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Transcriber’s Note:
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects.
Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
The original text was printed in two columns, which cannot be replicated
here.
As is common in dictionaries, each column is headed with a three-letter
indication of the first and last articles on that page. This feature is
not feasible here.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding
the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
There are several unusual Greek characters employed in this text:
ȣ ligature of ‘ου’
ϛ stigma, a ligature of ‘στ’
ϖ a cursive variant of ‘π’, almost always used as
the first character of a word.
ϐ a cursive variant of ‘β’, used in any position
_other_ than the first character, which appears as
‘β’.
A BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
DICTIONARY:
--------------
EXPLANATORY OF THE
HISTORY, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE JEWS,
AND NEIGHBOURING NATIONS.
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE MOST REMARKABLE PLACES AND PERSONS
MENTIONED IN SACRED SCRIPTURE;
=An Exposition=
OF THE
PRINCIPAL DOCTRINES OF CHRISTIANITY;
AND NOTICES OF JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN SECTS AND HERESIES.
=BY RICHARD WATSON.=
[REVISED BY THE AMERICAN EDITORS.]
ΛΙΜ’ΗΝ ἐϛιν ἀκύμαντος, καὶ τειχος ἀρραγὲς, καὶ ϖύργος ἄσειστος, καὶ
δόξα ἀναφαίρετος, καὶ ὅ πλα ἄτρωτα, καὶ εὐθυμία ἀμάραντος, καὶ
ἡδονὴ διηνεκὴς, καὶ ϖάντα οσα ἄν ἔιποι τὶς καλὰ, τῶν θεῖων γραφῶν
ἡ συνȣσία.--CHRYSOSTOM.
[An intimate acquaintance with the Holy Scriptures is a secure haven,
and an impregnable bulwark, and an immovable tower, and
imperishable glory, and impenetrable armour, and unfading joy, and
perpetual delight, and whatever other excellence can be uttered.]
[Illustration]
NEW-YORK,
PUBLISHED BY B. WAUGH AND T. MASON,
FOR THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, AT THE CONFERENCE
OFFICE, 14 CROSBY-STREET.
-------
J. Collord, Printer.
1832.
“Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1832, by B. WAUGH and
T. MASON, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the Southern
District of New-York.”
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR.
-------
In the following Dictionary, compiled from the best sources ancient and
modern, with the addition of many original articles, the selections have
been made with reference to what was thought most useful; and thus many
things of minor importance, usually found in similar works, have been
excluded. Every article too, taken from preceding Dictionaries, has been
carefully weighed, and in a great number of instances modified,
corrected, or enlarged; and numerous other writings variously
illustrative of the Holy Scriptures have been made to contribute a
portion of their information under different heads. This general
acknowledgment renders a particular reference to the works made use of
unnecessary. The fact is, that many of the most valuable of them are
compilations from preceding compilations, and so have no title to be
referred to as original authorities; while in other instances the
articles in this Dictionary have been collected from several sources,
and so altered, or combined with original corrections or enlargements,
that it would be difficult to assign each portion to its proper
original. Where, however, any particulars of fact or history required
confirmation, the authority has been given.
It will be observed that all the places and persons mentioned in the
Bible have not been noticed, for this would only have made the same
unprofitable display of proper names which is seen in several other
Dictionaries; but those have been selected on which any thing important
for the right understanding of the Scriptures seemed, more or less, to
depend. The same rule has been observed as to the natural history of the
Bible, on which department great light has been thrown by Dr. Harris,
whose learned work has been rather freely used. The leading sects and
heresies, ancient and modern, have also been introduced; but with no
design to embody a complete account of religious opinions: those only,
therefore, have been inserted with which it is most necessary that the
theological student should have a general acquaintance.
All that is important in those useful modern works which have been
published upon the manners and customs of the east will be found
embodied under different heads so far as it tends to elucidate the
sacred volume; and many interesting extracts are given from the most
intelligent of our modern travellers in Palestine, and neighbouring
countries, pointing out the present condition of places celebrated in
sacred geography, and especially when the account illustrates and
renders remarkable the fulfilment of prophecy.
At the close of the whole, a complete alphabetical list of proper names
occurring in the Bible, with their significations and right
pronunciation, is appended.
LONDON, _August 20, 1831_.
ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN EDITION.
No other improvements have been attempted in this edition of Mr.
Watson’s Biblical and Theological Dictionary, than adding a few notes in
relation to some matters existing in this country, which had escaped the
attention of the author, and rendering those passages and phrases into
English which had been left untranslated. Such translations are included
in brackets. It may be proper to remark, that only that part of the work
from the eight hundred and forty second page has been printed under the
superintendence of the present editor; the former part having passed
through the press previous to the last general conference.
It is not necessary to say any thing in commendation of this work.
Whatever merit, however, may be attached to others of a similar
character which have preceded it, we think it will be conceded by all,
that Mr. Watson, by furnishing this Dictionary, has supplied a
desideratum, in the department of Biblical and Theological literature,
which had long been felt, and for doing which the religious community
will not be backward in acknowledging its obligations.
N. BANGS.
NEW-YORK, _Sept. 25, 1832_.
