SAL
SALA'THIEL {I have asked God), a descendant of David, 1 Chr. 3 : 17; most often called Shealtiel.
SAL'CAH, AND SAL'CHAH {pilgri»iar/e ?), a city on the eastern frontier of Bashan ; captured by the Israelites and assigned to the half tribe of Manasseh, but close to the border of Gad. Deut. 3 : 10; Josh. 12 : 5 ; 13 : 11 ; 1 Chr. 5 : 11. Salcah is identical with modern Salkhad, 56 miles east of the Jordan, at the southern end of Jebel Hauran. Near it begins the great desert, which stretches to the Euphrates. The city occupies a commanding position ; on the summit of a hill is a castle dating back to a period as early as the Romans, and surrounded by a deep moat now partially filled with stone. On several of the portals there are Roman eagles and Arabic and Greek inscriptions. Some of the latter have been found bearing the dates A. d. 196 and A. d 246. There are about eight hundred stone
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houses, many of them in a good state of preservation, but occupied by only a few families. Tho view from this site embraces the ruins of many other cities.
SA'LEM {peace), the ])hicc of which Melchizedek was king. Ucn. 14 : 18; Heb. 7:1, 2. This word is only used elsewhere in Ps. 76 : 2. Some would interpret it, in tlie first two passages, not as signifying a place, but that Melchizedek was " king of peace." The majority understand it to mean a place, and it is usually interpreted as referring to Jerusalem. Thus Josephus understood it. The name ''Jireh," from Gen, 22 : 14, was supposed to have been added to " Salem " to form " Jerusalem," but this is uncertain. Jerome made the Salem of Gen. 14 : IS and the Shalem of Gen. 33 : 18 identical, and fixed it 6 miles from Scythopolis, while Van de Velde discovered the name in that neighborhood; but if such a Salem existed, it cannot be proved to be the town of Melchizedek. There might be an identity between Salem and Salim. See Salim.
SA'LiIM {peace, or fountains f), a place named to mark the locality of w^non, where John baptized. John 3 : 23. Some identify it with Salem. Eu-sebius and Jerome mention Salim as near the Jordan, 8 Roman miles south of Scythopolis. Robinson suggested that it was identical with the village of Salim, 3 miles east of Nablus. Barclay proposed to identify it with Wddy Selim, 5 miles north-east of Jerusalem, a wild ravine running down from Ana-thoth, but Conder appears to adopt the location suggested by Robinson. See E.voy.
SAL'LAI {basket-maker). 1. A Ben-i a mite who returned to Jerusalem. Neh. 11:8.
2. A priest who returned with Zerub-babel. Neh. 12 : 20.
SAL'LU {weighed). 1, 2. A Benjam-ite and a priest. Neh. 11 : 7 : 12 : 7 : 1 Chr. 9:7.
SAL'MA, OR S AL'MON {clothed, a garment). The son of Nashon, prince of Judah, and father or ancestor of Boaz, the husband of Ruth. Ruth 4 : 20 and marg.; 1 Chr. 2:11; Matt. 1: 4, 5. He is conjectured to be the same with the son of Caleb, the son of Hur, 1 Chr. 2 : 51, since it is possible that Caleb adoptoihvhim.
SALMANA'SAR. 2 Kgs. 17 : 3.
See Shalmankzioh.
SALOMON {shadii), Ps. 68 : 14, or ZAL'MON, Jud. 9 : 48, was one oi
the high hills which environed the ancient Shechem and afforded pasturage for Jacob's flocks. See Zalmon.
SALMO'NE {clothed), a promontory forming the eastern extremity of the island of Crete, and noticed in the account of Paul's voyage to Rome. Acts 27 : 7. It is a bold headland, visible at a considerable distance, and usually identified with Cape Sidero. One writer has suggested a promontory several miles south of this point, known to the natives as Plaka, and to sailors as Cape Salmone.
SALO'ME. 1. The wife of Zebedee, and the mother of James the elder and John the Evangelist, and probably the sister of the Virgin Mary, John 19 : 25; was one of the followers of Christ, Matt. 27 : 56 ; Mark 15: 40 ; 16 : 1, though she seems, like many others, to have at first mistaken the true nature of his kingdom. Matt. 20 : 21.
2. The name of '' the daughter of Her-odias " who danced before Herod. Matt. 14 : 6 ; Mark 6 : 22. She is not named in the N. T., but by Josephus {Antiq. 18, c. 5, ^ 4). The graphic account of Herod's feast may be traced to Chusa, the wife of Herod's steward, Luke 8 :3, who was probably present. Salome married her uncle Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, and next Aristobulus, king of Chalcis.
SALT is abundant in Palestine. The famous Jehel Usdnm is substantially a mountain of rock-salt about 7 miles long, from li to 3 miles wide, and several hundred feet high. This ridge,,almost entirely composed of this mineral, extends to the south from the south-west corner of the Dead Sea. Besides the rock-salt to be obtained from this ridge and its vicinity, the Jews used, and preferred for domestic purposes, salt obtained by evaporation from the waters of the Mediterranean and Dead Seas. On the eastern shore of the latter it is found in lumps often more than a foot thick, in places which the lake had overflowed in the rainy season. The stones on the shore are covered with an incrustation of lime or gypsum. Branches and twigs which fall into the water from the bushes become encased in salt; and if a piece of wood is thrown in, it soon acquires a
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bark or rind of salt. From this fact some have attempted to explain the transformation of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. Gen. 19 : 26 ; while others suppose that the expression is figurative, denoting that she was made an everlasting monument of divine displeasure (salt being an emblem of perpetuity), and others still think that she was miraculously transformed into a solid column of salt.
At the south-western extremity of the Dead Sea there is a plain of considerable extent east of Jebel Usdum, the soil of which is entirely covered with salt, without the slightest trace of vegetation. This is believed by Robinson to be the "valley" (or plain) "of salt," where David's army vanquished the Edomites, 2 Sam. 8:13; IChr. 18:12: 2Chr. 25:11.
By the " salt-pits," Zeph. 2 : 9, we are not to understand quarries from which rock-salt is extracted, but such pits as the Arabs, even at this day, make upon the shore of the Dead Sea, in order that they may be filled when the spring freshets raise the waters of the lake. When the water evaporates, it leaves in the pits a salt crust about an inch thick, which furnishes the salt used throughout the country. Pits of this sort seem to be alluded to in Eze. 47 : 11. In Josh, 15: 62 a "city of salt " is mentioned, in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea.
The uses of salt are suflSciently known. Most food would be insipid without it. Job 6 : 6. Salt being thus essential to the enjoyment of food, the word was used to denote the subsistence which a person obtained in the service of another. Thus, in Ezr. 4 : 14, the words translated "we have maintenance from the king's palace" are in the original "we salt" (or are salted) "with the salt of the palace." And even now, among the Persians and East Indians, to "eat the salt" of any one is to be in his employment. Salt was also used in sacrifices. Lev. 2 : 1.3; Mark 9 : 49. In the last passage reference is had to the perpetuity of suffering.
New-born children were rubbed with salt. Eze. 16 : 4.
Salt, as a preservative from corruption, symbolized durability, fidelity, and purity. Hence an indissoluble and perpetual covenant is called a " covenant of salt." Num. 18 : 19; Lev. 2 : 13; 2 752
Chr. 13 : 5. The idea of sacred obligation to the king is involvet in the above quotation from Ezra. Among the modern Arabs, to " eat salt" with any one is a pledge of perpetual and mutual friendship.
No plants can germinate in a soil covered with salt. Hence a "salt land" is an unfruitful, desert land. Jer. 17 : 6. Salt was also used as a visible emblem of sterility. When Abimelech took Shechem, Jud. 9 : 45, he " beat down the city and sowed it with salt," as a token that it should continue desolate. In like manner, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, when he destroyed Milan, in the year 1162, caused the ground to be ploughed and strewed with salt.
On the other hand, as salt renders food savoi'v, it is employed as an emblem of holy life and conversation. Mark 9 : 50; Col'. 4 : 6. In Matt. 5 : 13, Christ calls his disciples " the salt of the earth "— ?'. e., of mankind, because the latter was to be enlightened and purified by their agency and preserved for their sake. There is reference in the remainder of the verse to the fact that, as Oriental salt often contains mineral impurities, by exposure to rain or dampness this material may lose its savor or valuable part, and become " good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
SALT, CIT'Y OF, the fifth of the six cities possessed by the children of Judah, and situated in the wilderness of Judah. It is mentioned between Nib-shan and En-gedi. Josh. 15 : 62. Several sites have been suggested for this city.
1. Van de Yelde found a Nahr Malch ("salt"), one of four ravines forming the Wddy el-Bedim, and would locate the city of salt in that vicinity.
2. Others propose to place it at the ruin Um-hnghek, or Em-berhek, lying a short distance north of the salt mountain of Jebel Usdum.
3. Conder suggests that it is identical with the present large ruin, Tell el-Milk, 15 miles east of Beersheba.
SALT SEA, OR DEAD SEA. Names. —This sea is called in the Scriptures the "sea of the plain," Deut. 4 : 49 ; 2 Kgs. 14 : 25 ; the " salt sea," Deut. 3:17; Josh. 3:16; 12 : 3 ; the "east sea," Joel 2 : 20; Eze. 47 : 18; Zech. 14 : 8; and "the sea." Eze. 47 : 8. It also appears as the " vale of Sid-
Beit^I-Iarau .^ p (Beth Ilaran)^^ M • Nelao
Beth JesliirrLOtn
48
The Salt or Dead Sea. (After Sketch by ilajo^ Wilson.) The figures denote the depression below the Mediterranean Sea.
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dim." Gen. 14 : 3. In 2 Esd. 5 : 7 it appears as the "Sodomitish sea;" in the Talmud as the "sea of Sodom " and the "sea of salt;" in Josephus asthe"as-phaltic" and ** Sodomitic lake." The title "Dead Sea" was not found in Jewish writers, but was introduced at an early period by the Greek authors. The Arabs give it the same name, but more commonly call it the Bahr LCit, or "Lake of Lot."
Situation and Extent. —The Salt or Dead Sea is situated only 16 miles from Jerusalem, in a straight line, and is plainly visible from the Mount of Olives. It occupies the deepest portion of the great depression which extends from the range of Lebanon on the north to the Gulf of Akabah on the south. It lies between 31° 6' and 31° 46' N. lat., and 35° 24' and 35° 37' E. long. The sea is 46 miles long, lOJ miles in its greatest width, and covers an area of nearly 300 square miles, varying somewhat with the season of the year, as the flats are submerged by the rise of water from the winter floods and laid bare by the excessive evaporation of the summer.
Physical Features. —The sea is of an oblong shape, and fills the lower end of an oblong depression. The enclosing mountains on each side run due north and south in parallel lines, and overhang the sea at a height of more than 1500 feet, coming on the east side close to the water's edge. At the southern end the shore, for some 2 or 3 miles, is flat as far as the base of Jebel Usdum, "the salt mountain." The oval contour is interrupted by the Lisan Peninsula, or "the tongue," a broad promontory extending northward from the southeast corner for a distance of 10 miles, and having a breadth of from 5 to 6 miles. It was visited by Lynch, but to Palmer and Drake is ascribed the credit of being the first thoroughly to explore this curious spot. It is described by Palmer as a plateau of soft chalk marl, encrusted with salt, and containing large quantities of sulphur in a very pure form. The surface is for the most part perfectly flat, but a few plateaus rise up here and there upon it. The strip of land which connects it with the shore is low, and the promontory appears to have been an island at some period when the level of the sea was higher than it is at 764
present. The ruins of a tower built of solid masonry and of a small reservoir were discovered. On the site were some broken columns of considerable architectural pretensions, and many pieces of glass and pottery lying in the ash-heap contiguous to the ruins, but nothing could be found to indicate the date.
Depth and Level. — The soundings of Lynch showed that the bottom of the lake was a comparatively level plain of blue mud and sand, with crystals of salt. The greatest depth is 1310 feet; the mean depth north of the Lisan Peninsula, 1080 feet; the greatest depth south of the peninsula, 11 feet. The level of the surface varies from 10 to 15 feet, according to the season of the 3'ear: the mean level below the Mediterranean Sea is 1293 feet (Lynch made it 1316 feet); below Jerusalem, 3697 feet. Tristram found the height of the crest of the beach to be 18^ feet above the level of the water, and the line of driftwood somewhat less. A French geologist, M. Lar-tet, found the ancient deposits of the Dead Sea at least 300 feet above the present surface of the lake, so that the water must once have stood at that level. The bottom is still subsiding, as is shown by a curious fact. Drake says: "At the southern end the fords between the Lisan and the western shore are now impassable, owing to the depth of the water, though I have been told by men who used them that they were in no places more than 3 feet deep some fifteen or twenty years ago. Again, the causeway which connects the Rijm el-Bahr with the mainland has, according to the Arabs, been submerged for twelve or fifteen years, though before that time it was frequently dry." Earthquakes, as in 1834 and 1837, throw up large quantities of bitumen from the bottom of the lake at its southern end. It was formerly supposed that the lake was at some early historic period connected with the Red Sea. but recent geological researches have shown any such connection very improbable, since a hill of cretaceous formation, 781 feet above the sea, separates the waters of the Dead Sea from those of the Gulf of Akabah, and the streams north of the hill flow northward into the Dead Sea.
Tributaries. —The river Jordan empties into the Dead Sea at its northern end. There are numerous icddies upon
The Dead Sea at 'Ain Feshkah : North-west Side. (After Tritlmm.)
The Dead Sea from Jebel Usdum i.JMouiuain ol' Saitj: South end. (After Tnntram.)
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the east, south, and west sides, the most of which are winter-torrents, completely dry in summer. The principal streams, mostly perennial, are, beginning at the north-east and following southward: the Zerka Main (the ancient Callirrhoe, and Grove suggests possibly the more ancient En-eglaim), the Mojih (Arnon of the Bible), Kerak, S'idfliji/eh (brook Zered), Sn-Jieh, and, on the west, the 'Ain Jidy (En-gedi).
The icater has a clearness and purity— in color, at least—unequalled. The turbid flood of the Jordan in times of freshet can be distinctly traced by its coffee-brown color for a mile and a half into the lake. It has been estimated that 6,000,000 tons of water fall into the Dead Sea daily, the whole of which enormous quantity must be carried off by evaporation, as the lake has no outlet. Hence the water is impregnated with mineral substances containing on an average twenty-five per cent, of solid substances, one-half of which is chloride of nodiiim (common salt). Among the other substances are chloride of magnesium, which gives the water its bitter taste, and chloride of calcium, which makes it smooth and oily to the touch. There is also a large amount of bromine, and many other mineral substances exist in smaller quantities. The quantity of solid matter is more than eight times as great as in sea-water. The specific gravity varies from 1.021 to 1.256—that is, if a gallon of distilled water weighs 10 pounds, a gallon of water from the Dead Sea would sometimes weigh 12^ pounds.
From its density it seemed, in the storm encountered by the boats of Lynch's party, " as if their bows were encountering the sledge-hammers of the Titans instead of the opposing waves of an angry sea." But when the wind abated the sea as rapidly fell. " AVithin twenty minutes from the time we bore away from a sea which threatened to engulf us, we were pulling away at a rapid rate over a placid sheet of water that scarcely rippled beneath us." Tristram also noted the rapid subsidence of the surface after a storm : " Such a mass of water, so absolutely stagnant, I never saw before. In the morning it had been lashed by the gale; now it at once suggested, as its appropriate description,' a sea of molten lead.'" Y66
The spray leaves incrustations of salt upon clothes, hands, and faces, conveying a prickly sensation wherever it touches the skin, and exceedingly painful to the eyes, lips, and nostrils, which smart excessively.
Bathing. —Most visitors try a bath in the waters of the Dead Sea. Bathers can float with equal ease upon their backs or breasts, sit upon the water as one would upon a feather-bed, and place themselves in any attitude they please without fear of sinking. Swimming is made difficult by the tendency of the feet to rise to the surface with a suddenness that produces an unpleasant and sometimes painful eff'ect upon the back, and there is a constant tendency to roll over.
Josephus says that when Vespasian went to see the Dead Sea, " he commanded that some who could not swim I should have their hands tied behind j them and be thrown into the deep: when it so happened that they all swam as if wind had forced them upward." A salt crust is soon formed over the body j by the rapid evaporation, and the water I leaves a greasy feeling on the skin. Asphalt lies in large masses at the bottom of the sea, and sometimes large fragments, loosened by storms and earthquakes, rise to the surface.
Animal and Vegetable Life. —Tristram observed that among the rounded pebbles of the beach dead land-shells were thickly strewn. Quantities of very small dead fish lay on the gravel, killed by the salt water and thrown up by the flood, and on these various birds were feeding.
Among the birds noticed were the partridge, raven, thrush, bulbul, sparrow, wild duck, brown-necked raven, kingfisher, gull, dunlin, teal, redshank, wagtail, pochard, duck, cormorant, heron, golden eagle, plover, stork, crane, grakle, snipe, catbird, hawk, and quail, and Lynch saw a duck upon the water about a mile from the shore. So the report that a bird trying to fly over the sea would fall dead, is without foundation.
