like the onion, a particular species of which has been cultivated in Egypt from a very early period. In the passage cited it is supposed that lettuce, salads, or savoury herbs generally, may be intended; and perhaps with more probability, and in accordance with its common meaning, the word may denote a species of grass peculiar to Egypt, and used as human food. Schubart speaks of clover, whose young shoots and leaves he saw eaten in many ways by the Egyptians. Mayer also speaks of piles of grass being greedily devoured by the Egyptians, both master and servants; and he adds, "I was afterwards, when hungry, in a situation to lay myself on the field where it grows and graze with pleasure." Sonnini says, But that which will appear very extraordinary is, that in this singularly fertile country the Egyptians themselves eat the fenu-grec so much that it can properly be called the food of men. In the month of November, they cry, 'Green helbeh for sale,' in the streets of the towns. It is tied up in large bunches, which the inhabitants eagerly purchase at a low price, and which they eat with an incredible greediness, without any species of seasoning. They pretend that this singular diet is an excellent stomachic, a specific against worms and dysentery-in fine, a preservative against a great number of maladies. Finally, the Egyptians regard this plant as endowed with so many good qualities that it is, in their estimation, a true panacea." Such in all likelihood is the plant referred to in the text quoted at the commencement of the article. The original word in the old Testament is twelve times rendered grass, once herb, and signifies "green."

LEES (Isa. xxv. 6). The word is akin to the French lie, and the English ley, having a similar signification. It denotes what lies at the bottom of any vessel which has been filled with an impure fluid; and in the text it means the dregs of wine settled to the bottom. Hence the expression, "wine on the lees," denotes old and pure wine. The lees are the refuse of the wine, which, when it is poured into a jar, either sink down at first, or rising to the top and forming a scum, at length break, descend, and become a sediment, which preserves the wine in its flavour, freshness, and strength. Thus Jeremiah says, "Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed" (Jer. xlviii. 11). In this passage, taste and scent unaltered are predicted of wine settled on the lees. So well was this understood that the term "lees" became a brief and expressive idiom for best, richest, and oldest wines. Analogous expressions are yet used in some wine countries. But such wine needed to be strained ere it could be drunk, and so the prophet adds, that it is "well refined." The fact of its having been on the lees rendered clarification necessary. The psalmist, in Ps. lxxv. 8, represents

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the wicked as drinking the very lees of a cup full of mixtures. Wine is apt to turn muddy on the lees, or it might become curdy and turbid if not properly attended to; and so the phrase became a figure of stupidity-settled or thickened upon the lees. The phrase occurs in Zeph. i. 12, to denote stolid indifference and worldly-mindedness. The clause, therefore, quoted from Isaiah, represents the best wine which the Judean vintage could afford. The drink to be presented was wine off the lees. The vine was regarded as God's best gift, and its finest produce in its state of highest preparation is selected as a symbol of the choice blessings of the Gospel. The ordinary mode of accounting for this idiom, or how the term shemarim came to signify lees, has been to regard it as the participle of shamar-to preserve-lees being preservers of wine. Others suppose the word to be of another family, and to denote what is drawn or heaped together, like the sediment which is deposited during fermentation. The term is yet found in the Coptic, where it signifies fermentation,dregs of wine being used often to induce fermentation. Thus Hefen, in German, signifies both lees and barm or yeast.

LEGION (Matt. xxvi. 53)-a band of soldiers in the Roman army consisting of from 6,000 to 7,000 men; the original number was 6,200 foot and 730 horse. In this passage, and also in Mark v. 9, 15, it means a large but indefinite number. (See ARMY.)

LEHABIM. (See LYBIA.)

LENTILES (2 Sam. xxiii. 11)-a species of pulse not unlike the pea in its general appearance. It is still a cominon article of food in Egypt, being dressed like beans, or stewed with oil and garlic, and forming what is called "red pottage" (Gen. xxv. 29, 30). Probably they grew wild, and were found in fields of grain (comp. 2 Sam. xxiii. 11 with 1 Chr. xi. 13).

LEOPARD (Isa. xi. 6)—an animal of the cat tribe, which, it is supposed, abounded in the countries of the Bible, from the fact that

(Jer. v. 6; Hos. xiii. 7), its fleetness (Hab. i. | 8), its fierceness and cruelty (Isa. xi. 6); and in Dan. vii. 6 it is made the emblem of a great power.

