Part 23
(c) Doctrinal: There are cases in which the text so
suits the special views of the Samaritans concerning the sanctity of Gerizim that alteration of the original in that direction may be supposed to be the likeliest explanation. Thus there is inserted at Gen 20 67 a passage from Dt 27 2 slightly modified: Gerizim being put for Ebal, the object of the addition being to give the consecration of Gerizim the sanction of the Torah. Kennicott, however, defends the authenticity of this passage as against the MT. Insertion or omission appears to be the result of doctrinal predilection. In Nu 25 4.5 the Sam harmonizes the command of Jeh with the action of Moses, The passage removed has a bloodthirsty Moloch-like look that might seem difficult to defend. On the other hand, the Jewish hatred of idolatry might express itself in the command to "take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the sun," and so might be inserted. There are cases also where the language is altered for reasons of propriety. In these cases the Sam agrees with the IJore of the MT.
These variations are of unequal value as evidences of the relative date of the Sam recension
(2) Changes due to intention.— (a) Grammatical: Tlie variations from the MT most frequently met with in reading the Sam Pent are those necessary to conform the language to the rules of ordinary grammar. In this the Sam frequently coincides with the K-'re of the MT. The Knhibh of the MT has no distinction in gender between hu' in the 3d personal pronoun sing.—in both masc. and fem. it
of the Pent. The intentional are for this purpose
of little value; they are evidence of the views prevalent in the northern and southern districts of Pal respectively. Only visual blunders are of real importance, and they point to a date about the days of Hezekiah as the time at which the two recensions began to diverge. One thing is obvious, that the Sam, at least as often as the MT, repre-
is hu' . The Sam with the K^re corrects this to hi' So with na'ar, "a youth"—this is common in the KHhibh, but in the K're when a young woman is in question the fem. termination is added, and so the Sam writers also. It is a possible supposition that
sents the primitive text.
(1) Statement of hypotheses.—The frequency with which the points in which the Sam Pent differs from
the MT agree with those in which the
2. Relation LXX also differs has exercised scholars.
this characteristic of the Torah is late and due to blundering peculiar to the MS from which the Massoretes copied the K^thibh. That it is systematic is against its being due to blunder, and as the latest Heb books maintain distinction of gender, we must regard this as an evidence of antiquity. This is confirmed by another set of variations between the Sam and the MT. There are, in the
of SamariCastelli asserts that there are a thoutan Recensand such instances. It may be noted sion to LXX that in one instance, at any rate, a pas-
sage in which the Sam and the LXX agree against the MT has the support of the NT. In Gal 3 17, the apostle Paul, following the Sam and LXX against the MT, makes the "430.years" which terminated with the exodus begin with Abraham. As a rule the attention of Bib. scholars has been so directed to the resemblances between the Sam and the LXX that they have neglected the more numerous points of difference. So impressed have scholars been, esp. when Jews, by these resemblances that they have assumed that the one was dependent on the other. Frankcl has maintained that the Sam was tr'' from the LXX. Against this
latter, traces of case-endings which have disappeared in later Heb. These are removed in the Sam. That case terminations have a tendency to disappear is to be seen in Eng. and Fr. The sign of the accusative, 'eth, frequently omitted in the AIT,
is generally supplied in Sam. A short form of the demonstrative pronoun pi. ('eZ instead of 'ellah) is restricted to the Pent and 1 Ch 20 8. The syntax
of the cohortative is different in Sam from that in the Massoretic Heb. It is not to be assumed that the Jewish was the only correct or primitive use. There are cases where, with colloquial inexactitude, the MT has joined a pi. noun to a singular vb., and vice versa; these are corrected in Sam. Conjugations which in later Heb have a definite meaning
is the fact that in all their insulting remarks against them the Talmudists never assert that the "Cuthaeans" (Samaritans) got their Torah from the Greeks. Further, even if they only got the Law through Manasseh, the son-in-law of Sanballat, and even if he lived in the time of Alexander the Great, yet this was nearly half a century before the earliest date of the LXX. Again, while there are many evidences in the LXX that it has been tr'' from Heb, there are none in the Sam that it has been tr"" from Gr. The converse hypothesis is maintained by Dr. Kohn with all the emphasis of extended type. His hypothesis is that before the LXX was thought of a Gr tr was made from a Sam copy of the Law for the benefit of Samaritans resident in Egypt. The Jews made use of this at
in relation to the root, but are used in the MT of the Torah in quite other senses, are brought in the Sam Pent into harmony with later use. It ought in passing to be noted that these pentateuchal forms do not occur in the Prophets; even in Josh 2 15 we have the fem. 3d personal pronoun; in Jgs 19 3 we have na^drdh.
(b) Logical; Sometimes the context or the circumstances implied have led to a change on one side or another. This may involve only the change of a word, as in Gen 2 2, where the Sam has "sixth" instead of "seventh" (MT), in this agreeing with the LXX and Pesh, the lewish scribe thinking the "sixth day" could only be reckoned ended when the "seventh' had begun. In Gen 4 S, after the clause, "And Cain talked with [said to] Abel his brother," the Sam, LXX and Pesh add, "Let us go into the field." From the evidence of the VSS, from the natural meaning of the vb. 'amar, "to say," not "to speak," from the natural meaning also of the preposition
first, but when they found it wrong in many points, they purposed a new tr, but were so much influenced by that to which they were accustomed that it was only an improved edition of the Sam which resulted. But it is improbable that the Samaritans, who were few and who had comparatively httle intercourse with Egypt, should precede the more numerous Jews with their huge colonies in Egypt, in making a Gr tr. It is further against the Jewish tradition as preserved to us by Jos. It is against the Sam tradition as learned by the present writer from the Sam high priest. According to him, the
'el, "to," not "mth" (see Gesenius), it is clear that the MT has dropped the clause and that the Sam represents the true text. If this is not the case, it is a case of logical completion on the part of the Sam. Another instance is the addition to each name in the genealogy in Gen 11 10-24 of the sum of the years of his life. la the case of
2317 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Pent, Samaritan
c 335 BC, but c 435 BC. Ezra is reputed to be, if not the author of the PC in the Pent, at all events its introducer to the Palestinians, and to have edited the whole, so that it assumed the form in which we now have it. But he was the contemporary of Manasseh, and had been, by his denunciation of foreign marriages, the cause of the banishment of Manas.sch and his friends. Is it probable that he, Manasseh, would receive as Mosaic the enactments of Ezra, or convey them to Samaria? The date of the introduction of P, the latest portion of the Law, must accordingly be put considerably earlier than
Samaritans had no independent tr, beyond the fact that five of the LXX were Samaritan. Had there been any excuse for asserting that the Samaritans were the first translators, that would not have disappeared from their traditions.
