РН nese successes, Necno proceeded on his Asiatic expedition, taking with him Jehoahaz, whom he left prisoner at Riblah. He made himself master of Carchemish on the Euphrates; where, after three years' warfare with various success, he was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, and forced to return into Egypt with the wreck of his army. On his return, he took the captive Jehoahaz with him. (2 Kings xxiii. 29–34. xxiv. 7. 2 Chron. xxxv. 20-24. xxxvi. 1-4.) The Scripture account of the war carried on by Pharaoh-Necho against the Jews and Babylonians is confirmed by an ancient monument discovered in Egypt by the late enterprising traveller Belzoni. (See Vol. I. pp. 89, 90.) PharaohNecho, the son of Psammetichus, and the sixth king of the twenty-sixth dynasty, that of the Saites, is celebrated in profane history, for his project of digging a canal, to join the Nile to the Red Sea, and by the voyage of discovery which his vessels, manned by Phoenician sailors, made round Africa. 9. PHARAOH-HOPHRA, the Apries or Vaphres of profane historians, was the son of Psammis, and grandson of PharaohNecho. He was the eighth king of the twenty-sixth dynasty, and contemporary with Zedekiah king of Judah, with whom he formed an alliance against Nebuchadnezzar. During the last siege of Jerusalem, Hophra took arms, and advanced to succour his ally. This diversion was useful for a short time; but, agrecably to the predictions of Jeremiah, the Egyptians notwithstanding their brilliant promises, withdrew without fighting, or at least without making any resistance. After the destruction of Jerusalem, when, deaf to the counsels of Jeremiah, Azariah and Johanan took refuge in Egypt, the prophet predicted to them the deplorable end of Hophra. (Ezek. xvii. 15. Jer. xxxvii. 5. xliii. 9. xliv. 30. xlvi. 26.) The prophet Ezekiel (xxix.) reproaches Pharaoh with his base conduct towards the king of Judah, and foretells that Egypt should be reduced to a desert, and that the sword should cut off both man and beast. This prediction was afterwards accomplished, first in the person of Pharaoh-Hophra, who was deprived of his kingdom by Amasis who usurped his throne, and subsequently by the conquest of Egypt by the Persians. PHARISEES, tenets of the sect of, 144, 145. PHILADELPHIA, a city of Asia Minor, derived its name from its founder, Attalus Philadelphus, and is situated about twentyseven miles to the south-east of Sardis. Not long before the date of the Apocalyptic Epistle, this city had suffered so much from earthquakes, that it had been in a great measure deserted by its inhabitants; which may in some degree account for the poverty of this church as described in this epistle. And its poverty may also in some degree account for its virtue, which is so highly commended. "Philadelphia appears to have resisted the attacks of the Turks in 1312 with more success than the other cities. At a distance from the sea, forgotten by the emperor, encompassed on all sides by the Turks, her valiant citizens defended their religion and freedom above fourscore years, and at length capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans (Bajazet) in 1390. Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect-a column in a scene of ruins!" (Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. xi. p. 438. 8vo. edit.) Whatever may be lost of the spirit of Christianity, there is still the form of a Christian church in this city, which is now called Allah-Shehr, or the city of God. It contains about 1000 Christians, chiefly Greeks, most of whom speak only the Turkish language. They have twentyfive places of public worship, five of which are large and regular churches, with a resident bishop and inferior clergy. The remains of antiquity here are not numerous. (Hartley's Visit to the Apocalyptic Churches, in Missionary Register, July, 1827, pp. 324-326. Arundell's Visit, pp. 167-174.) PHILEMON, an opulent Christian at Colossæ; whose slave Onesimus having fled from him to Rome, where he was converted by Saint Paul, the apostle sent him back to his master with the admirable letter, which now forms the epistle to Philemon: for an analysis of which, see pp. 347-349. PHILIP. 1. The son of Herod, misnamed the Great, by his wife Cleopatra; who, in the division of his father's kingdom, was made tetrarch of Batanæa, Trachonitis, and Iturea. (Luke iii. 1.) He enlarged and embellished the city of Paneas, to which he gave his own name, and called it Cæsarea, in honour of the emperor Tiberius. 