. 7, 8. x. 17, 18.), that the dry land appeared all on a sudden in a place where water was before; that a free passage was opened in a moment through the midst of the Red Sea; and that a green field was seen in the midst of the abyss.

REFUGE, cities of, 16.

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which gushed out, and the stream which flowed withal (Psal. vii.
8. 21.), have hollowed across one corner of this rock a channel
about two inches deep, and twenty inches wide. There are also
four or five fissures, one above the other, on the face of the rock,
each of them about a foot and a half long, and a few inches
deep, "the lively and demonstrative evidence of their having
been formerly so many fountains." A remarkable circumstance
is, that they run along the breadth of the rock, and are not sent
downwards: they are more than a foot asunder. Neither art
nor chance could be concerned, says Dr. Shaw, in the contri-
vance: inasmuch as every circumstance points out to us a mira-
cle; and, in the same manner with the rent in the rock of Cal-
vary at Jerusalem, never fails to produce the greatest seriousness
and devotion in all who see it. (Shaw's Travels, vol. ii. pp. 109,
110. Carne's Letters, pp. 198, 199.)

RESTITUTION, in what cases enjoined, 65.
RETALIATION among the Jews, 64, 65.

REUEEN, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah, gave his name to one of the twelve tribes of Israel; for the canton assigned to which, see p. 16.

REVENUES of the kings of Israel and Judah, 46. Of the Levites, 112. And of the priests, 113.

REVERENCE of the Jews for their temple, 100, 101. Of inferiors to superiors, 169.

REZIN, king of Syria, an able prince who knew how to avail himself of the divisions of his neighbours, in order to aggrandize himself. He formed an alliance with Pekah king of Israel against Ahaz king of Judah, whose dominions he invaded; and, after obtaining considerable advantages, he took a great number of prisoners, whom he sent to Damascus, and then proceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem, in which he failed. (2 Kings xv. 37. xvi. 5. 2 Chron. xxxviii. 5.) This check, which had been foretold by Isaiah (vii. 1—8.), frustrated the project formed by the allied princes for overthrowing the dynasty of David. Rezin was more successful in Idumæa, where he made himself master of the port of Elath on the Red Sea; an important conquest which gave him the command of the neighbouring country and sea (2 Kings xvi. 6.) His successes were of short duration; in the following year, agreeably to the predictions of Isaiah (viii. 4. ix. 10.), Damascus was taken by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, who carried its inhabitants into bondage, and put to death Rezin, with whom the kingdom of Syria terminated.

RHEGIUM, a maritime city, near the south-western extremity of Italy, opposite to Messina in Sicily. Here St. Paul stayed one REGAL GOVERNMENT of the Israelites and Jews, 42-46. Its day, on his first voyage to Rome. (Acts xxviii. 13.) It is now duration. 49. called Rheggio.

SA

SALEM.

SA

RHODES, an island and city in the Levant, which is said to the south-east side of the island, and was afterwards called have derived its name from the abundance of roses which grew Constantia. there. When St. Paul went to Jerusalem, a. D. 58, he went from Miletus to Coos, from Coos to Rhodes, and thence to Patara in Lycia. (Acts xxi. 1.)

RIBLAH, a city of Syria, in the country of Hamath, which, according to Jerome, was the same with what was afterwards called ANTIOCH in Syria. It was very pleasantly situated; and here Pharaoh-Necho stopped, on his return from the battle of Megiddo. (2 Kings xxiii. 33.)

RIMMON signifies a pomegranate tree.

1. An idol of the Syrians, supposed to be the Jupiter of the ancients, or, according to some writers, the sun. (2 Kings v. 8.) 2. A city in the tribe of Simeon, on the southern boundary of Palestine. (Josh. xv. 32. xix. 7. Zech. xiv. 10.)

3. A rock not far from Gibeah, whither the children of Benjamin retreated after their defeat. (Judg. xx. 45. 47. xxi. 13.) Hither also Saul and his men went. (1 Sam. xiv. 2.)

