tate; and he most probably entertained the capital city of the Ammonites, and against the rest of the country, ree months' residence on that island. (Acts which probably had their completion five years after the destruc cient inscription found at Malta designates its tion of Jerusalem. Antiochus the Greek took the city of Rab ame appellation-ПРОтОΣ or chief man-bath-Ammon about A. M. 3786. Some time before this, Ptolemy es to Publius. (Bloomfield and Kuinüel on | Philadelphus had given it the name of PHILADELPHIA. Which see in this index. me of a people remote from Palestine. (Isa. tin Vulgate renders it Africa; according to ilæ, an island of the Nile in Upper Egypt. it to be a place in the extremity of Egypt; it object, in the passage just cited, to designate rts. the first king of Assyria, who is mentioned in e invaded the kingdom of Israel shortly after rped the throne, who gave a thousand talents him in his kingdom. (2 Kings xv. 19, 20.) Hebrew), design of, 64. Inferior punishments, punishments, 66-69. Roman), mentioned in the Bible, account of, of the Hebrews, account of, 133. Purificay, in persons, garments, and houses, 133, 134. se of minor impurities, 134. of Lots, account of, 128. 2. RABBATH-MOAB, or Rabbath of the children of Moab, the capital of the Moabites, otherwise AR, or ARIEL of Moab, and KIRHERES, or the city with brick walls. (Jer. xlviii. 31. 36.) This city was situated on the river Ar: it underwent many revolutions, and the prophets denounced heavy judgments against it. RABBI, or RAB BONI, import of, 185. RABDOMANCY, or divination by the staff, 143. RABSHAKEH, an officer of Sennacherib king of Assyria, who was sent with Rabsaris and Tartan to summon Hezekiah to surrender to his master. (2 Kings xviii. 17.) RACA, a Syriac word of contempt, meaning a worthless person. (Matt. v. 22.) Those who applied this term to another were obnoxious to punishment by the COUNCIL of twenty-three. See p. 55. supra. RACHEL, the youngest daughter of Laban, and the wife of Jacob. She was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. In Jer. xxxi. 15. the prophet introduces Rachel as bewailing the exile of her posterity, that is, Ephraim; by quoting which language the evangelist Matthew (ii. 18.) in a similar manner introduces her as aritime town of Campania, in Italy, between bemoaning the fate of the children who were massacred at Beth, founded by a colony from Cuma. It was lehem. (Compare Vol. i. p. 317.) The tomb of Rachel is still Dicæarchia, and afterwards Puteoli, from the shown to travellers, near the ruins of the village of Ramah. "It wells (putei) which were in the neighbourhood. is one of the few places where the observer is persuaded that Puzzoli or Puzzuolo. Here Saint Paul abode tradition has not erred.....The spot is as wild and solitary as favour of the centurion, on his first journey to can well be conceived; no palms or cypresses give their shelter iii. 13.) It appears from Acts xxviii. 11. that from the blast; not a single tree spreads its shade where the estination of this vessel from Alexandria; and beautiful mother [wife] of Israel rests." (Carne's Recollections independent testimony of the Jewish historian, of the East, p. 157.) Mr. Maundrell is of opinion that this may rated by the geographer Strabo, that this was be the true place of Rachel's interment: but the present sepulo which ships from Egypt and the Levant com-chral monument can be none of that which Jacob erected; for ntiq. Jud. lib. xviii. c. 7. § 4. c. 8. § 2. Strabo, it appears to be plainly a modern and Turkish structure. The 93. ed Casaub.) graves of the Moslems lie thickly strewn around this tomb. RAHAB. hristian resident at Corinth, whose salutations =mitted to Rome. He was probably a Roman, l affairs had led into Greece. (Rom. xvi. 23.) ZUPT). Two syrtes or sand banks, on the Africa, were particularly celebrated among the f which, called the Syrtis major, lay between ptis, and is most probably THN ZUpTv, THE ded to in Acts xxvii. 17.; since a vessel bound passing Crete, might easily be driven into it by easterly wind. The other (Syrtis minor) lay (Kuinüel on Acts xxvii. 17. Robinson's LexiCYRENIUS (Kunvios, in Latin Quirinus), that is, us Quirinus, a Roman senator; who, after the Archelaus to Vienne in Gaul, and the annexation e province of Syria, was sent from Rome, as -ia, to take a census of the whole province with on. (Compare Acts v. 37.) This census he comThis enrolment is alluded to in Luke ii. 2.; for of which, see Vol. I. pp. 419, 420. 