Felix found means to solicit and engage Drusilla, sister of Agrippa the
Younger, to leave her husband Azizus, king of the Emessenians, and to
marry him, A. D. 53. Felix sent to Rome Eleazar, son of Dinæus, captain
of a band of robbers, who had committed great ravages in Palestine; he
procured the death of Jonathan, the high priest, who sometimes freely
represented to him his duty; he defeated a body of three thousand men,
whom an Egyptian, a false prophet, had assembled upon the Mount of
Olives. St. Paul being brought to Cesarea, where Felix usually resided,
was well treated by this governor, who permitted his friends to see him,
and render him services, hoping the Apostle would procure his redemption
by a sum of money. He however neither condemned Paul, nor set him at
liberty, when the Jews accused him; but adjourned the determination of
this affair till the arrival of Lysias, who commanded the troops at
Jerusalem, where he had taken Paul into custody, and who was expected at
Cesarea, Acts xxiii, 26, 27, &c; xxiv, 1–3, &c.
While the Apostle was thus detained, Felix, with his wife Drusilla, who
was a Jewess, sent for him, and desired him to explain the religion of
Jesus Christ. The Apostle spoke with his usual boldness, and discoursed
to them on justice, temperance, and the last judgment. Felix trembled
before this powerful exhibition of truths so arousing to his conscience;
but he remanded St. Paul to his confinement. He farther detained him two
years at Cesarea, in compliance with the wishes of the Jews, and in
order to do something to propitiate them, because they were extremely
dissatisfied with his government. Being recalled to Rome, A. D. 60; and
many Jews going thither to complain of the extortions and violence
committed by him in Judea, he would have been put to death, if his
brother Pallas, who had been Claudius’s slave, and was now his freedman,
had not preserved him. Felix was succeeded in the government of Judea by
Porcius Festus.
CLAY, חמר, is often mentioned in Scripture, nor is it necessary to
explain the various references to what is so well known. It may be
remarked, however, that clay was used for scaling doors. Norden and
Pococke observe, that the inspectors of the granaries in Egypt, after
closing the door, put their seal upon a handful of clay, with which they
cover the lock. This may help to explain Job xxxviii, 14, in which the
earth is represented as assuming form and imagery from the brightness of
the rising sun, as rude clay receives a figure from the impression of a
seal or signet.
CLEOPAS, according to Eusebius and Epiphanius, was brother of Joseph,
both being sons of Jacob. He was the father of Simeon, of James the
Less, of Jude, and Joseph or Joses. Cleopas married Mary, sister to the
blessed virgin. He was therefore uncle to Jesus Christ, and his sons
were first cousins to him. Cleopas, his wife, and sons, were disciples
of Christ. Having beheld our Saviour expire upon the cross, he, like the
other disciples, appears to have lost all hopes of seeing the kingdom of
God established by him on earth. The third day after our Saviour’s
death, on the day of his resurrection, Cleopas, with another disciple,
departed from Jerusalem to Emmaus; and in the way discoursed on what had
lately happened. Our Saviour joined them, appearing as a traveller; and,
taking up their discourse, he reasoned with them, convincing them out of
the Scriptures, that it was necessary the Messiah should suffer death,
previously to his being glorified. At Emmaus, Jesus seemed as if
inclined to go farther; but Cleopas and his companion detained him, and
made him sup with them. While they were at table, Jesus took bread,
blessed it, brake, and gave it to them, and by this action their eyes
were opened, and they knew him. Upon his disappearing they instantly
returned to Jerusalem, to announce the fact to the Apostles, who in
their turn declared that “the Lord was risen indeed and had appeared to
Peter.” In our translation of Luke xxiv, 31, it is said that Jesus
“vanished out of their sight;” but the original is more properly
rendered, “He suddenly went away from them,” the word being often
applied by the Greek writers to those who in any way, but especially
suddenly and abruptly, withdraw from any one’s company. No other actions
of Cleopas are known. It is the opinion of Jerom, that his residence was
at Emmaus, and that he invited our Saviour into his own house. Supposing
Cleopas to have been the brother of Joseph, and father of James, &c,
Calmet thinks it more probable that as he was a Galilean, he dwelt in
some city of Galilee.
