Part 33
Edward Bagby Pollard PLAY, pla. See Games.
PLEAD, pled: In modern non-legal Eng. is a synonym of "pray" or "beseech," but in legal phraseology "plea," "plead," and "pleading" have a great variety of technical meanings, with "present a case before the court" as the idea common to all. All the uses of "plead" in EV are connected with this legal sense, so that outside of the set phrase "plead a cause" (1 S 24 15, etc) there is hardly a use of the word in AV, ERV, or ARV that is clear modern Eng. The most obscure instances are due to AV's employment of "plead" to translate the Niphal
W. L. Walker PLEDGE, plej (vbs. bnn, Mbhal [10 t], Dl^, 'arabh [2 K 18 23 = Isa 36 8]; nouns bnn, hdbh'al [Ezk 18 12.16; 33 15], nbln, hdbholah [Ezk 18
of USID , shapliat. Shdphat means "judge," so its Niphal means "bring one's self into a case to be judged," "enter into controversy with," and so "plead" in the legal sense. Hence "None pleadeth in tn_ith" (Isa 59 4) means "None of their lawsuits are honest." Accordingly, when God is said to "plead with" man (Isa 66 16 AV, ERV, etc), the
7], n;i-;y, 'ambbah [l S 17 18], |i3-iy, 'erabhon [Gen 38 i7. 18.20]; also 133?, 'dbhot[Dt 24 10-13] and [RV only] I2^P3? , 'abhtit [Hab 2 6]) : All these
2409 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Plaster Plow
words have about the same meaning. (1) The "pledge" is, as in modern Eng., security given for future payment (Gen 38 17-24) or conduct (Hab 2 6, where the conquered nations have given guaranties of their subserviency to the Chaldaeans; AV's "thick clay" here rests on a misreading of the Heb). In 2 K 18 23 ( = Isa 36 8) the "pledge"
that it may be attached firmly to the share. The whole plow is so light that it can be easily carried on a man's shoulder. These plows literally scratch the soil, as the Heb word implies. They do not turn over the ground as the modern implement does. The plowman guides the plow with one hand, and
is a wager (so RVm). Rabshakeh mockingly dares Hezekiah to stake a "pledge" that he can produce 2,000 men for the defence of Jerus, although the mighty Assyr host has that number of horses alone. The general point of the obscure passage Prov 20 16 (= 27 13) is that he who guarantees strangers needs a guaranty himself. 1 S 17 18 is uncertain and the text may be corrupt. If not, the "pledge"
is some (prearranged?) token of the welfare of David's brethren. (2) Most of the occurrences of "pledge," however, deal with the debts of the very poor, who had no property that they could spare even temporarily. Consequently, the exaction of a pledge from such persons worked genuine hard-
ship, and to take a pledge at all was a cruel act (Job 24 3), although of course the dishonesty of withholding a pledge (Ezk 18 7; 33 15) was worse. Lowest in the scale was the creditor who took the garment the borrower was wearing (Am 2 8; Job 22 6; 24 9 m), and special legislation controlled
Syrian Plow, Yoke and Pick.
with the other sometimes goads the oxen, and at other times with the chisel end of his goad breaks away the lumps of earth or other material which impedes the progress of his plow. See Yoke. In addition to the words which are found above, the following terms occur: "1?^ , ^abhadh (lit. "to serve"), "worked" or "plowed"' (Dt 21 4); nbs
this practice. A garment (the outer "cloak"—see Dress—not worn while doing manual labor) so taken must be restored at night (Ex 22 26; Dt 24 12.13), for it was the usual covering of the sleep-
er. (Apparently, though, the creditor regained custody of it in the daytime until the debt was paid.) A widow's clothing, however, was entirely exempt (Dt 24 17), as was the handmill used for bread-making (24 6). The lender had no right of entry into the borrower's house to obtain the pledge
palah (lit. "to break open," Ps 141 7). One special law is mentioned in connection with plowing, namely that an ox and an ass should not be yoked together (Dt 22 10), a prohibition which
is utterly disregarded today. Principally oxen were used for plowing (Job 1 14). Often several yokes of oxen followed each other plowing parallel furrows across the field, a sight still common on the plains of Syria (1 K 19 19). Plowing was done by bond servants (Lk 17 7; cf 'abhadh, Dt 21 4). Plowing cannot be done before the rains (Jer 14
(24 10.11), but it is not said that he could not dic-
tate what he would accept ; indeed, the contrary is inconceivable. (3) ARV gives "pledge" for AV and ERV "faith" in 1 Tim 5 12. See also Earnest. Burton Scott Easton
4) ; on the other hand the soil is too sticky to plow in the winter time (Prov 20 4). The law requiring one day of rest in every seven included plowing time (Ex 34 21).
PLEIADES, pli'a-dez, ple'ya-dez, ple'a-dez. See Astrology, 10; Astronomy, II, 10.
Figurative: "The plowers plowed upon my back" typified deep affliction (Ps 129 3; cfl417). "Plow imquity" is urged in the sense of "plant iniquity." Domg evil was sure to bring evil consequences (Job 4 8; cf Mic 3 12). As surely as planting comes after plowing, so surely will Jeh carry out His decree of destruction (Isa 28 23-25). "jfudah
PLEROMA, pIS-ro'ma. See Fulness.
PLOW, plou (liJin , harash; aporpiow, arotrido)
No implement of the Bible is more frequently
illustrated today than the plow. This is partly because there is every reason to believe that the plows still used throughout Egypt, Pal, and Syria
are counterparts of the ancient ones. The first plows were probably an adaptation of the an-
shall plow," i.e. become enslaved (Hos 10 11); cf "Foreigners shall be your plowmen" (Isa 61 5). "Will one plow there with oxen?" (Am 6 12), "neither plowing nor harvest" (Gen 45 6) are
cient Egyp hoe, where the handle was lengthened
in order that animals might be hitched to it. To make it easier to break up the ground, it was pointed, and handles were added by which it could be
figures of desolation. Zion plowed as a field, i.e. utterly destroyed (Jer 26 18). The plowman shall overtake the reaper, i.e. the soil shall be so fertile
guided. The ancient plow probably varied in type in different sections of the country, as it does
as to require no rest—typical of great abundance (Am 9 13). No opportunity to plow because of lack of rain is a desolate picture of drought (Jer 14 4). As the plowman expects to share in the
today. In one form a young tree of 9ak or other
strong wood of a diameter of 3 or 4 in. is cut off
just below a good-sized branch and again 15 or 20 in. above. The upper end of the severed trunk
fruits of the harvest, so might an apostle expect his temporal needs to be provided for (1 Cor 9 10). "If ye had not plowed with my heifer," i.e. used my
is pointed and forms the share. Between this and the side branch is fitted a brace. The branch
wife, was Samson's reply to those who had secured the answer to his riddle from her (Jgs 14 18). "Beat their swords into plowshares" (or hoes) (Isa 2 4; Mic 4 3) typified peace; "beat your plow-
is cut off 10 or 12 ft. from the trunk and forms
the pole. A lighter stick, about 3 ft. long, projects upward from the share and forms the handle. The plow used in Syria is of slightly different
shares into swords"—war (Joel 3 10). "Having put his hand to the plow, and looking back," i.e.
construction. The handle and share are one con-
tinuous piece, so cut that there is a slight bend at
longing for evil things when one has set his face toward doing what is right, unfits a man for the kingdom of God (Lk 9 62; cf Gen 19 26; Phil
the middle. The share is pointed and is used bare in the plains, or in more stony regions is shod with iron. The pole is of 2 pieces joined end to
3 13). James A. Patch
end. The thicker end of the pole is notched, so
Plucking, Hair Poetry, Hebrew THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2410
PLUCKING, pluk'ing, OFF THE HAIR. See Hair, 7; Punishments.
ing this account of poetry as criticism, it may unhesitatingly be affirmed that the Heb Scriptures contain a goodly amount of genuine poetry; cf the Pss, Job, Cant, etc. It is strange but true that poetical is older than prose written composition. An examination of the literature of the ancient Indians, Babylonians, Hebrews, Greeks and Arabs makes this quite certain.
