Part 4
son, to be kept in the background and treated as a mere child, removing by exile or death suspected
Senecio.
The former had a wife as ambitious as she was
supporters of Britannicus. (7) Agrippina was far-
sighted and anticipated a later secret of Rom imperiahsm—the influence of the armies in the nom-
unprincipled, and endowed, according to Tacitus,
with every gift of nature except an
2. Poppaea "honorable mind." Already divorced Sabina before marrying Otho, she was minded
ination of emperors. For this cause she took an
active interest in mihtary affairs and gave her name
(58 AD) to employ Otho merely as a tool to enable her to become N.'s consort. With the appearance of Poppaea Sabina, for such was her name, opens the second period of N.'s
to a new colony on the Rhine (modern Cologne). But she did not forget the importance of securing
the praetorian guard and Burrus the prefect. (8) She persuaded Claudius to make a will in favor of
reign. She proved his evil star. Under her in-
her son. All was now ready. But Claudius did
fluence he shook off all restraints, turned a deaf ear
not like the idea of excluding his son Britannicus
Nero THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2136
to his best advisers and plunged deeper into immorality and crime. She allowed, if not persuaded, N. to give her husband a commission in the distant province of Lusitania. Her jealousy could tolerate no possible rival. She plotted the death of Agrippina to which she easily persuaded N. to consent. This foul crime was planned and carried out with the greatest cunning. Anicetus, admiral of the fleet, undertook to construct a vessel that would sink to order. N. invited his mother to his villa at Baiae at the Quinquatrus celebration. After the banquet she was persuaded to return to Bauli by the vessel prepared. But the plan did not succeed, and Agrippina saved herself by swimming ashore. She pretended to treat the matter as an accident, sending a freedman to N. to inform him of her escape. Anicetus, however, relieved N. of the .awkward position by pretending that Agrippina's freedman had dropped a dagger which was considered proof enough of her guilt. Deserted by her friends and slaves except one freedman, she was quickly dispatched by her murderers. N. gave out that she died by suicide (Suet, xxxiv; Tac. Ann. cxli-cxlviii) N. no longer made any secret of taking Poppaea as his mistress, and, under her influence, bid defi-
been totally destroyed and 4 partially. N. was at Antium at the time. He hastened back to the city and apparently took every means of arresting the spread of the flames. He superintended in person the work of the fire brigades, often exposing himself to danger. After the fire he threw open his own gardens to the homeless. The catastrophe caused great consternation, and, for whatever reasons, suspicion seemed to fix upon N. Rumor had it that on hearing the Greek verse, "When I am dead let the earth be wrapped in fire," he interrupted, "Nay rather, while I live" (Suet, xxxviii); that he had often deplored the ugliness of the city and wished an opportunity to rebuild it; that he purposely set it on fire in order to find room for his magnificent Domus Aurea ("Golden House"); that when the city was burning he gazed upon it from the tower of Maecenas delighted with what he termed "the beauty of the conflagration"; that he recited in actor's costume the sack of Troy (Suet, xxxviii; Tac. Ann. xv.38ff). In spite of all these reports N. must be absolved of the guilt of incendiarism.
Such public calamities were generally attributed to the wrath of the gods. In the present case everything was done to appease the offended
5. Persedeity. Yet, in spite of all, suspicion cution of still clung to N. "Wherefore in order Christians to allay the rumor he put forward as guilty [suhdidit reos], and afflicted with the most exquisite punishments those who were hated for their abominations [flagitia] and called 'Christians' by the populace. Christus, from whom the name was derived, was punished by the procurator Pontius Pilatus in the reign of Tiberius. This noxious form of religion [exitiabilis super-
ance to the best Rom traditions and 3. Poppaea plunged deeper into dissipation. In and 62 AD matters grew much worse by Tigellinus the death of the praetorian prefect, Burrus. Seneca lost in him a powerful ally, and Poppaea gained in one of the new prefects, Sofonius Tigellinus, a powerful ally. She succeeded in causing Seneca to retire from the court. Next she determined to remove Octavia. A charge of adultery was first tried, but as the evidence proved too leaky, N. simply divorced her because of barrenness. Then Anicetus was persuaded to confess adultery with her, and the innocent Octavia was banished to the island of Pandateria, where a little later she was executed at Poppaea's orders and her head brought to her rival (62 AD). Poppaea was now empress, and the ne.xt year bore a daughter to N., but the child died when only three months old. Two years later Poppaea herself died during pregnancy, of a cruel kick inflicted by N. in a fit of rage
stitio], checked for a time, broke out again not only in Judaea its original home, but also throughout the city [Rome] where all abominations meet and find devotees. Therefore first of all those who confessed [i.e. to being Christians] were arrested, and then as a result of their information a large number [muUitudo ingens] were implicated [reading coniunc-
ti, not convicii], not so much on the charge of incendiarism as for hatred of the human race. They died by methods of mockery; some were covered with the skins of wild beasts and then torn by dogs, some were crucified, some were burned as torches to give light at night .... whence [after scenes of extreme cruelty] commiseration was stirred for them, although guilty and deserving the worst penalties, for men felt that their destruction was not on account of the public welfare but to gratify the cruelty of one [Nero]" (Tac. Aim. xv.44). Such is the earliest account of the first heathen persecution (as well as the first record of the crucifixion by a heathen writer). Tacitus here clearly implies that the Christians were innocent {suhdidit reos), and that N. employed them simply as scapegoats. Some regard the conclusion of the paragraph as a contradiction to this—"though guilty and deserving the severest punishment" (adversus sontes et nonissima exempla meritos). But Tacitus means by sorties that the Christians were "guilty" from the point of view of the populace, and that they merited extreme punishment also from his own standpoint for other causes, but not for arson. Fatehantur does not mean that they confessed to incendiarism, but to being Christians, and qui fatehantur means there were some who boldly con-
(65 AD) . He pronounced a eulogy over her and took a third wife, Statilia Messalina, of whom he had no issue.
N., having by his extravagance exhausted the well-filled treasury of Claudius (as Caius did that of Tiberius), was driven to fill his coffers by confiscations of the estates of rich nobles against whom his creature Tigellinus could trump the slightest plausible charge. But even this did not prevent a financial crisis—the beginning of the bankruptcy of the later Rom empire. The provinces which at
first enjoyed good government were now plundered; new and heavy taxes were imposed. Worst of all, the gold and silver coinage was depreciated, and the senate was deprived of the right of copper coin-
age.
This difficulty was much increased by the great
fire which was not only destructive to both private
and state property, but also neoessi-
4. Great tated the providing thousands of Fire (July, homeless with shelter, and lowering
64) the price of corn. On July 18, 64, this great conflagration broke out in Circus Maximus. A high wind caused it to spread rapidly over a large portion of the city, sweeping before it ill-built streets of wooden houses. At the end of six days it seemed to be exhausted for lack of material, when another conflagration started in a different quarter of the city. Various exaggerated accounts of the destruction are found in Rom his-
fessed, while others tried to conceal or perhaps even denied their faith.
But why were the Christians selected as scapegoats ? VVhy not the Jews, who were both numerous and had already offended the Rom government and had been banished in great numbers? Or why not the many followers ol the oriental religions, which had proved more than once obno.xious ? (1 ) Popnaea was favorable to Judaism and had certainly enough influence over N
torians: of the 14 city regions 7 were said to have
2137 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Nero
to protect the Jews; she was regarded by them as a proselyte and is termed by Jos (^Ant, XX, viii, 11) »eoo-e^is, theosebls, "god-fearing." When the populace and N. were seeking victims for revenge, the Jews may have been glad of the opportimity of putting forward the Christians and may have been encouraged in this by Poppaea. Parrar (Early Days of Christianity, I, ch iv) sees "in the proselytism of Poppaea, guided by Jewish rnalice, the only adequate explanation of the first Christian persecution." (2) Closely connected with this was doubtless the observation by the Rom government that Christianity was an independent faith from Judaism. This may first have been brought home to the authorities by the trial of Paul before N., as suggested by Ramsay
inflict the blow for him: "Have I then neither friend nor foe?" Phaon a freedman offered him the shelter of his villa a few miles from Rome. Here he prepared for suicide, but with great cowardice. He kept exclaiming, "What an artist I am to perish !"
