passages of Scripture; as, “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee
from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth,”
Deut. xxviii, 49. In the affecting lamentation of David over Saul and
Jonathan, their impetuous and rapid career is described in forcible
terms: “They were swifter than eagles; they were stronger than lions,” 2
Sam. i, 23. Jeremiah when he beheld in vision the march of
Nebuchadnezzar, cried, “Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall be as a whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Wo
unto us, for we are spoiled,” Jer. iv, 13. To the wide-expanded wings of
the eagle, and the rapidity of his flight, the same prophet beautifully
alludes in a subsequent chapter, where he describes the subversion of
Moab by the same ruthless conqueror: “Behold, he shall fly as an eagle,
and spread his wings over Moab,” Jer. xlviii, 40. In the same manner he
describes the sudden desolations of Ammon in the next chapter; but, when
he turns his eye to the ruins of his own country, he exclaims, in still
more energetic language, “Our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of
the heavens,” Lament. iv, 19. Under the same comparison the patriarch
Job describes the rapid flight of time: “My days are passed away, as the
eagle that hasteth to the prey,” Job ix, 26. The surprising rapidity
with which the blessings of common providence sometimes vanish from the
grasp of the possessor is thus described by Solomon: “Riches certainly
make themselves wings: they fly away as an eagle toward heaven,” Prov.
xxiii, 5. The flight of this bird is as sublime as it is rapid and
impetuous. None of the feathered race soar so high. In his daring
excursions he is said to leave the clouds of heaven, and regions of
thunder, and lightning, and tempest, far beneath him, and to approach
the very limits of ether. There is an allusion to this lofty soaring in
the prophecy of Obadiah, concerning the pride of Moab: “Though thou
exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the
stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord,” Obad. 4. The
prophet Jeremiah pronounces the doom of Edom in similar terms: “O thou
that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the
hill; though thou shouldest make thy nest high as the eagle, I will
bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord,” Jer. xlix, 16. The eagle
lives and retains its vigour to a great age; and, after moulting, renews
its vigour so surprisingly, as to be said, hyperbolically, to become
young again, Psalm ciii, 5, and Isaiah xl, 31. It is remarkable that
Cyrus, compared, in Isaiah xlvi, 11, to an eagle, (so the word
translated “ravenous bird” should be rendered,) had an eagle for his
ensign according to Xenophon, who uses, without knowing it, the
identical word of the prophet, with only a Greek termination to it: so
exact is the correspondence between the prophet and the historian, the
prediction and the event. Xenophon and other ancient historians inform
us that the golden eagle with extended wings was the ensign of the
Persian monarchs long before it was adopted by the Romans; and it is
very probable that the Persians borrowed the symbol from the ancient
Assyrians, in whose banners it waved, till imperial Babylon bowed her
head to the yoke of Cyrus. If this conjecture be well founded, it
discovers the reason why the sacred writers, in describing the
victorious march of the Assyrian armies, allude so frequently to the
expanded eagle. Referring to the Babylonian monarch, the prophet Hosea
proclaimed in the ears of all Israel, the measure of whose iniquities
was nearly full, “He shall come as an eagle against the house of the
Lord,” Hosea viii, 1. Jeremiah predicted a similar calamity: “Thus saith
the Lord, Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and spread his wings over
Moab,” Jer. xlviii, 40; and the same figure was employed to denote the
destruction that overtook the house of Esau: “Behold, he shall come up
and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah,” xlix, 22. The
words of these prophets received a full accomplishment in the
irresistible impetuosity and complete success with which the Babylonian
monarchs, and particularly Nebuchadnezzar, pursued their plans of
conquest. Ezekiel denominates him, with great propriety, “a great eagle
with great wings,” because he was the most powerful monarch of his time,
and led into the field more numerous and better appointed armies, (which
the prophet calls, by a beautiful figure, “his wings,” the wings of his
army,) than perhaps the world had ever seen. The Prophet Isaiah,
referring to the same monarch, predicted the subjugation of Judea in
these terms: “He shall pass through Judah. He shall overflow, and go
over. He shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his
wings” (the array of his army) “shall fill the breadth of thy land, O
Immanuel,” Isaiah viii, 8. The king of Egypt is also styled by Ezekiel,
“a great eagle, with great wings, and many feathers;” but he manifestly
gives the preference to the king of Babylon, by adding, that he had
“long wings, full of feathers, which had divers colours;” that is,
greater wealth, and a more numerous army.