1. A woman of Jericho, who received into her house, and afterwards concealed, the two spies, whom Joshua had sent to explore that city and its contiguous territory. On the capture of Jericho, Rahab, with her parents, brethren, and all that she had, under the conduct of the two spies, quitted her house in safety. She subsequently married Salmon, one of the chief men in the tribe of Judah, and became the mother of Boaz. (Josh. ii. vi. 17. 22, 23. Ruth iv. 21. Matt. i. 5.) Much discussion has taken place respecting Rahab, whether she were a harlot or one who kept a house of entertainment for strangers. The same word in the Hebrew language denotes persons of both professions: for the same reason, the appellation of harlot is given to Bahab in the Septuagint version, from which the apostles Paul (Heb. xi. 31.) and James (ii. 25.) make use of the same expression: but the Chaldee paraphrast calls her by a word which signifies a woman who keeps a public house, without any mark of infamy. Since those apostles cite her as an eminent example of faith in God, and have ranked her with Abraham, we shall be justified in putting the most charitable construction upon the appellation given to her. 2. A poetical name of Egypt. (Isa. xxx. 7. li. 9. Psal. lxxxvii. 4. lxxxix. 1f.) The Hebrew word signifies proud; and the name seems to have been given to Egypt from the pride and insolence of its princes and inhabitants. . RABBATH-AMMON, or RABBATH of the children RAINS, early and latter, importance of, in Palestine, 24. terwards called Philadelphia, the capital of the RAMA, RAMAH, or RAMATHAIM, was a small town or village as situated beyond Jordan. It was a place of in the tribe of Benjamin, about thirty miles north of Jerusalem : ote in the time of Moses. When David declared it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. As it stood in e Ammonites, his general Joab laid siege to Rab- a pass between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Baasha king where the brave Uriah lost his life, by a secret of Israel seized it, and began to fortify it, to prevent his subjects this prince, that Uriah should be forsaken in a from passing that way into the kingdom of Judah. (1 Kings xv. er. And when the city was reduced to the last 17. 21.) Here Nebuzaradan, the Chaldæan general, disposed of vid himself went thither, that he might have the his Jewish prisoners after their capital was taken, which occaing it. From this time it became subject to the sioned a great lamentation among the daughters of Rachel. (Jer. . Afterwards the kings of Israel became masters xl. 1-3. xxxi. 15.) Oriental geographers speak of this place the rest of the tribes beyond Jordan. But towards as having formerly been the metropolis of Palestine; and Mr. of the kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pileser having Buckingham informs us that every appearance of its ruins even great part of the Israelites from that country, the now confirms the opinion of its having been once a considerable vere guilty of many cruelties against those who city. "Its situation, as lying immediately in the high road from consequence of which the prophets Jeremiah and Jaffa to Jerusalem, made it necessarily a place of great resort. ounced very severe prophecies against Rabbath, the land, from the fruitfulness of the country around it, it must have RE Deen equally important as a military station or a depôt for supplies, and as a magazine for the collection of such articles of commerce as were exported from the coast. In its present state the town of Ramah is about the size of Jaffa, in the extent actually occupied. The dwellings of the last, however, are crowded together around the sides of a hill, while those of Ramah are scattered widely over the face of the level plain on which it stands. The style of building here is that of high square houses, with flattened domes covering them: and some of the old terraced roofs are fenced around with raised walls, in which are seen pyramids of hollow earthenware pipes, as if to give air and light, without destroying the strength of the wall itself. The inhabitants are estimated at little more than five thousand persons, of whom about one third are Christians of the Greek and Catholic communion, and the remaining two-thirds Mohammedans, chiefly Arabs; the men of power and the military being Turks, and no Jews residing there. The principal occupation of the people is husbandry, for which the surrounding country is highly favourable; and the staple commodities produced by them are corn, olives, oil, and cotton, with some soap and coarse cloth made in the town. There are still remains of some noble subterranean cisterns