(2) Review of these hypotheses.—The above unsatisfactory explanations result from deficient observation and unwarranted assumption. That there are many cases where the Sam variations from the MT are identical with those of the LXX
is indubitable. It has, however, not been observed by those Jewish scholars that the cases in which the Sam alone or LXX alone, one or other, agrees with the MT against the other, are equally numerous. Besides, there are not a few cases in which
it is placed at present. We have seen that there are visual blunders that can be explained only on the assumption that the MS from which the mother Sam roll was copied was written in some variety of angular script. We have seen, further, that the peculiarities suit those of the Siloam inscription executed in the reign of Hezekiah, therefore approximately contemporary with the priest sent by Esarhaddon to Samaria to teach the people "the manner of the God of the land." As Amos and Hosea manifest a knowledge of the whole Pent before the captivity, it would seem that this "Book of the Law" that was "read [Am 4 5 LXX] without," which would be the source from which the priest sent from Assyria taught as above "the manner of the God of the land," would contain all the portions—J, E, D, and P—of the Law. If so,
all throe differ. It ought to be observed that the cases in which the LXX differs from the MT are much more numerous than those in which the Sam differs from it. One has only to compare the Sam, LXX and MT of any half a dozen consecutive chapters in the Pent to prove this. Thus neither is dependent on the others. Further, there is the unwarranted assumption that the MT represents the primitive text of th^ Law. If the MT is compared with the VSS, it is found that the LXX, despite the misdirected efforts of Origen to harmonize it to the Palestinian text, differs in very many cases from the MT. Theodotion is nearer, but still differs in not a few cases. Jerome is nearer still, though even the text behind the Vulg is not identical with the MT. It follows that the MT is the result of a process which stopped somewhere about the end of the 5th cent. AD. The origin of the MT appears to have been somewhat the result of accident. A MS which had acquired a special sanctity as belonging to a famous rabbi is copied with fastidious accuracy, so that even its blunders are perpetuated. This supplies the K^thibh. Corrections are made from other MSS, and these form the K^re. If our hypothesis as to the age of the Nablfts roll is correct,
it did not contain the Book of Josh; notwithstanding the honor they give the conqueror of Canaan, the Samaritans have not retained the book which relates his exploits. This is confirmed by the fact that the archaisms in the MT of the Pont are not found in Josh. It is singular, if the Prophets were before the Law, that in the Law there should be archaisms which are not found in the Prophets. From the way the Divine names are interchanged, as we saw, sometimes 'Elohlm in the Sam represents YHWH in the MT, sometimes vice versa, it becomes obviously impossible to lay any stress on this. This conclusion is confirmed by the yet greater frequency with which this interchange occurs in the LXX. The result of investigation of the Sam Pent is to throw very considerable doubt on the validity of the critical opinions as to the date, origin and structure of the Pent.
it is older than the MT by more than half a millennium, and the MS from which the LXX was tr"" was nearly a couple of centuries older still. So far then from its being a reasonable assumption that the LXX and Sam differ from the MT only by blundering or wilful corruption on the part of the former, the converse is at least as probable. The conclusion then to which we are led is that of Kennicott {Slate of Heb Text Diss., II, 1G4) that the Sam and LXX being independent, "each copy is invaluable—each copy demands our pious veneration and attentive study." It further ought to be observed that though Dr. Kohn points to certain cases where the difference between the MT and the LXX is due to confusion of letters only possible in Sam character, this does not prove the LXX to have been tr^^ from a Sam MS, but that the MSS
V. Targums and Chronicle.—As above noted, there are two Tgs or interpretations of the Sara Pent, an Aramaic and an Arabic. The Aram, is a dialect related to the Western Aram., in which the Jewish Tgs were written, sometimes called Chaldee. It has in it many strange words, some ol which may be due to the language of the Assyr colonists, but many are the result of blunders of copyists ignorant of the language. It is pretty close to the original and is little given to paraphrase. Much the same may be said of the Arab. Tg. It is usually attributed to Abu Said of the 13th cent., but according to Dr. Cowley only revised by him from the Tg of Abulhassan of the nth cent. There is reference occasionally in the Fathers to a Samaritikon which has been taken to mean a Gr version. No indubitable quotations from it survive—what seem to be so being really tr^ of the text of the Sam recension. There is in Arab, a wordy chronicle called "The Book of Joshua." It has been edited by Juynboll. It may be dated in the 1.3th cent. More recently a "Book of Joshua" in Heb and written in Sam characters was alleged to be discovered. It is, however, a manifest forgery; the characters in which it is written are very late. It is partly borrowed from the canonical Josh, and partly from the older Sam Book of Joshua with fabulous additions. The Chronicle of Abulfatah is a tolerably accurate account of the history of the Samaritans after Alexander the Great to the 4th cent. AD.
of the MT used by the LXX were written in that
script. Kohn also exhibits the relation of the Sam
to the Pesh. While the Pesh sometimes agrees with the Sam where it differs from the MT, more frequently it supports the MT against the Sam.
IV. Bearing on the Pentateachal Question.—
Jos {Ant, XI, viii, 2) makes Sanballat contemporary with Alexander the Great, and states that his sonin-law Manasseh came to Samaria and became the high priest. Although it is not said by Jos, it is assumed by critics that he brought the completed Torah with him. This Manasseh is according to Jos the grandson of EUashib the high priest, the contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah, and there-
Literature.—The text in the Sam script is found in the polyglots—Paris and London. Walton's text in the London Polijglot is transcribed in square characters by Blayney, Oxford, 1790. The Eng. works of importance of recent times are Mills, Nablus and the Samaritans, London, 1864; Nutt, Fragments of a Sam Tg, London, 1S74; Montgomery, The Samaritans, Philadelphia, 1907 (this has a very full bibliography which includes articles in periodicals) ; Iverach Munro, The Sam Pent and Modern Criticism, 1911, London. In Germany, Gesenius' dissertation, De Pcntateuchi Samari-
fore contemporary with Artaxerxes Longimanus. Nehemiah (13 28) mentions, without naming him, a grandson of Ehashib, who was son-in-law of San-
ballat, whom he chased from him. It is clear that
Jos had dropped a century out of his history, and
that the migration of Manasseh is to be placed not
Pentecost Peraea THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2318
The old Jewish festival obtained a new signifi-
tani orioine, etc, Jena, 1815, has not quite lost its value; Kohn, be Pentateucho Samaritano, Leipzig, 1865; Petermann, Versuch einer hebr. Formenlehre nach der Aussprache der heutigen Samaritaner, Leipzig, 1868. Tliere are besides arts, on this in the various Bib. Diets, and Encs. In the numerous religious and theological periodicals there have been arts, on the Sam Pent of varying worth. The Aram. Tg has been transcribed in square characters and edited by Brull (Frankfort, 187.5).