EAR, the organ of hearing. The Scripture uses the term figuratively.
Uncircumcised ears are ears inattentive to the word of God. To signify
God’s regard to the prayers of his people, the Psalmist says, “His ears
are open to their cry,” Psalm xxxiv, 15. Among the Jews, the slave, who
renounced the privilege of being made free from servitude in the
sabbatical year, submitted to have his ear bored through with an awl;
which was done in the presence of some judge, or magistrate, that it
might appear a voluntary act. The ceremony took place at his master’s
door, and was the mark of servitude and bondage. The Psalmist says, in
the person of the Messiah, “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened.” Heb. “Thou hast digged my ears.”
This either means, Thou hast opened them, removed impediments, and made
them attentive; or, thou hast pierced them, as those of such servants
were pierced, who chose to remain with their masters; and therefore
imports the _absolute_ and _voluntary_ submission of Messiah to the will
of the Father. “Make the ears of this people heavy,” Isaiah vi, 10; that
is, render their minds inattentive and disobedient; the prophets being
said often to do that of which they were the innocent occasion.
EAR-RINGS and nose-jewels were favourite ornaments among the eastern
females. Both are frequently mentioned in Scripture. Thus the Prophet
Ezekiel: “And I put a jewel on thy forehead,” or, as it should have been
rendered, on thy nose. This ornament was one of the presents which the
servant of Abraham gave to Rebecca, in the name of his master: “I put,”
said he, “the ear-ring upon her face;” more literally, I put the ring on
her nose. They wore ear-rings beside; for the household of Jacob, at his
request, when they were preparing to go up to Bethel, gave him all the
ear-rings which were in their ears, and he hid them under the oak which
was by Shechem. Sir John Chardin says, “It is the custom in almost all
the east for the women to wear rings in their noses, in the left
nostril, which is bored low down in the middle. These rings are of gold,
and have commonly two pearls and one ruby between them, placed in the
ring; I never saw a girl, or young woman in Arabia, or in all Persia,
who did not wear a ring after this manner in her nostril.” Some writers
contend, that by the nose-jewel, we are to understand rings, which women
attached to their forehead, and let them fall down upon their nose; but
Chardin, who certainly was a diligent observer of eastern customs, no
where saw this frontal ring in the east, but every where the ring in the
nose. His testimony is supported by Dr. Russel, who describes the women
in some of the villages about Aleppo, and all the Arabs and Chinganas,
(a sort of gipsies,) as wearing a large ring of silver or gold, through
the external cartilage of their right nostril. It is worn, by the
testimony of Egmont, in the same manner by the women of Egypt. Two words
are used in the Scriptures to denote these ornamental rings, נזם and
עגיל. Mr. Harmer seems to think they properly signified ear-rings; but
this is a mistake; the sacred writers use them promiscuously for the
rings both of the nose and of the ears. That writer, however, is
probably right in supposing that _nezem_ is the name of a much smaller
ring than _agil_. Chardin observed two sorts of rings in the east; one
so small and close to the ear, that there is no vacuity between them;
the other so large, as to admit the fore finger between it and the ear;
these last are adorned with a ruby and a pearl on each side, strung on
the ring. Some of these ear-rings had figures upon them, and strange
characters, which he believed were talismans or charms; but which were
probably the names and symbols of their false gods. We know from the
testimony of Pliny, that rings with the images of their gods were worn
by the Romans. The Indians say, they are preservatives against
enchantment; upon which Chardin hazards a very probable conjecture, that
the ear-rings of Jacob’s family were perhaps of this kind, which might
be the reason of his demanding them, that he might bury them under the
oak before they went up to Bethel.
