Easton's Bible Dictionary
Nisroch — Nymphas
Nisroch
Nisroch — probably connected with the Hebrew word nesher, an eagle. An Assyrian god, supposed to be that represented with the head of an eagle. Sennacherib was killed in the temple of this idol (2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38).
Nitre
Nitre — (Proverbs 25:20; R.V. marg., “soda”), properly “natron,” a substance so called because, rising from the bottom of the Lake Natron in Egypt, it becomes dry and hard in the sun, and is the soda which effervesces when vinegar is poured on it. It is a carbonate of soda, not saltpetre, which the word generally denotes (Jeremiah 2:22; R.V. “lye”).
No
No — or No-A’mon, the home of Amon, the name of Thebes, the ancient capital of what is called the Middle Empire, in Upper or Southern Egypt. “The multitude of No” (Jeremiah 46:25) is more correctly rendered, as in the Revised Version, “Amon of No”, i.e., No, where Jupiter Amon had his temple. In Ezekiel 30:14, Ezekiel 30:16 it is simply called “No;” but in ver. Ezekiel 30:15 the name has the Hebrew Hamon prefixed to it, “Hamon No.” This prefix is probably the name simply of the god usually styled Amon or Ammon. In Nahum 3:8 the “populous No” of the Authorized Version is in the Revised Version correctly rendered “No-Amon.”
It was the Diospolis or Thebes of the Greeks, celebrated for its hundred gates and its vast population. It stood on both sides of the Nile, and is by some supposed to have included Karnak and Luxor. In grandeur and extent it can only be compared to Nineveh. It is mentioned only in the prophecies referred to, which point to its total destruction. It was first taken by the Assyrians in the time of Sargon (Isaiah 20). It was afterwards “delivered into the hand” of Nebuchadnezzar and Assurbani-pal (Jeremiah 46:25, Jeremiah 46:26). Cambyses, king of the Persians ( 525), further laid it waste by fire. Its ruin was completed ( 81) by Ptolemy Lathyrus. The ruins of this city are still among the most notable in the valley of the Nile. They have formed a great storehouse of interesting historic remains for more than two thousand years. “As I wandered day after day with ever-growing amazement amongst these relics of ancient magnificence, I felt that if all the ruins in Europe, classical, Celtic, and medieval, were brought together into one centre, they would fall far short both in extent and grandeur of those of this single Egyptian city.” Manning, The Land of the Pharaohs.
Noadiah
Noadiah — meeting with the Lord. (1.) A Levite who returned from Babylon (Ezra 8:33).
(2.) A false prophetess who assisted Tobiah and Sanballat against the Jews (Nehemiah 6:14). Being bribed by them, she tried to stir up discontent among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and so to embarrass Nehemiah in his great work of rebuilding the ruined walls of the city.
Noah
Noah — rest, (Heb. Noah the grandson of Methuselah (Genesis 5:25-29), who was for two hundred and fifty years contemporary with Adam, and the son of Lamech, who was about fifty years old at the time of Adam’s death. This patriarch is rightly regarded as the connecting link between the old and the new world. He is the second great progenitor of the human family.
The words of his father Lamech at his birth (Genesis 5:29) have been regarded as in a sense prophetical, designating Noah as a type of Him who is the true “rest and comfort” of men under the burden of life (Matthew 11:28).
He lived five hundred years, and then there were born unto him three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 5:32). He was a “just man and perfect in his generation,” and “walked with God” (comp. Ezekiel 14:14,Ezekiel 14:20). But now the descendants of Cain and of Seth began to intermarry, and then there sprang up a race distinguished for their ungodliness. Men became more and more corrupt, and God determined to sweep the earth of its wicked population (Genesis 6:7). But with Noah God entered into a covenant, with a promise of deliverance from the threatened deluge (Genesis 6:18). He was accordingly commanded to build an ark (Genesis 6:14-16) for the saving of himself and his house. An interval of one hundred and twenty years elapsed while the ark was being built (Genesis 6:3), during which Noah bore constant testimony against the unbelief and wickedness of that generation (1 Peter 3:18-20; 2 Peter 2:5).
When the ark of “gopher-wood” (mentioned only here) was at length completed according to the command of the Lord, the living creatures that were to be preserved entered into it; and then Noah and his wife and sons and daughters-in-law entered it, and the “Lord shut him in” (Genesis 7:16). The judgment-threatened now fell on the guilty world, “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6). The ark floated on the waters for one hundred and fifty days, and then rested on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:3,Genesis 8:4); but not for a considerable time after this was divine permission given him to leave the ark, so that he and his family were a whole year shut up within it (Genesis 6-14).