LEPER, LEPROSY (Lev. xiii. 42, 45). The leprosy is a loathsome disease. It is called distinctively "the stroke or wound of the Lord." In more modern instances it commences internally, and often lies concealed for years, or is secretly spreading before there is any outward indication of it; and after it breaks out, the sufferer often lingers for years before it reaches a crisis, and then years sometimes elapse before the leper is released by death. The bones and the marrow are pervaded with the disease, so that the joints of the hands and feet lose their power, the limbs of the body fall together, and the whole system assumes a most deformed and loathsome appearance. The progress and effects of the disease are supposed to be described in Job ii. 7, 8, 12; vi. 2; vii. 3-5; xix. 14-21.

There were various kinds of leprosy, many of a less terrible character than that referred to, and those more lenient forms are the kinds apparently referred to in Scripture; but in whatever form it appeared, it was regarded as a judgment from the hand of God. We know it was frequently employed for this purpose, as in the cases of Miriam (Num. xii. 10), Gehazi (2 Ki. v. 27), and Uzziah (2 Chr. xxvi. 16-23); but whether it ordinarily differed from other diseases and calamities in this respect we have reason to doubt. The leper went about in mourning, as if he was mourning his own death. Although the laws respecting this disease which we find in the Mosaic code are exceedingly rigid, it is by no means clear that the leprosy was contagious. The horror and dis gust which were felt towards a disease so foul and loathsome might be a sufficient cause for such severe enactments. It was the scourge of the Hebrew race; and there seems to have been a proneness among them to such cutaneous disorders. Moses, therefore, minutely describes the appearance of this malady, and gives clear and forcible rules to govern the medical treatment of it. Fat and blood, and other articles of diet which excite or aggravate constitutional tendencies to diseases of the skin, were strictly forbidden to the Jews.

With respect to the "leprosy of houses" and "clothes" (Lev. xiv. 55), some have supposed that the expression was only analogical-the spots and disfigurations which appeared upon the walls and articles of clothing resembling the leprous marks-a species of mould or mildew, a kind of saline efflorescence seen often in tenements of mud or aluminous earth, indicating a great degree of dampness, corrupting the air, injurious to health, and often the occasion and precursor of fatal diseases. Some suppose leprosy in clothes to be a spot occasioned by dead wool having been woven into the texture.

literature-as when the Jews exclaimed concerning Christ. "And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" (John vii. 15.) 2. Letters of the alphabet. "And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew" (Luke xxiii. 38). 3. Epistles. The letters mentioned by the sacred writers were in the form of rolls, not unlike those of the present day. Niebuhr tells us that the Arabs roll up their letters, and then flatten them to the breadth of an inch, and paste up the end of them, instead of sealing them; and the Persians, we know, make up their letters in the form of rolls about 6 inches long, and paste a bit of paper around it with gum, and seal it with an impression of ink. When sent to inferiors, they were often sent open (Neh. vi. 5); but when sent to equals or superiors, they were enclosed in a purse or bag. (See SEAL.) Letters were sent of old by couriers, by posts, and sometimes by friends.

LEVI (Gen. xxix. 34)-third son of Jacob and Leah. He was concerned in a bloody affair with the Shechemites, which occasioned the denunciatory and prophetic language of his father respecting him (Gen. xlix. 5-7), and which was fully verified in the history of his posterity. The opposition of his descendants to the idol worship which was practised by others was the occasion of the mitigation of their curse (Exod. xxxii. 26-29; Deut. xxxiii. 9). His descendants are called Levites. (See LEVITES, MATTHEW.)

LEVIATHAN (Job xli. 1)-the Hebrew name of an animal minutely described in this chapter of Job, but not known to modern naturalists. The description answers most nearly to the crocodile. Probably he was the

LESBOS. (See MITYLENE.) LESHEM. (See DAN.)

Job literally translated, &c., by J. M. Good, p. 479.

The description in Job is truly graphic. The wildness, recklessness, power, courage, form, strength, and defences of the animal are described with poetic vigour, freshness, and truth.

The leviathan is figuratively mentioned as an emblem of strength and destructiveness, especially as personifying the power or king of Egypt, as in Ps. lxxiv. 14; Isa. xxvii. 1.

LEVITES (Exod. iv. 14). All the descendants of Levi may be comprised under this name, but chiefly those who were employed in the lower services of the temple, by which they were distinguished from the priests, who were of the race of Levi by Aaron, and were consecrated to higher offices. The Levites were the descendants of Levi by Gershom, Kohath, and Merari, excepting only the family of Aaron; for the children of Moses had no part in the priesthood, and were only common Levites. God chose the Levites instead of the first-born of all Israel for the service of his tabernacle and temple, (Num. iii. 6, &c.) They assisted the priests in the ministrations of the temple, and sung and played on instruments in the daily services, &c. They studied the law, and were the ordinary judges of the country, but subordinate to the priests. God provided for the subsistence of the Levites by giving to them the tenth of corn, fruit, and cattle; but they paid to the priests the tenth of all they received; and as the Levites possessed no estates in land, the tithes which the priests thus received from them were considered as the first-fruits which they were to offer to the Lord (Num. xviii. 21-24). The Levites had a right to about a twelfth of the soil; and the tithe they received was, in the largest proportion of it, but a rent for their lands which were held by the other tribes. Not more than a fifth of the tithe did they get for religious service.