EARTH is used for that gross element which sustains and nourishes us by
producing plants and fruits; for the continent as distinguished from the
sea, “God called the dry land earth,” Gen. i, 10; for the terraqueous
globe, and its contents, men, animals, plants, metals, waters, &c. “The
earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof”, Psalm xxiv, 1; for the
inhabitants of the earth, or continent, “The whole earth was of one
language,” Genesis xi, 1; for Judea, or the whole empire of Chaldea and
Assyria. Thus Cyrus says, Ezra i, 2, “The Lord God of heaven hath given
me all the kingdoms of the earth.” The restriction of the term “earth”
to Judea is more common in Scripture than is usually supposed; and this
acceptation of it has great effect on several passages, in which it
ought to be so understood.
Earth in a moral sense is opposed to heaven, and to what is spiritual.
“He that is of the earth is earthy, and speaketh of the earth; he that
cometh from above is above all,” John iii, 31. “If ye then be risen with
Christ, set your affections on things above, not on things on the
earth,” Col. iii, 1, 2.
EARTHQUAKE. The Scripture speaks of several earthquakes. One happened in
the twenty-seventh year of Uzziah, king of Judah, in the year of the
world 3221. This is mentioned in Amos i, 1, and in Zechariah xiv, 5.
Josephus says that its violence divided a mountain, which lay west of
Jerusalem, and drove one part of it four furlongs. A very memorable
earthquake is that which happened at our Saviour’s death, Matt. xxvii,
51. Many have thought that this was perceived throughout the world.
Others are of opinion that it was felt only in Judea, or even in the
temple at Jerusalem. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, that the rocks upon
mount Calvary were shown in his time, which had been rent asunder by
this earthquake. Maundrell and Sandys testify the same, and say that
they examined the breaches in the rock, and were convinced that they
were the effects of an earthquake. It must have been terrible, since the
centurion and those with him were so affected by it, as to acknowledge
the innocence of our Saviour, Luke xxiii, 47. Phlegon, Adrian’s
freedman, relates that, together with the eclipse, which happened at
noon day, in the fourth year of the two hundred and second Olympiad, or
A. D. 33, a very great earthquake was also felt, principally in
Bythynia. The effects of God’s power, wrath, and vengeance are compared
to earthquakes, Psalm xviii, 7; xlvi, 2; cxiv, 4. An earthquake
signifies also, in prophetic language, the dissolution of governments
and the overthrow of states.
EAST, one of the four cardinal points of the world; namely, that
particular point of the horizon in which the sun is seen to rise. The
Hebrews express the east, west, north, and south by words which signify
before, behind, left, and right, according to the situation of a man who
has his face turned toward the east. By the east, they frequently
describe, not only Arabia Deserta, and the lands of Moab and Ammon,
which lay to the east of Palestine, but also Assyria, Mesopotamia,
Babylonia, and Chaldea, though they are situated rather to the north
than to the east of Judea. Balaam, Cyrus, and the wise men who visited
Bethlehem at the time Christ was born, are said to come from the east,
Num. xxiii, 7; Isaiah xlvi, 11; Matt. ii, 1.
EASTER, the day on which the Christian church commemorates our Saviour’s
resurrection. Easter is a word of Saxon origin, and imports a goddess of
the east. This goddess was Astarte, in honour of whom sacrifices were
annually offered about the passover time of the year, the spring; and
hence the Saxon name “æaster” became attached by association of ideas to
the Christian festival of the resurrection.
