confinement at Rome, appears from the two following passages: “Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his
prisoner,” 2 Timothy i, 8. “The Lord give mercy unto the house of
Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;
but when he was at Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found
me,” 2 Tim. i, 16, 17. The epistle itself will furnish us with several
arguments to prove that it could not have been written during St. Paul’s
first imprisonment. 1. It is universally agreed that St. Paul wrote his
epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and to Philemon,
while he was confined the first time at Rome. In no one of these
epistles does he express any apprehension for his life; and in the two
last mentioned we have seen that, on the contrary, he expresses a
confident hope of being soon liberated; but in this epistle he holds a
very different language: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my
course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give
me at that day,” 2 Tim. iv, 6, &c. The danger in which St. Paul now was,
is evident from the conduct of his friends, when he made his defence:
“At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me,” 2
Tim. iv, 16. This expectation of death, and this imminent danger, cannot
be reconciled either with the general tenor of his epistles written
during his first confinement at Rome, with the nature of the charge laid
against him when he was carried thither from Jerusalem, or with St.
Luke’s account of his confinement there; for we must remember that in A.
D. 63, Nero had not begun to persecute the Christians; that none of the
Roman magistrates and officers who heard the accusations against St.
Paul at Jerusalem thought that he had committed any offence against the
Roman government; that at Rome St. Paul was completely out of the power
of the Jews; and, so little was he there considered as having been
guilty of any capital crime, that he was suffered to dwell “two whole
years,” that is, the whole time of his confinement, “in his own hired
house, and to receive all that came in unto him, preaching the word of
God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with
all confidence, no man forbidding him,” Acts xxviii, 30, 31. 2. From the
inscriptions of the epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, and
Philemon, it is certain that Timothy was with St. Paul in his first
imprisonment at Rome; but this epistle implies that Timothy was absent.
3. St. Paul tells the Colossians that Mark salutes them, and therefore
he was at Rome with St. Paul in his first imprisonment; but he was not
at Rome when this epistle was written, for Timothy is directed to bring
him with him, 2 Tim. iv, 11. 4. Demas, also, was with St. Paul when he
wrote to the Colossians: “Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas, greet
you,” Col. iv, 14. In this epistle he says, “Demas has forsaken me,
having loved this present world, and is departed into Thessalonica,” 2
Tim. iv, 10. It may be said that this epistle might have been written
before the others, and that in the intermediate time Timothy and Mark
might have come to Rome, more especially as St. Paul desires Timothy to
come shortly, and bring Mark with him. But this hypothesis is not
consistent with what is said of Demas, who was with St. Paul when he
wrote to the Colossians, and had left him when he wrote this second
epistle to Timothy; consequently the epistle to Timothy must be
posterior to that addressed to the Colossians. The case of Demas seems
to have been, that he continued faithful to St. Paul during his first
imprisonment, which was attended with little or no danger; but deserted
him in the second, when Nero was persecuting the Christians, and St.
Paul evidently considered himself in great danger. 5. St. Paul tells
Timothy, “Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum
sick,” 2 Tim. iv, 20. These were plainly two circumstances which had
happened in some journey which St. Paul had taken not long before he
wrote this epistle, and since he and Timothy had seen each other; but
the last time St. Paul was at Corinth and Miletum, prior to his first
imprisonment at Rome, Timothy was with him at both places; and Trophimus
could not have been then left at Miletum, for we find him at Jerusalem
immediately after St. Paul’s arrival in that city; “for they had seen
before with him in the city Trophimus, an Ephesian, whom they supposed
that Paul had brought into the temple,” Acts xxi, 29. These two facts
must therefore refer to some journey subsequent to the first
imprisonment; and, consequently, this epistle was written during St.
Paul’s second imprisonment at Rome, and probably in A. D. 65, not long
before his death. It is by no means certain where Timothy was when this
epistle was written to him. It seems most probable that he was somewhere
in Asia Minor, since St. Paul desires him to bring the cloak with him
which he had left at Troas, 2 Tim. iv, 13; and also at the end of the
first chapter, he speaks of several persons whose residence was in Asia.