2. Another son of the same Herod by Mariamne, daughter of Simon the high-priest. He was the husband of Herodias, who was taken from him by his brother Herod Antipas. Having РН Matt been disinherited by his father, he lived a private life. xiv. 3. Mark vi. 7. Luke iii. 19.) As Josephus calls this prince Herod, and the evangelist Philip, it is not improbable, that, after the custom of the Herodian family, he bore both those names. 3. One of the apostles of Jesus Christ, a native of Bethsaida. (Matt. x. 3. Mark iii. 18. Luke vi. 14. John i. 44-47 49. vi. 5. xii. 21, 22. xiv. 8, 9.) He was with the rest of the apostles and disciples who assembled for prayer in an upper room at Jerusalem, after the ascension. (Acts i. 13, 14.) Of the subsequent history of this apostle, nothing certain is known. He is said to have preached the Gospel in Scythia and Phrygia, and was interred at Hierapolis in Phrygia Pacatiana, where he suffered martyrdom. 4. One of the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem. (Acts vi. 5.) He preached the Gospel at Samaria, where he performed many miracles, and converted many to the faith o Christ. Afterwards he received a divine command to go towards the south, to the road leading from Gaza to Jerusalem: here he met an eunuch of Candace queen of Ethiopia, whom he likewise converted to the Christian faith. (Acts viii. 5-38.) After baptizing the eunuch, Philip stopped some time at Azotus; anu "passing through, he preached in all the cities until he came to Cæsarea," where he appears to have fixed his residence. He had four daughters; who, like Agabus, according to circumstances, received the gift of prophecy. (Acts viii. 40. xxi. 8, 9.) PHILIPPI was a city of Macedonia Prima, or the first of the four parts into which that province was divided. (See Vol. I. p. 90.) It was of moderate extent, and situated on the confines of Thrace. It was formerly called Crenides from its numerous springs, and afterwards Datus from the coal mines in its vicinity. The name of Philippi is received from Philip the father of Alexander, who fortified it, and made it a frontier town against the Thracians. Julius Caesar planted a colony here, which was afterwards enlarged by Augustus, and hence its inhabitants were considered as freemen of Rome. Christianity was first planted at Philippi, by Saint Paul, A. D. 50, the particu lars of which are related in Acts xvi. 9-40. PHILISTINES, Land of, 15. Account of, ibid. Nature of the disease inflicted upon them, 196. PHILOLOGUS, a Christian at Rome, whom St. Paul salutes in his epistle to the Romans. (xvi. 6.) M. Coquerel is of opinion that he was probably a slave who had been restored to liberty and who received the name of Philologus, in consequence of his having been instructed in literature and the sciences. PHINEAS, the son of Eleazar, and grandson of Aaron, was the third high-priest of the Jews. He is greatly commended for his zeal for the glory of God in the affair of Zimri and Coshi (Num xxv. 7.): for which God promised that the priesthood should be given to his posterity by a perpetual covenant; this condition being included (as interpreters observe), that his children should continue faithful and obedient. The time of his death is not known. PHOEBE, a deaconess in the church at Cenchrea, whom Saint Paul strongly recommends to the Christians at Rome in his epistle (xvi. 1, 2.), for her hospitality to himself. The deaconesses in the primitive church were sometimes married women, but most frequently widows advanced in years, and who had been the wife of one man; that is, one who had not parted with one husband and married another, a practice which at that time was usual both among the Jews and heathens. (1 Tim. vi. 9. 10.) Their functions consisted in taking care of the sick and poor of their own sex, visiting the prisoners and martyrs, in structing catechumens, assisting at the baptism of women, and various other inferior offices. Phoebe is supposed to have been the bearer of St. Paul's epistle to the Romans. PHOENICE, OF PHOENICIA, a province of Syria, which extended from the Gulf of Issus, where it bounded Cilicia on the north, along the coast southwards, to the termination of the ridges of Libanus and Antilibanus, near Tyre, where it met the border of Palestine. In breadth it only comprehended the narrow tract between the continuation of Mount Libanus and the sea. The country was exceedingly fertile; and as a commercial nation, the Phoenicians are the most celebrated people of antiquity. They planted many colonies, and, among others, Carthage. The principal cities of Phoenicia were PTOLEMAIS, SIDON, and TYRE, of which a notice is given in the subsequent part of this