Adriel–Ahasai

(flock of God), son of Barzillai, to whom Saul gave his daughter Merab, although he had previously promised her to David. (1 Samuel 18:19) (B.C. about 1062.) His five sons were amongst the seven descendants of Saul whom David surrendered to the Gibeonites. (2 Samuel 21:8)

(justice of the people), Apocr. Odollam, a city of Judah int he lowland of the Shefelah, (Joshua 15:35) the seat of a Canaanite king, (Joshua 12:15) and evidently a place of great antiquity. (Genesis 38:1,12,20) Fortified by Rehoboam, (2 Chronicles 11:7) it was one of the towns reoccupied by the Jews after their return from Babylon, (Nehemiah 11:30) and still a city in the time of the Macabees. 2Ma 12:38 Adullam was probably near Deir Dubban, five or six miles north of Eleutheropolis. The limestone cliffs of the whole of that locality are pierced with extensive excavations, some one of which is doubtless the “cave of Adullam,” the refuge of David. (1 Samuel 22:1; 2 Samuel 23:13; 1 Chronicles 11:15)

(Exodus 20:14) The parties to this crime, according to Jewish law, were a married woman and a man who was not her husband. The Mosaic penalty was that both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it applied as well to the betrothed as to the married woman, provided she were free. (22:22-24) A bondwoman so offending was to be scourged, and the man was to make a trespass offering. (Leviticus 19:20-22) At a later time, and when owing, to Gentile example, the marriage tie became a looser bond of union, public feeling in regard to adultery changed, and the penalty of death was seldom or never inflicted. The famous trial by the waters of jealousy, (Numbers 5:11-29) was probably an ancient custom, which Moses found deeply seated—(But this ordeal was wholly in favor of the innocent, and exactly opposite to most ordeals. For the water which the accused drank was perfectly harmless, and only by a miracle could it produce a bad effect; while in most ordeals the accused must suffer what naturally produces death, and be proved innocent only by a miracle. Symbolically adultery is used to express unfaithfulness to covenant vows to God, who is represented as the husband of his people.)

(the going up to), a rising ground or pass over against Gilgal,” and “on the south side of the ’torrent’” (Joshua 15:7; 18:17) which is the position still occupied by the road leading up from Jericho and the Jordan valley to Jerusalem, on the south face of the gorge of the Wady Kelt. (Luke 10:30-36)

or Paraclete, one that pleads the cause of another. (1 John 2:1) Used by Christ, (John 14:16; 15:26; 16:7) to describe the office and work of the Holy Spirit, and translated Comforter, i.e. (see margin of Revised Version) Advocate, Helper, Intercessor. This use of the word is derived from the fact that the Jews, being largely ignorant of the Roman law and the Roman language, had to employ Roman advocates in their trials before Roman courts. Applied to Christ, (1 John 2:1)

[Egypt]

(laudble), a paralytic at Lydda healed by St. Peter. (Acts 9:33,34)

(springs) a place “near to Salim,” at which John baptized. (John 3:23) It was evidently west of the Jordan, comp. (John 3:22) with John 3:26 and with John 1:28 And abounded in water. It is given in the Omomasticon as eight miles south of Scythopolis “near Salem and the Jordan.”

[Chronology]

[Ethiopia]

[Marriage]

(a locust), a Christian prophet in the apostolic age, mentioned in (Acts 11:28) and Acts 21:10 He predicted, (Acts 11:28) that a famine would take place in the reign of Claudius. Josephus mentions a famine which prevailed in Judea in the reign of Claudius, and swept away many of the inhabitants. (In (Acts 21:10) we learn that Agabus and Paul met at Caesarea some time after this.)

(flame), possibly the title of the kings of Amalek, like Pharaoh of Egypt. One king of this name is mentioned in (Numbers 24:7) and another in 1Sam 15:8,9,20,32 The latter was the king of the Amalekites, whom Saul spared contrary to Jehovah’s well-known will. (Exodus 17:14; 25:17) For this act of disobedience Samuel was commissioned to declare to Saul his rejection, and he himself sent for Agag and cut him in pieces. (B.C. about 1070.) [Samuel]. Haman is called the Agagite in (Esther 3:1,10; 8:3,5) The Jews consider him a descendant of Agag the Amalekite.

[Agag]

[Hagar]

a beautifully-veined semi-transparent precious stone, a variety of quartz. Its colors are delicately arranged in stripes or bands or blended in clouds. It is mentioned four times in the text of the Authorized Version, viz., in (Exodus 28:19; 39:12; Isaiah 54:12; Ezekiel 27:16) In the two former passages; where it is represented by the Hebrew word shebo it is spoken of as forming the second stone in the third row of the high priest’s breastplate; in each of the two latter places the original word is cadced, by which, no doubt, is intended a different stone. [RUBY] Our English agate derives its name from the Achates, on the banks of which it was first found.

The aged occupied a prominent place in the social and political system of the Jews. In private life they were looked up to as the depositaries of knowledge, (Job 15:10) the young were ordered to rise up in their presence, (Leviticus 19:32) they allowed them to give their opinion first, (Job 32:4) they were taught to regard gray hair as a “crown of glory,” (Proverbs 16:31; 20:29) The attainment of old age was regarded as a special blessing. (Job 5:26) In pubic main qualification of those who acted as the representatives of the people in all matter of difficulty and deliberation. [ELDERS]

(fugitive), a Hararite, father of Shammah, one of David’s three mightiest heroes. (2 Samuel 23:11) (B.C. 1050.)

