Pelican–Pestilence

(Heb. kaath, sometimes translated “cormorant,” as (Isaiah 34:11; Zephaniah 2:14) though in the margin correctly rendered “pelican”), a voracious waterbird, found most abundantly in tropical regions. It is equal to the swan in size. (It has a flat bill fifteen inches long, and the female has under the bill a pouch capable of great distension. It is capacious enough to hold fish sufficient for the dinner of half a dozen men. The young are fed from this pouch, which is emptied of the food by pressing the pouch against the breast. The pelican’s bill has a crimson tip, and the contrast of this red tip against the white breast probably gave rise to the tradition that the bird tore her own breast to feed her young with her blood. The flesh of the pelican was forbidden to the Jews. (Leviticus 11:18)—ED.) The psalmist in comparing his pitiable condition to the pelican, (Psalms 102:6) probably has reference to its general aspect as it sits in apparent melancholy mood, with its bill resting on its breast.

Two of David’s men, Helez and Ahijah, are called Pelonites. (1 Chronicles 11:27,36) (B.C. about 1015.) From (1 Chronicles 27:10) it appears that the former was of the tribe of Ephraim, and “Pelonite” would therefore be an appellation derived from his place of birth or residence. “Ahijah the Pelonite” appears in (2 Samuel 23:34) as “Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,” of which the former is a corruption.

[Writing]

(face of God) the name which Jacob gave to the place in which he had wrestled with God: “He called the name of the place ’face of El,’ for I have seen Elohim face to face.” (Genesis 32:30) In (Genesis 32:31) and the other passages in which the name occurs, its form is changed to Penuel. From the narrative it is evident that Peniel lay somewhere on the north bank of the Jabbok, and between that torrent and the fords of the Jordan at Succoth, a few miles north of the glen where the Jabbok falls into the Jordan.

(coral or pearl), one of the two wives of Elkanah. (1 Samuel 1:2) (B.C. 1125.)

In the New Testament “penny,” either alone or in the compound “pennyworth,” occurs as the rendering of the Roman denarius . (Matthew 20:2; 22:10; Mark 6:37; 12:15; Luke 20:24; John 6:7; Revelation 6:6) The denarius was the chief Roman silver coin, and was worth about 15 to 17 cents.

is the Greek name given to the five books commonly called the “five books of Moses.” This title is derived from “pente”, five, and “teucos”) which, meaning originally “vessel” “instrument,” etc., came In Alexandrine Greek to mean “book” hence the fivefold book. In the time of Ezra and Nehemiah it was called “the law of Moses,” (Ezra 7:6) or “the book of the law of Moses,” (Nehemiah 8:1) or simply “the book of Moses.” (2 Chronicles 25:4; 35:12; Ezra 6:13; Nehemiah 13:1) This was beyond all reasonable doubt our existing Pentateuch. The book which was discovered the temple in the reign of Josiah, and which is entitled, (2 Chronicles 34:14) “a book of the law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses,” was substantially, it would seem the same volume, though it may afterward have undergone some revision by Ezra. The present Jews usually called the whole by the name of Torah, i.e. “the Law,” or Torath Mosheh “the Law of Moses.” The division of the whole work into five parts was probably made by the Greek translators; for the titles of the several books are not of Hebrew but of Greek origin. The Hebrew names are merely taken from the first words of each book, and in the first instance only designated particular sections and not whole books. The MSS. of the Pentateuch form a single roll or volume, and are divided not into books but into the larger and smaller sections called Parshiyoth and Sedarim . The five books of the Pentateuch form a consecutive whole. The work, beginning with the record of creation end the history of the primitive world, passes on to deal more especially with the early history of the Jewish family, and finally concludes with Moses’ last discourses and his death. Till the middle of the last century it was the general opinion of both Jews and Christians that the whole of the Pentateuch was written by Moses, with the exception of a few manifestly later additions,—such as the, 34th chapter of Deuteronomy, which gives the account of Moses death. The attempt to call in question the popular belief was made by Astruc, doctor and professor of medicine in the Royal College at Paris, and court physician to Louis XIV. He had observed that throughout the book of Genesis, and as far as the 6th chapter of Exodus, traces were to be found of two original documents, each characterized by a distinct use of the names of God; the one by the name Elohim, and the other by the name Jehovah. [God] Besides these two principal documents, he supposed Moses to have made use of ten others in the composition of the earlier part of his work. The path traced by Astruc has been followed by numerous German writers; but the various hypotheses which have been formed upon the subject cannot be presented in this work. It is sufficient here to state that there is evidence satisfactory that the main bulk of the Pentateuch, at any rate, was written by Moses, though the probably availed himself of existing documents in the composition of the earlier part of the work. Some detached portions would appear to be of later origin; and when we remember how entirely, during some periods of Jewish history, the law seems to have been forgotten, and again how necessary it would be after the seventy years of exile to explain some of its archaisms, and to add here and there short notes to make it more intelligible to the people, nothing can be more natural than to suppose that such later additions were made by Ezra and Nehemiah. To briefly sum up the results of our inquiry—

