Smith's Bible Dictionary
T
Taanach — Theudas
Taanach
Ta’anach (sandy), an ancient Canaanitish city whose king is enumerated among the thirty-one kings conquered by Joshua. Joshua 12:21. It came into the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 17:11; Joshua 21:25; 1 Chronicles 7:29, and was bestowed on the Kohathite Levites. Joshua 21:25. Taanach is almost always named in company with Megiddo, and they were evidently the chief towns of that fine rich district which forms the western portion of the great plain of Esdraelon. 1 Kings 4:12. It is still called Ta’annuk, and stands about four miles southeast of Lejjân and 13 miles southwest of Nazareth.
Taanath-shiloh
Ta’anath-shi’loh (approach to Shiloh), a place named once only—Joshua 16:6—as one of the landmarks of the boundary of Ephraim. Perhaps Taanath was the ancient Canaanite name of the place, and Shiloh the Hebrew name.
Tabbaoth
Tab’baoth (rings). The children of Tabbaoth were a family of Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:43; Nehemiah 7:46. (b.c. before 536.)
Tabbath
Tab’bath (celebrated), a place mentioned only in Judges 7:22, in describing the flight of the Midianite host after Gideon’s night attack; (probably the present Tubukhat-Fahil, a very striking natural bank 600 feet high, with a long horizontal top, embanked against the western face of the mountains east of the Jordan, and descending with a steep front to the river.—Robinson, Bib. Res.)
Tabeal
Tabe’al (God is good). The son of Tabeal was apparently an Ephraimite in the army of Pekah the son of Remaliah, or a Syrian in the army of Rezin, when they went up to besiege Jerusalem in the reign of Ahaz. Isaiah 7:6. The Aramaic form of the name favors the latter supposition. (b.c. before 738.)
Tabe-el
Ta’be-el (God is good), an officer of the Persian government in Samaria in the reign of Artaxerxes. Ezra 4:7. His name appears to indicate that he was a Syrian. (b.c. 519.)
Taberah
Tab’erah, the name of a place in the wilderness of Paran. Numbers 11:3; Deuteronomy 9:22. It has not been identified.
Tabering
Tabering, an obsolete English word used in the Authorized Version of Nahum 2:7. The Hebrew word connects itself with töph, “a timbrel.” The Authorized Version reproduces the original idea. The “tabour” or “tabor” was a musical instrument of the drum type, which with the pipe formed the band of a country village. To “tabour,” accordingly, is to beat with loud strokes, as men beat upon such an instrument.
Tabernacle
Tabernacle. The tabernacle was the tent of Jehovah, called by the same name as the tents of the people in the midst of which it stood. It was also called the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the congregation. The first ordinances given to Moses, after the proclamation of the outline of the law from Sinai, related to the ordering of the tabernacle, its furniture and its service, as the type which was to be followed when the people came to their own home and “found a place” for the abode of God. During the forty days of Moses’ first retirement with God in Sinai, an exact pattern of the whole was shown him, and all was made according to it. Exodus 25:9, Exodus 25:40; Exodus 26:30; Exodus 39:32, Exodus 39:42-43; Numbers 8:4; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5. The description of this plan is preceded by an account of the freewill offerings which the children of Israel were to be asked to make for its execution.
I. The Tabernacle itself.—
1. Its name.—It was first called a tent or dwelling, Exodus 25:8, because Jehovah, as it were, abode there. It was often called tent or tabernacle from its external appearance.
2. Its materials.—The materials were—(a) Metals: gold, silver, and brass. (b) Textile fabrics: blue, purple, scarlet, and fine (white) linen, for the production of which Egypt was celebrated; also a fabric of goat’s hair, the produce of their own flocks. (c) Skins: of the ram, dyed red, and of the badger. (d) Wood: the shittim wood, the timber of the wild acacia of the desert itself, the tree of the “burning bush.” (e) Oil, spices, and incense for anointing the priests and burning in the tabernacle. (f) Gems: onyx stones and the precious stones for the breastplate of the high priest. The people gave jewels, and plates of gold and silver and brass; wood, skins, hair, and linen; the women wove; the rulers offered precious stones, oil, spices, and incense; and the artists soon had more than they needed. Exodus 25:1-8; Exodus 35:4-29; Exodus 36:5-7. The superintendence of the work was intrusted to Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah, and to Aholiab, of the tribe of Dan, who were skilled in “all manner of workmanship.” Exodus 31:2, Exodus 31:6; Exodus 35:30, Exodus 35:34.
3. Its structure.—The tabernacle was to comprise three main parts—the tabernacle more strictly so called, its tent and was to be of red ram-skins and seal-skins, Exodus 25:5, and was spread over the goat’s-hair tent as an additional protection against the weather. It was an oblong rectangular structure, 30 cubits in length by 10 in width (45 feet by 15), and 10 in height; the interior being divided into two chambers, the first or outer, of 20 cubits in length, the inner, of 10 cubits, and consequently an exact cube. The former was the holy place, or first tabernacle, Hebrews 9:2, containing the golden candlestick on one side, the table of shew-bread opposite, and between them in the centre the altar of incense. The latter was the most holy place, or the holy of holies, containing the ark, surmounted by the cherubim, with the two tables inside. The two sides and the farther or west end were enclosed by boards of shittim wood overlaid with gold, twenty on the north and twenty on the south side, six on the west side, and the cornerboards doubled. They stood upright, edge to edge, their lower ends being made with tenons, which dropped into sockets of silver, and the corner-boards being coupled at the top with rings. They were furnished with golden rings, through which passed bars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold, five to each side, and the middle bar passing from end to end, so as to brace the whole together. Four successive coverings of curtains looped together were placed over the open top and fell down over the sides. The first or inmost was a splendid fabric of linen, embroidered with figures of cherubim in blue, purple, and scarlet, and looped together by golden fastenings. It seems probable that the ends of this set of curtains hung down within the tabernacle, forming a sumptuous tapestry. The second was a covering of goat’s hair; the third, of ram-skins dyed red; and the outermost, of badger-skins (so called in our version; but the Hebrew word probably signifies seal-skins). It has been commonly supposed that these coverings were thrown over the wall, as a pall is thrown over a coffin; but this would have allowed every drop of rain that fell on the tabernacle to fall through; for, however tightly the curtains might be stretched, the water could never run over the edge, and the sheep-skins would only make the matter worse, as when wetted their weight would depress the centre, and probably tear any curtain that could be made. There can be no reasonable doubt that the tent had a ridge, as all tents have had from the days of Moses down to the present time. The front of the sanctuary was closed by a hanging of fine linen, embroidered in blue, purple, and scarlet, and supported by golden hooks on five pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold and standing in brass sockets; and the covering of goat’s hair was so made as to fall down over this when required. A more sumptuous curtain of the same kind, embroidered with cherubim, hung on four such pillars, with silver sockets, divided the holy from the most holy place. It was called the veil (Sometimes the second veil, either in reference to the first, at the entrance of the holy place, or as being the veil of the second sanctuary. Hebrews 9:3.), as it hid from the eyes of all but the high priest the inmost sanctuary, where Jehovah dwelt on his mercy-seat, between the cherubim above the ark. Hence “to enter within the veil” is to have the closest access to God. It was only passed by the high priest once a year, on the Day of Atonement, in token of the mediation of Christ, who with his own blood hath entered for us within the veil which separates God’s own abode from earth. Hebrews 6:19. In the temple, the solemn barrier was at length profaned by a Roman conqueror, to warn the Jews that the privileges they had forfeited were “ready to vanish away”; and the veil was at last rent by the hand of God himself, at the same moment that the body of Christ was rent upon the cross, to indicate that the entrance into the holiest of all is now laid open to all believers “by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.” Hebrews 10:19-20. The holy place was only entered by the priests daily, to offer incense at the time of morning and evening prayer, and to renew the lights on the golden candlesticks; and on the Sabbath, to remove the old shew-bread, and to place the new upon the table.
Southeast View of the Tabernacle covered by its Tent.
General View of the Tabernacle.
II. The Sacred Furniture and Instruments of the Tabernacle.—These are described in separate articles, and therefore it is only necessary to give a list of them here.
1. In the outer court. The altar of burnt offering and the brazen laver. [ALTAR; LAVER.] 2. In the holy place. The furniture of the court was connected with sacrifice; that of the sanctuary itself with the deeper mysteries of mediation and access to God. the first sanctuary contained three objects: the altar of incense in the centre, so as to be directly in front of the ark of the covenant, 1 Kings 6:22, the table of shew-bread on its right or north side, and the golden candlestick on the left or south side. These objects were all considered as being placed before the presence of Jehovah, who dwelt in the holiest of all, though with the veil between. [ALTAR; SHEW-BREAD; CANDLESTICK.] 3. In the holy of holies, within the veil, and shrouded in darkness, there was but one object, the ark of the covenant, containing the two tables of stone, inscribed with the Ten Commandments. [ARK.]
III. The Court of the Tabernacle, in which the tabernacle itself stood, was an oblong space, 100 cubits by 50 (i.e., 150 feet by 75), having its longer axis east and west, with its front to the east. It was surrounded by canvas screens—in the East called kannauts—5 cubits in height, and supported by pillars of brass 5 cubits apart, to which the curtains were attached by hooks and fillets of silver. Exodus 27:9, etc. This enclosure was broken only on the east side by the entrance, which was 20 cubits wide, and closed by curtains of fine twined linen wrought with needlework, and of the most gorgeous colors. In the outer or east half of the court was placed the altar of burnt offering, and between it and the tabernacle itself, the laver at which the priests washed their hands and feet on entering the temple. The tabernacle itself was placed toward the west end of this enclosure.
IV. History.—“The tabernacle, as the place in which Jehovah dwelt, was pitched in the centre of the camp, Numbers 2:2, as the tent of a leader always is in the East; for Jehovah was the Captain of Israel. Joshua 5:14-15. During the marches of Israel, the tabernacle was still in the centre. Numbers 2. The tribes camped and marched around it in the order of a hollow square. In certain great emergencies it led the march. Joshua 3:11-16. Upon the tabernacle abode always the cloud, dark by day and fiery red by night, Exodus 40:38, giving the signal for the march, Exodus 40:36-37; Numbers 9:17, and the halt. Numbers 9:15-23. It was always the special meeting-place of Jehovah and his people. Numbers 11:24-25; Numbers 12:4; Numbers 14:10; Numbers 16:19, Numbers 16:42; Numbers 20:6; Numbers 27:2; Deuteronomy 31:14.” During the conquest of Canaan the tabernacle, at first moved from place to place, Joshua 4:19; Joshua 8:30-35; Joshua 9:6; Joshua 10:15, was finally located at Shiloh. Joshua 9:27; Joshua 18:1. Here it remained during the time of the judges, till it was captured by the Philistines, who carried off the sacred ark of the covenant. 1 Samuel 4:22. From this time forward the glory of the tabernacle was gone. When the ark was recovered, it was removed to Jerusalem, and placed in a new tabernacle, 2 Samuel 6:17; 1 Chronicles 15:1; but the old structure still had its hold on the veneration of the community, and the old altar still received their offerings. 1 Chronicles 16:39; 1 Chronicles 21:29. It was not till the temple was built, and a fitting house thus prepared for the Lord, that the ancient tabernacle was allowed to perish and be forgotten.
