Smith's Bible Dictionary

D

Dabareh — Dorcas

Dabareh

Dab’areh (pasture), Joshua 21:28, or Daberath, a town on the boundary of Zebulun. Joshua 19:12. Under the name of Debarieh it still lies at the western foot of Tabor.

Dabbasheth

Dab’basheth (a hill-place), a town on the boundary of Zebulun. Joshua 19:11.

Da’gon (a fish), apparently the masculine, 1 Samuel 5:3, 1 Samuel 5:4, correlative of Atargatis, was the national god of the Philistines. The most famous temples of Dagon were at Gaza, Judges 16:21-30, and Ashdod. 1 Samuel 5:5, 1 Samuel 5:6; 1 Chronicles 10:10. The latter temple was destroyed by Jonathan in the Maccabæan wars. Traces of the worship of Dagon likewise appear in the names Caphar-dagon (near Jamnia) and Beth-dagon in Judah, Joshua 15:41, and Asher. Joshua 19:27. Dagon was represented with the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. 1 Samuel 5:5. The fish-like form was a natural emblem of fruitfulness, and as such was likely to be adopted by seafaring tribes in the representation of their gods.

The Fish-God. (From a bas-relief from Khorsabad.)

Dala-iah

Dala-i’ah (freed by Jehovah), a descendant of the royal family of Judah. 1 Chronicles 3:24.

Dalmanutha

Dalmanu’tha, a town on the west side of the Sea of Galilee, near Magdala. Matthew 15:39 and Mark 8:10. [MAGDALA.] Dalmanutha probably stood at the place called ˒Ain-el-Bârideh, “the cold fountain.”

Dalmatia

Dalma’tia, a mountainous district on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. St. Paul sent Titus there. 2 Timothy 4:10.

Dalphon

Dal’phon (swift), the second of the ten sons of Haman. Esther 9:7. (b.c. 510.)

Damaris

Dam’aris (a heifer), an Athenian woman converted to Christianity by St. Paul’s preaching. Acts 17:34. (a.d. 48.) Chrysostom and others held her to have been the wife of Dionysius the Areopagite.

Damascus

Damas’cus, one of the most ancient and most important of the cities of Syria. It is situated 130 miles northeast of Jerusalem, in a plain of vast size and of extreme fertility, which lies east of the great chain of Anti-Libanus, on the edge of the desert. This fertile plain, which is nearly circular and about 30 miles in diameter, is due to the river Barada, which is probably the “Abana” of Scripture. Two other streams, the Wady Helbon upon the north and the Awaj, which flows direct from Hermon, upon the south, increase the fertility of the Damascene plain, and contend for the honor of representing the “Pharpar” of Scripture. According to Josephus, Damascus was founded by Uz, grandson of Shem. It is first mentioned in Scripture in connection with Abraham, Genesis 14:15, whose steward was a native of the place. Genesis 15:2. At one time David became complete master of the whole territory, which he garrisoned with Israelites. 2 Samuel 8:5, 2 Samuel 8:6. It was in league with Baasha, king of Israel, against Asa, 1 Kings 15:19; 2 Chronicles 16:3, and afterwards in league with Asa against Baasha. 1 Kings 15:20. Under Ahaz it was taken by Tiglathpileser, 2 Kings 16:7, 2 Kings 16:8, 2 Kings 16:9, the kingdom of Damascus brought to an end, and the city itself destroyed, the inhabitants being carried captive into Assyria. 2 Kings 16:9; comp. Isaiah 7:8 and Amos 1:5. Afterwards it passed successively under the dominion of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, and Saracens, and was at last captured by the Turks in 1516 a.d. Here the apostle Paul was converted and preached the gospel. Acts 9:1-25.

Damascus has always been a great centre for trade. Its present population is from 100,000 to 150,000. It has a delightful climate. Certain localities are shown as the site of those scriptural events which specially interest us in its history. Queen’s Street, which runs straight through the city from east to west, may be the street called Straight. Acts 9:11. The house of Judas and that of Ananias are shown, but little confidence can be placed in any of these traditions.

The East Gate of Damascus.

The Great Mosque at Damascus.

Wall of Damascus.

The Street called Straight. (Damascus.)

Dan

Dan (a judge).

1. The fifth son of Jacob, and the first of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid. Genesis 30:6. (b.c. after 1753.) The origin of the name is given in the exclamation of Rachel. The records of Dan are unusually meagre. Only one son is attributed to him, Genesis 46:23; but his tribe was, with the exception of Judah, the most numerous of all. In the division of the promised land Dan was the last of the tribes to receive his portion, which was the smallest of the twelve. Joshua 19:48. But notwithstanding its smallness it had eminent natural advantages. On the north and east it was completely embraced by its two brother tribes Ephraim and Benjamin, while on the southeast and south it joined Judah, and was thus surrounded by the three most powerful states of the whole confederacy. It was a rich and fertile district; but the Amorites soon “forced them into the mountain,” Judges 1:34, and they had another portion granted them. Judges 18. In the “security” and “quiet,” Judges 18:7, Judges 18:10, of their rich northern possession the Danites enjoyed the leisure and repose which had been denied them in their original seat. In the time of David Dan still kept its place among the tribes. 1 Chronicles 12:35. Asher is omitted, but the “prince of the tribe of Dan” is mentioned in the list of 1 Chronicles 27:22. But from this time forward the name as applied to the tribe vanishes; it is kept alive only by the northern city. In the genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2-12 Dan is omitted entirely. Lastly, Dan is omitted from the list of those who were sealed by the angel in the vision of St. John. Revelation 7:5-7.

2. The well-known city, so familiar as the most northern landmark of Palestine, in the common expression “from Dan even to Beersheba.” The name of the place was originally Laish or Leshem. Joshua 19:47. After the establishment of the Danites at Dan it became the acknowledged extremity of the country. It is now Tell el-Kadi, a mound, three miles from Banias, from the foot of which gushes out one of the largest fountains in the world, the main source of the Jordan.

Danites The

Dan’ites, The. The descendants of Dan and the members of his tribe. Judges 13:2; Judges 18:1, Judges 18:11; 1 Chronicles 12:35.

Dan-jaan

Dan-ja’an (Danian, i.e., belonging to Dan). 2 Samuel 24:6. Probably the same as Dan.

Dance

Dance. The dance is spoken of in Holy Scripture universally as symbolical of some rejoicing, and is often coupled for the sake of contrast with mourning, as in Ecclesiastes 3:4; comp. Psalm 30:11; Matthew 11:17. In the earlier period it is found combined with some song or refrain, Exodus 15:20; Exodus 32:18, Exodus 32:19; 1 Samuel 21:11, and with the tambourine (Authorized Version “timbrel”), more especially in those impulsive outbursts of popular feeling which cannot find sufficient vent in voice or in gesture singly. Dancing formed a part of the religious ceremonies of the Egyptians, and was also common in private entertainments. For the most part dancing was carried on by the women, the two sexes seldom and not customarily intermingling. The one who happened to be near of kin to the champion of the hour led the dance. In the earlier period of the Judges the dances of the virgins of Shiloh, Judges 21:19-23, were certainly part of a religious festivity. Dancing also had its place among merely festive amusements, apart from any religious character. Jeremiah 31:4, Jeremiah 31:13; Mark 6:22.