cance, for the Christian church, by the promised
outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Jn 16
2. In the 7.13). The incidents of that memorNT able day, in the history of Christianity, are told in a marvelously vivid and dramatic way in the Acts of the Apostles. The old rendering of sumpleroiisthai (Acts 2 1) by "was fully come" was taken by Lightfoot (Hor. Heb.) to signify that the Christian Pentecost did not coincide with the Jewish, just as Christ's last meal with His disciples was considered not to have coincided with the Jewish Passover, on Nisan 14. The bearing of the one on the other is obvious; they stand and fall together. RV translates the obnoxious word simply "was now come." Meyer, in his commentary on the Acts, treats this question at length. The tradition of the ancient church placed the first Christian Pentecost on a Sunday. According to John, the Passover that year occurred on Friday, Nisan 14
J. E. H. Thomson PENTECOST, pen'ts-kost: As the name indicates {irei'T-qKoaTri, pentekoste) , this second of the great Jewish national festivals was
1. In the observed on the 50th day, or 7 weeks, OT from the Paschal Feast, and therefore in the OT it was called "the feast of weeks." It is but once mentioned in the historical books of the OT (2 Ch 8 12.13), from which reference it is plain, however, that the people of Israel, in Solomon's day, were perfectly familiar with it: "offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles." The requirements of the three great festivals were then well understood at this time, and their authority was founded in the Mosaic Law and unquestioned. The festival and its ritual were minutely described in this Law. Every male in Israel was on that day required to appear before the Lord at the sanctuary (Ex 34 22.23). It was the first of the two agrarian festivals of Israel and signified the completion of the barley-harvest
(18 28). But according to Mt, Mk and Lk, the Passover that year occurred on Thursday, Nisan
14, and hence Pentecost fell on Saturday. The Karaites explained the shabbdth of Lev 23 15 as pointing to the Sabbath of the paschal week and therefore always celebrated Pentecost on Sunday. But it is very uncertain whether the custom existed
in Christ's day, and moreover it would be impossible to prove that the disciples followed this custom, if
it could be proved to have existed. Meyer follows the Johannic reckoning and openly states that the other evangelists made a mistake in their reckoning. No offhand decision is possible, and it is but candid to admit that here we are confronted with one of the knottiest problems in the harmonizing of the Gos-
(Lev 23 1.5.16; Dt 16 9.10), which had begun at the time of the waving of the first ripe sheaf of the
first-fruits (Lev 23 11). Pentecost, or the Feast of Weeks, therefore fell on the 50th day after this occurrence. The wheat was then also nearly everywhere harvested (Ex 23 16; 34 22; Nu 28 26), and the general character of the festival was that of a harvest-home celebration. The day was observed as a Sabbath day, all labor was suspended, and the people appeared before Jeh to express their gratitude (Lev 23 21; Nu 28 26). The central feature of the day was the presentation of two loaves of leavened, salted bread unto the Lord (Lev 23
pels. See Chronology of the NT. The occurrences of the first pentecostal day after the resurrection of Christ set it apart as a Christian festival and invested it, together with the commemoration of the resurrection, with a new meaning. We will not enter here upon a discussion of the significance of the events of the pentecostal day described in Acts 2. That is discussed in the article under Tongues (q.v.). The Lutherans, in their endeavor to prove the inherent power of the Word, claim that "the effects then exhibited were due to the Divine power inherent in the words of Christ; and that they had resisted that power up to the day of Pentecost and then yielded to its influence." This is well described as "an incredible hypothesis" (Hodge, Systematic Theol., Ill, 484). The Holy Spirit descended in answer to the explicit promise of the glorified Lord, and the disciples had been prayerfully waiting for its fulfilment (Acts 1 4. 14) . The Spirit came upon them as "a power from on high." God the Holy Spirit proved on Pentecost His personal existence, and the intellects, the hearts, the lives of the apostles were on that day miraculously changed. By that day they were fitted for the arduous work that lay before them.
17.20; Ex 34 22; Nu 28 26; Dt 16 10). The size of each loaf was fixed by law. It must contain the tenth of an ephah, about three quarts and a half, of the finest wheat flour of the new harvest (Lev 23 17). Later Jewish WTiters are very minute in their description of the preparation of these two loaves (Jos, Ant, III, x, 6). According to the Mish (M'nahoth, xi.4), the length of the loaf was 7 handbreadths, its width 4, its depth 7 fingers. Lev 23 18 describes the additional sacrifices required on this occasion. It was a festival of good cheer, a day of joy. Free-will offerings were to be made to the Lord (Dt 16 10), and it was to be marked by a liberal spirit toward the Levite, the stranger, and orphans and widows (Dt 16 11.14). Perhaps the command against gleaning harvest-
There is some difference of opinion as to what is the significance of Pentecost for the church as an institution. The almost universal opinion among theologians and exegetes is this: that Pentecost marks the founding of the Christian church as an institution. This day is said to mark the dividing line between the ministry of the Lord and the ministry of the Spirit. The later Dutch theologians have advanced the idea that the origm of the church, as an institution, is to be found in the establishment of the apostolate, in the selection of the Twelve. Dr. A. Kuyper holds that the church as an institution was founded when the Master selected the Twelve, and that these men were "qualified for their calling by the power of the Holy Spirit." He distinguishes between the institution and the constitution of the church. Dr. H. Bavinck
fields has a bearing on this custom (Lev 23 22).
The OT does not give it the historical significance which later Jewish writers have ascribed to it. The Israelites were admonished to remember their bondage on that day and to reconsecrate themselves to the Lord (Dt 16 12), but it does not yet commemorate the giving of the Law at Sinai or the birth of the national existence, in the OT conception (Ex 19). Philo, Jos, and the earlier Talm are all ignorant of this new meaning which was given to the day in later Jewish history. It originated with the great Jewish rabbi Maimonides and has been copied by Christian writers. And thus a view of the Jewish Pentecost has been originated, which is wholly foreign to the scope of the ancient institution.
2319 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Pentecost Peraea
says: "Christ gathers a church about Himself, rules
only one of significance (cited explicitly in the Preface to ERV) is the frequent use of the pi. "peoples"
it directly so long as He is on the earth, and appoints twelve apostles who later on wUl be His witnesses. The institution of the apostolate is an esp. strong proof of the institutionary character which Christ gave to His church on the earth" {Geref. Doom., IV, 64). Whatever we may think of this matter, the fact remains that Pentecost completely changed the apostles, and that the enduement with the Holy Spirit enabled them to become witnesses of the resurrection of Christ as the fundamental fact in historic Christianity, and to extend the church according to Christ's commandment. Jerome has an esp. elegant passage in which Pentecost is compared with the beginning of the Jewish national life on Mt. Sinai (Ad Tabiol, § 7): "There is Sinai, here Sion; there the trembling mountain, here the trembling house; there the flaming mountain, here the flaming tongues; there the noisy thuuderings, here the sounds of many tongues; there the clangor of the ramshorn, here the notes of the gospeltrumpet." This vivid passage shows the close analogy between the Jewish and Christian Pentecost.
(strangely avoided in AV except Rev 10 11; 17
15), where other nations than Israel are in question. So, for instance, in Ps 67 4; Isa 55 4; 60 2, with the contrast marked in Ps 33 10 and 12; Ps 77 14 and 15, etc. In the NT, Xdos, Idos, is the most common word, with &x^os, ochlos, used almost as often in AV. But in RV the latter word is almost always rendered "multitude," "people" being retained only in Lk 7 12; Acts 11 24.26; 19 26, and in the fixed phrase "the common people" (i
TToXis 6x'>^os, ho polus dchlos) in Mk 12 37; Jn 12 9.12 m (the retention of "people" would have been better in Jn 11 42, also), with "crowd" (Mt 9 23. 25; Acts 21 35). The only special use of "people" that calls for attention is the phrase "people of the land." This may mean simply "inhabitants," as Ezk 12 19; 33 2; 39 13; but in 2 K 11 14,
etc, and the parallel in 2 Ch, it means the people as contrasted with the king, while in Jer 1 18, etc, and in Ezk 7 27; 22 29; 46 3.9, it means the common people as distinguished from the priests and the aristocracy. A different usage is that for the heathen (Gen 23 7.12.13; Nu 14 9) or half-heathen (Ezr 9 1.2; 10 2.11; Neh 10 28-31) inhabitants of Pal. From this last use, the phrase came to be applied by some rabbis to even pure-blooded Jews,
In the post-apostolic Christian church Pentecost belonged to the so-called "Semestre Domini," as distinct from the "Semestre Ecclesiae," 3. Later the church festivals properly so called. Christian As yet there was no trace of Christmas, Observance which began to appear about 360 AD.
if they neglected the observance of the rabbinic traditions (cf Jn 7 49 AV). For "people of the East" see Children of the East.
Easter, the beginning of the Pentecostal period, closed the "Quadragesima," or "Lent," the entire period of which had been marked by self-denial and humiliation. On the contrary, the entire pentecostal period, the so-called "Quinquagesima," was marked by joyfulness, daily communion, absence of fasts, standing in prayer, etc. Ascension Day, the 40th day of the period, ushered in the climax of this joyfulness, which burst forth
Burton Scott Easton PEOR, pe'or ("liySH, ha-p''or; *o-y(Sp, Pkogor):
(1) A mountain in the land of Moab, the last of the three heights to which Balaam was guided by Balak
in order that he might curse Israel (Nu 23 28).
