husbands can be very willing to have administered to their wives, we
see, as among the Hebrews, an imprecation-drink, whose avenger God
himself promises to become, we cannot but be struck with the contrast of
wisdom and clemency which such a contrivance manifests. In the one case,
(and herein consists their great distinction,) innocence can only be
preserved by a miracle; while, on the other, guilt only is revealed and
punished by the hand of God himself.
“By one of the clauses of the oath of purgation, (and had not the
legislator been perfectly assured of his divine mission, the insertion
of any such clause would have been a very bold step indeed,) a visible
and corporeal punishment was specified, which the person swearing
imprecated on herself, and which God himself was understood as engaging
to execute. To have given so accurate a definition of the punishment
that God meant to inflict, and still more one that consisted of such a
rare disease, would have been a step of incomprehensible boldness in a
legislator who pretended to have a divine mission, if he was not, with
the most assured conviction, conscious of its reality.
“Seldom, however, very seldom, was it likely that Providence would have
an opportunity of inflicting the punishment in question. For the oath
was so regulated, that a woman of the utmost effrontery could scarcely
have taken it without changing colour to such a degree as to betray
herself.
“In the _first_ place, it was not administered to the woman in her own
house, but she was under the necessity of going to that place of the
land where God in a special manner had his abode, and took it there.
Now, the solemnity of the place, unfamiliarized to her by daily business
or resort, would have a great effect upon her mind. In the _next_ place,
there was offered unto God what was termed an _execration offering_, not
in order to propitiate his mercy, but to invoke his vengeance on the
guilty. Here the process was extremely slow, which gave her more time
for reflection than to a guilty person could be acceptable, and that,
too, amidst a multitude of unusual ceremonies. For the priest conducted
her to the front of the sanctuary, and took holy water, that is, water
out of the priests’ laver, which stood before it, together with some
earth off its floor, which was likewise deemed holy; and having put the
earth in the water, he then proceeded to uncover the woman’s head, that
her face might be seen, and every change on her countenance during the
administration of the oath accurately observed: and this was a
circumstance which, in the east, where the women are always veiled, must
have had a great effect; because a woman, accustomed to wear a veil,
could, on so extraordinary an occasion, have had far less command of her
eyes and her countenance than a European adulteress, who is generally a
perfect mistress in all the arts of dissimulation, would display. To
render the scene still more awful, the tresses of her hair were
loosened, and then the execration offering was put into _her_ hand,
while the priest held in _his_ the imprecation water. This is commonly
termed the _bitter water_; but we must not understand this as if the
water had really been bitter; for how could it have been so? The earth
of the floor of the tabernacle could not make it bitter. Among the
Hebrews, and other oriental nations, the word _bitter_ was rather used
for _curse_: and, strictly speaking, the phrase does not mean _bitter
water_, but the _water of bitternesses_, that is, of curses. The priest
now pronounced the oath, which was in all points so framed that it could
excite no terrors in the breast of an innocent woman; for it expressly
consisted in this, that the imprecation water should not harm her if she
was innocent. It would seem as if the priest here made a stop, and again
left the woman some time to consider whether she would proceed with the
oath. This I infer from the circumstance of his speech not being
directly continued in verse 21st, which is rather the _apodosis_ of what
goes before; and from the detail proceeding anew in the words of the
historian, _Then shall the priest pronounce the rest of the oath and the
curses to the woman; and proceed thus_.--After this stop he pronounced
the curses, and the woman was obliged to declare her acquiescence in
them by a repeated _Amen_. Nor was the solemn scene yet altogether at an
end; but rather, as it were commenced anew. For the priest had yet to
write the curses in a book, which I suppose he did at great
deliberation; having done so, he washed them out again in the very
imprecation water, which the woman had now to drink; and this water
being now presented to her, she was obliged to drink it, with this
warning and assurance, in the name of God, that if she was guilty, it
would prove within her an absolute curse. Now, what must have been her
feelings, while drinking, if not conscious of purity? In my opinion she
must have conceived that she already felt an alteration in the state of
her body, and the germ, as it were, of the disease springing within her.
Conscience and imagination would conspire together, and render it almost
impossible for her to drink it out. Finally, the execration offering was
taken out of her hand, and burnt upon the altar. I cannot but think
that, under the sanction of such a _purgatorium_, perjury must have been
a very rare occurrence indeed. If it happened but once in an age, God
had bound himself to punish it; and if this took place but once, (if but
one woman who had taken the oath was attacked with that rare disease
which it threatened,) it was quite enough to serve as a determent to all
others for at least one generation.”