[Illustration:
The
=WORLD=,
_as Peopled by_
THE =DESCENDANTS= OF
=NOAH=
_Shewing the Countries possessed by_
=SHEM, HAM & JAPHET=
and their posterity
]
A
BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY.
AARON, the son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi. Aaron was
three years older than his brother Moses; and when God appeared in the
burning bush, Moses having excused himself from the undertaking
committed to him, by urging that he was slow of speech, Aaron, who was
an eloquent man, was made his interpreter and spokesman; and in
effecting the deliverance of the Hebrews we therefore find them
constantly associated. During the march of the children of Israel
through the wilderness, Aaron and his sons were appointed by God to
exercise for ever the office of priests in the tabernacle.
Moses having ascended the mountain to receive the law from God, Aaron,
his sons, and seventy elders, followed him, Exod. xxiv, 1, 2, 9–11; not
indeed to the summit, but “afar off,” “and they saw the God of Israel,”
that is, the glory in which he appeared, “as it were the paved work of a
sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven for clearness;”--a
clear and dazzling azure, a pure, unmingled splendour like that of the
heavens. “And upon the nobles of Israel,” Aaron, his sons, and the
seventy elders, “he laid not his hand,”--they were not destroyed by a
sight which must have overwhelmed the weakness of mortal men had they
not been strengthened to bear it; “and they did eat and drink,”--they
joyfully and devoutly feasted before the Lord, as a religious act, upon
the sacrifices they offered. After this they departed, and Moses
remained with God on the very summit of the mount forty days.
During this period, the people, grown impatient at the long absence of
Moses, addressed themselves to Aaron in a tumultuous manner, saying,
“Make us gods which shall go before us: for, as for this Moses, the man
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become
of him.” Aaron sinfully yielded to the importunities of the people; and
having ordered them to bring the pendants and the ear-rings of their
wives and children, he melted them down, and then made a golden calf,
probably in imitation of the Egyptian Apis, an ox or calf dedicated to
Osiris. In this instance the image was dedicated to Jehovah the true
God; but the guilt consisted in an attempt to establish image worship,
which, when even ultimately referring to God, he has forbidden. Neither
are images to be worshipped, nor the true God by images;--this is the
standing unrepealed law of Heaven. The calf was called a golden calf, as
being highly ornamented with gold. Having finished the idol, the people
placed it on a pedestal, and danced around it, saying, “These be thy
gods, O Israel;” or, as it is expressed in Nehemiah, “This is thy God,”
the image or symbol of thy God, “which brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt.” Moses, having hastened from the mount by the command of God,
testified to the people, by breaking the tables of the law in their
presence, that the covenant between God and them was now rendered of
none effect through their offence. He also indignantly reproved Aaron,
whose sin indeed had kindled against him the anger of the Lord, so that
he would “have destroyed him but that Moses prayed for him.”
After the tabernacle was built, Moses consecrated Aaron to the high
priesthood with the holy oil, and invested him with his priestly
robes,--his garments “of glory and beauty;” but Aaron’s weakness was
again manifested in concurring with Miriam, his sister, to censure and
oppose Moses, through envy. Aaron, as being the elder brother, could not
perhaps brook his superiority. What the motive of Miriam might be does
not appear; but she being struck with leprosy, this punishment, as being
immediately from God, opened Aaron’s eyes; he acknowledged his fault,
and asked forgiveness of Moses both for himself and his sister.
Aaron himself became also the object of jealousy; but two miraculous
interpositions confirmed him in his office of high priest, as of Divine
appointment. The first was the destruction of Korah, who sought that
office for himself, and of the two hundred and fifty Levites who
supported his pretensions, Num. xvi. The second was the blossoming of
Aaron’s rod, which was designed “to cause the murmurings of the
Israelites against him to cease,” by showing that he was chosen of God.
Moses having, at the command of God, taken twelve rods of an almond tree
from the princes of the twelve tribes, and Aaron’s separately, he placed
them in the tabernacle before the sanctuary, after having written upon
each the name of the tribe which it represented, and upon the rod of
Aaron the name of Aaron. The day following, when the rods were taken
out, that of Aaron “was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed
blossoms, and yielded almonds.” This rod therefore was laid up by the
ark, to perpetuate the remembrance of the miracle, and to be a token of
Aaron’s right to his office.
Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, of the tribe of
Judah, by whom he had four sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar,
Exodus vi, 23. The two first were killed by fire from heaven, as a
punishment for presuming to offer incense with strange fire in their
censers, Lev. x, 1, 2. From the two others the succession of high
priests was continued in Israel.
The account of the death of Aaron is peculiarly solemn and affecting. As
he and Moses, in striking the rock at Meribah, Num. xvi, had not
honoured God by a perfect obedience and faith, he in his wrath declared
unto them that they should not enter into the promised land. Soon after,
the Lord commanded Moses, “Take Aaron, and Eleazar his son, and bring
them up to mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments,”--his splendid
pontifical vestments,--“and put them upon Eleazar, his son; and Aaron
shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.” This command
was carried into effect in the presence of all Israel, who were encamped
at the foot of the mountain; and his son being invested with the
father’s priestly dress, Aaron died, and all the people mourned for him
thirty days. His sepulchre was left unmarked and unknown, perhaps to
prevent the superstitious reverence of future ages. In Deuteronomy it is
said that Aaron died at Mosera; because that was the name of the
district in which mount Hor was situated.