On leaving the ark Noah’s first act was to erect an altar, the first of which there is any mention, and offer the sacrifices of adoring thanks and praise to God, who entered into a covenant with him, the first covenant between God and man, granting him possession of the earth by a new and special charter, which remains in force to the present time (Genesis 8:21-9:17). As a sign and witness of this covenant, the rainbow was adopted and set apart by God, as a sure pledge that never again would the earth be destroyed by a flood.
But, alas! Noah after this fell into grievous sin (Genesis 9:21); and the conduct of Ham on this sad occasion led to the memorable prediction regarding his three sons and their descendants. Noah “lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years, and he died” (Genesis 9:28, Genesis 9:29). (See DELUGE ).
Noah, motion, (Heb. No˒ah one of the five daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 26:33; Numbers 27:1; Numbers 36:11; Joshua 17:3).
Nob
Nob — high place, a city of the priests, first mentioned in the history of David’s wanderings (1 Samuel 21:1). Here the tabernacle was then standing, and here Ahimelech the priest resided. (See AHIMELECH.) From Isaiah 10:28-32 it seems to have been near Jerusalem. It has been identified by some with el-Isawiyeh, one mile and a half to the north-east of Jerusalem. But according to Isaiah 10:28-32 it was on the south of Geba, on the road to Jerusalem, and within sight of the city. This identification does not meet these conditions, and hence others (as Dean Stanley) think that it was the northern summit of Mount Olivet, the place where David “worshipped God” when fleeing from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:32), or more probably (Conder) that it was the same as Mizpeh (q.v.), Judges 20:1; Joshua 18:26; 1 Samuel 7:16, at Nebi Samwil, about 5 miles north-west of Jerusalem.
After being supplied with the sacred loaves of showbread, and girding on the sword of Goliath, which was brought forth from behind the ephod, David fled from Nob and sought refuge at the court of Achish, the king of Gath, where he was cast into prison. (Comp. titles of Psalm 34 and Psalm 56.)
Nobah
Nobah — howling. (1.) Numbers 32:42.
(2.) The name given to Kenath (q.v.) by Nobah when he conquered it. It was on the east of Gilead (Judges 8:11).
Nobleman
Nobleman — (Gr. basilikos, i.e., “king’s man”), an officer of state (John 4:49) in the service of Herod Antipas. He is supposed to have been the Chuza, Herod’s steward, whose wife was one of those women who “ministered unto the Lord of their substance” (Luke 8:3). This officer came to Jesus at Cana and besought him to go down to Capernaum and heal his son, who lay there at the point of death. Our Lord sent him away with the joyful assurance that his son was alive.
Nod
Nod — exile; wandering; unrest, a name given to the country to which Cain fled (Genesis 4:16). It lay on the east of Eden.
Nodab
Nodab — noble, probably a tribe descended from one of the sons of Ishmael, with whom the trans-Jordanic tribes made war ().
Nogah
Nogah — splendour, one of David’s sons, born at Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 3:7).
Noph
Noph — the Hebrew name of an Egyptian city (Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14, Jeremiah 46:19; Ezekiel 30:13, Ezekiel 30:16). In Hosea 9:6 the Hebrew name is Moph, and is translated “Memphis,” which is its Greek and Latin form. It was one of the most ancient and important cities of Egypt, and stood a little to the south of the modern Cairo, on the western bank of the Nile. It was the capital of Lower Egypt. Among the ruins found at this place is a colossal statue of Rameses the Great. (See MEMPHIS.)
Nophah
Nophah — blast, a city of Moab which was occupied by the Amorites (Numbers 21:30).
North country
North country — a general name for the countries that lay north of Palestine. Most of the invading armies entered Palestine from the north (Isaiah 41:25; Jeremiah 1:14,Jeremiah 1:15; Jeremiah 50:3,Jeremiah 50:9,Jeremiah 50:41; Jeremiah 51:48; Ezekiel 26:7).
Northward
Northward — (Heb. tsaphon, a “hidden” or “dark place,” as opposed to the sunny south (Deuteronomy 3:27). A Hebrew in speaking of the points of the compass was considered as always having his face to the east, and hence “the left hand” (Genesis 14:15; Job 23:9) denotes the north. The “kingdoms of the north” are Chaldea, Assyria, Media, etc.