Dance

Dance, a musical instrument of percussion, supposed to have been used by the Hebrews at an early period of their history.

Daniel

Dan’iel (judgment of God).

1. The second son of David, by Abigail the Carmelitess. 1 Chronicles 3:1. In 2 Samuel 3:3 he is called Chileab. (b.c. about 1051.)

2. The fourth of “the great prophets.” Nothing is known of his parentage or family. He appears, however, to have been of royal or noble descent, Daniel 1:3, and to have possessed considerable personal endowments. Daniel 1:4. He was taken to Babylon in “the third year of Jehoiakim” (b.c. 604), and trained for the king’s service. He was divinely supported in his resolve to abstain from the “king’s meat” for fear of defilement. Daniel 1:8-16. At the close of his three-years discipline, Daniel 1:5, Daniel 1:18, Daniel had an opportunity of exercising his peculiar gift, Daniel 1:17, of interpreting dreams, on the occasion of Nebuchadnezzar’s decree against the Magi. Daniel 2:14-16. In consequence of his success he was made “ruler of the whole province of Babylon.” Daniel 2:48. He afterwards interpreted the second dream of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:8-27, and the handwriting on the wall which disturbed the feast of Belshazzar. Daniel 5:10-28. At the accession of Darius he was made first of the “three presidents” of the empire, Daniel 6:2, and was delivered from the lions’ den, into which he had been cast for his faithfulness to the rites of his faith. Daniel 6:10-23; cf. Bel and the Dragon 29-42. At the accession of Cyrus he still retained his prosperity, Daniel 6:28, cf. Daniel 1:21, though he does not appear to have remained at Babylon, cf. Daniel 1:21; and in “the third year of Cyrus” (b.c. 534) he saw his last recorded vision, on the banks of the Tigris. Daniel 10:1, Daniel 10:4. In the prophecies of Ezekiel mention is made of Daniel as a pattern of righteousness, Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:20, and wisdom. Ezekiel 28:3. The narrative in Daniel 1:11 implies that Daniel was conspicuously distinguished for purity and knowledge at a very early age.

3. A descendant of Ithamar, who returned with Ezra. Ezra 8:2.

4. A priest who sealed the covenant drawn up by Nehemiah, b.c. 445. Nehemiah 10:6. He is perhaps the same as No. 3.

Daniel The book of

Dan’iel, The book of, stands at the head of a series of writings in which the deepest thoughts of the Jewish people found expression after the close of the prophetic era. Daniel is composed partly in the vernacular Aramaic (Chaldee) and partly in the sacred Hebrew. The introduction, Daniel 1-2:Daniel 2:4a, is written in Hebrew. On the occasion of the “Syriac” (i.e., Aramaic) answer of the Chaldeans, the language changes to Aramaic, and this is retained till the close of the seventh chapter (Daniel 2:4-7). The personal introduction of Daniel as the writer of the text, Daniel 8:1, is marked by the resumption of the Hebrew, which continues to the close of the book. ch. Daniel 8-12.

The book may be divided into three parts. The first chapter forms an introduction. The next six chapters, Daniel 2-7, give a general view of the progressive history of the powers of the world, and of the principles of the divine government as seen in the events of the life of Daniel. The remainder of the book, chs. Daniel 8-12, traces in minuter detail the fortunes of the people of God, as typical of the fortunes of the Church in all ages. In the first seven chapters Daniel is spoken of historically; in the last five he appears personally as the writer. The cause of the difference of person is commonly supposed to lie in the nature of the case. It is, however, more probable that the peculiarity arose from the manner in which the book assumed its final shape. The book exercised a great influence upon the Christian Church. The New Testament incidentally acknowledges each of the characteristic elements of the book, its miracles, Hebrews 11:33, Hebrews 11:34, its predictions, Matthew 24:15, and its doctrine of angels. Luke 1:19, Luke 1:26.

The authenticity of the book has been attacked in modern times. (But the evidence, both external and internal, is conclusive as to its genuineness. Rawlinson, in his “Historical Evidences,” shows how some historical difficulties that had been brought against the book are solved by the inscription on a cylinder lately found among the ruins of Ur in Chaldea.—Ed.)

Daniel Apocryphal additions to

Dan’iel, Apocryphal additions to. The Greek translations of Daniel contain several pieces which are not found in the original text. The most important are contained in the Apocrypha of the English Bible under the titles of The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susannah, and The History of . . . Bel and the Dragon. The first of these is supposed to be the triumphal song of the three confessors in the furnace, Dan. 3:23, praising God for their deliverance, of which a chief part Da 3:35-66 has been used as a hymn in the Christian Church since the fourth century. The second, called also The Judgment of Daniel, relates the story of the clearing of Susannah from a charge of adultery; and the third gives an exaggerated account of Daniel’s deliverance.

Dannah

Dan’nah, a city in the mountains of Judah, Joshua 15:49, and probably south or southwest of Hebron. No trace of its name has been discovered.

Dara

Da’ra. 1 Chronicles 2:6. [DARDA.]

Darda

Dar’da (pearl of wisdom), a son of Mahol, one of four men of great fame for their wisdom, but surpassed by Solomon. 1 Kings 4:31. (b.c. before 1010.)

Daric

Daric (from dara, a king), Authorized Version “dram,” 1 Chronicles 29:7; Ezra 2:69; Ezra 8:27; Nehemiah 7:70, Nehemiah 7:71, Nehemiah 7:72, a gold coin current in Palestine in the period after the return from Babylon. It weighed 128 grains, and was worth about five dollars. At these times there was no large issue of gold money except by the Persian kings. The darics which have been discovered are thick pieces of pure gold, of archaic style, bearing on the obverse the figure of a king with bow and javelin or bow and dagger, and on the reverse an irregular incuse square. The silver daric was worth about fifty cents.

Darius

Dari’us (lord), the name of several kings of Media and Persia.

1. Darius the Mede, Daniel 6:1; Daniel 11:1, “the son of Ahasuerus,” Daniel 9:1, who succeeded to the Babylonian kingdom on the death of Belshazzar, being then sixty-two years old. Daniel 5:31; Daniel 9:1. (b.c. 538.) Only one year of his reign is mentioned, Daniel 9:1; Daniel 11:1, but that was of great importance for the Jews. Daniel was advanced by the king to the highest dignity, Daniel 6:1-3., and in his reign was cast into the lions’ den. Daniel 6. This Darius is probably the same as “Astyages,” the last king of the Medes.

2. Darius, the son of Hystaspes the founder of the Perso-Arian dynasty. Upon the usurpation of the magian Smerdis, he conspired with six other Persian chiefs to overthrow the impostor, and on the success of the plot was placed upon the throne, b.c. 521. With regard to the Jews, Darius Hystaspes pursued the same policy as Cyrus, and restored to them the privileges which they had lost. Ezra 5:1, etc.; Ezra 6:1, etc.

3. Darius the Persian, Nehemiah 12:22, may be identified with Darius II. Nothus (Ochus), king of Persia b.c. 424-3 to 405-4; but it is not improbable that it points to Darius III. Codomannus, the antagonist of Alexander and the last king of Persia, b.c. 336–330.