Among the wild beasts are the jackal, fox, coney, hare, ibex, porcupine, leopard, wild boar, and hygena. These facts are enough to show how absurd are the stories about the shores of this sea being destitute of birds and animals. At the same time, it is quite certain that no form of either vertebrate or molluscous
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life can exist for more than a very short time in the sea itself, and that all that enter it from the Jordan are almost immediately poisoned.
Various experiments have been made by putting sea-tish into the waters, and it was found that they invariably died vei'y speedily.
Plants. —Among the trees and plants are the pistachio (the terebinth of Scripture), spina Christi (Christ thorn), tamarisk, osher, oleander, lily, yellow henbane, nightshade, mallow, mignonette, and a species of kale resembling that on the shores of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. About the springs are clumps of tamarisk trees, canebrakes 20 feet high, and dense bushes, through which the wild boar beats paths. Wherever there is fresh water the climate stimulates a luxuriant vegetation.
Warm springs are numerous. The 'Ain Ghuweir shows a temperature of 96° in January. Another sulphur spring, within 6 inches of the sea, had a temperature of 95°, and its heated water extended out for 200 yards into the lake.
Climate. —The climate, owing to the great depression of the valley, is semi-tropical. On the IJrth of January, Tristram noted that the thermometer reached 84° during the day, and at 1 A. m. stood at 62° Fahrenheit. Warren found the heat at 'Ain Jidy (En-gedi), in July, to be 110° after sunset. See Climate, under Palestine.
Present Appearance. —Lynch describes the scene near Eds es-Fenhka as "one of unmixed desolation. Except the cane-brakes clustering along the marshy stream, . . . there was no vegetation whatever; barren mountains, fragments of rocks blackened by sulphureous deposits, and an unnatural sea, with low dead trees upon its margin, all within the scope of vision, bore a sad and sombre aspect. We had never before beheld such desolate hills, such calcined barrenness." When the members of the British Ordnance Survey found themselves on the shores of the Dead Sea, " the sky was overcast with clouds, and a dense haze, obscuring the mountains, made the landscape as dreary and monotonous as it could be. In an aspect such as this the Dead Sea seemed more than ever to deserve its name. Not a sign of life was there—not even any motion save a dull
mechanical surging of the water. The barren shore was covered with a thick incrustation of salt, relieved only by occasional patches of black, rotting mud or by stagnant pools of brine. All along the dismal beach large quantities of driftwood are thickly strewn, and amongst them might be detected the blackened trunks of palms.'' See Deut 34 : 3.
Tristram describes the appearance at the north end of the sea as follows: " The beach is composed of a pebble gravel, rising steeply and covered for a breadth of 160 yards from the shore with driftwood. Trunks of trees lay tossed about in every possible position, utterly devoid of bark, grim and gaunt, a long and disorderly array of skeleton forms. There was a great variety in the species of timber, but a very large proportion of the trees were palms, many with their roots entire. These must have been tossed for many years before they were washed up along this north shore. The whole of the timber is indeed so saturated with brine that it will scarcely burn, and when it is ignited emits only a pale blue flame. It is difficult to conceive whence such vast numbers of palms can have been brought, unless we imagine them to be the collected wrecks of many centuries, . . . accumulating here from the days when the city of palm trees extended its groves to the edge of the river." — Land of hrnel, p. 247.
Below 'Ain Feshkah, on the west shore, the lake is fringed with canebrake, separated from the water by a narrow strip of shingle and conglomerate. Farther south are huge boulders, rolled down on the narrowing beach from the hills above. The coast-line shows many indentations and irregularities.
Bible History. —The earliest mention of this body of water is in Gen. 14 : 3, where we read that the confederate kings were joined together in "the vale of Sid-dim, which is the Salt Sea." Most writers have identified this vale of Sid-dim with the portion of the Dead Sea south of the Lisan Peninsula, which is very shallow, but some recent explorers incline to a northern location, in the Ghor of the Jordan. The Salt Sea is mentioned as one of the boundaries of the land of Canaan and of the tribes. Num. 34 : 3, 12; Deut. 3 : 17 : 4:49; .Tosh. 15:2, 5; 18 : 19 J 2 Kgs. 14 : 25. In Eze. 47 : 18
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and Joel 2 : 20 it is mentioned as '^the east sea," in distinction from " the west sea," which was the Mediterranean.
The cities of the plain, which were destroyed by '' brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven," were near the Dead Sea. Gen. 19 : 24. The supposition formerly most common was that these cities were submerged by the waters of the sea at the time of the great catastrophe—a theory which appears to be inconsistent with the geological and physical character of the region.
For the disputed question respecting the sites of the cities of the plain, see Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Salt or Dead Sea is not mentioned in the N. T.
SALT, VAL LEY OF, more accurately a '' ravine," and the battlefield between Judah and Edom, It is five times mentioned in Scripture in connection with two remarkable victories of the Israelites.
1. That of David over the Edomites when 18,000 of them were slain. 2 Sam. 8 : 13: 1 Chr. 13 : 12; and compare the title to Ps. 60.
2. The victory of Amaziah, who slew 10,000 Edomites and hurled 10,000 more over the "rock" (Petra). 2 Kgs. 14 : 7; 2 Chr. 25 : 11. It has been proposed to locate this valley near the salt mountain Jebel Usdinn, in the plains south of the Salt Sea: but Grove objects to this, and holds that '* salt" is not necessarily the right translation of the Hebrew melach, a,nd infers that Amaziah brought his prisoners to Selah (margin, "the rock," or Petra) ; hence that he would scarcely carry so many prisoners for 50 miles through a hostile country. It would seem more likely, therefore, that the Valley of Salt was in Edom, near to Petra.
SA'LCJ (weighed), a Simeonite chief. Num. 25:14.
SALUTES Matt. 10 : 12. SALU-TA'TION. Luke 1 : 41. The salutations of the Jews were usually of a religious character—at least, in form— and were attended with much ceremony, as they are to this day among the Orientals, even the Bedouins of the desert. Sometimes there was nothing but the simple exclamation, "The Lord be with you !" or " Peace be with you !" To this last and most common form strik-758
ing allusion is made by our Saviour. John 14 : 27; 20 : 19, 26. It passed into the epistolary salutation. Rom. 1 : 7, etc. The time occupied in the ceremonies of salutation, repeatedly bowing, kissing the beard, etc., was often ver}' consider-
Modes of Salutation in the East.
able, Gen. 33 : 3, 4, and hence the caution in 2 Kgs. 4 : 29: Luke 10 : 4 against saluting.
SAL VACTION, or deliverance, supposes evil or danger. Ex. 14 : 13; comp. Ps. 106 : 8-10 with Isa. 63 : 8, 9. But in its ordinary use, in the N. T. especially, the term denotes the deliverance of sinners from sin and death through faith in Christ. " The day of salvation," 2 Cor. 6 : 2. " the gospel of j'our salvation," Eph. 1 : 13, and other like phrases, are employed in this sense. They all suppose mankind to be lost and ruined by sin, and hence to be in a state of guilt and deplorable misery and exposed to the just penalty of the divine law. The salvation which the gospel oflTers includes in it the pardon of sin and deliverance from its power, pollution, and consequences, and also sanctification of the soul and the jovs of the eternal world. Matt. 1:21;" Gal. 3 : 13 ; 1 Thess. 1:10; Heb. 5 : 9. Hence it is justly called a fp-ent salvation. Heb. 2 : 3.
SAMA'RIA (watch-post), a noted city of Central Palestine, founded by Omri, king of Israel.
Situation. —The city of Samaria was 30 miles north of Jerusalem and 6 miles north-west of Shechem, and situated near the centre of a beautiful basin about 6 miles in diameter and surrounded by hills. The hill of Samaria was to the east of the centre of this basin, and about 1542 feet in height above the level of the sea. It was of
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an oblong fonn, with steep and terraced sides. The whole region about it is fertile, the site being a strong one for defence and the view from the summit very beautiful. From its top the Mediterranean Sea can be plainly seen.
Historif. —Shemer sold the ground upon which Samaria was built to Omri, the king of Israel, for two silver talents, and the latter built a city, calling it Samaria, B. c. 925. 1 Kgs. 16 : 23, 24. It appears that previous to this Shechem had been the capital, and Tirzah the court-residence in summer. 1 Kgs. 15:21, 33; 16 : 1-18. But Omri now made Samaria the capital of Israel—a position which it continued to hold years, until the fall kingdom, b. c. 721. of many idolatrous erected a great temple to Baal; Jehu destroyed it, and massacred the priests. 1 Kgs.' 16 : 32, 33; 2 Kgs. 10 : 18, 28. Twice the city was besieged by the Syrians—in the reign of Ahab, b. c. 901, and in the reign of Joram, b. c. 892. 1 Kgs. 20 : 1. At the latter siege the people were reduced to the most terrible distress by famine, but were wonderfully delivered, in accordance with
for two hundred
of the northern
It was the seat
practices. Ahab
the prophecy of Elisha. 2 Kgs. 6 : 24-33 ; 7 : 1-20. About one hundred and seventy years later the city was captured by the king of Assyria, after a siege of nearly three years : the northern kingdom was destroyed, and the ten tribes carried into captivity. 2 Kgs. 18 : 9-12. Colonists from Assyria were sent to repeople the country.'2 Kgs. 17:24; Ezr. 4:9,10. The city of Samaria continued to be a place of some importance. It was captured by Alexander the Great, who peopled it with Syro-Macedonians ; it was again taken by John Hyrcanus, after a year's siege, and razed to the ground, B. c. 109. It was rebuilt and adorned by Herod the Great, who named it Sebaste in honor of Augustus, who gave it to him, and settled a colony of six thousand persons there, composed of veteran soldiers and peasants. He enlarged the city, and surrounded it with a wall and colonnade.
In N. T. times, Philip preached the gospel in Samaria, Acts 8:5, 9, and the place became an episcopal see. Septimius Severus planted a Roman colony there in the third century of the Christian era, but politically it was secondary to Caesarea. The city was
Euius of the Colonnade of Samaria.
also surpassed in prosperity by Ne-apolis (Sichem). During the siege of Jerusalem, Samaria fell into the hands
of the Muslims, but the Crusaders established a Latin bishop there, thus reviving the old episcopal see. In a. d. 1184,
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Saladin marched through the city ; and notices of the place occur in the accounts of travellers from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries..
Present Condition. —The ancient city of Samaria is now represented by the modern village Stbmtieh (from "Sebaste"), situated upon the slope of the hill, having houses built of stones taken from the ancient remains. In and among the houses are scattered many fragments of ancient buildings, such as hewn blocks, shafts of columns, capitals, and portions of entablatures. Vines grow luxuriantly around the bases of broken shafts, grain is planted amid shattered columns, sculptured blocks of limestone are embedded in the rude terraces of tbe vineyards. The most imposing ancient building is the half-ruined church of John the Baptist, now turned into a mosque. Tradition states that John the Baptist was buried here. The church stands in a conspicuous position on the brow of a hill, the present edifice being the work of the Crusaders of the twelfth century. On the round hill above the village, to the west, are the remains of the palace erected by Herod the Great in honor of Augustus. On the terrace to the south runs the famous colonnade, about 2000 feet in length, of which one hundred columns still remain, some standing, some overthrown or buried beneath the soil. Besides the tomb of John the Baptist, tradition points out the resting-place of Obadiah and Elisha under a stone slab near the ruined church. The prophet declares, ** I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard : and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof." Mic. 1: 6. This prophecy has been literally fulfilled.
SAMA'RIA, KINGDOM AND COUNTRY OF, a territory which lay north of Judah, and, in N. T. times, between that country and the region known as Galilee.
Situation and Extent. —The kingdom of Samaria, as referred to in the 0. T., was synonymous with the kingdom of Israel. This varied in extent at different times, at one period embracing all the territory allotted to the ton tribes, at others covering a more limited region. 760
In the days of Jeroboam it extended on both sides of the Jordan ; but this territory was much reduced, first by the invasion of Pul, and later by that of Tiglath-pileser, when the Israelites on the east side were taken captive. The extent of the kingdom was then confined to the region between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, and to that portion north of the kingdom of Judah, it being, in fact, only a subject province of Assyria. See Israel, Kingdom of.
In N. T. times Samaria was the region between Galilee on the north and Judaea on the south. Its boundaries have been traced by the British Ordnance Survey in accordance with the description by Josephus. The northern limit is defined by the towns of Beth-shan (Beisan), En-gannim {Jenin), and Caphar-out-heni {Kefr Adhnn), being properly commensurate with the northern boundary of Manasseh. Beth-shan and the valley of Jezreel at one time belonged to Samaria, but were subsequently taken by the Jews. The southern boundary, as noted by Josephus, appears to have been the great valley called Wddt/ Deir Ballut, which rises near the Libben (the ancient Lebonah), and leaves Shiloh in the territory of Judah. Antipatris {Raa el-Ain), Annath {Aina), and Borceas (Brukin) are found on the frontier-line. According to Josephus, Samaria had no sea-coast, since the whole plain of Sharon up to Ptolemais belonged to Judah. It is doubtful, also, what portion of the west Jordan valley belonged to Samaria, but it probably did not extend south of the Wddy Far'ah. The Roman highway from Galilee to Jerusalem ran along the Jordan by way of Jericho, and was the one commonly used by pilgrims. It is important to note this position of Samaria as throwing light upon the route pursued by Jesus and other Galileans in going up to Jerusalem, for they would avoid, as far as possible, passing through the territory of their neighbors, the Samaritans.
History. —The history of the country of Samaria to b. c. 720 belongs to the kingdom of Israel. After Israel was carried into captivity the history of the Samaritans, as such, begins. AYho were these Samaritans? The word occurs only once in the 0. T., 2 Kgs. 17 : 29, and then it seems to be used rather of
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the Israelites. But after they were carried away, men from Assyria were brought as colonists into the cities of Samaria, 2 Kgs. 17 : 24, and these were the ancestors of the Samaritans mentioned in N. T. times. A much-debated question has been whether those Samaritans were of purely foreign extraction or were of mixed Jewish blood. The latter opinion seems most reasonable. It is hardly to be supposed that all the Jews could have been carried away out of the land, and this opinion is supported by the fact that money was contributed from the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim to repair the temple in Jo-siah's time, 2 Chr. 34 : 9, and idols were destroyed in the same region. 2 Chr. 34 : 6, 7. The Assyrian colonists obtained a priest to teach them " the manner of the God of the land," and combined some forms of Jehovah-worship with their idolatry. 2 Kgs. 17 : 25-41.
When the Jews returned from the Captivity with a spirit more exclusive than ever, the contrast between Jew and Samaritan was very strongly marked. The Samaritans wished to have a share in rebuilding the temple, but the Jews refused to allow them to co-operate. The breach widened, and the Samaritans succeeded in hindering the work at Jerusalem by misrepresentations to the Persian kings. Ezr. 4; Neh. 4, 6.
At length the opposition culminated in the setting up of a rival temple by the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim. The occasion of this seems to have been the expulsion from Jerusalem by Nehemiah of a son of the high priest, who was a son-in-law of Sanballat. Neh. 13 : 28. According to Josephus, the person expelled was Manasseh, whose father-in-law, Sanballat, obtained from Alexander the Great permission to erect the temple. But the temple was probably erected at an eai-lier date. After this time the city of Samaria declined, and Shechem increased in importance. This temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus after standing for two hundred years.
Conflicts between the Jews and the Samaritans were frequent. A party of Samaritans defiled the temple at Jerusalem with bones of the dead. There was a general insurrection among them in the time of Pilate, whose severity resulted in his removal from office. A
crowd arrayed themselves against Vespasian, and he slew 11,600 of them. The bitter animosity between the two races must be understood in order to comprehend many facts in the N. T. history. Thus the Galileans avoided going through Samaria, as far as possible, in their journeys to Jerusalem, since they were exposed to insult, assault, and even danger of death. The Seventy were not to go among the Samaritans, Matt. 10 : 5, and the in-hospitality of that people excited the blazing indignation of James and John. Luke 9 : 52-5(5. Yet Jesus showed himself to be far superior to the narrow feeling of race by his parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10 : 30, 37 ; his commendation of the healed Samaritan, Luke 17 : 11-19; and his conversation with the woman of Samaria. John 4 : 1-42. This interview throws light upon the Samaritan character and claims. The woman asserts for them Abrahamic descent—''our father Jacob"—but this the Jews would not allow. It was probable that the people had become more and more of a mixed blood, since, according to .Tosephus, many renegade, apostate, and law-breaking Jews sought refuge among the Samaritans. The gospel gained some success there. Acts 1:8; 8 : 5-26. But most of the Samaritans adhered to their old religion, and therefore frequently came into collision with Christianity and with the Roman emperors, particularly in A. D. 529. About this time they martyred Christians and destroyed churches. Justinian subdued them and slew many of the insurgents. During the Crusades they are not mentioned. In the twelfth century Benjamin of Tudela found about a thousand adherents of the sect of the Samaritans at Nabltis, and a few also at Ascalon, Ctesarea, and Damascus. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries various letters passed between the Samaritans and Western scholars in regard to their Pentateuch.