PLUMB-LINE, plumTm, PLUMMET, plum'et, plum'it. See Tools.
POCHERETH-HAZZEBAIM, pok'g-reth, po'ke-
reth, p5-ke'reth, -ha-zE-ba'im (D"'32in tTISE
//. Neglect of Hebrew Poetry: Causes.—Notwithstanding the undoubted fact that poetry is largely represented in the Bible, it is noteworthy that this species of Bible literature was almost wholly ignored until the 18th cent. We may perhaps ascribe this fact mainly to two causes: (1) Since the Bible was regarded as preeminently, if not exclusively, a revelation of the Divine mind, attention was fixed upon what it contained, to the neglect of the literary form in which it was expressed. Indeed it was regarded as inconsistent with its lofty, Divine function to look upon it as literature at all, since in
, pokherelh ha^s'bhayiyn [Ezr 2 57], or b''')3^n "E, p. ha-('bhatjim [Neh 7 59], "binder [fern.] of the gazelles"): Name of the head of a post-exilic family. The first word is a fem. participle Kal; cf koheleth ("preacher"), the Heb title of the Book of Eccl. BDB suggests that the fem. is that of office. AV has "Pochereth of Zebaim" in Ezr, but Ryle (Cambridge Bible, 235) notes that "of" is not in the 1611 ed.
POET, po'et (iron)TT|s, poietts, "a maker"): Occurs in this sense only in Acts 17 28, where St. Paul quotes from the general expression of Gr mythology. The quotation if intended to be exact
this last the appeal is made, at least to a large extent, to the aesthetic and therefore carnal man. The aim contemplated by Bible writers was practical the communication of religious knowledge—not literary, and still less artistic. It was therefore regarded as inconsistent with such a high purpose that these writers should trouble themselves about literary embellishment or beautiful language, so long as the sense was clear and unambiguous. It was in this spirit and animated by this conception that toward the middle of the 19th cent. Isaac Taylor of Ongar (The Spirit of Heb Poetry, 1861, 56 ff) and Keil of Dorpat {Intro to the OT, 1881, I, 437) denied on a priori grounds the presence of epic and dramatic poetry in the Bible. How, they exclaimed, could God countenance the writing of fiction which
is probably from Aratus, as the words of St. Paul in his speech at Athens precisely agree with the opening words of the Phamiomena by Aratus. A like but not identical expression is found in the Hymn to Zeus by Cleanthes. Aratus in his poem endeavors to posit Jupiter as the father and controller of all things, and worthy to be worshipped. In both his poem and that of Cleanthes, but esp. in the latter, there is a true and lofty note of spiritual devotion. St. Paul takes this praise and devotion offered by the Gr poets to their unknown or fictitious gods and bestows it upon the one true God whom he declared unto the people of Athens. C. E. Schenk
is untruth—and the epic and the drama have both? Matthew Arnold rendered invaluable service to the cause of Bible science when he fulminated against theologians, Jewish and Christian, for making the Bible a mere collection of proof texts, an arsenal whence religious warriors might get weapons with which to belabor their opponents. "The language of the Bible is fluid .... and literary, not rigid, fixed, scientific" (Preface to 1st ed of Literature and Dogma). The Bible contains literature, poetical and prose, equal as literature to the best, as Matthew Arnold, Carlyle, and Froude (on Job) held. The neglect of this aspect of the Scriptures made theologians blind to the presence and therefore ignorant of the character of Bible poetry. (2) Another factor which led to the neglect of the poetical element in the OT is the undoubted fact that Bib. Heb poets were less conscious as poets than western poets, and thought much less of the external form in which they expressed themselves. Bible poetry lacks therefore such close adherence to formal rules as characterizes Gr, Arab, or Eng. poetry. The authors -wrote as they felt and because they felt, and their strong emotions dictated the forms their words took, and not any objective standards set up by the schools. Heb poetry is destitute of meter in the strict sense, and also of rhyme, though this last occurs in some isolated cases (see below. III,
POETRY, po'et-ri, HEBREW:
I. Is There Poetry in the OT ? Poetry Defined
1. In Matter Concrete and Imaginative 2. In Form Emotional and Rhytlimical II. Neglect OF Hebrew Poetry: Causes III. Ch.-vracteristics of Hebrew Poetry, External .^ND Internal
1. External or Formal Characteristics
(1) Vocabulary (2) Grammar (3) Rhythm (4) Parallelism
(.5) Other Literary Devices (6) Units of Hebrew Poetry (7) Classification of Stichs or Verses 2. Internal or Material Characteristics (1) Themes of Hebrew Poetry (2) Species of Hebrew Poetry IV. Poetical Writings of the OT 1. The Poetical Books in the Narrow Sense 2. Customary Division of the Poetical Books 3. Poetry in Non-poetical Books Literature
By Heb poetry in the present article is meant that of the OT. There is practically no poetry in the NT, but in the OT Apoc Sir is largely poetical and Wisd only less so. Post-Bib. Heb poetry could not be discussed here.
/. Is There Poetry in the OT?—It is impossible to answer this question without first of aU stating what poetry really is. The present writer submits the following as a correct definition: "Poetry is verbal composition, imaginative and concrete in matter, and emotional and rhythmic in form." This definition recognizes two aspects of poetry, the formal and the material. The substance of poetry must be concrete—it is philosojjhy that deals with the abstract; and it has to be the product more or less of the creative imagination. It is of the essence of poetry that, like music, it should be expressed in rhythmical but not necessarily in metrical form. Moreover, the language has to be such as will stir up the aesthetic emotions. Adopt-
1, [4], c and e). No wonder then that western scholars, missing these marks of the poetry which they knew best, failed for so long to note the poetry which the OT contains.
///. Characteristics of Hebrew Poetry: External and Internal.—The definition of poetry accepted in I, above, implies that there are marks by which poetry can be distinguished from prose. This is equally true of Heb poetry, though this last lacks some of the features of the poetry of western nations.
(1) Vocabulary.—There are several Heb words which occur most frequently and in some cases exclusively in poetry. In the foUowing list the corresponding prose
2411 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Plucking, Hair Poetry, Hebrew
word is put in parenthesis: H^TJ, millah."woTi" ( = "13^,
Omitting "Yahwe," which belongs ahke to both members, it will be seen that the rest of the two half-lines corresponds word for word: "thy lovingkindness" corresponding to "thy faithfulness," and
datftor); liSijX. 'inosh, "man" (='liJi5iC, 'ish); rTii?.
""''''^' "'^^y" "^^^H' derekh); rnn.'ha-
1 External
^"''' "*° ^°''" ^^f^^T ''"'"''): tho'propo-
or Formal
'to the heavens" answering to "to the clouds" (cf Ps 15 1; 24 1-3; 25 5; IS 18 7; Isa 6 4; 13 7).
Character- ^'t'o°s"'^N. '«'«," to'," i"iy, MdAe, "unto,"
istics ''''?' ''"^' "upon," and 1313, minni, "from," instead of the shorter forms —5St. '*!'. ny, 'arf/i, by
(ii) Antithetic parallelism: in which the second member of a line (or verse) gives the obverse side of the same thought, e.g. Prov 10 1:
, mm. The pronoun
. 'ai, and I'O
^T . zu. rare in prose, has in poetry the double function of a demonstrative and a relative pronoun in both gen-
ders. The negative b2. bal, is used for jjb . lo' . For the inseparable prepositions b, k, I ("in," "as," "to") the separate forms 6om(5, kc^no and lumO are employed.
'A wise son gladdens his father.