Darkness

Darkness is spoken of as encompassing the actual presence of God, as that out of which he speaks—the envelope, as it were, of divine glory. Exodus 20:21; 1 Kings 8:12. The plague of darkness in Egypt was miraculous. The darkness “over all the land,” Matthew 27:45, attending the crucifixion has been attributed to an eclipse, but was undoubtedly miraculous, as no eclipse of the sun could have taken place at that time, the moon being at the full at the time of the passover. Darkness is also, as in the expression “land of darkness,” used for the state of the dead, Job 10:21, Job 10:22; and frequently, figuratively, for ignorance and unbelief, as the privation of spiritual light. John 1:5; John 3:19.

Darkon

Dar’kon (scatterer). Children of Darkon were among the “servants of Solomon” who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:56; Nehemiah 7:58. (b.c. before 536.)

Dates

Dates. 2 Chronicles 31:5, marg. [PALM TREE.]

Dathan

Da’than (belonging to a fountain), a Reubenite chieftain, son of Eliab, who joined the conspiracy of Korah the Levite. Numbers 16:1; Numbers 26:9; Deuteronomy 11:6; Psalm 106:17. (b.c. 1490–1452.)

Daughter

Daughter. The word is used in Scripture not only for daughter, but for granddaughter or other female descendant. Genesis 24:48. It is used of the female inhabitants of a place or country, Genesis 6:2; Luke 23:28, and of cities in general, Isaiah 10:32; Isaiah 23:12, but more specifically of dependent towns or hamlets, while to the principal city the correlative “mother” is applied. Numbers 21:25. “Daughters of music,” i.e., singing birds, Ecclesiastes 12:4, refers to the power of making and enjoying music.

David

Da’vid (well-beloved), the son of Jesse. His life may be divided into three portions:

1. His youth before his introduction to the court of Saul; 2. His relations with Saul; 3. His reign.

1. The early life of David contains in many important respects the antecedents of his future career. It appears that David was the youngest son, probably the youngest child, of a family of ten, and was born in Bethlehem b.c. 1085. The first time that David appears in history at once admits us to the whole family circle. The annual sacrificial feast is being held when Samuel appears, sent by God to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king of Israel in place of Saul. 1 Samuel 16:1. Rejecting the elder sons as they pass before him, 1 Samuel 16:6-10, Samuel sends for the youngest, David, who was “keeping the sheep,” and anoints him. 1 Samuel 16:11-13. As David stood before Samuel we are enabled to fix his appearance at once in our minds. He was of short stature, with red or auburn hair, such as is not unfrequently seen in his countrymen of the East at the present day. In later life he wore a beard. His bright eyes are specially mentioned, 1 Samuel 16:12, and generally he was remarkable for the grace of his figure and countenance (“fair of eyes,” “comely,” “goodly,” 1 Samuel 16:12, 1 Samuel 16:18; 1 Samuel 17:42), well made, and of immense strength and agility. His swiftness and activity made him like a wild gazelle, his feet like hart’s feet, and his arms strong enough to break a bow of steel. Psalm 18:33, Psalm 18:34. After the anointing David resumes his accustomed duties, and the next we know of him he is summoned to the court to chase away the king’s madness by music, 1 Samuel 16:14-19, and in the successful effort of David’s harp we have the first glimpse into that genius for music and poetry which was afterwards consecrated in the Psalms. After this he returned to the old shepherd life again. One incident alone of his solitary shepherd life has come down to us—his conflict with the lion and the bear in defence of his father’s flocks. 1 Samuel 17:34, 1 Samuel 17:35. It was some years after this that David suddenly appears before his brothers in the camp of the army, and hears the defiant challenge of the Philistine giant Goliath. With his shepherd’s sling and five small pebbles he goes forth and defeats the giant. 1 Samuel 17:40-51.

2. Relations with Saul.—We now enter on a new aspect of David’s life. The victory over Goliath had been a turning-point of his career. Saul inquired his parentage, and took him finally to his court. Jonathan was inspired by the beautiful friendship which bound the two youths together to the end of their lives. Unfortunately David’s fame proved the foundation of that unhappy jealousy of Saul towards him which, mingling with the king’s constitutional malady, poisoned his whole future relations to David. His position in Saul’s court seems to have been first armor-bearer, 1 Samuel 16:21; 1 Samuel 18:2, then captain over a thousand, 1 Samuel 18:13, and finally, on his marriage with Michal, the king’s second daughter, he was raised to the high office of captain of the king’s body-guard, second only, if not equal, to Abner, the captain of the host, and Jonathan, the heir apparent. David was now chiefly known for his successful exploits against the Philistines, by one of which he won his wife, and drove back the Philistine power with a blow from which it only rallied at the disastrous close of Saul’s reign. He also still performed from time to time the office of minstrel; but the successive attempts of Saul upon his life convinced him that he was in constant danger. He had two faithful allies, however, in the court—the son of Saul, his friend Jonathan, and the daughter of Saul, his wife Michal. Warned by the one and assisted by the other, he escaped by night, and was from thenceforward a fugitive. He at first found a home at the court of Achish, among the Philistines; but his stay was short. Discovered possibly by “the sword of Goliath,” his presence revived the national enmity of the Philistines against their former conqueror, and he only escaped by feigning madness. 1 Samuel 21:13. His first retreat was the cave of Adullam. In this vicinity he was joined by his whole family, 1 Samuel 22:1, and by a motley crowd of debtors and discontented men, 1 Samuel 22:2, which formed the nucleus of his army. David’s life for the next few years was made up of a succession of startling incidents. He secures an important ally in Abiathar, 1 Samuel 23:6; his band of 400 at Adullam soon increased to 600, 1 Samuel 23:13; he is hunted by Saul from place to place like a partridge. 1 Samuel 23:14, 1 Samuel 23:22, 1 Samuel 23:25-29; 1 Samuel 24:1-22; 1 Samuel 26. He marries Abigail and Ahinoam. 1 Samuel 25:42, 1 Samuel 25:43. Finally comes the news of the battle of Gilboa and the death of Saul and Jonathan. 1 Samuel 31. The reception of the tidings of the death of his rival and of his friend, the solemn mourning, the vent of his indignation against the bearer of the message, the pathetic lamentation that followed, will close the second period of David’s life. 2 Samuel 1:1-27.

3. David’s reign.—

1. As king of Judah at Hebron, 7½ years. 2 Samuel 2:1-5:5. Here David was first formally anointed king. 2 Samuel 2:4. To Judah his dominion was nominally confined. Gradually his power increased, and during the two years which followed the elevation of Ish-bosheth a series of skirmishes took place between the two kingdoms. Then rapidly followed the successive murders of Abner and of Ish-bosheth. 2 Samuel 3:30; 2 Samuel 4:5. The throne, so long waiting for him, was now vacant, and the united voice of the whole people at once called him to occupy it. For the third time David was anointed king, and a festival of three days celebrated the joyful event. 1 Chronicles 12:39. One of David’s first acts after becoming king was to secure Jerusalem, which he seized from the Jebusites and fixed the royal residence there. Fortifications were added by the king and by Joab, and it was known by the special name of the “city of David.” 2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:7. The ark was now removed from its obscurity at Kirjath-jearim with marked solemnity, and conveyed to Jerusalem.