V. Significance.—(The great underlying principles of true religion are the same in all ages and for all men; because man’s nature and needs are the same, and the same God ever rules over all. But different ages require different methods of teaching these truths, and can understand them in different degrees. As we are taught in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the tabernacle was part of a great system of teaching by object-lessons, and of training the world to understand and receive the great truths which were to be revealed in Jesus Christ, and thus really to save the Jews from sin by Jesus dimly seen in the future, as we clearly see him in the past. (1) The tabernacle and its services enabled the Jews, who had no visible representation of God, to feel the reality of God and of religion. (2) The tabernacle, as the most beautiful and costly object in the nation, and ever in the centre of the camp, set forth the truth that religion was the central fact, and the most important, in a person’s life. (3) The pillar of cloud and of fire was the best possible symbol of the living God—a cloud, bright, glowing like the sunset clouds, glorious, beautiful, mysterious, self-poised, heavenly; fire, immaterial, the source of life and light and comfort and cheer, but yet unapproachable, terrible, a consuming fire to the wicked. (4) The altar of burnt offering, standing before the tabernacle, was a perpetual symbol of the atonement—the greatness of sin, deserving death, hard to be removed, and yet forgiveness possible, and offered freely, but only through blood. The offerings, as brought by the people, were a type of consecration to God, of conversion and new life, through the atonement. (5) This altar stood outside of the tabernacle, and must be passed before we come to the tabernacle itself; a type of the true religious life. Before the tabernacle was also the laver, signifying the same thing that baptism does with us, the cleansing of the heart and life. (6) Having entered the holy place, we find the three great means and helps to true living—the candlestick, the light of God’s truth; the shew-bread, teaching that the soul must have its spiritual food, and live in communion with God; and the altar of incense, the symbol of prayer. The holy of holies, beyond, taught that there was progress in the religious life, and that that progress was toward God, and toward the perfect keeping of the law, till it was as natural to obey the law as it is to breathe; and thus the holy of holies was the type of heaven.—Ed.)
Tabernacles The Feast of
Tabernacles, The Feast of (Exodus 23:16, “the feast of ingathering”), the third of the three great festivals of the Hebrews, which lasted from the 15th till the 22d of Tisri.
1. The following are the principal passages in the Pentateuch which refer to it: Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:34-36, Leviticus 23:39-43; Numbers 29:12-38; Deuteronomy 16:13-15; Deuteronomy 31:10-13. In Nehemiah 8 there is an account of the observance of the feast by Ezra 2. The time of the festival fell in the autumn, when the whole of the chief fruits of the ground, the corn, the wine and the oil, were gathered in. Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 23:39; Deuteronomy 15:13-15. Its duration was strictly only seven days, Deuteronomy 16:13; Ezekiel 45:25; but it was followed by a day of holy convocation, distinguished by sacrifices of its own, which was sometimes spoken of as an eighth day. Leviticus 23:36; Nehemiah 8:18. During the seven days the Israelites were commanded to dwell in booths or huts formed of the boughs of trees. The boughs were of the olive, palm, pine, myrtle, and other trees with thick foliage. Nehemiah 8:15-16. According to rabbinical tradition, each Israelite used to tie the branches into a bunch, to be carried in his hand, to which the name lûlâb was given. The burnt offerings of the Feast of Tabernacles were by far more numerous than those of any other festival. There were offered on each day two rams, fourteen lambs and a kid for a sin offering. But what was most peculiar was the arrangement of the sacrifices of bullocks, in all amounting to seventy. Numbers 29:12-38. The eighth day was a day of holy convocation of peculiar solemnity. On the morning of this day the Hebrews left their huts and dismantled them, and took up their abode again in their houses. The special offerings of the day were a bullock, a ram, seven lambs, and a goat for a sin offering. Numbers 29:36, Numbers 29:38. When the Feast of Tabernacles fell on a sabbatical year, portions of the law were read each day in public, to men, women, children, and strangers. Deuteronomy 31:10-13. We find Ezra reading the law during the festival “day by day, from the first day to the last day.” Nehemiah 8:18. 3.
There are two particulars in the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles which appear to be referred to in the New Testament, but are not noticed in the Old. These were the ceremony of pouring out some water of the pool of Siloam and the display of some great lights in the court of the women. We are told that each Israelite, in holiday attire, having made up his lûlâb, before he broke his fast repaired to the temple with the lûlâb in one hand and the citron in the other, at the time of the ordinary morning sacrifice. The parts of the victim were laid upon the altar. One of the priests fetched some water in a golden ewer from the pool of Siloam, which he brought into the court through the water-gate. As he entered the trumpets sounded, and he ascended the slope of the altar. At the top of this were fixed two silver basins with small openings at the bottom. Wine was poured into that on the eastern side, and the water into that on the western side, whence it was conducted by pipes into the Cedron. In the evening, both men and women assembled in the court of the women, expressly to hold a rejoicing for the drawing of the water of Siloam. At the same time there were set up in the court two lofty stands, each supporting four great lamps. These were lighted on each night of the festival. It appears to be generally admitted that the words of our Saviour, John 7:37-38—“If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”—were suggested by the pouring out of the water of Siloam. But it is very doubtful what is meant by “the last day, that great day of the feast.” It would seem that either the last day of the feast itself, that is, the seventh, or the last day of the religious observances of the series of annual festivals, the eighth, must be intended. The eighth day may be meant, and then the reference of our Lord would be to an ordinary and well-known observance of the feast, though it was not, at the very time, going on. We must resort to some such explanation if we adopt the notion that our Lord’s words, John 8:12—“I am the light of the world”—refer to the great lamps of the festival. 4. Though all the Hebrew annual festivals were seasons of rejoicing, the Feast of Tabernacles was, in this respect, distinguished above them all. The huts and the lûlâbs must have made a gay and striking spectacle over the city by day, and the lamps, the flambeaux, the music, and the joyous gatherings in the court of the temple must have given a still more festive character to the night. The main purposes of the Feast of Tabernacles are plainly set forth in Exodus 23:16 and Leviticus 23:43. It was to be at once a thanksgiving for the harvest and a commemoration of the time when the Israelites dwelt in tents during their passage through the wilderness. In one of its meanings it stands in connection with the Passover, as the Feast of Abib, and with Pentecost, as the feast of harvest; in its other meaning, it is related to the Passover as the great yearly memorial of the deliverance from the destroyer and from the tyranny of Egypt. But naturally connected with this exultation in their regained freedom was the rejoicing in the more perfect fulfillment of God’s promise in the settlement of his people in the holy land. But the culminating point of this blessing was the establishment of the central spot of the national worship in the temple at Jerusalem. Hence it was evidently fitting that the Feast of Tabernacles should be kept with an unwonted degree of observance at the dedication of Solomon’s temple, 1 Kings 8:2, 1 Kings 8:65; Joseph. Ant. viii. 4, §5; again, after the rebuilding of the temple by Ezra, Nehemiah 8:13-18, and a third time by Judas Maccabæus when he had driven out the Syrians and restored the temple to the worship of Jehovah. 2 Maccabees 10:5-8.
Tabitha
Tab’itha (gazelle), also called Dorcas by St. Luke, a female disciple of Joppa, “full of good works,” among which that of making clothes for the poor is specifically mentioned. While st. Peter was at the neighboring town of Lydda, Tabitha died; upon which the disciples at Joppa sent an urgent message to the apostle begging him to come to them without delay. Upon his arrival Peter found the deceased already prepared for burial, and laid out in an upper chamber, where she was surrounded by the recipients and the tokens of her charity. After the example of our Saviour in the house of Jairus, Matthew 9:25; Mark 5:40, “Peter put them all forth,” prayed for the divine assistance, and then commanded Tabitha to arise. Comp. Mark 5:41; Luke 8:54. She opened her eyes and sat up, and then, assisted by the apostle, rose from her couch. This great miracle, as we are further told, produced an extraordinary effect in Joppa, and was the occasion of many conversions there. Acts 9:36-42. The name “Tabitha” is an Aramaic word, signifying a “female gazelle.” St. Luke gives “Dorcas” as the Greek equivalent of the name.
Tabor
Ta’bor (a mound), or Mount Ta’bor, one of the most interesting and remarkable of the single mountains in Palestine. It rises abruptly from the northeastern arm of the plain of Esdraelon, and stands entirely insulated, except on the west, where a narrow ridge connects it with the hills of Nazareth. It presents to the eye, as seen from a distance, a beautiful appearance, being symmetrical in its proportions, and rounded off like a hemisphere or the segment of a circle, yet varying somewhat as viewed from different directions. The body of the mountain consists of the peculiar limestone of the country. It is now called Jebel-et-Tûr. It lies about six or eight miles almost due east from Nazareth. The ascent is usually made on the west side, near the little village of Debûrich—probably the ancient Daberath, Joshua 19:12—though it can be made with entire ease in other places. It requires three quarters of an hour or an hour to reach the top. The top of Tabor consists of an irregular platform, embracing a circuit of half an hour’s walk, and commanding wide views of the subjacent plain from end to end. Tabor does not occur in the New Testament, but makes a prominent figure in the Old. The book of Joshua, Joshua 19:22, mentions it as the boundary between Issachar and Zebulun. See ver. Joshua 19:12. Barak, at the command of Deborah, assembled his forces on Tabor, and descended thence, with “ten thousand men after him,” into the plain, and conquered Sisera on the banks of the Kishon. Judges 4:5-15. The brothers of Gideon, each of whom “resembled the children of a king,” were murdered here by Zebah and Zalmunna. Judges 8:18-19. There are at present the ruins of a fortress round all the summit of Tabor. The Latin Christians have now an altar here, at which their priests from Nazareth perform an annual mass. The Greeks also have a chapel, where, on certain festivals, they assemble for the celebration of religious rites. The idea that our Saviour was transfigured on Tabor prevailed extensively among the early Christians, and still reappears often in popular religious works. It is impossible, however, to acquiesce in the correctness of this opinion. It can be proved from the Old Testament and from later history that a fortress or town existed on Tabor from very early times down to b.c. 53 or 50; and, as Josephus says that he strengthened the fortifications there about a.d. 60, it is morally certain that Tabor must have been inhabited during the intervening period, that is, in the days of Christ. Tabor, therefore, could not have been the Mount of Transfiguration [see HERMON]; for when it is said that Jesus took his disciples “up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them,” Matthew 17:1-2, we must understand that he brought them to the summit of the mountain, where they were alone by themselves.