{Qualis artifex pereo, Suet. xlix). On learning that he was condemned to a cruel death by the senate, he put the weapon to his throat and was assisted in the fatal blow by Epaphroditus his secretary. A centurion entered pretending he had come to help: "Too late—this is fidelity," were Nero's last words. His remains were laid in the family vault of the Domitii by his two nurses Ecloge and Alexandria and his concubine Acte (Suet. 1). Thus perished on July 9, 68 AD the last of the line of Julius Caesar in his 31st year and in the 14th of his reign.
(Expos, July, 189.3). Judaism was a recognized and tolerated religion, a religio ticita, and Christianity when divorced from Judaism became a religio illicila and punishable by the state, tor Christianity first rose "under the shadow of licensed Judaism" (sub umbracuto licitae Judaeorum religionis: Tert. ApoL, xxi). (3) As Christianity formed a society apart from Rom society, all kinds of crimes were attributed to its followers, Thyestean feasts, nightly orgies, hostility to temples and images. These fiagitia seemed summed up in odium humani generis, "hatred for the human race.' (4) They were easily selected as being so numerous and making most progress in a line opposed to Rom spirit: cf ingens multitudo (Tac. Ann. XV. 44; Clemens Rom., Cor 1 6, TToAu ttA^^o?, voIjI pltthos: cf also "great multitude" of Rev 7 9; 19 1). (.5) No doubt, too, early Christian enthusiasm was unequivocal in its expressions, esp. in its belief of a final conflagration of the world and its serene faith amid the despair of others.
IV. Downfall and Character.—The causes of his downfall were briefly: (1) his lavish expenditure leading to
1 QoTTon burdensome taxation and financial inse1. oeven curity; (2) tyranny and cruelty of his Causes of favorites; (3) the great fire which brought Downfall dissatisfaction to fasten suspicion on N. and the consequent enlargement of his private abode at the expense of the city—esp. the Golden House; (4) the unpopular measure of the extension of Rom franchise to Greece and favored foreigners; (.5) the security engendered by the success with which the conspiracy of Piso was crushed ; (6) the discovery of another "secret of empire," that an emperor could be created elsewhere than at Rome, that the succession of emperors was not hereditary but rested with the great armies, and
In the meantime Tigellinus' t3Tanny and confiscations to meet N.'s expenses caused deep discontent among tlie nobles, wtiich cul-
(7) the cowardice and weakness which N. displayed in the revolt which led to his death.
G. Conspirminated in tiie famous conspiracy at acy of Piso the head of which was C. Calpurnius (65 AD) Piso. The plot was prematurely betrayed by Milichus. An inquisition followed in which the most illustrious victims who perished were Seneca the philosopher, Lucan the poet, Lucan's mother, and later Annaeus Mela, brother of Seneca and father of Lucan, T. Petronius Arbiter, "the glass of fashion." Finally, "N. having butchered so many illustrious men, at last desired to exterminate virtue itself by the death of Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus" (Tac. Ann. xvi.21 f).
His reign is memorable for the activity of Seneca, the great fire, the persecution of Christians, the beginning of the bankruptcy of the later Rom empire, the Armenian disaster of Paetus (62 AD) retrieved by Corbulo and the humiliation of Parthia, tlie outbreak of the insurrection in Judaea (66 AD) , which ended in the destruction of Jerus.
Nero ranks with Gaius for folly and vice, while his cruelties recall the worst years of Tiberius. Very etfem-
rt ^, inate in his tastes, particular about the J. Lxiararrangement of his hair and proud of his acter voice, his greatest fault was inordinate vanity which courted applause for performances on non-Rom lines. He neglected his high office and degraded Rom gravitas by zeal for secondary pursuits. N., like his three predecessors, was very susceptible to female charms. He was licentious in the extreme, even to guilt of that nameless vice of antiquity —love of a male favorite. His cruelty, both directly and through his instruments, made the latter part of his reign as detestable as the quinquennium had been golden. He loved the extravagant and luxurious in every exaggerated form. He was a weakling and a coward in his lite, and esp. in his death. Of his personal appearance we are told his features were regular and good; the expression of his countenance, however, was somewhat repelling.
Having cleared every suspected person out of the way, he abandoned the government in Rome to
a freedman Helius, and started on a
7. Visit to long visit to Greece (66-68 AD), where Greece he took part in musical contests and
(66 AD) games, himself winning prizes from the obsequious Greeks, in return for which N. bestowed upon them "freedom." N. was so un-Roman that he was perfectly at home in Greece, where alone he said he was appreciated by cultured people. In the meantime the revolt of Vindex in Gaul commenced (68 AD), but it was soon quelled by Verginius Rufus on account of its na-
^ His frame was ill proportioned—slender legs and big stomach. In later years his face was covered with pimples.
' '—It seems as if there was something lovable even about this monster, which led a freedman to remain faithful to the last, and his two old nurses and cast-off concubine to care afl'ectionately for his remains, and tor a long time there were not wanting hands to strew his grave with spring and autumn fiowers and to display his efflgy (Suet. Ivli). But, whether from the strange circumstances of his death, or the subsequent terrible confusion in the Rom world, or from whatever cause, there soon arose a belief that N. had not really died, but was living somewhere in retirement or had fled among the Parthians, and that he was destined in a short time to return and bring great calamity upon his enemies or the world {quasi viventis et brevi magno inimicorum malo reversuri: Suet. Ivii). This belief was a force among the Parthians who were ready to take up arms at the report of a pseudo-Nero (Tac. Hist. i.2). In the confusion of the year of the four emperors, Greece and Asia were disturbed by the report of the advent of N. (Tac. Hi.st. 11.8), and the historian promises to mention the fortune and attempts of other pseudoNeros. This belief was taken up by the Jews and amalgamated with their legend of Antichrist. In Asc Isa 4 (1st cent. AD), the Antichrist is clearly identified with N. : " Belial shall appear in the shape of a man, the king of wickedness, the matricide." It occurs again and again in both the Jewish and Christian sections of the Sib Or (3 66 fl; i 117f.l3,5ff; 5 100 f.l36 f.216 f). How far N. was regarded by the Christians as the historical personage of Antichrist is a disputed point. That the common belief of the revival or advent of N. should influence contemporary Christian thought in days of social and political turmoil is highly probable. Bousset (Comm.) regards the Ijeast of Rev 13 as Rome,
V. ' 'Nero Redivivus.
tional Gaulio character. Galba of Hither Spain next declared himself legatus of the senate and the Rom people. N. was persuaded to return to Rome by Helius; he confiscated Galba's property, but his weakness and hesitancy greatly helped the cause
of the latter.
Nymphidius Sabinus, one of the prefects, won over the guard for Galba, by persuading the irreso-
lute emperor to withdraw from Rome
8. Death and then told the praetorians that N.
of Nero had deserted them. N. was a coward, both in life and in death. While he had the means of easily crushing Galba, he was revolving plans of despair in his Servilian gardens, whether he should surrender himself to the mercies
of the Parthians or to those of Galba; whether Galba would allow him the province of Egypt; whether the pubUc would forgive his past if he showed penitence enough. In his distraction a comforter asked him in the words of Virgil, "Is it then so wretched to die?" He could not summon
the courage for suicide, nor could he find one to
Nero Nethinim THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2138
the charges of immorality, established them in Rom eyes as the enemies of society. Christianity thus became a crime and was banned by the police authorities. Suetonius gives a "brief statement of the permanent administrative principle into which N.'s action ultimately resolved itself" (Ramsay, op. cit., 232). No formal law needed to be passed, the matter could be left with the prefect of the city. A trial must be held and the flagitia proved before an order for execution, according to Kamsay, but Hardy holds that henceforth the name itself nomen ipsum—was proscribed. A precedent was now established of great importance in the policy of the imperial government toward Christianity (see, further, Roman Empike; Christianity). There is no reason to suppose that the Neronian persecution of 64 extended beyond Rome to the pro\'inces, though no doubt the attitude of the home government must have had considerable influence -with provincial officers. Paul seems to have gone undisturbed, or at least with no unusual obstacles, in his evangelization after his acquittal. The authorities for a general Neronian persecution and forrnal Neronian laws against Christianity are late; cf Orosius (Hist, vii.7, " [Nero] was the first to put to death Christians at Rome and gave orders that they should be subjected to the same persecution throughout all the provinces'^).