But a foolish son grieves his mother'
(2) Grammar.— (a) Accidence: The pronominal suffixes have peculiar forms in poetry. For m, dm, em ("their," "them") we find the longer forms mO, dmo, emo. For the pi. ending of nouns n (in) takes the place of m (im), as m Aram, (cf Job 4 2; 12 11), and frequently obsolete case endings are preserved, but their functions are whoUy lost. Thus we have the old nominative ending 3 in Ps 50 10, etc; the old genitive ending i in Isa 1 21, and the accusative ah in Ps 3 :3. (b) Syntax: The article, relative pronoun, accusative sing. 'Uh and also the "li'am-consocutive" are frequently omitted for the sake of the rhythm. There are several examples of the last in Ps 112 12 ft. The construct state which by rule immediately precedes nouns has often a preposition after it. The jussive sometimes takes the place of the indicative, and the pi. of nouns occurs for the singular.
(see Prov 11 3; Ps 37 9; cf Prov 10 1 ff; Ps 20 8; 30 6; Isa 54 7ff). Sometimes there are more than two corresponding elements in the two members of the verse, as in Prov 29 27; cf 10 5; 16 9; 27 2.
(iii) Synthetic parallelism: called also constructive and epithetic. In this the second member adds something fresh to the first, or else explains it, e.g. Ps 19 8f:
*The precepts of Yahwe are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandments of Yahwe are pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of Yahwe is clean, enduring for ever: The judgments of Yahwe are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb'
(3) Rhythm.—Rhjithm (from pu9n6s, rhulhmds) in literary composition denotes that recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables in a regular order which we have in poetry and rhetorical prose. Man is a rhythmic animal: he breathes rhythmically, and his blood circulates—outward and inward—rhythmically. It may be due to these reflex rhythms that the more men are swayed by feeling and the less by reflection and reasoning, the greater is the tendency to do things rhythmically. Man walks and dances and sings and poetizes by the repetition of what corresponds to metrical feet: action is followed by reaction. We meet with a kind of rhythm in elevated and passionate prose, like that of John Ruskin and other writers. Preachers when mastered by their theme unconsciously express themselves in what may be called rhythmic sentences. Though, however, rhythm may be present in prose, it is only in poetry as in music that it recurs at intervals more or less the same. In iambic poetry we get a repetition of a short and long syUabie, as in the foUowing lines:
(see Prov 1 7; cf 3 5.7; Ps 1 3; 15 4). In addition to the three principal species of parallelism noticed above, other forms have been traced and described.
(iv) Introverted parallelism (Jebb, Sacred Lit., 53) : in which the hemistichs of the parallel members are chiastically arranged, as in the scheme ab ba. Thus Prov 23 15 f:
(o) 'My son, if thy heart be wise (b) My heart shall be glad, even mine: (h) Yea, my reins shall rejoice (a) When thy Ups speak right things'
' With ravished ears
(cf Prov 10 4.12; 13 24; 21 17; Ps 51 3).
The monarch hears. Assumes the gods, Afl'ects the nods." —Dryden.
(v) Palilogical parallelism: in which one or more words of the first member are repeated as an echo, or as the canon in music, in the second. Thus Nah 1 2: 'Yahwe is a jealous God and avenges: Yahwe avenges and is full of wrath; Yahwe takes vengeance on his adversaries, And he reserves wrath for his enemies'
(4) Parallelism.—What is so called is a case of logical rhythm as distinguished from rhythm that
is merely verbal. But as this forms so important a feature of Bible poetry, it must be somewhat fully discussed. What since Bishop Lowth's day has been called parallehsm may be described as the recurring of symmetrically constructed sentences, the several members of which usually correspond to one another. Lowth (d. 1787), in his epochmaking work on Heb poetry (De Sacra poesi Hebraeorum prelecliones, ET by G. Gregory), deals with what he (following Jebb) calls Parallelismus membrorum (ch x). And this was the first serious attempt to expound the subject, though Rabbi Asariah (Middle Ages), Ibn Ezra (d. 1167 AD), D. Kimhi (d. 1232) and A. de Rossi (1514-1578) called attention to it. Christian Schoettgeii (d. 1751) (see Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae) anticipated much
(cf Jgs 5 3.6f.llf.l5f.23.27; Ps 72 2.12.17; 121; 124; 126; Isa 2 7; 24 5; Hos 6 4).
(vi) Climactic or comprehensive parallelism : In this the second line completes the first. Thus Ps 29 1:
"Give unto Yahwe. O ye mighty ones.
Give unto Yahwe glory and strength"
(see Ex 15 6; Ps 29 8).
(vii) Rhythmical parallelism (De Wette, Franz Delitzsch): thus Ps 138 4:
"All the kings of the earth shall give thee thanks ....
For they have heard the words of thy mouth."
of what Lowth has written as to the nature, func-
See Prov 15 3; cf 16 7.10; 17 13.15; 19 20; 21 23.25. Perfect parallelism is that in which the number of words in each line is equal. When unequal, the parallelism is called imperfect. Ewald (see Die poetischen Biicher des alien Bundes, I, 57-92; Die Dichter des alien Bundes, I, 91 ff, 2d ed of the former) aimed at giving a complete list of the relations which can be expressed by parallelism, and he thought he had succeeded. But in fact every kind of relation which can be indicated in words may be expressed in two or more lines more or less parallel. On the alleged parallelism of strophes see below.
tion and value of parallelism. The first to use the word itself in the technical sense was Jebb (Sacred
Lit., 1820), For the same thing Ewald used the expression Sinnrhythmus, i.e. sense rhythm, a not unsuitable designation.
(a) Kinds of parallelism: Lowth distinguished
three principal species of parallelism, which he called synonymous, antithetic and synthetic.
(i) The synonymous: In this the same thing is repeated in different words, e.g. Ps 36 5: 'Yahwe, (a) Thy lovingkindness [reaches] to the heavens, O) Thy faithfulness [reaches] to the clouds.'
Poetry, Hebrew THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2412
selves rhythmically, producing often the phenomena which came later to be codified under metrical rules. Thinking and reasoning and speaking preceded psychology, logic, and grammar, and similarly poetry preceded prosody. In the OT we are in the
(b) Parallelism as an aid to exegesis and textual criticism; If in Lowth's words parallelism implies that "in two lines or members of the same period things for the most part shall answer to things, and words to words," we should expect obscure or unknown words to derive some light from words corresponding to them in parallel members or clauses. In not a few cases we are enabled by comparison of words to restore with considerable confidence an original reading now lost. The formula is in a general v^y ^s follows: ab: ex. "We know what a. b and c mean, but are whoUy in the dark as to the sense of j-. The problem is to find out what x means. We have an illustration in Jgs 5 28, which may be thus literally translated
region of the fact, not of the law. Poets wrote under strong impulse, usually religious, and without
recognizing any objective standard, though all the time they were supplying data for the rules of
prosody. Those who think that OT poets had in
their min4s objective rules of meter have to make innumerable changes in the text. Instead of basing
"Through the window she looked. And Sisera's mother x through the rr." Here we have two unknown, each, however, corresponding to known terms. The Heb vb. accompanying "Sisera's mother" is DS^^'^' ^atUyabbebh, 'EY ''3.n(i . . . .
their theory on the original material, they bring
their a priori theory and alter the text to suit it. It can be fearlessly said that there is not a single poem
cried." But no such vb. (ydbhabh) is known, for the Talm, as usually, follows the traditional interpretation. We want a vb. with a meaning similar to "lool<ed." If we read t35^^ * ^'a/iabbef, we have a form which could ,
in the OT with the same number of syllables, or
feet, or accents in the several stichs or hemistichs,
unless we introduce violent changes into the IMT, such as would be resented in classical and other an-
easily be corrupted into the word in the MT, which gives a suitable sense and moreover has the support of the Tgs of Onkelos and Jonathan, and even of the LXX (A and Luc!). What about the other Heb word untranslated above (HDliJiC. 'eskndbh) ? This occurs in but one
cient literature. It is important, before coming to any definite conclusion, to take into consideration the fact that the poetry of the OT belongs to periods separated by many centuries, from the Song of Deborah (Jgs 5) , the earhest Heb poem, down to the
other passage (Prov 7 6), where it stands as in the
present passage in parallehsm with 'I'l^n . hallou, "window" (probably Prov 7 6 is dependent). We get no help from etymology or in this case from the VSS, but parallelism had suggested to our translators the meaning "lattice," a kind of Eastern window, and something of the kind must be meant. The vb. shdnabh, "to be cool," may possibly suggest the rendering "window," i.e. a hole in the wall to secure coolness in the house. Glass windows did not exist in Pal, and are rare even now. There are innumerable other examples in the OT of the use of parallelism in elucidating "words which occur but once, or which are otherwise diincult to understand, and frequently a textual emendation is suggested which is otherwise supported.