This procedure had also the effect of keeping in mind, among the Jews,
God’s high displeasure against this violation of his law; and though
some lax moralists have been found, in modern times, to palliate it, yet
the Christian will always remember the solemn denunciations of the New
Testament against a crime so aggravated, whether considered in its
effects upon the domestic relations, upon the moral character of the
guilty parties, or upon society at large,--“Whoremongers and adulterers
God will judge.”
ADULTERY, in the prophetic scriptures, is often metaphorically taken,
and signifies idolatry, and apostasy from God, by which men basely
defile themselves, and wickedly violate their ecclesiastical and
covenant relation to God, Hos. ii, 2; Ezek. xvi.
ADVOCATE, Παράκλητος, _a patron_, one who pleads the cause of any one
before another. In this sense the term is applied to Christ our
intercessor, 1 John ii, 1. It signifies also a _comforter_, and _an
instructer_; and is used of the Holy Spirit, John xiv, 16, and xv, 26.
ADYTUM is a Greek word, signifying _inaccessible_, by which is
understood the most retired and secret place of the Heathen temples,
into which none but the priests were allowed to enter. The _adytum_ of
the Greeks and Romans answered to the _sanctum sanctorum_ of the Jews,
and was the place from whence oracles were delivered.
ÆRA, a series of years, commencing from a certain point of time called
an _epocha_: thus we say, the Christian æra; that is, the number of
years elapsed since the birth of Christ. The generality of authors use
the terms æra and epocha in a synonymous sense; that is, for the point
of time from which any computation begins.
The ancient Jews made use of several æras in their computation;
sometimes they reckoned from the deluge, sometimes from the division of
tongues; sometimes from their departure out of Egypt; and at other times
from the building of the temple; and sometimes from the restoration
after the Babylonish captivity: but their vulgar æra was from the
creation of the world, which falls in with the year of the Julian period
953; and consequently they supposed the world created 294 years sooner
than according to our computation. But when the Jews became subject to
the Syro-Macedonian kings, they were obliged to make use of the æra of
the Seleucidæ in all their contracts, which from thence was called the
æra of contracts. This æra begins with the year of the world 3692, of
the Julian period 4402, and before Christ 312. The æra in general use
among the Christians is that from the birth of Jesus Christ, concerning
the true time of which chronologers differ; some place it two years,
others four, and again others five, before the vulgar æra, which is
fixed for the year of the world 4004: but Archbishop Usher, and after
him the generality of modern chronologers, place it in the year of the
world 4000.
The ancient Heathens used several æras:
1. The æra of the first olympiad is placed in the year of the world
3228, and before the vulgar æra of Jesus Christ 776. 2. The taking of
Troy by the Greeks, in the year of the world 2820, and before Jesus
Christ 1884. 3. The voyage undertaken for the purpose of bringing away
the golden fleece, in the year of the world 2760. 4. The foundation of
Rome, in 2856. 5. The æra of Nabonassar, in 3257. 6. The æra of
Alexander the Great, or his last victory over Darius, in 3674, and
before Jesus Christ 330.
AERIANS, a sect which arose about the middle of the fourth century,
being the followers of Aërius, (who must be distinguished from Arius and
Aëtius,) a monk and a presbyter of Sebastia, in Pontus. He is charged
with being an Arian, or Semi-Arian; but the heaviest accusation against
him is an attempt to reform the church; and, by rejecting prayers for
the dead, with certain fasts and festivals then superstitiously
observed, to reduce Christianity as nearly as possible “to its primitive
simplicity; a purpose, indeed, laudable and noble,” says Dr. Mosheim,
“when considered in itself: though the principles from _whence_ it
springs, and the means _by_ which it is executed, are sometimes, in many
respects, worthy of censure, and _may_ have been so in the case of this
reformer.” This gentle rebuke probably refers to a report that the zeal
of Aërius originated in his being disappointed of the bishopric of
Sebastia, (conferred on Eustathius,) which led him to affirm that the
Scriptures make no distinction between a presbyter and a bishop, which
he founded chiefly on 1 Tim. iv, 14. Hence he is considered by many, as
the father of the modern Presbyterians.--“For this opinion, _chiefly_,”
says Dr. Turner, “he is ranked among the heretics, by Epiphanius, his
contemporary, who calls it a notion _full of folly and madness_. His
followers were driven from the churches, and out of all the towns and
villages, and were obliged to assemble in the woods, caverns, and open
defiles.”