Mount Tabor. The picture gives us a fine view of this remarkable mountain in the holy land. It is in that part of Palestine which was called Galilee in the days of our Saviour, and was a region of picturesque and romantic beauty, comprising hills and plains, mountains and valleys. Travellers are agreed in regarding the view from the summit of Tabor as one of the finest in the holy land.
Tabor
Ta’bor is mentioned in the lists of 1 Chronicles 6 as a city of the Merarite Levites, in the tribe of Zebulun. ver. 1 Chronicles 6:77. The list of the towns of Zebulun, Joshua 19, contains the name of Chisloth-tabor. ver. 1 Chronicles 6:12. It is, therefore, possible, either that Chisloth-tabor is abbreviated into Tabor by the chronicler, or that by the time these later lists were compiled the Merarites had established themselves on the sacred mountain, and that Tabor is Mount Tabor.
Tabor The plain of
Ta’bor, The plain of. This is an incorrect translation, and should be the oak of Tabor. It is mentioned in 1 Samuel 10:3 only, as one of the points in the homeward journey of Saul after his anointing by Samuel.
Tabret
Tabret. [TIMBREL.]
Tabrimon
Tab’rimon (properly Tabrimmon, i.e., good is Rimmon, the Syrian god) the father of Ben-hadad I, king of Syria in the reign of Asa. 1 Kings 15:18. (b.c. before 928.)
Tache
Tache. The word thus rendered occurs only in the description of the structure of the tabernacle and its fittings, Exodus 26:6, Exodus 26:11, Exodus 26:33; Exodus 35:11; Exodus 36:13; Exodus 39:33, and appears to indicate the small books by which a curtain is suspended to the rings from which it hangs, or connected vertically, as in the case of the veil of the holy of holies, with the loops of another curtain.
Tachmonite The
Tach’monite, The. “The Tachmonite that sat in the seat,” chief among David’s captains, 2 Samuel 23:8, is in 1 Chronicles 11:11 called “Jashobeam an Hachmonite,” or, as the margin gives it, “son of Hachmoni.” Kennicott has shown that the words translated “he that sat in the seat” are a corruption of Jashobeam, and that “the Tachmonite” is a corruption of the “son of Hachmoni,” which was the family or local name of Jashobeam. Therefore he concludes “Jashobeam the Hachmonite” to have been the true reading.
Tadmor
Tad’mor (city of palms), called “Tadmor in the wilderness,” is the same as the city known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of Palmyra. It lay between the Euphrates and Hamath, to the southeast of that city, in a fertile tract or oasis of the desert. Being situated at a convenient distance from both the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, it had great advantages for caravan traffic. It was built by Solomon after his conquest of Hamath-zobah. 1 Kings 9:18; 2 Chronicles 8:4. As the city is nowhere else mentioned in the Bible, it would be out of place to enter into a detailed history of it. In the second century a.d. it seems to have been beautified by the emperor Hadrian. In the beginning of the third century—211–217 a.d.—it became a Roman colony under Caracalla. Subsequently, in the reign of Gallienus, the Roman senate invested Odenathus, a senator of Palmyra, with the regal dignity, on account of his services in defeating Sapor, king of Persia. On the assassination of Odenathus, his wife, Zenobia, seems to have conceived the design of erecting Palmyra into an independent monarchy; and in prosecution of this object, she for a while successfully resisted the Roman arms. She was at length defeated and taken captive by the emperor Aurelian, a.d. 273, who left a Roman garrison in Palmyra. This garrison was massacred in a revolt; and Aurelian punished the city by the execution not only of those who were taken in arms, but likewise of common peasants, of old men, women, and children. From this blow Palmyra never recovered, though there are proofs of its having continued to be inhabited until the downfall of the Roman empire. The grandeur and magnificence of the ruins of Palmyra cannot be exceeded, and attest its former greatness. Among the most remarkable are the Tombs, the Temple of the Sun, and the Street of Columns.
Ruins at Tadmor (Palmyra).
Tahan
Ta’han (camp), a descendant of Ephraim. Numbers 26:35. In 1 Chronicles 7:25 he appears as the son of Telah.
Tahanites The
Ta’hanites, The. Numbers 26:35. [TAHAN.]
Tahath
Ta’hath (station).
1. A Kohathite Levite, ancestor of Samuel and Heman. 1 Chronicles 6:24, 1 Chronicles 6:37 (1 Chronicles 6:9, 1 Chronicles 6:22). (b.c. about 1415.)
2. According to the present text, son of Bered, and great-grandson of Ephraim. 1 Chronicles 7:20. Burrington, however, identifies Tahath with Tahan, the son of Ephraim.
3. Grandson of the preceding, as the text now stands. 1 Chronicles 7:20. But Burrington considers him as a son of Ephraim.
Tahath
Ta’hath, the name of a desert station of the Israelites between Makheloth and Tarah. Numbers 33:26. The site has not been identified.
Tahpanhes Tehaphnehes Tahapanes
Tah’panhes, Tehaph’nehes, Tahap’anes, a city of Egypt, mentioned in the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The name is evidently Egyptian, and closely resembles that of the Egyptian queen Tahpenes. It was evidently a town of lower Egypt, near or on the eastern border. When Johanan and the other captains went into Egypt “they came to Tahpanhes.” Jeremiah 43:7. The Jews in Jeremiah’s time remained here. Jeremiah 44:1. It was an important town, being twice mentioned by the latter prophet with Noph or Memphis. Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 46:14. Here stood a house of Pharaoh-hophra before which Jeremiah hid great stones. Jeremiah 43:8-10.
Tahpenes
Tah’penes, an Egyptian queen, was wife of the Pharaoh who received Hadad the Edomite, and who gave him her sister in marriage. 1 Kings 11:18-20. (b.c. about 1000.)
Tahrea
Tah’rea (cunning), son of Micah and grandson of Mephibosheth. 1 Chronicles 9:41. (b.c. after 1037.)
Tahtim-hodshi
Tah’tim-hod’shi (lowlands of Hodshi?), The land of, one of the places visited by Joab during his census of the land of Israel. It occurs between Gilead and Dan-jaan. 2 Samuel 24:6. The name has puzzled all the interpreters. (Kitto says it was probably a section of the upper valley of the Jordan, now called Ard el-Huleh, lying deep down at the western base of Hermon.—Ed.)
Talent
Talent. [WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.]
Talitha cumi
Talitha cumi, two Syriac words, Mark 5:41, signifying damsel, arise.
Talma-i
Tal’ma-i (bold).
1. One of the three sons of “the Anak” who were slain by the men of Judah. Numbers 13:22; Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10. (b.c. 1450.)
2. Son of Ammihud king of Geshur. 2 Samuel 3:3; 2 Samuel 13:37; 1 Chronicles 3:2. He was probably a petty chieftain, dependent on David. (b.c. 1045.)
Talmon
Tal’mon (oppressor), the head of a family of door-keepers in the temple, “the porters for the camps of the sons of Levi.” 1 Chronicles 9:17; Nehemiah 11:19. (b.c. 1013.) Some of his descendants returned with Zerubbabel, Ezra 2:42; Nehemiah 7:45, and were employed in their hereditary office in the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah 12:25.
Talmud
Tal’mud (i.e., doctrine, from the Hebrew word “to learn”) is a large collection of writings, containing a full account of the civil and religious laws of the Jews. It was a fundamental principle of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, that by the side of the written law, regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people, there was an oral law, to complete and to explain the written law. It was an article of faith that in the Pentateuch there was no precept, and no regulation, ceremonial, doctrinal or legal, of which God had not given to Moses all explanations necessary for their application, with the order to transmit them by word of mouth. The classical passage in the Mishna on this subject is the following: “Moses received the (oral) law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue.” This oral law, with the numerous commentaries upon it, forms the Talmud. It consists of two parts, the Mishna and Gemara.
1. The Misha, or “second law,” which contains a compendium of the whole ritual law, was reduced to writing in its present form by Rabbi Jehuda the Holy, a Jew of great wealth and influence, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. Viewed as a whole, the precepts in the Mishna treated men like children, formalizing and defining the minutest particulars of ritual observances. The expressions of “bondage,” of “weak and beggarly elements,” and of “burdens too heavy for men to bear,” faithfully represent the impression produced by their multiplicity. The Mishna is very concisely written, and requires notes. 2. This circumstance led to the commentaries called Gemara (i.e., supplement, completion), which form the second part of the Talmud, and which are very commonly meant when the word “Talmud” is used by itself. There are two Gemaras: one of Jerusalem, in which there is said to be no passage which can be proved to be later than the first half of the fourth century; and the other of Babylon, completed about 500 a.d. The latter is the more important and by far the longer.
Tamah
Ta’mah (laughter). The children of Tamah or Thamah, Ezra 2:53, were among the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 7:55.
Tamar
Ta’mar (palm tree).
1. The wife successively of the two sons of Judah, Er and Onan. Genesis 38:6-30. (b.c. about 1718.) Her importance in the sacred narrative depends on the great anxiety to keep up the lineage of Judah. It seemed as if the family were on the point of extinction. Er and Onan had successively perished suddenly. Judah’s wife, Bathshuah, died; and there only remained a child, Shelah, whom Judah was unwilling to trust to the dangerous union, as it appeared, with Tamar, lest he should meet with the same fate as his brothers. Accordingly she resorted to the desperate expedient of entrapping the father himself into the union which he feared for his son. The fruits of this intercourse were twins, Pharez and Zarah, and through Pharez the sacred line was continued.
2. Daughter of David and Maachah the Geshurite princess, and thus sister of Absalom. 2 Samuel 13:1-32; 1 Chronicles 3:9. (b.c. 1033.) She and her brother were alike remarkable for their extraordinary beauty. This fatal beauty inspired a frantic passion in her half-brother Amnon, the oldest son of David by Ahinoam. In her touching remonstrance two points are remarkable: first, the expression of the infamy of such a crime “in Israel,” implying the loftier standard of morals that prevailed, as compared with other countries at that time; and second, the belief that even this standard might be overborne lawfully by royal authority—“Speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from thee.” The intense hatred of Amnon succeeding to his brutal passion, and the indignation of Tamar at his barbarous insult, even surpassing her indignation at his shameful outrate, are pathetically and graphically told.
