tree, grows plentifully in the east. It rises to a great height. The
stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which are the vestiges of the
decayed leaves; for the trunk of this tree is not solid, like other
trees, but its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark
full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens
and becomes ligneous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which
in the centre rise erect; but, after they are advanced above the vagina
which surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side the stem; and,
as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves,
when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight
feet long, are very broad when spread out, and are used for covering the
tops of houses, &c. The fruit, which is called date, grows below the
leaves in clusters and is of a sweet and agreeable taste. The learned
Kæmpfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a traveller, has exhausted the
whole subject of palm trees. The diligent natives,” says Mr. Gibbon,
celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses
to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit,
were skilfully applied.” “The extensive importance of the date tree,”
says Dr. E. D. Clarke, is one of the most curious subjects to which a
traveller can direct his attention. A considerable part of the
inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and Persia, subsist almost entirely
upon its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels
feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets,
bags, mats, and brushes; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and
fences for their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes,
and rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor; and the body
of the tree furnishes fuel. It is even said that from one variety of the
palm tree, the _phœnix farinifera_, meal has been extracted, which is
found among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for food.”
In the temple of Solomon were pilasters made in the form of palm trees,
1 Kings vi, 29. It was under a tree of this kind that Deborah dwelt
between Ramah and Bethel, Judges iv, 5. To the fair, flourishing, and
fruitful condition of this tree, the psalmist very aptly compares the
votary of virtue, Psalm xcii, 12, 13, 14:--
The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree.
Those that are planted in the house of Jehovah,
In the courts of our God, shall flourish;
In old age they shall still put forth buds,
They shall be full of sap and vigorous.
The palm tree is crowned at its top with a large tuft of spiring leaves
about four feet long, which never fall off, but always continue in the
same flourishing verdure. The tree, as Dr. Shaw was informed, is in its
greatest vigour about thirty years after it is planted, and continues in
full vigour seventy years longer; bearing all this while, every year,
about three or four hundred pounds’ weight of dates. The trunk of the
tree is remarkably straight and lofty. Jeremiah, speaking of the idols
that were carried in procession, says they were upright as the palm
tree, Jer. x, 5. And for erect stature and slenderness of form, the
spouse, in Canticles vii, 7, is compared to this tree:--
How framed, O my love, for delights!
Lo, thy stature is like a palm tree,
And thy bosom like clusters of dates.
On this passage Mr. Good observes, that “the very word _tamar_, here
used for the palm tree, and whose radical meaning is ‘straight,’ or
‘upright,’ (whence it was afterward applied to pillars or columns, as
well as to the palm,) was also a general name among the ladies of
Palestine, and unquestionably adopted in honour of the stature they had
already acquired, or gave a fair promise of attaining.”
A branch of palm was a signal of victory, and was carried before
conquerors in the triumphs. To this, allusion is made, Rev. vii, 9: and
for this purpose were they borne before Christ in his way to Jerusalem,
John xii, 13. From the inspissated sap of the tree, a kind of honey, or
dispse, as it is called, is produced, little inferior to that of bees.
The same juice, after fermentation, makes a sort of wine much used in
the east. It is once mentioned as wine, Num. xxviii, 7; Exodus xxix, 40;
and by it is intended the strong drink, Isaiah v, 11; xxiv, 9. Theodoret
and Chrysostom, on these places, both Syrians, and unexceptionable
witnesses in what belongs to their own country, confirm this
declaration. This liquor,” says Dr. Shaw, which has a more luscious
sweetness than honey, is of the consistence of a thin syrup, but quickly
grows tart and ropy, acquiring an intoxicating quality, and giving by
distillation an agreeable spirit, or _arâky_, according to the general
name of these people for all hot liquors, extracted by the alembic.” Its
Hebrew name is שכר, the σικερα of the Greeks; and from its sweetness,
probably, the _saccharum_ of the Romans. Jerom informs us that in Hebrew
any inebriating liquor is called _sicera_, whether made of grain, the
juice of apples, honey, dates, or any other fruit.”
This tree was formerly of great value and esteem among the Israelites,
and so very much cultivated in Judea, that, in after times, it became
the emblem of that country, as may be seen in a medal of the Emperor
Vespasian upon the conquest of Judea. It represents a captive woman
sitting under a palm tree, with this inscription, _Judea capta_;” [Judea
captivated;] and upon a Greek coin, likewise, of his son Titus, struck
upon the like occasion, we see a shield suspended upon a palm tree, with
a Victory writing upon it. Pliny also calls Judea _palmis inclyta_,
renowned for palms.” Jericho, in particular, was called the city of
palms,” Deut. xxxiv, 3; 2 Chron. xxviii, 15; because, as Josephus,
Strabo, and Pliny, have remarked, it anciently abounded in palm trees.