4. RIMMON-METHOAR (a round pomegranate), a city in the tribe of Zebulon (Josh. xix. 13), which is supposed to be the same as RIMMONO, which is mentioned in 1 Chron. vi. 62.

1. A name of the city of JERUSALEM. (Psal. lxxvi. 2.)
2. Or SALIM, a place on the banks of the Jordan, where John
baptized. (John iii. 23.) Its situation cannot now be ascertained.
SALMONE, a maritime city and promontory, which forms the
eastern extremity of the island of Crete. (Acts xxvii. 7.)
SALOME, the wife of Zebedee, and the mother of the apostles
James and John. She was one of those who attended Jesus
Christ on his journeys, and ministered to him. (Mark xv. 40.
xvi. 1. Matt. xx. 20. xxvii. 56.)
SALT, Covenant of, 81.

SALT SEA, account of, 27, 28.
SALT, Vale of, notice of, 31.
SALUTATIONS, forms of, 168, 169.
SAM OF SAMIEL, wind, notice of, 40.

SAMARIA, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Israel, is very frequently mentioned in the Old Testament: it was situated on a hill which derived its name from Semer or Shemer, of whom it was purchased by Omri king of Israel, B. c. 921, who made

5. RIMMON-PAREZ (split pomegranate), the sixteenth encamp-it the seat of his government, and called it Samaria (Heb. Shomment of the Israelites in the wilderness. (Num. xxxiii. 19.) RINGS worn by the Jews, 157, 158. RIVERS of the Holy Land, 25, 26. ROGEL OF EN-ROGEL, fountain of, 28.

ROME, the metropolis of the world during the period comprised in the New Testament history. According to the chronology of Archbishop Usher, this city was founded by Remus and Romulus, A. M. 3966 of the Julian period, in A. M. 3256, B. c. 748, towards the close of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah. This city is so well known, that it is needless to give any account of it here. The later sacred authors of the Old Testament have not mentioned it; but it frequently occurs in the books of the Maccabees and in the New Testament. Saint Peter (1 Ep. v. | 13.) has denoted it by the figurative name of Babylon. The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you. Saint John, in his Revelation (xiv. 8. xvi. 19. xvii. 5. xviii. 2. 10. 21.), points it out by the same name, and describes it in such a manner as can only agree to Rome: 1. By its command over all nations; 2. By its cruelty towards the saints; and, 3. By its situation upon seven hills. (Rev. xvii. 9.) St. Paul came twice to Rome: first, A. D. 61, when he appealed to Cæsar; and, secondly, A. D. 65, a year before his martyrdom, which happened in A. D. 66. Account of the judicature of the Romans, 57-59. Roman tribunals, 60. Powers of the Roman procurators, 52. Roman mode of computing time, 72, 73. Discipline and military triumphs, 93-95. Tribute reluctantly paid to the Romans by the Jews, 60.

ROOFS of houses, 153.

RUDDER-BANDS, nature of, 188.

RURAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY of the Jews, 174-180.

eron), from its former owner. By his successors it was greatly
improved and fortified; and, after resisting the repeated attacks
of the kings of Assyria, it was destroyed by Shalmaneser, E. C.
717, who reduced it to a heap of stones. (Micah i. 6. 2 Kings
xvii. 6.) Samaria seems to have arisen again from its ruins
during the reign of Alexander, B. c. 549, after whose death it
was subject to the Egyptian and Syrian kings, until it was
besieged, taken, and rased to the ground by the high-priest Hyr
canus, B. c. 129 or 130. It was afterwards wholly rebuilt, and
considerably enlarged by Herod, surnamed the Great, who gave
it the name of Sebaste, and erected a temple there in honour of
the emperor Augustus (Sebastos) Cæsar. The situation is ex-
tremely beautiful and strong by nature. It stands on a fine,
large, insulated hill, surrounded by a broad deep valley; which
is environed by four hills, one on each side, that are cultivated
with terraces up to the top, sown with grain, and (as the valley
also is) planted with fig and olive trees. The hill of Samaria
likewise rises in terraces to a height equal to any of the adjoining
mountains. The population of Samaria, in 1819, was computed
by Mr. Rae Wilson at nearly 10,000 souls, composed of Turks,
Arabs, and Greeks, and a few Jews of the Samaritan sect
(Travels, vol. i. p. 377. Third edition.) For a notice of the
idols worshipped in Samaria during the captivity, see p. 139.
And for an account of the tenets, &c. of the Samaritans, see
pp. 147, 148.