Present CnvrJiiion. —The only representatives of the Samaritans are found in a community living at Nablds (Shechem). and consisting of some forty to fifty families. They possess the Pentateuch, in the old Hebrew or Samaritan writing, which has attracted great attention from scholars as a very ancient
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version. Three times a year, at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles, they make a
Cylinder enclosine tlie Samaritan Pentateuch at Nablus.
pilgrimage to the sacred Mount Gerizim. They celebrate all the Mosaic festivals, and at the Passover they offer sacrifices. SAMAR'ITANS, the inhabitants of Samaria, 2 Kgs. 17 : 29, but in the N. T. the term is applied to the people 762
that were planted in Samaria, in the place of the exiled Israelites, by the Assyrian king. 2 Kgs. 17 : 24. This defiled origin, Ezr. 4:1, the course pursued by the Samaritans before the Persian kings, Neh. 4 : 1, connected with their construction of the Mosaic Law, Deut. 27 : 11-13, and their separation from the Jews in their place of worship, Luke 9 : 52, 63; John 4 : 20, 21, rendered the animosity between them very bitter. Matt. 10 : 5 ; John 4:9; and hence the very name '' Samaritan " was, with the Jew, a term of reproach and contempt. John 8 : 48. The Samaritans expected a Messiah. John 4: 25. and many of them followed Christ. Acts 8:1: 9': 31 ; 15 : 3. See Samaria. Kingdom of. SAM'GAR-NE'BO (su-ord of Nebo), a Babylonish prince. Jer. 39 : 3. SAM'LAH (garment), an ancient Edomite king. Gen. 36 : 36, 37 ; 1 Chr. 1 : 47, 48.
SA'MOS (a height), an island in the ^gean Sea, a few miles from the main land, and 42 miles south-west of Smyrna, The island is 27 miles long, 10 miles wide, and has an area of 165 square miles. It was the seat of Juno-worship, the birthplace of Pythagoras, and noted for its valuable pottery. Paul visited the island on his third missionary journey. Acts 20 : 16. Samos was then the capital of the island. Two miles to the west was the temple of Juno : there was a sacred way, which can still be traced, from the city to the temple. The modern name of the port at which Paul landed is Ti-qaiii. The island now contains about 60,000 inhabitants, and is noted for its productions of oil, wine, oranges, grapes, raisins, and silk.
SAMOTHRA'CIA (Thracian Samos), an island in the north-eastern part of the J-lgean Sea, and a conspicuous landmark to sailors. It is 8 miles long and 6 miles broad. Homer says that from its lofty ridges the battlefield of Troy might be seen, and one of its mountains has an elevation of 6248 feet, affording a wide vieAV. Paul visited it on his first missionary journey. Acts 16 : 11. The island is still called Samoihraki, and contains from 1000 to 2000 inhabitants, subieet to Turkey.
SAM'SON isunlihe), son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, and for twenty years a judge of Israel. The circumstances at-
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tending the annunciation of his birth are remarkable. Jiul. 13 : 3-23. See Manoah. He was distinguished for his gigantic strength, and is the Hercules of the Hebrews. Contrary to the wishes of his parents, who were observers of the Law, Ex. 34 : 16: Deut. 7 : 3, he married a woman of Timnath. a Philistine city. On his way to that city he slew a lion, Jud. 14 : 5-9, and afterward found in the carcass of the beast a swarna of bees, and he ate of the honey himself and took some to his parents. This occurrence gave rise to an enigma, which he propounded at his marriage-feast, promising a valuable present to any who would solve it within seven daj^s, provided they would make a like present to him if they failed. Unable to solve the riddle themselves, they resorted to Samson's wife, who, by the most urgent entreaties, had obtained from him a solution of it. By cruel threats they extorted from her the secret, and told it to him. But he knew their treachery ; and, though he kept his word and made them the present, it was at the expense of the lives of thirty of their countrymen. He also forsook his wife, who had been thus false to him. See Riddle.
On returning to Timnath with a view to a reconciliation with his wife, he found she had married again, and he was not permitted to see her. He immediately caught three hundred foxes, and, fastening a firebrand to every pair of them, let them loose upon the fields and vineyards of the Philistines, and spread fire and desolation over the country. The Philistines, to be avenged, set fire to the house where Samson's wife lived, and she and her father were burnt in it. This wanton barbarity again drew upon them the vengeance of Samson, who came upon them and routed them with immense slaughter. Jud. 15 : 1-8.
He then took up his abode on the rock Etam, in the territory of Judah, whither the Philistines came to revenge themselves, laying waste the country on every side. Three thousand of the men of Judah remonstrated with Samson for thus exciting the resentment of the Philistines, and he consented that they should bind him and deliver him into their hands. This they did; but in the midst of their exultations he burst his bands and fell upon his enemies, put-
ting a thousand of them to death and the residue to flight. Jud. 15 : 9-19. It was on this occasion that he was miraculously su])plied with water from a fountain oj)ened on the spot—not in the jawbone with which he had slain the Philistines, but in the place where the bone was found and used. Jud. 15: 17, margin.
His sensual nature betrayed him into an illicit connection with a woman in Gaza. His enemies meanwhile surrounded the place, expecting to kill him in the morning, but at midnight he arose and carried off" the gates of the city. Jud. 16 : 3. After this, Samson went to the valley of Sorek, where he attached himself to Delilah, a mercenary woman, by whom, after a variety of arts and stratagems, the secret of his great strength was discovered to lie in the preservation of his hair, for he was a Nazarite. Jud. 16 : 17. The Philistines came upon him "while he was asleep, removed his hair, bound him with fetters of brass, put out his eyes, carried him to Gaza, and threw him into prison. Having thus secured their formidable foe, the Philistine nobles assembled for a feast of joy, and, to add to their merriment, they proposed to have Samson brought. So a lad led him in and sat him down between the two main pillars of the house where the nobles and a multitude of people, both men and women, were assembled, besides three thousand persons upon the roofs of the cloisters around, beholding the cruel sport. Samson requested the lad who had charge of him to let him rest himself against the pillars on either side of him. This being granted, he prayed for strength, and, laying hold of the pillars, he bowed with all his might, carrying the pillars and the whole structure with him, and burying himself and the vast multitude within and around the courts in one common destruction. Samson is ranked with the heroes of the faithful. Heb. 11: 32, 33. But we must, of course, not judge him from the standpoint of the N. T. He lived in the wild anarchical period of the Judges, when might was right, and he was just the man for that time.
SAM'UEL {heard of God), the son of Elkanah and Hannah, was a celebrated Hebrew prophet, and the last of their judges. He is one of the purest and noblest characters in the 0. T. history.
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While he was a child he officiated in some form in the temple, and was favored with revelations of the divine will respecting the famil}' of Eli, the high priest, under whose care and training his mother had placed him. 1 Sam. 3 : 4-14. See Eli.
After the death of Eli, Samuel was acknowledged as a prophet, and soon commenced a work of reformation. Idolatry was banished, the worship of the true God was restored, and Samuel was publicly recognized as a judge in Israel. Residing on his patrimonial estate in Ramah, he made annual circuits through the country to administer justice until his infirmities forbade it, and then he deputed his sons to execute this duty. They proved themselves unworthy of the trust, and so general was the dissatisfaction of the people that they determined on a change of government. To this end they applied to Samuel, who, under the divine direction, anointed Saul to be their king, and Samuel resigned his authority to him. 1 Sam. 12. After Saul was rejected for his disobedience in the matter of Agag, Samuel was instructed to anoint David as king, after which he returned to Ramah, where he died. 1 Sam. 25 : 1. See Saul.
First and Second Books of, are called also the First and Second Books of Kings. They bear Samuel's name, perhaps because he wrote the history of his own times as given in the First Book, and therefore the entire work went under his name. But it is more probable that the name was in consequence of Samuel being the hero of the first part of the history, and that the author belonged to a later period. The Hebrew is singularly clear and pure from Aramaisms.
The two books are thus analyzed in Lange's Chmnieutarj/: 1st part: Samuel's life and work as judge and prophet. 1 Sam. 1 : 1-7. 2d part: Saul, chs. 8-31 : (1) Founding of kingdom, his appointment, chs. 8-15 ; (2) His fall. Chs. 16-31. 3d part: David. 2 Samuel: 1st part: David king over Judah only, 2 Sam. 1-5 : 5. 2d part: David king over all Israel. Chs. 5 : 6-24.
These books formed only one in the Hebrew canon. They are the antecedents to the books of the Kings, but are not from the same hand. ''In Kings are many express references to the Law ; in Samuel, none. In Kings the Exile is 764
often alluded to; it is not so in Samuel. The plans of the two works vary. Samuel has more of a biographical cast; Kings more the character of annals."
SANBAL'LAT (a hero/), a native of Horonaim, in Moab, who sadly impeded the efforts of the Jews to rebuild the walls of the city by inciting a movement on the j)art of the Arabians and others who comprised the " army of Samaria," which apparently Sanballat commanded. Neh. 4 : 2. After Nehemiah's departure he insinuated himself sufficiently with the high priest to be able to marry his daughter to the high priest's grandson. But Nehemiah, returning, promptly deposed the latter. 13 : 28. We have no further biblical information about him.
SANCTIFY is to prepare or set apart persons or things to a holy use. Ex. 13 : 2. The term ''sanctification," when applied to men, denotes the effect of God's Spirit upon the soul. It comprehends all the graces of knowledge, faith, love, repentance, humility, etc., and the exercise of them toward God and man. 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1 : 2. It is a process by which the soul is cleansed from the pollution and delivered from the power of sin, and at the same time endued with those spiritual graces above named, without which there could be no taste or fitness for the joys or employments of the heavenly world. Heb. 12 : 14. Sanctifieation is the fruit of union to Christ by faith, and it is in the knowledge and belief of the truth as it is in Jesus that the soul becomes the subject of the sanctifying influences of the Spirit. John 17 : 17. From this inward sanctifieation proceeds every good wordandwork. Tit.2:11-14. WhenChrist speaks of sanctifying himself, John 17 : 19, it is in allusion to the law which required the sacrifice to be. set apart to a holy use. He separates or dedicates himself as a sacrifice to God for them.
SANCTUARY, a holy or sanctified place. Ps. 20 : 2. By this name that part of the temple of Jerusalem was called which was the most secret and most retired, in which was the ark of the covenant, and where none but the high priest might enter, and he only once a year, on the day of solemn expiation. Lev. 4 : 6. It is also applied to the furniture of this holy place. Num. 10 : 21, the apartment
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where the golden candlestick, table of 8hew-bread, altar of incense, etc., stood, 2 Chr. 26 : 18, and to the whole tabernacle or temple. Josh. 24 : 26; 2 Chr. 20 : 8. It is called the " sanctuary of strength," because it was a strong place and easily fortified, and it belonged to God, the Strength of Israel, Dan. 11 : 31; a ** worldly sanctuary," as it was of a carnal and earthly typical nature. Heb. 9:1. It is also applied to any place appointed for the public worship of Grod, Ps. 73 : 17; to heaven, where God and his holy angels and saints for ever dwell, Ps, 102: 19; and, in allusion to the Jewish sanctuary, whose brazen altar protected petty criminals, a place of refuge and shelter is called a " sanctuary," Isa. 8 : 14; Eze. 11 : 16. The land of Israel was called God's sanctuary. Ex. 15 : 17 ; comp. Ps. 78 : 54; 114 : 2.
SAND (from a root meaning to lohirl). The wastes of Palestine consist mainly of parched soil and gravel. Sand occurs only along the shores of the seas and rivers. It is found in some parts of the desert of Sinai, and abundantly in Egypt. On the west especially the Nile valley is ever menaced by " the sands of the African desert—sands and sand-drifts which in purity, in brightness, in firmness, in destructiveness, are the snows and glaciers of the south."— Stanley. The pyramids and most of the ancient remains of Egypt stand upon the edge of the whirling sand-wastes, and therefore are liable to be covered up, as indeed many have been. Here all stirring of the surface is quickly and utterly obliterated. Ex. 2 : 12. God has placed the sand for a bound of the sea by a perpetual decree. Jer. 5 : 22.
Sand is also figuratively used to denote an innumerable multitude or great abundance. Gen. 32 : 12 ; 41 : 49, and also that which is heavy. Job 6:3; Prov. 27 : 3. Issachar was to " suck of the abundance of the seas and of treasures hid in the sand." Deut. 33 : 19. Some authorities find here an allusion to the great value of the sand of the river Belus, near Acre, for the manufacture of glass. But in this sand the mollusk (Mnrex triincnliis) used for the purple dye is abundant, and vast quantities of crushed shells attest the ancient productiveness of this industry at Acre. Lieut. Conder understands
these to be the ''treasures hid in the sand," and claims this to be the interpretation of the Jewish rabbis.
SAN'D ALS. Mark 6 : 9. SeeCLOTHES.
SAN'HKDRIIV, incorrectly but commonly SAN'HEDRIM. The word is a Hebrew transliteration from the Greek word syiieclriou, which means "council." The Sanhedrin was the highest council of the Jews. When it was founded is uncertain. The Jews trace back to the time of Moses, and see its beginning in the elders. Others see the germ in the tribunal established by Jehoshaphat. 2 Chr. 19 : 8-11. But much more likely the Sanhedrin dates from the extinction of the Great Synagogue, and therefore is after the Captivity and Return ; some put it down so low as B. c. 107. We must distinguish between two kinds of Sanhedrin—the provincial, which was composed of twenty-three members in every town of 120, and of three where there was a smaller, population, and the Great Sanhedrin, which numbered seventy-one and was governed by a nasi, or president, and two vice-presidents; besides, there were secretaries and other officers. It met in a room adjoining the temple, and the seats were arranged in the form of a semicircle. After the destruction of Jerusalem it removed to Tabneh, and finally to Tiberias, where it became extinct, A. d. 425. It had greatly changed its character before it ended. It appears, from the statements in the Talmud, that Herod put all the Great Sanhedrin to death except one. But, although this be false, the complexion of the body was altered for the worse. Indeed, some say that the Sanhedrin really did not exist in Christ's day, but the council which arrogated to itself this name was " an arbitrary, incompetent, and special gathering." But in its glory it was the supreme privy council of the Jews—not only their court of final appeal and last resort, but also an executive and legislative assembly, shaping the general polity of the nation. Its power in matters civil and religious was practically unlimited. It decided all cases brought upon appeal from the lower courts; it had authority over kings and high priests ; in it was vested the trial of heresy, idolatry, false prophets; and it alone had power to pronounce the sentence of death. When the Jews came under the Roman govern-
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ment the range of its jurisdiction was decreased. Tlie death power, according to Talmiidic tradition, was taken from it three 3'ears before the death of Christ. Owing to its altered character, it declined in influence until its extinction was no loss. The Sanhedrin consisted of the three classes, the priests, the elders, and the scribes. The confirmation and execution of a capital sentence rested with the Roman procurator. The Gospels truthfully, therefore, relate that, while Christ was condemned by the Sanhedrin for blasphemy, he was accused by the Jews of treason, and thus brought under Roman judgment. Cf. Matt. 26 : 65, 66; John '19 : 12; also 18 : 31 : " It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." The stoning of Stephen, Acts 7 : 57-59, was either tumultuous or else, if ordered by the Sanhedrin, illegal, as Josephus {Ant. XX. 9^1) expressly declares was the execution of James, '' the Lord's brother," A. D. 62, during the absence of Albinus, the Roman procurator. See Council.
SANSAN'NAH {palm-branch), a place in the Negeb, or " south country," Josh. 15 : 31; also called " Hazar-susah " or " Susim," "horse-court"—that is, "depot of horses." Josh. 19 : 5 : comp. 1 Chr. 4 : 31. Wilton locates it in the modern Wddi/es Snny ; Conder, at i?e!7 Shain, 15 miles west of Jerusalem, but this seems too far north.
SAPH {tall), a Philistine giant, 2 Sam. 21 : 18; called Sippai in 1 Chr.
20 : 4.
SAPH'IR {fair), a town addressed by the prophet Micah. Mic. 1:11. According to Eusebius and Jerome, it was in the mountain-district between Eleu-theropolis and Ascalon. The Pal. Memoirs suggest es Stidfir, some mud villages 5 miles south-east of Eadud (Ash-dod), as its possible site, but say a site in the hills would suit better, though in other respects it agrees with the statements of Eusebius and Jerome.
SAPPHI'RA {beautiful), the wife of Ananias, and partner in his guilt and punishment. Acts 5 : 1-11.
SAP'PHIRE. This was one of the precious stones of the high priest's breastplate, and of the foundations of the Apocalyptic city, Ex. 28 : 18; Rev.
21 : 19, and is often mentioned in the 0. T. It was certainly of a blue color. Ex. 24 : 10; Eze. 1 : 26; 10 : 1. But it is
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generally agreed that the ordinary sapphire of the ancients was our lapis-lazuli, an opaque mineral of a dark azure hue.
Some scholars still hold that the Bible references require a transparent, hard, and valuable gem like the true sapphire. This stone is next to the diamond in lustre, beauty, and hardness. It differs only in color from the Oriental ruby, varying from the deepest to the lightest blue, and even to ]Hire white. See Stones, Precious.
SA'RA, same as Sarah. Heb. 11 : 11; 1 Pet. 3 : 6.