AETIANS, another branch (as it is said) of Arians, so called from
Aëtius, bishop of Antioch, who is also charged with maintaining “faith
without works,” as “sufficient to salvation,” or rather justification;
and with maintaining “that sin is not imputed to believers.” It is
added, that he taught God had revealed to him things which he had
“concealed from the Apostles;” which, perhaps, is only a
misrepresentation of what he taught on the doctrine of divine
influences.
AFFINITY. There are several degrees of affinity, wherein marriage was
prohibited by the law of Moses: thus the son could not marry his mother,
nor his father’s wife, Lev. xviii, 7, &c. The brother could not marry
his sister, whether she were so by the father only, or only by the
mother, and much less if she were his sister both by the same father and
mother. The grandfather could not marry his granddaughter, either by his
son or daughter. No one could marry the daughter of his father’s wife;
nor the sister of his father or mother; nor the uncle, his niece; nor
the aunt, her nephew; nor the nephew, the wife of his uncle by the
father’s side. The father-in-law could not marry his daughter-in-law;
nor the brother the wife of his brother, while living; nor even after
the death of his brother, if he left children. If he left no children,
the surviving brother was to raise up children to his deceased brother
by marrying his widow. It was forbidden to marry the mother and the
daughter at one time, or the daughter of the mother’s son, or the
daughter of her daughter, or two sisters, together.
It is true the patriarchs, before the law, married their sisters, as
Abraham married Sarah, who was his father’s daughter by another mother;
and two sisters together, as Jacob married Rachel and Leah; and their
own sisters, both by father and mother, as Seth and Cain. But these
cases are not to be proposed as examples; because in some they were
authorized by necessity; in others, by custom; and the law as yet was
not in being. If some other examples may be found, either before or
since the law, the Scripture expressly disapproves of them; as Reuben’s
incest with Balah, his father’s concubine; and the action of Amnon with
his sister Tamar; and that of Herod Antipas, who married Herodias, his
sister-in-law, his brother Philip’s wife, while her husband was yet
living; and that which St. Paul reproves and punishes among the
Corinthians, 1 Cor. v, 1.
AGABUS, a prophet, and as the Greeks say, one of the seventy disciples
of our Saviour. He foretold that there would be a great famine over all
the earth; which came to pass accordingly, under the emperor Claudius,
in the fourth year of his reign, A. D. 44, Acts xi, 28.
Ten years after this, as St. Paul was going to Jerusalem, and had
already landed at Cæsarea, in Palestine, the same prophet, Agabus,
arrived there, and coming to visit St. Paul and his company, he took
this Apostle’s girdle, and binding himself hand and feet, he said, “Thus
saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that
owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the
Gentiles,” Acts xxi, 10. We know no other particulars of the life of
Agabus. The Greeks say that he suffered martyrdom at Antioch.
AGAG. This seems to have been a common name of the princes of Amalek,
one of whom was very powerful as early as the time of Moses, Num. xxiv,
7. On account of the cruelties exercised by this king and his army
against the Israelites, as they returned from Egypt, a bloody and long
contested battle took place between Joshua and the Amalekites, in which
the former was victorious, Exod. xvii, 8–13. At the same time, God
protested with an oath to destroy Amalek, verses 14–16; Deut. xxv,
17–19, A. M. 2513. About four hundred years after this, the Lord
remembered the cruel treatment of his people, and his own oath; and he
commanded Saul, by the mouth of Samuel, to destroy the Amalekites. Saul
mustered his army, and found it two hundred thousand strong, 1 Sam. xv,
1, &c. Having entered into their country, he cut in pieces all he could
meet with from Havilah to Shur. Agag their king, and the best of their
cattle, were however spared, an act of disobedience on the part of Saul,
probably dictated by covetousness. But Agag did not long enjoy this
reprieve; for Samuel no sooner heard that he was alive, than he sent for
him; and notwithstanding his insinuating address, and the vain hopes
with which he flattered himself that the bitterness of death was past,
he caused him to be hewed to pieces in Gilgal before the Lord, saying,
“As, כאשר, _in the same identical mode as_, thy sword hath made women
childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women.” This savage
chieftain had hewed many prisoners to death; and, therefore, by command
of the Judge of the whole earth, he was visited with the same punishment
which he had inflicted upon others.