And so Dr. Shaw remarks, that, though these trees are not now either
plentiful or fruitful in other parts of the holy land, yet there are
several of them at Jericho, where there is the conveniency they require
of being often watered; where, likewise, the climate is warm, and the
soil sandy, such as they thrive and delight in. Tamar, a city built in
the desert by Solomon, 1 Kings ix, 18; Ezekiel xlvii, 19; xlviii, 28,
was probably so named from the palm trees growing about it; as it was
afterward by the Romans called Palmyra, or rather Palmira, on the same
account, from _palma_, a palm tree.”
PALMER WORM, גום, Joel i, 4; Amos iv, 9. Bochart says that it is a kind
of locust, furnished with very sharp teeth, with which it gnaws off
grass, corn, leaves of trees, and even their bark. The Jews support this
idea by deriving the word from גוז or גזן, _to cut_, _to shear_, or
_mince_. Notwithstanding the unanimous sentiments of the Jews that this
is a locust, yet the LXX. read κάμπη, and the Vulgate _eruca_, a
caterpillar;” which rendering is supported by Fuller. Michaëlis agrees
with this opinion, and thinks that the sharp cutting teeth of the
caterpillar, which, like a sickle, clear away all before them, might
give name to this insect. Caterpillars also begin their ravages before
the locust, which seems to coincide with the nature of the creature here
intended.
PALSY. See DISEASES.
PAMPHYLIA, a province of Asia Minor which gives name to that part of the
Mediterranean Sea which washes its coast, Acts xxvii, 5. To the south it
is bounded by the Mediterranean, and to the north by Pisidia; having
Lycia to the west, and Cilicia to the east. Paul and Barnabas preached
at Perga, in Pamphylia, Acts xiii, 13; xiv, 24.
PANTHEISM, a doctrine into which some of the sages of antiquity fell by
revolting at the monstrous absurdities of Polytheism. Not knowing the
true God as an infinite and personal subsistence, a cause above and
distinct from all effects, they believed that God was every thing, and
every thing God. This monstrous, and in its effects immoral, notion, is
still held by the Brahmins of India.
PAPER REED, גמא, Exod. ii, 3; Job viii, 11; Isaiah xviii, 2; xxxv, 7.
When the outer skin, or bark, is taken off, there are several films, or
inner pellicles, one within another. These, when separated from the
stalk, were laid on a table artfully matched and flatted together, and
moistened with the water of the Nile, which, dissolving the glutinous
juices of the plant, caused them to adhere closely together. They were
afterward pressed, and then dried in the sun, and thus were prepared
sheets or leaves for writing upon in characters marked by a coloured
liquid passing through a hollow reed. The best papyrus was called
ἱερατικὴ, or paper of the priests. On this the sacred documents of Egypt
were written. Ancient books were written on papyrus, and those of the
New Testament among the rest. In the fourth century however these sacred
writings are found on skins. This was preferred for durability; and many
decayed copies of the New Testament, belonging to libraries, were early
transferred to parchment. Finally came paper, the name of which was
taken from the Egyptian reed; but the materials of which it was
fabricated were cotton and linen. See BULRUSH and BOOK.
PAPHOS, a celebrated city of Cyprus, lying on the western coast of the
island, where Venus (who from hence took the name of Paphia) had her
most ancient and most famous temple; and here the Roman proconsul,
Sergius Paulus, resided, whom St. Paul converted to Christianity, Acts
xiii, 6.
PARABLE, ϖαραβολή, formed from ϖαραβάλλειν, _to oppose_ or _compare_, an
allegorical instruction, founded on something real or apparent in nature
or history, from which a moral is drawn, by comparing it with some other
thing in which the people are more immediately concerned. (See
_Allegory_.) Aristotle defines parable, a similitude drawn from form to
form. Cicero calls it a collation; others, a simile. F. de Colonia calls
it a rational fable; but it may be founded on real occurrences, as many
parables of our Saviour were. The Hebrews call it משל, from a word which
signifies either _to predominate_ or _to assimilate_; the Proverbs of
Solomon are by them also called >משלים, _parables_, or _proverbs_.