SA'RAH {jyrinceso). 1. The half sister and wife of Abraham, called " Sarai " down to Gen. 17: 15, when God changed her name from "my princess," as for Abraham, to "princess," for all the race. In addition to the notice of her in the article Abraham, it may be proper to say that she as well as Abraham was the subject of special promises. Gen. 17 : 16. Her conduct in Egypt, Gen. 12 : 15, and toward Hagar, Gen. 16 : 6 ; 21 : 10, and also when Isaac was promised. Gen. 18 : 15, evinced great weakness, but her exemplarv faith is commended by the apostles. Heb. 11: 11 : 1 Pet. 3 : 6. She lived to one hundred and twenty-seven years of age, or upward of thirty-six 3ears after the birth of Isaac, and was buried in a field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought for the purpose.
2. A woman mentioned in Num. 26: 46. See Serah.
SA'RAI {my princess), the original name of Abraham's wife, Sarah, which see. Gen. 11:29.
SA'RAPH {hnrning), a descendant of Judah. 1 Chr. 4 : 22.
SAR'DINE, Rev. 4 : 3, or SAR'-DIUS, Ex. 28 : 17, a gem of a blood-red or flesh color, susceptible of a high polish, and also called " sard " or " car-nelian." Its former name it obtains from Sardis, in Asia Minor, where it was first found. This stone has long been a favorite for the engraver's art. " On this stone all the finest works of the most celebrated artists are to be found; and this not without good cause, such is its toughness, facility of working, beauty of color, and the high polish of which it is susceptible, and which Pliny states that it retains longer than any other gem."— King: Antique Gems.
SAR'DIS, a city in Asia Minor, and the capital of Lydia. Sardis was situ-
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ated at the foot of Mount Tuiolus, about 50 miles north-east of Smyrna and 30 miles south-east of Thyatira. It was on the river Pactolus, celebrated for its " golden sands," and some 2 miles from the river Hermes. The site was one of great beauty.
Ilisfori/. —Sardis had great celebrity as the residence of the famous Croesus, whose name is the synonym for riches. AVhen Cyrus conquered him, B.C. 548, he is said to have taken treasure of the value of $600,000,000. The Persians kept a garrison in the citadel. Alexander gained possession of the city after the battle of Uranieus, and garrisoned it. Antiochus the Great sacked the city, b. c. 214 : afterward it was subject to the kings of Pergamos. An earthquake destroyed it in the reign of Tiberius, a. d. 17, but it was rebuilt, the emperor remitting the tribute for five years and granting the money to assist in reconstructing the city. The prosperity of Sardis arose from its convenience as a commercial mart and prosperous manufactures. The art of dyeing wool was discovered there. Sardis was the seat of one of the seven churches of Asia, and the Christians seem to have been so corrupted by the prevailing worldliness that they received a severe rebuke. Rev. 3 : 1-5.
Present Condition. —The ruins of Sardis are now called Se.rt-Kalessi. Among the remains are two massive columns over 6 feet in diameter, standing upright, and supposed to have belonged to the massive temple of Cybele; the senate-house, called the house of Croesus, having one hall 156 feet long by 43 broad, with walls 10 feet thick. A Roman sarcophagus has lately been discovered, a famous tomb of Alyattes —one of the wonders of the world—a gigantic mound, several tumuli, and Roman walls in ruins. The place was also famed in classic story for the '"golden sands" of Pactolus. The site is now very unhealthy, and few, if any, people inhabit it.
SAR'DITES, the descendants of Sered, son of Zebulun. Num. 26 : 26.
SAR'DIUS. Ex. 28 : 17. See Sardine.
SAR'DONYX, only mentioned in Rev. 21: 20. Like the sardine, this stone is a variety of chalcedony. The sardonyx combines the qualities of the sard
and onyx, whence its name. In this gem as used, a white opaque layer rests upon a transparent red stratum, as King states, or the reverse, according to Pliny. The sard and sardonyx are found in Judaia.
SAUEP'TA {iimeltin(j-hoiixe), the Zarephath of the 0. T., a Phoenician town on the Mediterranean Sea between Tyre and Sidon. Luke 4 : 26. It is now called Sdrafend, south of Sidon.
SAR'GON (in Assyrian Sarvukin, "established is the king"), the successor of Shalmaneser and father of Sennicherib, king of Assyria by usurpation, B. c. 722-705. Of his existence nothing was known for many centuries save the single fact, incidentally stated by Isaiah as the mere date of one of his prophecies, that Tartan took Ashdod by command of Sargon. Isa. 20 : 1. The name was a stumbling-block. But Isaiah was correct, and to-day the buried ruins of the Khorsabad palace attest the accuracy of the prophet. From excavations made at the latter place, we are able to form a chronology, defective, however, of sixteen of the seventeen years of his reign. These ruins prove him, says Prof. Schrader, the distinguished Assyriologisl-, who is the authority for these statements, "to have made a quite unmistakable progress in originality and fineness of design, in neatness of execution and variety of pattern." The colored enamelling of bi'icks was carried to a finish unat-tained in later Assyrian history. The reign was an almost unbroken series of military triumphs; all the nations round felt the power of his arm. His annals describe his expeditions against Babylon and Susiana on the south; Media on the east: Armenia and Cappadocia on the north; Syria, Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt on the west and south-west. He had, indeed, very able generals, of whom Tartan was the chief; but this fiict does not detract from his personal glory.
The expedition against Philistia in which the city of Ashdod was taken, as Isaiah mentions, 20 : 1, took place in B. c. 711. But this was not the first time Sargon was near Judah, for in B. c. 720 he conducted an expedition against Egypt, and in the year before he took Samaria, carrj'ing away part of the inhabitants. 2'Kgs. 17: 6; 18 : 9-11. " The king of Assyria" referred to is not
SAR
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Shalmaneser, but Sargon, who claims it, and the indefiniteness about 18 : 10:— •' they took it "—agrees with the inscriptions, and shows that during the siege Sargon became king. The inscriptions show further that Judah was already a vassal of Sargon at the time of the siege of Ashdod. For the interesting account of this event given by the conqueror himself see Smith (George), Assi/rian Discoveries, pp. 289-292. The next year after this important capture Sargon turned his arms against Merodach-baladan, king of Babylon, and reduced him to vassalage. In B. c. 707 he completed the building of the palace of Khorsabad, which was near Nineveh, and in this magnificent building, in B. c. 705, he was murdered.
SA'RID (o siirrivor), a landmark in the boundary of Zebulun. Josh. 19 : 10, 12. The Syriac version reads " As-dod," and the Septuagint reads " Sed-douk." Conder suggests that Sarid may be identical with 7'ell Shaditd, on the north side of the plain of Esdraelon, south-west of Nazareth.
SA'RON. Acts 9 : 35. See Sharon.
SARSE'CHIM, the chief of the eunuchs in Nebuchadnezzar's army at the taking of Jerusalem. Jer. 39 : 3.
SA'RUCH. Luke 3: 35. SeeSERUc.
SA'TAN [adversary), the adversary of God and man, the foe to goodness, and the author of evil. The references in Scripture to Satan, but not commonly by this name, are numerous. The proper name appears five times in the 0. T.—1 Chr. 21 : 1 : Job 1 : 6, 12; 2:1,- Zech. 3:1; in the N. T. twenty-five times; the word "devil" occurs twenty-five times; "the prince of this world," three times; "the wicked one," six times; " the tempter," twice. In one remarkable verse several epithets are combined —the old serpent, the devil, and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world. Rev. 12 : 9. The most striking mention of Satan is in Job, where he appears among " the sons of God." This is in itself sufficient to prove the subordination of the powers of evil unto God and the permissive nature of sin, and Satan has no authority to vex save as God grants it. The existence of Satan is a perpetual menace to godliness, but by resisting him we put him to flight and deepen our moral nature. 768
SA'TYR, a fabled creature of Greek mythology, compounded of a man and a goat, and supposed to be the deity of forests and rural places. Isa. 13 : 21 ; 34: 14. The expression "satyrs shall dance there," etc., denotes that the place shall become as a rude, wild, uncultivated waste. It is possible that after the desolation of Babylon some species of ape or baboon may have been found in that region, and may be meant by this word.
SAUL [desired). 1. A king of Edom. Gen. 36 : 37, 38; called Shaul in 1 Chr. 1: 48, 49.
2. The first king of Israel, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. His personal appearance was so remarkably fine and noble as to be particularly mentioned by the sacred historian. His search for his father's asses was the occasion of his visit to Samuel, whom he consulted as a "seer," on the advice of his servant. Samuel, having been divinely admonished of the approach of Saul and instructed what to do, invited him to his house and treated him with marked distinction. The next day Samuel made known to him privately that he was to have the rule over Israel, and while they were in the way he took a vial of oil, and, pouring it on his head, anointed him for the regal office. To convince Saul that this thing was of the Lord, Samuel predicted three signs, the last Saul's power to " prophesy," which would be fulfilled on his home-journey. The events happened as Samuel had foretold and Saul prophesied. By prophecy we are to here understand excited proclaiming or singing, an d n ot a foretellin g of the future. 1 Sam. 9; 10 : 1-16. At this point we are obliged to depart from the order in First Samuel. The brutal insult of Na-hash was avenged by Israel under the leadership of Saul, who from his home at Gibeah, whither he had gone after his secret anointing, sends an urgent order upon every man in the nation to follow him. Some 330,000 assembled under his leadership, and a great victory was gained. Ch. 11. Thus the Lord prepared the way for Saul's acceptance by the people as their king. Ch. 10 : 17-25. At first, Saul lived unpretendingly, almost as a private citizen—indeed, his sway seems to have been limited. But after a little while (comp. 10 : 26, 27: 13 : 2) he lived in more regal fashion. It is
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impossible to say how old he was at this time, but perhaps about forty years. He was emphatically a military king, and so successful was he that the borders of Israel must have been considerably enlarged and the fear of Israel very widespread. His reign opened favorably. But he soon proved he was no ideal prince. So impatient was he that he could not wait at (iilgal for Samuel to come, as he had appointed, and so he offered sacrifice; for doing which he was reproved by the old prophet, 13 : 14, yet the divine favor was not withdrawn. Very strange, if not the result of madness, was his insisting that Jonathan should die, though the army interfered in time. The declaration of Samuel that the Lord would not establish his house preyed upon his mind, and he was a changed man from this time forth. He treated God's command carelessly, ch. 15, and was again severely rebuked by Samuel; nor did he show any real repentance. He looked upon his attendants with suspicion. He played the coward before the Philistines. Music relieved him, but his malady was no ordinary lunacy. His treatment of David, his first love for him, his failure to remember him, the return of his affection, and then the complete turn against him, indicated the state of his mind. He pursued David, though twice he was momentarily softened by David's words and deeds. Ch. 24 : 16: 26 : 21. We can understand how jealousy, nourished, became madness at last. Then, too, we see the hand of God. Saul breaks down completely. On the eve of a battle, which his unsettled mind forebodes will be decisive, he seeks a witch, and of her demands an interview with Samuel. The woman performs her incantations, but, to her horror, she herself sees an apparition and hears the voice of the dead. Samuel charged Saul with his disobedience to the divine command in the matter of Amalek, assured him that all his efforts to obtain aid elsewhere were vain if God had become his enemy, and admonished him that defeat and ruin were at hand, and that he and his sons should the next day be inhabitants of the world of spirits. Ch. 28.
The last flicker of the old fire of courage sufficed to enable Saul to man himself for the conflict, notwithstanding this crushing intelligence. He gave the 49
Philistines battle, but was routed with dreadful slaughter. Among the killed were Saul's three sons. Saul, finding himself wounded and likely to fall into the hands of the enemy, threw himself upon the point of his own sword. When the Philistines found the body of Saul they severed the head from it and fastened the body on the city wail, from which it was afterward taken in the night by some of his friends from a distance, and carried to Jabesh-gilead and buried. 1 Sam. 31.
SAUL. OF TAR'SUS. See Paul.
SAVIOUR. Luke 2 : 11. See Christ.
SAW. This tool, among the Hebrews, probably resembled that so often depicted upon the Egyptian monuments. It was only single-handled ; the teeth ran in the opposite direction to ours, therefore the workman pushed the saw from him, as is the custom now in the East. Besides a saw for wood, Isa. 10 : 15, there is mention of a kind for stone. 1 Kgs. 7 : 9. Saws were used likewise as instruments of torture. 2 Sam. 12 : 31 ; cf. 1 Chr. 20 : 3 ; Heb. 11 : 37. Tradition asserts that in this manner the prophet Isaiah was killed, and history recounts instances of this use of the saw among the Egyptians, Persians, and Romans.
SCAPEGOAT. Lev. 16 : 20. See Goat.
SCAR'LET. Gen. 38 : 28. See Colors.
SCEP'TRE,awooden staff or wand, 5 or 6 feet long, usually overlaid with gold or decorated with golden rings, with an ornamented point. It was borne in the hands of kings and others in authorit}' as a token of power. Gen. 49 : 10 ; Num. 24 : 17. When the sceptre was held out to be touched by an individual approaching the throne, it was a sign of the royal acceptance and favor.
There is no bil)]ieal instance of a " sceptre being actually handled by a Jewish king. The term is used metaphorically. The use of a staff as a symbol of authority was not confined to kings; it might be used by any leader." —Smith.
SCE'VA {Jilted), an Ephesian Jewish priest whose seven sons practised exorcism. Acts 19 : 14.
SCHISm means a rupture or separation, I Cor. 12 : 25, but it is supposed to
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denote in this passage any such alienation of feeling among Christians as violates the spiritual union which ought to exist among them, though there be no doctrinal error or separate communions.
SCHOOL, Acts 19: 9. SCHOL'-AR, 1 Chr. 25 : 8, SCHOOL'MAS-TER. Gal. 3 : 24. Schools existed among the Jews from a very early period. They were established under the supervision of the prophets to train young men to become expounders of the Law, and so fit them for the priestly and prophetical offices. 1 Sam. 19 : 18-24; 2 Kgs. 2 : 3, 5, 7, 12, 15. The children were taught to read by their parents and in common schools, and in higher seminaries were instructed by doctors in the Law and traditions. The system of education in religious matters was quite advanced and very popular. It was settled just at what age a child should begin, how many scholars a teacher should have, and by whom he should be paid. See Education'.
The schoolmaster, in Paul's use of the term, was a person to whom was committed the care of children, to lead them, to observe them, and to instruct them in their first rudiments. Thus the office nearly answered to that of a governor or tutor. Gal. 4: 2, 3, who constantly attends his pupil, teaches him, and forms his manners. It is said. Gal. 3: 24, 25, '' The law was our schoolmaster to hrinff »sunto Christ." It pointed out Christ in the Scriptures, especially in the figures and the prophecies of the 0. T.; but, since we are supposed to be advanced to superior learning, and a e committed to the tuition of the faith which we have embraced, we have no i longer need of a schoolmaster, as such I is of no further use to young persons I when advanced to years of maturity. |
SCHOOLS OF THE PROPH'-ETS. 1 Sam. 10 : 5. See Prophets.
SCOR'PIOIV, a venomous creature allied to the spider, but resembling the lobster so much that the latter is called the sea-scorpion by the Arabs. Its shape and general appearance are seen in the cut. Its usual length is 1 or 2 inches, but in tropical climates it is sometimes found 6 or 8 inches in length, and its sting is attended with excruciating pain, I Kev. 9 : 3-6, terminating often in violent I 770
[ convulsions and death. The malignity of I the venom is according to the size and I complexion of the different species. 1 Scorpions are found in all warm climates, and are abundant in Palestine, where eight species are known, and are especially common about Mount Sinai. Deut. 8:15. They remain dormant during the cold season, but through the rest of the year swarm under stones and in all the crannies and crevices of walls and houses. Their food consists of beetles, locusts, and other insects. The sting is a curved claw at the end of the tail, and
Scorpioi
this latter the animal, in running, carries over its back in a threatening attitude. Luke 11 : 12 seems to mean merely the bestowal of a dangerous and unwelcome gift rather than a good one, and may refer to the Greek proverb: "A scorpion instead of a perch."
An instrument resembling a whip, but so formed with knots or small stones as that each blow should inflict a sharp stinging pain, is perhaps alluded to in 1 Kgs. 12 : 11. See Scourge.
" Maaleh-akrabbim," Josh. 15 : 3 : Jud. 1 : 36, is literally "the ascent of scorpions," and derives its name from the multitude of scorpions which infest it.
SCOURGE. After the Babylonish Captivity the scourge was formed of three lashes or thongs made of leather or small cords, thirteen strokes of which were equal to thirty-nine lashes, and not more than fortv could be given under the Law. Deut. 25 : 1-3 : 2 Cor. 11: 24. The sufferer was tied by his arms to a low pillar, his back laid oare and his body bent forward, and the blows so applied. Sometimes sharp iron points or sharp-
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cornered pieces of metal were fastened to the end of the thonj^s, to render the suffering still more extreme. It is debated whether the whip was used before the
Flagellum or Scourge.
Captivity. Certainly the rod was, as is the case to-day in the East. The punishment was inflicted in the synagogue. Matt. 10 : 17 ; 23 : 34 ; Acts 5 : 40. The Romans used to beat with rods and whips; the number of blows was unlimited. But so degrading was this punishment in its nature and effects that no citizen of the Roman empire could be subjected to it. Acts 22 : 25, 26. Many were known to die under the cruel infliction. Sometimes it took place on the way to execution, and sometimes it was itself the only punishment. The punishment with rods or twigs seems to have been a separate infliction. 2 Cor. 11 : 2.').
In our Lord's scourging, Matt. 27 : 26 ; Mark 15 : 15; John 19 : 1, we see a literal fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy. 53 : 5.
