The Jews do not appear to have confined themselves to the number nine: we know that at our Lord's supper, thirteen were present. The explanation above will illustrate the phrase "to lie in the bosom." See Luke xvi. 22, 23; John i. 18; xiii. 23. The frame of the dinner-bed was laid with mattresses, variously stuffed. Each person was provided with a cushion or bolster on which to support the upper part of his body in a raised position; as the left arm could not long sustain the weight without weariness. The lower part of the body being extended diagonally, with the feet outwards, it is easy to see how the woman that was a sinner might come behind Christ and anoint his feet. Luke vii. 37, 38. It is doubtful whether the Jews derived the custom from the Romans. It existed among the Persians before the Romans adopted it. Esther i. 6; vii. 8. The latter probably derived it from the Carthaginians; and as it is likely that it was introduced into Carthage from Phenicia, the Jews would learn it from the Phenicians, who were in their own neighbourhood. The most recent information on the custom may be had from the works on Pompeii and Herculaneum.

ACCURSED. Devoted to destruction: separated from the church. Josh.

vi. 17; Gal. i. 8, 9. See ANATHEMA. In the Hebrew language, accursed and crucified were synonymes. Every one that died on a tree was reckoned accursed. Deut. xxi. 23.

ACELDAMA, field of blood. A field designed for the interment of strangers, which the chief priests purchased with the money returned by Judas, as the price of the Saviour's blood. Matt. xxvii. 6-8. It was called "the potter's field," because clay was obtained in it for making pots; and also, "the fuller's field," because cloth was bleached or dried in it. It was just outside the wall of Jerusalem, below Mount Zion. As late as the seventeenth century it was used as a burying-place by the Armenian Christians in Jerusalem. Modern travellers state that it is now abandoned for sepulchral purposes. It is not fenced, and a charnel-house, now a ruin, is all that remains to point out the site.

ACHAIA. In the most comprehensive use of this term, it is applied to all the region lying south of Thessaly and Macedonia, as far as the Morea. By the poets it is used for the whole of Greece. Hence the name 'Axauoi, the Greeks. Under the Romans, Greece was divided into two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia. The former included Macedonia Proper, with Illyricum, Epirus, and

ACHAN, troubler. Joshua vii. 1. In the parallel passage, 1 Chron. ii. 7, it is spelled ACHAR. Some have thought this an intentional change, after the fact, to give the name a significant reference to the circumstance which renders it notorious. A son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, who secretly took and concealed several valuable articles from among the spoils in Jericho, in direct violation of the command of God. He was detected by the employment of the lot, and doomed to be stoned. For this sin judgment came upon all the camp of Israel. It is stated that Achan's family was also stoned. It is probable that they were privy to the theft, seeing the accursed things were hidden in his tent. By concealment they became partakers of the crime, and so of the sentence.

ACHISH. The Philistine king of Gath, with whom David twice sought refuge when he fled from Saul. 1 Sam. xxi. 10—15; xxvii. 1-3. The first time David was in imminent danger; for he was recognised and spoken of by the officers of the court as one whose glories had been obtained at the cost of the Philistines. He consequently feigned himself mad. About four years after, when his character and position were better known, at the head of six hundred faithful adherents, he again repaired to king Achish, who received him generously, and treated him with great confidence.

ACHMETHA. Ezra vi. 2. It is frequently mentioned in Apocryphal books. The word is of doubtful signification, but supposed to be applied to cities having a fortification for the protection of royal treasures. It is the Ecbatana of ancient Media, and is usually identified with the present Hamadan. It is situated in lat. N. 34° 53', long. E. 48°, at the extremity of a rich and fertile plain, at the base of the Elwund Mountains. Remnants of towers and sun-dried bricks present evidences |

ACHOR, trouble. A valley between Jericho and Ai, where Achan was stoned, and which received its name from the trouble brought upon the Israelites by the sin of Achan. Josh. vii. 24. See ACHAN. There is a figurative use of this word, Hosea ii. 15, which suggests that as Achor was a place of great trouble to the Israelites on their entrance into Canaan, it would become a place of hope and joy on the return from the captivity which they were then enduring.

ACHZIB. There were two places of this name. 1. In the tribe of Asher, Judges i. 31, from which that tribe did not expel the former inhabitants. The Greeks called it Ecdippa: it survives under the name Zib. It is on the coast of the Mediterranean, about ten miles north of Acre. It is described by several modern travellers. 2. A town in the tribe of Judah. Josh. xv. 44. It is probably the same as Chezib. Gen. xxxviii. 5.

ACRA. A Greek word, signifying a citadel. A name given to the citadel built by command of Antiochus Epiphanes, north of the temple at Jerusalem. Josephus describes as semi-circular, and says that Simon Maccabæus, having expelled the Syrians, who had seized Acra, demolished it, and levelled the hill, so that no neighbouring site might be higher than that on which the temple stood. On Mount Acra, the palace of Helena was afterwards built, and also a repository for the public records.