last hymns in the Psalter. In the oldest specimens
of Heb poetry there is a naive simplicity which excludes the idea of conscious art. In the latest the poet is much more conscious, and his poetry more artistic. It would be manifestly unfair to propound a theory of poetry based on the poetry of Keats and Tennyson and to apply it to the productions of Anglo-Saxon and Old Eng. poetry. Bound up in the one volume called the Bible there is a literature differing widely in age, aim and authorship, and it needs care in educing a conception of Heb poetry that wiU apply to all the examples in the OT. The later pss-acrostic, etc, many of them made up
(c) Prevalence and value of parallelism: Two statements anent parallelism in the OT may be safely made: (i) That it is not a characteristic of
of bits of other pss, seem to have sprung from a more conscious effort at imitation. If, however, there were among the ancient Hebrews, as there was among the ancient Greeks, a code of prosody, it is strange that the Mish and G'mara' should be wholly
all OT poetry. Lowth who had so much to do with its discovery gave it naturally an exaggerated place in his scheme of Heb poetry, but it is lacking in the largest part of the poetry of the OT, and it is frequently met with in elevated and rhetorical prose,
silent about it. And if some one system underlies our Heb Bible, it is strange that so many systems have been proposed. It should be remembered too that the oldest poetry of every people is nonmetrical.
(ii) That it pervades other poetr}' than that of the OT. It occurs in Assyria (see A. Jeremias, Die bab-assyr. Vorstellung vom Leben nach dem Tode), in Egypt (Georg Ebers, Nord u. Slid, I), in Finnish, Ger. and Eng. Indeed, A. Wuttke {Der deutsche Volks-Aherglaube der Gegenioart, 1869, 157) and Eduard Norden {Die antike Kunstprosa, 1898, II, 813) maintain that parallelism is the most primitive form of the poetry of all nations. It must nevertheless be admitted that in the OT parallelism has in proportion a larger place than in any other hterature and that the correspondence of the parts of the stichs or verses is closer.
The following is a brief statement of the views advocated:
(i) Philo and Josephus, under the influence of Gr models and desiring to show that Heb was not inferior to pagan literature, taught that Heb poetry had meter, but they make no attempt to show \vhat kind of meter this poetry possesses.
(ii) Calmet, Lowth and Carpzov held that though in the poetry of the Heb Bible as originally written and read there must have been metrical rules which the authors were conscious of following, yet, through the corruption of the te.xt and our ignorance of the sounds and accentuation of primitive Heb, it is now Impossible to ascertain what these metrical rules were.
(.5) Other literary devices.—OT poetry has additional features which it shares with other oriental and with western poetry. Owing to lack of space these can be hardly more than enumerated.
(iii) In their scheme of Heb meter BickeU and Merx reckon syllables as is done in classical poetry, and they adopt the Syr law of accentuation, placing the tone on the penultimate. These writers make drastic changes in the text in order to bolster up their theories.
(o) Alliteration: e.g. "Round and round the rugged rocks." We have good examples in the Heb of Ps 6 8 and 27 17. (6) Assonance: e.g. "dreamy seamy" (see for Bible examples the Heb of Gen 49 17: Ex 14 14; Dt 3 2). (c) Rhyme: There are so few examples of this in the Heb Scriptures that no one can regard it as a featiu'e in Heb poetry, though in Arab, and even in post-Bib. Heb poetry it plays a great part. We have Bib. Instances in the Heb text of Gen 4 23; Job lo 8-11; 16 12. (d) Acrostics: In some poems of the OT half-verses, verses, or groups of verses begin with the successive letters of the Heb alphabet. We have such alphabetical acrostics in Pss 9 f, 34, 37; Prov 31 10 ff; Lam 1-4; cf ch 5, where the number of verses agrees with that of the Heb alphabet, though the letters of that alphabet do not introduce the verses.
(iv) The dominant and by far the least objectionable theory is that advocated by Ley, Briggs, Duhm, Buhl, Grimme, Sievers, Rothstein and most modem scholars, that in Heb prosody the accented syllables were alone counted. If this principle is appUed to Job. it will be found that most of the Bib. verses are distichs ha\'ing two stichs, each with three main accents. See. for an illustra-
tion, Job 12 16: nSTaT?^ 53125 ib : n^Bin'] w 'irs? i'immd' '6z wethiishiydh: Id stidgh.i'qh umasligeh' : 'Strength and effectual w^orking belong to [lit. "are with"] liim. he that errs and he that causes to err'). Rlan's rhythmical instincts are quite sufficient to account for this phenomenon without assuming that the poet had in mind an objective standard. Those who adopt this last view and apply it rigidly make numerous textual changes. For an examination of the metrical systems of Hubert Grimme. who takes account of quantity as well as accent, and of Eduard Sievers who, though no Ileb scholar, came to the conclusion after examining small parts ol the Heb
(e) Meter : The view of the present writer may be stated as follows: That the poetry of the Heb is not in the strict sense metrical, though the writers under the influence of strong emotion express them-
2413 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Poetry, Hebrew
Bible that Heb poetry is normally anapaestic, see W. H. Cobb, Criticism of Systems of Heb Metre. 152 ff, 169 ff. Herder, De Wette, Hupfeld, Keil, Nowack, Budde, DoUer, and Toy reject all the systems of Heb meter hitherto proposed, though Budde has a leaning toward Ley's system.
(e) Song : This (HH'^TB , shirdh) is made up of a
series of verses and in some cases of strophes.
(/) Poem: We have examples of this (T^lp, shir)
in the books of Job and Cant which consist of a combination of the song.
(/) Budde's kinah measure: Though Budde takes up in general a negative position in regard to Heb meter, he pleads strenuously for the existence of one specific meter with which his name is associated. This is what he calls the kinah measure (from npp, kindh, "a lamentation"). In this each stich is said to consist of one hemistich with three beats or stress syllables and another having two such syllables, this being held to be the specific meter of thedirge (see Lam 1 1, etc). Ley and Briggs call it "pentameter" because it is made up of five (3+2) feet (a foot in Heb prosody being equal to an accented syllable and the unaccented syllables combined with
(7) Classification of stichs or verses.—Stichs may be arranged as follows, according to the number of meters
(or feet) which they contain: (a) the trimeter or tripod with three meters or feet; BickoU holds that in Job this measure is alone used; (6) the tetrameter or tetrapod, a stich with four meters or feet; (c) the pentameter or pentapod, which has five meters or feet: this is Budde's kinah measure (see III, 1, [4]); (rf) the hexameter or liexapod: this consists of si.\ meters or feet, and is often hard to distinguish from two separate trimeters (or tripods).