The erection of the new capital at Jerusalem introduces us to a new era in David’s life and in the history of the monarchy. He became a king on the scale of the great Oriental sovereigns of Egypt and Persia, with a regular administration and organization of court and camp; and he also founded an imperial dominion which for the first time realized the prophetic description of the bounds of the chosen people. Genesis 15:18-21. During the succeeding ten years the nations bordering on his kingdom caused David more or less trouble, but during this time he reduced to a state of permanent subjection the Philistines on the west, 2 Samuel 8:1; the Moabites on the east, 2 Samuel 8:2, by the exploits of Benaiah, 2 Samuel 23:20; the Syrians on the northeast as far as the Euphrates, 2 Samuel 8:3; the Edomites, 2 Samuel 8:14, on the south; and finally the Ammonites, who had broken their ancient alliance, and made one grand resistance to the advance of his empire. 2 Samuel 10:1-19; 2 Samuel 12:26-31.

Three great calamities may be selected as marking the beginning, middle, and close of David’s otherwise prosperous reign, which appear to be intimated in the question of Gad, 2 Samuel 24:13, “a three-years famine, a three-months flight, or a three-days pestilence.” a. Of these the first (the three-years famine) introduces us to the last notices of David’s relations with the house of Saul, already referred to. b. The second group of incidents contains the tragedy of David’s life, which grew in all its parts out of the polygamy, with its evil consequences, into which he had plunged on becoming king. Underneath the splendor of his last glorious campaign against the Ammonites was a dark story, known probably at that time only to a very few—the double crime of adultery with Bath-sheba and the virtual murder of Uriah. The clouds from this time gathered over David’s fortunes, and henceforward “the sword never departed from his house.” 2 Samuel 12:10. The outrage on his daughter Tamar, the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and then the revolt of his best-beloved, Absalom, brought on the crisis which once more sent him forth a wanderer, as in the days when he fled from Saul. 2 Samuel 15:18. The final battle of Absalom’s rebellion was fought in the “forest of Ephraim,” and terminated in the accident which led to the young man’s death; and, though nearly heart-broken at the loss of his son, David again reigned in undisturbed peace at Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 20:1-22. c. The closing period of David’s life, with the exception of one great calamity, may be considered as a gradual preparation for the reign of his successor. This calamity was the three-days pestilence which visited Jerusalem at the warning of the prophet Gad. The occasion which led to this warning was the census of the people taken by Joab at the king’s orders, 2 Samuel 24:1-9; 1 Chronicles 21:1-7; 1 Chronicles 27:23, 1 Chronicles 27:24, which was for some reason sinful in God’s sight. 2 Samuel 24. A formidable conspiracy to interrupt the succession broke out in the last days of David’s reign; but the plot was stifled, and Solomon’s inauguration took place under his father’s auspices. 1 Kings 1:1-53. By this time David’s infirmities had grown upon him. His last song is preserved—a striking union of the ideal of a just ruler which he had placed before him and of the difficulties which he had felt in realizing it. 2 Samuel 23:1-7. His last words to his successor are general exhortations to his duty. 1 Kings 2:1-9. He died, according to Josephus, at the age of 70, and “was buried in the city of David.” After the return from the captivity, “the sepulchres of David” were still pointed out “between Siloah and the house of the mighty men,” or “the guard-house.” Nehemiah 3:16. His tomb, which became the general sepulchre of the kings of Judah, was pointed out in the latest times of the Jewish people. The edifice shown as such from the Crusades to the present day is on the southern hill of modern Jerusalem, commonly called Mount Zion, under the so-called “Cœnaculum”; but it cannot be identified with the tomb of David, which was emphatically within the walls.

Genealogy of David.

David City of

Da’vid, City of. [JERUSALEM.]

Day

Day. The variable length of the natural day at different seasons led in the very earliest times to the adoption of the civil day (or one revolution of the sun) as a standard of time. The Hebrews reckoned the day from evening to evening, Leviticus 23:32, deriving it from Genesis 1:5, “the evening and the morning were the first day.” The Jews are supposed, like the modern Arabs, to have adopted from an early period minute specifications of the parts of the natural day. Roughly, indeed, they were content to divide it into “morning, evening, and noonday,” Psalm 55:17; but when they wished for greater accuracy they pointed to six unequal parts, each of which was again subdivided. These are held to have been—

1. “The dawn.” 2. “Sunrise.” 3. “Heat of the day,” about 9 o’clock. 4. “The two noons,” Genesis 43:16; Deuteronomy 28:29. 5. “The cool (lit. wind) of the day,” before sunset, Genesis 3:8—so called by the Persians to this day. 6. “Evening.” Before the captivity the Jews divided the night into three watches, Psalm 63:6; Psalm 90:4, viz. the first watch, lasting till midnight, Lamentations 2:19; the “middle watch,” lasting till cockcrow, Judges 7:19; and the “morning watch,” lasting till sunrise. Exodus 14:24. In the New Testament we have allusions to four watches, a division borrowed from the Greeks and Romans. These were—

1. From twilight till 9 o’clock, Mark 11:11; John 20:19. 2. Midnight, from 9 till 12 o’clock, Mark 13:35. 3. Till 3 in the morning, Mark 13:35; 3 Maccabees 5:23. 4. Till daybreak. John 18:28. The word held to mean “hour” is first found in Daniel 3:6, Daniel 3:15; Daniel 5:5. Perhaps the Jews, like the Greeks, learned from the Babylonians the division of the day into twelve parts. In our Lord’s time the division was common. John 11:9.

Daysman

Daysman, an old English term, meaning umpire or arbitrator. Job 9:33.

Deacon

Deacon. The office described by this title appears in the New Testament as the correlative of bishop. [BISHOP.] The two are mentioned together in Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:8. Its original meaning implied a helper, an assistant. The bishops were the “elders,” the deacons the young active men, of the church. The narrative of Acts 6 is commonly referred to as giving an account of the institution of this office. The apostles, in order to meet the complaints of the Hellenistic Jews that their widows were neglected in the daily ministration, call on the body of believers to choose seven men “full of the Holy Ghost and of wisdom,” whom they “may appoint over this business.” It may be questioned, however, whether the seven were not appointed to higher functions than those of the deacons of the New Testament. Qualifications and duties.—Special directions as to the qualifications for and the duties of deacons will be found in Acts 6:1-6 and 1 Timothy 3:8-12. From the analogy of the synagogue, and from the scanty notices in the New Testament, we may think of the deacons or “young men” at Jerusalem as preparing the rooms for meetings, distributing alms, maintaining order at the meetings, baptizing new converts, distributing the elements at the Lord’s Supper.

Deaconess

Deaconess. The word δίακονος is found in Romans 16:1 (Authorized Version “servant”) associated with a female name, and this has led to the conclusion that there existed in the apostolic age, as there undoubtedly did a little later, an order of women bearing that title, and exercising in relation to their own sex functions which were analogous to those of the deacons. On this hypothesis it has been inferred that the women mentioned in Romans 16:6, Romans 16:12 belonged to such an order. The rules given as to the conduct of women in 1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:3, have in like manner been referred to them, and they have been identified even with the “widows” of 1 Timothy 5:3-10.