It is placed by Onom on the way between Livias and Heshbon, 7 Rom miles from the latter. Buhl would identify it with Jebel el-Mashakkar, on which are the ruins of an old town, between Wddy A^yun Musa and Wddy Hesban.
in its fullest volume on Pentecost. It was highly esteemed by the Fathers. Chrysostom calls it "the metropolis of the festivals" (Z)e Pentec, Hom. ii); Gregory of Nazianzen calls it "the day of the Spirit" {De Pentec, Orat. 44). All the Fathers sound its praises. For they fully understood, with the church of the ages, that on that day the dispensation of the Spirit was begun, a dispensation of greater privileges and of a broader horizon and of greater power than had hitherto been vouchsafed to the church of the living God. The festival "Octaves," which, in accordance with the Jewish custom, devoted a whole week to the celebration of the festival, from the 8th cent., gave place to a two days' festival, a custom still preserved by the Roman church and such Protestant bodies as follow the ecclesiastical year. The habit of dressing in white and of seeking baptism on Pentecost gave it the name "Whitsunday," by which it is popularly known all over the world. Henry E. Doskee
(2) A town in the Judaean uplands added by LXX {<^ayu>p, Phagor) to the list in Josh 15 9. It may be identical with Khirbet Faghur to the S. of Bethlehem.
(3) Peor, in Nu 25 18; 31 16; Josh 22 17, is a Divine name standing for "Baal-peor."
(4) In Gen 36 39, LXX reads Phogor for "Pau" (MT), which in 1 Ch 1 50 appears as "Pai." W. EWING PERAEA, p5-re'a (ij HepaCa, he Persia, Iltpaios,
Peraios, UtpatTtis, Peraltes): This is not a Scrip-
tural name, but the term used by Jos
1. The to denote the district to which the Country rabbis habitually refer as "the land beyond Jordan." This corresponds
to the NT phrase peran tou lorddnou (Mt 4 15; 19 1, etc). The boundaries of the province are given by Jos (BJ, III, iii, 3). In length it reached from Pella in the N. to Machaerus in the S., and
in breadth from the Jordan on the W. to the desert on the E. We may take it that the southern boundary was the Arnon. The natural boundary on the N. would be the great gorge of the Yarmuk. Gadara, Jos tells us (BJ, IV, vii, 3, 6), was capital
PENTTEL, p5-nu'el, pen'u-el. See Peniel.
PENURY, pen'o-ri (lion'O , mahsor) : In Prov
14 23, with sense of "poverty," "want": "The talk
of the lips tendeth only to penury." In the NT the word in Lk 21 4 {ixTTip-mxa, hustermna) is in RV tr'' "want" (of the widow's mites).
of the Peraea. But the famous city on the YarmUk was a member of the Decapolis, and so could hardly take that position. More probably Jos referred
to a city the ruins of which are found at Jedilr—
a reminiscence of the ancient name—not far from
PEOPLE, pe'p'l: In EV represents something over a dozen Heb and Gr words. Of these, in the OT, U? , ''am, is overwhelmingly the most common
es-Salt. The northern Gadara then holding the land on the southern bank of the Yarmuk, the northern boundary of the Peraea would run, as Jos says, from Pella eastward. For the description
(some 2,000 t), with O'lXb, l^'om, and "'ij, goy, next
in order; but the various Heb words are used with very little or no difference in force (e.g. Prov 14
of the country thus indicated see Gilead, 2.
In the time of the Maccabees the province was mainly gentile, and Judas found it necessary to
28; but, on the other hand, in Ps 44 contrast vs
12 and 14). Of the changes introduced by RV the
Perazim Perfume THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2320
it in the teaching of Jesus, who compares the lost sinner to the missing coin, the missing sheep, and makes him the object of a seeking activity (Mt 10
remove to Judaea the scattered handful of Jews to secure their safety (1 Mace 5 45). Possibly under Hyrcanus Jewish influence began to
6; 15 24; 18 11; Lk 15 4.6.8.24.32; 19 10). "To be lost" here signifies to have become estranged from God, to miss realizing the relations which man normally sustains toward Him. It is equivalent to what is theologically called "spiritual death." This conception of "loss" enters also into the de-
2. History prevail; and before the death of Jannaeus the whole country owned his sway {HJP, I, i, 297, 306). At the death of Herod the Great it became part of the tetrarchy of Antipas (Ant, XVII, vii, 1). The tetrarch built a city on the site of the ancient Beth-haram (Josh 13 27) and called it Julias in honor of the emperor's wife (Ant, XVIII, ii, 1; BJ, II, ix, 1). Here Simon made his abortive rising [Ant, XVII, x, 6; BJ, II, iv, 2). Claudius placed it under the government of Felix (BJ, II, xii, 8). It was finally added to the Rom dominions by Placidus (BJ, IV,
scription of the esohatological fate of the sinner as assigned in the judgment (Lk 9 24; 17 33), which
is a loss of life. The other meaning of "ruin" and "destruction" describes the same thing from a
different point of view. Apoleia being the oppo-
site of soteria, and soteria in its technical usage denoting the reclaiming from death unto life, apoleia
vii, 3-6). Under the Moslems it became part of the province of Damascus.
also acquires the specific sense of such ruin and destruction as involves an eternal loss of life (Phil
Peraea, "the land beyond Jordan," ranked along with Judaea and Galilee as a province of the land of Israel. The people were under the same laws as regarded tithes, marriage and property.
1 28; He 10 39). Perdition in this latter sense
is equivalent to what theology calls "eternal death." When in Rev 17 8.11 it is predicated of "the beast," one of the forms of the world-power, this must be understood on the basis of the OT prophetic representation according to which the coming judgment deals with powers rather than persons.
Peraea lay between two gentile provinces on the E., as Samaria between two Jewish provinces on the W. of the Jordan. The fords below Beisan and opposite Jericho afforded communication with Galilee and Judaea respectively. Peraea thus formed a link connecting the Jewish provinces, so that the pilgrims from any part might go to Jerus and return without setting foot on gentile soil. And, what was at least of equal importance, they could avoid peril of hurt or indignity which the Samaritans loved to inflict on Jews passing through Samaria (Lk 9 52f; Ant, XX, vi, 1; Vita, 52). It seems probable that Jesus was baptized within the boundaries of the Peraea; and hither He came from the turmoil of Jerus at the Feast of the Dedication (Jn 10 40). It was the scene of much quiet and profitable intercourse with His disciples (Mt 19; Mk 10 1-31; Lk 18 15-30). These passages are by many thought to refer to the period after His retirement to Ephraim (Jn 11 54). It was from Peraea that Lie was summoned by the sisters at Bethany (ver 3)
The Son of Perdition is a name given to Judas (Jn 17 12) and to the Antichrist (2 Thess 2 3). This is the well-known Heb idiom by which a person typically embodying a certain trait or character or destiny is called the son of that thing. The name therefore represents Judas and the Antichrist (see Man of Sin) as most irrecoverably and completely devoted to the final opoZeJa. Gberhardus Vos
PERES, pe'rez. See Mene.
PERESH, pe'resh (UJnB
, peresh, "dung"): Son
of Machir, grandson of Manasseh through his Aramitish concubine (1 Ch 7 14.16).