Nose-jewels
Nose-jewels — Only mentioned in Isaiah 3:21, although refered to in Genesis 24:47, Proverbs 11:22, Hosea 2:13. They were among the most valued of ancient female ornaments. They “were made of ivory or metal, and occasionally jewelled. They were more than an inch in diameter, and hung upon the mouth. Eliezer gave one to Rebekah which was of gold and weighed half a shekel … At the present day the women in the country and in the desert wear these ornaments in one of the sides of the nostrils, which droop like the ears in consequence.”
Numbering of the people
Numbering of the people — Besides the numbering of the tribes mentioned in the history of the wanderings in the wilderness, we have an account of a general census of the whole nation from Dan to Beersheba, which David gave directions to Joab to make (1 Chronicles 21:1). Joab very reluctantly began to carry out the king’s command.
This act of David in ordering a numbering of the people arose from pride and a self-glorifying spirit. It indicated a reliance on his part on an arm of flesh, an estimating of his power not by the divine favour but by the material resources of his kingdom. He thought of military achievement and of conquest, and forgot that he was God’s vicegerent. In all this he sinned against God. While Joab was engaged in the census, David’s heart smote him, and he became deeply conscious of his fault; and in profound humiliation he confessed, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done.” The prophet Gad was sent to him to put before him three dreadful alternatives (2 Samuel 24:13; for “seven years” in this verse, the LXX. and 1 Chronicles 21:12 have “three years”), three of Jehovah’s four sore judgments (Ezekiel 14:21). Two of these David had already experienced. He had fled for some months before Absalom, and had suffered three years’ famine on account of the slaughter of the Gibeonites. In his “strait” David said, “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord.” A pestilence broke out among the people, and in three days swept away 70,000. At David’s intercession the plague was stayed, and at the threshing-floor of Araunah (q.v.), where the destroying angel was arrested in his progress, David erected an altar, and there offered up sacrifies to God (2 Chronicles 3:1).
The census, so far as completed, showed that there were at least 1,300,000 fighting men in the kingdom, indicating at that time a population of about six or seven millions in all. (See CENSUS.)
Numbers, Book of
Numbers, Book of — the fourth of the books of the Pentateuch, called in the Hebrew be-midbar, i.e., “in the wilderness.” In the LXX. version it is called “Numbers,” and this name is now the usual title of the book. It is so called because it contains a record of the numbering of the people in the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 1-4), and of their numbering afterwards on the plain of Moab (Numbers 26).
This book is of special historical interest as furnishing us with details as to the route of the Israelites in the wilderness and their principal encampments. It may be divided into three parts:
1. The numbering of the people at Sinai, and preparations for their resuming their march (Numbers 1-10:10). The sixth chapter gives an account of the vow of a Nazarite.
2. An account of the journey from Sinai to Moab, the sending out of the spies and the report they brought back, and the murmurings (eight times) of the people at the hardships by the way (Numbers 10:11-21:20).
3. The transactions in the plain of Moab before crossing the Jordan (Numbers 21:21-ch. Numbers 36).
The period comprehended in the history extends from the second month of the second year after the Exodus to the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, in all about thirty-eight years and ten months; a dreary period of wanderings, during which that disobedient generation all died in the wilderness. They were fewer in number at the end of their wanderings than when they left the land of Egypt. We see in this history, on the one hand, the unceasing care of the Almighty over his chosen people during their wanderings; and, on the other hand, the murmurings and rebellions by which they offended their heavenly Protector, drew down repeated marks of his displeasure, and provoked him to say that they should “not enter into his rest” because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).
This, like the other books of the Pentateuch, bears evidence of having been written by Moses.
The expression “the book of the wars of the Lord,” occurring in Numbers 21:14, has given rise to much discussion. But, after all, “what this book was is uncertain, whether some writing of Israel not now extant, or some writing of the Amorites which contained songs and triumphs of their king Sihon’s victories, out of which Moses may cite this testimony, as Paul sometimes does out of heathen poets (Acts 17:28; Titus 1:12).”
Nun
Nun — Beyond the fact that he was the father of Joshua nothing more is known of him (Exodus 33:11).
Nuts
Nuts — were among the presents Jacob sent into Egypt for the purpose of conciliating Joseph (Genesis 43:11). This was the fruit of the pistachio tree, which resembles the sumac. It is of the size of an olive. In Song of Solomon 6:11 a different Hebrew word (‘egoz), which means “walnuts,” is used.
Nymphas
Nymphas — nymph, saluted by Paul in his Epistle to the Colossians as a member of the church of Laodicea (Colossians 4:15).