and the smitten head whose "deathstroke was healed" as N., and some scholars take Bev 17 10 f as referring to N. The "scarlet-colored beast" of 17 3 may be intended either for the Rom government in general or for N. in particular. That the number 666 (Rev 13 IS) represents in Heb letters the numerical equivalent of Neron Kesar is significant, tor the Jewish Christians would be familiar with gematrina' (the numerical equivalent of names). See Number. Cf Farrar, Early Days, ch x.xviii, sec. 5. In later times the idea of a twofold Antichrist seems to have arisen—one for the Jews and one tor the Crentiles; ct esp. Commodian, Carm. Apot. (926):^ "to us N. became Antichrist, to the Jews the other" (nobis Nero /actus Antichristus, ille Judaeis). There was an alternate theory that N. had really been killed, but that he would rise again (Sib Or 5 216 f; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, XX. 19: unde nonnulli ipsum resurrecturum et Juturum Antichristum suspicantur),
VI. Nero and Christianity.—The name Nero does not occur in the NT, but he was the Caesar to
whom Paul appealed (Acts 25 11)
1. Nero and and at whose triljunal Paul was tried the NT after his first imprisonment. It is quite likely that N. heard Paul's case in person, for the emperor showed much interest in provincial cases. It was during the earlier "golden quinquennium" of N.'s reign that Paul addressed his ep. to the Christians at Rome, and probably in the last year of N.'s reign (68 AD) Paul suffered death near the city, though Harnack
Literature.— (a) Ancient: Tacitus Annals xii-xvi; Suetonius Nero; Dio Cassius in Epit. of Xiphilinus 61
ff; Zonaras xi. (b) Modern: Hermann Schiller, Geschichte des rom. Kaiserreichs unter der Regierung des Neron (Berlin, 1872); Merivale, Hist of the Romans under the Empire; Ramsay, Church in the Rom Empire and Expos, 1893; E. G. Hardy, Christianity and the Rom Government and Studies in Rom History; Mommsen, " Der Religionsfrevel nach rom. Recht," Histor. Zeitschr., 1890; C. F. Arnold, Die Neronische Chrislenverfolgung; Farrar, Early Days of Christianity; Baring-Gould, Tragedy of the Caesars; G. H. Lewes, "Was Nero a Monster?" in Cornhill Magazine, July, 1863; B. W. Henderson, Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero, with important bibliography of ancient and modern authorities (London, 1903); Lehmann, Claudius u. Nero.
( Chronologie) places his death in the first Neronian persecution of 64. Although the NT gives no hint of a possible visit or sojourn of Peter in Rome, such a sojourn and subsequent martyrdom are highly probable and almost certain from the early persistent tradition, esp. in Clement of Rome, Ignatius and Papias, and later in Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria and the Liher Pontificalia (catalogue of popes). His execution at Rome under Nero is practically certain.
S. Angus NEST ("f? , ken; veoo-o-id, neossid, nossid; in the NT KaTao-Kifjva)<ri.s, kaiasktnosis; Lat nidus): A receptacle prepared by a bird for receiving its eggs and young. Nests differ with species. Eagles use a large heap of coarse sticks and twigs on the cleft of a mountain (Job 39 27ff; Jer 49 16; Ob ver 4); hawks prefer trees; vultures, hollow trees or the earth; ravens, big trees; doves and pigeons, trees or rocky crevices (Jer 48 28); hoopoes, hollow trees; swallows, mud nests under a roof, on cliffs or deserted temples; owls, hollow trees, dark places in ruins or sand burrows (on the kippoz of Isa 34 15 see Owl) ; cranes, storks and herons, either trees (Ps 104 17) or rushes beside water (storks often choose housetops, as well)
The first persecution to which Christianity was subjected came from the Jews: the first heathen persecution took place under N. Up to this time the 2. Neronian Rom government had been on friendly Polirv and terms with Christianity, as Christianity
• + -1 ^^^ either not prominent enough to cause Christiamty any disturbance of society or was confounded by the Romans with Judaism (sub umbraculo licitae Judaeorum religionis: Tert. Apol., xxi). Paul, writing to the Christians of the capital, urged them to "be in subjection to the higher powers" as "ordained of God" (Rom 13 1ft), and his high estimation of the Rom government as power for the good of society was probably enhanced by his mild captivity at Rome which permitted him to carry on the work of preaching and was terminated by an acquittal on the first trial (accepting the view of a first acquittal and subsequent activity before condemnation at a second trial). But soon, whether because of the trial of Paul, a Rom citizen, at Rome (about 6.3), or the growing hostility of the Jews, or the increasing numbers and alarming progress of the new religion, the distinction between Christianity and Judaism became apparent to the Rom authorities. If it had not yet been proscribed as a religio illicita ("unlicensed religion"), neither had it been admitted as a religio lieita. Christianity was not in itself as yet a crime; its adherents were not lial:)le to persecution "for the name." According to one view the Neronian persecution was a spasmodic act and an isolated incident in imperial policy : the Christians were on this occasion put forward merely to remove suspicion from N. They were not persecuted cither as Christians or as incendiaries, but on account of flagitia and odium humani generis, i.e. Thyestean feasts, Oedipodean incest and nightly orgies were attributed to them, and their withdrawal from society and exclusive manners caused the charge of "hatred for society." The evidence of Tacitus (Ann. xv.44) would bear out this view of the Neronian persecution as accidental, isolated, to satisfy the revenge of the mob, confined to Rome and of lorief duration. The other view is, however, preferable, as represented by Ramsay (Church in the Rom Empire, ch xi) and E. G. Hardy (Studies in Rom History, ch iv). Suetonius speaks of the persecution of Christians as a permanent police regulation in a list of other seemingly permanent measures (Nero xvi: afflicti suppliciis Christiani genus hominum superstitionis novae ac maleficae), which is not inconsistent with the account of Tacitus—who gives the initial step and Suetonius tlie permanent result. The Christians by these trials, though not convicted of incendiarism, were brought into considerable prominence; their unsocial and exclusive manners, their withdrawal from the duties of state, their active proselytism, together with
r-u
Each nest so follows the building laws of its o-mier's species that any expert ornithologist can tell from a nest which bird builded it. Early in incubation a bird deserts^ a nest readily because it hopes to build another in a place not so easily discoverable and where it can deposit more eggs. When the young have progressed until thenquickening is perceptible through the thin shells pressed against the breast of the mother, she develops a bofdncss called by scientists the "brooding fever." In this state the wildest of birds frequently will suffer your touch before deserting the nest. Esp. is this the case if the young are just on the point of emergmg. The first Bib. reference to the nest of a bird wdl be found in Balaam's fourth prophecy in Nu 24 21 : "And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his parable and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest is set in the rock." Here Balaam was thmkmg of the nest of an eagle, hawk or vulture, placed on solid rock among impregnable crags of mountain tops. The next reference is among the laws for personal conduct in Dt 22 6: "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sittmg upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young." Beyond question this is the earliest law on record for the protection of a brooding bird. It is probable that it was made permissible to take the young, as the law
2139 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Nero liethinim
Gedaliah (Jer 40 8.14.15; 41, 11 1; 2 K 25 23.25). Some MSS of LXX read here Malhthanias.
demanded their use, at least in the ease of pigeons and doves, for sacrifice. In 29 18, Job cries,
" Then I said, I shall die in my nest. And I shall multiply my days as the sand;"
NETHINIM, neth'i-nim (Dljinp, n'lhlnim, "given"; NaSeivetn, Natheineim; AV Nethinims): A group of temple-servants (1 Ch 9
that is, he hoped in his days of prosperity to die in the home he had builded for his wife and children. In Ps 84 3 David sings,
1. Meaning 2 and 16 1 in Ezr and Neh). The word has always the article, and does not occur in the sing. The LXX translators usually transliterate, but in one passage (1 Ch 9 2) they render, "the given ones" (hoi dedomenoi). The Syr (Pesh) also, in Ezr, INfeh, transliterates the word, but in 1 Ch 9 2 renders it by a word meaning "sojourners." The meaning "given" is suggestive of a state of servitude, and Jos seems to confirm the suggestion by calling the N. "templeslaves" (hier6douloi) (Ant, XI, v, 1). It should, however, be noted that another form of this word
" Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house, And the swallow a nest lor hersell, where she may
lay her young. Even thine altars, O Jeh of hosts. My ICing, and my God."