God assigned for the habitation of the Levites forty-eight cities, with fields, pastures, and gardens, (Num. xxxv.) Of these, thirteen were given to the priests, six of which were cities of refuge, (Josh. xx. 7-9; xxi. 19, &c.) While the Levites were actually employed in the temple they were supported out of the provisions kept in store there, and out of the daily offerings (Deut. xii. 18, 19; xviii. 6-8).

The Levites were divided into different classes the Gershomites, Kohathites, Merarites, and the Aaronites, or priests to each of which were assigned specified duties, (Num. iii. 14, &c.) They were not to enter upon their service at the tabernacle till they were twenty, five years of age (Num. viii. 24); but David fixed the time of service at twenty years. The priests and Levites waited by turns weekly in the temple (1 Chr. xxiii. 24; 2 Chr. xxiii. 4-8; xxxi. 17; Ezra iii. 8).

There is much of deep interest in the history, office, &c., of this order of Jewish ecclesiastics. They were the body-guard of the Divine King, a kind of literary aristocracy as well as the

dispensers of justice, and at the same time a public board of health. (See PRIEST.)

LEVITICUS, BOOK OF, the third book of the Bible, was written by Moses, and contains twenty-seven chapters, divided into four principal sections:-(1.) The laws concerning sacrifices; (2.) The consecration of the high priests; (3.) Purification, &c.; (4.) Sacred festivals. It is called Leviticus, because the Levites were the divinely-appointed ministers by whom these sacred services were in part conducted.

The laws contained in Leviticus are very minute and multifarious. The kinds of victims their age, size, and perfection, the mode of their death, with the accompanying meat offering, whether in the "oven," the " pan," or the frying-pan"-are all patiently and precisely described. We have the burnt offering and its solemnities; the peace offering, with its grateful ceremonies; and the sin offering and trespass offering, with the mode of their oblation, and the kind of guilt for which they made atonement. Again and again is there a peculiar sacredness attached to blood, for it is the life; and the life or blood of the victim was presented in room of that of the offender. The eighth and ninth chapters record the consecration of Aaron, and his first access to the altar honoured by the descent of fire from God on the victim he had immolated. The tenth chapter tells the fate of his unhappy sons, Nadab and Abihu.

The fullness and minuteness of these ceremonial regulations were evidently intended to exclude all apology for any human additions to the ritual. It was perfect as it came from God, and all innovation was both unwarranted and unnecessary. The Hebrews were prone to idolatry; but the very circumstantial laws of their religion left them no room for gratifying a vain and idle desire to intermeddle with God's worship. The whole ritual, too, was typical-it taught present truths and revealed future facts. It carried the hope of the Church forward to the time when God's own Son should offer the great oblation-a perfect holocaust-a successful peace offering-a sacrifice by which sin should be expiated, and guilty man be reconciled and saved. The various qualifications and offices of the priest, the nature of the victim, and the adaptations of the altar, prefigured the perfection and substitution of Him who "through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God."

Leviticus contains also many of the laws by which the civil department of the government was to be administered. All its political statutes are wise and good, and adapted to the people who were to be governed by them. Many of them refer to diet, that the nation might learn self-respect and acquire physical health; and many of them are necessary sanitary enactments, indispensable in a crowded camp, and not to be forgotten even after the people had been settled in Canaan. Many sins are prohibited which seem to have been common among neighbouring nations. The law of chastity is minutely guarded; the dis

ease of leprosy is strictly watched; and the inheritance of property, which so often gives rise to fierce dispute, is carefully and justly laid down. Had these statutes been obeyed, how happy and prosperous would the nation have been-possessed of God's favour, and unhurt and unthreatened by surrounding kingdoms! The book contains the history of a monththe first month of the second year of the wandering. Leviticus has a full and appropriate commentary on its ritual in the epistle to the Hebrews; and, as an old father has remarked, "almost all its syllables breathe a spiritual

sacrament.