2. The PRIESTHOOD being established in Aaron and his family, the nature
of this office among the Israelites, and the distinction between the
high priest and the other priests, require here to be pointed out.
Before the promulgation of the law by Moses, the fathers of every
family, and the princes of every tribe, were priests. This was the case
both before and after the flood; for Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Job,
Abimelech, Laban, Isaac, and Jacob, themselves offered their own
sacrifices. But after the Lord had chosen the family of Aaron, and
annexed the priesthood to that line, then the right of sacrificing to
God was reserved to that family only. The high priesthood was confined
to the first-born in succession; and the rest of his posterity were
priests simply so called, or priests of the second order. Both in the
high priest and the second or inferior priests, two things deserve
notice,--their consecration and their office. In some things they
differed, and in others agreed. In their _consecration_ they differed
thus: the high priest had the chrism, or sacred ointment, poured upon
his head, so as to run down to his beard, and the skirts of his garment,
Exod. xxx, 23; Lev. viii, 12; Psa. cxxxiii, 2. But the second priests
were only sprinkled with this oil, mixed with the blood of the
sacrifice, Lev. viii, 30. They differed also in their _robes_, which
were a necessary adjunct to consecration. The high priest wore at the
ordinary times of his ministration in the temple, eight garments;--linen
drawers--a coat of fine linen close to his skin--an embroidered girdle
of fine linen, blue and scarlet, to surround the coat--a robe all of
blue with seventy-two bells, and as many embroidered pomegranates upon
the skirts of it; this was put over the coat and girdle--an ephod of
gold, and of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, curiously wrought,
on the shoulders of which were two stones engraved with the names of the
twelve tribes; this was put over the robe, and girt with a curious
girdle of the same--a breastplate, about a span square, wrought with
gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen, and fastened upon the ephod
by golden chains and rings; in this breastplate were placed the urim and
thummim, also twelve several stones, containing the names of the twelve
tribes--a mitre of fine linen, sixteen cubits long, to wrap round his
head--and lastly, a plate of gold, or holy crown, two fingers broad,
whereon was engraved, “Holiness to the Lord;” this was tied with blue
lace upon the front of the mitre. Beside these garments, which he wore
in his ordinary ministration, there were four others, which he wore only
upon extraordinary occasions, viz. on the day of expiation, when he went
into the holy of holies, which was once a year. These were: linen
drawers--a linen coat--a linen girdle--a linen mitre, all white, Exod.
xxviii; Lev. xvi, 4. But the inferior priests had only four garments:
linen drawers--a linen coat--a linen girdle--a linen bonnet. The priest
and high priest differed also in their _marriage restrictions_; for the
high priest might not marry a widow, nor a divorced woman, nor a harlot,
but a virgin only; whereas the other priests might lawfully marry a
widow, Lev. xxi, 7.
In the following particulars the high priest and inferior priests agreed
in their consecration: both were to be void of bodily blemish--both were
to be presented to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle--both were to
be washed with water--both were to be consecrated by offering up certain
sacrifices--both were to have the blood of a ram put upon the tip of the
right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right
foot, Exod. xxix, 20. In the time of consecration, certain pieces of the
sacrifice were put into the priest’s hand, which was called “filling his
hand;” hence the Hebrew phrase, “to fill the hand,” signifies
consecration.
In the discharge of their offices, the high priest differed from the
other priests in these particulars: the high priest only, and that but
once a year, might enter into the holy of holies--the high priest might
not mourn for his nearest relations by uncovering his head, or tearing
any part of his garments, except the skirt; whereas the priest was
allowed to mourn for these six,--father, mother, son, daughter, brother,
and sister if she had no husband, Lev. xxi, 2, 10, 11; but they agreed
in these respects: they both burnt incense and offered sacrifices--they
both sounded the trumpet, either as an alarm in war, or to assemble the
people and their rulers--they both slew the sacrifices--both instructed
the people--and both judged of leprosy.
For the more orderly performance of these offices, the high priest had
his sagan, who, in case of the high priest’s pollution, performed his
duty. The high priest and his sagan resembled our bishop and his
suffragan.
3. Aaron was a TYPE of Christ, not personally, but as the high priest of
the Jewish church. All the priests, as offering gifts and sacrifices,
were in their office types of Christ; but Aaron especially, 1. As the
high priest. 2. In entering into the holy place on the great day of
atonement, and reconciling the people to God; in making intercession for
them, and pronouncing upon them the blessing of Jehovah, at the
termination of solemn services. 3. In being anointed with the holy oil
by _effusion_, which was prefigurative of the Holy Spirit with which our
Lord was endowed. 4. In bearing the names of all the tribes of Israel
upon his breast and upon his shoulders, thus presenting them always
before God, and representing them to him. 5. In being the medium of
their inquiring of God by urim and thummim; and of the communication of
his will to them. But though the offices of Aaron were typical, the
priesthood of Christ is of a different and higher ORDER than his,
namely, that of MELCHIZEDECK. See CALF, PRIEST, TYPE, EPHOD,
BREASTPLATE, URIM.