These lines are rich and ripe with meaning, for in those days all the world protected a temple nest, even to the infliction of the death penalty on anyone interfering with it. This was because the bird v/as supposed to be claiming the protection of the gods. Hebrew, Arab and Egyptian guarded all nests on places of worship. Pagan Rome executed the shoemaker who killed a raven that built on a temple, and Athens took the same revenge on the man who destroyed the nest of a swallow. Isaiah compared the destruction of Assyria to the robbing of a bird's nest: "And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the peoples; and as one gathereth eggs that are forsaken, have I gathered all the earth: and there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped" (Isa 10 14; cf 16 2). Matthew quotes Jesus as having said, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the heaven have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head"
is employed in the directions regarding the Levites: "Thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him on behalf of the children of Israel" (Nu 3 9; cf also 8 16.19). Of the history of the N. in earlier times there are but few and uncertain traces. When Joshua discovered that he had been beguiled
2. History by the Gibeonites into a covenant to
let them live, he reduced their tribe to servitude, and declared, "Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondmen, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God" (Josh 9 23.27). It is no doubt tempting to see in the Gibeonites the earliest N., but another tradition traces their origin to a
(Mt 8 20 = Lk 9 58). Gene Stratton-Porter
gift of David and the princes for the service of the Levites (Ezr 8 20). Their names, too, indicate diversity of origin; for besides being mostly unHebrew in aspect, some of them are found elsewhere in the OT as names of non-Israelitish tribes. The Meunim, for example (Ezr 2 50 = Neh 7 52), are in all likelihood descended from the Meonites or Maonites who are mentioned as harassing Israel (Jgs 10 12), as in conflict with the Simeonites
NET. See Fishing; Fowler.
NETAIM, na'ta-im, ne'ta-im, nS-ta'im ("'yp?
n'td'im; B, 'Ala.(l\i, Azaeim, A, ' ATae£(i, Ataeim) : In 1 Ch 4 23 AV reads "those that dwell among plants and hedges," RV "the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah." The latter may be taken as cor-
rect. Gederah was in the Judaean Shephelah. Here also we should seek for Netaim; but no likely identification has yet been suggested.
(1 Ch 4 41), and as finally overcome by Uzziah
(2 Ch 26 7). The next name in the lists is that of the children of Nephisim. These may be traced to the Hagrite clan of Naphish (Gen 25 15; 1 Ch 5
NETHANEL, ne-than'el, neth'a-nel (bxpnp,
nHhan'el, "God has given": NaSavaifjX, Nathanail; AV Nethaneel, n5-than'g-el)
19). In both Ezr and Neh, the list is immediately followed by that of the servants of Solomon, whose duties were similar to, it may be even humbler than, those of the N. These servants of Solomon appear to be descendants of the Canaanites whom Solomon employed in the building of his temple (1 K 5 15). All these indications are perhaps slight; but they point in the same direction, and warrant the assumption that the N. were originally foreign slaves, mostly prisoners of war, who had from time to time been given to the temple by the kings and princes
(1) A chief or prince of Issachar (Nu 18; 2 5; 7 18.23; 10 15).
(2) The 4th son of Jesse (1 Ch 2 14).
(3) One of the trumpet-blowers before the ark when it was brought up from the house of Obededom (1 Ch 15 24).
(4) A Levite scribe, the father of Shemaiah (1 Ch 24 6).
(5) The 5th son of Obed-edom (1 Ch 26 4).
of the nation, and that to them were assigned the lower menial duties of the house of God.
(6) One of the princes whom Jehoshaphat sent to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17 7).
At the time of the return from the exile the N. had come to be regarded as important. Their number was considerable: 392 accom-
(7) A Levite who gave cattle for Josiah's Passover (2 Ch 35 9).
(8) One of the priests who had married foreign wives (Ezr 10 22; cf 1 Esd 9 22).
3. Postpanied Zerubbabel at the first Return exiUc in 538 BC (Ezr 2 58 = Neh 7 60). History When Ezra, some 80 years later, organized the second Return, he secured a contingent of N. numbering 220 (Ezr 8 20). In Jerus they enjoyed the same privileges and immunities as the other religious orders, being included by Artaxerxes' letter to Ezra among those who should be exempt from toll, custom and tribute
(9) A priest registered under the high priest Joiakim (Neh 12 21).
(10) A Levite musician who assisted at the dedication of the walls (Neh 12 36). John A. Lees
NETHANIAH, neth-a-ni'a (^H^pflJ, nHhanyahu,
"Jeh has given" ; NaBavCas, Nathanias):
(Ezr 7 24). A part of the city in Ophel, opposite the Water-gate, was assigned them as an official residence (Neh 3 26.31), and the situation is certainly appropriate if their duties at all resembled those of the Gibeonites (see Ryle, "Ezra and Nehemiah," in Cambridge Bible, Intro, 57). They were
(1) An Asaphite musician (1 Ch 25 2.12).
(2) A Levite who accompanied the princes sent by Jehoshaphat to teach in the cities of Judah (2 Ch 17 8).
(3) The father of Jehudi (Jer 36 14).
(4) The father of Ishmael, the murderer of
Netophah Nicodemus THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2140
for "wreathen work" and "wreath" in AV (of the adornment of the capitals of the pillars of Solomon's temple; see Jachin and Boaz). "Networks" in Isa 19 9 is in RV correctly rendered "white cloth." In ARV "network" is substituted for "pictures" in AV (Prov 25 11), "baskets" in ERV, m "filigree work."
also organized into a kind of guild under their own leaders or presidents (Neh 11 21).
The N. are not again mentioned in Scripture. It is probable that they, with the singers and porters, became gradually incorporated in the general body of Levites; their name passed ere long into a tradition, and became at a later time a butt for the scorn and bitterness of the Talmudic writers against everything that they regarded as un-Jewish.
NEW, nu, NEWNESS, nu'nes (ICin, hadhash;
John A. Lees NETOPHAH, niS-to'fa (nS'JJ, n'tophah; LXX NeTw<j)d, Netophd, N£<t>coTd, Nephotd, and other variants) : The birthplace of two of David's heroes, Maharai and Heleb (2 S 23 28.29), also of Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, one of the captains who came to offer allegiance to Gedaliah
Kaiv(Ss, kainds, ve'os, neos) : The word commonly tr"! "new" in the OT is hadhash, "bright," "fresh," "new" (special interest was shown in, and importance at-
1. In the tached to, fresh and new things and OT events); Ex 1 8; Dt 20 5; 22 8; 24
5; 1 S 6 7; 2 S 21 16; Ps 33 3, "a new song"; Jer 31 31, "new covenant"; Ezk 11
(2 K 25 2,3; Jer 40 8). "The villages of the Netophathites" are mentioned (1 Ch 9 16) as the dwellings of certain Levites and (Neh 12 28, AV "Netophathi") of certain "sons of the singers."
19, "a new spirit" ; 18 31, "new heart"; 36 26, etc; hddhesh is "the new moon," "the new-moon day," the first of the lunar month, a festival, then "month" (Gen 29 14, "a month of days"); it occurs frequently, often tr'' "month"; we have "new moon"
The first mention of the place itself is in Ezr 2 22; Neh 7 26; 1 Esd 5 18 (RV "Netophas"), where we have |1 lists of the exiles returning from Babylon under Zerubbabel; the place is mentioned between Bethlehem and Anathoth and in literary association with other cities in the mountains of Judah, e.g. Gibeon, Iviriath-jearim, Chephereh and Beeroth. In this respect it is most plausible to identify it with Nephtoah (q.v.), although the disappearance of the terminal guttural in the latter creates a difBculty. Conder has suggested a site known as Kh. Umm-
(1 S 20 5.18.24, etc); tirosh is "new [sweet] wine" (Neh 10 39; in Joel 1 5; 3 18, it is 'asts, RV "sweet wine"); in Acts 2 13, "new wine" is gleukos.