3. Daughter of Absalom, 2 Samuel 14:7, became, by her marriage with Uriah of Gibeah, the mother of Maachah, the future queen of Judah, or wife of Abijah. 1 Kings 15:2. (b.c. 1023.)
4. A spot on the southeastern frontier of Judah, named in Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28 only, evidently called from a palm tree. If not Hazazon-tamar, the old name of Engedi, it may be a place called Thamar in the Onomasticon [HAZAZON-TAMAR], a day’s journey south of Hebron.
Tammuz
Tam’muz (sprout of life), properly “the Tammuz,” the article indicating that at some time or other the word had been regarded as an appellative. Ezekiel 8:14. Jerome identifies Tammuz with Adonis, of Grecian mythology, who was fabled to have lost his life while hunting, by a wound from the tusk of a wild boar. He was greatly beloved by the goddess Venus, who was inconsolable at his loss. His blood, according to Ovid, produced the anemone, but according to others the adonium, while the anemone sprang from the tears of Venus. A festival in honor of Adonis was celebrated at Byblus in Phœnicia and in most of the Grecian cities, and even by the Jews when they degenerated into idolatry. It took place in July, and was accompanied by obscene rites.
Tanach
Ta’nach, a slight variation of the name TAANACH. Joshua 21:25.
Tanhumeth
Tan’humeth (consolation), the father of Seraiah in the time of Gedaliah. 2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8. (b.c. before 582.)
Taphath
Ta’phath (ornament), the daughter of Solomon, who was married to ben-Abinadab. 1 Kings 4:11. (b.c. about 1000.)
Taphon
Ta’phon, one of the cities in Judea, fortified by Bacchides. 1 Maccabees 9:50. It is probably the Beth-tappuah of the Old Testament.
Tappuah
Tap’puah (the apple-city).
1. A city of Judah, in the district of the Shefelah or lowland. Joshua 15:34.
2. A place on the boundary of the “children of Joseph.” Joshua 16:8; Joshua 17:8. Its full name was probably En-tappuah. Joshua 17:7. (“Around the city was a district called the land of Tappuah; the city belonged to Ephraim and the land to Manasseh. Joshua 17:8.”—Schaff.)
3. One of the sons of Hebron, of the tribe of Judah. 1 Chronicles 2:43. It is doubtless the same as Beth-tappuah. (b.c. before 1450.)
Tarah
Ta’rah (delay), a desert-station of the Israelites between Tahath and Mithcah. Numbers 33:27.
Taralah
Tar’alah (reeling), one of the towns in the allotment of Benjamin. Joshua 18:27.
Tarea
Tare’a, the same as Tahreah, the son of Micah. 1 Chronicles 8:35.
Tares
Tares. There can be little doubt that the zizania of the parable, Matthew 13:25, denotes the weed called “darnel” (Lolium temulentum). The darnel before it comes into ear is very similar in appearance to wheat; hence the command that the zizania should be left to the harvest, lest while men plucked up the tares “they should root up also the wheat with them.” Dr. Stanley, however, speaks of women and children picking up from the wheat in the cornfields of Samaria the tall green stalks, still called by the Arabs zuwân. “These stalks,” he continues, “if sown designedly throughout the fields, would be inseparable from the wheat, from which, even when growing naturally and by chance, they are at first sight hardly distinguishable.” See also Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” p. 420): “The grain is in just the proper stage to illustrate the parable. In those parts where the grain has headed out, the tares have done the same, and then a child cannot mistake them for wheat or barley; but where both are less developed, the closest scrutiny will often fail to detect them. Even the farmers, who in this country generally weed their fields, do not attempt to separate the one from the other.” The grains of the L. temulentum, if eaten, produce convulsions, and even death.
Tares.
Targum
Tar’gum. [See VERSIONS.]
Tarpelites The
Tar’pelites, The, a race of Assyrian colonists who were planted in the cities of Samaria after the captivity of the northern kingdom of Israel. Ezra 4:9. They have not been identified with any certainty.
Tarshish
Tar’shish (established).
1. Probably Tartessus, a city and emporium of the Phœnicians in the south of Spain, represented as one of the sons of Javan. Genesis 10:4; 1 Kings 10:22; 1 Chronicles 1:7; Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 2:16; Jeremiah 10:9; Ezekiel 27:12, Ezekiel 27:25; Jonah 1:3; Jonah 4:2. The identity of the two places is rendered highly probable by the following circumstances: 1st. There is a very close similarity of name between them, Tartessus being merely Tarshish in the Aramaic form. 2d. There seems to have been a special relation between Tarshish and Tyre, as there was at one time between Tartessus and the Phœnicians. 3d. The articles which Tarshish is stated by the prophet Ezekiel, Ezekiel 27:12, to have supplied to Tyre are precisely such as we know, through classical writers, to have been productions of the Spanish peninsula. In regard to tin, the trade of Tarshish in this metal is peculiarly significant, and, taken in conjunction with similarity of name and other circumstances already mentioned, is reasonably conclusive as to its identity with Tartessus. For even now the countries in Europe or on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea where tin is found are very few; and in reference to ancient times, it would be difficult to name any such countries except Iberia or Spain, Lusitania, which was somewhat less in extent than Portugal, and Cornwall in Great Britain. In the absence of positive proof, we may acquiesce in the statement of Strabo, that the river Bætis (now the Guadalquivir) was formerly called Tartessus, that the city Tartessus was situated between the two arms by which the river flowed into the sea, and that the adjoining country was called Tartessis.
2. From the book of Chronicles there would seem to have been a Tarshish accessible from the Red Sea, in addition to the Tarshish of the south of Spain. Thus, with regard to the ships of Tarshish, which Jehoshaphat caused to be constructed at Ezion-geber on the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, 1 Kings 22:48, it is said in the Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 20:36, that they were made to go to Tarshish; and in like manner the navy of ships, which Solomon had previously made in Ezion-geber, 1 Kings 9:26, is said in the Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 9:21, to have gone to Tarshish with the servants of Hiram. It is not to be supposed that the author of these passages in the Chronicles contemplated a voyage to Tarshish in the south of Spain by going round what has since been called the Cape of Good Hope. The expression “ships of Tarshish” originally meant ships destined to go to Tarshish; and then probably came to signify large Phœnician ships, of a particular size and description, destined for long voyages, just as in English “East Indiaman” was a general name given to vessels, some of which were not intended to go to India at all. Hence we may infer that the word Tarshish was also used to signify any distance place, and in this case would be applied to one in the Indian Ocean. This is shown by the nature of the imports with which the fleet returned, which are specified as “gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.” 1 Kings 10:22. The gold might possibly have been obtained from Africa, or from Ophir in Arabia, and the ivory and the apes might likewise have been imported from Africa; but the peacocks point conclusively, not to Africa, but to India. There are only two species known: both inhabit the mainland and islands of India; so that the mention of the peacock seems to exclude the possibility of the voyage having been to Africa.
Tarsus
Tar’sus, the chief town of Cilicia, “no mean city” in other respects, but illustrious to all time as the birthplace and early residence of the apostle Paul. Acts 9:11; Acts 21:39; Acts 22:3. Even in the flourishing period of Greek history it was a city of some considerable consequence. In the civil wars of Rome it took Cæsar’s side, and on the occasion of a visit from him had its name changed to Juliopolis. Augustus made it a “free city.” It was renowned as a place of education under the early Roman emperors. Strabo compares it in this respect to Athens and Alexandria. Tarsus also was a place of much commerce. It was situated in a wild and fertile plain on the banks of the Cydnus. No ruins of any importance remain.
Tarsus, Birthplace of St. Paul. Mount Taurus in the background.
Tartak
Tar’tak (prince of darkness), one of the gods of the Avite or Avvite colonists of Samaria. 2 Kings 17:31. According to rabbinical tradition, Tartak is said to have been worshipped under the form of an ass.
Tartan
Tar’tan, which occurs only in 2 Kings 18:17 and Isaiah 20:1, has been generally regarded as a proper name; but like Rabsaris and Rabshakeh, it is more probably an official designation, and indicates the Assyrian commander-in-chief.
Tatna-i
Tat’na-i (gift), satrap of the province west of the Euphrates in the time of Darius Hystaspes. Ezra 5:3, Ezra 5:6; Ezra 6:6, Ezra 6:13. (b.c. 520.) The name is thought to be Persian.
Taverns The three
Taverns, The three. [THREE TAVERNS.]
Taxes
Taxes. I. Under the judges, according to the theocratic government contemplated by the law, the only payments incumbent upon the people as of permanent obligation were the Tithes, the First-fruits, the Redemption-money of the first-born, and other offerings as belonging to special occasions. The payment by each Israelite of the half-shekel as “atonement-money,” for the service of the tabernacle, on taking the census of the people, Exodus 30:13, does not appear to have had the character of a recurring tax, but to have been supplementary to the freewill offerings of Exodus 25:1-7, levied for the one purpose of the construction of the sacred tent. In later times, indeed, after the return from Babylon, there was an annual payment for maintaining the fabric and services of the temple; but the fact that this begins by the voluntary compact to pay one third of a shekel, Nehemiah 10:32, shows that till then there was no such payment recognized as necessary. A little later the third became a half, and under the name of the didrachma, Matthew 17:24, was paid by every Jew, in whatever part of the world he might be living. II. The kingdom, with its centralized government and greater magnificence, involved, of course, a larger expenditure, and therefore a heavier taxation. The chief burdens appear to have been—(1) A tithe of the produce both of the soil and of live stock. 1 Samuel 8:15, 1 Samuel 8:17. (2) Forced military service for a month every year. 1 Samuel 8:12; 1 Kings 9:22; 1 Chronicles 27:1. (3) Gifts to the king. 1 Samuel 10:27; 1 Samuel 16:20; 1 Samuel 17:18. (4) Import duties. 1 Kings 10:15. (5) The monopoly of certain branches of commerce. 1 Kings 9:28; 1 Kings 22:48; 1 Kings 10:28-29. (6) The appropriation to the king’s use of the early crop of hay. Amos 7:1. At times, too, in the history of both the kingdoms there were special burdens. A tribute of fifty shekels a head had to be paid by Menahem to the Assyrian king, 2 Kings 15:20, and under his successor Hoshea this assumed the form of an annual tribute. 2 Kings 17:4. III. Under the Persian empire the taxes paid by the Jews were, in their broad outlines, the same in kind as those of other subject races. The financial system which gained for Darius Hystaspes the name of the “shopkeeper king” involved the payment by each satrap of a fixed sum as the tribute due from his province. In Judea, as in other provinces, the inhabitants had to provide in kind for the maintenance of the governor’s household, besides a money payment of forty shekels a day. Nehemiah 5:14-15. In Ezra 4:13, Ezra 4:20; Ezra 7:24, we get a formal enumeration of the three great branches of the revenue. The influence of Ezra secured for the whole ecclesiastical order, from the priests down to the Nethinim, an immunity from all three. Ezra 7:24; but the burden pressed heavily on the great body of the people. IV. Under the Egyptian and Syrian kings the taxes paid by the Jews became yet heavier. The “farming” system of finance was adopted in its worst form. The taxes were put up to auction. The contract sum for those of Phœnicia, Judea, and Samaria had been estimated at about 8000 talents. An unscrupulous adventurer would bid double that sum, and would then go down to the province, and by violence and cruelty, like that of Turkish or Hindoo collectors, squeeze out a large margin of profit for himself. V. The pressure of Roman taxation, if not absolutely heavier, was probably more galling, as being more thorough and systematic, more distinctively a mark of bondage. The capture of Jerusalem by Pompey was followed immediately by the imposition of a tribute, and within a short time the sum thus taken from the resources of the country amounted to 10,000 talents. When Judea became formally a Roman province, the whole financial system of the empire came as a natural consequence. The taxes were systematically farmed, and the publicans appeared as a new curse to the country. The portoria were levied at harbors, piers, and the gates of cities. Matthew 17:24; Romans 13:7. In addition to this there was the poll-tax paid by every Jew, and looked upon, for that reason, as the special badge of servitude. United with this, as part of the same system, there was also, in all probability, a property tax of some kind. In addition to these general taxes, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were subject to a special house-duty about this period.