AB, in the Hebrew chronology, the eleventh month of the civil year, and
the fifth of the ecclesiastical year, which began with Nisan. This month
answered to the moon of July, comprehending part of July and of August,
and contained thirty days.
The first day of this month is observed as a fast by the Jews, in memory
of Aaron’s death; and the ninth, in commemoration of the destruction of
the temple by Nebuchadnezzar, in the year before Christ 587. Josephus
observes, that the burning of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar happened on
the same day of the year on which it was afterward burned by Titus. The
same day was remarkable for Adrian’s edict, which prohibited the Jews to
continue in Judea, or to look toward Jerusalem and lament its
desolation. The eighteenth day is also kept as a fast, because the
sacred lamp was extinguished on that night, in the reign of Ahaz. On the
twenty-first, or, according to Scaliger, the twenty-second day, was a
feast called Xylophoria, from their laying up the necessary wood in the
temple: and on the twenty-fourth, a feast in commemoration of the
abolishing of a law by the Asmoneans, or Maccabees, which had been
introduced by the Sadducees, and which enacted, that both sons and
daughters should alike inherit the estate of their parents.
ABADDON, Heb. corresponding to _Apollyon_, Gr. that is, _Destroyer_, is
represented, Rev. ix, 11, as king of the locusts, and the angel of the
bottomless pit. Le Clerc and Dr. Hammond understand by the locusts in
this passage, the zealots and robbers who infested and desolated Judea
before Jerusalem was taken by the Romans; and by Abaddon, John of
Gischala, who having treacherously left that town before it was
surrendered to Titus, came to Jerusalem and headed those of the zealots
who acknowledged him as their king, and involved the Jews in many
grievous calamities. The learned Grotius concurs in opinion, that the
locusts are designed to represent the sect of the zealots, who appeared
among the Jews during the siege, and at the time of the destruction of
Jerusalem. But Mr. Mede remarks, that the title Abaddon alludes to
Obodas, the common name of the ancient monarchs of that part of Arabia
from which Mohammed came; and considers the passage as descriptive of
the inundation of the Saracens. Mr. Lowman adopts and confirms this
interpretation. He shows that the rise and progress of the Mohammedan
religion and empire exhibit a signal accomplishment of this prophecy.
All the circumstances here recited correspond to the character of the
Arabians, and the history of the period that extended from A. D. 568 to
A. D. 675. In conformity to this opinion, Abaddon may be understood to
denote either Mohammed, who issued from the abyss, or the cave of Hera,
to propagate his pretended revelations, or, more generally, the Saracen
power. Mr. Bryant supposes Abaddon to have been the name of the Ophite
deity, the worship of whom prevailed very anciently and very generally.
ABANA. Naaman, the leper, on being directed to wash in the river Jordan,
says, 2 Kings v, 12, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel?” Probably the Abana is a branch of
the Barrady, or Chrysorrhoas, which derives its source from the foot of
mount Libanus, eastward; runs round and through Damascus, and continues
its course till lost in the wilderness, four or five leagues south of
the city. Benjamin of Tudela will have that part of Barrady which runs
through Damascus to be the Abana, and the streams which water the
gardens without the city, to be Pharpar; but perhaps the Pharpar is the
same with Orontes, the most noted river of Syria, which, taking its rise
a little to the north or north-east of Damascus, glides through a
delightful plain, till, after passing Antioch, and running about two
hundred miles to the north-west, it loses itself in the Mediterranean
sea, 2 Kings v, 12.
ABBA, a Syriac word, which signifies _father_. The learned Mr. Selden,
from the Babylonian Gemara, has proved that slaves were not allowed to
use the title abba in addressing the master of the family to which they
belonged. This may serve to illustrate Rom. viii, 15, and Gal. iv, 6, as
it shows that through faith in Christ all true Christians pass into the
relation of sons; are permitted to address God with filial confidence in
prayer; and to regard themselves as heirs of the heavenly inheritance.
This adoption into the family of God, inseparably follows our
justification; and the power to call God our Father, in this special and
appropriative sense, results from the inward testimony given to our
forgiveness by the Holy Spirit. St. Paul and St. Mark use the Syriac
word _abba_, a term which was understood in the synagogues and primitive
assemblies of Christians; but added to it when writing to foreigners the
explanation, _father_. Figuratively, abba means also a superior, in
respect of age, dignity, or affection. It is more particularly used in
the Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic churches as a title given to their
bishops. The bishops themselves bestow the title abba more eminently
upon the bishop of Alexandria, which occasioned the people to give him
the title of baba, or papa, that is, grandfather; a title which he bore
before the bishop of Rome.