SCREECH-OWL. See Owi..
SCRIBE. There are two Hebrew words which mean " a writer," but one
is usually translated in the A. V. by Offickr, which see. The other is cor^ rectly rendered " scribe." The art of writing may well, among the Hebrews, have been in early times a rare accomplishment, and therefore a class of men would arise who earned their living by carrying on correspondence orconducting accounts. But the first one of the class mentioned in the Bible is Sheva, the scribe of David, 2 Sam. 20 : 25, and that it was an honorable post is proven by the mention of him by name. The duty of the king's scribe was to record the edicts, and on one occasion at least to act as a kind of treasurer. 2 Kgs. 12 : 10. Scribes also officiated in the army. Jer. 52 : 25. It is, however, the N. T. usage which is most familiar to us. Scribes and Pharisees are inseparably linked. But these "scribes" are wholly diff'erent. They were the copyists of the Law, and because such a minute acquaintance with it as their business implied led them to become authorities upon the details of Mosaism, it came to pass that they were popularly regarded as the teachers of the Law. This class of men originated, it would seem, during the Exile. Ezra was their leader and pattern. Ezr. 7 : 6. They were held in great respect, but in many cases they were unworthy of it. As the distance from the close of the canon increased, these privileged and learned expounders of the Law took greater liberties with the text and made it void through their traditions. Mark 7 : 13. But the position some of the class occupied as members of the San-hedrin, Matt. 26 : 3, the associates of the priests in the most important matters. Matt. 21 : 15, their numbers, and the popular awe of them, increase our estimate of the courage evinced by Jesus in attacking them, as he did repeatedly and in the most unmeasured terms. Matt. 23 : 1-33. They were his determined and wily foes. Luke 5 : 30 : 6 : 7 ; 10 : 25. That there were exceptions is manifest, for Jesus speaks of scribes being sent of God, Matt. 23 : 34, and one of his parables relates to a scribe "instructed unto the kingdom of heaven." Matt. 13 : 52. The scribes formed a regularly organized college, into which members were admitted by special examination. The scribes and lawyers were one class. See Lawyers.
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A Jewisli Scribe.
SCRIP, in 1 Sam. 17 : 40, means a
shepherd's bag. In the N. T. " scrip " means a wallet suspended from the shoulder for carrying food. Matt. 10 : 10; Luke 10: 4.
SCRIP^TURE. See Bible.
SCUR'VY. Lev. 21 : 20 and 22 : 22. The disease known by this name, in modern times, is usually caused by long confinement in cold and damp climates, without fresh provisions. In the progress of it, the skin becomes dry and scaly and livid spots appear. Probably this appearance of the skin is all that is denoted by the word "scurvy" in the passages cited.
SCYTH'IAN, a name used indefinitely by ancient writers, sometimes to denote all the nomadic tribes that roamed over the countries north of the Black and Caspian Seas, and sometimes for a particular people remarkable for their rude and barbarous condition. Col. 3 : n.
SCYTHOP'OLIS {citi, of the Sci/fhians-), a city in Palestine, and identical with ancient Beth-shean. It is noticed by this name in the Apocryphal book of Judith. See Beth-shean.
SEA. The Hebrew word i/nm, or "sea," is used in Scripture: (1) for the "gathering of waters," or the ocean, Gen. 1 : 2, 10 ; Deut. 30 : 13 ; (2) as referring to the Mediterranean Sea, under 772
the title of the " hinder," the " western," the " utmost," sea, or the *' sea of the Philistines," the "great sea," or simply " the sea," Deut. 11 : 24; 34 : 2 : Joel 2 : 20; Ex. 23:31 : Num. 34:6,7; Josh. 15 : 47; Gen. 49 : 13 .: Ps. 80 : 11: 107 : 23 ; 1 Kgs. 4 : 20; (3) as referring to the Red Sea, Ex. 15 : 4; (4) as referring to inland lakes, like the Salt, or Dead, Sea; (5) to any great collection of waters, as the Nile or the Euphrates in time of a flood or high water. Isa. 19 : 5 ; Am. 8 : 8, A. V. "flood;" Nah. 3:8; Eze. 32 : 2 : Jer. 51 : 3fi.
SEA OF CHIN NERETH. Num. 34: 11. See Galilee. Sea of.
SEA OF JA ZER. Jer. 48 : 32. See Jazer.
SEA OF TIBE RIAS. John 21: 1. See Galilee, Sea of.
SEA, THE DEAD. See Salt Sea.
SEA, THE MEDITERRA'-NEAN". See Sea; Great Sea.
SEA, THE MOLTEN, or BRA'ZEN, the name of the large copper or bronze laver made hj Solomon for the temple, and which stood upon twelve metal oxen in the southeast corner of the court of the priests. It is described in 1 Kgs. 7 : 23-26. It was 74 feet high, 15 feet in diameter, and 45 feet in circumference, and contained 16,000 gallons (2 Chr. 4 : 5 says
SEA
SEA .
Phcenician Seal.
24,000). The Gibeonitcs, it is said, were at first employed to bring the water requisite to fill it, but at a later day it was supplied by a conduit from the pools of Bethlehem. Solomon made it of the copper ca|itured from Tibhatli and Chun, cities of Iladarezer, king of Zobah. 1 Chr. 18 : 8. Ahaz took down the sea from otf the brazen oxen and put it upon a pavement of stones. 2 Kgs. 16 : 17. The Assyrians brolie it in pieces. 2 Kgs. 25 : 13. See Layer.
SEA, THE RED. See Red Sea.
SEA, THE SALT. Gen. 14 : 3. See Salt Sea.
SEAL. 1 Kgs. 21 : 8. This was usually employed to authenticate public or private papers. Jer. 32 : 10. If a door j or box was to be sealed, it was first fas-tened with some ligament, upon which 1 clay or wax was spread anci then impressed with a seal or signet. Frequently a ring with some inscription on it was used as a seal, by the delivery or transfer of which the highest offices of the kingdom were bestowed. Gen. 41 : 42; Esth. 3 : 10. In sealing the sepulchre. Matt. 27 : 6(). it is probable that the fastening of the stone which secured the entrance was covered with clay or wax, and so impressed with a public or private seal that any violation of it could be discovered at once. Sec Rings, Letters.
Modern travellers describe the seal used in the East, at the present day, as made of cornelian, or agate, with the name or title of the writer, or some verse of the Koran or other motto, engraved upon it. 2 Tim. 2 : 19. It is fastened into a ring and worn on the hand. Cant. 8 : 6. When used it is either applied to the wax, or is covered with some substance which, being stamped on the paper, leaves the desired impression.
The word " seal " is used figuratively in the Bible to denote an act or token or process of confirmation. Rom. 4:11: Eph. 4 : 30.
SEA'SOXS. In Palestine the year is very nearly divided by the equinoxes into two seasons—the dry nnd the rain v. In the promise made to Noah, Gen. 8 :
22, this division seems to be indicated, and the two portions of the year are designated as " seed-time and harvest," ''cold and heat," "summer and winter."
More ])articularly, (jraiu-harveHt continues from the middle of April until near the middle of June. During this period the sky is clear, the air warm, and even hot in the valleys and on the coast, very much like the beginning of summer with us. As it }»roceeds the heat in the plains is great. For the next two months the heat increases, and the nights are so warm that the people sleep in the open air upon the roofs of their houses. The Arabs call this the vernal summer.
The season of fruits lasts from about the middle of August to the middle of November. The intensity of the heat is greater by day, but toward the end of summer the nights begin to be cool.
During these three periods, up to the beginning or middle of September, there are no showers, rain being as scarce in summer as snow, 1 Sam. 12:17. Hence the proverb, Prov. 26 : 1. From the end of April until September a cloud rarely is to be seen upon the face of the heavens. During all this time the earth is moistened by the dew, which is, therefore, a frequent emblem of divine grace and goodness. Sometimes a cloud appears in the morning, but it disappears with the dew as soon as the sun exerts its power. Hos. 6 : 4. The dry grass of the fields sometimes takes fire and produces desolating conflagration, and the parched earth is cleft and broken into chasms. This is more particularly the case when the east wind blows, (ilen. 41 : fi ; Hos. 13 : 15. Between the middle of September and the middle of October there are two or three days of rain, which suffices to refresh all nature, so that the whole land is clad in verdure.
This prepares the earth for seedtime, which continues from early in October until early in December, immediately following the former or "early rain." which is so needful for the sower. In the early part of this period it is still quite hot, so that all journeys are made by night, as the temperature is then agreeable and the sky is clear. As the year .advances, however, there are alternations of heat and cold, as with us in autumn. The weather becomes unset-
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tied, and there are fogs and clouds even when there is no rain. In the mountains snow sometimes falls toward the middle of December. The streams are still small, and many of their channels altogether dry. In the latter part of November the trees lose their foliage, and fires are made toward the last days of seed-time.
Wiitter strictly includes the period from the middle of December till the middle of February. Snow occasionally falls on the highlands, but seldom remains more than a few hours, except upon the mountains. Ps. 147 : 16,17. Ice is rare, and vegetable life is seldom injured by frost and does not require protection. During the winter months the roads are very bad. Matt. 24 : 20. The greatest cold lasts about forty days, from the 12th of December to the 20th of January. The north wind is now exceedingly penetrating. Gen. 31 : 40. Yet in the level country, when the sun shines, it is quite warm. Josephus says that in his day it was as warm in winter at Caisarea, on the coast, as at other places in summer. In this season hail- and thunderstorms are common; the brooks rise, and all the streams fill their channels. Toward the end of January the fields become green, and there is every appearance of approaching spring. In the early part of February the trees are in leaf, and before the middle of the month some fruit trees are in blossom—first the almond, then the apricot, peach, and plum. Other trees blossom in March.
From February until April it is still cold, but less so, and the spriiir/ may be said to have arrived. The heats of noon are greater and greater, especially in the flat country. The rains continue, but in smaller and smaller quantities. Thunder and hail are more frequent. Toward the close of this period the rains cease, and the last falls in the early part of April, and is called the "latter rain." which seems to give strength to the filling grain. The crops of grain are as much advanced in February as with us in May and June. The wheat and barley have at this time nearly attained their height. The grain has fully ripened in the sruthern part of Palestine by the middle of April, and in the northern and mountainous parts three weeks later; but sometimes, when the sowing has 774
been in January, the grain does not come to maturity before July or August.
Upon the sixteenth day after the first new moon in April, there was a solemn presentation made to the Lord of the first sheaf of ripe barley. The grain, however, as we may readily suppose, was mature sometimes earlier and sometimes later. It was common to reckon four months from seed-time to harvest. The cutting and securing the grain was carried on for about seven weeks—that is, from the Passover until Pentecost, which last is therefore called the "feast of weeks.'' This was a season of very great enjoyment and festivit}' when the harvest had been plentiful. The reapers—that is to say, the children, slaves, and other domestics—indulged in mirth and joined in songs suitable to the occasion, and in congratulations to the master of the harvest. Ps. 126 : 6 ; Isa. 9 : 3. The grain was then gathered and bound into sheaves, as with us. See Hail, Rain. Palestine.
SEAT, MO'SES', Matt. 23 : 2, is a figurative expression, denoting the assumption of the same authority or ofiice as belonged to Moses.
SEATS. Matt. 21 : 12. The nations of the East seat themselves upon the mats or carpets with which their floors are covered. In the houses of the rich there are spread pillows or cushions stufi'ed with cotton, or, in some cases, a broad but very low sofa or divan with arms, stuffed cushions, and costly ornaments. Upon these divans, as well as upon the floor or ground, they sit, with the legs bent under and crossed, in a half-kneeling posture.
The ancient Hebrews used the posture which has just been described. After the Captivity, however, the rich and noble adopted the Persian method of lying down at table upon couches. Am. 6 : 4, which was likewise practised by the Greeks and Romans. In the passage of Amos it is said of the luxurious sinners who lived nearly eight hundred years before Christ, they " lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches." These " beds of ivory " were probably divans, such as those above mentioned, but richly decorated with ivory. They used at table very low and broad divans, and the guests stretched themselves at full length. Each
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divan held three persons. The back was supported bj a cushion, and the face so turned toward the table that the head was hold up with the left hand upon another cushion. The right hand was thus free to reach the food. The second person lay with the back part of his head toward the breast of the former, and the third, in like manner, with the back part of his head toward the second. Thus they lay, so to speak, in the bosoms of their neighbors. Luke 16 : 23; John 13 : 23. This was the ordinary posture at meals, and the feet of the guests were distant from the table. Hence we can readily form an idea of the scene described in Luke 7 : 38.
In the eating-room there were commonly three such divans; the middle place of the middle divan was accounted most honorable. This was the seat which the Pharisees so much affected at feasts. 1 Sam. 9 : 22; Matt. 23 : 6; Luke 14 : 8, 9. At the present day the corner of the bed-divan is the seat of dignity, anrl so it was in ancient times among the Hebrews. Am. 3 : 12. This manner of reclining at meals—at least, in Persia —was imitated by the women. Esth. 7:8. It is uncertain whether Hebrew women ate in the same apartment with the men. See Eat, Eating.
SE'BA {man ?), a wealthy and commercial region of Ethiopia, Ps. 72: 10; Isa. 43 : 3 ; 45 : 14 ; Eze. 23 : 42. Seba appears to have corresponded to the northern portion of Abyssinia. Jose-phus placed the original Seba at Meroe, but the name seems, in later times, to have included a region of considerable importance on the south-western coast of the Red Sea. Its inhabitants are mentioned with Sheba, Ps. 72 : 10, the trading-people of the other side of the sea. The inhabitants of both Sheba and Seba were called Sabreans by Greek and Latin writers, but the Hebrew words are distinct. Meroe lay between the river Astaboras, the northern tributary of the Nile, and the Astapus or " Blue River." The capital city was about 90 miles south of the junction of the Astaboras and the Nile. Extensive ruins 20 miles northeast of Shendy, in Nubia, near the Nile, may indicate the site. See Sab^us.
SE'BAT, OR SHE'BAT. Zech. 1 : 7. See Month.
SEC'ACAH {enclosure), one of the
six cities in the wilderness of Judah, on the western side of the Dead Sea. Josh. 15 : fil. ' Conder suggests its identity with the ruin Sikkeh, east of Bethany.
SE'CHU (?//<.'/t(Y/, or t';/(j;je/(fe), a place apparently on the route between (iibeah and Ramah—that is, between the residence of Saul and that of Samuel—noted for the "great well" or cistern. 1 Sam. 19 : 22. Swartz speaks of a large pit at Bir Neballa, near JVehi/ Sunnvil, which may mark the place, but Conder proposes to locate its site at Siiweikeh, immediately south of Beeroth,
SECT. The word appears eight times in the A. V. It has a twofold meaning—either a " chosen set of doctrines or mode of life. Acts 24: 14; 2 Pet. 2:1; or else a parti/ adhering to the doctrine."— Sinifh. But it does not necessarily imply any error of doctrine or practice. It is alwaj's in the singular, and always as a translation of the Greek term " heresy," which signifies, primarily, ''choice," then ''party," "sect," and is used of the religious parties among the Jews, Acts 5:17; 15 : 5 ; 26 : 5 ; of the Christians in general, who were for a long time called by the Jews, in contempt, " the sect of the Nazarenes," Acts 24 : 5 ; of parties within the Christian Church, 1 Cor. 11: 19 ; of heresies proper, or errors—that is, wilful perversions of Christian truth. 2 Pet. 2:1; Gal. 5 : 20.
It is easy to see how Christianity was originally considered as a new sect of Judaism; hence, Tertullus, accusing Paul before Felix, says that he was chief of the seditious sect of the Nazarenes, Acts 24 : 5, and the Jews of Rome said to the apostle, when he arrived in that city, that, as to " this sect," it was everywhere spoken against. Acts 28 : 22. The word " heresy," in Acts 24 : 14, is the same in the original with the word " sect " in Acts 24 : 5; so that the apostle replies directly to the argument of Tertullus, and admits that, " after the manner of a sect, producing division and schism, as my persecutors say, so worship I the God of my fathers." In countries having an established Church or a State religion, the word "sect" is applied to those communities or bodies of Christians who separate themselves from the Establishment. In the United States the word cannot of course be used in this
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sense with any propriety, there being no national Church. Each separate communion enjoys its own rights and privileges as fully as any other, and, while there are no sects, properly speaking. there are a great number of denominations, as Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist, etc.. etc.
SECUN'DUS {seco),d, or forttniate), a Christian of Thessalonica. Acts 20 : 4.
SEDI'TIONS, Gal. 5 : 20, should be " divisions."
SEED, MIN'GLED. Lev. 19 : 19. Travellers tell us that women are employed in Aleppo and elsewhere in cleansing the mimjled seed from all admixture, to prepare it for sowing.
SEED-TIME. Gen. 8 : 22. See Seasons.
SEER. 1 Sam. 9 : 9. See Prophets.
SEETHE, to boil. Ex. 16 : 23.
SE.'G\JB (elevated). 1. The youngest son of Hiel, who built Jericho. 1 Kgs. 16 : 34.
2. A descendant of Judah. 1 Chr. 2 : 21, 22.
SE'IR(/m?"r?/),aHoritechiefwhogave his name, probably, to the mountainous region wherein he lived. Gen. 36 : 20.