Our first and most original authority on the internal characteristics of Hebrew poetry is that great German theologian and man of letters, J. G. Herder, 9 Tntprnnl the pastor and friend of Goethe and Schil- ^V 1 • ler at Weimar. In his Vom Geist der CnaraCteriSe(,rat.scAe7!. Poesie. 1782 {The Spirit of tics of Poetry. tr<i by James Marsh, U.S.A., 1833), Hebrew ^^ discusses at length and with great fresh-
it). See Budde's full treatment of the subject in ZATW, 60, 152, "Das heb. Klagelied." It must, however, be borne in mind that even Herder (d. 1803) describes the use in elegies of what he calls, anticipating Ley and Briggs, the "pentameter" (see GHst der ehraischen Poesie, 1782, I, 32 f, ET The Spirit of Heb Poetry, 1833, I, 40). But the present writer submits the following criticisms:
T-, . ness those internal aspects of the poetry Jfoetry of the OT (love of Nature, folklore, etc) which impressed him as a literary man. Reference may be nrade also to George Gilfillian's Bards of the Bible, 1851 (popular) , and Isaac Taylor's Spirit of Heb Poetry. It is a strange but striking and significant coincidence that not one of these writers professed much
if any knowledge of the Heb language. They studied the poetry of the O'T mainly at least in translations, and were not therefore diverted from the Uterary and logical aspects of what is written by the minutiae of Heb grammar and textual criticism, though only a Heb scholar is able to enter into full possession of the rich treasures of Heb poetry.
(i) Budde is inconsistent in rejecting all existing theories of meter and yet in retaining one of his own, which is really but part of the system advocated by Bellermann, Ley and Briggs. (ii) He says, following Herder, that it is the measure adopted by mourning women (Jer 9 16), but we have extremely few examples of the latter, a«d his statement lacks proof, (iii) There are dirges in the OT not expressed in the kinah measure. David's lament over Saul and Jonathan is more hexametric and tetrametric than pentametric, unless we proceed to make a new text (2 S 1 19 ff). (iv) The kinah measure is employed by Heb poets where the theme
(1) Themes of Hebrew poetry.—It is commonly said that the poetry of the ancient Hebrews is wholly
religious. But this statement is not strictly correct,
(a) The OT does not contain all the poetry composed or even written by the Hebrews in Bible times, but only such as the priests at the various sanctuaries preserved. We do not know of a literary caste among the Hebrews who concerned themselves with the preservation of the literature as such. (6) Within the Bible Canon itself there are numerous poems or snatches of poems reflecting the everyday
is joyous or indifferent; see Ps 119, which is a didactic poem.
(6) Units of Hebrew poetry.—In western poetry the ultimate unit is usually the syllable, the foot (consisting of at least two syllables) coming next. Then we have the verse-line crowned by the stanza, and finally the poem.
life of the people. We have love songs (Cant), a wedding song (Ps 45), a harvest song (Ps 65), parts of ditties sung on discovering a new well (Nu 21 17 f), on drinking wine, and there are references to war songs (Nu 21 14; Josh 10 13; 2 S 1 18).
According to the theory of Heb poetry adopted by the present writer, the following are the units, beginning with the simplest:
(2) Species of poetry.—Bib. poetry may be subsumed under the following heads: (a) folklore, (6) prophetical, (c) speculative, {d) lyrical.
(a) The meter: This embraces the accented
(tone) syllable together with the unaccented syllable preceding or succeeding it. This may be called a "rhythmic foot."
(a) Folklore: "Poetry," said J. G. Hamann (d. 1788), "is the mother tongue of the human race." In both folk-music and folk-poetry, each the oldest
(b) The stich or verse: In Job and less regularly
of its class, the inspiration is immediate and spontaneous. We have examples of folk-songs in Gen 11 1-9; 19 24 f.
in Pss and Cant and in other parts of the OT (Nu 23 19-24) the stich or verse consists commonly of three toned syllables and therefore three meters
(b) Prophetic poetry: This poetry is the expression of the inspiration under which the seer wrote. One may compare the oracular utterances
(see above for sense of "meter"). It is important
to distinguish between this poetical sense of "verse" and the ordinary meaning—the subdivision of a
of diviners which are invariably poetical in form as
Bible chapter. The stich in this sense appears in a separate line in some old MSS.
well as in matter. But one has to bear in mind that the heathen diviner claimed to have his messages from jinns or other spirits, and the means he employed were as a rule omens of various kinds. The OT prophet professed to speak as he was imme-
(c) Combinations of stichs (verses): In Heb poetry a stich hardly ever stands alone. We have
practically always a distich (couplet, Job 18 5), a tristich (triplet, Nu 6 24-26), a tetrastich (Gen 24 23), or the pentastich.
diately inspired by God (see Divination, VIII). Duhm thinks that the genuine prophecies of Jeremiah are wholly poetical, the prose parts being
(d) Strophe: Kosters {Stud. Krit., 1831, 40-114, "Die Strophen," etc) maintained that all poems in
interpolations. But the prophet is not merely or primarily a poet, though it cannot be doubted that a very large proportion of the prophecies of the OT
the Heb Scriptures are naturally divisible into strophes (stanzas) of similar, if not equal, length. Thus Ps 119 is arranged in strophes named after
are poetical in form and substance.
the letters of the Heb alphabet, each one containing
(c) Philosophical poetry: This expression is intended to include such poetry as is found in the Wisdom literature of the OT and the Apoc (see Wisdom Literature). The so-called didactic
eight Scripture verses, or sixteen metrical verses
or stichs, most of the stichs having three meters or rhythmical feet. But though several Bib. poems are composed in strophes, many are not.
Poetry, Hebrew Poll THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2414
contains a good, brief, popular statement of the subject, though it makes no pretense to originality. In The Poets of the OT, 1912, Professor A. R. Gordon gives an excellent popular account of the poetry and poetical Uterature of the OT.
poetry, that of the proverbs or parables ('T^P, mdshal), also comes in here.
(d) Lyrical poetry: This includes the hymns of the Psalter, the love songs of Cant and the many other lyrics found in the historical and prophetical writings. In these lyrics all the emotions of the human soul are expressed. Does the OT contain specimens of epic and dramatic poetry? The answer must depend on which definition of both is adopted.
T. WiTTON Davies POETRY, NEW TESTAMENT: No one ques-
tions the presence of poetry of a high order in the OT. The study of the OT as the literature of the ancient Hebrews has been critically made, and the attention of even the ordinary reader of the Scriptures called to the beauty and wealth of its
(a) Epic poetry: The present writer would define an epic poem as a novel with its plot and development charged, however, with the passion and set out in the rhythmic form of poetry. There is no part of the OT which meets the requirements of this definition, certainly not the Creation, Fall and Deluge stories, which De Wette {Beitrage, 228 ff, Einleitung, 147) and R. G. Moulton {Literary Study
poetic passages. The message of the NT is so
vitally spiritual and concerned with religion that but little attention has been paid to it as literature. Naturally it would be strange if the poetic inspira-
tion which runs like a tide through the prophetic and post-exilic periods of the OT should altogether
cease under the clearer spiritual dispensation of the NT. The fact is that it does not cease, but that under every fundamental rule for poetic utterance, save that of rhyme, the NT is seen to be rich in imaginative vision, in religion touched by emotion, and in poetic expression. The Gospels, the Paul-
of the Bible, ch ix) point to as true epics, and which Ewald (Dichter des alten Bundes, I, 87 ff) held rightly to have in them the stuff of epics, though not the form.
(5) Dramatic poetry: Defining dramatic poetry as that which can be acted on a stage, one may with confidence say that there is no example of this in the OT. Even the literary drama must have the general characteristics of that which is actable. Franz Delitzsch and other writers have pointed to Job and Cant as dramatic poems, but the definition adopted above excludes both.
ine Epp., and the Ep. of Jas, all afford examples of
lofty poetic utterance, while the message of Jesus is saturated with words which readily lend themselves to song. In fact it is thought by some that Jesus was no less careful of the form than of the content
of His message, and that all the finer types of Heb poetry found in the OT can be matched from His sayings, even when tested by the same rules.
IV. Poetical Writings of the OT.—According to the Massoretes or editors of our present Heb Bible,
In the Gospels that of St. Luke gives us our best examples of poetry. "No sooner have we passed through the vestibule of his Gospel than we find ourselves within a circle of harmonies" (Burton, in Expositor's Bible). From the poetic utterances
there are but three poetical books in
1. The the OT, Job, Prov, and Pss, known in Poetical Jewish circles by the mnemonic abbreBooks in viation HTOS, 'emcth, the three consothe Narrow nants forming the initial letters of the Sense Heb names of the above books. These three books have been supplied by the Massoretes with a special system of accents known as the poetical accents, and involving a method of intoning in the synagogue different from that followed when the prose books are read. But these accentual marks cannot be traced farther back than the 7th or 8th cent, of our era.
of Mary, Elisabeth, Zacharias, Simeon, and the Angels, the church gains her Magnificat, Beatitude, Benedictus, Nunc Dimittis and Glorias.