PEREZ, pe'rez, PHAREZ, fa'rez (f)3, pereg, "breach"): One of the twins born to Judah by Tamar, Zerah's brother (Gen 38 29.30). In AV Mt 1 3 and Lk 3 33, he is called "Phares," the name in 1 Esd 5 5. He is "Pharez" in AV Gen 46 12; Nu 26 20.21; Ruth 4 12.18; 1 Ch 2 4.5; 4 1; 9 4. In AV and RV 1 Ch 27 3; Neh 11
Peraea furnished in Niger one of the bravest men who fought against the Romans (BJ, II, xx, 4; IV, vi, 1). From Bethezob, a village of Peraea, came Mary, whose story is one of the most appalling among the terrible tales of the siege of Jenis (BJ, VI, iii, 4). Jos mentions Peraea for the last time (BJ, VI, v, 1), as echoing back the doleful groans and outcries that accompanied the destruction of Jerus. W. Ewing
4.6, he is "Perez." He is important through the fact that by way of Ruth and Boaz and so through Jesse and David his genealogy comes upward to the Saviour. The patronymic "Pharzite" occurs in Nu 28 20 AV.
PERAZIM, per'a-zim, pO-ra'zim, MOUNT ("in D''?nS , har-p'rafim) : "Jeh will rise up as in mount Perazim" (Isa 28 21). It is usually considered to be identical with Baal-pehazim (q.v.), where David obtained a victory over the Philis (2 S 5 20; 1 Ch 14 11).
Perezites (Nu 26 20, AV "Pharzites"). The patronymic of the name Perez.
Henry Wallace PEREZ-UZZA, pe-rez-uz'za. See Uzza.
PERFECT, piir'fekt, PERFECTION, per-fek'- shun (C!5'ttJ, shalem, D''12P., tamim; ractos, ieleios, Tt\(i6Tr]i, teleiotcs): "Perfect" in the 1. In the OT is the tr of shalem, "finished," OT "whole," "complete," used (except in Dt 25 15, "perfect weight") , of persons, e.g. a "perfect heart," i.e. wholly or completely devoted to Jeh (1 K 8 61, etc; 1 Ch 12 38; Isa 38 3. etc); tamim, "complete," "perfect," "sound or unblemished," is also used of persons and of God, His way, and law ("Noah was a just man and perfect," RVm "blameless" [Gen 6 9]; "As for God, his way is perfect" [Ps 18 30]; "The law of Jeh IS perfect" [Ps 19 7], etc) ; tarn, with the same meanmg, occurs only in Job, except twice in Pss (Job 1 1.8; 2 3, etc; Ps 37 37; 64 4); kalll, 'complete," and various other words are tr"^ "nerfect,"
PERDITION, per-dish'un (dir<5\eia, apdleia, "ruin" or "loss," physical or eternal): The word ''perdition" occurs in the Eng. Bible 8 t (Jn 17 12; Phil 1 28; 2 Thess 2 3; 1 Tim 6 9; He 10 39; 2 Pet 3 7; Rev 17 11.18). In each of these cases it denotes the final state of ruin and punishment which forms the opposite to salvation. The vb. apolluein, from which the word is derived, has two meanings: (1) to lose; (2) to destroy. Both of these pass over to the noun, so that apdleia comes to signify: (1) loss; (2) ruin, destruction. The former occurs in Mt 26 8; Mk 14 4, the latter in the passages cited above. Both meanings had been adopted into the religious terminology of the Scriptures as early as the LXX. "To be lost" in the religious sense may mean "to be missing" and "to be ruined." The former meaning attaches to
2321 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Perazim Perfume
to Him who is able to "make you perfect in every good thing [or work] to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen" (He 13 21). W. L. Walker
Perfection is the tr of various words so tr^ once only: kdlll (Lam 2 15); mikhldl, " completcntiss " (Ps 50 2); minleh, "possession" (Job 15 29. AV "neither sliall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth," ARV "neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth," m "their produce bend to the earth"; ERV reverses this text and m); tikhlah. "completeness," or "perfection" (Ps 119 96); takhluh (twice), "end," "completeness" (Job 11 7, "Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?" 28 3, "searcheth out all perfection," AV, RV "to the furthest bound"; cf 26 10, RV "unto the confines of light and darkness"); iom, "perfect," "completeness" (Isa 47 9, AV "They shall come upon thee m their perfection," RV "in their full measure"). RVm gives the meaning of "the Urim and the Thummim" (Ex 28 30, etc) as "the Lights and the Perfections."
PERFORM, per-form' (Fr. parfourrdr, "to furnish completely," "to complete," "finish entirely"): In modern Eng., through a mistaken connection with "form," "perform" usually suggests an act in
its continuity, while the word properly should emphasize only the completion of the act. AV seems to have used the word in order to convey the proper sense (cf Rom 15 28; 2 Cor 8 11; Phil 1 6, where RV has respectively "accomplish," "complete," "perfect"), but usually with ,so little justification in the Heb or Gr that "do" would have represented the original even better. RV has rarely changed the word in the OT, and such changes as have been made (Dt 23 23; Est 1 15, etc) seem based on no particular principle. In the NT the word has been kept only in Mt 5 33 and Rom 4 21, but in neither verse does the Gr accent the completion of the act, in the former case apodidomi,
In the NT "perfect" is usually the tr of primarily, "having reached the end," "term," "limit," hence "complete," "full,"
2. In the "perfect" (Mt 6 48, "Ye therefore NT shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"; Mt 19 21, "if thou wouldst be perfect^'; Eph 4 13, AV "till we
all come .... unto a perfect man," RV "fullgrown"; Phil 3 15, "as many as are perfect," ARVm "full-grown"; 1 Cor 2 6; Col 1 28, "perfect in Christ"; 4 12; Jas 3 2 m, etc).
lit. "to give back," in the latter poieo, "to make," "to do," being used.
Other words are teleiud. "to perfect," "to end," "complete" (Lk 13 32, "The third day I am perfected," RVm "end my course"; Jn 17 23, "perfected into one"; 2 Cor 12 9; Phil 3 12, RV "made perfect"; He 2 10, etc) ; also epiteUo, "to bring through to an end" (2 Cor 7 1, "perfecting holiness in the fear of God"; Gal 3 3. "Are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?" AV, RV "perfected in the flesh," m "Do ye now make an end in the flesh?"): katartizo, "to make quite ready," "to make complete," is tr<' "perfect," "to perfect" (Mt 21 16, "perfected praise"; Lk 6 40, "Every one when he is perfected shall be as his teacher"; 1 Cor 1 10; 2 Cor 13 11, "be perfected"; 1 Thess 3 10; 1 Pet 5 10, RVm "restore"); akribds, "accurately," "diligently," is tr<i "perfect" (Lk 1 3, "having had perfect understanding," RV " having traced .... accurately"; Acts 18 26 AV, RV "more accurately"). We have also drtios, "fitted," "perfected" (2 Tim 3 17, RV "complete") ; plerdo, "to mi," "to make full" (Rev 3 2, ARV "perfected," ERV "fulfilled"); kalartismds, "complete adjustment." "perfecting" (Eph 4 12, "for the perfecting of the saints").