SE'IR (hairi/), the name of a region and of a place.
1. The land or mount of Seir was a mountain-district extending from the Dead Sea to the eastern arm of the Red Sea. It was bounded on the east by the Arabian desert, and on the west bj' the deep valley of the Arabah. The mountains are of sandstone and granite, the principal peak being Mount Ilor, which is 4800 feet high. This district was anciently inhabited by the Horites. Gen. 14 : 6'; Deut. 2:12. Afterward, Seir was the possession of Esau and his posterity. Gen. 32:3; 33:14,16; 36:8,9; Deut. 2 : 4, 22 ; 2 Chr. 20 : 10. Hence, Seir sometimes means Edom. The Israelites, when refused permission to go to Moab through Edom, marched round the mountain, down the Arabah, between the limestone cliffs of the Tih on the west and the granite range of Mount Seir on the east, until they could turn to the left and march north toward Moab.
2. Mount Seir, a place noted as one of the landmarks in the boundary of Judah. Josh. 15: 10. It was between Kirjath-jearim and Beth-shemesh. and may be the high ridge between the Wddi/ A/i/
776
and the Wddy Ghurah. In the pass leading to Beit Ainmi, near Tekuu, is the modern village of S'ldir among the hills which may be its site, but Conder suggests Bdtii es Saghdr as the Seir of 2 Chr. 20 : 23.
SE'IRATH (she-goat), the place of refuge whither Ehud fled after his murder of Eglon. Jud. 3 : 26, 27. Perhaps it may be found in Mount Ephraim, aeon-' tinuation of the rugged bushy hills which stretched to Judah's northern boundary.
SE'LA, AND SE'L AH (rock), a celebrated city of Edom, the Greek name being " Petra," or ''rock." It was so called from its remarkable situation, " the rock," for which the Hebrew word is " Sela," and the Greek is " Petra." Sela was situated about halfway between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the northern end of the Gulf of Akabah. The city lay in a deep cleft of the range of Mount Seir, near the foot of Mount Hor, and in its situation and in its history was one of the most remarkable cities of antiquity.
Historij. —Sela is only twice mentioned in the 0. T. Amaziah captured it, and called it Joktheel—that is, ** subdued of God." 2 Kgs. 14 : 7. It was afterward a possession of Moab, and was then exhorted to send a tribute of sheep to Zion. Isa. 16 : 1. In some other passages the word " rock" is supposed to refer to Sela, as in Jud. 1 : 36; 2 Chr. 25 : 11, 12; Isa. 42 : 11; Ob. 3 ; but some of these seem to be indefinite, and cannot be referred to the city with any certainty. Sela is not mentioned in the N. T., but has a relation to a N. T. charaeter, for the first wife of Herod Antipas, whom he divorced to take Herodias, Luke 3:19, was the daughter of Aretas, king of Petra, and this wickedness of Herod led to war.
Aretas was the general name of the sovereigns of Arabia Petrtea, a kingdom which gradually included the territory belonging to the ancient Edomites, who were driven out by the Nabatheans, an Arabian tribe descended from Nebajoth, the eldest son of Ishmael. Gen. 25 : 13; Isa. 60 : 7. In B. c. 301, Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors, sent two expeditions against them, but with slight success. Petra became an important trade centre. It is mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome. It became an ecclesiastical see, and its
Tile J;uck-Tt-iiiijle.-, at .■^i-la (Petra;. (Ajter a rhotogmph.)
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bishops are mentioned as late as A. d. 536. Afterward, Petra entirely disappeared from history, and remained unknown for thirteen hundred years. Since 1807 it has been visited and described by many travellers, of whom the most noted were Seetzen (1807), Burckhardt (1812), Irby and Mangles (1818). The reports of these early travellers seem almost as unreal as an Arabian tale, but later researches have shown that Petra was really one of the most wonderful cities of the earth. Robinson, Porter, Baedeker, and Stanley describe it fully.
Present Appearance. — Petra is approached from the east through a remarkable and famous defile, the Sik, or "cleft," between rocks of red sandstone rising perpendicularly to the height of 100, 200, or 300 feet. This gorge is about a mile and a half in length. It is a dry torrent-bed, and is known among the Arabs as Wddj Mousa, from the tradition of the Koran that this cleft was made by the rod of Moses when he brought the stream through into the valley beyond. The road through this cleft was once regularly paved like the Appian Way, and the pavement still remains in some places. The cliffs are of sandstone, and the rocks show beautifully-variegated colors of crimson, indigo, yellow, purple, etc. At the end of the defile, and fronting it, is a temple excavated from the rock. This is the so-called Kliaznet Fir'aioi, or ''Treasury of Pharaoh." The facade is 85 feet in height; the sculpturing is in excellent preservation; five out of six columns are standing. The portal leads into a spacious chamber 12 yards square and 25 feet high. About 200 yards farther are the ruins of the magnificent amphitheatre, the chief boast of Petra. It is hewn entirely from the rock, and is 39 yards in diameter; thirty-three tiers of seats rise one above another, and the whole would probably accommodate from three thousand to four thousand spectators. Among the other principal objects of interest are the Kasr Fir'aun, or '' Pharaoh's palace," the triumphal arch, several temples, and numerous tombs, some of verj' elaborate workmanship. The whole valley of Petra is about three-quarters of a mile long and from 250 to 500 yards wide. The situation of this city in the midst of the desert greatly 778
enhances the impression made by the ruins. The complete destruction and desolation of the place fulfils the proph-ecv of Jeremiah. 49 : 16, 17.
SEXAH. Hab. 3 : 3, 9, 13. This is a musical term, and occurs seventy-one times in thirty-nine Psalms, also in Hab. 3 : 3, 9, 13—in all, therefore, seventy-four times in the Bible. The most probable definition of it is that it " directs the falling-in of the sound of the priests' trumpets into the Levite:' psalm-singing and playing on stringe.l instruments. It occurs, therefore, wliere very warm emotions have been expressed." " Higgaion," joined with " Selah," Ps. 9 : 16, some render " a louder strain," others, '• piano." We know nothing definite about it. See Marginal Reading.
SE'LA-HAMMAHLE'KOTH (rock of divisions), a natural stronghold in the wilderness Maon, south-east of Hebron, and where David made a remarkable escape from Saul. 1 Sam. 23 : 28. It has been identified with a place in the present Wddy Malaki/, east of Maon.
SE'LED (exnltation), a descendant of Judah. 1 Chr. 2 : 30.
SELEU'CIA, the seaport of Anti-och, and the place at which Paul and Barnabas embarked on their first missionary journey. It was on the Mediterranean, about 5 miles north of the river Orontes and 16 miles west of Anti-och. Seleucia lay on the slope of Mount Corypha?us, and was founded by Seleu-cus Nicator, died B. c. 280. To distinguish it from other cities named from the same founder, it was sometimes called "Seleucia ad Mare," or "Seleucia by the sea," and, from Mount Pierus, it was called " Seleucia Pieria." The city appears to have been a very beautiful one under the rule of the Seleucidae. The harbor was excellent, enclosing a basin of 47 acres. The masonry is jet in good preservation, although the port is choked with sand and mud. There is still a gateway at the south-eastern corner of the city, through which Paul and Barnabas probably passed. The Arabs called it Selukiyeh, and the city is now in a desolate condition, only a small village existing near its site, and called
El-Kahifii.
SELEU'CUS, the name of five kings called the Seleucidae. Seleucus Philopator was the fourth, and is men-
SEM
SEN
tioned in the Apocrj-pha, 1 Mace. 7:1;
2 Mace. 3 : 3, and elsewhere. He was the son of Antiochus tlie Great, whom he succeeded,B.C. 187. llis policy toward the Jews was conciliatory. In 2 Mace.
3 there is an interesting account of the attempt he made to plunder the temple and how signally he failed. Heliodorus, who was the agent in this business, poisoned him, b. c. 175. He was succeeded by Antiochus Epiphanes. Daniel describes him, 11 : 20, as " a raiser of taxes," because he had to resort to extraordinary measures to raise the requisite revenues.
SEM, Greek form for "Shem," used in Luke 3 : 36.
SEMACHI'AH {Jehovah sustains hint), a grandson of Obed-edom, and a Levite porter. 1 Chr. 26 : 7.
SEM'EI {renowned), one mentioned in our Lord's genealog}'. Luke 3 : 26.
SENA'AH {fhorni/), a place (named with the article) whose inhabitants returned from captivity with Zerubbabel. Ezr. 2 : 35 ; Neh. 7 : 38 ; 3:3. Eusebi-us and Jerome mention Magdal Senaah, 7 miles north of Jericho, but it cannot be certainly identified with this Senaah.
SEN'ATE. The word denotes the "elders of Israel," one of three classes composing the Sanhedrin; the other two were the priests and the scribes. Acts 5 : 21.
SE'NEH {hush, or thorn-rock), the name of one of the sharp rocks by which Jonathan sought the Philistines. 1 Sam. 14:4. In the Wddy Suweinif, a deep valley south of Michmash, about 65 miles north of Jerusalem, are two remarkable hills, one on each side of the valley, which are supposed to be Bozez and Seneh.
SE'NIR {eoat-of-mail, or cataract), a name for Mount Hermon. 1 Chr. 5 : 23 ; Eze. 27 : 5. See Her.mon.
SENNACH'ERIB (Ileb. Sanherib, Sin, the moon, sent nnmy brothers — i. e., he was not his father's eldest son) was king of Assyria when Hezekiah reigned in Ju-dah. He was the son and successor of Sar-gon. Judah had paid tril)ute to Assyria, but under Hezekiah it revolted, and so revenge was determined upon; accordingly^ Sennacherib appears in the Bible as the invader of Palestine on two occasions. The first time he was pacified hj a tribute. 2 Kgs. 18 : 14. But, Hezekiah hav-
ing the second time revolted, he sent an embassy with a few troops to the capital and demanded submission. He also sent an insulting letter to Hezekiah, who went up to the house of the Lord and prayed for deliverance. His prayer was answered, for the Assyrian army besieging Libnah was smitten with a plague so se-
Seunacherib on )iis Thioiie. (trojn monuments at Kouyunjik.)
vere that it is stated 185.000 died in one night. The eff"ect of this catastrojihe was that the siege was raised and Sennacherib retreated to Nineveh. 2 Kgs. 19 : 35. Many years—perhaps twenty— after this he was worshijiping in the house of his god Nisroch when Adrajn-melech and Sharezer, his sons, smote him with the sword. 19 : 37. He was succeeded by Esar-haddon.
Sennacherib's reign lasted twenty-two
SEN
SER
years, B. c. 705-682. It was brilliant. He crushed the revolt of Babylon, attacked Sidon, made many cities tribute, and, as Sargon had done, laid a heavy hand upon the neighboring nations. lie made Nineveh his capital and adorned it with many splendid buildings. His palaces were large and beautiful. His monuments exist in unexpected places. Thus, at the mouth of the Nakr tl-Kalh, near Beyrout, and close by an inscription of Barneses the Great of Egypt, is the record of his arrival.
SENU'AH {hristUmi), properly, " Hasenuah," with the definite article, a Benjamite. 1 Chr. 9:7; Neh. 11 : 9.
SEO'RIM {barley), the head of the fourth priestly course. 1 Chr. 24 : 8.
SE'PHAR, a boundary of the Jok-tanites. Gen. 10 : 30. It was probably in South-eastern Arabia, near the shore of the Indian Ocean, where is an ancient seaport-town called Zafar.
SEPH'ARAD {separation), a place from whence captive Jews would return to the cities of the South. It is named only in Ob. 20. Some identify the place with Sardis in Lydia ; others with Zare-phath ; while modern Jews regard it as Spain, and others identify it with Sip-phara. See Sepharvaim.
SEPHARVA'IM {the tu-o Sipparas, one being on each side of the river), a place in Assyria from whence colonists came into Israel or Samaria. 2 Kgs. 17 : 24; 18 : 34; 19 : 13 ; Isa. 36 : 19 ; 37 : 13. Rawlinson and others have proposed to identify it with Sippara, a town on the Euphrates, between Hit and Babylon. It was built on both sides of the Euphrates, or of the canal, and the one was called Sipar-sa-Samas —/. e., ''consecrated to Samas, the sun-god ;" the other was called Sipar-sn-A)iu)r)t, ''consecrated to the goddess Anunit." On the monuments it is called " Sippara of the Sun." It had a library, probably similar to that found at Nineveh,whicli has been deciphered by George Smith and others. The modern town Mdx'iil) now stands near its site.
SE'PHARVITES, the inhabitants of Sejiharvaim. 2 Kgs, 17 : 31.
SEP'TUAGINT, the Greek version of the 0, T. See Biblk.
SEP'ULCHRE. See Burial.
SE'RAH ( princess), a daughter of Asher. (4on. 46 : 1 7 ; 1 Chr. 7 : 30 ; called Sarah in Num. 26 : 46. 780
SERAI'AH {warrior of Jehovah). 1. David's scribe, 2 Sam. 8 : 17; called Sheva in 20 : 25, Shisha in 1 Kgs. 4 : 3, and Shavsha in 1 Chr. 18 : 16.
2. The high priest in the reign of Zed-ekiah, taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar and killed at Riblah. 2 Kgs. 25 : 18-21; 1 Chr. 6: 14: Jer. 52:24-27.
3. A Netophathite who submitted to Gedaliah. 2 Kgs, 25 : 23 ; Jer, 40 : 8.
4. A Judite. 1 Chr. 4 : 13, 14.
5. A Simeonite. 1 Chr. 4: 35.
6. A priest who came back with Zerub-babel, Ezr. 2:2; Neh. 10 : 2 ; 12 : 1, 12 ; called Azariah in Neh. 7 : 7.
7. One of the ancestors of Ezra, Ezr. 7:1: Neh. 11: 11; called Azariah in 1 Chr. 9:11.
8. An officer whom Jehoiakim commanded to take Baruch and Jeremiah. Jer, 36 : 26,
9. The brother of Baruch, who was a member of the court and held, during the journey of Zerubbabel to Babylon, the position of leader of the caravan, for so the words "quiet prince" should read, Jer, 61 : 59, 61.
SER'APHIM (princess), the name given by Isaiah to the spirits waiting on the Lord, and which are apparently the most exalted of the angelic host, Isa. 6 : 2. 6,
SE'RED {fear), one of Zebulun's sons. Gen. 46:14: Num, 26 : 26.
SER'GEANTS. Acts 16 : 35, 38. This was a class of public officers under the Roman government. They were appointed to carry the fasces, or bundle of rods, before the supreme magistrates, and to inflict the punishment of scourging and beheading upon criminals.
SER'GIUS PAU'LUS, the proconsul or deputy governor of Cyprus at the time of Paul and Barnabas' visit. He showed his intelligence and candor by sending for the apostles and accepting the overthrow of Elymas, the sorcerer, as demonstration of the overthrow of the creed Elymas represented. He embraced the gospel. Acts 13 : 7, 12. Some think the apostle Paul took this name instead of Saul, in compliment to his distinguished convert: which is improbable. It is a proof of Luke's minute accuracy that he calls Sergius Paulus a proconsul because the island had been governed by a propraetor during the reign of Augustus, but in the reign of Claudius,
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the time of the visit, as is proved by coins, it was under proconsular government.
SER'PENT. In its ordinary scriptural use, this word does not denote any definite species, but snakes as a class, or some one or more kinds made definite by the context. The serpent is a creature distinguished for its subtility, Gen. 3:1, and wisdom in avoiding danger. Matt. 10 : 16, as well as for the instinctive dread which it inspires in man and most animals. About one-sixth of all the species known are venomous.
The devil is called "the serpent" and "the old serpent," Rev. 12:9, 14; 15, probably in allusion to his subtility and malice, and also to the fact that in tempting our first parents to disobey God he emploj'ed a serpent or assumed the form of one, 2 Cor. 11: 3.
The serpent is used by the sacred writers as an emblem of wickedness. Matt. 23 : 33, cruelty, Ps. 58 : 4 ; Prov. 23 : 32 ; , Eccl, 10: 11, and treachery. Gen. 49 : 17. There is allusion to the art of taming and charming these reptiles in Ps. 58:5; Eccl. 10:11; Jer. 8:17; Jas. 3 : 7. Eating dust is ascribed to it, Gen. 3:14; Isa. 65 : 25 ; Mic. 7:17, because it is swallowed by the serpent with its food, or the expression is figurative for its life in the dust. There is no reason to suppose that this creature was able to go otherwise than on its belly before the fall, but subsequent to that event its normal mode of progression was constituted a mark of condemnation. The worship of these reptiles is very common in India and other parts of the Old World, and probably originated, in part at least, from fear of the more venomous and powerful kinds. " It was probably from a tradition of the instrumentality of the serpent in the fall of man that it was used throughout the East as an emblem of the spirit of disobedience and of the evil spirit. The doctrine of Zoroaster—that the evil one, in the guise of a serpent, first taught men to sin—is a plain tradition of the history of the fall.
" To this we may add that on the monuments of Egypt there not unfre-quently occurs the figure of a man in regal costume (probably an incarnate deity) piercing with a spear the head of a large serpent—remarkably suggestive of a tradition of the prophecy that ' the
seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head.'"— 'J'ristrtini. The sacred symbol of the globe and serpent is found on almost all the monuments of Egypt, See Adder, Asp, Cockathice. Viper.