at Ramah, not inferior either in extent or execution to many of those at Alexandria: they were intended for the same purpose, namely, to serve in time of war as reservoirs of water." (Buckingham's Travels in Palestine, p. 168.) RAMOTH, a famous city in the mountains of Gilead, often called Ramoth-gilead, sometimes Ramoth, and sometimes Ramothmizpeh, or the Watch-tower. (Josh. xiii. 26.) This city belonged to the tribe of Gad. It was assigned to the Levites, and was one of the cities of refuge beyond Jordan. (Deut. iv. 43. Josh. xx. 8. xxi. 38.) It became celebrated during the reigns of the later kings of Israel, and was the occasion of several wars between these princes and the kings of Damascus, who had conquered it, and from whom the kings of Israel endeavoured to regain it. (1 Kings xxii. 3-36. 2 Kings viii. 28, 29. 2 Chron. xxii. 5.) Jehoram, king of Judah, was dangerously wounded at the siege of this place; and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, was here anointed king of Israel by a young prophet sent by Elisha. (2 Kings ix. 1-10.) Ahab, king of Israel, was killed in battle with the Syrians before this place. (2 Chron. xviii. 3, 4, 5. et seq.) It is now called Ramza. READING, oriental mode of, 183. REAPING, notice of, 177. REBELS' BEATING, what, 67. RECEPTION of visiters, 169, 170. RECREATIONS of the Jews, 189, 190. RED SEA, that branch of the southern sea which interposes itself between Egypt on the west, Arabia Felix and some part of Arabia Petræa on the east, while its northern extremities touch on the coast of Edom. Edom, it is well known, in the Hebrew tongue signifies Red, and was the name given to Esau for selling his birthright for a mess of pottage. Both the country which was possessed by his posterity (Gen. xxv. 30. xxxvi. 31-40.), and the sea which was contiguous to it, were called after his name; but the Greeks, not understanding the reason of the appellation, translated it into their tongue, and called it Oaxaca Epupa, whence the Latins termed it Mare Rubrum, and we the Red Sea. It is also called Yam Suph, "the weedy sea," in several passages (Num. xxxiii. 10. Psal. cvi. 9., &c.) which are improperly rendered "the Red Sea." Some learned authors have supposed that it was so named from the quantity of weeds in it. But Mr. Bruce, who had seen and examined the whole extent of it, states that he never saw a weed of any sort in it; and remarks that a narrow gulf, under the immediate influence of monsoons blowing from contrary points six months each year, would have too much agitation to produce such vegetables, seldom found but in stagnant water, and seldomer, if ever, found in salt water. He is of opinion that the sea derives its name from the large trees, or plants, of white coral, perfectly in imitation of plants on land. One of these, which he saw, from a root nearly central, threw out ramifications measuring twenty-six feet in diameter every way. (Travels, vol. ii. p. 138.) This seems to be the most probable solution that has been hitherto proposed of the name. The tides in this sea are but moderate. At Suez, the difference between high and low water did not exceed from three to four feet, according to Niebuhr's observations on the tides in that gulf, during the years 1762 and 1763. (Voyage en Arabie, p. 363.) RE Every one knows the celebrated mi acle of the passage over the Red Sea, when God opened this sea, dried it up, and made the Israelites pass through it, dry shod, to the number of 600.000, without reckoning old men, women, or children. The rabbins, and many of the ancient fathers, relying on Psal. cxxxvi. 13, (to him which divided the Red Sea into parts), have maintained that the Red Sea was so divided as to make twelve passages; that each of the twelve tribes passed through a different passage. But other authors have advanced that, Moses having lived long near the Red Sea, in the country of Midian, had observed that it kept its regular ebbing and flowing like the ocean; so that, taking the advantage of the time of the ebb, he led the Hebrews over; but the Egyptians not knowing the nature of the sea, and rashly entering it just before the return of the tide, were all swallowed up and drowned, as Moses relates. Thus the priests of Memphis explained it, and their opinion has been adopted by a great number of moderns, particularly by the learned critic and philologer, John David Michaelis, who in the queries which he sent to the Danish traveller M. Niebuhr, while in Egypt, proposed to him to inquire upon the spot, "Whether there were not some ridges of rocks where the water was