Performance is found in AV Sir 19 20 (RV "doing"); 2 Mace 11 17 (inserted needlessly and omitted by RV); Lk 1 45 (RV "fulfilment"); 2 Cor 8 11 (RV "completion"). Burton Scott Easton PERFUME, pdr'fum, per-fum', PERFUMER (nnbl? , fc'«ore</i, "lUp , katar, lit. "incense"): The ancients were fond of sweet perfumes of all kinds (Prov 27 9), and that characteristic is still esp. true of the people of Bible lands. Perfumed oils were rubbed on the body and feet. At a feast in ancient Egypt a guest was anointed with scented
oils, and a sweet-smelling water lily was placed in his hand or suspended on his forehead. In their religious worship the Egyptians were lavish with their incense. Small pellets of dried mixed spices and resins or resinous woods were burned in special censers. In the preparation of bodies for burial, perfumed oils and spices were used. Many Bib. references indicate the widespread use of perfumes. Cant 7 8 suggests that the breath was purposely scented; clothing as well as the body was perfumed (Ps 45 8; Cant 3 6; 4 11); couches and beds were sprinkled with savory scents (Prov 7 17); ointments were used in the last rites in honor of the dead (2 Ch 16 14; Lk 24 1; Jn 19 39). The writer has in his collection a lump of prepared spices and resins taken from a tomb dating from the
Perfection is the tr of katdrtisis. "thorough adjustment," "fitness" (2 Cor 13 9, RV "perfecting"); of telelosis (He 7 11); of teleidtes (He 6 1, RVm "full growth");
it is trd " perfectness " (Col 3 14); "perfection" in Lk 8 14 is the tr of teUsphorio, "to bear on to completion or perfection." In Apoc "perfect," "perfection," etc, are for the most part the tr of words from tidos, "the end." e.g. Wisd 4 13; Ecclus 34 8; 44 17; 45 8, sunttieia, "full end"; 24 28; 50 11. RV has "perfect" for "upright" (2 S 22 24,26 his); for "sound (Ps 119 80); for "perform" (Phil 1 6); for "undeflled" (Ps 119 1, m "upright in way"); for "perfect peace, and at such a time" (Ezr 7 12), "perfect and so forth"; for "He maketh my way perfect" (2 S 22 33), "He guideth the perfect in his way," m "or, 'setteth free.' According to another reading, 'guideth my way in perfectness'
' ; "shall himself perfect,
' m "restore," for "make you perfect" (1 Pet 5 10); "perfecter" for "finisher" (He 13 2); "perfectly" Is omitted in RV (Mt 14 36); "set your hope perfectly on " for AV " hope to the end for " (1 Pet 1 13).
1st or 2d cent. AD, which was apparently fused and run into the thoracic cavity, since an impression of the ribs has been made on the perfume. Its odor
is similar to that of the incense used today, and it perfumes the whole case where it is kept. The above collection also contains a small glass vial in which is a bronze spoon firmly held in some solidi-
Perfection is the Christian ideal and aim, but inasmuch as that which God has set before us is
infinite—"Ye therefore shall be per-
3. The feet, as your heavenly Father is perChristian feet" (Mt 5 48)—absolute perfection
fied ointment, probably formerly perfumed oil. Perfumes were commonly kept in sealed alabaster jars or cruses (Lk 7 38). Thou.sands of these cruses have been unearthed in Pal and Syria.
Ideal must be forever beyond, not only any human, but any finite, being; it is a Divine ideal forever shining before us, calling us upward, and making endless progression possible. As noted above, the perfect man, in the OT phrase, was the man whose heart was truly or wholly devoted to God. Christian perfection must also have its seat in such a heart, but it implies the whole conduct and the whole man, conforrned thereto as knowledge grows and opportunity arises, or might be found. There may be, of course, a relative per-
Perfumes were mixed by persons skilled in the
art. In AV these are called "apothecaries" (Hp^'l,
rakkah). The RV "perfumer" is probably a more correct rendering, as the one who ditl the compounding was not an apothecary in the same sense as is the per,son now so designated (E.x 30 25.35; 37 29; Eccl 10 1). Today incense is used in connection with all
religious services of the oriental Christian churches. Although there is no direct mention of the uses of
fection, e.g. of the child as a child compared with that of the man. The Christian ought to be con-
incense in the NT, such allusions as Paul's "a sac-
tinually moving onward toward perfection, looking
Perfume-Making Persecution THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2322
rifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell" (Eph 5 2
province of Asia, in the Caicus valley, 3 miles from the river, and about 15 miles from the sea. The Caicus was navigable for small native
Phil 4 18) would seem to indicate that it was used by the early Christians.
1. History craft. Two of the tributaries of the Caicus were the Selinus and the Kteios. The former of these rivers flowed through the city; the latter ran along its walls. On the hill between these two streams the first city stood, and there also stood the acropolis, the chief temples, and the theaters of the later city. The early people of the town were descendants of Gr colonists, and as early as 420 BC they struck coins of their own. Lysimachus, who possessed the town, deposited there 9,000 talents of gold. Upon his death, Philetaerus (283-263 BC) used this wealth to found the independent Gr dynasty of the Attalid kings. The first of this dynasty to bear the title of king was Attains I (241-197 BC), a nephew of Philetaerus, and not only did he adorn the city with beautiful buildings until it became the most wonderful city of the East, but he added to his kingdom the countries of Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Pamphylia and Phrygia. Eumenes II (197159 BC) was the most illustrious king of the dynasty, and during his reign the city reached
The delight of the people of Syria in pleasant odors is recorded in their literature. The attar of roses (from Arab, 'itr, "a sweet odor") was a wellknown product of Damascus. The guest in a modern Syrian home is not literally anointed with
oil, but he is often given, soon after he enters, a bunch of aromatic herbs or a sweet-smelling flower to hold and smell. During a considerable portion of the year the country air is laden with the odor of aromatic herbs, such as mint and sage. The Arab, phrase for taking a walk is shemm el-hawa', lit. "smell the air." See Incense; Oil; Ointment.
James A. Patch PERFUME-MAKING. See Cbafts, II, 14.
PERGA, plor'ga (IlepYTi, Perge): An important city of the ancient province of Pamphylia, situated
on the river Cestris, 12 miles N.E. of
1. Location Attalia. According to Acts 13 13, and History Paul, Barnabas and John Mark visited
the place on their first missionary journey, and 2 years later, according to Acts 14 24.25, they may have preached there. Though the water of the river Cestris has now been diverted to the fields for irrigating purposes, in ancient times the stream was navigable, and small boats from the sea might reach the city. It is uncertain how ancient Perga is; its walls, still standing, seem to come from the Seleucidan period or from the 3d cent. BC. It remained in the possession of the Seleucid kings until 189 BC, when Rom influence became strong in Asia Minor. A long series of coins, beginning in the 2d cent. BC, continued until 286 AD, and upon them Perga is mentioned as a metropolis. Though the city was never a stronghold of Christianity, it was the bishopric of Western Pamphylia, and several of the early Christians were martyred there. During the 8th cent, under Byzantine rule the city declined; in 1084 AttaHa became the metropolis, and Perga rapidly fell to decay. While Attalia was the chief Gr and Christian city of Pamphylia, Perga was the seat of the local Asiatic goddess, who corresponded to Artemis or Diana of the Ephesians, and was locally known as Leto, or the queen of Perga. She is frequently represented on the coins as a huntress, with a bow in her hand, and with sphinxes or stags at her side.
its greatest height. Art and literature were encouraged, and in the city was a library of 200,000 volumes which later Antony gave to Cleopatra. The books were of parchment which was here
first used; hence the word "parchment," which is derived from the name of the town P. Of the structures which adorned the city, the most renowned was the altar of Zeus, which was 40
ft. in height, and also one of the wonders of the ancierit world. When in 133 BC Attalus III, the last king of the dynasty, died, he gave his kingdom to the Rom government. His son, Aristonicus, however, attempted to seize it for himself, but in 129 he was defeated, and the Rom province of Asia was formed, and P. was made its capital. The term Asia, as here employed, should not be confused with the continent of Asia, nor with Asia Minor. It applied simply to that part of Asia Minor which was then in the possession of the Romans, and formed into the province of which P. was the capital. Upon the establishment of the province of Asia there began a new series of coins struck at P., which continued into the 3d cent. AD. The magnificence of the city continued.