ACRABATTENE. A district of Judæa, extending between Shechem (now Nâbulus) and Jericho, inclining east; about twelve miles long. It is not mentioned in Scripture, but occurs in Josephus. It took its name from a town called Acrabi, nine miles east of Neapolis, on the road to Jericho. This was also the name of another district in that portion of Judæa, which lies south of the Dead

ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. This is one of the canonical books of the New Testament. It commences with a reference to an account given in a former work of the sayings and doings of Jesus Christ before his ascension, and the author proceeds to acquaint us with the circumstances connected with that event; the conduct of the disciples on their return from witnessing it; the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, according to Christ's promise; and the amazing success which, as the result of this, attended the commencement of their preaching Christ as the promised Messiah, and the Saviour of the world. It describes the church at Jerusalem up to the time when the violent persecution of the members, by the rulers of the Jews, had broken up their society, and scattered them, with the exception of the Apostles, throughout the whole of the surrounding region; and after introducing the account of the conversion of the most zealous persecutor of the church, who afterwards became one of its most zealous ministers, the narrative takes a wider scope, and opens to view the gradual expansion of the church, by the admission, within its pale, of persons converted from Heathenism. The first step towards this opening the door of faith to the Gentiles was effected by Peter, to whom the honour of laying the foundation of the church, in the Gentile world, seems to have been assigned. Afterwards Paul, the recent convert, and the apostle of the Gentiles, is brought forward, and becomes the main actor on the scene. On his labours and successes the chief interest of the narrative is then concentrated; but, having followed him to Rome, whither he was sent as a prisoner to take his trial on his own appeal, the book then closes. The book has been by some writers called, "the Gospel of the Holy Ghost;" -"the Gospel of our Saviour's resurrection." Respecting the authorship there can be no doubt. It

is unquestionably the production of the same author by whom the third of the Gospels was composed. The introduction in each book renders this plain. See Luke i. 1-4; Acts i. 1. The writer was Luke. He accompanied Paul to Rome when he went to that city as prisoner, and we ascertain from two Epistles, written by Paul at that time, that Luke was with him at Rome. Col. iv. 14; Philem. 24. This is proof that he was the writer of the narrative of the journey to that city. He was, indeed, the witness of the greater part of the events recorded in the Acts. The time when it was written has not been fixed with accuracy. As the history is continued up to the close of the second year of Paul's imprisonment at Rome, it could not have been written before A.D. 65. It was probably composed soon after, and, it is conjectured, at Rome. The dates of the various events recorded cannot be fixed with any degree of certainty. Several writers have attempted this, but generally they disagree among themselves. Many spurious "Acts" have been in circulation, such as Acts of Christ, Acts of Peter, of Paul, &c. Acts of Pilate are appealed to by Tertullian and Justin Martyr as being extant in their day.

ADAD. The name of the chief divinity of the Syrians; according to some, the sun. His name is probably an element in the names of the Syrian kings, Benhadad and Hadadezer. Some commentators have supposed an allusion to this deity in Isai. lxvi. 17. "They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst :" literally, "They that purify themselves after one." ." The word is ACHAD; and the opinion is, that by Achad, a Syrophenician idol is meant. The opinion is founded on the statement of Macrobius that the Syrians gave to the sun, as the supreme power, the name of Adad, the signification of which is one. Gesenius and others consider one to be the leader or chiefpriest of an idolatrous procession, whom the company of worshippers follow into the midst of the temple, or grove, where the rites were celebrated.

occurs, and is derived from a root which means to bend back on itself, supposed to be the tarantula, or spider. In Prov. xxiii. 32 is meant the basilisk, which is so deadly that it is said to kill with its breath. There are reckoned in the list of the serpent race of Palestine, Arabia, and Egypt, above forty species, about eight of which are poisonous.

ADAMANT. One of the hardest and most costly of precious stones. Ezek. iii. 9. The original word SHAMIR is ordinarily translated diamond. It means a sharp point, and the diamond is used for cutting other minerals. It is employed to indicate courage; and at other times it is an emblem of the wickedness and hardness of the human heart. Zech. vii. 12. See DIAMOND.

ADAR. The sixth month of the civil and the twelfth of the ecclesiastical year of the Jews. It contained twenty-nine days, and corresponds with our February, and sometimes enters into March. On the 7th there was a fast for the death of Moses: on the 9th a fast in memory of the contention or rupture of the two celebrated schools of Hillel and Shammai: on the 13th is the "fast of Esther." The 14th and 15th were devoted to the feast of Purim. Esth. iii. 7.

ADARCONIM. Supposed to be the Persian daric, a golden coin which was in circulation among the Jews during their subjection to the Persians. The value was about twenty drachms of silver. The distinguishing mark of the coin was a crowned archer.

ADDER. A venomous serpent, whose poison is almost instantly fatal. Gen. xlix. 17. In the English Bible the word adder frequently occurs, and is there not used for a particular species, but generally for several of this dangerous class of reptiles. In Gen. xlix. 17, it is the cerastes, the colour of sand, which lurks in the wheeltracks, and bites the unwary traveller or his beast. In Psalm lviii. 4, the word is python, and signifies an asp.

Reference is made in Scripture to the effect of music on serpents. It was an opinion which prevailed early and extensively, that they could be rendered tame and harmless by certain charms, or soft and sweet sounds. Virgil alludes to this in his seventh Eneid. This is also confirmed by modern travellers. Dr. Shaw had an opportunity of seeing a number of serpents keep exact time with the Dervishes in their circulatory dances, running over their heads and arms, turning when they turned, and stopping when they stopped. When Chateaubriand was in Canada, a rattle-snake entered the encampment. A young Canadian, who could play on the flute, advanced against the serpent with this new kind of weapon. On the approach of his enemy, the haughty reptile curled himself into a spiral line, flattened his head, inflated his cheeks, contracted his lips, displayed his envenomed fangs, and his bloody throat; his tail vibrated with so much rapidity as to resemble a light vapour. The Canadian began to play his flute; the serpent started with surprise, and drew back his head. In proportion as he was struck with the magic effect, his eyes lost their fierceness, the oscillations of his tail became slower, and the sound which it emitted became weaker, and gradually died away. When the Canadian advanced, the reptile inclined his variegated neck, opened a passage with his head through the high grass, and began to creep after the musician, stopping when he stopped, and following after him again as soon as he moved forward. In this manner he was led out of the camp, attended by a great number of spectators, both savages and Europeans.