shallow, so that an army, at particular times, may pass over? Secondly, Whether the Etesian winds, which blow strongly all summer from the north-west, could not blow so violently against the sea as to keep it back on a heap so that the Israelites might have passed without a miracle?" and a copy of these queries was left also for Mr. Bruce, to join his inquiries likewise, his observations on which are excellent. I must confess," says he, "however learned the gentlemen were who proposed these doubts, I did not think they merited any st tention to solve them. This passage is told us by Scripture to be a miraculous one; and, if so, we have nothing to do with natural causes. If we do not believe Moses, we need not believe the transaction at all, seeing that it is from his authority alone we derive it. If we believe in God, that he made the sea, we must believe he could divide it when he sees proper reason; and of that he must be the only judge. It is no greater miracle to divide the Red Sea than to divide the river Jordan. If the Etesian winds, blowing from the north-west in summer, could keep up the sea as a wall on the right, or to the south, of fifty feet high, still the difficulty would remain of building the wall on the left hand or to the north. Besides, water standing in that posi tion for a day must have lost the nature of fluid. Whence came that cohesion of particles which hindered that wall to es cape at the sides? This is as great a miracle as that of Moses. If the Etesian winds had done this once, they must have repeated it many a time before and since, from the same causes. Yet Diodorus Siculus (lib. iii. p. 122.) says the Troglodytes, the indigenous inhabitants of that very spot, had a tradition from father to son, from their very earliest ages, that once this division of the sea did happen there; and that, after leaving its bottom some time dry, the sea again came back, and covered it with great fury.' The words of this author are of the most remarkable kind: we cannot think this heathen is writing in favour of reve lation: he knew not Moses, nor says a word about Pharaoh and his host; but records the miracle of the division of the sea in words nearly as strong as those of Moses, from the mouths of unbiassed, undesigning pagans. Were all these difficulties sur mounted, what could we do with the pillar of fire? The answer is, We should not believe it. Why, then, believe the passage at all? We have no authority for the one but what is for the other: it is altogether contrary to the ordinary nature of things; and, if not a miracle, it must be a fable." (Vol. ii. pp. 135—137.) Still, such skeptical queries have their use; they lead to a stricter investigation of facts, and thereby tend strongly to con firm the veracity of the history they meant to impeach. Thus it appears, from the accurate observations of Niebuhr and Bruce, that there is no ledge of rocks running across the gulf any where to afford a shallow passage. And the second query, about the Etesian or northerly wind, is refuted by the express mention of a strong easterly wind blowing across, and scooping out a dry passage, not that it was necessary for Omnipotence to employ it there as an instrument, any more than at Jordan; but it seems to be introduced in the sacred history by way of anticipation, to exclude the natural agency that might in after times be employed for solving miracles; and it is remarkable that the monsoon in the Red Sea blows the summer half of the year from the north, the winter half from the south, neither of which could produce however, that "the ground was bare to the very bottom of the guli Diodorus attributes this to an "extraordinary high tide." The fact admitted by this curious tradition. REGION round about Jordan, notice of, 33. stion. Wishing to diminish, though not to Niebuhr adopts the opinion of those who conpassage, near Suez. "For," says he, "the less if they crossed the sea there, than near oever should suppose that the multitude of I be able to cross it here, without a prodigy, self; for even in our days no caravan passes m Cairo to Mount Sinai, although it would considerably. The passage would have been cult for the Israelites some thousands of years REMPHAN, a Coptic name of Saturn, who was also worshipIf was probably larger, deeper, and more ex-ped under the name of MOLOCH. (Acts vii. 43. Compare north; for in all appearance the water has p. 137.) und near this end has been raised by the sands g desert." (p. 354.) But it sufficiently apNiebuhr's own statement, that the passage of not have taken place near Suez: for, 1. He