that is, the fiftieth day (from a Greek word meaning fiftieth), or Harvest Feast, or Feast of Weeks, may be regarded as a supplement to the Passover. It lasted for but one day. From the sixteenth of Nisan seven weeks were reckoned inclusively, and the next or fiftieth day was the day of Pentecost, which fell on the sixth of Sivan (about the end of May). (Exodus 23:16; 34:22; Leviticus 23:15,22; Numbers 28) See Jewish calendar at the end of this volume. The Pentecost was the Jewish harvest-home, and the people were especially exhorted to rejoice before Jehovah with their families their servants, the Levite within their gates, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow in the place chosen by God for his name, as they brought a free-will offering of their hand to Jehovah their God. (16:10,11) The great feature of the celebration was the presentation of the two loaves made from the first-fruits of the wheat harvest. With the loaves two lambs were offered as a peace offering and all were waved before Jehovah and given to the priests; the leaves being leavened, could not be offered on the altar. The other sacrifices were, a burnt offering of a young bullock, two, rams and seven lambs with a meat and drink offering, and a kid for a sin offering. (Leviticus 23:18,19) Till the pentecostal leaves were offered, the produce of the harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other firstfruits be offered. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, and to whom both the land and the people were holy, which was begun by the offering of the wave-sheaf at the Passover. The interval is still regarded as a religious season. The Pentecost is the only one of the three great feasts which is not mentioned as the memorial of events in the history of the Jews; but such a significance has been found in the fact that the law was given from Sinai on the fiftieth day after the deliverance from Egypt. Comp. Exod 12 and 19. In the exodus the people were offered to God as living first fruits; at Sinai their consecration to him as a nation was completed. The typical significance of the Pentecost is made clear from the events of the day recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Acts 2. Just as the appearance of God on Sinai was the birthday of the Jewish nation, so was the Pentecost the birthday of the Christian Church.

[Peniel]

(cleft), a mountain peak in Moab belonging to the Abarim range, and near Pisgah, to which, after having ascended Pisgah, the prophet Balaam was conducted by Balak that he might look upon the whole host of Israel and curse them. (Numbers 23:14,28) In four passages— (Numbers 25:18) twice; Numb 31:16; Josh 22:17—Peor occurs as a contraction for Baal-peor. [Baal.)

(a breach), Mount, a name which occurs in (Isaiah 28:21) only—unless the place which it designates is identical with the Baal-perazim mentioned as the scene of one of David’s victories over the Philistines, which was in the valley of Rephaim, south of Jerusalem, on the road to Bethlehem.

(dung), the son of Machir by his wife Maachah. (1 Chronicles 7:16)

(breach). The “children of Perez,” or Pharez, the son of Judah, appear to have been a family of importance for many centuries. (1 Chronicles 27:3; Nehemiah 11:4,6)

(breaking of Uzzah), (1 Chronicles 13:11) and PEREZ-UZZAH (2 Samuel 6:8) the title which David conferred on the threshing-floor of Nachon or Cidon, in commemoration of the sudden death of Uzzah. (B.C. 1042.)