Taxing
Taxing. The English word now conveys to us more distinctly the notion of a tax or tribute actually levied; but it appears to have been used in the sixteenth century for the simple assessment of a subsidy upon the property of a given county, or the registration of the people for the purpose of a poll-tax. Two distinct registrations, or taxings, are mentioned in the New Testament, both of them by St. Luke. The first is said to have been the result of an edict of the emperor Augustus, that “all the world (i.e., the Roman empire) should be taxed,” Luke 2:1, and is connected by the evangelist with the name of Cyrenius or Quirinus. [CYRENIUS.] The second and more important, Acts 5:37, is distinctly associated, in point of time, with the revolt of Judas of Galilee.
Tebah
Te’bah (slaughter), eldest of the sons of Nahor, by his concubine Reumah. Genesis 22:24. (b.c. 1872.)
Tebaliah
Tebali’ah (purified), third son of Hosah of the children of Merari. 1 Chronicles 26:11. (b.c. 1014.)
Tebeth
Te’beth. [MONTH.]
Tehinnah
Tehin’nah (supplication), the father or founder of Ir-nahash, the city of Nahash, and son of Eshton. 1 Chronicles 4:12. (b.c. about 1083.)
Teil tree
Teil tree. [OAK.]
Tekoa
Teko’a, or Teko’ah (a stockade).
1. A town in the tribe of Judah, 2 Chronicles 11:6, on the range of hills which rise near Hebron and stretch eastward toward the Dead Sea. Jerome says that Tekoa was six Roman miles from Bethlehem, and that as he wrote he had that village daily before his eyes. The “wise woman” whom Joab employed to effect a reconciliation between David and Absalom was obtained from this place. 2 Samuel 14:2. Here also Ira the son of Ikkesh, one of David’s thirty, “the mighty men,” was born, and was called on that account “the Tekoite.” 2 Samuel 23:26. It was one of the places which Rehoboam fortified, at the beginning of his reign, as a defence against invasion from the south. 2 Chronicles 11:6. Some of the people from Tekoa took part in building the walls of Jerusalem, after the return from the captivity. Nehemiah 3:5, Nehemiah 3:27. In Jeremiah 6:1 the prophet exclaims, “Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaceerem.” But Tekoa is chiefly memorable as the birthplace of the prophet Amos. Amos 7:14. Tekoa is known still as Tekû˒a. It lies on an elevated hill, which spreads itself out into an irregular plain of moderate extent. Various ruins exist, such as the walls of houses, cisterns, broken columns and heaps of building-stones.
2. A name occurring in the genealogies of Judah, 1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 4:5, as the son of Ashur. There is little doubt that the town of Tekoa is meant.
Tekoite The
Teko’ite, The. Ira ben-Ikkesh, one of David’s warriors, is thus designated. 2 Samuel 23:26; 1 Chronicles 11:28; 1 Chronicles 27:9. The common people among the Tekoites displayed great activity in the repairs of the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah. Nehemiah 3:5, Nehemiah 3:27.
Tel-abib
Tel-a’bib (cornhill) was probably a city of Chaldæa or Babylonia, not of upper Mesopotamia as generally supposed. Ezekiel 3:15. The whole scene of Ezekiel’s preaching and visions seems to have been Chaldæa proper; and the river Chebar, as already observed, was not the Khabour, but a branch of the Euphrates.
Telah
Te’lah (vigor), a descendant of Ephraim, and ancestor of Joshua. 1 Chronicles 7:25. (b.c. before 1491.)
Tela-im
Tel’a-im (lambs), the place at which Saul collected and numbered his forces before his attack on Amalek, 1 Samuel 15:4, may be identical with TELEM, which see.
Telassar
Telas’sar (Assyrian hill) is mentioned in 2 Kings 19:12 and in Isaiah 37:12 as a city inhabited by “the children of Eden,” which had been conquered and was held in the time of Sennacherib, by the Assyrians. It must have been in western Mesopotamia, in the neighborhood of Harran and Orfa.
Telem
Te’lem (oppression).
1. One of the cities in the extreme south of Judah, Joshua 15:24, probably the same as Telaim. The name Dhullam is found in Van de Velde’s map, attached to a district immediately to the north of the Kubbet el-Baul, south of el Milh and Ar’arah—a position very suitable.
2. A porter or doorkeeper of the temple in the time of Ezra. Ezra 10:24. He is probably the same as TALMON in Nehemiah 12:25.
Tel-harsa
Tel-har’sa, or Tel-hare’sha (hill of the artificer), one of the Babylonian towns or villages mentioned in Ezra 2:59; Nehemiah 7:61, along with Tel-melah and Cherub, probably in the low country near the sea.
Tel-melah
Tel-me’lah. [TEL-HARSA.]
Tema
Te’ma (a desert), the ninth son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15; 1 Chronicles 1:30; whence the tribe called after him, mentioned in Job 6:19; Jeremiah 25:23, and also the land occupied by this tribe. Isaiah 21:13-14. (b.c. after 1850.) The name is identified with Teymá, a small town on the confines of Syria.
Teman
Te’man (the south). A son of Eliphaz, son of Esau by Adah. Genesis 36:11, Genesis 36:15, Genesis 36:42; 1 Chronicles 1:36, 1 Chronicles 1:53. (b.c. about 1792.)
2. A country, and probably a city, named after the Edomite phylarch, or from which the phylarch took his name. The Hebrew signifies “south,” etc., see Job 9:9; Isaiah 43:6; and it is probable that the land of Teman was a southern portion of the land of Edom, or, in a wider sense, that of the sons of the east. Teman is mentioned in five places by the prophets, in four of which it is connected with Edom and in two with Dedan. Jeremiah 49:7-8; Ezekiel 25:13. Eusebius and Jerome mention Teman as a town in their day distant 15 miles from Petra, and a Roman post.
Temami
Tem’ami. [TEMAN.]
Temanite
Te’manite, an inhabitant of Teman.
Temeni
Tem’eni, son of Ashur the father of Tekoa, by his wife Naarah. 1 Chronicles 4:6. (b.c. about 1450.)
Temple
Temple. There is perhaps no building of the ancient world which has excited so much attention since the time of its destruction as the temple which Solomon built at Jerusalem, and its successor as rebuilt by Herod. Its spoils were considered worthy of forming the principal illustration of one of the most beautiful of Roman triumphal arches, and Justinian’s highest architectural ambition was that he might surpass it. Throughout the middle ages it influenced to a considerable degree the forms of Christian churches, and its peculiarities were the watchwords and rallying-points of all associations of buildings. When the French expedition to Egypt, in the first years of this century, had made the world familiar with the wonderful architectural remains of that country, every one jumped to the conclusion that Solomon’s temple must have been designed after an Egyptian model. The discoveries in Assyria by Botta and Layard have within the last twenty years given an entirely new direction to the researches of the restorers. Unfortunately, however, no Assyrian temple has yet been exhumed of a nature to throw much light on this subject, and we are still forced to have recourse to the later buildings at Persepolis, or to general deductions from the style of the nearly contemporary secular buildings at Nineveh and elsewhere, for such illustrations as are available.
The Temple of Solomon.—It was David who first proposed to replace the tabernacle by a more permanent building, but was forbidden for the reasons assigned by the prophet Nathan, 2 Samuel 7:5, etc.; and though he collected materials and made arrangements, the execution of the task was left for his son Solomon. (The gold and silver alone accumulated by David are at the lowest reckoned to have amounted to between two and three billion dollars, a sum which can be paralleled from secular history.—Lange.) Solomon, with the assistance of Hiram king of Tyre, commenced this great undertaking in the fourth year of his reign, b.c. 1012, and completed it in seven years, b.c. 1005. (There were 183,000 Jews and strangers employed on it—of Jews 30,000, by rotation 10,000 a month; of Canaanites 153,600, of whom 70,000 were bearers of burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood and stone, and 3600 overseers. The parts were all prepared at a distance from the site of the building, and when they were brought together the whole immense structure was erected without the sound of hammer, axe, or any tool of iron. 1 Kings 6:7.—Schaff.) The building occupied the site prepared for it by David, which had formerly been the threshingfloor of the Jebusite Ornan or Araunah, on Mount Moriah. The whole area enclosed by the outer walls formed a square of about 600 feet; but the sanctuary itself was comparatively small, inasmuch as it was intended only for the ministrations of the priests, the congregation of the people assembling in the courts. In this and all other essential points the temple followed the model of the tabernacle, from which it differed chiefly by having chambers built about the sanctuary for the abode of the priests and attendants and the keeping of treasures and stores. In all its dimensions, length, breadth, and height, the sanctuary itself was exactly double the size of the tabernacle, the ground plan measuring 80 cubits by 40, while that of the tabernacle was 40 by 20, and the height of the temple being 30 cubits, while that of the tabernacle was 15. [The reader should compare the following account with the article TABERNACLE.] As in the tabernacle, the temple consisted of three parts, the porch, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The front of the porch was supported, after the manner of some Egyptian temples, by the two great brazen pillars, Jachin and Boaz, 18 cubits high, with capitals of 5 cubits more, adorned with lily-work and pomegranates. 1 Kings 7:15-22. The places of the two “veils” of the tabernacle were occupied by partitions, in which were folding-doors. The whole interior was lined with woodwork richly carved and overlaid with gold. Indeed, both within and without the building was conspicuous chiefly by the lavish use of the gold of Ophir and Parvaim. It glittered in the morning sun (it has been well said) like the sanctuary of an El Dorado. Above the sacred ark, which was placed, as of old, in the most holy place, were made new cherubim, one pair of whose wings met above the ark, and another pair reached to the walls behind them. In the holy place, besides the altar of incense, which was made of cedar overlaid with gold, there were seven golden candlesticks instead of one, and the table of shew-bread was replaced by ten golden tables, bearing, besides the shew-bread, the innumerable golden vessels for the service of the sanctuary. The outer court was no doubt double the size of that of the tabernacle; and we may therefore safely assume that it was 10 cubits in height, 100 cubits north and south, and 200 east and west. It contained an inner court, called the “court of the priests”; but the arrangement of the courts and of the porticos and gateways of the enclosure, though described by Josephus, belongs apparently to the temple of Herod. In the outer court there was a new altar of burnt offering, much larger than the old one. [ALTAR.] Instead of the brazen laver there was “a molten sea” of brass, a masterpiece of Hiram’s skill, for the ablution of the priests. It was called a “sea” from its great size. [SEA, MOLTEN.] The chambers for the priests were arranged in successive stories against the sides of the sanctuary; not, however, reaching to the top, so as to leave space for the windows to light the holy and the most holy place. We are told by Josephus and the Talmud that there was a superstructure on the temple equal in height to the lower part; and this is confirmed by the statement in the books of Chronicles that Solomon “overlaid the upper chambers with gold.” 2 Chronicles 3:9. Moreover, “the altars on the top of the upper chamber,” mentioned in the books of the Kings, 2 Kings 23:12, were apparently upon the temple. The dedication of the temple was the grandest ceremony ever performed under the Mosaic dispensation. The temple was destroyed on the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, b.c. 586.