led the town of Kolsum, the ruins of which he and where he supposed the passage to be made Isum, which began about forty-five miles lower ant has satisfactorily proved from the astronoof Ptolemy and Ulug Beigh, made at Heroum, f the gulf. (See his treatise on the Plagues 372.) REHOBOAM, the son and successor of Solomon. In his reign the kingdom of David was divided, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin retaining their allegiance to Rehoboam, while the other ten tribes became subject to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Rehoboam died after reigning 17 years, and was succeeded on the throne of Judah by his son ABIJAH OF ABIJAM, B. c. 954. RELIGION, Corruptions of, among the Jews, 135-143. Particularly in the time of Christ, 148–150. RENDING of garments, a sign of mourning, 159. REPHAIM OF RAPHAIM, the sons of Rapha (2 Sam. xxi. 16. 18. Heb. and marginal rendering), a Canaanitish race of giants that dwelt beyond the Jordan (Gen. xiv. 5. xv. 20. Josh. xvii. 15.), from whom the gigantic Og king of Bashan was descended. (Deut. iii. 11.) In a wider sense, this word seems to have included all the giant tribes of Canaan. (Deut. ii. 11. 20.) In subsequent times, the sons of Rapha appear to have been men of extraordinary strength among the Philistines. (2 Sam. xxi. 16. 18. marg. rend.) The VALLEY OF THE REPHAIM (for an account of which see pp. 31, 32.) derives its name from this tribe. ossing the sea at or near Ethan, their second ites "turned" southwards along the western REPHIDIM, a station or encampment of the Israelites in the third station at Pihahiroth, or Bedea, was at desert (Exod. xvii. 1.), where the Israelites were miraculously ourney below Ethan, as Mr. Bryant has satis- supplied with water out of the rock of MERIBAH. It is an inrom Scripture. (Exod. xiv. 2.) And it was sulated rock, at the foot of Mount Sinai, about six yards square, hange in the direction of their march, which according to Dr. Shaw, but Mr. Carne says that it is about five tion in the Israelites to quit Egypt; and the yards long, five in height, and four yards wide. This rock, antageous situation in which they were then which is of granite, is in Deut. viii. 15. rightly called a rock of ed in the land, and shut in by the wilderness," flint, in consequence of its hardness: it lies, tottering, as it front, the mountains of Attaka on the sides, were, and loose, near the middle of the valley, and seems fortheir rear, that tempted the Egyptians to pur-merly to have been a part or cliff of Mount Sinai. The waters h the valley of Bedea, by the direct road from ertook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihao Baalzephon." (Exod. xiv. 2-9.) ers how the Israelites could suffer themselves to uch a disadvantageous situation, or be led blindtheir apparent destruction: "one need only avan," says he "which meets with the least hall torrent, to be convinced that the Orientals aves be led, like fools, by their Caravan Baschi," caravan. (p. 350.) But the Israelites went out a high hand," though led by Moses, yet under nce and protection of "THE LORD GOD of the went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, a pillar of fire; and who, for their encouragehe passage of the sea miraculously prepared for he cloud which went before the camp of Israel ced it behind them. (Exod. xiv. 8-20.) the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of as a cloud and darkness to the one, but gave the other; so that the one came not near the ht." (Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ) The preceding elaborate view of this subject st clear and satisfactory answer to the cavils of "And nt traditions among the heathen historians attest which gushed out, and the stream which flowed withal (Psal. vii. RESTITUTION, in what cases enjoined, 65. REUBEN, the eldest son of Jacob and Leah, gave his name to one of the twelve tribes of Israel; for the canton assigned to which, see p. 16. REVENUES of the kings of Israel and Judah, 46. Of the Levites, 112. And of the priests, 113. REVERENCE of the Jews for their temple, 100, 101. Of inferiors to superiors, 169. REZIN, king of Syria, an able prince who knew how to avail himself of the divisions of his neighbours, in order to aggrandize himself. He formed an alliance with Pekah king of Israel against Ahaz king of Judah, whose dominions he invaded; and, after obtaining considerable advantages, he took a great number of prisoners, whom he sent to Damascus, and then proceeded to lay siege to Jerusalem, in which he failed. (2 Kings xv. 37. xvi, 5. 2 Chron. xxxviii. 