Dead Sea

Dead Sea. This name nowhere occurs in the Bible, and appears not to have existed until the second century after Christ. [See SEA, THE SALT.]

Dearth

Dearth. [FAMINE.]

Debir

De’bir (a sanctuary), the name of three places of Palestine.

1. A town in the mountains of Judah, Joshua 15:49, one of a group of eleven cities to the west of Hebron. The earlier name of Debir was Kirjath-sepher, “city of book,” Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:11, and Kirjath-sannah, “city of palm.” Joshua 15:49. It was one of the cities given with their “suburbs” to the priests. Joshua 21:15; 1 Chronicles 6:58. Debir has not been discovered with certainty in modern times; but about three miles to the west of Hebron is a deep and secluded valley called the Wady Nunkûr, enclosed on the north by hills, of which one bears a name certainly suggestive of Debir—Dewı̂r-ban.

2. A place on the north boundary of Judah, near the “valley of Achor.” Joshua 15:7. A Wady Dabor is marked in Van de Velde’s map as close to the south of Neby Mûsa, at the northwest corner of the Dead Sea.

3. The “border of Debir” is named as forming part of the boundary of Gad, Joshua 13:26, and as apparently not far from Mahanaim.

Debir

De’bir, king of Eglon; one of the five kings hanged by Joshua. Joshua 10:3, Joshua 10:23. (b.c. 1445.)

Deborah

Deb’orah (a bee). (b.c. 1857.)

1. The nurse of Rebekah. Genesis 35:8. Deborah accompanied Rebekah from the house of Bethuel, Genesis 24:59, and is only mentioned by name on the occasion of her burial under the oak tree of Bethel, which was called in her honor Allon-bachuth.

2. A prophetess who judged Israel. Judges 4, Judges 5. (b.c. 1316.) She lived under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim, Judges 4:5, which, as palm trees were rare in Palestine, “is mentioned as a well-known and solitary landmark.” She was probably a woman of Ephraim. Lapidoth was probably her husband, and not Barak, as some say. She was not so much a judge as one gifted with prophetic command, Judges 4:6, Judges 4:14; Judges 5:7, and by virtue of her inspiration “a mother in Israel.” The tyranny of Jabin, a Canaanitish king, was peculiarly felt in the northern tribes, who were near his capital and under her jurisdiction. Under her direction Barak encamped on the broad summit of Tabor. Deborah’s prophecy was fulfilled, Judges 4:9, and the enemy’s general perished among the “oaks of the wanderers” (Zaanaim), in the tent of the Bedouin Kenite’s wife, Judges 4:21, in the northern mountains. Deborah’s title of “prophetess” includes the notion of inspired poetry, as in Exodus 15:20; and in this sense the glorious triumphal ode, Judges 5, well vindicates her claim to the office.

Debtor

Debtor. [LOAN.]

Dedan

De’dan (low country).

1. The name of a son of Raamah, son of Cush. Genesis 10:7; 1 Chronicles 1:9.

2. A son of Jokshan, son of Keturah. Genesis 25:3; 1 Chronicles 1:32. (b.c. after 1988.)

Dedanim

Ded’anim, descendants of Dedan I. Isaiah 21:13. [DEDAN.]

Dedication Feast of the

Dedication, Feast of the, the festival instituted to commemorate the purging of the temple and the rebuilding of the altar after Judas Maccabæus had driven out the Syrians, b.c. 164. 1 Maccabees 4:52-59. It is named only once in the canonical Scriptures. John 10:22. It commenced on the 25th of Chisleu (early in December), the anniversary of the pollution of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, b.c. 167. Like the great Mosaic feasts, it lasted eight days, but it did not require attendance at Jerusalem. It was an occasion of much festivity, and was celebrated in nearly the same manner as the feast of tabernacles, with the carrying of branches of trees and with much singing. In the temple at Jerusalem the “Hallel” was sung every day of the feast.

Deer

Deer. [FALLOW-DEER.]

Degrees Songs of

Degrees, Songs of, a title given to fifteen Psalms, from 120 to 134 inclusive. Four of them are attributed to David, one is ascribed to the pen of Solomon, and the other ten give no indication of their author. With respect to the term rendered in the Authorized Version “degrees” a great diversity of views prevails, but the most probable opinion is that they were pilgrim songs, sung by the people as they went up to Jerusalem.

Dehavites

De’havites, mentioned only once in Scripture, Ezra 4:9, among the colonists planted in Samaria after the completion of the captivity of Israel. They are probably the Daï or Dahi, mentioned by Herodotus (i. 125) among the nomadic tribes of Persia.

Dekar

De’kar (a lancer). The son of Dekar, i.e., Ben Dekar, was Solomon’s commissariat officer in the western part of the hill-country of Judah and Benjamin, Shaalbim and Bethshemesh. 1 Kings 4:9. (b.c. before 1014.)

Dela-iah

Dela-i’ah (freed by Jehovah).

1. A priest in the time of David, leader of the twenty-third course of priests. 1 Chronicles 24:18. (b.c. 1014.)

2. “Children of Delaiah” were among the people of uncertain pedigree who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 7:62. (b.c. 536.)

3. Son of Mehetabeel and father of Shemaiah. Nehemiah 6:10. (b.c. before 410.)

4. Son of Shemaiah, one of the “princes” about the court of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 36:12, Jeremiah 36:25. (b.c. 604.)

Delilah

Del’ilah, or Deli’lah (languishing), a woman who dwelt in the valley of Sorek, beloved by Samson. Judges 16:4-18. There seems to be little doubt that she was a Philistine courtesan. [SAMSON.] (b.c. 1141.)

Deluge

Deluge. [NOAH.]

Demas

De’mas (governor of the people), most probably a contraction from Demetrius, or perhaps from Demarchus, a companion of St. Paul, Philemon 24; Colossians 4:14, during his first imprisonment at Rome. (b.c. 57.) At a later period, 2 Timothy 4:10, we find him mentioned as having deserted the apostle through love of this present world, and gone to Thessalonica.

Demetrius

Deme’trius (belonging to Ceres).

1. A maker of silver shrines of Artemis at Ephesus. Acts 19:24 (about a.d. 52). These were small models of the great temple of the Ephesian Artemis, with her statue, which it was customary to carry on journeys, and place on houses as charms.

2. A disciple, 3 John 12, mentioned with commendation (about a.d. 90). Possibly the first Demetrius, converted; but this is very doubtful.

Demon

Demon. In the Gospels generally, in James 2:19 and in Revelation 16:14 the demons are spoken of as spiritual beings, at enmity with God, and having power to afflict man not only with disease, but, as is marked by the frequent epithet “unclean,” with spiritual pollution also. They “believe” the power of God “and tremble,” James 2:19; they recognized the Lord as the Son of God, Matthew 8:29; Luke 4:41, and acknowledged the power of his name, used in exorcism, in the place of the name of Jehovah, by his appointed messengers, Acts 19:15; and looked forward in terror to the judgment to come. Matthew 8:29. The description is precisely that of a nature akin to the angelic in knowledge and powers, but with the emphatic addition of the idea of positive and active wickedness.