CLOUD, a collection of vapours suspended in the atmosphere. When the
Israelites had left Egypt, God gave them a pillar of cloud to direct
their march, Exod. xiii, 21, 22. According to Jerom, in his Epistle to
Fabiola, this cloud attended them from Succoth; or, according to others,
from Rameses; or, as the Hebrews say, only from Ethan, till the death of
Aaron; or, as the generality of commentators are of opinion, to the
passage of Jordan. This pillar was commonly in front of the Israelites;
but at Pihahiroth, when the Egyptian army approached behind them, it
placed itself between Israel and the Egyptians, so that the Egyptians
could not come near the Israelites all night, Exod. xiv, 19, 20. In the
morning, the cloud moving on over the sea, and following the Israelites
who had passed through it, the Egyptians pressing after were drowned.
From that time, this cloud attended the Israelites; it was clear and
bright during night, in order to afford them light; but in the day it
was thick and gloomy, to defend them from the excessive heats of the
deserts. “The angel of God which went before the camp of Israel, removed
and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their
face, and stood behind them,” Exod. xiv, 19. Here we may observe, that
the angel and the cloud made the same motion, as it would seem, in
company. The cloud by its motions gave the signal to the Israelites to
encamp or to decamp. Where, therefore, it stayed, the people stayed till
it rose again; then they broke up their camp, and followed it till it
stopped. It was called a pillar, by reason of its form, which was high
and elevated. Some interpreters suppose that there were two clouds, one
to enlighten, the other to shade, the camp.
The Lord appeared at Sinai in the midst of a cloud, Exod. xix, 9; xxiv,
5; and after Moses had built and consecrated the tabernacle, the cloud
filled the court around it, so that neither Moses nor the priests could
enter, Exodus xl, 34, 35. The same happened at the dedication of the
temple of Jerusalem by Solomon, 2 Chronicles v, 13; 1 Kings viii, 10.
When the cloud appeared upon the tent, in front of which were held the
assemblies of the people in the desert, it was then indicated that God
was present; for the tent was a sign of God’s presence. The angel
descended in the cloud, and thence spoke to Moses, without being seen by
the people, Exod. xvi, 10; Num. xi, 25; xvi, 5. It is common in
Scripture, when mentioning God’s appearing, to represent him as
encompassed with clouds, which serve as a chariot, and contribute to
veil his dreadful majesty, Job xxii, 14; Isaiah xix, 1; Matt. xvii, 5;
xxiv, 30, &c; Psalm xviii, 11, 12; xcvii, 2; civ, 3. Cloud is also used
for morning mists: “Your goodness is as a morning cloud; and as the
early dew it goeth away,” Hosea vi, 4; xiii, 3. Job, speaking of the
chaos, says, that God had confined the sea or the water, as it were with
a cloud, and covered it with darkness, as a child is wrapped in its
blankets. The author of Ecclesiasticus, xxiv, 6, used the same
expression. The Son of God, at his second advent, is described as
descending upon clouds, Matt. xxiv, 30; Luke xi, 27; Rev. xiv, 14–16.
COCCEIANS, the disciples of John Cocceius, a celebrated Dutch divine,
born at Bremen, in 1608, where he was appointed professor of Hebrew, at
the age of twenty-seven, and afterward filled the theological chair at
Leyden, where he died in 1669. His works make ten volumes in folio. He
was a man of good learning, and a vivid imagination. He considered the
Old Testament as a mirror, which held forth figuratively the
transactions and events that were to happen in the church under the
dispensation of the New Testament, and unto the end of the world. He
maintained, that by far the greater part of the ancient prophecies
related to Christ’s ministry and mediation, and the rise, progress, and
revolutions of the church; not only under the figure of typical persons
and transactions, but in a more direct manner; and that Christ was,
indeed, as much the substance of the Old Testament as of the New.
Cocceius also taught, that the covenant made between God and the Jews
was of the same nature as the new covenant by Jesus Christ; that the law
was promulgated by Moses, not merely as a rule of obedience, but also as
a representation of the covenant of grace; that when the Jews had
provoked the Deity by their various transgressions, particularly by the
worship of the golden calf, the severe yoke of the ceremonial law was
added as a punishment; that this yoke, which was painful in itself,
became doubly so on account of its typical signification; since it
admonished the Israelites from day to day of the imperfection of their
state, filled them with anxiety, and was a perpetual proof that they had
merited the righteous judgment of God, and could not expect, before the
coming of the Messiah, the entire remission of their iniquities; that
indeed good men, under the Mosaic dispensation, were, after death, made
partakers of glory; but that, nevertheless, during the whole course of
their lives they were far removed from that assurance of salvation,
which rejoices the believer under the dispensation of the Gospel; and
that their anxiety flowed from this consideration, that their sins,
though they remained unpunished, were not yet pardoned; because Christ
had not as yet offered himself up to make an atonement for them.