ABEDNEGO, the Chaldee name given by the king of Babylon’s officer to
Azariah, one of Daniel’s companions, Dan. i, 7. This name imports the
servant of Nago, or Nego, which is supposed to signify the sun, or
morning star, so called from its brightness. Abednego was thrown into a
fiery furnace, at Babylon, with his two companions Shadrach and Meshach,
for refusing to adore the statue erected by the command of
Nebuchadnezzar. God suffered them not to be injured by the flames; but
made the whole to redound to his own glory, and the shame of the idols
of Babylon. One like unto the Son of God, or a Divine person, probably
the Angel of the Divine presence himself, appeared in the midst of them;
and they came out of the furnace, which had been heated seven times
hotter than usual, so completely preserved from the power of the flames,
that not even “the smell of fire had passed upon them.” This was an
illustrious instance of the courageous and hallowed spirit of martyrdom;
and the interposition was no doubt designed to encourage the Jews while
in captivity, living among idolaters, to hold fast their religion. It is
an instance also of those gracious visitations to the old Heathen world,
by which it was loudly called from its idolatries, and aroused to the
acknowledgment of the true and only Jehovah, who, in various ways, “left
not himself without witness” among them. A great temporary effect was
produced by this and other miracles related in the book of Daniel; but
the people relapsed again into idolatry, and justly brought upon
themselves all those wasting judgments which in succession swept over
the mightiest and most ancient states.
ABEL. He was the second son of Adam and Eve, and born probably in the
second or third year of the world; though some will have it that he and
Cain were twins. His name signifies _vapour_, _vanity_, and might be
given either because our first parents now began so to feel the
emptiness and vanity of all earthly things, that the birth of another
son reminded them painfully of it, although in itself a matter of joy;
or it was imposed under prophetic impulse, and obscurely referred to his
premature death. His employment was that of a shepherd; Cain followed
the occupation of his father, and was a tiller of the ground. Whether
they remained in their father’s family at the time when they brought
their offerings to the Lord, or had establishments separate from that of
Adam, does not clearly appear. Abel was probably unmarried, or had no
children; but Cain’s wife is mentioned. “At the end of the days,”--which
is a more literal rendering than “in process of time,” as in our
translation, that is, on the Sabbath,--both brothers brought an offering
to the Lord. Cain “brought of the fruit of the ground;” Abel “the
firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof.” “And the Lord had
respect to Abel and to his offering; but unto Cain and his offering he
had not respect.” As Cain afterward complains that “he should be hid
from the _face_ or _presence_ of the Lord,” it is probable that the
worship of the first family was performed before some visible
manifestation of the glory of God, which thus consecrated a particular
place for their services. Some have thought that this was at the east
gate of Eden, where “Cherubim and a flaming sword were placed;” but this
was a vengeful manifestation, and could only have inspired a dread of
God inconsistent with the confidence and hope with which men through the
promise of redemption were now encouraged to draw nigh to him. The
respect which God was pleased to show to Abel’s offering, appears from
the account to have been sensibly declared; for Cain must have known by
some token that the sacrifice of Abel was accepted, the absence of which
sign, as to his own offering, showed that it was rejected. Whether this
was by fire going forth from “the presence of the Lord,” to consume the
sacrifice, as in later instances recorded in the Old Testament, or in
some other way, it is in vain to inquire;--that the token of acceptance
was a sensible one is however an almost certain inference. The effect of
this upon Cain was not to humble him before God, but to excite anger
against his brother; and, being in the field with him, or, as the old
versions have it, having said to him, “Let us go out into the field,”
“he rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him;” and for that crime,
by which the first blood of man was shed by man upon the earth,--a
murder aggravated by the relationship and the “righteous” character of
the sufferer, and having in it also the nature of religious
persecution,--he was pronounced by the Lord “cursed from the earth.”
2. As the sacrifice of Abel is the first on record, and has given rise
to some controversy, it demands particular attention. It was offered,
says St. Paul, “in faith,” and it was “a more excellent sacrifice” than
that of Cain. Both these expressions intimate that it was EXPIATORY and
PREFIGURATIVE.
As to the matter of the sacrifice, it was an _animal_ offering. “Cain
brought of the fruit of the ground; and Abel also brought of the
firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof;” or, more literally,
“the fat of them,” that is, according to the Hebrew idiom, the fattest
or best of his flock; and in this circumstance consisted its specific
character as an act of _faith_. This is supported by the import of the
phrase, ϖλείονα θυσίαν, used by the Apostle in the Epistle to the
Hebrews, when speaking of the sacrifice of Abel. Our translators have
rendered it, “a more excellent sacrifice.” Wickliffe translates it, as
Archbishop Magee observes, uncouthly, but in the full sense of the
original, “a much more sacrifice;” and the controversy which has arisen
on this point is, whether this epithet of “much more,” or “fuller,”
refers to quantity or quality; whether it is to be understood in the
sense of a _more abundant_, or of a _better_, a _more excellent_
sacrifice. Dr. Kennicott takes it in the sense of measure and quantity,
as well as quality; and supposes that Abel brought a double offering of
the firstlings of his flock, and of the fruit of the ground _also_. His
criticism has been very satisfactorily refuted by Archbishop Magee. The
sacrifice of Abel was that of animal victims, and it was indicative not
of gratitude but of “faith:” a quality not to be made manifest by the
_quantity_ of an offering, for the one has no relation to the other.