The utterances of John the Baptist are filled with a rugged desert vision and an expression which reveals a form of poesy in nowise to be mistaken for prose.
St. Paul presents many of his ideas in harmonious and beautiful forms. He knew the secular poets of
his day, and has immortahzed Cleanthes' Hymn to Zeus (Acts 17 28). He also quotes from Epimenides and the Athenian dramatist Menander
It is customary to divide the poetical books of the OT into two classes, each containing three books:
(1 Cor 15 33). St. Paul knew the poetry of the Hebrews, and enriches his own message with many quotations from it. He was acquainted with the Christian hymnology of his own times, as is seen in Eph 5 14 and 1 Tim 3 16. He offers also original flashes of poetic inspiration and utterance, a good
(1) those containing lyrical poetry
2. Custom- ("'"^'^1 shir, or nn''tt) , s/ura/i), i.e. Pss,
ary DiCant, Lam; (2) those containing
vision for the most part didactic poetry
(blljp, mashal), i.e. Job, Prov, Eccl. There is a large amount of poetry in the OT outside the books usually classed as poetical: (a) poetry in the prophetical books (see
example of which is found in Rom 8 31-37.
Who could doubt the poetic imagery of St. James? He might almost be called the poet of social justice and of patient waiting under affliction for the will of God to come to men.
3. Poetry above. III, 2); (h) poetry in the his-
in Nontorical books including the Pent (see poetical Michael Heilprin, The Historical PoetBooks ry of the Hebrews, 2 vols, 1879-80). We have examples in Gen 4 23 f ; 49; Ex 15; Nu 21 14 f.27-30 (JE); 23 f (Balaam's songs); Dt 32 f (song and blessing of Moses); Josh 10 12-14 (JE); Jgs 5 (Deborah's Song); 9 8-15; 1 S 2 1-10; 2 S 1; 3 33f; 23 ( = Ps 18), etc.
When one comes to the words of Jesus he discovers that in a very true sense His speech answers to the requirements for Heb poetry. Examples of synonymous, antithetic, synthetic and causal parallelism are the rule rather than the exception in the utterances of Jesus. For the synonymous form see Mt 10 24; for the antithetic see Lk 6 41; for the synthetic and causal forms see Lk 9 23 and Mt 6 7. Not alone are these forms of Heb poetry found in the words of Jesus, but also the more involved and sustained poetic utterances (Lk 7 31-32).
Literature.—The most important books and articles on the subject have been mentioned in the course of the foregoing article. There is a full list of works dealing with Hob meter in W. H. Cobb. Criticism of Systems of Heb Miire, 19 ff. The first edition of Ewald's stiU valuable "Essay on Hel) Poetry" prefl.xed to his comra. on the P.ss was published in Eng. in the Journal of Sacred Literature (1S4K). 74 ff, 295 ff. In 1909 J. W. Rothstein issued a suggestive treatise on Heb rhytlun {Grundzilge des heb. Rhythmus .... nebst lyrischen Tezten mit kritischem Kommenlar, 8vo +vi +.398). reviewed by the present writer in Review of Theol. and Philcjs. (Edinburgh), October, 1911. Early Religious Poetry of the Hebrews by E, G. King (Cambridge University Press)
No one can qviestion the deep emotional quality, the vivid imagination and spiritual idealism of Jesus. That the form of His speech is adequately set to poetic inspiration and conforms to the laws for Hob poetry has not been so freely acknowledged. Independently of the theory advanced in Did Jesus Write His Own Gospel ? (William Pitt
2415 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Poetry, Hebrew PoU
asp may be the cobra Naia haje, not uncommon on the borders of the wilderness to the S. Ps 58 4 mentions the poison of serpents. Ps 140 3, "They have sharpened their tongue lilce a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips," indicates, what is still a common belief, that the forked tongue of the snake
MacVey), every student of the literature of the NT must be grateful for the chapter on "The Poems of Jesus."
Spirituality and poetry have a kinship, and the interpretation of any message is aided by the adequate knowledge of its form. When the NT has thus been carefully studied as literature, it will be seen, not only that Jesus was a poet, but that the entire NT,
is the poison-bearer. This is referred to in Jas 3 8. That it was the fang and not the tongue which carried the poison was known to Pliny (xi.62). This verse of Ps 140 is given in St. Paul's composite quotation in Rom 3 13. There may be a reference to the giving of an intoxicant poison in Hab 2 1.5, where RV reads "that addest thy venom." The prophets speak in several places of God's wrath as a cup of trembling (RV "staggering"), e.g. Isa 51 17.22, probably suggested by the fact that hemah primarily means "fury" and is used in that sense in more than a hundred passages. In Zee 12 2 Jerus is to be such a "cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about."
if not as rich as the OT in poetic passages, is sufficiently poetic to receive treatment as such in religious encyclopaedias. See also Faithful Sayings; Poetry, Hbbebw. C. E. Schbnk
POINTS, points: The word occurs in Eccl 6 16, "In all points [np^, 'ummdh] as he came, so shall he go"—a man leaves the world in all regards as helpless as he entered it, no matter what he may have gained or accomplished during his life.
Also in He 4 15, "In all points [Kara. irdvTa, katd pdnta, "in all things," as in His human nature
The s'mamilh, "lizard" (AV "spider"), mentioned in Prov 30 28 (LXX kalaboles) was formerly regarded as poisonous and it is still much disliked by the fellahtn, as they believe that it makes mocking gestures mimicking them at their prayers. They are really not poisonous. It is doubtful whether the hzard mentioned by Agur is really this stelhon; the description better fits the gecko.
(2 14), so in His human experience (cf 2 17.18)] tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He successfully resisted temptation at all points of His nature, in body, soul, and spirit. See Temptation OF Christ. Westcott (in loc.) thinks that the reference is not so much to Christ issuing out of all His trials without the least stain of sin, as to "a limitation of His temptation. Man's temptations come in many cases from previous sin. Such temptations had necessarily no place in Christ. He was tempted as we are, sharing our nature, yet with this exception, that there was no sin in Him to become the spring of trial." Whichever interpretation is adopted there is profound insight into the things of the soul in joining sinlessness with fulness of experience of temptation. M. O. Evans
Alex. Macalister POLE, pol: Nu 21 8.9 AV for 03, ne.?, RV "standard."
POLICY, pol'i-si: Lit. "method of government," and so "abihty to manage affairs." In a bad sense,
"cunning," "craft," in Dnl 8 25 (bsll), sekhel, "understanding"); in a good sense in 1 Mace 8 4
(povX-q, boule, "counsel"); also in AV 2 Mace 13
18; 14 29.31 {iJ.iffodos, methodos, a-TparriyTjim, slraligema, <rTpa.TTjyiu, slrategeo), where RV has "stratagem." Policies occurs in Jth 11 8 AV for wamvp-
POISON, poi'z'n (npn, hemSh, T2JS"1, ro'sh;
fluiios, thumds, tos, ids): Residents in Pal must, from the first, have been acquainted with venomous serpents. Six species of these are widely diffused
ynp.a, panourgema, lit. "readiness for anything," here in a good sense; RV "subtil devices."
in the land, and at least three of them are fairly common in places. Besides, there are scorpions, centipedes and the large spider, .which are as much dreaded by the fellahln as are the serpents, not to speak of the minor but very serious discomforts of mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks, some of which were credited with lethal powers. In Wisd 16 9 RV we read that "the bites of locusts and flies did slay, and there was not found a healing for their life." There are also many poisonous plants, such as belladonna,
POLISHED, pol'isht. See Corner-stone, (2).