index Idols worshipped by them, 1:8. PHOENICIARCHS, notice of, 140. PHRYGIA is a province of Asia Minor, divided into the Greater and Lesser. The former had Bithynia on the north. Galatia o PO the east, Pamphylia and Lycia on the south, Lydia and Mysia on the west. Its chief cities mentioned in Scripture (Col. ii. 1.) are Laodicea and Hierapolis; and of this St. Luke seems to speak in Acts ii. 10. because he joins it with Pamphylia below it. In Acts xvi. 6. he means Phrygia Minor. The inhabitants are said to have been a servile people, kept in their duty best by stripes, and made wise only by sufferings. In all these parts of Asia Minor, even to Bythinia and the Euxine Sea, the Jews anciently were very numerous. PHUT, or PUT, the name of an African people. According to Josephus (Ant. Jud. l. i. c. 7.) they were the inhabitants of Mauritania, where there is a river called Phut. (Plin. Nat. Hist. l. v. c. 1.) According to the Septuagint and Vulgate versions they were the Libyans. (Jer xlvi. 9. Ezek. xxvii. 10. xxxviii. 5. Nah. iii. 9.) They are supposed to have been the descendants of Phut, the third son of Ham. (Gen. x. 6.) PHYLACTERIES described, 156. PHYSICS, or Medicine, state of, 194-197. PHYSICS, or natural philosophy of the Jews, 186. PIHAHIROTH OF HIROTH, without the prefix, a place on the Red Sea, where the Israelites made their second encampment. (Exod. xiv. 2. 9. Num. xiii. 7.) As the Israelites were properly delivered at this place from their captivity, and fear of the Egyptians (Exod. xiv. 5.), Dr. Shaw thinks that it derived its name from that circumstance. (Travels, vol. ii. p. 98.) PILATE, Pontius, notice of, 53. PISGAH, Mount, 31. PISIDIA (Acts xiv. 24.), a country in Asia Minor, having Pamphylia on the south, Galatia on the north, Isauria on the east, and Phrygia on the west. Its chief city was Antioch in Pisidia (Acts xiii. 14.), so called to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria. PISON, one of the four great rivers which watered the garden of Eden. (Gen. ii. 11, 12.) The author of the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, speaking of a wise man, says, that "he filleth all things with his wisdom," or spreads it on every side, "as Phison and Tigris" spread their waters "in the time of the new fruits," that is, when they are swollen by the melting of the winter snows. Calmet, Reland, and others, suppose it to be the Phasis, a celebrated river of Colchis; Eusebius and Jerome, after Josephus, make it to be the Ganges, which passing into India falls into the ocean. PITHом, one of the cities built by the Israelites for Pharaoh. (Exod. i. 11.) Sir John Marsham imagines it to be Pelusium; but it is most probably the arcuμes of Herodotus. (Hist. l. ii. c. 158.), by the Arabians in later times called Fijum or Faijum (pronounced Faioum), which is also applied to the province. PLAGUE, not unknown in Palestine, 38. PLAINS of the Holy Land, account of, 33. PLEADING, form of, among the Jews, in civil and criminal cases, 55, 56. PLOUGHING, Jewish mode of, 177. POETRY, cultivated by the Hebrews, 186. POLITICAL Divisions of the Holy Land, 15-18. Political State of the Israelites and Jews from the patriarchal times to the destruction of their polity by the Romans, 40-48. POLYGAMY, why tolerated among the Jews, 160. Abolished by Christianity, ibid. POMEGRANATE trees of Palestine, 36. PU (Gen. xxxvii. 36. xxxix. 19-23.) Potiphar is an Egyptian proper name, which has been explained by the Coptic ПINT OPPO father, that is, prime minister of РHаRRO, or Pharaoh. Some expositors have made a distinction between the master of Joseph and the keeper of the prison into which he was thrown. Others, however, have conjectured, with more probability, that Potiphar, after having punished Joseph in a transport of wrath and jealousy, acknowledged his innocence; but that, in order to avoid disgracing his wife, instead of restoring Joseph to his former office, he confided to him the command of the stateprison. POTIPHERAH, governor, or, more correctly, priest of On, is known only from the circumstance of his having given his daughter in marriage to Joseph. (Gen. xli. 45. xlvi. 20.) Jablonski supposed it to be the same as the Coptic ПнONTOPH, priest of the sun; and the recent discoveries among the Egyptian monuments have shown that his conjecture was not altogether without foundation. PE-THEPH-RE signifies that which belongs to RE or the Sun: this name was peculiarly suitable for a priest of On or Heliopolis, the city of the sun. Undesigned coincidences like these strongly corroborate the antiquity and authenticity of