5.) This check, which had been foretold by Isaiah (vii. 1—8.), frustrated the project formed by the allied princes for overthrowing the dynasty of David. Rezin was more successful in Idumæa, where he made himself master of the port of Elath on the Red Sea; an important conquest which gave him the command of the neighbouring country and sea (2 Kings xvi. 6.) His successes were of short duration; in the following year, agreeably to the predictions of Isaiah (viii. 4. ix. 10.), Damascus was taken by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, who car ried its inhabitants into bondage, and put to death Rezin, with whom the kingdom of Syria terminated. RHEGIUM, a maritime city, near the south-western extremity of Italy, opposite to Messina in Sicily. Here St. Paul stayed one ERNMENT of the Israelites and Jews, 42-46. Its day, on his first voyage to Rome. (Acts xxviii. 13.) It is now called Rheggio. SA SALEM. SA RHODES, an island and city in the Levant, which is said to the south-east side of the island, and was afterwards called have derived its name from the abundance of roses which grew Constantia. there. When St. Paul went to Jerusalem, A. D. 58, he went from Miletus to Coos, from Coos to Rhodes, and thence to Patara in Lycia. (Acts xxi. 1.) RIBLAH, a city of Syria, in the country of Hamath, which, according to Jerome, was the same with what was afterwards called ANTIOCH in Syria. It was very pleasantly situated; and here Pharaoh-Necho stopped, on his return from the battle of Megiddo. (2 Kings xxiii. 33.) RIMMON signifies a pomegranate tree. 1. An idol of the Syrians, supposed to be the Jupiter of the ancients, or, according to some writers, the sun. (2 Kings v. 8.) 2. A city in the tribe of Simeon, on the southern boundary of Palestine. (Josh. xv. 32. xix. 7. Zech. xiv. 10.) 3. A rock not far from Gibeah, whither the children of Benjamin retreated after their defeat. (Judg. xx. 45. 47. xxi. 13.) Hither also Saul and his men went. (1 Sam. xiv. 2.) 4. RIMMON-METHOAR (a round pomegranate), a city in the tribe of Zebulon (Josh. xix. 13), which is supposed to be the same as RIMMONO, which is mentioned in 1 Chron. vi. 62. 1. A name of the city of JERUSALEM. (Psal. lxxvi. 2.) SALT SEA, account of, 27, 28. SAMARIA, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Israel, is very frequently mentioned in the Old Testament: it was situated on a hill which derived its name from Semer or Shemer, of whom it was purchased by Omri king of Israel, B. c. 921, who made 5. RIMMON-PAREZ (split pomegranate), the sixteenth encamp-it the seat of his government, and called it Samaria (Heb. Shamment of the Israelites in the wilderness. (Num. xxxiii. 19.) RINGS worn by the Jews, 157, 158. ROME, the metropolis of the world during the period comprised in the New Testament history. According to the chronology of Archbishop Usher, this city was founded by Remus and Romulus, A. M. 3966 of the Julian period, in A. M. 3256, B. c. 748, towards the close of the reign of Hezekiah, king of Judah. This city is so well known, that it is needless to give any account of it here. The later sacred authors of the Old Testament have not mentioned it; but it frequently occurs in the books of the Maccabees and in the New Testament. Saint Peter (1 Ep. v. 13.) has denoted it by the figurative name of Babylon. The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you. Saint John, in his Revelation (xiv. 8. xvi. 19. xvii. 5. xviii. 2. 10. 21.), points it out by the same name, and describes it in such a manner as can only agree to Rome: 1. By its command over all nations; 2. By its cruelty towards the saints; and, 3. By its situation upon seven hills. (Rev. xvii. 9.) St. Paul came twice to Rome: first, A. D. 61, when he appealed to Cæsar; and, secondly, A. D. 65, a year before his martyrdom, which happened in a. D. 66. Account of the judicature of the Romans, 57-59. Roman tribunals, 60. Powers of the Roman procurators, 52. Roman mode of computing time, 72, 73. Discipline and military triumphs, 93-95. Tribute reluctantly paid to the Romans by the Jews, 60. Roors of houses, 153. RUDDER-BANDS, nature of, 188. eron), from its former owner. By his successors it was greatly improved and fortified; and, after resisting the repeated attacks of the kings of Assyria, it was destroyed by Shalmaneser, 8. c. 717, who reduced it to a heap of stones. (Micah i. 6. 