Level of the Temple Platform. (After Beswick, 1875.)
On the Site of Solomon’s Temple at Jerusalem.
Solomon’s Porch.
Temple of Zerubbabel.—We have very few particulars regarding the temple which the Jews erected after their return from the captivity (about b.c. 520), and no description that would enable us to realize its appearance. But there are some dimensions given in the Bible and elsewhere which are extremely interesting, as affording points of comparison between it and the temple which preceded it and the one erected after it. The first and most authentic are those given in the book of Ezra, ch. Ezra 6:3, when quoting the decree of Cyrus, wherein it is said, “Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof three-score cubits, and the breadth thereof three-score cubits, with three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber.” Josephus quotes this passage almost literally, but in doing so enables us to translate with certainty the word here called row as “story”—as indeed the sense would lead us to infer. We see by the description in Ezra that this temple was about one third larger than Solomon’s. From these dimensions we gather that if the priests and Levites and elders of families were disconsolate at seeing how much more sumptuous the old temple was than the one which on account of their poverty they had hardly been able to erect, Ezra 3:12, it certainly was not because it was smaller; but it may have been that the carving and the gold and the other ornaments of Solomon’s temple far surpassed this, and the pillars of the portico and the veils may all have been far more splendid; so also probably were the vessels; and all this is what a Jew would mourn over far more than mere architectural splendor. In speaking of these temples we must always bear in mind that their dimensions were practically very far inferior to those of the heathen. Even that of Ezra is not larger than an average parish church of the last century; Solomon’s was smaller. It was the lavish display of the precious metals, the elaboration of carved ornament, and the beauty of the textile fabrics, which made up their splendor and rendered them so precious in the eyes of the people.
Temple of Ezekiel.—The vision of a temple which the prophet Ezekiel saw while residing on the banks of the Chebar in Babylonia, in the twenty-fifth year of the captivity, does not add much to our knowledge of the subject. It is not a description of a temple that ever was built or ever could be erected at Jerusalem, and can consequently only be considered as the beau idıal of what a Shemitic temple ought to be.
Temple of Herod.—Herod the Great announced to the people assembled at the Passover, b.c. 20 or 19, his intention of restoring the temple; (probably a stroke of policy on the part of Herod to gain the favor of the Jews and to make his name great.) If we may believe Josephus, he pulled down the whole edifice to its foundations, and laid them anew on an enlarged scale; but the ruins still exhibit, in some parts, what seem to be the foundations laid by Zerubbabel, and beneath them the more massive substructions of Solomon. The new edifice was a stately pile of Græco-Roman architecture, built in white marble with gilded acroteria. It is minutely described by Josephus, and the New Testament has made us familiar with the pride of the Jews in its magnificence. A different feeling, however, marked the commencement of the work, which met with some opposition from the fear that what Herod had begun he would not be able to finish. He overcame all jealousy by engaging not to pull down any part of the existing buildings till all the materials for the new edifice were collected on its site. Two years appear to have been occupied in preparations—among which Josephus mentions the teaching of some of the priests and Levites to work as masons and carpenters—and then the work began. The holy “house,” including the porch, sanctuary, and holy of holies, was finished in a year and a half, b.c. 16. Its completion, on the anniversary of Herod’s inauguration, was celebrated by lavish sacrifices and a great feast. About b.c. 9—eight years from the commencement—the court and cloisters of the temple were finished, and the bridge between the south cloister and the upper city (demolished by Pompey) was doubtless now rebuilt with that massive masonry of which some remains still survive. (The work, however, was not entirely ended till a.d. 64, under Herod Agrippa II. So the statement in John 2:20 is correct.—Schaff.) The temple or holy “house” itself was in dimensions and arrangement very similar to that of Solomon, or rather that of Zerubbabel—more like the latter; but this was surrounded by an inner enclosure of great strength and magnificence, measuring as nearly as can be made out 180 cubits by 240, and adorned by porches and ten gateways of great magnificence; and beyond this again was an outer enclosure measuring externally 400 cubits each way, which was adorned with porticos of greater splendor than any we know of as attached to any temple of the ancient world. The temple was certainly situated in the southwest angle of the area now known as the Haram area at Jerusalem, and its dimensions were what Josephus states them to be—400 cubits, or one stadium, each way. At the time when Herod rebuilt it, he enclosed a space “twice as large” as that before occupied by the temple and its courts—an expression that probable must not be taken too literally, at least if we are to depend on the measurements of Hecatæus. According to them, the whole area of Herod’s temple was between four and five times greater than that which preceded it. What Herod did, apparently, was to take in the whole space between the temple and the city wall on its east side, and to add a considerable space on the north and south to support the porticos which he added there. As the temple terrace thus became the principal defence of the city on the east side, there were no gates or openings in that direction, and being situated on a sort of rocky brow—as evidenced from its appearance in the vaults that bounded it on this side—it was at all later times considered unattackable from the eastward. The north side, too, where not covered by the fortress Antonia, became part of the defences of the city, and was likewise without external gates. On the south side, which was enclosed by the wall of Ophel, there were double gates nearly in the centre. These gates still exist at a distance of about 365 feet from the southwestern angle, and are perhaps the only architectural features of the temple of Herod which remain in situ. This entrance consists of a double archway of Cyclopean architecture on the level of the ground, opening into a square vestibule measuring 40 feet each way. From this a double tunnel, nearly 200 feet in length, leads to a flight of steps which rise to the surface in the court of the temple, exactly at that gateway of the inner temple which led to the altar, and is the one of the four gateways on this side by which any one arriving from Ophel would naturally wish to enter the inner enclosure. We learn from the Talmud that the gate of the inner temple to which this passage led was called the “water gate”; and it is interesting to be able to identify a spot so prominent in the description of Nehemiah. Nehemiah 12:37. Toward the west there were four gateways to the external enclosure of the temple. The most magnificent part of the temple, in an architectural point of view, seems certainly to have been the cloisters which were added to the outer court when it was enlarged by Herod. The cloisters in the west, north, and east sides were composed of double rows of Corinthian columns, 25 cubits or 37 feet 6 inches in height, with flat roof, and resting against the outer wall of the temple. These, however, were immeasurably surpassed in magnificence by the royal porch or Stoa Basilica, which overhung the southern wall. It consisted of a nave and two aisles, that toward the temple being open, that toward the country closed by a wall. The breadth of the centre aisle was 45 feet; of the side aisles, 30 from centre to centre of the pillars; their height 50 feet, and that of the centre aisle 100 feet. Its section was thus something in excess of that of York Cathedral, while its total length was one stadium or 600 Greek feet, or 100 feet in excess of York or our largest Gothic cathedrals. This magnificent structure was supported by 162 Corinthian columns. The porch on the east was called “Solomon’s Porch.” The court of the temple was very nearly a square. It may have been exactly so, for we have not all the details to enable us to feel quite certain about it. To the eastward of this was the court of the women. The great ornament of these inner courts seems to have been their gateways, the three especially on the north and south leading to the temple court. These, according to Josephus, were of great height, strongly fortified and ornamented with great elaboration. But the wonder of all was the great eastern gate leading from the court of the women to the upper court. It was in all probability the one called the “beautiful gate” in the New Testament. Immediately within this gateway stood the altar of burnt offerings. Both the altar and the temple were enclosed by a low parapet, one cubit in height, placed so as to keep the people separate from the priests while the latter were performing their functions. Within this last enclosure, toward the westward, stood the temple itself. As before mentioned, its internal dimensions were the same as those of the temple of Solomon. Although these remained the same, however, there seems no reason to doubt that the whole plan was augmented by the pteromata, or surrounding parts, being increased from 10 to 20 cubits, so that the third temple, like the second, measured 60 cubits across and 100 cubits east and west. The width of the façade was also augmented by wings or shoulders projecting 20 cubits each way, making the whole breadth 100 cubits, or equal to the length. There is no reason for doubting that the sanctuary always stood on identically the same spot in which it had been placed by Solomon a thousand years before it was rebuilt by Herod. The temple of Herod was destroyed by the Romans under Titus, Friday, August 9, a.d. 70. A Mohammedan mosque now stands on its site.
Plan of Herod’s Temple. (1. The Holy of Holies; 2. The Holy Place; 3. The Court of the Priests; 4. Altar of Burnt Offering; 5. Inner Gate of Temple; 6. Court of the Women.)
The Temple of Herod—Restored by Fergusson.