SERPENT, BRAZEN. Num. 21 : 9. As a punishment for the murmuring of the Israelites, God sent into the midst of the camp a venomous serpent, called " fiery," probably, from the burning which followed its deadly bite. There are many species of such dangerous serpents still found in the wilderness of Sinai, the various kinds of which, or perha{)s some particular species, may here be intended. The destruction of life was fearful, and the people entreated Moses to intercede for their deliverance. To test the sincerity of their penitence, Moses was commanded to make a serpent of brass resembling the serpents which were among them, and put it upon a pole, that it might be seen from all parts of the camp, and then whoever was bitten should be healed by simply looking at the brazen figure ; and it was accordingly done, and all the promised effects followed. This passage of history is alluded to by our Saviour as an illustration of the work he came to do. .John 3:14, 15.
SERPENT, FIERYFLYaNG. Isa. 14 : 29 ; 30 : 6. This creature has no connection with the preceding. The phrase may be a figurative expression for the swiftly-darting sand-serpents of Eastern deserts, or a mere poetic expression, like the entirely fabulous dragon or winged serpent of modern literature.
SE'RUG (branch), one of the postdiluvian patriarchs, in the line of Shem, Gen. 11 : 20, 23; 1 Chr. 1 : 26 ; called Sa-ruch in Luke 3 : 35.
SER'VANT. Phile. 16. The word so rendered is generally to be interpreted " bondman " or '' slave." But there were also servants in our sense of the term: thus. .Joshua was servant to Moses, Elisha to Elijah, and Elisha himself had a servant, Gehazi. There are other instances. See St,ave.
SER'VITOR, a servant. 2 Kgs. 4 : 43.
SETH {compensation), son of Adam and Eve, was born when Adam was one hundred and thirty years old, and lived nine hundred and twelve years. Gen. 5 :
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3. Tradition ascribes to Seth the invention of letters.
SE'THUR (hidden), the spy from Asher. Num. 13 : 13.
SEVEN. Gen. 2:2. As from the beginning this was the number of days in the week, so it has ever in Scripture a sort of emphasis attached to it, and is very often and generally used as a round number, or, as some would say, a 2)erfect number. Clean beasts were taken into the ark by sevens. Gen. 7 : 2. The years of plenty and famine in Egypt were marked by sevens. Gen. 41 : 2, 3. AVith the Jews not only was there a seventh-day Sabbath, but every seventh year was a Sabbath, and every seven times seventh year was a jubilee. Their great feasts of unleavened bread and of tabernacles were observed for seven da^'s. The number of animals in many of their sacrifices was limited to seven. The golden candlestii'k had seven branches. Seven priests with seven trumpets went around the walls of Jericho seven days, and seven times on the seventh day. In the Apocalypse we find seven churches addressed, seven candlesticks, seven spirits, seven stars, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven vials, seven plagues, and seven angels to pour them out.
" Seven " is often put for any round or whole number; just as we use "ten " or " a dozen ;" so in 1 Sam. 2:5; Job 5 : 19: Prov. 26 : 16, 25; Isa. 4:1; Jcr. 15 : 9; Matt. 12 : 45. " In like manner "seven times," or "seven-fold," means "often," " abundantlv," " completelv." Gen. 4:15, 24; Lev. 26:24; Ps. 12 :* 6 ; 79 : 12; Matt. 18 : 21. And seventy times seven is still a higher superlative. Matt. 18:21, 22.
SHAALAB'BIN (cih/ of jackals), a town of Dan. Josh. 19 : 42 ; also called Shaalbim. Jud. 1: 35; 1 Kgs. 4: 9. Now the present village Selbit, near Aijalon, south-east of Lydda.
SHAAL'BIM. See above.
SHAALBONITE, THE. 2 Sam. 23 : 32 ; 1 Chr. 11 : 33. Eliahba, one of David's thirty-seven heroes, is so called. It is not known Avhere Shaalbon was.
SHA'APH (diri..iou). 1. 2. Two names in the genealogy of Judah. 1 Chr. 2 : 47, 49.
SHAARA'IM {two gates). 1. A city in the plain of Judah ; called also Sha-782
raim. 1 Sam. 17 : 52; Josh. 15 : 36. Probably identical with the ruin Saireh, west of Beit Atab.
2. A town in Simeon. 1 Chr. 4 : 31. In the list of Joshua it appears as Sha-RUHEN and Shilem, which see.
SHAASH'GAZ [beauty's lustref), the eunuch in the second house of the harem of Xerxes. Esth. 2:14.
SHABBETH'AI [sabbath-horn), a Levite who assisted Ezra in expounding the Law and in dealing with the illegal marriages. Ezr. 10 : 15; Neh. 8 : 7; 11 : 16.
SHACH'IA [Jehovah ^jrofecfs), a Benjamite. 1 Chr. 8 : 10.
SHAD'DAI [the w(/(//if?/), the name for God in common use, along with " El," before Jehovah was revealed. It is translated "the Almighty."
SHAD'OVV. The word is used in Col. 2 : 17 ; Heb. 8:5; 10 : 1 to express the relation between Judaism and Christianity. The rites of the old religion preficrured the realities of the new.
SHA'DRACH (ro^n//). Dan. 1:7. See Abrdnego.
SHA'GE [erring), the father of one of David's warriors. 1 Chr. 11: 34.
SHAHARA'IM [the two dawns), a Benjamite. 1 Chr. 8 : 8.
SHAHAZ'IMAH [heights), a town in Issachar. Josh. 19 : 2*2. Perhaps Te/l esh Kdsim, in the Jordan valley.
SIlA'IjV:m. (peaceful). Gen. 33 :'l8. If this term indicates a place, it may be identified with the present village of Salim, 3 miles east of Shechem. Some would render it, however, "in peace," and would read the verse, "Jacob came in peace to the citv of Shechem."
SHA'LIM, THE LAND OF, which means "the land of foxes" or "jackals" through which Saul passed. 1 Sam. 9:4. It may have been eastward from Shalisha.
SHAL'ISHA, LAND OF (triangular), a district near Mount Ephraim. 1 Sam. 9 : 4. In it, perhaps, the city of Baal-shalisha was situated. 2 Kgs. 4 : 42. Eusebius and Jerome place it about 15 Roman miles north of Lydda. Perhaps near Tliilth. See Baal-shalisha.
SHAL'LECHETH [a casting down), the name of a gate of the temple. 1 Chr. 26:16. Literally, it means the "gate of projection"—that is, from which were thrown out the sweepings, ashes, and offal of the temple. The
SHA
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causeway was made by Solomon from | his own palace by way of the Tyropoeon \ valley to the western wall of the temple ; to this causeway the gate led, Grove would identify it with the gate Sinsleh, at the western wall of tlie Haram enclosure, 600 feet above the south-western corner.
SHAL'LUM [retvihmion). 1. The murderer of Zaehariah, king of Israel. He usurped the crown, but was slain by Menahem at the end of the first month of his reign, B. c. 771. 2 Kgs. 15 : 10-15.
2. The husband of tlte ])rophetess Huldah in the reign of Josiah. 2 Kgs. 22:14; 2 Chr. 34:22.
3. A man of Judah. 1 Chr. 2 : 40, 41.
4. The fourth son of Josiah, king of Judah, and king three months, 1 Chr. 3:15; Jer. 22 : U ; called Jchoahaz in 2 Kgs. 23 : 31-34; 2 Chr. 36 :1-4.
5. A man of Simeon. 1 Chr. 4 : 25.
6. A high priest. 1 Chr. 6 : 12, 13; Ezr. 7 : 2.
7. A son of Naphtali. 1 Chr. 7 : 13. See Shtllem,
8. The chief of a family of porters. 1 Chr. 9 : 17. His descendants returned with Zerubbabel. Ezr. 2 : 42 ; Neh. 7 : 45.
9. Oneof the porters. 1 Chr. 9 : 19, 31.
10. A chief Ephraimite. 2 Chr. 28 : 12.
11. A Levite poi'ter who had a foreign wife. Ezr. 10 : 24.
12. A similar offender. Ezr. 10 : 42.
13. One who helped to build the wall. Keh. 3 : 12.
14. The uncle of the prophet Jeremiah, Jer. 32 : 7.
15. A temple-doorkeeper. Jer. 35 : 4. SHAL'LUN {retribution), one who
helped in repairing Jerusalem's walls. Neh. 3:15.
SHAL'MAI {my thanks). Some of the Nethinims were his children, and returned. Ezr. 2 : 46 ; Neh. 7 : 48.
SHAL'MAN, the name of an Assyrian king before Pul. Hos. 10 : 14. The ordinary opinion, that it is a contraction for " Shalmaneser," seems to be incorrect.
SHALMANE'SER {Salman is gracious), a king of Assyria whose reign lasted from B. c. 727-722, coming between those of Tiglath-pileser and Sar-gon. He comes into biblical notice as the invader of Israel. The king, Iloshea, had revolted, but he conquered and exacted a tribute. 2 Kgs. 17 : 3. He then
returned home, but, as Iloshea revolted a second time and allied himself with So, king of Egypt, Shalmaneser returned, ravaged Samaria, besieged Iloshea in his capital, and after three years the city fell. But during this time a rebellion headed by Sargon had broken out in Assyria, and Shalmaneser was deposed. It is not stated in 2 Kgs. 17 : 6 that Shalmaneser took Samaria, but that the kin;/ of Assyria did. See Sargon.
SHA'MA {obedient), a warrior of David's. 1 Chr. 11: 44.
SHAMARI'AH {lohom Jehovah keeps), a son of Rehoboara, 2 Chr. 11 : 19.
SHAM'BLES, a meat-market. 1 Cor. 10 : 25.
SHA'MED {a destroyer), a Benjam-ite. 1 Chr. 8:12.
SHAME FACEDNESS, a misprint or corruption in 1 Tim. 2:9 for " shamefastness," in the sense of being fast or established in modesty and devotion.
SHAMMER (a keejyer). 1. A Levite. 1 Chr. 6 : 46.
2. A chief of Asber, 1 Chr. 7 : 34; called also Shomer in v. 32.
SHAM'GAR {cnp-bearer ?), a judge of Israel of whom it is related that he slew six hundred Philistines with an ox-goad and delivered Israel. Jud. 3 : 31.
SHAM'HUTH {desolation), one of David's captains. 1 Chr. 27 : 8.
SHA'MIR {a thorn), a Levite. 1 Chr. 24 : 24.
SHA'MIR (rt sharji 2^oint), a name for two places.
1. A city in the mountains of Judah. Josh. 15 : 48. It is probably the ruins of Somerah, west of IJcbir.
2. The place in Mount Ephraim where Tola lived. Jud. 10 :1, 2. Swartz places it at Sanur, on a hill 6 miles north of Samaria; but Van de Velde at Sammer, 10 miles south-south-east of Nabliis.
SHAM'MA {desolation), an Asherite chief. 1 Chr. 7 : 37.
SHAM'MAH {desolation). 1. A duke of Edom. Gen. 36 : 13, 17 ; 1 Chr. 1 : 37.
2. The third son of Jesse, 1 Sam. 16 : 9 : 17 : 13 ; called also Shimeah and Shimina.
3. One of the three greatest of David's mighty men. 2 Sam. 23 : 11, 33.
4. One of David's mighties, 2 Sam.
SHA
SHA
23 : 25 ; called also Shammoth the Ha-rorite in 1 Chr. 11 : 27, and Shamhuth the Izrahite in 1 Chr. 27 : 8.
SHAM'MAI {desolated). 1, 2, 3. Three descendants of Judah. 1 Chr. 2 : 28, 32, 44, 45; 4: 17.
SHAM'MOTH. 1 Chr. 11: 27. See
SHAMNfAH, 4.
SHAMJWU'A, SHAMMU AH.
1. The spy from Reuben. Num. 13 : 4.
2. One of David's sons, born in Jerusalem, 2 Sam. 5 : 14 ; 1 Chr. 14 : 4; called Shimea in 1 Chr. 3 : 5.
3. A Levite. Neh. 11: 17.
4. A priest in the days of Jehoiakim. Xeh. 12:18.
SHAMSHERA'I {heroic), a Ben-jamite. 1 Chr. 8 : 26.
SHA'PHAM {bald), a Gadite. 1 Chr. 5 : 12.
SHA'PHAX {coney), the scribe or secretary to King Josiah. 2 Kgs. 22 : .3-14: 2'Chr. 34:8-20, etc.
SHA'PHAT {judge). 1. The spy from Simeon. Num. 13 : 5.
2. The father of Elisha. 1 Kgs. 19 : 16, 19; 2 Kgs. 3 : 11; 6:31.
3. One of the royal line of Judah. 1 Chr. 3 : 22.
4. One of the Gadite chiefs. 1 Chr. 5 : 12.
5. One of David's chief herdsmen. 1 Chr. 27 : 29.
SHA'PHER {brightness), a station of the Israelites at a mountain in the Arabian desert. Num. 33 : 23. Rowlands would identify it with Jebel Arcnf, a rocky promontory on the western shore of the Elanitic Gulf; but others propose Jebel esh-Shnreif, a hill 70 miles northwest of Elath.
SHAR'AI {Jeliovdh. frees him), one who had a foreign wife. Ezr. 10 : 40.
SHAR'AIM {two gates). Josh. 15 : 36. See Shaaraim.
SHA'RAR {cord), the father of one of David's warriors, 2 Sam. 23 : 33: called Sacar in 1 Chr. 11 : 35.
SHARE'ZER {priuce off re), the son of Sennacherib, who joined his brother Adrammelech in murdering their father. 2 Kgs. 19 : 37 ; Isa. 37 : 38.
SHAR'ON {the plain), a level tract along the Mediterranean, between Cses-area and Joppa; called also Saron. Acts 9 : 35. It is 25 or 30 miles in length, and from 8 to 15 miles in width.
Scrijiture History. — Sharon is first 784
noticed in the Bible as Lasharon, the Hebrew article being taken as part of the word. Josh. 12 : IS. It was renowned for its fertility. The flocks of David fed there, and Isaiah praised its excellency and uses it both in promise and in threatening. 1 Chr. 27 : 29 ; Isa. 35 : 2 : 65 : 10 : 33 : 9. The Rose of Sharon is celebrated in Solomon's Song. 2 : 1.
Present Condition. — The luxuriance and fertility of the plain of Sharon are noted to this day, although the frequent raids of the Bedouin make its cultivation difficult. The plain has on the north a range of inland cliflfs. A portion of the plain is composed of marl and alluvial soil, another portion of red sandstone and shelly breccias of blown sand in large patches. The hills are of softest chalk, gently sloping, partly covered by woods of oak, the trees standing at intervals like a park, the ground being sandy in some places and of a loam or limestone chai'acter in others.
Sharon is mentioned in connection with Gilead in Bashan in 1 Chr. 5 : 16. Stanley, noting the difficulty of supposing that the pasture-lands of Gad could have been so far from the home of the tribe east of the Jordan as Sharon would have been, thinks that " Sharon "—which has in the Hebrew exactly the same meaning as Mishor —may signify the Mishor, or '^ upland downs," of Gilead and Bashan.
SHAR'ONITE, THE. Shitrai is so called. 1 Chr. 27 : 29.
SHARU'HEN {])leasant dwelling), a city in Simeon. Josh. 19 : 6. It was in the " south country," and may have been identical with the large ruin esh-Shen'ah, north-west of Beer-sheba.
SHASH'AI {whitish, or noble), one who had a foreign wife. Ezr. 10 : 40.
SHA'SHAK {eagerness), a Benjam-ite. 1 Chr. 8 : 14, 25.
SHA'UL {desired). 1. A son of Simeon bv a Canaanitish woman. Gen. 46 : 10 ; Ex. 6:15; Num. 26 : 13 ; 1 Chr. 4 : 24.
2. An Edomite king, 1 Chr. 1: 48, 49 ; in A. V. of Gen. 36 : 37 he is called Saul.
3. A Kohathite Levite. 1 Chr. 6 : 24. SHA'ULITES, descendants of
Shaul. 1. Num. 26: 13.
SHA'VEH {a plain), a valley on the north of Jerusalem; known also as
SHA
SHE
the''King's Dale." Gen. 14: 17; 2 Sam. 18 : 18. See King's I)ai-k.
S H A'V E H-K I KIA T H A'l M
'^phxiu of KirJtitJi<(i)n), a jilain or valie}' near the city Kirjathaim, in Moab. Gen. 14 : 5. Afterward it belonsj;cd to Keuben. Num. 32:37; Josh. 13 :^19. Eusebius says it was well known in his day as a village 10 miles west of Medeba.
SHAV'SHA (warrior of Jehovah), the scribe or secretary to David, 1 Chr. 18 : 1<>; called also Seraiah and Shisha.
SHE'AL (askiiiff), one who had a foreign wife. Ezr. 10 : 29.
SHEAL'TIEL (/ have anked him of God), the father of Zerubbabel. Ezr. 3 : 2, 8 5 5:2; Neh. 12 :1; Hag. 1: 1, 12, 14; 2:2, 23.
SHEARI'AH (lohom Jehovah esti-maten), a descendant of Saul. 1 Chr. 8 : 38 ; 9 : 44.