Many have thought that he was at Ephesus; but others have rejected that
opinion, because Troas does not lie in the way from Ephesus to Rome,
whither he was directed to go as quickly as he could. St. Paul, after
his usual salutation, assures Timothy of his most affectionate
remembrance; he speaks of his own apostleship and of his sufferings;
exhorts Timothy to be steadfast in the true faith, to be constant and
diligent in the discharge of his ministerial office, to avoid foolish
and unlearned questions, and to practise and inculcate the great duties
of the Gospel; he describes the apostasy and general wickedness of the
last days, and highly commends the Holy Scriptures; he again solemnly
exhorts Timothy to diligence; speaks of his own danger, and of his hope
of future reward; and concludes with several private directions, and
with salutations.
TIN, בדיל, Num. xxxi, 22; Isa. i, 25; Ezek. xxii, 18, 20; xxvii, 12; a
well-known coarse metal, harder than lead. Mr. Parkhurst observes, that
Moses, in Num. xxxi, 22, enumerates all the six species of metals. The
Lord, by the Prophet Isaiah, having compared the Jewish people to
silver, declares, “I will turn my hand upon thee, and purge away thy
dross, and remove all בדיליך, _thy particles of tin_:” where Aquila,
Symmachus, and Theodotion have κασσίτερον σου, and the Vulgate _stannum
tuum_, “thy tin;” but the LXX. ἀνόμους, _wicked ones_. This
denunciation, by a comparison of the preceding and following context,
appears to signify that God would, by a process of judgment, purify
those among the Jews who were capable of purification, as well as
destroy the reprobate and incorrigible, Jer. vi, 29, 30; ix, 7; Mal.
iii, 3; Ezek. xii, 18, 20. In Ezek. xxvii, 12, Tarshish is mentioned as
furnishing כדיל; and Bochart proves from the testimonies of Diodorus,
Pliny, and Stephanus, that Tartessus in Spain, which he supposes the
ancient Tarshish, anciently furnished tin. As Cornwall in very ancient
times was resorted to for this metal, and probably first by the
Phenicians, some have thought that peninsula to be the Tarshish of the
Scriptures; a subject which, however, from the vague use of the word, is
involved in much uncertainty. See TARSHISH.
TITHES. We have nothing more ancient concerning tithes, than what we
find in Gen. xiv, 20, that Abraham gave tithes to Melchisedec, king of
Salem, at his return from his expedition against Chedorlaomer, and the
four kings in confederacy with him. Abraham gave him tithe of all the
booty he had taken from the enemy. Jacob imitated this piety of his
grandfather, when he vowed to the Lord the tithe of all the substance he
might acquire in Mesopotamia, Gen. xxviii, 22. Under the law, Moses
ordained, “All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land,
or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s; it is holy unto the Lord.
And if a man will at all redeem aught of his tithes, he shall add
thereto the fifth part thereof. And concerning the tithe of the herd, or
of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall
be wholly unto the Lord,” Lev. xxvii, 30–32. The Pharisees, in the time
of Jesus Christ, to distinguish themselves by a more scrupulous
observance of the law, did not content themselves with paying the tithe
of the grain and fruits growing in the fields; but they also paid tithe
of the pulse and herbs growing in their gardens, which was more than the
law required of them. The tithes were taken from what remained, after
the offerings and first fruits were paid. They brought the tithes to the
Levites in the city of Jerusalem, as appears from Josephus and Tobit, i,
6. The Levites set apart the tenth part of their tithes for the priest;
because the priests did not receive them immediately from the people,
and the Levites were not to meddle with the tithes they had received,
before they had given the priests such a part as the law assigned them.
Of those nine parts that remained to the proprietors, after the tithe
was paid to the Levites, they took still another tenth part, which was
either sent to Jerusalem in kind, or, if it was too far, they sent the
value in money; adding to it a fifth from the whole as the rabbins
inform us. This tenth part was applied toward celebrating the festivals
in the temple, which bore a near resemblance to the _agapæ_, or love
feasts of the first Christians. Thus are those words of Deuteronomy
understood by the rabbins: “Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of
thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat
before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his
name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thy oil, and of
the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks: that thou mayest learn to
fear the Lord thy God always,” Deut. xiv, 22, 23. Tobit i, 6, says, that
every three years he punctually paid his tithe to strangers and
proselytes. This was probably because there were neither priests nor
Levites in the city where he dwelt. Moses speaks of this last kind of
tithe: “At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe
of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates.