Parable, according to the eminently learned Bishop Lowth, is that kind
of allegory which consists of a continued narration of a fictitious or
accommodated event, applied to the illustration of some important truth.
The Greeks call these αἶνοι, _allegories_, or _apologues_; the Latins,
_fabulæ_, or fables;” and the writings of the Phrygian sage, or those
composed in imitation of him, have acquired the greatest celebrity. Nor
has our Saviour himself disdained to adopt the same method of
instruction; of whose parables it is doubtful whether they excel most in
wisdom and utility, or in sweetness, elegance, and perspicuity. As the
appellation of parable has been applied to his discourses of this kind,
the term is now restricted from its former extensive signification to a
more confined sense. But this species of composition occurs very
frequently in the prophetic poetry, and particularly in that of Ezekiel.
If to us they should sometimes appear obscure, we must remember, that,
in those early times when the prophetical writings were indited, it was
universally the mode throughout all the eastern nations to convey sacred
truths under mysterious figures and representations. In order to our
forming a more certain judgment upon this subject, Dr. Lowth has briefly
explained some of the primary qualities of the poetic parables; so that,
by considering the general nature of them, we may decide more accurately
on the merits of particular examples.
It is the first excellence of a parable to turn upon an image well known
and applicable to the subject, the meaning of which is clear and
definite; for this circumstance will give it perspicuity, which is
essential to every species of allegory. If the parables of the sacred
prophets are examined by this rule, they will not be found deficient.
They are in general founded upon such imagery as is frequently used, and
similarly applied by way of metaphor and comparison in the Hebrew
poetry. Examples of this kind occur in the parable of the deceitful
vineyard, Isaiah v, 1–7, and of the useless vine, Ezek. xv; xix, 10–14;
for under this imagery the ungrateful people of God are more than once
described; Ezek. xix, 1–9; xxxi; xvi; xxiii. Moreover, the image must
not only be apt and familiar, but it must be also elegant and beautiful
in itself; since it is the purpose of a poetic parable, not only to
explain more perfectly some proposition, but frequently to give it some
animation and splendour. As the imagery from natural objects is in this
respect superior to all others, the parables of the sacred poets consist
chiefly of this kind of imagery. It is also essential to the elegance of
a parable, that the imagery should not only be apt and beautiful, but
that all its parts and appendages should be perspicuous and pertinent.
Of all these excellencies, there cannot be more perfect examples than
the parables that have been just specified; to which we may add the well
known parable of Nathan, 2 Sam. xii, 1–4, although written in prose, as
well as that of Jotham, Judges ix, 7–15, which appears to be the most
ancient extant, and approaches somewhat nearer to the poetical form. It
is also the criterion of a parable, that it be consistent throughout,
and that the literal be never confounded with the figurative sense; and
in this respect it materially differs from that species of allegory,
called the continued metaphor, Isaiah v, 1–7. It should be considered,
that the continued metaphor and the parable have a very different view.
The sole intention of the former is to embellish a subject, to represent
it more magnificently, or at the most to illustrate it, that, by
describing it in more elevated language, it may strike the mind more
forcibly; but the intent of the latter is to withdraw the truth for a
moment from our sight, in order to conceal whatever it may contain
ungrateful or reproving, and to enable it secretly to insinuate itself,
and obtain an ascendency as it were by stealth. There is, however, a
species of parable, the intent of which is only to illustrate the
subject; such is that remarkable one of the cedar of Lebanon, Ezek.
xxxi; than which, if we consider the imagery itself, none was ever more
apt or more beautiful; or the description and colouring, none was ever
more elegant or splendid; in which, however, the poet has occasionally
allowed himself to blend the figurative with the literal description,
verses 11, 14–17; whether he has done this because the peculiar nature
of this kind of parable required it, or whether his own fervid
imagination alone, which disdained the stricter rules of composition,
was his guide, our learned author can scarcely presume to determine.
In the New Testament, the word parable is used variously: in Luke iv,
23, for a proverb, or adage; in Matt. xv, 15, for a thing darkly and
figuratively expressed; in Heb. ix, 9, &c, for a type; in Luke xiv, 7,
&c, for a special instruction; in Matt. xxiv, 32, for a similitude or
comparison.