Ten Commandments
Ten Commandments. The popular name in this, as in so many instances, is not that of Scripture. There we have the “Ten Words,” Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; Deuteronomy 10:4; the “Covenant,” Ex., Deut. ll. cc.; 1 Kings 8:21; 2 Chronicles 6:11, etc., or, very often as the solemn attestation of the divine will, the “Testimony.” Exodus 25:16, Exodus 25:21; Exodus 31:18, etc. The The circumstances in which the Ten great Words were first given to the people surrounded them with an awe which attached to no other precept. In the midst of the cloud and the darkness and the flashing lightning and the fiery smoke and the thunder like the voice of a trumpet, Moses was called to Mount Sinai to receive the law without which the people would cease to be a holy nation. Exodus 19:20. Here, as elsewhere, Scripture unites two facts which men separate. God, and not man, was speaking to the Israelites in those terrors, and yet, in the language of later inspired teachers, other instrumentality was not excluded. No other words were proclaimed in like manner. And the record was as exceptional as the original revelation. Of no other words could it be said that they were written as these were written, engraved on the Tables of Stone, not as originating in man’s contrivance or sagacity, but by the power of the Eternal Spirit, by the “finger of God.” Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:16. The number Ten was, we can hardly doubt, itself significant to Moses and the Israelites. The received symbol, then and at all times, of completeness, it taught the people that the law of Jehovah was perfect. Psalm 19:7. The term “Commandments” had come into use in the time of Christ. Luke 18:20. Their division into two tables is not only expressly mentioned, but the stress laid upon the two leaves no doubt that the distinction was important, and that it answered to that summary of the law which was made both by Moses and by Christ into two precepts; so that the first table contained Duties to God, and the second, Duties to our Neighbor.
There are three principal divisions of the two tables:
1. That of the Roman Catholic Church, making the first table contain three commandments, and the second the other seven. 2. The familiar division, referring the first four to our duty toward God and the six remaining to our duty toward man. 3. The division recognized by the old Jewish writers, Josephus and Philo, which places five commandments in each table. It has been maintained that the law of filial duty, being a close consequence of God’s fatherly relation to us, may be referred to the first table. But this is to place human parents on a level with God, and, by parity of reasoning, the Sixth Commandment might be added to the first table, as murder is the destruction of God’s image in man. Far more reasonable is the view which regards the authority of parents as heading the second table, as the earthly reflex of that authority of the Father of his people and of all men which heads the first, and as the first principle of the whole law of love to our neighbor; because we are all brethren, and the family is, for good and ill, the model of the state. “The Decalogue differs from all the other legislation of Moses: (1) It was proclaimed by God himself in a most public and solemn manner. (2) It was given under circumstances of most appalling majesty and sublimity. (3) It was written by the finger of God on two tables of stone. Deuteronomy 5:22. (4) It differed from any and all other laws given to Israel in that it was comprehensive and general rather than specific and particular. (5) It was complete, being one finished whole, to which nothing was to be added, from which nothing was ever taken away. (6) The law of the Ten Commandments was honored by Jesus Christ as embodying the substance of the law of God enjoined upon man. (7) It can scarcely be doubted that Jesus had his eye specially if not exclusively on this law, Matthew 5:18, as one never to be repealed, from which not one jot or tittle should ever pass away. (8) It is marked by wonderful simplicity and brevity; such a contrast to our human legislation, our British statute-book for instance, which it would need an elephant to carry and an Œdipus to interpret.”
Tent
Tent. Among the leading characteristics of the nomad races, those two have always been numbered whose origin has been ascribed to Jabal the son of Lamech, Genesis 4:20, viz., to be tent-dwellers and keepers of cattle. The same may be said of the forefathers of the Hebrew race; nor was it until the return into Canaan from Egypt that the Hebrews became inhabitants of cities. An Arab tent is called beit, “house”; its covering consists of stuff, about three quarters of a yard broad, made of black goat’s-hair, Song of Solomon 1:5, laid parallel with the tent’s length. This is sufficient to resist the heaviest rain. The tent-poles or columns are usually nine in number, placed in three groups; but many tents have only one pole, others two or three. The ropes which hold the tent in its place are fastened, not to the tent-cover itself, but to loops consisting of a leathern thong tied to the ends of a stick, round which is twisted a piece of old cloth, which is itself sewed to the tent-cover. The ends of the tent-ropes are fastened to short sticks or pins, which are driven into the ground with a mallet. Judges 4:21. Round the back and sides of the tent runs a piece of stuff removable at pleasure to admit air. The tent is divided into two apartments, separated by a carpet partition drawn across the middle of the tent and fastened to the three middle posts. When the pasture near an encampment is exhausted, the tents are taken down, packed on camels and removed. Genesis 26:17, Genesis 26:22, Genesis 26:25; Isaiah 38:12. In choosing places for encampment, Arabs prefer the neighborhood of trees, for the sake of the shade and coolness which they afford. Genesis 18:4, Genesis 18:8.
Arab Tents.
Terah
Te’rah (station), the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and through them the ancestor of the great families of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites, Moabites, and Ammonites. Genesis 11:24-32. The account given of him in the Old Testament narrative is very brief. We learn from it simply that he was an idolater, Joshua 24:2, that he dwelt beyond the Euphrates in Ur of the Chaldees, Genesis 11:28, and that in the southwesterly migration, which from some unexplained cause he undertook in his old age, he went with his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai, and his grandson Lot, “to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.” Genesis 11:31. And finally, “the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.” Genesis 11:32. (b.c. 1921.)
Teraphim
Teraphim. This word occurs only in the plural, and denotes images connected with magical rites. The derivation of the name is obscure. In one case—1 Samuel 19:13, 1 Samuel 19:16—a single statue seems to be intended by the plural. The teraphim, translated “images” in the Authorized Version, carried away from Laban by Rachel were regarded by Laban as gods, and it would therefore appear that they were used by those who added corrupt practices to the patriarchal religion. Teraphim again are included among Micah’s images. Judges 17:3-5; Judges 18:17-18, Judges 18:20. Teraphim were consulted for oracular answers by the Israelites, Zechariah 10:2; comp. Judges 18:5-6; 1 Samuel 15:22-23; 1 Samuel 19:13, 1 Samuel 19:16, LXX, and 2 Kings 23:24, and by the Babylonians in the case of Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel 21:19-22.
Teraphim.
Teresh
Te’resh (strictness), one of the two eunuchs whose plot to assassinate Ahasuerus was discovered by Mordecai. Esther 2:21; Esther 6:2. He was hanged. (b.c. 479.)
Tertius
Ter’tius (third), probably a Roman, was the amanuensis of Paul in writing the Epistle to the Romans. Romans 16:22. (a.d. 55.)
Tertullus
Tertul’lus (diminutive from Tertius), “a certain orator,” Acts 24:1, who was retained by the high priest and Sanhedrin to accuse the apostle Paul at Cæsarea before the Roman procurator Antonius Felix. He evidently belonged to the class of professional orators. We may infer that Tertullus was of Roman, or at all events of Italian, origin. (a.d. 55.)
Testament New
Tes’tament, New. [NEW TESTAMENT; BIBLE.]
Testament Old
Tes’tament, Old. [OLD TESTAMENT; BIBLE.]
Tetrarch
Tetrarch, properly the sovereign or governor of the fourth part of a country. Matthew 14:1; Luke 3:1; Luke 9:7; Acts 13:1. The title was, however, often applied to any one who governed a Roman province, of whatever size. The title of king was sometimes assigned to a tetrarch. Matthew 14:9; Mark 6:14, Mark 6:22.
Thaddeus
Thadde’us, one of the twelve apostles. Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18. From a comparison with the catalogue of St. Luke, Luke 6:16; Acts 1:13, it seems scarcely possible to doubt that the three names of Judas, Lebbeus, and Thaddeus were borne by one and the same person. [See JUDE.]
Thahash
Tha’hash (badger), son of Nahor by his concubine Reumah. Genesis 22:24. (b.c. 1880.)
Thamah
Tha’mah (laughter). “The children of Thamah” were a family of Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:53.
Thamar
Tha’mar. TAMAR,
1. Matthew 1:3.
Thank offering
Thank offering, or Peace offering, the properly eucharistic offering among the Jews, in its theory resembling the meat offering, and therefore indicating that the offerer was already reconciled to and in covenant with God. Its ceremonial is described in Leviticus 3. The peace offerings, unlike other sacrifices, were not ordained to be offered in fixed and regular course. The only constantly-recurring peace offering appears to have been that of the two firstling lambs at Pentecost. Leviticus 23:19. The general principle of the peace offering seems to have been that it should be entirely spontaneous, offered as occasion should arise, from the feeling of the sacrificer himself. Leviticus 19:5. On the first institution, Leviticus 7:11-17, peace offerings are divided into “offerings of thanksgiving” and “vows or freewill offerings”; of which latter class the offering by a Nazarite on the completion of his vow is the most remarkable. Numbers 6:14. We find accordingly peace offerings offered for the people on a great scale at periods of unusual solemnity or rejoicing. In two cases only—Judges 20:26; 2 Samuel 24:25—peace offerings are mentioned as offered with burnt offerings at a time of national sorrow and fasting.
Thara
Tha’ra. Terah the father of Abraham. Luke 3:34.
Tharra
Thar’ra, Esther 12:1, a corrupt form of Teresh.
Tharshish
Thar’shish.
1. In this more accurate form the translators of the Authorized Version have given in two passages—1 Kings 10:22; 1 Kings 22:48—the name elsewhere presented as Tarshish.
2. A Benjamite, one of the family of Bilhan and the house of Jediael. 1 Chronicles 7:10 only.
Theatre
Theatre. For the explanation of the biblical allusions, two or three points only require notice. The Greek term, like the corresponding English term, denotes the place where dramatic performances are exhibited, and also the scene itself or spectacle which is witnessed there. It occurs in the first or local sense in Acts 19:29. The other sense of the term “theatre” occurs in 1 Corinthians 4:9.