Other words in the OT for "new" are hddhalh, Aram. (Ezr 6 4); Url, "fresh" (Jgs 15 1-5. BV "afresh jawbone of an ass"); b^rVdh, a "creation" (Nu 16 30, "if Jeh malie a new thing," RVm "create a creation"); bdkhar. "to be first-fruits" (Ezlc 47 12; so RVm); kum. "setting," is trd "newly" (Jgs 7 19); also mikkardbh, "recently" (Dt 32 17, RV "of late"); news is shemu'dh, "report." "tidings"; Prov 25 25, "good news from a far country."
Toba, N.E. of Bethlehem, an ancient site, but not apparently of great importance. Beit Nettlf, an important village on a lofty site in the Shephelah near the "Vale of Elah," also appears to have an echo of the name, and indeed may well be the Beth Netophah of the Mish {Sh'bhiVoth, ix.5; Neubauer, Geogr., 128), but the position does not seem to agree at all with that of the OT Netophah. For Kh. Umm-Toba see PEF, III, 128; for Beit Nettlf, PEF,
In the NT "new" (mostly kainos, "new," "fresh," "newly made") is an important word. We have the title of the "New Testament" 2. In the itself, rightly given by ARV as "New NT Covenant," the designation of "the new dispensation" ushered in through Christ, the writings relating to which the volume contains. We have "new covenant" (kainos) in Lk 22 20, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood" (ERVm "testament"; in Mt 26 28; Mk 14 24, "new" is omitted in RV, but in Mt m "many ancient authorities insert new," and in Mk "some ancient authorities"); 1 Cor 11 2.5, ERVm "or testament"; 2 Cor 3 6, ERVm "or testament"; He 8 8, ERVm "or testament"; in ver 13, "covenant" is suppUed (cf He 12 24, neos).
III, 24; RBR, II, 17 f ; both Sh XVII.
E. W. G. Masterman NETOPHAS, nB-to'fas (B, Nerepas, Netebas, A, NeTw<|>a^, Netophae): A town named in 1 Esd 6 18, identical with "Netophah" of Ezr 2 22; Neh 7 26.
NETOPHATHI, ng-tof'a-thi, NETOPHATHITES, n5-tof'a-thIts. See Netophah.
NETTLES, nef'lz: (1) bnn, hand (Job 30 7; Prov 24 31; Zeph 2 9 m, in all, "wild vetches"); the tr "nettles" is due to the supposed derivations
Corresponding to this, we have (2 Cor 5 17, AV and RV), "The old things have passed away; behold, they are become new" ; ib, "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature," RVm "there is a new creation"; Gal 6 l,"), m "or creation," "new man" (Eph 2 15; 4 24; Col 3 10 [neos]); "new commandment" (Jn 13 34); "new doctrine" (Acts 17 19); "new thing" (17 21); "newness of life" (kainClls) (Bora 6 4); "newness of the spirit" (7 6; cf 2 Cor 5 17); "a now name" (Rev 2 17; 3 12); "new heavens and a new earth" (2 Pet 3 13); " new Jerusalem " (Rev 3 12; 21 2); "new song" (Rev 5 9); cf "new friend" and "new wine" (Sir 9 106, c); artigennetos, "newborn" (1 Pet 2 2); proxphatox "newly slain," "new" (He 10 20, RV "a new and li-idng way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh"; cf Sir 9 lOa; Jth 4 3); " new " is the tr of neos, "new," "young" (1 Cor 6 7; Col 3 10, "new man"; He 12 24, "new covenant"). The difference in meaning between kainos and neos, is, in the main, that kainos denotes new in respect of qnality, "the new as set over against that which has seen service, the outworn, the effete, or marred through age" ; neos, "new [in respect of time], that which has recently come into existence," e.g. kain&nmnemeion, the "new tomb" in which Jesus was laid, was not one recently made, but one in which no other dead had ever lain; the "new covenant," the "new man," etc, may be contemplated under both aspects of quality and of time (Trench Synonyms of the NT, 209 f).
oihdriil from an (obs.) V sHD, hdral, meaning "to be sharp" or "stinging," but a tr "thorns" (as in Vulg) would in that case do as well. LXX has
tppiyava. dypia, phrugana dgria, "wild brushwood,"
in Job, and certainly the association with the "saltwort" and the retm, "broom," in the passage would best be met by the supposition that it means the low thorny bushes plentiful in association with these plants. "Vetch" is suggested by the Aram., but is
very uncertain. (2) iBI^p , kimmosh (Isa 34 13; Hos 9 6), and pi. D"'3TU'Qp , kimm'shonim (Prov 24
31), tr'' (EV) "thorns," because of the tr of hdrUl as "nettles" in the same ver. From Isa 34 13 kimmosh is apparently distinct from thorns, and the tr "nettle" is very probable, as such neglected or deserted places as described in the three references
readily become overgrown with nettles in Pal. The common and characteristic Pal nettle is the Urtica pilulifera, so called from the globular heads
of its flowers. E. W. G. Masterman
NETWORK, net'wdrk (nD3il5 , s'bhakhah) : RV
in 2 K 25 17; 2 Ch 4 13 (also in pi., vs 12.13),
InMt 9 16; Mk 2 21, dgnap;ios, "unsmoothed,"
2141 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Netophah Nicodemus
"unfinished," is tr'^ "new," "new cloth," RV "undressed." For "new bottles" (Lk 5 38 and H's), RV has "fresh wine-skins." W. L. Walker NEW BIRTH. See Regeneration. NEW COMMANDMENT. See Brotherly Love.
Gorgias at a later stage gained a victory at Jamnia over a body of Jews who disobeyed Judas (5 58). The account given in 2 Mace differs considerably, both in omissions and in additions (2 Mace 8 9 ff). There Nicanor, not Gorgias, is the chief in command. The battle of Emmaus is not mentioned, but "the thrice-accursed Nicanor," having in overweening pride invited a thousand slavedealers to accompany him to buy the Jewish captives, was humiliated, and his host was destroyed, he himself escaping "like a fugitive slave" to Antioch (2 Mace 8 34 f). After the death of Epiphanes, Eupator and Lysias (the last two at the hands of Demetrius
NEW COVENANT. See Covenant, The New. NEW EARTH. See Eschatology of the NT; Heavens, New.
[1 Mace 7 2]), Nicanor appears again under King Demetrius in the struggle between Alcimus and Judas. Alcimus, having been seated in the priesthood by Demetrius' officer Bacchides, could not hold it against Judas and the patriots. He appealed again to Demetrius, who this time selected Nicanor, now governor of Cyprus (2 Mace 12 2) and known for his deadly hatred of the Jews, to settle the dispute and slay Judas (14 12 ff; 1 Mace 7 26 ff). Nicanor was appointed governor of Judaea on this occasion. Again 1 and 2 Mace differ. According to 1 Maco, Nicanor sought in vain to seize Judas by treachery. Then followed the battle of Capharsalama ("village of peace"), in which the Syrians were defeated, though Jos (Ant, XII, x, 5) says Judas was defeated. Nicanor retired to Jerus, insulted the priests and threatened the destruction of the temple unless they delivered up Judas. He then retired to Beth-horon to find Judas posted opposite him at Adasa (1 Mace 7 39 ff), 3i miles distant. Here on the 13th of the 12th month Adar (March), 161 BC, the Syrians sustained a crushing defeat, Nicanor himself being the first to fall. The Jews cut off his head and proud right hand and hanged them up beside Jerus. For a little while Adasa gave the land of Judah rest. The people ordained to keep this "day of great gladness" year by year—the 13th of Adar, "the day before the day of Mordecai" (Feast of Purim). 2 Mace mentions that Simon, Judas' brother, was worsted in a first engagement (14 17), omits the battle of Capharsalama, and represents Nicanor, struck with the manliness of the Jews, as entering into friendly relations with Judas, urging him to marry and lead
NEW HEAVENS. See Heavens, New. NEW JERUSALEM. See Jerusalem, New; Revelation of John.