SHEARING-HOUSE, a spot between Jezreel and Samaria where Jehu slew forty-two of the royal family of Judah. 2 Kgs. 10 : 12, 14. According to Eusebius, it is in the plain of Jezreel, 15 Roman miles from Legio (Lejiin), and Conder suggests Akadah as the site, on the western side of the great plain.
SHE'AR-JA'SHUB (a rcmvant retnrusi). the symbolical name Isaiah gave his son. Isa. 7 : 3.
SHE'BA [an oath). 1. The son of Bichri, a Benjamite who revolted from David, was pursued by Joab. and beheaded in the fortress of Abel-beth-ma-achah. 2 Sam. 20 : 1-22.
2. A Gadite chief. 1 Chr. 5 : 13.
SHE'BA {man?). 1. One of Ham's descendants. Gen. 10 : 7 ; 1 Chr. 1 : 9.
2. One of Shem's descendants. Gen. 10:28; 1 Chr. 1:22.
3. One of Abraham's descendants by Keturah. Gen. 25 : 3 ; 1 Chr. 1 : 32.
These were all founders of tribes.
SHE'BA {seven, or an oath], a name for a region in Arabia and a town in Palestine.
1. A wealthy region in Arabia bordering on the Red Sea. It included the most fertile districts of that country. The queen of Sheba visited Solomon, coming "to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bear spices, and very much gold, and precious stones." 1 Kgs. 10 : 1-13; 2 Chr. 9:1-12. Many ancient writers noted the abundance of spices in the Yemen, or Sabaean country. 50
Herodotus says that the whole tract exhaled an odor of marvellous sweetness, and Diodorus relates that the perfume extended far out to sea; while Strabo asserts that the enormous profits of the spice trade made the Saba?ans one of the wealthiest nations on the face of the earth. They used gold and silver most lavishly in their furniture, their utensils, and even on the doors and roofs of their houses. Precious stones also abounded there. Its chief cities were Seba {Sana) and Sephar {Zafar).
2. A town in Simeon, mentioned between Beer-sheba and Moladah. Josh. 19 : 2. Shema is named next to Moladah in Josh. 15 : 26, and is probably identical with this Sheba. Two miles east of Beer-sheba, on the road to Moladah, is a mound called el-Seha, which may mark the site of ancient Sheba. It has a well separate from those at Beer-sheba.
SHE'BAH {Dcven, or an oath), a well dug by Isaac's servants, and from which Beer-sheba was named. Gen. 26 : 33. Sec Beer-sheba.
SHE'BAM {coolness), one of the towns east of the Jordan desired by Reuben and Gad. Num. 32 : 3. See Shibmaii and Sibmah.
SHEBANI'AH {whom Jehovah has made gran- up). 1. A priest who blew a trumpet at the bringing up of the ark. 1 Chr. 15 : 24.
2. A Levite who sang and sealed the coveiiant. Neh. 9:5; 10 : 10.
3. A priest who sealed the covenant. Neh. 10:4: 12 : 14.
4. A Levite who did the same. Neh. 10:12.
SHEB'ARIM {wins), a place near Ai to which the Israelites were pursued. Josh. 7:5. The term may mean ''precipices," or possibly "fissures," but the location is unknown.
SHE'BER (breaking), a son of Caleb, the son of Hezron. 1 Chr. 2 : 48.
SHEB'NA {youth). 1. The "treasurer," or prefect of the palace of Hezekiah, Isa. 22 : 15-25, a man of great pride, but whose ignominious fall is prophesied by the prophet.
2. The scribe or secretary of Hezekiah ; a different person from the preceding, though with the same name. Isa. 36 : 3; 2 Kgs. 18 : 18. 37 ; 19 : 2. He was one of the ambassadors sent to Rabshakeh.
SHEB'UEL {captive of God). 1. A
SHE
SHE
descendant of Moses, 1 Chr. 23 : 16 ; 26 : 24; also called Shubael in 1 Chr. 24 : 20.
2. One of the Levite singers, 1' Chr. 25 : 4 : called Shubael in 25 : 20.
SHECANI'AH {familiar with Jehovah). 1. One of the priests chosen by lot during David's reign. 1 Chr. 24: 11.
2. A Levite in the reign of Ilezekiah. 2 Chr. 31 : 15.
SHECHANI'AH {familiar toith Jehovah). 1. A descendant of the regal line. 1 Chr. 3 : 21, 22.
2, 3. The fathers of persons with Ezra. Ezr. 8 : 3, 5.
4. One who headed the party against foreign marriages. Ezr. 10 : 2.
5. The father of Shemaiah, a gatekeeper. Neh. 3 : 29.
6. The father-in-law of Tobiah the Ammonite. Neh. 6 : 18.
7. Head of some with Zerubbabel. Neh. 12 : 3.
SHE'CHEM {the shoulder-blade). 1. The ravisher of Dinah, slain by Simeon and Levi. Gen. 33 : 19 ; 34.
2. A man of Manasseh. Num. 26 : 31; Josh. 17 ; 2.
3. Another descendant of Manasseh. 1 Chr. 7 : 19.
SHE'CHEH {shoulder), a town in the valley between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim; called also Sichem, Sychem, and Sychar ; in later times it was known as Neapolis, and now its Arabic name is Nablus. It was 34 miles north of Jerusalem, about 7 miles south-east of Samaria, and its site is unrivalled for beauty in Palestine. Two mountains parallel to each other, Ebal and Gerizim, almost meeting at their bases and only a mile and a half apart at their summits, enclose a beautiful little valley extending east and west, not more than a hundred yards wide at the narrowest part, and widening out in both directions. At the narrowest part of the vale is the town of Nabliis, clinging to the slope of Gerizim, the " mountain of blessing." It is at an altitude of 1950 feet above the sea.
Scripture History. —The city is mentioned forty-eight times in the Bible. Its history begins four thousand years ago, when Jerusalem had no existence, extends through Scripture from Abraham to Christ, and continues to the present day. When Abraham came from Chal-dasa to the land which God should give 786
him, he halted at the "placeof Sichem." Geu. 12 : 6. When Jacob came from Mesopotamia, Shechem was a Hivite city, and Jacob bought from Hamor the parcel of the field which he afterward gave to his son Joseph. Gen. 33 : 18,19 ; 43 : 22; Josh. 24 : 32 ; John 4 : 5. Shechem was captured and the male inhabitants murdered by Simeon and Levi. Gen. 34 ; 49 : 5-7. Abraham worshipped under the oak which was by Shechem, and there Jacob buried the images brought by his famil}^ from Padan-aram; and Joseph came from Hebron to Shechem and Dothan, seeking his brethren, and there also Joseph was buried. Gen. 27 : 12-28 : Josh. 24 : 32. A solemn dedicatory service of the whole nation took place near Shechem. Deut. 11 : 29, 30. Abimelech caused the Shechemites to revolt from the Hebrews and to elect him as king, but after a reign of three years he was expelled, and in revenge destroyed the city and sowed the ground with salt. Jud. 9. It was rebuilt, and Rehoboam went there to be crowned; but, in consequence of the revolt, he fled. The city was fortified by Jeroboam, who made it the first seat of the northern kingdom. 1 Kgs. 12 : 1-19, 25,- 2 Chr. 10. Men of Shechem were slain by Ishmael. Jer. 41 : 3, 5. After the Captivity, Shechem became the centre of Samaritan Avorship. See Samaria.
N. T. references to this city are few. Jesus visited the region, preached to a woman at Jacob's well, and many from Sychar believed on him. John 4 : 5, 39-42. Whether Sj'char occupied precisely the same site as ancient Shechem has been a question in dispute among scholars. Stephen refers to the sepulchres of the patriarchs at Sychem. Acts 7 : 16. During the Christian period Neapolis became the seat of a bishop. Justin Martyr was born there. The Crusaders took it after the conquest of Jerusalem ; Baldwin II. held a great diet there, a. d. 1120.
Present Appearance. —Modern travellers bear uniform testimony to the beauty of the scenery of Nabliis. Dr. Robinson calls it'' a scene of luxuriant and almost unparalleled verdure." Dean Stanley, says it is " the most beautiful—perhaps the only very beautiful—spot in Central Palestine," and Tristram says the landscape is *' the richest in Palestine." It
SHE
SHE
is abundantly supplied with water: vegetation is luxuriant: there are olive trees and orange groves and palm trees.
The streets of the town are cleaner, and its houses as a rule better, than those of Jerusalem, being high, built of stone, and crowned with domes. The side streets are often like low cellars, quite dark, vaulted, and narrow, and so low that the passengers can scarcelj'^ stand upright, except in the centre of them. The town is a considerable centre of trade and manufactures. Cotton became the staple of the place a few years ago, and a cotton-mill was erected. There is also a trade in wool, and there are a score of manufactories of soap, which is made from olive oil. The bazaar exhibits a great variety of wares.
The inhabitants are chiefly Mussulmans. Tristram estimated the population at 9000, of whom about 650 were Christians, 200 Samaritans, and a few Jews. There is a Protestant school, supported by the English Church Missionary Society. Baedeker estimates the population at 13,000, including 140 Samaritans, a few Jews, 600 Christians of the Greek Orthodox Church, and a few Latins and Protestants. The people still
f(reserve their ancient reputation as rest-ess, turbulent, and quarrelsome.
Among the principal attractions of the town is the great mosque Jdmi el-Kehir, originally a church of the Crusaders, dedicated to St. John, and completed A. D. 1167. There are two other mosques which were originally churches of the Crusaders. In the south-western part of the town is the Samaritan synagogue (Kemnet es-Sdiinreh), a small, plain whitewashed room, the pavement of which is covered with matting and must not be trodden on with shoes. The Samaritans still retain their hereditary form of worship, and possess the famous Samaritan Codex of the Pentateuch, which is guarded with great care. Sometimes a copy is shown instead of the original, which they derive from a grandson of Aaron. See Samaria.
The well which Jacob dug, and upon which our Lord rested and talked with a woman of Samaria, is near Nablvis. See Jacob's Well.
A little distance north of Jacob's well is the reputed site of Joseph's tomb, Josh. 24 : 32, which has been preserved from 788
molestation from age to age by the common reverence in which the ])atriarch is held by Jew, Samaritan, Christian, and Muslim alike. The building shown is comparatively modern, being a common Muslim tomb in a square enclosure. It was recently restored by Mr. Rogers, an English consul at Damascus, in 1868. The Muslims claim that Joseph's body is in the cave of Machpelah, at Hebron, having been carried thither from She-chera.
The granite shafts belonging possibly to the Samaritan temple on Gerizim are to be found amidst the ruins of a Roman villa in the plain, and again in another site of same date at a little distance.
At the foot of the northern slope of Gerizim is a cemetery. The place is called El Amud{'' the column "), and the Rev. George Williams has with much probability identified it with *' the pillar that was in Sheehem," where Abimelech was made king, Jud. 9 : 6, and with the oak of Moreh, near which Abraham built his first altar to the Lord after entering the Promised Land, and where Joshua set up a great stone. Josh. 24 : 26.
SHE'CHEMITES, the family of Sheehem. Num. 26 : 31.
SHECHI'NAH (resthig-place). This familiar word is found in the Tar-gums and in Christian writings, although not in the Bible, but the fact it presents often is, for the shechinah was enveloped in the pillar of cloud and of fire, and was " the glory " which covered the tabernacle and filled Solomon's temple. In the N. T. there is reference to this "glory of the Lord " in Luke 2:9; Rom. 9:4; John 1:14, etc.
SHED'EUR [dartinq of Jive), the father of the prince of Reuben at the time of the Exodus. Num. 1:5; 2:10; 7:30. 35: 10:18.
SHEEP, SHEPHERD, SHEEP-MASTER, SHEEP-COTE, SHEEP'FOLD. The sheep is mentioned about five hundred times in the Bible, and seems likely to have been the first animal domesticated by man. Gen. 4 : 4, The sheep anciently kept by the Israelites were probably of the broad-tailed variety, in which the tail is a mass of delicate fat sometimes weighing 14 pounds, or even more. Ex. 29:22; Lev. 3 :9, 11.
Sheep often constituted the chief wealth
SHE
SHE
of a man in patriarchal times ; and hence, with the Jews, the care of sheep was among the earliest and most respectable employments, Gen. 4:2; Ex. 3:1; Job 42 : 12; 1 Sam. 16 : 11, though it was odious to the Egyptians. The office of chief shepherd, Ileb. 13 : 20 ; 1 Pet. 5 : 4, is often mentioned by heathen writers. It was an office of great trust and responsibility, as well as of distinguished honor. 2 Kgs. 3 : 4. Chardin saw a clan of Turcoman shepherds whose flocks consisted of 400,000 beasts of carriage, such as camels, horses, oxen, cows, and asses, and 3,000,000 of sheep and goats. Dr. Shaw confirms his statement.
Eastern Sheepfold.
The shepherd or " sheep-master " was constantly with his flocks by night and by day, to number, gather, feed, conduct, and guard them, Gen. 31 : 39 ; Luke 2 : 8, and was often attended with a despised dog. Job 30 : 1. His care of the sheep was constant and tender, and his control over them very great. Isa. 40 : 11; John 10 : 1-16. Piev. John Hartley, a missionary in Greece, tells us that he was once passing by a flock of sheep, and, having heard it said they would obey the shepherd's voice, he asked him to call one of his sheep, which instantly left its pasturage and ap|)roached the hand of the shepherd with a prompt obedience which he never saw in any other animal. It is also universally true in that country that a stranger they will not follow. They flee from him, for they know not the voice of a stranger.
It is said that the shepherds of Judaea gave each lamb a distinct name, and that they instantly obeyed the voice of the shepherd, coming and going daily at his call. An ancient Jewish writer, born and educated in Egypt, states that the sheep, in the season of shearing, would
run to the shepherd at his call, and, stooping a little, put themselves into his hands to be shorn and stand quietly until he had done.
The docility, timidity, and liability to wander (all which are among the characteristics of this animal) are often figuratively employed by the sacred writers, as 2 Chr. 18 : 16 ; Ps. 119 : 176 ; Isa. 11 : 6; 53 : 6, 7 ; Mic. 5:8; Matt. 9 : 36.
In the 0. T. the word " shepherd " is used figuratively for Jehovah, Ps. 80 :1; Jer. 31 : 10 ; anil for kings, Eze. 34 : 10 ; but in the N. T. it denotes Christ, John 10 : 11, etc.; Heb. 13 : 20 : 1 Pet. 5 : 4, and also those teachers who presided in the synagogues. This use of the -gr--^ word gave rise to the application ^ of the word " shepherd " or " pas-s tor," in modern times, to ministers of the gospel, and those under their spiritual care are called the "fold" or "flock."
It was the business of the shep-^ herd to count the sheep daily, per-— haps oftener, and he was accountable for any that were missing. Gen. 31 : 38, 39: Ex. 22 : 12, 13; Lev. 27 : 32 ; Jer. 33 : 13. See Rod. Sometimes a lamb was taken into the tent and brought up like a dog. 2 Sam. 12 : 3. It is common in Armenia to see shepherds carrying in their bosoms the lambs of the flock they are tending. They are too feeble to roam with their dams, and nothing evinces more tenderness and care than gently leading such as are with young, or such as have young lambs to which they give suck. Isa. 40 : 11. Two of our American missionaries tell us that while travelling in Armenia they passed several shepherds, probably from the neighboring villages, carrying in their bosoms the lambs of the flocks they tended. The same scene had already frequently interested them by presenting the source of the beautiful imagery of the prophet. It is exhibited only at one season of the year, when lambs are frequently brought forth during the day at a distance from the fold. The newcomers, being too weak to follow the flock in its rovings after grass, are carried in the bosom of the shepherd, and not unfrequently they so multiply as to fill his arms before night. They are then taken to the fold, and guarded there ; until sufficiently strong to ramble with
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their dams. One of these enclosures presents an amusing scene when the sheep return anxiously bleating in the evening from their day's pasture, and scores of hungry young ones are conducted by shepherds' boys each to its own mother.
The time of shearing was a season of great festivity. 1 Sam. 25 : 7, 8,11; 2 Sam. 13 : 23. The flock was collected in an uncovered enclosure called a " sheep fold" or " sheepcote." Num. 32 : Ifi : 2 Sam. 7 : 8 ; Jer. 23 : 3 ; Zeph. 2:6; John 10 : 16. Here their legs were tied together, and the '^ shearing-bouse," 2 Kgs. 10 : 12, 14, literally means the "tie-house." They were never housed at any season of the year.
A watch-house was often erected in the vicinity of the flocks, from which the approach of danger could be easily descried. This is called the " tower of the flock." jVIic. 4 : 8. The wool of the sheep was probably made into cloth, Lev. 13 : 47; Deut. 22 : 11, by women. Prov. 31 : 13. It formed part of the tribute paid by the Moabites to Israel, 2 Kgs. 3 : 4, and was a common article of merchandise. Eze. 27 : 18. Ewes' milk was an important part of daily food. Deut. 32 : 14; 1 Cor. 9 : 7. The flesh of sheep and lambs was eaten. 1 Sam. 25 : 18 : 1 Kgs. 1:19; 4 : 23 ; Ps. 44 : 11. If Josh. 6 : 4 is correctly rendered, as probably it is not, rams' horns were made into trumpets. Sheep-skins were used as a covering for the tabernacle, Ex. 25 : 5, and the poor clothed themselves in them. Heb. 11: 37.