2 Kings xvii. 6.) Samaria seems to have arisen again from its ruas during the reign of Alexander, B. c. 549, after whose death it was subject to the Egyptian and Syrian kings, until it was besieged, taken, and rased to the ground by the high-priest Hycanus, B. c. 129 or 130. It was afterwards wholly rebuilt, and considerably enlarged by Herod, surnamed the Great, who give it the name of Sebaste, and erected a temple there in honour of the emperor Augustus (Sebastos) Cæsar. The situation is er tremely beautiful and strong by nature. It stands on a fine. large, insulated hill, surrounded by a broad deep valley; which is environed by four hills, one on each side, that are cultivated with terraces up to the top, sown with grain, and (as the valley also is) planted with fig and olive trees. The hill of Samaria likewise rises in terraces to a height equal to any of the adjoining mountains. The population of Samaria, in 1819, was competed by Mr. Rae Wilson at nearly 10,000 souls, composed of Turks, Arabs, and Greeks, and a few Jews of the Samaritan sect (Travels, vol. i. p. 377. Third edition.) For a notice of the idols worshipped in Samaria during the captivity, see P. 139. And for an account of the tenets, &c. of the Samaritans, see pp. 147, 148. SAMARIA, Mountains of, p. 29. Region of, 18. SAMOS, an island of the Archipelago on the coast of Asia Minor. The Romans wrote to the governor of Samos in favour of the Jews, in the time of Simon Maccabæus, A. M. 3685, B. c. 139. (1 Macc. xv. 23.) St. Paul went ashore on the same RUKAL AND DOMESTIC ECONOMY of the Jews, 174-180. RUTH, a Moabitish woman, who returned with her mother-in-island, as he was going to Jerusalem, A. D. 58. (Acts xx. 15.) law Naomi to the land of Israel, and became the wife of Boaz. (Matt. i. 5.) See an analysis of the Book of Ruth, p. 218. SABBATH of the Jews, how observed, 121, 122. SABTECHAH, a people or country of the Cushites; most probably Sabatha or Sabota, a considerable city of Arabia Felix, according to Pliny (Nat. Hist. 1. vi. c. 28. § 32.), the principal city of the Atramites, a tribe of Sabæans, on the Red Sea. SACKBUT, an ancient musical instrument, used in Chaldæa, supposed to consist of four strings, and to emit a shrill sound. SACRAMENT of the Lord's Supper, points of resemblance between and the Jewish Passover, 125. SACRED OBLIGATIONS and DUTIES of the Jews, 129-134. SACRED TIMES and SEASONS, account of, 121–129. SAGAN, or substitute of the high priest, 113. SALAMIS, the chief city of the island of Cyprus, where the Gospel was early preached. (Acts xiii. 5.) It was situated on SAMOTHRACIA, an island of the Ægean Sea. St. Paul depart ing from Troas for Macedonia, arrived first at Samothracia, and then landed in Macedonia. (Acts xvi. 11.) It was ancienty called Dardana and Leucania, and afterwards Samos; and in order to distinguish it from the other Samos, the epithet Thracian was added, which passed into the name Samothrace. SAMSON OF SAMPSON, the thirteenth judge of Israel, the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. Before his birth he was conse crated to be a Nazarite, and was chosen to deliver the Israelites from the yoke of the Philistines. He was celebrated for his vast physical strength, and for the bravery and success with which be defended his country against its enemies. (Judg. xiii.-352) He judged the Israelites twenty years. SAMUEL, a celebrated Hebrew prophet, the son of Elkanah and Hannah, of the tribe of Levi. Having been consecrated to God from his birth, he received divine communications even in his childhood he was the fifteenth and last judge of the Israelites. By divine direction, he converted the Hebrew common wealth into a kingdom; and anointed Saul as the first king, and afterwards David. He is supposed to have been the first insti tutor of schools for the education of the sons of the prophets He died at the age of ninety-eight years, about two years before the death of Saul. For an analysis of the two books of Samuel, see pp. 218-220.; and on the appearance of Samuel to Saul st Endor, see Vol. I. P. 95. SANCTUARY of the temple described, 100 SELEUCIA, a fortified city of Syria, situated on the sea-coast, a little north of the mouth of the river Orontes: it derived its name from Seleucus Nicator, and was sometimes called Seleucia ad mare, to distinguish it from seven or eight other cities in Syria of the same name. (Acts xiii. 4.) SELEUCIDE, area of, 77, and note 4. of Abraham, and the mother of Isaac, whom SELAH, the capital of the Edomites, which Amaziah captured, when she could little expect such a blessing. and changed its name into Joktheel. It is supposed to have dedied at the advanced age of 127 years, at Kir-rived its name (which signifies a rock) from its rocky situation, ds called Hebron. (Gen. xxiii. 1. 