POLL, pol: The word (on the derivation of which
see Skeat, Concise Etym. Diet, of the Eng. Language, 360) has been eliminated as a vb. in ARV. In AV and ERV it represents the Heb vbs. DOS, fco-jam,
Ht. "to shear" (Ezk 44 20), TT5, gazaz, ht. "to pull
out," "to uproot," thence "to shear the sheep,"
henlaane, thorn apple, and the opium poppy. None
figuratively, "to destroy an enemy" (Mic 1 16), nb3, gdlah, in Piel, lit. "to make bald or roundheaded" (2 S 14 26) and fSR, kdi-ac, "to cut off"
of these is mentioned in the Bible; the only names found there are the hemlock (Conium maculalum)
of Hos 10 4, the poisonous gourd {Citrullus colo-
(Jer 9 26; 25 23; 49 32). The Heb noun is nbhbS, gulgoleth. As will be seen from the above enumeration, the Heb vbs. differ considerably in etymology, while RV has not tried to distinguish. In Mic 1 16 we have a reference to the oriental custom of cutting or tearing one's hair as a
cynlhis) of 2 K 4 39, and the grapes of gall, probably the fruit of Caloiropis procera, the apples of Sodom of Jos (BJ, IV, viii, 4). Some, however,
believe that these are poppyheads. Poisonous waters are referred to at Marah (Ex 15 23) and
Jericho (2 K 2 19). There are no direct records
sign of mourning for one's relatives. "Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair [AV and ERV "poll thee," Heb gdzaz] for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the eagle [m "vulture"]; for they are gone into captivity from thee." The priests, the sons of Zadok,
of any person dying of poison except in 2 Mace 10
13, where the suicide of Ptolemy Macron is related. Our Lord's promise in the appendix to Mk 16 18
shows, however, that poisons were known and might be administered by way of ordeal, as was the unknown "water of jealousy" (Nu 5 17). In this connection the story in Eusebius (HE, III, 39) is in-
are instructed to abstain from outward resemblance
to heathen patterns of priesthood: "Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair [AV and ERV "poll," Heb kdi^am] of their heads" (Ezk 44
teresting, that "Justus surnamed Barsabbas, though he drank a deadly poison, suffered no injury, through the grace of the Lord." The passages in which poisonous serpents are mentioned are Dt 32
20). The Piel form of gdlah is employed in the
24, where serpents (RV "crawling' things") of the
description of the annual hair-cutting of Absalom
dust, probably Cerastes hasselquistii, the little horned vipers, are mentioned, and in ver 33 : "poison
(2 S 14 26). Thrice we find the vb. "to poll" as the tr of Heb fcafaf, where ARV materially im-
of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps." The
Pollution Pomegranate THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2416
destruction of the Hurons by the Iroquois. The great majority of the men were massacred; the women and children, driven to the abode of the conquerors, disappearing there mainly in concubinage and slavery. What shall be done with this surplus of women? Here again the might of the strongest comes to the front. The chief or the most heroic fighter would assert his right to choice of captives, and thus concubinage or what is the same thing—polygamy—would be set up. Successes in further wars come and add other women to be distributed. Of course to the sheik or king there soon comes the seraglio and the harem. Polygamous practices will come in in other ways. The prisoner
proves the tr by adopting the marginal version of AV (Jer 9 26; 25 23; 49 32). See Haie. The noun (gulgoleth, lit. "head") is tr'^ "poll" in the phrase "by the poll," "by their polls" (Nu 1 2. 18.20.22; 3 47; 1 Ch 23 3.24). The expression has its origin in the numbering of persons by their heads, in the same way in which we speak of headtax, etc. H. L. E. LuERiNG
POLLUTION, po-lu'shun (bXJ, ga'al, "to pollute"; aX.Co-7Tina, allsgema, "contamination"): In Mai 1 7, "Ye offer polluted bread," i.e. not actually unclean, but worthless, common (cf Ezr 2 62), bread here being used metonymically for sacrificial offerings generally (cf Lev 21 6; Mt 6 11). The phrase in Acts 15 20, "the pollutions of idols," is explained in ver 29 by "things sacrificed [AV "meats offered"] to idols."
of war becomes property and passes from hand to hand by gift or sale. So woman—the weaker party—endures what comes to her as slave, concubine. We have now no longer the "helpmeet"
originally destined for man—"bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh"—for whom he would "leave his father and his mother" and to whose single self he would "cleave" for life (Gen 2 18.24; Mt 19 5.6). Monogamy, with its unity in labor, thought and
POLLUX, pol'uks. See Castor and Pollux.
POLYGAMY, p6-lig'a-mi:
1. Meaning o( tlic Term 4. Polygamy Unnatural 2. Origin of Polygamy The Eunuch 3. OT and Polygamy 5. WeaJmess ot Polygamy Polygamy has been and is the open blazon by the human race of sex vice. The very term is a misnomer. Since man became moralized he 1. Meaning has apprehended that the proper marof the Term riage relation between the sexes is mo-
feeling, with its immeasurable modifying influences of moral, ideal and spiritual cast, is gone. Woman
is reduced to the position of ministrant to man's unmodified sensuality.
The complications introduced into morals by polygamy are not often considered. But the Bible sets them forth in plainness. The
nogamy. Whatever may have been the practice, since man could ask himself. What is right? he has known that <iir' tipx^s, ap' archts ("from the beginning," Mt 19 4), an fond, at bottom, marriage is the choice of one man and one woman of each other for a life family relation. La Rochefoucauld said : "Hyjjocrisy is a sort of homage which vice pays to virtue." There is hypocrisy beneath the word polygamy. It is an attempt to cover up by the term "plural marriage" what is not marriage and cannot be marriage. There is no particular need of defining what the condition is, so long as we can look upon it as a violation and negation of the marriage relation. The very use of the term from any language covering a like condition is attempt
3. The OT marriage of Abraham and Sarah seems and Poto have been an original love match, lygamy and even to have preserved something of that character through life. Still we find Sarah under the influence of polygamous ideas, presenting Abraham with a concubine. Yet afterward, when she herself had a son, she induced Abraham to drive out into the wilderness this concubine and her son. Now Abraham was humane and kind, and it is said "The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight" (Gen 21 11). But he was in the toils of polygamy, and it brought him pain and retribution. A Divine direction may be hard to bear.
The conditions of Jacob's marriages were such that it is hard to say whether any of his children were of any other than of polygamous origin (Gen 35 22-26). Where the family idea and affection went, in such mi.xed condition, is evidenced by the unblushing sale, for slavery in Egypt, of one of the brothers by the others (37 28). David was a singer of sweet and noble songs and wanted to be a righteous man with his whole heart. Yet, probably in common with all the military leaders and kings of the earth of his day, he had a polygamous career. His retributions ran along an extended line. There was a case of incest and murder among his children (2 S 13). The son in whom he had most hope and pride organized treason against his throne, and lost his life in the attempt. David left his kingdom to Solomon, of whom much might be said, but of whom this can be said—evidently originally a man bright, keen-witted, wise, yet in his old age he went to pieces by the wiles of the women with whom he had loaded his harem. Partly by his extravagance in his polygamous life, and partly in attempt to build temples in distant places for the religions represented by the inmates of his harem, he bankrupted his nation. As a consequence his kingdom was divided at his death, and there was never again a united Israel (1 K 11 12). Polygamy may be justly charged with these untoward results.
"To steal the livery of the court of heaven To serve the Devil in." Polygamy is a general term and might mean a multiphcity of partners in the family relation by one of either sex. But it does not. Polygamy practically means exactly "polygyny" (yvv^, guni), i.e.
it describes a inany-ioived man. The correlative term "polyandry" describes the condition of a woman who has many men in family relation with herself. They are all husbands to her, as in polygamy all the women are wives to one man. But polyandry in historic times has had so little illustration that it may be dismissed as so exceptional as to be worthy of no further notice here. Why polygamy has captured the whole position philologically covered by polygyny is readily apparent. The might of the physically strongest has dictated the situation. Man has on the average one-fourth more muscular force than woman. When it comes to WTong in sex relation, man has that advantage, and it has given him the field covered by the word "polygamy." There he is master and woman is the victim.