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and
the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy
gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God
may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest,” Deut.
xiv, 28; xxvi, 12. It is thought that this tithe was not different from
the second kind before noticed, except that in the third year it was not
brought to the temple, but was used upon the spot by every one in the
city of his habitation. So, properly speaking, there were only two sorts
of tithes, that which was given to the Levites and priests, and that
which was applied to making feasts of charity, either in the temple of
Jerusalem, or in other cities. Samuel tells the children of Israel, that
the king they had a mind to have over them would “take the tenth of
their seed, and of their vineyards, and give to his officers, and his
servants. He will take the tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his
servants,” 1 Sam. viii, 15, 17. Yet it does not clearly appear from the
history of the Jews, that they regularly paid any tithe to their
princes. But the manner in which Samuel expresses himself, seems to
insinuate that it was looked upon as a common right among the kings of
the cast. At this day, the Jews no longer pay any tithe; at least they
do not think themselves obliged to do it, except it be those who are
settled in the territory of Jerusalem, and the ancient Judea. For there
are few Jews now that have any lands of their own, or any flocks. They
only give something for the redemption of the first-born, to those who
have any proofs of their being descended from the race of the priests or
Levites. However, we are assured, that such among the Jews as would be
thought to be very strict and religious give the tenth part of their
whole income to the poor.
TITUS. It is remarkable that Titus is not mentioned in the Acts of the
Apostles. The few particulars which are known of him, are collected from
the epistles of St. Paul. We learn from them that he was a Greek, Gal.
ii, 3; but it is not recorded to what city or country he belonged. From
St. Paul’s calling him “his own son according to the common faith,”
Titus i, 4, it is concluded that he was converted by him; but we have no
account of the time or place of his conversion. He is first mentioned as
going from Antioch to the council at Jerusalem, A. D. 49, Gal. ii, 1,
&c; and upon that occasion St. Paul says that he would not allow him to
be circumcised, because he was born of Gentile parents. He probably
accompanied St. Paul in his second apostolical journey, and from that
time he seems to have been constantly employed by him in the propagation
of the Gospel; he calls him his partner and fellow-helper, 2 Cor. viii,
23. St. Paul sent him from Ephesus with his First Epistle to the
Corinthians, and with a commission to inquire into the state of the
church at Corinth; and he sent him thither again from Macedonia with his
Second Epistle, and to forward the collections for the saints in Judea.
From this time we hear nothing of Titus till he was left by St. Paul in
Crete, after his first imprisonment at Rome, to “set in order the things
that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city,” Titus i, 5. It
is probable that he went thence to join St. Paul at Nicopolis, Titus
iii, 12; that they went together to Crete to visit the churches there,
and thence to Rome. During St. Paul’s second imprisonment at Rome Titus
went into Dalmatia, 2 Tim. iv, 10; and after the apostle’s death, he is
said to have returned into Crete, and to have died there in the
ninety-fourth year of his age: he is often called bishop of Crete by
ecclesiastical writers. St. Paul always speaks of Titus in terms of high
regard, and intrusted him, as we have seen, with commissions of great
importance. It is by no means certain from what place St. Paul wrote
this epistle; but as he desires Titus to come to him at Nicopolis, and
declares his intention of passing the winter there, some have supposed
that, when he wrote it he was in the neighbourhood of that city, either
in Greece or Macedonia; others have imagined that he wrote it from
Colosse, but it is difficult to say upon what ground. As it appears that
St. Paul, not long before he wrote this epistle, had left Titus in Crete
for the purpose of regulating the affairs of the church, and at the time
he wrote it had determined to pass the approaching winter at Nicopolis,
and as the Acts of the Apostles do not give any account of St. Paul’s
preaching in that island, or of visiting that city, it is concluded that
this epistle was written after his first imprisonment at Rome, and
probably in A. D. 64. It may be considered as some confirmation of that
opinion, that there is a great similarity between the sentiments and
expressions of this epistle and of the First Epistle to Timothy, which
was written in that year. It is not known at what time a Christian
church was first planted in Crete; but as some Cretans were present at
the first effusion of the Holy Ghost at Jerusalem, Acts ii, 11, it is
not improbable that, upon their return home, they might be the means of
introducing the Gospel among their countrymen. Crete is said to have
abounded with Jews; and from the latter part of the first chapter of
this epistle it appears that many of them were persons of very
profligate lives, even after they had embraced the Gospel. The principal
design of this epistle was to give instructions to Titus concerning the
management of the churches in the different cities of the island of
Crete, and it was probably intended to be read publicly to the Cretans,
that they might know upon what authority Titus acted. St. Paul, after
his usual salutation, intimates that he was appointed an apostle by the
express command of God, and reminds Titus of the reason of his being
left in Crete; he describes the qualifications necessary for bishops,
and cautions him against persons of bad principles, especially Judaizing
teachers, whom he directs Titus to reprove with severity; he informs him
what instructions he should give to people in different situations of
life, and exhorts him to be exemplary in his own conduct; he points out
the pure and practical nature of the Gospel, and enumerates some
particular virtues which he was to inculcate, avoiding foolish questions
and frivolous disputes; he instructs him how he is to behave toward
heretics and concludes with salutations.