This was little cared for by the patriarchs. The pastoral life, however, was the means of keeping the sacred race, whilst yet a family, distinct from mixture and locally unattached, especially whilst in Egypt. When grown into a nation it supplied a similar check on the foreign intercourse, and became the basis of the Mosaic commonwealth. “The land is mine,” (Leviticus 25:23) was a dictum which made agriculture likewise the basis of the theocratic relation. Thus every family felt its own life with intense keenness, and had its divine tenure which it was to guard from alienation. The prohibition of culture in the sabbatical year formed a kind of rent reserved by the divine Owner. Landmarks were deemed sacred, (19:14) and the inalienability of the heritage was insured by its reversion to the owner in the year of jubilee; so that only so many years of occupancy could be sold. (Leviticus 25:8-16; 23-35) Rain.—Water was abundant in Palestine from natural sources. (8:7; 11:8-12) Rain was commonly expected soon after the autumnal equinox. The period denoted by the common scriptural expressions of the “early” and the “latter rain,” (11:1; Jeremiah 5:24; Hosea 6:3; Zechariah 10:1; James 5:7) generally reaching from November to April, constituted the “rainy season,” and the remainder of the year the “dry season.” Crops.—The cereal crops of constant mention are wheat and barley, and more rarely rye and millet(?). Of the two former, together with the vine, olive and fig, the use of irrigation, the plough and the harrow, mention is made ln the book of (Job 31:40; 15:33; 24:6; 29:19; 39:10) Two kinds of cumin (the black variety called fitches), (Isaiah 28:27) and such podded plants as beans and lentils may be named among the staple produce. Ploughing and Sowing.—The plough was probably very light, one yoke of oxen usually sufficing to draw it. Mountains and steep places were hoed. (Isaiah 7:25) New ground and fallows, (Jeremiah 4:3; Hosea 10:12) were cleared of stones and of thorns, (Isaiah 5:2) early in the year, sowing or gathering from “among thorns” being a proverb for slovenly husbandry. (Job 5:5; Proverbs 24:30,31) Sowing also took place without previous ploughing, the seed being scattered broad cast and ploughed in afterwards. The soil was then brushed over with a light harrow, often of thorn bushes. In highly-irrigated spots the seed was trampled by cattle. (Isaiah 32:20) Seventy days before the passover was the time prescribed for sowing. The oxen were urged on by a goad like a spear. (Judges 3:31) The proportion of harvest gathered to seed sown was often vast; a hundred fold is mentioned, but in such a way as to signify that it was a limit rarely attained. (Genesis 26:12; Matthew 13:8) Sowing a field with divers seed was forbidden. (22:9) Reaping and Threshing.—The wheat etc., was reaped by the sickle or pulled by the roots. It was bound in sheaves. The sheaves or heaps were carted, (Amos 2:13) to the floor—a circular spot of hard ground, probably, as now, from 50 to 80 or 100 feet in diameter. (Genesis 1:10,11; 2 Samuel 24:16,18) On these the oxen, etc., forbidden to be muzzled, (25:4) trampled out the grain. At a later time the Jews used a threshing sledge called morag, (Isaiah 41:15; 2 Samuel 24:22; 1 Chronicles 21:23) probably resembling the noreg, still employed in Egypt—a stage with three rollers ridged with iron, which, aided by the driver’s weight crushed out, often injuring, the grain, as well as cut or tore the straw, which thus became fit for fodder. Lighter grains were beaten out with a stick. (Isaiah 28:27) The use of animal manure was frequent. (Psalms 83:10; 2 Kings 9:37; Jeremiah 8:2) etc. Winnowing.—The shovel and fan, (Isaiah 30:24) indicate the process of winnowing—a conspicuous part of ancient husbandry. (Psalms 35:5; Job 21:18; Isaiah 17:13) Evening was the favorite time, (Ruth 3:2) when there was mostly a breeze. The fan, (Matthew 3:12) was perhaps a broad shovel which threw the grain up against the wind. The last process was the shaking in a sieve to separate dirt and refuse. (Amos 9:9) Fields and floors were not commonly enclosed; vineyard mostly were, with a tower and other buildings. (Numbers 22:24; Psalms 80:13; Isaiah 5:5; Matthew 21:33) comp. Judg 6:11 The gardens also and orchards were enclosed, frequently by banks of mud from ditches. With regard to occupancy, a tenant might pay a fixed money rent, (Song of Solomon 8:11) or a stipulated share of the fruits. (2 Samuel 9:10; Matthew 21:34) A passer by might eat any quantity of corn or grapes, but not reap or carry off fruit. (23:24,25; Matthew 12:1) The rights of the corner to be left, and of gleaning [Corner; Gleaning], formed the poor man’s claim on the soil for support. For his benefit, too, a sheaf forgotten in carrying to the floor was to be left; so also with regard to the vineyard’ and the olive grove. (Leviticus 19:9,10; 24:19)

[Herod]

(a gatherer, i.e. together of wise men), The son of Jakeh, an unknown Hebrew sage who uttered or collected the sayings of wisdom recorded in Prov 30.

(uncle).

(after the brother), third son of Benjamin. (1 Chronicles 8:1) [Aher; Ahiram]

(behind the breastwork), a name occurring in an obscure fragment of the genealogies of Judah. (1 Chronicles 4:8)

(whom Jehovah holds), a priest, ancestor of Maasiai, (Nehemiah 11:13) called Jahzerah in (1 Chronicles 9:12)