Cocceius was also a millennarian, and expected a personal reign of
Christ on earth in the last days. Many of his opinions were afterward
adopted by the Hutchinsonians.
COCK, ἀλέκτωρ, a well known domestic fowl. Some derive the Greek name
from α, and λέκτρον, _a bed_, because the crowing of cocks rouses men
from their beds; but Mr. Parkhurst asks, “May not this name be as
properly deduced from the Hebrew אור הלכת, _the coming of the light_, of
which this ‘bird of dawning,’ as Shakspeare calls him, gives such
remarkable notice, and for doing which he was, among the Heathen, sacred
to the sun, who in Homer is himself called ἀλέκτωρ?” In Matt. xxvi, 34,
our Lord is represented as saying, that before cock-crow Peter should
deny him thrice; so Luke xxii, 34, and John xiii, 39. But according to
Mark xiv, 30, he says, “Before the cock crow _twice_ thou shalt deny me
thrice.” These texts may be very satisfactorily reconciled, by
observing, that ancient authors, both Greek and Latin, mention two
cock-crowings, the one of which was soon after midnight, the other about
three o’clock in the morning; and this latter being most noticed by men
as the signal of their approaching labours, was called by way of
eminence, the cock-crowing; and to this alone, Matthew, giving the
general sense of our Saviour’s warning to Peter, refers; but Mark,
recording his very words, mentions the two cock-crowings.
The rabbies tell us that cocks were not permitted to be kept in
Jerusalem on account of the holiness of the place; and that for this
reason some modern Jews cavil against this declaration of the
Evangelists; but the cock is not among the birds prohibited in the law
of Moses. If there was any restraint in the use and domestication of the
animal, it must have been an arbitrary practice of the Jews, and could
not have been binding on foreigners, of whom many resided at Jerusalem
as officers or traders. Strangers would not be willing to forego an
innocent kind of food in compliance with a conquered people; and the
trafficking spirit of the Jews would induce them to supply aliens, if it
did not expressly contradict the letter of their law. This is sufficient
to account for fowl of this kind being there, even admitting a customary
restraint. The celebrated Reland admits that it was not allowed to breed
cocks in the city, but that the Jews were not prohibited from buying
them to eat, and that therefore the cock mentioned in the Gospel might
be in the house of a Jew who designed to kill it for his own table; or
may have been kept in the precincts of Pilate, or of a Roman officer or
soldier.
During the time of our Saviour, the night was divided into four watches,
a fourth watch having been introduced among the Jews from the Romans,
who derived it from the Greeks. The second and third watches are
mentioned in Luke xii, 38; the fourth, in Matthew xiv, 25; and the four
are all distinctly mentioned in Mark xiii, 35: “Watch, therefore; for ye
know not when the master of the house cometh; at _even_,” ὀψὲ, or the
late watch, “or at _midnight_,” μεσονυκτίου, “or at the _cock-crowing_,”
ἀλεκτοροφωνίας, “or in the _morning_,” ϖρωΐ, the early watch. Here, the
first watch was at even, and continued from six till nine; the second
commenced at nine, and ended at twelve, or midnight; the third watch,
called by the Romans _gallicinium_, lasted from twelve to three; and the
morning watch closed at six.
COCKATRICE, צפען, or צפעי, Proverbs xxiii, 32; Isaiah xi, 8; xiv, 29;
lix, 5; Jer. viii, 17. A venomous serpent. The original Hebrew word has
been variously rendered, the _aspic_, the _regulus_, the _hydra_, the
_hemorhoos_, the _viper_, and the _cerastes_. In Isaiah xi, 8, this
serpent is evidently intended for a proportionate advance in malignity
beyond the _peten_ which precedes it; and in xiv, 29, it must mean a
worse kind of serpent than the _nahash_. In lix, 5, it is referred to as
oviparous. In Jer. viii, 17, Dr. Blayney, after Aquila, retains the
rendering of basilisk. Bochart, who thinks it to be the regulus or
basilisk, says that it may be so denominated by an onomatopœia from
its hissing; and accordingly it is hence called in Latin _sibilus_, “the
hisser.” So the Arabic _saphaa_ signifies “flatu adurere,” [to scorch
with a blast.] The Chaldee paraphrast, the Syriac, and the Arabic,
render it the _hurman_ or _horman_; which rabbi Selomo on Gen. xlix, 17,
declares to be the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews: “_Hurman vocatur species,
cujus morsus est insanabilis. Is est Hebræis_ tziphoni, _et Chaldaicè
dicitur_ hurman, _quia omnia facit_ חרם _vastationem; id est, quia omnia
vastat, et ad internecionem destruit._” [The species is called _hurman_,
whose bite is incurable. It is the _tziphoni_ of the Hebrews, and is
called in Chaldee _hurman_, because it makes all things חרם--a waste;
that is, because it lays waste and utterly destroys every thing.]