the Mosaic narrative. POTTER'S FIELD. See ACELDAMA. PRAYERS of the Jews, various appellations of, 131. Public prayers, ibid. Private prayers, ibid. How offered in the synagogues, 104. Attitudes in prayer, 131, 132. Forms of prayer in use among the Jews, 132. The nineteen prayers now used by them, 106, 107. PREACHING, a part of the synagogue service, 106. PREPARATION of the Passover, 123. Of the Sabbath, .22. PRIESTS, privileges and functions of, 112, 113. PRAISCA OF PRISCILLA, the wife of Aquila, a converted Jew of Pontus. See AQUILA, p. 407. PRISONERS (Roman), treatment of, 58-60. Oriental mode of treating prisoners, 66. Probable origin of one being released at the Passover, 123. Eyes of, put out, 66. PRISONS (Jewish), notice of, 65, 66. PRIVILEGES of the first-born, 163. PROCEEDINGS, judicial, forms of, 55–60. PROCURATORS (Roman), powers of, 52, 53. State of the Jews under them, 53. PRODUCTIONS of the Holy Land, 35-37. PROMULGATION of laws, 47, 48. PROPERTY, crimes against, how punished, 62, 63. Disposal of property, 164. PROPHETS, notice of, 47. 116. Punishment of false prophets, 62. Schools of the prophets, 184, 185. (See further the General Index of Matters, No. III. infra. article Prophets.) "The Prophets" an ancient division of the Old Testament, p. 213. of this volume. Table of the sections of the prophets, as read in the Jewish Synagogue, 105. PROSELYTES, account of, 109. PROSEUCHE or oratories of the Jews, 102, 103. PTOLEMAIS, anciently called Accho (Judg. i. 31.), and now known by the name of ACRE, is a port and town situated on the PONTUS, a province of Asia Minor, having the Euxine Seashore of the Mediterranean Sea, on the confines of Lower and on the north, Cappadocia on the south, Paphlagonia and Galatia on the east, and the Lesser Armenia on the west. It is supposed that Saint Peter preached in Pontus, because he addresses his first Epistle to the believing Hebrews, who were scattered throughout this and the neighbouring provinces. POOLS of Solomon, 29. Pool of Bethesda, 21. And of Siloam, ibid. POOR, Jewish laws concerning, 83. POPULATION of the Holy Land, 38. Of Jerusalem, 22. POSSESSIONS, demoniacal, reality of, 197. Upper Galilee. Here Saint Paul rested for one day on his journey from Ephesus to Jerusalem. (Acts xxi. 7.) As this port must always have been of great importance in time of war, the town has, consequently, undergone great changes. During the croisades this city suffered exceedingly both from infidels and Christians, between whom it was the scene of many sanguinary conflicts: at length it fell under the dominion of the late Djezzar Pacha, under whose government and that of his successor it has revived, and is now one of the most considerable towns on the coast. has a beautiful appearance, when beheld from a short distance. This place is celebrated for the repulse there given to Napoleon Buonaparte, by the Turks under the command of Sir Sydney Smith, who, after a long and memorable siege, compelled the French to retire with great loss, and ultimately to abandon Syria PUBLICANS, or collectors of the revenue, account of, 78, 79 Why odious to the Jews, 79. Acre POTIPHAR, the captain of Pharaoh's body guard, who purchased Joseph of some Midianitish merchants, and made him superintendent of his house. Afterwards, however, listening to the false charges of his wife, who accused Joseph of attempting o seduce her, he threw Joseph into prison, where he was rigorously confined. It should seem that this rigour was not of very PUBLIUS, an opulent governor of Malta, at the time of St long continuance; and that he restored Joseph to all his confi- Paul's shipwreck, who miraculously healed his father of a dan dence, and intrusted him with the management of the prison.gerous malady. The bay in which the vessel was wrecked was Ꭱ Ꭺ RA contiguous to his estate, and he most probably entertained the capital city of the Ammonites, and against the rest of the country, apostle during his three months' residence on that island. (Acts which probably had their completion five years after the destruc xxiii. 7, 8.) An ancient inscription found at Malta designates its tion of Jerusalem. Antiochus the Greek took the city of Rab governor by the same appellation-ПРтО or chief man-bath-Ammon about A. M. 3786. Some time before this, Ptolemy which St. Luke gives to Publius. (Bloomfield and Kuinöel on | Philadelphus had given it the name of PHILADELPHIA. Which Acts xxviii. 