There were beautiful temples to the four great gods Zeus, Dionysus, Athena and Asklepios. To the temple of the latter, invalids from 2. Religions all parts of Asia flocked, and there, while they were sleeping m the court, the god revealed to the priests and physicians by means of dreams the remedies which were necessary to heal their maladies. Thus opportunities of deception were numerous. There was a school of medicine in connection with the temple. P. was chiefly a religious center of the province. A title which It bore was "Thrice Neokoros," meaning that m the city 3 temples had been built to the Rom emperors, in which the emperors were worshipped as gods. Smyrna, a rival city, was a commercial center, and as it increased in wealth, it gradually became the political center. Later, when it became the capital, P. remained the religious center. As in many of the towns of Asia Minor, there were at P. many Jews, and in 1.30 BC the people of the city passed a decree in their favor. Many of the Jews were more or less assimilated with the Greeks, even to the extent of bearing Gr names.
The ruins of Perga are now called Murtana. The walls, which are flanked with towers, show the city
to have been quadrangular in shape. 2. The Very broad streets, running through Ruins the town, and intersecting each other, divided the city into quarters. The sides of the streets were covered with porticos, and along their centers were water channels in which a stream was always flowing. They were covered at short intervals by bridges. Upon the higher ground was the acropolis, where the earliest city was built, but in later times the city extended to the S. of the hill, where one may see the greater part of the ruins. On the acropolis is the platform of a large structure with fragments of several granite columns, probably representing the temple of the goddess Leto ; others regard it as the ruin of an early church. At the base of the acropolis are the ruins of an immense theater which seated 13,000 people, the agora, the baths and the stadium. Without the walls many tombs are to be seen. E. J. Banks
PERGAMOS, pflr'ga-mos, or PERGAMUM, pAr'ga-mum (r\ II^p-ya|jios, he Pergamos, or to II^pya|iov, t6 Pergamon): Pergamos, to which the ancient writers also gave the neuter form of the name, was a city of Mysia of the ancient Rom
Christianity reached P. early, for there one of the Seven Churches of the Book of Rev stood, and there, according to Rev 2 13, Antipas was martyred; he was the first Christian to be put to death by the Rom state. The same passage speaks
2323 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Perfume-Making Persecution
Perpetually i.s tho rendering of 'adh, properly "progri!,ss," "tluraoion," henco long or indefinite time, eternity (u.sually in AV rendered "for over"), in Am 1 11. "His anger did tear perpetually" ; and ot kot ha-ydmim, "all the days" (1 K 9 -'J; 2 Vh 7 16, "my heart shall be there perpetually"; cf Mt 28 20, pdsas Ida hemeraa, lit. "all the days").
of P. as t,he plane "where Sal,an'n throne is," probably referring to the temples in which the Rom
emperors were worshipped. During
3. Christhe Byzantine times P. still continued tianity as a religious center, for there a bishop lived. However, the town fell into the hands of the Seljuks in 1304, and in 13.36 it was taken by Suleiman, the son of Orkhan, and became Turkish.
Perpetuity occurs in RV of Lev 25 23. .30, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity," "The house .... shall be made sure in perpetuity."
Perpetual is frequent in Apoc, most often as the tr of aidnios and kindred words, e.g. .Jth 13 20, "a perpetual praise"; Wisd 10 14, "perpetual glorv," RV "eternal"; Ecclus 11 33, "a perpetual blot," RV "blame for ever"; 1 Mace 6 44, "a perpetual name," RV "everlasting"; aenaos, "ever-flowing," occurs in Wisd 11 (so RV); eiidelecMs, "constant" (Ecclus 41 6, "perpetual reproach").
The modern name of the town, which is of considerable size, possessing 15 mosques, is Bergatna, the Turkish corruption of the ancient name. One of its mosques is the early Byzantine church of St. Sophia. The modern town is built among the ruins of the ancient city, but is far less in extent. From 1879 to 1886 excavations among the ruins were conducted by Herr Humann at the expense of the German government. Among them are still to be seen the base of the altar of Zeus, the friezes of which are now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin; the theater, the agora, the gymnasium and several temples. In ancient times the city was noted for
For "perpetual" (,Ier 50 5; Hab 3 6) RV has "everlasting"; for " the old hatred " (Ezk 25 1.5), "perpetual enmity"; for "perpetual desolation" (Jer 25 12), "desolate for ever," m "Heb 'everlasting desolations.'
W. L. Walker PERSECUTION, pllr-sE-ku'shun (8i»y(j.6s, diogmos [Mt 13 21; Mk 4 17; 10 30; Acts 8 1; 13 .50; Rom 8 35; 2 Cor 12 10; 2 Thess 1 4; 2 Tim 3 11]):
1. Persecution in OT Times 2. Between the Testaments 3. Foretold by Christ 4. A Test of Discipleship 5. A Means of Blessing 6. Various Forms 7. In the Case of Jesus 8. Instigated by the Jews 9. Stephen 10. The Apostles James and Peter 11. Gentile Persecution Christianity at First Not a Forbidden Religion 12. The Neronic Persecution (1) Testimony oi Tacitus (2) Reference in 1 Pet (3) Tacitus' Narrative (4) NT References 13. Persecution in Asia 14. Rome as Persecutor 15. Testimony of Pliny. 112 AD 16. 2d and 3d Centuries 17. Best Emperors the Most Cruel Persecutors 18. Causes of Persecution 19. 200 Years of Persecution 20. Persecution in the Army 21. Tertuliian's Apology 22. "The Third Race" 23. Hatred against Christians 24. The Decian Persecution 25. Libdli 26. The Edict of Milan 27. Results of Persecution The importance of this subject may be indicated by the fact of the frequency of its occurrence, both in the OT and NT, where in AV the words "persecute," "persecuted," "persecuting" are found no fewer than 53 t, "persecution" 14 t, and "persecutor" 9 t.
its ointments, pottery and parchment; at present the chief articles of trade are cotton, wool, opium, valonia, and leather. E. J. Banks
PERIDA, p?-rl'da (NT""? . P'ridM', "recluse"): A family of "Solomon's servants" (Neh 7 57). In Ezr 2 55, a difference in the Heb spelling gives "Peruda" tor the same person, who is also the "Pharida" of 1 Esd 5 33.
PERIZZITE, per'i-zit, pe-riz'it C^'IIS, p'rizzi;
^epe^atos, Pherezaios): Signifies "a villager," and so corresponds with the Egyp fellah. Hence the Perizzite is not included among the sons of Canaan
in Gen 10, and is also coupled with the Canaanite (Gen 13 7; 34 30; Jgs 1 4). _ We hear, accord-
ingly, of Canaanites and Perizzites at Shechem (Gen 34 30), at Bezek in Judah (Jgs 1 4) and, according to the reading of LXX, at Gezer (Josh 16 10). In Dt 3 5 and 1 S 6 18, where AV has "unwalled towns" and "country villages," LXX has "Perizzite," the lit. tr of the Heb being "cities
of the Perizzite" or "villager" and "village of the
Perizzite." The same expression occurs in Est 9
19, where it is used of the Jews in Elam. In Josh 17 15.18, where the Manassites are instructed to take possession of the forest land of Carmel, "Periz-
zites and Rephaim" are given as the equivalent of "Canaanite." A. H. Saycb
It must not be thought that persecution existed only in NT times. In the days of the OT it existed too. In what Jesus said to the Phari-
PERJURY, pftr'ja-ri. See Crimes; Oath; Punishments.
1. Persesees, He specially referred to the innocution in cent blood which had been shed in OT Times those times, and told them that they were showing themselves heirs—to use a legal phrase—to their fathers who had persecuted the righteous, "from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah" (Mt 23 35).