EATING. The ancient Hebrews did not eat indifferently with all persons:
they would have esteemed themselves polluted and dishonoured by eating
with people of another religion, or of an odious profession. In Joseph’s
day they neither ate with the Egyptians, nor the Egyptians with them,
Gen. xliii, 32; nor, in our Saviour’s time, with the Samaritans, John
iv, 9. The Jews were scandalized at Christ’s eating with publicans and
sinners, Matt. ix, 11. As there were several sorts of meats, the use of
which was prohibited, they could not conveniently eat with those who
partook of them, fearing to receive pollution by touching such food, or
if by accident any particles of it should fall on them. The ancient
Hebrews, at their meals, had each his separate table. Joseph,
entertaining his brethren in Egypt, seated them separately, each at his
particular table; and he himself sat down separately from the Egyptians,
who ate with him; but he sent to his brethren portions out of the
provisions which were before him, Gen. xliii, 31, &c. Elkanah, Samuel’s
father, who had two wives, distributed their portions to them
separately, 1 Sam. i, 4, 5. In Homer, each guest has his little table
apart; and the master of the feast distributes meat to each. We are
assured that this is still practised in China; and that many in India
never eat out of the same dish, nor on the same table, with another
person, believing that they cannot do so without sin; and this, not only
in their own country, but when travelling, and in foreign lands.
The ancient manners which we see in Homer we see likewise in Scripture,
with regard to eating, drinking, and entertainments: we find great
plenty, but little delicacy; and great respect and honour paid to the
guests by serving them plentifully. Joseph sent his brother Benjamin a
portion five times larger than those of his other brethren. Samuel set a
whole quarter of a calf before Saul. The women did not appear at table
in entertainments with the men: this would have been an indecency; as it
is at this day throughout the east. The present Jews, before they sit
down to table, carefully wash their hands: they speak of this ceremony
as essential and obligatory. After meals they wash them again. When they
sit down to table, the master of the house, or the chief person in the
company, taking bread, breaks it, but does not wholly separate it; then,
putting his hand on it, he recites this blessing: “Blessed be thou, O
Lord our God, the King of the world, who producest the bread of the
earth.” Those present answer, “Amen.” Having distributed the bread among
the guests, he takes the vessel of wine in his right hand, saying,
“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the world, who hast produced
the fruit of the vine.” They then repeat the twenty-third Psalm.
Buxtorf, and Leo of Modena, who have given particular accounts of the
Jewish ceremonies, differ in some circumstances: the reason is, Buxtorf
wrote principally the ceremonies of the German Jews, and Leo, those of
the Italian Jews. They take care that, after meals, there shall be a
piece of bread remaining on the table; the master of the house orders a
glass to be washed, fills it with wine, and, elevating it, says, “Let us
bless Him of whose benefits we have been partaking:” the rest answer,
“Blessed be He who has heaped his favours on us, and by his goodness has
now fed us.” Then he recites a pretty long prayer, wherein he thanks God
for his many benefits vouchsafed to Israel; beseeches him to pity
Jerusalem and his temple, to restore the throne of David, to send Elias
and the Messiah, to deliver them out of their long captivity, &c. All
present answer, “Amen;” and then recite Psalm xxxiv, 9, 10. Then, giving
the glass with the little wine in it to be drunk round, he drinks what
is left, and the table is cleared. See BANQUETS.
Partaking of the benefits of Christ’s passion by faith is also called
eating, because this is the support of our spiritual life, John vi, 53,
56. Hosea reproaches the priests of his time with eating the sins of the
people, Hosea iv, 8; that is, feasting on their sin offerings, rather
than reforming their manners. John the Baptist is said to have come
“neither eating nor drinking,” Matt. xi, 18; that is, as other men did;
for he lived in the wilderness, on locusts, wild honey, and water, Matt.
iii, 4; Luke i, 15. This is expressed, in Luke vii, 33, by his neither
eating “bread,” nor drinking “wine.” On the other hand, the Son of Man
is said, in Matt. xi, 19, to have come “eating and drinking;” that is,
as others did; and that too with all sorts of persons, Pharisees,
publicans, and sinners.