9.) and to have been the city afterwards called Petra in Arabia. ropolis of the region of Lydia, in Asia Minor, (2 Kings xiv. 7.) foot of Mount Tmolus, which commands an r the surrounding country. It was celebrated ence and for the voluptuous and debauched abitants. Considerable ruins still attest the of this once celebrated capital of Croesus and which is now reduced to a wretched village ting of a few mud huts occupied by Turkish reat portion of the ground once occupied by the w a smooth grassy plain, browsed over by the ants, or trodden by the camels of the caravan; ns to point out the site of its glory are a few and the crumbling rock of the Acropolis." No on the spot: two Greek servants of a Turkish ere the only representatives of the church at t state of which affords a most striking illuscomplishment of the prophetic denunciations n in that city. (Emerson's Letters from the . 201. 216–218; Hartley's Visit, Miss. Regis; Arundell's Visit, pp. 176-182.) AREPHATH (Luke iv. 26.), was a city in the between that city and Tyre. It was the place dwelt to whom the prophet Elijah was sent, ed by her cruise of oil and barrel of meal that Kings xvii. 9.) It is now a small village called ount of, in the time of Moses, 42; and in the 146. Royal scribes, 47. , reading of, in the Synagogues, 104, 105. INETS of the Jews, 157, 158. SENATE of Seventy in the wilderness, notice of, 42. SENNACHERIB, a king of Assyria, who invaded the kingdom of Judah in the reign of Hezekiah. See ASSYRIA, p. 410. col. 2. SENTENCES (Judicial), how performed among the Jews, 57. SEPHARAD, a country or place where some of the Jewish captives dwelt. In the Latin Vulgate, it is rendered Bosphorus ; in the Syriac and Chaldee versions, and by modern Hebrew commentators, it is rendered Spain. Both these explanations, says Gesenius, are undoubtedly false; but nothing more certain can be substituted in their place. SEPHARVIM, a city under the government of the Assyrians, probably situated in Mesopotamia; whence colonists were sent into the country of Samaria. (2 Kings xvii. 24.) SEPULCHRES of the Jews, account of, 200, 201. SEPULTURE, rights of, 199, 200. SERAB, nature of, 35, and note 3. SERGIUS PAULUS, the Roman proconsul or governor of Cyprus, who was led by the preaching of Paul and Barnabas to embrace the Christian faith. (Acts xiii. 7.) SERPENT, Brazen, worshipped by the Jews, 136, 137. 168. SETH, the son of Adam and Eve, and father of Enos, was born after the death of Abel. He lived 912 years. His posterity, who were distinguished from the descendants of Cain by the appellation of the sons of God, preserved the patriarchal religion in its purity until the time of the deluge, after which it was transmitted by the race of Shem. (1 Chron. i. 1. Luke iii. 1. Gen. iv. 25. v. 3. vi. 2.) SHADOW OF DEATH, Valley of, notice of, 34. note 3. SHARON, Vale of, notice of, 32. SHEEP-HUSBANDRY of the Jews, 175, 176. SHEM OF SEM, the second son of Noah. (Gen. v. 32.) According to the genealogical table in Gen. x. the nations in southwestern Asia, as the Persians, Assyrians, Syrians, Hebrews, and part of the Arabians, were descended from him. SUEMER, the name of the possessor of the mountain on which the city of SAMARIA was erected by Omri king of Israel, to whom he sold that territory for two talents of silver. From the circumstance of that city being called after his name, as well as from the very small sum given by way of purchase money, it has been conjectured that Shemer made it one of the conditions of sale that his name should be given to the new city. As the law of Moses prohibited the irredeemable cession of estates, and as Shemer's name is mentioned without any notice of his genealogy, it is not improbable that he was descended from the Canaanites, whom the Israelites had not been able to expel. SHEMONEH ESRAH, or Jewish Prayers, 107, 108. SHENIR, Mount, 30. SHEPHERDS, duties of, 176. SHESHACH, another name for Babylon. (Jer. xxv. 26. li. 41.) ned in the Scriptures. See pp. 26-28; and RED This is evident from the connection; but the derivation of the Palestine, 23-25. e Jews, account of, 144-146. notice of, 23. is of Seir, a ridge to the south of the Dead Sea, rds Elath and Ezion-geber upon the Red Sea. word is obscure. Calmet supposed Sheshach to be a pagan idol, worshipped at Babylon; and that Jeremiah gave to that city the name of its tutelar deity. SHIELDS of the Hebrews, and of the Romans, 87, 88. SHILOH, a celebrated city in the tribe of Ephraim, where the people assembled (Josh. xviii. 1.) to set up the tabernacle of the congregation, which continued there until the time of Eli. |