PARADISE, according to the original meaning of the term, whether it be
of Hebrew, Chaldee, or Persian derivation, signifies, a place enclosed
for pleasure and delight.” The LXX., or Greek translators of the Old
Testament, make use of the word paradise, when they speak of the garden
of Eden, which Jehovah planted at the creation, and in which he placed
our first parents. There are three places in the Hebrew text of the Old
Testament where this word is found, namely, Neh. ii, 8; Cant. iv, 13;
Eccles. ii, 5. The term paradise is obviously used in the New Testament,
as another word for heaven; by our Lord, Luke xxiii, 43; by the Apostle
Paul, 2 Cor. xii, 4; and in the Apocalypse, ii, 7. See EDEN.
PARAN, DESERT OF, a great and terrible wilderness” which the children of
Israel entered after leaving Mount Sinai, Num. x, 12; Deut. i, 19; and
in which thirty-eight of their forty years of wandering were spent. It
extended from Mount Sinai on the south, to the southern border of the
land of Canaan on the north; having the desert of Shur, with its
subdivisions, the deserts of Etham and Sin, on the west, and the eastern
branch of the Red Sea, the desert of Zin and Mount Seir, on the east.
Burckhardt represents this desert, which he entered from that of Zin, or
valley of El Araba, about the parallel of Suez, as a dreary expanse of
calcareous soil, covered with black flints.
PARTRIDGE, קדא, 1 Samuel xxvi, 20; Jer. xvii, 11; ϖέρδιξ, Ecclus. xi,
30. In the first of these places David says, The king of Israel is come
out to hunt a partridge on the mountains;” and in the second, The
partridge sitteth,” on eggs, and produceth,” or hatcheth, not; so he
that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of
his days, and at his end shall be contemptible.” This passage does not
necessarily imply that the partridge hatches the eggs of a stranger, but
only that she often fails in her attempts to bring forth her young. To
such disappointments she is greatly exposed from the position of her
nest on the ground, where her eggs are often spoiled by the wet, or
crushed by the foot. So he that broods over his ill-gotten gains will
often find them unproductive; or, if he leaves them, as a bird
occasionally driven from her nest, may be despoiled of their possession.
As to the hunting of the partridge, which, Dr. Shaw observes, is the
greater, or red-legged kind, the traveller says: The Arabs have another,
though a more laborious, method of catching these birds; for, observing
that they become languid and fatigued after they have been hastily put
up twice or thrice, they immediately run in upon them, and knock them
down with their _zerwattys_, or bludgeons as we should call them.”
Precisely in this manner Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him,
putting him up incessantly, in hopes that at length his strength and
resources would fail, and he would become an easy prey to his pursuer.
Forskal mentions a partridge whose name in Arabic is _kurr_; and Latham
says, that, in the province of Andalusia in Spain, the name of the
partridge is _churr_; both taken, no doubt, like the Hebrew, from its
note.
[Illustration:
Map of the
_COUNTRIES_
Travelled by the
APOSTLES
with the
ROUTES OF ST. PAUL
through
_Asia & Europe_
]
PASSOVER, פסח, signifies _leap_, _passage_. The passover was a solemn
festival of the Jews, instituted in commemoration of their coming out of
Egypt; because the night before their departure the destroying angel
that slew the first-born of the Egyptians passed over the houses of the
Hebrews without entering them, because they were marked with the blood
of the lamb, which, for this reason, was called the paschal lamb. The
following is what God ordained concerning the passover: the month of the
coming out of Egypt was after this to be the first month of the sacred
or ecclesiastical year; and the fourteenth day of this month, between
the two evenings, that is, between the sun’s decline and its setting, or
rather, according to our reckoning, between three o’clock in the
afternoon and six in the evening, at the equinox, they were to kill the
paschal lamb, and to abstain from leavened bread. The day following,
being the fifteenth, reckoned from six o’clock of the preceding evening,
was the grand feast of the passover, which continued seven days; but
only the first and seventh days were peculiarly solemn. The slain lamb
was to be without defect, a male, and of that year. If no lamb could be
found, they might take a kid. They killed a lamb or a kid in each
family; and if the number of the family was not sufficient to eat the
lamb, they might associate two families together. With the blood of the
lamb they sprinkled the door posts and lintel of every house, that the
destroying angel at the sight of the blood might pass over them. They
were to eat the lamb the same night, roasted, with unleavened bread, and
a sallad of wild lettuces, or bitter herbs. It was forbid to eat any
part of it raw, or boiled; nor were they to break a bone; but it was to
be eaten entire, even with the head, the feet, and the bowels. If any
thing remained to the day following it was thrown into the fire, Exod.