NEW MAN. See Man, New. NEW MOON. See Moon, New; Fasts and Feasts.
NEW TESTAMENT. See Bible; Canon of the NT; Criticism. NEW TESTAMENT CANON. See Canon op the NT.
NEW TESTAMENT LANGUAGE. guage of the NT.
See Lan-
NEW TESTAMENT TEXT. See Text of the NT.
NEW YEAR. See Time; Year.
NEZIAH, n5-zi'a (n'^l^S , n«f i»/i) : The head of a family of Nethinim (Ezr' 2 54; 'Neh 7 56), called in 1 Esd 5 32, "Nasi" (AV and RVm "Nasith").
NEZIB, ne'zib (lilf? , n'sibh; B, Nao-ctp, Na^eib, A, Neo-cp, Nesib) : A town in the Judaean Shephelah, mentioned along with Keilah and Mareshah
(Josh 15 43). Onom places it 7 miles from Eleutheropolis {Beit Jibrln), on the road to Hebron.
a quiet life, forgetful of the king's command until Alcimus accused him to Demetrius. The latter peremptorily ordered Nicanor to bring Judas in all haste as prisoner to Antioch (14 27). The scene of the final conflict (Adasa) is given only as "in the region of Samaria" (15 1). According to this account, it was Judas who ordered the mutilation of Nicanor and in a more gruesome fashion (15 30 ff ) It is possible that the Nicanor, the Cypriarch or governor of Cyprus of 2 Mace 12 2, is a different person from Nicanor, the son of Patroclus—a view not accepted in the above account. S. Angus
It is represented today by Beit Nasih, a village with ancient remains some 2 miles S.W. of Khirbet Kila (Keilah).
NIBHAZ, nib'haz (Tn35 , nihhhaz) : Given as the name of an idol of the Avvites, introduced by them into Samaria (2 K 17 31), but otherwise unknown. The text is supposed to be corrupt.
NIBSHAN, nib'shan (ItJ^Sn , ha-nibhshdn; B, Na4)\a5<4v, Naphlazon, A, NePo-dv, Nehsdn) : A city in the Judaean wilderness named between Secacah and the City of Salt (Josh 15 62). Onom knows the place but gives no clue to its identification. The site has not been recovered. Wellhausen suggests the emendation of nibhshan to kihhshdn, "furnace" {Proleg}, 344).
NICANOR (NiKdvup, Nikdnor): One of "the seven" chosen to superintend "the daily ministra-
tion" of the poor of the Christian community at Jerus (Acts 6 5). The name is Gr.
NICODEMUS, nik-5-de'mus (NvK68ti|xos, Nikddemos): A Pharisee and a "ruler of the Jews," mentioned only by St. John. He (1) interviewed Christ at Jerus and was taught by Him the doctrine of the New Birth (.In 3 1-15), (2) defended Him before the Sanhedrin (Jn 7 .50-52), and (3) assisted at His burial (Jn 19 39-42).
NICANOR, nl-ka'nor, ni'ka-nor (NiKdvwp, Nikdnor) : The son of Patroclus and one of the king's "chief friends" (2 Mace 8 9), a Syrian general under Antiochus Epiphanes and Demetrius Soter. After the defeat of Seron by Judas, Epiphanes intrusted his chancellor Lysias with the reduction of Judaea (1 Mace 3 34 ff). Nicanor was one of the three generals commissioned by Lysias—the others
This meeting, which it has been surmised took place in the house of St. John (Jn 3 1-15), was one of the results of Our Lord's ministry at Jerus during the first Passover (cf Jn 3 2 with Jn 2 23). Although N. had been thus won to beheve
Ijeing Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes, and Gorgias
(3 .38). The campaign began in 166 BC; the Syrians were defeated at Emmaus (3 57 ff), while
Nicodemus Night-Monster THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2142
had himself gone, as being a continuation and not a new beginning" (Westcott). The manner in which the Gospel narrative traces the overcoming of his natural timidity and reluctant faith is in itself a beautiful illustration of the working of the Spirit,
in the Divine nature of Christ's mission, his faith was yet very incomplete in that he believed Him to be inspired only after the fashion
1. The of the OT prophets. To this faintInterview hearted faith corresponded his timidity of action, which displayed itself in his coming "by night," lest he should offend his colleagues in the Sauhedrin and the other hostile Jews (ver 2). In answer to the veiled question which the words of N. implied, and to convince him of the inadequacy of mere intellectual belief, Christ proclaimed to him the necessity for a spiritual regeneration: "Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (ver 3). This was interpreted by N. only in its materialistic sense, and therefore caused him bewilderment and confusion (ver 4). But Christ, as on another occasion when dealing with His questioners on a similar point of doctrine (cf Jn 6 52.53), answered his perplexity only by repeating His previous statement (ver 5). He then proceeded to give further explanation. The rebirth is not outward but inward, it is not of the body but of the soul (ver 6). Just as God is the real agent in the birth of the body, so also is He the Creator of the New Spirit; and just as no one knoweth whence cometh the wind, or "whither it goeth," yet all can feel its effects who come under
of how belief in the Son of Man is in truth a new
birth, and the entrance into eternal life.
C. M. Kerr NICODEMUS, GOSPEL OF. See Apocryphal Gospels, III, 3, (6).
NICOLAITANS, nik-6-la'i-tanz (NiKoXaCrat, NikolaUai) : A sect or party of evil influence in early Christianity, esp. in the 7
1. The Sect churches of Asia. Their doctrine was similar to that of Balaam, "who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication" (Rev 2 14.15). Their practices were strongly condemned by St. John, who praised the church in Ephesus for "hating their works" (Rev 2 6), and blamed the church in Pergamum for accepting in some measure their teaching (Rev 2
15). Except that reference is probably made to
their influence in the church at Thyatira also, where
their leader was "the woman Jezebel, who calleth
herself a prophetess" (Rev 2 20; cf ver 14), no further direct information regarding them is given in Scripture.
its influence, so is it with the rebirth. Only those who have experienced it as a change in themselves, wrought by the Divine Power, are qualified to judge either of its reality or of its effects (vs 7.8). But N., since such experience had not yet been his, remained still unenlightened (ver 9). Christ therefore condemned such blindness in one who yet professed to be a teacher of spiritual thing;s (ver 10), and emphasized the reality in His own life of those truths which He had been expounding (ver 11). With this, Christ returned to the problem underlying the first statement of N. If N. cannot believe
Reference to them is frequent in post-apostolic
literature. According to Irenaeus {Adv. Haer., i. 26.3; iii.10.7), followed by Hippolytus
2. Refer- {Philos., vii.36), they were founded by ences Nicolaiis, the proselyte of Antioch, who was one of the seven chosen to serve at the tables (Acts 6 5). Irenaeus, as also Clement of Alexandria (Strom., ii.20), TertuUian and others, unite in condemning their practices in terms similar to those of St. John; and reference is also made to their gnostic tendencies. In explanation of the apparent incongruity of such an immoral sect being founded by one of "good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom" (cf Acts 6 3), Simcox argues that their lapse may have been due to reaction from original principles of a too rigid asceticism. A theory, started in comparatively modern times, and based in part on the similarity of meaning of the Gr "Nikolaiis," and the Heb "Balaam," puts forward the view that the two sects referred to under these names were in reality identical. Yet if this were so, it would not have been necessary for St. John to designate them separately.