SAMARIA, Mountains of, p. 29. Region of, 18.

SAMOS, an island of the Archipelago on the coast of Asia Minor. The Romans wrote to the governor of Samos in favour of the Jews, in the time of Simon Maccabæus, A. M. 3685, B. c. 139. (1 Macc. xv. 23.) St. Paul went ashore on the same

RUTH, a Moabitish woman, who returned with her mother-in-island, as he was going to Jerusalem, A. D. 58. (Acts xx. 15.) law Naomi to the land of Israel, and became the wife of Boaz. (Matt. i. 5.) See an analysis of the Book of Ruth, p. 218.

SABBATH of the Jews, how observed, 121, 122.
SABBATICAL YEAR, account of, 128.
SABTECHAH, a people or country of the Cushites; most pro-
bably Sabatha or Sabota, a considerable city of Arabia Felix,
according to Pliny (Nat. Hist. 1. vi. c. 28. § 32.), the principal
city of the Atramites, a tribe of Sabæans, on the Red Sea.
SACKBUT, an ancient musical instrument, used in Chaldæa,
supposed to consist of four strings, and to emit a shrill sound.
SACRAMENT of the Lord's Supper, points of resemblance be-
tween and the Jewish Passover, 125.

SACRED OBLIGATIONS and DUTIES of the Jews, 129-134.
SACRED PERSONS, among them, account of, 108-116.
SACRED PLACES, account of, 95-107.
SACRED THINGS, account of, 116-120.

SACRED TIMES and SEASONS, account of, 121-129.
SACRIFICES of the Jews, divine origin of, 117. Selection of,
and how offered, 117, 118. Different kinds of, 118-120.
Their fitness and propriety, 120, 121. Unbloody sacrifices, 119.
Allusions to the sacrifices of the heathens explained, 139-142.
SADDUCEES, sect of, tenets of, 145, 146.

SAGAN, or substitute of the high priest, 113.

SALAMIS, the chief city of the island of Cyprus, where the Gospel was early preached. (Acts xiii. 5.) It was situated on

SAMOTHRACIA, an island of the Ægean Sea. St. Paul departing from Troas for Macedonia, arrived first at Samothracia, and then landed in Macedonia. (Acts xvi. 11.) It was anciently called Dardana and Leucania, and afterwards Samos; and in order to distinguish it from the other Samos, the epithet Thracian was added, which passed into the name Samothrace.

SAMSON OF SAMPSON, the thirteenth judge of Israel, the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. Before his birth he was conse crated to be a Nazarite, and was chosen to deliver the Israelites from the yoke of the Philistines. He was celebrated for his vast physical strength, and for the bravery and success with which be defended his country against its enemies. (Judg. xiii.—XVL) He judged the Israelites twenty years.

SAMUEL, a celebrated Hebrew prophet, the son of Elkanah and Hannah, of the tribe of Levi. Having been consecrated to God from his birth, he received divine communications even in his childhood he was the fifteenth and last judge of the Israelites. By divine direction, he converted the Hebrew commonwealth into a kingdom; and anointed Saul as the first king, and afterwards David. He is supposed to have been the first institutor of schools for the education of the sons of the prophets. He died at the age of ninety-eight years, about two years before the death of Saul. For an analysis of the two books of Samuel, see pp. 218-220.; and on the appearance of Samuel to Saul at Endor, see Vol. I. p. 95.

SANCTUARY of the temple described, 100.
SANDALS of the Hebrews, notice of, 157.

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