The free use of perfumes was peculiarly grateful to the Orientals, (Proverbs 27:9) whose olfactory nerves are more than usually sensitive to the offensive smells engendered by the heat of their climate. The Hebrews manufactured their perfumes chiefly from spices imported from Arabia though to a certain extent also from aromatic plants growing in their own country. Perfumes entered largely into the temple service, in the two forms of incense and ointment. (Exodus 30:22-38) Nor were they less used in private life; not only were they applied to the person, but to garment, (Psalms 45:8; Song of Solomon 4:11) and to articles of furniture, such as beds. (Proverbs 7:17)

(earthy), a city of Pamphylia, (Acts 13:13) situated on the river Cestius, at a distance of 60 stadia (7 1/2 miles) from its mouth, and celebrated in antiquity for the worship of Artemis (Diana).

(in Revised Version Pergamum) (height, elevation), a city of Mysia, about 3 miles to the north of the river Caicus, and 20 miles from its present mouth. It was the residence of a dynasty of Greek princes founded after the time of Alexander the Great, and usually called the Attalic dynasty, from its founder, Attalus. The sumptuousness of the Attalic princes hall raised Pergamos to the rank of the first city in Asia as regards splendor. The city was noted for its vast, library, containing 200,000 volumes. Here were splendid temples of Zeus or Jupiter, Athene, Apollo and AEsculapius. One of “the seven churches of Asia” was in Pergamos. (Revelation 1:11; 2:12-17) It is called “Satan’s seat” by John, which some suppose to refer to the worship of AEsculapius, from the serpent being his characteristic emblem. Others refer it to the persecutions of Christians, which was work of Satan. The modern name of the city is Bergama .

In the Revised Version for Pergamos. (Revelation 1:11) Pergamum is the form usual in the classic writers.

(grain, kernel), The children of Perida returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Nehemiah 7:57) (B.C. before 536.)

and Per’izzites (belonging to a village), one of the nations inhabiting the land of promise before and at the time of its conquest by Israel. (B.C. 1450.) They are continually mentioned in the formula so frequently occurring to express the promised land. (Genesis 15:20; Exodus 3:8,17; 23:23; 33:2; 34:11) The notice in the book of Judges locates them in the southern part of the holy land. The signification of the name is not by any means clear. It possibly meant rustics, dwellers in open, unwalled villages, which are denoted by a similar word.

mentioned only in 2 Macc. 9:2, was the capital of Persia proper, and the occasional residence of the Persian court from the time of Darius Hystaspes, who seems to have been its founder, to the invasion of Alexander. Its wanton destruction by that conqueror is well known. Its site is now called the Chehl-Minar, or Forty Pillars. Here, on a platform hewn out of the solid rock the sides of which face the four cardinal points, are the remains of two great palaces, built respectively by Darius Hytaspes and his son Xerxes, besides a number of other edifices, chiefly temples. They are of great extent and magnificence, covering an area of many acres.

(pure, splended), Per’sians. Persia proper was a tract of no very large dimensions on the Persian Gulf, which is still known as Fars or Farsistan, a corruption of the ancient appellation. This tract was bounded on the west by Susiana or Elam, on the north by Media on the south by the Persian Gulf and on the east by Carmania. But the name is more commonly applied, both in Scripture and by profane authors to the entire tract which came by degrees to be included within the limits of the Persian empire. This empire extended at one time from India on the east to Egypt and Thrace on the west, and included. besides portions of Europe and Africa, the whole of western Asia between the Black Sea, the Caucasus, the Caspian and the Jaxartes on the north, the Arabian desert the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean on the south. The only passage in Scripture where Persia designates the tract which has been called above “Persia proper” is (Ezekiel 38:5) Elsewhere the empire is intended. The Persians were of the same race as the Medes, both being branches of the great Aryan stock.

(a Persian woman), a Christian woman at Rome, (Romans 16:12) whom St. Paul salutes. (A.D. 55.)

The same as Perida. (Ezra 2:55)

[Plague, The, THE]