xii, 46; Num. ix, 12; John xix, 36. They who ate it were to be in the
posture of travellers, having their reins girt, shoes on their feet,
staves in their hands, and eating in a hurry. This last part of the
ceremony was but little observed; at least, it was of no obligation
after that night when they came out of Egypt. During the whole eight
days of the passover no leavened bread was to be used. They kept the
first and last day of the feast; yet it was allowed to dress victuals,
which was forbidden on the Sabbath day. The obligation of keeping the
passover was so strict, that whoever should neglect it was condemned to
death, Num. ix, 13. But those who had any lawful impediment, as a
journey, sickness, or uncleanness, voluntary or involuntary, for
example, those who had been present at a funeral, &c, were to defer the
celebration of the passover till the second month of the ecclesiastical
year, the fourteenth day of the month Jair, which answers to April and
May. We see an example of this postponed passover under Hezekiah, 2
Chron. xxx, 2, 3, &c.
The modern Jews observe in general the ceremonies practised by their
ancestors in the celebration of the passover. While the temple was in
existence, the Jews brought their lambs thither, and there sacrificed
them; and they offered their blood to the priest, who poured it out at
the foot of the altar. The paschal lamb was an illustrious type of
Christ, who became a sacrifice for the redemption of a lost world from
sin and misery; but resemblances between the type and antitype have been
strained by many writers into a great number of fanciful particulars. It
is enough for us to be assured, that as Christ is called our passover;”
and the Lamb of God,” without spot,” by the sprinkling of whose blood”
we are delivered from guilt and punishment; and as faith in him is
represented to us as eating the flesh of Christ,” with evident allusion
to the eating of the paschal sacrifice; so, in these leading
particulars, the mystery of our redemption was set forth. The paschal
lamb therefore prefigured the offering of the spotless Son of God, the
appointed propitiation for the sins of the whole world; by virtue of
which, when received by faith, we are delivered from the bondage of
guilt and misery; and nourished with strength for our heavenly journey
to that land of rest, of which Canaan, as early as the days of Abraham,
became the divinely instituted figure.
PATMOS, a small rocky island in the Ægean Sea, about eighteen miles in
circumference; which, on account of its dreary and desolate character,
was used by the Roman emperors as a place of confinement for criminals.
To this island St. John was banished by the Emperor Domitian; and here
he had his revelation, recorded in the Apocalypse.
PATRIARCHS. This name is given to the ancient fathers, chiefly those who
lived before Moses, as Adam, Lamech, Noah, Shem, &c, Abraham, Isaac,
Jacob, the sons of Jacob, and heads of the tribes. The Hebrews call them
princes of the tribes, or heads of the fathers. The name patriarch is
derived from the Greek _patriarcha_, head of a family.”
PAUL was born at Tarsus, the principal city of Cilicia, and was by birth
both a Jew and a citizen of Rome, Acts xxi, 39; xxii, 25. He was of the
tribe of Benjamin, and of the sect of the Pharisees, Phil. iii, 5. In
his youth he appears to have been taught the art of tent making, Acts
xviii, 3; but we must remember that among the Jews of those days a
liberal education was often accompanied by instruction in some
mechanical trade. It is probable that St. Paul laid the foundation of
those literary attainments, for which he was so eminent in the future
part of his life, at his native city of Tarsus; and he afterward studied
the law of Moses, and the traditions of the elders, at Jerusalem, under
Gamaliel, a celebrated rabbi, Acts xxii, 4. St. Paul is not mentioned in
the Gospels; nor is it known whether he ever heard our Saviour preach,
or saw him perform any miracle. His name first occurs in the account
given in the Acts of the martyrdom of St. Stephen, A. D. 34, to which he
is said to have consented, Acts viii, 1: he is upon that occasion called
a young man; but we are no where informed what was then his precise age.
The death of St. Stephen was followed by a severe persecution of the
church at Jerusalem, and St. Paul became distinguished among its enemies
by his activity and violence, Acts viii, 3. Not contented with
displaying his hatred to the Gospel in Judea, he obtained authority from
the high priest to go to Damascus, and to bring back with him bound any
Christians whom he might find in that city. As he was upon his journey
thither, A. D. 35, his miraculous conversion took place, the
circumstances of which are recorded in Acts ix, and are frequently
alluded to in his epistles, 1 Cor. xv, 9; Gal. i, 13; 1 Tim. i, 12, 13.