in "earthly things," i.e. in the New Birth, which, though coming from above, is yet realized in this world, how can he hope to understand "heavenly things," i.e. the deeper mysteries of God's purpose
in sending Christ into the world (ver 12), of Christ's Divine sonship (ver 13), of His relationship to the atonement and the salvation of man (ver 14), and
of how a living acceptance of and feeding upon Him
is in itself Divine life (ver 15; cf Jn 6 25-65)? The above interview, though apparently fruitless
at the time, was not without its effect upon N. At the Feast of Tabernacles, when the
2. The Sanhedrin was enraged at Christ's Defence proclamation of Himself as the "living water" (Jn 7 37.38), N. was emboldened to stand up in His defence. Yet here also he showed his natural timidity. He made no personal testimony of his faith in Christ, but sought rather to defend Him on a point of Jewish law (Jn
The problem underlying the Nicolaitan controversy, though so little direct mention is made of it
in Scripture, was in reality most im3. Niceportant, and concerned the whole relalaitan Contion of Christianity to paganism and troversy its usages. The Nicolaitans disobeyed the command issued to the gentile churches, by the apostolic council held at Jerus in 49-50 AD, that they should refrain from the eating of "things sacrificed to idols" (Acts 15 29). Such a restriction, though seemingly hard, in that it prevented the Christian communities from joining
7 50-.52; cf Ex 23 1; Dt 1 16.17; 17 6; 19 15). By this open act of reverence N. at last made pubhc profession of his being of the following of Christ. His wealth enabled him to
3. The provide the "mixture of myrrh and Burial aloes, about a hundred pounds," with which the body of Jesus was embalmed (Jn 19 39 ff).
iri public festivals, and so brought upon them suspicion and dislike, was yet necessary to prevent a return to a pagan laxity of morals. To this danger the Nicolaitans were themselves a glaring witness, and therefore St. John was justified in condemning them. In writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul gives warning against the same evil practices, basing his arguments on consideration for the weaker brethren (cf 1 Cor 8). Literature.—Simcox, "Rev" in the Cambridge Bible: H. Cowan in IIDB. art. "Nicolaitans"; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of Si. John. Ixx fl, 27, 2X, .37.
The Gospel of Nicodemus and other apocrjTjhal worlis narrate that N. gave evidence in favor of Christ at the trial before Pilate, that he was deprived of ofRce and banished from Jerus by the hostile Jews, and that he was baptized by St. Peter and St. John. His remains were said to have been found in a common grave along with those of Gamaliel and St. Stephen.
Nicodemus is a type of the "well-instructed and thoughtful Jew who looked for the consummation
C. M. Kerb
of national hope to follow in the line along which he
2143 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Nicodemus Night-Monster
NICOLAUS, nik-fi-la'us (EV), NICOLAS, nik'6las (NiK6Xaos, Nikolaos): One of "the seven" chosen to have the oversight of "the daily ministration" to the poor of the church in Jerus (Acts 6 5). He is called "a proselyte of Antioch"; the other 6 were therefore probably Jews by birth. This
able ruins of the ancient city, including two theaters, a stadium, an aqueduct, etc.
Literature.—Kutin, Ueber die Entstehung der Stddte der Allen.
J. E. Harry NIGER, ni'jer (Niytp, Niger). Sec Simeon, (5).
is the first recorded case of the admission of a proselyte into office in the Christian church. Some of the church Fathers (Irenaeus, Hippolytus, PseudoTertullian) state that he was the founder of the sect called NicoLAiTANS (q.v.) (Rev 2 1.5). Other Fathers seem to suggest that this was a vain claim made by this sect in seeking apostolic authority for their opinions. It may be that the opinions of this sect were an antinomian exaggeration of the preaching of Nicolatis. S. F. Hunter
NIGH, ni. See Near.
NIGHT, nit (for the natural usage and the various terms, see Day and Night) : Figurative uses: The word "night" (Hpib
, lay-
lah, or -'? , layil) is sometimes used fig. in the OT. Thus Moses compares the brevity of
1. In the time, the lapse of a thousand years, OT to "a watch in the night" (Ps 90 4). Adver.sity is depicted by it in such places as Job 35 10; cf Isa 8 20; Jer 15 9. Disappointment and despair are apparently depicted by it in the "burden of Dumah" (Isa 21 11.12); and spiritual bUndness,_ coming upon the false prophets
NICOPOLIS, ni-kop'6-lis (NikoitoXis, Nikdpo-
lis): A city in Pal, half-way between Jaffa and Jerus, now called Ammas, mentioned in 1 Mace 3 40.57 and 9 50. The earlier city (Emmaus) was burnt by Quintilius Varus, but was rebuilt in 223 AD as Nicopolis.
(Mic 3 6); again 'sudden and overwhelming con-
fusion (Am 5 8; Isa 59 10 AV, D1B3, nesheph, "twiHght"asinRV).
The Nicopolis, however, to which Paul urges Titus to come (Trpis /ie eh NiKiiroXii', iKd yhp K^KpiKa n-apaxeip-icai, pros me eis Nikopolin, ekel gar kekrika paracheirndsai [Tit 3 12]) is probably the city of that name situated on the southwest promontory of Epirus. If this view is correct, the statement made by some writers that from Eastern Greece (Athens, Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth) Paul's labors extended to Italy, that he never visited Western Greece, requires modification. It is true that we do not hear of his preaching at Patras, Zacynthus, Cephallenia, Corcyra (the modern Corfu), which, as a way-station to and from Sicily, always held preeminence among the Ionian islands; but there can be little doubt that, if his plan of going to Nicopolis was carried out, he desired to evangelize the province of Epirus (as well as Acarnania) in Western Greece . Indeed, it was in this very city of Nicopolis, probably, that he was arrested and taken to Rome for trial—during one of the winters between 64-67 AD.
On the lips of Jesus (Jn 9 4) it signifies the end of opportunity to labor; repeated in that touching
little allegory spoken to His disciples
2. In the when He was called to the grave of NT Lazarus (Jn 11 9.10). Paul also uses the figure in reference to the Parousia (Rom 13 12), where "night" seems to refer to the present aeon and "day" to the aeon to come. He also uses it in 1 Thess 5 5.7 where the status of the redeemed is depicted by "day," that of the unregenerate by "night," again, as the context shows, in reference to the Parousia. In Rev 21 25 and 22 5, the passing of the "night" indicates the realization of that to which the Parousia looked forward, the estabhshment of the kingdom of God forever. See also Delitzsch, Iris, 35. Henry E. Dosker
NIGHT-HAWK, nlt'hok (D^nn , tahmas, "tachmas"; -yXavf, glaux, but sometimes strouthos, and seirenos; Lat caprimulgus) : The Heb tahma^ means "to tear and scratch the face," so that it is very difficult to select the bird intended by its use. Any member of the eagle, vulture, owl or hawk famiUes driven to desperation would "tear and scratch" with the claws and bite in self-defence. The bird is mentioned only in the fists of abominations (see Lev 11 16; Dt 14 15). There are three good reasons why the night-hawk or night-jar, more properly, was intended. The lists were sweeping and included almost every common bird unfit for food. Because of its peculiar characteristics it had been made the object of fable and superstition. It fed on wing at night and constantly uttered weird
Nicopolis was situated only a few miles N. of the modern Prevesa, the chief city of Epirus today, the city which the Greeks bombarded in 1912 in the hope of wresting it from the Turks. The ancient city was founded by Augustus, whose camp happened to be pitched there the night before the famous fight with Antony (31 EC). The gulf,
called Ambracia in ancient times, is now known
as Arta. On the south side was Actium, where the battle was fought. Directly across, only half a mile distant, on the northern promontory, was the encampment of Augustus. To commemorate the victory over his antagonist, the Rom emperor built a city on the exact spot where his army had encamped ("Victory City"). On the hill now called
cries. Lastly, it was a fierce fighter when disturbed in brooding or raising its young. Its habit was to
Michalitzi, on the site of his own tent, he built a temple to Neptune and instituted games in honor
lie on its back and fight with beak and claw with such ferocity that it seemed very possible that it would "tear and scratch the face." Some commentators insist that the bird intended was an owl, but for the above reasons the night-jar seems most probable; also several members of the owl family were clearly indicated in the list. See Hawk. Gene Stratton-Porter NIGHT-MONSTER, nit'mon-ster (Plib^b
of Apollo, who was supposed to have helped him
in the sea-fight. Nicopolis soon became the me-
tropolis of Epirus, with an autonomous consti-
tution, according to Gr custom. But in the time
of the emperor Julian (362) the city had fallen into decay, at least in part. It was plundered by the Goths, restored by Justinian, and finally disappeared entirely in the Middle Ages, so far as tfic records of history show. One document has Ni-
, lUuh, LXX ovoK€vTaupos, onokentauros; Vulg lamia) :
I. The Accepted Translation
kSttoXi! ri vuv Ilp^/Sefa, Nikdpolis he nun Preheza, "N., which is now Prebeza." In the time of Augustus, however, Nicopolis was a flourishing town. The emperor concentrated here the population of Aetolia and Acarnania, and made the city a leading member of the Amphictyonio Council. T?here are consider-
1. Professor Rogers' Statement 2. E.xception to the Statement II. Folklore in the OT
1. Paucity of References 2. References in Highly Poetical Passages 3. The References Allusive 4. Possibility of Non-mythological Interpretation 5. The Term lUith.