TIZRI, or TISRI, the first Hebrew month of the civil year, and the
seventh of the sacred year, answering to the moon of September. On the
first day of this month was kept the feast of trumpets, because the
beginning of the civil year was proclaimed with the sound of trumpets.
TOB, a country of Palestine, lying beyond Jordan, in the northern part
of the portion of Manasseh. To this district Jephthah retired, when he
was driven away by his brethren, Judges xi, 3, 5. It is also called
Tobie, or Tubin, 1 Mac. v, 13; and the inhabitants of this canton were
called Tubieni. It is supposed to be the same as Ishtob, one of the
small principalities of Syria, which appears, like the other little
kingdoms in its neighbourhood, to have been swallowed up in the kingdom
of Damascus. This principality furnished twelve thousand men to the
confederacy formed by the Syrians and Ammonites against David, 2 Sam. x.
TOBIAH, an Ammonite, an enemy to the Jews. He was one of those who
strenuously opposed the rebuilding of the temple, after the return from
the captivity of Babylon, Neh. ii, 10; iv, 3; v, 1, 12, 14. This Tobiah
is called “the servant,” or “slave,” in some parts of Nehemiah; probably
because he was of a servile condition. However, he was of great
consideration in the land of the Samaritans, of which he was governor
with Sanballat. This Tobiah married the daughter of Shechaniah, one of
the principal Jews of Jerusalem, Neh. vi, 18, and had a powerful party
in Jerusalem itself, who were opposed to that of Nehemiah. He maintained
a correspondence by letter with this party against the interest of
Nehemiah, vi, 17–19; but that prudent governor, by his wisdom and
moderation, defeated all their machinations. After some time, Nehemiah
was obliged to return to Babylon, subsequent to having repaired the
walls of Jerusalem. Tobiah took this opportunity to come and dwell at
Jerusalem; and even obtained of Eliashib, who had the care of the house
of the Lord, to have an apartment in the temple. But at Nehemiah’s
return from Babylon, some years after, he drove Tobiah out of the courts
of the temple, and threw his goods out of the holy place, Neh. xiii,
4–8. From this time the Scripture makes no farther mention of Tobiah. It
is probable he retired to Sanballat at Samaria.
TOGARMAH, the third son of Gomer, Gen. x, 4. The learned are divided as
to what country he peopled. Josephus and St. Jerom were of opinion, that
Togarmah was the father of the Phrygians: Eusebius, Theodoret, and
Isidorus of Seville, that he peopled Armenia: the Chaldee and the
Talmudists are for Germany. Several moderns believe that the children of
Togarmah peopled Turcomania in Tartary and Scythia. Bochart is for
Cappadocia: he builds upon what is said in Ezekiel xxvii, 14, “They of
the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs,” that is, at Tyre, “with
horses and horsemen and mules.” He proves that Cappadocia was famous for
its excellent horses and its asses. He observes also, that certain
Gauls, under the conduct of Trocmus, made a settlement at Cappadocia,
and were called Trocmi, or Throgmi. The opinion, says Calmet, which
places Togarmah in Scythia and Turcomania, seems to stand upon the best
foundation.