7, 8.) see in this index. PUL, or PHUL. 1. The proper name of a people remote from Palestine. (Isa. Ixvi. 19.) The Latin Vulgate renders it Africa; according to Bochart, it was Philæ, an island of the Nile in Upper Egypt. Vitringa supposes it to be a place in the extremity of Egypt; it being the prophet's object, in the passage just cited, to designate the most remote parts. 2. The name of the first king of Assyria, who is mentioned in the Scriptures. He invaded the kingdom of Israel shortly after Menahem had usurped the throne, who gave a thousand talents of silver to support him in his kingdom. (2 Kings xv. 19, 20.) PUNISHMENTS (Hebrew), design of, 64. Inferior punishments, 64-66. Capital punishments, 66-69. PUNISHMENTS (Roman), mentioned in the Bible, account of, 69-72. PURIFICATIONS of the Hebrews, account of, 133. Purifications of the leprosy, in persons, garments, and houses, 133, 134. Purifications in case of minor impurities, 134. PURIM, or feast of Lots, account of, 128. PUTEOLI, a maritime town of Campania, in Italy, between Baise and Naples, founded by a colony from Cuma. It was originally called Dicæarchia, and afterwards Puteoli, from the great number of wells (putei) which were in the neighbourhood. It is now called Puzzoli or Puzzuolo. Here Saint Paul abode seven days, by the favour of the centurion, on his first journey to Rome. (Acts xxviii. 13.) It appears from Acts xxviii. 11. that Puteoli was the destination of this vessel from Alexandria; and we learn from the independent testimony of the Jewish historian, Josephus, corroborated by the geographer Strabo, that this was the port of Italy to which ships from Egypt and the Levant commonly sailed. (Antiq. Jud. lib. xviii. c. 7. z. c. 8. § 2. Strabo, Geogr. l. xvii. p. 793. ed Case.) QUARTUS, a Christian resident at Corinth, whose salutations Saint Paul transmitted to Rome. He was probably a Roman, whom commercial affairs had led into Greece. (Rom. xvi. 23.) QUICKSAND (Zuris). Two syrtes or sand banks, on the northern coast of Africa, were particularly celebrated among the ancients; one of which, called the Syrtis major, lay between Cyrene and Leptis, and is most probably THN ZUPTIV, THE Quicksand, alluded to in Acts xxvii. 17.; since a vessel bound westward, after passing Crete, might easily be driven into it by a strong north-easterly wind. The other (Syrtis minor) lay near Carthage. (Kuinöel on Acts xxvii. 17. Robinson's Lexicon, voce ZupTIS.) QUIRINUS OF CYRENIUS (Kuvios, in Latin Quirinus), that is, Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, a Roman senator; who, after the banishment of Archelaus to Vienne in Gaul, and the annexation of Judea to the province of Syria, was sent from Rome, as governor of Syria, to take a census of the whole province with a view to taxation. (Compare Acts v. 37.) This census he completed, A. D. 8. This enrolment is alluded to in Luke ii. 2.; for an elucidation of which, see Vol. I. pp. 419, 420. RABBATH. 1. RABBATH, RABBATH-AMMON, or RABBATH of the children of Ammon, afterwards called Philadelphia, the capital of the Ammonites, was situated beyond Jordan. It was a place of considerable note in the time of Moses. When David declared war against the Ammonites, his general Joab laid siege to Rabpath-Ammon, where the brave Uriah lost his life, by a secret order given by this prince, that Uriah should be forsaken in a place of danger. And when the city was reduced to the last extremity, David himself went thither, that he might have the honour of taking it. From this time it became subject to the kings of Judah. Afterwards the kings of Israel became masters of it, with all the rest of the tribes beyond Jordan. But towards the conclusion of the kingdom of Israel, Tiglath-pileser having taken away a great part of the Israelites from that country, the Ammonites were guilty of many cruelties against those who remained, in consequence of which the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel pronounced very severe prophecies against Rabbath, the 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 RABBONI, 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 bemoaning the fate of the children who were massacred at Bethlehem. (Compare Vol. i. p. 317.) The tomb of Rachel is still shown to travellers, near the ruins of the village of Ramah. “It is one of the few places where the observer is persuaded that tradition has not erred.....The spot is as wild and solitary as can well be conceived; no palms or cypresses give their shelter from the blast; not a single tree spreads its shade where the beautiful mother [wife] of Israel rests." (Carne's Recollections of the East, p. 157.) Mr. Maundrell is of opinion that this may be the true place of Rachel's interment: but the present sepulchral monument can be none of that which Jacob erected; for it appears to be plainly a modern and Turkish structure. graves of the Moslems lie thickly strewn around this tomb. RAHAB. The 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 Rahab 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. 