Demoniacs

Demoniacs. This word is frequently used in the New Testament, and applied to persons suffering under the possession of a demon or evil spirit, such possession generally showing itself visibly in bodily disease or mental derangement. It has been maintained by many persons that our Lord and the evangelists, in referring to demonical possession, spoke only in accommodation to the general belief of the Jews, without any assertion as to its truth or its falsity. It is concluded that, since the symptoms of the affliction were frequently those of bodily disease (as dumbness, Matthew 9:32; blindness, Matthew 12:22; epilepsy, Mark 9:17-27), or those seen in cases of ordinary insanity (as in Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1-5), the demoniacs were merely persons suffering under unusual diseases of body and mind. But demoniacs are frequently distinguished from those afflicted with bodily sickness, see Mark 1:32; Mark 16:17, Mark 16:18; Luke 6:17, Luke 6:18; the same outward signs are sometimes referred to possession, sometimes merely to disease, comp. Matthew 4:24 with Matthew 17:15; Matthew 12:22 with Mark 7:32, etc.; the demons are represented as speaking in their own persons with superhuman knowledge. Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; Mark 5:7; Luke 4:41, etc. All these things speak of a personal power of evil. Twice our Lord distinctly connects demoniacal possession with the power of the evil one. Luke 10:18. Lastly, the single fact recorded of the entrance of the demons at Gadara, Mark 5:10-14, into the herd of swine, and the effect which that entrance caused, is sufficient to overthrow the notion that our Lord and the evangelists do not assert or imply any objective reality of possession. We are led, therefore, to the ordinary and literal interpretation of these passages, that there are evil spirits, subjects of the evil one, who, in the days of the Lord himself and his apostles especially, were permitted by God to exercise a direct influence over the souls and bodies of certain men.

Denarius

Denarius (containing ten), Authorized Version “penny,” Matthew 18:28; Matthew 20:2, Matthew 20:9, Matthew 20:13, a Roman silver coin in the time of our Saviour and the apostles, worth about 15 cents. It took its name from its being first equal to ten “asses,” a number afterwards increased to sixteen. It was the principal silver coin of the Roman commonwealth. From the parable of the laborers in the vineyard it would seem that a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day’s labor. Matthew 20:2, Matthew 20:4, Matthew 20:7, Matthew 20:9, Matthew 20:10, Matthew 20:13.

Deputy

Deputy. Acts 13:7, Acts 13:8, Acts 13:12; Acts 19:38. The Greek word signifies proconsul, the title of the Roman governors who were appointed by the senate.

Derbe

Der’be. Acts 14:20, Acts 14:21; Acts 16:1; Acts 20:4. The exact position of this town has not yet been ascertained, but its general situation is undoubted. It was in the eastern part of the great upland plain of Lycaonia, which stretches from Iconium eastward along the north side of the chain of Taurus. (Rev. L. H. Adams, a missionary, identifies it with the modern Divlı, a town of about 4500 inhabitants, on the ancient road between Tarsus and Lystra.—Ed.)

Desert

Desert. Not a stretch of sand, an utterly barren waste, but a wild, uninhabited region. The words rendered in the Authorized Version by “desert,” when used in the historical books denote definite localities.

1. Arabah. This word means that very depressed and enclosed region—the deepest and the hottest chasm in the world—the sunken valley north and south of the Dead Sea, but more particularly the former. [ARABAH.] Arabah in the sense of the Jordan valley is translated by the word “desert” only in Ezekiel 47:8.

2. Midbar. This word, which our translators have most frequently rendered by “desert,” is accurately “the pasture ground.” It is most frequently used for those tracts of waste land which lie beyond the cultivated ground in the immediate neighborhood of the towns and villages of Palestine, and which are a very familiar feature to the traveller in that country. Exodus 3:1; Exodus 5:3; Exodus 19:2.

3. Charbah appears to have the force of dryness, and thence of desolation. It is rendered “desert” in Psalm 102:6; Isaiah 48:21; Ezekiel 13:4. The term commonly employed for it in the Authorized Version is “waste places” or “desolation.”

4. Jeshimon, with the definite article, apparently denotes the waste tracts on both sides of the Dead Sea. In all these cases it is treated as a proper name in the Authorized Version. Without the article it occurs in a few passages of poetry, in the following of which it is rendered “desert”: Psalm 78:40; Psalm 106:14; Isaiah 43:19, Isaiah 43:20.

Deuel

De’uel, or De-u’el (invocation of God), father of Eliasaph, the “captain” of the tribe of Gad at the time of the numbering of the people at Sinai. Numbers 1:14; Numbers 7:42, Numbers 7:47; Numbers 10:20. (b.c. 1491.) The same man is mentioned again in Numbers 2:14, but here the name appears as Reuel.

Deuteronomy

Deuteron’omy—which means “the repetition of the law”—consists chiefly of three discourses delivered by Moses shortly before his death. Subjoined to these discourses are the Song of Moses, the Blessing of Moses, and the story of his death.

1. The first discourse. Deuteronomy 1:1-4:40. After a brief historical introduction the speaker recapitulates the chief events of the last forty years in the wilderness. To this discourse is appended a brief notice of the severing of the three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan. Deuteronomy 4:41-43. 2. The second discourse is introduced like the first by an explanation of the circumstances under which it was delivered. Deuteronomy 4:44-49. It extends from chap. Deuteronomy 5:1-26:19, and contains a recapitulation, with some modifications and additions, of the law already given on Mount Sinai. 3. In the third discourse, Deuteronomy 27:1-30:20, the elders of Israel are associated with Moses. The people are commanded to set up stones upon Mount Ebal, and on them to write “all the words of this law.” Then follow the several curses to be pronounced by the Levites on Ebal, Deuteronomy 27:14-26, and the blessings on Gerizim. Deuteronomy 28:1-14. 4. The delivery of the law as written by Moses (for its still further preservation) to the custody of the Levites, and a charge to the people to hear it read once every seven years, Deuteronomy 31; the Song of Moses spoken in the ears of the people, Deuteronomy 31:30-32:44; and the blessing of the twelve tribes. Deuteronomy 33. 5. The book closes, Deuteronomy 34, with an account of the death of Moses, which is first announced to him ch. Deuteronomy 32:48-52. The book bears witness to its own authorship, Deuteronomy 31:19, and is expressly cited in the New Testament as the work of Moses. Matthew 19:7, Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:3; Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37. The last chapter, containing an account of the death of Moses, was of course added by a later hand, and probably formed originally the beginning of the book of Joshua. [PENTATEUCH.]

Devil

Devil (slanderer). The name describes Satan as slandering God to man and man to God. The former work is, of course, a part of his great work of temptation to evil; and is not only exemplified but illustrated as to its general nature and tendency by the narrative of Genesis 3. The other work, the slandering or accusing man before God, is the imputation of selfish motives, Job 1:9, Job 1:10, and its refutation is placed in the self-sacrifice of those “who loved not their own lives unto death.” [SATAN; DEMON.]

Dew

Dew. This in the summer is so copious in Palestine that it supplies to some extent the absence of rain and becomes important to the agriculturist. Thus it is coupled in the divine blessing with rain, or mentioned as a prime source of fertility, Genesis 27:28; Deuteronomy 33:13; Zechariah 8:12, and its withdrawal is attributed to a curse. 2 Samuel 1:21; 1 Kings 17:1; Haggai 1:10. It becomes a leading object in prophetic imagery by reason of its penetrating moisture without the apparent effort of rain. Deuteronomy 32:2; Job 29:19; Psalm 133:3; Hosea 14:5; while its speedy evanescence typifies the transient goodness of the hypocrite. Hosea 6:4; Hosea 13:3.