EBAL, a celebrated mountain in the tribe of Ephraim, near Shechem, over
against Mount Gerizim. These two mountains are within two hundred paces
of each other, and separated by a deep valley, in which stood the town
of Shechem. The two mountains are much alike in magnitude and form,
being of a semi-circular figure, about half a league in length, and, on
the sides nearest Shechem, nearly perpendicular. One of them is barren;
the other, covered with a beautiful verdure. Moses commanded the
Israelites, as soon as they should have passed the river Jordan, to go
directly to Shechem, and divide the whole multitude into two bodies,
each composed of six tribes; one company to be placed on Ebal, and the
other on Gerizim. The six tribes that were on Gerizim were to pronounce
blessings on those who should faithfully observe the law of the Lord,
and the six others on Mount Ebal were to pronounce curses against those
who should violate it, Deut. xi, 29, &c; xxvii, and xxviii; Joshua viii,
30, 31.
This consecration of the Hebrew commonwealth is thought to have been
performed in the following manner: The heads of the first six tribes
went up to the top of Mount Gerizim, and the heads of the other six
tribes to the top of Mount Ebal. The priests, with the ark, and Joshua
at the head of the elders of Israel, took their station in the middle of
the valley which lies between the two mountains. The Levites ranged
themselves in a circle about the ark; and the elders, with the people,
placed themselves at the foot of the mountain, six tribes on a side.
When they were thus disposed in order, the priests turned toward Mount
Gerizim, on the top of which were the six heads of the six tribes who
were at the foot of the same mountain, and pronounced, for example,
these words:--“Blessed be the man that maketh not any graven images.”
The six princes who were upon the top of the mountain, and the six
tribes who were below at its foot, answered, “Amen.” Afterward, the
priests, turning toward Mount Ebal, upon which were the princes of the
other six tribes, cried, with a loud voice, “Cursed be the man that
maketh any graven image;” and were answered by the princes opposite to
them and their tribes, “Amen.” The Scripture, at first view, seems to
intimate that there were six tribes upon one mountain, and six on the
other; but beside that it is by no means probable that the tribes of the
Israelites, who were so numerous, should be able to stand on the summits
of these two mountains, it would not have been possible for them to have
seen the ceremony, nor to have heard the blessings and curses in order
to answer them. Moreover, the Hebrew particle, in the original,
signifies, _near_, _over against_, as well as _at the top_, Joshua viii,
33. Accordingly, we may say, that neither Joshua, nor the priests or
tribes, went up to the top of the mountains, but the heads only, who in
their persons might represent all the tribes.
EBENEZER, the name of that field wherein the Israelites were defeated by
the Philistines, when the ark of the Lord was taken, 1 Sam. iv, 1; also
a memorial stone set up by Samuel to commemorate a victory over the
Philistines. The word signifies _the stone of help_; and it was erected
by the prophet, saying, “Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.”