LEWDNESS (Acts xviii. 14). This word is not used here in its present common acceptation, but rather denotes the daring, flagrant offence of one who is skilled in deeds of iniquity, or of an old offender.

LIBERTINES (Acts vi. 9)—a Jewish party; but whether composed of such as were proselytes or free citizens of Rome, or called libertines from some circumstance in their history and civil relations, or from the town or province which they inhabited, is uncertain. They had a place of worship at Jerusalem for the accommodation of those of their sect who might be dwelling in the city. (See ALEXANDRIANS.)

LIBNAH (Josh. xxi. 13)--a city in the south-western part of Judah (Josh. xv. 42) assigned to the priests, and a city of refuge (1 Chr. vi. 57). Its inhabitants revolted from Joram (2 Ki. viii. 22), and were defeated by the Assyrians (2 Ki. xix. 8). Another Libnah was situated near mount Sinai (Num. xxxiii. 20); and a third in the country of Asher (Josh. xix. 26), called there "Shihor-libnath." It has not been distinctly identified.

LIBYA. (See LYBIA.)

LICE (Exod. viii. 16). The third plague of the Egyptians was the turning of the dust of the land into lice; and when it is considered how universally the Egyptians abhorred vermin, and especially how strongly their contact was deprecated by the priests, the affliction will appear the more severe.

The Jewish commentators, and most of the Christians, render the original word by this term; and learned biblical critics have exhausted their ingenuity to prove that this is the correct interpretation. The Septuagint translators, however, were in favour of gnats, as the animal designated by Moses among the plagues of Egypt; and Jerome follows them in both passages where the word is used. Several weighty, if not conclusive, objections are made to this rendering: as, (1.) These insects originated, not from the water, as do gnats or mosquitoes, but from the dust. (2.) They were on both men and cattle; but gnats do not take up their residence on any animal. (3.) The Hebrew word signifies to be fixed or firm, which does not agree to gnats, which are ever on the wing. (4.) And, finally, the plague of flies came afterwards, in which gnats would be included. Others, however, dissent from both these opinions, and are

disposed to think the tick is the animal here signified, which sticks its claws into man and beast so fast that it never lets go its grasp but by leaving them in the flesh.

LIEUTENANTS (Ezra viii. 36)—a general name for deputies.

LIGHT (Gen. i. 2-4)-the element by means of which objects and their shape, size, and colour are discerned. Its motion is extremely quick, and is estimated to be about 10,000,000 of miles in a minute.

Whether light really emanates from the sun, or whether it is a fluid universally diffused through the universe, which the sun causes to radiate or to exercise a vibratory motion, is not agreed. Light was created on the first day, although the celestial luminaries did not appear until the fourth. There is every reason to suppose that the sun was created as early as any part of the planetary system, and the work of the fourth day was not the creation of the heavenly orbs, but the making of them to be light-bearers or luminaries. Light is an emblem much used in the language of Scripture. Christ is often called a light, and God is said to dwell in light which no man can approach; yea, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (1 John i. 5). It is constantly used as the emblem of knowledge, purity, and joy. The holy lives of Christians are also represented by light, as they are so pure in their actions and transparent in their candour, and as they reflect the light they enjoy themselves on the spiritual gloom which is round about them. The following references show a variety of figurative uses of the word :-Ps. iv. 6; xxvii. 1; Prov. iv. 18; Eccl. xi. 7; Isa. ii. 5; x. 17; Hos. vi. 5; Matt. iv. 16; v. 16; Eph. v. 8; Col. i. 12.

LIGHTNING (2 Sam. xxii. 15). The terrors of the divine wrath are often represented by thunder and lightning; and thunder, on account of its awful impression on the minds of mortals, is often spoken of in Scripture as the voice of the Lord (Job xxviii. 26; xxxvii. 4, 5; xxxviii. 25; xl. 9).

LIGN-ALOES. (See ALOES.)

LIGURE (Exod. xxviii. 19). This was one of the precious stones in the breastplate of the Jewish priests. It is said to have resembled the carbuncle, and to have been of a bright sparkling colour; but it is not among any class of gems known in modern science, unless it be tourmaline.

LILY (Matt. vi. 28)—a lovely flower, of a great variety of species, the most beautiful of which are found in eastern countries, and are often mentioned by travellers. Their gorgeous appearance is alluded to in the passage above cited, as is also the fact that their dry stalks were used as fuel.

Speaking of our Lord's allusion in this passage, the famous botanist, Sir J. E. Smith, says: "It is natural to presume, the divine Teacher, according to his usual custom, called the attention of his hearers to some object at hand; and as the fields of the Levant are overrun with the Amaryllis Lutea, whose golden