Night-Monster NUe THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA 2144
/. The Accepted Translation.—The term "nightmonster" is a hiTJothetical tr of the Heb term T^'O'O
The references are few in number. Rahab is mentioned 3 t; Tanin (in this connection), once; Leviathan, 5 t; the serpent in the
lillth, used once only, in Isa 34 14. The word is
1. Paucity of sea, once; Seirim, 5 t (twice with refReferences erence to idols) ; Alukah, once; Azazel, 3 t in one ch and in the same connec-
tr"* in AV "screech-owl," m "night monster," RV
"night-monster," m "Lihth." The term "nightmonster" is also an interpretation, inasmuch as
tion; Lihth, once.
it impHes that the Heb word is a Bab loan-word, and that the reference indicates a survival of primitive
These references, with the single exception of Azazel to which we shall return a Uttle later, are
folldore.
all in highly poetical passages. On
Concerning this weird superstition, and its strange, single appearance in the Book of Isa, Pro-
2. Refergeneral grounds of common-sense we ences in should not ascribe conscious and delibHighly erate mythology to writers or speakers Poetical of the Bible in passages marked by Passages imaginative description and poetic imagery, any more than we should ascribe such beUefs to modern writers under hke circumstances. Poetry is the reahn of truth and not of matter of fact. In passages of this
fessor Rogers has this to say; "The lil,
1. Professor or ghost, was a night-demon of terrible Rogers' and baleful influence upon men, and Statement only to be cast out with many incanta-
tions. The lil was attended by a serving maid, the ardat UK ("maid of night"), which in the Sem development was transferred into the fem. lilitu. It is most curious and interesting to observe that this ghost-demon hved on through the history of the Bab rehgion, and was carried over into tlie Heb religion, there to find one single mention in the words of one of the Heb prophets" {Rel. of Assyria and Babylonia,
tenor, mythology may explain the word itself and
justify its appropriateness, it does not explain the use of the term or disclose the personal view of the writer.
AU these references are in the highest degree
allusive. They exhibit no exercise of the mytho-
76, 77). Exception is to be taken to this statement, admitting the etymological assumption upon which
logical fancy and have received no
3. The embroidery with details. This is most References significant. So far as our specific refAllusive erences are concerned, we are deaUng with petrified mythology, useful as literary embeUishment, but no longer interesting in itself.
it rests, that "hUth" is a word in
2. Exception mythology, on the gi'ound that the
to the conception of a night-demon has no Statement place in the reUgion of the Hebrews as exhibited in the Scriptures. It is certainly worthy of more than passing notice that a conception which is very prominent in the Bab mythology, and is worked out with great fulness of doctrinal and ritualistic detail, has, among the Hebrews, so far receded into the background as to receive but one mention in the Bible, and that a bald citation without detail in a highly poetic
Every one of these words is sufficiently obscure in origin and uncertain in meaning to admit the
possibihty of a non-mythological in-
4. Possibilterpretation; indeed, in several of the
ity of Nonparallels a non-mythological use is mythoevident. Bible-Diet, writers are apt logical to say (e.g. concerning lillth) that there Interpreis wo doubt concerning the mythotation logical reference. The reader may discover for laimself that the lexicographers are more cautious (see BOB, in loc). The use of "Rahab" in Job 26 12 is not mythological for the simple reason that it is figurative; the use of "Leviathan" in Isa 27 land Ezk 29 3 comes under the same category. In Job 40 and 41, if the identification of behemoth and leviathan with hippopotamus and crocodile be allowed to stand and the mythological significance of the two be admitted, we have the stage where mythology has become a fixed and universal symbolism which can be used to convey truth apart from the belief in it as reality (see Leviathan; "Job," New Cent. Bible, p. 335; Meth. Bey., May, 1913, 429 ff). The sea serpent of Am 9 3 is not necessarily the dragon or Tianiat, and the use of the term is merely suggestive. The term s''ir is in hteral use for "he-goat" (Nu 15 24, et al.) and is doubtful throughout. Ewald translates it "he-goat" in Isa 34 14 and "Satyr" in 13 21. It means Kt. "shaggy monster" (Vulg pilosus). We do not hesitate on the basis of the evidence to erase
passage.
The most that can possibly be said, with safety,
is that if the passage in Isa is to be taken as a sur-
vival of folklore, it is analogous to those survivals
of obsolete ideas stiU to be found in current speech, and in tlie ht. of the modern world (see Lunatic). There is no evidence of active participation in
this behef, or even of interest in it as such, on the part of the prophetical writer. On the con-
trary, the nature of the reference imphes that the word was used simply to add a picturesque
detail to a vivid, imaginative description. AU
positive evidence of Heb participation in this behef belongs to a later date (see Buxtorf's Lex.,
s.v. "Tahnud").
//. Folklore in the OT.—Attention has been
called elsewhere to the meagerness, in the matter
of detail, of OT demonology (see Demon, Demonologt; Communion with Demons). A kindred
fact of great importance should be briefly noticed
here, namely, that the traces of mythology and popular foMore in the Bible are surprisingly faint and indistinct. We have the foUondng set of items
"Alukah" (Prov 30 15, RV "horse-leech," by some
tr'^ "vampire") and "Azazel" (Lev 16 8, etc), interpreted as a "demon of the desert," from the list of mythological words altogether. As ripe a scholar as Perowne ("Prov," Cambridge Bible) combats the idea of vampire, and Kellogg ("Lev," Expositor's Bible, in loc.) has simply put to rout the mythological-demonic interpretation of Azazel. Even in the case of lililh the derivation is obscure, and the objections urged against the demonic idea by Alexander have not altogether lost their force (see
in which such traces have been discovered : "Rahab" (3nT, TO/^ab^), mentioned in Job 9 13; 26 12; Isa
51 9; "Tanin" ('("'IPl, tannin), Isa 27 1; "Levia-
than" (]'n;"!b , liwyathan), Job 3 8; Ps 74 14; Isa 27 1; Ezk 29 3; Job 41 passim; the "serpent in
the sea," in Am 9 3; "Scirim" (D"'")^"!!) , s'Hrlm),
2 Ch 11 15; Lev 17 7; 2 K 23 8; Isa 13 21;
34 14; "Alukah" (Hp^lby, 'dhllcah), Prov 30 15;
] Comm. on Isa, in loc). There is a close balance of probabihties in one direction or the other. One further fact with regard to lillth must be considered. The term occurs in a hst of creatures, the greater part of which are matter-of-fact animals
"Azazel" (bXiiTJ,'aza'zel),Lev 16 8.10.26; "Lilith"
(ut sup.), Isa 34 14.15. A review of these passages brings certain very
interesting facts to Ught.
2145 THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA Night-Monster Nile
or birds. A comparative glance at a half-dozen tr" of the passage Isa 34 11-14 wiU convince any reader
black or blue. This name does not occur in the Heb of the OT or in the Eng. tr)
that there are a great many obscure
I. The Nile IN Physical Geography
5. The and difficult words to be found in the Term Hst. Following Dehtzsch's tr we have: riRth "peUcan," "hedge-hog," "horned-owl," "raven," "wild-dog," "ostrich," "forestdemon" (s^'ir), "night-monster." This is a curious mixture of real and imaginary creatures. Alexander acutely observes that there is too much or too little mythology in the passage. One of two conclusions would seem to follow from a list so constructed : Either all these creatures are looked upon as more or less demonic (see Whitehouse, HDB, art.