COCKLE, באשה. This word occurs only in Job xxxi, 40. By the Chaldee it
is rendered _noxious herbs_; by Symmachus, ἀτελεσφόρητα, _plants of
imperfect fruit_; by the Septuagint, βάτος, _the blackberry bush_; by
Castelio, _ebulus_, “dwarf elder;” by Celsius, _aconite_; and by Bishop
Stock and Dr. Good, _the night-shade_. M. Michaëlis maintains, after
Celsius, that both this word and ֻּבאשִים, Isaiah v, 2, 4, denote the
_aconite_, a poisonous plant, growing spontaneously and luxuriantly on
sunny hills, such as are used for vineyards. He says that this
interpretation is certain, because, as Celsius had observed, ביש, in
Arabic, denotes the _aconite_; and he intimates that it best suits Job
xxxi, 40, where it is mentioned as growing instead of barley. The word
appears to import a weed not only noxious, but of a fetid smell.
CŒLO-SYRIA, _hollow_ or _depressed_ Syria, Syria in the vale, 1 Macc.
xiii, 10. This name imports the hollow land, or region, situated between
two long ridges of mountains; and those mountains have been always
understood to be Libanus and Anti-libanus. As these ridges run parallel
for many leagues, they contain between them a long, extensive, and
extremely fruitful valley.
COLOSSE, a city of Phrygia Minor, which stood on the river Lyceus, at an
equal distance between Laodicea and Hierapolis. These three cities, says
Eusebius, were destroyed by an earthquake, in the tenth of Nero, or
about two years after the date of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Colossians.
Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse were at no great distance from each
other; which accounts for the Apostle Paul, when writing to his
Christian brethren in the latter of these places, mentioning them all in
connection with each other, Col. iv, 13. Of these cities, however,
Laodicea was the greatest, for it was the metropolis of Phrygia, though
Colosse is said to have been a great and wealthy place. The inhabitants
of Phrygia, says Dr. Macknight, were famous for the worship of Bacchus,
and of Cybele the mother of the gods; whence the latter was called
Phrygia mater, by way of eminence. In her worship, as well as in that of
Bacchus, both sexes practised every species of debauchery in speech and
action, with a frantic rage which they pretended was occasioned by the
inspiration of the deities whom they worshipped. These were the orgies,
from ὀργὴ, _rage_, of Bacchus and Cybele, so famed in antiquity, the
lascivious rites of which being perfectly adapted to the corruptions of
the human heart, were performed by both sexes without shame or remorse.
Hence as the Son of God came into the world to destroy the works of the
devil, it appeared, in the eye of his Apostle, a matter of great
importance to carry the light of the Gospel into countries where these
abominable impurities were not only practised, but even dignified with
the honourable appellation of religious worship; especially as nothing
but the heaven-descended light of the Gospel could dispel such a
pernicious infatuation. That this salutary purpose might be effectually
accomplished, Paul, accompanied by Silas and Timothy, went at different
times into Phrygia, and preached the Gospel in many cities of that
country with great success; but it is thought by many persons, that the
Epistle to the Colossians contains internal marks of his never having
been at Colosse when he wrote it. This opinion rests principally upon
the following passage: “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I
have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have _not
seen my face_ in the flesh,” Col. ii, 1: but these words, if they prove
any thing upon this question, prove that St. Paul had never been either
at Laodicea or Colosse; but surely it is very improbable that he should
have travelled twice into Phrygia for the purpose of preaching the
Gospel, and not have gone either to Laodicea or Colosse, which were the
two principal cities of that country; especially as in the second
journey into those parts it is said, that he “went over all the country
of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples;” and moreover,
we know that it was the Apostle’s practice to preach at the most
considerable places of every district into which he went. Dr. Lardner,
after arguing this point, says, “From all these considerations, it
appears to me very probable that the church at Colosse had been planted
by the Apostle Paul, and that the Christians there were his friends,
disciples, and converts.”