3. This will more fully appear if we consider the import of the words of
the Apostle,--“By FAITH Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained WITNESS that he was RIGHTEOUS, God
testifying of his gifts; and by it, he, being dead, yet speaketh.” Now
what is the meaning of the Apostle, when he says that it was witnessed
or testified to Abel that he was _righteous_? His doctrine is, that men
are sinners; that all, consequently, need pardon; and _to be declared_,
_witnessed_, and _accounted righteous_, are, according to his style of
writing, the same as “to be justified, pardoned, and dealt with as
righteous.” Thus he argues that Abraham believed God, “and it was
accounted to him for righteousness,”--“that faith was reckoned to
Abraham for righteousness,”--“that he received the sign of circumcision,
a _seal_,” a visible confirmatory, declaratory, and witnessing mark “of
the righteousness which he had by faith.” In these cases we have a
similarity so striking, that they can scarcely fail to explain each
other. In both, sinful men are placed in the condition of _righteous_
men; the instrument, in both cases, is _faith_; and the transaction is,
in both cases also, publicly and sensibly _witnessed_,--as to Abraham,
by the sign of circumcision; as to Abel, by a visible acceptance of his
sacrifice, and the rejection of that of Cain.
Abel had faith, and he expressed that faith by the kind of sacrifice he
offered. It was in this way that his faith “pleased God;” it pleased him
as a principle, and by the act to which it led, which act was the
offering of a sacrifice to God different from that of Cain. Cain had not
this faith, whatever might be its object; and Cain, accordingly, did not
bring an offering to which God had “respect.” That which vitiated the
offering of Cain was the want of this faith; for his offering was not
significant of faith: that which “pleased God,” in the case of Abel, was
his faith; and he had “respect” to his offering, because it was the
expression of that faith; and upon his faith so expressing itself, God
witnessed to him “that he was righteous.” So forcibly do the words of
St. Paul, when commenting upon this transaction, show, that Abel’s
sacrifice was accepted, because of its immediate connection with his
_faith_, for by faith he is said to have offered it; and whatever it
might be, which made Abel’s offering differ from that of Cain, whether
_abundance_, or _kind_, or both, this was the result of his faith. So
evident also is it from the Apostle, that Abel was witnessed to be
“righteous,” not with reference to any previous “habit of a religious
life,” as some say, but with reference to his _faith_; and to this faith
as expressing itself by his offering “a more excellent sacrifice.”
4. If, then, the faith of Abel had an immediate connection with his
sacrifice, and both with his being accepted as “righteous,”--that is,
_justified_, in St. Paul’s use of the term,--to what had his faith
respect? The particular object of the faith of the elders, celebrated in
Hebrews xi, is to be deduced from the circumstances mentioned as
illustrative of the existence and operation of this great principle, and
by which it manifested itself in them. Let us explain this, and then
ascertain the object of Abel’s faith also from the manner of its
manifestation,--from the acts in which it embodied and rendered itself
conspicuous.
Faith, in this chapter, is taken in the sense of _affiance_ in God, and,
as such, it can only be exercised toward God, as to all its particular
acts, in those respects in which we have some warrant to confide in him.
This supposes revelation, and, in particular, promises or declarations
on his part, as the ground of every act of affiance. When, therefore, it
is said that “by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see
death,” it must be supposed that he had some promise or intimation to
this effect, on which, improbable as the event was, he nobly relied; and
in the result God honoured his faith in the sight of all men. The faith
of Noah had immediate respect to the threatened flood, and to the
promise of God to preserve him in the ark which he was commanded to
prepare. The chapter is filled with other instances, expressed or
implied; and from the whole, as well as from the nature of things, it
will appear, that, when the Apostle speaks of the faith of the elders in
its particular acts, he represents it as having respect to some promise,
declaration, or revelation of God.
This revelation was necessarily antecedent to the faith; but it is also
to be observed, that the acts by which the faith was represented,
whenever it was represented by particular acts, and when the case
admitted it, had a natural and striking conformity and correspondence to
the previous revelation. So Noah built the ark, which indicated that he
had heard the threat of the world’s destruction by water, and had
received the promise of his own preservation, and that of his family, as
well as that of a part of the beasts of the earth. When Abraham went
into Canaan at the command of God, and upon the promise that that
country should become the inheritance of his decendants, he showed his
faith by taking possession of it for them in anticipation, and his
residence there indicated the kind of promise which he had received.
Thus these instances show, that when the faith which the Apostle
commends exhibited itself in some particular act, that act had a
correspondency to the previous promise or revelation which was the
ground of faith. We must therefore interpret the acts of Abel’s faith so
as to make them also correspond with an antecedent revelation. His faith
had respect to some previous revelation, and the nature of the
revelation is to be collected from the significant manner in which he
declared his faith in it.
Now that which Abel did “by faith,” was, _generally_, to perform an act
of solemn worship, in the confidence that it would be acceptable to God.