EBIONITES, a sect of the first two or three centuries; but it is not
certain whether they received their name from a leader of the name of
Ebion, (whom Dr. Lardner considers as a disciple of Cerinthus,) or from
the meaning of the Hebrew word _ebion_, which implies poverty; and if
the latter, whether they assumed the name, as affecting to be poor, like
the Founder of Christianity; or whether it was conferred on them by way
of reproach, as being of the lower orders. The use of the term, also,
according to Dr. Horsley, was various and indefinite. Sometimes it was
the peculiar name of those sects that denied both the divinity of our
Lord, and his miraculous conception. Then its meaning was extended, to
take in another party; who admitted the miraculous conception of Jesus,
but still denied his divinity, and questioned his previous existence. At
last, it seems, the Nazarites, whose error was rather a superstitious
severity in their practice, than any deficiency in their faith, were
included by Origen in the infamy of the appellation. Dr. Priestley,
claiming the Ebionites as Jewish Unitarians, considers the ancient
Nazarenes, that is, the first Jewish converts, as the true Ebionites;
these, he thinks, were called Nazarenes, from their attachment to Jesus
of Nazareth; and Ebionites, from their poor and mean condition, just as
some of the reformers were called Beghards, or beggars. The Doctor cites
the authorities of Origen and Epiphanius, to prove that both these
denominations related to the same people, differing only, like the
Socinians, in receiving or rejecting the fact of the miraculous
conception; and neither, as he assures us, were reckoned heretics by any
writers of the two first centuries. To this Dr. Horsley replies, that
both Jews and Heathens called the first Christians Nazarenes, in
allusion to the mean and obscure birthplace of their Master, Jesus of
Nazareth, Matthew ii, 23; Acts x, 38; but insists, and answers every
pretended proof to the contrary, that the term Nazarenes was never
applied to any distinct sect of Christians before the final destruction
of Jerusalem by Adrian. Dr. Semler, a German writer, gives the following
opinion: “Those who more rigidly maintained the Mosaic observances, and
who were numerous in Palestine, are usually called Ebionites and
Nasaræans. Some believe that they ought not to be reckoned heretics;
others think that they were united in doctrine, differing only in name;
others place them in the second century. It is of little consequence
whether we distinguish or not the Nazarenes, or Nazaræans from the
Ebionites. It is certain that both these classes were tenacious of the
Mosaic ceremonies, and more inclined to the Jews than to the Gentiles,
though they admitted the Messiahship of Jesus in a very low and
Judaizing manner. The Ebionites held in execration the doctrine of the
Apostle Paul.” Dr. J. Pye Smith, who quotes this passage from Dr.
Semler, adds, “Such, it is apprehended, on grounds of reasonable
probability, was the origin of Unitarianism; the child of Judaism
misunderstood, and of Christianity imperfectly received.”
2. On this controversy great light has, however, been since thrown by
Dr. Burton. It is well known to those who have studied the Unitarian
controversy, that it has been often asserted that the Cerinthians and
Ebionites were the teachers of genuine Christianity, and that the
doctrine of Christ’s divinity, and of universal redemption through his
blood, were the inventions of those who corrupted the preaching of the
Apostles. If this were so, we must convict all the fathers, not merely
of ignorance and mistake, but of deliberate and wilful falsehood. To
suppose that the fathers of the second century were ignorant of what was
genuine and what was false in Christianity, would be a bold hypothesis;
but if Irenæus, the disciple of Polycarp, asserted, as a matter of fact,
that St. John wrote his Gospel to refute the errors of Cerinthus, it is
idle, or something worse, to say that Irenæus did not know for certain
if the fact was really so. As far, then, as the testimony of the fathers
is concerned, the Cerinthians and Ebionites were decidedly heretics. The
Unitarians, on the other hand, maintain that the Ebionites were the true
and genuine believers; and it is easy to see that the preference was
given to these teachers, because they held that Jesus was born of human
parents. Never, I conceive, was there a more unfortunate and fatal
alliance formed than that between the Ebionites and modern Unitarians.
We find the Ebionites referred to, as if they agreed in every point with
the Socinian or Unitarian creed; and yet it may almost be asserted, that
in not one single point do their sentiments exactly coincide. If a real
Ebionite will declare himself, we are not afraid to meet him. Let him
avow his faith; let him believe of Christ as Ebion or Cerinthus taught;
let him adopt the ravings of the Gnostics; we shall then know with whom
we have to combat; we may gird on the sword of Irenæus, and meet him in
the field. But let him not select a few ingredients only from the
poison; let him not take a part only of their infatuated system. If he
will lean on that broken reed, let him talk no more of Ebion or
Cerinthus only; but let him say boldly, either that the Gnostics agreed
with the Apostles, or that the Gnostics preached the true Gospel, while
the Apostles were in error.