AGAPÆ. See LOVE FEAST.
AGAR, mount Sinai, so called, Gal. iv, 24, 25. But this reading is
doubtful, many MSS. having the verse, “for this Sinai is a mountain of
Arabia.” Some critics however contend for the reading of the received
text, and urge that _Agar_, which signifies “a rocky mountain,” is the
Arabic name for _Sinai_.
AGATE, שבו, Exod. xxviii, 19; xxxix, 12. In the Septuagint ἀχάτης, and
Vulgate, _achates_. A precious stone, semi-pellucid. Its variegations
are sometimes most beautifully disposed, representing plants, trees,
rivers, clouds, &c. Its Hebrew name is, perhaps, derived from the
country whence the Jews imported it; for the merchants of Sheba brought
to the market of Tyre all kinds of precious stones, Ezek. xxvii, 22. The
agate was the second stone in the third row of the pectoral of the high
priest, Exod. xxviii, 19, and xxxix, 12.
AGE, in the most general sense of the term, denotes the duration of any
substance, animate or inanimate; and is applied either to the whole
period of its existence, or to that portion of it which precedes the
time to which the description of it refers. In this sense it is used to
signify either the whole natural duration of the LIFE of man, or any
interval of it that has elapsed before the period of which we speak.
When age is understood of a certain portion of the life of man, its
whole duration is divided into four different ages, viz. infancy, youth,
manhood, and old age: the first extending to the fourteenth year; the
second, denominated youth, adolescence, or the age of puberty,
commencing at fourteen, and terminating at about twenty-five; manhood,
or the virile age, concluding at fifty; and the last ending at the close
of life. Some divide the first period into infancy and childhood; and
the last likewise into two stages, calling that which succeeds the age
of seventy-five, decrepit old age. Age is applicable to the duration of
things inanimate or factitious; and in this use of the term we speak of
the age of a house, of a country, of a state or kingdom, &c.
AGE, in _chronology_, is used for a century, or a period of one hundred
years: in which sense it is the same with _seculum_, and differs from
_generation_. It is also used in speaking of the times past since the
creation of the world. The several ages of the world may be reduced to
three grand epochas, viz. the age of the law of nature, called by the
Jews the void age, from Adam to Moses. The age of the Jewish law, from
Moses to Christ, called by the Jews the present age. And the age of
grace, from Christ to the present year. The Jews call the third age, the
age to come, or the future age; denoting by it the time from the advent
of the Messiah to the end of the world. The Romans distinguished the
time that preceded them into three ages: the obscure or uncertain age,
which reached down as low as Ogyges king of Attica, in whose reign the
deluge happened in Greece; the fabulous or heroic age, which ended at
the first olympiad; and the historical age, which commenced at the
building of Rome. Among the poets, the four ages of the world are, the
golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron age.
Age is sometimes used among the ancient poets in the same sense as
_generation_, or a period of thirty years. Thus Nestor is said to have
lived three ages, when he was ninety years old.
The period preceding the birth of Jesus Christ has been generally
divided into six ages. The first extends from the creation to the
deluge, and comprehends 1656 years. The second age, from the deluge to
Abraham’s entering the land of promise, A. M. 2082, comprehends 426
years. The third age from Abraham’s entrance into the promised land to
the Exodus, A. M. 2512, includes 430 years. The fourth age, from the
Exodus to the building of the temple by Solomon, A. M. 2992, contains
480 years. The fifth age from the foundation of Solomon’s temple to the
Babylonish captivity, A. M. 3416, comprehends 424 years. The sixth age,
from the Babylonish captivity to the birth of Jesus Christ, A. M. 4000,
the fourth year before the vulgar æra, includes 584 years. Those who
follow the Septuagint, or Greek version, divide this period into seven
ages, viz. 1. From the creation to the deluge, 2262 years. 2. From the
deluge to the confusion of tongues, 738 years. 3. From this confusion to
the calling of Abraham, 460 years. 4. From this period to Jacob’s
descent into Egypt, 215 years; and from this event to the Exodus, 430
years, making the whole 645 years. 5. From the Exodus to Saul, 774
years. 6. From Saul to Cyrus, 583 years. 7. From Cyrus to the vulgar æra
of Christians, 538 years; the whole period from the creation to this
period containing 6000 years.