11.) 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. RAINS, early and latter, importance of, in Palestine, 24. RAMA, RAMAH, or RAMATHAIM, was a small town or village in the tribe of Benjamin, about thirty miles north of Jerusalem: it is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. As it stood in a pass between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Baasha king of Israel seized it, and began to fortify it, to prevent his subjects from passing that way into the kingdom of Judah. (1 Kings xv. 17. 21.) Here Nebuzaradan, the Chaldæan general, disposed of his Jewish prisoners after their capital was taken, which occasioned a great lamentation among the daughters of Rachel. (Jer. xl. 1-3. xxxi. 15.) Oriental geographers speak of this place as having formerly been the metropolis of Palestine; and Mr. Buckingham informs us that every appearance of its ruins even now confirms the opinion of its having been once a considerable city. "Its situation, as lying immediately in the high road from Jaffa to Jerusalem, made it necessarily a place of great resort and, from the fruitfulness of the country around it, it must have RE veen 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 be.onged 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 Ísrael, 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 eq.) 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 Epub, 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 faw, 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 ove. 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?" anc 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 attention 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 position for a day must have lost the nature of fluid. Whence came that cohesion of particles which hindered that wall to escape 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 revelation: 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.) 1 Still, such skeptical queries have their use; they lead to a stricter investigation of facts, and thereby tend strongly to confirm 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 is there as an instrument, any more than at Jordan; but it seems to be introduced in the sacred history by way of ar.ticipation, 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 gulf" Diodorus attributes this to an "extraordinary high tide." The far admitted by this curious tradition RH In his reign RE ne miracle in question. Wishing to diminish, though not to REGION round about Jordan, notice of, 33. deny the miracle, Niebuhr adopts the opinion of those who con- REHOBOAM, the son and successor of Solomon. tend for a higher passage, near Suez. "For," says he, "the the kingdom of David was divided, the tribes of Judah and Ben. miracle would be less if they crossed the sea there, than near jamin retaining their allegiance to Rehoboam, while the other Bedea. But whosoever should suppose that the multitude of ten tribes became subject to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Rehothe Israelites could be able to cross it here, without a prodigy, boam died after reigning 17 years, and was succeeded on the would deceive himself; for even in our days no caravan passes throne of Judah by his son ABIJAH OF ABIJAM, B. C. 954. that way to go from Cairo to Mount Sinai, although it would RELIGION, Corruptions of, among the Jews, 135-143. Parshorten the journey considerably. The passage would have been ticularly in the time of Christ, 148-150. naturally more difficult for the Israelites some thousands of years REMPHAN, a Coptic name of Saturn, who was also worshipback, when the gulf was probably larger, deeper, and more ex-ped under the name of MOLOCH. (Acts vii. 43. Compare ended towards the north; for in all appearance the water has retired, and the ground near this end has been raised by the sands of the neighbouring desert." (p. 354.) But it sufficiently appears, even from Niebuhr's own statement, that the passage of the Israelites could not have taken place near Suez: for, 1. He evidently confounded the town of Kolsum, the ruins of which he places near Suez, and where he supposed the passage to be made with the bay of Kolsum, which began about forty-five miles lower down; as Mr. Bryant has satisfactorily proved from the astronomical observations of Ptolemy and Ulug Beigh, made at Heroum, the ancient head of the gulf. (See his treatise on the Plagues of Egypt, pp. 371, 372.) p. 137.) 