Thebes
Thebes (Authorized Version No, the multitude of No, populous No), a chief city of ancient Egypt, long the capital of the upper country, and the seat of the Diospolitan dynasties, that ruled over all Egypt at the era of its highest splendor. It was situated on both sides of the Nile, 400 or 500 miles from its mouth. The sacred name of Thebes was P-amen, “the abode of Amon,” which the Greeks reproduced in their diospolis, especially with the addition the Great. No-amon is the name of Thebes in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jeremiah 46:25; Nahum 3:8. Ezekiel uses No simply to designate the Egyptian seat of Amon. Ezekiel 30:14, Ezekiel 30:16. [NO-AMON.] Its origin and early allusions to it.—The origin of the city is lost in antiquity. Niebuhr is of opinion that Thebes was much older than Memphis, and that, “after the centre of Egyptian life was transferred to lower Egypt, Memphis acquired its greatness through the ruin of Thebes.” But both cities date from our earliest authentic knowledge of Egyptian history. The first allusion to Thebes in classical literature is the familiar passage of the Iliad (ix. 381–385): “Egyptian Thebes, where are vast treasures laid up in the houses; where are a hundred gates, and from each two hundred men go forth with horses and chariots.” In the first century before Christ, Diodorus visited Thebes, and he devotes several sections of his general work to its history and appearance. Though he saw the city when it had sunk to quite secondary importance, he confirms the tradition of its early grandeur—its circuit of 140 stadia, the size of its public edifices, the magnificence of its temples, the number of its monuments, the dimensions of its private houses, some of them four or five stories high—all giving it an air of grandeur and beauty surpassing not only all other cities of Egypt, but of the world. Monuments.—The monuments of Thebes are the most reliable witnesses for the ancient splendor of the city. These are found in almost equal proportions upon both sides of the river. The plan of the city, as indicated by the principal monuments, was nearly quadrangular, measuring two miles from north to south and four from east to west. Its four great landmarks were, Karnak and Luxor upon the eastern or Arabian side, and Qoornah and Medeenet Haboo upon the western or Libyan side. There are indications that each of these temples may have been connected with those facing it upon two sides by grand dromoi, lined with sphinxes and other colossal figures. Upon the western bank there was almost a continuous line of temples and public edifices for a distance of two miles, from Qoornah to Medeenet Haboo; and Wilkinson conjectures that from a point near the latter, perhaps in the line of the colossi, the “Royal street” ran down to the river, which was crossed by a ferry terminating at Luxor, on the eastern side. Behind this long range of temples and palaces are the Libyan hills, which for a distance of five miles are excavated to the depth of several hundred feet for sepulchral chambers. Some of these, in the number and variety of their chambers, the finish of their sculptures, and the beauty and freshness of their frescoes, are among the most remarkable monuments of Egyptian grandeur and skill. The eastern side of the river is distinguished by the remains of Luxor and Karnak, the latter being of itself a city of temples. The approach to Karnak from the south is marked by a series of majestic gateways and towers, which were the appendages of later times to the original structure. The temple properly faces the river, i.e., toward the northwest. The courts and propylæa connected with this structure occupy a space nearly 1800 feet square, and the buildings represent almost every dynasty of Egypt. Ezekiel proclaims the destruction of Thebes by the arm of Babylon, Ezekiel 30:14-16; and Jeremiah predicted the same overthrow. Jeremiah 46:25-26. The city lies today a nest of Arab hovels amid crumbling columns and drifting sands. The Persian invader (Cambyses, b.c. 525) completed the destruction that the Babylonian had begun.
Ruins at Thebes (No).
Temple at Karnak (Thebes). Columns in the great Hall. (From a Photograph.)
Avenue of Sphinxes and Propylæa at Karnak.
Thebez
The’bez (conspicuous), a place memorable for the death of the bravo Abimelech, Judges 9:50, was known to Eusebius and Jerome, in whose time it was situated “in the district of Neapolis,” 13 Roman miles therefrom, on the road to Scythopolis. There it still is, its name—Tubâs—hardly changed.
Thelasar
Thel’asar. [TEL-ASSAR.]
Theophilus
Theoph’ilus (friend of God), the person to whom St. Luke inscribes his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. Luke 1:3; Acts 1:1. From the honorable epithet applied to him in Luke 1:3, it has been argued with much probability that he was a person in high official position. All that can be conjectured with any degree of safety concerning him comes to this, that he was a Gentile of rank and consideration, who came under the influence of St. Luke or under that of St. Paul at Rome, and was converted to the Christian faith.
Thessalonians First Epistle to the
Thessalo’nians, First Epistle to the, was written by the apostle Paul at Corinth, a few months after he had founded the church at Thessalonica, at the close of the year a.d. 52 or the beginning of 53. The Epistles to the Thessalonians, then (for the second followed the first after no long interval), are the earliest of St. Paul’s writings—perhaps the earliest written records of Christianity. It is interesting, therefore, to compare the Thessalonian epistles with the later letters, and to note the points of difference. These differences are mainly threefold.
1. In the general style of these earlier letters there is greater simplicity and less exuberance of language. 2. The antagonism to St. Paul is not the same. Here the opposition comes from Jews. A period of five years changes the aspect of the controversy. The opponents of St. Paul are then no longer Jews so much as Judaizing Christians. 3. Many of the distinctive doctrines of Christianity were yet not evolved and distinctly enunciated till the needs of the Church drew them out into prominence at a later date. It has often been observed, for instance, that there is in the Epistles to the Thessalonians no mention of the characteristic contrast of “faith and works”; that the word “justification” does not once occur; that the idea of dying with Christ and living with Christ, so frequent in St. Paul’s later writings, is absent in these. In the Epistles to the Thessalonians, the gospel preached is that of the coming of Christ, rather than of the cross of Christ. The occasion of this epistle was as follows: St. Paul had twice attempted to revisit Thessalonica, and both times had been disappointed. Thus prevented from seeing them in person, he had sent Timothy to inquire and report to him as to their condition. 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5. Timothy returned with most favorable tidings, reporting not only their progress in Christian faith and practice, but also their strong attachment to their old teacher. 1 Thessalonians 3:6-10. The First Epistle to the Thessalonians is the outpouring of the apostle’s gratitude on receiving this welcome news. At the same time the report of Timothy was not unmixed with alloy. There were certain features in the condition of the Thessalonian church which called for St. Paul’s interference, and to which he addresses himself in his letter.
1. The very intensity of their Christian faith, dwelling too exclusively on the day of the Lord’s coming, had been attended with evil consequences. On the other hand, a theoretical difficulty had been felt. Certain members of the church had died, and there was great anxiety lest they should be excluded from any share in the glories of the Lord’s advent. ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. 2. The Thessalonians needed consolation and encouragement under persecution. ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 1 Thessalonians 3:2-4. 3. An unhealthy state of feeling with regard to spiritual gifts was manifesting itself. ch. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-20. 4. There was the danger of relapsing into their old heathen profligacy. ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:4-8. Yet notwithstanding all these drawbacks, the condition of the Thessalonian church was highly satisfactory, and the most cordial relations existed between St. Paul and his converts there. This honorable distinction it shares with the other great church of Macedonia, that of Philippi. The epistle is rather practical than doctrinal. The external evidence in favor of the genuineness of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians is chiefly negative, but this is important enough. There is no trace that it was ever disputed at any age or in any section of the Church, or even by any individual, till the present century. Toward the close of the second century, from Irenæus downward, we find this epistle directly quoted and ascribed to Paul. The evidence derived from the character of the epistle itself is so strong that it may fairly be called irresistible.
Thessalonians Second Epistle to the
Thessalo’nians, Second Epistle to the, appears to have been written from Corinth not very long after the first, for Silvanus and Timotheus were still with St. Paul 2 Thessalonians 1:1. In the former letter we saw chiefly the outpouring of strong personal affection, occasioned by the renewal of the apostle’s intercourse with the Thessalonians, and the doctrinal and hortatory portions are there subordinate. In the Second Epistle, on the other hand, his leading motive seems to have been the desire to correcting errors in the church of Thessalonica. We notice two points especially which call for his rebuke:—First, it seems that the anxious expectation of the Lord’s advent, instead of subsiding, had gained ground since the writing of the First Epistle. Second, the apostle had also a personal ground of complaint. His authority was not denied by any, but it was tampered with, and an unauthorized use was made of his name. It will be seen that the teaching of the Second Epistle is corrective of or rather supplemental to that of the first, and therefore presupposes it. This epistle, in the range of subject as well as in style and general character, closely resembles the first; and the remarks made on that epistle apply for the most part equally well to this. The structure also is somewhat similar, the main body of the epistle being divided into two parts in the same way, and each part closing with a prayer. ch. 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 3:16. The epistle ends with a special direction and benediction. ch. 2 Thessalonians 3:17-18. The external evidence in favor of the Second Epistle is somewhat more definite than that which can be brought in favor of the first. The internal character of the epistle too, as in the former case, bears the strongest testimony to its Pauline origin. Its genuineness, in fact, was never questioned until the beginning of the present century.
Thessalonica
Thessaloni’ca. The original name of this city was Therma; and that part of the Macedonian shore on which it was situated retained through the Roman period the designation of the Thermaic Gulf. Cassander the son of Antipater rebuilt and enlarged Therma, and named it after his wife Thessalonica, the sister of Alexander the Great. The name ever since, under various slight modifications, has been continuous, and the city itself has never ceased to be eminent. Salonı̂ki is still the most important town of European Turkey, next after Constantinople. Strabo in the first century speaks of Thessalonica as the most populous city in Macedonia. Visit of Paul.—St. Paul visited Thessalonica (with Silas and Timothy) during his second missionary journey, and introduced Christianity there. The first scene of the apostle’s work at Thessalonica was the synagogue. Acts 17:2-3. It is stated that the ministrations among the Jews continued for three weeks. ver. Acts 17:2. Not that we are obliged to limit to this time the whole stay of the apostle at Thessalonica. A flourishing church was certainly formed there; and the epistles show that its elements were more Gentile than Jewish. [For persecution and further history see PAUL.] Circumstances which led Paul to Thessalonica.—Three circumstances must here be mentioned which illustrate in an important manner this visit and this journey as well as the two Epistles to the Thessalonians.
1. This was the chief station on the great Roman road called the Via Egnatia, which connected Rome with the whole region to the north of the Ægean Sea. 2. Placed as it was on this great road, and in connection with other important Roman ways, Thessalonica was an invaluable centre for the spread of the gospel. In fact it was nearly if not quite on a level with Corinth and Ephesus in its share of the commerce of the Levant. 3. The circumstance noted in Acts 17:1, that here was the synagogue of the Jews in this part of Macedonia, had evidently much to do with the apostle’s plans, and also doubtless with his success. Trade would inevitably bring Jews to Thessalonica; and it is remarkable that they have ever since had a prominent place in the annals of the city. Later ecclesiastical history.—During several centuries this city was the bulwark, not simply of the later Greek empire, but of Oriental Christendom, and was largely instrumental in the conversion of the Slavonians and Bulgarians. Thus it received the designation of “the orthodox city”; and its struggles are very prominent in the writings of the Byzantine historians.
Thessalonica.
Theudas
Theu’das (God-given), the name of an insurgent mentioned in Gamaliel’s speech before the Jewish council, Acts 5:35-39, at the time of the arraignment of the apostles. He appeared, according to Luke’s account, at the head of about four hundred men. He was probably one of the insurrectionary chiefs or fanatics by whom the land was overrun in the last year of Herod’s reign. Josephus speaks of a Theudas who played a similar part in the time of Claudius, about a.d. 44; but the Theudas mentioned by St. Luke must be a different person from the one spoken of by Josephus.