This supposes a revelation, immediate or by tradition, that such acts of
worship were acceptable to God, or his faith could have had no warrant,
and would not have been faith, but fancy. But the case must be
considered more particularly. His faith led him to offer “a more
excellent sacrifice” than that of Cain; but this as necessarily implies,
that there was some antecedent revelation to which his faith, as thus
expressed, had respect, and on which that peculiarity of his offering,
which distinguished it from the offering of Cain, was founded; a
revelation which indicated that the way in which God would be approached
acceptably, in solemn worship, was by animal sacrifices. Without this,
the faith to which his offering, which was an offering of the firstlings
of his flock, had a special fitness and adaptation, could have had no
warrant in Divine authority. But this revelation must have included, in
order to its being the ground of faith, as “the substance of things
hoped for,” a promise of a benefit to be conferred, in which promise
Abel might _confide_. But if so, then this promise must have been
connected, not with the worship of God in general, or performed in any
way whatever indifferently, but with his worship by animal oblations;
for it was in this way that the faith of Abel specially and
distinctively indicated itself. The antecedent revelation was,
therefore, a promise of a benefit to be conferred, by means of animal
sacrifice; and we are taught what this benefit was, by that which was
actually received by the offerer,--“He obtained witness that he was
_righteous_;” which must be interpreted in the sense of a declaration of
his personal justification, and acceptance as righteous, by the
forgiveness of his sins. The reason of Abel’s acceptance and of Cain’s
rejection is hereby made manifest; the one, in seeking the Divine
favour, conformed to his established and appointed method of being
approached by guilty men, and the other not only neglected this, but
profanely and presumptuously substituted his own inventions.
5. It is impossible, then, to allow the sacrifice of Abel, in this
instance, to have been an act of FAITH, without supposing that it had
respect to a previous revelation, which agreed with all the parts of
that sacrificial action by which he expressed his faith in it. Had
Abel’s sacrifice been eucharistic merely, it would have expressed
gratitude, but not faith; or if faith in the general sense of confidence
in God that he would receive an act of grateful worship, and reward the
worshippers, it did not more express faith than the offering of Cain,
who surely believed these two points, or he would not have brought an
offering of any kind. The offering of Abel expressed a faith which Cain
had not; and the doctrinal principles which Abel’s faith respected were
such as his sacrifice visibly embodied. If it was not an eucharistic
sacrifice, it was an expiatory one; and, in fact, it is only in a
sacrifice of this kind, that it is possible to see that faith exhibited
which Abel had, and Cain had not. If then we refer to the subsequent
sacrifices of expiation appointed by Divine authority, and their
explanation in the New Testament, it will be obvious to what doctrines
and principles of an antecedent revelation the faith of Abel had
respect, and which his sacrifice, the exhibition of his faith,
proclaimed: confession of the fact of being a sinner,--acknowledgment
that the demerit and penalty of sin is death,--submission to an
appointed mode of expiation,--animal sacrifice offered _vicariously_,
but in itself a mere type of a better sacrifice, “the Seed of the
woman,” appointed to be offered at some future period,--and the efficacy
of this appointed method of expiation to obtain forgiveness, and to
admit the guilty into the Divine favour.
“Abel,” Dr. Magee justly says, “in firm reliance on the promise of God,
and in obedience to his command, offered that sacrifice which had been
enjoined as the religious expression of his faith; whilst Cain,
disregarding the gracious assurances that had been vouchsafed, or at
least disdaining to adopt the prescribed mode of manifesting his belief,
possibly as not appearing to _his reason_ to possess any efficacy or
natural fitness, thought he had sufficiently acquitted himself of his
duty in acknowledging the general superintendence of God, and expressing
his gratitude to the Supreme Benefactor, by presenting some of those
good things which he thereby confessed to have been derived from his
bounty. In short, Cain, the first-born of the fall, exhibits the first
fruits of his parents’ disobedience, in the arrogance and
self-sufficiency of reason rejecting the aids of revelation, because
they fell not within its apprehension of right. He takes the first place
in the annals of Deism, and displays, in his proud rejection of the
ordinance of sacrifice, the same spirit which, in later days, has
actuated his _enlightened_ followers, in rejecting the sacrifice of
Christ.”
Abel was killed about the year of the world, 130.
ABEL-MISRAIM, the floor of Atad, beyond the river Jordan, where Joseph,
his brethren, and the Egyptians mourned for the death of Jacob, Gen. l,
11. On this occasion the funeral procession was, at the command of
Joseph, attended by “all the elders of Egypt, and all the servants of
Pharaoh, and all his house, and the house of his brethren, chariots and
horsemen, a very great company;” an affecting proof, as it has been
remarked, of Joseph’s simplicity and singleness of heart, which allowed
him to give to the great men of Egypt, over whom he bore absolute rule,
an opportunity of observing his own comparatively humble origin, by
leading them in attendance upon his father’s corpse to the valleys of
Canaan, the modest cradle of his race, and to their simple burial
places.