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. 2. Instead of crossing the sea at or near Ethan, their second station, the Israelites "turned" southwards along the western REPHIDIM, a station or encampment of the Israelites in the shore; and their third station at Pihahiroth, or Bedea, was at desert (Exod. xvii. 1.), where the Israelites were miraculously .east a full day's journey below Ethan, as Mr. Bryant has satis- supplied with water out of the rock of MERIBAH. It is an inactorily proved from Scripture. (Exod. xiv. 2.) And it was sulated rock, at the foot of Mount Sinai, about six yards square, this unexpected change in the direction of their march, which according to Dr. Shaw, but Mr. Carne says that it is about five intimated an intention in the Israelites to quit Egypt; and the yards long, five in height, and four yards wide. This rock, apparently disadvantageous situation in which they were then which is of granite, is in Deut. viii. 15. rightly called a rock of placed, "entangled in the land, and shut in by the wilderness," flint, in consequence of its hardness: it lies, tottering, as it with a deep sea in front, the mountains of Attaka on the sides, were, and loose, near the middle of the valley, and seems for and the enemy in their rear, that tempted the Egyptians to pur- merly to have been a part or cliff of Mount Sinai. The waters sue them through the valley of Bedea, by the direct road from which gushed out, and the stream which flowed withal (Psal. vii. Cairo; who "overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Piha-8. 21.), have hollowed across one corner of this rock a channel niroth, opposite to Baalzephon." (Exod. xiv. 2-9.) Niebuhr wonders how the Israelites could suffer themselves to be brought into such a disadvantageous situation, or be led blindfold by Moses to their apparent destruction: "one need only travel with a caravan," says he "which meets with the least obstacle, viz. a small torrent, to be convinced that the Orientals do not let themselves be led, like fools, by their Caravan Baschi," or leader of the caravan. (p. 350.) But the Israelites went out of Egypt with a high hand," though led by Moses, yet under the visible guidance and protection of "THE LORD GOD of the Hebrews," who went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and who, for their encouragement to enter the passage of the sea miraculously prepared for them, removed the cloud which went before the camp of Israel hitherto, and placed it behind them. (Exod. xiv. 8-20.) “And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to the one, but gave light by night to the other; so that the one came not near the other all the night." (Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i. pp. 388-391.) The preceding elaborate view of this subject furnishes a most clear and satisfactory answer to the cavils of modern infidels. about two inches deep, and twenty inches wide. There are also 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 Various ancient traditions among the heathen historians attest he reality of the miraculous passage of the Red Sea by the Is-himself of the divisions of his neighbours, in order to aggrandize raelites to which we may add that it is manifest from the text of Moses and other sacred authors, who have mentioned this miraculous passage, that no other account is supportable but that which supposes the Hebrews to cross over the sea from shore to shore, in a vast space of dry ground which was left void by the waters at their retiring. (Exod. xiv. 16, 17, &c.) To omit the numerous allusions in the book of Psalms, Isaiah says (lxiii. 11, &c.) that the Lord divided the waves before his people, that he conducted them through the bottom of the abyss, as a horse is led through the midst of a field. Habakkuk says (iii. 15.), that the Lord made himself a road to drive his chariot and horses across the sea, across the mud of great waters. Lastly, in the apochryphal book of Wisdom we read (xix. 7, 8. x. 17, 18.), that the dry land appeared all on a sudden in a place where water was before; that a free passage was opened in a moment through the midst of the Red Sea ; and that a green field was seen in the midst of the abyss. REFUGE, cities of, 16. 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 REGAL GOVERNMENT of the Israelites and Jews, 42-46. Its day, on his first voyage to Rome. (Acts xxviii. 13.) It is now duration. 49 called Rheggio. |