The Epistle greatly resembles that to the Ephesians, both in sentiment
and expression. After saluting the Colossian Christians in his own name,
and that of Timothy, St. Paul assures them, that since he had heard of
their faith in Christ Jesus, and of their love to all Christians, he had
not ceased to return thanks to God for them, and to pray that they might
increase in spiritual knowledge, and abound in every good work; he
describes the dignity of Christ, and declares the universality of the
Gospel dispensation, which was a mystery formerly hidden, but now made
manifest; and he mentions his own appointment, through the grace of God,
to be the Apostle of the Gentiles; he expresses a tender concern for the
Colossians and other Christians of Phrygia, and cautions them against
being seduced from the simplicity of the Gospel, by the subtlety of
Pagan philosophers, or the superstition of Judaizing Christians; he
directs them to set their affections on things above, and forbids every
species of licentiousness; he exhorts to a variety of Christian virtues,
to meekness, veracity, humility, charity, and devotion; he enforces the
duties of wives, husbands, children, fathers, servants, and masters; he
inculcates the duty of prayer, and of prudent behaviour toward
unbelievers; and after adding the salutations of several persons then at
Rome, and desiring that this epistle might be read in the church of
their neighbours the Laodiceans, he concludes with a salutation from
himself, written, as usual, with his own hand.
COMFORTER, one of the titles by which the Holy Spirit is designated in
the New Testament, John xiv, 16, 26; xv, 26. The name has no doubt a
reference to his peculiar office in the economy of redemption; namely,
that of imparting consolation to the hearts of Christ’s disciples, which
he effects by “taking of the things that are Christ’s,” and explaining
them; or, in other words, by illuminating their minds as to the meaning
of the Scriptures, assuring them of the Saviour’s love, bringing to
their recollection his consolatory sayings, and filling their souls with
peace and joy in believing them.--The word has also been rendered
_Advocate_, _Helper_, _Monitor_, _Teacher_, &c. The first does not apply
to the office of the Spirit; and the others are not so well supported by
the connection of our Lord’s discourse, which favours the translation,
_Comforter_; because whatever gracious offices the Holy Spirit was to
perform for the disciples, the great end of all was to remove that
sorrow which the approach of the departure of Christ had produced, and
to render their joy full and complete.
COMMERCE. Merchandise, in its various branches, was carried on in the
east at the earliest period of which we have any account; and it was not
long before the traffic between nations, both by sea and land, was very
considerable. Accordingly, frequent mention is made of public roads,
fords, bridges, and beasts of burden; also of ships for the
transportation of property, of weights, measures, and coin, both in the
oldest books of the Bible, and in the most ancient profane histories.
The Phenicians anciently held the first rank as a commercial nation.
They were in the habit of purchasing goods of various kinds throughout
all the east. They then carried them in ships down the Mediterranean, as
far as the shores of Africa and Europe, brought back in return
merchandise and silver, and disposed of these again in the more eastern
countries. The first metropolis of the Phenicians was Sidon: afterward
Tyre became the principal city. Tyre was built two hundred and forty
years before the temple of Solomon, or twelve hundred and fifty-one
before Christ. The Phenicians had ports of their own in almost every
country; the most distinguished of which were Carthage and Tarshish, or
Tartessus, in Spain. The ships from the latter place undertook very
distant voyages: hence, any vessels that performed distant voyages were
called “ships of Tarshish,” אנות תרשיש. Something is said of the
commerce of the Phenicians in the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth
chapters of Ezekiel, and the twenty-third chapter of Isaiah. The
inhabitants of Arabia Felix carried on a commerce with India. They
carried some of the articles which they brought from India through the
straits of Babelmandel into Abyssinia and Egypt; some they transported
to Babylon through the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates; and some by the
way of the Red Sea to the port of Eziongeber. They thus became rich;
though it is possible their wealth may have been too much magnified by
the ancients. The eminence of the Egyptians, as a commercial nation,
commences with the reign of Necho. Their commerce, nevertheless, was not
great, till Alexander had destroyed Tyre and built Alexandria.