ABEL-SHITTIM, a city situate in the plains of Moab, beyond Jordan,
opposite to Jericho, Num. xxv, 1, &c; xxiii, 49; Joshua xi, 1. Eusebius
says it stood in the neighbourhood of mount Peor. Moses encamped at
Abel-Shittim some time before the Hebrew army passed the Jordan. Here
the Israelites fell into idolatry, and worshipped Baal-peor, for which
God punished them by the destruction of twenty-four thousand persons in
one day.
ABIAH, the second son of the prophet Samuel, and brother of Joel. Samuel
having entrusted to his sons the administration of public justice, and
admitted them to a share in the government, they behaved so ill, that
the people demanded a king, 1 Sam. viii, 2. A. M. 2909.
ABIATHAR, the son of Ahimelech, and the tenth high priest among the
Jews, and fourth in descent from Eli, 2 Sam. viii, 17; 1 Chron. xviii,
16. When Saul sent to Nob to murder all the priests, Abiathar escaped
the massacre, and fled to David in the wilderness. There he continued in
the quality of high priest; but Saul, out of aversion to Ahimelech, whom
he imagined to have betrayed his interests, transferred the dignity of
the high priesthood from Ithamar’s family into that of Eleazar, by
conferring this office upon Zadok. Thus there were, at the same time,
two high priests in Israel, Abiathar with David, and Zadok with Saul. In
this state things continued, until the reign of Solomon, when Abiathar,
being attached to the party of Adonijah, was, by Solomon, divested of
his priesthood, A. M. 2989; and the race of Zadok alone performed the
functions of that office during the reign of Solomon, to the exclusion
of the family of Ithamar, according to the word of the Lord to Eli, 1
Sam. ii, 30, &c.
ABIB, the name of the first Hebrew sacred month, Exod. xiii, 4. This
month was afterward called Nisan; it contained thirty days, and answered
to part of our March and April. Abib signifies green ears of corn, or
fresh fruits, according to Jerom’s translation, Exod. xiii, 4, and to
the LXX. It was so named because corn, particularly barley, was in ear
at that time. It was an early custom to give names to months, from the
appearances of nature; and the custom is still in force among many
nations. The year among the Jews commenced in September, and
consequently their jubilees and other civil matters were regulated in
this way, Lev. xxv, 8–10; but their sacred year began in Abib. This
change took place at the redemption of Israel from Egypt, Exod. xii, 2,
“This shall be to you the beginning of months.” Ravanelli observes, that
as this deliverance from Egypt was a figure of the redemption of the
church of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again in this month, it was
made the “beginning of months,” to lead the church to expect the
acceptable year of the Lord. On the tenth day of this month the paschal
lamb was taken; and on the fourteenth they ate the passover. On the
seven succeeding days they celebrated the feast of unleavened bread, on
the last of which days they held a solemn convocation, Exod. xii, xiii.
On the fifteenth they gathered the sheaf of the barley first fruits, and
on the following day presented an offering of it to the Lord, which
having done they might begin their harvest, Lev. xxiii.
ABIHU, the son of Aaron, the high priest, was consumed, together with
his brother Nadab, by fire sent from God, because he had offered incense
with strange fire, instead of taking it from the altar, Lev. x, 1, 2.
This calamity happened A. M. 2514; within eight days after the
consecration of Aaron and his sons. Some commentators believe that this
fire proceeded from the altar of burnt offerings; others, that it came
from the altar of incense. Several interpreters, as the Rabbins, Lyra,
Cajetan, and others, are of opinion, that Nadab and Abihu were overtaken
with wine, and so forgot to take the sacred fire in their censers. This
conjecture is founded on the command of God delivered immediately
afterward to the priests, forbidding them the use of wine during the
time they should be employed in the service of the temple. Another class
allege, that there was nothing so heinous in their transgression, but it
was awfully punished, to teach ministers fidelity and exactness in
discharging their office. It had a vastly more important meaning,--this
instance of vengeance is a standing example of that divine wrath which
shall consume all who pretend to serve God, except with incense kindled
from the one altar and offering by which he for ever perfects them that
are sanctified.
ABIJAH, the son of Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, who died
very young, 1 Kings xiv, 1, &c, A. M. 3046.--2. The son of Rehoboam,
king of Judah, and of Maachah, the daughter of Uriel, who succeeded his
father, A. M. 3046, 2 Chron. xi, 20; xiii, 2, &c. The Rabbins reproach
this monarch with neglecting to destroy the profane altar which Jeroboam
had erected at Bethel; and with not suppressing the worship of the
golden calves there after his victory over that prince.
ABILENE, a small province in Cœlo Syria, between Lebanon and
Antilibanus. Of this place Lysanias was governor in the fifteenth year
of Tiberius, Luke iii, 1. Abela, or Abila, the capital, was north of
Damascus, and south of Heliopolis.
ABIMELECH. This seems to have been the title of the kings of Philistia,
as Cæsar was of the Roman emperors, and Pharaoh of the sovereigns of
Egypt. It was the name also of one of the sons of Gideon, who became a
judge of Israel, Judges ix; and of the Jewish high priest, who gave
Goliath’s sword, which had been deposited in the tabernacle, and part of
the shew bread, to David, at the time this prince was flying from Saul,
1 Sam. xxi, 1.