Diadem

Diadem. What the “diadem” of the Jews was we know not. That of other nations of antiquity was a fillet of silk, two inches broad, bound round the head and tied behind. Its invention is attributed to Liber. Its color was generally white; sometimes, however, it was of blue, like that of Darius; and it was sown with pearls or other gems, Zechariah 9:16, and enriched with gold. Revelation 9:7. It was peculiarly the mark of Oriental sovereigns. In Esther 1:11; Esther 2:17, we have cether for the turban worn by the Persian king, queen, or other eminent persons to whom it was conceded as a special favor. The diadem of the king differed from that of others in having an erect triangular peak. The words in Ezekiel 23:15 mean long and flowing turbans of gorgeous colors. [CROWN.]

Dial

Dial. “An instrument for showing the time of day from the shadow of a style or gnomon on a graduated arc or surface”; rendered “steps” in Authorized Version, Exodus 20:26; 1 Kings 10:19, and “degrees,” 2 Kings 20:9, 2 Kings 20:10, 2 Kings 20:11; Isaiah 38:8, where to give a consistent rendering we should read with the margin the “degrees” rather than the “dial” of Ahaz. It is probable that the dial of Ahaz was really a series of steps or stairs, and that the shadow (perhaps of some column or obelisk on the top) fell on a greater or small number of them according as the sun was low or high. The terrace of a palace might easily be thus ornamented.

Ancient Dials.

Diamond

Diamond (Heb. yahalôm), a gem, crystallized carbon, the most valued and brilliant of precious stones, remarkable for its hardness, the third precious stone in the second row on the breastplate of the high priest, Exodus 28:18; Exodus 39:11, and mentioned by Ezekiel, Ezekiel 28:13, among the precious stones of the king of Tyre. Some suppose yahalôm to be the “emerald.” Respecting shâmı̂r, which is translated “diamond” in Jeremiah 17:1, see under ADAMANT.

Diana

Dia’na. This Latin word, properly denoting a Roman divinity, is the representative of the Greek Artemis, the tutelary goddess of the Ephesians, who plays so important a part in the narrative of Acts 19. The Ephesian Diana was, however, regarded as invested with very different attributes, and is rather to be identified with Astarte and other female divinities of the East. The head wore a mural crown, each hand held a bar of metal, and the lower part ended in a rude block covered with figures of animals and mystic inscriptions. This idol was regarded as an object of peculiar sanctity, and was believed to have fallen down from heaven. Acts 19:35.

Diana of the Ephesians.

Temple of Diana of the Ephesians.

Diblaim

Dibla’im (double cake), mother of Hosea’s wife Gomer. Hosea 1:3. (b.c. before 725.)

Diblath

Dib’lath (accurately Diblah), a place named only in Ezekiel 6:14. Probably only another form of RIBLAH.

Dibon

Di’bon (wasting).

1. A town on the east side of Jordan, in the rich pastoral country, which was taken possession of and rebuilt by the children of Gad. Numbers 32:3, Numbers 32:34. From this circumstance it possibly received the name of Dibongad. Numbers 33:45, Numbers 33:46. Its first mention is in Numbers 21:30, and from this it appears to have belonged originally to the Moabites. We find Dibon counted to Reuben in the lists of Joshua. Joshua 13:9, Joshua 13:17. In the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah, however, it was again in possession of Moab. Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:18, Jeremiah 48:22, comp. Jeremiah 48:24. In modern times the name Dhiban has been discovered as attached to extensive ruins on the Roman road, about three miles north of the Arnon (Wady Modjeb).

2. One of the towns which were reinhabited by the men of Judah after the return from captivity, Nehemiah 11:25; identical with Dimonah.

Dibon-gad

Di’bon-gad. [DIBON.]

Dibri

Dib’ri, a Danite, father of Shelomith. Leviticus 24:11.

Didrachmon

Didrachmon. [MONEY; SHEKEL.]

Didymus

Did’ymus (the twin), a surname of the apostle Thomas. John 11:16; John 20:24; John 21:2. [THOMAS.]

Diklah

Dik’lah (palm grove). Genesis 10:27; 1 Chronicles 1:21, a son of Joktan, whose settlements, in common with those of the other sons of Joktan, must be looked for in Arabia. It is thought that Dijlah is a part of Arabia containing many palm trees.

Dilean

Dil’ean (gourd), one of the cities in the lowlands of Judah. Joshua 15:38. It has not been identified with certainty.

Dimnah

Dim’nah (dung), a city in the tribe of Zebulun, given to the Merarite Levites. Joshua 21:35.

Dimon

Di’mon (river bed), The waters of, some streams on the east of the Dead Sea, in the land of Moab, against which Isaiah uttered denunciation. Isaiah 15:9. Gesenius conjectures that the two names Dimon and Dibon are the same.

Dimonah

Dimo’nah, a city in the south of Judah, Joshua 15:22, perhaps the same as Dibon in Nehemiah 11:25.

Dinah

Di’nah (judged, acquitted), the daughter of Jacob by Leah. Genesis 30:21. (b.c. about 1751.) She accompanied her father from Mesopotamia to Canaan, and, having ventured among the inhabitants, was violated by Shechem the son of Hamor, the chieftain of the territory in which her father had settled. Genesis 34. Shechem proposed to make the usual reparation by paying a sum to the father and marrying her. Genesis 34:12. This proposal was accepted, the sons of Jacob demanding, as a condition of the proposed union, the circumcision of the Shechemites. They therefore assented; and on the third day, when the pain and fever resulting from the operation were at the highest, Simeon and Levi, own brothers of Dinah, attacked them unexpectedly, slew all the males, and plundered their city.

Dinaites

Di’naites, Ezra 4:9, the name of some of the Cuthæan colonists who were placed in the cities of Samaria after the captivity of the ten tribes.

Dinhabah

Din’habah, Genesis 36:32; 1 Chronicles 1:43, the capital city, and probably the birthplace, of Bela, son of Beor king of Edom.

Dionysius

Dionys’ius (devoted to Dionysus, i.e., Bacchus) the Areop’agite, Acts 17:34, an eminent Athenian, converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul. (a.d. 52.) He is said to have been first bishop of Athens. The writings which were once attributed to him are now confessed to be the production of some neo-Platonists of the sixth century.

Diotrephes

Diot’rephes (nourished by Jove), a Christian mentioned in 3 John 9, but of whom nothing is known.

Disciple

Disciple. [APOSTLES.]

Diseases

Diseases. [MEDICINE.]

Dishan

Di’shan (antelope), the youngest son of Seir the Horite. Genesis 36:21, Genesis 36:28, Genesis 36:30; 1 Chronicles 1:38, 1 Chronicles 1:42.

Dishon

Di’shon (antelope).