TOKENS, TESSERÆ, or TICKETS, were written testimonials to character,
much in use in the primitive church. By means of letters, and of
brethren who travelled about, even the most remote churches of the Roman
empire were connected together. When a Christian arrived in a strange
town, he first inquired for the church; and he was here received as a
brother, and provided with every thing needful for his spiritual or
corporeal sustenance. But since deceivers, spies with evil intentions,
and false teachers abused the confidence and the kindness of Christians,
some measure of precaution became necessary, in order to avert the many
injuries which might result from this conduct. An arrangement was
therefore introduced, that only such travelling Christians should be
received as brethren into churches where they were strangers, as could
produce a testimonial from the bishop of the church from which they
came. They called these church letters, which were a kind of _tesseræ
hospitales_, [tickets of hospitality,] by which the Christians of all
quarters of the world were brought into connection, _epistolæ_, or
_literæ_ _formatæ_, [formal letters,] γράμματα τετυπώμενα, because, in
order to avoid forgery, they were made after a certain _schema_, (τυπὸς,
_forma_,) or else, _epistolæ communicatoriæ_, [epistles of fellowship,]
γράμματα κοινωνικά, because they contained a proof that those who
brought them were in the communion of the church, as well as that the
bishops, who mutually sent and received such letters, were in connection
together by the communion of the church; and afterward these church
letters, _epistolæ clericæ_, were divided into different classes,
according to the difference of their purposes.
TONGUE. This word is taken in three different senses. 1. For the
material tongue, or organ of speech, James iii, 5. 2. For the tongue or
language that is spoken in any country, Deut. xxviii, 49. (See
_Language_.) 3. For good or bad discourses, Prov. xii, 18; xvii, 20.
Tongue of the sea signifies a gulf. To gnaw the tongue, Rev. xvi, 10, is
a token of fury, despair, and torment. The gift of tongues was that
which God granted to the apostles and disciples assembled at Jerusalem
on the day of pentecost, Acts ii. The tongue of angels, a kind of
hyperbole made use of by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xiii, 1.
TOOTH. It was ordered by the law of retaliation, that they should give
tooth for tooth, Exod. xxi, 24. The opinion that it is every man’s right
and duty to do himself justice, and to revenge his own injuries, is by
no means eradicated from among the Afghans, a people of India, to the
southward of Cashmere, and according to a paper in the Asiatic
Researches, supposed to be descended from the Jews; and the right of
society, even to restrain the reasonable passions of individuals, and to
take the redress of wrongs and the punishment of crimes into its own
hands, is still very imperfectly understood; or, if it is understood, is
seldom present to the thoughts of the people; for although, in most
parts of their country, justice might now be obtained by other means,
and though private revenge is every where preached against by the
_mollahs_, priests, and forbidden by the government, yet it is still
lawful, and even honourable in the eyes of the people, to seek that mode
of redress. The injured party is considered to be entitled to strict
retaliation on the aggressor. If the offender be out of his power, he
may wreak his vengeance on a relation, and, in some cases, on any man in
the tribe. If no opportunity of exercising this right occurs, he may
defer his revenge for years; but it is disgraceful to neglect or abandon
it entirely; and it is incumbent on his relations, and sometimes on his
tribe, to assist him in his retaliation. To gnash the teeth is a token
of sorrow, rage, despair, Psalm xxxv, 16, &c. God breaks the teeth of
the wicked, Psalm iii, 7. Cleanness of teeth denotes famine, Amos iv, 6.
The wicked complain, that the “fathers have eaten sour grapes, and their
children’s teeth are set on edge,” Ezek. xviii, 2, to signify, that the
children have suffered for their transgressions.
TOPAZ, הטדה, Exod. xxviii, 17; xxxix, 10; Job xxviii, 19; Ezek. xxviii,
13; τοπάζιον, Rev. xxi, 20; a precious stone of a pale dead green, with
a mixture of yellow; and sometimes of fine yellow, like gold. It is very
hard, and takes a fine polish. We have the authority of the Septuagint
and Josephus for ascertaining this stone. The oriental topazes are most
esteemed. Those of Ethiopia were celebrated for their wonderful lustre,
Job xxviii, 19.