It is plainly evident that polygamy is primarily largely the outcome of tribal wars. When men had separated into clans and had taken up 2. Origin of different places of abode, coUisions Polygamy would soon occur between them. What would happen in such cases would be what we know did happen in North America soon after its first settlement by Europeans, to wit, the
It can be demonstrated scientifically, even mathematically, that polygamy is a moral wrong. Statistics show that births are substantially equally divided between the sexes. Excess seems slightly
2417 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Pollution Pomegranate
on the side of males. When this fact is considered and also the fact of the wide prevalence of polyg-
Tlie crisping herbage of arid plains Had toughened his sinews hke bands of steel; The snow-fed waters of Zarafshan Had nerved the might of a northern will.
amy, it would seem that polygamy
4. Polygamy (polygyny) is a greater crime against Unnatural Nature than polyandry. To put out of view for a moment the wrong to woman in denying to her the rights and privileges of monogamous marriage, the interference with the rights of man to such marriage looms up in vast proportion. Every harem is the denial to men of the right to seek among its inmates wives according to the dictates of their own hearts.
The war steed grazed in the fertile meads.
Drinking the waters of indolent streams: He rested at eve on bloom-dight beds.
Toyed with by maidens in the goldening gleams.
They charmed his ear with dalliant song: They closed his eyes in witchery's glee: They fed him the vineyards' wildering draught He slept in the breath of the lotus tree.
White bones lie strewn on the flowering mead. In flesh-rank grass grown high and dark. The carrion bird hath flown—hath died
The eunuch.—But we are not done with the crime against man. Given a harem, and he who set it up has made, or there brought, the eunuch. The lord of the harem must be served by emasculated men. A search in history will reveal an amount of this wickedness that is past belief. The eunuch has been everywhere among all nations and peoples and tongues. They have not only been servitors to women in harems, but they have acquired such influence with their masters that they have sometimes even dictated the policy of government. They have been the secret cabinet that has had the
Riseth the war-horse '? Neigheth 'Z Hark! —JosiAH ToERET Reade, Amhcrst, 1856. The above lyric may be taken as the epitaph of any polygamous nation. The last words are significant "Neigheth'i' Hark!" Would the old war steed arise? "Hark!" The Sepoy rebellion was on! We "barkened," but the rebellion went to pieces and an end was put to the Mogul empire. We have listened for half a century and heard no sound. We hear mutterings now, but the end will be as before—even if the "war-horse" riseth and is victorious. He will then again lie down in "flesh-rank grass grown high and dark." and the "carrion bird" will fly from his "white bones." Streams cannot rise higher than their fountains. The causes remaining, the same effects will follow. See Divorce; Family; Marriage.
last word in public affairs. They have sometimes held public positions and shown therein astonishing ability. Witness Narses, the brilliant general
C. Cavehno POMEGRANATE, pom'gran-at, pom-gran'at,
of the emperor Justinian. See Eunuch. Gibbon noticed tlie fact that nations began to decline in power when their policies were dictated and managed
pum'gran-ftt (T12T, rimmon [tree and fruit]; the Heb name is similar to the Arab.,
by eunuchs. But that is taking a symptom for the disease. There are weaknesses behind that weakness. We have found woman in muscular strength equal to threefourths of a man. If we claim nothing more for woman than that ratio through the whole scale of her potencies, what would be thought of a nation that should try to reduce that three-fourths of potency as nearly to zero as it could ? This is what polygamy has done—reduced woman as nearly to a cipher as it could in all the departments of her being. She has been held to the lowest and most primitive industrial pursuits. She has been deprived of intellectual development. She has been debarred from society, permitted to look at it only through a home lattice, or, if abroad, through a swathed face. The harem of sheik or sultan has fixed the condition of woman in province or nation—set the bounds to her life. The highest office assigned her has been breeder of children, and for onehalf of them—the daughters—she could have no possible hope or ambition (see Woman).
1. A Tree Aram, and Ethiopic; pia, rh6a): One Characterof the most attractive and most char-
5. Weakness of Polygamy
istic of acteristic of the fruit trees of Syria, Palestine probably indigenous to Persia, Afghanistan and the neighborhood of the Caucasus, but introduced to Pal in very ancient
Where in such degradation is the "helpmeet" for man in all his problems ? This condition is reflected back over man. What possible appeal can there be to him for thought and energy except to repeat the same dull round exhibited in his daily life ? Polygamous nations have never been industrial inventors, have contributed httle to science. They have usually ruined the fertility of the lands they have occupied. They have been heavily weighted with the lethargy of a system that appeals to nothing but the most primitive instincts and vices of man.
The monogamous have been the forceful nations. Rome conquered the world while she was monogamous, and lost control of it when she dropped to the moral level of the sex corruption of the peoples she had conquered. The Teuton trundled into and over Europe in ox-carts mounted on solid wood trucks. But his cart carried one wife, and now all polygamy is held under the trained guns of the Teuton.
There may seem to be two exceptions—the establishment of the Mogul empire in India and the subjugation of Western Asia and Eastern Europe by the Turk. That
in both cases there was great success in war is granted. They were authorized by their religion to exhibit the frenzy of bloodshed and indulge in lust. Indeed, enjoyment of the latter was a bright hope for the life to come. But when they had possession of a country, and massacres and ravishing were over, what then ? For what
is mankind indebted to them ?
, , j . ^i. A lyric.—A lyric has been put m the hand of the present writer by a friend who wrote it at the last date of the title. It is one of the lyrics of the centuries in its synthesis of history and in its insight into the forces
Pomegranate.
times. The spies brought specimens of figs and pomegranates, along with grapes, from the Vale of Eshcol (Nu 13 23). Vines, figs and pomegranates are mentioned (Nu 20 5) as fruits the Israelites missed in the wilderness; the promised land was
physical, moral and immoral at work in the Mogul empire of India. Notice the dates. The text will show what took place between.
The Mogul 1525-1857 A war steed coursed out the wind-swept north.
Jarring the crags with hoofs of Are, Snuffing far battle with nostril wide,
to be one "of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-
trees and pomegranates" (Dt 8 8), a promise
Neighing the joy of fierce desire.
Pommel Pool, Pond THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2418
renewed in Hag 2 19. In the lamentation in Joel
the Euxine was often termed. Pontus proper extended from the Halys River on the W. to the borders of Colchis on the E., its interior boundaries meeting those of Galatia, Cappadocia and Armenia. The chief rivers besides the Halys were the Iris, Lycus and Thermodon. The configuration of the
1 11.12 we have the pomegranate, the palm tree and the apple tree represented as withered, "for joy is withered away from the sons of men." The pomegranate tree, Punica granatum (N.O. Granateae) occurs usually as a shrub or small tree
10-15 ft. high, and is distinguished by
2. The its fresh green, oval leaves, which fall Fruit in winter, and its brilliant scarlet blossoms (cf Cant 7 12). The beauty of an orchard of pomegranates is referred to in Cant 4 13. The fruit which is ripe about September
is apple-shaped, yellow-brown with a blush of red, and is surmounted by a crown-like hard calyx; on breaking the hard rind, the white or pinkish, translucent fruits are seen tightly packed together inside. The juicy seeds are sometimes sweet and sometimes somewhat .acid, and need sugar for eating. The juice expressed from the seeds is made into a kind of syrup for flavoring drinks, and in ancient days was made into wine: "I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice [m "sweet wine"] of my pomegranate" (Cant 8 2). The beauty of a cut section of pomegranate—or one burst open naturally, when fully ripe—may have given rise to the comparison in Cant 4 3; 6 7: "Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate." The rind of the pomegranate contains a very high percentage of tannic acid, and is employed both as a medicine and for tanning, particularly in making genuine morocco leather.