1. The fifth son of Seir. Genesis 36:21, Genesis 36:26, Genesis 36:30; 1 Chronicles 1:38.

2. The son of Anah, and grandson of Seir. Genesis 36:25; 1 Chronicles 1:38.

Dispersion The Jews of the

Dispersion, The Jews of the, or simply The Dispersion, was the general title applied to those Jews who remained settled in foreign countries after the return from the Babylonian exile, and during the period of the second temple. At the beginning of the Christian era the Dispersion was divided into three great sections, the Babylonian, the Syrian, the Egyptian. From Babylon the Jews spread through Persia, Media, and Parthia. Large settlements of Jews were established in Cyprus, in the islands of the Ægean, and on the western coast of Asia Minor. Jewish settlements were also established at Alexandria by Alexander and Ptolemy I. The Jewish settlements in Rome were consequent upon the occupation of Jerusalem by Pompey, b.c. 63. The influence of the Dispersion on the rapid promulgation of Christianity can scarcely be overrated. The course of the apostolic preaching followed in a regular progress the line of Jewish settlements. The mixed assembly from which the first converts were gathered on the day of Pentecost represented each division of the Dispersion. Acts 2:9-11. (1) Parthians . . . Mesopotamia; (2) Judea (i.e., Syria) . . . Pamphylia; (3) Egypt . . . Greece; (4) Romans . . . and these converts naturally prepared the way for the apostles in the interval which preceded the beginning of the separate apostolic missions. St. James and St. Peter wrote to the Jews of the Dispersion. James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1.

Divination

Divination is a “foretelling future events, or discovering things secret by the aid of superior beings, or other than human means.” It is used in Scripture of false systems of ascertaining the divine will. It has been universal in all ages, and all nations alike civilized and savage. Numerous forms of divination are mentioned, such as divination by rods, Hosea 4:12; divination by arrows, Ezekiel 21:21; divination by cups, Genesis 44:5; consultation of teraphim, 1 Samuel 15:23; Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2 [TERAPHIM]; divination by the liver, Ezekiel 21:21; divination by dreams, Deuteronomy 13:2, Deuteronomy 13:3; Judges 7:13; Jeremiah 23:32; consultation of oracles. Isaiah 41:21-24; Isaiah 44:7. Moses forbade every species of divination, because a prying into the future clouds the mind with superstition, and because it would have been an incentive to idolatry. But God supplied his people with substitutes for divination which would have rendered it superfluous, and left them in no doubt as to his will in circumstances of danger, had they continued faithful. It was only when they were unfaithful that the revelation was withdrawn. 1 Samuel 28:6; 2 Samuel 2:1; 2 Samuel 5:23, etc. Superstition not unfrequently goes hand in hand with skepticism, and hence, amid the general infidelity prevalent throughout the Roman empire at our Lord’s coming, imposture was rampant. Hence the lucrative trade of such men as Simon Magus, Acts 8:9, Bar-jesus, Acts 13:6, the slave with the spirit of Python, Acts 16:16, the vagabond Jews, exorcists, Luke 11:19; Acts 19:13, and others, 2 Timothy 3:13; Revelation 19:20, etc., as well as the notorious dealers in magical books at Ephesus. Acts 19:19.

Divorce

Divorce, “a legal dissolution of the marriage relation.” The law regulating this subject is found Deuteronomy 24:1-4, and the cases in which the right of a husband to divorce his wife was lost are stated ibid., Deuteronomy 22:29. The ground of divorce is a point on which the Jewish doctors of the period of the New Testament differed widely; the school of Shammai seeming to limit it to a moral delinquency in the woman, whilst that of Hillel extended it to trifling causes, e.g., if the wife burnt the food she was cooking for her husband. The Pharisees wished perhaps to embroil our Saviour with these rival schools by their question, Matthew 19:3; by his answer to which, as well as by his previous maxim, Matthew 5:31, he declares that he regarded all the lesser causes than “fornication” as standing on too weak ground, and declined the question of how to interpret the words of Moses.

Dizahab

Diz’ahab (region of gold), a place in the Arabian desert, mentioned Deuteronomy 1:1, is identified with Dahab, a cape on the western shore of the Gulf of Akabah.

Doda-i

Dod’a-i (loving, amorous), an Ahohite who commanded the course of the second month. 1 Chronicles 27:4. It is probable that he is the same as DODO, 2.

Dodanim

Dod’anim (leaders), Genesis 10:4; 1 Chronicles 1:7, a family or race descended from Javan, the son of Japhet. Genesis 10:4; 1 Chronicles 1:7. Dodanim is regarded as identical with the Dardani, who were found in historical times in Illyricum and Troy.

Dodavah

Dod’avah (love of the Lord), a man of Maresha in Judah, father of Eliezer, who denounced Jehoshaphat’s alliance with Ahaziah. 2 Chronicles 20:37.

Dodo

Do’do (loving).

1. A man of Bethlehem, father of Elhanan, who was one of David’s thirty captains. 2 Samuel 23:24; 1 Chronicles 11:26. He is a different person from

2. Dodo the Ahohite, father of Eleazar, the second of the three mighty men who were over the thirty. 2 Samuel 23:9; 1 Chronicles 11:12. (b.c. before 1046.)

Doeg

Do’eg (fearful), an Idumean, chief of Saul’s herdmen. (b.c. 1062.) He was at Nob when Ahimelech gave David the sword of Goliath, and not only gave information to Saul, but when others declined the office, himself executed the king’s order to destroy the priests of Nob, with their families, to the number of 85 persons, together with all their property. 1 Samuel 21:7; 1 Samuel 22:9, 1 Samuel 22:18, 1 Samuel 22:22; Psalm 52.

Dog

Dog, an animal frequently mentioned in Scripture. It was used by the Hebrews as a watch for their houses, Isaiah 56:10, and for guarding their flocks. Job 30:1. Then also, as now, troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and the streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal, 1 Kings 14:11; 1 Kings 21:19, 1 Kings 21:23; 1 Kings 22:38; Psalm 59:6, and thus became so savage and fierce and such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in Psalm 22:16, Psalm 22:20. Moreover the dog being an unclean animal, Isaiah 66:3, the epithets dog, dead dog, dog’s head, were used as terms of reproach or of humility in speaking of one’s self. 1 Samuel 24:14; 2 Samuel 3:8; 2 Samuel 9:8; 2 Samuel 16:9; 2 Kings 8:13.

Syrian Dog.

Doors

Doors. [GATE.]

Dophkah

Doph’kah (cattle-driving), a place mentioned Numbers 33:12 as a station in the desert where the Israelites encamped. [WILDERNESS OF THE WANDERING.]

Dor

Dor (dwelling), Joshua 17:11; 1 Kings 4:11, an ancient royal city of the Canaanites, Joshua 12:23, whose ruler was an ally of Jabin king of Hazor against Joshua. Joshua 11:1, Joshua 11:2. It appears to have been within the territory of the tribe of Asher, though allotted to Manasseh. Joshua 17:11; Judges 1:27. Solomon stationed at Dor one of his twelve purveyors. 1 Kings 4:11. Jerome places it on the coast, “in the ninth mile from Cæsarea, on the way to Ptolemais.” Just at the point indicated is the small village of Tantûra, probably an Arab corruption of Dora, consisting of about thirty houses, wholly constructed of ancient materials.

Dorcas

Dor’cas (gazelle). [TABITHA.]