PERPETUAL, per-pet'fl-al, PERPETUALLY,
per-pet'a-al-i, PERPETUITY, pdr-pS-tu'i-ti (DbW
'olam, n?; , negah, "^'Ori , tamldh)
Perpetual is usually the tr of 'dlam, properly, "a wrapping up" or "hiding," used often of time indefi-
In the period between the close of the OT and the coming of Christ, there was much and protracted
nitely long, and of eternity when applied to God; hence we have, "for perpetual generations" (Gen 9 12); "the priesthood by a perpetual statute" (Ex 29 9; cf 31 16; Lev 3 17; 24 9, etc); "placed
suffering endured by the Jews, because
2. Between of their refusal to embrace idolatry, the Testaand of their fidelity to the Mosaic Law ments and the worship of God. During that time there were many patriots who were true martyrs, and those heroes of faith, the Maccabees, were among those who "know their God .... and do exploits" (Dnl 11 32). 'We have no need of human help,' said Jonathan the Jewish high
the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual
decree, that it cannot pass it" (Jer 5 22, RVm "an
everlasting ordinance which it cannot pass");
"sleep a perpetual sleep" (Jer 51 39.57); "Moab
shall be ... . a perpetual desolation" (Zeph 2 9),
etc; negah, "preeminence," "perpetuity," "eternity"
(often tr'd "for ever," Ps 9 6), is tr"' "perpetual"
(Ps 74 3; Jer 15 18); nagah (part.) (Jer 8 5); tamldh, "continuance," generally rendered "con-
priest, 'having for our comfort the sacred Scriptures which are in our hands' (1 Mace 12 9). In the Ep. to the He, persecution in the days of the OT is summed up in these words: "Others had
tinually," but sometimes "perpetual" or "perpetu-
ally" (Ex 30 8; Lev 6 20).
Persecution THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2324
After Our Lord's resurrection the first attacks against His disciples came from the high priest and
trial of mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword: they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, illtreated (of whom the world was not worthy)" (He 11 36-38). Coming now to NT times, persecution was frequently foretold by Christ, as certain to come to
his party. The high-priesthood was
8. Instithen in the hands of the Sadducees, gated by and one reason which moved them to the Jews take action of this kind was their 'sore
trouble,' because the apostles "proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead" (Acts 4 2; 5 17). The gospel based upon the resurrection of Christ was evidence of the untruth
those who were His true disciples and
3. Foretold followers. He forewarned them again by Christ and again that it was inevitable. He said that He Himself must suffer it (Mt 16 21; 17 22.23; Mk 8 31). It would be a test of true discipleship. In the parable of the Sower, He mentions this as one of the
of the chief doctrines held by the Sadducees, for they held that there is no resurrection. But instead
of yielding to the evidence of the fact that the resurrection had taken place, they opposed and denied
it, and persecuted His disciples. ^ For a time the Pharisees were more moderate in their attitude toward the Christian faith, as is shown in the case of Gamaliel (Acts 5 34) ; and on one occasion they were willing even to defend the apostle Paul (Acts 23 9) on the doctrine of the resurrection. But gradually the whole of the Jewish people became
causes of defection among those who 4. A Test are Christians in outward appearance of Discipleonly. WTien affliction or persecution ship ariseth for the word's sake, immediately the stony-ground hearers are offended (Mk 4 17). It would be a sure means of gaining a blessing, whenever it came to His loyal followers when they
bitter persecutors of the Christians. Thus in the
earliest of the Pauline Epp., it is said, "Ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they [in Judaea] did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men" (1 Thess 2 14.15). Serious persecution of the Christian church began with the case of Stephen (Acts 7 1^60); and hia lawless execution was followed by "a
were in the way of well-doing; and He
5. A Means thus speaks of it in two of the Beatiof Blessing tudes, "Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"; "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you .... for my sake" (Mt 5 10.11; see also ver 12). It would take different forms, ranging through every possible variety, from false accusation to the
9. Stephen great persecution" directed against the Christians in Jerus. This "great persecution" (Acts 8 1) scattered the members of the church, who fled in order to avoid bonds and imprisonment and death. At this time Saul signalized himself by his great activity, persecuting "this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women" (Acts 22 4). By and by one of the apostles was put to death the first to suffer of "the glorious company of the
infliction of death, beyond which. He
6. Various pointed out (Mt 10 28; Lk 12 4), Forms persecutors are unable to go. The methods of persecution which were employed by the Jews, and also by the heathen against the followers of Christ, were such as these:
(1) Men would revile them and would say all manner of evil against them falsely, for Christ's sake (Mt 5 11). (2) Contempt and disparagement: "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon?" (Jn 8 48); "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more them of his household!" (Mt 10 2.5). (3) Being, solely on account of their loyalty to Christ, forcibly separated from the company and the society of others, and expelled from the sjmagogues or other assemblies for the worship of God: "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake" (Lk 6 22); "They shall put you out of the synagogues" (Jn 16 2). (4) Illegal arrest and spoliation of goods, and death itself. All these various methods, used by the persecutor, were foretold, and all came to pass. It was the fear of apprehension and death that led the eleven disciples to forsake Jesus in Gcthsemane and to flee for their lives. Jesus often forewarned them of the severity of the persecution which they would need to encounter if they were loyal to Him: "The hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think that he offereth service unto God" (Jn 16 2); "I send unto you prophets .... some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city" (Mt 23 34). In the case of Christ Himself, persecution took the form of attempts to entrap Him in His speech (Mt 22 1.5); the questiou7. In the ing of His authority (Mk 11 28)
apostles"—James the brother of John, 10. The who was slain with the sword by Herod Apostles Agrippa (Acts 12 2). Peter also was James and imprisoned, and was delivered only Peter by an angel (12 7-11).
During the period covered by the Acts there was not much purely gentile persecution: at that time the persecution suffered by the Chris-
tian church was chiefly Jewish. There 11. Gentile were, however, great dangers and risks Persecution encountered by the apostles and by all who proclaimed the gospel then. Thus, at Philippi, Paul and Silas were most cruelly persecuted (Acts 16 19-40) ; and, even before that time, Paul and Barnabas had suffered much at Iconium and at Lystra (Acts 14 5.19). On the whole the Rom authorities were not actively hostile during the greater part of Paul's lifetime. Gallio, for instance, the deputy of Achaia, declined to go into the charge brought by the Jews at Corinth against Paul (Acts 18 14.15.16). And when Paul had pleaded in his own defence before King Herod Agrippa and the Rom governor Festus, these two judges were agreed in the opinion, "This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds" (Acts 26 31). Indeed it is evident (see Ramsay, Si. Paul the Traveller and the Rom Citizen, 308) that the purpose of Paul's trial being recorded at length in the Acts is to establish the fact that the preaching of the gospel was not forbidden by the laws of the Rom empire, but that Christianity was a religio licita, a lawful religion.
Case of illegal arrest; the heaping of every Jesus insult upon Him as a prisoner; false accusation; and a violent and most cruel death.
Christianity, at first, not a forbidden religion.—This legality of the Christian faith was illustrated and enforced by the fact that whon Pavil's case was heard and decided by the supreme court of appeal at Rome he was
2325 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Persecution
set free and resumed his missionary labors, as these are recorded or referred to in the Pastoral Epp. "One thing, however, is clear from a comparison of IPhil with 2 Tim. There had been in the interval a complete change in the policy toward Christianity of the Rom government. This change was due to the great Are of Rome (July, 64). As part of the persecution which then broke out, orders were given for the imprisonment of the Christian leaders. Poppaea, Tigellinus and their Jewish friends were not likely to forget the prisoner of two years before. At the time St. Paul was away from Rome, but steps were instantly taken for his arrest. The apostle was brought back to the city In the autumn or winter of 64 That he had a trial at all, instead of the summary punishment of his brethren, witnesses to the importance attached by the government to a show of legality in the persecution of the leader" (Workman, Persecution in the Early Church, 38). See Pastoral Epistles; Paul the Apostle.